ABC/Randy HolmesMetallica's European tour stopped in Prague earlier this week, and during the show, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo played a cover of "Jozin z Bazin," a parody song written by popular Czech musician and comedian Ivan Mladek.

"Jozin z Bazin" parodies classic medieval stories, and tells the tale of a man driving through the Czech Republic who stumbles across a village being terrorized by a monster who eats tourists from Prague.

Trujillo sang the lead vocals in Czech for the performance, and the crowd was more than happy to join in. Meanwhile, a smiling Hammett played a bouncy guitar riff. You can watch official footage of the performance now on YouTube.

Metallica is currently touring Europe behind the band's new album, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Of all the proposed solutions to Afghanistans crisis, perhaps the most controversial is that it should return to a constitutional monarchy, writes Wahab Raofi.

During the last decade, I have written about many possible solutions to Afghanistans failed-state status, but none more controversial than this: Its time for a return to monarchy.





In 1973, Afghan king Mohammad Zahir Shah  who ruled for 40 years  was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup by his cousin, Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan. Since then, weve seen 45 years of misery for Afghans.





The country sank into a bloody civil war, millions of Afghans were killed or forced to leave their country, and Daouds self-proclaimed democratic party (headed by communists) faltered, leading to the Soviet invasion. That war was followed by the Taliban takeover and its Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, US soldiers arrived, launching the longest war in their history, which continues to this day.





When I suggest a return to monarchy, I am not advocating the classical rule-by-tyrant. Far from it. I am calling for a monarchy like Jordans, where the king protects democratic progress. It is not so important what a system is called (democracy, republic, monarchy), only that the system brings stability and guards individual rights.





As Walt Whitman wrote in Democratic Vistas, The purpose of democracy is not wealth, or even equality; it is the full flowering of individuals."





Then why a monarchy, rather than a democratic republic?





Afghanistan is a multi-ethnic society with regions and tribes that have practiced self-rule for millennia. From 1933 to 1973, the monarchy of King Zahir Shah served as the glue that kept these regions from ethnic conflict. Although Afghan rulers hailed from Pashtun tribes of the Durrani dynasty in the south, they pursued modernization and welcomed non-Pashtuns into government.





The pace of progress toward inclusiveness accelerated during the monarchy. This era of political and social stability was highlighted by the signing of a new constitution in 1964 that changed the absolute monarchy into a constitutional one and gave women equal rights and access to education.





The king had a ceremonial role as head of state, not unlike Great Britains Queen Elizabeth, but during his reign, schools, universities and major infrastructure projects were built throughout the country. His Majesty was admired as a Baba or father of the nation.





To Americans, the idea of a monarchy may seem regressive, but think of successful monarchies in the world today: Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Jordan and, of course, the United Kingdom, which still has the word king in its name. For Afghanistan, the right monarch could restore peace and order.





Despite all the might and money rendered by the US, Afghanistan still flounders.





President Trumps strategy seemed to be more bombs, but it hasnt helped. US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis hinted at a new approach during a surprise visit to Kabul recently when he said, We do look toward a victory in Afghanistan. Not a military victory on battlefields, but in facilitating a Taliban reconciliation with the Afghan government.





But even peace with the Taliban will not solve the Afghan conflict unless Afghanistan changes its political system.





Afghanistans current constitution puts too much responsibility in the hands of the president; every government action, from appointed governors to hiring minor employees, must bear the presidents signature. As a result, government has ground to a halt, and so has the economy.





The US seeks to coerce the Taliban and its de facto sponsor  Pakistan  to the negotiating table. Perhaps it would throttle back some violence if the Taliban had a voice in government.





But as a native of Afghanistan who worked as a NATO forces interpreter for 10 years, I believe the conflict in Afghanistan will not be solved without a comprehensive understanding of the cultural and ethnic dynamics of the country. These conflicts cannot be fixed simply by foreigners applying pressure.





The Taliban still carries out deadly attacks on Afghan security forces and suicide bombings in Kabul and other major cities. Some members of Parliament, politicians and prominent tribal elders are calling for President Ashraf Ghani and his CEO Abdullah Abdullah to step down when their term ends next year; they advocate the convening of a Loya Jirga (an assembly of tribal and other influential figures) to select a transitional government. But no Loya Jirga or US military effort will end the Afghan conflict. Nothing in 45 years since the fall of the monarchy has solved the problems.





The 2014 Afghanistan presidential election between Ghani and Abdullah ended up in a quagmire, each claiming victory, bringing governmental affairs to a halt for almost a year.





If it werent for the mediation of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who brokered a deal between the two contenders to share power and a national unity government, the country could have fallen into another civil war. Four years later, both men are reportedly in constant quarrels.





Recently, representatives from more than 20 countries and organizations met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to discuss the Afghanistan problem. They came from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia and Central Asian nations, among others.





But despite their good will, no foreigner can impose peace on a fractured state like Afghanistan. It begs for a home-grown solution, perhaps even a monarch in the tradition of King Zahir, who can hold together disparate tribes and provinces. Its worth a try. Nothing else has worked. - Read More




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The Dean of Yale Law School felt personally connected to the rule of law after her students stayed up all night to file a federal injunction a
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BROOKFIELD  A pair of Brookfield Republicans are trying again to have their legal expenses covered for a 2016 case in which the city declined to represent them.

This time, theyre suing a group of lawyers  including Susan Bysiewicz, the former secretary of the state and current Democratic candidate for governor  who represented a woman named Jane Miller in the original case which was ultimately dismissed. Miller is also named as a defendant in the new case.

Matt Grimes, the former chairman of the Brookfield Republican Town Committee, and George Walker, the former vice chair of the committee, allege Bysiewicz knew the original case would be dismissed when she persuaded the town not to pay for defense counsel, causing Grimes and Walker to pay out of pocket for their lawyers.

Bysiewicz claimed credit for having (the citys insurer) rescind its decision to pay for defense counsel, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court. As a consequence ... (Walker and Grimes) was obliged to engage the services of an attorney to represent him in the lawsuit.

We believe that the current case that has been filed does not have merit because the case we filed (in 2016) did, Bysiewicz said Friday.

In the original case, filed in February 2016, Miller sued Grimes, Walker and the Brookfield Registrar of Voters for conspiring to remove her from the Republican Party voting rolls.

The suit sought more than $1 million and argued her removal from the party violated her constitutional rights by denying her ability to vote in the presidential primary and other Republican elections.

In July 2016, the new GOP Registrar of Voters let Miller back into the party, but she still missed the opportunity to vote in the Republican presidential primary, which Bysiewicz argued was a civil rights violation.

A federal judge dismissed the case in March 2017. The Connecticut Superior Court, Connecticut Appellate Court and Connecticut Supreme Court all ruled Grimes and former Republican Registrar of Voters Thomas Dunkerton acted within the law, based on a rarely-used statute that allowed them to remove Miller because they said her unsuccessful run for the Board of Finance in 2013, as an unaffiliated candidate endorsed by the Democrats, meant she was not loyal to the Republican party.

Kirk Tavtigian, the attorney representing Grimes and Walker in the new case, did not immediately return calls to comment on the case.
DANBURY  The Ridley-Lowell Business and Technical Institute abruptly closed this week, including its campus in Danbury.

In an email to students Wednesday night, the school announced its programs were canceled and its five campuses closed, effective immediately.

The email cites severe financial and operational challenges over the last year after the U.S. Department of Education withdrew recognition of the schools accreditor and while the school sought new accreditation.

Unfortunately, the resulting economic and operational impacts left Ridley-Lowell unable to continue in operation, the email said. Efforts to secure outside investment were unsuccessful.

A notice on the institutes website says the school has permanently closed and that planned graduation ceremonies this summer are canceled. The notice goes on to address a series of questions and answers for students left scrambling to figure out their student loans and what to do with their credits.

Attempts to reach an executive at the school, which has a campus on Shelter Rock Road, were unsuccessful Thursday.

The Connecticut Office of Higher Education also received the notice of the closure Wednesday, leaving officials to scramble to help students suddenly without a school or refund, spokesman Peter Yazbak said.

The office is now working with Lincoln Technical and Porter & Chester institutes to accept transfers from the 150 students who had been studying at Ridley-Lowells Connecticut campuses to those two schools eight campuses across the state, Yazbak said. The state now has electronic copies of transcripts for students and expects to receive paper-only copies by Friday, he added.

We found out yesterday, too, when Ridley-Lowell sent our Office of Higher Ed notice that they were closing the next day, Yazbak said. Students showed up unaware that the school was shut down completely.

Students who do not wish to transfer can apply for loan forgiveness through the Federal Student Aid offices.

Students who paid out of pocket or with personal loans also can seek reimbursement or loan forgiveness through the states Student Protection Fund, which is financed by all post-secondary career schools to help students in such cases, he said.

Slater Bjornson was stunned when he saw the email Wednesday, just a few hours after he had finished that mornings class. The 19-year-old Bethel High School graduate was more than halfway through his electrical systems program and set to graduate in June.

At first I had to read it over several times trying to grasp what the hell was going on, he said.

More Information What can students do? Students affected by the sudden closure of Ridley-Lowell can apply to transfer or have their student loans forgiven. The Connecticut Office of Higher Education has created an online tipsheet with instructions and contacts for former students online at http://www.ctohe.org/POSA/RidleyLowell.shtml. See More Collapse

Bjornson spent Thursday scrambling to find more information. He and his classmates found the doors locked and the building apparently empty when they visited Thursday morning.

Bjornson paid $3,500 out of pocket for his program and applied for the student protection fund Thursday afternoon.

When I learned

Ridley-Lowell was closing and all that money I invested into my education was seemingly down the drain, I was understandably upset and mad, to put it lightly, he said.

Students in Bjornsons class have already been told that another program in Rocky Hill would accept them as transfers to help them graduate on time, but he plans to shop around for another program that fits with his nightly work schedule at Big Y.

Im keeping all my options open right now, he said. I do want to finish my education, this is something I really want to do and I really want to be an electrician, so now its just a matter of which school is a good fit for me and my job.

There is no law that requires a school like Ridley-Lowell to provide notice to students, staff or the state before it closes, Yazbak said. Because of that, it is too early to say whether there will be an investigation into the closing, he said.

They claimed they were insolvent because of these accreditation issues, but we cant substantiate that, thats for them to answer, Yazbak said.

Ridley-Lowells email to students cites its financial strain after the federal Department of Education rescinded recognition of the schools accreditor, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, in late 2016.

ACICS appealed that decision and won last month, sending the agencys petition for recognition back to the U.S. Department of Education for further review.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Tuesday night that her department would again review ACICS and that it would retain its status as a federally recognized accrediting agency, pending the final decision.

Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute traces its roots back to the Lowell School of Business, founded in 1850, and the Ridley Secretarial School, founded in 1936, according to the schools website. The schools consolidated in 1976 under president W.T. Weymouth and the Weymouth family continued to run the school until this week.

The school offered programs in beauty, health and technical trades. In addition to Danbury and New London, it operated campuses in Poughkeepsie, New York, and West Warwick, Rhode Island.

The Danbury campus opened in 2010 and offered programs in massage therapy, medical administrative assistant and medical billing and coding. In 2016, the school added an esthetics program to train students entering the professional skin care industry.
Japan will send a high-level delegation to Cambodia this weekend to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and prepare two deals worth more than U.S. $90 million in assistance, despite mounting international concerns over his crackdown on the opposition in the lead up to a national election.



Japans Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono will lead the delegation to Phnom Penh on April 8 with a view to strengthening the bilateral relationship between Japan and Cambodia during the 65th anniversary of their establishment of diplomatic relations, Cambodias Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release Friday.



In a ceremony presided over by Hun Sen, Kono and his counterpart, Prak Sokhonn, will sign documents paving the way for a Japanese grant of 500 million yen (U.S. $4.7 million) for the implementation of the Economic and Social Development Program in Cambodia, as well as a 9.2 billion-yen (U.S. $86.25 million) loan for the Phnom Penh City Transmission and Distribution System Expansion Project.



The assistance comes amid an ongoing government crackdown on the political opposition, NGOs and the mediaactions widely seen as part of a bid by Hun Sen to ensure his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) remains in power for another term following a ballot planned for July 29 that is widely expected to be neither free nor fair.



Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) President Kem Sokha was arrested last September on charges of collaborating with the U.S. to overthrow the government, and Cambodias Supreme Court followed in November with a decision to dissolve the CNRP for its role in his alleged plot, stripping officials of their posts and banning many from politics for five years.



In February, Washington announced that it was ending or curtailing several U.S. Treasury Department, USAID, and American military assistance programs that support Cambodias taxation department, local governments, and military.



The U.S. cited recent setbacks to democracy in Cambodia, including Senate elections in which the CPP took all seats in an uncontested vote held just over three months after the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP.



That same month, the European Union threatened the Cambodian government with specific targeted measures if it failed to stop using the judiciary as a political tool to harass and intimidate political opponents, civil society, labor rights activists, and human rights defenders.



But Japan, which along with the EU is the largest funder of Cambodias 2018 elections, has said it has no intention to pull its electoral aid ahead of the July vote.



Last month, Embassy of Japan counselor Hironori Suzuki told RFAs Khmer Service that while Tokyo had been conveying its concerns to Hun Sens government, given the escalation of political tension in Cambodia, it is of utmost importance to have the national election scheduled in July reflect the will of Cambodian people properly.



Suzuki said that Japan has been encouraging Cambodian stakeholders, including the Government, to realize dialogue among domestic people involved in politics and to ensure the environment in which the rights of all political people and civil society organizations are respected and they can carry out legitimate activities.



But Cambodias government has repeatedly ruled out negotiations with the CNRP, including as recently as Wednesday, when CPP spokesman Sok Eysan dismissed Kem Sokhas request for release on medical grounds as coming too late and said that dialogue between the CPP and the CNRP was impossible because the opposition made a big mistake.



Waning influence



Japan has already provided Cambodias National Election Commission (NEC) with computers to assist with its ballots and has faced criticism of its continued support from the NGO community, such as New York-based Human Rights Watch.



The worlds fourth largest foreign aid donor with an annual budget of nearly U.S. $10 billion, Japan donated 17.3 billion yen (U.S. $153 million) in loans, 8 billion yen (U.S. $71 million) in grants, and 3.4 billion yen (U.S. $30 million) in technical cooperation to Cambodia in 2015.



In addition to electoral support, Japan also provides Cambodia with a variety of aid for projects including infrastructure improvement, humanitarian assistance, and business development.



Hun Sen has repeatedly stressed that his country does not need foreign governments to fund its elections, or international recognition of their legitimacy, saying acceptance by Cambodians is sufficient.



He has also said that he will continue to welcome aid from China, which is poised to overtake the U.S. as the worlds top foreign donor, and which is currently Cambodias largest international aid provider.



China typically offers aid to countries without many of the prerequisites that the U.S. and EU place on donations, such as improvements to human rights.



In January, president of Cambodian rights group Adhoc Thun Saray told RFA that Japans reluctance to tie electoral support to a reversal of the ongoing political crackdown is likely part of a bid to shore up its waning influence in Cambodia, as Hun Sen improves ties with China.



Japan used to have much influence in Cambodia in the early 1990s, but that is no longer the case, thanks to recently strengthened Cambodia-China relations, he said at the time.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
The four member countries of the Mekong River Commission today confronted predictions of social and environmental disaster if damming and other development projects in the region are allowed to proceed as planned.



The warnings, contained in a 3,600-page report prepared by the MRC Council, point to negative trade-offs between water, energy, and food resulting from the construction of eleven large hydropower dams on the Mekongs main stream, and 120 tributary dams planned over the next 20 years.



Fish stocks will be especially hard hit, with an estimated loss of 30 to 40 percent of current fisheries by 2040 and an almost total loss of sediment flow to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam by that same year, according to the report.



An April 5 statement by environmental watchdog International Rivers warns that as dams come on line, these impacts are expected to result in a drastic reduction in food security and agricultural productivity, alongside increased poverty levels and heightened climate vulnerability in much of the Lower Mekong Basin.



Meanwhile, in an April 5 statement following the third MRC Summit, held this week in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the prime ministers of the four MRC member countriesVietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailandpledged to consider the Councils findings in planning future policy.



In a separate statement, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called however for concrete and timely action, according to an April 6 article in The Phnom Penh Post.



Mekong water resources have been degraded both in quantity and quality, the amounts of alluvium and nutrients are decreasing and the ecosystem and environment are seriously deteriorated, Nguyen said, quoted in The Post.



These impacts are more permanent and severe in the Mekongs lower basin, and especially in Vietnams delta, Nguyen said, adding that the region now suffers from protracted drought, seawater intrusion into farming land, and the erosion of coastlines and riverbanks.



The livelihoods of over 20 million people are under threat, Nguyen said.



Dams will proceed



Laos meanwhile vowed to proceed with plans to build a string of dams on the Mekong, with Lao National Mekong Committee chairperson Sommad Pholsena saying the countrys hydropower projects are being planned and built in accordance with MRC rules and procedures.



The Lao PDR [Peoples Democratic Republic] stands with strong commitment to live in harmony with our neighboring countries, Sommad told MRC delegates in Siem Reap on April 4, according to a report by the Vientiane Times.



The Xayaburi and Don Sahong Dams on Laoss Mekong mainstream are now nearing completion, but public information on these projects is still incomplete, International Rivers said in its April 5 statement.



At this 3rd MRC Summit, we call on the leaders of the lower Mekong governments to recognize the important findings and recommendations of the Council study and to urge a moratorium on further hydropower construction within the Mekong Basin until a regional study of renewable energy technologies and alternatives is completed, International Rivers said.



Dams on the Mekong, which originates in western China, have a particularly adverse impact on downriver countries Vietnam and Cambodia, while their upriver neighbors reap the benefits of hydropower projects, experts say.




Sperm donors in Beijing should "love socialism and the motherland, and uphold the leadership of the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party," according to a recent hospital advertisement.



The requirements are "top of the list" for attributes required for successful donation of sperm, according to the No. 3 Peking University Hospital, which wants to "improve ... [and] optimize" those applying to become donors.



Applicants should be under 20 years of age, resident in Beijing, and "be of the highest ideological quality," the ad said.



"They should passionately love the motherland and socialism, uphold the leadership of the Communist Party, and be sincerely loyal to the work of the party," it said.



"They should have no political issues [in their background] ... should adhere to the standards of meritocracy in terms of both talent and morality, and undergo a full suite of physical examinations and related inspection methods," it said.



Those who feel they are able to meet these requirements should sign up at the Peking University No. 3 Hospital's sperm bank before May 23, the ad said.



"Subsidy" payments of up to 5,500 yuan (U.S. $870) will be available to those who complete the donation process, it said.



Yu Xuedong, medical affairs manager at the sperm bank, declined to elaborate on the language used in the advertisement when contacted by RFA on Friday, saying only that the sperm bank would test applicants using its own procedures.



"There will be an application process to go through once you get here, so even though the ad says this, there is still an application to go through to see if [the requirements in the ad] are indeed the case," he said.



Asked if the sperm bank plans to test applicants' political suitability, Yu replied: "That I don't know ... this isn't the most important thing; what's important is that we have to comply with national standards."



"If there is anything else, may I suggest you contact our propaganda department?" he said.



Patriotic sperm



Amid an uproarious reaction on China's tightly controlled internet on Friday, the hospital quietly removed the political requirements from its recruitment ad.



While the language of the ad appears carefully designed to sound like a staff recruitment process rather than a eugenics project, commentators were quick to ridicule to the notion that ideology can be handed down via DNA to the next generation, with memes like "red sperm" and "patriotism starts with your sperm" making the rounds on social media.



A nurse surnamed Shao at a hospital in the central province of Hunan said she found the advertisement funny.



"I saw the ad. I thought it was hilarious," Shao said. "I mean, people's DNA can be inherited, but how can their ideology, education or patriotism be inherited? All you need is for your subjects to be in good health, and then they can come."



"Why do they have to emphasize their patriotism and political thought processes so much? It's very strange," she said. "Why does politics have to get dragged into it?"



Hong Kong cartoonist A Ping told RFA: "This is even crazier than the Mao generation. Talk about making sure they're red from the start."



He said he had a problem with the implied eugenics involved in the project, too. "It's actually a very outdated racist concept, and runs counter to the progress of humanity," he said.



Beijing-based artist Ji Feng agreed.



"They are turning common knowledge on its head and talking about strengthening the party's leadership in the womb, so as to raise a new, red generation as the successors to socialism," he said.



According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, donors are required to donate their sperm around 10 times in the space of six months to ensure an adequate supply for artificial insemination.



Child limit



Beijing expanded the one-child limit per household to two children at the start of 2016, in a bid to bring an extra 30 million people into the work force by 2050 and create a fall of two percentage points in the proportion of elderly people in the general population.



Since then, demand for donated sperm has skyrocketed, but a lack of donors has led many couples to seek IVF treatment overseas, in countries like Australia and Malaysia.



Previous health ministry guidelines have been strictly medical, with donors expected to be between the ages of 22 and 44, and in good physical and mental health, with sperm that meets the parameters for fertility. Donors are typically tested for sexually transmitted diseases as part of the overall evaluation process.



Infertility in China has risen to 12.5 percent during the 30 years ending in 2010, Quartz reported, citing the most recent government study.



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Three Rohingya survivors receive medical attention in Banda Aceh after their rescue by Indonesian fishermen, April 6, 2018.

An Indonesian fishing boat rescued five Rohingya off western Aceh province after five others starved to death and their bodies were tossed overboard when they were stranded at sea for almost three weeks, officials said Friday.

The survivors, identified as two men, a woman, a teenage girl and an 8-year-old boy, were taken to Zubir Mahmud Hospital after the fishing boat crew brought them to shore, according to Herman, the secretary of the Search and Rescue Team of East Aceh regency.

Their conditions when they arrived on the land was weak, even though they had been fed by the fishermen after they were found, Herman, who uses one name, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

H.B. Aris Santo, commander of the Navy Force at Acehs Kuala Idi, said the five were spotted Monday night by the fishermen about 176 miles from the Aceh shoreline.

Despite the language barrier, the Rohingya told their rescuers they had been stranded for 20 days after leaving their village in Myanmars Rakhine state.

They said initially there were 10 in the boat, but five of them had died from lack of food and had been thrown into the sea, Aris said.

Officials said the Rohingya were lucky to survive.

If we look at the boat they used, it was in very poor condition and was unfit to sail through the ocean because it was very small and no engine, said Razali Ali, a coordinator of Aceh traditional fishermen community.

Afrizal, an immigration official in Aceh, said immigration officers took the Rohingya Muslims from the hospital Friday afternoon.

We have not questioned them yet. We have coordinated with UNHCR and IOM, he told BenarNews, referring to the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Maybe tomorrow well start checking their identity documents after a translator from IOM comes.

Afrizal said the Rohingya described their journey to an IOM representative during a phone call.

They left from Myanmar to sail to Malaysia, he said.

On Tuesday, Malaysian officials intercepted a boat carrying 56 people believed to be Rohingya off the island of Langkawi.

Malaysian officials said the boat with 36 adults and about 20 children sailed from Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, where about 700,000 Rohingya refugees have sheltered since August 2017 after fleeing Myanmars Rakhine state to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by security forces.

In 2015, about 1,000 stranded Rohingya were rescued by Acehnese fishermen. Most chose to flee to Malaysia to find jobs while the rest have been granted political asylum in other countries, according to the Indonesian government.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.
Win Myat Aye, Myanmars minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, will visit Bangladesh on April 11-12 to meet with officials from Bangladesh's foreign affairs and home affairs ministries to discuss delays with the repatriation of Rohingya Muslim refugees who live in massive displacement camps in southeastern Bangladesh. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya poured out of northern Rakhine state during a brutal military crackdown that began late last August in response to deadly attacks by Muslim militants on police outposts. Though Myanmar and Bangladesh have signed agreements for the return of refugees who wish to voluntarily go back to Rakhine, Myanmar officials have verified only 500-some from an initial list of more than 8,000 supplied by Bangladeshi officials. Myanmar says that some refugees have not completed their repatriation application forms correctly. Win Myat Aye, who is in charge of the repatriation program, discussed his upcoming visit to Bangladesh, which may also include stops at refugee camps as he has requested, with reporter Thinn Thiri of RFAs Myanmar Service. What follows is an edited version of their conversation.

RFA: What is the intention of Myanmars top-level delegations first trip to Bangladesh?

Win Myat Aye: The intention is to discuss with Bangladeshi authorities the delay in refugee repatriation.

RFA: Will you meet members of the Bangladeshi government or United Nations officials?

Win Myat Aye: As far as I know, the Bangladeshi government has arranged for us to meet with the ministers of foreign affairs and home affairs. If they can arrange it, we will go to the refugee camps as well.

RFA: What is the main reason for the delay of the refugee repatriations?

Win Myat Aye: If the process goes according to the agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar and if the refugees filled out the forms according to the agreement, it shouldnt be delayed. But it didnt turn out the way we expected it to. If the refugees had filled out the forms according to the agreement, the process would be faster than it is right now. We will talk about it when I am in Bangladesh.

RFA: Will the Myanmar government work with U.N. agencies such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the refugee issue? What agreement does the government have with these agencies?

Win Myat Aye: In the agreement [with Bangladesh] we already talked about working together with the U.N. agencies on this issue when it is necessary. We have already talked about it with the UNHCR and UNDP as well.

RFA: In February, Bangladesh sent Myanmar a list of 8,032 refugees who want to return home, and Myanmar authorities have approved 900 people, according to Myint Thu, permanent secretary of Myanmars Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The number includes some 500 Muslims and about 400 Hindu refugees who also fled to Bangladesh from northern Rakhine and had been approved for return prior to the issuance of the list. What are you doing about the rest of the refugees in Bangladesh?

Win Myat Aye: As I told you before, the forms they filled out were not according to the instructions in the agreement. Thats why we needed more time to verify people. We sent a list of those whom we could verify to Bangladesh, but we havent heard anything back yet.

RFA: What results do you expect from your trip to Bangladesh, especially on the issue of refugee repatriation?

Win Myat Aye: Bangladesh and Myanmar are neighbors, so the refugee issue is both countries problem. People who lived in our country fled to Bangladesh. We have a responsibility to take them back, and both countries have agreed to the refugee repatriation. Bangladesh and Myanmar have to work together on this issue by maintaining a good relationship. We will have a good outcome because I am going to Bangladesh to discuss with Bangladeshi authorities about how we can have smooth cooperation.

Reported by Thinn Thiri for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of launching air strikes that caused "huge financial damages" in its Kunar border province ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's visit to Kabul.

Abassi, who arrived in Kabul on April 6, is scheduled to hold talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on ongoing peace efforts and joint efforts to combat militants during a daylong visit.

Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry on April 5 charged that Pakistani jets dropped four bombs in Kunar's Dangam district, but made no mention of casualties.

"Afghanistan warns that continuing violations of international norms...will have further consequences on the relations between the two countries," the ministry said.

Pakistan early on April 6 rejected as "baseless" the allegation that it violated Afghan airspace, however.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Pakistan's security forces were countering militant groups based in Afghanistan that launched attacks across the border.

Military officials of the two countries met on April 5 in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan shared details of the operations with Afghanistan, the ministry said. The operations took place on the Pakistani side of the border, it said.

Afghanistan should focus on securing on its side of the border and refrain from the "blame game," the Pakistani ministry said.

Abbasis visit to Kabul is his first since becoming prime minister last year.

Ahead of his trip, Abbasi said that "nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan because we are the most affected" by terrorism.

Pakistan is widely seen as the only party that can bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. Pakistan, however, insists its influence over the militant group has been exaggerated.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghansitan, AP,and Reuters
The Taliban has closed at least 30 schools in an area under its control south of Kabul after a local militant commander was killed by government forces, Afghan officials say.

Salim Saleh, a spokesman for Logar Province's governor, said on April 6 that the Taliban closed the schools in the province's Charkh district after several militants and one of their commanders were killed in a night raid by government forces earlier this week.

Afghan media earlier reported that Mualvi Mohammad, a Taliban commander, was killed in the Afghan National Army operation in the area late on March 30.

Saleh said the Taliban move had left some 12,000 students out of school in Charkh, which is about 60 kilometers south of the Afghan capital.

Saleh said that the authorities were in contact with influential tribal elders and religious scholars in the area in an attempt to secure the schools' reopening in the coming days.

Hasibullah Stanekzai, the head of the Logar Provincial Council, said that the militants had warned Charkh elders to avoid meeting government officials to discuss reopening schools.

The schools have been closed since March 31.

Based on reporting by Tolo News and Pajhwok
Hundreds of protesters have burned tires and blocked four main highways in Albania to demand that the authorities scrap new tolls on the main road linking Albania with Kosovo.

The two-hour protest on April 5 followed the torching of toll booths on the highway on March 31 by demonstrators angered by the imposition of fees for the first time to use the road.

Twenty-three people were arrested after clashes with police over the weekend that left some policemen injured, and 11 of the protesters were jailed by an Albanian court on April 4.

Albanian opposition leaders have seized on anger over the road tolls to launch what they call a wave of civil disobedience. They are now calling on Albanians to refuse to pay several kinds of taxes, contending that the government collects them to enrich its cronies.

The government says the tolls are necessary to pay for modernization, including the widening of two bridges, of the highway winding through difficult mountainous terrain.

The project is a priority for Tirana, as the highway is the main overland artery between Albania and Kosovo, a mainly ethnic Albanian country. The two states have close cultural, political, and commercial ties.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama used a video link with town councillors in Kukes, near the border with Kosovo, on April 5 to apologize to residents for not providing information in advance about the tolls. He said frequent road users would qualify for discounts.

The new tolls are part of a 30-year concession granted by Rama's government to manage and repair the highway.

Workers have cleared the debris from the weekend violence, and Rama said the upgrading of the highway to Kosovo would be completed by the end of this year.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Kazakh government to decriminalize defamation and to stop using libel laws "to harass journalists who are doing their jobs."

In an April 6 statement, HRW said that Kazakh authorities launched an investigation on March 30 targeting two popular independent media outlets, the news site Ratel.kz and the local edition of Forbes magazine, on suspicion of disseminating knowingly false information."

"Kazakh authorities have been quick to carry out searches and confiscate material from Ratel.kz and Forbes Kazakhstan while details of the alleged criminal conduct remain a mystery," HRW Central Asia researcher Mihra Rittmann said. "The ease with which the criminal-defamation case was brought against Forbes Kazakhstan and Ratel.kz underscores the fragility of media freedom in Kazakhstan."

On April 2, Almaty police raided the editorial offices of Ratel.kz and Forbes, confiscating computers and documents from both. The homes of several journalists working for the outlets, including deceased Ratel.kz journalist Gennady Benditsky, were searched.

Police later said the raids were part of a criminal investigation based on a suit filed on March 30 by Zeinulla Kakimzhanov, a businessman and former finance minister, who claimed that the outlets published false information that damaged his reputation and that of his son.

Four journalists -- Aleksandr Vorotilov, deputy editor in chief of Forbes Kazakhstan; Marat Asipov, chief editor at Ratel.kz; Sapa Mekebaev, his deputy; and Anna Kalashnikova, an Ratel.kz reporter -- were questioned on April 2 and told that they were "witnesses with the right to defense."

On April 4, Asipov was questioned again and his "witness" status was changed to "suspect."

The HRW statement said that journalists in Kazakhstan frequently face criminal-defamation lawsuits and heavy fines even though the Central Asian state is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and high-level government officials assert that the country has a free press.

Kakimzhanov had previously lodged a successful defamation complaint against the same outlets in December 2016.

In April 2017, a court in Almaty ruled in favor of the Kakimzhanovs and awarded total damages of 5.2 million tenges ($16,200). The court required the outlets to remove the articles from their sites and issue a retraction.

Forbes and Ratel.kz paid the damages after their appeals were rejected, but Ratel.kz did not delete the articles or issue a retraction, saying there was no clear order about which of its articles had to be deleted.

Kakimzhanov wrote on Facebook on April 2 that he decided to file a new lawsuit because "despite court rulings, select media outlets and their authors do not comply with the court rulings and continue to publish similar articles."

On March 30, a court in Almaty issued a ruling ordering the blockage of Ratel.kz and Balbosyk.kz, an alternative site on which Ratel.kz publishes its content, and forbidding Asipov to publish any material under the Ratel.kz name. Ratel.kz and its affiliate sites have not been accessible since the ruling.

A preliminary hearing was held behind closed doors on April 5 and the next hearing is expected on April 10.

"This latest action against Forbes Kazakhstan and Ratel.kz smacks of yet another attempt to silence independent media in Kazakhstan," Rittmann said.

Opponents and rights groups say that President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who has held power in Kazakhstan since before the 1991 Soviet breakup, has taken systematic steps to suppress dissent and sideline potential opponents.
Viktor Orban, Hungarys right-wing prime minister, appears set to serve a third consecutive term as a result of the countrys upcoming general election, although polls indicate a closer contest than 2010 and 2014.

Most surveys ahead of the April 8 vote indicate Orban's ruling Fidesz party will receive about 50 percent of the vote, far surpassing the radical nationalist Jobbik party, the Socialists, and several smaller left-leaning and green groups.

However, Fidesz suffered an unexpected setback in one of its strongholds on February 25, when its candidate for mayor in the southern city of Hodmezovasarhely was defeated by an independent challenger in a closely watched contest.

Turnout was higher than expected in the municipal vote, indicating potentially increasing opposition to the leader who has taken a hard line against Muslim immigration and has regularly clashed with his European Union counterparts over the issue.

"Forces are appearing, the likes of which the world has not seen for a long time. In Africa, there will be 10 times as many young people as in Europe. If Europe does nothing, they will kick down the door on us," Orban said in a March 15 speech.

The 54-year-old Orban began his political career as a liberal activist in the late 1980s, but he has been accused by critics of abandoning Hungary's postcommunist democratic path for an increasingly authoritarian direction. He also served as prime minister from 1998 to 2002 as head of a coalition government.

Over the past eight years, Orban's government has expanded control over the media and, through allies in the business sector, gained influence over the banking, energy, construction, and tourism sectors.

Some critics also accuse Orban of being too accommodating to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban was once a critic of Putin. But after his party's 2010 election victory, he called for transforming Hungary into an "illiberal state," citing Russia and Turkey as templates for success.

Orban has also repeatedly criticized U.S.-Hungarian billionaire philanthropist George Soros, whom he accuses of meddling in Hungarian politics and leading the liberal opposition.

A solid victory by Orbans party in his NATO-member country of some 10 million people could give a boost to similar rightwing nationalists in other Central European countries, particularly Poland and Austria, and increase concerns about EU cohesion.

Jobbik was formerly one of Europes most far-right, anti-Semitic, and anti-EU parties, but it has attempted to rebrand itself as a more-centrist entity.

Party founder Gabor Vona, who was a student when he set up Jobbik in 2003, has asked the country's Romany minority for forgiveness for previous attacks and has sent Hanukkah greeting cards to Hungary's Jewish population.

"I am ready to say sorry again if needed to the Romany or Jewish community," Vona recently told AFP.

Socialist-led parties ruled Hungary and defeated Orban in the 2002 and 2006 general elections before falling to Fidesz in 2010.

Kristin Makszin, a research fellow at the Institute for Political Science at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, told Bloomberg News that Orbans party appears set for victory.

It is important to note that the electoral system was reformed in a way that favors large parties, Makszin said.

In 2014, Fidesz got just under 45 percent of the popular vote, and that translated into 66 percent of the seats in parliament," Makszin said. "Given that Fidesz support is currently polling at around 40 percent, it seems highly likely that the current government will again be able to govern without a coalition partner.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, Bloomberg, AFP, and Deutsche Welle
KABUL -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi visited the Afghan capital, Kabul, on April 6 for a day-long trip aimed at easing tensions between the neighboring countries.

Abbasi met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, and other senior Afghan officials, according to Afghan presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi.

Murtazawi told RFE/RLs Radio Free Afghanistan that reviving peace talks with the Taliban, the return of Afghan refugees who are now in Pakistan, and the exchange of prisoners were high on the agenda of the meeting between Ghani and Abbasi.

Afghanistan and the United States accuse Pakistan of providing support for Taliban militants who are fighting against the Afghan government and international forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad rejects the accusation.

On the eve of Abbasis visit, Kabul accused Pakistan of launching air strikes that caused "huge financial damage" in Afghanistans eastern border province of Kunar.

Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry on April 5 charged that Pakistani jets dropped four bombs in Kunar's Dangam district. The ministry made no mention of casualties.

"Afghanistan warns that continuing violations of international norms...will have further consequences on the relations between the two countries," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan early on April 6 rejected the allegation that it violated Afghan airspace as "baseless."

In a statement, Islamabad's Foreign Ministry said Pakistan's security forces were countering militant groups based in Afghanistan that have launched attacks across the border.

Military officials from both countries met on April 5 in Pakistans garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistani authorities shared details of the operations with Afghanistan, the ministry said, adding that operations took place on the Pakistani side of the border.

Pakistans Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan should focus on securing its side of the border and refrain from what it called "the blame game.

Abbasis visit to Kabul is his first since becoming prime minister in 2017.

Ahead of his trip, Abbasi said that "nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan because we are the most affected" by terrorism.

Pakistan is widely seen as the only country that can bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

Islamabad, however, insists its influence over the militant group has been exaggerated.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, AP, and Reuters
KYIV -- Person A loves good wine and craft beer, frequents Kyivs finest restaurants, speaks impeccable Russian, English, and Swedish, and may be a linchpin in the sprawling U.S. criminal investigation into Russias efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Even before he was mentioned in U.S. court filings from the team of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Person A was extremely careful about revealing his true identity, particularly to media. He left scant evidence of his existence -- an image search, for example, will bring up nothing on the Internet.

While his real name has not been revealed, Person A has been identified by media as Konstantin Kilimnik -- a former Russian army linguist and longtime fixer in Kyiv for former Donald Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

This would also mean Kilimnik is the man U.S. authorities are referring to in a March 27 document when they assert that Person A has ties to Russia's military-intelligence agency, the GRU; that the FBI has established that Person A had such ties in 2016, when Trump was elected U.S. president; and that Gates knew about those ties while working on Trump's campaign.

The document said that Gates told London-based lawyer Alex van der Zwaan -- the first to be jailed as a result of the FBI's inquiry into collusion between Trump's campaign team and Russia -- about Kilimniks past work as a GRU officer.

Van der Zwaan is known to have worked with Person A and Manafort on a report to whitewash the jailing of a political opponent of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a longtime former client.

The revelations are significant because they mark the strongest connection to date between Trump's campaign and a Russian intelligence agency that is alleged by American intelligence agencies to have meddled in the 2016 election.

Not Always So Silent

Kilimnik, who has not been charged with a crime, has kept his head down since media started making the connection to Person A. But before he emerged in the Trump-Russia investigation, Kilimnik did go on record -- denying, for example, having ties to Russian spy agencies.

In February 2017, this RFE/RL reporter conducted the first in-person interview with Kilimnik. The interview led to an additional face-to-face meeting, several phone calls, and dozens of text messages over the course of nine months in 2017.

Kilimnik cut communication in late September, as Mueller's investigation ramped up and shortly after RFE/RL's publication of his comments in a story about Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin who was involved in business ventures with Manafort, and whom Manafort offered private briefings on the 2016 presidential race, via Kilimnik.



Records of our previous conversations contain a trove of comments from Kilimnik on a variety of topics, including Manafort and the work they did together in Ukraine.

What follows are never before published remarks he made during that February in-person interview, in subsequent conversations on the phone, and over text message and WhatsApp. Pieced together, they provide a fuller picture of the work of Manafort and Kilimnik, and the latters character.

Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort, said via e-mail that Manafort would not be able to comment for this story due to a court order.

Where available, audio clips from the February interview can be played to hear extended remarks from Kilimnik himself. RFE/RL has decided to publish them because Kilimnik contacted a Ukrainian news outlet after the original interview to claim that it never took place. But it did, and Kilimnik allowed me to take written notes and record much of the conversation, with the exception of a few instances where he asked to speak off-record to explain sensitive or personal matters.

Meeting Manafort's Man In Kyiv

When I caught my first glimpse of Kilimnik it was at Good Wine, an upmarket cafe and grocery in one of Kyiv's posh neighborhoods, and he was sitting at a table with a mutual acquaintance who had invited us there.

Nothing about the physical appearance of Kilimnik, who stands about 162 centimeters (5-foot-3 inches) with shoes on, was particularly remarkable. On that February day he had dressed his small frame in dark jeans with a green-gray half-zip fleece top layered over a red T-shirt. His youthful, clean-shaven face, light eyes, and kempt light brown hair -- peppered with gray -- suggested a man slightly younger than his 46 years (he's now 47). He's the sort of person who could easily vanish into a crowd.

The meeting was meant only to be a brief sit-down over lunch -- perhaps to lay the groundwork for an interview later. But around an hour into our conversation, Kilimnik himself decided to go on the record, to tell "the truth" after reading "fakes news" about Manafort in the mainstream media, which he said had the story all wrong.

However, he did not allow me to photograph him. When the acquaintance discreetly snapped a picture during the interview, he quipped: "Don't show that picture. If you show that picture I will kill you, the KGB will kill you...the GRU will kill you as well.

Kilimnik loves a good spy joke.

'I Had Nothing To Do With Military Intelligence'

There has been debate over Kilimnik's citizenship. But he told RFE/RL that he was a dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen, born in 1970, and raised in the south-central Ukrainian city of Kryvyy Rih during Soviet times. Kilimnik said he later moved to Moscow and studied at the Soviet military's main university for languages in the 1990s, later working as a translator in the Russian military.

This is the basis of suggestions he worked -- or continues to work -- for Russia's GRU, accusations he denied.

A couple of my friends went to KGB school, for training.... Everyone else from my course went into business," Kilimnik said in the interview. Those who joined the KGB went on to work in Russian embassies around the world, something he said was required of many intelligence officers.

Kilimnik told me he went to Sweden to work as an interpreter for the Russian military, but insisted he was not working with the GRU. "I had nothing to do with military intelligence," he said.

Asked whether he had ties to the GRU during his time working with Manafort in Ukraine, he answered without hesitation: "No. Zero."

"I was working with Manafort to help this country be, you know, a normal country, due to one simple reason, I was born here, this is where my family is....This is where my center of power is, so to say," Kilimnik elaborated.

Kilimnik said he was "very disappointed about the lack of facts" surrounding accusations that he was essentially a Russian spy.

"Let's say somebody's connected to intelligence services, you know, if I were really, really connected to intelligence services, as alleged by the FBI and in past articles by Politico and the Financial Times, he said, what do I do if I were a real Russian spy?

Following a pause, he answered his own question: "I would not be here [in Ukraine.] I would be in Russia."

LISTEN: Kilimnik denies ties to Russian intelligence, declares allegiance to Ukraine

'The Best Strategy You Can Ever Have'

It became immediately apparent that Kilimnik, who worked directly with Manafort and managed his Kyiv office between 2005 and 2015, remained loyal to and thought highly of his former boss.

"Manafort is a guy who can merge, you know, strategy and messages into something that will work for victory, Kilimnik, began, speaking in lightly accented English learned at the Soviet military's main university for languages in the early 1990s.

Ive seen him work in different countries, and...he really does take seriously his polling and can spend, you know, two weeks going through the data, and he'll come [up] with the best strategy you can ever have," he continued. Kilimnik declined to say in which countries specifically he had observed Manafort working, but said they were in "Europe and Africa."

Kilimnik said Manafort cared about two things: "his personal ambitions, and secondly -- mostly importantly -- he cared about Ukraine."

LISTEN: Kilimnik boasts about Manafort's strategy to achieve election victory

'Yanukovych Didn't Listen To Manafort, Which Is Why He Got F*****

Much of what Kilimnik enjoyed discussing was Manafort's effort to strengthen Ukraine's ties with the West, including through a political association deal and trade pact with the EU, as well as his motivations for doing so.

"[Manafort] wanted Yanukovych to be elected for a second term. Would any other campaign manager want anything different? He realized that the deal would ensure Yanukovych would be elected to a second term," Kilimnik said.

But Yanukovych would reject the agreement in November 2013, and turn instead to Russia for a deal, a move that sparked pro-democracy protests that would soon spiral into a bloody uprising by February 2014 and eventually lead to his downfall.

Questions have been raised about Manafort's possible involvement in Yanukovych's decision to use lethal force against the protests after thousands of text messages sent by Manafort's daughter were leaked online in January 2017.

You know he (Manafort) has killed people in Ukraine? Knowingly," Manafort's daughter, Andrea, wrote to her sister, Jessica, according to the texts. "Remember when there were all those deaths taking place. Do you know whose strategy that was to cause that, to send those people out and get them slaughtered."

In RFE/RL's interview and subsequent text messages with Kilimnik, he claimed that wasn't the case. Kilimnik said Manafort left Kyiv in November 2013, a week before Ukraine would refuse to sign the deal with the EU at the Vilnius Summit, prompting the so-called Euromaidan protests and bloodshed.





"[Manafort] communicated with Yanuk[ovych] endlessly before the summit, convincing him to sign the deal," Kilimnik wrote in a text.

In our interview, Kilimnik said that Manafort told Yanukovych in his presence: "You have to trust the Europeans. Then down the road you will fix relations with Russia and you'll be fine."

"Everyone was telling [Yanukovych], 'You should sign the deal. Just sign the f****** deal,'" Kilimnik said. "Yanukovych did not listen to [Manafort], which is why he got f*****."

"Once [Yanukovych] failed to sign it, [Manafort] basically stopped communication," he added.

There was one exception, Kilimnik would later explain in a text: when police brutally attacked a group of mostly student demonstrators in central Kyiv on November 30, 2013.

When Manafort caught wind of that, Kilimnik, claimed, he sent a "memo" to Yanukovych recommending that he fire the then-interior minister, Vitaliy Zakharchenko.

Yanukovych didn't take the advice, and Zakharchenko stayed on, giving orders in February 2014 to arm his officers with "combat weapons," according to a statement from his ministry at the time. Like Yanukovych, Zakharchenko would also flee to Russia that month.

LISTEN: Kilimnik talks about helping Yanukovychs Party of Regions

LISTEN: Kilimnik says if you listen to Manafort, you win the election

Manafort's Return To Kyiv

Asked about Manafort's work in Ukraine after Yanukovych's ouster, Kilimnik said Manafort returned to Kyiv in March 2014, "when the presidential elections were called, to look for business," mere weeks after Yanukovych had fled to Russia. Around that time Manafort was hired to reform Yanukovych's fractured Party of Regions, which had rebranded itself Opposition Bloc at Manaforts suggestion, according to Kilimnik.

But problems arose between Manafort and the party in summer 2014, when its leadership refused to accept many of Manafort's strategy recommendations, Kilimnik said.

Manafort left Ukraine shortly thereafter, but returned in autumn 2015, according to Kilimnik, who at the time was helping him to recoup money owed to him by the Opposition Bloc.

Did Manafort do any more work for them at that time? Kilimnik hinted that he might have continued working for those "friends."



"He has been working, like every consultant in the world, on his laptop. He could be in Sofia, or you know, Taiwan, or wherever, doing strategy for Ukraine," Kilimnik said. "Once you get the data, once you get people to put together a strategy, having an office is not essential for an in-country operation."

If Kilimnik knew -- and he said it was unlikely anyone in Ukraine other than him would be communicating with Manafort -- then he didnt want to admit it.

"The only guy who Manafort can conceivably talk to in Ukraine is basically me," said Kilimnik.

He walked back that remark in a somewhat contradictory text message weeks later, writing: "My power of attorney expired in early 2015, [and I] have had nothing to do [with Manaforts company] since then."

'Briefing Manafort And The GOP Platform Change

Kilimnik may have left Manaforts company, but he remained in contact with Manafort after he joined the Trump campaign in March 2016, as convention manager for the Republican Party's mid-July gathering in Cleveland.

Kilimnik told me they spoke "every couple months" while Manafort was working for Trump. "I was briefing him on Ukraine," he explained.

In follow-up conversations by phone and text message after those quotes were published in my February 2016 story, he elaborated on the communication, saying he was merely updating Manafort on news related to his former Opposition Bloc clients, and sending him links to stories in the English-language Kyiv Post newspaper.

However, sources have claimed that Kilimnik was doing more than that, perhaps even playing a part in altering the Republican Party's official endorsement of providing Ukraine with lethal weapons. Ukraine had for years been asking Washington to provide such weapons to bolster its fight against Russia-backed separatists. The Trump administration has since approved the sale of lethal weapons to Kyiv.

A source in Kyiv told Politico that "after a late summer trip to the U.S., Kilimnik suggested that he had played a role in gutting" the proposed amendment.

In a series of text messages to me, Kilimnik flat-out rejected claims that he played a part in that decision.

"Give me one reason why I would want to change [the] GOP platform or even think about it, and how it is relevant to stopping the war in Ukraine? Does anyone seriously believe that in [the unlikely case] Ukraine gets lethal weapons it will defeat Russia and return Donbass (sic)?" Kilimnik wrote, using the regional term for eastern Ukraine. "This is crazy lunacy. I have never even thought about discussing it with anyone and had no interest in [the] convention whatsoever. Idiotic to even think that I have. Where is the logic???"

LISTEN: Kilimnik talks about briefing Manafort during 2016 campaign

'You Just Made Me Very Toxic'

Never in our discussions did Kilimnik say or suggest he was nervous about landing in the crosshairs of Muellers prosecutors or the FBI, insisting that nobody from either group had tried to contact him before September 21.

But that confidence was betrayed hours before publication of my initial February interview with him. After I had emailed Manafort for comment and confirmation of things discussed in the interview, Kilimnik called me to express his concern with the angle of the piece, saying Manafort had received my e-mail and then called him to ask what this was all about.

After the story appeared, he text messaged me: "A lot of people are very angry." In an attempt to control the fallout, he even called a Ukrainian news agency and told them he and I had never met.

The fallout was so serious, suggested Kilimnik, who revealed having homes in Ukraine and Russia, where his wife is from and he traveled frequently, that he was considering fleeing Kyiv for good.

"I hope I am able to get out of the country. Before 'patriots' start hunting me down," he wrote. "You just made me very toxic to everybody."

If he left, he wasn't away long. When the pressure apparently had subsided in June 2017, he invited me to his "favorite" Kyiv pub for some of "the best craft beer in Ukraine."

"[It comes from Kvasy village in Zakarpattia and is awesome," Kilimnik texted, referring to the bucolic western-most region of Ukraine. "Better than Manafort."

Kilimnik communicated with me until September 2017. Its unclear where he is currently, but a December court filing by Muellers team suggested he has since fled Kyiv to Russia.

Kilimnik didnt answer when I called him this week, nor did he reply to an e-mail and a WhatsApp message offering an opportunity to provide fresh comments. But the two blue check marks beside the WhatsApp message and the ironic status at the top of our chat suggested he was out there somewhere and had read them. Last seen today at 9:32 p.m. read the status.
Belgium says it has given humanitarian visas to five gay men from Chechnya who face persecution for their sexual orientation in their native region in Russia's North Caucasus.

Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken said on April 6 that the five men had received visas from the Belgian Embassy in Moscow and now can travel to Belgium and stay there.

Francken added that more humanitarian visas may be issued to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from Chechnya in the future.

On April 3, a Russian group that defends LGBT rights said it had helped 114 people flee Chechnya to avoid persecution over their sexual orientation or that of their relatives since April 2017.

Russia has faced international pressure over the treatment of LGBT people in Chechnya, which Kremlin-backed regional strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled with an iron hand for over a decade.

The United States and European governments have urged Russia to investigate an alleged campaign of abuses -- including torture and murder -- against gay men in Chechnya that was first reported in April 2017 by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Since the report, gay men from Chechnya have given personal accounts to RFE/RL and other media of their escape from the abuse they faced.

Kadyrov denies the allegations and said in 2017: "We don't have those kinds of people here. We don't have any gays."

Based on reporting by De Morgen, HLN, and Sudpresse
Specialists from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) carried out an inspection at an undisclosed location in Russia last week, the Russian Defense Ministry's official publication has said.

It was not clear whether the inspection was connected to the nerve-agent poisoning in Britain of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, but Reuters quoted a diplomatic source as saying that that was unlikely.

On its website, the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda on April 6 published a graphic showing military-related events over the past week that included a mention of two military inspections by "foreign specialists on the territory of Russian Federation."

One of them was conducted by an "inspection group of the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW," it said.

The website didn't provide any further details, and Defense Ministry officials have not commented.

Reuters quoted a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of OPCW confidentiality rules as saying that "it must have been related to a regular inspection" of a chemical-industry site.

In 2017, Russia said that it completed the destruction of some 40,000 tons of chemical weapons that it had declared to the global chemical-weapons watchdog.

The OPCW has been involved in the probe into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, who were found slumped on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4 and remain hospitalized.

Britain accuses Russia of poisoning the pair with a military-grade nerve toxin. Russia denies involvement, and the dispute has dramatically deepened tensions between Moscow and the West.

A British court gave OPCW specialists blood samples taken from Sergei and Yulia Skripal for tests, and the agency is also checking the toxin used in the attack.

Russia wants to be involved in investigations into the poisoning, but its call for a joint probe failed when it was outvoted at an emergency OPCW meeting on April 4.

Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russia's military intelligence agency, was convicted of treason in 2006 by a Russian court that ruled he spied for Britain.

Russia released him from prison in 2010, in a spy swap involving the United States, and he moved to Britain.

With reporting by Krasnaya Zvezda, Reuters, and Interfax
The foreign ministers of Russia and China have jointly denounced what they described as efforts by the United States to unilaterally change negotiated treaties ranging from the Iran nuclear deal to the global-warming pact and world trade rules.

Speaking in Moscow after talks with his Chinese counterpart on April 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was trying to go it alone on issues that involve many countries.

He cited as examples the U.S. push to renegotiate the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, despite the other parties' satisfaction with the agreement, and his demands for change in the global-warming treaty signed by 166 other countries.

"It has nothing to do with diplomacy. It's an attempt to enforce its own interests while completely ignoring the interests of others," Lavrov said.

"Unilateralism is always bad, and particularly so when it becomes the main foreign-policy tool," Lavrov said. "China and Russia have repeatedly shown their readiness to search for reasonable compromises based on taking interests of all interested parties into account."

"We in Russia stand for direct dialogue to solve any outstanding issues," Lavrov said. "We never dodge negotiations. It's our American partners who do."

On the Iran deal, Trump has demanded that the European powers that are also signatories to the agreement -- Britain, France, and Germany -- negotiate a side deal to address what he has called its "disastrous flaws."

Trump in particular has criticized the nuclear deal's failure to curb Iran's ballistic-missile development and the expiration after 10 years of the deal's curbs on Iranian uranium enrichment and several other nuclear activities, which were imposed in exchange for sanctions relief.

Trump is threatening to pull the United States out of the deal unless his demands are met, and U.S. allies in Europe have been negotiating with the administration in an effort to answer Trump's concerns.

Lavrov pointed out that the Iran deal took years to negotiate, and said Russia took the position that any attempt to unilaterally change the deal represents a violation of its terms as well as of a UN resolution carrying out the deal.

Iran has taken a similar position and has opposed any changes in the deal.

Iran's nuclear agency chief, Ali Akbar Salahi, was quoted by the IRNA news agency on April 5 as saying, "We want to stay in the deal, but we can do differently" if Trump pulls out. He promised a "surprise" if Trump decided to withdraw.

Lavrov accused the U.S. administration of also trying to unilaterally alter World Trade Organization rules as well as the 2015 Minsk agreement, which lays out a process for achieving peace in eastern Ukraine.

U.S. officials have expressed frustration that the Minsk accord has failed to bring about any lasting settlement of Kyiv's conflict with Russia-backed separatists, but they have not publicly sought to make changes in the agreement.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi joined in Lavrov's criticism of the United States on April 5, but focused his remarks on U.S. plans to impose new tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, which are targeted on both China and Russia, as well as Trump's threats to impose as much as $150 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods.

"If the U.S. thinks that it can get advantages through protectionism, its calculus is wrong," Wang said, denouncing the higher tariffs as "typical unilateralism and an undisguised attempt at hegemony."

"The international community must jointly oppose such unilateralism and violation of rules," Wang said.

Wang's trip to Russia follows a Moscow visit earlier this week by Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who said his visit was intended was a signal to the United States of increasingly close Russia-China military ties.

In a show of military cooperation, Moscow and Beijing have recently conducted joint drills, including exercises in the South China Sea and joint naval maneuvers in the Baltics.

Moscow and Beijing for years have forged what they describe as a "strategic partnership," expressing their shared goal of creating a "multipolar" world with multiple centers of power and their joint opposition to a "unipolar" world dominated by the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has developed warm ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the two leaders regularly exchange visits. Putin is set to go to China in June for a meeting of the security grouping dominated by Moscow and Beijing.

While greeting Wang on April 5, Putin hailed the Chinese legislature's unanimous decision last month to reappoint Xi as president with no limit on the number of terms he can serve. Wang in turn conveyed Xi's congratulations on Putin's reelection last month.

"I would like to express hope that after the Russian presidential election and important political events in the People's Republic of China, we will continue our course aimed at further strengthening bilateral ties," Putin said.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Interfax, and TASS
Thirty teenagers from Serbia traveled to Russia to attend the International Military Patriotic Youth Camp. The camp is run by an ultranationalist group called E.N.O.T. Corp, whose military trainers teach kids how to find their way in the woods, handle weapons, and prepare for the possibility of war.
For a country whose president is cast by the Kremlin as a guarantor of stability, the days since Vladimir Putin's reelection have been a rough ride.

At home, a fire at a Siberian shopping mall one week after the March 18 election killed 64 people, most of them children -- including some trapped in a locked movie theater as desperate parents tried to reach them.

Abroad, Putin faced the growing and remarkably unified ire of Western countries that blame his government for the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter with a highly potent chemical substance in the quiet English city of Salisbury -- an attack the United States, Britain, France, and Germany called "the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War."

Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the last week, and some of the takeaways going forward.

Jockeying For Position

Analysts have long forecast that Putin's reelection would spark battles among rival factions in the ruling elite because the six-year Kremlin stint that starts in May could be his last, due to term limits. But they may not have expected the infighting to start so fast.

On March 31, billionaire businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov was arrested on suspicion of embezzling more than $35 million. A co-owner of the Summa investment group, Magomedov is seen as an ally of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and a rival of Igor Sechin, the CEO of state oil giant Rosneft and a longtime Putin confidant. His arrest has deepened speculation about whether Putin will keep Medvedev in place and played into predictions of cutthroat competition for power and assets in the coming years. Few Russians are likely to be convinced by the Kremlin's suggestion that there was no political motive in Magomedov's arrest.

Fire And Fury

For critics of Putin, the high death toll in the fire that swept through the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) mall in Kemerovo one week after his landslide election win laid bare just exactly what he has failed to do over nearly two decades as president or prime minister: rein in the corruption and negligence that spawns shoddy construction, corner-cutting, and lax adherence to safety and security measures.

It also underscored what critics say is -- despite an official result that gave him nearly 77 percent of the vote -- Putin's growing distance from the people he governs. Putin said nothing in public about the fire until he traveled two days later to Kemerovo, where he laid flowers at a memorial and visited with hospitalized survivors, but avoided a crowd of thousands of people who were demonstrating in a central square and calling for the removal of the regional governor.

A Dinosaur Exits -- And Returns

Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev did resign, announcing his exit on April 1 in what he and the Kremlin said was his own decision but was widely seen as an order from Putin. Some Russia-watchers saw his exit as a rare Russian victory for people power: a 73-year-old who had been governor since 1997 and long seemed untouchable leaving his post days after a crowd called for just that, expressing anger over what residents saw as his callousness toward families torn apart by the tragedy.

But at least two developments have undermined that impression. For one thing, the deputy who was named acting governor, Sergei Tsivilyov, had suggested that a man who lost his wife, three daughters, and sister in the fire was engaging in self-promotion. Secondly, Tuleyev was handed a seat on the regional legislature two days after his resignation -- and unconfirmed reports said that he would later be elected as its leader.

Democracy Denied?

In a direct blow to the power of the people, meanwhile, the legislature of the Sverdlovsk region voted on April 3 to scrap the direct election of the mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city. Still, the deadly fire in Kemerovo and the large demonstration that followed have raised questions about whether Putin might face a new wave of rallies during his upcoming term -- and how he would handle such a challenge.

This question has been compounded by a series of protests over garbage dumps in the region that rings Moscow, particularly a landfill in the town Volokolamsk whose noxious fumes residents say sickened dozens of children in March. Angry residents pelted the regional governor with snowballs and confronted officials in the street on March 21, and protests continued through April 1.

Putin was elected to his current term after weathering large opposition protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg over election fraud and dismay at his decision to return to the presidency in 2012 following a stint as prime minister. The recent demonstrations in places like Kemerovo and Volokolamsk suggest that if Putin does face major public unrest in the next few years, it may be over issues like public safety, security, and quality of life -- which he vowed to improve in a March 1 address to the nation -- rather than politics.

A Step Too Far?

Analysts predicted ahead of the election that Putin will do little to relax his grip on the Russian political system in his upcoming term, arguing that he wants as much control as possible as he decides how to retain influence after 2024. In a move that may have reflected that desire, the state media-oversight agency asked a court on April 6 to block the messaging app Telegram in Russia.

Kremlin-watchers also said Putin was unlikely to change his foreign-policy course much, keeping a voluble public confrontation with the West in the spotlight to maintain a high profile on the world stage and score points among Russians while drawing their attention away from problems at home. "People here love what he is doing abroad and unless the costs of this policy of trolling the West become really biting for average Russians, he has no incentive to reverse course," Moscow-based foreign-policy analyst Vladimir Frolov said in late February. "He just needs to be careful not to overplay his hand." Since Frolov spoke, officials and commentators in the West contend that Putin has done just that.

The nerve-agent poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury on March 4, which Britain and other countries blame on Russia, has taken the showdown to a new level. Already dealing with escalating sanctions over actions including interference in Ukraine and alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Russia is now facing the wrath from Western countries that are incensed over the poisoning and, in a rare show of unity, have expelled more than 150 of its diplomats.

Poison And Power

Even as Western diplomats left Russia in droves after Moscow retaliated to the expulsions in kind, Putin faced the prospect of potential new U.S. sanctions against some of the closest members of his circle.

It is not clear, however, whether the increasing pressure will push Putin to make any major changes in policy, or in his attitude toward the United States, NATO, and the European Union. While Russia risks potentially damaging isolation, the persistent high tension with the West serves at least one purpose for Putin: thrusting Russia to center stage in global affairs -- albeit as a villain in the eyes of many. It allows Putin to portray Russia as a power in the Cold War mode, facing off against the United States -- or in this case, against what Russian officials like to call the "Anglo-Saxon" nations -- in a struggle between equals.

Russian officials have seemingly tried to play up the Cold War imagery, with Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Sergei Naryshkin accusing the West on April 4 of throwing up a new Iron Curtain and warning against a "second Cuban Missile Crisis." For Putin, a big prize would be a full-fledged meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, particularly if it is held in the White House.
Tens of thousands of Slovaks demonstrated on April 5 in Bratislava in one of the largest protests since the killing of investigative journalist. Protesters demanded the resignation of the country's police chief. Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, both 27, were found shot dead at their home near Bratislava on February 25. (TV JOJ/Reuters)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman has condemned a recommendation by U.S. prosecutors that a Turkish Halkbank executive get 20 years in prison for helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.

"We strongly condemn and reject this decision, it is a grave injustice," spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in Istanbul on April 5 when asked about the sentencing recommendation by U.S. attorneys for Halkbank executive Hakan Atilla, who was found guilty of evading sanctions on Iran by a U.S. jury in January.

"The Hakan Atilla case is a legal scandal," Kalin said.

Erdogan earlier this year called the case "an attempt to stage a new coup" in Turkey because two witnesses for the prosecution testified that high-level Turkish officials and Erdogan himself were involved in the scheme to help Iran launder revenues derived from oil sales in global financial markets in violation of U.S. sanctions.

U.S. prosecutors accused Atilla, 47, of conspiring with Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab from 2010 to 2015 to help Iran evade sanctions by disguising the oil sales as fraudulent gold trades and food-aid transactions.

"At a time when the United States and the community of nations were engaged in the momentous undertaking of depriving the government of Iran of funding for its malign and deadly activities," including its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons and support for terrorist groups, "Atilla was a key player in massively undermining those efforts," prosecutors said in a court filing.

Iran has denied pursuing nuclear weapons or supporting terrorists. The case exposed, however, how high-level Iranian officials allegedly maneuvered to get around U.S. sanctions which prohibit Tehran from using the U.S. dollar or U.S. financial institutions in global trade.

Atilla is to be sentenced on April 11 by U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan.

In a court filing last week, Atilla's lawyers urged leniency, saying the case did not involve "economic crimes" or a "crime of American disloyalty" by their client, a Turkish national, and that "no victims" suffered a financial loss.

They also said a lengthy sentence would keep Atilla, who has been detained by U.S. authorities already for a year, more than 8,000 kilometers away from his wife and only son for too long.

Nine defendants have been charged in the case, but most of the others reside in Turkey and remain at large.

Zarrab pleaded guilty and became the star witness against Atilla, describing in several days of trial testimony a wide-ranging scheme to bribe Turkish officials and evade sanctions, which he said was carried out with the blessing of Erdogan.

Zarrab agreed to cooperate with the U.S. government in hopes of getting leniency at his own sentencing in the high-profile case.

His chances of getting a lighter sentence appeared to be jeopardized on April 5, however, when prosecutors leveled new charges alleging that Zarrab's lawyer offered a prison guard $45,000 in bribes to provide him with cell phones and alcohol while he was in jail awaiting trial.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
The United States says it welcomes a package of proposals put forward this week by Georgia's government aimed at improving the lives of people living in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili on April 4 announced what he called a "peace initiative" to expand trade, travel, and educational opportunities across the dividing line for people residing within the breakaway regions.

In a statement issued late on April 4, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert commended the measures, which she said would "help address the needs of the most vulnerable populations on both sides of the administrative boundary lines and provide increased opportunities for mobility, improved livelihoods, and access to education."

The two Georgia breakaway regions declared independence from Tbilisi in 2008 following a five-day war between Georgia and Russia.

While Moscow has recognized their independence and maintains a military presence in both regions, the United States and almost all other countries in the world consider the regions still to be part of Georgia.

Russia recently conducted military exercises in the regions and around its southern borders with Georgia.



Nauert said the United States continued to give its "full support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders."

She added that Washington also "welcomes Georgia's commitment to dialogue and to a peaceful resolution of the conflict."
Former Rep. Charlie Wilson, the Blue Dog Ohio Democrat whose career in Congress was launched in 2006 by a successful write-in campaign, died on Sunday due to complications from a stroke, according to a release sent by Wilsons family. He was 70.

Wilson was ousted from his 6th District seat in the 2010 Republican wave, and he attempted to win back his seat last cycle in a rematch with Republican Rep. Bill Johnson.

Wilson lost the election in the redrawn, more conservative district, and just a few months later, on Feb. 21, he suffered a stroke while on vacation in Florida.

He was readmitted to the hospital Saturday night and succumbed to his injuries Sunday afternoon.

Charlie will be remembered for his boundless energy, his honest approach, and his dedication to improving the lives of our future generations, Wilsons family said in a statement. For 14 years Southeast and East Ohio had a champion serving as their voice in Columbus and Washington and our communities are better places for his service.
Ashok Leyland today celebrated the roll out of its 2,00,000th LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) from its Hosur Plant. The first Ashok Leyland Dost LCV was commercially launched in September 2011. Ashok Leyland Dost LCV touched the 1,00,000 milestone in 3 years, back in March 2015.

Nitin Seth, President, LCV, Ashok Leyland, said, Ashok Leyland LCVs have been segment defining by delivering customer experience like no other brand. Having 2,00,000 Ashok Leyland LCVs on road in about six years is a proof of trust that our customers have placed in us. Even with our limited portfolio and no-discount policy, we have always maintained our market share. FY18 was very significant for us as we achieved our highest LCV sales of 43,441, a growth of 37% over the previous year. Also in FY18, we launched DOST+ which added strength to the already existing Ashok Leyland Dost LCV brand. We ended last financial year on a high note by crossing the 5000 mark per month for LCV sales for the first time since we got into the LCV business. For us, this milestone is the beginning of our next growth chapter where we focus on bringing in more LCV products in the market and by increasing the share of LCV exports by making left-hand drive vehicles to enter other markets.

M&HCV sales at 17,057 in Mar18, is up 12 percent from 15,277 in Mar17. LCV sales at 5,396 in Mar 18, is up 58 percent from 3,424 in Mar 17. Total sales at 22,453, is up 20 percent from 18,701 units sold in Mar 17. For FY17-18, M&HCV sales stood at 131,432 units, up 16 percent from 113,315 units sold in FY16-17. For the year, LCV sales were up 37 at 43,441 units sold, up from 31,770 units sold in the previous FY. Total sales grew 21 percent at 174,873 units sold, up from 145,085 units.

On march 31st, Ashok Leyland announced construction of its Bus Plant in Andhra Pradesh was now underway at a scheduled ground breaking ceremony at Model Industrial Park, Mallavalli Village in Krishna District, about 40 kms from Vijayawada.

The new Ashok Leyland plant stands on a 75 acre plot, and once fully operational, will be able to produce 4800 buses annually. At the same time, it could hire 5,000 employees when functional in full capacity. the plant will house an electric vehicle development centre complete with a conveyor line, pilot assembly line and prototype development.

Vinod K. Dasari, MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland, said, This facility will help us be ahead of the curve by ensuring our readiness towards implementation of the bus body code and to meet the rising demand for ready-to-use, fully-built Trucks as well. We will also produce Electric vehicles at this plant. The new plant is also strategically located to meet the demands of Center, East and Southern India markets.

Ashok Leyland has increased price across its product range by a minimum of 2 percent owing to rising input costs and implementation of AIS 140 regulation wef April 1, 2018.
Japan will likely convert July 23, 2020, a Thursday and the eve of the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics, into a public holiday by moving Marine Day, which falls on the third Monday of July, to that day, a step to be taken for the year only, it was learned Friday.

The measure, aimed at preventing confusion in security and transportation related to the quadrennial sporting event, became more possible after a group that led the drive to establish Marine Day withdrew at a meeting Friday its earlier opposition and backed the proposed change.

At the meeting, the group agreed that Marine Day in 2020 will be moved from July 20 to July 23 on condition that the public holiday is fixed on July 20 in and after 2021.

Seishiro Eto, the group's head and a House of Representatives lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said: "The Tokyo Olympics is a crucial event for the country and the Japanese capital. We have no choice but to consent (to the shift of Marine Day to July 23 for 2020) if the holiday is fixed on July 20 from 2021 onward."

For the Tokyo Olympics, the opening ceremony will be held on July 24, a Friday, and the closing ceremony on Aug. 9, a Sunday.

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Yet another incident of car set on fire inside a gated society has come to light. This time in a society in Pune. Two men on a scooter, were seen pouring a liquid (most likely petrol) over a parked Audi Q5 in a gated society of Pune. Soon after they are done throwing the liquid all over the car, fromroof to bonnet to rear and tyres, they throw the bottle away.

After that, they ignite one side of the car on fire, and within seconds the entire car is on fire. The incident took place in the middle of the night, and no human spotted it. This resulted in the fire spreading on to the two cars parked next to it  a Maruti Suzuki SX4 and a Honda City. Watch the video below.

A police case has been registered by the owner of the respective cars. Local cops are going through the CCTV footage to ascertain who it could be. As of now, no one has been arrested.

This is not a sole incident of this sort. A few weeks ago, a similar incident was reported in Mumbai. That time, the miscreants arrived in a white Mercedes ML SUV, poured a flammable liquid over the VW Vento and set it ablaze, only to drive off into the darkness leaving the burning car to be reduced to scrap.

The owner of the Vento, Rohit Mehra and his wife who reside at Palava Dombivali in Mumbais suburbs were spending the night at their friends place at Shiv Om Towers in Chandivali that night. Deep in slumber, the couple was woken at 4.00 am, with a rude shock that their parked VW Vento was set ablaze. They rushed down and with the help of the security guard and fire extinguishers managed to contain the fire, but images and a video given below reveal that the VW Vento is beyond repair.

The cops were called and CCTV footage of the area has been taken and further investigations are underway. An FIR has also been lodged with the Saki Naka Police Station and reports are awaited. The CCTV footage has revealed that the miscreants arrived in a white Mercedes ML SUV. A man is seen stepping out of the vehicle at 3.37am. He walks upto the VW Vento with a jerry can in his hand. He is noted pouring the flammable liquid over the front wheel of the car and setting it ablaze even as he rushes into the rear of his Mercedes car and is driven off.

The VW in question, CH 01 AV 3377, was a silver colored vehicle which was parked in a guest parking spot. Another silver colored Vento is usually parked at the same spot every day. This could have been a case of mistaken identity but questioning the owner has not revealed any clues as to why the car could have been targeted. Though CCTV footage is being investigated, the registration number of the Mercedes SUV has not been identified.
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.

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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.

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"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.
When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is emitted. As the gas rises and becomes trapped in the atmosphere, it retains heat as part of a process called the greenhouse effect. The increased temperatures associated with the greenhouse effect can cause melting ice caps, higher sea levels and a loss of natural habitat for plant and animal species.

Environmental scientists trying to mitigate the effects of CO 2 have experimented with injecting it deep underground, where it becomes trapped. These trials have mainly taken place in sandstone aquifers, however, the injected CO 2 primarily remains present as a bubble that can return to the surface if is there are fracture in the capping formation. A different approach using basalt flows as injection sites -- chiefly at the CarbFix site in Iceland and in Washington state -- has yielded dramatic results. Metals in basalt have the ability to transform CO 2 into a solid inert mineral in a matter of months. While the new method holds promise, the underground injections can be imprecise, difficult to track and measure.

Now, new research by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis sheds light on what happens underground when CO 2 is injected into basalt, illustrating precisely how effective the volcanic rock could be as an abatement agent for CO 2 emissions. The research, led by Daniel Giammar, the Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, was conducted in collaboration with researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Philip Skemer, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

"In a field site, you inject the carbon dioxide in, and it's a very open system," Giammar said. "You can't get a good constraint in terms of a capacity estimate. You know you made some carbonate from the CO 2 , but you don't really know how much. In the lab, we have well-defined boundaries."

To obtain a clearer, quantifiable look at carbon trapping rates in basalt, Giammar collected samples of the rock from Washington state, where researchers previously injected a thousand tons of CO 2 gas deep underground into a basalt flow. He placed the rocks in small reactors that resemble slow cookers to simulate underground conditions, and then injected CO 2 to test the variables involved in the carbonization process.

"We reacted it at similar pressure and temperature conditions to what they had in the field, except we do all of ours in a small sealed vessel," Giammar said. "So we know how much carbon dioxide went in and we know exactly where all of it went. We can look at the entire rock afterwards and see how much carbonate was formed in that rock. "

The lab kept the basalt in the pressurizers and followed up, using 3-D imaging to analyze their pore spaces at six weeks, 20 weeks and 40 weeks. They were able to watch moment to moment as the CO 2 precipitated into mineral, the exact voids within the basalt it filled, and the precise spots in the rock where the carbonization process began.

Once all of the data were collected and analyzed, Giammar and his team predicted 47 kilograms of CO 2 can be converted into mineral inside one cubic meter of basalt. This estimate can now be used as a baseline to scale up, quantifying how much CO 2 can effectively be converted in entire areas of basalt flow.

"People have done surveys of available basalt flows," Giammar said. "This data will help us determine which ones could actually be receptive to having CO 2 injected into them, and then also help us to determine capacity. It's big. It's years and years worth of U.S. CO 2 emissions."
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 outreach -- personalized mailings that described the birds detected on the monitored property.

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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.
A team of Japanese researchers has discovered a new mechanism to explain stochastic resonance, in which sensitivity to weak signals is enhanced by noise. The finding is expected to help electronic devices become smaller and more energy-efficient.

Noise is generally a nuisance that drowns out small signals. For example, it can prevent you from catching what your partner is saying during a conversation. However, it is known that living organisms find it easier to detect predators in noisy environments since noise enhances the sensitivity of the sensory organs. This phenomenon, called stochastic resonance, is considered to be of great use for engineering devices and addressing noise problems in various other fields. However, there have not been convincing explanations as to why noise enhances sensitivity to weak signals since initial report of the phenomenon in 1981.

One stumbling block preventing researchers from fully understanding the phenomenon is the complexity in nonlinear theories involving friction and fluctuation, both considered to be essential for the phenomenon.

To address this problem, the team, comprising Hokkaido University Professor Seiya Kasai, Associate Professor Akihisa Ichiki of Nagoya University, and Senior Researcher Yukihiro Tadokoro of Toyota Central R&D Labs., Inc., established a simple model that excluded friction force, a parameter that they consider negligible in nano- and molecular-scale systems.

The researchers found correlations between sensitivity and noise in a bistable system, a nonlinear system that has two stable states and allows the transition between them depending on input values, like a seesaw. They also figured out the role of white Gaussian noise, the most standard noise widely found in the natural world.

When a transition occurs without friction, the sensitivity of the bistable system to a Gaussian-noise-imposed weak signal becomes significantly high. Furthermore, the researchers found the relative difference -- which determines the sensitivity -- of Gaussian distribution function diverges in its tail edge. This means that the sensitivity becomes anomalously high by increasing the threshold of the bistable system. This theory has been experimentally verified by an electronic two-state device called the Schmitt trigger.

The finding is expected to pave the way for using noise rather than eliminating it, which will contribute to establishing new technologies. It could help electronic devices become smaller and more energy-efficient. "Since Gaussian noise is commonly found, our study should help us better understand various nonlinear and fluctuating phenomena in the natural world and society." says Kasai.
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 element -- with the chemical code P -- is 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 supernovae -- the explosions of massive stars -- but 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.

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."

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 Earth -- probably in meteorites -- were 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.
A new method to sensitively measure the structure of molecules has been demonstrated by twisting laser light and aiming it at miniscule gold gratings to separate out wavelengths.

The technique could potentially be used to probe the structure and purity of molecules in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, foods and other important products more easily and cheaply than existing methods.

Developed by physicists at the University of Bath, working with colleagues at the University of Cambridge and University College London, the technique relies on the curious fact that many biological and pharmaceutical molecules can be either 'left-handed' or 'right-handed'.

Although such molecules are built from exactly the same elements they can be arranged in mirror images of each other, and this configuration sometimes changes their properties drastically.

Notoriously the morning sickness drug Thalidomide caused birth defects and deaths in babies before it was pulled from the market in the 1960s. Investigation showed that the drug existed in two mirror images -- the right-handed form was effective as a morning sickness drug, but the left-handed form was harmful to foetuses. This is one example of why testing what 'handedness', or chirality, a molecule has is essential for many valuable products.

The research team from the Centre for Photonics and Photonic Materials, and the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the University of Bath, used a special white-light laser built in-house and directed it through several optical components to put a twist on the beam. The twisted laser beam then hits a nano-scopic U-shaped gold grating which serves as a template for the light, further twisting the beam in either a right or left-handed direction. This deflects the beam in many directions and further splits it into its constituent wavelengths across the colour spectrum.

By carefully measuring the deflected light scientists can detect tiny differences in intensity across the spectrum which inform them about the chirality of the grating the laser beam interacts with.

The study, published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, demonstrates the technique as a proof of principle.

Christian Kuppe, the PhD student who conducted the experiments, said: "At the moment chiral sensing requires high molecular concentrations because you're looking for tiny differences in how the light interacts with the target molecule.

"By using our gold gratings we aim to use a much smaller amount of molecules to conduct a very sensitive test of their handedness. The next step will be to continue to test the technique with a range of well-known chiral molecules.

"We hope that this will become a valuable way to perform really important tests on all sorts of products including pharmaceuticals and other high-value chemicals."

Dr Ventsislav Valev, who oversaw the work, said: "There's a great deal of scientific excitement about miniaturisation and working on nano-sized dimensions at the very small scale. However, in the rush to go as small as possible, some opportunities have been overlooked. Working with chiral nano-gratings is a great example of that."
Scientists have made a significant discovery that explains how and why the billions of different cells in our bodies look and act so differently despite containing identical genes. The discovery, made by a team from the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, applies to all complex animals, including humans.

The team has discovered a completely new family of proteins in animals with vertebrae -- including fish, reptiles, birds and mammals -- that they have named PALI1 and PALI2. Fascinatingly, these families of proteins both originated from genes that have gained new functions since vertebrate and invertebrate species evolved from one another millions of years ago. Specifically, PALI1 is vital for embryonic development and in particular for controlling cellular identity.

Associate Professor in Genetics at Trinity, Adrian Bracken, led the team that has just published the findings in the leading international scientific journal, Molecular Cell. Dr Eric Conway and Dr Emilia Jerman, the lead authors on the paper, previously worked as PhD students in the laboratory of Professor Bracken, while the team also collaborated with the Haruhiko Koseki lab at the Riken Institute in Japan.

The new work helps towards understanding why a blood cell and a brain cell look and act very differently yet contain exactly the same genes. This puzzling question about the so-called 'cellular identity' is central to the field of epigenetics, which strives to explain how cells in your body, with identical sets of genes, can look and behave so differently. The study of epigenetics has provided key molecular insights into how every type of cell has its own unique pattern of genes that are either switched on or off in a tightly controlled manner.

Central to this is a group of epigenetic regulators, called Polycombs, which are vital to regulating cellular identity in multicellular organisms of both the plant and animal kingdoms. The Bracken lab studies the biology of these Polycomb epigenetic regulators, and their newly discovered PALI1 and PALI2 proteins form a new family of Polycombs that are unique in that they are only present in vertebrates -- they are not found in invertebrate animals, or plants.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Bracken said: "This discovery of PALI1 and PALI2 is an important step forward in our understanding of how stem cells specialise in complex animals, such as fish, reptiles, birds and mammals."

"In addition to its relevance to stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, it may also have implications for future cancer therapies. For example, we are also studying a related Polycomb protein called EZH2, whose function is deregulated in certain blood and brain cancers. Several new drugs have been developed to target EZH2 to treat these patients, but our new results suggest these patients could also potentially be treated by drugs targeting the PALI1 and PALI2 Polycomb proteins, which might provide additional benefit."

"This ongoing research in the Bracken lab is supported by funding from the Irish Cancer Society, the Irish Research Council, Worldwide Cancer Research, the Health Research Board and Science Foundation Ireland, for which we are very grateful."
Poor animal study design and reporting thwarts the ethical review of proposed human drug trials, according to a study led by researchers at Hannover Medical School, Germany, in cooperation with researchers from McGill University, Canada. The study, publishing 5 April in the open access journal PLOS Biology, analyzed the descriptions of animal studies found in "investigator brochures" -- the documents used by regulatory authorities and ethics committees to assess the potential efficacy of drugs that are being tested in patients for the first time.

Independent assessments of animal evidence are key to ensuring that patients are not exposed to undue risk when volunteering in trials. Based on documents obtained from three prominent German medical research centers, the study authors recommend that regulators need to develop standards to ensure the rigorous design and reporting of preclinical animal studies when trials of new drugs are launched.

Strikingly, less than one-fifth of investigator brochures referenced animal studies that had been through a peer-reviewed publication process. Less than 20% of animal studies that tested the efficacy of the new drug described the use of simple techniques, like randomization blinding or sample size calculation, that can reduce the effects of bias. And worryingly, of the more than 700 animal studies that the authors found in the investigator brochures, only 4% did not show positive effects of treatment.

"Our analysis shows that the vast majority of these documents lack the information needed to systematically appraise the strength of evidence supporting trials," said Dr Daniel Strech, professor for bioethics at Hannover Medical School and senior author of the study.

"We were also struck by the rarity of 'negative' animal studies in investigator brochures," said Jonathan Kimmelman, professor for bioethics at McGill University and co-author. "With a median group size of 8 animals, these studies had limited ability to measure treatment effects precisely. Chance alone should have resulted in more studies being negative- the imbalance strongly suggests publication bias" said Susanne Wieschowski, a postdoctoral fellow in Strech's team.

"Why do regulatory agencies and other bodies involved in risk-benefit assessment for early human research accept the current situation?" asks Daniel Strech. "Why do they not complain about the lack of information needed to critically appraise the rigor of the preclinical efficacy studies and about the concerning lack of efficacy studies demonstrating no effects?"
Novel technology developed at UT Health San Antonio gives rise to mouse pancreatic tumors that have the same traits as human pancreatic cancer. A U.S. patent is pending on the invention.

The technology could revolutionize studies of pancreatic cancer initiation and progression and spur new drug development. An article published in the journal Carcinogenesis (Oxford University Press) describes this unique approach. Results of the research were made available online in November 2017 ahead of peer-review and print publication in February 2018.

Scientists study pancreatic cancer by genetically engineering mice to develop the disease or by transplanting tumors into rodents to test drug activity. In both cases, the resulting tumors provide an artificial, rather than true, picture of the human disease, said the technology's inventor, Bruno Doiron, Ph.D., of UT Health San Antonio.

"For a decade, we have failed in treating pancreatic cancer because we didn't have a good way to test new drugs," Dr. Doiron, an assistant professor in the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine, said.

Pancreatic cancer kills 95 percent of patients within five years of diagnosis. Advances in therapy have been negligible, with chemotherapies only able to extend survival by a few months. Need for a new study tool is therefore urgent.

Delivery method

Dr. Doiron and his lab team are injecting a modified virus into the adult mouse pancreas. The virus is a delivery vehicle for two pro-cancer molecules (called KrasG12D mutation and shRNA p53) that are present in human pancreatic tumors. Upon injection, the virus permeates the pancreas with these pro-cancer factors. The effect is contained; only the pancreas is altered by this molecular cocktail. When the mice reach 28 to 30 weeks of age, tumors develop that resemble human pancreatic cancer.

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"I take the two major genetic mutations involved in human pancreatic cancer and inject them directly to the pancreas, and tumors develop in the adult mice," Dr. Doiron said. "This bypasses the artificial manipulation introduced by other methods, and spontaneous cancers develop that mimic those found in people."

The procedure is performed in mice that are not of any special breeding or stock. They are from many different parents. This ensures that the development of pancreatic cancer is in a random nature, the way it occurs in humans.

A step forward

The Carcinogenesis article "is an important paper for the field of pancreatic cancer, because it demonstrates that all previous methods of study are obsolete," Dr. Doiron said.

Obesity and diabetes are major risk factors for pancreatic cancer. The risk of pancreatic cancer is increased 1.5-fold in obese subjects and two- to threefold in people with diabetes. The new technology can be used to delve into this link.

"The prevalence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions during the last two decades in the U.S. and worldwide, and this may explain, in part, why the death rate from pancreatic cancer has not declined in the same way as it has for some other cancers," Dr. Doiron said.

Ruben A. Mesa, M.D., FACP, director of the Mays Cancer Center, the newly named center home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson Cancer Center, commented: "This important work by Dr. Doiron and colleagues will allow us to better predict which treatments for the devastating disease of pancreatic cancer will be effective. These discoveries are a much-needed advance on efforts to cure pancreatic cancer."
In a groundbreaking development, results from a recent clinical trial to treat lung cancer show that a novel immunotherapy combination is surprisingly effective at controlling the disease's progression. The study, published April 4 in the journal The Lancet Oncology, focused on non-small cell lung cancer, which is the most common form of lung cancer.

Immunologist John Wrangle, M.D., of the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina said it's a promising therapy that can be delivered in an outpatient setting. "People don't talk about 'curing' patients with metastatic lung cancer. We now get to flirt with the idea for certain patients using immunotherapy. And at the very least we have a significant proportion of patients enjoying prolonged survival even if we can't call them 'cured'," he said.

He, along with his colleague Mark Rubinstein, Ph.D. also of the Hollings Cancer Center, designed a clinical trial that started in 2016.

Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer will always progress after chemotherapy, so most patients go on to be treated with immunotherapy, a type of therapy that uses the body's immune system to fight cancer. One class of immunotherapeutic drugs is known as "checkpoint" inhibitors, as they target checkpoints in immune system regulation to allow the body's natural defenses, such as white blood cells, to more effectively target the cancer.

Rubinstein said checkpoint therapies work by cutting the brake cables on the white bloods cells that are inherently able to kill tumor cells. "Tumor cells often produce suppressive factors which essentially turn the brakes on tumor-killing white blood cells. What's unique about the therapy that we're testing is that in addition to cutting the brake cables on white blood cells, we're providing fuel to them so that they can more effectively kill cancer cells."

Wrangle and Rubinstein's therapy is a combination of a checkpoint drug, nivolumab, with a new and powerful immune stimulation drug, ALT-803. "What's unique about our trial is that it's two completely different types of drugs that have never been combined in humans before, and the trial demonstrated that these drugs can be safely administered, and also, there's evidence that it may help patients where checkpoint therapy is not good enough alone," said Rubinstein.

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Patients who have stopped responding to checkpoint therapy may be helped significantly by adding ALT-803. Pre-clinical studies have shown that ALT-803 activates the immune system to mobilize lymphocytes against tumor cells and could potentially serve as an important component in combination treatments. Of the 21 patients treated, nine previously either had stable disease or responded to single-agent immunotherapy before becoming resistant to this treatment. Of these nine patients, 100 percent either had stable disease or had a partial response to the treatment used in this study.

"We can reassert control, at least in terms of stable disease, in essentially everybody we've treated so far," Wrangle said.

This novel combination is a huge step forward in cancer treatment. "Whereas for decades the modalities of therapy were surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, the last decade has brought targeted therapy, and more recently, immunotherapy. It fundamentally alters the balance of power between your body and your cancer," Wrangle said.

A lung cancer specialist, Wrangle said 75 percent of lung cancer patients unfortunately are diagnosed at an incurable stage. "If 10 years ago you were talking about defining a five-year survival rate for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients, someone would laugh in your face. It would be a joke. It's just a very different time now," he said of the progress being made in the treatment of lung cancer.

He credits Rubinstein's work, instrumental in the development of ALT-803, in helping to make this advance. Research into ALT-803 started years ago while Rubinstein was doing his postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute. It was there that he co-discovered the powerful immune system stimulator used in this trial. The stimulator, known as IL-15 complexes, is actually a combination of an immune system growth factor and its soluble receptor. IL-15 is a growth factor for certain kinds of white blood cells including natural killer cells and T cells.

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Wrangle explained that natural killer cells are the chief arm of the innate immune response. "They are an important part of anti-cancer response that haven't been really talked about for a long time."

Wrangle said his collaboration with Rubinstein is a powerful example of what team science can accomplish.

"His ownership of the intellectual foundation of this therapy is manifest," Wrangle said of Rubinstein's contribution. "He is brilliant and just works furiously to help understand how we can develop this therapy."

Successful trials for the treatment of cancer are incredibly rare, he said. "There are very few people in human history who get the privilege of developing a new therapy for any human disease, much less cancer. Mark and I are now in this weird micro-club of folks who have developed the promise of a new therapy for cancer. That's such an amazing privilege to be able to do that," he said.

In contrast to other immunotherapies that require admission to a hospital, this new therapeutic combination can be administered in an outpatient setting. "The plan was to do it all as an outpatient therapy because inpatient therapy is just infeasible. My patients feel like they have the flu, but they go about their day, and it's totally manageable. That's the kind of revolutionary part with regard to this class of agent," Wrangle said.

Wrangle and Rubinstein are surprised and elated at the success demonstrated in their latest study. Wrangle said the landscape of oncology is "eyeball-deep in failed trials," so he and Rubinstein are hopeful this will provide more treatment options for patients. "The number of trials that work is miniscule, so was I surprised? I was ecstatic that it was working," he said.

Rubinstein agreed, adding that the success of the trial is a testament to the commitment, hard work and incredible insight that Wrangle has for making a difference for his patients. "He has an amazing vision for how to bridge the gap between basic and clinical research."

Wrangle said there's still plenty of work to do before the new combination of drugs can be used outside of a clinical trial. "We have a lot to figure out about how to use this therapy, and we need to treat a few hundred patients in order to get a better sense of how to refine the synergy of these two classes of drugs. That's just going to take time," he said.

Both of the researchers, who are in their early forties, said they were motivated by the need to give lung cancer patients better options. Wrangle plans to frame the study's publication. "I think this manuscript will be the thing that we have on the wall that we look back at 20 years from now, when we're still working together and discovering new therapies."
Despite their appearance solar tornadoes are not rotating after all, according to a European team of scientists. A new analysis of these gigantic structures, each one several times the size of the Earth, indicates that they may have been misnamed because scientists have so far only been able to observe them using 2-dimensional images. Dr Nicolas Labrosse will present the work, carried out by researchers at the University of Glasgow, Paris Observatory, University of Toulouse, and Czech Academy of Sciences, at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science (EWASS) in Liverpool on Friday 6 April.

Solar tornadoes were first observed in the early 20th century, and the term was re-popularised a few years ago when scientists looked at movies obtained by the AIA instrument on the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). These show hot plasma in extreme ultraviolet light apparently rotating to form a giant structure taking the shape of a tornado (as we know them on Earth).

Now, using the Doppler effect to add a third dimension to their data, the scientists have been able to measure the speed of the moving plasma, as well as its direction, temperature and density. Using several years' worth of observations, they were able to build up a more complete picture of the magnetic field structure that supports the plasma, in structures known as prominences.

Dr Nicolas Labrosse, lead scientist in the study, explains: "We found that despite how prominences and tornadoes appear in images, the magnetic field is not vertical, and the plasma mostly moves horizontally along magnetic field lines. However we see tornado-like shapes in the images because of projection effects, where the line of sight information is compressed onto the plane of the sky."

Dr Arturo Lopez Ariste, another member of the team, adds: "The overall effect is similar to the trail of an aeroplane in our skies: the aeroplane travels horizontally at a fixed height, but we see that the trail starts above our heads and ends up on the horizon. This doesn't mean that it has crashed!"

Giant solar tornadoes -- formally called tornado prominences -- have been observed on the Sun for around a hundred years. They are so called because of their striking shape and apparent resemblance to tornadoes on Earth, but that is where the comparison ends.

Whereas terrestrial tornadoes are formed from intense winds and are very mobile, solar tornadoes are instead magnetized gas. They seem to be rooted somewhere further down the solar surface, and so stay fixed in place.

"They are associated with the legs of solar prominences -- these are beautiful concentrations of cool plasma in the very hot solar corona that can easily be seen as pink structures during total solar eclipses," adds Labrosse.

"Perhaps for once the reality is less complicated than what we see!" comments Dr Brigitte Schmieder, another scientist involved in the work.

She continues: "Solar tornadoes sound scary but in fact they normally have no noticeable consequences for us. However, when a tornado prominence erupts, it can cause what's known as space weather, potentially damaging power, satellite and communication networks on Earth."
Accurately detecting a rare, but devastating cause of blindness in premature babies can be done as effectively with telemedicine as with traditional, in-person eye exams, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology suggests. This is believed to be the first study to directly compare the two approaches.

The finding could enable more blindness-preventing treatment for infants born in rural and other areas where there are few ophthalmologists trained to detect the condition, called retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP. Musician Stevie Wonder went blind due to this condition.

"A lack of access to trained ophthalmologists with experience diagnosing ROP sadly prevents many premature infants from receiving much-needed screening, both in developed and developing countries," said the study's lead researcher, Michael F. Chiang, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology and medical informatics & clinical epidemiology in the OHSU School of Medicine and a pediatric ophthalmologist at OHSU's Elks Children's Eye Clinic.

The study's first authors are Hilal Biten, M.D., and Travis Redd, M.D., M.P.H. Redd is an OHSU ophthalmology resident and Biten was a visiting OHSU scholar who now works at Ankara Numun Training and Research Hospital in Turkey.

Retinopathy of prematurity is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth near the retina, the light-sensitive portion in the back of an eye. The National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health reports that while up to 16,000 U.S. babies experience the condition to some degree, only 400 to 600 become legally blind each year as a result.

Some U.S. medical associations recommend an in-person exam, which involves a special magnifying device that shines light into a baby's dilated eye, to diagnose the condition. But trained professionals aren't always easy to find in rural areas and developing countries.

The research team compared the accuracy of in-person exams with digital eye images that were remotely evaluated by professionals. They partnered with seven medical institutions to examine the eyes of 281 infants who were at risk for the condition. Each eye was evaluated both in-person and remotely with a wide-angle telemedicine image.

The researchers found there was no difference in the overall accuracy between the two evaluation methods. In-person examiners were found to be slightly better at accurately diagnosing the condition's later-stage development, but the research team concluded telemedicine could be used to diagnose clinically significant cases of retinopathy of prematurity.
On April 2, 2018, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. entered final judgments against a Georgia-based investment adviser, Ikenna "Ike" Ikokwu, and his companies Winning the Money Game with Ike, Inc., and Winning the Money Game, LLC, all of which the SEC charged with fraud.

In its complaint, filed on September 30, 2016, the SEC alleged that Ikokwu persuaded more than 20 clients of his companies to collectively invest $5 million in securities issued by FutureGen Company. The SEC previously charged FutureGen and its principal, Lawrence P. Schmidt, with defrauding investors. The complaint against Ikokwu and his companies further alleged that in exchange for persuading clients to invest in FutureGen, Ikokwu received undisclosed "kickbacks" of over $100,000 from FutureGen. He also allegedly told investors that he conducted extensive due diligence into FutureGen prior to making his recommendation, when, in reality, he did little or no research on the company. In addition, the complaint alleged that Ikokwu falsely touted the performance of his own family's investments with Schmidt to clients.

The court entered the final judgment, by consent, against Ikokwu and his companies, ordering them to pay disgorgement of $169,311.64 plus prejudgment interest of $6,869.93. The court ordered Ikokwu to pay a civil penalty of $80,000. The final judgment also enjoins Ikokwu and Winning the Money Game with Ike, Inc. from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), Sections 10(b) and 15(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ("Advisers Act"). The court enjoined Winning the Money Game, LLC from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Advisers Act. Based on the entry of the judgment, the SEC barred Ikokwu and Winning the Money Game with Ike, Inc., by consent, from the securities industry with a right to reapply after 5 years.

On April 3, 2018, the court separately entered an order approving a settlement agreement between the receiver appointed to administer the assets of FutureGen and Ikokwu, under which Ikokwu agreed to repay an additional $64,796.43 for distribution back to injured investors.
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David Bonetti, an incisive and passionate art critic for the San Francisco Examiner in the late 1980s and 90s, was found dead in his apartment in Brookline, Mass., on Wednesday, shortly after returning from his annual visit to San Francisco.

Bonetti was discovered slumped in a chair while listening to classical music by his apartment manager who came in to change batteries in a smoke alarm, according to Amanda Doenitz, a close friend who spoke to a police detective in Brookline. He was 71.

Bonetti was the art critic for the Boston Phoenix when he was recruited by Examiner Publisher Will Hearst in 1989, in a bold move to beef up the Examiners art coverage when it was the broadsheet afternoon daily.

From the start, Bonetti stood out for his commitment to the Bay Area art scene in all its venues no matter how small, garage galleries being a favorite. He was an early and ardent advocate for gay and queer artists, along with all forms of high art and low art. The only thing he could not abide was kitsch.

As a critic and colleague, David was smart, funny and bitchy  all good qualities, said his longtime editor Paul Wilner. As a writer, he was clear on his likes and dislikes. And while funny in conversation, he was serious and committed to his beat.

Among Bonettis causes were saving the Piazzoni murals from destruction when the old Main Library was transformed into the Asian Art Museum. They are now at the de Young Museum. He also championed a mammoth Richard Serra sculpture that was deeply controversial and never installed at the Legion of Honor.

He was very lively, very opinionated and lots of fun, said Sandra S. Phillips, curator emerita of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He was also very knowledgeable about the art that he was focused on. If you get into an argument with him, you had to know what you were talking about because he could tackle you very adroitly.

Bonetti was openly gay and lived in a rambling apartment building known as the Yellow Bordello in the Duboce Triangle. All forms of gay photographers, painters and photographers lived there. In addition to promoting gay artists through his criticism, Bonetti was a collector and owned work by Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman and Jerome Caja, a San Francisco eccentric who used nail polish to paint perverse iconography on tiny thimbles and pieces of cardboard.

David arrived at the apex of the high queer era in San Francisco, said queer historian Gerard Koskovich. It was a time period that saw an extraordinary political and cultural response to the darkest years of the AIDS crisis and the extreme attack on LGBT people during the right-wing culture wars.

Urbane and intellectual, Bonetti never drove a car but got around. Bonetti regularly traveled to Los Angeles and New York to review important exhibitions and went as far as Berlin when Christo wrapped the Reichstag in 1995.

His out-of-town reviews brought sweeping grace and a sense of the adventurous excitement of the art world to Examiner readers, Wilner said.

After the Examiner merged with The Chronicle in 2000, Bonetti became uncomfortable in his role on the combined staff. He ultimately took a buyout in 2002 and decamped for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to become a national art critic.

He was in St. Louis for seven years, then moved to Boston where hed grown up. He was a freelancer and wrote about opera for the Berkshire Fine Arts, a website. He also made an annual winter trip west to San Francisco.

A year ago, he brought a small package to Koskovich as a gift. It contained two Caja paintings, which Koskovich will be donating to the GLBT Historical Society as being From the David Bonetti Collection.

In late March, Bonetti arrived for his annual visit to San Francisco and stayed in the tiny guest room at the Mission District home of Phillips and Stephen Vincent. He spent an afternoon at SFMOMA and was moved to tears by The Train exhibition on the funeral train of Robert F. Kennedy.

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.

As he left, I thought, How wonderful it was to have him as a friend, Phillips said. I was looking forward to seeing him next year.

Bonetti continued to Los Angeles to visit Amanda Doenitz, an art appraiser who had met Bonetti when she worked at Fraenkel Gallery. Doenitz noted that Bonetti was overweight and taking a variety of medications to combat high blood pressure.

On Saturday, he and Doenitz went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where he stocked up on art books. When they rode an elevator up to the galleries, Bonetti stepped off and was immediately confronted with A Group of Animals by Sir Edwin Landseer. Bonetti launched into a passionate dissection of the 19th century painting that attracted a crowd, as if he were a tour guide.

That was just so David, Doenitz said. His infectious enthusiasm and the depth of knowledge about the whole range of art.

As Bonetti boarded a bus for the airport and his overnight flight to Boston, he yelled over his shoulder at Doenitz: I want to continue this conversation!

A memorial service is pending. Survivors include a brother, Gary Bonetti of Milford, Mass.
Adrian Fernandez Baumann was getting a burrito and a beer in the Mission last month when someone broke into his car and stole bags containing two computers. But it wasnt losing the laptops to San Franciscos auto break-in epidemic that upset him most. It was the copious handwritten and electronic notes he kept.

Baumann and Kate Maxwell, a friend and business partner, are the lone employees of the Mendocino Voice, an independent online news outlet that was one of the first to publish a story on the Wine Country wildfires that ripped through the North Bay in October.

I was driving home at about 2 in the morning from building someone a tiny house on the coast, said Baumann, who works construction as a side hustle. The entire sky was red and I thought, holy s, thats an enormous fire.

He drove to Maxwells house and banged on her door to wake her up. Cell service was already down and her Internet wasnt working, so they drove to Baumanns house and put up their first story before the regions broadband was entirely knocked out.

For the next eight days that the fires raged, the two provided round-the-clock coverage for their readers in Mendocino County. The Voice serves a hyper-local audience mostly focused on day-to-day affairs.

We cover road conditions really aggressively, Baumman said. If youre in S.F. or L.A., you can look at your iPhone or Waze and drive, but you cant do that here in the same way, so thats important to us.

Brian L. Frank / Special to The Chronicle

During the fires, Baumman and Maxwell would drive up to a cell tower to access the Internet and share their work. At one point, Baumman said, we were driving around town knocking on peoples doors to tell them what was going on.

But following the break-in March 5, the Voice went mostly silent for about a week.

With their laptops stolen, it was difficult for the two-person team to write, edit stories and photos and post updates in Willits, where they are based, and surrounding Mendocino County.

Several weeks of reporting on pertinent pressing stories just disappeared, Baumann said. We got computers back up and running within a week, but three weeks later, Im still missing those notes.

The Mendocino Voice, founded in late September 2016, is one of only a handful of news outlets in the county, which has a land mass roughly twice the size of Delaware and a population of more than 87,000. It stands independent in a region where almost all other news sources are owned and operated by Digital First Media, a corporation owned by the hedge fund Alden Capital, which has been gutting newspaper staffs across the country.

Baumann and Maxwell both worked for Digital First papers and did stints at the Willits News, where they made $11 an hour and worked unpaid overtime. Feeling overworked and underpaid, Baumann quit in frustration in 2015. Maxwell soon followed in the early summer of 2016.

We would go to the local pub and talk shop and I would get drunk and be like, This is what really needs to be done with newspapers, Baumann said. I think, eventually, Kate was like, Why dont you start a newspaper if you know how to run one?

It took some convincing, as well as some disheartening interviews, before Baumann called up Maxwell and said, Lets start a newspaper.

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In addition to covering the fires in Mendocino County, the Voice tries to focus on and reach historically under-covered communities, including the areas American Indian population and Spanish speakers. During the fires, the outlet live-streamed press conferences that Baumann translated into Spanish. They try to translate their routine coverage as much as possible with the help of Google and Baumanns mother, a fluent Spanish speaker.

Some leftover Bitcoin funds have helped sustain the paper, especially after the staffs computers were taken.

We have less Bitcoin now, Baumann said.

Both members of the team have side jobs to supplement the revenue they receive from the Voices ads and subscription fees. With laptops back in hand, the papers goal now is to grow and build on its coverage.

We want to expand, Baumann said. We want to do more thorough written coverage and begin implementing some longer-term projects.
A California lawmaker is calling for $22.7 million in state funding to help prevent unwarranted arrests of abused and neglected children in the states residential foster-care facilities  a disturbing practice exposed in a Chronicle investigation last year.

The three-year budget proposal, to be introduced next week by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson (Los Angeles County), comes as arrests continue across the state at county childrens shelters, despite pledges of reform.

While the total number of law enforcement interventions declined last year at shelters, children as young as 11 were still being cited, arrested and detained. The incidents involved such things as disputes over use of a swing set and tussles over brownies, or children hurling a half a banana or squirting toothpaste. Often, they ended with trips to juvenile hall for alleged assault and vandalism.

At times, sheriffs deputies or police arrested children even after situations had been defused, when children had either calmed down or collapsed on their knees in tears.

There is just something fundamentally wrong about the way they are responding to children with whom they have been entrusted, said Bill Grimm, directing attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. What they end up doing is re-traumatizing the youth who have come to them already in a traumatized state.

Shelter directors defended their staffs, saying they acted appropriately to manage volatile behavior that had escalated into dangerous and threatening situations. But others describe the arrests as unjustifiable.

When I was growing up, yes I misbehaved, yes I teased my sister, yes we threw food, Gipson said. But not once did my parents think about calling the authorities.

Gipsons budget proposal calls for the use of police resources only for true emergencies. It follows legislation he introduced last month that would impose a three-year moratorium on arrests for minor offenses in foster care shelters and group homes. The funding he is seeking is intended to ensure that facilities employ alternatives to handcuffs and jail cells.

The proposal, scheduled to be heard Wednesday in the state Assembly, would grant more than $7.5 million a year for three years to community-based agencies in counties with facilities making 100 or more calls to law enforcement a year. Money would also be extended to counties with high numbers of children moving from foster care into the juvenile justice system.

Chris Kaufman / Special to The Chronicle

The funds would be used to better engage youths, who can easily become anxious and frustrated in residential facilities. Foster youths would be granted access to programs, including college preparation, mental health services and extracurricular activities such as art, music and sports.

If adopted as part of the state budget and signed by the governor, the Department of Social Services would oversee the funds, which include $575,000 a year to train facility staff and law enforcement officers on principles of adolescent development and de-escalation techniques.

The budget proposal and call for a moratorium follow a Chronicle investigation last year that revealed hundreds of arrests for minor misdeeds in California childrens shelters, facilities designed as temporary stopovers for children removed from their homes after abuse and neglect allegations.

Law enforcement intervention in shelters declined last year compared with the previous two years, reflecting heightened scrutiny, decreases in the number of shelters and population declines. Three shelters in California have recently closed, bringing the total number of facilities to seven.

Still, according to 2017 shelter incident reports filed with the state, The Chronicle found minors being arrested, detained or cited on shelter campuses on at least 66 occasions. Roughly one-third occurred at the Mary Graham Childrens Shelter near Stockton, which also had led all shelters in arrests in 2016.

Most of the 2017 incidents involved youths who broke windows or damaged other shelter property, or physically lashed out against staff and other children. Descriptions of the incidents written by shelter staff suggest the childrens outbursts stemmed from their youth and trauma, such as being separated from their parents and siblings, or learning they were being sent to a facility out of state.

In many of the incidents, shelter staff seemed unable to calm intense emotions before the behavior became unmanageable, and in some instances even provoked them, said advocates who reviewed the 2017 reports obtained by The Chronicle.

Maria Ramiu, a senior staff attorney with the Youth Law Center in San Francisco, said she was disturbed by some staff members insistence on enforcing relatively minor rules, such as barring children from eating at other than scheduled mealtimes or watching a PG-13 movie. Ramiu also noted that police sometimes arrived and arrested children well after the shelter had handled the situation  apparently simply to punish the youth.

In a few situations, it seems that the shelter de-escalates and calms the youth down just to have him arrested, she said.

At the A. Miriam Jamison Childrens Center in Kern County, a visibly upset 14-year-old girl broke a twig off a tree and began swinging it, charging a counselor and striking her, according to a February incident report. The girl was physically restrained by staff and after three minutes began crying and dropped to her knees. Although she calmed down, she was still arrested and taken to juvenile hall, where she remained for five days.

Joy Johnson, program director at Kerns shelter in Bakersfield, disputed the account described in the incident report, faulting the now-retired supervisor who wrote it for minimizing it. She said the twig was actually a large stick that the girl tried to sharpen and that she hit the staff member several times, injuring the employees left hand and causing bruising and bleeding.

She became aggressive and defiant toward law enforcement, Johnson said, so they put the handcuffs on her, and they took her.

While the facilitys population is lower than in years past, some children still challenge staff, she said. Calls to law enforcement, she added, are required at times so that a mental health crisis team can be dispatched.

When a child here harms themselves, or someone else and we cannot de-escalate it, then we call law enforcement and theyll decide whether to call mental health or make an arrest, Johnson said.

In some cases, children were arrested at the behest of staff, including an incident at the Betty Jo McNeece Receiving Home in Imperial County, when a 12-year-old boy was seen aggressively approaching another child with a green scooter handle. The boy punched and cursed at staff, who called sheriffs deputies and were prompted to make a citizens arrest. The boy was then taken to juvenile hall.

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At many shelters, staff meticulously detailed the childrens threats and curses in their handwritten incident reports. Their notes indicate their own mounting frustration in situations that often began with a simple request, such as asking a child to wait for a bowl of cereal, and ended with employees being bit, spit at or punched.

Children also routinely ran away from shelters, only to fall into trouble elsewhere.

In Sacramento, teens were detained across the street or just outside the shelter after smoking cigarettes, throwing a Gatorade bottle at a car, trespassing and talking back to law enforcement officers. In one case, children were handcuffed and questioned about the theft of blankets from a nearby shopping center.

David Ballard, CEO of the Childrens Receiving Home of Sacramento, said under statewide reforms to residential care now under way, his county-contracted facility has received more difficult-to-place foster youths, adding that as a result, its hard to be 100 percent successful in managing their behaviors.

Despite the arrests of youths placed at his facility, Ballard described it as a refuge, stating: In many cases, were the last buffer between a teen and homelessness, crime or jail.

Recent incident reports show that the facility has struggled to keep tabs on youths caught up in mischief. In December, police detained several youths who had run across the street to a Shell gas station. Ballard said he is proud of the way his staff handled the situation  following the runaways and encouraging them to return to the shelter campus.

Questioned by police, one of the runaway youths, who was crying and shaking, is reported to have said: Would you want to live at the Receiving Home?

The officer replied: Unfortunately, youre going to have to until you leave or turn 18.

Karen de Sa, Cynthia Dizikes and Joaquin Palomino are Chronicle staff writers. Email: kdesa@sfchronicle.com, jpalomino@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino, @cdizikes

Fostering Failure

Read The Chronicles in-depth, multimedia investigation of how Californias foster care shelters have criminalized hundreds of children: www.sfchronicle.com/fostering-failure

Email The Chronicles Investigative Team: iteam@sfchronicle.com To contact us confidentially: hhttps://projects.sfchronicle.com/newstips/
Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office

An Antioch man suspected of smuggling illegal guns into California for resale was arrested, authorities said Friday.

Virgilio Salazar, 50, was booked March 27 into the Martinez Detention Facility on suspicion of importing an assault rifle, possession of an assault rifle and importing large capacity magazines, according to Contra Costa County sheriffs officials.
Congress has largely shielded states with medical marijuana laws from the governments war on drugs by barring U.S. prosecution of pot users and suppliers who are complying with the law in states like California. But a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the shield doesnt cover Californians who grow marijuana on federal land.

The restriction on prosecution that Congress has placed in the Justice Departments budget since 2014 does not limit the governments ability to enforce federal drug laws on federal land, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in refusing to block the retrial of two men charged with illegal cultivation on a federal tract in El Dorado County.

The budget language was initially sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa (Orange County), and Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, who has since left Congress. It prohibited the Justice Department from spending money to prevent states with medical marijuana laws  now 29 states and the District of Columbia  from implementing those laws.

Although Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called on federal prosecutors to override state laws and charge violations of the federal ban on marijuana in all states, President Trump has signed spending bills renewing the budget provisions. Federal courts have interpreted the restrictions as a prohibition on federal attempts to shut down state-approved medical marijuana dispensaries, and  in a 2016 Ninth Circuit ruling  on federal charges against dispensaries and growers that follow state law.

But the appeals court said the budget language did not apply to areas of a state that are owned by the federal government. Those include land near the town of Pilot Hill in El Dorado County where local officers, with a search warrant, found 118 marijuana plants in September 2012.

John Mahan, who had rented the land to cultivate medical marijuana, pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiracy to grow marijuana in violation of federal law. A jury deadlocked on charges against Richard Helmsley, described by Mahan as a grower, and Russell Gilmore, a security guard.

They then sought dismissal of the charges, based on the 2016 ruling by another Ninth Circuit panel protecting state-compliant growers from federal prosecution. But a federal judge ruled against them and the decision was upheld Thursday by the appeals court.

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Nothing in California law purports to authorize the cultivation of marijuana on federal land, Lynn Adelman, a federal judge from Wisconsin temporarily assigned to the appeals court, said in the 3-0 ruling. Even if state law tolerated marijuana cultivation on federal land, federal law forbids such use, he said, and enforcing that prohibition does not prevent California from otherwise implementing its medical marijuana regime.

Defense lawyers in the case declined to comment.
Prosecutors with Special Counsel Robert Mueller revealed to lawyers for Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, that they obtained a search warrant for information about five telephone numbers, suggesting the sprawling investigation may be headed in a new direction.

Prosecutors disclosed Thursday they got the warrant on March 9, or two weeks after Manafort was indicted for a second time amid Mueller's investigation into links between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign in the 2016 election. The warrant also was signed about two weeks after Manafort's former right-hand man, Rick Gates, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

The warrant involved a search of "information associated with'' five AT&T telephone numbers, according to a filing by prosecutors in federal court in Washington. Mueller declined to provide information about the search to defense lawyers because it involves "ongoing investigations that are not the subject of current prosecutions involving Manafort,'' according to the filing.

Mueller has charged 19 people, including 13 Russians. Five have pleaded guilty. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to indictments charging him with laundering profits from the tens of millions of dollars he made as an unregistered lobbyist for Ukraine's former president and other politicians. He also is accused of bank and tax fraud. None of the charges involved Manafort's work on the Trump campaign.

The specter of additional charges against Manafort loomed over a hearing this week in which prosecutors urged a judge to dismiss a civil lawsuit challenging Mueller's authority to investigate the case further.

"The government has said they have a continuing investigation,'' Manafort attorney Kevin Downing said at the hearing.

But it's not clear from the filing on Thursday whether the new warrant was designed to gather evidence against Manafort or others. Mueller made the filing in response to a request from Downing for more information in the pre-trial exchange of evidence. That includes various warrants the prosecutors have executed against Manafort, starting with a search of his house in Alexandria, Virginia, last year.

Mueller's prosecutors may have several purposes in mind by subpoenaing information on the phone numbers, said Jennifer Rodgers, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia University Law School.

They may be seeking "historical cell site information," which helps investigators determine when people were near each other at a particular time, said Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor. They may have subpoenaed phone service providers to obtain the contents of a phone, such as emails and texts, she said.

"It could be normal preparation for the trial," Rodgers said. "You would certainly want to get what you can about what he's doing on his phone, or where he is."

Prosecutors also could be opening a different piece of the investigation, she said.

In the filing, prosecutors said the judge should let them continue to withhold information from Manafort about warrants relating to a residence in Alexandria; a storage locker in Alexandria; a Manafort email account; and the five AT&T phone numbers. They said Manafort should receive all the information about the search in Washington of a hard drive, two email accounts, and three bank accounts.

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Mueller's team sought redactions for affidavits related to the names of informants and ongoing investigations. This week, prosecutors gave Manafort a redacted affidavit about the March 9 search, according to the filing.

In an April 2 filing, Mueller's prosecutors revealed some of the reasons they initially pursued Manafort, citing business ties between him and the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. They said an investigation of links between Russia and Trump's campaign "would naturally cover ties that a former Trump campaign manager had to Russian-associated political operatives, Russian-backed politicians, and Russian oligarchs."

Deripaska, the billionaire founder and majority shareholder of En+ Group, was among a group of Russian tycoons, companies and key allies of President Vladimir Putin hit Friday by U.S. sanctions.

Prosecutors "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," they wrote. "And prosecutors would naturally follow the money trail from Manafort's Ukrainian consulting activities."
To reading, writing and arithmetic, we can now add solidarity.

The new teacher activism  born in West Virginia and spreading to Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona  is not a flash in the pan. And its about more than the demand for higher wages and benefits. It is a revolt against decades of policies that gutted public institutions.

More immediately, it is a response to the decimation of state spending on education since the 2008 recession. The economy has recovered, but state support for education has not. In an excellent report last November on K-12 expenditures, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed that in 29 states, total state funding per student was lower in the 2015 school year than in the 2008 school year in real terms.

In Arizona, spending per student was down an astonishing 36.6 percent; in Oklahoma, it had dropped 15.6 percent; in Kentucky, 5.9 percent. Among the states, Concordia University-Portland reported, Arizona and Oklahoma ranked, respectively, 48th and 47th in 2015 per-pupil outlays.

As a marker of our countrys political direction, the teacher strikes and demonstrations are part of a larger upheaval against conservative assumptions that have long been embedded in the countrys thinking, in some cases going back to the 1970s. They should be seen in tandem with the student-led revolt against National Rifle Association orthodoxy on gun control and the mobilization against President Trump.

Progressives and moderates have been winning elections in unlikely places. Democrat Conor Lambs victory in a very red Pennsylvania district last month is a prime example of a trend visible all over the nation. In eight special elections in Oklahoma since Trump took office, according to an analysis last month by FiveThirtyEight, the swing to Democrats was 32.1 percentage points. It ranked behind only Kentucky, which held just two special elections in that period.

And progressives have been clawing back lost ground in some of their former strongholds. On Tuesday, a liberal backed by Democrats was elected to Wisconsins formally nonpartisan state Supreme Court. Rebecca Dallets triumph marked the first time the party had won an open seat on the top court since 1995.

The interaction of broad opposition to Trump, growing engagement on the Democratic side of politics, and specific revolts against conservative ideas suggests that we may be at the beginning of an uprising that transcends the moment. Corey Robin, a Brooklyn College political scientist and the author of The Reactionary Mind, argues that what were seeing is an attack on the Prop. 13 Order.

In 1978, California passed the property-tax-slashing Proposition 13, which portended the Reagan Revolution and a general shift to the right. The measure reflected conservative activism and the power of right-wing money. But it was also a sign of genuine popular feeling that property taxes on average homeowners had risen too high, too fast.

Todays rebellion, Prop. 13 in reverse, is also built on genuine disaffection, in this case over the impact of deep budget cutbacks in conservative states, usually to support tax cuts tilted toward corporations and the well-off.

The teachers are bringing this home by refusing to confine their energies to their own pay. They are highlighting the deterioration of the conditions students face  aging textbooks, crumbling buildings, and reductions in teaching time. About 20 percent of Oklahomas school districts have gone to four-day weeks.

The focus on school funding could also transform our education debate. A legitimate desire for education reform and widespread interest in charter schools as one vehicle for change have often elided into unrestrained teacher- and union-bashing. Parts of the right have used both as cover for undermining the very idea of public education.

The red state insurrections are a reminder of something that can be lost in our back-and-forth about school reform: Money matters. You cant run a decent school system on the cheap. Genuine reformers arent wrong to demand improvements in school quality. But they need to separate themselves unequivocally from those who simply want to trash public services.

Its too early to be certain that 2018 is 1978 turned on its head. But it would be short-sighted to overlook the signs that conservative ideology is on the defensive and that most voters are exhausted by divisive and self-absorbed presidential leadership. We have a lot of problems to solve, and the old right-wing bromides are only making them worse.

 2018,

Washington Post Writers Group
Of the myriad possible responses to Californias housing and homelessness crisis, the states politicians have a clear favorite: spending more money. But state and local governments evident difficulty using existing housing funds provides reason for skepticism.

The proceeds of a $2 billion bond issue for housing approved by the Legislature nearly two years ago, for example, have yet to be spent due to a lawsuit alleging misuse of mental health funds, the Los Angeles Times reported. Meanwhile, the corporate tax cut passed by Congress in December will reduce the value of a federal tax credit that is crucial to many affordable-housing projects, further impeding the spending of state and local funds. And many subsidized developments are being blocked altogether by neighborhood opposition.

San Franciscos plans to fund housing in the Haight-Ashbury, Forest Hill and other neighborhoods have been slowed or stopped by hostile neighbors. In Oakland, officials recently celebrated an affordable-housing complex breaking ground on BART-owned land 24 years after its conception.

In Southern California, Orange County, which recently cleared a sprawling riverbed homeless encampment, just canceled plans for new shelters amid a fierce backlash from the cities where they were to be built. And in Los Angeles, where voters approved a $1.2 billion bond issue to deal with homelessness in 2016, City Council members recently blocked two projects that would have used the funds, while the finances of the homeless services agency that would manage revenue from a recent county sales tax increase have come under scrutiny.

Still, the daunting need for shelter and services lends intuitive appeal to the idea that resources are lacking. And despite the obstacles to productive use of existing funds, officials and candidates are pushing a remarkable array of additional spending measures.

In June, San Francisco voters will consider a proposal to raise $1 billion for low- and middle-income housing and homelessness services by taxing commercial property owners, and advocates are working to qualify another $300 million measure for the November ballot. Also in the fall, voters statewide will consider borrowing $4 billion for housing under a bond measure passed by the Legislature last year.

The top Democratic candidates for governor, meanwhile, want the state to boost housing subsidies by restoring the $5 billion redevelopment program, which was troubled by waste and abuse before Gov. Jerry Brown eliminated it as an austerity measure.

Brown has proposed that next years projected $6 billion budget surplus be kept in reserve, but others want to carve it up for housing subsidies, too. State Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, and the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and nine other cities propose spending $1.5 billion of it on homelessness, with an equivalent local government match. State Sens. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, and Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, have introduced legislation to spend $2 billion of the surplus on the crisis.

Granted, given reduced federal spending on homelessness and Californias vast housing shortage, the state could spend more. But even the greatest recent expenditures have made a relatively small difference.

Nearly $5 billion in bonds approved by voters in 2002 and 2006, for instance, produced about 57,000 units, according to the Legislative Analysts Office. Thats about half of Californias residential construction deficit in a single year and less than 4 percent of the total shortage of affordable homes as of 2016.

That and the halting efforts to use existing funds underscore the fact that government spending is not the most efficient way to house people  and that barriers to all kinds of housing must be broken first. Among the current efforts to do so are a bill by Assemblymen David Chiu, D-San Francisco, and Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, to streamline approval of projects devoted to affordable and supportive housing for the formerly homeless; and legislation by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, to allow high-density housing near mass transit. Compared with the next billion in public spending, the likely impact of such measures on the states housing supply is invaluable.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
As The San Francisco Chronicle reported last month, California would be on the front lines of a U.S.-China trade war. This is what Californians and we in the Chinese Consulate really dont want to see. But when a country is forced into a trade war, it has no choice but to react accordingly.

On April 3, Washington announced a list of 1,300 Chinese products worth about $50 billion that could be subject to 25 percent tariffs. This follows a new tariff on steel and aluminum announced last month. China was forced to take countermeasures by announcing new tariffs on products from the United States, including nuts, fruit and wine. China would impose tariffs of 25 percent on 106 types of U.S. products worth $50 billion, if the United States plans become reality 60 days later.

In the almost 40 years since China and the United States established diplomatic relations, both countries and both peoples benefited a lot from economic and trade cooperation. In just four decades, bilateral trade volume increased by 233 times from $2.5 billion in 1979 to $583.7 billion last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce in China. Trade is creating numerous jobs, revenues and tax to both countries.

We are happy to see that China is Californias largest trade partner and third-largest export destination. Californias exports to China grew 8.2 times over the past two decades, totaling $130 billion last year. The increasing trade with China provides a strong market for Californias producers of computers, electronics and agricultural products.

Californias big companies also are operating well in China. For example, Apples sales in China were $44.7 billion last year, and this figure is not included in trade volume statistics. Furthermore, Chinas investors, tourists and overseas students are helping to fuel the economic growth of California and boost local employment.

However, the free-trade basis for China-California economic cooperation may be in danger under the federal governments new, unilateral protectionist actions. This opening of Pandoras box exposes the United States to the risk of retaliation. A possible trade war could affect peoples daily life, harm China-U.S. relations and subnational cooperation between China and California, and disturb the global trade system.

Trade is a voluntary exchange agreed to by the parties concerned. China did not force anyone to buy its products, nor did China pursue a trade surplus over others. Solving trade frictions needs efforts by both sides through peaceful negotiations based on equality and mutual respect. Both China and the United States have too much to lose to allow anyone to trigger a trade war.

China will continue to uphold free trade and pursue opening-up to further trade as a fundamental policy. As the worlds second-largest economy, with a market of more than 1.3 billion people, China accounts for 10 percent of the total imports of the world. In the past five years, China has imported $9 trillion in commodities. It the next five years, it will import more than $10 trillion in commodities and services. Were working hard to open wider to the outside world, which will provide even broader opportunities for other countries, including the United States.
Dance history will be made in San Francisco this month. So far, its a matter of statistics. The three-year preparation period is the longest ever for a San Francisco Ballet project. The 12 choreographers (and assistants) who will participate comprise the largest creative complement the company has ever fielded. Its impressive. But whether Unbound: A Festival of New Works will answer Artistic Director Helgi Tomassons question  where is ballet headed in our time?  is something we wont know until it all ends May 6.

No denying that the planning for Unbound, a sequel to a similar, smaller festival 10 years ago, has been almost military in its rigor. As company General Manager Debra Bernard explains, the 12 dance makers each visited for three-week periods in relays last summer. Meanwhile, Tomasson had divided his 78 dancers into three mini-companies (each comprising its allotment of principals, soloists and corps) and assigned each team to four of the 12 choreographers, spreading the distribution through the summer.

So, for the most part, each dancer, depending on the choreographers plan, might have learned as many as four ballets for the festival. During their three weeks on site last summer, the dance makers also were expected to deliver their musical, scenic and costume requirements to the company. Costumes and decor were constructed all over the globe. All of the dozen artists will be here for most of this month. Its a real jigsaw puzzle, said artistic administrator Abby Masters.

There have been a few awkward moments along the way. The music in one case presented a problem. Arthur Pita wanted to borrow scores by Bjork for his ballet, but the Icelandic composer and pop diva was not easily persuaded. Credit another Icelander named Tomasson and a flurry of letters and phone calls in Icelandic for securing permission to use Bjorks music.

Tomasson started the creative process three years ago, when he sought out the busy choreographers who he felt were indispensable to Unbound; Christopher Wheeldon is the only returnee from 2008. Tomasson also sought diversity in movement styles and artists backgrounds. Five of the 12 choreographers will be making their San Francisco Ballet debuts: Alonzo King (his own local Lines Ballet is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary), David Dawson, Dwight Rhoden, Cathy Marston and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.

Marstons dances are almost completely unknown in this country; Ochoas dances have been performed locally by Smuin Ballet, the defunct Ballet Silicon Valley and the touring Joffrey Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Both women have, in the past, confronted gender issues. And, in the past, San Francisco Ballet, like other major American companies, has not engaged an abundance of women to create dances.

Both choreographers stand out for another reason. They believe in the power of narrative ballet, which is still not completely accepted in the post-Balanchine era. Story is essential to British-born Marston. Back home, she has choreographed such literary classics as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Lolita.

When I visited her rehearsal last summer, she was preparing Snowblind, an adaptation of Edith Whartons bleak novel Ethan Frome. In this trio, the protagonists  Ethan, Mattie and Zeena  are locked in a heroic psychological struggle, with every movement looking weighty and monumental. Marston quietly observed her dancers, Ulrik Birkkjaer, Sarah Van Patten and Mathilde Froustey, arranging an arm here, a leg there, with the concentration of a master sculptor.

Yes, I love storytelling and working with characters through dance, said Marston in a post-rehearsal chat in a Ballet office. I am not against abstraction and I like to play with how far you can abstract a narrative and still tell a story. I try to avoid props and ballet mime wherever possible. I go to abstraction and come back to storytelling.

I started here with a plan and no movement, she continued. At this point, Im tightening it up to fit it all into a half hour. Everything works. I am relieved.

Mention difficulties encountered by female choreographers and Marston shoots back, How much time do you have? Getting serious, she says, The treatment of women is a big problem in the U.K., too, less so in Europe. Last year, Crystal Pite made a piece for the Royal Ballet and it broke an 18-year record of men only. There are so many contributing factors; there are only a few top women in the field. You have to dig to find the less-than-top figures in the hope that they will, through sufficient exposure, rise to the top.

Its interesting that the attitude towards me changed after I directed the Bern (Switzerland) Ballet. Companies are asking for narrative, and I do it. The more work you do, the more work you get.

That statement applies to Ochoa, who said in a conversation that she has eight commissions in the hopper. For San Francisco, she has staged the quasi-abstract Guernica, inspired by Pablo Picassos career and the masterpiece he painted in 1937 in response to the destruction of a village during the Spanish Civil War.

What I like about this artist is that he used his art to make heartrending, poetic images about a senseless act of violence that should not be forgotten, says Ochoa. My piece was inspired by a TV report of the gassing of a Syrian town, and I felt helpless, unable to watch the whole thing.

Ochoa is also fascinated by Picassos evolving style. He would change it every time he took a new mistress, said Ochoa. He also always painted himself as the minotaur. But my greatest challenge was learning how to translate the Cubist style into movement. I hope to confuse viewers, so they wont know if its an arm or a leg they are looking at. Projections and costumes will leave little doubt about the source of the choreographers inspiration.

Ochoa did not come from the ballet world, but from the contemporary and jazz dance spheres, which favor collaboration between dancer and choreographer. She made her first professional dance 17 years ago at 27. My career bloomed at a slow rate. I never found my gender too much of a problem, says Ochoa. Ive always had lots of work.

Yet Ochoa is conscious of the gender problem in this country, and she is sympathetic. Times are changing. It is essential that the young generation have role models, she says. If I can be a model for these 18- and 19-year-old girls who aspire to be choreographers, maybe, in the future, there will be more.

Allan Ulrich is The San Francisco Chronicles dance correspondent.

Unbound: A Festival of New Works

Opens April 20 and runs through May 6. War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F. Tickets: $28-$365. (415) 865-2000. www.sfballet.org

Program A: Alonzo King, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck. April 20-May 6.

Program B: Myles Thatcher, Cathy Marston, David Dawson. April 21-May 4.

Program C: Stanton Welch, Trey McIntyre, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. April 24-May 5.

Program D: Edwaard Liang, Dwight Rhoden, Arthur Pita. April 26-May 5.

Boundless: A Symposium on Ballets Future: Four sessions on diversity, globalism, technology and other trending topics in ballet. Visit the website for pricing, dates and locations. Free-$35.

Unbound: A Conversation on the Future of Ballet: With Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, Dance Theatre of Harlem Artistic Director Virginia Johnson and dance critic Marina Harss. 6 p.m. April 27.

Ballet Unbound? The Aesthetics and Politics of Ballet in a Globalized World:

Choreographers Alonzo King and Dwight Rhoden in conversation with Marina Harss and West Coast dance scholars. 11:30 a.m. April 28.

Silicon Ballet: Bringing Ballet and Technology Together on Stage, on Film, and Online: S.F. Dance Film Festival Managing Director Judy Flannery, leading choreographer/tech innovator Sydney Skybetter and immersive technologist Rachel Sibley. 5:30 p.m. April 28.

Boundless : Fostering New Voices in Ballet Choreography, Leadership, and Audiences: Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson, S.F. Ballet School leadership, Rhoden and Smuin Contemporary American Ballet Artistic Director Celia Fushille, moderated by Virginia Johnson. 11 a.m. April 29.
It began with a March rally in San Franciscos West Portal neighborhood, where participants held Jane Kim signs in one hand and umbrellas in the other to beat back the morning drizzle.

Kim, a supervisor in a downtown district who is running for mayor on June 5, gave a speech deriding a housing bill by state Sen. Scott Wiener, her political rival. The bill would prevent local governments from rejecting proposals for tall, dense buildings near transit hubs and lines, a notion that has infuriated owners of single-family homes and neighborhood activists on the west side of town.

Kim said SB827 would quilt the city with seven-story luxury condos, a message that played well with George Wooding, president of the Coalition for San Francisco Neighborhoods, who was at the rally. He lives in Mid-town Terrace, between Sutro Tower and Laguna Honda Hospital.

I dont want the state to start tinkering with all the planning of San Francisco, Wooding said, adding that Kims stand against SB827 fits the west side like a glove.

Her opposition appears to be propelling her campaign  and deepening the rift between Kim and Wiener  with nine weeks to go until the June 5 special election. West side voters tend to elect moderates, but theyve found common ground with Kim, a progressive, on this issue. Moderates favor free-market housing solutions, whereas progressives lean toward higher amounts of affordable housing and extracting concessions from developers.

When asked Thursday if Wiener had handed her a campaign gift, Kim responded with a laugh, Hes certainly given us an issue to debate.

He also gave Kim a way to court older, wealthy white voters in West Portal  what we think of as the true NIMBYs of the city, said political consultant David Latterman, who worked for Wiener during his successful 2016 state Senate race against Kim.

Her hook is dont build, Latterman continued. And if she gets to needle Scott, well, thats a bonus for her.

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Kim said she timed the rally to happen the same week as a Board of Supervisors committee hearing on SB827, which  even though she is a member of that committee  she did not attend. She also said she picked West Portal because she had another event nearby the same morning, so it was convenient to do it there.

In a tight mayoral race among three candidates who have similar views on most things, housing and land use have become the major points of contention.

Supervisor London Breed has emerged as the moderate, pro-housing candidate  she got the sole endorsement of San Franciscos Yes In My Backyard group, which advocates building homes at all price points everywhere in the city. Mark Leno, who has receded a bit in recent polls, is trying to play the middle. He told The Chronicles editorial board that hes against Wieners legislation, though he praised the general concept of putting housing near transit.

Kim, whom polls show to be neck-and-neck with Breed, has adopted a shrewd strategy: She appears to be unifying her base of tenant coalitions on the east side of town with more conservative homeowners in places like Balboa Terrace and Forest Hill.

Those two constituencies have joined hands to fight Wieners bill, which would require cities to allow four- to eight-story apartment or condominium buildings in any residential area thats within a half mile of a major transit station. San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting is a co-sponsor. It would apply statewide.

Of her opposition to the bill, Kim said: Its a pure giveaway to developers. We are simply enriching the pockets of landowners and developers without getting anything in return.

The San Francisco Tenants Union says SB827 would cause displacement and prevent cities from setting affordable housing requirements for developers, although the bill explicitly says it would not interfere with those requirements. Wealthy residents fear it would allow developers to put giant apartment towers in the citys low-rise enclaves, where single-family homes predominate.

Wiener views Kims marrying of these two demographics as political opportunism.

I hope it doesnt work, he said in an interview Thursday, noting that Kims positions on other issues, such as her reluctance to remove homeless tent camps, are not aligned with west side voters.

The issue has provided Kim inroads into prosperous northern parts of the city as well. Supervisor Catherine Stefani, whose district includes the Marina and Cow Hollow, said shes received 560 emails opposing SB827, compared with about 72 emails supporting it.

Its scrambled the traditional moderate and progressive factions, said Nathan Ballard, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Mayor Mark Farrell. He emphasized that he was not speaking on Farrells behalf.

This is not left and right  its NIMBY versus YIMBY, Ballard said. There isnt a neighborhood activist in San Francisco who is going to let Sacramento decide what goes in next door to them. People in Bernal Heights or Cow Hollow dont want their neighborhood to turn into Manhattan.

Opponents who packed the rancorous supervisors committee hearing last month compared the bill to an undemocratic power grab and a hydrogen bomb that will blow San Francisco to bits. Supporters say it will help unclog freeways, lower carbon emissions and stabilize housing prices.

The pro and anti sides clashed Tuesday when they held dueling protests outside City Hall, which at points devolved into shouting and shoving. Later that day, the Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 in favor of a resolution to oppose Wieners bill. Kim voted for the resolution; Breed, who supports the bills intent, was among the dissenters.

To some political observers, this issue is one of the few that sets the mayoral candidates apart.

All of our debates come down to land use, said Laura Foote Clark, executive director of the Yes In My Backyard group.

The state bill has become a huge campaign for Wiener, a former supervisor from the Castro who won the bruising 2016 state Senate contest against Kim by a narrow margin. Centrist constituencies, including older white west side voters, helped secure his victory.

Those voters are educated and engaged, and turn out in high numbers, Latterman said.

If youre going to pander, you pander to folks who are going to vote, he added. And those folks are going to vote.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Wiener endorsed Breed on Monday at a ceremony in the Castro near Lenos campaign office. But he also endorsed Leno months before, and some interpreted his recent backing of Breed as a sign of how much the housing debate  and SB827 in particular  has shaped this mayors race since as a candidate she is most favorable toward it.

Others saw it as Wieners way of saying, Anyone but Jane.

The June election is likely do-or-die for Kim, who will be termed out of her supervisor seat at the end of this year. If she loses, she could fade out of city politics. But if she wins, shell be a rising star and a bigger threat to Wiener moving forward.

Some speculate that Kim and Wiener may spar for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosis seat at some point or for a higher state office. Wieners name has also been floated as a potential candidate for mayor in 2019 or 2023.

Absolutely, said Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University. If the two politicians dont compete in a future mayoral contest, they could go head-to-head for lieutenant governor, he said.

Its highly likely there will be a rematch one of these years, Ballard said.

Wiener and Kim both downplayed the idea.

Im not focused on Janes political future, or mine, Wiener said. Im focused on doing my job as a state senator and on getting a superb mayor for San Francisco  and I think it would be Leno or Breed.

Similarly, Kim said on Thursday she has not thought past June 5.
Theres a new bit of evidence that Californias long-running unhappiness with President Trump and his policies is rubbing off on the Republican politicians who support him.

Cooks Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, came out with a report Friday that moved the race for Republican Rep. David Valadaos Central Valley seat from the Likely Republican category to Lean Republican, which signals that the November election could be a real contest.

Valadao, a dairyman from Hanford (Kings County), has a lot of company as a Republican in an increasingly precarious spot. Cook changed the ratings of 13 congressional races across the country, and every one of them reflected the Democrats improving chances.

Cook already has made it clear that he sees tough times for the GOP in California.

Two Republican seats left open by the announced retirements of Reps. Ed Royce of Fullerton (Orange County) and Darrell Issa of Vista (San Diego County), are listed as leaning Democratic. GOP seats held by Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock (Stanislaus County), Steve Knight of Lancaster (Los Angeles County) and Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa (Orange County) are rated as toss-ups, while the district held by Rep. Mimi Walters of Irvine (Orange County) joins Valadaos on the Lean Republican list.

Democrats are counting on plucking several California seats from Republicans as part of their effort to flip 24 districts nationally and take the House. Not surprisingly, they were pleased by the downgrading of Valadaos virtual sure-thing status.

This rating change shows Congressman Valadaos vulnerability ahead of this years election, Andrew Godinich, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

But its no news to Valadao that hes likely to be in a tough race. With a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 46 percent to 28 percent, hes always going to be a target. But after serving a term in the Assembly, the 40-year-old Valadao was elected to Congress in 2012 and comfortably re-elected in 2014 and 2016, despite the districts Democratic tilt.

His only opponent this year is Democratic businessman T.J. Cox.
We all want job satisfaction, right? To go home at night, put our feet up and feel weve accomplished something at work that day? So is it really wrong for a young woman to take pleasure in her job, even if her job is killing random strangers for a price?

Killing Eve is a new drama from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator of the singularly screwy charmer Fleabag, premiering on BBC America on Sunday, April 8. Not only is it way more fun than most assassination dramas, its also nicely conceived and, you should pardon the expression, executed.

Oxana (Jodie Comer, The White Princess), who goes by the name Villanelle, is a young Russian woman and hired assassin who likes variety in her work. Sometimes she just offs a target with a semiautomatic attack rifle, but other times, she creates an odorless perfume that kills when it is sniffed. Or how about a long silver pin implanted in the right eye of an Italian mobster in Tuscany? A little stabll do ya, right? Villanelle has a very low threshold of boredom, which is the key to her quirky, almost childlike character. Just for fun, while awaiting her contact, Oxana arranges herself on a sofa surrounded by empty pill bottles to make it look as though shes taken her own life. Her sense of humor is consistently lost on everyone.

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh, Greys Anatomy), who was raised in the U.S., works for Britains MI5 arranging security for high-profile foreign visitors. She and her partner, Bill Pargrave (David Haig), are called into a meeting with the head of the Russia desk of the MI6 foreign intelligence service, Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw, True Blood), to discuss the assassination of a Russian diplomat in Vienna. The victims girlfriend was a witness to the killing and is headed to Britain. Eve and Bill are merely supposed to arrange security for her, but Eve alone concludes that the Russian was done in by a woman. Shes not taken seriously by anyone, except Martens, who recruits Eve and Bill to be part of a secret MI6 unit looking to protect its witness from the assassin.

In addition to Eve and Bill, the unit includes Elena (Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Downward Dog) and Kenny (Sean Delaney, Midsomer Murders), a former hacker.

The series, based on the Villanelle novels by Luke Jennings, works on multiple levels. And thats what sets it apart, how well Waller-Bridge is able to balance whimsy with mayhem.

On the surface, Oxana and Eve couldnt be more unalike, but the reason they are so well-matched is because, beneath the surface, they are both obsessively devoted to their respective jobs.

Comer and Oh are terrific. They only have brief scenes together in the four episodes made available for review (three others were offered, too late for review), but thats enough to make us look forward to what can only be described as an inevitable and deadly battle of wits. Fiona Shaw adds to the fun with a smart, and equally offbeat performance.

It may see like an elaborate parlor trick to combine screwball comedy with deadly cat and mouse, but Waller-Bridge isnt doing it just because she can. As executed by a superb cast and direction, her script skillfully uses humor to lighten and refract the violence and tension. Soon enough, whenever we see Oxana smile, which is often, were pretty sure someone is about to meet his or her maker.

The troubling part is that youll be smiling too.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV

Killing Eve: Drama, 8 p.m. Sunday, April 8, BBC America
Tropical islandstyle humidity will turn Bay Area air sticky in coming days as a weather system with a moisture plume stretching all the way to the Hawaiian Islands moves into Northern California.

Experts are saying this so-called "atmospheric river" could carry a record-moist air mass, meaning the amount of water vapor associated with it could be the highest ever, but that doesn't mean all that moisture will actually hit the ground.

"Whoa: amount of atmospheric moisture near Bay Area could approach *all time* record high level on Sat w/incoming #PineappleExpress #AtmosphericRiver at exact time of year when it typically reaches *minimum* value. That's incredible!" Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA tweeted.

Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's office in Monterey, says that it's unusual for the Bay Area to see this level of moisture in the air at this time of year, and that we won't know whether we break any records until the system hits.

Gass says a number of indicators determine the moisture content in the atmosphere and one of them is measurements taken from a weather balloon that's launched twice a day from Oakland International Airport.

Rainfall totals forecast for this storm are impressive for this time of the year, and the Weather Service predicts San Francisco could see up to two-inches of rain in 48 hours.

But forecasters point out that given the astounding, potentially record-breaking atmospheric moisture, the rainfall won't be anything remarkable.

"The strongest part of the upper level system is going to be farther north and that's going to limit some of our rainfall totals," says Gass. "The lifting mechanism that allows us to get heavier rainfall isn't going to be there."

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.

ALSO, What's an 'atmospheric river' and why do we get these supercharged storms?

Now Playing: Atmospheric rivers stretching across the Pacific Ocean inundate the West Coast with torrential rain and flooding, and buries the Sierra and Cascades and Pacific Northwest mountains with massive snowfall each year, so what causes them and how do they work? Video: Ted Andersen, SFGATE

Swain further explains in a blog post on his WeatherWest site, "In order to 'squeeze out' all of that water vapor as precipitation, there has to be some atmospheric mechanism to cause air to rise, water to condense, and precipitation to subsequently fall."

At its start, this storm is likely to lack any atmospheric lifting and the coastal mountains "will have to do all the heavy lifting."
A car found several hundred feet down an embankment in the Grizzly Peak area of Oakland led firefighters and police officers Friday to the body of a woman that is now being investigated in connection with a missing persons report, law enforcement officials said.

The vehicle was discovered near the 4900 block of Grizzly Peak Boulevard around 8:30 a.m., according to the Oakland Police Department. Investigators traced the car, a white Toyota Prius, back to a person reported missing, though they did not give further details.
The torrents of rain headed toward Northern California has prompted the National Park Service to preemptively close off access to Yosemite Valley beginning Friday at 5 p.m.

The park service issued an alert Thursday urging anyone planning a trip to Yosemite National Park this weekend to make alternative travel plans as a so-called atmospheric river rushes toward the region.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera opened another front Thursday in the citys legal combat with the Trump administration, suing Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the unexplained withdrawals of Obama-era civil rights guidelines meant to protect poor people from jail for unpaid fines and strengthen rights of the disabled.

The guidance documents describe the governments interpretation of federal laws, providing information that can be important to state and local agencies, employers and recipients of federal funds. Sessions withdrew many of them in December, in line with President Trumps decree to roll back a wide range of federal regulations.

Sessions said the guidelines were unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper. In his federal court lawsuit, Herrera said other Justice Department branches have explained in detail why some guidance documents are no longer needed, but the only stated rationale for withdrawing six guidelines  all dealing with minorities, the poor or the disabled  came from Sessions vague explanation.

That violates a law requiring federal agencies to engage in reasoned decision-making and provide meaningful explanations for actions that have legal consequences, the suit said.

Theyre trying to strip civil rights protections from some of our most vulnerable neighbors and keep them marginalized or mired in poverty while theyre helping out Wall Street tycoons and oil conglomerates, Herrera said in a statement.

He noted that Sessions Justice Department has also reversed former President Barack Obamas policies that sought to protect minority rights by opposing state voter ID laws. In addition, he said, Sessions department has refused to enforce court-approved settlements, known as consent decrees, over allegations of discrimination by local police departments.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

The suit came two days after San Francisco, represented by Herrera, joined a nationwide suit challenging the Trump administrations plan to add a question on U.S. citizenship to the 2020 census. The city has also sued Sessions for seeking to withdraw federal funding from San Francisco because of its refusal to aid in federal immigration enforcement.

The guidelines that Thursdays lawsuit seeks to reinstate include standards for state and local courts that impose fines and fees in criminal cases, and advisories to juvenile courts and probation departments on levels of financial penalties against lawbreaking youths.

Those documents have prompted a number of states to review and overhaul their practices to avoid perpetuating poverty or locking up low-income people because they couldnt afford to pay fines, the suit said. It said the guidelines were also cited in a successful legal challenge to drivers license suspensions in Solano County for those who were unable to pay traffic fines.

One of the disability-related guidelines spelled out standards for compliance with a 1999 Supreme Court ruling. The ruling required state and local governments to give people with disabilities the option to live in their own homes or group homes and share workplaces with non-disabled employees.

The guideline helped disabled people move away from sheltered workshops, where they are often paid much less than the minimum wage and are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, the suit said. It said more than 200 disability-rights organizations have protested the guidelines withdrawal.

In another area, the suit said the Justice Department gave no explanation for withdrawing documents advising employers about compliance with a federal ban on job discrimination based on national origin.
Police arrested a man in San Francisco on Friday who was accused of stealing guns in the South Bay and threatening to go to the city to kill people, authorities said.

Dustin Hamilton, 44, was taken into custody without incident about 6 a.m. around Fourth and King streets, near AT&T Park, after several people recognized him and called the police. Two firearms in his possession were recovered, police said.
The Bay Area arts scene is disappearing.

It seems that such a grand proclamation is issued every few years with a rotating adjective  dying, dwindling or any other d-word that signifies departure and diminishment.

But when artists leave, and they most certainly are leaving the Bay Area, they do not necessarily announce their departures with such vague, spectacular statements. They often go with a whisper, a quiet slinking away.

In the spirit of our ongoing Grass is Greener series, which chronicles the stories of those who left the Bay Area for elsewhere, SFGATE spoke to a handful of artists who fled the Bay Area, or plan to leave soon, to learn why they left and where they went. Some lived here a short time, trying the region on for a few months before moving on. Others grew up here, spent their childhoods doodling graffiti in San Franciscos alleyways and penning songs about the fog to be played at a warehouse gig.

An expensive city like San Francisco sometimes seems as if its full of transients  young people looking to give the Bay Area a shot before heading to a place where a house can be purchased and roots laid down.

One study estimated that somebody must make more than $110,000 to live comfortably in the Bay Area, and thats not necessarily conducive to a thriving arts scene.

Rent is too steep for a full-time artist without a steady income, said Michael Kershnar, a visual artist with a background in skateboarding. His artwork is visible throughout the Bay Area, in murals, on skate decks or at The Growlery, an artist residency and gallery space in the Lower Haight, which he manages.

Kershnar lived in the Bay Area from 2008-2011, but left when the cost of living spiked and studio space became hard to come by. He returned two years ago to manage The Growlery, but with his contract up at the end of the year, hes on to the next residency. Such is the reality for many artists, who must go where opportunity presents itself, whether in the form of a residency, teaching gig or grant.

In January, Kershnar heads to San Clemente, Calif., for a three-month residency at The House of Trestles. After that, hes not so sure.

Related video: Where people move when they leave the Bay Area



Claire George, frontwoman of indie band Heartwatch, moved back home to Seattle last year to be near her family and study music production. She lived in San Francisco for five years, and enmeshed herself in the regions lively music scene. In that time, she says she saw lots of people leaving, but at that point, the artist exodus was standard fare  San Francisco had been hemorrhaging artists for a long time, she said.

During her San Francisco tenure, George worked a full-time job in addition to making music, which she says was common practice in the scene.

Pretty much everyone in my band had a full-time job or was in school, she said.

A high cost of living doesnt just hamper the ability of an artist to make a living wage, but can also take a toll on the viability of art spaces, which often struggle to compete with the competitive set by other neighborhood tenants, like for-profit companies and businesses.

Dwindling art space is not the main incentive for artists to leave, but it doesnt help, said Erin McElroy, the founder and director of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, a Bay Area digital mapping and storytelling collective that charts the effects of gentrification and displacement.

Most art venues, like galleries, concert halls and collectives, do not qualify for rent control because they are not residential spaces. Rent can increase at the whim of a landlord, McElroy says, which she sees as a big reason many informal collectives and underground spaces have disappeared in the last 10 years.

Community land trusts have been really useful in protecting tenant space, she said, but it would be great to see more land trusts for art and commercial spaces.

Local organizations have mobilized in recent years to fight these displacements, including the nonprofit Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST). On Thursday, CAST announced a pilot grant that will award $350,000 in funding to 14 Oakland-based arts and cultural organizations seeking real estate assistance. The announcement came just days before the Dec. 2 anniversary of the tragic Ghost Ship warehouse fire, which took the lives of 36 people and spurred a crackdown on underground live-work spaces across the Bay Area.

***

In many ways, yes, its harder to be an artist here than ever before, McElroy said.

McElroys statement is backed, or at least correlated with, statistical trends.

In 2015, the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) surveyed nearly 600 artists living in San Francisco. The results were frightening; Over 70 percent of respondents said they had been or were being displaced from their workplaces, homes or both. Thirty percent feared displacement would happen in the near future.

One of the things we learned through that study is that artists are very unclear about their tenancy situation, very unclear about their rights, when their leases expired, said Kate Patterson, director of communications for SFAC. She says the city realized a major pain point in artist housing advocacy was the availability of information, especially when it came to bureaucracy-heavy endeavors like applying for affordable housing.

SFAC was intended to provide grants for local artists to create new work, Patterson explained, But stability is critical when creating new work, and we dont yet have a living assistance program, she said. Thats a need area that has emerged out of the time that were in.

The commission is exploring the possibility of developing affordable housing, but Patterson says it could be years out.

We need something right now.

Earlier this month, SFAC announced plans to conduct another, more comprehensive survey of local artists in the coming year. The organization also recently launched the Mission Economic Development Agency, a $115,000 grant designed to help artists access extant affordable housing.

***

When an influx of people belonging to a certain group leave a place, a more visceral, less visible challenge arises  a lack of community, and a community forced to fight for slim resources.

Within the Bay Area music scene, George says because there are fewer players, fellow musicians arent always open to collaboration.

It becomes more competitive, she explains.

Then theres the monetary thing in San Francisco, she said, where a lack of opportunity often transforms art-making into a transactional, grabby process.

It can put a damper on your ability to feel open, she said.

But a small community can create even tighter bonds among those able to make it work, those fighting to stay in the Bay Area. A group mentality materializes.

This mentality can fuel fierce divisions among residents belonging to different communities. Many of those interviewed for this story spoke in terms of us  artists  versus them: Tech.

Unless I quit music and moved into tech, I would never live comfortably, said musician Erica Zappia, who moved to Texas in June.

Said artist Michael Kershnar, I guess my arts and relationship skillset is not as prized as being in tech.

Painter Kate Kuhne left San Francisco for Los Angeles after half a year. I found San Francisco to be creatively constipated, infested with tech zombies, she said.

Related video: What you'll miss when you leave the Bay Area

Identifying as an artist can act as a form of cultural currency in the Bay Area, says Anti-Eviction Mapping Project founder McElroy. But the definition varies. Artist could be applied to muralists and painters, but also musicians and filmmakers, even those working in the tech industry.

Designers making six-figure salaries at tech companies might identify as artists, but theyre not living as precariously as someone painting murals or creating art linked to different subcultures, McElroy said.

Sometimes the idea of an artist in the Bay Area is a white, bohemian creative person, she explained, and such a person, though living outside the dominant culture, can contribute to gentrification and displacement.

She advocates for a rejiggering of the identifier artist, to include those making political art, or art linked to various subcultures  people of color, the working class, those threatened by redevelopment and gentrification.

Once again, it comes down to a problem of identity. At least thats how illustrator and Bay Area native Anya Sapozhnikov sees it. She moved to New York City two years ago in pursuit of an art scene with more freedom and innovation.

San Francisco is a tech city, she said. Not an art city.

Such designations are ultimately fluid. Cities change, and the transformation of a place can play out over decades, or just a few years.

Change has come quickly to the Bay Area, but also to the places one goes to escape such instability. Said Baudelaire, "The form of a city changes faster than the human heart."

George, the musician in Seattle, has found many similarities to San Francisco in her new home.

"I left San Francisco excited for this new creative climate," she said. "And the exact same thing is happening here."

In January, she's moving to Los Angeles.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.
San Francisco's newest residents are richer, younger and more educated than those leaving the city, a new study finds.

The former Gold Rush boomtown was once a place people went to make their fortunes, but a new BuildZoom study reveals most of San Francisco's newcomers arrive with ample cash in their pockets, at least by national standards.

According to Issi Romem, the author of the study and chief BuildZoom economist, people who moved to San Francisco between 2005 and 2016 made $12,640 more annually than those who left the city in the same time period. This figure accelerated from 2010 to 2016, when newcomers made about $18,700 more than former residents.

In-migrants arrive not only with higher salaries, but also higher levels of education. Around 60 percent of newly arrived folks possess at least a four-year college degree, compared to 50 percent of outgoing residents.

READ ALSO: Bay Area residents are flooding Sacramento. What's it really like living there?

Even highly educated young folks pulling six-figure salaries have trouble staying in San Francisco. Romem is quick to distinguish between "income" and "wealth"  many newcomers possess the former, but lack the latter. That creates problems for residential longevity.

When home values increase faster than incomes, buying a house becomes more heavily dependent on one's wealth than income. If housing prices continue to grow at a rate disproportionate to incomes, "this could cause homeownership to become more dependent on cross-generational assistance," Romem writes.

"This state of affairs would sharpen the distinction between owners and renters, aligning them more closely with socio-economic class than with people's stage in the life cycle."

High real estate costs have a deterrent effect on lower-paid workers  when people know they can't afford a place, they stay away, further increasing the socioeconomic rift between in-migrants and out-migrants.

A new class of San Franciscans has grown out of the expensive coastal city and the difficulties it poses to those hoping to settle down, Romem says. He refers to this group as the "transient class." They move to a coastal metro for career opportunities when young and, typically, single, then leave when the region proves incompatible with raising a family.

"When young, people tend to make do with less in order to 'survive' the housing crisis," Romem told SFGATE. Survival in Silicon Valley often means living with multiple roommates and making do with less space, he said.

Substandard living conditions may suffice when you're young and hungry, but then "people hit that point in life" when they want to "set roots down," Romem said.

When kids enter the mix  and bring with them the high cost of childcare and an increased need for space  people must seriously consider whether to stay in the costly Bay Area, or go. Many choose the latter, and move to other metros with ample career opportunity but lower housing costs, like Austin, Texas, Dallas or Atlanta. A recent study even found the so-called "Bay Area exodus" has led to a regional U-Haul shortage.

These cities, and others like them in the southern part of the United States, have what the Bay Area lacks: affordable housing.

READ ALSO: People who left the Bay Area for Austin tell us what it's really like

Still, such a move, especially for someone who has lived in the Bay Area longterm, comes with a "real human cost," Romem says. Out-migrants may have to leave their extended families, uproot young children from schools and friends, and in some cases, careers may suffer.

"Is it as bad as being homeless? As people starving in parts of the world? No," Romem says. "It's a first-world problem. But it affects people's lives in a real way."

Hailey Brook Marshall, a 26-year-old graphic designer, left San Francisco for Portland two years ago. She got married and wanted to "settle down."

"If I were by myself I would for sure move back to San Francisco," she said. "But, yo, lifestyle change!"

Marshall said she misses the "vibes" of the city more than anything. The first time she returned to San Francisco after her move, she recalled touching down at SFO and thinking, "Oh my god, I left my heart here."

While metros like Portland have their charms and benefits, Silicon Valley is still, in the end, Silicon Valley. Firms, labor and capital go where the like-minded go. In the tech industry, that's the Bay Area.

People have been predicting the "death of Silicon Valley" for decades, but Romem predicts it could be upwards of five to 10 decades before the region is dethroned as the capital of technology.

Its decline, Romem says, could be slowed.

"If the Bay Area wants to remain Silicon Valley for many, many years," he said, "a safer strategy would be to build enough housing to contain the people that want to live there."

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.
Despite years of effort, researchers have so far failed to find a pill you could take or a food you could eat to harden your brain against the injury that could be caused by a stroke.

But new research offers the prospect of limiting a strokes long-term damage in a different way: with a drug that enhances the brains ability to rewire itself and promote recovery in the weeks and months after injury.

In experiments, both mice and macaque monkeys that suffered strokes regained more movement and dexterity when their rehabilitative regimen included an experimental medication called edonerpic maleate.

The drug, which has already run a gauntlet of safety trials as a possible medication for Alzheimers disease, appears to have enhanced the effectiveness of rehab by strengthening the connections between brain cells and nourishing the chemical soup in which those cells forge those new connections.

A report on the experiments appeared in Fridays edition of the journal Science. The work was conducted by researchers at Yokohama City University School of Medicine and employees of Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd., a Japanese pharmaceutical firm that owns intellectual property rights to edonerpic maleate. Toyama provided funding for Yokohama City University to study the drug in macaque monkeys.

The findings from the mice shed important light on how edonerpic maleate may work in an injured brain.

But many experimental drugs have been effective in improving mobility in mice after a stroke, yet failed to work as well in primates. The fact that this one also improved movement in stroke-affected monkeys is evidence that it may be a strong candidate to help humans recover from a stroke, and possibly traumatic brain injury as well, the researchers said.

Scientists have spent years looking for neuroprotective agents that can buffer the brain against the initial whack of a stroke, but theyve had little success. Thats why a therapy that turbocharges this process of building back neuroplasticity after a stroke could be uniquely welcome.

UCLA neurologist Jason Hinman, who did not work on the new research, welcomed the results. He said edonerpic maleate is one of many therapies being tested to augment the effects of post-stroke rehabilitative therapy.
1 Gun control: A federal judge in Boston on Friday dismissed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts ban on assault weapons. U.S. District Judge William Young ruled that assault weapons and large capacity magazines banned by the state in a 1998 law fall outside the scope of the personal right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. The lawsuit was filed last year by the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts and other groups who said the law infringed on their rights.

2 Teacher protests: The Oklahoma state Senate approved bills Friday designed to generate about $40 million more for public schools, but it was unclear whether it would be enough to placate thousands of teachers on a five-day strike seeking more money for education. Some of Oklahomas largest school districts already have canceled classes on Monday. Oklahoma Education Association Executive Director David Duvall said he doesnt think the measures do enough to bring teachers back to the classroom. Oklahoma is the second state where teachers have gone on strike this year. West Virginia teachers won a 5 percent pay increase after striking for nine days.
JACKSON, Miss.  As Bernie Sanders contemplates making another president bid in 2020, the Vermont senator still is searching for the right way to attract more black voters who backed Hillary Clinton and effectively denied him the Democratic nomination in 2016.

His challenge was on display in Mississippi this week, where he traveled to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther Kings assassination but along the way managed a clumsy critique of the Democratic Party under the nations first black president.

Former President Barack Obama, Sanders said, was a charismatic individual ... an extraordinary candidate, a brilliant man. But behind that reality, Sanders said, Obama led a party whose business model has been a failure for more than a decade.

It served as the latest confirmation that Sanders, even as he tries for new footholds in the black community, hasnt mastered his precarious relationship with a key Democratic Party constituency that he will need if he hopes to reshape the party going forward, much less make another presidential run in 2020.

Sanders, who is elected in Vermont as an independent but caucuses in Washington with Democrats, has been spending more time in places dominated by black voters, including Southern states where African Americans shape Democratic primaries.

He was in Jackson with the first-term mayor hed endorsed last year. Sanders and Chokwe Antar Lumumba have become a sort of political odd couple: the white 76-year-old democratic socialist with his rumpled suit and untamed hair, preaching in his Brooklyn accent, and an impeccably clad 35-year-old black attorney-turned-politician smiling his way through calm expositions sprinkled with the occasional yall.

But they share a common vision. Lumumba expresses hope to make Jackson the most radical of U.S. cities.

Sanders backed another black millennial in neighboring Alabama, helping Randall Woodfin to the mayors office in Birmingham. In New Orleans, Our Revolution, the spinoff of Sanders presidential campaign, tapped the eventual winner of a crowded mayoral race. LaToya Cantrell will be sworn in May 7.

On Capitol Hill, Sanders aides say he huddles more routinely with black lawmakers to discuss shared priorities.

In an interview in Mississippi, Sanders brushed back the myth that he has little black support, noting 2016 primary exit polls showing he won voters under 30 across racial lines. But he mostly shuns race-based analysis and casts his post-2016 maneuvering as ideological: He wants to move public policy leftward on everything from health care and college access to criminal justice and labor policy, and he argues the way to do that is increase voter turnout across demographic groups.

My goal is to bring forth a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of working people, whether they are black, white or Latino, and get people involved in the political process in a way we have not seen in a very long time, he said.

Exit polling from the 2008 and 2016 Democratic presidential primaries showed that the eventual nominee  Obama, then Clinton  actually lost the cumulative white vote, but prevailed on the strength of non-whites, particularly black voters.

Those trends may not apply neatly in 2020. There could be multiple credible black candidates in the Democratic field, including Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Police busted two brazen auto burglary suspects in San Francisco after a weeklong game of cat and mouse that ended when officers deployed spike strips near the Palace of Fine Arts and chased the men on foot through the surrounding neighborhood, authorities said Thursday.

The defendants, identified as Derriun Riggins, 21, and Randell Turner, 22, were arraigned Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court on five counts of felony second-degree auto burglary, receiving stolen property, possession of burglary tools and other charges.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty.

The two were arrested Sunday after evading police for several days during an alleged spree of car break-ins around the city.

This was phenomenal police work and it is indicative of SFPDs renewed focus on safely apprehending the most prolific offenders, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon said.

Riggins and Turner were both on probation for previous auto burglaries in San Francisco and are being held without bail.

The arrests come as police attempt to stamp out a car break-in epidemic plaguing San Francisco. Police reported a record 31,000 vehicle burglaries in 2017.

Officers have been deployed to the worst-hit areas of the city and are using a mix of strategies to combat the problem. The tactics are apparently working, as San Francisco police reported a 15 percent decline in car break-ins during the first two months of the year compared to 2017.

Police became aware of this recent crime campaign on March 28, when multiple calls came in about suspects in a silver Acura casing or breaking into cars in North Beach.

Responding officers spotted a similar vehicle in the area that morning and tried to pull it over, but the driver recklessly fled the area and evaded capture, authorities said.

Officers reportedly caught up to the vehicle that same day around 4:30 p.m. in the citys Northern police district, but again the driver took off and left officers in the lurch. San Francisco Police Department policy requires that officers not chase recklessly fleeing vehicles if it would pose a danger to the public.

Less than an hour later, at least six more calls came in about auto burglaries near Baker and Beach streets, along with reports of a driver going the wrong way on a street though Golden Gate Park.

Witnesses reported that at least one of the suspects was wearing a mask and officers converged on the area, only to again be given the slip when the driver dangerously fled the area, authorities said.

The suspects seemingly got away until Sunday, when they drew the attention of police after reports of an auto burglary on Columbus Avenue in Fishermans Wharf. Officers spotted the same silver Acura in the area and began following it. Police swooped in when a man got out of the vehicle to case cars on North Point Street, officials said.

But the suspects were again too slippery and sped off, police said. A short time later the car was seen on Bay Street near Columbus, and the passenger was allegedly casing vehicles.

Thats when police got creative.

As the car was speeding down Bay Street through Van Ness Avenue, police up ahead deployed spike strips on Baker Street near the Palace of Fine Arts. The Acura driver hit the spikes and shredded his tires, officials said.

The car eventually stopped at Lombard and Baker and both men took off on foot in different directions.

Police said they found Turner hiding under a truck in the parking lot of a nearby hotel on Richardson Avenue. Riggins briefly disappeared until a citizen flagged down police to report that his three kids  ages 10, 9 and 5  were playing outside when a man ran through their backyard.

Police got onto the mans roof and spotted the suspect, later identified as Riggins, hiding on top of a nearby home, authorities said. Officers arrested Riggins at the scene without further incident.

A heap of stolen loot was reportedly found inside the Acura, including backpacks, checkbooks, wallets, designer purses, makeup bags, laptops, money, cameras, other electronics and clothing.
Ten men who hunted down and killed rival gang members in San Francisco and Richmond between 2006 and 2013 have been indicted on racketeering, assault, firearms, murder and attempted murder charges, officials said Friday.

The defendants are all alleged members of the street gangs known as the 19th Street Surenos and the 16th Street Surenos  violent offshoots of the Mexican Mafia prison gang that for years has battled its rival Nortenos in San Franciscos Mission District. They are responsible for nine attempted murders and seven murders, including the slaying of a 16-year-old boy at a birthday party in Richmond in 2009, according to the indictment.

Six of the defendants were picked up in the Mission on Thursday when more than 200 federal agents and San Francisco police descended on the neighborhood, officials said during a Friday news conference.

A seventh defendant was in custody in Santa Clara County Jail and three more defendants were in custody in federal prison, officials said.

All 10 men are accused of violently defending their territory in San Francisco, where authorities said they sold hard drugs, committed assaults and robberies, committed drive-by shootings and carried firearms and other dangerous weapons.

The U.S. attorneys office did not identify the victims or elaborate on the circumstances of the crimes in the indictment.

Today, begins the long-awaited path to justice for the victims of these murders and their families and friends they left behind, federal Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ryan Spradlin said at Fridays news conference.

The defendants are: Jonathan Aguilar, 31, Luis Cid-Salinas, 33, Juan Carlos Gallardo, 29, Josue Gonzalez, 36, Orlando Hernandez, 35, Michael Rebolledo, 30, Mario Reyes, 38, Luis Rojas, 31, Eddy Urbina, 29, and Weston Venegas, 30.

The arrests were the culmination of eight years of investigative work. The San Francisco Police Department had requested help with the cases and resources from Homeland Security Investigations, the criminal enforcement division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Homeland Security Investigations 6,200 agents deal with cross-border criminal activity, including human trafficking, financial crimes, transnational gang activity and weapons and drug smuggling.

We hope that these arrests will bring a measure of comfort and healing to the families of the victims, many of whom have waited years for justice, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said.

Spradlin added that he hopes Fridays announcement will clarify what he called misconceptions about Homeland Security Investigations, following months of public scrutiny stemming from collateral arrests of undocumented people during a 2017 gang crackdown in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz police that February assisted Homeland Security agents in the widely publicized raids. It was later revealed federal agents not only arrested suspected MS-13 gang members, but others who were suspected of no other crime but being in the country illegally.

Santa Cruzs then-police chief and its mayor apologized and said federal officials lied to them about the scope of the joint operation, adding they would no longer work with Homeland Security.

Then in August, plainclothes federal immigration agents executed a search warrant during a human-trafficking investigation in Oakland, while local police assisted by blocking traffic in the area.

The incident caused an uproar among several immigrant rights groups wary after the Santa Cruz raids and prompted city leaders to pass legislation restricting the Police Departments ability to cooperate with federal immigration agents.

On Friday, Scott said there were no collateral arrests associated with the latest investigation and said his department was steadfast in upholding San Franciscos sanctuary policies  which prohibit city law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement.

Spradlin said Homeland Security has found a way to work with San Francisco police to avoid violating city and state immigration policy, while still investigating and enforcing laws concerning certain criminal activity.

We do not initiate or participate in cases because of someones immigration status, he said. When HSI initiates or gets involved in a case, its because of someones suspected criminal activity, and absolutely weve figured out a way to work with each other.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The city of San Francisco sued U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department today over the repeal of six guidance documents protecting the civil rights of various groups.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, claims Sessions's withdrawal of the documents last year violated the U.S. Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide a meaningful explanation for the action.

The lawsuit charges the repeal is part of a pattern in which the department under Sessions allegedly "has shown a shocking disregard for protecting the rights of vulnerable communities, rolling back civil rights initiatives in a wide variety of areas."

It asks for a court order reinstating the guidance documents.

The six letters and statements were issued to state and local governments and employers under previous administrations between 1999 and January 2017.

They concern the department's views on how to carry out laws and U.S. Supreme Court rulings that protect low-income people, minority group members, people with disabilities and immigrants.

Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley said the agency declines to comment.

The documents were among 25 guidance directives rescinded by Sessions in December. Sessions said the directives were "unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper" but never gave a more detailed explanation for withdrawing the six at issue in the lawsuit, according to the complaint.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement, "More than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, we should be surging forward on equality in this country, not having to fight the federal government to restore civil rights protections.

"At a minimum, the public is entitled to an explanation of why this was done," Herrera said.

The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 prohibits "arbitrary and capricious" decisions by federal administrative agencies. It has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court to require a "reasoned explanation" for agency actions.

Alleged violation of the law has been a basis for a number of lawsuits filed in recent months by city and states to challenge actions by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The San Francisco lawsuit alleges that without an explanation of what was allegedly wrong with the guidance, local governments and employers are left to guess about how to carry out the laws at issue.

Four of the documents cited in the suit were developed for state and local governments or agencies. They concerned protections for people with disabilities in government-sponsored workshops and group housing and prevention of discrimination in fines for adults and juveniles.

The other two documents were letters explaining employers' responsibilities in conducting citizenship documentation of workers and avoiding discrimination on the basis of national origin.

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ALAMEDA (BCN)

After saving three lives and fighting drug trafficking in Central America, the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Stratton has returned to its home port in Alameda, maritime officials said.

The crew of roughly 120 sailors returned Thursday from a 60-day, 15,000-nautical-mile deployment that included trips to the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea.

The trip began off the coast of Central America fighting drug trafficking, according to maritime officials. The cutter hosted a Coast Guard aircrew and a helicopter from Jacksonville, Fla., which means the helicopter operated from the ship and its crew stayed in the ship's cabins.

The ship has a landing pad on its deck and two hangars in which repairs and tune-ups can be done on the helicopters, said Petty Officer Matthew Masaschi of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The mission supported Joint Interagency Task Force South and international partners patrolling waters off the coast where organized crime networks attempt to traffic drugs, Masaschi said.

Next, the crew was called to Alaska and set off northward full steam ahead from Central America, stopping in Alameda to exchange short-sleeved shirts for parkas, Masaschi said.

"In the switch of a hat they can change from drug enforcement activities in Central America to search and rescue and fisheries law enforcement in Alaska," the petty officer said.

The crew sailed to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. Working with a Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and its crew, the Stratton crew transported three injured or sick people from three different fishing vessels to shore so they could get medical treatment.

The crew also boarded eight fishing vessels to make sure they were in compliance with safety rules and not violating federal laws regulating fishing, Masaschi said.

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437-5682
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The family of a 19-year-old man killed by police last month in San Francisco's Mission District during a robbery investigation met with District Attorney George Gascon on Wednesday.

Jesus Adolfo Delgado-Duarte was killed on March 6 when officers responding to an alleged robbery encountered him hiding in the trunk of a Honda Civic near Capp and 21st streets.

Delgado-Duarte allegedly shot at officers, prompting 10 of them to open fire, shooting a total of 99 rounds at him and striking him about 25 times, according to police.

A spokeswoman for Delgado-Duarte's family, Susana Rojas, said while Delgado-Duarte's death remains under investigation, Gascon discussed with the family the legalities of police shootings.

"The way the law is now, in the last seconds, if the police has reason to believe that they are in danger, they have the right to shoot," Rojas said.

"They didn't say that's what happened (in this case) ... it's still under investigation. But that's what they have to look at, if they had a legitimate fear for their lives," she said.

Rojas said that in the meantime, Delgado-Duarte's family is focusing their efforts on state legislation introduced this week that would limit or restrict when officers can use lethal force.

Assembly Bill 931, introduced by Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, was spurred in part by the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man fatally shot by Sacramento police last month.

"AB 931 would authorize police to only use deadly force when necessary to prevent unnecessary loss of life, increase police accountability of our law enforcement and provide justice for families across California," McCarty said of the bill on social media Tuesday.

The San Francisco Police Department has sought to reform its use-of-force policies in recent years and has made some progress with the Police Commission voting in 2016 to prohibit the use of carotid restraints and firing at moving vehicles. In addition, last month the commission approved a policy for the use of Taser stun guns by officers.

Delgado-Duarte's family says they don't want another family to experience what they've experienced.

"So that Adolfo's death is not vain, I'm asking for everyone's support. We have to go to Sacramento and we have to make a change," Rojas said.

"Without that, they will keep killing. They will keep saying that they felt scared and they will keep shooting a hundred or more bullets at our people," she said.

The March 6 shooting unfolded when two people said they had been robbed at gunpoint by the occupants of a black Honda Civic. After locating a vehicle matching that description near Capp and 21st streets around 10:35 p.m., officers ordered all of the Honda's occupants out.

Victor Navarro-Flores, 19, eventually exited the driver's seat and officers detained him and later arrested him on suspicion of robbery.

Officers then ordered Delgado-Duarte out of a halfway-open trunk, where he was hiding. After yelling several commands at him, first in English and then in Spanish, officers fired a beanbag round at him.

A short time later, Delgado-Duarte fired a gun from inside the trunk. In response, the 10 officers fired their weapons at him, killing him, according to police.

After the shooting, an 18-year-old woman who was still inside the car was ordered out and detained. She was apparently uninjured.

Police said officers recovered a 9mm handgun from the Honda's trunk.

The officers who fired their weapons have since been identified as Stephen Cassinelli, Corbyn Carroll, Loren Chiu, John Ishida, Juan Gustilo, Nicholas Nagai, Sean O'Rourke, Colby Smets, Ari Smith-Russack and Joshua Tupper, according to police. Police did not say how long each of the officers has been with the department.

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After saving three lives and fighting drug trafficking in Central America, the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Stratton has returned to its home port in Alameda, maritime officials said.

The crew of roughly 120 sailors returned Thursday from a 60-day, 15,000-nautical-mile deployment that included trips to the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea.

The trip began off the coast of Central America fighting drug trafficking, according to maritime officials. The cutter hosted a Coast Guard aircrew and a helicopter from Jacksonville, Fla., which means the helicopter operated from the ship and its crew stayed in the ship's cabins.

The ship has a landing pad on its deck and two hangars in which repairs and tune-ups can be done on the helicopters, said Petty Officer Matthew Masaschi of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The mission supported Joint Interagency Task Force South and international partners patrolling waters off the coast where organized crime networks attempt to traffic drugs, Masaschi said.

Next, the crew was called to Alaska and set off northward full steam ahead from Central America, stopping in Alameda to exchange short-sleeved shirts for parkas, Masaschi said.

"In the switch of a hat they can change from drug enforcement activities in Central America to search and rescue and fisheries law enforcement in Alaska," the petty officer said.

The crew sailed to the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska. Working with a Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and its crew, the Stratton crew transported three injured or sick people from three different fishing vessels to shore so they could get medical treatment.

The crew also boarded eight fishing vessels to make sure they were in compliance with safety rules and not violating federal laws regulating fishing, Masaschi said.

A transient man who stole firearms and left a threatening note at a home in San Jose was arrested near AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, just before 6 a.m. this morning, according to the city's police department.

The San Francisco Police Department issued a statement around 11 a.m. today saying that Dustin Hamilton, 44, was detained without incident after several community members called in to provide details on his whereabouts.

Officers located Hamilton in the area of Fourth and King streets, just blocks from the major league ballpark, and recovered two firearms upon his arrest, officers said.

Hamilton allegedly broke into a home in the 1600 block of Husted Avenue in San Jose on Wednesday night.

Responding officers learned that Hamilton had stolen firearms and left a note stating that he would shoot bystanders as well as law enforcement officers in San Francisco, San Jose police said.

The SFPD said they have notified the SJPD investigators of Hamilton's arrest and are working together with them in this case, with SFPD being the lead agency.

Hamilton will be booked into the San Francisco County Jail on warrants and additional charges may be pending, according to SFPD spokespeople.

A reputed gang member who once was charged with murder for the fatal shooting of an 8-year-old girl in Oakland in 2013 has been charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting two men, including a longtime rival, in 2010.

The new charges against Joseph Carroll, 31, are in addition to three counts of murder that were filed against him late last year and early this year for three fatal shootings in Oakland in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

On March 15, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson ordered Carroll to stand trial in that case: the fatal shootings of 18-year-old Nguyen Ngo in the 800 block of 45th Street at about 4:15 p.m. on April 23, 2009, 24-year-old Nehemiah Lewis in the 800 block of Athens Avenue on June 11, 2010, and 23-year-old Andrew Henderson of Alameda on E Street in Oakland on April 13, 2011.

The cases had gone cold but prosecutors filed the three murder charges against Carroll late last year after police developed new evidence that they believe ties Carroll to the three homicides.

Carroll also faces a special circumstance allegation that he committed multiple murders so he potentially could face the death penalty if he's convicted.

The charges against Carroll that were filed late last month, after his preliminary hearing in the other case, allege that he shot Aaron Shaw and Deandre Ware multiple times in the 110 block of 10th Street in Oakland on May 3, 2010.

Oakland police homicide Detective Jose Barocio wrote in a probable cause statement that Shaw identified Carroll as the person who shot Ware and him.

Shaw told police that he almost died from his gunshot wounds and that Ware and Caroll had an ongoing feud, according to Barocio.

Nehemiah Lewis, who was fatally shot about five weeks after Shaw and Ware were shot, was best friends with Shaw and was with Shaw when he allegedly was shot and killed by Carroll, Barocio said.

Carroll's lawyer, Ernie Castillo, said after Carroll's preliminary hearing in the triple murder case last month that he thinks the prosecution will have a difficult time getting a jury to convict Carroll of committing the three killings because he believes its case is based on unreliable "snitches and informants."

Carroll and Darnell Williams were charged with murder for the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Alaysha Carradine in the 3400 block of Wilson Avenue in Oakland on July 17, 2013.

Oakland police alleged in probable cause statements that Alaysha's shooting death was an outgrowth of Carroll's rage that his cousin, 26-year-old Jermaine Davis, was fatally shot in the 1800 block of Derby Street in Berkeley at about 6:52 p.m. on July 17, 2013, a little more than three hours before Alaysha was killed.

But at the end of a preliminary hearing in January 2014 a judge dismissed the murder charge against Carroll, saying there was a lack of evidence to prove the prosecution's theory that Alaysha was killed as a result of a conspiracy by Carroll to seek revenge against the man he thought had murdered his cousin.

Williams was sentenced to the death penalty in 2016 after he was convicted of murdering Alaysha as well as murdering 22-year-old Anthony Medearis III in Berkeley in an unrelated shooting about seven weeks later on Sept. 8, 2013.

In 2015 Carroll pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit assault in connection with several shootings in Oakland in September 2013 and in 2007 Carroll was convicted of a felony charge of evading an officer.

Carroll also was convicted of a federal gun charge. He was released from federal prison last October after completing his sentence but was immediately transferred to an Alameda County jail in connection with the new murder charges that were filed against him.

An orthopedic surgeon from Saratoga has been sentenced to a year in prison for providing a false billing statement to a health care benefits program, acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse announced Wednesday.

Gregory Belcher, 56, was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison following an eight-week trial.

Belcher and his wife, Vilasini Ganesh, 47, were both convicted in December of crimes related to health care fraud.

Ganesh's sentencing is scheduled for April 25.

Prosecutors said Belcher submitted a false claim in connection with a billing matter related to the physical therapy practice he conducted from the offices of the Campbell Medical Group in Saratoga.

Ganesh, who is also Belcher's office partner, submitted false and fraudulent claims to several health care benefit programs for services she knew were not properly payable, and she submitted claims for patients who had been seen by another physician provider no longer affiliated with the practice, prosecutors said.

The two were indicted on July 13, 2017 and were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, multiple counts of health care fraud and making a false statement relating to health care matters, prosecutors said.

Belcher was convicted of health care fraud, and Ganesh was convicted of five counts of health care fraud and five counts of making false statements, prosecutors said.

Deputies in San Mateo County arrested a man on Wednesday in connection with a sexual assault.

Juan Ramirez Ruiz, 25, of Redwood City, was arrested on suspicion of forcible rape and oral copulation, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

On Wednesday, detectives concluded a year-long investigation into Ruiz after a woman reported being sexually assaulted inside his apartment.

Deputies said it is possible there could be additional victims and are encouraging anyone with similar reports to contact the sheriff's office at (650) 363-4881.

Police in Pleasanton are investigating a robbery and carjacking that occurred Thursday.

Police said the victim visited a bank on Stoneridge Mall Road around 11:30 a.m., had just made a withdrawal from the ATM and was walking to his vehicle when the suspect approached him from behind.

The suspect demanded the victim's property, including his car keys, and threatened the victim.

The victim gave up his property, and the suspect fled the scene in the victim's vehicle.

Responding officers learned the victim's vehicle was equipped with GPS tracking technology, and officers were able to track the vehicle to a neighborhood in Livermore.

Officers responded to that location and found the vehicle but were not able to locate the suspect.

The suspect is described as a white man, 5 feet 11 inches tall and 185 pounds. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a black long sleeve turtleneck sweater.

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact the Pleasanton Police Department at (925) 931-5100.

A group of domesticated rats are available for adoption at the Peninsula Humane Society & Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Burlingame, shelters officials said Thursday.

The rats are two months old and were recently surrendered.

"Rats make fantastic pets," the humane society's spokeswoman Buffy Martin Tarbox said in a statement. "They are extremely social, affectionate and intelligent."

The shelter has three male rats and six females available for adoption.

Rats are clean animals and similar to cats in that they will groom themselves, according to the humane society.

On average they live two to three years and are easy to care for.

Rats eat pellets known as "rat blocks" and snack on fruits and vegetables.

Shelter officials said rats are typically happier in pairs but the pairs should be of the same gender to avoid breeding.

Tarbox said rats can be good pets for someone living in a small apartment. The spokeswoman said rats rarely bite so they are good companion animals for children.

Potential adopters are encouraged to visit the humane society's Tom and Annette Lantos Center for Compassion at 1450 Rollins Road in Burlingame to get to know the rats a little.

The shelter is open every day for adoptions.

Monday to Friday the shelter is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on weekends the shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The adoption fee for each rat is $10.

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ANTIOCH (BCN)

An Antioch man has been arrested on suspicion of importing an assault rifle from Nevada, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's office said.

Virgilio Salazar, 50, of Antioch, was arrested last week and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on suspicion of importing an assault rifle, possession of an assault rifle and importing large capacity magazines, according to the sheriff's office.

The arrest was the culmination of an investigation by the Contra Costa County Anti-Violence Support Effort team into allegations of a person buying guns in Nevada, transporting them into California and selling them, the sheriff's office said.

During a search of Salazar's home, the CASE team allegedly found and seized a .223-caliber Colt AR-15 rifle, CZ 9mm semi-auto assault pistol, three large capacity rifle magazines, and two large capacity pistol magazines, according to the sheriff's office.

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313-2643
SAN JOSE (BCN)

An orthopedic surgeon from Saratoga has been sentenced to a year in prison for providing a false billing statement to a health care benefits program, acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse announced Wednesday.

Gregory Belcher, 56, was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison following an eight-week trial.

Belcher and his wife, Vilasini Ganesh, 47, were both convicted in December of crimes related to health care fraud.

Ganesh's sentencing is scheduled for April 25.

Prosecutors said Belcher submitted a false claim in connection with a billing matter related to the physical therapy practice he conducted from the offices of the Campbell Medical Group in Saratoga.

Ganesh, who is also Belcher's office partner, submitted false and fraudulent claims to several health care benefit programs for services she knew were not properly payable, and she submitted claims for patients who had been seen by another physician provider no longer affiliated with the practice, prosecutors said.

The two were indicted on July 13, 2017 and were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, multiple counts of health care fraud and making a false statement relating to health care matters, prosecutors said.

Belcher was convicted of health care fraud, and Ganesh was convicted of five counts of health care fraud and five counts of making false statements, prosecutors said.

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OAKLAND (BCN)

A reputed gang member who once was charged with murder for the fatal shooting of an 8-year-old girl in Oakland in 2013 has been charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting two men, including a longtime rival, in 2010.

The new charges against Joseph Carroll, 31, are in addition to three counts of murder that were filed against him late last year and early this year for three fatal shootings in Oakland in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

On March 15, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson ordered Carroll to stand trial in that case: the fatal shootings of 18-year-old Nguyen Ngo in the 800 block of 45th Street at about 4:15 p.m. on April 23, 2009, 24-year-old Nehemiah Lewis in the 800 block of Athens Avenue on June 11, 2010, and 23-year-old Andrew Henderson of Alameda on E Street in Oakland on April 13, 2011.

The cases had gone cold but prosecutors filed the three murder charges against Carroll late last year after police developed new evidence that they believe ties Carroll to the three homicides.

Carroll also faces a special circumstance allegation that he committed multiple murders so he potentially could face the death penalty if he's convicted.

The charges against Carroll that were filed late last month, after his preliminary hearing in the other case, allege that he shot Aaron Shaw and Deandre Ware multiple times in the 110 block of 10th Street in Oakland on May 3, 2010.

Oakland police homicide Detective Jose Barocio wrote in a probable cause statement that Shaw identified Carroll as the person who shot Ware and him.

Shaw told police that he almost died from his gunshot wounds and that Ware and Caroll had an ongoing feud, according to Barocio.

Nehemiah Lewis, who was fatally shot about five weeks after Shaw and Ware were shot, was best friends with Shaw and was with Shaw when he allegedly was shot and killed by Carroll, Barocio said.

Carroll's lawyer, Ernie Castillo, said after Carroll's preliminary hearing in the triple murder case last month that he thinks the prosecution will have a difficult time getting a jury to convict Carroll of committing the three killings because he believes its case is based on unreliable "snitches and informants."

Carroll and Darnell Williams were charged with murder for the fatal shooting of 8-year-old Alaysha Carradine in the 3400 block of Wilson Avenue in Oakland on July 17, 2013.

Oakland police alleged in probable cause statements that Alaysha's shooting death was an outgrowth of Carroll's rage that his cousin, 26-year-old Jermaine Davis, was fatally shot in the 1800 block of Derby Street in Berkeley at about 6:52 p.m. on July 17, 2013, a little more than three hours before Alaysha was killed.

But at the end of a preliminary hearing in January 2014 a judge dismissed the murder charge against Carroll, saying there was a lack of evidence to prove the prosecution's theory that Alaysha was killed as a result of a conspiracy by Carroll to seek revenge against the man he thought had murdered his cousin.

Williams was sentenced to the death penalty in 2016 after he was convicted of murdering Alaysha as well as murdering 22-year-old Anthony Medearis III in Berkeley in an unrelated shooting about seven weeks later on Sept. 8, 2013.

In 2015 Carroll pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit assault in connection with several shootings in Oakland in September 2013 and in 2007 Carroll was convicted of a felony charge of evading an officer.

Carroll also was convicted of a federal gun charge. He was released from federal prison last October after completing his sentence but was immediately transferred to an Alameda County jail in connection with the new murder charges that were filed against him.

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272-6280

Defense attorney Ernie Castillo (510) 686-1555 or (415) 608-0282
SANTA ROSA (BCN)

Sonoma County officials have extended until April 19 the final date for homeless people to vacate two encampments in the Roseland area of Santa Rosa.

The tent camps behind a Dollar Tree store that at one time housed as many as 100 people were to be vacated on Tuesday, but attorneys for the Homeless Action! advocacy organization challenged the county's proposed action in federal ourt.

At a hearing in San Francisco Thursday, District Court Judge Vince Chhabria proposed the Sonoma County Community Development Commission keep the camps open three more weeks. The judge said closing the encampments without replacement housing options raises constitutional questions.

The Community Development Commission owns the land occupied by the camps and wants it cleared so it can begin developing a 175-apartment unit housing project that includes affordable units.

In a response today to Judge Chhabria's proposal, Chief Deputy County Counsel Alegria De La Cruz said the challenge that delayed the camps' closure not only caused confusion among the homeless occupants but added to the number its occupants.

"Given the confusion inside the encampments and the need to ensure people understand what is forthcoming, the Commission offers a final date to vacate the encampment as of April 19 without the need for further orders from the Court," De La Cruz said in her written response to the court.

The Community Development Commission opened a Roseland Village Housing Navigation Center near the camps on Feb. 23 for campers who were living there as of Feb. 21. The Center's outreach workers informed the campers of safe temporary and permanent housing placement options in eight locations that provide housing and health and human services. The Navigation Center is now closed.

De La Cruz said the Community Development Commission will continue to provide those outreach services.

The extension of the date to vacate the encampments will allow time for the remaining occupants to tour shelters and devise housing plans, remove fencing, clear debris and help sort and identify personal belongings for storage, De La Cruz said.

Attorneys for Homeless Action! did not return an email requesting comment this afternoon.

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565-2421

Attorney Jeffrey Hoffman, California Rural Legal Assistance (707) 528-9941 or jhoffman@crla.org

Attorney Melissa Morris (408) 692-4320 or Michael Rawson, Public Interest Law Project (510) 891-9794

Attorney Alicia Roman (707) 526-4100 or aliciaromanlaw@yahoo.com
President Donald Trump accused Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf of obstruction of justice for warning the immigrant community about impending ICE raids during unplanned remarks at a roundtable in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia today.

After referring to sanctuary cities such as Oakland as "the worst," he also called undocumented immigrants "bad people."

"How about the mayor of Oakland, where she tells 1,000 people to get going, law enforcement's coming to get you," Trump said. "This was all planned, and many of them scattered. It was pretty much a failure.

"To me that's obstruction of justice, and something should happen there, and it hasn't and I don't know why it hasn't," he added. "But something should happen there."

In recent months Schaaf has repeatedly defended her Feb. 24 decision to notify her constituents of a mass sweep planned by federal immigration agents that ended with the apprehension of more than 200 people in Northern California.

It was later revealed that more than 1,100 had been targeted.

Schaaf's office issued a statement today in response to Trump's remarks.

"Mayor Schaaf stood up for her constituents and their shared values," Schaaf's spokesman Justin Berton said. "Sharing information about rights, responsibilities and resources is legal and appropriate."

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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A San Francisco watch retailer was found guilty of seven counts of grand theft in connection with an internet fraud scheme, county prosecutors announced today.

Roger Kuo, 48, operated TheFinestWatches.com where he would offer high-end watches for sale on the internet, by phone and email that he did not have in inventory.

Kuo would take his customers money and never provide the watch.

Prosecutors said six different victims lost a total of $161,171.

"If you want to do business in San Francisco you can't lie to your customers, no matter where they are," District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement. "A successful e-commerce economy depends on consumer trust, and those that violate that trust will be held accountable."

Kuo was found guilty of selling five different watches ranging in price from $16,100 to $34,775. Kuo also took a 3.02 carat diamond on consignment and sold it, keeping 100 percent of the proceeds rather than the 10 percent he agreed to.

Prosecutors said the case was initially reported through the district attorney's consumer mediation unit.

Prosecutors said they combed through more than 50,000 pages of bank and sales records to find the victims and their money.

Victims who came to the six-week trial were from places as far away as Malaysia, France and Nigeria. Others came from Florida, Minnesota, New York City and Los Angeles.

Nine victims testified.

"This case was a paper chase, but the defendant's crimes ultimately caught up with him," Assistant District Attorney Daniel Amador said in a statement.

Kuo is scheduled to be sentenced May 17.

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NEW YORK (AP)  Businesses that have announced vaccine mandates say some workers who had been on the fence have since gotten inoculated against COVID-19. But many holdouts remain  a likely sign of what is to come once a federal mandate goes into effect.
Northeast Nebraska NOT in winter weather advisory, but much of Nebraska is
Mali, which struggles with separatism at home, has openly expressed support for Moroccos autonomy initiative to end the Sahara conflict.

The autonomy plan has been deemed serious and credible by several UN resolutions, said Malian Foreign Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly after talks in Rabat with his Moroccan peer, Nasser Bourita.

He said the autonomy plan offers prospects for a political solution to the Sahara issue and spares the region clashes and violence.

Mali adopts a position of constructive neutrality over the Moroccan Sahara issue and hopes for a peaceful solution to this conflict, said the Malian minister in a statement to the press after his talks with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

He added that his country supports the UN process for settling the dispute and wishes that this process continues.
Approximately 100,000 16- and 17-year-old Americans have pre-registered to vote in California, with a substantial amount of new sign-ups occurring in just the last few weeks.

The numbers, reported by the California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (via the Los Angeles Times) on Friday, include the fact that more than 10 percent of the pre-registrations  over 11,000  came in since March 8, as national protests were being organized related to the devastating mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla. high school in February.
Unless you're a millionaire, it's difficult to fathom San Francisco's insanely high home prices.

The median sale price of a single-family home in the city soared to $1.6 million in the first quarter, nearly a 24 percent jump from a year ago, according to the latest report from Paragon Real Estate Group. That's a $110,000 gain in the past three months running January through March.

Those who can't get their minds around (or hands on) $1.6 million might like how real estate reporter Mike Rosenberg at the Seattle Times expressed the increase in home prices, saying they've gone up $1,200 per day over the last quarter.

"That's a mere 135 avocado toasts a day," Rosenberg writes in a Tweet.

Paragon's Patrick Carlisle calls the price increase "dramatic" and says a jump up from the fourth-quarter to the first-quarter of the following year is unusual because luxury home sales typically "plunge" at the end of the year, bringing the average down.

ALSO: San Francisco's Median House Price Hits a New High: $1.6 Million

"The median price is probably being pushed up more by median homes prices in more affordable areas like the Richmond, the Sunset and Bernal Heights," Carlisle says. "The demand in the more affordable segments is just feverish."

He adds that while these areas might be considered "more affordable" in San Francisco, they wouldn't be in most other areas of the country where prices are lower.

A March report from Nationwide insurance found that San Francisco area houses sold in half the time of the average U.S. home. A January Zillow report found 64.5 percent of San Francisco homes were selling for over list price.
Following a firestorm of recent media criticism leveled at Sinclair Broadcast Group, staff at Sinclair-owned stations insisted the company's conservative bent didn't affect local news coverage, but a recent study and former employees say otherwise.

Last week, media outlets around the country reported on new "must-run" segments on Sinclair-owned stations, including Seattle's KOMO-TV. Those segments featured anchors sticking word-for-word to a Sinclair-written script warning of the dangers of "one-sided news stories plaguing our country," which struck many observers as disingenuous and self-serving given Sinclair's well-established practice of producing right-leaning segments that it requires its stations to run.

RELATED: KOMO attacks 'biased and false news' in Sinclair-written promos

The story went viral after Deadspin posted a video mashup showing dozens of Sinclair anchors around the country reading a statement that, according to multiple reports from around the county, was forced upon them.

"They're certainly not happy about it," a KOMO newsroom employee told SeattlePI last week. "It's certainly a forced thing."

(Editor's note: KOMONews.com and SeattlePI have a content-sharing agreement.)

In a Monday Facebook post, KOMO anchor Molly Shen wrote that while she had been called a "company pawn" and "hostage" in the uproar over the statement, she "made the personal decision to record the video." Shen encouraged viewers to communicate any concerns about Sinclair's national segments, but maintained that KOMO's local coverage remained independent from its owners' politics.

"I have been with KOMO for 21 years, and I'm as proud as ever of what we do at a local level," she wrote. "I work with a newsroom full of quality journalists, and our mission in the Pacific Northwest has not changed. I hope you will watch our newscast and judge it for itself."

But an April 4 study out of Emory University in Atlanta found that Sinclair ownership does, in fact, impact local coverage. The Emory study, a working paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed, ran textual analysis on transcripts from 743 stations from around the country from mid-2017 to early 2018 in order to determine what the individual broadcasts were discussing.

"We're making a kind of apples-to-apples comparison," Josh McCrain, one of the study's authors, told SeattlePI. "We're not comparing a station in rural Missouri to a station in New York City."

Sinclair's $240 million acquisition of Bonten Media, completed on Sept. 1, 2017, also allowed McCrain co-author Gregory J. Martin to compare the content of a handful of stations before and after Sinclair took over.

The study found that Sinclair-owned stations decreased their local politics coverage by about 4 percent, but increased their coverage of national politics by a whopping 25 percent. The stations acquired by Sinclair during the months in question saw a shift in coverage within about a month.

Sinclair Senior Vice President of News Scott Livingston called the study "flawed" in a Thursday conversation with SeattlePI, speculating that the authors "set out to prove a theory rather than find the truth." Livingston said 96 percent of Sinclair stations' content is controlled by local newsrooms and said if researchers wanted to fully analyze Sinclair's impact on local coverage, they should look at data over a multi-year period.

Why might Sinclair emphasize national news content over local coverage? Since the Emory study found very little change in viewership before and after Sinclair took ownership of stations, the authors suggest cost might play a big factor.

Sinclair is the largest owner/operator of stations in the country, with 193 nationwide. Local reporting is expensive, and national segments produced at Sinclair's Maryland headquarters can take up air space on all of the company's stations. That makes economic sense for Sinclair, which reported more than $2.7 billion in revenue in each of the past two years.

In addition to favoring national news more than other stations in the same market, Sinclair stations also ranked higher in the Emory study in terms of right-leaning "slant scores," which are based on the repetition of ideologically-linked phrases.

That aligns with the experiences of a former KOMO staffer who said Sinclair exerted influence on local reporters. According to the former staffer, who spoke to SeattlePI on the condition of anonymity, soon after Sinclair purchased the station in 2013, corporate representatives pitched an idea for a piece about "congressional perks and benefits and how fat-cat D.C. lawmakers abuse them."

The staffer said Sinclair provided "a slew of right wing media links to use as a springboard," but once KOMO staff started researching the piece and conducting interviews, it became "more of a fact-checking/mythbusters story."

"That's where the facts led us," the former staffer said. "The ginned-up right-wing blogs were wrong on nearly every count about congressional 'perks' and abuse."

KOMO staff wrote the story, which was approved by station management and sent off to Sinclair, but it never aired.

"Sinclair killed a factual story because it didn't fit their Breitbart/Infowars/Hannity narrative," the former staffer said.

Sometimes Sinclair's influence on local reporting is less ideological and more personal. A well-publicized example came after The Seattle Times wrote a scathing editorial decrying a round of layoffs at KOMO following Sinclair's purchase.

"Welcome to the Northwest, Sinclair," the October 2013 staff editorial read in part. "Decimating the soul of this city's last locally owned commercial TV station is a heck of an introduction."

In response, a KOMO reporter was ordered by Sinclair to work on a story about the demise of the newspaper industry, with a heavy focus on the Times.

RELATED: Lead KOMO anchor to Trump: 'This isn't funny at all'

Sinclair could increase its number of stations by several dozen if the company completes its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media, which is currently being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission. Under Trump-appointed Chariman Ajit Pai, the FCC has emphasized deregulation in moves widely seen as benefitting Sinclair.

Sinclair President and CEO David Smith seemed confident of the moves in his letter to shareholders following the 2016 election, which saw the Trump campaign cut a deal where Sinclair would receive increased access to the campaign in exchange for commentary-free airing of Trump interviews.

"We believe the government's focus to ease regulations on small and medium-sized businesses and lower the corporate income tax rate, will result in higher consumer confidence, spur growth in local markets and bolster advertising spending," Smith wrote. "We are optimistic that such positive governmental actions, combined with deregulation and the multiplatform sales and content initiatives we are implementing at Sinclair, will drive core revenue growth beyond the low single digit growth rates experienced by the industry over the past several years."

The FCC fined Sinclair $13.3 million in December for running over 1,700 commercials designed to look like news broadcasts over a six-month period without properly identifying them as paid content. But that was a fraction of the $82 million the FCC could have docked the company for the violations.

So what's the problem with a media giant like Sinclair potentially tweaking local news coverage? Several studies, mostly focused on communities where local newspapers folded, have shown that decreases in local coverage result in a less locally informed community, McCrain said.

"When local news coverage talks less about local affairs, local politics, local politicians, even members of Congress from that district, people are less informed about who those people are, and there's less accountability for these locally elected people," he said.

Unlike cable channels like Fox News and MSNBC, viewers of local broadcast stations generally don't tune-in because of political beliefs. In their study, Martin and McCrain found that Sinclair ownership had little effect on overall viewership. The same viewers watching the news before Sinclair took over are likely the same ones watching the news after.

Exposure to partisan news coverage tends to increase partisanship, McCrain said, so a shift in coverage, like the conservative slant his study found in Sinclair stations versus other stations in the same market, could contribute to the polarization of the country's political discourse.

"The fact that this is happening (at local stations) at a level where it's not explicitly clear that there is a political nature to this coverage -- and there never has been because of the way it's been regulated by the FCC -- that has potentially troubling implications," McCrain said.

Seattlepi.com reporter Stephen Cohen can be reached at 206-448-8313 or stephencohen@seattlepi.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @scohenPI.
A river of warm, tropical moisture stretching all the way to the Hawaiian Islands was drenching the highest elevations of the northern Sierra Nevada mountain range in rain Friday.

This so-called "atmospheric river" is expected to deliver 2 to 4 inches of precipitation to the Tahoe Basin in a 48-hour period and most of that will drop in the form of rain.

"This is all rain, I don't believe there is any snow," said Craig Shoemaker with the National Weather Service in Sacramento on Friday at 6:30 a.m. "Snow levels are above 8,000 feet, and even those snow levels will be rising, to above 10,000 in coming hours. We might be getting snow on the very, very, very high mountain peaks, but there's nobody around those peaks to really know."

ALSO, Bay Area storm could set records, but not for the reason you'd think

The heaviest rainfall is expected in the Sierra Friday night into Saturday morning. High winds up to 50 mph will accompany the storm and the National Weather Service warns of fallen trees.

Temperatures will cool on Saturday afternoon, and snow levels could fall as low as 5,000 but Shoemaker says that most of the moisture will be pulled out of the storm by this point, and only 2 to 3 inches of snowfall are in the forecast.

Ahead of the storm, the Weather Service also issued a flood warning for areas around the Truckee River including in Truckee, Reno and Vista where some roadways could become inundated with water through Saturday. Rainfall may also generate rock and mud slides in steep terrain.

With this storm, rain will be falling on snow, and Shoemaker says the snowpack acts as a sponge and will absorb a lot of the water.

"There will be some melting, but it will be a slower melt," he says. "We're expecting some input of water into streams from snow melt."

As a result, the depth of the snowpack is likely to shrink but the water content could increase.

"This is a wet, warm system that's not typical in April system but not unheard of," says Shoemaker. "We actually had a storm like this in April last year. Usually we get storms like this in April every 10 years."
KHUZAA, Gaza Strip  Thousands of Palestinians protested along Gazas sealed border with Israel on Friday, engulfing the volatile area in black smoke from burning tires to try to block the view of Israeli snipers and cheering a Hamas strongman who pledged that the border fence will eventually fall.

Israeli troops opened fire from across the border, killing at least nine Palestinians and wounding 491 others  33 of them seriously  in the second mass border protest in a week, Gaza health officials said. A well-known Palestinian journalist was among the dead, and hundreds of others suffered other injuries, including tear gas inhalation, the officials said.

The deaths brought to at least 31 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since last week.

Early Saturday, Palestinian health officials confirmed that Yasser Murtaga had died from a gunshot wound sustained while covering demonstrations near the Israeli border in Khuzaa. The area was the scene of large protests Friday, and was covered in thick black smoke.

Murtaga was more than 100 yards from the border, wearing a flak jacket marked press and holding his camera when he was shot in an exposed area just below the armpit. Journalists were in the area as protesters were setting tires on fire.

The Israeli military has said it fired only at instigators involved in attacks on soldiers or the border fence. It had no immediate comment.

Murtaga worked for Ain media, a local TV production company that has done projects, including aerial drone video, for foreign media.

The latest casualties were bound to draw new criticism from rights groups that have branded Israels open-fire orders on the border as unlawful, after Israels defense minister warned that those approaching the fence were risking their lives.

The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has indications that Israeli forces used excessive force against protesters last week, when 15 Palestinians were killed or later died of wounds sustained near the border.

An Israeli military spokesman defended the rules of engagement.

If they are actively attacking the fence, if they are throwing a Molotov cocktail that is within striking distance of Israeli troops or similar activities, then those persons, those rioters, become, may become, a target, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.
Moroccos economic growth and the foreign direct investments it attracts are luring international insurance companies such as Lloyds, which has recently inaugurated a branch in Casablanca.

Lloyds, which has acquired the status of the Casablanca Finance City (CFC), sees in Morocco enormous growth potential, Inga Bealesa, President of the British insurance giant, told local paper lEconomiste in an interview.

She said that Lloyds intends to bring its business model to Morocco through working with local businesses, adding that operating from CFC will give Lloyds a platform to expand in the rest of Africa.

Lloyds group has obtained CFC status last September, which allows the British firm to operate in Casablanca and sell its services & products to African countries.

CFC, an emerging regional financial hub, harnesses opportunities from across the region, centralizing access to African countries, while providing access to international decision makers for African countries.

CFC status entitles privileges to eligible companies, such as attractive tax incentives, a business-friendly environment, and cooperative government institutions that facilitate quick creation of legal entities and granting of licenses.

According to the 2017 ranking of the competitiveness of financial centers established by the British Global Finance Centre Index report, CFC is the first financial hub in Africa. Created in December 2010, the Financial platform was ranked 30th in the world after Paris (29th) in the 2017 ranking.
SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil  Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defied an order to turn himself in to police on Friday as he hunkered down with supporters at a metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his rise to power.

The once wildly popular leader, who rose from poverty to lead Latin Americas largest nation, had until 5 p.m. local time to present himself to police in the city of Curitiba to begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

At 5 p.m., however, da Silva remained inside the union.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against endemic graft, ordered da Silva to turn present himself to police in Curitiba, about 260 miles southwest of the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo.

Two sources close to da Silva said the former leader would not go to Curitiba, but instead was considering either waiting for police at the union or presenting himself in Sao Paulo. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share internal deliberations being discussed.

Forcing da Silva out of the union building on a Friday night would be a logistical nightmare given the thousands of supporters outside and heavy Friday traffic in Sao Paulo.

I dont see why he should turn himself in just because judge Moro had an anxiety crisis, Sen. Lindbergh Farias, from the Workers Party, told journalists at the union. I think they should have to go through the embarrassment of coming here and taking him in front of all these people.

That footage will be seen around the world and it will be historic, he added.

Moros warrant on Thursday came after Brazils top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by the former president to stay out of prison while he appealed a conviction that he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot in Octobers election. He is the front-running presidential candidate despite his conviction.

In a statement, Moro said he was giving da Silva the opportunity to come in of his own accord because he had been Brazils president. He also said a special cell away from other inmates had been prepared for da Silva at the jail in Curitiba, where Moro ordered da Silva to present himself.

Last year, Moro convicted da Silva of trading favors with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January.

Late Thursday, thousands gathered outside the metallurgical union in Sao Bernardo do Campo where the ex-president universally known as Lula got his start as a union organizer. Hundreds spent the night sleeping on the street. Early Friday, da Silva waved to supporters from a window at the union but did not speak.

After running for president several times, in 2002 da Silva finally won. He governed from 2003 to 2010, leaving office a world celebrity and with approval ratings in the high 80s.

Former President Barack Obama once called da Silva the most popular politician on Earth.
JOHANNESBURG  Just weeks after falling from power, Jacob Zuma, South Africas former president, made a brief appearance in court Friday in a corruption case that emphasized the political upheaval that has recently swept the country.

A judge in the High Court in Durban adjourned the case, which is related to a multibillion-dollar arms deal from the 1990s, until June 8. Zuma, who made no comment in court, had tried for years to avoid prosecution in the case.
LONDON  Ex-spy Sergei Skripal is improving rapidly and is no longer in critical condition, a British health official said Friday, a month after he and his daughter were poisoned with a rare nerve agent that triggered a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4 and were taken to a hospital, where for weeks they lay unconscious in critical condition. British authorities blame Russia for what they say was a military-grade Soviet-made nerve agent poisoning. Russia denies responsibility for the attack.

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement that 66-year-old Sergei Skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.

Yulia Skripal, 33, regained consciousness last week and is now in stable condition, Blanshard said.

Russian state television on Thursday played a recording of what they said was a phone call from Yulia to her cousin Viktoria Skripal in Russia. In it, Yulia said she would be discharged from hospital soon.

Blanshard said Friday that Yulia Skripal could look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital, but called any speculation about her release date just that  speculation.

The poisoning has chilled relations between Russia and the West, producing a wave of diplomatic expulsions unseen even at the height of the Cold War.

Britain, along with the United States and at least two dozen other British allies have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats. Russia has ordered the same number of their envoys out.

On Thursday, Russia called a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the Skripal poisonings. The Russian ambassador to the United Nations warned Britain that it was playing with fire and claimed that Russia was the victim of a hasty, sloppy and ill-intentioned defamation campaign by London and its allies.

The Skripals two guinea pigs and a cat were also victims of the poisoning, the British government said Friday. The two rodents were found dead at the Skripals home after it was sealed off by investigators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Friday the cat was put down after it was found in a distressed state.

Later Friday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once again urged Britain to produce its evidence in the poisoning case.

Lavrov, speaking on a trip to Belarus, said British officials have engaged in frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position instead of producing evidence.
1 Malaysia elections: Malaysias scandal-tainted prime minister announced Friday that Parliament will be dissolved to pave the way for general elections, expected to be held next month that will pit his long-ruling coalition with a revived opposition led by former strongman Mahathir Mohamad. The polls are seen as a test of survival for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is widely expected to win but under pressure to improve the performance of his National Front coalition after support eroded in the past two elections. Mahathir, Asias longest-serving premier for 22 years before he retired in 2003, turned against his protege two years ago over a corruption scandal that involved hundreds of millions of dollars passing through Najibs bank accounts believed linked to a state fund.

2 Lebanon aid: International donors pledged $11 billion in loans and grants Friday to help debt-ridden Lebanon at a conference in Paris that also sought to ensure the money is well spent in a country hit hard by the Syrian war next door. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri outlined his countrys grim situation, saying his nations stability is at stake. Fears of economic collapse in Lebanon are mounting ahead of next months parliamentary election, the first in nine years. Hariri, pointing out the impact of seven years of war in Syria, said that growth in Lebanon has dived from 8 percent to barely 1 percent. Lebanon is also hosting 1.2 million refugees  accounting for nearly a quarter of the countrys population.
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Moroccos Economy and Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid was selected Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) for a year.

The tenure will end at the end of the 44th Council meeting, scheduled to take place in Marrakech in April 2019, said a statement from the Finance Ministry.

Boussaid was appointed to the position during the 43rd meeting of the IDB Board of Governors, held this April 3-5 in Tunis.

Addressing the Board of Governors, Boussaid praised IDBs role in developing new cross-cutting partnership strategies with member states and enhancing the effectiveness of the groups interventions, in addition to promoting investment and trade exchanges among member states and supporting the private sector.

He highlighted the different constraints faced by Islamic countries in the current economic juncture at the regional and international levels and called on the IDB to continue to mobilize and support its members in order to achieve economic diversity and the structural transition to more productive sectors that are likely to create more jobs for young people.

The Moroccan official also underscored the importance of IDB initiatives in promoting Arab-African cooperation and strategic partnership. He highlighted in this connection the pioneering role of the banking group in strengthening Arab-African trade and financing inclusive development projects, especially after the signing of a convention on the creation of a continental free trade area in Africa.

Boussaid who led the Moroccan delegation to the meeting held side talks with several Finance Ministers of Arab, Islamic and African countries.
MADISON, FL -- Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, along with the Madison Police Department, the FBI and the Madison County Sheriffs Office announced charges against Jason Lenard Hayling, 44, in connection with the 2016 kidnapping of 7-year-old Bryan Williamson. The child was kidnapped from Gibson Trailer Park on April 17, 2016 between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. and dropped off in Jacksonville between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. on April 18, 2016.

Hayling was arrested out of state in February 2018 for an unrelated Jacksonville capital sexual battery case. FDLE agents obtained a search warrant for his DNA after noticing similarities between the Madison kidnapper and Hayling.

After nearly two years, it gives me relief to tell you that we know who the kidnapper is and that this dangerous predator is no longer a threat to our community, said FDLE Special Agent in Charge Mark Perez. Observant investigators with unwavering dedication along with DNA helped solve this case.

Madison Police Department officers and investigators worked tirelessly on this case, said Madison Police Chief Reggie Alexander. I appreciate the hard work of investigators who were determined to find this child predator.

This case reflects the relentless efforts of the FBI and our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to identify those who prey on our children, said Special Agent James VanPelt of the FBIs Jacksonville Division. I am hopeful that the people of Madison County, Jacksonville and everywhere in between can breathe a little easier tonight knowing that Jason Lenard Hayling is no longer an unknown threat to our communities.

As the Sheriff of Madison County, I am always impressed with the depth and perseverance of all our local and state officers as they continue to pursue these predators and protect our communities, said Madison County Sheriff Ben Stewart. This case is an example of a job well done.

Hayling remains in the Duval County Jail at the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office Pre-Trial Detention Facility and has been charged for the Madison kidnapping.

Following the 2016 abduction, investigators and analysts from FDLE, Madison PD, FBI and Madison County SO viewed hundreds of hours of video from homes and businesses, processed dozens of citizen calls from a tip line and distributed flyers throughout Florida and southern Georgia in working to solve this case.

If you have any information regarding this case or Jason Lenard Hayling, please contact FDLE at (800) 226-5630.
It is hard to know what is worse  the hypocrisy of an energy company claiming to be green yet trying to prevent coal stations closing, or a Federal Government that preaches the need for reliability and business confidence as it drives investor uncertainty to new heights. But thats energy policy in Australia today.

Alinta is a large, privately-owned energy company with about 800,000 customers. Alintas website boasts of being a breath of fresh air and planning for a future of cleaner, more environmentally friendly energy. But actions speak louder than words. Alinta Energy will not even meet its 2017 environmentally friendly obligations under the Renewable Energy Target and will have to pay a penalty shortfall charge to account for this failure.

Alinta used to run a coal-fired power station in South Australia  the 520 megawatt Northern plant at Port Augusta. After years of agitation from the local community over the pollution and health impacts, Northern closed in May 2016.

At the time, Alinta CEO Mr Jeff Dimery justified his decision, saying the technology we are using here is old, the cost structures are high and there's no longer a place for us in the market."

He also predicted the future for the National Electricity Market (NEM), saying, It is inevitable that more coal-fired power stations will close.
''Keep Calm and Carry On''. Today we recognise this stoic phrase as a ubiquitous meme or souvenir merch; a set-up awaiting an inevitably inane punchline. Yet its original implications were no joke at all: ''Keep Calm and Carry On  in the event of British defeat and Nazi invasion''.

Britain didn't fall, so the original test posters were never released. The stock pulped. But a few survived and the British Government donated examples to the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra.

Daddy, what did you do in the Great War? by Savile Lumley.

An original ''keep calm'' poster features in Propaganda, an exhibition at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (MPRG) coinciding with ANZAC day and the centenary of World War I. Forty-five posters, selected from the AWM's extensive archive (one of the largest in the world), explore life during wartime.

Propaganda isn't just about agitating for war. It's about integration. Working hard in production. Supporting the cause by rationing. Remaining vigilant towards spies. The exhibition plays to the AWM's strengths focusing on the two world wars, while including protest posters from Vietnam and the anti-nuclear movements.
1920 From: Commanding Officer, USS Bell To: Commanding Officer, USS Solace Subject: Your letter of Dec. 13, 1919 The master-at-arms immediately made him prisoner on the ground that he was a stowaway.

Your ship's cat "Whiskers" is being returned under guard, but an explanation of his presence aboard the ship is no doubt due you. Prior to our departure from alongside the Solace, the cat in question developed a warm regard for the USS Bell, consequently spending much of his time aboard. On the morning we shifted berth his presence aboard was unknown to us. Later in the day after your ship had sailed, he was found to have taken possession of an unoccupied stateroom. The master-at-arms immediately made him prisoner on the ground that he was a stowaway and incarcerated him in the paint locker. This will account for the fact that he is no longer the black cat you describe, but battleship grey. We advise against the removal of this collar since its low visibility aids the performance of his duties. In regard to the dress uniform worn by the prisoner  in his attempts to remove the paint he pulled off the collar and lost it. This ship feels under no obligation in regard to the latter. In adding one 10 collar to its stores it lost $2 worth of paint. That was the actual correspondence between the skippers of the hospital ship USS Solace and the destroyer USS Bell, regarding the disappearance of mascot Thomas Whiskers.

Solace was a hospital ship, so it's likely he played a key role providing comfort and cheer, perhaps speeding recovery by helping reduce stress. Pet therapy and companion animal research reports patients are happier, more alert and active, and less anxious when a pooch or a puss pops by. Commissioned on April 14, 1898, for the Spanish-American War, Solace was one of the US Navy's first hospital ships and the first to fly the Red Cross, making it neutral under the terms of the 1864 Geneva Convention. At the time, the US Navy was in uncharted territory with hospital ships. With the exception of Civil War hospital ship USS Red Rover (1862-65), the US Navy did not operate a ship that was used solely for the purpose of tending to the sick and wounded and providing medical supplies. All that changed when the Solace came on the scene. US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery medical historian Andre Sobocinski filled me in on the background: For the Spanish-American War, USS Solace was fitted to care for 200 patients comfortably (either in berths, swinging cots or staterooms). Her hospital was staffed by five medical officers, three hospital stewards, four mess men, and two laundry men. The ship carried steam launches and a barge for transferring the sick and wounded at sea, and had steam winches on both sides of its upper deck for the hoisting and lowering of the wounded. She would pick up her first patients (57 sailors and marines) on June 5 from ships that took part in the bombardment of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Among her many claims in the Spanish-American War was the first antiseptic surgery performed at sea. She was the first of 20 Navy hospital ships to be blessed with a (daresay) soothing name. Originally known as the Creole  an ocean steamer from the Cromwell line  she was converted into a Navy hospital ship within 16 days. Her new name  USS Solace  was given to her by Margaret Long, the daughter of the Secretary of the Navy. Every US Navy hospital ship since 1898 has followed the Solace's lead and been given a name denoting healing, peace, and refuge. From 1908 to 1921, every hospital ship's captain was a medical officer. Usually ships are commanded by line officers. There were those in the Navy Medical Department who thought that hospital ships  as medical ships  should be commanded by physicians. While still president, Theodore Roosevelt agreed and directed that Navy medical officers be allowed to serve at the helm of hospital ships.
The family are forced to spend their days and nights in silence, and use sign language to communicate  their daughter Regan is deaf. The film's themes resonated strongly with Emily and John, who have two daughters, Hazel, 4, and Violet, 21 months. "It felt close to home and reflects my deepest fears  the thought of not being able to protect your children," says Emily. Motherhood, she explains, has shifted her outlook "emotionally, psychologically and physically  I'm in a perpetual state of slight distraction, making sure the children are okay. But I love being a mother." Emily Blunt in A QUIET PLACE. Credit:Paramount Pictures Her daughters "love each other so much, which is the most heart-melting thing in the world. Hazel is so helpful; she's an incredible older sister and Violet is obsessed with her."

Today, both children are at home with the family's "godsend" nanny, Tina. "It's important to have someone who will nurture the children when you aren't there," Emily says, launching into a discussion about "mum-shaming," and the guilt many women feel about balancing parenthood with careers. "I think if I didn't work, I would feel very unbalanced. We need to reclaim the word 'ambition'. It's celebrated in men and not in women, but ambition can be positive for women. It doesn't have to be a clawing, negative word." Thoughtful and reflective, Emily points out that in Hollywood and beyond, different rules still apply to men and women, despite the recent #TimesUp initiative. She says, "For me, this movement's become less about sex and more about women reclaiming their power. I said to John recently, 'Have you ever been asked about how you juggle being a dad and working?' " Emily Blunt, and husband John Krasinski, arrive for the world premiere screening of "A Quiet Place" during the South by Southwest Film Festival in March. Credit:Jack Plunkett/AP

He hadn't. "And I find that wrong," she adds, "because he's as involved in our children's lives as I am." Emily calls John "an incredible dad, and it's a joke in our house that he is so arts-and-craftsy  he's way better than me. He just made an amazing string of paper dolls for Hazel. All my friends' children like him. He's a big guy and he's funny." The family has relocated from California to Brooklyn, where they can walk everywhere. "We both felt we needed to bring the children up in an environment that was closer to what we knew," Emily explains. "John's from Boston and I'm from London. New York is vibrant and multicultural  it feels familiar." It's also closer to her sister Felicity, who lives in London with her actor husband Stanley Tucci (Blunt's co-star in The Devil Wears Prada). Tucci, a famously talented Italian chef, and Felicity, a literary agent, are passionate about cooking. "When you go for dinner to their house, it's three amazing courses  and they do that every night. I would never attempt pasta for Stanley because he makes it from scratch. Mine's out of a packet!"

Emily, born and raised in London, has two other siblings, Sebastian, an actor, and Susannah, a vet. Her mother, Joanna Mackie, is a former actor and teacher, her father, Oliver, is a barrister She recalls a "happy and exciting" childhood, and taking "extraordinary" trips to places such as South Africa, Mauritius and Turkey. "When I was 16, we went to Australia for the first time, to visit friends in Perth," says Emily. In 2006, while she was in her early 20s, she spent several months in Melbourne filming Irresistible alongside Sam Neill and Susan Sarandon. Emily wasn't one of those children who always wanted to act. When she was about seven, she developed a stutter. "It skyrocketed and got really bad when I was 11 or 12  fun age to have a stutter! I hated that it was part of my identity." Then her teacher had an inspired idea, suggesting not only that she appear in the school play, but that she also put on a "ridiculous accent".

"He thought it would free me up a bit," says Emily. "He had the insight to know that acting could end the skipping record of the stutter, by changing up the way you speak. I thought I was going to embarrass myself but I found I really enjoyed acting and it helped the stuttering." Emily has since become closely involved with the American Institute of Stuttering, which, she says, has pioneered ground-breaking methods to restore the confidence of stutterers "so they know it's not a shameful thing" While it rapidly became clear that she possessed a natural gift for acting, Emily thought it was too unstable a career to pursue, deciding instead to study languages at university. But she was discovered by an agent, landing her first professional stage role in The Royal Family, with Judi Dench, in 2001. That was followed by a starring role in the film My Summer of Love, and then 2006's The Devil Wears Prada, which "changed my career overnight". Emily delivered a brilliant comic turn as Meryl Streep's acerbic assistant and received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress. "The film became part of the vernacular," she says. "If you hadn't seen it you were missing out on the conversation. And it was a great character role  which was what I wanted as an actor. I didn't want to be stuck in ingenue roles." Her next challenge was avoiding typecasting. "I got offered every acerbic British person under the sun," laughs Emily, who took the lead in 2009's The Young Victoria, which resulted in another Golden Globe nomination, this time for best actress.

Subsequent roles saw her change gears dramatically, starring alongside Tom Cruise in the 2014 sci-fi action flick Edge of Tomorrow, and as an FBI agent in 2015's Sicario. I love to sit and listen to [Meryl Streep] because she has a brilliant brain, shes wonderful and wacky. Credit:Jan Welters/Snappermedia Now one of Hollywood's most celebrated actors, she is optimistic that for women in general, there are more opportunities than ever before. "There are positive waves happening," she says, noting the female-focused films celebrated at this Oscars, including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lady Bird and The Shape of Water with Sally Hawkins ("my favourite film of the year"). One of her most exciting projects yet is her starring role in the upcoming Disney blockbuster, Mary Poppins Returns, to be released at Christmas. "That was something I could not say no to!" she exclaims, sitting bolt upright. Was it intimidating following in the footsteps of Julie Andrews, star of the original 1964 classic? "It felt like a boulder to move out of the way," she tells me, "because Julie is seared into people's memories and is almost emblematic of the nostalgia people feel about Mary Poppins. For a lot of people it was the first film they ever saw  so it did feel a bit daunting."

But the new film, directed by Rob Marshall  Emily worked with him on Into the Woods  has a different vibe from the original. It's more closely based on P.L. Travers' novels about the wondrous, magical nanny who appears from the skies. "Ours is set 25 years later, with a pretty dark backdrop showing the difficult time people were facing in the '30s, which was actually what P.L. Travers intended," says Emily. And her Mary Poppins has little in common with Julie Andrews' pertrayal: "She's kind of batty and eccentric and not terribly nice, to be honest." Emily also has new songs to sing. "Thank god they are not Julie's!" she says, adding that the original Mary Poppins has been "an incredible champion of me and the film. She's wonderful." The film sees her reunited with Meryl Streep, who plays Mary's "crazy cousin" Topsy  the third time they've worked together. Emily calls the legendary actor a friend. "She's someone I love to sit and listen to, because she has a brilliant brain, she's wonderful and wacky." Is Hazel excited about her mother playing Mary Poppins? "She doesn't really understand what I do I do for a living," says Emily. "Most of the movies she watches are animated, so it's confusing for her. She loathes seeing me in the costume. I wear a dark wig and she tells me, 'I don't like your Mary Poppins hair, I like your blonde hair.' I think she will like the film, but it must be weird if it's your mum in the role.
Jonathan Harris as Dr Zachary Smith, with the robot, in the original Lost in Space. Credit:Fairfax Media Those dynamics serve to open the show up to the broadest possible audience, he says. "It's at this very interesting level where parents could watch it because they'll identify and the kids can watch it because they're watching this amazing adventure, and I guess that's what the original was doing, but in a different time." Stephens, the son of legendary actors Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith, grew up in Britain and only saw fragments of the original series. Guy Williamson as John Robinson, June Lockhart as Maureen and Mark Goddard as Major Don West in the original Lost In Space. "I knew of its existence in pop culture, I had seen photos of it, I had probably seen clips of it, but that's it," he says. "I knew it was about the Swiss Family Robinson set in outer space, I knew of the existence of a robot and that Dr Smith was this evil, kind of campy guy who was always causing trouble. But I really didn't watch it, I didn't follow it as a child."

There is then, he agrees, a great freedom in coming to the series reboot with a fairly open mind to interpreting the material. "I deliberately didn't go back and watch episodes of the original series because it was totally different and they were making it in a totally different time," he says. "And while being respectful of the original, [the reboot] is sort of the same construct but what's great about it is you can take it in all kinds of directions. While the original John Robinson was a rock solid figure, the rebooted John Robinson is, in Stephens' words, "a failed father and a failed husband." "I think that was what really struck me most of all about him," Stephens says. "He's somebody who's got it wrong and I find his journey  somebody realising they've got it wrong and they're trying to correct it and find that place  very moving." Within the framework of the rebooted Robinsons, he says, Maureen is "this incredibly resilient and strong woman, who has now become the de facto head of this family, is holding things together. And John has been sidelined and it's about him finding, 'Where do I fit into this now? How do I make my peace with this and also reconnect with my kids?' "

Into the complex relationship between father and son comes the Robot, who "ends up kind of interceding between him and his son and becoming a kind of father figure, or a paternal, protective figure for his son," says Stephens. "And [that] just highlights how distant he has become from his own son. His son chooses to be with this robot more than him and finds protection. And I thought it was a really cool idea and gives it this texture and sophistication that obviously kids would enjoy but also adults will identify with." The reboot of Lost in Space is nothing if not ambitious. And while it does not live in the edgy television space in terms of either language or violence, Stephens believes Netflix may well have been the only environment in which a reboot of its scale and ambition might have been attempted. "Because it's incredibly expensive doing the kind of special effects, all of the stuff that goes into making this look so good," he says. "It can only work if it does for kids now what the original series did in 1965. And we've come such a long way. Kids now, they've watched The Avengers, Star Wars, they've seen this incredible sophisticated imagery and CGI, and you have to bring that to bear even in something like Lost In Space."
Nicole Kidman has given fans a belated Easter present. In the wee hours of Friday morning, the Australian actress gave Big Little Lies fans their first glimpse of Meryl Streep on set. The legendary actress is set to play a big role in the Emmy-award winning show's second season, which is currently in production. HBO confirmed Streep would play Mary Louise Wright  the mother of Alexander Skarsgard's character Perry Wright  earlier this year. Fairfax Media then revealed Australian author and Big Little Lies creator Liane Moriarty wrote the character with Streep specifically in mind.

"They were teasing me, saying I can't believe how Hollywood you've become," she said at the time. The novelist then got a Christmas email from Kidman that teased at some positive news. It read: "Ask and you shall recieve." Kidman's Instagram post shows her in character as Celeste Wright. She is clutching her two sons, who are looking at an iPad their grandmother is holding. All viewers know so far about Streep's character is that she swoops into the second season because she is worried about her grandchildren's welfare in the wake of their father's death. However, things could take a dramatic turn if Mary Louise ever finds out what really happened to her son.
Prince Charles is calling for the Great Barrier Reef to be at the heart of plans for a new "blue economy" that seeks to harness the world's oceans for economic growth.

The avid environmentalist made the call as he prepares to visit Queensland's Lady Elliot Island, which lies at the southern tip of the world's largest coral reef.

Prince Charles called on governments, businesses, the development community and non- government groups to collaborate on ideas for sustainable investments that promote coral reef health. Credit:AAP

The prince says the reef is not only one of the world's greatest tourist attractions, but also one of its most vital ecosystems.

But he says the impact from the combined effects of coral-bleaching events and climate change has meant the world has reached a "crossroads" in its ability to protect the Great Barrier Reef and others around the globe, meaning the decisions taken over the next decade will determine their fate.
Don't you just love when celebrities and high-end designers do totally relatable things? After Kim Kardashian West's family portrait comes a celebrity engagement story that has us all shouting "#proposalgoals". Engaged ... designer Marc Jacobs (right) and Charly Defrancesco. Credit:AP Designer Marc Jacobs asked his boyfriend of 11 years, Charly Defrancesco, to marry him at a New York outlet of Mexican fast food chain Chipotle on Wednesday night, US time, complete with a flashmob dancing to the Prince track, Kiss.

After the dance, Jacobs, 54, got down on one knee and proposed to Defrancesco, a former model and candle-maker with a political science degree (catch!). Jacobs had someone capture the entire moment for social media. And this happened  Charly Defranscesco will you marry me? Jacobs captioned the video on Instagram. Thank you everyone for making this happen  and to my ride or die fiance @CharlDefrancesco I love you. According to WWD this is the best press Chipotle could ask for after being caught up in a food-poisoning scandal last year.
Produced in association with Ayers Rock Resort and Tourism NT.

There's a David Sedaris line about his dad not believing that he's been to Australia, even though he's actually been twice. Sedaris, indignant, points out that he's been to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. "No matter," says his dad. "In order to see the country, you have to see the countryside."

Sails in the Desert is part of Ayers Rock Resort, which offers accommodation from camping to five star.

In my experience of Americans, extensive enough that I've sold a few on the concept of "drop bears", this rings true. "Countryside" inevitably means one thing: the outback. And nowhere says the outback more than the Red Centre.

I couldn't count the number of times I was asked while living in the US if I'd seen Uluru and had to shake my head in shame. More embarrassing, just about every American I knew who had come to Australia had visited. They raved about the space, the sky and their sense of spiritual connection  to a landscape, I fumed to myself, that wasn't even their own!
Oh, the outcry . And then, the mirth. ( Guardian journalist Jake Nevins tweeted that FYI a Jewish mans rebellion is actually getting a tattoo and hiding it from your parents so you can be buried in a Jewish cemetery.) And while Purcells theory has some obvious holes  she dated just two men, implied that the stumbling block was her Christianity, yet cited a statistic that nearly 44 per cent of Jews in America have inter-faith marriages  I had to consider whether there was some truth to her wider observation. Do Jewish men really harbour a fantasy about non-Jewish women, particularly those of the blonde variety? And is their true desire to settle down with someone of their own religion?

Purcell, a Christian, had been in serious relationships with two Jewish men who she claimed didnt seem especially interested in dating Jewish women. After each relationship ended, the men went on to marry women of their own faith. The author decided that she was part of the Jewish mans fantasy of nabbing a shiksa goddess  the ultimate WASPy blonde  and that this was a rebellious detour en route to their deep-down goal of marrying a nice Jewish girl.

Last week, journalist Carey Purcell wrote a Washington Post article that went viral, became the focus of funny memes and later prompted the need for her written apology, entitled, I Am Tired Of Being a Jewish Mans Rebellion.

I arrived in Los Angeles from Melbourne in 1989, for what would be a seven-year stint. I was in my early 20s. I had an Australian accent. And I am also Jewish.

When Id meet a Jewish-American man and tell them I was Jewish-Australian, Id occasionally see some hardwiring in their brain short circuit. Theyd been largely raised in a climate that celebrated an idealised girl who was the antithesis to their nagging Jewish mothers, or at least thats how pop culture portrayed it. (See: Portnoys Complaint by Philip Roth, Woody Allens Annie Hall and The Heartbreak Kid, wherein Jewish guy Charles Grodin meets impossibly leggy uber-blonde Cybill Shepherd on his honeymoon and compares her to his nasal-sounding new wife who gets egg salad over her face when they share a meal together. Naturally, he wants to get rid of his spouse-of-several-days immediately. Oy vey.)

With my Aussie vernacular, I offered a new dynamic to the Jewish men I met. I could theoretically be the girl of whom their mother approved without being the girl they felt pressured since birth to marry. Youre the first Jewish girl Ive dated since high school! was something I heard several times, as if I had hit some kind of ethnic jackpot. Why dont you date Jewish girls? Id ask. Id receive answers along the following lines: those girls were too JAP-py. (Jewish American Princesses, a sub-heading of '80s jokes.)

Jewish women werent adventurous. They were materialistic. They didnt like sex. But, how do you know this if you havent dated any of them? Id counter. I knew plenty of American Jewesses, and they were all dynamos: smart, hilarious, self-deprecating. Some of these men went on to marry Jewish women, and some of them didnt. Im sure that all of them learned that the way you perceive the world in your 20s isnt the way you see it later on. None of the Jewish men I met in America were a type, either. Some were erudite, charming, witty. Others were self-centred, selfish, difficult. It wasnt because they were circumcised and barmitzvah-ed; it was because they were human.

Do Jewish men have an overreaching fantasy of dating a non-Jew? Its surely not about romancing an Uber-Blonde, because synagogues are filled with them; no one likes LOreal golden highlights as much as a Jewish woman who is fifth-generation brunette. And yet, the idea of the shiksa goddess has lingered. In one Seinfeld episode, Elaine found herself invited to a slew of barmitzvahs. George explained it to her, saying: Youve got shiksappeal. Jewish men love the idea of meeting a woman thats not their mother.
Washington, DC -- Congress has passed the STOP School Violence Act . Below is Senator Marco Rubio's statement about the passage of that bill.

"Just five weeks after the tragedy in Parkland, Congress passed a spending bill that authorizes $1 billion over the next decade to improve the safety of our schools. The STOP School Violence Act is set to immediately provide resources to schools and their communities to prevent violence before it ever begins. Here is why that matters.

The law reauthorizes and improves the Secure our Schools program, and immediately provides $75 million for the rest of this year and authorizes $100 million for each of the next 10 years to states, local governments and communities for the express purpose of financing school safety efforts. This is double the amount previously available to schools, and better targets the spending to evidence-based approaches that identify threats to students safety.

The new money would be available to local governments and schools to implement programs like Los Angeles Countys successful School Threat Assessment Response Team, which coordinates the efforts of law enforcement, schools and mental health professionals to make sure nobody slips through the cracks. It will fund anonymous reporting systems like the Safe UT app, and help school districts create and train intervention teams to seek out the troubled students most likely to pose risks like what happened in Parkland.

School safety programs that had previously been subject to budget cuts or staff turnover will have additional resources for operations and for investments in improvements. Local government officials, and the parents and families they represent, will be able to use the money for solutions that work best for their communities based on tried and true approaches."

Read the rest here.
Everyone is familiar with the plight of first-home buyers trying to get a foot on the property ladder. But it's not just a problem for Millennials  first-time buyers are becoming older and they face particular obstacles.

The average age of first-home buyers, nationally, increased from 27 in the early 1990s to 29 in the early 2000s. As at December 2017, the typical first-timer was 31. That's based on figures provided to Money by ING, using its own lending records and broader industry data.

Sydney and Melbourne first-timers are likely to be older again, given the rate at which prices in the two capitals have outstripped the growth in incomes.

Though most people aspire to home ownership, it's likely to take longer to save for the deposit, not only because of price rises but because lenders now require larger deposits than just a few years ago.

Home ownership
The new electorate will be named after Charles Bean, Australia's official correspondesnt and historian in World War I. After the war he moved to the Tuggeranong Homestead and played a pivotal role in the opening of the Australian War Memorial. None of the 16 submissions to the AEC suggested naming the new electorate after Charles Bean. Mr Leigh said he will nominate for the seat of Fenner. Assuming the final boundaries are similar to the draft proposal, Ill seek Labor preselection for Fenner: the seat that most closely overlaps the electorate I currently have the privilege to serve, he said. Another Canberra representative in the House will be most welcome. Better yet if our third MP stands up for Medicare, great schools and a strong public service - as Gai Brodtmann, Katy Gallagher and I do every day.

Ms Brodtmann said that subject to preselection she intends to run for the southernmost seat of the ACT, which on the proposed distribution is the seat of Bean. She said the name was a beautiful tribute to the man who contributed so much to Australias war history. Given his strong connection with the Tuggeranong Homestead and the valley, the fact that he wrote the official war history at the homestead, its a beautiful tribute to Charles Bean, she said. Ms Brodtmann said she was pleased to finally see the redistribution proposal. As a long term advocate for a third seat Im delighted that we are now talking boundaries for three seats for the ACT.

By any measure the people of the ACT have been underrepresented for too long. ACT Labor secretary Matt Byrne said we are at this stage pretty satisfied with the draft boundaries, acknowledging that they align closely with the partys submission. Mr Byrne said the name Bean was a bit surprising and that Labor had a policy of suggesting Indigenous names with a connection to the area. ACT Greens co-convenor Emma Davidson said the new boundaries of the electorate of Canberra had created one of the greenest seats in the country, for which the party would make a strong play. This new seat will be a contest between Labor and the Greens and we will be in it to win it, because Canberra and the Greens are on the same page, Ms Davidson said.

[The new borders] look very sensible to us, Ms Davidson said. Ms Davidson wouldnt comment on who would run for the seat for the Greens, and said the party hadnt yet started its preselection process. Territory Director of the Canberra Liberals Zac Lombardo said the party was "disappointed" at the proposed boundaries. "The Canberra Liberals are disappointed that the proposed boundaries split the Woden and Belconnen communities, as our town centres are a key feature of the ACT. Our submission to the redistribution committee showed how it was possible to introduce a third electorate without splitting the main town centres, and this was the prime focus for us in preparing our submission," he said. Mr Lombardo said that the Canberra Liberals submission had kept town centres such as Woden and Belconnen united in the boundaries it had suggested, and accused the ALP of suggesting splitting the town centres for political advantage.

He said the party welcomed the naming of an electorate after Charles Bean. The Australian Electoral Commission said that under the proposed resdistribution, 150,003 voters, or 52.02 per cent of voters would be in a new division. ACT Labor had suggested that the division of Fenner include Gungahlin and most suburbs of Belconnen, and that a central division to be called Molonglo include Civic and the inner suburbs both north and south of Lake Burley Griffin. The party suggested the southern most parts of the ACT, as well as Tuggeranong, Weston Creek and the Woden Valley be included in the electorate of Canberra. Labor MP for Canberra Gai Brodtmann on election night 2016, flanked by Labor senator Katy Gallagher and Labor MP for Fenner Andrew Leigh. The Canberra Liberals' submission had called for the new electorate to be called Stromlo, which would have included Belconnen as well as the Molonglo Valley and Weston Creek.

Psephologist and writer of the Poll Bludger blog William Bowe said it was almost certain that Labor would win all three seats. I think you can take it to the bank that youve got three Labor seats, he said. Theres no way you can divide Canberra up without getting three seats that are going to be won by Labor in anything other than extraordinary circumstances. If there is a seat that they might lose then its slightly more likely to be Bean than the other two, but theyre all pretty similar, Mr Bowe said. While he said the new seat of Canberra would be better for the Greens than Bean or Fenner, he didnt believe they could challenge Labor for the seat. Its actually Canberra thats the new electorate, Bean is completely made up of voters from the old Canberra. I guess theyve kept the name as it is because its got the city centre, but Bean is really Canberra, and Canberra is really the new electorate, Mr Bowe said.
She studied while raising her two children, working and launching her political career.

Susan Ryan - one of the ACT's first senators, a former age discrimination commissioner and architect of the nation's sex discrimination laws - has been crowned the Australian National University's alumna of the year.

To complete the course, to get the degree and now to be honoured in this way for that long haul all those years ago is very meaningful to me and I hope its also meaningful to other young parents and mothers who are struggling to do their postgraduate work as well as look after their families and get their working life established," Ms Ryan said.

Ms Ryan was a Labor MLA in the ACT Legislative Assembly from 1974 to 1975 before being elected to the senate in the latter year.

In 1984 she was appointed education and youth affairs minister in the Hawke government - making her the first woman to serve in a federal Labor cabinet.

During her political career she lobbied for abortion clinics in the ACT, introduced the landmark 1984 Sex Discrimination Act and redistributed funding from some of Australia's wealthiest schools to disadvantaged schools.

ANU vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt, who awarded Ms Ryan an honorary doctorate last year, said she had changed the lives of Australian women "forever".
The global social media-powered art exhibition, Twitter Art Exhibit or #TAE18 (@twitreartexhibit), opens at Strathnairn Arts Gallery on April 7.

Now in its eighth year, the #Twitter Art Exhibit has raised more than $50,000 for charities and non-profit organisations around the world.

David Sandum's Australia in my mind is part of the Twitter Art Exhibit #TAE18.

Artists donate postcard-sized, handmade original artwork to the #TAE  which are then showcased for purchase  with 100 per cent of the proceeds donated to charity. This year, Pegasus Riding for the Disabled ACT is the beneficiary charity.

The entire exhibit is delivered by a group of volunteer organisers and artists; there is no entry fee; and artists of all levels  from emerging talent to seasoned professionals  are showcased.
The Yass Valley Council has been accused of burying day-old chicks alive during a clean-up operation following a truck crash.

A truck carrying 108,000 chicks crashed down an embankment on Burley Griffin Way, near Yass, about 1.20am on Easter Monday.

Yass Valley Council workers work to clean up after the crash.

Early estimates on the day of the crash suggested more than 25,000 chicks were killed, and Canberra woman Michelle Swann says she and fellow members of the Vegan ACT group arrived at the crash site about 4pm to find more buried alive after a Yass Valley Council clean-up operation.

"As soon as we got there, you could hear chirping everywhere, so it was clear that there were still a lot of birds alive and injured," Ms Swann said.
NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has promised Labor will prioritise the Metro West project if elected to government in 2019.

Mr Foley described Metro West as "the most needed transport improvement for Sydney".

"We'll be able to fund it because we won't be squandering millions as the Liberals are on inferior transport projects," Mr Foley told a press conference.

The government initially announced the Metro West project in November 2016.
Utzon, the architect who won the 1957 international competition to design the Sydney Opera House, was born the son of a ship builder in Copenhagen in 1918, then moved to the city of Aalborg (which means eel castle) where his father worked in the shipyards.

Its a question his 46-year-old grandson Mika Utzon Popov, a Danish-born artist who now lives in Avalon, has been asked all his life. And its a debate thats bound to reignite from Monday when Denmarks Crown Prince Frederik officially opens the centenary celebrations of Mr Utzon Popov's grandfathers birth, in his childhood home in northern Jutland. This will include opening an exhibition, which will go some way to explaining Utzon's inspirations, and help sort out much of the mythology and misunderstanding over Sydneys most famous building.

While a host of events are planned there this centenary year and at the Sydney Opera House for which he was awarded architecture's highest accolade, the Pritzker Prize, in his homeland the celebration is significant on many levels.

Utzons birthday, April 9, is a dark day in Danish history. On that day in 1940, Utzons 22nd birthday, German forces invaded Denmark and occupied it for the course of World War II. Also when the Danish architect returned home from Australia in 1966, he was shunned by the Danish Association of Architects, who made it clear he would never get a job with the Danish government, because it seemed as if he had walked off the job in Sydney.

Sealing the Sydney Opera House roof joints, 1966. Credit:David Moore/ Lisa, Michael, Matthew and Joshua Moore.

In 1966, when the Askin Liberal government took control of the building, after a dispute with public works minister Davis Hughes, they stopped paying his bills. Utzon resigned in a blaze of controversy then, on April 28, secretly left Sydney clandestinely, like a criminal", as he would later lament, never to return to see his masterpiece complete. He never received a commission from the Danish government, and moved to Majorca, Spain where he worked on private commissions in his homeland or for other foreign governments. In a sort of self-imposed exile, there he built his dream home, Can Lis, named for his wife and roughly modelled on the plans he had for the Bayview block of land he bought here, which were rejected by Warringah Council.

Now, a decade after his death at 90, the Danish architect is being embraced in his homeland like never before.
A group of French backpackers and students have been arrested and more than $200,000 cash seized after a police sting on an alleged drug distribution ring operating in Sydney's inner east.

The arrests follow a five-month investigation by Strike Force Oramzi, formed by officers from the Surry Hills Region Enforcement squad, to investigate the supply of MDMA, cocaine, LSD, ketamine and cannabis.

One of the French nationals arrested on Friday over the alleged drug distribution ring. Credit:NSW Police

At about 7am on Friday, five search warrants were executed at properties in Darlinghurst, Haymarket and Tamarama.

Seven French nationals and one Thai woman, all of whom are in the country on tourist, student or working visas, were arrested in the operation,
More than 20 animal activists have been arrested after they protested inside a Sunshine Coast piggery on Friday morning.

Police were called to the Beerburrum property about 7.30am after reports of up to 100 protesters inside and outside the facility.

Police were called out to a protest at a Sunshine Coast piggery on Friday. Credit:Facebook

A Meat the Victims protester posted to Facebook on Friday that there were 68 people inside the facility to expose the reality of what is happening to the victims of the meat industry ".

It was understood that 40 people were outside holding banners.
A member of the Mauritian Commonwealth Games delegation has been charged with sexual assault.

The 52-year-old allegedly assaulted a 26-year-old woman in Southport on March 29 and was charged after police announced they had launched an investigation on Wednesday.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stepped down from his position after detectives opened an investigation.

Queensland police confirmed they were investigating the matter after Mauritian newspaper le Mauricien reported an allegation of indecent acts against a female athlete on Saturday night.
Its in Bernie Sanders political DNA to be a gadfly, and thats all right. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In the latest iteration of the relitigation of the 2016 Democratic presidential-nominating contest, Bernie Sanders said something critical about the Democratic Party this week, and people freaked out.

Bernie Sanders has triggered a backlash by making comments interpreted as an attack on Barack Obama on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King.

The senator for Vermont appeared to criticise the first black US President as he branded the Democratic Party a failure.

Speaking in Jackson, Mississippi, he said Democrats had lost a record number of legislative seats.

The business model, if you like, of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years or so has been a failure, said the Vermont Senator.

Sanders went out of his way to mention Obamas brilliance, and in context it was reasonably clear he was talking about the Democratic Establishment, not necessarily the 44th president at the top of the party pyramid. But it was almost certainly the wrong place at the wrong time to make this argument, as actor Jeffrey Wright made clear:

Nah, no, nope...Bernie...didn't go down to Jackson...Mississippi...MLK assassination...50th anniversary...and try to drag...Obama...who ain't perfect...at all. But. Bernie...if you want more than 3 southern black folks voting for you...you TRIPPIN', 'white working class Bernie.' https://t.co/tGfUZRQbGc  Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) April 5, 2018

Paul Waldman added to the criticism by suggesting that it was also an odd time to be flaming the Democratic Party for electoral incompetence:

Since Trump got elected, Democrats have won nearly every off-year and special election in sight, usually improving on their prior performance by 10, 20 or even 30 points. They are poised to win back the House  and maybe even the Senate. No one in either party doubts they are going to make huge gains at state and local levels this fall. Whatever else you can say about them, you cant say they are not having success at the ballot box.

But then Waldman puts his finger on why Bernie Sanders is going to keep complaining about the Democratic Party even if it seems to be getting its act together, and moving pretty decisively in a progressive direction:

This is the essence of the Sanders brand; it always has been and always will be. No matter how much the party moves to the left  and it has moved a great deal in the last few years  there will never be a point where Sanders says, Im really pleased with where the Democratic Party is right now. Because once he said that, there would cease to be any need for Bernie Sanders to exist.

To put it a tad more charitably, Bernie has always, for many decades, been a gadfly when it comes to Democratic politics, and its a mite strange to expect him to become anything else in his mid-to-late 70s. This is why hes never joined the Democratic Party  he feels he cant maintain healthy pressure on the old donkey if hes in harness with it.

And you know what? That should be okay to regular Democrats. Bernies gonna Bernie, and most of the time that will consign him to limited influence in the party hes criticizing from outside the ranks. As Waldman points out, his near-conquest of the party in 2016 was the produce of extremely unusual circumstances, and probably wont recur in 2020, even if he does ignore concerns about his age, given a larger candidate field with fewer clear left-center fault lines. But any way you slice it, Sanderss criticisms dont necessarily show any disarray or deep identity crisis among Democrats. So long as Donald Trump is in the White House, the necessity of fighting him off and putting an end to this sad national experiment in white-nationalist populism or whatever you want to call it should keep Democrats unified when and where it matters quite well.
My parents had a firm view of family holidays when I was growing up: they wanted us to see our own country before venturing further afield. The policy had a nice cost-saving benefit but the main point was nationalistic: learn about the place you're from.

As a Melbourne schoolgirl, Katrina Strickland was hesitant about her family's planned holiday to central Australia. When she got there, Uluru blew her teenage mind. Two visits on, it still does.

As a result we had some great holidays on home soil, one of the best of which was a trip through central Australia with seven other families. I didn't want to go on that holiday; I didn't know all the other kids and wanted to stay in Melbourne with my friends. (I agree  appalling. What a brat.) My parents ignored my request and thank god they did: seeing Kings Canyon, Standley Chasm, Coober Pedy, Kata Tjuta and, last but not least, Uluru, blew my teenage mind.

Swimming in water holes, camping on red dirt under gum trees, learning how opals are mined, staging plays around the camp fire  it was all wonderful, even if, by the end of the trip, we never wanted to see another tent peg or tin of beetroot again.

It was back in the days when Kata Tjuta was called the Olgas, and Uluru was best known as Ayers Rock. Prior to the 1985 handing of the Rock back to its traditional owners, it was also a time when climbing the Rock was the thing you did.

Katrina Strickland first visited Uluru as a teenager.

I can still remember our tour guide telling us to write a postcard and to take it up with us to post from the Australia Post box at the top.I excitedly wrote a card to my grandma and put it in my back pocket, only to carry it all the way down again when he told us he'd been joking. I think I ended up posting it when we got back to Melbourne.
Example Passengers complain to the transit police booth at Flinders Street Station that they overheard two PSOs making misogynist comments to a group of young women, and threatened bystanders with arrest when confronted. The sergeant gets the witnesses details and submits an incident form online.

Complaints can be made in person, over the phone or online. Many are lodged by police themselves.

How do you complain and who investigates?

Complaints also come to light because of reports to Victoria's Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission or another enforcement body such as the Ombudsman, via civil action or media attention.

Victoria Police's Professional Standards Command rates complaints by seriousness and complexity, then decides whether to investigate.

Example Senior Constable A* issued a red light ticket and the driver later complains that she was rude and aggressive. Low level and suitable for local mediation. A meeting is arranged and overseen by the local inspector. The complaint is resolved with an apology from Senior Constable A, and an entry is made on her personnel file.

Example Sergeant B* has become romantically involved with a victim of domestic violence, after he charged her husband. He has told the husbands employer about the charges. A senior sergeant from another station investigates. Professional Standards charges him with improper conduct.

Example Constable C* steals cash while executing a search warrant. His colleague sees it and reports to their senior sergeant. High-level crime allocated to a Professional Standards investigation team.
Every once in a while, tucked into the stream of speedily made garments rushed into stores, designs with shockingly bad taste stand out: a shirt comparing women to dogs at Topman, symbols of the Holocaust on a top at Zara, a slogan that trivialises sexual consent on a piece at Forever 21, or words like "slave" and "slut" used as decorative details on T-shirts at ASOS and Missguided.

Brands, even as they offer mea culpas, rarely explain how such blunders come to pass. But problematic designs seem to repeatedly slip past buyers, designers, stylists, marketers and managers before being caught by consumers.

Critics complained that images of frogs on the Zara skirt resembled alt-right hate symbol Pepe. Credit:Handout

Retail experts blame a heated competitive environment, where companies, many based in Europe, are spread thin trying to cater to a global customer base that is easily bored, is extremely demanding and can buy almost anything via e-commerce. Many brands develop a cavalier attitude: Churn out products now, ask forgiveness later.

The problem is not limited to fashion. Last month, Heineken pulled a series of commercials for light beer with the tagline "sometimes, lighter is better," after an ad sparked criticism for being racist.
Jakarta: Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of central Jakarta to demand the daughter of the country's first president be jailed for blasphemy against Islam.

In a poem read at an Indonesian fashion show last week Sukmawati Sukarnoputri  the daughter of former president Sukarno and sister of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri  allegedly 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.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of central Jakarta to demand jail for Sukmawati, the daughter and sister of two former Indonesian presidents. Credit:James Massola

The reading of the poem, titled Mother Indonesia, has caused at least 14 groups to file a formal complaint with police under the country's broad but ill-defined blasphemy laws.

Sukmawati has read the poem publicly at least ten times since it was written 19 years ago but this is the first time it has attracted accusations of blasphemy.
Gaza City: At least six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza border on Friday, as thousands of demonstrators burnt tyres to send towers of thick black smoke into the sky.

The deaths mean that 28 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli snipers since Gaza residents last week began the Great March of Return, a series of weekly border protests demanding the right to return to their ancestral homes in what is today Israel.

Around 20,000 Palestinians flocked to five protest sites along the border, according to the Israeli military. More than 1000 people were injured in clashes with Israeli troops, said the Palestinian health ministry, which is controlled by the Hamas militant group.

Palestinian protesters chant slogans next to burning tires during clashes with Israeli troops along Gaza's border with Israel, east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Credit:AP

Demonstrators burned hundreds of rubber tyres all along the Israeli frontier, creating a wall of smoke which they hoped would blind Israeli marksmen. Israeli forces used fire hoses to try to put out the flames and large turbine fans to keep the noxious smoke from blowing into Israel.
If there is anything approaching a universal truth in online debate it is the acceptance of Godwins Law, which asserts that if any argument goes on long enough someone will eventually raise a comparison to Hitler, at which point they have lost their debate.

Godwins Law was first described by the author and lawyer Mike Godwin in the internets dark age, 1990. This, some will remember, was a happier time. The Berlin Wall had fallen and the Cold War was ending. Americans would soon be discussing the peace dividend to be enjoyed as funds once spent on weapons were redeployed to the public good. In his book The End of History, Francis Fukuyama would soon argue that the success of liberal Western Democracy might even signal an end to human socio-cultural evolution.

Donald Trump's administration resists definition. Credit:AP

Such optimism seems almost impossible from todays perspective, when it is commonplace for even the most sober analysts to wrestle in their writing with the rise of authoritarianism across the world.

Next week comes the release of Fascism: A Warning, a new book by former US ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of state, Madeleine Albright. It is in part a survey of the rise of authoritarian leaders and parties in Russia and the Philippines, in Hungary, Germany, Poland and Italy, and finally in the United States.
Washington: The United States has punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials with fresh sanctions that have taken direct aim at President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, as President Donald Trump's administration tried to show he's not afraid to take tough action against Moscow.

Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasising that since Trump took office last year, the US has punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its "ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behaviour, said the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. They officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russian actions overseas, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and cyber-hacking.

Above all else, Russia's attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the US sanctions, officials said, in a direct nod to concerns that the US President has failed to challenge Putin for alleged interference in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.
Rio de Janeiro: A Brazilian judge on Thursday ordered the arrest of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after the country's top court rejected his appeal to stay out of prison while contesting a corruption conviction.

Lula was ordered to report at a police station in the southern city of Curitiba by 5pm local time on Friday (Saturday 6am AEST), according to the order published by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

Brazil's former president , left, and his lawyer Cristiano Zanin leave the Lula Institute building in Sao Paulo,after the court ruling. Credit:AP

Early on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected Lula's habeas corpus request to reamin free until he had exhausted all appeals against his conviction.

The arrest warrant was issued by Judge Sergio Moro, who sentenced Lula to 9 years in July. An appeals court in Porto Alegre raised the sentence to 12 years and one month in January.
First Cobalt Provides Update on Woods Extension Drilling

Posted by Publisher Internet

First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FCC, ASX: FCC, OTCQB: FTSSF) (the ?Company?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY4qXCoWstE&t=3s) 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:

[list]

47% Co and 0.50% Cu over 0.65m in FCC-18-0015

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

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

[/list]

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.

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).

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

For more information visit www.firstcobalt.com or contact:

Heather Smiles

Investor Relations

info@firstcobalt.com

+1.416.900.3891

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

Jochen staiger

info@resource-capital.ch

www.resource-capital.ch

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.
First Cobalt Provides Update on Woods Extension Drilling

Posted by Publisher Internet

First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FCC, ASX: FCC, OTCQB: FTSSF) (the ?Company?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY4qXCoWstE&t=3s) 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:

[list]

47% Co and 0.50% Cu over 0.65m in FCC-18-0015

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

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

[/list]

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.

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).

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

For more information visit www.firstcobalt.com or contact:

Heather Smiles

Investor Relations

info@firstcobalt.com

+1.416.900.3891

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The donkeys bray is getting louder. Photo: threespeedjones/Getty Images/iStockphoto

As we approach the general election season for the 2018 midterm elections, Republicans have to be modestly pleased with modestly encouraging polling trends. In the RealClearPolitics polling averages, the Democratic advantage in the generic congressional ballot (which basically projects, with some accuracy, the national House popular vote) has dropped from 12.5 percent at the beginning of the year to 7.5 percent today. Meanwhile, another important indicator of how things will go in November, the presidents job approval rating, has improved slowly and marginally as well; its now at 41.5 percent according to RCP, as opposed to 39.8 percent on January 1.

But if the big-picture indicators are looking a tad better for the GOP, the landscape in terms of individual House races continues to deteriorate as contests firm up. Thats made clear by a fresh analysis from the Cook Political Report, whose House specialist, David Wasserman, is a generally recognized wizard at this stuff. As he explains, a combination of open seats and vulnerable incumbents adds up to a big problem for Republicans under current conditions:

There are 36 districts where Republicans [are] not running for reelection in 2016, including 12 at serious risk of falling to Democrats (Lean Republican or more vulnerable). Only 18 Democrats are exiting, and just four represent seats at serious risk of falling to the GOP. Additionally, Democrats are competitive in an August 7 special election in Ohios 12th CD to replace GOP Rep. Pat Tiberi, who resigned in January.

If Democrats pick up at least eight Republican open seats (and today, eight of the 36 are leaning their way), theyll already be a third of the way to the 23 they need for a majority. Beyond those, there are 18 Republican incumbents in the Toss Up column and another 20 in the Lean Republican column - including five in California, three in Texas and three in Virginia. Private partisan polling continues to show most GOP incumbents in much weaker positions than last cycle  even in districts Trump won.

Add in the four to six seats in Pennsylvania that Democrats are in a position to pick up after the states Supreme Court invalidated a GOP gerrymander, and you can see how strong a foundation has been laid for flipping the House. All in all, the landscape is looking very blue:

Our latest ratings feature 55 competitive seats (Toss Up or Lean Democratic/Republican), including 50 currently held by Republicans and five held by Democrats. There are also three non-competitive seats poised to switch parties thanks to Pennsylvanias new map (PA-05 and PA-06 to Democrats, PA-14 to Republicans). Overall, Democrats would need to win 27 of the 55 competitive races to win a majority. We continue to view Democrats the slight favorites for House control.

Thats a pretty conservative projection since wave elections tend to gain momentum as Election Day approaches, with districts originally looking marginally competitive becoming red-hot down the stretch. According to some data Wasserman sent me by email, in 2010, the last really big GOP wave election, Cook showed 38 Democratic districts as having competitive races at the beginning of the cycle. By the end that number had swollen to 91.

And that process seems to be occurring this cycle. In January Cook showed 38 Republican seats as being in competitive races. That numbers up to 50 now, not counting Pennsylvania. The trend continues, with Wasserman moving four seats into the competitive column in his latest forecast.

Its always possible, of course, that the meta trends as measured by the generic ballot and Trumps approval ratings will improve enough for the GOP to shift some of the newly vulnerable House seats back into safety while boosting its odds of winning half or more of the barnburners. But at this point such widely discussed pro-GOP factors as gerrymandered districts and incumbency are already baked into the cake. The landscape you see is probably the landscape youll get when things get deadly serious in the late summer and fall. And if theres a tiebreaker, its likely to be the Democratic enthusiasm advantage thats been so apparent in 2017 and 2018 special elections. That matters more in relatively-low-turnout midterms than in presidential cycles.

There are obviously a thousand small factors affecting individual races. Well find out in June, for example, whether Republicans have succeeded in blocking out Democrats from the general election in several GOP-held districts under Californias top-two system, thanks to there being too many Democratic candidates.

But for the most part, what the GOP most needs right now is a good economy, no international crises, and a stretch of time when the president isnt dominating the news with threats, scandals, or White House turmoil. They should be so lucky.
Is hybrid working a red flag for business security?

The new normal was all we heard about when it came to the working model shift after the pandemic hit. Businesses worldwide adopted working from home, and then the hybrid model: a balance of remote work and office work. And according to a recent survey by 451 Research, nearly 80% of organisations surveyed said they have implemented or expanded universal work-from-home policies as a result of COVID-19, whilst 67% expect these policies to remain in place either permanently or for the long-term. With more vacant office spaces, the question is: is hybrid working a red flag for business security? Empty-office days When buildings and office spaces are still active with advanced technology, equipment and assets on show, yet footfall is not as busy as it once was, opportunistic criminals are closely watching and taking note. But what are they learning? Security systems provider, Expert Security UK, investigates our new normal. Offices are nests for expensive, valuable equipment, with maybe the latest technology Instead of a packed, busy office five or six days a week, hybrid working means more empty-office days, which is music to the ears of burglars. Offices are nests for expensive, valuable equipment, with maybe the latest technology and safes sitting there, or potential stacks of cash or company cards. You may be thinking, well, who leaves company cards or cash out? Youd be surprised, especially when business owners think theyll never be a victim, or sometimes, staff make mistakes. Hybrid working model And dont forget, burglars dont always know whats been left and will take their chances. And when a hybrid working model is the new normal, that means a lapse in security - at least in a thiefs mind. So how worried should business owners be? Well, the latest figures are pretty worrying, but also, not massively shocking. Reiterating the temptation and lure the working model shift has on robbers, Statista recorded a 12-year high for robbery offences in the UK in 2019/2020. When more businesses either shut up shop or sent staff away to home offices, its not hard to make a connection. These figures reflect how, when given the opportunity, thieves will strike and take advantage. Handing vital information Whether youve decided to go fully remote, its crucial to review and rethink your business security However, its worth noting that the lockdowns and empty streets would also have played a part in this spike, and now that were out of lockdowns with a world back to flipping its sign to open, many businesses will be carrying on working from home, but towns, shops, and streets are busy again. Whether youve decided to go fully remote, or have adopted the hybrid model, its crucial to review and rethink your business security, starting with your social media presence. Its a good idea to review your social media channels. We forget how open we can be on social media, and how our digital presence can actually work as a perfect guide and insight for criminals. All they have to do is follow your channels to pick up on clues. And if youre not giving it a minutes thought about what you're putting out there, you may even be just handing them vital information and helping their plans. Remote working shift Of course, there is information readily available such as your opening times, location etc. But, do you really want/need to show off the new, state-of-the-art tablets youve just kitted your office out with? It can be hard as a business, or even as a social person, to not want to share positive news on social media, but we really do have to stop and think, especially if people know a lot about the company and its remote working shift. Its also a good idea to have a meeting with your staff about a social media policy Maybe share a post about that new, intelligent security system you've installed instead. Its also a good idea to have a meeting with your staff about a social media policy or maybe just a casual chat about best practices, e.g. not to tag the business in a post about their new office gadget etc. Improving business security With fewer office days, you probably wont need to take up as much work space anymore. Maybe some equipment has become more ornamental. Anything you dont use or need, you could sell or donate. If you do have expensive equipment lying around thats not being used, try and make money back from it or store it elsewhere. If you are keeping a lot of expensive equipment in vacant premises, especially fixed equipment and technology, then consider installing bars and shutters over the windows. Whatever your budget, you can improve your business security tenfold with key security measures. One of them being access control. Security gates with access control are incredibly effective at stopping unauthorised people from gaining entry. There are also car park barriers and bollards that are highly effective at keeping any potential getaway vehicles out. Easily portable technology High-quality CCTV is a best friend to any business, but you need to be reviewing it frequently High-quality CCTV is a best friend to any business, but you need to be reviewing it frequently, especially if youve done a perimeter check and noticed any signs of forced entry or damage. Dont forget those signs either, let visitors or trespassers know theyre on camera. To fit in with the hybrid working model, static fixtures are becoming redundant. For instance, companies are switching to laptops instead of computers, so that workers can transport them easily to and from the office. This is not only more efficient and convenient, but it means assets are more guarded. Its the same for any other gadgets. Having easily portable technology is good for business, hybrid working, and security. Dont forget about your deterrents. Simple signs to warn people of alarms, CCTV, and even the fact that you dont leave equipment inside overnight can go a long way. Best security technology Thieves are famous for taking their chances. Some will meticulously plan, and many strike at a convenient, opportune time. So having signs in place that show you have high-quality, intelligent security in place can work wonders, making them think twice. Its also worth noting that you may not have the best security technology in place at the moment, but those on the outside dont need to know that; they can be fooled. However, having the best physical security in place is vital, as criminals lurk and will take chances. Keep reviewing your security, especially as your business adapts and reshapes - whether you return back to full office days or carry on the hybrid working model. This guest post was contributed by Danny Scholfield, Managing Director of Expert Security UK.
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The Drake Equation is used to estimate the number of communicating civilizations in our galaxy, or more simply put, the odds of finding intelligent life in the Milky Way.

First proposed by radio astronomer Frank Drake in 1961, the equation calculates the number of communicating civilizations by multiplying several variables. It's usually written, according to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), as:

N = The number of civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable.

R* = The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.

fp = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.

ne = The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.

fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.

fi = The fraction of life bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.

fc = The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.

L = The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

The challenge (at least for now) is that astronomers don't have firm numbers on any of those variables, so any calculation of the Drake Equation remains a rough estimate for now. There have been, however, discoveries in some of these fields that give astronomers a better chance of finding the answer.

The recent discoveries of rocky worlds near Proxima Centauri (a star of the Alpha Centauri system) and TRAPPIST-1 have increased the public's attention on the search for life. These stars, however, are red dwarfs that might be too volatile for life. More study is needed to understand where life might be possible, and whether it could persist long enough to communicate with other civilizations.

Exoplanet discoveries

Astronomers certainly could imagine the existence of other planets outside the solar system in 1961, but it took until 1995 until the first confirmed exoplanet was found around a main-sequence star Called 51 Pegasi b, the discovery ushered in a new era when astronomers were able to track down many other planets across the universe.

Traditionally, planets have been found through two methods: watching them transit across a star (which causes a dimming that can be measured from Earth) or examining the gravitational wobbles the planets induce as they orbit around their parent star. More recently, a technique called "verification by multiplicity" allows astronomers to quickly identify multiple-planet systems.

Estimating the total number of planets in the universe is difficult, but one statistical study suggests that in the Milky Way, each star has an average of 1.6 planets  yielding 160 billion alien planets in our home galaxy. (The study used a technique called gravitational lensing that observes changes in light curves when a relatively nearby star passes in front of more distant objects.) [Related: 13 Ways to Hunt Intelligent Aliens]

As of March 2018, more than 3,708 exoplanets have been confirmed. The vast bulk of them were due to an observatory called the Kepler Space Telescope, which scrutinized a single spot in the Cygnus constellation between 2009 and 2013 before switching to its K2 mission, which rotated between different locations in the sky. Plumbing the data, astronomers continue to make discoveries from the information.

Suitable for life?

While Jupiter-sized planets are easier to spot in telescopes due to their large size and effect on their parent star, emerging research from the Kepler Space Telescope suggests that rocky planets are extremely common. A slew of Kepler discoveries announced in February 2014, for example, mainly contained super-Earths, or planets that are slightly larger than Earth and are considered by many astronomers to be habitable under the right conditions. ("Habitability" is usually defined as the zone around a star in which a rocky planet can maintain liquid water on the surface.)

Among the planets discovered by all telescopes, however, only a tiny fraction of them are likely to have an environment suitable for life. Astronomers can't measure this metric for sure yet, but a few factors likely come into play, such as how close a planet is to its parent star and what its atmosphere contains.

As of March 2018, the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog has 53 planets that "optimistically" could be suitable for life, and among those, 13 that are more likely to be habitable. The project is a part of the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.

"These are artistic representations of all the planets around other stars (exoplanets) with any potential to support surface life as we know it," the catalog states below an illustration of the planets. "All of them are larger than Earth and we are not certain about their composition and habitability yet. We only know that they seem to have the right size and orbit to support surface liquid water. ." [Related: 5 Bold Claims of Alien Life]

Finding life outside of Earth  even microbial life  would be an important step toward better understanding the Drake Equation. Astronomers in fact have not given up on finding life within our own solar system. There are several areas that could host habitable environments now, or did in the past, such as the planet Mars or Jupiter's moon Europa.

A next step would be determining how to send a message to extraterrestrials and whether they could receive or understand it. On a small scale, astronomers have beamed messages to the stars and in a few cases, put discs on board spacecraft (such as Voyager) for anyone in the neighborhood to read and potentially find Earth for further communications.

Red dwarf stars

The catalog of known exoplanets also contains a number of planets circling red dwarf stars, which are smaller and dimmer than our own sun. It was easier to spot a planet blocking the sun as it goes across its face, from Kepler's past vantage point. It also was easier to confirm if the planet was indeed a planet, since a planet orbiting a smaller star will exert a stronger tug visible in radial velocity measurements.

Since red dwarfs produce less energy than the sun, any rocky planets in the habitable zone must huddle closer to the star to get enough heat to maintain liquid water on the surface. Two discoveries in particular attracted a lot of public attention. In 2016, astronomers discovered a rocky planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, a member of the Alpha Centauri star system that is only four light-years from Earth. Then in 2017, seven Earth-sized rocky planets were confirmed around the star TRAPPIST-1, which is only 40 light-years from Earth. Some of those planets may be in the habitable zone.

Emerging research on red dwarf stars, however, suggests they may not be very friendly for life. In the example of Proxima Centauri b, the planet is so close to its star that scientists suggest it may be tidally locked. This means one side of the planet always faces the star, and the other side always faces space. One side of the planet would be very hot, and one side of the planet very cold, unless there are winds to distribute the heat around. These conditions are challenging for life.

Even red dwarf stars in general may be troublesome locations. They are more volatile than our sun, particularly when they are young. The stars can send out flares and also coronal mass ejections, which are charged particles. Over time, CMEs can slowly rip away an atmosphere by removing molecules from the top, according to 2017 studies led by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Even if a star doesn't send out CMEs, there's a chance it will blast out X-ray radiation, which could kill any life on the surface.

Astronomers are carrying out studies of red dwarf stars to determine how dangerous they may be, but further studies of these systems may require future telescopes. Starting in 2018, NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) will study closer and brighter stars than Kepler did, potentially generating dozens of potentially habitable planets. And the agency's James Webb Space Telescope will launch no earlier than 2020, with the ability to look at some planets' atmospheres in the infrared to learn more about their composition. Meanwhile, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is under construction in Chile, with first light expected in 2024.
The full moon of April, called the Pink Moon, will occur in the eastern U.S. Monday night (April 26), a day before it reaches perigee, the closest point in its orbit to Earth  meaning that it will be a near-"supermoon," appearing ever-so-slightly larger than usual.

The moon becomes officially full on Monday at 11:32 p.m. EDT (0332 GMT on Tuesday, April 27), according to NASA. In New York City moonrise is at 7:24 p.m. local time on Monday, and moonset is Tuesday morning at 6:26 a.m.; the sun sets Tuesday at 7:49 p.m., according to Time and Date.

The full moon will be in the constellation Libra and have an angular diameter (or apparent width) of 33.41 arcminutes, against an average of 31 arcminutes across, according to Heavens-Above.com calculations. An arcminute is one-sixtieth of a degree, so the difference in size to most people won't be noticeable. The moon reaches perigee the next day  April 27 at 11:23 a.m. EDT (1523 GMT). (The timing will be the same all over the Earth; one need only adjust one's time zone).

Related: 'Super Pink Moon,' the biggest & brightest of 2020, stuns skywatchers around the world (photos)

The moon appears larger because it is at its closest point to Earth this month, at a distance of 222,064 miles (357,378 kilometers) versus an average of 240,000 miles (384,400 km). The moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle; it's actually an ellipse (though if you were to draw it on a piece of paper to scale it would still look like a circle). When the full moon coincides with perigee it is sometimes called a "supermoon." In this case, the full moon will miss perigee by about 12 hours. "Supermoon" isn't a term used by astronomers, and whether a full moon counts as "super" depends on how close to the official full moon the user of the word thinks perigee should be.

Full moons occur when the moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun. We see the moon's Earth-facing side fully illuminated by the sun, unless the moon's orbit carries it through the Earth's shadow, resulting in a lunar eclipse. That won't happen this time  the moon will "miss" the Earth's shadow because the moon's orbit is inclined 5 degrees to the plane of the Earth's orbit. If an astronaut were standing on the moon, from their perspective the sun would be directly overhead  it would be lunar noontime, with the Earth appearing dark like the new moon, offset from the sun (though invisible except for the city lights on the surface).

When observing the full moon through binoculars or a small telescope it can be hard to spot surface details, because there are no shadows. Moon filters are available that can make some features stand out. Waiting a few days after the full moon or observing a few days before allows shadows to bring out more detail.

Related: How to observe the moon with a telescope

The moon will officially reach its full phase on April 26 at 11:32 p.m. EDT (0332 April 27 GMT). This full moon will occur less than 12 hours before perigee, the point in the moons orbit when it is closest to Earth, generating large tides worldwide and making this the second of four consecutive supermoons in 2021. Supermoons look about 16% brighter and 7% larger than average (red circle). (Image credit: Starry Night)

Visible planets, stars and constellations

Being in the constellation Libra, the moon will make a rough right triangle with Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Bootes, the herdsman, and Spica, the brightest star in Virgo. At about 9:30 p.m. local time in mid-northern latitudes, Arcturus will be to the left (north) of the moon, and Spica is slightly above it to the right as the moon rises in the southeast (the moon would be at the right-angle point of our triangle).

Image 1 of 3 The "Super Pink Moon" will be in the constellation Lyra, the lyre. (Image credit: SkySafari app) Image 2 of 3 See Mars in the constellation Gemini on the evening of the Super Pink Moon, on April 26, 2021. (Image credit: SkySafari app) Image 3 of 3 Catch Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Capricornus before sunrise on April 27, 2021. (Image credit: SkySafari app)

As the full moon becomes visible in the evening, the sun will be just setting and the two will share the sky for about 20 minutes. Among the first objects to become visible after the sun sets will be Mars, high in the south-southwest. By about 9 p.m. on April 26 it will be about 35 degrees above the horizon, in the constellation Gemini. Mars will be above and to the left of the star Aldebaran, and above the constellation of Orion, the hunter. In fact, it will form a bright group with the stars Aldebaran,

Betelgeuse, Procyon and Sirius, the brightest star in the sky  Sirius will be toward the southwest about 13 degrees above the horizon. Bringing your eyes upwards will hit Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, the "little dog," and going down farther you'll spot Betelgeuse. Mars sets by 12:18 a.m. on April 27 in New York City, according to Heavens-Above.com.

Jupiter and Saturn, meanwhile, will be visible in the wee hours; Saturn rises first, at 2:39 a.m. local time on April 27 in New York, and Jupiter follows at 3:20 a.m. local time. Saturn is in the constellation Capricornus and Jupiter in Aquarius, both relatively faint groupings of stars. From mid-northern latitudes, Saturn will appear to the right of Jupiter by about 4 a.m., about 13 degrees above the southeastern horizon. Jupiter will be about 7 degrees above the horizon.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the plane of the Earth's orbit, known as the ecliptic, will meet the horizon at a much steeper angle than in the Northern Hemisphere in the predawn, late-April sky (this is a function of the season; the situation is reversed in September).

If you are in the mid-southern latitudes, Saturn and Jupiter will rise much earlier. In Melbourne, for example, Saturn rises at 12:05 a.m. local time on the morning of April 27 and Jupiter at 1:19 a.m. local time. As a consequence, both will be a lot higher in the sky  by 4 a.m. local time in Melbourne Saturn is a full 45 degrees high and Jupiter is about 31 degrees. (The full moon occurs in Melbourne at 1:31 p.m. on April 27).

The April full moon shares the sky with bright winter constellations, but only briefly, as all but Gemini have set by 10 p.m.; at that point, Leo is high, near the zenith as one faces south, with Virgo (and the moon) to the left. Crossing the sky (though hard to see with a full moon) is the Hydra constellation, a line of medium-to-faint stars that starts to the right of Spica and ends about halfway between Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, and Procyon.

By about midnight on April 26-27 the Summer Triangle, an asterism made up of Vega, Deneb and Altair will be just clearing the horizon in the east from the mid-northern latitudes. Vega is the brightest star in Lyra, the lyre (and made famous by the movie "Contact"). Deneb is the brightest star in Cygnus, the swan (which also forms the Northern Cross) and Altair is the brightest star in Aquila, the eagle.

In mid-southern latitudes by 9 p.m., as the full moon gets higher in the northeast, one can see the constellation Centaurus, the centaur high in the southeast, which contains Alpha Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor. Above Centaurus and nearly overhead is the Southern Cross, and near the zenith will be Puppis, Carina and Vela, the three constellations that make up the Ship. In the east-southeast, an upside-down Scorpius will be pointing its claws towards the moon, as Antares rises.

How the 'Pink Moon' got its name

The Pink Moon rises over Boston in this photo taken by Chris Cook on April 11, 2017. April's full moon isn't actually pink; it's named after the wild ground phlox, one of the first flowers to bloom in spring. However, the moon can appear red-orange due to the composition of Earth's atmosphere and the angle at which it is viewed. (Image credit: Chris Cook/ www.cookphoto.com

According to the Ontario Native Literacy Project, the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) peoples called it Namebine Giizis, the Sucker Moon, for the eponymous fish, which goes to the spirit world and receives cleansing techniques.

The Haida of the Pacific Northwest call the April full moon Xiit Kungaay, or "Migratory geese moon," according to the Tlingit Moon and Tide Teaching Resource published by the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

Related: Full moon names (and more) for 2021

In the Southern Hemisphere, April is late summer and early autumn, and the Maori of New Zealand described the lunar month in April to May (as measured between the successive new moons, with the full moon halfway between) as Haratua, which means " Crops are now stored in pits. The tasks of man are finished," according to the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.

In China, the traditional lunar calendar calls the April lunation the third month, Taoyue, or Peach Month.

For Muslims, the full moon marks the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset until the next new moon.

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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.
Scientists say they know how the universe will end. It won't be a cosmic collapse but rather a giant cosmic bubble that devours everything in its path.

According to a recent paper, published on March 12 in the journal Physical Review D, the final moment for the universe will be triggered by a bizarre consequence of subatomic physics called an instanton. This instanton will create a tiny bubble that will expand at the speed of light, swallowing everything in its path. It's only a matter of time. [Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth]

"At some point you will create one of these bubbles," study lead author Anders Andreassen, a physicist at Harvard University, told Live Science. "It will be very unpleasant."

By "unpleasant," he means the end to all life  and, indeed, chemistry  as we know it.

Very little is known about instantons, which are the solutions to equations governing the motion of tiny subatomic particles, but Andreassen loosely compared them to the phenomenon of quantum tunneling, whereby a particle seemingly defies physics to pass through an otherwise impenetrable barrier. But instead of crossing a barrier, the instanton forms a bubble within the Higgs field, the field that gives everything mass and gives rise to the Higgs boson.

Interestingly, this universe-ending bubble would never have been possible were it not for the particular mass of the Higgs boson in relation to another heavier particle, called a top quark, which comprises many atoms. If either the quark or the Higgs particle had been a little lighter, these universe-destroying bubbles couldnt form.

Alas, that is not the case and so after some amount of time, a destructive bubble will form. The team calculated the shelf life of the universe as between 10 quinquadragintillion years (one with 139 zeros after it) and a mere 10 octodecillion years (one with 58 zeros after it).

"That is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time," Andreassen said. "Our sun will burn up and many things will happen in our solar system before this is very likely to happen."

It's like the milk in your fridge. The sell-by date is the earliest conceivable deadline, but chances are you can drink it after that without a problem. Of course, there's always the outside chance that something went wrong at the bottling plant and it's sour the minute you buy it. Similarly, Andreassen said, it's possible that a bubble has already formed and is hurtling toward us at the speed of light right now.

There's comfort in knowing how everything ends, but Vincenzo Branchina, a physics professor and researcher at the University of Catania in Italy who was not involved in the study, said not to start crying over sour milk just yet.

"The claim that Anders Andreassen and company are making for this number has to be taken, as they say, with a grain of salt," Branchina said.

Branchina said the Harvard team only accounted for the standard model of physics and not all the new and confusing branches, like quantum gravity and dark matter, that are still completely mysterious. In order for the universe to be consumed in an expanding ball of chaos, dark matter, a mysterious form of matter that exerts a gravitational pull but emits no light, cannot interfere. Which is unlikely, since it might comprise 80 percent of our universe.

Similarly, Branchina has shown that quantum gravity  a bizarre part of physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of general relativity, that we have barely glimpsed  could make the universe far more stable or unstable, depending on its rules. He said that since nobody understands this new physics, we cannot know anything about the universes ultimate end.

Andreassen agreed.

"I wouldnt put my money on this being the end of the story. I would expect dark matter to come kick in and change the story," Andreassen said.

Originally published on Live Science.
Automatic for the people. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

When progressives protest voter suppression in the United States, they tend to focus their fire on the myriad ways that (Republican-led) states actively restrict the franchise  among them, felon disenfranchisement laws that have removed 6 million (disproportionately nonwhite, left-leaning) voters from the electorate; voter ID requirements that make casting a ballot more arduous for the poor; and the discriminatory allocation of polling places that forces nonwhite voters to wait in line twice as long as other Americans.

All these are serious affronts to democratic values. But none are as significant an obstacle to popular sovereignty as the passive suppression inherent to Americas approach to voter registration.

At the time of Americas last general election, roughly 70 percent of our nations eligible voters were registered to cast a ballot; for Germany, that figure was 91 percent; for Canada, 93; and Australia, 96. The massive disparity between the United States and these other Western countries is not a reflection of Americans distaste for civic engagement, but rather our governments lack of interest in promoting democratic rule. Canada treats voter registration as the states responsibility; America, treats it as the individual voters. Which is to say, our low voter participation rate is a choice. It wouldnt be difficult for the federal government to ensure that upwards of 90 percent of eligible voters were registered by each November. It just chooses not to. And that choice has major implications for public policy. While 70 percent of eligible American were registered to vote in 2016, only 42.7 percent of eligible Hispanic Americans were.

Thus, one of the most encouraging developments in American politics over the past three years has been the spread of automatic voter registration (AVR) laws. In 2015, no state in the U.S. automatically registered its citizens to vote whenever they interacted with the its DMV, Obamacare exchange, department of social services, or other state bureaucracy. On Thursday, Maryland became the 12th state to pass a law mandating such a practice.

Currently, there are about 500,000 unregistered voters in Maryland, according to a 2017 report from its state government. An analysis from the progressive think tank Demos suggests that AVR could bring 400,000 of those Marylanders into the electorate.

That projection is based in part on developments in Oregon, where the implementation of AVR brought 270,000 new voters onto the rolls in 2016, giving the state the highest bump in general election turnout of any state in the union that year. The new law also helped increase the registration rate among nonwhite voters by 26 percentage points.

The spread of AVR is part of a broader proliferation of democracy-expanding reforms that Democrats have begun pushing in recent years, often in direct response to Republican efforts to suppress voter participation among left-leaning constituencies. Since the start of this year, 514 bills expanding access to the ballot have been introduced in state legislatures, according to a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice.
On the lava fields of Kilauea, an active Hawaiian volcano, scientists with a NASA expedition prepare for sample collection by donning "bunny suits," which protect the samples from contamination.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  NASA scientists don't have to go to space to explore extreme conditions.

For some, their research  though still on planet Earth  takes them to remote, isolated destinations, such as lava fields beside active volcanoes, near-impassable coastal swamps, and frozen deserts. While there, scientists explore inhospitable and sometimes dangerous surroundings, to learn more about our dynamic planet and how its systems work, and to better understand how similar environments and conditions could shape other worlds.

At Future Con on Friday (March 31), a panel of scientists with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) introduced a rapt audience to some of the research that takes them not to space, but to icy Antarctica, into fresh lava deposits in Hawaii, and clambering over the enormous roots of mangrove forests in central Africa. Their research uncovers Earthly planetary secrets, and could help explain environmental changes on Mars and our moon, as well as on other moons and planets within our solar system. [Explosive Images: Hawaii's Kilauea Erupts for 30 Years]

Even when NASA field science focuses on Earth, the scientists are often working in close collaboration with spacecraft orbiting high above the planet, Kelly Brunt, an assistant research scientist with Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) at the University of Maryland, told the Future Con audience at the panel.

Brunt recently returned from a two-month trip to Antarctica, where she was part of a four-person team gathering data in support of a new NASA satellite mission called ICESat-2, launching in November 2018. ICESat-2 will use lasers to track shifts in sea ice elevation, to calculate how those changes in ice sheets affect sea level rise, according to the mission website.

Brunt's team gathered data that will help to corroborate the results of ICESat-2's forthcoming elevation data  which the satellite will calculate with a degree of accuracy that can be measured in centimeters, she told the audience.

Over 14 days, the team trundled across the ice on motorized sleds outfitted with antennas to collect GPS data. They traveled about 466 miles (750 kilometers) at a rate of about 5 mph (8 km/h), in temperatures of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius), Brunt said.

The food was mediocre at best  supplies included a lot of junk food, including a stash of "very old Slim Jims" that most of the crew refused to touch  but the spectacular vistas more than made up for it, Brunt recalled.

"There's a beauty to the starkness of Antarctica that I really can't explain," she said.

Studying forests from space, the air and the ground

NASA satellite technology also helps scientists to study mangrove forests  vast coastal systems of trees in swampy areas where inland bodies of water flow to the sea, Lola Fatoyinbo-Agueh, a Research Physical Scientist in NASA GSFC's Biospheric Sciences Lab, said during the panel.

Fatoyinbo-Agueh combines satellite observations with airborne laser imagery to monitor the health of vegetation in the forest canopies, and to track the impacts of sea level rise on coastal ecosystems.

But field work plays a part as well  and penetrating dense mangrove regions to deploy sensors for measuring tidal data required exhausting hours of carefully climbing the trees' enormous roots, or slogging through thick mud that was hip-deep, Fatoyinbo-Agueh.

"It takes a lot of teamwork to get out there  to go 20 feet [6 meters] took about 10 minutes of climbing," after which the researchers were so spent they needed to be helped back into the boat, she told the audience.

Hot lava

Other NASA science draws from even warmer Earth locales  such as lava fields near Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano. By examining lava deposits that build up over time, experts can unravel the workings of volcanos on other planets, according to Jacob Richardson, a NASA GSFC postdoctoral fellow and volcano researcher.

Near Kilauea is a broad lava plain that has taken centuries to accumulate, offering clues about how volcanoes might form on Mars, Io, and other worlds within our solar system, Richardson said during the panel. He recently visited Kilauea to look at a relatively new lava flow, one that had emerged in 1974, over only six hours. To reach the field, the scientists had to trek for two miles (3.2 km) daily, carrying up to 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of gear apiece, probing the lava placement with chemical analysis and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), a measurement tool that uses laser pulses to calculate elevation.

Gas plumes from the volcano frequently blew directly over the site where they were working, and the sulfur dioxide fumes were so strong that the researchers often had to wear masks, Richardson told the audience.

But in spite of the physical challenges and the often harsh conditions in the locations they visit, the scientists' enthusiasm for their research was undeniable.

But it wouldn't be a Future Con panel without a few geeky touches. Fatoyinbo-Agueh pointed out that an upcoming ecological NASA satellite mission, Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, has an acronym with a touch of "Star Wars" to it  "GEDI." And she ended her mangrove presentation with a resounding, "May the forest be with you!"

Original article on Live Science.
The first experiment designed to demonstrate active space-debris removal in orbit has just reached the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule.

The RemoveDebris experiment, designed by a team led by the University of Surrey in the U.K. as part of a 15.2 million euro ($18.7 million), European Union (EU)-funded project, is about the size of a washing machine and weighs 100 kilograms (220 lbs.).

It carries three types of technologies for space-debris capture and active deorbiting  a harpoon, a net and a drag sail. It will also test a lidar system for optical navigation that will help future chaser spacecraft better aim at their targets. [7 Wild Ways to Clean Up Space Junk]

"For this mission, we are actually ejecting our own little cubesats," Jason Forshaw, RemoveDebris project manager at the University of Surrey, said last year. "These little cubesats are maybe the size of a shoebox, very small. We eject them and capture them with the net."

A dragsail to slow a satellite so it falls controlled from space is one of several space junk removal concepts to be tested on on the RemoveDebris mission launched into orbit on a SpaceX rocket April 2, 2018. (Image credit: University of Surrey)

He said the team decided to carry up their own pieces of space junk, due to legal issues that don't allow the manipulation of space objects that belong to someone else, even if the objects are no longer functional.

The main spacecraft will be launched later this year from the International Space Station using the commercial cubesat deployer operated by Houston, Texas-based NanoRacks. Once the spacecraft reaches a safe distance from the space station, it will eject the two cubesats. After that, the chaser spacecraft will deploy the net, aiming to capture the cubesats.

Forshaw said that for the purpose of this experiment, the chaser spacecraft won't be connected to the net with a tether, as it would be in a real mission.

"There [are] a lot of problems that could occur with a tether," he said. "For example, the cubesat could bounce back and hit your main satellite."

The RemoveDebris mission, newly arrived at the International Space Station, will practice netting and harpooning space junk. (Image credit: Max Alexander)

The space junk harpoon, built by Airbus Defence and Space in the U.K., will be later fired into a fixed target that will be extended from the main satellite on a boom.

After it completes the harpoon, net and lidar experiments, the RemoveDebris spacecraft will deploy the drag sail that will speed up its deorbiting process.

"We are testing these four technologies in this demonstration mission, and we want to see whether they work or not," said Forshaw, referring to the harpoon, net, drag sail and lidar. "If they work, then that would be fantastic, and then these technologies could be used on future missions."

The RemoveDebris mission will fire a net at a target satellite (shown here ensnaring its target) to test how to drag space junk from orbit. (Image credit: University of Surrey)

The cubesats captured in the net will deorbit naturally within a few months, Forshaw said.

"The absolute maximum for which it stays up there would be one year," he said. "These things at low altitudes do come down very quickly. We are not going to contribute to any further space debris."

"It is important to remember that a few significant collisions have already happened," Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, said in the statement. "Therefore, to maintain the safety of current and future space assets, the issue of the control and reduction of the space debris has to be addressed. "

International guidelines exist for satellite operators to ensure their spacecraft are removed within a reasonable amount of time after a mission ends. However, experts agree that without active removal technologies, the space around Earth might become unstable. The world's space agencies estimate that five large, defunct satellites need to be removed from low Earth orbit every year to help prevent the Kessler syndrome  the unstoppable cascade of orbital collisions predicted by NASA scientist Donald Kessler in the late 1970s.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Cover art for "Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon" by Robert Kurson.

Robert Kurson was there to see a submarine.

The author of the 2004 bestseller "Shadow Divers" about the discovery of a World War II German U-boat off the coast of New Jersey, Kurson was at the Museum of Science and Industry in his hometown of Chicago to see a similar submarine when he happened across the exhibit of a space capsule.

The sight of the Apollo 8 command module and a nearby placard explaining that it had carried the first humans to fly to the moon caught Kurson's attention. Reading more about Frank Borman's, Jim Lovell's and Bill Anders' journey after he returned home, Kurson came to a realization, "this is the best space story of them all." [Leaving Home: The Legacy of Apollo 8]

Kurson's encounter with the Apollo 8 spacecraft ultimately led him to interviewing its crew and then authoring "Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon," published Tuesday (April 3) by Random House.

collectSPACE.com spoke with Robert Kurson a day before he reunited with the Apollo 8 crew at the Museum of Science and Industry on Thursday (April 5), where a sold-out event would mark the launch of "Rocket Men."

collectSPACE (cS): Given your original impetus for writing "Rocket Men," were it you lived or were visiting San Diego, for example, and you had come across the Apollo 9 command module instead, would you have ended up writing a book about that mission?

Robert Kurson: "No, Apollo 8 is magical and singular.

"It struck me about how little I knew about it when I got home and started to read about it, but the fact that it was mankind's first journey away from Earth and man's first journey to the moon made it absolutely exceptional and unique to me in terms of human exploration.

"And on top of that, there were the incredible risks they were taking. The amount of time that was allowed for it, just four months when a 'normal' spaceflight might take 10 to 15 months [of preparation]. The fact they were making the first manned flight of the Saturn V when it had only been tested twice, the second time of which was a near disaster.

"The fact they were going without a lunar module, which acted as backup engine, meaning that if their primary engine didn't function at the moon properly there was all kinds of disaster waiting them. And so many more risks and firsts involved that made it the greatest space story ever told."

cS: You were just five years old when Apollo 8 launched to the moon in December 1968. Do you have memories of the mission?

Kurson: "I have vague memories of being in first grade and the teacher stopping class. I am not even sure if it was for Apollo 8, but I have this series of memories of being very young and being in grade school and having the classroom stopped and a little black and white TV that was bolted to the wall turned on and watching these images of these guys doing something that seemed absolutely incredible.

Robert Kurson, author of "Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon." (Image credit: Robert Kurson)

"The whole class was watching, both boys and girls, just staring in wonder at what mankind was attempting. And somehow, even at age five and six and seven, we knew that something incredible was occurring."

cS: The title, "Rocket Men," seems to focus more on the means of travel than the destination. Was that your intention?

Kurson: "I think the operative word is 'men.' It's not just about the three astronauts but about humanity and the idea that they were doing something so extraordinary and so dangerous and so ambitious.

"The word 'rocket' to me represents all of that and goes far beyond just the Saturn V. It represents the United States and its hopes, dreams and highest ambitions.

"So 'rocket' and then 'men,' the latter meaning all of humanity, not just these three men or men in general. Those two words represented everything to me."

cS: You note in "Rocket Men" that much of it was based on the interviews you did with Borman, Lovell and Anders. If you didn't have access to the astronauts, could you still have written the book?

Kurson: "I think that having access to them was essential.

"I've always written stories about people I could sit down with, not just to interview, but really get to know. I think you get the best details that way. Sometimes they're small details but they are the best almost invariably.

"So it is hard for me to now look back and think I could have written anything near to the kind of book I wrote if I didn't have access to all three crew members."

cS: That the astronauts agreed to sit down with you seems to have been helped along by the fact that Lovell had listened to the "Shadow Divers" audiobook while driving, even "orbiting" a parking lot to continue listening. That book focuses on a submarine and you compare the Apollo 8 command module to a submarine a few times in "Rocket Men." Are there parallels between writing the two books?

Kurson: "There are parallels between a submarine and an Apollo spacecraft that is traveling toward the moon. They are both very close quarters and you don't see much.

"I was very surprised to learn when I started to unpack the story of Apollo 8 that the astronauts really did not see the moon until they were just minutes away from it. I always pictured them seeing it off in the far distance, but that was not the case. They saw Earth grow smaller virtually before their eyes, but not the moon. So this idea of having to trust where you are going in the dark, so to speak, was common to the Apollo 8 story and to 'Shadow Divers.'

"But there were also the risks that these guys were undertaking. The dedication to country is so powerful in both stories. I am drawn to that kind of thing, where there was a higher purpose and a calling beyond one's own selfish concerns. I think that runs through all my stories."

Continue reading the interview with "Rocket Men" author Robert Kurson at collectSPACE.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.




Rise and Shine was written by Iden Baghdadchi and was directed by Jesse Bochco. Baghdadchi previously wrote for the Slingshot mini-series ofThis was a terrifically written and acted episode. I loved all the parallels. We get some much needed insight into Hale (Catherine Dent) and finally find out what happened to Talbot (Adrian Pasdar)  I do hope they let him keep his hair! Im also glad to see that the show isnt going to keep us wondering about poor Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge).The episode begins with Coulson (Clark Gregg) being dropped off at his new accommodations. Hale tells him that theyll talk in the morning. Its her standard way of throwing off prisoners. But shes underestimated Coulson. Coulson knows its not an Air Force operation, and Hale admits shes Hydra. She wants to tell him her story, and shes sure that hell see its time for S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra to unite. I loved Greggs face here  no words are necessary!The show then proceeds to tell us Hales story, starting 28 years ago. We hear the alarm for Hydra school: Good Morning. Rise and seize the future! As the camera pans out, we realize that we are in the same bunker that Hale has been using all along. I loved the parallel her with the first time we saw Ruby (Dove Cameron). I also love that as Hale (Alyssa Jirrels) wakes up, we see that she has a dog  and I knew exactly where this was going. What a terrific way to circle back to how Ward (Brett Dalton) was tortured! The music playing also sets us squarely in the time period.Unlike the empty hallways that we see with Ruby, they are packed with other students. The cafeteria is likewise staffed and full. Hale is clearly ambitious  and the teachers pet. It was fun to see Reed Diamond back as Daniel Whitehall  there to drone on about another placement opportunity. Professor Steger (Graham Sibley) mentions a final, final exam that will be happening that night as he introduces Whitehall.Whitehall tells them that they are close to creating a super-soldier with a particle-infusion chamber. Its always nice to have a quick reference to Steve Rogers, and it really feels like the show is at least mirroring some of whats to come in though theres no indication of a real collaboration. Hale impresses Whitehall and makes Teenage Von Strucker (Joey Defore) look bad. Von Strucker looks to the past, while Hale looks to the future and outer space. Von Strucker looks for some payback in the gym, and we get a taste of Hales violent bad temper.The next day, all the other kids are getting placements. We see Jaspers (Adam Faison) placement into S.H.I.E.L.D.s administration. Hale is still waiting, and Jasper tells her that shes not going to get one after she punched the future leader of Hydra in the face! However, Whitehall wants to see her personally. Shes one of the few women to make it to commencement, and she proves that shes passed the final test by handing over her dogs collar.Her happiness that Whitehall has picked her doesnt last long. Von Strucker got the plum assignment to work on the chamber. All Whitehall really wants from Hale is her womb. In point of fact, he tells her that shes the only one who can perform the final part of the experiment. Shell ensure the future of Hydra by providing the perfect subject for the chamber. Hale wants to know about her own future. Whitehall tells her that shell be placed in the air force in deep cover.Maybe shell even become an astronaut  theres the space comment coming back to bite her in the ass. Hale asks if she has any other choice  and Whitehall tells her she always has the option not to comply  while clearly meaning exactly the opposite. And kudos to Jirrels for doing a fabulous job capturing so many of Dents mannerisms.We jump to 2 years ago. The same alarm  Good morning. Rise and seize the future  wakes Ruby who also has a dog. There are fewer students, but still a few. Hale proudly watches Ruby beating the crap out of the boys in her class. Professor Steger is still there, and he tells her that Rubys weaknesses are more glaring than Hale thinks. Steger tells her that leadership have yet to make a decision about Rubys future. Hale insists that Whitehall designed her to lead  but Steger reminds her that Whitehall is dead.Ruby and Hale have lunch. Ruby wants to know about her placement  she doesnt want anywhere boring like the Air Force! Hale sings the praises of the Air Force and mentions that she joined because of the possibility of becoming an astronaut. Clearly, the two arent very close. Ruby had no idea that Hale wanted to be an astronaut  and we see that that was taken away from her because she had to have Ruby. Their lunch is interrupted by a phone call  no doubt the beginning of the end for Hydra!Hale reports to General Fischer (Rocky McMurray) who tells her that S.H.I.E.L.D. has Gideon Mallick, and hes placing her in charge of communications. After New York, they found transceivers in the wreckage of one of the Shitari cruisers and reached out. The made contact with an alliance of several races calling themselves the Confederacy. The two are interrupted by Talbot and Fischer yells Hail Hydra before taking a cyanide pill. Hale acts distressed, and Talbot assures her that shell never have to see another squid again!Back at the Hydra bunker, Ruby if refusing to kill her dog. Shes the only student still left, so why should she. Steger is insisting. Ruby refuses to obey Steger  that would be weakness. He grabs Rubys hand and Hale shoots him! Theyre the last two.Another time jump takes us to 6 months ago, and a recovering Talbot! Hes in the hospital and his family is trying to help him recover. Carla (Raquel Gardner) is confused as to why they want to move him  hes getting better. Clearly, they are giving something that is making him lose control and he explodes at his young son, George (Jack Fisher).Talbot wakes up in the bunker  just as we saw Von Strucker do a couple of episodes ago. He wanders into the empty cafeteria  and the more limited breakfast supply. How much did I love how excited he got over the Capn Crunch. Ruby walks in with her music blaring and completely ignores Talbots attempts to communicate with her. He follows her to the gym. When he reaches for her earphones, she grabs his hand and puts him on the floor.Hale arrives and Talbot is shocked to find out that she has a daughter. Talbot tries to pull rank on her, and Ruby pulls her knife Frisbee on him. Hale tells him that his Air Force career is over  and his family is afraid of him. Hale tries a little more psychological warfare on him. She tells him that there was a time in her life when everything felt out of control and she needed a new purpose  she sees Talbot going through the same thing and she thinks they can help each other. Sounds an awful lot like the conversations that shes recently had with Coulson.Hale shows Talbot the machine she uses to communicate with the Confederacy. Apparently, the machine is also used to move ships around the galaxy! She tells him about meeting with the other races and that her predecessors had also made a deal for protection against the war thats coming to earth. Talbot wants to know why he hadnt heard about it. Hale tells him that she inherited the project from Fischer on the day that he died. Talbot immediately wants to know what flag she flies. Hale tries to make the point that that is irrelevant. Shes not wrong. They should be banding together to fight a common enemy. Hale insists that she didnt choose Hydra, she was born into it  the same way he was born American.Hale tries to get him to renounce S.H.I.E.L.D. by pointing out that Daisy (Chloe Bennet) shot him in the head. And its possible I cheered just a little bit when Talbot told Hale it wasnt Daisy! He knew! Hale isnt stupid enough to deny that it was an LMD that shot him, but shifts the blame back onto S.H.I.E.L.D. who created the technology. Hale maintains that the symbols are irrelevant when they are fighting for their survival.Talbot wants to know what kind of weapon Hale has. She tells him that its an old Hydra device. Hes figured out why hes there. He tells Hale that hes not going to get anything from him. He hid the Hydra contraband  and hes not talking. Hale insists that shes trying to save humanity  and give him that as his new purpose. Talbot refuses, and Hale has him cuffed to a wheelchair and taken away. Talbot insists that she cant do this to him  but more importantly, hes sure that Coulson is coming for him.We finally catch up to 24 hours ago. Coulson wakes up  but he hasnt slept in the bed, merely on it. Just like Talbot and Von Strucker, he makes his way to the rather bare cafeteria. He watches Ruby come in, and immediately knows its meant to keep him off balance when she doesnt respond to him or acknowledge him. Coulson is excited to find Oops All Berries  another Capn Crunch flavor that I wasnt even aware of! But its real! Coulson doesnt play along and tells Ruby that when Hale is done playing games, hell be in his room. Ruby doesnt react, but she watches him as he leaves  shes clearly intrigued.Hale comes to Coulsons room. He asks her if Ruby is responsible for cutting off his Agents arms. Hale tells Coulson that Ruby is her daughter. Hale again doesnt argue with Coulson, but agrees with him and then offers to show him what shes working on.As soon as Coulson sees the Alien writing, he declares the machine a bad idea. Hale starts the machine and asks Coulson to take one of the handles. When Hale threatens him, Coulson complies. Qovas (Peter Mensah) wants to know why Hale has brought Coulson. I loved the look on Coulsons face when she calls him one of Earths mightiest heroes! Gregg is also great as he is clearly a bit taken aback by Qovas and his sudden appearance.Hale has brought Coulson because she wants Qovas to convince Coulson to work with them. Qovas tells Coulson that that war is coming to Earth and they will protect them  but Coulson knows theres a price tag. Qovas tells him the price is much smaller than what Qovas shows him. Coulson sees a gigantic ship. Coulson knows that the Confederacy wants the gravitonium as part of the price, and Hale tells him they also want the Inhumans  and Coulson immediately knows why hes there.Coulson points out that the Confederacy could easily be lying to them, letting them arm them and then enslave them. Coulson suggests that they should be fighting back  and Hale is thrilled that someone finally gets it. Coulson suddenly seems on board with working together towards this common goal.Hale brings up the particle infusion chamber, which Whitehall designed to create the most powerful human. Coulson immediately thinks of Captain America  but Hale says better than that. And she wants the person to be a woman. Coulson points out that Ruby doesnt have the qualifications. Steve Rogers was chosen for his heart. Hale tells him that Ruby was bioengineered to be optimal for particle infusion, but Hale surprisingly says that Ruby isnt ready  and thinks that Ruby might not have the temperament. Hale wants to use Daisy! She didnt just sacrifice a dog for the cause  she sacrificed her own boyfriend  lets not forget that Ruby didnt want to kill the dog  who we havent actually seen in the presentHale describes Daisy as powerful, intelligent and calculating  not the first words that come to my mind. Coulson is already starting to have doubts about his alliance  and the parallel of two parents talking about their daughters is well done here. Hale wants to infuse Daisy with gravitonium and then send her to take out the alien armies. The clincher is when Hale tells Coulson the code name for the project: Destroyer of Worlds.Coulson tells Hale no. And then explains that the team hadnt been in hiding  theyd travelled to the future  where the planet had been broken and theyd seen the aftermath of the program. Hales actions caused it. He begs her to stop looking for the machine. Hale clearly has a huge chip on her shoulder  and we can see where that seed was planted  its great to have such a rich backstory on her. She asks Coulson if in his scenario hes the big strong man rushing in to save her from her mistakes. Hale declares that hes just like all the others. She has him dragged away  to become more reasonable.Ruby visits Coulson and wants to know if he really travelled to the future. She wants to know how she failed. Shes the Destroyer of Worlds Coulson tells her that it wasnt her. And Ruby knows immediately that it was Daisy, and she wants to know where she is. Coulson tells her that its a bad idea  she cant beat Daisy. Ruby threatens him, and he maintains that hes not talking.Ruby brings in Talbot  the last guy who said he wasnt talking. Poor Talbot is a mess. Hes clearly happy to see Coulson, but admits that he finally talked when it became clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. wasnt coming. He tells Coulson hes sorry as hes dragged away again. But did he really tell them anything? Have they already got the machine? Im hoping that Talbot only pretended to tell them things.We finally catch up to NOW and shift focus to the Lighthouse. May (Ming-Na Wen) and Daisy. Theyve figured out that Hale is Hydra. In an echo of current events, Daisy wonders why theyre still fighting Nazis. Daisy is spinning with next steps, and May steps in to play second as shes done so well for Coulson all this time. She tells Daisy that Coulson picked her for a reason and to just take a breath. May tells her to rely on her combat training. Take what you have and use it to your advantage.May suddenly remembers that they have a super villain  Fitz! May reminds Fitz  and us  that she was also Hydra in the Framework. May tells Fitz that she made decision she regrets too, but Fitz reminds her that this isnt the Framework. Fitz also tells her that he doesnt regret what he did either. May tells him that she doesnt want him to regret it  she wants him to embrace it.Mack (Henry Simmons) and Simmons, meanwhile, are attaching Yo-Yos (Natalia Cordova-Buckley) new arms. He wants to know if she needs to consult Fitz, and Simmons tells him no need. Clearly, she is avoiding having any contact with him. Mack tries to help her by explaining what it was like in the Framework  because Simmons wasnt plugged in the way the rest of them were. He tells her it was you but not you. Mack does finally give Simmons some insight  but inadvertantly.The new arms work, and Mack asks if Yo-Yo will now be stronger than she was. Simmons says theoretically, yes. Simmons asks if theres something wrong, and Mack tells her that lately, Yo-Yo thinks she cant die because she saw herself in the future alive. Simmons then muses that if Yo-Yo subscribes to Fitzs theory that time cant be changed, she cant die  except, of course, that Yo-Yo does die  many times. But Simmons does gain insight from this.Fitz concludes that Hale is building a weapon because she wants the gravitonium. May wants to know why she wants Coulson, but Fitz needs to know Hales target to figure that out. Fitz asks for a few hours access to the computers and labs in order to figure it out.Daisy comes in  not a chance. Fitz knew that she was listening. May tries to get them to play nicely, but Daisy is still furious. Fitz tries logic  they had to seal the rift and there was only one way. Fitz asks if Daisy would have agreed if hed asked, and she says never. Fitz maintains that he didnt have a choice, and she quakes him into the wall.Daisy points out that she was the one who was drugged and restrained and had no choice. Fitz tells her that he doesnt feel good about it, but in a few hours, the town above them also would have been affected  he had to sacrifice the one for the many He tells her that hes sorry, but he doesnt need her forgiveness, he only needs her to trust him.Fitz tries to point out that his Framework connection to Hydra is actually an advantage in their current situation. Daisy tells him that they dont turn on their own here  and Fitz tries to remind her of the many times that she turned on the team  like when she went with her mother  and abandoned the team  after Lincoln. Fitz isnt wrong!!! Daisy is determined to go after Hale  but Fitz tries to point out how dangerous it would be with her having her powers back and Hale having the gravitonium. Daisy rushes out with May following.May is not happy with Daisys plan  shes going to bring Rose out of hiding. Daisy tells May they need every weapon at their disposal. Why do I have a feeling that this is where Roses mother ends up dead?The final scene is one of my favorites. Simmons brings Fitz tea  and reassurance. Fitz is clearly scared when Simmons tells him that shes been thinking about them. Simmons, naturally, sees it and tells him to relax  she knows they get through this. She shows him a knife. He assumes that its his because he got the number 17 engraved on it after his injury because he couldnt remember the name. But its NOT his knife, and she produces his. The first one is clearly much more worn and older than Fitzs.Simmons tells Fitz that she got the other one from Deke (Jeff Ward) who got it from his Grandfather. De Caestecker is fantastic as the penny drops. Fitz tells her that Deke is the worst, but she already thinks hes perfect! She also points out that Dekes existence proves that the two of them make it to the Lighthouse and live long enough to raise a daughter. And it means that the two of them, contrary to being cursed, are actually invincible!I loved how this episode helped to shed so much light on Hydra, Hale and Ruby. It was great to see Talbot back. Henstridge and De Caestecker never fail to disappoint. I also really liked Fitz actually firing back at Daisy. Shes not perfect either  but they can all do better, right? Clark Gregg is also terrific in this episode, and I have to say that Im happy that even ifdoesnt get picked up for another season, we can still look forward to seeing him in but it will be a real shame if ABC doesnt give us another season. I will never not be baffled as to why this show doesnt have better ratings. It is, for me, by far the best superhero show on television  Im not counting streaming. The writing and the acting are consistently fantastic and it has great special effects and stunts to support it too What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!Coulson: Not my first rodeo, so I may have already figured out a little bit of whats going on here.Talbot: After today, youll never have to see one of those squids again.Talbot: I still out rank you!Talbot: Crossfit Tinkerbell is your daughter?Talbot: This ones nuttier than a Butterfinger!Talbot: I know you think Ive lost my onions. But Ive got a feeling it was one of Anton Ivanovs tin cans.Talbot: You filthy calamari Mati Hari.Talbot: I would rather die on my two legs than slither on eight with you.Coulson: Is this supposed to keep me off balance or something? Having me stumble out to an Econo-Lodge Continental breakfast?Coulson: Seems like a major strike against home-schooling.Coulson: Im good. Ive already been to space. Pretty recently too.Hale: He considers himself humanities shield. One of Earths mightiest heroes.Hale: Youre familiar with Whitehall? Coulson: I buried him. Go team!Coulson: The idea is to put your ninja daughter into that chamber?Coulson: I cant tell you, but I can recommend some medication. Preferably at a high dosage.Daisy: Hale Hydra. Seriously?Mack: Its not that Fitz is still a bad guy out here, its that he was still a good guy in there.Fitz: I cant do anything while Im locked away in this dungeon like a hideous freckled step child. Simmons: Please. Youre not in the least bit hideous.Fitz: She quaked me against the wall and then stormed out, so yeah it was quite productive.Fitz: It means that our daughter is obviously going to marry some belligerent space goon, and shes going to give birth to a Deke!Simmons: No, Fitz. It means you and I are invincible.
Bir Lehlu (Liberated Territories), April 05, 2018 (SPS) - Mr. Boukhari Ahmed Barikala was born September 19, 1952 in the town of Dakhla (Western Sahara), married and father of five children.

He received his primary and secondary school in the same town, then he moved to the University of Tenerife (Spain) where he studied Law.

Member of the political leadership of POLISARIO since mid 80s. Boukhari Ahmed joined the struggle in 1973, contributing then in spreading the national awareness among students in Spain.

The late carried out many positions and diplomatic missions within the Frente POLISARIO: an editor in the Polisario official News Paper (SAHARA LIBRE) from 1975-1977, then POLISARIO Representative in Spain (1978-1980), Then SADR Ambassador to Panama (1980-1984), SADR Ambassador to Venezuela (1985-1988) and Representative of POLISARIO to Europe and to Latin America.

Boukhari was the Representative of POLISARIO to the United Nations since 1992. As Member of negotiating team he took part in various rounds of negotiations between POLISARIO and Morocco under the auspices of the United Nations.

Boukhari was an experienced Diplomat, good analyst, with sharp vision, expert in History and International Relations. Author of many Memorandums on the question of Western Sahara, and gave many lectures in many Universities. He was a great defender of the Sahrawi case in different International forums and before the UN Committee of Decolonisation.

Brilliant intellectual, humble and friendly companion, Boukhari Ahmed dedicated his life to the struggle of his People for Self-determination and Independence. He is author of many articles, and interviews to the press. He spoke many languages as Spanish, English, French and Arabic.SPS

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A record crowd attended the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerces Eggs and Issues Legislative Breakfast and listened as Democrats and Republicans sparred over some issues and agreed on others.

Twelve state politicians from the area sat in unity at the front table on issues such as tolls and whether a budget agreement will be reached by the end of the legislative session. Dissension arose over the details of the budget as well as bills that affect business.

Paid family leave and various taxes on small businesses arose as a divisive issue as state Rep. Richard Smith, R-Danbury, railed against them. As a small-business owner himself, Smith said the issues are too onerous for small businesses and he vowed to continue to fight against them.

Paid family leave is when an employee is paid while away from work during an extended period of time as they recover from an illness, bond with a newborn or adopted child, or take care of a seriously ill family member.

State Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, offered an alternative view. He represents the downtown area of Danbury and said he frequently walks the streets and talks to the residents.

My constituents are being left behind and they know it, Godfrey said.

The conversation inevitably turned to tolls as greater Danbury would be one of the areas most affected by the measure. Godfrey opened with: Were all against them. Any questions?

State Rep. Michael Ferguson, D-Danbury, a member of the transportation committee, said tolls  especially with congestion pricing  are a direct target on the working class and millennials. The bill has passed through committee, but Ferguson is hopeful it will be shot down in the full House as it was last year.

Tolls are just another expense for the people of Connecticut, he said. It really doesnt make sense to implement tolls. It will discourage people from coming to Connecticut and doesnt do anything to encourage growth.

Rep. Will Duff, R-Bethel, said the state wouldnt see any revenue from tolls for 18 to 30 months, and in the meantime would spend millions of dollars to have them built and installed.

You dont put a seed in the ground and tolls come up, he said. Tolls will play into financial decisions people make when they are debating whether to come work here.

The legislators were largely in agreement that a budget would be passed by the time the session ends on May 9. David Arconti Jr., D-Danbury, described the short-term budget as not a terribly heavy lift.

State Rep. J.P. Sredzinsky, R-Newtown, blasted Democrats for proposing additional spending at a time when the state cannot afford it. State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, R-Newtown, agreed and called for a leaner, responsive government.

All of these, Bolinsky said of issues such as tolls and recreational marijuana, are secondary to the fact that our government is broken structurally.

State Rep. Arthur ONeill, R-Southbury, described the states economy as moribund as it has borrowed a lot of money, given it away and been left with little to show for it.

Marshall Collins, lobbyist for the chamber and facilitator of the discussion, noted the challenges faced by the legislators with an evenly split Senate, closely split House and strong-willed, lame-duck governor.

There are four weeks left (in the session) and a lot to be determined, Collins said told the business people in attendance. I encourage you to stay involved. Talk to your legislators. If you want to get your message across, speak up.

The event drew about 235 people, up from the previous high of 220 when Gov. Dannel Malloy was the featured speaker.
How governments levy taxes on the marijuana industry is not only affecting how businesses structure themselves, but also may have an impact on the cannabis black market, a new report has found.

While a boon for private enterprise, marijuana also has been a significant revenue opportunity for governments. Many already have raked in millions in tax dollars and fees.

Colorado alone has taken in more than $500 million in taxes and fees since recreational marijuana became legal in 2014. California governments are projected to take in as much as $1 billion annually in taxes and fees with recreational marijuana sales starting this year.

However, tax policy on marijuana varies between the states. Taxes range from a 37 percent excise tax (Washington) to a 3.75 percent excise tax (Massachusetts). A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that tax policy has a dramatic impact on businesses and, if raised too high, could drive consumers to the black market.

Related: These 4 States Legalized Recreational Marijuana but Each Is Doing It (or Not) in Its Own Way

Gross Receipt Tax

The National Bureau of Economic Research study looked at Washington, where recreational marijuana sales started in July 2014. The state initially charged a gross receipts tax, which the study found led to inefficient vertical integration among many businesses.

Heres why. The gross receipts tax levied a 25 percent tax on marijuana at every step along the supply chain. Cultivators, producers and retailers all were hit with the tax. While state law did not allow retail to integrate with businesses in the other two areas, many cultivators merged with producing operations, attempting to skip one level of taxation.

Recognizing the issue, Washington lawmakers reformed the states taxes and began charging the 37 percent excise tax on marijuana sales. With the tax incentive removed, companies can organize however is the most efficient operation based on their specialization.

However, the report also noted that consumers bear 44 percent of the additional retail tax burden. Which raises another issue.

Related: Is the Legal Marijuana Industry Sustainable for Entrepreneurs? What You Need to Know

Price-elastic

Price-elastic -- or its inverse, price-inelastic -- is a term that describes consumer sensitivity to price changes. At what price point will consumers in large numbers stop buying a product?

With 44 percent of Washington's excise tax burden passed on to consumers, the report found that in the short term, there was not much of a change. However, after a period of a few weeks, sales dropped. The Tax Foundation, in an opinion piece on the report, said the drop could indicate that marijuana still faces significant competition from black market sales.

The foundation has long warned about raising taxes too high on marijuana (or anything, really). They noted that Colorado found a 30 percent tax rate did not sufficiently reduce the black market. Most governments, watchful of events in Colorado, now aim for an excise tax rate between 10 and 25 percent. Colorado currently charges a 15 percent excise tax rate, in addition to the 2.9 percent sales tax levied on all sales in the state.

Follow dispensaries.com on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest cannabis news.

Related:

Study Warns Sky-High Marijuana Taxes Drive Consumers Back to the Black Market

The Bumpy Road to Becoming the Martha Stewart of Cannabis

These 4 States Legalized Recreational Marijuana but Each Is Doing It (or Not) in Its Own Way



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


The entire country is on edge. The shootings at YouTube headquarters happened just this week.

Related: YouTube Shooting Suspect Had Been Angry Over Filtering and Demonetization

Places that used to feel safe -- from schools and churches to concert venues and workplaces -- now feel anything but. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 500 workplace homicides in the United States in 2016, making violence the second-most-common cause of death in the workplace.

Because April is Workplace Violence Awareness Month, theres no better time than now for leaders to revisit how to handle and prevent dangerous situations. While no one can predict when a violent incident will occur at work, having the right precautions in place can help keep employees safe.

Vet potential employees.

The first step to avoiding workplace violence is keeping offenders out of your company. Perform thorough background checks to see if candidates have committed crimes in the past. If there are red flags or signs of violent tendencies, these people shouldnt be hired.

If a person has had (or has, while working for you) an isolated incident, leaders must make a judgment call. For example, you could require the individual to undergo anger management therapy so he or she can be a productive, rather than potentially violent, employee.

Related: 12 Ways to Spot a Potentially Violent Person in the Workplace

Also, use the job interview as a way to assess a job candidates personality. Ask questions about previous terminations or gaps in employment and see how the person reacts. If innocuous questions make a person uncomfortable, he or she probably isn't the best hiring choice.

Have a clear plan, and consequences.

Even the best safety plans are only effective if they are put into practice, Bob Folster, director of loss control services at small-business insurance company Employers in Sacramento, told me in an email.

To feel safe, employees need to know what policies are in place to protect them. This means conducting drills, no matter how unlikely an event might seem. Have employees practice where theyd go or how they would react to scenarios like a robbery or shooting. After each drill, leave time for questions so employees can discuss any concerns they might have.

Also, make it clear what consequences employees face if they act violently. While most companies have zero-tolerance policies about workplace violence, gray areas still exist.

For example, if an enraged employee throws a stapler, but doesnt hit anyone, is that a fireable offense? No matter how unlikely a situation may seem, make sure everyone knows what will happen as a result. That way, employees will see there are no loopholes that excuse violent behavior.

Know (and share) the warning signs.

After a violent incident, people often say, I should have seen the warning signs. While leaders arent expected to be violence experts, they do need to know what behaviors signal an employee whos struggling with anger.

Some warning signs, like suddenly being late for work on multiple occasions, may seem harmless. But a change like this can show an employee is struggling. Taking the time to speak with this individual can potentially keep the situation from progressing to violence.

Asa Sherwood, president of Chicago-based property management company FirstService Residential Illinois, said he likes to take an it takes a village approach. We encourage colleagues to keep an eye out for each other and not be afraid to say something if they see something, so that, as employers, we can address concerns before they reach a tipping point, Sherwood said via email.

Educate employees about possible warning signs so they can help keep the workplace safe. In her book, Risky Business: Managing Employee Violence in the Workplace, Lynne McClure lists the following changes as precursors to violent behavior:

Not taking responsibility for one's mistakes

Distancing oneself socially

Acting out of character

Lying or partaking in risky behavior

Refusing to try new things

Help employees speak up.

Leaders cant be everywhere all the time. This is why employees need to feel safe coming forward if they feel threatened. They need to know theres a way they can report incidents without fear of retribution.

Jay Starkman, CEO of Hollywood, Fla.-based HR solutions company Engage PEO, said he believes this should be a part of employee training. In short: Everyone needs to know what the procedure will be after a violent workplace incident. Violent behavior is common and must be dealt with promptly, uniformly and in such a way that employees feel comfortable in their ability to work, without the threat of violence or bullying, Starkman said in an email.

Related: Managing Conflict Is Essential to Success

If your employees are worried about coming forward, create a company email address where employees can anonymously report incidents that have made them feel uncomfortable. Knowing about these situations can allow you as a leader to address issues before the violence escalates.

Related:

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Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


STAMFORD  Police say a tense chase ended when they caught two men with three stolen guns at a Glenbrook elementary school.

Capt. Richard Conklin said officers in the Narcotics and Organized Crime squad received a tip Thursday afternoon about a car transporting stolen guns in the Glenbrook Road area.

Conklin said the driver took off when officers tried to pull over the car. Conklin said one of the occupants jumped out and ran carrying a backpack toward Julia A. Stark Stark Elementary School.

I have to give kudos to the patrol officers, because when the NOC officers called for assistance, they came fast and furious, Conklin said.

Conklin said officers caught up with Daquan Wright, 21, who had thrown the backpack over a fence.

Conklin said police found a 9-mm Ruger semiautomatic pistol, a seven-shot Ruger 357 revolver and a Smith & Wesson five-shot 38-caliber revolver along with some marijuana inside the backpack.

We are very proud of the fact we were able obtain this intel, act on it in a very prudent and reasonable manner and stop what could have been a very dangerous situation with some young men bent on criminality with a host of handguns, Conklin said.

Police determined the guns had not been reported missing or stolen. Investigators found the owner, who thought he was still in possession of the guns. But Conklin said he discovered they were missing when he checked his home.

Conklin said investigators are trying to determine how the guns were stolen.

Wright, of Elm Street, was charged with three counts each of illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, carrying a pistol without a permit, possession of a firearm on school property, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver, criminal possession of a weapon, stealing a firearm violation of a restraining order, and single counts of sale of a controlled substance and possession of less than four ounces of marijuana.

The driver, Shyheim Bonaparte, 23, of High Ridge Road, was charged with driving without a license, engaging police in pursuit, interfering with police and reckless driving.

This was a real good case where these guys are arrested and the safety of the students and faculty of Stark school are ensured and these parties are taken into custody, Conklin said.
Donald Trump and Kevin Williamson have both gotten into trouble for following the natural logic of the abortion-is-homicide position. Photo: Getty Images

This week a brouhaha broke out over conservative writer Kevin Williamsons hiring and firing at The Atlantic. His hiring raised all sorts of questions about journalistic balance, the relative willingness of progressive and conservative opinion outlets to empower dissenting voices, and the quality of work that should or should not qualify a writer for a rare full-time paying gig in these lean days for the Fourth Estate. His firing, though, revolved around the revelation that on at least two occasions (once in a tweet, once in a podcast) he suggested that in a future criminalized abortion regime (which he very much favors), women having abortions might be punished  even by hanging.

A few observers, mostly Williamsons conservative colleagues, are willing to blow this up into a First Amendment issue, which arguably conflates the right of expression with the right to a nice perch from which to opine.

But whats getting less attention is the unsettling question Williamson raised that led to his firing. Yes, there remain murky controversies over exactly what he said when, and whether he was addressing past or future abortions, and whether he failed to disclose or properly characterize these utterance to his new employers. The simple fact remains: Williams is arguing that for those who think of abortion as homicide (meaning virtually all of those who self-consciously belong to the right-to-life movement), its logical to consider punishing the women who have abortions once the practice has finally been re-outlawed. The severity of the punishment he discussed  hanging strikes me as a typically Williamsonian provocation, although one that got him fired. But at some, presumably less lethal level, its crossed many other minds in the right-to-life tribe, as evidenced by the defense for Williamson many offered that making abortion punishable by capital punishment would surely deter that option effectively, minimizing the actual number of hangings.

The other time this question came up in recent public discourse showed how touchy a subject this is for abortion-is-homicide believers. In March 2016, when Donald Trump told Chris Matthews during an interview that once abortion is criminalized again, that there has to be some form of punishment for the woman involved. Clearly, Trump (described by some conservative evangelical backers as a baby Christian just learning the ropes) hadnt learned this was a big no-no among anti-abortion activists, who quickly brow-beat him into backtracking. National Right to Life explained the party line: Unborn children and their mothers are victims in an abortion.

Now its obviously terrible politics to publicly kick around punishments for an act that tens of millions of American women have already taken. But the women are all victims, too approach has its shortcomings as well, most notably its paternalistic treatment of poor, pitiful women as incapable of the moral agency involved in deciding to terminate their own pregnancies. Better to just shut up about it all.

But as Jill Filipovic pointed out after Trumps gaffe, its far from an academic issue:

When you make something illegal, it comes with penaltiesthis is how criminal law works. Its certainly how it works in El Salvador, where women are in jail, some for having miscarriages the state believes were abortions. Its how it works in Rwanda, where rape survivors sit in prison for ending their pregnancies. Its how it works in Ecuador, Malaysia, Mexico, Bolivia, the Philippinesthe list of where ending a pregnancy can land you behind bars goes on.

Besides, notes Filipovic, the punish the abortionist, not the woman line doesnt address the many varieties of self-induced abortions. What are you going to do then, RTLers?

Its hard to believe that this question hasnt occurred to them. And in fact, its inevitability was exposed by one of Williamsons most passionate defenders, Federalist publisher Ben Domenech, who argues that the punish the woman POV is so obviously within the realm of the conceivable that censoring a writer for expressing it has to represent some sort of leftist witch hunt:

[W]hat ought to be the legal ramifications for tearing an unborn child apart [are] ramifications that ANY pro-lifer of any seriousness has wrestled with in conversation. Serious ethical and legal ramifications for destroying the unborn or the infirm are debated in philosophy classes every day  Williamsons mistake, as an adopted son born to an unwed teenage mother, was being too honest about his belief that what he sees as the daily murder of infants should, in a more just society, have severe legal consequences.

Funny how full-time RTLers quickly shushed Donald Trump for following the same logic. I think they understand that a movement as honest as Domenech about the implications of its position would not for very long remain the big brawling power lobby with a hold on the GOP that it is today. Maybe political writers Domenech and Williamson should show a better grasp of politics.
STAMFORD  An elderly city man will not go to jail for the 2014 accident that killed a motorcyclist.

William Little, 74, of Mohawk Court, expressed remorse during his sentencing Friday at the Stamford courthouse. He pleaded guilty in January to negligent homicide with a motor vehicle in the June 2014 accident that killed 48-year-old Jim McGee.

Im sorry about the pain I caused these people, Little said during the sentencing.

Im sorry about what happened. It is not something  I did not do it intentionally.

The accident occurred when Little was driving his Ford Explorer pickup truck north on Harvard Avenue and then attempted to make a left turn onto Commerce Road in front of McGee, who was riding his motorcycle in the opposite direction.

McGee, a Stamford resident, was seriously injured and was taken off life support a few days later.

During the sentencing, victim advocate Katryn Doud read a four-page letter from McGees father, James, who said he was too old to travel from his California home.

The reading was punctuated by stifled sobs from McGees sister, Katy.

James McGee said his son, who was an arborist for the Town of Greenwich, had dedicated himself to trees. He was a tree care supervisor at New Yorks Central Park and started his own tree service company.

After his sons death, McGee said he discovered Jim had written a childrens book about understanding and respecting trees.

Jims death is unacceptable, yet it must be accepted, James McGee wrote. The world as I and his sister and his friends knew it was turned upside down by the defendants careless driving.

Judge Richard Comerford said Little was not a bad man for making a mistake.

Littles lawyer, Philip Russell, said his client had never been given a traffic ticket and did not have any run-ins with police. He said Little has shown remorse since the accident happened.

Comerford said it did not appear that Little intended to cause the accident.

In addition to the six-month suspended sentence, Little must serve two years probation and the status of his drivers license will be left up to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

It is a tragic situation, said Andrew Gallagher, supervisor of the Stamford Police Departments Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad. Unfortunately, no sentence will satisfy the victims family. He was very close to his sister and father and very popular with his co-workers.
U ber on Friday beefed up its UK board with two City stalwarts, as the ride-hailing app attempts to bounce back from a string of scandals.

The transport firm has appointed Susan Hooper and Roger Parry as independent non-executive directors.

The former sits on such boards as the Department for Exiting the European Union, Wizz Air and Rank Group. The latter is chair of YouGov and software firm Oxford Metrics.

Uber had a turbulent 2017. Chief Travis Kalanik stepped down, and it faced a battle about renewing its licence and allegations of sexual harassment.

It has since got new investment from Japans Softbank, hired Dara Khosrowshahi as boss and plans a flotation. New safety measures have also been introduced.
C hinas promise to win President Donald Trumps trade war at any cost sent a fresh chill through stock markets on Friday.

America last night threatened to beef up tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese imports. China hit back and said it would take new and comprehensive measures in response.

If the United States disregards the objections of China and the international community and persists in unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will follow through to the end, at any cost, and definitely fight back resolutely, the commerce ministry said.

Stock markets dipped today with the blue-chip FTSE 100 index falling 15 points to 7,184 points and the Stoxx 600 in Europe falling 0.5% to 374.45 points.

Earlier this week more than 1300 Chinese imports such as flat panel TVs were identified for import duties under the first batch of proposals from the United States Trade Representative, the office responsible.

China hit back with tariffs plans for items such as soybeans, beef and aircraft produced in the US.

Both plans amount to $50 billion worth of goods each.

Trumps fresh $100 billion pledge has caused concern in the US.

Information Technology Industry Council, which represents firms such as Amazon and Apple, said the move was irresponsible and destabilising.

However, analysts remain sceptical of a full-blown trade war. UBS Wealth Management Global Chief Economist Paul Donovan said: This is not a trade war. These are threats for the future, not real policies now.

Nordic bank SEB said: Any escalation in the trade war rhetoric would be more negative for China than the US given the formers relative dependency on trade but, for now, the markets are focused on the payrolls data, referencing closely watched US figures out later.
Facebook still dominating the headlines.

The social media giant is co-operating with the Information Commissioners Office as it examines how 30 organizations have used personal data.

Facebook said the personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, more than previous estimates.

The ICO said it was looking at how data was collected from a third party app on Facebook and shared with Cambridge Analytica, as well as a broader investigation into how social media platforms have been used in political campaigning.
I cant help but sympathise with the howl of frustration in the blog post of Stephanie Gaunt, a 68-year-old member of the Womens Institute in East Sussex, who wrote that her 40-plus WI colleagues were probably considered unwoke old bats by the young.

She and her members had been quietly supporting local charities for generations but instead, she complained, the WI Shoreditch Sisters, set up in 2007 by the daughter of The Clash frontman, Joe Strummer, were the ones to garner notoriety for their vulva patchwork quilt made in protest against female genital mutilation.

The Shoreditch WIs latest endeavour is pickling masterclasses in aid of Bloody Good Period, a charity providing menstrual supplies to asylum-seekers and refugees. Admittedly, its a lot more hip than baking for Help the Aged.

Poor Stephanie. Such was the outrage at her comments she has now left all platforms. Being woke is beginning to feel like a constant exercise in hipster self-promotion. Everyday there is another bout of indignant collective fury, our fingers tapping out hashtags on Instagram, while we repost the wise words of whatever brilliant, outspoken teen is spearheading the latest swathe of radical change. I certainly stand guilty as charged.

Since Trumps election we have been living in an era of constant, conspicuous activism. You are a nobody if you are not attached to a vital cause. To be caught posting selfies without a healthy dose of virtuous hashtags renders you hopelessly out of date.

Issues that were once the natural domain of politicians, NGOs and advocacy groups now belong to us all. It used to be so joyful and optimistic. Now worthy causes are pinned to a celebrity lapel before youve had time to fully consider the pros and cons of the arguments being posited.

I remember when vegans used to be hairy, badly dressed and had cabbage breath. These days they are more likely to have zillions of Instagram followers and a multi-million-pound vegan enterprise on the side. Student activists are no longer seen as banner-waving cliches but held up as saintly warriors for our future.

Note how little we laud musicians unless they are attached to a cause. What if music is your passion, not saving the rhino? Meanwhile, fashion houses are peddling T-shirts with feminist statements and jumping on the anti-fur bandwagon to appeal to millennials and increase profits.

March for Our Lives, #PayMeToo and #MeToo  I feel strongly about them all. Its just that being woke is in danger of becoming hideously overheated; solutions are getting lost in the hyperbole and hashtags, while the older generation feel increasingly alienated when we need them onside.

The marketers continue to pile on to the virtue bandwagon. Nickelodeon going off air for 17 minutes in solidarity with victims of gun violence felt spot-on, but McDonalds turning its golden arches upside down to mark International Womens Day less so.

We cant fix every problem, every day. Maybe every other day is good enough. And being an unwoke old bat who quietly toils for others still makes Stephanie the ultimate pinnacle of cool; she deserves a hashtag of her own.

Come on Vogue, why not be a trailblazer on gender pay too?

Today the latest issue of Vogue hits news stands, heralding nine trailblazing models on its May cover. Inside, the comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge talks about the positive rise of female fury. So far, so great. However, female fury is less in evidence when it comes to Conde Nasts gender pay gap.

The company has been strangely quiet on its own published figures. Which is surprising given the mean hourly rate of pay stands at 36.9 per cent lower for women.

May cover of British Vogue

Not only is its workforce percentage tipped towards women but Vogue, a womens magazine, provides the heft of its income. (Its certainly not Vogue editor Edward Enninfuls fault; he has fought his own spectacular fight for diversity.)

The men I worked with at every level during my years at Conde Nast were nearly all female-centric. But Conde Nast is heavily weighted towards men in the upper echelons, which makes male bias a possibility.

The fact that no one deemed the pay disparity worth commenting on to its female staff is evidence that it doesnt feel it matters. Is it time management encouraged women trailblazers closer to home?

How to choose au pair for teenage boy

As a working mum, Im currently searching for a new au pair for my two boys. Considering right now: a sweet Australian girl who turns out to have a hot, fit gym bod she shows off to her 102,000 Instagram followers! Or a male Cambridge graduate studying to be an accountant.

Aside from the fact Im a little miffed that the Aussie has way more followers than me, she might cause my teenage sons temperature to rise.
T hanks to a spate of stabbings and shootings we are going through a minor hysteria about London gang culture. It happens periodically. Its mostly hypocritical because most of us will never see or touch it.

London has always had gangs, and they have almost always been centred on marginal or recently arrived groups. One obvious literary exception would be Peachams gang in John Gays satirical The Beggars Opera of 1728, who all sound thoroughly local  Jemmy Twitcher, Crook-Fingerd Jack, Wat Dreary, Robin of Bagshot, Nimming Ned, Henry Paddington and the rest.

A little over a century later Charles Dickens imagined a Jewish-led gang in Oliver Twist, whose child-recruiting Fagin was probably based on a real east London villain, the dapper Ikey Solomon. Dickens, as a fine journalist, had picked up on themes that would dominate perceptions of Victorian gangs  Jewish leaders and starveling children.

Some 15 years after that novel the journalist Henry Mayhew was interviewing and reporting on the vast, pullulating, colourful and tragic world of the London poor.

Among his interviewees was a young orphan pickpocket who had worked in a pottery and then been dismissed: He met up with a gang of boys in a similar circumstance to himself. He said he was a good pickpocket and that he would rather steal from the rich than the poor because they miss it less. He also said that Picking pockets... is the daringest thing that a boy can do.

Andrew Marr

For the Victorian middle classes, gangs, poverty and the perils of the (much more dangerous) streets were all more or less the same thing. Just as today, shoppers in the West End may be attacked by youths on motor scooters, so in the 19th century most peoples experience of gangs would be through the pages of Dickens, or the experience of being robbed in Trafalgar Square.

But the gang territories were closer to the everyday life of the middle classes: Soho and Seven Dials were notoriously dangerous areas, barely five minutes walk from glitzy shops and restaurants.

In 1866, a so-called penny dreadful was published, widely sold and quickly censored. The Wild Boys of London told the story of the street-fighting gangs of the capital; gang culture had already gone far beyond organised theft.

Their members, serving local captains, were aged between 16 and 22 and centred on very specific areas. Gang names included the Bow-Commoners, the Dove-Row gang, the Golden Lane Gang, the New Cut Gang, the Drury Lane Gang and the Lambeth Lads.

The books anonymous author explained: While there are bodies of young men who roam about at night simply for the sake of mischief, when the regular gangs fight, it is for mastery. Mastery of what? The fights happened, in the 1860s just as today, when one gang invades the territory of another. Then there has to be some sort of rectification of frontier

The 20th century saw the very violent and notorious crime-syndicate gangs led by the Kray brothers and the Richardson family; but it also saw Irish, Italian, Jewish and even Maltese gangs forming to defend street territory against one another, on the model of the wild boys. Crime, politics and territory-defence began to merge.

There were the Whitechapel-based Yiddishers, who included the famous Jack Spot and fought Mosleys fascists. There were the splendidly named Bessarabian Tigers; the Hoxton Mob, in fact based in Soho; Wag and Wal Macdonalds Elephant and Castle Gang, and their deadly enemies, Charles Sabinis Clerkenwell-based mob.

Those who think that todays gang problem is something new should remember that in 1927, when Sabinis gang defeated the Elephant and Castle Boys at the Battle of Waterloo outside the Duke of Wellington Pub on Waterloo Road, eight people died of knife and gunshot wounds.

In fact, all these gangs were violent, carried revolvers and formed complex alliances against one another  the Finsbury Boys and the notorious Cortesi family of Clerkenwell, for instance, against the Sabinis. After the Second World War their role was picked up by Maltese gangs, particularly in Soho.

What links todays gang warfare with Londons long gang history is that for the vast majority of people it is still invisible, unless glamorised and packaged by the mass media. If you look at one of the available Met Police maps of Londons gang areas, the first thing you see is that a vast swathe of the centre of the city is completely free of gang activity  everywhere south of Regents Park, west of Spitalfields and north of Bermondsey.

Most commuters wont pass through gang territory, and if they do, wont notice it  the small coloured tags, the sprayed postcodes, the choice of designer clothing that means life or death to those in the know and nothing to the rest of us.

I live in north London, am reasonably aware and interested in my communitys history. Do I even see the boundaries between Camden Marliez and the Q C Blox, or the Bemerton Mardem, the Soldiers of Shakespeare, the London Fields Boys or the Essex Road Gang? No, of course not.

But young black Londoners lose their lives on gang territories. They have to make vast detours back from school. Even then, theyre caught in the wrong place at the wrong time because, for them, there are no right places.
With just over a week until the royal wedding, Kensington Palace are slowly drip-feeding us clues as to what Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's big day will look like.

Most recently confirming the couple's lemon elderflower cake will be made by Claire Ptak and that self-taught florist Philippa Craddock will be designing the floral decorations filled with roses, peonies and foxgloves.

There is one question, though, that's still on everyone's lips: what will Meghan wear?

The 36-year-old's all-important wedding dress has been subject to much speculation ever since the couple's engagement last year, and with the wedding in Windsor now weeks away, anticipation has reached fever pitch.

Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex - style file 1 /110 Meghan Markle: The Duchess of Sussex - style file October 25, 2018 Meghan Markle in Nadi, Fiji on October 25, 2018 Getty Images May 8, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their baby son PA June 8, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Trooping of the Colour PA November 11, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex wore a 1,500 Stella McCartney coat at the annual Remembrance Sunday memorial Getty Images March 2021 Harpo Productions January 07, 2020 The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Canada House, where the Duchess wore a Massimo Dutti slip skirt in an all-brown outfit Getty Images November 9, 2019 Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, arrived in bespoke Erdem Getty Images November 7, 2019 Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex at The Fields of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey Jeremy Selwyn October 25, 2019 Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality with The Queens Commonwealth Trust (QCT) and One Young World at Windsor Castle Jeremy Selwyn October 22, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends the One Young World Summit Opening Ceremony at Royal Albert Hall Getty Images October 2, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits a township with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex to learn about Youth Employment Services Getty Images October 1, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex visiting Action Aid, a gender based violence education club in Johannesbur PA October 1, 2019 Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives to meet academics and students during a roundtable discussion on female access to higher education with the Association of Commonwealth Universities, at the University of Johannesburg Reuters September 25, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Woodstock Exchange, a women founders/social entrepreneurs event during her royal tour of South Africa with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Getty Images September 25, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex along with their son Archie meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mrs Tutu at their legacy foundation in Cape Town PA September 24, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits Waves for Change, an NGO supporting local surf mentors to provide mental health services to vulnerable young people living in under resourced communities, with Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (not pictured) at Monwabisi Beach, in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters September 24, 2019 Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, attends a reception for young people, community and civil society leaders at the Residence of the British High Commissioner in Cape Town, South Afric Reuters September 23, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, visit Nyanga township, on the first day of their African tour in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters September 12, 2019 Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives to launch the Smart Works capsule collection Getty Images September 07, 2019 Meghan (R), Duchess of Sussex attends the Women's Singles final match between Serena Williams of the United States and Bianca Andreescu of Canada on day thirteen of the 2019 US Open Getty Images July 7, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the christening of their son Archie Chris Allerton July 4, 2019 The Duchess of Sussex at Wimbledon Championships PA June 29, 2019 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox baseball game PA March 11, 2019 At a Commonwealth Day Youth Event Getty Images March 11, 2019 At the Commonwealth Service Getty Images March 8, 2019 Attending the Queen's Commonwealth Trust Getty Images March 5, 2019 At the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales Getty Images February 25, 2019 At a reception with King Mohammed VI of Morocco Getty Images February 24, 2019 At a reception hosted by the British Ambassador to Morocco Getty Images February 23, 2019 At Casablanca Airport in Morocco Getty Images January 30, 2019 At the National Theatre Getty Images January 16, 2019 At Cirque du Soleil Getty Images January 16, 2019 During a visit to the Mayhew Getty Images January 14, 2019 During a visit to Birkenhead Town Hall Getty Images December 25, 2018 At the Christmas Day Church service Getty Images December 10, 2018 At the British Fashion Awards Getty Images October 26, 2018 At the Australian Geographic Society Awards Getty Images October 25, 2018 Meghan and Prince Harry attend a state dinner in Tonga Getty Images October 23, 2018 Meghan and Harry in Fiji Getty Images October 28, 2018 Meghan and Harry attending an evening reception at Government House in Wellington Getty Images October 27, 2018 At the Invictus Games Sydney Getty Images October 23, 2018 Attending a state dinner in Fiji Getty Images October 24, 2018 Meghan visits the University of the South Pacific Getty Images October 19, 2018 Meghan and Harry visit Bondi Beach Getty Images October 16, 2018 On the couple's royal tour of Sydney Getty Images October 12, 2018 At the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York to Jack Brooksbank Getty Images July 11, 2018 Visiting Croke Park, Ireland Getty Images July 10, 2018 During a royal tour of Ireland PA July 10, 2018 At the RAF centenary service PA July 9, 2018 At the christening of Prince Louis PA July 5, 2018 At Your Commonwealth Youth Challenge reception Getty Images June 26, 2018 At the Queen's Young Leaders Awards Ceremony Getty Images June 19, 2018 At day one of Royal Ascot Getty Images June 14, 2018 During her first engagement to Cheshire with Her Majesty The Queen Getty Images May 22, 2018 At The Prince of Wales' 70th Birthday Patronage Celebration wearing the Goat Flavia Dress Getty Images May 19, 2018 The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend an evening reception at their wedding Getty Images April 23, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields PA April 21, 2018 The couple attend a reception for Invictus Games at Australia House AFP/Getty Images April 21, 2018 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at the Royal Albert Hall to attend a star-studded concert to celebrate the Queen's 92nd birthday Getty Images April 19, 2018 At a Women's Empowerment reception at the Royal Aeronautical Society Getty Images April 18, 2018 At a reception with delegates from the Commonwealth Youth Forum during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Getty Images April 6, 2018 At the team trials for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 at the University of Bath Sports Training Village in Bath Reuters March 23, 2018 Visiting the Titanic Belfast Getty March 23, 2018 Attending an event to mark the second year of youth-led peace-building initiative Amazing the Space PA March 12, 2018 At a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey AFP/Getty Images March 8, 2018 At an International Women's Day event at Millennium Point in Birmingham PA March 8, 2018 At an International Women's Day event at Millennium Point in Birmingham PA February 13, 2018 At Edinburgh Castle, during a visit to Scotland AFP/Getty Images February 13, 2018 With Prince Harry during their visit to Scotland AFP/Getty Images February 1, 2018 Attending the Endeavour Fund Awards ceremony Getty Images January 18, 2018 At Cardiff Castle during a visit to Wales Getty Images January 9, 2018 Arriving to visit Reprezent Radio AFP/Getty Images December 25, 2017 At the royals Christmas Day Church service Getty Images December 1, 2017 On an official visit to Nottingham with Prince Harry Getty Images November 27, 2017 With Prince Harry at the official photocall to announce the engagement Getty Images September 25, 2017 With Prince Harry at a Wheelchair Tennis match during the Invictus Games Getty Images September 23, 2017 At the Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Invictus Games PA July 14, 2016 At the 'Today' show in New York MediaPunch/Rex Features May 20, 2016 At the pARTy! - celebrating 25 years of P.S. ARTS Getty Images April 27, 2016 At Glamour's Women Of The Year awards in New York Getty Images March 17, 2016 At AOL Build Speaker Series Startraks Photo/Rex Features November 2, 2015 At the 12th annual CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards Getty Images June 24, 2015 At NBC Universal Summer Press day MediaPunch/Rex Features May 14, 2015 At the 2015 NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Upfront Getty Images March 10, 2015 At the Step It Up For Gender Equality event Getty Images February 13, 2015 On her way to MADE Fashion Week Rex Features February 13, 2015 At the Wes Gordon runway show during MADE Fashion Week Getty Images October 28, 2014 At the Elton John AIDS Foundation gala Getty Images October 1, 2014 At RELAIS & CHATEAUX 60th Anniversary Guest Chef Dinner Launch Getty Images September 5, 2014 At an exclusive preview of the Marchesa Voyage for ShopStyle collection Getty Images February 8, 2014 At the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images January 22, 2014 At ELLE's Annual Women in Television Celebration Getty Images November 19, 2013 At the London Global Gift Gala at ME Hotel Getty Images November 11, 2013 At the world premier of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' in Leicester Square AFP/Getty Images October 2, 2013 At the Gala Tribute for Cate Blanchett during the 51st New York Film Festival Getty Images September 11, 2013 At the Annual Charity Day Hosted By Cantor Fitzgerald And BGC Getty Images September 10, 2013 At the Novak Djokovic Foundation New York dinner Getty Images September 10, 2013 At the Tory Burch fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images September 8, 2013 At the Tracy Reese show during New York Fashion Week MediaPunch/Rex Features September 7, 2013 At the Herve Leger By Max Azria fashion show during New York Fashion Week Getty Images June 16, 2013 At the 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards Getty Images May 16, 2013 At the USA Network 2013 Upfront Event Getty Images January 26, 2013 At the Entertainment Weekly Pre-SAG party Getty Images January 24, 2013 At the ELLE's Women in Television Celebration Getty Images January 13, 2013 At NBC Universal's 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards after party Getty Images September 11, 2012 At the FINCA Canada Fundraiser At TIFF 2012 during the Toronto International Film Festival Getty Images September 5, 2012 At the Rising Stars: 2012 Producers Ball during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Getty Images February 15, 2012 At the USA Network's and The Moth's Storytelling Tour Getty Images August 26, 2010 At the Some Kind-a Gorgeous Style and Beauty Lounge at the Chateau Marmont Getty Images September 18, 2009 At the DPA pre-Emmy Gift Lounge at the Peninsula Hotel Getty Images

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So, in case you're struggling to keep up with all the rumours (we know we are), here's a definitive guide to every prediction, hearsay and likelihood about the bridal gown:

Who will design Meghan's Dress?

There are oh-so-many theories about who will be the designer chosen to create Meghan's wedding dress and whoever it is will go down in history...

A British designer?

Many think that, in homage to her new British home, she will choose a British designer.

This would certainly be in keeping with tradition: Princess Diana's wedding dress was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, while the Duchess of Cambridge opted for a more modern gown by Alexander McQueen's creative director Sarah Burton.

Kate Middleton wearing a Alexander McQueen wedding dress in 2011 / Getty Images

Meghan following in her sister-in-law-to-be's footsteps is definitely not out of the question.

In fact, bets on Meghan's dress designer have been suspended after a flurry of activity favouring McQueen unexpectedly took place in February, hinting someone may know something we don't.

Burberry is also a possibility, as fellow designer Henry Holland recently hinted, "I would be quite excited if it was Christopher Baileys final bow for Burberry. I think that would be a nice thing for him to do, shes worn for them for a long time.

A designer she has worn before?

Another popular prediction is that she is going to wear Ralph & Russo.

The couture brand hit headlines last year when Meghan broke royal protocol by wearing a sheer black chiffon and tulle gown by the luxury label for her official engagement portraits with Prince Harry.

Meghan Markle wearing Ralph & Russo (Alexi Lubomirski via Getty Images) / Alexi Lubomirski

With just over a week until the royal wedding, the British brand have now become the front runner, after the Daily Mail reported that Meghan's dress would be a 100,000 hand-stitched design by the duo.

That said, nothing is certain until the bride-to-be walks down the aisle of St George's Chapel on May 19.

Will she add a Canadian twist?

During her official visits with Prince Harry, Meghan has filled her royal wardrobe with independent Canadian brands.

Canada, and Toronto in particular, holds a special place in the actress' heart as it's where she filmed her hit series Suits and lived for several years.

Many think Meghan could make a smart sartorial choice by picking British fashion house Erdem, which is run by Canadian-born designer Erdem Moraloglu. The perfect compromise.

It's no secret that the label is a favourite with the royals and, according to fashion industry websites, has just taken its PR in-house.

Could they be preparing for a media storm?

It could be the underdog...

Possible wedding dress designers that have also been mentioned include Elie Saab and J.Mendel, as well as Roland Mouret, Antonio Berardi and Misha Nonoo.

The designs unveiled by Israeli designer Inbal Dror / Splash/Inbal Dror

Relatively unknown Israeli brand Inbal Dror is also in the mix after the brand's bridal sketches, submitted to the Palace, were leaked last year, sending social media into a frenzy.

Her dress will cost less than the Duchess of Cambridge's

Whichever designer, whichever style, we can be fairly certain of one thing: that Meghan's dress will cost less than Kate Middleton's.

The Duchess's dress cost an eye-watering 250,000, of which her parents Carole and Michael Middleton footed the bill.

The Duke of Cambridge and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day / Getty Images

Meghan is expected to wear a dress with a lower price tag.

Why? She is said to be keeping the price to a minimum out of respect for the future Queen Consort, AKA the Duchess of Cambridge.

She may wear Princess Diana's tiara

Much like Diana Spencer and Kate Middleton before her, when the 36-year-old actress becomes part of the British royal family, her bridal look will feature an important accessory: a tiara.

Diana favourite Catherine Walker & Co talks royal dressing

There has been much speculation as to which of the royal household's endless collection of jewels Meghan will wear, the most popular rumour being that she would follow the Duchess of Cambridge's lead wear the Cartier Halo tiara, which was loaned to Catherine and previously belonged to the Queen Mother.

The Duchess of Cambridge on her wedding day in 2011 / Getty Images

However, it has since been revealed that on the royal wedding day, the famous tiara won't be in the country. It will be on the other side of the world in Australia, on display alongside 300 other dazzling items at 'Cartier: The Exhibition' at the National Gallery of Australia.

So with that theory out window it's back to the drawing board and bets are now on that Meghan will pay tribute to Princess Diana by wearing the Spencer Tiara; the one Diana wore for her wedding to Prince Charles.

Diana wearing the Spencer family Tiara in 1983 / PA Wire/PA Images

The Wedding Ring

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement 1 /27 Prince Harry and Meghan Markle engagement announcement Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Eddie Mulholland-WPA Pool/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and Ms Meghan Markle photo call today on the announcement of their engagement in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Reuters Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Sky News Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace PA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AFP/Getty Images Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace AP Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London, after the announcement of their engagement PA Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave following a photocall after announcing their engagement in the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace EPA Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle during an official photocall to announce their engagement at The Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace Jeremy Selwyn Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walk away after posing for the media in the grounds of Kensington Palace AP

Lastly, let's not forget about the other important accessory: the wedding ring.

It is highly likely that Meghan with receive a plain gold band on the day to go nicely with her striking three diamond-strong engagement ring.

Although we can't be certain of the style or hue, it is presumed that the ring will be made out of Welsh gold.

Welsh gold from the Clogau St Davids Mine has been favoured by royalty since 1911 and has remained a royal wedding tradition since 1923, when it was started by Her Majesty The Queen Mother.

Since then, generations of royal brides, including Princess Diana and The Duchess of Cambridge, have worn wedding rings made from the historic nugget.

Interestingly, though, due to the fact that mining has long ceased at St David's, Wales where it is sourced, it is thought that Meghan's could be the last ring made out of the rare and royal gold.

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C ongratulations  you live in one of the priciest areas of the country.

There are, however, ways to redress the balance. Living in London may cost a pretty penny or three but it also comes with access to some pretty fabulous food  much of which doesnt cost the earth.

In fact, the capital offers a plethora of seriously good treats that wont break the bank.

Here are our favourite culinary morsels that you can get your hands round for a fiver or less.

Chikn Classic at Chikn

How much? 4.95

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If we told you you could get one of the best fried chicken burgers in the capital for near McChicken Sandwich prices, you wouldnt believe us, would you? CHIKN is the fast food sister mini-chain to fried chicken favourites ChicknSours and their stripped back Straight Up Chikn burger comes in at just 4.95, served with lettuce, buttermilk, herb mayo and pickles.

Classic bao at Bao

Not worth the hype: the buns at Bao

How much? 4.75

The low, low price of the fluffiest buns in London might have something to do with the queues that frequently haunt the doors of this light bite sensation. All of Baos baos come in at under 5 but youll probably find the best deal in the Classic bun which comes stuffed with braised pork, pickled vegetables, coriander and crushed peanuts.

Steamed buns at Bun House

Steamy: Chinese bao at Bun House / Five Line Projects

How much? 2.50

This dish wins the prize for cheapest on the list by a whole 1.25. Bun Houses clattering cafe is usually thick with both steam and hungry punters, queuing up for their doughy buns, all priced at just 2.50. The warm, wobbling handfuls come stuffed with a variety of fillings, from pig to spicy fish to red chocolate. Its the little morsels of finesse here that elevate make it really quite special  they may be cheap, but each bun comes stamped with a Chinese symbol.

Salt Beef bagel at Beigel Bake

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How much? 4.10

Late night treats dont come better than they do in Brick Lane. Those looking for doughy satiation are spoilt for choice all through the day here, with two twin 24 hour bagel bakeries both offering up fabulous fare. Beigel Bake (the white one) just beats Beigel Shop (the orange one) for many, with their thick cut salt beef, pickle and mustard sandwich having those in the know salivating all the way from Shoreditch High Street. That said, Beigel Shop is still terrific and priced much the same, so just join whichever queue is shorter.

Roti Canai at Roti King

How much? 5

This Malaysian restaurant looks as unassuming as it can get (its in a basement down a side road with a sign at roughly ankle level) but down in Roti King is one of the best value dishes in London. The Roti Canai serves two slices of the restaurants famed fluffy, flaky roti with a bowl of flavourful curry dhall for 5. For an extra 1.50 you can swap dhall for curried chicken, fish or lamb.

30 must-try dishes in London restaurants 1 /31 30 must-try dishes in London restaurants Bone marrow on toast with parsley salad at St John Not only has this dish kicked off countless wonderful meals over the course of St Johns 25 years, but it also gets credit for putting British cooking back on the global culinary map. Roasted bone marrow, coaxed out onto toast, cut perfectly with salad of parsley, shallots and capers. A nose-to-tail revolution, and utterly divine. Whole turbot at Brat Tomos Parrys talents with a turbot first came to feverish acclaim at Mayfair restaurant Kitty Fishers, but they are now the star attraction at his Michelin-starred solo spot. This whole fish  grilled Basque-style, over hot coals and in a specially designed cage  softens as if it has melted, and is basted at the table in an emulsion made with its own juices. Benjamin McMahon Marinara at 50 Kalo di Ciro Salvo Superlatives should be used in moderation  but heck it, this might just be Londons best pizza. This under-the-radar London iteration of a Naples pizzeria serves an unrivalled marinara: just tomato sauce, oil, garlic and oregano. No need for any more  with a sauce this good and a base so fine and perfectly charred, you can stop mourning your cancelled Italian holiday at first bite. Luciano Furia Clay pot baked pork and crab glass noodles at Kiln When we say Kiln is one of the hottest spots in town, we mean it  hang over the counter at the Thai barbecue and youre not far out of range for the odd flame. Baking in the heart of the swirling heat is this must order: shimmering glass noodles, coated with a silky sauce enriched with fatty slicks of Tamworth pork belly and improbably unctuous crab meat. Lamb chops, Melabes Perhaps because its quietly tucked in among its unassuming neighbours down on the wrong end of High Street Kensington, Melabes is often overlooked by Londons food lovers. An unwarranted shame, as this partly Middle Eastern, partly Mediterranean set-up is really very good; it is somewhere to pick and choose from bits and pieces, and put a meal together yourself. The lamb chops, which come all smokey and burnished from the grill, are perfect; pink as a Vegas sign inside, but the fat all soft and dripping and delicious. A must, whatever the order. Steak tartare imperial at Bob Bob Ricard Theres Press For Champagne buttons, lobster in your mac and cheese and anything that stays still long enough gets gilded  there is no point in going small at Bob Bob Ricard. Steak tartare is a luxurious pick at the best of times, but the Imperial upgrade here comes with a dollop of caviar  even without the finishing touch, the tartare itself is one of the best in the capital. Bacon naan at Dishoom Londoners spent decades believing bacon in a bap with some ketchup (or brown sauce, but lets not have that argument now) couldnt be beaten  and then Dishoom came along. This breakfast sandwich fills a fresh naan with bacon, a slathering of cream cheese, a luxurious tomato and chilli chutney, coriander and an oozing fried egg if you feel so inclined. Hangover be gone. Cacio e pepe at Padella Five years ago, you would have thought anyone queuing for pasta in London to have lost their minds  this dish changed that. The starlet of Padellas much coveted is this plate of pici  hand-rolled fat worms of eggless pasta  with a mirror-shine sauce of parmesan cheese and pasta. Simple but unrivalled  and itll set you back just 6. Jamon croquetas at Barrafina A dish like this should be elusive  it is far too easy to eat seven portions of croquetas in a single sitting, which is why we presume Barrafina makes you queue. Very sensible. As the crunchy coating gives way to the oozing centre, enriched with the flavour of Spanish jamon (the best ham in the business), were already planning our next visit. Biang biang noodles at Xi'an Biang Biang Noodles There are oodles of noodles in the capital, but Guirong Weis triumphant take is one of the finest. First finding followers at her north London restaurant Xian Impression (soon to reopen for dine-in, but not yet), the dish of has inspired a whole spin-off restaurant in Spitalfields. Thick, hand-pulled, chewy noodles soak up all the spice and zing of the special sauce they swim in  very special indeed. Souffle Suissesse, Le Gavroche Le Gavroche  the street urchin  is perhaps not for everyone. It is a Mayfair time machine, a reminder of how things were done once upon a time. Fortunately, it happens that how things were once done was very well indeed, and lunch or supper here is a masterclass in traditional French luxury (and often, happily, includes very large glasses of wine). Staff make the place, anyone who has been gently teased by the twins pretending to be each other will know. A tendency towards the old ways does mean the cooking offers little in the way of evolution or revolution, but new, after all, isnt always better. Michel Roux Jrs cheese souffle, baked on double cream, stuns, so overwhelmingly tasty, utter decadence that clings to the taste buds. Buttermilk Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Around the Cluck / 12:51 James Cochran found his signature dish early on, but its good it should stay with him for the rest of his career. While he has chops, and can do more beyond, theres something special in the way he works with his chicken; hotly spiced, gorgeously crispy, beautifully soft on the inside. A long-standing favourite and, though 12:51 cant operate as it did before, there are tables at his new project Around the Cluck, which is operating out of the same site. Breakfast at Hawksmoor Guildhall Your Full English is not full in comparison to the Hawksmoor breakfast at the steak connoisseurs Guildhall restaurant. The mind-boggling two-person spread swaps bacon rashers for an entire smoked chop, serves its bubble and squeak with short rib, puts trotter meat into its baked beans, and adds grilled bone marrow to all the usual trimmings. Cauliflower shawarma at Berber & Q Its not often that the main event at a barbecue restaurant is the veg, but Berber & Q have achieved just that. The cauliflower shawarma here is cooked on their flaming grill until softened and charred, before being doused liberally in tahini, pomegranate molasses, coriander, pomegranate seeds and a scattering of dried rose petals. BBQ Butter Chicken Wings at Brigadiers Brigadiers is a bold, boisterous sort of place: a labyrinthine City dining room, packed to the rafters with beer and Indian food that is indisputably gutsy. But arguably its finest moment comes in one of its smallest packages  these chicken wings may be diminutive, but are mightily spiced, deftly charred and dripping with ghee-fuelled succulence. Beef brisket bun at Smokestak David Carters Shoreditch restaurant occupies itself by giving the entirety of Kansas City a run for its money on a daily basis. The star turn at this lauded barbecue restaurant is its beef brisket bun  the meat is soft and juicy, riddled with its fats in the centre, while charred and treacle-like on the outside, paired perfectly with pickled chillies. To remember it is to salivate, we assure you. Snails, LEscargot LEscargot is one of Sohos old aristocrats and in its grand, beret red dining room there is always a mischievous sense of fun  perhaps because it is still such a smart, suited, chandeliered place, and people are often drinking themselves rather silly. The clue to good eating is in the name; the snails come still clinging to their shells and submerged in their butter and parsley sauce. Dive in; you will emerge stinking gloriously of garlic. It wont matter a jot; roll on the red wine and settle in for a long, comforting night. Confit potatoes at Quality Chop House Yes, there are some high quality chops on offer at this 150-year-old Clerkenwell restaurant but blimey, leave room for the chips. Fine slices of potato are stacked into architecturally sound wedges, and confited until shatteringly crispy on the outside and devastatingly soft in the centre. They have been much imitated in recent years, but never bettered. Smoked eel sandwich at Quo Vadis Jeremy Lee cooks many things to a legendary level at Quo Vadis  his pies could so easily have also made this list  but he gets the nod here for his unrivalled take on the fancy sandwich. Smoked eel, horseradish cream and Dijon mustard, served with red onion pickle  a combination so popular Lee says he nearly ran out of eel on post-lockdown reopening. Classic bao at Bao London has buns in abundance, but we still bow down to the fluffy superiority of Bao. The Taiwanese restaurant has become a cross-town favourite, thanks to its pleasingly pert rice buns (they are genuinely very pert, no crassness intended) and carefully considered fillings. The classic order comes filled with braised pork, fermented veg, coriander and a dusting of peanut powder. Carol Sachs Potato and roe, Core by Clare Smyth Clare Smyth has a knack that must infuriate other chefs; she is able to take the simplest of ingredients  say, a single carrot and a smattering of lamb mince  do something devilish with it and charge rather a lot for it; so good are the results, though, that few mind. Smyths sorcery is perhaps best witnessed with her signature, the potato and roe. It is simply a potato on a plate in a little sauce, but then it is also perhaps the best potato dish in the world; it has this wonderful salty richness, a certain seaside intenseness. It is glorious; so too is the smoked chicken that tends to come as an amuse bouche. Youll be treated here. Omelette Arnold Bennett Dont worry, no Arnolds were harmed in the making of this dish. Alongside impeccable service and an arguably perfect dining room, you could add another highlight to your breakfast at The Wolseley by ordering this creamy, haddock-filled dish, named for the writer who inspired its creation while staying at the Savoy. Fish pie, J Sheekey Long an actors favourite, J Sheekeys glamour has never lost its lustre. Its kept its regulars and charmed newcomers with a menu that plays the greatest hits of fine dining favourites. Seafood is Sheekeys thing; simply done sole is beautiful here, crab comes three ways, brill brushed in butter has a meatiness thats beyond satisfying. The fish pie is famous though, and rightly so; beneath the flaking pastry is a sea of cream, mustard and white wine, in it bobbing cod, haddock and salmon. It is simple but never fails; it does on its own for lunch, but is a failsafe at supper, too. John Carey The Ari Gold at Patty & Bun Theres a cheeseburger on every high street in the capital  but not all of them are created equal. Patty & Bun has got the classic combination down to a tee with its curiously named Ari Gold burger: a fat, 35-day aged patty is served medium rare, and topped with gooey American cheese, smokey house mayo and tangy pickled red onions. Xiao long bao at Din Tai Fung Few dishes in the capital have been known to cause queues of four hours. Thats exactly what the world-famous xiao long bao dumplings did when top Taiwanese restaurant group Din Tai Fung first opened in Covent Garden. An intricately folded out layer (made by chefs trained for at least 18 months) gives way to succulent meat and a broth you could take on by the bowlful. Pig's trotter, the French House Upstairs in the Soho local, Neil Borthwick is quietly running one of the areas best kitchens. He orders in particularly good oysters, does brilliant things with brill and with his pigs trotter, has a dish that is rich and fatty, but with a beautiful salty cut that makes it madly moreish. The menu tends to change often upstairs in the French, but have this if its on. That little dining room is somewhere to go in early for lunch and stay until late, eventually spilling down into the pub below, to drink pints  they do pints now, not just halfs  all while merrily reliving the joys upstairs. Peter Clark Dover sole with crab butter at Bentley's Oyster Bar and Grill There are so many delights at Bentleys, its tricky to pick a single one. This could so easily have been a plate of rigorously sourced oysters, the fish pie, the decadent Royal seafood platter (pictured). It is however, the Dover sole that wins. A sublime piece of fish always, expertly cooked without fail  choose it either filleted with beautiful crab butter, or grilled and whole for a simple pleasure. Over in the City, Corrigan does similarly brilliant things with lobster at Daffodil Mulligan. Ragu, Lina Stores Sohos Lina Stores  the pasta bar, not the longstanding Italian deli it comes from  is the sort of restaurant one longs for; small, fun, friendly, not too pricey. They do small plates of near perfect pasta; their ragu, whether lamb or veal, is a gem. A good ragu is hard to find  too often theres too little meat, or meat not cooked for long enough  but here, they spend the time over it, cooking slowly, carefully. No restaurant can compare with a Nonna, but Lina gets gratifyingly close. Porterhouse steak, the Guinea Grill London is not short of steakhouses, but the Guinea does not number among them. A pub  a proper one  it is tucked down a Mayfair sidestreet, away from everything and yet still perpetually busy. Besides the small bar is a dining room that looks much as it must have done when the likes of Sinatra was in (or Bette Midler, or Kylie, or Regan, or, or, or), where theyve served prime Aberdeen Angus cooked on a smoking hot grill. The Guinea is all about having a good time  pints, red wine, brandies, the lot  but they cook beautifully, and their handling of a good piece of beef is second to none. Puree de pommes de terre, Le Comptoir Robuchon The late Joel Robuchon may have been the most decorated chef of his and perhaps any other era, but his signature stayed humble  mashed potato. Until youve had it, it is hard to believe it could be quite so good; mash, after all, is mash. No matter the scepticism, it will always surprise; it is almost silly that so little could taste of so much. A side, it will match almost everything on the menu; of which, the lamb with aubergine on the menu of classics is extraordinarily good.

Chips at Golden Union

How much? 3.75

Anyone whos ever enjoyed a less than tropical trip to the British seaside will know theres nothing better than a hot chip on a chilly day. So while 3.75 might sound a lot for deep fried potato, a portion of Golden Unions chip shop chips are quite possibly the best in town, a masterful balance of fluff to crisp. Not so bad for a dish to warm the soul as well as the belly.

Hopper at Hoppers

Hop to it: Egg hopper and lamb kari, with pol sambol, seeni sambol and coriander chutney / John Carey

How much? 5

Ok, so you might need to drop a few pennies more on a dish or two to spice up this dish, but your 5 will get you an introduction into a whole new way to enjoy your curry. Hoppers' light as a feather pancake is a traditional Sri Lankan accompaniment to saucier dishes. Yes, it looks like breakfast  and it is typically served with a fried egg in the centre  but this is a dinner time delight.

Two locations in W1, hopperslondon.com

Margherita at Pizza Union

How much? 3.95

When it comes to bulk for your cash, the margherita at Pizza Union wins hands down. Never mind 5, a decently sized 12 inch pizza costs less than 4 at this highly praised pizzeria which serves up quality ingredients on a thin and crispy, Roman-style base.

Two piece at Temple of Seitan

Felix Dickinson

How much? 5

You didnt think wed leave the vegans with only chips, did you? Hackney favourites Temple of Seitan (who recently opened a second spot in Camden) provide some of the most fervently lauded fried chicken alternatives in the capital. Made of seitan (a meat substitute made of wheat) their two piece will set you back just 5 for two fillets of animal-product-free pleasure.
M ay is a great time of year to go away.

Europe starts to enjoy hot temperatures but, being out of peak-season, crowds dont descend until mid-June. This means not only will you be able to mosey around without swarms of people, youll enjoy the destinations without the hiked up prices too.

If you want to go further afield, the Caribbean weather is still glorious and the likes of New Orleans and Nashville prove the perfect places to party.

With two bank holidays to fill, theres really never been a better time to book your next escape

Iceland

(Koushik Chowdavarapu / Unsplash ) / Koushik Chowdavarapu / Unsplash

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Hate the cold but want to see Iceland? Head in May.

On average it enjoys the most amount of sun, least amount of rain and less wind than the rest of the year. Roads are better, flowers are beginning to bloom, you can whale watch, go hiking and lava caving and find some of the cheapest car rental, flights and accommodation rates.

Ibiza

Sublemo / Unsplash

People often refer to the nice side of Ibiza as the other side of Ibiza and May is one of the best times of the year to experience it.

Typified by yoga retreats, sunsets, good food and good vibes, expect to reap the benefits of this Balearic Islands warm weather without the hoards of Brits Abroad who arrive from late June.

Nashville

(Joshua Ness / Unsplash ) / Joshua Ness / Unsplash

Ready to hit the honky tonks? BA are launching their new direct route from Heathrow to Nashville this May so now it couldn't be easier.

Book an extended city break and spend your days eating Meat n Three which is a staple of the South (go to Arnolds Country Kitchen), tour the Ryman Auditorium (where Johnny first set eyes on June), visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, see live music at the legendary Grand Ole Opry and then welcome in the early hours at Roberts Western World.

Youll definitely head back home in need of a rest after experiencing Music City in all its glory but thats the fun of it.

The Seychelles

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If you want to live out the castaway-on-a-luxury-island fantasy, May is a great time to visit The Seychelles. Its one of the warmest and driest months of the year but theres still a breeze meaning you wont swelter. Sailing conditions are optimal and if youre a keen snorkeller or scuba diver, the sea is at its most visible. Get ready to see all kinds of Finding Nemo species.

Botswana

Menoak Wena / www.menoakwena.com

In May, Botswana is in dry season making it perfect for going on safari. Not because you wont get poured on in your open air four-by-four - although thats always nice - but because when the water supplies are scarce, animals will migrate to watering holes making it much easier for you to spot them.

If you're really lucky, you could spot all of The Big Five.

Peru

Its winter in Peru during May but dont let that put you off. Summer, which runs from December until March, is the rainy season and although you wont have soaring temperatures during winter, you'll enjoy sunny days and blue skies. This is the best time to trek the Inca Trail and finally tick Matchu Pitchu off your bucket list.

Sicily

Tomas Anton Escobar / Unsplash

If you fancy a long weekend, hop over to Sicily to conquer Mount Etna, eat fresh pistachio pesto with squid linguine and visit the islands ancient sites.

Taking an afternoon to explore Villa Romana del Casale is recommended - the elaborate Roman villa holds some of the most beautiful tile work on the continent.

The Highlands, Scotland

Aleksandra Boguslawska / Unsplash

You might assume its best to wait until mid-summer to visit Scotland in the hope that it will be warmer but actually, its best to go before. Midges strike hard during the peak summer months and nobody wants their holiday ruined by these (seriously) pesky flies.

May will offer you long evenings, sunny days and exceptional beauty as flora starts to blossom.

Visit Loch Ness and then head up to the north-west Highlands to summit the likes of Suilven and Cul Mor - these are arguably two of Scotlands most beautiful peaks.

The Bahamas

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May is a great time to visit The Bahamas as prices start to go down making it a much more affordable long-haul option. The weather is also favourable as humidity is low and although temperatures are dropping, you can still expect bath-warm water and highs of 29 degrees. Get ready for golden sands and Sky Juice cocktails galore.

New Orleans

William Recinos / Unsplash

Things are heating up in New Orleans by May but humidity hasnt hit meaning temperatures are really pleasant.

During this month, the annual Jazz Festival is in full swing. Wander the French Quarter, pop into Creole cottages to sip Gin Fizzes, go on a Voodoo graveyard tour, dine out on Magazine Street and then hit the live music clubs.
S ummer is coming  which means were all hurriedly booking holidays.

Travelling over the summer months often means price hikes and so it's lucky that, as peak season approaches, new research has recently uncovered the cheapest time to travel.

TravelSupermarket compared average holiday prices on over 20 popular international beach destinations and found that May is the best-value summer month to travel.

The travel comparison website looked at the average price of a seven-night holiday between May and September, and found it was cheaper for a family travelling with school-age children to book their holiday in May rather than August.

In fact, those looking to travel to Spains Costa Dorada can save up to 98 per cent by travelling in May, with a seven-night holiday starting at 123 per person.

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A week-long stay in Costa Brava costs just 247 per person compared to 384 in July. You can also save over 40 per cent in exotic locales like Greece and Turkey.

10 cheapest city break destinations for 2018 - in pictures 1 /10 10 cheapest city break destinations for 2018 - in pictures Riga, Latvia Shutterstock Vilnius, Lithuania Shutterstock Lisbon, Portugal Pixabay Moscow, Russia Pixabay Krakow, Poland Pixabay Prague, Czech Republic Pixabay Athens, Greece Shutetrstock Budapest, Hungary Pixabay Warsaw, Poland Pixabay Lille, France Shutterstock

Looking beyond Europe, a seven-night stay in Dubai is 45 per cent cheaper in May than July, and a trip to Orlando, Florida in May will save you 44 per cent.

Below are the top 10 places that are cheaper to travel to in May.

1. Costa Dorada, Spain  save 98 per cent

2. Costa Brava, Spain - save 55 per cent

3. Antalya, Turkey - save 46 per cent

4. Dubai, UAE  save 45 per cent

5. Orlando, USA  save 44 per cent

6. Ibiza, Spain  save 44 per cent

7. Zante, Greece  save 43 per cent

8. Lanzarote, Spain - save 42 per cent

9. Menorca, Spain - save 39 per cent

10. Majorca, Spain - save 38 per cent
Trump speaks at CIA Headquarters on January 21, 2017. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

When asked about his plan for winning the war on terrorism during an interview with Fox & Friends in December 2015, Donald Trump suggested that U.S. forces needed to start targeting terrorists family members.

Were fighting a very politically correct war, Trump said. And the other thing with the terrorists  you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families! They care about their lives, dont kid yourselves. They say they dont care about their lives. But you have to take out their families.

As with so many remarks Trump made during the campaign, it wasnt clear if this reflected some deeply held belief, or was just something he said because he thought it sounded cool. Trump doubled down at a debate days later, saying terrorists may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families lives  even as his opponents noted that would violate the Geneva Convention. But months later, Trump tried to walk back his remarks, telling CNN that he wouldnt necessarily want to kill terrorists family members, though we need to go after them.

It still wasnt clear what exactly that meant, but a new report in the Washington Post suggests that at the very least, Trump doesnt care about minimizing civilian casualties. Heres an anecdote from Trumps visit to the CIAs drone operations floor during his first full day in office:

Later, when the agencys head of drone operations explained that the CIA had developed special munitions to limit civilian casualties, the president seemed unimpressed. Watching a previously recorded strike in which the agency held off on firing until the target had wandered away from a house with his family inside, Trump asked, Why did you wait? one participant in the meeting recalled.

Its possible Trump was confused by the logistics, not the idea that the CIA wouldnt want to kill the targets family. But the remark is still telling.

Though there are no reports that Trump specifically urged U.S. forces to target terrorists family members, under his administration the number of civilians killed in U.S. airstrikes has increased drastically. Just before Trump took office, the U.S. military said at least 188 civilians had been unintentionally killed by coalition strikes since the beginning of its operation against ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2014. By the end of 2017, the count was up to 831 civilians killed.

Some experts say the U.S. military is seriously undercounting the number of civilian casualties, but agree that it jumped in the last year  possibly because Trump has been far less involved in combat decisions than his predecessor. Airwars, a journalist-led watchdog group, reported in January 2018:
T wo teenagers have been hospitalised after a stabbing at a shopping centre in South London amid a spate of violence in the city.

Police were called at 5.17pm on Friday after a man aged in his late teens to early 20s was found suffering stab injuries at Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon.

Police, paramedics and London's Air Ambulance rushed to the scene.

A 16-year-old male found at the location also suffered stab injuries, officers said.

Knife crime: Follow the Met's frontline officers

Both victims were taken to hospital, their current condition is unknown.

Detectives from Croydon CID are investigating.

A Police spokesperson said: Police were called at 5.15 pm on Friday, April 6, to a male aged in his late teens or early 20s suffering stab injuries at the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon.

Officers, LAS and London's Air Ambulance all attended the location.

A 16-year-old male, also suffering stab injuries, was found at the location.

Both were taken to hospital. We await an update as to their conditions.

Detectives from Croydon CID are investigating.

There has been no arrest at this stage.
A s she prepares to mark one year in the job, Britains most senior police officer today spoke of her pride in the Met for keeping London going in the worst possible circumstances.

Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick highlighted the resilience of the force and the amazing individuals who responded to the four terror attacks in London and the Grenfell blaze which killed 71 people.

She admitted the spate of knife crime made her angry  and pledged that tackling violent crime was her priority.

Ms Dick, 57, the first female commissioner in the Mets 189-year history, said: We have done a very good job. We have been very resilient. The city has been able to carry on going about its business because of good policing after each of those terrible events.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick and Sadiq Khan / Roland Hoskins

I think we have been able to provide a good service in the worst possible circumstances to the people affected by the attacks.

She said her darkest hours were attending the funeral of PC Keith Palmer  the officer killed in the Westminster terror atrocity  and the scene at the Finsbury Park attack.

That was so hard on the heels of the Westminster Bridge and the London Bridge attacks and people were really wondering, What is going to come next? Are our communities beginning to fight with each other in a way that is just the exact opposite of what London is all about? In fact it did not prove to be thus at all  but it was a tense time and really sad time.

Westminster Bridge Terror Attack: One Year On 1 /20 Westminster Bridge Terror Attack: One Year On 6 people including the killer died in the attack Jeremy Selwyn Theresa May laying a wreath at Parliament Square Jeremy Selwyn Message from Theresa May on her floral tribute at Parliament Square Jeremy Selwyn #Londonunited one year on from the Westminster attack Nigel Howard People paid tribute to the victims who were killed in the Westminster terror attack last year Jeremy Selwyn Emergency services workers lay flowers and pay their respects at Parliament Square in Westminster on the anniversary of the Westminster Bridge attack in London Reuters Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, poses with the #LondonUnited memorial at City Hall, marking the anniversaries of the four terror attacks in London Reuters A message is beamed onto a map at the #LondonUnited memorial at City Hall, marking the anniversaries of the four terror attacks in London Reuters A desolate Westminster bridge where the attack took place Jeremy Selwyn Londoners left messages and tributes for the victims Jeremy Selwyn Londoners leave messages and tributes for the victims Jeremy Selwyn People lay flowers for the victims Jeremy Selwyn Police walk past truibute at Westminster today Jeremy Selwyn The attack occurred on Westminster bridge near the houses of Parliament Jeremy Selwyn Woman and child look out over the River Thames on Westminster bridge Jeremy Selwyn Man carries memorial flowers across Westminster bridge Jeremy Selwyn Theresa May laying a wreath at Parliament Square Jeremy Selwyn Theresa May stands by her floral tribute at Parliament Square Jeremy Selwyn Londoners leave messages and tributes for the victims Jeremy Selwyn Londoners leave messages and tributes for the victims Jeremy Selwyn

Ms Dick recently visited Glasgow where police have halved knife crime in a decade using a public health approach. She believes a similar strategy can work in London, though the capital is more complex.

I would be naive to think we can reduce violent crime to zero but I definitely think we can reverse some of these trends, she said.

The Met chief agrees with Labour MP David Lammy that drugs are fuelling some of the street violence.

We still have a high demand for drugs from people with heavy habits and recreational users, many of whom do not stop and think about the kind of horror and misery that lies behind the trade.

Speaking just days short of her first year in office, she praised a scheme in Brixton which has helped divert youngsters away from crime.

London Murder investigations 2018 1 /10 London Murder investigations 2018 Victim: Oluwadamilola Odeyingbo, 18, died in hospital Metropolitan Police Lewis Blackman was stabbed to death in Kensington Twitter Kyall Parnell, 17, was attacked on his way to a New Years Eve party and died after being chased through traffic in Tulse Hill Steven Narvaez Jara was attacked at a block of flats near Old Street Seyed Khan went missing in Ilford on 24 January Metropolitan Police Yaya Mbye, 26, collapsed in a childrens play area in Stoke Newington, north east London Kelva Smith, 20, was found collapsed with multiple knife wounds following the sustained rush-hour attack in South Norwood Russian exile Nikolay Glushkov was found strangled in his hotel room AP Beniamin Pieknyi was stabbed after apparently stepping in to help a friend Tanesha Melbourne was shot dead in a suspected drive-by shooting while chatting with friends

New statistics show that offences involving knife crime with injury rose in the last 12 months by six per cent. I am not happy about that, it is too much, but it is not this enormous epidemic that people are talking about, she said. There are plenty of us who can go about our business pretty certain that we are not going to be affected by this knife crime.

These homicides are predominantly, tragically, affecting young people from certain areas of London and certain communities and that makes me angry and motivated to do something about it. But London remains a very safe city.

Ms Dick praised the forces counter-terrorist teams for thwarting plot after plot last year. The Met chief is also dealing with the nerve agent attack in Salisbury and her officers are reviewing 14 other deaths which some allege were Russian-sponsored assassinations.

However, she said she was not willing to waste resources on cases that had already been thoroughly investigated, adding: We need people to come forward with evidence. Conspiracy theories are not particularly helpful.

On the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann in 2007, she said the extra cash granted to the Met to continue the inquiry was worth it. There is a serious line of inquiry, she declared but wouldnt be drawn further.
P olice will not press charges against a pensioner who was arrested for murder over the fatal stabbing of an intruder in his home.

No further action will be taken against Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, over the death of suspected burglar Henry Vincent, 37, police said.

He had been arrested on suspicion of murder after Vincent was found stabbed near an address in Hither Green in the early hours of Wednesday.

Osborn-Brooks told police he had confronted two intruders who had broken into his home, where he lived with his wife.

Killed: Henry Vincent, 37, who died from a stab wound

He said one had been armed with a screwdriver and that a scuffle broke out between them, before one was stabbed.

The second fled the scene before police arrived.

Scotland Yard's decision to drop the investigation followed a consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Forensic officers at the scene after the pensioner, who faces no further action, was arrested / PA

The force said in a statement that it had informed Vincent's family of the development and explained to them the reasons why no charges will be brought.

Detective chief inspector Simon Harding said: "This is a tragic case for all of those involved.

"As expected with any incident where someone has lost their life, my officers carried out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the death.

Intruder killed during burglary at pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks' home was wanted for another crime

"We have approached the CPS for early investigative advice, as required under the guidance.

"We have received and considered that advice, and, at present - on the evidence available - we will not seek a charging decision. Therefore, no further action will be taken against the man."

The arrest of the 78-year-old provoked outcry from neighbours and an online fundraising campaign which gathered hundreds of pounds in several hours.

A forensic tent in South Park Crescent in Hither Green on Wednesday / PA

Addressing the controversy, Mr Harding continued: "Whilst there might be various forms of debate about which processes should be used in cases such as this, it was important that the resident was interviewed by officers under the appropriate legislation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act; not only for the integrity of our investigation but also so that his personal and legal rights were protected.

"There will be an inquest in due course which will further review the circumstances into Mr Vincent's death in a public forum.

"Our thoughts remain with the families whose lives have been devastated by these events."

Hundreds sign petitions in support of pensioner accused of stabbing burglar to death

Tributes have been paid to Vincent, from Kent, by family and friends on social media, with one reading he will "never be forgotten".

In January, he was named and pictured by Kent Police investigating a distraction burglary when jewellery and valuables were stolen from a man in his 70s.

Officers were called to reports of a burglary in progress at 12.45am, after two men entered the house on South Park Crescent in Hither Green, south-east London.

One suspect, armed with a screwdriver, forced the homeowner into his kitchen when he discovered them, while his accomplice went upstairs, the force said.

Detectives believe a struggle ensued between "one of the males and the homeowner" and the intruder was stabbed in the upper body. It is unclear what implement was used to deliver the fatal blow.

Both men then apparently attempted a getaway, but Vincent collapsed on nearby Further Green Road.

An accomplice attempted to drag him towards a van but eventually left, according to a witness.

Paramedics from London Ambulance Service took him to a central London hospital where he died at 3.37am.
T he sister of a man stabbed to death in east London has told of the heartbreaking moment she last saw him alive.

Daniel Frederick, 34, was walking home after attending a hospital check-up for his pregnant partner when he was ambushed in Stoke Newington in January.

He died six hours later in hospital. Police said he was an "innocent victim subjected to an "unprovoked attack".

In a heartbreaking appearance on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire Show, his sister Louise Samuels broke down in tears as she described him lying in intensive care.

She said: "He was a person who liked to liked to smile a lot, he liked to joke a lot. He was very much a family person.

Daniel Frederick was killed following an ambush in Stoke Newington / Met Police

"He was a person who would go to work and comes back and looks after his children. He's my brother...we grew up together."

Breaking down in tears, Ms Samuels told how she first reacted to news of the attack: "I think I was in shock.

London murder rate overtakes New York for first time ever after spate of fatal stabbings and shootings

"I know this goes on quite a bit on our street so I was like 'OK, maybe he got stabbed in a place where he can survive'.

"I was still optimistic about him being OK...but by the time they had called me and my [other] brother upstairs to see him..."

"They just had him there pumping in blood...He had a tear that came down his eye and I asked if he was crying and they said 'I don't think so'.

"And then a tear came down again and I said: 'You know that you're going so...don't be afraid to go'."

Asked how any family could get over such an attack, she said: "I'm not sure. This is a first-time experience for me...I can say justice for his death but...would that solve the problem? He's gone."

London's murder rate overtook New York's earlier this year, with 15 dead in February (nine aged 30 or younger) and 22 fatal stabbings and shootings in March. Six have been killed in April at the time of writing.

Witnesses said up to seven assailants fled the scene after the attack on Mr Frederick, who was a popular figure on his estate on Shakespeare Walk. Four men have been charged in connection with Mr Frederick's death.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenage girl was shot dead in Tottenham.

Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, 17, was gunned down and killed in the street in north London on Monday night.

Scotland Yard said a 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder at an address in east London on Friday morning.

He was taken to a London police station and remains in custody, Met Police said in a statement.

The teenager died at the scene after shots were fired towards her from a car in Chalgrove Road at about 9.35pm.

Tragic scene: tributes for Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, who was shot dead this week / Ben Cawthra/LNP

Police are still appealing for witnesses and said detectives are keeping an "open mind" about the motive for the attack.

Detective Inspector Beverley Kofi, of the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "We are appealing to anybody who witnessed the incident and has not yet come forward, or who in the hours since this shocking murder are privy to information that could help us find those responsible.

Shot dead in Tottenham: Tanesha Melbourne-Blake / PA

"You may be fearful of repercussions of speaking to police, or have loyalties that you believe can't be compromised. We are dealing with the fatal shooting of a teenage girl, and would implore you to do the right thing and come forward."

One friend described the teenager as just an innocent child caught up in a stupid postcode war between gangs in Tottenham and Wood Green.

A woman lays flowers on Chalgrove Road, Tottenham, north London / PA

Fatima ODwyer, who knew the victim, heard the shots from her home and came running out.

She said: Everyone was saying she was talking to a couple of guys and a car rolled by and started shooting up everyone. She wasnt the target, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. For a girl to be caught in the middle is devastating. The family were screaming when the police broke the news.

Tanesha Melbourne shooting: NPK gang claims responsibility for Tottenham 'drive-by' in sick Instagram posts

Schoolfriend Candice Hassan, 17, said Tanesha was "in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Everyone knows Tanesha, she's just a humble girl. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time. She didn't deserve any of that."
A n Uber driver has been found guilty of raping a drunk customer on the back seat of his car after grabbing her as she was about to enter her home.

Muhammad Durrani, 38, attacked the woman in his Toyota after driving her from a live music club in Clapham.

After arriving at her address, he followed the woman to her door and lifted her up as she fumbled for her keys, a trial at Southwark crown court heard.

Durrani carried her back to his car where he raped and sexually assaulted the bewildered woman, the court heard.

He was found guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual assault on Friday.

The victim gave him a one-star rating on the app the day after the attack and reported him to Uber for unprofessional behaviour, jurors heard.

But Durrani told police following his arrest the next day that the sex had been consensual in the early hours of July 24, 2016.

I was obviously very, very drunk, and he was the sober driver who picked me up and took me to the back of his car without my wanting him to, the woman told police.

The woman said she fell asleep during the drive home, to be awoken by the driver as they arrived.

Because I had been drinking I was a bit disoriented, trying to get my bearings I was walking towards my house trying to find my keys, she said.

He then came out and said I will help. I said thank you but Im fine. He followed me to my door. He then picked me up and carried me to the backseat.

She said she was scared as Durrani pounced on her, then exposed himself and asked her to perform a sex act on him.

The woman said she was able to get out of the car and flee when Durrani looked out of the window to make sure that no one was there.

Durrani, of Streatham, had denied rape and sexual assault. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on May 10.
P rotesters and community leaders called for an end to the capital's surge in bloodshed as six more young men were stabbed on Thursday.

Crowds gathered at Hackney Central station, close to where Israel Ogunsola, 18, was stabbed to death on Wednesday evening.

Residents of all ages huddled round the station entrance before locking fists in a wide circle at a pedestrian shopping street nearby in solidarity for those killed.

Mr Ogunsola's murder followed that of 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor two days earlier on April 2, who was shot in Markhouse Road, Walthamstow, minutes after the shooting of 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne in Tottenham the same evening.

Protest organisers Guiding A New Generation - commonly known as G.A.N.G - asked Hackney residents to share their stories and plead for an end to the killings over a communal megaphone.

G.A.N.G activist Boogz, 40, said the group and others like it were the "answer" to stopping further attacks.

He said: "We are trying to guide these children to let them know that their life is not going in the right direction.

"I want to say to them this is not the life.

"All the music that you listen to which glorifies this kind of thing, all the money that they see, all the cars that they see people driving, they are being sold a lie, they are being sold a false narrative - and we are here to change that narrative for them."

Hackney youth worker Janette Collins, 58, who had gathered in support of those killed, said young people did not always know why they were driven to violence.

Members of the public called for an end to the capital's violence in east London / PA

She said: "We need to stop this. Everybody keeps asking the same question, but the answers are in the young people.

"We the organisations are only trying to come out, to come together, and we are here to talk to young people and try to stop the violence.

"But even young people themselves don't know why they're doing it."

As darkness fell, impassioned demonstrators from local churches and community groups called for unity and chanted "G.A.N.G! A new generation!" before marching to spread their message in nearby housing estates.

Hackney Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Pauline Pearce, 52, who was among the attendees, said the recent string of stabbings and shootings were partly a result of young people feeling "disenfranchised" by their environments.

She said: "A lot of the children feel disenfranchised, they don't feel they belong, they haven't really got a meaning - they don't feel that they have that connection to society, so a lot of things go wrong for them and sadly this is the sort of retaliation that comes."
R osamund Pike is to play Princess Diana in a new TV series, I understand. The British actress is set to join the cast of Feud, the American drama series focusing on significant historical arguments. Matthew Goode, who was Lord Snowdon in The Crown, is expected to play Prince Charles.

Pike is most famous for her breakthrough role as Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, and for her performance as a more than slightly sociopathic wife in the David Fincher thriller Gone Girl. This will be her first major TV role since 2011s Women in Love, unless one includes her work as the voice of Lady Penelope in the modern revamp of Thunderbirds. Feud, from US writer and director Ryan Murphy, will address the year between Dianas divorce from Charles in 1996 and her death in Paris in 1997. Charles and Dianas story literally begins with the filing of the divorce papers, Murphy has said previously. And its about that pain, the dissolving of a fairy tale, particularly for Diana. It starts with the filing of divorce papers and takes you up until her death.

Network FX is yet to confirm the news but filming is expected to start next month, and Pike is sure to have her eyes on plaudits. She was nominated for an Oscar for Gone Girl in 2015. Feud, however, will put her in contention for Baftas, Emmys and Golden Globes. The first series, which focused on the war of wills between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, starring Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange, was nominated for several high-profile awards.

Cast and crew have a lot to live up to. The royal theme of the series, as well as the presence of Goode, will bring it into direct competition with The Crown. That show has already brought in high-profile stars including Olivia Colman and, as I revealed in January, Helena Bonham Carter. But if Pike can learn one lesson from her competition, its to ask for pay that measures up to Goodes.

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Emilys husband is the target of Blunt speaking at UK airport customs

Shhhhhh...

Emily Blunt continued her publicity tour for new film A Quiet Place last night by showing up at an immersive fan screening at the Curzon in Soho. Her husband, actor John Krasinski, who directs and co-stars, says that his marriage to Blunt made him a target at airport customs when he flew in to visit her on the set of Mary Poppins Returns.

It did not start well, with the surly customs officer asking if he had starred in anything he may have seen. Krasinski suggested the US remake of The Office only to find that the customs man was not a fan.

He [the customs attendant] says, Who are you visiting here? And I was like, My wife. He says, Oh, is she an actress? Would I know her? And I said, I dont know man, her names Emily Blunt.

His response was incredulous. You? You married Emily Blunt?

Go. Just go.

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Art eclipses Anglo- Russian tensions

Russian around: Alexander Yakovenko (Channel 4)

WHAT else does Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Ambassador to the UK, have to do on a Wednesday evening? He was seen rubbing shoulders with the art-world elite earlier this week, as a guest at the National Gallerys opening of the Monet & Architecture exhibition.

His Excellency Yakovenko looked in good spirits despite what has been a tough month for Anglo-Russian relations. Luckily Moscows State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts had already lent Boulevard des Capucines, a particularly striking painting, for the show.

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ON THE Salisbury poisoning John Cleese says: Im right behind the Russian suggestion that the Brits have faked it. The main suspects are Guatemala, Harrods, the Royal Horticultural Society, Constance Kardashian Snr, Ms F Nightingale, Someone else. What about the Ministry of Silly Walks?

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Sit. Stay: Andy Gent with his labrador (Nick Stevens)

FILM fans last night went walkies to the Fido Awards, citing the achievements of dogs in film. The big winner, though, was distinctly human. Andy Gent, the puppeteer behind new Wes Anderson film Isle of Dogs, accepted the Fidogmanitarian Award for his achievements bringing the stop-motion canines to life. Good boy.

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The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Comic effect: The magazine cover (Image: Lynn Hilton)

THE Beano sent a cease and desist letter to Jacob Rees-Mogg this week, as I reported. They may be getting the typewriter out again. The Brexit, a new comic delivering the latest on our exit from the EU, feels familiar. Creator Mike Dicks hopes The Beanos editor gets a copy.

Its an homage to them and I plan to do similar plagiarised homages to other comics in the future to stay one step ahead of the law suits, he says.

The 4 cost is expected to increase. Post-Brexit I am expecting it to increase to 15 6s.

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THE parliamentary recess will provide Labour MP Jess Phillips with a welcome break from trolls. Im off with my kids for a few days and I shall turn off Twitter too. I need a holiday from hate and one-sided, nonsense gloating, she says. Any nice plans? Ill be playing cards with my family while it rains outside, like all good British breaks.

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THANK heavens for fathers. A New Statesman piece by George Eaton suggests that Boris Johnson has achieved the impossible by being even worse than expected  a highlight includes the sentence: Johnson has performed the rare act of pissing inside the tent as well as outside of it. Ouch. But dont worry BoJo, your dear old dad still has faith. I would hang on from entering heavens door just to see him become Prime Minister, he tells me. I would say Boris certainly deserves to be in contention.

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Quote of the Day

Shed get into bed wearing only her blusher/ And lie back with Jezza just thinking of Russia
A former foreign secretary today accused Jeremy Corbyn of being on the same side, essentially, as the Russians over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind suggested the Government should not offer extra intelligence briefings to the Labour leader who seemed to him rather doubtful on such matters, adding: He has already made up his mind, he is already saying he is on the same side essentially as the Russians on this matter.

The former Conservative chairman of the Commons Security and Intelligence Committee added that the idea of Mr Corbyn as prime minister makes me tremble.

Labour Party insiders accused the Conservatives of trying to score party political points out of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The former Russian spy and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury on March 4. They had been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, developed in Russia.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

Mr Corbyn has criticised the Government for blaming Russia hastily. His backbench ally Chris Williamson gave an interview to Russia Today that accused ministers of exploiting the attack as a smokescreen ... as a way of diverting attention from their difficulties over Brexit. Both comments have been broadcast on Russian state TV.

At an overnight meeting of the United Nations Security Council, UK representative Karen Pierce said Russia was playing the arsonist turned firefighter. She jibed: In this particular incident, the arsonist wishes to investigate his own fire.

Russia warns UK is 'playing with fire' over Salisbury attack

Russias ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzya warned Britain that it was playing with fire by blaming Moscow. He claimed another country must be responsible, and asserted: Everything confirms this is a co-ordinated, very well-planned campaign  to discredit and even delegitimise Russia.

Ms Pierce shot back that Russia had invented 24 theories for who did it, but the UK had only one  that Russia was responsible.

Mark Lyall Grant, Theresa Mays former national security adviser, told Newsnight that Russia looked rattled by the international response.

This is a classic Russia pattern. When put under pressure, when put into a corner, they lash out, he said.

Yulia Skripal, 33, said in a statement yesterday that her strength is growing daily. Her 66-year-old father remains in a critical condition.

It emerged today that Mr Skripals pet cat and two guinea pigs were dead. The guinea pigs were found dead at his home, an official spokesman confirmed. They reportedly died of thirst.

The former spys cat was found in a distressed state and taken to the Porton Down military laboratory for tests, where it was put down.
T he mother of Alfie Evans, the terminally ill Liverpool boy at the centre of a life support treatment battle, has slammed Alder Hey Children's hospital for giving her "false hope".

On Thursday, the boy's father Tom Evans held a meeting with officials from the Liverpool hospital where he presented what he thought was new evidence about the toddler's illness.

Mr Evans believed a decision on ending life support was on hold while the hospital reviewed "alternative options" including taking the baby to Italy for treatment.

But, within an hour of the meeting, the family said the hospital's lawyers were contacting the High Court to arrange a hearing for a judge to set a date to withdraw life support.

His mother Kate James has accused the hospital of giving the family "false hope".

The 23-month-old boy, who has a rare degenerative brain disease which doctors have been unable to diagnose, is being kept alive on a ventilator.

Distraught: Tom Evans and Kate James / PA

His parents, both in their 20s and from Liverpool, have fought a long legal battle through the courts to keep their son alive.

They took their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, but it was rejected by the ECHR last week, ending their legal options after a decision to withdraw life support was upheld by Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices in the UK.

In a statement on Friday, Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust said: "We understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for Alfie's family and we continue to support them in every way we can.

"Understandably, there is a lot of interest in this case but, despite reports, at no point has a date for withdrawal of treatment for Alfie been agreed with his family.

Alfie: the toddler suffers with a serious neurological condition / PA

"After a long and difficult legal process, the courts have ruled that Alfie's condition is irreversible and untreatable and that continued active treatment is not in his best interests.

"We always aim to reach agreement with parents about the most appropriate palliative care plan for their child but sadly, in this case, we have not been able to do this.

"Consequently, we must return to the High Court, as we are legally required to do, for guidance about a date on which to withdraw treatment from Alfie."

Tom Evans and Kate James, the parents of Alfie, lost their high court battle / PA

Steve Woolfe, MEP for North West England who has been supporting the family, said: "Our position is the family are saying Alfie's physical condition has changed.

"He's showing more activity, smiling, lifting his eyelids. I'm not a doctor but I've seen him myself, you can see physical signs of life.

"He's a beautiful little boy.

"They believe there are possible physical changes with Alfie to enable him to be safely transported to Italy and an Air Ambulance that would carry him that would satisfy Alder Hey's concerns."

Earlier this week, Pope Francis intervened in the life support treatment battle, saying: "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."
The kleptocrats dilemma. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

One of the (many, many) odd things about the Trump presidency is the fact that administration officials routinely lose their jobs for offenses that the president has unambiguously committed himself. For example, this week, a Defense Department staffer resigned after CNN revealed that he had once shared birther conspiracy theories and anti-Muslim sentiments over Facebook. Ostensibly, there is now a consensus that such conduct disqualifies a person from a low-level Executive branch appointment  but not for unilateral command of the worlds largest nuclear arsenal.

A similar dissonance has hung over the Trump Cabinets (many, many) corruption scandals. Tom Price was clearly a shady figure who abused his power to feather his nest  but that is also obviously true of a president who literally rents personal access to himself for $200,000 a year.

All this raises the question of why the president has shown relatively little tolerance toward his underlings when they engage in the most sincere form of flattery. The consensus answer is that Trump doesnt mind corruption (let alone birtherism), but he could do without bad headlines.

And Scott Pruitt has generated an awful lot of those those this week. On Thursday, we learned that the EPA director rented an apartment  at a heavily discounted rate  from the wife of an energy-industry lobbyist with business pending before Pruitts department; that he tried to get a security special agent, Eric Weese, to abuse his siren for the sake of escaping a traffic jam; and that he routinely fired or demoted EPA officials who questioned his myriad extraordinary spending demands, which included a request for a bulletproof sport utility vehicle with so-called run flat tires, which keep a vehicle moving even when sustaining gunfire.

So, if Tom Prices chartered flights got him bounced from the administration, youd assume that Pruitt is not long for the Cabinet.

And yet Trump apparently cant decide whether Pruitt is too corrupt to run the EPA  or just corrupt enough to be his attorney general.

Remember: Theres no reason to believe that the president objects to corruption, per se. His concern is bad press. And one of the biggest drivers of bad press, from his perspective, is the Mueller investigation  the probe that Jeff Sessions enabled through his recusal, and that Rod Rosenstein has resolutely refused to sabotage or disband.

Pruitt, meanwhile, is a former state attorney general and an unfailingly loyal servant of the presidents agenda. And since Pruitt has already been confirmed by the Senate, Trump could theoretically install him as attorney general  without Senate confirmation  for 210 days. Which is to say: For much more time than it would take for Pruitt to take out Mueller.

And so, even as scandals swarmed around Pruitt this week, Trump was eyeing him for a promotion. As CNN reports:

President Donald Trump floated replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week, even as the scandal-ridden head of the Environmental Protection Agency has faced a growing list of negative headlines, according to people close to the President.

He was 100% still trying to protect Pruitt because Pruitt is his fill-in for Sessions, one source familiar with Trumps thinking told CNN.

Now, its entirely possible that Trump wants to replace Sessions with Pruitt for reasons unrelated to the Mueller probe  or at least unrelated to any plan for killing the Mueller probe. After all, such a move would not reduce the number of ugly headlines about his administration, but rather, radically increase it.

But then, the entire reason why there is a special counsel investigation right now is that Donald Trump has a hard time anticipating the consequences of his own actions.
A former personal assistant to the Duchess of York is bidding for funding from Sir Richard Branson for her range of spicy soft drinks developed in her kitchen in west London.

Sabrina Brooks went teetotal on medical advice after a life-changing fall from a balcony on holiday in Turkey left her with memory loss, anxiety and depression. But she found the choice of drinks available to her in pubs and bars depressingly limited and dull  or full of sugar.

The 26-year-old said: I noticed there is a stigma towards non-alcoholic drinks so every time I went out I would drive so I would have an excuse for not drinking. I also became aware of the lack of options. I was trying to cut down on sugar at the same time, so lemonade and coke and fruit juices were out, and that only really left tomato juice or sparkling water.

I noticed that on a typical A4-sized drinks menu there is one side that is all wines, another side that is cocktails, and only about two lines of soft drinks, even though it is estimated that 30 per cent of millennials in London are not drinking alcohol.

Ms Brooks, one of whose first jobs after university was arranging Princess Eugenies 25th birthday party, decided that she would invent her own brand of carbonated drinks flavoured with spices and peels that add flavour without fructose. After experimenting in her kitchen in Hammersmith she and her business partner Richard Barltrop came up with two recipes, ginger with cinnamon and lemongrass with black pepper, which they hope to launch this summer. A third flavour, galangal (an Asian spice related to ginger) and cardamom, is in the development phase.

They still need 15,000 to fund an initial bottling run at the Liquid Fusion beverage factory in Brighton, and a further 50,000 to 100,000 to cover costs if they strike a supply deal with a major retailer.

The

250ml bottles, which could equally be used as mixers with spirits, are expected to go on sale priced at around 2.20 to 3 in pubs and bars and 1.80 to 2 in shops.

She has entered the brand, which she has called Peel & Spice, into a Dragons Den-style pitch competition run by Virgin Media Business called Voom Pitch 2018. If she wins through an initial round based on public votes and a semi-final she will be able to make her pitch to the Virgin founder and a panel of other judges for a share of 1 million on May 23.
F ormer Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned in a nerve agent attack on UK soil is "responding well to treatment," according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The Russian, 66, is "improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition", according to doctors at Salisbury District Hospital.

He was poisoned along with his daughter Yulia, 33 in the centre of Salisbury last month.

Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said: "Following intense media coverage yesterday, I would like to take the opportunity to update you on the condition of the two remaining patients being treated at Salisbury District Hospital.

"Last Thursday, I informed you that Yulia Skripal's condition had improved to stable. As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital.

"Any speculation on when that date will be is just that - speculation. In the meantime, Yulia has asked for privacy while she continues to get better - something I'd like to urge the media to respect.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal's daughter Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time since Salisbury nerve agent attack

"I also want to update you on the condition of her father, Sergei Skripal. He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.

"As you'll appreciate, I won't be giving any further updates at this time."

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

Yesterday Yulia spoke out from the first time from her hospital bed, saying her strength was "growing daily."

Both were understood to be seriously ill in hospital. But after Russian state broadcasters claimed she had contacted Russian family on Thursday, she revealed she was in recovery.

Russia 'highly likely' to be behind Skripal nerve agent attack, May tells MPs

In a statement issued as she recovers in Salisbury District Hospital, Yulia said: I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily.

"I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received.

I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated.

"Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism.

I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that youll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence.

The UK Russian Embassy, known for its tongue-in-cheek tweets, responded to word of Mr Sergei's improved health with the words: "Good news!"

Experts at Porton Down said they had been unable to identify "the precise source" of the nerve agent used to poison the pair.

Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, said the poison had been identified as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation-state.
P rince Charles went to the Great Barrier Reef today to urge big business leaders to do all they can to help the ocean heal itself  after catching up with some old friends.

The prince, who boarded a glass bottom boat to see the coral and sealife, said it is imperative that we allow nature to restore itself. And he said we must conserve unique eco-systems, like those on the Great Barrier Reef, before it is too late.

He stressed: It is not only important to conserve these vitally important eco-systems but we must allow nature to restore what has been lost. The heir to the throne, on the third day of his tour of Australia, also met the family of wildlife expert Steve Irwin.

Irwin, who was nicknamed the Crocodile Hunter, died in 2006 after being attacked by a stingray while filming footage for a documentary.

Prince Charles meets Terri, Bindi and Robert Irwin, family of the late Steve Irwin / REUTERS

His widow Terri and children Bindi and Robert have continued his work and praised Charles for his leadership in conservation of the natural world.

The prince earlier convened a meeting of top businesses including Qantas and the Walt Disney company as well as the Australian government. They discussed the challenges facing the worlds reefs and opportunities for the private sector to help safeguard them.

Prince Charles pictured with the sisters aged 17 / PA

After the 40-minute meeting, the prince went out on a glass bottom boat on the highly-protected Marine National Park Green Zone, famed for manta rays, turtles, reef sharks, dolphins and humpback whales.

Earlier in the day Charles was reunited with four sisters for the first time in 52 years. The prince used to stay with them at their family dairy farm when he was a 17-year-old studying at Timbertop college in Victoria.

Charles and Camilla visit Broadbeach, Australia as part of their trip down under / Reuters

He could not hide his surprise as he came face to face with Jane Tozer, Amanda Boxshall, Penny Jenner and Lisa Tozer during his trip to Bundaberg in Queensland. As they clutched a photo of them with the prince, taken on the day they were last together, the sisters were given a warm reception by Charles, now 69. I remember you used to follow my dad around asking him questions and I remember you stirring the milk, said Jane, as Charles laughed. They then presented him with a copy of the photograph, taken in 1966, which they had all signed on the back.

Afterwards, Jane, 62, said: He said he was rapt that we still had the photo. It was really lovely to see him again.

Jane, the oldest of the siblings, was 10 when Charles visited. Amanda was six, Penny four and Lisa three.

Jane added: I remember him being very curious about the farm. I remember him coming tadpoling and swimming  I taught him how to duck dive. At that age we didnt really think of him as royalty.

Lisa, 54, said: All I really remember was thinking that he spoke funny. We all had to get changed out of our farm clothes and put on our Sunday best when he came. The sisters spent several minutes chatting to Charles  before recreating their 1966 photo.

During the visit to Bundaberg, he created his own blend of rum at the famous Bundaberg distillery. Asked to mix three tubes of alcohol together, he joked: Its like chemistry.
S ergei Skripals niece has been denied a UK visa to visit her relatives in hospital, the Home Office has confirmed.

Viktoria Skripal will not be able to visit her uncle and cousin, Yulia, who were poisoned in the Salisbury attack.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We have refused a visitor visa application from Viktoria Skripal on the grounds that her application did not comply with the Immigration Rules."

Yulia, 33, and Sergei Skripal,66, were left fighting for their lives after being poisoned by a deadly nerve agent last month.

Yulia Skripal has since regained consciousness and said her strength is growing daily.

Yulia Skripal said her strength is growing daily

Mr Skripal is no longer in critical condition, doctors said.

Ms Skripal made her first public comments on Wednesday shortly after Russian TV reported that she had contacted her cousin Viktoria in Moscow to say she and her father were recovering and that she would soon be discharged.

The news of the recovery comes amid growing tensions between the UK and Moscow over its role in the Salisbury attack.

Moscow has denied being responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals but the incident has plunged diplomatic relations between Russia and the West into the deep freeze.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are very pleased that both Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia are improving. This is a tribute to the hardworking and talented NHS staff in Salisbury who have provided outstanding care.

"The NHS will continue to provide ongoing care for the Skripals, both of whom are likely to have ongoing medical needs.

"Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses."

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy turned its attention to Mr Skripals pets which were found at his home.

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

Two guinea pigs were found dead at the property and a cat, which was found in a distressed state at the house, was put down.

The Russian Embassy said: "Regarding the dead guinea pigs and the malnourished cat, it is said unofficially that they were taken to the Porton Down facility and incinerated there.

"But it remains unclear if their remains were ever tested for toxic substances, which would constitute useful evidence, and if not, why such a decision was made.
A sperm bank in China is welcoming donors but only if they are loyal Communists, a prestigious university hospital has said.

The Third Hospital of Peking University wrote that those wishing to offer sperm in their six-week recruitment drive should "love the socialist motherland, support the leadership of the Communist Party, be loyal to the party's cause and be decent, law-abiding, and free of political problems."

According to the hospitals official account on messaging app WeChat, men between 20 and 45 can donate up until May 23 if they have "sound ideological qualities".

Men who pass suitability criteria and pass two rounds of checks on physical health and sperm quality are paid 200 yuan (23) straightaway and 5,500 yuan (620) when they deposit their semen.

Demand for sperm donations has increased since China ended its controversial one-child policy in 2016, however according to the National Health Commission there are only 23 sperm banks countrywide.

The Beijing Times reports statistics that only between 15 and 20 per cent of China's sperm donations pass quality tests.
M ore women than ever are running for the US House of Representatives in 2018.

The swell in the number of female candidates, most of which are Democrats, has been motivated by angst over President Donald Trump and policies of the Republican-controlled Congress, AP reported.

Republican women also make up a small portion of the record breaking figures.

The figures are expected to rise as candidate filling periods remain open in more than half the states.

As of Thursday, a total of 309 women had files candidacy papers to run for the House which is predominantly filled with men.

The spike has been motivated by angst over President Donald Trump / AP

Currently, four out of every five members of the US House are men.

In order for women to change that proportion, they will still need to win their seats in the general election.

Experts say that the increase in the number of women running combined with so many open house seats made available due to resignations and retirements, provides one of the best opportunities for women to make substantial gains in representation within the House.

Currently there are 83 women in the US house out of 435 seats.

Many of the female candidates have focused their campaign messages on health care, education, early childhood development, family leave and workplace equality.

Kara Eastman of Nebraska, one of two Democrats trying to win a primary told AP that she was motivated to run by Republican attempts to cut health coverage for low-income people.

Its a great thing for me to show my 16-year-old daughter, she said.

The last time the US saw a surge in the number of women running for congress was in 1992 in wake of an attorney named Anita Hills testimony alleging sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas, who was then a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
J apanese anime director Isao Takahata, co-founder of the famed Studio Ghibli, has died at the age of 82.

The award-winning animator, whose studio was behind iconic films Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro, passed away after a bout of ill-health, according to reports.

Mr Takahata was nominated for an Oscar in 2014 for The Tale of the Princess Kaguya but was best known for his film Grave of the Fireflies.

He founded Studio Ghibli with iconic director and long-term collaborator Hayao Miyazaki in 1985.

Grave of the Fireflies about wartime Japan was Mr Takahata's best-known work / Rex Features

The studio - one of the worlds most renowned - is famous for sticking to a hand-drawn manga look amid the rise of digital film-making.

Takahata was born in Ujiyamada (now Ise), Mie prefecture, in 1935 and his childhood was marred by war.

A still from Only Yesterday, a 1991 feature directed by Takahata / Rex Features

He survived a major US air raid on Okayama City aged just nine, and went on to attend the prestigious University of Tokyo, reading French literature.

He signed up to a job at Toei Animation, a studio that adapts Japanese comics and made a number of TV hits including Sailor Moon.

He later co-founded Studio Ghibli, producing around 20 films and earning him international critical acclaim.

The 1988 film Grave of the Fireflies was seen as an anti-war statement although Takahata resisted the interpretation / Rex Features

His masterpiece Grave of the Fireflies was described by film critic Roger Ebert as "one of the greatest war films ever made".

It tells the story of two siblings Seita and Setsuko as they struggle to survive in the final months of World War Two.
V irgin Galactic has launched its first powered flight in four years, blasting the VSS Unity past the speed of sound before touching down safely again.

Incredible footage from the test flight shows the spacecraft separating from its launch vehicle and accelerating under rocket power to supersonic speed.

A huge plume of flames shot from the base of the spacecraft as it roared upwards with two crew, Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay, at the helm.

During the 30-second rocket blast, the Unity hit Mach 1.87 before cruising and then returning for a successful landing.

"On rocket shutdown, Unity continued an upwards coast to an apogee of 84,271 feet before readying for the downhill return," Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said in a statement.

"Space feels tantalizingly close now," Virgin boss Richard Branson wrote on Twitter.

The milestone marks the start of the final part of Virgin Galactic's flight test program

The spacecraft was launched from California's Mojave Air and Space Port using the carry vehicle Eve.

It was the fifth powered test of Richard Branson's space firm's SpaceShipTwo design and the first since the 2014 crash of the Spaceship Enterprise that killed one of its pilots.

Co-pilot Mike Alsbury, 39, died in the disaster over the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles north-east of Los Angeles.

The Unity spacecraft would take tourists on suborbital trips into the lower reaches of space

Virgin Galactic's SS2 is a reusable spaceplane designed to carry two pilots and up to six passengers into suborbital space.

The spaceship hit Mach 1.87 during the 30-second rocket burn (MarsScientific.com and Trumbull Studios)

The milestone marks the beginning of the final phase of test flights by Mr Branson's space company, which aims to take tourists on paid trips into the lower reaches of space.

In October Virgin Group's three US-based space companies Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit received a $1 billion cash injection from Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund.
R ussia has warned Britain is "playing with fire" over the Salisbury spy poisoning and "will be sorry".

Moscow's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya referenced Midsomer Murders and Alice in Wonderland as he mocked suggestions of Russian involvement during a meeting of the UN Security Council.

The UK claims it is "highly likely" Russia is behind last month's attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. But Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

As the two nations traded jibes at the UN, the UK argued that doubt should not be cast on the likelihood of Russian responsibility for the Novichok nerve agent attack and that British actions "stand up to any scrutiny".

Britain's Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce / REUTERS

But Mr Nebenzya accused the West of trying to manipulate people via the media, "using the method of Dr Goebbels - lies that are repeated a thousand times become the truth" .

The terse exchanges came as Ms Skripal gave her first public comments since the March 4 attack which left her and her father in intensive care.

Ms Skripal's remarks were released shortly after Russian TV reported that she had contacted a relative in Moscow to say she and her Russian spy father were recovering and that she would soon be discharged from hospital.

Moscow called the UN Security Council meeting to discuss the incident, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying the UK has "legitimate questions" to answer about what happened.

But security minister Ben Wallace said it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that Russia was to blame for the attack, as the UK sought to maintain diplomatic pressure over the incident.

A 90-minute press conference at the Russian embassy in London also saw ambassador Alexander Yakovenko repeat Moscow's denial of responsibility for the attack.

On Wednesday, Russia lost a vote at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague on its demand for its experts to be involved in testing samples of the substance used in the Salisbury attack.

Ex-spy poisoning: Russian ambassador brands Boris Johnson claims 'unacceptable'

Ahead of the UN Security Council meeting, UK ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce told reporters: "Allowing Russian scientists into an investigation when they are the most likely perpetrators of the crime in Salisbury would be like Scotland Yard inviting in Professor Moriarty, so I don't think that's a tenable way forward."

But Mr Nebenzya said characters in Midsomer Murders knew "hundreds of very clever ways of killing someone" but those who sought to kill the Skripals "supposedly chose an extremely toxic chemical substance, the most risky, dangerous method possible" and "didn't really finish the job".

Mr Nebenzya criticised the sources of the British intelligence services, before adding: "Couldn't you come up with a better fake story?

"We all know what the worth of British intelligence information is based on the experience of Tony Blair. We have told our British colleagues that you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry."

Ms Pierce accused Russia of "turning a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons in Syria and in Salisbury", adding: "We believe the UK's actions stand up to any scrutiny."

Kelley Currie, US representative on the economic and social council at the UN, said: "Our support for the United Kingdom is unwavering and we continue to stand in absolute solidarity with our British colleagues."

Earlier Ms Skripal, 33, in her first statement since coming out of a coma, said: "I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received."

Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident 1 /14 Russian Spy Sergei Skripal: Salisbury Nerve Agent Incident Investigators in protective gear pursue the probe into the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal Getty Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital PA Personnel in hazmat suits work to secure a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA ilitary personnel are deployed to help remove vehicles from the scene after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found critically ill after exposure to a nerve agent in Salisbury Getty Images Military in protective clothing remove vehicles from a car park in Salisbury EPA Police cordon: Military personnel in Salisbury PA Traces of the nerve agent used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found at Zizzi in Salisbury PA Amber Rudd: she visited the scene where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after having been poisoned by a nerve agent REUTERS Personnel are helped from their hazmat suits (right), after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Personnel in hazmat suits walk away after securing a tent covering a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, where former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill by exposure to a nerve agent Andrew Matthews/PA Police put a red bag inside a police evidence bag immediately after the nerve agent attack on a Russian spy. Officers previously issued CCTV of a woman clutching a red bag Solent news Snap Fitness 24/7 Police activity in the cul-de-sac in Salisbury that contains the home of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned along with daughter Yulia with a nerve agent PA Sergei Skripal shops at Bargain Stop in a CCTV image from five days before his apparent poisoning

In the statement released by the Metropolitan Police, she thanked healthcare workers at Salisbury District Hospital as well as "the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated".

And she said: "I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence."

Russian media reported that Ms Skripal had told her cousin Viktoria that her father Sergei was "alright", adding: "Everyone is recovering, everyone survived ... No irreparable harm was done. That's all, I will soon be discharged from the hospital."

Mr Yakovenko initially said Russia would accept the findings of the OPCW investigation but wants to know who the experts are who are carrying out the testing.

Russian news agency Tass later reported that foreign minister Mr Lavrov told reporters on Thursday: "We will accept the results of any investigation in which we take an equal part and which is transparent, not a secret one."

He added: "Since March 12, we have sent more than 10 official notes requesting access to the investigation."

Mr Lavrov said the "requests have been flatly rejected".

Mr Yakovenko also said Russia had suspicions about a string of deaths of its nationals in the UK over the past decade, including businessman Nikolai Glushkov, whose body was discovered in his south London home last month.

"We have a lot of suspicions about Britain," said the ambassador. "If we take the last 10 years, so many Russian citizens died here in the UK under very strange circumstances ...
T heres a new Inspector in town. Or is that two towns? 2009s The City & The City, a novel from China Mieville, has been adapted into a new, four-part series. And, as in most crime shows in the history of the form, it all begins with a murdered young woman.

Thankfully, things are a bit more complicated than such generic beginnings suggest. Inspector Tyador Borlu (David Morrissey) works for the Extreme Crime Squad  this show isnt exactly subtle  in the city of Beszel. It is an unusual place, not least because Liverpool and Manchester have been dressed up to look like a bleak fusion of New Delhi and New York: something else is afoot.

Beszel has a twin town, Ul Quoma, which sits inexplicably alongside it like a parallel universe, visible to the public like a reflection in a steamed-up bathroom mirror. The murder victim is found in Beszel, but may have hailed from Ul Quoma, a situation that could have significant diplomatic and criminal implications. The idea takes a little getting used to, but its a clever device which hints at more to come for Tyador and raises interesting questions about his relationship with his wife Katrynia, played by Lara Pulver.

Despite all the neon and strobe lighting, it doesnt quite electrify. But at least its smart without crowing about it, and it provides a satisfying level of humour too. One thing it isnt, though, is genre-busting. It has been described as such despite the fact that, in most respects, episode one complies with the rulebook of a classic neo-noir, albeit a good one.

So there are shades of old Hollywood classics like Chinatown or The Maltese Falcon, meaning I would not be shocked if the phrase Forget it Tyador, its Beszel came up here at some point. The neo portion, meanwhile, is present in the dystopian bleakness of Beszel, the shifting severity of the lighting and the clever concept of the divided city. The fusion is reminiscent of Blade Runner, Alan Moores V for Vendetta or 2008s curious sci-fi fantasy Franklin.

Its a clever take on the genre, but would undoubtedly fail if the cast werent up for the task of balancing the life and death seriousness of the situation with the innate melodrama of the text. At one point, for example, Tyador offers a vow via monologue. I will find the answers, he muses, like a middle-aged Batman. Whatever they do to me. It is my duty. And my penance.

The City and The City - in pictures 1 /12 The City and The City - in pictures Tyador Borlu (DAVID MORRISSEY) BBC/Mammoth Screen Lizbyet Corwi (MANDEEP DHILLON) BBC/Mammoth Screen BBC/Mammoth Screen Tyador Borlu (DAVID MORRISSEY) and Lizbyet Corwi (MANDEEP DHILLON) Mammoth/Des Willie Lizbyet Corwi (MANDEEP DHILLON),Tyador Borlu (DAVID MORRISSEY) BBC/Mammoth Screen Tyador Borlu (DAVID MORRISSEY) BBC/Mammoth Screen Tyador Borlu (DAVID MORRISSEY) BBC/Mammoth Screen Lizbyet Corwi (MANDEEP DHILLON) BBC/Mammoth Screen Lizbyet Corwi (MANDEEP DHILLON) BBC/Mammoth Screen Rebecca (MARAMA CORLETT) BBC/Mammoth Screen Katrynia (LARA PULVER) BBC/Mammoth Screen Yorju Syedr (DANNY WEBB) BBC/Mammoth Screen

Without Morrisseys gruff gravitas it may tip into the ridiculous, but he is up to the task and wholly believable as the permanently glum Inspector. Morrissey delivers his best performances in mini-series  State of Play, of course, but also the woefully underwatched Meadowlands  and he gives his reliable best.But he finds a new spark in his scenes with Mandeep Dhillon, who plays foul-mouthed new sidekick Lizbyet Corwi.

Despite her grotesque, Thunderbirds-esque police uniform, she stands out as somehow simultaneously plucky and deadpan. The pair are the perfect fit and, as Corwi herself has noted, exhibit excellent chemistry without indulging in anything as silly as flirtation.

Ill be keeping my eye on Pulver, though. Her role, as Tyadors wife, is pretty thankless thus far but it is clear she will come to play a prominent part in proceeding episodes once her devoted husband establishes there is more than one mystery to be solved.

Besides, someones going to have to play the Femme Fatale. It wouldnt be noir without one.

@GuyPewsey

The City & The City airs Friday, April 6 at 9pm on BBC Two, 9pm

Pick of the day

Modern Family

Theres an embarrassing misunderstanding at the centre of tonights episode of the Emmy Award-winning family comedy about the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan.

Jay (Ed ONeill) listens in to Gloria (Sofia Vergara) talking on the phone (Its a disaster in the bedroom. Its like he cant remember where things go.) and when he overhears a mention of spanking, assumes that his much younger wife is unhappy with their physical relationship.

Possibly you can see where this misunderstanding is heading, and sure enough, when Jay attempts to spice up their lives with a bit of good old-fashioned corporal punishment, he quickly sees the error of his ways.

Feeling good about his new job, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) throws a party, and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) buys a piano. Mitch isnt particularly interested in enjoying the party  he just wants to milk the approval of his friends.

But has he been a bit presumptuous, and might the purchase of that piano prove a little premature? Later, Jay gets a surprise while doing a crossword puzzle.

Sky One, 8.30pm

Screen time

Have I Got News For You

The comedy news quiz returns for the first instalment of its 55th series.Team captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton are joined by guest presenter Jeremy Paxman and panellists Josh Widdicombe and Steph McGovern.

Paxman should be a natural fit in the age of fake news, though as a news presenter he used to argue that the cure for cynicism was to engage honestly with the subject. (The quote often attributed to him, Why is this lying bastard lying to me? was actually made by Louis Heren, former deputy editor of The Times.)

The chemistry of the programme is the reaction between the professional cynicism of Hislop and the playful absurdity of Merton.

BBC One, 9.30pm

Kids in Love

The possibilities in that window between finishing school and starting university are infinite  so endless that you might as well have a nice sit down for a year to weigh up what you could have done before its time to head off to university. Where you can then have a nice sit down for a year to wonder at what could have been.

Will Poulter has this dilemma in the UK network premiere of Kids in Love. Jack (Poulter) is unsure how to spend his gap year until he meets Evelyn (Alma Jodorowsky), who introduces him to a side of London hes never experienced. Plus, he gets to hang out with Cara Delevingne  you dont get to do sort of thing if youre backpacking around Gloucestershire

Saturday, London Live, 10pm

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction

In the latest of his series of celebrity interviews, David Letterman meets Jay-Z, who opens up about his mother coming out to him. For her to sit in front of me and tell me, I think I love someone I really cried, he says. I cried because I was so happy for her that she was free. He also discusses the rapping styles of Snoop Dogg (a great voice) and Eminem (amazing cadence and syncopation).

Netflix

Black Mirror: Hang the DJ

This single episode of Charlie Brookers dystopian sci-fi series is nominated in the best drama category at this years Baftas. Its one of the lighter episodes  an almost romantic tale of a couple brought together by a compatibility app. Theres more to it than that, of course, and the ending is one of the most startling in the series.
Protesters, part of a 500,000-strong crowd, attend the Womens Rally on the one-year anniversary of the first Womens March, in Los Angeles, California. Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Almost exactly two years ago, Susan Sarandon went on MSNBC and argued that a Donald Trump presidency might be preferable to a Hillary Clinton one  because the former could expedite the onset of a political revolution.

As a rationale for voting to make a proto-fascist reality-star commander-in-chief, this assessment has not aged well. But a (much) softer version of Sarandons hypothesis  that Trumps election would inspire American progressives to radically increase their involvement in political activism, in ways that could transform the country in the medium term  is holding up rather well.

The day after Trumps election, outraged women (and their male allies) descended on D.C. to express their contempt for the pussy-grabber-in-chief, in the largest protest since the Vietnam era. Over the ensuing months, supporters of universal health care hounded Republican lawmakers at town halls. Newly radicalized suburban professionals turned their social networks into miniature political organizations. Democratic turnout in special elections skyrocketed. Teens walked out of their high schools and into the most influential gun-safety movement the United States has seen in decades.

The reality that our instinctually authoritarian president is (unintentionally) bolstering civic engagement in America has been apparent for a while now. But thanks to a new poll from the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation, we finally have some hard data on the phenomenon.

The survey, which bills itself as the most extensive study of rallygoers and protesters in more than a decade, finds that one in five Americans has attended at least one protest or political rally since the beginning of 2016  and that 19 percent of that group had never attended such an event before that year.

About half of those Americans who participated in political activism over the last two years did so at least partly in reaction to Trump. And in most cases, that reaction was a negative one: 70 percent of recently mobilized activists disapprove of the president.

The poll also suggests that anti-Trump activity is disproportionately concentrated among middle-aged, highly educated suburbanites: 44 percent of activists (broadly defined as Americans whove attended at least one protest or rally) were 50 or older; 46 percent earned more than $100,000 a year; and 50 percent were college graduates. These findings comport with previous sociological research from Lara Putnam and Theda Skocpol, which suggested that the college-educated suburban women in Middle America represent the core of the anti-Trump resistance.

The fact that the Trump eras upsurge in political activism is concentrated among such normies  rather than the young, radical leftists who defined protest politics in the Vietnam era  might not augur well for the prospects of Sarandons desired revolution. But it is likely good news for Democrats hoping to win elections this fall: Hippies werent always the most reliable voters, but middle-aged, college-educated suburbanites generally are.
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The Holy Light from Jerusalem will be brought on Saturday evening aboard a special aircraft by a delegation of the Romanian Patriarchy, headed by Vicar Bishop of the Archbishopric of Bucharest Timotei Prahoveanul.

The Holy Light will be offered at the Resurrection mass by Romanian Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel to the clergy and believers present at the Patriarchal Cathedral.

The archbishoprics of the Archbishopric of Bucharest and the other dioceses of the Romanian Patriarchy are invited to send delegates to the Henri Coanda International Airport of Bucharest (the official hall) on the evening of Saturday, around 18:30, to receive Holy Light from Jerusalem.

AGERPRES.
Border police officers from Bors Border Crossing Point (PTF) - Bihor County found on Friday morning 79 people - citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and China - who tried to illegally get out of the country, hidden inside a truck.

According to a press release the Border Police Inspectorate General (IGPF) issued to AGERPRES, the people concerned - 41 men, 18 women and 20 minors - were discovered in a truck driven by a Serbian citizen on the way out of the country during routine police check-ups.

"In the morning of April 6, 2018, around 9:30, a Serbian citizen, a driver of a car registered in Serbia, came to the PTF Bors - ITPF Oradea at the exit of the country. The documents provided for check-up showed that he was carrying pellets from Romania to Poland. The cargo was loaded from the territory of Romania and the truck had previously entered Romania unloaded from the territory of Serbia. While carrying out the specific risk analyzes, the physical control of the means of transport was carried out by the joint control team of Romanian and Hungarian border officers, and 79 people, out of whom 41 men, 18 women and 20 minors were discovered hiding inside the truck," the release said.According to the Border Police Inspectorate General (IGPF), those concerned were citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and China, registered as asylum seekers in Romania.

AGERPRES .
It is said that during the 1990s time of troubles in Russia a popular view held that the prevailing chaos and ruin could only be redressed by a leader meeting the description of Adolf Vissarionovich Pinochet. (  ). The composite name of this hypothetical rescuer featured (1) the surname Pinochet of the anti-communist Chilean military strongman, (2) the patronymic Vissarionovich of Joseph the Great Helmsman Stalin, and (3) the first name Adolf of  well, you know

Lets leave aside for now whether Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin bears any remote resemblance to this imaginary (but 20 years ago, much hoped-for) personage except to note that Russia under his tenure has made an astonishing comeback. As described by historian Vladimir Brovkin:

What Putin has accomplished or what Russia has accomplished since 2000 is astonishing. It amounts to a political, economic, and moral revolution. Any aspect of Russias existence you take, you see measurable progress. The standard of living has grown, pensions are paid, factories are working, and unemployment is lower than in most European countries. Life expectancy has steadily increased, birth rates have increased, and incomes have increased. Education is back, Russian research and development is back again, one of the best in the world and not staffed by foreigners who flock to Silicon Valley, but staffed by Russians educated in Russia. Military technology made a breakthrough of historical significance. For the first time ever Russia has weapons superior to those of the US, not to mention Britain, France and Germany combined. For the first time in a hundred years Russian agriculture is producing for export and for the first time ever, Russia exported more grain than the US.

One should add that this has been accomplished along with a dramatic revival of Russias prerevolutionary Orthodox Christian identity and commitment to traditional moral authority in the family and the nation, including in public institutions like thearmed forces. This adds to post-modern western elites hatred for Putin personally and Russia generally.

So if Russia under Putin has been given at least a shot at becoming great again, what about Americas chances under Donald John Trump?

This is not the time to rehash Americas self-evident decades-long decline under the predatory ministrations of Republicans and Democrats alike. Suffice it to say that Donald Trump was elected by a fluke of history about as improbable as Putins emergence from the Yeltsinite Swamp. The question is: is it conceivable that Trump could accomplish for our country anything remotely approaching what Putin has done for his?

For some, merely to pose the question in such terms is not only to exonerate (altogether now!) the evil, murderous, KGB thug Putin but to consign the American experiment in democracy to extinction under Trumps alleged autocracy envy. In an Aesopian warning against Trump, generally level-headed Bruce Fein warns that the growth of Executive power, no matter how well-guided by a latter-day Cicero (not anywhere in sight anyway), presents a mortal danger to constitutionalism:

Cicero foolishly believed that he could salvage the Roman Republic from Julius Caesars dictatorship by inculcating Republican virtue in Octavian, his would-be successor. Following his defeat of Mark Anthony in the last Roman civil war, Octavian exercised, de facto, all of the dictatorial powers of Julius Caesar. Ciceros tutorials proved trifles light as air. The Roman Senate became ornamental only, and the Republic became an Empire. Octavian changed his name to Caesar Augustus, and the Senate deified him. The Republic was never restored. The Empire, earmarked by limitless executive power, began spiraling downward featuring the likes of Nero, Caligula, Tiberius, and Elagabalus. It collapsed in 410 A.D. with the sacking of Rome by the Visigoth King Alaric. More enlightened Emperors like Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius were at best speed bumps in the Empires road to self-ruination. [ . . . ] The Constitution embodies more collective wisdom about human nature, the corruption of power, and the majesty of liberty and justice than any other government charter that has been conceived or tried. We must elude the Cicero Trap. Our plight is not the absence of a Sir Launcelot to rescue Guinevere. It is the withering of our constitutional institutions calculated to protect against limitless executive power and tyranny. The warning against a Lancelot or some other man on a white horse as our would-be deliverer presumes that there is a modicum of constitutional integrity left to salvage. That is not self-evident. In 2005 the late Joseph Sobran called our country PostConstitutional America, adding that nowadays the U.S. Constitution poses no serious threat to our form of government. Things have gotten a lot worse since.

Again, one hardly need supply the details. We have presidents who make war at will, with Congress at best compliant enablers; a supposed legal tender printed by fiat of the Federal Reserve and underwritten by Wahhabist despots; legislative authority wielded by unelected bureaucrats in cahoots with the corporate interests they supposedly police; centralization of national power that renders the several sovereign states little more than federal administrative districts; an imperial Judiciary that usurps Executive and Legislative authority alike with nary a murmur of protest, while making up constitutional rights that appear nowhere in the text; human wreckage in what had been our manufacturing heartland; a democracy consisting of a corrupt market-sharing deal between two entrenched parties whose main activity is spending obscene amounts of money; collusion of multiculturists and plutocrats to debase the value of citizenship by mass importation of aliens, both legal and illegal, coupled with court-mandated lack of ballot security; a massive military structure designed for global power projectionbut has been useless for defending our own borders.

In short, whatever the Founding Fathers meeting at Philadelphia in 1787 had sought to ordain and establish for themselves and their posterity, their work has long since become window-dressing for lawless, arbitrary power. As Robert E. Lee warned in his day, The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it. He hardly could have imagined how aggressive abroad and despotic at home the post-constitutional order would turn out to be. (But who cares about the opinion of a traitor who fought to preserve slavery?)

Fein writes that under Octavian, having morphed into the divine Augustus, the Republic was never restored. But perhaps restore is the wrong word. More to the point, was the Roman polity preserved? Citing Ohio State University Professor of Classics at Anthony Kaldellis, Brian Patrick Mitchell argues in the affirmative:

The standard story that the Roman republic ended with Caesar Augustus becoming emperor is therefore simply wrong, says Kaldellis. The republic lived on, albeit in a new phase, the Principate, in place of the earlier Consulate. Historians call the republics later, third phase the Dominate  during which military emperors, ruling from wherever military necessity demanded, came to be addressed for the first time in Roman history as Domine, or Lord. The fourth, final, and longest phase, by far, was Byzantium, lasting from the fifth to the 15th century, during which emperors ruled as civilians from the city officially named New Rome but commonly called Constantinople (Constantines city) and founded originally as Byzantion (Byzantium in Latin).

Given the terminal breakdown confronting the Roman state and society in the days of the first century BC Triumvirs  comparable to that of the USSR in the late 1980s and the Russian Federation of the 1990s, and of America on the eve of Trumps election  its hard to see how Rome could have been preserved as a unified, functioning society other than the way Octavian did it: save what can be saved, trash what cant, and move on. Contra Fein, the result was not a downward spiral but the consolidation and perpetuation of the Roman order, notably in its Christian form that was to last for more than a millennium. It is no accident that it is the glory of this Rome, not of the pre-Principiate republic, that European states for centuries have sought to emulate, from the Carolingians, to the Holy Roman Empire, to the Russian Third Rome, to Napoleon, and even somewhat to the United States.

Supposed constitutional conservatives of the #NeverTrump hue doggedly appeal to an ahistorical originalism reminiscent of dissatisfied Soviet liberals during the 1960s-70s Brezhnevite stagnation who sought a return to pure Leninism purged of Stalins supposed deviations. (A.I. Solzhenitsyn wrote of himself in an earlier period: The author of these lines, who in his day landed in jail precisely because of his hatred of Stalin, whom he reproached with his departure from Lenin, must now admit that he cannot find, point to, or prove any substantial deviations.) Certainly Americas founding was far more humane and decent than that of the bloody-handed Bolsheviks. But a time machine back to the habits, expectations, and morals that undergird our second and theoretically current Constitution, today honored mainly in the breach, is a fantasy.

This is not to argue against such vestigial protections of religion, free speech, right to bears arms, and others that we still possess  for now  but to suggest that they arent likely to survive much longer as the edifice of the old America continues to crumble under the malfeasance of the very Executive, Legislative, and Judicial officials who pretend to be its custodians. Trumps critics on the establishment Right know this, reserving their heavy fire for his 2016 campaign pledges to control Americas borders (and build The Wall), rectify one-sided trade relations with our supposed partners (and restore our manufacturing base), and withdraw us from the global empire business (get along with the Russians, stop mucking about in Syria and Ukraine, no more regime change or nation-building).

Such detractors have been only too happy to team up with the Left, the Deep State (FBI, CIA, and their pals in the United Kingdom, notably MI6 and GCHQ), and the media to beat back Trumps threat to business as usual and allow the rot to continue apace. Sad to say, even many of Trumps backers concede that they have largely succeeded. While there has been some stepped up immigration enforcement, The Wall has not been built, extreme vetting (forget the Muslim ban) remains tied up by the courts, and Sanctuary jurisdictions flout federal law with impunity; some partial progress has been made on trade, but the jury is still out; on foreign and security policy, Trump administration personnel and policy alike amount to a third Bush presidency.

Nonetheless, one cant help thinking that inside President Trump theres a tiny little Candidate Trump from 2016 fighting to get out. Against the recommendations of his advisers, he decided to meet with North Koreas Kim Jong-un  whether the meeting comes off remains to be seen. Seemingly on a whim, he has declared well be withdrawing our (illegal) presence in Syria very soon, to the horror of the supposed experts. Even a possible meeting  at the White House!  with Putin has been floated.

Thus, theres still a ray of hope  if Trump manages to avoid getting sucked into a war against Iran or North Korea (or God forbid, Russia) and somehow manages to avoid impeachment if, as many expect, the House flips to the Democrats. As an aspiring Octavian goes its not much, but its better than anything else we could have expected.

On the other hand, if Trump is removed or falters further from his populist campaign promises (that is, even worse than his underwhelming delivery so far), Americas decline will accelerate and soon become irreversible. In that case, history will rank him with another leader who sought to save the failing system he inherited but instead ended up a catalyst for its further destabilization, ushering in its final collapse.

His name is Mikhail Gorbachev.
The war of words over American trade tariffs on Chinese exports and the expulsion of Russian diplomats may seem unrelated issues. But there is a connecting theme: the staggering US hypocrisy over its own aggressive behaviour.

This blatant American hypocrisy  beyond reason and respect for international law  marks a fatal descent into barbarism towards foreign relations. Dialogue and diplomacy are repudiated with a might is right attitude.

Washington took the initiative to propose slapping Chinas economy with nearly $50 billion in levies on certain exports  claiming unfair trading practices conducted by Beijing. Then when China responded this week by announcing it would be reciprocating by imposing equivalent tariffs on American exports, the Trump White House threw up its arms in annoyance, saying that the Chinese decision was not fair.

Similarly, last week Washington took the decision to expel 60 Russian diplomats in support of tenuous Britains allegations that the Russian state had some involvement in the apparent poisoning of an exiled spy and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury on March 4. This week Moscow reciprocated by expelling 60 American diplomats from Russia.

As with Chinas symmetrical response to US trade tariffs, Washington then declared that Russias expulsion of its diplomats was not fair. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert made the haughty comment that Russia should not be acting like the victim here.

So, lets get this straight. Washington arrogates the right to take aggressive actions against foreign states, damaging the national interests of those states. But when the other side takes a reciprocal measure, the Americans complain that the measures are unacceptable and an affront.

Such an attitude in Washington is impossibly hypocritical, arrogant and intolerable. It certainly gives new meaning to American claims of being an exceptional nation  exceptionally hubristic.

Fears of a full-on global trade war with China have receded somewhat this week because the Trump administration sought to walk back from the proposed tariffs on Chinese exports. Earlier President Trump was bragging that he would easily win a trade war with China. But following Beijings announcement of penalties on American agricultural exports, aviation and cars, the White House is toning down the bellicose rhetoric  albeit still griping about Chinas moves as not being fair.

On the expulsion of Russian diplomats, it should be recalled that there have been several rounds of such American sanctions, going back to December 2016 when the Obama administration expelled some 30 Russian envoys and their families over allegations of Moscow interfering in US elections. During the Trump administration, Russias diplomatic properties have also been shuttered and raided by US law enforcement officers.

All these American diplomatic censures have been launched on the back of unproven allegations of Russian interference in US democracy. The irony is that these claims have been made by Trumps political enemies as a way to smear his presidency as somehow being a beneficiary of Kremlin subversion, yet his administration has ratcheted up the diplomatic tensions with Russia by expelling its diplomats over unfounded claims.

The American claims of Russian cyberattacks are of a piece with the recent British claims about Kremlin agents allegedly carrying out an assassination plot on its territory. The claims are always in the realm of assertion, with no verifiable evidence to support. Indeed, it looks as if both narratives on either side of the Atlantic are unravelling from the lack of credibility. US special investigator Robert Mueller cant find any evidence of Russian collusion with Trump  after a year of probing and congressional hearings. Meanwhile, British government scientists are now saying they actually have no evidence that an alleged nerve poison apparently used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was originated in Russia  flatly contradicting the high-flown assertions made last month by British Prime Minister Theresa May and her bumptious Foreign Minister Boris Johnson.

The point is that disputes between states must be resolved by dialogue and a basic mutual respect. Whether it is disputes over trade matters or politics. All the more so whenever alleged grievances are being levelled recklessly without any supporting proof or adherence to due legal process.

But the conflictual problem seems to stem from an ulterior agenda. American perceived grievances against China and Russia seem more about finding pretexts to pursue aggressive policy at all costs. Several foreign policy and military documents out of Washington have openly declared Beijing and Moscow as rival powers. This gets back to the issue of American global power relying on a unipolar hegemonic ambition, unable and unwilling to engage with China or Russia as mutual powers. Or anyone else for that matter in a multipolar world.

In order to pursue this dangerous ambition, Washington must  out of warped necessity  erode and cut off diplomatic engagement with China and Russia. That explains why Washington has initiated such aggressive moves over trade and expulsion of envoys. Ominously, it harks to the maxim of war as a continuation of politics by other means formulated by the Prussian military strategist Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831).

What we are witnessing is a hollowing out of US diplomacy and its replacement with a policy of bellicosity. The Trump administration has gutted the State Department and its diplomatic corps.

This is inevitably a reprehensible decent into barbarism by Washington where international law and norms of dialogue are being repudiated out of hand. Why, for example, does Washington not take its alleged trade grievances with China to the World Trade Organization and resolve them in a civilized forum?

The degeneration of American diplomacy is perhaps most glaringly apparent when it hypocritically protests about unfair practices by China and Russia that merely reciprocate its own offensive behaviour.

When such arrogant delusion has taken hold, it does not bode well for civilized resolution and a peaceful international order. Because such an attitude violates the foundations of civilized multilateralism upon which international peace depends.

The arrogance of American unilateralism over trade bullying with China and the senseless diplomatic row with Russia is a disastrous resort to might is right.

American hypocrisy is a symptom of its degenerate diplomacy and contempt for international law. That in turn is a symptom of American democracy degenerating into a moribund morass. Blaming China and Russia is a desperate attempt to cover-up the inherent existential problems of American capitalism.
In Iraq the United States sent in a medical team (the 47th Combat Support Hospital) of medical professionals from United States (army, navy, air force) as well as British, Dutch, German, Australian and Canadian teams to provide medical care for American and NATO personnel. The 47 th also had a growing number of Iraqi medical personnel after it arrived in Iraq back in October 2017. Technically the 47th was there to treat combat and non-combat casualties among the nearly 10,000 NATO military and civilian contractor personnel force. But these foreign personnel suffered few casualties or illnesses and most of the medical care the 47th provided was for Iraqi troops and civilians.

There were a lot of Iraqi medical professionals assigned to the 47th where they got firsthand experience using Western combat medical techniques. Up to 400 patients a day were treated by the 47th which served as a teaching hospital as well as a source of first class care for Iraqi security forces and civilians. Because ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) is largely destroyed in Iraq there are far fewer military and civilian casualties and the presence of the 47th, treating mostly Iraqis, provides a morale boost for security forces still hunting down ISIL groups. There is still a substantial, but shrinking number of civilian casualties (under a thousand dead a month and several thousand wounded each month in 2017.) Civilian casualties are down even more sharply in early 2018. This is enough to keep the 47th busy

One thing Iraqis missed when all American troops were expelled in 2011 was the loss of the Western military medical personnel. General violence and deliberate attacks on Iraqi medical personnel after 2004 left Iraq with few local capabilities like the 47th. There is still a shortage of medical personnel in Iraq but it is much less dangerous to be an Iraqi doctor or nurse and many of the new ones are right out of medical school and inexperienced. So the training aspect of the 47th is a long-term benefit.

The CSH (Combat Support Hospital) is the successor (since 2006) to the much older MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital). Thus a CSH is referred to as cash. There are currently about 25 CSHs in the American military, most of them reserve units. They are organized and equipped to set up and run a large (200 or more bed) hospitals anywhere on short notice. A CSH would also have several sterile operating rooms, one or more emergency rooms plus all the usual departments (radiology, lab, pharmacy, kitchens and living quarters for the 600 or so staff of a CSH. All the equipment for a CSH is designed and packaged for transport by air on short notice.
Gina Haspel. Photo: The OSS Society via YouTube

There is a lot we dont know about Gina Haspel, the nominee to head the CIA, who will soon be facing Senate hearings. As a covert officer, she has spent a long time in the shadows. Many of her colleagues speak very highly of her skills and dedication. And lately, the CIA has been providing selective  and oddly endearing  details about her private life. But there are a few things we do know. We know what the legal definition of torture is and long has been, in domestic and international law. In case youre curious, this is it, according to federal law: an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control. It includes the threat of imminent death, and other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality. Under international law, there are absolutely no justifications  no national security threats, no imminent dangers  allowed for committing this war crime.

We also know that Gina Haspel was, from 20032005, the chief of staff for Jose Rodriguez, the man tasked with implementing the Bush-Cheney program for enhanced interrogation of prisoners. She was in charge of communicating with various black sites around the world, and we know she authored a critical 2002 cable, Turning Up the Heat in AZ Interrogations, which initiated the torture of Abu Zubaydah, the first prisoner the U.S. subjected to waterboarding. We also know she was present in at least one of the black sites where the torture took place, and that she lobbied very hard to destroy the tapes that recorded the torture sessions, and was responsible for ultimately ensuring that they were. She was, to put it mildly, deeply, intimately embedded in the torture regime.

And we know a lot about what the black sites were like, and what was done to the prisoners held in them. Its worth speaking in plain English about what she was a part of. One agent described a particular site set up after Haspels directive to turn up the heat. He thought it was good for interrogations because it was the closest thing he had seen to a dungeon. The dungeon was kept in total darkness at all times, and the guards wore headlamps. The prisoners were in cells, kept completely naked, and were shackled to the walls and sometimes ceilings. They were given buckets for their waste. When they were subjected to sleep deprivation, they were tied to a bar on the ceiling so that they had to stand with their arms above their heads, and would have their limbs painfully pulled out of their sockets if they passed out. One of the prisoners was a diminutive figure who had been picked up as a suspect in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, of which he was alleged to have been the mastermind. In fact, CIA agents disagreed about this. He was an idiot, one of them said. He couldnt read or comprehend a comic book. Others alleged that he may have had a mental disability. Jose Rodriguez wrote in his memoir that one of our interrogators described him to me as the dumbest terrorist I have ever met. His name is Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

He was waterboarded at the black site in Afghanistan, then again at another site in Thailand, where Haspel was physically present. In Afghanistan, this is what that entailed, according to the lawyers assigned to Nashiris case at Gitmo: A rag was placed over his forehead and eyes and water poured into his mouth until he began to choke and aspirate. The rag was then lowered, suffocating him with the water still in his throat, sinuses, and lungs. Eventually the rag was lifted and the water expurgated, allowing him to take three to four breaths before the process was repeated. Other techniques were used, this time at a black site in Poland: On at least one occasion, they placed a broomstick behind petitioners knees as he knelt and then forced his body backwards, pulling his knee joints apart until he started to scream. On another occasion, agents cinched petitioners elbows behind his back and hoisted him to the ceiling, causing onlookers to fear that they dislocated his shoulders. On still other occasions, petitioner was [redacted] and deprived of sleep for days on end.

There were other methods: The standing stress position was also employed when agents stored petitioner for days in a coffin in between interrogations. This coffin is often termed the large box. At other times, agents locked petitioner into the small box, which is the approximate size of an office safe and [redacted]. When the lid was locked, the interior became completely dark, the air stagnant, and petitioner forced into a squatting fetal position that caused his extremities to swell. He was kept in the small box for days.

Worse: Nearly every interview at several locations involved walling. This involved agents rolling a towel around petitioners neck with which to swing him into a plywood wall. Walling was used so consistently that the rolled up towel became an object that evoked fear. The interrogator would enter the room and slowly and gently run the rolled towel over the  detainees head  spending several minutes adjusting it. This routine triggered a Pavlovian response wherein the towel became an omen of what might happen next, [thereby] elicit[ing] a conditioned fear response. In Poland, the terrors mounted: Mild punishment included convincing petitioner, while hooded, naked, and shackled to the ceiling that he was about to be shot. The agent racked a handgun once or twice near petitioners head, and then removed petitioners hood so he could see the handgun pointed at him. When petitioner began to cry, the agent exchanged the handgun for a power drill that was revved to heighten the effect. Then there was the sexual torture: For example [redacted] petitioner was subjected to rectal feeding. [redacted] There is also evidence that petitioner was forcibly sodomized, possibly under the pretext of a cavity search that was done with excessive force  He was also repeatedly bathed with a stiff brush of the type used in a bath to remove stubborn dirt, which would be raked across petitioners ass and balls and then his mouth.

Over years of this staggering brutality, Nashiri was destroyed as a human being. A medical report subsequently discovered that Nashiri presented with nightmares that involved being chained, naked and waterboarded, and that he continues to suffer from PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder  hyper vigilance, flashbacks, sleep disorders. He also had persistent and chronic anal-rectal complaints, difficulty defecating, bleeding, hemorrhoids and pain with sitting  all very common in survivors of sexual assault. Indeed the torture of Nashiri was so brutal that CIA agents themselves, in early 2003, protested internally that the wheels had come off of the torture program and that Nashiris torture was a train wreak [sic] waiting to happen. The CIAs chief of interrogations threatened to resign and wrote a cable reporting serious reservations with the continued use of enhanced techniques with [Nashiri] and its long-term impact on him.

Ive cited the example of Nashiri because Haspel directly authorized his torture at a black site in Thailand, where he was waterboarded, kept naked and shackled, threatened with sodomy, and with the arrest and rape of his family. But she was also key in orchestrating the torture of Abu Zubaydah. Three months after her cable giving permission to turn up the heat, Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times. Haspel reported at one point that the CIA team conducted a dress rehearsal  which choreographed moving Abu Zubaydah in and out of the large and small confinement boxes, as well as use of the water board. A few days later, she wrote: Team is ready to move to the next phase of interrogations immediately upon receipt of approvals/authorization from ALEC/Headquarters. It is our understanding that DOJ/Attorney General approvals for all portions of the next phase, including the water board, have been secured, but that final approval is in the hands of the policy makers.

It was approved and Haspel, like so many war criminals in history, followed orders. There is testimony that she was physically present at at least one session of brutal torture. The waterboarding sessions initiated by her were taped  92 of them in all, including three sessions of the torture of Nashiri, at the black site in Thailand where Haspel was chief of base. When one site was finally shut down and Haspel ordered everything to be burned, she checked with Washington and reluctantly kept the tapes under tight security. ProPublica explains what happened next: A few years later when [Haspel] was back in Washington and chief of staff to the director of operations for counterterrorism, Jose Rodriguez, the man who had sent her to Thailand, she continued to lobby for destruction of the tapes. My chief of staff drafted a cable approving the action we had been trying to accomplish for so long, Rodriguez writes in his memoir. The cable left nothing to chance. It even told them how to get rid of the tapes. They were to use an industrial-strength shredder to do the deed.

The CIAs general counsel warned against the destruction of evidence, as did Congresswoman Jane Harman, but Rodriguez, with Haspel as his agent, did so anyway. He didnt tell the CIA chief. An internal email revealed that Rodriguez believed that the heat from destroying is nothing compared with what it would be if the tapes ever got into public domain and said that out of context they would make us look terrible; it would be devastating to us. Out of context? There is no context under the law in which torture is legal. But he was right about how devastating actual videos of Americans brutally torturing prisoners would be. Theyd expose the reality that Bush and Cheney had authorized and that he and Haspel had made happen. And so he obstructed justice; and it was Haspel who drafted the order to do so.

When you consider the plain meaning of the law, and the actions Haspel engaged in, it is impossible to conclude anything but that Haspel committed war crimes of the gravest kind and then helped destroy the evidence of them. There is no defense under the law in which a war criminal can claim that he or she was merely following orders. No one would have been found guilty at Nuremberg if that were the case. There are equally no extenuating circumstances that can ever justify torture, according to the U.N. Convention signed by Ronald Reagan no less, in 1984: No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture. Nor is it possible for any human being to read what was done to these prisoners without concluding that this was torture. If an American were captured by ISIS, was waterboarded 83 times, hung from the ceiling by his wrists, locked into a tiny box for days, and turned into a shell of a human being, would any American deny that he was tortured? The question answers itself.

In a fateful decision, President Obama decided to give complete legal immunity for war crimes committed by agents of the CIA. Haspel then cannot be prosecuted, as she should be under domestic and international law. She was not fired; no one, in fact, was disciplined for these atrocities. But to actually reward someone who has committed war crimes with promotion, and then to elevate her to the highest position in Western intelligence, is a whole new level of depravity. It sends a very clear message: that anyone committing war crimes in the future will be celebrated, not disciplined, rewarded, not punished, that torture is justifiable, even worth reviving, as our future secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, opined only last year. It would amount to a full-on endorsement of torture by the United States, and a signal to the entire world that it can be justified. This is a profound threat to human rights globally and to the long tradition of American warfare, initiated by George Washington no less, in which the use of torture has always been regarded as exactly the kind of barbarism America was founded to overcome. It would be the final nail in the coffin that used to be the West.

Maybe in the era of Trump, that coffin is already covered in dirt. But if senators want to retain any semblance of the notion of American decency, if they are to honor the countless men and women in the CIA and military who for decades have resisted the impulse to torture, if they are to respect those who fought the torture-states of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and if they also want to remember those Americans, like John McCain, who were once subject to exactly the kind of torture Haspel authorized, they will vote down the nomination. If this line of defense falls, we are truly lost in a vortex of self-perpetuating evil. We will have abolished something deep and essential in the soul of America.

We will be a dungeon on a hill.

Fear Versus Zeal

Tom Edsall  arguably the best columnist at the New York Times  had another insightful exploration of the Trump era this week. A huge part of it is psychology. When the world is changing super-fast, when immigration is at a peak not seen for a hundred years, when gays are getting married and couples are having theybys, when a free society is routinely described as white supremacy, and your daughter in high school is sharing a locker room with a girl who seems to have male genitals, you can have at least a couple of polarized psychological responses. You can panic or embrace it, you can freak out and try to halt the changes or you can whoop for joy and demand ever more radical moves. You can lament, like Mr. Garrison, Where has my country gone? or you can see the new developments as a mere down payment on future social justice and human liberation. And those indeed seem to be the most common reactions in 21st century America.

This is what Edsall calls the division between the fixed and the fluid, between those who respond to massive change with anxiety and those who find great hope, even excitement, in it. Specific policies are not the galvanizing issue here  they just provide moments for the core feelings to express themselves; were talking fundamental psychological orientations, not political philosophies. I think of it as fear versus zeal. Or in another scholarly formulation cited by Edsall, a divide between those who place heavy value on social order and cohesion relative to those who value personal autonomy and independence. And increasingly, there is vanishingly less space in our culture, or either political party, to represent some kind of mix of the two, to have a moderate and less emotional response, to see progress but also sympathize with those blindsided by it. In fact, we keep sorting ourselves ever more relentlessly into purer and purer versions of both fear and zeal.

Im a broken record on why this kind of self-perpetuating tribalism is so poisonous. But on the right, the fear pulsating through the collective veins  the caravan! the caravan!  has morphed into what can only be called a leader-cult. In the words of one academic: theres a wish for a strong leader who will force others to submit. The premise is that evil is afoot; that money, the media and government authority  and even politically correct moral authority  have been usurped by undeserving interlopers. The desire for a domineering leader is the desire to see this evil crushed. When you fear social cohesion is unraveling, borders are open, and markets are merciless, your psyche is not in a place to think very rationally about how to fix various problems, with remedies crafted to specific ends, debated by legislators and in the press, and constantly slowed by constitutional bottlenecks and hurdles. Its in a place to find a strongman whose very style and essence you can repose your total trust in.

When conservatism is drained of its liberal strains  its constitutional persnicketiness, its defense of due process, its support for free markets and free trade, its suspicion of centralized power  it segues ever more quickly into authoritarianism. In this mode, conservatives want to hear no counterarguments, and before too long, if a classic authoritarian demagogue capitalizes on the fear, conservatism can segue so easily into an authoritarian cult. It will slowly relinquish the very idea of self-government in favor of increasing delegation to the man who alone can fix everything.

That, it seems to me, is where we are on the right; a deep part of conservatisms id is over-running its fragile superego (see torture, above). Conservative media provide the propaganda to sustain this cult (which is why Sinclair and Fox really do come across as state television); local politicians are now campaigning not on the issues, but on simple loyalty to the leader (see Todd Rokitas primary ad for the Senate in Indiana); and the leader himself, having purged himself of all constraints and dissenters, now revels in his court-advisers, cocooned in the propaganda he has generated, and slowly attempting to rid the country of vibrant dissent and resistance (hence the truly disturbing war on the Washington Post).

Whats the worst thing you can do to energize this tendency? Jeff Greenfield is on the case. Publish a dumb op-ed by a liberal icon, John Paul Stevens, calling for the abolition of the Second Amendment, something that will never happen, but that will prove every right-wing paranoiac right about what the Democrats really want. Or better still, tweet out multiple times that A Man Can Have a Uterus, as Planned Parenthood recently did. Or better still, put out a tweet about Disney princesses (another Planned Parenthood gem), declaring We need a princess whos had an abortion  whos pro-choice  whos an undocumented immigrant  whos actually a union worker  whos trans. Or have a liberal magazine hire but then fire a conservative writer because of his pro-life rhetoric. Or, if all else fails, get Hillary Clinton to say yet another dumb, condescending, polarizing thing that reminds people how much she loathes most of the people in the middle of this country, and how that feeling is fully reciprocated.

Unwinding the authoritarian impulse is the most urgent task for those of us on the center-right; just as tempering the zealotry of the social justice movement is the most urgent task for moderate liberals.

Its not going very well, is it?

Prepping for the Next War

A lot has been written in the elite media about how Trump has cozied up to tyrants, sucked up to autocrats, and abandoned any pretense of Americas global commitment to supporting democracy. And so it has been a little gobsmacking to see how many gilded liberals have gathered around the public relations initiative by the young, belligerent, torturing dictator from Saudi Arabia, currently bent on subjecting millions of civilians in Yemen to terror, starvation, and disease by a relentless war on Shiites in that benighted country.

Dexter Filkins has a superb tour dhorizon of how this theocratic Arab tyrant seized power over the last few years (using torture, naturally). And yet so many media liberals are swooning over the Crown Princes apparent willingness to co-exist with the state of Israel, his alleged commitment to shifting Saudi Arabias economy away from oil, his supposedly Western inclinations and leaning toward liberalism  well, if youve been reading Tom Friedman, youll know the drill.

It is, to my mind, preposterous bullshit  but with so many billions of dollars being thrown around by the Saudis, a lot of the usual suspects are pretending to buy it. But its much more dangerous than that as well. This administration is clearly preparing for a war against Iran; it will soon likely tear up the deal which has successfully kept Irans nuclear ambitions restrained, leading to an Iranian rush to build a nuclear bomb (to balance Israels); it needs to demonize the Iran regime as effectively as Bush demonized Saddams in order to construct a casus belli; and it also needs to rehabilitate the 9/11 sponsors in Saudi in order to sell the next Gulf War.

All of which is now in full swing. John Bolton calls the shots  and he favors preemptive war. Trumps dauphin  the corrupt, mute mediocrity, Jared Kushner  immediately warmed to his Saudi equivalent, and has been eagerly trying to get the Sunni Arab world to sell out the Palestinians, ally with Israel, tacitly endorse the annexation of almost all the West Bank and then help him take on their mutual foe, Iran.

Worse, on cue, so many of those who backed the Iraq War are now issuing rather familiar warnings about Iran. Jeffrey Goldbergs interview of MBS in The Atlantic stands out in this. It was a vehicle for self-evident, cynical bullshit from the crown prince, ginning up the case for war (along with some surreal defenses of absolute monarchy and the usual, hilarious denial of having any knowledge of what Wahhabism is). And MBS knew who he was talking to. Goldberg, a passionate defender of Israel, has been doing what he can to raise the alarm about Iran for years now. (He relented a little during the Obama years.) And so MBS offered him a vague offer to accept some kind of Jewish presence in the Middle East and a view of the Iranian supreme leader as making Hitler look good. And that, in due course, is what The Atlantic emphasized in its presentation of the interview. Not that subtle, really, is it?

I have no time for the despicable Iranian regime, although the gamble that it could be forced to abstain from nuclear brinksmanship has been proven right. But the case that it is in Americas interests to take a firm side in the Sunni-Shiite feud in the Middle East  and simply back the Sunnis  makes no sense to me. American power is, in my view, best wielded through playing the two sides off each other, and providing some way for co-existence without devastating conflict. We have no interest whatever in the Shiite-Sunni theological struggles which now go back centuries. Yes, we should cautiously encourage any kind of democratic opening in Saudi Arabia (though count me super-skeptical), just as we should (and have) in Iran. But another war  this time for the Sunnis? Led by the neoconservatives? In defense of an absolute monarchy? In a cynical alliance with the Israeli far right? This is what this Saudi charm offensive is all about. And all of Washington seems to be falling for it.

See you next Friday.
The latest changes in the government include final approval of constitutional change that enables current leader president Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely, or at least as long as he can hang onto power. This is now the law and Xi wasted no time in making more changes. He introduced the NPS (National Supervision Commission) which has an expanded mandate that makes it the most powerful anti-corruption organization. Until the NPS the most powerful anti-corruption group was the ruling Communist Partys CCDI (Central Commission for Discipline Inspection), which only went after party officials. The NPS can do that as well as investigate any corruption in China, whether it involves a party member or not. The NPS is powerful because it answers directly to the supreme leader (Xi Jinping) and cannot be overruled by anyone but him. The creation of the NPS was a popular move because rich and powerful Chinese who engage in corrupt practices often appear untouchable. No more, unless Xi Jinping owes you a favor.

Provincial leaders were ordered, at the 2017 19th National Congress, to halt the practice of inflating economic data to meet goals set by the national government. Not everyone has complied but all apparently tried. These orders had been issued before but the 2017 version came with assurances that those who did not comply would be subject to intense scrutiny by anti-corruption prosecutors. Most provincial leaders are complying, especially since the government also offered a carrot to go with the stick. Provincial goals are now somewhat more nuanced that just GDP. The new goals stress quality not quantity. This is difficult to sustain because it depends on keeping a lid on corruption, which is a goal rarely achieved in China and never for long. Provincial leaders see official goals are opportunities rather than burdensome requirements. The catalyst for this approach is corruption. What the national government is asking for is that provincial leaders must now fix local problems (poor infrastructure, pollution, falling birthrates and the resulting smaller workforce and growing number of elderly) mainly with local resources. The national government says it is going be more responsive to these provincial problems but that is also a rare event in Chinese history. On top of all this there is a damaged national banking system trying to cope with huge amounts of bad debt (the aftereffect of decades of corruption in lending). This is all good news, but it remains to be seen how much of it turns into reality.

The Cash Conspiracy

China is encountering more resistance to its ambitious program of overseas investment and development. The primary government objective is to obtain access to needed raw materials as well as to build a new, Chinese controlled trade network called OBOR (One Belt, One Road). A third goal is to use those investments to gain political, diplomatic and military power outside China. This plan, as most large scale and ambitious efforts, is running into problems. The main one is that the terms of these investments are subject to a lot of corruption and government interference (Chinese and local). The result of this is many projects are over budget and behind schedule. In a growing number of countries the locals are becoming aware of all the implications of these Chinese investments and becoming, as the Chinese see it, troublesome. For example the Philippines is a typical recipient of growing Chinese investments but many Filipinos see their local corruption as a weakness that the Chinese are quietly seeking to exploit. Thus a recent a Chinese credit rating agency report gave the Philippines an excellent (AAA) rating. This got different reactions in the Philippines. Some saw it as an accurate assessment of how things were going. The rating agency noted that tax and other reforms were underway and that GDP growth was expected to stay strong (at 6.8 percent) even though the Filipino government was seeking something between seven and eight percent. This upbeat assessment made it possible for China to approve new loans to the Philippines. That made a lot of Filipinos uneasy. Thats because China is increasingly using its large foreign investments as weapons. Case in point is the tactic of loaning poor countries large amounts of money for huge development projects (like ports, roads and railroads). The loans are on terms that look attractive but eventually much be repaid. When the debtor nation runs into trouble making payments China offers to reduce the load in return for control (if not majority ownership) of the ports, railroad, airport or whatever. With control of these facilities China can probably run them more efficiently, and profitably. But control means it is easier for China to use the facility for military or espionage purposes. This is called DTD (Debt Trap Diplomacy) and has been a favorite Chinese tactic for over a thousand years by virtue of China having, until a few centuries ago, long been the wealthiest empire on the planet. Nations currently vulnerable (they have large Chinese debts) to DTD are Sri Lanka, Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Venezuela and Tajikistan. Most nations are aware of the DTD trap but where there is a lot of corruption China can create a DTD situation anyway. Some of these DTD efforts go bad and cost China a lot of money, but on average DTD is a net gain for China as it gains military, economic and diplomatic advantages without having to fight.

North Korea

North Korea officials are finding ways to get around new sanctions, aside from having the boss to go China and kiss the ring. For example female university students must now spend two years in China for practical experience after their first two years of university study. That now involves working as waitresses in North Korean restaurant that used to recruit non-students. But the sanctions ended that for a while. Actually this working in China program for university began in 2014 but has now been expanded in order to keep North Korean restaurants open and earning lots of foreign currency. The government is also allowing North Koreans to visit China for extended periods if they have some job lined up that will generate foreign currency for the government. This does not violate the sanctions because these North Koreans are in China to see friends or family or simply as tourists. But on the side they are illegally working, something that is difficult to police if the work is not visible to the general public.

Since the March 25 visit of Kim Jong Un to China there has been a sharp increase in North Korean workers returning (illegally) to China to work. The busloads of North Koreans are being allowed into China and later showing up at work sites. This may have been allowed to encourage Kim Jong Un to behave during his April meeting with the South Korean leader and the May meet with the U.S. president.

South Asia

Pakistan has become more dependent on China for weapons as U.S. sales declined 76 percent in the last five years. The Americans are punishing Pakistan for supporting Islamic terrorism and not doing anything to change that. China has become the major supplier of weapons to Bangladesh and Burma as well although for those two countries China simply offers lower prices. India has in turn bought less from Russia, long the main supplier, and depended more on Western nations (mainly the U.S. and Israel. China has become a major threat to customers Russia long believed they had a lock on. China can offer a wider range of inexpensive weapons similar to what Russia has long offered but deliver stuff of higher quality, higher quantity and customized to customer requirements. Moreover China turns around these orders more quickly. There are still some Chinese weapons suppliers who have acquired some of the bad Russian habits but these are usually bottom feeders supplying the lowest cost stuff to the most desperate customers. China encourages its arms manufacturers to take the high road, except when it comes to practical measures like paying bribes to get the sale and get it delivered.

April 3, 2018: The government is increasing its control over Christian churches in China. The latest move is to ban Chinese online bookstores from selling bibles. That was already illegal because it has long been the law that bibles could only be distributed by government approved and regulated Christian churches. But as online bookstores became more popular in China the government did not immediately apply all its book distribution and censorship to online sales. That has changed, especially when it comes to religious materials. China sees unregulated religions in China as a threat.

April 2, 2018: The Chinese navy deployed some 40 warships, including their lone aircraft carrier for what was described as a training exercise in the South China Sea. Aerial and satellite photos showed this training exercise included a procession of all the warships in two lines as they moved from the naval base on Hainan Island (their main naval base in southern China). This formation appeared to be more for publicity than improving combat skills.

April 1, 2018: A senior Chinese diplomat visited South Korea, apparently to deliver news of the recent meeting between the North Korean and Chinese leaders. China has to approve any deals between the two Koreas and this visit was to clarify what China will allow in the future. This is not required by any international agreement but simply due to the fact that China could disrupt any deal it does not approve of. This was apparently one reason for the March 25 visit of Kim Jong Un to China. The behavior of North Korea over the last few years has been annoying for China and this new North Korean effort to arrange one-on-one meets with other leaders made China look bad and the Chinese wanted to make the best they could of the situation.

March 31, 2018: In northeastern India (Arunachal Pradesh) China has built another base on their side of the border. In addition to several multistory buildings the base has a telecommunications tower and a surveillance tower with several sensors. To the west China has built a new road into tiny Bhutan to get around Indian efforts to halt a Chinese buildup on the Doklam plateau. Bhutan, unlike India, doesnt mind of China builds a new road in Bhutan without asking permission. That is how Bhutan survives having two of the most powerful nations on the planet for neighbors. On this section of the Tibet border China is still building up its military forces (especially air defense and warplanes) on their side of the frontier. India is doing the same on their side and both sides appear getting for another confrontation over conflicting claims on the Doklam plateau. A 2017 confrontation was settled in August 2017 but the standoff continues. The two nations blamed each other for this confrontation that took place in a very inhospitable part of the world. The Doklam plateau is where the Tibet border meets Indias Sikkim State. China is also building new roads to this part of the Tibet/India border. India protests, often with troops, when Chinese construction efforts enter Indian or simply contested territory in this high altitude wilderness. China has most of the advantages here, with more roads and bases on their side of the border, 24/7 satellite surveillance of the area, better communications and electronics in general plus a track record of China winning and India losing. China has made it clear that it believes it owns the Doklam plateau and is determined to assert that ownership without starting a major war. There is a similar situation in the northeast, where India has increased patrols, particularly where the borders of India, China and Burma meet. India wants to detect new Chinese incursions as quickly as possible so the Chinese can be confronted before they can become too established (by erecting structures and building roads).

March 30, 2018: After seven years of effort and several signed, but never ratified, agreements India is still without a base in the Seychelles Islands. China, on the other hand proceeded with large investment project which give the Chinese a larger economic presence on the islands than India. This all began in 2011 when the island nation of Seychelles asked China to come in and establish a military base. It was hoped that would help keep Somali pirates away. The presence of these pirates hurt the local economy, and any help was appreciated. Seychelles had already sent about a hundred of its troops to China for training. Chinese warships going to, or from, Somalia stopped for visits. But a base would be another matter, and something India wanted to prevent. Seychelles is 1,500 kilometers off the African coast and 3,000 kilometers southwest of India. The Seychelles islands have a total population of 90,000 and no military power to speak of. They are largely defenseless against pirates. By 2010 Somali pirates began operating as far east as the Seychelles. India has provided assistance to the Seychelles, as has NATO, but it apparently has not been enough. The Chinese considered the base request, declined but agreed to continue having the Chinese Navy use the Seychelles for resupply and shore leave. India provided patrol boats and reconnaissance aircraft for the Seychelles and after 2012 the international anti-piracy patrol off Somalia shut down the pirate threat in general and to the Seychelles in particular. India persisted with the naval base proposal and twice, in 2015 and 2017, deals were agreed to and signed. But because of local politics in Seychelles neither of the agreements was ever ratified and the current Seychelles government is not interested in negotiating another base deal. Meanwhile more Chinese investments in the Seychelles arrive and are welcomed.

March 30, 2018: China announced major upgrades for the joint Chinese-Pakistani JF-17 fighter. These Block III upgrades mainly involves replacing the mechanical radar with an AESA (phased array) radar and a general upgrade in electronics. The Chinese manufacturer (CAC) is doing this because it has found AESA an essential feature if you want export sales. CAC also builds the J10, which is similar to the JF-17, and installed AESA in the J10 in 2007 so China definitely has the tech. While there have been some export sales the JF-17 failed get more such sales because the aircraft was not considered competitive. That doesnt bother Pakistan, where their first JF-17 squadron became operational in 2010. Upgrading Pakistani JF-17s with AESA will be a first for Pakistan because none of the other Pakistani fighters have it (not even the F-16s.) So far Pakistan is the only user of the JF-17 although Burma and Nigeria have some on order. Pakistan has about a hundred JF-17s. The JF-17 was part of a project that began in 1992 and while it was a joint Pakistan-China development project China supplied most of the money and did most of the work. China, however, does not use the JF-17, only Pakistan. Thats largely because the JF-17 is assembled in Pakistan, although over 40 percent of the components come from China or Russia. The project has gone through several name changes (FC-1, Super 7) and was never a high priority for China. The 13 ton JF-17 is meant to be a low cost ($20-30 million) alternative to the American F-16. The JF-17 is considered the equal to earlier versions of the F-16, but only half as effective as more recent F-16 models. The JF-17 uses the same Russian engine, the RD-93 that is used in the MiG-29. The JF-17 design is based on a cancelled Russian project, the MiG-33. Most of the JF-17 electronics are Western. The JF-17 can carry 3.6 tons of weapons and use radar guided and heat seeking missiles. It has max speed of Mach 1.6, an operating range of 1,300 kilometers and a max altitude of 17,000 meters (55,000 feet).

March 29, 2018: China launched two more Beidou third generation GPS navigation satellites. This makes eight third gen birds so far and 31 altogether (including test satellites). In 2012 China opened Beidou to civilian use and expects to grab a major share of the satellite navigation market from the U.S GPS system by the end of the decade (when Beidou will cover the world using 35 satellites). In 2013 Pakistan agreed to adopt Beidou and give it equal status with the American GPS. China built ground facilities in Pakistan to enhance Beidou so that it can be used for precision applications (like landing aircraft in bad weather). Pakistan was the fifth country to adopt Beidou. Currently Beidou only covers Asia and the Pacific but by 2020 there will be sufficient satellites in service to cover the world. Beidou will be fully operational in 2020 with a restricted (to China and Pakistan) accuracy of 10 cm (four inches) and a public accuracy of 10 meters (31 feet).

March 28, 2018: India denied a media report (by a Japanese publication) that Indian and Chinese warships confronted each other on the 22nd off the Maldives Islands. This follows a Chinese news report in February indicating that there had been a similar confrontation, but there wasnt.

March 26, 2018: The government has completed the shift of the border guard force to the military. Previously the border guards were considered police and answered to non-military officials in the government. That meant that if the military had a problem on the border (like with India or North Korea) they had to go through another (non-military) government department to get a border guard to cooperate with nearby military units.

March 25, 2018: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un arrived in the Chinese capital. He travelled aboard his personal armored train. This was the first time Kim has travelled outside North Korea since inheriting power in 2011. Pictures of the unique train soon appeared on the Internet but there was no official confirmation until three days later, when the visit ended with an official announcement. Apparently Kim was summoned to China and told by Xi Jinping for a discussion about the relationship between the two countries. North Korea is seeking to obtain a renewal of the Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty between the two countries which obliges China to come to the aid of North Korea if North Korea is attacked. In 2017 China told Kim that China would not automatically help North Korea if North Korea launched an attack on South Korea or the U.S. and then was hit by retaliatory attacks. Kim was also reminded that the Mutual Aid treaty is due to expire in 2021 and renewal is not automatic. The meeting between Xi and Kim ended without any dramatic announcement about what exactly was accomplished but the official rumor was that Kim was told to drop his nuclear weapons program and get what he could get from South Korea and the Americans in return. Kim and his wife returned with about $400,000 worth of gifts from the Chinese, including some items that, according to current sanctions, cannot be sent to North Korea. It was noted that Xi was invited to visit North Korea and the most likely time would be this July, the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War. That visit is apparently contingent on Kim not screwing up the upcoming meetings with the South Korean president followed, in May, by one with the American president. The meeting in China included North Korea agreeing to again take part in the six-party talks, which were last held in 2009.

March 23, 2018: The national censors have issued more regulations in a growing effort to outlaw parody items directed at the government. This is especially true when video of official events and those attending are recast as parodies of Chinese leaders or institution. This effort to suppress parody and any form of criticism is ongoing because with the Internet and the growing number of educated and affluent Chinese there are more clever and effective critics than ever before. Being Big Brother is not as easy as it is made out to be.

March 22, 2018: An American destroyer (USS Mustin) carried out the second American FONOP (freedom of navigation operation) in the South China Sea. This was the second FONOP for 2018. This one was near Mischief Reef (270 kilometers west of Palawan) off the coast of the Philippines. China protested as they now consider this area part of China. Mischief Reef is much closers to the Philippines (Palawan) than China (Hainan) and according to international law (and a recent international court decision) is Filipino. The Chinese say they have prior claim to most of the South China Sea and basically dares the rest of the world to try and stop them. This makes sense to most Chinese because the Chinese have long called China Zhongguo, which is usually translated into English as middle kingdom. But a more literal and accurate translation is everything under the heavens. Until the 21st century this mainly meant adjacent land areas. But now China points out that everything means the South China Sea as well. Chinese media report these FONOPs as a violation of international law and most now trigger a response by Chinese warships or warplanes. In reality China rarely opposes the American warships. These exercises are meant to affirm that many of the Chinese claims to the entire South China Sea are invalid and that the right to free passage through Chinas EEZ is assured.

In the Indian Ocean the Maldives lifted a 45 day state of emergency that had threatened to escalate into a situation where the Chinese military would intervene to protect its massive investments. China and India had been threatening each other over who should do what in Maldive Islands (just south of India). This conflict heated up at the end of 2017 when China and the Maldives signed an agreement that allowed China to build and operate a Joint Ocean Observation Station. This monitoring station would be built on an atoll that is the closest part of the Maldives to India. Opposition politicians in the Maldives claim China has already taken possession of sixteen small islands and that China has been investing heavily in the Maldives economy and influential politicians. This agreement was apparently obtained by Chinese bribes and assurances that there would be more Chinese investments. Meanwhile the Maldives government was in chaos because elected officials and the Supreme Court judges disagree about who should actually be in charge. The tiny (248 square kilometers spread over 1,192 coral atolls spread over 90,000 square kilometers of water off the southern coast of India) nation has a mostly Moslem (98 percent) population of 430,000 plus 100,000 foreign workers (a third of them illegals). Most of the population is concentrated on about 15 percent of the islands. The per capita income is about $10,000 and most of it is based on tourism followed by fishing. Many young men have been attracted to Islamic terrorism but there is not much religious violence in the Maldives. While a democracy the religious parties and military have kept the government in turmoil by asserting decidedly non-democratic powers.

March 21, 2018: China has sold Pakistan a high-tech missile tracking system that enables Pakistan to develop more accurate and destructive ballistic missiles. This system is key to developing an effective multi-warhead missile, one that can deliver two or more warheads accurately to different targets.

March 19, 2018: China has refused to make any additional loans to Venezuela. China had been a major lender to Venezuela and provided over $50 billion since 2007. Most of these loans are repaid with Venezuelan oil. The amount of oil owed China increases as the oil price declines, which means Venezuela has less oil to sell or use for domestic needs. Venezuelan oil is difficult to refine, which is why the U.S. is the major buyer as the Americans have built special refineries to handle it. China faces huge losses because Venezuela became officially bankrupt at the end of 2017 and its socialist government has wrecked its oil industry and ability to pump and ship oil. The bankruptcy was not unexpected but China knew there would be great risks and potentially high costs for establishing themselves in South America. China will extend payment terms on current loans but is taking a wait and see attitude to the growing political and economic catastrophe in Venezuela.

March 18, 2018: In Bangladesh the army is investigating another case of Chinese weapons (mostly small arms) being smuggled in aboard ships that were not intercepted by the coast guard or in cargoes not inspected at ports. The weapons were for black market arms dealers who sell to Islamic terrorists, gangsters and anyone who can pay.

March 13, 2018: France and the Philippines agreed to cooperate in dealing with Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.

March 12, 2018: In the northwest (Xinjiang province) the local government proudly reminds everyone that there were no terrorism related deaths in 2017. That was the first full year that the current provincial government was in charge. The reason for the sharp reduction in terrorism or separatist activity in Xinjiang has been the introduction of a lot more new technology for monitoring the population. This includes thousands of vidcams and a very effective facial recognition system. This is in addition to a growing list of methods used to collect data on the non-Han Chinese population, especially anything related to ethnic separatism or Islamic terrorism. This helps the government select those who will be sent to re-education camps (for a few weeks or six months or more.) There are currently over 100,000 Moslems (most of them Uighur, ethnic Turks who used to be the majority in Xinjiang) in the re-education camps. That is out of the nine million Uighurs in the province. Uighurs are a shrinking minority as more and more Han Chinese move in. The re-education camps contain very few Han Chinese. A new generation of security analysis software and hardware is replacing a lot of the older manpower intensive data collection methods. Xinjiang is being used as a test site for new Big Brother (as in the anti-communist novel 1984) technology. This is being done in the name of controlling Islamic terrorism (although there is very little of that in China, even in Moslem majority districts) and ethnic separatism (which is a real threat especially in Xinjiang and Tibet). On the other hand the government has made enormous strides when it comes to reducing poverty in Xinjiang and Tibet but that tends to produce more affluent and educated separatists.

March 10, 2018: Some Chinese Uighurs are Islamic terrorists and openly proclaim their membership in groups like TIP (Turkistan Islamic Party). Recently this group released a combat video on the Internet that made it clear the TIP was still working with the Taliban (as they have been doing since the 1990s). Currently TIP is active in the northern Afghanistan (Faryab province) and until 2014 was based in northeast Pakistan (North Waziristan). TIP was founded by and still led by Chinese Turks (Uighurs). TIP has found friends in Turkey and is also active in Syria. All this has made China unhappy. In early 2015 Afghanistan admitted that it had an arrangement with China whereby Afghanistan would seize and turn over to China any Chinese Moslems (especially Turkic Uighurs) found in Afghanistan. About the same time this resulted in a dozen Uighurs arrested in Afghanistan being sent back to China. In return China increased the diplomatic and economic pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting Islamic terrorists attacking Afghanistan. China is the largest foreign investor in Pakistan as well as the main source of modern weapons, so when China talks Pakistan must listen and at least pretend to act. This China link was one reason for Pakistan attacking North Waziristan in mid-2014. Since the late 1980s (when TIP was created) it has largely consisted of Chinese Uighurs from northwestern China (Xinjiang province). Since 2001 TIP has attracted more recruits from other areas in Central Asia that have Turkic populations.
The country is still chaotic because of the hundreds of militias and private armies operating with little supervision. Many of these are unifying behind what is left of the GNA (Government of National Accord) in Tripoli in an effort to survive. While many Western nations consider the LNA (Libyan National Army), or at least some of its commanders, to be war criminals the fact is that pro-GNA faction leaders are no better and often a lot worse. The Arab nations that have long supported the LNA and its creator Khalifa Hiftar understand this and the fact that Hiftar is simply a more effective military leaders and, after living in the U.S. for over a decade, knows first-hand what works. Most Libyans, having little or no personal experience of a much less corrupt and more productive Western economy, just want someone to make all the chaos and pain go away. There is no easy way to make that happen. A first step would be to form a united government. That is still a work in progress.

The major obstacle to a united government are the many Islamic militias of Misrata. There are over 500 officially recognized (registered) militias in Libya. That is not all of them but is more than half and comprises about 80 percent of the armed manpower in Libya. The problem is that about half the registered militia are from one coastal city ; Misrata. The third largest city in Libya (after Tripoli and Benghazi ) it has a peacetime population of 2 8 0,000). The Misrata militias have a lot of members who support Islamic conservatism , but not something as extreme as ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) . During the 2011 rebellion the Misrata militias were the most numerous and experienced in Libya and did most of the fighting and took most of the casualties. In 2016 they did the same against ISIL in Sirte. Most other militias in the country are for local defense and often run by men who see this as an opportunity to steal.

There is a major problem in that the Misrata militias contained a lot of people who supported an Islamic government and a lot of Libyans do not trust the Misrata militias because of this. Neither does general Hiftar and the LNA. The UN backed GNA government in Tripoli has long depended on Misrata for dependable armed forces to deal with outlaw militiad in general and the more extreme Islamic groups in particular. Libyans note that the late dictator Kaddafi based his rule on being able to portray himself as an Islamic leader. Thus for decades Kaddafi used Islam to justify his many excesses. Libyans see the Misrata militias trying to do the same and are more inclined to side with Hiftar and an elected government. But the Misrata militias are still a major force in western Libya and opposition to Hiftar unites most of them.

Shrink The Black Market

A major motivation to restoring public order is to shut down the criminal gangs that are using kidnapping, extortion, embezzlement, smuggling (especially illegals headed for Europe) and outright theft to enrich themselves. UN experts and most Libyans agree that this means the black markets and all the outlaw groups are moving large quantities of cash through Libya. Some of it stays in Libya to finance the local criminal activities while most goes to foreign bank accounts that are deliberately difficult to track down. Libyans fear that their leaders are stealing much of the oil income and foreign aid and using this underground economy to get the loot out of the country. Some of this does happen but no one is sure how much. Shutting down this shadow economy is necessary to get the pre-war economy going again. To do that requires a united government that can bring it all under control. Currently the Central Bank of Libya and the Audit Bureau (created to audit financial institutions for evidence of corruption) are deadlocked because of disagreements over procedure and the extent of the Audit Bureau power to summon bank officials for interrogation and access to the bank databases and logs. So far the auditors are being blocked by judges who side with the banks and this sort of thing appears to be another sign of widespread corruption. Shutting down the illegal economy is a great idea but no one knows how to make it happen.

Optimism Versus Reality

Despite seven years of chaos and fighting Libya did rather well (ranking 70 out of 156) on the UN sponsored World Happiness Index. The top ten are all the usual suspects (Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia). Ironically Israel is the least miserable nation in the Arab world (being 11th on the world list). However last year Algeria was the happiest state in Africa but this year fell to third. Number one was Mauritius, which is a tiny (population 1.3 million) island state off East Africa that has been well run and prosperous because of tourism and has been generally peaceful since it became independent 50 years ago. Libya is now number two and has since 2011 been seen as chaotic and an Islamic terrorist haven but in 2017 the situation improved a lot and that was reflected in Happiness Index. Neighbor Algeria has less oil than Libya but also suffers from chronic government corruption and economic stagnation despite all the oil wealth and that does not make Algerians happy. Libyans are hoping for a return to the good old (pre-2011) days but that is another triumph of hope over experience.

Generally the Happiness rankings are similar to the corruption survey. Thus the U.S. is at 18th place on the Happiness List, Morocco is at 85, Algeria at 84, Palestinian Territories at 104, Egypt at 122, Tunisia at 111, Mali at 118, Niger at 134, the UAE at 2o, Saudi Arabia at 33, Kuwait at 45, Russia at 59, Japan at 54, South Korea at 57, Turkey at 74, Jordan at 90, China at 86, Pakistan at 75, Venezuela at 102, Lebanon at 88, Somalia at 98, Iran at 106, Iraq at 117, Bangladesh at 115, Burma at 130, India at 133, Afghanistan at 145, Yemen at 152, Syria at 150 and at 156 (last place) Burundi. Communist dictatorships like North Korea and Cuba block access to data needed for the survey and were not rated but it is rumored they are not happy places.

Libyans may not be so optimistic for the 2018 Happiness Index. During the first three months of 2018 oil production did not rise but fell by over five percent because of labor disputes and a key landowner protesting that oil workers had left trash on his land. This is all about getting a larger chunk of the oil income. Everyone seems to be more concerned about themselves than doing something to get Libya functioning once more.

Already this month the head of the LIA (Libyan Investment Authority) had to repeat that the $12 billion dollars of Libyan government funds frozen in a Belgian bank by the UN are still there and have not been looted. Given the degree of corruption Libyans have seen since 2011 (and details of how much the Kaddafi government made off with) there are always new rumors that despite UN assurances the sequestered funds overseas are still intact. The problem is that Libyans dont trust the UN either, which itself a notoriously corrupt organization but pretends to be otherwise.

Most Libyans want their Kaddafi-era welfare state back, but bigger and better. Kaddafi held power for so long, despite his bizarre behavior and mismanagement, by spending over half the oil income on a shabby, but effective enough welfare state. Anyone who misbehaved had their benefits cut off. Kaddafi would also cut benefits for the extended family of those who opposed him. This was a remarkably effective way to run a police state. With Kaddafi and his secret police gone, people still want their welfare state and not a shabby one either. But without control of the entire country and full oil production, the new government has no way to deliver the expected goodies. Then there's the corruption, with many militia leaders inclined to grab local welfare funds for themselves.

April 4, 2018: At a meeting in neighboring Niger the Libyan (the GNA) delegation agreed with its three southern neighbors (Sudan, Niger and Chad) to reestablish joint border controls to so the Libya cease being a lawless area where all sorts of criminal operations can operate freely. Another meeting will be held in a month to start working out the details and the rules that all will follow. The problem here is that most of the Libyan forces along the southern borders belong to the LNA, not the GNA.

April 3, 2018: At the eastern port of Brega a Turkish freighter docked and spent over a week taking 5,000 tons of scrap collected by the LNA, which uses the proceeds to fund LNA. This scrap is considered part of the urban wreckage caused by seven years of fighting. The LNA has organized cleanup crews in the many areas it has cleared Islamic terrorists and other outlaws from. Most of the debris is just dumped in the countryside but the metal scrap has value and the LNA has no large financial backers so most make what it can when it can.

In the south (Sabha, 770 kilometers south of Tripoli) fighting, apparently between Tabu and Zaghawah tribesmen broke out again and in the last month has left ten dead and 38 wounded. The casualties were light, as they usually are during these tribal feuds. The GNA accuses the LNA of hiring foreign mercenaries to deal with the tribal feuding. The reality is that the LNA commander hired fighters who would follow orders since most of the armed groups native to the area are unpredictable because of factionalism and tribal politics.

April 2, 2018: GNA counter-terror forces began an operation to shut down small ISIL groups operating outside Western towns and cities Misrata, Bani Walid, Tarhouna, Msallata, Al-Khoms, and Zliten. These small bands of gunmen basically prey on anyone they come across and until recently no one had organized an armed effort to shut these desperados down.

April 1, 2018: The UN found that during March five civilians were killed and eleven wounded by terrorist violence. Throughout Libya Thid is a sharp from January and February when there were several terror attacks. There were many more casualties among the military forces (LNA and militias) as well as the few Islamic terror groups still operating. Various surveys indicate that nationwide fewer than 500 civilians died during 2017 from the fighting between militias, Islamic terror groups, criminal gangs and the LNA. The armed men in these groups suffered higher casualties, most of them among the Islamic terror groups, which were considered legitimate targets by everyone.

Outside the western city of Misrata the airport was shut down when gunmen from a militia showed up to free two men who had been arrested at the airport.

March 31, 2018: In the eastern city of Benghazi there was gun battle between two pro-LNA militias when members of one militia accused the others to tolerating members who were drug dealers. At least two people were killed and several others wounded.

March 30, 2018: In the east (outside Ajdabiya) a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives at an LNA checkpoint leaving eight dead and many others wounded. Most of the casualties were soldiers.

March 29, 2018: In the west the Misrata and Zintan militias agreed to put aside their differences and unite their forces in an effort to improve public security in western Libya. This also ended the presence of pro-Hiftar militias near Zintan (a largely Berber city 135 kilometers south of Tripoli). Since 2014 Hiftar had tried to expand his allies around Zintan but the Misrata militias were closer and had more to offer. At one time the Zintan militias controlled many neighborhoods in Tripoli but the Misrata militias drove them out in 2014 and it took over three years for the Misrata militias to repair that damage. The Hiftar plan was to use the airport outside Zintan (which had a peacetime population of 50,000) to bring in supplies and some troops if he were to go after Tripoli. Despite general weakness of the GNA forces the loss of access to Zintan makes it much more difficult for Hiftar to try and take Tripoli. Algeria and Tunisia support the GNA and the new Misrata-Zintan alliance because it means better security for the western borders. Currently the Hiftar forces are concentrating on restoring security along the southern borders.

March 27, 2018: In Benghazi six Indonesian sailors, who had been kidnapped by a Libyan militia six months ago when their sea going fishing boat was boarded (while in international waters) and everything portable stolen. The boat was taken to Benghazi where the crew were held prisoner and survived by fishing from the docked boat and selling the fish in a local market to buy stables (rice, vegetables). The militia was persuaded to release the crew for no ransom. The Italian captain of the ship was recused a month after the boat was captured and the details of that are unclear.

March 26, 2018: The Vatican, Rwanda, Canada, South Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Norway all established diplomatic relations with the GNA and their diplomats in Libya officially announced that.

March 25, 2018: The GNA prime minister (Fayez al Sarraj) offered to share power with Khalifa Hiftar and make Hiftar the head of a united Libyan armed forces. Hiftar would also be able to appoint some his people to the presidential council (the nine man cabinet). Hiftar turned this down because, although Saffaj has held the GNA job for two years he is considered weak and not in control of all the armed groups that are technically subordinate to the GNA. Hiftar tried negotiating with the GNA in the past and now considers Sarraj illegitimate because he cannot really accomplish anything. Hiftar prefers to go with the current UN plan for elections in 2018 and that the HoR (House of Representatives government in Tobruk) is recognized as the major political player in the country. In late 2017 the HNEC (High National Elections Commission in Libya) began registering voters and by early 2018 had determined that there were about 1.8 million potential voters and had shown that it was possible to register nearly all of them by mid-2018. But all the details for 2018 elections are still not known nor has s date been set.

March 24, 2018: In the south (700 kilometers south of Tripoli) an American UAV used a missile to destroy a vehicle crossing the desert near Ubari oasis . Two senior al Qaeda officials in the vehicle died.

March 9, 2018: In the east (outside Ajdabiya) ISIL used a car bomb to kill three LNA men at a checkpoint.
Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf rejected the amnesty scheme announced by the Prime Minster Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

Former Chairman Senate and the leader of the PPP, Raza Rabbani termed the amnesty scheme announced by PM, as license to earn black money.

He said PPP strongly condemns the amnesty scheme announced by the govt.

The Spokesperson of the PTI,Fawad Chaudhry said that Govt wants to facilitate the people, who have earned black money through this scheme.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has announced the amnesty scheme for those who are not paying income tax amid to increase tax base and revenue.

Addressing a press conference in the federal capital after a meeting of the Economic Advisory Council ended earlier today, said a decision had been taken to introduce a five-point amendments package on income tax.

He said that the lower number of tax payers were causing problems, therefore the amnesty scheme was an effort to increase tax collection.

He announced a tax amnesty scheme for non-payers, however, clarified that politically exposed persons and their families were not eligible to benefit from the scheme. The amnesty scheme is valid till June.
Kashmir Solidarity Day is being observed today across the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to condemn the ongoing state terrorism and violence by the Indian army in held-Kashmir.

A resolution to this effect was adopted in a special meeting of the federal cabinet in Islamabad on April 2 with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the chair.

Rallies, functions and walks would be held in different parts of the country and around the globe by Pakistanis and Kashmiris living there to expose Indian atrocities and highlight the need for peaceful resolution of the long-standing dispute.

In AJK, the main rally will be taken out in Muzaffarabad, whereas similar rallies will be taken out from the deputy commissioner's offices in Neelum, Jhelum Valley, Bagh, Rawalakot, Haveli, Kotli and other AJK districts.

A total of 19 Kashmiri youth were martyred in operations and subsequent action against protesters by Indian forces earlier this week.

Over 200 civilians were also injured in the action.

Pakistan has strongly condemned the brutal and discriminatory use of force by the Indian occupation forces.

The federal cabinet emphatically condemned the suspension of communication services, especially the internet in the valley, and underscored that such reprehensible Indian attempts aimed at silencing the voice of the Kashmiris from reaching the international community would never succeed.
The red carpet was rolled out as Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi arrived in Kabul on Friday.

A guard of honour was presented to the premier at the Afghan presidential palace upon arrival.

National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Janjua, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Khyber Pakhtunkwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, among other officials, are accompanying the premier on his day-long visit to the Afghan capital.

The delegation is expected to discuss the political and security situation of Afghanistan with the country's top leadership.

The visit follows an invitation by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and comes in the backdrop of Pakistan's support to Ghani's peace offering to the Taliban and wish of strengthening bilateral engagement with Islamabad.

During the visit, Abbasi will hold in-depth consultations with Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah on matters of mutual interest, including strengthening of bilateral political, economic, security and counter-terrorism cooperation, repatriation of Afghan refugees, combating drug production and narco-trade, Afghan peace process and regional political and security situation, said a statement by the Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday night.

"Pakistan will continue to support Afghan government's development efforts through capacity building in infrastructure, educational and health sectors in Afghanistan," it said further.

The statement further read that Islamabad also aspires to deepen people-to-people contacts and in this regard, the prime minister would discuss with the Afghan leadership ways to facilitate travel between the two countries, assist education and medical treatment of Afghan nationals in Pakistan and expand trade and transit facilitation between the two countries.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are participating in key trans-regional initiatives namely Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) to promote regional economic integration.

Abbasi had visited Afghanistan in February this year to inaugurate the TAPI gas pipeline project. The two sides are also engaged in undertaking major bilateral rail-road connectivity projects.

The promising atmosphere surrounding the trip was marred Thursday night after Pakistan urged Kabul to refrain from 'blame games' following allegations by Afghanistan that the Pakistan Air Force violated Afghan airspace.

FO spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said in a series of tweets clarified that Pakistani security forces are undertaking counter-terrorism operations in Bajaur Agency, directed against terrorist groups who continue to attack Pakistan from their sanctuaries based on Afghan soil.

Pakistan urges Afghanistan to focus on taking effective counter-terrorism actions including plugging of large gaps existing along the Afghan side of Pakistan-Afghanistan border to prevent the targeting of Pakistani civilians and security forces by terrorists from Afghan soil," he said in one of the tweets.

US Department of States Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia Alice Wells completed a week-long visit to Pakistan on April 3 where she held meeting with top civil and military officials.

She noted the meaningful role that Pakistan, partnering with the United States, could play in achieving a peaceful resolution in Afghanistan, a press release by the US embassy had said.

After her meeting with the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa, the army had said in a statement that Pakistan also expects other players in the region to play an equally positive part.

Earlier this week, a high-level Pakistani delegation led by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua met President Ghani and other Afghan officials to discuss various important issues.

The delegation comprised senior civil and military officials, including Director General Military Operations Maj Gen Shamshad Mirza. It arrived in Afghanistan to hold talks on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS).

Prior to that, Pakistan's National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Janjua also held separate meetings with President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah during his visit to Kabul.

It was during his meeting with Janjua that Ghani invited Abbasi to Kabul to "initiate a state-to-state comprehensive dialogue."
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar has summoned the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) managing director along with an audit report of the national flag carrier.

According to a statement by the Supreme Court on Friday, the chief justice has summoned the PIA chief in person on April 12.

The PIA managing director has been directed to bring with him a 10-year audit report of the airlines as well as the account statement of the last decade.

According to a Radio Pakistan on April 1, the Supreme Court took notice of PIA's decision to give up profitable routes to other airlines and the intended privatisation of the airline.

The court had also reportedly directed that no fresh recruitment shall be made in the PIA.

The loss-making national airline has accumulated vast debt over several years owing to official mismanagement.

The present government earlier attempted to privatise part of the airline, including its management, but the plans were put on the backburner after opposition from other political parties and the airline's staff.

According to a Reuters report, PIA was among 68 state-owned companies earmaked for privatisation in return for a $6.7 billion International Monetary Fund package that helped the government stave off a default in 2013, when it came to power.

Despite some initial success, the process stalled in 2016 after staff protests caused havoc with PIA operations and the government passed a law that effectively made it impossible to privatise the airline.
In his first visit to Kabul, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi agreed on achieving the common aim of regional security through connectivity during a meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

He also extended an invitation to president Ghani to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience.

After the meeting with President Ghani, PM Abbasi and his entourage arrived at the office of Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah for consultations.

Earlier in the day, PM Abbasi reached the Afghan capital accompanied by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and National Security Adviser Nasir Khan Janjua. The Afghan President received the premier at the Afghan Presidential Palace where he was also presented a guard of honour.

The premier is scheduled to hold meetings on issues pertaining to counter-terror cooperation, the regional situation, repatriation of Afghan refugees and combating drug production. The two countries are key parties to a trans-regional gas pipeline aiming to connect Central Asia with South Asia among other regional trade and power projects.
Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

Axios editor Mike Allen is a consummate Establishmentarian who has spent his career laboring to win the approval of elites in both parties. Yesterday, Allen published a column headlined The case for extreme worry. His observations are, indeed, quite worrying. Checks are being ignored or have been eliminated, and critics purged as the president is filling time by watching Fox, and by eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants, he notes. Trumps closest confidants speak with an unusual level of concern, even alarm, and admit to being confused about what the president will do next  and why.

It would be a mistake to overstate the change at hand. The Trump presidency has been a slow-moving freakout, every new episode representing a surreal extension of the unknown. Still, there is evidence that the chaos has increased in some important new way. After many members of the administration seemed to convince themselves last year that they had gained some control over their erratic chief executive, they see him slipping the restraints.

How Trump's Speaking Style Has Changed Over The Years

Here are some examples from the last 24 hours:

1. The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House staff has attempted to correct Trumps mistaken beliefs about Amazon, to no avail. Staffers a arranged private briefing that they believed debunked his concerns that Amazon was dodging taxes and exploiting the U.S. Postal Service. But Trump continued to directly contradict what he had learned because, a source explains, Its not the narrative he wants.

2. The Associated Press reports that Trump has grown tired of his chief of staffs management, but also has not seen fit to fire him outright. Instead, Trump recently told one confidant that he was tired of being told no by Kelly and has instead chosen to simply not tell Kelly things at all.

Of course, Trump is the president of the United States, and as such, outranks Kelly. Presumably he could keep his chief of staff informed of his doings, and overrule Kellys objections if he disagrees.

3. Trumps advisers, despairing of their inability to educate the president, have taken to using television as the preferred vehicle for their tutelage. The Washington Post reports that Jeanine Pirros Fox News program is the show of choice for this purpose. Aides sometimes plot to have guests make points on Fox that they have been unable to get the president to agree to in person. He will listen more when it is on TV, a senior administration official said. Pirro duty is considered important enough that officials rotate going on Pirros show because they know Trump will be watching  and partially to prevent him from calling in himself.

4. Another report in the Associated Press describes Trump ranting uncontrollably in a meeting with military brass. The president had opened the meeting with a tirade about U.S. intervention in Syria and the Middle East more broadly, repeating lines from public speeches in which hes denounced previous administrations for wasting $7 trillion in the region over the past 17 years, the report notes. At one point, a general interjected to inform Trump that his approach was not productive and asked him to give the group specific instructions as to what he wanted.

Should we be scared that the president is unable to focus or learn or even adopt a coherent management structure? Yes, we probably should.
Straight from city council

A personal view,

by Councillor Steve Morris

I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it said Basil Fawlty in the Fawlty Towers episode The Germans.

We had some German exchange students through work recently and, seeking to make them feel welcome, I told them I had German ancestry. From where in Germany? they asked. Poland, I said.

A couple of months ago I did a family history tour through Europe and went to my great-grandfathers village, Guben/Gubin; twin towns on the German/Polish border.

Of course, it was once deep inside Germany until they lost territory in the First and Second World Wars. Those who survived lost their homes and moved west to be replaced by Poles who, in turn, had lost their homes to the Russians further east.

Despite a fractious history and different languages, the towns are now planning joint sporting facilities and parks under the banner of a united Europe.

On the other side of the world, three councils are trying to do the same. We share the same language and people in many cases, but we struggle to follow the Guben/Gubin example.

In 2016, Tauranga City Council wrote to both the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council inviting them to co-locate with us in a new council building.

Who knows? We could have even shared a few staff and saved our ratepayers money. They both declined. Now we are talking about co-locating transport staff. I hope we do, as drivers dont notice boundaries. We shouldnt either.
Simon Bridges

National Party Leader

simonbridges.co.nz

The Bay of Plenty is thriving, and our increase in nominal GDP proves it. We have topped the regions for nominal GDP for the second year running (year ending March 2017), according to Statistics NZ.

Our local economy rose by nine per cent, followed closely by Northland and Waikato (both on 8.2 per cent), Southland (7.9 per cent) and Otago (7.1 per cent).

All 15 regional economies in New Zealand recorded increases, with a national average of 6.2 per cent.

The Bay of Plentys rise is mainly due to strong increases in the value of agriculture (horticulture and dairy), construction and rental, hiring and real estate services.

This is great news for our region and shows how good government policy, introduced by the former government, and innovative business attitudes have worked.

There are so many upsides to a strong economy both regionally and nationally. One of the big benefits is more jobs and lower unemployment.

This leads to higher standards of living. From a business perspective, a growing economy allows a business to invest in its future, which helps create profitability and long-term success.

The new government has a lot to live up to, and is tasked with the challenge of not messing things up. Our previous governments consistent, sensible economic policies have encouraged investment in the regions, and brought in skilled people to do the work.

We are seeing the positive results of that now.
Kawerau residents are being advised to keep their eyes on the sky this Monday, as there may be a high flying visitor to town.

The No.3 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force will be based at Kaweraus Firmin Lodge as part of a week-long team building exercise.

Kawerau District Councils Events and Venues Manager, Lee Barton says when the approach was made he saw the opportunity to make a community event of the visit.

I was thrilled to be approached by the RNZAF to stay at Firmin Lodge  theyll have more than 80 personnel through the week and they were attracted by the adventure opportunities that would be on their doorstep.

But it was also great to work with the Flight Lieutenant in charge of the trip to get some community engagement as well. Im sure they will have a fantastic time with us in Kawerau, says Lee.

As part of the visit, RNZAF personnel will spend time meeting students at Tarawera High School, which will hopefully include a special appearance of one of the impressive utilities available to the Squadron - NH90 or A109 helicopters (unless the helicopter is required for service elsewhere).

Additionally, during their stay the personnel hope to roll up their sleeves and spend an afternoon volunteering at the Kawerau Urban Food Forest project on Wednesday April 11.

KUFF coordinator, Hannah Edwardson says the team is excited to host RNZAF.

Drawings are being sketched and resources sourced for the arrival of the RNZAF to the Kawerau Urban Food Forest.

We are grateful to have the workforce come along and provide the muscle to help with some building structures around the site that will further develop our project, says Hannah.

More information on KUFF is available on the Councils website www.kaweraudc.govt.nz
Rescue Coordination Centre NZ is reminding hunters heading out for the roar that a registered distress beacon could save their life following two South Island rescues this week.

RCCNZ organised the rescue of two hunters who were bluffed on the West Coast, north of Haast, yesterday morning after they set off their distress beacon at 9 am.

The hill was slipping away from under them, says Senior Search & Rescue Officer, Greg Johnston. They found themselves in a life-threatening situation and made the decision to request help before the situation got worse.

RCCNZ sent the Greymouth Rescue Helicopter to assist the pair, who were taken to solid ground.

On Tuesday, two wet and cold hunters were rescued from a rapidly-rising river in Fiordland, that separated them from their inflatable boat on the opposite bank. RCCNZ sent Southern Lakes Helicopters to assist the pair.

Again, the situation could have quickly escalated, says Greg. If you feel that your life is in grave or imminent danger, you should first try to use two-way communications such as a phone or radio so that you can talk to emergency services. However, if you dont have signal, then a distress beacon should be activated.

Mountain safety Council communications manager Nick Kingstone says maintaining safety during the roar is a wider process than just taking a PLB long.

Theres possibly a misconception that if you take a PLB, thats enough, says Nick. I guess from our perspective thats good, but there is a better and best version that can be achieved as well.

Its good to have a PLB but it doesnt replace the planning process ahead of that.

In the central North Island region there are different challenges, he says.

Our take on it is if you are going off track, and 90 per cent are off track  no ones going to come and help, they are in very rugged terrain and they are trying to find animals in very steep gullies.

Theres a lot going on for those hunters out there, so having good boots, good preparation, good equipment and a global sense, and having a PLB - all these add up to meaning that you are safe and have a good time

Our perspective, is safety is the outcome of good planning and good decision making. So if you have done the right planning and that includes equipment, and then you are making sensible decisions when you are out there, then you will be safe as an outcome of that.

Emergency communications are in a descending order; emergency phone satellite phone or radio and a PLB.

Then you can kind of work through that order, says Nick.

Nicks advice comes on the back of the fatal shooting of a Katikati man who was shot while hunting in the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest on Monday.

There are on average 1.030 hunting injuries each year, 116 search and rescue operation and 4.7 fatalities.

Most hunting injuries are from falls, and carrying out carcasses.

The roar takes place from mid-March to mid-April in New Zealand and sees hunters going bush with aspirations of shooting a stag, which are more vocal than normal due to the mating season.

A list of beacon retailers and hire outlets is available here. And they can be registered here.

When you register, you give us critical information that helps us mobilise the best emergency response for your situation. In short: it could save your life, says Greg at the RCCNZ
The United Kingdom may be renowned for its welcoming and well-mannered locals, but in reality, travelling through the country isnt all tea and biscuits.

Like most places in the world, petty thieves and opportunists pose a real threat. And with pickpocketing ploys like the bottleneck and the moped mugger, travellers to the UK should keep their guard up at all times.

British Transport Police have launched a campaign called Be Aware, warning passengers to stay vigilant of their valuables while using public transport in the UK.

One of the common tactics they warn against is the stall, also commonly known as the bottleneck.

The scam involves a team of pickpockets blocking a passageway, like the exit of a train carriage or the bottom of an escalator. They create a scrum of passengers and use the crowded environment to grab what they can unnoticed.

Moped muggings are also frighteningly common in the UK, with over 16,000 incidents recorded in London in one year alone.

The drive-by thieves will snatch phones, wallets, handbags and even jewellery as they zip past pedestrians.

One of the oldest tricks in the book, the distraction is the most common ploy used by pickpockets across the world. It usually involves thieves working in pairs, with one member getting your attention while the other goes to work on your valuables.

Distraction scams are often targeted towards travellers, who can be easily swayed by persuasive and seemingly friendly locals.

Thankfully, deterring pickpockets can be simple. Use these strategies to protect your valuables and thieves will look for an easier target:

If a stranger approaches and begins talking to you, get into the habit of resting your hand on your phone or wallet in your pocket, or securing your bag firmly under your arm.

When youre in crowded areas or on public transport, wear your bag on the front of your body to keep a closer eye on it.

Dont flash your cash or jewellery in public and keep all luggage zipped when travelling, or better yet, locked securely with luggage locks.
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When it comes to standards wars, Jasco isnt taking any chances. The manufacturer builds in-wall dimmers and plug-in lamp controllers based on both the Z-Wave and ZigBee platforms, marketing them with GE branding under a licensing agreement.

Both classes can be controlled with voice commands via Alexa or Google Assistant, but the Z-Wave products require a third-party hub. The ZigBee products require a third-party hub, too, unless youre connecting them to an Amazon Echo Plus (that smart speaker has a ZigBee controller built in). Youll need to look elsewhere if youre interested in Apple HomeKit compatibility.

I tested the GE In-Wall ZigBee Smart Dimmer (model number 45857GE), the GE In-Wall Z-Wave Smart Dimmer (model 14294), and the GE ZigBee Plug-in Smart Dimmer (model 45852GE) with a Samsung SmartThings Hub that supports both protocols.

GE In-Wall ZigBee Smart Dimmer

Jasco Products Both GE smart dimmers resemble rocker switches, but their mechanisms don't really operate that way (the ZigBee model is shown here).

This dimmer replaces a standard light switch and can be wired through backstabs or screw terminals on the sides of the device. It requires the presence of a neutral wire, so make sure theres one in your junction box before disassembling everything. If youre replacing a multi-pole switch, youll also need GE add-on switch at each of the other ends of the circuit (up to five).

Theres nothing terribly unique about the wiring and installation process, though the recessed ground wire is a bit difficult to access. Unfortunately, the installation instructions included with the device are far from acceptable, and if you dont have prior experience with these types of devices, they might do more harm than good. The installation guide includes an oversized diagram of a typical old-school switch (which youre removing), but only a tiny diagram of the new switch (which youre installing). The instructions arent just hard to read, theyre actively confusing.

That said, with a little patience (or a lot of experience), everything should go together without too many surprises. Be advised, however, that the box includes both white- and almond-colored paddles, but it does not include a wall plate. Youll need to either purchase a rocker-style plate separately or re-use the one you have if youre replacing a switch of the same style.

Actually, the switch only looks like a rocker. Youll soon discover that it does not move much at all. Instead, you tap the top part of the switch to turn the light on, and tap the bottom to turn it off. Pressing and holding the top or bottom of the toggle will brighten or dim the light respectively (its compatible with dimmable LED, CFL, incandescent, and halogen bulbs).

Jasco Products Both of the GE in-wall smart switches have screw terminals and backstabs as opposed to flyaway electrical leads (the ZigBee model is shown here).

There are no indicators of overall brightness (such as the LEDs on Wemos superior W-Fi dimmer), and the dimming action can be slow. I also saw considerable flicker using an older LED bulb, but a newer one transitioned smoothly. A small LED on the bottom right-hand side of the dimmer will help you locate it in the dark. You cant turn the LED off (unless you turn the switch on), but its small enough that you could cover it with a bit of white tape if it bothers you.

I experienced quite a bit of trouble pairing the device to my SmartThings hub. Despite instructions to the contrary and multiple attempts to cut and restore power, the dimmer would simply not enter pairing mode. After a call to tech support, I was alerted to the device reset process (which is documented, but is unclear as to its utility) as a mean of rebooting the pairing process. Three resets later, I finally got the switch to join my SmartThings network. Once paired, I found the GE dimmer to behave like any other SmartThings device, and basic automation tools worked just fine. One bonus feature within the SmartThings app: real-time energy monitoring is built into the interface.

Overall, while the dimmer is both reasonably capable and attractive, I had enough headaches during installation to hesitate to recommend it. Better options abound at similar prices.

GE In-Wall Z-Wave Plus Smart Dimmer

Jasco Products A small LED at the bottom right-hand corner of both GE smart switches glows when the dimmer is turned off, to help you locate it in a dark room (the Z-Wave Plus model is shown here).

The Z-Wave Plus version of Jascos GE Smart Dimmer is virtually identical to the ZigBee version, including requiring the presence of a neutral wire and GE add-on switches for multi-pole installations (up to five). The hardware installation process was also very nearly the same. That said, the manual included with this product is slightly different, but even more scattered and confusing.

Christopher Null / IDG We tested Jasco's GE smart lighting products by enrolling them to a Samsung Smart Things hub.

Once installed and paired with your Z-Wave hub of choice (here again, the instructions are frustratingly confusing), the switch operates in the same fashion as the ZigBee model (read my review above for details). I paired the device to my SmartThings hub without any trouble. (The trick is that this version of the dimmer doesnt need to any special pairing mode to connect, so SmartThings found it right away.) The only significant difference in operation is that this dimmer does not include an energy-monitoring feature; otherwise, everything worked well in my tests.

For whatever reason, Jascos list price for the Z-Wave dimmer is $10 less than the list price for its ZigBee model ($44.99 vs $54.99). If you dont already own a smart home hub, but you do have an Echo Plus, you might want to give the ZigBee model a go despite my reservations. If you do have a Z-Wave-compatible hub, GEs Z-Wave dimmer is the better choice of the two.

GE ZigBee Plug-in Smart Dimmer

Jasco Products You can manually control a connected lamp pressing the recessed button on the ZigBee plug-in dimmer.

For impermanent light sources (i.e. lamps with dimmable bulbs), GE offers plug-in dimmers with either Z-Wave or ZigBee capabilities, though the company sent only the former for this review. Both require grounded, three-prong receptacles, and both are equipped with an always-on three-prong pass-through. The controlled outlet will accept only two-pronged plugs.

The Jasco smart plug-in dimmer is ginormous compared to Lutrons Caseta plug-in dimmermeasuring 4 inches wide by 2.5 inches high by 1.5 inches deepbut it wont block the second outlet when plugged into a two-gang in-wall receptacle.

Christopher Null / IDG In SmartThings, controls are bare-bones, but note the energy monitor included with both ZigBee units.

A semi-recessed button on the front of the unit powers the ZigBee outlet: A single press turns the attached lamp on or off. Hold the button down and it will dim or brighten the attached lamp, though in my testing, this function was very slow to operate, and button is hard to get a grasp on.

Unlike the ZigBee In-Wall switch, the Plug-in dimmer showed up immediately in the SmartThings app, and I was able to add it to my network with no trouble at all. Within SmartThings, it offers the full range of lighting controls, including automation features and manual on/off/dimming functionality. Compared to the in-wall dimmer, its dimming range is limited, but the dimming action is smoother. Within SmartThings, it also reports real-time energy consumption.

The ZigBee Plug-in Smart Dimmer can handle up to a 300-watt incandescent load or a dimmable CFL or LED bulb up to 100 watts. The maximum load on both outlets is 15 amps or 1,800 watts. If you dont mind its overstuffed size, its not a bad choice for a dimmable smart plug. Its a safe guess that its similarly-specd Z-Wave cousin is equally capable.
New York City is both the stuff of dreams, and where dreams come to life. In that spirit, we sought out inspiring New Yorkers whove made their visions a reality  entrepreneurs whove not only given their all to build something from the ground up, but also are helping fellow city-dwellers through their work. We caught up with the visionary founders behind four such start-ups at the WeWork spaces they call HQ, from Harlem to Dumbo. Read on for their incredible journeys.

Leveling the Playing Field

Jennifer DaSilva, Founder of Start Small Think Big

Start Small Think Big founder and New York state native Jennifer DaSilva dreamed up a way to improve things on the homefront, ironically, during a 2008 stint abroad in Cambodia. This was during the financial crisis, and as the economy back home imploded, I started thinking about microfinance as a way of helping people in the U.S. build small businesses, she says.

She realized that most organizations tackle small-business development with funding top-of-mind. Thats not the only guidance that she noticed entrepreneurs needed  they needed legal, marketing, and financial management, too. So in 2010, DaSilva founded Start Small Think Big. The mission is to help lower-income people start businesses by giving them the support they need to grow in a safe and responsible way, she says. We level the playing field.

Start Small Think Big helps more than 1,000 entrepreneurs each year, and just expanded to the Bay Area in 2017. Ninety-eight percent of these small businesses are minority- or women-owned, 30 percent of the entrepreneurs are recent immigrants, and about 30 percent live below the poverty line. Business owners receive 40-plus hours of pro-bono assistance, and within a year of working with Start Small Think Big, they see annual revenue rise an average of 55 percent.

What are some of the biggest challenges youve faced so far in founding Start Small Think Big?

One of the hardest things has been getting comfortable saying no. Saying no to clients or partners who have differing perspectives on the value of our work, time, or expertise. As I started saying no, I found it was all that much easier to proactively seek out opportunities and clients that Id really like to say yes to.

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

Given the time difference between our NYC HQ and our new Oakland office, the workday starts on New York time and ends on California time. I spend a good portion of each day on Google Hangouts, meeting with members of my team in both offices. Im emailing constantly. I have any number of phone calls scheduled with my board of directors, organizational partners, or current or potential funders. If Im really lucky, I might have a little bit of space in the day to actually get some work done  prepare for our upcoming board of directors meeting, write a grant proposal, draft our organizational strategic plan.

And every day, I take just a couple of moments to read each and every one of the applications that entrepreneurs who are seeking assistance submit. We get a couple of applications every day  hundreds over the course of the year  and each one tells a different and equally inspiring story of another entrepreneur who is working so hard to find a way to do what they love. These applications and the stories that they tell help me focus on why Start Smalls work is so critically important.

We get a couple of applications every day  hundreds over the course of the year  and each one tells a different and equally inspiring story

Share one of your favorite success stories.

One of the entrepreneurs that Start Small has worked with is Jessica Spaulding, owner of The Harlem Chocolate Factory. Jessica is a single mom with two young kids and was unemployed when she came to Start Small seeking help to start a business. We matched her with a team of volunteer lawyers who helped her to formalize her business, develop the contract she now uses with clients, and trademark her brand. Were helping her maintain a bookkeeping system so that she can more accurately report her finances, and we taught her how to develop business projections so that she can make more informed decisions for future growth. Jessica has participated in several Start Small-organized pop-up markets, and weve introduced her to numerous corporate partners to provide catering and corporate gifts.

When Jessica came to us two years ago, she was struggling just to make ends meet. Today, Jessicas business is profitable and shes recently opened up her own storefront. Jessica isnt a lawyer. She doesnt have a finance or marketing degree. And thats okay. Her job is to make delicious chocolate. And our job is to make sure that entrepreneurs like Jessica have the legal, financial, and marketing support they need to build a sustainable business.

Bridging the Achievement Gap

Karim Abouelnaga, Founder and CEO of Practice Makes Perfect

Karim Abouelnaga grew up in a single-parent, low-income household in Queens with six other siblings. His public high school had a meager 55 percent graduation rate, but thanks to strong mentorship and scholarship opportunities, he not only got his degree, but also went on to graduate from Cornell  and with a dream in the making.

Practice Makes Perfect, which Abouelnaga founded alongside several classmates in 2011, spearheads summer programming for inner-city students across the five boroughs. He realized that summer learning loss was a profound problem in the U.S., one that was more pronounced among low-income students. A 2010-published Johns Hopkins University study concurred: Summer learning loss may account up to two-thirds of the achievement gap between low-income ninth-graders and their middle- to high-income peers. Whats more, as Abouelnaga explains in a Ted Talk, is that the effects are cumulative.

I looked at the profiles of our most admirable education reformers and realized that very few of them looked like the poor inner-city kids who were growing up just like I did. I thought I could start to bring about change through my efforts and by sharing my journey, he says. Now, at just 26 years old, Abouelnaga heads up a year-round team of 25, and a temporary team that swells to more than 300 during the summer months. Practice Makes Perfect has served over 3,000 students to date.

Tell us about the strategies youve implemented so far.

Weve created a culture of experimentation and continuous learning  Weve tried merit-pay programs to see if they boost student growth throughout the course of the summer  they dont. Weve tried changing the number of mentors in a classroom: We had as many as one to every two students, and now have one to every 10. We used to have kids doing community service on Saturdays and now we have them engaging in service during the week with their entire cohorts. We even tried having kids as young as 10 years old be mentors in the program, and we realized its better when they are 13 or older since we dont have enough time to train them.

Weve rebranded summer education. When kids are enrolled in our programs, they get cool swag bags and folders. In some cases, kids will receive a letter that says Congratulations, youve been enrolled in a PMP summer program instead of the negative phone calls [or] letters home that mandate them for summer school.

Can you share a meaningful success story or two?

In 2014, two of our first mentors graduated from my high school  theyre now seniors at two different Ivy League schools  Both of them were first-generation, and it was probably the first time that two kids graduated from my high school and went on to Ivy League schools in the same year. Both of them are on track to graduate this year. This past June, I also got invited back to my high school to give the graduation speech. The moment was even more special when I realized the valedictorian was a mentor in our summer 2013 programs.

What are some of the best things about building something in NYC? What does it mean to you to be a New Yorker, and more specifically, an NYC entrepreneur?

The energy and the hustle of NYC is unmatched

The energy and the hustle of NYC is unmatched by any other city. Being an entrepreneur means youre always on. In NYC, it doesnt matter what time it is because the city never sleeps. Theres always a place to get food, another person to share an idea with. Because NYC is such a hub, there are more people passing through to network with, and traveling to raise money or spread your message is super easy because of the transportation infrastructure.

Being a New Yorker is a part of my identity no matter where I go. Its personally fulfilling to be able to serve and give back the city that has given me so much.

Improving Quality of Life

Dan Kass, Ashley Treni, and Georges Clement, Founders of JustFix.nyc

Around 1.2 million New Yorkers live in what qualifies as deficient housing. The nonprofit JustFix.nyc is looking to change this by making the city a better place to live through tech, data, community organizing, and legal advocacy.

In 2015 when JustFix.nyc co-founders Dan Kass, Ashley Treni, and Georges Clement first met at the social impact incubator Blue Ridge Labs, housing was top of mind  in fact, Kass was in the midst of his own battle. After months of reporting violations, I found myself at a local tenants union meeting. It was there that I learned about my rights and met others who were experiencing issues even worse than my own. The trio realized a prevalent issue was the inability to create impactful housing court cases. As most tenants lack legal representation, they would come armed with photos on their phones, which judges couldnt accept as evidence. We realized that we could build something around these existing actions, says Kass.

Heres how theyre addressing the problem: Tenants use JustFix.nyc to conduct inspections where they check off the issues theyre experiencing and compile photos. Then, the site will generate a recommended course of action, and if housing court is the next step, the information gathered can be used as evidence The start-up also connects users to community groups and legal services. The team  now five full-timers, including staffers Akiera Charles and Adalky Capellan, plus volunteers  has served more than 1,200 households to date.

Tell us about the hard work you put in to launch JustFix.nyc.

Treni: Because of the sensitive nature and complexity of peoples situations, weve worked very closely with our users from the beginning before ever thinking about the technology. Through in-depth research, weve made very intentional decisions about user experience and accessibility to make sure our tools and services can be as inclusive as possible. For this reason, we built a responsive website optimized to be viewed on a phone, but still available to those who are accessing services from public computers. Our dashboard for advocates also enables organizers to create accounts on behalf of individuals who dont feel comfortable using the technology themselves. The website is available in English and Spanish, and we plan to incorporate many other languages with our WeWork support.

Clement: Its also a necessity to stay grounded in the work that were doing  sitting in an office writing code doesnt always help to frame the context that were working in. So, weve developed ways to engage directly with users and assist the ones whose cases are too complex for the site to handle alone. Weve recently been working with Columbia Law School to be able to staff law students in need of client experience in doing this user support.

Can you share a meaningful tenant experience?

Clement: Gabriella, (name changed for privacy), was born and raised in the Bronx and has been living in her apartment for 35 years with her two sons. Shes been experiencing ongoing issues with her landlord and has been taken to court twice in the last three years. Her apartment is in desperate need of repairs: Theres a cockroach infestation, cracked walls, and black mold all over the bathroom. Gabriella has exhausted reaching out to management and reporting violations through city agencies  though repeated violations have been reported on the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and she has stipulations from housing court, the landlord isnt addressing these issues. Gabriella used JustFix.nyc to send a personalized legal notice of complaint. Shes currently in housing court bringing a case for repairs and harassment against her landlord and is using her account to document the conditions. At the most recent hearing, the judge even remarked that she was more prepared than the landlords entire legal team combined.

What does it mean to you to be NYC founders helping fellow New Yorkers?

What draws us to this work is the idea of supporting our neighbors

Kass: This organization is built by New Yorkers for New Yorkers. Our approach has been local from the start, and what draws us to this work is the idea of supporting our neighbors. As gentrification and inequality are the on rise, more and more of the communities that built this city are being driven out. We want New York to be a place where people can have a stable and healthy home without fear of harassment, discrimination, or displacement.

Fighting Food Insecurity

Dilip Rao, Mohsin Memon, and Ahsen Saber, Founders of Sharebite

The ability to order pretty much whatever your heart (or stomach) desires, from the convenience of your couch, is a pretty incredible perk of city living. But, what if your Friday night pizza order was more than just tasty? What if it could actually help solve critical problems?

One in four children in New York City face food insecurity, and Sharebite, a food-ordering platform, is seeking to change that. At no additional cost to the user, Sharebite will either donate enough to help feed a hungry child via City Harvest or allocate 2 percent of your order to a cause of your choosing. The fundamental vision behind Sharebite really came down to two questions, explains Sharebite co-founder and CEO Dilip Rao. How do we align the incentives for the private sector to undertake the burden of social good? And, how do we do it in a way where we leverage what people do on a daily basis, without passing a penny of cost to the end user?

So, in 2015, Sharebite was born, and its since helped donate more than 170,000 meals. Today, Sharebite has 12 employees and over 2,000 New York restaurants on board.

Tell us about the hard work youve put in to launch Sharebite.

When we first started, building out the supply of restaurants was probably one of the biggest challenges. The issue with being a food-ordering marketplace is that the supply side (restaurants) has to have breadth and depth, or else it would be tough to get ourselves any long-term customers. As we began meeting with restaurant owners, we learned that most of them were jaded or burned by other food platforms, so it took a little bit longer for us to earn their trust. Today, we have a little over 2,000 restaurants on our platform, and we got them by going door-to-door and demonstrating our value proposition.

The other challenge early on was assuming that the social mission alone was enough for customers to come pouring in. It was a typical founder mistake that we quickly learned from and fixed  We began to listen closely to our customers, and built what they really wanted to see in a food-ordering platform.

We have a little over 2,000 restaurants on our platform, and we got them by going door-to-door

When it comes to making a difference, can you share a few meaningful anecdotes?

Its a privilege to partner with well-run organizations like City Harvest and Grow NYC from a business perspective, but our team believes we should see the impact these organizations have first-hand. Weve done volunteer work for Grow NYC, where we rescued food from a farmers market in Union Square that would have otherwise been thrown out. We cant even begin to describe the amount of waste they had  We still find it unbelievable that about 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes to waste, while tens of millions people in this country face food insecurity.

Our mission is to change the way New Yorkers think about hunger. People can take pride in knowing that when they order their food on Sharebite, theyre not only satisfying their own hunger, but are also helping feed others in need.

Whats the best thing about calling WeWork your homebase?

As tenants, we have access to some of the most innovative, intelligent and hardworking individuals on a daily basis, where we can bounce ideas off each other or get one-off help on things that were beyond our core competencies.

In November, we were awarded the WeWork Creator Award by WeWorks founder, Miguel McKelvey. That was probably one of the more defining moments in our relationship with WeWork, as well as our trajectory as a company. I think it may have been the first time we were ever recognized for anything, so we were taken aback when they announced our names on stage. As we walked up to the stage to receive our award and addressed a crowd of approximately 2,700 people about the why and the purpose behind Sharebite, it validated our idea that the time for mission-driven, socially conscious companies like us, is right now.

Photography by Daniel Arnold; Prop Styling by Priscilla Jeong; Hair and Makeup by Angela Davis Deacon
Smart

Recommended Reading: Samsung Galaxy Note8 in the Philippines

I got the software update notification on my-locked phablet last April 5, 2018 -- but some of my readers who also own this smartphone told me that they were able to get it a couple of days prior.If own aand you still haven't gotten the upgrade alarm, you can manually check if it's already available by going toThe Samsung Experience 9.0 upgrade files, which brings a fresh version of Android OS, weigh exactlySome of the key new features or enhancements that come with the new operating systems include:1. New clock styles for the lock screen and Always On display2. Improved performance and battery life via limited background services3. Running apps list in the notification panel4. High-contrast and GIF keyboard options5. Touch and hold function for app icons on home screen to show common tasks6. Improved Edge Screen look and functionality7. Samsung Dual Messenger for installing a second copy of a supported messaging app so you can be on two accounts at the same time8. Improved Samsung Cloud management9. Fingerprint or Face Unlock biometrics only when using secure screen lock type10. Usage of Note8 screen as touchpad to control Samsung DeX, which now supports multiple display resolutions
Every time a robotic firm such as Boston Dynamics announces a new robot or a break through in AI, the Skynet jokes are soon to follow. Whether the machines are somewhat cute or downright creepy, we all have a good laugh at the coming robopocalypse.

However, more than 50 academic researchers are not laughing at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) which is working with military contractor Hanwha Systems to allegedly create autonomous weapons. The artificial intelligence researchers hail from almost 30 different countries and are calling for a boycott against the South Korean university.

In an open letter to the president of KAIST, Sung-Chul Shin, the researchers express their concern over the universitys collaboration with Hanwha Systems, South Koreas primary arms manufacturer.

At a time when the United Nations is discussing how to contain the threat posed to international security by autonomous weapons, it is regrettable that a prestigious institution like KAIST looks to accelerate the arms race to develop such weapons. We therefore publicly declare that 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 Center will not develop autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control. We will, for example, not visit KAIST, host visitors from KAIST, or contribute to any research project involving KAIST.

The signatories of the boycott letter fear that autonomous weapons remove moral and ethical restraints that would allow terrorists and despots to unleash atrocities on innocent populations. They describe the threat of such weapons as a Pandoras box [that] will be hard to close if it is opened and urge the university to abandon its work on harmful tech and focus on AI that benefits society.

Hanwha Systems is known to manufacture cluster munitions, an indiscriminate weapon that has been banned in 120 countries under an international treaty. Hanwhas ethical ambiguity in arms production is what prompted the researcher to vow to exclude KAIST from future collaboration.

According to The Guardian, university president Shin denies that KAIST is working on lethal weapons.

I would like to reaffirm that KAIST does not have any intention to engage in development of lethal autonomous weapons systems and killer robots, said Shin. As an academic institution, we value human rights and ethical standards to a very high degree. I reaffirm once again that KAIST will not conduct any research activities counter to human dignity including autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control.

The United Nations will be convening in Geneva next week to discuss this very topic. Over 20 countries have already expressed the need for a complete ban on killer robots.

Body Image via The Guardian
Telegrams battle with Russias authorities took a new turn today when state communications regulator Roskomnadzor started legal action aimed at limiting access to the app within the country.

As part of a so-called anti-terrorist bill proposed in 2016, Russian agencies such as the Federal Security Service (FSB) would be allowed access to encrypted messaging services, letting them search through user data.

Last year, the FSB demanded Telegram share its encryption keys, but the company refused and was hit with a $14,000 fine. Last month, Supreme Court Judge Alla Nazarova rejected Telegrams appeal against the penalty and upheld the order.

Roskomnadzor said Telegram had 15 days to comply with its demands. That April 4 deadline has now passed, and the company still hasnt handed over the keys, claiming that doing so would be a violation of user privacy. According to the BBC, the company said that the way the service is built means it cant even access them.

Roskomnadzor has filed a lawsuit at Moscow court today with a request to restrict access on the territory of Russia to the information resources of ... Telegram Messenger Limited Liability Partnership.

Telegrams lawyer, Pavel Chikov, criticized the move, calling it groundless.

"The FSB's requirements to provide access to private conversations of users are unconstitutional, baseless, which cannot be fulfilled technically and legally, he said, in a statement.

Telegram is the ninth-most-popular messaging app in the world, boasting over 200 million active users. It has a focus on privacy and encryption and is especially popular in locations such as the middle-east and Russia.

Threats to block Telegram unless it gives up private data of its users won't bear fruit. Telegram will stand for freedom and privacy.  Pavel Durov (@durov) March 20, 2018
The fundamental purpose of the strike is to reject the imposition of the neoliberal agenda imposed by President Ivan Duque. | Read More
Rudy is back on the market. Photo: Mark Reinstein/Getty Images

President Trump swept into office in January of 2017 promising to drain the swamp, dismantle Washingtons regulatory state and repeal signature parts of the Obama legacy. More than a year into his presidency, the results of those efforts arent yet clear. But there sure has been a lot of draining, dismantling, and repealing of the marriages of those within Trumps inner circle.

Rudy Giuliani joined the club Wednesday. The former New York City Mayor, and one of Trumps earliest supporters, told Page Six that he and his wife Judith are planning to divorce after 15 years. In these divorce situations, you cannot place blame, it is 50/50, there are problems on both sides, said Giuliani, whose loyalty to Trump nearly won him a nomination to the Supreme Court or appointment as Secretary of State.

The end of Giulianis fairy-tale third marriage follows news of Donald Trump Jr.s impending divorce, which broke last month in Page Six. The problems with Trump Jr. and his wife Vanessa have been there for a long time, one source told the tabloid, but theyve gotten worse since Trump was elected. Trump Jr., whos now running the Trump Organization with his brother Eric, is never there, the source told Page Six. Those close to him have also become concerned about his erratic tweets, and his infidelity probably didnt help his cause.

A week before the revelations about Trump Jr.s marital strife came news that Fox News host Jesse Watters was splitting with his wife. Three days before the Daily News reported that Watters cheated with a 25-year-old associate producer, the host dined at the White House with Trump.

If being close to Trump spells bad news for a marriage, then White House social-media director Dan Scavino never stood a chance. In January, his wife reportedly filed for divorce and Scavino, often described Trumps mini-me, marked the occasion by tweeting photos of his boss and Ronald Reagan eating burgers.

The good news for Giuliani, Trump Jr., Watters, and Scavino is that a divorce filing does not necessarily mean the end. Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci knows that. During his whirlwind 11 days on the job, his wife reportedly filed for divorce because of his naked political ambition, Page Six reported. Three days later he was fired and five months after that they called off the divorce.

If the martial problems of those close to Trump isnt proof enough of his toxicity, then the ability to reconcile after being pushed away from him is.

Of course, not every relationship exposed to the inferno of Trumps White House has melted away. Ben Carson and his wife Candy are still married, even after he blamed her for the purchase of a $31,000 dining-room table with taxpayer money. Former Trump campaign communications director Jason Miller and his wife Kelly are still married (at least they were as of last summer), even after he fathered a child with former Trump transition adviser A.J. Delgado. And of course, Donald Trump himself is still with his wife Melania, despite the at least 19 reasons hes given her to change that.
Myer's market value jumped by $29 million on Friday off a rumour that David Jones was considering buying its arch rival - a claim David Jones said had "no basis".

The beleaguered retailer's share price jumped as much as 14 per cent, from a record-low of 34 on Thursday, to close up 7.25 per cent after reports that David Jones was weighing up making a takeover of its historic competitor since it had become so cheap.

David Jones said it was not considering buying Myer. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Myer had a market value of $282 million on Thursday, down from almost $1 billion a year ago following a series of earnings downgrades and falling sales.

Unequivocal denials from David Jones' owner, South African group Woolworths Holdings, did not dampen investors' excitment over one of the few pieces of good news since Myer shares started their decline from $1.30 a year ago.
That background is not something Vesey, born in 1955, seeks to highlight. But it does provide a clue as to why he is not overly perturbed by his company - and himself - becoming something of a public punching bag. Coalition MPs and conservative media commentators are angered by AGL's decision to signal - seven years out - it planned to shut the 1680-megawatt Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley by 2022. Art of War Vesey's early actions as AGL CEO wouldn't have won him many friends among those conservative forces he now confronts. AGL has made renewable energy the theme of its brand, even though it remains the nation's biggest onshore source of carbon dioxide. The last of its fleet of coal-fired power plants isn't expected to be closed before 2048.

Another of Vesey's early moves was to announce AGL's exit from coal seam gas , annoying some within the NSW government who had backed the controversial industry. This included shutting down an existing gas field on Sydney's south-west edge at Camden, and a contentious pilot field in Gloucester, in the state's mid-north coast region. Members of a protest group, Gloucester Groundswell, revealed to Fairfax Media details of secret meetings with Vesey that offer other hints about how Vesey likes to operate. Citing The Art of War, the classic military treatise by Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, Vesey sought a way to extract AGL from the morass of dodgy wastewater management and other bungles. "You need to build a golden bridge for your enemy to retreat over," one of the participants of the meeting recalled him saying. When it comes to energy transformations, Vesey has some form.

Entering the sector in the late 1970s, his first work as an engineer in New York was converting power plants back to burning coal, as originally designed, from oil amid the second oil crisis. Vesey then worked his way into leadership roles at FTI Consulting and EY before joining AES Corporation, a global electricity company. Joining AGL meant a return to Australia after a stint leading Citipower, a Victorian energy generator and retailer, in the late 1990s. The Liddell power station in the Hunter Valley. Credit:Janie Barrett For Vesey, the real trouble over Liddell was sparked by the panic following the sudden announcement in 2016 that Victoria's Hazelwood power station - of a similar vintage and size to Liddell - would be closed within six months.

While AGL generated record profits in the wake of the closure a year ago last week, all other generators benefited from the jump in power prices too. Vesey also got a close-up view of the visceral politics that have ensued, memorably when South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill gatecrashed an AGL event with Josh Frydenberg, the federal Environment and Energy Minister, in Adelaide in March 2017. Vesey was the "bemused bald guy" at the back. The Berejiklian government, it must be said, has continued to keep a low profile, declining to make any comment on the latest AGL-Turnbull government clash. 'Moral discernment'

During the Fairfax interview, Vesey spoke of the importance of AGL acting with "moral discernment", knowing "what's right, what's wrong". That includes, among other things, reducing AGL's exposure to carbon for both environmental and economic reasons. We take decisions that we believe in, and thats the challenge  its a question of integrity, he says. Gender diversity and inclusiveness are as much a priority for Vesey as its climate change credentials, as a quick peruse through his Twitter account  which he uses more than other major Australian CEOs  reveals. Its not lip service, one AGL employee says. He is serious about the culture within the workplace.

Vesey is also a member of the Male Champions of Change, a group committed to taking action on gender inequality. Despite that stance, those whove worked under him describe him as hard-charging. Like a lot of big leaders, they dont get to where they are for no reason, one says. Critics wonder, too, if Vesey is worth the reported $6.9 million he will earn this financial year, and question his regular absences from the country. Hes never in Australia, this causes a lot of grief internally," one source, requesting anonymity, says. "Ive no idea how he runs [AGL] from the US, a source familiar with the company said.

When Vesey was summoned to Canberra [to discuss Liddell] it took him four days to turn up because he was in the US. Part of this perception around his absences stem from his frequent return visits to the US due to family issues. When Vesey accepted the position with AGL in 2014, he had intended to move his entire family to Australia. However, his wife was in negotiation over the custody of her child from a previous relationship at the time. The eventual custody sharing agreement required she remain a portion of the year in the US and she now travels regularly to Australia. Life comes at you as it will and you have to deal with it as it comes, Vesey says. The arrangement isnt always easy on the family ... Everyone has some sort of challenge in their life - that applies to the CEO as well.

'Chief marketing officer' Those whove dealt with Vesey from the other side of the table describe him as a forceful but clear communicator. Hes not as argumentative as he has been portrayed in some parts of the media, more confident, he can dominate a conversation but he communicates his ideas well, Tony Wood, the Grattan Institutes energy director says, dubbing him a super spruiker. In the spectrum of Australian CEOs, he is the most visible," he says. Andy Vesey is definitely more visible than AGLs previous CEO Michael Fraser," Wood says. "He likes to talk the talk and spruik the direction of the company, hes a good chief marketing officer.

Some of the things he does are as much symbolic as real. No process for a sale Loading One thing that's not real is any firm offer for Liddell by the purported suitors that include Alinta, China-based Shandong Ruyi - majority owner of the controversial Cubbie cotton station in Queensland - and Delta Electricity, which owns the Vales Point power plant near Lake Macquarie. As of Friday afternoon, Vesey had received just one phone call and an email from Alinta boss, Jeff Dimery - himself a former AGL manager of Victorian assets.

"I said the following: 'we are not in the process of selling so there is no process'," Vesey says of his emailed reply to Dimery. "The Liddell plant is valuable to our customers and ourselves for the next five years and is a key component of our replacement plan. We have no process to sell it because it is valuable to us today, and it has value in terms of the site for the replacement plan for the next 30 to 40 years." While Liddell is not up for sale, Vesey would of course have fiduciary responsibilities to pass any formal offer for the plant to the AGL board for its consideration. Certainly, Vesey offers no indication that AGL has any intention to budge from a $150 million plan to keep investing in Liddell so that it operates as reliably as possible up until 2022. Then it will be a case of Liddell being shut down - unless an unexpectedly attractive offer lands - and the site being converted for a post-coal future involving gas, batteries and even pumped storage using Lake Liddell.

Youre not asked to make a trade-off between affordability and sustainability any more," he says. "Where technology prices are going, wind, followed by solar and storage, [whether] green or sustainable is more expensive, I think, is no longer the big issue. Sovereign risk Interference in the market - as the Turnbull government seems intent on - could send unhelpful signs to all investors considering pumping money into the sector. This includes trying to force AGL to extend Liddell's life another five years to 2027 to give time for the giant Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project - perhaps costing $8 billion if approved - to become operational.
A student's year 3 NAPLAN scores can be significantly impacted by their grandparents' level of education, with new evidence showing that educational disadvantage is multi-generational.

Having four family members with university degrees can place a student 1.4 years ahead of their peers who have no family members with high attainment by year 3, a new study published in the Australian Journal of Social Issues has found.

Having four family members with university degrees can place a student 1.4 years ahead of their peers who have no family members with high attainment by year 3.

The study, which looked at the NAPLAN numeracy and reading scores and family background of 5107 infants aged between three and 19 months and 4983 children aged between four and five in 2004 over a decade, found that "grandparent educational attainment is associated with grandchild test scores independent of parent education" where both grandparents have high attainment.

Lead author of the study, Kirsten Hancock, a senior research fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute, said the findings have implications for both schools and families.
Stieg Persson's The Fall (2004). Credit:C.Capurro/photo "I got sick of black paintings," he says. "I thought 'this is really successful and I could probably go on and make a really good living out of this,' but it would just bore me senseless." He even toyed with the idea of giving away painting altogether. Stieg Persson's Painting 1993 Spring thaw, 1993, in pencil, oil and acrylic on cotton duck. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery. Credit:C.Capurro/photo "I became cynical with the whole scene," he says. "I needed to break the spell. I needed to try things that I knew would be difficult for an audience. That was the only way to progress the work. So I decided to try and stuff it up."

Persson created the vilest paintings he could. The bilious series of green and white experiments in collage and pattern included a sculpture of Manet's syphilitic leg as its centrepiece. "I was trying to make horrible things and make it work  how do you balance and control it?" As expected, the reaction was "What the hell is this guy doing?," he recalls. Death and illness might well be difficult subjects, but questioning good taste and privilege preoccupies Persson. How we die is one thing, but how we live might be the more bitter pill. "The exercising of taste is one of the most potentially shameful and exposing things the middle class can do," Persson told Art Collector magazine in 2014. "As it happens, this anxiety is at the very core of art and art collecting." One of the discoveries in this mid-career survey is how early these itches are scratched. Covetousness (1983) features the Biblical commandment's lesser-known object of desire, thy neighbour's donkey. Circling the doleful, arcane ass are silhouettes of contemporary material obsessions: boat, car, jet, camera, alcohol. The sins of consumption and ''good taste'' are literally the subject of his 2015 series, How We Live Now, in which Persson skewers the cult of foodism. The panels could be wall sections from a designer cafe. Here Persson's silhouettes are abstract ''heraldic'' black chalkboards advertising menus and specials. Each title gains its name from the ingredients that float around the canvas. Instead of an obscure Biblical reference, Persson layers Poussins and Grapes (2015) with an art-historical in-joke.

"Within the history of painting there are is an old Renaissance quarrel that disegno  drawing  is most important while others thought colour was more important. Drawing [advocates] were 'Poussinists'. One of the first books on painting talked about Titian's grapes. Instead of drawing each grape, he 'paints the bunch'. It's a philosophical difference, but it's a 'painty' one. It's ridiculously obscurantist, but it keeps me amused." In this archaic debate Persson's precisely handled imagery places him closer to the drawing camp. But his approach to pictorial space follows the liberation of art after 1945. "I've always liked that idea of the picture as a field on which something happens, rather than a depiction of something," he says. "The figurative elements become punctuation points within that." Still lifes, vanitas symbols, Malevich black squares and bizarre quotidian items like email spam may feature in Persson's fields that range from relatively minimalist to highly layered canvases. That diversity of subjects explains the Polyphonic title of the survey. What unites the works is a keen sense of decoration, an idea often at odds with avant-garde sensibilities. "The decorative is a statement of honesty," Persson argues. "What does a painting actually functionally do? Decorate a room. We never discussed this [in art school]. Why were we hiding this? It's an essential part of the function of what a painting is."

Where filigrees and arabesques feature in Persson's early paintings, later works update them with a street flourish, tagging. Against the icing-white backgrounds of the How We Live Now series, Persson incorporates graffiti tags lifted directly from his toney neighbourhood. Painting the tags gold aligns the work with the accoutrements of Rococo richness, according to Persson. "It's neo-liberal selfishness done by kids in Brighton," he says derisively. "There's always been a theme [in my work] to do with privilege," says Persson. "One of the things I find extraordinary is although there's a reverence for the ascetic, we live in a hedonistic sphere. We're all guilty of it. F--k I live in Brighton! Particularly with the latter work the visual exuberance of it is meant to reflect that hedonic world." The decadent spoils are evident in the abject good taste of Frenched (2007), where the greedy smears of greasy lamb-chop bones are used to paint the canvas. Understanding Persson's antagonism to privilege (and its abuses) helps explain the oddest work in his career, the Gothenberg Crosses (1996-7). Conceived during his first trip to his ancestral Sweden in the 1990s the series was inspired by Scandinavian Death Metal bands. "I don't want to be preachy or moralise," says Persson, recalling the shock. "But at the same time this was bizarre. Here's the children of the social democratic utopia, the wealthiest population on earth, who've been educated, had their health looked after  and they turned virulent."

Indeed, not only did the bands espouse hatred and extreme neo-nationalist views, the subject of one painting Untitled (1996-97), Varg Vikernes, was convicted of murder and accused of burning churches. Society's ugly undercurrents are not all subcultural. Closer to home a state-sanctioned killing incurred Persson's ire in what he considers one of his most important pictures, History Painting (2006). A small screwed-up newspaper floats over a field of colour and two crossbones over the canvas centre. Close inspection reveals a name, Nguyen. It's a death notice. "[Caleb Nguyen] was the [Melbourne] kid who was executed in Singapore [in 2005] for carrying drugs to bail his brother out of trouble," Persson explains. "I thought, 'no one will remember that kid'. But I did. It still upsets me now." Given the genuine emotion the incident elicits in Persson, why is the work so subtle? Why not trumpet the anger in a tabloid painting?
HORSE FEATHERS (68 minutes) G

The Marx Brothers are near their best  which is to say their most purely aggressive  in this 1932 assault on the higher education system, with Groucho as an unorthodox college president, Harpo as a dog-catcher and Chico as the doorkeeper at the local speakeasy. The many highlights include Groucho's eternally relevant theme song, Whatever It Is, I'm Against It. Digitally projected. Astor, Sun Apr 8, 7pm. Double bill with Duck Soup.

Spirited Away is directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

SPIRITED AWAY (122 minutes) PG

After her parents are transformed into pigs, a young girl finds a job in a magical bathhouse where strange spirits come to cleanse themselves. Essential viewing for children and adults, this 2001 fantasy from the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki displays an imagination as bold as David Cronenberg's, under the cover of family-friendly whimsy. English-dubbed version, 35-millimetre print. ACMI, Sun Apr, 8 10.30am.
A seal that delighted eastern suburbs residents by taking up a new home at a Rushcutters Bay park has died of health complications.

The male Australian fur seal, nicknamed "Sealvester" on social media, was first seen almost two weeks ago at Rose Bay where he alternated between swimming laps and sunbathing in the harbourside dog park.

The seal's deteriorating health condition in recent days forced animal authorities to anaesthetise him to assess his condition, but he died on the way to Taronga Zoo.

Taronga Zoo veterinarian Kimberley Vinette Herrin said the elderly seal had been monitored closely for the past several days.
Steven Bochco, the writer and producer who has died aged 74, was responsible for some of American television's most intelligent and innovative crime dramas, including Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue; he was regarded by many as the most influential figure in modern television drama. He pioneered the idea that crime series could be constructed in the manner of soap operas, with as much focus on the police characters' private lives as on their work, and with storylines that stretched across several episodes rather than being wrapped up neatly in an hour. He favoured a style of documentary realism over glossiness, exploring gritty issues and employing salty language. Although his programmes usually featured large ensemble casts, he was acclaimed for investing his characters with a depth rarely seen in popular television drama. Perhaps his greatest creation was Detective Andy Sipowicz in NYPD Blue who, brilliantly portrayed by Dennis Franz, won viewers' hearts despite being a drunk and a racist.

Dan Gurney, who has died aged 86, was one of the most significant postwar motor-racing figures  both as a driver and as a racing car constructor. Tall, handsome and gentlemanly, Gurney typified the "can-do" but quiet American. As an international racing driver from 1958 to 1970 he was one of the world's top three or four, and arguably  with Jim Clark, or later Jackie Stewart  one of the top two. He drove Formula 1 cars for the Ferrari, BRM, Porsche and Brabham teams before establishing his own Anglo-American Racers company at Rye, East Sussex, to campaign his own Eagle Grand Prix cars from 1966 to 1969.
Nikolas Cruz. Photo: Mike Stocker-Pool/Getty Images

It took just minutes for the first photograph to go viral. Tumblr pages with his likeness appeared out of nowhere; forums on the fringes of the dark web sprang to life; and investigators, desperately trying to vacuum up the totality of school shooter Nikolas Cruzs presence online, found themselves face-to-face with literally hundreds of his avatars  some grinning with giant ears at right angles, others of a menacing presence with guns and body armor. I have to tell you, it was just unreal going through these websites, one law-enforcement official close to the investigation told me. Seeing all the screenshots of Cruz with people claiming to be him  like they wanted to be him, like they were proud of him  it was  he searched for the word  freaky.

While weve been marveling at how Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students have used social media to push for change in our gun laws, a little-noticed subculture called Cruzers or the Niko Community has grown up alongside them. They have created hundreds of blogs, private servers, and chat rooms where kids can get together and talk about their latest obsession: 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. A quick search of Tumblr or the voice app Discord reveals Cruz-inspired GIFs, photo collages of his face with animated hearts, and discussion groups that dissect the latest details of the investigation (with a decidedly Cruz-ian spin).

I find myself interested in Nikolass case because it happened during my time, said Laura, a 17-year-old Minnesotan and freshly minted Cruzer. She runs Tumblrs Nik-Cruz blog and says she probably spends several hours a day responding to messages, blogging, and reposting details about the investigation. Laura, who, like Cruz, lost her mother when she was young, makes clear that while she thinks what Cruz did was wrong, she can imagine what he mustve been dealing with mentally.

The system let Nik down, she says, before providing details about his life that she says she picked up on blogs in the weeks after the shooting. He tried to kill himself by ingesting gasoline, slit his wrists on the internet; I feel bad that people ignored his pain for so long, she added. Hes not a symbol of anything. Hes not a god. Hes just a person that the system failed. I think he represents what happens when warning signs are ignored and left to be bottled up.

School-shooter sites arent a new social-media phenomenon: Before there were Cruzers, there were Columbiners, people who believe that the two students behind the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, were bullied outcasts who stood up for something and won. We know now that is a completely false narrative: Klebold was suicidal; Harris had mental-health issues; and neither of them had been particularly bullied. Even so, the revenge story line has taken on a life of its own  it is a version of events many kids identify with. Ive talked to dozens of Columbiners as part of the research I did for my podcast, What Were You Thinking, which looks at the adolescent decision-making process, and it is clear that Columbines revenge of the nerds plot line still resonates. Whats more, many of the Cruzers I spoke with knew quite a bit about Columbine, too.

From the information currently available, I believe that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were very different to Nikolas Cruz, Tyler, an 18-year-old U.K. blogger, told me. He runs a Columbine blog on Tumblr with several thousand followers and launched nikolas-cruz on Tumblr shortly after the Parkland shooting. As he sees it, the Columbine killers definitely had an agenda with their attack; they wanted people to listen to what they thought. Nikolas Cruz doesnt seem to have the same urgency to spread what he thinks. He has kept extremely quiet about why it was committed, and if he had an agenda, I think he would have said something by now.

Tyler said the blogs provide a sense of community that some people might not otherwise have in their lives. Many of the followers have strong political views on things like the death penalty and the American judicial system, as well as the police in the USA, he said. You get the people who have legitimate reasons for their blogs, such as they might be studying psychology or criminology or something along those lines. There are also some teenagers who seem to have mental-health issues who see themselves reflected in the perpetrators, or people who simply want to have an outlet for their morbid curiosity, and there are people who just want to seem edgy.

The concern is that these online groups ended up normalizing violence, as they connect kids in ways that previously wouldnt have been possible. Peter Langman, an expert who has written extensively on school shooters, says that these forums or chat groups give young people a virtual peer group and could unwittingly reinforce delusions of grandeur that could set kids on a path to violence.

Does anyone know if we can make a phone call to the jail Niko is in? Would love to just say a few words to him but you know just to like see if hes okay.

Any Dutch or Flemish people here?? Me and some friends started a Dutch discord server about Nik mostly but any tcc [true crime community] member who isnt hateful toward Nikolas may join!! Please dm me if youd like to join.

To anyone wanting to visit Nik, you cant just show up and see him. You have to be approved by Nikolas and the prison (and not everyone who applies gets approved). Also, it would be really shitty to try to show up without being his friend first.

Two Finnish cultural anthropologists, Jenni Raitanen and Atte Oksanen, interviewed several dozen people who claimed to have a deep interest in school shootings for a research paper they released earlier this year (a month before the Parkland shooting). What they discovered behind screen names like Rebby and Vodka (nicknames the Columbine shooters had for themselves) was a strange mix of people, from prurient researchers to fangirls to young people with an encyclopedic knowledge about Columbine and copycats, people who clearly wish to commit a shooting of their own.

Its the undeniable presence of these kinds of kids that explains why FBI investigators monitor some of these sites (they asked that I not name them specifically) and why, in the last several weeks, they have been looking for evidence that Nikolas Cruz was in them, too.

I met one of those people the FBI had been worried about, Dillon Cossey, last spring near his house in rural Pennsylvania. He became famous, if you could call it that, back in 2007 when he was 14 and two police officers and a detective showed up on the doorstep of his familys house. They ask us all to sit down, Cossey told me, and thats when the detective says that they received a call that I was preparing to attack Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.

The tip came from a couple of friends of Cossey who, in a kind of see-something-say-something episode, told police that Cossey had asked them to help him attack a school. A search of Cosseys bedroom led to the discovery of troubling evidence: air rifles, a .22, some fireworks, The Anarchists Cookbook, and unsettling journal writings. By 11 p.m., Cossey was in handcuffs in the back of a squad car, and he says quietly, That was the last time I was home for a while.

To hear Cossey tell it, there was never a specific plot, and he doesnt believe he would have carried out an attack. He does concede, however, that he fantasized about acts of violence, and a lot of that fantasizing took place in a Columbine tribute site whose content bore a striking resemblance to some of the online postings seen from the Cruzer sites now.

One of the people Cossey met online was an 18-year-old from Finland who went by the screen name Natural Selection. His real name was Pekka-Eric Auvinen. He spoke English and he had a lot in common with me, Cossey said. I wouldnt have said we were close friends, but we did talk probably a couple of times a week on Instant Messenger.

What they talked about, mostly, were Columbine videos, something that had become a bit of a hobby for Auvinen. Hed take video clips he found of the Columbine shooters, Klebold and Harris, and essentially create a mixtape and video of them  GIFs before GIFs actually existed. Hed ask Cossey to review his handiwork before he posted them. Id give him editing tips.

In November 2007, Auvinen opened fire inside Jokela High School, selecting his victims randomly. He killed six fellow students, the school nurse, and the principal before he turned the gun on himself. He had posted a video about the massacre on YouTube shortly before it happened.

Investigators will tell you that Nikolas Cruz had been talking about school shootings in one way or another for more than a year. Was Cruz a regular in the shooter subculture? So far, they havent found much evidence to support that. It is just as possible, they say, that Cruz was a depressed kid who began focusing so much on school shootings that the idea took on a life of its own and dragged him along. They still dont have a motive.

There are definitely people [on my blogs] who worry me, Tyler, the 18-year-old U.K. blogger told me. I usually try to talk to them first and see whats wrong, and if they continue to worry me, I report them. There was a blog run by a minor who I have talked to a few times on my other account. He struggles with mental-health issues and has threaten things before. I have reported him and the situation was dealt with. He didnt talk to me after that.

Tyler also had a connection to James Gamble, a kid in Halifax, Canada, who seemed to be obsessed with death, true crime, heavy-metal music, and Nazi imagery. James Gamble allegedly planned a mass shooting at a Halifax shopping mall with two other people he had met on a Tumblr website back in 2015. Police were able to intercept them before they were able to act on their plan. Gamble ended up dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound a day before the massacre was set to take place. Tyler and Gamble had talked online. It definitely felt like I should have seen something more, like I should have known, should have helped, Tyler said.

What all these incidents have in common is that someone, somewhere, says they should have seen the signs. Perhaps no one thinks about this more than Sue Klebold, Dylan Klebolds mother. I sat down with her a couple of months ago in Denver. As a general matter, she avoids websites that talk about Dylan or her family, but shes aware that these Columbine tribute sites exist. The fact that Dylan and Eric have an online following is very frightening and very sad, she told me. It is very frightening because there are so many individuals who identify with what they did, and very sad because people feel disconnected and disenfranchised and this has become symbolic for people who feel left out, alone, vengeful, angry, and hurt. I think its sad that people make heroes out of disturbed kids.

Personally, I think it thrives on the internet because it is such a taboo topic to bring up around people in real life, and youre never sure what peoples responses will be, Tyler said. The internet gives a barrier.

Everyone on there, at least that I talked to, was just there venting about how alone they felt, Cossey told me. There was a surprising amount of support in a community that would normally be associated with an act of violence, and they would often come back to the point of saying, well, the Columbine shooter, they understood  they knew what you were going through.

there is a comment of his on youtube that i have been trying to find again but it disappeared once his account was deletedwill send it if i can find a screen capture. basically nik is saying, what do i do once im completely alone? everyone else is going to college except me. i hate my life.

Dina Temple-Raston is the executive producer and host of What Were You Thinking, a podcast from Audible that focuses on brain development and the adolescent decision-making process. An episode on school shooters is available at Audible.com/adolescentbrain and has been available on iTunes since the end of March.
The chief Crown witness in the murder of Sydney businessman Michael McGurk was like a rat in a corner who told lies involving a cast of characters to deflect blame over his role in the crime, a Supreme Court jury has heard.

Former boxer Fortunato Lucky Gattellari has pointed the finger at former friend, property developer Ron Medich, for planning the execution-style killing.

Mr Medich, 69, is on trial before Justice Geoffrey Bellew, accused of orchestrating the murder of Mr McGurk, who was shot in the driveway of his Cremorne home in front of his young son on September 3, 2009.

In his closing address on Friday, defence barrister Winston Terracini, SC, told the jury former confidant-turned-key-witness Mr Gattellaris evidence was full of bluster, bravado and lie upon lie".
Four Greens councillors in Melbournes inner-north, including the Mayor of Darebin, have been confirmed as among the 18 party members who tried to take out their own candidate for the recent Batman byelection before the race had even started.

Darebin Mayor Kim Le Cerf and councillors Trent McCarthy, Steph Amir and Susanne Newton face calls for their expulsion from the Greens over their alleged roles in the sabotage of the failed campaign of candidate Alex Bhathal.

Cr Trent McCarthy. Photograph by Chris Hopkins Credit:Chris Hopkins

The Greens have never expelled a sitting councillor or MP.

The four were among 18 signatories to a 101-page complaint against Ms Bhathal that was delivered to party authorities in the run-up to the byelection and then leaked to the media once the campaign was under way.
Kate Stafford and her husband bought a two-bedroom townhouse in the heart of Richmond in 2011, when she was 27. They chose the area for its lifestyle and vibrancy. We loved the area, Mrs Stafford said. The parks, the cafes, the pubs, footy  Richmond really ticks all the boxes. But while Richmond is the place where the most people in their 20s are moving to, it is the suburb that the most people in their 30s are moving away from. Downtown Swan Street in Richmond. Credit:Justin McManus Mrs Stafford and her husband wanted to remain in the Richmond area, but with a second child on the way their two bedroom home was not big enough for their growing family. They applied to turn their townhouse into a three-storey home with an extra bedroom and bathroom, but were unsuccessful.

We had the plans approved by the council, had paid town planners, Mrs Stafford said. But a neighbour made an application to VCAT, who knocked it back. Kate Stafford, pictured with Eve and Mia, moved from Richmond in her 30s to a bigger home in Moonee Ponds. Credit:Jason South So when Mrs Stafford was eight-and-a-half months pregnant last year, the family decided to move 10 kilometres away to Moonee Ponds. She said she likes her new suburb, but its just not Richmond. We would have stayed, renovated  it would have been ideal, she said. Ms Stafford joined a mothers group in Richmond after her first child was born, and said many other mothers in the group had since moved to other suburbs as well.

They were not the only ones. A total of 1617 people in their 30s have moved from Richmond since 2011. Other hip inner-city areas where there have been an influx of twentysomethings  places such as St Kilda, Hawthorn, Brunswick and Prahran  are simultaneously undergoing an exodus of thirtysomethings. That makes sense  these are ideal places to rent a small place or live in a share house, but if you want to start a family and buy a larger abode then its much easier to find something affordable further afield. Its no surprise that people in their 30s are most commonly moving to affordable areas on Melbournes fringes  suburbs such as Cranbourne East, Truganina, Wollert and Mernda. When you map Melbournes age-dependent migration over the past five years it shows these two distinct waves. There is a horde of people in their 20s journeying into the inner city from every corner of the state, but at the same time people in their 30s are emptying out of the inner city and setting down roots in the suburbs.

Map of the suburbs where Victorians in their 30s are moving The data shows that Melburnians tend to move around a lot when they are in their 20s and 30s ... ... but once they reach 40 they are generally content to settle down in the same place and are less likely to shift around.

But there is one chapter left in the life cycle of a Melburnian. Once their kids have all long ago left home  perhaps retracing the same path they themselves once took  and they are reaching an advanced age, those who can afford it like to move to the coast for a seachange. Seaside hamlets including Wonthaggi, Rosebud, Mornington and Portarlington are the areas that have welcomed the largest number of people in their 60s in the past five years. Map of the suburbs where Victorians in their 60s are moving
Asked if he would call a Coalition vote on the leadership if the government failed 30 Newspolls, Mr Turnbull dismissed the idea. No, he said. What the Australian people want me to do is to get on with delivering and governing, and thats what were doing. People are frustrated by the inside the beltway political commentary. When they see a news story thats about personalities or polls it disappoints them again because theyd rather be talking about the economy, about jobs. The Prime Minister said the Coalition would have lost the 2016 election under Mr Abbott and the attention on the opinion polls since that result was overblown. I just point to the fact that weve had two federal byelections recently, both of which weve won. One of them, I might say, we won with a result that was quite different to what the polls predicted, he said. And weve had two state elections, which the Liberal Party has won.

And just in case people have overlooked this fact, we won the 2016 federal election and we kept Bill Shorten out of government. The support for Mr Turnbull to remain leader - 62 per cent across all voters - compares to 46 per cent support for Mr Abbott when voters were asked a similar question in February 2013. Loading The February 2013 survey, conducted when Julia Gillard was under threat as prime minister from her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, showed only 45 per cent support to keep Ms Gillard as leader.

Mr Turnbull has won more support from voters on two key measures of his personal performance after a week that included a test of his authority from Mr Abbott and other conservative members who called for government intervention to build new coal-fired power stations. Mr Turnbull has widened the gap against Mr Shorten as preferred prime minister, leading by 52 per cent to 31 per cent, compared to a lead of 48 per cent to 31 per cent in the Fairfax/Ipsos survey published on December 4. In an important measure of voter satisfaction, 47 per cent said they approved of Mr Turnbulls performance while 43 per cent said they disapproved. This means his net approval rating is positive for the first time since last May. Mr Shorten saw no significant change to his performance, with 38 per cent approval and 53 per cent disapproval.

The 48:52 two party result is the best result for the government in a Fairfax/Ipsos goal since the last election, and compares with a result of 47:53 in December. The widespread dissatisfaction with the two major parties continues to shape the opinion poll results, with 18 per cent of voters giving their first preferences to minor parties and another 12 per cent supporting the Greens. The Labor primary vote increased slightly to 34 per cent while the Coalition primary vote rose from 34 to 36 per cent compared to the December survey. These changes were within the margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. The survey of 1166 respondents was conducted from April 3 to 5, a period when Mr Turnbull was dealing with calls from Mr Abbott and other conservatives for a dramatic shift in energy policy to fund a coal power plant. Mr Shorten seized on the new signs of dissent to warn voters against trusting the Coalition to run a stable government.

I think the Liberal Party knows that they are stuck with a leader who can't lead, they know it," Mr Shorten said on Thursday. Mr Turnbull told Fairfax Media he could absolutely win the next election because voters would see the gulf between the government and Labor on the economy after a year that saw the creation of 420,700 new jobs. Im confident that itll come down to an economic choice. We will be standing there saying we promised that we would deliver jobs and growth and we have, he said. Were delivering lower taxes, a stronger economy and more jobs. Labor are putting all of that at risk. Loading

Its the risk of Labor that we have to make sure people understand, and I believe they will. The real question is do you want lower taxes, a stronger economy and more Australian jobs, or do you want a weak economy, higher taxes and higher unemployment? And thats what Labor would deliver." The risk of Labor is a key phrase in the governments economic message at a time when voters appear to be warming to the company tax cuts that are at the heart of Mr Turnbulls economic agenda. The Fairfax/Ipsos survey found 49 per cent of voters support the company tax cuts, compared to support of 44 per cent in March last year.

Mr Turnbull said he could counter Mr Shortens message to voters about the need to return fairness to federal budget policy, a key theme for Labor since the unpopular 2014 budget. Theres nothing fair about being unemployed, theres nothing fair about your business failing or not being able to grow, theres nothing fair about not getting a start because businesses are not hiring, Mr Turnbull said. The whole Shorten campaign about inequality is one that is based on inciting the politics of envy without paying any regard to the need to encourage investment and growth. While Labor has gained support from younger voters in the opinion polls conducted since the last election, Mr Turnbull insisted his economic message would counter that appeal. They want a job, they want a good job and they want to be able to get ahead, Mr Turnbull said of younger voters.
An investigation into the August 2017 incident found 2400 sheep died on the Awassi Express from Perth to Doha due to extreme heat - almost twice the acceptable mortality rate.

The intervention follows the release of "deeply disturbing" footage - seen by the minister and due to air on national television on Sunday - showing animal suffering on board a voyage by the same exporter last year.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has threatened to block a ship carrying 65,000 sheep from leaving Australia unless the exporter agrees to a number of conditions, including a reduction in consignment size and an independent inspector.

The video is understood to show sheep suffering from heat stress, as well as sheep lying in their own excrement and dead carcasses decomposing.

Mr Littleproud's department wrote to Emanuel Exports on Thursday demanding a consignment due to leave Perth on Tuesday be reduced by more than 15 per cent. The ship will also need to have extra ventilation and carry an independent observer on board, paid for by the government, who will file photos and video back to base daily.

Such a move is understood to be unprecedented. The ship ordinarily carries a veterinarian but the government is concerned the vet is paid by and accountable to the exporter instead of the public.

In the letter, agriculture assistant secretary Narelle Clegg outlined a number of concerns related to previous exports, including overcrowded pens, "a large number of sheep ... suffering from heat stress", no ready access to food and water, a lack of treatment or euthanasia for sick and injured sheep and a "significant build-up of animal waste leading to bogging of sheep".

She said sheep must not be loaded on board the Gulf-bound vessel until the government grants approval.
More importantly, 62 per cent of the sample believe he should stay Liberal leader and only 28 per cent say he should be replaced. Crucial here is the level of support he enjoys among Liberal voters  74 per cent want him to stay in (21 per cent want a change). Would-be rivals within Liberal ranks who feel he is not conservative enough for the partys support base would do well to ponder those figures.

Mr Turnbulls personal approval has made up quite a lot of ground since the last poll in December  up 5 points and disapproval down 6, putting him in positive territory again with his best result for 22 months. His rating as preferred prime minister is up 4 points, to where more than half of those surveyed prefer him. One voter in two is even prepared to back the governments controversial plan to cut the tax rate for large companies.

That certainly seems to have happened with the 30-polls test, which has become a simple pass or fail proposition. Politics, like real life, is rarely like that. In anticipation, however, Mr Turnbull can take some cheer from the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll, which we publish today. He is not winning  Labor is still ahead 52 to 48 per cent in the two-party-preferred count  but the trend is running the governments way.

Quite by chance, the final poll in the series that Malcolm Turnbull set as a test of effective leadership is due to appear during the Commonwealth Games. The coincidence is fitting: politics in Australia is viewed often enough as another kind of sport, with a loser for every winner. Parties are cheered on by supporters as uncritically as fans cheer on their teams. Get too close and the din becomes deafening, blocking out perspective and common sense.

Despite its improvement, however, the government is still not winning. It is not surprising Mr Turnbull will be blamed if the government is stuck. As leader his function is to set the direction and tone that will secure the victories. He has not been able to do that. More importantly, perhaps, although the Turnbull government has been no disaster, outsiders are hard pressed to say what it stands for or where it wants to go. Like the child who takes a great Dane for a walk, Mr Turnbull is the one being led by suspicious or recalcitrant members of his party. The few directions that have been set have been determined either by the recalcitrants, or in fear of their prejudices. It is the Turnbull government in name, not in fact.

John Howard, in an ABC interview, called on Liberal MPs to recognise their own responsibility in maintaining party unity. He is absolutely right, but it is telling that he had to raise the issue at all. He did so in a week when the partys discontented rump did its best to make mischief for the leader they despise.

The Monash Forum called for the government, if necessary, to build a coal-fired power station. That members of a supposedly free-market party can seriously consider subsidies for the coal industry shows the incoherence of the internal opposition the Prime Minister faces. Yet though its ideas are ludicrous, the group maintains its zealous rage; it can cause the government trouble all the way to the election.

The Opposition Leader, meanwhile, labours under different problems. Bill Shorten is not the most charismatic of leaders and struggles in media appearances to make the case for Labor. Yet he has been self-aware in analysing the problems this causes and adroit in setting a strategy to counteract or compensate for them.

If he adopted the low-profile, trust-me tactic of some recent predecessors, he might sink without trace. But because he leads an able team, he has been able to put together coherent policies that are likely to appeal to groups whose support Labor is seeking. Its policies on negative gearing and changes to the imputation rules on company will undoubtedly offend some older voters. But the party appears to calculate that gains among the young should more than compensate. It deserves credit for presenting difficult but necessary policies and doing so early  even though this poll shows the public is yet to be convinced.
The number of public housing tenants requiring gas heater safety inspections over fears of potential carbon monoxide poisoning has ballooned to more than 50,000  nine out of 10 of state-owned homes.

The Housing Department is now preparing letters for those tenants, warning them of concerns raised about the potentially deadly Vulcan and Pyrox Heritage gas heaters.

More than 50,000 public housing tenants will have to have their Vulcan heaters inspected. Credit:Justin McManus

The energy safety watchdog and the department have also taken out joint advertisements urging anyone with the Heritage heaters to have them checked immediately.

The department confirmed last week it had already written to 6500 public housing tenants, who were known to have the Heritage models, warning them not to use the heaters until they had been checked or replaced.
Geneva: A UN rights watchdog has called on Hungary to crack down on hate speech by politicians against Roma, Muslims and other minorities, and to repeal a law allowing migrants to be deported without a chance to seek asylum.

It urged the nationalist government to reject draft laws known as the "Stop-Soros Package" that would empower the interior minister to ban non-governmental organisations that support migration and pose a "national security risk".

The government says the bill is meant to deter illegal immigration that Prime Minister Viktor Orban says is eroding European stability and has been stoked in part by his regime's spat with Hungarian-born US financier George Soros. It says its policies are to ensure Hungarians can live in safety.
However, a combination of landslides, flooded roads, and tribal fighting has made reaching remote communities difficult. Loading Local journalist Scott Waide said the fights were the result of a long-running feud between tribes, but few details were known about the nature of the conflict. Theyre payback killings, payback for other deaths, he said. Waide said the latest fight erupted last week in Tari, where UNICEF was caring for the children.

Five locals were killed, two were minors. Hela Governor Philip Undialu said the fights were a direct result of the earthquakes. The enemy tries to move to safer places. They come across one another and attack, he said. Undialu said 100 military personnel had been mobilised to help secure public safety in Tari. Monash University politics and international relations lecturer Aleks Deejay said natural disasters often spurred conflict in developing countries.

"A big natural disaster can be such a sudden, disruptive event that if they strike in certain areas that are already experiencing vulnerabilities related to security they can ignite more serious conflict," he said, attributing conflict to the depletion of resources, disruption of public institutions and infrastructure, and migration. Secretary General of the PNG Red Cross Uvenama Rova said tribal fights in the region were a constant ongoing issue, and had disrupted the communities' ability to help one another. "The PNG way is to help your neighbour, but with tribal conflict, it is difficult to reach out to those affected," he said. The Red Cross will on Monday assist the Koma, Tawa, and Denaria communities close to the earthquake's epicentre which have not yet received aid, delivering non-food items including mosquito nets, jerry cans, hygiene kits, medications and other necessities. Amid the continuing aftershocks, the violence, overcrowded conditions and lack of necessities in temporary shelters, humanitarian organisations say they are concerned about the impact of disease and trauma in the wake of the destruction.

Before the earthquakes, children in PNG were already at high risk of violence and physical and emotional abuse, UNICEF reported. The behaviour of children has definitely changed [since the earthquake]. Kids are withdrawn, they dont like to go out. The toxic stress affects them not only now, but also later in life, Molendijk said. UNICEF PNG representative Karen Allen said in a statement the organisations main concern was the psychological health of the children. Psychological damage among children should not be overlooked. It can have a negative impact on childrens brain development, mental health and overall wellbeing in the long run, she said, adding children who have suffered from trauma have an increased risk of delayed development, mental health disorders, depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide. However, children are not the only ones impacted.

Oil Search's Stephanie Cous-Capmbell, standing second left, said women were at risk of violence within affected communities. Oil Search Executive Director Stephanie Copus-Campbell has been based in PNG since the initial earthquake, and said she feared the worst for villagers' mental health. People are really, really, really distressed theyre scared, she said. She said women were most at risk as their trauma was compounded by the risk of gender-based violence. Theres a lot of concerns for women.. Families are experiencing more stress and trauma, its an environment where violence is more likely.

In conjunction with Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Papua New Guinean government, Oil Search has established care centres for women and "waiting villages" for expectant mothers to give birth. It has also deployed two counsellors trained in trauma counselling. The organisation had turned its attention from physical injuries to disease and psychological trauma in the wake of the destruction. We first assisted in injuries, but now its cases of disease. Theres diarrhoea, respiratory conditions, crowded situations," Copus-Campbell said. We keep hearing of more deaths. UNICEF PNG is currently setting up 26 child-friendly spaces to provide psycho-social support services for more than 14,000 children in the severely-affected provinces of Hela and Southern Highlands.
Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: saiko3p/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Put down the snake-infused whiskey. Step away from the elephant pants. Bangkok has a plethora of high-quality, semi-unusual souvenirs for sale. What follows are ten things you should add to your shopping list, sourced from a host of in-the-know residents.

Mother of Pearl Spoons

Chatuchak Weekend Market is the place to go for souvenir shopping. I would get mother of pearl spoons there. Classically, chefs use them for caviar service because it doesnt react with the roe. It can cost up to $20 a spoon in the States, but you can usually deal it down to 150 baht [less than $5] a spoon here, so I grab a bunch for my chef friends back home when I visit them. Dan Bark, executive chef and co-owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant Upstairs at Mikkeller

Handmade Lute

When I first got interested in playing the phin (Thai lute), I bought one from a market and showed it to Kammao Perdtanon, the phin player in the Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band. He said itd make a good chopping board for cooking! Kammao makes his own instruments by hand, following the same techniques as his father. Only a handful of people know how to make a traditional phin anymore. Its like a samurai sword youd only find in Japan  very Kill Bill. If youre looking to buy one, the tourist version costs around 2-to-3,000 Thai baht ($65 to $100 USD) and Kammaos is between 6 and 9,000 baht ($192 to $290), depending on the size, the wood, and the parts. You can order one at our store. Nattapon Siangsukon, owner of ZudRangMa Records

POY-SIAN herbal inhalers. Photo: Courtesy of the Vendor

Herbal Inhaler

Thai inhalers, or ya dom, consist of clove, cardamom, star anise, and mint. You can find them at most convenience stores, including 7-Eleven and Family Mart. Thailands most famous brand is called POY-SIAN. Its packaging is small, so its easy to carry around in your pocket, and its very useful when I feel sick, dizzy, have a headache, or motion sickness. Supoj Siripornlertkul, owner of TUBA Design Furniture & Restaurant and Papaya Design Furniture & Studio

Herbal Balm

Most Thais carry herbal balm everywhere we go. Id recommend the brand Wang-wan. Their factory is located in the Wang Nam Khiao district of northeastern Thailand. They use fresh organic ingredients from that area and their balm smells really good. I often use it to massage my legs; it does a great job easing muscle stiffness. Supoj Siripornlertkul

Locally Roasted Coffee Beans

The quality of Thai coffee has really improved over the years; its just waiting to be discovered by the world market. Gallery Drip Coffee is really pushing Thai beans forward. The selection changes almost weekly, so youll have to check their Facebook page to see whats available. I also recommend the Jom Thong Honey Process coffee from Brave Roasters. Varatt Vichit-Vadakan, owner of third-wave cafe Roast and co-founder of community mall and creative space theCOMMONS

Hanuman neck pillow from Holen. Photo: Courtesy of the Vendor

Hanuman Neck Pillow

For globetrotters who want something well-designed but also useful, I recommend the Hanuman neck pillow from Holen, modeled after the lead character of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Its highly versatile, makes a great gift for kids, and looks cool on a plane. Youll definitely stand out from all those other boring neck pillows! Amarit Charoenphan, founder of the co-working space HUBBA

Bamboo Mat

You can find locally crafted reed and bamboo mats at most markets [Chatuchak, with thousands of vendors, being the largest example]. Theyre perfect as a decorative rug in your apartment, and great to throw over a grass lawn for a picnic or at a beach while youre out surfing. Very multipurpose, durable, and, of course, beautiful. Varatt Vichit-Vadakan

SangSom Thai rum. Photo: Courtesy of the Vendor

SangSom Rum

Most punches pack a wallop of booze. The Muay Thai Punch cocktail at WTF is more mild, because the base alcohol is SangSom, an inexpensive and delicious Thai rum that is a lightly spiced and slightly fruity. Even than hangovers are pleasant! Its usually served with soda or Coke and lime, and shared with friends sitting on low stools on a sweaty Bangkok sidewalk. SangSom recently launched a higher-end line called Phraya; its aged in a charred oak barrel and has a more sophisticated taste. Somrak Sila and Christopher Wise, co-founders of WTF Bar and Gallery

Mortar and Pestle

If you like Thai food, pick up a wooden mortar and pestle at Chatuchak. Theyre used for grinding spices and making som tum (spicy papaya salad). Its hard to find a good one outside of Thailand. I even brought one with me to Canada when I was working in Toronto. Napol Jantraget, executive chef and co-owner of 80/20

WC PEECs portable toilet kit. Photo: Courtesy of the Vendor

WC PEECs Portable Toilet Kit

Bangkoks traffic is notorious and this Good Design Award winner is easy to use in the car, with pleasant packaging. A fun unisex gift you can give to your friends. Hey, you never know! Shane Suvikapakornkul, gallery director of Serindia Gallery
AUTO LAB Talk Radio - LIVE from NYC Saturday Morning 7-9 AM April 7, 2018







Auto Lab Talk Radio on New York City's WNYM Radio AM 970 and Streamed Worldwide On The Auto Channel

This Weeks Show: Broadcast Date: April 7, 2018

Car Question or Concern? Call Toll Free 888-692-7234

Auto Lab is a 28 year old interactive automotive-focused New York area radio call-in show hosted by Professor Harold Wolchok. Each week a cadre of experienced hands-on automotive experts are in-studio with advice for the New York area's 12 million people, providing listeners with honest, practical and street-smart car repair and buying advice.

Auto Lab is also about the automotive industry, its history, and its culture, presenting the ideas and advice of leading college faculty, authors, and automotive practitioners in a relaxed, conversational interactive format.

Listeners can hear the past 18 years of archived Auto Lab shows as simulcast on www.theautochannel.com.

Auto Lab Page includes Audio-on-Demand Archives, Auto Programs at Community College Database, Guests Pictures

This Weeks Show: April 7, 2018

IN STUDIO: Auto Lab's Real World Experts Answer Your Questions; Discuss: Repairs, Second Opinions, Regular Maintenance, How To's, Safety, Used and New Car Buying, Ombudsmen Suggestions

 Harold Bendell - Major Auto

 Ivan Anderson-Brookdale Community College

 Fred Bordoff - Bronx Community College's Automotive Technology Department-CUNY

 Tim Cacace - Master Mechanix

 Audra Fordin - Great Bear Auto Repairs & What Women AUTO Know

 Jerry Pastore - D & J Diagnostics

 Joanne Porcelli, Esq.

 Michael Porcelli - Automobile Services

 Nicholas Prague - MTA

Auto Lab Correspondents Remote Interviews: Featuring Auto Safety News, New Car Reviews, Technology and Latest Auto World Information That Will Effect You!

Robert Erskine, Senior European Correspondent, Suffolk England

DESIGN-REDUCING THE LINES

John Russell- Senior Correspondent

TOYOTA C-HR XLE

Russ Rader Senior Vice President Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

GOOD RATINGS FOR 5 SMALL SUV'S PASSENGER SIDE OVERLAP CRASH TEST

Robert Sinclair AAA Northeast

The Slow Down Move Over Law
MARKHAM, ON, April 6, 2018; The world's first vehicle offering three electrified powertrains in a single platform, the Hyundai Ioniq, has won the 2018 Canadian Green Car Award in the Traditional Hybrid Electric category. It's the second time the Ioniq Hybrid has won this award. The Ioniq in all three powertrain flavours, including the award-winning Ioniq Hybrid, will be joined by the company's Sonata Plug-In Hybrid on display at the 2018 Green Living Show in Toronto April 6-8. Further, show attendees will be able to test drive the Ioniq Electric version directly at the show.

The award is the result of judging by a panel of 14 journalists spread across the country. The Ioniq Hybrid rose above the other category finalists, Kia Niro Hybrid and Ford Fusion Hybrid, as judges evaluated entries on a series of objective and subjective factors that included efficiency, emissions performance, consumer appeal, safety, value, comfort, and quality. The Canadian Green Car Award was launched in 2013 and a Hyundai vehicle has been an award recipient for three consecutive years.

The Hyundai Ioniq is an advanced, stylish vehicle packed with innovative technology that makes it equal parts eco-friendly and fun to drive. Unlike other eco vehicles currently on the market, the Ioniq is the first in the world to offer three electrified powertrains in one platform: hybrid, rechargeable plug-in hybrid, and battery electric.

"The Ioniq offers an engaging driving experience, has an incredibly advanced powertrain, and is undoubtedly one of the most attractive vehicles in the Hyundai line-up," says Lawrence Hamilton, Director of Marketing with Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. "In fact, the Ioniq Hybrid is rated as the most fuel efficient vehicle in Canada, so it stands to reason the car would perform extremely well in the Canadian Green Car Award competition. On behalf of my colleagues at Hyundai, and especially those in our R&D facilities that worked tirelessly to develop the car, I would like to thank the jury panel for recognizing the Ioniq Hybrid as a stand-out competitor."

The Green Living Show can be found at the North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Hyundai's display is located at Booth 1627 in the south-east end of the building on the main convention floor. Test drives of the Ioniq EV are held from the Internal Street accessed from the ground floor of the centre. More information on the Canadian Green Car Award can be found at http://canadiangreencaraward.ca/. Information about the Green Living Show can be found at https://www.greenlivingshow.ca/.
RCMP confirmed on Thursday afternoon that two men who were found dead in a Steinbach home on Saturday, died as a result of firearm-related injuries.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 5/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RCMP confirmed on Thursday afternoon that two men who were found dead in a Steinbach home on Saturday, died as a result of firearm-related injuries.

Police said in a release on Sunday morning that the deaths of the father and son, found in Parkwood Cove home, were considered suspicious but that there was no threat to public safety. Police said at the time they were not searching for any other individuals or suspects related to the matter.

GRANT BURR | THE CARILLON Steinbach RCMP Staff Sgt. Harold Laninga speaks to media on Sunday afternoon, following Saturday's discovery of two men dead inside a Steinbach home. RCMP confirmed on Thursday the two men died of firearm-related injuries.

In the Thursday release, police said no further information would be provided on the matter.
Chance 2, 2016. Photo: Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery. Art  Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

The influential artist (and creator of New York Magazines 50th-anniversary issue cover) Alex Katz has a solo exhibition featuring his wife and long-time muse, Ada, a former research biologist and Fulbright scholar. With colorful paintings of Ada rendered in stainless or enamel-coated steel, Cut Outs is Katzs latest work in a series that has been ongoing since 1959. It closes at Paul Kasmin Gallery on April 12.

Katz has modeled his painted cutouts on friends from New Yorks art and literary world like photographer Rudolph Burckhardt, painter Jane Freilicher, and poet Frank OHara. Ada, who appears in almost every work in the new show, has been Katzs greatest inspiration for decades. When they met at one of his show openings in 1957, she had studied tumor genetics as a Fulbright scholar in Milan, and was working at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York. He painted his first portrait of her that year, and they married four months after meeting, in 1958. We didnt take pictures of each other, she once told the New York Times of their life together. He painted.

Departure 1 (Ada), 2017. Photo: Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery. Art  Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Double Ada, 2014. Photo: Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery. Art  Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Katz was born to Russian immigrant parents in Brooklyn in 1927, and spent his childhood in Queens. He trained at Cooper Union Art School, but it was not until receiving a summer scholarship to Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine that he decided to devote his life to art. Katzs decades-spanning career has produced a diverse oeuvre, which includes large-scale landscapes, printmaking, and fashion design.

His incorporation of graphic advertising-world aesthetics and monochromatic color palettes in the 50s and 60s earned him a designation as a precursor of Pop Art. Included in more than 100 permanent collections across the globe and the subject of more than 700 art shows (200 of which were solo), Katz is considered one of the most technically accomplished and innovative artists of the last century. In Cut Outs, Katzs sculptures  some produced just last year  present the precise, clean lines he is celebrated for. More works from the show appear below.

Ada (Outline), 2017. Photo: Courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery. Art  Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Blockers hasnt even opened yet, and Gideon Adlon has already endured a Hollywood rite of passage: her first press-tour mishap. I just really embarrassed myself, the 21-year-old actress exclaims as she plops down opposite me in the lobby of the Ludlow Hotel.

She and her castmates were playing a game on the Today show where they had to guess emoji sentences, and she accidentally let an S-bomb slip. It was a dog with the circle with the slash through it and a tree, and I was like A dog shitting on a tree! and then everybody was like, Huh and they all started laughing, she says with a grimace.

In a movie whose set pieces include a butt-chugging contest and Exorcist-style projectile vomiting, this might sound relatively tame. But Blockers is Adlons big-screen debut, and she wants to make a good impression. For our interview, she is wearing a low-cut white wrap dress, maroon velvet platform heels, and a sleek curtain of dark brown hair  a sophisticated power-outfit that seems designed to telegraph adulthood. A long, fur-lined beige coat (provided by her stylist) is strewn across her lap. I was so embarrassed, but it was a genuine mistake, she says, fiddling with the diamante clasp of her shoes. I havent messed up yet, and it was like Really!? did you really just do that on the Today show?!

Blockers is Adlons first taste of stardom. And yet sitting down opposite her, its hard not to feel like youve seen her someplace before. Her mother is actress, writer, and showrunner Pamela Adlon, creator of FXs Better Things, and Gideon shares her quick dark-brown eyes and mischievous smirk. They also sound alike, and she recounts the details of her Today trauma in the same distinctive Adlon rasp that made her mother such a successful voice artist  an appealing, sand-papery throatiness that gives everything Gideon says a slightly jaded quality, even when shes bursting with enthusiasm. Free from the strictures of daytime TV, an amiable torrent of curse words flows forth: director Kay Cannon is funny as fuck, the graphic novel shes reading is fucking cool, and she fucking loves Kristen Wiig.

In addition to the mother-daughter resemblance, Adlon may also be familiar to Better Things fans as the real-life inspiration for the shows neurotic, rebellious eldest daughter Max, played onscreen by Mikey Madison. Sometimes it makes me annoyed that people are like, Oh my God, I cant believe you did that. And Im like, Oh my God, I didnt actually do that, she says. Like, Im not as whiny as Max.

Nor are Maxs exploits strictly autobiographical. For instance, in the first episode of season two, where Max is dating an middle-aged Spanish man, Adlon demurs: I dated an Italian guy that was kind of like him, but he wasnt 45. He was like, 23, she says. Its kind of stressful sometimes because I dont always know what my moms going to use, but I really do trust her. And honestly my stories are her stories, and this is her art, and I think its kind of cool honestly.

Adlon was always involved in theater; a year into her photography degree at Chicagos Columbia College, she dropped out to pursue acting more seriously. Now shes emerging from the shadow of her famous mother  and famous fictional family  with Blockers, a very funny new comedy directed by Pitch Perfect writer Kay Cannon and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Blockers belongs to a new vanguard of teen comedies, like Neighbors 2 and Love, Simon, that wear progressive credentials on their sleeves. As Allison P. Davis notes in her recent profile of Cannon, it also owes a great debt to Bridesmaids, and the pivotal Maya Rudolphshitting-in-the-street scene that demonstrated women could be just as disgusting as men and still get laughs and sell tickets. Yet Blockers maintains a light touch, managing to have plenty of gross bodily fluids as well as an inherently feminist worldview, without ever bashing you over the head with its wokeness.

The movie follows three best friends, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Sam (Gideon Adlon) and Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan, another excellent newcomer), who make a pact to lose their virginities on prom night. Their parents  played respectively by Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, and John Cena  embark on a mad dash to try and stop them. Despite the familiar olds-vs.-youngs premise, Blockers is a refreshing depiction of young womens sexuality; the parents views wind up seeming dated and unfair, and the three girls are shown to be more than capable of making smart decisions. Its extremely empowering for young women, to see other young women in a position of power over their own bodies, over their own choices, and seeing young boys being respectful of those decisions, she tells me, with Gen-Z fluency.

Photo: Andrea Calvetti, instagram @straydogfilm

Adlon comes by her progressive worldview honestly. On Better Things, Pamela Adlons alter ego (also, coincidentally, named Sam) is a strong and loving matriarch; in real life, Adlon and her daughters form a similarly close-knit female tribe. It was always about girl power in our house and always about learning how to say no, and finding who you are and being secure with yourself, she says. And knowing that its okay to fart and be weird. Her mom set the tone: She was always the breadwinner, and I just grew up knowing like, Im going to be making the money. Im going to be independent and strong like my mom.

While the parents in the film freak out when they discover their daughters plans to lose their virginities, Adlons recalls her own birds and bees talk being much more laid-back. I remember my mom telling me, when all the puberty stuff started to hit its peak, If you ever feel funny, you can just go into your room and touch yourself. And I was like, Mom! That was fucking embarrassing, she recalls. When she was a teenager, her mom sent her to classes on the weekend with a bunch of other girls her age to learn about their emerging sexuality. Wed learn about our vaginas and, like, our bodies and how your body is your temple. And theyd give us these necklaces that had these shells called yonis, which means vagina, though I dont know what language it means vagina in, she recalls. In the moment, I was like, This is terrible. But now Im like, YES, my body is my temple.

Despite the heartfelt relationships at its center, Blockers is not a serious movie, and Adlon grows animated as she rehashes its wilder moments  many of which remind her of stories from her not-so-distant past. My prom night was crazy. The parties were crazy. A lot of people vomited. I didnt vomit, says Adlon, alluding to a particularly barf-heavy scene in the movie, which required her to be hooked up to a vomit rig and spit out a foul concoction made of Hawaiian bread, lettuce, strawberry, and banana. I lost my voice for like three days. Wed be on stage from like 3 p.m. to like 9 a.m., just like vomiting all fucking night.

Talking about what shell do next, Adlons eyes widen with excitement. Recently she starred as Matthias Schoenaertss daughter in the Focus Features film Mustang. Right now, shes mostly trying to soak it all in. Im right at the beginning. All of this is so new to me. My mom really kept us out of the spotlight our whole lives and we had a very normal childhood. Before her show, she was very closeted away from like all that glitz and glam, and it always made her feel weird doing that stuff. But I like the publicity, she says. I like the carpets and everything, because Im very proud of what Ive done and I want to show that off.

As our interview starts to wind down, Adlon glances over at her iPhone, which she has placed a strategic arms length away from her on the leather couch. She picks it up and immediately gets sucked into some drama. God, its so hard having little sisters, she moans, rolling her eyes. My little sister went on a sleepover with my two best friends last night but, like, brought this random guy to my friends house, she says, scrolling a baby-pink fingernail through the countless text messages and Instagram notifications blowing up her phone. Its like, why?

Photo: Andrea Calvetti, instagram @straydogfilm

Adlons younger sister Odessa recently started dating Jaden Smith, which has made her instant paparazzi fodder  something Adlon says has been weird for the family. Its definitely not normal. Like, thats her first boyfriend, so its weird for her. I mean, she hates it but, you know, some things you cant control. Im just like: Leave the fucking kids alone. Let them be boyfriend and girlfriend and be in a relationship and be happy together without your cameras in their faces, like, talking about what they are wearing, she says. Still, she acknowledges: Jaden is an icon and Odessa understands. Hes a really close friend of mine.

Then, of course, theres the elephant in the room: the familys relationship with Louis C.K., who is her mothers longtime collaborator and Better Things co-writer, as well as a close family friend. (Gideon has herself cameoed on Louie, on which her mother played Louies on-again-off-again girlfriend). Any woman working in Hollywood in 2018 is likely to find themselves sucked into the #MeToo conversation, but few young actresses have had a front-row seat to just how messy this reckoning can be  especially when the bad guys are people you know and love. After the New York Times revealed C.K.s habit of masturbating in front of women without consent, his career was disgraced; FX announced that Better Things would continue under Adlon alone.

My familys been through a lot recently, in light of the whole #MeToo movement, Adlon tells me, bringing it up of her own accord. Its clear that shes simultaneously eager to talk about this difficult experience, and well aware that anything she says could be blown out of proportion or taken out of context. Its been really difficult and a lot of people have asked me questions, she says. But I really think that, you know, every single story, doesnt matter if its personal to me or whatever, every single story that has come out has created a safer workspace for me, what with me just starting in the industry.

Hows your mom doing? I ask. My moms great, you know, she says. At the end of the day, she wrote a show with him; she made art with him. Its always difficult, you have to keep moving forward, and like I was saying, all these stories just keep empowering a movement and make women stronger and provide a safer workspace for us. And I feel like theres more respect because men are more careful now. She ponders her words carefully. My moms not responsible for what someone else has done. I dont know how much I should say about it, because I dont want to make my mom upset. Its a hard subject, and theyre very close friends, and I loved him dearly, and hes not a terrible person, and Im scared to say this stuff, she says. Regardless of what he meant to whoever, its good that these things came out. But it does suck.

Still, Adlon isnt afraid of the tough questions, and shes proud that her first movie  a movie she landed on her own, which has nothing to do with her moms career, or that of her moms former co-writer  is something she can endorse wholeheartedly. I think Ive been very eloquent speaking about the #MeToo movement, she says, with obvious pride. Every single interview that Ive done so far Ive really made a note to be like, This movie is about empowering young women and three young women, empowering themselves, and making the choices for their own bodies, and their own minds, being comfortable with it, and knowing what they want to do. Four-letter words aside, its going pretty well. I feel like Im getting a good feeling of who I am.
Kevin Williamson. Photo: Youtube

Shortly after announcing that they were bringing on conservative writer Kevin Williamson, The Atlantic is now parting ways with their controversial new hire.

There was public outcry immediately after Williamson was brought on, much of it stemming from a tweet he sent out in 2014 stating that women who have abortions should be executed by hanging. That same year, he also compared a black child to a primate in a 2014 story and wrote a vehemently anti-transgender polemic. Writer Jessica Valenti in particular was instrumental in drawing attention to his previous work and how his female colleagues might feel about the choice to hire him.

But the magazines editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, defended Williamson in an email circulated to his staff, emphasizing the need for an ideologically diverse magazine. He also urged them to look past a persons worst tweets, or assertions, in isolation. Then, Media Matters extensively dug into his previous work  and found even more damning material.

For instance, during a 2011 TV appearance, Williamson called Mexican immigrants peasants who arent really contributing a great deal. During another, he said, were probably waterboarding people somewhere. I certainly hope so. And, proving that his tweet did not exist in isolation, Media Matters discovered that he also discussed hanging women whove had abortions on his podcast, saying he has a soft spot for hanging as a form of capital punishment.

This appears to have caused Goldberg to change course, and he informed his staff of the change in an email sent around on Thursday. The language he used in this podcastand in my conversations with him in recent daysmade it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views, he wrote. The tweet was not merely an impulsive, decontextualized, heat-of-the-moment post, as Kevin had explained it. Furthermore, the language used in the podcast was callous and violent. This runs contrary to The Atlantics tradition of respectful, well-reasoned debate, and to the values of our workplace.

He added that, Kevin is a gifted writer, and he has been nothing but professional in all of our interactions.

I am just glad that the women who work at The Atlantic  statistically many of whom have likely had abortions  dont have to work with someone who thinks they should be executed, Valenti told the Cut. Im sure in the wake of this were going to see arguments that claim Williamson was wronged, or that the left cannot abide disagreement. But publications can strive for ideological diversity without giving up their integrity or broadening the parameters of debate so wide that killing women becomes part of acceptable political discourse.

*This post has been updated with comments from Valenti.
Emily Nemens. Photo: @EmilyNemens/Twitter

Four months after Paris Review editor Lorin Stein resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct, the esteemed literary magazine has found a new editor: Emily Nemens, co-editor of The Southern Review.

Over the past few months, the magazines board has been engaged in an intensive search to replace Stein, who had served as editor since 2010. While it was widely assumed that the magazine would choose a female editor, Nemens, who is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a surprising choice for a publication so closely tied to the New York literary world, according to the New York Times.

Nemens is hardly a prominent fixture on the New York literary scene, and has taken a circuitous route to becoming an editor, working in editorial roles at the Center for Architecture and the Metropolitan Museum of Art before earning a degree in creative writing and beginning work at The Southern Review. Nemens is also an illustrator who runs a popular Tumblr featuring watercolor portraits of female congresswomen.

Her literary tastes, her accomplishments, the combination of her work ethic and her sense of collaboration  both with her writers and her staff  make her a really unique package of talent, said Paris Review board member Akash Shah. This is someone who is on a steep trajectory, and The Paris Review is going to benefit from that.

Being something of an outsider may have helped Nemens, who arrives at a time of change and upheaval for the quarterly magazine. After Lorin Steins name circulated on the Shitty Media Men list back in the fall, the magazines board began an investigation into the editors behavior. Stein ultimately resigned after acknowledging that he had dated and demonstrated sexual interest in women he worked with, including writers and interns, and had used his office for consensual sexual encounters.
Essential reading, listening, etc. Photo: Courtesy of the Vendors

Because dozing through The Hangover Part II on the flight over just wont cut it.

Read these 

My Bangkok: City of Spirits

Author Lawrence Osborne, he of brutally honest farang memoir Bangkok Days, explores the Thais spooky relationship with ghosts, or phi, in this 2017 article from the New York Times.

Sightseeing

The Guardian described this breakout short story collection from Chicago-born, Bangkok-bred writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap as storytelling of the highest quality, profoundly human and universal. Beneath the warm-fuzzies, the anthology bristles with anger over endemic corruption and sorrowful poverty.

The Beach

The origin of Leonardo DiCaprios most divisive film is this gnarly debut novel from screenwriter Alex Garland, a Gen-X icon who has spent the last three years making brain-scrambling sci-fi movies (Ex Machina, Annihilation). The Beach has nothing to do with alternate dimensions or artificial intelligence though; its about a nightmarish journey that starts on Khaosan Road, the place where common sense goes to die.

Photo: Courtesy of the Vendor

The Drinking Food of Thailand

It may seem counterintuitive to read a cookbook before traveling to Bangkok, but Pok Pok chef Andy Ricker is one of Americas foremost experts on Thai cuisine. He began touring Thailand as a backpacker in the 80s and just never stopped. Skimming these 50 recipes in advance of your trip will familiarize you with dishes you should be trying in person (like sai krawk Isaan, or fermented pork-and-rice sausage), as well as ingredients you may want to sneak back through customs upon your grand reentry. (We wont snitch.)

Hear this 

Thai? Dai!  The Heavier Side of the Luk Thung Underground

Thailands consummate crate digger, DJ Maft Sai, curated this hard-driving compilation of rare records for Finders Keepers, the U.K.s leading reissue label. If you like the sound of that, stream Thai Beat a Go-Go, a four-part series from Subliminal Sounds, on Spotify or Apple Music.

Watch this 

Goodbye Pad Thai

This 23-minute segment from SBS Dateline, an Australian current affairs show, does a nice job summarizing the debate over the Thai governments desire to restore order to Bangkoks streets by eliminating its street food vendors. Interviewees include Nahm chef David Thompson and Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag.

Bookmark these 

BK Magazine

While English-language websites like Coconuts and Time Out Bangkok are worth a look, BK Magazine is the go-to for up-to-the-minute event listings, restaurant openings, art previews, and more.

Eating Thai Food

Knock the jaded scowl off Anthony Bourdains face and what do you got? Mark Wiens, Bangkoks most obsessive food blogger and YouTube star. This expat smiles more than the Joker because he really, really loves Thailand and his enthusiasm is infectious. Among his best video primers are 25 Amazing Things To Do In Bangkok, Thailand, Thai Street Food in Bangkok with The Food Ranger, and Eating Thai Food with Andrew Zimmern in Bangkok!

Download these 

Grab

This popular car-hailing service is one of the reasons Uber lost billions in Southeast Asia and ultimately decided to cut its losses, pull its cars from the street, and invest in the enemy (to the tune of a 27.5 percent stake). Download the Grab app to your smartphone before touching down in Bangkok; itll save you the hassle of playing Lets Make a Deal with unscrupulous taxi drivers.

Nancy Chandlers Map of Bangkok

The late Nancy Chandlers colorful, hand-painted maps of Thai cities are a thing of beauty. The 27th edition of her Bangkok paper map, complete with a 100-page directory, was last updated in January 2015, but many of the sights she called out arent in danger of disappearing. A digital version of the map is available for download as a PDF, but if youre hankering to go more micro on a specific neighborhood, know that Chandler also produced mini-guides to Chinatown, Chatuchak Market, and the tony suburb of Nonthaburi.

Follow these 

For visual inspiration before, during, and after your trip, follow these Bangkok-centric Instagram accounts: @webangkok, @teguh_priambodo, @woody_chai, @kentcranford, @falsedigital, @oatts, @docbkb, @sunnysobhani, and @supanitr.
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has said it will write off Shs 417 billion in tax arrears owed by government as bad debts.



This was revealed by the commissioner general, Doris Akol, who was on Thursday presented URA's budget estimates for the financial year 2018/2019 before the finance committee of parliament. Akol said the money had accumulated over a long period of time.

URA commissioner general Doris Akol

Akol said URA registered a 14.85% decline in government payments. She appealed to the ministry of Finance to have the figure of Shs 400 billion taken away from their revenue collection target, saying government has failed to pay this money.



Akol said this makes it appear like URA has a big revenue shortfall. She says URA has been stopped from collecting tax from some entities like Uganda Telecom (Utl), over fears that the telecom company could collapse.



"We have arrears which we have been trying to collect but government has told us, if you collect this tax, the telecom will go down," Akol says.

Early this year, President Museveni ordered government not to recover Shs 200 billion of Utl's debts. He instead ordered that the debts be converted into shares for the government.



On last year's performance, Akol said the net revenue collected is Shs 6 trillion, which puts the tax authority at a performance of up to 95.12%.



Last year, the tax body recovered Shs 131 billion in debts, and also registered an increase in the taxpayer register which according to Akol, grew by 169,237 tax payers. Akol says this represents a 16% growth in registration with a total of so far 1,196,994 tax payers registered.



Rubanda East MP Henry Musaasizi, lashed out at the government for making unrealistic tax decisions like exemptions which have affected revenue collection. He said that some policies by the government made it hard for URA to generate enough revenue to support the country's small budget.



David Bahati, the state minister of Finance for Planning, told MPs that the ministry was supportive of URA saying that some exemptions were meant to ensure more investments into the country, but also helping out in times of crisis.



URA projects to collect Shs 16 trillion next financial year. Of this, the tax revenue is Shs 15 billion and non-tax revenue will be Shs 420 billion. The tax body has been allocated Shs 331 billion for next financial year compared to this financial year when it was allocated Shs 390 billion. URA has a funding gap of Shs 100 billion.
3 Dead, 2 Injured After Mother and Child Pursued in Interstate Murder-Suicide

A violent shooting that took place at a rural property in north Georgia on Thursday morning, April 5, has left three people dead and two injured, according to authorities.

Lumpkin County sheriff officers responded to a 911 call at around 8:30 a.m. about shots being fired at Bryn Drive in Dawsonville. When the deputies arrived, they heard shots being fired and soon found two women and one man dead from gunshot wounds inside the residence, reported Fox 5.

"It's an unfortunate incident."#Lumpkin Sheriff talking about a murder-suicide shooting that left 3 dead, 2 injured. pic.twitter.com/y9EO73eI1Y  Mike Petchenik (@MPetchenikWSB) April 5, 2018

Authorities also found two children  a 16-year-old and a 2-year-old  wounded on the property. They were first rushed to Northeast Georgia Medical Center and then transferred to Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, reported the news station.

Their conditions were not immediately known.

A 13-year-old girl, who managed to escape from the violent situation, was able to seek refuge in a neighboring home from where she called 911. She has since been placed in the custody of relatives.

Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said that detectives believe the now deceased man, identified as Kelley McDonald Jr., drove from Florida to find his estranged girlfriend or wife at her sisters house in Georgia.

BREAKING: #Lumpkin Sheriff confirms this is the man who shot two women to death, injured a teen and toddler, then killed himself. Kelley McDonald, Jr. was wanted out of Tampa, FL for domestic abuse. pic.twitter.com/rIyMaoc3bK  Mike Petchenik (@MPetchenikWSB) April 5, 2018

Police alleged that the couple had an ongoing dispute which started in Florida and the woman decided to seek refuge at her sisters house. Authorities are suspecting that the man shot his estranged partner and her sister before turning the gun on himself.

Its an unfortunate incident that came from Florida, a domestic situation, Jarrard told WSBTV.

I dont know how long the domestic situation had been going on between the man and woman, but its unfortunate that it went to this level in taking lives.

According to Fox 5 news, the sheriff is currently searching for a woman who was driving an early to mid-2000s model gold or champagne-colored Ford Explorer who may have information essential to the investigation.

Authorities said the couple did have a child together  the 2-year-old who was wounded in the assault. Police have not released the names of the victims.

The police investigation is still ongoing. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been asked to take over the investigation, according to the news station.

From NTD.tv

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Chinese State Media Welcomes Home Tiangong-1 Satellite After Crashing, Denies It Went out of Control

Chinas Tiangong-1 space station crashed to the Earth in the South Pacific Ocean on Monday morning. While many were concerned about where the out-of-control satellite would land, the Chinese Communist regime said prior to Mondays crash that the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 is unlikely to cause any damage when landing. Instead, state media said that the satellite re-entering the Earths atmosphere would be a gorgeous and magnificent show.

Tiangong-1, which means Heavenly Palace in Chinese, was launched in September 2011. It landed at about 8:15 a.m. Beijing time (8:15 p.m. ET Sunday), according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office.

The Chinese regime informed the United Nations in May 2017 that Tiangong-1 had stopped functioning back in March 2016, but did not provide an explanation for why.

Chinas aerospace technology is still not advanced enough when compared to other countries, according to Luo Yu, former head of the aviation equipment division of the Peoples Liberation Army General Staff Department. He is also the son of the late general Luo Ruiqing.

It [Tiangong-1] has lost control for so many years. Since it has been out of control, theres no way to tell its deceleration speed and landing, he said in an interview with New Tang Dynasty Television (NTD) on April 2. The broadcaster is The Epoch Times sister media.



To its own citizens, the Chinese regime is still unwilling to admit that Tiangong-1 was out of control, even after its crashing. The Chinese Communist Partys state-run media used poetic words to sugarcoat the space stations failure. China Manned Space Engineering Office announced on March 28 that Tiangong- 1 will be transformed into a gorgeous entity and pass through the beautiful starry sky. The state mouthpiece newspaper Peoples Daily reported the story with the headline, Welcome Home. The state-run news agency Xinhua described the satellite as having accomplished its historic mission.



Many netizens challenged the state medias statements. Hong Kongs Apple Daily newspaper quoted netizens comments: [The Chinese regime] has hid the fact since 2016, said username tttKevin18 on Sina Weibo, Chinas equivalent of Twitter. Is this the demeanor of a so-called strong power?

Didnt it boast to replace the International Space Station? said Kennedy2016. Another compared the state medias hyperbole to the Chinese idiom: holding a funeral like youre having a wedding.

Two years ago, when the Chinese regime first announced Tiangong-1s malfunction, the state-run newspaper Global Times did not mention anything about Tiangong-1s being out of control to the Chinese people, Chen Pokong, a U.S.-based political commentator, told NTD in an interview. Instead, it ran this subtitle in a news report: [China] as a nation is realizing several nations space station plans.

Chen added that in recent days, with the news of Tiangong-1s impending crash, many Russian aerospace experts spoke out about how China had learned all of its aerospace technology from Russia, especially during the time of Mikhail Gorbachev in the former Soviet Union and during Boris Yeltsins time after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

These Russian aerospace experts revealed that they taught those Chinese experts personally. They taught them the designs for the controls, what equipment they needed, how to control the data, and how to return the satellites back to Earth. So China has totally learned its aerospace technology from the Soviet Union and Russia, Chen said.

Taiwans Central News Agency reported on March 31 that Chinese officials and experts said the 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 is unlikely to cause any damage after crashing. However, the U.S.-based nonprofit organization Aerospace Corporation pointed out that if the satellite is not burned completely while it goes through the atmosphere, there is a chance of highly toxic and corrosive chemicals emitting from the wreckage.
Doug Ford Addresses Black Community

Ontarios Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford says he has massive support from the black community.

Ford says he wont be attending the April 11 leaders debate organized by the black community because he will be busy campaigning.

I think I was pretty clear when I talked to the organizers that Im going to be north for four days, and I have massive support in the black community. I love them, they love me, and Ill be sitting down with the organizers and chatting with them, Ford said in response to a question from a reporter why he is not attending the debate.

But let me go one step further with that, Id like to see Kathleen Wynnes record when it came to the black community. Theres no other political in this country, no other politician outside of Rob Ford, that has supported the black community more than I have. And I love them, Im going to support themthey know that, he said.

Ford added an example of his support, saying that for the past three years he has been bringing around 80 children from the black community to his cottage.

We have a great time. These kids have never been to Muskoka in their lives. I take care of the bus, we have a mini Olympics. Thats the highlight of my summer, going out there and helping these kids, he said.

I have massive support, I love them, they love me.

The next provincial elections in Ontario will be held on June 7.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Justice Department Seeks Role in Opioid Settlement Talks

The U.S. Justice Department on April 2 sought court permission to participate in settlement negotiations aimed at resolving lawsuits by state and local governments against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

The Justice Department said in a brief it wanted to participate in talks overseen by a federal judge in Cleveland as a friend of the court that would provide information to help craft non-monetary remedies to combat the opioid crisis.

We are determined to see that justice is done in this case and that ultimately we end this nations unprecedented drug crisis, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

Last month, the Justice Department asked U.S. District Judge Dan Polster for 30 days to decide whether to participate in the litigation given the costs the federal government had incurred because of the opioid epidemic.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids were involved in over 42,000 overdose deaths in 2016. President Donald Trump has called for litigation against companies over their roles in the opioid epidemic.

But April 2s brief signaled that the Justice Department would not be seeking to participate as an active litigant in the litigation before Polster, who is overseeing at least 433 opioid-related lawsuits brought primarily by cities and counties.

The lawsuits generally accuse drugmakers of deceptively marketing opioids and allege distributors ignored red flags indicating the painkillers were being diverted for improper uses. The defendants have denied wrongdoing.

Polster has been pushing for a global settlement and has invited state attorneys general who have cases and probes not before him to participate in the negotiations.

The defendants include drugmakers Purdue Pharma LP, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Endo International PLC, and Allergan PLC, and distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc, and McKesson Corp.

In the brief, the Justice Department said that while it was pursuing opioid-related criminal and civil cases, it would not be proper to consolidate them with the lawsuits before Polster.

Nevertheless, it said the federal government could provide information to assist in crafting a settlement.

The Justice Department noted the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had already agreed to produce data on the names and market shares of opioid manufacturers and distributors in each state.

The department said it also had an interest in facilitating discussions about the parties legal obligations given the federal governments own substantial financial stake in fighting the epidemic.
Man Who Was Deported 3 Times Is Facing Child Sexual Assault Charges

A man who had already been deported three times from the U.S. is facing a child sexual assault charge in Cleveland, Ohio.

Antonio Barrera from Mexico has been accused of sexually assaulting a child relative on Clevelands east side in December 2017, reported Fox 8, citing police. Felony sex charges against Barrera are now pending in Cuyahoga County Court.

The victims mother told Fox 8 on Thursday, April 5, that Barrera had been living with them and that all his relatives knew about his past.

Yes, we all knew he didnt have papers, the woman said. She did not want to be identified.

She said that she walked in on the attack and wants Barrera to get the punishment for the alleged crime.

I want him to serve time and not just walk away free, she told the news station.

Two handwritten letters written in English and signed with the name Antonio Barrera were submitted to the court. According to Fox 8, one of the letters asked for drug treatment instead of prison, while another asked for a trial. Both letters talked about Mexico.

I want to take my case to a jury trial then go home to Mexico, no more under the tunnels, one of the letters apparently said, reported the news station.

Judge Nancy Russo who handles sex crime cases asked during the hearing on Thursday why the court was receiving the letters in English when Barrera did not speak any English. When asked, Barrera said through his defense attorney that he was not able to give the name of the person who wrote the letters for him.

Russo said the court would not consider the letters.

According to the news station, records show that there are talks about a guilty plea. No further details about the alleged sexual assault have been reported.

Barrera will likely be taken into custody by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency after the case. He may possibly be charged with federal offenses for returning to the U.S. illegally.

Between 2007 and 2008, Barrera was deported to Mexico three times, according to ICE.

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Police Investigate Reports of Zombie Raccoons in Ohio

Raccoons with zombie-like symptoms have been reported in Ohio by residents worried about the health and safety of their petsand themselves.

Youngstown resident Robert Coggeshall was playing with his beagles outside his house around noon Friday, April 30, when he saw what he described as a drooling raccoon.

Watch the video, which features photographs Coggeshall took of the oddly behaving animal.

The Washington Post reported that the 72-year-old naturalist and wildlife photographer ushered his dogs into the house as the raccoon fearlessly walked up to the glass door and peered at the mans pets.

Coggeshall realized something was wrong with the raccoon when he tried to chase it away.

The confronted animal stood up on its hind legs and bared its teeth in a snarl-like expression, saliva dripping from its mouth.

He told Washington Post reporters that the animal then slumped to the ground, as if in a coma. Then, it perked up, walked around, and once again stood up on its hind legs.

It was kind of startling, Coggeshall told The Washington Post. And it kept coming back to the house. It was at my door about two or three times.

Coggeshall took a number of photos of the animal over the course of two hours as the raccoon repeated its unusual behavior.

Youngstown police have received calls about raccoons in northeast Ohio behaving strangely, Fox8 reported.

The raccoon Coggeshall saw and 14 others have been euthanized, according to the report.

The state Department of Natural Resources told reporters the animals were likely suffering from a condition called distemper.

It is a viral disease that causes coughing, tremors, and seizures and leads raccoons to lose their fear of humans.

In earlier NTD reports, similarly sick raccoons were spotted in two Florida countiesand it was stated the disease they carry can spread to pets.

Raccoons infected with distemper have been sighted in Duval and Volusia counties in February of this year, starting in Jacksonville and spreading south, Jacksonville.com reported.

Distemper makes raccoons appear to be drunkthey sway, stumble, or lay lethargically on the ground, even in daylight, which is very unusual for those normally secretive nocturnal animals.

Ill animals might ooze mucus from the eyes and nostrils. They also might suffer from seizures, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Distemper can be spread to household pets from the droppings or fluids of infected animals.

Pet owners are warned not to feed or water their pets outdoors, and to call Animal Control if they see raccoons acting oddly.

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President Donald Trump before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington en route to to Mar-a-Lago, Fla., on March 23, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

President Trump Says He Will Likely Skip White House Correspondents Dinner

President Donald Trump said that he most likely will not attend this years White House correspondents dinner.

Speaking on the Bernie and Sid in the Morning show on WABC, Trump said that given the medias biased and often intentionally inaccurate coverage of his administration, he will not be attending the annual dinner on April 28. He specifically called out media organizations for using unnamed sourceseven when no sources existsto spread false information.

Instead, the President said he hoped to improve relations with the press before potentially attending the annual dinner hosted by the White House Correspondents Association in the future.

Last year, Trump skipped the dinner as well, holding a rally in Pennsylvania instead.

It is unclear whether the president will hold a rally again this year.

A recent analysis by the Media Research Center found that over 90 percent of coverage of Trump and his administration on the evening news on major networks was negative in 2017.

Similarly, an analysis by Pew Research Center of more than 3,000 stories during the first 100 days of his presidency across 24 different media organizations found that reporting on Trump has been the most negative compared to other presidents over the past 25 years.

The research, published in October last year, showed that only 5 percent of media reporting during the period was positive. Sixty-two percent of stories was negative, and 33 percent was neither positive nor negative.

Despite the persistent negative coverage of Trump, his approval rose to 51 percent on April 4 according to research by Rasmussen Reports.

The right-leaning polling company was among the most accurate during the 2016 presidential elections, being the second most accurate in predicting the election results.

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Police officers stand outside a pub near to where former Russian inteligence officer Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious after they had been exposed to an unknown substance, in Salisbury on March 7, 2018. (Reuters/Toby Melville)

Recovering Daughter of Ex-Spy Poisoned in UK Makes First Comment After Attack

LONDON/MOSCOWYulia Skripal on Thursday made her first public comments since being poisoned in Britain last month with her father, a former Russian double-agent, saying she was getting stronger by the day but shedding no new light on the incident.

The British Metropolitan police released a statement on Yulias behalf:

I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received.

I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated. Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism.

I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that youll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence, the statement read.

Yulia Skripal thanks people of Salisbury and hospital staff https://t.co/t6BO7UFzye pic.twitter.com/2raifFQafB  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 5, 2018

Yulia, 33, and Sergei Skripal, 66, were found slumped unconscious on a public bench outside The Maltings shopping center in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

A police officer, Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, was one of the first to respond to the incident. He was taken to hospital and later released.

Britain said more than 130 people were affected by the attack. More than 50, including three children, reported to hospital.

Britain said they were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent Novichok A-234, the first known use of such a toxin on European soil since World War Two.

May said her government had concluded that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the poisoning or that it had lost control over some of the nerve agent. Moscow denies any involvement.

The incident has had major diplomatic ramifications, with mass expulsions of Russian and Western diplomats.

We have told our British colleagues that youre playing with fire and youll be sorry,' Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Moscow had requested.

We didnt do it, were not guilty, Nebenzia said.

British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told the Security Council that Britains actions stand up to any scrutiny and pledged to keep the 15-member body updated on the inquiry.

We have nothing to hide  but I do fear that Russia might have something to fear, Pierce said.

The attack left the Skripals in critical condition and doctors had initially feared that even if they did survive, they might have suffered permanent brain damage.

But while her father remains stable in intensive care, Yulias health has improved rapidly. Her recovery means she can help British counter-terrorism police with their investigation although she did not give any details about what had happened in her brief remarks.

Britains Foreign Office said she had been offered assistance by Russias embassy but had so far declined.

Hours before the statement issued by British police, Russian state TV and Interfax reported that Yulia had phoned her cousin Viktoria Skripal in Russia, saying she and her father were both recovering and that she expected to leave hospital soon.

Everything is fine, everything is fixable, everyone is getting better, everyone is alive, they quoted her as saying in the call.

Asked about her fathers health, Yulia was cited as saying: Everything is fine, he is resting right now, sleeping  nobody has any problems that cant be put right.

Russian state TV said it could not vouch for the authenticity of the quotes. Viktoria Skripal has said she plans to travel to England if she can get a visa.

Diplomatic Fallout

Police believe the nerve agent was left on the front door of the home in Salisbury where Skripal, a military intelligence colonel who betrayed dozens of Russian agents to Britains MI6 spy service, lived after he was freed in a spy swap.

The attack has driven Moscows relations with the West to a low.

On March 14, May ordered 23 Russians who she said were spies working under diplomatic cover to leave Britain.

On the eve of its March 18 presidential election, Russia ordered 23 British diplomats out of Moscow. It also shut down the activities of the British Council, which fosters cultural links, and Britains consulate-general in St Petersburg.

The leaders of the United States, Germany, France and Germany condemned the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe since World War Two, saying it threatened the security of the West.

On Wednesday, Russia lost its call for a joint inquiry to be held into the poisoning at a meeting of global watchdog  the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.

Moscows ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko said on Thursday Russia had never made Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent which British experts say was the toxin used.

He said the Kremlin would accept the results of OPCW tests but only if there was transparency and they were confirmed by experts from outside Europe and NATO.

While scientists at the Porton Down biological and chemical weapons laboratory near Salisbury have concluded the toxin was Novichok, its chief executive said on Tuesday they had not yet determined whether it was made in Russia.

That prompted even some allies to say London needs to provide more evidence of Russian culpability.

Britain says there is no plausible explanation other than that Russia was behind the attack and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russia of running a disinformation campaign.

A number of Russians have died in mysterious circumstances in Britain in recent years including dissident Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in 2006. A British inquiry concluded his murder had probably been ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We have a lot of suspicions about Britain, said Russian UK ambassador Yakovenko. If you take the last 10 years, so many Russian citizens died here in the UK, under very strange circumstances  My question is why is it happening here?

By Michael Holden and Andrey Ostroukh

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Historian Yuri Dmitriev accused of using his adopted daughter to produce child pornography, of illegally possessing a firearm, and of depravity, is escorted by a police officer on his arrival for a court hearing in Petrozavodsk, Russia June 5, 2017. (Reuters/Igor Podgorny)

Russian Historian Who Exposed Stalins Crimes Cleared of Child Pornography

MOSCOWA Russian historian whose exposure of Soviet leader Josef Stalins crimes angered state officials was cleared of child pornography charges on Thursday, April 6, after a long campaign by human rights activists to free him.

State prosecutors had accused Yuri Dmitriev of involving his adopted daughter, then 11, in child pornography, of illegally possessing components of a firearm, and of depravity involving a minor.

But some of Russias leading cultural figures had said Dmitriev was framed because his focus on Stalins crimes jarred with the Kremlin narrative that Russia must not be ashamed of its past.

His real crime, they said, was dedicating himself to documenting Stalins 1937-38 Great Terror, in which nearly 700,000 people were executed, according to conservative official estimates. Dmitriev found a mass grave with up to 9,000 bodies dating from the period.

Dmitrievs lawyer, Viktor Anufriev, told Reuters on Thursday that a court in Petrozavodsk in northwest Russia had cleared Dmitriev of the child pornography and depravity charges.

We got 90 percent of what we wanted, said Anufriev. He was cleared of all the dirty charges.

However, he said the same court had found his client guilty of illegally possessing the main elements of a firearm, something Dmitriev denied.

Anufriev had previously said that Dmitriev owned parts of a sawn-off shotgun, but that it was an old hunting rifle that did not fire, and that no bullets had been found.

State prosecutors had demanded Dmitriev be jailed for nine years. Anufriev said that his client would now face certain restrictions on his freedom of movement for the next three months as a result of the fire arms conviction.

Dmitriev, head of the local branch of Memorial, a rights group which documents Russias Soviet past, was arrested on Dec. 13, 2016 by police acting on an anonymous tip-off, days after someone had broken into his home and accessed his computer.

State prosecutors then accused him of taking pornographic photographs of his adopted daughter. Dmitriev said the photographs were not pornographic, but did involve nudity because he took them to document her health for social services.

The Novaya Gazeta daily said Thursdays verdict was a rare piece of good news for those who believed in justice.

The decision was unprecedented for Russian justice where the percentage of acquittals does not exceed the statistical margin of error, it wrote.

We take pleasure in simple things, in an ordinary fair court verdict of which there should be tens and hundreds of thousands in the country.

By Andrew Osborn

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All residents of the 11 villages that have encroached on Lubigi wetland located northwest of Kampala are going to be evicted next week, a police official has said.

As police we are going to back up the eviction, and the inspector general of police told all the stake holders involved in this eviction such as National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the ministry of Water and Environment and others to be around during eviction process. We are going to demolish about 200 houses, Simon Peter Okoshi, the deputy commandant Environmental Protection police unit said.

Encroachment on Lubigi wetland

He said, there are some wetlands where the encroachers were permitted by Nema to do some activities after reaching some agreements.

So, we first coordinate with Nema and see how to interpret that permission before evicting them. But there are those who build without Nemas permission we are going to demolish all of them, he added, saying that the exact day of eviction is not yet communicated.

He said this today, April 6 during the 73rd state of the nation platform dialogue at Hotel Protea in Kampala, under the theme Greening Ugandas economy as a sustainable pathway to middle income status.

Okoshi also said, the rich are the biggest degraders of the wetlands when doing economic activities there and not the poor since they don't have money to develop wetlands. He said, they are going to start evictions with villages of Namugoona, Masanafu, Nakuuwade, Bulenga, Nansana, Nabweru, Kawaala, Kyengera, Gganda, Bwaise and Busega.

During the dialogue, Col Felix Kulayigye, a UPDF MP said, people who build and do activities in the wetlands should be taken to prisons and abandoned by their families and friends.

For me, anybody living in the wetlands deserves to be in prison. We have interfered with the catchment area for Lake Victoria, and around it. We ...think we are educated. Somebody was giving me some private work in the wetland and I said sorry, I cant encroach on wetland. So you should do your part and we shall see the effect, he said.

Fred Bamwine the RDC Buikwe said, its the governments failure to take responsibility and guide people against using wetlands.

Say tomorrow everybody in the wetland should be arrested, they will go off and there will be no need of resources. But the problem, when we start enforcing some issues to remove people from wetlands, MPs start coming saying they are our voters, he said.

Dr Arthur Bainomugisha, the executive director Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (Acode) said, Uganda is in the process of transition to build green economy which is sustainable and inclusive where everybody protects the environment.

As Uganda, we still have many unemployment youths who complete school without jobs. We have mis-managed the environment, the tree cover has been almost destroyed, wetlands depleted, water resources poisoned and this created unemployment. The future generation will not find national forests, seas and we have crisis. So we want to restore the degraded environment, he said.

During the dialogue officials from Nema cautioned that should this wetland disappear, the entire central cattle corridor, which includes Luweero, Nakasongola and Nakaseke among other districts will not have water.

Participants in the dialogue said, many people invaded the wetland, fill it with lay soil and set up houses while some converted it for agriculture.

Lubigi wetland is one of the many wetlands facing extinction despite its critical roles of filtering, retaining and controlling floods in and around the surrounding districts of Wakiso and Mpigi.

The extensive wetland has for long been a soft target for encroachers who reclaim it for settlement, farming, bricklaying, washing bays and other activities.

zurah@observer.ug
Trump Admin Sanctions Russian Oligarchs and Officials Over Malign Activity Around the Globe

The United States Treasury Department sanctioned seven Russian oligarchs and 17 top government officials on Friday in response to what it described as Moscows hostile activity around the globe, including conventional warfare, cyber attacks, and attempts to subvert Western Democracies.

The Treasury listed 7 Russian oligarchs, a dozen companies that they control, and 12 government officials. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin cited Russias malign activity in eastern Ukraine and supplying the Assad regime in Syria with weapons as some of the reasons for the sanctions.

Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their governments destabilizing activities, Mnuchin said in a statement.

Fridays action was being planned for a significant amount of time and coordinated with Americas allies in Europe, according to a senior administration official. The sanctions are not in response to a specific instance but target a pattern of events dating back to before President Donald Trump took office.

But most importantly this is in response to Russias continuing attack to subvert Western democracies, a senior administration official said in a call with reporters.

Many of the oligarchs are being sanctioned for the first time and are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. American officials expect the sanctions to be noticed far and wide given the high profiles of the people being sanctioned and their proximity to the Kremlin.

Individuals and companies will see consequences in near term and will have to adjust their planning, said a senior administration official.

The seven oligarchs sanctioned were Viktor Vekselberg, Andrei Skoch, Kirill Shamalov, Igor Rotenberg, Suleiman Kerimov, Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Bogdanov.

Shalamov is an energy executive who married Putins daughter in 2013 and subsequently catapulted into the billionaire club surrounding the president.

Deripaska has been accused of threatening to kill business rivals, wiretapping government officials, money laundering, extortion, and racketeering. He is allegedly linked to an organized crime group and has allegedly ordered the murder of a businessman.

The sanctions are the latest in a diplomatic tit-for-tat between Washington and Moscow. Sixty American diplomats left Russia this week after the Kremlin retaliated for the expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from the United States in connection to the poisoning of a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in the United Kingdom.

The poisoning led to the coordinated expulsion of 100 Russian diplomats and intelligence officers from 20 countries. The United Kingdom alleges that Russia was behind the poisoning. Russia vehemently denies the claim.

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President Donald Trump before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on April 5, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Boycotts Annual White House Correspondents Dinner Again

President Donald Trump will not attend the White House Correspondents Association Dinner for the second year in a row, according to the organizers.

The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this years dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment, WHCA president Margaret Talev said in a statement.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders will attend in his place. Sanders faces the media in most of the daily briefings at the White House.

Trump became the first president since Ronald Reagan to skip the dinner last year. Reagan did not attend in 1981 because he was recovering from an assassination attempt.

Trump has lambasted liberal media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, ABC, and NBC, for dishonest coverage of his campaign and presidency. On Friday, he slammed CNN for a fake news report on Trumps alleged plan to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt.

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Trump wrote on Twitter. Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018

The annual correspondents dinner usually features a stand-up comedian who roasts the president. Afterward, the president gets to perform a response routine.

This year, the dinner will honor Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, who Trump called a Hillary flunky who didnt know anything about him.

CNNs Wolf Blitzer is also set to receive an award for his report last year about intelligence chiefs briefing Trump on an unverified dossier full of bombastic claims. That dossier has since turned out to be a piece of Hillary Clinton-funded opposition research compiled by a British ex-spy who had an admitted bias against Trump and used second-hand sources with ties to the Kremlin. The firm that paid the spy, Fusion GPS, received money from Russia while he performed his work.

Media coverage of Trump remains overwhelmingly negative 14 months into his presidency. During his first 60 days in office, media reports on Trump were three times more negative than Barack Obama and twice as negative as coverage of presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, according to the Pew Research Center.

The negative coverage continued throughout 2017 and does not appear to have subsided. A survey of media reports 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.

Similar to Trump, the majority of Americans are seeing through 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.

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Texas National Guard soldiers operate a LRAS3 surveillance system while monitoring the U.S.-Mexico border on Sept. 11, 2014, in Havana, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

What the National Guard Will Likely Do at the Border

WASHINGTONPlans are underway to send National Guard troops to boost enforcement along the U.S.Mexico border.

President Donald Trump said on April 5 that anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 troops will be deployed.

And well probably keep them, or a large portion of them, until such time as we get the wall, he said.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the National Guards role will be similar to that during Operation Jump Start launched in 2006 by President George W. Bush, where 6,000 troops were deployed in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Several years later, in 201o, Operation Phalanx, under former President Barack Obama, saw 1,200 National Guard troops deployed during a border surge.

During the two-year Jump Start operation, National Guard troops mostly assisted Border Patrol with logistical and administrative support.

National Guard units operated detection systems, provided mobile communications, augmented border-related intelligence analysis efforts, and built and installed border security infrastructure, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Guardsmen are building fences, as well as manning detection equipment on the border and in command centers, Bush said in August 2006.

The 2006 memorandum of understanding between the Department of Defense and the governors of participating states stipulated that the National Guard will not participate in overt law enforcement, according to the Department of Defense.

After guardsmen spot suspected illegal immigrants crossing the border, they will inform Border Patrol agents, who will then respond to the scene, the department said. In essence, the Guard will do detection work and Border Patrol agents will make the appropriate apprehensions.

A 2011 GAO report said the then-Secretary of Defense had precluded National Guard forces from making arrests while performing border missions because of concerns raised about militarizing the U.S. border.

Nielsen said she is currently working out a memorandum of understanding between the participating governors and the Department of Defense. The size and duration of the deployment will be available once the memorandum is signed, she said.

It will be strong. It will be as many as is needed to fill the gaps that we have today, is what I can tell you, Nielsen said at a White House press briefing on April 4.

A statement released on April 4 by the Interior Minister for Mexico, Secretary Luis Videgaray Caso, says that National Guard members will not carry weapons or carry out immigration or customs control functions.

Caso said he released the statement after speaking with Nielsen.

In all communications on the subject, the government of Mexico has expressed to the government of the United States that, if the announced deployment of the National Guard resulted in a militarization of the border, it would seriously damage the bilateral relationship, Caso said.

Cost

A GAO report estimated the combined total cost of sending the National Guard to the border during operations Jump Start and Phalanx was about $1.35 billion.

Jump Start ran from June 2006 to July 2008 and Phalanx ran from June 2010 through Sept. 30, 2011.

Background

The National Guard plays a dual role in the U.S. military. Guardsmen can be deployed by the governors of their resident states to support communities stricken by natural disasters like floods and hurricanes, or they can be deployed by the president to defend the United States or support allies overseas.

Guard Soldiers hold civilian jobs or attend college while maintaining their military training part time, according to the National Guard website.

In border operations, President Donald Trump would use the National Guard under Title 32 of the U.S. Code, which doesnt require congressional support.

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Woman Buys Every Single Cupcake at Bakery After Getting Fat-Shamed

An Indiana teen has stirred controversy over her unexpected response to being fat-shamed at a bakery.

Vega Blossom shared in a Facebook post that she went to Designer Desserts in Valparaiso on Saturday, March 31, because she saw they were having a sale.

Vega wrote that as the line moved forward very slowly, a really impatient woman standing behind her began to make disparaging remarks about the customer currently at the counter, who was taking FOREVER getting her cake.

Then, when it was Vegas turn to place an order, she claims she overheard the woman behind her say to a companion, Thank God, now lets hope this fat [expletive] doesnt buy all the cupcakes.

Vega wrote that she instantly decided to change her plans to buy only six cupcakes. Instead, she wrote that she purchased every last cupcake in the store just to spite the woman who made the comment.

I SPENT $54 ON CUPCAKES JUST TO BE A *****. HAPPY EASTER, Vega wrote on Facebook.

After she revealed her reaction to the alleged offense, her post lit up social media. At the time of writing it had been shared over 26,000 times.

Designer Desserts took note of Vegas post, and while expressing reservation to jump into the fray, posted a comment in support.

First off, this is not at all the kind of thing I want to be posting on social media, but it also shouldnt be something that takes place as often as it does. Designer Desserts-Valparaiso is a BULLY FREE ZONE and WILL NOT TOLERATE these disgusting types of attitudes, the post reads.

The person running the Designer Desserts-Valparaiso Facebook profile then thanked all of us thick n juicy Americans who love to indulge in sweets, stating matter-of-factly that otherwise I wouldnt have a business.

The individual carried on, expressing sincere apologies go out to this beautiful young woman, and I cannot thank her enough for being such a loyal and amazing customer, we will be seeing you very soon :-)

But not all the comments have been supportive.

One user identified as Ada Whitcomb urged restraint and turning the other cheek.

Id have bought the cupcakes, she wrote, then turned around and asked her how many she wanted, then gave them to her! Thats what Jesus would do! Thats what love does! Forgives our ugliness and then gives us what we dont deserve!

Some posters sympathized with this perspective.

I love this post, but I love your comment more! Youre exactly right! wrote Erin Rink.

Others suggested the story was a confabulation, designed to go viral and get attention.

When ppl dont realize this post was made about apple pies at McDonalds and she switched words around, posted Laura Hollis.

Vega defended her post, saying, I dont need attention from people that bad to make up a post that was originally for my friends and family, but im glad you seem to know my life. Your just mad ya didnt get any cupcakes ?

Some of the reactions to her comments were downright hostile, with a man identified as Nikos urging Vega to kill herself.

Vega brushed off the hurtful words, Haha could you imagine being this ignorant, she commented on the hurtful post.

She also shared that the dessert shop had cupcakes delivered to her at work, for which she was so thankful for these guys and everything they have done for me.

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Wanted: space for a research-and-development complex for one of the areas fastest-growing biotech startups.

Genomic-testing firm Sema4, which is headquartered in Stamfords South End, announced this week it would be moving its current Manhattan lab operations to Stamford and adding hundreds of new Connecticut employees. Public officials and business leaders have welcomed the companys expansion, but in a city with a roughly 30 percent office vacancy rate there is not yet a clear front runner to house the new biotech hub.

Sema4 is demonstrating that Stamford is a very attractive location for bioscience, considering the price differential between Stamford and New York City, said Joe McGee, vice president of public policy for The Business Council of Fairfield County. This is a very competitive marketplace right now.

Sema4 now bases its lab functions at the Mount Sinai Health System campus next to Central Park, at 1428 Madison Ave., in Manhattan, where it employs 205. Last year, Sema4 was spun out of Mount Sinai Health into its own company.

Company officials say they have not decided on the location of the new lab, which would cover more than 50,000 square feet and open in the second quarter of 2019.

The new facility would complement Sema4s roughly 28,000-square-foot headquarters in the office complex at 333 Ludlow St. Opened last September, the Ludlow Street offices now house 86 employees. In addition, Sema4 has operated since 2014 a lab in Branford, where it employs 50.

Counting the new lab, Sema4 plans to increase its Connecticut headcount by more than 400 in the next five years.

We were born and raised at Mount Sinai, and what we were doing got pretty successful and grew to a pretty good size, to a point where we felt like itd be better to move that outside, Eric Schadt, Sema4s founder and CEO, said last October, at an opening ceremony for the Stamford offices. Expanding dramatically in New York City is very difficult and expensive, so Stamford topped the list as being in this corridor.

Stamford has more than 5 million square feet of available offices, according to data from commercial real estate firm CBRE. But only a fraction of that space likely would be suited to Sema4s needs.

The citys largest vacancy, the approximately 700,000-square-foot 677 Washington Blvd., includes a 14-floor office tower and sprawling annex that once housed the worlds largest trading floor before the 2016 relocation of UBS to offices across the street.

But the property would likely have to be reconfigured to support research-and-development operations, and a number of local Realtors see it as better suited to traditional corporate office tenants.

Its going to be office space that has the infrastructure necessary to create lab space, said Christian Bangert, executive vice president of the Stamford-based commercial real estate firm Rhys. I dont think it will be one of the big class-A office buildings in the downtown such as 677 Washington or 695 E. Main St-200 Elm St.

The large floor plates of Stamfords second-largest office vacancy, the approximately 470,000-square-foot Silicon Harbor complex at 1 Elmcroft Road  a few blocks from Sema4s headquarters  would arguably be better configured for biotech operations.

Building and Land Technology owns and bases its operations at Silicon Harbor, and also owns 333 Ludlow St.

In addition, BLT owns the Long Ridge Health and Science Center at 260 Long Ridge Road. While the Yale New Haven Health System runs an outpatient center there, the building has about 124,000 square feet available, according to BLTs website.

A message left for BLT on Friday was not immediately returned.

Bangert suggested as possible landing spots the BLTs Harbor Landing complex in the citys Waterside section and a building at 1937 W. Main St., which houses a chemical research lab for Cytec Solvay Group. Rhys serves as the leasing agent for both Harbor Landing and the Cytec property.

Among other large vacancies in the city, Newmark Knight Frank is marketing up to 81,000 square feet available in the Waterside office complex of 700 Fairfield Ave.
No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, it is crucial to keep learning. Entrepreneurship is all about solving problems with creative solutions and finding a way to overcome any difficult situation you are faced with. Trust me, you will always encounter speed bumps along the way.

It is easier than ever to find high-quality content and educate yourself on various business topics, and there is plenty of valuable information available in them. As you explore podcasts, try to find shows that entertain you, while keeping you engaged and focused. Ultimately, listening to a podcast should improve your entrepreneurial mindset -- otherwise it is a waste of time. To help you in your search for the perfect podcast, here are five of the top entrepreneurship-themed podcasts I believe everyone should be listening to.

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1. MFCEO Project Podcast

The MFCEO Project Podcast is hosted by Andy Frisella, the founder and owner of various nutrition, supplement and fitness companies. His podcast focuses on teaching you how to be "the motherf***ing CEO" and work past any struggles you might have. The podcast is full of actionable advice that is geared to help entrepreneurs navigate the ups and downs of building a multimillion-dollar company. He shares his story and experiences to educate others on what it really means to be an entrepreneur.

As one of Frisella's episodes about decision-making states, "Being decisive doesn't mean you always make the right decisions. It means you know how to make a decision quickly and intelligently, and you keep moving forward." If you want to cut out excuses and focus on getting real results in business and in life, this is a great podcast.

2. The School of Greatness

The School of Greatness is the podcast hosted by Lewis Howes, New York Times bestselling author, lifestyle entrepreneur, former pro athlete and fellow Entrepreneur contributor. He has different categories of episodes, covering inspiration, business, entrepreneurship, health and relationships. Every Friday, he offers concise five-minute episodes.

Overall, Howes wants to promote healthy and successful lifestyles, regardless of career ambitions. It's a great podcast if you want to focus not just on being successful, but living a healthy and fulfilling life as well.

Related: 10 Simple Daily Practices That Will Make You Happier

3. Entrepreneur on Fire

John Lee Dumas has run Entrepreneur on Fire for a number of years and has focused on transparency and honesty. He reveals what his income is each month and how much he has made since the launch of the podcast back in 2012, which is roughly $13 million gross income and $9.5 million net income. As he states, he wants entrepreneurs "to emulate our successes and avoid our failures." This podcast is a good choice for anyone looking to learn from other entrepreneurs' stories and journeys.

4. The Gary Vee Audio Experience

Gary Vaynerchuk, aka Gary Vee, has created quite a personal brand in the entrepreneurship space. His ability to forecast trends and emphasize action above all is what powers his success.

Vaynerchuk now says "the future is audio and voice," and is using his podcast, The GaryVee Audio Experience, as a way to develop connections and share information about his entrepreneurial journey. This is a podcast to follow if you want insights on how to get things done and find innovative entrepreneurial solutions -- from someone that is in the trenches daily.

Related: 12 Scientifically Proven Ways to Reinvent Yourself

5. The Tim Ferriss Show

Tim Ferriss has had the opportunity to interview some of the greatest business minds of this generation and has written a number of New York Times bestselling books encapsulating the lessons he has learned. In each episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, he focuses on unique tips, tricks and tactics that listeners can take away and use in their daily lives.

Additionally, he brings in a variety of mindsets from his book The 4-Hour Workweek to teach listeners about optimizing their work flow and working smarter, not harder.

Related:

5 Podcasts Every Entrepreneur Should Download Today

6 Emerging Content Marketing Trends Every Start-up Needs to Know in 2018

#4 Key Tips to be Successful in Podcast Hosting



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


In a world that pushes us to create our own businesses, take risks and capitalize on branding and individuality, Ariana Huffington does not seem to have any problems taking her individuality and turning it into an empire. I had the pleasure of speaking with her at this year's World Government Summit in Dubai about individuality, the importance of sleep and her personal reasons for focusing on wellness.

Related: Do Wellness Programs Make Employees More Productive? The Obvious Answer Is Yes.

Our conversation.

Me: In a world of social media, and often inaccurate portrayals of others lifestyles, it is easy to compare oneself to others when a strong sense of self isnt present. We feel the need to push ourselves when we should rest and the results can be very negative for both the person and the businesses that they represent.

Huffington: One of our problems with the addictions to social media is that we are constantly comparing ourselves, and our inevitable imperfections, with someone else's hightlight reel, which is all people post on instagram. I think there is an increasing trend for people to show more of their true lives and true selves, rather than represent this photoshopped existence.

Me: We see this so often, especially in business, where being busy is supposed to be the equivalent of being successful. Most of us are guilty of this at one time or another, but how do we identify when we feel like we are being burnt out at work? It is common for employees and CEOs to get used to the workaholic lifestyle and treat it as a trophy, instead of realizing that it may be something that could hinder a job well done.

Huffington: Being burnt out is not necessarily a prize of success. We must recognize that to make better decisions we need to take care of ourselves, be healthier and avoid illness. When people realize the value of taking care of themselves and disconnecting from their devices, then they are more likely to be aware when we fall off the wagon. Its [your business] never going to be a perfect journey. We are all works in progress. But I think we are becoming much more aware when we are running on empty.

Related: How a Better Night's Sleep Can Help Entrepreneurs Stay Calm and Focused at Work

Bottom line.

As many of us know, Huffington is open-minded and is known for being an approachable public figure, most likely because she follows her own philosophy of awareness. The reason why she has the opportunity to connect with more people, instead of writing them off due to the lack of sleep or energy, is because she is so purposeful and avid about her own health and wellness. Huffington treats herself like she treats her business, and some things are non-negotiable, like her sleep. She chooses to be fully present with interviews, meetings and clients. It seems like a no-brainer, but we all know the person who burns the candle at both ends and gets many tasks accomplished, but poorly. As for managers and business owners who want to put employees work until their faces fall off, Huffington may have some words of wisdom that may serve the business as a whole.

"I think they just need to look at the data and look at the science that will show that they will create much more productive and creative teams if they actually help them and prioritize their well-being," she said. "The truth right now is that its not a question of balance because we are not expected to be always on and always answering emails and texts in the middle of the night. If youre addicted to social media, if youre addicted to binge-watching Netflix, youre still going to be exhausted in the morning. So, its no longer just about what you are doing at work, its also about how you are managing your relationship with your phone and all that it represents in terms of social media. For me, it was really an abrupt wake-up call. Collapsing from exhaustion, banging my head on my desk, breaking my cheekbone; but Im very grateful for it [those times]. It helped me course correct and its become my mission.

Related: Insights About Leadership, Happiness and the Future From Arianna Huffington, Will.i.am and Other Global Thought Leaders

Huffingtons success seems to be devoted to the simple, yet effective, tools we read about in her numerous bestsellers. In books like The Sleep Revolution, we get an inside look into Huffingtons hacks for dodging jet lag, so you can crush your meeting, and tools to use against a sleep-deprived nation. At the World Government Summit, happiness and mindfulness in business was a topic of focus, and we are eager to see where this enlightened business movement is taking our new startups, as well as existing billion-dollar industries.

Related:

The Importance of Individuality and Sleep: An Interview With Arianna Huffington

User-friendly Process & Agile Approach to Software Development Got This Startup its Pre-series A Fund

This Early-Stage Startup Connected with the Right VCs & Struck Gold



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Facebook India has admitted that it was misused for over two years to siphon data of nearly 5.62 lakh subscribers to Cambridge Analytica which is facing fire across the continents for clandestine data acquisition and unethical influencing.

The hugely popular social site Facebook is in serious trouble with Indian Information and tech ministry as the revelation wasn't made voluntarily. It was in reply to a tough worded questionnaire/notice by the ministry that Facebook India responded.

The FB admission means that privacy of approximately 5,62,000 lakh Indian users of Facebook was seriously compromised by a company that used the Facebook platform and then after siphoning the data sold it for a huge profit to Cambridge Analytica.

In what can be a serious note of caution for Facebook subscribers who download apps and elements via Facebook and eventually end uploading their data, upload Facebook claims that between November 2013 and December 2015 a quiz app 'thisisyourdigitallife' from its platform was downloaded by 335 Facebook users all of them residents of India.

Facebook admits that the app scrapped the data of the 335 Indian Facebook users who had installed the app first and then the data of friends of these 335 Indians totaling 5,62,120 users too was stolen. This construes a serious breach as those who install app give consent to share their data but for the friends and friends of friends of these there is no consent secured.

Facebook says it's not known exactly what kind of data was siphoned and stored or what the two involved companies - GSR and Cambridge Analytica did with that data. Facebook has admitted that it's investigating if any other apps have similarly violated privacy of users, scraping their data and misusing it.

By 2015, there were 135.5 million Facebook users in India and this was just one of the apps. It's not known if Facebook has been able to find all possible apps which could have leaked data. Today there are 225 million users and millions run the risk of theft of data and privacy.

Facebook in its reply says the app was operated on to Facebook platform by a Cambridge in UK based company- Global Science Research. The company is run by Aleksandr Kogan, who claims to be a psychology researcher at the University of Cambridge. Facebook reply says that the data theft went on till the app was dropped in December 2015.

Even that was not due to filtering or checks at Facebook but following a report in the newspaper The Guardian revealing that Aleksandr Kogan had commercial links to Cambridge Analytica, which in turn used it to target voters in the 2016 US elections.

Facebook says this was a violation. Sources in the government say that the IT ministry is miffed why users whose data had been stolen weren't warned for the last two years by Facebook. Even in its reply to government Facebook is silent on the identity of the 335 directly exposed users and those impacted indirectly.

Facebook says from 9 April, Facebook India will commence informing all the impacted -- 5,62,455 users in India about the breach of privacy of their account The ministry had also shot a notice to Cambridge Analytica but is yet to receive a reply.

After the detection of the theft of data Facebook says it had sent notices asking GSR and Cambridge Analytica to delete all data which was surreptitiously collected.

Facebook's says the two claimed they had done so. But a further probe by Facebook revealed that they had lied and were still in possession of the "loot".

Following this Facebook banned Kogan and Cambridge Analytica from its platform. Facebook says it has made changes to its privacy policy to make it much tougher for thirdparty apps to secure data from its site as they would have to take the sanction of Facebook each time.
EDWARDSVILLE  The 1820 Col. Benjamin Stephenson House is having a military muster to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood.

The muster will be held on April 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In addition, at 2 p.m., there will be a lecture by John Murphy, who portrays an 18th century French barber-surgeon. He will speak about colonial medicines and their uses.

Advance reservations are required for the lecture. Tours of the Stephenson House will be available.

The muster is free. The medical lecture will be $5 per adult. The lecture can be graphic and is recommended for those over 13. The admission fee to tour the house is $6 for adults, $3 for children ages 6 to 12 and free for those 5 and under. Visitors can purchase a ticket for both the lecture and tour for $8. The house closes at 4, so visitors are advised to tour the house before the lecture.

Murphy has lectured before for the Stephenson House. Last time, he dealt with the medical tools and surgery, said Stephenson House Executive Director RoxAnn Raisner. This lecture will be more about the different types of medicine and what they were used for. Last time he was here, she said, they had to move the lecture to St. Andrews church because the number of people who came was too big for the house to accommodate. Were planning on having it here this time, but well see, she said. People find it gorily fascinating.

The re-enactors group has about 20 members, Raisner said.

The day will begin with a posting of colors at 10 a.m. A small encampment of tents will be open for visitors to see what a soldier would have carried on a campaign and how he would have lived.

Col. Stephenson was in the militia and this group is more like the regular army during the War of 1812, Raisner said. There will be drills and cooking and guests are welcome to ask questions, she said.

Re-enactors will demonstrate drill throughout the day as well as provide instruction for anyone interested in learning basic drill techniques. Cooking is planned in the detached kitchen of the house. Closing colors will take place at 4 p.m.

Illinois became a state in 1818. The re-enactors will portray veterans of the War of 1812. Our purpose for the event is to give visitors a glimpse of what life would have been like for a soldier during the early days of our states history, said Walt Raisner, a Stephenson House volunteer and one of the re-enactors.

Col. Stephenson was instrumental in organizing the push to statehood for Illinois plus he served as an Illinois militia officer during the War of 1812, said Walt Raisner. We want to provide visitors with a fun hands-on history lesson about our own backyard. Raisner has been a War of 1812 re-enactor for more than 26 years.

This is a great way of kicking off the bicentennial celebration and celebrating Illinois statehood, RoxAnn Raisner said.

For more information about the event, call the Stephenson House at 618-692-1818. To register for the medical lecture or purchase the discounted tickets to the house tour and lecture, visit the Stephenson House website at www.stephensonhouse.org.
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Thousands of Google employees have signed a letter addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai protesting the tech giant's involvement in a project to develop artificial intelligence tools for the Pentagon. The employees have told the Google chief executive that the company should not be in the "business of war" as it would be a big blow to the company's image.

The letter to Pichai had been reportedly going around Google's internal communication server for several weeks where it collected around 3,100 signatures. The letter talks about opting out of Project Maven, a United States Department of Defense programme to develop customised AI engine.

"We believe that Google should not be in the business of war. Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicize and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology," said the opening of the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times.

Under Project Maven, Google is developing an artificial intelligence engine that uses "Wide Area Motion Imagery" data captured by US Government drones to detect vehicles and other objects, track their motions. This technology could arguably be used to operate drone strikes and conduct drone strikes, which has got Google employees worried.

The letter talks about Googlers voicing concerns over Project Maven internally, which were addressed by Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene. While this has allayed some of the fears, Google employees are still not entirely sure about the implementation of the AI engine.

"Recently, Googlers voiced concerns about Maven internally. Diane Greene responded, assuring them that the technology will not "operate or fly drones" and "will not be used to launch weapons." While this eliminates a narrow set of direct applications, the technology is being built for the military, and once it's delivered it could easily be used to assist in these tasks," the letter said.

Employees are worried that developing technologies that could be used for warfare will harm the Google's brand and it ability to compete for talent. In the letter, they reiterated the company's motto - Don't Be Evil - adding that the argument that other firms, including Amazon and Microsoft, are already doing this does not make it okay for Google to join them.

"We cannot outsource the moral responsibility of our technologies to third parties. Google's stated values make this clear: Every one of our users is trusting us. Never jeopardize that. Ever. This contract puts Google's reputation at risk and stands in direct opposition to our core values. Building this technology to assist the US Government in military surveillance - and potentially lethal outcomes - is not acceptable, the letter said."
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Eight employee unions of Air India have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising serious concerns about the disinvestment of the national carrier and have sought an alternative revival plan. In a letter, signed by representatives of the eight unions, they have also flagged possibility of job losses in case of privatisation.

Air Corporation Employees Union, All India Service Engineers Association, Air India Employees Union, Aviation Industry Employee Guild, Air India Aircraft Engineers Association, All India Aircraft Engineers Association, Air India Engineers Association and United Air India Officers Association have written the letter.

Together, these unions represent more than 10,000 Air India employees. 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 carriers subsidiaries.

"We strongly protest Government of Indias move to privatise or disinvest Air India/subsidiaries as it is against the interest of the country and urge the government to review its decision... and explore the possibility of an alternative to disinvestment/ privatisation," it said.

According to the letter, the unions said Air India can be restored to its "pristine glory" if debt worth Rs 30,000 crore is waived off or the loan is restructured and a proper roadmap is put in place with effective management. Referring to the previous NDA governments decision to sell two Centaur Hotels properties in Mumbai, the letter said there have been job losses after it.

"In our view, privatisation of Air India should be completely avoided with an effective revival plan with the participation of employees. It is also urged to write off/ restructure the loan for Air India revival instead of giving benefit to any private entity," the letter, dated April 3, said.

Among others, the unions noted that the airline has never defaulted on interest repayments. On Wednesday, Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola held a meeting with representatives of four employees unions to discuss about the strategic disinvestment and their concerns, sources had said.

Representatives from Indian Aircraft Technicians Association, Air India Aircraft Engineering Association, Air Corporation Employees Union and Air India Employees Union had attended the meeting.

On March 28, the ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum on Air Indias strategic disinvestment. As per the memorandum, the government plans to offload 76 per cent 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.
Motorola expected to launch Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, Moto G6 Plus on April 19

Motorola might launch the Moto G6, Moto G6 Play and Moto G6 Plus on April 19 in Brazil's Sao Paulo. The report was revealed by AndroidPit and seems to use the same background colour that had been spotted on various leaked render of the G6.

The G6 is expected to comes with a 5.7 inch display and supported with Snapdragon 450. The G6 Plus will compete with Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro.

Cambridge Analytica estimates blow up to 87 million victims

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a previous news media estimate of more than 50 million.

Most of the up to 87 million people whose data was shared with Cambridge Analytica were in the United States, Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer wrote in a blog post.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with reporters that Facebook had not seen "any meaningful impact" on usage or ad sales since the scandal, although he added, "it's not good" if people are unhappy with the company.

Mi Fan Festival Kicks off in India

Mi Fan Festival kicks off with most popular Mi products on sale including the Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi 5. Xiaomi is also conducting sales of the new range of Mi TV series launched in India.

The sale will go on till April 6 and is also applicable on Xiaomi's line of accessories. The Chinese brand is also offering something called crazy combos where you'll have to pay for the cheaper product and take home the more expensive product as well. For instance there's a combo of Redmi 5A and Mi TV 4A 32-inch where you only have to pay Rs 5,999 for both.

Xiaomi's new crowdfunding venture

Xiaomi has also launched an all new crowdfunding program in India. The brand is taking yet another unique approach in the Indian market. The platform will behave like a conventional crowdfunding platform.

The company will share the product's portfolio on their website and interested buyers can pay for it in advance. If the product manages to sell a certain amount, Xiaomi will bring it to India. If not, the money will be returned to the buyers.

Currently there are two devices on this crowdfunding platform, one a selfie stick tripod which is a selfie stick that also is a hidden tripod and the second is Bluetooth audio receiver which aims at decluttering wires around us.
Four former multi-sport standouts, coach to be inducted into WHS Athletic Hall of Fame
As you can tell, this blog is totally screwed. Im really sorry about this but its totally out of my control. Until it gets fixed, Im blogging over at my...
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
Election observers in the just-ended Sierra Leonean elections are demanding an apology from the losing party for accusing former President John Mahama of spearheading an international conspiracy to effect a regime change.



Mr Mahama was accused by the All Peoples Congress (APC) of influencing the elections in favour of opposition leader, Julius Maada Bio who was sworn in as new President yesterday despite an ongoing challenge of the results by the ruling partys candidate Samura Kamara, who alleges irregularities.



Speaking to Class news, an observer in the elections, Simon Eyram Tsike-Sossah questioned why Sierra Leoneans will want to smear the former president despite his sacrifice to ensure a successful poll.



He explained that there was a video in circulation in which Mr Mahama went to Mr Bios home and someone requested that the meeting should be held behind closed doors but there wasnt a follow up of the video to show what briefing they gave the press after that and the video does not show any conspiracy to rig elections.



He indicated that: Sierra Leoneans are not happy about the development and feel sorry. The Director of Action Aid called and apologised and said this is not us, Sierra Leone. This is not what we will dowe have been helped more than once by Ghana and we dont think that this is fair to you (Ghana) and we apologise.



He said for the greater Sierra Leone this is just a last minute perhaps APC desperation to try and a reason why they should not leave power.



For him if there was anyone sent to rig an election it would not be and should not be a former President of Ghana.



He emphasised that the allegations were unfair and as the dust settles in Sierra Leone we will need a government spokesperson to apologise to Ghanaians over this but that was false and that was not true.

Source: classnews









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The best way to get into the Ontario craft beer market is to not brew your own craft beer.

Brunswick Bierworks on Curity Ave. off OConnor Dr. brews beer for others, garnering clients from Ontario and abroad. Theyre tapping into one of the few niches left in this saturated industry.

Craft beer is growing like crazy, says one of the founders, Mike Laba, 38. He and Chris Goddard, 40, and their team of three other silent partners, ever so wisely, wont be competing with all the brands, but enabling others to do well in the market.

The public can now taste the fruits of this smart foray via the 3,500-square-foot taproom Brunswick opened in February. It features 20 tap lines, selling flights for $10, a half pint for $5 and full pint for $7.

Along with public hours most weekends, its intended as a space where our brands can activate, says Laba, and it will also be rented out for events. (A private tasting room, siting just below grade, would be suitable for a smaller gathering.)

The brewery itself has been open since mid-2016. Located in a former furniture factory  called Brunswick Fine Furniture, hence the name  this huge facility houses a 50-hectolitre brewhouse along with a 20-hectolitre system used for piloting recipes.

Coming out of the facilitys soaring tanks and either kegged on site or canned in its state-of-the-art canning line  which fills and pops off 300 cans a minute and features an elaborate sensor system that permits no faulty cans to get through  are some serious beers. That includes renowned imports such as Swedens Omnipollo, La Trappe from the Netherlands and local names Ace Hill and Lost Craft.

The partners are longtime veterans of the Ontario beer industry. Laba hails from Muskoka Brewery while Goddard was at Steam Whistle Brewing. They met around 2002 through the industry and became pals. Goddard tried to hire Laba twice over the years, but it never worked out.

They met over dinner several years ago and mused about the number of incredible beers made around the world not available in Ontario. In 2013, they quit their jobs and formed The Craft Brand Company, which imported brands like Kona and Big Rock.

It was always in the plan to brew beer, too, says Laba. That opportunity came along when the duo met an investor, who put in $12 million but insisted everything be top quality. For two guys working in an industry where bootstrapping is standard, this was a welcome approach.

They found this spot and its affable landlord in 2015 and renovated to accommodate their soaring brewing system. After the space was ready, they tapped their considerable contacts locally and overseas, and things took off. Weve been going at a crazy clip, says Laba.

Usually, a brands brewmaster comes in to test out their recipes in the smaller system. Once its fine tuned, the beer goes into production, monitored by Brunswicks trained staff. For one brand, Laba and Goddard courier four cans from every batch they brew over to the Europe-based brewmaster. He often texts back an emoji of a cheerful nature.

Then, since the beer is now brewed in Ontario, its both fresher, and the brand can more easily do things like seasonal batches. Brunswick helps with paperwork with the LCBO to make it easier to break into the market.

Meanwhile, local startups who dont yet have their own equipment can send their brewmaster or recipes over to Brunswick to make product. About 70 per cent of Brunswicks business comes from local clients.

After just two years in operation, the facility is producing 55,000 hectolitres a year (its got a capacity of 130,000) and has made 65 beers for 21 breweries.

Recently, it hired Lodewijk Swinkels, former brewmaster for La Trappe, whos coming on as brewmaster and head of operations. We all do cartwheels down the hall, knowing hes coming, says Laba.

Indeed, its all good news  and good beer  for this business thats all about supporting the busy craft beer industry, not trying to compete with it.
OTTAWAThe economy delivered 32,300 net new jobs last month as Canada generated a rush of full-time work that helped keep the national unemployment rate at its record low.

Statistics Canada said Friday the jobless rate stayed at 5.8 per cent in March for a second-consecutive month  and for the third time since December  to match its lowest mark since the agency started measuring the indicator in 1976. The only other time the rate slipped to this level was 2007.

The March gains were driven by a surge in full-time work. The labour-market survey showed the workforce added 68,300 full-time positions, while the number of part-time jobs decreased by 35,900.

But looking underneath the headline numbers of the report, some economists argued the results were more of a mixed bag and contained little information to significantly alter the Bank of Canadas thinking ahead of its April 18 interest-rate decision.

For instance, the data showed that 19,600 of the new employee positions created were in the public sector. By comparison, the number of private-sector workers declined by 7,000.

TD senior economist Brian DePratto also noted that 19,800 of the new jobs came in the less desirable category of self employment, which is a classification that includes people working in a family business without pay.

DePratto also pointed out that the number of hours worked remained relatively flat, as did wage growth, which has been hovering just above three per cent for a few months. While wage growth has improved considerably since the middle of 2017, DePratto thinks central bank governor Stephen Poloz is looking for wage growth above four per cent, where it was before the 2008-09 recession.

Some strong elements, but some elements were a little bit on the weak side, DePratto said of the overall jobs report.

Royal Bank deputy chief economist Dawn Desjardins said the economy disappointed in those first three months of the year by posting its first quarterly employment decline since 2010.

Still, she cited several recent data points, such as wage growth, the low unemployment rate and rising core inflation, as reasons for the central bank to inch closer towards another rate hike. Poloz has raised the benchmark rate three times since last July.

(They are) testing the banks argument that slack in the labour market remains, Desjardins wrote in a research report.

When you layer on the stealth increase in core inflation, the case for the bank to delay pulling back on the currently highly stimulative monetary conditions until the second half of the year is weakening.

The Bank of Canada has repeatedly highlighted wage growth as a key indicator.

Average hourly wage growth strengthened in March to 3.3 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent the previous month, Statistics Canada survey said Friday. Wage growth has been moving upwards since it bottomed out at 0.5 per cent in April 2017.

At Steam Whistle Brewery, Economic Development Minister Steven Del Duca hailed the fantastic news in last months job numbers.

Full-time jobs in Ontario were up by 16,300 positions in March while part-time jobs were down 5,600 for a net gain of 10,600 new posts.

Since this time last year weve created 129,000 new jobs in Ontario and more than 800,000 jobs since the worst of the recession a decade ago, said Del Duca, noting Ontarios unemployment rate stayed at 5.5 per cent, leading the country and as low as its been since 2001.

Unfortunately for Doug Ford and the Doug Ford Conservatives, they will find these facts uncomfortable and troublesome, he said, blasting the Tories false partisan narrative that Ontarios economy is sputtering.

They cant  or they wont admit  that our province is pretty awesome, said the minister, revving up the rhetoric against the backdrop of a June 7 election.

Del Duca made his comments at an announcement at Steam Whistle, which is receiving a $1.3-million grant from the provinces jobs and prosperity fund toward its $22.8-million expansion in Etobicoke.

The downtown Toronto firm is expanding its product line, creating 100 new jobs atop the existing 143 positions at the historic Round House near the CN Tower.

For Ontario, however, Marchs gain only represented a 0.1 per cent increase compared to the previous month.

Meanwhile, Quebec gained 16,000 net new jobs, including 28,600 full-time positions, for growth of 0.4 per cent.

By percentage, Saskatchewan and Alberta each saw solid monthly growth. Saskatchewans labour force expanded 0.7 per cent, while Albertas grew 0.4 per cent.

The youth unemployment rate dipped last month to 10.9 per cent, down from 11.1 per cent in February, following a net gain of 17,700 new jobs.

By industry, goods-producing sectors added 21,700 positions, mostly in construction. Services sectors created 10,600 jobs, with the bulk of the increase coming from new positions in public administration.

Compared with 12 months earlier, the national workforce grew 1.6 per cent following the creation of 296,200 jobs  with the entire increase fuelled by 335,200 new full-time positions.

But the latest numbers still suggest there are signs that Canadas red-hot labour market could be starting to cool down, as widely expected.

Statistics Canada said employment declined by about 40,000 jobs over the first three months of 2018 for a decline of 0.2 per cent.
OTTAWAThe United Nations group that regulates the international shipping industry is being asked to cut emissions from the cargo ships, oil tankers and other vessels that crisscross the worlds oceans, as they threaten to become the single-largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Canada, however, is being secretive about what it wants to see done ahead of a meeting in the United Kingdom next week that will try to set some emission-cutting targets.

A standoff is expected at the International Marine Organization meeting in London. While several countries, including those in the European Union as well as Japan and China, want significant cuts to shipping emissions, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Brazil want to move more slowly, fearing the economic impacts to the industry.

Read more:

More ships in Arctic raises risk and fears of disaster

New research uses simple math to link CO2 emissions, vanishing Arctic sea ice

Opinion | Thomas Walkom: B.C. pipeline faceoff underscores Justin Trudeaus climate-change contradictions

Emissions from international shipping were excluded from the Paris agreement in 2015 with the IMO promising to handle it. In 2016 the IMO said it would aim to have an interim strategy in 2018 and a final plan in 2023.

The IMO estimates that, if left unchecked, emissions from shipping could grow up to 250 per cent by 2050. Shipping emissions are not assigned to any one country, but on their own, they are bigger than the total emissions from all but the six biggest emitters  China, the United States, India, Russia, Japan and Germany.

A spokesman for Transport Canada says Canada is one of the most ambitious members of the IMO, but would give no specifics about what Canada is pressing for or what it is willing to commit to doing to cut shipping emissions.

The government of Canada is playing a leadership role in the fight against climate change and has been amongst the most vocal and ambitious member states at the International Maritime Organization, Pierre Manoni said in an email. We are working with our international partners to gain consensus and develop an ambitious strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international maritime shipping.

Andrew Dumbrille, the sustainable shipping specialist at the World Wildlife Fund Canada, said thats about the same response he got during a conference call with the government when he asked what they were proposing to do.

I cant get anything more concrete than that, he said.

Dumbrille said Canada has been in favour of discussing short-term measures, such as reducing the speed of ships, which can be done immediately. He said cutting ship speeds can reduce emissions by as much as 30 per cent. But he says commitments on the longer-term side have been invisible, if they exist.

The WWF says the shipping industry has to cut emissions 70 to 100 per cent by 2050. That would largely come through technological improvements, including better fuels. Right now the shipping industry relies on the dirtiest fuel on the planet, Dumbrille said.

Heavy fuel oil, a byproduct of distilling gasoline, is a sludgy, tar-like substance that is half the cost of most alternatives but produces significantly more emissions, including carbon dioxide and black carbon, as well as fine particulate matter and sulphur, all of which contribute not just to global warming but to lung diseases.

Its estimated heavy fuel oil contributes to thousands of deaths from air pollution each year.

Several countries are trying to ban the use of heavy fuel in the Arctic and reduce its use everywhere, but Canada last year asked to slow that process while it looks at economic impacts on Arctic communities.

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Some things are given.

One: Mark Zuckerberg stands alone.

This will become apparent as the Facebook CEO, who once upon a time started a Web page for Harvard students, appears before two Congressional hearings next week, answering to the likes of Senator Ed Markey. The Massachusetts Democrat will cite the tsunami of outrage  this is Markeys language  accompanying the revelation that malicious actors  this is Facebooks language  scraped the personal information of most of the social medias 2.2 billion users.

Two: Mark Zuckerberg will apologize for multiple breaches of trust  that language doesnt seem quite up to the seriousness of the task  and assume personal responsibility.

Three: Mark Zuckerberg will wear a shirt and tie.

What Zuckerberg will fail to do is present a convincing case that American Facebook users, victims of what Markey shrewdly calls privacy malpractice, are in control. Just last Wednesday Zuckerberg informed reporters of evil hackers roaming the Dark Web feasting on a handy Facebook feature that enabled them to harvest all manner of personal information. We built this feature, and its very useful, Zuckerberg said with understatement. There were a lot of people using it up until we shut it down today.

Zuckerberg follows a long line of business leaders who have appeared before Congressional committees, performances that often went badly for the CEO. There was Enrons Jeff (Im not an accountant) Skilling, attempting to convince that he knew nothing of the accounting fraud at the energy trading company. On the date I left I absolutely, unequivocally thought the company was in good shape, Skilling testified. His subsequent conviction on securities fraud and other offences drew a 24-year sentence, later reduced to 14. Enron vapourized.

There was Lehman Brothers Richard Fuld being faced down by the always excellent Democrat from California (since retired), Henry Waxman. Given the bankruptcy of the investment bank and oh, the implosion of the world economy, how could Fuld countenance his near half-billion-dollar compensation, Waxman wanted to know. I have a very basic question for you, Waxman asked. Is this fair?

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Fuld removed his glasses, swallowed, and responded, missing the fairness point entirely, I would say to you the 500 number is not accurate.

There was WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers, taking the Fifth Amendment but not before asserting that no one will conclude that I engaged in any criminal or fraudulent conduct during my tenure at WorldCom. He was later sentenced to 25 years.

Martin Shkreli, the pharma bro who jacked up the price of medications by 5,000 per cent, famously took the Fifth too. And smirked. And tweeted of Congressional leaders: Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.

This is corporate theatre.

Heres a prediction: were going to hear that word trust a lot. Who remembers the appearance of Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn in the autumn of 2015? Volkswagen was caught up in the defeat device emissions scandal, and Horn presented himself as an executive hopeful of surviving the maelstrom. Tim Murphy (a Republican from Pennsylvania) opened the proceedings with a charming tale. My first car was a Volkswagen. It was a 76 Volkswagen Beetle  I could take that thing apart and put it back together and it actually continued to work  I loved that car. Loved it a lot. The peoples car!

Horn was out the door two months later.

Murphys remarks were masterful, binding the cheating German automaker to the average American. It all comes down to trust, Murphy added. That word trust as you know is the key factor in building customer loyalty.

Similarly, the broken contract between Facebook users and the company will be the key focus of the proceedings. Mark Zuckerberg will no doubt be well prepped in how to appear contrite before whirring cameras and a phalanx of politicians. Perhaps he will appear modest, describing himself to interlocutors, as he did on a Freakonomics podcast, as an accidental CEO. Perhaps he will say, as he did to Stephen Dubner in that interview, that he didnt start Facebook with the intention of building a company.

He would be wise to stay clear of grand pronouncements about creating meaningful social bonds, having a positive impact on the world and breeding happiness through connectivity. That wont wash.

A Congressional hearing is not the place for candy floss mission statements.

What Congressional leaders should be probing are internal controls at Facebook, a structure that allows for free-wheeling engineers, a hands-off policy by Zuckerberg himself, which conflicts with an unacceptable governance structure that has him in both the CEO and chairmans chair. Where are the checks and balances?

If committee members have done their homework, the companys past run-ins with the Federal Trade Commission  and Facebooks failure to abide by past promises  should be a pivotal moment.

Facebook has lied before. Why should anyone believe Zuckerberg now?

jenwells@thestar.ca

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In 1970, a catastrophic cyclone hit the shores of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), resulting in the deaths of over a half million people. This unimaginable tragedy moors Toronto-based Arif Anwars first novel, The Storm.

The Storm covers an almost fifty-year-period, starting in an unnamed village just before the cyclone, and then going back and forth in time from pre-partition Kolkata to the Japanese invasion of Burma during the Second World War to post-9/11 Washington, D.C.

Story by story, Anwar introduces his cast of characters. There is the lettered Honufa, her husband, the illiterate Jamir, and their three-year-old son who must confront the fast-approaching storm; there is Claire, the female British doctor and her patient, the Japanese prisoner-of-war, Ichiro; and Rahim and Zahira, a rich Muslim couple under threat who must choose whether to trade their home in a riot-torn Kolkata for safety by the seaside in what will become Bangladesh.

And finally, there is Shah, a Bangladeshi PhD with nine-year-old daughter, Anna, who lives separately with her mother in Washington, D.C. With his visa set to expire, he has weeks to figure out what will come of his life and how he will stay by his daughter. His accidental meeting with a seemingly kindly immigration lawyer goads him to desperate action.

How all these stories interconnect comes clear as the novel hits its crescendo when the layers of secrets, untold truths and mysteries ultimately reveal themselves. While the novel keeps jumping through time and space, Anwar moves the stories briskly along as each thread hits its own crisis point. However, the narration is occasionally overwhelmed by the accounting of so much time, flattening the emotional intensity in places.

The Storm is a sprawling intergenerational novel, touching on issues of colonialism, migration and communal hatred. It riffs on the differences between destiny, fate and the regrets of decisions made in haste. But Anwar achieves his final goal as the novel eventually pulls at ones heartstrings as the vicious cycle of life becomes evident.

Piali Roy is a Toronto writer.
The national trend of over-the-top baby gender reveals took a strange twist over recently when a couple invited a three-metre alligator to participate in the big moment.

It involved a Louisiana couple and video of the dad-to-be pulling open the alligators mouth has become a Facebook sensation, with 7 million views and more than 92,000 shares in three days.

At one point, the alligator goes on the run, forcing party guests to step back as its wrestled back into submission.

The man doing the wrestling is Mike Kliebert and it turns out he and the expectant mom, Rebecca Miller, are professional alligator handlers from Ponchatoula, Louisiana. In fact, he owns a nine-hectare tourist attraction that is home to 300 alligators, among other slimy things.

In the video, 33-year-old Kliebert is seen pulling open the jaws of the gator, so he can toss in a hollowed-out melon.

When the alligator snaps down, the melon explodes, sending blue Jell-O splattering across the lawn.

Cue the applause: Theyre having a boy.

The alligator used in the video is 61-year-old Sally, Kliebert told Today.com. She responds to her name and can understand colour signals and basic commands, the site reported.

We wanted to incorporate the alligators, which are like family, into this big moment in our lives, he told CountryLiving.com. I wouldnt have had any other gator do the reveal; my grandpa hatched her in 1957.

The video was posted by the proud grandmother, Melody Kliebert, and it has earned the couple both admiration for their creativity and some criticism for letting loose a wild animal at a party.

I just watched a gender reveal video on Facebook where a guy ... has to wrestle the alligator to stop it from attacking his family, tweeted Ryan Broderick, a global news director for BuzzFeed.

Mike Kliebert told Today.com that many of those who attended are people who work as professional alligator wranglers at his business, Kliebert Gator Tours.

Before you bash us, you should understand what we do, he posted on Facebook. We love our family and our alligators!

Among the many commenters on Twitter is model Christine Teigen, who seemed to take a humorous view of the proceedings.

Aaah, yes, the classic Jell-O watermelon alligator snap gender reveal, she tweeted. Who could ever get enough of these precious moments.
Tanto

Address: 74 Ossington Ave. (near Queen St. W.), 416-546-3022, tantorestaurant.com

Chef: Julian Iliopoulos

Hours: Tuesday to Thursday, 6 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m.

Reservations: Yes

Wheelchair access: No

Price: Dinner for two with wine, tax and tip: $125

Tango is how my smartphone autocorrects the name of well-run new Argentine restaurant Tanto.

Perhaps its no accident.

Tanto (so much  in Spanish) shows mucho amor for the South American country.

Argentina permeates every aspect of Tanto, from the whiff of gaucho wood smoke greeting you at the door to the final send-off of alfajores, dainty shortbread rounds sandwiching dulce de leche.

Its there in the black-and-white photos of famed Argentine women on the walls. Former first lady Eva (Evita) Peron is amongst them, of course, looking glamorous in diamonds, along with a 1962 image of writer Victoria Ocampo framed by a doorway, oozing attitude.

And its there in the sharing menus excellent smoked ricotta empanadas ($7) and parsley-based chimichurri sauce, as tweaked by chef and co-owner Julian Iliopoulos.

Iliopoulos, 27, is working again with Niall McCotter, Doug Penfold and Khash Khavari of Peer to Peer Hospitality Group (Atlas, Chabrol), who once employed him at Cava. Iliopoulos fell in love with Argentine cuisine while travelling after leaving Cava.

This is Julians show. He came to us with this pitch, says McCotter.

If only the love was consistent throughout the meal. Everything about Tanto is delicious and exciting  until the mains, after which dinner gets as shaky as post-Peron Argentine politics.

But first, the good stuff.

Service is, as at any Cava-related restaurant, above reproach.

The one area Tanto shows no love for Argentina is the wine list. Co-owner McCotter has zero Argentine malbecs to avoid cliche. He skews instead towards Italy since the majority of Argentines are of Italian descent. His staff happily steer diners towards a kooky Sicilian Vulka by Nicosia ($68 a bottle) that lets the red meat shine.

Or theres mate corretto ($14), the popular caffeinated herbal brew mixed with vodka, hot water, honey and lemon, like a Pampas hot toddy. (El Almacen cafe around the corner has the real deal.)

Potato churros ($8) taste like fried mashed potatoes. Along with cubed cows tongue ($9) skewered on toothpicks with pickled hot peppers and sauerkraut, the churros make excellent beer snacks for Tantos Burdock Brewery selections.

A better gateway drug for offal is Tantos sweetbreads ($22), pancreas or thymus glands as firm as meat. Their delicacy of flavour is balanced by charred leeks and blobs of brown butter sabayon that come across as the richer cousin of hollandaise.

Further offal fun can be had with morcilla ($14), creamy blood sausage scented with cinnamon and apples and imaginatively paired with grilled endive and roasted marcona almonds. Sherry vinegar ties it all together like the area rug in The Big Lebowski.

The food is neither colourful nor pretty; only the concentric palm hearts decorating Russian potato-and-ham salad ($12) reveal visual flair. Still, stubby green gnocchi ($28) taste better than they look under a white blanket of melted taleggio. Made from potatoes and leeks, the gnocchi (noquis in Spanish) evoke the earthiness of freshly tiled soil; bits of fried maiitake mushrooms further the impression.

Oh. And smoked cabbage ($16). I come from a long line of cabbage eaters; Iliopoulos is half-Ukrainian himself. None of our relatives would recognize his grilled variation. Steamed tender then fulsomely charred over the custom charcoal grill, the cabbage comes alive with a topping of pesto, sous-vide egg yolk and crunchy white threads of guanciale.

Then trouble creeps in.

Short ribs ($34) are room temperature, the fat congealed. (Tanto does a better job with beef fat when it whips tallow as a butter alternative for $6 sourdough.) Sliced bavette ($32) also arrives warm instead of hot. For a kitchen inspired by the land of grass-fed cattle, it doesnt showcase beef at its best. Chicken milanesa ($17) is a perfectly fine breaded cutlet ill-served by the needless distraction of pink pickled onions and red pepper sauce.

Desserts wobble, too. The simplicity of coconut cake ($13) is lost under tart passion fruit gel. Better balanced is the Argentine mille feuille ($15) with puff pastry layers as thin and dark as onion skins holding banana panna cotta and dulce de leche.

Tanto opened in December. Iliopolous is young but has seasoned backers. I expect them to smooth the missteps out shortly.

After all, as Al Pacino says in Scent of a Woman, You get all tangled up, you just tango on.

Amy Pataki is a Toronto-based restaurant critic and reporter covering all things hospitality. Follow her on Twitter: @amypataki

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Ontarios quasi-judicial tribunals are part of the executive branch of government and fundamentally different from courts, so the open courts principle should not apply to them, lawyers for the province argued in Superior Court on Thursday.

The open courts principle emerges from the courts role as a separate branch of government, said Daniel Guttman, representing the Attorney General of Ontario. Courts, being independent of government, are not democratically accountable, he said. Their openness ensures accountability. Tribunals, by contrast, are subject to government oversight.

Ontario is defending itself against a legal challenge from the Toronto Star calling on the court to require the provinces various administrative tribunals  which make decisions on everything from landlord and tenant disputes to human rights complaints  to provide easier and more complete access to records and documents related to their public hearings.

Currently, while tribunal hearings are usually open to the public, some tribunals require members of the public, including the media, to file formal freedom of information requests for access to documents related to those hearings. This, the Star argues, creates an unreasonable barrier to information to which the public is constitutionally entitled, because the freedom of information process is cumbersome and often leads to heavily redacted documents.

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Stars lawyers make opening arguments in case to end secrecy in Ontario tribunals

Ontario says tribunals should not be as open as courts

The debate playing out in front of Justice Edward Morgan is theoretical and rooted in dense legal arguments, but the question at hand is relatively straightforward: should tribunals be required to disclose documents as readily as courts do?

The Star says they should, because decisions made by tribunals were once within the jurisdiction of courts and the fundamental principle of openness should apply to them. Specifically, the Star is asking the court to declare the practice by some tribunals of requiring formal freedom of information requests for access to documents as unconstitutional.

The province, meanwhile, says tribunals must balance openness with privacy rights. Letting each tribunal make its own decisions on how it discloses information  in some cases by using the freedom of information process to restrict what is made public  is the best way to do that, it argues.

Guttman said the tribunals vary widely in terms of their mandates and the kinds of decisions they make, and the current system allows each to exercise its own expertise in deciding what information should be disclosed.

The Stars lawyer, Paul Schabas, argued that freedom of information laws are used to give the public access to information that is presumptively not disclosed. But the information some tribunals are trying to keep secret should be presumptively open. So requiring a freedom of information request to obtain that information puts the burden on the person trying to assert their constitutional right. He said the process significantly impairs journalists ability to do their jobs.

Guttman said there is no evidence the Star was ever impeded in reporting on cases at any tribunal.

Iris Fischer, another lawyer representing the Star, addressed this point on Wednesday, saying: We dont know what we dont know.

The province also argued that providing more complete disclosure of tribunal documents could actually limit access to justice by discouraging some people from bringing complaints forward.

Guttman also argued that the court should simply dismiss the Stars case because it has not exhausted the legal remedies available, such as appealing to the information and privacy commissioner or seeking judicial review of a tribunal decision in Federal Court.

The province will continue its arguments on Friday. There is no timeline for when Morgan will make his decision.
EDMONTONAlberta Health Services says a mistake on a form a decade ago using outdated language is to blame after a teenage Indigenous girl was sent an invoice addressed to Treaty Indian.

The health service said Thursday it has finished a preliminary investigation into how unacceptable and culturally insensitive language was used.

This was an inexcusable error, and should never have happened, it said in a statement.

The service said the error occurred when historical wording was put in the wrong field on a patients record during a hospital visit over a decade ago.

Following a more recent hospital visit, our computer system inadvertently copied that incorrect wording, and included it on an invoice which was then sent out to the person, the statement said.

The wording is absolutely not language that we would purposefully use. It is inappropriate, insensitive and should not be used in any circumstance.

The health service said this was a one-off incident and doesnt reflect the language used by staff. The organization apologized publicly and said it has reached out to the 15-year-old girl and her mother to apologize personally.

The case will continue to be reviewed and the invoice to the patient has been waived, it added.

The letter came to light when a picture of the address line was posted on Twitter Wednesday by Indigenous artist Dawn Marie Marchand.

She said the letter was addressed to the daughter of a friend who gave her permission to share it on social media.

(Its) hard to understand how it is even possible, she wrote. It basically means someone could not even be bothered to find out the name.

Following the apology, Marchand said the girls mother did not wish to comment on the mistake.

To her, this is just another example of how we are dehumanized in institutional situations, Marchand wrote on Twitter.

Although she wanted to show her disappointment, she does not want to make any statements in the media about this publicly. She is already dealing with enough.

Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said the letter was completely unacceptable.

If I was a mother receiving a letter like that for my child I would be incredibly insulted and offended that they didnt even put the name on the letter, she said.

The health service said all employees are expected to treat everyone with respect and it will make sure something similar never happens again.

We know that a significant barrier to First Nations people accessing the health-care system is trust, and acknowledge that institutional racism and stereotyping has kept people from getting the care they need, the health service said.

We also know that the relationships between AHS and our First Nations people must continue to improve, and we are committed to building, nurturing and growing those relationships.

The CEO of Alberta Health Services apologized last summer when a health services official who had conducted a seminar for educators at a southern Alberta First Nation sent a text complaining that she had been yelled at by a rabid squaw.

The worker who sent the text message and another who was intended to receive it were fired.

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Few hours after delivering a national address on the controversial Ghana-US military pact, President Nana Akufo-Addo has come under heavy criticism for delivering an address described as intolerable and condescending to the genuine concerns of Ghanaians.



Deputy Chief of Staff, Abu Janipor jumping to the Presidents defence has shot down such claims arguing out the contrary.



According to the Deputy Chief of Staff, President Akufo-Addo has demonstrated tolerance by accommodating dissenting views throughout in his political career, stressing the Presidents role in broadening the frontiers of free speech and democracy.



Mr. Janipor added that Akufo-Addo is one of Ghanas most tolerant Heads of State who will not hurt even a fly despite the deceitful tellings-off brought against him by some members from the other end of the political divide.



President Akufo- Addo has demonstrated throughout his entire political life and as President that he is very tolerant and accommodative of dissenting view. He has chalked one year three months in office as one of the most tolerant Presidents in the history of Ghana. He will not hurt a fly. He said



Explaining the Presidents outrage at the opposition National Democratic, Mr. Janipor asserted that Akufo-Addo was scolding frontline politicians who have been mischievously throwing dust into the eyes of Ghanaians to make government unpopular.



Speaking on Metro TVs Good Evening Ghana hosted by Paul Adom-Otchere, Abu Janipor stressed that, the Presidents anger not was directed at Ghanaians but populist politicians misleading the general public.



President Akufo-Addo real and unpretentious. He is outraged at frontline politicians who signed the deal in 1998 and 2015 but are mischievous misleading Ghanaians now





Source: ghanaweb









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WASHINGTONNorth American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation talks have entered a new, more intensive phase, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Washington on Friday.

Freeland spoke near the end of what she called a constructive day of meetings with her American and Mexican counterparts. None of them made any concrete announcements. Freeland would not offer details, saying she did not want to negotiate in public.

There have been numerous reports that the U.S. side is pushing for the announcement of some sort of agreement, even a partial agreement in principle, in time for next weeks Summit of the Americas in Peru. Freeland declined to address the prospects for any kind of quick agreement.

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Intensive engagement is going to continue in the days to come, Freeland said. She added, We have always said were going to take the time it takes to get a good deal.

Freeland confirmed that, as other Canadian government officials have said, the three sides have made recent progress on the automotive manufacturing issue that is central to the continental trade pact. She credited creative ideas from the U.S., which is known to have recently introduced a proposal that would replace a previous proposal that was loathed by Canada and Mexico.

Freelands American counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, decided to deal directly with her and Mexicos Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo rather than hold a full-scale negotiating round between teams of negotiators. The Mexican government said late Friday that technical teams from the three countries would be meeting in the coming days.

Any announced agreement in the near future is very unlikely to mean that negotiations are actually nearing completion. The three countries have said that they have concluded negotiations on only six of the planned 30-plus chapters of the new NAFTA.

Jerry Dias, president of the Unifor union that represents Canadian auto workers, said he was skeptical any agreement in principle would emerge from the Washington talks.

The bottom line is it doesnt make sense to announce any sort of an agreement and work out the details later, it makes everybody look foolish. So I dont think anybodys going to bite, Dias said.

Its all about the details. Its like me buying a house from you and saying, After we move in then well negotiate the price.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was hopeful of positive news on NAFTA in the coming times. He referred to timing pressures faced by the U.S. and Mexico related to the U.S. congressional election in November and the Mexican presidential election in July.

We know that there is a good deal out there to be had that works for our entire continent. We need to continue to negotiate firmly to make sure that Canadian interests are defended, so were pleased at the amount of chapters that have been closed, at the progress that has been made on a number of issues. But were going to keep going and demonstrate that we take this issue very seriously, Trudeau said.

President Donald Trump disputed reports that he is in a rush to make a deal. He said Thursday that he has told his team, Dont rush it. Take it nice and easy. Theres no rush. We get it done right or well terminate.

The new U.S. proposal on automotive content would replace its previous proposal for a rule requiring that 50 per cent of a cars content be made in the U.S. in order for the car to qualify for tariff-free treatment. The new proposal involves a wage credit toward the tariff-free threshold for North American content. In other words, automakers could meet the threshold, which the U.S. wants raised, by paying workers significantly higher wages  perhaps $15 (U.S.) per hour  than autoworkers currently make in Mexico.

Low Mexican wages have been a chief complaint of Canadian and American unions. It is not yet clear, though, whether the Mexican government could accept a credit level so much higher than current wage levels.

Itd be good for the U.S. and Canada. Im not sure Mexico would see it that way because theyve got a long way to go to figure out how theyre going to get to that floor, said Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.

In addition, the Canadian government is resisting the U.S. proposal to raise the North American content threshold to 85 per cent, the publication Inside U.S. Trade reported. The current threshold is 62.5 per cent.

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A former CTV News reporter facing sexual misconduct allegations is suing the broadcaster, its parent company and the woman who levelled the accusations against him.

Paul Bliss, whose departure from CTV was announced last month, claims Bridget Brown defamed him with her allegations and CTV further defamed him by broadcasting and publishing stories about his suspension from the network in January.

Bliss suit, which also targets four unidentified CTV journalists, seeks $7.5 million in damages.

The defamatory words have created damaging speculation respecting Mr. Bliss and his ability to interact and work with people and has lowered his reputation in the general public, his statement of claim said.

CTV refused to comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in a Toronto court this week.

Brown, who describes herself as a Calgary-based entrepreneur and former CTV employee, said her legal team was reviewing Bliss suit.

I find virtually everything in the statement of claim to be false, she said. We have some time for our response and have not compiled one yet, nor any potential statements of claim of our own that we may decide to file.

Brown alleged in a January blog post that an award-winning CTV reporter and anchor had, in 2006, showed her to his office, began kissing her, pushed her head down to signal that he wanted oral sex, and exposed himself to her.

Browns original blog post did not name Bliss, but left no doubt that he was the man being described, Bliss said in his statement of claim. Brown also later told CTV that Bliss was the man her post referred to, the claim said.

Bliss denied Browns accusations in his statement of claim and said the pair engaged in a consensual encounter.

CTV suspended Bliss, a veteran reporter who worked at its bureau at the Ontario legislature, shortly after Browns allegations came to light.

Bliss claimed in his suit that the network broadcast and published false, malicious, irresponsible stories about his suspension and subsequent departure from the network  which the suit described as a termination.

The statement of claim further says CTVs coverage should have noted that Browns blog says the details of her online post were adapted from a memoir she is writing, which will be published in 2019.

Brown had an ulterior motive (in making the allegations), being the publication of her intended book, Bliss said in the claim.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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VANCOUVERHundreds of protesters opposed to the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline demonstrated Thursday night outside a Vancouver hotel where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed a Liberal party fundraising dinner.

They chanted Kinder Morgan has got to go as they marched several blocks through downtown to a hotel where the Liberals were meeting.

Emma Pullman, campaign manager with SumOfUs, said the protest is intended to show Trudeau that there is a lot opposition to the project and the Liberals stand to lose seats in B.C. if the pipeline is built.

Have your say

In a time when we need to be talking about a transition and talking about reconciliation the prime minister is talking about building a pipeline thats going to be in the ground for 30 years, she said.

Theres literally thousands of people who are opposed to it, many of whom are voters.

Chief Bob Chamberlin, vice-president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said he wants a joint consultation with all the communities on the pipeline route through British Columbia.

This does not have First Nations consent and we value the environment more than money, he added.

Trudeaus speech to the fundraising event was interrupted by Cedar George-Parker, a young Indigenous leader from the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation who shouted: The pipeline is not happening, the youth will stand up and stop it. ... You lied to the people, you lied to our people.

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As George-Parker peacefully left the room, Trudeau said: If you were to stick around you could hear me talk about how the environment and the economy go together. ... We know that building a strong future requires a broad range of voices.

It was a similar theme used by Trudeau earlier Thursday in Victoria, where he said his message of support for environmental protection and the pipeline are the same as he visits British Columbia and Alberta this week.

The federal government needs to build a strong economy and protect the environment at the same time, Trudeau said, adding that he has faith in his governments ocean protection and emergency preparedness plans.

I would not have approved this pipeline had I not been confident of that, he said.

Its precisely because of these stringent measures that we can stand behind our approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion with confidence. This project will be safe, jobs will be created and this pipeline will be built.

About 100 protesters chanted Leave it in the ground not far from where the prime minister was getting a tour of a Canadian Coast Guard ship in Victoria.

Trudeau said such decisions arent made by those who shout the loudest, but are taken on the basis of facts, science and evidence.

About 200 people have been arrested near Kinder Morgans marine terminal in Burnaby, B.C., during recent protests against the project.

The pipeline, which would triple the amount of oil flowing from Alberta to Burnaby, was approved by the federal government in 2016.

Protesters say it will raise the risk of oil tanker spills in the Burrard Inlet and it cant be completed if the government is to meet its climate change commitments to cut Canadas greenhouse gas emissions another 200 million tonnes a year by 2030.

Trudeau is to travel to Fort McMurray, Alta., on Friday to tour a new Suncor oilsands facility.

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Temporary employment agency worker Amina Diaby was on the job just two weeks when she died in a North York bakery. Her head scarf got sucked into a machine and strangled her  an industrial accident to which there were apparently no witnesses.

That is what a provincial offences court heard last September when Fiera Foods pleaded guilty for failing to ensure that 23-year-old Diabys loose clothing was secured around machinery. The company, which was the subject of a Star undercover investigation last year, was fined $300,000 for the offence.

But documents recently obtained by the Star show there was an employee working with Diaby at the time of her death. According to the documents, he did not know how to help her when she became entrapped, and he did not understand how to use the machines emergency stop buttons.

Read more:

I went undercover in a Toronto factory where a temp worker died. Heres what I found

In a 2017 investigation initiated after Diabys death, Jennifer Strachan, an investigator for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, said neither the co-worker, a forklift driver nor a team lead who trained Diaby on her first day pushed either of the two emergency safety stop buttons that were present at that time.

It was not until the supervisor and mechanic came on scene that the safety stop button was pushed, her investigation notes say.

In the documents obtained under freedom of information laws, Strachan said a review of the training documents provided do not support that either Amina Diaby or her co-worker  had received training in the location and use of the emergency safety buttons.

The investigation also found the machines guarding was not adequate in ensuring that material did not get drawn in and entrapped. The equipment was more than 18 years old, according to the findings.

After Diaby died, it is unclear what happened to the co-worker who witnessed the accident. His name was redacted from the documents released to the Star.

In response to questions about the WSIB investigation, Fiera Foods general counsel David Gelbloom said the company had implemented workplace improvements to our manufacturing shop floor for temporary, part-time and full-time workers. The measures, he said, included hiring two new health and safety trainers, conducting more regular audits on its facilities and a confidential, third-party whistleblower hotline for workers to raise questions or voice concerns.

Fiera Foods remains deeply committed to offering opportunities to Canadians from diverse backgrounds and experience. In the past few months, we have offered full-time employment to (and on-boarded) over 90 people, Gelbloom said.

Our founders grew up working on the shop floor and remain committed to providing the safest possible workspace for every one of our full-time and temporary workers.

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New law to make employers accountable for temp worker injuries

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One year after this temp agency worker died at Fiera Foods, family is still searching for answers

Diaby came to Canada as a refugee, fleeing a forced marriage in Guinea. She got a job at Fiera through a temp agency hoping to save money for nursing school.

Following her death in September 2016, Fiera Foods installed a third emergency stop button on the line where shed worked, according to the WSIBs investigation notes from April 11, 2017. When the investigator approached another employee working there, Strachan found he did not understand English very well and was able to identify only one of the three buttons.

I had to gesture to the buttons and ask repeatedly about the buttons for him to understand I was asking about the emergency stop buttons, her report says.

He indicated through shrugs of his shoulders that he did not know what the other two buttons did.

Last year, a Star reporter went undercover as a low-wage temp worker at Fiera Foods, which relies heavily on temps as it mass-produces bread products for major grocery stores and fast-food chains. The reporter received just five minutes of safety training and was paid in cash at a payday lender, without pay stubs or statutory deductions. The reporter was shown a picture of an emergency stop button but was not provided with any hands-on instruction.

Data obtained by the Star as part of its investigation showed that temp agency workers in Ontario are increasingly being placed in non-clerical environments like factories and warehouses, and that they are twice as likely to get hurt in these sectors as their non-temp counterparts.

Research by the Toronto-based Institute for Work and Health found that employers often shift risky work onto temps because they were not responsible for their injuries at the workers compensation board. Last month, the Ontario government vowed to enact legislation to hold both employers and temp agencies responsible when a temp gets hurt on the job.

Temp agency workers are often untrained. In the U.S., where more research has been done on temp work, David Michaels, a former director of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, noted in 2014 that most employers dont treat temporary workers the way they treat their permanent employees  they dont provide them with the training that is necessary.

Fiera Foods and its sister company Marmora Freezing Corp. have pleaded guilty to charges under Ontarios occupational health and safety laws following the deaths of two other temp agency workers.

In 1999, a 17-year old temp named Ivan Golyashov was killed at Fieras Norelco Dr. plant when a dough mixer was activated while he was inside cleaning it. In 2011, 69-year-old Aydin Kazimov was crushed by a transport truck outside Marmora Freezing Corp. Fiera Foods and Marmora were convicted in each case under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and fined $150,000 on each occasion.

In the months after Diabys death, Fiera approached the WSIB about participating in a voluntary program called Workwell that helps companies improve workplace safety, according to documents obtained by the Star through its freedom of information request.

The owner is very motivated to have the safest environment possible, says a December 2016 email from Matt Wilson, the boards director of Workplace Health and Safety Services, to a Workwell manager. The program subsequently assigned one of (its) best evaluators to work with Fiera.

In February 2017, Workwell expert John Carr emailed Wilson to describe an awkward first meeting with the company, where an office meeting he attended seemed like family party time with guests laughing and hugging.

I would question if they are sincerely interested in becoming an industry leader in Health and Safety, as they said, or whether this is a case of improving the optics, Carr wrote.

They did not offer much insight into their operation but rather just wanted to know about the Workwell process and how it would work, how long it would take and what the cost would be.

Carr described the front of the factory as being obstructed by long-term sewer construction. There did not appear to be any effort made to assist employees getting to and from work through the construction zone, he said.

When I arrived at the office it seemed like family party time with guests laughing and hugging, and then during the meeting, some guy came into the conference room without knocking to give the president a hug and a kiss, he added. It was awkward.

The Workwell program was ultimately suspended because of Strachans investigation into Diabys death and Fiera has yet to complete the program, according to a WSIB spokesperson, Christine Arnott.

We suggested that Fiera contact us after the investigation to continue the Workwell process, and that invitation stands. Our door is always open to any Ontario business looking to improve health and safety in their workplace, Arnott said.

Walmart, Costco, Metro and Dunkin Donuts all told the Star they continue to sell products made by Fiera Foods. (Tim Hortons, Loblaw and Sobeys, who have also sold Fiera products in the past, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

A spokesperson for Metro wrote in an email to the Star that representatives of the grocery chain have had regular and multiple contacts with Fiera Foods regarding the issues highlighted by the Stars ongoing investigation. We take this situation very seriously, as you may guess. They are keeping us informed on what they have put in place and what they are working on to address the situation, wrote Genevieve Gregoire, who declined to elaborate on what specifically Fiera has told them.

A Walmart spokesperson, Anika Malik, said in an emailed statement that Walmart care(s) about the men and women in the supply chain and that Fiera Foods has shared with Walmart the controls theyve put in place to address these concerns. Malik would not elaborate on what specifically Fiera Foods has done.

As a result of Fieras guilty plea in September, the Crown withdrew charges against Diabys supervisor at the factory, as well as charges related to two separate incidents that occurred at Fiera Foods in October 2015 and June 2016, when the court heard workers suffered critical arm injuries.

smojtehedzadeh@thestar.ca, 416-869-4195

bkennedy@thestar.ca, 416-869-4192

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PICKERINGResidents are criticizing the removal of large, old trees on the lake in Pickering, calling the recent work clear-cutting and vastly different from how they envisioned the area.

This is disgusting. Yes, I believe in doing pruning. This is devastation, Debbie Kent said as a group of residents met near the lake, in the West Shore area, a contractor cutting down trees nearby.

This is not consideration for the environment, fellow resident Jan Kimble said.

The City of Pickering and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) made the decision to remove around 160 trees along Beachpoint Promenade to accommodate road widening and other plans for the phase 1 reconstruction of Rotary Frenchmans Bay West Park. The city informed residents abutting the park and community groups of the tree removal, but many say they didnt know it would be so extreme.

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Not within our lifetime or our kids lifetimes are we going to see a recovery from this, Heather Jakobsen, who is a wildlife photographer, said. Its devastating. I dont know how the city has thought this through properly.

Jakobsen shared concerns for the vast wildlife that live in the area.

Removed trees include hazardous and invasive species, such as Manitoba maple, Buckthorn and Tree of Heaven.

These all over time will get rotted out and fall down and potentially cause risk to our residents, said Arnold Mostert, Pickerings senior co-ordinator of landscape and parks development.

The tree removal also included healthy trees within the construction area.

We will be widening that road to standards and providing lay-by parking down each side to provide proper parking within the park, said Mostert.

The tree branches and understorey vegetation will be chipped and the large logs will be collected for reuse in various restoration projects by the TRCA.

As part of the phase 1 plans, the city will plant 168 native trees, 1,060 native shrubs, and a large area of wild flowers and grasses in this area of redevelopment.

Other phase 1 plans include an enhanced trail system, pedestrian crossings and an educational area.

As Pickering develops, obviously there will be more demand for people to come to the waterfront so we have to provide safe and accessible access to these residents, said Mostert.

Karen McDonald, TRCAs manager of restoration projects, said pedestrians currently walk anywhere, trampling vegetation as they go.

The master plan will see improvements to this, she said.

She understands its tough for residents to watch the tree removal.

Its too bad but in the end its going to result we think in a better system both for nature and for people, she said.

Ward 1 city Coun. Maurice Brenner said in an email at some point given the conditions we have experienced last year with extensive flooding, the same removal and regeneration would have been necessary sooner than later to project the balance in this sensitive area.

Following Hurricane Hazel in 1954, the TRCA acquired waterfront property and put it into public ownership. It purchased small cottages lining Beachpoint Promenade and demolished them. The rest of the land features remained untouched but over time the area became overgrown with other invasive tree species.

In 2001, Pickering entered into a management agreement with the TRCA and a number of plans were prepared for park improvements.

After thorough community consultations, Pickering council approved the Rotary Frenchmans Bay West Park Master Plan in 2012.

The plan has been prepared to provide a balance between public access and the preservation of the environmentally sensitive areas within the park, said Mostert.

But many residents feel the plans taking shape are starkly different from what they saw in earlier planning stages.

Its great to finally see action being taken but unfortunately the plan ignores many recommendations made over the years, particularly those maintaining the Promenades natural state as much as possible. The community believes this can be achieved while also addressing accessibility limitations in its present state, Pickering West Shore Community Association president Andre Pilon said.

From 1997 to 1998, resident David Steele was chairperson of the Pickering Citizens Taskforce to develop a comprehensive citizens vision of the waterfront. With help from residents, subcommittees, stakeholders and staff of the Waterfront Regeneration Trust and the TRCA, the task force brought forward its vision.

Steele said the construction plan is nowhere near the plans that were developed in 2012 and noted residents have seen five different plans for the area referred to as the West Spit.

This one is the worst, he said in a letter.

Steele questions why the budget for phase 1 soared in 2018 and noted further plans for a motorized boat launch are opposed by PWSCA.
The city is stepping in to help businesses adversely affected by the construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

At a press conference at the Maria A. Shchuka library near Eglinton Ave. West and Dufferin St. Friday, Mayor John Tory and Councillor Josh Colle announced a series of measures to support business owners, some of whom have been grappling with disruptions since 2013, when work on the transit project began.

While the Eglinton West community has advocated for higher order transit here for a long time, construction is difficult. Its difficult for businesses. Its difficult for residents, said Colle (Ward 15 Eglinton-Lawrence), who represents a two-kilometre stretch of Eglinton West and moved a council motion last year directing the city to find ways to help local retailers.

He predicted the Crosstown will transform the area by the time its complete, and called the project was long overdue.

But we must continue to support businesses and communities between now and the opening of the new line.

The initiatives announced Friday include a discount of $6 off at all city-owned parking spaces within 200 metres of Eglinton between Jane St. and Don Mills Rd., which is enough to provide two hours free parking at most spots. Drivers can access the discount by entering the code Crosstown in the Green P app.

The city is also undertaking a cleaning blitz of the corridor, and is allocating $100,000 to help businesses enhance their online presence, and perform economic scans to determine how to attract customers.

The citys measures are in addition to initiatives already launched by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency for the GTHA, which is building the Crosstown. Among other things, Metrolinx is giving $10,000 a year to business improvement areas (BIAs) on Eglinton to be used to stimulate economic activity, and has launched advertising campaigns to draw people to the area.

At a cost of $5.3 billion, the LRT is among the largest construction projects in the country. When its complete in 2021, it will deliver higher-order transit to a historically underserved area. But, in the meantime, work to build new stations has snarled traffic and left many storefronts obscured behind construction hoarding.

Aadila Valiallah, the co-ordinator for the York-Eglinton BIA, said retailers have suffered acomplete loss of business and she knows of at least 12 stores that have closed since last summer.

She called the citys offer of free parking puzzling, because so many parking spaces have been removed from the area, including an entire Green P lot that was taken out.

Im a little bit puzzled about how theyre going to help businesses by paying for parking; there is no parking to pay for, she said.

But she conceded theres no silver bullet the city could use to alleviate the construction problems.

Orville Smith, a community advocate who is pushing the city to preserve Eglintons Little Jamaica neighbourhood by supporting Caribbean-owned businesses, said free parking and beautification efforts could be effective. But he called on the city to do better at engaging local residents in plans for Eglintons future.

The people, our representatives of the community, must be at the dining table of making these decisions, from a community and cultural perspective, he said.

Some in the neighbourhood have criticized the city for responding quickly to King St. business owners who said their bottom line had been hurt by the new streetcar pilot project downtown, while waiting years to launch similar measures on Eglinton West, a less affluent area.

With the mayors support, the city announced free parking near King two months after the pilot began, following high-profile complaints by restaurateurs in the theatre district.

Mayor Tory said he had been paying attention to the plight of Eglinton businesses, but stepped in when it was clear that the business supports Metrolinx had put in place were not enough.

So we came to do more. One could argue with almost anything we do: why didnt you do it sooner? And thats a valid question. But were here today. Were announcing  new measures that are going to, I hope, help these businesses get through what is about three more years of construction.

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Reporting colleagues misconduct can be an intimidating process in Ontario schools due to a culture of silence, education insiders say  though teachers still have a duty to report suspected abuse.

The whole presumptive behaviour of dont snitch on your colleagues because itll come back to bite you is pretty much entrenched in the profession, and new teachers learn that very quickly, said Monika Ferenczy, a former Ontario College of Teachers disciplinary committee member who adjudicated for about 20 hearings between 2012 and 2014.

The Ontario College of Teachers, a provincial oversight and licensing body, conducts dozens of investigations and disciplinary hearings each year after complaints are brought forward by administrators, teachers, and members of the public. The disciplinary committee can order penalties on teachers, including suspensions or coursework, or even take away their licence. In some cases, like having sex with a student, licence revocation is mandatory.

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If you report on another member, you better have pretty strong evidence, said Ferenczy, who has since resigned from her position for what she called interference by her union and school board into her work. The college says that reasonable grounds  information that an average person, using normal and honest judgement would need to decide  is reason enough to report.

Teachers have a duty to report the abuse of students, including in their home lives, Ferenczy told the Star. But reporting on another teacher is more prickly in the sense that the teacher will find out who reported them.

Under the Teaching Profession Act, teachers are required to alert their colleague through a written letter within three days if they file whats called an adverse report against them. There is an exception to this requirement for reports involving allegations of sexual abuse.

Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, said he has never encountered a culture of silence or professional reprisal in the context of reporting a colleague.

There are clearly delineated legal and professional expectations for teachers, certainly there are places where we have an absolute obligation to report, he said, adding that the union bylaws reflect these rules.

Two teachers who spoke to the Star on condition of anonymity said they feared or experienced workplace retribution for reporting colleagues at their respective schools  colleagues who, in each case, were transferred to other schools, they said.

The first teacher said they filed a complaint with the college against a colleague who was transferred between at least three schools before his licence was revoked. According to documents filed by the college when they took away the offending teachers licence, he had been found to have a romantic relationship with one of his students.

For the teachers who reported him, there was safety in numbers, the Toronto teacher told the Star, so they reported him together.

Teachers are afraid of retaliation, from the union, from the Ontario College of Teachers, from the superintendent, from the principal ... there (are) a lot of things that weigh on teachers and make them perhaps not as responsive to situations until they almost get out of hand, the teacher said. Theres a bureaucratic arbitrariness that doesnt make sense why some people are disciplined right away, and then other people who have a much worse record are kept around.

An ongoing Star investigation  probing the disciplinary processes for abusive teachers in Ontario  has found teachers may be transferred to new schools as part of disciplinary action by their boards. And, in some of the provinces largest boards, there is no requirement to tell the new principal about any disciplinary measures that have been taken in the past with their incoming teacher.

The investigation identified 27 cases heard by the college between January 2012 and November 2017, where a teacher had been investigated by their school board, disciplined, and transferred at least once by the time their case made it to a college hearing. In nine of the 27 cases identified, the teachers had gone on to re-offend at their new school.

This can happen when a teachers actions arent deemed serious enough to refer to the college, so their discipline stays at the board level, where its hidden from the public.

Employers may have their own way of addressing and resolving such complaints, the college wrote in their publication, Professionally Speaking, in Dec. 2017. The public as a whole also wont be aware of what has transpired if discipline is necessary. The article explained to educators how the complaint process works in Ontario.

A second teacher from Peel District says they reported a colleague for an incident of alleged physical abuse against a high school student. The incident in question was witnessed by other teachers and students, according to a letter of complaint submitted to the college and reviewed by the Star. The teacher detailed bullying by a union representative and other staff following his attempts to escalate the complaint.

We do the right thing, and we get targeted, the teacher said in an interview with the Star.

A culture of silence in Ontario education has been referenced in official reports before. Once was in a school safety report commissioned by the Toronto District School Board, released in 2008  in response to the death of C.W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute student Jordan Manners, who was shot at school.

Julian Falconer, the Toronto lawyer who headed the report panel, noted an enormous number of board employees would not speak on the record about school safety. The nature of this TDSB education culture is characterized as a culture of silence borne of fear of political or bureaucratic reprisal or both, Falconers report said.

In the panels 126 recommendations, it proposed that the provincial government impose mandatory requirements on all school employees for serious issues of student safety, and that it give whistleblower protection to staff that bring forward such concerns. The Toronto public board has since adopted a whistleblower policy to allow for anonymous reporting, said spokesperson Ryan Bird.

Weve come a long way since the Falconer Report and its recommendations. Since that time, we have tried to create a more open atmosphere where staff and students care about their schools and feel that they can come forward should they have any concerns. The Whistleblower Policy is part of creating that more open atmosphere, he said.

Secondary school teachers union president Bischof said he still feels surprised to hear about the culture of silence at work.

If its misconduct that puts a childs well-being in jeopardy, then I expect and advise teachers to follow their legal obligations, said Bischof. Make the report. Theres no need, in my mind, for a snitch line. There are well established processes to follow in order to ensure student well-being and safety.
Canadian universities and colleges talk a lot about the importance of equity and diversity on campus.

Yet when it comes to the academic workforce, little has changed in the last decade, with only a handful of Black and Indigenous professors, fewer women with coveted full-time positions than men, and significant wage gaps that penalize female and racialized staff, according to a new report.

The result is faculties that fail to reflect the range of backgrounds and identities of the students they teach, says the study, released Friday by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Have your say

Based on data from the 2016 census, it provides a snapshot of university and college workforces and incomes, and highlights entrenched differences in pay and positions.

The findings are discouraging, says Pat Armstrong, a York University sociology professor and co-chair of the associations equity committee.

Progress is very slow, she said in an interview. Its pretty clear theres a big gap between the student body and the faculty thats teaching them.

Armstrong said of particular concern is the significant decline in tenure-stream jobs and the shrinking number of assistant professor positions  which should be the pathway for new teachers from a range of backgrounds needed to shift the demographics within academia. Without those positions, it will be a major challenge to address the current imbalances.

According to the report, assistant professor positions declined 22 per cent in the 10-year period ending in 2016-17, a trend it said will impede progress for women, Indigenous academics and other racial groups seeking secure tenure-track positions.

The report, released as the university teachers kick off a two-day equity conference, also found:

Aboriginal academics made up about 1 per cent of university professors in 2016 and 3 per cent of college instructors, even though they constitute 4 per cent of the labour force and 5 per cent of undergraduate students.

The number of Black university teachers has barely budged in 10 years, accounting for 2 per cent of all teachers in 2016.

The share of racialized university professors rose to 21 per cent in 2016 from 17 per cent in 2006. However, they represent only 15 per cent of college instructors.

More women have full-time positions but primarily in the lower ranks, representing 49 per cent of assistant professors but only 27 per cent of full professors.

The most prevalent wage gap is for racialized women college instructors, who earn 63 cents for every dollar earned by white males, and racialized women professors who earn 68 cents.

Last fall, Canadian universities released an action plan aimed at promoting equity, diversity and inclusion at all levels, including in teaching, research, governance and their communities. The plan, announced by Universities Canada, also committed to collecting demographic data about students and teaching staff.

Armstrong said the most effective strategy to change the makeup of the workforce would be reducing the reliance on part-time or contract staff. The vulnerability of precarious workers was at the heart of the strike by Ontario college faculty last fall and job security is also central in the ongoing strike by 3,000 contract staff and teaching assistants at York University, who have been off the job for a month.

The reports findings came as no surprise to Sharon McIvor, an Indigenous lawyer, activist and professor at Nicola Valley Institute of Technology in British Columbia.

But she stresses that diversity isnt just about changing the faces in a workplace. It also means embracing different world views and ways of approaching teaching, learning and evaluating that come with them, she adds.

In the traditional hierarchy of Canadas university system that hasnt changed very much.

Correction - April 11, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version to update an incorrect photo caption. The previous caption mistakenly referred to students coming out of the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall.

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A well-known Hamilton activist, previously accused of being a ringleader behind destruction at the G20 summit in 2010, has been charged in connection with a vandalism spree on Locke Street last month.

On March 3, a masked mob of about 30 people in black clothing marched down Locke Street throwing rocks at cars and businesses, breaking windows and lighting fireworks. They caused about $100,000 damage.

Late Friday morning, Hamilton police announced they had arrested Peter Hopperton, 31, at a residence near Cannon and Hess streets  a place they were also searching for evidence that morning.

Read more:

Vandals who smashed Hamilton shop windows planned ahead, police say

He is charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

Police said information from the public as well as other electronic evidence led to Hoppertons arrest.

Hopperton made a brief appearance in front of a justice of the peace Friday afternoon.

He was brought into the prisoners box with his hands shackled. He is tall and thin, with his hair in a shoulder-length bob. He was wearing glasses, a brown hoodie, skirt and dark nail polish. He spoke briefly with duty counsel and appeared calm.

A half-dozen police officers and at least four special constables were in the courtroom for Hoppertons appearance.

Hopperton will be kept in custody until he makes his next court appearance Monday morning.

As he was led out of the courtroom, a lone female supporter yelled out Love you Cedar. Be strong.

A moment after he left, about 20 more supporters  not realizing theyd already missed his five-minute appearance  entered the court with several more police officers.

They dispersed around 20 minutes later, one swearing at the cops on his way out.

Hopperton previously pleaded guilty to counselling mischief in connection with the 2010 G20 protests in Toronto. He is also known for local environmental activism.

Hamilton police say Hopperton is the operator of The Tower  an anarchist gathering space and collective on Cannon Street East.

In the wake of the vandalism spree, an anonymous poster on a Facebook account linked with The Tower previously denied that group was behind the vandalism, but expressed support for the tactics.

The ongoing effects of gentrification in this city are heartbreaking  waves of displacement, growing violence, and intensifying poverty, the post reads, later adding, We have zero tears to shed for Locke Street.

We believe that he was taking part in (the vandalism), Hamilton police deputy chief Dan Kinsella said of Hopperton.

He declined to say what Hoppertons alleged role was, saying the case is before the courts.

Police previously said the group, which carried a banner that read We Are The Ungovernable, was linked to the Hamilton Anarchist Book Fair that took place a few blocks away that weekend.

Kinsella repeated that connection Friday, alleging Hopperton was also connected to the book fair, held at Westdale Secondary School.

The Locke Street incident has been roundly denounced by politicians, with Hamilton city councillors voting to formally condemn the vandalism.

During a council meeting, Mayor Fred Eisenberger called the group terrorists and Coun. Terry Whitehead said police should label the anarchists a gang.

However, Kinsella said police are not investigating the group as a gang. They are a collective, or an anarchist space, he said.

In the aftermath of the vandalism there has been an outpouring of support for the affected small business owners on Locke.

Two weeks ago there were duelling protests in the neighbourhood.

One was billed as a Patriot Walk on Locke and included far-right groups such as Soldiers of Odin, The Proud Boys and the Ontario Northern Guard. This sparked a counterprotest by Hamiltonians Against Fascism.

Police worked to keep the groups separate and no one was hurt or arrested.

After the protests there was a confrontation between two groups outside The Tower.

Since the vandalism, The Tower has also seen damage at its storefront property, including a smashed window.

Kinsella stressed the investigation is ongoing and police are still looking for more information about others involved.

If you see something say something, if you know something, say something, Kinsella said.

For Ward 1 Coun. Aidan Johnson, who lives steps from Locke, the arrest brings hope it will lead to more charges.

I would say that the violence on Locke Street is still an open wound for people, he said.

Its been a turbulent and scary time for the city, but the way the community rallied has also brought everyone together, he said.

Johnson said hes spoken with Hamilton police Chief Eric Girt and is pleased with the diligence of the investigation.

Hopefully this is the first (arrest) of many,  he said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Jamie Simpson at 905-546-3816. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Rishi Sharma has spent about three years travelling across the U.S. on a mission to interview Second World War veterans and document their experiences in battle before its too late  and now hes doing the same in Toronto.

Sharma, 20, founded Heroes of the Second World War, a not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to film veterans and record their legacies for them and their families. He said he has conducted 870 interviews and raised $100,000 in donations, which goes toward website upkeep and a stipend for food and travel.

Theyre my biggest heroes, said Sharma, currently staying in North York. He said when he was a child he wanted to be a marine. They saved the world. I owe my life to them, and I want to be able to meet and document the reality of combat and what they had to go through, so that when future generations, who are not fortunate enough to get meet these heroes face-to-face, understand theyre living on borrowed time.

The Agoura Hills, Calif., resident came to Canada to continue his work, which includes interviewing members of the joint Canadian-American First Special Service Force that was active between 1942 and 1944. While attending a reunion in Sacramento, Calif., last July, Sharma said he was connected to members and other veterans north of the border.

They saw a lot of combat, Sharma said of the unit. They took heavy casualties ... It was just very intriguing that the Americans and Canadians had a deeper connection than many thought.

So far, hes conducted five interviews since arriving in the country on Sunday from Colorado. The conversations are filmed and burned to disk, then mailed to veterans, so their legacy is preserved.

Sharma said he researches division histories, many of which are found online or in books, before conducting interviews.

After we get into how they got into the service, we get into what it was like being under fire for the first time, things they had to see, things they had to do, what their specific role was. And Im not afraid to ask the tough questions. War is two things: its killing people and its seeing your friends killed.

Sharma said many documentaries gloss over these two aspects, inserting cliche phrases from veterans like war is hell without delving into specifics.

Its an uncomfortable subject to talk about, he said.

But for his project, the mission is to highlight the reality war and war is combat, he said. People need to know how bad it was, so that we dont be so hasty when we make decisions in the future.

Veteran Jack Callowhill of Stoney Creek, who spoke to Sharma on Wednesday about his time in the special services unit, said its a subject most veterans prefer to avoid.

Most veterans dont want to talk about killing people, he said. I know a lot of veterans would rather forget.

Callowhill, who served in Italy and southern France with the unit, speaks at high schools about the stupidity of war, he said.

Sharma, however, said hes had positive reactions from most of his interviewees.

Its an opportunity for these veterans to get out their experiences. Many veterans have told me things they havent talked about for 75 years, he said. Ive got over a hundred phone calls from veterans or their families telling me that their loved ones are different (people) and theyve never heard them talk about the war before, he said. It just takes one person to break the shell.

Next on the Sharmas itinerary are interviews in Vancouver, Calgary and the Maritimes, he said.

I havent been back to my house in a year and a half. As long as theres World War Two combat veterans for me to interview, Im going to be interviewing, he said.
On Thursday, Cal Poly engineers wrapped LightSail 2 in anti-static electronics bags, placed the spacecraft in a Pelican Case, and flew to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Albuquerque to meet up with Prox-1.

Cal Poly commonly flies CubeSats as carry-on items aboard commercial airplanes, and that's how LightSail 2 travelled to Albuquerque. Engineers Ryan Nugent and Alicia Johnstone told me they fly out of San Luis Obispo's small airport, and the TSA agents there are used to seeing spacecraft.

"We do it semi-regularly," Nugent said. The agents usually require a CubeSat to go through manual screening, but the engineer-handlers are allowed to stay with the spacecraft. LightSail 2 was no exception, and the TSA asked that the Pelican Case be opened to swab the outside of the anti-static bags for explosives. All in all, the screening was benign compared to what LightSail 2 will go through on launch day, and then in outer space.

During a layover in Phoenix, Nugent said an airport employee noticed the case, which bore LightSail and CubeSat logos, and asked, "Is that a real CubeSat?" Upon learning that it was, he proceeded to ask all about the mission, and was extra excited to learn the spacecraft would be flying on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.

In a clean room at AFRL, LightSail 2 met Prox-1 for the first time. Just two of Prox-1's six sides are currently assembled; the other four have to be installed around the P-POD with LightSail 2 inside. Here are two pictures:
Jamil Jivani was basking in hard-earned success until a cancer diagnosis came out of the blue, on Family Day weekend.

Estranged from his father as a young man, Jivani, who was born in Toronto and raised in Brampton, felt the temptations of a life of crime, going as far as asking a friend to find a gun for him. As a young Black male, Jivani felt alienated from the mainstream.

But he dropped the plan to get the gun and chose a different path.

Jivani buckled down and entered university  first at York, where he earned a BA in international development studies in 2010, and later Yale Law School, where he graduated in 2013.

He was an activist specializing in youth employment and policing issues and dove into community initiatives in Toronto, including volunteering as a board member for the Childrens Aid Society for four years beginning in 2013.

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My friend ended up in jail, I ended up at Yale: Toronto lawyer and activist Jamil Jivani explores the destructive ideas that can influence young men

He was called to the bar in 2015 and that same year became a visiting professor and scholar at Osgoode Hall Law School. The following year he began serving as director of a non-profit based at Ohio State University thats striving to improve social mobility and combat opioid abuse in the state and nationally.

His crowning achievement came April 3 with the release of his first book, Why Young Men: Rage, Race and the Crisis of Identity, which explores the conditions that lead to terrorism and violence among young males. Part of his research for the book included trips to Europe and Egypt in 2016, following terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels.

Everything was looking up when Jivani, 30, came to Toronto for the Family Day long weekend in February to visit his mother, Pam, and younger sisters Janine, 26, and Jasmine, 28.

He had developed a swollen lymph gland but figured it was a virus. He was staying with his mom in North York and she went with him to North York Generals emergency department around 5 a.m., thinking hed get some antibiotics.

A doctor there decided on an X-ray to get a better look at the swelling. When the results came back the news was devastating.

The doctor had tears in her eyes and said Im sorry, I think you have lymphoma,  Jivani said in an interview this week. The news made him cry at the time, too.

Several tests followed, and biopsy results two weeks confirmed stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It had grown into his bones, damaged his spine and caused fractures in his neck and back.

He now needs to wear a brace to protect his spine. His busy life is on pause. The celebration hed hoped to enjoy has been muted by hardship.

He takes six different pills a day, and must take five chemotherapy drugs every three weeks.

Hes had one course of radiation, one chemotherapy session, has lost about 20 pounds, has endured intense headaches and pain from some of his procedures and is battling fatigue. He faces more of the same.

But Jivani is confident hell recover and be cured eventually. (Patients with stage IV non-Hodgkin lymphoma can have a fairly high survival rate.)

During the interview he was energetic, smiling and full of good humour, though his voice at times choked with emotion as he described his health problems.

The psychological and emotional roller coaster hes been through since his diagnosis has often been more draining than the physical toll, he says.

Young people, myself included, we are privileged by the fact that many of us dont have peers who are sick, Jivani says. So you can live your life completely ignorant to how much physical health matters. Until all of a sudden you cant ignore it anymore.

Its a very humbling experience where youre brought back to reality.

Jivani has had to shift his outlook.

Youre so used to the thing between your dreams being about effort, luck, opportunity and intelligence, he says. I was comfortable thinking that if my dreams dont become real its mostly within my control. And if I fail I can blame myself, and if I succeed I can applaud myself. Now there are things out of my control that might stop me from realizing my dreams and thats a really hard thing to accept.

His illness has forced him to confront something else: his estranged relationship with his father.

Ismat Jivani, 55, who had been in and out of Jamils life from when Jamil was 8, left the family home for good when Jamil was about 17. But Ismat reached out to his son two weeks ago for the first time in 10 years, after hearing the news about the cancer.

The contact came through a Facebook message. Jamil responded, but doesnt plan to be pen pals with his father.

Jamil says his dad has had a complicated life. Born in Kenya, Ismat, who is Black, was adopted as a 1-year-old by an East Indian family in Nairobi.

The adoptive parents both died by the time Ismat was 14. He was on his own. He had some inheritance money from his adoptive parents, which later enabled him to put himself through cooking school, and he would apprentice at a Hilton Hotel in Nairobi. He transferred to London, England, and saw success from there.

He was less successful in his relationship with Pam, who is Scotch-Irish, and the family they made together.

Jamil says his dad was completely unprepared to be a father and husband in that relationship.

His father currently operates a small restaurant in Mexico and has two sons, Jamils half-brothers.

Jamil explores his relationship with his father in a section of his book.

The book forced me to step outside my comfort zone of just being a victim and mad at this guy for all the things he didnt do, he says. I had to (acknowledge) he went through a lot of stuff that was a lot tougher than Ive gone through. That gave me a lot more of a nuanced view when I was thinking about his life.
The Ontario government has quietly agreed to pay as much as $31 million to the provinces Catholic teachers who won a grievance over a delay to their salary grid increases during protracted contract negotiations.

About 40 per cent of members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association will receive $2,000 each under the deal reached last month.

Although final numbers need to be worked out, roughly 10,000-12,000 teachers could benefit  most of them with less than 10 years on the job who hadnt reached the top salary available to them on the grid.

Other teacher unions are livid over the Liberals provincial payout.

Harvey Bischof, head of the provinces public secondary teachers, called it a dirty deal.

Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, said its outrageous.

The $31 million payout that the Liberal government made to OECTA is not about grievances at all, Hammond, who heads the countrys largest teacher union, adding other smaller education unions are also receiving similar reparations.

Payments were made to organizations that had no grievances. It is outrageous and has no legitimate basis.

The Catholic teachers union was upset when the 2014-15 school year started without a contract, with the government extending existing agreements as negotiations remained underway.

However, those agreements were a continuation of the contentious 2012 deal, where Catholic teachers actually agreed to a salary grid delay, as well as other concessions that were ultimately imposed on other teacher unions that failed to reach deals with the Liberal government under then-premier Dalton McGuinty.

OECTA later filed grievances about the 97-day salary grid delay in 2014 with each of its 29 school boards in Ontario, winning an initial decision in Waterloo last year.

That decision did not specify a remedy, but ordered the local union and board to figure it out.

OECTA then met with the Liberal government to find a solution.

The same grievance was filed with every Catholic school board across the province, said OECTA President Liz Stuart in a statement to the Star.

The Waterloo decision set the precedent for all the other grievances. We avoided the needless duplication and legal fees of arbitrating the same grievance in 28 different boards by negotiating the settlement for all the same grievances at the same time, which is a common practice.

(Salary grids are based on education and experience, and teachers move up it as they build years of service. Annual salary increases boost the grid overall.)

News of the payout to Catholic teachers has caused some controversy on social media, with other teacher union members  still smarting over OECTAs concessions in 2012 that they were ultimately saddled with  wondering how a deal the Catholic teachers agreed to could be grieved.

This grievance relates to the 2014-15 school year and the governments decision to extend a provision that delayed grid movement of some of our members beyond what had been negotiated in the previous contract, Stuart also said.

The grievance proved that the school boards actions in delaying the grid movement were illegal  actions that were a result of the government denying the necessary salary funds to the school boards.

Education Ministry spokesperson Ingrid Anderson said discussions have been ongoing since (the Waterloo arbitrators) ruling in March 2017 however, the government attempted to resolve remedy with all applicants first and as such the settlement with OECTA concluded last month.

The total cost of the settlement is approximately $31 million.

Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, said he has no objection to OECTA pursuing its members interests in this matter but said it was the government that was engaged in double dealing because it did not allow other teacher unions to pursue such repayment.

Last year, his union agreed to a $50 million settlement over the contract that was imposed on his 60,000 members back in 2012, to cover the loss of banking sick days as well as a delay in salary increases from 2012-14 after a Superior Court ruling that found Bill 115  that imposed the cuts and contracts  was unconstitutional.

The elementary teachers union is still working out a remedy to Bill 115, that at the time sparked massive teacher unrest including strikes and cancelling extracurricular activities.

OECTA was not a part of those labour board talks, given it was the only teacher union to agree to a contract with the government of the day.

They did not have access to such a settlement, Bischof said. Instead, the government seems to be claiming they are getting recompense for the 2014-15 grid delay, supposedly as a result of one local arbitral decision.

We, on the other hand, were told that we had to abandon our grievances for that (2014-15) year in order to get to that first agreement under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act.

He said OECTA was treated differently, and called the payout from the government to the Catholic teachers a dirty deal.

We were told by the government that there was no way they were going back to restore the grid for that year that had passed, he said, so his union dropped all related grievances for that 2014 year.

OECTA, however, was allowed to grieve, and Bischof accused the government of setting up the opportunity to square up with OECTA.

However, Anderson said the parties at the various bargaining tables had different priorities in their negotiations and therefore arrived at different agreements.

She also noted that the elementary teachers have yet to resolve their Bill 115 remedy and the union has indicated that it will be returning to court, so we are unable to comment further on that process at this time.

We remain committed to working with our education partners to build upon the gains we have made in Ontarios publicly-funded education system and to continue to give students the best educational experience possible, she also said in her statement to the Star.

But Hammond asked why the government would give money to at least three groups that were not part of this court case and who reached voluntary agreements with the government before Bill 115 was even introduced.

They have short-changed everyone else who was actually entitled to a fair settlement. They should give the money to those whose rights have been violated, not those who were not even a part of the court proceedings. There is no way to explain or justify these secret deals.

The Wynne Liberals offered an inferior settlement in order to provide Bill 115 payouts to other unions that supported them. Typically, the Wynne Liberals did the wrong thing.

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Doug Ford has said he would have voted for Donald Trump if he could, but he insists he doesnt give two hoots about the polarizing U.S. president.

The rookie Progressive Conservative leader told Toronto Life in November 2016 that he would have cast a ballot for the mercurial New York businessman  not a doubt in my mind  but he bristled Friday at being compared to Trump.

In an interview with CJBQ Radios Lorne Brooker in Belleville, he rejected any parallels to the bombastic president with a penchant for populist rallies and simplistic sloganeering.

Lorne, I can tell you Ive talked to tens of thousands of people and not one person has ever come up and said youre like Donald Trump, said Ford.

Again, its the media is playing this up. I dont give two hoots about Donald Trump. I care about the people of Ontario. I care about turning this province around and putting money back into the taxpayers pockets instead of the governments, he said.

Recalling his late brother, Rob  a controversial former Toronto mayor seen by many as a proto-Trump  Ford noted we were around a lot longer than Donald Trump.

And as much as the medias trying to play on this, people realize the Fords have been in public service for 25 years helping people and ... theres not even a comparison.

Ford was also asked about his decision to hit the hustings without a media bus following his campaign, stressing he will be accessible to the media every single day during the writ period that starts May 9.

The only person concerned about the media not being on the bus are the media, he told Brooker.

With Ford leading the Liberals in every public-opinion poll, his campaign team would prefer to focus on hosting rallies for supporters, like one Friday night in Peterborough.

But the governing party charges that the new leader fears constant press scrutiny.

Economic Development Steven Del Duca emphasized that you cant be the peek-a-boo premier.

You actually have to stand up and say this is what I believe in. So for us its about care, not cuts. Its about courage, not cowardice, Del Duca told reporters at the Steam Whistle brewery in Toronto.

And I think the people of Ontario deserve more than someone who thinks they can play hide and seek all the way to the premiers chair, he said.

In a few weeks when the campaign starts the choice for the people of Ontario couldnt be more stark. Our budget that we recently announced in the Legislature very clearly puts us on the side of making sure that were caring for the people of this province.

Premier Kathleen Wynne, for her part, said Ford would have to come clean with voters with details about his plan to cut 4 per cent in spending .

Right now, what we see is that there would be cuts across government and so that is in sharp contrast to what were saying, which is that people need more support, there needs to be investment in care, Wynne said in London.

Again, whether its more supports for healthcare, home care and hospitals are part of that of course, whether its free childcare for preschool kids, whether its free prescription medication for kids but also for seniors. Those are the things that people tell us that they need.

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MANBIJ, SyriaEven as President Donald Trump mulls a U.S. pullout from Syria, insisting that Daesh is almost completely defeated, the extremist group is showing signs of a revival.

Despite being kicked out of the main towns they once occupied near the Iraqi border, the militants have regrouped elsewhere and revised their tactics, recently mounting a brazen attack on a border city in eastern Syria and expanding their footprint inside the Syrian capital itself.

Talk of a U.S. troop withdrawal has alarmed the United States main ally in Syria, the Kurds, who fought alongside the Americans to roll back Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL. They fear not only an Daesh resurgence, but also that without U.S. troops in the country, Turkey, Russia and Iran will fill the void and wrest control of northern and eastern Syria.

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The White House said Wednesday that the U.S. military mission against Daesh in Syria is coming to a rapid end, but offered no timetable for the withdrawal of the 2,000 U.S. troops other than to say they will leave just as soon as the last remaining Daesh fighters can be vanquished.

Trump, however, has signalled to his advisers that ideally, he wants all troops out within six months, according to three U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to discuss what transpired in a meeting with the president.

Developments on the ground, however, suggest it will be difficult, if not impossible, to completely snuff out the group before then.

Daesh is not over, said the commander of the U.S.-backed Manbij Military Council, the joint Kurdish-Arab body administering this strategic northern Syrian town.

Daesh still has cells present in all areas and every now and then there are problems in areas where the cells are still operating, said the commander, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his nom de guerre, Mohammed Abu Adel, in line with regulations.

Speaking to the Associated Press on Wednesday, he said the U.S. statements about a pullout were a cause for concern on the street level but that Kurdish officials were receiving reassurances from U.S. generals on the ground that American troops were staying.

Last week, an explosion killed two coalition personnel, an American and a Briton, during an operation to capture a known Daesh member in Manbij, where U.S. troops maintain a large presence. It was the first such blast to hit the U.S.-led coalition since it deployed in the town months after the U.S.-backed forces liberated it from Daesh in 2016 following fierce battles that lasted nearly three months.

Since then, the town has served as a model of stabilization, but officials are now expressing concern about Daesh attempting to re-emerge.

The U.S.-backed forces  a mix of Kurdish and Arab fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF,  routed Daesh militants from almost all the territory the extremists controlled in northern Syria, including the groups de facto capital of Raqqa, in October. In November, a coalition of Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian and Russian forces secured the militants last urban stronghold, Boukamal, in eastern Syria on the border with Iraq.

That seemed to herald victory over the militants. The various sides then turned their attention to pursuing their own interests in the disintegrated country.

The Daesh militants kept a sliver of territory along the Euphrates River near Boukamal, and some nebulous zones of control in the desert of eastern Syria and on the border with Iraq  but nothing that seemed beyond containment.

But in a surprise attack, the militants stormed Boukamal on Monday, triggering heavy fighting before Iranian-backed Shiite militias beat them out, according to a war monitoring group and Syrian opposition activists with connections to the region. Approximately 400 Daesh fighters crossed the Euphrates River and ambushed the town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, killed 11 pro-government fighters in clashes, and losing five of their own.

From their desert territory, the Daesh militants have harassed forces at oil stations, as well, according to Mohammad al-Ayed, director of the Palmyra News Network.

U.S. and Kurdish officers had warned of a Daesh resurgence when Turkey attacked the town of Afrin in northwestern Syria in March to drive out the main Kurdish militia, known as the YPG.

The YPG forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Americas main partner in Syria, which then shifted hundreds of fighters from operations against Daesh in eastern Syria to the front lines against Turkey in Afrin.

That forced a pause in operations against the main Daesh holdout in Syria. The U.S.-led coalition has cut its airstrikes against Daesh by half since the Kurdish-led fighters moved away from eastern Syria, said coalition spokesperson Col. Ryan Dillon.

The U.S. relies on ground manoeuvres by the Syrian Democratic Forces to flush out IS fighters and expose them to airstrikes, Dillon said.

If the SDF are not constantly putting pressure on ISIS elements, that allows them to quietly reconsolidate, he added.

Meanwhile, with the Syrian government focused on vanquishing the rebels in their stronghold of eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, Daesh militants surged from a pocket of territory they hold on the southern edge of the capital to snatch a neighbourhood right from under the governments nose.

Some 120 pro-government fighters were killed in the battle of Qadam, according to the Observatory, losses that went unmentioned in state media. Other clashes between the two sides brought the government forces death toll to 204 in 23 days, the Observatory said.

Daesh has lost almost all the territory it once controlled in Syria and Iraq, land that had encompassed a third of those countries. But the pockets it still holds provide protection.

Daesh fighters have excellent knowledge of the desert areas along the Syria-Iraq border, dating back to the early days of the group and even before, when it was called Al Qaeda in Iraq, said Jalal al-Hamad, a Europe- based Syrian activist who monitors the war with an organization called Justice for Life.

Daesh has extensive tunnels there and can move relatively undetected, avoiding Syrian and Russian airstrikes, al-Hamad said, though American planes can detect them. The militants use bad weather, particularly dust storms, to cross the Euphrates, he said.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces control about 25 per cent of Syria, and the Kurds are hoping to emerge from the conflict with a degree of self-rule in their territory.

But they fear that an American withdrawal will leave them unable to hold on to much of that. It would allow Turkey, which succeeded in capturing Afrin, to carry out its threat to attack Manbij and try to take other Kurdish-held territory along the Syrian-Turkish border.

It would also, they warn, cede the east completely to Damascus allies Russia and Iran, which have set up a series of bases in the country during seven years of war.

Ilham Ahmed, a senior Kurdish official in Syrias Raqqa province, said an American pullout would open the way for total chaos in Syria.

Trump appears to be unconcerned with such potential consequences, dramatically scaling back U.S. goals in Syria amid disagreements with his aides and national security team.

As far as Syria is concerned, our primary mission in terms of that was getting rid of ISIS, Trump said. Weve completed that task.

The uncertainty puts U.S. officials in Syria in a difficult position, particularly vis-a-vis their local partners.

Dillon, the coalition spokesperson, said he would not speculate on anything thats going to happen in the future.

Were going to keep doing what were doing until were told otherwise, he said.

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SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil  Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defied an order to turn himself in to police on Friday, instead hunkering down with supporters at a metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his rise to power.

The once wildly popular leader, who rose from poverty to lead Latin Americas largest nation, had until 5 p.m. local time to present himself to police in the city of Curitiba to begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

Hours after the deadline, however, da Silva remained inside the union building in the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo, about 417 kilometres northeast of Curitiba. Party leaders initially said he would speak in the late afternoon, but later said he would not.

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Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against endemic graft, ordered da Silva to turn present himself to police by Friday afternoon.

Two sources close to da Silva told The Associated Press that the former leader would not go to Curitiba, but instead was considering either waiting for police at the union or presenting himself in Sao Paulo on Saturday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share internal deliberations being discussed.

Forcing da Silva out of the union building on a Friday night would be a logistical nightmare given the thousands of supporters outside  clashes would be a possibility  and heavy Friday traffic in Sao Paulo.

The intention is not to force compliance at any cost, but rather follow the order the best way possible, with tranquility and without a media show, Luis Antonio Boudens, president of the federal police, said in a statement.

Sen. Roberto Requiao told reporters that da Silva planned to attend a commemoration Saturday morning for his late wife, to be held at the union.

Anna Julia Menezes Rodrigues, a specialist in criminal law at Braga Nascimento e Zilio, said da Silvas defiance did not turn him into a fugitive. It just meant that it was now up to federal police to carry out the warrant, she said.

Moro issued the warrant on Thursday hours after Brazils top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by the former president to stay out of prison while he appealed a conviction that he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot in Octobers election. He is the front-running presidential candidate despite his conviction.

Last year, Moro convicted da Silva of trading favours with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January.

Friday night, thousands listened to music and speeches outside the metallurgical union in Sao Bernardo do Campo where the ex-president universally known as Lula got his start as a union organizer.

However it happens, the jailing of da Silva will mark a colossal fall from grace for a man who rose to power against steep odds in one of the worlds most unequal countries.

Born in the hardscrabble northeast, da Silva rose through the ranks of the union in the countrys industrial south. In 1980, during the military dictatorship, da Silva was arrested in Sao Bernardo do Campo for organizing strikes. He would spend more than a month in jail.

After running for president several times, in 2002 da Silva finally won. He governed from 2003 to 2010, leaving office an international celebrity and with approval ratings in the high 80s.

Former U.S. president Barack Obama once called da Silva the most popular politician on Earth.

Since leaving office, things have steadily gotten worse for the leader, who has been charged in several corruption cases. He has always maintained his innocence while continuing to campaign across the country the past year. Despite his legal troubles, he leads preference polls to return to office  if by some chance he is allowed to run.

Like so much in a nation that has become deeply polarized, that da Silva would soon be behind bars was being interpreted differently by supporters and detractors.

This has always been Lula: a crook and a radical who doesnt respect the law, said Edson Soares, a 70-year-old retiree at a shopping mall near the union building. It will feel so much better to have him in prison.

Antonio Ferreira dos Santos, a 43-year-old bricklayer who was keeping vigil outside the union, had a different take.

Lula is one of us. He knows what it is like to have a tough life and loves the poor more than the rich, said dos Santos.

Workers Party leaders insist that da Silva, 72, would still be the partys candidate in October. Technically, beginning to serve his sentence would not keep da Silva off the ballot. In August, the countrys top electoral court makes final decisions about candidacies. It was expected to deny da Silvas candidacy under Brazils clean slate law, which disqualifies people who have had criminal convictions upheld. However, da Silva could appeal such a decision, though doing so from jail would be more complicated.

Da Silva is the latest of many high-profile people to be ensnared in possibly the largest corruption scandal in Latin American history. Over the last four years, Brazilians have experienced near weekly police operations and arrests of the elite, from top politicians to businessmen like former Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht.

Investigators uncovered a major scheme in which construction companies essentially formed a cartel that doled out inflated contracts from state oil company Petrobras, paying billions in kickbacks to politicians and businessmen.

While Moro, who oversees many cases in the so-Called Operation Car Wash, is hailed as a hero by many, others see him as a partisan hit man out to get da Silva and the Workers Party.

Da Silva was convicted in July of helping a construction company get sweetheart contracts in exchange for the promise of the apartment. He denies any wrongdoing in that case or in several other corruption cases that have yet to be tried.

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WASHINGTONMore than 600 former staffers have signed a letter urging Senate leadership to consider legislation that would address sexual harassment on Capitol Hill. That number continued to grow Friday morning.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Rules Committee Chairman Richard Shelby and ranking member Amy Klobuchar will receive the letter early next week, coinciding with the Senates return.

Part of our goal is to make sure that this issue stays in the forefront and senators are hearing from hundreds and hundreds of former staff who care about the institution and want to make sure that the folks who are there now are being protected and supported, said Kristin Nicholson, former chief of staff to Rep. Jim Langevin.

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Nicholson worked on the Hill for 20 years and left in January 2017. She has been a leading voice for Congress Too, the group behind the letter.

Its been certainly a bipartisan effort in the House, our letter is completely bipartisan, the measures that are pending in the Senate are largely bipartisan and so we would hope that it would make it pretty easy for the momentum to continue, she said.

The group said it was discouraged when the omnibus spending package did not include the House-passed harassment measure and feels the clock is ticking as mid-terms approach.

We wanted to make sure that we stayed energized and tried to get something done before everyone tunes out for the election, Nicholson said.

The letter that leaders will receive after the two-week recess asks for counselling for individuals wishing to file a complaint with the Office of Compliance, members and chiefs of staff to be made aware of their responsibility in preventing and reporting cases, the OOC to have authority to investigate complains and that victims get increased support and should be told that non disclosure agreements do not bar them from directly seeking relief, the letter reads.

In addition to legislative reform, our big focus as a group has been supporting former staff, supporting current staff, helping people who want to go public with their own stories and experiences, Nicholson said. But more than anything, just being a support network for people who are still working in Congress.

The group is also requesting public disclosure be required when offices enter into sexual harassment settlements without the victims identities published.

Congress should, every two years, survey Congressional staff in order to understand the rates of sexual harassment on Capitol Hill and determine the effectiveness of prevention and reporting programs, it reads.

House leadership received a similar letter in Nov. 2017. All the female senators sent a letter to McConnell and Schumer in March 2018 urging them to rewrite the Congressional Accountability Act, which addresses how survivors of harassment seek justice.

Nicholson added that Congress Toos long-term goal is  just chipping away at cultural changes on the Hill and elsewhere that have made this a breeding ground for harassment for so long.
LONDONThe former Russian spy who was left fighting for his life after exposure to a rare nerve agent is no longer in critical condition, a British health official said Friday, a month after the mysterious poisoning in a quiet English city triggered a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a bench March 4 in Salisbury and were hospitalized for weeks in critical condition. British authorities blame Russia for what they say was poisoning with a military-grade Soviet-developed nerve agent called Novichok. Russia denies the accusation.

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement that 66-year-old Sergei Skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.

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Yulia Skripal, 33, regained consciousness last week and is now in stable condition, she said.

Russian state television on Thursday played a recording of what they said was a phone call from Yulia to her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, in Russia. In it, Yulia said she would be discharged soon.

Blanshard said Friday that Yulia Skripal could look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital, but called any speculation about her release date just that  speculation.

Scientists said the Skripals recovery was not unprecedented. Nerve agents work by blocking an enzyme in the body that lets nerves communicate with each other and with the bodys organs.

Alastair Hay, professor emeritus of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds, said recovery can happen over time because eventually the body will restore the enzyme to full capacity, and nerve function will be restored.

The Skripals long-term prognosis is uncertain, however. Michelle Carlin, senior lecturer in forensic and analytical chemistry at Northumbria University, said there is limited knowledge about the long-term effects of Novichok poisoning, but neurological damage has been reported in other historic cases.

The poisoning has chilled relations between Russia and the West, producing a wave of diplomatic expulsions unseen even at the height of the Cold War.

Britain, along with the United States and at least two dozen other U.K. allies, have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats. Russia has sent home the same number of those nations envoys.

Russia has challenged Britains allegation that Moscow was behind the attack. Scientists at the U.K.s Porton Down defence laboratory identified the poison as Novichok but have not pinpointed where it was manufactured. The British government says the scientific findings and other intelligence points to Russia.

At a U.N. Security Council meeting called Thursday by Russia to discuss the Skripal poisonings, the Russian ambassador warned Britain that it was playing with fire and claimed that Russia was the victim of a hasty, sloppy and ill-intentioned defamation campaign by London and its allies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov kept up the offensive Friday, once again urging Britain to show its evidence in the case.

Speaking on a trip to Belarus, he said British officials have engaged in frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position instead of producing evidence.

Lavrov said Britain and its Western allies are wrong if they expect Russia to confess to all deadly sins it did not commit.

In the phone call recording released by Russian state Rossiya TV, Yulia Skripal said she and her father were both recovering and that her fathers health was not irreparably damaged.

Viktoria Skripal, who works as a chief accountant in the city of Yaroslavl, told The Associated Press on Friday that she has no doubt it was Yulia who called and that she has not heard from her since. She said the call was recorded because she has an app on her phone to keep track of all the calls she makes for work.

I made this recording, that was Yulia, she said.

Viktoria Skripal said she hoped to travel to Britain to visit Sergei and Yulia, but the British government said Friday it had denied her a visa because her application did not comply with the immigration rules.

Britain also announced that pets in Skripals home  two guinea pigs and a cat  were also poisoned. The two rodents were found dead after the home was sealed off by investigators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the cat was put down after it was found in a distressed state.

The Russian Embassy in London claimed the treatment of the pets might amount to animal cruelty and said it is difficult to avoid the impression that the animals have been disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence.

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MADRIDA joint investigation by Spanish and Portuguese authorities has brought down a criminal network that has been making lucrative profits by smuggling glass eels to Asia.

In the latest operation against the traffickers that was concluded in March but only revealed Friday, four Chinese citizens, three Spaniards and three Moroccans were arrested in Spain in an operation co-ordinated by the European Unions police body.

Spains Civil Guard said 460 kilograms of glass eels were seized in southern Spain with a market value of over 400 million euros ($625 million Canadian).

Authorities across the continent have been trying to tackle the smugglers who take European glass eels to Asian countries where they are raised into adults and their meat is sold expensively for the local cuisine.

More than 100 tons of juvenile eels evade wildlife traffic controls every year in Europe, according to Andrew Kerr, chairman of the Sustainable Eel Group, a regional platform of scientists and industry stakeholders.

Thats nearly one fourth of the total European eel natural stock, Kerr said Friday. Its the biggest wildlife crime action in Europe, and its hidden from everyone.

Fridays disclosure showed how the ring exported the baby eels bought in Spain through Portugal and Morocco and how the eels were concealed in suitcases or in cargo containers and sent to Hong Kong, Mainland China, South Korea and other Asian countries.

Police also seized 364 suitcases possibly used to smuggle the eels, with potential profits of 37.5 million euros (58.8 million Canadian), Civil Guard Coronel Jesus Galvez said during a press conference in Madrid Friday.

Because eels cant be bred in captivity, the wriggling glass eels  or elvers  are usually fished and raised to maturity in aquaculture companies in Asia, where pollution, climate change and poaching has diminished stocks of the Japonica Anguilla species.

The trading of the European eel has been restricted since 2009 under the rules of the CITES convention for the international trade of endangered wildlife. The European Union has banned all exports outside the bloc and regulated internal sales, although an underground business has thrived in recent years.

Since the glass eel fishing season began at the end of the fall, Portugal has arrested 28 people and has seized 1 ton of glass eels in 18 raids. Hugo Alexandre Matos, director of the Portuguese authority of food security, ASAE, said several investigations remained opened.

Meanwhile, Spain has arrested or identified as suspects 89 people in total since November, snatching more than 2.3 tons of baby eels. The seized eels have been reintroduced to the wild, Galvez said.

The operations come with environmental crimes on the rise globally and in Europe, said Europols chief for organized crime, Jari Liukku, who compared the benefits from illicit wildlife trade to those of drug, arms or human trafficking.

Punishments are low and the conviction rate for environmental crimes is still low, he said.

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WASHINGTONThe United States punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials on Friday with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putins inner circle, as U.S. President Donald Trumps administration tried to show hes not afraid to take tough action against Moscow.

Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the U.S. Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of bad behaviour, said the officials, who werent authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. They officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russian actions overseas, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and cyberhacking.

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Trump invited Putin to the White House during phone call, Russia says

Trudeau warns that Russia will face consequences for further illegimate and illegal actions

U.S. took hostile step by publishing list of Russians as part of sanctions, Putin says

Above all else, Russias attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the U.S. sanctions, officials said, in a direct nod to concerns that the U.S. president has failed to challenge Putin for alleged interference in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Deripaska, whose business conglomerate controls assets from agriculture to machinery, has been a prominent figure in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Treasury said Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretaps, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and even death threats against business rivals.

On the London Stock Exchange, global depositary receipts of En+, an energy company majority-owned by Deripaska, dropped by 19 per cent on news of the sanctions. Deripaskas conglomerate, Basic Element, said it regretted the sanctions and was analyzing it with its lawyers.

Putin's government dismissed the sanctions as "absurdity," arguing that the U.S. was punishing companies that have longstanding business ties to the U.S. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. was "striking at ordinary Americans" by jeopardizing "thousands of jobs."

"American democracy is clearly degrading," the ministry said. "Of course, we will not leave the current and any new anti-Russian attack without a tough response."

To the dismay of Trump's critics and of Russia hawks, the president has continued to avoid directly criticizing Putin himself and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House. Yet in recent weeks Trump's administration has rolled out a series of actions  including several economic and diplomatic steps  to increase pressure on Putin and those presumed to benefit from his power.

"Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have," Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Yet even as it rolled out the new penalties, Trump's administration left open the possibility of "a good relationship with Russia" in the future. And at the White House, spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said discussions with Moscow about a Trump-Putin summit would not be called off.

"Not at all," Sanders said. "We'll continue."

Those being punished aren't necessarily involved in the Russian actions in Syria, Ukraine or elsewhere that have drawn consternation from the West. But officials said the goal was to put pressure on Putin by showing that those who have benefited financially from his position of power are fair game.

The target list includes some who are closely tied to Putin himself, including top-tier officials involved in Kremlin decision-making and heads of the top state-controlled business entities. Yet others on the list are far from the Kremlins orbit, including some who long have fallen out of favour or hold technical positions.

Targets include:

Kirill Shamalov, who is reportedly Putins son-in-law, married to his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, although neither Putin nor the Kremlin have acknowledged that she is his daughter.

Igor Rotenberg, the son of Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putins friend since they were teenagers.

Andrey Kostin, named among government officials, heads the nations second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state.

Alexei Miller, the longtime head of the state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant. Both Miller and Kostin are longtime key members of Putins team.

A state-owned arms-dealing company, accused by the U.S. of selling to Syrian President Bashar Assad, was also targeted, along with a subsidiary bank. Many other targets were associated with Russias energy sector, including parts of state-owned Gazprom.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them. But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions.

It was not clear whether any of those hit have significant holdings in the U.S. that could be seized, and if they did previously, they may have already moved their money elsewhere in anticipation of the sanctions. In January, lists of Russian officials and oligarchs were published by the State Department and Treasury. The lists, required under a law passed last year, were informally seen as lists of potential future sanctions targets, even though the public version of the oligarchs list was merely a reprint of Forbes list of billionaires in Russia.

The U.S. also has punished Russia for other troubling activity, including its alleged involvement in the poisoning an ex-spy with a military-grade nerve agent in Britain. In tandem with European allies, the Trump administration expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle. And last month, the U.S. targeted 19 Russians and five Russian entities with sanctions in the first use of the new sanctions powers Congress passed last year in response to the election meddling.

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If a man working in Ontario retires at 65, a woman must work until shes 79 to leave with the same earnings. Thats an average for all workers, of course, but its a striking representation of the economic impact of the provinces persistent gender wage gap.

Fourteen years of extra labour is an astonishingly large gap, especially considering that Ontario has three pieces of legislation going back more than half a century that should make it impossible. They are the Human Rights Code of 1962, the Employment Standards Act of 1968, and the Pay Equity Act of 1987.

Those laws have been in place long enough for working women to have watched their daughters, and even their granddaughters, grow up and move into the workforce. And theyve had far too little effect.

Women are still concentrated in lower-paid fields. Many are forced to accept part-time hours when they want full-time work, and are paid less even when theyre doing the same work as men. It all adds up to women in Ontario earning 30 per cent less, on average, than men.

Thats why this coming Tuesday, April 10, will be marked, but certainly not celebrated, as Equal Pay Day. Its the day when women have finally matched what men made by the end of last year.

Ontarios Liberal government  rightly recognizing that this isnt going away on its own and little headway is being made with current laws  has introduced new legislation to tackle the problem from another angle: public disclosure.

The Pay Transparency Act contains some good measures, such as requiring job postings to include a salary rate and prohibiting reprisals against employees who disclose compensation.

But the bill falls short in its fundamental purpose of ensuring that gender compensation gaps are publicly disclosed, giving women the information they need to enforce their rights.

The proposed law says every prescribed employer must prepare a pay transparency report that details the differences in compensation in the employers workforce with respect to gender and other prescribed characteristics.

But it doesnt specify which employers that will apply to, when they have to report, or how that information will be made easily accessible to the public.

The government has also chosen to move far too slowly. Labour Minister Kevin Flynn told the Stars Jennifer Wells that it plans to start with the Ontario public service, followed by companies with more than 500 employees in 2019, and then move to those with more than 250 workers probably in 2020 or 2021.

Theres no good rationale for any of that. Not the slow, staggered pace on reporting, and not the focus on only the largest companies.

The government already knows what government workers make. And the vast majority of private workplaces have fewer than 50 employees, so this critical reporting requirement wont even apply to most companies  including those where it would have the biggest impact.

As Fay Faraday of the Equal Pay Coalition puts it, the people who need this most are women in non-unionized workplaces, primarily in the private sector, and theyre the ones who are left out.

Ontarios existing pay equity legislation applies to businesses with 10 or more employees. The new requirement for pay transparency should apply to that same pool.

The federal government is setting a better example. Its 2018 budget sets out plans to introduce pay equity legislation for federally regulated sectors, including public reporting of wage gaps for employers with 10 or more employees. Thats another reason for Ontario to think smaller when it comes to the size of companies required to report.

Pay transparency laws, which are starting to crop up around the world, are a welcome innovation that finally put the onus for change where it belongs  on employers. They have had a legal obligation not to discriminate in pay for generations; its time they prove they are complying by publicly reporting gender pay.

The government already knows that many companies arent following the law through the work of its Pay Equity Office, which is tasked with enforcing the existing act and just received a much-needed budget boost.

The problem with the current law is that women must file a complaint to enforce their rights. And to do that they need to know what others are being paid. In many workplaces employee compensation is a tightly guarded secret and workers can be disciplined or even terminated for talking about it.

Ontarios new legislation will help  but only if its done well. As is, the government has left too many details to be worked out through regulations.

The government says it wants to create a public database for the wage gap reports and over time may extend reporting requirements to smaller employers.

Thats too much uncertainty for women who have been underpaid, undervalued and underemployed for far too long. The government has an opportunity to amend its bill before it becomes law to make sure it lives up to the promise of its name, the Pay Transparency Act. Thats what it should do.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

The School Committee has given BRCOT officials the go-ahead to apply to the Maine Department of Education for approval.
Denial of systemic racism is dissociation from reality, Opinion, April 5

I applaud columnist Azeezah Kanji for her courage to speak up against the denial of the painful reality that systematic racism still exists in our beloved and the most diverse country.

Racism, like carbon monoxide, is colourless and odourless. It is alive and well. Although it is true that Canada is one of the most diverse countries on the planet, there is still an element of bigotry that is rampant and thriving.

The federal governments announcement that it will be conducting a consultation on systemic racism, as recommended by the United Nations, is something we should all applaud. It is the healthy way forward.
Later this month, Justin Trudeau will mark his fifth anniversary at the head of the Liberal party. But another significant Liberal anniversary took place this week too  50 years since the prime ministers father, Pierre Trudeau, won that same prize in 1968.

The younger Trudeau is probably grateful that people arent instantly rushing to compare him with his father, as they were when he first decided to walk in his political footsteps.

The two Trudeaus are, as Canadians now know, very different politicians, especially when it comes to this whole business of reason versus passion  Pierre Trudeau said he preferred the former; Justin Trudeau leans toward the latter.

But 50-year anniversaries are a good opportunity to take a long view on the progress of civil rights, as we saw this week in the United States and the nationwide reflection on the five decades since Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

One could argue, as many did this week, that the United States is still locked in many of the same struggles over race relations and that Kings words are just as necessary now as they were in the deeply divided America of the 1960s. Gun violence and racism are still sending demonstrators into the streets in the U.S. in 2018.

Here in Canada, were still taking about rights, but not like we were 50 years ago. Pierre Trudeaus talk of equality in 1968 bears only a slight resemblance to the equality conversations under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2018.

Its worth a look back, in fact, at what Pierre Trudeau saw as his big goals for the country when he stood on the stage at the Ottawa Civic Centre on the evening of April 6, 1968.

Canada must be unified. Canada must be one. Canada must be progressive. Canada must be a just society, Pierre Trudeau said in his acceptance speech.

Those mentions of unified and one were references to simmering Quebec separatism 50 years ago  not really a major headache for Justin Trudeau in 2018.

Separatist parties still exist in Quebec, but theyre not in great shape, politically. The provincial Parti Quebecois is struggling in third place while the federal Bloc Quebecois is in disarray over the controversial leadership of Martine Ouellet. In short, Canada just isnt all that consumed these days about equality between French and English.

Other discussions about equal treatment have moved to the forefront, however, and cultural tensions have shifted. The rights conversation in the Canada of 2018 is more likely to be about immigrants and refugees, or gender, as we saw in the latest federal budget, or Indigenous people.

That shift even came up in a recent conversation on CBC Radio between Sunday Edition host Michael Enright and Peter Herndorff, the outgoing head of the National Arts Centre. Herndorff pointed out that when the NAC opened in 1969, it fulfilled its national mandate by featuring French and English theatre.

That was the nature of the country, Herndorff said. Its also clear that 49 years later, its (now) a very different country. It is now a country that people recognize as having a huge stake in making sure that Indigenous voices are heard, Indigenous aspirations are felt. (The NAC recently named its first artistic director of Indigenous theatre.)

Some people might have predicted in 1968 that a newly elected Liberal leader, Pierre Trudeau, would eventually give this country a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Fifty years ago, all of North America was alight with talk of civil rights.

But unlike the United States, which often seems to be stuck in the same old rights battles, the rights-and-equality conversations in Canada have changed a lot from 1968 to 2018  a little bit like how the Trudeaus at the top have changed as well.

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Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Bernstein suggest China's proposed tariff on aircraft will only marginally affect the Chicago-based aerospace giant.

Boeing Co. (BA) - Get Boeing Company Report shares rose Thursday, April 5 after analysts downplayed the potential effects of China's proposed tariffs for the Chicago-based aerospace company.

"We are less concerned about the direct implications of tariffs," Morgan Stanley analysts, including Rajeev Lalwani, said in an April 5 research note. "If the tariff impact to Boeing is isolated to the 737-700 and MAX 7, which account for less than 1% of the backlog, the impact to earnings is limited."

Shares of Boeing rose 2% to $334.00 at 10 a.m. New York time.

China announced earlier this week plans to implement a 25% tariff on more than 100 products across the agriculture, automotive, chemicals and aerospace industries. Specifically regarding the latter, the tariff would be imposed on aircraft with an empty weight of more than 15,000 kilograms but not exceeding 45,000 kilograms. The move was in response to the Trump administration's proposed tariffs that target about $50 billion worth of Chinese products.

For the aerospace company with a market capitalization of $192 billion, the tariff affects the 737, Bernstein analyst Douglas Harned noted. Like Morgan Stanley, Harned said the proposed tariffs will affect the 737 MAX 7, but he also believes it will affect all 737 Next Generations airliners, the name given to the -600,-700,-800,-900 series of the Boeing 737.

Still, the big question for Harned is whether the MAX 8 is affected. The MAX 8's operating weight is 45,070 kilograms, including crew and assumes a two-class configuration, which is just above the upper range of the tariff, the Bernstein analyst said.

"If the MAX 8 is unaffected and existing orders are exempted, the financial impact to Boeing would be minimal," Harned said. "If MAX 8s are affected, Boeing would be disadvantaged on new orders. This would be negative, but not a major issue to financials."

Moreover, it is difficult for China to apply tariffs to the aerospace sector as it "needs planes to support airline growth plans and Airbus is sold out," said Harned. Recently, China has represented approximately 15% to 20% of Boeing's commercial sales, and about 10% to 15% of total sales, Harned added.

Presently, orders for Chinese operators represent 6.5% of Boeing total order backlog, although there is a "significant number of orders whose operator country is not known; if we assume half of these 'unknown country' orders are in fact for China (we believe it is likely more than 50%), then China would represent approximately 17% of Boeing's backlog," the Bernstein analyst said. The firm rates Boeing stock at Outperform with a $422 price target.

To be sure, Larry Kudlow, the National Economic Council Director, said there is a possibility that the Trump administration's proposed tariffs on China may not go into effect.

"You know, there are carrots and sticks in life, but [President Trump] is ultimately a free trader," Kudlow told reporters Wednesday.

"He wants to solve this with the least amount of pain," Kudlow continued.

Given the desire from policy makers for a mutually beneficial outcome, Morgan Stanley sees de-escalation going forward, which lowers the risk to Boeing.

"Having said that, we do need to monitor any collateral effects from negotiations, aside from escalation, which may include a tighter credit market and elevated volatility that could pressure business as well as consumer sentiment," the Morgan Stanley analysts said. The firm maintained its Equal-weight rating on the stock with a $373 price target.

There are 17 Buys and 13 Holds on Boeing stock, according to Bloomberg data.

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Cryan has said he is committed to the role, but chairman Paul Achleitner has reportedly being holding talks with successors.

The rumors persist.

Deutsche Bank AG (DB) - Get Deutsche Bank AG Report shares were near the bottom of Germany's Dax Friday, April 6, following reports that recruiters were talking to further candidates as possible successors to CEO John Cryan.

Deutsche Bank shares were marked 2.09% lower in Frankfurt, changing hands at 11.42, extending a year-to-date fall of almost 28%.

Former JP Morgan Chase & Co. executive Matt Zames is in talks with recruiters about replacing Cryan, Bloomberg reported. People familiar with the situation said that recruiters don't have a formal mandate from the bank, but are sounding out candidates.

Cryan has said he is committed to the role, but chairman Paul Achleitner has reportedly being holding talks with successors.

Deutsche Bank 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.

London's Times newspaper reported last week that Richard Gnodde, who heads Goldman Sachs's (GS) - Get Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) Report 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, Achleitner, is "broken."

Deutsche Bank on Wednesday proposed four new people to sit on its supervisory board, including John Thain, in a reshuffle.
Wynn Resorts could be in play as an acquisition for MGM. Here is what TheStreet's founder Jim Cramer said about this weeks ago.

MGM (MGM) - Get MGM Resorts International (MGM) Report may be kicking the tires on the tarnished Wynn Resorts (WYNN) - Get Wynn Resorts, Limited (WYNN) Report brand.

The rival gaming company has shown recent interest in buying Wynn Resorts, according to a new report from the New York Post. Shares spiked as much as 3% in pre-market trading Friday. They gave most of the gains as the session trekked along. A possibility of an MGM play for Wynn was put forth weeks ago by TheStreet's founder Jim Cramer.

Wynn Resorts could be the subject of the next big blockbuster deal, Cramer said in early March.

Cramer explained the rally in Wynn's stock in early March could be a sign that the company is beginning to turn a new corner after CEO and founder Steve Wynn stepped down amid a bevy of sexual misconduct allegations stacked against him. Now that Steve Wynn is out and the stock has gained some upward momentum, it could be time for the company to strike a deal.

"I think Wynn might actually be acquired by another casino company now that Steve Wynn has stepped down from his operating role in the wake of those admittedly disturbing sexual misconduct allegations," Cramer said. "I think it's a natural takeover target for, say, Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) - Get Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) Report or even MGM. It doesn't rally 10 bucks in one session idly for nothing."

Wynn's stock has cooled down a bit since, pressured somewhat by Steve Wynn unloading all his shares in the company.
The social network has seen more than $100 billion wiped off its market capitalization over the past 10 days after the improper use of data came to light.

The European Commission on Friday, April 6, said that Facebook Inc. (FB) - Get Facebook, Inc. Class A Report had confirmed Cambridge Analytica had obtained the data of 2.7 million European Union users, and that further discussions would be needed.

The EC, the executive branch of the EU, said that it had received a letter from Action Alerts Plus holding Facebook late Thursday, Reuters reported, about the extent of data that had been improperly shared with the political consultancy.

"The letter also explains the steps Facebook has taken in response since," a spokesperson said, but added that "it is already clear that this will need further follow up discussions with Facebook."

Facebook shares were down 1.34% in premarket trading indicated to open at $157.2, after closing at $159.34 on Thursday.

The social network has seen more than $100 billion wiped off its market capitalization over the past 10 days after the improper use of data came to light.

On Wednesday, Facebook admitted that it believes Cambridge Analytica had access to information about 87 million users (37 million more than previously estimated).

CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear on a rare conference call with reporters on Wednesday afternoon that he's taking personal responsibility for the data handling issues that have beset his company and battered its stock price in recent weeks.

Zuckerberg will testify about the data breach before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees as well and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 10 and 11 respectively.

He has however refused to appear in front of U.K. lawmakers to discuss the issue - Cambridge Analytica is a British company.

Facebook instead offered two senior members of senior management to speak to the committee.

"Mike Schroepfer is Chief Technology Officer and is responsible for Facebook's technology including the company's developer platform. Chris Cox is Facebook's Chief Product Officer and leads development of Facebook's core products and features including News Feed. Both Chris Cox and Mike Schroepfer report directly to Mark Zuckerberg and are among the longest serving senior representatives in Facebook's 15 year history," a Facebook spokesperson said at the time.
JPMorgan & Chase could become an even hotter stock for several reasons. Here's what TheStreet knows.

It's give Jamie Dimon some love week on Wall Street.

The long-time CEO of JPMorgan & Chase (JPM) - Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Report is fresh off a largely well-received annual shareholder's letter on Thursday. As always, Dimon waxed poetic on the long-term potential of the U.S. economy, hit lawmakers for a lack of getting things done and even blasted the time suck known as the office meeting. All in all, a much better read than Warren Buffett's annual missive to shareholders earlier in the year.

Dimon gets to end the week on a high note with a slap on the back from researhers at rival Credit Suisse. The competitor says Action Alerts Plus Holding JPMorgan & Chase has a stock that is at least 15% undervalued at current levels.

Here are the three key factors in their call.

The Thesis

"JPMorgan is most representative of the value inherent in the universal banking model. Look to JPMorgan for best-in-class execution-sustainable organic revenue growth and market share gains (leveraging the benefits of its complete, scaled and well-integrated product set), a willingness to drive down unit operating costs (capacity for investment to drive incremental growth; a virtuous circle) and an ability to optimize capital; this should sustain better-than-average earnings growth and returns on equity."

Factor 1: Money Giveaway

JPMorgan is likely to stay aggressive in buying back its stock this year. Dimon hinted as much this week.

Factor 2: Regulatory Relief

Namely as it pertains to the Volcker Rule.

Factor 3: Consolidate Market Share

Credit Suisse thinks that with regulatory relief, could come opportunities for JPMorgan to consolidate its market share in the middle market likely through deals.

It's a thought others in the sector share.

"Consolidation is going to occur in financials, that will be hot," Stifel Financial Group (SF) - Get Stifel Financial Corp. Report chairman and CEO Ron Kruszewski told TheStreet (watch interview below). "You have not seen the creation of a $50 billion [financial] organization since that occurred [$50 billion threshold for SIFIs as part of Dodd-Frank], so that will change."

Speculation has been running high that the government will soon lift the threshold at which banks come in for extra regulation to more than the current $50 billion. In turn, that may free up opportunities for consolidation among mid-cap banks.
Given the recent accounting issues at the Boston-based industrial conglomerate, the influential proxy advisory firms recommend shareholders vote against keeping KPMG as GE's auditor.

General Electric Co. (GE) - Get General Electric Company (GE) Report should replace KPMG LLP as its auditor after accounting issues have led to federal probes at the Boston-based industrial conglomerate, two influential proxy advisory firms recommended.

Institutional Shareholder Services, or ISS, and Glass Lewis & Co. LLC are urging shareholders to vote against keeping KPMG, one of the big four auditors, as GE's outside auditor, according to reports published this week.

"In light of the apparent extent of GE's previously-undisclosed liabilities and accounting issues accompanied by unqualified reports by long-time auditor KPMG, a vote against this proposal is considered warranted," ISS said in its report.

In late January, GE booked a $6.2 billion charge to its fourth-quarter earnings related to weakness in its North American Life & Health insurance portfolio. The company also said that its financing arm, GE Capital, would make $15 billion in payments over the next seven years to shore up NALH's statutory reserves, starting with $3 billion in the first quarter of this year and approximately $2 billion annually from 2019 to 2024.

Shortly after the company announced the fourth-quarter charge, GE disclosed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the process that led to the insurance charge as well as the company's revenue recognition and controls for long-term service agreements. Chief Financial Officer Jamie Miller said that GE is cooperating fully with the investigation.

The industrial giant with a market capitalization of $115 billion has used KPMG and its predecessor firms as its auditor since 1909, and the board's audit committee has at least eight private meetings per year with KPMG. Last year, GE paid KPMG $142.9 million for its services, an increase from $89.9 million in 2016 due to an additional audit for Baker Hughes and carve-out audits for GE's Oil and Gas business, its Water business and its Industrial Solutions business ahead of transactions.

Glass Lewis said it generally supports management's choice of an auditor "except when we believe the auditor's independence or audit integrity has been compromised."

"In this case, we believe shareholders should reconsider the ratification of KPMG in light of several ongoing concerns, including the recently announced SEC into the company's accounting practices, historic criticisms of the company's relationship with KPMG, and KPMG's extremely long tenure with the company," Glass Lewis said.

KPMG declined TheStreet's request for comment.

GE directed TheStreet to its proxy statement, which argues the benefits of a long-tenured auditor, such as KPMG's familiarity with GE's business helps to keep costs competitive and saves management's time and resources. The company also said that bringing on a new auditor would require "a significant time commitment that could distract from management's focus on financial reporting and internal controls."

"While we acknowledge the company's disclosure of the measures taken to ensure KPMG's independence, we nonetheless believe that auditor rotation benefits shareholders, as it helps ensure both the independence of the auditor and the integrity of the audit," Glass Lewis said in its report.

Still, it's rare for investors to reject an auditor recommended by a board at a large-cap company, according to Charles Elson, the director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Elson has a relatively small stake in GE.

"A shareholder vote [against an auditor] in a large, existing company doesn't happen to often, if at all," Elson told The Deal. There is a possibility that shareholders might vote against retaining KPMG, particularly when two large advisors make that claim, Elson said. But he said he would be surprised if the majority of shareholders voted against keeping KPMG.

That said, if the vote on KPMG was close and given GE's recent accounting issues, "the board may wish to reconsider the relationship" with KPMG, Elson added.

According to Audit Analytics, which analyzed shareholder votes filed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2016, votes against auditor ratification are very rare. About 96% of auditor ratification proposals had 5% or fewer of the votes cast against ratification, the independent research provider said in a Jan. 17 analysis.

The two proxy advisory firms are also in agreement on a shareholder proposal seeking an independent board chair. Currently, John Flannery holds the dual role of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, but an independent chair is "better able to oversee the executives of a company and set up a pro-shareholder agenda," Glass Lewis said.

"A vote for this shareholder proposal is warranted given that the company's short- and long-term underperformance and questions about the viability of its business model and corporate culture suggest that shareholders would benefit from the most robust form of independent boardroom oversight, provided by an independent board chair," ISS said.

GE, meanwhile, said in its proxy statement that prior to Flannery's appointment, the board evaluated whether to continue to combine the Chairman and CEO roles and after a "robust debate" ultimately decided that "continuing to have the CEO speak for and lead the company and the board was the best approach in view of the size and complexity of GE."

But that's exactly why ISS argues for a separation of the two roles. "There is ample evidence to suggest that GE in its current form is sufficiently large and complex that it is difficult for any one person to both run the company and run the board," ISS said.

Investors will have just over two weeks to mull things over as GE's annual meeting is scheduled for April 25.

Shares of GE fell 1.5% to $13.23 at 11:30 a.m. New York time.



-- This story has been updated to include statistics from Audit Analytics.
EAST ALTON  The third early-morning, drug-related raid in the past few weeks was executed before dawn Thursday by East Alton and Wood River police.

Police executed a search warrant at a house in the 500 block of Dry Street, East Alton, early Thursday, taking at least five people at the house  three women and two men were seen entering police vehicles  to the East Alton police station for questioning. Of those, several, according to East Alton Maj. Christian Cranmer, were arrested for either outstanding warrants or being in possession of a controlled substance. The identity of those subjects is being withheld until formal charges are filed, Cranmer said.

The target of the search warrant, Steven L. Scott, 48, who is not listed as an occupant of the Dry Street house but who is believed to have been staying there, according to police, was not at the residence at the time of the raid. An arrest warrant was issued for Scott following a drug investigation conducted by the East Alton department, Cranmer said. Scott is still wanted and at large.

Police remained on the scene after the arrests, photographing and processing what appeared to be a basement apartment at the house. Police came equipped with a battering ram to break down the door of the house if needed, but a person inside the house opened the door for police.

The raid was the third in recent weeks after a joint operation between Wood River and East Alton resulted in four people being taken into custody in two separate raids on March 23. Houses in the 300 block of Bowman, East Alton, and later in the 400 block of Penning, Wood River, were searched in the raids.

Jonathan C. Metz, 34, of the 300 block of Bowman, East Alton, who was the primary subject of the raid, was charged with unlawful delivery of methamphetamine and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

Michael Overy, 54, of the same address, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for driving on a revoked license. A third person, Alyssa Vinson, 28, of the same address, was arrested on an outstanding fugitive from justice warrant from Missouri, according to East Alton Police Det. Adam LeGette.

Vinson was arrested after she was found naked, hiding in the wall of the house in the 300 block of Bowman in East Alton. LeGette said she was very well hidden behind a shower unit, and was discovered after she apparently got tired and stretched out her legs.

One person taken into custody at the Wood River house had not been charged as of last week.

Reach managing editor Nathan Grimm at 618-208-6456.
EDWARDSVILLE  Police are investigating a possible case of wire fraud after a local attorney reported more than $7,000 in fraudulent transactions on his PayPal account.

Attorney Todd Sivia reported four transactions on Feb. 9 for several thousand dollars each; however, PayPal canceled one of the transactions before it was completed, according to a court document.
ALTON  Dinner, dancing and a $10,000 raffle drawing will add to the fun at Madison County Catholic Charities forthcoming fundraiser, Help on the Move.

This event raises money to support the programs that help so many struggling individuals and families, said Denise Brown, Madison County Catholic Charities area director. Its going to be an amazing celebration and I encourage everyone to attend. You could win $10,000. Bring your family and friends with you for a night of great food, music and activities.

The 18th annual event will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the Best Western Premier Alton-St. Louis Area Hotel, 3559 College Ave., Alton.

Smokin Oldies band will entertain the crowd with 50s and 60s Motown style music.

All proceeds from, Help on the Move will benefit services provided by Madison County Catholic Charities through its Alton and Granite City locations. These programs include the Mobile Food Pantry, Guardian Angel Food Pantry, Professional Counseling Solutions, MedAssist, Homeless Prevention, Faith in Action and Catholic Charities Legal Services.

Over the past 17 years, our annual Madison County Catholic Charities fundraiser has raised over a half a million dollars which has gone directly to help the people who come to the agency seeking help. People who need help securing basic necessities like food, medicine and shelter, said Steven Roach, executive director of Catholic Charities. These programs are a lifeline to so many people. The success of the fundraiser is critical to our ability to help families in very difficult situations.

Last years event was a record breaking year for the fundraiser, an agency press release says. Catholic Charities staff and volunteers are hoping to raise even more money this year.

Catholic Charities will present distinguished service awards to Helen Cresswell, nominated for the Father Maurice Jack Quilligan Award; and David Gensert, nominated for the Mary Alyce Beardslee Award, both for their outstanding examples of community spirit and compassion toward people who are suffering.

Cresswell, who worked for Catholic Charities for 46 years, continues to dedicate her life to the field of social service and helping others. Helen exemplifies the spirit of this award through her incredible 50-year commitment to serve children and families in need. She worked alongside Fr. Quilligan for 20 years, so it seems most fitting to honor her with this award, said Brown.

Brown said Gensert served on Catholic Charities Advisory Board for six years where he was a strong advocate for the food pantry operations, as well as instrumental to the growing success of the annual fundraiser. Dave continues to selflessly give of his time to do good works for the Granite City community, said Brown. She said Gensert is active in St. Elizabeths Parish, Knights of Columbus and Springfield Diocese Food Distribution.

A limited number of will be sold for the $10,000 raffle, with second prize being a 42-inch flat screen television. Attendance at the dinner is not required to win the prizes.

Tickets are on sale for both the dinner and the raffle, which cost $40 and $25, respectively. Raffle tickets are buy two, get one free. To purchase the tickets or to sponsor this years event, contact Jackie Tucker at (618) 462-0634. People may also buy tickets online at: www.cc.dio.org.
Encounter Youth perform at Westminster April 15

GODFREY  The congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1433 W. Delmar, Route 3, will host the Encounter Youth Choir, at 6 p.m. Sunday, April 15.

The community is invited to attend the high energy, yet worshipful, program proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Encounter Choir is directed by Eddie Hitchcock, with about 90 teens from 30 denominations across the Riverbend area. Seven area high schools are represented by the group.

Hitchcock has been working on this program since early January. The musical includes many newer gospel pieces as well more traditional hymns.

53rd Rummage Sale

GODFREY  The 53rd annual rummage sale will be held Saturday, April 14 at Godfrey First United Methodist Church, with a pre-sale from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 13.

A $2 donation is requested for Fridays pre-sale. All items are clean and in working condition, with everything from furniture, household items, seasonal decorations, toys and books and clothing, priced to go.

The Saturday sale begins at 8 a.m., continuing to 11 a.m., with a bag sale from 11:15 a.m. to noon. Proceeds will benefit local charities.

A bake sale and dinner will be held, with Chefs for Christ cooking brats, hot dogs and chili for sale.

Talk on time and timelessness

JERSEYVILLE  A free talk, Time is not a factor in you life, will be presented at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Jerseyville First Church of Christ Scientist, 1118 S. Liberty St., describing how to gain dominion over time by understanding better how to live in the timeless, constant present of the spiritual now.

Speaker Dave Hohle is a teacher of Christian Science and practitioner from Chicago. His topic will be mastering time and its associated effects. Free childcare will be provided.

Prayer and healing

ALTON  Nate Frederick, CS will speak on prayer and healing at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 14 at Riverbender Community Center, 200 W. Third St.

A member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship, Frederick has originated a program of 2-minute messages called Daily Lift, which shares ideas. His talk is sponsored by First Church of Christ Scientist, Alton-Godfrey; csalton.org.

BBQ Pork Chop Dinner

GREENFIELD  St. Michaels Mens Club will host the annual BBQ Pork Chop Dinner from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 15 at the hall on West Chestnut Street.

Sides, sherbet and beverages will be included. Adult price is $12, and children, 6-12, $5, with preschool children free of charge.
Actor Salman Khan, who was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks in 1998, is adjusting well in Jodhpur Central Prison. Said Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajasthans home minister, to THE WEEK, He is not creating any problems, and is behaving normally. Like other prisoners, he has to follow the rules.

Khan will stay in jail today, after the Jodhpur Sessions Court delayed the order on the actor's bail plea till Saturday.

Prisoner number 106, Khan was lodged in barrack 2. Next to him, separated by a curtain, is rape accused godman Asaram Bapu. On Thursday evening, Khan accepted Asarams offer to share his food, which is generally brought from a nearby ashram.

Sources in Jodhpur jail said Khan was cooperating well, though he looked a tad depressed and confused at times. Normal food, mostly daal, roti and khichdi, was served to Khan on Thursday night and Friday morning. Food is served to him inside his cell as the officials dont want other prisoners to mingle with him.

Said Dr Bhupendra Singh, ADG, Prisons, Rajasthan, to THE WEEK, He is adjusting well and is cooperating with us. No untoward incident has been brought to my notice. The cell, where he is lodged, is a normal one with no extra features. No special food will be served to him. He will eat the regular food meant for the prisoners.

Khans ward has a wooden bed and a cooler. The actor, who slept on a rug on the floor yesterday, was given tablets by the jail doctors to keep his blood pressure under control.

After a Punjab-based gangster Lawrence Bishnoi threatened to kill Khan in Jodhpur, security inside the jail has been beefed up. If Khans bail plea gets delayed, officials are planning to keep him with other prisoners from Saturday, so that he doesnt remain isolated.

Khan hunted and killed blackbucks on October 1, 1998, during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Blackbuck, a small, slender antelope, is listed in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.
Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli arrived with his wife Radhika Shakya and a huge delegation in New Delhi on a three-day tourhis first foreign visit in his second tenure as the Himalayan nation's prime minister.

The Oli who arrived on Friday was very different from the one who had visited India in February 2016. Gone is that conciliatory demeanour, which is now replaced by self assertion. Then, Oli, head of a coalition government, was trying to mend fences with India, after a bitter winter of alleged blockade. Today's Oli heads a party that has over three quarter majority in parliamenthe was voted in with a majority that Nepal hasn't witnessed in half a century. Even the Madhesis, on behalf of whom India had protested Nepal's draft constitution, voted him in.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh received Oli and his wifePrime Minister Narendra Modi chose the next best option to himself. While Modi cannot quite say with a straight face that he and Oli are best friends, the government knows that the Nepali prime minister is not a Justin Trudeau who can be received by a junior minister.

Unlike the last visit, which was spread over a week, with trips to Mumbai and Uttarakhand, this time, it's a brief three-day tour. The message is clear. Oli is an important man, with a country to run. He's giving the courtesy call to his next door neighbour, and reviewing the bilateral relationship. The body language says it all.

Shortly after arrival, Oli attended a meet of chambers of business and commerce, where he inaugurated the India Nepal Business Forum. Nepal is positioning itself as an attractive destination for investments. With a stable government, a constitution in place, and a slew of legislative reforms to make the country investor friendly, it is asking India to invest. Bhavani Ravi, head of the Federation of Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industry, even pointed out that if India wasted time in deliberations and discussions, who knows which other nation might grab the investment opportunities.

I want to drive my people, build on our capacities and strength and work jointly with our neighbours and friends,'' said Oli. The subtext was clear, India was not the only neighbour, friend or investment partner Nepal had. Oli said he had big ambitions for his country. With a motto of 'Prosperous Nepal Happy Nepali', the PM wants to make Nepal a middle income nation by 2030 and then, elevate its status from one of the Least Developed Countries to a Developing Country. He said India, which was known for doing business in distant parts of the world, should look at the next door neighbour for investing options.

The bilaterals between the two countries will be held on Saturday. On Sunday, he will visit the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar.
A rift within the Congress party, on whether it would be prudent to go ahead with an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra, as well as the failure to garner a wider consensus among opposition parties, prompted the grand old party to drop its plans to submit the motion in the Rajya Sabha in the just concluded budget session of Parliament.

According to a senior Congress leader, who is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Congress party was divided over the issue, with a sizeable section opposing the move. A section in the party, he said, felt that the recent developments in the judiciary were a matter of grave concern, and an impeachment motion against the CJI was in view of the seriousness of the charges levelled against him and also his failure to address the issues raised by the four seniormost judges, in their unprecedented press conference in the beginning of the year.

However, there was a sizeable section that felt that since the issue was that of the judiciary, an important institution, the Congress should tread with caution before going in for an extreme measure such as moving an impeachment motion against the CJI. It was also felt that it may not be prudent to go ahead with the motion since the charges made out against Justice Misra may not be of a verifiable nature, and it will be a big embarrassment if the motion is rejected by the enquiry committee which would be set up to look into them, the leader said.

It was a foregone conclusion that the impeachment motion would not go through since the opposition does not have the numbers, but the move was aimed at sending out a political message and cornering the government.

Asked if the impeachment motion is now a closed chapter since Parliament session is now over, Anand Sharma, deputy leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, We never said whether it is open or close. It is a matter of discussion. Whenever any decision is taken, you will be informed.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have been keen on the party initiating the motion. A draft impeachment motion was readied, and the required number of signatures were collected. Numbers were never an issue. The Congress alone has the numbers to submit the motion, the leader said. However, the party chief is understood to have wanted the motion to be backed by a wider consensus among the oppostion parties, which the Congress failed to garner. The DMK had a last-minute rethink on it, while the Trinamool Congress has maintained that it wants the move to gain wider support before it decides on whether to back it. The Samajwadi Party, which earlier pledged support to the motion, is also learnt to have had a change of mind on the issue.
India today began a process to acquire a fleet of around 110 fighter jets in one of the biggest such procurement in recent years globally which could be worth over USD 15 billion.

An RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender for the mega deal was issued by the Indian Air Force and the procurement will be in sync with the government's 'Make in India' initiative in the defence sector, officials said.

It is the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the IAF around five years ago.

Instead, the NDA government, in September 2016, signed an 7.87 billion euros (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale twin-engine fighter jets.

Though the RFI said approximately 110 aircraft are being procured, defence ministry officials put the number at 114 jets.

According to the RFI, three-quarters of the total jets will be single seat aircraft while the rest will be twin-seat.

At least 85 per cent of the aircraft will have to be made in India while 15 per cent of them can be in flyaway condition.

Officials said the jets will be produced jointly by a foreign aircraft maker along with an Indian company under the recently-launched strategic partnership model which aims to bring in high-end defence technology to India.

Leading military aircraft producers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Saab, Dassault and Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG are among the competitors which are likely to vie for the mega deal.

An official said the deal could be worth over USD 15 billion.

According to the RFI, aircraft manufacturers interested in the deal will have to send their proposals by July 6.

The IAF has been pressing for expediting the process to acquire the aircraft citing declining strength of its fighter squadron as some of the ageing jets are being phased out. Currently, IAF has 31 fighter squadrons as against authorised strength of 42 squadrons.

The UPA government had floated a tender in 2007 for purchase of 126 MMRCA for the Air Force and, post negotiations, two of them  Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon  remained in the reckoning. However, the deal could not be finalised by the UPA regime.

In September last year, Swedish defence giant Saab and Indian conglomerate Adani group had announced a collaboration, mainly eyeing the contract for the fighter jet deal. US aerospace major Lockheed Martin has joined hands with India's Tata Advanced Systems to build the planes in India.
When President Ram Nath Kovind came back from his first trip abroad, in his luggage on the special Indian Air Force plane was a Baobab tree. One of the most important trees on the island-country of Madagascar, the Baobab is special as it is considered their tree of life. And in a way, this symbolises the relationship that this governmentespecially the presidenthopes to have with Africa.

On his way to Africa again, President Kovind has chosen to visit countries that are really 'off the beaten track'. He will be on a six-day tour to Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland and Zambia from Saturday.

It is not by coincidence that all the three visits have been to Africa,'' said Ashok Malik, press secretary to the president, at a press briefing. This reflects the importance in Indian foreign policy given to Africa by this government and the country generally. It also reflects President Kovinds personal commitment to that relationship with the countries of Africa.''

The trip is the first-ever visit of the head of state or head of government of India to Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland and a presidential visit to Zambia is taking place after a gap of 29 years.

These trips are important to demonstrate India's intent and commitment to Africa. But in terms of agreements, there is not expected to be much progress.

In Equatorial Guinea, a brand-new non-permanent member to the UN Security Council this year, the president hopes to go beyond just energy relationships. At present, Equatorial Guinea is India's fourth largest supplier of natural gas. It is hoped that he will diversify the relationship to include agriculture.

In Zambia, the idea is to renew a relationship that was once very strong. He particularly looks forward to renewing one of Indias strongest relationships in Africa with Zambia. He also looks forward to meeting former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda who is a statesman of our times and a very respected figure,'' said Malik. India does have trade worth a $1 billion with Zambia. In terms of Indian investment, Zambia has a 'sizeable' amount at $5 billion.

In Swaziland, one of the world's oldest monarchies, Kovind will hold delegation-level meetings and will inaugurate with King Mswati-III the Information Technology Center located in the Royal Science and Technology Park. The centre has been set up with the assistance of Indian government. He will also be the first head of state to address the Swazi Parliament.

For India, reaching out to Africa visibly and with enthusiasm is essential. China has edged out India in terms of spending in the continent. Despite old associations and deep ties, India has not managed to be able to leverage this advantage. The Modi government did try to engage with Africa. There was the biggest-ever India-Africa Summit in 2015, the largest gathering of African leaders on Indian soil with 54 nations and 40 heads of state.

India had offered a push to build capacity in Africa with an additional $10 billion in concessional credit over the next five years. It has also offered a grant assistance of $600 million. This included an India Africa Development Fund of $10 million. Despite the huge turnout and the jamboree associated with the event, the relationship did not improve. There has been a spate of incidents of racist violence against the African communitywhich the government has not been able to stop. Nor has its soft diplomacy skills been able to reassure the community that these issues will be sorted out.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoorwho is the chairman of Parliament's External Affairs Committeeclaims that Modi's African engagement has not been successful. And stated goals, such as those accompanying the impressive India-Africa summit in New Delhi, do not seem to have the investment of adequate resources to fulfil them,'' he wrote in an article in the National Herald on Friday. The question is can the Baobab tree flower?
The controversy surrounding a 29-year-old police constable's request to the Maharashtra government to undergo a sex reassignment surgery, has prompted the state police to include gender determination test in their recruitment process.

Lalita Salve, who now prefers to be called Lalit, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last month seeking his permission to undergo the surgery and be retained in the police force as a male police constable after the procedure.

"Till now, we did not have a gender determination test during police recruitment. However, going by this case, we felt the need to introduce such a test to avoid complications in future," said Rajkumar Vhatkar, inspector general of police (establishment).

The recruitment process of around 8,000 police constables is underway in Maharashtra, he said, adding the gender determination test will be included during the process.

Besides physical tests, the police force is including the gender test to avoid male candidates being selected in the female category, another police official said.

This case is unique for the 1.80-lakh-strong police constabulary in Maharashtra. Salve grew up as a woman and was recruited as a woman police constable, he said.

Salve moved the Bombay High Court in November, seeking a direction to the DGP to grant Salve leave to undergo the surgery.

Salve also sought a month's leave for the surgery, but it was rejected by Beed police authorities, after which the constable approached the high court.

Later, Fadnavis asked the DGP to consider Salve's case favourably.

Salve is a member of the all-women patrolling team called "Damini" squad, formed to keep eve-teasers at bay, at Majalgaon in Beed district.

When Salve met Fadnavis last month, the latter asked DGP Satish Mathur to take a "quick decision" in the case.

After meeting the chief minister, Salve had appeared "hopeful" of getting permission for the surgery and of being retained as a male police constable.

According to the petition, Salve, born in June 1988, noticed changes in her body three years ago and underwent medical tests, which confirmed the presence of Y chromosome in her body.



While men have X and Y sex chromosomes, women have two X chromosomes.



"The petitioner later undertook counselling sessions with psychiatrists at the state-run J J Hospital. The doctors detected that she had a gender dysphoria abnormality and advised her to undergo a sex reassignment surgery, if she was willing to and was of sound mind," the petition said.



Subsequently, Salve approached senior police officials and sought a month's medical leave to undergo the surgery.



"Last week, the superintendent of police (SP) of Beed district informed the petitioner that she could not undergo a sex reassignment surgery and refused to grant her leave," the petition said.



It contended that the said decision of the Beed police authorities was violative of the petitioner's fundamental rights.
The Bihar government has allotted over Rs 2 lakh for the repair and restoration of riot-hit Gudri mosque and Jiaul-Ulum Madrassa situated in Samastipur city of the state.

The home department, headed by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, allotted Rs 2,13,700 for the repair work. Both the structures were damaged in the recent communal violence.

Reportedly, the government has also released Rs 25 lakh as compensation for those whose shops were burnt in arson during Ramnavami procession in Aurangabad. Similar arrangement of Rs. 8.5 lakh has been made for compensating six affected people in Nawada district.

Recently, communal clashes, which broke out between two groups in Bhagalpur and Aurangabad on the occasion of Ram Navami, spilled over to other parts of the state after miscreants vandalised a Hanuman idol in Nawada.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the opposition was turning "increasingly" violent against the BJP due the party's rising strength and the prominence people from the backward castes had got in the country.

"In four years of rule, BJP has worked tirelessly for welfare of dalits, under-privileged, illiterates. Nowadays, opposition to the BJP is growing sharp. They (opposition parties) are turning increasingly violent against the BJP.

"They cannot accept the fact that people from the backward castes can also occupy top positions in the country," Modi said while interacting with the BJP workers on the 38th foundation day of the party.

His comments come in the wake of recent violent protest during Bharat Bandh against dilution of stringent provisions of SC/ST Act, which left 11 dead.

Modi said the opposition parties were vitiating atmosphere against the BJP since they could not come to terms that many MPs and MLAs in the party were from the backward castes.

"They cannot accept the fact that the BJP which was once recognised as a party of Brahmins and Baniyas chose a dalit as president of the country when got the opportunity," he said.

Modi used digital applicationNarendraModi Appfor the interaction, during which he appealed the party workers to refrain from losing temper and using offensive language.

He said the technology be used for empowerment of people, but asked the party workers to be active on social media to check circulation of fake content and rumours.

"In the era of social media and communication, if we remain inactive, those anti-national, anti-social, selfish, wrong-doers will occupy that space. So it is out national duty not to cede this space to them," he said.
Had the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government, and the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India been taken up in the current Budget session, the session would have had a place in the history books. While the speaker did not allow the no-confidence motion owing to repeated protests in the house, the impeachment motion could not go beyond the discussion stage due to differences among the opposition. Had the impeachment motion been taken up, it would be the first against a sitting CJI.

However, the conduct of political parties in the just concluded Budget session showed that everyone is gearing for the election season that would culminate in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The Congress and its friends protested against the government on the PNB fraud; TDP and YSR Congress made special status for Andhra Pradesh their prime issue, while Tamil Nadu-based parties focused on Cauvery water dispute during the last one month of the session.

The productivity in the first part of the Budget session was 134 per cent. For the second half, which started on March 5, the productivity dropped to a measly four per cent. In case of Rajya Sabha, productivity in the first half was 96 per cent, and mere eight per cent in the second part.

According to PRS Legislative Research, the just-concluded Budget session was the least productive one the Parliament saw in the past 18 years, with the least amount of time spent by both the houses debating the Budget, since 2000.

There are currently 68 bills pending before the Parliament.

During this session, on an average, Lok Sabha worked for 21 per cent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha worked for 27 per cent. So far, in the 16th Lok Sabha, the average productivity was 85 per cent, and that of Rajya Sabha 68 per cent, the PRS said.

The no-confidence motion was first proposed by the YSR Congress and the TDP, and later followed by the Congress. Several MPs gave notices to move a no-confidence motion against the government. However, due to disruptions, the motion was not admitted. This was the first time a notice to move a no-confidence motion was given in the 16th Lok Sabha. A no-confidence motion was also moved in the 15th Lok Sabha (2013), but was not discussed. In the 14th Lok Sabha, a no-confidence motion was converted to a confidence vote, which the government won.

If the opposition numbers and confidence grew in the Lok Sabha as they added four more seats in the bypolls, the BJP gained strength in the Rajya Sabha as it numbers rose to 67 from 58 after the latest round of elections. The BJP is the single largest party in both the houses of the Parliament.

The fight in the Lok Sabha will now spill over to the streets. All BJP MPs will observe a one-day fast in their respective constituencies on April 12 against the Congress disruptionist stance inside the house. Meanwhile, the Congress would observe nationwide fast on April 9 as the communal harmony day to hit out at the saffron party.

In a bid to reach out to the dalits, BJP MPs and other leaders will spend a night between April 14 and May 5 in over 20,844 villages with over 50 per cent population of scheduled castes and tribes to inform the masses about the Centres various measures aimed at their welfare. The party will also take out a Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Yatra.

The two Andhra parties will also be taking their fight to the people. YSR Congress MPs submitted their resignation to the speaker on the last day of the budget session, daring the TDP to do so. The TDP after laying a siege in the parliament, held a dharna inside Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's chamber to register their protests.
The Chinese governments top diplomat hopes that planned summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the presidents of South Korea and the United States will take the fuse out of the situation on the Korean peninsula.

After a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Chinas State Councillor Wang Yi said he hoped the summits would bring the issue of North Koreas nuclear programme back into the realm of dialogue and negotiations.

We all welcome and support the apparent improvement in the situation on the peninsula and appreciate the efforts of all parties, Wang, who is also Chinas foreign minister, said on Thursday, in comments posted on his ministrys website.

He hoped the three leaders would take the opportunity to completely defuse the situation, he added.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump have both agreed to meet Kim. Trump has traded barbs with the North Korean leader for much of his time in office as Pyongyang pursues development of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States.

North Korea was suffocating under international sanctions, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on Thursday, adding, They need an out.

Speaking at Duke University in North Carolina, Haley said, When the president ends up speaking with Kim, the conversation has to be about denuclearizing. Not some of it, all of it. We dont want an irresponsible actor to have nuclear weapons.

She added, But were going into this very cautiously, very much knowing that hes looked at the Iran deal, hes seen what he can get and hes seen how he can push through loopholes, and were not going to let that happen again.

Last month, China said it won a pledge from Kim, who was on a surprise visit to Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

China and Russia are both permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, which has imposed sanctions on North Korea in a bid to force negotiations with Pyongyang.

Tension on the peninsula has eased following a flurry of diplomatic activity in the lead-up to Februarys Winter Olympics held in South Korea.

North and South Korea have agreed to hold their first summit in more than a decade on April 27, while Trump has said he would meet Kim by the end of May.

Trump has threatened to withdraw the United States from an accord between Tehran and six world powers, signed in 2015 before he took office, unless France, Britain and Germany help to agree a follow-up pact by that date. Trump does not like the deals limited duration, among other things.
Yulia Skripal on Thursday made her first public comments since being poisoned in Britain last month with her father, a Russian former double-agent, saying she was getting stronger by the day but shedding no new light on the incident.

Yulia and Sergei Skripal, 66, were found slumped unconscious on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain said they were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, the first known use of such a toxin on European soil since World War Two.

London has blamed Russia for the attempted murder while Moscow denies any involvement. The incident has had major diplomatic ramifications, with mass expulsions of Russian and Western diplomats.

We have told our British colleagues that youre playing with fire and youll be sorry, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that Moscow had requested.

We didnt do it, were not guilty, Nebenzia said.

British UN Ambassador Karen Pierce told the Security Council that Britains actions stand up to any scrutiny and pledged to keep the 15-member body updated on the inquiry.

We have nothing to hide ... but I do fear that Russia might have something to fear, Pierce said.

Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelley Currie told the council: We have stated previously and do so again today our firm belief that Russia is responsible for this chemical weapons attack on UK soil.

The attack left the Skripals in critical condition and doctors had initially feared that even if they did survive, they might have suffered permanent brain damage.

But while her father remains stable in intensive care, Yulias health has improved rapidly. On Thursday she issued a statement through British police to thank hospital staff and people who came to her help when when my father and I were incapacitated.

Her recovery means she can help British counter-terrorism police with their investigation although she did not give any details about what had happened in her brief remarks.

Britains Foreign Office said she had been offered assistance by Russias embassy but had so far declined.

I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received, said Yulia, 33.

I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that youll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence.

Hours before the statement issued by British police, Russian state TV and Interfax reported that Yulia had phoned her cousin Viktoria Skripal in Russia, saying she and her father were both recovering and that she expected to leave hospital soon.

Everything is fine, everything is fixable, everyone is getting better, everyone is alive, they quoted her as saying in the call.

Asked about her fathers health, Yulia was cited as saying: Everything is fine, he is resting right now, sleeping ... nobody has any problems that cant be put right.

Russian state TV said it could not vouch for the authenticity of the quotes. Viktoria Skripal has said she plans to travel to England if she can get a visa.

Diplomatic row

Police believe the nerve agent was left on the front door of the home in Salisbury where Skripal, a military intelligence colonel who betrayed dozens of Russian agents to Britains MI6 spy service, lived after he was freed in a spy swap.

The attack has driven Moscows relations with the West to a new post-Cold War low, with Britain and its allies, including the United States, expelling about 130 diplomats and the Kremlin responding in kind.

On Wednesday, Russia lost its call for a joint inquiry to be held into the poisoning at a meeting of global watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Moscows ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko said on Thursday Russia had never made Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent which British experts say was the toxin used.

He said the Kremlin would accept the results of OPCW tests but only if there was transparency and they were confirmed by experts from outside Europe and NATO.

While scientists at the Porton Down biological and chemical weapons laboratory near Salisbury have concluded the toxin was Novichok, its chief executive said on Tuesday they had not yet determined whether it was made in Russia.

That prompted even some allies to say London needs to provide more evidence of Russian culpability.

Britain says there is no plausible explanation other than that Russia was behind the attack and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russia of running a disinformation campaign.

A number of Russians have died in mysterious circumstances in Britain in recent years including dissident Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in 2006. A British inquiry concluded his murder had probably been ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

We have a lot of suspicions about Britain, said Russian UK ambassador Yakovenko. If you take the last 10 years, so many Russian citizens died here in the UK, under very strange circumstances ... My question is why is it happening here?

-Reuters
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday conducted a meeting to discuss the case of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter where the UN ambassadors of both Moscow and London engaged in a war of words.

At the meeting, Russian representatives questioned the pieces of evidence made public in the case which was answered by the representatives of different countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, as per media reports.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia blasted the UK while dubbing the spy poisoning allegations by Russia as fake.

He further accused the United Kingdom of turning other countries against Russia, while pointing towards the incidents of the expulsion of the Russian diplomats by the US, UK, and Germany.

In response to Russia's allegations, UN ambassador from the UK Karen Pierce blamed Russia for not helping the UK in the initial stages of the investigation.

Further Russian officials claimed that Pierce has done much to block investigations into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Earlier the countries engaged in a massive diplomatic tussle and blame game as the UK blamed Russia to be 'highly likely' involved in the incident, whereas Kremlin has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Sergei Skripal and Yulia were found slumped on a park's bench in Salisbury following a nerve-agent attack on March 4.
Gina Chua | Thomson Reuters

A longtime newsroom manager with a career spanning a quarter-century and five countries, Gina Chua has worked in print, radio, television and real-time electronic media.
The following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Deep Pride Limited, Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., EPS Polidrox Industria e Comercio de Resinas Ltda, Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Guangdong Yuegang Dadi Paints Company Limited, Guardsman Australia Pty Limited, Guardsman Industries Limited, Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Jiangsu Pulanna Coating Co. Ltd., Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Resin Surfaces Limited, Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade, Sayerlack, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (South China) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands (Australia) Pty Ltd, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Luxembourg Investment Management Company S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams Uruguay S.A., Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, TOB Becker Acroma Ukraine, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Germany) GmbH, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Inc., Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited, Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, Vantaco Oy, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.
EAST DURHAM - Three young children, who along with their grandparents died Monday in a house fire in Greene County, will be laid to rest Monday, according to their obituary.

The two boys, Jonathan Mammano and Jayden Caffrey were born in Albany while their sister, Sophia Mammano was born in Hudson.

The siblings all attended Cairo-Durham elementary school where Jonathan was a fifth grader, Jayden was in the third grade, and Sophia was in the first.

She was described as a lovable soul. Jayden was the artistic one who enjoyed reading and was also the trouble maker of the family.

Jonathan loved playing with his model trains and remote cars and was a member of the Cairo-Durham Little League who dreamed of becoming an architect.

The blaze also claimed the life of Mary and Nicholas Mammano, both 68, and the children's paternal grandparents.

Their son, who is the children's father, was taken to a burn center in Syracuse to be treated for his injuries.

The cause of the inferno that destroyed their home on Route 145 is still under investigation.

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.

Mourners can pay their final respects from 2 to 6 p.m. at Millspaugh Camerato funeral home, 139 Jefferson Heights in Catskill.

A funeral procession for the youngsters and their grandparents will form at 9:45 a.m. Monday with the Mass set for 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Knock Shrine, 2052 Route 145 in East Durham. A private burial in the Town of Catskill cemetery will follow.

The family is asking in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the www.gofundme.com/mammanofamily.
A cash-strapped Massachusetts museum can sell dozens of pieces of art, including works by Norman Rockwell, a judge on the state's highest court ruled Thursday.

Justice David Lowy, of the Supreme Judicial Court, approved an agreement reached by Massachusetts' attorney general and the Berkshire Museum that will allow the museum to sell up to 40 pieces of art so it can keep its doors open.

The ruling came after months of legal wrangling over the future of the artwork.

"We recognize this decision may not please those who have opposed the museum's plans," said Elizabeth McGraw, of the museum's board of trustees. "Still, we hope people will be able to move forward in a constructive way to help us secure and strengthen the future of this museum, at a time when our community needs it more than ever."

Under the plan given the green light by the judge, Rockwell's "Shuffleton's Barbershop" will be sold to another U.S. museum.

The Berkshire Museum says it will sell the rest of the artwork until it reaches $55 million in proceeds. Officials say they may not have to sell all 39 other pieces, which include Rockwell's "Shaftsbury Blacksmith Shop" and works by other artists.

Michael Keating, an attorney for a group of Berkshire County residents who challenged the sale, said they are disappointed in the decision but don't believe they have any further recourse.

Rockwell's sons, who opposed the sale, dropped their challenge after it was announced "Shuffleton's Barbershop" would remain in public view.

The museum that buys "Shuffleton's Barbershop" will loan the work to the Rockwell museum in Stockbridge for a period of time before lending it to other museums, according to the agreement.

 Associated Press

Growing West family shares first photo

Kim Kardashian West has shared the first photo of her family of five.

The reality star posed with husband Kanye West, daughters North and Chicago, and son Saint in the photo, which was taken on Easter.

Kardashian wrote on Facebook : "I don't think you really understand how hard it is to take a good family pic." She said it was all they got before "all three kids started crying."

The 37-year-old also tweeted that while she was holding her baby, Chicago, in one hand, her other hand had ahold of Saint, who kept running away.

 Associated Press

LDP pleads guilty to DWI in Texas

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips has been banned from drinking alcohol for two years after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated in Texas.

Phillips, 56, was also sentenced to two years of probation during a court appearance Wednesday near Corpus Christi, and must complete a DWI education program.

 Associated Press

Woman picked to lead Space Museum

Ellen Stofan, former chief scientist at NASA, will become the first woman to lead the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Institution announced Thursday.

At NASA, Stofan, who has a background in geology, was a top adviser to Charles F. Bolden Jr., then administrator for the department, where she helped lead in the development of a long-term plan to get humans to Mars.

Stofan's father was a NASA rocket scientist and at the age of 4 she attended her first rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Stofan said, "Space and aviation inspire our next generation of explorers, and there is no better place to experience this than at our museums."

 New York Times

Dancing with the Stars: athlete edition

ABC is bringing the Olympics to "Dancing with the Stars." The celebrity dance competition will host an all-athletes season for the first time in its 13-year history.

The first three athletes to sign on are figure skaters Tonya Harding and Adam Rippon and snowboarder Jamie Anderson, Us Weekly revealed.

Harding, who became a household name when her ex-husband attacked competitor Nancy Kerrigan, returned to the spotlight with last year's film, "I, Tonya."

Rippon, in the most recent Games, became the first openly gay U.S. male athlete to win a medal in a Winter Olympics when he took home bronze in the team figure skating event.

Anderson won gold at the inaugural women's slopestyle at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and repeated in Pyeongchang.

 New York Daily News
The Eastern New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects gathers once a year to honor its members' contributions to our built environment.

AIAENY covers a 16-county area and has more than 300 members. AIAENY serves as the link between local professional architects, the American Institute of Architects and the public. Its mission is to promote the value of local architects, to advance the architectural profession through improvements to the built environment and to serve the public.

AIAENY gave out six awards this year. Balzer + Tuck Architecture of Saratoga Springs won both honors and merit awards. The honor was in the residential category for the firm's design of 14 Hudson, a luxury apartment building in Glens Falls built by Bonacio Construction. The merit award was in the institutional category for the expansion of the campus center at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, built by LeChase Construction.

JMZ Architects and Planners, P.C. of Glens Falls won two awards. The judges praised the firm's adaptive reuse of Building 25 on the University at Albany campus. The building is home to the economics and Africana studies departments as well as the university's Office of Equity & Compliance.

The jury's comment was, "This project brings the original spirit of the Edward Durrell Stone building back to life through magnificent detailing, smart interventions and new ideas that all work together exceptionally well."

JMZ also received a merit award for a second higher-education project, a "campus transformation" at Mohawk Valley Community College in Rome.

The project is a forward expansion of two wings.

Jury comment: "The detailing is complex with materials and texture, yet understandable, like open arms welcoming students to their new learning environment."

Saratoga Springs design team Michael Phinney and Jonathan Haynes from the Phinney Design Group were honored for their designs of five new artist studios at Yaddo. Each structure, constructed with wood, stone and metal, is compact and simple and fits nicely in its wooded setting, the jury noted.

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Envision Architects of Albany received an honor in the institutional category for the team's design of the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar. The jury was effusive.

"This inviting education center is a sustainability showcase, with design features that can be used as a teaching tools for visitors. The heroic supports of the solar panels bring a level of formality to the facade while instantly relating back to the woods and back to the 450-acre outdoor museum surrounding it. With clean, interior spaces and natural materials throughout, the building feels like a welcome respite for visitors lucky enough to explore this remarkable project."

lhornbeck@timesunion.com  518-454-5352  @leighhornbeck
SARATOGA SPRINGS  The debate over the Code Blue shelter raged on Thursday night at the city's Planning Board meeting, with supporters telling members that the shelter saved their lives, while others argued the proposed site is inappropriate in their neighborhood.

This is nothing new. But the lateness of the hour and the numerous public comments led Planning Board Chair Mark Torpey to table making any decision on the plan to build a permanent cold weather shelter on Walworth Street. The proposal would locate the Code Blue emergency shelter  intended to house the homeless when the temperature dips below 32 degrees  near its parent organization, the Shelters of Saratoga.

Among the supporters, is Don Petersimes, who said that the volunteers at the Code Blue shelter got him into rehab, which saved him from the streets.

"If it were not for Code Blue, I wouldn't be here today," Petersimes said. "They really cared. They gave me hope when I needed it. They gave me a plan. They told me, we will help you and they did. They brought me to rehab. I stayed in this community because I love this community. Let's raise the bar and build something we are proud of."

Sandy Lewis, a neighbor who opposes the shelter's location, said there is a school in the area and every morning children will be walking there with 81 homeless people, many of whom have drug and alcohol problems.

"It's hard to believe that people think this is OK," she said.

She also said she is not a "not-in-my-back-yard"-type and not against the homeless. But she believes the shelter should be in a business or industrial area of town, not in a residential neighborhood.

Joe Bonilla, a spokesman representing the neighbors opposing the plan, said Shelters of Saratoga should consider this week's offer from the Bethesda Episcopal Church, which is building an annex where church officials said Code Blue can be housed.

"Simply put, the Walworth Street location does not have the proper capacity to support this large, non-sober proposed shelter expansion adjacent to the existing Shelters of Saratoga facility," Bonilla said. "We respectfully ask for the Planning Board to reject this proposal so we can open up the discussion with city officials, community advocates, residents, businesses, and all concerned about how to move our community forward."

But people like Randall DesChamps who was homeless and lived along the Northway for years said the neighbors have the wrong idea about the homeless population.

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.

"Maybe a third or a half have substance abuse problems," DesChamps said. "But they used to be normal. They are your brothers, your daughters, your parents who for some reason something happened to. Everyone in there has a story about their old life and they'd like to go back to it. Putting it next to the Shelter of Saratoga where they can get the help is the best place. There is no better place in town."

The Planning Board will need to make a decision soon in order for the Shelters of Saratoga to build the Code Blue emergency shelter by the time winter rolls around again. Regardless of the decision, Shelters of Saratoga might be targeted by a lawsuit brought about by the neighbors which would further delay the project. One is pending now.

Meanwhile, the Code Blue shelter remains housed in the Soul Saving Station, a small, facility called inadequate.

wliberatore@timesunion.com  518-454-5445  @wendyliberatore
A Halfmoon townhouse raided by the FBI last week was dubbed "The Library" by NXIVM leader Keith Raniere, who had allegedly used the residence for years as his private sex lair, according to court records and interviews with people familiar with the residence.

The nondescript townhouse on Hale Drive, in the Knox Woods residential development, is a short walk from the small residence where Raniere lived for more than 15 years before he abruptly flew to Mexico last fall  after he became the target of an intensive federal criminal investigation.

The Hale Drive residence, which has a hot tub and a large bed on the second floor, was searched by the FBI around the same time the nearby residence of NXIVM co-founder Nancy Salzman was raided on March 27. Property records indicate the Hale Drive residence has been owned since 2004 by a now-inactive corporation, Executive Housing & Properties, which lists Salzman as its chief executive officer. The corporation's address, 455 New Karner Road in Albany, is also the location of NXIVM's headquarters.

The FBI's searches took place two days after Raniere, the leader of NXIVM, was arrested by Mexican federal police at a $10,000-a-week villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Raniere was with some of his most devoted female followers when he was taken into custody. Federal agents later brought Raniere to a federal courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, where he appeared on a criminal complaint charging him with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Raniere is being held at a federal prison in Oklahoma City without bond and is scheduled to be brought to the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, where his case is pending. There is no timetable for his return.

In the federal criminal complaint filed against Raniere, prosecutors said the residence known as the Library is where Raniere, 57, repeatedly had sex with an unidentified actress in her 30s. Raniere is accused of illegally coercing the woman into becoming part of a secretive slave-master sex club associated with NXIVM.

The federal criminal complaint alleges that Raniere formed the group in which numerous women said they were lured into joining the club by other female members of NXIVM. They were required to provide some sort of collateral  such as nude photographs or damning information about their pasts  that leaders of the club threatened would be released if they failed to follow instructions or tried to leave the group, authorities said.

Some of the women have said they were also pressured to have sex with Raniere, while others told federal authorities that a female doctor associated with NXIVM, Danielle Roberts, used a cauterizing iron to brand them with a design on their lower abdomen that contained the initials of Raniere and Allison Mack, an actress and NXIVM associate who is listed in the complaint as an unnamed co-conspirator.

The Hale Drive townhouse is where federal authorities say the unidentified actress, who is listed as "Jane Doe 1" in the criminal complaint, became a victim of sex trafficking and forced labor. The actress lived in Brooklyn during the time she was an allegedly a victim of Raniere's  which is part of the reason the case is being pursued by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York, which includes the borough.

The complaint alleges Mack, who is identified only as "Co-Conspirator 1," recruited the actress to join the secret club in February 2016, including making her provide "collateral" that consisted of "letters detailing false and highly damning accusations against her family members."

According to an FBI affidavit, the actress was required to provide more collateral, including turning over her credit card numbers to Mack. The actress also was ordered by Mack to travel to Halfmoon every week, and remain celibate for six months.

During one of her trips to Halfmoon, the actress said Mack instructed her to meet Raniere in the middle of the night near his residence. He allegedly instructed the actress to remove her clothing, placed a blindfold over her eyes and drove her around. Once he stopped the vehicle, they walked through some woods to a shack where the actress said she was tied to a table and forced to engage in sex with an unidentified person who was in the room with Raniere.

In the months that followed, according to an FBI affidavit, Raniere had repeated sexual contact with the actress at the Hale Drive townhouse.

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.

Some experts have described NXIVM as a cult, and the criminal prosecution of Raniere has forced the secretive man who calls himself "Vanguard" under the spotlight of an ongoing federal grand jury investigation.

Federal authorities said Raniere in recent years has maintained a "rotating group of 15 to 20 women with whom he maintains sexual relationships."

"These women are not permitted to have sexual relationships with anyone but Raniere or to discuss with others their relationships with Raniere," according to the criminal complaint.

Still, the FBI's raid of Salzman's residence may signal that the investigation is broader than the sex trafficking charges.

A former NXIVM associate, Kristen M. Keeffe, who defected from the organization several years ago, alleged in 2015 that large amounts of cash used to be stored in a safe at Salzman's residence, and that money collected from people who took NXIVM training sessions in Mexico was funneled across the border into the United States. Keeffe, in a court filing, claimed that Salzman, among others, would allegedly "bring the cash over the border."

The money, which was allegedly funneled through the bank account of a Mexican associate, was "logged on the system as a scholarship, and cash was kept in Nancy's house," Keeffe said in a conversation attributed to her that was filed in Albany County Court.

blyons@timesunion.com  518-454-5547  @brendan_lyonstu
GLENVILLE  The town of Glenville patrolman wounded over the summer by so-called friendly fire from a Scotia officer is suing the village, alleging that the rookie cop acted negligently and wasn't trained properly.

The suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Schenectady by Glenville Officer Benjamin Ferretti, contends that Scotia Officer Danielle Peck fired her gun even after being warned by her sergeant not to shoot because the formation of the team of five officers meant they could come under fire from each other.

The lawsuit, which was first reported by the Daily Gazette of Schenectady, offers the first glimpse into how the friendly fire incident unfolded. Police have revealed little about the circumstances under which Ferretti was shot and the Schenectady County District Attorrney's office has not completed an investigation into the July 28 shooting.

More for you Police believe Shenendehowa teacher orchestrated his own "suicide by cop"

The document offers a detailed account into the police response during the late night hours when three police officers each from Scotia and Glenville went to 10 Pashley Road in response to a report of a man with a knife in a domestic dispute holding his supposed boyfriend hostage.

As they approached the home, Ferretti acted as backup to Glenville Sgt. Matthew Weise and Scotia Officer Mark Kopczynski, according to the suit.

It states that Ferretti placed his weapon on "safe and held it in the low ready position" because his two partners were in front of him.

When the homeowner Brian Skinner ignored commands to drop the kitchen knife he held, Kopczynski and Weise "lawfully and properly" discharged their weapons as Skinner closed in on them, the civil action states.

Skinner, a well-liked the fifth-grade teacher at Orenda Elementary School in the Shenendehowa district, was killed by police.

Ferretti, himself a rookie, never fired.

At the same time, Peck and Scotia Sgt. Adam Halpfinger were on the east side of the home near a fence.

Halpfinger told Peck "not to discharge her weapon given they were in a crossfire position in relation to the officers approaching the armed male individual, so as to avoid striking those officers," according to the legal papers. Glenville Officer Nathan Geary was the sixth officer on scene.

All told, the three cops fired nine shots, six of which hit 32-year-old Skinner, who authorities later said suffered from depression and may have orchestrated his own death in what is known as "suicide by cop."

Patrick Skinner, a State Police investigator, previously told the Times Union his younger brother was likely suicidal when he made the 911 call.

The State Police handled the probe and the state attorney general's office was looking into the circumstances of Skinner's death.

The suit says that despite the warning, Peck "negligently discharged her weapon," hitting Ferretti and causing him "severe and permanent personal injuries."

He was struck by a bullet, a hollow point round, that entered just underneath his bullet proof vest, injuring his abdomen and back.

Specifically, the negligence is tied to a litany of problems including ranging from the failure by the village and department to train their officers and particularly in "the appropriate use of deadly force" as well as in the right way to apprehend a suspect and failure to follow police protocols.

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 document names the village of Scotia and its police department as defendants. Officer Peck herself was not named as a defendant.

District Attorney Robert Carney said Thursday his office was reviewing the findings of the State Police probe and expected to complete that process in the near future.

Citing pending litigation, Scotia Chief Pete Frisoni declined comment.

Glenville Chief Stephen Janik was on vacation and did not return a call seeking comment. Glenville Supervisor Chris Koetzle and Scotia Mayor Kris Kastberg refused to comment because on the ongoing legal action.

Attorney Thomas Mortati, who is representing Ferretti, said Thursday that it's his understanding that Peck only had a few months on the job before the shooting.

He said that Peck should have known better.

"Even absent that command you're never supposed to discharge your weapon in a cross- fire circumstance because in this case she's shooting at four other officers, not just Ferretti," he said. "She's facing four other officers at an angle, but she's shooting at them."

Mortati said that Ferretti, 22, is back at work but still suffers from permanent numbness on the left side of his leg, pain that shoots down the front of his left leg, and scarring from the exploratory surgery and removal of part of his intestines.

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
SCHENECTADY  Four Schenectady County correction officers, two of them sergeants, resigned under pressure Wednesday for allegedly consorting with a former co-worker facing felony drug charges, according to court papers and people familiar with the matter.

David Garhartt, the ex-jail guard and onetime union vice president at the center of the saga, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and of marijuana, according to a criminal complaint.

State Police tactical officers and narcotics investigators used a search warrant to raid Garhartt's Fiero Avenue home in Rotterdam during the early morning hours of March 30.

Court papers allege that the State Police seized 11 grams of marijuana oil or concentrated cannabis, four pounds of concentrated cannabis in candy form and 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana.

It's unclear if the lawmen, who were caught on surveillance video entering and leaving Garhartt's residence, were engaged in any illegal activity or were taking drugs. They do not face criminal charges. The State Police probe is continuing. The story was first reported by the Daily Gazette.

The four are identified as Sgt. Lloyd Robistow, Sgt. Richard Cellini and Correction Officers Eric Bailey and Paul Lafreniere, according to individuals who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

Robistow was in line to be promoted to a lieutenant. All of the men were highly regarded and didn't have any disciplinary issues. They could not be reached for comment Friday, nor could union President Daniel Menzies.

Sheriff Dominic Dagostino said his office conducted an internal probe after being notified Friday of the State Police matter.

"We were made aware of an incident involving these four individuals which led us to conduct a brief investigation and, as a result of that investigation, we had four individuals tender their resignation," he said.

Attorney Steven X. Kouray, who is representing Garhartt, said Friday that his client maintains his innocence.

Kouray said his client appeared in Rotterdam Town Court Thursday and is due back on May 10.

The lawyer denied accusations that his client implicated the four jail guards, saying the resignations came as "total surprise" to Garhartt.

"Did we say, 'This guy, this guy, this guy?' Absolutely not," said Kouray. "I don't know what else these guys did or didn't do or if it's exclusively with their association with Dave."

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.

This is not the first time that allegations about drugs have landed Garhartt in trouble.

In 2011, he had 10 years on the job when he was fired as a disciplinary measure over allegations of cocaine purchases when his voice turned up numerous times on wiretapped conversations during a criminal probe into a drug syndicate that authorities later dismantled.

Garhartt, who served as vice president of the Schenectady County Sheriff's Benevolent Association, did not face any criminal charges in connection with the drug bust.

He was ultimately rehired after receiving treatment for a drug problem but then sued the county in 2016 alleging it discriminated against him because he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his military service with the Marine Corps.

The suit claimed the county retaliated against him when he complained to the county human resources office and later when he filed a notice of claim, a precursor to a civil action.

County officials countered that Garhartt's mental health problems are what led to his termination.

He recently settled with the county for $185,000 related to his firing.
Washington

Arrests of people illegally crossing into the U.S. from Mexico surged in March, the administration announced Thursday, the day after President Donald Trump asked governors to station National Guard troops along the border.

The Border Patrol arrested 37,393 people in March, a 37 percent increase from February and more than double the number from March of last year, according to statistics released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.

The numbers remain quite low by historical standards, however, tracking closely with figures from recent years in which the number of people apprehended crossing the border rose sharply in the spring. Overall, illegal border crossings in recent years have been at the lowest level since the early 1970s.

The numbers from this year remain well below the big surge that took place in 2014, when more than 50,000 people were detained in March.

Nonetheless, administration officials insisted that the sharp increase from the previous month was cause for concern.

"The crisis at our southwest border is real," said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, once again repeating the administration's pitch to change immigration laws, fund Trump's border wall and "gain operational control of the border."

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.

"As the president has repeatedly said, all options are on the table," she said in her statement.

In recent years, most immigrants illegally crossing the border with Mexico have come from violence-racked Central American countries. They include many families and children who surrender themselves at the border and are, by law, released from detention while they pursue asylum claims. One senior administration official said this week that smugglers are using those laws to encourage people to come to the U.S.

"We can't have our hands tied on who is detained and why we are detaining them," the official said in a call with reporters. "If their only deterrence is to sit in a family detention center for a few weeks, why would they stop coming?"

Last month, border agents detained 8,882 people in families and 4,171 unaccompanied minors  much higher than the level from March 2017, when families and children together accounted for 2,167 apprehensions. Overall, the increase from the previous month was the greatest since 2011.
CLIFTON PARK - Since the Parkland, Fla., shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the debate on how to keep America's students safe has once again risen to the top of the country's collective consciousness.

And while gun enthusiasts and gun control advocates debate policy, Clifton Park Supervisor Phil Barrett is pressing for what he believes could be a quick and inexpensive deterrent to school shootings  opening offices for police in schools.

"I advocate for the expansion of police satellite offices in our schools as a positive initiative that can be pursued in the immediate term," Barrett said. "Many other ideas are being discussed, but we should move forward with a sense of urgency."

It's not a new idea. Warren County Sheriff's deputies have patrolled school halls since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. The law enforcement agency's relationship with local school districts began with the schools opening up small offices, at no cost to the districts. When Lake George Central School district implemented the plan in 2013, High School Principal Francis Cocozza said it was working well.

"It's really encouraging when you see a patrol officer walking around the school," Cocozza told the Post-Star in 2013. "The added value is all of these patrol officers are getting familiar with the schools. We've had at least a dozen different officers in the school since we started this. They're getting to know the students and the faculty."

But for other schools, even those in Warren County, the Parkland shooting has upped expectations. Rural schools are now looking for full-time, dedicated officers in their schools like those in Albany, Rensselaer and Troy, where city police have a long-standing presence in schools. That has prompted Warren County Sheriff Bud York to create a new, $30,000 per building, per year program for a full-time officer in his county's schools. In Saratoga County, Sheriff Michael Zurlo is also working on a plan to assign deputies to schools after a handful of schools approached him following the Valentine's Day shooting in Parkland.

"We are in discussions with several schools," Zurlo said. "We are still trying to work out details."

James Dexter, superintendent of the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES, said Zurlo has alerted superintendents that the Sheriff's Office has proposed a $90,000-a-year-cost per dedicated deputy plan. That's closer to what Averill Park pays the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office, a total of $79,000 a year for a dedicated retired deputy.

Hadley-Lake Luzerne School district, which straddles both Warren and Saratoga counties, has signed up for two Warren County officers  one in each of its buildings, at a cost of $60,000.

"We made the decision in the wake of the Parkland shootings to provide more security and a safer environment for learning," said school Superintendent Beecher Baker.

Rensselaer City School district shares the cost with the city police, paying between $35,000 to $40,000 a year.

For years, schools handled violence with safety officers, unarmed, civil service employees, many of whom were retired police officers. They were trained to intervene inside and outside the classroom when a crisis arose. WSWHE BOCES technical and special education campuses have relied on safety officers for years. So too has Schenectady City Schools.

"They are able to de-escalate a situation and restore order," said Schenectady City School District spokeswoman Karen Corona.

Still, the idea of a school resource officer, who is armed and is usually retired or active police officer, is gaining traction, Dexter said.

"It's another tool," Dexter said. "Districts are looking at all of the options. Personally, I think it's a good idea. There is a growing awareness that a resource officer is important."

He also said schools are looking to the state to supply some funding, though none was included in the state's 2019 enacted budget.

Even with a dedicated deputy, safety is not guaranteed. Stoneman Douglas High School had a designated Broward County deputy assigned to the campus. Yet when the shooting began there, he did not make an attempt to confront the gunman and ended up resigning in disgrace.

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.

Barrett said he has full faith in sheriff's deputies and the State Police to do the job.

"I have every confidence in the men and women of the Saratoga County Sheriff's Department and New York State Police," Barrett said. "When they need to take action to protect Saratoga County and Clifton Park residents, they have and will do so in an effective and professional manner."

But he doesn't want a police presence to be a financial burden on schools.

"I see it as what we are doing with satellite offices in Clifton Park," Barrett said. "We supply office space for the sheriffs in the mall and a place for State Police in our public safety building. The school could give them a satellite office, a desk, a chair, a computer, a copier, a locker, a place they could work out of. The Sheriff's Office would deploy the personnel. It's cost-effective, fairly easy and could avoid an unfortunate incident like the one in Parkland, Fla."

In Albany, city police spend their day in the district at no cost to the school.

"We feel it's important," said Albany police spokesman Steve Smith.

Districts that don't have the resources for an armed, dedicated deputy might consider the New York State Police plan, which is also free to schools.

In a program that has been active for several years, troopers regularly stop by schools on their beat. It allows them to become familiar with administrators and the school population.

"They would become familiar with the building itself too," said State Police spokesman Mark Cepiel. "Should the need arise, they would know the twists and turns of the school."

Whatever option a school chooses, Zurlo said a police presence extends beyond safety. It's about cultivating a positive relationship with the students so in times of distress they will not be afraid to turn to a deputy.



"If they are in schools, they can be talking to kids, intermingling with them," Zurlo said. "The kids are our biggest eyes and ears. If they get to know us, they will trust us."
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It sounds like it might be straight out of a science fiction movie, but researchers at MIT say they've discovered a way to read your silent speech and translate it into actions.

(Image credit: Lorrie Lejeune/MIT)

The technology, called AlterEgo, is an oddly shaped white headset that sits around your ear and curves across your jaw. It's outfitted with electrodes that analyze brain activity and vibrations in your bones when you internally verbalize a message. It takes that data and imports it into a computer that uses neural networks to identify what you were trying to say.

If successful, the system will properly translate your thoughts and convert them into real-world commands.

The motivation for this was to build an IA device  an intelligence-augmentation device, MIT Media Lab graduate student Arnav Kapur, who led the team that developed the technology, told MIT News in an interview. "Our idea was: Could we have a computing platform thats more internal, that melds human and machine in some ways and that feels like an internal extension of our own cognition?

The headset is designed to explore the world of subvocalization, or internal verbalization. The researchers wanted to see if they could find a way to understand the words and inner talks you have with yourself and extract them for real-world use. And in order to do that, they needed to fully evaluate what happens when we think thoughts that we don't actually verbalize.

In that research, the scientists found that we have seven "electrode locations" that provide hints at what we're thinking. And by creating the headset to wrap around the neck, ear, and jaw, the researchers were able to target all seven and gather information. However, they also discovered they could reduce the size of the headset and tap into only four of those locations and get the same results.

As time goes on, they hope to further reduce the number of locations they need to cover to make the headset smaller and less intrusive.

The researchers told MIT News that they used the technology in a variety of ways, including answering math equations and controlling Roku players. In 92 percent of cases, even though not a single word was uttered out loud, the technology was able to determine their thoughts and accurately respond.

Looking ahead, the researchers believe their technology has a variety of real-world applications in loud environments where traditional headsets might not be able to easily hear commands or a person speaking and respond accordingly. They also believe special operations forces could use it to communicate with each other during a silent mission.

Still, there's no telling when, or even if, the technology might eventually find its way to companies or consumers.
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Kashmir Solidarity Day is being observed today across the country to condemn unprecedented Indian brutalities in occupied Kashmir. "Pakistan - has ventured to sound a discordant note", she said.

The federal cabinet at a special meeting earlier this week made a decision to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day on April 6 (Friday) to condemn brutal treatment of Kashmiris and flagrant violation of all human rights and to reaffirm Pakistan's political, diplomatic and moral support for the people of Kashmir in their just and legitimate struggle for their right to self-determination.

Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Faisal during his media briefing said that the ongoing Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir show Indian belligerent mindset and frustration. These resolutions remain unimplemented because India has backed out of its commitments and wants to continue with subjugation and oppression of the Kashmiri people, he said.

The cabinet strongly condemned the indiscriminate use of force by the Indian occupiers, which killed at least 20 people in a crackdown by Indian police in Kashmir on Monday. Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif gave a presentation on the situation in India-occupied Kashmir.

Se produjo la ultima unidad de la Renault Kangoo  Adios

Segun anticipo la compania, este "presentara renovaciones en materia de diseno, equipamiento y prestaciones". Asi, una version furgon de color gris y con destino argentino cerro un ciclo exitoso en el pais.

Gov. Walker signed bills to improve lives of foster families

The county's three Democratic state legislators attended the signing, along with area judges and many foster parents. Walker praised the bipartisan support for legislation that he said addresses Wisconsin issues across the board.

Russian Federation files lawsuit to block Telegram messaging app

Telegram argues that the FSB violates consumer rights, while authorities say the app has been used by violent extremists. Although Telegram later registered, it stopped short of agreeing to the regulator's data storage demands.

The day reiterates Pakistan's support for the Kashmiri people and their longstanding struggle for securing the right of self-determination promised by United Nations resolutions.

Calling Indian occupation of J-K a reign of terror, the Pakistani PM said that Indian forces in the valley have been threatening the people.

"Every men, women, old and young should be on roads and should make the people of Jammu and Kashmir feel that Pakistan is with Kashmiris".

On Oct. 26, 1947 Hari Singh, the last ruling Mahraja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, signed the Instrument of Accession joining the whole of his Muslim-majority princely state to the dominion of India, which was followed by the Indo-Pakistan war.
Everybody follows "desire lines" and does what feels natural. But our cities aren't designed for that.

Whenever there is an article about e-bikes in New York, there are a million complaints that the delivery people on them (and a lot of cyclists) always are salmoning (riding against one-way traffic) or riding on the sidewalk. When I recently wrote about the clarification of the rules on e-bikes, it occurred to me that perhaps part of the problem was the design of the city with all of its one-way streets and avenues.

As I noted, the streets are really long, so a driver wanting to go just a block or two might have to go all the way to the next avenue and just to legally travel with traffic in the right direction. This is a very strong disincentive to doing the right thing.

Google map of new york delivery route/CC BY 2.0

Here is an example; if a delivery guy wants to get from, say, the Pure Thai Cookhouse on 9th to a customer just three blocks north, he has to travel a total of 8 blocks north and south on avenues and two very long blocks on streets. Instead of riding 801 feet north, he has to go a total of 3619 feet.

He wants to go north, because that is what is called the "desire line". But unfortunately, after the Second World War they they made all the avenues one-way so that cars and taxis could race up and down Manhattan, and didn't think about bikes. Who does?

When I mentioned this the tweets started going, complaining that bikes have to follow the rules, that bikes have to act like cars. And in North America, most people think that bikes should follow all the rules as if they are cars, right down to the stop signs on every block. In parts of Europe it is different; Mikael Colville-Andersen tells Fast Company that in Copenhagen, they are treated as "faster pedestrians." A few years ago he also described the problem to Sarah Goodyear of CityLab.

He argues that urban streets need to be refashioned with a humanistic, design-oriented sensibility, not traffic-engineering standards fueled by algorithms that fail to account for human preference and habit. By observing human behavior, following the desire lines that people trace in their cities, we can build places that truly serve human needs.

This is not the first time we have had this discussion. I recently noted that people try to avoid pedestrian overpasses designed to keep roads flowing freely for cars, quoting architect Victor Dover:

As transportation planner Jim Charlier once quipped, The real benefit of pedestrian bridges is to provide shade for the pedestrians that still insist on crossing below them, at ground level.

Or that Elaine Herzberg was in the road where she was killed by an Uber car because she was following a bike path that ended with a sign saying don't cross here. All these situations are pretty much the same: they are set up to expedite cars and to fail pedestrians and cyclists.

Ephemeral New York: Two way traffic on Fifth Avenue/via

Perhaps, instead of yelling at delivery people and cyclists on the sidewalk, New York City could get rid of the one-way avenues and return them to the way they were 60 years ago; this is being done in a lot of cities now and really improves the street for pedestrians and cyclists alike.

Bicycle Coalition/ Contraflow bike lane/via

Or they could emulate Montreal, which also is full of one-way streets. They installed contra-flow lanes that go against traffic, because as journalist Christopher DeWolf noted, Montreal has a lot of one way streets where cyclists ride against the traffic all the time, so this really just legalizes it.

This isn't a legal problem, it is a design problem.

No. This is not a legal issue, it is fundamentally about bad design. Cyclists don't go through stop signs or ride the wrong way because they are evil law-breakers; neither are most drivers who go over the speed limit. Drivers do it because the roads are designed for cars to go fast, so they go fast. Cyclists go through stop signs because they are there to make cars go slow, not to stop bikes. Delivery people and cyclists salmon or go on the sidewalk because having to go four times as far around 10 blocks is ridiculous.

They do it because these systems were designed for cars. Fix the design so that it works for people and you won't have these problems or these deaths and injuries.
Global leaders attending the Global Covid-19 Summit hosted by the United States have again underlined their commitment to ensuring equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries through COVAX  noting that equitable access is essential to end the acute stage of the pandemic.
Take what Anand Ramlogan (former Attorney General) says with a ton of salt.

So said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, as he responded to claims of a strong relationship between himself and former Police Service Commission (PolSC) member Roger Kawalsingh, and that Kawalsingh was driving a Porsche Cayenne which was still registered in his (Al Rawis) name.
If its not broken, dont fix it seems to be the policy with all Government agencies. Before it was a stitch in time saves nine, but that was in colonial days, not now that we are independent.
Two men have been arrested after attempting to smuggle little birds from Guyana in hair curlers.

Two men were arrested on Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in NY for illegally smuggling finches from Guyana, according to an ABC news report. The birds, usually from Guyana, are used in "singing contests", which are popular among some groups of Caribbean immigrants, officials said. According to the Queens Courier, the Eastern District of NY has singing competitions for finches that involve two of the birds belting out a tune while a judge decides which one is the better vocalist.

"My investigation has revealed that individuals keep finches to enter them in singing contests", said Gabriel Harper of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the complaint. Successful Guyanese finches can be worth upward of $5,000 in the United States, Harper wrote in the complaint.

TDP Lawmakers Stayed Put After Rajya Sabha Was Adjourned. Marshalled Out

The TDP members in the Upper House refused to leave the chamber even after the House was adjourned for the day around 2.30 pm. Chandrababu Naidu-led party is protesting against the Centre's refusal to give special category status to Andhra Pradesh .

Facebook admits its data drama has 'a few' advertisers pressing pause

The new policy also makes it clear that WhatsApp and Instagram are part of Facebook and that the companies share information about users.

Sismo de 5.4 grados se registro en Marcona sin mayores consecuencias  ICA

Las autoridades locales de defensa civil aun no han reportado danos personales ni materiales en el lugar. Conserva la calma en todo momento; evalua la situacion y ayuda a los demas.

Victor Benjamin, 72, of Brooklyn, and Insaf Ali, 57, of the Bronx, were caught Wednesday with the songbirds after being chosen for customs inspection, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of NY. "An individual willing to smuggle finches into the United States from Guyana can earn a large profit by selling these birds in the NY area".

The men had traveled with the birds from Georgetown, Guyana.

The pair of men didn't make it past custom agents at the airport on Wednesday, police say, and officials found that they hid the over two dozen birds while on their flight. Benjamin had allegedly concealed 14 birds; Ali had 12 birds. The 26 birds were found stuffed in the curlers and placed in their socks. If convicted on smuggling charges, they face up to 20 years in prison.
for international flights the door close about 15/20 minutes before the departure time.

This is not correct. Everyone likes an early push back. But aircraft doors are not closed until the passenger load is reconciled.

Airlines generally wont hold a flight for late arriving connecting passengers. They cant, as it would wreak havoc on flight slots.

But they also will not finalize the passenger count and close the aircraft door 15-20 minutes before departure when their system knows connecting ( on time) passengers are making their way to the departure gate.
hi friends,

Thanks again! More great suggestions and advice. I was going to skip the central highlands, as Da Lat isn't too well reviewed, but I like that there are trekking options available. I could take trains for that leg instead of flying. I'll definitely do more research into that area.

I did consider just doing a loop and not going back to Hanoi after the Mai Chau/Pu Luong trek, but the bus is included! I want my money's worth! :P Do I get a discount if I don't use the bus? And there isn't a direct bus from Ninh Binh to Mai Chau, but I could manage a connection. It's strange that most/all group trekking options in the North include transport to/from Hanoi. Don't folks get to a place on their own and only want to book a group trek once there, and have their trek NOT include round trip bus to/from Hanoi? I find this all very odd. I know, I could hire my own guide, just don't have the funds for that. I'll definitely look into organizing this part better. I'll change the extra Ben Tre night to Can Tho and plan to take the 8am bus.

Staying in Tam Coc sounds cool, esp a homestay. I'm surprised that I read there's no direct bus Cat Ba to Ninh Binh even if it says there is...I was planning to take this:

Oceania, thanks for the great and detailed trip report! I didn't know that thread existed. I was surprised you said that 1 night in Phnom Phem is enough....I thought folks find it really interesting. And surprised that at the end you weren't thrilled with your time in Vietnam and probably wouldn't return! Not excited about tuk tuk drivers and others always trying to rip me off....but not too different than India, and I'll have lots of practice in SEA! Lots of good tips...I'll have to study your report more, and others too.

Thanks again for all these great tips! I have lots more research to do now. :) I am very grateful for all the experts here!
In very early stages of planning a trip to Vietnam (thinking late March/early April 2019). I'm not too interested HCMC and we have 2 weeks but, is this itinerary crazy?

Friday - depart late (12am, technically, Sat)

Sat - in transit

Sun - arrive Hanoi by 12pm. (Nap and PM food tour)

Mon - Hanoi

Tues - Hanoi and o/n train to SaPa

Wed - SaPa

Thurs - SaPa and o/n train to Hanoi

Fri - Arrive Hanoi and transfer to Halong Bay

Sat - Halong Bay and return to Hanoi

Sun- Fly to Hue (Vietjet ok??)

Mon - Hue Riders (or other?) transfer to Hoi An

Tues - Hoi An

W - Hoi An

Th - Hoi An

F - Fly Vietjet from Danang back to Hanoi

Sat - Hanoi

Sun - Return to US.

Would you give less days to Hoi An and more to something else? Our early trip is quite busy so the 4 nights in Hoi An (with the beaches, etc) seems reasonable for relaxation. Some Qs I have are: Should we skip Hue? Do 2 nights in Halong Bay? More time in Hanoi?

Also, Hubs is not a fan of heights/driving in cliffy areas so, though I would love it, I am wondering what other the options are to transfer from Hue to Hoi An if we don't skip it altogether.

Just to get a sense of our travel style, we are a couple, mid-30s. We prefer not move around too much on our trips (packing and unpacking = no fun) but, some of that can't be avoided since we want to see SaPa and Halong...we like eating, people watching, and cultural events.
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>>Some websites say I can buy this the day of travel.

It's likely the tickets would have been sold out prior to your arrival in your timeline.

Mid-May would still be fairly busy in the Alpine route for the Snow wall walk. Better book your tickets online in advance and allow 5 to 6 hours to cross it one-way.

refer to its forecasted calendar by month.

Note that Shinano-Omachi is on the wrong side if you need to return to Kyoto - it'd take 4 hours+ excluding connection even if you'd take Shinkansen for the Nagoya-Kyoto leg.

Toyama/Kanazawa is closer (in terms of travel time) to return to Kyoto.
Better not to use RAIL PASS for only Tokyo-Osaka round trip, it is really dear.

Moreover, the pass limited your choice for Shinkansen.

Consider at least one transfer by domestic flight, which only costs JPY7560 for foreigners.

(Either ANA Experience JAPAN Fare or JAL Japan Explorer Pass)
We just spent a week in the Arenal/LaFortuna area and truly did not think it was a long time. In fact, we did not see everything the area has to offer and would go back for another week sometime in the future. It really depends on what kind of vacation you like. I know many people who spend time in two different spots in Costa Rica during their week, but for us that's just too much. I would definitely change your zipline experience to Skytrek and do the tram and ziplining experience as crfran suggested. They do a wonderful job there! We had lunch there as well. Beautiful spot to sit and eat. I am in the process of adding my trip to this forum but it's taking a bit to get it done with work. Hopefully I'll get it going this weekend. Other things we did included the Daysprings, Mystico Bridges, and whitewater rafting. Enjoy your week! There's plenty to do!
"To us, it's all new wall", she said.

Nielsen declined to say how many troops would be sent to the border or how long they would stay there but said the deployment "will be strong".

She said that the function of the national guard on the border would "include everything from aerial surveillance and some of the support functions" for the border patrol.

"The situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis", Trump said in the memorandum.

Mexico said it has emphasized to the Trump administration that if the deployment comes to resemble a militarization of the border, "it will gravely damage the bilateral relationship".

Federal law prohibits the use of active-duty service members for law enforcement inside the USA, unless specifically authorized by Congress.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpPompeo, Joint Chiefs chairman challenged Trump plans to withdraw from Syria: report Mexican senators call on Pena Nieto to halt cooperation with United States after Trump attacks Trump signs off on memo to send National Guard to southern border MORE signed Wednesday a proclamation to deploy the National Guard to the border.

"Operation Phalanx would be a way for the National Guard to provide air support", she said. "CRIME! We will be taking strong action today".

Jared Leto Hits Texas Motor Speedway During Cross-Country Mars Across America Journey!

Jared Leto wants to buy a custom pink NASCAR 30 Seconds to Mars stock vehicle . Zizzo says the custom wrap was done by 360 Wraps, a local Texas company.

YouTube shooter's bizarre videos key to suspected motive

The brother has revealed that in advance of the attack, he and his family warned the police about her unstable status. YouTube had no immediate comment about any actions related to Nasim Aghdam's videos, spokesman Chris Dale said.

Private Advisory Group LLC Trims Position in Verizon Communications (VZ)

Finally, Allegis Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 16.6% in the second quarter. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.10%. (NYSE:VZ) shares were sold by Skiadas Anthony T.

New Mexico Senator Tom Udall, a Democrat, criticized the deployment as an "offensive effort to militarize the border" and "another pitiful attempt to distract attention from the risky chaos the president is creating".

He said under the Obama administration's policies, the migrants could be released into the US with a court date, but that many would never show up to court.

A senior White House official also said the Trump administration is crafting legislation to make it harder for refugees to gain asylum in the US and loosen restrictions on undocumented immigrants apprehended near the border. "He has been very clear that he wants to secure our border". The president has ramped up his border-security talk in recent days, after hearing reports of an immigrant caravan that is headed toward the U.S. The caravan is a group of individuals, primarily from Honduras, that is seeking asylum in Mexico and the U.S.to flee instability in their home country.

Trump met with Defense Secretary James Mattis, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Nielsen and other officials to discuss border issues on Tuesday.

Trump has faced pressure from immigration hawks to show that he remains committed to their cause after signing a government spending bill last month that fell far short of the goals he'd set for new border wall construction this year.

Nielsen said the effort would be similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed troops to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained.

"The idea here is to choose different mission subsets that the National Guard can perform to help our Border Patrol, so we have a variety of recommendations that we've made".

American law may also restrict how much the military can do to carry out Trump's wishes.
- Aggrey Mzenga Wanyama has lived in the United States for 25 years

- His continued stay will however not be possible with Trump's new Immigration policy

- Wanyama was an English professor at Augsburg University and also worked as a nurse

- He has three kids and students who love him and are protesting against his deportation

- But Immigration authorities insist he must leave the country or face forceful deportation

A relative of Devolution Cabinet Secretary (CS) Eugene Wamalwa is now staring at forceful deportation from the United States if he will not leave the country in 90 days.

TUKO.co.ke has reliably learned Aggrey Mzenga Wanyama, an English professor at Augsburg University in Minnesota, was on Thursday, April 5, ordered to pack and go after his appeal to seek political asylum flopped.

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Professor Aggrey Mzenga Wanyama moved to the United States in 1992 on a student visa. Photo:TUKO.

READ ALSO: CS Eugene Wamalwa's relative faces deportation from United States

According to CBS TV and other news outlets in the United States, the Kenyan-born professor was on Thursday afternoon informed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities that he had three months to collect his stuff and exit the country.

Wanyama, who moved to the United States on a student visa in 1992 and acquired a PhD and became a lecturer, is believed to be one of the victims of President Donald Trump's tough and controversial Immigration policy.

READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna deported again

Professor Aggrey Mzenga Wanyama, an English professor at Augsburg University in Minnesota,speaking to one of his students Photo: Sahara Tribune.

TUKO.co.ke understands Wanyama's earlier appeal for political asylum was rejected.

He had been asked by the immigration authorities to report back for a review of his case and to arrange for departure back to Kenya.

With his appeal having been dismissed by court, Wanyama is now left with no other choice but to abandon his job and come back to his motherland.

READ ALSO: Miguna's deportation is a national security issue - Matiangi

Students, fellow teachers and other immigrants living in the United States protest imminent deportation of Professor Aggrey Wanyama. Photo: Gita Sitaramiah/Twitter.

Meanwhile, students and teachers at Augsburg University and other members of the immigrants' community in the United States have been protesting Wanyama's looming deportation.

This is about the whole immigrant community and not just about being Kenyan. We are talking about a man who has contributed very widely in this society. He is a professor. He mentored me. He is a father figure to many of us, Renson Anjere, a fellow Kenyan living in US, told CBS TV.

READ ALSO: How Kenyans reacted to Miguna's re-deportation

The beloved professor also enjoys high profile support including from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey who is against the deportation and has been in the forefront fighting for Wanyama to stay and continue with his good work.

He is not just a resident, and he is not just a community member, he is a member of our family and the City of Minneapolis. He not going anywhere, Frey told CBS TV.

Ironically, Wanyama's deportation comes at a time when Kenyan government is also on the spot for allegedly deporting its own citizen, Miguna Miguna.

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
- The fresh report has unearthed massive theft in government institutions and agencies

- Those named in the new list of shame failed to account for millions of taxpayers money

- They were found to be notorious of flaunting procurement laws and over-paying allowances

- The report was released a few days after Uhuru issued stern warning over corruption

A new damning report by the Auditor General Edward Ouko has exposed some of the most corrupt state agencies and institutions where billions of taxpayers cash has reportedly disappeared.

The graft dossier released on Thursday, April 5, revealed Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and National Social Security Fund (NSSF) were among the government institutions and agencies that could not account for all the money spent, TUKO.co.ke can report.

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Auditor-General Edward Ouko released the new graft dossier a few days after President Uhuru Kenyatta issued stern warning to corrupt state officials.Photo: Mediamax.

READ ALSO: Edward Ouko Reveals Govt Institutions That Lost KSh 66.7B

Other corporations and institutions with questionable transactions according to the Auditor-General were the National Land Commission, Uwezo Fund and Geothermal Development Corporation.

Some of the named agencies and institutions were found to have grossly violated procurement laws and spend more than expected in allowances.

READ ALSO: Treasury Dismisses Mega Corruption Scandals In Government

1. Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH)

The report revealed over KSh 841 million disappeared at KNH.

Ouko noted the said amount was lost in medical service contract with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).

The Auditor General also questioned expenditure of over KSh 500 million in employees costs, overtime and medical allowances at the giant public health facility.

READ ALSO: Government is broke, Treasury says as it recommends reducing allocation to counties by KSh 17 billion

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) among the most corrupt institutions according to new Auditor General's report.Photo:Kenyatta National Hospital.

2. National Social Security Fund (NSSF)

The Auditor General found NSSF spent more than KSh 21 million in legal fees without approval from the Office of the Attorney General as required.

Ouko also questioned the purchase of the KSh 450 million Hazima Plaza in Upper Hill, Nairobi.

3. National Land Commission (NLC)

Ouko found the National Land Commission had failed to deposit KSh 19 million spent on foreign and local trips.

The amount was instead traced to a personal account at the National Bank of Kenya and with several withdrawals already made.

4. Geothermal Development Corporation

Going by the Auditor General's report, the Geothermal Development Corporation did not pay KSh 1.4 billion in corporate income tax for the fiscal year 2015.

The report revealed the Corporation failed to remit the said amount even after it was slapped with KSh 405 million fine by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for the delayed payment.

READ ALSO: No, government is not broke - Treasury CS Henry Rotich changes tune

5. Uwezo Fund.

Uwezo Fund, a vision 2030 flagship programme aimed at enabling women, youth and persons with disability access capital to promote their enterprises, has also been found guilty of graft after it failed to prepare bank reconciliations for nine accounts worth KSh 1.8 billion going by Ouko's report.

The graft report came a few days after President Uhuru Kenyatta issued a stern warning to senior state officials over corruption.

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.

Fred Matiang'i, Joseph Boinnet, Gordon Kihalagwa slapped with Ksh.200,000 fine - On Tuko TV

Source: Tuko
- Kaluma said the populous regions were tired with the deputy president's blackmail

- He slammed Ruto for allegedly being irredeemably corrupt, disrespectful and utterly tribal

- He argued voters from Central Kenya were yet to forgive the DP

- The MP claimed the Jubilee politician remained a stumbling block to the Uhuru-Raila peace deal

Deputy President William Ruto's first stab at the presidency has for the first time met strong opposition from the NASA coalition.

This is after an opposition MP claimed Nyanza and Central Kenya regions will not support his bid.

Homa Bay Town legislator Peter Opondo Kaluma on Friday, April, slammed Ruto for allegedly being irredeemably "corrupt", "disrespectful" and utterly "tribal".

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Kaluma said the two populous regions were tired of deputy president's blackmail.

READ ALSO: William Ruto gives KSh 53 million to herders whose cattle was taken by Tanzania government

Kaluma also asserted Ruto remained a stumbling block to any arrangement that sought to end impunity and injustices. Photo: George Peter Kaluma/Facebook.

READ ALSO: William Ruto meets Nyeri county MPs as 2022 succession battle shapes up

In a Facebook post, the second time vocal lawmaker also asserted the Jubilee politician remained a stumbling block to any arrangement that sought to end impunity and injustices.

"Ruto is fighting dialogue. He can not support any arrangement targeting to fight corruption and impunity, electoral injustice and ethnic exclusion. These are his springboard," said the MP.

"Dialogue will not take off unless and until Ruto is reassured it is not aimed at establishing political reunion between Nyanza and Central Kenya. Unfortunately for him, the two regions are tired of his blackmail," he claimed.

READ ALSO: ODM MPs SLAPPED heavy fine for exchanging blows in front of Raila Odinga

The lawmaker also asserted the deputy president remained a stumbling block to any arrangement that sought to end impunity. Photo: William Someoi Ruto/Facebook.

Perhaps referring to 2007 post-election violence, the ODM MP argued voters from Central Kenya were yet to forgive the DP and therefore may consider voting a different political formation.

"Despite his public pretenses, Central Kenya has not forgiven Ruto and will not vote him to be the president in 2022. The Luos hate Ruto, he is corrupt, tribal, disrespectful and inhumane," he continued.

Further, he alleged the leader who is also second in Jubilee party hierarchy opposed the famous handshake between President Uhuru and NASA leader Raila Odinga.

READ ALSO: Nyeri governor bans use of Kikuyu language by county staff

" It is now William Ruto, impunity, status quo against Kenyans seeking one united, just equal and fair Kenya for all. This handshake will define the politics of Kenya into the future," he said.

Even though Uhuru and Ruto agreed to work together after the deadly skirmishes that hit most parts of Kenya in 2007, a cloud of mistrust still hovers above leaders from these two regions.

Members of Kikuyu community living around Kiambaa area in Eldoret North constituency were the biggest casualty of the violence. which was later said to have been allegedly sponsored by the the DP.

Both Uhuru and Ruto as well as another four suspects were hauled to the International Criminal Court(ICC) and charged with crimes against humanity following the 2007 skirmishes.

All the cases of the six suspects were dropped due to lack of evidence with the UhuRuto duo riding on the cases to win the 2013 presidential election.

Kaluma's sentiments came barely two weeks after Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko claimed some leaders from Central Kenya were holding late night meetings to sabotage Ruto's 2022 presidential ambitions.

At least six politicians have declared interest to succeed Uhuru in the next poll.

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
- Police arrested students travelling home from school after bhang and alcohol were found in a bus they were in

- The driver of the bus refused to stop even after he was flagged down by traffic police from Chuka Police station

- Twenty four students from Ikuu Boys High School and nine from Karamugu Girls High School were locked up

- The students were released hours later following consultation between police and officials from Ministry of Education

- The bus was nabbed at Kangoro market at the border of Tharaka-Nithi and Embu Counties after a blistering chase

A Nairobi-bound bus was on Friday, March 6, nabbed by traffic police officers along the busy Chuka-Nairobi highway after it emerged that it was transporting drunk students who were travelling home after closing schools.

The officers, drawn from Chuka Police station, impounded the bus following an impromptu search that unearthed rolls of marijuana and several cans of alcohol.

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TUKO.co.ke has learnt that the officers had a rough time intercepting the bus belonging to Huruma Minibus Sacco since the driver sped off even after being flagged down.

READ ALSO: 40 Students Arrested 'Having Sex, Smoking Bhang' In Matatu In Kirinyaga

Students arrested after bhang and alcohol was found in bus they were travelling in.Photo: CitizenTV

READ ALSO: Nairobi matatus refuse to carry slay queen who had stepped out in revealing clothes

The officers, however, managed to catch up with the bus at Kangoro market at the border of Tharaka-Nithi and Embu counties after a blistering chase.

The Friday morning incident was confirmed by Chuka/Igambangombe OCPD, Barasa Sayia who said police manning a section of the highway between Chuka and Embu town flagged down the bus but the driver defied orders.

Speaking to journalists moments after the interception, Sayia said police arrested and locked up the driver, his conductor and 33 students; 24 from Ikuu Boys High School and nine from Karamugu Girls High School at Chuka Police station.

READ ALSO: Uliza mamako! Sabina Chege amkaripia mfuasi wake aliyemuuliza swali tata kumhusu Benson Chacha

Police arrest students found with alcohol and bhang in PSV. Photo: BusinessDaily

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: 22 funniest memes about conman accused of sleeping with 13 MPs which will make your day

TUKO.co.ke has however learnt the students were released and handed over to their respective principals after consultations between police and officials from the Ministry of Education.

This is not the first time students have been caught misbehaving and indulging in alcohol and sexual acts in a public transport vehicle.

In 2015, over 41 secondary school students were arrested by police officers after being found in possession of bhang and allegedly having sex in a bus while heading home from school.

The students, both male and female, were detained at Kiangwachi Police Patrol Base in Kirinyaga County after police intercepted the 33-seater vehicle.

The incident happened on Wednesday, August 5, 2015.

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: Tuko
- Nyeri Town MP faulted CJ Maraga for defending Judiciary against constant attacks

- Ngunjiri Wambugu claimed Judiciary is also accountable for its actions saying its is not God

- Maraga had responded to CS Matiang'i's accusations claiming judges had been captured by the opposition

A vocal Jubilee MP has told off Chief Justice David Maraga over the standoff between the executive and the Judiciary.

Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu who filed a petition with an intention to kick Maraga out of office after Supreme Court annulled Uhuru Kenyattas August 2017 win, said the judiciary was "not God".

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In a Facebook post seen by TUKO.co.ke, Wambugu said the Judiciary was not exempt from criticism.

READ ALSO: Mt Kenya leaders unanimously agree to support William Ruto's presidential bid

MP Ngunjiri wambugu who told off CJ David Maraga. Photo: Ngunjiri Wambugu/Facebook

Wambugu was responding to Maragas defence of judges and magistrates who have been facing sustained attacks from the executive and Jubilee leaning leaders over decisions they make in court.

Maraga, on Thursday, April 5, lectured Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi, after he sensationally claimed some magistrates and judges were working with the opposition and activists to embarrass the government.

"I am not aware of any part of the Judiciary that has been captured by the opposition or the media. If you go back to before we had elections, we had quite a number of cases coming to court. We ruled in favour of both the government and the opposition. We also ruled against both the government and the opposition. The cases are dealt with on the basis of evidence," Maraga said.

"We have the Judicial Review Division, we have the Constitutional Division and so forth. Sometimes you find the cases are being handled by the same judges, but this does not mean they have been captured by the opposition," Maraga said.

READ ALSO: 5 touts arrested for attempting to block NYS buses in Kawangware

Chief Justice David Maraga gestures during a past court session. Photo: Daily Nation

Matiangi had insinuated that High Court judge George Odunga was working with the opposition after he summoned, convicted and sentenced top government officers for contempt of court.

The CS, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet and Immigration PS Gordon Kihalangwa were slapped with a KSh 200,000 fine for disobeying court orders issued in favour of NRM general Miguna Miguna.

READ ALSO: Joho yuko wapi? Wakenya washangaa picha iliyotangaza kutoweka kwake ikisambaa

According to Wambugu, Maraga was not right to defend the judicial officers claiming it was true some were working at the mercy of the opposition.

Essentially our Judiciary believes their being independent means they cant be held accountable by anyone else, outside of themselves? Really? This sounds like they think they are God! he said.

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.

Fred Matiang'i, Joseph Boinnet and Gordon Kihalagwa slapped with Ksh.200,000 fine - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko
- Botswana's new Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Bogolo Kenewendo has left many men on her trail with her beauty

- The newly appointed minister is a perfect example of beauty and brains

- Countless people took to social media to gush over her beauty and congratulate her for the appointment

Gone are the days when politics used to be a profession only fit for old men and women.

Today, the world has morphed with different countries seeing young people being elected and nominated as political leaders.

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With that said, a 29 year-old hot Botswana politician has become an instant online sensation after photos showing her flawless beauty emerged.

READ ALSO: 32 hilarious all time scams that every Kenyan can relate to

Botswana minister leaves men high and not so dry with her beauty. Photo: Mmegi Online

Hot Botswana lady appointed minister. Photo: Mzansi

Meet the youngest female Botswana minister. Photo: Botswana Times

Female Botswana minister breaks the internet with her beauty. Photo:JN Njeru/Facebook

Botswana minister warms hearts on social media with her beauty.Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

READ ALSO: 18 jaw-dropping photos of socialite Corazon Kwamboka's lookalike baby sister flaunting her appetising figure

Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, who is the newest Investment, Trade and Industry Minister and perhaps youngest, has left countless men high and not so dry, not because of her appointment but because of her physical appearance.

Youngest female Botswana minister is perfect proof of beauty and brains.Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

Botswana minister becomes and instant internet sensation.Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

Young Botswana minister flaunts her beauty. Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

Young African leader impresses many with her beauty. Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

READ ALSO: 22 funniest memes about conman accused of sleeping with 13 MPs which will make your day

Kenewendo impressed quite a multitude of people who took to social media to congratulate her for her new job and above all, beauty, curves and perfect edges, holding that other African countries should replicate the same.

Young female Botswana minister has become the love of many thanks to her beauty. Photo: Nairaland

Botswana minister induces lust online with her beauty. Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

Botswana minister is blessed with flawless beauty.Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Instagram

READ ALSO: Uliza mamako! Sabina Chege amkaripia mfuasi wake aliyemuuliza swali tata kumhusu Benson Chacha

TUKO.co.ke has learnt that the hot lass was appointed by Botswanas new president Mokgweetsi Masisi, who had in his inaugural address pledged to invest in the youth and create more job opportunities for them.

Her appointment made her the youngest ever minister in Botswana.

Botswana minister proves she is arguably the hottest politician in Africa. Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo/Twitter

Meet the hot Botswana minister giving men sleepless nights.Photo:Weekend Post

Botswana minister who has become an internet sensation turns heads. Photo: Mmegi

Before her latest fete, the riveting Bogolo was a Member of Parliament, a position she was given by former president Ian Khama two years ago.

She has proved countless times that she is not only beautiful but also smart and responsible, having worked as a trade economist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Government of Ghana.

With her portfolio, her appointment was not based on her beauty but what she can deliver.

And one more thing team mafisi. She looks so single..because after we did serious scrutiny, we realised she has no ring in her fingers, a clear indication that any of us has an opportunity to wife her.

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: Tuko
- Central Kenya politicians refuted claims that there were plans in the region to sabotage Ruto's ambitions

- The politicians assured Ruto of their full support saying the decision to back him was not negotiable

- They said the truce between Raila and Uhuru did not affect Jubilee's political resolve

Deputy President William Ruto's 2022 presidential bid received a big boost after leaders from Central Kenya assured him of their total support.

The politicians on Friday, April 5, refuted claims that there were plans in the region to sabotage Ruto's ambitions, saying their support for him was not negotiable.

They noted the decision by NASA leader Raila Odinga to agree to work with President Uhuru Kenyatta does not affect Jubilee Partys succession plan.

READ ALSO: Four brothers kill uncle over coffin in Trans Nzoia

Ruto during the launch of roads in Kirinyaga County. Photo: William Ruto/ Facebook

Speaking in Muranga High School during a prize giving day attended by the DP, the leaders told off some politicians claiming there were plans by Mt Kenya leaders to cripple Ruto's political agenda.

Ruto, during the launch of the Kerugoya-Rutue-Kiandieri and Njegas- Mutito-Kagumo-Mukinduri roads in Kirinyaga County, urged leaders to unite and serve the people.

I urge all leaders to unite and avoid divisive politics. Lets focus our energies on development, said Mr Ruto.

READ ALSO: Kenyan journalists unite to save colleague battling cancer in India

The DP asked Kirinyaga leaders to unite for the sake of development in the region. Photo: Wiliam Ruto/ Facebook

He urged Kirinyaga leaders to tone down on competitive politics for the sake of unity and development.

The DP said time for politics was over and asked leaders to focus their energies on helping the electorate.

He said the governments transformative agenda through the Big Four-manufacturing, healthcare, housing and food security was on course, saying nothing will deter its resolve to uplifting the lives of its citizens.

READ ALSO: Moral police Ezekiel Mutua attacked by netizens after comparing himself to Martin Luther King

Central Kenya politicians assured Ruto of their full support in his presidential bid 2022. Photo: William Ruto/ Facebook

Our transformative agenda for the country cant wait, cant be postponed and cant be challenged. We are working to ensure the success of our agenda, he said.

The DP said Jubilee has decided to work with leaders in the opposition in uniting the country.

We have said no to politics of hatred, tribalism and confusion. This is why we have decided to work together with those in opposition in uniting the people, he said.

READ ALSO: Murkomen speaks his mind after Uhuru appointed his political rival David Kimaiyo to plum position

Ruto said said time for politics was over and asked leaders to focus their energies on matters of development. Photo: William Ruto/ Facebook.

TUKO.co.ke reported earlier how a former Nyeri MP Muhika Mutahi,urged Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua to seek support of Central Kenya residents in his presidential ambitions.

Nyeri governor Mutahi Kahiga described Mutua as an exemplary leader whose track record was evident to all.

As formerly reported, the DP has held series of meetings with Mt Kenya leaders in what some political analysts have termed as an attempt to appease the people of Central and gain their support.

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

I lost my leg in Afghanistan, almost gave up - on TUKO TV

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- 55-year-old Ann Ng'ang'a woke up from a month-long coma while receiving treatment at KNH

- Her family had witnessed her health deteriorate slowly in the past three months

- She was in a private hospital before being moved to KNH where her condition improved

- The incidence could help KNH redeem its reputation after series of negative publicity

- KNH was ordered to compensate Simon Kimani Wachira, a victim of botched surgery

Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) is on the headlines yet again but this time with some good news.

This is after an extraordinary incidence that happened two weeks ago when 55 year-old Ann Ng'ang'a woke up from a month-long coma while receiving treatment at the facility.

Jane Kuria, a sister to the patient, revealed how the family was elated with the news having witnessed her health deteriorate slowly in the past three months.

READ ALSO: Bungoma Jesus with 7 children outlines plans to launch third testament bible

55-year-old Ann Ng'ang'a woke up from a month-long coma at KNH. Photo: KNH/ Facebook

READ ALSO: Kenyatta National Hospital ordered to compensate patient who was wrongly operated on

"When it reaches that point of hearing doctors say she is really in a bad position, is time to let her go, sometimes you accept maybe this is what we have to do," said Kuria.

Ng'ang'a, a teacher by profession had been admitted at a private hospital before being moved to KNH.

According to the doctors, the change of environment and treatment seemed to have improved her condition.

READ ALSO: Kenyan journalists unite to save colleague battling cancer in India

"We found she had a lot of organ dysfunction and we had to support most of her organs. We successfully did that and she came out of her coma," said Ann Mugera, Head of ICU at the hospital.

"I have been in ICU for long, 16 years. The ones who have been in coma for long did not make it. This is the most exciting and positive thing I have ever seen," said Esther Murunga, another nurse in the ICU.

The hospital which has been on the spotlight recently for all the wrong reasons could undoubtedly be banking on this prodigy to redeem itself.

KNH was recently ordered to compensate a patient who was wrongly operated on. Photo: Star

READ ALSO: Joho yuko wapi? Wakenya washangaa picha iliyotangaza kutoweka kwake ikisambaa

As recently reported, the hospital was ordered to compensate a patient who was wrongly operated on.

TUKO.co.ke, reported previously how KNH surgeons caused an uproar among Kenyans after conducting open brain surgery on the wrong patient.

The outlandish medical blunder led to suspension of top officials including KNH chief executive officer Lily Koros who was sent on compulsory leave.

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 I lost my leg in Afghanistan, almost gave up - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
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
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A 23-year-old resident of Sloviansk, who served as commander of a squad of militants, has surrendered to police officers in Donetsk region, Donetsk regional police reported on Thursday, April 5.

"The fifth one over the past ten days - the commander of a squad of militants has surrendered to Bakhmut police officers," reads the report.

It notes that the 23-year-old man joined the ranks of terrorists in 2015, leaving his wife with a one-year-old child in Sloviansk.

The mercenary traveled to the occupied town of Yenakiyeve, where he was appointed the commander of a mortar squad. According to the militant, he was engaged in electricity repairs and economic matters at a military unit. Six months later, the recruit was disappointed with the ideas of the so-called 'DPR,' because "the leaders are engaged in looting and are busy only with their financial position."

For a long time, the man was looking for ways to return to the territory controlled by Ukraine. He learned in the media about other militants who returned to normal life, voluntarily surrendering to the police. At the end of March, he left the fake republic and went to Bakhmut police officers.

Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 2, Article 260 (the creation of paramilitary or armed formations not stipulated by law) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. After thorough checks are conducted and materials of the case are sent to court, the man may be released from criminal liability.

op
Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak held a meeting with the delegation of the US Senate led by United States Senator Rob Portman, Co-Chair of Senate Ukraine Caucus, the Defense Ministrys press service reported on April 5.

We have been reforming our army for about two years. During the course of reform, we set ourselves very serious goals and tasks - to achieve NATO standards and increase capabilities, the minister said and praised the assistance provided by the United States to Ukraine and efficiency of advisory consultations.

According to Poltorak, the best example of Ukraines effective work is the adoption in the first reading of the law On National Security of Ukraine.

According to the defense minister, this document is very important, as it defines all main positions laid in the process of the reform. Also, the document contributes to more efficient cooperation with the Alliance.

During all these years of conflict we have demonstrated the world that we can defend our country even at the expense of our lives. Ukraine is a country that is sure that the ongoing conflict could be resolved only in a political and diplomatic way, Poltorak said.

At the same time, the defense minister stressed that a strong army should be built in the country.

The parties during the meeting also discussed development of cooperation and its prospects.

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Ukraine is not planning to carry out a large-scale offensive and seize territory in Donbas as Russia did in Chechnya. At the same time, Ukraine should strengthen its Armed Forces so that they are ready not only for defense, but also for liberation of occupied territories.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said this in an interview with the government's Uriadovy Kurier newspaper, while commenting on the prospects in the military sense, which are opened by the adopted law on the peculiarities of state policy on ensuring Ukraine's state sovereignty over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The law creates preconditions for the return of the occupied Donbas. "This law makes it possible to effectively keep our positions without giving the enemy any chance to seize new territories. It contributes to preparations for the liberation of Ukrainian lands," the minister said.

He also added: "We are not planning to carry out large-scale offensive operations and seize territory as Russia did in Chechnya, destroying thousands of civilians. Ukraine is a civilized country that will solve in a civilized manner the problem of the return of all territories occupied by the invader."

Poltorak also said: "A political and diplomatic peaceful solution to the situation is the most logical one, in view of the whole complex of causes and consequences that triggered and fuel the conflict in the Ukrainian Donbas. What means are forming this corridor of opportunities? In my opinion, the issue concerns the observance of the Minsk agreements and the persistent reaching of a decision on the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force under conditions acceptable to Ukraine."

"I clearly understand that it takes time to achieve this goal, but we have no alternative but to simultaneously strengthen the Armed Forces, so that they are ready not only for defense, but also for liberation of occupied territories, to which our army has the right and has never lost it," he added.

According to Poltorak, the UN force in Donbas would only make sense "if it helps disengage illegal armed groups, take control of the 400-kilometer-long section of the Ukrainian-Russian border, and stop the supply of Russian troops and armament in the occupied territory. Then it will possible to talk about full-scale adequate political processes and reintegration of Donetsk and Luhansk."

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No Ukrainian soldier has been injured in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in eastern Ukraine over the past day.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO issues, Colonel Dmytro Hutsuliak said this at a press briefing on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"As a result of enemy attacks, there have been no casualties among our defenders, servicepersons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces," he said.

The ministrys spokesperson added that Russian-backed militants continue to violate the Easter ceasefire. They launched 27 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the past day.

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The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian-Danish Energy Center in 2019 will represent the program of Ukraine's energy forecast balance for three years.

Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk said this during a Government Question Hour meeting on Friday, April 6, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Together with the Danish Energy Agency, we have developed a program of the energy forecast balance of our state for three years. I think it will be represented in 2019. This is a breakthrough in the issues of forecast modelling," said Nasalyk.

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Coal reserves in Ukraine by the end of the heating season amounted to 1.7 million tonnes.

Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk said this during a Government Question Hour meeting on Friday, April 6, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

We began the autumn-winter period with [coal] reserves totaling 1.4 million tonnes, and completed with the reserves totaling 1.7 million tonnes. We managed not to reduce coal reserves, we even increased them," said Nasalyk.

He noted that the united energy system of Ukraine operates as usual.

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The Ukrainian side will do its utmost to ensure that turbines produced by German company Siemens, which were supplied by Russia to the occupied Crimea, could not work.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said this during the government question hour in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"We are taking measures in all directions, diplomatic and other channels, in order to block their work and demand a reaction to impose additional sanctions on the aggressor country," Groysman said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, in turn, recalled that Ukraine had repeatedly turned to the German government and the European Union, as well as directly to Siemens, with the request to prevent the work of turbines on the peninsula.

"We tried to stop this in a coordinated manner by filing respective lawsuits. Siemens continues these lawsuits, so that the turbines, which were fraudulently brought to the territory of the occupied Crimea, did not work there. I received a message from the Siemens leadership and the German leadership that they will continue to act politically and judicially to prevent this," he said.

As reported, after a scandal with the supply of Siemens turbines to the occupied Crimea, Germany initiated personal sanctions against responsible persons in the Russian government, in the Energy Ministry.

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The natural gas production in Ukraine will grow by 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) every year.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said this during a Government Question Hour meeting on Friday, April 6, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We are the second-third in Europe in terms of the volume of natural gas fields. The Ukrainian gas fields had not been developed, and everything that concerned the Ukrainian gas production was destroyed. Today we are creating conditions under which gas production volumes will grow by at least 1 billion a year. This will ensure our independence from anyone who delivers gas to Ukraine," Groysman said.

He noted that the Ukrainian government raises the issue on the North Stream 2 project at every meeting with international partners.

"It is not a commercial project. It is a purely political project. It is a project that will be used by Russia so that to make the whole of Europe badly dependent on gas, Groysman said.

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Ukraine intends to submit proposals on sending its consuls to Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze has said live on Channel 5.

"First and foremost, we will submit our proposals on sending our consuls to Rostov-on-Don. We understand that we need to have our consuls in Rostov. Due to the fact that five of them were expelled, it is important for us today to protect citizens who are either in Russian prisons or simply stay in Russia, so it is necessary for us to submit our proposals," Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

When asked about Russia's possible desire to return the same number of Russian diplomats to Ukraine, she said that "this may be the simplest scenario that we can design."

At the same time, she said that Ukraine would act in cooperation with international partners in the decision on diplomats.

"This will not be a separate step by Ukraine, which will independently solve these issues directly, only in bilateral relations with Russia. We joined the unified actions of Western civilization, which is extremely important, in relation to the expulsion of the so-called Russian diplomats but, in fact, spies. Therefore it is not just a step detached from the broad international context, and we will continue to act in the international context," Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

As reported, about 30 countries, as well as NATO, decided to expel Russian diplomats in response to Russia's use of a chemical weapon in Salisbury, Britain, where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned on March 4.

Ukraine decided to expel 13 Russian diplomats. Russia, in turn, expelled the same number of Ukrainian diplomats.

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The prehistoric island of Jindo is one of the 14 states of Korea and is connected to the mainland by a twin bridge which was the worlds longest and narrowest bridge at the time of its construction. The island had many names in the past and served as a refuge to rebellion forces during the Mongol invasions. It is also famous for a very specific breed of dog called Korean Jindo which is known for its fierce loyalty and hunting abilities. This dog has also been considered a national, cultural legacy since 1936. The uniqueness of Jindos location and a combination of various factors results in a one-of-a-kind natural phenomenon known as the Jindo Sea-Parting, and here is more about it.

Jindo Island, located on the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula, is well known for the Jindo Sea-Parting Festival. This is held when the East China Sea has such low tides that it exposes a 2.9-kilometer, narrow, land passageway to a small, nearby island.

Jindo Island is the third largest island in South Korea. It is located in South Jeolla Province and is separated from the mainland by the Myeongnyang Strait. Along with a group of other, smaller islands, including Modo Island, it forms the area known as Jindo County. Every year in the spring or summer, a narrow land passageway about 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles) long and up to 40 meters wide opens up for about an hour on four consecutive days between Jindo Island and Modo Island. The sea-parting was made famous worldwide when, in 1975, Pierre Landy, former French Ambassador to South Korea, called it the Korean version of Moses miracle in a French newspaper when comparing it with the Biblical parting of the Red Sea.



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According to legend, a woman prayed to god every day when she was left behind after the villagers fled to Modo Island because of tiger attacks. One day, god came in her dream and said that there would be a rainbow road the next day for her to meet her family.

According to Kevan Moffett, an assistant geoscience professor at the University of Texas, the sea parting has been happening over a long enough time to give birth to legends and traditions. As the story goes, tigers were once abundant on Jindo Island, and they began attacking local villages. A woman named Bbyong was accidentally left behind when her family fled. She prayed every day to Yongwang, the god of the ocean until one night he came in her dream and told her that a rainbow would appear in the sea for her to cross. When she went to the sea the next day, it parted revealing a rainbow road and her family crossed the sea to meet her.

The parting of the sea is believed to be the result of phenomena known as the tidal harmonics which include varying factors that sometimes are in phase creating extremely high or low tides.

Earths rotation cycle or the movements of the Earth and the moon that result in varying distances between them are some examples of tidal harmonics because their occurrences are periodic. According to Moffett, a combination of these factors, along with the shapes and positions of the islands and of the Myeongnyang Strait to the east of Jindo, result in extremely low tides and are the reason for the annual parting of the Jindo Sea.



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The Jindo Sea-Parting Festival attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to enjoy the festival and folk rituals. It is also a time when the locals dig for clams and seaweed.

The festival is also held to commemorate Bbyong whose statue is present on the Jindo shore. Several people also take the yearly pilgrimage to Modo island and pay homage to the statue of her family there. Ganggangsuwollae (a traditional Korean dance), manga (burial songs), ssitkim-gut (a ritual for the dead souls), deul norae (traditional farmer songs), a Jindo dog show, fireworks, and various other events are held. Visitors also dig for clams, crabs, abalone, seaweed, and other seafood which they can have cooked to order at any of the tent restaurants along the shore.

[sources: Wikipedia, NationalGeographic, KimcheeGuestHouse]
The captain was indicted under Part 2 of Article 332 (violation of entry/exit rules into/from temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Ukraine's Kherson city court ruled on the evening of April 5 not to arrest the captain of the Crimean-registered Nord fishing vessel, Volodymyr Horbenko, until next hearings on April 6.

The judge satisfied the lawyers' motion for the release, as the detention period of the suspect for selecting a measure of restraint had expired, the lawyers of the Nord crew said, the news outlet Krym.Realii reported.

After the release, Horbenko, accompanied by his lawyers, went to a local hospital for health checks, as he did not feel well.

Read alsoAdmiral Ihor Kabanenko: Situation with "Nord" fishing vessel may be a planned provocation by Russia to "legitimize" deployment of its naval group in the Azov Sea

Hearings on his pretrial restriction did not begin on April 5 on time, as the suspect had not been delivered to the courtroom. Prosecutors said the judge's schedule was tight, while the lawyers claimed the captain had not been brought to the courtroom for unknown reasons.

It was decided to reschedule the hearings, but the situation changed. "It took them several hours to decide to consider the case or not. The lawyers continued insisting that Horbenko had been remanded in custody unlawfully. The eventual outcome was his release," 112.ua reported.

The hearings will resume at 13:30 Kyiv time on April 6.

The Nord ship with a 10-men crew was seized by the Ukrainian Border Guard Service in the Sea of Azov on March 25 on charges of infringements on the Ukrainian entry/exit rules for the occupied territory. The vessel, which was registered in Russian-occupied Crimea, was sailing under the Russian flag. All of the crew members allegedly had Russian passports. The vessel and the crew were brought to the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine announced that the captain of the Nord, who turned to be a citizen of Ukraine, was indicted under Part 2 of Article 332 (violation of entry/exit rules into/from temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Moscow demanded the immediate release of the "illegally" detained crew and the return of the vessel to its legitimate owner, accusing Ukraine of "piracy."

Moscow also threatened to use Russia's Black Sea fleet and its aviation to ensure secure navigation in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
Kyiv and locals reject Budapest's depiction of ethnic strife in western Ukraine.

The Budapest government of prime minister Viktor Orban says ethnic Hungarians face rising discrimination and violence in Ukraine, and it has repeatedly lambasted Kyiv in the run-up to Hungarys parliamentary election on Sunday.

Critics, by contrast, accuse his government of alarmism and exaggerating the problems that Hungarians face in Ukraine, to boost its patriotic credentials, shore up the diaspora vote and distract from corruption allegations against Orbans allies and relatives, The Irish Times reports.

One victim of recent events is the local Hungarian cultural association in Uzhgorod, capital of the ethnically diverse Zakarpattia region in southwest Ukraine.

In February, arsonists twice targeted its office. No one was hurt in either incident, which Orbans foreign minister Peter Szijjarto attributed to an intimidation campaign against the 120,000 or so ethnic Hungarians in Zakarpattia.

An investigation into the first attack led to Poland, however, where police arrested two suspects with links to a local pro-Russian nationalist group called Falanga, whose members have allegedly fought alongside Moscow-led separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Three people from central Ukraine were detained over the second attack, which officials said was planned by an agent from the Russian-backed separatist region of Transnistria in Moldova, to where he allegedly fled to escape arrest.

Read alsoOrban's game pulls Hungary closer to Russia - mediaUkraines authorities believe both incidents were orchestrated by Moscows FSB security services, as part of a multi-faceted war that the Kremlin has waged against the country since it pivoted to the West after a 2014 Revolution.

Russia is trying to destabilize the situation in Zakarpattia, said Ukraines foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin.

Therefore, all those who demand that we talk about allegedly anti-Hungarian manifestations or even anti-Hungarian campaigns should turn to Moscow, the Kremlin and the central FSB office.

Szijjarto placed the blame squarely on Ukraine however, and called for international monitors to establish a mission in Zakarpattia to protect ethnic Hungarians.

Such alarming views are often heard from Hungarian officials and pro-government media, but it is hard to find a resident of Zakarpattia who shares them.

Read alsoUkrainian MFA: Deployment of troops to Zakarpattia is Ukraine's sovereign matterWe live peacefully together here. I dont believe someone from Zakarpattia would do something like that, Uzhhorod-born Maria (52) said of the arson attacks. Lots of nationalities live here and no one wants to make trouble.

Slavik Miachyn (27), who works as a wedding planner in Uzhgorod, said there has been no big reaction from people here".

"We dont have many 'Ukraine for the Ukrainians'-types here; no one takes them seriously."

Hungarys suggestion that inter-ethnic violence is brewing in Zakarpattia outraged officials in Ukraine/ Budapests view chimes with the Kremlins claim that far-right groups are terrorizing ethnic minorities in Ukraine.

Read alsoTransnistrian mastermind behind arson at Hungarian NGO in Uzhgorod  Governor MoskalPeter Kreko, director of the Political Capital think tank in Budapest, wrote recently that when the chairman [of the cultural association in Uzhhorod] thanks Ukrainian law enforcement agencies for their work, yet Peter Szijjarto accuses the Ukrainian authorities of not doing anything to combat extremism, one might suspect there are other motives in play for the Hungarian government.

In another move amenable to Russia  which enjoys good relations with Orbans government  Budapest has vowed to stop Ukraine moving closer to the EU and Nato until it scraps plans to slash the amount of teaching that children from ethnic minorities can have in their native language.

Read alsoGeneral situation calm: OSCE updates on recent developments in ZakarpattiaThe problematic reforms also worry other nations with diaspora groups in Ukraine but none has reacted as dramatically as Orbans government, which has added Ukrainian nationalists to its list of things Hungarians should fear, including migrants, the EU and liberal philanthropist George Soros.
Portman called the decision one of the particular examples proving that the U.S. stands with Ukraine.

U.S. Senator (Rep) Robert Portman says Ukraine's Armed Forces will get sniper weapon systems from the United States apart from Javelin anti-tank weapons.

According to Voice of America, the official found that the Ukrainian government troops suffer serious casualties from sniper fire. "Last month, most of the casualties were, most likely, caused by the enemy sniper fire. One of the recent decisions by the U.S. lawmakers is to provide the Ukrainian Army with sniper systems  so that there's an opportunity to respond to the sniper attacks that kill Ukrainian troops," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on April 5, 112 Ukraine reports.

Portman called the decision one of the particular examples proving that the U.S. stands with Ukraine.

The U.S. senator arrived in Kyiv on April 4 and met with President Petro Poroshenko and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak.

After his brief trip to eastern Ukraine's Donbas, Portman noted that last month, most casualties among Ukrainian troops were the result of enemy sniper fire.

As UNIAN reported earlier, in late 2017, the Donald Trump Administration decided to sell lethal weapons to Ukraine, in particular, Javelin ATGMs.

On January 17, Chief of Ukraine's General Staff Viktor Muzhenko said the deliveries were expected within 2 to 6 months.

On February 17, President Poroshenko said Ukraine would receive more aid from the U.S., beyond Javelins, in the framework of military-technical cooperation.

On March 2, the Pentagon announced that the sale of 210 Javelin missiles and 37 Javelin Command Launch Units to Ukraine had been approved.

On March 30, U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly told his top national security aides to not publicly tout a new U.S. lethal defensive weapons sale to Ukraine, for fear of angering Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In case of an emergency, fishermen are told to communicate at a certain frequency.

Russia has set up an operational group in the Azov-Black Sea Territorial Administration of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries to tackle the alleged "Ukrainian piracy."

The new structure will coordinate cooperation of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries with border control agencies, as well as provide information on the location of vessels, RIA Novosti reported.

Head of the agency's local branch, Igor Rulev, assured fishermen that their security "is provided by the border control departments of the Federal Security Service of Russia in Krasnodar Krai and the Republic of Crimea."

The crew should warn the border guards of their planned routes and vessel movements. In case of an emergency, fishermen are obliged to communicate at a certain radio frequency.

Read alsoUkrainian court rules not to arrest captain of seized Crimean vessel until next hearingsAs UNIAN reported earlier, the Russian-flagged and Crimea-registered fishing vessel Nord operated by a crew of 10 was seized by the Ukrainian Border Guard Service in the Sea of Azov on March 25 on charges of infringements on the Ukrainian border crossing rules in relation to the occupied territory. The vessel and crew were brought to the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine announced that the captain of the Nord, who turned to be a citizen of Ukraine, was indicted under Part 2 of Article 332-1 (violation of entry/exit rules into/from temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Read alsoUkrainian border guards respond to maritime threats from RussiaMoscow demanded the immediate release of the "illegally" detained crew and the return of the vessel to its legitimate owner, accusing Ukraine of "piracy."

Moscow also threatened to use Russia's Black Sea fleet and navy aviation to ensure secure navigation for Russian vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
The Treaty of friendship and cooperation is still valid since Russia formally recognizes Ukraine's territorial integrity in the document.

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze has explained why the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation is still valid.

Answering the question on Ukrainian TV Channel 5 on whether Ukraine really needs to decide until autumn on the fate of the Treaty or not, since the agreement expires in November, Klympush-Tsintsadze said: "This is the resumption of the discussion; it has been going on for quite a long time since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine."

"We understand that we are now using the base that we can use in our lawsuits against the Russian Federation referring, in particular, not only to violations of international multilateral agreements on the part of the Russian Federation, but directly to the violation of the bilateral agreement  the so-called Big Treaty between Ukraine and Russia. The Treaty of friendship and cooperation is still valid since Russia recognizes our territorial integrity in it and Russia undertakes not to attack the Ukrainian state, and this is a direct violation, I mean the behavior of the Russian Federation during these four years."

Read alsoRussia sets up team to "protect" fishermen from "Ukrainian piracy""Obviously, its time is running out. It should be either automatically renewed if the parties come to such an agreement. It is obvious that this is a culmination, when it is necessary to say 'enough is enough' first, and secondly  to understand what this can be a serious game of the Russian Federation and it can also manipulate the way it behaves in terms of this agreement... When I worked in the parliament, I proposed to cancel certain articles of this agreement, and it was possible... There are different mechanisms, there are different ways in which we can act, and now our diplomats and lawyers assess risks and opportunities of how it will be possible to act," the politician said.
Ukraine expects Western countries to strengthen their support for Ukrainian security.

First Deputy Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko has called on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are on a visit to Ukraine to intensify pressure on Russia to implement the Minsk Agreements and release Ukrainian hostages.

"I have called on our colleagues, members of the European Parliament, to actively engage in putting pressure on the Russian Federation due to its failure and that of its satellites to comply with the Minsk Agreements. It is unacceptable that the Easter ceasefire announced on March 30 this year lasted only 10 minutes. Every day, we register shelling with Ukrainian soldiers killed or wounded in action," she said at a joint press conference with a delegation of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 6.

Read alsoNext round of Minsk talks on Ukraine scheduled for April 18  Belarusian media"It is obvious that the current problematic relations between Ukraine and Russia is not just an issue of the two countries. This is a challenge for complex relations between the Russian Federation and the entire civilized world since Russia daily violates international norms and standards," Gerashchenko said.

She said that Ukraine expects Western countries to strengthen their support for Ukrainian security.

"We have discussed prospects for the introduction of a peacekeeping mission to Donbas, which would also be a good and proper step to return peace to the Russian-occupied territories," he added.

"I called on our European Parliamentarians to actively engage in putting pressure on the Russian Federation to release hostages. We have reaffirmed that we are ready to swap 23 Russian citizens kept in prisons for crimes against Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity to release the Kremlin hostages," the official said.

Read alsoUkraine ready to swap 23 Russians for Ukrainian hostagesIn this regard, she stressed that today, more than 60 Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars are being accused of espionage and "other nonsense and absurd offenses. They are being kept in Russian prisons on completely fictitious charges."

"We also strive to free everyone from the occupied territories," Gerashchenko said.

"We also talked about the need to put pressure on Russia to bring the ICRC mission to the search for the missing and operate in the occupied territories," she added.

The occupied Crimea and non-recognition of Russian elections on the peninsula were discussed at the meeting as well.

Gerashchenko noted that a significant part of the meeting with the MEPs was devoted to discussions on the security and humanitarian situation in Donbas, because "the security situation is also a key challenge for Ukraine today."

She stated that "investors will come to Ukraine if there is peace in the country and if we demonstrate success in reforms, particularly in fighting corruption."

The delegation was represented by Laima Andrikiene, Michael Gahler, Dariusz Rosati and others.
The deputy charged with plotting terrorist attacks in Kyiv and a coup has demanded that she be allowed to study all evidence collected against her in an undercover operation.

People's Deputy Nadiia Savchenko has refused to have her testimony verified with a lie detector, the Security Service of Ukraine's press center told UNIAN.

The SBU initially appointed a forensic psychological examination with the use of a lie detector in line with the requirements of the criminal procedural legislation to verify the veracity of the suspect's testimony regarding the charges.

Despite the fact that Savchenko earlier stressed readiness to testify only with the use of a lie detector, on the day of the appointed test she suddenly put forward a demand to be allowed studying all the evidence collected against her in an undercover operation, according to the SBU press center.

"The demand of the defense that we provide all materials available for the investigation for them to prepare for the test is not provided for by any article of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine," the SBU stressed. "This is only an attempt to mislead the Ukrainian public and media about Savchenko's alleged interest in establishing the truth in this case."

Read alsoChief Prosecutor suspects Medvedchuk of plotting coup in Ukraine together with Ruban, SavchenkoAs UNIAN reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada on March 22 greenlighted prosecution and arrest of MP Nadiia Savchenko, a former Ukrainian pilot who had been released from a Russian captivity as part of a PoW exchange effort.

Ukraine's prosecutors charged Savchenko of plotting a coup and an act of terror in Ukraine, following an elaborate sting operation by the SBU Security Service of Ukraine who initially targeted former hostage swap negotiator Volodymyr Ruban who is believed to have conspired with Nadiia Savchenko.

On March 23, a Kyiv district court ruled that Savchenko be remanded in custody for 59 days without bail.

Read alsoSavchenko to remain in custody after losing appealSavchenko is suspected of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 109 (actions aimed at the forcible change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power); Part 1 of Article 14 (preparations for a crime), Part 2 of Article 28 (committing a crime by a group of persons, a group of persons by prior agreement, an organized group or a criminal organization), Article 112 (an attempted attack on the life of a public figure), Part 3 of Article 258 (an act of terror); Part 1 of Article 258-3 (creation of a terrorist group or organization) and Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal possession of weapons, ammunition or explosives) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian authorities are considering several scenarios for the east of Ukraine.

Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has announced that Ukrainian police and the National Guard will join a peacekeeping mission to end the Russian occupation of Donbas.

"Today we are considering several scenarios for developments in the east, and we're aware that the liberation of Donbas and retaking of the eastern border will be a police-led operation with the involvement of peacekeeping troops rather than the military," he said at a meeting with delegates of the U.S. Council on Foreign Policy on April 6.

Read alsoPoroshenko: Russian troops will leave Donbas when international peacekeepers deployed

"And the Interior Ministry's troops  police and the National Guard  are getting ready for this option," he added.

As UNIAN reported, the Verkhovna Rada on January 18 adopted a law on specifics of state policy to ensure Ukraine's sovereignty in temporarily occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions (law No. 7163). Some 280 lawmakers backed this legislation.
The Russian Federation had looked into ways of carrying out assassinations through the use of nerve agents, according to the UK envoy.

A military-grade nerve agent  a weapon of mass destruction  had been used in an attempt to kill civilians on British soil in a reckless fashion, Karen Pierce, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told a Security Council meeting convened Thursday upon Russia's request over the Salisbury incident.

Providing updates on the case, Pierce said that, following the incident, the Government had launched one of the most comprehensive and complex investigations into the use of chemical weapons ever, involving 250 police detectives, supported by a range of experts and partners that had gone through more than 5,000 hours of video footage and interviewed more than 500 witnesses, the UN press center reports.

She said that, on March 12, the Government had posed a clear question to the Russian Government, but no response had been received. What had taken place was not a normal poisoning or attack, she said, emphasizing that the 24-hour deadline to respond to that request was reasonable given the severity of the situation.

It was highly likely that the Russian Federation had carried out the assassination attempt, she said, noting that experts had made a positive identification of the special chemical used.

She went on to say that the Russian Federation was playing fast and loose with the worlds collective security while failing to cooperate with an ongoing investigation.

Read alsoUK locates source of novichok nerve agent used in Salisbury  The Times"The Russian Federation had looked into ways of carrying out assassinations through the use of nerve agents. Nevertheless, the Russian Federation had put forward innumerable theories about the events that had taken place. The use of chemical weapons on any countrys territory was far too serious for any such theories to hold water," Pierce said.

Everything that had been done by the British Government was consistent with the Chemical Weapons Conventions, according to Pierce.

As reported earlier, the UK did not invite Russia to be part of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) investigation, the results from which are expected to be made public next week.
"They ask me questions so that I answer in the way they want me to, not how I want to," Viktoria said.

Yulia Skripal / facebook.com/julia.skripal

Yulia Skripal's cousin, Viktoria, has told the BBC she is "worried and "scared" after she was asked whether she feels as being used in the information war.

"You think I'm not worried? I'm very worried. I'm scared, I'm very scared. The things people are writing I can't shut them all up," Viktoria told BBC Newsnight's Gabriel Gatehouse.

Read alsoUK at UN: Russia playing "fast and loose" with world's collective securityAsked whether she feels any pressure from any side to say something or not, Viktoria said: "There's no pressure as such. But there are leading questions."

"They ask me questions so that I answer in the way they want me to, not how I want to."

Read alsoBBC: Russian spy poisoning: Yulia Skripal 'getting stronger daily'She also confirmed to the BBC that she was 100% certain the alleged conversation with her cousin was real, commenting on a recording of the alleged phone conversation that was aired on Thursday on a state-owned Russian TV channel.

"Yes, it was Yulia. I don't doubt at all it was Yulia," Viktoria said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, UK police on Thursday issued a statement on behalf of Russian spy Sergei Skripal's daughter, the first since the pair were poisoned by a nerve agent in March. The statement quoted Yulia Skripal as saying her "strength is growing daily."

The news came hours after Russia TV aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation, which it says took place between Ms Skripal and her cousin.
The CastroTurner legislation states the president would have the power to decide who to levy the sanctions against.

A bipartisan duo of House lawmakers on Friday introduced a bill that seeks to punish Russia for the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom.

Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), both members of the House Intelligence Committee, rolled out the Stand with UK against Russia Violations Act that would impose sanctions on anyone involved in the attack last month on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, The Hill reported.

Both were found slumped over on a park bench in early March after having been poisoned with what officials say was a military-grade nerve agent Moscow is known to have developed.

Read alsoU.S. Treasury sanctions Russian oligarchs, officials, entities in response to worldwide malign activity

"The Russian government sanctioned attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal and Officer Nick Bailey last month on British soil violated international law and indicates Putin's growing aggression and disregard for international standards of conduct. It's imperative that the United States stands with the United Kingdom and our international partners in signaling resolve with a strong response," Turner and Castro said in a statement.

The U.K., followed by France, Germany and U.S., all said they believe Russia was behind the attack, which used a highly lethal chemical agent known as Novichok. The attack put Skripal and his daughter in the hospital in critical condition.

The CastroTurner legislation states the president would have the power to decide who to levy the sanctions against once it is determined who "knowingly engaged in, provided material support to, worked on behalf of" the perpetrators behind the attack. The bill is also intended to serve as a deterrent.

"Russian aggression must be met with strength and resolve, including through sanctions to deter future Russian attacks on dissidents, expatriates, and democratic activists," the bill reads.

"This bill also targets Russian financial institutions until [Russian President Vladimir] Putin ceases its practice of assassinating expatriates and dissidents outside of Russia."

If passed, the sanctions would be based off of those outlined in Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, a bill Congress passed last year to punish Russia for its meddling in the 2016 presidential race as well as Moscow's military actions in Ukraine and Syria.

The introduction of the bill came the same day the Trump administration announced its plans to sanction seven Russian oligarchs and a dozen companies they own and control.
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail Thursday said the present government had set targets to collect maximum tax before announcing the next fiscal year budget.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Miftah Ismail Thursday said the present government had set targets to collect maximum tax before announcing the next fiscal year budget.

Talking to a private news channel, he appreciated the prime minister's announcement for introducing an economic reforms package for expanding the tax network. He said increasing exports would help reduce the current account deficit being faced by the country.

The amnesty scheme would have positive impact on the economy as many incentives had been offered, he added.

To a question, he said the people would be held accountable by the Federal board of Revenue (FBR) regarding tax, which now held data of the people having number of cars or other assets.

He appreciated the prime minister's announcement for exempting the people earning Rs.100,000/ per month from tax. No one could escape from the tax net after the economic reforms package as action would be taken against those concealing their data, he added.

To another question, Miftah Ismail said those who would bring more than Rs 10 million amount to the country from abroad would be asked about their sources of earning.
(@rukhshanmir)

The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) issued the following shipping report for the last 24 hours, ending 0700 hours on Friday.

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) issued the following shipping report for the last 24 hours, ending 0700 hours on Friday. ALONG SIDE (Bulk Oil Pier) OP-II Southern Koala D.

Chemical GAC 06/04/18 OP-III Chemway Arrow L. Ethanol Alpine 05/04/18 ALONG SIDE (East Wharves): 1/2 Bow Mekka D. Chemical GAC 05/04/18 2/3 Egret Bulker L. Wheat WMA Shipcare 03/04/18 11/12 Nordic Tianjin D.

DAP Bulk-Sh. 01/04/18 14/15 Naess Intrepid L. Wheat East Wind 05/04/18 12/13 Sezai Selah L. Wheat WMA Shipcare 01/04/18 ALONG SIDE(P.I.C.T): Berth Vacant... ALONG SIDE(PDWCP): SAPT-3 CMA CGM Attila D.

L. Cnt. CMA CGM Pak 05/04/18 SAPT-4 Wan Hai 506 D. L. Cnt. Riazeda 06/04/18 Along Side(West Wharves) 20/21 Pantanassa D. Steel Bulk-Sh. 06/04/18 24 Panvision L. Sugar OC-Services 29/03/18 25 Sea Dragon D.

L. Cnt. East Wind 04/04/18 ALONG SIDE (K.I.C.T): 28/29 Sima Giselle D. L. Cnt. East Wind 04/04/18 EXPECTED ARRIVALS: CONTAINER (GEARLESS) Ever Diamond Green Pak 11/04/18 Not Sched 800 Cnt.

900 Cnt. Kota Kamil P-Delta 11/04/18 Not Sched 300 Cnt. 500 Cnt. Xin Hong Kong COSCO 11/04/18 Not Sched 700 Cnt. 800 Cnt. Xin Xia Men P-Delta 13/04/18 NOt Sched 1500 Cnt.

1500 Cnt. MOL Eminence Mol Pak 14/04/18 Not Sched 700 Cnt.

1000 Cnt. Sima Genesis East Wind 20/04/18 Not Sched 600 Cnt. 600 Cnt. CONTAINER (GEARED) UAFL Zanzibar Golden 09/04/18 Not Sched 350 Cnt.

400 Cnt. GENERAL CARGO: Antje Project-Sh. 07/04/18 Not Sched Nil 500 Defence Industrial Dolphin Gulf Maritime 09/04/18 Not Sched 946 GC Nil Rickmers Hamburg Delta 14/04/18 Not Sched 1,945 GC Nil VEHICLE: Arcadia Highway Maritime 07/04/18 Not Sched 17 Units Nil COAL: Grand Pioneer OC-Services 08/04/18 Not Sched 54,178 Coal Nil First 1 OC-services 09/04/18 Not Sched 56,813 Coal Nil LOADER: Baltic Panther WMA Shipcare 06/04/18 Not Sched Nil 44,000 Wheat Tabemacle Prince Argonaftis 07/04/18 Not Sched Nil 17,650 Cement OIL TANKER: Dae Won East Wind 05/04/18 Not Sched 3,000 Chemical Nil SHIPS OFF PORT: Vessel Name Type Agent expected Berth No.

Arrival date Arrival Time Remarks Pistis Bulk Ships Northsatr -- 29/03/18 08:35 1 Northern Dedication Container Ships United Arab 05/04/18 19:24 - Da Kang General Cargo COSCO -- 05/04/18 21:10 2 N Mars Oil Tanker Alpine -- 28/03/18 02:12 - Fotini Lady Oil Tanker Trans Maritime -- 31/03/18 18:20 - High Challenge Oil Tanker Alpine -- 03/04/18 03:06 - Fairchem Sword Oil Tanker East Wind -- 05/04/18 09:43 - LENGEND: 1 Shifted from B.NO.

14/15 to O/A. 2 Shifted from B.NO.SAP-2 to O/A.
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Deputy Commissioner Saif Anwar has said that 125,000 kids would be enrolled in the government schools this year in two phases.

MUZAFFARGARH,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Deputy Commissioner Saif Anwar has said that 125,000 kids would be enrolled in the government schools this year in two phases. He said that all efforts were being made to make the dream of "Parha Likha Punjab" (An educated Punjab) come true.

Addressing teachers during the launching ceremony of enrollment drive of nursery class kids, he said that free books would be provided to children and their 100 per cent attendance would be ensured in schools. The DC said that commendatory certificates would be given to teachers at a ceremony to be held in May, over their good performance during the enrolment drive.
(@FahadShabbir)

Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that a healthy life is the greatest blessing of Allah Almighty.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that a healthy life is the greatest blessing of Allah Almighty. In his message issued here Friday on World Health Day, the Chief Minister said that a healthy society can flourish through healthy people and it is also the guarantor of durable development.

In this regard, provision of quality healthcare facilities to people is the top-most priority of the government and general public is being given their rights in the shape of resources worth billions of rupees to improve the healthcare sector.

The Punjab government has allocated biggest budget for betterment of health sector and far-reaching reforms have been introduced to provide the best healthcare facilities to the patients. He expressed his satisfaction that a state-of-the- art Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute has been established with the provincial resources and world-renowned medical professionals have been hired for PKLI.

Similarly, a network of hepatitis filter clinics is being spread across the province to provide best treatment facilities to the masses. As many as 25 hepatitis filter clinics are working at Primary level while CT Scan machines as well as most modern machinery has been provided to the public sector hospitals.

Provision of free medicines to patients has also been ensured, he said. It is satisfying that mobile health units are providing the best medical facilities to masses living in remote and backward areas of the province.

Meanwhile, mother and child healthcare programme is going on successfully and the steps taken for betterment of healthcare system are being fully monitored, concluded the Chief Minister.
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President Mamnoon Hussain Friday strongly condemned the ongoing violence against innocent Kashmiris by the Indian occupation forces and said Pakistani nation stood with their Kashmiri brothers in their just struggle

ISLAMABAD, Apr 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :President Mamnoon Hussain Friday strongly condemned the ongoing violence against innocent Kashmiris by the Indian occupation forces and said Pakistani nation stood with their Kashmiri brothers in their just struggle.

Addressing the inauguration of the annual National Book Festival here at the Pakistan-China Centre, the President appealed to the international community to realize and play its part in putting an end to the gross human rights violations by the Indian forces.

He said the Kashmir issue could only be resolved through implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions. Pakistan was observing the Kashmir Solidarity Day to raise awareness globally against the unending atrocities by the Indian army in the occupied Kashmir who have unleashed a reign of terror against the unarmed civilian protestors, struggling for their right to self determination.

The President appreciated the holding of the annual book exhibition, organized by the National Book Foundation (NBF) and said the endeavour to inculcate the habit of reading amongst the young and old was getting a good response.

President Mamnoon Hussain said today there were a number of universities and institutes of higher studies that were conducting research and development besides imparting quality education in all areas in the country.

He however said that the impact and reach of these organizations could increase significantly if their mode of education was in the national language. President Mamnoon Hussain said a lot many bright students of Pakistan could not make it up to the top in education, only because the mode of teaching was not in the urdu language.

He called for translating books on health, medicine, engineering, sciences and arts in Urdu to encourage and instill amongst the people the habit of reading. The President said the National Book Foundation needed to focus on welfare of the writers and publishers and served as an example for others.

He was optimist that the ambitious writers, scholars, scientists and researchers would be encouraged by the Book Foundation. President Mamnoon said the human minds were fertile enough to absorb huge amounts of information and said if they were fed positive information, they turn out to be better human beings who served the humanity and made the society a better place to live.

President Mamnoon said in a world full of chaos, confusion, lawlessness and uncertainty, there was a need to generate positivity through good literary works, stimulate minds and encourage more learning.

The President said the National Book Foundation had come a long way since its inception and was playing its part in propagating the habit of book reading. He said the NBF was serving the nation with a missionary zeal by extending support to the publishers and writers in bringing to the market books on new subjects and raising knowledge base of the common man.

The President said the inclusion of books from China, Iran and Turkey was a welcome sign and would help the people get a better understanding of these brotherly countries. Earlier, the President inaugurated the four-day National Book Festival and went around the exhibition in which over 29 bookstalls have been set up by 110 private publishers.

Books on literature, science, technology, current affairs, history, philosophy, travelogue, religion have been put on display. Adviser to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddique said government departments related to literary activities generally had a history of not coming up to the mark due to bureaucratic hurdles.

However, he said that with concerted efforts the National Book Foundation had overcome such problems and was striving hard to achieve its objectives. He said despite being in government control, the National Book Foundation had come a long way and was playing its role in publishing new works of literature, science and technology and encouraging book reading activities.

He said there was a need amongst the teachers, parents and students to encourage the habit of book reading. He said there had been an encouraging response from the book readers in the country and the culture of reading was still alive. He said those publishers who bring out better quality of literature also need to be recognized for their endeavours.
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The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi's Director General Altaf Bawany has said the NAB is conducting inquiry against five sitting MPAs of Sindh Assembly.

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi's Director General Altaf Bawany has said the NAB is conducting inquiry against five sitting MPAs of Sindh Assembly.

Talking to the media and while addressing a seminar in Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Jamshoro on Friday, Bawany said the inquiries would conclude soon.He informed that the allotment of thousands of acres of government land to various beneficiaries without fulfilling the legal requirements had been canceled.

The inquiry against the people who obtained the land illegally was also underway and many of others had been arrested, he added.

The DG said soon around 200 big fishes in Sindh would face the legal action from the NAB.Bawany apprised that the report of 179 cases of mega corruption had been submitted in the Supreme Court.

To a question he said that 5 inquiries concerning the health sector including 2 against alleged embezzlement in the procurement of machines in the government hospitals were underway. The DG urged the youth to play their part in rooting out corruption from the society.The Vice Chancellor of LUMHS Prof Dr Bikha Ram Devrajani also spoke on the occasion.
Lawmakers, officials concerned reviewed different aspects of Public Private Partnership Bill in a meeting of Balochistan Assembly Standing Committee for Planning and Development chaired by Chairman Haji Islam Baloch on Friday.

QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Lawmakers, officials concerned reviewed different aspects of Public Private Partnership Bill in a meeting of Balochistan Assembly Standing Committee for Planning and Development chaired by Chairman Haji islam Baloch on Friday.

Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance Dr. Ruqayya Saeed Hashmi, Provincial Minister for Environmental Prince Ahmed Ali Baloch, Provincial Minister Law & Parliament Syed Agha Raza Muhammad, Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Syed Liaqat Agha, Additional Chief Secretary Planning & Development Naseebullah Bazai, Secretary Provincial Assembly Shamsuddin, Additional Secretary Assembly Tahir Shah Kakar, Law department representatives and other concerned officials attended the meeting.

Additional Chief Secretary Planning & Development Naseebullah Bazai briefed the meeting regarding Public Private Partnership Bill and said Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had imposed this bill, saying that in current situation, many hospitals and other projects were being successful run under Public Private Partnership in Punjab.

He said the bill was important for the development of Balochistan keeping in view the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. He said international investors and foreign donors could be attracted through cooperation of private companies and government.

Advisor on Finance, Dr. Ruqayya Saeed Ahmed Hashmi raised the point that the bill would be further improved by comparing the implementation of the three provinces, saying that Balochsitan board of Investment would take measures to improve the private partnership for increasing investment activities in province.

The standing committee recommended that a committee would be set up headed by Chief Secretary and comprised of Public Private Partnership Unit's technical, financial and legal professionals, advisors a member of each province of PPP/AMU, ACC development, secretary finance, secretary law, and secretary S&GDA for the improvement of the bill.
Chief of General Staff (CGS) UK Army, General Sir Nicholas Patrick Carter arrived on two-day official visit to Pakistan on Friday and called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Chief of General Staff (CGS) UK Army, General Sir Nicholas Patrick Carter arrived on two-day official visit to Pakistan on Friday and called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Bilateral issues and regional security situation was discussed during the meeting, said a statement issued here by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). The UK CGS acknowledged positive results of Pakistan's efforts against terrorism and recent measures taken along Pak-Afghan Border, including the fencing for improvement in border control.

The visiting dignitary also hailed Paigham-e-Pakistan Fatwa (decree), which shall have far-reaching effects against extremist narrative. The COAS highlighted the need for collective action within a collaborative framework to help encourage peace and stability in the region.

The visiting General along with COAS visited Girdi Jungle, Balochistan today (Friday), which has recently been sanitized. British High Commissioner, British Defence attach in Pakistan and Commander Southern Command were also present during the visit.

The delegation was given detailed briefing on security situation and security operations in support of Khushal Balochistan programme. The visitors were highly appreciative of the professionalism and dedication with which the sanitization operation had been conducted.

Girdi Jungle, a small village before 1979, had swelled to a town of around 60,000 inhabitants with the majority being Afghan refugees. Over the years it had been converted into a hub of criminal and narco activities, facilitating both smugglers and terrorists in their nefarious agenda.

The area is now free from inimical influence. The visitors also flew over the border town of Brabchah and were briefed on the peculiar environment of the area and steps taken to secure Pak-Afghan border in Balochistan. The dignified and ordered resettlement of Afghan refugees and measures to spread dividends of peace in larger region also came under discussion during the visit.
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Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa Thursday inaugurated two mega projects in South Waziristan Agency (SWA).

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Qamar Javed Bajwa Thursday inaugurated two mega projects in South Waziristan Agency (SWA). Speaking to the local tribal elders, he said having lived through very difficult times during terrorism and kinetic operations against terrorists, Pakistan now was in the phase of stability and development, an Inter Services Public Relations statement said.

He urged them not to allow anyone to jeopardise the peace attained at very heavy cost in blood and national exchequer. He said earliest mainstreaming of FATA to the popular aspirations of the local tribes was essential for its development and enduring stability.

He acknowledged tribal brethren for their full support to army and their resolve to maintain and strengthen the gains. The tribal elders thanked Pakistan Army for restoring peace and development works and assured that tribes would stand firmly with Pakistan Army for journey towards enduring peace.

At Makeen the COAS also met father of Naqeeb Ullah Mehsud, condoled with him and offered Fatiha. He said army would support all efforts to help him get the justice. Commander Peshawar corps and IGFC KP South were present during the visit.

The projects include Agriculture Park at Wana and a Market at Makeen. Both these facilities are part of socio-economic uplift programme for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The projects have been executed by Pakistan Army engineers in collaboration with the government.

Agriculture Park Wana comprises multiple components including state-of-the-art Pine Nut Processing Plant, 1000 ton capacity cold storage facility, ware houses, godowns and 128 shops. 'Makeen Market Complex' has 728 shops, allied facilities and a children park.
The commissioner Shaheed Benazirabad Ghulam Mustafa Phull has called for completion of all ongoing development schemes in the division within stipulated time period with special attention on standard of the work.

NAWABSHAH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The commissioner Shaheed Benazirabad Ghulam Mustafa Phull has called for completion of all ongoing development schemes in the division within stipulated time period with special attention on standard of the work.

Presiding over a meeting of divisional officials to review progress on development schemes the commissioner instructed deputy commissioners of Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar and Naushehro Feroze district to supervise the ongoing schemes personally.

DC Naushehro Feroze briefed the meeting that Moro-Bandhi Road, Moro-Dadu Road Road and Dars roads were completed while some of the schemes including Darya Khan Mari Road and Moro-Mithiani Road were at the stage of completion.He told that Sindh government has approved special fund of Rs.700 million that would be incurred in necessary requirements.

He said that solar system street lights would be installed in Naushehro Feroze and Moro Talukas and roads and drainage schemes would be given.He said that on the directives of Water Commission, work on water supply line crossing main railway track is underway.

He said that a new water supply scheme would be approved for Naushehro Feroze town to cater the increasing requirements.

Briefing the meeting Deputy Commissioner Sanghar, Zhoaib Mushtaq, said that 124 development schemes were in progress in the district out of which two schemes Jam Nawaz Ali- Kandiari Road and Nauabad Road were at the stage of completion.On the directives of Water Commission, RO plant was being converted into Ultra Filtration Plant, minor issues with ten other RO plants to be resolved, he said adding that three RO plants were non functional due to non availability of electric supply.

He said that work on six Rural schemes was in progress.Deputy Commissioner Shaheed Benazirabad Nouman Siddqiue Latki briefing the meeting said that six large schemes of roads and building in the district were in progress.Under the directives of Water Commission, a non functional RO Plant at Bandhi town was repaired and made functional while water testing laboratory set up at civil hospital started working he informed and added that work on 300 bed children hospital was almost complete and children ward of the hospital would soon be shifted to newly constructed children hospital.
Defence counsel Khawaja Harris on Thursday continued cross-examination of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia in the Avenfield property reference filed by the National Accountability Court against the Sharif family.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Defence counsel Khawaja Harris on Thursday continued cross-examination of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) head Wajid Zia in the Avenfield property reference filed by the National Accountability Court against the Sharif family.

Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir conducted the hearing of the reference. During the course of proceedings, Wajid Zia told the accountability court that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif received 100,000 AED from the Capital FZE firm on August 11, 2013.

It was the salary for the month of July 2013, which he had drawn for the last time, he added. He, however, stated that screenshots of the firm's payment sheets did not contain Nawaz's name. Moreover, there was no receipt or bank record of receiving salary by Nawaz Sharif, he added.

To a question, Wajid Zia said the documents were related to Nawaz Sharif, though his name was not mentioned in it.

Nawaz was entitled to receive 100,000 AED, but the amount mentioned on the form was 10,000 AED, he added.

He said he was not aware that who had made changes in Nawaz's contract with the Capital FZE. The JIT head said the team members, who had travelled to Dubai, did not record the statement of the person who had sealed the documents.

The judge asked for a magnifying glass to examine the flowchart of funds as per bank transactions of the Sharifs presented by Wajid Zia. The JIT head informed the court that the team had obtained the record of Capital FZE's employees from Jabal Ali Free Zone Authority.

The case was adjourned till Friday morning. Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz could not appear before the accountability court due to inclement weather in Lahore, while Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar remained present in the court room.
Sindh Minister for Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Syed Sardar Shah condemning Mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhtar's act, has said that handing over of Frere Hall to any board is illegal and childish of the Mayor.

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Sindh Minister for Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Syed Sardar Shah condemning Mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhtar's act, has said that handing over of Frere Hall to any board is illegal and childish of the Mayor.

'It is completely illegal. He (Mayor) has made inequity and Sindh Government will take action to this effect.' Talking to media persons on Friday, he said that the handing over of the Free Hall to someone or a non-governmental organization without consulting anyone is the childish of Karachi Mayor adding that those who are advising the Mayor do not know that the Frere Hall is basically a heritage property.

He said that the Sindh Assembly had passed Sindh Heritage Conservation Act -1994 and under that act a committee was formed which is being headed by Sindh Chief Secretary. The committee look after the issues of the heritage in the Sindh province.

Sardar shah said that without the permission of the committee a board namely 'Guardian' has been constituted by the Mayor and no permission has also been got even from the Council of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to this effect.

He said that in the past the Mayor was willing to give control of the Frere hall to his NGO and now he has concocted a new drama by forming the Guardian Board. He further said that the Sindh High Court (SHC) six months ago had declared all the heritage sites in Sindh null and void and ordered to start a survey of the heritage sites and after conducting the same we have included the Frere Hall on the heritage list.

He was of the view that if the KMC had the control of the Frere Hall then it does not mean that whatever it wants it can do. 'I do not know, despite being an educated and wise person Waseem Akhtar has showed childish of him,' he said.

'Frere Hall is our property of Sindh Government. Earlier, it was under the control of the Federal Government, and now it has been devolved to us,' he added. The entire society, media and we condemn this act of the Mayor, he added.
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A delegation of General Electric Company called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, here on Friday.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :A delegation of General Electric Company called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, here on Friday. The delegation was led by CEO gas power system Muhammad Ali while Chief Technology Officer Andrew John Lammas attended the meeting from the USA through Skype.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that efforts to overcome the energy crisis were bearing fruit and all possible resources were being utilized to achieve the target of electricity generation.

He said that a worth-following example had been set by saving billions of rupees in installation of power plants and a high standard of transparency had been introduced as well. "Our government has worked hard for early completion of energy projects and gas-based projects are proving fruitful in elimination of load-shedding," he added.

Chairman Punjab Power Development Company Chaudhry Arif Saeed, CEO NPPMC Rashid Mehmood, ACS (Energy), Secretary Energy and other officials were present on the occasion.
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The Embassy of Pakistan in Tehran organized a ceremony on Friday to observe "Kashmir Solidarity Day" with the people of the Indian occupied Kashmir who have been recently subjected to worst kind of brutalities by Indian forces, a press release received here from Tehran said.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The Embassy of Pakistan in Tehran organized a ceremony on Friday to observe "Kashmir Solidarity Day" with the people of the Indian occupied Kashmir who have been recently subjected to worst kind of brutalities by Indian forces, a press release received here from Tehran said.

Ambassador Asif Durrani, in his speech, paid homage to the sacrifices of the valiant Kashmiris and said the recent brutal use of force by the Indian forces has failed to suppress the indigenous struggle of the Kashmiri people aspiring for their right to self-determination.

Referring to the recent brutalities and atrocities being committed by India against the Kashmiri people, Ambassador Durrani said Indian forces including Indian army, Jammu and Kashmir police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Indian occupation Forces have perpetrated a reign of terror and bloodshed, martyred more than 20, blinded youths by using pellet guns and injured scores of innocent peaceful Kashmiris in different parts of Shopian and Anantnag districts of IoK during the last one week.

The brutal crackdown against peaceful Kashmiris by the Indian forces is an attempt to subjugate and suppress the voices of freedom.

But, India has failed to suppress those voices. The indigenous nature of the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiri people also belies Indian propaganda of external involvement in the freedom movement.

Ambassador Durrani urged the international community to pressurize India to stop the reign of terror. He also called upon the Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to fulfill their commitments towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir under the UNSC resolutions.

Ambassador Durrani thanked the Iranian Supreme leader Ayattollah Syed Ali Khamenei and the government for supporting the cause of the Kashmiri Muslims and condemning the recent Indian atrocities in IoK.

Speakers, Syed Salman Naqvi and a senior student from urdu Department, Tehran University, in their speeches, condemned the atrocities and human rights' violations being committed by the Indian forces in the IoK.

Iranian scholars, academicians, intellectuals, media persons, members of Pakistani community, Pakistani and Iranian students from Urdu Department, Tehran University participated in the event.
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Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik's wife Mashaal Hussain Malik on Friday said struggle of Kashmir was close to its victory as Kashmiri women have come out for their rights.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Kashmiri Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik's wife Mashaal Hussain Malik on Friday said struggle of Kashmir was close to its victory as Kashmiri women have come out for their rights.

She was speaking at Meet the Press Programme of Lahore Press Club, here. She said Kashmir issue was a story of the atrocities of Indian army against innocent civilians.

"We are out for our rights as many of our men are either martyred or missing and we have no choice but to raise voice for our rights," she added.

She said journalists, civil society and other rights activists must take side for the Kashmir movement. Mashaal said the struggle of freedom fighters must be differentiated from the acts of terrorists. She said Kashmiris would continue struggle till their last child was alive. Mashaal said she didn't have any political agenda but wanted the protection of human rights.
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Defence Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan held a bilateral meeting with Minister for Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov on Friday in Moscow, on the sidelines of the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Apr, 2018 ) :Defence Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan held a bilateral meeting with Minister for Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov on Friday in Moscow, on the sidelines of the 7th Moscow Conference on International Security.

They are Co-Chairmen of the Pakistan-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) on Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation. Ambassador of Pakistan to the Russian Federation Khalilullah Qazi was also present in the meeting, says a fax message received here from Moscow on Friday.

The minister underscored that Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Russia. He noted that bilateral relations have improved substantively since 2013 under the shared vision of the highest political leadership of both nations.

He also noted that bilateral trade was growing, and had great potential to rise further.

Denis Manturov observed that IGC provided a good platform for periodic high-level meetings and underlined that further deepening of cooperation between Russia and Pakistan would be helpful in promoting peace and stability in the region.

The two ministers noted the progress made on the execution of decisions taken during the 5th Meeting of Pakistan-Russia IGC held in Moscow in November 2017 and agreed to further enhance cooperation in the fields of trade, energy, defence, science and technology, agriculture, education, health and information technology.

Both sides reiterated their commitment to implementing the Inter-Governmental Agreement on North-South Gas Pipeline Project signed in Islamabad in October 2015. Denis Manturov assured Khurram Dastgir Khan that a Russian delegation would visit Pakistan in the near future to expedite implementation of the project.
Nazaria Pakistan Trust (NPT) staged a protest demonstration at Aiwain-i-Karkunan-i-Tehreek-e-Pakistan to express solidarity with the Kashmiri brethren on the Kashmir Solidarity Day, here on Friday.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Nazaria Pakistan Trust (NPT) staged a protest demonstration at Aiwain-i-Karkunan-i-Tehreek-e-Pakistan to express solidarity with the Kashmiri brethren on the Kashmir Solidarity Day, here on Friday.

NPT Vice Chairman Prof Dr Rafiq Ahmad led the protest while Kashmiri leaders, workers of NPT including Shahid Rasheed, Syed Yawar Hussain Gilani and a large number of people belonging to different walks of life participated in it.

The participants were carrying banners and placards inscribed with different slogans like "Kashmir Banay Ga Pakistan (Kashmir will merge into Pakistan)' and condemned atrocities of Indian army against the innocent Kashmiris.

Speaking on the occasion, speakers called on the international community to fulfil the promise made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir by implementing the UN Security Council resolutions.
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Pakistan is among 26 founding countries of the Boao Forum for Asia, established in 2001. The name Boao comes from a small town of fishermen in Hainan year since 2002.

BEIJING, April 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Pakistan is among 26 founding countries of the Boao Forum for Asia, established in 2001. The name Boao comes from a small town of fishermen in Hainan year since 2002.

It is a forum for discussing issues and problems, as well as an exchange of ideas among Asian countries. Usually heads of state, ministers, senior officials, scientists, economists, social activists, politicians and media personnel attend this forum, according to an article published in China Daily on Friday.

It is a non-profit organization and was initially only open to Asia-Pacific countries. Today membership has grown from 26 in 2001 to 80, itself a major achievement. Pakistan has always been a strong supporter of the forum, actively participating every year.

Most of our presidents and prime ministers have attended. This year, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, along with senior ministers and senior officials, will participate in the forum which will be held from April 8 to 11.

The Pakistan embassy in Beijing has established temporary camp offices in Boao and Sanya cities, to facilitate participation of Pakistani delegates. This year the theme of the forum is "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity", a pertinent and timely one.

Asia is becoming a region of more integrated countries forging partnerships in diverse fields, including the economy, environment, trade, technology, education, energy and ecology. In these circumstances "Openness and Innovation" are even more relevant.

BFA is a platform, where leaders, thinkers and experts from all walks of life are under one roof. One can expect many solutions and opportunities for Asian countries from this forum. It is expected more than 2,000 delegates will attend.

China is a role model and leader for the rest of Asia. Above all, China is sincerely willing to assist any country in the region in the course of their development. The Belt and Road Initiative promotes peace, harmony, and prosperity for the whole region.

More and more countries are joining the initiative; to date, 69 countries have become member states in BRI. President Xi will address the forum this year. His presence will ensure all initiatives or decisions made during BFA will be implemented fully. The continuation of policies and sustainability of initiatives will be ensured, and the dream of Asian countries will come true.
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Managing Director (MD), Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor Khan has said that the cooperation between Pakistan and Tajikistan particularly in tourism sector can help considerably enhance tourism activities.

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Managing Director (MD), Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor Khan has said that the cooperation between Pakistan and Tajikistan particularly in tourism sector can help considerably enhance tourism activities.

The MD who hosted a dinner in honour of six-member high-level delegation from Tajikistan here on Thursday night said Pakistan and Tajikistan have long-term and brotherly relations and the visit of the delegation will help further strengthen the ties between the two countries.

Tajik Airline's request for operation of flights from Dushanbe to Islamabad is under consideration and for the purpose, Prime Minister's Advisor on Aviation has already been requested for the support.

Tajik delegation was led by Head of the Department on Analysis and Foreign Policy Perspectives (Vision) of the Center for Strategic Research Tajikistan Hakim Abdulohi Rahnamo. On this occasion, the PTDC hotel was beautifully decorated with colorful banners, balloons and flags.

Traditional dance and folk music programs were also arranged. Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor addressing the participants said, the visa on Arrival Facility will be introduced for group tourists for more countries and investment opportunities/projects for joint venture in Tourism and Hospitality sector of Pakistan will be shared among potential investors of Tajikistan.

Solid steps should be taken to promote cooperation among national tourism agencies as well as private sector companies and provincial tourism organizations. He recommended that fully sponsored scholarship opportunities should be offered to youth in undergraduate/graduate degree in tourism and hospitality and Central Asian Countries can help Pakistan in removal of negative travel advisories issued by Western Media.

Pakistan is completely a safe and secure tourism destination for the tourists from all over the world, he said adding, "We have opened the doors for the tourists from around the world to come and enjoy our hospitality, see and believe that we have the most of nature blessed treasures spread all over Pakistan.

" The MD further said, development of Road Link and operation of direct flights by National Airlines between Pakistan and Central Asian Republics is also essential for increasing tourist flow.

Ambassador of Tajikistan, Jononov Sherali on the occasion said, in order to strengthen the tourism relations between Pakistan and Tajikistan, an establishment of a working group on tourism is already under consideration.

Once Names of the members are nominated by Pakistan, the working group will start functioning. PTDC and Tajikistan's National Tourism Institutes can sign an agreement on cooperation in tourism sector which will help boost tourism of both the countries.

Hakim Abdulohi Rahnamo said the agreement on tourism cooperation will definitely increase tourist flow between the two brotherly countries. Since its independence in 1991, Tajikistan has developed its tourist industry within a span of only five years.

The hospitality of Pakistani people is unforgettable. Tajikistan government will offer sponsored training programs in the tourism sector for Pakistani youth. The road link and flights will ensure increased flow of tourists to both the countries.

Other members of the delegation were Head of the Department on Social Sciences Problem Studies Of the Center for Strategic Research Kurbonov Abdurahmon Sherovich, Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan Abdurahmonov Marufjon, Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics and Demography of the academy of Sciences Mirsaidov Abror and Akbarov Akramhoja, Media Executive from National Information Agency of Tajikistan.
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The country's flagship carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is planning an ambitious revamp of its aircraft' exterior to highlight its commitment to the preservation of Pakistan's national animal (Markhor).

ISLAMABAD, Apr 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The country's flagship carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is planning an ambitious revamp of its aircraft' exterior to highlight its commitment to the preservation of Pakistan's national animal (Markhor).

According to sources , the airline is considering revamping the look of its planes by changing its logo and design to include a painting of the Markhor a wild goat which inhabits the mountainous regions of Pakistan.

The airline is reviewing a number of design ideas which include replacing the Pakistan flag from its aircraft's tail with the Markhor, the sources said, Private news channel reported.

PIA is said to be eyeing the inauguration of the new Islamabad International Airport on April 20 as the window to unveil its revamped planes.

Sources in the aviation division, however, said that the company has not yet sought its board of Directors' permission to carry out the design change, which is necessary before it can implement its plans. PIA has highlighted its commitment to the preservation of the Markhor in the past as well.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will arrive in Sanya, the southernmost city on China's Hainan Island, on Sunday to attend Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual meeting

BEIJING, Apr 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will arrive in Sanya, the southernmost city on China's Hainan Island, on Sunday to attend Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual meeting.

"The prime minister will be accompanied by Foreign Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Minister for Power Awais Khan Leghari," according to official sources here on Friday.

Besides addressing the annual meeting, the prime minister will hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues. The prime minister has been invited to attend this year's meeting to be held on April 8-11 under the theme "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity".

Other attendees include Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Mongolian Prime Minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

All the leaders will discuss bilateral, multilateral practical cooperation, global governance, economy and trade. And they will build a new consensus and produce new outcome. Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech at the forum, and new measures to further open up the Chinese economy, will also be announced.

The forum would showcase China's progress in reform and opening up, and the over 2,000 attendees will "hear a series of new opening-up measures that China will take as a vision for the future. This year's annual meeting of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) will highlight themes of reform, opening up and innovation.

Scheduled in Boao, a coastal town in China's southern island province of Hainan, the conference will be themed "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity". In addition to China's opening up policy, this year's forum will also focus on Asia's integration and China's stance on building a community with a shared future for Asia and humanity.

The BFA will launch three reports, which will focus on the integration of Asian economies, the emerging economy and Asia's competitiveness respectively in an effort to promote Asian countries' joint development.

As 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening up drive, the conference will also focus on structural reform. Founded in 2001, the BFA is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization committed to promoting regional economic integration and bringing Asian countries closer to their development goals.
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According to a Gilani Research Foundation Survey carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, 53% Pakistanis support the disqualification of Mian Nawaz Sharif as an office-bearer of PML-N. 40% say otherwise

Lahore (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) According to a Gilani Research Foundation Survey carried out by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, 53% Pakistanis support the disqualification of Mian Nawaz Sharif as an office-bearer of PML-N.

40% say otherwise.

A nationally representative sample of men and women from across the four provinces was asked, Some people believe that Supreme Courts ruling in the electoral reforms case, which disqualified Mian Nawaz Sharif as PML-N party president, is right while others say it is wrong.

What is your opinion? In response to this question, 53% said it is right, 40% said it is wrong and 7% did not know or wish to respond.
In line with its commitment of facilitating passengers, the second national carrier of Pakistan Shaheen Air International (SAI) will start non-stop flights between Faisalabad and Muscat, launching its first weekly flight from Sunday April 15, 2018

Karachi (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) In line with its commitment of facilitating passengers, the second national carrier of Pakistan Shaheen Air International (SAI) will start non-stop flights between Faisalabad and Muscat, launching its first weekly flight from Sunday April 15, 2018.

Flight NL758 will depart Faisalabad every Sunday at 7pm and arrive in Muscat at 9 pm whereas the flight NL759 will depart from Muscat every Sunday at 10pm and arrive at Faisalabad at 2am Monday.

The airline will be the first to operate direct flight on this route with an Airbus A320. Pakistani community in Oman will now be able to fly non-stop to the countrys third most populous city Faisalabad, located in the province of Punjab.

Faisalabad is recognized as the Manchester of Pakistan, for being the trade center of the country. New airlines are planning to start their operations in Pakistan in the near future, which is a sign of healthy competition coming in the aviation sector of the country.

It is great to see Shaheen, which is regarded as the second national carrier of the country, start its weekly flights between Faisalabad and Muscat, the capital and largest metropolitan city of Oman, said Huzaifa Halai, Station Manager Oman, SAI.

There is an overwhelming demand for travel between Pakistan and Oman due to the existence of strong relations between the two countries.

The maiden flight to Faisalabad from Muscat will mark a significant milestone for enhancing such ties and also benefit the Pakistani diaspora residing in Oman.

Expanding operations on the Pakistan-Oman route is in line with Shaheen growth strategy outlined for Oman. Its pertinent to mention here that Shaheen has recently modernized its fleet with the inclusion of seven Airbus A319, Halai further added.

With the launch of this new flight, Shaheen has a total of 10 weekly flights between Pakistan and Muscat under its summer schedule. This includes three flights to Lahore, three to Islamabad and one weekly flight each to Sialkot, Peshawar, Multan and Faisalabad.

Having started its operations in 1993 as the first private airline in Pakistan, Shaheen currently operates flights to more than 11 international and 8 domestic destinations. The airline on its 25th anniversary also announced the launch of Shine Miles, SAIs loyalty card, along with its revamped website and web application to enable its flyers with a smoother experience.

Shaheen Air is about to introduce the mobile app where in our valued passengers can check flight schedules, book online and view their booking on their mobile device.
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Students of Sindh Model School, Gulistan e Johar visited the mausoleum of the father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to pay rich tribute to him during their Education Orientation Week here.

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Students of Sindh Model School, Gulistan e Johar visited the mausoleum of the father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to pay rich tribute to him during their Education Orientation Week here.

The students laid wreath and offered fateha, said a statement on Friday. Talking to the students, Director General Information Sindh Mansoor Ahmed Shaikh said that students are our future and they should know about the services rendered by our forefathers.

The students pay attention to get quality education to become the good citizens as well good countrymen, he added. He called upon the teachers to play their due role to polish, teach and guide the students properly.

He said that the teachers should teach the students as per modern needs and techniques of the present education system. Principal Sindh Model school Fauzia Saad informed about various activities under IRIS System through Education Orientation Session including city tour of various historical places and monuments.

Assistant Resident Engineer of Mazar-e-Quaid Management Committee Abdul Haleem Shaikh, Vice Chairman Sindh Model School Abdul Nabi Memon and Hizbullah Memon were also present during the floral wreath and offering prayers at Mazar-e-Quaid.
Supreme Court Friday summoned all stakeholders to get presentation on Internet Voting facility for expatriates on April 12. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan announced its order regarding right of vote to the overseas Pakistanis.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Supreme Court Friday summoned all stakeholders to get presentation on Internet Voting facility for expatriates on April 12. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan announced its order regarding right of vote to the overseas Pakistanis.

The construction petition was heard on April 3 in the Judges chamber where a team of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) headed by its Chairman Usman Y. Mobin had given a detailed presentation to the court on Internet voting for expatriates in general elections.

NADRA team apprised the bench that preliminary software had been developed to extend electronic voting facility to overseas Pakistani through internet. The bench observed that this development should be shared with all other stakeholders including Election Commission of Pakistan and Parliamentarians so that the milestone of extending right of vote to overseas Pakistanis through internet might be achieved in time.

Subsequently, the bench summoned the following representatives on April 12 at 3:30 p.

m. in the auditorium of this Court. (a) two representatives of all the eighteen political parties represented in the Parliament and the Provincial Assemblies; (b) six members each from the National Assembly and the Senate, to be nominated by the Speaker/Chairman Senate, equally from treasury and the opposition benches; (c) Secretaries of the Cabinet Division, Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs; (d) Chief Election Commissioner as also the Members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP); (e) for third party evaluation, IT experts from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Institute of business Administration Karachi (IBA) and all Provincial Information Technology Boards as also any other expert or officer as the ECP may deem appropriate; (f) personnel of Print and Electronic Media; and (g) Bilal Hassan Minto, Advocate Supreme Court.
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The Counsel for Talal Cahudhry, leader of PML-N on Friday pleaded the Supreme Court for judicial restraint in the contempt of court proceedings against his client.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The Counsel for Talal Cahudhry, leader of PML-N on Friday pleaded the Supreme Court for judicial restraint in the contempt of court proceedings against his client.

Advocate Kamran Murtaza submitted the request before a three-member bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan. The counsel however contented that it was difficult to be a lawyer in a contempt of court case and requested to exercise judicial restrain in the matter.

Justice Ejaz remarked that "our aim is to establish the supremacy of law even if somebody throws a shoe at us, it is the solemn duty of the lawyer to defend his client" and asked Murtaza to fulfill his job diligently.

Meanwhile prosecution also produced one witness before the court to establish the case against the state minister. Additional Attorney General Waqar Rana, who was the prosecutor in the case, produced Director Monitoring, Haji Adam as a witness and the defense counsel cross-examined the witness.

The same official was also the witness for the prosecution in the contempt of court case against PML-N MNA Daniyal Aziz. Subsequently, the bench adjourned further hearing of the case till April 30.
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Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb Friday said voices in support of giving respect to vote were resonating throughout the country and in the times to come the power of democracy and constitution would have ascendency over everything else.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Minister of State for Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage Marriyum Aurangzeb Friday said voices in support of giving respect to vote were resonating throughout the country and in the times to come the power of democracy and constitution would have ascendency over everything else.

Talking to media outside Ehtsab and Supreme Court here, Marriyum said whatever had happened to the last 17 prime ministers would not be allowed to be done to the elected prime ministers in future.

She said the masses wanted the elections to be held in time and God willing they would take place in time. Marriyum said there were a lot of speculations about the holding or otherwise of the senate elections but they did happen on time irrespective of whatever transpired during those elections.

She said the timely holding of election was the victory of democracy. The minister welcoming the statement by the CJ to ensure the holding of elections on time because constitution did not allow any delay, said he should take notice for holding of transparent and unblemished general elections in 2018 making sure that all the political parties had a level playing field lest the PML (N) was ousted from the general elections like the senate elections.

She expressed the hope that after CJ's statement all efforts would be made to ensure the holding of fair and transparent elections in the country. The minister said the Election Commission of Pakistan should also fulfill its responsibility in that regard.

She said that the PML (N) was the largest political party of the country and the result of 2018 election hopefully would reflect that reality. The minister referring to Hasil Bizenjo and Mehmood Khan Achakzai said they had the voice of people behind them who had elected them.

She said the party led by Asif Ali Zardari was not the PPP and whatever it was doing under his stewardship was a negation of original creed of the PPP. Marriyum said she had advised Bilawal Bhutto to invite Zardari to join PPP and also apprise him about the philosophy of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Bhutto and his going to the gallows as well as the martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto for the supremacy of democracy, adding it was possible only when Asif Ali Zardari join the party.
Three Al-Shabaab attackers and a soldier died when two car bombs exploded on Friday in the Somali capital Mogadishu, including one that blew up on the key road to the airport, a security official and witnesses said.

Mogadishu, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Three Al-Shabaab attackers and a soldier died when two car bombs exploded on Friday in the Somali capital Mogadishu, including one that blew up on the key road to the airport, a security official and witnesses said.

In the first blast, a minibus packed with explosives detonated at the checkpoint on the airport highway, wounding two soldiers. "The security forces suspected a man who was driving a minibus at the main airport checkpoint.

When he was asked to identify himself, he tried to drive off fast but he was shot and the vehicle blew up. The bomber died and two soldiers were wounded in the blast," said security official Mohamed Ali.

A few minutes later two gunmen in a car loaded with explosives were stopped at a checkpoint along a key road out of the city.

Witnesses said the gunmen exchanged fire with soldiers, one of whom was killed.

"There were two armed men disguised as Somali soldiers driving the car. They tried to force their way through the checkpoint, but the security forces exchanged heavy fire with them, the two gunmen were shot and the vehicle exploded.

There were no civilian casualties," said a grocer, Abdiqani Mohamed, whose store is close to the checkpoint. He said he saw the corpse of one soldier, which was confirmed by several other eyewitnesses. The Shaabab, linked to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement.
Accra, April 6 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Ghana will not sign an agreement with Washington to set up a military base, President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Thursday. The president confirmed in a television address that the two countries would ink a defence cooperation agreement, but was emphatic that "Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America".

His comments come after hundreds of people took to the streets of Accra, Ghana's capital, last Wednesday to protest against a controversial military deal with Washington which was passed by parliament last week.

The protesters have served notice they will take the demonstration to other parts of the country if the president signs the deal. Critics say the agreement undermines the country's sovereignty. Ghana and the US are working to forge closer ties between their armed forces but both have denied rumours that Washington is planning to set up military bases in the West African nation.

"The United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request," he said.

"I will never be the president that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country.

I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom," Akufo-Addo assured Ghanaians. According to the president, who said he was outraged by the position of the main opposition National Democratic Congress, the agreement will benefit not only Ghana, but the West African sub-region.

"In consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America.

"It will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region," Akufo-Addo added. In the past decade, the United States has expanded its military presence in Africa, ostensibly to stop the spread of Islamist extremism by groups such as Islamic State, Boko Haram and Al Shabab on the continent.

Ghana, a major producer of gold and cocoa, prides itself as being a beacon of stability in a region blighted by coups, dictators and corruption.
JAKARTA, April 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :Indonesian authorities on Thursday initiated joint efforts to handle the oil spill problem in East Kalimantan province's Balikpapan waters following a leak in crude oil pipe belonged to state-run oil and gas firm Pertamina.

Head of Research and Human Resource at Indonesia's Marine and Fishery Ministry Zulficar Mochtar said the massive oil spill incident in Balikpapan waters has immensely hurt the ecosystem, economy and livelihoods of local fishermen.

"We cannot solve this problem alone, we need to find collective solution. The efforts would be beyond beach cleaning," Mochtar said on Thursday, adding that his ministry would team up with other related ministries and agencies to address the Balikpapan oil spill issue.

He said that teams involved in the operation would use the "oil boom' equipments of oil companies around the location. With the equipments, the spilled oil can be localized and herded to the area around the Pertamina facility.

This process may take around three days, he added. After its initial denial related to the fire in Balikpapan waters on Saturday, Pertamina finally admitted that the oil spill was originated from its leaked crude oil pipe.

Pertamina Balikpapan General Manager Togar MP said that the leak was discovered on Tuesday after his subordinates scanned the pipelines with sonar system.

The Indonesian Environmental and Forestry Ministry assigned three director generals to launch investigations into the case which has seriously polluted the environment around the waters.

They would check the oil firms' standard operating procedures and their alertness in dealing with the pollution issue in the sea, calculating the losses caused by the incident and ensuring the legal consequences.

In another development, Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said that the area polluted by the oil spill has spread to almost 13,000 hectares in Balikpapan waters. BNPB Spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that fvie fishermen were killed in the oil spill fire when they were fishing in the affected waters on Saturday.

Sutopo said on Thursday that the oil spill has seriously polluted 60 km of the coastline in Balikpapan beach. "It polluted the beach ecosystem, including 34 hectares of mangroves. People suffered from nausea and headache due to the black smoke originated from the burned crude oil.

The incident also risks the wellbeing of endangered dugong species," he said in a statement. The Balikpapan administration declared a state of emergency on Monday related to the oil spill, advising residents to stay away from the coast.
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JAKARTA, April 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Apr, 2018 ) :"It's a good effort and good initiative," a senior Indonesian scholar gives positive comments on the upcoming 2018 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), saying that it would increase understanding among countries in Asia and lead to effective cooperation and integration to achieve collective prosperity.

Besides serving as an event to seek common ground for building stronger economic cooperation, the BFA is also highly expected to give more access for transfer of technologies, said Prof. Adi Zakaria Afiff, deputy rector of University of Indonesia (UI).

BFA will be held in China's Hainan province, a strategic site related to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that remodeled the ancient Silk Road trading route. "By putting a modern touch on it, it would not only build cooperation.

More importantly it would make us understand and revisit our history, learning that we have a long history of cooperation since hundreds of years ago and it is something that we should strive for a better future," he told Xinhua in Jakarta.

The BFA, scheduled from 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." Adi said that the BFA annual conference would be a moment to respond to the increasing trade protectionism.

"Economic cooperation should be fair for all countries. Trade issues can be discussed and negotiated. Discussion has played a pivotal role in global communities. BFA has a mission to develop mutual understanding.

Fair global trade would benefit everyone," said the expert. By promoting inclusive, open, mutually-beneficial and win-win solution in global economic cooperation, China's behavior is hailed by the renowned Indonesian scholar.

China is Indonesia's largest trading partner, with improving relations in the socio-cultural sector. "I hope in the future we can build a stronger relationship through this kind of cooperation," said Adi. "China would bring even more positive development in Asia. It would be good for the future of Asia," he said.
Istanbul, April 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :A huge fire on Thursday engulfed a hospital in Istanbul forcing patients to evacuate as firefighters battled the smoke and flames.

The blaze, which started in the roof, turned the side of the building into a burned-out shell, sending a massive black cloud into the sky. Patients, some wearing oxygen masks, were wheeled out into the street in their sick beds while mothers were forced to leave clutching young babies.

Firefighters used elevation lifts to try to extinguish the fire at the top of the multi-storey hospital building in the Gaziosmanpasa district of Istanbul. However local officials said there were so far no reports of casualties although some patients may have been affected by the smoke.

- 'So far no sad news' - Speaking at the scene, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said the fire services had managed to bring the blaze partly under control. Echoing comments by other officials, he said there were no current reports of casualties.

"So far there is no sad news. God willing, it will stay that way," he told the crowds outside in comments broadcast by television.

Witnesses told Turkish television that the flames spread rapidly around the side of the building.

"The fire was knocking against the windows. It was terrifying," one woman told CNN-Turk, without giving her name. - 'A lot of smoke' - Sahin later told reporters said that the fire had been on the outer part of the building -- rather than the inside -- but a "lot of smoke" had penetrated inside which emergency services were now seeking to expel.

He added that some 70 patients had been evacuated outside and those in intensive care moved to a secure place inside the hospital that was not affected. There was no immediate information on the cause of the blaze but Sahin said that two prosecutors had already been tasked to investigate.

He said emergency services were now making a final check of the upper floors. Pictures showed scenes of panic as staff and patients flooded into the street to escape the fumes. Health Minister Ahmet Demircan, who was rushing to the scene Istanbul, has informed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of developments, Turkish television said.
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Washington, April 6 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Apr, 2018 ) :The Palestinian representative in Washington warned Friday that the situation in Gaza is explosive and that the region cannot afford to wait for the promised new US peace plan.

Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization's envoy to the United States, urged the United States to renew its support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Things are boiling in front of everybody.

It's a pressure cooker. It's going to explode sooner or later. It's not like we can wait," Zomlot told AFP in an interview in Washington. Zomlot's office broke off contact with the White House team drawing up a plan for a US-mediated solution to the crisis after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

There is little sign of a plan emerging and protests have erupted in Gaza, where Palestinians have thrown stones over a border fence and Israeli troops have responded with deadly live fire.

The White House has called for Palestinian leaders to keep their supporters back from the border, but has not spoken out against Israel's use of force, further enraging Palestinians.

"Look at the situation in Gaza," Zomlot said. "It deserves the US government strongest condemnation and action to uphold international law. We did not see condemnation." Zomlot insisted the Palestinians were sincerely happy to work with Trump's administration and hopeful for peace until he recognized Israel's claim on Jerusalem.

"If the US administration changes its position and returns to the long-held US policy of a two-state solution on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of a sovereign state of Palestine, yes we will engage," he said. "Neither we can wait on the ground there -- things are really boiling -- nor we can wait for the US to change their position".
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The Pentagon said Thursday it has established a new body to support President Donald Trump's order to send the military to the southern border, but questions remain about what the deployment will actually look like.

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The Pentagon said Thursday it has established a new body to support President Donald Trump's order to send the military to the southern border, but questions remain about what the deployment will actually look like.

The so-called "border security support cell" will channel information between the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for border security. "The cell will last for the foreseeable future, to ensure we surge our capacity to meet the president's enhanced border security goals," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters.

Trump on Wednesday ordered the National Guard to deploy to the southern US border, ratcheting up pressure on Mexico and taking another step in his quest to clamp down on illegal immigration. Because the National Guard falls under the purview of state governors, the Pentagon needs to liaise with each of the four states bordering Mexico to determine how the military will operate.

"The National Guard's efforts will include aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance and logistical support," White said.

But Pentagon officials still do not know how many troops will be on the border, whether they will be armed, when they will deploy and how long they will be there.

Pentagon planners have been scrambling to find ways to support Trump's surprise edict that he would send the military to the 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." White denied there was a lack of coordination or communication between Trump and the Pentagon.

"The communication between the White House and the Defense Department is very clear," she said. Trump wants to build a wall along part of the Mexican border, but his pet project is facing financial hurdles and he has suggested poaching Pentagon cash to help pay for it.

White said the Defense Department is looking into building a stretch of wall at its Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range in Arizona, where it abuts the border.
(@FahadShabbir)

One person was killed and six others wounded on Friday when an explosive device ripped through a car in the capital Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.

DAMASCUS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :One person was killed and six others wounded on Friday when an explosive device ripped through a car in the capital Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.

The bomb went off behind the Khansa Mosque in the Barzeh neighborhood north of Damascus, said the report.

The incident is a reminder of the early years of Syrian crisis when the bombings started to hit the country right after mass protests, which started seven years ago.

This incident comes as the capital Damascus is largely safe after the majority of the rebel groups had evacuated the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, except for the district of Douma. Rebels in Douma are currently negotiating with the Syrian army over their evacuation from that area.

Barzeh neighborhood in northern Damascus had been under the rebels' control before the government forces recaptured it in 2017 after the evacuation of rebels to northern Syria.
(@FahadShabbir)

Bamako, April 6 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :Two UN peacekeepers were killed and 10 others wounded on Thursday night during an attack on their camp in northeastern Mali, the UN's mission there said in a statement.

"At 6.45pm (1845 GMT) the peacekeepers came under mortar fire," the mission, known by its acronym MINUSMA, said in the statement. "According to an initial assessment, two peacekeepers were killed and 10 were wounded," it added, saying the camp that was attacked was in Aguelhok.

Mali is one of the most dangerous UN missions, with more than 150 peacekeepers killed since 2013. MINUSMA has a 12,500-strong force in the country, backed by a further 4,000 French troops who are on an anti-jihadist mission.

Attacks on the mission are commonplace. Last month four UN peacekeepers were killed when a mine exploded under their vehicle in central Mali. Six Malian soldiers were killed a week earlier in another mine attack on their convoy.

Once a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, Mali has been undermined by a coup, civil war and Islamist terrorism. Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of Mali's desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali's government signed a peace agreement with some armed groups, but the jihadists remain active, and large tracts of the country are lawless.
(@rukhshanmir)

Washington, April 6 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Apr, 2018 ) :The Pentagon has canceled a training exercise in the Djibouti region following two separate aviation mishaps this week, officials said Thursday, as the US military grapples with a spate of flight accidents.

The government of Djibouti ordered the grounding of military flights following the incidents, said Commander Bill Urban, a spokesman for the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. As a consequence an amphibious training exercise known as Alligator Dagger was canceled.

"A safety stand-down has been initiated for all exercise participants," Urban said. The US military has been rocked by a string of aviation accidents in recent days, including an F-16 crash near Las Vegas on Wednesday that killed the pilot.

On Tuesday, four crew members died when a Marine Corps helicopter crashed while on a routine training mission in Southern California.

And in Djibouti, two incidents on Tuesday triggered the grounding of US military flights.

The first saw an AV-8B Harrier jet crash at Djibouti International Airport. The pilot, who ejected, survived the crash. Then separately, a Marine CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter suffered "structural damage" during a landing at a landing zone at Djibouti's Arta Beach, Urban said.

The crew in that case was not injured. The US base in Djibouti is a key a staging area for the US in its anti-jihadist campaigns in Yemen and Somalia. Pentagon spokesman Marine Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said there was no apparent linkage between any of the accidents.

"We regret each one. We'll look at them carefully. I'm certainly not prepared to say that it's a wave of mishaps or some form of crisis," McKenzie said.
The rising cost of health care in the United States has been the focus of intense debate within the medical, legal, and legislative arenas, with the cost of cancer care representing an important component. Cost effectiveness is not always easy to define, and there is no standard metric in assessing this measure related to cancer therapies. Significant controversy surrounds exactly what is the appropriate cost per added year of life. This review examines cost, effectiveness, and comparative cost effectiveness of novel systemic therapies for patients with urologic malignancies. Cancer 2018.  2018 American Cancer Society.

Cancer. 2018 Mar 26 [Epub ahead of print]

Mark A Henry, Andrew Leung, Christopher P Filson

Department of Urology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.

PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29579342


On Thursday, April 5, executives from Steak n Shake and Hooters Casino Hotel were joined by Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson to celebrate the Grand Opening of the worlds largest Steak n Shake at Hooters Casino Hotel (Photo credit: Las Vegas Photo and Video).

Photo credit: Las Vegas Photo and Video

Si Sloman, general manager of Hooters Casino Hotel; Rob Oseland, chief operating officer of Paragon Gaming; Jay Fishman, president and CEO of Associated Hotels; George Ruff, founder of Trinity Hotel Investors; and Jennifer Abilez, director of design and construction for Steak n Shake, joined Gibson in the ribbon cutting moment, officially signifying the grand opening of the Las Vegas Strips first Steak n Shake location.

Photo credit: Las Vegas Photo and Video

We couldnt be more thrilled to have Steak n Shake on property at Hooters Casino Hotel, said Fishman. The Steak n Shake and Hooters brands work together perfectly, and were excited to see the relationship build as the new restaurant flourishes on property.

In addition, Gibson welcomed the newest Steak n Shake to Clark County and Las Vegas with a special proclamation marking Thursday, April 5, 2018 as Steak n Shake Day.

Because of its location on the Las Vegas Strip, Hooters Casino Hotel makes the perfect place for us to build a new Steak n Shake location, said Abilez. We were able to give this location some unique aspects that we couldnt do anywhere else, such as the gaming stations, creation of the Vegas Bloody Mary, a Milkshake Bar and more.

Now operating 24 hours, seven days a week, this Hooters Casino Hotel location is the only location in Las Vegas to offer the full breakfast menu, the only location in the world with a gaming stations at the bar and holds seating for more than 200 guests.
A renowned historian of Cambodia, David Chandler, received the top award from the Association for Asian Studies at its 2018 annual conference, held here from March 22-25.

The 85-year-old American academic, who is now professor emeritus at Monash University in Australia, was given the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies for his extensive body of scholarly work on Cambodias history, politics and culture.

Previous winners of the honor include well-known figures such as Senator J. William Fulbright and political scientist Benedict Anderson.

Chandlers five books on Cambodia, including the seminal 1983 work A History of Cambodia, have been used in classrooms all over the world and translated into multiple languages. Perhaps more importantly, Chandler is credited with helping train a generation of Cambodia-focused scholars and make the country into a focus of study.

He has helped make Cambodian studies a field, such that there is now a group that meets here every year specializing in Cambodia, said Katherine Bowie, president of the Association for Asian Studies.

Even if you werent interested in Cambodia, you didnt know you were interested in Cambodia, his work will make you interested, she added.

Bowie said there was tremendous enthusiasm within the association for honoring Chandler because he had been a generous mentor to so many scholars.

After graduating from Harvard University, Chandler became a US Foreign Service officer in 1958 and was posted in 1960 to the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, where a room is now named in his honor. There, he learned to speak and read Khmer and gained insight into the countrys political dynamics by following then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk around the country to observe his speeches.

After leaving his diplomatic career and deciding to become an academic, he went on to earn a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1974, writing about pre-colonial Cambodian politics, and since then has researched and written numerous books, articles, and reports on Cambodia.

Chandler told VOA Khmer he was very flattered, very pleased and surprised by the recognition, but was most gratified that he might have influenced other scholars to follow him into the field.

When I started being a scholar of Cambodian history, there was no one else doing that, he said.

With the civil war, the Khmer Rouge, the refugee issue, UNTAC, a lot of people became involved in Cambodia outside the academic world. A lot of them moved into academic after that and it just became a much larger and more crowdedhappily crowdedfield.

Judy Ledgerwood, a professor of anthropology at Northern Illinois University who co-edited At the Edge of the Forest, a 2008 book of essays inspired by Chandlers work, told VOA Khmer that he was a wonderful scholar who had written some of the most important works in English about Cambodia and inspired many people to enter the field.

They are really readable and so they were a good introduction for many people to the country, she said.

George Chigas, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who uses Chandlers Tragedy of Cambodian History and Brother Number One as required readings in his classes, agreed that the award was a much-deserved recognition for great work.

All of us who study and are interested in Cambodian history and culture have a great debt to David Chandler, he said.


Impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been convicted and sentenced to more than two decades in prison for abuse of power, coercion and bribery, at the conclusion of her criminal trial related to the corruption scandal that forced her from office.

Chief Judge Kim Se-yoon announced the verdict and sentencing at the Seoul Central District Court Friday during the final session of the trial, which was broadcast live on television.

It is the decision of the court that the defendant Park Guen-hye is sentenced to 24 years in prison and must pay a fine of 18 billion Korean won (approximately $17 million dollars,) Chief Judge Kim said.

The former president did not attend the proceedings, and the defense objected that the live broadcast would make it difficult for her to receive a fair appeal trial in the future. The judge said the peoples right to know in a democratic society outweighed the defendants objections.

The 24-year sentence is less than the 30-year jail term that prosecutors had called for.

Indirect coercion

Park became South Koreas first democratically elected leader to be forced from office last year after the Constitutional Court endorsed the impeachment vote passed by the National Assembly with more than the two-thirds majority support required.

Both the impeachment and criminal charges stem from allegations that the former conservative leader colluded with her close friend, Choi Soon-sil, to force large Korean conglomerates like Samsung to contribute millions of dollars to two nonprofit organizations controlled by Choi.

Chief Judge Kim detailed how Park worked indirectly with Choi to use the power of the presidency to intimidate large corporations into making donations for their favored projects, with the implied promise of favorable government treatment in the future, and the threat of retaliation if they did not cooperate.

Seen from this case, these people like the president or the chief economic secretary have enormous power, such as (granting) various approvals and (initiating) tax investigations that can have a profound impact on the companys existence and activities in general, Kim said.

In February, Choi was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 20 years in prison for her part in the scandal.

The chairman of the Lotte Group, the countrys fifth-largest conglomerate, Shin Dong-bin, was jailed for two years and six months for bribery.

Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee was jailed for a similar term on charges of bribery and embezzlement, but in a surprise decision in February, an appeals court freed him after a year in detention.

Political persecution

Park apologized at her trial for seeking help from Choi, but claims she is innocent of all charges and never used the presidency for her own financial benefit.

The judge, however, said Park elicited bribes totaling more than $20 million. Even if she did not directly receive the money, the judge said, she still used her power and influence to benefit Choi and surrogates, and that much of the money raised for the nonprofit organizations were structured so that it could be liquidated at a later time.

Much of the indirect evidence against the former president was based on statements to the prosecution by corporate chairmen who met privately with the president, and on notes kept by former presidential secretary Ahn Jong-beom.

Legal experts question the strength of the prosecutions case, which they say failed to produce clear evidence linking Park to any political payoffs. Some critics say Fridays verdict reflects a disturbing trend in South Koreas democracy, in which former political leaders increasingly face legal persecution when opposition parties gain power.

I think the rule of law lost its balance in Korean society. It is faltering. It seems to me that the justice of law has disappeared, and the atmosphere of political repression seems to fill the court, said Lee In-ho, a professor of law at Chung-Ang University in Seoul.

Parks conservative predecessor, former President Lee Myung-bak, is also being investigated for corruption.

Culture change

Before her impeachment, Parks public approval rating dropped to below 10 percent and she remains a divisive figure in the country.

The presidential influence peddling scandal triggered weeks of massive public protests across the country, with outraged liberal opposition leaders demanding more accountability and transparency from their elected leaders, and an end to the corrupting corporate influence on the political system.

Liberal leader Moon Jae-in easily won a special presidential election in May 2017, based in part on his promise to reform what he called the culture of the authoritarian president. Moon has said he would end the use of presidential pardons for corrupt corporate executives, as was done in the past. He is also proposing constitutional changes replacing the single five-year presidential term to allow a president to run for two consecutive four-year terms, and to distribute some presidential power to the prime minister selected by the National Assembly.

Kim Hyung-a, a Korean politics professor with The Australian National University, wrote in an East Asian Forum Blog that older Koreans in particular worry that Moons proposed constitutional amendment will make it more difficult for conservative opponents to regain power.

They suspect the bill may merely pretend to eliminate the authoritarian president culture and will actually inflate Moons own presidential power by expanding the power of the Blue House, Kim wrote.

President Moon has also enjoyed strong public support for his outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and efforts to facilitate denuclearization talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report.
Security officials in eastern Afghanistan said Pakistani army helicopters bombarded a border district Thursday, hours after firing off 600 rounds of artillery in the region over the past 24 hours.

No casualties were reported.

Afghanistan's Foreign Office in a statement condemned the alleged airstrike on Dangam district in Kunar province, calling it a violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty. The statement said the continuation of such actions would affect relations between the two countries.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to travel to Afghanistan on an official visit Friday at the invitation of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Pakistan's Foreign Office rejected allegations that it had violated Afghan airspace, calling the charges "baseless."

Abdul Ghani Mosamem, spokesperson for the governor of Afghanistan's Kunar province, told VOA that no casualties were reported because it's difficult to get any reports from the area. He said Pakistani airstrikes continued until late evening and targeted mostly agricultural terrain and mountainous areas bordering Pakistan.

Talking to VOA, a Pakistani lawmaker said he was not aware of any such incident.

"One cannot blame only by saying that Pakistani jets have dropped bombs in Afghan territory. There must be some evidence, signs of bombardment; they should provide evidence that the Pakistani government couldn't deny.  Pakistan's government avoids such things," said Sheikh Rohale Asghar, a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League.



This story was written by VOA's Mohammad Ahmadi and Muhammad Ishtiaq. VOA's Afghan service contributed to this report.
Bernie Sanders took the stage in Mississippi's capital city alongside a popular, young African-American mayor whose election he'd endorsed last year.

Sanders, the one-time and potentially future presidential candidate, praised Jackson's Chokwe Antar Lumumba as an heir to the legacy of Martin Luther King, not just on civil rights for black Americans but economic justice for poor and working-class Americans. Yet on the same night Lumumba and Sanders gathered to honor the slain civil rights leader, the Vermont senator seemed to downplay another iconic black American.

Former President Barack Obama, Sanders said, was a "charismatic individual ... an extraordinary candidate, a brilliant man." But "behind that reality," Sanders continued, the nation's first black president led a Democratic Party whose "business model" has been a "failure" for more than a decade.

It served as the latest confirmation that Sanders, even as he tries for new footholds in the black community, hasn't mastered his precarious relationship with a key Democratic Party constituency that effectively blocked his White House path in 2016 with its overwhelming support for Hillary Clinton; it's a constituency he will need if he hopes to reshape the party going forward, much less make another presidential run.

Sanders, who is elected in Vermont as an independent but caucuses in Washington with Democrats, has been spending more time in places dominated by black voters, including Southern states where African-Americans shape Democratic primaries. He and Lumumba have become a sort of political odd couple: the white 76-year-old democratic socialist with his rumpled suit and untamed hair, preaching in his Brooklyn accent, and an impeccably clad 35-year-old black attorney-turned-politician smiling his way through calm expositions sprinkled with the occasional "y'all."

But they share a common vision. Lumumba expresses hopes to make Jackson "the most radical" of U.S. cities.

Besides campaigning for Lumumba, Sanders came to Mississippi last year to lobby workers to unionize a Nissan auto plant.

The senator backed another black millennial in neighboring Alabama, helping Randall Woodfin to the mayor's office in Birmingham. In New Orleans, Our Revolution, the spinoff of Sanders' presidential campaign, tapped the eventual winner of a crowded mayoral race. LaToya Cantrell will be sworn in May 7.

On Capitol Hill, Sanders aides say he huddles more routinely with black lawmakers to discuss shared priorities.

In an interview in Mississippi, Sanders brushed back "the myth" that he has little black support, noting 2016 primary exit polls showing he won voters under 30 across racial lines. But he mostly shuns most race-based analysis and casts his post-2016 maneuvering as ideological: He wants to move public policy leftward on everything from health care and college access to criminal justice and labor policy, and he argues the way to do that is increase voter turnout across demographic groups.

"My goal is to bring forth a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of working people, whether they are black, white or Latino, and get people involved in the political process in a way we have not seen in a very long time," he said in an interview before his event with Lumumba.

His mentions of the civil rights movement still don't include his own activism as a white college student in Chicago.

His travel itinerary has been void of state and local party galas where lower-level party players are accustomed to welcoming would-be presidents. Clinton attended such events for decades, and by her presidential campaigns often could call several attendees by name.

"We haven't heard from him at all," said Alabama's Joe Reed, who leads an influential black caucus within his state's party.

Georgia's Nikema Williams, her state party's vice chairwoman and a first-term state senator, said the same. Sanders came to Atlanta last year to campaign for a black mayoral candidate who ultimately lost, but didn't reach beyond Vincent Fort's campaign circle.

As a comparison, Williams said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a possible 2020 candidate, called to congratulate her after her election. "It struck me that she'd be calling a new state senator in Georgia," Williams said.

Sanders answered that he doesn't need "the establishment," regardless of race, and said most voters are "estranged" from the two-party system anyway.

As with Sanders' comments on Obama, some of the rub is as much about emphasis as substance. Seated with Lumumba, the senator was asked about the marginalization of black LGBTQ citizens. He shifted the question to people "you didn't talk about" like "people working two or three jobs" and "people who spend 50 percent of their limited income on housing." He repeatedly turned discussion of fighting racism to fighting poverty.

"If all I hear about is 'the working class,' and it seems he's talking to just one segment, then it's easy to feel he's not talking to me," said Williams, the Georgia Democrat.

Exit polling from the 2008 and 2016 Democratic presidential primaries showed that the eventual nominee - Obama, then Clinton - actually lost the cumulative white vote, but prevailed on the strength of non-whites, particularly black voters.

Those trends may not apply neatly in 2020, when the Democratic field is expected to include well more than two competitive candidates. There could be multiple credible black candidates, including Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

But Clay Middleton, who ran Clinton's South Carolina campaign in 2016, said the takeaway remains: "You want to get elected president, you want to win the nomination, you cannot take the African-American vote for granted."

Reed, the Alabama Democrat, offered a warning both to Sanders and black Democrats.

Black voters, Reed said, must recognize that "we can't elect a president by ourselves" and that any victorious candidate must "appeal to more than just us." But any presidential hopeful, Reed said, must understand that black voters "will look for somebody that looks out for our interests."

This story was written by the Associated Press.
Cambodias national election body has invited international observers to monitor the July general election, widely expected to be a landslide victory for the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) and Prime Minister Hun Sen because the main opposition party was dissolved last year.

International delegates are required by law to be invited to observe Cambodian elections. Local nongovernmental groups also received invitations.

Both local and international observers will be able to submit written reports of their findings after the vote concludes, but local groups may be reluctant to take part following months of government-led suppression of criticism and Cambodias Supreme Court November dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

During the senate election in February, which resulted in a sweeping CPP win, two local election monitors boycotted the proceedings.

Korn Savang, an election monitor at Comfrel, a local pro-democracy group, said a decision on whether the group will take part in the election would be made after party registration closes in May.

Its important that candidates of political parties are allowed to compete. No matter which party they are in or which party they work for, all their rights, [including] the rights of the 118 political candidates who were banned, must be ensured so they are able to join other political parties, he said, referring to a group of opposition CNRP politicians who were banned from politics when the party was dissolved.

Sam Kuntheamy, executive director of Nicfec, another local election observer, said a combination of the tense political climate and a lack of funding made the groups participation uncertain.

Dim Sovannarom, the spokesman for Cambodias National Election Committee, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The CNRP, which gained more than 40 percent of the vote in local elections last year, also saw its president, Kem Sokha, jailed on treason charges over an alleged foreign-backed conspiracy to topple Hun Sen.

This story was written by Hul Reaksmey.
The European Union said Friday Facebook has told it that up to 2.7 million people in the 28-nation bloc may have been victim of improper data sharing involving political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica.

EU spokesman Christian Wigand said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova will have a telephone call with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg early next week to address the massive data leaks.

The EU and Facebook will be looking at what changes the social media giant needs to make to better protect users and how the U.S. company must adapt to new EU data protection rules.

Wigand said that EU data protection authorities will discuss over the coming days ``a strong coordinated approach'' on how to deal with the Facebook investigation.

Separately, Italy's competition authority opened an investigation Friday into Facebook for allegedly misleading practices following revelations that the social network sold users' data without consent.

Authority chairman Giovanni Pitruzzella told Sky News24 that the investigation will focus on Facebook's claims on its home page that the service is free, without revealing that it makes money off users' data.

The investigation comes as Italian consumer advocate group Codacons prepares a U.S. class action against Facebook on behalf of Italians whose data was mined by Cambridge Analytica. Codacons said just 57 Italians downloaded the Cambridge Analytica app, but that an estimated 214,000 Italians could be affected because the data mined extended to also the users' friends.

A top Facebook privacy official is scheduled to meet with the authority later this month.



This story was earlier corrected to show that the EU call will take place with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg not with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Egypt's most popular daily has sacked its chief editor amid a crisis over the paper's coverage of last month's presidential election, which critics have dubbed undemocratic, in the latest blow to freedom of the press in Egypt.

The dismissal note for Mohammed el-Sayyed Saleh was signed by Al-Masry Al-Youm's CEO Abdel-Moneim Said, and was dated April 4.

It was widely circulated on social media Friday and the paper's journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media, confirmed its authenticity.

Attempts to reach Saleh were unsuccessful. On his Facebook page, Saleh posted that he had left his job, claiming it was his own desire. He said he is "proud of what I have produced ... proud of 14 years of my work here and proud of 1,000 headlines."

The dismissal note did not include reasons behind the sacking and only said, "it has been decided to end the assignment" of Saleh as a chief editor.

Election authorities have said the paper's coverage amounted to an "insult." Al-Masry Al-Youm ran a piece last month about state-orchestrated efforts to mobilize voters using rewards. One of the headlines read: "Officials promising financial bonus, gifts in front of the polls."

Saleh was referred for questioning, while Egypt's state prosecutor opened an investigation into the paper's election coverage. The state-run Supreme Council for Media Regulations fined the paper 150,000 Egyptian pounds (8,400 dollars) and demanded it publish an apology.

The paper, which had changed the contentious headlines in second editions, ran an apology Monday.

Al-Masry Al-Youm is owned by Egyptian tycoon Saleh Diab, who in 2015 was briefly arrested over corruption allegations. The incident was seen as a warning from authorities.

In the March balloting, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was re-elected for a second term, getting 97 percent of the vote in a virtually one-man contest, with only one obscure politician running after all serious challengers were arrested or pressured to withdraw from the race.

Since the ouster of el-Sissi's predecessor, Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, in 2013 following mass protests against his divisive rule, authorities have waged an unprecedented crackdown on political dissent and media. Thousands have been jailed, including journalists. Protests have been banned, hundreds of websites blocked, and freedom of press has largely been curbed.

Days before the election, authorities expelled British journalist Bel Trew after arresting her and threatening her with a military trial.

Another arrest

Also this week, Adel Sabri, the chief editor of Masr al-Arabia independent website, was arrested. He faces allegations of membership in the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, publishing false news, and managing an unlicensed website  typical allegations against government critics.

Masr al-Arabia was also fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds (nearly $3,000) for publishing an Arabic translation of a New York Times report saying voters were offered cash, food and promises of better services in exchange for casting ballots.

Reporters Without Borders has ranked Egypt as 161 out of 180 countries on their 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's re-election victory raises questions about the country's resurgent authoritarianism  and the future of the beleaguered opposition.

In his victory speech, el-Sissi pledged to work for all Egyptians, including those who did not vote for him. He added that differences in opinion would be tolerated as long as they are not against the national interest.

Michele Dunne, director of Carnegie's Middle East program and an Egypt expert, was not convinced by el-Sissi's pledge of inclusion and says the real question is about the future of the opposition, which was riding high after the Arab Spring.

"President [el-]Sissi said in the past that the political freedoms that are spelled [out] in the Egyptian Constitution would be observed, but we have seen that that is not what happened," Dunne said. "The opposition that was there before 2011 until 2013 has been imprisoned, exiled, completely crushed."

Strong indications

On the surface, el-Sissi's victory was overwhelming. The official count gave him 97 percent of the vote.

Turnout was only 41 percent, however, despite the government's campaign for people to vote as their patriotic duty and essentially endorse el-Sissi's policies.

One important indicator: 1.7 million ballots were disqualified for having write-in votes. That outnumbered the lone challenger, who was campaigning for el-Sissi before joining the race.

All serious rivals were allegedly arrested or intimidated in the lead-up to last week's vote.

Younger voters were noticeably absent from the voting sites.

"Despite the fact that you have more Egyptian voters in 2018 than you did in 2014, the lower turnout rate means fewer people were motivated to go to the polls to vote for endorsing a second term," said Andrew Miller, deputy director of Project on Middle East Democracy.

Dunne urged the U.S. government not to congratulate el-Sissi. She noted that although he has vowed to respect the two-term limit for presidents, his efforts to consolidate power by eliminating opposition have stirred concerns that he may try to amend the constitution.

El-Sissi has denied he discouraged the candidacies of any legitimate opponent.

More authoritarianism

Miller said el-Sissi's path forward is being eased somewhat because Western allies aren't pushing back amid signs of increasing authoritarianism.

"The absence of an international political response does provide more room to maneuver; it is one less thing to be concerned about," Miller said.

He said that despite alleged human rights violations under el-Sissi, the U.S. and European countries prefer security cooperation with strategically located Egypt over concerns about democratic values and freedoms of expression and speech.

Miller said el-Sissi faces major challenges, including the continued insurgency and terrorism in Sinai and elsewhere and meeting people's expectations of economic improvement.

Weak political structure

Experts agree that the election has highlighted how much party activism in Egypt has waned because of suppression of media and civil society and closing off political space.

But that would not lead to another popular uprising, Said Sadek, professor of political sociology at the American University in Cairo, said.

"The issue of a third revolution in Egypt is very difficult and impossible; the regime has empowered itself, and there is a counter-revolution that has been controlling the media and the culture," Sadek said.

"Revolutionaries today are considered the enemies of the state," he added.

Sadek said the public is fed up with the instability that followed the popular uprising and there is fear of the security apparatus that has restored its prerevolution posture.

Experts said if there is a lesson to be learned from the revolution, it is that political development is no less important than economic development.

So for Egypt to enjoy stability and a better future, there is a need for a regime that succeeds and helps establish a strong political infrastructure that includes a respected constitution; free media, responsible political parties; and a vigorous and involved civil society, they say.

This story was written by VOA's Mohamed Elshinnawi.
A former fishing boat captain is facing up to six years in prison for deliberately dumping oily slops into the Pacific Ocean.

A jury in Seattle convicted Randall Fox on Thursday of violating the federal Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

He also faces a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced.

The Department of Justice will continue to work with our partners like the U.S. Coast Guard to aggressively prosecute criminals that pollute the oceans, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Wood said Thursday.

Fox was captain of the Native Sun. He was found guilty of discharging an oily mix called bilge slops straight into the Pacific without properly treating the waste with government-approved pollution prevention equipment.

A Native Sun crewmember videotaped Fox dumping waste and turned the tape over to prosecutors.

The Justice Department says Foxs father, who had also been a captain of the Native Sun, was also convicted of a pollution-related crime last year.
China is turning artificial intelligence, face scanning, and other Big Data systems into new tools domestically to enhance the communist partys command and control systems.

The partys methods of surveillance and increasing use of technology present an interesting contrast with the ongoing scandal concerning the scraping and manipulation of Facebook data. In fact, analysts argue, the scandal and its after-effects will seriously impact Chinas efforts to extend its surveillance systems to other countries.

In China, facial recognition and artificial intelligence are being used to stop jaywalkers and to control the number of sheets of toilet paper a person can obtain when using public toilets. Authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen recently began using the combined technology of facial recognition, mobile networks, and social media apps to send offenders fines in real time.

And that is just a portion of the states growing tech-infused control.

Chinas capabilities also allow it to monitor business and political activities across numerous countries that are using Chinese technology platforms, including telecom equipment, payment systems, internet software and engineering standards.

Growing reach

The number of countries and markets using Chinese technology platforms is growing by the day, analysts said.

Based on its (Chinas) oversight of the platforms, it gives Chinese companies an advantage and that gives Chinese citizens an advantage and it means that China can more easily project power in the countries that are using platforms by Chinese companies, James Grimmelmann, a professor at Cornell Law School told VOA. If you then add Chinas ability to compile data from them and use them for surveillance purposes, you can easily see how this turns into a technique for political influence, how this turns into a technique for espionage.

The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal involves the use of personal data collected from 87 million people for the purpose of political manipulation in the United States and other countries.

Coming amid growing concerns about alleged Russian manipulation of U.S. elections and controversies surrounding the use of fake news, analysts say the scandal will result in massive regulatory changes in areas like privacy and monopoly of data by a few companies.

And the backlash could be seen across several countries where Chinese companies have gained a foothold by building elaborate telecom and internet infrastructure.

Alex Capri, a senior fellow at the department of analytics and operations of NUS Business School in Singapore, cited the case of Malaysia, where Chinese Internet giant Alibaba is closely integrated with a vast section of local business through its e-commerce platform.

A lot of people look at Alibaba as almost an emissary of the communist state. So that makes a lot of people very nervous in terms of the amount of control and certainly the lack of privacy of data, he said. That is something that governments are going to be struggling with now and into the future in Asia when dealing with these big Chinese e-commerce platforms.

There are signs that Malaysia and other countries may do to China what Beijing has long done to foreign businesses, namely demand that servers used by foreign companies are physically located in their jurisdiction. Once implemented, Chinese social media and e-commerce platforms could lose much of the business edge they enjoy at present.

European challenge

Chinese companies have been keen to extend their reach to Europe with not just physical infrastructure construction but also data and telecom networks. They will now have to follow the European Unions new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into effect May 25.

The GDPR would be a challenge to Chinese companies accustomed to standards in which ordinary people enjoy few access rights. The new European law makes it compulsory for foreign companies doing business in the European Union to keep the data of EU residents secure and make it available to any such resident who demands it.

If an EU citizen, EU resident, asks Alibaba to provide this information with all the information that they have in their database, Alibaba has to abide. If they dont, they will get into some discussion, or conversation or trouble with the EU authorities, Kersi Porbunderwalla, secretary general of Copenhagen Compliance said.

China unaffected

China is likely to remain immune to the wave of regulatory changes that are expected to sweep through the developed world following the Facebook scandal, Capri pointed out.

The Chinese model, which essentially says, Look, the state has to have access to all of this data, the State has to mandate that you turn over this data that is requested, the State also needs to get the encryption keys to your programs, he said.

He said the Communist Party is unlikely to bring in major regulatory changes to protect privacy because that would mean cutting off data access for itself.
This story originated in VOA's Cambodian service



A 42-year-old man who spent most of his life in the United States has been deported back to his native Cambodia.

His family says Kosal Chhim left Cambodia as an infant and spent a few years in Thailand and the Philippines before arriving in the United States as a pre-schooler.

Chimm's family had been fighting the deportation order. The Virginia man was detained last year and his planned December deportation was postponed.

Chhim was sentenced to five years in prison in 2001 for domestic violence. He was arrested more than 16 years later by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers while leaving home to go to work on Oct. 2 last year.

President Donald Trump came into office on an anti-immigration platform. During his first year in office, more than 155,000 undocumented immigrants were arrested, an increase of more than 170 percent.

About 70 Cambodian-Americans who had prior criminal records for felony crimes were due to be deported along with Chhim in December, but the California court order halted the process.

In a class-action lawsuit filed by civil rights advocates in November last year, lawyers for the Cambodians argued that their clients would suffer "irreparable harm" if they were returned to Cambodia and asked for an opportunity to re-open the Cambodians' immigration cases so they can appeal the deportation orders.

Chhim came to the United States with his parents, sister and brother in 1983, but never became a US citizen. He purchased a home in Stafford, Virginia, two years ago and brought his extended family to live with him.

If my son is deported, it would be really hard for me, Mouy Krouch, Chhims mother, told VOA before her son was returned to Cambodia. I have only this son to take care of me. My husband has died.

Krouch says she suffers from myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease, and requires regular support.

I cannot speak clearly, said Krouch. My tongue is stiff. I cannot swallow much food. From time to time, I have to be tube fed.

Chhim was being held at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia before his deportation. He arrived back in Cambodia on April 5.

Its been really hard without him, said Kim Sor, Chhim's sister-in-law, while he was still being detained in Virginia. This is going to be really hard. I dont know how everybodys going to move on from that. We can try, but we do need him here, especially the kids, and the house. He takes care of the house.

Chhim worked as an air conditioning technician and has a 2-year-old daughter with his wife, Sanghear Prak, as well as two other children with two previous partners.

Prak says that, since his release from jail in 2007, Chhim hasn't committed any other offenses.

"He never hurt me, said Prak. When I was in Boston for several years until I graduated, he helped me. He worked. We were not together. I was in Boston and he was in Virginia. He gave me some money. He never mistreated me since weve been together. He is not a bad person."

Neighbors had also petitioned Senator Mark Warners office for support.

He has shown us and everyone, all of our neighbor's great compassion and friendship, Ellie Conley, a neighbor, said before Chhim was returned to Cambodia. He supported his family. He loves his wife and his daughter and his family. We would be disappointed if he could not come home.

Another neighbor, Jeri Stephens, said Chhim once offered to mow her lawn.

Well, I think well be losing a good citizen, said Stephens. Someone thats willing to come in and abide by community standards or by the constitution of our country. It will be a loss for us. And for his family to have to go through what they are going through is really hard for me to understand how they can survive it.

Across the United States, there are nearly 2,000 Cambodian refugees facing deportation. Since Cambodia signed an agreement with the US in 2002, more than 500 of them have been removed, according to rights activists.

Prak sees being sent back to Cambodia as a life sentence for Chhim since he is unfamiliar with his native country.

If a person changed [after] they committed a crime and they grew from it and they are rehabilitated into the society and everybody loves him and respects him and he hasnt done anything else wrong, then he deserves a second chance, said Prak. And everybody who is in that situation deserves a second chance as well, not just my husband.

WATCH THE VIDEO REPORT FROM VOA'S KHMER SERVICE:

Before her husband was deported, Prak said she would follow him to Cambodia if it came to that.

"If he is sent to Cambodia, I and my kid will follow him, she said. We do not want to break up the family."

But his mother says she would not be able to return to Cambodia because of her health condition.

"My health does not allow me to live there, she said. Where can I find treatment there? I survive on medicine. Without medicine, I cannot eat anything.

This story originated with VOA's Khmer Service.
Former South African President Jacob Zuma appeared in court Friday to face corruption charges. The appearance was brief but significant, coming just under two months after his resignation.

Addressing supporters outside the courthouse Friday, Zuma criticized the charges as politically motivated.



"Innocent until proven otherwise," he said after appearing at the Durban High Court to face charges of fraud, racketeering, corruption and money laundering.



Earlier, a defiant Zuma smiled and waved to hundreds of supporters as he entered the building.

In court, the prosecution told Judge Themba Sishi that they have agreed with the defense to postpone the case until June 8.

The postponement was mainly to give Zuma a chance to finalize his review application, objecting to the decision to re-charge him.



Zuma was not asked to plead or pay bail. The judge only warned him to appear on the next court date.

Andile Mgxitama, one of the Zuma supporters who prayed, sang and danced outside the court, said "we are here to stand with the president of the people."

"We will stand with President Zuma now," he said, "and we will stand with him until the land returns. Hands off Zuma."



For many South Africans, seeing the former president in the dock was surreal. And for Sizakele Dhlamini, it is a positive development in African democracy.



"It is a norm in African countries that former presidents or current presidents who break the law, they are left to go scot-free," said Dhlamini. "South Africa has proven beyond reasonable doubt that it's doable. It can be done."
Georgia is taking what it calls a very important initiative to improve the lives of those in the Russian military occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Officials in Tbilisi call it A Step Toward a Better Future.

It is yet another open statement on our part to reaffirm that the peacemaking political trajectory pursued by our government will surely continue which, despite many challenges, remains our unwavering, consistent, and continuous trajectory, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said.

The initiative that the government has sent to parliament is aimed at improving the humanitarian and economic conditions in the two regions.

They include loosening trading rules, waiving visa requirements for travel, and bringing in more of benefits of European integration.

Young people will also be given greater educational opportunities.

It remains to be seen how Russia will react to the initiative.

But Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze tells VOA that Russia is "trying to close off all possible opportunities" for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which he says Russia occupied in 2008 after a brief war.

"Those people are isolated by the occupation regime. They are unable to get all the benefits the other parts the Georgian population are getting ... including educational opportunities ... we want to create more bridges."

Pro-Russian South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in 1992, followed by Abkhazia.

Separatists in both regions battled with Georgian forces. Russian soldiers invaded in 2008 with the Kremlin claiming it needed to protect its interests in Georgia.

Fighting between Russia and Georgia raged for nearly a week before a cease-fire, but Russia has maintained a military presence in both regions.

Georgia regards Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be part of its territory under Russian military occupation and only Russia and a handful of countries recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent nations.
A German court ruled Thursday that Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont cannot be extradited to Spain on charges of revolution and can be freed from a German jail on bail.

Puigdemont supporters say they expect Catalonia's former president to be out of jail by Friday morning.

The judges in Schleswig in northern Germany based their ruling on German law, saying while rebellion may be a crime in Spain, it is not a criminal offense in Germany.

The judges also ruled Puigdemont could still be extradited to Spain on charges of embezzling public funds not rebellion, but could only be tried for embezzlement if he is sent back.

If Puigdemont posts bail, he can only leave Germany with prosecutors' permission, inform them when he changes his address, and must report to police once a week.

Pro-independence Catalans celebrated when they heard the German court's decision and some cried openly.

Spanish officials and the country's supreme court have not yet commented on the German ruling.

German police arrested Puigdemont on a Spanish warrant last week. He crossed into Germany from Belgium, where he fled on October to avoid arrest.

He is wanted in Spain on charges of inciting rebellion by defying the central government and going ahead with a Catalan independence referendum in October, leading to a violent police crackdown.

Twenty-four other Catalan separatist leaders are also facing rebellion charges.

Pro-independence lawmakers won a slim majority in December's parliamentary elections in Catalonia. But parliament has been unable to name a new president since Puigdemont fled, and the future of independence is murky.

Catalonia, in northeast Spain, and its capital Barcelona are major tourist destinations. It has its own language and distinct culture. But the separatist crisis has hurt tourism and the regional economy.

Catalan separatists call the region a powerful economic engine that drives Spain, and they have demanded more autonomy.

Those who want to stay united with Spain fear the region will sink into an economic abyss without the central government, its ties to the European Union, and its numerous existing bilateral relations.

This story was written by VOA News.
Tossing his "boring" prepared remarks into the air, President Donald Trump on Thursday unleashed a fierce denunciation of the nation's immigration policies, calling for tougher border security while repeating his unsubstantiated claim that "millions" of people voted illegally in California.

Trump was in West Virginia to showcase the benefits of Republican tax cuts, but he detoured to talk about his immigration and trade plans. He linked immigration with the rise of violent gangs like MS-13 and suggested anew that there had been widespread fraud in the 2016 election that cost him a loss in the popular vote.

"In many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that," Trump said. "They always like to say, 'Oh, that's a conspiracy theory.' Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people. And it's very hard because the state guards their records. They don't want us" to see them.

While there have been isolated cases of voter fraud in the U.S., past studies have found it to be exceptionally rare. Earlier this year, the White House disbanded a controversial voter fraud commission amid infighting and lawsuits as state officials refused to cooperate.

Pushing back

In recent weeks, Trump has been pushing back more against the restraints of the office to offer more unvarnished opinions and take policy moves that some aides were trying to forestall.

"This was going to be my remarks. They would have taken about two minutes," Trump said as he tossed his script into the air. "This is boring. We have to tell it like it is."

As he has done before, Trump conjured images of violence and suffering when he described the perils of illegal immigration, though statistics show that immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than citizens do. He dubbed MS-13 gang members "thugs" and said his administration's crackdown on the group was "like a war."

"MS-13 is emblematic of evil, and we're getting them out by the hundreds," said Trump, who sat on stage at a long table in a gym draped in American flags and decorated with signs that read "USA open for business." "This is the kind of stuff and crap we are allowing in our country, and we can't do it anymore."

Invoking the lines of his June 2015 campaign kickoff speech, in which he suggested that some Mexican immigrants were rapists, the president appeared to claim that a caravan of migrants that had been working its way north through Mexico toward the United States was besieged with violence.

"Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened? Everybody said, 'Oh, he was so tough,' and I used the word 'rape,' " he said. "And yesterday it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. They don't want to mention that."

It was not clear what Trump was referring to. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Trump wasn't talking about the caravan but rather about extreme victimization of those making the journey north with smugglers in general.

Trump also defended his proposed tariff plan, which many of his fellow Republicans fear will start a trade war with China. He criticized West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who has expressed openness to working with the White House, for opposing the GOP tax plan. He praised local West Virginia politicians running for office and reminisced about his 2016 electoral victory in the Mountain State.

All of that overshadowed any time spent promoting the tax plan.

Positive feedback

While Trump went off script, the attendees  an assemblage of state politicians, local business owners, workers and families  stayed dutifully on task, talking about how the tax cuts had helped them.

Jessica Hodge tearfully told Trump: "I just want to say thank you for the tax cuts. This is a big deal for our family."

U.S. Representative Evan Jenkins, a Republican, said that "West Virginians understand your policies are working" and that Trump was "welcome to come back anytime."

This story was written by the Associated Press.
A Big Leap Forward to get Rid District Moga from Straw Burning

Manpreet Singh Badal assumes charge as Minister of Finance, Taxation,Governance reforms and programme implementation
An Afghanistan-made hat known as a "Mazari hat" has been in high demand in markets across Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan since Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of a Pashtun movement, started wearing it at public rallies and protests.

The red and black Mazari hat is a traditional garment worn mostly in northern Afghanistan's Balkh province. Recently, it has become popular as a symbol of peaceful protest and has earned the nickname "Pashteen hat."

Yama, a hat seller in Kabul, who like many Afghans goes by one name, told VOA that demand for the hat has soared in recent months.

"It used to be called Mazari hat. Now it is called the Pashteen hat. In the past, the hat came in one design. Now there are several designs that customers could choose from," Yama said. "People have started to like the hat and they buy it in great numbers as well."

WATCH: A Symbol of Solidarity

Pashteen, whose movement espouses the human rights of Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun community, recently explained how he came to begin wearing the hat.

"Our people are poor. A young man who was a cleaner in the village one day took his hat off and told me that he could not afford a nice hat. I told him, 'Give it to me, I will give you mine,' " Pashteen said at a public gathering in Pakistan. "The hat may not have monetary value, but its moral value is priceless."

Pashtun grievances

Pashtuns, who are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan but a minority in Pakistan, have felt neglected and targeted in Pakistan for some time. That long-simmering anger boiled over in January with the death at police hands in Karachi of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a 27-year-old shopkeeper-turned-model.

Police said at the time that Mehsud had been killed in a shootout with members of the Pakistani Taliban, but an internal inquiry cast doubt on that claim, saying Mehsud had no evident link to any militant group. The killing sparked days of protests and a weekslong march in Pashtun-dominated northwestern Pakistan. It also prompted the establishment of Pashteen's group, known as the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, or Pashtun Protection Movement.

In a recent Facebook video, Pashteen reiterated his movement's demands and urged an end to atrocities against ethnic Pashtuns.

"There is war in our homeland which must stop. You [military] have carried out military operations. We have never opposed them. If you want to carry out operations against the Taliban, do them by all means, but we are against extrajudicial killings, disappearances and persecution of people under the pretext of the war against the Taliban," Pashteen said.

The protest movement has also won support from Malala Yousafzai, the young woman who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after being shot in the head for advocating girls' education in Pakistan.

Government's stance

Pakistan's government claims Pashteen's movement has been influenced by outsiders, particularly by the government of Afghanistan  a charge rejected by Afghan officials.

Major-General Asif Ghafoor, director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations (DGISPR), told reporters in Pakistan recently that the government has accepted the movement's legitimate demands.

"You have seen that it [the movement] found new angles. The movement began to get the most support from Afghanistan. Different voices started to flow in. I personally met Manzoor Pashteen. He is a wonderful young boy. He came here and then met with the prime minister as well," Ghafoor told reporters.

"Whatever genuine demands he had have been met," Ghafoor added.

Pashteen denies that any outsiders are involved in the movement.

"They say we are NDS [Afghan intelligence agency] and RAW [Indian intelligence agency] agents. I tell them prove it," Pashteen said in a live video Wednesday on Facebook. "We do not demand one thousand evidences. Just one is sufficient."

Pashteen has increasingly relied on social media to get his message across to followers and supporters, complaining that local Pakistani media have not covered the activities of his movement.

"Pashtun Long March story has reached New York Times, but Pakistani media is still shying away from it. I wonder why," Asim Yousafzai, a D.C.-based author, wrote on his Twitter feed.

"If an animal falls into a gutter, media would be all over the news. Our march continued peacefully for weeks and the local media did not cover us," Pashteen said in February. "We gathered in Islamabad against this very discrimination that's present in the system against us."
Indonesian fishermen rescued at least five Rohingya Muslims off the island of Sumatra in the early hours of Friday and brought them ashore, officials said, in the first such landing this year amid media reports that five others had died at sea.

It was not immediately clear where the boat had originated.

Rights groups have said they are expecting many more refugees from Myanmar to attempt the dangerous sea crossings.

Fishermen in east Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, brought two men, two women, and a child to safety while unconfirmed media reports said five others had died.

They reached land at around 1:30 a.m. and were immediately taken to hospital, said Razali, a senior navy official based in eastern Aceh.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar by sea following an outbreak of violence in Rakhine state in 2012. That exodus peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats.

Last year, according to U.N. and other rights groups, some 700,000 Rohingya fled their homes in Rakhine into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August 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.

Indonesia usually takes in asylum-seekers arriving by boat but they have limited rights and many end up spending years in refugee camps and detention centers.

Earlier this week, neighboring Malaysia intercepted a boat off Langkawi island carrying 56 Rohingya from Myanmar.

The story was written by Reuters.
Israeli troops shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 27 in the weeklong disturbances.

They said the demonstrators, including two boys aged 16 and 17, were killed at protest sites along the frontier during a round of daily demonstrations that has been dubbed "The Great March of Return."

A well-known Palestinian journalist was among the dead. Early Saturday, Palestinian health officials confirmed that Yasser Murtaga had died from a gunshot wound sustained while covering demonstrations near the Israeli border in Khuzaa. The area was the scene of large protests Friday, and was covered in thick black smoke.

Murtaga was more than 100 meters (yards) from the border, wearing a flak jacket marked press and holding his camera when he was shot in an exposed area just below the armpit. Journalists were in the area as protesters were setting tires on fire.

The day of violence, which saw bigger Palestinian crowds than in recent days but not as large as when the demonstration began last Friday, calmed down as night descended.

Gazans, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain ancestral homes in what is now Israel, have set up tent encampments a few hundred meters inside the 65-kilometer (40-mile) fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the barrier, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tires and throw stones.

"Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future," said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. "I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them."

The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than at the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military estimated Friday's turnout at 20,000.

Refugees make up most of the 2 million people in Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction and is designated by Western states as a terrorist organization.

Many of those killed were militants, said Israel, which stationed sharpshooters on the frontier to stop Palestinians attempting "any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians."

War of words

David Keyes, an Israeli government spokesman, accused Hamas of having instigated violent protests along the border.

"This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence," he said.

Hamas' Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the "enemy who besieges us." He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: "We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem."

Earlier, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem urged protesters to keep the rallies peaceful. "Maintaining the peaceful nature of the protests will strike all fragile Zionist propaganda," Qassem said in a statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds little sway in Gaza, condemned what he described as Israel's "acts of killing and oppression conducted ... against the peaceful uprising."

Israel's response to the protests has drawn international criticism, with human rights groups saying it involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.

The demonstrators have revived a long-standing demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages that their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created.

The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.

'Rules of engagement'

Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tires to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots.

With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try to protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border.

A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. "We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a willful killing," Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.

Israel says it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement."

The Palestinian deaths have elicited scant concern in Israel, which has been the target of thousands of rocket strikes from Gaza over the past few years.

Palestinian militant groups have also dug tunnels under the border fence to smuggle weapons, and to launch attacks.

This story was written by Reuters. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Malaysias scandal-tainted prime minister announced Friday that Parliament will be dissolved to pave the way for general elections, expected to be held next month, that will pit his long-ruling coalition against a revived opposition led by former strongman Mahathir Mohamad.

The polls are seen as a test of survival for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is widely expected to win but under pressure to improve the performance of his National Front coalition after support eroded in the last two elections. Mahathir, Asias longest-serving premier for 22 years before he retired in 2003, turned against his protege two years ago over a corruption scandal and now leads an opposition alliance.

Najib said in a nationally televised address that he obtained consent from Malaysias king to dissolve Parliament on Saturday, ahead of June 24, when the governments five-year mandate expires.

1MDB scandal

The Election Commission is expected to meet within a week to set a polling date. Voting must be held within two months but widely expected in early May before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.



This election primarily is about Najib. The result will determine his political future. If he worsens his performance, there are leaders who will emerge, said Bridget Welsh, political science professor at John Cabot University in Rome. Given the baggage Najib has going into this election, he will need a big win to stay safe.

Najib has clung to power despite being embroiled in a corruption scandal that involved hundreds of millions of dollars passing through his bank accounts believed linked to the 1MDB state fund. He denies any wrongdoing and has been cleared by the attorney general who said the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family.

Third term is likely

The National Front lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority in 2008 polls. In 2013, it secured its lowest number of parliamentary seats and lost the popular vote for the first time to the opposition  its poorest results in more than five decades of uninterrupted rule since independence from Britain in 1957. It currently holds 132 out of 222 parliamentary seats.



Analysts expect Najib, 64, to win a third term because of recent electoral boundary changes, a buoyant economy and strong support for the government from rural ethnic Malays. The opposition has failed to gain much ground in eastern Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo sland, which account for a quarter of parliamentary seats.

It is unclear how much influence Mahathir has among rural Malays, the bedrock of support for Najibs coalition.



On Thursday, Mahathirs nascent political party was dealt a blow after it was ordered to temporarily disband for failing to submit adequate documents for registration requirements. Mahathir, 92, slammed the move as tyranny and accused Najib of cheating to win the elections by terrorizing his opponents.



Should Najib win this election through his tricks and cheating, then we can kiss goodbye to democracy, Mahathir said Friday.

Najib urged Malaysians in his 25-minute speech to give his coalition a strong mandate to ensure a brighter future. He spelled out his governments achievements since he took power in 2009, and appealed to more than 14.8 million voters to act rationally and not with emotions.



Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert, said redrawn electoral boundaries approved by Parliament last week can potentially help Najib win back his supermajority in Parliament.Critics have denounced the new electoral maps as gerrymandering in favor of Najibs coalition.



Parliament also rushed through an anti-fake news bill that would punish offenders with a six-year jail term.



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 allegedly taken from the fund to buy assets in the U.S.



Najib has sacked critics in his government and muzzled the media since the scandal erupted three years ago.

This story was written by the Associated Press.
Michigan state lawmakers on Thursday released the results of an inquiry into Michigan State University's handling of the Larry Nassar sexual assault case, criticizing school officials for failing to protect the victims.

The report by a Michigan House of Representatives committee specifically blames the university for a poor investigation into a complaint filed by victim Amanda Thomashow against Nassar in 2014, which erroneously found no wrongdoing by the disgraced physician.

The committee also proposed a series of reforms and legislation meant to ensure that a doctor in Nassar's position could not carry out such abuse in the future.

"Though not all of us necessarily agree with each and every proposal, we all agree that a broad review of potential solutions is necessary to protect our children from predators like Larry Nassar and fix the problems revealed by his horrific crimes," committee members wrote in the report.

Michigan State representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on the report.

Nassar, a former faculty member and physician at an on-campus clinic at Michigan State University and a doctor for USA Gymnastics, was sentenced in February to up to 125 years in prison after some 200 young women testified about decades of abuse at his hands.

He had already received a sentence up to 175 years in a neighboring Michigan county, and was sentenced to a 60-year federal term for child pornography convictions.

In March, former Michigan State University dean William Strampel, Nassar's former supervisor there, was arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct involving medical school students.

Later that month, USA Today reported that a public relations firm billed the school more than $500,000 for one month of tracking social-media activity surrounding the Nassar case, which often included the accounts of his sexual assault victims and their families.

In the report, the committee notes that MSU "appears to defiantly and wrongfully maintain it did not mishandle this (Thomashow) investigation."

The inquiry also faults the university for an inadequate informed consent policy, which "Nassar methodically exploited," and for not requiring chaperones to be present during medical treatments of minors.
Police seeking to quell simmering anger over their shooting of a mentally disturbed black man on a New York City street released a montage of security videos Thursday that showed him minutes earlier thrusting a metal object that looked like a gun into the faces of several people, including a woman holding the hand of her child.

A final video snippet showed the man raising the object in a two-handed shooting stance as police arrived, the edited video frozen just before officers unleashed 10 shots that left 34-year-old Saheed Vassell dead, his weapon turning out to be nothing more than an L-shaped section of pipe.

The shooting in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening prompted protests among many who felt police should have known that Vassell, a fixture in the Crown Heights neighborhood, had emotional problems.

Callers perceived a threat

But Mayor Bill De Blasio didnt lay blame on the officers, who were not from the local precinct and were passing through at the time. They had no information, the mayor said, that the person they were confronting was mentally ill.

Its a tragedy because a man with a profound mental health problem ... was doing something that people perceived to be a threat to the safety of others, de Blasio said at a news conference shortly before the images and a partial transcript of 911 calls were released.

What we have seen from the images that are publicly available, people in the community thought he had a weapon and was aiming it at residents, the mayor said. Thats the kind of calls, multiple calls, that NYPD received.

According to the transcripts, one caller to 911 reported that Vassell looks like hes crazy but hes pointing something at people that looks like a gun.

Where is the gun? a dispatcher asked one caller. His hand, the caller replied.

In police radio traffic posted online, dispatchers directing officers to the scene said 911 callers were reporting only that a person was pointing a gun at people. After the shooting, the officers can be heard frantically calling for dispatchers to send an ambulance.

The release of the edited material on the New York Police Departments Twitter account  the full videos and transcripts werent immediately provided  was meant to back up claims by the police department that the four plainclothes and two uniformed officers who responded had a legitimate reason to believe they needed to move swiftly to stop a deadly threat.

The material released by the department didnt answer questions about whether the officers had identified themselves or ordered the victim to drop the object before they opened fire.

'Train them to protect life'

Vassells father, Eric, told reporters that his son had been hospitalized several times for psychiatric problems, some involving encounters with the police, but that he was polite and kind.

Police had a choice. They always have a choice. They should not train them to kill. They should train them to protect life, to save life, Eric Vassell said in an interview with WABC-TV.

A tense crowd gathered after the shooting, with some people shouting at officers and decrying the killing as another example of an unarmed black man dying at the hands of police officers who overreacted.

On Thursday, Ruta Deshong, who owns a reggae record shop on the same block where Vassell lived, said she had known him since he was a young boy and that the police who normally patrol the neighborhood knew him well.

If they had said, Drop your weapon, he would have, Deshong said. The officers in the neighborhood know him. Hes all around the place. They know hes not trouble.

A family friend, Berrest Biggs, said he learned of the shooting through social media.

I said, Is that Saheed? Biggs said. He was like a child. ... This kid didnt bother nobody.

Attorney general to investigate

New Yorks attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, announced that he would investigate the shooting.

Under an executive order issued by the governor in 2015, the attorney general has the power to act as a special prosecutor in cases involving police killings of unarmed people.

Schneidermans spokeswoman, Amy Spitalnick, promised an independent, comprehensive and fair investigation.

The shooting comes after the police killing of an unarmed black man on March 18 in Sacramento, California, sparked two weeks of protests and calls for police reform. Stephon Clark, 22, was shot by officers responding to a report of someone breaking car windows. Police said they thought he had a gun, but he was carrying only a cellphone.

This story was written by the Associated Press
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi visited Afghanistan Friday, where he held wide-ranging official talks with leaders in Kabul on mutual security, counterterrorism, and political and economic cooperation.

Abbasi visited on the invitation of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in the backdrop of Pakistans support to Ghanis offer of peace talks with the Taliban, officials said.



An Afghan army contingent presented the guard of honor to the Pakistani prime minister when he arrived at the presidential palace for delegation-level talks with Ghani.

The discussions were held in a very cordial and friendly atmosphere, according to a brief statement the Pakistani prime ministers office issued to media in Islamabad.

It noted that both the leaders agreed on achieving the common aim of regional security through connectivity - meaning road, rail, trade and transit links as well as importing natural gas and power to Pakistan through Afghanistan from resource-rich Central Asian states.

The statement added that Prime Minister Abbasi extended an invitation to President Ghani to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience.

Officials said that progress on the construction of a multi-billion-dollar pipeline to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India through Afghanistan, known as TAPI, was also reviewed.

A video released by Pakistani officials showed Abbasi, Ghani and members of their delegations jointly offering Friday prayers at the palace mosque. Later, the Pakistani prime minister held a separate meeting with Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah at Abdullah's office.

A separate Afghan presidential statement said both sides agreed to further an Islamabad-proposed plan for a comprehensive bilateral dialogue. It said foreign ministries and national security advisers of the two countries have been tasked with jointly finalizing the proposal, known as the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity or APAPPS.

Moreover, rail and road connectivity projects to boost trade and transit activities between and through the two countries also came under discussion. Additionally, the Afghan side raised the issue of alleged cross-border violations by Pakistani forces and urged Prime Minister Abbasi to use official channels if his country has concerns with regard to militant activity originating from the Afghan side.

The Afghan statement said Abbasi welcomed and reiterated Pakistans full support for Ghanis offer of peace talks to the Taliban.

The two countries have also agreed to form a joint commission to prepare a timetable and mechanism for the dignified repatriation of nearly 3 million Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

The crucial visit came a day after the Afghan government said Pakistani fighter jets violated Afghan airspace and bombed areas in the border province of Kunar, although officials reported no damage.



Islamabad swiftly rejected the charges as baseless, saying Pakistani security forces were conducting counterterrorism operations inside their own territory to deter Afghanistan-based militants from launching cross-border attacks.

President Ghani offered unconditional talks to the Taliban more than a month ago at an international conference in Kabul to try to end the bloodshed in his country.

The initiative received domestic and international backing, but the insurgents have avoided commenting on the overture. Pakistan, accused of having links to the Taliban, also threw its support behind Ghanis initiative.

We stand for peace in Afghanistan, Abbasi told an international counterterrorism conference in Islamabad on the eve of his visit to Kabul. He emphasized that instability in the neighboring country directly undermines Pakistan's security.

The Pakistani prime minister rejected as a totally flawed narrative allegations that his country covertly supports the Taliban to fuel the Afghan conflict. He noted that Pakistani security forces have cleared all their territory of terrorist groups and operations continue to hunt down their remnants.



We dont accept the narrative that there are any sanctuaries in Pakistan, which result in instability in Afghanistan. That is not the truth. Today, unfortunately, the reverse is true. The people instigating terror in Pakistan are based in Afghanistan, said Abbasi .



Officials in Pakistan said fugitive anti-state militants have taken shelter in ungoverned" Afghan border areas and plot cross-border attacks from there.



U.S. and Afghan officials have long alleged sanctuaries on Pakistani soil have enabled the Taliban to sustain and expand its violent campaign on the Afghan side.



Washington has welcomed Islamabad's renewed diplomatic re-engagement with Kabul, saying an improved mutual relationship is essential in regional efforts against terrorism.



"Obviously, for there to be stability in Afghanistan, there needs to be a strong relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Alice Wells, U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, as she wrapped up a weeklong visit to Islamabad on Monday.



U.S. President Donald Trump in January suspended military aid to Islamabad until it takes decisive action against the militant havens.
Officials at Pakistan's largest privately-owned television network, Geo, said Friday that cable operators have effectively blocked its broadcast in almost 80 percent of the country.



The channel has been facing arbitrary blockages for the past few years in cantonment areas and surrounding localities across the country, according to Rana Jawad, who directs news at Geo.



"But the crippling shutdowns and disruptions have worsened in recent weeks and the network has been forced off the air in almost 80 percent of the country," he told VOA.



In major cities like Karachi and Lahore, the channel is not accessible in 90 percent of areas, he added. It is up to the government and its media regulator to swiftly investigate and determine who is blocking the broadcast, he asserted.



Debates on social media about the issue strengthen the widespread perception the powerful army has been pressuring cable operators to disrupt Geo's broadcasts. Some postings cited the broadcaster's criticism of both security policies and the military's increased influence over civilian matters as a possible reason for the disruption.



Jawad would not explicitly say who is targeting the network and why it is being done. There also has been no public comment from the military about whether it is orchestrating the shutdowns.



Government officials and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, PEMRA, insist they have nothing to do with the issue.



Instead, PEMRA issued instructions to cable operators earlier this week to restore Geo to normal distribution, or face suspension of their licenses.



New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, has called for full access to Geo to be restored.



"The arbitrary suspension of Geo TV on cable TV is a direct assault on Pakistan's constitutionally guaranteed right to access information," lamented Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.



"It's outrageous that the authorities are either unable to find, or too frightened to name, those powerful enough to orchestrate the blocking of the news distribution," he said.



Geo's 4,000 employees have come under immense "economic and psychological" pressure because they are worried financial losses to their employer could cost them their jobs, Jawad cautioned.



This report was written by VOA's Ayaz Gul in Islamabd.
At least one Palestinian has been killed and 40 wounded in clashes along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. The violence follows the killing of 19 Palestinians by Israeli forces during violent demonstrations in the same area a week ago.

Thousands of Palestinians held a mass protest on the Gaza border, where they were confronted by Israeli troops.

Soldiers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to prevent a breach of the border fence.

The protesters burned tires near the fence, as thick black smoke rose into the air.

Demonstrator Muhammad al-Tramsi said that by burning tires, Palestinians hoped to blind Israeli snipers. He said he is not afraid to die.

Israel has warned that any attempt to breach the fence and bring a flood of Palestinians across the border is a red line that will not be tolerated.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman described the protests as a provocation and warned that anyone approaching the border fence is putting his life at risk.

The United Nations, European Union and human rights groups charge that firing at unarmed demonstrators is an excessive use of force, but Israel has rejected their demands for an inquiry.

The Islamic militant group Hamas which rules Gaza says the protests are aimed at highlighting Israels crippling blockade on the coastal territory as well as the so-called right of return: the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their former homes in Israel.

The weekly demonstrations are due to conclude in mid-May with a mass march on Israels 70th anniversary.
Days after U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his call to bring home U.S. forces from Syria, defense officials insisted there's been no shift in strategy or to U.S. policy.

"Nothing actually has changed," Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told Pentagon reporters during a briefing Thursday.

"We've always thought that as we reach finality against ISIS in Syria, we're going to adjust the level of our presence there," McKenzie added, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group.

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops stationed in Syria as part of its ongoing efforts to destroy IS and dismantle the group's self-declared caliphate.

But Trump has signalled twice in recent weeks that the time for U.S. forces to leave Syria was near.

"I want to bring our troops back home," Trump said Tuesday during a news conference at the White House with the heads of three Baltic nations, adding he would "be making a decision very quickly."

But in statement issued Wednesday, the White House said only that the involvement of U.S. forces in Syria is "coming to a rapid end."

Despite the president's 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," U.S. Central Command's Gen. Joseph Votel, who commands U.S. forces in the Middle East, said earlier this week during an appearance in Washington.

"The hard part I think is in front of us," Votel added. "There is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase."

U.S. allies in the region have also expressed alarm, saying a withdrawal would "send a frightening message."

Still, defense officials Thursday downplayed any concerns, saying there was no timeline for pulling U.S. troops from Syria and that their only criteria remained the defeat of IS.

"I've heard rumors of people talking of withdrawal," Chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters. "I know the president said very soon because we have been very successful with defeating ISIS, but it's not over."

This story was written by VOA's Jeff Seldin
When calls to a Polish domestic violence helpline in Britain plunged last year, its founder Ewa Wilcock was puzzled.

Since its launch in 2014, she had been receiving more calls from compatriots living in Britain than she could handle. Yet they halved  to just over a dozen a month  in mid-2017.

"People would start the conversation saying they were not sure if they should be calling at all because they were afraid of the social services," Wilcock told Reuters by phone from Cheshire in northwest England.

Wilcock soon discovered that myths were spreading among Poles on social media  and by abusers  that parents who reported domestic violence would lose their children, making victims too scared to seek help.

"Some people said that social services remove children from homes and put them up for adoption," she said.

"[They said] that foster families get a lot of money for caring for children, that it's a great business."

There is no reliable data on domestic violence among the 900,000 Poles in Britain  its largest overseas-born population  but nearly 2 million people, mostly women, are physically or emotionally abused by a partner or relative each year.

"They are ashamed to tell family in Poland," Wilcock said. "They don't want them to worry, but they have no one to talk to in Britain."

Scared

Services provided by Polish charities are often the first point of contact because they make the process of accessing support and finding safety less intimidating for victims.

"When you're stressed, it's very difficult to communicate even in your own language," domestic violence counselor Anna Janczuk told Reuters.

"It's even more difficult using a second language and finding appropriate words to describe what is happening," said Janczuk, who runs the London-based nonprofit Familia Support Centre, which provides legal and psychological consultations.

Katarzyna Zatorski, a family solicitor based in the northern town of Huddersfield, said most of her Polish clients dealing with domestic violence are referred to her by Polish charities.

"The most difficult thing is to seek a lawyer's help," she told Reuters by phone. "If it's difficult for a Briton, then it's much more difficult for someone living in a foreign country."

Hanna, who declined to give real name, said her husband used to suffocate and beat her, once breaking her nose. He told her that social workers would take their daughter away if she reported him.

"I didn't know what to start with, how to do it, because I was very scared," she said.

"In a situation like this, you don't even know what your name is. When you speak about legal matters, you don't understand the meaning of certain expressions."

Without Janczuk's support "nothing" would have changed, Hanna said, nearly a year after she left her abusive husband.

"Contact [with Janczuk] calmed me," she said.

Volunteers

Wilcock's helpline only takes calls twice a week, while Janczuk's support center is open for less than 20 hours a week because of funding shortages.

"Some funders don't like it that we help just one minority," Janczuk said, sitting next to a donated computer in the modest room from which she runs her organization with the support of volunteers.

"We are doing more than the limited resources that we have allow us to do," said Janczuk, who helps about 25 victims of domestic violence per month.

"Sometimes it's just this one piece of information that we give the victims that allows them to go on."

Hanna said she still calls Wilcock's helpline about once a month when she is worried about issues like child custody.

She used to call every week.

"If they were open more than twice a week, I would have called them more often," she said.
German scientists in Antarctica have harvested the first crop of vegetables grown without soil or light.

Researchers at Germany's Neumayer Station III picked 3.6 kilograms (almost 8 pounds) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes grown in an experimental greenhouse as temperatures outside dropped below minus 20 degrees Celsius and the sun barely peeked over the horizon.

The experiments are aimed at demonstrating how to supply astronauts with fresh produce in space and also combating vegetable shortages in harsh climates.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR), which coordinates the project, said Thursday that by May, scientists hope to harvest 4 to 5 kilograms (8.8 to 11 pounds) of fruits and vegetables a week.

While NASA has successfully grown greens on the International Space Station, the DLR project will produce a wider variety of fruits and vegetables. So far, radishes, salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs, including basil, parsley, chives and cilantro, have been successfully grown.

"You have to be patient when growing strawberries. Here we are still waiting for successful sowing," DLR project manager Daniel Schubert said.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma appeared in court Friday to face corruption charges relating to a $2.5 billion arms deal, later telling a crowd he would be proven innocent in the long running case that resurfaced after his fall from power.

Zumas transition from Mr. President to Accused Number One in less than two months is a significant setback for the 75-year-old, whose nine years in office were marked by economic stagnation and credit downgrades.

He faces 16 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

In a procedural appearance that lasted less than 15 minutes, state prosecutors and Zumas lawyers asked the Durban High Court to adjourn the case until June 8 so both sides could prepare submissions. Judge Themba Sishi approved the request.

A potential trial would take several more months to prepare.

Zuma denies charges

Zuma later told thousands of supporters outside court in Durban that his opponents were telling lies and the judiciary and politicians believed that he did not have rights.

The truth will come out. What have I done? Zuma told the cheering crowd, speaking in Zulu in his home Kwa-Zulu Natal province. I am innocent until proven guilty.

Zuma denies any wrongdoing and is challenging the decision to prosecute the case, a dramatic development on a continent where political leaders are rarely held to account for their actions before the law.

The speed with which prosecutors scheduled his day in court is a sign of the loss of control Zuma has suffered since his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, became head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December.

Zuma still retains some popular support, especially in his Zulu heartland.

Heavily armed police in riot gear lined the square outside the court, as thousands of Zuma supporters gathered to express solidarity with a leader they say is the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt.

Hands off Zuma

Marchers, many clad in the distinctive yellow, green and black of the ANC, carried placards reading Hands off Zuma and performed the high-stepping toyi-toyi protest dance made popular in South Africas decades-long struggle against apartheid.

Zuma, forced to resign by the ANC last month, was at the center of a 1990s deal to buy billions of dollars of European military hardware to upgrade South Africas post-apartheid armed forces.

But the deal was mired in scandal and controversy from the start, with many inside and outside the ANC questioning the spending given the massive social problems, from health to education, Nelson Mandelas party had to address after coming to power in 1994.

The affair has cast a shadow over South African politics ever since.

Zuma was deputy president at the time. Schabir Shaikh, his former financial adviser, was found guilty and jailed in 2005 for trying to solicit bribes for Zuma from a subsidiary of French arms company Thales.

The company is facing charges in the same case.

Charges against Zuma were filed but then set aside by the National Prosecuting Authority shortly before he successfully ran for president in 2009. The charges were re-instated in 2016.

Since his election nine years ago, his opponents have fought a lengthy legal battle to have the charges reinstated. Zuma countered with his own legal challenges.
The press secretary for South Sudan's Vice President James Wani Igga has resigned, saying he cannot serve a government that is subjecting its people to suffering.

David Mayen Dengdit told VOA's South Sudan in Focus that he left his position a week ago because of what he called bad government policies.

"I would be a hypocrite if I pretended to be serving two masters: A government that is sending its people away, that is subjecting its people to different forms of sufferings, and the same people who are victims of our government. I could not do both at the same time," said Dengdit, who is now in Denver, Colorado.

The government of President Salva Kiir has been fighting rebel groups since December 2013. The civil war has pushed an estimated 4 million South Sudanese from their homes and left at least 6 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

Office: Dengdit requested time off

Dengdit is a longtime associate of Igga. Dengdit began working for Igga in 2008, when the vice president was the speaker of the national legislative assembly in Juba.

Kalisto Lado, the deputy press secretary in the vice president's office, told VOA that Dengdit has not submitted a resignation letter.

"We were surprised to hear him talking to VOA that he has tendered his resignation," he said. "What we know is that he took some time off to visit his family in Kampala [Uganda] and his mother and sister in the U.S. He also requested some time off to seek medical attention.

"He was a good press secretary. ... We don't know the motives behind his resignation. We wish he had first consulted us before resigning."

War crime accusations

Dengdit said the government's counterinsurgency policy in parts of eastern Equatoria and Yei River states has pushed thousands of people from their ancestral lands.

Dengdit said he traveled recently to Uganda on a bus and witnessed ghost villages along the once-busy Juba-Nimule highway, which connects South Sudan with east African countries.

"I can attest to you that if a population census is conducted tomorrow, the Madi tribe would not be counted because they have all been pushed to refugee camps in Uganda," he said.

Kiir visited the South Sudanese border town of Nimule last month and apologized to residents whose villages were destroyed during a government campaign to fight rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition in the area.

"I am sorry to see Lowa Pari in the shape I have seen this morning," Kiir told a small crowd of people who turned up at a trading center during his visit. "This was once a place where the population used to be active. Now it is vandalized; there is nothing there and I am sorry for that."

Dengdit said, "A skewed counterinsurgency strategy by the Kiir administration is responsible for the sufferings of civilians in South Sudan, for the war crimes that have been committed against the civilians in greater Equatoria, in greater Upper Nile."

He said the government practices a policy of blanket condemnation of civilians in villages across South Sudan.

"This is happening in Lainya [county]; this is happening to [the] Kakwa in Yei [state] and Morobo [county in Yei]. This is happening to [the] Kuku in Kajokeji [county]," the former press secretary said.

Pay issue

Dengdit also said he has not been paid since November.

When he was last paid, the money wasn't enough to cover basic costs, Dengdit said. "When your salary comes, it is not enough to provide you with water for 30 days. A barrel of water is now 200 South Sudanese pounds," (about $1.50), he said.

Kiir has acknowledged on several occasions that his government has no money to pay its soldiers and civil servants.

In March, Kiir told his new finance minister to devise ways to revitalize the collapsed country's economy.

Dengdit, however, maintained the country has money from oil revenues. "We are still exporting 150,000 barrels [of crude oil] per day even today. Where is that money going?"

He said South Sudan's capital, Juba, is crowded with women, men and street children begging from well-wishers.

"There is a total meltdown, there is a complete collapse of the economy, [and] people cannot make ends meet," Dengdit said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration said Friday that the United States was not engaged in a trade war with China, even as Trump threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods and Beijing warned it was willing to fight back.

This is just a proposed idea, which will be vetted by USTR [the U.S. trade representative], and then open for public comment, so nothing has happened, nothing has been executed, said White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow amid growing concerns about escalating rhetoric between Washington and Beijing.

The economic adviser said Beijings theft of intellectual property was at the root of U.S. concerns and added we cant allow them [China] to steal our technology, because when they steal our technology, they are stealing the guts of the American future.

Leaders have good relationship

The adviser stressed Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have a good relationship, and ongoing talks may solve a lot of problems, but we are serious. I just really underscore this, we are serious.

The White House blamed China for trade practices it said were illegal and unfair.

China created this problem, and the president is trying to put pressure on them to fix this, and take back some of the terrible actions that theyve had in the last several decades, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a briefing on Friday.

The U.S. and China are in routine contact, but this is a negotiation period, thats why it doesnt happen immediately, and theres a process, and were going through that process, said Sanders.

China offers warning

Meanwhile, Beijing showed no intention of backing down.

China is already fully prepared. If the United States announces an additional $100 billion list of tariffs, we will not hesitate to immediately make a fierce counterstrike. We are not ruling out any options, said Chinas Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng.

Under these conditions, its even more impossible for both sides to conduct any negotiations on this issue, Gao added.

In a Twitter post Friday morning, Trump continued to protest Chinas trade practices and the World Trade Organization:

On Thursday, Trump announced he had instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider whether tariffs on another $100 billion of Chinese goods would be appropriate after China issued a list of U.S. goods, including soybeans and small aircraft, worth $50 billion for possible tariff hikes. The United States had proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods earlier this week.

Last month, after a monthslong investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the U.S. trade representative determined that China had repeatedly engaged in unfair trade practices to obtain Americas intellectual property and pressure technology transfer from U.S. companies to Chinese entities.

Tariffs a tactic?

Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, told VOA it was unclear when and whether the threatened tariffs would be imposed.

It seems likely the tariffs are being used as a negotiating tactic to try to get concessions from the Chinese side in terms of market access for U.S. firms and protection of its intellectual property, so theres still a possibility that these tariffs will never come into force, he noted.

While it was not a surprising the White House pushed back against Chinas retaliatory threats, some experts were surprised by how swiftly it did, according to Riley Walters, Asia economy and technology policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

Walters cautioned it was a risky move to use tariff threats as a negotiating tactic because it can affect lives and income of Americans.

Expect more rhetoric

If the tariffs go into effect, what it could mean is both increasing cost for American consumers, but also an uncompetitive edge for American exporters to China. If you are a soybean producer, and if your goods go up 25 percent in China, then you are less price competitive than other exporters to China of soybeans, Walters said.

Walters expects more rhetoric between the White House and China in the coming weeks. Evans-Pritchard predicted that if the USTR published another list of goods worth $100 billion to be subjected to tariffs, China would respond with the same measures.

Once we started talking about $150 billion  which would be whats on the cards, given the $50 billion existing tariffs plus $100 billion proposed  basically that is all of China's goods imported from the U.S. So it will start looking elsewhere to retaliate, Evans-Pritchard said.

This story was written by VOAs Peggy Chang. Jingxun Li of VOA's Mandarin service contributed to this report.
The trade war rhetoric between the United States and China escalated Friday with President Donald threatening tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods and Beijing warning it will fight the United States "at any cost."

Trump said Thursday he had instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider the additional tariffs after China issued a list of U.S. goods, including soybeans and small aircraft, worth $50 billion for possible tariff hikes. The United States had proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods earlier this week.

The president's latest threats notwithstanding, he has insisted the U.S. is not engaged in a trade dispute with the east Asian nation, and said Friday on Twitter his tariffs on aluminum imports already are benefiting the U.S. economy.

"Despite the Aluminum Tariffs, Aluminum prices are DOWN 4%. People are surprised, Im not! Lots of money coming into U.S. coffers and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!"

The White House said in a statement Friday the tariffs were announced against China because the country "continues to distort global markets and harm U.S. businesses and consumers with unfair trade practices." The statement cited China's "Made in China 2025" policy initiative, whose goal is "taking away domestic and international market share from foreigners."

WATCH: Trump, White House Defend Action on China Trade

Chinas commerce ministry said in its statement Friday that if Washington persisted in what Beijing describes as protectionism, China would dedicate itself to the end and at any cost and will definitely fight back firmly.

The White House said in its statement that China's approach to the issue is misguided. "Instead of addressing its misconduct, China has retaliated against American farmers and manufacturers."

Since the start of this week, the United States and China have been engaging in a tit-for-tat trade spat. On Monday, in response to earlier tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by the Trump administration, China started tariffs of up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products, including fruits, nuts, pork, wine, steel and aluminum.

Later on the same day, the USTR proposed to increase tariffs on 1,300 imported goods from China, mostly aerospace, medical and information technology products.

Less than 12 hours later, China announced it plans to impose retaliatory duties of 25 percent on 106 politically sensitive American goods, including soybeans, automobiles and aircraft.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and the Associated Press.
The United Nations human rights office is echoing a recent call by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for an independent investigation into Israel's use of force against Palestinians who staged protests in Gaza on March 30. The call came Friday as Israeli troops again clashed with Palestinians staging "right of return" border protests.

What began as a peaceful demonstration along the Gaza-Israeli border Friday turned deadly shortly after the U.N. human rights office in Geneva called for restraint by both the Israeli security forces and Palestinians. Spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters U.N. officials feared a repeat of last month's riots, which resulted in the deaths of 16 people and injuries to more than 1,000.

She said several hundred protesters reportedly were wounded by live ammunition. She noted the victims reportedly were unarmed or did not pose a serious threat to the Israeli security forces, who were well protected. The rights office said Israeli security forces used excessive force last month. Throssell told VOA that Israel denies the accusation.

From what we have documented, it is certainly that the killings and the injuries do actually point to an excessive use of force and, in particular lethal force," said Throssell. "And, that was in a situation where there was no threat of death or serious injury. And, that is why we have made this call. This is a law enforcement issue. This has law enforcement principles.

Under international human rights law, firearms may be used only as a last resort, only in response to an imminent threat of death or risk of serious injury. Throssell said international law obliges Israels security forces to respect the rights of peaceful assembly.

She said in the context of a military occupation, as is the case in the self-governing Palestinian territory, the unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms by law enforcement resulting in death may amount to a willful killing and a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The Palestinians have constructed protest tent camps along the entire length of the Gaza Strip in five locations. They are expected to stay in place for six weeks.

The protests are designed to commemorate the Nakba or "catastrophe" when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to flee their land or were expelled during the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel. Israel has deployed more than 100 snipers along the Gaza Strip.
The fate of Cabinet-level economic talks between the United States and China is unclear amid escalated trade disputes and recent tariff retaliation measures announced by both countries.

A U.S. official, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity, said Friday that there were no imminent signs on resuming the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED) that has been "stalled" since the inaugural round ended with no tangible progress last July.

The CED is one of four high-level talks aimed at boosting bilateral ties that Washington announced after U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April 2017.

The mechanism is co-chaired by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and China's Vice Premier Wang Yang.

VOA reached out to both departments for confirmation that the CED is in limbo but has not received a response.

The trade dispute between the countries escalated Friday, with Trump threatening tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods and China warning it will fight the U.S. "at any cost."

Washington's threat of additional tariffs came after Beijing issued a list of U.S. goods worth $50 billion for possible tariff increases. The United States had proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods this past week.

One analyst said he thought the U.S.-China talks could not be revived.

"For all intents and purposes, the CED is dead. Eventually, the two sides are going to need some kind of bilateral dialogue to resolve their differences, but right now everyone is focused on managing the trade escalation, and not on formal mechanisms like the CED," said Matthew Goodman, senior adviser for Asian economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

David Malpass, undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department, said in March that no decisions had been made about the future of the CED, amid increasing concerns about China's move away from market liberalization. Malpass made his comments while speaking to reporters in Buenos Aires during a conference.

But in an interview with the Financial Times in November, Malpass said the Cabinet-level dialogue had been "stalled" and there were no plans to revive it.

When asked about talks and how to avoid a trade war, China's ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, told State Department reporters on Wednesday, "Both parties need to have [the] political will," adding it would not work if only China had the will.

On February 8, China's State Councilor Yang Jiechi told Chinese media, following talks with then-U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, that both countries had agreed to resume the CED "as soon as possible" this year.

The State Department, however, made no mention of the reported resumption in public statements following the meeting.

"I think the Trump administration should use any possible dialogues with China to negotiate a way out of a possible trade war," said Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, adding Beijing has been "very reactive and defensive while not offering any viable proposals" to alter what Washington says is an unfair trade relationship.

"The good news is that we have time to see both sides, offer proposals and engage in dialogue," Kazianis said. "As U.S. tariffs will not kick in until mid-May and China has not placed a start date on its own sanctions, we may have time to work out a grand bargain of sorts."

The Comprehensive Economic Dialogue is one of the four of U.S.-China talks initiated under the Trump administration. The others are the Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, the Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue, and the Social and Cultural Issues Dialogue.
As the trade dispute between the United States and China was gaining steam last month, a half-dozen Chinese dancers and a person in a panda bear suit paraded across a stage inside a hotel lobby in the heart of Argentina's wine country.

The March 24 ceremony celebrated the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank's (IDB) choice to hold its next annual meeting in Chengdu, China, a decision criticized by the United States, whose regional influence has been increasingly challenged by the Asian economic superpower.

Just over a week later, China imposed tariffs on a range of U.S. products from frozen pork to wine in response to U.S. President Donald's Trump's decision to place tariffs on steel and aluminum from countries including China.

The trade fight, which escalated further on Wednesday with China targeting key American imports including soybeans, planes and cars in retaliation for proposed U.S. tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, has left Latin America in the middle, analyzing risks and opportunities.

"The U.S. is forcing countries in the region to choose between the U.S. and China," said Margaret Myers, director of the Latin America and the World program at the Inter-American Dialogue. "It's putting Latin American countries in a very challenging position while at the same time not offering a particularly attractive policy."

China, whose demand for raw materials increased during rapid economic growth the past two decades, is already the top trade partner for countries ranging from Brazil, Latin America's largest economy and the world's top soybean exporter, to tiny Uruguay.

Rather than celebrating a chance to gain market share, Brazil and Argentina responded cautiously to the tariffs on Wednesday. Brazil's Agriculture Ministry declined to comment.

Argentina, the world's No. 3 soy exporter, said it was "analyzing the situation."

Analysts in both countries said, however, the tariffs could force China to purchase more soybeans and soy-based products from South America.

Chinese loans, investment

Latin American countries' turn to China for financing has alarmed Washington even as its own policy toward the region shifts.

Trump's December 2017 national security strategy said China was seeking to "pull the region into its orbit through state-led investment and loans."

David Malpass, the U.S. Treasury Department's undersecretary for international affairs, said at a March conference in Buenos Aires that China's hosting of next year's IDB meeting "does not serve the interests of the Western Hemisphere."

In response, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno noted that the IDB would hold a special meeting for the bank's 60th anniversary in Washington next year, saying: "We have found the best of all worlds."

Trump's trade policies and rhetoric about immigration have disturbed even the most U.S.-friendly governments in Latin America.

Before the United States temporarily exempted Brazil from planned steel tariffs, a Foreign Ministry official said trade relations between the two countries were in "uncharted waters."

Argentina is threatening to take Washington to the World Trade Organization over biodiesel import tariffs. While the United States is the IDB's largest shareholder, it backed out last year of one of the bank's key funds.

Still, China's perceived disregard for projects' social and environmental costs has generated opposition within Latin America.

Civil society groups from Ecuador, Argentina and Peru set up an alliance to present information on "multiple human rights violations" linked to Chinese investments to the United Nations, according to a February statement from global nonprofit alliance Civicus.

More Chinese players

Chinese foreign direct investment, or FDI, in the region has increased by $70 billion since 2012, according to the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center. While the United States remains the largest source of FDI, its share fell to 20 percent in 2016 from 25.7 percent in 2015 and 24 percent in 2012, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Data from the Inter-American Dialogue and Boston University show lending from Chinese state-run banks to countries in the region exceeded $20 billion in 2015 and 2016. Since 2005, those loans have exceeded combined financing to the region from the IDB, World Bank and CAF, a Latin American development bank.

Commercial banks like ICBC are becoming increasingly active, Myers said, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)  a 2-year-old Beijing-based multilateral lender  is seeking to partner with the IDB on projects in the region, such as roads, railways, ports or tunnels that could improve connectivity with Asia.

Seven Latin American countries including Argentina have been approved to join the AIIB, although none have yet paid in to become full members.
The White House has announced sanctions against 38 Russian individuals and companies, saying the United States is standing up to ongoing "malign activity" by the Russian government against Western democracies and around the world.

At Friday's White House briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the U.S. still wants to work with Russia.

WATCH: US Raises the Stakes with Tough Sanctions on Russian Oligarchs

"Again, what we would like to see is the totality of the Russian behavior change. We want to continue having conversations and work forward to building a better relationship," Sanders said.

Oligarchs, Russian companies

The sanctions will be imposed on seven Russian oligarchs  including Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin  and 12 companies they own or control. Seventeen senior Russian government officials, as well as a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank, also will be targeted.

The group includes key members of Putin's inner circle.

Those sanctioned will have their assets blocked in the U.S. and people in the U.S. are barred from doing business with them.

Friday, a number of U.S. lawmakers and foreign policy experts welcomed the measure, saying the sanctions are overdue.

Representative Adam Schiff of California, ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said the move is the strongest action taken by the Trump administration to date for Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and "its murder of dissidents at home and abroad."

"The sanctioning of oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska, who is linked to Paul Manafort, Alexander Torshin and Putin's son-in-law, will send a strong message to the Kremlin," Schiff said in a statement.

Florida's Marco Rubio, a Republican senator and former presidential candidate, also welcomed Friday's announcement.

"These new sanctions send a clear message to Vladimir Putin that the illegal occupation of Ukraine, support for  war crimes [under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime], efforts to undermine Western democracies, and malicious cyberattacks will continue to result in severe consequences for him and those who empower him," Rubio said in a statement.

Russia denies its government has interfered in Western elections and allegations that Moscow has had dissidents murdered.

The new sanctions targets include Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council.

"I have been in the USA many times. Regarding the fact that they have introduced sanctions, it doesn't mean we will not communicate with them. There are other countries where it is possible to communicate and work to resolve these questions," Patrushev said.

'Devastating blow'

Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital  an investment fund and asset management company specializing in Russian markets  and a human rights activist, told VOA the latest round of sanctions is "a devastating blow for Putin and his inner circle," and are likely to have more direct and sustained impact on the Kremlin leadership.

"Every civilized country should follow the USA and impose sanctions," Browder said.

Anders Aslund of the Atlantic Council, an American think tank focusing on international affairs, said the sanctions will be painful for Russia.

"It will essentially mean that these people cannot do business in the U.S. banking system, and that essentially means that you can't do business in dollars, and that will be serious," Aslund told VOA.

Some, including Mark Simakovsky of the Atlantic Council, questioned the timing of the new sanctions.

"These are actions that would have been taken in any normal administration," Simakovsky said. "The question is, because President [Donald] Trump has sought to maintain positive relations with Putin, even congratulating him, why did this administration choose to do this and why now?"

Simavoksy said the new sanctions are unlikely to change Putin's behavior.

"I think this will only further deepen the divide between the U.S. and Russia," he said.

Many experts are watching to see if European Union nations will follow suit with their own tough measures against Moscow, now that the U.S. has taken the lead on sanctioning Russian oligarchs.
The Trump administration on Friday announced wide-ranging sanctions against 38 Russian individuals and companies, part of what senior administration officials billed as a response "to address Russia's pattern of malign activities" around the world.

The sanctions will be imposed on seven Russian oligarchs  including Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin  and 12 companies they own or control. Seventeen senior Russian government officials, as well as a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank, also will be targeted.

U.S. officials say the sanctions are "not in response to any single event or issue," but are aimed at countering the "totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity around the world."

In a briefing with reporters, the officials cited Russia's occupation of Crimea, the destabilizing of eastern Ukraine, support for the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad, Moscow's "ongoing malicious cyber activity," and "Russia's continued attacks to subvert Western democracies."

"Elites are not immune from accountability from the actions of the Russian government," a U.S. official said, adding that Russian oligarchs should use their position of influence to "put an end to this cycle of destabilizing Russian activity around the globe."

The oligarchs, the official said, have "reaped great benefits under the Putin regime and play a key role in its malign agenda."

The sanctions will block all of the oligarchs' assets that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and U.S. persons will be "generally prohibited" from dealing with the sanctioned entities, officials said. Any entities owned 50 percent or more by any of the subjects also will be subject to the sanctions.

The move comes after Britain, the United States and other NATO countries expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter, who were attacked with a nerve agent in Britain.

The spy, Sergei Skripal, 66, remains in a British hospital following the March 4 poisoning that Britain has blamed on Russia. The attack on the Skripals set off wide diplomatic recriminations, between the West and Moscow, that were reminiscent of the Cold War standoffs of the 1950s.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods, on top of the $50 billion in import taxes he already has proposed against Beijing. Though none of the tariffs have taken effect, it's the latest posturing in a trade dispute that some fear could escalate into a trade war.

How did this all start?

For decades, Trump has complained about China's trade practices. One of his main complaints is what he calls Beijing's theft of U.S. intellectual property.

Last month, Trump cited IP theft as justification for his proposed tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods. China retaliated by threatening its own tariffs on the same amount of U.S. goods. Trump then escalated the dispute, saying he would consider tripling the amount of goods to which tariffs would be applied.

What is intellectual property theft?

China gains access to U.S. technology by employing several tactics, which many observers have said are unfair or illegal.

Beijing has long required that U.S. businesses transfer technology to Chinese companies as a precondition of entering the Chinese market. For instance, if you are a U.S. carmaker who wants to sell automobiles to China, Beijing requires that you team up with a local Chinese company, or face steep tariffs on imported vehicles.

In other cases, China requires U.S. companies to comply with localization requirements by storing sensitive data in the Chinese mainland. That increases the risk of intellectual property theft through means such as cyberattacks.

How much IP does China steal from the U.S.?

It's difficult to quantify the value of technological knowledge. But according to an estimate last month by the U.S. trade representative, Chinese theft of American intellectual property costs between $225 billion and $600 billion every year.

That rate is unsustainable, said top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow. "We can't afford to give up our technology," Kudlow said Friday. "When they steal our technology ... they're stealing the guts of our American future."

What does China say?

The Chinese government has always denied carrying out the cyberattacks that frequently target U.S. companies.

As for accusations of forced technology transfer, Beijing often sidesteps the issue, instead citing stats that suggest U.S. companies are eager to do business in China.

"In 2017, China paid $28.6 billion in royalties to foreign rights owners, up from $1.9 billion in 2001 when the country joined the World Trade Organization [WTO]," read a Friday editorial published by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"China's development has come as a result of China's hard work, not 'intellectual property theft,' " it added.

How do U.S. companies feel?

Some major U.S. companies appear reluctant to criticize Beijing publicly, for fear of jeopardizing access to the world's second-largest economy. But it's safe to say that many U.S. businesses are not thrilled with Beijing's behavior.

Three-quarters of companies recently surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce said they feel increasingly unwelcome in China. Nearly half of the group's members said foreign businesses are treated unfairly by Beijing compared with local businesses.

Will Trump's tariffs help?

So far, China has given no signs of making concessions. Instead, Beijing has dug in, proposing painful retaliatory tariffs and vowing to fight "to the end" to defend its interests.

Trump has said he's open to negotiations, but China's commerce ministry on Friday insisted talks are impossible in such a heated context.

This story was written by VOA's William Gallo.
Venezuela said on Thursday it was halting commercial relations with Panamanian officials and companies, including regional airline Copa, for alleged involvement in money laundering, prompting Panama to recall its ambassador.

The resolution names Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and nearly two dozen Cabinet ministers and top-ranking officials, adding that Panama's financial system had been used by Venezuelan nationals involved in acts of corruption.

Venezuela said the individuals named in the resolution "present an imminent risk to the [Venezuelan] financial system, the stability of commerce in the country, and the sovereignty and economic independence of the Venezuelan people."

The statement came a week after Panama declared President Nicolas Maduro and about 50 Venezuelan nationals as "high risk" for laundering money and financing terrorism.

Caracas did not detail whether the move would halt the operations of Copa in Venezuela, which is one of the crisis-stricken country's few providers of international flights following a sharp reduction in airline services.

Copa's website showed its planned Panama City-Caracas flight later Thursday was canceled. Copa flights Friday between the two cities were listed as scheduled.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Panama's Varela, in brief comments to reporters Thursday, described the Venezuelan announcement as nonsensical.

"We have not heard anything about breaking relations but rather about a set of supposed sanctions, it's gibberish," Varela said.

The South American country has been hit with sanctions by Canada, the United States and a number of other countries over issues ranging from human rights violations to corruption and drug trafficking.

Maduro says the country is victim of an "economic war" led by his adversaries with the help of Washington, and says the sanctions are part of foreign countries' efforts to undermine his government.

This story was written by Reuters.
Vietnam is quietly fostering a state-supported fishing boat militia to hold off China at sea even as the two sides talk formally about easing their sovereignty dispute, according to experts who follow the issue.

The Southeast Asian country is encouraging its commercial fishing fleet to use stronger boats and take military-trained personnel to sea in case of a clash with China, analysts who follow the country say. China has its own fishing militia, in the same body of water.

I think its a good policy to avoid future conflicts where militia fishermen are out in the sea and if there are some tensions, said Trung Nguyen, dean of international relations at Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Development of the Vietnamese militia since at least 2009 comes despite regular talks between the two governments, with the latest just this week.

The Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary met the visiting Chinese foreign minister Monday to suggest joint safeguarding (of) maritime peace and stability, Chinas Xinhua News Agency said.

Vietnam may be flexing muscle now in case talks fail to produce results, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor in the National University of Singapores school of public policy.

How the militia works

The Vietnamese militia has not gone to battle with China, and if it did it would risk facing the world's third largest military.

But Vietnamese military units are arming fishing boats, said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

That procedure may be similar to the deployment of former soldiers to help keep public order as needed on land in Vietnam, he said. Vietnam requires conscription, he added, so fishermen would already have basic military skills.

Putting them at sea would just be getting people the right age and giving them that training, he said. All they did is move what they do on land, how to defend factories et cetera, and extend that to sea, so Id imagine its the same thing.

Thirteen fishing militia platoons are helping more than 3,000 fishermen work near the South China Sea's Paracel Islands, according to a 2017 study by scholars with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. China controls the Paracels, but Vietnam claims the chain as its own.

The maritime militia got a boost in 2009 when the Vietnamese National Assembly passed a law recommending that self-defense militia escort Vietnamese fishing fleets.

The more than 10,000 fishermen and roughly 2,000 fishing boats in Khanh Hoa province of southern Vietnam have received infrared night vision binoculars and rearms, the study from Singapore says.



Vietnam issued a protocol in 2014 to aid fishermen who build modern large capacity ships, often steel ones, to expand their reach, the study adds. It says Vietnamese banks had lent $176 million to fishermen for upgrades of some 400 ships.

Record of clashes

China claims about 90 percent of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea. Vietnam says it should control the seas waters off its long north-south coastline extending into the Paracel and Spratly Island chains.

Sailors died in clashes between the countries in 1974 and 1988. The positioning of a Chinese oil rig in 2014 sparked a boat-ramming incident at sea and deadly rioting in Vietnam against Chinese interests.



China has long nurtured its own fishing militia as a grassroots effort with formal military support and attention from President Xi Jinping, scholars from the U.S.-based Naval War Colleges China Maritime Studies Institute have written. Armed fishing boats help defend Chinas maritime claims by harrying and diverting foreign vessels, the political intelligence firm Stratfor said in 2016.

Five other governments claim all or parts of the South China Sea. They dispute Chinas land reclamation to build up islets in the sea and the military use of some.



The two Communist countries hold frequent party-to-party and senior-level official talks about settling maritime differences. But talks often fall short of any settlement because of historic distrust, especially now on how to divide undersea oil and gas fields, Araral said.



Maybe this is some kind of muscle-flexing dynamic on the part of the Vietnamese to say that while we talk we assert our rights, Araral said.

A Vietnamese fishing militia will not be able to catch up to the capability and number of personnel under China's militia, he said, but Vietnam feels obligated to try. So they have to build their own local capabilities and they will do a guerrilla resistance to the Chinese if necessary," he said.


White House Chief of Staff John Kelly urged President Donald Trump last week to dismiss Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, a White House official told The Wall Street Journal Friday.

Kelly reportedly recommended Pruitts ouster after a recent wave of negative publicity about Pruitts excessive spending and management style.

The White House official said, however, Trump is not prepared to fire him as the president is pleased with his deregulatory approach and his support of Trumps agenda.

Trump tweeted Friday that Pruitt is doing a great job, but he also has said he would look into a number of controversies that have plagued Pruitt.

The White House said earlier this week that it had been reviewing reports Pruitt rented housing in Washington at below-market rates from the family of a lobbyist.

Pruitt also is being scrutinized over the large pay raises he reportedly gave to two EPA employees.

In addition, his security detail blew through overtime budgets and at times diverted officers away from investigating environmental crimes to protect him.

Altogether, the agency spent millions of dollars for a 20-member full-time security detail, three times the size of his predecessor's part-time contingent.

New details about Pruitt's decisions emerged from agency sources and documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Shortly after arriving in Washington, Pruitt demoted the career staff member heading his security detail and replaced him with EPA Senior Special Agent Pasquale "Nino'' Perrotta, a former Secret Service agent who operates a private security company. An EPA official with direct knowledge of Pruitt's security spending said Perrotta oversaw an expansion of the EPA chief's security detail to accommodate guarding him day and night, even on family vacations.

The EPA official spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.



VIP lounges

Perrotta also signed off on new procedures that let Pruitt fly first-class on commercial airliners, with the security chief typically sitting next to him. Pruitt's premium status gave him and his security chief access to VIP airport lounges.

The EPA official said there are legitimate concerns about Pruitt's safety, given public opposition to his rollbacks of anti-pollution measures.

But Pruitt's ambitious domestic and international travel led to rapidly escalating costs, with the security detail racking up so much overtime that many hit annual salary caps of about $160,000. The demands of providing 24-hour coverage even meant taking some investigators away from field work, such as when Pruitt traveled to California for a family vacation.

The EPA official said total security costs  pay plus travel expenses  approached $3 million.

This story was written by VOA News. Some information came from the Associated Press.
Thousands of potential candidates have submitted their names to various political parties indicating that they want to contest council, parliamentary and senatorial elections set to be held within the next few months in Zimbabwe.

They include Retired General Constantino Chiwenga, Retired Brigadier General Sibusiso Moyo and several others, who are believed to have masterminded the downfall of 94 year-old former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe last November.

Some people believed to be linked to the ousted Zanu PF faction commonly known as Generation 40, which once backed former First Lady Grace Mugabe as a potential successor to her husband, have been left out of the electoral process in the ruling party.

They claim that a faction of the party said to be led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa has sidelined all those linked to Mrs. Mugabe and Robert Mugabe. The two are linked to the National Patriotic Front, which was allegedly formed by ousted Generation 40 members.

Mugabe has distanced himself from the party led by Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri.

Despite the exclusion of some Zanu PF activists from contesting the polls, ruling party member Believe Gaule says everyone is allowed to contest a seat of his choice in Zanu PF. People will choose a person of their choice, nothing else.

On the other hand, the Movement for Democratic Change led by Nelson Chamisa has also witnessed a lot of interest of thousands of people who want to participate in the general elections as candidates in council, parliamentary and senatorial polls.

The other faction of the party led by Thokozani Khupe, which is preparing for its congress, says hundreds of people also want to take part in the candidate selection process as contestants.

We will engage in this process as soon as we hold our congress sometime this month, said Witness Dube, who is Khupes adviser.
Israeli rabbis say Rome's carciofi alla giudia not kosher.

Rome's Jewish community is contesting a ruling by the Israeli rabbinate which says that carciofi alla giudia, a signature Roman-Jewish dish, is non-kosher, according to a report in Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.

Israeli rabbis say that Rome's Jewish-style artichokes should be banned from Israel's restaurants because small worms or parasites present in the vegetable mean it is not kosher and therefore forbidden under Jewish religious laws.

Rome's Jewish community however says there is no possibility of impurity in the dish due to special Roman-Jewish cooking guidelines, adding that the Roman artichoke is different to the variety grown in Israel.

Roman Jewish sources told Italian news agency ANSA that Rome's artichokes have a narrow stem preventing worms from entering and that their purity is additionally assured by rigorous cleaning, rinsing and frying.

However, according to Haaretz, some members of the Jewish community in Milan have asked a local kosher restaurant - also present in Rome - to remove carciofi alla giudia from its menu, to be on the safe side.
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Trump says the U.S. government has allowed China for decades to flood U.S. consumers with cheap imports that hurt American jobs, leading to the closure of thousands of factories across the country. He won the 2016 election in part by promising to restore many of those jobs, particularly in the Midwest.
Then, in 2012, Fierstein let a friend direct a revival of the play at Londons Menier Chocolate Factory. A year later, Michael Kahn staged it at Studio Theatre in Washington, with Brandon Uranowitz as Arnold. The reception was so warm that the playwright felt that the clouds had parted for a more coherent reckoning of what Torch Song was about: For me, it is that family values amount first, last and always, to the emotional shelter of compassion and tolerance. I really felt that now we were at a time where we could see the characters in the play as human beings, he added. I thought it was going to be a period piece, which it turned out not to be.
Market research tells us theres an increasing desire, particularly among younger consumers, for third-party certification, so were eager to see how the logo resonates, he said in a telephone interview. Jackson Family Wines owns more than 30 California brands, including the ubiquitous Kendall-Jackson label. The Certified Sustainable logo will appear first on the 2017 Matanzas Creek Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc, to be released this spring, followed later in the year by some wines from Cambria, Byron and Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve. The family-owned company, which doesnt release sales figures, hopes to have the logo on its popular Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay with the 2018 vintage, he said.
A proposal that has garnered the support of a majority of D.C. Council members would cut in half the estate-tax exemption in the nations capital, to $5.6 million. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who first floated the idea, wrote in a letter to other legislators in the past week that the resulting revenue generated for the city  about $6.5 million in the coming fiscal years budget  could be used for housing and education programs.
The bill was one of about a dozen that Hogan chose to allow to go into effect without his signature. The others included a measure that uncouples the state from the federal estate-tax rules, allowing the state to tax inheritances at its current $4 million level rather than the $11 million threshold allowed under new federal rules; legislation that provides $5 million in grants to local governments and nonprofit groups to assist in gathering an accurate count for the 2020 Census; and a measure that creates a task force to study alcohol regulations.
Several members of Congress issued statements applauding the seizure. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that websites like Backpage.com facilitate sex trafficking across Minnesota and our country. The announcement by the FBI that they have seized this website and affiliated sites is long overdue, but another positive step forward in the fight against human trafficking. We must keep working to bring perpetrators to justice and get victims the support they deserve.
His own lawyers originally wanted him to submit his financial disclosure without signing to certify that the information was true. The information that he did ultimately certify appears deliberately impenetrable. He often lists revenue, rather than profits, which masks his actual income. And due to his Russian-nesting-doll-like LLCs, we dont know how these companies derive much of their income, whom they owe money to or on what terms.
Other people whose names have surfaced in connection with the Russia investigation also ended up on the Treasurys list. Konstantin Kosachev, a Russian lawmaker who led soft-power initiatives for the government and surfaced in a now-famous dossier alleging the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin during the 2016 election, was sanctioned Friday. So was Alexander Torshin, a little-known deputy central bank governor who rose to public interest in the United States only after his efforts to promote gun rights in the United States landed him at a table with Donald Trump Jr. during a 2016 National Rifle Association conference.
It is in this same spirit that I offer my candidacy  to rise above party and partisan wrangling in an effort to appeal to all Mississippians  as we unite to show the nation, at the end of this second decade of the 21st century  just how far we have come, Espy said.
There is still the concern of gerrymandering. In 2011, the administration drastically redrew Hungarys electoral map, decreasing the number of districts from 176 to 106. The result was that opposition strongholds were often merged into Fidesz-friendly areas. A prime example is that of central Budapest. The typically left-leaning Pest side of the Danube River has now been merged with the right-leaning Buda side. In 2014, the first election with the new map, the district went for Fidesz in a relative majority.
For many South Koreans, who took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands to oust Park, the case starkly illustrated widespread feelings that the system is stacked against them and that only the rich and well-connected can get ahead. That feeling has only grown with the arrest of Parks predecessor on unrelated corruption charges.
Asked if it was surprising that at least one of the Skripals regained consciousness after several weeks in a coma, Carlin said: We dont really know what normal is with Novichok agents, but what youve got to remember is their body has been poisoned with a compound, and although giving somebody an antidote will block the signal, the body still needs time to recover, and it needs to recover naturally, and obviously that takes time.
The Chinese way of doing things is like this: We do not pick a fight, but if someone does pick a fight, we will fight resolutely, Gao told reporters. The Chinese have always been very serious in handling these matters. We mean what we say.
WESTPORT  A former rental company executive was sentenced Thursday to serve two years in prison for violating the conditions of his supervised release, the Department of Justice said.

On March 11, 2010, 58-year-old John N. Milne, of Westport, was sentenced to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to falsify books and records of United Rentals, Inc.
On April 16, the Westport Historical Society will debut The History of Westport in 100 Objects, a year-long exhibit showcasing the history of the town over a few hundred years from first settlement to the present.

This year-long project is a fun way for kids and adults to learn about the history of our wonderful town, said Ramin Ganeshram, Executive Director of Westport Historical Society. These objects and artifactssome of them hundreds of years old and many never before seen by the public  will truly bring the past to life.

Beginning with a kid-focused reception from 4 to 6 p.m. on April 16, exhibit highlights include:

A display case, in Wheeler Houses front hall, changing every two weeks.

A mystery object will be on display with every case, and visitors may vote on its identity is by ballot. A winner will be drawn from the correct answer and will receive an item from the gift shop.

A passport/online check-in will make the exhibit more interactive for kids. After a certain number of visits to the 100 Objects visit, they will get scrip to make purchases at the gift store.

After each case comes off display, its items will go up in a digital exhibit at westporthistory.org.

If people have Westport artifacts, the WHS would love to see and hear about them at 100Objects@westporthistory.org

For more information about WHS, call 203-222-1424 or go to westporthistory.org

Enjoy samplings of specialty dishes presented for your pleasure by many of the finest restaurants in and around Westport  Amis, Harvest Wine Bar, Hummock Island Oys-ters, Mionetto Prosecco, Pearl at Longshore, Saltwater, and Bobby Qs Cue & Co., Ta-cos Mexico, Tarantino, Tablao  and many more. Tickets are $75 prepaid, $85 at the door. To learn more, and to buy tickets go to www.tasteofwestport.com or call Robin Ham-mond at CLASP, 203-226-7895, Ext 144.

The legendary William Boughton will be conducting Westport music academy Suzuki Music Schools Concerto and Aria Concert on April 22 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Southport. The concerto is a unique opportunity for violin, viola, cello, flute, guitar, harp and voice students to perform as a soloist with a specially formed professional orchestra. The concert will feature SMS students playing at each level of repertoire, from early Suzuki education pieces to major concerti. William Boughton is the Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Yale School of Music faculty.

Daniel Zlatkin of Westport, was recently initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Zlatkin was initiated at University of Michigan.

Zlatkin is among approximately 30,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation only and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

On Monday, April 25 at 7 p.m., Westport Historical Society will host Ed Hynes lecture marking the 241st anniversary of Tryons Raid, the Revolutionary War engagement that began with 1,800 British troops landing at Compo Beach. As many Westport residents may know, the four-day raid, which started on April 25, 1777, saw the British fighting two battles with Colonial forces along the way, led by Maj. Gen. William Tryon, royal governor of the New York province.

Suggested Admission; $10 Members, $15 Non-Members. Register online at westporthistory.org or call 203-222-1424. On Sunday, April 29 Hynes will repeat this lecture for children ages 10-12 at 4 p.m.

The Westport Library is seeking candidates to apply for vacancies on the Library Board of Trustees. The Library is particularly interested in meeting with candidates with experience in the fields of development, strategic planning, and commercial construction.

Trustee appointments will be a four-year term beginning July 1, 2018. There are 20 members on the Library Board, half of whom are appointed by the Representative Town Meeting and half of whom are appointed by the Library board itself. More information about the role of the Library Board is available on the Librarys website at westportlibrary.org.

Those interested in applying should email a resume and letter of interest indicating how their past work and prior experience qualify them as a Trustee for the Library, to Robin Powell at rpowell@westportlibrary.org. Following receipt of this material we will arrange a meeting to share information about the Library and Trustee Role.
A 26-year-old man faces larceny and forgery charges stemming from a complaint from First County Bank.

David Reichard of Mohegan Avenue in Stamford was charged last Friday with third-degree larceny and third-degree forgery.

The arrest stems from the banks complaint in May alleging that Reichard deposited a check  which was forged  for $3,960 into his bank account, according to a police report.

The investigation by police detectives found that Monroe Muffler of Monroe had reported its business account compromised months earlier and that the suspect, who was not known to them, had forged the check and attempted to receive take money from their account, the report said.

Reichard turned himself in to police about 3 p.m. last Friday after learning there was a warrant for his arrest.

He posted a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear iAug. 24 at Superior Court in Norwalk.
WESTPORT  When Eileen Lavigne Flug was halfway through college she boarded a plane for the first time in her life and flew to Las Vegas.

It was very eye-opening and I realized there was a lot of the world I hadnt seen, Flug, Westports assistant town attorney, said of her trip to Vegas, where she went to visit her aunt and uncle who lived in the area.

Vegas was a far cry from the farm in Western Massachusetts where Flug grew up with her three siblings and parents, both teachers, in the small town of Petersham, population 1,000.

It was a great experience about being self-sufficient and resilient, Flug said of her childhood on the farm.

For her first two years of college, Flug, 54, attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, but, after visiting Vegas, Flug wanted to expand her horizons and transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Everything was completely opposite from how I grew up and thats what made it so transformational and exciting, Flug said of her time in Vegas, where she hiked in the desert mountains and met people from all over the country, many of whom where transitional, unlike the families from her hometown who lived in the same place for generations.

After earning an undergraduate degree in accounting  Vegas is a great place to study accounting, Flug said  she enrolled at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., for law school because she enjoyed her tax classes and thought she might become a tax attorney.

Flug received a scholarship to Pepperdine, graduated first in her class, and served as the editor-in-chief of the law review.

I did everything they told me to do. I did all my homework, Flug said of her success in law school, where she discovered she most liked corporate and securities law.

As a third-year law student, Flug went on an interview trip to Washington, D.C., and, while driving around Virginia with a friend, realized she hadnt been back east for the fall in five years and missed the changing of the leaves.

Flug took an offer in D.C. to work in the corporate group of Arnold & Porter, where she worked for four years before leaving the firm and recreational activities shed come to love in D.C. to work in New York City as the first in-house counsel for one of her favorite clients, a wine and liquor distributor.

Ten years later, in the wake of 9/11, Flug and her then husband moved to Westport with their kindergarten-aged son and preschool aged daughter. Flugs then-husband had grown up in Fairfield and Flug liked the area for its access to the outdoors.

Upon moving to Westport, Flug stopped working as a lawyer and got involved with the League of Women Voters of Westport, where she learned how the town operates and met town volunteers.

Its inspiring that people are so committed and devoted to our town, Flug said.

Shed been intrigued by the Representative Town Meeting and, in the run-up to the 2005 election was encouraged to run, and won, a seat on towns legislative body. In 2010, Flug became deputy RTM moderator and in 2013, she took over as RTM moderator, leading the 36-member body to decisions on a variety of town issues.

I love the process. I love how process-oriented it is because the RTM provides a structure for group decision-making, Flug said, adding, The meetings go on as long as they need to go so that theres a robust debate. I think thats what I love the most. Its just such a wonderful opportunity exercise of democracy, Flug said.

The RTMs decision to move the YMCA from downtown to Camp Mahackeno was one of the most contentious issues Flug said she worked on as an RTM member, but noted RTM came together after the decision.

Flug said shes especially proud of the RTMs 2008 decision to pass an ordinance banning plastic bags in town the first municipality in the state to make such a decision. At the time, Flug was chair of the ordinance committee and helped tweak the ban, along with the ordinances sponsors, until it was just right.

After Sandy Hook, the RTM passed a resolution asking the state to pass stricter gun control laws and sent the resolution to Westports state representatives. I like to think that helped with their decision-making to know they had the support of the RTM along with the support of many others. The RTM has a history of getting involved with social issues like that, Flug said of the Sandy Hook resolution.

Flug returned to law in 2014, doing general corporate work and, when the assistant town attorney announced she was leaving Town Hall in 2017, met with Kelly to discuss the job.

I realized it was my dream job because it takes into account all the work I had been doing with the town, Flug said.

Although Flug is officially employed by the firm Berchem Moses, which the town engages for legal services, Flug is the only attorney that sits in town hall as a sort of in-house counsel for the first selectman and all town departments.

On a day-to-day basis, Flug negotiates, drafts, and reviews contracts between the town and third parties, responds to Freedom of Information requests, and helps draft policy and ordinances for town bodies.

I like all of it, Flug said, sitting in her office overlooking a blooming tree.
For over 100 years, Westport has been known as an arts community. World-famous painters, illustrators, sculptors, dancers, musicians, writers and actors lived here (and still do). This was the home of the Famous Artists, Famous Writers and Famous Photographers Schools. The Westport Country Playhouse is nearing its 90th birthday. The Westport Arts Center thrives.

The arts are everywhere  including our schools. Westports Public Art Collections of over 1,800 pieces (including a Picasso) hang in every building. Children are exposed to music, theater and dance from pre-school on. Its in our towns DNA, and its passed along lovingly to every new generation of kids.

Less than 10 miles away, its a different story. Children in Bridgeport dont have the same chance to see, enjoy and be inspired by the arts. In chronically underfunded, understaffed schools, music, drama, painting and dance are afterthoughts. Among the many inequalities our society tolerates, exposure to the arts is among the most pernicious.

For nearly 40 years, Neighborhood Studios has helped bridge the gap. The nonprofit organization offers arts education to underserved children and those with special needs throughout Fairfield County.

Programs include an art institute for children ages 4-12; a dance academy for those as young as 3; theater for 6-12-year-olds; a Saturday studio; a music school, and a conservatory for teenagers serious about the visual arts, media, music, theater and dance. Its hands-on, dynamic, fun. Neighborhood Studios offers hope, and changes lives.

All told, more than 1,500 greater Bridgeport youth, ages 3 to 21, are served by after-school and summer programs. Theyve discovered  as their Westport peers have done  that arts build engagement in school, raise self-esteem, increase graduation rates and prepare people for life after high school.

Program graduates have gone on to attend colleges like Yale, the University of Connecticut, Howard University, Art Institute, Parsons School of Design, the New School, and Berklee College of Music. Some have become music or art teachers  and Broadway performers. (Thats an added bonus, of course. The goal of Neighborhood Studios is not to produce lifelong artists. Its to use the arts to help each child achieve his or her potential  and, hopefully, nurture a lifelong love of the arts.)

Its a small operation, with a big mission. And some of Neighborhood Studios driving forces are Westporters.

Rita Appel retired this winter, after 18 years as a Westport public schools speech and language pathologist. She also served as president of Temple Israel from 2006 to 2010. As her term ended, she looked for a new volunteer project.

Dorothy Freedman  longtime Westporter Leo Nevas niece  told her about Neighborhood Schools. Appel liked its focus on students with special needs. As someone whod grown up loving arts and dance, she was particularly intrigued.

At a Westport Arts Center gala, she loved a flashdance performed by Neighborhood Studios students. She quickly signed up to adopt a camper for the summer program.

In 2014, Neighborhood Studios youngsters performed at her wedding. They did that same flashdance, as her husband broke the traditional glass.

That year, Appel joined the organizations board. Shes now in her second year as chair.

She serves with several other Westporters, including Robert Jacobs (vice chair). Laurie Gross (secretary) and Michael Loeb.

The previous chair, Westporter Harold Levine, was a noted advertising executive, and a lifelong champion of education and the arts. Neighborhood Studios was especially close to his heart. He was 95 when he died last year, and active in the organization to the end.

The newest member of the board of directors is Thomas Scavone. His name is familiar to Westporters: Hes the school district music and visual arts coordinator. All children deserve the opportunity to create, in an enthusiastic and safe environment, Scavone says.

Of course, running Neighborhood Studios takes money. Many Westporters help out as donors. Local philanthropies like Newmans Own and the Bedford Family Social Responsibility Fund provide grants.

Then theres the gala. This years event brings Pilobolus Maximus to Fairfield Universitys Quick Center for the Arts (Sunday, April 22, 7 p.m.).

Its a perfect fit. For 45 years, the Pilobolus dance company has toured 65 countries, appeared on the Academy Awards, garnered awards and earned a Grammy nomination. Pilobolus Maximus takes the most diverse and impactful elements of Pilobolus  some old, others brand new  and assembles them in a series of continually changing worlds. The company tests the limits of human physicality, exploring the beauty and power of connected bodies with performances that range from the irreverence of a wild circus to the filigree of classical work.

Its the kind of thing Westporters have enjoyed for years. This month, their support will help Bridgeport children get the same chance.

For more information about Neighborhood Studios, call 203-366-3300 ext. 228, or visit www.nstudios.org.
Kind and caring Breda was always thinking of others
Many Winnipeggers would consider moving from the city because of mosquitoes. Martine Balcaen moved here because of them.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 6/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many Winnipeggers would consider moving from the city because of mosquitoes. Martine Balcaen moved here because of them.

Balcaen, a second-year masters student in bioscience, technology and public policy at the University of Winnipeg, has studied mosquitoes since she arrived in the summer of 2016 from her hometown of Calgary.

"I love the topic of mosquitoes," she said on Thursday shortly after she talked about her project at a meeting in Winnipeg of mosquito experts with the North Central Mosquito Control Association.

The association is made up of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Western Ontario, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

"Mosquitoes are the sole reason I am here. I came here to study mosquitoes."

In fact, Balcaen said she came here immediately after receiving an undergraduate degree from the University of Calgary, so she could catch the summer mosquito season.

"I havent really noticed that much of a difference (with mosquitoes) between the cities," she said, but noted last year was a low year for mosquitoes.

Balcaen said the first year of her study was designed to figure out how far most mosquitoes ventured from where they hatched, with the second year to determine the areas of the city they liked living in.

To do it, she set up mosquito breeding cages south of St. Norbert, counted how many mosquitoes were in them, sprayed them with a fluorescent dust and then released them.

When the mosquitoes were caught in traps, Balcaen discovered most of them travelled only about four kilometres. Currently, the city larvicides for mosquitoes up to 12 kilometres outside the city limits, but the city has said it will know soon how far it will have to restrict the distance based on provincial funding.

"If it had landed on you, you wouldnt see the pink fluorescent, but under the microscope, you could see it. I found 85 per cent of my mosquitoes stuck or were captured within four kilometres of breeding."

During Balcaens second year, she used four different fluorescent colours before releasing four separate batches of mosquitoes over a two-week period.

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She is still analyzing her findings, but the mosquitoes were heading mostly to areas she calls "green infrastructure," including wetlands, rivers and forests.

"If we can pinpoint exactly what mosquitoes like or where they hang out, we can optimize the citys mosquito strategy."

Ken Nawolsky, the citys superintendent of insect control, said in a statement understanding mosquito movement is an important piece in improving its control program.

"Despite implementing a comprehensive larval and adult mosquito control program, City of Winnipeg insect control staff feel that possible movement of adult mosquitoes from rural untreated areas adjacent to the city into urban residential areas may occur during years with large mosquito outbreak events," Nawolsky said.

"Movement of these mosquito populations may increase the presence of nuisance or disease-carrying female mosquitoes within the city and lessen the overall effectiveness of the mosquito control program."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Two deposed leaders of a First Nation known for its long, ugly history of divisive politics and contentious court challenges were fined for contempt over a violent reserve election last year.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 6/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two deposed leaders of a First Nation known for its long, ugly history of divisive politics and contentious court challenges were fined for contempt over a violent reserve election last year.

If they cant pay up, they each may end up serving a month behind bars for what happened on Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation before and during the March 9, 2017, election.

Randy Thomas and Leo Hayden, former leaders of Roseau River Custom Council, were each handed a $2,000 fine. They risk jail sentences of a month if they cant pay within 60 days and fail to win mercy from the chief and council that ultimately won the election.

The judgment closed a case the chief and council brought against the pair and another reserve member who had been a court-appointed electoral officer before the courts dismissed her during the electoral chaos last March on the reserve.

Federal Court Justice James Russell handed down his 27-page ruling March 29.

All three  Hayden, Thomas and former electoral officer Lois Thomas  had pleaded guilty to contempt of court for their roles in setting up a rogue advance poll and then allowing the disruption of the general election at the Ojibwa reserve, which is 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg, near the U.S. border.

Lois Thomas was fined, but her penalty was less severe. She faces seven days in jail if she cant pay the $800 fine within 60 days.

The three were ordered to pay court costs for the case, which took months.

Roseau River is a place of contradictions, known to have some of the lowest standards of living of any Manitoba First Nation. At the same time, its also one of the richest reserves, thanks to a settlement reported to be worth more than $70 million.

The judge in this case presided over an earlier challenge and threw the former chief who won the land settlement, Terry Nelson, out of office.

Roseau River leaders hope this ruling brings some electoral peace, their lawyer said.

Winnipeg-based lawyer Norman Boudreau noted federal law carries a penalty of up to five years in prison for contempt of court, so the penalties in this case were relatively light.

"Chief and council appear to be satisfied with the judgment. Its a declaration from the courts and its now official," he said.

"Maybe this will serve as a reminder for all the other people. People think theres no consequence to a court order. Well, there is," Boudreau said.

None of the three individuals at the centre of the case is working and the two former leaders are both on welfare, Boudreau said.

Contact information for them was not available.

Thomas was the chairman and Hayden the vice-chairman of the custom council during elections last March and the judge held them responsible for organizing, advertising and holding a separate advance poll in Winnipeg in defiance of their pledge to the court not to do so.

"Instead of doing what they (the pair) agreed to do before the courts... and in Ms. Thomass case was appointed to do, all three went about promoting or supporting their own band factions... conduct (that) is simply a recipe for political chaos and financial waste. In doing so, the three proved they cant be trusted." Russell wrote in his ruling.

The judge reserved his harshest rebuke for the violence that derailed that court-approved election March 9, 2017.

The reserve held a do-over election after the first got so violent that the electoral officer and his team had to flee for their safety.

The judge said the "extremely troubling aspect of this case is that the (three) refuse to accept any responsibility for the violence that Mr. Ratte, the court-appointed electoral officer (who replaced Thomas), was subjected to when he and his team arrived at the reserve to conduct the election."

Burke Ratte was still so rattled by the experience that months later he pleaded with the court not to record his home address during a hearing.

At its peak, several people aggressively swarmed the vehicle he and his team were sitting in, yelling profanities at them.

Ratte returned a few days later with police protection and the election went off without a hitch. The chief and council have held power without much public rancour since then.

The judge blamed the deposed leaders for creating the tense atmosphere that day.

"All three, among others, are responsible for creating the context that made such violence possible and likely," Russell wrote.

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All three have since apologized, but the judge wasnt impressed.

"The seriousness of the contemptuous acts in this case and their consequences require some real penalty," the judge wrote.

The current chief and council have since dealt with the rival custom council, revoking its mandate to exist and withdrawing its funding.

The order is reviewed annually.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  Environment Canada has clarified how it intends to implement a federal carbon tax on Manitoba, which will allow the Liberals choose whether revenues will be put into provincial treasuries or given directly to taxpayers.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 5/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Environment Canada has clarified how it intends to implement a federal carbon tax on Manitoba, which will allow the Liberals choose whether revenues will be put into provincial treasuries or given directly to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, Manitobas carbon-intense industries say theyre working to understand how federal and provincial carbon plans will impact their business.

On Wednesday, the Free Press reported a massive budget bill tabled last week did not specify how Ottawas rising carbon tax will be collected in Manitoba.

Last weeks 556-page budget bill details Ottawas plan for imposing a carbon tax on the provinces, which escalates over time and will rise above Manitobas flat $25-per-tonne levy.

The federal plan calls for a $10-per-tonne levy starting this fall, which escalates to $20 at the start of 2019, and another $10 for each of the following three years, ending with a $50 levy for all of 2022.

That means Manitobas $25 levy will fall short of the federal $30 target on Jan. 1, 2020. Earlier this week, the government did not clarify whether Ottawa will collect a separate $5 on top of the provincial tax or take over the entire $30 carbon levy, prompting criticism from Conservative MP Robert Sopuck.

On Thursday, Environment Canada spokesman Mark Johnson said Ottawa would have a parallel process for collecting the top-up carbon tax, beyond Manitobas $25 levy.

The department also said the legislation will let the federal government choose whether to remit those revenues into provincial coffers, or put it directly in Manitobans pockets through tax credits.

"They could be distributed directly to the provincial/territorial government, to persons or businesses specified in regulations, or to a combination of both," wrote department spokeswoman Gabrielle Lamontagne.

Provincial taxes that do meet the benchmark are controlled by the provinces, meaning that Manitoba gets to decide how its $25 levy is allocated (current legislation suggests reducing the provincial sales tax) but not how the federal top-up is used.

Johnson explained the bill outlines two ways of collecting carbon tax: a fuel charge paid by producers and distributors, and an industrial a cap-and-trade system. The latter gives companies carbon credits when they fall below prescribed emissions caps; they can then sell those credits to other companies who exceed the caps.

The bill only prescribes the rising $10 per year over five years for industrial outputs, but not for the consumer fuel charge  suggesting that whoevers in government could raise or lower the levy without needing to pass a bill. The federal Liberals say they intend to stick with the five-year escalating tax while theyre in office.

Manitoba Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires did not say whether she was concerned Ottawa will control how the federal top-up will flow back to Manitoba.

She reiterated in a statement the provinces position that its plan will be more effective than the federal targets, in part because a higher starting rate may reduce emissions faster. "The focus of the carbon levy should be on outcomes," Squires wrote.

"Manitoba has done its homework in designing a carbon pricing system that strikes a careful balance" with the economy.

Meanwhile, the Senate energy committee released a report Tuesday calling on Ottawa to lower the carbon-tax burden on heavy industry. The committee argued that across-the-board levies could kill Canadian businesses, sending business to competitors abroad whose emissions arent taxed.

The committee started its hearings in March 2016, and did not say whether the cap-and-trade system will reduce emissions without killing businesses.

The environmental manager of a company that operates across Canada said hes not sure either.

"We don't have all the nooks and crannies figured out yet," said Rob Beleutz of the limestone company Graymont Ltd., which owns a plant in Faulkner, 230 kilometres north of Winnipeg. "It's happening fast, and that's the path we're on."

Since 2004, high-emitting Canadian companies have had to report to the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which lists how many gasses, such as carbon dioxide and methane, they release into the atmosphere.

The online database lists 11 Manitoba entities -- although three are Winnipeg landfills which fall outside most carbon-tax regulations.

The third-largest emitting company Graymonts Faulkner plant, which Beleutz said is due to how limestone is harvested, by burning carbon dioxide off the rock.

The plant has reduced its carbon emissions over a decade by eight per cent, according to federal filings, but Beleutz said theres not much more the company can do to reduce emissions. He said natural gas is inaccessible for the plant, so it instead relies on coal and petroleum coke.

He said a carbon tax would leave the company with a much costlier product than what comes out the United States, where there isnt a levy  a key point in the Senate report.

"Lime itself is one of the most trade-exposed commodities in Canada," said Beleutz, the only manager of the eight companies that provided an interview.

Manitobas top emitter in 2016 was the Koch Fertilizer plant in Brandon, accounting for one-third of heavy-industry emissions. Koch forwarded questions to the industry group Fertilizer Canada.

Spokeswoman Kelly McCarthy praised the Senate committee for addressing "carbon leakages and competitiveness risks," where carbon levies shift business production abroad without ultimately reducing global carbon emissions. But she did not say whether the federal plan hit the right balance.

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"Third-party benchmarking studies have already concluded that Canadian fertilizer manufacturers perform in the top quartile globally, for energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions," she wrote.

Manitoba's second-largest emitting firm is TransCanada, which the company spans all operations within the province: natural gas compressor stations, pipelines and associated facilities.

"We recognize our responsibility in the larger energy system, including the ongoing management of our own greenhouse gas emissions," spokesman Mark Cooper wrote, noting carbon restrictions "are becoming commonplace where TransCanada operates."

Manitoba makes up a fraction of Canadas heavy-industry emissions.

Agriculture produces more emissions in Manitoba, but is largely exempt from the provincial carbon tax, with the government pledging other measures to reduce those emissions.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
A former Kelvin High School student who was three months away from his 18th birthday when he fatally stabbed another teen on school grounds awaits a court decision on whether he should be sentenced as an adult.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 5/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Kelvin High School student who was three months away from his 18th birthday when he fatally stabbed another teen on school grounds awaits a court decision on whether he should be sentenced as an adult.

The now 20-year-old man appeared in court Thursday as Crown prosecutors asked a judge to decide whether he should face an adult sentence for manslaughter in the June 2015 death of 17-year-old Brett Bourne. Court of Queen's Bench Justice Brenda Keyser reserved her decision until June, noting the "fairly unique" nature of the case. If she decides to allow an adult sentence, Crown prosecutors said Thursday they intend to seek five years in prison. The maximum youth sentence he could receive is three years.

Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky argued his client should not serve any jail time and should instead be credited for the equivalent of nine months he spent at the Manitoba Youth Centre before he was released on bail. He remains on bail as the court case continues, after a jury convicted him of manslaughter in November.

By the time the judge releases her decision, it will be three years since Brett's death.

The young man who stabbed him can't be identified under publication restrictions in the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was 17 at the time. He intervened in a lunch-hour fight between Brett and another boy, who had been dating Brett's ex-girlfriend. The couple had broken up about a week earlier, unbeknownst to Brett, who was a former Kelvin student. He rode his bike past the school on June 2, 2015, spotted the boy he believed was dating his ex-girlfriend, and tried to start a fight, chasing him into the school. The convicted killer testified at his trial that he armed himself with a knife to protect his friend because he thought Brett had a knife. He cut his own arm with a different knife and told his mother he was the one who'd been stabbed. He stuck to the lie when he was initially questioned by police. Investigators discovered Brett was unarmed.

Crown prosecutor Erika Dolcetti argued the 20-year-old should be sentenced as an adult because his actions and attempts to avoid getting caught were "sophisticated." He was assessed by a psychiatrist, who testified Thursday he doesn't suffer from a psychiatric disorder or show any cognitive impairments. The same psychiatrist said he considered the young man a very low risk to re-offend.

"He was smart enough to know what he did," Dolcetti said.

"He was adult enough to be able to lie to his mother, his peers, but more importantly, the police, for hours. He had enough (decision-making skills) and common sense and intelligence to know he should make up a story as to why he thought Brett had a knife," she said.

Brodsky said his client now understands he should've gone to get help instead of intervening in the schoolyard fight and doesn't need time behind bars to teach him that lesson. He said the man was a role model while he was in custody and didn't violate any of his bail conditions while on house arrest. He took university courses online toward a computer science degree and created an app that allows students to anonymously report safety threats.

"The facts are extremely out of the ordinary in this case and we're asking you for a non-custodial sentence," Brodsky told the judge.

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Brett's mother, Jamie Bourne, spoke to her son's killer in court Thursday, telling him she and her family have never recovered from losing Brett.

"What gave you the right to take my son's life? His future? Our future?" she asked him, tearfully reading aloud her victim impact statement.

"You had many opportunities to stop. You chose to continue," she said, saying she feels stuck in time in June 2015.

"From then on, my life has been a nightmare."

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen has summoned the leaders of the Manitoba Metis Federation and Manitoba Hydro to his office for an April 20 meeting  their first since friction between the government and the two organizations ignited last month in mass resignations and threats of legal action.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 6/4/2018 (1271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen has summoned the leaders of the Manitoba Metis Federation and Manitoba Hydro to his office for an April 20 meeting  their first since friction between the government and the two organizations ignited last month in mass resignations and threats of legal action.

However, Cullen wouldnt say Friday what will be discussed at the meeting.

Federation president Dave Chartrand said hes agreed to attend it, but doesnt know whats on the agenda.

Hydro president and chief executive officer Kelvin Shepherd has also been invited, Chartrand said.

Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen would only say Friday: "I can only confirm that a meeting is in the process of being arranged and that Mr. Shepherd will attend once a date is scheduled."

The federation announced last week it would take legal action against the province, seeking a judicial review of Premier Brian Pallisters orders to have Hydro cancel a $67.5-million deal with the Metis organization in advance of the construction of a 213-kilometre, $453-million transmission line to Minnesota.

"We want to get it into court as fast as we can. Its a high priority," Chartrand said Friday.

However, the courts will want evidence the federation tried arbitration before hearing the legal action, he said, and the courts will demand physical evidence of the premiers order cancelling the deal.

"Thats the strange part of it. They (the province) have not sent us any documentation cancelling the deal," Chartrand said.

The issue went public March 21, with the sudden resignation of nine of the premiers 10 hand-picked Hydro directors. Ex-board chairman Sanford Riley said the group quit because Pallister had not met with the directors for the past 16 months concerning the Crown corporations finances.

However, Pallister blamed the mass resignation on his order that Hydro cancel the agreement he called "hush money" used to "buy off" the federation, which he dismissed as a "special-interest group."

The premier accused Chartrand of selling off the legal rights of unborn Metis children in return for the federations promise not to oppose the Minnesota transmission line.

Chartrand said the agreement was a done deal: a compensation agreement for the use of the land, established by the courts and flowing from recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. In 2014, the province had delegated to Hydro the right to negotiate such agreements, the federation contends.

Earlier this week, Pallister insisted again it was only a proposal  and unlike any other hes seen.

"It was never an agreement. This is about trading on the rights of people, which we do not have the right to do. Everyone around the table knew it was an unprecedented proposal," Pallister told reporters. "Im ready to work with anyone. No one should appreciate the misrepresentation of facts."

As for the April 20 meeting, Cullen wouldnt elaborate.

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His press secretary, Joey Dearborn, said: "Cullen has informed both the leadership of the Manitoba Metis Federation and the leadership of Manitoba Hydro of the governments intention to schedule a meeting under the terms and conditions of the Turning the Page agreement."

(Under the agreement, Manitoba recognizes the Crown has a duty to consult with the Metis when any proposed Crown decision or action might adversely affect the exercise of their Aboriginal rights.)

"While multiple dates and times have been proposed, this meeting has not been confirmed by either of the other affected parties," Dearborn said. "We will not be speaking to the agenda of the meeting at this time, only to say that this meeting falls under the purview of the Turning the Page agreement signed by all three parties."

Chartrand said hell be there: "Unlike the premier, I keep my word."

He also said the federation has advised the National Energy Board it is supporting the proposed transmission line to Minnesota. Public hearings on the construction project are expected as early as June.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
News flies by so quickly in the digital era. It flashes past in an instant, alighting on an issue with the same impermanent jitter of a bird paused on a wire; then it is off again, speeding on to the next sociopolitical fire.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 6/4/2018 (1271 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

News flies by so quickly in the digital era. It flashes past in an instant, alighting on an issue with the same impermanent jitter of a bird paused on a wire; then it is off again, speeding on to the next sociopolitical fire.

This week, it paused  not long enough  on the remarkable courage of Rochelle Squires.

On Tuesday, Squires, the MLA for Riel, rose to speak in the legislative assembly. As the provincial minister for the status of women, she stood to recognize April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Canada. But there was more.

In that moment, Squires spoke not only as a politician, but as a woman with a story of resilience all her own. One about how she was sexually assaulted at just 13 years old; about how, for decades, she bore that pain in silence.

"I know first-hand why so many of us never report to police, and dont reach out for support," she said. "It is because we believe we are somehow to blame... so many of us live with that shame and guilt and self-loathing for years."

And it is a transformative moment that a minister should speak these words, on the floor of provincial power. Despite major steps forward, we still live in a world where survivors face and fear the scrutiny of public disbelief.

We still live in a world where, too often, some consider the absence of a police report as evidence of inauthenticity.

Yet swaths of research have reached the same conclusion: sexual assault is severely underreported in Canada, far more than other crimes. And this is largely because of the barriers victims face, including fear of the process and self-blame.

Now, perhaps, Squires courage in naming some of those barriers will pave the way for real change. After her speech, she told a reporter that the province is considering the creation of a third-party sexual-assault reporting system.

"I believe that will make a strong difference in so many lives if we have a place for people to go and share their testimony... and yet not have to immediately go to a police station and fill out (a) report," she said.

News of Squires story didnt focus on this part too much. But should the reporting system come to fruition, it would be a major step forward for public safety in Manitoba, as well as a way to make justice safer and more approachable for victims.

First, the public ought to understand what third-party reporting means, in this context. There is precedent: a third-party protocol has existed in British Columbia for a decade, though it has not yet been replicated across Canada.

The B.C. protocol traces its roots back to the crimes of Donald Bakker. In 2003, Bakker was arrested after he attacked a woman in an East Vancouver park; he had hired her for sex, but began to violently beat her instead.

In Bakkers gym bag, police discovered horrific videos he had taken of himself torturing and raping 60 victims. Most were later identified; they included young children trafficked in Cambodia and Vancouver women.

The videos were graphic, brutal, shocking. Court officials warned reporters that, if the trial proceeded, they might need counselling. Bakkers lawyer said the videos were among the most disturbing evidence hed ever seen.

Bakker was the first man prosecuted in Canada for child sexual exploitation outside the country; he eventually pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexually assaulting Cambodian kids, and three attacks on Vancouver women.

But in the wake of his arrest, a question haunted the case. For at least three years, Bakker had tortured women in B.C., yet until the 2003 attack, none of the victims in the videos had reported the assaults.

This was an eye-opening realization for police, still grappling with the previous years arrest of serial killer Robert Pickton. But it came as no surprise to sexual-assault experts and grassroots community advocates.

Like many predators, including Pickton, Bakker targeted Vancouvers most vulnerable women. Many of his victims struggled with addiction, poverty or other problems; in order to survive, they had turned to street-level sex work.

In this population, the barriers to reporting are high. Victims may fear  often justifiably  that they will be judged or not believed. They may fear that involving police will land them in their own legal trouble.

Still, if police had known about the attacks and seen an emerging pattern, they might have been able to stop Bakker sooner. So, to bridge that gap, police and community advocates in B.C. developed third-party reporting, which provides an option for victims.

Instead of going to police, they can tell a community-based victim-services worker about what happened; the information is passed to police without the victims name.

The third partys transfer of the information is not the same as a victims formal police report. But police are able to enter it into their databases, which can allow them to identify patterns, connect victims to existing cases and consider further action.

If investigators want to speak with the victim directly, they are able to make a request through the community worker, as an intermediary. The victim, seeing they are supported and believed, may now be more comfortable engaging with police.

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According to a 2015 guidebook on the third-party protocol, "the intent of third-party reporting is not to circumvent the criminal justice system, but to build a bridge, better enabling particularly vulnerable victims to access the system."

The program has been tweaked over the last decade, but it is promising. In November, during a meeting of provincial and territorial status of women ministers, RCMP said they wanted to expand it across Canada more widely.

And this could be a key piece of the puzzle, leading to improving safety and victim support in Manitoba. (It isnt the only one; there are several other models that could help make accountability and healing more accessible for survivors.)

The evidence shows us, over and over, that in order to make our communities safer, sexual-assault victims need options. They need ways to get assistance with healing and justice that support them where they are, in their own lives.

For Squires to stand on the truth of her own experience, and use it to raise up one of those options, was an act of tremendous courage and care for other victims. Its time now for the public to stand with her to help make it happen.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
As long as the sun shines and water flows, so too will there be bad ideas in politics. We need critical media to shed light on cynical and poorly thought out ideas when politicians float them for public consumption.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 6/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

As long as the sun shines and water flows, so too will there be bad ideas in politics. We need critical media to shed light on cynical and poorly thought out ideas when politicians float them for public consumption.

For example: in his recent state of the city address, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman announced he would seek ways to reduce "aggressive panhandling" in the city. Bowman reported he had heard anecdotal accounts from Winnipeggers suggesting such panhandling is on the rise. In particular, the mayor seemed to be concerned with panhandlers standing at intersections and even walking into traffic, endangering both themselves and drivers.

While Bowmans proposal was short on details, he did relay that he was hoping the Winnipeg Police Service would crack down on aggressive panhandling. He also speculated about marshalling surveillance cameras in troublesome areas to catch pushy panhandlers in the act. But its not at all clear how surveilling panhandlers will reduce instances of aggressive panhandling, or whether the increased cost of more cameras is even remotely worth it.

Further, Winnipeg already has a bylaw that bans aggressive panhandling. Police officers use the law to ensure public safety in certain situations, such as by moving panhandlers away from ATM machines. The bylaw, it seems to me, provides police with all the tools necessary to sanction irresponsible behaviour from panhandlers at intersections. Id be surprised to learn they werent already doing so.

Of course, hoping to deal with panhandling without also considering issues such as poverty and substance abuse is rather like dealing with a sewer main explosion by bolting the manhole covers to the pavement. Panhandling is a tool for desperate people, aggressive panhandling even more so. Investments to ease poverty and help those struggling with substance abuse will be far more effective ways to address aggressive panhandling in the long term than throwing money at the problem via new video cameras and other enforcement measures.

Lest we think bad ideas are confined to local politics, the federal governments recent Bill C-75, aimed at reducing backlogs in court wait times and other judicial reforms, provides another example. The governments centrepiece is a proposal to do away with preliminary inquiries in all but the most serious cases. Preliminary inquiries are where the evidence against defendants is tested and relevant issues are narrowed prior to a trial. Doing away with them may save money and time in the short term. But, in the long term, fewer preliminary inquiries may result in more judicial backlog as there will be more trials as a result, and those trials are likely to take even longer.

The Liberals also proposed to do away with peremptory challenges prior to trials, which defence lawyers and prosecutors can use to remove jurors. Gerald Stanleys lawyer used such challenges to systematically remove jurors who appeared to be Indigenous, which was thought to lead to a miscarriage of justice when Stanley was acquitted of a murder charge. By doing away with peremptory challenges, the government hoped to do away with a tool that can be used to achieve ominous, racist ends.

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But wait: it turns out defence lawyers also use peremptory challenges to remove potentially biased jurors and diversify the juries that will pass judgment on their clients. Peremptory challenges, for example, are used by defence lawyers for Indigenous defendants to increase the odds that at least a few jurors will be from racialized, non-dominant groups. C-75 will now make it impossible for them to do so.

Its hard to imagine how doing away with peremptory challenges will, the best of intentions to the contrary notwithstanding, do anything other than aggravate the treatment Indigenous peoples receive at the hands of Canadas justice system.

Of course, the simplest and most effective way to cut down on both costs and delays in the justice system is to cut back on the number of offences with mandatory minimum sentences, which were adored by the former Conservative government. Canadian courts have been chipping away at mandatory minimums for some time and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested during his 2015 election campaign that he would aim to curtail their use.

But the government, which took all of two months to craft a response to the issue of peremptory challenges in the Stanley trial, maintains it needs still more time to study the issue and allow the courts to rule.

As time passes and the next federal election looms, it becomes less and less likely the Liberals will have the fortitude to turn the ratchet of harsher sentences backwards. Bad ideas prevail in politics, and one good idea is likely to continue to languish.

Royce Koop is an associate professor and head of the department of political studies at the University of Manitoba.
Basic Energy Services, Inc. engages in the provision of well site services to oil and natural gas drilling and producing companies. It operates its business through the following segments: Completion and Remedial Services, Well Servicing, Water Logistics, and Corporate and Other. The Completion and Remedial Services segment utilizes coiled tubing services, air compressor packages specially configured for underbalanced drilling operations, an array of specialized rental equipment and fishing tools, thru-tubing, and snubbing units. The Well Servicing segment encompasses a full range of services performed with a mobile well servicing rig, including the installation and removal of downhole equipment and elimination of obstructions in the well bore to facilitate the flow of oil and natural gas. The Water Logistics segment focuses in the fleet of trucks and related assets, including specialized tank trucks, storage tanks, water wells, disposal facilities water treatment, and related equipment. The Corporate and Other segment comprises principally of working capital and debt financing costs. The company was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, TX.

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Orbital ATK, Inc. develops and produces aerospace and defense related products to the U.S. Government, allied nations, prime contractors, and other customers in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Flight Systems Group, Defense Systems Group, and Space Systems Group. The Flight Systems Group segment develops launch vehicles that are used as small-and medium-class space launch vehicles to place satellites into Earth orbit and escape trajectories; interceptor and target vehicles for missile defense systems; suborbital launch vehicles that place payloads into various high-altitude trajectories; rocket propulsion systems for human and cargo launch vehicles; strategic missiles; missile defense interceptors and target vehicles; and composite structures for military and commercial aircraft and launch structures markets. The Defense Systems Group segment develops and produces military ammunition; propulsion systems for tactical missiles and missile defense applications; strike weapons; precision weapons and munitions; high-performance gun systems; aircraft survivability systems; fuzes and warheads; propellant and energetic materials; special mission aircraft; airborne missile warning systems; and defense electronics. The Space Systems Group segment offers small-and medium-class satellites that are used to enable global and regional communications and broadcasting; conduct space-related scientific research; and perform activities related to national security. This segment also provides human-rated space systems for Earth-orbit and deep-space exploration, including re-supplying the international space station; and spacecraft components and subsystems, as well as specialized engineering and operations services. Orbital ATK, Inc. is headquartered in Dulles, Virginia.

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Stantec Inc. provides professional consulting services in the area of infrastructure and facilities in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company provides consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. It also offers water, transportation, and public works; transportation planning and traffic engineering; and resource assessment, mine development, reclamation, hydrology, and geotechnical and infrastructure engineering services, as well as urban planning, traffic assessments and optimization, environmental impact assessments, and public consultation services. In addition, the company provides structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and hydraulics engineering services. It serves urban regeneration, infrastructure, education, public and private sector, tourism and leisure, and waste and water sectors, as well as office and commercial, residential, and retail and town centers. The company was formerly known as Stanley Technology Group Inc. and changed its name to Stantec Inc. in October 1998. Stantec Inc. was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.

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Wall Street analysts have given BlackRock Utilities, Infrastructure & Power Opportunities 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 Utilities, Infrastructure & Power Opportunities Trust wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. 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Deutsche Telekom AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated telecommunication services. The company operates through five segments: Germany, United States, Europe, Systems Solutions, and Group Development. It offers fixed-network services, including voice and data communication services based on fixed-network and broadband technology; and sells terminal equipment and other hardware products, as well as services to resellers. The company also provides mobile voice and data services to consumers and business customers; sells mobile devices and other hardware products; and sells mobile services to resellers and to companies that purchases and markets network services to third parties, such as mobile virtual network operators. In addition, it offers internet services; internet-based TV products and services; and information and communication technology systems for multinational corporations and public sector institutions with an infrastructure of data centers and networks under the T-Systems brand, as well as call center services. The company has 242 million mobile customers and 22 million broadband customers, as well as 27 million fixed-network lines. Deutsche Telekom AG has a collaboration with VMware, Inc. on cloud-based open and intelligent virtual RAN platform to bring agility to radio access networks for existing LTE and future 5G networks; and partnership with Microsoft to deliver high-performance cloud computing experiences. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.

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The following companies are subsidiares of The Procter & Gamble: "Procter & Gamble Services" LLC, "Procter & Gamble" LLC, Agile Pursuits, Agile Pursuits Franchising, Arbora, Arbora & Ausonia, Arborinvest, Billie, Braun (Shanghai) Co., Braun GmbH, Braun-Gillette Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Celtic Insurance Company, Compania Procter & Gamble Mexico, Compania Quimica S.A., Corporativo Procter & Gamble, Cosmetic Products Pty. Ltd., Detergent Products B.V., Detergent Products SARL, Detergenti S.A., Eurocos Cosmetic GmbH, FPG Oleochemicals Sdn. Bhd., Fameccanica Data S.p.A., Fameccanica Industria e Comercio Do Brasil LTDA., Fameccanica Machinery (Shanghai) Co., Fater S.p.A., Fountain Square Music Publishing Co., Gillette (China) Ltd., Gillette (Shanghai) Ltd., Gillette Aesop Ltd., Gillette Australia Pty. Ltd., Gillette Canada Holdings, Gillette Commercial Operations North America, Gillette Diversified Operations Pvt. Ltd., Gillette Egypt S.A.E., Gillette Group UK Ltd, Gillette Gruppe Deutschland GmbH & Co. oHG, Gillette Holding Company LLC, Gillette Holding GmbH, Gillette India Limited, Gillette Industries Ltd., Gillette International B.V., Gillette Latin America Holding B.V., Gillette Management LLC, Gillette Nova Scotia Company, Gillette Pakistan Limited, Gillette Poland International Sp. z.o.o., Gillette Poland S.A., Gillette U.K. Limited, Gillette del Uruguay, Giorgio Beverly Hills Inc., Hyginett KFT, Industries Marocaines Modernes SA, LLC "Procter & Gamble Novomoskovsk", LLL "Procter & Gamble Distributorskaya Compania", Laboratorios Vicks, Liberty Street Music Publishing Company, Limited Liability Company 'Procter & Gamble Trading Ukraine', Limited Liability Company with foreign investments Procter & and Gamble Ukraine, MDVIP, MERCK KGAA NPV, Marcvenca Inversiones, Modern Industries Company - Dammam, Modern Products Company - Jeddah, New Chapter, New Chapter Canada Inc., Olay LLC, Oral-B Laboratories, P&G Distribution Morocco SAS, P&G Hair Care Holding, P&G Industrial Peru S.R.L., P&G Innovation Godo Kaisha, P&G Israel M.D.O. Ltd., P&G K.K., P&G Northeast Asia Pte. Ltd., P&G Prestige Godo Kaisha, P&G Prestige Service GmbH, P&G South African Trading (Pty.) Ltd., PGT Health Care (Zhejiang) Limited, PGT Healthcare LLP, PPI ZAO, PT Procter & Gamble Home Products Indonesia, PT Procter & Gamble Operations Indonesia, Phase II Holdings Corporation, Procter & Gamble (Chengdu) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (China) Sales Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (East Africa) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Egypt) Manufacturing Company, Procter & Gamble (Enterprise Fund) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Consumer Products Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Enterprise Management Service Company Limited, Procter & Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Health & Beauty Care) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Jiangsu) Ltd. China, Procter & Gamble (L&CP) Limited, Procter & Gamble (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Procter & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited, Procter & Gamble (Shanghai) International Trade Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Acquisition GmbH, Procter & Gamble Administration GmbH, Procter & Gamble Algeria EURL, Procter & Gamble Amazon Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Amiens S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Argentina SRL, Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Australia Proprietary Limited, Procter & Gamble Azerbaijan Services LLC, Procter & Gamble Bangladesh Private Ltd., Procter & Gamble Blois S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Brazil Holdings B.V., Procter & Gamble Bulgaria EOOD, Procter & Gamble Business Services Canada Company, Procter & Gamble Canada Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Chile , Procter & Gamble Chile Limitada, Procter & Gamble Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Commercial LLC, Procter & Gamble Commercial de Cuba S.A., Procter & Gamble Czech Republic s.r.o., Procter & Gamble DS Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS, Procter & Gamble Detergent (Beijing) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Deuttschland GmbH, Procter & Gamble Distributing (Philippines) Inc., Procter & Gamble Distributing New Zealand Limited, Procter & Gamble Distribution Company (Europe) BVBA, Procter & Gamble Distribution S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Eastern Europe, Procter & Gamble Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Procter & Gamble Egypt, Procter & Gamble Egypt Distribution, Procter & Gamble Egypt Holding, Procter & Gamble Egypt Supplies, Procter & Gamble Energy Company LLC, Procter & Gamble Espana, Procter & Gamble Europe SA, Procter & Gamble Export Operations SARL, Procter & Gamble Exportadora e Importadora Ltda., Procter & Gamble Exports, Procter & Gamble Fabricacao e Comercio Ltda., Procter & Gamble Far East, Procter & Gamble Finance (U.K.) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Holding Ltd., Procter & Gamble Finance Management S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Financial Investments LLP, Procter & Gamble Financial Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Financial Services S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Finland OY, Procter & Gamble France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH, Procter & Gamble Germany GmbH & Co. Operations oHG, Procter & Gamble GmbH, Procter & Gamble Grundstucks-und Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH & Co. KG, Procter & Gamble Gulf FZE, Procter & Gamble Hair Care, Procter & Gamble Hellas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Holding (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Holding France S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Holding GmbH, Procter & Gamble Holding S.r.l., Procter & Gamble Holdings (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Home Products Private Limited, Procter & Gamble Hong Kong Limited, Procter & Gamble Hungary Wholesale Trading Partnership (KKT), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care Limited, Procter & Gamble Inc., Procter & Gamble India Holdings, Procter & Gamble Indochina Limited Company, Procter & Gamble Industrial - 2012 C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial Colombia Ltda., Procter & Gamble Industrial S.C.A., Procter & Gamble Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Costa Rica, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Guatemala, Procter & Gamble Interamericas de Panama, Procter & Gamble International Operations Pte. Ltd., Procter & Gamble International Operations SA, Procter & Gamble International Operations SA-ROHQ, Procter & Gamble International S.a.r.l., Procter & Gamble Investment Company (UK) Ltd., Procter & Gamble Investment GmbH, Procter & Gamble Italia, Procter & Gamble Japan K.K., Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan Distribution LLP, Procter & Gamble Kazakhstan LLP, Procter & Gamble Korea, Procter & Gamble Korea S&D Co., Procter & Gamble Lanka Private Ltd. Sri Lanka, Procter & Gamble Leasing LLC, Procter & Gamble Levant S.A.L., Procter & Gamble Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Berlin GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing GmbH, Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Procter & Gamble Manufacturing SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Marketing Romania SRL, Procter & Gamble Marketing and Services doo, Procter & Gamble Maroc SA, Procter & Gamble Mataro, Procter & Gamble Mexico Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Mexico Inc., Procter & Gamble Middle East FZE, Procter & Gamble Nederland B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Investments B.V., Procter & Gamble Netherlands Services B.V., Procter & Gamble Nigeria Limited, Procter & Gamble Nordic, Procter & Gamble Norge AS, Procter & Gamble Operations Polska Sp. z o.o., Procter & Gamble Overseas India B.V., Procter & Gamble Overseas Ltd., Procter & Gamble Pakistan (Private) Limited, Procter & Gamble Partnership LLP, Procter & Gamble Peru S.R.L., Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals France SAS, Procter & Gamble Philippines, Procter & Gamble Polska Sp. z o.o, Procter & Gamble Portugal - Produtos De Consumo, Procter & Gamble Product Supply (U.K.) Limited U.K., Procter & Gamble Production GmbH, Procter & Gamble Productions, Procter & Gamble Productos de Consumo, Procter & Gamble RHD, Procter & Gamble RSC Regional Service Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Retail Services BVBA, Procter & Gamble S.r.l., Procter & Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd, Procter & Gamble Satis ve Dagitim Ltd. Sti., Procter & Gamble Seine S.A.S., Procter & Gamble Service GmbH, Procter & Gamble Services (Switzerland) SA, Procter & Gamble Services Company N.V., Procter & Gamble Services Ltd., Procter & Gamble Share Incentive Plan Trustee Ltd., Procter & Gamble South America Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Spol. s.r.o. (Ltd.), Procter & Gamble Sports and Social Club Ltd., Procter & Gamble Sverige AB, Procter & Gamble Switzerland SARL, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Limited, Procter & Gamble Taiwan Sales Company Limited, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Limited, Procter & Gamble Technology (Beijing) Co., Procter & Gamble Trading (Thailand) Limited, Procter & Gamble Tuketim Mallari Sanayii A.S., Procter & Gamble UK, Procter & Gamble UK Group Holdings Ltd, Procter & Gamble UK Parent Company Ltd., Procter & Gamble Universal Holding B.V., Procter & Gamble Verwaltungs GmbH, Procter & Gamble Vietnam, Procter & Gamble d.o.o. za trgovinu, Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.C.A., Procter & Gamble de Venezuela S.R.L., Procter & Gamble do Brasil S/A, Procter & Gamble do Brazil, Procter & Gamble do Nordeste S/A, Procter & Gamble-Rakona s.r.o., Progam Realty & Development Corporation, Redmond Products, Richardson-Vicks Real Estate Inc., Richardson-Vicks do Brasil Quimica e Farmaceutica Ltda, Riverfront Music Publishing Co., Rosemount LLC, SPD Development Company Limited, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Scannon S.A.S., Series Acquisition B.V., Shulton, Surfac S.R.L., Sycamore Productions, TAOS - FL, TAOS Retail, Tambrands Inc., Temple Trees Impex & Investment Private Limited, The Art of Shaving - FL, The Dover Wipes Company, The Gillette Company, The Gillette Company LLC, The Gillette co., The Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC, The Procter & Gamble GBS Company, The Procter & Gamble Global Finance Company, The Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, The Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, The Procter & Gamble U.S. Business Services Company, This is L., US CD LLC, Vidal Sassoon (Shanghai) Academy, Vidal Sassoon Co., WEBA Betriebsrenten-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Walker & Company Brands, and iMFLUX Inc..
Gastar Exploration Inc., an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development and production of oil, condensate, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. Its principal activities include the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and natural gas properties on unconventional reserves, such as shale resource plays. The company holds interests in the oil and natural gas-rich reservoirs, including the Oswego limestone, Meramec, and Osage bench formations within the Mississippi Lime; and the Woodford shale formations. As of February 28, 2018, its principal assets included the STACK play covering approximately 67,800 net acres located in the Mid-Continent area of the United States. The company was formerly known as Gastar Exploration Ltd. and changed its name to Gastar Exploration Inc. in January 2014. Gastar Exploration Inc. is based in Houston, Texas.

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Genworth Financial, Inc. is a financial services company, which engages in the provision of insurance, wealth management, investment and financial solutions. It operates through the following segments: U.S. Mortgage Insurance, Australia Mortgage Insurance, U.S. Life Insurance, and Runoff. The U.S. Mortgage Insurance segment offers mortgage insurance products predominantly insuring prime-based, individually underwritten residential mortgage loans. The Australia Mortgage Insurance segment offers flow mortgage insurance and selectively provides bulk mortgage insurance that aids in the sale of mortgages to the capital markets and helps lenders manage capital and risk. The U.S. Life Insurance segment offers long-term care insurance products as well as service traditional life insurance and fixed annuity products in the United States. The Runoff segment includes the results of non-strategic products which are no longer actively sold but continue to service its existing blocks of business. Its non-strategic products primarily include variable annuity, variable life insurance, institutional, corporate-owned life insurance and other accident and health insurance products. The company was fo

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Glencore plc produces, refines, processes, stores, transports, and markets metals and minerals, and energy products in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. It operates through two segments, Marketing Activities and Industrial Activities. The company produces and markets copper, cobalt, nickel, zinc, lead, chrome ore, ferrochrome, vanadium, alumina, aluminum, tin, and iron ore. It also engages in the oil exploration/production, distribution, storage, and bunkering activities; and offers coal, crude oil and oil products, refined products, and natural gas. The company markets and distributes physical commodities sourced from third party producers and its production to industrial consumers in the battery, electronic, construction, automotive, steel, energy, and oil industries. It also provides financing, logistics, and other services to producers and consumers of commodities. The company was formerly known as Glencore Xstrata plc and changed its name to Glencore plc in May 2014. Glencore plc was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.

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Rolls-Royce Holdings plc operates as an industrial technology company in the United Kingdom and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Civil Aerospace, Power Systems, Defence, and ITP Aero. The Civil Aerospace segment develops, manufactures, and sells aero engines for large commercial aircraft, regional jet, and business aviation markets, as well as provides aftermarket services. The Power Systems segment provides high-speed and medium-speed reciprocating engines, and propulsion and power generation systems for the marine, defense, power generation, and industrial markets. The Defence segment offers aero engines for military transport and patrol aircraft applications; and naval engines and submarine nuclear power plants, as well as aftermarket services. The ITP Aero segment engages in the design, research and development, manufacture and casting, assembly, and testing of aeronautical engines and gas turbines. It also provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for regional airlines, as well as business aviation, industrial, and defense applications. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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Oshkosh Corp. engages in the design, manufacture, and market of specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies. It operates through the following segments: Access Equipment, Defense, Fire & Emergency, and Commercial. The Access Equipment segment consists of JerrDan and JLG, which manufactures aerial work platforms; and telehandlers that are used in construction, industrial, institutional, and general maintenance applications to position workers and materials at elevated heights. The Defense segment produces tactical wheeled vehicles; and supply parts and services for the United States military and other militaries around the world. The Fire and Emergency segment sells commercial and custom fire vehicles; simulators and emergency vehicles primarily for fire departments, airports and other governmental units; and broadcast vehicles for broadcasters and television stations. The Commercial segment includes McNeilus, CON-E-CO, London, Iowa Mold Tooling Co., Inc (IMT), and Oshkosh Commercial. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Oshkosh, WI.

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KBR, Inc. engages in the provision of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program life-cycle within the government services and hydrocarbons industries. It operates through the following segments: Government Solutions, Technology Solutions, Energy Solutions, Non-strategic Business, and Other. The Government Solutions segment provides full life-cycle support solutions to defense, space, aviation, and other programs and missions for military and other government agencies. The Technology Solutions segment combines KBR's proprietary technologies, equipment, and catalyst supply and associated knowledge-based services into a global business for refining, petrochemicals, inorganic, and specialty chemicals as well as gasification, syngas, ammonia, nitric acid, and fertilizers. The Energy Solutions segment provides full life-cycle support solutions across the upstream, midstream and downstream hydrocarbons markets. The Non-strategic Business segment represents the operations or activities which the company intends to exit upon completion of existing contracts. The Other segment includes corporate expenses and general and administrative expenses not all

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United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Aptiv: A.E. Enterprises LLC, APTIVPORT SERVICES S.A., Alambrados y Circuitos Electricos S. de R.L. de C.V., Antaya Technologies, Antaya Technologies Asia Ltd., Antaya Technologies Corp., Aptiv (China) Holding Company Limited, Aptiv (China) Technology Company Limited, Aptiv (Shanghai) International Management Company Ltd., Aptiv (UK) Holdings Limited, Aptiv Asia Pacific Holdings (UK) LLP, Aptiv China Holdings (US) LLC, Aptiv Components (Shanghai) Company Limited, Aptiv Components India Private Ltd., Aptiv Connection Systems (Nantong) Ltd., Aptiv Connection Systems (Shanghai) Ltd., Aptiv Connection Systems Holding Deutschland GmbH, Aptiv Connection Systems Holding Hong Kong Limited, Aptiv Connection Systems Holdings (US) LLC, Aptiv Connection Systems Hungary Kft, Aptiv Connection Systems India Private Limited, Aptiv Connection Systems Korea LLC, Aptiv Connection Systems Services Austria GmbH, Aptiv Connection Systems Services Italia S.P.A., Aptiv Connection Systems Services Japan Ltd., Aptiv Contract Services Ciudad Juarez S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services Matamoros S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services Noreste S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services Nuevo Laredo S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services Sweden AB, Aptiv Contract Services Tamaulipas S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services Tijuana S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services Zacatecas S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Contract Services d.o.o. Leskovac, Aptiv Contract Services de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Corporation, Aptiv Electrical Centers (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Aptiv Electronics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Aptiv European Holdings (UK) Limited, Aptiv Financial Holdings (UK) LLP, Aptiv Financial Investment Services (UK) Limited, Aptiv Financial Management LLC, Aptiv Financial Services (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv Financial Services (UK) Limited, Aptiv Global Financial Services (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv Global Financing Limited, Aptiv Global Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv Global Holdings (UK) Limited, Aptiv Global Holdings 2 (Luxembourg) S.ar.l, Aptiv Global Holdings Limited, Aptiv Global Investments UK LLP, Aptiv Global Investments UK LLP Luxembourg Branch, Aptiv Global Operations Limited, Aptiv Global Real Estate Services (US) LLC, Aptiv Holdfi (UK) Limited, Aptiv Holding Company LLC, Aptiv Holdings (Austria) GmbH, Aptiv Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv Holdings (UK) Limited, Aptiv Holdings (US) LLC, Aptiv Holdings Asia Pacific (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv Holdings Deutschland GmbH, Aptiv Holdings France SAS, Aptiv Holdings Limited, Aptiv Holdings Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Holdings US Limited, Aptiv International Company LLC, Aptiv International Financial Services (UK) LLP, Aptiv International Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv International Holdings (UK) LLP, Aptiv International Holdings (US) LLC, Aptiv International Holdings 2 (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv International Holdings UK Two LLP, Aptiv International Operations Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Aptiv International Services Company LLC, Aptiv Korea LLC, Aptiv Latin America Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Aptiv Latin America Holdings (UK) LLP, Aptiv Luxembourg Financial Services S.a r.l., Aptiv Luxembourg Holdings (UK) Limited, Aptiv Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Aptiv Malta Holdings Limited, Aptiv Manufactura e Servicos de Distribuicao Ltda., Aptiv Manufacturing Management Services S.a r.l., Aptiv Medical Systems LLC, Aptiv Mexican Holdings (US) LLC, Aptiv Mobility Services Austria MAT GmbH, Aptiv Mobility Services Deutschland GmbH, Aptiv Mobility Services Japan Ltd., Aptiv Mobility Services d.o.o. Novi Sad, Aptiv Properties Management Services (US) LLC, Aptiv S&P Mobility Services Spain S.L., Aptiv S&P Solutions Holdings (Spain) S.L., Aptiv Safety & Mobility Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., Aptiv Safety Services Deutschland GmbH, Aptiv Services 2 France SAS, Aptiv Services 2 US Inc., Aptiv Services 3 (US) LLC, Aptiv Services 4 US LLC, Aptiv Services 5 US LLC, Aptiv Services Austria GPD. GmbH & Co KG, Aptiv Services Belgium N.V., Aptiv Services Czech s.r.o., Aptiv Services Deutschland GmbH, Aptiv Services Honduras S. de R.L. de C.V., Aptiv Services Hungary Kft., Aptiv Services Italia S.r.l., Aptiv Services Macedonia DOOEL Skopje, Aptiv Services Netherlands B.V., Aptiv Services Poland S.A., Aptiv Services Tunisia Sarl, Aptiv Services UK Limited, Aptiv Services US LLC, Aptiv Services Ukraine LLC, Aptiv Technologies Limited, Aptiv Technology Services & Solutions S.R.L., Aptiv Trade Management Services (US) LLC, Aptiv Turkey Teknoloji Hizmetleri Limited Sirketi, Aptiv UK Pension Trustees Limited, Aptiv US Operations Holdings LLC, Aptiv US Services General Partnership, Arcomex S.A. de C.V., Arneses Electricos Automotrices S.A. de C.V., Auburn Enterprises LLC, Autoensambles y Logistica S.A. de C.V., Cablena S.L., Centro Tecnico Herramental S. de R.L. de C.V., Control Tec LLC, Control-Tec LLC, Cordaflex Espana S.A., Cordaflex S.A. de C.V., Daehan Electronics Yantai Co. Ltd., Delphi Automotive Systems Maroc S.A., Delphi Connection Systems Morocco S.A.S., Delphi Packard Kenitra S.A., Delphi Packard Meknes, Delphi Packard Moldova Noua S.R.L., Delphi Packard Tanger SA, Falmat Inc., Gabocom Ltd, Gabocom Sarl, Gabriel de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Harwich Holding GmbH, Harwich Holdings LLC, Harwich Holdings SAS, HellermannTyton (Proprietary) Limited, HellermannTyton (Wuxi) Electrical Accessories Company Limited, HellermannTyton AB, HellermannTyton AB Branch Office, HellermannTyton AS, HellermannTyton Alpha S.a r.l., HellermannTyton Australia Pty Ltd, HellermannTyton BV, HellermannTyton Beta S.a r.l., HellermannTyton Canada Inc., HellermannTyton Co. Ltd, HellermannTyton Corporation, HellermannTyton Data Limited, HellermannTyton Engineering GmbH, HellermannTyton Espana SL, HellermannTyton Finance PLC, HellermannTyton GmbH (Austria), HellermannTyton GmbH (Germany), HellermannTyton Group PLC, HellermannTyton Holdings AB, HellermannTyton Holdings Limited, HellermannTyton Kft, HellermannTyton Limited, HellermannTyton Limited Branch Office, HellermannTyton Ltda, HellermannTyton Manufacturas S. de R.L. de C.V., HellermannTyton Maroc S.ar.l., HellermannTyton OOO, HellermannTyton Private Limited, HellermannTyton Pte Limited, HellermannTyton Rohvel SL, HellermannTyton S. de R.L. de C.V., HellermannTyton SAS, HellermannTyton Services GmbH, HellermannTyton Services SARL AU, HellermannTyton Srl, HellermannTyton YH, HellermannTyton sp. z.o.o., Hellermanntyton Group, Hellermanntyton Morocco SARL AU, Inmobiliaria Marlis S.A., Inmuebles Wagon S.A., Interessengemeinschaft fur Rundfunkschutzrechte GmbH, Interessengemeinschaft fur Rundfunkschutzrechte GmbH Schutzrechtsverwertung & Co. KG, KUM Co. Ltd., KUM LLC, KUMAP Co. Ltd., Movimento (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Movimento Europe GmbH, Movimento Group, Movimento Group AB, Movimento Inc., Movimento International S. de R.L. de C.V., Noteco Comercio e Participacoes Ltda., On-Site Limited, Ottomatika, Ottomatika Inc., PT Aptiv Components Indonesia, Phoenix Assets Holdings Ltd., Pipe Holding GmbH, Potio Holding GmbH, ProSTEP Produktions Technologie AG, Productos Delco de Chihuahua S. de R.L. de C.V., PureDepth, PureDepth Inc., PureDepth Incorporated Limited, PureDepth Limited, Rebafin GmbH, Rio Bravo Electricos S. de R.L. de C.V., Staeng Limited, Tyson Intermediate Holdco Corp., Tyson Upper Intermediate Holdco Corp., Unterstutzungsgesellschaft mbH Delphi Deutschland, Unwired Holdings Inc., Unwired Technology, WF Global (BVI) Limited, WF Global (HK) Limited, Winchester Holding Inc., Winchester Interconnect, Winchester Interconnect (M) Sdn. Bhd., Winchester Interconnect (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Winchester Interconnect (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Winchester Interconnect CM Corporation, Winchester Interconnect Cable Assemblies LLC, Winchester Interconnect Corporation, Winchester Interconnect Hermetics LLC, Winchester Interconnect RF Corporation, Winchester Interconnect Ruggedized Corporation, YanCheng SeMyung Electronics Co. Ltd., gabo Systemtechnik, gabo Systemtechnik GmbH, nuTonomy, nuTonomy Asia Pte. Ltd., and nuTonomy Inc..
New York Police Department (NYPD) officers fired 10 bullets into Saheed Vassell, a 32-year old unarmed African-American man with a mental illness, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City on Wednesday afternoon. The police allegedly received a 911 call that a man was pointing a gun at passersby. Vassell was holding a pipe.

After the shooting, scores of residents assembled in an impromptu protest at the crime scene.

According to witnesses, policethree plainclothes officers and a uniformed officerarrived in an unmarked police car, and one plainclothes officer started firing as soon as soon as he stepped out of the car. One witness told the media that officers fired without identifying themselves.

They just hopped out of the car. Its almost like they did a hit. They didnt say please. They didnt say put your hands up, nothing.

Another witness said, We hear the first shot, the guy went down, and they started firing again. Some media sources note that police called an ambulance for Vassell only 27 seconds after they reported arriving on the scene.

Vassell was well known in the neighborhood and had prior encounters with NYPD officers. The department had classified him as emotionally disturbed, according the New York Times.

NYPD Chief Terence Monahan said at a press conference that when the officers got to the street corner, Vassell turned to face them and aimed the object at them. The suspect then took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers.

As part of the effort to absolve the officers and defuse anger over the killing, the NYPD released selectively edited surveillance video on Thursday which shows Vassell pointing the pipe at a handful of pedestrians. However, the video does not show their reactions and cuts off just before he was gunned down in the street by the police.

Vassells killing follows Tuesdays shooting by campus police at the University of Chicago of a mentally ill student who was smashing windows with a metal pole. Police allege they fired after the student pointed the metal pole at them and he failed to drop it. The student was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

It also comes two and half weeks after two Sacramento, California police officers shot Stephon Clark eight timessix in the backin his grandmothers back yard as he was carrying a cell phone in his hand, which police claim they mistook for a weapon. The killing has sparked ongoing protests in Sacramento.

It is unlikely that the officers who killed Vassell will be charged with a crime, or, if they are, that they will be convicted. NYPD Sergeant Hugh Barry returned to active duty just last month after he was acquitted of criminal charges in the killing of Deborah Danner in the Bronx in 2016. Danner was also unarmed and mentally ill.

The fact that Vassell was well known in the neighborhood as a mentally ill person who performed odd jobs and panhandled at a nearby subway station underscores the hostility of the NYPD, and city government in general, towards the working class in Brooklyn. While witnesses told the media that he was known to police who were regularly assigned to the neighborhood, this information was apparently not provided to the officers who responded from a specialized anti-crime unit.

Disturbingly, the uniformed officer present at the shooting was a member of the heavily-armed Strategic Response Group, an 800-person unit created in 2015 by then Police Commissioner William Bratton. The unit was officially formed as a quick-response team to terrorist attacks and civil unrest. However, the unit was proposed in February 2015 following mass demonstrations against the exoneration of the NYPD cop who choked to death Eric Garner in Staten Island in July 2014.

Bratton remarked at the time that the SRGs officers will have the dedicated mission of protecting locations [and] being able to assist us in dealing with demonstrations. He added that the new unit would be used for disorder control, and the officers will have the dedicated mission of protecting locations [and] being able to assist us in dealing with demonstrations.

It remains unexplained why an officer from this unit was sent to confront Vassell. One thing is certain: the SRG will play a role in quelling the demonstrations that will follow from the latest in an apparently unending wave of police murders.

Several hundred gathered Thursday afternoon for a vigil at the corner where Vassell was killed. Later in the evening 300 protestors marched to the nearby police precinct headquarters to demand that the officers involved be fired and for charges to be brought against them. Dozens of police officers mobilized in response to the protests, including officers keeping watch on surrounding rooftops.

S.K., a construction worker and neighbor of Vassells, explained to the WSWS, It was a straight murder, and they get away with it. They knew he was mentally ill for years. They all know, because they patrolled the block for years. Hes always here. They know he never killed nobody, he never harmed nobody. He never did nothing. Hes a mentally ill man he should have been helpedwe have to get something going for the mentally ill.

Nothing is going to happen to these cops, he continued. If anything does theyll say they thought the pole was a gun and get off. But they should prosecute the cops, to make him tell the truth.

Another neighbor remarked, We dont need the police. They shot him down like a wild wolf. Its not only white cops, its black cops too, its something wrong with the department. Its everywhere.

Vassell was a well-known neighborhood figure, she explained. He wasnt homeless, he just came outside like everybody else. If you walk down the block and you didnt see him, something was wrong. So if we could see him every day, every cop that rolled past here saw him every day, and they knew he wasnt violent.

Amen Anu, who grew up in the neighborhood, told the WSWS about some of the trauma which may have contributed to Vassells mental state. When he was young, years ago, his best friend got killed by police. And this contributed to his mental instability. His best friend was killed by police, and then his other friend was killed by a shooting that occurred, and his other friend died in a motorcycle accident, and since then hes never been the same. So its really the streets that caused him toyou know, not everybodys mentally strong to cope with certain things. I mean, he never got help.

We deal with these killings all the time, Anu said. I have PTSD from growing up here in the 80s. I have so many stories of cops robbing me, beating me. Theres hardly no crime around here, so what the hell is the problem? They prey on our community, they come and prey, like theyre hunting. They look for every little opportunity.
The Australian government, notorious around the world for blocking refugee boats and indefinitely detaining asylum seekers, is pushing ahead with plans to grant humanitarian visas to selected white South African farmers.

After first announcing on March 14 that the farmers deserve special attention and were certainly applying that special attention now, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton this week declared he is considering several such visa applications.

Around the world, more than 65 million people are facing closed borders as they flee persecution and wars, many as a result of military interventions by the US and its allies, including Australia. Nearly a million Rohingya refugees are currently living in squalor and danger in tents and huts in impoverished Bangladesh, driven out of Burma by the military supported by the Western-backed government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

While shutting the countrys borders to these desperate people, Australias government is moving to grant expedited visas to white South Africans. Dutton last month provocatively declared that the farmers deserved help from a civilised country like ours, claiming they face horrific conditions of violence and seizures of their land. South Africa called in Australias high commissioner to demand an explanation.

Dutton has responded by ramping up his inflammatory remarks this week. He accused the South African government of falsely claiming, for domestic reasons, that the Australian government had retracted his comments. There has been no retractions of my comments or our desire to assess some of these cases, he told Sky News.

In his original remarks, Dutton insisted that the white farmers were hard workers who want to contribute to a country like Australia. He continued: We want people who want to come here, abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard, not lead a life on welfare.

In other words, the farmers should be prioritised because, unlike other refugees, they will supposedly integrate, be law-abiding and not seek to live on welfare benefits. These remarks highlight the racist character of Australian immigration policy, which features the demonisation of asylum seekers, especially those from Asia and the Middle East, by successive Liberal-National and Labor governments.

Duttons remarks recall the White Australia policies of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, which barred the immigration of people to Australia based on skin colour. Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop defended Duttons comments, while hypocritically insisting that Australias humanitarian visa program is non-discriminatory.

Bishop denied there was a double standard in Dutton speaking up for white South African farmers, but not Palestinian farmers persecuted by Israel. What we do in our humanitarian visa program is assess visas on their merits and thats what Peter Dutton as home affairs minister does every day, she said.

In reality, Australias refugee and immigration policy has long been thoroughly discriminatory, with nearly all visas tied to selecting people on the basis of their wealth, employability, education levels, health status and English language proficiency, as well as their religion.

While handpicking small numbers of people for humanitarian visas, Australias bipartisan border protection regime violently turns back or imprisons all asylum seekers who try to reach Australia by boat. The Greens-backed Gillard Labor government reopened the camps on Nauru and Papua New Guineas Manus Island in 2012.

Last week, the UNHCR rejected Duttons call for special treatment for South African farmers, saying priority should be given to refugees, including children, detained by Australia for years on the remote island of Nauru.

By alleging widespread violence against white farmers, Dutton is echoing sensationalist campaigns by Murdoch media tabloids and right-wing web sites that have made similar calls for the Trump administration and other governments to come to the farmers rescue. Former prime minister Tony Abbott quickly backed Dutton, claiming that 400 farmers were murdered over the past 12 months.

According to various sources, including the fact-checking organisation Africa Check, the reports of widespread murders and land seizures are vastly exaggerated. More reliable statistics indicate that there were 84 farm murders in 2017, with 59 victims being white farmers.

This level has not changed significantly over the past two decades. It is part of a wider pattern of killings and home robberies that reflect the immense social and class tensions wracking the country, where the African National Congress (ANC) government has enriched a wealthy capitalist elite while presiding over worsening poverty and inequality since taking office in 1994, replacing the decades-long apartheid regime.

What has changed over the past year is that the increasingly discredited ANC, now led by the multi-millionaire former trade union leader President Cyril Ramaphosa, has desperately sought to revive its electoral fortunes by promising to shift its land reform policy to head off discontent.

The overwhelming majority of South Africas commercial agricultural land, about 80 percent, remains in the hands of 1 percent of the population, nearly all white farmers, except for a small number of wealthy black operators. This is despite the ANC, then led by Nelson Mandela, promising in 1994 that 30 percent of agricultural land would be transferred to black owners by 1999. According to the latest statistics, only about 8 percent of the land has been transferred under the so-called land reform program.

This became a major issue in Ramaphosas bid last year to oust his predecessor Jacob Zuma. As a result, two months ago, the ANC backed a motion in the South African parliament to amend the countrys constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation. A parliamentary committee was appointed to report back by August 30 on the proposal, which would require a two-thirds majority in parliament and ratification by six of the countrys nine provinces.

At the same time as holding out the promise of land distribution, Ramaphosa assured the financial markets that no smash and grab land transfers would be permitted, nor would any harm to the economy. Nevertheless, some wealthy farmers could now face the prospect of having their holdings expropriated.

Dutton, Abbott and others, including Pauline Hansons One Nation party, are seizing on the South African crisis as part of their efforts to whip up a nationalist and xenophobic constituency domestically. Last month, several hundred people, mostly white South African immigrants, marched through Brisbane, Duttons home city, demanding support for his offer of visas for farmers, particularly their families and friends.

Some media commentators have touted Dutton as a possible replacement for Turnbull, whose government is showing signs of unravelling. Last December, Turnbull elevated Dutton to the new position of home affairs minister, allocating him vast repressive powers. In effect, Dutton became a national security supremo, in charge of Australias intelligence agencies, immigration department, the Australian Border Force, the Australian Federal Police, cyber security and citizenship laws.
Thousands of Oklahoma teachers and their supporters are expected to fill the state capitol in Oklahoma City today, as the strike by nearly 40,000 teachers in the southwestern US state reaches its fifth day.

Teachers are demanding a $10,000 pay raise and a sharp increase in school funding in the state. Under both Democrats and Republicans, Oklahoma has slashed 28 percent of its school budget over the last decade and ranks near the bottom nationally in teacher pay and per-pupil spending.

Despite efforts by the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) and Oklahoma City-American Federation of Teachers (OKC-AFT) to prevent the walkout and then sabotage it by boosting illusions in state Democrats, a union official was forced to say the strike would continue next week. Teachers in Tulsa are marching to the state capitol on a 110-mile trek, which is building up support along the route.

The walkout, which was initiated by rank-and-file educators in defiance of the unions and the states anti-strike laws, is part of a powerful movement of teachers spreading throughout the US and internationally.

On Monday, Kentucky teachers, many of whom had carried out sickouts, marched on the state capital of Frankfort to defend their pensions, and protests continued later in the week in the eastern city of Pikeville.

More than 1,000 educators and supporters converged on the Arizona State Office Building in downtown Tucson, Arizona Wednesday afternoon, after a series of walk-in rallies at local schools.

Hundreds of students and teachers walked out Wednesday at Anacostia High School in Washington, D.C. to protest squalid conditions, including no running water, broken toilets and a flooded cafeteria. At one point, according to the Washington Post, students and teachers linked arms at the front of the school and chanted, Anacostia Matters, Our children matter and Our teachers matter. Teachers, the Post noted, said, they readily work long hours each day to help their students, and already face an evaluation system that ties teachers salaries to their performance. Showing up to school with broken plumbing and little warning felt like another injustice.

The same day, 350 faculty members and graduate studentswhose payment to teach courses has not increased in a decadeheld a one-day strike at Loyola University in Chicago. Lecturers at the University of Michigan also voted this week to strike Monday. Weve got lecturers with children on public assistance, lecturers working two or three jobs, lecturers who are leaving the university because they cant afford to live on their miserable salaries, a lecturer told the Detroit News .

The rebellion has caused the New York Times to worriedly comment about a wildfire of strikes by teachers who are using social media to organize and act outside the usual parameters of traditional unionism.

This movement is part of a resurgence of the class struggle internationally. On Thursday, tens of thousands of teachers in Buenos Aires, Argentina held a 24-hour strike to demand a 24 percent wage increase as part of planned general strike by transit and other public employees to oppose the austerity and privatization agenda of the President Mauricio Macri. This is the latest in a rising wave of strikes and protests by public school teachers and university workers throughout Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

In state after state, and country after country, educators are battling the results of a decade of austerity since the 2008 financial crash, which has deeply eroded their wages and living standards and left their classrooms overcrowded and lacking the most basic supplies.

Throughout the eight years of the Obama administration, the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and other public and private sector unions reduced the number of major strikes to the lowest level since the end of World War II. During this time, the Democratic president oversaw the elimination of 300,000 school employees, encouraged school districts to scapegoat teachers for educational problems caused by budget cutting and poverty, and sharply increased for-profit charter schools.

On the state and local level, the teachers unions collaborated with Democrats who imposed Obamas corporate school reform agenda in city after city, blocking strikes or selling them out if they broke out, as in Chicago in 2012 and most recently in Jersey City, New Jersey. The unions backed Democratic candidates pushing for regressive sales and home ownership taxes, which hit working class families the hardest, including lottery schemes that are no more than another tax on the poor.

President Trump and his billionaire education secretary Betsy DeVos are accelerating the assault on public education. The administration seeks to increase funding for school vouchers and charters schools to siphon off resources from already cash-strapped public schools.

There is an enormous and growing sentiment among teachers for a unified struggle. One long-time Oklahoma science teacher protesting at the capitol told the World Socialist Web Site, We need a national teachers strike. Ive been telling people there is a national campaign to privatize and destroy public education.

A veteran teacher in Phoenix, Arizona added, The Oklahoma teachers have taken an incredibly courageous stand that we should all aspire to. This is a class struggle. The politicians pushing charter schools and privatization want to boost their own investments and kill public education.

The main role of the unions is to prevent a unified fight against the bipartisan assault on public education. In Florida, Iowa and other states, teachers, disgusted by years of union collusion with the authorities, are setting up Facebook pages to call for collective action with teachers in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arizona and other states. This has prompted union officials to warn teachers that strikes are illegal and will lead to huge fines and even imprisonment.

The Florida Education Association warned, Walking off the job or reporting to work late is not an appropriate action and it comes with harsh consequences. It is important for all FEA members to follow the law.

A strike is not an option at this time, said Tammy Wawro, president of the Iowa State Education Association. We are bound by Iowa law, which prohibits public employees from striking.

A veteran teacher in Phoenix, Arizona told the WSWS that union officials said it was too early to discuss a date for a statewide strike demanded by teachers because the state legislature had not had time to consider their demand for a 20 percent raise. In fact, Governor Doug Ducey has already rejected it out of hand, saying teachers will only get one percent.

While the Oklahoma strike was initiated rank-and-file teachers through Facebook pages like Oklahoma Teachers United and Oklahoma Teachers Walkout-The Time is Now!, the OEA and the OKC-AFT have sought to hijack and smother the struggle by limiting teachers to fruitless appeals to state legislators controlled by the states powerful oil and gas industry.

At the same time, union officials are telling teachers that the only way to win full funding for education is to elect Democrats or even run as Democrats in November.

If the Oklahoma struggle is not to be defeated, rank-and-file teachers must break completely with the unions and consciously take the leadership of the struggle into their own hands. Any illusions that these anti-working-class organizations that call themselves unions can be pressured to fight would be a fatal mistake.

Instead, teachers should elect rank-and-file committees to expand the strike by appealing to teachers and workers throughout the state and across the US for joint action, including preparing for a general strike.

At the same time, teachers must reject the entire political framework the unions uphold, based on the political domination of two big business parties, which defend the wealth and power of the corporate and financial elite. Both parties claim there is no money to restore more than a decade of budget cuts, let alone fund a vast improvement of public education, even as they squander trillions on corporate tax cuts, bank bailouts and endless wars for the very same energy conglomerates and giant corporations that refuse to pay a penny for public education.

The social right to high quality public education, living wages, and health and pension benefits will only be won through the political mobilization of the working class, in opposition to both corporate-controlled parties and the capitalist profit system they defend.
According to current opinion polls, the right-wing Fidesz Party will secure victory in Sundays parliamentary elections in Hungary. Prime Minister Viktor Orban will then begin his third term in office. The neo-fascist party Jobbik is expected to emerge in second place.

Orban has been in office since 2010, and he previously headed the government between 1998 and 2002. In the last election four years ago Fidesz finished with 45 percent, well ahead of the Social Democrats (MSZp), with 26 percent, and Jobbik, with 20 percent.

During his eight years in office, Orban has pursued far-right policies and established an authoritarian regime. Important positions in the state apparatus are occupied by political cronies and the independence of the judiciary has all but ceased to exist. The constitution has been amended on several occasions to suit the government. Immediately after his election victory in 2010, Orban effectively abolished press freedom and silenced opposition media outlets.

However, even though the electoral system has been tailored to suit Fidesz, unrest predominates in government circles.

At the end of February, Fidesz suffered a shock election defeat in Hodmezovasarhely, a town of 50,000 that was one of its strongholds. Peter Marki-Zay, the independent candidate, won the mayoral election with 57 percent of the vote, while the Fidesz candidate got just 41 percent. Janos Lazar, Orbans right-hand man and head of the chancellery, is from Hodmezovasarhely and was mayor of the town for many years. Previously, Fidesz had usually won elections there with 60 percent of the vote.

Marki-Zay, a former Fidesz supporter and chair of the local Roman Catholic priests council, received backing from Jobbik, the Greens, and left parties, which gave the election national prominence, coming just six weeks ahead of the parliamentary vote.

The Hodmezovasarhely result unleashed a wave of panic in government circles. They fear that Fidesz will lose the two-thirds majority in parliament that enabled it to change the constitution. The result was a symptom of mounting social and political opposition in a country where unemployment and poverty are rampant, in spite of the low official figures.

Orbans son-in-law is also implicated in a corruption scandal. Hungary is currently 66th on Transparency Internationals list of the most corrupt countries, behind Montenegro and Romania.

Alongside declining levels of support, Orban also confronts a growing strike movement. Strikes have taken place this year in the public sector and in retail. Strikes and protests have also occurred recently in other Eastern European states, against low wages, poor working conditions, and the precarious social situation.

The relatively low level of unemployment is linked to the use of so-called work programmes, under which the unemployed perform community services for 180 per month. It is impossible for anyone to live on this sum. Hungary has fallen from 20 to 29 in the European Health Consumer Index, a comparison of healthcare systems across the continent. The education system is at the breaking point. Pupil performance in maths and reading has deteriorated sharply, according to the Program for International Student Assessment, which compares education systems around the globe.

Under these conditions, Orban has waged a despicable campaign for the election, targeting refugees and those who assist them. In his address to mark Hungarys national day, Orban played the anti-European Union card and stoked the fear of immigration from Islamic countries. The EU intends to change the face of the European population, he stated, before predicting, One day, the West Europeans will wake up in countries no longer their own.

With the so-called Stop Soros law, Orban plans to end the activities of refugee organisations in the country, which will result in a drastic worsening of the already terrible conditions refugees face. For months, the government in Budapest has been waging a campaign against US-based multibillionaire George Soros that contains unmistakable anti-Semitic undertones. The government accuses Soros, a Holocaust survivor who comes originally from Hungary, of deliberately encouraging millions of Muslims to come to Europe so as to rob Europeans of their Christian and national identities.

According to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, tens of thousands of placards have been hung since the beginning of the campaign depicting Soros enlarged smiling face and the slogan, Dont let Soros have the last laugh! Other placards show Soros as a puppet master making the opposition candidates dance.

Orban has already made life unbearable for refugees in Hungary by building a border fence, establishing camps at the borders, and launching a vicious crackdown on border crossings. In spite of criticism from Brussels, Orban continues to reject refugee resettlement quotas proposed by the EU. Based on anti-immigrant agitation, he has adopted a number of laws with Jobbiks support.

Although Orbans support is declining, he can be relatively confident of victory due to the miserable state of the opposition. The parties are fragmented and in some cases bitterly internally divided. The social democratic MSZP, which came second last time around, is set to suffer a major defeat. The Democratic Coalition (DK), a split-off from MSZP led by former Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, will be represented in parliament but will not play a significant role.

The Green LMP (Politics Can be Different) could also surpass the 5 percent hurdle for parliamentary representation. After a split in 2013, it underwent a sharp shift to the right. Lead candidate Bernadett Szel declared that immigration remains a national issue. Orbans border fence should also stay in place, she said.

The extent of the social democrats and Greens lurch to the right was made clear at the beginning of the year, when the government decided to accept a few refugees entitled to subsidiary protection after they arrived in the country last year. The opposition on the left and right sharply criticised the government, claiming that refugees were being accepted through the back door. With the support of the MsZP and LMP, Jobbik applied for an emergency session of parliament.

Due to wide-ranging political agreement, several joint initiatives between the MSZP, LMP, and far-right Jobbik have occurred during the election campaign.

Sundays elections are being watched with mixed feelings in Europes capital cities. While criticism has focused on Budapests good relations with Moscow, praise has grown recently for Orbans far-right policies.

In early January, the Austrian government of the conservative Austrian Peoples Party and far-right Freedom Party extended a warm welcome to Orban in Vienna. At a press conference, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz noted the commonalities between both governments policies. I am grateful that on protecting Europes borders, we are on the same page, he said. We must stop illegal immigration in order to guarantee security in the EU.

Without being challenged, Orban was able to invoke the threat of a mass migration of peoples as the greatest danger for Central Europe. Orban subsequently met with investor Heinrich Pecina. In consultation with Orban, the founder of Vienna Capital Partners shut down Nepszabadsag, a newspaper critical of the government, in October 2016.

The German government also backs Orban. In January, he was the guest of a Christian Social Union party congress in Seeon, Bavaria. Horst Seehofer, who is now German interior minister, fully endorsed Orbans anti-refugee policies and praised the self-appointed border protection captain for shutting down the Balkan route.
About 145 dock workers in Melbourne yesterday began a four-day strike opposing a provocative move by their employer, Qube Ports, to junk an existing enterprise bargaining agreement and impose minimum award conditions. If successful, this would amount to a wage cut of as much as 60 percent, as well as the elimination of restrictions on unsafe shift lengths.

Qube Ports is a billion-dollar investment conglomerate that has taken over other dock companies in recent years, including P&O Automotive and General Stevedoring (2012) and Patrick (2016). Its drive to cut wages and conditions forms part of a wider corporate offensive against workers.

Qubes attacks on port workers have proceeded within the framework of the Fair Work industrial legislation imposed by the previous federal Labor government with the backing of the entire trade union apparatus, including the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), which is now a division of the newly-formed Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union.

Qube Ports director Michael Sousa recently indicated the close collaboration between the company and the unions. He told the Australian newspaper that Qube had spent the last two-and-a-half years negotiating with the MUA, including 43 different meetings with union officials.

The MUA called the four-day strike after Qube applied to the Fair Work Commission, the federal industrial tribunal, to terminate the existing agreement and renegotiate a new enterprise agreement in line with the award.

Reporting on the Qube application yesterday, the Australian stated: If successful, it would be the first time an agreement has been terminated on the nations wharves. This would potentially slash wage rates from $52.78 an hour to $21.67, and annual salaries from $96,000 to just $39,000, a 59 percent cut.

If the corporate giant has its way, dock workers will also be subjected to further demands for lengthy and dangerous shifts. Qube employees previously worked 7 weeks on and 1 week off, but the MUA backed the elimination of this provision in 2015. At the time, the union touted worthless guarantees from the company that it would revert to these shift lengths when trading conditions improved.

In reality, the 2015 union agreement has enabled Qube to force workers onto gruelling 12-hour night shifts for the past three years.

One worker, who has been on the docks for more than 20 years, told WSWS reporters yesterday: They want us to do four 12-hour shifts in a row. Some people work as far away as Hastings [a regional town 60 kilometres outside Melbourne]. We have an 8-hour break between shifts, which is below industry standards. It should be at least 10 hours.

People have left this job under these conditions. Fatigue is the main thingthere is also less manning, and the turnover of employees is high. After so many consecutive shifts its extremely difficult. I live in Geelong [a regional city outside Melbourne], so it is effectively a 15-hour shift for me.

The worker explained that unsafe working conditions had caused deaths in recent years, and outlined how the company intimidated workers with the threat of sackings. In the last 15 years we have lost three comrades, he said. One was crushed by steel, another by a container. They have sacked eight workers here over the last six years. Many workers are on a final warning. There is a policy of a first and final warning.

Another worker, who has been at the port for 10 years, said: We have to ring up at 4 p.m. to find out what shift we are doing the next day. Conditions are ridiculous. The last two hours is the most dangerous. Fatigue is a big issue. They tell you to take a sickie if youre too tired. Then when we do they drag us in and haul us over the coals. The company has $6 billion in assets and last year made $100 million in profit. They say they are going broke whenever they are challenged!

The MUA has isolated the 145 striking workers, with no other maritime workers mobilised in their defence. Industry group Shipping Australia has reported that only a maximum of five ships will be affected by the four-day stoppage.

The union is desperately seeking to reach a sellout agreement with Qube Ports. Following a two-day strike last month, the MUA had scheduled the latest industrial action to begin Wednesday but called it off at the last minute, according to the Australian Financial Review, in an apparent bid to restart negotiations.

The strike only proceeded yesterday after Qube refused to resume discussions until all work bans were called off. The MUAs concern is not the companys anti-worker demandsthe union is responsible for enforcing numerous regressive agreements that slashed jobs and eroded conditions. Rather, the union is fearful that Qube executives may be attempting to bypass the MUA, jeopardising its position at the negotiating table, where it bargains away the jobs, wages and conditions of workers, and ensures the privileged position of the union officialdom.

The MUA is seeking to divert the Qube workers behind the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) change the rules advertising campaign that is primarily aimed at boosting the Labor Partys electoral prospects. The campaign also aims to cover up the fact that all the unions supported the introduction of the Fair Work legislation, including its draconian anti-strike provisions, and have invoked it ever since to suppress any industrial or political struggle by workers.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus declared: Qube are abusing loopholes and broken rules to enrich themselves at the expense of working people. We need to change the rules so that working people like the MUA members at Qube can win fair pay and good, secure jobs.

This is nothing but empty hot air. The entire record of the unions, including the MUA, demonstrates that they function as an industrial police force of the corporate and financial elite.

The Qube strike is occurring 20 years after the 1998 Patrick Stevedores dispute on the Sydney docks. The MUA shut down that six-week strike against mass sackings and imposed the destruction of more than 600 jobs, about half the workforce, and the axing of a host of conditions. The betrayal established a benchmark for a continuous assault on the jobs, wages and conditions of port workers, imposed by the MUA.

Qube workers need to take their fight out of the hands of the union bureaucracy, by electing a rank-and-file committee and turning out to other sections of the working class, including other dock workers, construction and warehouse workers, and teachers and health workers.

Above all, what is required is a new political perspective that rejects the corporatism and nationalism of the unions. This means the fight for a unified movement of workers around the world, aimed at establishing workers governments that would implement socialist policies, including placing the major port and stevedoring companies under public ownership and democratic workers control.
The contradictions in the claims by the British and American governments around the March 4 poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, continued to mount yesterday. It was revealed that Yulia has been conscious for a week, and is recovering quickly, further casting doubt about the claims that a weapons grade nerve gas was involved in their poisoning.

The Russian government also called a special session of the UN Security Council last night, where its ambassador reviewed the discrepancies in the British governments allegation that Russia was responsible for the poisoning, and accused the British and other intelligence services of being behind the incident.

With their campaign of lies falling apart, both the Trump administration in the US and the May government in the UK responded by stepping up their offensive against Moscow.

Two senior Washington officials told media outlets that Trumps administration is expected to sanction several Russian oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The officials said the sanctions will likely come later this week.

Reuters, citing sources said to be familiar with the matter, said the sanctions would be potentially the most aggressive move the US has undertaken against Russian business people. The Washington Post said the final number of oligarchs under sanction was fluid but would include those with ties to Putin.

While the action formally is being taken over Russias supposed, unsubstantiated, election meddling, it comes as the US and British governments desperately seek to shore up their unravelling accusations over the Skripal affair.

The White House has already imposed significant sanctions and expelled 60 Russian diplomats, but a Washington Post editorial insisted that Trump go further: The Trump administration should strike at the foundations of Mr. Putins regimeimposing asset freezes and visa bans on the network of oligarchs and officials who execute Russias aggressive campaigns against the West The alternative is further emboldening a foreign power that has made clear its aim of undermining the foundations of the West.

Yesterday, Viktoria Skripal, Yulias cousin, told the media that Yulia told her on the phone she was fine, everything is fixable, and indicated that her father was also recovering.

In a transcript of the conversation released by the 60 Minute show on state-owned Rossiya 1, Yulia also said: Everyones health is fine, theres nothing that cant be put right. Ill be discharged soon. Everything is ok.

In an attempt to block further revealing disclosures, the British police then issued a statement, ostensibly on behalf of Yulia, quoting her as saying: I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that youll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence.

Speaking to Sky News earlier, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn drew attention to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnsons March 20 statement to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle that the people from Porton Downthe British chemical weapons base near Salisburywere absolutely categorical that Russia was the source of the nerve agent used against the Skripals.

Johnsons claim was exposed on Tuesday, when Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Porton Down facility, told Sky News that scientists had not verified the precise source of the material used. Corbyn suggested: Either the foreign secretary has information that hes not sharing with Porton Down or it was a bit of exaggeration.

In a tweet, Johnson then escalated the governments attacks on Corbyn, accusing him of playing Russias game and of having chosen to side with Russias spin machine.

The British government also tried to change its story. Rupert Murdochs Times cited anonymous security sources claiming that Ministers and security officials were able to identify the source of the novichok allegedly used against the Skripals within days of the March 4 poisoning. Moreover, the UK knew about the facility where the novichok was made even before the attack and believed that the Russians conducted tests to see whether novichok could be used for assassinations.

No evidence for this latest clam was offered, and the caveat was offered that Security sources do not claim 100 percent certainty...

Former British diplomat Craig Murray commented yesterday: All of the UK media have been briefed by security sources that the UK has a copy of a secret Russian assassin training manual detailing how to put nerve agent on door handles... Two questions arise. How credible is the British governments possession of a Russian secret training manual for using novichok agents, and how credible is it that the Skripals were poisoned by their doorknob.

Murray asked why, if novichok, an instantly acting nerve agent, was used, it left the Skripals central nervous systems felt in such good fettle, and their digestive systems so in balance, they were able to sit down and eat a full restaurant meal. He further asked why, if the British government had a Russian manual on applying nerve agent to door handles, it did not produce it to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) or publish it now.

In London, Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko gave a 90-minute press conference in which he cited the Kremlins proposal, put to Wednesdays OPCW meeting, for a joint Russian-UK investigation of the Salisbury attack. He said the 15 countries that voted against the proposal were all NATO and European Union countries, with abstentions by states that were pressured.

Yakovenko said Russia had never possessed novichok, had started closing down its chemical weapons program in 1992, and completed the process last year. By contrast, the US would not get rid of all its chemical weapons until 2023.

At the UN Security Council, Russias ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, stated: Since the British authorities dare to state with a high degree of probability that Russia is behind the Salisbury incident, we also, with a high degree of probability assume that the intelligence agencies of certain countries are behind this mega provocation.

Nebenzya said the UK had admitted it was in possession of the nerve agent. Novichok is not copyrighted by Russia in spite of the obviously Russian name. It was a name that was invented in the West for a line of toxic substances, which is nothing new for experts and scientists. They were developed in many countries, including in the US and in Great Britain.

Referring to the proven lies of weapons of mass destruction used by the US and British governments to invade Iraq in 2003, Nebenzya commented: We all know what the worth of British intelligence is based on the experience of Tony Blair.

In reply, the British and US ambassadors only stepped up the attack on Russia. Deputy US Ambassador Kelley Currie accused Russia of peddling conspiracy theories and reaffirmed Washingtons support for Britain. The fact that a permanent member of this council was behind an incident like this is appalling, she said.

As the Trump administrations latest threatened sanctions underscore, the escalating anti-Russia campaign, in which the corporate media is completely implicated, is part of a wider drive toward war with Russia, which has cut across US plans in Syria and is regarded as an obstacle to US global hegemony.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe survived a no-confidence motion by 122 to 76 votes after a 12-hour parliamentary debate last Wednesday. The motion was moved by the Joint Opposition, a parliamentary faction led by former president Mahinda Rajapakse. The group has publicly vowed to bring down the government.

The main pretext of the no-confidence motion was a multi-billion rupee scam involving Central Bank bonds and Perpetual Treasuries, a financial company, two months after President Maithripala Sirisena took office in January 2015. Wickremesinghe is accused of appointing and defending former Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran, who was implicated in the scandal.

The motion also accused Wickremesinghe, who was law and order minister, of failing to promptly stop anti-Muslim riots by Sinhala Buddhist extremists last month in the Kandy district.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which is led by Sirisena, is a partner of the so-called national unity government with Wickremesinghes United National Party (UNP).

SLFP parliamentarians were politically divided before Wednesdays vote41 supported the government and 54 were with Rajapakse. The no-confidence motion deepened the factional tensions, further destabilising the government. On Wednesday, 16 SLFP parliamentarians loyal to Sirisena voted for the opposition resolution and at least 20 abstained.

Since the humiliating defeat of ruling coalition candidates in Februarys local government elections, Sirisena has sought to distance his SLFP loyalists from the government. The president did not publicly oppose the no-confidence motion but advised SLFP members to vote according to their conscience. Senior SLFP minister Nimal Siripala de Silva demanded that Wickremesinghe resign before the parliamentary debate, a proposal widely interpreted as a political message from Sirisena.

Sirisena has not publicly explained what he will do after a faction of his group endorsed the no-confidence motion. Wickremesinghe simply declared he would continue with the unity government after discussions with the president. Senior members of the UNP, however, are demanding the removal of SLFP ministers who voted with the opposition. Adding to Wickremesinghes crisis, the SLFP ministers said they would not resign, declaring that the president was leader of the government.

The differences between Sirisena, Wickremesinghe and Rajapakse, however, are entirely tactical. The principal concern of the ruling class is a growing financial crisis and the mounting political opposition of workers, youth and the rural poor to the governments austerity measures.

Sirisena was elected president, with Wickremesinghes backing, in 2015 by exploiting the mass opposition to Rajapakses autocratic rule and anti-democratic attacks on social rights.

While the incoming administration introduced some cosmetic measures, mounting economic problems forced it to negotiate an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan and implement the IMFs austerity dictates. The past two years have been marked by increasing struggles of workers, students and farmers, as well as Tamils in the north and east, whose conditions were devastated by war.

Underscoring this popular opposition, on Tuesday thousands of workers at Colombos Katunayake international airport staged a wildcat strike, blocking access roads and demanding higher wages. The militant walkout ended after government ministers quickly promised to grant the strikers demand.

At the same time, over 15,000 non-academic university workers remain on strike after walking out indefinitely in February. They are demanding higher wages and pension and medical schemes.

A day before the no-confidence debate, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy pointed to the economic crisis and outstanding IMF demands. We need to move away from the current political instability and achieve a stable outcome soon, he warned.

Coomaraswamy said the government should have implemented a new fuel price formulai.e., raised prices in line with the world marketas previously demanded by the IMF.

The deadline was missed as political instability struck in the wake of the local government election results, Coomaraswamy said. A similar price transfer of electricity has been set for September but it is unclear whether the government will meet it.

The Rajapakse groups no-confidence resolution had nothing to do with the Central Bank bond scam or attacks on Muslims. The former Rajapakse regime and its close associates were mired in nepotism, corruption and Sinhala chauvinism.

Like Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, Rajapakse nurtured extreme-right Sinhala Buddhist groups and gave them a free hand to provoke anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim riots. Movements such as Bodu Bala Sena and Maha Sohon Balakaya, which were involved in the recent attacks on Muslims, began during Rajapakses rule. Local members of the Rajapakse-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) have been arrested for their involvement in the anti-Muslim attacks in the Kandy district.

Rajapakses SLPP won a majority of local government positions in the February elections by capitalising on the widespread popular opposition to the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration. Rajapakse and his allies are building an extreme-right movement, appealing to the military, the Buddhist hierarchy and other right-wing forces to take on the working people.

Parliamentarians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main bourgeois Tamil party, opposed Wednesdays no-confidence motion. The TNA supported Sirisenas election as president and has been a close ally of the pro-US government since then. Serving the geopolitical interests of US and India, the TNA calculates that the best way to secure the interests of the Tamil elite is by assisting the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament the no-confidence motion was politically motivated by the Rajapakse camp, but falsely claimed it was against corruption and racism.

The JVP manoeuvres between all factions of the ruling elite. It backed Rajapakse to come to power in 2005 and ten years later, in 2015, supported Sirisena. The JVP served for four months on Sirisenas national executive council to help stabilise his regime.

The desperate right-wing manoeuvres of these competing factions are a warning to the working class. The ruling class is committed to implementing the IMFs demands and has already deployed police and military against workers, students and farmers opposing the governments attacks on living conditions. Facing a worsening economic crisis, the factions are all moving toward the imposition of dictatorial forms of rule.

The working class must build its own independent socialist movement to rally poor farmers and youth, and fight for a workers and peasants government to implement socialist policies. This is the perspective advanced by the Socialist Equality Party.
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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement agencies seized over 100 homes in the Sacramento, California-area this week in what the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday said was part of a sweeping crackdown on a criminal marijuana growing operation funded by China-based criminal groups.

In a two-day sweep that started on Tuesday, the Justice Department said hundreds of federal agents and local police executed search warrants at about 74 homes and two business offices believed to be used for marijuana-growing operations.

At the same time, the Justice Department filed civil forfeiture actions against 100 homes, a legal action allowing the government to confiscate assets if there is probable cause to believe a crime was committed.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made cracking down on illegal drugs one of his priorities since taking over the helm of the Justice Department last year.

Sessions, who has made no secret of his disdain for marijuana, in January ended an Obama-era policy that called on prosecutors not to prioritize bringing federal marijuana cases in states where it is legal.

The policy change came shortly after California formally launched the world's largest regulated market for recreational pot.

The operation announced on Wednesday, however, relates to underground illegal marijuana-growing operations, and not those following California's stringent regulatory and licensing regime.

Federal law enforcement officials said in a statement that the criminal organization targeted through the home seizures used foreign funds to purchase the homes in order to use them for growing marijuana.

Down payments on the properties were financed by wire transfers from the province of Fujian, China, and the pot that was grown in the homes was later distributed outside California to other parts of the United States, the statement said.

The Justice Department said the operation represented one of the largest-ever residential forfeiture efforts in U.S. criminal history.

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In addition to seizing the homes, the government also seized 61,050 marijuana plants, more than 440 pounds (200 kg) of processed marijuana and 15 firearms.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, editing by G Crosse)
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained evidence that calls into question Congressional testimony given by Trump supporter and Blackwater founder Erik Prince last year, when he described a meeting in Seychelles with a Russian financier close to Vladimir Putin as a casual chance encounter over a beer, sources told ABC News.

Well-connected Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, a key witness given limited immunity by Mueller, has been interviewed seven times by prosecutors on a wide range of subjects. He told investigators that he set up a meeting in the Seychelles between Prince and Russian sovereign wealth fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev, mere days before Trump was inaugurated, sources familiar with the investigation said this week.

Nader has submitted to three interviews with special counsel investigators and four appearances before a federal grand jury in Washington since agents stopped him at Dulles International Airport in January, served him with a grand jury subpoena and seized his electronic devices, including his cell phone. Documents obtained by Mueller suggest that before and after Prince met Nader in New York a week before the trip to the Seychelles, Nader shared information with Prince about Dmitriev, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News, which appears to be inconsistent with Princes sworn testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives investigative panel.

"I didn't fly there to meet any Russian guy," Prince told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in November. He testified that he travelled to the Seychelles for a meeting with United Arab Emirates officials about possible business opportunities, and they introduced him  unexpectedly  to Dmitriev.

The special counsel's office declined to comment on this story when reached by ABC News.

As of late March, Muellers team has not asked Prince  whose sister Betsy DeVos serves as Trumps Secretary of Education  to appear before the grand jury being used to investigate whether Trump campaign officials or transition aides colluded with Russian government operatives, according to one of Princes friends.

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PHOTO: Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 19, 2017. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE)

Prince told the House Intelligence Committee that his meeting with Dmitriev was a chance encounter down in the bar at the suggestion of "one of the brothers" of the United Arab Emirates' leader Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nayhan.

"At the end, one of the entourage says, 'Hey, by the way, theres this Russian guy that weve dealt with in the past. Hes here also to see someone from the Emirati delegation. And you should meet him. He'd be an interesting guy for you to know, since youre doing a lot in the oil and gas and mineral space, Prince told lawmakers under oath in his sworn testimony. So, as I recall, I met him, this same guy I talked about, Kirill Dmitriev. Met him down in the bar after dinner, and we talked for 30 minutes over a beer, and that was it.

Sources say Nader -- who worked at the time for the Emirati leader, known as "MBZ  tells a different story. According to multiple sources, the U.A.E., an important U.S. ally increasingly eager to be seen as a global powerbroker, wanted to bring a Russian close to the Kremlin together with someone Nader believed was a trusted confidant of members of the incoming administration.

Sources tell ABC News Nader met with Prince at New York's Pierre Hotel a week before the Jan. 11, 2017 meeting in the Seychelles, and later sent Prince biographical information about Dmitriev, which, according to those sources, noted that Dmitriev had been appointed by Putin to oversee the state-run sovereign wealth fund.

Nader says he then facilitated and personally attended the meetings, including one between Prince and Dmitriev, at a resort owned by MBZ off the coast of East Africa, the sources told ABC News. One of the primary goals of the meeting, Nader told investigators, was to discuss foreign policy and to establish a line of communication between the Russian government and the incoming Trump administration, sources told ABC News.

Nader  who Prince said in a 2010 lawsuit deposition had once represented his military contractor business in Iraq  was not mentioned in Prince's congressional testimony despite Prince being asked by lawmakers who was present. Prince said only that Dmitriev's wife was there but she left after a few minutes while they discussed terrorism and oil prices.

A spokesperson for Prince told ABC News on Thursday that "Erik has said all there is to say to the committee and has nothing further to add." Prince has said that the Seychelles meeting was leaked to the news media last year in an illegal unmasking of his identity in U.S. signals intelligence intercepts.

PHOTO: Erik Prince, former Navy Seal and founder of private military contractor Blackwater USA, arrives to testify during a closed-door House Select Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 2017. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images, FILE)

Nader, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is an enigma in the nearly yearlong probe of the Trump presidential campaign's dealings with Russians linked to the Kremlin.

His background and credibility have come under attack as his name appeared in recent headlines. He has been arrested twice in the U.S., first in 1984 and again 1991, and convicted once, according to court records unsealed in March, for possession of pornographic videos featuring underage boys.

Nader was also arrested for similar charges involving underage boys in the Czech Republic, according to an Associated Press report.

ABC News could not confirm the AP report, and Naders legal team vigorously disputes its accuracy.

Nader's lawyers at powerhouse firm Latham & Watkins, which includes former Obama White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, have said unnamed individuals are dredging up the old criminal cases to discredit him as an important witness for Mueller. They declined to comment to ABC News on Nader's interactions with the special counsel and Nader himself has refused to speak about the Russia probe.

Few in Washington remember George Nader, whose colorful biography reads like a spy thriller: his career has spanned the globe, and along the way he has been a hostage negotiator, arms broker, security operative and, now, an important witness for the former director of the FBI.

Hes even negotiated with the Kremlin. According to Al-Monitor, a news website covering the Middle East, Nader helped broker a $4.2 billion arms deal between Iraq and Russia in 2012.

Naders associates say he has embarked on countless sensitive diplomatic missions overseas and was once a special adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. He had easy access to the White House under Presidents Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton, according to former officials, and he visited the Trump White House last year despite his criminal record.

Nader posed with Trump for a picture and even helped arrange the new American president's first major foreign trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last year, two top Trump advisers told ABC News.

"He has worked for the Israelis, the Syrians, the Iranians, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Shiites in southern Iraq," said Mouafac Harb, a Lebanese former journalist who has known Nader for decades. "Hes typical of the kind of shady operatives you often see in the Middle East.

PHOTO: George Nader speaks at a Middle East Insight event in Washington, D.C. on March 18, 1999. (Ron Sachs/AP Images, FILE)

His 1991 federal conviction in Alexandria, Virginia, for being caught returning from Germany with videotapes in his luggage "depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct" highlights the conflicting chapters in his life.

Prominent foreign policy figures sent testimonials to the federal trial court judge in Virginia, including one friend who said Nader, a Lebanese Christian, "is risking his life" to help free a dozen American, British and other hostages held in Beirut in 1991, by leveraging his close ties to the Shi'a terrorist group Hezbollah. The letters to the judge were provided to ABC News last week by Nader's legal team.

The judge in 1991 sentenced Nader to six months in a halfway house -- well below mandatory sentencing guidelines at that time -- and allowed him to travel to both Moscow and Beirut during his criminal proceedings, later citing Nader's "extraordinary cooperation with the government in certain areas."

The 1991 criminal case was ordered sealed for six months. Instead, it remained under seal for 26 years, until a judge opened the case file last month amid news reports about Nader cooperating with Mueller. Sources told ABC News the U.S. government did not want Nader's secrets easily unearthed while he operated as a backchannel on sensitive matters.

"We used him because we needed all the channels we could get into the Syrian security establishment," said a former top career American diplomat in Damascus, who was aware of Nader's activities in the years following his 1991 conviction. "Nobody was looking for his child porn case. Nobody cared about that stuff at all back then. He was providing too invaluable a service to us."

Nader, according to one former diplomat, has a rare and valuable skill.

"His stock in trade is access and influence, the former diplomat said. He finds a way to be valuable to people.

But Nader had dropped off the radar of many former associates two decades ago, including those who worked in Washington for his "Middle East Insight" magazine, which held many foreign policy discussions hosted by Nader and televised on C-Span until it folded around the time of his criminal conviction.

"Until his name appeared recently, I had no idea that Mr. Nader was even alive," said one former writer at the magazine, who, like most of Nader's associates, declined to be identified by name.
Family members of Nasim Aghdam, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting three people and injuring a fourth near YouTube's headquarters in California on Tuesday, told ABC News they were stunned and that they had thought, "she never hurt one ant."

Aghdam's parents, Ismail and Fauria, and her brother, Sean, told ABC News' Matt Gutman that her behavior was out of character and that she wasn't previously violent. Nasim Aghdam had no criminal record.

When asked if his daughter was a terrorist or violent, Ismail Agdham said, "No." He also didn't know she owned a gun. Law enforcement sources tell ABC News she purchased the gun in San Diego in January, and didnt appear to have much experience with weapons.

The family said she was upset with recent changes to YouTube that decreased money she earned from posting videos to the website.

Fauria Aghdam broke down in tears during the interview, as Thursday would have been her daughter's 39th birthday.

Ismail and Fauria Aghdam filed a missing persons report last weekend when Nasim disappeared. Police found her sleeping in her car around 2 a.m. on the day of the shooting.

Her brother told police he was worried she might be up to something.

Authorities told the family they would "keep an eye on her," but meant that colloquially because it would have been impractical, possibly inappropriate or even a civil rights violation to track someone who hadn't committed a crime.

The brother said he was so concerned that he drove to San Francisco on the morning of the shooting to find her and was almost there when the family was notified of the shooting. He said he immediately knew it was Nasim and turned back. His sister had been so obsessed with YouTube that it came up in nearly every conversation with her, he said.

"Right now," the father, Ismail Aghdam, told Gutman, "I [was] thinking she never hurt one ant, how [did] she shoot people? Right now I [was] thinking that. How she did that? I don't know."

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Asked what he may want to say to the victims, the father said he was sorry and that if he could he would give them a hug.

PHOTO: Nasim Najafi Aghdam is seen here in this undated file photo. (San Bruno Police Department via AP)

Family of alleged YouTube shooter warned police 'she might do something'

Father of alleged YouTube shooter apologizes: 'I am sorry. I can't believe it'
Tweet from Michael Rapaport tweet which reads "whos the retard with you in your avatar pic? You work with special need folk?"

Following an article published Monday in the The Root about actor and comedian Michael Rapaport likening Kenya Moore from Real Housewives of Atlanta to a gorilla and calling her ashy, The Mighty received a tip that pointed to Rapaports tweets using the R-word and special needs as an insult.

Rapaport currently plays Doug Gardner, father of autistic teen Sam in the Netflix Original Atypical.

The tweets The Mighty found span from 2015 to March 2018. In one tweet from 2017, Rapaport calls someone a retard based on a photo. In March, Rapaport asked if a girl in a photo is special needs after asking the person who tweeted at him which of the UGLIEs he is. Both tweets were replies to insults directed at Rapaport.

Michael Rapaport Tweet

Related: 4 Reasons Why I Stay Away From Social Media During April's Autism Conversations

Michael Rapaport tweet

Rapaport has also used the R-word to describe celebrities such as Shia LaBeouf and Kylie Jenner.

Related: Another 5 Things That Make Me Brave as a Man With Autism

Michael Rapaport tweet

Michael Rapaport tweet

Related: 6 Ways to Support an Autism Family

Michael Rapaport

Michael Rapaport tweet

The R-word originates from the medical term mental retardation and has since been replaced by the term intellectual disability. Disability advocates have fought for years to end use of the R-word, including the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign.

In 2010, former President Obama signed Rosas Law. This legislation changed the wording in federal documents from mental retardation to intellectual disability as well as changed a mentally retarded individual to an individual with an intellectual disability. The change was made to get rid of the negative and offensive connotations associated with the R-word. The law is named after Rosa Marcellino, a person with Down syndrome, who worked with her parents to get rid of the outdated phrases in Maryland.

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Despite all of this advocacy, many Americans still use the R-word, according to a Harris Poll from 2017.

During the fourth episode of Atypical, Rapaports character, Doug, attends a parent support group. He uses the word autistic to describe Sam. The group coordinator stops him to tell him they use people-first language like person with autism. (This advice, however, contradicts the preference of the autism community, which prefers identity-first language like autistic.) Doug also says Sam seems to be getting better, and the coordinator stops him again. She tells him there is no getting better because autism is not a curable disease; its a neurological condition. Doug then makes a noise to mimic Sam, and the group is upset by it. Rapaports character is slowly learning about sensitivities, though Rapaport himself still uses insensitive language.

The Mighty reached out to Rapaport through his talent agency, Creative Artists, and Netflix for comment, and has yet to hear back.

Read more stories like this on The Mighty:

Sesame Place Theme Park Is the First 'Certified Autism Center' in the World

When I Was a Nonverbal Child With Autism

Why I Feel Like an 'Inbetweener' on the Autism Spectrum
What better way to wait out the royal wedding than with a fictionalized version of the romance itself? In a newly released trailer for Lifetimes Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance, which dropped Thursday, newcomer Murray Fraser and Jessica Jones Parisa Fitz-Henley look picture perfect as their royal counterparts.

The same actors who played Prince William and Kate Middleton in the 2011 Lifetime movie William & Kate, Burgess Abernethy and Laura Mitchell, also make appearances in the flick, which chronicles the whirlwind relationship between Harry and Markle, from beginning to, presumably, their walk down the aisle.

What am I supposed to do? Never have fun? Frasers Harry asks at the beginning of the trailer. The actors accent and stubble are dead ringers for the real prince.

Peter Pan cant stay in Neverland forever  marriage isnt so bad, Mitchell-as-Middleton tells her brother-in-law amid footage of Harry from his bad boy partying days. Later in the trailer, she also asks Fraser-as-Harry whether or not hes thought through the implications of his relationship with Markle.

Shes American, shes divorced  are you ready for this? she asks him as scenes of paparazzi stalking Markle play out. The trailer also features scenes recreating Harry and Markles first date (a blind date at Londons exclusive SoHo House club) as well as snippets of their trips to Botswana (where the pair fell in love).

I dont need my life to be this perfect royal picture. I just need you, Frasers Harry says to Fitz-Henleys Markle at another point.

The Lifetime flick is set to air on May 13th, just days before the real-life Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get married at Windsor Castle on May 19th.

Watch above.

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(Photo: @kinseygolden/Instagram)

A woman was reportedly given a warning by cops to cover up for wearing an indecent swimsuit while in public in the Phillipines, according to The Sun.

Kinsey Golden was riding on the back of a Vespa, with her boyfriend Trav Springer driving, in the city of Bohol when the pair were pulled over by the police. Golden, whos from Los Angeles, Calif., was wearing a white one-piece swimsuit with a revealing bottom cut with an off-the-shoulder eyelet silhouette.

Cops were seen pulling her over and ordering her to cover up her bare buttcks with a sarong, The Sun said. Springer wasnt wearing a shirt and neither had on helmets. The cops apparently asked the tourists to cover up and told them they could incur fines for improper headgear.

In the photos taken during the run-in, Golden is seen wrapping a sarong around her waist to comply with law enforcement, while Springers pictured strapping on a helmet.

Then ever so kindly told us to please cover up, and we did immediately, the 21-year-old Spring said. They let us go shortly after without any problems. The couple actually had no idea they were breaking any rules. We didnt know the seriousness of being in swimming attire on a motorcycle, and we would like to apologize to anyone who we offended, he added. Thank you to the police officers for keeping us safe, and explaining to us ever so kindly to cover up.

A police spokesman for the area told The Sun, Baclayon Police Station led by Senior Inspector Raymond Halasan, chief of police and his Women and Children Protection Desk officer Christine Vidal flagged down the two indecent foreigners riding a motorcycle, issued violation tickets to them.

While The Philippines isnt a country that comes to mind when thinking about dressing conservatively, it should be. USA Today instructs travelers to respect the countrys culture by covering up: The Philippines tends to be a bit more conservative than the United States. Avoid shorts, mini-skirts, mid-riff shirts or tube tops. Pack sundresses, lightweight pants, T-shirts, comfortable blouses, polo shirts and jeans.

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This is a common suggestion among Muslim countries. Last summer, a young woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia for wearing a crop top and miniskirt. Melania Trump was criticized last year for showing her legs in the very strict country. Over the summer, Saudia Airlines made headlines by asking passengers to refrain from wearing anything that could cause discomfort or offense to other passengers. For women, that meant covering their legs or arms and ditching thin or tight clothing. Two popular family beaches in Dubai require women to wear respectful swimwear and be fully covered.

But this doesnt only apply in the Middle East. Women are also punished in the U.S. for showing skin. Tori Jenkins was accused of dressing inappropriately at her apartment complexs pool in Tennessee. Wearing a one-piece, she was reportedly asked to either change into something with fuller coverage, cover up with shorts, or leave the pool that they paid a $300 fee to maintain on top of a monthly rent of nearly $1,000, not including utilities.

Former cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints Saintsations Bailey Davis was fired after three seasons with the squad for posting a photo of herself in a lace sheer leotard on Instagram. Davis claims that the post did not violate her code of conduct.

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Teachers and demonstrators rally inside the Oklahoma State Capitol building on April 3. Photographer: Scott Heins/Bloomberg.[/caption] A group of 150 women attorneys is set to descend upon the Oklahoma State Capitol on April 9 to help negotiate a deal between lawmakers and teachers over school-funding woes. Teacher walkouts across the state since April 2 have ground schools to a halt, prompting Tulsa lawyer Becki Murphy to organize the group, made up mostly of women lawyers with children. The effort has received support from men attorneys as well, she said. It puts heat on this legislature to get something done, said Murphy, whose practice focuses on family law. Oklahoma educators are protesting to demand better teacher pay and hikes in public school funding. Oklahoma lawmakers did give teachers a 16 percent raise and passed a $2.9 billion education spending billa 19.7 percent increase from the last budgetbut teachers say its not enough in light of cuts over the last 10 years. Murphy coordinated her group of lawyer-moms on an online network, Girl Attorney, before making a Facebook post thats gone viralnearly immediately setting her phone to beeping and pinging incessantly, she said, and flooding her law office with calls from trade associations, superintendents and hordes of teachers. Lawyers have a special skillset to help end the impassethey can listen to the problem and work with both sides to find a solution, Murphy said. Thats what we do every day. Were offering our services free, to go see if we can be part of the solutionbring the two parties together, find a solution that works for our state and children, she said, noting that the lawyers who are joining the effort have decided to cancel everythingask judges to continue hearings, or reschedule mediationsbecause they think that the state is now in crisis mode. She vowed in her Facebook post that if lawmakers dont listen, some of the women attorneys will run to unseat any uncooperative incumbents. Murphys two children attend public school in wealthy south Tulsa, where parents are financially able to fill gaps between state funding and school needs. This option is not possible for many of Murphys own clientspoorer parents who work two to three jobs just to support their kids. Our state needs to be doing better, she said. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallins press office did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Angela Morris is a freelance journalist. Follow her on Twitter at @AMorrisReports
The Google letter has reportedly been circulating for weeks - PA

More than 3,000 Google employees have reportedly signed a letter protesting the companys work with the Pentagon that could help with drone strikes.

The letter, obtained by The New York Times, includes the line: We believe that Google should not be in the business of war.

Dozens of senior engineers have added their name to the letter, which has been circulating internally for weeks.

It calls on the company to stop working on Project Maven, a Pentagon pilot programme that uses artificial intelligence to analyse video imagery.

Those signing the letter, which is addressed to Sundar Pichai, the Google chief executive, also want a promise that the company will never build warfare technology.

The clash emphasises the challenges Google faces to live up to its motto  don't be evil  in a world of rapidly advancing technology.

The letter has reportedly garnered more than 3,100 signatures from Googles 70,000-strong workforce.

One section quoted by The New York Times warns that embracing military work could put off other customers.

This plan will irreparably damage Googles brand and its ability to compete for talent, the letter says.

Amid growing fears of biased and weaponised AI [artificial intelligence], Google is already struggling to keep the publics trust.

Another part reads: 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.

Google said in a statement to The New York Times that Project Maven is using open-source object recognition software available to any Google Cloud customer.

It added: 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 also said the project was specifically scoped to be for non-offensive purpose.
Durban (South Africa) (AFP) - Former South African president Jacob Zuma came out fighting on Friday after appearing in court to face corruption charges over a suspect multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal.

Zuma was composed in the dock wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie as about 1,000 cheering supporters rallied outside to protest against the prosecution that has deepened political divisions.

The ex-president, who was forced to resign just seven weeks ago, has been charged with 16 counts of graft stemming from an arms contract dating back to before he became president.

After just 15 minutes of legal discussions in the packed courtroom A of the Durban High Court, the case was adjourned until June 8 by judge Themba Sishi.

Zuma, surrounded by a large entourage, left the courtroom to address his supporters, telling them that the charges were "politically motivated".

"I am innocent until proven guilty, but there are people who want to treat me like I am guilty," Zuma told the crowd from a concert-style stage to wild cheers.

In the case, which is officially known as "the State v Zuma", he is referred to as "accused number one".

His lawyers confirmed to the court on Friday that he would appeal against the decision to prosecute him.

The appeal is likely to prolong his epic legal battle to head off the charges and avoid a trial could send him to jail.

- Loyal supporters -

"What we are saying, what the former president is saying, is true -- we don't think we are going to get a fair trial," said a supporter, Bishop Timothy Ngcobo who appeared on stage alongside Zuma.

"Zuma came with ideas that are going to boost the black people."

In the courtroom, supporters chanted Zuma's name, while outside, the crowds sang, "Tell us what he has done wrong" and "Hands off Zuma".

"He might have made his own mistakes, but we say allow the old man to retire in peace. It is a conspiracy," pro-Zuma business manager Sphelele Ngwane, 29, told AFP.

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Police equiped with shields, water cannon and armoured vehicles mounted a major security operation outside the court, but the hearing and speeches were peaceful.

A young traditional dancer in full warrior costume and clutching a shield took to the stage following Zuma to entertain the crowd after he addressed them in his native Zulu language.

He sang and danced along enthusiastically to a rendition of "Umshini Wam", a struggle-era song that means "Bring me my machine gun".

- Accused of taking bribes -

Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms maker Thales over a contract worth several billion dollars during his time as a provincial economy minister and later as deputy ANC president.

Thales, which supplied naval vessels as part of the deal, also faces charges of corruption and a company representative from France appeared in court alongside Zuma.

Thales' lawyer, Robert Driman, declined to comment to AFP on the case.

Zuma is accused of illicitly pocketing 4,072,499.85 rand -- 280,000 euros, $340,000 at today's rates -- from 783 payments handled by Schabir Shaik, a businessman who acted as his financial adviser.

Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2005 based on the same accusations, but a much-criticised 2016 inquiry absolved Zuma of any blame.

Zuma has claimed the inquiry proved there was "not a single iota" of evidence for wrongdoing.

Last month, prosecutions chief Shaun Abrahams -- dubbed "Shaun the Sheep" for his loyalty to Zuma during his presidency -- ordered that Zuma be charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering.

Thuman Mkhize, 43 and unemployed, from Durban said Zuma "was the perfect leader" because he "opened free education and land".

"The prosecution is because they don't want to give our land back. He's innocent," Mkhize said.

The ANC forced Zuma from office in February largely due to his mounting legal challenges and multiple corruption scandals, and the party has distanced itself from its former leader.

Zuma's successor as president Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to crack down on government corruption, which he has admitted is a serious problem.

Campaign groups are hoping that the case could set a benchmark for allegedly corrupt leaders to face prosecutions, which are a rarity on the African continent.
Alaska Airlines has been accused of disability discrimination by a woman who says her family was forced to deplane because her teenage brother with Down syndrome threw up, NBC News reports. Meaghan Hess has issued a written statement about her brother Patricks attempt to fly from St. Louis to Seattle with their parents on Monday. Hess, who was not traveling with her family, says Patrick vomited a little, prompting airline staff to allegedly force the group off the flight and leave them stranded until the next morning.
Atlantic Ocean (July 14, 2005)  Landing Signal Officers watch as an F-14B Tomcat, assigned to the

Michael Peck

Security, Eurasia

And how America uses the same tricks as well.

The Sneaky Way Russia Gets Its Hands on Some of America's Most Powerful Weapons

Last month, Russia claimed that it recovered U.S. Tomahawk missiles that hit Syria, and would crack their secrets.

Soon after, Russias Sputnik News published a triumphal piece about various American weapons captured by Russiaor rather its alliesand turned over to Moscow for analysis.

The first American war booty came the Korean War, where the Soviets got their hands on an M46 Patton tank. Engineers got their hands on several other weapons systems, too, including a late-model F-51D Mustang fighter, Sputnik noted, ignoring that the Mustang was just a World War II leftover.

Ironically, Sputnik News emphasized that its survey of captured weapons did not include Lend Lease arms sent by the U.S. to the Soviet Union during World War IIwhich doesnt count the U.S. B-29 bomber, damaged during a raid on Japan in 1944, that landed in Siberia and was frantically copied by the Soviets to become the Tu-4 bomber.

In September 1958, a Communist Chinese MiG-17 paralyzed a Taiwanese F-86 Sabre, which was turned over to Moscow. The captured Sabre helped Soviet designers immensely in the development of the K-13 short-range infrared homing air-to-air missile, which would go on to serve for several decades, Sputnik added.

Recommended: Air War: Stealth F-22 Raptor vs. F-14 Tomcat (That Iran Still Flies)

Recommended: A New Report Reveals Why There Won't Be Any 'New' F-22 Raptors

Recommended: How an Old F-15 Might Kill Russias New Stealth Fighter

Vietnam proved a treasure trove of American gear, including F-5E fighters that were used extensively in evaluation flights against the MiG-21bis and the MiG-23, discovering their shortcomings and ultimately aiding in the development of the MiG-23MLD and the supermaneuverable MiG-29 fighter.

Sputnik News claims that Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, captured by special Soviet commando teams, led to countermeasures that nullified the weapon.In the 2008 Russia-Georgia War, Moscow captured five Humvees packed with advanced electronics and encrypted communications equipment and refused to give them back despite repeated requests by the Pentagon.

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But in the interests of fair play, we should also point out that America and its allies have captured lots of Russian weapons. During 1951, a British-American team managed to recover a crashed MiG-15 jet fighter.

Soviet-made aircraft also had a habit of being delivered by defectors who didnt appreciate the virtues of Communism. Most notable was Soviet Air Force Lt. Viktor Belenko, who defected in 1976 with his MiG-25 Foxbat to Turkey, which was examined by U.S. experts before being returned (a Soviet MiG-29 pilot also defected to Turkey in 1989, but Turkey quickly returned the plane thought not the pilot).

Israel has been a Jewish Santa Claus when it comes to delivering captured Russian weapons. The West got its first hands-on look at the MiG-21 fighter when the Mossad convinced an Iraqi pilot to fly his aircraft to Israel. In the 1967 Six-Day War, when U.S. aircraft were being shot down by SA-2 surface-to-air missiles, Israel captured SA-2 systemscomplete with their Fan Song radarsfor U.S. experts to examine and then build better jammers.

This overall exploitation effort is expected to fill many U.S. intelligence and research and development gaps, some of which are directly associated with the Southeast Asian conflict, said an Air Force memo at the time. These insights spanned Soviet design criteria, production quality control and research and development philosophy.

Other gear captured during the Arab-Israeli wars included T-62 and T-72 tanks, BMP infantry fighting vehicles, and Sagger anti-tank missiles. Both sides also lost and benefitted when their various Third World allies changed sides, and offered their new patrons a look at the weapons supplied by their old backers. Iran gave the Soviets a chance to inspect F-14 fighters delivered to the Shahs air force, while the United States got to see Soviet weapons in Eastern European arsenals after 1989.

None of which is cause for any nationalistic triumphalism. The basic rule of warfare is this: if you use your weapons in combat, your enemies will get their hands on them. Or, at least have a chance to observe them well enough to devise countermeasures.

And thats why secret weapons dont stay secret for long.

Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Read full article
Memphis (AFP) - 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.

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"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' -

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.

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."
By Stephen Nellis (Reuters) - Apple Inc has hired a prominent artificial intelligence executive who recently left Google in a bid to boost its Siri voice assistant and other offerings powered by the technology. Apple confirmed that John Giannandrea, who previously served as Google's top artificial intelligence executive, will join the company later this month as its chief of machine learning and AI strategy, reporting to Chief Executive Tim Cook. The New York Times reported the move earlier. The hiring of Giannandrea is important because the Cupertino-based company is widely viewed as lagging its rivals in key areas of artificial intelligence. Though Siri made its debut in 2011 well before other voice assistants, Amazon.com Inc's Alexa and Alphabet Inc's Google Assistant have rapidly gained ground with consumers. Apple has taken a number of steps to remedy that. In 2016, it hired prominent artificial intelligence researchers Carlos Guestrin from the University of Washington and Russ Salakhutdinov from Carnegie Mellon University. And last year, Apple transferred responsibility for Siri from content chief Eddy Cue to operating systems chief Craig Federighi, a sign that the company was looking to embed the voice assistant more deeply into its core systems. Apple also last year added more capabilities to Siri behind the scenes, including the ability to securely share some user information between Apple devices that a user has signed into. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Paris (AFP) - Saudi Arabia, which vies with arch-rival Iran for influence in Lebanon, will grant the country a $1-billion (800 million-euro) development loan, a Lebanese government official told a donor conference in Paris Friday.

"It's a renewal of a line of credit that was there in the past and was not used," said Nadim Mounla, an economic adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Lebanon's economy has been hard hit by repeated political crises, as well as the war in neighbouring Syria which has sent a million refugees fleeing across the border -- equivalent to a quarter of Lebanon's population before the conflict.

Western powers fear the turmoil could derail Lebanon, which has long served as a proxy battleground for bigger regional powers.

Concerns for the country's stability rose sharply in November, when Hariri announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia, in a shock move in which many observers saw the hidden hand of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Hariri later rescinded his resignation after mediation by France and Egypt.

Some 40 countries have sent representatives to the Paris meeting which aims to come up with a support package worth $10 billion over four years.
It was the year when the very fabric of American society appeared to be tearing apart as two towering figures, Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy, were assassinated at the peak of the civil rights movement in 1968.

The war in Vietnam was costing thousands of young lives and anti-war protests were erupting in the streets.

David Margolick is author of The Promise and the Dream, which looks into the intertwined fates of King and Kennedy.

Click Here to Read an Excerpt From 'The Promise and the Dream'

"American attitudes towards government, toward the credibility of its leaders, all of that changed in 1968 and I think we are still paying the price for it," he told Inside Edition.

Dr. King was shot dead on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis 50 years ago Wednesday.

That night Robert Kennedy, who was running for president, made a dramatic appeal for calm to a predominantly African-American audience saying, "I had a member of my family killed and he was killed by a white man."

It was an extraordinary thing because he never spoke about his brother's murder publicly. It was first time he had ever done that, Margolick told Inside Edition.

Six weeks later, Kennedy himself was gunned down, another victim of a turbulent year that shook America.

These were the two most hopeful figures in America in that era and when they were both killed, I think there was an element of despair that set in from which the country has never recovered, the author said.

1968 was also a year that changed American pop culture as Hollywood explored groundbreaking themes in movies like The Graduate.

That summer, the Olympics were held in Mexico City and the iconic image of U.S. track stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood at the medal podium with black leather gloves and their fists in the air to call attention to social injustices in the country.

RELATED STORIES

Artist Pays Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. by Plowing Image of His Face Into a Field

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Witnesses to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination Recall His Death, 50 Years Later

What Really Happened in Chappaquiddick? Movie Tells 'True Story' of Ted Kennedy Crash

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Former President Barack Obama and Congressman John Lewis appeared in a video honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Wednesday as the nation commemorates the 50th anniversary of the civil rights leader's assassination.

The video, released by the Obama Foundation, features the 44th U.S. president and Democratic representative from Georgia sitting down with young leaders, discussing King's legacy and its modern imprint in an increasingly polarized nation.

Lewis, who marched with King and other civil rights activists in the 1960's as a teenager, described being with Robert F. Kennedy's campaign in Indiana when he learned of King's death. Kennedy went on to deliver a powerful speech that night from the bed of a truck, echoing the slain reverend's message of love, compassion and equality.

"It was a very sad and dark time for me. He was my leader, he was my inspiration," Lewis said, speaking to Ron Brown College Preparatory High School students in Washington, D.C. "But when he was assassinated, I said 'you cannot get down. You have to pick up and keep going."

Click to watch the full video below:

Lewis  who Obama notes as the only living speaker from the March on Washington  went on to discuss his remarks given on August 28, 1963, saying some thought his speech was "too extreme," but that he knew speaking out on voting rights in the South was an important topic.

"If you are speaking on behalf of social justice, by definition there's going to be some controversy," Obama added. "Dr. King was controversial, but he studied and thought and crafted what he had to say. And he knew when he spoke he was expressing a truth as well as he could know it."

RELATED: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.



Lewis has served in Congress since 1986 and has recently been a vocal opponent of President Trump's platform and agenda. In January, he called Trump "a racist" during a CNN segment, adding that he would not attend the 45th commander in chief's State of the Union address later that month.

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"Part of what you always want to communicate to young people is that being on the right side of history isnt always popular, and it isnt always easy," Obama says in the video. "And you dont know when things are going to break your way, you dont know whether your labors will deliver."

Lewis referred back to Dr. King's legacy in closing the online segment, saying, "When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something."

RELATED: A look back at the March on Washington in 1963


Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in Memphis, Tennessee, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr: AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Bernie Sanders has triggered a backlash by making comments interpreted as an attack on Barack Obama on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King.

The senator for Vermont appeared to criticise the first black US President as he branded the Democratic Party a "failure".

Speaking in Jackson, Mississippi, he said Democrats had lost a record number of legislative seats.

"The business model, if you like, of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years or so has been a failure,' said the Vermont Senator.

"People sometimes don't see that because there was a charismatic individual named Barack Obama. He was obviously an extraordinary candidate, brilliant guy. But beyond that reality..."

Mr Sanders' comments were quickly branded "patronising" and "deplorable".

Actor Jeffrey Wright, who appeared in the James Bond and Hunger Games film series, said Mr Sanders was "giving a master class on expressing TOTAL ignorance of how black folks work."

Nah, no, nope...Bernie...didn't go down to Jackson...Mississippi...MLK assassination...50th anniversary...and try to drag...Obama...who ain't perfect...at all. But. Bernie...if you want more than 3 southern black folks voting for you...you TRIPPIN', 'white working class Bernie.' https://t.co/tGfUZRQbGc

 Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) April 5, 2018

Bernie Sanders dislike of Barack Obama's administration/policies is what connects him to Trump voters.



That is what they can build a bridge on and it's deplorable and disgusting.

 Amene (@Ange_Amene) April 5, 2018

The hills are alive with the sound of white people explaining why it was OK for Bernie Sanders to travel to Jackson, Ms and shit on Obama's legacy on the 50th anniversary of King's assassination.

 Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) April 5, 2018



Related Video: Bernie Sanders Remembers MLK
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who mysteriously vanished seven weeks ago has been found dead in a river in northwest Atlanta, authorities said on Thursday.

Timothy Cunninghams remains were found Tuesday evening by fishermen along the Chattahoochee River in a rural area that had been previously searched and is not easily accessible by foot, authorities said at a press conference.

The 35-year-old, who was last seen on Feb. 12, did not have any signs of injuries or foul play to his body and the preliminary results of an autopsy determined that he likely drowned, Fulton County Medical Examiner Jan Gorniak said.

Whether his death was an accident or suicide has not yet been determined, said Gorniak, who later added that the condition of his body was consistent with that of a person missing for several weeks.

Timothy Cunningham, 35, had been missing since Feb. 12. (Photo: Atlanta PD)

Atlanta Police Department Major Michael OConnor said the river is located fairly close to Cunninghams house and that he was known to go for runs.

We do know that he was a jogger and he was wearing his favorite jogging shoes at the time that he was found, OConnor said. I cant tell you that he was jogging but those things together seem to indicate that that is a possibility.

Cunningham was a highly respected epidemiologist at the CDC; last year he was listed among the Atlanta Business Chronicles 40 Under 40 list.

He was last seen leaving work early after telling his colleagues that he didnt feel well. Police later said hed been passed up for a promotion, though the CDC disputed this.

After days and then weeks passed without clues on his whereabouts, conspiracy theories about his disappearance grew. One popular rumor was that he was a whistle-blower who had warned others at the CDC that the vaccine used for the flu season had caused some of the high number of deaths from the illness.

OConnor addressed that rumor last month, noting that Cunningham was with the chronic disease unit and not the infectious disease unit. He also didnt have access to classified material.

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A search of Cunninghams home shortly after his disappearance recovered his cell phone, keys and wallet, something OConnor had described as unusual. When his body was discovered, authorities said they found three crystals inside one of his pockets, which were items OConnor said Cunningham was known to collect.

UPDATE: The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the body recovered in the Chattahoochee River in NW Atlanta late Tuesday to be missing CDC employee Timothy Cunningham. A press conference will be held at 2 p.m. ET at APD Headquarters on the investigation. pic.twitter.com/PlAGiqHO5P  Atlanta Police Dept (@Atlanta_Police) April 5, 2018

Based on the evidence gathered so far, OConnor said the investigation is likely going to draw mostly to a close, though he said he is still waiting for a final report from the medical examiners office.

This story has been updated to include more details about Cunninghams workplace promotion.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
La Paz (AFP) - Bolivia's once-thriving jaguar population is loping into the cross-hairs of a growing threat from poachers responding to growing Chinese demand for the animal's teeth and skull.

Researchers believe there are around 7,000 of the speckled big cats in Bolivia, out of a global population of some 64,000, stretching from North America to Argentina.

But such is the appetite in China's huge underground market that "if controls are not put in place, it can lead to a serious problem" for their survival, warned Fabiola Suarez of the Environment Ministry.

Considered vulnerable by conservationists, the jaguar's future in the South American country is in the hands of anti-trafficking police only now coming to grips with the potential scale of the problem.

Local authorities began getting reports in 2014 of trade in the animal in the northeastern area of Beni, according to Rodrigo Herrera, an advisor to Bolivia's directorate of Biodiversity at the Environment Ministry.

He says the increased presence of Chinese nationals in the South American country has stimulated demand.

President Evo Morales' leftist government has awarded seven billion dollars' worth of public works contracts to Chinese groups, sparking an influx of workers from the Asian giant.

Herrera said each of the cat's teeth, which measure between eight and 10 centimeters, can fetch up to $100 for poachers, but that figure can reach $5,000 on the Chinese market.

The feline's skull is also prized by traffickers, at rates of up to $1,000. Traffickers also sell the skin, and even the testicles, which along with the ground-down teeth, are prized by some Chinese as an aphrodisiac.

While trade in the jaguar or its body parts are prohibited, the big cats have been listed as "near threatened" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's "Red List".

Herrera said that "from every animal, a poor person can take in up to $2,000. That's a lot of money." In Bolivia 38 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2015, according to the most recent World Bank figures.

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- Embassy appeal -

Conservationists fear the money is an added incentive to farmers who often shoot jaguars to protect their livestock.

To date, Bolivian police have intercepted 400 jaguar teeth being sent in the mail to addresses in China.

But Suarez, a specialist in the biodiversity department in the Environment Ministry, said this is likely only the tip of the iceberg and describes as alarming the quantity she believes has already left the country undetected.

The state has belatedly begun to hit back, mounting 15 separate prosecutions, including 11 against Chinese nationals living in Bolivia, according to official data.

But the trade continues. On March 19, a trafficker selling jaguar teeth and skulls on social networks was arrested in the Amazon region.

Unusually, the Chinese embassy in La Paz has acted to warn its nationals to steer clear of trafficking, reminding them in a note to "respect and strictly observe the laws and regulations, both Chinese and Bolivian, against the illegal trafficking of wild animals."

According to Bolivia's National Statistics Institute, more and more Chinese are coming to live in Bolivia.

In 2011, there were only 2,624 Chinese nationals living in the country, but the figure jumped to 12,861 by 2016.

Herrera said the growing presence of Chinese has created a market back home in China, where wearing jaguar's teeth in a necklace, or attached to a key ring, is a status symbol.

The largest cat species in the Americas, its habitat extends from the northern United States across South America to Argentina.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, now Prisoner 106, will have to spend at least another night in jail as he fights a five-year prison term for killing endangered wildlife.

Khan, one of the world's highest paid actors, was imprisoned Thursday after a court convicted him for killing rare antelopes known as black bucks on a hunting trip while shooting a movie in 1998.

Khan's lawyer asked for bail but the plea was adjourned after a judge said he wanted to see the entire case record.

"We argued for bail in the court. Basically the eyewitness is not reliable ... the trial court has convicted Salman on the basis of basically just one eyewitness," Mahesh Bora, a lawyer for Khan, told reporters in Jodhpur, in the northwestern state of Rajasthan.

The court is to sit again on Saturday.

The 52-year-old action star has denied killing the black bucks.

His conviction shocked fans and the Bollywood elite.

Hundreds flocked to his home in Mumbai to show solidarity with the star who moved from his luxury apartment to sleeping on the floor of a cell in the Jodhpur Central Jail.

"Everyone knows that he is used to the lavish lifestyle, which is why he was unable to sleep," the Deccan Herald newspaper said, quoting an unnamed jail official.

"He laid down on blankets spread on the floor. He hardly slept. At 6:00 am in the morning, the sound of siren woke him up."

- Wave of sympathy -

Jail Superintendent Vikram Singh said no special arrangements have been made for Khan who is now Prisoner 106 and was served a dinner of lentils and cabbage like other inmates on his first night.

"He has a simple wooden bed, a rug and a cooler in his cell," Singh told reporters.

Khan has accused Rajasthan's forest department of trying to frame him.

His lawyers claim the black bucks died of natural causes such as overeating, claiming there was no evidence the animals were shot.

Four other Bollywood stars -- Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari -- who were also accused in the case were acquitted for lack of evidence.

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"The prosecution has proved beyond doubt the case of hunting two black bucks against Salman but the case against the other accused does not prove beyond doubt," the trial court judge said in his judgement.

Film industry analysts say Khan has nearly $90 million riding on him with at least three big projects in the pipeline.

The case, which has dogged Khan for 20 years, has seen him held in custody three times before.

In 1998, Khan spent a week in prison after being accused of using unlicensed arms to shoot the black bucks.

Khan was also found guilty of killing gazelles on the same trip and served very brief stints in jail in 2006 and 2007, but was later acquitted on appeal.

The actor affectionately called "bhai", or "brother" in Hindi, enjoys a cult-like status with the majority of his devotees young men who envy Khan's glamorous lifestyle.

The latest verdict has triggered a wave of sympathy for the "bad boy" of Hindi cinema whose life has been dogged by controversies.

Khan, who has had a string of glamorous relationships but never married, was cleared in 2015 of killing a homeless man in a hit-and-run accident. That decision is now being challenged in the Supreme Court.

He was also accused of assaulting a former Miss World and provoked a firestorm in 2016 by saying his workout schedule for a film left him feeling "like a raped woman".

"Tough times don't last, tough people do, waiting for tiger to be back," tweeted actor Maniesh Paul, referring to Khan's most recent blockbuster "Tiger Zinda Hai" (Tiger is Alive) which has earned more than $85 million worldwide.

Other Bollywood figures have also rallied around the actor, voicing support and decrying the harsh sentence.
A Brazilian Supreme Court has ruled against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a late night vote. Justices struck down his plea for freedom following the high profile conviction of the "Operacao Lava Jato" (Operation Car Wash), a massive corruption inquiry that continues to shake up Brazil

Lulas fate was decided in a six to five ruling where Chief Justice Carmen Lucia Antunes cast the last vote. In deliberations that went past midnight on Thursday, justices voted one-by-one before deciding that the ex-president's 12-year, one-month prison sentence would not be delayed. Lula is expected to be sent to jail within days after pursuing a petition to appeal his corruption conviction, but outside of prison.

Ahead of the final decision, Mauricio Santoro, a political science professor from Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), told Newsweek that Brazilians felt on the cusp of a "moment of truth." The decision shows how Supreme Court justices stand in a country that is divided about the ex-president's future.

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Lula has denied any wrongdoing and has held that charges mounted against him are an attempt to prevent him from running for president. Brazil's first working class leader continues to defy expectations that he would pursue the presidential bid, even from behind bars. In the weeks leading to Wednesday's judgment, Lula has given speeches at campaign rallies, banking on his huge following.

While Michel Temer, Brazil's most unpopular president carries a current approval rating of around 4 percent, Lula has been widely seen as the front-runner for October's upcoming presidential race.

Lula in jail would be more influential than out of prison, Santoro said. Many will see him as a martyr. He could transfer lots of votes to another candidate," he said, adding that Lula would be a "kingmaker" and would yield influence for the next election.

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However, there is a small likelihood that Lula will finish his full sentence, said Davi Tangerino a criminal lawyer and law professor at the Sao Paulo Law School of Fundacao Getulio Vargas.

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At 72 years old, Lula is more likely to be put on house arrest or serve time in a less-secure facility, Tangerino, told Newsweek.

"On top of that, every year the president issues a decree in which s(he) fully or partially pardons a indistinct number of prisoners, Tangerino said. "It is possible Lula could have some fraction of time pardoned after some years in jail."

If the judges had ruled in Lula's favor, it would have created a "significant" change of the presumption of innocence, Tangerino said. "Many defendants will have the chance to litigate their cases in freedom."

Lula, who led the left-wing Workers Party, served as the country's most beloved leader from 2003 to 2011, reaching an approval rate of 87 percentlevels never before registered according to Brazils Ibope poll. In the last few years, Lula has become a highly divisive figure in a country marred in corruption with low trust in politicians. The highly popular former president, known for his "Bolsa Familia" program that lifted 20 million people out of poverty.

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Yet three judges upheld Lulas corruption conviction in January, which stemmed from a highly publicized money laundering conviction and increased his jail-time from 9 to 12 years. Nobody can be absolved just because hes powerful, Judge Leandro Paulen said at the time.

In the massive investigation known as Operation Car Wash, Lula was found guilty of accepting 3.7 million reais ($1.2 million) worth of bribes from engineering firm OAS SA. Prosecutors have said the amount was used to upgrade Lula's luxury beachfront apartment in exchange for political favors. The charges have spread into a large-scale probe that implicated other politicians and business leaders.

The investigation morphed into the worlds biggest bribery scheme involving Petrobras and OdebrechtBrazils largest construction firmand became a multi-year inquiry into a bribes-and kickbacks scale which uncovered illegal payments that amounted to over $5 billion to top company leaders and political parties.

Weighing the impact of deliberations, Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge warned that allowing convicted criminals like Lula to remain free, pending appeals, would annihilate the justice system.

The atmosphere cracked. It is no longer a legal debate or even an adjustment mechanism in the fight against corruption, Joao Trajano Sento-Se, UERJs associate professor of the Social Sciences Institute, told Newsweek regarding Wednesday's deliberations. It is simply the imprisonment or not of Lula, as soon as possible, and what this will represent in national politics."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Curitiba (Brazil) (AFP) - Brazil's leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva might have a feeling of deja vu as he's led into the cell awaiting him in the city of Curitiba -- in happier times as president his name was inscribed on the building's entrance.

The prison cell prepared for Lula may not have air conditioning, but it's a far cry from the hellish lock-ups facing many Brazilian inmates.

For years, Lula strode the lofty halls of Brazil's achingly cool, Oscar Niemeyer-designed presidential palace and other institutions.

So being confined to cell at the start of a 12-year prison sentence for corruption will come as a shock if he complies with an arrest warrant demanding his surrender later Friday.

But as Brazilian jail cells go, the room prepared for 72-year-old Lula in the southern city of Curitiba is pure luxury.

With a single bed and en-suite shower and toilet, the facility is actually normally reserved as a place where lawyers working at the federal police building can catch a night's sleep.

In his arrest warrant, anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro said the cell, nicknamed "the headquarters," was specially prepared because of Lula's status as a two-term former president.

Jorge Chastalo Filho, in charge of custody for the federal police in Curitiba, described the room as "simple, without a lot of details," but "a rather humanized, quiet room."

He said it has "an agreeable atmosphere."

Not bad in a country infamous for prisons so overcrowded that inmates take turns to sleep, and where gang conflicts regularly lead to bloodshed, even beheadings.

One thing Lula's cell lacks is air conditioning, but that's not necessarily a problem in Curitiba, especially as it heads into the southern hemisphere winter.

- 'Sunbathing' -

According to Estadao newspaper, the converted cell measures about 10 by 16 feet (five meters by three meters) and has two windows. The shower has hot water.

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Chastalo said Lula would be allowed one weekly visit by immediate family and two hours a day of what he called "sunbathing," or fresh air.

Igor Romario de Paula, a member of the federal police in Curitiba, said that as soon Lula arrived, he would first complete paperwork and then be taken to his cell.

With Lula apparently considering rejecting the offer of voluntary surrender -- forcing police to come and take him by force -- Moro may yet strip him of these privileges, according to local media.

It's also unclear where Lula's longer-term incarceration would take place.

"We don't know" how long Lula would remain in the "headquarters," de Paula said. "You don't usually serve your sentence here, because this is temporary, but you can stay here while we consider a new place."

Wherever Lula ended up in Curitiba, he wouldn't feel totally lost in the federal police building: the plaque in the entrance, dating from the February 2, 2007 inauguration, includes his name and title of "president of the republic" -- written in gold.
By Gram Slattery and Tatiana Ramil SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defied a judge's order to turn himself in to police on Friday and start serving a 12-year prison sentence for bribery that would likely end his hopes of regaining the presidency. Lula remained holed up inside the headquarters of a steelworkers union in metropolitan Sao Paulo with aides and allies after the federal judge's deadline of 5 p.m. (2000 GMT) to surrender to authorities. However, Lula's legal team was negotiating his surrender with federal police, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, and on Friday night they petitioned the Supreme Court to quash the prison order, saying it prevented Lula from using a few technical appeals that remained. Federal police in Sao Paulo declined to say if they would attempt to forcibly take the former president into custody, a move that could trigger intense clashes with his supporters. A union spokesman said Lula was mulling his options with lawyers. His legal team, which lost their last-minute appeal to a higher court, argued they had not exhausted procedural appeals and painted the case as an effort to remove Lula from the presidential race he is leading. Hundreds of supporters filled the street outside the union headquarters, cheering defiant speeches calling the case a political witch hunt. A banner hung from the building showed Lula's smiling face on an electronic voting machine. "We are here to show that the workers will resist this attack against democracy," said Jorge Nazareno, a union leader who said he had met briefly with Lula on Friday morning. Lula himself had not addressed the crowd nearly 24 hours after arriving at the building, although union leaders said in an statement posted on their website that he would speak to the crowd Friday afternoon. Many of those in the crowd, including workers, students and land rights activists, camped overnight Thursday in the streets. The same steelworkers union in Sao Paulo's industrial suburbs where Lula sought refuge served as the launch pad for his political career nearly four decades ago, when he led nationwide strikes that helped to end Brazil's 1964-85 military government. Lula's everyman style and unvarnished speeches electrified masses long governed by the elite and eventually won him two terms as president, from 2003 to 2011, when he oversaw robust economic growth and falling inequality amid a commodities boom. He left office with sky-high approval of 83 percent and was called "the most popular politician on Earth" by former U.S. President Barack Obama. Lula's downfall has been as stunning as the unprecedented corruption probes that have convulsed Brazil for the last four years, jailing dozens of politicians and business leaders long considered above the law. THE FALL Federal Judge Sergio Moro, who has handled the bulk of cases in Brazil's biggest-ever graft investigation and issued Lula's prison order, wrote that he should not be handcuffed and would have a special cell in Curitiba, where he stood trial. Lula was convicted last year for taking bribes from an engineering firm in return for help landing contracts with state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA . Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Lula's plea to remain free until he exhausts all his appeals, in a case he calls a political witch hunt. The ruling likely ends his political career and blows October's election wide open, leaving Brazil's left without an obvious candidate to regain power following the unpopular current president, Michel Temer. Under Brazilian electoral law, a candidate is forbidden from running for office for eight years after being found guilty of a crime. Rare exceptions have been made in the past, and the final decision would be made by the top electoral court if and when Lula officially files to be a candidate. Brazilian financial markets rallied on Thursday after the Supreme Court cleared the way for Lula's imprisonment, which increased the chances of a market-friendly candidate winning the election, according to analysts and political foes. Cassio Goncalves, a labor safety specialist at the union headquarters, said Lula's Workers Party had not considered alternatives in the presidential race. "We have no other plan," he said. "Plan A, B and C is Lula, because he is innocent. He will be our president." (Reporting by Gram Slattery and Tatiana Ramil in Sao Bernardo do Campo; Additional reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia, Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo; Writing and additional reporting by Brad Brooks; Editing by Brad Haynes, David Gregorio, Rosalba O'Brien and Tom Brown)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont called on Spain to abandon its attempts to prosecute separatist leaders as he left a German prison on Friday, urging Madrid to enter into dialogue with them. Puigdemont, granted bail after German judges ruled he could not be extradited on charges of "rebellion" brought by Spain, thanked prison staff as he emerged to cheers and people waving Catalan flags. He called for "the immediate release of all my colleagues in Spanish prisons". "It is a shame for Europe to have political prisoners," Puigdemont said. "Finally the time for dialogue has arrived." Judges on Thursday rejected Spain's request to have him extradited to face the rebellion charges for having organised a referendum on Catalan independence that Madrid viewed as illegitimate. They set bail at 75,000 euros ($92,000), saying that Puigdemont, who fled Spain five months ago after Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed his regional administration, did not pose a serious flight risk. Puigdemont's German lawyer, Wolfgang Schomburg, said he would continue the legal battle to have judges also rule out his extradition on a lesser charge of embezzlement of public money. Since Spain has said it will respect the German court's ruling, extradition from Germany on the lesser charge would effectively grant Puigdemont immunity from the rebellion charges, which can bring up to 25 years in prison. But a return to Spain under any other circumstances might not do so. Earlier, the German foreign ministry urged Catalan lawmakers to form a new regional government as soon as possible, saying this was a precondition for making progress on a political settlement to the stand-off with Madrid. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Andrew Roche)
Neumunster (Germany) (AFP) - Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called for immediate "political dialogue" with Madrid to resolve the row over the region's independence bid as he left a German jail on Friday.

The 55-year-old smiled and waved at supporters as he walked out of Neumuenster prison in northern Germany after posting a 75,000-euro ($92,000) bail, a day after judges rejected Spain's request to extradite him on a rebellion charge.

The German judges are still mulling however whether to extradite him on a lesser charge of corruption.

"The time for dialogue has arrived," Puigdemont told reporters outside the prison, saying that Catalonian demands for talks had for years "only received a violent and repressive response".

There is "no excuse" for the Spanish authorities not to start "a political dialogue with the Catalan political leaders", he added.

He also called for "the immediate release" of fellow Catalan separatists detained in the clash with Madrid over the wealthy northeastern region's failed breakaway attempt.

"It's a shame for Europe to have political prisoners," he said.

In a major victory for Puigdemont, the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday dismissed the rebellion charge against him over his role in last October's independence referendum, deemed illegal by the Spanish government.

Rebellion -- which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in Spain -- was not punishable under German law, they ruled.

The closest German equivalent, the criminal offence of high treason, did not apply because Puigdemont's actions were not accompanied by violence, the judges found.

But they said the former Catalan president could still be sent to Spain to face trial for the alleged misuse of public funds in organising the disputed referendum.

The German judges said they needed to gather more information before making a decision on the embezzlement charge in the coming weeks, but ruled that Puigdemont be released in the meantime.

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- Blow to Madrid -

Madrid has estimated that some 1.6 million euros in public money was improperly used to hold the referendum. If convicted, Puigdemont faces up to eight years in jail.

As part of his bail conditions, Puigdemont must remain in Germany and report to police weekly. On Twitter he said he will now to travel to Berlin, where a press conference is being planned.

German police detained Puigdemont on March 25 as he was travelling from Finland back to Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile for the past six months.

The arrest came two days after Spain's Supreme Court ordered international warrants for Puigdemont and other fugitive Catalan leaders on charges linked to holding the banned referendum.

The German court's refusal to accept the rebellion charge is a blow to Madrid, as under European law it means Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted for the offence even if he is returned to Spain.

Despite the setback, the Spanish government said it respected the German judges' decision.

"It's a matter between judges, not a matter between governments," said government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo.

Berlin, which has long expressed support for Madrid's actions in the Catalan row, declined to comment on the latest judicial developments.

"The process lies in the hands of the justice system, as is right," said German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer.

The United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression, David Kaye, said rebellion prosecutions "raise serious risks of deterring wholly legitimate speech, even if it is controversial and discomfiting."

- Flights to Europe -

Catalonia has been mired in political crisis ever since the region unilaterally declared independence on October 27 in the wake of the controversial referendum.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government responded by sacking the Catalan government, taking direct control of the region and calling early elections.

The December vote was won by a block of separatist parties. But they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as their chosen candidates are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution.

Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22.

Puigdemont was one of a number of Catalan figureheads who fled abroad to escape prosecution, dragging other European countries into the spat.

A Belgian judge on Thursday bailed three former Catalan ministers after they handed themselves in to police there.

Another former Catalan minister, Clara Ponsati, was bailed in Scotland last week.

They face charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state.

Nine other pro-independence figures are currently in custody in Spain, including six members of Puigdemont's Catalan government and the former president of the regional parliament.

A major demonstration calling for imprisoned separatist leaders to be freed is planned for April 15 in Barcelona.
A dozen international coffee experts shuffle around a long wooden table, pausing at each steaming cup, head dipping, sniffing deeply, and shuffling on once more. Then the raucous slurping begins. In the wings hangs Yang Fan, the coffee farmer, watching the judges circle intently, awaiting a verdict on her latest crop of beans.

This is the most international farmer coffee cupping weve ever had, says Samuel Gurel, CEO of Torch Coffee roasters in the southwestern Chinese town of Puer, Yunnan province, referring to the weekly coffee grading process he hosts for local farmers.

It is a cosmopolitan gathering  joined by industry aficionados hailing from Thailand, Guatemala, India, Russia, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Kenya and more nations besides. They came together to judge the first ever Puer International Specialty Coffee Expo, which ran from Jan. 28-31 and drew more than a thousand attendees. The event spotlights Chinas burgeoning repute as a top coffee producer in the spiritual home of tea  an industry that is swelling even as economic pressures bite.

Yunnan coffees are very elegant, the acidity is clean, and the post-harvest processing gives special flavors, says Srikanth Rao, a visiting expert from Bayars Coffee gourmet roasters in Bangalore, India. Some are buttery and with the flavor of strawberries.

Still, Puer remains synonymous with tea. This bustling town surrounded by undulating green hills scored with tea plantations is just a stones throw from the border with Laos, and produces an eponymous variety of tea that is considered one of Chinas most refined.

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But the temperate climate of Puer is also perfect for growing arabica coffee. Yunnan accounts for 95% of Chinas coffee harvest, with half coming from the mist-shrouded landscape around Puer. As Chinas fast-living millennials move away from traditional tea in favor of the invigorating jolt of coffee, Puers farmers are catering to the demand. Today, China is the 13th biggest coffee producer in the world  rising from zero output three decades ago to 110,000 tons annually today.

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I used to grow tangerines but a disease harmed my crop, says local farmer Huang Dabao, 51. So I switched to coffee as theres no major disease and the yield is very stable.

And gaining serious acclaim. In April, China will be showcased as the portrait country of origin in Seattles annual Specialty Coffee Expo. It follows on the heels of Starbucks launching its first single-origin Yunnan coffee last year following four years of partnership with Yunnan farmers. In November, Starbucks also opened only its second Reserve Roastery anywhere in the world in Chinas freewheeling megacity of Shanghai.

Coffee has huge potential in China, says Liu Ying, who swapped her life working in private equity investment in Beijing to grow coffee in Puer five years ago. The younger generation prefer to drink coffee in their offices much more than tea.

Farmers gather coffee beans in the rain at Saimaba Farm in Baoshan of Yunnan Province, China on Oct. 29, 2008.

In fact, the story of coffee in China is a century old, with the bitter alien brew first introduced by French missionaries drifting over the border from Myanmar around the early 20th century, chiefly for personal consumption. But coffees commercial success in China began exactly 30 years ago and owes much to a familiar name: Nestle.

In 1988, the Chinese government asked the Swiss-headquartered multinational  the worlds largest food and beverage company  to help poverty alleviation efforts by cultivating coffee in far-flung rural areas, partnering with the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank. By 1994, the first commercial plots took off and Nestle has worked closely with farmers since that time, distributing generic material, offering practical advice and instilling codes of social, economic and environmental responsibility.

There has been a huge transformation, says Wouter de Smet, who has spent ten years helping farmers in Puer for Nestle. I visited all of the coffee areas, focused a lot on the village communities to make sure they could produce quality coffee and sell it directly to us.

Today, farmers from 1,448 smallholdings, including representatives of 25 ethnic minority groups such as the Lahu and Wa, bring their crops to Nestles spanking new Puer headquarters. A sample from every 70kg bag that arrives is logged and tasted by resident experts. Coffee that meets the grade is purchased according to international commodity prices set by the New York Stock Exchange, which farmers can monitor via smartphone, cutting out greedy middle-men and ensuring transparency.

But transparency doesnt much help when global coffee prices are at record lows. At Nestles cavernous warehouse, only one truck was unloading beans when TIME visited, a testament to prices wallowing at 14 rmb ($2.20) per kilo from highs of 40 rmb ($6.30) just a few years ago. With production cost alone around 17-19 rmb, most farmers are staying away until the price rises  or so they hope.

Some days we have nothing and then the next day we can have 300 tons because the price of coffee in New York has risen, says de Smet. Uncertainty doesnt bode well for local farmers, however, and many are now turning away from commercial coffee to specialty varieties that can fetch up to 50 rmb ($7.90) per kilo.

At current coffee prices, I cant even feed my family, says the farmer Yang. My only way out is to produce specialty coffee, to make the best coffee beans.

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To do that, cherries from the same trees are picked and processed in bespoke ways to create distinct flavors and aromas. The upside is much higher, more stable prices compared to the global fluctuations of commercial coffee; the risk is bumped up production costs and the greater care required to make the grade.

Right now with the coffee prices at 10 year lows, its not sustainable, which on one hand is horrible for coffee farmers, says Gurel. On the other hand, these challenges are what spur innovation.

That means letting beans dry in their cherries, thus imparting a wild, fruity flavor via environmental fermentation. Or allowing them to honey in their sugary inner mucilage layer, which adds a subtle sweetness.

Post-harvest processing is the most effective and fastest way to impact coffee quality and so also price, says Torch business director Marty Pollack, who is about to open a new school in Saudi Arabia.

Back in the cupping room, Yang waits to hear the experts verdict on whether all that extra effort was worthwhile.

If I told you this was Colombian or Panama coffee nobody would argue me with, says Gurel, as Yang breaks into a huge grin. Its a great example of how Chinese coffee is evolving.

 With video by Zhang Chi / Puer, video editing by Aria Hangyu Chen
Richard Javad Heydarian

Security, Asia

A proposed joint development agreement for the contested area's oil and gas underscores a diplomatic thawbut faces legal hurdles and political risks.

Are China and the Philippines Agreeing to Share the South China Sea?

China and the Philippines are now considering a series of resource-sharing agreements in the South China Sea, the latest development in a diplomatic warming trend that has reset the disputed maritime areas strategic calculus.

The initiative was made public during the late March visit of Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to Beijing, where he echoed President Rodrigo Duterte in hailing a golden period in Philippine-China relations.

The chief Filipino diplomat reiterated his countrys interest in ensuring the South China Sea disputes will no longer block the development of bilateral ties but rather will be turned into a source of friendship and cooperation between our two countries.

The two neighbors agreed to pursue offshore oil and gas exploration schemes based on a suitable legal framework, which will be mutually beneficial and apparently skirt intractable sovereignty issues over contested features.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reassured both sides that any resource-sharing agreement in the resource-rich area will be explored and conducted in a prudent and steady way to ensure its viability and success.

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The Philippines is desperate to develop alternative domestic sources of energy, while China is eager to legitimize its wider-reaching claim over the South China Sea, as defined in its notorious nine-dash line map.

Chinas Foreign Ministrys Institute of International Studies, a think tank, has estimated there could be as much as 293 to 344 billion barrels of oil (BBL) and 30 to 72 trillion cubic meters (TCM) of natural gas in the maritime area.

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The US Energy Information Administration, in contrast, estimates the maritime area holds between 16 to 33 BBL of oil and seven to 14 TCM of natural gas.

Either way, the potential for an oil and gas bonanza is contributing to escalating tensions in the crucial waterway, through which US$5 trillion of trade flows every year.

The new China-Philippines proposal is expected to face fierce resistance in Manila, where prominent military, political and nationalistic civil society figures remain skeptical of Chinas broad intentions in Philippine-claimed waters.

It isnt the first time that the two neighbors have sought to split the difference rather than tussle over contested South China Sea resources.

A previous attempt was made during the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001) administration, whereby the Philippines and China, along with Vietnam, explored the possibility of a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) in overlapping claimed areas.

Under the 2005 Joint Maritime Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) agreement, state energy giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) took the lead in seismic exploration in potentially hydrocarbon-rich areas which were claimed by all the three neighbors.

In turn, Petrovietnam and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), both state energy enterprises, were tasked with processing and interpreting the data derived from CNOOCs survey.

The aim was to generate sufficient trust and confidence before proceeding with extraction and sharing of actual resources in the area. In 2002, China and Vietnam negotiated a maritime delimitation agreement in the Gulf on Tonkin as a potential prelude for a JDA in that contested area.

This was all seen at the time as a prelude to cooperation in more sensitive geographical areas, namely the energy-rich waters off the coast of Vietnam and close to the China-occupied Paracel group of islands. Yet both the Gulf of Tonkin agreement and JMSU either failed to materialize or were hobbled by controversy.

Various civil society groups in the Philippines challenged the JMSU as unconstitutional, raising concerns over secrecy clauses as well as the scope of agreement.

For some, the Arroyos administration sold out sovereign interests in the South China Sea, notably at a time her husband was embroiled in a broadband infrastructure project scandal involving Chinas ZTE Corporation.

At the same time, Hanoi maintains that Beijing has not stuck to its side of the bargain in the Gulf of Tonkin agreement.

A similar JDA scheme announced in 2008 between China and Japan to make the East China Sea an area of peace, cooperation and friendship suffered a similar breakdown in 2013 due to Chinas building of structures in contested areas.

This time, however, China apparently aims to get it right with the Philippines, a traditional US ally that has shifted dramatically towards China under Duterte.

We want to make sure that our bilateral relations arent defined by the disputes but instead by areas of common interest, Philippine ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta Romana told this author in Beijing.

JDAs, the Filipino diplomat explained, are one way of making sure the two neighbors establish a sustainable modus vivendi in the South China Sea. So far, however, its far from clear what the two countries specifically have in mind.

In theory, any resource-sharing agreement should be consistent with both countries national as well as the 2016 international tribunal ruling at The Hague, which nullified much of Chinas nine-dash line map claims to areas Manila views as its own.

The Philippine constitution bars any JDA with a foreign entity that refuses to acknowledge the countrys sovereignty within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Any JDA within Chinas nine-dash line map will also potentially violate international law by legitimizing the Asian powerhouses excessive and expansive claims in adjacent waters.

According to the 2016 arbitral award ruling, the Philippines and China have no overlapping EEZs, thus its not clear what would be the legal basis for a fair and legitimate resource-sharing scheme in accordance to the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Acting Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio has described any resource-sharing agreement with China within Philippine waters as unconstitutional and potential grounds for Dutertes impeachment. Leading defense officials also continue to ring alarm bells over Chinas expanding military footprint in adjacent waters.

The two sides likely envision resource-sharing ventures similar to the Camago-Malampaya gas project, located off the coast of the Philippine island of Palawan in the South China Sea, where multinational energy giants Chevron and Shell are the lead investors.

One proposal is for the Philippine National Oil Company to subcontract CNOOC to develop energy resources in the nearby Calamian Islands, which lies outside the Philippines EEZ as well as Chinas nine-dash line map.

The arrangement would seemingly clear most potential legal hurdles and seems politically viable. A similar arrangement, though more controversial, is being considered in neighboring Reed Bank, a potential site of huge untapped hydrocarbon resources.

Even if the two sides never actualize the broached JDA, the mere discussion of such arrangements will allow China to further divide and rule its smaller resistant neighbors while providing new diplomatic veneer on its ever-expanding military footprint across the wider South China Sea.

This article originally appeared on Asia Times.

Image: Reuters

Read full article
Chinese state media said the nation has never surrendered to external pressure and will win any trade war with the United States.

In a series of editorials and columns after the worlds two largest economies targeted each other with steep tariffs, several of Beijings official mouthpieces said it would stand up to Donald Trumps bullying tactics.

The ruling Communist Partys Peoples Daily newspaper said Beijings quick counter-move had caught the Americans off guard.

Within 24 hours of the US publishing its list, China drew its sword, and with the same strength and to the same scale, counter-attacked quickly, fiercely and with determination, the paper said in a commentary on Thursday.

The confidence to know that will win the trade war comes from the scale of [Chinas] consumer market, the paper said, noting that Chinas market potential is incomparable to other economies.

Earlier this week, the US said it would impose 25 per cent duties on $50bn (35.6bn) worth of imports from China.

Washington said the move was aimed at forcing Beijing to address its theft of US intellectual property.

Within hours, China threatened to enact its own 25 per cent tariffs on $50bn worth of US products.

The tariffs appeared to be aimed at causing political damage to President Trump, by striking signature US exports such as soybeans, frozen beef, cotton and other agricultural commodities, produced in states from Iowa to Texas which backed him in the 2016 presidential election.

Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on $3bn of US goods, in response to the Trump administrations duties on all steel and aluminium imports, including those from China.

Most analysts believe China will feel forced to retaliate (Getty)

The official Xinhua news agency said the US tariffs proposal would cost the US dearly.

China will not be afraid or back down if a trade war is unavoidable. The country has never surrendered to external pressure, and it will not surrender this time either, the agency said.

The apparent determination to retaliate is the polar opposite of a prediction made by the White Houses national economic council director, Larry Kudlow, who told Fox News on Wednesday: I believe that the Chinese will back down and will play ball.

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Trump signs a presidential memorandum imposing tariffs and investment restrictions on China (AP)

President Trump has repeatedly said in speeches the US will no longer let China take advantage on trade.

Washingtons list of some 1,300 products was focused on Chinese industrial technology, transport and medical products, and tailored to do the least damage to US consumers.

Neither list has gone into effect. Washington is expected to hold a two-month public comment period and Chinese officials have said its implementation will depend on US action.

It will be a couple of months before tariffs on either side would go into effect and be implemented, and were hopeful that China will do the right thing, the White Houses press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said.

Surrounded by industry workers, Trump signs Section 232 Proclamations on steel imports (Getty)

Chinas ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, stressed Beijings preference was to resolve the trade dispute through negotiations.

Mr Cui met with acting US secretary of state, John Sullivan, in Washington on Wednesday, and later told reporters the two countries should avoid a trade war.

Negotiation would still be our preference, but it takes two to tango, he said.
A scientist from China has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in the United States for stealing seeds of genetically modified American rice, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

The Chinese scientist, Weiqiang Zhang, 51, was a legal permanent resident living in Manhattan, Kansas. He was working as a rice breeder at Ventria Bioscience, a biopharmaceutical company that creates genetically modified rice. He stole hundreds of rice seeds from the company that had cost millions of dollars and taken years of research to develop, according to the Justice Department. He kept the seeds in his home.

Then in 2013, United States Customs and Border Protection agents found the seeds in luggage belonging to researchers who visited Zhang from China. They were on their way back to China with the seeds.

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In February, he was convicted of three counts: Conspiring to steal trade secrets, conspiring to transport stolen property across states lines and transporting stolen property between states.

Weiqiang Zhang betrayed his employer by unlawfully providing its proprietary rice seeds to representatives of a Chinese crop institute, Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said in a statement. Todays sentence demonstrates the significant consequences awaiting those who would steal trade secrets from American companies.

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Wyandotte County Detention Center/Handout via Reuters/REUTERS

The conclusion of the years-long case comes as President Donald Trumps administration is planning to punish China for what the White House has said is the theft of intellectual property by that country. In a tweet on Wednesday, the president put the annual amount of intellectual property theft at $300 billion.

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FBI Director Christopher Wray has also warned about China. Asked during a Senate intelligence committee hearing in February about the counterintelligence risk from Chinese students in the U.S., Wray said, The use of nontraditional collectors, especially in the academic setting, whether its professors, scientists, students we see in almost every field office that the FBI has around the country. Theyre exploiting the very open research and development environment that we have.

Two public defenders for Zhang did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians as thousands protested and clashes erupted along the Gaza border on Friday, a week after a mass demonstration led to violence and the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

Gaza's health ministry also reported that 408 Palestinians had been taken to hospitals and medical centres for treatment. The dead included a 16-year-old, it added.

At least six journalists were shot and wounded, according to a statement from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army had no immediate comment on the statement.

Palestinians burned mounds of tyres and threw stones at Israeli soldiers over the border fence, who responded with tear gas and live fire.

Israel said there were also attempts to break through the barrier.

Thousands of protesters -- Israel estimated 20,000 -- gathered in locations near the border east of Khan Yunis, in the south of the blockaded Palestinian enclave, and east of Gaza City, among other spots.

The number of protesters, however, was lower than last week, when a demonstration by tens of thousands led to clashes in which Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians on March 30.

- 'Return to our land' -

Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, hailed the protests and condemned Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"They said Gaza would give up its principles, its project of liberation and (dream) of return if they starve it, but Gaza is coming out today," he said to protesters east of Khan Yunis.

He referred to the protest's call for Palestinian refugees to be able to return to land they fled or were expelled from what is now Israel.

Sinwar said Gazans would "break the border and return to our land and pray in Jerusalem".

Israel's military said "attempts were made to infiltrate into Israel under the cover of a smoke screen".

It also said explosive devices and firebombs were thrown, adding that soldiers opened fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement".

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Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Ronen Manelis defined the day's events as a success.

"None of our troops were wounded, the border was not crossed," he said, noting that what happened last week had "deterred Hamas, which prevented the masses from approaching the (border) fence".

- Call for restraint -

Mona al-Shaar, 43, who was distributing bottles of vinegar to protesters east of Khan Yunis to dab onto tissues to help them cope with tear gas, said: "We came here for the land and for a better future."

"The Israelis are cowards."

Israel had warned that its open-fire rules would remain unchanged for Friday's protest, pledging to stop damage to the fence and prevent infiltrations or alleged attacks.

It had faced mounting criticism over its use of live fire, and UN chief Antonio Guterres called for restraint ahead of the new protest.

"I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties," he said.

Kuwait on Friday called on the UN Security Council, to back an independent inquiry on the Israeli-Palestinian clashes, a week after a failed attempt to do the same thing.

"It's a matter the Security Council should address," said Kuwait's UN ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi.

The text brought by Kuwait, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, is the same as the one it submitted earlier which was blocked by Washington.

The Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said that if the UN does nothing it "is encouraging Israel" in its operations against Palestinians. If the Security Council fails to act then the Palestinian side could take the issue to the wider UN General Assembly, he added.

Washington will again oppose Kuwait's move, a diplomat from a UN Security Council nation said later Friday

Meanwhile the Palestinian representative in Washington warned Friday that the situation in Gaza was explosive and that the region cannot afford to wait for the promised new US peace plan.

Israel accuses Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip and with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

- US embassy move -

Israel says more than half of the dead from the previous Friday were members of militant groups, including the armed wing of Hamas.

Hamas's armed wing has claimed only five of them, saying they were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people".

Militant group Islamic Jihad has claimed at least one of the dead as a member.

Hamas has meanwhile offered compensation of $3,000 to the families of protesters killed and $500 for those seriously injured, drawing outrage from Israel.

The protests in support of refugees are designed to last six weeks.

More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their lands during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

Israelis say allowing the so-called "right of return" would mean their country would cease to exist.
The woman who was fired from her job after a viral image of her flipping off President Donald Trumps motorcade has filed a lawsuit against her former employer.

Juli Briskmans lawyers argue that the termination breached her First Amendment right to free speech and violated the basic tenets of Virginia employment law. She is represented by the Geller Law Group in partnership with the nonpartisan nonprofit Protect Democracy.

I was fired from my job for flipping off @realDonaldTrump. Today, I filed suit with @GellerLawyers & @protctdemocracy because what happened to me was unlawful and un-American.  juli_briskman (@julibriskman) April 4, 2018

Briskman, 50, briefly became a national figure in October after a photo of the cyclist brandishing a middle finger at Trumps passing motorcade went viral. She then lost her job at Akima LLC, a Virginia-based government contractor, which argued that the photo violated the companys social media policy.

I filed this lawsuit against my former employer today because I believe that Americans should not be forced to choose between their principles and their paychecks, Briskman said in the statement.
Prague (AFP) - Talks aimed at forming a new Czech government fell apart on Friday as a leftwing party snubbed the populist ANO movement of billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babis over his legal woes, raising the possibility of early elections.

The ANO won 78 out of 200 seats in last October's general election, but Babis, who has been charged with EU subsidy fraud, has failed to woo coalition partners.

His efforts took another blow on Friday, when the leftwing Social Democrats (CSSD) walked out of talks after several weeks, saying they could not join a government that includes Babis, given his legal troubles.

The Slovak-born chemical, food and media tycoon is facing criminal charges over alleged 2007 EU subsidy fraud to the tune of two million euros ($2.5 million) linked to his sprawling Agrofert holding company.

He has flatly denied any wrongdoing and insists the case is politically motivated.

"The talks failed because of ANO's unwillingness to tackle the problem with a prosecuted prime minister," CSSD chairman Jan Hamacek tweeted.

- Reopen the door? -

Babis told reporters the talks broke down because the CSSD had demanded to fill the post of interior minister -- supervising the police -- which ANO refused to give up.

CSSD deputy head Jiri Zimola told reporters on Friday that "the party leadership has ended talks with ANO about a potential coalition".

"Unfortunately all our proposals went unfulfilled. The ball is now in Andrej Babis's court," he said, adding that the CSSD could "reopen the door" for an agreement, if Babis changes his position.

"The ball is now in Andrej Babis's court," said Zimola. According to him, the "door could be reopened" again for an agreement, if Babis's circumstances changed.

Earlier this year, Babis cobbled together a minority government of ANO members and experts with no party affiliation, but it failed to win a parliamentary confidence vote in January and resigned although it will remain in place until a new government is appointed.

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President Milos Zeman, an ally of Babis, asked the second-wealthiest Czech to try again, giving him until June to form a majority cabinet.

Babis told Czech public television that he would meet Zeman on Tuesday, adding that the president's opinion was "crucial" given the "new situation that has emerged."

- Chance of early election -

Zeman, a pro-Russian, pro-Chinese and anti-Muslim veteran leftwinger, who was elected to a second five-year term in January, has two attempts to name a prime minister under the constitution.

Since Zeman has now merely asked Babis to form a new cabinet and has not officially appointed him prime minister, the president could still tap someone else to assemble a government.

With 22 seats, the far-right and anti-EU SPD party has made no secret of desire to form a coalition with ANO and the KSCM Communist party. Babis has so far ruled out the arrangement.

If necessary, a third and final try to form a government falls to the parliament speaker, who is currently an ANO member.

"Early elections are the most likely scenario now," independent political analyst Jiri Pehe told AFP, adding that Babis may want to hold the vote in autumn, alongside the Senate municipal elections.

ANO would be expected to win a snap vote, with a March poll by the Czech Academy of Sciences showing it with 30.5-percent support, well ahead of the competition.

But adding to Babis's woes, three investigative journalists have claimed police used intimidation to discourage them from working on stories about the mogul by repeatedly calling them in for questioning.

In last October's election, Babis had won over voters upset with traditional parties for their failure to tackle corruption in the Czech Republic, an EU member of 10.6 million people with a thriving economy heavily dependent on car production and exports to the eurozone.
Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images, Carlos Barria/Reuters, AP

Freed from the shackles of cautious advisers and brimming with self-confidence, President Trump is boldly executing the disruptive foreign policy that he promised as a candidate. In just the month of March, Trump jettisoned his secretary of State, national security adviser and chief economist, replacing these so-called adults in the room with officials more aligned with his unilateralist and nationalist impulses. In rapid succession Trump bypassed his top intelligence advisers in agreeing to an unprecedented summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, rattled Congressional Republicans by provoking a trade war with China, and surprised close aides by inviting newly re-elected Russian President Vladimir Putin to a congratulatory visit at the White House. This week he blindsided the Pentagon in calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, and announcing the deployment of the National Guard troops to the border with Mexico.

Next month promises even greater disruption. With a May 12 certification deadline fast approaching, the newly liberated Trump is poised to fulfill one of his favorite campaign pledges: walking away from an Iran nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 by the Obama administration. Trump has called the deal an embarrassment to the United States and one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.

From left: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz pose for a group picture at the United Nations building in Vienna, July 14, 2015. Iran and six major world powers reached a nuclear deal, capping more than a decade of on-off negotiations with an agreement that could potentially transform the Middle East and which Israel called an historic surrender. (Photo: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)

Certainly Trumps recent personnel moves seemed to telegraph a determination to kill the Iran nuclear deal, which granted Iran sanctions relief in return for limits on its nuclear program. Outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster and outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, along with Defense Secretary James Mattis, all supported maintaining the agreement. But the new National Security Adviser John Bolton, an uber-hawk who has consistently advocated preemptive military strikes against both Iran and North Korea to destroy their nuclear programs, has called the Iran nuclear deal a form of appeasement. Secretary of state-designate and former Congressman Mike Pompeo is also a vociferous critic of the Iran deal, a fact Trump stressed in naming him to replace Tillerson.

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I actually got along well with Rex, but really it was a different mindset, Trump told reporters last month after announcing the switch. When you look at the Iran deal, I think its terrible. I guess [Tillerson] thought it was OK.  With Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. I think its going to be great.

Yet the strategy behind Trumps apparent plan to torpedo the Iran nuclear deal on the eve of nuclear talks with North Korea eludes many experts. U.S. diplomats spent years erecting the crippling multilateral sanctions regime that eventually forced Iran to the negotiating table with the P-5 plus Germany (Germany plus the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council  the United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain). The International Atomic Energy Agency was charged with verifying the agreement and judges that Iran is in compliance, and all of the other parties remain supportive of the deal. The Trump administrations unilateral hard line thus threatens to isolate the United States, rather than Iran, and potentially start a drumbeat for the kind of preventive war for which John Bolton has long been a champion, including the 2003 Iraq War.

Assuming the Trump administration is going to walk away from the Iran deal, the real question I have for them is what do they plan to do the day after? former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who led the U.S. negotiating team that concluded the Iran nuclear agreement, said in an interview with Yahoo News. Even if European allies try to maintain the deal along with Russia and China, she noted, it will leave the United States on the outside and alone. And if President Trump reimposes sanctions, and Europe cannot keep [the deal] going in some way, the Iranians will likely kick out the international inspectors and reject the deals extraordinary verification regime, leaving the United States and its allies with no eyes on what the Iranians are actually doing on the nuclear front.

Walking away from the deal will thus make it easier for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, Sherman argued, and push the United States closer to a larger war in the Middle East that the president insists he doesnt want. And while President Trump may believe walking away from the Iran deal will show North Korea how tough he is on the eve of talks, instead it will show Pyongyang that the United States cannot be trusted as a negotiating partner, said Sherman, currently a senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group. So I simply do not understand what the Trump administrations plan is for the day after they reject the Iran nuclear deal.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 24, 2017. (Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Despite drawing Russia, China and the European Union into a United Nations-backed sanctions regime and effectively isolating Tehran, Obama administration officials faced tough negotiations with their Iranian counterparts. At numerous junctures, Shermans team believed that the talks were on the verge of collapse. In the end, they reached an agreement that in exchange for relief from nuclear-related international sanctions, Iran would eliminate most of its stockpile of enriched uranium, limit its ongoing enrichment activities to a single facility using older centrifuges for 10 years, and grant Atomic Energy Agency inspectors regular access to all nuclear facilities.

From the beginning, the Iran nuclear deal faced intense criticism from congressional Republicans, who resented that the Obama administration did not submit it as a treaty for the Senates advice and consent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was another vociferous critic, and he took the extraordinary step of deriding the deal before a joint session of the U.S. Congress in 2015. More recently, Netanyahu visited the Trump White House early last month, shortly before Tillerson was fired.

Specifically, critics objected to the Iran deals sunset clauses that begin relaxing some limitations on Iranian uranium enrichment after 10 years. They also derided what was historically an unusually strict verification regime for not including no-warning inspections of military sites (instead, the agreement gives Iran 24 days to respond to anAtomic Energy Agency request to inspect a military site). Most of all, critics objected to the fact that the agreement did nothing to constrain Irans other destabilizing behavior, including its continued development of ballistic missiles and support for terrorist proxies throughout the Middle East.

I actually think it would be a mistake for the Trump administration to walk away from the Iran deal if the Europeans are willing to step up and help us fix it, including by joining with the United States in leveling powerful sanctions against Iran for its missile programs, pressuring the [energy agency] to start inspecting Iranian military sites, eliminating the sunset provisions under which nuclear restrictions disappear over time, and designating both the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations, said Mark Dubowitz, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a pro-sanctions group. If the Europeans agree to those fixes and the Trump administration refuses to take yes for an answer  which looks more and more likely with the selection of John Bolton as national security adviser Dubowitz notes that there is indeed a likelihood that the United States will become politically isolated.

Splitting the United States from our European allies has been an Iranian objective for years, and that could play into their hands, said Dubowitz. On the other hand, Trump demanding that the agreement be fixed could send the useful message that the United States wont be bound by fatally flawed agreements that give our adversaries pathways to nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Proponents of the Iran nuclear deal point out that European allies were working closely with the State Department under Tillerson to find common ground on the fixes demanded by Trump. They point out that restraining Iranian behavior in other areas, such as support for terrorism, wasnt part of the agreement, which was narrowly focused on nuclear weapons.

The Iran nuclear agreement doesnt deter Irans missile program or change its support for extremist groups, nor does it cure cancer or help you shed those unwanted pounds. It only helps stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb, and thats good enough, said Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, a pro-arms control group. The irony is that the Europeans were trying hard to accommodate the Trump administration, he said, before the appointments of Pompeo and Bolton. That convinced the Europeans that rather than trying to fix the Iran agreement, Trump is determined to kill it, and he is assembling Pompeo and Bolton in a war cabinet. Our European allies remember the role Bolton played in killing the Agreed Framework nuclear agreement with North Korea [in the Bush 43 administration as under secretary of state for arms control and international security] and in pushing for the invasion of Iraq. The Europeans want no part of a replay.

Men work inside of an uranium conversion facility March 30, 2005, outside the city of Isfahan, about 254 miles (410 kilometers) south of capital Tehran, Iran. The cities of Isfahan and Natanz in central Iran are home to the heart of Irans nuclear program. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kori Schake is the deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, and a former member of George W. Bushs National Security Council staff. The Trump administration walking away from the Iran deal has the potential to open a big rift in transatlantic relations, because our European allies feel that they made a good faith effort to address American concerns, and it didnt seem to matter, she said in an interview. Even if Trump exits the agreement, she noted, the Europeans are likely to work with the Iranians, Russians and Chinese to try to preserve it. And their perception will be that it is not just Iran, but increasingly the United States that is destabilizing the international order, and needs to be contained.

* * *

Under the agreement, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98 percent and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years, Iran will enrich uranium only up to 3.67 percent. Iran also agreed not to build any new heavy-water facilities for the same period. Uranium-enrichment activities will be limited to a single facility using first-generation centrifuges for 10 years. Other facilities will be converted to avoid proliferation risks. To monitor and verify Irans compliance with the agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency will have regular access to all Iranian nuclear facilities. The agreement provides that in return for verifiably abiding by its commitments, Iran will receive relief from U.S., European Union and United Nations Security Council nuclear-related economic sanctions.

James Kitfield is senior fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
New York (AFP) - Conor McGregor has turned himself into US police Thursday night following an incident where he allegedly attacked a shuttle bus loaded with fellow mixed martial arts fighters who were attending a New York media event.

The 29-year-old McGregor surrendered to the 78th Precinct station but there was no immediate indication whether charges had been filed, the New York Post reported. The newspaper said McGregor was being questioned and would eventually be charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.

Video of the earlier incident clearly showed McGregor hurling a dolly through a side window of the bus as it moved slowly in a car park at the Barclays Center in New York.

UFC President Dana White said fighter Michael Chiesa, who was on the bus, had been hospitalised following the incident and was being treated for cuts to the face.

Police had issued a warrant for the arrest of McGregor, White added, accusing the Irish superstar and a group of around 20 men of "storming the building."

"They got down to the loading docks where the fighters were getting on the buses and attacked them, throwing trash cans, dollies, things like that," White said. "Broke one of the windows, cut Michael Chiesa real bad, cut his hand, cut his face.

"Everyone's shaken up. This is the most disgusting thing that has ever happened in the history of the company.

"There is a warrant out for Conor McGregor's arrest. They're looking for him right now. His plane cannot take off, he can't leave the state of New York."

White predicted McGregor, who reportedly pocketed around $100 million for his superfight against boxer Floyd Mayweather last August, would likely face legal action over the incident.

"As you can imagine he's going to be sued beyond belief," White said. "This was a real bad career move for him."

It was not clear what triggered McGregor's assault but it appeared to be linked in part to the UFC's decision to strip him of his world title.

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McGregor reportedly turned up unannounced at the end of Thursday's press event to publicise the upcoming UFC 223 card.

On Wednesday, White said the UFC would strip McGregor of his lightweight title, which would be awarded to the winner of Saturday's fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway in New York.

McGregor reacted angrily to the decision on social media. "You's'll strip me of nothing ..." McGregor ranted.
Donald Trump - AP

Donald Trump last night harked back to controversial comments about "Mexican rapists" that he first made at the outset of his presidential campaign.

The president suggested that women were being raped in a high profile "caravan" of more than 1,000 migrants that has been making its way through Mexico to the US border in recent days.

When he launched his campaign in June 2015 Mr Trump made an opening speech arguing that Mexico was "sending rapists".

He said then: "When Mexico sends its people they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Referring back to the remarks in West Virginia on Thursday night, he said: "They're not putting their good ones. Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened. Everybody said 'Oh, he was so tough'. I used the word rape."

Apparently indicating the caravan, he added: "Yesterday, it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before."

Part of the migrant caravan in Mexico Credit: AP

It was not immediately clear what the basis for the comments was.

The president also repeated a previous controversial claim that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election, costing him the popular vote.

He said: "They always like to say 'Oh, that's a conspiracy theory'. Not a conspiracy theory folks. Millions and millions of people."

Adolfo Flores, a reporter for BuzzFeed News, who has been following the migrant caravan, said: "Ive been with the caravan for 12 days and havent seen or heard of anyone being 'raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before'."
Donald Trump said that he did not know about the $130,000 his personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with him, in the president's public comments about

The payment came in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. When asked if he knew about the payment aboard Air Force One flying back from a trip to West Virginia, Mr Trump replied with a flat "No".

Mr Trump also said he did not know why Mr Cohen had made the payment: You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael.

Responding to a second follow up, Mr Trump said he did not know where the money even came from. No, I dont know, he said.

Until now, Trump had avoided any questions on Ms Daniels  real name Stephanie Clifford  though the White House has consistently said Mr Trump denies there was a relationship. Still, he has been dogged by the focus Ms Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with the president in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet about it as part of a non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. Ms Daniels is now seeking to invalidate that agreement.

Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has argued that the agreement is invalidated as the president himself did not put personally sign the document. He has also claimed that Mr Cohen broke the non-disclosure agreement by commenting publicly about the contract.

In a tweeted response to Mr Trump's remarks on Thursday, Mr Avenatti said: We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One.

As history teaches us, he added, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.

Ms Daniels publicly discussed her allegations for the first time late last month on CBS 60 Minutes programme, when she alleged that she was threatened in 2011 while in a car park with her infant daughter to discourage her from discussing the alleged relationship.

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Ms Daniels said she was on her way to a fitness class with her child when an unknown man approached her, according to an interview broadcast on Sunday.

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, Ms Daniels said.

In the interview, Ms Daniels was asked why she repeatedly signed statements denying the relationship with Mr Trump, and acknowledged that there could be questions about her credibility.

I felt intimidated and ... honestly bullied. And I didn't know what to do. And so I signed it, Ms Daniels said.

Last month, a law firm representing Mr Trump and the corporation owned by Mr Cohen, claimed Ms Daniels could owe more than $20m (14.3m) in damages for violating the nondisclosure agreement. The court document alleges Ms Daniels is guilty of at least 20 violations of the agreement's confidentiality clause and could face a $1m (700,000) penalty for each violation

David Schwartz, spokesman for Mr Cohen, issued a statement in response to Mr Trump's remarks on Air Force One.

This is an accurate assessment of the facts, Mr Schwartz said. This is exactly what I have been saying all along. Michael Cohen made the payment to protect reputation, family and business. It had nothing to do with the election.
By Timothy Gardner and Richard Valdmanis WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt held 25-times more meetings with industry representatives than environmental advocates during his first seven months in office, according to a Reuters analysis of his schedule, reflecting the agency's pro-business approach under his tenure. The newly released record of Pruitt's schedule, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Integrity Project watchdog group, come as the White House probes allegations against Pruitt. These include his rental of a room in a Washington, D.C. condo owned by the wife of an energy industry lobbyist. The pressure mounted late on Friday as 64 Democratic members of the 435-member House of Representatives called for President Donald Trump to immediately dismiss him over a host of ethics issues and for acting to counter the mission of his agency. Three fellow Republicans in the House have also called on Pruitt to resign, but the EPA chief has widespread support from conservatives. Pruitt, a vocal doubter of mainstream climate change science, has also faced criticism for frequent first-class air travel, spending on costly items in his office - including a $43,000 soundproof telephone booth - and a trip to Morocco where he promoted U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, something outside the remit of an environmental regulator. PRESIDENTIAL PRAISE President Donald Trump has praised Pruitt for aggressively pursuing his agenda to roll back regulations he sees as unnecessary to pave the way for more oil, gas, and coal production as well as removing environmental hurdles to a revival in domestic manufacturing. Trump on Thursday said Pruitt was doing a "fantastic job," and was well-loved in "coal and energy country." While Trump appears to support Pruitt, the president can change his mind quickly. Last autumn, Trump said he had confidence in Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, even after their relationship was strained over Iran and Russia policy. Trump fired Tillerson last month. Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly had advocated last week for Trump to fire Pruitt, a White House official said. Trump met with Pruitt early on Friday, said the same official, who declined to say what the meeting concerned. According to the calendar, Pruitt met with representatives of the industries EPA regulates at least 105 times from Feb. 22 to Aug. 10 of last year, making up about 77 percent of his total meetings during that period. About half of those industry meetings were with representatives of the oil, gas, coal and mining industries, according to the records, including executives from companies such as oil major BP Plc , refiner Valero Energy Corp , coal producer Murray Energy and miner BHP Billiton . 'I PROSECUTE POLLUTERS' Most of the rest of Pruitt's industry meetings were with representatives of agriculture, including farm groups like the National Cattlemen's Association, and biofuels producers like Growth Energy and POET, according to the records. But Pruitt met only four times with environmental groups eager to see the EPA limit pollution from those industries, the records show - Trout Unlimited, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a nonprofit association of state environmental agency leaders called ECOS, and the Alliance to Restore Our Waterways. Past EPA administrators have been criticized by conservatives for spending too much time with environmental lobbying groups and too little with industry. Pruitt, a former attorney general of Oklahoma, said through a spokesman that he does not spend any time with polluters. "I prosecute polluters. What I'm spending time with are stakeholders who care about outcomes," he said. "It's Washington, D.C.-think to look at folks across the country - from states to citizens to farmers and ranchers, industry in general - and say they are evil or wrong and were not going to partner with them," Pruitt said. Liz Purchia Gannon, a spokeswoman for former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, who served under Democratic President Barack Obama, said the ratio of Pruitt's industry to environmental group meetings was a contrast to the ratio of meetings McCarthy held. McCarthy met frequently with utility groups while the agency worked to form the Clean Power Plan, Obama's top proposal to curb greenhouse gas emissions, Gannon said. "As head of EPA she always met with environmental and public health groups and industry and business leaders. She believed strongly in meeting regularly with all sides, said Gannon, who did not provide data on the meetings. Pruitt also held a number of meetings with conservative policy think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, and the Family Research Council, a religious group that argues that homosexual conduct is harmful to society, according to the records. A portion of Pruitt's schedule covering his first few months in office had already been released by the EPA, but the latest batch covers the broadest period so far. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner, Richard Valdmanis in Boston, and Steve Holland; editing by Bernadette Baum, Susan Thomas and G Crosse)
Washington (AFP) - The 60 US envoys who were expelled by Russia amid a diplomatic crisis triggered by the poisoning of a former spy have left the country, the State Department said Thursday.

"This morning 60 American diplomats left Russia in compliance with the Russian government's unwarranted decision to declare them persona non grata," a US spokeswoman said.

The Americans were ordered out by President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin after Washington responded to a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain by expelling 60 Russians.

Washington alleged that the Russians -- 48 attached to the Russian embassy and 12 to Moscow's UN mission -- were intelligence agents working under diplomatic cover.

Moscow denies this, just as it denies having any hand in poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal on British soil. Washington insists the expelled Americans are State Department employees.

"We regret Russia's decision to expel our diplomats, dedicated professionals who have represented the United States with distinction in an effort to build bridges between our two countries, so that we might find a way to confront shared challenges together," the official said.
By Delphine Schrank MATIAS ROMERO, Mexico (Reuters) - Impoverished Central American migrants traveling in a "caravan" through Mexico that angered U.S. President Donald Trump said they would stick together for safety even though the group will end its journey in Mexico City rather than at the U.S. border. Since peaking at around 1,500 people, the caravan has dwindled under pressure from Trump and Mexican migration authorities, which vowed to separate those migrants with a right to stay in Mexico from those who did not. By issuing permits to the migrants, authorities shielded them from imminent deportation from Mexico. By Thursday morning, migrants were boarding buses to leave the town of Matias Romero in the southern state of Oaxaca, where their journey was held up by authorities at the weekend. Salvadoran Andres Rodriguez, 51, waited with a small backpack and a gallon of water in a field sprawling with men, women and children, mulling over a document that gave him 20 days to reach any border out of the country. Despite knowing the permit protected him, and that traveling alone would be faster, he feared if he left the caravan he would be exposed to the robbery and assault that befall many migrants on the long slog to the U.S. border. "It's much safer," he said. "Everyone is supporting us. One person alone is much more vulnerable. Much more dangerous." Rodriguez, a builder, said he fled his home in El Salvador in the middle of the night with only the clothes on his back, a few dollars, a nephew, and his son, a student who had received a written death threat from a gang he had refused to join or pay. "To be young, in my country, is a crime," Rodriguez said. "I'm old - they'll do nothing to me. But to my son, if we go back ... they'll kill him." Plagued by gang violence and poverty, El Salvador and neighboring Honduras have murder rates that are among the world's highest. Trump's tweets criticizing the caravan have showered it in far more publicity than its organizers, U.S-based advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, ever expected. But his proposal to militarize the border has sparked a diplomatic row with Mexico. Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto rebuked Trump on Thursday over his plan to send National Guard troops to the border, urging Trump not to vent his domestic political "frustration" on Mexico. [L2N1RI1PN] Stranded in Matias Romero since Sunday, a handful of women and children boarded a bus before dawn on Thursday, headed for the central city of Puebla, where the caravan was due to make another stop before concluding its journey in Mexico City. By mid-morning, others packed bags in a field strewn with discarded clothes and trash as two more buses waited, but only for those who could afford a ticket. The caravan, which set off from Mexico's southern border on March 25, aims to raise awareness about the plight of migrants, and has been running annually since 2010, the government said. Once in Puebla, organizers plan to hold a three-day conference with U.S. and Mexican immigration attorneys. On a street just outside the park, 30-year-old Guatemalan Manuel Flores brandished a temporary Mexican visa, but said he would stay with the caravan regardless. "I don't even need to be here, but I'm staying for them - for my family. Because they need this. They can't go home," he said, pointing to a group of seven new friends from Honduras and El Salvador, with whom he had cooked a great vat of seafood soup. Bonded by the travails of their odyssey, they were already discussing setting up a restaurant together in Texas. (Reporting by Delphine Schrank; Editing by Dave Graham, Rosalba O'Brien, Toni Reinhold)
Beirut (AFP) - Air strikes killed 40 civilians in the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta on Friday and the army launched a ground offensive on its outskirts after talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops have captured nearly all of the one-time opposition stronghold of Ghouta with a combination of ferocious bombing raids and negotiated withdrawals.

All that remained was its largest town of Douma, held by the Jaish al-Islam Islamist faction and home to tens of thousands of people.

Moscow announced a deal with Jaish al-Islam last Sunday, ushering in three consecutive days of evacuations from Douma that saw nearly 3,000 fighters and civilians bussed to northern Syria.

But the evacuations stalled this week amid reports Jaish al-Islam remained divided over a withdrawal, and heavy bombing hit Douma on Friday afternoon for the first time in around 10 days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of air strikes hit various parts of Douma, including some suspected to have been carried out by Russian warplanes.

"At least 40 civilians including 8 children have been killed in air strikes and rocket fire on Douma," it said.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said dozens of people had been injured.

On Douma's outskirts, Syria's army entered fields surrounding the town, state news agency SANA said.

Regime forces were locked in violent clashes with Jaish al-Islam rebels in agricultural areas to the southwest and east of the town, the Observatory said.

- Dentists operating -

A medic inside Douma described to AFP chaos at the local hospital as wounded and dead were brought in.

"The hospital is in a state of panic," the medic said.

"Dentists are carrying out emergency surgeries. Dead bodies are being brought in pieces and are unrecognisable."

A doctor inside the town said state television was broadcasting the bombardment live.

"It feels like we're back in the days of the Gaza war" when Israel was bombing the Palestinian enclave and people around the world watched, he said, giving his name only as Mohammed.

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State news agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town on Friday in response to deadly rebel mortar fire from Douma.

It said mortar shells hit several suburbs of the capital and killed at four people and wounded more than a dozen.

But Jaish al-Islam spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar in a statement late Friday denied that the group had targeted any Damascus neighbourhood.

The regime and its ally Russia launched a blistering air and ground offensive on Eastern Ghouta in mid-February, killing more than 1,600 civilians and causing an international outcry.

The enclave on the eastern edge of Damascus had escaped government control since 2012 and, although it had shrunk over the years, it still covered sizeable territory two months ago.

The daily air raids kept residents cowering in basements for weeks and a ground assault soon sliced the area into three isolated pockets, each held by different rebel factions.

- Deal dead? -

The first two were evacuated under Russian-brokered deals last month that saw more than 46,000 rebels and civilians bussed to the northwestern province of Idlib, which the regime does not control.

Tens of thousands of people also fled through humanitarian corridors opened by Russia and Syrian troops.

Some have already returned to their devastated neighbourhoods, while others are staying in crowded shelters.

As talks over the third and final pocket of Douma dragged on, Russia and Syria's regime threatened Jaish al-Islam with a renewed military assault if they did not agree to withdraw.

Those still trapped in Douma had been nervous that any attempt to renege on an evacuation would only prompt Russia and regime warplanes to resume deadly strikes.

The nature of the ongoing discussions over Douma is unclear and Jaish al-Islam itself has not stated its position since this week's first evacuation.

It remains unclear exactly why the talks between Moscow and Jaish al-Islam have faltered.

SANA reported that they fell apart when rebels refused to release detainees they were holding in Douma, and said Friday that "military operations against Jaish al-Islam will not stop until the hostages are released."

Jaish al-Islam had been angling for a reconciliation deal that would allow them to stay in Douma as a police force.

The group appears to have little leverage, however, to face the regime's recovered might, and the latest strikes raised fears of a brutal end to the five-year-old siege of Eastern Ghouta.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian fishermen rescued at least five Rohingya Muslims off the island of Sumatra in the early hours of Friday and brought them ashore, officials said, in the first such landing this year amid media reports that five others had died at sea. It was not immediately clear where the boat had originated. Rights groups have said they are expecting many more refugees from Myanmar to attempt the dangerous sea crossings. Fishermen in east Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, brought two men, two women, and a child to safety while unconfirmed media reports said five others had died. "They reached land at around 1.30 a.m. and were immediately taken to hospital," said Razali, a senior navy official based in eastern Aceh. Tens of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar by sea following an outbreak of violence in Rakhine state in 2012. That exodus peaked in 2015, when an estimated 25,000 people fled across the Andaman Sea for Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, many drowning in unsafe and overloaded boats. Last year, according to UN and other rights groups, some 700,000 Rohingya fled their homes in Rakhine into Bangladesh after militant attacks in August 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. Indonesia usually takes in asylum-seekers arriving by boat but they have limited rights and many end up spending years in refugee camps and detention centers. Earlier this week, neighboring Malaysia intercepted a boat off Langkawi island carrying 56 Rohingya from Myanmar. (Additional reporting and writing by Kanupriya Kapoor in Nick Macfie)
Zac Efron and Alexandra Daddario celebrate the Australian premiere of Baywatch. (Photo: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Zac Efron has romanced his leading lady in the past (please see Vanessa Hudgens), but is he actually dating Alexandra Daddario, his co-star in last years Baywatch?

All evidence points to maybe. The truth is that since the pair played a couple onscreen, theyve made it difficult to determine whether theyre good friends who genuinely like each other and cranked up their flirting for the sake of the movie, or just a couple who wants to keep it to themselves.

Their social media activity over the past hours has made people particularly curious. He commented on a photo of her and a dog, as she got ready for the Rampage premiere, with, Two hot bitches. Then when he shared a photo of his new dog, she liked it and wrote, Angel dog. He then asked her for a doggie date, to which she hasnt responded.

In fact, People reports that Efron and Daddarios relationship is ongoing, but its not exactly what people think. Theyve been seeing each other on and off since their time working together on the movie last year, but they are not officially dating, a source told the magazine.

Their behavior isnt really any different than its been in the past, which is to say, its ambiguous.

Efron and Daddario sparked rumors that they were dating from the time the movie was released. Probably because of photos like this:

Daddario was asked straight out about the status of her relationship with Efron during a hard-hitting May 2017 interview with Access Hollywood.

I understand why people think that. Were very good friends, and we play love interests in the movie, Daddario said. I think we have a good chemistry, which is why we were cast in the movie, because I think that translates on screen and in real life, so  you know, its fine.

Then the reporter asked her if she would ever date Efron in real life.

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I dont know, she said. I cant say.

Daddario didnt specify whether she couldnt answer the question because maybe she remembered at that moment that she left the iron on at home, or because she was concealing a giant secret from the world. But some people guessed it was the latter.

They also kept people guessing with their joint interviews, which they did often, when the movie was being released. For instance, when they appeared on Australias The Project, Efron answered the question of whether there was anything going on between them with nothing but our shared love of pickles  so far. (Apparently, they both really liked them fried.)

Their social media feeds hasnt done anything to clarify their couple status. They havent been talking about how happy they are that its Friday, or the regular stuff co-workers discuss.

Post-movie, social media shows that the two have, at the very least, remained quite friendly.

Does it mean anything that Efron has wished Daddario happy birthday, both online and in person? And some eagle-eyed Daddario followers noticed Efron in the background of a video clip that shows her blowing out the candles of her birthday cake last month.

The truth is, though, that both actors regularly share snapshots with their co-stars. (Adam Devine, who starred with Efron in 2016s Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and with Daddario in Netflixs When We First Met this year, appears on both of their feeds.)

One more piece of evidence: Efron and Daddario were recently photographed together at an L.A. pet store, which could mean that theyre, uh, shopping for their pets together because they trust each others opinions on chew toys. Or  they could be dating.

Read more on Yahoo Entertainment:
Beirut (AFP) - Air strikes killed four civilians on Friday in the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said, the first bombardment there since talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal.

"Twelve air strikes hit multiple areas in Douma," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain.

"Four civilians were killed and around 25 wounded," he told AFP.

They were the first bombing raids on Douma since negotiations began around 10 days ago over a withdrawal of rebels and civilians from the town, the largest in Eastern Ghouta.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops have recaptured 95 percent of Ghouta since February 18 through a combination of a deadly air and ground assault and evacuation deals.

Moscow had announced a deal with Jaish al-Islam, the Islamist faction that holds the town, but hardliners within the group were reportedly refusing to leave their positions.

Syria and Russia had threatened a resumption of their brutal assault if Jaish al-Islam did not agree to the deal.

Syria's state news agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town on Friday in response to rebel mortar fire from Douma that wounded seven people near the capital.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA BORDER (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 27 in the week-long disturbances.

They said the demonstrators, including two teenage boys aged 16 and 17, were killed at protest sites along the frontier during a round of daily demonstrations that has been dubbed "The Great March of Return".

The day of violence, which saw bigger Palestinian crowds than in recent days but not as large as when the demonstration began last Friday, calmed down as night descended.

Gazans, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain ancestral homes in what is now Israel, have set up tent encampments a few hundred meters (yards) inside the 65-km (40-mile) fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the barrier, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tires and throw stones.

"Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future," said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. "I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them."

The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military estimated Friday's turnout at around 20,000.

Refugees comprise most of the 2 million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas which calls for Israel's destruction and is designated by Western states as a terrorist organization.

Many of those killed were militants, said Israel, which stationed sharpshooters on the frontier to stop Palestinians attempting "any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians".

Story continues

Video: UN Calls for Inquiry Into Gaza Deaths

WAR OF WORDS

David Keyes, an Israeli government spokesman, accused Hamas of having instigated violent protests along the border.

"This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence," he said.

Hamas's Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the "enemy who besieges us". He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: "We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem."

Earlier, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem urged protesters to keep the rallies peaceful. "Maintaining the peaceful nature of the protests will strike all fragile Zionist propaganda," Qassem said in a statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds little sway in Gaza, condemned what he described as Israel's "acts of killing and oppression conducted...against the peaceful uprising."

Israel's response to the protests has drawn international criticism, with human rights groups saying it involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.

The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created.

The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority.

Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tires to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots.

With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border.

A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a wilful killing, Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.

Israel says it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement".

The Palestinian deaths have elicited scant concern in Israel, which has been the target of thousands of rocket strikes from Gaza over the past few years.

Palestinian militant groups have also dug tunnels under the border fence to smuggle weapons, and to launch attacks.

(Additional reporting by Eli Berlzon and Amir Cohen on the Gaza border, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Stephen Farrell and Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA BORDER (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead seven Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 200 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 27 in the week-long disturbances. They said the demonstrators, including two teenage boys aged 16 and 17, were killed at protest sites along the frontier during a round of daily demonstrations that has been dubbed "The Great March of Return". The day of violence, which saw bigger Palestinian crowds than in recent days but not as large as when the demonstration began last Friday, calmed down as night descended. Gazans, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain ancestral homes in what is now Israel, have set up tent encampments a few hundred meters (yards) inside the 65-km (40-mile) fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip. Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the barrier, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tires and throw stones. "Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future," said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. "I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them." The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces. The Israeli military estimated Friday's turnout at around 20,000. Refugees comprise most of the 2 million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist movement Hamas which calls for Israel's destruction and is designated by Western states as a terrorist organization. Many of those killed were militants, said Israel, which stationed sharpshooters on the frontier to stop Palestinians attempting "any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians". WAR OF WORDS David Keyes, an Israeli government spokesman, accused Hamas of having instigated violent protests along the border. "This is a travesty for the Palestinian people that the Hamas government is encouraging its people to attack Israel, it is encouraging its people to commit acts of violence," he said. Hamas's Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, spoke at a protest encampment to praise those who turned out to confront the "enemy who besieges us". He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: "We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem." Earlier, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem urged protesters to keep the rallies peaceful. "Maintaining the peaceful nature of the protests will strike all fragile Zionist propaganda," Qassem said in a statement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds little sway in Gaza, condemned what he described as Israel's "acts of killing and oppression conducted...against the peaceful uprising." Israel's response to the protests has drawn international criticism, with human rights groups saying it involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life. The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created. The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return, fearing that the country would lose its Jewish majority. Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tires to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots. With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border. A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a wilful killing, Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva. Israel says it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement". The Palestinian deaths have elicited scant concern in Israel, which has been the target of thousands of rocket strikes from Gaza over the past few years. Palestinian militant groups have also dug tunnels under the border fence to smuggle weapons, and to launch attacks. (Additional reporting by Eli Berlzon and Amir Cohen on the Gaza border, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Stephen Farrell and Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich)
Thousands of Google staff are protesting against the use of the companys technology in the Pentagons controversial drones programme.

The US Department of Defense's Project Maven, commenced last April, utilises the Silicon Valley search giant's artificial intelligence system to analyse vast amounts of footage captured by the US Armys unmanned surveillance planes around the world.

Around 3,100 staff are thought to have signed a letter to Google boss Sundar Pichai, demanding that the company pulls out of the project.

Google confirmed last month that the Pentagon was using its technology, sparking outrage among some of its employees.

A copy of the letter published in the New York Times said: We believe that Google should not be in the business of war.

Therefore we ask that Project Maven be cancelled, and that Google draft, publicise and enforce a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology.

The letter refers to Googles TensorFlow technology, an open-source machine learning system which is being used by the Pentagon on a pilot project

Why are Google staff protesting?

The US drone programme captures vast amounts of surveillance from around the world, some of which is used as intelligence to establish targets for airstrikes.

There have been tens of thousands of strikes in Iraq and Syria by coalition forces since the US-led intervention began in 2014.

In December, the task force co-ordinating military action against Isis in the region said 814 civilians had been unintentionally killed and that nearly 700 reports of possible casualties remained open.

The letter states that participating in the drone programme is risky for Google and the fact that Amazon and Microsoft are also involved does not make it any less so.

Googles unique history, its motto Dont Be Evil, and its direct reach into the lives of billions of users set it apart, the letter states.

We cannot outsource the moral responsibility of our technologies to third parties.

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How exactly is Google involved in the drone programme?

Google, along with some other technology firms, has provided support for Project Maven, which aims to automate the analysis of US drone footage as the amount of video captured has become increasingly unmanageable for human processing.

TensorFlow has been used to identify objects that may be of interest. These are then passed on to human beings who assess the images Googles system has highlighted.

How has Google responded to the protest?

The company issued a statement saying that it had long worked with government agencies to provide technology solutions.

A spokesperson added: The technology flags images for human review, and is for non-offensive uses only. Military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns.

We're actively discussing this important topic internally and with others as we continue to develop policies and safeguards around the development and use of our machine learning technologies.
We came, we saw, we conquered. The 2018 New York International Auto Show is in full swing, here are some of the cars that caught our eye and have huge ramifications for industry, and the individual automakers relying on big sales.

2019 Cadillac XT4 (GM): This is an important debut for Cadillac as it tries to get the brand going in the right direction with a new midsize CUV. Its a nice looking vehicle, but competition in the space is heated.

2019 Toyota RAV4 (TM): Heres another big CUV release, this time coming from Toyotas number one seller. If it aint broke, dont fix it seems to be Toyotas mantra with the RAV4, as updates are evident but arent drastic.

2019 Genesis G70: The Genesis nameplate for Hyundai has been pumping out some well-reviewed cars lately, and the G70 looks to be hitespecially since it drives and acts like the Kia Stinger, which it is loosely based on.

Lincoln Aviator (F): Lincoln is betting big on the new Aviator, and initial impressions are quite promising. The mini-Navigator includes all the best parts of Lincolns commanding flagship SUV without the massive size. Its too bad the Aviator isnt coming sooner, as Lincoln says it will come sometime next year.

2019 Audi RS5 Sportback: Audicomes out swinging with the aggressive new RS5 Sportback. This one will be a beast. Check out my interview with Audi VP of product Filip Brabec for more on this car.

Mercedes Benz C300 Coupe and Cabriolet: Mercedes revealed some subtle tweaks for its C-class Coupe and Cabriolet for 2019. Well have to shake these cars down for review to see if there are any changes in how they ride.

2019 BMW X4:This is a big release for BMW in the hypercompetitive midsize SUV/CUV battlefield. The base model will pump out 240-hp, with the M40i variant pushing out 355-hp and hitting 0-60 in 4.7 seconds.

2019 Cadillac CT6 V-Sport (GM): Caddy is taking its flagship sedan and dropping in a 4.2L twin turbo V8 unleashing 550 horsepower. The engine is exclusive to the CT6 and was apparently designed with with the input of Cadillacs racing team. Talk about American muscle 

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2019 Nissan Altima: Nissan is the latest to refresh its mid-size sedan, hoping to take it to Toyota and Honda (HMC) whove each refreshed the Camry and Accord respectively. This is a tough spot for the Altima, though the car has a distinct look and the availability of all-wheel drive may send car buyers Nissans way.

2019 Jaguar I-PACE (TTM): What can you say about the all-electric I-PACE other than the fact that it looks stunning as an SUV. Jaguar pushed an aggressive development timeline for its electric offering, one that will go head to head with Teslas (TSLA) Model X and even Model S. For more on its stunning design, check out my interview with legendary Jaguar design director Ian Callum here.



Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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By Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs

SZEKESFEHERVAR, Hungary (Reuters) - Viktor Orban, Europe's most outspoken nationalist leader, said on Friday Hungary's future would be decided for decades at an election on Sunday in which he vowed to protect his nation from the "rust" of Muslim migrants.

After a campaign in which Orban has positioned himself as a saviour of Hungary's Christian culture against Muslim migration into Europe, all opinion polls put his Fidesz party well in the lead for the election.

A third straight term for Orban could embolden Hungary's longest serving post-communist premier to solidify a Central European alliance against the European Union's migration policies, and against a deeper integration of the bloc which he opposes.

It would also give a lift to other right-wing nationalists in Central Europe, in Poland and in neighbouring Austria, and expose cracks in the 28-nation EU.

"We will win again on Sunday as we have won battles in the past which looked impossible for many," Orban told a few thousand supporters waving the national flag in the town of Szekesfehervar, west of Budapest.

"We have built the fence, defended the southern border ... Migration is like rust that slowly but surely would consume Hungary."

Earlier on Friday he voiced common cause with Poland, whose governing Law and Justice (PiS) party like Fidesz is under fire from the EU over their refusal to take in migrants under a quota system and over their efforts to tighten state control of their courts and media.

"We believe Poles and Hungarians have a common path, common fight and common goal: to build and defend our homeland in the form that we want ... Christian and with national values," Orban said at the unveiling of a statue marking a 2010 plane crash that killed the Polish president.

Poland's PiS leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, attending the ceremony commemorating the plane crash in Russia in which his twin brother was killed, endorsed Orban ahead of Sunday's vote.

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Orban's Fidesz, with a firm grip on the media, dominates the public agenda. All polls predict a win for him on Sunday though something short of the landslides of elections in 2010 and 2014.

There is also a slight chance that the fragmented opposition, with formerly far-right Jobbik as the main challenger, could foil a romp to victory and strip Fidesz of its parliament majority.

At a rally in Budapest on Friday, Socialist prime ministerial candidate Gergely Karacsony accused Orban of having abused his strong political mandate.

"There is no other man who had so much power and who has abused it so much," Karacsony told hundreds of supporters.

Orban, 54, who started out as a young liberal activist in the late 1980s, has transformed Hungary's democratic fabric in the past eight years with what his critics see as an increasingly authoritarian style.

His government has expanded control over state media and, via business allies, also large chunks of the private media.

Businessmen close to Fidesz and Orban have acquired stakes in major industries like banking, energy, construction, and tourism, enriching themselves on EU funds.

In clashes with Brussels over his policies, he has ruled out taking part in any EU-wide mechanism to settle migrants from the Middle East in Hungary. Orban has declared that Hungary, which has no history of large-scale immigration, should preserve its "ethnic homogeneity."

"INVASION" THREAT

In 2015, even before the peak of Europe's migration crisis, Orban realised that the threat from what he called "an invasion" by Muslim immigrants struck a chord with a large part of the Hungarian electorate.

His government built a fence on the southern border with Serbia to keep out migrants at a time when hundreds of thousands had walked though Hungary on their way to richer western Europe.

The Fidesz election campaign has vilified U.S. financier George Soros, whose philanthropy aims to bolster liberal and open-border values in eastern Europe, and runs against Orban's concept of an "illiberal democracy".

The fierce anti-immigrant campaign has gone down well with around 2 million core voters of Fidesz. According to a poll and estimates by Republikon institute on Thursday, Fidesz could win 113 seats in Hungary's 199-seat parliament.

However, the polls could be unreliable as one-third of voters are uncertain and many hide their voting preference.

Sitting on a bench in Budapest, enjoying the sun with a cup of coffee in his hand, Istvan Nagy, a 50-year old plumber, said he would vote for Orban as a guarantor of security.

"Of course, Fidesz, Viktor Orban! Why? Because he is the only one who makes me feel secure in this country, this is what I have got used to and I want this to remain," he said. "We have a job, and money and also the girls are pretty here."

While Orban has gradually become a nationalist admired by far-right politicians across Europe, he is credited with keeping the budget deficit under control, reducing unemployment and reducing some of Hungary's debt pile.

His income tax cuts have put the economy on a growth track, with the economy expanding by 4 percent in 2017 and consumption and lending on the rise.

Financial markets have been pricing in a new term for Orban, and have mostly cast aside the chances of a Fidesz defeat.

That could trigger a fall in the forint and government bonds in the event of an upset, traders say.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than with additional reporting by Sandor Peto; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Berlin (AFP) - A scuffle over immigration has marred the first weeks in office of Chancellor Angela Merkel's fourth coalition, promising anything but smooth sailing in the years ahead for the loveless left-right alliance.

Conservatives among Merkel's Christian Democrats are keen to restrict as heavily as possible so-called "family reunifications" that would allow some of the million-plus migrants and refugees who have arrived since 2015 to bring in relatives.

That has stirred the ire of Social Democrats (SPD), the reluctant junior partners who helped Merkel into office to end the longest period of post-election limbo in post-World War II German history.

In their painstakingly-negotiated coalition deal, the parties agreed that up to 1,000 people per month could enter Germany under family reunification, with only immediate relatives eligible.

New Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is eager to tighten the screws further, with a draft law that would prevent people dependent on social benefits from bringing in family members and further restrict which relations are eligible, including ruling out siblings.

Many people who arrived in Germany as refugees are yet to join the labour market, undergoing job training or language classes, and would therefore not qualify.

Seehofer is a former leader of the ultra-conservative CSU, the smaller Bavarian sister party of Merkel's more centrist CDU.

He is keen to burnish his outfit's anti-immigration credentials ahead of a state election later this year, when they will face a stiff challenge from anti-Islam, anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

"We don't want an influx into the social system. That's also how we've discussed this within the coalition," he told Der Spiegel magazine's Saturday edition.

Two years ago, Seehofer blasted Merkel's 2015 decision to open Germany's borders to refugees arriving in Europe via the so-called "Balkan route" from the Middle East, saying it had produced a "rule of injustice" in Europe's most populous nation.

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Arriving in his Berlin ministry after being ejected from the state premiership in prosperous Bavaria, he lost no time before stirring up controversy with a declaration that "Islam does not belong to Germany", which is home to around four million Muslims.

- 'Coalition would be over' -

Social democrats, already smarting from the concessions made on immigration in the coalition agreement, have bristled at Seehofer's sallies in the media and at the draft law.

Justice Minister Heiko Maas declared that "we will not agree to any draft which we consider to be mainly aimed at reducing numbers" allowed to enter Germany.

For his part, Seehofer insisted Friday that he was "sticking very, very closely to the coalition agreement," suggesting cabinet colleagues from the SPD should "relax" about his law.

Meanwhile, his CSU party colleagues have backed him to the hilt.

"If the Social Democrats don't cooperate, the 'grand coalition' would be over" less than a month after Merkel was sworn in, deputy leader of the conservative parliamentary group Georg Nuesslein told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

The family reunification row is just one front in a broader battle over immigration, integration and Islam in German society that has pitted the SPD against the CDU/CSU.

Seehofer is also keen to speed up expulsions of people whose asylum applications are refused, many of whom spend months or years contesting the decisions in the courts or acquire a "tolerated" residence status.

After weeks of mud-slinging, some among the conservatives are uncomfortable with the relentless focus on such themes.

"The question is: do we really win elections by naming the topics that stir people up without changing anything?" asked Armin Laschet, CDU state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Merkel will be counting on the support of moderates like Laschet to contain bubbling discontent on the right of her party.

Health Minister Jens Spahn, a rising star of the CDU's right wing seen as a potential future candidate for the chancellorship, has spent his first weeks in office giving interviews urging more "law and order" in troubled city districts.

He has also chided feminist pro-abortion campaigners, saying they cared more about animal rights than unborn children, and declared that long-term unemployed people were not poor.

A government spokesman said Spahn's statements were his "personal" views, not government policy.
Paris (AFP) - International donors pledged $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for Lebanon at a conference in Paris on Friday to try to avert an economic crisis in a country hard hit by the fallout from the Syrian war.

Lebanon's growth has plummeted due to political instability, with the effect compounded by the Syrian conflict which has sent a million refugees across the border -- equivalent to a quarter of the Lebanese population before the conflict.

Some 40 countries sent representatives to the CEDRE conference in Paris along with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where an aid package, made up 90 percent of low-interest loans, was agreed.

Praising the "exceptional generosity of the Lebanese people" with regard to Syrian refugees French President Emmanuel Macron said the world needed to show "full solidarity" with Lebanon.

The support was all the more critical given that the continued fighting in Syria "makes the imminent return of Syrian refugees impossible," he added.

Among the biggest donors was the World Bank which pledged more than $4 billion over five years, while France opened the conference with a promise of 550 million euros.

Saudi Arabia, which vies with arch-rival Iran for influence in Lebanon, said it would renew a $1-billion line of credit to Beirut which had been agreed in the past but never used, Lebanese officials said.

Iran, which backs Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah Shiite militia, was not invited to the meeting.

- 'Model of pluralism' -

"In a Middle East shaken by crises, wounded by civil wars, Lebanon remains a model of pluralism, tolerance and openness which we need," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

"But Lebanon is not an island. It's borne the full force of regional tensions and the Syria crisis," he said, adding that it was also grappling with the threat of terrorism.

An economic adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was at the conference, estimated the total amount pledged in loans and grants at $2.6 billion by midday.

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The figure did not include the World Bank's offer as well as that of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (1.1 billion euros), the European Investment Bank (800,000 euros) and Kuwait ($700,000).

The EU promised 150 million euros, the Netherlands 300 million euros and Italy pledged 120 million euros.

Economic growth in Lebanon has plunged from eight percent since the start of the Syrian war to around one percent.

"Lebanon cannot succeed alone," Hariri said, adding: "It's not just a matter of Lebanon's security, it's about the security of the region and the whole world."

France, which had mandate power over Lebanon for the first half of the 20th century, has been leading efforts to try stabilise the country.

When Hariri announced his resignation in November, a shock move in which many observers saw the hand of Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, President Emmanuel Macron intervened, inviting Hariri to Paris for talks before his return to Lebanon, where he withdrew his resignation.

- Cash for reforms -

The Paris conference was aimed at giving Lebanon a boost as it prepares for its first general elections in almost a decade in May.

While the small country has managed to avoid a major spillover of the fighting in Syria, it has long been wracked by domestic power struggles, inefficiency and corruption stemming from its own 1975-1990 civil war.

With the government forecasting a deficit of $4.8 billion for 2018 -- more than double that in 2011, when Syria's war started -- economists say the state urgently needs to reduce its spending.

But public services such as water supplies, electricity and waste management have suffered rampant underinvestment, compounding problems that date back decades.

"The political idea behind (the investment plan) is that the Lebanese state could be able to provide services and infrastructure to the public, rather than others," an aide to Le Drian said, referring to the social role also played by the controversial Hezbollah.

Lebanon will for its part sign up to a string of reforms including tougher measures to fight corruption.
An unfortunately-timed photo for President Donald Trump became the latest fodder for jokes on Twitter.

While boarding Air Force One en route from Maryland to West Virginia to discuss tax reform on Thursday, Trump found his windblown hair snapped by photographers and captured on video.

Trump, who famously let late-night host Jimmy Fallon tousle his hair and has long faced jokes about it, may not have been amused, but the photo led Twitter users to crack jokes.

Anyone else see one angry bird attacking another bird peacefully resting in Trumps hair today? pic.twitter.com/ZUTkvMjKYv  Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) April 5, 2018

Donald Trump is sensitive about losing his hair, so please do not share this photo far and wide or you might hurt his feelings. pic.twitter.com/J5pRJUpJNn  almightygod (@almightygod) April 5, 2018

if you then you

don't love don't deserve

me at my me at my pic.twitter.com/4KCOg46X6O  Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) April 5, 2018

Trump's "hair" placard boarding Air Force One on his trip to West Virginia today. pic.twitter.com/npMrUW0Pd2  ?RiotWomenn? (@riotwomennn) April 5, 2018

Donald Trump travels to West Virginia, his hair decides to stay in Maryland.  Citizen (@rubicon524) April 5, 2018

Not everyone found the humor to be in good fun, however.
The Syrian military has begun preparing for a new offensive against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in one of the final territories outside of government control near the capital city of Damascus.

As insurgents in eastern Ghouta either reconciled with the government or evacuated to shrinking bastions of control elsewhere, some of ISISs final fighters staged their own violent offensive against both the military and remaining rebels in Damascus's southern countryside last month. The pro-opposition, U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday that the Syrian government and its Russian ally have offered the southwestern towns of Yalda, Babbila and Beit Sahem an ultimatum to hand over weapons or a forced displacement, but that an all-out offensive was already being planned for ISIS-held parts of south Damascus.

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"Regime forces and their allies brought military reinforcements from several units and other elements to the area controlled by the Islamic State organization in most of the neighborhood of Al-Qadam, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad, most of Yarmouk Camp and large parts of the neighborhood of Al-Tadamon, amid mobilization operations by the Islamic State organization in the southern part of the capital Damascus," the monitor said, citing cross-referenced sources.

"Regime forces were preparing to execute a military operation intended to gain control over Yarmouk camp, Al-Tadamon, Al-Qadam and Al-Hajar Al-Aswad and put an end to the existence of the Islamic State organization there," it added.

RTR4XFKQ

Moayad Zaghmout/Reuters

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The state-run Al-Watan newspaper reported Thursday that "things are moving strongly toward a reconciliation agreement" between the Syrian government and the towns of Yalda, Babbila and Beit Sahem as militias opposed to Assad "had begun to go back on their intransigence," citing sources close to the agreements. The sources also mentioned that a "military solution" had been proposed for the areas under ISIS control.

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The tiny patch of ISIS territory south of Damascus was one of the final bastions for the jihadis who once claimed half of Iraq and Syria at the height of their self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014. The group originated after ultraconservative Sunni Muslim Iraqi organizations, including Al-Qaeda in Iraq, merged to form a jihadi supergroup in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion. After officially branding itself ISIS in 2013, the group took advantage of the 2011 uprising against Assad to spread and has drawn separate, often competing local and international forces into Syria's ongoing civil war.

The U.S., which backed insurgents fighting to overthrow Assad, began bombing ISIS in 2014 and ultimately abandoned CIA support for an increasingly Islamic fundamentalist Syrian opposition in favor of a mostly Kurdish group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces established in 2015. That same year, Russia entered the conflict on behalf of Assad, helping him and pro-government forcesmany of which were Shiite Muslim militias supported directly by Iranregain control of much of the country.

As the war in Syria turned seven years old last month, ISIS was all but defeated at the hands of separate campaigns by the Russia-backed Syrian military and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic forces. The U.S.-led coalition's ground campaign against ISIS was halted due to Kurdish sympathies being diverted toward blocking a Turkish invasion in the north and the Syrian militarys renewed efforts to reclaim territory held by rebels and jihadis in the northwest province of Idlib and east of Damascus, where the final major group, Jaysh al-Islam, was negotiating the exit of the last of its fighters.

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Institute for the Study of War/Reuters

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Institute for the Study of War/Reuters

The U.S. has condemned the Syrian military's campaign in eastern Ghouta, accusing the Syrian government and its allies of targeting civilians and using chemical weapons. Assad has rejected these charges and has demanded the immediate departure of U.S. and Turkish forces, while Russia and Iranthe only foreign forces endorsed by Assadhave also called for the U.S. to leave Syria, where the Pentagon maintained a relatively modest force of about 2,000 troops.

President Donald Trump has recently called for U.S. troops to withdraw, but his advisers have reportedly resisted, saying it was necessary to maintain a presence in order to block Iran's growing influence and wipe out remaining pockets of ISIS in the east. In a statement sent to Newsweek, the U.S.-led coalition said that ISIS has maintained territory in two areas in eastern Syria, "near Hajin, along the Euphrates River, and Dashisha, near the Syria-Iraq border."

"The Coalition, along with our Syrian Democratic Force partners, have contained ISIS in these areas. The Coalition and the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] continue to find opportunities to exploit ISIS weaknesses and conduct strikes against the remaining terrorists," the U.S.-led coalition statement added.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Tokyo (AFP) - Oscar-nominated Japanese anime director Isao Takahata, who co-founded Studio Ghibli and was best known for his work "Grave of the Fireflies", has died aged 82, the studio said on Friday.

The winner of many awards domestically and internationally, Takahata was considered one of the greats of Japanese animated film and is often linked with long-term Studio Ghibli collaborator Hayao Miyazaki.

He enjoyed a career spanning several decades, producing both films and work for the small screen and his latest production, "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya", earned him an Academy nomination for best animated feature.

An adaptation of a popular tale from the 10th century -- considered one of the founding texts of Japanese literature -- the film was also selected for a slot in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar to the main Cannes film competition in 2014.

It also won rave reviews, with the New York Times in 2014 describing it as "exquisitely drawn with both watercolour delicacy and a brisk sense of line."

However, most consider Takahata's 1988 film "Grave of the Fireflies", a moving tale of two orphans during World War II, to be his best work.

In 2000, famed reviewer Roger Ebert wrote that the movie "belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made."

- Friends and rivals -

Born in 1935 in Mie prefecture in central Japan, his early life was marked with violence when US forces bombed his hometown in June 1945 as World War II was coming to a close.

In an interview with the Japan Times, he described fleeing with his sister barefoot and still in his pyjamas.

On his way back to the family house, he recalled seeing piles of bodies in the street. "We were lucky to get out alive," he told the newspaper.

Takahata started his career in animation at the Toei studio in 1959, where he eventually met long-term collaborator and rival Miyazaki.

With Miyazaki, he co-founded in 1985 the Japanese animation Studio Ghibli, which went on to produce several blockbusters.

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With more complex and occasionally more violent plots than depicted in the average Disney cartoon film, these films have at times confused audiences outside Japan, who largely consider animation to be primarily for young children.

However, this has not stopped the films being lucrative box-office smashes.

Takahata and Miyazaki were often described as friends and rivals at the same time.

"We would never criticise each other face-to-face because it would just cause a fight. However, I know he has criticised my work," Takahata told the Japan Times.

Over a long and distinguished career, Takahata produced around 20 films, including "Only Yesterday" (1991) and "Pom Poko" (1994).

He also produced the Miyazaki-directed 1984 film "Kaze no Tani no Naushika" ("The Valley of the Wind"), a science fantasy adventure that describes the relationship between nature and human beings.

He is also well-known for animation series "Alps no Shojo Heidi" ("Heidi, Girl of the Alps") and "Lupin Sansei" ("Lupin the Third").

Perhaps inspired by his early trauma, he was an avid anti-war campaigner and in 2013 co-signed with around 250 other film celebrities a petition against a controversial state secrets law.

According to a statement from Studio Ghibli, he died in the early hours of Thursday in a Tokyo hospital after a battle with lung cancer.

"We pray that he rests in peace," the studio said, adding that he would be buried in a private ceremony attended by close family.

After studying French literature at university, Takahata enjoyed a long relationship with France and was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters honour in recognition of his work in 2015.

"France is the country I have travelled in most and I am extremely happy to have been decorated by the nation to which I feel closest," he said in his acceptance speech.
Dozens of Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers from 30 countries are boycotting a South Korean university over fears it may develop autonomous weapons, better known as killer robots.

Their concern was sparked after a collaborative effort between the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and defense manufacturer Hanwha Systems, was publicly announced. The two entities plan to have an AI-based command system, algorithm, training system and object-tracking technique completed by the end of 2018, a KAIST official said, The Korea Times reports.

Academics from countries including Australia, Canada and the U.S. and many more have issued a statement condemning their efforts.

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It is regrettable that a prestigious institution like KAIST looks to accelerate the arms race to develop such weapons, an open letter addressed to Sung-Chul Shin, professor and president of KAIST, says. We therefore publicly declare that we will boycott 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 Center will not develop autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control.

4_5_Killer Robot

Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

As part of their boycott, those who signed the letter will not visit KAIST, host visitors from the university, or work on any research project involving KAIST.

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Shin quickly responded to the boycott reaffirming that the university will not conduct any research activities counter to human dignity including autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control, Reuters reports.

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The boycott comes just one week before a United Nations meeting in Geneva to discuss autonomous weapons. In 2017, Elon Musk co-led a group of more than 100 experts from 26 different countries to call on the U.N. for an outright ban of killers robots, in order to prevent the third revolution in warfare, according to The Guardian.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo parliament voted on Wednesday to set up a committee to investigate how six Turkish citizens were arrested and deported to Turkey in a move that activists say violated human rights. The six Turkish nationals were arrested in Kosovo last week at Turkeys request over alleged links to schools financed by the Gulen movement, which Ankara blames for a failed 2016 coup. On Friday Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj sacked his interior minister and country's secret service chief for failing to inform him about the arrests. Haradinaj, who described the arrests as a "mistake", has ordered a separate investigation. Avdullah Hoti, head of the lawmakers from the opposition party the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) that initiated the emergency session in the 120-seat parliament, said he was "shocked" by the arrests of the six - teachers and managers at schools. "Instead of being interviewed by authorities in Pristina, they were urgently deported to Turkey," Hoti said. Ankara accuses the six of being recruiters for a network run by the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, and said they had helped people accused of connections to the network to leave Turkey. Ankara blames Gulen and his movement for the coup attempt in 2016. Gulen denies involvement. Human Rights Watch criticized the Kosovo authorities over the arrests saying the six men "were sent to a country where they face a serious risk of torture". Speaking in a live television interview on Wednesday, Haradinaj said he had spoken to Washington and the European Union, its two main economic and political supporters, about the incident. "I have assured 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," Haradinaj told private Dukagjini television. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Alison Williams)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  The Latest on teachers rallying for higher pay and more education funding in several Republican-led states across the U.S. (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

Oklahoma's two largest school districts have canceled classes for the fifth consecutive day as striking teachers demand lawmakers approve more funding for education.

Oklahoma City schools, the state's largest district, and Tulsa Public Schools said Thursday they will close again on Friday as teachers return to the state Capitol for protests. Many smaller school districts have previously said they would close on Friday.

The state House and Senate will convene on Friday to take up revenue-raising measures. A Senate leader says lawmakers plan to consider "substantive" legislation.

Legislation granting 15 to 18 percent salary increases for Oklahoma teachers was approved last week, but teachers say more funding is needed for their classrooms.

Teachers haven't said when the walkout will end.

___

4 p.m.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into potential threats that were made against at least three state lawmakers related to the ongoing teacher rally at the Capitol.

OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said Thursday investigators have opened three separate cases and are likely to look into a fourth incident.

Brown declined to identify the lawmakers but says the threats were both written and verbal and related to the teacher walkout.

Thousands of teachers, students and their supporters have thronged the Capitol for four straight days seeking more funding for schools.

Oklahoma's Public Safety Commissioner Rusty Rhoades says troopers have identified a handful of "outside protest groups" that have attempted to infiltrate the rally. But he said Thursday there have been no reports of violence or vandalism.

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2 p.m.

An Oklahoma state Senate leader says Friday "will be an important day" in the faceoff between lawmakers and teachers who are demonstrating for more school funding.

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Oklahoma lawmakers typically don't meet on Fridays during legislative sessions. But GOP leaders in the House and Senate said Thursday they plan to convene Friday to consider revenue-raising bills.

Senate Floor Leader Greg Treat said the legislation will be "substantive."

Thousands of Oklahoma teachers, students and their supporters continued protests a fourth straight day Thursday in a teacher rebellion that has ignited other Republican-led states including West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona.

GOP Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation in late March granting teachers pay raises of about $6,100, or 15 to 18 percent. But many educators said classrooms also need more money.

___

10:50 a.m.

Oklahoma lawmakers will convene rare Friday sessions as protesting school teachers continue to fill the state Capitol and demand more funding for public education.

Republican leaders of the state House and Senate said Thursday they will meet Friday to consider legislation to raise more money. Lawmakers traditionally don't meet on Fridays during legislative sessions.

Oklahoma teachers are in the fourth day of a walkout over low pay and classroom spending. The movement started with teachers striking in West Virginia and winning a 5-percent pay raise. It has continued in the conservative-led states of Kentucky and Arizona.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed legislation last week that granted 15 to 18 percent salary increases for Oklahoma teachers, but teachers say more funding is needed for classroom needs.

___

12 a.m.

Some say teachers in Oklahoma risk losing public support the longer their walkout goes.

The protests, and some school closures, will continue for a fourth straight day Thursday amid a movement in red states from West Virginia to Kentucky to Arizona to press for more money in classrooms.

Oklahoma Republicans passed a tax hike for hundreds of millions of new dollars for public schools and teacher pay raises. But educators marched on the Capitol anyway, bringing with them pent-up frustration after years of budget cuts, swelling class sizes and a decade without a raise.

Many teachers already are back at work, especially in rural communities where local boards didn't vote to shut down. Still, schools in the state's largest districts remain shuttered, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa and many suburban communities.
 Today, the United States, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced an additional $25 million to the United Nations World Food Programmes (WFPs) Afghanistan Protractive Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO) to provide cash-based and food assistance to nearly 1.7 million Afghansmostly women and childrenaffected by conflict, natural disasters, and seasonal hunger.





USAID Mission Director Herbert Smith said: "This contribution will meet immediate food needs and will allow WFP to work with communities to sow the seeds for community recovery with interventions that empower vulnerable Afghan families, rebuild livelihoods, and prepare for future shocks."





The United States is the largest donor to the WFP in Afghanistan. With this contribution, the United States funding since the beginning of Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to WFP to support emergency food and nutrition operations in Afghanistan is $89 million. USAID works with 16 UN and NGO partners to save lives and reduce the suffering of communities affected by ongoing complex emergencies.





USAIDs humanitarian assistance is also meeting the acute needs of highly vulnerable Afghans in water, sanitation, and hygiene; emergency basic health; shelter and non-food items; and food and nutrition assistance.









With approximately $17 billion spent on development programs in Afghanistan since 2002, USAID funding is the largest civilian bilateral development assistance program to Afghanistan. USAID partners with the government and people of Afghanistan to ensure economic growth led by the countrys private sector, to establish a democratic and capable state governed by the rule of law, and to provide basic health and education services for all Afghans. - Read More




WASHINGTON, April 6: China vowed on Friday to fight the U.S. "at any cost" after President Donald Trump proposed slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.





Trump's surprise move Thursday to instruct the U.S. trade representative to consider the additional tariffs came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a U.S. move this week to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports.





In Beijing, the Commerce Ministry said China doesn't want a trade war  but isn't afraid to fight one.





"China will dedicate itself to the end and at any cost and will definitely fight back firmly" if the U.S. persists in its "protectionism," the ministry said in a statement.





Trump's proposal intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since World War II. Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the world's two biggest economies squared off over Beijing's aggressive trade tactics. They calmed down Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the U.S. and China would find a diplomatic solution but slid Friday after Beijing said it would fight the Trump administration's latest threats.





The White House announced after the markets closed Thursday that Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to. He's also instructed his secretary of agriculture "to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests."





"China's illicit trade practices  ignored for years by Washington  have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs," Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.





The latest escalation comes after the U.S. 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. The Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons (41 metric tons) in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.





Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration's duties on all steel and aluminum imports, including from China.





U.S. officials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But economists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear the hallmarks of a classic trade rift that could escalate. And already, the tensions have rattled global stock markets.





U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called China's move "unjustified" and said Trump's proposal was an "appropriate response to China's recent threat of new tariffs."





"Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses," he said in a statement. "Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTR's report."





China's Commerce Ministry said it must "adopt new countermeasures" to protect the interests of the Chinese people  but it did not announce any specific measures.





The clash reflects the tension between Trump's promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion in goods last year and China's ruling Communist Party's development ambitions. Trump says China's trade practices have caused American factories to close and lead to the loss of American jobs.





Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said earlier Thursday in an interview with Fox Business Network that negotiations were ongoing. But, he said, "at the end of the day, China's unfair and illegal trading actions are damaging to economic growth, for the U.S., for China and for the rest of the world."





He also called Trump "the first guy with a backbone in decades ... to actually go after it. Not just whisper it, but to go after it with at least preliminary actions."





One trade policy expert said he doubted that Trump's rhetoric would help forge any deal with China.





"Mr. Trump is upping the ante, but the lack of a clear game plan and an incoherent messaging strategy from the administration is setting this up for an all-out trade war rather than a fruitful negotiation," said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.





In China, some observers held out hope that the two countries were headed toward negotiations and noted that despite Beijing's tough talk, it likely does not want the country's export-driven economy to be hit by punishing tariffs.





"If the trade dispute escalates or lasts for a long time, it will have a big impact on China's manufacturing industry, and foreign investment in related projects will be affected too," said Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based independent political commentator. "In the long-run, losses in manufacturing will lead to decrease in tax revenue and eventually affect China's economic growth."





Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., a frequent Trump critic, called the escalation "the dumbest possible way" to punish China.





"Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts," Sasse said in a statement. "Let's absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us."




The bad news keeps coming for Fox News host Laura Ingraham even while shes on vacation: Another sponsor has reportedly dropped her show.

Ace Hardware will no longer advertise on The Ingraham Angle, TheWrap reported on Thursday.

I can confirm that we do not have any plans to nationally advertise on Ingrahams show in the future, an unnamed spokeswoman for the company told the website.

TheWrap said Ace had two ads on the show in March, including one on March 28, the day she launched her ill-fated slam against David Hogg, a teen survivor of the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Ingraham mocked Hogg, who has become an outspoken advocate for gun control, for not getting accepted into some of the colleges he had applied to.

In response, Hogg called for a boycott of her show, and Ingraham apologized as sponsors began to drop her show.

Hogg did not accept her apology.

She only apologized after we went after her advertisers, he told The New York Times. It kind of speaks for itself.

Nutrish, TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Expedia, Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Stitch Fix, Jenny Craig, Hulu, JoS. A. Bank and more have dropped her show. TheWrap said Ace Hardware is the 19th company to ditch Ingraham.

My Pillow said it would continue to advertise on Ingrahams show.

Ingraham announced a vacation as the sponsors fled, and Fox has insisted it would stick with her.

We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts, Fox News Co-president Jack Abernethy told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week. We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children.

Also on HuffPost

1981: The Attempted Assassination Of President Ronald Reagan

on March 30, 1981, President Reagan and three others were shot and wounded in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Reagan's press secretary, Jim Brady, was shot in the head.

1993: The Brady Handgun Violence Act

The Brady Handgun Violence Act of 1993, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, mandated that federally licensed dealers complete comprehensive background checks on individuals before selling them a gun. The legislation was named for James Brady, who was shot during an attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

1994: The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, instituted a ban on 19 kinds of assault weapons, including Uzis and AK-47s. The crime bill also banned the possession of magazines holding more than ten rounds of ammunition. (An exemption was made for weapons and magazines manufactured prior to the ban.)

2004: Law Banning Magazines Holding More Than Ten Rounds Of Ammunition Expires

In 2004, ten years after it first became law, Congress allowed a provision banning possession of magazines holding more than ten rounds of ammunition to expire through a sunset provision. Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke told HuffPost that the expiration of this provision meant that Rep. Gabby Giffords's alleged shooter was able to fire off 20-plus shots without reloading (under the former law he would have had only ten).

2007: The U.S. Court of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Rules In Favor Of Dick Heller

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In 2007 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled to allow Dick Heller, a licensed District police officer, to keep a handgun in his home in Washington, D.C. Following that ruling, the defendants petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

2008: Supreme Court Strikes Down D.C. Handgun Ban As Unconstitutional

In June of 2008, the United States Supreme Court upheld the verdict of a lower court ruling the D.C. handgun ban unconstitutional in the landmark case District of Columbia v. Heller.

Gabrielle Giffords And Trayvon Martin Shootings

Gun control advocates had high hopes that reform efforts would have increased momentum in the wake of two tragic events that rocked the nation. In January of 2011, Jared Loughner opened fire at an event held by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), killing six and injuring 13, including the congresswoman. Resulting attempts to push gun control legislation proved fruitless, with neither proposal even succeeding in gaining a single GOP co-sponsor. More than a year after that shooting, Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was gunned down by George Zimmerman in an event that some believed would bring increased scrutiny on the nation's Stand Your Ground laws. While there has been increasing discussion over the nature of those statutes, lawmakers were quick to concede that they had little faith the event would effectively spur gun control legislation, thanks largely to the National Rifle Association's vast lobbying power. Read more here:

Colorado Movie Theater Shooting

In July of 2012, a heavily armed gunman opened fire on theatergoers attending a midnight premiere of the final film of the latest Batman trilogy, killing 12 and wounding scores more. The suspect, James Eagan Holmes, allegedly carried out the act with a number of handguns, as well as an AR-15 assault rifle with a 100-round drum magazine. Some lawmakers used the incident, which took place in a state with some of the laxest gun control laws, to bring forth legislation designed to place increased regulations on access to such weapons, but many observers, citing previous experience, were hesitant to say that they would be able to overcome the power of the National Rifle Association and Washington gun lobby.

Sikh Temple Shooting

On August 5, 2012, white supremacist Wade Michael Page opened fire on a Sikhs gathered at a temple in Oak Creek, Wis., killing six and wounding four more before turning the gun on himself.

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Scott Pruitt is facing mounting pressure to resign from the Environmental Protection Agency amid intensifying scrutiny of his alleged ethical lapses.

On Tuesday, two Republican House members joined Democrats and environmental groups in calling for Pruitt to step down. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president thinks that hes done a good job, particularly on the deregulation front, but added that we take this seriously and were looking into it. On Thursday, Hogan Gidley, a deputy White House press secretary, said on Fox News that he cant speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.

Pressure escalated Thursday afternoon as two new reports alleged that Pruitt tried to abuse his vehicles emergency sirens to cut through traffic, and that five EPA officials who challenged Pruitts unusually large spending were either reassigned, demoted or forced out.

If Pruitt exits, he will have served the shortest term of any EPA administrator in history, and will be the first forced out since Anne Gorsuch Burford, President Ronald Reagans first EPA administrator, resigned in disgrace in 1983. Burford was EPAs first female administrator (not to mention the mother of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch), and stepped down after being cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over Superfund records.

Pruitts aggressive attempts to roll back environmental regulations, undermine critical work on climate change and disqualify huge swathes of scientific research in favor of industry-backed science have defined his 14 months at the agency. Yet his future in the Trump administration now hinges on an ongoing White House review of his spending, his use of loopholes to give political appointees unapproved raises, and links to lobbyists who gave him a great deal on a Capitol Hill rental.

To give a sense of just how many questions are now swirling about Pruitt, heres a short list of issues that raise concerns over his leadership as the nations top environmental regulator:

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1. His Washington housing arrangement.

At the center of Pruitts ballooning ethics crisis is his $50-a-night sweetheart deal to rent a room in a luxury Capitol Hill townhouse linked to a fossil fuel industry lobbying firm, Williams & Jensen. The EPAs ethics lawyers scrambled to approve the arrangement, but struggled to defend the administrator after news broke that his adult daughter also stayed at the residence. But those EPA lawyers walked back the approval in a Wednesday memo, arguing that they did not have all the necessary information to consider the arrangement. During the time Pruitt stayed at the condominium, Williams & Jensens clients won approval from the EPA for a pipeline-extension project.

2. A shady real estate deal in Oklahoma.

In 2011, Pruitt and his wife, Margaret, bought a property in Tulsa, Oklahoma, days before a court ruled that it had been fraudulently transferred by a Las Vegas developer who was on the hook for a $3.6 million loan default, according to a report the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy published Thursday in Salon. Pruitt, then Oklahoma attorney general, flipped the property four months later, selling it to a shell company set up by a major campaign donor, Tulsa business magnate and Oklahoma Republican Party finance chair Kevin Hern.

3. Giving unapproved raises.

Pruitt used a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act to give two of his longtime aides raises of $56,765 and $28,130 after the White House rejected his request for the salary increases. The law includes a provision that allows the administrator to hire up to 30 people without White House or congressional approval for work related to the law. In a contentious Fox News interview on Wednesday, Pruitt insisted the action was taken without his knowledge, and said he didnt know who made the decision. But the law dictates that the administrator must approve the hires, calling his exasperated statements on Trumps favorite cable channel into question.

4. His first-class travel  and his explanation.

Federal regulations dictate that government employees be prudent when making official travel arrangements, and book the least expensive class of travel that meets their needs. Yet Pruitt routinely spent between $1,400 and $4,000 on flights to Boston, New York and Corpus Christi, Texas, according to The Washington Post. He regularly stayed in luxury hotels. His international travel expenses soared into the six figures. In June, a trip to an environmental summit in Italy cost more than $120,000, while a December trip to Morocco to promote liquefied natural gas  a bizarre responsibility for the nations environmental regulator to take on  reportedly cost nearly $40,000 with staff. In February, Pruitt defended his first-class airfare, insisting angry members of the public heckled him in economy class.

The Washington townhouse where Pruitt rents a room in a deal that has spurred criticism is pictured. (Photo: Alex Wong via Getty Images)

5. His frequent trips back home to Oklahoma.

The EPA shelled out between $2,000 and $2,600 for Pruitts first-class flights to his home state of Oklahoma, where he spent 43 out of 92 days last spring. The trips cost a total of more than $12,000 in airfare, according to records released last year. His frequent travel triggered a probe from the EPA inspector general, and prompted speculation that the former Oklahoma attorney general was using the EPAs budget to lay the groundwork for an eventual campaign for governor or Senate in the Sooner State.

6. About that Morocco trip...

The EPA inspector general recently expanded its inquiry into Pruitts travel costs to include expenses related to the December trip to Morocco to promote liquefied natural gas. The trip also attracted new scrutiny in light of Pruitts Washington housing arrangement. The EPA denied that Pruitt met with officials from Cheniere Energy Inc., a gas firm that paid Williams & Jensen $80,000 for lobbying, or the lobbying firm itself. But Democrats called the trip outrageous, and one insisted, This is not an area within his portfolio. Hes not supposed to be globetrotting to promote the sale of LNG.

7. A private jet?

The EPA considered spending roughly $100,000 a month to lease Pruitt a private jet, according to The Washington Post. Aides ultimately scuttled the idea before Tom Price resigned as secretary of health and human services in September after revelations that he routinely took costly chartered flights.

8. Round-the-clock security.

Pruitt isnt just afraid of airplane hecklers. Hes particularly paranoid about threats from protesters. The EPA chiefs expansive security detail comes at a cost of close to $3 million, including pay and travel expenses, an unnamed EPA official told The Associated Press. Pruitt has roughly 20 full-time, round-the-clock security guards  three times as many as his predecessor. Some of the guards even fly with Pruitt in first class, the EPA confirmed last month. No Cabinet member in U.S. history has ever been assassinated.

9. Spending $120,000 to hire an opposition researcher for the media.

Pruitt cultivated a contentious relationship with reporters early on, granting interviews primarily to friendly outlets such as Fox News, Breitbart News and The Daily Caller, while declining to provide even basic information about his schedule or actions to mainstream news organizations. Last year, he signed off on a $120,000 no-bid contract with a firm whose president boasts being a master of opposition research and whose senior vice president, as Earther noted, took part in a campaign to shape negative opinions about Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) through scathing op-eds and online hot takes. The EPA canceled the contract after Mother Jones exposed the deal.

10. Spending roughly $43,000 on a soundproof phone booth.

Pruitts secretiveness comes at a high price. Last fall, he installed a soundproof phone booth in his office. Pruitt defended the expense, initially estimated at $25,000, in a congressional hearing, where he said, Its necessary for me to be able to do my job. Last month, The Washington Post reported that the cost was nearly double the original price, at nearly $43,000.

11. He tried to use emergency sirens to cut through D.C. traffic.

Pruitt asked his security team to use his vehicles emergency lights and sirens to speed through traffic in Washington to get to an official appointment, CBS News reported on Thursday. The lead security agent told him not to, advising the Pruitt that the sirens were only to be used in emergencies. The agent was reassigned less than two weeks later.

12. Punishing EPA staffers who challenged his spending.

Pruitt reassigned, demoted or forced out five agency officials who challenged his unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, The New York Times reported on Thursday afternoon.

13. Allowing an aide to moonlight as a media consultant.

The EPA ethics office in August gave John Konkus, a top Pruitt aide, approval to work as a media consultant outside the agency. But, after E&E News broke the story, the EPA refused to disclose the identities of Konkus clients.

14. His naked political ambitions.

Pruitts interest in becoming Oklahomas governor, or replacing Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) when his fifth term ends in 2020, has been widely discussed for months. But, more recently, the EPA administrator appeared to have even loftier ambitions. In January, Politico reported that he was eyeing the job of U.S. attorney general as Jeff Sessions relationship with the president frayed. A profile in The New York Times last month quoted sources saying Pruitt had been plotting to make a bid for president as early as 2024.

15. His past ties to natural gas companies.

Pruitts decision to live under the roof of a gas industry lobbyist is less surprising when you consider that Pruitt allowed Devon Energy Corp., an Oklahoma City-based gas giant, to write a complaint to the EPA under his letterhead as the state attorney general in 2011. He barely changed a word before signing and sending the complaint as his own, The New York Times reported in 2014. Emails released days after he was confirmed as EPA administrator showed a long history of chummy conversations between Pruitts office and gas companies in his state.

16. Meeting more with fossil fuel companies than with health advocates.

Pruitt spent more time meeting with oil, gas and coal industry officials than with environmental and public health advocates during his first few weeks in office, according to calendars reviewed by HuffPost. That trend continued. During his first 10 months in office, Pruitt gave more than 30 speeches to industry groups and companies regulated by the EPA, but did not speak once before an environmental or public health group during the same period, according to a report by ThinkProgress.

Scott Pruitt holds up a miner's helmet that he was given after speaking with coal miners at the Harvey Mine on April 13, 2017, in Sycamore, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Justin Merriman via Getty Images)

17. Withholding his appointment calendars.

The EPA has refused to release Pruitts calendars for months, breaking with a precedent set by the previous administration. During Pruitts first year in office, plaintiffs, including news outlets and environmental groups, filed 55 public records lawsuits against the EPA, making it the busiest year for litigation since 1992, according to Politico.

18. Refusing to recuse himself.

Of the 14 times Pruitt sued the EPA as Oklahoma attorney general, four lawsuits aimed to block the Clean Power Plan, the signature Obama administration regulation to cut emissions from the utility sector. Despite this, Pruitt refused to recuse himself from the EPAs effort to repeal the rule once he took office.

19. His red team-blue team debate on climate science.

Pruitt proposed hosting a televised debate on climate science, pitting a red team against a blue team, and running a military-style exercise to offer the American people an objective perspective on global warming. The plan was widely panned by scientists and researchers, who said it gave undue weight to industry-backed climate deniers whose views are not backed up by overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is human-caused. White House chief of staff John Kelly killed the idea, which he considered ill-conceived and politically risky, according to The New York Times.

20. His embrace of the right-wing Heartland Institute.

Since Pruitt took office, the EPA has worked closely with the Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank that transformed itself from a defender of Big Tobacco under the auspice of smokers rights to a leading proponent of climate change denial. The group receives funding from conservative donors, including Robert and Rebekah Mercer, the billionaires who bankrolled Trumps presidential campaign. Last year, the group submitted a list of names to the EPA for Pruitts red team-blue team debate. It included a convicted child sex offender. Heartland has been a lightning rod for controversy. In January, HuffPost reported that the group protected a former executive charged with stalking and harassing a female colleague half his age.

21. Booting scientists off EPA advisory boards without telling them.

Pruitt announced plans late last year to bar scientists who receive EPA research funding from serving on the agencys advisory boards, a move widely seen as an attempt to give industry-paid researchers more control over the regulatory process. In doing so, Pruitt named new scientists to head the Science Advisory Board, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and the Board of Scientific Counselors. But the previous leaders of those boards told HuffPost the EPA never alerted them before they were booted.

22. Spending a lot of election money on luxury travel before joining the EPA.

From 2002 to 2016, Pruitt, then Oklahoma attorney general, received more than $300,000 in donations from the oil, gas and coal industries. Even more went to a political action committee and a super PAC set up to help him get re-elected and fund like-minded politicians. Yet only a fraction of the money went to campaigns, while the fundraising groups paid for Pruitt to take trips to places such as Hawaii and New Orleans, where he stayed in luxury hotels, according to filings HuffPost reviewed in January.

23. Naming a coal lobbyist as his No. 2  the man who could replace him.

If Pruitt is fired or resigns, his likely successor is a coal lobbyist he picked as his No. 2. Andrew Wheeler, who previously lobbied for the coal giant Murray Energy. Wheeler is a climate change denier and is considered an actor with the skills to execute the same deregulatory agenda Pruitt has pursued. Wheeler spent four years working at the EPAs Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, earning him a reputation as someone who, unlike Pruitt, knows the agency he would be running.

This story has been updated with information on Pruitts first-class travel.

Related Coverage

Leaked Memo: EPA Shows Workers How To Downplay Climate Change

Scott Pruitt Buffeted By Growing Pressure To Resign From EPA

Growing Number Of Republicans Join Calls For Scott Pruitt To Resign

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Beirut (AFP) - Dozens of family members of detained Islamists gathered Friday in Beirut to demand they be freed as part of a general amnesty ahead of Lebanon's first legislative elections in almost a decade.

Activists have long campaigned for the rights of detainees accused of links to Muslim extremist groups, many of whom have spent years in jail without a court date.

Their relatives have stepped up demands they be freed, and Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq said last month a draft law had been prepared for a general amnesty.

On Friday, women, children, and men gathered outside Beirut's Mohammad al-Amin mosque just as the main weekly prayers were wrapping up.

Several had come from Tripoli, Lebanon's second city which is majority Sunni Muslim, and carried signs appealing for clemency for arrested relatives.

"They want to pardon drug traffickers. Our children are not terrorists but they are described as being part of these huge terrorist files," said protester Iman al-Qar.

"Shame on them," said the woman from Tripoli.

Sheikh Salim Rafei, head of the Muslim Scholars Authority in Tripoli, said he had urged Prime Minister Saad Hariri to "put in place a complete general amnesty before the parliamentary elections".

He said more than 1,300 Islamist detainees lingered in jail in Lebanon, only a handful of whom had been accused of homicide.

Another protester said the legal rights of all detainees should be respected, regardless of their political stripes.

"The state should respect the rights of citizens whatever their political, religious or sectarian affiliations," she said.

Lebanon is gearing up to hold its first general elections since 2009 in May, after the parliament extended its own mandate three times.

The protest came the same day as international donors at a conference in Paris pledged $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for Lebanon to help stave off an economic crisis.

The Tripoli area has been rocked by deadly clashes involving Islamists over the years, including as part of the fallout from the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

In 2011, deadly clashes erupted in Tripoli between Sunni supporters of rebels who rose up against the Damascus regime and Alawite supporters of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

In 2007, Lebanon's army fought against Islamists in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared north of Tripoli in a battle that left dozens dead.
(Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The newest wave of climate change lawsuits doesnt target states or the federal government, or even the power plants that spew planet-warming pollution.

These latest suits are from cities and counties who want to go after the oil, natural gas and coal producers directly, demanding money to help them cover the escalating costs of wildfires, landslides and other climate-linked disasters.

The cases are winnable, these plaintiffs argue, because of new findings in climate science that confidently connect these companies to their share of the climate crisis, and assess how much rising temperatures are influencing extreme weather events.

In January, New York City became the latest of nine American cities and counties to sue fossil fuel producers. The city hopes to hold BP, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell liable for the current and future billions of dollars it will take to gird the city against worsening heat waves and rising seas along its 520 miles of coastline.

New Yorks lawsuit followed two separate but coordinated cases that San Francisco and Oakland brought against the same group of corporations in September. Those cases prompted a federal judge to hold a high-profile tutorial on climate science in late March that saw oil companies forced to retreat from decades of climate science denial.

We are seeking an abatement fund that would be contributed to by the defendants in this case, that will pay for seawalls and other measures to cope with sea level rise, said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Sea level rise threatens to put tens of thousands of acres of land in Oakland and San Francisco under as much as 66 inches of seawater by 2100. Look at whats at risk in San Francisco  $10 billion worth of public and $39 billion worth of private property, Herrera said.

These fossil fuel firms reaped huge profits from supplying the carbon-heavy fuels that fed climate change, which now put all this valuable land at risk, he said. The companies did so even after they understood the climate consequences and hid that information from the public, Herrera added. So under the well-established legal doctrine of causing a public nuisance, or doing something that, while not illegal, is likely to injure one or more members of the general public, these firms should be on the hook for paying, he said.

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Any successful litigation depends on a basic causal chain. At one end you need a plaintiff whos identifiable and has suffered a discrete and particular harm, said Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law. At the other end you need an identifiable defendant or group of defendants who have caused that harm, and in doing so violated some standard of care.

For climate law, a crucial link in that chain appeared in 2013, when the journal Climatic Science published a groundbreaking study. Led by geographer Richard Heede, director of the Colorado-based Climate Accountability Institute, this Carbon Majors research project gathered over 150 years of production information from fossil fuel extractors and cement producers, spanning the years 1854 to 2010, then analyzed how much each firms products had contributed to the unnatural rise in atmospheric carbon.

Heede and his team found that just 90 entities have created two-thirds of all historic greenhouse gas pollution during the industrial era, most of them still in business today. Fifty are investor-owned firms, including BP, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil and Shell.

This finding was a watershed in the growth of the modern wave of climate litigation, Muffett said, because it belies the myth that everyone is responsible for climate change  If you can document a relative handful of large actors that had a big impact on the climate crisis over time, the courts know how to deal with that.

Lawyers are also tapping into rapid improvements in attribution science, which measures how much climate change is amplifying the intensity of extreme weather, said Ken Adams, coordinating counsel for U.S. litigation at the Center for Climate Integrity. Studies that might have taken a year or more to complete in the mid-2000s can now appear just weeks after a major weather event.

Its only in the last 18 to 24 months that the science of climate attribution has been increasingly developed to point that today, lawyers like me can listen to the scientists and say, Yes, I can put this science on [the stand] through witnesses, and prevail through a hearing where judge has to decide if this is science at a level that jury should be allowed to hear, Adams said.

In December, just a few months after Hurricane Harveys record-breaking 40 inches of rain killed over 80 people and displaced thousands in Houston, studies published in the journals Environmental Research Letters and Geophysical Research Letters found that climate change had increased that rainfall by 15 to 38 percent.

The city leaders pursuing damages say this is the kind of evidence that helps their cases against major fossil fuel companies.

For about 50 years they were engaged in this massive PR campaign to downplay the risk associated with global warming because it could benefit the corporate bottom line, said San Franciscos Herrera. Now its time for them to pay for their deception, as opposed to taxpayers.

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An artists conception shows Orion Spans Aurora Station. (Orion Span Illustration)

A startup called Orion Span says its planning to open a luxury hotel in orbit in 2022, but a lot of the details have yet to be filled in.

The plan to launch the module into space, and take reservations from customers for multimillion-dollar trips, was announced today at the Space 2.0 Summit in San Jose, Calif.

Orion Span says its hotel habitat, dubbed Aurora Station, will be about the size of a large private jets cabin, with 5,650 cubic feet of pressurized space. Itll accommodate up to six residents at a time, including two professional crew members.

The flight plan calls for the module to be launched into a 200-mile-high orbit in late 2021, and host its first guests in 2022.

Guests would go through three months of pre-flight training, including an online certification program and in-person training at a facility in Houston. Theyd then be launched to Aurora Station to spend 12 days in space.

Price tag for the package: $9.5 million. Refundable deposits of $80,000 are already being accepted through an escrow company.

To put those figures in perspective, space passengers have paid as much as $35 million to take a weeklong trip to the International Space Station on a Russian spacecraft, after spending six months in training. The last such passenger flew in 2009. Since then, NASA has paid more than twice as much for Russian rides to orbit.

A cutaway diagram shows the interior of Aurora Station. The module would measure 43.5 feet long and 14.1 feet in diameter. (Orion Span Illustration)

The open questions surrounding Orion Span have to do with funding and logistics.

Orion Span founder and CEO Frank Bunger told GeekWire that the venture is currently self-funded, with added support from two angel investors whom he declined to name. An investment round is planned in the next two or three months, he said.

Bunger said the space module for Aurora Station would be assembled in-house in Houston, starting in early to mid-2019, with some components provided by outside suppliers. Software development is being done in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Orion Span hasnt yet sealed any deals with partners to send Aurora Station into orbit, or to transport passengers and cargo to and from the station, Bunger said. (For what its worth, one of the vehicles shown docked to the station in an artists conception looks a lot like a Boeing Starliner.)

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Bunger acknowledged that itll take a lot of work to develop, test and launch hardware in time to open the space hotel in 2022. The main point is that there are ways to make it move faster, he said.

Prior to founding Orion Span, Bunger worked at a variety of software and IT companies, most recently as vice president for a computer security company called UpGuard. Orion Spans other executives have had experience in spacecraft design and development.

In a news release, Bunger said he and his team developed Aurora Station to provide a turnkey destination in space  bringing travelers into space quicker and at a lower price point than ever seen before, while still providing an unforgettable experience.

Our goal is to make space accessible to all, by continuing to drive greater value at lower cost, Bunger said.

Bunger said Orion Span would offer full charters to space agencies looking for a low-cost route to human spaceflight, and could support zero-gravity research or in-space manufacturing.

Our architecture is such that we can easily add capacity, enabling us to grow with market demand like a city growing skyward on Earth, he said. We will later sell dedicated modules as the worlds first condominiums in space. Future Aurora owners can live in, visit, or sublease their space condo.

Several other ventures have taken more concrete steps along the way to commercial space habitats. Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, for example, has two uncrewed standalone habitats in orbit as well as an expandable module thats attached to the International Space Station.

NASA, meanwhile, is pursuing partnerships with six commercial teams to develop deep-space habitats that could conceivably be used in low Earth orbit as well.

Yet another venture, Axiom Space, has raised millions of dollars to build modules that could be connected to the space station and then unhooked to operate independently when the space station is retired.

Interest in such ventures has been stoked by the Trump administrations initiative to commercialize space operations in low Earth orbit by the mid-2020s.

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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.
By Robert Muller PRAGUE (Reuters) - The chances of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis forming a majority government suffered a blow on Friday, with the Social Democrats officially breaking off coalition talks, raising the risk of early elections. Talks between Babis's ANO party - which won three times as many votes as its nearest rival in a parliamentary election last October - and the Social Democrats broke down late on Thursday evening in a row over ministries. The Social Democratic Party's leadership met on Friday and endorsed its top officials' recommendation to end talks with ANO, after Babis rejected its request to be given control of the finance or interior ministries in any alliance. "The leadership approved unanimously the steps that we made in negotiations about a possible coalition with the ANO movement and it also ended talks with ANO about creating a coalition," Social Democrat vice-chairman Jiri Zimola told reporters. The move will leave Babis with no viable governing partner for now. Most parties are shunning the billionaire businesman-turned-politician while he fights police allegations he illegally obtained a 2 million-euro EU subsidy a decade ago. Babis denies wrongdoing and has refused to step aside as prime minister, as most parties have demanded. Babis, who has repeatedly said a one-party government is his preferred option, said he would ask for a meeting with President Milos Zeman, possibly next week. He could lean on the Communists and the far-right, anti-EU SPD party for outside support, but some ANO members object, especially to the latter party. The anti-Islam SPD is also unacceptable to all other parties Babis's first attempt at forming a minority government lost a parliamentary confidence vote in January, leaving his cabinet to rule in a caretaker mode since. ANO won 78 seats in the 200-member lower chamber. A record nine parties won seats in the election. A breakdown in government negotiations increases the chances of an early election, although President Zeman has repeatedly rejected the idea and said he will give Babis ample time to try again to form a government. Early elections require the support of three-fifths of lawmakers, which might be hard to amass, especially as the anti-establishment ANO remains well ahead in polls after winning the election with pledges to fight graft and govern with a business touch. Zeman, re-elected in January, has remained an ally of Babis. The two, though, have differed over foreign policy issues like the government's decision to expel Russian embassy personnel last week in connection with an attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. Markets have largely shrugged off the protracted political stalemate - which is not unusual in Czech politics - with the economy roaring ahead and public finances in surplus. (Reporting by Robert Muller; Editing by Andrew Roche)
An Ohio man has been arrested after allegedly attacking his girlfriend with a pizza, police said.

Police responding to a domestic violence call in Masury on Tuesday said they could hear yelling coming from inside a home, but no one answered when they knocked on the door, ABC News reported.

When an officer tried to open the door, a man inside allegedly slammed it shut. One of the officers, however, was able to push it back open after announcing he was with the police.

Once inside, cops said they found Kenneth Evans, 24, "obviously intoxicated" and "screaming and belligerent," but he complied with their orders to sit on the floor once they pointed a stun gun at him.

The alleged victim told police Evans began pushing her head and screamed at her while she was driving him home. He then hit the woman in the face with pizza, she told police.

The woman reportedly suffered an "apparent minor injury."

Evans allegedly also tried fighting a neighbor, threw tires into the road and smashed a mailbox, the police report obtained by ABC said.

Inside, he reportedly flipped a couch and continued to scream and throw other objects.

Evans denied touching the victim and said they had only argued.

"He was highly intoxicated and his mood was rapidly shifting," the report states, according to ABC. "The house was completely trashed, with the [couch] upside down against the wall."

He allegedly continued to act belligerent at the police station, and smiled broadly when his mugshot was taken.

Evans was charged with domestic violence and was booked in Trumbull County Jail Wednesday. He was released the following afternoon.

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Guwahati : Assam Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that, the state has spent over 70 per cent of the total state budgetary provisions during the financial year 2017-18 which is slightly high compared to the previous fiscal.





The Assam Finance minister said that, a total of Rs 70,105.50 crore has been spent out of the total budgetary provisions Rs 99,453.08 crore during the financial year 2017-18 which is almost 70.49 per cent.





In the financial year 2016-17, the state had spent 69.15 per cent of the total budgetary provisions during the financial year.





Tabling the Expenditure (Provisional) Statement for 2017-18 in the ongoing budget session of Assam Legislative Assembly, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, the state has achieved a milestone by spending over Rs 70,000 crore

of the budget.





Various departments under the state government have spent over 80 per cent of the total budget provisions in FY18. In 2016-17, the state had spent Rs 57,406.81 crore of the budget provisions of Rs 83,017.21 crore and spent Rs

41,929.51 crore, which was 55.98 per cent of the total budgeted amount of Rs 74,903.76 crore in FY 16, Himanta Biswa Sarma said.





During the last two years, we have increased the states expenditure by almost 70 per cent compared to expenditure growth achieved in 2015-16. The expenditure growth in 2017-18, over a much larger base of 2016-17, has still been a highly creditable 22.12 per cent, the Assam Finance minister said.





The Assam minister further said that, the state government is set target to spend 75 per cent of the total budget in the next financial year.





Out of the total expenditure, Rs 57,288.30 crore was in the Revenue account and Rs 12,817.20 crore was in the Capital account. We have spent around Rs 20,000 crore of the states own revenue, Sarma said.





Among the state government departments, 7 departments had utilised over 80 per cent of funds in the last fiscal.





The Pension & Public Grievances department is topped in the list with 103.37 per cent utilisation of budgeted provision funds followed by Education department with 95.45 per cent, Governor Secretariat at 92.70 per cent, Public Health Engineering department at 90.14 per cent, Handloom, Textile & Sericulture department at 86.13 per cent, Public Works at 84.53 per cent, Welfare for Minorities Development at 83.12 per cent.





Among the other departments, Home department had spent 78.79 per cent, Health and Family Welfare spent 77.09 per cent, Revenue and Disaster Management department spent 70.14 per cent of total funds.





On the other hand, 9 departments had spent below 50 per cent of the total budgetary provisions and among these departments, Guwahati development department had spent only 19.53 per cent, Water Resources (Flood Control) spent 19.81 per cent.





Among the least fund utilisation was by Welfare of Plain Tribes & Backward Classes at 28.95 per cent, Tea Tribes at 29.30 per cent, Industries & Commerce at 31.14 per cent, Urban Development at 34.44 per cent, Fishery at 42.27 per cent, Information & Technology at 47.18 per cent, Cultural Affairs at 49.04 per cent.





The minister further said that, the state finance department had received 13,542 FoC (Fixation of Ceiling) proposals during the FY18 and 13,161 were approved and 381 proposals were rejected as these proposals were received at the end of the financial year.





On the other hand, Himanta Biswa sarma had refuted all allegations made by the oppositions as not releasing funds to the departments.





The Assam minister said that, the state government will continue to strengthen by focusing on public finance reform that the state government launched in last couple of years and will continue generating additional state own resources.





We will also continue to focus on bringing new developmental projects, schemes to the state through EAP funding to ensure that we are able to bring back the lost glory of the state, Himanta Biswa Sarma said.




If President Trump really cares about small businesses threatened by giant retailers, the proper target isnt Amazon (AMZN). Its Walmart (WMT).

Trump, of course, has been on a tirade against Amazon, essentially complaining about 3 things: 1. It doesnt pay the US Postal Service enough for package delivery; 2. It doesnt collect sales tax on third-party products sold on its site; 3. It hurts small businesses.

Trumps Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, joined in the fight on April 6, telling CNBC that Amazon has absolutely dominated the retail business; theyve put tons of retailers out of business. The president is focused on Amazon and the economic issues that are impacting retailers all around the country.

The true titan of retail

FILE PHOTO: An employee arranges shopping carts in front of the logo of Walmart outside a store in Monterrey, Mexico February 12, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril/File Photo

But Walmart, not Amazon, is the true titan of retail, and its also a scarier small-business bogeyman. Walmarts 2017 revenue was $486 billion. Amazons was just $178 billion. That makes Walmart 2.7 times larger than Amazon. Walmart employs 2.3 million people, 1.5 million of them in the United States. Amazon employs 566,000 (and doesnt break out US numbers). Walmart isnt growing as fast as Amazon, which is the biggest retailer online, but Walmart still has a much bigger footprint in the US economy.

Walmart probably hurts small businesses more than Amazon does, as well. The Walmart effect is well-known, by now. When a Walmart opens up, nearby retailers go bust by the dozens, because they cant match Walmarts scale or low prices. To preserve local businesses, some communities wont even let Walmart open stores.

Amazons effect on small businesses is more mixed. It certainly does pressure local shops on both price and convenience, because it lets shoppers buy thousands of everyday items without even leaving home. But many small businesses sell through Amazon, reaching a nationwide or even global market theyd never find on their own.

Walmart also uses the US Postal Service to deliver packages, and if it doesnt get rates similar to what Amazon pays, then somebody at Walmart screwed up. Yet Trump hasnt complained about Walmart (or any other retailer) using the Postal Service as its delivery boy. Only Amazon.

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Third-party tax collection affects both retailers. Amazon collects sales taxes in two states, Washington and Pennsylvania, that have passed laws requiring it to do so. Walmarts marketplace program allows third-party vendors to sell on its web site, similar to Amazon, and collects taxes if the vendor wants it to. But Walmarts leaves it up to the vendor to decide. This is basically a situation where state laws need to catch up with technology, which they probably will. More states are likely to pass laws requiring shoppers to pay sales tax on online purchases, just as they do in stores. That will settle it.

Trump might use his position as president to call for better state laws, or even a federal one, solving the tax-gap problem regarding online retailers. But hes not. Instead, hes claiming that Amazon is harming small businesses by not collecting sales tax on their behalf. Um, what?

Presumably, he means that small businesses selling on Amazon (Group 1) have an advantage over small businesses not selling on Amazon (Group 2), because the first group sells without a sales tax, while the second group does charge a sales tax. So a product ordered on Amazon from a Group 1 seller would effectively be cheaper than the identical product bought in a store from a Group 2 seller, with the entire difference being the amount of the sales tax. But if it were really this simple, then Group 2 would level the playing field by joining Group 1 and selling on Amazon! Trump dismissed.

In reality, Trumps criticism of Amazon has nothing to do with its business practices. What really irks Trump is its CEO, Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, which dings Trump repeatedly in its journalism. Walmarts CEO, Doug McMillon, doesnt own any news organizations critical of Trump, and the small amount of money hes donated to politicians in recent years has all gone to Republicans. Walmart is probably safe from Trump, even if it shouldnt be.

Editors note: This story has been corrected to reflect the fact that Walmart lets third-party vendors sell products on its web site, similar to the way Amazon does.

Confidential tip line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com. Encrypted communication available.

Read more:

Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman

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By Michael O'Boyle

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday sharply rebuked Donald Trump over his plan to send National Guard troops to the border, joining with opponents to tell the U.S. leader not to vent his domestic political "frustration" on Mexico.

Trump has been unable to get the U.S. Congress or Mexico to fully fund his planned border wall, and Trump said Thursday he will probably keep National Guard troops along the Mexican border until it is built.

In an unusually combative address, a stern-looking Pena Nieto urged Trump to stop sowing discord between the two nations and demanded a more respectful tone in bilateral relations.

"If your recent declarations are due to frustration over issues to do with internal policy, your laws, or your Congress, direct yourself to them, not to Mexicans," Pena Nieto said.

For months Mexico has been locked in tortuous negotiations with the United States and Canada to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but hopes have risen recently that some kind of preliminary deal could be within reach.

"President Trump: if you want to reach agreements with Mexico, we stand ready," Pena Nieto said, before adding: "We will not allow negative rhetoric to define our actions."

Pena Nieto and Trump have had a strained relationship ever since the New Yorker launched his campaign in 2015 with the claim that some Mexican migrants are criminals and rapists.

The White House says mobilizing the National Guard was part of Trump's strategy to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country, whom he blames for serious crime.

Pena Nieto has faced criticism for failing to take a tough line against Trump in the past. Trump's comments have thrust the countries' relationship into the center of Mexico's presidential campaign, where Pena Nieto's party is trailing.

All the country's presidential candidates on Thursday criticized Trump's plan to militarize the border.

Story continues

The front-runner in the race, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said Trump's scheme was political "propaganda" based on misinformation that aimed to stir up "xenophobia" and "racism."

"This great threat on the southern border of the United States that he says is there, does not exist," said the leftist Lopez Obrador, who has a double-digit lead in most polls.

"This anti-Mexican policy has worked politically because unfortunately there are conservative sectors in the United States with little information and he knows how to awaken an anti-Mexican sentiment," he added during a campaign event in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Ricardo Anaya, the second-place contender who heads a right-left coalition, echoed a Senate motion on Wednesday calling on the government to end cooperation with the United States on migration and security if Trump did not back down.

"You cannot negotiate or cooperate with threats," he said.

Jose Antonio Meade, candidate of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, also attacked the border plan, and independent Margarita Zavala called it a "historic error" and a "hostile act" in a letter addressed to Trump.

Barring Meade, all of the candidates are trenchant critics of the president, but Pena Nieto namechecked all four of them and the Senate motion in his scolding of Trump.

"As president of all Mexicans, I agree with (their) remarks," he said. "No one stands above the dignity of Mexico."

(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Dave Graham and Chris Reese)
The body of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee who mysteriously vanished almost two months ago was recovered this week from a river in Atlanta, police said Thursday.

Timothy Cunningham, a 35-year-old Harvard-educated leader within the nations health protection agency, was found dead late Tuesday night in the Chattahoochee River, which runs near his home, police said Thursday. A medical examiner identified his remains and said the cause of death was drowning.

Police said there is currently no indication that foul play was involved, and there were no signs of trauma on his body to indicate he died of anything but drowning.

Barring new information coming forward, we may never be able to tell you how he got into the river, Major Michael OConnor of the Atlanta Police Department said at a press conference on Thursday. We just dont have those answers at this time.

Cunningham, who police described as an avid collector of rare stones, had three crystals in his pocket and was found wearing his favorite jogging shoes, OConnor said.

UPDATE: The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the body recovered in the Chattahoochee River in NW Atlanta late Tuesday to be missing CDC employee Timothy Cunningham. A press conference will be held at 2 p.m. ET at APD Headquarters on the investigation. pic.twitter.com/PlAGiqHO5P  Atlanta Police Dept (@Atlanta_Police) April 5, 2018

Cunninghams parents had reported him missing on Feb. 14, two days after he found out he wasnt getting a promotion at work and stopped contacting members of his close-knit family. Cunningham, who went home sick from work on Feb. 12, had also apparently left behind his dog, wallet, car and phone in his home, which alarmed his parents, who had traveled to Atlanta from Maryland to check on him, police said.

Story continues

Cunninghams mother told officers that her son had been upset about a promotion at work, according to a police report. During a news conference on Feb. 27, police said they have no reason to believe the missed promotion had anything to do with his disappearance. Authorities initially offered a $10,000 reward for any information that would lead to an arrest and indictment in the case.

Timothy Cunningham

Cunningham, who has two advanced degrees from Harvard University, studied the health differences between people from various backgrounds, including race, gender, geography and class, according to his biography on the CDCs website. Cunningham has also been deployed to help during public health emergencies, including Superstorm Sandy and the Ebola and Zika viruses, his biography says.

In a statement in late February, the CDC said Cunningham was a highly respected member of the agency. Our thoughts are with his friends and family during this difficult time, CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harben said.
By Peter Szekely

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has pledged to listen to suggestions by Muslim groups when it drafts new policies for investigating political activity, part of a settlement over police surveillance conducted after the 2001 World Trade Center attack.

The agreement, announced on Thursday by both parties after two years of talks, also requires the NYPD to send high-ranking officials to meet with members of the New Jersey-based Muslim groups that brought the suit against the city.

As part of the 11-page settlement, the NYPD pledged that it would conduct no investigations motivated by race, religion or ethnicity, in keeping with current regulations.

The resolution of this case affirms and enhances the NYPDs commitment to conducting effective investigations to prevent crime and terrorism, Police Commissioner James ONeill said in a statement.

The Muslim groups filed suit in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, nearly six years ago, demanding that the city police stop surveillance of mosques, businesses, college campuses and other gathering spots as part of its anti-terrorism campaign.

Farhaj Hassan, the lead plaintiff in the suit, said in a statement that the settlement was "part of a broader effort to hold this country to account for its stated commitment and its obligation to uphold religious liberty and equality.

The NYPD, which admitted no wrongdoing under settlement, had pursued an aggressive surveillance program after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that sent undercover officers into Muslim neighborhoods, organizations and mosques. Mayor Bill de Blasio ended the program shortly after he took office in 2014.

The NYPD agreed to consider any proposed revisions suggested by the plaintiffs to new policy guidance now being drafted.

The settlement has not yet been approved by U.S. District Court Judge William Martini, who has presided over the case, the parties said. But attorneys for the plaintiffs said they expected the judge to sign off on it.

Under the agreement, the city also will pay the plaintiffs $75,000 in damages and $950,000 for legal fees.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely; Editing by Susan Thomas)
Washington (AFP) - Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday officials were making progress in intensive talks to revamp the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Mexico.

Freeland met over two days in Washington with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo to try to reach an agreement on a new NAFTA.

The discussions have entered "a new, more intensive phase of engagement," she told Canadian television.

"The tone is positive. We are making progress. And we're just all very committed to working as hard as we can to get a good deal, a win-win-win."

She said talks would continue and she would stay on in Washington "a little while longer."

"The bottom line is we had two days of intensive and constructive and productive work."

The administration of US President Donald Trump is increasing pressure in hopes of quickly reaching a deal. Looming on the horizon are July's presidential elections in Mexico and November's midterm US congressional elections.

The sides reportedly are aiming to have a deal in principle finished by the time of next week's Summit of the Americas in Peru.

The White House also is contending with deepening public fears of an all-out trade war with China, amid escalating tariff threats that sent global markets lower and Wall Street tumbling two percent Friday, for a loss of nearly 10 percent since the peak in late January.

- Stumbling blocks remain -

Freeland noted there had been progress in recent weeks on requirements for US content in autos, which she said was one of the most complex issues for all three countries. But she declined to provide details on any other areas under discussion.

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.

Story continues

Several other stumbling blocks remain to be resolved, particularly Washington's proposals to include a "sunset clause" for the agreement and to modify a key dispute resolution mechanism.

Mexico, meanwhile, reportedly is holding out against a US demand that would require automakers to source auto parts from factories that pay workers at least $15 per hour -- in line with US and Canadian wages, versus Mexico's current average wage of $3 per hour.

The auto parts sector is concerned that higher wages will increase costs throughout the supply chain, leading to higher prices for vehicles or a shift in work to lower-wage jurisdictions outside of North America.
nasa lockheed martin x plane

NASA

NASA has awarded Lockheed Martin a $247.5 million contract to build a quiet supersonic aircraft.

Under the contract, Lockheed will design and build an X-plane, an experimental aircraft designed to fly at supersonic speeds without producing a disruptive sonic boom.

Lockheed will deliver the aircraft to NASA in late 2021, at which point NASA will test it over US cities to evaluate its noise-reduction capabilities.



NASA may have paved the way for supersonic flight over the mainland US  which is currently illegal  by awarding a $247.5 million contract to Lockheed Martin to build a supersonic aircraft.

Under the contract, Lockheed will design and build an X-plane, an experimental aircraft designed to fly at supersonic speeds without producing a disruptive sonic boom. The security and aerospace company hopes to design the aircraft so that it will emit only 75 Perceived Level decibels (PLdB), which is about as loud as a car door closing.

Lockheed will deliver the aircraft to NASA in late 2021, at which point NASA will test it over US cities to evaluate its noise-reduction capabilities. The data collected in these tests will be given to US and international regulators, who may use it to consider new regulations around supersonic flight.

The return of supersonic flight has developed an increasing amount of momentum in recent years from startups like Aerion, Boom Supersonic, and Spike Aerospace. In December, Lockheed announced a potential partnership with Aerion in which Lockheed will take the next year to determine if it wants to help Aerion build its 12-passenger AS2 jet. The AS2 would be able to fly at 1.5 times the speed of sound, which would allow it to travel from New York to London in around 4.5 hours.

But Aerion, Boom, and Spike are focused on international flights that would depart from coastal cities like New York and Boston to avoid the US mainland. Lockheed's X-plane will be designed with an emphasis on flights over the mainland.

Story continues

Commercial supersonic flights haven't been available since the Concorde made its last flight in 2003. Though it could cross the Atlantic in three hours, Concorde failed to recover from a deadly crash in 2000.

NOW WATCH: How one CEO went from rejecting an offer from Steve Jobs to an $11 billion IPO

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SEE ALSO: Supersonic flights could return soon
Earthquakes can be scary to everyone, even the mighty bald eagle.

And a nest cam at Channel Islands National Park proved just that Thursday when the region was rocked by a 5.3 temblor that hit just off the coast of California.

An eagle and her little eaglets were understandably shocked.

With their nest quaking, one spooked parent eagle takes flight for a moment as the earthbound eaglets sway gently, their beaks wide open as if gasping at the strange occurrence.

But the parent soon returns and the rocking quickly stops. No birds were hurt.

Thankfully, the same is true for the people in the Santa Cruz region who felt the 5.3-magnitude quake on the mainland, though it was the largest felt in the Golden State in several years.

"A 5.3 could be damaging if it was right under our feet," John Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC, told reporters. "It's right on the edge of being an earthquake that could be dangerous. It's a reminder that we need to be ready in the future."

No major damage was reported.

However, experts said following the quake that there's a 1-in-20 chance a larger one will strike in the next few weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times.

You can watch more of the Channel Islands National Park nest cam, and see the birds live, here.

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SALEM, Ore. (AP)  President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the Mexico border has drawn resistance from some governors, most of them Democrats, and the law he invoked creates an opening for them to turn him down, officials said Friday.

But so far, three of the border states with Republican governors have endorsed the plan, and two, Arizona and Texas, quickly announced troop deployments. The Democratic governor of the fourth border state, California, has been silent on the issue.

Trump's order invoked a federal law called Title 32, under which governors retain command and control of Guard members from their state, with the federal government paying for the deployment.

Another statute, known as Title 10, establishes that National Guard personnel operate under the president's control and receive federal pay and benefits. The law also forbids them from performing tasks of civilian law enforcement unless explicitly authorized, according to the Congressional Research Service. Trump's order issued Wednesday did not mention Title 10.

Arizona's Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said about 150 Guard members will deploy next week. The GOP governors of New Mexico and Texas also back the plan. The Texas Army National Guard planned to deploy 250 people to the border within three days.

Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that she had a "productive conversation" about the deployment with governors of the Southwest border states.

It's unclear if Trump will ask for troops from states other than those along the border.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the deployment as "a good first step." If the administration determines that more troops are needed, "we'll make that decision at that time."

Story continues

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, also a Republican, on Friday became one of the latest leaders to oppose Trump's plan. His spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an email that Sandoval does not believe the mission would be "an appropriate use" of the Nevada Guard.

But North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said his state would "answer the call," just as it has done in other times of need, like historic floods.

"We North Dakotans know from experience how critical it is for states to support each other in times of need," Burgum said.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said she would deny Trump's request.

"As commander of Oregon's Guard, I'm deeply troubled by Trump's plan to militarize our border," Brown tweeted.

Her spokesman, Bryan Hockaday, said that if Trump invoked Title 10, the president "can federalize the National Guard forces, and there's not much the governor can do to prevent that."

However, under Title 32, a governor could try to reject a request for troops or order Guard members to remain in rear staging areas and not participate.

"If the president were to deploy under Title 32, he'd obviously have to have the approval of the governor," Hockaday said, citing an assessment from the governor's attorney. Lawyers reviewed all the pertinent legal provisions as soon as Brown's office heard the announcement about the deployment plan, he added.

While California Gov. Jerry Brown has not spoken publicly about Trump's plan, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said any request "will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners."

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said Friday that she will consult with the head of the Alabama Guard to see what resources are available.

The deployments will not be the first time the National Guard has gone to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Almost every U.S. state and territory contributed Guard members to Operation Jump Start, announced by President George W. Bush in 2006. Around 30,000 Guard members eventually participated, according to a 2008 National Guard analysis, including more than 1,000 each from Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina.

During Operation Phalanx, ordered by President Barack Obama in 2010, 1,200 Guard members deployed to the border, most of them from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

In the mid-1980s, National Guard troops were deployed even farther south, in Honduras, where they carried out military maneuvers. The missions happened as Sandinista forces in neighboring Nicaragua battled Contra rebels who were backed by Washington and had clandestine bases in Honduras.

___

Associated Press writers Bob Christie in Phoenix, Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Jonathan Cooper in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky .
Freetown (AFP) - Sierra Leone's new president, Julius Maada Bio, on Friday promised civil servants they need not fear a purge despite a historic shift in the country's politics.

Bio, whose election has ended decade-long rule by the All People's Congress (APC), praised state workers and "gave them assurance and expressed commitment to work with them," the spokesman for his SLPP party said.

"The meeting between the president and civil servants went well today and the president assured them that there will be no witch-hunting of workers," spokesman Alie Kabba told AFP.

Bio also called for Sierra Leone -- whose 1991-2002 civil war claimed around 120,000 lives -- to turn its back on "tribalism and regionalism".

"I want you to work hard to deliver and be prompt and professional -- don't worry, be happy," he said.

Bio, a former soldier who briefly led a military junta more than two decades ago, won 51.81 percent of ballots in the March 31 election runoff, according to the official results released late Wednesday.

He defeated Samura Kamara, the APC's champion, who secured 48.19 percent of the vote.

The campaign was bitterly fought, marked by ugly verbal exchanges and sporadic violence, and Kamara has said his party will launch a legal battle to contest the outcome.

Bio called Kamara on Thursday, according to Kabba.

"They had a very friendly conversation and (he) plans to meet (him) soon," Kabba said.

Bio on Friday also named a transition team of 10 men and two women, whose first job will be to "interface" with the team of the outgoing president, Ernest Bai Koroma.

Separately, the country's electoral commission said the APC retained most seats in the 132-seat legislature, which was contested at the same time as the presidency.

With two seats left to be determined, the APC had 67 seats and the SLPP 47, it said.

Kabba said the SLPP was confident it would be able to form a majority in parliament, working with smaller parties and individual legislators who were traditional chiefs.

Story continues

Cornelius Devoux, the APC's spokesman, said the party would work in the country's "best interest".

But he also called on the SLPP "to protect APC supporters who have been attacked or threatened".

One of the world's poorest nations despite huge mineral and diamond deposits, Sierra Leone is recovering only gradually from war and an 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak that killed 4,000 people.

Its economy remains fragile with investors slowly returning, and corruption is widespread. Political loyalties are often divided along ethnic lines and traumatic memories of the civil war run deep.




Guwahati : Moving forward on its commitment to improve the lives of local communities in Assam, Indias largest Science-based Ayurveda specialist Dabur India Ltd on Thursday announced the expansion of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drive in the state with the adoption of two new government schools in Tezpur  Jyoti Soworani Lower Primary School and Binapani Lower Primary School. Dabur has pledged to improve the overall infrastructure in these two schools this year.





As a first step, the Company distributed new sets of Desk-Benches and Teacher Tables in the two schools as part of its School Support Programme to improve the learning experience for students in these schools.





At a special event organized at these schools, Dabur donated 18 sets of Desk-Benches to Jyoti Soworani Lower Primary School, Nikamul, Tezpur and 30 sets of Desk-Benchesand 3 sets of Teacher Tables to Binapani Lower Primary School, HasaraNepali Basti.





A special programme was also organized on the occasion to raise awareness amongst the school-going kids about the importance of Environment Sustainability through a mass plantation drive.





The development work in both the schools is being carried out through Daburs CSR arm Jivanti Welfare & Charitable Trust.





Speaking on the occasion, Dabur India Ltd Vice President-HR & IR, Partho Ganguly said that, at Dabur, community development is not merely a buzzword

at Dabur.





Its ingrained in our DNA. Promotion of education is a key pillar of the CSR strategy as we believe that education is both the means to a better life and a key to ensure overall development of the society. In a bid to improve enrollment levels and reduce the dropout rates in rural and semi-urban schools, Dabur has taken up the responsibility of improving the infrastructure in schools and improving the learning experience for children in Tezpur, Partho Ganguly said.





Going forward, Dabur plans to undertake complete revamp of the school infrastructure, which includes revamping the classrooms and improving the sanitation facilities in these schools.





Prior to this, Dabur had undertaken a major revamp of Dhekidol LP School, which included upgrading the classrooms and building, revamping the sanitation infrastructure for students besides construction of a concrete boundary wall. Besides, Dabur has also adopted Chapaguri Government Junior

Basic School.





The School Support initiative is a result of detailed discussions with the school authorities and has been developed keeping their specific needs in mind.





After detailed discussions with the school administration and local community members to identify the need gaps in each school, we have commenced our development activities. Our intention is to develop and turn them into Model Schools for the region, Dabur India Ltd CSR Head, A. Sudhakar said.




Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) is facing criticism after she likened teachers who are demanding raises and improved education funding to a teenager asking for a new car.

Teachers want more, Fallin told CBS News on Tuesday as thousands of striking educators descended upon the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. But its kind of like having a teenage kid that wants a better car.

We are like teens who want a better car right? pic.twitter.com/CmO4QX81C8  Nicky Logue Ryan (@only1mrsryan) April 3, 2018

Hey @GovMaryFallin I would love a new car but all I really want is funding for my students.  Travis Sloat (@tstyles77) April 4, 2018

Let's be clear @GovMaryFallin  my sister wants diapers for her special education students, not a new car. #OklahomaTeachersWalkout #Oked  Shruggy Spice (@sonnijayne) April 4, 2018

Fallins tone-deaf remark further infuriated teachers already frustrated with state lawmakers failure to meet their demands.

Tens of thousands of educators across Oklahoma have been on strike since Monday. Theyre seeking a $200 million bump in education funding, a $10,000 raise over three years for teachers and a $5,000 raise for support staff.

The governor signed a bill last week raising teacher salaries by only $6,100 on average and restoring education funding by $50 million. On Tuesday, Fallin signed a measure giving support staff a $1,250 raise.

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The Oklahoma Education Association, the union coordinating the strike, said the new legislation is simply not adequate.

Tens of thousands of educators, parents and community members are showing up at the capitol every day because they are overwhelmed by classrooms with more students than desks, duct-taped textbooks, and schools that are only heated to 60 degrees, said Alicia Priest, the unions president, in a statement. This legislation falls well short of fixing those problems. These measures leave millions in revenue on the table and still leave Oklahoma students among the worst-funded in the nation.

Oklahoma teachers are also among the lowest paid in the country.

Tensions between the states educators and lawmakers have been running high since the walkout began.

After the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives failed to move legislation on Monday, the Oklahoma Education Association said that disrespect from lawmakers was fueling teachers anger and frustration.

Fallin has also provoked the wrath of educators and their supporters. Besides her comparison of teachers to teens, she suggested in the same CBS interview that antifa, or anti-fascist militant groups on the left, had joined the protests at the Capitol.

Talked w/Ok Gov Mary Fallin about #oklahomateachersstrike. She mentioned outside groups w/teachers at Capitol. I said yes...NEA and WV teacher union leaders.



And ANTIFA, she added.



Did yall see ANTIFA at the Statehouse?  Omar Villafranca (@OmarVillafranca) April 4, 2018

Unbelievable. @GovMaryFallin suggests "Antifa" is behind the #OklahomaTeacherWalkout.



But her deep budget cuts to education to pay for tax cuts for millionaires had nothing to do with it, right? https://t.co/mcGXay9smI  Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) April 4, 2018

I mean this is just incredible. Anyone who was there saw the crowd was something like 75-80 percent women between the ages of 25-50 wearing sweatshirts of the schools they teach at. ANTIFA? Might as well just have claimed ISIS was there. https://t.co/ZClnsUbePl  Dylan Goforth (@DGoforth918) April 4, 2018

State Rep. Kevin McDugle (R-Broken Arrow) has also faced backlash this week for saying in a Facebook video, since deleted, that he would not vote for another stinking measure when [teachers] are acting the way they are acting. Cyndi Ralston, a 30-year teacher, announced on Tuesday that she would run for McDugles seat as a Democrat.

For years, my profession has been under siege by our legislature. Budget cut after budget cut have forced us to do ever more with ever less, and it cannot continue on this path, Ralston said in a statement. When my colleagues and I have visited our Republican representatives and senators, we have been brushed off, if not outright lied to. Republican members of the legislature have made it crystal clear that they do not believe they work for us, that our concerns do not matter.

The Oklahoma walkout follows a teacher strike in West Virginia, which resulted in a 5 percent pay raise for educators there. Arizona teachers are planning a statewide strike as well.

On Friday and Monday, educators in Kentucky walked out to protest proposed changes to their pension plans. Dozens of teachers in that state are now seeking public office. Theyve had enough, they say, of lawmakers failure to stand up for them.

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Washington (AFP) - The Palestinian representative in Washington warned Friday that the situation in Gaza is explosive and that the region cannot afford to wait for the promised new US peace plan.

Husam Zomlot, the Palestine Liberation Organization's envoy to the United States, urged the United States to renew its support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Things are boiling in front of everybody. It's a pressure cooker. It's going to explode sooner or later. It's not like we can wait," Zomlot told AFP in an interview in Washington.

Zomlot's office broke off contact with the White House team drawing up a plan for a US-mediated solution to the crisis after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

There is little sign of a plan emerging and protests have erupted in Gaza, where Palestinians have thrown stones over a border fence and Israeli troops have responded with deadly live fire.

The White House has called for Palestinian leaders to keep their supporters back from the border, but has not spoken out against Israel's use of force, further enraging Palestinians.

"Look at the situation in Gaza," Zomlot said. "It deserves the US government strongest condemnation and action to uphold international law. We did not see condemnation."

Zomlot insisted the Palestinians were sincerely happy to work with Trump's administration and hopeful for peace until he recognized Israel's claim on Jerusalem.

"If the US administration changes its position and returns to the long-held US policy of a two-state solution on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital of a sovereign state of Palestine, yes we will engage," he said.

"Neither we can wait on the ground there -- things are really boiling -- nor we can wait for the US to change their position".
Washington (AFP) - The Pentagon said Thursday it has established a new body to support President Donald Trump's order to send the military to the southern border, but questions remain about what the deployment will actually look like.

The so-called "border security support cell" will channel information between the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for border security.

"The cell will last for the foreseeable future, to ensure we surge our capacity to meet the president's enhanced border security goals," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters.

Trump on Wednesday ordered the National Guard to deploy to the southern US border, ratcheting up pressure on Mexico and taking another step in his quest to clamp down on illegal immigration.

Because the National Guard falls under the purview of state governors, the Pentagon needs to liaise with each of the four states bordering Mexico to determine how the military will operate.

"The National Guard's efforts will include aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance and logistical support," White said.

But Pentagon officials still do not know how many troops will be on the border, whether they will be armed, when they will deploy and how long they will be there.

Pentagon planners have been scrambling to find ways to support Trump's surprise edict that he would send the military to the 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."

White denied there was a lack of coordination or communication between Trump and the Pentagon.

"The communication between the White House and the Defense Department is very clear," she said.

Trump wants to build a wall along part of the Mexican border, but his pet project is facing financial hurdles and he has suggested poaching Pentagon cash to help pay for it.

White said the Defense Department is looking into building a stretch of wall at its Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range in Arizona, where it abuts the border.
The Philippines has announced its best-known holiday island Boracay will be closed to tourists for six months over concerns that the once idyllic white-sand resort has become a "cesspool" tainted by dumped sewage.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the shutdown to start April 26, his spokesman Harry Roque said late Wednesday on Twitter, without providing further detail.

The decision raises questions about the livelihoods of thousands employed as part of a bustling tourist trade that serves some two million guests on the island each year.

Boracay has some 500 tourism-related businesses, which had a combined annual revenue of 56 billion pesos ($1.07 billion) last year.

However in February Duterte blasted the tiny island's hotels, restaurants and other businesses, accusing them of dumping sewage directly into the sea and turning it into a "cesspool".

Officials have warned the island's drainage system is being used to send the untreated sewage into its surrounding turquoise waters.

The environment ministry says 195 businesses, along with more than 4,000 residential customers, are not connected to sewer lines.

In February the government said a total of 300 businesses faced "evaluation" for sanitary or other offences on the 1,000-hectare (2,470-acre) island, of which 51 had already been handed official warnings for violating environmental regulations.

Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones told AFP last month a closure would involve having airlines and ferries suspend their Boracay services and making the beaches off-limits, and stationing police there "if necessary",

"An iron fist is needed to bring it back to its previous condition. It will be a temporary thing," Leones said.

The Boracay Foundation Inc., a business industry association on the island, had asked the government to shut down only those violating environmental laws.

"It's unfair for compliant establishments to be affected by the closure," Executive Director Pia Miraflores told AFP.

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Miraflores said that even before the ban was announced, its shadow had hit some businesses hard in Boracay.

"The tour guides have already complained that they have no more guests. There's already a huge effect," she said, adding the quays and jetties were "less crowded" than before.

Some couples who scheduled their weddings on the island up to a year or two in advance had cancelled their reservations even before the ban was announced, she said, with the tour agents also besieged with client calls on whether to pursue their planned trips.

With more than 500 hotels, Boracay employs 17,000 people, apart from 11,000 construction workers working on new projects.
London (AFP) - A cat and two guinea pigs owned by the former double agent poisoned in the UK are dead, the British government confirmed late Thursday after questions were raised by Russia.

Nearly a month after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, prompting a global diplomatic crisis, the fate of the ex-spy's pets was made public.

"When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," a spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told AFP.

"A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare," she added.

British counter-terror police have said the Skripals first came into contact with a nerve agent at the house, with the highest concentration found on the front door.

Global attention since the March 4 attack has focused on the political fallout -- after Britain blamed Russia for the attack -- and the condition of the human victims.

It was not until this week that Moscow raised concerns over the welfare of the pets.

"Where are the animals, what state are they in? Why has the British side... not mentioned this fact? We are talking about living organisms, and if toxic agents were used then living organisms must have suffered," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

The Sun tabloid said Skripal's cat was named Nash Van Drake and was taken to the nearby British defence laboratory at Porton Down where the pet was put down.

The remains of the cat and the guinea pigs were incinerated, the newspaper said citing unnamed government sources.

Russia's embassy to London earlier referred to a second missing cat, which was not mentioned by the British government.

Moscow has vehemently denied being involved in the nerve agent attack and has reacted to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Britain and its allies with equal measures.
Harare (AFP) - Zimbabwean police investigating an ivory-smuggling racket will soon question former ruler Robert Mugabe's wife Grace, who is accused of arranging shipments abroad, a government-owned newspaper reported Friday.

The Herald newspaper, once the mouthpiece of the Mugabe regime, said police were making progress in their probe into Grace's role in allegedly smuggling ivory to China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

"We are closing in with our investigations," a police source told the paper under the headline "Police tighten noose on Grace Mugabe".

"We have also picked up and questioned several suspects whom we believe are linked to the case."

Documents from the Zimbabwe parks authority allegedly accuse Grace Mugabe of ordering officials to grant her permits to export millions of dollars of ivory as gifts to foreign leaders.

Once outside Zimbabwe, the ivory was routed to black markets.

A police spokesman declined to comment to AFP on Friday.

Grace Mugabe had been tipped as a candidate to succeed her husband, 94, who ruled Zimbabwe since independence from British colonial rule in 1980.

But he was forced to step down in November last year following a military takeover that ushered former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa to power.

Grace has not been seen in public since, but she attended a press meeting her husband held at their house in the capital Harare last month.

She was known for her lavish spending habits and fierce verbal attacks on her husband's perceived critics.
President Trump and his daughter, Tiffany, are reportedly trying to repair what is being described as a damaged relationship.

The father and daughter reportedly had not seen each other in many months despite the fact that she attends Georgetown Law School, which is within walking distance of the White House.

Tiffany Trump was seen on the 2016 campaign trail with her father and even spoke at the Republican National Convention that year, but the two have reportedly not seen each other in months.

In the last week, they've made a point of spending a lot of time together.

The 24-year-old joined her father at a rally in Ohio last week with her half-sister Ivanka.

Tiffany Trump also attended church with her father on Easter Sunday in Palm Beach, Fla., over the holiday weekend with her family and on Monday, she attended the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn.

On Wednesday, she shared a photo of herself to Instagram, posing in the Oval Office. The caption read, "Official WH photo."
Prince Charles attends the swimming at Optus Aquatic Centre this week - Getty Images AsiaPac

It was said to be made of soft white kid leather, given to him as a joke Christmas present by his younger sister, the Princess Royal.

But the Prince of Wales found his personal lavatory seat so comfortable that it was packed, at his insistence, every time he travelled abroad. Or so the rumour went.

Now, the heir to the throne has had his own say, apparently so frustrated by the absurdity of the claim that he could not help but swear.

"My own what?" he asked, incredulously, when asked about the allegation during a radio interview in Australia.

"Oh don't believe all that crap. The very idea."

The rumour was revived in a new biography, Rebel Prince: The Power, Passion And Defiance Of Prince Charles, by Tom Bower.

But it has been published and republished many times over the years and never, until now, been addressed by the heir to the throne.

He was caught off guard when asked about the mythical lavatory seat by a DJ from Brisbane's Hit105 station as he carried out an engagement in the city.

Before swiftly moving past the microphone, the Duchess of Cornwall was also cornered and asked if her husband's denial was true.

"So he doesnt carry his own toilet seat when he travels? the reporter asked.

"Dont you believe that, she laughed.

Keen to ensure the message had got across, the Prince's director of communications, Julian Payne, referenced the exchange later on Twitter.

"The Prince and the Duchess's tour of Australia and Vanuatu begins: 30 engagements, 7 days, 1 Commonwealth Games, 0 personal loo seats," he wrote.

The seat is one of the Prince's many alleged habits and eccentricities for which he has long been lampooned.

It is often accompanied, as in the latest biography, by the claim that he also travels with his own personal supply of Kleenex Velvet lavatory paper, something that is yet to be confirmed or denied.

Other snippets that have gone down in Royal folklore include the claim that the Prince has his toothpaste squeezed onto his toothbrush every day by his valet.

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He has been said to ship his entire bedroom ahead of him when he goes to stay with friends, as well as taking his own salt, and employ Indian military veterans to hand-pick slugs off his plants by torchlight.

One of the claims in Bower's book is that the Prince balked at the very sight of cling film, shrieking "What's this?" when he entered a dining room to find his cold cuts covered in the bizarre stuff.

He is also been said to take his own organic food grown at Highgrove whenever he travels and receive a supply of unpasteurised milk from the royal herd at Windsor.

When the Prince turned 64 in 2012, Clarence House decided to mark the milestone by scotching many of these oft-repeated rumours on its website.

It was not true, for example, that at breakfast he is presented with seven boiled eggs, each cooked to varying degrees of softness and lined up before him so he can choose his favourite.

Or that his wife, the Duchess, smoked like a chimney, having given up long ago.

Nor was it correct to suggest that the Prince dislikes all modern architecture, advocates untested and dangerous alternative medical therapies or owns a Bentley.

He does, however, pay income tax and regularly attend church.

No word yet on the Indian slug pickers.
Hundreds of people rallied in New York City on Thursday evening to call for justice for Saheed Vassell, an unarmed black man who was shot by police the day before.

Activists gathered in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where New York City police shot at the 34-year-old father 10 times and killed him on Wednesday.

Police were responding to reports of a man wielding a gun, but later determined that the object Vassell had allegedly pointed at them was a pipe with some sort of knob on the end of it.

Standing on the corner where her son, who had bipolar disorder, had been killed the day before, Vassells mother, Lorna, gave an emotional address to the crowd.

He did not deserve [for] a piece of iron in his hand for a cop to kill him, she said, adding that her son came from a good family and was well loved by all who knew him. Its unjustified, and I want justice. They murdered my son, and I want justice for him.

She also questioned why police didnt simply shoot her son in his leg  echoing the grandmother of Stephon Clark, another unarmed black man shot by police last month in Sacramento, California. Protests over Clarks death have not stopped.

At the rally for Vassell, Womens March leader and activist Linda Sarsour, who is from Brooklyn, called for the officers who shot Vassell to go to jail.

Another unidentified speaker at the rally demanded an investigation into the killing.

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Theyre shooting us like birds, and it needs to stop, he said. People have to be held responsible for this. We need to check these police officers and lock them up.

On Thursday, the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said it was opening an investigation into Vassells death.

Mourners at the rally in Brooklyn chanted the now-familiar slogans against the repeated police killings of black people.

No justice, no peace, activists cried out. Say his name!

Saheed! the crowd yelled back.

A growing crowd of protesters then took to the streets of Brooklyn, marching to the 71st Police Precinct blocks away.

Also on HuffPost

Black Lives Matter protesters take to the streets of Sacramento during a march and demonstration on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

Some protesters have called for the resignation of Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.

A woman holds a bright "Black Lives Matter" sign during the demonstration.

A Black Lives Matter protester uses a bullhorn during a demonstration in front of the offices of District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert.

Black Lives Matter protesters took to the streets.

A Black Lives Matter protester holds an illustration of Stephon Clark.

The protest remained peaceful throughout the day.

Black Lives Matter activists raise their fists for Stephon Clark.

A woman holds a sign with an illustration of Clark.

Protesters call for justice for Stephon Clark outside of the Sacramento County district attorney's office.

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LONDON: The daughter of a former Russian spy poisoned by a nerve agent said Thursday in her first public comment that shes recovering even as the international furor over the attack intensified, with Russia warning Britain it is playing with fire.





At the United Nations, Russia claimed that intelligence services of other countries were probably behind the attack. But Britains UN Ambassador Karen Piece shot back that Russia has come up with 24 theories on who bears responsibility for the poisoning, but the United Kingdom has only one  that its highly likely Russia was responsible.





Yulia Skripal, 33, said in a statement released by British police that her strength is growing daily and she expressed gratitude to those who came to her aid when she and her father, Sergei, were found unconscious on a bench a month ago.





I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that youll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence, she said.





The hospital in the English city of Salisbury confirmed that Yulias health has improved, while her 66-year-old father, Sergei Skripal, remains in critical condition.





At the UN, the confrontation between Russia and Britain and more than two dozen Western allies who have expelled over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity intensified.





Russias UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia claimed that Russia that was the victim of a hasty, sloppy and ill-intentioned defamation campaign by Britain and its allies.





Moscow assumes with a high degree of probability that the intelligence services of other countries are likely responsible for the incident, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said.





Since the British authorities dare to state that behind the incident in Salisbury is Russias responsibility with a high degree of probability, well we also with a high degree of probability are assuming that the intelligence services of certain countries are behind the mega-provocation, he said.





Nebenzia said everything confirms this is a coordinated, very well-planned campaign intended to discredit and even delegitimize Russia.





He refused to name the intelligence services that Russia suspects, but said their goal is to accuse Moscow of using a horrible, inhumane weapon, of concealing the arsenal of this substance, of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, and putting in question Russias role not only in finding a solution in Syria, but anywhere else.





He also warned: We have told our British colleagues that you are playing with fire and you will be sorry.





Britains Pierce said Russias 24 theories for the attack include blaming it on terrorists and saying Britain wanted to distract from Brexit, its departure from the European Union.





After trading barbs about Sherlock Holmes, Nebenzia and Pierce resorted to nonsensical fantasy with the Russian ambassador reading a passage from Alice in Wonderland and the British ambassador responding with a witty passage from the book that says: I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast.





Adding to the intrigue was a recording aired Thursday by Russian state Rossiya TV of a purported phone call between Yulia Skripal and her cousin in Russia. In the call, Yulia Skripal allegedly said she and her father were both recovering and in normal health, and that her fathers health was not irreparably damaged.





Rossiya TV said Skripals niece, Viktoria, who lives in Moscow, gave it the purported recording, although the broadcaster said it could not verify its authenticity.





Moscow has steadfastly hammered away at Britains account of what befell the Skripals on March 4, especially the claim that their exposure to a Novichok nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union meant the attack was carried out by Russia.





During the Security Council meeting, Nebenzia questioned the British governments claims of Russian responsibility by posing a series of questions.





He asked why the British policeman was affected by the nerve agent immediately when it took four hours for Skirpal and his daughter to be affected. He asked what antidotes for exposure to Novichok the Skripals were given, where the Skirpals were for four hours without cellphones on the day of the attack, and what happened to two cats and two guinea pigs in the Skirpals house.





Russia has said it never produced Novichok and completed the destruction of its chemical arsenals under international control last year. Nebenzia insisted that Britain is required to allow Russia to cooperate in the investigation.





Great Britain refuses to cooperate with us on the pretext that the victim does not cooperate with the criminal, he said. A crime was committed on British territory, possibly a terrorist act, and it is our citizens who are the victims.





He said both Skripal and Yulia are Russian citizens, and Moscow must be granted access to them.





Pierce said the UK has left it to Yulia to decide whether to give Russia consular access to her.





Moscow has sent home an equal number of envoys  more than 150  in an all-out diplomatic war unseen even at the height of the Cold War.





As part of the diplomatic row, Russia last week ordered 60 US diplomats to leave the country by Thursday in retaliation for Washingtons expulsion of the same number of Russians.





Three buses believed to be carrying expelled American diplomats left the US Embassy in Moscow early Thursday after loading their luggage on trucks. Some toted pet carriers.





Ahead of the UN meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the British accusations against Moscow as a mockery of international law. He sarcastically likened the British accusations to the queen from Alice in Wonderland urging sentence first  verdict afterward.





The so-called Skripal case has been used as a fictitious, orchestrated pretext for the unfounded massive expulsions of Russian diplomats not only from the US and Britain, but also from a number of other countries who simply had their arms twisted, Lavrov said in Moscow.





The British government says it relied on a combination of scientific analysis and other intelligence to conclude that the nerve agent came from Russia. But the Foreign Office on Wednesday deleted a tweet from last month that said scientists at Britains defense research facility, the Porton Down laboratory, had identified the substance as made in Russia.




Protesters marched through Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, April 5, to remember Saheed Vassell, a local man shot dead by police the previous day.

The protesters gathered at the corner where Vassell was gunned down, Montgomery Street and Utica Avenue, before marching eastbound on Empire Boulevard, as seen in this video.

Vassell was killed by policemen responding to a 911 call about an individual pointing a gun at others. According to reports, after a confrontation with Vassell, four officers, one uniformed and three plainclothed, shot Vassell 10 times. Vassell was holding a metal pipe and according to NYT, was known for playing with neighborhood flotsam like toys. Credit: Erin Sheridan, The Indypendent via Storyful
Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., leaves the House Republican Conference meeting in the basement of the Capitol on Oct. 24, 2017. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

When Democrats settle in on Nov. 6 to see if they can win back control of the House, one of the first contests theyll be watching will be just outside Washington, D.C., in the northern Virginia suburbs.

Republican Rep. Barbara Comstocks seat in Virginias 10th Congressional District will be a crucial indicator. The result will be reported earlier than results from states farther west, and so both parties will use it as a weathervane. Democrats need to win 24 seats that are currently held by Republicans.

In a suburban district that is trending Democratic, Comstock has positioned herself as a moderate with a focus on local issues such as transit, while Democrats will try to tie her to President Trump. The same dynamic will be playing out in similar districts around the country, including three in Orange County, California; the Sixth District in Colorado, in suburban Denver; and the Seventh District in Texas, in and around Houston. All of these are suburban districts growing in population and ethnic diversity, giving Democrats a chance to win them.

Comstock faces a tough reelection fight. The 58-year-old Republican is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the country. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, crushed Republican Ed Gillespie last fall and won Comstocks 10th Congressional District by 13 points.

Comstock stumps for Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie last October in Sterling, Va. (Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Democrats now say they have a 12-point party identification advantage among voters in Comstocks district, and they recently released a polling memo showing that even if voters are asked about supporting Comstock or one of the six Democrats jockeying to oppose her, Comstock would lose by three points. Comstock ran about 12 points ahead of Trump in the 2016 election in her district, which Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 10 points.

Trumps approval rating, around 40 percent, and his disapproval, in the low 50s, are both around the same that President Barack Obama had in the Gallup average during the 2014 midterm elections, when Republicans won a historic landslide of 64 seats and gained a sizable majority in the House, ushering in the tea party era.

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In such an environment, its tempting for Democrats to focus only on national issues and on Trump. But that may not be enough for voters in Comstocks district to send her packing.

Comstock, a veteran Republican operative who is renowned for her political smarts and her relentless work ethic, has made a point during her four years in Congress to focus on local issues like transportation. She spent most of 2017 working on legislation to reform the Metro train and bus system that serves the Washington region. She unveiled the legislation in December, though it has yet to emerge from committee in the House.

The former congressional staffer  who was an integral part of Republican-led investigations into President Bill Clinton in the 90s  has also focused on public safety, sponsoring legislation to combat the MS-13 gang problem.

Comstock participates in a law enforcement roundtable on MS-13 hosted by President Trump at the White House in February. (Photo: Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images)

On another nationalized issue  womens rights and the fight against sexual harassment and assault  Comstock has moved aggressively to implement reforms in Congress that have even angered some Republican lawmakers, according to one ally of hers.

She has gained enemies in her own caucus, particularly Republican men who are worried about being outed for being louts, men who abused staff, pressured women, made unwanted advances, said Mark Corallo, who worked with Comstock at the Justice Department under President George W. Bush. She thinks we need to clean house.

And she has always kept her distance from Trump. When the Access Hollywood tape went public in the fall of 2016, Comstock said Trumps comments were disgusting, vile, and disqualifying, and called on him to drop out.

Democratic pollster Geoff Garin used Comstock as a contrast last year when talking about Gillespies campaign. Comstock took pains to separate from Trump, Garin said.

In early February, she delivered a very public rebuke to the president in front of the TV cameras. When Trump said he would love to see a [government] shutdown, Comstock disagreed. We dont need a government shutdown on this. I think both sides have learned that a government shutdown was bad, she said.

But Democrats are determined to tie Comstock to Trump.

Barbara Comstocks days of trying to have it both ways are over. She tries to hide from Donald Trump when its convenient for her, but then votes with him most of the time, Virginia Democratic Chairwoman Susan Swecker told Yahoo News.

Comstock speaks at a press conference in 2015 at Reagan National Airport during the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority media preview of new Metro trains. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

As for Comstocks transportation credentials, Democrats are going to hammer on her vote against Metro funding back in 2013 when she served in the state House of Delegates. Democrats made that an issue in Comstocks first campaign for Congress in 2014, which she won anyway.

And for months, Democrats have been pressuring Comstock to hold town hall meetings, using the dearth of such events as evidence that Comstock is out of touch. Comstock supporters say no one works harder to be in the community and to respond to constituent concerns.

Comstock needs to retain the support of a conservative Republican base that dominates the western portion of the district, which stretches to the West Virginia state line. In fact, Gillespie lost this district in the primary to far-right candidate Corey Stewart. But the district is far more densely populated closer to D.C., in large part by federal workers.

When you think of company towns, well, guess what the company is? Its the federal government, said Dan Scandling, a former top aide to Frank Wolf, who held Comstocks seat for 34 years (Comstock worked for Wolf in the early 90s).

And so Comstocks confrontation with Trump over a government shutdown was an easy and significant win for her.

If the economy remains strong for the remainder of the year, that too may blunt Democratic attacks on Comstock voting with Trump, since the tax cut legislation was one of the biggest votes shes taken.

Finally, Comstock has been a political knife fighter for over two decades now. Her time on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform during Clintons second term was formative. She was chief counsel for Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who wielded the committees investigative powers against Clinton like a battering ram.

Activists cheer as a new mobile electronic billboard to help unseat Comstock passes by on Leesburg Pike on June 22, 2017 in Sterling, Va. (Photo: Bill OLeary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

It was there that Comstock worked with David Bossie, whose antiestablishment and anti-Democrat fervor carried him to a top spot on Trumps campaign in 2016. Another key Comstock colleague on the committee was Tim Griffin  now the lieutenant governor of Arkansas  who she recruited as her deputy on the 2000 presidential campaign to help her do opposition research at the Republican National Committee against Democratic nominee Al Gore.

A campaign is a lot like a trial, she told the Atlantic in 2004.

Her fundraising prowess is also first-rate. She had already raised $2 million by the end of 2017, after raising $5.3 million for her 2016 campaign. The only Democrat to even come close to that total so far is Alison Friedman, a human trafficking activist with State Department experience, who raised about $1 million in six months, though much of the money came from Hollywood celebrities.

Democrats privately acknowledge that Comstock is a formidable political opponent who cannot be underestimated.

She has headwinds, Scandling said, but she has defied the odds in every election she has been in.

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Read more from Yahoo News:
London (AFP) - The former Russian spy who was found slumped in an English city after being poisoned is no longer in critical condition and is "improving rapidly", the hospital treating him said Friday.

It was the first news of Sergei Skripal's health improving since the 66-year-old ex-double agent and his daughter Yulia were found poisoned on a bench on March 4 in Salisbury, southwest England.

The affair has sparked a bitter diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow and prompted a wave of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats between Russia and the West.

Skripal "is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition,"according to Salisbury District Hospital director Christine Blanshard.

As for his daughter, 33, "her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital", Blanshard added.

Britain's interior ministry on Friday rejected a visa application by Sergei Skripal's niece to visit the country, because it "did not comply with the immigration rules", the Home Office said.

Viktoria Skripal told Britain's Sky News television: "I was sure that this would happen.

"They (the British) must have something to hide."

- 'Ongoing medical needs' -

Russia's embassy in London said the decision was "regrettable and worrying" and "doesn't hold water".

Britain blames Russia for the poisoning of the Skripals -- a charge the Kremlin furiously denies.

A British Foreign Office spokesperson praised medical staff continuing to treat the pair and noted they are "likely to have ongoing medical needs".

Its statement added: "This was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses."

The first public comments by Yulia Skripal since the poisoning emerged on Thursday.

"My strength is growing daily," she said in a statement released through the police.

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Scientists said the Skripals had likely been treated with Atropine -- a drug used to counter the effects of nerve agents -- and marvelled at their partial recovery given the circumstances.

"As far as we know from the literature, there is no specific antidote for Novichok," Ralf Trapp, an expert on chemical weapons, told AFP, referring to a batch of nerve agents allegedly developed by Moscow in the Soviet era.

"What you basically do in such cases is stabilise the life functions of the body -- breathing, heartbeats -- and give Atropine to counter-balance the symptoms, hoping that the body will recover," he added.

- Novichok's disputed origins -

Moscow earlier Friday rejected a British newspaper report that the nerve agent Britain says was used against Skripal came from a military facility on the Volga River.

On Thursday, The Times cited British security sources saying they believed the Novichok nerve agent was manufactured at a facility in the town of Shikhany southeast of Moscow.

"We are aware of claims of this sort by our British colleagues," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on a visit to Belarus.

"We will not trust in them, we would like to check them but they are not letting us do that."

He accused London of trying "feverishly and convulsively to look for some new confirmation of their absolutely indefensible position".

Russian officials said earlier Friday that no chemical weapons were ever stored at Shikhany, although they stopped short of specifically addressing the claim that Novichok was made there.

"This laboratory was never part of the scope of our work," Mikhail Babich, the Kremlin's envoy in the Volga region and former chairman of the state commission for chemical disarmament, told Interfax news agency.

"All the bases where chemical weapons were stored are well-known. Shikhany is not one of them."

He said there used to be another such facility in the surrounding Saratov region but it was not located in Shikhany.

The Times report came after the British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent said that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia.

Russian authorities have insisted the country never had any programmes to develop the chemical weapon.

Last month, Russian scientist Leonid Rink told state media he worked for 27 years at a state laboratory in Shikhany, where the development of Novichok formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation.

According to the website of the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, its branch in Shikhany is involved in work related to "ensuring the security" of the country and destruction of chemical weapons.

In September 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had destroyed its last chemical weapons.

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Top Russian military officials have warned that Washington's hardline approach to nuclear-armed North Korea could result in a catastrophic war in East Asia, as satellite imagery revealed new activity at a nuclear reactor site.

Vice-Admiral Igor Kostyukov, first deputy chief for the main directorate of the Russian military's general staff, accused President Donald Trump and his administration Thursday of having escalated the feud between the U.S. and North Korea, which has continued to develop nuclear weapons in spite of multinational sanctions and foreign military pressure.

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As Kim Jong Un prepared to become his country's first supreme leader to meet a sitting U.S. president, the Russian military leader told the seventh annual Moscow International Security Conference that the White House's rhetoric and Pentagon's military buildup only served to destabilize peace in the region.

"The situation around the Korean peninsula has long been balancing on the brink of a regional war. The U.S. White Houses purposeful attempts to undermine the viability of the Kim Jong Un regime and the demonstration of its readiness for the removal of the North Korean leadership through the use of force are pushing Pyongyang towards adventurist steps, which Washington is using to justify the need to build up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region and deploy global missile shield elements," Kostyukov said, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency.

"As a result of this dangerous U.S. policy, the North Korean authorities that have actually been driven to the corner have achieved considerable progress in improving their missile and nuclear potential," he added.

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ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images

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Kostyukov maintained that, like the U.S. and even top North Korean ally China, Russia was opposed to North Korea's possession of weapons of mass destruction, but condemned the U.S. approving major arms sales and installing new weapon systems in the Pacific region. Russia and China, which themselves have sought a greater defense alliance, view U.S.'s expanding military presence as not only a threat to North Korea's national securitybut to theirs as well.

Kostyukov argued that "there is no alternative to settling the nuclear problem solely by political and diplomatic means" and "the potential of sanctions measures and stronger pressure has been used up by now." Despite Trump having furthered diplomacy last month by accepting to meet Kim face-to-face by May, his administration has not announced any change in course from the Republican leader's "maximum pressure" strategy, which the vice-admiral said had "disrupted" negotiations until now.

The previous day, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu also warned of a potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula at the Moscow gathering, which drew delegations from more than 90 countries. He urged the U.S. to embrace peace rather than focusing on military exercises, such as the ongoing "Foal Eagle" drills currently being jointly held with South Korea.

"We believe that there is no military solution to the Korean problem. Pressure and threats are not an effective means of settling the crisis. Moreover, the constant instigation of the situation and the demonstration of the military force may lead to incidents and even an armed conflict whose consequences may affect the entire region," Shoygu said, according to Tass.

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He also noted that Russia had been established close ties with its Asian allies, including China, India, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, and was seeking new countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Defending the U.S. "maximum pressure" strategy, Trump's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Alex Wong credited the president's approach with accelerating the current inter-Korean peace talks, which have also seen Kim visit China in the young leader's first-ever foreign journey while in power.

"A number of years before President Trump came to office  there really wasnt any movement. There was no diplomatic movement on the ground, and the only movement you saw was the slow, creeping expansion of North Koreas nuclear program. And in that light, I think were in a pretty good place right now," Wong said during a press conference Monday.

NorthKoreaYongbyon

Digital Globe/38 North

NorthKoreaYongbyon2

Airbus Defense & Space/38 North

The reports came as a new analysis featured by the 38 North project of the U.S.-Korea Insitute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies showed a major uptick in activity surrounding the 5-megawatt reactor located at North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Research Center. Using satellite imagery, 38 North's experts said North Korea appeared to have begun construction and excavation activities possibly geared toward enhancing the future performance of the plutonium production site, while the reactor itself appeared to have been shut down for the time being.

The report noted that "there was no evidence (as of March 30) of plutonium reprocessing taking place at the Radiochemical Laboratory. However, this development should be monitored closely in the future." The authors also spotted work on a potential new laboratory or engineering support building by the Experimental Light Water Reactor, but said "there are no obvious signs that the reactor is approaching operational status."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Demonstrators condemn killing of Saheed Vassell, who was wielding a metal pipe when he was shot nine times by police

Hundreds gather in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to condemn the police shooting of unarmed black man Saheed Vassell. Photograph: Craig Ruttle/AP

Hundreds of people have marched through the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Crown Heights to protest against police for shooting an unarmed black man.



Saheed Vassell, 34, was shot and killed by police on Wednesday afternoon. The New York police department said it had received calls that a man was wielding a gun, but it turned out to be part of a welding torch.

People blocked the corner of Utica Avenue and Montgomery Street, where Vassell was shot, chanting: no justice, no peace. Vassells mother, Lorna Vassell, was among those to address the crowd.

Saheed came from a good family, and they had no right to shoot him down the way they did, because Saheed is no gunman, Vassell said on Thursday night. They murdered my son and I want justice for him.

Vassell would regularly hang out at the corner where he was shot, residents said, and was known to suffer from mental illness.

I gave him a dollar the day before he was shot, said Mavis Mayfield. Everybody in the neighborhood knew him.

Saheed Vassells mother Lorna Vassell addresses the rally. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Mayfield, 70, said she had lived on the block for more than 40 years. She said she was concerned for the male members of her family.

I got my grandkids, I got my son, my nephew, I got to look out, she said. All the time I worry about them. I tell my grandson all the time: If the police stop, then stop and put your hands in the air.

The NYPD released video footage on Thursday that showed Vassell pointing the metal pipe at people on the street, along with transcripts of 911 calls from people saying a man was carrying something that looked like a gun.

When police arrived on the scene Vassell took a two-handed shooting stance and pointed an object at the approaching officers, the NYPD chief of department, Terence Monahan, said. Four police officers, two of whom Monahan said were not in uniform, opened fire.

On Friday police said the metal object Vassell was holding was the head of a welding torch. Vassells father, Eric Vassell, told the New York Times on Wednesday that his son had worked as a welder.

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The New York City medical examiners office said on Thursday that Vassell was shot nine times, including one shot to the head and two to the chest. A number of Crown Heights residents at the rally said officers did not need to shoot Vassell fatally.

They need to lose their jobs and they need to be put in jail Ramel Johnson

They need to be retrained to shoot a body part, not to shoot to kill, said Latitia Richardson, 45. This is Crown Heights, not a third-world country.

Richardson described the street where Vassell was killed as a very safe block. She said police needed to be more aware of the communities they serve.

This is a guy that the cops see every day, she said. He is not a stranger to the community, he stands in the same place every day. So if youre policing this community you would know him.

Speakers at the rally on Thursday repeatedly demanded that the New York police department release the names of the officers who had shot Vassell, and called for them to be prosecuted.

Demonstrators protest into the evening. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

They need to lose their jobs and they need to be put in jail  the same as if someone kills a cop, said Ramel Johnson, 38. Its become clear they have no respect for human life.

After the rally, the crowd marched to the NYPDs 71st precinct, around 1 mile (1.5km) west of where Vassell was shot, chanting and waving signs condemning the police. Many repeatedly called for Crown Heights residents not to call 911 in the event of an emergency because of the risk of black residents being shot.

When the group arrived at the precinct they found, to the bemusement of many, that police had placed metal barricades around the building, with dozens of officers guarding entry.

Undeterred, people continued to shout Saheed, along with a recurring chant of We want names.
Sergei Skripal - AFP

Sergei Skripal is no longer in a critical condition, his doctors announced on Friday, as his niece was denied a visa to visit the UK amid concerns she was being used as a Kremlin pawn.

Mr Skripal has been in hospital since March 4 after he was exposed to a deadly Novichok nerve agent but Salisbury District Hospital said the 66-year-old was improving rapidly.

His recovery will raise hopes that he could give investigators vital clues about how and why he and his daughter, Yulia, were targeted.

It came as Mr Skripals niece, Viktoria, was denied the right to visit her relatives in hospital after the Home Office refused her visa application on the grounds that it did not comply with the immigration rules".

But Viktoria hit back and reportedly told Sky News that "the British must have something to hide".

Meanwhile, it emerged Mr Skripals cat was put down and his two guinea pigs died after the former double agents house was cordoned off in the wake of the poisoning.

The British Government has blamed Russia for the spy attack but Moscow has denied all accusations of wrongdoing.

Relations between the two nations are increasingly strained with both engaged in a war of words and tit-for-tat retaliation, expelling each others diplomats.

In a major development on Friday, doctors in Salisbury announced Mr Skripal's condition had improved significantly.

Timeline Sergei Skripal How events have unfolded

Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at the hospital, said: "He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.

The hospital announced last Thursday that Yulias condition had improved to stable.

The Foreign Office said the pairs recovery was a tribute to the hardworking and talented NHS staff in Salisbury as it reiterated that this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses.

The Russian Embassy in the UK described the development as "good news".

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Moscow has appealed to Britain to issue visas to relatives but Mr Skripals niece, Viktoria, was refused the right to come with a Government source telling the BBC: "It appears the Russian state is trying to use Victoria as a pawn.

"If she is being influenced or coerced by the Kremlin, she has become another victim."

Russian television aired a recording on Thursday of an alleged phone conversation between Yulia Skripal and Viktoria in which the former apparently said her father was resting.

The row over visas came after the fate of Mr Skripals pets emerged.

Mr Skripals black Persian cat, called Nash Van Drake, was found when investigators got into his Wiltshire house after the attack.

The cat was reportedly taken to the Porton Down military laboratory but the animal was so malnourished that the decision was taken to euthanise it in order to alleviate its suffering.

The two guinea pigs were found dead at the house and all three animals were reportedly incinerated.

A spokeswoman for the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down confirmed the animals were not tested to see if they were contaminated with the nerve agent.

The spokeswoman said it was an operational decision not to test the animals.

Police Community Support Officers stand outside the Salisbury home of Sergei Skripal Credit: Ben Mitchell/PA

But Moscow questioned why the bodies of the pets were destroyed because they could have provided investigators with a crucial piece of evidence.

Scotland Yard said Mr Skripal and his daughter first came into contact with the nerve agent at his home with the highest concentration of the substance found on the front door.

The improving condition of Mr Skripal and his daughter is likely to prompt questions about how the pair survived exposure to the nerve agent.

Dan Kaszeta, a security and chemical defence consultant, addressed the issue and said nerve agents only really work quickly when they are inhaled while the effectiveness of the material could have been mitigated by human factors like washing hands or rainfall.

Mr Skripal and his daughter are not the first people to survive exposure to such a substance.

Heba Sawan survived a chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, Syria, in 2013 but sarin gas fumes left her blind for nearly a week and in 1995 Hiroyuki Nagaoka survived a VX nerve agent attack, carried out by a Japanese religious cult which also spread sarin in Tokyos subways.

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Listening to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talk about the future of oil feels like taking a step back in time to a period not long ago when surging oil prices seemed destined to fuel a bright future in the resource-rich kingdom.

In an interview with TIME last week, bin Salman, the 32-year-old who runs the day to day business of Saudi Arabia, insisted that his countrys oil business would remain secure as demand for the resource grows and other countries suffer from reduced supply.

There is new growing demand, he told TIME. We are not only keeping the 10 million barrels [daily] were producing. It seems that we will produce much, much, much  a lot of barrels in the future.

Its a point echoed by senior Saudi officials in public settings across the globe, but behind the scenes the Saudi officials and their American allies are worried.

Current and former American officials caution that the Saudi reliance on oil is one of the greatest threats to a fragile stability in the Middle East as well as the crucial U.S.-Saudi relationship.

If the economy craters, things get out of control, one current American official warns. Without oil revenues, the Saudi government simply cannot afford a heavily subsidized economy that leans heavily on low-wage, foreign-born labor. Facing internal threats, the Saudis boosted their social safety net and pursued minor liberalization.

Read More: The Saudi Crown Prince Thinks He Can Transform the Middle East. Should We Believe Him?

And without a strong Saudi Arabia, the United States lacks a reliable partner in the Arab world. Decades of symbiosis have tied Washington and Riyadh, in recent decades largely based on mutual skepticism of Tehran. The shared desire to curb Irans ambition have forced many an American diplomat to endure a dressing-down in the name of the long-term alliance and to turn a blind eye to the Saudis horrifying human rights record.

One American who was in the kingdom earlier this year for high-level meetings said it was a coin-toss whether bin Salmans pricey changes could be sustained. This American who worked as a senior official in Democratic administrations said he heard compelling arguments from his counterparts why the overhauls were proceeding without hiccup, and just as many people made an equally credible argument that the Saudis were running on borrowed time.

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A lot of people are going to be proved wrong, he said.

Salman is right that oil isnt going anywhere, at least in the short- to medium-term. A report from the International Energy Agency released last fall shows oil demand growing through 2040, largely from Chinas rapidly expanding economy, even as countries adopt new policies to address climate change.

But the IEA also found that new oil production in the U.S. and a handful of other countries will meet most of that new demand as oil companies continue tap into shale oil inaccessible even just a few decades ago. Production in the U.S. alone will cover 80% of the worlds new oil demand in the next three years, according to an IEA report. We are going to see a major second wave of U.S. shale production coming, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, told reporters at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston last month.

And Saudi Arabia still faces challenges to turn a profit on the oil it does produce. Globally, oil currently trades around $63, short of what International Monetary Fund analysts say is the countrys $70 per barrel break even point. That gap makes a big difference in a country expected to run a $52 billion budget deficit in 2018.

In the longer term, Saudi Arabia faces the prospect of whats known in the industry as energy transition. Countries have increasingly moved away from running their economies on fossil fuels like coal and oil in favor of cleaner and increasingly cost competitive energy sources like wind and solar. That trend is expected to continue as technology advances and the pressure to address climate change increases. In the transportation sector, vehicles have become more efficient, using less fuel, and the worlds roads are expected to accommodate a rapidly increasing number of electric vehicles. BP said earlier this year that it expected oil demand to peak by 2040 as the number of electric vehicles grows 100-fold.

During Barack Obamas term, his pursuit of energies apart from oil was a major sticking point for U.S.-Saudi relations. Obamas green-energy push was seen in Riyadh as an affront to their economy, and counterproductive to Saudi leadership. One veteran diplomat said she was unable to finish any meeting with her Saudi counterparts without hearing how U.S. wind, solar and ethanol were tantamount to direct aid to Iran. American oil consumption, the Saudis argued, was needed to fund relatively minor reforms. Petrol is patriotic, one Obama-era official laughs. High MPG standards are not.

In his interview with TIME, Salman pointed to petrochemicals  products like plastics and other synthetic materials made from oil feedstock  as an area of opportunity in the event of a slow down in oil demand. That assessment is in line with the views of the IEA and projections from major oil companies like Exxon Mobil.

Every one of you wearing part of these petrochemicals and materials, said bin Salman. For your button and your pen and your shoes and your phones you have some of these stuff, and more stuff will come.

Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, has invested heavily to that end. Last year, Saudi Arabia took ownership of the Port Arthur oil refinery, a Texas facility that ranks as the largest oil refinery in the U.S., and planned to invest up to $30 billion in its U.S. operations largely to increase its petrochemical output.

But even as the Saudis continue to express confidence that the country will ride the energy transition the attention they pay to the issue confirms its significance. If theyre talking about it, says Amy Jaffe, director of the program on energy security and climate change at the Council on Foreign Relations, theyre worried about it.

Though the challenges facing the oil industry may not be a favorite discussion topic among Saudi Arabias rulers the realities inform the bold reform initiatives underway, including bin Salmans Vision 2030 plan to reform the Kingdom. Some of the reforms are social, diminishing the role of religious clerics and empowering women, for example, but many of the economic reforms are intended to shield the country from future pain in the oil sector. Most obviously, the country is planning an initial public offering for Aramco. With a valuation as high as $2 trillion, the IPO could generate $100 billion for the country to help diversify.

We are ready, bin Salman said of the IPO. Now its a matter of choosing the right time.

 With reporting by Haley Sweetland Edwards, Edward Felsenthal and W.J. Hennigan/New York
By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - When French President Emmanuel Macron flew into Riyadh for hastily arranged talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in November it was all smiles in public, but in private a tough dialogue over Iran signaled a change between the allies. Whether that was a momentary tiff or a longer-lasting complication may become clear when Prince Mohammed arrives in Paris on Sunday for a two-day visit that will focus on the crises in Yemen, Syria and Qatar and the Iran nuclear deal. After trips to Britain and the United States with major contracts envisaged, the prince, or MBS as he is also known, will attend cultural events, political meetings and an economic forum. While a tourism project between the two countries will be announced, MBS is not expected to clinch any mega-deals. French officials dismiss any notion that the absence of huge contracts reflects any weakening in the relationship, saying they seek a new "method" of working with the world's largest oil exporter that does not depend on eye-catching new business. A warm relationship between Riyadh and Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande did not result in the sharp expansion of business Paris had sought. "Competition is fierce so we had to rethink the models of relationships. Less talk about major contracts and more focus on sectors that are less spectacular such as health, education and tourism," said a senior French diplomat. But analysts note the 32-year-old Prince Mohammed has emphasized closer ties with U.S. President Donald Trump just at a time when Macron has in turn sought to improve relations with Iran and vowed to preserve the nuclear deal. Several Western and Arab diplomats describe the November exchange as tense. According to three officials, the meeting was dominated by Prince Mohammed threatening to curb relations with France if Macron did not alter his desire to dialogue with Iran, Riyadh's regional rival, and push business interests there. Macron, the officials said, reminded Prince Mohammed of France's position in the world as a nuclear power, permanent member of the Security Council member and that France was free to do what it wanted. WEAPONS SALES In recent years, France had nurtured new links with the Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states due to its tough stance on Iran in nuclear negotiations, and the broad similarity of their policies on conflicts across the Middle East. However, Prince Mohammed's uncompromising efforts to counter Iran's growing influence in the combustible Middle East are sometimes perceived as reckless in Paris. "The relationship could go either way, but it's clear that Prince Mohammed feels more love from Trump than Macron," said a second French diplomat. "While Macron recognises the reforming aspirations, he sees that MBS could be a real loose cannon and what he is doing in Yemen and Qatar and the talk on Iran has potential to add fuel to regional fire." The visit comes amid growing pressure on Macron at home from lawmakers and rights groups over France's weapons sales to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. A private letter sent to Macron from 12 international non-governmental organizations urged him to pressure MBS to ease a blockade on Yemeni ports and suspend French arms sales. "It is a bit of a new method of cooperation with Saudi Arabia that relies less on contracts, admittedly important but intermittent, and which will translate into a common vision. This is the general tone that will be given," an official in the French presidency said. (Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier, Michel Rose and Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Editing by William Maclean)
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Six Palestinian journalists were shot and wounded by the Israeli army during clashes Friday between demonstrators and troops on the Gaza border, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate said.

The union said the six were shot despite wearing clothes clearly identifying themselves as journalists, adding it held Israel "fully accountable for this crime".

None of the injuries were life threatening, but it called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

An Israeli army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the statement.

The Gaza Center for Media Freedom, which defends Palestinian journalists, called on the international community to intervene to protect its journalists.

At least seven protesters were killed during Friday's protests, as thousands of Palestinians faced up to Israeli forces in five locations along the Gaza-Israel border.

Gaza's health ministry also reported that 408 Palestinians had been taken to hospitals and medical centres for treatment. Those killed included a 16-year-old, it said.
Bratislava (AFP) - Slovakia's police chief refused to quit on Friday, a day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded his ouster, as he questioned the president's motives for backing calls for his departure.

Protests against national police commander Tibor Gaspar have mounted in the wake of the February murder of a journalist probing corruption, with critics alleging that political connections prevent him from guaranteeing a fair and thorough investigation. Gaspar has flatly denied having any bias.

"No-one in the government has asked me to step down. The issue of my future, as well as the future of the police corps, will be decided soon," Gaspar told local media Dennik N, echoing Interior Minister Tomas Drucker who said Friday make a decision "within a couple of days".

The police commander is due to step down by the autumn under reforms adopted before Kuciak's murder.

The EU member state of 5.4 million was plunged into political crisis after the February killing of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, who had been probing alleged ties between top politicians and the Italian mafia.

The killing and Kuciak's article, published after he and his fiancee were found shot dead, raised fresh concern about media freedom and corruption and sparked a wave of protests that forced the government to resign.

Tens of thousands of Slovakians rallied across the country on Thursday calling for Gaspar to go too, with around 30,000 protestors turning out turned out in the capital Bratislava.

President Andrej Kiska, a liberal who is at odds with the populist left-wing government, has backed protestors' demands.

But Gaspar shot back on Friday, accusing Kiska of a possible conflict of interest as he revealed that Slovakia's NAKA elite police unit was investigating an alleged tax offence by a company allegedly associated with the millionaire president.

"NAKA is looking into about five different allegations concerning this company and criminal prosecution has been launched in two of the cases," Gaspar told the commercial Radio Aktual broadcaster.

Kiskas spokesman Roman Krpelan told AFP on Friday that "the police led by Tibor Gaspar has become part of a political struggle and, on the other hand, it failed to protect the life of journalist Jan Kuciak, who had asked to investigate threats against his person."
Kathmandu, Nepal: Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli leaves for India on a three-day state visit on Friday. This is his first foreign visit after assuming office as Prime Minister for second term.





Prime Minister Oli is accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth his Chief Political Adviser Bishnu Rimal, members of parliament, Chief Secretary, secretaries and other high-ranking government officials including his spouse Radhika Shakya.





Prime Minister Oli will stay at the Presidential Palace scheduled to attend a diplomatic reception to be hosted in his honor by the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi today evening.





Prime Minister Oli will begin his formal meetings from Saturday. After attending in a ceremonial reception to be organized in honor of him at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday morning, he is scheduled to call on Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.





Likewise, he is also scheduled to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat after meeting with Indian president and vice president. Following the program he will attend in a banquet luncheon to be organized by his Indian Counterpart Narendra Modi. Likewise, Prime Minister Oli is also scheduled to hold official as well as one-to-one meeting with meeting with his Indian counterpart Modi.
Madrid (AFP) - Spain's public prosecutor's office said Friday that it may appeal a German court's decision to reject the extradition of Catalonia's ousted separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to the European Court of Justice.

The German court had issued the preliminary ruling on Thursday, refusing Spain's request to send Puigdemont back to be judged for rebellion over his role in the region's failed secession bid last October.

But in a rare statement on a foreign court's decision, the Spanish office said it was "certain" that the German court's final ruling will respect the principle of "mutual recognition" of judicial decisions that is inherent in the European arrest warrant system.

"In any case, the prosecutor's office will study the possibility of exercising the relevant actions to protect and defend the European legal order... before the European Court of Justice," it added.

Based in Luxembourg, the European Court of Justice enforces the law of the 28-nation European Union.

The German court ruled that rebellion was not punishable under German law, and the closest equivalent, high treason, did not apply because Puigdemont's actions were not accompanied by violence.

But the court is still to decide whether to send the former Catalan president to Spain to face trial for alleged misuse of public funds.

Even if he is extradited on the lesser charge, the German court's refusal to accept the rebellion charge means under European law Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted in Spain for the offence, which several Spanish law professors and rights groups have called extreme.

A senior judge close to the case told AFP before the statement was released that a "protest note" was being prepared in response to the German court's decision.

The court was "undermining European judicial cooperation", the judge said, adding that it was up to Spain's Supreme Court "to interpret the concept of violence" in this case.

The Supreme Court also said in a statement that its judge Pablo Llarena, who is in charge of investigating the role played by Catalonia's separatist leaders, was considering consulting the European Court of Justice on the procedure for extradition among EU member states.

Puigdemont walked out of a German prison on Friday following the ruling, calling for "political dialogue" with Madrid to resolve the row over the region's independence bid.
Banda Aceh (Indonesia) (AFP) - Five Rohingya stranded at sea for almost three weeks have been rescued by Indonesian fishermen but several others died during the harrowing ordeal, officials said Friday, with the UN refugee agency saying it was "alarmed" at the deaths.

News of the rescue comes several days after the arrival in Malaysia of another boat carrying dozens of members of the persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar.

The group of two men, aged 28 and 33, a 20-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and an eight-year old boy were spotted Monday in a small boat off the coast of southern Thailand and Myanmar, some 325 kilometres (176 miles) from Aceh province in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The fishermen took them back to Aceh on Sumatra island and the group arrived early Friday.

"They were immediately brought to a local hospital for treatment as they were weak," Abdul Musafir, head of the East Aceh search and rescue team, told AFP.

They were released Friday afternoon into the custody of immigration officials for questioning, Musafir said.

The group said they had been travelling with some two dozen other Rohingya but got separated, according to authorities.

East Aceh police said the rescued five were stranded at sea for about 20 days while five others had starved to death and their bodies were thrown overboard.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was sending staff to Aceh to provide assistance to the refugees and Indonesian authorities.

"UNHCR is alarmed at reports that five or more Rohingya refugees may have died at sea before their vessel, carrying five survivors, was rescued," it said in a statement.

The agency said it was trying to make contact with the dozens of Rohingya who came ashore in Malaysia this week, and pointed to "unconfirmed reports" that suggested other small vessels carrying refugees from Myanmar may be at sea.

"We are concerned for their safety and hope they will be rescued and allowed to disembark to the nearest place of safety," UNHCR added.

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It has been rare for Rohingya migrants to attempt the sea routes south since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, sparking a crisis across Southeast Asia as large numbers were abandoned at sea.

But there have been concerns desperate migrants might start taking to the high seas again after mainly Buddhist Myanmar launched a new crackdown last year that forced about 700,000 members of the Muslim minority to flee to Bangladesh.

In 2015 hundreds of Rohingya came ashore in Aceh, where they were welcomed in the staunchly conservative Islamic province.

Indonesia tends to accept asylum seekers but they are usually barred from working and often spend years in immigration centres.
The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, issued a public health advisory on Thursday urging more Americans to carry and learn to use the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone.

Naloxone, which is often referred to by the brand name Narcan, can be lifesaving for people overdosing on opioids. As the nations opioid crisis has increased in recent years, first responders, emergency medical technicians and police officers have used naloxone to help revive people who are suspected of overdosing.

Adams said Thursday that community members, family and friends of people using opioids, and individuals using the drugs themselves, can help too. Knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it within reach can save a life, he said in the advisory.

This morning, I released a Public Health Advisory on Naloxone and Opioid Overdose. Together we can end the opioid epidemic. Learn more about the role for clinicians in my @JAMA_ article https://t.co/1RAMf2Mbhz #GetNaloxone #SaveALife https://t.co/1RAMf2Mbhz  U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) April 5, 2018

Heres what you need to know about naloxone.

What is naloxone?

Naloxone is a medication that suspends the effects of an opioid overdose until emergency responders arrive. It works by blocking the opiate receptor sites and reverses the effects of an overdose, restoring a normal breathing pattern.

The drug can be administered through a nasal spray or as an injection. One form of injection, given as a shot, requires some professional training.

There is an easier naloxone shot, sold as Evzio and made by Kaleo, which you can buy without a prescription. This auto-injectable device comes pre-filled with naloxone and provides instructions for anyone to inject it into the thigh of someone who is overdosing.

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The nasal spray, known by the brand name Narcan, does not require any assembly and is sprayed into one nostril of someone who has overdosed. Narcan is made by Adapt Pharma.

Naloxone should not be confused with suboxone, which is a drug used as part of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use or addiction.

How much does naloxone cost?

The rising price of naloxone has become a major problem as tens of thousands of people die from opioid overdoses each year. However, most insurance plans cover naloxone, and many community-based organizations or public health programs provide the drug for free.

When buying naloxone, the price can vary greatly depending on your insurance plan and the type you want to buy. Generic naloxone can cost between $20 and $40 per dose, while Narcan can cost around $130 to $140 for a kit that includes two doses.

Who can buy naloxone?

Naloxone is a prescription drug, but in most states, people who are at risk for overdosing or know someone who is, can get naloxone without a prescription, or by standing order, according to the surgeon general.

All 50 states have passed laws to expand access to naloxone, and most states have Good Samaritan laws to protect people who give someone naloxone during an opioid overdose emergency. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration offers an Opioid Overdose Toolkit, and other government websites offer more information about naloxones side effects and access.

Where can you get naloxone for free?

Many local public health organizations or community groups dedicated to treating drug addiction offer naloxone free of charge. There are also programs that provide discounts for some brands of the medication, and if your insurance covers naloxone, the co-pay at your local pharmacy could be as low as $0.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse offers resources for where to find naloxone, including this naloxone finder, that allows people to enter their city or zip code and find overdose prevention programs that may offer the drug for free.

CVS said Thursday it would offer a coupon for Narcan to patients without insurance and Walgreens said it also supported the surgeon generals advisory.
Sylvester Stallone walks the red carpet at a movie premiere on April 12, 2017, in Hollywood. (Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Sylvester Stallone  Rocky Balboa in the flesh  had tourists outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art seeing double on Friday when he made an unannounced appearance at the foot of the Rocky statue.

Stallone, 71, is in Philly to film Creed 2, the sequel to the Rocky spinoff Creed. It was the perfect time then to rededicate the statue that he himself commissioned in 1983.

Stallone explained that there was more to the story too: A plaque meant for the statue had been misplaced for years and finally found. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney was there to present, and startled fans loved it.

The crowd broke into chants of Rocky! Rocky! Rocky! which can be heard at the end of Stallones Instagram video.

Its like I never left here, Stallone told the Philadelphia Inquirer. I am Philly, Philly is me. My life began here, you know?

Although Stallone has had other blockbuster franchises over the years, such as Rambo and The Expendables, Rocky is the one for which hes best known. The original 1976 movie, which he wrote and starred in, won the Oscar for Best Picture. He also earned nods for his Best Screenplay and his Best Actor. Five sequels and 2015s Creed, starring Michael B. Jordan as Rockys mentee, followed.

Stallone is a writer, producer, and star of the latest installment, which he teased during his stop. Its scheduled to be released on Nov. 21.

Buckle your seat belts, Stallone said. Because Michael B. Jordan is coming.

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Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Khartoum (AFP) - A new round of talks held in Khartoum to ease Egypt's concerns over a controversial dam that Ethiopia is building along the Nile have failed, a Sudanese minister said Friday.

The foreign ministers and intelligence chiefs of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met in Khartoum on Thursday, and after nearly 17 hours of discussions they failed to reach an agreement on issues concerning Addis Ababa's ongoing construction of the controversial Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile.

"We didn't reach an agreement," Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters after the officials of three countries wrapped up their talks held at a luxury hotel in Khartoum.

"We spent the whole day talking as ordered by the leaders of the three countries, but we didn't reach an agreement."

"I can't specify what the disagreements were, but they were technical issues," Ghandour said as his Ethiopian and Egyptian counterparts refused to speak to journalists.

Ghandour also said that no new date had been fixed for the next round of talks.

The latest round of discussion had been held after leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met in Addis Ababa last month and agreed to break the months long impasse over the dam.

Ethiopia began building the $4 billion dam in 2012, but the mega project has triggered tensions primarily with Egypt as Cairo fears that once commissioned the dam will reduce water supplies from the Nile to Egypt.

Egypt relies almost totally on the Nile for irrigation and drinking water, and says it has "historic rights" to the river, guaranteed by treaties from 1929 and 1959.

Cairo argues that the treaties grant it 87 percent of the Nile's flow, as well as the power to veto upstream projects. It fears that any reduction of water supplies to the biggest Arab country will affect its agriculture.

Cairo is primarily concerned at the speed at which the dam's reservoir would be filled.

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The Blue and the White Nile tributaries converge in Sudan's capital Khartoum and from there run north through Egypt to the Mediterranean.

Initially Sudan too had concerns over the project, but in recent months has supported it, with experts saying that the dam will help regulate floods along Sudan's share of the Nile.

The Grand Renaissance Dam aims to produce 6,000 megawatts of hydro-electric power -- the equivalent of six nuclear-powered plants.

The dam was initially expected to be commissioned in 2017, but Ethiopian media reports say only about 60 percent has so far been built.
Moscow (AFP) - Washington on Friday imposed a raft of new sanctions on Russia over its alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election, as well as its interventions in Ukraine and Syria.

Here are three key groups that will be hit in a move that targets those close to President Vladimir Putin:

- The oligarchs -

A number of big-name Russian oligarchs have been included in the sanctions list, meaning any assets they hold in areas under US jurisdiction could be frozen.

The highest-profile of these is Oleg Deripaska, who has managed to stay on the right side of Putin and build up a gigantic business empire.

Deripaska was once an associate of US President Donald Trump's former campaign director Paul Manafort.

Others on the list are Kirill Shamalov, reportedly Putin's former son-in-law, and Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire and senator who is currently being investigated for tax fraud in France.

"We are designating Kirill Shamalov, who married President Putin's daughter in 2013," said a senior US administration official.

"Within 18 months of his marriage he acquired a large portion of shares of a Russia based energy company. A year later he was able to borrow more than one billion dollars through a loan from Gazprom bank, a state-owned entity, subject to sectoral sanctions."

- The arms sector -

Washington has put Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport on the sanctions list, meaning any country that trades with Russia's defence or intelligence sectors will also be targeted.

With India set to sign a deal with Moscow for two S-400 air defence systems, New Delhi could be in the firing line -- but commentators have suggested the US will be loath to undermine this relationship.

Putin has made the development of the military-industrial complex one of his priorities since he arrived in power 18 years ago, and this year boasted of "invincible" weapons Russia was developing.

"The fact that Rosoboronexport is the target confirms the true aim of the sanctions," Russia's state-run holding company Rostec said.

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"All this big talk and accusations are just an excuse to drive Russia out of the world arms market."

- Top officials -

Among the top officials targeted are several members of the "siloviki", representatives of the army and the security services close to Putin.

These include Nikolai Patrushev, the chief of Russia's security council who formerly succeeded Putin as head of the FSB security service, as well as interior minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

Alexei Dyumin, formerly Putin's personal bodyguard and now governor of the central Tula region, is also targeted, along with Alexander Zharov, the head of communications watchdog Roskomnadzor.

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Politicians and rights groups have accused President Donald Trump of "peddling lies" after the U.S. leader revived his unfounded claim of "millions" of people committing voter fraud.

The president renewed the claim during a tax-reform roundtable in West Virginia on Thursday, alleging that in places like California "the same person votes many times."

"You probably heard about that," the president said. "They always like to say, 'oh, that's a conspiracy theory," he continued. "Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people. And it's very hard because the state guards their records. They don't want to see it."

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

Trump had previously made claims that he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election had it not been for voter fraud.

Despite not having any evidence to back up his claims, the president claimed that illegal ballots helped former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton win the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes. The Democrat received more ballots in her favor than any other losing presidential candidate in U.S. history.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pointed out that "once again, Donald Trump is claimingwithout proofthat millions of people vote illegally in our elections."

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"The real conspiracy is elected officials peddling lies in order to delegitimize our democracy and justify restrictions on the right to vote," the ACLU said.

Once again @realDonaldTrump is claiming  without proof  that millions of people vote illegally in our elections.



The real conspiracy is elected officials peddling lies in order to delegitimize our democracy and justify restrictions on the right to vote. https://t.co/eT2lNxooWk  ACLU (@ACLU) April 5, 2018

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla echoed the ACLU's sentiments, writing on Twitter: "The only fraud is the occupant of the Oval Office."

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"Today's comments are just another distraction from the very real issues facing our democracy," Padilla said. "Trump has repeatedly failed to acknowledge Russia's attempts to interfere with our elections. He's wasted valuable time and resources that could have gone to securing our election systems."

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Todays comments are just another distraction from the very real issues facing our democracy. Trump has repeatedly failed to acknowledge Russias attempts to interfere with our elections. Hes wasted valuable time & resources that could have gone to securing our election systems.  Alex Padilla (@AlexPadilla4CA) April 6, 2018

"Trump was forced to dissolve his sham election commissionhis fraud commission was a massive waste of taxpayer dollars and failed to provide a shred of evidence to support his voter fraud lies," Padilla added.

In January, Trump shut down a White House commission he had tasked with investigating voter fraud after it found no hard evidence of corruption in U.S. elections.

Still, Trump claimed he had closed the commission "despite substantial evidence of voter fraud" because states "refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry."

Which is worse? A President who tells the public things he knows to be patently false? Or a President who cannot tell fact from fiction and believes his own conspiracy theories? Either way, his bogus claim of voter fraud is repugnant. https://t.co/Uj8cSAwoUx  Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 5, 2018

Democratic U.S. Representative for California's 28th Congressional District Adam Schiff also hit out at the president, writing on Twitter: "Which is worse? A president who tells the public things he knows to be patently false? Or a president who cannot tell fact from fiction and believes his own conspiracy theories? Either way, his bogus claim of voter fraud is repugnant."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Before Donald Trump was elected president, the large and expanding American trade deficit with China was widely recognized as a problem. Chinas entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001 had destroyed millions of good jobs in the United States, eroded the earning power of American workers, and left many towns and communities economically gutted.

U.S. manufacturing jobs began disappearing almost immediately, and growing evidence suggests the China shock never really ended. Sustained U.S. trade deficits made the Great Recession worse and put a drag on economic recovery. Even today, with the unemployment rate down to 4.1 percent, the trade deficit with China continues to put downward pressure on U.S. wages, and many who lost their jobs never re-entered the labor force.

Tougher enforcement against unfair trade practices has long enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, and when U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced a review of Chinese policies in August 2017, even top Democrats applauded the decision as long overdue.

Yet suddenly, Republicans and Democrats alike seem to be hailing the WTO and two decades of obvious failure as a smashing success. When Lighthizer announced a very modest slate of tariffs targeting Chinese-made goods last month, liberals and right-wing libertarians alike began tearing their hair out, while apocalyptic warnings about the supposedly devastating consequences of an imminent trade war began getting headlines. China Just Gut-Punched Trump On Trade. Is It Time To Get Worried? asked The Washington Post. US-China trade war fears: How bad could this get? mused CNN.

It would be nice to believe the intensity of the freakout is a result of the bizarre, needlessly inflammatory rhetoric Trump has invoked on trade. Last month he declared on Twitter that trade wars are good, and easy to win, a statement which doesnt seem to gel with todays entry, 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., to which Trump added the head-scratcher, When youre already $500 Billion DOWN, you cant lose! These are not the words of a stable and competent negotiator. The self-dealing and corruption that permeate his administration do not inspire confidence that trade talks with China, or anyone else, will generate results in the national interest.

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But the truth is that Trumps idiocy is being used to rehabilitate a lot of failed doctrines from the past few decades, and Democrats, eager to score partisan points against a racist and cruel opponent, are gleefully embracing discredited ideas and individuals.

Architects of the Iraq War and apologists for the CIAs torture program have been transformed into sage foreign policy experts on liberal television programs. The WTO is receiving a similar makeover from the libertarian Cato Institute, The New York Times and The Washington Post  all of which have recently offered paeans to globalizations most powerful engine as the ideal venue for settling legitimate trade disputes. Instead of threatening tariffs, they argue, Trump should complain to the WTO.

But the WTO doesnt work. If it did, we wouldnt be where we are.

Trade policy is a diplomatic tool. The setbacks globalization has created for many American communities  tragic as they have been  could well have been justified if they secured other strategic goals. In the late 1990s, the Clinton administration pitched Chinas entry into the WTO as a way to advance human rights causes. More trade with the United States, it was hoped, would encourage China to become more democratic. After more than 16 years, a verdict is long overdue. The WTO failed because it is structured to prioritize corporate profit and investment over human rights, the environment and worker wages. It isnt equipped to alleviate tensions between an authoritarian government and a democracy.

These inadequacies were well understood before Trump took office. In September 2016, the New America Foundation held a major conference on American foreign policy and China, effectively acknowledging that the past 20 years had been a mistake. The bottom line is that Chinese mercantilism is a growing problem, and the victims of that mercantilism have little to lose from a trade confrontation, Paul Krugman wrote on New Years Eve 2009. Even the free-trading Obama administration believed the WTO was largely obsolete and ineffective, which was why it spent eight years negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (which the U.S. ultimately failed to approve) with 11 other nations.

However outrageous Trumps Twitter comments may be, the scope of what both his administration and the Chinese government are proposing just isnt very big. Last year, U.S. imports from China increased by over $43 billion, to $505 billion. In that context, slapping tariffs on $50 billion worth of imports shouldnt be terrifying, and neither should the prospect of a $50 billion retaliation from China. Our $130 billion in exports to China amounts to less than seven-tenths of one percent of the U.S. economy.

Trump has taken a few other, smaller trade enforcement actions that affect China, and its hard to predict where the back-and-forth will end. Trump, of all people, is perfectly capable of screwing the whole thing up. Effectively negotiating with China is a long game that will require reorganizing some supply chains, a process that will create its own winners and losers. Human rights, national security and political stability must be vital considerations  not just consumer prices and gross domestic product. Trump doesnt seem to be very good at managing any of that.

But he isnt starting a trade war  hes grappling with a failed foreign policy. And on trade, at least, his critics are defending the indefensible.

Related...

Trump's Trade War Is An Incompetent Response To A Real Problem

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China Increases Tariffs On 128 U.S. Products

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
President Donald Trump claimed Thursday that millions of people were voting illegally in California, returning to an allegation he has made since he was a candidate but has failed to substantiate with evidence.

Trump made the comments during free-wheeling remarks in West Virginia at an event that was supposed to be about tax reform. Trump was speaking about immigration when he pivoted to claim there was widespread voter fraud in California.

In many places, like California, the same person votes many times, you probably heard about that, he said. They always like to say: Oh thats a conspiracy theory. Not a conspiracy theory folks. Millions and millions of people. And its very hard because the state guards their records. They dont want to see it.

There is no evidence that double voting is a widespread problem in California or anywhere else in the country. In 2014, Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, found 31 credible instances of voter impersonation allegations between 2000 and 2014. In a 2017 working paper, researchers estimated that 33,000 people voted twice in the 2012 presidential election, amounting to 0.02 percent of all votes cast in the election.. The Department of Justice also investigated claims of voter fraud from 2002 until 2007 and found little evidence of it.

Trump has failed to offer any substantial evidence for his claims of voter fraud in the United States. The White House has pointed to a 2012 Pew study that said 24 million voter registration records are no longer valid and that nearly 3 million people are registered in more than one state. But the study doesnt say that those people voted and its not illegal to be registered to vote in more than one state.

Shortly before he took office, Trump claimed that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for illegal votes. He has also repeatedly said he would have won the state of New Hampshire during the 2016 election had it not been for people who were bused in to vote illegally. But state officials said they have no evidence that happened.

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In May 2017, Trump convened a commission to investigate allegations of voter fraud and appointed Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), who has argued voter fraud is widespread, to lead it. The commission asked election officials in all 50 states for copies of their voter rolls. Many declined, either refusing to comply outright or saying that state laws forbade them from providing all the information the commission wanted. Several lawsuits accused the commission of violating various federal privacy, transparency and administrative laws and Trump disbanded it in January. Before the panel disbanded, it did not find evidence that voter fraud was widespread.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) dismissed Trumps Thursday comments.

Its sad the president continues to recycle his same old lies. Frankly, it is tiring to have a conspiracy theorist in the White House, he said in a statement. His rants dishonor the thousands of local elections officials and volunteers, from across the political spectrum, who work hard to ensure the integrity of our elections.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

Trump and Kobach have also relied on the work of political scientist Jesse Richman to support their claim that more than 3 million illegal voters may be on the rolls and that Hillary Clinton may not have won the 2016 popular vote. Under oath in a federal court case last month, Richman said he could not support that extrapolation from his work.

Also on HuffPost

Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Rico residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan on Oct. 3.

Trump reacts as he sits in a truck on March 23 while welcoming truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting at the White House regarding health care.

Trump registers his surprise as he realizes other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines, on Nov. 13.

Trump, along with first lady Melania Trump, Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, put their hands on an illuminated globe during the inauguration ceremony of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 21.

Trump looks up toward the solar eclipse while standing on the Truman Balcony at the White House on Aug. 21.

Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May are pictured ahead of a photo opportunity of leaders as they arrive for a NATO summit meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25.

Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing, China, on Nov. 10.

Trump holds up a pen after signing the HBCU executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 28.

Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wait for reporters to enter the room before their meeting in the Oval Office on March 17.

Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7.

Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio to the White House on Sept. 15. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the White House lawn, was invited to work for a day along the National Park Service staff.

Trump and Putin shake hands as they take part in a family photo at the APEC summit in Danang, Vietnam, on Nov. 10.

Trump jokes with French President Emmanuel Macron about their handshakes at the start of the NATO summit at their new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25.

Trump holds a mechanical tool as he attends a Made in America roundtable in the East Room of the White House on July 19.

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Donald Trump has cheered the reported break-up of a caravan of Central American migrants making their way to the US, having signed an order to deploy troops to protect the imperilled border with Mexico.

As the migrants said they would try and push on towards the US border, even as the caravans organisers said they would instead disband in Mexico City, Mr Trump celebrated its dismantling and gave credit to the Mexican government for acting to avoid creating a giant scene.

The caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our border, the president wrote on Twitter. Because of the Trump administrations actions, border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!

The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border. Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2018

The presidents comments came a day after it was announced he had signed an order to deploy National Guard troops to help protect the border with Mexico.

Its time to act, said Kirstjen Nielsen, said the secretary of homeland security, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing. We do hope the deployment begins immediately. Were working with all haste.

In the memo signed by Mr Trump on Wednesday evening, the president called on the defence secretary Jim Mattis to request use of National Guard personnel to secure the border.

The security of the United States is imperilled by a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border, he wrote.

During the administrations of presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, the National Guard provided support for efforts to secure our southern border. The crisis at our southern border once again calls for the National Guard to help secure our border and protect our homeland.

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By law, active duty troops are generally prohibited from performing domestic law enforcement duties, such as stopping people trying to enter the country illegally. But as Mr Trumps memo said, previous presidents have used the National Guard to provide assistance at the nations southern border.

The Republican governors of three states that border Mexico  Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico  announced their support for the presidents plan. California Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has also suggested his officials will cooperate.

This request  as with others weve received from the Department of Homeland Security, including those for additional staffing in 2006 and 2010  will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners, California National Guard spokesman Lt Col Tom Keegan said in a statement issued on behalf of Mr Brown. We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state.

Ms Nielsen told Fox News she had been in contact with the governors of border states to discuss the prospect of deploying troops, including Mr Brown.

We have everything on the table, I can assure you. Were looking at every way we can act within the executive branch but I really will continue to ask Congress to please work with me in the next couple months to pass legislation, she said. I never talk to a senator or congressman who doesnt tell me that theyre in favour of border security. Lets put forward a legislative proposal that can pass.

Reuters said some of the migrants that are part of a caravan currently located in southern Mexico, said they would still try and reach the border with the US. However, fearful of the risks to children among the travellers, the organisers of the annual caravan, US-based advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, said it would end in the capital, not at the border as had been planned.

Its not because of Donald Trump, said Irineo Mujica, director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which has staged the caravan since 2010 to draw attention to migrants rights. Many of the migrants are from countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, which all suffer from huge problems with gang violence and poverty.

Mexican officials have screened people in the caravan, stalling it and dispersing migrants. The foreign ministry denied putting pressure on the migrants, saying that the caravan was breaking up of its own volition, the news agency said.

Mexico has expressed concern about Mr Trumps deployment of troops to the border and requested clarification about the number of soldiers and their likely roles. Mexicos Ambassador to the US, Geronimo Gutierrez, said his government had formally asked the Trump administration to elaborate on Mr Trumps remarks.

The important thing is that both countries share the idea of having a secure border, he said. We dont always agree in how to achieve that objective, and I do expect that, in the next few hours, we will get clarification on this issue.

At the same time, Mexicos Senate issued a stern rebuke to Mr Trump, urging its government to end cooperation with the US on migration and security.

In a motion which passed the Senate floor unanimously, the politicians also condemned Mr Trumps aggressive rhetoric towards Mexico, describing the presidents decision this week to send troops to the border as one more insult.

[Trumps] conduct has been permanently and systematically, not only disrespectful, but insulting, based on prejudices and misinformation and making frequent use of threats and blackmail, Laura Rojas, ahead of the Senates foreign relations committee, said in support of the motion.
The president threw out his script at West Virginia event, speaking of voter conspiracy theory and referencing his infamous 2015 remarks

Donald Trump veered wildly off-script at an event intended to tout the Republican tax bill on Thursday, making false claims about voter fraud and darkly warning of the menace of predominantly Hispanic gangs.

Trump, who spent much of the 2016 campaign alleging massive voter fraud, returned to the topic at the event in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

In a lot of places, like California, the same person votes many times, said Trump. You probably heard that. They always like to say thats a conspiracy theory. Its not a conspiracy theory, folks. Its millions and millions of people and its very hard because the state guards their records.

There is absolutely no evidence for such voter fraud occurring.

After winning the electoral college in 2016, Trump falsely claimed that he would have won the popular vote as well if not for fraud and created a controversial commission to investigate voter fraud in the United States.

He also harped on the danger posed by illegal immigration and by the caravan of refugees travelling to the US from Central America in an effort to seek asylum.

Women are raped at levels that have never been seen before, Trump claimed of the caravan as he referenced his infamous 2015 remarks when he launched his presidential campaign that Mexico was deliberately sending murderers and rapists into the US. Everybody said, oh, he was so tough. I used the word rape, said Trump, as he reflected on his comments then.

Trump touted his proposal for a border wall and for increased enforcement of immigration laws. He also claimed that the MS-13 gang had gained control of swaths of Long Island, requiring towns to be liberated while gang members get thrown into paddy wagons  a term found offensive by some Irish Americans.

The event featured Trump sitting in between two of the three main candidates for the Republican nomination for US Senate in West Virginia. On Trumps right was congressman Evan Jenkins and on his left was the state attorney general, Patrick Morrisey. The third candidate, the convicted former coal company executive Don Blankenship, was not present. Trump spent much of the event criticizing the Democratic incumbent, Joe Manchin.

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Trump also offered new details on the scope of the mission to strengthen security at the border after announcing earlier this week that he wanted to send in the military to secure the border from what he described as an escalating threat of undocumented immigrants, drugs and crime flowing into the US.

The administration intends to mobilize between 2,000 and 4,000 national guard troops to the US-Mexico border in an effort to boost security there, Trump told reporters on Air Force One on the trip back to Washington DC.

He said the troops would remain at the border until a large portion of the wall is built, an effort that could take years to complete. Asked about the cost of deploying thousands of national guard troops, Trump said the administration was still looking at it.

Trump meanwhile on Thursday took credit for a record-low drop in unlawful border crossings from Mexico.



Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs! he tweeted.

Trump also weighed in on the allegations against the EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, who has faced questions in a series of scandals about his use of government money as well as his lodging in a property owned by a lobbyist. Trump told reporters on Air Force One Pruitt has done a fantastic job, adding: I think hes done an incredible job. Hes been very courageous. It hasnt been easy, but I think hes done a fantastic job.

He added of the reports about Pruitts conduct: I have to look at them  Ill make that determination.

Trumps statement was a comparative vote of confidence after a White House spokesman, Hogan Gidley, said earlier on Thursday: I cant speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.
Washington (AFP) - The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump would host Qatar's Emir at the White House later this month, hoping to end a spat that has riven America's Gulf allies.

In a statement, the White House said the meeting with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani would take place on April 10.

"The President looks forward to discussing ways to strengthen ties between the United States and Qatar and to advance our common security and economic priorities."

Trump had hoped to host a summit of Gulf leaders, hoping to ease a crisis that has seen Qatar put under virtual blockade by neighbors in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

That plan now appears to have been delayed in favor of a bilateral meeting between the US and Qatari leaders.

Trump had taken a hard line against Qatar, saying the country needed to scale back ties with Iran and stop funding extremism.

Aides -- mindful of the pivotal role that the Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha plays in US Middle East operations -- have since convinced him to take a more moderate approach.
President Donald Trump has doubled down on his support for Scott Pruitt, resisting mounting pressure week to fire the embattled head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In a series of tweets over two days, he signaled strong support for Pruitt, whom he said was under siege. On Friday, the president blamed the reporters who this week broke a series of stories detailing Pruitts living arrangements, spending and management of the agency, intensifying accusations of corruption and government waste.

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018

On Saturday, the president defended Pruitts seven-figure spending on security, insisting  as Fox News reported  that the administrator faced death threats, and saying, incorrectly, that Pruitts $50-a-night room in a luxury Capitol Hill condo was about market rate.

While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA. Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2018

The second tweet came a day after The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times published reports detailing White House Chief of Staff John Kellys efforts over the past two weeks to convince Trump to fire Pruitt over the ongoing scandals. But, at a White House briefing that afternoon, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted that no one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire members of his Cabinet.

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Right now I dont have any personnel announcement, she added.

At least three Republican House members joined Democrats and environmental groups this week to demand Pruitts ouster amid a firestorm over his sweetheart deal to rent a room in a luxury townhouse linked to a lobbyist whose clients had business before the EPA. The EPA ethics office retroactively approved the arrangement, but struggled to defend the administrator as new details rapidly emerged.

Criticism of Pruitt intensified after reports published Thursday accused the administrator of trying to abuse his vehicles emergency sirens to cut through traffic and of reassigning, demoting or forcing out EPA officials who challenged his unusually large spending. Other reports this week accused Pruitt of using a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act to give two political appointees raises after the White House rejected his original request. Pruitt denied the reports in a blistering Fox News interview.

The latest scandals follow months of scrutiny into the cost of Pruitts first-class travel. He routinely spent more than $2,000 on flights to his home state of Oklahoma, and to interviews and events in New York City.

But Pruitts conservative allies mounted a vigorous defense. On Wednesday, Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor at the right-wing Federalist, called Pruitt Trumps biggest asset in a column, and warned the president that ousting him would be a huge victory for his opponents. On Thursday, FreedomWorks, the libertarian campaign group founded by fossil fuel billionaires Charles and David Koch, launched a dial-in effort, urging supporters to call the White House and champion Pruitt against a smear campaign by the radical left. On Friday, The Wall Street Journals editorial board advised the president to show some loyalty to his leading reformer, calling his decision on the administrators future Trumps Pruitt Test.

Trump and Pruitt in the White House Rose Garden at the president's announcement of the United States' withdrawal from the Paris climate accord last June. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

It helps that, on Monday, Pruitt outlined plans to rollback a landmark Obama-era regulation to limit carbon dioxide emission from vehicle tailpipes. The announcement burnished Pruitts reputation as the speartip of Trumps deregulatory agenda. But, as The New Republics Emily Atkin laid out, Pruitts effectiveness is overstated. At least 10 of the roughly 30 regulatory rollbacks Pruitt has proposed are on hold due to lawsuits, and several have been overturned in federal court.

Still, his efforts to scale back the United States climate change efforts  he helped convince Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate accord  and disqualify huge bodies of research to favor industry-backed studies in crafting regulations have bolstered his favor with Trump. That may be why the president is averse to forcing Pruitt out.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned last September just one week into a scandal over his costly use of chartered flights. But Price lost Trumps favor months earlier, with the failure of his campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Pruitt also benefits from Republican control of both houses of Congress. Anne Gorsuch Burford, the last EPA administrator to resign in disgrace, faced fierce criticism during her time as President Ronald Reagans first head of the agency. Like Pruitt, she contracted the agencys budget to historic lows and drastically eliminated environmental regulations with an ideological fervor. But she only stepped down in 1983 because the Democratically controlled House cited her for contempt of Congress for refusing to turn Superfund records over to a subcommittee.

To Liz Purchia, who served as the EPAs communications director under President Barack Obama, the White Houses doubling down of support for Pruitt echoes Trumps repeated endorsement of former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. The president continued to back the former judges campaign last year for the Heart of Dixies open Senate seat amid a deluge of reports detailing Moores history of sexual predation of teenage girls. Trumps support for Moore divided Republicans, though the president quickly distanced himself after Democrat Doug Jones eked out a victory in the special election.

Like with Roy Moore, despite the overwhelming calls for Trump to disown and condemn Pruitts actions, hes doubling down, Purchia told HuffPost. Ethics or moral scandals arent an issue for Trump. Hell only act if the constant drip of negative headlines continue for Pruitt like we saw with Roy Moore.

This story was updated to include Trumps second tweet.

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Related...

Scott Pruitt Buffeted By Growing Pressure To Resign From EPA

Growing Number Of Republicans Join Calls For Scott Pruitt To Resign

At Least 23 Ethical Issues Are Dogging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt

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Joining the #climatemarch because #hawaii leads nation on climate and other states should act too #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/mBTZ5ioiK1  Chris Lee (@chrisleeforhi) April 29, 2017

About 1,000 people, including #UCC members and a UCC minister as a featured speaker, participated in the People's #ClimateMarch in Honolulu. pic.twitter.com/x3INdRUNUq  UCC Hawaii Justice (@UCCJustice808) April 29, 2017

BONUS: Amsterdam

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would send thousands of National Guard troops to the southern border, amid a widening spat with his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto.

The anti-immigration president said the National Guard deployment would range from 2,000 to 4,000 troops, and he would "probably" keep many personnel on the border until his wall is built -- spelling out a lengthy mission.

The announcement capped a day of developments in Mexico, where the caravan of Central American migrants whose trek toward the United States had infuriated Trump began breaking up.

And Mexican President Pena Nieto said Trump's "threatening attitudes and a lack of respect" were unjustified.

The decision to send National Guard forces to the border on an open-ended deployment also raised questions about who will fund the mission.

The Pentagon could not say where the money would come from and Trump admitted the White House was still "looking at" costs.

If 4,000 troops were deployed, that would be about double what the United States currently has in Syria and about half as many as the number of US troops in Iraq.

The National Guard has previously been deployed to help patrol the southern border, including in 2010 under former president Barack Obama, and from 2006-2008 under George W. Bush. Both deployments were limited to around a year.

In a sign of the Pentagon's unpreparedness for Trump's initial border directive, which came Tuesday, just hours before the commander-in-chief announced the size of the troop deployment, military officials said they had no idea how many Guardsmen would go to the border, whether they will be armed, when they will deploy and how long they will be there.

- 'Negative rhetoric' -

The caravan in Mexico, which numbered more than 1,000 Hondurans, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans, began breaking up after the activists organizing it said it had abandoned its goal of reaching the US border and would end its activities with a rally in Mexico City.

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Trump had threatened to axe what he called Mexico's "cash cow," the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), if the Mexican authorities did not stop the migrants.

The ongoing talks on modernizing NAFTA have also strained ties between the two countries, as well as Canada, the third member of the agreement -- though the three countries have recently indicated they are close to reaching a new deal.

"We are convinced that, by coming to agreements as friends, partners and good neighbors, both countries will fare better than if we confront each other," Pena Nieto said.

"We stand ready to negotiate, certainly, but always based on mutual respect."

Still, Pena Nieto vowed Mexico would always stand up for itself and suggested Trump is jeopardizing the two countries' relationship for domestic political gain.

"If your recent statements are caused by your frustration over internal political matters, your laws or your Congress, take it up with them, not the Mexican people. We are not going to allow negative rhetoric to define our actions," he said in a national address.

Mexican ties have been strained since Trump won office on the back of a campaign heavy on anti-Mexican rhetoric.

Pena Nieto has twice canceled plans to visit Washington after tense phone calls with Trump in which the Republican president refused to back down from his insistence that Mexico pay for his planned border wall.

- 'Like a war' -

Trump meanwhile returned to the theme that underpinned his presidential campaign -- which he opened by vowing to keep out Mexican "rapists."

"Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower, when I opened everyone said 'Oh, he was so tough.' I used the word rape," Trump said during a meandering monologue on migration at an event in West Virginia.

"And yesterday it came out that, this journey coming up, women are raped at levels nobody's ever seen before," he added without giving further details.

Trump also went back to a campaign staple of urging "rough justice" for people who come to America illegally and boasted immigration officials were "so much tougher" than those they pursue.

"They're grabbing them by the necks and throwing them into paddy wagons," he said.

"People are clapping and screaming, their townsmen liberated -- it's like a war."
President Donald Trump says he is a champion of business, cutting taxes and implementing new rules that he claims benefit Americas businesses. But when it comes to his recent threats to Amazon, he may be doing the complete opposite: creating a costly nightmare for the third-party small businesses that operate on Amazons platform.

Amazon (AMZN) collects sales taxes for products it sells directly to consumers, while most third-party sellers on Amazon marketplace only collect taxes in the states that they have a physical presence in, as required by a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Most third-party sellers are so small that they only have a brick-and-mortar facility in their hometowns.

On Thursday, Trump again accused Amazon of not paying enough sales tax. They are not on an even playing field, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, according to CNBC. The playing field has to be level for everybody. He added the sales tax situation would soon be looked at by the Supreme Court, so well see what happens.

An attack on Amazon is an attack on mom-pop businesses

His comments come as more states express anger over billions in lost revenue annually. Amazon now shares sellers information with local taxing authorities under new state laws in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, raising fears among third-party sellers that the states will come after them for sales tax.

This month, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments from officials in South Dakota who contend the 1992 ruling is obsolete in the e-commerce era. If South Dakota wins, every online retailer will be required to collect sales tax regardless of where they have a physical presence. And that could be a nightmare for small businesses that sell products on Amazon.

I think a lot of lawmakers dont understand that they think theyre going after Amazon. Who theyre really hurting in the fallout is smaller online businesses like mom-pop businesses that really drive the economy, Jennifer Dunn, chief of content at TaxJar, a sales tax compliance software for online businesses, told Yahoo Finance.

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In fact, analysts at PiperJaffray say if the 1992 rule is overturned, it may end up doing Amazon a favor. If states collect taxes, third-party sellers on Amazon would have to increase product prices which may drive consumers to buy items that are sold directly by Amazon.

New sales tax rules could mean more revenue for Amazon

It is extremely difficult for third-party sellers to figure out tax codes and filing requirements, which vary by state and county. For a small business, its an overwhelming administrative hassle, so a lot of them just choose not to charge a sales tax.

Not that they dont want to, but there is just no good way to do it. The majority of sellers will collect the tax when its required and its easy to do it, Eddie Levine, president of Wholesale Breakthrough, an Amazon seller, told Yahoo Finance.

Amazon provides third-party sellers with a tax calculation service, but charges 2.9% of all sales and use taxes and other transaction-based charges it calculates. According to sellers, the service hasnt made things any easier, since they still need to go to great length to file tax returns in each state. If they fail to do so, the cost eats into their bottom lines.

A Piper Jaffray survey on 2,000 U.S. consumers shows only 5% of them see sales tax amount as a critical factor when deciding where to buy. (Screenshot/Piper Jaffray)

Amazon hasnt been very helpful on this matter. It doesnt offer sellers an easy way to report taxes, said Levine, who sells millions a year on Amazon. Amazon is not out there for sellers best interest. Amazon is out there for customers best interest.

If third-party sellers are faced with a complex sales tax environment, they may use the Amazon tax calculation service, a high margin revenue stream for Amazon, according to PiperJaffray, which estimates retail third-party services will be $42 billion or 18% of all of Amazons revenue in 2018.

States are owed billions of dollars every year from Amazon sellers. The sellers dont collect the money. And Amazon doesnt help very much at all, said James Thomson, a partner at BuyBox Experts. You may see a lot of sellers taking big financial hits this year.

However, if whats happening in the state of Washington an indication of what to expect, there may be hope for third-party sellers. This year, Washington became the first state to require online marketplaces to collect sales taxes on behalf of their third-party sellers. That states law said it is Amazons responsibility to collect, calculate and remit taxes for its third-party sellers. So, Amazon had to stop charging the 2.9% tax-calculation fee. Many small sellers in Washington were relieved and applauded the new rule.

Krystal Hu covers technology and economy for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter

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Bamako (AFP) - Two UN peacekeepers were killed and 10 others wounded on Thursday night during an attack on their camp in northeastern Mali, the UN's mission there said in a statement.

"At 6.45pm (1845 GMT) the peacekeepers came under mortar fire," the mission, known by its acronym MINUSMA, said in the statement.

"According to an initial assessment, two peacekeepers were killed and 10 were wounded," it added, saying the camp that was attacked was in Aguelhok.

Mali is one of the most dangerous UN missions, with more than 150 peacekeepers killed since 2013.

MINUSMA has a 12,500-strong force in the country, backed by a further 4,000 French troops who are on an anti-jihadist mission.

Attacks on the mission are commonplace. Last month four UN peacekeepers were killed when a mine exploded under their vehicle in central Mali.

Six Malian soldiers were killed a week earlier in another mine attack on their convoy.

Once a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, Mali has been undermined by a coup, civil war and Islamist terrorism.

Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of Mali's desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali's government signed a peace agreement with some armed groups, but the jihadists remain active, and large tracts of the country are lawless.
Quartz India, 4 April 2018

Prior to 1977, no textbook contained any mention of the aPakistan ideology.a But after that, the construct became the starting point and the central premise of high school Pakistan Studies texts. The description of Pakistan Studies textbooks that follows is based on my reading and analysis of textbooks from the mid-1990s to today, from all four provinces. The books state, quite simply, that the Pakistan ideology is Islam, and begin by describing the five pillars of Islamashahada (the declaration of faith), namaz (prayer), zakat (charity), hajj (pilgrimage), and fastingathat, together, form the basis of Islamic practice. But this material in the textbooks violates the constitutional provision that non-Muslims do not need to study Islam. In addition, defining the Pakistani identity solely in the form of Islam excludes non-Muslims from that identity. Islam features heavily in the booksain one thin volume, the Punjab textbook from 2002, I counted 255 mentions of Islam.

a

The textbooks assert that religion defines Pakistanas role in the world positively:

aAs an Islamic country, Pakistan stands for international cooperation and peace. Islam teaches us peace and amity and discourages aggression. Although Islam allows to raise arms in self-defence yet it strictly prohibits domination or persecution of people through military force. Pakistan has been taking necessary steps to promote international brotherhood and peace on the basis of these Islamic principles.a

There is little wrong with this particular set of statementsanote the argument that one can take up arms but only in self- defense. Yet in the repeated references to Islam the books establish it as a given that, in Pakistan, religion permeates politics, policy, and society; and they entirely ignore aspects of the countryas history and culture (and the parts of its population) that are non-Islamic.

The aenemya and Jihad

Justifying the creation of Pakistan is a key purpose of the booksathus it follows that, after aideology,a the books move on to the amakinga of Pakistan.

..

The textbooksa rendering of history is decidedly one-sided. Leading to independence, Muslims are described as the wronged party, the victims of conspiracies by the British and Hindus (the aevil collusion between the Congress [party] and the Britisha is an example of the kind of language used). The Muslims of the subcontinent are depicted as good, their intentions always sincere; the other side is described as the opposite. The language used is noteworthy for its starkness and lack of nuance. Hindus are at times described as aevila ; at others, acunning,a and sometimes simply as the aenemy.a

a

In early chapters, they extol warfare that occurred pre-partition against armies of other religions, and describe it in religious terms, as jihad.

a

At times the books mention jihad directly in the discussion on Islam and describe it in both its connotations (as an armed struggle and as an individual, internal struggle):

Besides Hajj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Jihad also has great significance. Jihad means that financial and physical sacrifice which is made for the protection and promotion of Islam. Jihad not only means to fight against the enemies of Islam but also to make a struggle for the promotion and enforcement of Islamic teachings, keeping oneas desires and wants under the orders of Allah and uttering words of truth before a tyrant ruler.

The textbooks also invoke jihad to describe Pakistanas wars with India post- partition. Recounting the 1965 war, one textbook states: aThe Armed Forces of Pakistan, filled with the spirit of Jihad, forced an enemy many times bigger than it to face a humiliating defeata (Pakistan did not actually win the 1965 war; the assertion of victory is factually incorrect).

a

The government textbooks are all generally low quality, thin volumes. In the Pakistan Studies textbooks, subjective statements are presented as facts without any references or opposing points of view. But they reign supreme in classrooms, and the board exams are directly, and exclusively, based on these textbooks. The exams reward rote memorisation of the textbook material.

a

The books are wary of the west and of America. The west is considered to be atwo- face[d],a to work against Pakistanas interests, and to have betrayed Pakistan historically. This idea figures prominently in the discussion on East Pakistanas secession in 1971, which gets a significant bit of attention in the Pakistan Studies books. The books state the independence of Bangladesh to be the work of a asecret agreement of big powers.a The United States, though mentioned only a few times in the textbooks, is singled out in this regard: athe process of separation of East Pakistan was secretly supported by America.a The United States is also described as having blocked and punished Pakistanas nuclear program and nuclear tests while turning a blind eye toward Indiaas program.

a

The books clearly identify with aMuslim causesa across the globe, with the Palestinians versus the Israelis. (The most negative mention I came across was the following:

aThe wicked Jews put a portion of Masjid- e- Aqsa on fire to demolish it.a

This phrase was removed after the 2006 curriculum reform, which is discussed later.) And the books state Pakistanas foreign policy and loyalties plainly:

The main objective of Pakistanas foreign policy is to protect the ideological borders of Pakistan . . . it can protect its ideology only by establishing better relations with the Islamic countries . . . the main reason for close contacts with the western countries is economic aid which made Pakistan closer to America and the western world.

And while one can argue with this policy, the statement itself is a pretty fair description of reality. The textbooks, even the most recent ones, do not have an open discussion on terrorism or extremism in Pakistan. Terrorism is mentioned twice in the latest textbooks in the chapter on world affairs. First is the statement, aPakistan supported America in Afghan war but as a consequence, Pakistan itself is facing terrorism.a Second: aPakistan is playing a very effective role against terrorism and extremism in the world.a There is not enough material there to affect readersa views on terrorism directly. The effect of the textbooks on student views on terrorism, as I will argue, is more indirect.

Excerpted with the permission of Penguin Random House India from Pakistan Under Siege by Madiha Afzal.
By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday upheld a Massachusetts law banning assault weapons including the AR-15, saying the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guarantee of Americans' right to bear firearms does not cover them.

U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston ruled that assault weapons and large capacity magazines covered by the 1998 law were most useful in military service and fall outside the scope of the Second Amendment's personal right to bear arms.

"In the absence of federal legislation, Massachusetts is free to ban these weapons and large capacity magazines," Young wrote.

He also rejected a challenge to an enforcement notice Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey issued in 2016 to gun manufacturers and dealers clarifying what under the law is a "copy" of an assault weapon like the Colt AR-15.

Healey announced that notice after a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Healey welcomed Young's ruling. "Strong gun laws save lives, and we will not be intimidated by the gun lobby in our efforts to end the sale of assault weapons and protect our communities and schools," she said in a statement.

The decision came amid renewed attention to gun violence and firearms ownership after a gunman killed 17 students and staff at a Florida high school in February, prompting a surge of gun control activism by teenage students.

Young acknowledged that the plaintiffs had cited the semi-automatic AR-15 rifle's popularity in arguing the law must be unconstitutional because it would ban a class of firearms Americans had overwhelming chosen for legal purposes.

"Yet the AR-15's present-day popularity is not constitutionally material," Young wrote. "This is because the words of our Constitution are not mutable. They mean the same today as they did 227 years ago when the Second Amendment was adopted."

The Gun Owners' Action League of Massachusetts, which was among the plaintiffs who sued in 2017, said in a statement that it was concerned by the ruling, which sets a "dangerous precedent." It said it would consider its next steps.

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The U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 held for the first time that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual's right to bear arms, but the ruling applied only to firearms kept in the home for self-defense.

The justices have avoided taking another major gun case for eight years. Most recently, in November, the court refused to hear a case challenging Maryland's 2013 state ban on assault weapons.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by James Dalgleish, Toni Reinhold)
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations is beefing up its inspections of ships bringing humanitarian aid to Yemen to ensure that no military items are being smuggled and to speed delivery of desperately-needed relief supplies, U.N. and Saudi officials say. The move comes as the armed Houthi movement controlling much of northern Yemen steps up attacks on the kingdom, hitting a Saudi oil tanker on Tuesday. [nL5N1RG4DR]. A Saudi-led coalition said overnight that Riyadh's air defence had intercepted a missile which Houthis said was aimed at storage tanks belonging to Saudi Aramco oil company. [nL5N1RH673] Saudi Arabia accuses arch-rival Iran of supplying missiles to the Houthis, who have taken over the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other parts of the country. Tehran and the Houthis deny the allegation. Under an arms embargo imposed by the U.N. Security Council, monitors from the U.N. Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) are based in ports in Djibouti, Dubai, Jeddah and Salalah to observe screening of cargo destined for Yemen. "We met with the UNVIM director and his team in Riyadh and we agreed on improved and enhanced capability," Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed S. Al-Jabir told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday. He said UNVIM would increase its inspectors to 10 from four and its monitors to 16 from six and would also improve its technology to inspect ships. The team supporting the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Lise Grande confirmed to Reuters on Thursday those steps taken to increase the number of monitors and inspectors and the use of scanning equipment. A major U.N. pledging conference on Yemen was held this week, drawing pledges of more than $2 billion toward a $3 billion U.N. humanitarian appeal. [nL5N1RG2AQ] Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which lead coalition air strikes in Yemen in support of the internationally-recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, have contributed $930 million. "We are cooperating with the UNVIM and other U.N. organizations to facilitate and to increase the amount of ships that arrive to Hodeidah port," Jabir said, referring to Yemen's main port for humanitarian and commercial goods, under Houthi control. UNVIM only checks commercial and aid ships going to northern ports under Houthi control - Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Isa - and not to Aden, which is under government control. Yemen, the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, is reeling from the world's worst humanitarian crisis where 22 million people need vital assistance. When the Houthis fired missiles at Riyadh last November, the Western-backed coalition shut Yemen's airports and ports. The United Nations said that blockade raised the danger of mass starvation and it was partially lifted. But diplomats say Saudi Arabia has been under heavy pressure from its main ally the United States to speed up aid. The blockade and delays have had a chilling effect on commercial suppliers as ships pay hefty demurrage fees as they wait for unloading, experts say. "The blockade of November and December has been solved in January, but really the ships from Djibouti to the harbor of Hodeidah started regularly only at the end of February," said Dr. Nevio Zagaria, the World Health Organization's envoy in Yemen. But "bureaucratic impediments" still slow the aid flow, both at Hodeidah and Aden ports, he told Reuters. "We are now early April, we still have the backlog of thousands of pallets that have been waiting to be transported," Zagaria said, referring to medical and other supplies. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Editing by William Maclean)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Britain needs to show proof that Russia was behind last month's poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in England, the German government's coordinator for Russia said on Thursday. Gernot Erler said pressure was rising on Prime Minister Theresa May's government after Britain's military research center, at Porton Down, said on Tuesday it could not say yet whether the nerve agent used in the attack had been produced in Russia. "That contradicts what we had previously heard from British politicians and will certainly raise the pressure on Britain to show further proof that the traces plausibly point to Moscow," Erler told German broadcaster ARD. He added that additional secret service information appeared to have led Britain to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. "Apparently, there were such reports from the British side, based on secret service information, so that not only Porton Down played a role but also additional information," Erler said. "But these (reports) are not known publicly and now there is pressure for more of this information to be made known, otherwise the whole thing is not transparent," he said. Germany has joined Britain, the United States and other Western countries in expelling Russian diplomats over the attack in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4. Russia responded with its own diplomatic expulsions. Escalation of tensions between the West and Russia must stop, Erler said, calling for a pause while Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons carries out an independent investigation into the toxin used in the attack. (Writing by Paul Carrel, editing by Larry King)
London (AFP) - Britain's data privacy regulator said Thursday it was investigating 30 organisations including Facebook over their use of personal data and analytics in political campaigning.

The announcement came after Facebook admitted the personal data of up to 87 million users, mainly in the United States, was improperly shared with UK political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a statement she was "investigating 30 organisations, including Facebook".

"The ICO is looking at how data was collected from a third party app on Facebook and shared with Cambridge Analytica.

"We are also conducting a broader investigation into how social media platforms were used in political campaigning," she said.

Denham said Facebook had been co-operating with the investigation and she was "pleased" with changes they have made.

But she added that "it is too early to say whether they are sufficient under the law," warning that the investigation "could result in enforcement action" and "policy recommendations".

Facebook has been scrambling for weeks in the face of the disclosures on hijacking of private data by the consulting group working for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

The British firm responded to the Facebook announcement by repeating its claim that it did not use data from the social network in the 2016 election.
Washington (AFP) - A Washington court has confirmed prison sentences for two supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who assaulted peaceful pro-Kurdish protesters last year.

Judge Marisa Demeo confirmed on Thursday the sentences of one year and a day in jail for each of the two US citizens, Sinan Narin and Eyup Yildirim, over the incident in May that raised tensions between Washington and Ankara.

The pair pleaded guilty in December to "assault with significant bodily injury" against protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's residence following a meeting between Erdogan and US President Donald Trump.

Demeo confirmed the sentences reached under earlier plea agreements, which will allow the two US residents to get out of prison in the next few weeks.

Their time in custody is counted from June, when they were arrested.

It is likely that the two men, aged 45 and 50 when charges were laid, will be the only ones convicted in the case which saw indictments against 19 people, including members of Erdogan's entourage.

Narin and Yildirim were the only suspects arrested. Two more suspects were Turkish-Canadians, and the rest were Turkish citizens who were members of Erdogan's security team, all of whom remain at large.

The US quietly dropped charges against 11 of the Erdogan bodyguards, although much of the assault was filmed by bystanders and police identified the suspects partly through the video recordings.

The first batch of four dismissed cases came on the eve of a visit to Washington by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in November 2017.

The second dismissal, of seven accused, took place a day before then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's February meeting with Erdogan in Ankara.

A Washington police spokesman described the assault as a "brutal attack on a peaceful protest," with several people hospitalized.

The attack was an embarrassment for US authorities, who invited Erdogan to meet Trump despite concerns over the Turkish government's increasingly authoritarian clampdown on media and opposition.

The indictments further raised the temperature of heated relations between the two countries. Erdogan called the case a "scandalous demonstration of how American justice works."

Washington considers its NATO ally Turkey crucial to the battle against the Islamic State group.
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic launched its first rocket-powered flight test since an accident in 2014 left one person dead. The flight successfully broke the sound barrier but did not travel far enough to hit space, Quartz reported.

Early Thursday morning, the companys SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity suborbital vehicle was launched mid-flight by White Knight Two, a larger plane. Although the VSS Unity has previously done many glide tests, this was the first time its rocket motor was turned on.

The spacecraft, whose engine burned for 30 seconds total, took off from Californias Mojave Air and Space Port, according to a tweet from Richard Bransons company.

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#WhiteKnightTwo pilots, Mike Sooch Masucci and Nicola Pecile have landed VMS Eve safely, completely todays important test flight @MojaveAirport, the tweet said.

Unitys successful trip brings Virgin Galactic one step closer to their ultimate goal: to get people on commercial flights to space.

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We are now just months away from Virgin Galactic sending people into space and Virgin Orbit placing satellites around the Earth, Virgin Group Founder Branson said in October 2017, according to CNBC.

His hopeful message followed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's announcement to invest $1 billion in Virgin Galactic.

If youre looking to get on one of those flights in the near future, dont get your hopes up just yet. The flights come with a hefty starting price tag of $250,000, spokeswoman Christine Choi told Albuquerque Business First in late 2017.

The last time Virgin Galactic turned on a spacecrafts motors during flight, it ended in a tragic crash. Not only was the plane destroyed, but pilot Michael Alsburys life was cut short.

Story continues

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President Trump's hair is the subject of plenty of internet memes. The latest craze appears to be images of Donald Trump boarding Air Force One as he headed to West Virginia Thursday, his hair violently battling the fierce winds.

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump's 'pee tape' controversy, explained

What may look like just a blustery day could be the latest in escape attempts from Trump's infamous comb over.

Image: Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images

There's hair that gets perfectly swept by the wind, there's hair that gets messy and tangled, and then there's Donald Trump's hair, which looks like it is trying to completely dislodge itself from his scalp.

watching his hair blow in the wind is honestly hypnotic pic.twitter.com/k82Kl37Ejq  David Mack (@davidmackau) April 5, 2018

Using the wind as a disguise, the hair is writhing in an attempt to free itself and embark on a life of its own. Just look at that struggle.

Image: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

But much like Trump's sway on parts of the nation, his scalp maintains a strong, sticky grip on his hair.

It's almost tranquil, in a weird,"let's focus on the ridiculousness of his hair instead of everything else going wrong in the world" sorta way.

It's kinda zen. Kinda.

Image: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Perhaps one day Trump's hair will find freedom. Today is not that day.
Washington (AFP) - The White House on Thursday called on Palestinians to engage in peaceful protest and stay 500 meters from Gaza's border with Israel, after Israeli troops killed 18 Palestinians.

On the eve of fresh demonstrations and amid warnings from the UN that Israel should use "extreme caution," Donald Trump's envoy Jason Greenblatt put the onus squarely on Palestinians.

"The United States strongly urges protest leaders to communicate loudly and clearly that protestors should march peacefully; should abstain from all forms of violence," he said.

Greenblatt said protestors "should remain outside the 500-meter buffer zone; and should not approach the border fence in any way or any location."

"We condemn leaders and protestors who call for violence or who send protestors - including children - to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed."

Israel has warned that its open-fire rules will not change, amid fears of a fresh bout of violence Friday.

Thousands of Palestinians are again expected to gather at five spots near the Gaza border on Friday, while Israeli soldiers and snipers will take up positions on the other side of the fence.

Protest organizers said they were planning to try to stop smaller numbers of protesters approaching the fence and hurling stones or rolling burning tires at Israeli troops, who killed 18 Palestinians last Friday.

It was the bloodiest day since a 2014 war. Another two Gazans have been killed since.

The protests are in support of refugees, including those in the Palestinian enclave who want to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.

The violence would appear to put Trump's claimed aim of reaching a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis even further beyond reach.

Palestinians have been infuriated by Trump's decision to upend decades of US policy and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinians also claim the city and have pointed to the decision as evidence of pro-Israel bias.
By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) - A New York judge on Thursday awarded title of two Nazi-looted drawings by noted Austrian painter Egon Schiele to a Holocaust victim's heirs in what art experts viewed as a key test case of a U.S. law designed to ease the recovery of such stolen works.

Under the ruling, both works - "Woman in a Black Pinafore" and "Woman Hiding her Face" - are to be turned over to descendants of Franz Friedrich "Fritz" Grunbaum, an Austrian-Jewish entertainer and impresario who perished in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941.

Grunbaum, a vocal critic of the Nazis, once owned some 450 artworks, including more than 80 by Schiele, an Expressionist protege of Gustav Klimt and a major figurative painter of the early 20th century in his own right.

Grunbaum's art collection was seized by the Nazi regime after he was arrested in 1938 and sent to Dachau, according to a synopsis of the case contained in Thursday's summary judgment.

The two Schiele works in question turned up decades later, in a booth operated by a London-based dealer, Richard Nagy, at a 2015 art and design show in New York City, and the heirs filed suit seeking to recover the drawings.

Nagy's lawyers asserted he had acquired legitimate title to the two drawings, stemming from a 1956 sale of some 50 Schiele works by Grunbaum's sister-in-law to a gallery in Switzerland, and that the heirs' rights to bring their claim had long since expired.

In his 17-page decision, however, Justice Charles Ramos of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan sided against Nagy, citing the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act.

That law, enacted by Congress in 2016, extended the federal statute of limitations for seeking restitution of Nazi-confiscated art to six years from the time of "actual discovery" of its identity and whereabouts.

Nagy's lawyers argued the HEAR Act did not apply, a position the judge called "absurd," saying the statute was "intended to apply to cases precisely like this one."

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The judge said there was no dispute the artworks at stake formerly belonged to Grunbaum and were forcibly taken by the Nazis during World War Two, a fact that put the onus on Nagy to establish a superior claim. Ramos said no such evidence was presented.

The judge also held that New York law "protects the rightful owner's property where that property had been stolen, even if the property is in the possession of a good faith purchaser."

Raymond Dowd, lawyer for the Grunbaum heirs - named in the case as Timothy Reif, David Frankel and Milos Vavra - hailed the decision as a landmark in bringing justice to Holocaust victims.

The ruling, he said, "brought us a step closer to recovering all of the culture that was stolen during the largest mass theft in history, which until now, has been overshadowed by history's largest mass murder."

(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Michael Perry)
An employee at the gun store that sold the gun used in the YouTube headquarters shooting last week has said there was nothing to suggest the suspect would go on to use the weapon for an unprovoked attack.

Manny Mendoza, rangemaster at The Gun Range in San Diego, California, confirmed to Mercury News that Nasim Najafi Aghdam legally purchased the 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol from his store on January 2.

After the mandatory 10-day waiting period had passed, Aghdam picked up the gun on January 16, the same day YouTube announced a change in how users will receive revenue from uploading content to the site.

Trending: North Korea Could Nuke the U.S. By Summer, Top British Military Official Warns

Mendoza said there was nothing memorable about the purchase from Aghdam. Its not like she stood out, he told Mercury News. I wish we could look into someones soul.

San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini previously said that Aghdam went to a gun range to practice with the semi-automatic weapons she bought before launching the attack at the YouTube headquarters. Mendoza said that to the best of his knowledge, she did not use any of the stores 13 shooting lanes.

Nasim Najafi Aghdam video

Nasim Najafi Aghdam

Officers visited the Jackson Arms Shooting Range in South San Francisco, a few miles from YouTube headquarters, as part of the investigation.

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The Gun Range got in contact with police after seeing reports of the shooting and recognizing Aghdam as a previous customer of theirs.

Three YouTube employees were injured at the shooting on the San Bruno before Aghdam turned the gun on herself. Its as tragic as can be, Mendoza said of the incident.

Police have said they are planning to delve deeper into Aghdams past in order to fully develop a possible motive for the attack.

Story continues

Her father, Ismail Aghdam, said she had become angry at the site after believing they were trying to "suppress" content creators.

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In one video posted under her online name Nasime Sabz , she can be heard complaining that YouTube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!"

The frequent poster used YouTube to promote veganism and animal rights, often with elaborate production values.

On the day of the shooting, YouTube announced they will be changing the eligibility requirement for monetization to 4,000 hours of viewing time within the past 12 months, with channels needing at least 1,000 subscribers.

"This will be a long and very methodical investigation," said Geoff Caldwell, a police commander in San Bruno.

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Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) announced Monday its intentions to invest NIS 50 million in upgrading the Baruch Padeh (Poriya) Medical Center in Tiberias and the Ziv Medical Center in Safed.

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The refurbishing is expected to include building new operating rooms, CT scan institutes, structural shielding and financing various projects to improve the quality of medical services afforded to residents of Israel's northern region.

The Baruch Padeh Medical Center will receive some NIS 20 million for the creation of shielded operating rooms and CT scan institutes, with construction expected to end late next year.





Tiberias's Poriya Medical Center will receive NIS 20 for the construction of shielded emergency rooms (Photo: Yoram Cohen)

The Ziv Medical Center, meanwhile, will receive NIS 15 million, to be used to shield the central hospitalization structure, complete work on shelters, shield the hospital's southern and northern buildings and protect essential infrastructures such as gas, power and water mains.

An additional NIS 15 million will be given to the Safed hospital for the procurement of a linear particle accelerator, a radiation therapy device used to treat cancer patients in a precise, focused manner.

The decision to invest in the two hospitals deep within Israel's periphery was approved last year by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and KKL Chairman Danny Atar, as part of a NIS 400 million investment in promoting northern region projects in education, health and agriculture.

The Ziv Medical Center in Safed will enjoy a NIS 20 million investment (Photo: Effi Sharir)

The overarching plan was intended to reduce societal and economic gaps between center and periphery populations.

"Northern region hospitals were left to fend for themselves in the Second Lebanon War, and KKL has thusly decided to spearhead a project as part of which it will assist in shielding the two hospitals," Atar said.

The Health Ministry announced recently that in several months' time, construction will begin on a shielded emergency room at the front of Haifa's Bnai Zion Medical Center. Structures are expected to be occupied in two years' time.

KKL Chairman Atar said his organization decided to invest in shielding hospitals in the wake of the Second Lebanon War (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

During the Second Lebanon War, the Haifa hospital constituted a strategic target for enemy missiles, partly due to its location on the ridge of Mount Carmel.

In the southern periphery, meanwhile, a new shielded emergency room was inaugurated in the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon six weeks ago, with other wings to set to open later this year, including operating rooms, a pediatric intensive care ward and a trauma room.
The IDF is preparing with reinforced numbers and special means to combat the riots expected to break out once again Friday in the Gaza Strip border, in what has been called the " Friday of the Tires " during which Palestinians are expected to set fire to some 10,000 tires and use mirrors to obscure visibility for army snipers.

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Six conflagration points are expected, from the northern part of the strip to the southern part, with protests beginning in the morning and reaching a zenith in the afternoonafter traditional Friday prayers.

Tires ablaze near the Gaza border ( :)

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The US State Department stood alongside Israel overnight Thursday by releasing a statement beseeching the leaders of the protests to ensure they were conducted peacefully.

Some 10,000 tires are expected to be burned in Friday's protests near the border (Photo: Reuters)

"The United States strongly urges protest leaders to communicate loudly and clearly that protestors should march peacefully; should abstain from all forms of violence; should remain outside the 500-meter buffer zone (the area between the border fence and the strip propered); and should not approach the border fence in any way or any location," the statement said.

"We condemn leaders and protestors who call for violence or who send protestersincluding childrento the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed. Instead, we call for a renewed focus by all parties on finding solutions to the dire humanitarian challenges facing Gazans," the State Department's message concluded.

Hamas's Interior Ministry in Gaza, meanwhile, published instructions ahead of the protests in which it asked protesters to refrain from contact with IDF soldiers, to cover their faces as best they can and to avoid using cellular phones.

In addition, the International Committee of the Red Cross put out word ahead of expected conflicts in which it demanded parties avoid as much as possible exposing civilians to potential harm.

IDF forces overlooking protests near Gaza (Photo: Reuters)

"The human toll demonstrates the importance for all sides to take all possible precautions to minimize exposure to harm and casualties among the civilian population," Fabrice Edouard, acting Head of ICRC Sub Delegation in Gaza, said in a press statement.

"We recognize Israel's security concerns, yet it is imperative that lethal force only be used as a last resort and when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life," Edouard's statement concluded.

UN Middle East Envoy Nickolay Mladenov also weighed in on the matter Thursday, urging Israel to show "maximum restraint" and Palestinians to "avoid friction" during protests at the Gaza-Israel border.

He voiced concern ahead of Friday, the Muslim sabbath, when the number of Palestinian protesters at the Gaza-Israel border is expected to increase.

UN Envoy to the Middle East Mladenov urged Israel to show 'maximum restraint' and Palestinians to 'avoid friction' during protests at the Gaza-Israel border (Photo: AP)

"I am following with concern the continuing preparations and rhetoric for this Friday's 'Great Return March' in Gaza," said Mladenov, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

"Israeli forces should exercise maximum restraint and Palestinians should avoid friction at the Gaza fence. Demonstrations and protests must be allowed to proceed in a peaceful manner. Civilians, particularly children, must not be intentionally put in danger or targeted in any way."

IDF: 'Smoke from 10,000 tires will not change situation'

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman held status evaluations with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot Thursday regarding the protests, which may develop to confrontations, and instructed the army to prevent any harm coming to Israeli sovereignty.

"We have no interest in disrupting protests held deep within the strip," IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis said.

"Smoke from 10,000 tries will not change the situation and we have prepared especially for that eventuality," Manelis said. "It may be nothing more than a gimmick. Hamas has failed operationally but interprets the international response to its actions as support to continue on its path," the army's spokesperson added.

Riots centered on two hotspots Thursdaynear the Gaza neighborhood of Shuja'iyya and in Khan Yuniswhere a Palestinian attempt to lob an explosive device at the border fence was thwarted.

The simultaneous burning of so many tires in a relatively small area may have disastrous ecological ramifications. Due to the fear or such ecological damage, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj.-Gen. 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.

"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.

As initial inquiries into border incidents in last Friday's riots concluded, the chief of staff has decided to afford his full support to forces operating along the border, on the backdrop of allegations that simple protesters were killed by IDF fire. Nevertheless, forces operating in the area received the inquiries' conclusions ahead of Friday's events.

IDF Spokesman Manelis said Hamas will once again attempt to carry out terror attacks under cover of protests (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Brig.-Gen. Manelis added, "Hamas will attempt to once again carry out attacks under cover of the riots (Friday). It has failed in bringing civilians to the strip's border, and so forces its own men to reach the encampments with their families. We have no intention of allowing these events to become weekly occurrences."

Senior Hamas official and deputy chairman of the terror group's political bureau Mousa Abu Marzook attacked IDF Arabic Spokesman Major Avichay Adraee on Twitter.

"Sheikh Avichay Adraee determined that protests were forbidden by Islamic law. Now he's saying that tire burning is forbidden as well, but the killing of those holding tires is permitted," Abu Marzook tweeted mockingly.

"Allah's words are just, in calling him and his ilk those who take things out of context. My advice and request to anyone following him on Twitter and Facebook is to stop doing so. That is the appropriate response for his fabrications in the name of Allah," the senior Hamas official stated.

Aerial reconnaissance followed by elimination

The IDF published a video Thursday afternoon showing the armed terrorist who attempted to infiltrate Israel in the early hours of the day. According to Palestinian forces, which retrieved the terrorist's body, he was carrying a weapon, grenades and an explosive device. No Israelis were hurt in the incident.

Footage of the terrorist drawing near the fence (:  ")

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The incident took place early Thursday, when an Israeli fighter jet fired at an armed terrorist near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.

Four hours after the IDF announced it had targeted the terrorist, Palestinian rescue services said that a body had been removed from the scene of the attack east of the Zeitoun neighborhood.

According to suspicion, the terrorist intended to carry out a shooting attack against IDF soldiers, but after his body was examined by Palestinian authorities, he was found to have been armed with frag grenades and an explosive vest, in addition to an AK-47 rifle.

The terrorist's infiltration as captured by IDF cameras (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The army considered the incident another attempt in a series of many similar attempts taking place over the last two weeks to carry out terrorist attacks along the strip's border under cover of mass protestsalso expected to be held Friday.

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Manelis cautioned Thursday afternoon that the terror group ruling the isolated enclave was "playing with fire and will face the consequences of these incidents, which unmask its true intentions: to carry out terror attacks."

'They said they will lock us up'  Hamas threatens strip bus companies

COGAT Mordechai published a recording Thursday evening on COGAT's Arabic-language Facebook page that revealed the manner in which Hamas is strong-arming executives of local bus companies to ferry rioters and terrorists to participate in border protests.

"In a talk a COGAT officer held with a representative of a bus company from the strip, a horrifying sequence of events emerged: threats, arrests, impounding and even sending Hamas-affiliated drivers to force bus companies to bring rioters to violent clashes near the border with Israel," Mordechai posted.

COGAT Mordechai revealed recordings delineating Hamas's methods of threatening Gaza bus company owners to cooperate

"This is the true face of the terror organization that claims the violent riots are spontaneous. Hamas is also using terrorism against its own people, and we have further proof of that," he concluded.

In the recording, the owner of a Gaza transportation company is heard telling the officer, "They came in, arrested us and pressed charges. They told me they wanted to lock me up and brought in other drivers. They said they wanted to impound my buses. What was I supposed to do?"
Of the 58 officers and non-commissioned officers to receive a special citation from the IDF's chief of staff last week, four officers stood out in being awarded the citation for their unique work in locating and destroying terror tunnels

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Recognition of the four officers' work mirrors the army's prioritization of the threat posed by tunnels, which has been atop the IDF's rung of priorities for a time with enormous resources invested in combating it in the past few years.

In the past few months, a joint collaboration between engineering, intelligence and technology people in both the IDF and Defense Ministry has led to the discovery and subsequent destruction of several terror tunnels.

The 4 officers receiving the chief of staff's citation for their covert work on locating and destroying terror tunnels (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

First Sergeant Major L., head of engineering for Southern Command and one of the soldiers awarded the citation, said, "I took part in the discovery of the last tunnels, which we located through special means I cannot disclose."

"We're focusing on finding concrete solutions to this significant threat," he added. "You take part in things you never dreamed possible. Various operational aspects are continuously practiced in this regardextreme scenarios that may seem imaginary and farfetched to some, but which we prepare for nonetheless."

The second to receive the citation was Captain A., a division head at the Defense Ministry's Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure (Maf'at), who works on development of subterranean measures.

"My role is to take development agencies down to the field and connect them to soldiers on the ground to work togetherin the utmost secrecyto find the ultimate solution (to the tunnel threat)," A. explained.

A previously discovered terror tunnel (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

"We live in a highly complex reality, and it's much more difficult fighting underground than in any other terrain. On a personal note, I feel a great privilege to have been able to take part in this effort," the captain concluded.

Sergeant Major A., a combat soldiers in GOC Army Headquarters' special engineering tasks unit, also played a key role in the tunnels' destruction. "You don't just pick up a tunnel. It's very time-consuming labor," he explained. "It's a matter of discovery, surveillance and timing, with our job being to defend routine security and destroy tunnels."

Sgt.-Maj. A. was involved in the last three tunnels' discovery. "I played a very significant role in both their location and destruction," he divulged. "Because the enemy is always in flux and trying to make it more difficult for us, we constantly try to outwit him and get creative, to study him as best we can and to eventually defeat him."

(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The last outstanding soldier involved in tunnel detection is First Sergeant Major F., a mechanical engineering combat soldier with Combat Engineering Corps's HaMachatz Battalion.

"We will be right on the frontlines of the next conflict, same as the rest of the Combat Engineering Corps," he said. "We'll be the first ones in and the last ones out and clear a path for our forces."

"I'm only doing my job. I don't know why I received this citationthat's something you need to ask my commanders. I believe in not doing only what's instructed, but going a step beyond," he summed up.
Precisely a week after last Friday's Land Day protests and mass riots, Hamas's Great March of Return campaign reaches its second apex Friday in what has been dubbed the "Friday of the Tires" with Palestinians burning tires in five points of conflagration along the Gaza Strip border since morning and until nightfall.

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Seven Palestinians, including one 16-year-old youth, were killed in clashes with Israeli forces, while five others were seriously wounded, Gaza's Ministry of Health said in a statement. Some 150 more, the ministry said, were hurt by riot control measures.

Friday of the Tires protest

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At the conclusion of Friday's prayers, the number of tires protesters burned increased and thick smoke covered most of the protest's centers. The number of protesters, however, was initially small.

Tires burning near the Gaza border during Friday's protest

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit offered the army's first comments on the protest, saying violent clashes were taking place in five locations along the Gaza Strip since Friday morning. IDF forces, consequently, have been deploying crowd control measures, water cannons to put out fires, giant fans to disperse smoke and live fire, in accordance with the army's rules of engagement.

IDF disperses smoke, quenches fire with giant fan and water hose (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

IDF forces have thus far shot at more than ten main instigators who came near the fence, a markedly smaller amount compared to last Friday's incidents at the comparable time.

Donkey draped in the Israeli flag

The IDF said some 20,000 Palestinians participated in the violent clashes, some of whom made it as far as the barbed wire placed on the Gazan side of the border in the southern strip. They took some photos, but refrained from crossing the fence.





Several attempts to damage or cross the border fence took place Friday afternoon under cover of the thick smoke emanating from the burning tires. Attempts were also made to throw explosive charges and Molotov cocktails under the smoke's cover. All were thwarted by the army.

Footage of attempted sabotage of the border fence

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The IDF further stated it will not allow any harm to come to security infrastructures or to the border fence, which protect Israeli civilians, and that it will retaliate against any violent protesters and terrorists involved in so doing.

A Gazan official, present at one of the protests, told Ynet, "The number of protesters is extremely low compared to expectations and to the protester turnout last week. There's no flood of people coming in from the strip."

"Last week at the same time," he added, "the number reached its highest amount, and now it looks completely differently." Some 30,000 people participated in the Great March of Return's inaugural protest last week.

Two senior Hamas officials arrived to the demonstration's centerMahmoud a-Zahar and Hamas security chief Tawfiq Abu Naim.

A-Zahar told the assembled crowd that, "If Israel struck deep within the strip, Hamas will retaliate by striking deep at the heart of settlements."

Hamas security chief Tawfiq Abu Naim (center) visiting the protest

Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, who arrived at a protest tent camp east of Khan Yunis in the southern part of the strip, told demonstrators that "the siege (on Gaza) and starvation have failed in their attempt to cause the people of Gaza to oppose the resistance movement (of Hamas against Israel).

"Gaza will return the Palestinian issue to the political arena. From here on we will do everything to deter Israel and frighten it. Gaza will not starve or give up its national aspirations. If the strip blows up, the blast will be in Israel's face."

He said the demonstrations would continue, telling the crowds: "We will uproot the borders, we will pluck out their hearts, and we will pray in Jerusalem."

Sinwar at the protest

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abass called on the Palestinian ambassadors to the United Nations, the Arab League and the European Union to immediately act seek aid to stop "the barbarism and killing by the occupation army of innocent and defenseless people who demonstrate peacefully for the realization of their right to life, freedom and dignity."

The Palestinian president again called on the UN Security Council to provide international protection for the "defenseless Palestinian people."

With winds blowing westwards Friday, the thick, billowing smoke was expected to reach Israel and may pose an environmental hazard to nearby agriculture. The defense establishment thus prepared large fans to prevent smoke and fire reaching Israel, with observation drones providing real-time intelligence about the thousands of protesters behind the thick black pillars of smoke.

In addition, dozens of fire trucks have been deployed along the border to counter the eventuality of fire spreading towards Israel.

Gazans, meanwhile, are less attuned to the environmental impacts of burning tires and have made more preparations to dealing with the IDF's expected use of tear gas. As onion is known to be an antidote to the gas, large sacks of the vegetable have been brought in, with other residents improving makeshift gasmasks.

A Gaza woman with a makeshift gasmask (Photo: Reuters)

Dr. Ahmad Khilas, an environmental expert from Gaza, published a post this week warning against the ramifications of burning massive amounts of tires. "Burning tires produce smoke and chemical toxins," he warned.

"Direct inhalation of the fumes or contact with the eyes or skin will immediately impact health, in addition to its disastrous effects on other organisms, agricultural land, the air and groundwater," the Gazan expert added.

Dr. Khilas also noted that when the tires are set ablaze, the immense temperature underneath the burning inferno will lead to the destruction of the ground below, making it a barren wasteland.

IDF forces at the border (Photo: Reuters)

"The hot air will rapidly rise, with currents lifting all of the toxins high into the sky. When the air temperature drops, however, the toxins will rain down on agricultural crops," he prophesized.

"By the amount of tires I have seen, I believe an enormous cloud of noxious vapors will be created, and if winds carry that cloud towards citiesit will lead to disaster," he concluded.

IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis refused to define the day as a failure or success for either side, but scoffed at Hamas' attempt to use thousands of tires as a cover for sabotaging the border fence.

"If yesterday I said it was a gimmick, then today it turned out to be an antic," Manelis mocked. "The tires did not create the effect that Hamas sought and had no (positive) effect. They mainly harmed those breathing the smoke on the other side (of the fence)."

Following a status evaluation, the army declared the area around the fence a closed military zone. No special instruction was issued to Israelis residing in communities near the Gaza border.

The United Nations human rights office also released comment on Friday's protest, urging Israel to ensure that its security forces do not use excessive force against Palestinian protesters at the Gaza-Israel border.

Firearms should only be used as a last resort, and unjustified recourse to their use may amount to willful killing of civilians, a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, UN human rights spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told a briefing.

Criticism regarding Hamas's actions also came from an unexpected source, when the Islamic State utilized its weekly newsletter to blast the Gaza terror group for not defending the Palestinian protesters it sent to the border.

The 'Friday of the Tires' protest commences in Gaza (Photo: Roee Idan)

"Hamas sent thousands of its activists and called on refugees in Gaza's camps to participate in 'peaceful protests' against the Jews. This exposed those innocents to death at the Jews' hands, without the fighters from the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades or any of the other organizations subordinate to Hamas intervening," the Islamic State wrote in its polemic.

Palestinian demonstrators planned to burn some 10,000 tires Friday and to use mirrors to blind IDF snipers from being able to target main instigators. Alongside the tires, protesters prepared catapults with the intention of using them during the day's clashes.

The Red Crescent has erected a field clinic in the southern Gaza Strip to receive those wounded by the clashes.

On the first day of the protest last Friday, tent encampments were erected on the strip's border and 18 Palestinians were killed in widespread clashes with Israeli security forces.

neutralized while attempting to infiltrate Israel through the border fence.

Gazans preparing catapults for use in the protest

Six conflagration points are expected, from the northern part of the strip to the southern part, with protests beginning in the morning and reaching a zenith in the afternoonafter traditional Friday prayers.

Gaza's newest hit song  'Burn the Tires'

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Hamas's Interior Ministry in Gaza, meanwhile, published instructions ahead of the protests in which it asked protesters to refrain from contact with IDF soldiers, to cover their faces as best they can and to avoid using cellular phones.

The American flag was also torched (Photo: Reuters)

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman held status evaluations with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot Thursday regarding the protests, which may develop to confrontations, and instructed the army to prevent any harm coming to Israeli sovereignty.

The Red Crescent's field hospital

"We have no interest in disrupting protests held deep within the strip," Manelis informed.

"Smoke from 10,000 tries will not change the situation and we have prepared especially for that eventuality," Manelis added. "It may be nothing more than a gimmick. Hamas has failed operationally but interprets the international response to its actions as support to continue on its path."

Riots centered on two hotspots Thursdaynear the Gaza neighborhood of Shuja'iyya and in Khan Yuniswhere a Palestinian attempt to lob an explosive device at the border fence was thwarted.

The simultaneous burning of so many tires in a relatively small area may have disastrous ecological ramifications. Due to the fear or such ecological damage, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Maj.-Gen. 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.
A phone call Wednesday between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu grew tense because of the Israeli leader's concerns that the US will withdraw from Syria and allow Israel's enemies to gain a further foothold in a neighboring country, two US officials said.

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An official statement put out by the Prime Minister's Office, however, offered a different account in saying Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked President Trump for his commitment to Israel's security.

The statement made no mention of any tension between the two leaders, hitherto considered quite close, instead saying, "Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with President Donald Trump about regional developments and Iran.

PM Netanyahu (L) and US President Trump (Photo: Haim Katz/GPO)

"Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked President Trump for his commitment to Israel's security and America's support for Israel at the United Nations. 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."

The Associated Press's report, however, shows that a sizeable portion of Netanyahu's conversation with the American president dealt with the latter's intentions of withdrawing American forces from Syria.

Trump has signaled to his advisers, it was reported, that ideally, he wants all troops out within six months, according to three US officialsa finale that would come shortly before the US midterm elections.

But the president has given no formal order to pull out the 2,000 US 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 Islamic State (IS) fighters can be vanquished.

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 US leaves behind a power vacuum in Syria, as are Israel, Arab leaders and other nations in the US-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 the president, according to officials briefed on the meeting who weren't authorized to discuss it and requested anonymity.

Urging him to slow down, Mr. Trump's aides have been emphasizing that IS fighters remain active in Syria, evidence that Trump's own, publicly stated objectivethe total defeat of IShas yet to be met.

Officials said the US is tracking two pockets where IS remains viableone in the Middle Euphrates 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.
The former Russian spy who was left fighting for his life after exposure to a rare nerve agent is no longer in critical condition, a British health official said Friday, a month after the mysterious poisoning in a quiet English city triggered a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.

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Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a bench March 4 in Salisbury and were hospitalized for weeks in critical condition. British authorities blame Russia for what they say was poisoning with a military-grade Soviet-developed nerve agent called Novichok. Russia denies the accusation.

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement that 66-year-old Sergei Skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.

Sergei Skripal (R) and his daughter Yulia

Yulia Skripal, 33, regained consciousness last week and is now in stable condition, she said.

Russian state television on Thursday played a recording of what they said was a phone call from Yulia to her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, in Russia. In it, Yulia said she would be discharged soon.

Blanshard said Friday that Yulia Skripal could look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital, but called any speculation about her release date just thatspeculation.

Scientists said the Skripals recovery was not unprecedented. Nerve agents work by blocking an enzyme in the body that lets nerves communicate with each other and with the bodys organs.

Alastair Hay, professor emeritus of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds, said recovery can happen over time because eventually the body will restore the enzyme to full capacity, and nerve function will be restored.

The Skripals long-term prognosis is uncertain, however. Michelle Carlin, senior lecturer in forensic and analytical chemistry at Northumbria University, said there is limited knowledge about the long-term effects of Novichok poisoning, but neurological damage has been reported in other historic cases.

The poisoning has chilled relations between Russia and the West, producing a wave of diplomatic expulsions unseen even at the height of the Cold War.

Britain, along with the United States and at least two dozen other UK allies, have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats. Russia has sent home the same number of those nations envoys.

The US, Germany and France joined the UK in pointing a finger in blame at Russia for a nerve agent attack against a Russian double agent and his daughter

At a UN Security Council meeting called Thursday by Russia to discuss the Skripal poisonings, the Russian ambassador warned Britain that it was playing with fire and claimed that Russia was the victim of a hasty, sloppy and ill-intentioned defamation campaign by London and its allies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov kept up the offensive Friday, once again urging Britain to show its evidence in the case.

Speaking on a trip to Belarus, he said British officials have engaged in frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position instead of producing evidence.

Lavrov said Britain and its Western allies are wrong if they expect Russia to confess to all deadly sins it did not commit.

In the phone call recording released by Russian state Rossiya TV, Yulia Skripal said she and her father were both recovering and that her fathers health was not irreparably damaged.

Viktoria Skripal, who works as a chief accountant in the city of Yaroslavl, told The Associated Press on Friday that she has no doubt it was Yulia who called and that she has not heard from her since. She said the call was recorded because she has an app on her phone to keep track of all the calls she makes for work.

I made this recording, that was Yulia, she said.

The Salisbury scene of the crime (Photo: Reuters)

Viktoria Skripal said she hoped to travel to Britain to visit Sergei and Yulia, but the British government said Friday it had denied her a visa because her application did not comply with the immigration rules.

Britain also announced that pets in Skripals hometwo guinea pigs and a catwere also poisoned. The two rodents were found dead after the home was sealed off by investigators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the cat was put down after it was found in a distressed state.

The Russian Embassy in London claimed the treatment of the pets might amount to animal cruelty and said it is difficult to avoid the impression that the animals have been disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence.
Former Shin Bet chief Carmi Gillon spoke on Friday to tune out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the torch lighting ceremony on Israel's 70th Independence Day if Netanyahu decides, contrary to common protocol, to make such a speech, urging viewers to turn off the television for the duration of speech or to change a channel.

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"The torch lighting ceremony has the highest ratings annually and is broadcast on the three public channels," Gillon wrote in a WhatsApp group he opened, asking members in it to relay the message to others.

"All the viewers who want to express their protest about turning the most stately event in the country into a political event for Netanyahu should turn off the television or change the channel during his speech," he suggested. "This is a protest that can be seen (in view count numbersed) almost in real time .If a few hundred thousand will do this, it could have an impressive public effect."

Former Shin Bet chief Gillon (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Gillon wrote following an acrimonious public spat between Culture Minister Miri Regev and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, with the former wishing for the premier to attend along with President Reuven Rivlin and the latter threatening to boycott the ceremony if that happens.

The ceremony was traditionally considered a state ceremony in which the main figure is the speaker of the Knesset. While Netanyahu is expected to attend, it remains unclear whether he will speak at the ceremony.

"This is a state ceremony in which the entire population is represented," Gillon told Ynet. "It is a ceremony with a very long tradition and it pains me to see it tarnished. They are turning the ceremony into a political tool for the prime minister and the culture minister. I believe that the ordinary citizen does not want them to politicize the ceremony and believes that its stateliness should be preserved."

Minister Regev (L) and Speaker Edelstein (Photo: Marc Israel Sellem and Gil Yohanan)

On Thursday, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez confirmed that he will attend Israels 70th birthday ceremony, a move which will likely pave the way for Netanyahu to attend the celebrations, asaccording to protocolthe presence of a foreign president at an official state ceremony obligates the attendance of the prime minister.

Hernandez, who said that his Central American country would always stand by Israels side, will light a torch on behalf of the Center for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC), marking the first time ever in the history of the ceremony that the head of another state has lit a torch.
The issue of asylum seekers was not supposed to be partisan. After all, the 35,000 Africans who had 'infiltrated' the country did not claim ownership of our holy land. They do not threaten the Jewish majority, the social order, the peace of our children or the rule of the Right. All they want is to move far away from murderous regimes and to subsist on minimal pay from hard labor.

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The fence, whose construction began during the Olmert administration and was completed during the previous Netanyahu administration, completely stopped the flow of immigrants. In their current numbers, they make up less than half a percent of the country's population. Israel knew and was able to cope with more difficult and complex challenges.

In the past I thought that the problem was the concentration of the population of work immigrants in southern Tel Aviv. The African ghetto that was created there forced the veteran residents, some elderly and hard-working, into a reality they did not want. The state created the ghetto; the state must disperse it.





Anti-expulsion protest (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)

But in early February I met Shula Keshet, a social activist who was born, raised and now lives in south Tel Aviv. Keshet is one of the initiators of the "South Tel Aviv against the Expulsion" movement. We stood at the corner of Chlenov and Matalon Streets, in the heart of what might be called the settlement of Eritrea.

Keshet hoisted a sign saying "South Tel Aviv Against the Expulsion" in red and black. I assumed that Israelis living in the neighborhood would argue with her, threaten her, maybe even get into a fight with her. To my surprise, passersby stopped to greet and encourage her. It turns out that the Israelis living in the neighborhood are divided.

Some of them want mass deportation . Others understand that after the Africans are expelled, real estate sharks will arrive, and they will be next in line for expulsion. There is no left and right here, only poor Israelis who have nowhere else to go.

No, the problem is not 35,000 Africans; The Africans are only a tool, a means in the revolution of values that is washing over Israeli society. Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin once said, "When wood is choppedwood-chips fly." Africans are chips. The values on which the state was founded are the trees that are about to be cut down.

Anti-expulsion protesters (Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch)

One has to acknowledge the truth: The current Israeli government is not much different from a series of right-wing governments in Central and Eastern Europe and Trump's administration in the United States. The ideological common denominator connecting these governments is xenophobia. They hate foreigners because of their religion and because of their color. In Europe and America, this movement has an anti-Semitic tonenot because Jews are a problem, but because of habit.

Xenophobia is favorable to a regime. It reinforces the shared identity, strengthens the sense of superiority of the white majority, and whitewashes the failures of the government and its entanglement in corruption affairs.

This hatred is joined by hatred of the existing order, the legal and media establishment, and liberal values. Not only is the stranger an enemythe Left is, too, and anyone who criticizes the regime is a foreigner, a leftist and an enemy.

Take away the anti-Semitic tone and you get the new Israeli Right, that of (Education Minister Naftali) Bennett and (Justice Minister Ayelet) Shaked and (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu in his fourth term. Africans are coming in droves . The New Israel Fund is at the helm.

Bayit Yehudi Ministers Shaked (L) and Bennett will commence HCJ-circumventing legislation next week to allow deporting migrants from Israel (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Bennett, who is actively seeking to annex four million Palestinians to Israel, cannot live with 16,000 foreign workers from Africa. This is what raises the ire of the minister in charge of the education of the children of Israel.

Shaked cannot live with the values represented by the High Court . She has to terminate it. And she will. The notwithstanding clause that the Knesset is supposed to approve this week is only the first step on her way there.

Kahlon cannot live with 16,000 Africans either. He reads talkbacks and gets scared. He was so frightened that he was betraying the only principle that was a cover for his pretense of being the leader of a centrist partythe defense of the High Court of Justice. His betrayal in principle is the price he is willing to pay to survive.

The Arabs are easy to hate: There is a long bloody reckoning between us; they and we are fighting for the same land. The issue of asylum seekers is the ultimate truth test, a polygraph of our values.

Ben-Gurion aspired to establish a society here that would be a light unto the nations. Well, tough luck.
Moscow said on Friday it would respond firmly to new US sanctions imposed against Russian businessmen, companies and government officials for what Washington called "malign activity" including alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.

The sanctions freeze the US assets of "oligarchs" such as aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose family controls Russia's largest gold producer, Polyus .

"Of course we will not leave this current and any new anti-Russian attack without a harsh answer," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement. "But first of all we would like to recommend that Washington discard illusions that we can be spoken to in the language of sanctions."

The ministry said no pressure could make Russia change course and that the sanctions would only unite Russian society.

"Having not waited for the desired effect of previous sanctions, Washington politicians have reached such absurdity that they are trying to hit our companies that have long maintained business ties with the United States, on which thousands of jobs depend there," the statement said.
Barely 48 hours after declaring an indefinite strike over unpaid salary arrears, Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare has lashed out at the members of National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) describing them as a bunch of unfaithful people.

The minister expressed shock over what she describes as a deliberate attempt by the leadership of the association to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians with their claim that government has failed to honor its promise of paying them their six years salary arrears.

We have paid the arrears from 2010 just yesterday. And NAGRAT is aware, GNAT and other teacher Unions are aware and so if for any reason NAGRAT doesnt understand they should have consulted GES, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance but they didnt do that and they want ahead to declare a strike.

The Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei Asare

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Going on, she said she is saddened by the fact NAGRAT could go ahead and declare a nationwide strike when the government had already advanced payment for the arrears in question.

She said they are the only teacher group that keeps frustrating government.

Why is that with all teacher Unions only NAGRAT is behaving this way. Is it that they are engaging in propaganda and throw dust into the eyes of public or what she quizzed.

She said the government is not perturbed by the deliberate attempt by NAGRAT pitch teachers against the government.

NAGRAT declared an indefinite strike, beginning Wednesday April 4, 2018.

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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.

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Source: Yen News
- President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has given the clearest indication Ghana has not offered a military base to the US

- The President was speaking on the US-Ghana defence cooperation agreement recently ratified by Parliament for the first time

The President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that his government will not sell the countrys sovereignty under any circumstance.

I will never be the President that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom, Akufo-Addo said in an address to the nation on the Ghana-US military agreement.

Akufo-Addo hits back at "unspeakable hypocrites" in NDC

READ ALSO: Health Alert! Woman bags food for sale at cemetery

Speaking on the US-Ghana military agreement for the first time, President Akufo-Addo rebuked the NDC describing them as hypocrites and cynics for twisting the facts in the US military agreement.

Breaking his long silence on the matter the president said some politicians are wallowing in the largesse of the US and at the same time promoting anti-American sentiment to a populist constituency.

President Akufo-Addo's address comes after massive public outrage over the military agreement with the United States of America.

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The main opposition National Democratic Congress and other pressure groups including the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) have been part of a protest to withdraw the deal or revise it to safeguard the sovereignty of the West African nation.

The deal, which has been ratified by Ghanas Parliament but yet to be signed by the president, gives the US military and its civilian personnel unimpeded access to certain installations in Ghana, including tax wavers.

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: Why 40% of Ghanaians who apply for UK Visa are refused

Send us a message via our official Facebook or Instagram page to get it published on YEN.com.gh

Source: Yen
Controversial Ghanaian Bishop, Daniel Obinim has for a long time found himself on the wrong side of the media over the years.

The founder of International Gods Way Church has been trolled severally on various social media platforms for some actions many deem inappropriate.

President Akufo-Addo

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However, the religious leader appears not bothered about his detractors as he continues to issue some controversial and weird spiritual directions to his Church members.

Obinim, who was once exposed in a leaked tape for sleeping with the wife of one of his junior pastors, was some time back trolled after being arrested and handcuffed by the police for vandalizing the studio of an Accra-based radio station.

The controversial Bishop was also grilled sometime back after he made a request from female members of his congregations to bring him their used underwear and bras for some spiritual exercise.

Despite all the incessant attacks and backlash, Obinim has come up in social media trends after inventing what has now become the miracle sticker.

READ ALSO: Lord Kenya reveals what actually happened in 2014 after visiting Kwaw Kese in prison

Some members of his congregation who were captured on tape recently sharing their testimonies after using the miracle stickers gave some weird accounts of how the sticker is transforming their lives.

The weird testimonies from the church members has caught the attention of many social media users including the former British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, who mocked him in a latest social media challenge, Obinim Sticker

The #ObinimStickerChallenge which is currently trending on various social media platform is said to be capable of bringing heaven on earth.

READ ALSO: Pappy Kojo under 'deadly' attack for flaunts his smoking habit

Some social media users in hilarious comments say that President Akufo-Addo is probably the man who currently needs Obinims sticker the most to curb many of Ghanas economic issues.

1 Create more jobs

File photo

May social media users in hilarious comments are calling on President Akufo-Addo to quickly grab a copy of Obinim's sticker in order to 'conjure' millions of jobs for the teeming Ghanaian employed youth.

2 One District-One factory

President Akufo-Addo promised One-District-One Factory

Other social media fans who have joined the 'ObinimStickerChallenge' are arguing that the fastest means by President Nana Addo to fulfill his One District-One Factory promise is to apply Obinim's miracle 'sticker'.

3 One village-One dam

Nana Addo also promised One-village one-dam

Others say Ghanaian farmers would have been enjoying the NPP's One-village-one dam policy if Nana Addo had called for the miracle sticker.

4 Arrest fallen cedi

File photo

Besides, other social media users are calling on the president to arrest the depreciation of the Ghana cedi with Obinim's sticker.

5 Solve Ghanas economy

File photo

Some social media fans are calling on President Nana Addo to immediately resort to Obinim's 'miracle sticker' to solve Ghana's numerous economic problems.

6 Win next election

Nana Addo on campaign (2016)

President Nana will definitely need the Obinim's sticker to further widen the margin between the NPP and the NDC in the next election.

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.

Source: Yen News
President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday April 5 addressed Ghanaians for the first time on the controversial Ghana-US military base deal that has taken over the news for the past weeks.

The issue resulted in a demonstration that brought several people to march against the deal. Below is the full speech of the president's address and it's accompanying video.

Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo addresses Ghanaians for the first time on Ghana-US Millitary deal

READ ALSO: Akufo-Addo condemns Mahama, others over US military agreement

ADDRESS TO THE NATION, BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE US-GHANA MILITARY CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT, ON THURSDAY, 5TH APRIL, 2018.

Fellow Ghanaians, I have come into your homes this evening to talk about a matter that has generated a lot of heat in our country these past days.

Last week, at the height of the furore triggered by the US-Ghana Military Co-operation Agreement, a good friend of mine came to caution me on what he called the hazards of this democracy thing. He told me, just in case I needed reminding that my predecessor as President, who had also been democratically elected, had chosen to avoid any possible controversy by signing and keeping secret some agreements. So, why did I not follow this precedent, instead of exposing the nation to all the hazards of the past few days?

My friend, no doubt, had a point. Indeed, I acknowledge that there are many very well-meaning citizens who would have preferred the peaceful process of agreements reached behind closed doors, to the furore of the past few days. Yet, far from being daunted, I take what has happened not to be symptomatic of the hazards of democracy, but a show of the strength of democracy in action. We are seeing being displayed before our very eyes, not the triumph of disorder, but the value of openness in governance, and of the need, the crucial need, for the people to be fully and accurately informed.

READ ALSO: Prince David Osei finally reveals why he left the choir in his church

You cannot claim to believe in democracy unless you have faith in the people, faith in their inherent goodness, faith in their capacity to make the right decisions, given the right information. It is this faith in the people that has shaped my entire political career, and it is this faith that propels me to lead an open and transparent government.

I was fully aware of how such agreements had been handled in earlier administrations, but I decided that, under my watch, any such agreements should be subject to the appropriate scrutiny of the peoples representatives in Parliament, in consonance with the requirements of accountable governance and the teachings of the Constitution. After all, you, the Ghanaian people, had voted massively for change; therefore, there was simply no way my government would ever keep hidden from you, the people, agreements of such a nature. I believe that the fall-out from this decision only shows the growing maturation of our democracy.

READ ALSO: Health Alert! Woman bags food for sale at cemetery

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.

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The Ghana Police Service has over the years done well to execute its mandate in maintaining law and order across the country.

However, like in any other field or occupation, there are bound to be hitches somewhere during the course of work.

As a result, the police  despite their efforts  cannot be said to be perfect in delivering their mandate to the public.

Inspector-General of Police. Mr Asante-Appeatu

READ ALSO: Akufo-Addo hits back at "unspeakable hypocrites" in NDC

In fact, there have been some instances where police officers acted in bad taste against citizens, which either resulted in casualties, public disgrace and sometimes even death.

We take a look at four occasions where the police did not act well against citizens:

1. Lydia Forson escapade

Earlier in January, there was a viral video of an encounter between a National Security officer and actress Lydia Forson.

In the said video, the officer is seen trying to forcibly whisk away the phone of the actress after she attempted to record at a location he (National Security officer) deemed unauthorized. The scene was definitely unpleased, coupled with the foul words that were used by Lydia.

However, the officers paramount aim is to maintain order and not to stoke confusion. Therefore, it was wrong for him to assault the presenter in that manner.

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2. Death of aeronautic engineer

The actual cause of the death of Ghanaian aeronautic engineer Prince Kwabena Kumi is not yet really known. However, judging from the reports so far, it is obvious that the Police did not act the right way towards the deceased.

The police reportedly prevented him three times from boarding a commercial vehicle to his destination after he was accused on drink-driving.

The Police were right to stop him, and even more on point to spot that he was driving whiles drunk. But to seize his, as reported, and ask him to walk to his destination was totally out of place. Now he is death  killed and dumped into a ditch by unknown assailants, but who can be blame?

3. When the police 'beat' Gabby Otchere Darko during a demo

In 2015, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, was beaten and manhandled by the police during a demonstration.

As part of a group who joined the Let My Vote Count Alliance to protest against the Electoral Commission at the time, Gabby was reportedly assaulted by the Police after some of the demonstrators veered off the approved route.

The police fired teargas to disperse the crowd, whiles Gabby later revealed that he was lashed with a horse whip whiles in police custody. Obviously, there are better ways to maintain law and order.

READ ALSO: 10 schools whose students will definitely blow the WASSCE

4. Shooting dead two innocent brothers

Also, in 2016, the police shot dead two brothers at Mampong in the Ashanti region after mistaking them to be criminals.

After receiving a distress call about a robbery case in the area, the police rushed in but filed to do due diligence so ended up killing the wrong people.

The take the lives of two innocent people was careless from the police and no amount of explanation can explain it.

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: Meet the teenage sprinter breaking all the records at U-15 level in her school

Source: Yen.com.gh
- IMANI vice-president, Kofi Bentil, has criticised President Akufo-Addo's Thursday speech to the nation

- The no-nonsense public commentator condemned the flashes of anger the president exhibited, as he defended the country's military agreement with the US

- Bentil expressed disappointment that the president did not announce plans to renegotiate the agreement

Kofi Bentil, the vice-president of IMANI Ghana, has joined many other Ghanaians in criticising President Nana Akufo-Addo's speech on the US-Ghana Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA).

Kofi Bentil

The president had, in a speech at the Jubilee House on Thursday, viciously condemned opposition politicians for, according to him, poisoning the minds of Ghanaians against the US agreement.

Akufo-Addo, without mentioning John Mahama's name, accused the former president and his opposition colleagues of what he called "unspeakable hypocrisy".

He said the public outrage over the DCA deal had been informed by what he called a blatant attempt by the opposition to mislead Ghanaians.

The remarks have drawn condemnation from some Ghanaians and praise from others.

In a reaction on Facebook moments after the speech, Kofi Bentil criticised the anger that characterised the president's speech.

He also disagreed with Akufo-Addo's statement that the deal will be implemented as it is.

Bentil, however, praised the president for exposing what he called "NDC hypocrisy" on the agreement.

The IMANI vice-president said the Akufo-Addo government should have negotiated a better deal for Ghanaians.

He condemned the portion of the agreement that stipulates that US military personnel who operate in Ghana will not be subject to the nation's laws.

"Me, I just want this answered: What happens if a drunk US Soldier runs into your car and kills your family? you cant hold him, sue him, or sue anyone! what happens??," he wrote.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Kumawood's Kwadwo Nkansah Lil Win buys another powerful car and it's customised

IMANI president, Franklin Cudjoe, echoed Bentil's sentiments, as he condemned the president's comments on the agreement.

He compared Akufo-Addo's remarks to Mahama's "purposeless lamentations" and "dead goat syndrome" comments, suggesting the president does not care about the feelings of Ghanaians.

"Not sure President Nana Addo was different from former President Mahama who called us purposeless lamentators when we complained about aspects of his governance. He even said he had become a dead goat that feared no sharper knives.

"Our current President just announced that he is a dead goat on this issue about the military agreement with the US and lumped my good self together with the opposition for expressing that we could have extracted more from the agreement as countries like Latvia and Lithuania did," Cudjoe wrote on Facebook.

The US-Ghana DCA agreement has drawn strong condemnation from many Ghanaians, who say it gives the US too much latitude to operate in Ghana without oversight from their hosts.

However, Akufo-Addo, in his speech to the nation, sought to allay the fears of Ghanaians by pointing out that Ghana has had such agreements with the US for decades.

READ ALSO: "W'anim s3 dades3n 5 kilo" - Social media user 'disses' Manasseh Azure for 'insulting' Akufo-Addo

What do you think? Share your views with us in the comments below.

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.

Source: Yen.com.gh
Popular Ghanaian celebrity twin photographers, TwinsDontBeg, have alleged that some top Ghanaian celebrity gay men have been making sexual advances towards them.

The twins, Samuel Appiah Gyan and Emmanuel Appiah Gyan, revealed this on 3FMs Easy Stream. They said they had often thought the men who approached them were interested in helping them advance their career only to realize later that the men are hitting on them.

One of them recounted how a famous male personality used to call him at ungodly hours to express his feelings for him.

TwinsDontBeg

READ ALSO: Yvonne Okoro names the man she'd like to marry

There was this dude who used to call me during our time in KNUST every night. He came to Kumasi and wanted me to come to his hotel room after he told me he was gay, I blocked him, Samuel said.

Emmanuel also said they were once hit on by another twin brothers who said they were both gay.

Touching on their career, the twins who have the moniker, TwinsDontBeg, admitted to having snap nude pictures of some female clients, describing nude photography as an art.

In their young photography career, the twins have made . They have done works for president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Samira Bawumia as well as celebrities including Jackie Appiah, Nana Ama McBrown and Becca.

The twins said they are looking to expand their brand and move beyond the shores of Ghana.

READ ALSO: Prophet Nigel reveals how Stonebwoy's death prophecy came to him

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:

Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition?

Your stories and photos are always welcome.

Get interactive via our Facebook page

Source: Yen.com.gh
- President Weah is requesting President Akufo-Addo to help his administration succeed

- George Weah says his country, Liberia wouldn't have come this far if not for Ghana's support

The President of Republic of Liberia, George M. Weah, has extended a passionate appeal to President Akufo-Addo and the people of Ghana to help Liberia to progress and succeed.

The Liberian President made this known on Friday when he paid a courtesy call on President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House, as part of a two day visit to Ghana.

President Weah and President Akufo-Addo at Jubilee House

READ ALSO: Joyce Blessing reveals how another gospel artiste nearly killed her with 'juju'

I am young, I agree, but you are my big brother, and I know that you will help Liberia to succeed, he appealed.

President Weahs visit to Ghana is to renew the bonds of friendship and solidarity that have long existed between Liberia and Ghana.

President George Weah in an interaction with Akufo-Addo

The Liberian President in his address stated that his country has come a long way, and without Ghana Liberias success story wouldnt be complete.

President Weah arriving at the Jubilee House

Ghana hosted us, today we can never repay, we just have to make sure that our people continue to relate cordially, and I can assure that the relationship that has existed between our governments will also be mutually beneficial, President Weah said.

Expressing his appreciation for the role President Akufo-Addo has played in strengthening the African Union, he noted that, when we travel to AU meetings, like we did the last time in Addis Ababa, you realize that when a big brother speaks, you look and listen to him, and you know what is to be done.

READ ALSO: Oheneba Kissi opens fire on Ghanaian gospel musicians

President George Weah at the Jubilee House

The Liberian leader in his address pledged to work towards strengthening the existing relationship between Ghana and Liberia.

Ghana is my home, and we are here not to just come sight-seeing but to reassure you that the relationship we have will be sustained and strengthened, he insisted.

On his part, President Akufo-Addo, referenced the longstanding, personal relationship between himself and President Weah, and described the Liberian leader as a symbol of progress that Liberia is making after the trauma of the civil war.

President Weah and President Akufo-Addo

I have known him for some time because we share many characteristics, one of which has been persistent efforts to arrive at where we are today. I believe it was a set time as it was mine. One of the things that I have discovered about him is his honesty and also his commitment to the welfare of his people. That is what has brought him this far, Nana Addo said.

President George Weah in an address

President Akufo-Addo also commended the efforts of former President of Liberia, Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for her tremendous role to bring Liberia to this far.

President Akufo-Addo receiving President Weah

READ ALSO: 72-year-old man sentenced to death sends crucial advice to Ghanaian youth

Hon. Barabara A. Ayisi speaks to YEN.com.gh about how President Nana Akufo-Addo inspires her:

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.

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Hoyte was a tower of strength for Searchlight newspaper (+Videos)

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by Clare Keizer

It is not an overstatement to say that had it not been for Harold Hoyte, SEARCHLIGHT newspaper would not have developed into the institution it is today.

Harold was my mentor and my friend, and before that, he was my mothers rock.

When SEARCHLIGHT was established in 1995, Harold told my mother, Norma Keizer, that she could lean on him, and she leaned hard. At an event held here in St Vincent on May 19, 2008 to honour Mummy , he related that she had the knack of calling him at the most inopportune moments to pass her problems on to him. He however always made the time for her, or found someone else who could give her the benefit of their experience at the Nation.

Harold felt it was his duty, obligation even, to support fledgling newspapers around the region as had been done for the Nation by Ken Gordon and the Express Newspaper of Trinidad, when the Nation was trying to get off its feet. His support of regional newspapers was his way of paying it forward, and he inculcated this philosophy in the staff at the Nation Newspaper and the Nation Publishing Company Limited.

For the past 24 years, the Nation has provided inservice training and support to SEARCHLIGHT in almost every area of the newspaper business that one can imagine. All it takes is a single telephone call.

I first met Harold in 1995, when, during my vacation as a school teacher, I spent a few days at the Nation receiving training in page planning and design. Ten years later, in May 2005, when Harold heard that I was about to join SEARCHLIGHT on a full time basis, he and his wife Noreen invited me to Barbados to spend the weekend with them.

Harold spent much of the time chatting with me about my new role and responsibilities and what I should expect. He also included me in a course on Managing Creative People that had been organized for managers of the Nation. The climax of the weekend was a concert I attended with the Hoytes at the Wildey Gymnasium, ironically, the same venue at which I will say my final goodbyes to him on May 27.

Harold gave freely of his wisdom and experience, and I knew I could always count on him for sound advice.

In 2015, in the aftermath of the General Elections here, there was a storm in a teacup about a photograph SEARCHLIGHT had published showing protesters at Government House road. Some even called for a boycott of our newspaper because of the publication of the photograph.

When I reached out to Harold, he told me to stand firm and reminded me that the mirror does not always flatter us.

People do not like to see themselves in a particular light in the public domain, and fail to realise what they do in the heat of the moment.

We always look worse than we want to in the mirror, he said with a chuckle, adding It is not the mirror that is at fault. It is what is before the mirror. Fix that!

His laughter was infectious, and his humour, wit, wisdom, intelligence and general excitement about life made spending time with him a tremendous pleasure.

Vincentians got first hand experience of Harolds wit and keen sense of humour on May 20, 2008, when he gave the feature address at the opening of SVG Publishers. Nonstop, for the first three and a half minutes of that speech, he had the entire audience in stitches.

Harold knew of our dream to establish a newspaper printery here in St Vincent and keeping true to his promise to support us, he convinced the Nation Publishing Company to invest with us, and some other local companies, to set up the printery. He appointed group financial comptroller Noel Wood to sit on the board of the printery, and the rest is history.

In 1997, when we needed help with designing and laying out our newspaper pages, Harold sent Jude Knight, whom he described as the fastest person on a computer to spend two days a week with us. So Jude worked part time at SEARCHLIGHT, and part time at the Nation. After a few years of shuttling back and forth, Jude resigned his job at the Nation and took up full time employment at SEARCHLIGHT as chief sub editor. Today, he is still with us. Harold often joked that stealing Jude was the one thing he held against my mother.

Jude was joined here in 1998 by Neal Jackman, who, while still a graphic artist at the Nation, designed SEARCHLIGHTs first masthead. Neal is also still a staff member.

For one year, Walter Roberts, an experienced printer at the Nation, travelled to St Vincent on a weekly basis after the printery was set up to train our young press men.

Vincentians also travelled to Barbados for training over the years; our senior reporter Lyf Compton had the longest sojourn there, benefiting from three months in service training in 2001.

Whenever opportunities for regional or international training, or attendance at conferences came up, Harold, and after him, former CEO Vivian-Anne Gittens, ensured that SEARCHLIGHT was always included.

Lest readers get the impression that Harold gave SEARCHLIGHT special attention, as I mentioned earlier, he did it because he felt he had an obligation to stand up for newspapers in particular, and the media in general.

When the Stabroek News of Guyana was being starved of Government advertising, Harold was among a group of respected regional journalists who travelled to St Vincent in February 2007 to intercede with then president of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo, who was here for the 18th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government of CARICOM.

Harold loved politics and kept abreast of developments around the region. Whenever general elections were called in SVG, he would visit on the last weekend before the poll to feel the temperature on the ground. He visited in the days leading up to the 2015 general elections, and before arriving, made his usual telephone call to me to arrange for taximan Kingsley DeFreitas to be his driver for the duration.

He was thrilled about the opening of the Argyle International Airport and accompanied by Noreen, he returned for the grand opening on February 14, 2017.

On behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Interactive Media Limited and on behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors, Management and Staff of SVG Publishers Incorporated, I extend my sincere condolences to the entire Hoyte family, especially Noreen, Tracey and Bobby; the entire Nation family and the people of Barbados.

Rest in peace, my friend. Job very well done.
Rubis shows its generosity by giving 10 students back to school gifts

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Through the generosity of Rubis, some of the financial burden of sending 10 students back to school has been lifted from their caretakers.

On Tuesday at the Fisheries Complex conference room in Kingstown, 10 students from different parts of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) were gifted with a school bag filled with school supplies for the new school term.

The initiative by Rubis is part of their back to school drive and saw students receiving a book bag, books, pencils, a ruler, sharpener, lunch bowl with utensils, a water bottle and hand sanitizer.

Kennisha Phillips of Penniston, the mother of one of the students, said she was happy for the supplies and very thankful. It helps me a lot because I have other expenses and a little help is always good, said Phillips.

Jocelyn Edwards of Troumaca said the donation has ensured that her granddaughter will go to school with the right supplies. She said she takes care of the lass as her mother is deceased and any help received is appreciated.

Recipient Kyra Alexander said she felt good and she will be going to grade five where she will do her best to make the persons that helped her proud.

Commenting during the handing over ceremony, Rubiss Country Representative Elroy Edwards said the company continues to show strong dedication to the development and enhancement of the lives of Vincentians.

We are very happy to be able to equip students with the tools required to help them reach the highest level of achievement in their education.

These kids are needy and not everyone is fortunate to get the things they need especially at this time of the year and donation of these school supplies will help to lighten the load of parents, said Edwards.

He added that at Rubis, initiatives of this nature are very important.

For one, we are committed to the future development of Vincentian youths. Secondly, as a company, the spirit of giving back and helping those in need is deeply embedded in our DNA.

He added that in an effort to continue investing in the young and vibrant minds, the company intends to continue this initiative and make it bigger.

Director of Child Development in the Ministry of National Mobilization Jemma Alexander said the students were chosen through their department with help from the child protection officer and public assistance officer.

The donation was witnessed by Terminal Manager at Rubis Zani Morgan-Rose and it was also noted that over the last six Christmas seasons, Rubis employees distributed food baskets to elderly and the less fortunate persons.
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April 5, 2018

A call for papers on "Lockett v. Ohio at 40"

I received via email and got authority to post this notice of an interesting call for papers on a particular (underappreciated?) Supreme Court capital case:

The Center for Constitutional Law at the University of Akron School of Law invites scholars, practitioners, and advocates to submit papers commemorating the United States Supreme Court decision in Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586 (1978). Argued by the brilliant Prof. Anthony Amsterdam, the decision laid the framework for narrowing application of the death penalty. Lockett not only overturned Ohios 1974 era death penalty law, it heralded the significance and breadth of mitigating factors that must be considered by jurors and judges making the life or death decision in the penalty phase of capital cases, and tapped in to issues of disproportionate sentencing (those decided and yet to be). Papers reflecting on the decision and its progeny are invited for a written symposium in the Akron Law Reviews online journal ConLawNOW, to be submitted by August 20, 2018. All submissions are welcome. Papers may be in the form of essays of 10-15 pages, or more traditional law review format. To participate, please send a brief abstract of the proposed paper to Prof. Emerita Marge Koosed at mkoosed @ uakron.edu and Prof. Tracy Thomas, Seiberling Chair of Constitutional Law, at thomast @ uakron.edu. The University of Akron School of Law will host a program commemorating the Lockett decision, with Sandra Lockett Young in attendance, in October 2018. It is hoped that writers will be available to participate in this program by video conferencing.

April 5, 2018 at 09:17 PM | Permalink

Comments

Fractured judgement.

Posted by: Joe | Apr 6, 2018 10:21:47 AM

I have been a criminal defense investigator for the past 16 years and I am currently in law school at Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas. We just now reviewed her case and we are at odds how she was facing death, when Al Parker, co-defendant, was given a chance at life in exchange for what could be false testimony and leading Locket to death. Although I am not justifying all her alleged actions, I do not believe she deserved a death sentence. I am glad she is living and hope that she has shown the world that rehabilitation or re-integration into society is possible We would love her to visit our school.

Posted by: Mark Z. Escamilla | Jul 3, 2018 4:36:09 PM

Post a comment
Phong congratulated the ambassador on his successful working tenure in Vietnam and recognised his active efforts to enhance cooperative relations between Vietnamese and Korean ministries, departments and localities over the past two years, helping further deepen the Vietnam-RoK strategic cooperative partnership.



The ambassador also supported activities of the VUFO and the Vietnam-RoK Friendship Association in general as well as people-to-people exchanges in particular, Phong said, adding that Lee Hyuk had visited many places and met with a lot of people in Vietnam to gain deep understanding about the Southeast Asian country.

Phong expressed his hope that the ambassador, in any position, will make more contributions to reinforcing and developing the friendly cooperative relations between Vietnam and the RoK.

Lee Hyuk said he is honoured to receive the medal, noting that during his working tenure in Vietnam, he had witnessed the strong development of Vietnam-RoK economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. In particular, he had the chance to accompany President Moon Jae-in and his spouse on a three-day State visit to Vietnam in March this year.

He added that he will take up a new position as Secretary General of the RoK-ASEAN Centre from April 15, and pledged to do his utmost to step up the relations between the RoK and ASEAN, and particularly between the RoK and Vietnam.

Vietnam and the RoK established diplomatic ties on December 22, 1992. The two countries set up their comprehensive strategic partnership in August 2001, and agreed to lift the ties to a strategic cooperative partnership in October 2009.

The Vietnam-RoK free trade agreement, which became effective on December 20, 2015, has opened a new chapter in bilateral economic ties. The RoK is currently one of Vietnams most important economic partners, ranking first in terms of investment, and second in development cooperation, trade and tourism.

Two-way trade jumped from $500 million in 1992 to $61.5 billion in 2017, of which $14.8 billion came from Vietnams exports, up 30 percent from the previous year, and $46.7 billion from the Southeast Asian countrys imports, a year-on-year increase of 45.3 percent.

The two countries are working to raise the turnover to $100 billion by 2020.

Vietnamnews
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Remarks

2018/04/06

Q: On April 5 EST, the US President announced that he was considering another $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. What is your comment?

A: It seems that the US side has misread the situation and taken an extremely wrong move. By doing this, the US will end up hurting its own interests. China is well prepared, and we would immediately fight back with force and without hesitation, should the US publish a list of products for the $100 billion tariff increase. We warned the US before that it should not leave anything to chances.

Q: What do you think is the nature of this so-called trade war?

A: We believe that this is a war waged by the US with its unilateralism and protectionism against multilateralism and free trade. When multilateralism and free trade are threatened, the economic globalization and the world economic recovery would be thrust into jeopardy. It is not just China's immediate interests but also the common interests of all that will be damaged. Such a grave issue we are facing calls for a determined fight of us all.

Q: If the US takes further action, what would you do?

A: The Commerce Ministry of China has made it clear that we are fully prepared to deal with any new measures the US may take, and we have in place detailed countermeasures. We said before that, even though we will not be the ones to stir up trouble, we will never allow trouble to be brought to our doorstep. We will resolutely fight back. And we Chinese people always deliver what we promise.
Olympic silver medalist Gus Kenworthy is joining NBC6 anchor and host Roxanne Vargas for Grand Marshal duties at this years Miami Beach Gay Pride, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this week. The two marshals will lead the parade down Ocean Drive beginning at noon Sunday, April 8.

Kenworthy and Vargas will also be featured in the Pride VIP gala, which takes place from 7:30-10:30 p.m. Friday, April 6 at the Faena Forum, 3300 Collins Ave. Comedian Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard of the Peoples Couch and the podcast, Dumb Gay Politics will be the hosts of the gala with music by DJ Adora.

Mark Fernandes, chairman of the Pride board of directors, said Kenworthy and Vargas were chosen as this years Grand Marshals because they are two preeminent public figures who well represent and support the LGBTQ community. He adds Kenworthy is a role model as an out and proud sportsman who excels at his craft.

Kenworthy first represented the U.S. in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, bringing home the silver medal in slopestyle. Since then he has earned seven World titles and five X Games medals and is known for being the first Olympic free skier to ever perform a double cork 1080 and right side 1440 in a halfpipe, a double flip on a hip jump and a flip off a rail. In 2015, Kenworthy came out as a gay man in an ESPN Magazine cover story. His on-camera good luck kiss from his boyfriend at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang recently went viral around the world.

SFGN spoke with Kenworthy to get his feedback on his role in this years Miami Beach Gay Pride and in the LGBT community overall. Heres what he had to say.

Welcome to Miami. Have you visited here before? What are you most looking forward to doing while youre staying here?

I've never been to Florida. I've heard nothing but good things about Miami Beach so I'm excited to make it down there. I think I'm most looking forward to the beautiful men, the beautiful weather and obviously the beautiful celebration of pride.

How do you feel about being selected as this years Grand Marshal for Miami Beach Gay Pride? What is the significance of these pride events to you and the LGBT community?

Pride means owning who you are and wanting to share yourself with the world. I think its important to celebrate Pride because for so long (and still today in many parts of the world) LGBTQ people have been forced to live in fear for their safety, and being out and "proud" weren't even options. As the Grand Marshal, I just hope to celebrate and share that experience with everyone in attendance.

What prompted you to come out at the time you did? Do you feel we are finally getting to a place where openly gay athletes are accepted?

It was just time for me. I wanted to help others and I did not want to live with the lie anymore myself. I hope it is more openly accepted, but there still seems to be a lot of work to do.

Do you feel your coming out has given LGBT youth and others the courage to live their lives openly? Do you feel you are a role model?

I just hope it encourages anybody and everybody, whether theyre LGBTQ or not, to live their life as honestly and authentically as possible. Take time to recognize who you are and the things that make you that person. Embrace those facts about yourself and then share them with the world. There's nothing more fulfilling than getting to live your truth, and I think only then can you hope to find happiness.

How active are you in the LGBT community? What causes are near and dear to your heart?

I feel very active. It is part of who I am, and I am so happy to have represented my country and the LGBTQ community at the Olympics. I am very supportive of all causes, but both the Trevor Project and Happy Hippie Foundation are two organizations that are very dear to me.

Whats next for Gus Kenworthy? What goals do you hope to accomplish personally and professionally?

[Im] still considering the next four years and making a run at the 2022 Olympics. We will see how that plays out. I am also exploring other career opportunities and taking it all in right now to see what I might like to do next.

Want to hear more from Gus Kenworthy? Join Miami Beach Gay Pride from 1-2 p.m. Saturday, April 7, at Lummus Park, on the sand off 11th Street and Ocean Drive, as he and Ally Grand Marshal Roxanne Vargas are asked questions in an unscripted-style Q&A from the moderator, the media and Pride guests. The press conference is free and open to the public.
The sixty-second session for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) was recently held at the United Nations in New York from March 12 through the 23.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, representatives from Non-Governmental Organizations from all corners of the world attended official meetings and side events. Established in 1946 as a platform for women to observe, inform and advocate for causes focused on economic, educational, health, and civil rights of women; the commission is a proactive place for intersecting issues to questions to be addressed and answered.

One such side event session, SOGIESC in Gender-Mainstreaming Measures, was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Malta to the United Nations, and sponsored by the U.S. based, international LGBTQI Human Rights NGO, OutRight Action International. Co-sponsors were the governments of Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway and the European Union Delegation to the United Nations.

The panel was moderated by Jessica Stern, Executive Director of OutRight Action International. Some people come to the session because they dont understand why were talking about LGBTQI rights in a conference thats focused on the Commission on the Status of Women. And maybe some people come because they are concerned that we are here to take something away from womens rights, stated Stern. Stern emphasized that this is not the case. Were here because the definition of woman is expansive. LBTIQ women are women too.

Stern explained to the audience that many of the root causes of gender-based oppression that restricts womens access to employment, education, health care and freedom of mobility are the same issues that restrict the safety, security and dignity of LGBT people.

Stern said that many adversaries to LGBT rights ask if they are calling for special rights. Stern explained that they are not advocating for special rights. Were here with a panel of experts and government leaders to explain how we want to see intersections in government functions and civil society so that we can advance better together.

One of the panelists, Helena Dalli, Minister for European Affairs and Equality of the Republic of Malta, stated, I believe that it is very important that more is done here at the Commission on the Status of Women to promote equality for LBTIQ women.

Randy Boissonnault, Canadian member of Parliament and Special Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on LGBTQ2 Issues, explained When the Canadian government talks about gender equality, were talking about it in its largest and most expansive form and we want to make sure that no one is left behind. MP Boissonnault described the efforts that the Canadian government has made to apologize and make amends for the persecution, interrogation and forced outings of 9,000 Royal Canadian Mounted Police forces during the 1950s through the 1990s where many had committed suicide. A 145 million Canadian-dollar class action lawsuit was launched with reparations to the community, service medals and a permanent exhibit at the museum of human rights. A heritage program will air on television, so the next generation knows this history so that it wont happen again.

Panelist Sjoerd Warmerdam, Senior Policy Advisor for Gender Equality and LGBTQI Equality for the Government of the Netherlands discussed how gender justice and LGBT justice efforts initiatives are intertwined in the Dutch government.

We used to have two teams, but we saw that we had to use an intersectional approach. Warmerdam explained that mainstreaming gender and LGBTQI policies is much more effective in government and working with stakeholders. We see that the two groups face the same problems with similar root causes, stereotypes and expectations, said Warmerdam.

Panelist and Nigerian activist, Xeenarh Mohammad added that intersectionality has to be included for progress and success. Kimberly Zieselman, Executive Director of InterACT, an NGO that advocates for intersex youth, added to the intersectionality that intersex women are women too. Zieselman explained that intersex is a broad definition that describes a person born with physical sex characteristics that do not line up with what society or the medical community thinks of as either male or female.

The number one advocacy issue for intersex is fighting against irreversible and medically unnecessary surgeries and medical interventions that happen to infants and children and results in a lot of trauma, Zieselman said. Senior Legal Advisor at the NGO Madre, and Clinical Law Professor at the CUNY School of Law, Lisa Davis, described her efforts working with womens groups in Iraq to incorporate LGBTQI advocacy into their mission after an influx of gay men fleeing honor killings from ISIS came to their attention. The group in Iraq sought guidance on how to handle the situation, Davis said. As a result, the groups partnered with OutRight Action International to confront this crisis. We started doing trainings to document human rights abuses against LGBTQI people and launched a campaign to create advocacy messages.

Today the group operating in Iraq is prominent and outspoken for LGBT rights with extensive programing. The intersecting premise is that everyone has a right to life. No one should be killed.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




Spectacular new pictures, created from images from both ground- and space-based telescopes, tell the story of the hunt for an elusive missing object hidden amid a complex tangle of gaseous filaments in the Small Magellanic Cloud, about 200 000 light-years from Earth.

New data from the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile has revealed a remarkable ring of gas in a system called 1E 0102.2-7219, expanding slowly within the depths of numerous other fast-moving filaments of gas and dust left behind after a supernova. This discovery allowed a team led by Frederic Vogt, an ESO Fellow in Chile, to track down the first ever isolated neutron star with low magnetic field located beyond our own Milky Way galaxy.

The team noticed that the ring was centred on an X-ray source that had been noted years before and designated p1. The nature of this source had remained a mystery. In particular, it was not clear whether p1 actually lies inside the remnant or behind it. It was only when the ring of gas -- which includes both neon and oxygen -- was observed with MUSE that the science team noticed it perfectly circled p1. The coincidence was too great, and they realised that p1 must lie within the supernova remnant itself. Once p1's location was known, the team used existing X-ray observations of this target from the [Chandra X-ray Observatory] - http://chandra.harvard.edu/ to determine that it must be an isolated neutron star, with a low magnetic field.

In the words of Frederic Vogt: "If you look for a point source, it doesn't get much better than when the Universe quite literally draws a circle around it to show you where to look."

When massive stars explode as supernovae, they leave behind a curdled web of hot gas and dust, known as a supernova remnant. These turbulent structures are key to the redistribution of the heavier elements -- which are cooked up by massive stars as they live and die -- into the interstellar medium, where they eventually form new stars and planets.

Typically barely ten kilometres across, yet weighing more than our Sun, isolated neutron stars with low magnetic fields are thought to be abundant across the Universe, but they are very hard to find because they only shine at X-ray wavelengths [2]. The fact that the confirmation of p1 as an isolated neutron star was enabled by optical observations is thus particularly exciting.

Co-author Liz Bartlett, another ESO Fellow in Chile, sums up this discovery: "This is the first object of its kind to be confirmed beyond the Milky Way, made possible using MUSE as a guidance tool. We think that this could open up new channels of discovery and study for these elusive stellar remains."

Images http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1810a/

Notes

[1] The image combines data from the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile and the orbiting the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and NASA Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

[2] Highly-magnetic spinning neutron stars are called pulsars. They emit strongly at radio and other wavelengths and are easier to find, but they are only a small fraction of all the neutron stars predicted to exist.

More information

This research was presented in a paper entitled "Identification of the central compact object in the young supernova remnant 1E 0102.2-7219", by Frederic P. A. Vogt et al., in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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Construction of the space telescope CHEOPS is finished. The engineers from the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern will package the instrument this week and send it to Madrid, where it will be integrated on the satellite platform.

CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) is to be ready to launch in early 2019. It will observe how exoplanets in other solar systems pass in front of their host star - and assist in the search of potentially habitable planets.

The specially designed transport case is ready and waiting in the building for Exact Sciences of the University of Bern. In the next few days, the CHEOPS team will load the space telescope in the cleanroom into the transport container, where it is well protected against shock, moisture and dirt. A truck will then transport the precious cargo to Madrid. The company "Airbus Defense and Space - Spain" built the satellite platform that supports the telescope and enables it to operate in space. In the upcoming weeks the instrument will be integrated and the satellite will be tested.

The space telescope will observe stars in our cosmic neighbourhood that are known to be orbited by exoplanets. CHEOPS measures the brightness of the stars. This decreases slightly when an exoplanet passes in front of its host star. The size of the exoplanet can be determined by the decrease in brightness during such a transit.

"The instrument must be able to measure with extreme precision. This was the major design challenge," says Willy Benz, professor of Astrophysics at the University of Bern and Principal Investigator of the CHEOPS mission, which Switzerland is carrying out together with the European Space Agency (ESA). "We think that we meet the requirements, otherwise we would not be flying," says Christopher Broeg, project manager for the CHEOPS mission.

Components from different countries

Institutes from eleven European nations are involved in the CHEOPS mission. The structure was designed and manufactured in Switzerland, the optics as well as the flight software and other components originate from international partner institutions . At the University of Bern, the various parts were assembled in the cleanroom and the telescope was subjected to vibrations on the shaker, similar to those vibrations it will have to withstand at the start. "We were relieved when the mirror and its adhesive bonding passed the vibration test," remembers Christopher Broeg, thinking back on the particularly delicate test phase.

The team was put under tremendous time pressure. CHEOPS is ESA's so-called first small 'S-class mission'. It must be implemented within a few years and cannot cost ESA more than 50 million euro. Switzerland pays around 30 million euro, while the remaining partners pay about 20 million euro. "We are proud that we were able to stick to the budget in the end, which cannot always be taken for granted in such projects," says Willy Benz.

In order not to delay the project too much, the engineers had to carry out different jobs in parallel instead of following the initially planned sequence. This meant that the load-bearing structure had to be determined even before one knew exactly how the mirror was to be mounted. This was particularly tricky because the position of the main and secondary mirrors must remain stable, even if the temperature changes in orbit. The tests finally showed that the construction works. "We are even more stable than we first thought," says Christopher Broeg happily.

In the last few weeks, the engineers calibrated the instrument and tested the software. Following its integration in Madrid, the satellite will be tested at several locations in Europe before being sent to Kourou, ESA's space station in French Guiana. It will return one last time to Switzerland in order to pass another vibration test. By early 2019, CHEOPS should be ready to launch. A Soyuz rocket will launch it together with a larger Italian radar satellite into a 700-kilometer orbit. "I'm looking forward to seeing CHEOPS in space and getting the first data," says Willy Benz.

Video showing the calibration of CHEOPS



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Coffee Design is proudly sponsored by Savor Brands , your boost in coffeedence through maximizing designs in packaging, sustainability and tech.

Montreal-based roasting company Kittel revamped their look this year. Going with the popular box packaging, Kittel worked with independent creative consultant Marc-Andre Rioux along with Dutch illustrator Timo Kuilder to create a colorful line of coffees with a vintage travel poster inspired motif. We talked to Liam Robichaud, Director of Coffee & Quality Control at Kittel, to learn more.

Tell us a bit about your company!

Seven years ago, Guillaume Kittel-Ouimet left his successful career as a financial risk manager and struck out on his own to begin a career in coffee. He bought a small sample roaster, took a course on roasting coffee in nearby Vermont, and in his own apartment he began to experiment.

Now weve built a small team and in our humble warehouse in the Rosemont neighbourhood of Montreal we roast coffee for around 60 or so wholesale clients. As a company, Kittel is young and energetic. After years of focusing entirely on the quality of the product in the bag, we were finally ready for a makeover.

When did the coffee package design debut?

We launched the new packaging to select few wholesale partners the week before Christmas 2017, and officially switched over in January of this year.

Who designed the package?

We worked together with Marc-Andre Rioux, an independent creative consultant who came highly recommended by some of his former colleagues at Montreal advertising agency, Cossette.

It was Marc-Andre who helped us define our concept of Collections. We wanted to simplify the experience of shopping for new and unique coffees so rather than grouping coffees by origin, we decided to group them by flavour profile, or mood if you will. This allows us to introduce someone who likes earthy, nutty coffees from Brazil to coffee from Peru, Burundi, or Indonesia. Similarly, we can show lovers of Ethiopian and Kenyan coffee, the quality of microlots from Colombia, Guatemala, or Brazil.

So as to avoid over-complication, we limited our collections to the four most commonly requested types of offering:

Classic: Rich, full-bodied coffees, with bittersweet, notes of chocolate and roasted nuts and limited acidity. Perfect for espresso, milk drinks, and a no-frills, any-day-of-the-week cup.

Signature: Crowd-pleasing coffees with notes of fruit balanced with notes of chocolate, caramel, pastry. These coffees are equally remarkable on espresso or filter.

Discovery: Bright, vibrant, fruity, aromatic and even floral coffees to excite the palate and wow your friends. These are the coffees to get for the person who has tried everything.

Decaf: The name says it all. Well just about. We want to source and roast decaf that doesnt feel like an afterthought. Truth be told, its not uncommon to spot us at the roastery enjoying a cup of our single estate Colombian decaf when weve had enough caffeine before weve had enough coffee.

Tell us more about the art depicted on the coffees.

While Marc-Andre helped us to define the aesthetic of the new branding, from the packaging to the logo and typography, it was the extraordinarily talented Dutch illustrator, Timo Kuilder who provided the imagery on the front of the boxes.

We knew that we wanted illustrations that were inviting, familiar, and timeless. This is why the style might be described as vintage or retro. There is an element of travel posters from the early 20th century and a touch of cartoons from the 80s. Each image focuses on an individual, in the midst of some event that is objectively exciting but in spite of their unique surroundings, all they can focus on is their cup of coffee.

Why are aesthetics in coffee packaging so important?

For us as the roaster, aesthetics are secondary. For years, we roasted coffee and put it in plain white bags with our name and some info about the origin. Quality is whats important to us: quality of the product we source, and quality of the roasts we serve to our customers.

With that being said, there is another factor to consider. How do we introduce ourselves to new customers. If someone hasnt had a chance to taste the coffee yet, theyre going to judge it the only way they can: visually. Through the process of this rebranding, we have learned that aesthetics are very relevant, and we are so proud to hear from customers that they love the new look.

What type of package is it and where is it manufactured?

When we set out to do this rebranding, we knew that we wanted packaging with as little environmental impact as possible but we were not willing to sacrifice customer experience. It had to be engaging, beautiful, easy to display, and yet still be able to be reused, recycled, or even to break down and return to the earth from which it came.

Only one option consistently stood out from the rest: boxes. Boxes stand straight up, they stack easily and in an attractive way, making them perfect for retail displays at our partner cafes and stores. And whats more, even the most beautiful boxes could be made from recycled materials and be themselves easily recycled. Our own boxes are produced here in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec, at Imprimerie Dumaine. They are made of FSC certified cardboard and printed with vegetable based inks.

Inside the box, we still had to use a bag, and so we knew right from the start it had to be compostable. We worked together with TekPak, a Canadian company making their own brand of Omnidegradable coffee packaging. With their help, we were able to procure 100% biodegradable bags (even the valve). Combined with our recycled and recyclable boxes, we felt that we were finally able to meet our goal of a product which is both sustainable and memorable.

Where is it currently available?

Currently we are available at numerous shops around Montreal and the surrounding region, and were starting to be offered at shops in other provinces. Better still, customers all across Canada can order online and we ship for free on orders of $30 or more.

We are also beginning to hear from cafes in the US that want to partner with us, so you may begin to see us on that side of the border.

Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge.

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Podcasts: what can't they do?

Since launching the Coffee Sprudgecast in February of 2016, the show has become an increasingly important part of our publishing voice here at the Sprudge Media Network. The typical episode features news and notes from the world of coffee hosted by Sprudge co-founders Jordan Michelman and Zachary Carlsen, with a rotating cast of special guests, call-in questions from our readers (1-888-55-SPRUDGE), and a popular news segment, Robyn Reads The News hosted by Sprudge's own Robyn Brems.

There's a brand new episode in this style out todaythat's episode #52, natchpreviewing the upcoming fun at the 2018 London Coffee Festival, looking back at some favorite moments from SXSW 2018, and talking through the news (coffee cancer!) of the day (Stumptown truck hijackings). We crack a coffee beer on air most episodesthis week it's from Woodland Empire of Boise, Idahoand Zachary usually brews up some decaf (like Intelligentsia's El Mago).

But sometimes we deviate from the scheme, and right now there's a blizzard of fresh and frosty content styles rolling out across our Podcast channel, which you should subscribe to iTunes. Subscribers don't just get these regular episodes from our founders, oh no. They'll also be receiving a clutch of very special Minisodes taped live at SXSW, featuring industry leaders like Andrea Piccolo of Swiss Water Decaf, Becky Reeves of Oatly, Ian Williams of Deadstock Coffee, Andy Atkinson of Intelligentsia, and many, many more. Our first Minisode dropped earlier this week starring Liz Turner of Stumptown Coffee. You should go listen to it now because it, not unlike Liz Turner, is great.

But that's not all: our iTunes channel is the exclusive home for live Podcast events and special party tapings from around the world. From Sprudge After Dark's late night talkshow realness to our recent live event with Department of Brewology during SXSW, our iTunes channel is bursting at the seams with live events from the front lines of the specialty coffee scene.

And coming soon, this channel will be the exclusive home for BLACK COFFEE, a new live podcast series from creative director Michelle Johnson. The event kicks off with its first live taping on April 24th, 2018 in Portland Oregon, sponsored by La Marzocco USA, Ace Hotel, Oatly and Stumptown Coffee, with proceeds benefitting Sankofa Collective and Brown Girl Rise. We're also excited to announce some breaking news that this event will be supported by NXT LVLmuch more about this new partnership early next week.

Between the live shows, the regularly scheduled episodes hosted by our founders, the wild field recording Minisodes taped at SXSW, and the upcoming premiere of Michelle Johnson's BLACK COFFEE, it has never been a better time to subscribe to the Coffee Sprudgecast on iTunes and Stitcher. Best of all, it's completely free. We rest our case.

Sign up now as a subscriber to the Coffee Sprudgecast and never miss an episode. The Coffee Sprudgecast is sponsored by KitchenAid craft coffee equipment, Urnex Brands, Hario, and Swiss Water Process Decaf. Sprudges coverage from the 2018 SXSW festival is supported by Falcon Coffees.
For 25 years, fans at Woodbine Racetrack have witnessed some of harness racing's best horses and some of Canadian harness racing's greatest memories.

Over that time, the track has hosted 13 North America Cups, 11 Breeders Crowns and countless other events.

March marked the final full month of Standardbred racing at Woodbine, and in the Greater Toronto Area. After the April 9, 2018 program, harness racing will permanently move to Mohawk Racetrack in Milton, Ont. The facility, to be known as Woodbine, Mohawk Park is being upgraded and improved to become the permanent home to Canada's top harness racing meet. Thoroughbred racing will continue at Woodbine.

TROT Magazine asked racing fans and participants for their fondest memories of racing at Woodbine. Trot Insider will count down your list of the top 10 harness races ever held at Woodbine.

#3: ALWAYS B MIKI WINS WOODBINE'S FINAL BREEDERS CROWN RACE

OCTOBER 24, 2015 - The last Breeders Crown dash ever to be contested at Woodbine Racetrack was fittingly, a race that will long be remembered.

Always B Miki scored in the $518,960 Breeders Crown Final for Open Pacers, defeating a cast that included seven rivals that would each earn more than $2 million over their racing careers, including Foiled Again, the richest pacer of all time.

A number of horses in the 10-horse field left for early position, with public Choice Always B Miki, driven by David Miller, off the pace early in fifth. Miller then floated the favourite first up and cleared to the front just after the :55.2 half-mile marker. After hitting the three-quarters in 1:23, on a sloppy track, rated off by two seconds, Miller asked Always B Miki for another gear, and the pacer gave him one, maybe two. A sizzling :26.3 closing quarter over the off-going was the dagger to the rest of the field, back nearly six lengths from the winner, as he tripped the timer in 1:49.3. JK Endofanera (Brett Miller) knifed through horses for second, nosing out Mach It So.

With the victory, driver David Miller set a Breeders Crown record with five wins in one night and trainer Jimmy Takters six wins for a trainer is also the most on a single Breeders Crown card.

For him to go that kind of mile, on a night like tonight, stated Miller after the win. If you only knew what hes overcome this year and last. These are nights Ill never forget, theyre the ones you dream about.

Takter has won many stakes and enjoyed some tremendous success in harness racing, but he still considered this day the biggest of his career.

I have to thank all my crew and my owners, without them we wouldnt stand here. These horses are fantastic.

The story behind Always B Mikis earlier absence from the racing scene has been well documented, starting with a late scratch from the 2014 Breeders Crown, requiring two surgeries and finally returning to win the race many thought he would a year earlier.

I end up with Miki, Ive had him now for 10 months and its been a bumpy road, but Ive always liked him from the first moment I started working with him, said Takter. Standing here, it feels very, very special. Hes a unique animal and I put him up with the top horses that have ever been in this sport.

Always B Miki (Always A Virgin - Artstopper) was owned at the time by breeder Roll The Dice Stable of Wilmington, Delaware, along with Jimmys wife Christina and Bluewood Stable of New Jersey.

Previous Races:

 Woodbine Top Ten: #10

 Woodbine Top Ten: #9

 Woodbine Top Ten: #8

 Woodbine Top Ten: #7

 Woodbine Top Ten: #6

 Woodbine Top Ten: #5

 Woodbine Top Ten: #4
Eleven Year Old Girl Publishes The Baptism Song as a Picture Book for Children and Families Around the World (www.BaptismSong.com)

Contact: Dennis Buettner,410-852-6928,SEVERNA PARK, Md., April 6, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- Eleven year old Bethany Buettner, working with her father, published The Baptism Song Book from a lullaby her father wrote to be sung at children's Baptism celebrations. When his wife was pregnant with twins, Dennis penned The Baptism Song after he could not find a suitable song for their old fashioned riverside Baptism celebration. The Baptism Song Book is being translated into at least 7 languages sung and spoken by over 1 billion Christians worldwide.Budding artist, Bethany Buettner wanted some "daddy and me" time when she asked her father to show her how to design, draw and publish a book. Little did she know they would create a "first and only one-of-a-kind," children's picture book illustrated to enhance and memorialize the celebration date of Christian Baptism, Christening and Baby Dedications around the world."I like spending time with my daddy," says Bethany. "My father is a fun teacher. With his guidance, I took the song he wrote, The Baptism Song, and we found an Christian illustrator named Mentol from Malang City, East Java, Indonesia. My job was art director of the book, discussing the project with our team (Mentol, daddy and me) and making very precise sketches, photographs and directions for our Mentol. We spent 3 months of work and passed over 150 pages of notes, pictures, sketches and videos back and forth between our home and Mentol in Malang City."Dennis stated, "The Baptism Song and Book is currently being translated into Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. We have been approached by individuals and groups from around the world who want to translate it into their language. It is very exciting and humbling for us. Bethany's favorite part is that she is able to send money to Mentol to help in her life mission assisting underprivileged boys and girls in Malang City, Indonesia. Bethany says when she hears people sing The Baptism Song she 'happy cries' every time knowing that she is helping people in need on the other side of the world."We can mail a printed version of The Baptism Song for your review (US, Canada, England and Europe). The entire book, musical arrangement, song and video are available for free on our website, www.BaptismSong.com Note: We live in Maryland, USA on Washington, D.C. time. Bethany does homework from 4:00 - 4:30 PM. Dennis can be contacted anytime.
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
Epson India today announced a rejig in its top management. Mr Toshiyuki Kasai, who has been the President for the last 6 years and is due to retire shortly, announced that he will be returning to Epson Japan in April 2018. His replacement as President of Epson India has been announced asMr. Samba Moorthy, who till now was the Vice President, Sales & Marketing.

Samba Moorthy who joined Epson India in 1996 has grown through the ranks to head the company in India. With a vast body of experience in various capacities within Epson, Sambahas been instrumental in setting up and building the Point of Sale (POS) and Projector businesses for Epson and for actually creating an industry where none existed earlier in India.He is widely credited with being the driving force behind Epson Indias sales growth and its ascendency to the No. 1 position in most of the categories it operates in including inkjet printers, projectors, billing printers, dot matrix printers and robots.

According to the outgoing President, Toshiyuki Kasai, Epson India has been growing exponentially for the last many years, and has reached a turnover of approx. Rs. 1664 Cr in FY 2017. This was possible because ofour fantastic products, a strong internal team, a robust channel, a wide service network and a deeply rooted culture of customer centricity. Epson India is now poised for the leap to the next level. Samba is an inspiring leader with a clear vision and is the ideal person to lead and take Epson India forward, with an eye on the 2025 goals set by the company.
News In Brief

Malaysia's PM dissolves

parliament

Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of parliament on Friday, paving the way for a tough election where the embattled leader will face off against his old mentor and the country's most seasoned campaigner Mahathir Mohamad.

Najib, 64, burdened by a multi-billion dollar scandal linked to a state fund, is under pressure to deliver an emphatic win for his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as he struggles to appease Malaysians unhappy with rising costs and blunt the challenge from the charismatic 92-year-old Mahathir.



Puigdemont set for bail in Germany

AFP, Neumunster

Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is set to walk out of German jail Friday, after judges refused his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge and ordered him freed on bail pending a ruling on a lesser corruption charge.

"See you tomorrow. Thank you very much to everybody!" read a tweet posted in Puigdemont's name late Thursday.



China bans on online Bible sales

AFP, Beijing

Bibles have been pulled from Chinese online retailers in "recent days", merchants told AFP on Friday, as Communist authorities ramp up control over religious worship.

The clamp down on "illegally published books" also comes as the Vatican and Beijing negotiate a historic agreement on the appointment of bishops in China."Bibles and books without publication numbers have all been removed in recent days," a merchant on Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao told AFP, without giving details on how authorities have enforced the ban.



Mauritius official charged with sexual assault

AP, Gold Coast

A former official of the Mauritius Commonwealth Games team has been charged with sexually assaulting an athlete.

Queensland state police on Friday confirmed the man had been charged following a complaint by a 26-year-old woman in the athletes' village last week.

The man will face Southport Magistrates Court on April 17.
US approves $1.31b artillery sale to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Crown Prince Salman and Donald Trump can be seen in this AP file photo.

AFP, Washington :

The United States on Thursday approved a contract to sell Saudi Arabia 180 self-propelled artillery systems for $1.31 billion, in the latest stage of perhaps the world's biggest arms deal.

When US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh last year he boasted that the desert kingdom would spend $110 billion on US equipment and the howitzer contract is one more step towards that goal.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is coming to the end of a three-week US tour that has been dotted with similar signs of his close ties with Trump's Washington.

Saudi Arabia has led a large-scale but so far unsuccessful Arab intervention in Yemen's civil war and has imposed a diplomatic and trade embargo on a fellow US ally in the Gulf, Qatar.

Recently, the crown prince detained Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri and tried to force him to resign.

Nevertheless, in announcing the weapons package, the US State Department described the kingdom as "a leading contributor of political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."

According to the statement, the latest deal will see Saudi Arabia buy 180 M109A5/A6 medium self-propelled howitzers and equipment to convert these into the M109A6 Paladin artillery system.

Mohammed Bin Salman, Reformist Prince Who Has Shaken Saudi Arabia

The prince is the architect of a wide-ranging plan dubbed "Vision 2030" to bring social and economic change to Saudi Arabia's economy.
Garment Accessories makers want 12pc corporate tax

Economic Reporter :

Manufacturers of garment accessories in the country urged upon the relevant authorities to lower corporate tax to 12 per cent in the budget for the fiscal year 2018-19, so that they can remain competitive to global markets.

Currently the accessory manufacturers pay a whopping 35 per cent corporate tax.

Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) will make the callin its proposal to placed National Board of Revenue (NBR) on April 4 in a pre-budget meeting.

Knitwear and woven manufacturers and exporters pay 12 per cent corporate tax while, RMG manufacturers, who are certified as green building pay 10 per cent said the BGAPMEA in the proposal.

Despite 100 per cent export oriented industry, the garment accessories and packaging manufacturers are paying 35 per cent corporate tax. It is discriminatory to the sector, the platform said.

For the sake of country's economy and exports, we earnestly urge the government to bring down the tax rate to 12 per cent for the next fiscal year, it added.

Garment accessories industries are considered as the backward linkage industry for the readymade garment sector that contributed nearly 90 per cent to country's export earnings.

As a backward linkage industry, we are contributing a lot to the overall export earnings of RMG sector. It is unfortunate that we are not getting recognition of our contribution, said BGAPMEA presidentAbdul Kader Khan.

Considering the sector contribution to employment generation and foreign currency earning, the government should offer equal policy support for us, he added.

If the government brings down the corporate tax for the backward linkage industry, the sector will be able to earn more foreign currency, said Kader.

However, the platform also called to bring down tax at source to 0.50 per cent instead of 0.70 per cent and consider it as final tax.

It also urged the government to provide cash incentives, what the other industry enjoy against its export earnings.

Besides deemed export, the garment accessories and packaging products manufacturers are exporting their products directly and if the government provides cash incentives against export, the earning will see a jump, said Kader.
JAHANGIRNAGAR UNIVERSITY: Office-bearers of Jahangirnagar University Journalists Association (JUJA) brought out a rally on the campus marking its 46th founding anniversary yesterday.
Proper industrial waste management to stop water pollution emphasized

City Desk :

Experts at a seminar underscored the need for ensuring proper management of industrial wastes to refrain all concerned from polluting waters of rivers, canals or ponds.

"The government has a plan to set up over 100 economic zones across the country in the coming years. If the waste management of industrial units of those economic zones is not properly ensured, it might lead to serious ecological imbalance," Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) Director General Engineer Md Mahfuzur Rahman told a seminar on Thursday at BWDB conference room in the city.

He called for refining of chemicals and water to be used in industries and factories to prevent environmental pollution.

Bangladesh National Committee of ICID (BANCID) organized the seminar marking the World Water Day 2018.

Water Resources Ministry Acting Secretary Kabir Bin Anwar attended the seminar as the chief guest while Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) Managing Director Engineer Taqsem A Khan spoke it as the special guest.

Professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Dr Md Abdur Matin, Bangladesh Water Partnership President Dr Khondaker Azharul Haq, Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) Director General Khondaker Khalequzzaman, Institute of Water Modelling (IWM) Executive Director Prof Dr M Monowar Hossain, Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) Executive Director Engineer Md Waji Ullah and Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) Joint Secretary Mihir Biswas addressed it, among others.
Dialysis facilities at Madaripur

Life Desk :

To spread treatment facility for the kidney patients to the different parts of the country the Kidney Awareness Monitoring and Prevention Society (KAMPS) on Friday opened a dialysis center in Madaripur.

Shipping Minister Sajahan Khan formally opened the center as chief guest at Panichattra area of Madaripur.

On the occasion KAMPS organized a seminar on kidney disease, its preventive measures and treatment at Madaripur Shilpakala Academy auditorium.

Chief Consultant of the Department of Nephrology, Labaid Specialized Hospital, Dhaka, also Chairman of KAMPS, Prof Dr M Samad presided over the inaugural ceremony, also presented a power point presentation on the kidney diseases, its reasons, symptoms and way of remedy.

While addressing, Shipping Minister said that establishing a dialysis center in Madaripur is really a great initiative by KAMPS, this will help reduce suffering of the kidney patients of Madaripur who, earlier, had to move to Faridpur or Dhaka for getting treatment of Kidney diseases and receiving dialysis care.

"We have to extend all possible cooperation to KAMPS because we have to act to get a dialysis center here because the need is our's. KAMPS provides dialysis care to the patients at a reasonable cost which is very much needed for the poor patients", Minister added.

He suggested KAMPS authority to have a provision of discount for the freedom fighter kidney patients from the spirit to honor the dedication of them in liberating the country.

Sajahan Khan urged the affluent class of people in Madaripur to extend possible cooperation to the KAMPS Kidney and Dialysis center-Madaripur voluntarily so that the center can be a well-equipped one.

Police Super (SP), Sarwar Hossain, Upazila Chairman, Pavilur Rahman Shafiq Khan, Mayor of Madaripur Municipality, Khalid Hossain Yead also addressed the function, among others.

Principal of Kumudini Womens Medical College and Hospital, and also Vice President of KAMPS, Prof Dr Abdul Halim delivered address of welcome on the occasion.

In the keynote speech, Prof Dr MA Samad said, in Bangladesh more than 2 crore of people are affected by kidney disease, the treatment cost of this is very high and even 10 percent of patients do not have the ability to afford the cost so most poor patients loss their lives without treatment whereas its possible to prevent upto 60 percent of this killer disease by raising awareness among people.

He mentioned that there have only about 100 dialysis centers in the country which is very much less in comparison to the huge number of kidney patients. More than 18000 patients get dialysis twice a week. In the private sector of dialysis center, the dialysis cost is very high. It's from Tk 3500 to Tk 5000 and is not affordable for the middle and lower income segment of people. So KAMPS has created opportunity for people to get dialysis at a reasonable cost at its centers.

Speakers opined that treatment facilities for kidney diseases, number of Nephrologists and dialysis centers are very limited in comparison to the growing number of kidney patients in the country. Moreover, most of the existing facilities is confined in the urban areas. Therefore, the suffering of rural kidney patients knows no bound.

Against this backdrop, country's leading Kidney service providing non-profit and voluntary organization, (KAMPS) has been running it's awareness raising program to prevent the killing kidney disease and providing kidney treatment at a nominal cost.

KAMPS has already been running dialysis service and kidney treatment facilities at different District cities of the country including capital city Dhaka, Tangail and Chandpur aiming to spread dialysis facility upto the remote parts of the country and as part of this initiative, KAMPS has established it's new center at Madaripur.
Demand for encashment of Bank Guarantee cannot be injuncted

High Court Division :

(Special Original Jurisdiction)

Tariq ul Hakim J

Md Faruque (M Faruque) J

Judgment

August 23rd, 2016

Akram Hossain................Petitioner in all the Writ Petitioner

Vs

Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, represented by its Chairman and others ...

............. Respondents

Bank Guarantee

The demand for encashment of Bank Guarantees cannot be injuncted by a Court unless there is clear evidence of fraud and the Bank has notice of it. ......(15)

Continental Construction Ltd. vs Sailuj jal Vidhut Nigam Ltd. a decision of the Indian High Court, 2006 (1) ARBLR 321; Volivintar Oil SA vs Chase Manhattan Bank (1984) 1 All ER 351; Nuvista Pharma Ltd. vs Chairman, National Board of Revenue 65 DLR (AD) 302 and Uttara Bank vs Macneill & Kilburn 33 DLR (AD) 298 ref.

Sk Md Morshed Advocate-For the Petitioner in all the Wirt Petitions.

Shaikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain Advocate-For the Respondent No.1.

Judgment

Tariq ul Hakim J : Rules Nisi were issued calling upon the respondents to show cause why the orders under. Memo Nos. BREB/DP/IF-29-56/2016/756, BREB/DP IF-31-61/ 2016/760, BREB/DP /IF-31-60/2016/759 and BREB/DP/IF-29-57/2016/758 all dated 28-1-2016 (Annexure-II) issued under the signature of the Respondent No.4, Director (CC) (Procurement), Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board ordering forfeiture and encashment of Bank Guarantee Nos. 159/ 2015 dated 6-10-2015, 172/2015 dated 26-10-2015, 171/2015 dated 26-10-2015 and 160/6//2015 dated 0-10-2015 submitted by the petitioner against Tender Sub-Package Nos. IF-29-56, IF-31-61, IF-31-60 and I F-29-57 respectively should not be declared to have been issued without lawful authority and are of no legal effect and why the Respondents should not be directed to refund Bank Guarantee Nos 159/2015 dated 6-10-2015, 172/2015 dated 26-10-2015, 171/2015 dated 26-10-2015 and 160/2015 dated 6-10-2015 to the petitioner and/or pass such other or further order or orders, as to this Court may seem fit and proper.

2. In all these applications under Article 102 of the Constitution it has been stated that Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board invited tenders on 8-9-2015 and 22-9-2015 under Tender Package No. IF-29 and Sub-Package No. IF-29-56, Tender Package No. IF-31 and Sub-Package No. IF-31-61, Tender Package No. IF-31 and Sub Package No. IF31-60 and Tender Package No. IF-29 and Sub-Package No. IF-29-57 respectively for supply of electrical line construction materials. The petitioner participated in the tenders, by depositing security money amounting to Taka 35,00,000 (thirty five lac) for each of the tenders in the form of Bank Guarantee No. 159/2015 dated 6-10-2015. 172/2015 dated 26-10-2015, 171/2015 dated 26-10-2015 and 160/2015 dated 6-10-2015. After evaluating the tender offers the respondents found the petitioner's offer to be the lowest and by letters under Memo Nos. BREB/DP /IF-29-56/2015/511, BREB/DP /IF-31-61/2015/508, BREB/DP /IF-31-60/2015/513 and BREB/DP / IF-29-57/2015/512 all dated 27-12-2015 issued Notifications of Awards against Sub-Package Nos. IF-29-56, IF-31-61, IF-31-60 and IF-29-57 respectively and requested the petitioner to accept the said Notifications of Awards within 7 days. The petitioner by his letter dated 3-1-2015 accepted the said Notifications of Awards and as per terms of the said Notifications of Awards he was required to submit performance guarantees of various amounts and sign a formal contract. In the meantime on 12-11-2015 the petitioner received a letter from the respondent No.4 seeking clarification about some allegations against him for defalcation of Government revenue stating that until disposal of the aforesaid matter the petitioner's offer for supply of goods under the aforesaid tenders will not be approved by the respondents. The petitioner on the same day submitted a clarification against the allegations raised against him but not having received any confirmation of acceptance of the said clarification he apprehended that he may be harassed and victimized in connection with the said Notifications of Awards relating to the aforesaid tenders. In view of the aforesaid unwarranted and unexpected situation the petitioner was no longer willing to continue with the supply of goods under the aforesaid tenders and requested the respondents to refund the tender security money. Thereafter the respondents by their letters under Memo Nos. BREB/DP /IF-29-56/2016/756, BREB/DP/IF-31-61/2016/760, BREB/DP/IF-31-60/2016/759 and BREB/DP/IF-29-57/2016/758 all dated 28-1-2016 decided to forfeit the petitioner's security money and demanded encashment of the Bank Guarantees each amounting to Taka 35,00,000 (thirty five lac) from the Issuing Bank i.e. Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited (EXIM Ltd); Motijheel Branch, Dhaka in favour of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB). Thereafter the said EXIM Ltd. requested the petitioner to deposit the requisite amount of funds against the said Bank Guarantees fortheir encashment.

3. Being aggrieved, the petitioner has come to this Court and obtained the present Rules.

4. The Rules are being contested by the Respondent No. 1 by filing Affidavits-in- Opposition stating inter alia that the Notification of Awards issued in favour of the petitioner amounted to formation of a contractual obligation which became binding upon the petitioner. Once the petitioner informed the respondents that he would not supply the materials pursuant to the said tenders and failed to sign a formal contract he was in breach of his commitment causing loss to the respondents in consequence of which they demanded encashment of the Bank Guarantees in accordance with Rule 102(4) of the Public Procurement Rules, 2008 and ITT clause No. 60.3 of the tender document. It has been further stated that in the tender documents there is a provision for settling disputes between the parties amicably and thereafter by Arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Act, 2001 and therefore the instant Writ Petitions are not maintainable. It is further staled that., the petitioner by his letters dated 13-1-2016 stated his inability to perform his contract amounting to a repudiatory breach of the contract.

(To be continued)


Journo Ahiya Bakht passes away

Staff Reporter :

Syed Ahiya Bakht, a former News Editor of Dainik Ittefaq, died at General Hospital in Singapore at 11:00am on Friday. He was 75.

The deceased left behind his wife, two sons, a daughter, many relatives, friends and well-wishers to mourn his death.

Syed Ahiya Bakht, a freedom fighter and a permanent member of the Jatiya Press Club (JPC), also worked in Dainik Sangbad and Dainik Purbadesh on various capacities.

His body is likely to arrive in Dhaka today (Saturday), according to JPC sources.

Meanwhile, President of the Jatiya Press Club Muhammad Shafiqur Rahman and General Secretary Farida Yeasmin in a condolence message expressed deep shock at the death of Syed Ahiya Bakht.

They conveyed their sympathy to the members of the bereaved family and prayed for eternal peace of the departed soul. His Namaz-e-Janaza will be held at the Jatiya Press Club at 9-30 am today (Saturday).


Hilsa still unbeatable on Pahela Baishakh menu

UNB, Dhaka :

Despite a strong campaign over the last few years against keeping hilsa on Pahela Baishakh's morning menu as an 'artificial' culture, the demand for the delicious fish among city dwellers looks still very high this year too, pushing up its prices disproportionately ahead of the Bangla New Year.

Fish traders at different city kitchen markets on Thursday and Friday said they have started witnessing a huge rush of hilsa buyers, even over a week before the Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla calendar year, leading to its soaring prices.

Customers said they are buying hilsa early for celebrating the Pahela Baishakh fearing its further price hike before the mega festival.

Taking to UNB, prominent academic and writer Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury and noted cultural personality Ramendu Majumdar said taking hilsa with soaked rice on Pahela Baishakh morning is a culture created by some urban people which has actually no relation with the nation's long tradition and heritage.

They said, an extensive campaign by the media and the government should be carried out to discourage people not to follow an artificial 'panta-ilish culture to save the national fish during its spawning season and break the syndicate which is making huge money by raising its prices on the occasion.

Some customers also admitted that they know eating hilas on Pahela Baishakh is not the traditional and original culture of Banglaees, but a whimsical trend.

"I'm buying hilsa as my daughter told me that her some friends will visit our home on Pahela Baishakh morning to take panta-ilish. I tried to convince her to arrange some other foods to entertain them, but she is adamant...," Tasmin Sultana, a housewife told UNB at Malibagh Bazar.

Fish traders at Karwanbazar, Shantinagar, Malibagh, Segunbagicha and Rampura kitchen markets said the prices of medium and big size hilsa have marked a rise by around Tk 250-400 per kg in a week due to its growing demand ahead of Pahela Baishakh.

The more Pahela Baishakh will get closer the more hilsa will be overpriced, they said.

Big size hilsas are being sold at 1,600-1,800 per kg and traders are displaying those in a limited number showing its scarcity as rich people mostly prefer those.
Stop destroying the Sundarbans

IT appears nothing can stop the government from harming the nature and the environment of the Sundarbans. Showing utter disregard to nature conservation, by now, as many as 190 industrial units within 10km of the world's largest mangrove forest have been approved by the government. Plans for setting up oil refinery, cement factories, ship building to LPG plant to even Brick Kilns all are in the list.

Most alarmingly we are witnessing how the government is deliberately violating environmental laws. Bangladesh declared the 10-kilometre periphery of the mangrove forest as the ECA (Ecologically Critical Area) in 1999 - a couple of years after the UNESCO listed it as a natural world heritage site. As per Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995 (Amended in 2010), no one is allowed to set up any factory in the ECA.

It's a big question, if the law was intended to violate it what was the need to pass it in the first place? The HC on August 24 last year directed the government not to renew environmental clearance certificate of any industry within 10-km periphery of the Sundarbans and to submit a list of the establishments already set up in the area. But its words only fell to deaf ears.

The process to pollute the Sundarbans has already begun with 154 industrial units being in operation. Despite repeated national and international concerns and protests, nothing is changing.

The government should immediately relocate all industrial units from the ecologically critical area immediately, as it's a sheer demand of people. With less than 7 per cent forest reserves left in the country, we cannot afford to helplessly watch the destruction of our only remaining major forest. The Sundarbans already has a fragile ecosystem as freshwater flow into the forest has been drastically reduced, resulting in substantial increases in siltation and salinity that are threatening the overall balance of the ecosystem.

Nature's revenge on its destruction is not sweet. We will have to take lessons from the recent environmental disasters occurring in Bangladesh.


Suspect killed in city gunfight: 2 muggers held

Staff Reporter :

An alleged robber was killed in a gunfight between his cohorts and police in the city's Wari area early Friday.

The deceased has been identified as Rakib, 22. He was a suspect in killing Daffodil University student Khandaker Abu Talha in October last year.

Police also arrested two alleged muggers-Jakir Hossain and Shahed-from the spot, said Rafiqul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Wari Police Station.

On information that a gang of robbers was taking preparation near Joy Koli

temple to commit crime, a team of police raided the area around 3:00am.

Sensing the presence of law enforcers, the robbers opened fire forcing the lawmen to fire back that triggered a gunfight between them, the police official said.

After the reported gunfight, bullet-hit body of an unidentified man was found there. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead, he said.

Later, police identified the body as Rakib who stabbed Daffodil University student Talha to death in Tikatuli on October 8 last year, the OC said.

Police came to know about Rakib from two other suspects of the murder case-Abdur Rahman alias Milon, 20, and Bellal Hossain Sabuj, 19, -- who were arrested from Wari area ten days after the killing took place, according to him.

The three were also involved with another case filed for murdering Muktar Hossain who was found dead in Wari area five days ago, the OC said.


Rohingya repatriation deal a mistake

UNB, Dhaka :

With no virtual progress over Rohingya repatriation, an international expert says the likelihood of repatriation deal implementation signed on November 23 last year is "slim to none" and the signing of such a deal was a "mistake".

"The deal, as it stands now, is inadequate and likelihood of its implementation is slim to none. Therefore, it was a mistake to sign it," Ali Riaz,

a Distinguished Professor at the Illinois State University, told UNB. Explaining his observation, Prof Riaz said any repatriation effort would eventually require a deal between the two countries.

"Therefore, the problem is not signing a deal but the details of the arrangements." He said the problems include the contents of the agreement, the process through which the deal was reached, the absence of mechanisms of implementation, and lack of involvement of international bodies. Director of Centre for Genocide Studies at Dhaka University Prof Imtiaz Ahmed said Bangladesh currently has a Rohingya population, which is far more than Bhutan's entire population. Bhutan has around 800,000 people whereas Bangladesh had to give shelter to some 1.2 million Rohingyas.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said although Bangladesh and Myanmar have been making various efforts, including the signing of a deal, to repatriate over a million Rohingyas from Bangladesh, there has been no virtual progress in this regard so far. Prof Riaz, a Bangladeshi-American political scientist and writer, said many of them had underscored the importance of these (what he mentioned above) elements even before any negotiations started, but unfortunately those voices were "ignored". There are "many ambiguities" in the deal, including the definition of the refugees and determination of their status, he said.

"The deal has been rushed into, ostensibly under external prodding, reportedly at the Chinese insistence. In the rush, the agreed deals have helped vindicate Myanmar's positions rather than accommodating Bangladesh's needs," Prof Riaz explained. From the very beginning, he has been arguing that the involvements of international entities are necessary for implementation. "Although some of the international bodies now have been brought into, they've remained outside the agreement. There's no penalty clause, no arbitration mechanism."

The government is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on April 13, a diplomatic source said. UNHCR teams, if the MoU is signed, will interview prospective returnees to determine if their decision to return to Myanmar was voluntary with support from the Bangladesh authorities. Responding to a question on involvement of third party in repatriation process, Prof Riaz said the recent involvements, which he has referred to, should have been from the beginning, particularly at the drafting stage of the deals. "It's better late than never.

But now it largely depends on how much Myanmar will allow the UNHCR to play a role. If the involvements of these organisations were a part of the deals, by now we would have seen positive movements," he said. Bangladesh and Myanmar signed the repatriation agreement on November 23, 2017. On January 16, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a document on 'Physical Arrangement' which will facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland from Bangladesh.

The 'Physical Arrangement' stipulates that the repatriation will be completed preferably within two years from the start of repatriation. "On our part, Bangladesh will continue to work in good faith with Myanmar to help find a comprehensive and durable solution to this protracted humanitarian situation," said State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam.

He said without meaningful changes on the ground, the displaced Rohingya would not regain the confidence to opt for voluntary return. "They deserve the world's sustained engagement to create a situation conducive to their voluntary, safe and dignified return to Rakhine State as soon as possible," said the State Minister for Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile, Myanmar is sending its Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Win Myat Aye soon 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.

The government will soon send the second list consisting of upto 10,000 names of Rohingyas to Myanmar as part of the repatriation process. Bangladesh has already handed over a list of 1,673 Rohingya families (8,032 individuals) to Myanmar to start the first phase of repatriation of the displaced people to their homeland in Rakhine but there is no sign of their repatriation yet.


Recruitment policy ignored again

Gulam Rabbani :

The Law Ministry has taken an initiative to appoint judges in both the divisions of Supreme Court without first formulating a detailed guideline how to select judges--- that is what will be their qualifications and how their party affiliation and other identity standard will be treated in their selection , legal experts say.

They said, Supreme Court is facing acute shortage of judges for a long and it needs to be sorted out soon. But it is also true that candidates considered on their party affiliation basis and with lower qualification sidetracking meritorious candidates are making selection highly flawed lowering the image of the country's judiciary.

The ongoing system in which the Law Ministry virtually selects judges mainly based on political consideration lacks transparency and this in turn creates controversy on acceptability of many judges.

There was no provision in the Constitution of 1972 for the appointment of the judges. On August 20 in 1978, former Presidet Ziaur Rahman brought the provision of recruiting judges by adding Article 95(2)(c) in the Constitution with a military decree.

The Article said, "A person shall not be qualified for appointment as a Judge unless he is a citizen of Bangladesh and has such qualifications

as may be prescribed by law for appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court." But this law specifying the qualifications has not been formulated in the last 40 years. Every government ignored it on their own political advantage.

On April 3 the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs urged the law ministry to formulate a policy to recruit judge in the Supreme Court in a meeting expressing dissatisfaction as to why it remained ignored so long.

After the meeting President of the committee Abdul Matin Khasru said, a policy is needed to appoint competent judge in the Supreme Court. Constitution has the direction in this regard. He said the Law Ministry claiming for long it is working on this issue but nothing is visible yet.

When contacted, Law Minister Advocate Anisul Huq declined to make any comment over the issue. But as per his recent claim to the media the ministry is working on the issue and the policy may be available at the end of this year.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain at his felicitation programme on February 4 also raised the issue drawing attention of the government for formulating the policy under Article 95(2)(c) of the Constitution. It is inevitable under the present context, he said.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on March 29 in 2018 also reiterated demand for formulation of the guideline for recruitment of judges of the Supreme Court.

"There is no second option than formulating a guideline for appointment of SC judges in order to ensure transparency and neutrality," SCBA President Advocate Zainul Abedin said at a press conference on that occasion.

Advocate Zainul further said, they are hearing the government is taking initiative to appoint new judges in the Supreme Court But there is no indication that such guideline is being formulated at this moment.

The Parliament and the Law Commission raised the issue on several times. Following this the government had taken an initiative in 2014 for the first time. But even in last four years the draft of the law was not finalized. Sources said, Law Ministry has already started the process of recruiting judges again without addressing the crucial issue.

Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said, "In our country, the government does not want the freedom and independence of the judiciary. They always try to control it. In the past days, successive governments appointed judges on political consideration. That is why the detailed guidelines were not formulated."

Sources said, 10 judges were appointed in the High Court Division on February 9, 2015. Then the number of the judges in the higher judiciary was 105. Among them 8 judges were in the Appellate Division and 97 judges in the High Court Division. But no judge was recruited in last three years. As a result, the Appellate Division has only 4 judges now while 80 judges are at work in the High Court Division.

Following the appointment of the new Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, new initiative has been taken to recruit 4 to 5 judges in the Appellate Division and 12 to 15 in the High Court. But absence of the guideline is going to make such recruitment open to question again on transparency ground.


Rajib`s condition unchanged

Staff Reporter :

The condition of Titumir College student Rajib Hossain, who lost his right arm being trapped between two running buses in the capital's Banglamotor on Tuesday, remained unchanged on Friday afternoon.

However, he needed no life support.

'His head injury is still worrying. There is internal bleeding in the head,' DMCH orthopedic head Dr Shamsuzzaman told The New Nation on Friday afternoon.

Doctors on Thursday said that Rajib's condition was not out of danger and could deteriorate anytime.

His injury in the right arm is curing,

said Dr Shamsuzzaman, who is heading a medical team formed to treat Rajib.

Rajib could take his foods on Friday morning. He would take foods from now, the doctor said.

Rajib, a third year bachelor student, is now undergoing treatment in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

He has lost his parents earlier and now he is the eldest member of the family. He has two younger siblings to look after, Rajib's relatives said.

'We urge the government to take him abroad for better treatment,' he said.

On Tuesday, Rajib was standing on the rear gate of a packed BRTC double-decker on his way to college when a Sajan Paribahan bus was overtaking it and in the friction, his right hand was severed from the wrist while the upper arm also sustained serious injuries exposing the bones.

He was rushed to Shamorita Hospital from where he was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Wednesday.

The drivers of the competing buses - Wahid, 35, of BRTC bus and Khorshed, 50, of Swajan Paribahan - are now in police remand since they were arrested on Thursday for interrogation over the incident.




The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

1 year ago
Richwood, TX (77531)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early with heavy thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early with heavy thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 74F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
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Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low around 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. A few showers developing late. Low around 70F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
The rally will begin at the Diamond War Memorial at 3pm on Saturday 7th April proceeding via Shipquay Street to the Guildhall Square.





Speakers at the rally are Elisha McCallion, MP Sinn Fein. Fadl Mustapha, Palestinian Refugee and activist. Eamonn McCann, People Before Profit. Paul Gallagher, Independent Councillor Derry City & Strabane District Council. The leader of SDLP - Colum Eastwood has issued a statement in support of the aims of the Great March of Return. The SDLP party conference which is happening

on the day of the rally prevents representatives from attending.









On Friday 30th March 2018, 10's of 1000's of Palestinians in Gaza gathered at the border fence for the beginning of the Great Return March home to the land and homes stolen from them and their forbears in 1948. They were met with lethal, accurate pinpoint brutality. Shoot-to-kill snipers, tanks with artillery, drones with teargas rained down upon peaceful unarmed protesters. 15 Palestinians lost their lives, murdered by Israeli Occupation Forces. 1400+ were injured, many seriously.





We call on the Irish & UK governments, the EU and the United Nations to take action against Israel's war crimes and total impunity. We demand the expulsion of Israeli diplomats from Ireland and for sanctions to be imposed. It is not enough to churn out pointless platitudes time after time while Israel continues to flout international law and conventions.





Palestinians in Gaza live under a brutal siege imposed by Israel and enforced by Egypt and the inaction of the International Community. They are exercising their legal right enshrined in UN Resolution 194 - the right of return.





Please Come Out And Show Your Support For Palestine And Anger At The Brutality Of The Israeli Occupation Forces.
With its focus centred on giving back to the community, telecommunications company Cable and Wireless (C&W) collaborated with the St Vincent Rotary Club in its Village Doctor programme.





Members of the Corporate team journeyed to the community of Barrouallie with members of the Rotary Club and a team of doctors on March 26 as they set out to provide medical service to members of that community free of charge.





Garcia Cato, Head of Corporate Sales, said that the activity was a success, with over 200 persons being attended to.





She explained that the event was an indication that the company was committed just not to contributing to initiatives such as the Village Doctor programme, but also by its employees investing time and getting involved.
Hadley Bourne, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Argyle International Airport denied that the airline Easy Sky was ordered to stop operating at the facility due to non-payment of landing fees.

Chief Executive Officer of the Argyle International Airport Hadley Bourne has denied that Honduran airline, Easy Sky was asked to cease operations at the Argyle International Airport because of non-payment.





Bourne said further that he was not aware of any plans by the airline to resume operations here.





However, while speaking at a press briefing on March 26, Bourne said that the management team at the airport had no objections to such a decision, as long as the airline adhered to the safety and security requirements.

"No one has said anything to us that they are coming, Bourne told members of the media.





He repeated the point that the airline was not stopped, this when asked whether or not the airline owed moneys to the airport for outstanding landing fees.





"At no point in time was Easy Sky stopped from landing at AIA, was Amerijet stopped from landing at AIA; this is an airport, and airplanes are supposed to land, Bourne explained.





"Anytime you hear anybody in the media say that an airport stopped an aircraft from landing, you can add the rest on to that statement, he continued.





The airline has been operating here since June 2017 bringing shoppers from Cuba here and to Guyana, but in December last year had ceased operations.





It had been reported in the local media, however, that the airline had owed moneys to the airport.

The airline also abruptly ceased operations in Guyana, but it had been reported that the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) had suspended the airline from landing in that country out of safety concerns. (DD)




It is not going to be business as usual for farmers wanting to be involved in the production of marijuana to be used in the medicinal marijuana industry.





Farmers will have to adapt to some new methodologies, including the limited use of fertilizers and other chemicals.





They were also told that they needed to learn how to produce marijuana in a controlled environment, using green houses and other methods in order that maximum extracts could be obtained.





This was the word coming from Reginald Spaulding, a Director of the Company Acres Agri  a locally registered company specializing in the development and marketing of cannabis by-products.





Spaulding was addressing the 120 farmers gathered at the Sans Souci Learning Resource Centre on Tuesday for a four-day workshop aimed at giving them the specialized tools that the medicinal marijuana industry demands.





And although the legal framework was yet to be laid in Parliament for the setting up of a medicinal marijuana industry here, it was explained that Acres Agri is one of the companies interested in conducting business here.

Once the appropriate legislation was enacted, it was important that farmers are properly trained to carry out the best practices under the expert guidance to ensure that the correct yield is obtained.





"What sense would it make to tell me that you have ten pounds of marijuana to sell, but two pounds of this are seeds? Spaulding questioned.





"You the farmers must learn about the marijuana plant, its properties, how to use the proven scientific methods, so that when someone enquires about who and where the marijuana plant was grown, how it was grown; St Vincent and the Grenadines reputation as producing quality marijuana plants for medicinal purposes will be at the top of the ladder, he said, adding that there were many opportunities within the industry.





Following todays conclusion, there will be a selection process before the company begins to embark on putting all the necessary structures and mechanisms in place to ensure that the multi million-dollar industry is properly developed.





Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar was on hand at the opening of the event earlier this week, he explained that the workshop was to explore ways to create employment within the industry.




The bid for royalty at the Junior Calypso and Soca level has centred around one family in recent years. Kristian and Kristiana Christopher are the Primary and Secondary Schools defending monarchs respectively.





Kristian will be looking for his fourth consecutive title. But Kailey Cyrus from the C. W. Prescod Primary will want to do something about that. His number is Discipline. Fidel Cyrus: Kingstown Anglican School Way day dey? is making his play, and so is Matthew John from Stubbs Government School with Welcome A. I. A. Alexio Edwards from the Gomea Methodist School is doing the song Youths wake up. Tevanjay Joseph (Sandy Bay Primary), I cant be you, is keeping the North Windward cultural flag flying. Daniela Hinson is a student of the New Prospect Primary School which has been a feature at the calypso finals. Her number is In these times.

The seventh competitor is Danique Edwards from the Greiggs Government with A.I.A. is good. Danique is into the Soca category with Sugar in Soca. Her school is represented in the Soca category with Tyrell Rodriquez doing Vincy love to party.





Defending Soca monarch MRiah Young Saiah Robertson from West St. George will be determined to retain her title.





There are eight finalists in the Soca clash. St. Vincent Grammar Schools Rashide Rocque: Soca Vybe, and Tyrique Thomas: Good life, Kevisha Richardson: Biabou Methodist; Carnival is my time, made the cut.

Delisha Brackin: Sandy Bay Secondary School is Vex. She placed third last year in the Soca section and will be keen to improve. The other contender is Teshika Thomas from Bishops College Kingstown: Cut dem off.

The Secondary School Calypso contest throws up some attention, with seven aiming at Kristiana Singing Kristy Christopher. A former Junior Soca winner, Singing Kristy failed to make this years Soca clash.

Young Saiah from West St. St. George Secondary finds herself in the calypso category and will be eyeing the double. Her calypso is Minivan lover.





Damian Bony Man Noel placed second last year behind Singing Kristy and he will want to make amends with Silence never.





His school mate Christopher Bacchus: Caribbean dream, will be looking to complete his vision at Victoria Park July 3.





The Sandy Bay Secondary School and the district, have engraved themselves as a cultural base, and there is hardly an aspect without their presence.





Dale Ann Nero was third last year in the Calypso segment and will entertain thoughts of moving up. With Delisha Nero singing Who is politricks? Sandy Bay will be hoping for the crown.

Chachanie Morgan from the Girls High School: Conflict resolution is trying to cement her name. Tyrique Thomas from St. Vincent Grammar School with War, completes the Calypso category. He is also on the Soca list.








Vincentian mas lovers can look forward to an interesting and exciting journey in artistry with the mas band, Tribes, when it hits the streets for Vincy Mas 2018.





The eight sections to be featured in its 2018 production, From Sunrise to Sunset, are Sunset, Sunrise, Moon and Stars, Heat, Dreams, Nightmare, Rain and Midnight Magic.





"We just want to show what happens between sunrise and sunset. When you sleep, you dream, and it will either be a good dream or a nightmare, and after sunset you will have moon and stars, bandleader Fernando Serieux told THE VINCENTIAN, adding that the section Midnight Magic depicts what is traditionally perceived to be associated with midnight.





The band is catering for 350 masqueraders, including contingents from St.Lucia and Martinique.

Though Tribes has never placed in the top three positions in the Band of the Year competition, Serieux is of the view that it portrays a very high standard of mas, and has assured that this standard will be maintained.

During its ten years of competitive mas, the band was most successful last year, placing sixth in the Band of the Year competition, and receiving a trophy for the most improved band.





Continuing its all-inclusive parade on the streets this year, Tribes is expected to launch the production later this month, but Serieux has indicated that information will be subsequently provided, in relation to the date and venue of the launch.





Serieux is also asking persons interested in going to St Lucia for Carnival, to be held the week after Vincy mas, to contact Tribes.




The northern emirate of Sharjah will be hosting the first platform on architecture and urbanism in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (Menasa) region, thus continuing its cultural engagement expansion in the UAE.



Founded by Sheikh Khalid Al Qasimi, chairman of the Sharjah Urban Planning Council, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial aims to stimulate a debate on regional built environment by reframing ongoing conversations from a regional perspective.



Taking place in the UAE and engaging with regional and international discourse, the first edition commences in November 2019.



The Sharjah Architecture Triennial is holding its first public programme, a panel discussion entitled "Shifting Morphology of Gulf Cities," on April 7 at Maraya Art Centre in Al Qasba, Sharjah.



This programme is organised in partnership with the College of Architecture, Art and Design at the American University of Sharjah (CAAD at AUS) and Sharjah Directorate of Town Planning and Survey (SDTPS).



This first programme represents the Triennials mission to invite critical dialogue amongst a cross-section of audiences including architectural practitioners, scholars, students, as well as government bodies and the general public.



"Shifting Morphology of Gulf Cities" explores the effects of Khaleeji populations movement to rapidly growing modern cities and away from the dense coastal settlements where their social and cultural identities were rooted.



The programme opens with a conversation between Khalid Bin Butti Al Muhairi, chairman of SDTPS, and Maysa Sabah, urban planner, housing specialist and advisor to the Affordable Housing Institute.



The panelists will be joined by speakers Bahraini architect Ali Karimi, Kuwaiti architect Hamed Bukhamseen, and associate professor in CAAD at AUS Rafael Pizarro. Varkii Pallathucheril, Professor and Dean of CAAD at AUS will moderate.



Sheikh Khalid said: "This is a crucial moment in the understanding and development of architecture and urban planning of the Menasa region. The regional urban landscape is evolving at a tremendous speed and impacting how urban dwellers interact amongst themselves."



"Sharjah Architecture Triennial will offer an accessible platform for critical reflection on the social and cultural issues that we face at both regional and international levels. Through the creative process of this exchange, we believe that we can arrive at new ways of designing cities," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Bosch has unveiled an extensive emergency call system, the eCall for short, featuring telematics solutions and services.



On March 31, eCall became mandatory in the European Union. This requirement means that a digital first responder, who automatically calls for help in an accident, will be riding along in the car, each and every time.



Connecting cars makes a great deal possible. Through the automatic eCall system, connected vehicles are now going to become lifesavers as well, said Dr Dirk Hoheisel, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch.



All new passenger vehicle models that hit the EU market after March 31, 2018, will come with eCall as standard. These vehicles will feature a standardized eCall box that automatically alerts the local emergency services via the number 112, which is the same across Europe. As a result, lifesaving assistance will be able to arrive with greater speed and precision at the scene of an accident.



The EU expects that eCall will save 2,500 lives each year and reduce the number of people who are seriously injured by 15 per cent. The first automakers are already providing their customers with the digital lifesaver as part of the navigation system without being required to do so by law. Thanks to the telematic eCall plug, even older cars can benefit from the solution.



Rapid assistance as standard



There are many things to think of in an emergency, and every second matters. However, many people fall into a state of shock following an accident. In an even more terrifying scenario, the people in a vehicle end up unconscious or trapped after an accident, unable to call for help themselves. These are precisely the situations in which the automatic eCall system springs to action as an indispensable lifesaver. It knows exactly where the accident has occurred  regardless if it happens at night on a deserted road or on the freeway  and automatically sends that information to the rescue services.



eCall places the emergency call faster than a person could and initiates the lifesaving rescue chain, Hoheisel said.



An SOS button is also installed on the vehicles dash, which the vehicles occupants can use to manually place the emergency call. In both cases, an audio connection is first established between the vehicle and the local emergency services team to communicate further details about the accident. If the driver does not respond, emergency responders go directly to the scene of the accident.



Thanks to precise information about the location based on GPS coordinates, the emergency responders even know in which direction of travel the accident occurred. As a result, the automatic eCall enables emergency responders to arrive at the scene of the accident 40 per cent faster in a city, while in rural areas, they can cut the usual response time in half.



A connectivity box that saves lives



The first automakers are already offering their customers eCall as part of a vehicles navigation or infotainment system for a number of years. In such a set-up, what is installed in the car is not a standard eCall box, but rather an additional control unit that a connected vehicle uses to communicate with the outside world.



At Bosch, this control unit is called the connectivity control unit, or CCU. It is the heart of connected mobility and the communication hub for eCall and other functions and services. The CCU registers a crash when the cars airbags or seat-belt pretensioners are triggered. It then alerts rescue services or the Bosch emergency call center within a matter of seconds.



The CCU is also connected with additional sensors in the vehicle and knows, for example, how many seat belts are in use - and therefore how many people are in the car. As a result, emergency responders not only arrive faster, but also better prepared at the scene of an accident.



eCall also speaks French



Knowing the challenge of communicating with local emergency services in a foreign country, the eCall service from Bosch speaks 16 languages fluently, among them French, Swedish, and Turkish. Unlike standard eCall, which directly notifies the local emergency services via 112, Bosch eCall first alerts Boschs own emergency call center, which is manned 24/7, 365 days a year.



For motorcycles as well



For motorcyclists, the risk of being killed in an accident is 18 times higher than for drivers. In light of this, Bosch is developing eCall not only for cars, but also for two-wheelers. A special CCU for motorcycles captures the bikes operating data, which it uses to detect accidents. Thanks to an integrated GPS module, the exact location of the accident is transmitted to the emergency services call center.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman yesterday had productive discussions with three top technology leaders in Seattle, US.

Crown Prince Mohammed, who is on an official visit to the US, met individually with Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founder of Microsoft; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

The Crown Prince had a friendly and productive discussion with Gates on a range of topics, including opportunities for future programmes and philanthropy related to global health and social development.

At the meeting with Bezos, he discussed various areas of cooperation, focused on future prospects for partnership, in light of the kingdom's Vision 2030 development goals.

He examined the importance of science and technology to Vision 2030 and areas of possible future cooperation with Microsoft during his meeting with Nadella.

Crown Prince Mohammed also met the chairman of the of Economic Club of New York Terry Lundgren and a number of its members.

During the meeting, they reviewed the economic relations between Saudi Arabia and the US. - TradeArabia News Service
This week, the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran discussed the Syrian settlement in Ankara. In the document signed after the meeting, they reaffirmed their commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.

"This position of principle is much needed today, considering the growing number of attempts to deepen ethnic and religious differences in Syrian society in order to break up the country and to preserve the conflict potential of the Middle East for years to come. We have agreed to expand the entire range of our trilateral cooperation in Syria, primarily within the framework of the Astana process, which has proved its effectiveness more than once... These three countries made a practical contribution to these efforts by establishing a working group in Astana on March 15. The group will deal with the liberation of hostages, the transfer of the dead and a search for the missing. We also agreed to consolidate our efforts on the post-conflict recovery of Syria, primarily, the construction of social and infrastructure facilities. Russian companies are already taking an active part in this. Indicatively, they have begun some projects in areas that were only recently run by militants," Vladimir Putin said following the talks.

Commenting on the results of the meeting, the director of Russian Institute of Political and Social Studies of the Black Sea-Caspian Region, a senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Viktor Nadein-Rayevsky, noted that two of the three sides of the summit - Turkey and Iran - are long-standing antagonists. "However, when the question arose of the common interests in ending the war in Syria, all three countries are interested in this, they managed to unite efforts. The Astana process proved to be the most successful move. It achieved certain results: there are de-escalation zones, a gradual withdrawal of groups. A large-scale effort is currently under way on our part to hold talks on the ground. This is a unique option, very few managed to approach it, but it produced concrete results. At this tripartite meeting, they managed to agree on the creation of a constitutional commission that should unite both the government and opposition forces in addressing the future constitution issues. Solving such problems without a legal framework will be too difficult," the expert said.

According to him, this tripartite cooperation led to the strengthening of bilateral relations - Russia and Turkey; Russia and Iran; Iran and Turkey.

Commenting on Washington's reaction to the trilateral cooperation, the Associate Professor of the Department of International Security of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University, Alexey Fenenko, said: "The US is very annoyed by the very fact of forming the Astana format. First, the NATO member country - Turkey - has started to demonstratively coordinate its relations with Russia and Iran - the countries to which the US were hostile. The Americans perceive it as an ally's withdrawal. Second, the Americans do not like the fact that the Astana format is closely linked to the SCO, since Iran has already become a partner for the SCO dialogue, and Turkey is trying to achieve the same status. Thus, an associated format for the SCO, which was created with the participation of Turkey, claims its role in the settlement of the Syrian situation. The Americans see it as a direct challenge to its interests. "

In this connection, speaking about Washington's statements on its withdrawal from Syria, Fenenko assured: "The Americans will not withdraw from Syria. If they leave, it will look like a clear defeat for President Trump, and according to the American philosophy, even a hint of defeat is unacceptable. It is not ruled out that they will take away a couple dozen planes and say: "Look at what we did for you! And what are you ready to do in response? Is Russia ready to reduce its presence?" This will put Russia in a very unpleasant negotiation format, because the Americans have a branched network of bases in the Persian Gulf, but we do not have any. But the Americans will force us to such negotiations. Besides, the Americans have a whole group of "junior partners" on which they can rely. The US can delegate some of the functions in Syria to the UK and France, and say to Russia: "We are leaving, make your own arrangements with the English and the French."
March 31 marks a century since tragic events of 1918 happened in Baku and the Baku province - the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's decree on events dedicated to this date says that at various stages of history, Armenian nationalists carried out ethnic cleansing, deportations and genocide in order to realize mythical idea of the "Great Armenia". One of the most monstrous tragedies committed against the Azerbaijani people were massacres, committed with extreme cruelty 100 years ago - in March-April of 1918 by Dashnak-Bolshevik armed units, acting under the mandate of the Baku Council.

As scientific secretary of the National Museum of History of Azerbaijan Farhad Jabbarov explained, the March 1918 genocide in Azerbaijan was carried out against Muslims and Azerbaijanis. Jabbarov quoted the statement of main initiator and organizer of the 1918 genocide, chairman of the Baku Council, Stepan Shaumyan, which he made immediately after tragic events in Baku, on April 13: "Ethnic composition of the city frightened us. Although a lot of poor and homeless Muslims suffered as a result of the civil war, the victory is so great it doesn't make reality worse."

"This was his way of admitting this crime," Jabbarov said, referring to Shaumyan's article published after the March events, in which he states that if Muslims won in Baku, they would turn this city into the capital of Azerbaijan, which couldn't be tolerated."

Based on this, historian concludes that Azerbaijanis were "guilty" only because they were striving for autonomy: "It's paradoxical because after the October 1917 events, Bolsheviks - and Stepan Shaumyan associated himself with them - didn't deny the right of nation to self-determination, and at that time the Musavat partyat approached this issue from the same positions as Bolsheviks - they wanted to create democratic, federal republic, in which Azerbaijanis would live in an autonomy. But Shaumyan didn't want to recognize even this right."

Farhad Jabbarov urged to view the events of March 1918 in the context of terror, which was unleashed in the late 19th - early 20th century by the Dashnaktsutyun nationalist party. "The first victims of the Dashnaks' terror in the South Caucasus were not Azerbaijanis or Muslims, their first victim was Russia. When the government of the Russian Empire saw that the Dashnaktsutyun party violated basic principle of statehood through its activities, religious schools were full of separatist sentiments, and the Armenian-Gregorian church became main stronghold of nationalist and separatist movement, it began to take measures to limit this separatism. In 1903, Emperor Nicholas II issued a decree on transferring property of the Armenian church under state control. Unfortunately, now we often hear that property of the Armenian church was confiscated, but this was no confiscation - it was still property of the Armenian church, but revenues from this property, from these capitals, were under control of the government. This step was taken precisely because before 1903, the church financed terrorism in the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the government of the Russian Empire had to put an end to this situation."

According to Jabbarov, "after the imperial decree of 1903 was signed, riots began in cities of the South Caucasus with mostly Armenian population. There were clashes with the police and the army, and later these riots turned into terror. Russian officials, who carried out secularization of church property, as well as police officers became victims of the Dashnaks' terror in the South Caucasus. Attempted assasination of the prince Golitsyn was a culmination of this terror. As a result of it, he was seriously wounded and could no longer carry out his duties. Then this terror affected Muslim population. There are documentary evidences that the Dashnaktsutyun party has repeatedly asked Muslim population to join its anti-government activities. However, Muslims refused. After that, accusing Azerbaijanis of being pro-government, of refusing to participate in revolutionary, radical actions, the Dashnaks started to attack not only the government of the Russian Empire, but also peaceful Muslim population."

"Now that many of the archives, including Russian ones, are available, it's no longer a secret that in 1904-1905, the Dashnaktsutyun party actively cooperated with Japanese and British intelligence services. A conference was held in Paris where the Dashnaktsutyun party participated as representative of the South Caucasus. Japan actively financed its activities so that it would carry out terrorist acts in the South Caucasus against the Russian Empire. Archival documents openly say that these acts were entrusted to the Dashnaks, since they already did it in the Ottoman Empire.

Bloody events of 1905-1906 in the Russian Empire also affected the Caucasus, where first Armenian-Muslim clashes took place. Now they are called the Armenian-Azerbaijani massacre.

In February of 1905, Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov was appointed the Governor General of the Caucasus Viceroyalty. During the rise of revolutionary movement in the Caucasus he took a number of harsh measures to suppress it. At the same time, the tsarist government gradually began to soften its policy on the Armenian issue and began to return property privileges. However, they organized a trial against the Dashnaks, but there was no complete ban on activities of this party. Although it became illegal, this party continued its activities. Since it wasn't punished, in 1917-1918 its armed units that participated in the First World War moved to Baku after the collapse of the Caucasus Front and were used by Shaumyan to massacre Azerbaijani population," Farhad Jabbarov said.

According to him, in Soviet era, those events were treated like a part of the civil war: "Special literature and textbooks presented these events as fight between Bolsheviks against the Musavat party, which wanted to separate Azerbaijan from Russia. Even if it was true, it could only happen in Baku, where this party had huge influence. But there was no civil war in Shusha, Guba, Karabakh, Zangezur, Nakhichevan. Those were basically mass killings of civilians in peaceful time. Baku and other cities weren't a part of the combat zone, and peaceful Muslim population of other cities was subjected to terror and genocide.

Documents that decribe events of 1918 can't be read without sorrow. They include absolutely impartial testimonies of both Azerbaijanis and Russians, Jews, Poles, Germans about how children, old people, women were subjected to violence. Unfortunately, this chain of events, which began with terror of 1905, continued with genocide of 1918, and continues to this day. 20th century is one of the most tragic pages in the history of Azerbaijan. In 1948 and 1953, Azerbaijanis survived mass deportation from the territory of the Armenian SSR. This deportation happened under pretext that Armenians living abroad wanted to return to their historical homeland, and it was necessary to deport aroung 100000 Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR for this. Azerbaijanis experienced the last wave of terror and violence of the 20th century during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and events in Khojaly in 1992."

Jabbarov also spoke about heroization of nationalists in modern Armenia. This topic made headlines after monument to Garegin Nzhdeh was erected in Yerevan. He's considered to be an accomplice of Nazi Germany in Russia, who hoped to restore Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union with the help of fascists: "This isn't the only example. Similar heroization of terrorists can be seen when it comes to those who participated in the events of 1905-1918, in assassination attempt of 1902, in attacks on peaceful Muslim population in Baku in 1905. Right now there's a museum dedicated to such heroes in the occupied territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. It's a frightening tendency, and it's our duty to inform everyone about these facts before the international community forgets about them, because if such events will be forgotten then they may be repeated. After forgetting 1905, we lived through 1918, after forgetting 1918, we lived through 1988 and 1992."
Earlier this week, the Russian and Turkish presidents held a one-on-one meeting and the seventh meeting of the High-Level Cooperation Council. Within the framework of the Council, during the face-to-face meeting, as well as interdepartmental meetings, they agreed that political dialogue positively affects the economic sphere. See also Russia emerges as Turkey's friend in a new world

"Compared to last year, our trade turnover has increased by 31% and exceeds $22 billion. We want trade between our countries to grow to $100 billion. We launched the construction of the foundation for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. We plan to complete the first stage of this project in 2023, we intend to invest some $20 billion in this project. Work is also proceeding on schedule on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. The number of Russian tourists coming in Turkey reached 4.7 million in 2017. This is the largest number of foreign tourists from any country. I believe the figure will increase to 6 million this year," Erdogan said after the meeting.

Commenting on the results of the summit, the Associate Professor of the Department of International Security of the Faculty of World Politics of Moscow State University, Alexey Fenenko, noted: "The meeting proved that real interests prevail over situational conflicts. The Russian-Turkish rapprochement has an absolutely objective basis. Since the Cold War's end, the interests of the US and Turkey have been drawing apart drastically. The US needed Turkey as an outpost against the USSR, but the Americans weren't willing to tolerate Turkey as an independent regional power. For the past 15 years, the US has consistently supported all regional opponents of Turkey: Bulgaria's accession to NATO, which does not hide the fact that it still has territorial claims in Turkey, the support of the Kurds ... The US demonstratively denied Turkey the right to conduct any anti-terrorist operation supporting the Syrian Kurds. US diplomacy's games with Georgia and Armenia also should be taken into account. Its intervention in internal affairs in 2016 was a perfect litmus test for President Erdogan, an indicator of real US policy towards Turkey."

According to Fenenko, after the tragic incident with the Russian plane in November 2015, Turkey had hopes that the West would support them: "I remind you how the West reacted to this. They not only refrained from assisting Turkey, but they did not even withdraw their claims neither on Cyprus, nor the "genocide" of Armenians, nor on other important points. That is, Erdogan was clearly shown that Turkey is considered as a tool to fight against Russia, but no more than that.

Meanwhile, according to Fenenko, Russia and Turkey are fated to cooperation: "We are near to each other, we have a common need to form a market. For Russia, Turkey is a free access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, otherwise Russia is sealed again in the Black Sea. For Turkey, the possibility of partnership with Russia is the market of light industry, an access to nuclear power technologies, an opportunity to become a regional gas center, as well as the possibility of counterbalancing all its unfriendly neighbors. So, in this respect, real interests prevail over situational conflicts in Russian-Turkish relations.
The Cannes film festival will open next month with Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's new film Everybody Knows.

Organizers said that the psychological thriller shot in Spanish and starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem will open the May 8-19 event.

The movie explores family intrigues and the moral dilemmas of a woman whose life is turned upside down when she returns from Argentina to her native village in Spain with her husband and children.

Iranian director Farhadi achieved worldwide critical acclaim in 2011 with A Separation, which garnered the Golden Bear at Berlin and went on to win Golden Globe, Cesar and Oscar awards for best foreign film. Farhadi later fielded two films in competition on the Croisette, The Salesman in 2016 and The Past in 2013. Everybody Knows is his first film in the prestigious opening-night slot, Variety reported.
A fire at a hospital in Istanbul on April 5 rapidly engulfed the buildings exterior cladding, but officials said it had not spread inside and there were no reports of casualties.

"The fire has been partly brought under control. In terms of casualties, there are none so far," Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin told CNN Turk, adding that 70 patients were evacuated.

"There is no fire inside the building. The fire erupted on the exterior of the building, but there is of course smoke inside," Reuters cited the governor as saying.

Fire chief Ali Karahan said that doctors in the hospitals intensive care units had continued to work through the incident, helped by fire crews. Thirty-five fire trucks and 120 firefighters attended the blaze, he said.
Carles Puigdemont, the former leader of Catalonia, under investigation over the Catalan push for independence from Spain, can be extradited on charges of corruption, but not rebellion, the German court hearing his case has ruled, RT reports.

Rebellion is not a criminal offence in Germany, the court said, and the charge of high treason was unwarranted, due to the lack of a violent aspect to Puigdemonts actions. Proceedings to decide whether to grant extradition on corruption charges may continue, however.

The court has also ruled that Puigdemont can be released on bail of 75,000, pending the final decision. While a flight risk exists, it is lessened by the unfeasibility of the rebellion charges.
Azerbaijan has become famous as an place where people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds have always lived in peace and harmony, first vice-president of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva said at the reception given in honor of the foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement.

She noted that the conference titled 'Promoting international peace and security for sustainable development' is of very symbolic significance. "Different civilizations have been here for centuries - in the intersection of Europe and Asia. Azerbaijan has become famous as an place where people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds have always lived in peace and harmony," the first vice-president of Azerbaijan stressed.

Azerbaijan has always done everything possible to promote humanism, dialogue and solidarity, she said. "One of the main principles of our policy is the provision of equal rights for all citizens, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or social status," Mehriban Aliyeva said. "This principle was defined 100 years ago - in 1918, when Azerbaijan created the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim world. It was the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. At that time Azerbaijan became the first Muslim country that granted both men and women political rights," the first vice-president recalled.

Mehriban Aliyeva also drew attention to the fact that due to the active role in the dialogue between civilizations, Azerbaijan is known as one of the centers of multiculturalism in the world. She noted that Azerbaijan holds various international events to discuss numerous serious problems. As an example, the first vice-president cited the Baku process, which this year marks 10 years. "Azerbaijan is one of the few countries that are a member of both the Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation," she recalled. The goal of the Baku process is to develop dialogue and cooperation between Islamic and Western civilizations, peoples and cultures, Mehriban Aliyeva said. "We invited the ministers of the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to meet their colleagues from the Council of Europe. For the first time in history the ministers of both organizations met in Baku," she said. In addition, the first vice-president cited the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, supported by the United Nations, UNESCO, ISESCO, the Council of Europe and many other organizations.

Mehriban Aliyeva noted with regret that Azerbaijan is still face to face with a major unresolved problem. "This is the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. As a result of Armenia's aggression, 20% of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan were occupied. One million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and IDPs. We want to settle this conflict peacefully," she stressed. "However, Armenia ignores peaceful efforts and continues its aggression. The conflict must be resolved within the framework of the principles of international law and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," the first vice-president said. "The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the Azerbaijani territories, but Armenia refuses to comply with them," she noted.

"The territorial integrity of our country is openly recognized by the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has always supported our political position at the global level. In this regard, the organization adopted several resolutions," Mehriban Aliyeva recalled and thanked for this support.

The first vice-president also noted that next year Baku will host the summit of the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. "In the next three years, Azerbaijan will chair this important organization uniting 120 member countries," she added. "All these steps, including this conference in Baku, once again confirm our successful cooperation," Mehriban Aliyeva pointed out.

"Despite the problems that we faced in the first years of independence, Azerbaijan defined its successful development strategy," she said. "Our country has implemented important political and economic reforms. Using our energy resources, we invest in the non-oil sector, human capital and infrastructure, which helps us to ensure the sustainable development of our country," the first vice-president said.

Mehriban Aliyeva recalled that Azerbaijan is a candidate-city for holding the World Expo 2025, adding that the country has been an active participant of the Expo movement since 2000. "Our national pavilions received awards in Milan 2015, in Antalya 2016 and in Astana 2017," she clarified.

The first vice-president assured that Azerbaijan is ready to host the World Expo 2025 at a high level, adding that "the country has great experience in organizing international events."

"If our candidacy wins, Azerbaijan will be the first country in the whole of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Caspian region to host the World Expo. I hope that you will support our candidacy at Expo 2025," the first vice-president of Azerbaijan said.
On April 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed eleven generals from the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Penitentiary Service, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Investigative Committee. The relevant decree was published on the website of legal information.

Putin's decree also contains new appointments. The reasons for personnel changes have not been named, Pravda reported citing RIA Novosti
Qatars emir has signed off on a law enabling women to do voluntary military service and extending the service for men for as long as one year, PressTV reports.

The official Qatar News Agency said the legislation, which was endorsed by Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Thursday, affects men and women aged between 18 and 35.

Under the law, national service for females is voluntary.

It is the first time women are allowed to take up roles in the military beyond administrative duties.

Under previous legislation, Qatari men holding a bachelors degree could complete the service in three months and those without one had to serve for four months.

The new law, however, makes the one-year-long military service for all men mandatory regardless of their level of education.
Russia is examining the possibility of settlements in national currencies for oil supplies, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday, Xinhua reports.

"There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in the settlements," TASS news agency quoted Novak as saying.

"This applies to Turkey and Iran," he added, without disclosing when such settlements could begin.
Iran's nuclear deal can still be saved, Russian Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said, noting that it's not time yet for unambiguously pessimistic conclusions about Iran's nuclear deal.

"I think that it's not time yet come for unambiguously pessimistic conclusions. The nuclear deal can still be saved," he stressed.

Ulyanov explained that Moscow proceeds from the fact that at the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference, which will be held from 23 April to 4 May, the supporters of the JCPOA "should raise their voice in support of this deal," RIA Novosti reported.
QUANG NGAI  Doosan Heavy Industries Viet Nam Co. (Doosan Vina) has shipped reverse osmosis (RO) expansion racks and high pressure piping systems  equipment essential to desalination filter systems  to the Escondida Water Supply plant in Chile.

Doosan Vina said the 379-tonne shipment, which was loaded onto a ship at Dung Quat Port in Quang Ngai Province, will be installed at the Chilean water plant which supplies 220 million litres of water to over half a million people every day.

The equipment, produced at Doosans Quang Ngai based water plant is being exported following the Escondida Water Supply project agreement signed in 2017.

Doosan Vina is the first producer of RO desalination filter systems in Viet Nam. The company also produces and exports boilers for use in power plants, desalination plants and cranes, as well as chemical processing equipment for both local and foreign markets.

The company employs 2,500 local workers and finished 2017 with an export turnover of US$200 million.  VNS
MobiFone Corporation reported a year-on-year increase of 6.3 per cent in revenue in the first quarter of the year. Photo MobiFone

HA NOI  The revenue of Vietnamese network operators has suffered an uncharacteristic low in the first quarter of this year due to new legislation reducing top-up promotions for pre-paid subscribers from 50 per cent to 20 per cent. The reduction of the promotion was put into force last month.

The countrys three biggest network operators reported their business results for the first quarter at a meeting held by the Ministry of Information and Communications on Wednesday.

The Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) said that its business plan for the first three months of the year has many changes from previous years.

The group has altered promotions for its mobile services. Whereas before subscribers could claim back 50 per cent of their top up in the first three months of the year, that number is now just 20 per cent. As a result subscribers are topping up with less enthusiasm than in previous years and VNPTs mobile revenue is consequently down from the same period last year.

According to a VNPT representative, the decrease in revenue may be due to the fact that in the month leading up to the change in policy, top-up cards were sold in large numbers so that subscribers could take advantage of the 50 per cent promotion before the new regulation on promotions took effect.

As a result, many customers may have purchased several top up cards to save for later, causing a delay in revenue, rather than a dip, a representative of VNPT said.

The groups consolidated revenues were equivalent to the same period last year, reaching 24 per cent of the years plan, while its profit increased 5.6 per cent, reaching 21.5 per cent of the plan.

Meanwhile, the military-run telecom group, Viettel, reported that it had achieved 23.4 per cent of the whole years revenue plan in the first quarter.

A representative of Viettel said that the current trend in the world of telecom is 3G and 4G data. Applications such as WhatsApp and Zalo are running off of data, the Thoi bao kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) reported.

In Viet Nam, the price of voice and SMS services is down, but the management of 3G and 4G data is not tight enough, as a result there are some data packages dumping" the market.

The Viettel representative said that operators should reduce the cost of their voice and SMS services, while increasing the cost of data packages in order to keep up with future trends.

Meanwhile, the MobiFone Corporation reported a year-on-year increase of 6.3 per cent in revenue in the first quarter of the year.

However, like other mobile operators, MobiFones voicing and texting revenues reduced. The corporations profit in the first quater reached 22 per cent of the whole years plan.  VNS
HCM CITY  Viet Nam exported 74,580 tonnes of cashew worth US$758 million in the first quarter, according to the Viet Nam Cashew Association (Vinacas).

This represented increases of 33.8 per cent in volume and 46.6 per cent in value year-on-year, with the US, China and the Netherlands being the biggest buyers.

Exports to all markets except Australia increased.

The average export price was 10.2 per cent higher from a year earlier thanks to an increase in shipments of processed items.

Speaking at a meeting to review first quarter exports, ang Hoang Giang, Vinacass vice chairman, said the result reflected the associations direction that the sector would reduce export volumes and focus on processed products.

Highly processed items fetched 20-30 per cent more than semi-processed ones, while organic cashew was $2 per pound higher than semi-processed nuts, he said.

Exports of highly processed products accounted for 5 per cent of the total, while organic cashew shipments were modest, he said.

The prospects for cashew exports in the remaining months of the year are very positive.

As usual, global cashew trade will become busy from the second quarter.

This year, the sector targets exports of 300,000 tonnes, a 17.28 per cent decline from last year, but hopes to achieve last years turnover of $3.6 billion by increasing the ratio of processed and high value-added products and by-products, he said.

Lower output

Delegates at the meeting said domestic cashew output has fallen sharply this year due to unfavourable weather and diseases since last year.

Pham Van Nguyen, a cashew expert, said: A few weeks ago, we had forecast that cashew output will reach 400,000 tonnes this year, but after conducting fact finding trips to cashew cultivation areas, we think the output will be around 300,000 tonnes.

Some cashew farms in Binh Phuoc Province have just yielded 300kg per hectare compared to more than one tonne previously.

Le Quang Luyen, the associations director of finance and president of Phuc An Processing and Trading Company, said the yield per kernel too is lower this year.

Last year, the industry had imported 1.5 million tonnes of cashew for processing for export, and this year it expects to import one million tonnes, he said.

Import prices are rather high, so cashew processors must be careful to avoid losses, he warned.

Organic cashew

There is greater demand for organic cashew for hygiene and food safety reasons, Luyen said.

I have worked with some co-operatives to produce organic cashew, hoping that from the next crop, my company can start exports of organic nuts.

The organic method offers very low yields of 600-700kg against a normal output of two tonnes, he said.

So businesses must have ways to ensure profits for farmers to encourage them to switch to organic farming.  VNS
HA NOI  The fourth Mining Viet Nam 2018, an international mining and minerals recovery exhibition and conference, will be held on April 18-20 at the International Centre for Exhibition in Ha Noi.

Mining Viet Nam is considered one of the most trustworthy exhibitions in the mining industry in the country as well as Asia-Pacific region.

Since its first edition in 2012, with 3,290 industry attendees from 26 countries, the exhibition has become a bridge to effectively connect local and foreign firms as well as bring advanced technologies and machines to the market, said BT Tee, general director of UBM VES Company, the exhibitions organiser, at a press meet in Ha Noi on Thursday.

Covering an area of more than 4,000sq.m, the exhibition is expected to attract 170 participants from 22 countries worldwide. Of this, 80 per cent are expected to be foreign companies from the UK, Czech Republic, Germany, Singapore, Russia, Australia and China. The exhibition is expected to draw over 4,500 visitors.

Many leading firms and suppliers, such as Fong Chuan Machinery, Germanbelt, Hamakyu, Mine Arc Systems, Vinza and Weir Minerals, will participate in the event. The Viet Nam National Coal and Minerals Group (Vinacomin), the countrys largest producer in the mining industry, will also join the exhibition, which has received the support of ministries, local industry associations and trade promotion boards.

Despite the mining industry in the world going through a difficult time, Mining Viet Nam 2018 will include more group and country pavilions as well as technology displays. This shows the optimism of the mining industry in Viet Nam, thanks to policies encouraging mineral exports and increasing local demand, Tee said.

The event will also organise special conferences for improving mineral capacity and safety standards in the mining industry.  VNS
HA NOI  The EuropeViet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is expected to create momentum for the domestic textile industry to develop in the future, experts said.

The signing of the EVFTA is in the final stages and, with the goodwill of the two sides, the agreement is expected to be finalised this year, according to Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue.

When the EVFTA is signed, the export tariff to the EU will reduce to zero from the current high rates of 7-17 per cent, said Vu uc Giang, chairman of the Textile and Apparel Association. Therefore, the growth rate of garment exports from Viet Nam to the EU market is predicted to reach 7-8 per cent per year.

In 2017, Viet Nams textile and garment export turnover reached US$31.16 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.23 per cent, Giang said, including $3.79 billion from the EU, a year-on-year surge of 6.3 per cent.

The target of $35 billion for 2018s exports is feasible as a result of the major role played by the free trade agreements in the development of garment exports.

In addition, an optimistic EU economic outlook is also a positive signal for the development of the local textile and apparel industry.

Therefore, the EU - the second largest import market of the textile and garment sector, after the United States - is expected to help the local textile and garment industry grow strongly this year, he said.

Viet Dragon Securities Joint Stock Company (VDSC) commented that in the case of stability in the global economy, especially in the EU, the difficulty associated with having orders similar to 2016 would not be repeated, reported ndh.vn online newspaper.

VDSC said companies that will likely have high turnover in garment exports to the EU market are Saigon Garment Manufacturing Joint Stock Company, TNG Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company, Garment 10 Corporation and Viet Tien Garment Joint Stock Company, with high growth in export orders compared with other firms.

Vo Van Kien Nhan, head of the domestic sales department and deputy director of Viet Tien Garment JSCs branch in Ha Noi, said the export opportunity to the EU is significant because of the EVFTA agreement, which will help the company confirm its position in the global market. However, the company would face tough competition from foreign brands, such as Zara and H&M, and must share the local market with other domestic firms.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of the WTO Integration Centre under the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it is not easy to make use of opportunities offered by the EVFTA because the local garment industry must deal with many technical barriers for its products exported to the EU, including standards of production, packaging and labeling.

Local businesses can overcome tariff barriers, but it is unlikely to overcome technical barriers without extensive preparations because the EU is well known for being a fastidious market, Trang said.

In particular, local exporters will face difficulties in meeting the requirements of the rules of origin. At present, most textile materials from Viet Nams textile and garment industry do not originate from EU member countries, so they cannot take advantage of the preferential tariffs.

She said the greatest challenge for the domestic textile and garment industry in the coming period is the development of domestic materials. This is also an opportunity to attract foreign investors to take full advantage of the EVFTA.  VNS
HA NOI  The countrys shrimp export business could be in for a tough year, due to sharp rise in global supply and a drop in market price.

According to Truong inh Hoe, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), despite growing concerns regarding misuse of antibiotics, lack of traceable origin and reported cases of infection, domestic shrimp producers are doing well.

The associations forecast for 2018 states that shrimp exports will increase by about 10 per cent from 2017, reaching US$4.2 billion in revenue by the end of the year.

But Hoe warned that due to increasing international supply and stored surplus, the global price for shrimp may not meet producers expectations in 2018.

He said shrimp farmers from Viet Nam , China , Thailand , Indonesia , Ecuador , and India will be under pressure to lower their selling price, in order to clear the years surplus.

Ho Quoc Luc, general director of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company, said that so far this year suppliers have seen a 5 per cent reduction in the market price of shrimp compared to last year due to growing supply.

He said that the Vietnamese shrimp industry is also facing other challenges, especially in the US market. There seems to be fiercer competition as countries increase trade protection and employ more advanced technology.

In early March 2018, the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the preliminary results of anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp, which measured up to 25.39 per cent, which is considered too high compared to previous disclosures.

Luc said that there was a degree of confusion between whole shrimps to unshelled shrimps, which resulted in significant bias, without which the correct tax margin would be 1.19 per cent.

According to VASEP, another obstacle for Viet Nam s shrimp producers is the US  Seafood Import Monitoring Programme (SIMP) for shrimp and abalone, set to be implemented in the next nine months, with the intention of protecting US domestic production.

This means from now on shrimp products imported into the US will have to comply with not only high anti-dumping duties but also newer and stricter regulations on record keeping.

Hoe advised local firms that from now until the SIMP is applied, they should move quickly to ensure stable quality and focus on products traceability to maintain export turnover.

Reports from VASEP showed shrimp exports have earned the country $719 million in first quarter of 2018, a 16 per cent year on year increase, mostly due to favourable weather conditions and high yield.

Coupled with high market demand, shrimp farmers have since experienced higher export value.

The Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries (VDF) 2017 statistics said the total production of shrimp weighed in at 704,868 tonnes, of which export turnover reached over $3.85 billion, up by 22.3 per cent from 2016s end.

Nonetheless, the VDFs report stated that the countrys shrimp industry has yet to become fully sustainable. Remaining problems include shortages in breeding technology, high costs of production, and chemical abuse, as well as product impurities and small production scale.

Currently, Vietnamese shrimp exports to the European market are gaining the upper hand, as its main competitor of Indian shrimp is loosing favour due to overuse of antibiotics and subsequent threats of an import ban.

Among Viet Nam s main export markets, shrimp exports to the EU have maintained an upward trend since 2017, while enjoying a preferential tariff from the EU, as opposed to exports to this market from Thailand and China .
HA NOI  A large amount of garbage was taken out of a drainage canal in Ha Noi after pollution was reported by the media.

The canal, located on Mac Thai To Street in Cau Giay District, caught public attention last week for being filled with garbage and smelling foul.

The canal had a dark, murky colour, with its surface covered by floating garbage. Zing online newspaper dubbed it a huge garbage river.

Located in front of the Yen Hoa Elementary School and Yen Hoa Kindergarten, the foul smell reportedly disturbed pupils and residents in adjacent areas.

After it hit the headlines, last Friday the Peoples Committee of Yen Hoa Ward deployed sanitation workers and an excavator to clean the canal.

Garbage collectors from the Ha Noi Sewerage and Drainage Limited Company (HSDC) were also seen fishing garbage out of the canal yesterday.

However, these seem temporary efforts as the canal is not managed by any of these agencies. It is unclear which agency will be responsible for cleaning the canal if it becomes polluted again.

The canal has been under the management of the Cau Giay Districts project management board since it was constructed in 2012, said o Ngoc Anh, vice chairman of the Yen Hoa Peoples Committee.

A photo taken yesterday shows the condition of a drainage canal on Mac Thai To Street in Ha Noi has improved after its pollution was reported by the media last week.  VNS Photo Bao Hoa

The board has not handed over the construction to HSDC although it was completed a long time ago, he told An ninh tien te & Truyen thong (Monetary Security & Communications) newspaper.

Representatives from the ward and the company examined the canal together, and agreed to ask Cau Giay District to hand over the canal to the citys Peoples Committee, he added.

An official from HSDCs Drainage Maintenance Enterprise No 4 said such unclear division of responsibility applies not only to the canal, but many other water drainage constructions in the city.

We still agree to dredge and clean them, but only if someone requests it, like wards or districts authorities, she said.

As for the cause of the pollution, some residents said it was because of wastewater released from adjacent households and apartment complexes.

A garbage collector who was dredging the canal yesterday said the garbage was probably thrown into the canal by pupils from the adjacent schools and their parents. But o Thi Kim Loan, principal of the Yen Hoa Elementary School, said such behaviour had not observed around the school.

The canal was polluted by the time we moved to this area, she said. Our pupils only litter inside the school.

The canal is among several constructions that were completed in 2014 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the capital city.  VNS
NINH BINH  Numerous events will take place in the northern province of Ninh Binh from April 24-27 to mark the 1,050th anniversary of the establishment of ai Co Viet, Viet Nams first feudal state.

Hoa Lu Festival this year will be organised with more cultural activities than ever to mark the day Emperor inh Tien Hoang declared the country ai Co Viet in 968.

The capital of ai Co Viet is located in Hoa Lu, now part of Ninh Binh Province .

The events will provide people with a better understanding of the role and historic values of ai Co Viet and promote the signature cultural and natural beauties of Hoa Lu ancient capital, according to Pham Quang Ngoc, vice chairman of the festival organising board.

Long ago: An art performance reflecting the resistance led by inh Tien Hoang to establish the first feudal state of ai Co Viet.  Photo courtesy of the organising board

Through the festival, we encourage people to learn more about the history and evoke patriotism and national pride, he said.

The activities will include cultural exchanges between the former Vietnamese imperial capitals and other provinces like Bac Lieu, Tuyen Quang and Ca Mau as well as Asan, a city in the Republic of Korea , and Oudomxay Province in Laos .

A workshop will also be held to discuss the role of the ai Co Viet Empire in the history of Viet Nam .

Colourful costumes: An art performance reflecting the resistance led by inh Tien Hoang to establish the first feudal state of ai Co Viet.  Photo courtesy of the organising board

This year, Ninh Binh Province will publish books on local intangible cultural heritages and the provinces socio-economic development from 2015-2018, host the beauty pageant Miss Hoa Lu and, for the first time, organise a local tourism week promoting the beauty of the Tam Coc and Trang An complexes.

On this occasion, a photo exhibition will feature the beauty of the local people and landscape, popular songs and dances and various temple festivals in the region.
HCM CITY Independent female director Cao Thuy Nhis feature film on love, Nham Mat Thay Mua He (Snow in Summer), will be released today in Hokkaido, Japan.

The film is about the love between Ha, a Vietnamese woman, and Akira, a Japanese man, who overcome the barriers of language and lifestyle.

Ha travels to Hokkaido to find her missing father, and discovers Japan and its culture through Akira.

Nhi, one of the industrys few independent film makers, said her Vietnamese and Japanese crew spent nearly two years on filming.

She received financial support for her film project from a Japanese producer.

We worked hard in casting, with dozens of experts in language, costume design and props to perfect our production technically and socially, said Nhi, a graduate of the HCM City University of Theatre and Cinematography. Our film is about human culture.

The film stars young actress Phuong Anh ao as Ha and Takafumi Akutsu as Akira.

Most scenes were shot in Hokkaido, Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.

Nhi said her film is set to release in cinemas across Japan this year.

Thien Ngan (Galaxy) Film, one of the countrys leading film distributors, will distribute Nham Mat Thay Mua He in Viet Nam on June 1.  VNS
HCM CITY  The 2nd EuroSphere - European Art of Living exhibition will open on May 18 at the White Palace Convention Center in HCM Citys Phu Nhuan District.

EuroSphere is the only premium exhibition of its kind in Viet Nam and the region.

The three-day event features 150 exclusive European brands in fashion and accessories, gourmet food and beverages, perfumery and cosmetics, interior design and automotive goods.

The highlights of EuroSphere include the presentation of the EU delegation to Viet Nam about the recently signed EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement, and a conference on fashion and the luxury headed by Donald Potard, chairman of the fashion department at the Paris College of the Art.

The organiser expects around 650 meetings between European businesses and local partners.

Organised by the EU-Vietnam Business Network, Eurosphere is expected to attract around 4,500 large importers, distributors, retailers, hospitality specialists, interior decor designers, fashion designers and policymakers.

Last year, EuroSphere included 80 European brands showcasing their collections and products, attracting 2,500 international visitors and 200 meetings between European businesses and local partners.  VNS




DUBAI  In a traditional robe, dark sunglasses and a fake moustache, the cosplayer lurked in the corner posing as an FBI agent in the Middle East: welcome to Comic Con in Dubai.

Dozens of youths turned up in their comic best for the seventh edition of the Middle East Film and Comic Con, which runs from Thursday to Saturday.

Headlining the event this year are Kristian Nairn  Hodor from Game of Thrones  alongside Ezra "The Flash" Miller and Doctor Whos Jenna Coleman.

Comic Con is expected to draw some 70,000 fans of geek culture, according to the organisers, all of whom are hoping to get a glimpse of their favourite stars.

Emirati Saad Ibrahim and his two young sons arrived at the event dressed in head-to-toe Star Wars costumes: dad as Anakin Skywalker, and his two boys as the villans Darth Vader and Kylo Ren.

"We brought the children to have a good time," he said, adding that his family attended the event every year. "Its great fun, and they get the chance to meet their superheroes."

DC Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe, the two giants of the field, both enjoy wide popularity across the Middle East, which is also home to a wide fanbase of Japanese anime.

And the market, according to industry insiders, is poised to grow.

"The Middle East is this untapped market and its huge," said Suzy Pallet of the multinational event group Informa, which is organising the Middle East Comic Con edition.

"From a historical point of view, they were brought up on anime, they were brought up on comics, and thats ... grown into this love," she said.

"Its just the same as any other region, but so much more in terms of the young population."

At the opening, Emiratis mingled with members of Dubais varied expatriate communities, from India to Britain to Nigeria.

"This is my first time here," said Sanaa, an Indian expat in a bright pink wig. "Its amazing. People get to meet and learn about more comics. Kids these days dont know anything about comic books."

Founded in 1970 as the Golden State Comic Book Convention, San Diego Comic-Con is now the main annual event in the comic world, featuring panels and workshops led by stars of film adaptions and remakes of industry staples.

Comic-Con now has spinoffs across the globe, spreading as far as ultraconservative Saudi Arabia which last year hosted its first version of the event.  AFP
MILAN  Italian fashion icons Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said on Thursday that their famed Dolce & Gabbana label would die with them.

"Once were dead, were dead. I dont want a Japanese designer to start designing Dolce & Gabbana," Gabbana, 55, said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The veteran fashionistas launched their brand in 1985 and continue to work together despite breaking up as a couple in 2004.

"When we split up, we said to ourselves that it was better to divide up everything, because if I took a blow to the head the next day he (Dolce) would have found himself dealing with someone not involved in the industry, like for example my cousin, who could ruin the business," Gabbana said.

"We have created a trust neither of us can touch."

Dolce, 59, added that the pair had refused "every offer to buy the brand".

"You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not free, what do you do? You dont go to the grave with a coffin stuffed with money," he said.

After decades building up their fashion house, which is famed for its sultry womenswear, Gabbana admits he "doesnt have time" to spend their fortune.

"Im too busy working. I dont care about becoming richer, my goal is to be successful," he said.

The two men said they still share an exceptional bond, even though they are no longer romantically linked.

"Even today, what is mine is his, and what is his is mine... our new partners know thats how it is, whether they like it or not," Dolce said.

"If a love is born when you are young -- for me it was the first experience, for him the first love story it is pure, total," he said.

The pair will head to New York for an extravaganza of haute couture events from 6-10 April.  AFP
HA NOI  At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regular press conference on April 5, spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang maintained that there are no "prisoners of conscience" in Viet Nam and that no one here is arrested for expressing their beliefs and opinions, but all illegal activities will be punished by law, just like in every other country.

Spokesperson Hangs remarks addressed the ongoing trial of the six members of the so-called Brotherhood for Democracy for their attempts at overthrowing the Government. She refuted the incorrect and unfair accusations from a number of human rights groups.

Spokesperson Hang also reiterated Vietnamese Governments consistent policies in championing human rights and freedom and said that its achievements have been recognised by international community.

Assistance for victim in Malaysia

The foreign affairs ministry has directed its agencies in Malaysia to provide assistance to the family of a Vietnamese woman who committed suicide at the Vietnamese embassy in Kuala Lampur, spokesperson Hang said.

She confirmed the incident and said that on April 2, the Vietnamese national Tran Thi Mai arrived at the embassy for visa process, accompanied by an unnamed man. While in the waiting room, Mai displayed abnormal behaviour  screaming, breaking the table and producing a knife from her bag to injure herself. Unfortunately, the embassys staff and those in the waiting room were unable to intervene in time to save her life.

The woman was immediately hospitalised but died due to serious blood loss, spokesperson Hang said.

Malaysian police have come to examine the scene, extracted camera footage from the embassy, taken testimony from witnesses and the embassys staff and announced that an investigation is underway.

The Vietnamese embassy together with the Vietnamese community in Malaysia have raised enough money to cover the expenses of the funeral and the repatriation of the deceased womans body back to her hometown, Hang said.

On questions regarding Vietnamese victims in the deadly fire that hit the Rajtevee apartment building in Bangkok on Sunday, spokesperson Hang said that there are no Vietnamese amongst the three dead victims, however, 13 injured Vietnamese students are among those who were hospitalised. Their school is taking care of their accommodations. The foreign affairs ministry has asked the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand to keep in close communication and provide necessary and timely support for the victims.

On the escalating trade tensions between China and the US and its potential ramifications, Vietnamese foreign affairs spokesperson said Viet Nam is in favour of measures that are in line with international norms and World Trade Organisation provisions that could reconcile the interests of all parties involved.  VNS
SIEM REAP  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has suggested the Mekong River Commission (MRC) prioritise fully implementing the 1995 Mekong Agreement and promoting its monitoring and co-ordinating role among MRC member countries.

Speaking at the third MRC Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia on April 5, he stressed the prime concern of the Vietnamese Government is how to respond to negative impacts caused by climate change in the Mekong Delta region, extreme weather phenomena and human activities.



He urged the MRC to focus on building a development planning framework in the Mekong River basin to harmonise with water resources planning and implement co-operation projects.



The Vietnamese leader also stressed the need to enhance the sharing of information and data related to the basin, and boost connectivity between the MRC and its dialogue partners and development partners, and cross-border river basin management organisations.



Themed Enhancing Joint Efforts and Partnerships towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong River Basin, the summit saw the attendance of the Prime Ministers of the four members of the MRC namely Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam.

It also saw the participation of the Minister of Water Resources of China and the Minister of Environment of Myanmar, the two dialogue countries of the MRC, and representatives from other development partners.



The summit reviewed collaboration within the commission and the implementation of commitments made at the second summit in Viet Nams HCM City in 2014, while identifying future priority areas.



The leaders agreed to apply the set of procedures of the commission on the sustainable, reasonable and equal use of water resources and other resources of the Mekong River.



They agreed the MRC should promote its role in orienting co-operation and setting measures to achieve the UNs sustainable development goals in the region.



It is necessary to enhance co-operation with mechanisms in and outside the region such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Mekong-Lancang co-operation, the Greater Mekong Sub-region co-operation and other international river basin management organisations, while encouraging public involvement in these efforts, the summit heard.



The delegates approved the Siem Reap Declaration which acknowledges achievements recorded by the commission, points to opportunities and challenges for the Mekong River Basin and affirms the importance of Mekong co-operation.



The document also outlines priority activities of the commission for the next four years and long-term plans.



In 1956, the Mekong Committee was established under the auspices of the United Nations to co-ordinate aid and manage resources in the river basin. In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam signed an Agreement on the Co-operation 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 took place in HCM City in 2014.  VNS
Vietnamese Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich speaks at the seventh MCIS in Moscow, Russia on April 5.  VNA/VNS Photo Duong Tri

MOSCOW  The Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) has contributed to maintaining and promoting peace, stability and security in Asia-Pacific and the world, said Vietnamese Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich.

Addressing the seventh MCIS in Moscow, Russia on April 5, General Lich talked about multilateral mechanisms in Asia-Pacific and collective actions against emerging challenges and threats.

He said the region is facing risks to its stability, with global issues, including traditional and non-traditional security challenges such as the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, territorial water sovereignty disputes, weapons of mass destruction, racial and religious conflicts, terrorism, cyber security, natural disasters, diseases and adverse impacts of the fourth industrial revolution, among others.

However, we would be optimistic about good things brought about by multi-class, multi-sector co-operation, both bilateral and multilateral, he said.

The officer highlighted the fruitful bilateral relations between Viet Nam and Russia in the region, along with co-operation mechanisms led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) like the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

Efforts made by a single country cannot address such challenges, instead connectivity and joint efforts of the entire region are needed, with the army playing the key role, he stressed.

General Lich also lauded Russias contributions to regional peace and stability, particularly within the framework of the ADMM+, calling on the country to carry forward its role in Asia-Pacific, step up friendship with ASEAN member countries, and work with the group to maintain the balance in the region, prevent conflicts and wars, and reduce the arms race.

He affirmed that Viet Nam persistently pursues a policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of international relations, and being a trustworthy partner of all countries, and a responsible member of the international community.

Viet Nam advocates handling disputes, including the East Sea dispute, by peaceful measures on the basis of international law and regional commitments, he said.

The seventh MCIS took place from April 4-5 themed Middle East outlook after eradication of ISIS in Syria. More than 850 delegates from 95 countries attended the event.  VNS
The National Assemblys Judicial Committee held a plenary session on April 5 to examine the draft revision to the Law on Amnesty.  VNA/VNS Photo Duong Giang

HA NOI  The National Assemblys Judicial Committee held a plenary session on April 5 to examine the draft revision to the Law on Amnesty.

Most NA deputies agreed with the need to amend the law, which took effect in 2008, to make it fall in line with the Constitution and other related laws and to ensure the meaning of amnesty.

According to the committee, amnesty was defined a special leniency by the State, through a presidential decision to release prisoners before the completion of their prison terms or commuting sentences entirely as rewards for good behavior, or repentance as well as to encourage them to repent, reform and become useful for society.

Over the past ten years since the adoption of the law, the State had granted amnesty to nearly 86,000 prisoners.

Deputies said the amnesty results over the past years showed the effectiveness of amnesty in encouraging prisoners to study, work and strive to reform. The rate of prisoners who received amnesty and re-offended was very low.

However, they said the law was issued in 2007 and has revealed shortcomings and no longer matched other related laws.

Chairwoman of the committee Le Thi Nga said one of shortcomings of the law was that criteria for prisoners to be granted amnesty was not tight enough so the number of prisoners getting amnesty was quite big, reducing the meaning of the policy and affecting the judgments made by judicial bodies.

Some deputies agreed that the draft revision should tighten criteria to grant amnesty to prisoners to ensure fairness and the meaning of the policy.

Most deputies also agreed with the change of the law to regulate the time to grant amnesty which will be made coinciding with special events of the country. At present, amnesty decisions can be issued on the occasion of special events or big holidays.  VNS
The Ha Noi Peoples Court on April 5 sentenced Nguyen Van ai to 15 years in jail for trying to overthrow the peoples administration under Clause 1, Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code. VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  The Ha Noi Peoples Court on April 5 sentenced Nguyen Van ai to 15 years in jail for trying to overthrow the peoples administration under Clause 1, Article 79 of the 1999 Penal Code.

ai, born in 1969 and residing in Bach Khoa Ward of Hai Ba Trung District, Ha Noi, will also be under house arrest for five years after he completes the prison term.

The other five defendants got jail terms ranging from 7-12 years for the same charge.

Pham Van Troi, born in 1972 and residing in Chuong Duong Commune of Thuong Tin District, Ha Noi, will spend seven years behind bars and one year under house arrest.

Nguyen Trung Ton, born in 1972 and residing in Quang Xuong District, central Thanh Hoa Province and Truong Minh uc, born in 1960 and residing in Vinh Thuan Town of Vinh Thuan District, Kien Giang Province, both received jail sentences of 12 years and three-years of house arrest.

Nguyen Bac Truyen, born in 1968 and residing in Ward 4 of District 4, HCM City, got 11 years imprisonment and a three years of house arrest.

Meanwhile, Le Thu Ha, born in 1982 and residing in ong Ha City, central Quang Tri Province, will serve nine years in prison and a surveillance period of two years.

According to the indictment of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy, from March 2013 to July 2017, four defendantsNguyen Van ai, Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton and Nguyen Bac Truyen  conceived, established, built the charter and operated the Brotherhood for Democracy as an organisation.

ai and his cohort managed to recruit defendants uc and Ha, along with the others, to carry out multiple activities, including establishing a representative office and a website for the organisation, issuing a manifesto, formulating internal and external affairs policies as well as guidelines to recruit new members, and organising training programmes for members.

The defendants were accused of taking advantage of the struggle for democracy and human rights under the guise of a civil society organisation to mask their true intents and purposes, cooperate with outlawed organisations inside and outside of Viet Nam, seek funding and other support from overseas hostile forces and spread anti-State propaganda, all aimed at building their strengths, waiting for an opportune moment to openly confront the Government, subverting the political system in Viet Nam and replacing it with a pluralistic multi-party system and a "co-equal three branches of government", the indictment reads.

The Supreme Peoples Procuracy determined ai, second vice chairman of the Brotherhood for Democracy, to be the mastermind and directly involved in the building of the organisations manifesto, as well as discussions to chart the directions and growth model of the organisation. ai was also the one who convinced Ha to join the organisation and personally trained and guided members on the operations of the organisation. He was the main contact to receive funding from overseas organisations and individuals, specifically US$71,726 and 9,161.31 euros, to sponsor the Brotherhoods activities and was directly in charge of spreading anti-State propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

Troi was the founder and chairman of the organisation. He was in charge of the northern regions affairs and building of the organisations manifesto, managing the budget, recruiting six members, directing them to protest against the National Assemblys parliamentary election in May 2016 and spreading anti-State propaganda.

Activities aimed at overthrowing the Peoples Government is a punishable offence under the Viet Nams Penal Code 1999.  VNS
Mueller Industries, Inc., the world leader in flow control and industrial products for over 100 years, has set its eyes on Viet Nam and the sub-Mekong region.

Mueller Industries is an American multi-billion-dollar revenue company that is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company will, for the first time, exhibit at the HVACR Vietnam 2018 exhibition, which will be held at the National Exhibition Construction Centre in Ha Noi on April 18-20.



Mueller Streamline, the preferred and specified brand of industry professionals worldwide since 1917. Now with a complete line of copper tube and fittings for plumbing, air-conditioning, refrigeration, medical gas and other applications.

Jamie Garcia, International Sales of Mueller Industries, said: The demand for HVACR products in Viet Nam and the neighbouring countries in the sub-Mekong region has been phenomenal in the last few years. We believe Mueller Industries, with a century-worth of expertise and experience, will be able to contribute to and even accelerate the growth with our finest-quality plumbing, HVAC, refrigeration, and industrial products.

We have used the HVACR online meeting system to schedule meetings with pre-qualified buyers, and our representatives are prepared for an exciting time in Ha Noi.

HVACR Vietnam is a trusted exhibition for Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, Air Filtration and Purification and Refrigeration technology and systems. Till date, there have been 11 successful editions, all in HCM City.

This is the first time the exhibition will be held in Ha Noi. HVACR Vietnam is the only focused and most established international industrial exhibition in the country. To cater to the demand of the local market, the organisers-Informa Exhibitions and VINEXAD-have decided to rotate the exhibition between the two cities, with Ha Noi hosting it on even-numbered years and HCM City on odd-numbered years.

The organisers are expecting over 2,000 pre-registered visitors as well as 250 pre-qualified buyers at the show. More than 500 business meetings will be held, and over 200 brands and companies will be represented.

Awaiting buyers and visitors at the exhibition are an extensive variety of products and technologies from local as well as international exhibitors from mainland China, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.

Mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan will have their international pavilions, while the Korea Building Energy Management System Association and the Taiwan Metal Industry Association are the two international participating associations.

One returning exhibitor is the international brand Honeywell.



HONEYWELL TF228WNM/U communicating thermostat is designed for 3-speed fan and a motorized valve control in fan coil system. Available in Modbus RTU protocol and can be easily integrated into building automation system.

Mai Trang Thanh, President of Honeywell Indochina, said: Honeywell has been exhibiting at HVACR for several years. This year, we are especially encouraged by the opportunity to showcase our Connected products and solutions that help homeowners stay in control of their comfort, security and energy use, as well as help building owners ensure their facilities are safe, energy efficient, sustainable and productive.

Honeywells goals are in line with the green building and energy efficiency aspects of this years exhibition, and we greatly look forward to connecting with the broader audience who will be attending the show.

Italian brand Climaveneta, the professional HVAC equipment manufacturer in Europe, will take part once again in the exhibition through its Shanghai factory, Climaveneta Chat Union Refrigeration Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

A company representative said: With the rapid urbanisation of the countries in the sub-Mekong area leading to the proliferation of residential buildings, shopping malls and supermarkets, as well as the demand for high-speed internet, the need for air-conditioning and refrigeration escalates. We want to be the top-of-the-mind brand for buyers, and HVACR Vietnam is the best platform for us to showcase our products and expertise.



Climavenatas latest product: Water-cooled Magnetic Levitation Variable Frequency Centrifugal Chiller

The exhibition this year will introduce green building and energy efficiency elements. Throughout the three-day exhibition, there will be a series of complimentary HVACR and Green Building seminars for all exhibitors, buyers, and visitors.

Some of the seminar topics include Green Building Development in Viet Nam: Opportunities and Challenges, by Nguyen Trung Kien, CEO of Vilandco; Designing a Building Facade with Parametric Dynamic Simulations by Pedro Marques, Manager, R&D Consulting of Boydens Engineering; and Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems for Green Buildings by Umang Sharma, CEO of Bry-Air Malaysia.

Steven Brown from the International Institute of Refrigeration will also deliver three seminars, namely Assessments of Alternative Cooling Technologies; Low-GWP Refrigerants and Models and Tools for Simulating Well-Described and Not-So-Well-Described Working Fluids, including in Vapour Compression Refrigeration Cycles and in Organic Rankine Cycle Applications.

Seats to the seminars are available on a first-come-first-served basis after on-site registration. The organisers encourage interested participants to pre-register at https://www.hvacrseries.com/vietnam . All participants will receive a certificate of attendance.

HVACR Vietnam 2018 is proud to receive support from the following organisations: Asia Air Movement and Control Association Pte Ltd, International Institute of Refrigeration, Ministry of Industry and Trade Viet Nam, Singapore Green Building Council, Vietnam Association for Building Materials, Vietnam Association of Construction Contractor, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnam Energy Efficiency Network, Vietnam Green Building Council and Vietnam Society of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

Pre-registration for the exhibition will close on April 13. The exhibition will be open from 9am to 5pm on April 18-19 and 9am to 4pm on April 20.

For more information, log on to the official website, https://www.hvacrseries.com/vietnam, or call +84 28 3910 3957.
HCM CITY  HCM City plans to launch an action-month for occupational safety and health in May as part of the citys effort to raise public awareness about the issues.

Speaking at a meeting held in the city on April 5, Nguyen Quoc Viet, a representative of the citys Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said an opening ceremony would be held on May 6 with an exhibition displaying 80 photos on Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in District 1 from May 6-15.

The department plans to create 10 videos on occupational safety, health and will strengthen labour safety and hygiene training at local businesses.

Enterprises have been asked to reduce workplace pollution and the incidence of occupational diseases. They have also been asked to undertake inspections of explosion-prevention methods at their workplaces.

Conferences and seminars on improving working conditions and healthcare for employees, especially those working in high-risk sectors, will be organised during the action month.

At the meeting, the department has guidance on a decree issued on September 20 last year on occupational accidents and disease insurance.

The department also called for donations for activities during the action month.

Last year, the city held 18 action weeks and one action month on occupational safety and health.

A report from the citys Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs said that over 1,490 work-related accidents occurred last year, which dropped by 15.35 per cent compared to 2016.

More than 100 people were killed in labour accidents in the city last year.

The report said that employers caused more than 13.6 per cent of occupational accidents, while workers were responsible for more than 42.5 per cent, and other causes, 43.9 per cent.  VNS
HCM CITY  Hospitals and medical centres in HCM City have announced that they do not have enough vaccines against rabies.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Anh Tuan, deputy director of Clinical Biosafety Clinic at the city-based Pasteur Institute, the vaccine went out of stock in the past few days.

Nguyen uc Hai, a resident of Tan Binh District, said he had to go to a third health centre to get the first rabies vaccination, which he had to take four to five times.

Nguyen Thai Tuyet Nhung, a resident of Thu uc District, also said she had to go to a second medical centre for vaccination.

The Viet Nam Vaccine Centre said on Wednesday it just had 1,000 more doses of the rabies vaccine left.

Pasteur Institute, meanwhile, said it had just imported a batch of some 1,000 vaccines.

Tuan said people should not worry as the incubation period for rabies was some three months.

A person exposed to rabies from dog bites should be monitored and can receive the vaccine a couple of days later, without serious consequences to health, he said.

Viet Nam has set a target of controlling rabies in dogs and eliminating the disease in humans by 2021.

Under the national Programme for Rabies Prevention and Control for the 2017-21 period, the number of provinces with high risk of rabies and number of people who have died of rabies will be reduced by 60 per cent compared to the average figure during 2011-15.

Rabies is a dangerous and infectious viral disease, which spreads to people from infected animals, particularly dogs. According to statistics of the World Health Organisation, 50,000 people in the world die of rabies and more than 10 million are given the rabies vaccination every year.  VNS
HA NOI  Pension and monthly allowance will be increased by 6.92 per cent from July, and more than three million people are eligible for the revised pension and allowance, according to a draft decree by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

In the proposal, people who will receive the increased pension and allowance include former public officials, civil servants, labourers, military personnel, police, and cipher workers, who are entitled to a monthly pension.

In addition, seven groups will receive the increased salary, including commune officials, persons who are receiving monthly allowances for loss of working capacity, rubber workers receiving monthly allowances, and those who are receiving monthly allowances for labour accidents or occupational diseases.

More than three million people will receive the increased salary and allowance; thus, the estimated fund will increase by more than VN9.6 trillion (US$421 million).

Earlier, at a regular press conference of the Vietnam Social Security in March, Tran Hai Nam, deputy head of the Social Insurance Department under MOLISA, said the adjustment of retirement pension level based on the Law on Social Insurance needed approval from the National Assembly Standing Committee.  VNS
HA NOI  Ha Noi Social Insurance has set a deadline of May 5 for 10 businesses in the city that owe social insurance premiums for a long time to pay up.

At a dialogue between the agency and the businesses held on April 4, Vu uc Thuat, deputy director of Ha Noi Social Insurance said the enterprises must pay on time or the agency would report the case to the police.

The total debt of these businesses amounts to VN22.4 billion (nearly US$982,000), affecting the benefits of about 390 workers.

These enterprises have owed debts ranging from VN300 million to VN6 billion between seven months and 55 months.

At the meeting, representatives of the enterprises gave reasons for the delay in paying the debts.

Most of them operate in construction and transportation so they have difficulties in getting back invested capital, according to the representatives.

Despite the fact that many hydropower projects had been completed and handed over to investors, a representative from Balkal Commercial and Technology Company said the enterprise hadnt received payment from investors.

Representatives of the 10 enterprises have committed to repay the debt as soon as possible.

Earlier in January, authorities in Ha Noi ordered the citys inspectors to inspect 80 enterprises with long overdue social insurance premiums.

Inspections were conducted in January at 40 enterprises, retrieving more than VN3.7 billion ($162,500) or 21 per cent of the total debt owed by these companies (more than VN17 billion or $746,620).

Of the 80 enterprises on the inspection list, 32 have paid off their debt amounting to some VN11.1 billion ($487,500).  VNS
QUANG NINH  The Peoples Committee of Ha Long City in the northern province of Quang Ninh is cracking down on violations in tourism services to improve their quality.

The city authority has suspended Hoang Nguyen Commerce and Tourism Joint Stock Companys operations at the trading centre in Vuon ao Market at Bai Chay Ward from Friday because the company sells goods of unknown origins to tourists.

The company was ordered to rectify its mistakes and strictly follow regulations with regard to tourism trading and services and submit a report to the local authority for approval.

The Peoples Committee of Bai Chay Ward was directed to collaborate with the inspection team to supervise the companys implementation of rules. In the meantime, Ha Long Power Company and Bai Chay Water Supply Company were asked to stop providing electricity and water to them in case they failed to comply with the authoritys request.

On Wednesday, Market Management Unit No 5 issued an administrative fine to Van Linh Chi, a jewellery trading shop, for trading goods without clear origins.

Earlier in March, 13 enterprises were fined VN19.8 million (US$867) for violations such as selling goods without a clear origin, trading of fake or smuggled goods and failing to publicise the price.

Quang Ninh Province in general and Ha Long City in particular have made great efforts in improving tourism services and ensuring a healthy tourism environment.

Vu Thi Thu Thuy, deputy chairman of Quang Ninh Provinces Peoples Committee, recently issued a document requesting the chairpersons of peoples committees of provincial cities and districts to strengthen the management and supervision of tourism service facilities in their localities.

Accordingly, violations should be strictly dealt with, including the suspension of their operations.  VNS
More than 70 per cent of the Vietnamese population has fully escaped poverty, with at least 14 million having joint the global middle class, a World Bank report found on Thursday. Photo vneconomy.vn

HA NOI  More than 70 per cent of the Vietnamese population has fully escaped poverty, with at least 14 million having joint the global middle class, a World Bank report found on Thursday.

According to the report which studied poverty reduction in Viet Nam during the 2014-16 period, the number of Vietnamese considered economically secure reached approximately 75 million in 2016. The new class of emerging consumers are defined as earning enough to cover basic daily needs, being able to save, and spending over US$5.5 a day per capita.

The number of those emerging consumers shot up by about 20 per cent in the last six years, correspondingly, the number of people living in poverty reduced by 20 per cent over the same period.

Between 2014 and 2016, a staggering three million Vietnamese people joined the global middle class.

The rapid rise of the new consumer class is set to transform lifestyle trends in Vietnamese society as citizens strive for higher living standards and better quality service. This in turn will cause a shift in the countrys economic model towards the service and consumer industries, according to the report.

Poverty reduction

The steady increase of economic growth over the last decade fundamentally helped to eliminate poverty in Viet Nam , the report said, noting that poverty declined in all demographics of the population.

The number of people living in poverty in 2016 sat at around 9.1 million. This was following an average reduction of 1.85 per cent a year between 2014 and 2016. This rate was positively higher than the Governments annual goal of 1.5 per cent reduction as outlined in its National Target Programme on Poverty Reduction for 2016-20.

Households of ethnic minorities  the most vulnerable to poverty  living in poor conditions witnessed a record decline over the last decade. Close to two million ethnic minority people climbed the economic ladder, equivalent to the number of poor people declining from 8.4 million in 2010 down to 6.6 million in 2016.

Viet Nam has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for millions, said Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Viet Nam .

The decline in poverty amongst ethnic minorities is encouraging, and more focused efforts on improving their incomes can further broaden their opportunities and reduce persistent inequalities.

The aspirations of those with less opportunity cannot be ignored.

The report did however point out a disturbing fact regarding who was being left behind in the countrys development. Some 72 per cent of people currently living in poverty are ethnic minorities, the report found - an increase from just 47 per cent eight years ago.

It may not be a mere coincidence when the northern mountainous regions and the central highlands, where most of the ethnic minorities are residing, also had more than half of the countrys total poor people.  VNS
HA NOI  An inspection team consisting of officials from the ministries of construction and public security will examine fire safety measures in high buildings in seven major localities after April 15.

This was announced at a meeting in Ha Noi on Thursday between the Ministry of Construction (MoC) and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on ensuring fire prevention in high-rise buildings.

Following numerous incidents of fire in the country in the past few months, MPS has ordered local fire prevention forces to conduct a major overhaul of fire prevention measures in high buildings (five storeys or above) nationwide before April 15, said Bui Quang Viet, deputy director of MPSs Department of Fire Prevention and Rescue (C66), at the meeting.

After April 15, the two ministries will form an interdisciplinary inspection team to cross-check fire safety measures in high buildings in seven major provinces and cities, he said.

Speaking about the 17 high buildings in Ha Noi whose structures are not in compliance with fire safety regulations but are already in use, Deputy Minister of Construction Le Quang Hung said they were very complicated cases. The inspection team will carefully examine and propose solutions for each one of them, he said.

Both Hung and Viet said they would not downgrade fire safety regulations for those 17 buildings but would provide other measures to make up for their unsafe structures.

As for new constructions, Hung said inspection authorities must conduct a thorough appraisal of their designs to make sure they complied with fire safety regulations before giving them building permits. No turning a blind eye for any of them, he said.

Speaking on fire prevention and fighting measures in the country, Hung said fire prevention forces had only been able to handle fire accidents case by case. There need to be more general measures that can be applied to different types of buildings, he said.

He ordered agencies under MoC to focus on reviewing and adjusting the current standards on fire safety for houses and constructions. MoCs Housing and Real Estate Market Management Agency will conduct studies on the legality and legal entity responsible for the occurrence of fire accidents in apartment complexes, he said.  VNS
HCM CITY  The fisheries sector needs to be restructured to develop sustainably and adapt to climate change and the countrys global integration, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong has said.

Speaking at a seminar in Nha Trang City on Thursday, he said fishing, preservation and processing all have shortcomings such as a lack of technology, resulting in low efficiency.

To ensure sustainable development, the sector should establish closed chains for catching fish up to permitted limits and increase processing and diversify products to add value, he said.

The sector should develop aquaculture using advanced techniques and adapt to climate change, he said.

He instructed the Directorate of Fisheries to review and adopt new preservation and processing technologies and instruct companies in their use.

The sector faces post-catch losses of 15  25 per cent, according to the directorate.

Most fishing boats use ice or salt or dry their catch to preserve their catch. More than 90 per cent of catches are preserved using ice.

Most boats have small wooden holds, which affect the quality of preservation.

Cuong urged local governments to restructure their fishing to suit local conditions and ensure the safety of fishermen.

They should identify fisheries products that are popular in the domestic and foreign markets to make plans for fishing and processing based on such demand, he said.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said the country may not be able to increase its catch in future but has to ensure preservation to reduce post-catch losses to about 10 per cent.

Seminar participants said the fish catches should be suitable for each region, adding that the northen gulf area and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region should focus on small open-sea fishes while the central and south-eastern regions should focus on large fishes.

The country had 109,622 fishing boats at the end of last year, according to the directorate.

In the first three months of this year they caught about 740,000 tonnes of fish, up 7 per cent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Fishermen have had bumper catches this year because of favourable weather conditions.

The country targets total catches of around 3.3 million tonnes this year and exports of US$3.3 billion worth of marine fisheries this year, mostly made up of tuna, cuttlefish and octopus.  VNS
Pilgrims to the Mekong Delta Province of Bac Lieu are recommended to make a stop at a Buddhist pagoda with an 11-metre-tall Bodhisattva statue. Photo zing.vn

MEKONG DELTA  Pilgrims to the Mekong Delta Province of Bac Lieu are recommended to make a stop at a Buddhist pagoda with an 11-metre-tall Bodhisattva statue.

Situated eight kilometers from Bac Lieu City, Quan Am Phat ai Pagoda in Nha Mat Ward has been one of the most frequented pilgrim destinations in the Mekong Delta for nearly half a century.

The statue, which looks out to sea, is referred to by local residents as Nam Hais Mother.

Built in 1975, the pagoda is home to the Mekong Deltas largest spiritual festival that takes place every year from the 22nd to 24th of the third lunar month to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Goddess.  VNS
KUALA LUMPUR  Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak chaired a cabinet meeting on Friday, official media reported, as speculation mounted he was due to dissolve parliament later in the day for a tough election battle.

Najib and other members of the cabinet arrived at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, state-run news agency Bernama reported.

He is expected to announce the dissolution of parliament later on Friday, paving the way for a general election that poses one of the sternest tests of his ruling coalition for 60 years, due to a massive financial scandal and a challenge from his one-time mentor and former leader Mahathir Mohamad.

After parliament is dissolved, the election commission will hold a meeting within days to set the date for the poll, which must take place within weeks.

The ruling coalition headed by Najib has seen its support drop in recent years, and a scandal surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB that captured global headlines has added to their unpopularity.

Billions of dollars were allegedly looted from the fund that Najib set up, in a seemingly audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering which is being investigated in several countries.

The leader and fund deny any wrongdoing.

Najib has so far weathered the 1MDB scandal by lurching sharply to the right with a crackdown that has seen numerous critics arrested, and analysts believe he is on course to win a third term.

He stoked further controversy last week by pushing a law through parliament to redraw the electoral map that critics say greatly tilts the election in favour of his ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Victory is however less certain due to the return of Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia at the head of BN for 22 years but has now joined the opposition, and enjoys much support among the countrys Muslim Malay majority.  AFP
On May 3rd, 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces lost one of its most significant leaders in a flying accident. Lt.Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews perished alongside twelve other passengers and aircrew when B-24D Liberator 41-23728 Hot Stuff slammed into Mt. Fagradalsfjall, near Grindavik, Iceland. The Liberator was going around after attempting to land for a refueling stop in inclement weather at RAF Kaldadarnes.

General Andrews had been returning to the USA to receive his fourth star, and unbeknownst to him at the time, promotion to Supreme Allied Commander Europe in charge of the upcoming invasion of Axis Europe. He and several others had hitched a ride on Hot Stuff, as he knew the pilot Capt. Robert Shine Shannon. Interestingly, Hot Stuff was the first 8th Air Force heavy bomber to fly 25 combat missions over Europe during WWII, completing this feat more than three months before the crew of the now far more famous B-17F Flying Fortress Memphis Belle. Hot Stuff successfully flew 31 missions before her crew were ordered home to tour the USA on a War Bonds Drive, but with her loss along with most of her crew, the Army Air Forces chose Memphis Belle to perform that honor. Interestingly, when Maxwell and his fellow passengers arranged to go home on Hot Stuff, they bumped five of the bombers original crew members, thus sparing their lives. Incredibly, the aircrafts tail gunner, George Eisel, survived the crash.

To honor the loss of General Andrews and the others aboard Hot Stuff, there will be a ceremony this coming May 3rd to erect a formal memorial celebrating the men near to crash site. The accident claimed the lives of the following men

Capt. Robert H. Shine Shannon  Pilot

Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews  Copilot

Capt. James E. Gott  Navigator

T/Sgt. Kenneth A. Jeffers  Radio Operator

M/Sgt. Lloyd C. Weir  Crew Chief

S/Sgt. Paul H. McQueen  Gunner

Civilian Adna W. Leonard  Methodist Bishop and Chairman of the Corps of Chaplains

Brig. Gen. Charles A. Barth  Gen. Andrews Chief of Staff

Col. Morrow Krum  Member of Gen. Andrews Staff

Col. Frank M. Miller  U.S. Army, Chief of Chaplains

Lt. Col. Fred L. Chapman  U.S. Army

Maj. Theodore C. Totman  U.S. Army

Capt. Joseph T. Johnson  Gen. Andrews aide

Such was General Andrews importance to the U.S. Army Air Forces that his name lives on at several different American military installations around the globe. The most prominent of these is what is now known as Joint Base Andrews in Clinton, Maryland, home to the Air Forces presidential aircraft fleet. Originally named Camp Springs Army Air Base, the facility first opened officially on May 2nd, 1943, the day before General Andrews death. It became Andrews Field on February 7th, 1945, honoring the fallen general, who is now sadly all-but-forgotten, much like Hot Stuff and her crew, who never got their chance to shine in the spotlight.

According to a recent press release, Andrews, an advocate for a separate United States Air Force, is considered to be one of its founding fathers. He was selected above many who outranked him to organize and command the General Headquarters Air Force (GHQ Air Force), the first centralized command of what would eventual become the U.S. Army Air Force. Todays United States Air Force is a testament to his organization and leadership skills. Gen. Andrews was the only general to command three Theaters of Operations during World War II, including the Caribbean Defense Command, U.S. Army in the Middle East Command and European Theater of Operations Command.

The memorial ceremony this coming May 3rd hopes to revive the stories of General Andrews and the crew of Hot Stuff. According to the press release, special guests participating in the monument dedication will include Icelandic government officials, members ofthe United States Embassy, Lt.Gen. Richard Clark, Commander of 3rd Air Force, and Col. John Teichert, Commander of Joint Base Andrews.

The monument dedication will include the unveiling of a privately funded monument featuring a stainless steel model of the B-24 Hot Stuff as the centerpiece sitting above a polished black granite and basalt stone monument. The unveiling of the monument will include a fly-over of USAF and Iceland Coast Guard aircraft. Following the monument dedication, a memorial service will be held at the Andrews Theater in Keflavik, Iceland.

For further information, please contact:

Jim Lux

1409 Thaddeus Cove

Austin, TX 78746

Email: hotstuff.memorial@gmail.com

H: 512-731-8024

C: 512-731-8024
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Trump Directs Troops to Secure Border

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By The Associated Press

Apr. 05, 2018 | WASHINGTON, DC

By The Associated Press Apr. 05, 2018 | 01:00 PM | WASHINGTON, DC

Asserting the situation had reached a point of crisis, President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation directing 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 working with governors of the southwest border states to develop agreements on 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.



President Donald Trump will be signing a proclamation directing the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to work together with governors to deploy the National Guard to the southwest border with Mexico. (April 4)



Trump has been frustrated by slow action on building his big, beautiful wall along the Mexican border  the signature promise of his campaign as well as a recent uptick in illegal border crossings, which had plunged during the early months of his presidency, giving Trump an accomplishment to point to when he had few.



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.



Nielsen said the effort would be similar to a 2006 operation in which President George W. Bush deployed troops to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel with non-law enforcement duties while additional border agents were hired and trained. President Barack Obama also sent about 1,200 troops in 2010 to beef up efforts against drug smuggling and illegal immigration.



Nielsen said her department had developed a list of locations where it would like assistance on things like aerial surveillance and other support, and was discussing with the governors how to facilitate the plans. She declined to say how many personnel would be needed or how much the operation would cost, but she insisted, It will be as many as is needed to fill the gaps that we have today.



One congressional aide said that lawmakers anticipate 300 to 1,200 troops will be deployed and that the cost was expected to be at least $60 million to $120 million a year. The Pentagon would probably need authorization from Congress for any funding beyond a few months, said the aide, who wasnt authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.



Under the mechanism the administration is looking to use, the Guard would not be mobilized as a federal force. Instead, governors would control the Guard within their states.



Governors of the four U.S. states bordering Mexico were largely supportive of the move. The office of California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat who has sparred with Trump on immigration issues, said any federal request would be promptly reviewed to determine how the state could best offer its assistance.



The Mexican foreign ministry said Nielsen told Mexicos top diplomat that troops deployed to the border will not carry arms or carry out migration or customs control activities.



Senators in Mexico urged President Enrique Pena Nieto to temporarily suspend cooperation with the U.S. on immigration and security issues. In a nonbinding statement approved unanimously Wednesday, the senators asked Mexicos government to freeze joint efforts in the fight against transnational organized crime until Trump starts acting with the civility and respect that the people of Mexico deserve.



Trump first revealed Tuesday that hed 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.



He spent the first months of his presidency bragging about a dramatic drop in illegal border crossings, which some DHS officials had even dubbed the Trump effect. Indeed, arrests at the border last April were at the lowest level since DHS was created in 2003, and the 2017 fiscal year saw 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. New statistics released Wednesday show about 50,000 arrests of people trying to cross the southwest border last month, a 37 percent increase from the previous month, and a 203 percent increase compared to March 2017. The monthly increase follows typical seasonal fluctuations.



Trumps new focus on hard-line immigration policies appears aimed, at least in part, in drawing a political contrast with Democrats heading into the midterm elections. He has also been under growing pressure from conservative backers who have accused him of betraying his base for not delivering on the wall, and he was set off by images played on his favorite network, Fox News, of a caravan of migrants making their way through Mexico.



In Texas, which already has about 100 National Guard members stationed on the border, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, said the presidents decision reinforces Texas longstanding commitment to secure our southern border and uphold the Rule of Law.



New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, said she appreciated the Trump administrations efforts to involve states in the effort to better secure the border. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, also a Republican, tweeted that his state welcomes the deployment of National Guard to the border. Washington has ignored this issue for too long and help is needed.


Tony Kail is an ethnographer and writer. He holds a degree in cultural anthropology and has researched magico-religious cultures for more than twenty-five years. His work has taken him from Voodoo ceremonies in New Orleans to Haitian Botanicas in Harlem and Spiritual Churches in East Africa. He has lectured at more than one hundred universities, hospitals and public safety agencies. Kail has been featured on CNN Online, the History Channel and numerous radio, television and print outlets. He is author of A Secret History of Memphis Hoodoo: Rootworkers, Conjurers and Spirituals by History Press. He will be speaking on the subject of Hoodoo and the Blues and Hate Groups and the Pagan Community at Mystic South.

As if members of African traditional religions didnt have enough to contend with in combating myths and stereotypes about traditional practices, a new threat to not only the reputation of these cultures but also to the health and safety of many women and children is developing internationally. A number of victim advocacy organizations are discovering the use of cultural elements from African traditions being appropriated by human traffickers in an effort to manipulate victims from African communities. Sex traffickers in at least five countries including Spain, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and the U.S. have been identified bastardizing elements of African magico-religious cultures to force victims into labor, domestic work and sexual exploitation. Many of their victims originate from African communities where spiritual traditions are revered and the wrath of spiritual deities often feared. In cases spanning over the last 14 years many traditional practices and beliefs have been used as a means of social control by traffickers.

In 2017 authorities discovered a boat in the Mediterranean containing numerous children and women from Nigeria. Many of the victims ranging from 14 to 18 years old had been sexually assaulted and in some cases murdered by traffickers en route to Libya and ultimately Spain. The traffickers forced their victims to take part in oaths and ceremonies where hair and fingernail clippings were taken as a form of magical collateral by the group in the event that victims tried to escape or identify their captors. Earlier this year police in Spain and Nigeria discovered an organized network of traffickers taking victims from Benin City, Nigeria where many were forced to take oaths at local religious shrines in order to bind their allegiance to the group.

In many of these cases women are recruited from communities where there are very few resources for financial and medical needs. Sex traffickers have a history of approaching vulnerable communities to obtain victims for slave labor and work in the sex industry. Factors such as poverty, disease and lack of medical assistance have made some communities vulnerable to predators. Recruiters approach these communities promising jobs and wealth to families. Once the victim is taken in a supposed debt is created when the recruiter promises to obtain a passport, visa and accommodations for the victim. Many victims spend their lives trying to pay this debt. Once victims are taken to their destination country promises of work in the fashion, hair and modeling industry are made as traffickers force victims into prostitution and labor to pay their debts.

Traffickers in some cases have employed ritual specialists to conduct oaths and ceremonies at local shrines. Ceremonies are often conducted before the victim is transported to their destination to create a spiritual bond between the victim and trafficker. Many of the rituals used to bind victims to their traffickers are appropriated from African traditional religious cultures. Several features found in these cultures include the use of sacred spaces, ritual specialists, artifacts and rituals which are exploited by traffickers. Many of these cases have involved the exploitation of elements from traditional cultures such as West African Vodou, Yoruba religious cultures and Nigerian based sorcery commonly referred to as Juju.

Religious based oaths are valuable to human traffickers. John Egwu, head of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Nigeria Immigration Service observed that because of the oaths that traffickers administer on their victims, the entire trafficking business is shrouded in so much secrecy. For fear that they might die if they violate the terms of their oaths, victims hardly cooperate with investigators and hardly show up in court to testify against traffickers. In addition to the use of oaths, traffickers use the threat of sympathetic magic against their victims. Many trafficking rituals are accompanied by the collection of various materials from the bodies and belongings of their victims in order to use this practice.

In addition to robbing cultural elements such as oaths and shrines to entrap victims psychologically, the sacred deities of some African traditional religions are also being appropriated by traffickers. Traffickers have found that appropriations of specific deities or spirits that represent divine justice are effective in instilling fear into victims used in trafficking. Yoruba deities such as Eshu, Shango and Ayelala are being invoked by traffickers to instill fear and obedience in their victims. The reverence toward Ayelala is so great in Yoruba society that she is honored in many Nigerian court proceedings. Those who are found guilty in the presence of Ayelala are believed to be stricken with ailments that swell the limbs and affect the abdomen. Defying the goddess is said to result in a painful death. Like Shango, those killed by her wrath are not to be mourned as they are considered evil doers that have been divinely punished. Victims have testified that many oaths are taken at shrines dedicated to Ayelala. The fear of this deity in many Nigerian communities provides traffickers an edge in ensuring obedience when invoking her name.

While many victims of trafficking fear the physical threats of violence from pimps and handlers, traffickers using spiritual components have an additional arsenal of threats. The power of spiritual manipulation is so great that trafficking expert Siddharth Kara from Harvard University states Juju exerts a kind of control thats so much more potent than chains or locking someone up. The road to healing for victims of trafficking is many times a long and complex process. Victims of trafficking where spiritual manipulation has occurred may have difficulty breaking free of the psychological bonds from these threats that have been placed on them. Assistance from mental health professionals and in some cases traditional healers may be necessary to assist victims. In some cases spiritual leaders in African traditional religions may be effective in aiding victims get past the culture-based fears placed on them by traffickers.

A powerful example of this just occurred when the king and spiritual leader of Benin in February 2018 revoked all curses placed against victims of trafficking that had been forced into oaths in Benin kingdom. The leader Oba Ewuare the 11th working with Nigerian anti-trafficking organizations released a cultural and spiritual based message to victims in an effort to assist them in freeing them from their bondage to spiritual entrapment. The spiritual leader also publicly proclaimed a curse against human traffickers and those ritual specialists that would assist them in their work.

This public display of ritual against traffickers had a tremendous impact in West Africa as the priest claimed he called on a sacred spirit that had not been called on in 400 years. As a result of this public form of spiritual therapy, several people came to the leaders palace to ask for forgiveness for participating in trafficking. Some members of the local community reported strange sicknesses and incidents attributed to the kings ceremony. The Vanguard reported the inhabitants of the community besieged the palace of the Oba of Benin yesterday in tears, appealing for the revocation of the alleged curse placed on the community by the palace. It would be recalled that the Esogban of Benin kingdom, Chief David Edebiri, had warned that people should avoid the curse of the Oba because according to him, those who had incurred the wrath of the Oba always come later to beg for revocation but it is always difficult.

The exploitation of African traditions by human traffickers is an insult to the rich cultural traditions that are practiced by millions around the world. The mention of the names of gods and goddesses by those who exploit, humiliate and degrade women and children is a blasphemy to those who hold them sacred and the pain inflicted on victims of trafficking should offend us all and motivate us to action.

* * *

The views and opinions expressed by our diverse panel of columnists and guest writers represent the many diverging perspectives held within the global Pagan, Heathen and polytheist communities, but do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wild Hunt Inc. or its management.

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Apr 6, 2018 | By David

We often see young people leading the way in the world of 3D printing, making the most of their natural curiosity and determination for new technologies. Weve reported before on groups of schoolchildren working to provide 3D printed prosthetics for those in need, and even a five-year old who was able to assist with the design of his own. The latest development took place in Argentina, where an 18 year-old student offered to 3D print prosthetics for free, and subsequently attracted a huge following on social media.

(source: Municipality of General Alvear)

Joaquin Vergara is a student at the Agriculture School in General Alvear, a city just south of the province of Mendoza in Argentina. He recently announced his intentions to help out amputees, primarily children and adults with missing hands. After posting a video on his Instagram and Twitter accounts where he said that he would 3D print prosthetics on free, the announcement quickly captured the imagination and gained the support of tens of thousands of people. The viral video has received over 85,000 retweets and over 55,000 likes so far.

Vergara has been working with 3D printing technology for a while now, and had already started to make a name for himself in the field back in 2016. Along with his classmate Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Burnet and teacher Silvina Marin, he travelled to Brazil as part of a science and technology innovation competition, getting an honourable mention for an impressive 3D printed robot prototype.

He first starting experimenting with 3D printing prosthetics seven months ago, putting together two trial projects that were successful. Then he had the idea to create a video to spread the word and reach out to as many people as possible with an offer for help, and the success is far beyond anything he could have imagined.

The next phase will be to start working more directly with some of the people who have asked him for help, as well as getting together the resources to realize his project. He reached out to the mayor of General Alvear for assistance with logistics, and now has access to a workshop with eleven 3D printers, where he can start to work his magic.

Vergara has had so many requests that he is now asking people to contact him directly via personal email, in order to manage expectations and communicate more effectively. Potential recipients of prosthetics need to send him a photograph that he can work from, and then he will start to put together a design. The first 3D printed prosthetic that he will be sending out for free should be finished sometime this week.

(source: losandes.com)

The 3D printed prosthetics that Vergara provides may not be the most advanced ones available, but for free they are still impressive, with fully functional joints and a customized fit. "It's something that anyone can do, it's just a matter of sitting down and trying," said the altruistic Argentinian. ''What motivates me is helping others. Give a grain of sand. There are people out there whose lives you can change.''

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Apr 6, 2018 | By David

We've reported before on the work of SHINING 3D, one of the industry leaders in the 3D scanning and printing industries. Founded in 2004, the company rapidly became Chinas first listed OTC stock company in the 3D digitizing and printing industries segment, and now has a presence in over 70 countries worldwide. Today the company celebrated the grand opening of its new American office, part of its plan for expansion into global markets. CEO Li Tao along with Oscar Meza, VP of Global Sales and Sunny Wong, Director of the EMEA & Global Sales Manager, cut the ribbon at an opening ceremony to start this new chapter on the SHINING 3D story.

The new office is located at 1740 Cesar Chavez St. Unit D. San Francisco, CA 94124. This is the companys third office, alongside the main headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) office located in Stuttgart, Germany, which opened last year. It is expected to serve as the base of operations for SHINING 3Ds operations in North America, Central and South America.

The new office for the Americas is the logical next step in SHINING 3Ds internationalization process, said Oscar Meza, SHINING 3Ds VP of Global Sales & CEO Shining 3D Technology, Inc (USA)., our new location in San Francisco puts us at the cultural, commercial and technological center of California, enabling us to draw on the professional talents and better serve both our resellers and end-users.

More than just a manufacturer, the new message that SHINING 3D is hoping to convey is that it is a comprehensive provider of cost-effective 3D digitizing and printing solutions. With its advanced technologies and services, SHINING 3D is capable of providing integrated one-stop solutions. It focuses on any or all of the main 4 tasks-scanning, designing, simulating and printing-for customers in a wide range of applications including education, healthcare, automobile, research and more.

Among various other applications and technologies, SHINING 3D specializes in the development of dental 3D solutions for digital dentistry. Consistent with its leadership in this industry, SHINING 3D introduced a new dental 3D scanner, the AutoScan-DS-EX Pro, on the opening day of the new headquarters. The newly launched scanner features a compact size, lightweight, a number of versatile functions, outstanding scan speed, integrated blue light and white light options. Its designed to meet customers demands for numerous scans and multiple expectations for various applications.

By bringing the latest in 3D technology and products to customers, SHINING 3D has its target set on future growth in the global market. It views the new office in San Francisco as a solid foundation that will bring it closer to customers and partners alike.

Posted in 3D Printer Company

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Big Sur is one of the country's most iconic road trips.

Some folks wing it, driving the 90-mile stretch of California coastline between San Simeon and Carmel and taking in the views through the car window and stopping at popular spots. But some of Big Sur's best hikes and waterfalls are easily missed when you don't veer from Highway 1. Check out these hidden attractions next time you're in the area.

Sand Dollar Beach (Photo by Aron Bosworth) Sand Dollar Beach is Big Sur's longest and widest continuous strand of beach, running nearly three-quarters of a mile. This is an ideal spot for beachcombing, lounging, tide pooling, and surfing. Pitch a tent in one of the 40 sites at Plaskett Creek Campground right across the highway from Sand Dollar Beach and be the first to hit the waves with the sunrise.

Kirk Creek Campground (Photo by Aron Bosworth) Just a few miles north from Plaskett Creek Campground you'll find Kirk Creek Campground. This is probably one of coastal California's most scenic campgrounds, making it difficult to get reservations. All the sites here and at Plaskett Creek are available for reservation six months in advance, and there are no sites held for first-come, first-served visitors.



Limekiln State Park + Campground (Photo by Denis LeBlanc) Limekiln State Park + Campground provides access to a quieter, less visited side of Big Sur. Compared to Pfeiffer Big Sur and Julia Pfeiffer Burns to the north, Limekiln's ambiance is more local and low-key. Take a walk down Limekiln Trail to escape from the heat and discover the historic limekilns tucked in the redwood forest.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (Photo by Patrick Mueller) When you picture the Big Sur iconic coastline, it's often images of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park that come to mind. Here the Santa Lucia mountains run into the Pacific Ocean, forested canyons fill gaps between exposed dry ridges, and near-shore kelp forests buffer the coves and shoreline. The park is best known for it's main attraction, 80-foot McWay Falls, but there are plenty of other gems within Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park that most folks miss. A short walk up McWay Creek from the main parking area accesses a network of trails that include the Ewoldsen, Canyon Falls, and Tan Bark Trails. These trails explore redwood-lined canyons and traverse the Santa Lucia mountainsides, offering an elevated perspective on this magnificent landscape.



Partington Cove

Partington Cove is an inconspicuous cove is situated at the north corner of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park two miles north of McWay Falls in one of the most dramatic sections of the Big Sur coastline. This trail is often overlooked when driving Highway 1, but it's certainly worth a stop. Follow a 1-mile trail along a creek and through a 60-foot tunnel to a small cove with a big view.

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (Photo by Aron Bosworth) Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park + Campground is the most centrally located camping area for exploring the area, and it's also the largest of Big Sur's campgrounds with nearly 200 sites. The park is home to diverse hiking trails, the rustic yet comfortable Big Sur Lodge, and over 3 miles of Big Sur River access, including the swimming holes of the Big Sur River Gorge. Popular trails include Valley View and Pfeiffer Falls, Buzzards Roost, and the trails at Pine Ridge, all of which feature the geography of the mountains and ridges. The Gorge Trail leads to crystal swimming holes in a narrow gorge roughly a half mile up the Big Sur River, a perfect respite for warm summer days.



Sykes Hot Springs (Photo by Brandon Katcher) Sykes Hot Springs is one of the most famous and popular hot springs in California. The 10-mile trail leading to the springs and seven official campsites is a great intro backpacking trip. A soak in the springs is a welcome reward after the trip. Unfortunately, overuse on the weekends and garbage have become an issue here, so remember to be respectful and always leave a place better than you found it. Try to plan your trip mid-week for smaller crowds, and, if you're lucky, a chance to have the area to yourself.

Pfeiffer Beach Pfeiffer Beach is one of the region's most popular beaches, drawing tourists, locals, photographers, and many a Highway 1 road-tripper to its scenic coves and famed sea arch rocks. During December and January, when the sun sets at the furthest south, sunsets can be captured through the Keyhole Rock. Arrive early if you are attempting to take shots of the keyhole, as the prime photographic real estate can go quickly.
TGIF!

Here's a handful of Bay Area stories you may have missed this week.

San Francisco's First Whole Foods 365 Slated for Approval, Socketsite



If the Amazonification of Whole Foods has got you down, you can at least take heart that 365, the pricey grocer's cheaper spin-off, is at last nearing approval to break ground at the corner of Polk and Jackson Street. Read more.





Anderson Cooper Loved This SF Pizza So Much He Had to Instagram It, SF Eater

"Best food I've had in a long time!" raved the silver fox, upon dining at the new Divisadero Street restaurant Che Fico. Read more.





China Finds California Wine Pairs Well With a Trade War, The New York Times

One of the fastest-growing markets for wine imports, the country slapped a 15 percent tariff on Cali vino this week in retaliation against the Trump administrationand it's gonna hurt (us, not Trump). Read more.





New Yosemite leader Michael Reynolds faces challenges in valley he knows well, San Francisco Chronicle

You might remember him as the guy who posted those lame inauguration pics to Twitter (holla!), but the new head of Yosemite National Park is as native to the park as it gets. "I've either not really gone far in my life, or it's full circle, and it's a pretty cool story," he says. Read more.





Saudi Prince Buys Out Entire Four Seasons Hotel For Royal Entourage, CBS Local

If you tried to get a reservation at the posh Palo Alto hotel this week and couldn't, blame it on this guythe crown prince needed all 200 rooms for his entourage. Hey, if you got it, flaunt it. Read more.
SunRice is the consumer brand and trading name of Ricegrowers Limited (NSX:RGWB), which is one of Australia's largest branded food exporters. a $1.1 billion global food business and one of Australia's leading branded food exporters. With sales, marketing and operations spanning the globe, we supply domestic markets and almost 50 countries with diverse and nutritious food products, from table rice, flour and snacks, to rice meals and companion animal and livestock products.
After two Wyandotte County juries could not reach a decision in a 2015 Kansas City, Kansas murder case, Jackson County prosecutors charged Antoine Fielder with murder.

The murder is in connection to a Dec. 26, 2017 shooting in Kansas City, Missouri in the 600 block of Spruce Avenue.

Prosecutors say Fielder shot and killed Rosemarie Harmon and injured her male friend. He is also charged with assault and armed criminal action.

"We work together regularly and mostly we want Mr. Fielder to know that we are working together," said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in a press conference Wednesday.

According to court documents, Harmon approached a dark-colored, four-door vehicle before running and hiding behind a couch. The vehicle drove away when her friend went over to check on her. But 70 seconds later, the car returned and a man stepped out firing shots at the friend.

The incident was captured on a nearby surveillance camera.

Baker said Kansas City homicide detectives were contacted by police in Kansas City, Kansas about a potential suspect the department had arrested in connection to a robbery.

KCK police recovered a 9mm handgun beneath the driver's seat of the car Fielder was driving when they arrested him for the robbery. According to the court documents, the shell casings collected at the murder matched the gun.

Court documents also reveal a woman told Kansas City police that Fielder showed her a news story "from four murders he had committed on his cellular phone."

"We are done tolerating any harm or threats that come to our witnesses, collectively in all of our cases," said Baker.

The Wyandotte County Prosecutor's Office also charged Fielder with unlawfully possessing a weapon and two counts of tampering with a witness.

District Attorney Mark Dupree said Wednesday threats of harm to witnesses could have contributed to the two hung juries in the 2015 murder case.

"I think that witnesses intimidation indeed played a role in a lot of things. Do I think I saw it as prevalent as I do now? No. Did it play a part? Yes," said Dupree.

In 2015, Kelsey Ewonus was found shot and killed inside her car in Kansas City, Kansas.

Police arrested Fielder and charged him with her murder. The case went to trial two times and both ended in a hung jury. The Wyandotte County Prosecutor's Office dismissed the case and consequently, Fielder was released from jail.

"I don't blame the Wyandotte County Prosecutor's office at all. They did a good job. When juries look at evidence and do not want to believe evidence, what are you left with?" said Kent Ewonus, Kelsey's father. "I knew he would commit more crimes and that's exactly what happened."

Dupree said refiling charges in the 2015 case is still a possibility.
David Bird, Head of Proposition Development, LifeSight, Willis Towers Watson: Todays planned increase to auto-enrolment contributions is welcome as it begins the move towards reaching a higher level of pension savings for many which will improve retirement incomes for millions of future retirees. We must also recognise that this increase is challenging for both employees and employers. Some reports estimate that the rise could take a fifth of the average employees available spend from 2019  a difficult situation for workers who are already struggling. The risk is that employees  particularly younger workers  may opt-out of workplace pension schemes altogether. This could be harmful to their retirement savings, especially given that people are, on average, working for longer. It is crucial that employers help those thinking about opting out to understand the benefits, using easily accessible, jargon-free communications. This will help raise awareness of the changes that are expected and provide guidance to ensure they continue saving sufficiently for their retirement.

Andy Tarrant, head of policy at The Peoples Pension, the second largest master trust in the UK, said: As auto-enrolment faces this pivotal moment, the pensions industry, employers and the government have a responsibility to ensure that savers understand the long-term benefit that these increases will bring.



While putting a little extra into a pension pot may feel like a financial squeeze for some people, its hugely important to remember the significant increase to their savings that will come from their employer. This change means employers are required to put in double the amount of free money towards their employees pension pots than they currently have to. Over time, this, combined with the top-up theyll get from the government, will all rack up and make a huge difference to peoples futures.


The Pensions Regulator (TPR) annual funding statement issued yesterday, coming fast after the publication of the White Paper, is continued evidence of its clearer and tougher stance. It goes beyond the realms of simply funding matters by dwelling in particular on the need for good Integrated Risk Management (IRM) for schemes of all kinds. It specifies, in more detail than hitherto, the potential requirements for actions to take when dealing with matters such as the maturing of the scheme, covenant shocks, long term and short term risks to the plan (especially where these might also impact on the employer as well). Trustees are also encouraged to consider the member perspective both in terms of the residual risk they bear and the risk from them not exiting the pension scheme as planned.



Despite the messages being set out as part of an annual funding statement, it is clear that it is not appropriate to treat the valuation as a stand-alone event to be revisited only every three years. Trustees and sponsors must look over the long term to work out the right approach for their schemes; the valuation forms part of the IRM framework that should be adopted. We believe that most schemes do have some sort of IRM framework in place but this can and should be improved in a number of ways:  A review to establish gaps in the framework and ensure that a proportionate approach is taken to the various risks

 Ensuring all parties provide the agreed information under the framework

 Ensuring that the long term objective has been considered and the rationale for the measure and timeframe has been documented

 Ensuring that the likely evolution of the scheme towards this objective has been evaluated and that the up and downside risks have been explored and there is documented evidence that the risk capacity is acceptable

 Ensuring that monitoring frameworks are not just tick-box, by advising on possible mitigation strategies and contingent actions. TPR has stated its aim to be quicker, clearer and tougher  trustees and sponsors would be well advised to have a smarter IRM framework to stay ahead of TPR as the pensions landscape continues to change markedly.


Note: Uh oh, someone hit publish at HuffPo... what happened? This is a terrific article.



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https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lets-start-honoring-people-with-autism-by-stopping_us_58dbf66ee4b0487a198a5686?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003



By A. Elizabeth Washington



World Autism Awareness Day hits me like a ton of bricks every year. As the mother of a child with autism, there isnt another day I loathe like April 2nd. Autism Speaks proudly proclaims on their website: Every year, autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness-raising events. How will you celebrate?

Awareness is one thing, but I recoil at the assumption that my son and I will be celebrating the immense suffering he has endured since autism came into our lives. Each year, I mark the day by cringing as I drive past blue porch lights and pulling my blinds closed as neighborhood kids hop off the school bus in blue shirts. I know one thing for sure: the celebratory tone of April 2nd directly contrasts the reality of day-to-day life for many with autism. It doesnt feel like a day that supports my son and those like him. It feels like a kick in the face.

A small sliver of the autism spectrum works happily in Silicon Valley, comfortable in their own skin, able to overcome their challenges and function successfully in the world. Some have genius IQs and special talents. They celebrate their abilities. I celebrate them too. Those at this end of the autism spectrum however, are not reflective of the entire autism community by any stretch of the imagination.
Assyrian Woman Raped and Sold By ISIS Reunites With Father

Rita Habib described the moment she was reunited with her father after nearly four years of Islamic State captivity as "a dream." ( Kurdistan 24) A Christian woman who was kidnapped by the Islamic State terror group in 2014, and was raped and sold as a sex slave, reunited with her father, her last surviving family member, in an emotional video captured online. The woman, Rita Habib, described her reunion with her father as a "dream," as reported by Kurdistan 24. Extremists overran their town of Qaraqosh, southeast of Mosul, three years ago, killing thousands of people and taking hundreds of women and girls. "I am very happy that after three years I reunited with my father. It is a joyous moment because he is the only family I have left," Habib said. The Christian woman was held in IS' stronghold of Mosul for several months after being kidnapped, before she was sold on the Syrian sex slave market. "I was bought and sold four times. They did evil things to us. They beat us and raped us," the woman recounted. "The worst of all was girls aged nine who were raped. Girls would be sold for 4,000 to 15,000 dollars." She said that other Christian girls were also used as sex slaves, all part of IS' genocidal campaign in the Middle East. Habib was finally rescued five months ago in Syria's Deir al-Zor province, as IS continued to lose captured territory in both Iraq and Syria throughout 2017. Now that she has reunited with her father in Erbil, the woman said that she wants to start rebuilding her former life, and help other victims forced under IS slavery. An untold number still remain in captivity, with the terror group branching out its operations and kidnappings in other countries, including Egypt. While Qaraqosh and many other Christian towns have been liberated from IS, watchdog groups have warned that they need help from Western countries if they are to rebuild what they have lost. William Hollander, who partners with persecution watchdog Open Doors to support Christians in Iraq, told The Christian Post in October 2017 that believers have had to endure many broken promises. "They celebrated last year after Qaraqosh was liberated. People were very happy. But then they found out that the majority of the homes were destroyed, or needed a lot of repairs," Hollander told CP. He noted at the time that the Christian community there has not recieved the help it needs. "We don't see anything. It's not happening," Hollander said at the time. "The big frustration for the Christians and everybody at the moment is that [they] are being betrayed by the political powers," and again are in a situation where they have to run to refugee camps. Ashur Sargon Eskrya, president of the Assyrian Aid Society branch in Iraq, has separately said that the very future of Christianity in its cradle is on the line. "Iraqi Christians (Assyrian,Chaldean) are indigenous peoples of the country, according to historical sources, and their future in Iraq depends of on international support and protection. Without protections, they will not be able to live in Iraq any more," Eskrya said last year. "It is critical time for the Christians of Iraq -- 'to be or not to be.' The Christians of Iraq are facing their biggest and greatest challenge" in post-IS Iraq, he added.
 Signs largest ROPS agreement by a low-cost carrier in South America

 NAVBLUE will equip the airlines 100 A320 Family aircraft with the Airbus Runway Overrun Protection System

 This deal confirms the success of this innovative system on the market with more than 900 aircraft equipped

Airbus subsidiary NAVBLUE will provide Chiles low-cost carrier JetSMART with the Airbus Runway Overrun Protection System (ROPS). Under the agreement, which was signed at the FIDAE air show in Santiago, Chile, NAVBLUE will equip 100 aircraft, including retrofit of three aircraft already in operation. As a result JetSMARTs entire A320 Family fleet will be equipped with ROPS by the end of 2026.

Estuardo Ortiz, CEO of JetSMART, said: As a modern airline, our strategy is to look for the best aircraft with the most up-to-date systems, and Airbus A320 Family aircraft with ROPS are clearly the best answer to our crews needs in terms of safety of operation.

Fabrice Hamel, CEO of NAVBLUE, said: We are proud that the ROPS system has been selected by JetSMART; this deal is a true vote of confidence in our overrun protection solution.

ROPS is an on-board cockpit technology which Airbus and NAVBLUE have pioneered over several years. It is an alerting system that reduces exposure to runway overrun risk, and if necessary, provides active protection. It compares remaining runway length to expected stopping distance in real time to prevent runway overrun. So far, ROPS has been installed on more than 900 single-aisle and widebody aircraft with many more awaiting delivery.

Runway excursion  meaning either an aircraft veering off the side of the runway or overrunning at the very end  remains the primary cause of civil airliner hull losses. ROPS is the only overrun prevention system certified by all leading authorities.

JetSmart is an ultra low-cost Chilean airline created by US investment fund Indigo Partners, which also controls US airline Frontier Airlines, Mexico's Volaris and Hungarian airline Wizz Air. Its primary base of operations is Comodoro Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago, Chile.
Regions Financial Corporation is selling its Regions Insurance subsidiary to BB&T Insurance Holdings, the fifth largest insurance broker in the U.S. and internationally.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. It is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Regions Chairman and CEO Grayson Hall said the sale was part of an effort to "streamline our company and focus on businesses where we can add the most value for our clients.

"This sale demonstrates our ongoing strategic planning and capital allocation process in action and aligns with our 'Simplify and Grow' strategic priority," Hall said.

Rick Ulmer, president and CEO of Regions Insurance, said the company is "committed to continuing to provide seamless and high-touch service as we join forces with BB&T Insurance Holdings over the coming months."

Regions Insurance, ranked among the top 35 U.S. insurance brokers, has more than 600 insurance professionals in 30 offices throughout the Southeast, Texas, and Indiana.

BB&T Insurance Holdings is a subsidiary of BB&T Corporation and operates more than 200 offices through several subsidiaries.

The capital generated at the time of closing is expected to be used to repurchase shares of common stock, subject to review. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Regions Securities LLC served as financial advisors, and Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C. served as legal counsel to Regions Financial on this transaction.
The high tourist season is just about in full swing at the Alabama Gulf Coast. The business landscape in Orange Beach continues to grow with the addition of new restaurants, bars and retail shops. Pleasure Island shows no signs of slowing with the start of the new season, and business owners are hoping the influx of tourists will support the latest business additions.

Cactus Cantina

One thing Alabama's coast is not short on is Mexican-themed restaurants. At last count, Pleasure Island was home to more than a dozen South of the Border eateries. And one of the best is Cactus Cantina, which is opening a new location in Orange Beach. The newest Cactus Cantina was still under construction at the time of this writing in early April at the location of the legendary Hazel's Seafood Restaurant on the beach highway. Cactus Cantina has a location along Highway 59 in Gulf Shores and a newer location off of Canal Road in Orange Beach which opened a little more than a year ago. Location: 25311 Perdido Beach Blvd., Orange Beach.

Fin & Fork

Wintzell's Oyster House had a location in Orange Beach but struggled to earn a local or tourist following in the last couple of years. Recently, Wintzell's shut its doors and many locals wondered what, if anything, would replace the failed oyster bar. What came in is Fin & Fork, owned by Matt and Regina Shipp, who formerly owned Shipps Harbour Grill. Opened just a few weeks ago, Fin & Fork serves fresh Gulf seafood served in a family-friendly atmosphere, according to its website. The menu also serves privately farmed Black Angus Beef, house-made sushi, and a wide selection of fresh Gulf Coast eats. Location: 24131 Perdido Beach Blvd., Orange Beach, Ala.

Wacked Out Weiner

If there was one thing missing from the beaches it had to be a good hot dog joint. While Wacked Out Weiner isn't actually at the beach, it's pretty close to the heart of Gulf Shores, and we're happy out this new hot dog stop. Wacked Out Wiener serves homemade chili, Nathan's all beef hot dogs and Polks sausage. Customers can choose from more than 30 toppings. Opened on March 1, Wacked Out Weiner should do well this tourist season. Location: 3800 Gulf Shores Pkwy., Gulf Shores, Ala.

Rum Sisters

One of the coolest bakeries anywhere is Rum Sisters, which earned a loyal following in the last few years, baking a variety of bundt cakes from its Gulf Shores location. Recently, Rum Sisters went from two owners to single owner Elizabeth Shay-Jones. The business moved from Gulf Shores to Orange Beach recently. Specializing in alcohol-infused cakes. From the signature Bushwacker bundt cake to the Island Time Rum Cake, Jones also ships nationally from the new Orange Beach location. Location: 25405 Perdido Beach Blvd., Ste. 5, Orange Beach, Ala.

Delta Blue Bar and Grill

Maybe it was the tricky location, but after less than two years ByWater Bistro joined the culinary graveyard that Gulf Shores and Orange Beach populates with the arrival of each new season. In March, a new bar - Delta Blue Bar and Grill - opened at the location along the Intracoastal Waterway, across from Lulu's at Homeport. Gulf Coast musician Donnie Mathis took over the bar at Waterway Village in early March. Mathis, and accomplished musician in his own right, was in the club business years ago in Arkansas. Delta Blue aims to cater to locals and tourists alike with plenty of live music, a robust bar scene and a limited menu which is expected to expand over time. Location: 103 W. Canal Dr., Gulf Shores, Ala.

Lost Bay Tackle and Guide Service

The unofficial slogan for Orange Beach is "A quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem." But surprisingly there aren't many tackle shops so anglers are no doubt excited about the opening of Lost Bay Tackle in Orange Beach in early March. It's the second location for the bait and tackle shop. Led by Captain Bill Willis, the shop is located along the beach highway and stocks all the tackle items for the pro or the novice angler. Location: 25405 Perdido Beach Blvd., Orange Beach, Ala.
Eastern Orthodox churches around the world, including Greek and Russian Orthodox churches in Alabama, will celebrate Easter this Sunday, a week after most Catholics and Protestants.

For Eastern Orthodox Christians, April 6 was Good Friday and this Sunday will be Easter, also known as Great Pascha.

Orthodox churches around the world observed Good Friday by taking an icon of Christ off a wooden cross, symbolic of Jesus' being taken down after the Crucifixion. The burial of Christ was reenacted by placing a cloth shroud in a carved wooden tomb.

Because of differences in calculation for the date of Easter, the Orthodox celebrate a week later in most years.

''What's important is that Christians celebrate Easter and commemorate the Resurrection of Christ,'' said the Rev. Paul Costopoulos, dean of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Holy Trinity-Holy Cross, where candles in a darkened church mark the first moments of Easter.

Easter vigils begin Saturday about 11 p.m. and the celebration of Easter begins at midnight.

During a midnight Resurrection service, Orthodox Christians will greet each other early Sunday morning with the traditional exchange: "Christ is risen," one will say. "Truly He is arisen," another will respond, often in Greek or Russian.

Eastern Orthodoxy and the Roman Catholic Church parted ways in the schism of 1054 A.D., with the pope and the Eastern patriarch excommunicating each other.

The Gregorian calendar in use today through most of the world was established in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, but most Orthodox do not use it.

The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. based its calculations for Easter on the Julian calendar and said it must come after the Jewish Passover, and the Orthodox still follow that formulation.

The Council ruled that Easter would be held on the Sunday following the fourteenth day of the Passover moon - the moon that appears on or after the vernal equinox.

For the Eastern Orthodox, Easter must always always come after the Jewish holiday of Passover.

For western churches, Easter sometimes falls before or during Passover.

The Orthodox celebration of Easter begins at the stroke of midnight and sometimes goes on for hours.

"The midnight service is the culmination - it's the recognition of the Resurrection of Christ," said Costopoulos. Holy Trinity-Holy Cross has a midnight Resurrection service at the cathedral in Birmingham, then a Sunday morning service at Camp Vakakes in Harpersville.

At the midnight service, all the lights in the church are turned off and the priest brings forward a single candle; the congregation then brings up candles to be lighted from it, symbolic of the light of Christ spread through the world.

The Orthodox pride themselves on maintaining a continuity of hierarchy, liturgy and sacraments as they existed in the earliest Christian church.

Rather than Easter, the Orthodox prefer the term Pascha. It's a Christian version of the Jewish holiday of Passover, with Christ serving as the Paschal lamb.

The death of Christ substitutes for the blood on the doorposts that protected the Hebrews from the plague of death in Egypt, as recorded in Exodus, when the first-born sons of Egyptians were killed.

There are many different branches of Eastern Orthodoxy. St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Brookside and St. Symeon's Orthodox Church in Birmingham, affiliated with the Orthodox Church in America, will also observe Easter this Sunday.

Other Alabama churches celebrating Easter this weekend include: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Mobile; Holy Cross-Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Huntsville; St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church in Huntsville; St. Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church in Gulf Shores; St. Gregory the Theologian Orthodox Church in Moundville; St. Luke Orthodox Church in Anniston; Malbis Memorial Church in Daphne; and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Montgomery.
The Alabama Department of Transportation says the Interstate 59/20 Southbound at the I-65 interchange in downtown Birmingham is expected to re-open Saturday.

ALDOT announced Thursday morning that part of I-59/20 was closed due to overnight construction that "created an unsafe condition" including rolling road blocks, the agency said.

ALDOT said the problem happened while a steel girder was being installed, and a safety occurrence with the supports created a potential hazard. An additional support is now being added to the girder, and an agency contractor is on the scene.

ALDOT said there is no risk to motorists, and the roadway was closed in an "overabundance of caution."

The agency said additional supports are now being installed.

Ramps to I-65 Northbound and Southbound will remain open.

If you need to access I-59/20 Southbound, use I-65 Northbound to 16th Street and then use I-65 South to return to I-59 Southbound. If you are coming through the area from the east, state troopers encouraged taking I-459 to I-65 northbound to avoid the intersection.

Motorists traveling through the interchange should expect delays and consider alternate routes. Thursday's closure caused long delays through the interchange.
A 45-year-old man wanted by authorities in Ohio was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Birmingham.

The Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Martin Lucky Wright in the 8600 block of 9th Court Circle on Friday morning, U.S. Marshal Marty Keely said. The force was alerted by U.S. Marshals Southern Ohio that Wright was wanted there in connection to a February slaying.

According to local station 10TV, Donnelle Davenport was shot and killed in southeast Columbus. The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, and police said Davenport's body was found in the basement of a home.

Wright's arrest is the second fugitive the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force caught on Friday. Early this morning, 28-year-old Joemarcus DeWayne Fitts was arrested at a residence in the 1600 block of 13thAvenue North. He is charged with capital murder in the September 2017 killing of 35-year-old Howard Dewayne Bruce, who died after a shooting on the southwest part of the city.
A murder suspect was taken into custody early Friday by U.S. Marshals at a Birmingham home.

The Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested 28-year-old Joemarcus DeWayne Fitts at a residence in the 1600 block of 13th Avenue North, said U.S. Marshal Marty Keely. Fitts is charged with capital murder in the September 2017 killing of 35-year-old Howard Dewayne Bruce, who died in a hail of gunfire in southwest Birmingham.

Birmingham police responded about 12:29 a.m. on Sept. 5 to the 1500 block of Pearson Avenue on a report of shots fired. When they arrived on the scene, they found a black Chevrolet Z71 near the railroad tracks on 15th Way S.W. The truck had been peppered by bullets.

Bruce was found in the driver's seat suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest area. It appeared the tail of the truck had been struck by a Norfolk Southern train.

Police at the time said Bruce was traveling eastbound on Jefferson Avenue. As he approached the railroad tracks, several men who appeared to be waiting on the victim opened fire. More than 60 rounds were fired toward the truck.

Fitts also is charged with attempted murder for another victim who survived the incident.

Keely said three weapons were found inside the home where Fitts was arrested. The investigation is ongoing by Birmingham police.

Fitts was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 7:20 a.m. He remains held without bond.
A woman was awarded $300,000 after a jury found her former boyfriend, also a former state trooper, was responsible for assaulting her while they lived together in Marshall County.

After the four-day long trial, a jury found Gary Shannon Gates liable for the assault and battery by way of physical abuse. While Gates was sued for false imprisonment, the jury did not hold him responsible for that count.

"We are pleased with the jury's verdict," Laura Ward's attorney Leroy Maxwell Jr. said. "Laura Ward can now heal and continue advocating for rape and domestic abuse victims."

"There is no tort for sodomy and sexual abuse. So the jury was given instructions to find in favor of Laura Ward if [there was] unwanted physical or sexual contact," Maxwell explained.

According to court documents, Ward and Gates met in 2008 and began dating. Gates was kind and an encouraging partner, and the two moved into a home in Marshall County. Gates became "increasingly abusive" when they moved in together, court records state, escalating from verbal to physical abuse. In Sept. 2009, court records say the abuse turned sexual. "September 19th would mark the day that Gates became a monster and would mentally, physically, and sexually abuse Ms. Ward for the remainder of their relationship," the complaint states.

The complaint details the first rape Gates' then-girlfriend said she suffered: She was first beaten and then, after attending a friend's wedding, Gates raped her for two hours and videotaped the incident. "His sexual depravity became terrifyingly apparent. Ms. Ward's repeated pleas for mercy went unanswered. Gates produced a box filled with sexual paraphernalia which he used to rape and torture Ms. Ward," the lawsuit says.

After that date, Gates began drinking more and would drink before going to work, where he was employed as a captain of Team 1 of the Alabama SWAT team, court records state. His daughter was also abused, and was removed from the home by her mother.

Also according to the complaint, Gates started threatening to kill Ward and suggested he would commit a murder-suicide. He would put his state-issued gun into Ward's mouth as part of that threat.

Ward worked at an animal shelter in Arab near the police department, and knew several Arab police officers. The complaint states she would call their cell phone numbers for help, because she was afraid to call 911, and they would come to her home and talk to Gates. No official reports were ever filed from those visits. Ward also left for a hotel one night in the spring of 2010, but court records say Gates called the front desk so many times that a hotel employee called Arab police. An Arab police officer told Ward to go home, despite her fears that Gates would harm or kill her. "[The officer] was called to their home more than five times because of Gates' abuse, and not once did [he] report abuse or attempt to free Ward," the complaint says.

Instead of Arab police, Alabama State Troopers-- who were co-workers of Gates-- started responding more frequently to Ward's calls, the complaint states. A state trooper responded to their home at one time in 2010, but "spoke with Gates privately and left the scene without investigating or checking on the welfare" of Ward, the complaint says.

In the spring of 2010, Ward said she was raped and beaten approximately every three days, often in Gates' patrol car while he was on-duty or in an abandoned shed near Guntersville. Around that same time, the complaint said, Ward's boss noticed she was covered in bruises. She confided in her boss about the abuse she suffered, and the boss notified police. The state trooper who responded to the call "forced Ms. Ward to write a statement that stated, among other things, that Ms. Ward lied about Gates abusing her and that her bruises were the result of her fitness regimen." Several more times the woman tried to flee, but Gates' threatened the people she was staying with, and Ward returned home.

In October 2010, records state, when the abuse "escalated to the level of torture." Gates took his state-issued handcuffs and secured Ward to their bed for three days without any food and one bottle of water. He have her a gallon jug to use the bathroom in, and repeatedly raped, beat, and sexually tortured her. Each of those assaults were videotaped.

Following that incident, Ward's lawsuit claims she was beaten and suffered a fractured cheek bone. According to the complaint, she did not leave home for several weeks due to her bruising, but did attend the SWAT team Christmas party. Officers and their families "pretended not to notice" Ward's injured face, the complaint says. By this time, Ward had been forced to quit her job and sever ties with all friends and family.

In July 2012, Ward told Gates she was leaving for her home state of Wisconsin. While on duty, the lawsuit says, Gates pointed his state-issued gun at Ward and threatened her. Ward called a friend and said if she wasn't in Wisconsin that day, to call the FBI and report that Gates killed her. "... no longer caring whether she lived or died, Ms. Ward left that day and went home to her family, ignoring the constant death threats she received during her long drive home," the complaint states.

In October 2014, Gates was demoted after his estranged wife called police, saying he was at her home and threatening her. Documents state Gates had pulled his service gun from his pants, racked the gun's slide, and pointed it at his wife and said he would kill her. Then, records say, he put the gun in his own mouth and threatened to shoot himself. Gates fled when he realized his wife called 911 but returned a short time later, after officers responded to her call for help. When Gates saw police, he fled and left his state vehicle.

When state troopers found him at his house the next day, Gates was taken to a rehabilitation facility to begin an alcohol treatment. An investigation into his actions state Gates committed domestic violence in the third degree and violated state personnel and Alabama Department of Public Safety rules and regulations, but Gates kept his job and was transferred out of Marshall County.

Gates resigned in June 2015.

His attorneys did not respond for a request for comment by time of publication.
NASA has changed its astronaut contract with Boeing to let the company carry three people, not two, on the first crewed flight of its Starliner spaceship to the International Space Station and to keep them there up to six months instead of the planned two weeks.

Boeing employees in Huntsville are working on the Starliner, and NASA said this week that the company plans to fly the spaceship for the first time this year. That would be a test flight to the space station without a crew.

"This contract modification provides NASA with additional schedule margin if needed," NASA Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier said Thursday. "We appreciate Boeing's willingness to evolve its flight to ensure we have continued access to space for our astronauts. Commercial space transportation to low-Earth orbit from U.S. soil is critical for the agency and the nation."

Other reports suggest that expecting either Boeing or SpaceX to fly astronauts this year is optimistic. SpaceX is the second commercial company working on an astronaut taxi to the station, and federal auditors have told Congress they don't expect either company's ship to be ready until 2019.

NASA's current contract with the Russians to ferry Americans to the station ends in fall 2019. One of the main reasons for contracting with Boeing and SpaceX, beyond the value of flying Americans on American ships, is to stop paying Soyuz seat prices approaching $75 million each.

So far, Boeing is the only one of the two commercial crew carriers to ask NASA to let it change the first crewed flight. NASA told spacepolicyonline.com that, if SpaceX makes a similar request, the agency "will review it through the normal procurement process."

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Three people died in a fire Thursday night at a Scottsboro apartment building.

Firefighters were called around 10:30 p.m. to the fire on the 200 block of Meadow Street. They saw heavy smoke and fire coming from the lower level and roof of the four-unit building, according to a news release from Fire Chief Gene Necklaus.

Necklaus said firefighters and medical crews tried to save the following victims who eventually were pronounced dead:

Paula Garrett Smith, 70, of Scottsboro

Brian Keith Smith, 43, of Section

Jennifer Dawn Chapman, 43, of Scottsboro

Four people from adjoining apartments escaped unharmed. Firefighters say the fire appears to be accidental, though an investigation is ongoing. No working smoke detectors were found in the building, authorities said. Firefighters contained the blaze around 3 a.m.

Necklaus said the deaths bring Alabama's total fire fatalities to 20 so far in 2018, per the State Fire Marshal's Office. The Chief said because Alabama consistently ranks among states with the highest per capita fire deaths, he encourages the public to install and maintain smoke detectors.

For Scottsboro residents, the fire department offers free smoke alarm installation. For more information call 256-912-0537.

Updated at 9:12 a.m. to correct the spelling of victim Brian Smith's name. Authorities initially released it incorrectly.
The U.S. Air Force Thunderbird pilot killed in a Wednesday crash over Nevada attended Officer Training School in Alabama.

Major Stephen Del Bagno. 34, died when his F-16 Fighting Falcon jet crashed during what was described as a "routine aerial training flight." The cause of the crash is under investigation.

"We are mourning the loss of Major Del Bagno," said Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, 57th Wing Commander. "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."

Del Bagno lived in Valencia, California and had worked as a civilian flight instructor, banner tow pilot, corporate pilot and skywriter, according to the his Air Force bio. He graduated Utah Valley State University in 2005 and was commissioned two years later from Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

Del Bagno served as a F-35A stealth jet evaluation pilot with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and is credited with more than 3,500 total flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft with 1,400 hours as an Air Force pilot.

He was in his first season with the Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds scheduled appearance at March Air Reserve Base in California this weekend has been canceled in the wake of the crash.
Alabama's recreation red snapper fishing season will be 47 days in 2018, according to a statement issued by Gov. Kay Ivey Friday.

Alabama received an exemption from the National Marine Fisheries Service that will allow the state manage its red snapper season for 2018 and 2019, according to the statement.

"This season will allow recreational anglers five more days to fish for red snapper compared to last year," Ivey said in a news release. "I am proud we have been able to expand the red snapper season, which is a critical part of Alabama's recreation and tourism industry."

In 2018, Alabama and federal waters off the coast will be open for red snapper fishing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from June 1 to Sept. 2, plus July 2-5 and Sept. 3 (Labor Day). The bag limit will remain two per person with a 16-inch minimum length.

The federal season for charter boats is not included in Alabama's permit and is expected to be announced later this month.

Ivey said the exemption for Alabama was made possible through language written by Sen. Richard Shelby's in the 2017 commerce, justice, and science appropriations bill, as well as the work of Rep. Bradley Byrne and Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

"The red snapper fishery means so much to the coastal culture and economy of Alabama," Ivey said. "I appreciate the work of Senator Shelby and Congressman Byrne on this vital issue.

"The entire state of Alabama is also indebted to Conservation and Natural Resources Commissioner Chris Blankenship, as this exemption would not have happened without his leadership and his tireless advocacy for Alabama. I am proud of the work Commissioner Blankenship is doing, and I am honored to have him as a part of my cabinet."

Byrne issued a news release praising the exemption and calling it a "win-win" for coastal Alabama.

"A 47 day Red Snapper season is a huge development for our local fishermen and Alabama's coastal communities," Byrne said in the news release. "This is how government should work: take power from Washington and return it to the people who best understand the issue.

"Under this proposal, our fishermen will have adequate time to enjoy a Gulf Coast tradition while our coastal communities will benefit from increased revenue."

Fishermen are still required to report their red snapper harvest through the Alabama Snapper Check Program.
A federal judge in Alabama overseeing a case involving 36 Blue Cross plans ruled Thursday a 1980s-era plan to divvy up service areas may violate antitrust laws, a finding attorneys said is a major blow to the companies' case.

The ruling is not final, but does provide a lens for the judge to use as the case goes to trial, said plaintiff's attorney Barry Ragsdale. The 2013 lawsuit, filed by providers and small-group subscribers, accuses the plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association of violating antitrust laws that keep businesses from conspiring to affect the market. About 90 percent of people with health insurance in Alabama are covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Blue Cross Blue Shield plans cover more than 100 million people nationwide, according to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Ragsdale said it is the largest antitrust case in United States history.

"It really is a seismic event in this case," Ragsdale said. "I don't think you can overstate what a big ruling this is."

If the opinion stands, then it prevents attorneys for the Blues from arguing that their actions benefitted customers or providers, Ragsdale said.

Scott Nehs, senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), issued a statement Friday regarding the judge's opinion.

"This is one step in a lengthy process; we will appeal the interim ruling and are confident that we will prevail. The District Court stated that it is constrained by authority from the late 1960s and early 1970s, which we and most antitrust experts no longer believe to be good law," Nehs stated. "The Blue Cross and Blue Shield System has served Americans well for almost a century, and we are disappointed by the court's ruling with respect to certain aspects of the BCBS System. BCBS companies provide substantial benefits to medical professionals and currently serve nearly 106 million people with competitive pricing, secure and stable health care coverage and reliable service. This decision does not change that history or our unwavering commitment to the American people.

"As the litigation process continues through the pre-trial phase, both consumers and health care professionals can continue to rely on their local BCBS companies just as they have for nearly 90 years," Nehs stated. "The BCBS System enables members to receive in-network medical care everywhere in the country and has substantial competitive benefits for consumers and medical professionals. "

U.S. District Judge David Proctor wrote that the association's creation of exclusive sales areas could have illegally hampered market competition. Before consolidation in the 1980s and 1990s, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans often overlapped, according to the opinion. Agreements that keep them apart could potentially give the companies an unfair advantage in negotiations with doctors and subscribers.

Proctor wrote the agreement was "at least as anticompetitive" as two similar agreements struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The first Blue Cross plans emerged during the Great Depression, as Americans struggled with low wages and high health care costs. The policies at issue in the case happened later, as Blues struggled with declining enrollment. The number of different plans decreased from 114 in 1980 to 36 today.

The question of whether it's legal for the different plans to agree to geographic service areas is key to the lawsuit. Attorneys representing Blue Cross have argued the agreements help plans compete against national insurers. Company attorneys have also argued that states regulate health insurers and have not found problems with the practice.

Some plans still overlap in California, Idaho, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Oregon.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama has played a central role in the litigation. The company has the largest market share of any state in the country, according to analyses by the American Medical Association. Those studies have found Alabama to be the least competitve for health insurance.

The company, which is a nonprofit, was founded in 1936 and has about 4,000 employees. It is a non-profit health benefit service plan under Alabama law.

The providers who sued Blue Cross alleged the company uses its market power to keep reimbursements low to doctors and other medical entitites. Subscribers allege the scheme could result in higher premiums.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama often touts its low rates for families and individuals in employer plans. In 2016, the state had the third-lowest average premiums in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ragsdale said the case could go to trial next summer, after the judge rules whether it can proceed as a class action.

"It's a big deal, and I'm optimistic we can move forward to reform practices by Blue Cross and Blue Shield," Ragsdale said.

Updated at 1:39 p.m. with additional information from Barry Ragsdale

Bluecross Blueshield by Amy Yurkanin on Scribd
President Donald Trump dismissed the idea he's planning to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions with EPA chief Scott Pruitt, saying the reports are nothing more than "fake news."

In a Friday tweet, the president said while Pruitt was doing a "great job" he was not in line to replace Sessions, the former Alabama Senator turned AG who has found himself on the receiving end of Trump's wrath.

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018

Reports surfaced this week that Trump was considering Pruitt to replace Sessions, even though the EPA chief has found himself mired in a host of controversies, including a deal to rent a room in a home owned by the family of an energy lobbyist.

When asked this week if he still supported Pruitt, Trump replied "I do."

"No. No. Scott's doing a great job where he is," Trump later added.
A Georgia sheriff is drawing attention - and attracting controversy - for an unusual welcome sign.

"Welcome to Harris County, Georgia," the sign reads. "Our citizens have concealed weapons. If you kill someone, we might kill you back. WE have ONE jail and 356 cemeteries. Enjoy your stay."

The sign was installed by Sheriff Mike Jolley. Jolley explained his reasoning for the sign to the Washington Post.

"If you come and put someone's life in danger in Harris County, you could stand the risk of being put in danger yourself," he said. "Georgia is very much a Second Amendment state, and Harris County is a strong Second Amendment county."

The sign was installed Tuesday and images of it quickly spread online. Harris County is located on the Alabama/Georgia line.

The Second Amendment sign isn't the first time Jolley has drawn attention for welcome signs. In 2015, he posted a sign that said "WARNING: Harris County is politically incorrect. We say: Merry Christmas, God Bless America and In God We Trust. We salute our troops and our flag. If this offends you ... LEAVE!"

Jolly said he changes signs about every eight months and pays for them himself.
Former first lady Michelle Obama says she has no desire to make a run for the White House.

Speaking at a women's empowerment forum in Boston, Obama dismissed those pushing for her to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020.

"The reason why I don't want to run for president... is that first of all you have to want the job. And you can't just say, 'you're a woman, run,'" Obama said. "We just can't find the women we like and ask them to do it because there are millions of women who are inclined and do have the passion for politics."

Obama also appeared to take a jab at President Trump, who earlier in the week had referred to her husband as "cheatin' Obama."

"Just because I gave a good speech, I'm smart and intelligent doesn't mean I should be the next president," she said. "That's been our problem. We're very shortsighted about how we think about selecting the commander-in-chief."

Democrats have floated Obama's name as a challenger to Trump, an idea the former first lady has repeatedly dismissed. Also mentioned as possible Democratic contenders are Oprah Winfrey and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Steve Szanca received a call in March from a man saying he had some equipment to donate to the North Central Florida YMCA.

It wasnt until the man sent him pictures of the professional equipment inside a gym that Szanca realized how much it would benefit the organization.

The call came from 34-year-old Kyle Gold, president of Alter Ego Fitness, a gym located at 101 SE Second Place. Gold said Alter Ego is expecting to close its Gainesville location by the end of May, and instead of selling its equipment and office supplies, its giving everything to the YMCA located at 5201 NW 34th Blvd.

I didnt realize he was with a gym, Szanca said about the phone call with Gold. As we learned more about the scope of the donation, we quickly became very excited.

Szanca said the donation of up to $200,000 includes cardio machines, free weight sets, weight machines, artwork, furniture and art that was in the gym.

Gold said downtown Gainesvilles Sun Center, the building Alter Ego Fitness is located in, was bought by a South Florida company six months ago. The new building owners increased the cost of rent for the space, and the gym was no longer able to sustain its business.

When Gold realized the fate of the location, Alter Ego Fitness decided to uphold its values in serving the community and donate everything to the local non-profit YMCA, Gold said.

It worked out, Gold said. We got to do something nice on our way out.

Gold said the equipment wont be the only thing from the gym moving to the YMCA. As part of Alter Ego Fitnesss exit strategy, a few staff members, including the general manager, front desk manager, a few trainers and some class instructors, will also be transitioning to work at the YMCA.

The YMCA community and people who use the facility are excited for the new equipment, said Nancy Walsh, who volunteers on YMCAs board of marketing and communications and has been a member for 20 years.

In December 2016, the North Florida YMCA almost closed due to financial troubles, but about 400 donors contributed a total of $1.2 million to keep the gym afloat, according to Alligator archives.

It feels great to have a donation so big come our way when we have had struggles early on,

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Walsh said. This donation is just one more step in the right direction.
Noam Bilitzers mom was shocked when she turned on the TV and saw her son live his childhood dream.

Her son kept her in the dark for almost nine months as he applied for, filmed and won an episode of Food Networks Chopped.

My family always joked about me being on the show, said Bilitzer, whos the Chef de Cuisine at the restaurant Proof on Main in Louisville, Kentucky.

The 2011 graduate of Gainesvilles Institute of Culinary Arts at Eastside High School won the title Chopped Champion and $10,000 on an episode that premiered Tuesday. The episode will air again 9 p.m. Thursday.

I was in complete shock, the 25-year-old said. I was basically frozen for a few hours afterward and didnt really realize what had happened.

His episode of the show, which was filmed in October, was centered on meat. Bilitzer and the other chefs cooked with wild boar, antelope and venison.

He prepared seared wild boar loin with alligator and truffle glaze for the appetizer. The main course was seared antelope with rare heart and charred dandelion greens, and a venison sausage fritter with moose milk creme anglaise.

Despite being unfamiliar with the meat, Bilitzer was able to win because he had a strategy: He kept it simple and focused on making good food.

After middle school, Bilitzer moved from South Florida to Gainesville to pursue his passion at The Institute of Culinary Arts, a magnet program at Eastside High School.

Although he was a failing student, he turned his grades around at the institute and graduated with a 4.0 GPA, he said.

He credits chefs Pamela Bedford and Billie DeNunzio from the institute with helping him advance his skills.

Bedford said Bilitzer was one of her first students at the institute because she started working there when he was a freshman, so the two grew together.

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Bilitzer stood out from the beginning, she said.

I was just really impressed with his level of maturity and his dedication to food in general, Bedford said.

She said Bilitzer called her two weeks before the episode aired to tell her to watch.

Before the episode, she was nervous he hadnt won, so she convinced herself he lost to avoid disappointment.

At 11 p.m. when she found out he won, she screamed in excitement.

My husband said, Hush! Youre going to wake up the kids, she said.

Bilitzer said he would recommend for other chefs to go on Chopped if theyre willing to work hard.

Its a lot harder than what people might think, he said. Theres no real preparation.

Noam Bilitzer, 25, a 2011 graduate of the Institute of Culinary Arts at Eastside High School, won the title Chopped Champion and $10,000 on Food Network's Chopped episode that premiered Tuesday.
Brandon Shavers knows what loss feels like after his friend took her life a year ago.

The Buchholz High School junior said its important to talk to people and see if theyre doing OK. The 17-year-old, who wants to be a psychologist, said mental health checks should be implemented at schools in a discussion with administrators on school safety and gun violence Wednesday night.

Thats blood on my hands if I dont say anything, he said.

Fifteen students from Newberry, Buchholz, Eastside and Gainesville high schools took questions from about 35 people at a monthly meeting of the citys Black on Black Crime Task Force at the Kirby Smith Center about topics including the importance of mental health, crisis preparation and see-through backpacks.

John Alexander, the executive director of Reichert House, moderated responses from the panel and said the discussion was organized to talk about campus safety, which has been in the news, from students perspectives.

Everybody here is a leader for coming out here today to talk, he said.

Kurtis Brutton, a senior at Gainesville High School, worries that if schools required students wear see-through backpacks, police could search students too much and make them uncomfortable, he said.

I feel like it would be an issue for privacy, the 18-year-old said.

Sam Cornell, 18, a Buchholz High School senior, said preventative measures like campus metal detectors or increased police presence are important, but installing emergency tourniquet kits in classroom buildings would help save lives in the event that an active shooter does come onto campus. The first three minutes, the time it may take for paramedics to arrive, is enough time for someone to bleed out, he said.

If I shut my mouth right now, and we all just sat here for three minutes, tell me thats not a long time, he told the group.

High school shooting are becoming a new normal, said Cornell, who is working with the school administration to have the medical response kits funded.

Jovanna Liuzzo, a junior at Eastside High School, said after the events at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, everyone at her school has been very sensitive.

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Even just hearing someone yell in the hallway you wonder, Oh goodness, what is that? Liuzzo said.

The 17-year-old talked to her school principal about arranging open forums to start educating students about what to do in the event of a shooting.

Because I honestly have no idea, she said. We talked about it, you know, once in the first week.

Karen Clarke, the superintendent of Alachua County Public Schools, was in attendance and said she wanted to arrange a meeting to continue the dialogue with the 15 students.

This is a subject that you dont want to talk about, but it is there and it is the new normal for us, Clarke said.

Contact Elliott Nasby at enasby@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @_ElohEl.

A student carries a clear backpack outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Monday, April 2, 2018. The bags are one of a number of security measures the school district has enacted as a result of the Feb. 14 shooting at the school that killed 17.
Dava Sobel remembers a conversation with a woman who thought the work the women did in the movie Hidden Figures was cute.

This showed a level of internalized misogyny many women have, she said. Sobel even sees it in herself.

Despite this, women should still pursue careers they are passionate about and refuse to let men take their credit away, Sobel said.

About 200 UF students, faculty and public members came to see Sobel, the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of Galileos Daughter, Thursday night at Ustler Hall. The event was sponsored by the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences using private foundation funds, said Mary Watt, an associate dean of the college.

I feel very fortunate that I was able to put my interest in science together with my love of writing, Sobel said. Its difficult, in a strange way, but its fun.

Sobel also discussed the groundbreaking achievements of women in astronomy such as Williamina Fleming, who devised a system for classifying stars in the Harvard College Observatory.

Rachel Kalicharan, a 19-year-old UF biology sophomore, said science fields are typically white male-dominated, so its challenging to be seen as credible in the field as a woman of color, noting her Indian ethnicity.

Sometimes the accomplishments of women can be downplayed or discredited, and this can make you downplay your work, she said. What (Sobel) said makes me feel like my achievements are credible.

About 200 UF students, faculty and local fans came to see Dava Sobel, the No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of Galileos Daughter, Thursday night at Ustler Hall. Sobels other novels include The Glass Universe and Longitude.

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As you speed walk to your 12:50 p.m. class because you woke up late, you finally reach the corner of West University and 13th Street. Youre sweaty and 20 minutes late when the Hub comes into sight. Will being five minutes late to lecture actually make a difference? You did bring a reusable traveling mug, after all. You go to the Starbucks counter, give them your typical order  a grande French vanilla iced latte, double the syrup with caramel drizzle and an extra shot of espresso  and they stick on the label.

A few minutes later, the very nice and cute barista calls your name and hands you your drink. The barista gives you a smile and hangs onto your drink a little longer than expected. Was it a sign? Was the barista hinting at something?

Maybe the barista left a message on the label, you think. As you walk away, you force yourself to keep going until youre out of sight. Heartbeat quickening, you turn your mug and, in messy handwriting, you see 

Darts & Laurels

President Donald Trump recently announced as high as a 10 percent tariff on paper that comes to the U.S. from Canada. The tariff  a tax placed on certain items imported from designated countries  can have far-reaching implications. It could raise the cost of paper as much as 32 percent.

Newspapers are feeling the hurt, along with farmers. Tampa Bay Times Chairman and CEO Paul Tash wrote the increase in imported paper will result in the company spending $3 million more a year on newsprint. Its a cost that will result in cutting jobs and, ultimately, stories of the community being left untold.

The cost of journalism is one worth paying in order to keep a democracy in check. For that reason, we award Trump a dart.

Our society undoubtedly has an issue with sexual assault. In recent months, weve seen hundreds of men and women join the #MeToo movement, a viral social media campaign that allows survivors to share their stories.

It is often during moments like these, in which awareness is at its peak, that changes in culture happen. This is why sexual violence awareness matters, now more than ever. We are proud to see our fellow UF community recognize that.

On Wednesday, seeing the signs and hearing the chants of about 200 people who marched in Gainesville to protest sexual violence was encouraging. Afterward, they held a rally and allowed survivors to tell their stories.

We recognize sharing survival experiences for most is heartbreaking to say the least. For being brave enough to fight sexual assault, we award a laurel to all survivors and those who participated in the Take Back The Night rally.

Few people actually change the world. Even fewer change it both while theyre alive and dead. Wednesday marked the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a man who continues to inspire progress even 50 years after he was killed.

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Across the nation, crowds gathered to honor his work, including at UF, where the Century Tower carillon tolled 39 times to commemorate each year of Kings life. Perhaps the most significant demonstration took place in Memphis, Tennessee, where thousands rallied at the National Civil Rights Museum, which is housed in the old Lorraine Motel where King was killed.

King was one of the most important voices in the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s, and his powerful words still resonate today. He dreamed to live in a world where people are judged for the content of their character, not their skin color or other superficial reasons. We still havent accomplished that, so the fight for equality must continue. To everyone who took some time out of their hump day this week to pay a tribute to King, we present you a laurel.
I was quite disappointed to see the feature Friday article from last week detail the blight of insufficient funding for the Disability Resource Center on campus. The article made reference to the decision by the local fee committee not to increase funding for the DRC back in October, which brought back a lot of bad memories, as it was that very same meeting in which the committee turned down an opportunity to increase funding to the Counseling & Wellness Center.

As you might recall, back when the news first broke about the decision, I wrote a rather aggressive letter to the editor lambasting the decision, and I received a notable amount of aggressive pushback from people who may not have fully understood how the committee worked. Now that The Alligator has brought attention to yet another consequence of that fateful meeting, I thought it would be fitting for me to talk about the local fee committee and how it exists in the context of funding the DRC, CWC and other entities on campus.

There is next to no information out there on the internet, but here is what I know about the committee to the best of my understanding. The committee is comprised of eight members: four faculty and four students. The Student Body president nominates the students in the summer, and the Senate confirms them. This past year, they all happened to be high-ranking members of the executive branch.

The committee approves or denies proposals in relation to various per-credit fee increases. If the committee approves a proposal, it goes to the university president for approval after consultation with the Student Body president with final approval by the University Board of Trustees, according to section 1009.24 (11) of the Florida Statutes.

Last October, the CWC and DRC both sent in proposals for fee increases in order to get more funding. The students on the committee voted down the proposals, among others. Their reasoning?

Those who supported the motion to zero out all fee increase requests, do so under the notion that we as students believe that there is an alternative solution to fixing the lack of resources in each department without increasing the cost of tuition and fees. We believe that college affordability is of the utmost importance and decreasing the overhead on the health fee could resolve these issues with directly appropriating a larger proportion of these funds to the services they are intended to provide.

So, clearly, the students had their own ideas to fix the issue, namely decreasing the overhead on the health fee. In brief, its a 13 percent charge by UF against all expenditures of auxiliary organizations such as the CWC and DRC. The money collected goes toward funding other parts of administration that dont bring in money, such as public safety and human resources.

Essentially, the students voted against funding the CWC, DRC and other organizations because they wanted to try to get money another way. So what happened? Frankly, I have no idea. We certainly havent seen any front page news about either entities receiving more funding.

It is imperative for us to know what became of the executive branchs effort to get increased funding for the CWC and DRC, because we all need to be on the same page in order to most effectively pursue alternate solutions.

I know no one wants to be the person who says, Its time to raise student fees, but even if raising student fees is the last resort, we need to have transparency in order to know if it indeed is time to do so.

Ive set up a meeting with the director of the CWC and the director of the DRC in order to get a better understanding of the funding sources of both entities to see if there are other solutions for us to pursue.

Questions, comments or concerns? Email me at: zchou@ufl.edu.

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Zachariah Chou is a UF political science sophomore and Murphree Area Senator. His column focuses on Student Government.

Correction: A previous title of this column previously asked about funding for the CRC. This has been updated to reflect be it's the CWC.
Steel scrap prices in the major global markets have shown strong declines following the sharp fall in Turkish imported scrap values during the working week from Monday April 2 to Friday April 6.





Taiwanese and US scrap prices did remain stable but the pressure on US prices as strengthened over the week.Turkish import scrap prices fell sharply after steel producers managed to get lower prices from Baltic Sea and European suppliers, while merchants in the United States were effectively out of the market with higher offers.Turkish steel producers resumed their deep-sea scrap purchases after the sharp decrease in prices on April 3.A steel producer in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 15,000 tonnes of No. 1 and No. 2 heavy melting scrap (75:25), 10,000 tonnes of shredded, 5,000 tonnes of a mixture of HMS 1 and plate and structural scrap (P&S), and 5,000 tonnes of new cuttings, at an average price of $358 per tonne cfr.The same mill also booked a Baltic Sea cargo at $356 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20), while a steel mill in the Iskenderun region also booked a Baltic Sea cargo at $355 per tonne cfr for similar material.As a result of these transactions, the daily scrap indices went down sharply on April 3.Metal Bulletins daily index for northern European HMS 1&2 (80:20) closed the day at $349.06 per tonne cfr, down by $17.99 per tonne day-on-day.The daily index for similar US-origin material closed at $358.52 per tonne cfr, down by $18.11 per tonne day-on-day.And after that price fall, Turkish mills continued to book deep-sea cargoes from Europe and the Baltic Sea.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 19,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $356 per tonne, 9,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (90:10) and 5,000 tonnes of shredded at $361 per tonne, and 5,000 tonnes of bonus at $366 per tonne cfr on April 4.A steel mill in the Marmara region booked a European cargo, comprising 17,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (75:25), 4,000 tonnes of bonus and 4,000 tonnes of busheling at an average price of $355.50 per tonne cfr late on April 5.Another steel mill in the Izmir region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 13,500 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $353.50 per tonne and 4,000 tonnes of bonus at $363.50 per tonne cfr on April 6.Market participants expected the Turkish mills to continue their deep-sea scrap purchases unless there is a very significant change in the prices, Metal Bulletin was told.Ferrous scrap export prices from the US were facing downward pressure after last weeks bulk deals to Turkey, with containerized shredded scrap the first to show signs of distress while export yard buying prices were firm due to expectations of higher domestic scrap pricing in April.There was little activity on the bulk export front, with no deals done from either the US East or West Coast this week. Turkish buying has been sparse since the country returned to the market a week ago, with mills there bypassing the US market in favor of more affordable material from Europe and the Baltic Sea.Sources believe that it is difficult for US exporters to accept deals at these prices given what they are being paid at East Coast export yards, as well as an expected increase of $10-20 per gross ton from domestic consumers in the coastal region this month.I think the exporters are still short on scrap and they are calling for shipments. The domestic [producers] in Philadelphia are already talking to shredders for April [commitments], a seller in both the domestic and export sectors said, noting that domestic demand in the coastal region was relatively healthy for April.Exporters throughout the US East Coast kept HMS 1 buying prices at the docks at $315 per gross ton on April 4, according to American Metal Markets price assessment, unchanged from the previous week. But one exporter in the Boston area was already hinting that price reductions might be seen soon due to the lower-priced trades to Turkey.Meanwhile, the price of containerized shredded scrap on the East Coast caved in to the downward pressure due to tepid demand from international buyers, according to a broker source. Prices dipped to $350-358 per tonne fas from $358-365 per tonne fas a week ago.The container market has backed off and the [US] Gulf Coast shippers are going to sell to the domestic market this month. There may be more [shredded scrap] available in the region but I think demand [for this grade] is still very strong, the coastal dealer said.On the US West Coast, containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) prices remained flat at $340-345 per tonne delivered to Taiwan, unchanged from the previous week. Many Asian nations, including Taiwan, are also away observing the Qingming festival.Trading was limited this week with few offers from US dealers, but prices are expected to bounce back next week, an export source said.Import prices for containerized HMS-grade scrap in Taiwan were stable this week due to a trading lull that resulted from consecutive public holidays.Price negotiations were limited to only the first two days of this week, and no transactions were heard concluded.Spot prices have been on a downtrend since mid-March, so buyers are not anxious to buy cargoes this week. They are hoping for lower prices after the long holidays, a Taiwanese trader said on Tuesday.Taiwan was on holiday on Wednesday for Childrens Day and on Thursday and Friday for Qingming, or tomb-sweeping day.Market participants will come back next week and they will look out for new developments before negotiating for spot cargoes again, a second Taiwanese trader said.No major uptick is expected in scrap import prices due to the lull in the downstream rebar market in Taiwan, where demand is said to be lackluster, other sources said.Trading activity in the Indian import scrap market will only pick up again if prices drop by at least $10 per tonne in the coming weeks, market sources told Metal Bulletin.Disappointing domestic finished steel prices and uncertainty over the Section 232 import tariffs on steel in the US have caused consternation in the Indian scrap markets during recent weeks. Sources said that prices would have to move down further to give consumers the confidence to buy imported scrap.People will be back in the market within two weeks. Bangladesh is quiet, Pakistan is also not very active, so Indian prices could fall by $10-15 per tonne, one seller said.I hope that, if prices go down, Indian buyers come into the market, one consumer said.People want to wait until next week, because they think the Turkish market will come down more. There is lots of pressure in the US as well - they havent sold to Turkey for [more than] three weeks, another seller said.Around 3,000-4,000 tonnes of UK-origin shredded scrap was heard sold at $385 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva, while a deal for 2,000 tonnes of material was heard at $395 per tonne cfr Kotchi.One factor pushing Indian scrap prices downward, according to another buyer, is the low comparative cost for direct-reduced iron (DRI), commonly known as sponge iron in India.Shredded at $365-370 per tonne cfr would match the sponge iron price, so if there is a $10-15 per tonne correction, there might be more business in India, he said.Metal Bulletins price assessment for Indian domestic DRI was 21,500-21,700 rupees ($330-333) per tonne ex-works on Friday, up by 300 rupees per tonne compared with 21,200-21,400 per tonne ex-works one week ago.Turkish domestic scrap prices fell at the beginning of the week amid softening imported scrap prices.Metal Bulletins weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle (DKP grade) scrap in Turkey was TRY1,270-1,500 ($315-372) per tonne delivered, down from last weeks TRY1,300-1,520 per tonne.A number of steel mills and a major scrapyard reduced their buy prices for material over the week.Ship scrap prices in the Turkish domestic market followed a similar downward trend.Lee Allen in London, Mei Ling Toh in New York and Paul Lim in Singapore contributed to this report.
Posted on: April 6, 2018 10:10 AM

A group of 60 Anglican bishops have been joined by other faith and charity leaders to criticise a British government cap on the number of children in a family who count for welfare purposes. Tax Credits and Universal Credits are two welfare benefits paid to unemployed people and those on low-incomes. Since last year, calculations of the amount families receive have been restricted to count no more than two children. In a letter published in The Times newspaper today, the faith leaders say that it risks tipping an estimated extra 200,000 children into poverty.

The faith leaders say that the policy is making it harder for parents to achieve a stable and resilient family life. By 2021, 640,000 families will have been affected. Most are low-earning working families, most have three children and some will have made decisions about family size when they were able to support children through earnings alone, but later claimed tax credits or universal credit after bereavement, redundancy, separation, disability, illness or simply low pay.

They argue that the policy also conveys the regrettable message that some children matter less than others, depending on their place in the sibling birth order; and they warn that there are likely to be mothers who will face an invidious choice between poverty and terminating an unplanned pregnancy, describing it as a grave concern.

They argue: children are a private joy and a public good. They are all equally deserving of subsistence support.

The letter was signed by 26 diocesan and 34 other bishops. It was also signed by a past President and Vice President of the Methodist Conference; the Recording Clerk for the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain; the chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews; the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain; and leaders of three child poverty and social action charities.

A spokesman for the government told The Times that the policy will be delivered in the most effective, compassionate way, with the right exceptions and safeguards. But its right that people on benefits have to make the same financial choices as those supporting themselves solely through work.
Posted on: April 6, 2018 8:53 AM

A 21-year old student who is the only girl to have studied primary and secondary education on Likoma Island has been awarded a university scholarship by the Diocese of Northern Malawi. She is the first female from Likomo in decades to go to university. Likomo is the largest of two inhabited islands in Lake Malawi. The diocese scholarship was established to reward the most outstanding student at St Peters Anglican Secondary School. It is part of a package of incentives to encourage students to pass their Malawi School Certificate of Eudcation (MSCE) exam  the final qualification for students in the country qualify with a margin lower than 20 points. Mercy Saidi passed her MSCE with a score of 15 points and has been awarded a four-year scholarship at the Kamuzu College of Nursing.

The Bishop of Northern Malawi, Fannuel Magangani, spoke of his hopes that Saidi will return to Likomo island to serve the local community after she qualifies. We made a pledge to support her education from first year to fourth year when she finishes her studies, he said. We hope by supporting her she will also come back on the Island to support other people.

But we have seen it today that we can give an award to a student from our own school, so we are very blessed today and grateful, that we have at least a product that is going to be a registered nurse from Kamuzu College of Nursing.

He praised local congregations who had donated financial gifts to fund the scholarship as their commitment to mission, even though they themselves were very poor.

I am so excited because it is like a dream come true, Saidi said. I always wanted to become a professional and spirited nurse that would be trusted by her clients.

And she had a message of encouragement to other girls to study science-based subjects and to work hard to achieve success.

The Science subjects are for everyone regardless of sex as long as you work hard and stay focused when you put your determination on what you want, she said. I know my parents would not manage to pay for my tertiary studies, I want to thank the diocese for helping me.

Her father, Emmanuel Saidi, also thanked the diocese for the scholarship, explaining that without it, he would not be able to afford the fees. I have unlimited excitement that my daughter has finally secured scholarship for her university studies, he said. I am happy because she has made us proud. I almost gave up sending her to university, because I do not have money, God is the only way.

In addition to the scholarship, Saidi also received a number of gifts from well-wishers, including cash and pledges in kindl as did fellow-student Steven Mabviko, who scored 16 points on his MCSE.
Posted on: April 6, 2018 1:51 PM

The General Secretary of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA), Canon Grace Kaiso, and the former Executive Officer to the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Christine Codner, are amongst 30 people to be honoured with a Lambeth Award today. Amongst the recipients are six people who received an award for services to the Church of England. Endeavours in the field of Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation, Community Service, Worship, Education and Scholarship, Evangelism and Witness, and Ecumenism were also recognised. Most of the awards were presented this afternoon at Lambeth Palace. The Bishop of Egypt, Mouneer Anis (Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation) and the Revd Canon Joanna Udal (Anglican Communion) were presented with their awards earlier this year.

Christine Codner began working for the London-based Anglican Communion Office in 1983 and spent 34 years there before retiring last year. Her career has spanned three Lambeth Conferences, four Secretaries General, and four Archbishops of Canterbury. She has supported many Primates Meetings and almost all Anglican Consultative Council meetings. Her dedication, commitment, and invaluable service to the Anglican Communion have been unfailing, the Award citation reads. The associations and friendships which she has developed over the years in the ACC office and during her Communion travels mean she simply is for very many people the face and the telephone voice of the Anglican Communion Office.

The Revd Canon Grace Kaiso has led CAPA since 2009, helping it to empower and build the capacity of the Anglican Churches in Africa and steering CAPA to become a force for unity and holistic mission in Africa with influence across the Anglican Communion. He has been a remarkable leader in conflict resolution and peace-building in Africa, his Citation says. He has worked tirelessly with regional faith leaders in South Sudan, seeking to build a framework of Churches and faith-based organisations to contribute to the peace-building effort. Before joining CAPA, he was also a member of the inter-religious council in Uganda, mobilising Ugandans to work for harmony, unity, and peace. He was also the Executive Secretary of the Uganda Joint Christian Council, during which time he ably positioned himself as a champion of good governance, democracy, human rights, and environmental causes.

The recipients of this years Lambeth Awards come from Africa, the Far East and the UK.

Among the other recipients are Canon Dr Paula Gooder, who was recognised for her biblical scholarship and shining example of service to the Church of England; and the Revd Dr John Bell, who was recognised for his outstanding Christian witness through hymn-writing, broadcasting and social action.

Two Muslim leaders also received awards, including Imam Mohammed Mahmoud, who was recognised for his courageous and selfless intervention to prevent violence against a driver who had run down worshippers near a mosque in Finsbury Park in June 2017. The worshippers were giving assisting Makram Ali, a man who had collapsed near a bus stop near the mosque, when Darren Osborne deliberately drove into them. Mr Ali died of multiple injuries and eight other people were injured. In February, Osborne was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murder and attempted murder. Today, the Imam received the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation.

The Lambeth Awards were launched by Archbishop Justin Welby in 2016 to recognise outstanding service in different fields, including those of the Archbishops ministry priorities of prayer and the Religious life; reconciliation and peace-building; and evangelism and witness.

Speaking at the ceremony, Archbishop Justin expressed the thanks of the Church and the wider community for the recipients outstanding contributions in their fields; saying that he hoped the world at large will see what these people have done and understand that, in their different fields, they show forth values which are our values, Gospel values of love for humanity, reconciliation and selfless service; and, more widely, values common to all people of good will  values of common decency and a refusal to bow to false gods.

He said: I present these awards, on behalf of the Church of England and of the Anglican Communion  but also, I hope, on behalf of people of good will everywhere  for two reasons. These two reasons are distinct but complementary.

Firstly, I want to express the thanks of the Church and of the wider community for the outstanding contributions which these people have each made in their own fields. I realise that they have not sought such an expression of thanks but that is precisely why I think it so important make this public gesture of gratitude.

Secondly, I want the world at large to recognise and acknowledge the work of all the recipients of these awards, and to hold up these people as examples to be followed. I want others to see what these people have done and understand that, in their different fields, they show forth values which are our values, Gospel values of love for humanity, reconciliation and selfless service; and, more widely, values common to all people of good will - values of common decency and a refusal to bow to false gods.



The recipients of the Lambeth Awards in 2018 are:

Cross of St Augustine for services to the Anglican Communion

Christine Codner

Canon Grace Kaiso

Canon Joanna Udal

The Canterbury Cross for Services to the Church of England

Canon Rupert Bursell QC

Professor Michael Gilbert Clarke

Prebendary John Collins

Margaret Holness

Andrew Nunn

Mrs Rona Orme

The Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation

Bishop Mouneer Anis (Egypt)

Bishop Paul Butler (Durham)

Imam Mohammed Mahmoud

Chaudry Abdul Rashid

Canon Dr Andrew Smith

The Langton Award for Community Service

Elizabeth Baxter

Heather Black

John Kirkby

Bishop Alastair Redfern

The Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship

Dr John Bell

Bernadette Farrell

Dr Geonyong Lee

The Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship

Paula Gooder

Professor Tom McLeish

Bishop Robert Garshong Allotey Okine (former Archbishop of West Africa)

The Alphege Award for Evangelism and Witness

Janet Knox

Prebendary Dick Lucas

Dr Anne Richards

Canon Roger Simpson

The Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism
TEL AVIV - The first demonstrations kicked off early on Friday in Gaza at the border with Israel.

Palestinian demonstrators, according to local sources, started to set tires on fire so Israeli soldiers would be unable to see what was happening on the other side of the defensive barrier.

The majority of protesters taking part in the 'March for the return' backed by Hamas is expected at the end of Friday prayers.

Meanwhile medical sources in the Gaza Strip announced the death of one of the demonstrators wounded last week in violent clashes with the army. On the eve of the demonstration on Friday, the envoy of US president Donald Trump to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, the EU and Egypt called for calm.
ROME - Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was released from Germany's Neunmuenster prison in the state of Schleswig-Holstein on Friday after being granted bail, which the court set at 75,000 euros.

Following his exit from the jail, Puigdemont called for the immediate release of nine pro-independence leaders incarcerated in Spain.

"It is a shame for Europe to have political prisoners," he said.

"I want to thank everyone for the help and the solidarity," he then said in German, speaking in front of the prison walls.

"We are fighting for democracy. Democracy is at risk in Spain," he said.

Puigdemont's German attorney, Wolfgang Schomburg, said the "legal battle will move forward".


Anger as students who kissed readmitted to Morocco school High school vandalised, strikes, calls for harsher punishment

(ANSAmed) - RABAT, APRIL 6 - A high school in Meknes, the smallest of Morocco's four imperial cities, is in an uproar after two students who were caught kissing at recess last October and subsequently expelled were permitted to return to school.



The episode at Mohammed V High School occurred when the two students' classmates used cell phones to film the couple's stolen kiss.



The resulting consequences and ensuing controversy have continued until now, when the two students were readmitted to school.



Teachers, parents, and students at the high school spoke out against the decision, calling it "excessively lenient", "gratuitous permissiveness", and even "morally harmful", according to local newspapers.



Although the readmission was granted under the condition of community service, it still set off acts of vandalism, teacher strikes, and formal complaints.



The high school, which became a target of student anger, has been damaged, and the principal has been suspended for failing to find a solution that everyone could agree upon.



In addition, the teacher strikes threaten to lay waste to the entire school year, which may have to be repeated as a result.



The two students were granted readmission by the Education Ministry's provincial office, which decided to annul the students' suspension and transfer to a different school and substitute it with community service.(ANSAmed).




Thirteen wounded in clashes in northern Gaza, Maan agency Says tear gas and real bullets used against demonstrators

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, APRIL 6 - At least 13 people have been wounded in the first incidents with the Israeli Army on Friday, during demonstrations taking place along the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian news agency Maan.



It said clashes took place near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.



Demonstrators burned rubber tires to block Israeli snipers' view, and the demonstrators were tear-gassed and shot at with real bullets, Maan said.



Meanwhile, some Hamas leaders joined the front line of demonstrators marching on Gaza City near the border with Israel.



Hamas political leader Mahmoud al-Zahar and Gaza security chief Gen. Tawfiq Abu Naim spoke words of encouragement to the marchers.



Naim participated in Friday prayers in a large tent set up near the Jabalia camp, not far from Israeli positions.(ANSAmed).




Turkey: new air raids against Kurdish PKK in north Iraq

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, APRIL 6 - Turkey's armed forces on Friday said that new air raids were carried out against the Kurdish PKK in northern Iraq. Turkish jets reportedly bombed the region of Hakurk, a rebel stronghold, ''neutralizing'' (killing or wounding) at least 14 fighters and destroying 13 hiding places, according to the army.



Since a truce was broken in July 2015, the Turkish army has been regularly carrying out raids in northern Iraq.



Ankara also carried out ground operations near the border and has recently threatened a vast offensive against the region of Sinjar, at the border with Syria, if Iraqi authorities will not drive away the PKK from that area. (ANSAmed).




NAPLES - A new tourist itinerary launched for 2018 by the Catalan Tourist Board, called "Route of the Americans", helps tourists rediscover the importance of the Spanish town of Lloret de Mar as one of the most important European centres for trade between America, and Cuba in particular, in the 1800s.

Modern-day Lloret de Mar, on the country's picturesque Costa Brava, is a popular tourist hub, but in 1880 it was a fishing village that saw strong development due to its shipbuilding industry.

At that time, ships were built there that were able to cross the Atlantic to bring wine, vinegar, and salt to Cuba, returning to Spain with coffee, cocoa, and tobacco.

The merchants who departed from Lloret de Mar were called "the Americans", and the new tourist itinerary is inspired by their journeys during a golden age of trade that lasted until 1920.

The itinerary has been promoted at tourism trade fairs in Italy, given that Italian tourists make up the Catalonia region's second-largest market, after France.

In January 2018, the Region of Catalonia registered 862,872 international tourists, up 2% on the same period in 2017, with 94,203 visitors from Italy, a 14% increase on 2017.

In terms of spending, international tourism totaled 912 million euros in January 2018, an 11.1% increase, and the Italian market saw an increase of 11.2% with 54 million euros in spending and an average daily spending of 136 euros, up 24.7% on 2017.

"We will continue to support the growth of this market, aiming at promotion of cultural, family, and sport tourism, " said Marta Teixidor, director of the Catalan Office of Tourism for Italy and Israel.

"We will also promote new, theme-based itineraries across the entire region to encourage independent travellers to discover Catalonia," she said.
Migrant tragedy expressed through music of composer Eotvos National Symphony Orchestra concert on RAI Italian television

(ANSAmed) - ROME - Hungarian composer Peter Eotvos, in describing his new work "To the Nameless Victims", said it "must remember the numerous Arab and African migrants who, in the hope of landing in a better world, unsuspectingly boarded overcrowded boats, swallowed up before reaching the Italian coasts". Eotvos was commissioned to create the work by the four main Italian orchestras: the Scala Philharmonic, the Academy of Santa Cecilia, the RAI National Symphony, and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. The performance of the piece was broadcast on RAI 5 on April 5 from the RAI Arturo Toscanini Auditorium.



"While working on this composition, I observed the poignant images: not only the faces of individuals, but also the incredibly dense mass of people crowded together on these vessels. The images are transformed in the composition into tender melodies played on solo instruments and dense masses of sound performed by the whole orchestra. When I sat in front of the finished score, I had the impression that the rhythmic structure and thematic drama of the work would be suitable for choreography and would perhaps become the first 'danced requiem' in music history," Eotvos said.



Peter Eotvos, the most well-known Hungarian musician of today, was born in Transylvania in 1944. With this performance he returns to the podium of the RAI Orchestra in the dual role of composer and conductor, 11 years after the success of his mammoth "Atlantis". That piece, in 2007, saw the complex orchestral and technological apparatus planned by the composer spread throughout the RAI Auditorium, with 10 percussionists located across the stage, balconies and gallery. The concert programme was completed by the Dances of Marosszek by Zoltan Kodaly, written between 1923 and 1927 and based on the musical traditions of the Szekelys, an ancient Hungarian population from Transylvania, where Eotvos is from. In conclusion a one-act pantomime ballet, "The Miraculous Mandarin", written between 1918 and 1919 by Bela Bartok, one of the most shocking and innovative scores of the entire 20th century. (ANSAmed).




According to the "Sofia Globe" newspaper website, Bulgarian Defense Minister Krassimir Karakachanov has decided to ask for Cabinet approval for two acquisition projects, for 16 fighter jets and 150 combat vehicles for the land forces. Bulgaria needs to modernize its land forces and increase their capabilities to response to new combat missions.



Two Soviet-made BRDM-2-based anti-tank vehicles of the Bulgarian army, 2006 Army day parade preparations. (Picture source Wikipedia)

Defense Minister of Bulgaria, Krassimir Karakachanov will ask to Bulgarian cabinet an approval to acquire 150 new combat vehicles for the Bulgarian armed forces. This decision was taken after a meeting of the Defense Council on April 4, 2018 with the goal to modernize armed forces of the country.

The Bulgarian Defense Ministry said that "The main objective of this acquisition of armoured vehicles for the land forces was to create modern capabilities of the Bulgarian armed forces according to NATO and allied standards and to offer new operational capabilities for the protection of Bulgarias national sovereignty and independent", said Bulgarian Defense Ministry Krassimir Karakachanov. Bulgaria needs to develop and build national defense industrial capability and support the lifecycle of military equipment and weapons, he added.

The acquisition of these new armoured combat vehicles should be spread over a period of 12 years. The estimated spending for this project could reach an amount of 1.2 billion leva (614 million).

"For this budget, a billion leva (around 500 million) is for the purchase of combat vehicles and 200 million leva ($100 million) for the acquisition of systems and special equipment, said the Bulgarian Defense Ministry said.

Currently Bulgarian army use old Soviet-made combat vehicles as the BRDM-2 4x4 reconnaissance vehicle and modernized version of the Soviet-made BTR-60PB 8x8 armoured vehicle personnel carrier. There is a few number of modern combat vehicles in service with Bulgarian armed forces as the Sandcat used by the military police and 4 Maxxpro MRAPs, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.
New Amaze is built on an all-new platform and would be available with both petrol and diesel powertrains.

The booking for the second generation Amaze can be made at all authorised dealerships of the company.

New Delhi: Honda Cars India on Friday said it has commenced pre-launch booking for all new Amaze which it plans to launch in the country next month.

The booking for the second generation Amaze can be made at all authorised dealerships of the company with a booking amount of Rs 21,000, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) said in a statement.

The new Amaze is built on an all-new platform and would be available with both petrol and diesel powertrains. It will also feature a diesel variant with CVT (fully automatic) transmission.

It would be Honda's first diesel engine combined with CVT (continuously variable transmission), and India will be the first market to launch this technology, the company said.

"The Honda Amaze has been one of our very successful models in India, with over 2.57 lakh satisfied customers. With the 2nd generation Amaze, we are extremely excited to add another chapter to the success story of the model," HCIL Senior Vice President and Director Marketing and Sales Rajesh Goel said.
The officials said he was questioned about the UPA government's 20:80 gold import scheme.

The CBI on Friday questioned a former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, H R Khan, in connection with alleged bank fraud cases involving diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and relaxation of gold import policy by the erstwhile UPA government, sources said on Friday.

New Delhi: The CBI on Friday questioned a former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, H R Khan, in connection with alleged bank fraud cases involving diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and relaxation of gold import policy by the erstwhile UPA government, sources said on Friday.

The officials said he was questioned about the UPA government's 20:80 gold import scheme, which was cleared by then Finance Minister Chidambaram on May 13, 2014, barely three days before the counting of votes of the general election.

The central investigation agency, which is probing the alleged Rs 13,000-crore PNB fraud involving billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, had yesterday questioned three Chief General Managers and one General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), officials said.
Digital currency may save on printing, distribution costs of notes.

Mumbai: Joining a host of countries whose central banks are weighing pros and cons of issuing their sovereign backed digital currency, the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said that it has set up a panel to explore the introduction of its own fiat digital currency.

An interdepartmental group has been constituted to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency and will submit its report by June, RBI said.

RBI deputy governor B.P. Kanungo said, As opposed to private digital tokens, these are issued by a central bank. They constitute liability of the central bank, and they will be in circulation in addition to the paper currency that we have.The deputy governor said digital currency can also reduce the cost of printing and circulating paper currency.

Mr Kanungo was speaking at a post-policy press meet by RBI governor and deputy governors in Mumbai on Thursday.

11

Recently, there was a speculation of the government planning to lau-nch its own digital currency called Laxmi coin.

While the blockchain technology is considered to enhance the efficiency and speed of financial transactions, Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said central banks must carefully weigh the implications of introducing digital currencies. BIS said it could impact commericial banks as deposits could take flight easily in the times of crisis.

In an attempt to ringf-ence Indian entities from volatility of cyptocurrency, he said RBI has asked banks to stop having a business relationship with the entities dealing with virtual currencies forthwith and unwind the existing relationships within three months.
Salman was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday in the 20-year old blackbuck poaching case.

Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan at the airport before leaving for the blackbuck poaching case verdict in Jodhpur.

Mumbai: Actor Salman Khan was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday in the 20-year old blackbuck poaching case.

Also read: Salman Khan to spend second night in jail, court reserves bail for tomorrow

Shortly after the sentence was pronounced on Thursday, Salman Khan was taken to Jodhpur Central Jail.

Salman spent his first night at the Jodhpur Central jail as prisoner number 106. He was served simple dal-roti which he did not eat.

Also read: Salman Khan killed the blackbuck because of Tabu and Sonali's dare, claims eyewitness

On Thursday, the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court (CJM), Jodhpur Rural found the actor guilty of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village, near Jodhpur, during the shooting of Bollywood movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Also read: Salman Khan blackbuck poaching case: Defence prepares a 51 page argument

Salman, the main accused in the case and who was driving the car that night, was also fined Rs 10,000 by CJM Dev Kumar Khatri.

Also read: Salman Khan refused to eat dal-roti served on first night in Jodhpur jail

Convicting the actor, a judge in Jodhpur court emphasised that the "accused is a film star and people look up to him".

Also read: 10 things you absolutely must know about Salman Khans blackbuck case

His co-stars and co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, who had accompanied the actor that night, were acquitted by CJM Dev Kumar Khatri.

Also read: Salman Khan in jail: Rs 1,000 Cr rides on him in Bollywood

Before leaving at 12.30 pm, Hindustan Times reports that Saif Ali Khan shook Salman Khans hands and wished him good luck before exiting the court.

All the actors returned back to Mumbai, and soon after, an eyewitness claimed that it was Salmans Hum Saath Saath Hain heroines Tabu and Sonali Bendre Behl who provoked him to pull the trigger, thus killing the blackbuck.
Extremely impressed with digital platform, Saif might take up another web-series post Sacred Games.

Saif Ali Khan known for his quirky choice of films has decided to explore the digital platform with Netflix series Sacred Games. And now, extremely impressed with this platform, the actor has decided to take up another web-series, post Sacred Games.

The way the stories are told through the digital platform has caught Saifs interest. He has been offered quite a lot of web series and he is considering few of them. He will soon be doing one more web series if things go as per the plan, said a source.

According to the source, the said script is a political drama that will go on floors once Saif signs on the dotted lines.

He will next be seen in Baazaar, also starring Radhika Apte and then in the Netflix series.

It would be interesting to see Saif setting a trend by being part of the digital platform so strongly.
Three cases were for poaching and one was for possession and use of illegal arms.

Mumbai: Salman Khans defence lawyer Mahesh Bora has been provided with security after he received threat calls and messages from a caller who identified himself as Ravi Pujari, a fugitive gangster. Pujari allegedly threatened him to quit as Salmans lawyer. Bora, who is in Jodhpur, had complained to the Jodhpur police commissioner who ordered for the provision of security to him.

The Bollywood stars Jodhpur based lawyer had informed the court about getting threats before starting off his arguments on Salmans bail plea.

Speaking to The Asian Age on phone, advocate Mahesh Bora confirmed this and said, I received few messages and internet calls asking me to leave Salmans case. He also said, Why should I leave the case? I appeared today also and will appear in the future too.I am not scared of these threats.

I got to know that the messages were from a mobile number from Malaysia and the calls were from some other country, said Bora adding, I have reported the matter to the commissioner of police and he is taking care of it.

The lawyer has claimed that the messages said, Salman Khan ka case ko chor dijiye, warna goli maarenge (leave Slaman Khans case or else you will be shot ).

Advocates Mahesh and Nishant Bora have filed for Salmans bail because a trial court in Jodhpur has convicted him in a case of poaching a blackbuck around 20 years back.

There were total four cases against Salman Khan. Three cases were for poaching and one was for possession and use of illegal arms. Salman has already been acquitted from the illegal arms case and two poaching cases. However, he has been convicted in the first case of poaching registered in 1998.

The court has acquitted co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari and Tabu.
Manzoor Ahmad along with his father Abdul Gaffar Bhat were abducted from their home in Hajin area of Bandipore on Wednesday.

The police said Manzoor Ahmad was beheaded by the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. (Photo: Representational/ANI)

Jammu: Two days after a 24-year-old man was abducted by terrorists, his headless body was found on Friday in an orchard in Bandipore district of north Kashmir.

The police said Manzoor Ahmad was beheaded by the militants of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

According to a report in NDTV, Manzoor Ahmad along with his father Abdul Gaffar Bhat were abducted from their home in Hajin area of Bandipore on Wednesday.

Lashkar terrorists barged into Bhats home a little before noon and attacked the family," a police official said.

The militants dragged father and son with them.

"Abdul escaped even though he was fired upon and suffered injuries," police official added.

Abdul Gaffar Bhat is currently hospitalised.

Manzoor Ahmad's body was found near their home on Friday.

This is the second case of terrorists targeting civilians at Hajin this week. A 33-year-old private car driver Muntazir was found murdered on Tuesday after terrorists kidnapped him on Monday night.
JPC has asked organisations who were called for hearings to submit their memorandum in advance along with names of representatives.

The All Assam Students Union (AASU) and 26 other organizations representing different ethnic groups of the state, have already submitted a joint memorandum to the JPC but only a few of the organizations have been called for the hearing. (Photo: PTI | Representational)

Guwahati: In what has triggered an angry reaction in Assam, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has decided to resume hearing in New Delhi on April 12 but a large number of stakeholders who opposed the bill have not been called for hearing.

The JPC has asked the organisations who were called for the hearings to submit their memorandum well in advance along with the names of the representatives, attending the hearing.

It is significant that formation of the JPC had necessitated after a large number of organizations in Assam opposed the bill seeking to provide citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis who came to India after March 25, 1971 due to religious persecution in their own country.

The All Assam Students Union (AASU) and 26 other organizations representing different ethnic groups of the state, have already submitted a joint memorandum to the JPC but only a few of the organizations have been called for the hearing.

The AASU which appeared before the JPC long back, has strongly opposed the bill saying that the bill violates the provisions of the Assam Accord and poses a threat to the identity of the indigenous people of the state.

The AASU in its memorandum to the JPC stated that the proposed bill would destroy the valued principle of secularism enshrined in the Constitution of India. The Bill has a hidden agenda of creating vote bank at the cost of the secular fabric of the country and the Bill would encourage further infiltration from Bangladesh, the memorandum said.

The memorandum further said that Assam would not be able to take any more burden of Bangladeshi nationals irrespective of their religion as the state has already accepted the burden of the foreigners who came to the state up to the midnight of March 24, 1971 and all sections of indigenous people of the State are opposed to granting citizenship to foreigners who came to the State on or after March 25, 1971.

The proposed bill has created a lot of anger in the state as a large number of organizations pleaded that the JPC should conduct its hearing in the state instead of holding it in New Delhi.

The AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya has warned that the Central and State Governments should be ready to face a vigorous movement if they try to pass the bill forcefully by not accepting the opinion of the people of the state. He said that the JPC should take the opinion of all the indigenous people of the state before formulating its opinion and if the Centre tries to impose the bill against the wishes of the people, it would be responsible for the consequences.

The group intellectuals lead by noted social activists Hiren Gohain has also called people from all sections of society to unite and demand immediate withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, and oppose the "steamrollering of Assamese sentiments".

The noted RTI activist Akhil Gogoi alleged that it was the conspiracy of the BJP government to hold the hearing of JPC in New Delhi so that many of the stakeholders could not appear before the committee. He also warned that any attempt to impose the bill would be counterproductive. We are going to oppose the bill tooth and nail, said Gogoi.
Aishwarya Rai is daughter of RJP lawmaker Chandrika Rai and grand daughter of former Bihar CM Daroga Prasad Rai.

The engagement ceremony of Tej Pratap and Aishwarya Rai will take place later this month and marriage will be held only next month in the state capital. (Photo: Screengrab)

Patna: RJD supremo and former chief minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife's hunt for 'sansakari bahu' for their elder son Tej PratapYadav is finally over.

Former Bihar health minister, Tej Pratap (30) will tie knot with Aishwarya Rai, daughter of six-time Rashtriya Janata Dal lawmaker Chandrika Rai and a cabinet colleague of Lalu Yadav in many governments.

Aishwarya is the grand daughter of Daroga Prasad Rai, a Congress leader who also served as the chief minister of Bihar for 11 months in 1970.

The development was confirmed by a close aide of Lalus family on Thursday who said the marriage has been finalised but the dates are yet to be confirmed.

According to reports, the engagement ceremony of Tej and Aishwarya will take place later this month and marriage will be held only next month in the state capital.

The venue of the marriage is said to be the Veterinary Grounds in Patna, the same place where Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modis son was married following Tej Prataps threat.

Aishwarya Rai, a history graduate from Miranda House college of University of Delhi, hails from Chhapra. She did her schooling from Notre Dame Academy in Patna.

While Rai holds an MBA degree from Amity University, her would-be husband Tej Pratap is 12th pass.

Aishwarya, 25, has two younger siblings  one sister who studies in Bengaluru and a brother who is a lawyer at Patna High Court.

On the Lalus 70th birthday in 2017, when media had questioned Rabri Devi about marriage plans of her sons, she had replied that the family was searching sanskari daughters-in-law for her sons. Rabri had said that she was searching for a girl who respects elders and abstain from trips to mall and cinema. She added that her daughter-in-law should be a home maker.

That set of conditions stated by Rabri Devi for a perfect bride for her sons had triggered a mild controversy but Lalu Yadav had moved quickly, explaining her seemingly regressive remarks to mean something very different.

"Sanskari bahu doesn't mean veiled, home bound, dependent lady. It means strong willed, loving, caring lady, whthr (whether) working women or housewife (sic)," he wrote on Twitter.

The marriage ceremony next month gives Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is serving a 14-term and was recently brought to AIIMS in Delhi for treatment and check-up, enough time to seek parole to join the family for the wedding.
The Nepalese PM, who will reach New Delhi on Friday morning, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

New Delhi: Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli  widely seen as pro-China in his policies and approach--will make a three-day official visit to India starting Friday and will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on both Friday and Saturday.

The Nepalese PM, who will reach New Delhi on Friday morning, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Earlier in the day on Friday, the Nepalese PM will also attend a business event apart from meeting representatives of the Nepalese community in New Delhi. On Saturday, he will hold delegation-level talks with PM Modi on Saturday morning at the Hyderabad House in the Capital following which the two leaders will participate in the

Remote inauguration of Development Projects at the same venue. He will also Visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand on Sunday.

Meanwhile defence ministry sources said on Thursday that the 13th Indo-Nepal battalion level military exercise would be held sometime next month in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh area. The exercise aims to increase interoperability in jungle warfare and counter terror operations in mountainous terrain. About 350 soldiers each from the Indian and Nepalese Army will take part in the joint military exercises.

Even as China is staunchly backing the new Communist Government in Nepal led by PM Oli, New Delhi is trying to ensure that it retains its influence and relevance in the Nepalese polity.

In a statement last week, the MEA had said, "At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rt. Honble K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal, accompanied by his spouse Mrs. Radhika Shakya, will be paying a State Visit to India from April 6-8, 2018. A high-level delegation will accompany Prime Minister of Nepal.'
Cong, BJP MPs stood facing each other outside Parliament with placards, screaming slogans and trying to out-shout other side.

The BJP accuses the Congress and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi of disrupting parliament. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Moments after both the houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die amid protests and uproar, members of the ruling BJP-led coalition and the opposition Congress took their fight outside.

Members of Parliament of the BJP, including ministers, and those of the Congress, stood facing each other near the Gandhi statue in the parliament premise with placards, each side screaming slogans and trying to out-shout the other side.

BJP MPs have decided to observe a fast on April 12 to protest against the parliament logjam, said union minister Ananth Kumar.

Also Read: BJP MPs to fast on Apr 12 to protest impasse in Parliament: PM Modi

"The Congress party is intolerant of the mandate given to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi in 21 states," Union Parliamentary Minister Ananth Kumar told NDTV as he along with other BJP MPs marched across the parliament complex holding yellow posters and placards and shouting slogans.

The BJP accuses the Congress and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi of disrupting parliament.

The Opposition parties also staged a protest near the Gandhi statue on Thursday and held the government responsible for disruption of the Parliament. Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi too participated in the protest.

For the first time, Congress leaders stayed away from tea hosted by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Friday morning, protesting against the way the disruptions in the house were handled.

The ruling party and the Opposition confrontation highlight sharp battle lines in a year of elections, especially the polls in Congress-ruled Karnataka on May 12.

Parliament's budget session was a near washout as both houses were adjourned without much progress after daily disruptions and protests.

The first half of the session was held from January 31 to February 9 and after a month-long recess the second half of the session began on 9 March.

During the session till now, the Lok Sabha has passed 21 bills and the Rajya Sabha 14 bills. They include the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, The Mental Health Care Bill, The Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill, The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the crucial four supporting bills for the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax.
There are elements in every society who keep looking for an opportunity to create tension, says Nitish Kumar.

Patna/new Delhi: In a message apparently aimed at alliance partner BJP, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said that just as he has not compromised with corruption, he should not be expected to compromise with communalism.

At least three districts in Bihar have been rocked by communal violence and Opposition parties, including former alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have blamed Nitish Kumar for the situation. A BJP leader has been arrested for inciting violence.

Speaking at a function in Patna, Mr Kumar said, There are elements in every society who keep looking for an opportunity to create tension. We are committed to peace, communal harmony and brotherhood, and if somebody tries to disturb that, then he has to go behind bars. Such elements wont be spared.

Mr Kumar also attacked the Opposition parties for criticising prohibition policy, saying the stance was anti-poor since the economically deprived sections of the society suffer most on account of alcoholism.

There are people who are angry with me because of obvious reasons. They are welcome to do so. They may even try to destroy me if it makes them happy. But it is my request, for heavens sake do not start opposing prohibition just because you want to oppose me, he added.

Mr Kumar, who had come to power in Bihar as part of the Grand Alliance with RJD and Congress as partners, exited the coalition last year and formed the government with BJP.

Taking a swipe at Lalu Prasad Yadavs son and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, Mr Kumar said, Some people have no understanding of any issue but they love to keep tweeting all through the day. I am often accused of being responsible for such figures getting into the limelight. Perhaps, I am gullible.
Opposing the bail plea, the public prosecutor Pokarram Vishnoi said that this case cannot be compared with other cases against him.

Jaipur: Salman Khan will spend another night in Jodhpur Central Jail and may be more in case his bail application is rejected. This development comes after district and sessions court reserved its verdict in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case to Saturday.

After hearing Salmans lawyer and public prosecution, Judge Ravindra Kumar Jain said that he will take up the matter after going through entire case records before deciding the bail application. Salman was not present in the court.

Salmans lawyers  Hastimal Saraswat and Mahesh Bora  expressed doubts over witnesses and recoveries, claiming that eyewitness accounts were unreliable, and therefore the punishment to the actor is harsh. The lawyers had also cited acquittal in other cases in the 51-page bail plea submitted in court.

We argued for bail in the court. Basically the eyewitness is not reliable... the trial court has convicted Salman on the basis of basically just one eyewitness, Mr Bora told reporters in Jodhpur.

How can villagers reached the spot several kilometres away by hearing gun shot, Mr Bora asked. He asked if Salman stayed there till the villagers reached? Salman has been acquitted in three other related cases. He can be granted bail on that basis. Whenever, he was summoned he has appeared in the court. He was never in jail during this period. It would not be appropriate to keep him in jail now. He has been framed, Mr Bora argued.

Opposing the bail plea, the public prosecutor Pokarram Vishnoi said that this case cannot be compared with other cases against him. Unlike cases in which he was acquitted, there are eye-witnesses in this case. The arguments by the defence lawyer are not tenable for bail application. They are appropriate for the appeal against the punishment, he said.

However, the judge said that he had received records related to this case in the morning, hence, he needed some time to read it. Public prosecutor has also applied for the record under CrPC Section 389. After reading it, the prosecution will file its reply followed by rejoinder only then the court would pronounce its decision.

In case, the bail application is rejected, Salman will have to spend two more days in jail because of weekend. He will then have to apply for bail in the high court on Monday.
The storm brought down the normal visibility to a considerable low, affecting the flight schedules and disrupting the road traffic.

Strong winds with thick dust blew relentlessly across the city before giving way to thunder and lighting and then finally some rain. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Day virtually turned into night as darkness in the form of heavy clouds invaded the National Capital on Friday in the middle of the afternoon.

Strong winds with thick dust blew relentlessly across the city before giving way to thunder and lighting and then finally some rain. The average citizen was caught unawares in the middle of the sudden dust storm.

The storm brought down the normal visibility to a considerable low, affecting the flight schedules and disrupting the road traffic.

The flights arriving in and departing from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport were delayed up to one hour, while 24 flight had to be diverted out of Delhi due to the bad weather.

The national capital had lately been experiencing soaring temperatures, and the light drizzle that followed the storm came as a welcome relief to the residents.

Here's how the Twitterati reacted to the sudden weather change!

"#DustStorm forces #Delhi to standstill.. #DelhiMetro #BlueLine services disrupted, 24 flights diverted," tweeted one user.

Another expressed their woe over the flight getting diverted, "Dust storm in Delhi apparently. On a #JetAirways from Lucknow got; redirected to Varanasi... As usual, tiny arguments inside aircraft: some feel they've been told by their family members that other aircrafts are landing so why not Jet ??."
During patrolling on Tuesday the police noticed two suspicious persons riding a Yamaha bike.

During enquiry, they were identified as Manpreet and Shahil. While searching them, a loaded pistol (.315 bore) along with two live cartridges were recovered. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Four notorious criminals were arrested by the Shahdara police. Two country-made pistols along with three live cartridges and three stolen motorcycle were recovered from their possession.

As per the police, the accused were identified as Vikash (24), a habitual robber, Yash Sharma (22), Sahil Luthra (22) and Manpreet Bedi (23). Bedi was previously involved in five cases of snatching and theft cases.

During patrolling on Tuesday the police noticed two suspicious persons riding a Yamaha bike. When they asked them to stop and show the necessary documents, the criminals tried to flee away but were quickly overpowered by the police. During enquiry, they were identified as Manpreet and Shahil. While searching them, a loaded pistol (.315 bore) along with two live cartridges were recovered.
The petition was a result of an earlier plea from the JNU Students Union (JNUSU).

New Delhi: MPs from across parties have sought Union human resources department (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekars intervention in mending the alleged violation of quota policy in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

In a letter to the Union minister, more than 30 MPs from both Houses of the Parliament, urged him to intervene in the alleged bypassing of the reservation system for SCs, STs, and OBCs at the university.

The MPs belong from the Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), CPI, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

The plea was sent on Monday to the Lok Sabhas Committee on Petitions through CPI-M MP Jitendra Choudhury, a member of the panel.

The petition was a result of an earlier plea from the JNU Students Union (JNUSU).

The petitioners in the letter argued against current method of selection criteria for admission in M.Phil and Ph.D programmes in the university, according to which one requires to score at least 50 per cent in the written exam to qualify for the viva voce or oral exam, with no provision for any reservation.

The letter said, Clauses in the Admission Policy and Procedure 2018-19 (Annexure 1) has made written examination a qualifying paper and viva the sole criteria for selection.

A committee constituted by the varsity in 2016 to study discrimination in the admission process recommended reduction of Viva marks from 30 to 15 to mitigate the discrimination pattern. This shows that the varsity has violated fundamental rights, Central Education Institutions (reservation in admissions) Act 2006 and SC/ST Atrocities Act 1989, the letter said.

On Wednesday, the JNUSU petitioned Lok Sabha to restore reservation benefits awarded to students belonging to backward classes.

Earlier it was 70 marks for written test, 30 marks for viva. Combined marks of both would be considered for selection, besides properly fulfilling the reservation norms, JNUSU president Geeta Kumari earlier said
The said man was found absconding and eventually traced to his brother-in-laws house in Noida, UP.

New Delhi: A 7-year-old boy, who went missing on Monday, was found dead in a drain in Okhla Phase-3, the police said. The accused has been arrested. He had tried to sexually assault the victim and when the latter resisted, he killed him.

The accused was identified as Sandeep Singh alias Dangar (21), a resident of Harkesh Nagar. He has no previous crimne record, the police said.

As per the police, a complaint was received on Monday regarding a missing child. Detailed search was launched for the missing boy, including announcements through loudspeakers. A door-to-door search was also initiated, they added.

A case under Section 363 of the IPC was lodged. During the course of investigation, it was revealed that the missing child was last seen with one Sandeep on the day of the incident.

The said man was found absconding and eventually traced to his brother-in-laws house in Noida, UP. He was apprehended from there and was taken into custody.

During sustained interrogation, the accused broke down and confessed he had kidnapped and murdered the boy on the very day that he had gone missing.

Sandeep led the police to the childs body in Okhla. The police filed a case under Section 302 of the IPC and Section 10 of the Pocso Act. were added. The accused was produced in the court and was taken into judicial custody till April 19, said DCP Chinmoy Biswal
Live chat session to take place through NaMo app.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with district level BJP workers through NaMo app and in the first round, five parliamentary constituencies will be selected from across the country.

These include the prestigious New Delhi constituency and Northeast Delhi constituency.

Mr Modi will have a live chat session with the ground workers of the party in the five parliamentary constituencies through NaMo app, on the occasion of the partys 38th Foundation Day on April 6. This move is being interpreted in the political circles as a ploy to boost the morale of the party cadre ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to top sources in the party, a special feature has been added to the NaMo app wherein the Prime Minister can interact with a group of party workers. This is the first time the PM will directly interact with party workers whom he has often termed as key to electoral success, sources said.

Mr Modi on Friday will hold interactive discussions with the party workers in the constituencies of Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi), MPs Meenakshi Lekhi (New Delhi), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Saran in Bihar), Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh) and Poonam Mahajan (North Central Mumbai).

Terming the move as a great initiative, Mr Tiwari told this newspaper that this once again exhibits how strong the internal democracy is within the BJP where the countrys Prime Minister himself will interact with ground workers.

A senior party leader said that such sessions would continue in future as well. He said that Mr Modi is expected to take at least two questions from each of the Lok Sabha constituencies.

It is learnt that a public meeting has been planned in Mumbai on the partys Foundation Day.
Maken seeks CBI probe into irregularities.

New Delhi: On Thursday, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Ajay Maken demanded the resignation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. He also sought a CBI inquiry into the irregularities and corruption in the public distribution system as pointed out in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, which was tabled in the state Assembly on April 3.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Maken said the corruption and irregularities in the ration distribution system was taking place under the nose of the Kejriwal government, which was now trying to fool the people with misinformation to divert their attention. He said that as head of the government, Mr Kejriwal cannot absolve himself from the responsibility of corruption as pointed out by the CAG in the ration distribution.

Besides the DPCC president, others present at the press conference include former Delhi food and civil supplies minister HaroonYusuf, senior leader Chattar Singh, and chief media co-ordinator Mehndi Majid.

Mr Maken said that despite the officers pointing out the scams surrounding the ration distribution system in Delhi in five important circulars, which were put on the public domain, the Kejriwal government and the chairpersons of the circle and district level vigilance committees, who are local area MLAs and MPs respectively, did not act on them.

Mr Maken said it was mandatory that each ration card holder should get an alert on their respective mobile phones. But in 2,453 cases, the mobile number of the ration shop owners was found.

The National Food Security Act provides a grievance redressal mechanism, including toll free call centres. Mr Maken said that between August 2013 and March 2017, the total number of calls received were 15,81,542 and only 6,61,523 of these were answered. This was due to shortage of manpower at these centres. He added that in 412 ration cards, a single name was repeated several times.

Mr Maken pointed out that ration is meant for the poor. However, in 1,000 cases ration cards had entries of names of servants as family members.

Fair price shop license holders and those families, who have financial capacity to employ servants, are allowed NFS benefits, he said.
Sachin Sawant also demanded that CM stay the denotifiaction.

Mumbai: A committee comprising former ACS K.P. Bakshi, which was formed by the government to probe allegations of fraudulent denotification of land acquired by the industries department, found that industries minister Subhash Desai had denotified thousands of acres despite opposition from officials, but chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has not stayed those decisions yet. Calling for action in the matter immediately, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have demanded judicial probe.

In August 2017, Mr Fadnavis had appointed the committee under Mr Bakshi to probe allegations against Mr Desai after the Opposition alleged that denotification of industrial plots had been done on behalf of a builder.

Mr Fadnavis recently gave a clean chit to Mr Desai on the floor of the Legislative Assembly while narrating a few points of the report, which is yet to be released to the public.

The Bakshi committee found that 14,319 hectares of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corpor-ation (MIDC) land in Nashik were denotified or released by the industry minister from August 2002 to August 2017.

Out of which, during Mr Desais tenure (January 2015 to March 31, 2017), 12,429 hectares of land were denotified. Despite opposition by the industry secretary, Mr Desai allegedly released the land in 40 cases and his predecessor Narayan Rane released land in 55 cases.

Out of 160 cases of land release, 95 were not referred to the CM for directions  which is the procedure to be followed when a minister and secretaries differ, the Bakshi committee found. Now, Mr Fadnavis is thinking over the issue and the further course of action. But he has not granted stay in the de-notification of lands, sources have said.

Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil slammed the government, alleging that the decisions were taken to safeguard the interests of builders. Sachin Sawant also demanded that CM stay the denotifiaction.
Many take to social media to vent anger at jam-packed roads and delays.

Mumbai: The key Western Express Highway on the stretch leading to the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) witnessed long traffic snarls during the morning peak hour on Friday on account of BJPs 38th foundation day rally though the authorities deployed 4,000 policemen on traffic duties in the area.

The 20-minute commute between Andheri and Bandra turned out to be a 75-minute ordeal for many commuters.

Some commuters also lashed out on social networking websites, blaming the BJP for the traffic woes. Many people, including Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan took to the social media to send out messages of traffic jams and many expressed anger.

Mumbai police had tweeted traffic advisory on its official Twitter handle alerting the commuters to the probable traffic congestion on roads leading to the Eastern Express Highway and the Western Express Highway towards BKC.

Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said, There were a few traffic snarls, but they were eventually brought under control. Traffic policemen were deployed heavily to avoid any misunderstanding that can lead to chaos.

A traffic police official said on the condition of anonymity, We have caught a few men for travelling triple seat on motor cycles, and fined them. The data of how many such cases were reported will be gathered and a report made in two-three days.

Mr Bachchan tweeted: A 30 min drive . takes 5 hours . ! thats the Phantom movie camera moving at 500 frames per second .Film City to JVPD Scheme, Juhu .. normal camera moves at 24 frames (sic).

One of the commuters, Riya Gethani (27), a mechanical engineer, who works in BKC said, Today I was super late to the office as I reached 11.30 am for a 10 am reporting time. I was lucky that my bosses were considerate, and allowed me to work without marking me late.

Some others who lashed out on Twitter posted the following tweets: Mamata Tibrewala said: Dont understand the reason to cause huge #traffic jams in an already congested #mumbai #bkc. Address people on tv or on a Sunday.

The buses of routes to and from the MMRDA grounds were packed with the office-goers and BJP supporters.

The stretch ahead of the family court up to the event venue was jammed up. The private buses, which ferried the volunteers were parked on the street, adding to the woes. The route is never jammed, today because of the rally there is too much traffic, said Ravinder Naik, a commuter.
Sources allege that the cops were careless and it led to the trustees escape.

Mumbai: The 58-year-old trustee of an Andheri school, who is facing a police probe for allegedly raping a three-year-old girl in November 2016, has absconded with his family after the Bombay high court cancelled his bail on Monday and asked him to

surrender. The polices delay in taking action encouraged him to escape, alleged sources.

The accused trustee, who was out on bail, was recently asked to surrender to the court or police after Justice Revati Mohite-Dere on Monday cancelled the bail granted to him on the application filed by parents of the girl as well as some other parents whose children are studying in this school.

ACP Milind Khetle (Saki Naka division) said, We were waiting for the judgement copy, as without it we cannot act on speculation and make arrests. We received the order copy on Thursday, following which we sent a team at trustees Malad residence only to find the door locked. He further added, We will question his ex-wife in the case to know about his whereabouts.

A police officer said, on the condition of anonymity, The police were waiting for him to come and surrender himself since Monday. As he failed to turn up, a police team was sent to nab him.

A source said that the police is handling the case casually as they easily skipped the part of sending a team to the other residences of the accused trustee which is located at Andheris Yari Road. The source added, The trustee managed to run away with because of the polices laid-back attitude.

While cancelling the bail, the HC also directed that the trial should be quickly concluded  preferably within four months of passing this order because the child is very young and her memories would fade as she grows up.

Although the alleged incident of rape took place in late 2016, it came to light only in May 2017, when the childs parents noticed changes in her behaviour, and found she had

difficulty in sitting and walking.

When the parents asked her it anyone had hurt her or touched her inappropriately she answered in affirmation and identified the photograph of the founder trustee who allegedly hurt her.
It is reportedly a Frenchwoman whom Hitler met while serving in France during World War One.

BERLIN: An oil portrait believed to have been painted by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler of a little-known former lover will go under the hammer next week with an asking price of 60,000 euros ($74,000), a German auction house said on Thursday.

The 63 x 48 cm painting, signed A. Hitler, 1916, depicts Charlotte Lobjoie, a Frenchwoman whom Hitler met while serving in France during World War One, according to Werner Maser, a leading Hitler scholar who died in 2007.

Portrait of a Girl - a damaged work painted on hessian - was purchased by Flemish industrialists around 1967, auction house Weidler in Nuremberg said in a statement.

It said it had documents showing it had been exhibited at art galleries in Japan.

The painting in what appears to be a rural setting depicts a young woman with a red scarf loosely on her head that casts a heavy shadow over her face, and holding a pitchfork.

She is wearing a light-colored shirt, open from the neck down, exposing part of her breasts.

Maser, who was referred to by Weidler in its statement, wrote several books about Hitler, providing insight into the mind of the Nazi leader through a close look at his drawings, letters and notes.

Hitler painted for a living in the 1920s before rising to power and leading Germany into World War Two. With Soviet troops closing in on his headquarters in Berlin, he committed suicide in April 1945, along with his mistress Eva Braun whom he married shortly before.

In 2015 Weidler sold a watercolor of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria that was also signed A. Hitler and believed to be the work of the former Nazi leader at an auction that fetched 100,000 euros.
The Modi government is conspicuous in its inability to comprehend dalit sense and sensibility.

Forty-four years ago, Balasaheb Deoras, when he had barely taken over as sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), delivered a stirring speech in Pune whose objectives still remains the Sangh Parivars kathni (proclamation), but is yet to become its karni (practice). He had taken over the organisation which although just a year from its golden jubilee, remained a peripheral grouping. His predecessor, the ascetic-looking Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, had left behind an embarrassing situation which required a resolution  in an interview to the Marathi paper Nava Kal he had waxed eloquently on the necessity and intrinsic worth of Chaturvarna, or the four-caste system prevalent in Hinduism.

This assertion put paid to the carefully devised strategy to enlist support for the Sangh Parivar across caste lines. Despite Maharashtrian brahmins dominating the RSS leadership as a modernist peshwai, RSS ideologues saw the caste order as an impediment to Hindu consolidation. Significantly, when interned at Ratnagiri, and disallowed from participating in political activity, V.D. Savarkar had participated in campaigns seeking dalits entry into temples. Golwalkars comments had provided gist to adversaries mills  his views showed the RSS in its true colours, they said. When offered a choice of topics for his speech at Punes Vasant Vyakhanmala, or spring lecture series, a part of the citys brahminical tradition dating back to 1875, Deoras chose a demanding subject: Social Equality and Hindu Consolidation. His selection provoked immense curiosity  how would he argue for caste equality in the face of RSS inherent savarn conservatism?

Deoras set out as sarsanghchalak to consolidate all the Hindus. Swayamsevaks were told  the audience was wider, but the primary target was the RSS cadre  that social inequality has been a reason for our downfall... caste, sub-caste rivalries and untouchability have been manifestations of social inequality... He told followers that the problem lay with Hindu Sangathanists taking pride in archaic traditions, including the caste order. Deoras made a concession by accepting social classification may have been once justified but after becoming associated with caste discrimination, such social stratification had no justification. He then went on to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: If untouchability is not wrong, then nothing in the world is wrong!

Deoras words created an intellectual flutter within the RSS but he failed in getting the behemoth to integrate the lower castes, especially dalits. Panic set in only after the Meenakshipuram conversions, and when the shilanyas ceremony for the Ram temple at Ayodhya was conducted in 1989, it was performed by a dalit activist. Such tokenism apart, the Sangh Parivar remains gripped by upper-caste mentality. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that his government had done more to promote Dr B.R. Ambedkars memory than any previous government. His declaration of the dalit icons last residence near Delhi University being dedicated to the nation on his birth anniversary next week ignored its acquisition by the Centre in 2003 and that it has already been a low-key memorial for several years. It is for

Mr Modi to ponder if dalits will be satisfied with a spruced-up memorial, or if they prefer Ramji  added to Dr Ambedkars name by Yogi Adityanath in Hindutvawadi zeal  being struck off so the original middle name remains what it was  in a state of disuse. The Modi government is conspicuous in its inability to comprehend dalit sense and sensibility. Matters related to economic advancement are vital, and no government cannot but prioritise this. Yet, respecting dalit identity and dignity is paramount.

The BJP argues that violence against dalits was higher during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance, but more anti-dalit headlines have been created since 2014. In the Rohith Vemula case, then HRD minister Smriti Irani had personally challenged his dalit identity. Insensitivity ruled the roost after the incident in Una, Gujarat, in July 2016. Last year, the BJP sweep in Uttar Pradesh was followed by violence against dalits in Saharanur village as upper caste elation at a Thakur becoming chief minister swept the hinterland. The recent incident of a dalit youths murder because he owned a horse was not the first such act. Within days, a dalit youth in UP moved the high court seeking protection so that he can ride a mare for his baraat. In recent years, specially after 2014, India is seeing an unprecedented resurgence of upper caste hostility.

Upper castes and lower OBCs collaborate in discriminating against dalits, even resorting to violence. These groups are incensed with the emergence of a reservation-linked affluent dalit middle class. On the social media, there is a proliferation of old campaigns against reservations and visuals demonising and ridiculing dalits. Symbols of upper and middle castes nouveau-riche superiority  owning motorcycles, wearing jeans and T-shirts, riding horses or elephants for ceremonial occasions  even growing moustaches, draping a chunni (by unmarried women)  are in the dalit list of prohibitions. Violation is responded to with violence. Due to the decades-old animosity, whenever the purchasing power of dalits rise, he/she flaunts products which evoke resentment and envy.

The Supreme Courts argument of not taking the sting out of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act will now be put against the Centres belated claim that it can be argued that any law can be abused (and possibly is being misused). But by singling out the SC/ST Act, the court was putting the onus on dalits for allegedly abusing a law. The judiciarys upper caste dominance needs no reiteration. The investigating agencies have little sympathy for dalits, seeing them mainly as freeloaders.

When the Supreme Court passed its first order, the BJP and the Central government acted like deer frozen in headlights. The dalit issue is the proverbial gale mein haddi (bone stuck in the throat)  the BJP can neither spit it out nor can it swallow it down. The issue has surfaced when it is politically inopportune as several social and economic groups are dissatisfied with Mr Modi. The imbroglio has forged intra-dalit unity and ranged upper castes and OBCs against them. The social coalition the BJP raised in its support has overnight become shaky. This is mainly because the Sangh Parivar still has little clarity over its stance on the caste order.
The crown prince is walking a tightrope in a country where conservative ideology is deeply entrenched.

The de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, spoke only half the truth when he admitted in an interview to the Washington Post that his country had funded the spread of Wahhabism at the behest of Western powers to help counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. What the prince failed to acknowledge was that this hard-line Islamic doctrine has been the pivot responsible for the rise to power of the House of Saud.

Now the young prince is seeking to change direction by leading the conservative kingdom, the only absolute monarchy left in the world, to the path of modernisation. He has opened up Saudi society, and lifted restrictions on women by allowing them to drive and to participate in economic activities along with men.

This is, indeed, a huge stride forward in the conservative society and anathema to the Wahhabi clerics who still enjoy strong influence in the holy land. Belonging to the third generation of the House of Saud, Mohammed bin Salman also seeks to transform the Saudi economy, which has remained overwhelmingly dependent on oil revenue, under Vision 2030 launched by the Saudi government. Perhaps the move to open up Saudi Arabia may be popular with the restive young population and women. But it will certainly not go down well with the religious establishment.

The crown prince is walking a tightrope in a country where conservative ideology is deeply entrenched. Even minor social reforms have been resisted by the clerics and members of the royal family in the past. In an interview with the Washington Post, the prince said that a shock was also needed to check Islamist extremism in the kingdom.

Some analysts describe all this as an Arab Spring from above. The description may be highly exaggerated as there has not been any indication of economic and social reform leading to political openness that would give ordinary Saudis greater democracy and ensure their human rights.

True, there has not been any evidence of a major conservative backlash as yet against the wide-ranging social and economic reform programme initiated by the prince that promises tectonic political and social changes not only in Saudi Arabia but also in other Muslim countries affected by the Saudi-financed doctrine of Wahhabism. Nevertheless, many observers warn that things could implode if the prince moves too fast on his reform agenda.

While Mohammed bin Salman declared that his government is no more providing funds for the spread of Wahhabism, he did admit that private Saudi charities were still patronising madrassas and mosques across the world. There is no evidence as yet of the kingdom blocking these sources of funding.

There is no denying that radical Islam was used by the West as a bulwark in the fight against communism and that the Saudi petrodollar came in handy in promoting Wahhabism across the Muslim world. But it was also used by the kingdom as an instrument in the regional power game in West Asia.

Billions of dollars were invested in madrassas and mosques espousing the radical ideology overseas even after the end of the Cold War following the disintegration of the communist bloc. The rise of militant Islam in Pakistan largely owed to Saudi support starting with the Afghan resistance to the Soviet occupation.

Financed by Saudi money, thousands of madrassas were established along the border areas. Wahhabism became the most effective ideology in motivating radical Muslims for waging jihad against the godless communists. Saudi Arabia and the US agreed to contribute equal amounts to finance the Afghan war against the Soviets.

Thousands of young Saudis were sent to fight alongside the mujahideen in Afghanistan for the next decade; some 45,000 young Saudi volunteers trekked to Afghanistan to wage holy war. The same jihadist ideology that the West used to counter communism has now come back to haunt it.

Saudi funding for hard-line Sunni groups increased manifold in the wake of the Iranian revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. Consequently, Pakistan became the centre of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The rise of militant Islam now threatens Muslim societies. One has to wait and and see what happens to the reform programme initiated by the young but ruthless Saudi crown prince.

By arrangement with Dawn
The annual conference was organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think tank of the National University of Singapore.

It would be a good opportunity for both sides to take stock of the progress that we have made in different pillars of our strategic partnership, and explore areas for further cooperation, Singaporean Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung said. (Photo: Twitter/ @mindefsg)

Singapore: India and Singapore will explore areas of further cooperation and take stock of progress of their strategic partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Singapore visit in June.

"It would be a good opportunity for both sides to take stock of the progress that we have made in different pillars of our strategic partnership, and explore areas for further cooperation," Singaporean Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung said Friday.

"Next, we can collaborate to develop our technology and innovation ecosystems. Technology is changing the way we work, and how services are delivered and consumed," said Ong Ye Kung, noting that "India has embraced this wave of change".

Addressing the 12th International Conference on South Asia in Singapore, the minister highlighted India's achievement along with technology, such as Jan Dhan Yojana programme, Aadhaar and India Stack.

Financial technology, Ye Kung Ong said, has accelerated the digitisation of financial services in India.

"So in India, we have found a kindred spirit, because fintech is also a key activity Singapore is promoting. India has a vast market, and in Singapore, we have almost every global financial institution operating here, and they are interested in investing in and serving the Indian market. So there is a clear synergy between us," he stressed.

Singapore, the minister said, is watching significant developments in India closely, such as the introduction of goods and services tax, adding "finally, India is a one single market".

Demonetisation has boosted digital payments in India while initiatives such as Make in India, Skill India and Start-Up India are aimed at facilitating job creation and inclusive growth, he added.

"Our economic relationship with India is healthy and growing," Ong Ye Kung said underlining the two countries' bilateral ties.

India is part of ongoing negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement together with ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, he said.

Sounding optimistic on the region, Ong Ye Kung said "So long as China and India, East Asia and South Asia remain stable and continue to grow, the entire thoroughfare of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, will stand to benefit".

"But we need to work hard, be of service to others, be innovative, and add value wherever we can," he said.

The annual conference was organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think tank of the National University of Singapore.
The Prime Minister pronounced that peace in Pakistan came following the sacrifices of army, political parties and public.

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Thursday said jihad (holy war) was only the right of the state.

Mr Abbasi said the government had banned the use of private ownership of automatic weapons. He said suicide bombing has been condemned adding declaring jihad was only the right of the state and not any individual.

The Premier said that Pakistan fought a world war against terrorism, and now it was for the world to do more. He urged the international community for its role in addressing the causes leading to extremism and terrorism.

Addressing the concluding session of the three-day National International Counter Terrorism Forum (IICTF), Mr Abbasi said he was happy and proud to note that Pakistan had made success in an area where the rest of the world failed.

He said no country in the world had committed over 200,000 troops to eradicate the threat and had conducted numerous civil and military operations across the country to wipe out all sanctuaries of terrorists.

We do not accept the narrative that there are any sanctuaries in Pakistan that are bringing any instability to Afghanistan. That is not the truth, he said.

He added: In fact today, unfortunately, the reverse is true. The people instigating terrorism in Pakistan are based in Afghanistan. He maintained that Pakistan was a safe country as a result of great sacrifices.

The Prime Minister pronounced that peace in Pakistan came following the sacrifices of army, political parties and public. He said that Pakistan made remarkable progress despite the existence of challenges.

He mentioned the recent bombing at a religious seminary in Kunduz in which tens of young children were killed and said this is what breeds radicalism and extremism.

The Prime Minister dismissed the narrative that Pakistan did not support peace in Afghanistan and said no other country is more interested in peace in Afghanistan than Pakistan.

He said Pakistan was the first country that faced the impact of instability in neighbouring Afghanistan.

War is no solution to Afghanistan, he said and reiterated Pakistans support for dialogue to achieve peace and said his government was ready to facilitate it.

The Prime Minister also urged the world to take note of the indigenous freedom movement in Kashmir and said the issue could only be resolved through implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.
by Sumon Corraya

Law enforcement released a report covering the last two years. Of the 1,346 militants released on bail, 219 fled to organise new terrorist actions. The government plans to build 560 model mosques and Islamic cultural centres to teach that "Islam is a religion of peace".

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  Bangladeshs police anti-terrorism unit released its latest report on the fight against Islamic terrorism covering the past two years. It identifies 4,031 Islamic militants: 3,022 are currently in detention and 1,346 are out on bail.

The militants belong to five Islamic groups banned by the government, namely Harkat-ul Jihad, Hisbut Tahari, Ansurulla Bangla Team, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, and New Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen.

The report says that in two years 70 terrorists were killed in shootouts, including those who carried out the attack against the Holey Artisan Bakery Cafe in Dhaka, in which 20 people were killed, including nine Italians. After the attack, the government went after militants across the country.

The authorities also announced that the security forces killed all the leaders of the five terrorist organisations in military operations. However, among the militants released on bail, 219 have fled and are trying to organise new terrorist activities.

"Fighting extremism is our mission, said Shariful Islam, additional Inspector General of Police and head of the anti-terrorism unit, speaking to journalists.

We are really working to remove all forms of militant activity from Bangladesh, he explained. We have taken the problem seriously after the Gulshan cafe attack.

The extremists have harmed Bangladeshs image by attacking foreigners, he lamented. However, Our operations have won us admiration.

Still, militants are operating in silence, and several terrorists have become radicalised on the Internet, he noted.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshs Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated nine model mosques and centres of Islamic culture via videoconference from Ganabhaban, her official residence.

"We want to build a country that is not sectarian, she said. People must be free to practice their own religion. This is the basic principle of Islam."

To achieve this, the government is planning 560 model mosques in each of the countrys districts. From these, "We want people to learn the true teachings of Islam, the prime minister explained. We want the image of our sacred religion to be upheld. Islam is a religion of peace. We want peace to prevail."
The Kachin Independence Army wants to retake the gold and amber mines lost in recent government offensive. Thousands of miners and their families are trapped inside the war zone in Tanaing and Sumprabung. Since 2011, the conflict has killed hundreds and displaced more than 120,000 people.

Naypyitaw (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed branch of the Kachin minority in the homonymous northern state, announced a new offensive against the Myanmar military in the mining region of Hukawng Valley, near the city of Tanaing.

In a statement released yesterday by Battalion 14, the armed group called on illegal gold and amber miners to leave the area where it plans to lay landmines starting next Tuesday.

The statement listed gold and amber mining areas, including Shaduzup, Nam Byu, Nam Kawn, Tungmani, Dagum and Daba.

The KIA doesnt want civilians to get hurt on account of the fighting, said Colonel Naw Bu, spokesman for the KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO).

The latest round of fighting began in January when government forces launched several air strikes at Tanaing, a KIA-controlled area. The latter relies on mining as a source of income and levies a tax on mining operators.

The Myanmar military has accused Kachin rebels of illegally exploiting the regions resources and taking revenue that belongs to the State.

In February, it told the KIA to move the headquarters of its Battalion 14 and other outposts from the Tanaing region, where it believed the KIO was conducting illegal business.

The rebels have rejected the charges. KIA has gold and amber mine companies that are operating with the governments permission, Col Naw Bu said.

In recent years, government army troops have taken up all the gold and amber mines and asked people to work there. There are always government army columns in the KIAs Battalion 14 area.

The latter had to abandon its headquarters in the second week of March after the Myanmar military launched a major offensive. These were our areas. Therefore, we will launch an offensive to get them back, Colonel Naw Bu said.

The KIA has slammed the Myanmar military for intensifying their operations to gain control of the territory before the next session of the Peace Conference backed by Myanmars democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi for May 2018.

Recent fighting has forced thousands of miners and their families to flee the area whilst trapping others inside the war zone near Tanaing and the town of Sumprabung.

The displaced people face food and water shortages, as roadblocks placed by the authorities prevent them from leaving the area and humanitarian organisations from bringing humanitarian aid to civilians.

Located on the border with China and India, Kachin State has been rocked by renewed fighting between the military and rebels since 2011 when a 17-year ceasefire broke down.

The clashes have left hundreds of people dead and displaced more than 120,000 people, many of whom still live in desperate conditions, including Christians, in local refugee camps.

The Myanmar military held informal talks with KIA leaders on 1 February in Yunnan, southwestern China, but the ongoing attacks have scuttled efforts to end the hostilities.

The KIA is one of several militias with whom the Myanmar government is trying to work out a deal to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars and establish peace in the country through a series of peace negotiations launched in August 2016 by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The KIO has not signed a government-sponsored ceasefire inked in October 2015 by eight of the countrys more than 20 ethnic armies, with two more joining since then.
by Shafique Khokhar

The 2017 Educational Policy ignores the right to freedom of religion in schools. Christian and Hindu students are victims of biases and acts of violence. Teaching Islam is mandatory. Students who memorise the Quran have a higher score for college entry.

Lahore (AsiaNews)  The Centre for Social Justice in collaboration with Centre for Governance and Policy at the Information Technology University in Lahore organised a conference on the Right to Education without Discrimination.

Participants focused on the climate of religious intolerance that pervades Pakistans educational system and proposed measures to improve literacy and the inclusion of Christian and Hindu students, who far too often suffer from discrimination in school and at work because of their faith.

The seminar brought together representatives of religious minorities, activists, members of civil society groups and political leaders.

Panelists noted that the 2017 Educational Policy, which replaced the 2009 policy, relies on Articles 31 and 25-A of the Pakistani Constitution, i.e. on the Islamic way of life and on the right to free compulsory education.

However, this policy ignores the constitutional guarantees under Articles 20, 22 and 36 on religious freedom and safeguards against discrimination in educational institutions with respect to religion and the protection of the rights of religious minorities.

Education is a secular issue, said Nazir Qaisar, a renowned Christian poet. There should not be biases nor discrimination in education whose purpose is to enable people to think positively about mankind, which requires progressive thinking that only comes from a secular education.

"The class system creates divisions, he added. In our educational system, we are divided into religions, classes and races. I strongly demand a programme of studies based on secularism, love and unity."

For Peter Jacob, director of the Centre for Social Justice, "Last year, the government prepared a national educational policy that is the replica of the previous one in the sense that it fails to curb religious discrimination. One wonders what the new policy is for.

"Since there is no room for minorities in the new programme, it is clear that this is a blind policy on diversity. We must eradicate biases that lead to religious extremism and incidents like the one involving Sharoon Masih, a student who was killed by schoolmates as a result of religious racism.

School books are still full of hate speech and prejudices," lamented Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik, Punjab Education Department Secretary. However, the authorities are recruiting teachers who have been trained to teach children with open-mindedness and without discrimination.

During the seminar the problems of Pakistans educational system were highlighted. They include the compulsory teaching of Islam, which in theory applies only to Muslim students with ethics courses for minorities, including Christians. In practice, such courses are not offered.

What is more, minority students must study and be tested on subjects like social studies, history and languages based on the majority religion, which represent 30-40 per cent of the curriculum.

Panelists bemoaned the fact that school material also contain texts that incite hatred, noting that students who learn the Quran by memorising it (Hafiz-e-Quran) get 10 to 20 more points when enrolling at professional schools or applying for a job.

Last year, the Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and the federal governments made the study of Islam compulsory for Muslims, whilst minority students cannot study their own faith. The net result of such a discriminatory school system, panelists lament, is that non-Muslims come out less educated than Muslim students. On average, Christians grade is 11 per cent below the national average, 30 per cent for Hindus.

For this reason, a series of measures were proposed to close the gap. They include reviewing school programmes to remove offensive content, ensuring religious tolerance, getting provincial and federal governments to offer remedial programmes for minority students, allowing Hindus and Christians to learn about their own faith, giving minority students as well a higher score for access to colleges and public jobs, and including the study of relevant minority figures who have contributed to the countrys creation and development.
Together with five other pro-democracy activists on trial yesterday for "conducting activities aimed at overthrowing the state". Sentences total 66 years in prison and 17 years of house arrest. The defendants are members of the Brotherhood for Democracy, a group founded by Dai in 2013 to defend human rights and promote democratic ideals.

Hanoi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Vietnamese authorities have condemned the famous human rights lawyer and activist Nguyen Van Dai (photo) to 15 years in prison and five years of house arrest for "subversion". This is reported by his wife Vu Minh Khanh, who added that five other pro-democracy militants will have to serve prison terms between seven and 12 years.

Nguyen Van Dai, his colleague Le Thu Ha, and journalists Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Truong Minh Duc and Nguyen Bac Truyen, were tried yesterday for "conducting activities aimed at overthrowing the state", according to Article 79 of the Vietnamese Penal Code. The offense involves the maximum sentence of life imprisonment or even death for those who are found guilty of it.

The defendants were responding to charges of affiliation to the Brotherhood for Democracy, a group founded by Dai in 2013 to defend human rights and promote democratic ideals in Vietnam. They conducted campaigns for victims of injustice, supported religious freedom and political prisoners and their families. In all, the Hanoi court imposed convictions on activists for a total of 66 years in prison and 17 years under house arrest.

Duc and Ton have both received sentences of 12 years in prison and three years of house arrest. For Truyen, the Court ordered a sentence of 11 years in prison and three years in house arrest. Ha, the only woman in the group, was sentenced to nine years in prison and two years on probation. Troi, on the other hand, received a sentence of seven years and one of house arrest.

Dai was awaiting trial since his arrest in December 2015. Previously, he had served four of the five years in prison he had been charged in 2007 for "anti-state propaganda".

Yesterday, outside the People's Tribunal of the capital, the authorities had deployed hundreds of policemen, who prevented a protest march organized by the families of detained activists. More than a dozen people were arrested before the trial, while others were prevented from entering the court to attend the trial.
The plan provides for 10 billion within the next four years, reaching 23 billion in the next 12. A response to the serious crisis that has hit the land of cedars, exacerbated by the war in Syria and the refugee emergency. Expert warn: reduce spending to avoid bankruptcy. Riyadh attends conference, no invitation to Tehran.

Paris (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Lebanon's donor countries, meeting in Paris, are ready to allocate a 10 billion dollar investment plan to lift the land of cedars, from a serious economic crisis aggravated by the war in Syria and from the refugee crisis.

The meeting (Cedre) scheduled today in the French capital is attended by 41 nations, along with delegates from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other leading economic, financial and humanitarian organizations.

French diplomatic sources say that economic support aims to create a "security wall" between Lebanon and regional "problems", at a time of "profound political uncertainty". Hence the choice to boost the coffers of the Arab country, tormented in recent years by a profound economic crises and mass immigration of Syrian refugees fleeing the war.

The aid plan provides for the total allocation of about 10.1 billion dollars, distributed over four years. The sum will reach 23 billion over the next 12 years. Loans at favourable rates and direct donations are provided in the package; the total sum exceeds seven billion dollars, a goal set by the Beirut government on the eve of the conference.

The Paris meeting comes about a month after the first general elections of the last decade, scheduled for May, after the parliament - elected in 2009 - prolonged its mandate three times, contravening constitutional provisions.

Analysts and experts stress that Lebanon urgently needs to reduce public spending, to avert bankruptcy. However, primary services such as public water, electricity and garbage management present serious difficulties and require large investments for an overall revival.

The goal, adds a French diplomat, is to allocate the money necessary for Lebanon "to provide services and infrastructure to the public", avoiding the intervention of third parties [the reference is to the Shiite movement of Hezbollah].

Saudi Arabia is present at the Paris conference while an Iranian delegate, the other great regional power that influences the life of the country, will be missing. Tehran, in fact, was not invited to the meeting unlike Riyadh welcomed with all honors.

Faced with funding, Beirut will have to take a series of measures to counter public debt (10 times higher than GDP); at the same time it will have to implement stricter measures in the fight against corruption, one of the country's endemic ills.
Hello Everyone,



I am permanent resident and my wife has partner (provisional) (subclass 309) visa. We are intending to invite my mother in law to visit Australia. Just wanted to know, what options she has, what visa she can apply for?



TIA.
Sounds like a good plan. I'm not unhappy about it. Just putting out the warning for those with tight deadlines. You never know for sure when it comes back online again.
Photo of 2019 Jetta's compact sedan courtesy of Volkswagen.

Volkswagen's seventh-generation Jetta will retail for at least $19,395, including delivery fees, when it arrives at dealer lots by July 1. The price is $100 lower than the outgoing model, Volkswagen has announced.

Volkswagen is offering the Jetta in five trim grades, including the base S, SE, R-Line, SEL, and SEL Premium. Pricing has been set at $23,005 for the SE, $23,845 for the R-Line, $25,265 for the SEL, and $27,785 for the SEL Premium. All prices include an $850 delivery fee.

Volkswagen will offer several optional packages with the compact sedan, including the Driver's Assistance package ($450) on S that includes forward collision warning, autonomous braking, blind spot monitor with rear traffic alert, and heated side mirrors. A Cold Weather package ($495) is available on SE and above that includes a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, heated windshield wiper park and washer nozzles, and remote start.

The 2019 Jetta is built on Volkswagen's Modular Transverse Matrix architecture that gives is a longer wheelbase. The 1.4-liter turbocharged and direct-injection TSI engine carries over. All trims will include standard rear-view cameras.
Fourth Kern County Plein Air Painting Festival

Artists at work

Fifteen artists will be working throughout the county from Monday through Friday, painting scenes for the gala on April 14.

Awards and sales gala

When: 6 p.m. April 14

Where: BMW of Bakersfield, 5400 Gasoline Alley

Admission: $45, tickets at squareup.com/market/arts-council-of-kern

Information: 396-4040
As Congress grapples with a complex tax reform bill, it might be easy to overlook a troubling component of the measure  doubling of the stand
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.
Who mutilated an alligator and left its headless, tail-less body in a vacant lot in Brevard County?

That's the question Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigators are still trying to answer after the animal was found dead Thursday.

FWC continues to investigate headless gator case

Wildlife trapper says he thinks there was poaching

PREVIOUS: FWC investigates headless gator found in Rockledge

"Disgusting" is the word Brevard County wildlife trapper James Dean thinks of when it comes to what happened to a 6 to 8 foot gator found in a wooded area in Rockledge Thursday.

"I've seen mutilated alligators, where the head has been taken, and the tails been taken," Dean said.

This was how the alligaor near the cul de sac at the end of Timbers West Boulevard was found. The carcass was left headless and tailless, and rotting in the afternoon sun.

Dean isn't a gator trapper by trade, but he knows a poaching situation when he sees one.

"They will keep the head as a trophy, then of course, the tail is for meat," Dean told Spectrum News.

The problem is it's not gator hunting season right now -- it's gator mating season.

"The alligators are moving around," Dean said.

FWC has strict guidelines when it comes to hunting alligators, by being approved to hunt in a specific area and mandatory tagging of the animal to document the kill.

"If you are not a legal gator trapper, and you have an alligator in the back of your truck, it's totally illegal," Dean said.

FWC says they are following leads in this case, calling it an active criminal investigation.

In Florida, gator hunting season runs from mid-August to November.
A 14-year-old student at Winter Haven Christian School was taken into custody Thursday after a firearm and two knives were found inside his backpack on campus.

Teen brought gun to school to feel 'cool,' police say

14-year-old arrested and charged

Two knives, an AP-9 semi-automatic found inside backpack

Winter Haven Police said there was no threat given by the student to harm anyone.

When police were called, the school administration had the backpack and weapons secured and the student was isolated with administrators.

Inside the backpack was a butterfly style knife, an SOG brand folding pocket knife, and a Kimel AP-9 semi-automatic pistol with 11 rounds of ammunition.

The student told police that he had recently been listening to rap music and wanted to bring the gun, which belongs to his father, to feel "powerful" and "cool."

The student was taken into custody and booked into the Polk County Detention Center for Juvenile Justice.

"This should hopefully serve as a warning to any student who thinks it's cool to carry a weapon, especially on school grounds," said Chief Charlie Bird. "There is absolutely no room for 'cool' when it involves any sort of weapon in a school with the recent events our country has endured."

The 14-year-old student was charged with possession of a firearm on school grounds and possession of a weapon on school grounds.


Oregon Coast High Wind Warning, 75 mph Gusts - Portland High Wind Watch

Published 04/06/2018 at 5:15 AM PDT - Updated 04/06/2018 at 5:25 AM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff





(Oregon Coast)  UPDATE: there is now a high surf advisory added. Even the Portland and valley areas may get hit by this storm.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has scrapped the high wind watch for the Oregon coast and upgraded it to a high wind warning, in effect from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday. South winds of around 30 to 45 mph are expected on beaches and headlands with gusts up to 75 mph, while coastal towns should get gusts around 65 mph. Massive waves are expected as well - near 30 feet - now bringing a high surf advisory.

In addition to the high wind warning for the coast range and beaches, the NWS has issued a high wind watch for northwest inland towns along the I-5 corridor, including Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Eugene. There, gusts up to 40 to 55 mph are possible. While not positive, the NWS said conditions are favoring this scenario from late Friday through late Saturday.

The strongest gusts occur from daybreak Saturday through early afternoon at the coast, the NWS said. Strongest gusts may continue though the early evening across the Coast Range.

Winds in all areas could bring down trees and damage power lines. Travel may be difficult for high-profile vehicles.

Combined seas will start to rise on Saturday morning to a gnarly 19 feet, but then power up to nearly 30 feet in the day. They then drop a bit to 25 feet late at night. Heavy conditions continue on Sunday at around 21 feet with sizable rain amounts. Meanwhile winds will still be considerable but not stormy and unpleasant conditions for walking outdoors.

That will make Sunday a decent day to go stormwatching  but stay off small beaches, jetties and rocky ledges of any kind. The most dangerous areas will be within 30 feet of the tideline at rocky areas like Depoe Bay, Pacific City, Oceanside or Yachats. Luckily, all of these have safe viewing areas to watch the melee.

Monday on the Oregon coast becomes partly sunny and pleasant conditions, and the seas die down. However, they pick back up again to well over 20 feet on Tuesday as another system comes in.

The NWS said it is firmly confident in the high wind warning for the coast range and Oregon coast towns, but the inland and Portland predictions of storm strength are a bit trickier.

The winds inland may arrive in two parts, the NWS said. First in the morning, as the occluded front moves through. It may be difficult to mix down the stronger winds at this time period since the lowest levels of the atmosphere may be too stable and the surface pressure gradient is not open enough at that time. The second round (more likely) is in the afternoon as the surface pressure gradient is more favorable for winds and is more mixed to surface the stronger winds from aloft.

Thunderstorms are a possibility inland and on the Oregon coast for Friday and Saturday. Oregon Coast Weather.

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Alice Cooper was a rock star that everyone knew in the 70s. He was on top of the world.

As with most rock stars, the life Alice Cooper lived a party lifestyle that included a lot of heavy drinking. But when his friends began passing away at a young age, and he found himself throwing up blood, he began to reevaluate how he was living.

Everything that could go wrong was shutting down inside of me, Cooper told Confidential. I was drinking with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and trying to keep up with Keith Moon and they all died at 27.

Cooper didnt keep everything perfect after he got sober in the 70s, he does admit. He had a relapse in 1981. He slipped when he had a bit of wine, that developed into a cocaine habit. A show in 1980 in Toronto was a casualty to his relapse after it was delayed for hours and eventually cancelled. Angry fans became uncontrollable and started a riot. At first the delay was blamed on customs, then on an asthma attack, but eventually rumors surfaced it was due to Coopers substance abuse.

Things continued to spiral out of control. After that tour he went home to start a family with his wife, and in May of 1981, they welcomed their daughter Calico. But despite the new addition, his drinking returned to a heavier state, until he was almost functioning like he was on autopilot.

In the fall of 1983, he was checked into the hospital by his family and given vitamins to boost his frail state. The doctors classified him as a classic alcoholic. He was then diagnosed with cirrhosis. After two and a half weeks he was told he could recover, if he gave up the drugs and alcohol permanently.

Upon leaving, he knew he had to go back to his roots and find Christ again.

My wife and I are both Christian, Cooper said. My father was a pastor, my grandfather was an evangelist. I grew up in the church, went as far away as I could from it  almost died  and then came back to the church.

Cooper has grown in his faith since that brush with death 37 years ago. Cooper does Bible study daily and goes to church every Sunday. He also proudly says that his three kids have never had any trouble with drugs or alcohol.

When Cooper was dabbling in addiction, he was also wrecked his marriage. His wife filed for Divorce and moved out with their daughter in late 1983, but the couple was able to reconcile in mid-1984 after Cooper had changed his ways.

With his new sobriety he was back on top and back on track thanks to his religion. Most people cant understand the life of a rock star whos also filled with the love of God. But he says differently.

Theres nothing in Christianity that says I cant be a rock star, Cooper added. People have a very warped view of Christianity. They think its all very precise and we never do wrong and were praying all day and were right-wing. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with a one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ.

Today, Alice Cooper continues to stay strong in his sobriety and his faith. Cooper recently was introduced to a whole new generation of fans through is performance of King Herod in the NBC live version of the classic musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

This isnt the first time Cooper has taken on the Herod role. He also tackled it in 2000 when Superstar writers Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice asked him to record King Herods Song as part of a London cast recording.

Coopers inspiration for his performance is Harry Potter actor Alan Rickman.

When I first heard about it, I thought Alan Rickman  that condescending sort of arrogant character, and I kind of fashioned what I would do after what I thought Alan Rickman would do if he were alive.
Managing talent in adland

Talent management in an industry that is still grappling with transformation can be tricky. It's an ongoing negotiation. From looking for the right talent at the right level, to developing future-fit talent that meets the needs of the business both today and tomorrow - business leaders have a responsibility to build and maintain diverse teams that create interesting work that will positively impact client businesses.
South African wine consumers share similar perceptions about wine across different ethnic groups. This is according to research by Dr. Carla Weightman that focuses on the perceptions of local consumers towards wine. Dr. Weightman received her PhD (Wine Biotechnology) in the Faculty of AgriScience at Stellenbosch University on this subject on 20 March 2018.

WolfBlur via pixabay

The deciding factors

Red wine considered superior to white wine

Barriers to consumption

The project was done in the research programme of Dr. Helene Nieuwoudt, senior researcher at the Institute for Wine Biotechnology, which focuses on consumer and sensory aspects of South African wine. Weightmans study is the first of its kind to focus on understanding the changed landscape of local wine consumers in a cross-cultural way.In the past, the local wine industry has mostly focused on the export market. However, it has identified growing the domestic market as a priority. South Africa has a very low per capita wine consumption when compared to other wine-producing nations. The local wine market has also changed over the last two decades and faces stiff competition from other alcoholic beverages, mainly beer. The wine industry is now aiming to become more consumer-driven to increase wine consumption.Weightmans study focuses on the two most significant wine-consuming population groups in the country, namely urban black and white wine drinkers. Historically, the white consumer group was the largest group of wine drinkers, but black consumers now account for approximately 80% of the wine consumers in the country. Yet little research has gone into investigating the changing nature of local wine consumers and their perceptions of wine.It appears wine is associated with status and sophistication, appearance, celebration, relaxation, and food. Weightman explains: The fact that wine is consumed with food is what seems to be the driving force differentiating wine from other alcoholic beverage categories. While not surprising, these results emphasise the importance of consumers motivations, and the industry should focus its attention on these ideas. As consumers socio-demographics become similar, so do their wine perceptions and preferences.Weightman used focus groups to get a better understanding of consumers perceptions, style preferences, the context of enjoyment, buying and consumption patterns, and journeys towards wine consumption. She developed a questionnaire to investigate motivations for wine consumption on a larger scale and focused on urban consumers living in Gauteng. Weightman also compared consumers, trained assessors and industry professionals sensory perceptions of wine and looked at the influence of cultivar name on consumer liking.Overall, motivations for drinking wine between the different consumer segments studied were similar. The social aspects, sensory appeal and ethical concern factors were the three most important motivational determinants for consumers wine choices. Observed differences mainly occurred between male and female consumers. With regards to ethnicity, this study did not reflect a large distinction between the different ethnic groups, Weightman remarks.In South Africa, approximately 56% of the wine-drinking population is female, and they seem to drink more wine on a broader set of occasions than their male counterparts, who make up only around 43% of the wine-consuming population.Wine is usually the first choice alcoholic beverage for females on most occasions. Males will generally choose to drink beer or whiskey first but will drink wine when it accompanies a meal. Females from both cultural groups tended to start consuming wine on a more regular basis earlier in life than their male counterparts. Younger males of both cultural groups drink mostly beer and spirits (whiskey).The most significant influence on wine consumption is the context in which it is consumed. The second key factor is the venue where the consumption will take place, and the third factor is whether a meal is involved. Ultimately, the deciding factor in consumer choices about wine is related to their budget, according to the study.Another context where wine consumption differs is at home. Female participants mentioned that they often have a glass of wine when they get home to help them relax after a stressful day. For males, wine consumption was strongly linked to social occasions. This finding is not limited to wine but has also been found to be true for beer consumption.An emerging trend amongst black consumers, both male and female, is the idea of matching your meal and your wine to enhance the eating experience. According to the study, it seems that black consumers are more conscious and interested in keeping up with current trends and brands than their white counterparts.Interestingly, red wine is considered to be superior to white wine. People are also willing to spend more money on red wine than white wine, and especially if the bottle has a cork. Consumers also believe wine with a cork tastes different to wine with a twist cap but could not describe exactly how the taste differed.Although the black consumer group had a relatively delayed start to their wine consumption, their motivations for drinking wine and perceptions about it do not seem to differ significantly from that of their white counterparts.Barriers in terms of consumption etiquette and unspoken rules were identified as possible reasons preventing broader wine consumption. To some degree, it is also these barriers that differentiate wine from other alcohol categories. Weightman explains: This is a bit of a catch-22 when it comes to increasing wine consumption in South Africa. Although the industry would like to see an increase in consumption and make wine more accessible, the elite status of the product is what makes wine appealing. This leads to the question: if everyone starts drinking wine, could it lose its appeal?The study contributes towards a better understanding of local consumers perceptions of wine and also highlights directions for future studies. There are a few spin-off projects currently being done by the Institute for Wine Biotechnology, targeting specific segments of the local wine consumer population.The project was funded by the National Research Foundation, Department of Science and Technology, Winetech and the Institute for Wine Biotechnology.
Brand South Africa has released findings from a new 2017 Domestic Perceptions Research project which aims to develop insight into how South Africans perceive the nation brand, and importantly to measure levels of pride, social cohesion, and active citizenship.

National pride

Social cohesion

Active citizenship

Perceptions research  Focus groups findings on national identity

A positive international perception of the nation brand begins at home seeing that it is influenced by the perceptions of citizens. The new structure of the project delivers monthly surveys, a fully nationally representative omnibus survey (conducted annually), focus groups, as well as in-depth interviews and monthly online surveys. This delivers more than six thousand records of data per year.Three constructs, including national pride, social cohesion and active citizenship form an integral part of the project delivery. The attributes of each of the three constructs reflect some interesting information about the perceptions South Africans have of these issues. Insights delivered through the measurement of these constructs assists the organisation to manage the nation brand, and to effectively communicate and market the brand domestically and internationally.During the development phase of the project during 2017 preparatory pilot surveys were conducted that assisted the organisation to develop the methodological approach to the domestic perceptions research. During the preparatory phase, the key attributes of the constructs were identified, and results from the pilot surveys are shown in order of its strength in the image below.The attributes inform Brand South Africa how South Africans weigh the importance of these factors shown in the image above. The implication of this is that responses to future surveys will weigh results, against the importance of these attributes. This will provide a benchmark measure to see the extent to which South Africans themselves live up to, and act in accordance with the level of importance of the attributes.National pride is defined as the love and devotion an individual/group has for their country. It is important to track national pride, as it gives a sense of the areas that make an individual/group proud to be part of the country and in turn tracks the levels of advocacy they have to promote the country through word of mouth.Proud of South Africa compared to other places, and Historical achievements, reconciliation and natural beauty. In terms of importance, these attributes contributeto the strength of the construct. Currently,of South Africans support these attributes as their main drivers of national pride, 1 in 4.The attributes are nestled in the diversity of the country compared to other places and what we as a nation have achieved; complemented by the diversity of the country compared to other places and through the natural beauty of South Africa.Social cohesion tracks the levels of how cohesive citizens are; the degree of inclusivity and social integration. Brand South Africas domestic perceptions research identifies two types of cohesion:1. Horizontal cohesion which is seen as an important indicator of social integration among members of communities. In this context, there are indicators that horizontal cohesion is more prevalent among the affluent.2. Vertical cohesion is seen as an indicator that the state has to foster- this factor is seen at risk among those less affluent as a pillar of cohesion.In terms of importance, this attribute contributesto the strength of the construct and is essentially the only reliable source of social cohesion. Currently, onlyof South Africans support this attribute. Also, of concern is that those who do associate with the attribute do not show collective behaviour but rather an exclusiveness as a group of people, a niche shared sentiment.Whilst onThe second set of attributes, vertical cohesion and political awareness, only contributeto the strength of the construct, however, it is supported byof South Africans. Although these are grouped together, the two attributes are mutually exclusive. The higher the political awareness, the lower the support for vertical cohesion. This is in line with the exposure of corrupt government structures. An increase in one will result in a decrease in the other.This, therefore, suggests that horizontal cohesion is at risk and evidently more strongly amongst the affluent, while vertical cohesion is more prevalent amongst those less affluent who also see it weakening as a pillar of cohesion in society.Active citizenship is the extent to which individuals come together in solidarity to uplift communities- imparting skills, values and participation for the collective good of the community.With less than half the population actively involved, whether taking personal or shared responsibility with official structures, active citizenship in South Africa is a much more diverse involvement than proposed by international literature, such as those who look after one another against those who get involved in the local community, and helping others find better/alternative ways of living.In terms of demographics, although affluence may play a part in providing the means to act against the wrong behaviour, it essentially boils down to personal conviction and the willingness to stand up against things that are wrong or helping others in need. Adults tend to have worked out ways they can help and are the strongest supporter of attribute 1, whereas youth want to help and find ways that work for them (attribute 2). Lastly, the older citizens want to live in a functional community while expecting accountability. These three attributes contributeto the construct.However, on the downside ofConstitutesto the overall construct, with onlysupport by South Africans to this attribute. This is the disenchanted group and has probably spent a long time trying to rectify things without success and are now finding it impossible to bring about change without protest.The aforementioned attributes and constructs affirm that the Nation Brand is never stagnant, but shaped by a multitude of attributes, politics, history and relationships. Therefore, in order to influence the Nation Brand and a positive perception among citizens, communication channels with government and private partners need to be strengthened. These role players awareness of the effects of their products and services on national perceptions play a crucial role in influencing behaviour and policy.As a young and evolving democracy, South Africas identity is also a proverbial work in progress. One of the components of Brand South Africas domestic perceptions research pertains to the delivery of focus three groups. During the latter part of 2017, Brand South Africa delivered three focus groups that concentrated on the theme of identity. As a Nation Brand marketing organisation, insight into national identity is a critically important issue. On the one hand, identity influences and should inform the approaches and strategy Brand South Africa develops, while on the other, identity formation is ongoing as society evolves. This article aims to share some insights from the first, and definitely not last focus groups to be hosted on the issue of national identity.The focus group findings must be seen for what they are, as qualitative insight and should not be generalised. The aim of the focus groups was to establish what factors influence national identity. One of the underlying questions Brand South Africa aimed to interrogate through the focus groups was whether identity is predominately shaped by the standard demographic classifications such as language, race, gender and age, influence identity; Or more deep-rooted issues, based on experiences that culminate in an identity across race, age, culture and languageThe main themes identified that shape the national identity were:The residual impact of history holds some South Africans entrenched in the past. This blocks their foresight into the possibilities that the nation has and lessens the appreciation for the country. There is a lot of fear and mistrust in leadership, this perpetuates a lack of confidence from ordinary citizens. A range of aspects that negatively influences the perception of a national identity and causes concern about ones own identity in these circumstances.South Africans describe themselves using their experiences and how they resonate with specific events, and how these elicit a sense of togetherness and warmth to embrace one another. As illustrated in the image below the words are descriptive of national identity.However, with these findings participants describe themselves as compassionate and people with strong cultural values. The perception is that people have become too reliant on the government, causing current frustration and anger, and not proactive to create opportunities for themselves. People need to let go of the past, as this is a stumbling block to the progression and where this country can move towards to unify and support the sense of a national identity Furthermore, findings indicate that most of the aspects that negatively affect the reputation of the country are driven by government.
So far, two schools located in impoverished communities namely Ocean View ELSN (Education for Learners with Special Needs) and Kleinberg Primary will be receiving boreholes with solar pumps from Jacaranda FM's Project Waterdrop.

The City of Tshwane also contributed R30k. Dianne Broodryk from Jacaranda FM, Willem Strauss, president of the BBRU and Solly Msimanga, executive mayor of Tshwane

This is how you can contribute

Make a donation directly to Jacaranda FMs Good Morning Angels, FNB Account, branch 255005, account 62411883590 with ProjectWaterDrop as the reference.

Visit Jacaranda FMs Facebook page or website and use the SnapScan code on the Project Waterdrop image to make a donation.

Adopt a school/s, by committing to covering the full R50,000 per school. Do so by e-mailing moc.mfadnaracaj@slegna with Project Waterdrop Adopt A School in the subject line and the details of their contribution in the body of the e-mail.

Help to spread the word about this initiative on social media with the hashtags #ProjectWaterDrop and #CC4CT (Capital City for Cape Town).

At the end of last month, during the Super Rugby clash between the Vodacom Blue Bulls and the DHL Stormers, close to thirty thousand people joined the radio station in a bid to raise much-needed funds for the project.The borehole installations come at an estimated minimum cost of approximately R50,000 per school  offering sustainable and cost-effective assistance to those in desperate need during the water crisis. The first borehole is scheduled to be drilled on Friday, 22 June 2018.We also collected more than 210,000 litres of water on the day, which the team at DHL has kindly offered to transport to Cape Town. This is a fantastic start and wed like to encourage individuals and companies to please continue contributing in the months to come to enable us to help many more schools.For more, visit www.jacarandafm.com
Photo by Pawan Sharma on Unsplash

An audit of 24 large mammal species , which used to migrate regularly, showed that many migrations are already extinct. Fences stopped animals in their tracks, often within sight of the food and water that would sustain them. These fences had severed historically massive migrations. Millions of wild animals  wildebeest, zebra, hartebeest, springbok and many others  have likely died of thirst or hunger since the 1950s.Its a huge problem, yet it has received little attention. In Kenya, fences form clusters and virtual battle lines, threatening the collapse of the entire Greater-Mara ecosystem . A recent global study of 57 species of moving mammals shows that the future of the planets most spectacular natural events is on the cusp.







Read more:

Why smart agricultural development is needed in Africas savannas







A land divided









M. Atkinson





Process over place

Policy into practice

Botswana is one of the last great places on earth for free-ranging wildlife. Here, fences erected to protect European beef producers from foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) slice the country into 17 islands.Fencing is expensive  especially fencing strong enough to keep out migrating animals  and it favours only a small proportion of cattle owners, locking local livestock farmers out of the export industry. To make matters worse, this comes as wildlife-based tourism is overtaking livestock as a proportion of GDP in countries like Botswana.With colonial-era subsidies of the fencing system gone, whats left is a lose-lose system that hinders local farmers, tourism and sustainability. Many savanna landscapes are now conflict zones between local people and wildlife.Against this bleak backdrop, a rare good news story has emerged, driven by myth-busting science and patient advocacy. It turns out that wildlife does not play a significant role in the transmission foot-and-mouth disease, apart from the African buffalo ; ironically it is more likely to be spread by cattle. Many areas, like the Kalahari, have no cattle or buffalo  so the fences in those areas serve no disease control purpose. Careful scientific sleuthing is showing that migrations restart when these fences are removed. The longest animal migration ever recorded, of zebras across Botswana, resumed a few years ago after just a portion of fence was removed.Perhaps the most important breakthrough has been a relatively new scientific approach called One Health . One Health is a problem-solving strategy that tackles issues at the interface of wildlife, domestic animal and human health. A monumental effort by veterinarians and other scientists, working with communities and animal health organisations, has teased out a solution. Instead of looking at livestocks geographic origin, it looks at the meat production process itself  from farm to fork  through a food safety lens.This approach was initially developed for astronauts in the 1960s to avoid illness from contaminated food. It is now used throughout the food industry, from growing vegetables to canning fruit and processing meat. For beef, it means that even in foot-and-mouth zones, a combination of vaccination, veterinary surveillance, and standardised meat preparation ensures disease-free, wildlife-friendly beef.But it is one thing to have the solution , and quite another to convince policymakers to implement it. The focus of the One Health team soon turned to policy and advocacy. After years of research and dialogue between sectors that rarely sat at the same table, in 2012 the Southern African Development Community (SADC) issued The Phakalane Declaration on Adoption of Non-Geographic Approaches for Management of Foot and Mouth Disease.Put simply, these new non-geographic approaches are not reliant on fencing.This consensus statement from southern African animal health experts was a shot heard round the world. A genuine policy breakthrough finally came in 2015, in Paris, where the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) rewrote the Terrestrial Animal Health Code to allow for international trade of fresh meat from countries or zones with foot-and-mouth disease.Since then, Ngamiland, home to world-renowned wildlife and the recently World Heritage-listed Okavango Delta, committed late last year to reassessing its fences with wildlife-friendly beef and wildlife concerns in mind.Botswana is also at the centre of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area which spans parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and is home to the worlds largest remaining population of elephants. The Animal and Human Health for the Environment And Development ( AHEAD ) program, based at Cornell University , have been working with local partners to resolve FMD-related conflicts in the largest peace park in Africa . Meanwhile, non-fence solutions were at the forefront of a recent multi-country summit in late 2016.







Read more:

It's time to stand tall for imperilled giraffes







The new meat processing-focused approach seems like common sense but, after generations of conflict, it is bold and brave. Botswana, leading the charge, is now on the cusp of redeeming itself in the eyes of conservationists after 70 years of fence-related wildlife deaths.Now, not only can this new way forward allow wildlife to rebound, but a regional economy benefiting from both wildlife and livestock can do the same - if policy-makers can indeed move - beyond fences.This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article
The Berg River Dam on 7 March 2018 about 48% full.

But Cape Towns water supplies remain at high risk because the long-term predictions for rainfall in the south-western Cape remain uncertain. Dam levels continue to fall while people are struggling to achieve the citys target of 450 million litres per day. And yields from new water schemes will only be known in the coming months and next year.

The general perception is that the onset of climate change would be slow and measured. This would afford authorities the time to intervene with considered plans. But climate change is a disrupter and takes no prisoners. Over the past three years, Cape Town and the surrounding regions has experienced successive years of well below average rainfall. The experience is changing the way people think about water and how it is managed.

There are five key lessons that have been learnt so far.

1. Adaptation to climate change

The big lesson is being better prepared to deal with a prolonged drought. Cape Town was, and continues to be, under prepared. Over 95% of the citys water comes from surface water dams. After three years of below average rainfall, the lowest on record, the dams are now running on empty.

Sixty years ago the Australian city of Perth was in a similar position with most of its water supply from dams. The Australian Big Dry drought changed everything. Over 50% of their water supply comes from desalination plants and 40% from groundwater.

A water resilient city should be capable of reducing risk by diversifying water sources to include supplies from groundwater, storm water, reused water, treated effluent and desalination. Resilient, water sensitive cities also integrate the whole urban water cycle into its water resource management system. This means, for example, being smarter about capturing rainfall across the city, in storing storm water underground, and in reusing treated effluent for a variety of purposes not necessarily for drinking purposes.

Cities are the new catchments. There should be no reason to hesitate on implementing these actions. They wont only climate proof the city, theyll also make them healthier and more sustainable places to live.

2. Cities lead

National government cant be expected to lead cities in dealing with water scarcity and drought. This is the experience of many cities dealing with water scarcity. Local governments are in a better position to take decisive action and act at a local scale where they can engage citizens, communities and businesses in averting the water crisis. National governments are slow to intervene, and when they do their actions are often not at the right scale or timely enough.

Cities need more autonomy to act decisively, although proactive, inter-governmental support and cooperation is both helpful and necessary.

3. Measure more, manage better

You cant manage what you dont measure should be the rallying cry for improving the quality of data and analysis needed to support and inform decisions. A city without reliable data will struggle to implement strategic plans and priorities. A good example is Melbourne, one of the first cities in the world to implement digital water metering throughout the city.

Measuring and monitoring is essential to understand water demand and flows. But not all data are useful and more data adds little value in the absence of robust analytical and reporting systems.

4. Mixed messages

Public responses to communication and messaging put out by local authorities is often unpredictable. And social media is rapid and unrelenting in its criticism of messages. Politicians and officials often dont correct these perceptions which can result in misinformation being shared. The City of Cape Towns public awareness website has been recognised worldwide for example by the American Water Works Association  as one of the best. But hard evidence does little to change public opinion.

What citizens really want to know is what actions are being taken to alleviate the crisis and relieve the risk. In the case of Cape Town the city has been reporting on the state of the water by supplying information on dam levels, water demand, models and water quality. What it hasnt done well enough is contain the level of misinformation shared in the public domain and media.

5. Public trust

Above all, public trust is key to encouraging water saving and helping to establish confidence in managing the crisis. Trust is strengthened by a combination of factors. These include honest, credible messaging when progress towards averting the crisis is demonstrated and understood, and when ordinary citizens, communities and businesses are engaged in making a meaningful contribution. Trust gains momentum when citizen voices are heard and when politicians and officials respond accordingly.

Large cities that have experienced ongoing water crises, such as Sao Paulo, are often criticised for failing to establish public-private agreements and robust partnerships

Planning for uncertainty

How cities anticipate and prepare to adapt to drought conditions depends on factors such as their financial, technical and human capital.

But if cities are going to become more resilient and responsive to climate change then a search for new water supplies will be necessary. It is also essential to establish new forms of governance. Innovative approaches need to be explored because we might not yet know what these should look like. The future is uncertain, but there is a lot that can be done right now and we need to learn some hard lessons.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The South African Reserve Bank has placed a small bank - VBS Mutual Bank - under curatorship . The decision was based on concerns that the bank was facing a liquidity crisis and could collapse, devouring depositors' funds. Some have criticised the decision. Sibonelo Radebe from The Conversation Africa asked Jannie Rossouw to explain the process.

South African Reserve Bank Governor, Lesetja Kganyago

What is curatorship?

In simple terms curatorship of a bank means that its board and executive management are relieved of their duties. A curator is appointed by the South African Reserve Bank in consultation with the National Treasury and the Minister of Finance. The curator takes over the full management functions of the bank with the purpose of rehabilitating it.

Curatorship is triggered by concerns about the management or financial viability of the bank. For example, if the board or executive management are found guilty of fraud, the central bank can remove them and appoint a curator to manage the bank until new management is put in place.

Financial viability concerns can trigger curatorship if a bank faces liquidity or solvency problems. This is what happened at VBS. The central banks view was that it faced a liquidity crisis  in other words it was running short of cash to meet its obligations, mainly repayment of deposits.

Liquidity problems happen when bank deposits are withdrawn at a faster rate than they can be replaced by new deposits. This is normally a temporary problem, as a well functioning bank can restore its liquidity levels by taking in new deposits or by reducing its lending activities.

Banks can also face solvency problems. This is different to a liquidity crunch: its when a bank goes bust because loans it has made cant be repaid. In 2001 a South African bank, Regal Treasury Bank went insolvent.

Although the South African Reserve Bank can still appoint a curator when a bank experiences solvency problems, the chances of recovery are slim. This was the case with Regal Treasury Bank which was placed under curatorship but never recovered. It was subsequently liquidated.

Is there an alternative to curatorship?

The alternative to curatorship is liquidation which involves winding down the operations of a bank.

Whereas curatorship is primarily aimed at rehabilitating the operation, liquidation is all about closing it down.

If a bank cant meet its commitments (and a curator isnt appointed speedily to save the situation), its likely to go bust and head straight into liquidation.

A bank can re-emerge from curatorship, but not from liquidation.

An example of successful rehabilitation after when a curator was appointed is African Bank. After being placed under curatorship in 2014, it developed into a healthy operation again. Curatorship in this case helped to restore confidence in the bank.

This is likely to apply in the case of VBS because it remains fully operational. At the same time its employees  but not the board members and the executive management  are protected as they still have their jobs. This would not be the case if the bank was forced to close.

Was curatorship the right answer for VBS?

Yes, without any doubt. VBS is a perfect example of a bank being saved from liquidation through curatorship. If the bank was not placed in curatorship, it would have had to be liquidated and forced to shut up shop. This would have meant job losses.

The reason VBS got into trouble was that it took deposits it shouldnt have. As a mutual bank, registered under the Mutual Banks Act of 1993, it should not have accepted deposits from municipalities because the Municipal Finance Management Act of 2003 prohibits it.

Only commercial banks registered in terms of the Banks Act of 1990 may accept deposits from municipalities. In taking deposits from municipalities, VBS contravened a law that protects the financing of local government authorities. The law doesnt allow mutual banks to accept municipal deposits. The aim is to mitigate risks for both the bank and the municipalities.

Taking deposits from municipalities was also inviting liquidity problems for VBS. As the South African Reserve Bank governor put it:



It was highly risky for VBS to take sizeable municipal deposits that were short-term and lend them out long term.

This meant that there was a mismatch between the banks deposits and its exposure to loans it was giving out.

Once it was established that VBS had broken the law, it was ordered to return the municipality deposits. This put it under even more pressure from a liquidity point of view.

The board and executive management of VBS are to blame for the problems at the bank and for its curatorship. They were in clear dereliction of their duties in accepting municipal deposits in the first instance. Accepting these deposits was in clear contravention of the law  something the board, the executive management and the compliance officer should never have agreed to. They should be taking the blame for the curatorship rather than to try and blame others. They might even have to face charges.

Fortunately, VBS is a very small bank in the South African banking landscape and its impact is too small to have triggered a systemic banking crisis. It is also reassuring to note the continuation of employment of the staff members of VBS Bank.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
In a statement issued this morning, SAPOA voiced its concern over the lack of feedback from the City of Johannesburg on the latest General Valuation (GV) Process.

Ratepayers are not liable to pay disputed rates pending the outcome of objections or appeals.



The City is not entitled to cut off services such as electricity if ratepayers fail to pay that portion of their rates which they are disputing, nor may it threaten to do so.



The City is not entitled to claim interest on any shortfall on rates payable by ratepayers on finalisation of objections or appeals.

In a statement issued this morning, SAPOA voiced its concern over the lack of feedback from the City of Johannesburg on the latest General Valuation (GV) Process. SAPOA said that in its correspondence to the City Manager, it highlighted the legal position on three key factors affecting the valuation roll:On the question of ratepayers not being liable to pay disputed rates, the City refers on its website to Section 50(6) of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act 6 Of 2004 (MPRA) and concludes as follows: Therefore the account must still be paid until the objection process has been finalised. The City in fact insists that the full number of rates billed must be paid, including any disputed amount. SAPOA has pointed out that this interpretation is incorrect. In addition, it is significant to note that the City of Cape Town reached a different conclusion. In a circular released as part of its GV 2015, it posed the following frequently asked question: "Do I still need to pay the new rates if I disagree with the value and my objection is still unresolved?" It then supplied the following answer: "You will need to pay rates until the objection is resolved. The rates need not be based on the new valuation but must at least resemble the amount you are currently paying..."On the question of the City being entitled to cut off services such as electricity if ratepayers fail to pay disputed rates, Section 102(2) of the Systems Act clearly states that municipalities are prohibited from terminating municipal services in relation to amounts under dispute.On the question of the City being entitled to claim interest on any shortfall on rates payable by ratepayers on finalisation of objections or appeals, the City misquotes the relevant provision of the MPRA, namely section 55(2). That section, in fact, provides in 55(2)(b)(i) that where there is a shortfall payable by the ratepayer, the municipality must recover the shortfall from the ratepayer without adding interest thereon. It is only when the municipality is required to refund surplus rates paid by the ratepayer that interest must be added.It is SAPOAs understanding that, in previous valuation exercises, the City did not follow the correct practices and the indications are that the City does not intend to do so with the current valuation process. SAPOA has asked the City to provide it with an assurance that it will ensure its practices pertaining to the 2018 GV will in fact align with the legal requirements set out above. To date there has been no feedback from the City of Joburg.Should the City transgress the MPRA, SAPOA intends approaching the courts.Johannesburg property owners have until today (Friday, 6 April) at 3pm to object their property valuations and can supply comments on until 22 April 2018. The new values and tariffs will be introduced from 1 July 2018.
This company article has been removed.
Virtual shopping is becoming the norm. Using our mobile devices to window shop and find the best price, product reviews, and advice through social media has reinvented the shopping experience.

Anna Bizon via 123RF

Mobile apps that pay back

Social shopping on the rise

Technical challenges

Mobile applications are now a dominant sales channel for both local and international retailers. Alibaba recently revealed that they make more money from their mobile customers than desktop customers. eBay announced that $9.5 billion of their sales in Q2 of 2016 came from mobile, which added up to 45% of their Gross Merchandise Value.South Africa is not far behind. According to the 2017 Effective Measure South Africa Mobile Report , 43% of South Africans use their mobile phones to make online purchases. The number of active smartphone users in South Africa is expected to grow from 16 million in 2017, to 21 million in the next five years, paving the way for future mobile sales.Retail apps have caught on in South Africa. One reason is because mobile apps combine convenient shopping with a payback for customers, which is much more engaging than sending an announcement of sales using a text or WhatsApp message.EeziCoupons from Checkers (Shoprite Holdings), launched in 2012, allowing shoppers to redeem coupons at till points. Currently, Standard Bank gives customers R2 back for every 1 litre of fuel they buy, which can be used towards purchases at certain retailers, added to voyager miles or used to purchase mobile data.Today, the largest loyalty programme is the Pick n Pays Smart Shopper app with well over 10 million customers. Smart Shopper has repeatedly been voted the countrys favourite rewards programme based on multiple surveys being among the most lucrative for their customers.Social media has changed many aspects of our lives. It should come as no surprise that it has reached into the world of shopping.Mobile and social are strongly linked, with 90% of online shoppers social networking on their mobile phones. As data costs drop, social media use has intensified among South Africans in the past year, with Facebook now being used by 29% of the population amounting to 16 million users. Of these, 14 million accessed the social network on mobile devices.Recently, Woolworths reported that a major percentage of the companys online traffic originated on social media and 50% of traffic to the woolworths.co.za website was from mobile devices.There are many online shopping apps where social media is an indispensable tool for increasing the market reach. Gumtree SA lets you offer, buy and sell almost anything from clothes, shoes, phones, flats, furniture, and cars directly from the app, with the ability to share ads using social media. Bidorbuy provides buttons to automatically share listings on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.As the number of social mobile shoppers soars in South Africa there are technical constraints that need to be considered.For online shopping platforms its important to accurately predict the amount of processing power you will need to manage the potentially highest volume of transactions, especially during the busiest time of the year, like the holiday season and the start of the school year. One of the worst nightmares for retailers is a poor user experience that can sabotage online orders, forcing consumers to abandon their shopping carts.The best apps also provide the latest information about product availability and delivery times. In order to have up-to-date information on which items need to be re-ordered, in order to prevent a customer from ordering out-of-stock merchandise, its necessary to have real-time integrations between product inventory and logistics systems.A point-to-point integration based on a short-term ROI can be the simplest form of integration. But if in the near future ERP, CRM, and e-commerce systems need to be in sync, its better to consider selecting a robust process-based integration platform that can bring together systems from all of the major vendors.To sum up, South Africans want to shop on the go and share their shopping decisions with their friends and colleagues using social networks. Retailers just have to make sure that they have the infrastructure to share the data people need, so they can cash in on this opportunity and make social shopping the next digital revolution.
AccorHotels has announced a strategic partnership with the South Africa-based Mantis Group. The agreement is set to reinforce AccorHotels position in Africa as a leader in curated experiences which resonates with the group's conservation platform, Planet 21 and will combine the vision of embodying conservation and education into its operations.

Adrian Gardiner and Sebastien Bazin

The Zambezi Queen Draycott Hotel

Curating conservation and education operations

This partnership is accompanied by the launch of Community Conservation Fund Africa (CCFA), a non-profit organisation (NGO) which aims to amplify both groups commitment towards preventing the accelerating decline of Africas wildlife and bringing together Wilderness Foundation, Tusk Trust and African Parks.AccorHotels chairman and CEO, Sebastien Bazin said: "Mantis is a pioneer in customised one-of-a-kind travel services in some of the most imaginative hotels across the world. With this strategic partnership, we are reinforcing the groups footprint in Africa and we have access to a brand with strong roots and heritage, recognised for its commitment to preserve the environment and its prestigious credentials in the hospitality space."Founder and chairman of the Mantis Group, Adrian Gardiner commented: "AccorHotels is one of the fastest growing hotel and travel operators worldwide. This agreement presents an attractive proposition for the Mantis Group to utilise AccorHotels robust distribution channels and worldwide reach to further develop the hospitality concepts and sustainability projects we have worked so tirelessly to grow. We are excited to embark upon this new chapter alongside AccorHotels where we will act as ambassadors for the development of both our groups portfolios and offerings."The Mantis network features 28 managed properties, a global network of branded hotels and residences, including boutique villas and flagship properties such as the Founders Lodge  a South African game reserve located in the Eastern Cape, Mantis St Helena  a boutique hotel on the remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Draycott Hotel in London. Celebrated for its far-flung experiences for the adventure curious, the Mantis Group also owns and operates a number of unique luxury houseboats and a lodge under the Zambezi Queen Collection brand.Highlights of Mantis success in conservation include the support and sponsorship of initiatives for the Wilderness Foundation Africa, Tusk Trust and various other conservation NGOs. Mantis strives to conserve the biodiversity of the landscapes that host its properties and share the ecotourism benefits with local communities via job creation.Education, also a core value of the Mantis Group, is exemplified in Worldwide Experience, which offers international students the opportunity to take up conservation placements throughout Southern Africa. The group also has a partnership with Stenden University, a hotel management institution in South Africa that educates students in hospitality and disaster management and also offers practical experience via internships at Mantis properties and is the only institution in the world that offers a course in conservation and lodge management at a private game reserve.
Were really proud of the new HeraldLIVE website. Its been an extensive journey to develop a platform that allows our readers to immerse themselves in their trusted news brand on desktop, tablet or mobile, remarks Justin Peel, Chief Marketing Officer for. Visitors to the site will find the news easier to navigate, with new distinct sections highlighting the most important information first, and breaking news e-mail alerts to ensure our readers are always in touch with events as they happen.Following a pitch process, Boomtown was appointed byto roll out a bold campaign to drive awareness of the online platform without neglecting the loyal print readership. Brave thinking by the creative team paid off, and were excited to be working with an iconic publication and Nelson Mandela Bay brand, remarks Boomtown MD, Andrew MacKenzie.The campaign kicked off on 3 April and encourages engagement and exploration of Nelson Mandela Bay. Once readers have liked our Facebook page, they have to find the posts which provide a clue as to the location of the missing letters. If readers find a letter they simply upload their photos with the letter in the comment section to stand the chance of winning one of six cash prizes, adds Peel.Internationally newspapers are taking different routes in tackling readership and reach in a digital age, and one model doesnt fit all. But what is clear, is that newspapers will continue to do the heavy-lifting when it comes to accurate reporting and informed comment and analysis to keep the public in the picture.
Good Governance Africa is calling for the proposal of a 24-minute TV pilot for sales and promotional purposes, along with a two-minute trailer. The pilot should interpret the meaning of the selected edition in a television documentary that includes appropriate scene-setting, interviews with experts mentioned in the edition, and vox-pop interviews with relevant people.For more information, view the full request for proposal document or email gro.agg@ellehcim
This job expired on 16 May 2018.
This job expired on 8 May 2018.
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A sounding rocket being launched. Photo: VSSC

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (PTI): The RH300 sounding rocket, developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) as part of a study to enrich available atmospheric data, would be launched from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.



This will be the 21st launch of RH300 sounding rocket, a release from VSSC said Thursday.



The launch, scheduled at 1915 hrs Friday, is part of a study undertaken by VSSC under the Sounding Rocket Experiment (SOUREX) programme, which utilises the RH-300 MKII sounding rocket to study the Equatorial E and lower ionosphere regions of the atmosphere, it said.



The study will enrich available atmospheric data and refine the models used for tropical weather prediction, it added.



The skies of state capital and nearby areas will witness a spectacular display of a long trail of interleaved pattern of white and blue light due to chemi-luminescence, a resultant of the experiment.



Photographic capturing of the trail is arranged from four different stations in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli, the release said.



The objective of the experiment is to measure neutral wind in the dynamo region (80-120 km) of equatorial ionosphere using the indigenously developed Electron Density and Neutral Wind Probe (ENWi) and perform cross-validation using an independent Tri Methyl Aluminium (TMA) release technique.



Atmospheric studies with TMA were done in the 60's utilizing sounding rockets of foreign countries and the first launch was on May 2, 1965 using a Centaure rocket.



After a long gap, the TMA experiment is now being attempted with indigenously made payload and rocket.


The award-winning Haitian-American author and activist spoke at the annual Hess Memorial Lecture about the shared experience of people of the African diaspora and how to work together for positive change.

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'The World Is Before You, and You Need Not Take It or Leave It as You Came In,' Says Hess Scholar in Residence Edwidge Danticat

What I share with you is part of an ongoing exploration for me . . . about certain issues and struggles that connect different people in the African diaspora, both in pain and jubilee, said Haitian-American author and activist Edwidge Danticat, who delivered the 13th Robert L. Hess Memorial Lecture, A Right to Be Here: Race, Immigration, and My Third Culture Kids, at the Woody Tanger Auditorium in the Brooklyn College Library on March 28.

Danticat emigrated from Haiti with her family at the age of 12 and grew up in Brooklyn. She joked that her father wanted her to be a nurse. But it was clear from the age of 14, when she published her first work, A Haitian-American Christmas: Kremace and Creole Theater, in the New York City teen paper New Youth Connections, where her path lay: at the intersection of art, politics, and activism, particularly for the civil rights of Haitians in Haiti and the diaspora. Her debut novel Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) became an Oprahs Book Club selection, and in 1995, at the age of 26, Danticat became the youngest National Book Award nominee ever for her novel Krik? Krak! Her work of historical fiction, The Farming of Bones, earned her an American Book Award, and in 2007 the author would win the National Book Critics Award for her family memoir Brother, Im Dying.

Danticat spoke of witnessing state abuses in both Haiti and New York City in the 1980s, citing the 1997 beating and assault of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima by the NYPD, and the 2000 death of unarmed Haitian-American Patrick Dorismond by NYPD gunfire .

We carried signs and chanted No justice, no peace. Whose streets? Our streets, even while fearing that this would never be true. The streets, we worried, were never ours to begin with, just as they hadnt been in the homelands we were fleeing to obtain safety here.

Invoking the names Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, Stephon Clarkall unarmed people of color who died at or in the hands of law enforcement, Danticat drew comparisons between African Americans living in the United States who are treated unequally under the law and political refugees of Haitian descent who were ejected from the Dominican Republic, many after living there decades, because they were no longer considered citizens. Particularly vulnerable, she pointed out, are third culture childrenchildren who are raised outside of their parents native culture for a significant part of their developing years.

Parents are often too nervous to broach subjects like this with their children. These among other difficult subjects like love, sex, death, race, Danticat said. Sometimes we are forced to have these kinds of conversations early, too early. A broken heart might lead to questions wed rather not answer as might an inappropriate gesture, the death of a loved one, or a murder of a stranger.

I certainly would not like my daughters to grow up terrified of the country and the world they live in, she said of Mira, 13 and Laila, 9. But is it not irresponsible of me to at least not alert them to the potential life altering or even life ending horrors they might face as young people in todays world [and] as young black women, as the children of immigrants in a large family of immigrants with various types of immigration status?

In what she calls a never-ending letter to her third-culture gals, Danticat tells her daughters, The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as you came in. . . .That we cannot stand by and watch, that we must join each others causes, have each others backs, form alliances. Practice what in Haiti we call kombit: Today you work my land, tomorrow I work yours. I want them to look back in wonder and amazement and love, because when you study history and the gains people have made against impossible odds, in the Haitian Revolution, or the civil rights movement, and in the dismantling of apartheid, its harder for you to give up in despair. And if you feel frozen and overwhelmed, just take one small step at a time.

Danticat earned a bachelors degree in French literature from Barnard and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Brown University. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2009, Danticat is the 25th laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature for outstanding literary merit in literature worldwide. She gave the keynote address to Brooklyn College Masters graduating class in May 2014, and was given an Honorary Doctor of Letters during the commencement ceremony.

Of her Hess residency Danticat said, Any time I come to Brooklyn College in any capacity its an honor. I feel like Ive been a part of the Brooklyn College family for so many years. My brother and sister-in-law got their degrees here, my nieces went to toddler school here. Brother Im Dying was a [Common Reading selection], Ive spoken at commencement, Ive taken shortcuts through the campus on the way to my brothers house from the train on Flatbush. It feels more like a homecoming than a visit.

In cooperation with the Ethyle R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities and the CUNY Haitian Studies Institute, the Robert L. Hess Memorial Lecture was part of the 20172018 Scholar-in-Residence Program named for and in honor of the eighth president of Brooklyn College, whose commitment to scholarship and the educated individualknowledgeable, thoughtful, inquiring, alive to the shared purposes and concerns lining all intellectual pursuits, marked his tenure.

For the full Robert L. Hess Memorial Lecture delivered by Edwidge Danticat, visit the Brooklyn College Facebook page.
BRISTOL BOROUGH >> Police responded to the report of a stabbing in the area of 95 Commerce Circle on Sept. 27. Upon arrival police found a 43 year old man with a stab wound to his upper back. It is believed that the victim had a verbal altercation with a group when one member of the group stabbed him. The victim then...
UBs School of Architecture and Planning launches Affordable Housing Initiative

The University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning is launching a new Affordable Housing Initiative, and is hosting a symposium April 10 to kick it off. Photo: Douglas Levere

The Affordable Housing Initiative is one more in a string of ways our students and faculty can learn from our community as we solve problems with it. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  A new initiative within the University at Buffalos School of Architecture and Planning will begin addressing one of the largest needs facing U.S. cities today: affordable housing.

Through coursework, research and participation in studios, students and faculty in architecture, real estate development and urban planning will plan, design and ultimately build single-family or multi-family housing prototypes for underserved neighborhoods on Buffalos East or West sides.

Prototypes will be replicable both for Buffalo and cities like it across the U.S. The design-build project will also consider innovative design and construction materials and techniques.

The Affordable Housing Initiative represents another chapter in the School of Architecture and Plannings long history of using Buffalo as a laboratory for projects benefitting the public.

Buffalo is an extraordinary laboratory. There are so many other cities like this that can benefit from the kind of work that UB is doing in Buffalo, said 1978 UB graduate Donald Capoccia, who as a managing principal with BFC Partners has nearly 40 years of experience in New York Citys affordable housing market. Capoccia is the founding supporter of UBs Affordable Housing Initiative.

The need for affordable housing in Buffalo is perhaps greater now than at any point in the citys history.

Although Buffalo has experienced a resurgence, it has inadequate high-quality housing that is affordable to a significant portion of its population. In addition, like many cities, affordable housing in Buffalo has been heavily dependent on the availability of investments through low-income housing tax credits, the future availability of which is uncertain.

Thats where UBs Affordable Housing Initiative can make an impact in the community.

Our school is fully engaged with the community that hosts us. The Affordable Housing Initiative is one more in a string of ways our students and faculty can learn from our community as we solve problems with it, said Robert Shibley, dean of UBs School of Architecture and Planning.

It is also the way we keep faith with the mission of our university  we seek out solutions to global problems, like making healthy communities that address the need for affordable housing, Shibley added.

Initiative kicks off with symposium April 10

To kick off the initiative, UB is convening leading scholars and practitioners in planning, architecture and real estate development for a symposium that will explore current conditions and future trends in housing policy, design and finance, while considering new models for high-quality, affordable housing.

The symposium will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 10 in 403 Hayes Hall on UBs South Campus.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by Capoccia and Henry Cisneros, who served as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the administration of former President Bill Clinton. Cisneros is also the founder and chairman of CityView, an investment management and development firm focused on urban residential real estate.

There will also be three panel sessions during the day on the creation of effective public policy; innovations in architecture, design and construction; and new solutions in real estate finance and deal making in a capital constrained market.
Soprano Bullock to appear at UB

Soprano Julia Bullock, a rising star on the classical music scene, will present a concert at UB on April 13 as part of the Department of Musics Slee Visiting Artist Series.

The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

The program will include sets of songs by Franz Schubert and Samuel Barber, as well as work by Gabriel Faure, Spencer Williams, Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.

As part of her visit to UB, Bullock will teach a master class at 6:30 p.m. April 12 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus. The class is free and open to the public.

Hailed as an impressive, fast-rising soprano who is poised for a significant career by The New York Times, Bullock is equally at home with opera and concert repertoire, captivating and inspiring audiences through her versatile artistry, probing intellect and commanding stage presence.

She helped launch the Boston Symphony Orchestras 2017-18 season in September, joining Andris Nelsons in the orchestras Bernstein Gala; sang Pamina in concert performances of Die Zauberflote with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in October, and made her San Francisco Opera debut in November in the world premiere of Girls of the Golden West.

A native of St. Louis, Bullock is known for integrating her musical life with community activism. She has organized and participated in benefit concerts in support of the FSH Society, the worlds largest patient-driven organization for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy; the Music and Medicine Initiative for New Yorks Weill Medical Center; and the Shropshire Music Foundation, a non-profit that serves war-affected children and adolescents through music education and performance programs in Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Uganda.

Tickets for Bullocks concert are available through a variety of outlets at the following pricing structure:

UB faculty, staff, alumni, seniors and non-UB students

$10 plus $2 fee online at www.ticketfly.com

$10 plus $4 fee by phone at 877-987-6487 (Ticketfly)

$14 in person at the Center for the Arts (noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday)

$17 in person at the door (one hour before concert time)

General public

$15 plus $2 fee online at www.ticketfly.com

$15 plus $4 fee by phone at 877-987-6487 (Ticketfly)

$19 in person at the Center for the Arts (noon to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Friday)

$22 in person at the door (one hour before concert time)

UB students are admitted free with ID.

For a complete listing of all concerts being presented by the Department of Music, visit the departments website.
Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said in responded to the latest PMI data, which showed that snowy weather, rising costs and uncertainty relating to Brexit are to blame for the sharp drop in construction output.

The March 2018 PMI data revealed a fall from 51.4 in February to 47.0 in March, against the neutral reading of 50.0. March 2018s figure was weaker than the average 52.3 of 2017.

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: The latest PMI data shows the fastest drop in construction activity since July 2016. The unusually cold and snowy weather experienced across the UK last month is partly to blame for this set-back. The cold snap impacted on a broad array of construction projects, including house building, domestic refurbishment and large civil engineering projects. Many small builders across the country were forced to close sites for more than a week and some employers reported that it was too cold to lay bricks.

Berry continued: Alongside the snow, the cost of doing business is rising for the UKs construction firms. Wages and salaries are all rocketing because of the ever worsening skills shortages in construction. Whats more, material prices have been rising steadily since the depreciation of sterling following the EU referendum. Increased prices for metals and insulation in particular were noted in March. We expect material prices to continue to cause a headache for the construction industry with recent research from the FMB showing that 87% of builders believe that material prices will rise in the next six months.

Berry concluded: More broadly, the future is still looking incredibly uncertain for the UK construction sector. We still dont know what the post-Brexit immigration system will look like and given that businesses need to plan ahead, this could also be putting a brake on growth in the construction sector. This is especially the case for construction  our sector is heavily reliant on EU tradespeople with more than 8% of construction workers hailing from the EU. In London, this rises to one third. The Government must take stock of todays results and redouble its efforts to provide post-Brexit clarity to businesses. We need to know what we can expect from the new immigration system  we need to know what will replace free movement of people.
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Air-conditioner manufacturer Blue Star will start commercial production from its plant at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, by the end of 2021. The new plant will have an installed capacity of 500,000 units per annum.

The company currently has five plants and the sixth one coming up at Andhra Pradesh will see an investment of Rs 2.3 billion spreading over 25 acres of land. "We have bought a piece of land at Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. About Rs 2.3 billion will be invested at the proposed plant. In the first phase, Rs 180 million will be spent and the balance in the second ...
Alan Watts, executive vice-president and president for the Asia Pacific (APAC) at Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and Navjit Ahluwalia, its senior vice-president and country head, discuss their India plan with Shally Seth Mohile. Edited excerpts: Hilton has charted an aggressive growth strategy for the APAC, what are your priorities? Watts: As we speak today, one in every four hotels being built right across APAC, and one in every three in China, is a Hilton one.

Like most in the sector, we are very focused on APAC. Asia leads the world in growth (here) and what it means is to bring ...
Do names such as Tilo, Jinthaaa, Mullai or Kisso ring a bell at all? Chances are slim as consumers can see them only four months in a year. Come summer and regional brands have a field day as soaring mercury levels push up beverage consumption.

But this summer is turning out to be a lucrative period for these players as the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts a very hot season between March and May. At least 27 aerated drinks are visible this summer in the southern market alone with the number expected to rise further as the temperature increases. The IMD had ...
Amit Bhardwaj, the mastermind behind one of the largest Bitcoin Ponzi schemes in India, was arrested this week. The 35-year-old had been actively marketing his scheme since 2015, before it came to the notice of the authorities. Several investors were lured to his Ponzi schemes, which promised handsome returns.

Zakhil Suresh, a finance student living in Kerala, was one of them. In a petition to the Delhi Commissioner of Police to arrest Bhardwaj, Suresh said that he and his friends met Bhardwaj in 2015 at Delhi where the latter explained his five-year business plan. Bhardwaj claimed his ...
The Lahore High Court on Thursday allowed Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's two organisations Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) to work under the ambit of law. The court also directed Pakistani government authorities not to "harass" globally-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed and allow him to undertake his "welfare activities" until the next date of hearing i.e. April 23, reported The Dawn.



On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council came out with an updated list of terrorist individuals and entities of which 139 are based in and include Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafeez Saeed's outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, Dawood Ibrahim and the Haqqanis.

Justice Ameenuddin Khan of the Lahore High Court issued a notice to the interior ministry to file its reply on April 23 on the petition of Saeed challenging a government's notification to ban social welfare activities of his JuD and FIF and freezing of their accounts.

"The LHC today allowed Saeed's JuD and FIF to work under the ambit of law but did not lift the government's ban on their social welfare activities," a court official told PTI after the hearing.

"The two organisations will have to work according to the law after imposition of ban on them by the government," he said, adding the court would hold next hearing on April 23.

Saeed's counsel Advocate A K Dogar requested the court for a full bench hearing since this case is of "sensitive nature".

Justice Khan responded that the decision to constitute a full bench will be made in the next hearing.

Dogar told the court that the interior ministry on February 10 issued a notification with regard to freezing bank accounts and taking over assets associated with JuD and FIF under the Anti-Terrorism (amendment) Ordinance 2018.

"The government of acted under the pressure of foreign powers including United Nations and India. is a sovereign independent state and makes its own laws to govern its citizens. If there is a conflict between the laws of the land and any provision of United Nations Security Council Act, 1948, the law of the land shall prevail," he said.

Dogar argued the FIF owns 369 ambulances, helped 72,000 persons to charity hospitals and treated 600,000 patients only in 2017. "JuD dug out 2000 wells for supplying water in Tharparkar, Baluchistan and Balochistan," he said.

The petitioner pleaded the court to declare the impugned notification of the interior ministry null and void with regard to taking over the assets of the two organisations.

Separately, Saeed had challenged the presidential ordinance under which his group has been banned for being on the watch-list of the UN in the Islamabad High Court.

In February, President Mamnoon Hussain promulgated an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 with regards to proscription of terrorist individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the UN Security Council in a move to declare Hafiz Saeed-linked JuD and FIF as proscribed groups.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.
The Delhi High Court on Friday sought response of former President Pranab Mukherjee on a suit seeking deletion of some references to the 1992 demolition of in Ayodhya from his 2016 book on the grounds that they have hurt Hindu sentiments.

Justice Pratibha M Singh issued notice to Mukherjee on the plea by a social worker and a group of lawyers against his book 'Turbulent Years 1980-1996'.

The matter was listed for further hearing on July 30.

The court in September last year had called for the trial court records of the suit after the plaintiffs (the social worker and the lawyers) moved an appeal against the lower court's order of November 30, 2016 rejecting their plea to delete certain portions of the book of the then President Mukherjee.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for the plaintiffs, had argued that the lower court wrongly dismissed the suit on the grounds that there was no cause of action.

He had earlier contended before the high court that there was cause of action when the book was published on January 28, 2016 and also after September 5, 2016, when the two-month notice issued by the plaintiffs for deletion of portions of the book had expired.

The plaintiffs' advocates had claimed before the trial court that a civil suit can be filed against the President during his tenure in respect of any act done by him in his "personal capacity".

The President's counsel, however, had opposed the plea before the trial court. asserting that it was not maintainable.

(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.)
Declaring Nepal as a safe investment destination following the formation of a stable government, Prime Minister K.P. Oli on Friday invited Indian investment to participate in the development process of the Himalayan nation.

As part of efforts to attract foreign investment, the Investment Board of Nepal, chaired by Oli, is going to shortly hold a global investors summit in Kathmandu that is being jointly organised with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and which will be attended by Indian Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, officials said here at the CII-organised India-Nepal Business Forum with Oli participating.

"Nepal is now safe for foreign investment. Any attempt to disrupt law and order will be dealt strongly," said Oli, who arrived here on Friday on a three-day visit -- his first foreign trip after he returned to power in February for a second time.

"Indian investors have invested across the globe, so why not Nepal... because in terms of geographical access and cultural similarity (with India) it is all there in Nepal," he said.

"Nepal will need massive investment, many of its sectors are virgin territory for investment. I invite Indian companies to come and invest in Nepal," he added.

A 54-member high-level delegation is accompanying Oli, including a number of ministers, while officials here said that both governments are currently discussing the creation of an India-Nepal Joint Business Forum.

Noting that his government enjoys three-fourths majority in Nepal's lower house of Parliament allowing for "stability and continuity in policy", Oli said: "My Government is committed to a liberal economy and liberal economic policies with the private sector as a key partner.

"We have no intention to reverse this trend," he added.

Indian firms are the biggest investors in Nepal, accounting for about 40 per cent of total approved foreign direct investments (FDI) and are working in the manufacturing, services, power and tourism sectors. Some large Indian investors include ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, MTNL, State Bank of India, Punjab Bank, Life Insurance Corp and Asian Paints.

In 2016-17, Nepal imported $6.1 billion worth of goods and services from India and exported only a little more than $400 million worth, making for a trade deficit of over $5.7 billion.

Nepal hopes to correct this trade imbalance by attracting more Indian FDI into the country.
The CBI today questioned a former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, H R Khan, in connection with alleged bank fraud cases involving diamond traders Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and relaxation of gold import policy by the erstwhile UPA government, sources said today.

He was questioned about the UPA government's 20:80 gold import scheme, which was cleared by then Finance Minister Chidambaram on May 13, 2014, barely three days before the counting of votes of the general election.

The central investigation agency, which is probing the alleged Rs 130-billion PNB fraud involving billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, had yesterday questioned three Chief General Managers and one General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), officials said.




After several govt websites including Defence and Home ministry were down, the government denied any hacking attempt, saying the websites were down due to malfunctioning of a data storage device. The websites were down because of malfunctioning of a data storage device.

There was no hacking, a top official in the government said, adding the websites are getting operational one after the other. The Chinese sign on the defence ministry website is nothing but the logo for the website, the official added. "There are total 7-8 websites which are down and ...
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) may have to thank its own visionary Governing Board and the practice of religiously following its goals towards Strategic Plan 2020, patiently ticking every columns it needs to, as it has been ranked as the best engineering college in the country for the third consecutive year by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The institute also retained its second position in the overall category as the second best institution in the country, next only to Indian Institute of ...
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) against Gujarat independent MLA Jignesh Mevani.

BJP's Chitradurga district president K S Naveen lodged an FIR against Mevani for his speech in Chitradurga, wherein he urged youth to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign program scheduled ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

Speaking at a rally earlier in the day, Mevani said, "Karnataka youth's biggest role at this time can be when Prime Minister Modi steps foot in Karnataka for the first time for campaign on April 15, then enter his rally, throw chairs in the air, disrupt his function and ask him what happened to two crore jobs?"

He further said that if the Prime Minister fails to answer, he should be asked to leave and take shelter at a Ram Mandir in the Himalayas.

At the rally, Mevani denied allegiance to any political party, and added, "I am here to awake the mass about the risk of fascism and ensure that BJP doesn't enter South India."

With the polling day inching closer, the Congress-ruled Karnataka has turned into a political battleground with parties extensively campaigning across the state.

Karnataka will go to polls on May 12 to elect its representatives for the 225-member assembly. The results will be out on May 15.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive to compel the storing of users financial transactions data within this countrys geographic boundaries has put payment companies in a quandary. There is ambiguity on who would come under the regulations and what types of data need to be so stored in the country.

That aside, experts say, it would seem the new guideline is likely to hurt foreign players more, especially card companies such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express. These process and store credit card transaction data outside of India. It is also expected to ...
Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is set to walk out of a German jail today, after judges refused his extradition to Spain for alleged rebellion and ordered him freed on bail pending a ruling on a lesser corruption charge.

Madrid wants to extradite Puigdemont, 55, the former president of Catalonia, back to Spain to face trial over his role in the regions failed bid to make itself independent from Spain.

Puigdemonts lawyers told reporters they expected him to leave the prison in the northern German town of Neumuenster shortly after midday, after posting bail of 75,000 euros (USD 92,000).

"We must look to the future with hope and optimism because we have the right, we have the right not to be robbed of our future," read a tweet posted from Puigdemonts official account this morning.

"We have to stand firm, theres no going back now."



In a major victory for Puigdemont, judges at the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein ruled late yesterday that extradition on a charge of rebellion would be "inadmissable".

They said in a statement that Puigdemont was not involved in violence during an outlawed referendum on Catalan independence last October.

That was grounds to reject prosecutors argument that the Spanish "rebellion" charge was similar enough to Germanys "high treason" statute to justify extradition.

The Catalan separatist figurehead could still be extradited on a charge of misusing public funds, the judges added, as they asked their Spanish counterparts for more information on the matter.

Once Puigdemont is out on bail, he must keep authorities informed of his whereabouts, report to police weekly, respond to summons from prosecutors or the court, and remain in Germany.

Puigdemonts German defence team welcomed the decision to set aside the "outrageous" rebellion charge, and said they "respected" judges call for more information from Spain.

Puigdemont "always said he had full confidence in the German judiciary," his Barcelona-based lawyer Jaime Alonso-Cuevillas tweeted.

A Spanish government source told AFP that Madrid "always respects" judicial decisions "whether they please it or not", adding it expects "appropriate measures" from Spains judiciary in response.

If extradited only for misusing public funds, Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted in Spain on the more serious charge of rebellion under European law.

The lesser charge relates to the cost of the Catalan independence referendum, estimated at 1.6 million euros by Madrid.

News of Puigdemonts bail "will reduce tension and pressure in Catalonia" where protestors have blocked streets and clashed with police in recent days, political scientist Oriol Bartomeus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona told AFP.

But the relief would only be "momentary", he added, noting that "nothing has been resolved".

Public opinion in Spain is divided on whether the referendum constituted a "violent uprising" as laid out in law.

Catalans mostly reject the rebellion charge, according to opinion polls. A major demonstration calling for imprisoned separatist leaders to be freed is planned for April 15 in Barcelona.

After being removed from office by the central government in Madrid following a unilateral declaration of independence on October 27, Puigdemont fled to Belgium.

He was arrested in northern Germany in late March on the way back from a trip to Finland.

Puigdemont and six political allies escaped Spanish authorities in an attempt to draw attention to their plight.

A Belgian judge yesterday bailed three of the four former Catalan ministers who fled to Belgium with Puigdemont after they handed themselves in to police there.

Spain wants the trio -- Meritxell Serret, Antoni Comin and Lluis Puig -- to face charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state.

Nine other pro-independence figures are currently in custody in Spain, including six members of Puigdemonts Catalan government and the former president of the Catalan parliament.
US President Donald Trump, in his first public remarks about the intimate relationship he has been accused of having with adult film star Stormy Daniels, on Thursday said he did not know about a $130,000 payment made by his lawyer to keep Daniels quiet. The White House has denied that Trump had sex with Daniels.

Asked why his lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid the money if the allegations were untrue, Trump told reporters on Air Force One, "You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael's my attorney." On being asked if he knew about the payment to Daniels, Trump said ...
A South Korean court jailed former President Park Geun-hye for 24 years on Friday over a scandal that exposed webs of corruption between political leaders and the country's conglomerates. Park became South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be forced from office last year when the Constitutional Court ordered her out over a scandal that landed the heads of two conglomerates in jail. The court also fined Park, the daughter of a former military dictator, 18 billion won ($16.9 million) after finding her guilty of charges including bribery, abuse of power and ...
Companies that get a sizable share of sales from rural markets could see higher growth on the expectation of a normal monsoon, which has been forecast for this year, as of now. Two non-government bodies, Skymet and Weather Risk Management Services have said they expect rain in the June to September period to be on the positive side of normal.

D K Joshi, chief economist at ratings agency CRISIL, says this initial prediction is a positive but the amount apart, the distribution of rain is also important. More clarity on this is expected in June. A normal monsoon is expected to ...
Currently, Mohanty is executive director (ED) of Sebi  heading the commodities derivatives-market regulation department created by the regulator after its merger with the Forward Market Commission (FMC). Mohanty, has been appointed for three years, or till the age of 65 years, on the pay as admissible to an additional secretary to the Government of India, or a consolidated salary of Rs 3,75,000 per month, the order issued by the Department of Personnel and ...

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The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a key ally of the BJP-led Assam government, has announced to go solo in the upcoming panchayat polls in Assam.

Addressing the booth workers' at a rally in Guwahati's Khanapura on Thursday, AGP leader Keshab Mahanta said, 'We have decided to contest the Panchayat Elections alone but this rally doesn't mean we are breaking alliance with BJP."

The AGP started its campaign by holding a rally of its booth-level workers on yesterday at veterinary college playground in Khanapara.

The regional party also held meeting expressing concern over rise in crimes against women in Assam and sought a strong law to curb such crimes.

Panchayat polls in the state are likely to be held in May.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday announced that the state government will implead in the Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act case before the Supreme Court.

The Chief Minister announced this while speaking state assembly on the Supreme Court's guidelines on SC/ST Act.

"The Andhra Pradesh government will implead in the SC/ST Act case in before the Supreme Court and fight for the cause of Dalits," CM Naidu said.

He urged the apex court and Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to dilute the SC/ST Act.

Naidu said, "Andhra Pradesh government appeals the Supreme Court, government of India and the Prime Minister not to change the Act that dilutes its spirit. I appeal to the Centre to protect the rights of Dalits as per the spirit of the Constitution."

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 Chief Minister said that the assembly expresses grief over the violence and casualties that took place in different parts of India during the protests.

Various Dalit organisations called for Bharat Bandh on April 2 to oppose the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.

At least 11 people were killed in the protests across the country that turned violent 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 Chief Minister in his speech reminded that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has always been working for the welfare of SCs and STs.

"We spent Rs. 2713 crore for SC welfare thru SC Corporation. We have been providing vehicles to SC youth for their self-employment," Naidu said.

He added that the Andhra Pradesh government is implementing many schemes for Dalit youth to get quality education, at home and abroad also.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Members of Parliament (MPs) from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday staged protest against the Congress party for disrupting Parliament.

They assembled in front of the Parliament as the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die.

The second half of the Budget Session was literally washed out due to continuous disruption by the Congress and other Opposition parties over several issues.

The BJP MPs were carrying placards that blamed the Congress for disrupting the Budget Session.

Talking to media, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said, "BJP works for connecting people, Congress works for dividing people. Congress indulges in divisive, negative "

He added that the BJP will sit in protest against the Congress' negative attitude.

"The Congress did not let the House function. We'll sit in protest against the negative attitude of Congress during last 23 days," Kumar said.

Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office Jitendra Singh said people of this country have not taken Congress' behaviour in the parliament lightly.

"Entire session got washed out. People of this country have not taken it kindly. We have failed to live up to the expectations of the people because of a handful of people," Singh said.

On Thursday, MPs of the ruling Democratic Alliance (NDA) decided to forego their salaries for the 23 days of the ongoing Budget Session when Parliament did not function because of protests by the Congress and other political parties.

The Opposition parties regularly created ruckus in the Parliament demanding 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.

The Opposition parties also staged a protest a protest near the Gandhi statue outside Parliament on Thursday and held the government responsible for disruption of the Parliament. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi also participated in the protest.

The first half of the session was held from 31 January to 9 February and after a month-long recess the second half of the session began on 9 March. During the session till now, the Lok Sabha has passed 21 bills and the Rajya Sabha 14 bills. They include the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, The Mental Health Care Bill, The Maternity Benefits (Amendment) Bill, The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the crucial four supporting bills for the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax.

(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 Friday expressed the party's wish to remain in alliance with its estranged ally in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena.

While addressing a question in this regard at a press conference here, Shah said, "It is our heartfelt wish to be together."

The Shiv Sena has announced to break the alliance in the state before the 2019 general elections.

Shah also added that Democratic Alliance (NDA) has gained more alliance partners in the ensuing years since the last elections than it had in 2014, and further expressed confidence that the BJP will once again win the general elections.

"We have confidence that BJP, under the leadership of Narendra Modi ji, will win the 2019 elections and NDA will form government with an even greater majority," he said

Earlier in the day, Shah addressed a rally of party workers on the occasion of BJP's 38th foundation day.

He also sparked controversy by likening the Opposition to creatures like snakes, cats, dogs, mongoose who have come together for survival against the flood that is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Clarifying the parallel he drew, Shah said, "Snake and a mongoose are natural enemies and that is why I drew the parallel, because these parties are going against their own ideology in coming together against the wave of Modi ji. If someone's sentiments have been hurt, then I'm clarifying my statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha PJ Kurien on Friday said both the government as well as the opposition is responsible for the washout of the entire Budget Session in the Parliament.

Talking to ANI, Kurien said the washout of the Budget Session was "very unfortunate" and that all were responsible for the disruption of the Parliament.

According to the Deputy Speaker, disruptions in the functioning of the Parliament are not a good thing and "unparliamentary".

"Unfortunately, some political parties and MPs feel that when their demands are not met, their grievances whether or not genuine are not met, they should disrupt the parliament, which is very disappointing," he said.

He said the disruption in the functioning of the Parliament is a loss to the nation and not to the ruling party.

"They want to bring wrong to the government. Unfortunately, when their demands or requests are not entertained they disrupt the parliament," the Deputy Speaker said about opposition parties.

"When the other day, the anti-corruption bill was taken up for discussion in the House, I myself said this is a loss to the nation, for all of us and not for the ruling party. We all are responsible for this kind of loss," he told ANI.

According to him, for the smooth functioning of the Parliament, the government should take initiative in solving genuine problems of MPs and ensure they are listened to, while the opposition should make sure that important bills and businesses of the government are transacted.

"Both of them should take responsibility and behave in a more responsible way. This is the only way to make the House function," he said.

When asked about the opposition parties' allegations that the government is not serious about making the House function, the Deputy Speaker said there was no truth in the allegation.

Denying the allegations, he said: "Even today (Friday) the opposition said the government did not talk to them seriously and that if the government talked there would have been a solution to the issues, but it is only a blame put at the opposition parties on the government."

He said the government, on the other hand, asserted it had done whatever it could to make the House function smoothly.

"The government says it is the duty of the opposition to cooperate in the functioning of the Parliament."

The entire session of the Parliament was washed out owing to disruptions in the functioning of the House. Both the opposition Congress Party, as well as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has blamed one another for disruptions.

The Telugu Desam Party has however blamed the BJP for the disruptions, saying it was practising divide and rule method to run away from providing special status to Andhra Pradesh promised by the Democratic Alliance (NDA).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Brazilian judge has issued an arrest warrant for former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose bid to return to power was quashed when the country's Supreme Court ruled 12 years of imprisonment for 12 years for Lula.

The warrant came several hours after the country's top body, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by da Silva to stay out of prison while he appealed a corruption conviction, reported the Washington Post.

Federal judge Sergio Moro allotted 24 hours to the former Brazilian President to turn himself in to police in the southern city of Curitiba, the report said.

He is facing 12 years in jail on charges of accepting a bribe but had asked to remain free during his appeal.

Maintaining his innocence, Lula has said that the charges are politically motivated to prevent him running for president again.

Silva's Workers' Party, in a statement posted on Twitter, wrote, " No matter how many roses the mighty kill, they will never manage to stop spring."

Da Silva, who is known commonly as Lula, was convicted of corruption and money laundering last July and was and sentenced to almost 10 years of imprisonment.

However, in January, an appeals court unanimously increased the sentence to 12 years, the report said.

Lula, who served as president from 2003 to 2011 and left office with approval ratings over 80 percent, has been labeled as "most popular politician on Earth" by former U.S. President Barack Obama.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Spanish Data Protection Agency, AGDP launched an investigation into the case of a massive data breach by the United States analytics firm Cambridge Analytica.

AGDP on Thursday took to his Twitter account to confirm the investigation probe.

"The Spanish Data Protection Agency has opened an investigation against Facebook in order to examine the possible harm caused to the Spanish users," AGPD tweeted.

Cambridge Analytica is accused of harvesting personal data of Facebook users to influence elections in several countries including the US presidential elections.

According to Russia's Sputnik News Agency, the Cambridge Analytica received the personal information from Aleksandr Kogan, a Cambridge University psychologist, who harvested the data through a special app called "this is your digital life."

Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that social networking site Facebook has breached the personal data of around 87 million users including Indians by sourcing the information to Cambridge Analytica.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As a mark to protest against Centre's negligence for the formation of Cauvery Management Board (CMB), RK Nagar MLA and rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran on Friday urged the Tamil youth to boycott Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, which are to be held in Chennai.

"All Tamils, particularly the youth, should boycott IPL 2018 matches, which are to be held in Chennai, as a mark of protest," MLA TTV Dhinakaran told media.

Meanwhile, farmers who were protesting by partially burying themselves in the sand on banks of Cauvery river in Trichy demanding the formation of CMB, have been evicted by Police

Earlier in the day, an all-party meeting over the formation of Cauvery Management Board constitution matter was held in Chennai.

On April 5, the Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) party had submitted a letter to the Police Commissioner of Chennai requesting the authorities to ban IPL matches on April 10 till CMB is formed.

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.)
Chhattisgarh on Friday bagged the 'State of the Year' Award under the ' leader' category as part of the India Leadership for the remarkable increase in and services activities in various sectors.

The plunge witnessed is said to be the result of various decisions taken on the policy in the field of business by the Chhattisgarh Government in the past few years and its effective implementation.

Union Information Technology and Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad gave the award at India Business Leader Awards (IBLA) organised by a leading business channel.

The award was received by Chhattisgarh Minister Prem Prakash Pandey.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Pandey said that the Chhattisgarh has achieved tremendous success in socio-economic sectors since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government came to power in 2003.

The state government has successfully completed 14 years under the leadership of Chief Minister Raman Singh.

"The government has managed to overcome all the hurdles coming in the way of business and industries with great commitment and dedication. As a result, Chhattisgarh has been ranked 4th in World Bank's list of 'Ease of doing Business'," Pandey said.

He said that Chhattisgarh is the land of opportunities with as it has 28 types of minerals, skilled manpower and encouraging industrial policies.

"The industrial growth rate of the state is constantly more than the national growth rate. The priority is on core sector, non-core sector and sunrise sector. The state has 24 hours best quality power supply and better rail, road and air connectivity," Pandey said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China on Friday vowed to fight "unilateral US protectionism at any cost" after United States President Donald Trump ordered officials to consider USD 100 billion in additional tariffs against its goods.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that while it did not want a trade war with the US, it was not afraid of it.

The ministry's spokesperson said, "On Sino-US trade, China has made its position very clear. We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of such a war. If the US continues its protectionism regardless of opposition from China and the international community, China will fight to the end at any cost to "protect the interests of the country and the people," Xinhua reported.

United States President Donald Trump on Friday ordered his administration to consider tariffs on an additional USD 100 billion in Chinese imports, further escalating the trade tiff between the two countries.

Reportedly, China on Thursday formally launched a Trade Organization (WTO) challenge against Trump's first round of proposed tariffs.

Criticising the move, the spokesperson added, "Concerning the US statement, we will not only listen to the words but also watch the deeds. The conflict was initiated by the United States as a provocation."

"Essentially, it's about the US unilateralism challenging the global multilateralism and the U.S. protectionism challenging the global free trade," the spokesperson added.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry further stated that Beijing would continue to safeguard multi-lateral trade and promote global trade as it looks to reform and open up its economy.

Further, on Wednesday, China threatened tariffs of its own on 106 US products, including on soybeans, cars and some aeroplanes. The country's commerce ministry said that it planned to slap 25 percent levies on a range of U.S. goods worth about USD 50 billion.

That was in response to the release by the US of a list of proposed tariffs a day earlier, covering 50 billion USD in Chinese products. As of now, none of the proposed tariffs above has yet to come into effect.

On March 23, Trump imposed massive trade tariffs amounting to USD 60 billion on China, in an effort to stop the latter from stealing "intellectual property" from American companies.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of Chinese engineers working on a China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in Khanewal, a city in Pakistan's Punjab province clashed with police yesterday.

Chinese engineers and other staffers engaged in the construction of M4 Motorway, thrashed the police men after the latter tried to stop them from leaving their camp without security, a report in the Dawn said.

A video showed a Chinese national standing on the bonnet of a police van, another video showed several Chinese nationals thrashing policemen and some local people in plain clothes, the report said, showing evidence of the altercation through mobile phone clips doing the rounds on social media.

According to the reports, in a further provocation, the Chinese citizens cut off electricity supply to the police camp. Local police tried to control the situation by locking the Chinese citizens in their camps.

The District Police Officer (DPO) Rizwan Umar Gondal conducted an investigation and held the Chinese workers responsible for Wednesday's untoward incident. He has recommended the deportation of the five officials, including the country project manager of the foreign company.

The DPO also appealed to the Punjab government to declare five Chinese persona non grata.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Multiple-time national champion Joshna Chinappa booked her place in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Commonwealth Games squash tournament after clinching straight-games win over Tamika Saxby of Australia in the women's singles event here in Gold Coast, Australia on Friday.

The World No. 14, who picked the women's doubles gold with Dipika Pallikal-Karthik in the last edition of the quadrennial sporting event, made everything looked so easy as she swept aside her Australian opponent Saxby 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 in a last-16 clash that lasted just 25 minutes.

Chinappa will now lock horns with the winner of another round-of-16 clash between New Zealand's Joelle King and Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam.

Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak for Dipika Pallikal as she bowed out of the tournament after slumping to straight-games defeat at the hands of England's Alison Waters.

Pallikal endured a crushing 3-11, 6-11 and 2-11 defeat against her England opponent in their women's singles pre-quarterfinals.

However, it was curtains for Pallikal-Karthik as she was no match for England's Alison Waters, going down 11-3, 11-6, 11-2.

In the men's singles squash event, India's Vikram Malhotra bounced back from a set down to win the second game but eventually failed to capitalize on the same and went down fighting 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 6-11 defeat to top-seeded Englishman Nick Mathews in a clash that lasted 40 minutes.

With Vikram's defeat, India's campaign at the Commonwealth Games also folded.

Elsewhere in the CWG, the Indian lawn bowls team of Chandan Singh, Sunil Bahadur and Dinesh Kumar suffered a 14-15 defeat to England in the men's Sectional Triples Sectional Play in round three.

Meanwhile, in the third round of the women's singles event, Pinki lost to Litia Tikosisuva of Fiji 12-21.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court has issued notice to Director of Tarini Group of Companies, Vakamulla Chandrasekhar over Enforcement Directorate (ED)'s plea against bail granted to him in connection with a disproportionate assets case involving former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

The court has sought his reply till May 31.

On April 5, the ED moved the Delhi High Court and challenged the order of Patiala House Court, contending that the orders passed by the judge are in violation of the law laid down by the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court in regards to economic offences.

It further said that the accused Chandrashekhar was released on bail without appreciating the facts and allegations against him.

Chandrashekhar was arrested on February 16 by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly providing Rs 5.9 crore to Virbhadra Singh and his family member through his three personal bank accounts.

In March, a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also granted bail to Virbhadra Singh, his wife, and others in the same case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A decision on the bail appeal filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan in Jodhpur Sessions Court will be announced on Friday, his counsel said.

The actor had on Thursday appealed for a bail following his conviction in the 20-year-old case of blackbuck poaching during the shooting of his movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in prison and other accused - Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam - were acquitted in the case filed in October 1998.

Meanwhile, the actor's Counsel Mahesh Bora said he got threatening SMSes and calls against appearing in the bail hearing scheduled for Friday.

"Yesterday (Thursday), I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in the bail hearing today (Friday)," Bora said.

A Jodhpur court had on Thursday held the actor guilty of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 1-2 night in 1998.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
South Korea's opposition party Liberty Korea Party (LKP) called for a summit between Seoul and the United States prior to the inter-Korean summit expected to be held in April.

This comes amidst concerns of South Korea over Washington's favour towards Pyongyang's denuclearisation bid without any pre-conditions, as reported by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.

"Flaunting the allies' watertight coordination would help the dismantlement of the North's nuclear program," Rep. Kim Moo-sung, the chief of the Liberty Korea Party's special panel on the nuclear standoff, said during a security forum.

He further added that the South Korea-US summit would help to craft the allies' united solution to the nuclear standoff.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are set to hold what will be the third inter-Korean summit at the border village of Panmunjom on April 27. It will be followed by Kim's proposed summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in May.

Denuclearisation of North Korea is expected to top the agenda for both summits.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Trescon, a global events and consulting firm announced the formation of its advisory board to provide strategic planning and expertise, with Dr Ganesh Natarajan being the latest inclusion into the Board.

Ex-Chairman of mid-cap software services firm Zensar Technologies, Dr Ganesh has been credited for taking the company's revenue from Rs.40 crores to Rs.2500 crores. After retiring from Zensar in mid-2016, Dr Ganesh founded 5F World, a platform for skills, start-ups and social ventures in India. Ganesh is Chairman of Social Venture Partners India and a global board member of SVP. He also chairs Pune City Connect and Knowledge Management at CII.

Prior to that, Ganesh worked for ten years in APTECH, a global training major, and Zensar Technologies, a global software firm which he led as its Vice Chairman and CEO till early 2016. Ganesh's industry responsibilities include Chairman of NASSCOM Foundation, President of the HBS Club of India and a member of the National Council of the CII.

Among other appointments to the Trescon advisory board are Axel Angeli, Digital Transformation Evangelist and Founder, Logosworld; Dr. Paritosh Basu, Senior Professor, School of Management, NMIMS University and Ex CFO, Reliance Communications; Dr Sid Ahmed Benraoua Ne, PH.D. Professor - Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA Advisor to MENA Governments; Dr Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton; and Kent Kristensen, Chairman, Messenger Bank.

"The search for specific advisory board members to impact the way we do our business has been a very strategic and a thoughtful process. And with the extensive experience that Dr Ganesh Natarajan brings in the field of technology, I believe we will be able to deliver the best tech content to our audience through our events", said Trescon CEO Mohammed Saleem.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The condition of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is no longer in a critical condition and his health is improving rapidly, doctors at the Salisbury District Hospital in Great Britain announced on Friday.

The news of his health comes after his 33-year-old daughter Yulia Skripal had regained consciousness and was recovering well after the nerve gas agent attack, The Independent reported.

The Russian Embassy to the UK reacted to the development by tweeting: "Good news!"

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement on Friday, "Following intense media coverage yesterday, I would like to take the opportunity to update you on the condition of the two remaining patients (Skripals) being treated at Salisbury District Hospital. Last Thursday, I informed you that Yulia Skripal's condition had improved to stable. As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital."

"Any speculation on when that date will be is just that - speculation. In the meantime, Yulia has asked for privacy while she continues to get better - something I'd like to urge the media to respect. I also want to update you on the condition of her father, Sergei Skripal. He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition. As you'll appreciate, I won't be giving any further updates at this time," she added.

According to the British government, Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter were exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4.

Following this, many countries, such as the UK, US, Australia and other European countries expelled Russian diplomats over the same.

Last month, British Prime Minister Theresa May had told the Parliament that Skripal and his daughter may "never recover" as she accused Russia of flouting an international law and 'plotting' the attack on the father-daughter duo.

However, on March 29, doctors said that Yulia was conscious and talking and was no longer in a critical condition.

On Thursday, Yulia expressed her gratitude towards people who supported her and her father in her first media interaction after the attack.

Subsequently, scientists at the Porton Down military research facility, UK have been unable to identify the precise source of the nerve agent 'novichok', which was used to carry out the attack.

On Wednesday, Russia lost a vote at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, The Netherlands on its demand for its experts to be involved in testing samples of Novichok used in the Salisbury attack.

The Russian embassy in the UK had earlier requested the consular access to Yulia and Sergei Skripal but it had been denied.

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The United Nations Security Council on Thursday conducted a meeting to discuss the case of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter where the UN ambassadors of both Moscow and London engaged in a war of words.

At the meeting, Russian representatives questioned the pieces of evidence made public in the case which was answered by the representatives of different countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, as per media reports.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia blasted the UK while dubbing the spy poisoning allegations by Russia as fake.

He further accused the United Kingdom of turning other countries against Russia, while pointing towards the incidents of the expulsion of the Russian diplomats by the US, UK, and Germany.

In response to Russia's allegations, UN ambassador from the UK Karen Pierce blamed Russia for not helping the UK in the initial stages of the investigation.

Further Russian officials claimed that Pierce has done much to block investigations into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Earlier the countries engaged in a massive diplomatic tussle and blame game as the UK blamed Russia to be 'highly likely' involved in the incident, whereas Kremlin has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Sergei Skripal and Yulia were found slumped on a park's bench in Salisbury following a nerve-agent attack on March 4.

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Famers in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, partially buried themselves in the sand on the banks of the Cauvery River on Friday, demanding that the Central Government create the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) at the earliest.

The protest was led by farmer leader Ayyakannu who said, "The Supreme Court had ordered the Central government to create the Cauvery Management Board within six weeks. But the central government is behaving like an enemy of the farmers of Tamil Nadu by refusing to take any action".

"We have no choice but to die, and that is why we are protesting like this" he added.

On 16 February 2018, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to form the CMB to implement a formula for sharing of water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In the ruling, the top court reduced Tamil Nadu's share in the Cauvery water to 177.25 thousand million cubic feet.

Political parties in Tamil Nadu have been protesting continuously demanding the formation of the Cauvery Management Board, including Tamil Nadu bandh on Wednesday.

The police intervened and forcibly evicted the protesting farmers from the Cauvery River bank.

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In a bid to curb diversion in exports of Gold Jewellery, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) intercepted father-son duo at Kolkata airport on April 4 with 54 kg gold.

A duo was intercepted at Kolkata Airport with the gold jewellery. The son was intercepted when he was about to board a flight for Dubai, while his father was de-boarded from a flight destined to Hyderabad.

DRI is currently investigating gold jewellery exporters declaring exports using 'personal hand carry export procedure' to destinations in United Arab Emirates (UAE) but diverting the consignments into domestic market by manipulating the procedure.

Documents had earlier been filed by these persons at Customs Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata for export by hand carriage of gold bangles weighing 54 kgs to be carried to Dubai by the son on board flight bound for Dubai.

After the gold bangles were checked by Customs at Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata, as per procedure, the items were sealed and escorted by a Customs officer to the International Departure at the Airport.

Before entering immigration and security check, the son took the goods meant for export to an entry gate of the airport where his father was waiting and handed them over for diversion. The father then booked the two metal boxes containing the gold bangles through domestic Cargo for transfer to Hyderabad.

The DRI officials acted quickly and intercepted them as they were about to board their respective flights and retrieved two metal boxes containing the gold booked for Hyderabad as domestic cargo.

Surprisingly, the father was found to be travelling to Hyderabad from Kolkata on the ticket booked under his son's name.

The duo admitted to have diverted gold bangles and chains in similar manner in the past through Kolkata and Hyderabad airports after completion of the Customs export procedure.

The diverted gold bangles weighing 54 kgs are valued around Rs. 16 Crore meant, which were seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

Another associate of the duo was questioned by DRI, who admitted his involvement in the diversion.

The mastermind confessed to having received remittances against such export consignments though no actual gold bangles were physically exported. He used to send cash to his Dubai based contacts through hawala channels and got the money back into his Indian bank accounts as export proceeds.

He admittedly sold primary gold purchased from nominated agencies in the domestic market instead of making gold jewellery for export.

For fulfillment of their export obligation and to redeem the security amount paid by them to nominated agencies at the time of purchase of primary gold, they had resorted to diversion of gold bangles meant for export after completing all export formalities.

In fact the same sets of gold bangles were repeatedly used to show export of different consignments.

Three persons have been arrested under Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962 on Friday for knowingly involving themselves in diverting gold jewellery after completing all the export formalities.

DRI investigations till now has revealed more than 500 kgs of gold jewellery valued at about Rs 150 Crore meant for export has been diverted using this modus operandi by this particular syndicate. The agency is investigating whether this modus operandi has been used by other gold jewellery exporters, in the country.

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The social networking site Facebook will soon take a damage control move in respect to the massive data leak by the UK based analytics firm Cambridge Analytica.

As reported by the Washington Post, all the 2.2 billion Facebook users on Monday will receive a notification on their newsfeeds titled "Protecting Your Information," with a link to see what apps they use and what information they have shared with those apps.

Further, the users could shut off their applications synced with Facebook and also the third-party access to their applications completely.

In addition, the 87 million users who might have had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica will get a detailed message informing them of this.

Facebook has claimed that most of the affected users (more than 70 million) are based out of the United States.

Further, there are over a million each in the Philippines, Indonesia, and the U.K.

Earlier, Facebook founder-CEO Mark Zuckerberg had acknowledged that he has made a "huge mistake" for not being able to consider the gravity of the situation.

Zuckerberg is summoned to testify before the US Congress on April 10. Further Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey have also been approached to testify in connection with the online data breach.

Facebook has been facing trust issues from the public after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica reportedly accessed information from Facebook users without their knowledge.

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In response to queries from investors regarding IndiGo's involvement in the upcoming divestiture of Air India, IndiGo on Friday said it was not interested in taking over Air India's domestic operations.

IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh, in a statement, said, "From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India's international operations and Air India Express. However, that option is not available under the government's current divestiture plans for Air India".

"Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of AI's airline operations," he added.

IndiGo was the only airline that had officially expressed an interest to buy the state-owned carrier which is facing the brunt of government's disinvestment plans.

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Turns out, the small screen adaptation of 'Lord of the Rings' is all set to be the most expensive TV series ever, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The battle for rights of the popular series was going on for quite some time between Netflix and Amazon. The negotiations have resulted in Amazon acquiring the rights of the series, adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's books for USD 250 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The five-season series deal ensures that the show must be in production within two years. The series is expected to cost upward of $1 million, with all castings, producers, and visual effects factored in.

The fantasy-adventure genre films came out as a big hit and earned about $5.85 billion worldwide.
Manipal Academy of Higher (MAHE) Manipal has vaulted seven places in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings for Universities in India, announced by the Union HRD Ministry in New Delhi on Tuesday.

From 18, MAHE moved to the 11th rank, which is the best yet for the University. In the overall ranking too, MAHE has jumped 12 places, from 30 to 18.

Indeed, a remarkable achievement for the University celebrating its silver jubilee this year. And that's not all, there was a lot more to cheer about with five of its constituent units doing extremely well in the rankings and making their presence felt in the world.

Kasturba Medical College, Manipal was ranked fourth in India and the Medical College at Mangaluru was 16th. Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences retained its rank of being the seventh best in the country. As for Faculty of Architecture, the college got the 10th rank. FOA needs a pat on the back for being the only private college to figure among the first ten. Manipal Institute of Technology ranked 43 the last time, also saw an improvement and was ranked 39th.

Vice-Chancellor, Dr. H. Vinod Bhat broke the news to thousands of students and faculty assembled at the inauguration of Silver Utsav 2018 at KMC Greens on Tuesday. The announcement was received by a thunderous applause from the huge crowd gathered to witness the popular events at Utsav.

There was excitement all over the University. This is what Vice Chancellor, Dr. H. Vinod Bhat had to say about the achievements; "I am happy with MAHE's ranking in NIRF this time. We have reached an all-time high of 11th position in the country, up from position number 18 last year. In addition to the University's own ranking, individual institutions like KMC, Manipal; KMC Mangalore; Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Faculty of Architecture have done us proud by their own demonstration of strength in national rankings. And it is my belief that in the coming years we will do even better and see MAHE in the top 10 in the NIRF 2019 rankings."

"We are thrilled by the recognition of MHRD for our constant endeavor towards excellence in medical It has been a team effort of the college faculty and the top University management which has steered the college forward amidst the rapidly changing scenario of global medical education. At KMC, Manipal, we are acutely aware of the global context and changing standards of excellence in medical school curricula and are constantly striving to maintain those standards by implementing newer pedagogies," said Dr. Pragna Rao, Dean KMC, Manipal.

"KMC Mangalore has broken into the Big League," said Dean Dr. Venkatraya Prabhu. "KMC Mangalore has always been in the forefront of providing learner-centric quality medical education. The NIRF rankings provide external verification and validation of this. Students of KMC, Mangalore have the unique advantage of being trained in both public (government) and private hospitals. It is the matter of immense pride that we are ranked among the top colleges in the country and we are confident that in the years to come we will improve our rankings," Dr. Prabhu said.

MCOPS continues to maintain its position in the rankings. But what's encouraging is that there is an increase of 6.67 points in the total score from the 60 last year," said Principal of MCOPS Dr C. Mallikarjuna Rao. "We scored a 100 in Teaching Learning Resources and Public Perception and have shown remarkable improvement in Research Promotion and Consultancy and also in Outreach and Inclusivity," he added.

"We are excited about the recognition we have received from the most valuable ranking system in India. Our students, faculty and staff have always put in their best efforts to make FOA an excellent centre for architectural education. This achievement has given us a tremendous boost to raise the bar in the coming years," said Nishant H Manapure, Director Faculty of Architecture.

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Malaysia's scandal-tainted prime minister Najib Razak on Friday announced the dissolution of the parliament, making the country officially brace the election season.

"His Majesty (the Agong) has agreed to the dissolution of the Parliament from tomorrow, Saturday, April 7, 2018," local media reported, citing, Najib Razak as saying, in a special speech broadcast live on public television channels, and attended by cabinet members on Friday.

Najib made the announcement at his office in the country's administrative capital of Putrajaya, shortly after noon, local time.

The Election Commission is likely to hold a meeting within a week to decide dates for nomination of candidates, the length of the campaigning period and the date for elections. Voting must be held within within 60 days.

According to the reports, it is widely expected in early May before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A total of 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats are at stake.

Najib faces opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad, who served 22 years as the country's leader before retiring in 2003, reported CNN.

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The official website of Ministry of Defence was hacked on Friday, raising a serious question on the security system of the country.

On visiting, the website displayed an 'error' message and asked users to 'try again later' with Chinese characters appearing on the home page of the website.

Taking to her Twitter handle, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the website will be restored shortly and assured to take steps to prevent such eventuality in the future.

"Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi," Sitharaman Tweeted.

Following the incident, the Twitter stormed with comment criticizing the incident.

A Twitterers termed the incident as an "embarrassment for the Ministry."

"Big embarrassment for @DefenceMinIndia . Official MoD website has been defaced by what seem to be Chinese hackers. Google translates the Chinese symbol to 'Not Early'," he Tweeted.

Other Twitter user referred it as an "insufficiency" of the IT Ministry.

Time has come for a "Ministry of Cybersecurity." IT ministry is insufficient and can't keep pace with technology.

Evidently, the cyber attack has not been a new strategy and government officials have been prime targets of the hackers.

In 2016, a total of 199 government websites were hacked in India, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had told the Parliament.

In fact, more than 700 websites under the Indian government have been hacked from 2013 to 2016.

Last year in January, the website of the Security Guard (NSG), the Indian Special Forces unit combating terror activities, was also hacked posing unprecedented threat to security.

The website was, however, blocked immediately by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.IN).

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The Bihar government has allotted over Rs 200,000 for repair and restoration of riot-hit Gudri mosque and Jiaul-Ulum Madrassa situated in Samastipur city of the state.

The home department, headed by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, allotted Rs 2,13,700 for the repair work. Both the infrastructures were damaged in the recent communal violence.

Reportedly, the government has also released Rs 2.5 million as compensation 'for those whose shops were burnt in arson during Ramnavami procession' in Aurangabad. A similar arrangement of Rs 850,000 has been made for compensating six affected people in Nawada district.

Recently, communal clashes, which broke out between two groups in Bhagalpur and Aurangabad on the occasion of Ram Navami, spilt over to other parts of the state after miscreants vandalised a Hanuman idol in Nawada.

(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.)
Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday reiterated the need for achieving regional security and stability for attaining lasting peace in South Asia.

The call was made during the bilateral meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Afghanistan President Ashraf in Kabul, according to the Express Tribune.

Abbasi is on a one-day visit to Afghanistan, having arrived earlier on Friday.

During the meet, the Pakistani Prime Minister discussed a variety of issues such as counter-terror cooperation, the regional situation in South Asia, repatriation of Afghan refugees, combating drug production and bilateral trade and power projects among others with the Afghan President.

Abbasi also extended an invitation to Ghani to visit Pakistan soon. The former is expected to hold talks with Afghanistan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah and other officials.

The Pakistan Prime Minister is accompanied by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra and National Security Advisor (NSA) Nasser Khan Janjua.

Ghani received Abbasi and the delegation at the Afghan Presidential Palace and was accorded a guard of honour.

Abbasi's visit to Afghanistan follows an invitation by Ghani. It comes in the light of Pakistan backing Ghani's peace offering to the Taliban.

Earlier this week, a high-level Pakistani delegation, headed by Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua visited Afghanistan to hold talks with Afghan authorities on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS), in an effort to improve the relations between the two countries.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have remained frosty in recent times due to the terrorist activities of the Taliban and Haqqani Network carried out in the former's land. Afghanistan contests that the two groups are supported by Pakistan and it does very little to stop them.

Pakistan has urged Afghanistan to stop the blame game and asked for its co-operation in combating terrorism, as well as ensuring lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.

In February, the Afghan President had made a peace offer to the Taliban in the Kabul Process Conference, which also included the recognition of the militant group as a political entity.

However, the group is yet to respond to Ghani's offer.

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A Pakistani smuggler was on Friday shot dead and another apprehended by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel here in Punjab.

Rashid Ali was shot dead and Sabir Ahmad was nabbed by the BSF in Amritsar sector of International Border (IB) in Punjab.

At least four kg heroin was recovered from their possession.

Punjab has been dealing with drug issues due to its supply from the Pakistani side through International Border.

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Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Friday said he has positive expectations from his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, ahead of his meeting with the Prime Minister.

Speaking to the media, Oli said, "My expectations from Prime Minister Modi are positive. And that is why I came here (to India). We want to have good relations with India."

On being asked about Nepal's growing relations with China, the Nepali Prime Minister said that the country has two neighbours and would work together with India and China for ensuring good relations.

Earlier on Friday, Oli arrived in India on a three-day state visit. The visiting dignitary was received by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State (MoS) Finance S.P. Shukla.

The Nepal Prime Minister is accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya and an entourage of ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), secretaries and other high-ranking officials of the Nepal Government.

Oli will be holding a meeting with the Nepali business community of both the countries on Friday, followed by a diplomatic reception by the Embassy of India.

On Saturday, Oli will attend a ceremonial reception and inspect a guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan will meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu. He will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.

He will then hold official talks with Prime Minister Modi and exchange views on matters of mutual interests.

The Nepal Prime Minister will also visit Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and attend a programme organised at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology.

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The White House has announced that United States President Donald Trump will host Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on April 10 in a bid to end Gulf crisis.

President Trump, in a release, said that he "looks forward to discussing ways to strengthen ties between the United States and Qatar and to advance our common security and economic priorities".

The US-Qatar summit is expected to melt the ice between Qatar and its neighbours Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt.

Earlier in June, all the neighbouring countries had cut off their ties with Qatar while accusing it of supporting their arch-rival Iran to proliferate terrorism, as reported.

On the other hand, Qatar had denied the charges claiming that the boycott was an attempt to malign its efforts to bring reforms in the country.

Earlier on March 21, Trump met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the latter's maiden visit to US where they held discussions on discussed military deals, investment in the US, and security cooperation, as reported by the Al Jazeera.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced reviewing the feasibility of introducing a central bank digital currency.

Alongside the release of its bi-monthly monetary policy statement on Thursday, the RBI announced the constitution of an inter-departmental group to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency.

Furthermore, the Reserve Bank stated that the newly-formed committee would be submitting a report on the aforementioned matter by the end of June this year.

Among its other announcements, the central bank also announced a time frame to implement the recommendations of the inter-agency committees constituted by it to suggest measures for improvement of currency management, including security of movement of treasure.

The committees, inter alia, had recommended the stipulation of minimum standards for cash logistics industry and promotion of a Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for the industry.

To this effect, the RBI, under the 'Guidelines on Managing Risks and Code of Conduct in Outsourcing of Financial Services' issued in November 2006, had stated that cash management and logistics at the bank level has largely been outsourced to Cash-in-Transit (CIT) companies and Cash Replenishment Agencies (CRAs). There is, however, no regulation or supervision for this industry at present.

With a view to promote healthy growth of the sector and mitigate risks associated with movement of currency through these agencies, the RBI said it would require banks to ensure that CIT companies/CRAs engaged by them meet minimum prescribed standards, instructions for which would be issued within a month.

Also, in order to ensure compliance with minimum standards for the CIT industry and other applicable laws, the Bank will encourage the cash management industry to promote a Self-Regulatory Organisation (SRO) for undertaking development work along with self-regulation of the industry, till such time that an appropriate legislative structure is put in place.

The central bank also reiterated that although technological innovations, including those underlying virtual currencies, have the potential to improve the efficiency and inclusiveness of the financial system, Virtual Currencies (VCs), also referred to as cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others.

Taking cognisance of the risks associated in dealing with bitcoin and other such VCs, the RBI decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by it shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or entities dealing with or settling VCs. Regulated entities which already provide such services, the Bank said, would be required to exit the relationship within three months.

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Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala on Friday said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah has lost battle even before it has started.

He made this comment while criticising Shah for equating the Opposition parties with animals.

Talking to ANI, Surjewala said the phraseology that Shah has used shows his character.

Talking to ANI, Surjewala said, "In our culture, a man and his character are known by the phraseology he depicts and states. The manner in which Amit Shah used abusive language, calling entire opposition animals and names, reflects that it is language of a leader who has lost the battle even before it started."

Addressing a rally of party workers on the occasion of BJP's 38th foundation day in Mumbai, Shah stoked controversy by likening the Opposition to creatures like snakes, cats, dogs, mongoose, which have come together for survival against the flood, that is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, Shah later clarified his statement.

The BJP President said, "Snake and a mongoose are natural enemies and that is why I drew the parallel, because these Opposition parties are going against their own ideology in coming together against the wave of Modi ji."

He added that he was clarifying his statement If someone's sentiments have been hurt.

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SoftwareSuggest, a marketplace for software on Friday announced plans to hire 1000 new employees for the upcoming year 2018-19.

Founded in 2014, the company will hire 1000 members to its headquarters at Ahmedabad, across various divisions including digital marketing, lead generation, node development, sales, design and testing .

"We are looking forward to strengthening the parent company AppItSimple infotek Pvt. Ltd. by adding 1000 members from all across the nation. The excellent growth rate has necessitated hiring of a considerable number of employees. The fact that we are creating jobs in India by exporting services to the global customer is a point of pride. It will be a pleasure to have talented team members from diverse backgrounds joining our venture," said SoftwareSuggest CEO, Ankit Dudhwewala.

SoftwareSuggest was founded with a vision to service the unmet need of a comprehensive platform that lists, reviews and suggests tailor-made software solutions to buyers, and allows qualified vendors to offer their services to them.

SoftwareSuggest is the flagship product of AppItSimple Infotek Pvt. Ltd, and has grown into the country's largest independent software discovery and recommendation platform. It has over 6000 software listed across 300-odd categories ranging from database management to search engine optimisation (SEO). The platform has helped over 133,000 businesses and individual buyers to find the right software for their requirements.

SoftwareSuggest started out as a venture to provide effective software solutions to local buyers. In 2017 it crossed the national threshold to cater to the software needs of international users such as those in the US and the UAE.

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Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators on Friday continued with their protests for special category status for Andhra Pradesh inside the Parliament premises even after being marshalled out from the office of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The party's MPs, including those from the Rajya Sabha, held the protests inside Mahajan's chamber as the party's no-confidence notice against the government was not taken up for discussion.

The House was adjourned sine die in regard to granting of special status to the southern state.

Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to convene a special parliament session to review the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014 and assurances made in Rajya Sabha including Special Category Status and to fulfil at the earliest.

On March 16, the ruling TDP reached a deadlock with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over this issue and ultimately quit the Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition. Since then, the TDP MPs have regularly staged protests in the Parliament demanding Special Category Status.

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In yet another dress-up, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Naramalli Sivaprasad on Friday played sage Vishvamitra in the Parliament to protest over the demand of special status to Andhra Pradesh.

Sivaprasad, on the last day of the Parliament's Budget Session, dressed in clothes alike to that of sage Vishvamitra.

He had earlier in the Parliament dressed up as a woman, a washerman and a schoolboy among others to press for special status to the state promised by Democratic Alliance (NDA).

TDP MPs have since the announcement of Union Budget on February 1 been protesting in the Parliament premises against the Centre for not providing special status to Andhra Pradesh.

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United States President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to consider tariffs on an additional 100 billion dollars in Chinese imports escalating the trade tiff between the two countries.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Xinhua reported President Trump, as saying, in a statement issued by the White House.

Reportedly, China on Thursday formally launched a Trade Organization (WTO) challenge against Trump's first round of proposed tariffs.

China threatened tariffs of its own on 106 US products, including on soybeans, cars and some airplanes.

China's Ministry of Commerce said that it planned to slap 25 percent levies on a range of U.S. goods worth about USD 50 billion.

That was in response to the release by the U.S. of a list of proposed tariffs a day earlier, covering 50 billion USD in Chinese products.

A statement from China's Ministry of Commerce said that the date of implementing the trade tariffs would depend on when the US would impose the same on the Chinese goods.

None of the tariffs have yet to come into effect.

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Breaking his silence on his frisking at a US airport last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday said that he was neither ashamed at the process, nor did it reduced his status as the country's prime minister.

Abbasi revealed that he had travelled to the US for the last 40 years and has gone through routine security checks multiple times during his visits, Express Tribune reported.

"I've even seen former US president Bill Clinton go through such security checks. When one visits another country, it is best to respect their laws and protocol. I don't think it reduces my respect, I think it increases it. Whether I am the Prime Minister or not, it should not be deemed disrespectful if I went through their security check," Abbasi said.

The Pakistan Prime Minister explained that he could have requested for VIP protocol by writing a letter to the US embassy and asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to accompany him at the airport and "they would have concealed me and taken me through secret pathways at the airport", but he opted not to.

"The law is the same for everyone and I think it's more respectful to be in accordance with the law," Abbasi further said.

Last month, there were reports that Abbasi was frisked at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York during the security procedure.

A video of the incident showed Prime Minister Abbasi, who reportedly was on a private visit to meet his ailing sister in the US, adjusting his t-shirt after getting out of security checks with his jacket and a trolley bag

The deputy spokesperson of the US Embassy in India, Alexander McLaren said last week that Abbasi was frisked at the US airport as he was on a private visit.

The private visit by Abbasi comes at a time when Pakistan-US relations have been strained lately, especially since US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter in January that Pakistan was not doing much to combat terrorism on their own soil.

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!", Trump tweeted.

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Commenting on the rising trade conflicts between the United States and China, a US economic expert said that trade barriers are 'detrimental' to both consumers and workers.

"Economists generally believe that tariffs or other trade barriers are detrimental to consumers, as they increase the prices of goods consumed domestically," said Nitya Pandalai Nayar, an assistant professor in the department of economics at the University of Texas in Austin, as reported by China's Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

"Recent research has highlighted that policy uncertainty can also have negative welfare effects for consumers," she added.

She further claimed that the new trade tariffs would result in 'trade shocks' for the workers across the

"There is a broad consensus among economists that there are aggregate gains from trade, and in that sense, trade barriers are detrimental to consumers and the aggregate economy," Nayar said.

She further noted that the US has a bilateral trade deficit with China only in goods and not in services.

Earlier on Wednesday, China threatened tariffs of its own on 106 US products, including on soybeans, cars and some airplanes in retaliation to US trade tariffs, imposed upon 50 billion dollars of the Chinese imports.

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United States President Donald Trump on Friday said that the Trade Organisation (WTO) was 'very unfair' to the United States and claimed that the international body was giving 'undue advantages' to China.

Trump took to his Twitter handle and said, "China, which is a great economic power, is considered a Developing Nation within the Trade Organization. They therefore get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the U.S. Does anybody think this is fair. We were badly represented. The WTO is unfair to U.S."

The comments made by Trump comes at a time, when the US and China are in the middle of a trade war, with the two countries threatening each other with tariffs.

On Thursday, Trump said that he had asked a top trade official to consider tariffs on an additional USD 100 billion in Chinese goods, on top of the USD 50 billion already proposed.

On the other hand, China responded by opening a WTO challenge to the proposed tariffs. The request for consultations is the first step to opening a WTO dispute.

The US President has been a vocal critic of the WTO earlier. He has repeatedly said that Washington D.C. is not being given "fair treatment" and that all other countries, including China, were "gaining the upper hand.

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The Minister of State for MSME, Giriraj Singh launched a mobile phone application for locating 4,000 Khadi stores in the country. There are more than 8,000 Khadistores in India, the rest of stores will also be available on the store locater by the end of this month.

This was informed by Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman KVIC in the board meeting today.

The Chairman said that KVIC expects to surpass the sales target of Rs. 5,000 crore by the end of 2017-18. KVIC is also setting up export cells to promote overseas sales of Khadi products in order to make Khadi an international brand.

The Khadi and Village Industries products are manufactured by about 7 lakh privately owned household units which are funded through schemes like the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).

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Key benchmark indices drifted lower in early trade amid initial volatility. At 9:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 33.60 points or 0.1% at 33,563.20. The Nifty 50 index was down 15.15 points or 0.15% at 10,310.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.1%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.18%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 888 shares rose and 611 shares fell. A total of 49 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading mixed while US stock futures dropped after US President Donald Trump ordered his administration to consider tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese imports. Mainland China markets are shut for a holiday.

The latest move is a continuation of a growing trade dispute between the two countries. Trump previously announced $50 billion in proposed tariffs on goods imported from China, which responded by announcing about $50 billion in proposed tariffs on US goods

US stocks closed higher yesterday, 5 April 2018 with major indexes posting their first three-day rally in several weeks as investors dialed back fears that a trade spat between the US and China will turn into a full-blown trade war.

Meanwhile, the US trade deficit rose 1.6% in February and remained near a 10-year high. The US trade deficit rose to $57.6 billion in February from $56.7 billion in the prior month, data released yesterday, 5 April 2018 showed.

Back home, Tata Motors (down 1.25%), Axis Bank (down 1.12%) and L&T (down 1.04%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.

HCL Technologies (HCL) rose 0.71% after the company announced the acquisition of C3i Solutions, a leader in multi-channel customer engagement services for the life sciences and consumer packaged goods (CPG) industries, from Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 April 2018.

With this acquisition, HCL will complement its broad-based IT and business services capability with the additional depth that C3i has in the life sciences and CPG verticals.

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An Agreement to facilitate Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the French Republic has been signed during the recent visit of French dignitaries to India.

Signing of MoU with a foreign country is not a unilateral course of action and verily depends on various factors viz. system prevailing in that country, response of the foreign country, bilateral relations, mutual benefit to be accrued by signing such kind of MOUs, etc.

In some cases it can materialize soon whereas in other cases it may not materialize or take time. In other words, agreement with a country evolves during the course of negotiations and as such it cannot be predicted/planned in advance.

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POSHAN Abhiyaan under Innovation component, envisages undertaking activities to be implemented intended to improve the service delivery system, capacity building of front line functionaries and community engagement for better nutritional outcomes.

The successful pilots may be taken up later-on for scaling up in similar contextual specificities on a broader platform.

An Executive Committee has been set up under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development to provide policy support and guidance to States/ UTs under POSHAN Abhiyaan from time to time. A National Council on India's Nutrition Challenges has also been set up under the Chairpersonship of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog for policy direction, review, effective coordination and convergence between Ministries which have a sectoral responsibilty for the challenge of nutrition.

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The stock is quoting at Rs 365.3, up 0.86% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. Tata Motors Ltd is down 21.99% in last one year as compared to a 12.06% jump in NIFTY and a 14% jump in the Nifty Auto.

Tata Motors Ltd is up for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 365.3, up 0.86% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.17% on the day, quoting at 10307.25. The Sensex is at 33532.77, down 0.19%. Tata Motors Ltd has gained around 5.03% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Auto index of which Tata Motors Ltd is a constituent, has gained around 5.6% in last one month and is currently quoting at 11406.15, down 0.12% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 92.68 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 102.15 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark April futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 365.6, up 0.3% on the day. Tata Motors Ltd is down 21.99% in last one year as compared to a 12.06% jump in NIFTY and a 14% jump in the Nifty Auto index.

The PE of the stock is 0 based on TTM earnings ending December 17.

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BJP President Amit Shah on Friday attacked the opposition parties coming together, likening them to "snakes, mongooses, dogs and cats", only to retract hours later following strong reactions.

"When there are huge floods all animals like snakes, mongooses, dogs and cats climb together on a single tree trunk for refuge, as there are deep waters below and they are scared of the rising waters," he said at a rally to commemorate the 38th Foundation Day of the BJP and launching its campaign for the 2019 elections.

"The political flood unleashed by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi has made all these snakes, mongooses, dogs and cats, join together and unitedly contest the 2019 elections against him," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief said.

Barely an hour after his comparison of Opposition parties with animals. Shah virtually backtracked on his comments.

He clarified that what he implied was parties with different ideologies joining together to fight the upcoming elections vis-a-vis the BJP and Modi.

"What I intended was that the parties with opposing political ideologies which could never come together have united... They include BSP-SP (the Bahujan Samaj Party-Samajwadi Party), TDP-Congress, Congress-Trinamool Congress," Shah told reporters later.

He claimed that "political parties with differing ideologies have united because of the fear of Modi", noting animals like snake and mongoose never come together.

"However, if somebody has felt offended then I am naming them all now, there is nothing to feel bad about it. Kindly don't twist my comments out of context," Shah, apparently on the backfoot, appealed to the media.

Earlier in his speech, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis compared the Opposition to "wolves" who posed no challenge to Modi.

Shah's utterances unleashed reactions and debates on the social media, with even veteran actor Nana Patekar joining in, asking that the Congress should at least get credit for ensuring democracy survived in the country.

Sounding a poll bugle ahead of the next year Lok Sabha polls, Shah urged party workers to take a pledge to ensure the BJP retained power with full majority to help achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of "New India".

The BJP chief said the countdown to the Lok Sabha elections had begun and called upon all activists to fan out to each village to highlight the Modi government's achievements.

"We don't want to fight the next elections on slogans or empty poll promises but on the basis of the government's achievements," he said.

"We should take a pledge to ensure a BJP win in the 2019 elections and in Assembly elections in Odisha and West Bengal and later even return to power (Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis' government in Maharashtra. It will be the dawn of the golden period of the BJP."

Attacking Congress President Rahul Gandhi -- calling him Rahul Baba -- the BJP chief said he has been given an "injection" by (NCP President) Sharad Pawar, so that now he's going around asking "what Modi has done in the past four years?"

"Rahul Baba, we want to ask you -- What did your party do when it was in power for four generations? The people want to know."

As for Gandhi's fears on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, Shah said the BJP would "never do away with reservation in the country and will strongly oppose if any other party attempted to".

Highlighting the NDA's achievements, he said the BJP had provided a "clean, non-corrupt and all-inclusive" governments which the corrupt could not do for decades.

He listed schemes that he said had benefited the poorest of the poor in the country, the Rs 500,000 insurance for 50 crore poor families, electricity connection to 10 crore homes, and unprecedented higher remuneration for agricultural produce.

--IANS

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Delhi Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Friday accused the BJP and RSS of wanting to bring back 'Manuvaad' in the country and that 10 crore people were creating an "unsafe" environment for the remaining 115 crore population of India.

Addressing the media here, the Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Seemapuri urged the central government to release all "innocent" persons arrested during the April 2 'Bharat Bandh' called by various Dalit organisations and withdraw police cases registered against them.

The bandh was called to protest the dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act through a Supreme Court order of March 20.

"Tell about one law in India that is not being misused. Every law will be misused a little, but diluting it is not the solution," the Minister for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Minorities said.

He claimed that people who ought not be part of the protest mixed up with Dalit protesters and indulged in arson and stone-pelting.

"Identify and arrest such persons and try them in special courts," he said.

"Thousands of our youths (Dalits and tribals) were called to police stations and with support of Bharatiya Janata Party goons, they were beaten up like animals," Gautam added.

--IANS

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The headless body of a youth who was abducted by militants earlier this week, was recovered on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district, police said.

The body of 25-year old Manzoor Ahmad Bhat was found in an orchard in Hajin area.

Police sources said Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants had abducted the slain youth and his father, Abdul Gafar Bhat from Hajin area on Wednesday.

"The father had managed to escape from the clutches of his abductors although he sustained a bullet injury. He is now being treated," the sources added.

Earlier this week, militants had abducted and killed another youth in the same area.

--IANS

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An appeals court has authorised Brazil's judiciary to issue an arrest warrant against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The order on Thursday has come just hours after the Federal Supreme Court rejected a habeas corpus motion to spare Lula from having to begin a 12-year prison sentence until he had exhausted his appeals process, Xinhua news agency reported.

The court, based in southern Brazil's Porto Alegre, paved the way for Federal Judge Sergio Moro, who has been leading Operation Car Wash, a wide-reaching investigation into corruption involving state oil giant Petrobras, to order Lula's arrest.

Last year, Moro convicted Lula for accepting perks from a major construction firm that won lucrative government contracts, including the use of a luxury beachside apartment.

Lula's original 9.5-year sentence was extended to 12 years by an appeals court in January.

--IANS

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Border Security Force (BSF) troopers on Friday seized a huge quantity of drugs bound for Bangladesh and arrested a smuggler in Tripura, a BSF official said.

"The troopers arrested Indian national Rashid Mia, 32, and seized 481 kg dry 'ganja' from his house in border village of Jatrapur in western Tripura. The market price of the contraband is Rs 24 lakh."

The dried marijuana was buried in the ground by Mia, whose elder brother Mophis Mia, 35, fled before the raid.

In another raid, the troopers seized 2,895 habit-forming tablets in Srimantapur, also in Sepahijala district.

A group of smugglers, carrying the tablets valued at Rs 1,447,500, in polythene bags ran away after throwing the contraband on seeing the BSF jawans.

Another BSF official said that 4,566 tablets of a habit-forming drug was seized last week at Mankachar in Assam and 110 tablets in Meghalaya's Garo Hills. These drugs were en route to Bangladesh.

Samsul Alam and Noor Mohammad were arrested in the case.

Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Mizoram (318 km), and Assam (263 km) share an 1,880-km border with Bangladesh.

--IANS

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The CBI on Friday questioned ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar's brother-in-law Rajiv Kochhar for a second consecutive day in connection with a case of Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012.

Rajiv Kochhar is being questioned at the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) Bandra-based office since morning.

Informed sources said the CBI was probing Rajiv Kochhar's link over allegations pertaining to his Singapore-based company Avista Advisory's dealings with the ICICI Bank.

The bank, however, has denied its engagement with Avista for any services ever.

The CBI on Thursday questioned Rajiv Kochhar for over five hours in connection with the case.

He was on Thursday stopped at Mumbai airport by immigration authorities around 11 a.m. while he was about to leave for Singapore.

Later, he was handed over to a CBI team which brought him to its Bandra office for questioning him in connection with its preliminary enquiry against his brother Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

The agency had registered a preliminary enquiry against Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group officials and others for its probe to determine any wrongdoing or otherwise in the sanction of the loan to the Videocon Group by the ICICI Bank as part of a consortium of banks in 2012.

Chanda Kochhar, who is facing questions of conflict of interest on the issue, has not been named in the preliminary enquiry, which was registered after news reports raised questions about Videocon Chairman giving loan of Rs 64 crore to a firm he had jointly promoted with Deepak Kochhar, six months after his group got the Rs 3,250 crore loan.

The said money was part of a loan of Rs 40,000 crore which Videocon received from a consortium of 20 banks led by the State Bank of India.

--IANS

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Protesters on Friday clashed with police here over land acquisition for a national highway development project, leaving several women and children injured.

Fearing their land and houses would be taken away, the demonstrators fought with the police as a land survey work was going on.

Trouble started with the beginning of the survey for a new alignment. According to the protesters there are two alignments -- in one 58 houses will be demolished and in the other a mosque and a temple will have to go.

"There is enough government land near the new alignment. Why cannot they take that first and then take ours?" asked a woman who took part in the protest.

A large number of people had assembled near A.R. Nagar near Vengara on Friday. The clash started when they pelted stones at the police, who retaliated by chasing them.

The roads were then blocked and old tyres were set on fire.

Over the past few months, Kerala has been witnessing mass protests over land acquisition.

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala accused the Left government of trying to "terrorise the people".

"The need of the hour is that the government should invite the protesters for talks. This is not the way development activities should take place."

However, Kerala PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran said this was an attempt to foment trouble and unrest.

"What is happening is some people are trying to create unrest. We have no issues to discuss with the people," said Sudhakaran.

--IANS

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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday dismissed BJP President Amit Shah's allegations that the state government had neglected the state's western parts.

"My government has never neglected western Odisha as all-round development has been ensured," Patnaik told the reporters here.

He also pooh-poohed Shah's claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party will win over 120 of the 147 assembly seats in Odisha in the 2019 elections.

"I certainly can't see any basis at all for this claim," said the Chief Minister, who is also the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President.

Addressing party workers at a meeting at Bolangir on Thursday, Shah said his party's win in Odisha would be even bigger than that in Tripura assembly elections.

Shah also criticized the BJD government for its alleged failure to provide safe drinking water to the people in western Odisha.

"If a government, after 18 years of its rule, cannot provide at least drinking water to the state's people, then it has no right to stay in power," Shah said.

--IANS

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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Friday taunted the Congress saying that a party that muzzled freedom in the country during the emergency should not preach to the BJP on democracy.

Speaking at the party headquarters here on the Bharatiya Janata Party's Foundation Day, the Minister told reporters that people still remember the days when the media was gagged and political leaders were put behind bars.

The then President, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, had declared an emergency under Article 352 of the constitution. It was in effect from June 25, 1975 till March 21, 1977.

The order bestowed on the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed.

For much of the emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored.

"Congress is in a state of shock and it is out of these that words like ideology are coming from them," Sitharaman said and added that it was strange and ironical that a party which gave birth to dictatorship in the country was talking of "values and ideology".

Speaking on the proposed defence corridor in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, she said that bringing employment and investment to the impoverished region was a big challenge and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was committed to making it happen.

"Very soon detailed discussions will be held with the Chief Minister and things will be taken forward with regards to this project," she said. She also lauded the hard work of the party leaders and relentless toil of the workers.

--IANS

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The Congress's Maharashta unit on Friday reacted sharply to BJP President Amit Shah's remarks comparing the Opposition parties in the country with animals.

In a strong statement, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam said "the Opposition is an equally strong arm of the legislature as the ruling party and must be treated with the respect it deserved.

"In a democracy, we can't stoop down to the level of being unparliamentary in our language. It (the Opposition) cannot be ridiculed to get cheap air time."

Referring to Shah's comments that the Opposition parties unity efforts are akin to "snakes, mongooses, cats, dogs, leopards and lions" coming together during a natural calamity like floods, the Congress leader said the BJP leader should first look at the track record of his own great leaders in 1975 "who formed a collective opposition against Congress rule".

"Is he calling them rats, mongoose and so on as well..? (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is a calamity for this country," Nirupam retorted.

Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan attacked Shah for his comments during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally here this afternoon, saying that "the people of the country will no longer tolerate the lies and 'jumla-baazi' in 2019".

"The BJP came to power with false promises and utter lies, the country's social fabric and integrity is under threat, the economy is in ruins along with unemployment, foreign policy, agriculture, internal security. Given this, the BJP will be thrown out of power in 2019," he said.

"What is the BJP celebrating - its string of failures in government, or the suicides by 13,000 farmers in Maharashtra, converting Mantralaya (the state government headquarters) into a 'suicide point'? And from where did they get crores of rupees for this jamboree - from Nirav Modi or Vijay Mallya," he asked.

Both Nirupam and Chavan challenged Shah's claims of providing "a corruption-free administration" by saying "16 to 21 ministers in the state government" have serious charges of corruption against them.

"However, (Chief Minister Devendra) Fadnavis is protecting them and Shah, atop the mountain of corruption and speaking of transparency and corruption-less governance, which is 'a joke'," said Chavan.

Nirupam said the CM is struggling to answer questions regarding the rat killing scam or the tea scam, while Chavan said that before the BJP demands an account of the four generations of Congress rule from Rahul Gandhi, they must remember that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru spent 10 years in jail during the freedom struggle, and Indira Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi sacrificed their lives for the country.

"The same cannot be said about anybody from the Sangh Parivar and it was because of the struggles and sacrifices that a tea-seller could become the Prime Minister. However, the BJP did not even spare tea in committing its scams," Chavan said.

He claimed that witnessing the response of the BJP activists at the 38th Foundation Day rally on Friday, it is clear even the party workers are resigned to the BJP's ouster in 2019.

--IANS

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Terming the Dalmia Bharat offer as a "pittance" in the ongoing Binani Cement's insolvency proceedings, the operational creditors of the debt-laden cement maker on Friday said they were rejecting it outright and vowed to fight tooth and nail for their dues.

"The entire Dalmia package is a cruel joke on us as most of us have patiently waited and worked with Binani to bring it to the stage of ongoing concern from its bankruptcy," Binani Operational Creditors Forum (BOCF) said in a statement.

The forum further said: "As the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) is slated to hear the case again on Monday, BOCF has sought to bring to limelight the travesty of justice being perpetuated by Dalmia Bharat in the name of settlement in cahoots with the Resolution Professional (RP)."

In fact, a group of operational creditors has already moved an intervention petition at NCLT accusing the RP of ignoring their interests and seeking their involvement in the settlement proceedings.

According to the forum, the total amount due to the operational creditors has been "wrongly verified by the RP as Rs 503.37 crore of which Dalmia offers to pay just Rs 151 crore".

BOCF spokesperson Siddharth Tibrewal claimed operational creditors' actual dues are over Rs 700 crore.

He vowed that they "will fight till we get justice".

"Dalmia somehow comes to conclusion that 98 per cent of the operational creditors or trade creditors have dues of under Rs 1 crore for whom the company offers full payment. For those whose dues are between Rs 1 crore and Rs 5 crore, the proposed settlement amount is 40 per cent. For dues of Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore, it is 25 per cent and for more than Rs 10 crore the settlement amount offered is just 5 per cent," Tibrewal explained.

"We are not asking for any charity, we want our rightful dues," he said, adding that at NCLT, the operational creditors' group has pleaded for their involvement in the settlement since their voice has gone unheard so far.

"We have full faith in judiciary and we look forward to justice," Tibrewal added.

Meanwhile, Binani Industries, the parent company of insolvent company, had submitted the application before the tribunal seeking termination of insolvency proceedings against its cement manufacturing subsidiary and its counsel had said it could pay all its creditors.

The move came after Binani Industries concluded a commercial understanding with the UltraTech Cement to sell its entire 98.43 per cent stake in its cement manufacturing subsidiary at a consideration of Rs 7,266 crore.

In fact, the bench in its order dated March 27, said: "In the larger interest of all the stakeholders, possibility of having a harmonious settlement is to be considered... Parties are free to consider it out of tribunal."

The forum, on Friday, said: "This assumes significance as the Committee of Creditors (CoC) has not taken any decision on an out-of-court settlement to the issue, as suggested by the NCLT, thus paving the way for Dalmia offer going through the proceedings."

During the ongoing insolvency proceedings of Binani Cement, Resolution Professional Vijaykumar V. Iyer submitted the resolution plan of Dalmia Bharat-controlled Rajputana Properties before the bench as the "highest bidder" to take over the debt-laden company.

On the other hand, UltraTech Cement had recently informed stock exchanges that it obtained the Competition Commission of India (CCI)'s approval on its bid for the debt-laden company and the company claimed the CCI clearance validates its contention that "they were wrongly and unjustifiably rated H2 instead of H1".

Rejecting this, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd's Group CEO Mahendra Singhi had claimed: "The reasons cited by the unsuccessful bidder for its failed bid, in stock exchange filings and press interviews, are misleading. We have made the highest financial bid and had also obtained the highest score in the evaluation."

When contacted, Dalmia Bharat officials declined to make any comments.

--IANS

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Actor Ezra Miller is excited about his solo yet untitled movie on his superhero avatar The Flash, but says he cant talk about the project as of now.

Escaping a query on whether the film, slated for release in 2020, will be adapted from the comic books, Miller preferred to stay mum and said: "It probably won't be panel for panel. But (I would tell you to) remain excited."

The actor was at a press conference at the Dubai World Trade Centre for Middle East Film & Comic Con on Friday.

Last seen on-screen as Barry Allen in "Justice League", Miller said he loves to act.

"For me, acting is playing make believe in a literal way," he added.

He was joined by actors like Karl Urban, Kristian Nairn and "Lost in Space" stars Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Taylor Russell, Mina Sundwall and Max Jenkins at the event.

With a lot of high points about a project kept under wraps, the actors have to also keep the secret.

Asked if they talk about their set secrets with anyone, Miller said: "Officially, we don't talk to anyone about anything."

To this, Urban, who has featured in "Star Trek" and "Thor: Ragnarok", said "I tell my dog everything."

"Yes, that's what I meant," Miller then said, later adding that he doesn't "have a dog".

(Sugandha Rawal is in Dubai at the invitation of Netflix. She can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

--IANS

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Parents of students of private schools in Gujarat on Friday flayed the announcement of forwarding the provisional fee structure to school managements by the Zonal Fee Regulatory Committee (FRC) set up by the state government without making it public.

The fee structure is, the parents claimed, in violation of the FRC Act brought by the Gujarat government last year.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat in 2017 brought the Gujarat Self-Financed Schools (Regulation of Fees) Act to end exaggerated fee increases by private schools.

According to the fee structure stipulated in the Act, the fee band was Rs 15,000 for primary, Rs 25,000 for secondary and Rs 27,000 for higher secondary schooling.

Several parent bodies had been hoping that pending hearing in the Supreme Court, the FRC would stick to the said fee band. However, they said, they were shocked as the FRC had fixed provisional fees for over 200 schools in Ahmedabad between Rs 17,000 and Rs 82,000.

Gujarat has 9,384 primary, 3,831 secondary and 3,032 higher secondary self-financed schools.

After the Act came into force, many of these schools challenged it and the Fee Regulatory Committee's decision in the High Court.

The state's contention was partially upheld by the High Court. However, it has since been caught in a legal tangle, with some school managements approaching the Supreme Court against the High Court order.

With apex court yet to deliver its final verdict, the parents said, their hopes lay in the FRC.

"The FRC is not willing to share the information on fees and sent it to school managements directly. Even parents who are supposed to pay the fees are not being given a copy of their provisional order," lawyer Rohit Patel said.

Dharmesh Patel, a leader of one of the parents' bodies fighting for a rational fee structure, said it tantamount to "cheating".

Many parents' associations are said to be planning for a legal challenge to the FRC order.

Naresh Shah, president of one such association, said: "The courts had clearly stated that the fees must not be increased more than 10 per cent but school managements have got 15-20 per cent fee hikes."

The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing in the case from April 18.

--IANS

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A court in Canacona sub-district on Friday began a hearing in the murder of 28-year-old Irish tourist Danielle McLaughlin last year, with the first prosecution witness recording his statement.

Lawyer Vikram Varma, assisting the prosecution, said the witness who first saw the body lying on a hillock at Canacona beach village got his statement recorded before the magistrate, following which the defence cross-examined him.

Police had arrested history sheeter Vikas Bhagat, 25, for the murder.

McLaughlin was holidaying in South Goa beach village and was known to the accused. Police said he murdered her by stabbing her with a broken beer bottle.

--IANS

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In wake of RBI Governor Urjit Patel's remark that the central bank has limited powers over state-run banks, the government on Friday said the RBI's powers derive from the law and that the state has no independent role in public sector bank (PSB) appointments.

"The RBI's powers derive from the RBI Act itself," Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said at CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards event here.

He said that the government has "no say" in PSB appointments and the whole process is carried out on the "arms length" principle.

"As far as public sector banks are concerned, the government always makes the appointments through outsourcing to the Banks Board Bureau. The government has no say, it is done absolutely arms length.

"All appointments go through the RBI for approval..it is an absolutely fair system of appointment."

"The government wants nothing to do with appointments in PSU banks. It places a premium only on merit and integrity," he added.

Tasked to improve the governance of PSBs, the Banks Board Bureau is an autonomous body recommend selection of heads of government-owned banks and financial institutions and includes the Financial Services Secretary and RBI Deputy Governor as its members.

Patel on Thursday had told reporters in Mumbai that there is an "asymmetry" in the Reserve Bank of India's powers between the government and private banks, following earlier criticism of the regulator on account of the recent Rs 13,000 crore fraud on Punjab National Bank (PNB) by accused diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi. At the RBI's monetary policy review briefing in Mumbai on Thursday, RBI Deputy Governor N.S Vishwanathan had sought amendments to the Banking Regulations Act "to correct the legal asymmetry".

"The Governor has said the non-neutrality of RBI's powers comes from the provisions of the BR Act. That needs to be changed. The Governor has made the bank's position on this very clear," he said.

In Gandhinagar last month, Patel had said the RBI faced limitations like the inability to remove directors or management, supersede the board, force a merger, remove the chairman or even revoke the licence of a state-run bank.

--IANS

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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his concern over the situation in Kashmir and his call for protecting civilians.

"The Secretary General has expressed and will continue to express his concern at the situation," his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday in answer to a question about Kashmir at his daily briefing.

"I think we spoke about the situation earlier in the week reminding all parties of the need to protect civilians."

He added that while he was not speaking specifically about Kashmir, "as a matter of principle, in any issue where there are differences to be bridged between member states, the good offices of the United Nations are available, but they only work if both parties require, ask for it and are open to it."

India has maintained that the disputes with Pakistan were bilateral issues that need to be sorted out directly by them without the involvement of third parties.

New Delhi holds that Pakistan has recognised this through the Simla Agreement of 1972 between former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then-president of Pakistan.

Unrest swept Kashmir this week after four civilians will killed during confrontations between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Sunday.

Three soldiers and 13 terrorists also died during Sunday's three separate gunfights.

During the protests that ensued, a young man was killed during street protests in Kangan on Monday and a police constable has been suspended in connection with the incident that is under investigation.

Along the Line of Control (LoC), an Indian soldier was killed, and four army personnel including a lieutenant were injured in Pakistani firing on Tuesday.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

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Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed on Friday mocked the recent ban imposed by the US on his Milli Muslim League (MML) party, saying the move has proved the organisations "credibility".

"MML has been banned," Saeed was quoted by the Nation online while addressing his supporters at a rally here. "Well, a party's that is banned by the US is the one that actually holds some credibility." The Americans, he added, understand that this is the political party they cannot be an ally with.

The US State Department amended its designation of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on Monday, identifying Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) as LeT affiliates, making it impossible for them to register as political parties.

Saeed also asked Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to dedicate the rest of his day in office while speaking for the cause of Kashmir. "The US will exclude your name from among its loyalists, but that will be a matter of honour."

The MML chief expressed solidarity with Kashmiris and vowed to go to every nook and corner of Pakistan to awaken the countrymen on the Kashmiris' plight.

The campaign will reach a point where, Saeed added, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi "will forget about Kashmir and start worrying about India".

--IANS

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The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court (HC) on Friday directed the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to finalise the disproportionate assets (DA) case against IPS officer Amitabh Thakur within 10 weeks.

In his petition, Thakur had said that the vigilance establishment had registered this case on September 16, 2015 at the Gomti Nagar Police Station here "under high-level pressure".

The case was transferred to the EOW in January 2016 on the orders of the high court.

The petitioner had also pleaded before the court that the EOW was keeping the investigation pending despite full cooperation by him, causing him huge harassment and mental torture.

The Additional Government Counsel on Friday told the court that the EOW officials had said they would finish the investigation in three months, after which the bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Rajnish Kumar disposed of the petition directing EOW to finalise the case in 10 weeks.

The officer, considered upright and honest in the police establishment, had invited the ire of the then Samajwadi party (SP) government for lodging an FIR against Mulayam Singh Yadav for telephonically threatening him.

Soon after, a slew of cases were slapped on him, including two rape cases on different places on a single day. Those cases have since been quashed by the court after police found them to be fictitious.

--IANS

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An injured Pakistani LeT militant was apprehended in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district in Friday, police said.

"Perusing credible leads of presence of terrorists, Kupwara police along with 41 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), 98 battalion of Central Reserve Police Force launched a cordon and search operation in Turshan Mohalla of Hyhama area of Kupwara," a police officer said here.

When the searches were intensified, security forces zeroed on one house where one terrorist was hiding and arrested him. He was identified as Zabiullah, son of Sannaullah Saqib, resident of Multan, Pakistan and affiliated with outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba.

"He had recently infiltrated and was part of the group who were eliminated at Halmatpora recently. A case in this regard has been registered and investigations taken up," the officer said.

--IANS

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Actor Jake Gyllenhaal will produce and act in "Welcome to Vienna", an adaptation of author Kevin Wignall's upcoming book "To Die in Vienna".

Focus Features has picked up film rights to the upcoming novel by Wignall, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

Gyllenhaal will essay Freddie, a civilian surveillance contractor who interrupts a break-in at his apartment while he's spying on a Chinese academic in Vienna. The intruder escapes, but then comes back and tries to kill Freddie, making the American contractor a hunted man. Freddie's only hope for survival is that his pursuer doesn't know the past he's running away from.

Gyllenhaal is also set to appear alongside Rene Russo in an untitled Netflix horror-thriller to be directed by Dan Gilroy. The project will be based on big-money artistes and mega-collectors.

Wignall's novel "To Die in Vienna" will be published in June.

--IANS

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A federal judge has ordered the arrest of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, giving him until late Friday to surrender before the police, according to an arrest warrant.

The order was given on Thursday after the country's Supreme Court ruled that Lula da Silva must start serving a 12-year jail sentence for corruption, a move that may end his political career, reports CNN.

Lula da Silva will not be handcuffed and will be placed in a separate jail cell upon his arrest, according to the arrest warrant.

The 72-year-old former President, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011, had been considered a frontrunner in elections due in October.

But the court's decision not to grant his request to remain free while appealing the conviction has cast doubt on his bid to regain power.

Lula da Silva had filed a habeas corpus request to delay his prison sentence, but the Supreme Court ruled against him 6-5, a close verdict on an issue that has divided the country and raised tensions ahead of the elections.

In January, an appeals court unanimously upheld the corruption and money laundering charges against him, and he was handed a 12-year prison sentence.

Lula da Silva was initially found guilty of the charges in July 2017 which he has strongly denied, saying he was a victim of political persecution.

His conviction stemmed from a wide-ranging corruption investigation into the state-run oil company Petrobras, dubbed "Operation Car Wash." The accusations against him emerged after he left office in 2011, CNN reported.

Lula da Silva was accused of benefiting from the renovation of a triplex in a beach town near Sao Paulo by the construction company OAS.

The charges were connected to 3.7 million reais' ($1.1 million) worth of bribes received from OAS through the beachfront apartment.

In return, Lula da Silva helped the builder acquire contracts from the oil company, prosecutors charged.

Universally known as Lula, Lula da Silva is a founding member of Brazil's only socialist political party, Partido dos Trabalhadores, the Workers' Party.

--IANS

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"Heropanti" actress Kriti Sanon was "too good" during her school and college days, says her sister Nupur.

The sisters made an appearance on the show "Vh1 Inside Access" where they shared some fun 'sister moments', a statement said.

"Kriti was too good as a kid," said Nupur.

Sharing an anecdote, she continued: "Kriti never went for too many school and college trips... But when the same thing happened to me, my parents said 'Kriti bhi toh nahin gayee thi (Kriti also didn't go)."

"I used to give her the because-of-you-I-couldn't-go look," said Nupur.

-*-

Salman Yusuff's message to trolls

Choreographer-actor Salman Yusuff Khan, who often gets trolled for being a "reality baby", says if you want freedom of speech, get up and own it.

Salman has featured in reality shows like "Dance India Dance", "Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa" and "Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi". So, he gets trolled for getting an easy claim to fame by just appearing in multiple reality shows, read a statement.

In the upcoming episode of "MTV Troll Police", Salman gives it back to his troll by saying: "If you want freedom of speech, get up and own it. Don't be ashamed."

He said this with reference to the trolls trying to become heroes on the internet with their obscene comments and not having the confidence of speaking about it in person.

Salman's biggest troll went on an endless rant about his unappealing presence on all his social media posts.

Salman's response to this was: "Do you have any idea that people run their house by making a career in dancing? Do you know the kind of dedication we dancers put in to learn one dance move. You need to bring change in you and that will be inspiring."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Deepak Lather continued the superb performance by Indian weightlifters at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) with a bronze medal in the men's 69 kilogram competition here on Friday.

Lather managed 136 kilograms in the snatch and 159 kg in clean and jerk for a total of 295 kg.

Gareth Evans of Wales won gold with a total of 299 kg following efforts of 136 kg in snatch and 163 kg in clean and jerk.

Indika Dissanayake of Sri Lanka took the bronze medal following lifts of 137 kg in snatch and 160 kg in clean and jerk which gave him a total of 297 kg.

--IANS

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday said parliament will be dissolved on Saturday, paving way for the next general election in which he is seeking another term after holding the post for nine years.

In a televised speech delivered after a special cabinet meeting, Najib said he has already acquired the consent of King Sultan Muhammad V for the move, reports Xinhua news agency.

The election date is yet to be announced by the Election Commission of Malaysia.

Normally, a general election should be held no later than two months after the dissolution of the parliament.

Voters will elect the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, or House of Representatives.

For the past six decades after Malaysia's independence, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has won every election together with the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has the Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress as its two major component parties.

In the last general election held in 2013, BN managed to win 133 out of the 222 seats, though it obtained less than half of the popular votes.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana Cabinet Minister Kavita Jain's husband Rajiv Jain was on Friday appointed the Adviser to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Kavita Jain was on Friday divested of the Information and Public Relations portfolio by the Governor to avoid 'conflict of interest' in the Department. She will now hold the charge of Urban Local Bodies and Women and Child Development.

The Chief Minister had in the past shifted Amit Arya, his Adviser since November 2014, to New Delhi.

Rajiv Jain was earlier state Bharatiya Janata Party's incharge. A former journalist, Rajiv Jain was also Media Adviser to then Chief Minister Bansi Lal from 1996 to 1999.

Khattar, a first-time legislator, was made head of the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana in October 2014.

The next Assembly elections are scheduled in October next year.

--IANS

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On the occasion of the BJP's Foundation Day on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the "heroic service and sacrifice" of millions of party workers and acknowledged their "efforts" to bolster its reach.

"We remember, with great pride, the heroic service and sacrifice of all 'Karyakartas' (workers) who built the BJP and committed themselves towards creating a stronger and better India," Modi tweeted.

"For BJP, the 'Karyakartas' are everything. They are the heart and soul of the party, whose sweat has taken the party to new heights. It is due to their efforts that we have the honour to serve people all over India and fulfil their aspirations.

"The BJP is the party of a New India. We are privileged to receive the blessings of people of all age groups, across all sections of society. We are a party that believes in India's diversity, our unique culture and, above all, the strengths of 125 crore Indians," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, earlier known as Jana Sangh came into being on this day in 1980.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister on Friday hit out at the Opposition parties, saying the strength of BJP is affecting them and they are unable to digest that a person born into a backward family is serving the nation.

Addressing the party workers on Bharatiya Janata Party's 38th foundation day, Modi gave a clarion call to party cadres to keep working for the nation and never get agitated by negativity of "vested interest groups".

His remarks came on a day the budget session of Parliament ended with acrimony between the BJP and the opposition led by Congress over various issues leading to washout of the second leg of budget session.

"We are living in a time when the Opposition to BJP is at its highest. Sometimes, it also takes a violent turn. This is not because we made a mistake. It is the strength of the BJP that is affecting our opponents", said Modi.

He added: "They cannot imagine that when we got the opportunity to elect a President on our own strength, we elected a person belonging to the Dalit community. They cannot imagine that when we got the opportunity to elect a Deputy Speaker, we selected Suraj Bhan, who belonged to the Dalit community and later Karia Munda, who is a tribal leader."

Modi expressed pride that the BJP has the most Dalit, Tribal and OBC representatives in India, both in the Parliament and in the various state assemblies.

He appealed to the BJP workers never to say or do anything that lowers India's political discourse.

"In four years of rule, BJP has worked tirelessly for welfare of Dalits, under-privileged, illiterates," he said.

His comments came in the wake of recent violent protest during Bharat Bandh against dilution of stringent provisions of anti-atrocities Act, which left 11 dead.

Modi used digital application -- NarendraModi App -- for the interaction, during which he appealed the party workers to refrain from using offensive language.

"In the era of social media and communication, if we remain inactive, those anti-national, anti-social, selfish, wrong-doers will occupy that space. So it is our duty not to cede this space to them," he said.

Recalling the foundation of the BJP, Modi said: "BJP was born Mumbai in extremely tough circumstances. The party's senior leaders were virtually ostracised from prevalent political scenario. In fact, if there is one party that has consistently been a victim of political untouchability, it's BJP."

He added times have not changed and now it is for everyone to see where the BJP is and where those who treated the BJP shabbily, are.

Modi avowed the BJP's journey from 'Shunya' to 'Shikhar' is due to the stupendous efforts of the party's "karyakartas".

"It is our 'karyakartas' who have fulfilled Atal (Bihari Vajpayee) ji's words -- Andhera Chhatega, Suraj Niklega, Kamal Khilega," he said.

"In BJP, there are no divisions, no dynasty and no 'I' versus you. It is truly democratic and a democratic political party can effectively serve a democratic nation."

Speaking about the four years of the BJP-led Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the Prime Minister said: "Our government is fully dedicated to the poor and this is also seen in the working of the various state governments of the BJP."

"The NDA family is getting 'Jeet after Jeet' (victory after victory), which is forcing the other parties to spread 'Jhooth after Jhooth' (lies after lies). Their only aim is to defeat Modi."

He also appealed to the BJP workers to get acquainted with the extensive work done by the NDA government, particularly schemes that positively impact the poor.

--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.)
More than 11 lakh women have benefited from the maternity scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana' (PMMVY) till date, Parliament was told on Friday.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that her ministry has till now spend Rs 271.66 crore for these beneficiaries under the scheme.

"Number of beneficiaries enrolled under PMMVY has increased to 22,04,182. So far, Rs 2,048.59 crores to all the states and Union Territories have been sanctioned under PMMVY out of which Rs 2,048.40 crores have been released till date," she added.

Under the scheme, eligible beneficiaries get Rs 5,000 and the remaining cash incentive of Rs 1,000 for maternity benefit is given under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) after institutional delivery, it said.

Maternity benefits under PMMVY are given to all pregnant and lactating mothers. The scheme aims at providing partial compensation for wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.

--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 was molested and assaulted by a man in a moving suburban train bound for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus late last night, police said on Friday.

The accused -- identified as a cabbie from Byculla, Rafiq Khan -- and the victim were known to each other and he owed her money over which they had an alteration in the train.

The incident occurred around 11 p.m. on Thursday. A handicapped commuter on an adjoining seat shot a video of the entire incident.

Lasting a few minutes, the video has gone viral on social media. It also spurred the police into immediate action.

Khan, 32, is seen suddenly pouncing on the woman sitting on the opposite seat in the handicapped compartment. He then drags her by the hair and attempts to strangle her.

He molested her and tore off her clothes even as other co-commuters raised an alarm to alert a policeman in the adjoining compartment of the speeding train.

When she resisted and pushed him off her, he fell on the train floor, but got up and again lunged at the woman on the seat as she screamed for help.

According to Government Railway Police Dadar Senior Inspector Nitin Bobde, the woman had lend money to her attacker on a friendly basis as she had known him over a few years.

Late on Thursday, they caught the suburban train from Dombivali, Thane bound for CSMT and en route, the victim demanded her money back from Khan and asked him to stop harassing her.

Apparently angered by this, Khan abused, molested and attacked her in full public view even as the train was approaching Dadar station.

A GRP police team waiting at Dadar took Khan into custody as he deboarded. After a complaint registered by the victim, Khan was arrested early on Friday.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A woman was molested and assaulted by a man in a moving suburban train bound for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus late on Thursday night, police said on Friday. The accused has been arrested.

The accused -- identified as cabbie from Byculla, Rafiq Khan -- and the victim were known to each other and he owed her money over which they had an alteration in the train.

The incident occurred around 11 p.m. on Thursday. A handicapped commuter on an adjoining seat shot a video of the entire incident.

The video, lasting a few minutes, went viral on social media and also spurred police into immediate action.

Khan, 32, is seen suddenly pouncing on the woman sitting on the opposite seat in the handicapped compartment. He then drags her by the hair and attempts to strangle her.

He also tore off her clothes even as other co-commuters raised an alarm to alert a policeman in the adjoining compartment of the speeding train.

When she resisted and pushed him off her, he fell on the train floor, but got up and again lunged at the woman on the seat as she screamed for help.

According to Government Railway Police Dadar Senior Inspector Nitin Bobde, the woman had lend money to her attacker on a friendly basis as she had known him over a few years.

Late on Thursday, they caught the suburban train from Dombivali, Thane bound for CSMT and en route, the victim demanded her money back from Khan and asked him to stop harassing her.

Apparently angered by this, Khan abused, molested and attacked her in full public view even as the train was approaching Dadar station.

A Government Railway Police team, waiting at Dadar, took Khan into custody as he deboarded. He was subsequently arrested and produced before a court here this evening which remanded him to police custody till April 9.

Meanwhile, ruling ally Shiv Sena lawmaker Neelam Gorhe shot off a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urging him to take concrete steps to stop the growing incidents of violence against women commuters.

She recounted several recent incidents in Mumbai suburban trains where women were targeted and said the time has come to provide police security for ladies compartments even during daytime.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli arrived here on Friday on a three-day visit -- his first foreign trip after he returned to power in February for a second time.

Oli and his wife Radika Shakya were received by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the airport here.

Oli's first foreign visit to India after taking charge as Nepal Prime Minister keeps up with the tradition of India-Nepal ties that have of late been strained.

He is scheduled to have talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also hold delegation-level talks on Saturday.

A 54-member high-level delegation is accompanying Oli for his April 6-8 visit, according to Nepal Foreign Ministry.

The two sides are expected to sign pacts related to agriculture, research and development, education and training, exploring the possibility of inland water navigation upto Indian ports from Nepal, and expansion of Indian rail up to Kathmandu between the two countries.

In the evening, Oli will meet Prime Minister Modi and is expected to take up various issues including the early execution of India funded projects in Nepal, implementation of the Mahakali Treaty, which pertains to sharing water of a river by the same name, and construction of integrated check-posts.

Oli is also scheduled to visit the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project in Uttarakhand.

Accompanying Oli are Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Gyawali, Industry Minister, Commerce and Supplies Minister Matrika Yadav, Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Raghubir Mahaseth, Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister Bishnu Rimal, MPs and senior officials.

The visit comes amid a hitch in bilateral ties.

Oli had to step down as Nepal Prime Minister in 2016 following a blockade on the India-Nepal border. Many in the Himalayan nation blame India for the blockade that crippled Nepal's economy.

The ties were further strained after Nepal decided to join China's One Belt One Road initiative amid India's concerns that the Chinese initiative would harm its strategic and economic interests.

Nepal has also signed a host of trade and transit pacts with China.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli left for New Delhi on Friday on a three-day state visit.

Oli is slated to hold delegation level talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Saturday where the two leaders will jointly lay the foundation of the Arun III Hydroelectric Project developed by India.

The $1.5 billion 900 mw energy project by the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam is expected to be completed within five years.

Pacts related to agriculture, research and development; educaton and training; exploring possibility of inland water navigation upto Indian ports from Nepal; and expansion of Indian rail upto Kathmandu from the countries' border have been agreed by the two sides.

Oli is likely to will take up various issues including the early execution of India funded projects in Nepal, implementation of the Mahakali Treaty, Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline, and clearance of pending line of credit for earthquake reconstruction.

Issues like cooperation in power and energy sector, cross border connectivity, construction of transmission line, compensation to the Nepali citizens damaged caused by Kosi and Ganadak River inundation and flood control and energy banking will also be discussed.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Oli will be accompanied by his wife, Radhika Shakya and a delegation of over three dozen members including Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Raghubir Mahaseth and Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister Bishnu Rimal.

He will be staying at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi

--IANS

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Making his first foreign trip after returning to power in February, Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli made a strong pitch for Indian businessmen to invest in his country by benefiting from its economic liberalisation and being a safe destination for foreign investment.

On their arrival on a three-day visit at the IGI Airport here, Oli and his wife Radika Shakya were received by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Viewed as an important visit amidst a strain in ties, Oli had an informal meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence. The two leaders were believed to have discussed bilateral and regional issues, especially ones that have bedevilled bilateral relations.

Oli's first foreign visit to India after taking charge as Nepal Prime Minister for the second time keeps up with the tradition of India-Nepal ties under which the prime minister always makes the first visit to India.

Oli also met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and discussed "various dimensions of Nepal-India relations", according to the Nepalese Embassy here.

In his first official engagement in Delhi, Oli interacted with representatives of the Indian business community.

"Nepal will need massive investment, many of its sectors are virgin territory for investment. I invite Indian companies to come and invest in Nepal... (that) is now safe for foreign investment."

He noted that his government enjoyed three-fourths majority in Nepal's lower house of Parliament allowing for "stability and continuity in policy... towards a liberal economy and liberal economic policies.

"We want to work jointly with our Indian friends on our way to prosperity. We aspire to stand as a developing country. Our motto is Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali."

"We are committed to a liberal economy. The government's key partner is the private sector and we do not believe in nationalisation of private companies."

Indian firms are the biggest investors in Nepal, accounting for about 40 per cent of total approved foreign direct investments (FDI) and are working in the manufacturing, services, power and tourism sectors. Some large Indian investors include ITC, Dabur, Hindustan Unilever, MTNL, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Life Insurance Corp and Asian Paints.

In 2016-17, Nepal imported $6.1 billion worth of goods and services from India and exported only a little more than $400 million worth, making for a trade deficit of over $5.7 billion.

Nepal hopes to correct this trade imbalance by attracting more Indian FDI into the country.

Oli's visit comes amid a hitch in bilateral ties.

He had to step down as Nepal Prime Minister in 2016 following a blockade on the India-Nepal border. Many in the Himalayan nation blame India for the blockade that crippled Nepal's economy.

The ties were further strained after Nepal decided to join China's One Belt One Road amid India's concerns that the Chinese initiative would harm its strategic and economic interests.

Nepal has also signed a host of trade and transit pacts with China.

Prime Ministers Modi and Oli will hold delegation level talks on Saturday at Hyderabad House here.

The two sides are expected to sign pacts related to agriculture, research and development, education and training, exploring the possibility of inland water navigation upto Indian ports from Nepal, and expansion of Indian rail up to Kathmandu between the two countries.

According to Nepalese media, Oli will take up with Modi various issues including the early execution of India funded projects in Nepal, implementation of the Mahakali Treaty, which pertains to sharing water of a river by the same name, and construction of integrated check-posts.

Oli is also scheduled to visit the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project in Uttarakhand.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Go on an inspiring journey of one man's decision to dedicate his life to a higher purpose; walk through the American laws and get a glimpse of how life would be as a student in America; know of Deendayal Upadhyaya's journey as one of the primary leaders who instilled the sense of nationality in the country; and flick through an intriguing psychological thriller.

The IANS bookshelf has pretty interesting reads to offer this weekend.

1. Book: A Ray of Hope; Author: Chandra Sankurathri; Publisher: Westland; Price: Rs 250; Pages: 134

On June 23, 1985, Dr Chandrasekhar Sankurathri's world was torn apart -- his wife, son and daughter were on the ill-fated Kanishka, Air India Flight AI 182, which exploded en route, killing all 329 people on board. What can a man do in the face of unimaginable tragedy? How does one find the will to live again? Dr Chandra Sankurathri's life is a testament to the human spirit.

The power of the mind, the depth of the heart. Channelling his grief into social endeavours, Dr Chandra returned to Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and started a school, and then an eye hospital, for rural people. "A Ray of Hope" is the inspiring journey of one man's decision to dedicate his life to a higher purpose. To rise above his anger, pain and sorrow, to bring joy and hope to all who cross his path.

2. Book: Not Born in the USA; Authors: Nikita Goel and Sonal Malhotra; Publisher: Fingerprint; Price: Rs 299; Pages: 270

Got your I-20 and wondering where to begin?

Fretting over the dos and don'ts while you pack?

Filled with anxiety about how life will be in America?

Well, here's a dossier with almost everything you need to know!

Beginning with the general courtesies, mannerisms and American language and slang, this book walks you through the American laws; offers you a glimpse of how life would be as a student in America; briefs you about how to stay safe and secure; advises you on how to deal with the US banks and manage your finances; and guides you through your job search as an international student.

As you begin preparing for your departure, it brings for you essential ticketing and packing advice as well as a checklist of recommended items that you must carry with you.

An ultimate guide that would help you prepare for a comfortable departure, "Not Born in the USA" will take you from planning, communicating and executing every bit of the process.

3. Book: Deendayal Upadhyaya; Author: Shakti Nath Bakshi; Publisher: Rupa; Price: Rs 195; Pages: 178

The ideals and values that Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya propagated and practised, which led to the growth of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and later to the birth of the BJP, have been well-laid out in this book.

Being thoroughly in sync with the ways of the RSS, he dedicated his life to serve the nation through the Sangh. This book not only traces his journey as one of the primary leaders who instilled the sense of nationality in the country, but also as one who condemned exploitation by the State. While much has been discussed and written on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, it is not easily accessible to all. This book is an attempt to make his contributions accessible to the general readers for their understanding of his personality and principles.

4. Book: I See You; Author: Clare Mackintosh; Publisher: Hachette; Price: Rs 399; Pages: 372

When Zoe Walker sees her image in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it's there. There's no explanation: just a grainy image, a website address and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it's just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows an image of a different woman and another the day after that. Is it a mistake? a coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make.

--IANS

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The BJP on Friday celebrated its 38th Foundation Day across the country, exhorting its cadres to ensure party's return to power in 2019 and used the occasion to attack opposition parties, especially the Congress, mocking its efforts to forge a grand alliance for their "survival".

On the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the "heroic service and sacrifice" of millions of party workers and acknowledged their "efforts" to bolster its reach.

"For BJP, the 'Karyakartas' are everything. They are the heart and soul of the party, whose sweat has taken the party to new heights. It is due to their efforts that we have the honour to serve people all over India and fulfil their aspirations," Modi said.

"The BJP is the party of a 'New India'. We are privileged to receive the blessings of people of all age groups, across all sections of society. We are a party that believes in India's diversity, our unique culture and, above all, the strengths of 125 crore Indians," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), earlier known as Jana Sangh, came into being on this day in 1980.

Amit Shah, the party President, launched party's election campaign for the 2019 elections in Mumbai, while union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani and Ravi Shankar Prasad exhorted party workers in Lucknow, Kolkata and New Delhi, respectively.

Addressing a rally in Mumbai, Shah urged party workers to help achieve Prime Minister Modi's dream of New India.

He said the countdown to the Lok Sabha elections had begun and called upon all activists to fan out to each village to highlight the Modi government's achievements.

"We don't want to fight the next elections on slogans or empty poll promises but on the basis of the government's achievements. We should take a pledge to ensure a BJP win in the 2019 elections," he said.

Mocking efforts at forging opposition unity before the next general elections, he said: "When there is a flood, all creatures climb to one spot for survival.

"The political flood unleashed by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi has made all these snakes, mongooses, dogs and cats join together and unitedly contest the 2019 elections against him," he said.

As the controversy erupted over Shah's comparison of opposition parties with animals, he backtracked his remarks, saying that "political parties with differing ideologies have united because of the fear of Modi", noting animals like snake and mongoose never come together.

Attacking Rahul Gandhi, the BJP chief said he has been given an "injection" by (NCP President) Sharad Pawar, so now he is going around asking "what Modi has done in the past four years?

"Rahul Baba, we want to ask you -- what did your party do when it was in power for four generations? The people want to know."

In Delhi, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hit out at the Congress and other rival political parties opposed to its ideology and said in its journey spanning 38 years, the ruling party has emerged as a "big platform for national unity".

"The BJP is a big platform for national unity. It has one voice, one slogan and one commitment -- to make the country a super power. Today, the BJP is a party of all Indians with an all-India presence," Prasad said.

Recalling former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's lines that "the cloud will go away, the sun will come up, and lotus will bloom", he said that the BJP at present rules the country with a clear majority and with its allies, it is ruling in 21 of the 29 states.

The Minister took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi, saying if one has to grow in Indian politics, one has to embrace the country's soil, its culture and tradition.

"Regardless of potential or talent, the top party leadership can go to a family only. I am not taking anyone's name, but the hint is clear," Prasad said.

He said broadly, three categories of people opposed the BJP -- the Leftist, the Congress and "chronic socialists other than Ram Manohar Lohia".

"The BJP bashing has been a part of India's -- be it Nehruji or Indiraji or leftists. See, where those who criticised us are today and where we are today. Our commitment was clear that we wanted to make the country a super power."

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman taunted the Congress saying a party that muzzled freedom in the country during the emergency should not preach about democracy to the BJP.

"Congress is in a state of shock and it is out of this that words like ideology are coming from them," Sitharaman said, added that it was strange and ironical that a party which gave birth to dictatorship in the country is talking of "values and ideology".

--IANS

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A militant was killed on Monday in a gunfight between security forces and militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Badgam district.

Police said the body of the slain militant had been recovered from the site in Hapatnar forests of Chrar-e-Sharief area.

"Intermittent firing exchanges are still going on," a police officer said. "The exact identity of the slain militant is being ascertained."

Security forces started a cordon and search operation on Monday in the Hapatnar forests following information about the presence of militants there.

The militants hiding there fired at the security forces, triggering a gunfight.

Meanwhile, protests broke out near the gunfight site between civilian protesters and security personnel who used tear smoke canisters to quell the mob.

Authorities suspended mobile Internet services in Badgam district as a precaution.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the opposition was turning "increasingly" violent against the BJP due the party's rising strength and the prominence people from the backward castes had got in the country.

"In four years of rule, BJP has worked tirelessly for welfare of Dalits, under-privileged, illiterates. Nowadays, opposition to the BJP is growing sharp. They (opposition parties) are turning increasingly violent against the BJP.

"They cannot accept the fact that people from the backward castes can also occupy top positions in the country," Modi said while interacting with the BJP workers on the 38th foundation day of the party.

His comments come in the wake of recent violent protest during Bharat Bandh against dilution of stringent provisions of anti-atrocities Act, which left 11 dead.

Modi said the opposition parties were vitiating atmosphere against the BJP since they could not come to terms that many MPs and MLAs in the party were from the backward castes.

"They cannot accept the fact that the BJP which was once recognised as a party of Brahmins and Baniyas chose a Dalit as President of the country when got the opportunity," he said

Modi used digital application -- NarendraModi App -- for the interaction, during which he appealed the party workers to refrain from losing temper and using offensive language.

He said the technology be used for empowerment of people but asked the party workers to be active on social media to check circulation of fake content and rumours.

"In the era of social media and communication, if we remain inactive, those anti-national, anti-social, selfish, wrong-doers will occupy that space. So it is out national duty not to cede this space to them," he said.

--IANS

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Political parties in Karnataka urged the Election Commission to take stringent action against those violating the model code of conduct in force for the May 12 assembly election, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Om Prakash Rawat said on Friday.

"Political leaders, including former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, have met the poll panel and expressed their issues regarding code of conduct violations and raised concerns about lack of neutrality of officials in certain places," he told reporters here after meeting representatives of parties from the state.

The EC would look into the complaints and take action after going through the facts, he said, adding officials have been asked to ensure all observe the model code in letter and spirit.

Rawat, along with Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sunil Arora, was on a three-day visit to the state from Wednesday to review the readiness of the state machinery for the smooth and peaceful conduct of the election to the 224-member assembly in a single phase.

Many parties complained to the poll panel that chairmen, presidents and advisors to various boards, corporations, commissions and departments were still utilizing public resources such as office premises, vehicles and staff, Rawat said.

"The Commission has asked the government to keep officials other than poll in-charge district-level officers away from the election machinery. The Commission will come down heavily on any violations," he said, adding the state should ensure that any "extra-constitutional" authorities are kept away from the election process.

Opposition parties have also complained about "populist and partisan" measures of the state government in releasing funds for its schemes, he said. "Parties have also asked us to curb distribution of money to bribe and induce voters to cast their ballot in favour of their candidates."

Till date, surveillance teams have seized over Rs 2.4 crore in cash, liquor valued at Rs 24 lakh, gold weighing 2.464kg, and other freebies to voters like laptops, cookers etc, valued at Rs 3.7 crore.

On complaints from the parties on missing voters' names in the electoral rolls, Rawat said a special drive will be held on April 8 across the state in order to register the voters left out.

The poll panel is also working extensively on poll awareness among the electorate by educating them about the EVMs and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, he added.

Asked about the discrepancy that was observed in a VVPAT machine in Raichur, Rawat admitted that perfection was "very difficult" to achieve.

"Unknowingly a VVPAT machine meant for 16 candidates was attached to an EVM with 64 candidates, due to which the mistake occurred. It cannot be expected that when such large-scale election machinery is employed, there will be no mistakes at all. Such errors will be looked into immediately."

To a question on the alleged leak of poll dates when the panel had announced the election schedule on March 27, Rawat said that the Commission will take action after going through the report.

"A period of seven days were given for submitting the report on the issue, which ended on April 4. But the panel couldn't take a look at it as we have been in Karnataka since Wednesday. The report should have been ready by and now and the Commission will take action after going through it."

The poll panel earlier interacted with Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police in all the 30 districts to take stock of their preparedness, including arrangements and security measures at the 56,696 polling booths.

Almost all of the polling booths have the minimum facilities required such as ramps, drinking water, toilets, electricity and a waiting room, Rawat said, adding ORS will be kept at the polling booths, as it will be the peak of summer.

The state has 4.96 crore electors - 2.52 crore men and 2.44 crore women, while about 4,500 people who identify themselves as the "third gender".

A total of 15,42,000 youth in the 18-19 age group have enrolled to vote for the first time.

In all, 3,56,552 personnel will be deployed to conduct the polling.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Friday was moved by senior counsel Shanti Bhushan seeking direction that the exercise of authority as a master of roster by the Chief Justice of India in allocating the cases to different benches should be done in consultation with senior judges who are part of top court collegium.

In his PIL, he said that the authority of Chief Justice of India as a master of roster is not an "absolute, arbitrary, singular power" which may be exercised in his "sole discretion" and the CJI "must" exercise his authority in consultation with other senior judges who are also part of collegiums.

Underlying principle of the collegium is that the collective opinion of a collegium of senior judges is much safer than the opinion of the Chief Justice alone, the PIL says.

Bhushan has contended that the master of roster "cannot be unguided and unbridled discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the ... Chief Justice of India by hand-picking benches of select Judges or by assigning cases to particular Judges".

Any such power or its exercise, the PIL says "would result in a subversion of democracy and the rule of law as guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution".

Pointing to "extremely disturbing trend" of listing matters "subjectively and selectively" only before certain benches, the PIL says that trend reflects "serious erosion of independence of the judiciary" by resorting to the method of "favoured listings".

"As a result, justice appears to be skewed and in many cases justice may even stand denied," it said.

It has said that the powers being exercised by the Chief Justice and the concerned Registry officials clearly reflect a "pattern of favouritism, nepotism and forum shopping".

Recounting the cases that came up before certain benches of the top court in recent months, the PIL has said that the "pattern also suggests that certain matters which are politically sensitive and involve either Ruling Party Leaders and/or Opposition Party Leaders are assigned only to certain Benches".

Though the listing of politically sensitive matters appears to be "routine", they seem designed in a particular direction to exclude other benches from hearing them, it said.

Describing such selective listing as "unwarranted and unjustified", the PIL says that "such listings and/or allocations are not happening on account of computer allocation but appears due to human interference in the system".

Prashant Bhushan who has filed the PIL on behalf of Shanti Bhushan has also written a letter to the Secretary General of the top court asking him that the PIL be placed before three senior most judges of the court after the CJI to obtain their instruction on the listing of the PIL.

--IANS

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Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday wished "speedy recovery" to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is suffering from a kidney-related ailment.

"I am truly sorry to hear this Arun Jaitleyji. I pray for your speedy recovery," Gandhi tweeted replying to a Jaitley tweet.

Jaitley had earlier tweeted: "I am being treated for kidney related problems and certain infections that I have contracted.

"I am therefore currently working from controlled environment at home. The future course of my treatment would be determined by the doctors treating me."

Jaitley is set to undergo a kidney transplant this weekend.

Due to his ill health, Jaitley had to cancel his next week's visit to London for the annual economic dialogue.

Jaitley, who underwent a gastric bypass weight loss surgery in 2015, reportedly visited the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday for a check-up where doctors advised him to take rest before his kidney transplant begins.

--IANS

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The Queen and the Knave of "Alice in Wonderland" showed up at the UN Security Council during a tense discussion about the poisoning of a former Russian spy when Moscow's representative hurled the English classic at Her Majesty the Queen's envoy who lobbed it back at him.

While mounting his defence on Thursday against British charges that his country had poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia last month, Russia's Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia switched from Russian to English to read the passage about trial of the Knave of Hearts in the Lewis Carrol classic.

After accusing Britain of making allegations against Russia without a proper investigation, he stressed the part where the Queen dismisses the King's suggestion for the jury to give its verdict by declaring: "Sentence first, verdict afterwards", and Alice calling it: "Stuff and Nonsense."

British Representative Karen Pierce hit back at Nebenzia quoting the Queen in the same novel to ridicule his defence.

"There is another very good quote from 'Alice in Wonderland' which is: 'Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast'," Pierce said.

"So I think that's the quote the suits my Russian colleague best."

Skripal was a Russian double agent, who also worked for Britain, and was sent there in a spy swap and lived in Salisbury. He and his daughter survived the attack and are recovering in a hospital.

Speaking to reporters earlier on Thursday, Pierce dismissed Russia's demands to be allowed to participate in the investigations with a reference to Professor Moriarty, the arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes, the detective of Arthur Conan Doyle's mystery novels.

"Allowing Russian scientists into an investigation where they are the most likely perpetrators of the crime in Salisbury would be like Scotland Yard inviting in Professor Moriarty," she said.

Russia called for the Council meeting after its bid failed at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Hague on Wednesday for a joint investigation that includes Moscow into the poisoning probe.

Denying any Russian role, Nebenzia said that blaming his country was a "mega provocation" and he suggested that it was perhaps a "terrorist act".

He raised questions about various aspects of the case, from the survival of the two victims to the time it took for them to fall ill from when they had touched the allegedly poisoned door handle of their home, and from the British official characterisation of Russia's role as "highly likely" to the possibility of the poison Novichok or similar ones being available with others.

By making the allegations against Russia, "we have told our British colleagues that you are playing with fire and you'll be sorry", Nebenzia said.

Later he told reporters that it was also possible that a third country had carried out the attack to create problems for Russia and isolate it by having its diplomats expelled from several countries.

Speaking at the Council, Pierce accused Russia of using a "weapon of mass destruction" on its soil against civilians without regard to public safety.

She said that Britain was carrying out a meticulous investigation that would stand international scrutiny and was cooperating with the OPCW in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.

She also set the attack in Britain in a global context by referring to use of chemical weapons in the killing of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un's step brother, Kim Jong-Nam in Malaysia last year and in Syria.

"The threats to the chemical weapons convention from attacks in Syria, in Malaysia, and now the UK pose a serious challenge to the non-proliferation regime," Pierce added.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)

--IANS

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South Korean former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison and was fined 18 billion won on Friday in a massive corruption scandal that toppled her from power in 2017.

In a live televised trial, the Seoul Central District Court meted out the guilty verdict for the 66-year-old former leader, about a year after her arrest in March 2017, Yonhap news agency reported.

Park was convicted of 16 counts of corruption including bribery, coercion and abuse of power. "The President abused the power which was given to her by the citizens," the judge said, adding a tough sentence was needed to send a firm message to the country's future leaders.

Prosecutors had asked for Park to receive a 30-year sentence. Outside the court, hundreds of supporters of Park had gathered to watch the verdict on a large screen, waving Korean and US flags and calling for her release.

South Korea's first female President, who took office in early 2013, became the nation's first elected head of state to be ousted and now the third former leader to be convicted of corruption.

The scandal led to parliamentary impeachment of Park in December 2016. She was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court on March 10, 2017.

Park did not appear in Friday's sentencing trial. She has been boycotting the hearing in protest of the court's October decision to extend her incarceration six months.

The former President was found to have colluded with her close friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure conglomerates for bribes in return for political favours.

Choi, who rose to power as an influential confidante of Park, was convicted of corruption in February. Their relationship had been the subject of intense public scrutiny amid allegations that Choi had undue influence over a nation's affairs through her connection with Park.

Prosecutors alleged that Park had given Choi unacceptable levels of access to official documents and concealed Choi's involvement in state affairs.

Also implicated in the scandal was Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong. The 49-year-old billionaire was found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges in 2017 and sentenced to five years in prison, but in February a higher court reduced his sentence and suspended it for four years.

--IANS

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Indian weightlifters continued their highly impressive medal-winning performances as K. Sanjita Chanu and Deepak Lather clinched gold and bronze respectively at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Friday.

Sanjita won in the women's 53 kilogram category as the Manipuri star lifted a total of 192 kg which included a CWG record of 84 kg in the snatch and 108 kg in clean and jerk.

Lather became the second Indian weightlifter after Gururaja to get a medal in the men's competition here. Lather bagged a bronze medal in the men's 69 kilogram competition, managing 136 kilograms in the snatch and 159 kg in clean and jerk for a total of 295 kg.

Gareth Evans of Wales won gold with a total of 299 kg following efforts of 136 kg in snatch and 163 kg in clean and jerk.

Indika Dissanayake of Sri Lanka took the bronze medal following lifts of 137 kg in snatch and 160 kg in clean and jerk which gave him a total of 297 kg.

India now has four medals here after weightlifters S. Mirabai Chanu and Gururaja delivered a gold and a silver respectively on Thursday.

Sanjita outclassed defending champion Loa Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea, who was a distant second with 182 kg while Canadian Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet took bronze with 181 kg.

Sanjita was by far the most dominant competitor in both snatch and clean jerk. She took the lead in the snatch with an opening attempt of 81 kilograms.

New Zealand's Rachel, who had managed 78 kg in her first attempt, joined Sanjita at the pole position by lifting 81 kg in her second attempt.

But Sanjita showed her class by equalling the CWG record of 83 kg in her second attempt to regain the lead.

The Canadian, whose best lift in training has been 82 kg, made a brave and futile attempt to match the CWG record.

The Indian then walked out to set a new CWG record at 84 kg and take the lead. The previous CWG record of 83 kg was set by compatriot Swarti Singh at the Glasgow Games in 2014.

Things were even easier for Sanjita in the clean and jerk as none of her rivals managed to produce even a semblance of a challenge.

Sanjita took the lead with a successful opening attempt of 104 kg. She bolstered her lead with 108 kg in her second attempt.

She then attempted to better the existing CWG record of 111 kg which was set by Loa in 2014. That however, was not to be as Sanjita failed to lift 112 kg in her third attempt.

Loa, who started with a successful attempt of 102 kg, failed to hoist 109 kg in her second attempt.

She then went for 113 kg in her final attempt in a bid to better her own CWG record and retain the title which she had won four years ago.

But she failed her third attempt despite a brave effort as the Indian camp celebrated Sanjita's triumph.

Rachel meanwhile, needed two attempts to clear 98 kg before lifting 100 kg in her third attempt.

"It was easier in Glasgow," Sanjita, who won the gold medal in the 48kg in 2014 CWG in Glasgow, was quoted as saying by the tournament's website. "It was tougher this time. Still I was able to do it, so I'm really happy.

The third Indian weightlifter in action in the day, Saraswati Rout failed to finish in the women's 58kg competition. She couldn't get a valid lift.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central government to come out with a solution to save elephants as it stressed on the need to have elephant corridors across the country.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta told Additional Solicitor General A.N.S. Nadkarni, representing the Central government, that there must be a elephant corridor and asked government to find a solution to reduce the animal fatalities due to accidents and other reasons.

Elephant corridors are narrow strips of land that allow elephants to move from one habitat patch to another.

"You have to do something in this elephant corridor issue. Find out some solution. We cannot tell the elephants where they should go... they must have a corridor," the bench said, asking the Central government to come out with a solution within 10 days.

The court also said that notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan had almost killed all the elephants and after his death, the number of elephants have improved.

But elephants were now getting killed due to some other reasons, said the bench also referring to the incidents of elephants being run over by trains.

The court was hearing a batch of pleas relating to the issue of having elephant corridors across India.

Earlier, the Central government had told the apex court that a standing committee of the wildlife board would consider suggestions, including making 27 corridors across India for safe passage of elephants and other endangered animals.

The petitions had referred to unnatural deaths of elephants on highways and railway tracks and have said that areas earmarked for these animals were not sufficient.

--IANS

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Six human rights activists in Vietnam have been sentenced to between seven and 15 years in jail, in a move condemned by the US as part of a "disturbing trend" by the country's authorities to restrict fundamental freedoms, authorities said on Friday.

According to the state-run Vietnam News Agency, the Hanoi People's Court on Thursday gave the longest sentence to human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, for "trying to overthrow the people's administration", reports CNN.

The judgment comes amid a wider government crackdown on peaceful dissent that has seen several bloggers and human rights activists given long jail sentences in the last 12 months.

"Individuals have the right to the fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, both online and offline," said US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert in the statement.

"The US is deeply concerned by the Vietnamese government's efforts to restrict these rights, through a disturbing trend of increased arrests, convictions, and harsh sentences of peaceful activists."

The six activists are members of the Brotherhood for Democracy organisation founded with the aim of defending human rights and promoting democracy in Vietnam, provides legal support for peasants, workers and activists inside and outside the country.

The group participated in protests against toxic spills and China's growing influence in the region, and offered humanitarian help such as providing assistance for victims of natural disasters and for veterans with disabilities, reports Efe news.

Dai, arrested in December 2015, has already served four years in prison after having been convicted in 2007 for spreading propaganda against the state.

The sentence was delivered a day after Amnesty International released a report revealing that there are at least 97 prisoners of conscience in Vietnam, claiming that many of them are held in solitary confinement and some subjected to torture.

Amnesty also said that in 2017 the Vietnamese authorities intensified the persecution against what they perceive as dissidents and tightened control over the internet and social media.

--IANS

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Russia, at a UN Security Council meeting, has accused the British government of inventing a "fake story" and warned that it was "playing with fire" by blaming Moscow for the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter on British soil.

At the meeting on Thursday, Moscow's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said Britain's main goal had been "to discredit and even delegitimize" Russia with "unsubstantiated accusations", the BBC reported.

The Russian UN diplomat warned "we have told our British colleagues that they are playing with fire and they will be sorry".

Britain had blamed Moscow for the nerve agent attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4. But Moscow denies it.

Yulia Skripal was recovering in hospital and released a statement on Thursday, saying her "strength was growing daily". Her father remained critically ill but stable.

Moscow called the special meeting of the Security Council in New York to discuss the attack, saying Britain had "legitimate questions" to answer.

Nebenzia said the accusations were "horrific and unsubstantiated" and claimed the UK was waging a "propaganda war" against Russia.

He said Novichok -- the nerve agent used in the poisoning -- was "not copyrighted by Russia, in spite of the obviously Russian name" and was developed in many countries.

"It's some sort of theatre of the absurd. Couldn't you come up with a better fake story?" he asked.

Responding, the British Ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, accused Russia of seeking to "undermine the institutions".

She said Russia came under suspicion for several reasons, saying it had "a record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations" and that it "views defectors as suitable targets for assassination".

Pierce told delegates that Russia's request to visit Yulia Skripal had been passed on and "we await her response".

The UN meeting came amid an escalating diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West as 60 expelled US envoys left Russia on Thursday. Over 20 countries expelled Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK, following Britain's initial expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

On Wednesday, Moscow failed in its efforts to persuade the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to allow a joint UK-Russia investigation into the attack.

The OPCW is already carrying out an independent investigation at the UK's request and expects to receive the results of its analysis within a week. Britain is also carrying out its own inquiry with support from the OPCW.
At least 15 MPs belonging to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Friday sat on a dharna inside Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's chamber to protest against her decision to not admit their no-trust motion against the government, and were forcibly removed in the evening.

This came a day after the TDP MPs staged a similar sit-in inside Rajya Sabha.

The MPs entered the Speaker's chamber soon after the lower House was adjourned sine die in the morning and stayed put there till the marshals removed them around 6.15 p.m. The security earlier put off the airconditioner and the lights but the protesters still stayed inside the chamber.

One of the MPs, Murali Mohan, fell ill when the marshals were removing the protesting parliamentarians and had to be taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in an ambulance.

The TDP members had been noisily protesting in both Houses of Parliament holding placards etc, demanding special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Around mid-March, having quit the NDA, they gave no-confidence motion against the government but it was not admitted by the Speaker.

"We had been protesting for last 13 day for no-confidence motion. But today, the last day of this session, when the House was adjourned sine die, we entered into Speaker's chamber to find out as to why she could not conduct the business and why she could not make government responsible for the lapses. She had no answer and left her office. We sat there as gherao to protest," the party's Amalapuram MP Ravindra Babu told IANS.

"Now they have thrown us out with the help of marshals. This is the fate of democracy, this is the fate of Andhra Pradesh and its five crore people. I can tell you one thing, BJP has no faith in democratic principles. I think they are headed for a disaster in 2019," he added.

On being pointed out that the TDP was very much a coalition partner in the BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the last four years, why it did not bring up the special status issue with the central government, Babu said they had been expecting the government to fulfil their demand.

"We had been patiently waiting and they (Centre) kept giving small-small instalments with the hope that this year we would get what is legitimate due to Andhra Pradesh. But in the Budget, they showed empty hands. Then we decided it was high time we leave this government. It is highly irresponsible, highly violative of coalition partners," he said.

Asked if TDP would follow in the footsteps of YSR Congress members who have resigned from the Lok Sabha, Babu said quitting Parliament was no solution.

"Resigning from Parliament does not mean anything. As an MP you can come and make your presence felt in the House. After resignation, what are you going to do. Parliament is the place where you can achieve your goals. When you abdicate your responsibility and run away by resigning, this does not mean anything to the people. They (YSR members) are cheating the people who have elected them," 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.)
India's tea exports grew by nearly 7 per cent to 221.54 million kg during April-February period of 2017-18 (FY18) as compared to 207.22 million kg exported in the corresponding period the previous fiscal.

According to provisional data of Tea Board India, tea exports to Pakistan grew significantly to 14.13 million kg in the period under review, up by over 31 per cent from 10.77 million kg during the year-ago period.

The shipment of the crop to China was also up by nearly 39 per cent to 7.81 million kg in April-February of FY18 as against 5.63 million kg in the same period of 2016-17.

Overall tea exports, in value terms, stood at Rs 4,361.64 crore during the 11 months of the last fiscal, up by about 2.8 per cent from Rs 4,242.64 crore in the year-ago period.

In volume, tea exports to CIS countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and others, were at 52.45 million kg in the April-February period of 2017-18, down from 55.33 million kg in the same period of 2016-17.

Exports to the UK also fell marginally to 14.51 million kg during the months under review as against 14.86 million kg in the year-ago period while exports at 8.76 million kg to Germany during the period were also down from 9.96 million kg.

However, tea exports to Iran went up to 27.09 million kg in the period under review, from 22.90 million kg in the year-ago period.

As much as 9.92 million kg of tea was shipped to Egypt during the 11 month period of 2017-18, up from 3.80 million kg in the year-ago period.

Tea exports to Bangladesh fell sharply by 95 per cent from 6.69 million kg during the 11 months of FY17 to 0.34 million kg during the corresponding months of FY 18. Exports to Sri Lanka stood at 3.32 million kg, up from 2.49 million kg.

During January-February 2018, tea export was up marginally by 3.16 per cent to 41.42 million kg as against 40.15 million kg exported in the year-ago period. In value terms, exports during the two months also rose to Rs 800.01 crore as compared to 780.17 crore in January-February of 2017.

India achieved the highest tea exports in 2017 (January-December) after 36 years, pegged at 240.68 million kg.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nine agricultural labourers were killed and 15 injured when a tractor plunged into a canal in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Friday, police said.

The accident occurred near Vaddipatla, about 130 km from Hyderabad.

The tractor, which was carrying about 30 labourers, fell into the MR canal after the driver lost control of the vehicle.

Rushing to the scene, locals launched rescue and relief operations. They alerted the police, which pulled out the bodies with the help of the rescue workers.

Police suspect the driver's negligence led to the tragedy. Some survivors claimed that the driver was drowsy.

The workers were going from one village to the other to work in the fields.

--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 floated replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt, even as the scandal-ridden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief has faced a growing list of negative headlines, a media report said.

"He was 100 per cent still trying to protect Pruitt because Pruitt is his fill-in for Sessions," an informed source told CNN on Thursday.

The proposition reveals just how frustrated Trump remains with Sessions because of his decision to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation more than a year ago, while signalling how confident he has remained in Pruitt despite a number of ethics issues, the source added.

Earlier on Thursday Trump said he continued to support Pruitt.

Asked by reporters as he boarded Air Force One if he has confidence in the embattled EPA official, Trump said: "I do."

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN on Thursday night that the administration does "not have any plans for personnel changes at this time".

The suggestion of replacing Sessions with Pruitt comes as Trump continues to rage against both the Attorney General and his deputy Rod Rosenstein.

--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 has instructed the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Trump said in a statement on Thursday, CNBC reported.

"POTUS is sending a message to China about consequences," a White House official told CNBC.

China on Wednesday announced it would introduce tariffs on 106 US products, including soybeans, cars and whiskey.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to build a memorial in the name of South Korean queen Heo Hwang-ok in Ayodhya, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told the visiting South Korean Ambassador Shin Bong-Kil on Friday.

During the meeting, discussions were held on further strengthening the economic and cultural ties between South Korea and UP. The Chief Minister said there were immense possibilities for both the sides in the tourism sector to explore and promote.

People in South Korea believe that 2,000 years ago, an Ayodhya princess had married a Korean king Kim Suro. At present, their descendants are members of the "Crock Clan" and they had built a memorial in Ayodhya, visited by a large number of tourists from South Korea.

Through the Korean envoy, Adityanath extended an invite to dignitaries of South Korea to take part in the "Deepotsava" event to be held in November in Ayodhya.

Inviting investment in the state, Adityanath assured of all possible help and cooperation to South Korean investors and entrepreneurs.

Bong-Kil apprised Adityanath of South Korea's willingness to make the relations with India more comprehensive. He also extended an invite to the Chief Minister to visit South Korea.

Bong-Kil also said his country will assist in developing Shrawasti district and that South Korea will also partner in the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The South Koran envoy pointed out that after Vietnam, South Korean major Samsung had maximum investment in Uttar Pradesh. He said LG Electronics also planned to invest in the state.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US on Friday imposed new economic sanctions on 17 senior Russian government officials, a state-owned weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank, seven Russian oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin along with 12 companies they own or control.

"The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

"Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities," US Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said, citing Russia's occupation in Crimea and its ongoing efforts to supply the Assad regime in Syria with materials and weapons.

The action targetted Russian oligarchs including Putin's son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, senior Russian official Oleg Deripaska who has been investigated for money laundering and Suleiman Kerimov, who allegedly brought millions of euros into France in suitcases, according to the Treasury Department.

The measures were also aimed at the state-owned Russian weapons trading company Rosoboronexport, which has long-standing ties to Syria and its subsidiary, Russian Financial Corporation Bank.

These sanctions were the latest step by the US against Russia following the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil, interference in the US 2016 election and a cyberattack, described as the most damaging in history, CNN reported.

The Trump administration has been under pressure by Congress to act to meet demands under a sanctions law passed by Congress in 2017 to punish Russia for interfering in US elections.

Assets will now be frozen of 17 senior Russian officials including Russian Federation Security Council's secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Putin's aide Evgeniy Shkolov.

Among the companies targeted by the US included GAZ Group, Russia's leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles owned by Deripaska along with Russian Machines and Renova Group comprised of investment funds and management companies operating in the energy sector in Russia.

The US identified over 200 wealthy Russians, top officials and business leaders in January and later slapped sanctions in March on Russian government hackers and spy agencies for interfering in the 2016 election and the cyberattack, including people named in FBI Robert Mueller's indictment.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior CPI-M leader and nine-time Lok Sabha member Basudeb Acharia was allegedly injured as sporadic violence over filing nominations for next month's Panchayat polls in West Bengal continued on Friday even as opposition parties demonstrated across the state, accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing attacks.

Acharia, an MP from 1980-2014, was hospitalised when he was allegedly attacked by Trinamool backed miscreants at Kashipur of Purulia district, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said.

"Acharia was attacked and hit on the head by Trinamool goons while going to file his nomination today. He has been hospitalised. We condemn the attack on one of country's most respected parliamentarians," CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty told IANS.

He also claimed that their activists and candidates were being attacked everywhere by miscreants affiliated to the Trinamool, with the local administration and the State Election Commission remaining "silent spectators".

Senior LF leaders including CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Misra held a sit-in outsdie the State Election Commission office, accusing it of being "inactive" in protecting democracy.

"We are not here to attack your office or scare you. But we want to tell you that the Indian Constitution has given you the rights and powers that is stronger than the threats of the state's ruling party. But still you are scared of their actions," Misra said during the protest demonstration.

"If you lack confidence to act against them, we are here to give you confidence. But you must act to protect democracy," he said.

Clashes broke out between Trinamool and Bharatiya Janata Party activists in parts of East Midnapore and Bankura districts.

In Birbhum's Nalhati, BJP workers allegedly attacked police and hurled crude bombs injuring one police personnel. Police fired tear gas shells and baton charged the mob to control the situation, police said.

Refuting the claims of opposition parties, state Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee claimed his party is not involved in any form of violence and said the state police force would be enough to conduct the rural elections, to be held in the first week of May.

"There are no attacks on the opposition. It is their ploy to create controversies. If they are under attack how is it that more opposition candidates have submitted their nominations than Trinamool Congress aspirants for the Zilla Parishad seats? Their allegations are baseless.

"I think the state police force is enough for conducting the elections. There is no need for the central force. Bringing central force would be an unnecessary expense to the state government, which would in turn impact the common people," 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.)
A youth abducted by militants this week was found beheaded on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district, drawing widespread condemnation.

The torso of 25-year-old Manzoor Ahmad Bhat was found in Hajin in the Kashmir Valley.

Police sources said the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had abducted the youth and his father, Abdul Gafar Bhat, from Hajin on Wednesday.

"The father managed to escape from the clutches of his abductors although he sustained a bullet injury. He is now being treated," a source said.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah denounced the "inhuman act".

Abdullah said he was not surprised over separatists neither condemning nor calling for protests over the brutal murder.

Abdullah said: "Any shutdown call or call for peaceful protests for Manzoor Ahmed whose decapitated body was found after he'd been abducted and killed by militants? No? I'm not surprised."

Mehbooba Mufti said: "The brutal killing of young Manzoor Ahmad is highly condemnable but should also serve as a reminder of where society is headed. The scourge of terror has hit a new low as the brutality of this act has left us all in shock."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Residents of a town in the US state of Ohio have reported "zombie-like" raccoons which have left police puzzled, media reports said.

In the past couple of weeks, Youngstown police have responded to over a dozen of these raccoon calls, all of them with reports of the same strange, zombie-like behaviour, Ohio-based NBC4i news reported on Thursday.

The majority of the calls happened in the daytime, too, even though raccoons are nocturnal.

"I looked over there and got distracted because I saw a raccoon coming our way," a resident said, whose playtime with his dogs was interrupted by a fiesty and sick raccoon last week.

He put the dogs back in the house, but said the raccoon followed them to the door.

Once inside, the wildlife photographer grabbed his camera to document what he called "extremely strange behaviour".

"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," he added.

The police were called to 14 similar situations in the past three weeks.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said it does not sound like rabies, but rather a disease called distemper.

He said diseases like this stay local and eventually die off.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The coming together of Vodafone and Idea Cellular  the biggest merger in Indian corporate history  is underway. While a few regulatory clearances are still awaited, the leadership team has been announced late last month.

Vodafone-Idea will be the largest telecom company by market share, revenue and subscriber base. The anticipated synergies are expected to be around $10 billion over the next three years or so. And so, it is a good time as any, to ask: Will this merger provide a moat for Vodafone-Idea to stave off the brutal attack from Reliance Jio? By all reckoning, the ...
The five had on Thursday announced they would resign from Parliament and sit on an indefinite hunger strike at Andhra Bhawan in Delhi. The party had also alleged that the Lok Sabha Speaker had not been admitting its no-confidence notice against the Narendra Modi-led central government on one or the other pretext has been denying a discussion on the motion. "After ...

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Thirteen people have died of cholera in the northeast Nigerian state of Yobe in the past week, the state health commissioner said today, blaming the outbreak on contaminated water.

Yobe is among the three states worst-hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, with many people living in camps where they lack sufficient food and are at risk of disease.

Last year, scores of people died of cholera in camps for internally displaced people, prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to launch a massive vaccination campaign in the region.

"We have recorded 13 fatalities in the cholera outbreak in Gashua town under Bade local government area within the past week. A total of 159 cases were recorded," Yobe state health commissioner Mohammad Bello Kawuwa told AFP.

"We were able to trace the source of the outbreak to water contamination. Samples from five boreholes in the town tested positive," he said.

Kawuwa said the outbreak had been confined to areas where five shallow boreholes were dug.

"We sent in rapid response team who have been able to contain the outbreak. The teams distributed water sterilisation tablets in the affected communities and disinfected water sources and lavatories".

Cholera is transmitted through contaminated drinking water and causes acute diarrhoea, with children facing a particularly high risk of infection.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season in Nigeria.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
- Fifteen people were killed when a gang of armed men attacked two banks and a police station in the central Nigerian town of Offa, police told AFP today.

"They attacked the police station and at the same time attacked two banks," said Kwara state police spokesman Ajayi Okasanmi, adding that nine police and six civilians died in the brazen assault.

The gang invaded a busy commercial area where several banks and the police station are located at around 4:50 pm (1550 GMT) yesterday, said Okasanmi.

"We are going all-out to ensure we arrest them," he said, adding that the haul from the robbery was not immediately known.

The attack happened in part of Nigerias volatile central region, which is notorious for criminal gangs and cattle rustling. Attacks on police are not uncommon.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has had to deploy security forces throughout Nigeria, West Africas largest economy, to quell violence in the absence of a strong police force and rigorous legal system.

The gang attacks are a persistent problem for Nigeria, adding to security woes in a country already grappling with the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two students of a college here were arrested and later let off on bail in connection with the incident of bursting crackers and paying 'homage' to the college principal, who will retire in May this year, police said today.

Sharat Damodaran and Praveen M P, both second year students of Nehru College, were arrested yesterday and let off on bail, they said.

Enquiry with regard to another student, Mohammed Aziz, was going on, sources said.

Police had, two days ago, registered a case against three students on the basis of a written complaint by principal P V Pushpaja, seeking action against them for insulting her and causing 'mental agony' by their action.

Members of the pro-CPI(M) Students Federation of India (SFI) had burst crackers, rejoicing at her retirement and humiliated her by paying 'homage' last week by putting up a poster offering 'condolences' to a teacher "who had died in the hearts of students."



Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also condemned the incident in the state Assembly and assured that strong action would be taken against the students.

The incident came to the limelight after a purported video of the students bursting crackers and putting up the condolence message at the auditorium of the college campus went viral on social media.

The incident had also triggered widespread condemnation from different quarters.

Last year, SFI students had set on fire the chair of Maharaja's College principal, N L Beena, in Kochi, during a strike by the teachers' union.

In 2016, some students of Government Victoria College, Palakkad, had built a symbolic grave for their outgoing principal, Dr T N Sarasu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Air strikes on the last rebel-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta killed 27 civilians today, a monitor said, after talks sputtered over a deal for the battered town.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of air strikes hit the town of Douma.

"At least 27 civilians died, including five children," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four suspected criminals were arrested after an encounter with police in which one of them received bullet injuries near Bhagela jungle under the Khatoli police station area here, police said today.

Circle Officer Rajiv Kumar said the encounter took place last evening after which Pankaj, Adesh and Sonu (who received bullet injuries) were arrested. The officer said the other arrested person is a class 12 student.

The officer said a lifted tractor and three looted motorbikes were found from their possession.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five persons, including three pilgrims, were killed and 18 others injured today in two accidents in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri and Ramban districts, police said.

Three pilgrims were killed and 18 others injured when their mini bus overturned in Rajouri district, they said.

The bus was on its way to the Shiv Khori temple when it overturned at the Triyath belt, police said.

The injured have been admitted to the GMC hospital in Jammu, they said.

In another incident, two persons, identified as Sanjay Singh and Manjeet Singh, were killed after their vehicle skidded off the road and plunged into a 300-feet deep gorge near the Karool Kundi area in Ramban district, police said.

Their bodies have been recovered, they said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today registered a case against a junior civil judge for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 from two advocates and raided his residence here.

The I-Additional Junior Civil Judge S Madhu allegedly took the bribe to acquit clients of the advocates.

The ACB said the case was filed following a directive from the Hyderabad High Court.

An ACB release said they registered a case of criminal misconduct under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Madhu yesterday and took up investigation.

After obtaining a warrant from the anti-corruption court, the agency conducted a search at the residence of the judge this morning, it said.

The junior judge accepted Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 from the two advocates on different occasions for doing the favours, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After the GST, the Modi dispensation has now brought in "GSD -- government-sponsored disruption" in Parliament, the Trinamool Congress said today after unabated protests virtually washed out a tumultuous budget session.

It said that unless the government addressed the issues of special category status for Andhra Pradesh, establishment of the Cauvery Management Board and rising atrocities against Dalits, the monsoon session too could be disrupted.

Lashing out at the government for not allowing the opposition voice to be heard in Parliament, the TMC today accused the Modi dispensation of instigating the AIADMK to disrupt proceedings.

"After GST, this is GSD -- government-sponsored disruption. They put forward the AIADMK. Not a single political party other than the AIADMK went to the well of the House...Unless the government addresses issues like the special status for Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery issue or Dalit atrocities or bank scams within the next two months. it would not go well for the monsoon session," TMC MP Derek O'Brien to reporters.

Ridiculing the decision of the BJP members of not taking the salary for 23 days of the session which ended today, the opposition party said that by doing so the ruling party was only shirking off their responsibility.

"People don't come to Parliament for taking their salaries, they have their responsibility. It is like saying that if a guard does not do his duty and the house gets robbed and then the guard comes back and refuses to take his salary.

"You are adding insult to injury. This is the biggest insult one can think about that by not taking their salary You have abdicated all your responsibilities," TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi said.

Both Houses of Parliament were today adjourned sine die, with unabated protests virtually washing out a tumultuous Budget Session that saw a total of nearly 250 working hours wasted.

Merely five of 19 starred questions were replied to orally by Ministers in the Rajya Sabha, while 17 of the 580 such questions were answered in the Lok Sabha during the 29 sittings.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Salman Khan today spent a second consecutive day at the Jodhpur Central Jail but few of his Twitter happy colleagues ventured online to voice their support for the 'Sultan' of Bollywood, arguably the industry's most saleable star.

Yesterday, director Subhash Ghai, actor-politicians Jaya Bachchan and Raj Babbar and actor Varun Dhawan were among the few people backing Salman, who was convicted for killing two blackbucks in October 1998 and sentenced to five years in jail.

Today, there was online silence from the biggies of the industry.

However, some of his friends and colleagues did visit the actor's family at their home in Galaxy Apartments here.

Saif Ali Khan, who was acquitted in the case and Shatrughan Sinha with wife Poonam and daughter Sonakshi called on the family. Ramesh Taurani, producer of "Race 3", which is still under production, and ex sister-in-law Malaika also visited the family.

Filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala, a close friend of Salman, cancelled the success party of his latest release "Baaghi 2" and left for Jodhpur soon after the verdict.

But most big stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, known for articulating their views and active on social media, stayed mum.

This is Salman's fifth stint in jail, on charges varying from poaching and killing a pedestrian in a hit and run in 2002 in Mumbai.

A sessions court Friday reserved its decision on Salman's bail plea till tomorrow.

The actor is said to have shot and killed two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998 during the shooting of the film "Hum Saath Saath Hain".

The trial court acquitted his Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the "benefit of doubt".

None of the actors, who flew down to Jodhpur for the hearing, have commented on Salman's conviction till now.

Neelam's husband Samir Soni told PTI after the verdict yesterday, "I am happy for Neelam and the rest. I don't know why Salman was singled out. It seems his celebrity status has come in the way."



Others from the industry did sympathise with the 52-year-old star, but were cautious.

"I hope he gets justice in the coming times. I am sure, he is a strong man and people's good wishes are with him which will help him overcome the difficult times.

"It is my personal experience that Salman Khan is a good human being and has done a lop of philanthropic work for the welfare of people, irrespective of caste or community," Babbar had said.

"I am extremely shocked," film director Ghai said, adding that he had "full trust in the Indian judiciary which has many other doors" for an "appeal for final justice".

Jaya Bachchan said the punishment was harsh, and added that Khan had done "a lot of humanitarian work".

Actor Varun Dhawan, who was in Delhi to promote his upcoming film "October", tweeted, "I know for a fact that Salman bhai and his family have the utmost respect and faith in our judiciary system. Salman Khan is one of the strongest and most genuine people I know and I'm sure he will come out of this stronger.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Andhra Pradesh Assembly today adopted a resolution demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, an issue over which the ruling TDP pulled out of BJP-led NDA at the Centre last month.

On the concluding day of its budget session, the assembly adopted the resolution asking the Centre to reconvene Parliament to discuss issues related to the state and render justice.

Parliament was adjourned sine die today, bringing to close a tumultuous budget session that witnessed repeated disruptions over various issues, including special status for Andhra Pradesh, and did not take up notices on no-confidence motion moved by TDP and others.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who piloted the resolution in the assembly, accused the Central government of acting in an autocratic manner and ensuring that the no-confidence motion against it did not come up for discussion despite the TDP MPs "waging a relentless struggle" till the last minute.

"The assembly takes strong exception to this. The Centre acted in a conspiratorial manner and stalled the no-confidence motion despite several parties supporting it," the resolution said.

Stating that the AP Reorganisation Bill was enacted against the wishes of five crore people of the state, it said several promises, including grant of special category status, were made in the Rajya Sabha.

But the current Central government 'betrayed' the people by not implementing the act and also the promises, it said.

"It is the Centres responsibility to fulfil all the promises. If not, the assembly construes it as an affront to the Constitutional spirit," the resolution added.

Attacking the Centre, Naidu recalled his visit to New Delhi on April 3 and 4 and said he briefed various parties and the national media on how the Narendra Modi government 'betrayed' the people of AP.

"People of the state have been demanding in one voice that all the promises be fulfilled. I sought the support of various parties to secure justice to the state," he said.

The Chief Minister claimed that his New Delhi trip was a "success in exposing the dramas" of BJP chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ahmedabad bench of the NCLT has reserved its order after the arguments from all the parties concluded today in the Essar Steel bankruptcy case.

In the last lap of arguments today, Numetal and ArcelorMittal, both in the race to acquire the bankrupt Essar Steel, once again tried to convince the tribunal over their disqualification by the resolution professional (RP), claiming that rules have been followed before submitting their bids.

After taking into consideration the views of both the bidders, the tribunal, comprising adjudicating authority Manorama Kumari and Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi, has kept its order reserved for a future date.

The bench indicated that it may pronounce the order on April 12.

Numetal and ArcelorMittal has knocked the doors of NCLT over their disqualification in the first round of bidding claiming that rules have been followed before submitting bids.

Appearing for Numetal, senior counsel Mihir Thakor today said his client has challenged RP's decision of disqualifying Numetal from the first round of bidding because "there was no impropriety in restructuring Numetal".

At one point, Thakor even admitted that Numetal was formed by the promoters of the Essar Steel itself "with the purpose of submitting the resolution plan to acquire Essar Steel".

Yesterday, RP's lawyer Darius Khambata had told the bench that Numetal's bid was rejected because Essar Steel promoter Ravi Ruia's son Rewant Ruia was, in some way or other, in control of Numetal through Aurora Trusts.

He said such arrangement was in violation of the section 29 (A) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC).

Responding to that charge, Thakor today said Numetal had undergone substantial structural changes as far as Rewant's role in Numetal is concerned.

"It was originally intended to be a promoter's company before the introduction of section 29(A). But then, it ceases to be a promoter's company. Thus, just because it was a promoter's company in the past, it should not be disqualified", argued Thakor.

Putting his final arguments, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for ArcelorMittal, said Numetal's demand that Mittals should first pay up the debt of Uttam Galva, an NPA firm, "is a classic case of diversion and deflection".

Singvi said while on one side Numetal questions the non-payment of debt on Uttam Galva, on the other side "Ruias themselves brought Essar Steel to its kneels by making it an NPA".

The case pertains to the lenders disqualifying ArcelorMittal and Numetal -- 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.

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Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has assured Arunachal Pradesh of top operational readiness of the Army deployed at the international borders in the north easterm state to take on any challenge to the national security.

Rawat's gave the assurance to Arunachal Governor Brig (Retd) B D Mishra met him in New Delhi yesterday and discussed about the security issues related to the state, a Raj Bhawan communiqu informed here today.

Mishra, who visited the border posts recently, shared his observations with Rawat, the communique said adding the Army chief assured him that the force would always provide all humanitarian help to the civil population in the border area.

Terming the people in the border villages as "natcional watch assets", the Army chief suggested that the state government provide amenities to the people living in the border area so that they do not abandon their villages and move away from the border.

The governor apprised the army chief of the state government plans to develop the border villages and the confidence building measures being put in place to encourage villagers to live in border areas.

Conveying the goodwill of the state's people for pre recruitment rallies in Arunachal, he emphasized on enlisting of youths to which Rawat agreed to do his best, the communique added.

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Amid an ongoing strike by lawyers of the Calcutta high court over shortage of judges, top sources in the government today said the high court is yet to send recommendations to fill up 24 vacancies.

Names of five candidates for appointment as additional judges are under active consideration of the government, the sources said.

They also pointed out that the law ministry alone could not be blamed for the vacancies in the high court.

Officials also said that in recommending candidates for certain vacancies, the senior judges involved with the appointment process had not followed the Memorandum of Procedure and the names had to be returned to the HC for reconsideration.

The approved strength of the Calcutta HC was increased from 58 to 72 in May 2016.

In 2016-17, the HC collegium had recommended 30 names for appointment as judges in six lots. The Supreme Court collegium in turn recommended only 13 names out of the 30. The government has appointed 10 as judges and returned the files of three for reconsideration.

Out of the 24 vacancies of judges for which no recommendation has been made, nine have to be members of the bar and 15 have to be judicial officers/lower court judges.

Lawyers of Calcutta High Court, protesting against the shortage of judges, have extended their strike till April 18. The strike will now complete two months.

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The Supreme Court today pulled up the Gujarat Police for delay in completion of recording of evidence in the rape case against self-styled preacher Asaram Bapu, lodged in Jodhpur jail, and directed it to conclude the process within five weeks.

The top court questioned the state police for delay in completion of the trial in the case and said that "it cannot go like this for months".

A bench of justices N V Ramana and S Abdul Nazeer, which sought to know the status of the trial, was told by Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, that the victim's statement has been recorded.

"The prosecutrix has recorded her statement. Only the star witnesses in the case are now remaining to be examined," Mehta said.

To this, the bench asked the ASG, how much time is needed for examining the star witnesses.

Mehta said that the process will take two-three more months to be completed.

"How much more months do you want. It cannot go on like this for months. You have to complete it in five weeks. List the matter in five weeks," the bench said and adjourned the bail plea of Asaram.

On January 22, the Gujarat government had told the apex court that the victim in a rape case against Asaram will be examined from January 29.

The court had on January 15 sought to know the status of trial in the case and asked the Gujarat government to file a progress report on it.

Asaram's counsel had then told the court that in the Gujarat case, out of 92 witnesses, 22 material witnesses have been examined, 14 of them have been dropped and rest need to be examined.

On August 28, the apex court had expressed anguish over the tardy pace of progress in the case and had asked the state government to file the report.

On April 12 last year, the apex court had asked the Gujarat trial court to expedite the recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses in a sexual assault case lodged by two Surat-based sisters against Asaram.

Earlier, the top court had refused to grant bail to Asaram on various grounds in the two sexual assault cases lodged in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The two Surat-based sisters had lodged separate complaints against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement, among other charges.

The elder sister, in her complaint against Asaram, had accused him of repeated sexual assaults between 2001 and 2006 when she was staying at his ashram near Ahmedabad.

In the case in Rajasthan, a teenage girl had accused him of sexual assault at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur.

The girl, who belonged to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was a student living in the ashram.

Asaram was arrested by the Jodhpur Police on August 31, 2013 and has been in the jail since then.

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Taiwanese tech major Asus today said it has appointed Leon Yu as the regional head for India and South Asia.

He joins Asus India from the Middle East to assume the responsibility from Peter Chang, who has now moved to the headquarters in Taiwan, and heads the market development centre for Asia Pacific, it said in a statement.

Leon will be responsible for building 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.

*********************** IndusInd Bank joins hands with Samsung for Samsung Pay *



Consumer electronics major Samsung today said it has collaborated with IndusInd Bank to enable the bank's MasterCard and Visa credit card customers to use Samsung Pay.

IndusInd credit card holders can tap and pay at merchant outlets having point of sale (PoS) terminals using a wide range of Samsung smartphones.

Samsung Pay can be used at around 3.1 million PoS card machines across the country, at present.

********************** L&T bags electrical system works for Mumbai Metro 3 corridor *



The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) today signed an agreement with engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for electrical system works for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz metro corridor.

The scope of the contract includes design, installation, testing and commissioning of power supply works including receiving sub-stations, 110 kV cabling works, traction sub-stations, switching stations, auxiliary main sub-stations, SCADA system and integration with other systems.

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Accusing the BJP of trying to disturb social harmony and vitiate the atmosphere in the country, the Congress today that the party workers would hold fast across Uttar Pradesh on April 9 in protest.

"The anti-Dalit mentality of the BJP has been exposed by the manner in which police carried out baton-charge on the protesters during the Bharat Bandh on April 2, the call for which was given by Dalit organisations," Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi said.

"The BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state are trying to disturb social harmony and vitiate the atmosphere," he alleged.

He said on the directive of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, party workers will hold fast in all districts of Uttar Pradesh on April 9 against the BJP's design to "create anarchy".

Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre and the state, there has been an attack on the interests of SC/ST communities and cases of Dalit harassment has been on the rise, Tripathi alleged.

The central and state governments are dividing the society on caste and categories and this is not in the interest of country, he said.

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The Bombay High Court today criticised the Maharashtra government for defying its orders and provisions of the Disaster Management Act by not setting up separate disaster management authorities in Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban districts.

The court had previously ordered the government to set up separate disaster management authorities in Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban districts, as mandated by the act, by January 31. However, the government set up a common authority.

Justices A S Oka and Riyaz Chagla were annoyed by this.

"Why this anxiety and insistence to go contrary to the law and our orders? If the state government is inconvenienced with our orders or the Act, then challenge it," Justice Oka said.

The government has committed a wilful breach of the court's orders, the division bench said.

When the matter came up for hearing this morning, the bench issued a contempt of court notice to Medha Gadgil, additional chief secretary, Maharashtra, over the matter.

However, during the afternoon session, government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani submitted a letter from Gadgil assuring the court that separate authorities will be set up within 15 days.

"We are accepting Gadgil's letter and recalling our order issuing the contempt notice," Justice Oka said.

The bench said if the authorities are not constituted by May 4, it would considered it an "aggravated" contempt.

The high court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Sanjay Lakhe Patil of the NGO Marathwada Anushesh Nirmulan Aani Vikas Manch, raising the issue of water scarcity faced by farmers in parts of Maharashtra every year.

The petition sought a direction to the government to implement the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and also sought to know the measures taken by the government for drought mitigation.

The Act, a Central legislation, provides a mechanism for effective management of disasters, both natural and man-made.

"The Act is crystal clear. It is the state government's obligation to establish a Disaster Management Authority for each and every district," the court said.

The state government's stand that one authority was enough for Mumbai and Mumbai Suburban districts is disastrous, Justice Oka said.

The bench posted the matter for next hearing on May 4.

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A Brazilian judge today issued a warrant to send former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to prison after an appeals court said he must start a 12-year term for corruption.

The orders follow a narrow Supreme Court ruling denying the ex-leader's request to delay the sentence while pursuing appeals against the conviction handed down last year.

Lula's likely imminent incarceration throws into chaos his plan to stage a comeback in an October presidential election. Surveys had put him as the comfortable favourite.

Lula's left-wing Workers Party announced that the former president would address a rally in his home town of Sao Bernardo do Campo, a suburb of Sao Paulo, today.

Brazil is divided over the court decisions against him.

Left-wing sympathizers, remembering Lula's achievement in lifting tens of millions out of poverty during his 2003-2011 years in office, see a plot designed to prevent him becoming president again.

But opponents and prosecutors believe he is properly being punished for high-level corruption revealed through an epic "Car Wash" graft probe that has rocked Brazilian politics and business over the past four years.

Lula was convicted on charges of accepting a seaside apartment as a bribe from a major construction company seeking government contracts. He was sentenced to serve 12 years and one month behind bars.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court bench decided by six judges to five that Lula must now begin his sentence, having lost an initial appeal in January.

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Britain today rejected a visa application by the niece of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned with a nerve agent along with his daughter Yulia in an English city last month.

"We have refused a visitor visa application from Viktoria Skripal on the grounds that her application did not comply with the immigration rules," the Home Office, Britain's interior ministry, said in a statement.

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The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it has reached the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019 and would conduct a lottery to decide successful applicants for the work visa popular among Indian IT professionals.

The fiscal year begins October 1, 2018.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The USCIS has also received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa cap for advanced degree exemption, known as the master's cap, a statement said.

The statement did not mention the exact number of H-1B petitions it received since April 2, when it started accepting applications for the popular work visas for highly skilled Indian professionals.

"We will not have exact petition receipt numbers for a few weeks. However, the USCIS will be conducting a lottery as we have done in past years," Arwen FitzGerald, the USCIS spokesperson, told PTI.

"The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not prohibited multiple filings," the USCIS said.

the agency said that it would continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, will also not be counted toward the FY 2019 H-1B cap.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States; change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

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The HRD Ministry has warned students and parents against "fake leak mafias", saying a purportedly leaked political science paper is doing rounds on social media.

Examination for the board's Class 12 Political Science paper was held today.

"Fake leak mafias are at it again. Students and parents are advised not to fall prey to such mischiefs. The political science paper purported to have been leaked is fake. Similar attempts were made in the past to disrupt smooth conduct of CBSE exams," HRD's School Secretary Anil Swarup said.

The HRD Ministry has set up a "high-powered committee" to examine the process by which the CBSE conducts examinations, following the alleged leak of the Class 10 mathematics and the Class 12 economics papers.

The Ministry had last week announced the re-examination of the CBSE Class 12 economics paper on April 25.

It had said the Class 10 mathematics re-test, if required, would be conducted only for the Delhi-NCR region and Haryana in July. However, it decided against conducting the latter.

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A Chinese man has been sentenced to a year in prison for blackmailing a cemetery manager and stealing a casket.

The man stole the cinerary casket from the cemetery in Changping district, Beijing in December, 2015, the Changping district people's court of Beijing said in its verdict.

He phoned the cemetery manager and asked for 300,000 yuan (USD 47,000) to return the casket, and later lowered the ransom to 45,000 yuan. He was eventually nabbed by the police.

The court found him guilty of blackmail and extortion. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 2,000 yuan, state-run Xinhua agency said.

Yesterday was the Qingming Festival, or 'tomb-sweeping day' in China during which Chinese visit the tombs of ancestors and offer prayers.

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After a washout of the budget session of Parliament that ended today, the BJP and the Congress blamed each other for the impasse and announced countrywide fasts as protest even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition party of taking parliamentary proceedings "to a new low".

While Modi announced that NDA MPs would hold a fast on April 12 to protest the opposition's behaviour in Parliament, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi told party workers to hold a fast on April 9 to "expose" the BJP's "lies" on the issue.

Addressing BJP MPs on the party's foundation day, Modi kept the Congress in his line of fire and spelt out an exercise by party lawmakers and ministers for reaching out to villages with substantial Dalit and tribal population through implementation of his government's seven key welfare schemes.

Modi at the BJP parliamentary party meeting accused the Congress of paralysing Parliament proceedings during the Budget Session that ended today, and said it was "throttling" democracy and "abusing" people's mandate.

Briefing reporters on the meeting, Union minister Ananth Kumar quoted the prime minister as saying that while the BJP's strength has been rising, the opposition, especially the Congress, has resorted to "divisive and negative"

Parliamentary proceedings stooped to a new low due to the conduct of the Congress, Modi said.

All BJP MPs will observe a day long fast on April 12 to protest the opposition's conduct in Parliament, he said.

On the other hand, Gandhi directed party workers to organise nationwide fast to protect and promote harmony among various sections on April 9.

In a letter to all PCC chiefs, party general secretary Ashok Gehlot said "peace and harmony have been embodied in the soul of this country and the responsibility to uphold it lies with the Congress".

He said what has happened on April 2 during Bharat bandh was very unfortunate and it was very dangerous for the social fabric of this country and blamed BJP-ruled Centre and state governments for not initiating steps to curb violence neither to protect the fraternity.

"Therefore, it becomes even more important for the Congress to lead the nation in tough time," he said.

At the AICC briefing, senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Anand Sharma hit back at the BJP and held it responsible for not letting Parliament function and termed as a "gimmick" and "drama" the move by NDA MPs to forgo their salary for 23 days when Parliament did not function.

The Congress leaders said their party MPs had met Rajya Sabha chairman requesting him that the house should not be prorogued so that it can be reconvened for two more weeks to discuss issues of national importance as they could not be taken up due to disruptions.

Sharma alleged that the BJP and RSS were spreading hatred in society through their "divisive" agenda. The Congress "will expose it" and their chief Rahul Gandhi has appealed to the public to maintain peace and harmony in society, he said.

Kharge also alleged that it was the government and its allies which were disrupting the Lok Sabha and questioned why members causing disturbance were not suspended and the no-confidence motions taken up for discussion.

The government and its allies were "orchestrating" disruptions and blaming the Congress for it, he alleged.

"Government encouraged its allies to disrupt proceedings which resulted in the Houses being adjourned day after day in the session, within seconds of the ruckus created at government's behest....

"We gave prior notice under the rules of Parliament. The Government is sole responsible for disruption of parliament and now 'the thief is blaming the cop'", Kharge said.

Sharma said, "one thing we want to make absolutely clear with truth and force of facts at our command that Congress is not responsible for the disruption. We wanted debate, we wanted accountability and we shall continue to demand that."



"Today we have told the Chairman of Rajya Sabha to inform the Government that we are willing, do not prorogue the Houses; they have been adjourned only sine die. Reconvene the Parliament for two weeks or ten days to debate these five issues and to legislate, bring the important Laws.

"We have said the ball is in their court. This is what we have conveyed today and we are informing you," he said.

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The Congress and several other opposition parties today slammed BJP chief Amit Shah for dragging political discourse to a "new low" after his remarks equating parties trying to join hands against the BJP to 'snakes, 'mongoose, 'dogs' and 'cats'.

The CPI and the TMC also hit out at Shah for his remarks, saying one does not expect this from the president of a national party in power.

Senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said the remarks were "shameful" and reflected Shah's mindset.

He was reacting to remarks by Shah during a Mumbai rally to mark BJP's Foundation Day.

Shah said, "The countdown for 2019 (polls) has begun. Attempts are being made for opposition unity. When huge floods occur, everything is washed away. Only a 'vatvriksha (banyan tree) survives and snakes, mongoose, dogs, cats and other animals climb to save themselves from the rising waters."



"Due to Modi flood, all cats, dogs, snakes and mongoose are getting together to contest polls," the BJP president said, in apparent reference to the efforts being made by various parties such as the TRS, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the TDP to sew up a coalition to take on the Modi-led BJP in the next general elections.

Later, Shah said his intention was not to equate opposition parties to animals.

Congress leader Sharma said, "The remarks made by Amit Shah are condemnable. It shows their mindset. They have repeatedly dragged the political discourse to a new low."



"It is shameful. What else do we expect from them. It is in their DNA," he told PTI.

Congress communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said Shah considers his political opponents as 'dogs and cats' and that is due to arrogance that has reached his head.

"Mr Shah, floods bring devastation and so does the Modi-Shah duo - For distressed farmers', unemployed youth', SC/ST's' and small traders and businessmen'.

"Don't forget, fury of the floods is temporary. We'll build bandhs' of friendship to stop it forever," he tweeted.

CPI leader D Raja said this is not the language one expects from the president of a national party.

"He is also a member of the Rajya Sabha and he should remember that we are all democratic parties. People of this country will give a befitting reply," he said.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said he has used "sickening language".

"Of course we are political rivals, can we expect such language from the national president of the party in power? Basic courtesy? Too much to ask for?" he said.

National Conference chief Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Did the BJP President liken the Hon PM to a natural disaster?"



Later, addressing a press conference, Shah said, "What I meant was political parties having no ideological similarities are coming together out of fear of Modi."



He was responding to questions over his remarks.

"Snake and mongoose have nothing in common. Let me take names: Samajwadi Party and BSP, Trinamool Congress and Congress, Chandrababu Naidu and Congress, they have nothing in common and no ideological similarities, but are coming together," the BJP president said.

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The Congress today gave a notice for breach of privilege against Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar for misleading the Lok Sabha over continued disruptions by naming its top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

The notice was given by Congress leader K C Venugopal to the Lok Sabha Speaker today in which he also accused the government of not being interested in running the House.

I would kindly like to submit a breach of privilege notice against Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar for misleading the House in particular and the people of the country in general regarding the ongoing disruption in the Lok Sabha, the notice said.

The Congress and the entire opposition is keen to hold a discussion on the no-confidence motion and other key national issues, but the government is not showing any inclination and is not interested to discuss important issues such as the banking scam, Venugopal said.

He said as per the custom of the House, after a no confidence motion is moved, it is first taken up but it seems the government is not ready.

He (Kumar) even accused Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for the disruption in the House by naming them. He has been repeating this accusation for all these days.

"The minister was deliberately misleading the house by naming the Congress leadership, thereby hiding the fact that it was the government who was actually stopping any kind of discussion on these issues including the no confidence motion, Venugopal said in his notice.

The Congress has been demanding a discussion on the no confidence motion moved by its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Some other parties have also given separate notices of no confidence against the council of ministers.

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Congress today sought a time-bound probe by two sitting judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court into the alleged cash-for-job scam and said the claims of transparency by Khattar government "stood exposed".

Alleging that there was an attempt to "cover up" the "biggest ever" scam in the 51-year history of Haryana, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the responsibility for the wrongdoing lies at the doorstep of Chief Minister M L Khattar, and demanded the sacking of the chairman and members of Haryana Staff Selection Commission.

The flying squad of Haryana chief minister yesterday unearthed an alleged cash-for-job racket involving employees of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) and other departments and "brokers".

They would take money from aspirants for selection in government jobs, an official spokesman had said.

Attacking the BJP government in the state, Surjewala told reporters that "connivance of the highest level is at least prime facie apparent" in the racket.

Surjewala, who is in-charge, Communications, All India Congress Committee, accused the Khattar government of "selling government jobs".

"The cash for job scam took place under the patronage of Khattar government, which keeps making tall claims of transparency and merit in recruitment," he alleged.

"By catching a few minions and a few brokers, Khattar government cannot wash its hands of this sin of compromising the future of Haryana's youth.

"If anybody is accountable, if any claim of transparency and accountability and secrecy stands exposed today, it is of Manohar Lal Khattar. The responsibility lies at his door step and with the chairman and members of the commission," he claimed.

He asked Khattar that "when police was in the know of the scam for the last one year, why did he grant extension to staff selection commission chairman and its members", and demanded that the chairman and members should also be booked for the scam.

Surjewala also questioned why Khattar "did not stop this scam and got the culprits arrested during last one year".

The Congress demanded that an independent probe into the scam be entrusted to two sitting judges of Punjab and Haryana High court to be nominated by the Chief Justice of the high court.

"Overwhelming facts demonstrate that there is far more than meets the eye.... There is a need for inquiry because there is a scam and now question is are those five or six minion (who have been arrested) guilty or was Chief Minister Khattar sleeping?



"Was he oblivious to the theft and daylight robbery of the future of youths of Haryana that was taking place...an inquiry is to needed to go into the scale of this scam, to probe where was bribe going, who were sharing the booty that was coming from the hard-earned money of parents of Haryana's children. All this has to be investigated," said Surjewala.

"This (yesterday's arrest) is an 'operation cover up' by Khattar," he said.

To a question on the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Surjewala accused the Modi government of failing to file a review petition in the court between March 20 and April 3 while claiming that Congress was the first one to take up this issue in Parliament.

"First they (this government) were creating Hindu versus Mulsim division...now they wanted a Dalit and the rest division.

"That is why between March 20 to April 3, they did not file a review petition despite the Congress president leading a delegation of 14 political parties to the President, despite the Congress and another parties sitting on a dharna outside Parliament, despite our assurance that if you (government) bring an amending legislation, we will support you," Surjewala said.

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A Delhi court will pronounce on April 19 its order on whether to summon Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, as an accused in a criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Mukul Roy.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal today heard the statements of the complainant's advocate who said that the accused, a Trinamool Congress MP, purposely defamed his client and it was a fit case for summoning.

According to the complaint, the accused had sent a notice to Roy on November 13 last year, using defamatory statement in it by putting words in his mouth. The same was circulated to the media the same day which was widely covered.

"The accused intentionally got the aforesaid notice served at the unit office of BJP at Kolkata, so as to tarnish the image of the complainant before his newly joined party, namely BJP, and to lower the morale of his supporters and party workers," the complaint, filed by advocate Savinder Singh, said.

The notice was sent to Roy after he, at a public rally, had reportedly made remarks about Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation and Trnamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee.

The notice sent by Abhishek's advocate claimed that on November 10, Roy in a public rally made certain defamatory, malicious, and false statements against Banerjee.

"Roy had deliberately levied various baseless allegations which were published, broadcast and circulated by various organisations, the notice had said. Mukul Roy quit the TMC and joined the BJP on November 3 last year.

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The Delhi Assembly today formed a six-member committee, chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, to take up the issue of the proposed hike in salary of ministers and legislators with the Centre.

In December 2015, the Assembly had passed a Bill seeking 400 per cent hike in the basic salary of MLAs and ministers besides hefty increase in perks and allowances.

Sisodia said the Bill is pending with the Union Home Ministry for its approval.

The deputy chief minister moved a resolution on constituting the committee, which was passed with a voice vote in the house.

AAP legislators Saurabh Bharadwaj, Sanjeev Jha and Praveen Kumar, and BJP legislators Om Prakash Sharma and Manjinder Singh Sirsa have been appointed members of the committee.

While moving the resolution in the house, Sisodia said the committee will meet Home Minister Rajnath Singh and request him to clear the Bill.

AAP MLA Vishesh Ravi, who had raised the issue of salary hike, told the house that legislators face problems as they don't get enough salary.

BJP MLA Sharma supported Ravi, saying the opposition members are with ruling party MLAs on the salary hike issue.

As per a provision of the Bill cleared by the Delhi Assembly in 2015, the basic salary of legislators will increase from the current Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 and their overall monthly pay will be around Rs 2.1 lakh as against Rs 88,000 at present.

The basic salary of the ministers, the speaker and the deputy speaker, the chief whip and the leader of opposition will be around Rs 80,000 and their total emoluments nearly Rs 3.67 lakh as against Rs 1.2 lakh now.

After the Assembly passed the Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of NCT of Delhi (Salaries, Allowances, Pension) Amendment Bill 2015, it was sent to the Centre for approval.

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The director of an online multi-level marketing company and his brother have been arrested from Delhi today in connection with an alleged multi-crore bitcoin ponzi scheme, a senior Pune police officer said.

Amit Bhardwaj, the director of Gainbitcoin, and his brother Vivek Kumar Bhardwaj were arrested a day after the Pune Police picked up seven people in connection with the alleged scam.

"Acting on inputs, a team of the economic offences wing (EOW) and the cyber cell of the Pune Police went to Delhi and arrested the duo," the officer said.

The Bhardwaj brothers, both residents of Delhi, were brought to Pune and were produced before a court, which remanded them in police custody till April 13.

According to the local police, Amit Bhardwaj had set up an online multi-level marketing company through which he allegedly lured investors by promising them handsome returns.

The officer said, "He would promise 10 per cent returns for investing one bitcoin but did not keep his word."



Explaining the modus operandi of the Bhardwaj brothers, Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla said, "(Amit) Bharadwaj had involved Pankaj Adlakha, a motivational speaker, who conducted several seminars in various cities of the country as well as foreign destinations like Dubai".

"Adlakha motivated people to invest in bitcoins through Bhardwaj and once they invested with his company, he duped them," the police commissioner said.

According to officials of Pune Police's cyber cell, so far, 25 people have come forward with complaints of cheating against Amit Bhardwaj.

"So far, the amount of cheated stands at Rs 2.25 crore. Till now, 32 bitcoins, 79.99 other virtual currencies and a cash of Rs 38.96 lakh have been seized," said a senior police officer.

Pune police have set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case.

Bitcoins or cryptocurrencies is a type of unregulated digital money that is issued and normally controlled by its developers and used and accepted among the members of a virtual community. Bitcoins are not a legal tender in the country and are not recognised as a medium of exchange.

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Do not make the Rajya Sabha a "clog in the wheel" of progress, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu today cautioned MPs before adjourning the proceedings of the Budget Session sine die, as the House lost nearly three- fourths of its time to disruptions and adjournments.

During the second leg of the session which commenced on January 29, had 30 sittings in all. While it sat for 44 hours, the Upper House lost over 121 hours.

Of the 419 starred questions listed, only five were replied to orally by the concerned ministers in the House. The Question Hour could not be taken up for 27 days "due to pandemonium and interruptions in the House over one or the other issue", Naidu said.

The disruptions and adjournments were caused by protests over issues like special status to Andhra Pradesh, bank scams, demand for Cauvery water management board, vandalising of statues, review of the recent Supreme Court order on SC/ST Act and law and order situation in Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh,.

The proceedings were literally washed out in the post- recess session which started on March 5.

"I am pained to note that it turned out to be an eminently forgettable one on account of utter disregard of the mandate of this important parliamentary institution and its responsibilities and missed opportunities," Naidu said in his concluding address to the 245th session of Rajya Sabha.

He noted that there was a "total breakdown" in communication among various sections of the House that was "at the root of the prolonged stalemate that ruined the session."



"This is not good for our parliamentary democracy of which our country has come to acquire a pride of place," he said, adding "we are all losers. This includes the opposition, the ruling party, the government and most importantly, the people and the nation".

Referring to the House not transacting any substantial business during the second part of the Session, Naidu wondered if the fears of those who doubted the need for a Second Chamber during the debates in the Constituent Assembly were coming true.

Naidu recalled that during the Constituent Assembly debates on the need for a Council of States, some Members feared that it would prove to be "a clog (impediment) in the wheel of progress" involving expenses and not making much contribution.

Jawahar Lal Nehru, who headed the Union Constitution Committee for reporting on the structure and function of the future legislature of the country, had feared in 1936 that a Second Chamber will check any forward tendencies of the Lower House and will be reactionary, Naidu said.

"Are we making Nehru's worst fear come true? We should not, for the sake of our parliamentary democracy and the people," said Naidu.

Again talking about the disruptions, the Chairman said: "Let us not be a party to this House becoming a 'clog in the wheel of progress'".

Instead, the members "should dispel the fears" expressed by Nehru, who despite having reservations about the utility of the Upper House, had supported its coming into being.

"You need to rise to the expectations of those who strongly justified the need for this House in the Constituent Assembly," Naidu said.

Due to the disruptions, the House could not debate the important Finance Bill 2018, but passed the payment of gratutity law without debate.

The House also bade farwell to 60 retiring members while new and some re-elected members were administered oath.

The Rajya Sabha also had a debate on the 'Motion of Thanks' on the President's address for about 14 hours and devoted 10 hours to discuss the Budget.

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A former Sri Lankan military intelligence chief has been arrested and remanded in custody over the assault and abduction of a leading journalist nearly 10 years ago, police said today.

Major General (retired) Amal Karunasekera was arrested yesterday for the abduction of Keith Noyahr, the then deputy editor of The Nation, an English weekly, they said.

Noyahr was abducted by an armed group on May 22, 2008 when he was returning home. He was released the next morning with severe bruises due to assault.

Noyahr wrote a weekly defence column and it was said that the military was unhappy about his writings. Karunasekera headed the military intelligence at the time.

Noyahr's abduction alongside the murder of the editor of The Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunga, were incidents of media harassment during the regime of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka was dubbed one of the dangerous places in the world for journalism during the 10-year-rule of Rajapaksa.

Noyahr's case was re-opened by his successor Maithripala Sirisena's government after Rajapaksa's defeat in 2015. Noyahr now lives in Australia.

Several military men who were previously arrested are currently on bail in the same case.

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Facebook-owned WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging service with over 200-million active users in India, might not be as secure as being claimed, with experts raising questions about certain provisions of the user agreement wherein most of its wrongdoings would go un-remedied and un-challenged.

WhatsApp, which has one billion users globally, is one of the most popular mediums of instant messaging in India. It was acquired by Facebook in 2014.

"One-to-one communication between users are encrypted and may be as secure as claims. But the metadata, information about the calls, is likely being mined by the company," Vivek Wadhwa, a top American entrepreneur and academic, told PTI.

" has admitted that it is sharing information about identity and device information with Facebook, allowing it to do the dirty work in snooping on users.

"What I found most worrisome is that WhatsApp's group chat feature allows any group member to mine data like Cambridge Analytica, and what is worse, they reveal mobile numbers. So people can be harassed off the platform," he said.

Experts cast doubt on privacy features of Facebook-owned WhatsAppExperts cast doubt on privacy features of Facebook-owned WhatsAppExperts cast doubt on privacy features of Facebook-owned

"WhatsApp users take the company at its word that 'Privacy and Security is in our DNA'. It clearly isn't. There are major design flaws in its chat features," he alleged.

People can be added to groups via public links or directly by an administrator. Even though the group gives a notification of a new member, they may only have a phone number or name and not know who they are. Any member can record conversations from the time they enter the group. They have the phone numbers of people making comments, Wadhwa said.

"A friend told me that he and his family had joined a group which became much larger over time and he worried that his children were being contacted by strangers because of what was discussed in that group," Wadhwa said.

On the question of saving information, he said WhatsApp is being two-faced. To Facebook, it provides sensitive device information. To the authorities, it claims that it can't decrypt conversations, he said.

Noting that almost one-quarter or more of the world's population is using WhatApp for free - services that cost the company money for paying for its employees, plants and IPRs production, eminent New York-based attorney Ravi Batra said that it makes money by harvesting user data and using it in conjunction with others including Facebook.

"There is an old saying: There is no free lunch. Yet, there is a new brave digital world - that is free to use, and the costs and profit of providing the free services must come from 'mining' the habits and data connected to each User.

"Each human being is only born with a unique finger print, or other genetic material. But how a human being lives, works and plays - each step and act - is as unique as that fingerprint. That is why it's so profitable to mine user data, so those who wish to sell anything to a user know what the user will want, when s/he will want it - maybe even before the user does!" Batra said.

Referring to the user agreement, Batra said the users of WhatsApp agree to waive a court of law, with a judge and jury, and instead, accept a decision by an arbitrator - who is not bound to follow the law.

"Moreover, user agrees to dis-associate with any class action or group-based actions - which means that since most users will suffer a small monetary damage, the cost of seeking damages or vindication far exceeds the benefit of getting damages or vindication. Net result to user: it isn't worth fighting WhatsApp," Batra told PTI.

Batra said WhatsApp is quite upfront that what belongs to the user - while still owned by user - can be freely and fully used by it without paying any fee.

Further, user gives WhatsApp free use of user's property and information, in exchange for using its messaging service. According to him, by practically making the retention of lawyers economically impossible, most wrongs would go un-challenged and un-remedied.

"If a user, not a resident of the US or Canada, is lucky not be subject to arbitration, then user agrees to travel to San Mateo county in California and sue in the federal or state court in the said county. Make sure to get a visa from the US Embassy and book a hotel for two-three years," he said, thus indicating that for all practical purposes an user in India cannot drag WhatsApp to court.

According to the terms of the agreement, an user in India agrees that they will resolve any claim they have with WhatsApp "relating to, arising out of, or in any way in connection with our Terms, us, or our Services (each, a 'Dispute', and together, 'Disputes') exclusively in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California or a state court located in San Mateo county in California, and you agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purpose of litigating all such Disputes".

"In order to operate and provide our services, you grant WhatsApp a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, display, and perform the information that you upload, submit, store, send, or receive on or through our services," the user agreement says.

Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, did not immediately respond to an email from PTI on the questions raised by these experts.
Federation of Indian Export Organisation, set up by the Ministry of Commerce, would lead a traders delegation to the 25th China-Import Export Fair, scheduled to be held in June.

Following the new trade restrictions imposed by the United States, exporters need to look for better prospects and it is time to look at opportunities that are closer to home, FIEO said in an official release.

"China is offering huge potential for startups and small exporters. India's exports to China registered an increase of over 53 per cent to USD 1.24 billion in 2017", it said.

Some of the exports that offer huge potential are organic chemicals, textiles and garments, silks, granites, minerals, medical device and pharmaceuticals, it said.

The expo, scheduled to be held at the Kunming Dianchi International Convention and Exhibition Centre from June 14 to 20, 2018, has come at a time with huge opportunities available for exporters to explore, the release said.

FIEO would set up a pavilion that would provide stalls to small exporters at concessional rates, it added.

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Terming Pakistan a "nasur" (ulcer), Uttar Pradesh minister Srikant Sharma said if troops of the neighbouring country fire on Indian soldiers, it should be retaliated with "a rain of firing".

The minister said this on Wednesday during a conclave here organised by an all-India traders' body.

"Pakistan is a 'nasur' (ulcer). Soldiers have been instructed to maintain restrain. However, if firing starts from the other side, there should be a rain of firing till the enemy is forced to take shelter in bunkers," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh Power minister also discussed the expansion of the All India Udyog Vyapaar Mandal's (AIUVM) traders identification programme.

Shopkeepers, vendors and traders under the programme, launched in 2006, are given identity cards, which Sharma said "instills a sense of safety" among members of the business community.

"The government will cooperate with the traders' body and help it take the programme to every district in the state. The Stariya Vyapari Dukandar Parichay Patra Yojana (trader identification scheme) instills a sense of safety in the trader community," he said.

State vice president, AIUVM, Murari Agrawal, said the programme, currently is limited to only four districts in Uttar Pradesh, now efforts are being made to take it all the districts.

Traders and shopkeepers are safe in BJP-ruled states such as Uttar Pradesh, Sharma claimed.

"The magnitude of corruption, in the previous government in the state was so big that traders felt insecure. Power brokers, in the previous government were engaged in kidnapping for ransom," he alleged.

The minister also condemned the recent incidents of violence during "Bharat Bandh".

The pan-Indian shutdown was called by Dalit outfits against the alleged dilution in the provisions of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Supreme Court.

The Power minister assured that electricity supply infrastructure in Mathura was being improved so that pilgrims coming here do not face problems.

Claiming that there was uniform supply of power in the state, he said, "Gone are the days when the privilege of round the clock power supply was limited to four or five districts.

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Air strikes killed four civilians today in the last opposition-held town in Syrias Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said, the first bombardment there since talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal.

"Twelve air strikes hit multiple areas in Douma," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain.

"Four civilians were killed and around 25 wounded," he told AFP.

They were the first bombing raids on Douma since negotiations began around 10 days ago over a withdrawal of rebels and civilians from the town, the largest in Eastern Ghouta.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops have recaptured 95 percent of Ghouta since February 18 through a combination of a deadly air and ground assault and evacuation deals.

Moscow had announced a deal with Jaish al-Islam, the Islamist faction that holds the town, but hardliners within the group were reportedly refusing to leave their positions.

Syria and Russia had threatened a resumption of their brutal assault if Jaish al-Islam did not agree to the deal.

Syrias state agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town today in response to rebel mortar fire from Douma that wounded seven people near the capital.

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The body of a four-year-old girl, who was reported missing, was found in bushes with her hands missing in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi, police said today.

The girl, a resident of Gautam Nagar, went missing from near her house on Tuesday evening, said a police officer.

The girl, along with her brother, had gone to play with other children at a ground near her house.

While her brother returned home, she continued playing with other kids, said senior inspector V D Bhise of Bhoiwada under the Bhiwandi police division.

After she did not return home till late evening, her parents went looking for her. On not finding her, they approached the police, he said.

On Wednesday evening, the girl's body with her hands missing was found lying in bushes just 300 metres away from her residence, the police said.

The girl also had injury mark on the back of her neck, they said, adding the body has been sent for post-mortem examination.

A case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) has been registered, the police said.

The motive of the murder was not yet known, Bhise said, adding only a probe will ascertain if it was a case of child sacrifice.

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Following the conviction of Salman Khan in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur court, a host of industry friends dropped at the superstar's residence to meet his family.

Family members including brother Sohail and Arbaaz, brother in law Aayush Sharma were at Salman's Galaxy Apartment in suburban Bandra.

Soon after the judgment was announced Congress leader Baba Siddiqui rushed to the actor's house.

Arbaaz's ex-wife Malaika and her sister Amrita Arora, "Race 3" producer Ramesh Taurani, Sonakshi Sinha, along with her parents Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha, Sneha Ullal and Daisy Shah were seen visiting his residence.

Sonakshi, Sneha and Daisy were launched in Bollywood as actors by Salman.

Filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala, who is a close friend of the the 52-year-old actor, cancelled the success party of his latest release, "Baaghi 2 , and left for Jodhpur.

After the verdict, fans had gathered outside the "Sultan" actor's house. Police constables were also stationed outside the building.

Actor Varun Dhawan, who was in Delhi to promote his upcoming film "October", tweeted, "I know for a fact that Salman bhai and his family have the utmost respect and faith in our judiciary system. Salman Khan is one of the strongest and most genuine people I know and I'm sure he will come out of this stronger.

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Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale today held talks with Vice Foreign Minister of China Kong Xuanyou here during which key bilateral and regional issues were discussed.

"During the meeting, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement, including high level exchanges, in the coming months," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)said.

Kong's visit here comes nearly one-and-half months after Gokhale's trip to Beijing.

Gokhale and Kong are learnt to have discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit to China in June to attend the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

The MEA said the meeting was part of regular diplomatic consultations between the two countries.

"The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest," it said.

The Chinese Vice Foreign Minister also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Both China and India have been trying to leave behind the Doklam episode as they have been increasing diplomatic engagements in the last few months.

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Ghana will not sign an agreement with Washington to set up a military base, President Nana Akufo-Addo said today.

The president confirmed in a television address that the two countries would ink a defence cooperation agreement, but was emphatic that "Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America".

His comments come after hundreds of people took to the streets of Accra, Ghana's capital, last Wednesday to protest against a controversial military deal with Washington which was passed by parliament last week.

The protesters have served notice they will take the demonstration to other parts of the country if the president signs the deal.

Critics say the agreement undermines the country's sovereignty.

Ghana and the US are working to forge closer ties between their armed forces but both have denied rumours that Washington is planning to set up military bases in the West African nation.

"The United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request," he said.

"I will never be the president that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom," Akufo-Addo assured Ghanaians.

According to the president, who said he was outraged by the position of the main opposition National Democratic Congress, the agreement will benefit not only Ghana, but the West African sub-region.

"In consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America.

"It will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region," Akufo-Addo added.

In the past decade, the United States has expanded its military presence in Africa, ostensibly to stop the spread of Islamist extremism by groups such as Islamic State, Boko Haram and Al Shabab on the continent.

Ghana, a major producer of gold and cocoa, prides itself as being a beacon of stability in a region blighted by coups, dictators and corruption.

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More than three-and-a-half months after a man went missing from the Gyaspur village of the area, the Newari Police arrested four people for allegedly kidnapping and beheading him, police said today.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said that an FIR was lodged on March 18 by a person called Ajit Kumar of the Gyaspur village in which he alleged that his brother Bobby had gone missing on December 19.

The complainant alleged in the FIR that his brother had gone to Choubli village in the Chapruli town of Baghpat district with another person, Pradeep, of the same village on December 19, the SSP said.

Kumar said he filed a police complaint three months after Bobby went out with Pradeep as he lost all hopes of his coming back.

After the complaint was filed, the SSP said, the police launched an investigation and nabbed four people -- Pradeep, Shushil, Manoj and Baburam -- yesterday.

During interrogation, Pradeep confessed that he wanted to eliminate Bobby due to some old enmity with his family, the police said today.

The accused had allegedly given Bobby alcoholic drink before beheading him with a spade, they said.

As per his plan, Pradeep took Bobby with him at his brother-in-law's house, where he was given the alcoholic drink and beheaded, they added.

Police said the body and the head of the deceased were buried in two separate pits in sugarcane fields and the accused also looted his Rs 15,000 and the motorbike.

They said the information shared by Pradeep led them to the filed from where they recovered his skull, clothes, looted cash, the motorcycle and also the spade used in the alleged crime.

Police said the deceased's family identified him seeing his teeth and that all the arrested accused have been sent to jail.

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Gobardhan Yojna, a central government scheme for managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste into manure and biogas, will be launched nationally from Haryana's Karnal on April 30, an official said today.

Gobar is an acronym for Galvanising Organic Bio Agro Resources. Through the scheme, the government aims to ensure cleanliness in villages and generate energy by converting cattle dung and solid agricultural waste into compost and biogas.

The scheme was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech this year. The government aims to cover nearly 700 districts under the scheme in this financial year.

A few European countries and China have managed to produced biogas on a large-scale by effectively utilising cattle dung, the official said.

"With the same concept, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about galvanising organic bio-agro resources in the country and converting waste to energy," he said.

"Gram panchayat has a key role in this scheme under which bio-gas plants from cattle dung could be set up at individual or community level and also at the level of Self Help Groups and NGOs like Gaushalas," he said.

Assistance of experts would be sought for setting up the plants. The central and state governments would provide funds in the ratio of 60:40, which would depend upon the number of households in villages.

Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Uma Bharti, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, experts and farmers would participate in the launch programme on April 30.

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BJP president Amit Shah today asserted that the party's golden period will begin only when it wins West Bengal and Odisha and retains power at the Centre in 2019.

He also ruled out any possibility of the Lok Sabha election being advanced or the Maharashtra polls being held along with it.

He was addressing the BJP workers from Maharashtra to mark the 38th Foundation Day of the party at a venue in the Bandra-Kurla Complex, where the party's first rally was held after its inception in 1980.

Shah said,"Under the leadership of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, the BJP rules 70 per cent of the country with 20 states and more than 1,600 (state) legislators and 330 MPs.

"Our golden period will come when we win Bengal and Odisha and retain power under the leadership of Narendra Modi in 2019 with a full majority," he said.

Shah added that with 11 crore workers, the BJP was the single largest political party in the world.

"The last 38 years were not without difficulties and struggle. Success could be achieved because of our workers, who are the real owners of the party, unlike other parties which are led by mother-son and father-son pairs," he said, taking a dig at the Congress and other opposition parties.

The Modi government was running a poor-friendly and farmer-friendly regime, the BJP chief added.

"LPG, cleanliness (campaign), electricity, health insurance schemes for the poor have been implemented well. We will double the income of farmers with good prices for their produce, as mentioned in the Swaminathan Committee report," he said.

During the UPA rule, Pakistan had violated the ceasefire, killed Indian soldiers and the government did nothing, he said.

"But when the Uri terror attack happened, within 10 days, the Modi government ordered the surgical strikes and avenged the attack. With the surgical strikes, the attitude of the world towards India changed," Shah said.

Claiming that Modi was the most popular leader in the world, he, however, said the 2019 general election will not be fought over Modi's persona, but on his work as the prime minister.

Later, addressing a press conference, Shah said the BJP's ideology was accepted by the people as the party had seen massive electoral successes since 2014.

"What is the loss of two by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, when the party won landslide victories in Tripura and other Assembly polls held at the same time?" he asked.

The Modi government and the BJP regimes in various states have set an example of transparency and that is the reason the party is doing well at the hustings, Shah said.

FromApril 14 to May 5, the leaders and workers of the party will reach out to the people across 20,000 villages, creating awareness about the Modi government's policies and programmes, he said.

The BJP chief criticised the Opposition for disruptions in Parliament and said the saffron party will stage a day-long fast across the country to protest their tactics.

Prime Minister Modi's leadership is the BJP's biggest plus point, he said.

Shah said the Lok Sabha election will not be advanced. He also replied in the negative asked whether the Maharashtra Assembly polls, due in October 2019, will be advanced to coincide with the Lok Sabha polls.

To a question on UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's comments in Mumbai last month that the "Acche Din" slogan of the BJP would meet the same fate as its "Shining India" slogan in 2004, Shah said the former Congress chief had to say this as there was no "Acche Din" for her party.

"Acche din has come for those who benefited due to Modi's welfare schemes. Nine crore people got Mudra Bank loans to start businesses," he said.

On the rising petrol prices, Shah said the current prices were still lower than those during the UPA rule.

"The government is trying to reduce the prices. Efforts are on to bring petrol and diesel under the GST," he said.

To a question on whether the BJP will make the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya an election issue in 2019, Shah said the manifesto of the party always mentioned the Ram Mandir.

"We do not make it an election issue. The Opposition does and we have no objection (to that)," he quipped.

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The Lucknow Gurudwara Pabandhak Committee (LGPC) today made a demand for immediate withdrawal of GST on 'langar' -- community meal -- services offered by the all Sikh shrines across the country, including the Golden Temple at Amritsar.

Earlier, the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages all gurdwaras, and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has also urged 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).

"This is for the first time in the 450 year history of the Gurudwaras that GST was being levied on 'langar' service," LGPC President Rajendra Singh Bagga said while addressing a press conference here.

He urged the government for immediate withdrawal of the GST on free meal services offered by all the Gurudwaras in the country, and called the levying of GST on free kitchens at Sikh shrines as "unfair"



Former Uttar Pradesh minister and MLC Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, who was also present in the conference, said the Sikh society was highly agitated over the decision to impose GST on 'langar'.

He claimed that till December 31, 2017, the Centre had collected Rs 2 crore from the Gurudwaras.

Importantly, the GST is not served on food served in langars itself, but is charged on the purchase of raw materials used to prepare the food.

While the LGPC president asserted that gurudwaras all over have always done good for the society by distributing free food, medicines and clothes during the time of natural calamities and social strife, the LGPC general secretary Harpal Singh Jaggi wondered why the Centre was imposing tax on a social service appreciated and lauded by people world over.

Under the new GST Act, there is a provision for exemption to institutions and businesses on the recommendation of the GST Council.

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The Patidar quota agitation spearhead Hardik Patel today approached the Gujarat High Court against a lower court decision rejecting his discharge application in a sedition case filed against him by the crime branch of Ahmedabad police in 2015.

Justice Z K Saiyad, after admitting Patel's plea, issued a notice to the Gujarat government and kept the matter for further hearing on May 8.

A case of sedition was registered against Patel and others by the crime branch following violence during an agitation in August, 2015 demanding OBC reservation benefits for the Patidar community.

He has been accused of inciting violence with intention to dislodge the government after a rally addressed by him turned violent in August 2015. At least 13 people had died in the violence.

In February this year, the city sessions court judge Dilip Mahida had rejected his discharge application, thereby allowing framing of charges against him in the sedition case.

The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader is currently out on bail in the case.

He then moved the plea before the sessions court claiming that there was no evidence against him to frame charges and that the prosecution's case did not hold.

However, rejecting his plea, the sessions court accepted the prosecution's argument that there was material evidence against Patel based on which charges could be framed.

The sessions court had noted that evidence in the form of speeches, conversations and forensic evidence established an offence as mentioned in the FIR.

On January 18, 2016, the crime branch had filed a charge sheet of around 2,700 pages against Hardik and three others identified as Dinesh Bambhania, Ketan Patel and Chirag Patel. Among these, Ketan has turned approver in the case.

Notably, the same court had issued a bailable warrant against Hardik Patel on April 4 for being absent during the proceedings of framing of charges against him and others in the sedition case.

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Seeking the dismissal of an election petition filed by BJP leader Balwantsinh Rajput on Rajya Sabha poll results, Congress leader Ahmed Patel's lawyer today argued before the Gujarat High Court that the plea lacked merit and clarity.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ahmed Patel, claimed that since the allegations made by Rajput against Ahmed Patel in the plea were vague and general in nature, it should be dismissed.

As Rajput's lawyers sought time to prepare their response, Justice Bela Trivedi posted the matter for next hearing on April 11.

Rajput, the BJP candidate who lost the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat last year, had moved the high court challenging the Election Commission's decision to invalidate the votes of two former Congress MLAs, which paved the way for Ahmed Patel's victory.

Rajput had sought that the EC order, which he claims resulted in his defeat, be set aside as it was "patently illegal" from the beginning.

In the Rajya Sabha polls and subsequent counting held on August 8 and 9 last year, Rajput lost to Ahmed Patel after the EC passed an order rejecting votes of former Congress MLAs Raghavjee Patel and Bholabhai Gohel for flouting rules.

Both the rebel MLAs had voted for Rajput, instead of Ahmed Patel.

A complaint was filed by Congress polling agent Shaktisinh Gohil ahead of the counting of votes on the evening of August 8. Gohil had argued that both the MLAs had shown their ballot to some members of the ruling BJP before putting them in the box.

Gohil had argued that MLAs are not allowed to show their ballot to anyone other than the authorised polling agent of the party.

In his plea, Rajput had also alleged that Ahmed Patel won because of "corrupt practices" and not because of the "free will of the voters".

Arguing against the plea today, Sibal said material placed on record by Rajput are largely "vague and general in nature". He contended there were no specific details in Rajput's affidavits about allegations made against Ahmed Patel.

Commenting on the corruption part of Rajput's plea, Sibal said the petition sighted reports instead of giving concrete details about who paid the money to whom, at what place, etc.

Citing past Supreme Court judgments, Sibal said since Rajput's petition is "devoid of merits" and fails to show any "cause of action", it should be dismissed at this stage.

In his plea before the high court, Rajput had also claimed that two Congress MLAs had also flouted rules, as they too had shown their ballot to others during polling. Rajput demanded that these two votes, polled in favour of Ahmed Patel, must also be taken out of counting.

In this situation, Rajput had contended, he would get more votes than Ahmed Patel. Hence, he should be declared elected to Rajya Sabha in place of Ahmed Patel.

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The high court here today allowed the Delhi Race Club to hold equine events after noting that none of the horses stabled there were suffering from the fatal glanders disease and no animal carrying the infection has been culled in the New Delhi area.

The court said that the equestrian events would be allowed after April 15 when a Delhi government notification, preventing movement of horses to and from the national capital for three months, would no longer apply.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher, however, said that if any instance of glanders, an infection by bacterium burkholderia mallei caused by ingestion of contaminated feed or water, was found in and around New Delhi area, then the city government can approach the Delhi High Court.

With the direction, the court disposed of the plea moved by the Delhi Race Horses Owners' Association challenging the Delhi government's February 13 communication to the race club to postpone or cancel the North India Derby event scheduled for February 27 as the national capital has been declared as a controlled area.

The national capital was declared a controlled area pursuant to a January 15 notification which prohibited movement of horses to and from Delhi for three months from the last date of culling of an equine.

During the brief hearing, Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh told the court that while there was culling of an infected horse at Narela in west Delhi on March 22, the effect of the notification will not be extended to the New Delhi area after April 15 unless a fresh case of the disease is found there.

The symptoms of glanders include formation of nodular lesions in lungs and ulcers in respiratory tract with acute cases resulting in coughing, fever, and septicaemia.

The government had earlier told the court that all the 422 horses stabled at the Delhi Race Club here were free of the fatal glanders disease.

The submission had come as the court on February 21 had asked the government to test serum samples of all the 422 horses to find out if any of them were suffering from the disease, which has no cure or vaccine.

The court had also said that no horse races would be held at the club till further orders.

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The Delhi High Court today restrained ITC from publishing and broadcasting its new controversial advertisements which allegedly disparage rivals Pepsico and Dabur's juices.

Pepsico India Holdings Pvt Ltd had rushed to the high court after ITC, the manufacturer of B Natural, also a juice product, came out with full page advertisements in national dailies today and in electronic and social media for last two days, allegedly belittling its product 'Tropicana' and Dabur's 'Real'.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw took an undertaking from ITC to keep under "suspension" its advertisement campaign -- #SayNoToConcentrate -- and to produce its revised advertisement before the court on April 9.

The judge said the plea for restraining ITC from holding an event scheduled in Mumbai on Monday (April 9) evening will be considered on that day.

"The impugned advertisements be not published in the print or the electronic or social media till April 9," the court said in the interim order.

Pepsico had objected to the advertisement in which ITC state "Dear Tropicana and Real, come join us in making Indian juices concentrate-free. At 7 pm on 9th April. Venue: Bandstand, Bandra West, Mumbai. Yours truly, B Natural.

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Police on Friday recovered the headless body of a man, who was abducted by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants from Bandipora district of north Kashmir on Wednesday night.

The body of Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, who was abducted by terrorists of LeT, was found on the periphery of Hajin in Bandipora this morning, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Bandipora, Sheikh Zulfikar, said.

Zulfikar said the body of Manzoor, who was abducted on the intervening night of April 4 and 5, was left headless by militants.

"Terrorists have exhibited the highest level of bruteness as they have left the body of the innocent person headless, " he said.

On the intervening night of April 4 and 5, at about 11:45 pm, LeT militants barged into the house of Abdul Gaffar Bhat at Hajin and started to beat the inmates.

The militants then kidnapped Bhat and his son Manzoor, but the father managed to escape from the clutches of ultras in an injured condition after he was fired upon.

This is the second incident of kidnapping and killing in the area.

On Monday night, militants abducted and later killed Nasser Ahmad alias Muntazir.

"This is the second incident in last few days that militants have targeted innocent people. We have registered a case and investigations have been taken up," the SSP said.

Yesterday, a police spokesman said the investigation has found that Mohammad Saleem Parrey of Hajin, who joined the ranks of LeT last summer, is the mastermind behind the two abductions.

Evidences collected so far indicate that, Saleem, along with his accomplices (Foregin terrorists), on 3 April went to the house of in-laws of Naseer, fired on the inmates injuring three of them, and abducted Naseer," the spokesman said.

Naseer was found dead in the outskirts of Hajin, with three firearm injuries in his abdomen, he said.

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The chances of bringing back Jitendra Arjunwar, currently lodged in a jail in Pakistan after he inadvertently strayed across the border, brightened with the Ministry of External Affairs telling its counterpart in that country that he was an Indian citizen.

Arjunwar (22) is a resident of Seoni and crossed the Indo-Pak border after running away from home five years ago and was caught there on August 12, 2013 by patrolling Pakistan Rangers, officials said.

"The MEA has confirmed to its Pakistan counterpart that Arjunwar is an Indian citizen. We have sent documents related to his citizenship on Wednesday as demanded by the MEA and the Ministry of Home Affairs," Tarun Nayak, Superintendent of Police, Seoni, told reporters today.

"Once the citizenship is finally confirmed, Arjunwar would be released from jail in Pakistan," the SP added.

Arjunwars brother, Bharat, who works as a mechanic in Barghat town, confirmed that he and other family members were called to Barghat police station for the verification (panchanama) of documents.

He said that Arjunwar's voter ID and ration card had been submitted as proof of his being Indian.

Bharat claimed that Arjunwar was lodged in Karachi's Malir jail and was unable to walk properly and used crutches.

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Honda Cars India on Friday said it has commenced pre-launch booking for all new Amaze which it plans to launch in the country next month.

The booking for the second generation Amaze can be made at all authorised dealerships of the company with a booking amount of Rs 21,000, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) said in a statement.

The new Amaze is built on an all-new platform and would be available with both petrol and diesel powertrains. It will also feature a diesel variant with CVT (fully automatic) transmission.

It would be Honda's first diesel engine combined with CVT (continuously variable transmission), and India will be the first market to launch this technology, the company said.

"The Honda Amaze has been one of our very successful models in India, with over Rs 275,000 satisfied customers. With the 2nd generation Amaze, we are extremely excited to add another chapter to the success story of the model," HCIL Senior Vice President and Director Marketing and Sales Rajesh Goel said.
The Indian Air Force will carry out one of its biggest combat exercises from Sunday to check its operational preparedness with a focus on dealing with any possible security challenges from China and Pakistan.

Officials said the two-week long exercise named 'Gaganshakti' will involve almost the entire assets of the IAF including its fighter squadrons and the main objective of the day and night drill will be to check war waging capability of the force.

The first phase of the exercise will focus on northern borders and second phase will be carried out to check preparedness in case of a war-like situation along the western borders.

The officials said the exercise from April 8-22 will be one of the biggest in recent decades, adding Pakistan has already been informed about it as per laid down protocol.

"The aim of this exercise is real time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario," the IAF said in a statement.

It said the IAF will utilise the exercise to validate new strategies and tactics with a focus on recently inducted or upgraded assets and equipment.

"This exercise will hone the war fighting skills of the air warriors in a real time scenario thus affirming the IAF's role as the cutting edge of our nation's military capability," the IAF said.

It said concepts of accelerated operations, network centric operations, long range missions with concentrated weapon releases across all air to ground ranges in India and inter valley troop transfer have been planned as part of the exercise.

It will also focus on flexible use of airspace, joint maritime air operations with the Indian Navy, joint operations with the Indian Army, simulated combat search and rescue for effective extraction of downed aircrew behind enemy lines, mass casualty evacuation from highway among others.

The efficacy and integration of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas in the operational matrix of the IAF is also planned. "The logistics stamina of the IAF and the ability to sustain continuous operations through day & night would be put to test."



Special operations employing transport aircraft and helicopter as well as Special Forces have been planned during the exercise, it said.

"While it is an IAF centric exercise, it is planned to be executed keeping in mind the 'Joint Operational Doctrine'. The requirements of the other services are being met and the same has been factored while planning the exercise settings," the IAF said.

It said full spectrum of operations are planned by IAF with special focus on 'network centric operations'.
In a major move, the Indian Air Force today started the process to acquire a fleet of 114 fighter jets which are expected to significantly enhance its overall strike capability.

According to officials, the RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender is for joint production of the aircraft by a foreign aircraft maker along with an Indian company under the recently-launched strategic partnership model which aims to bring in high-end defence technology to India.

The IAF has been pressing for expediting the process to acquire the aircraft citing declining strength of its fighter squadron as some of the ageing jets are being phased out.

In September 2016, India had signed an Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale twin-engine fighter jets. The IAF was keen on a follow-on order of 36 additional Rafales. However, the government is yet to take a decision on it.

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The Congress is seeking to build a larger consensus among opposition parties on moving an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and the issue has been pushed to the back burner for now following differences within the opposition camp, party sources said today.

According to the sources, the Congress party's top leaders who are spearheading the move to bring an impeachment motion against the CJI are concerned over the retirement of some of the Rajya Sabha members, who had signed the notice, and are recalculating the numbers.

The reluctance on the part of some parties to sign on the motion and some even backing out after committing their support is also an area of concern and all these factors are being looked into, they said.

Meanwhile, top Congress leaders are continuing to hold talks with opposition leaders as some of them have reservations on the issue of moving the impeachment motion, which will be the first against any CJI.

Asked at the AICC briefing, Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said, "It is a matter of discussion among political parties and cannot be talked about in press conferences. Whenever a decision to this effect will be taken, you will be informed."



On statements of some senior leaders of the party that the matter stands closed, Sharma said the Congress had never said that the matter is open or closed.

Party spokesperson Raj Babbar, when asked yesterday about the issue, had said, "The entire opposition is in discussion on the issue."



"I cannot give a reply and the way forward on the issue today as it can only be given by the leaders of various parties including the Congress," he had said.

Leaders of various opposition parties were yesterday in active discussion over moving an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India and held hectic parleys over the issue.

Top legal hands and MPs of the Congress including some former ministers also held separate meetings on the issue.

In another meeting, top Congress leaders are learnt to have discussed the issue with TMC leaders, though both the parties avoided saying anything. Discussions with some other opposition parties were also held.

Sources say that though the numbers are not an issue, the differences within the opposition on political ramifications of the move are being discussed.

The sources said there is ambiguity on the issue within the Congress too as some top leaders are not comfortable about moving the motion against the CJI.

Though former Union minister Kapil Sibal is in favour of moving the motion, two former law ministers Ashwani Kumar and Veerappa Moily are not for it, the sources said.

Once the notice for impeachment is handed over to the Rajya Sabha chairman carrying signatures of at least 50 MPs of the Upper House, the chairman will examine its merits and may reject it if there is no merit found.

Otherwise, if the chairman, prima facie, finds merit in the motion, he can refer it to a three-member committee for further examination, an expert said.

If it does happen, it will be the first time an impeachment motion against the sitting Chief Justice of India will be moved in the country's history.

The Chief Justice of India, who is likely to hand down some key judgements in the coming months including the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya, retires in October this year.

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India has overtaken the United States to emerge as the second largest producers of casting, behind China from last year, a top functionary of the Indian Institute of Foundrymen (IIF), said here today.

The production in the country stood at 11 Million tonnes, valued at 19 Billion U.S Dollars in 2017, behind China, which produce 40 million tonnes, IIF president Amish Panchal told reporters here.

Registering a growth of four to five per cent, exports recorded 2.7 billion dollars, he said.

Stating that the foundry sector needs to grow at least three-fold in the next 10 years, he said the industry employs about 2.5 million people.

There was scope for employing an additional 2.5 million people if the industry grows at a rapid rate in the next three to four years, Panchal said.

He said aluminium castings contributed 15 per cent of the total casting production and added that the segment was likely to grow further as automobile manufacturers were focusing on reducing weight of the vehicles, including engines and doors.

South India, particularly Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, contribute 50 per cent of total production of castings in India, he said.

Panchal, here to participate in the 11th Foundry CEO meet, said though GST has no major impact on the foundry sector, many manufacturers were yet to get refund of IGST, due to which there was a shortage of working capital.

The Institute has taken the initiative of constructing a test road in rural areas in Rajasthan by utilising waste foundry sand. After trials for two rainy seasons, the project could be extended to other parts depending on the success, Panchal said.

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India today began a process to acquire a fleet of around 110 fighter jets in one of the biggest such procurement in recent years globally which could be worth over USD 15 billion.

An RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender for the mega deal was issued by the Indian Air Force and the procurement will be in sync with the government's 'Make in India' initiative in the defence sector, officials said.

It is the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the IAF around five years ago.

Instead, the NDA government, in September 2016, signed an Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale twin-engine fighter jets.

Though the RFI said approximately 110 aircraft are being procured, defence ministry officials put the number at 114 jets.

According to the RFI, three-quarters of the total jets will be single seat aircraft while the rest will be twin-seat.

At least 85 per cent of the aircraft will have to be made in India while 15 per cent of them can be in flyaway condition.

Officials said the jets will be produced jointly by a foreign aircraft maker along with an Indian company under the recently-launched strategic partnership model which aims to bring in high-end defence technology to India.

Leading military aircraft producers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Saab, Dassault and Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG are among the competitors which are likely to vie for the mega deal.

An official said the deal could be worth over USD 15 billion.

According to the RFI, aircraft manufacturers interested in the deal will have to send their proposals by July 6.

The IAF has been pressing for expediting the process to acquire the aircraft citing declining strength of its fighter squadron as some of the ageing jets are being phased out. Currently, IAF has 31 fighter squadrons as against authorised strength of 42 squadrons.

The UPA government had floated a tender in 2007 for purchase of 126 MMRCA for the Air Force and, post negotiations, two of them--Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon -- remained in the reckoning. However, the deal could not be finalised by the UPA regime.

In September last year, Swedish defence giant Saab and Indian conglomerate Adani group had announced a collaboration, mainly eyeing the contract for the fighter jet deal. US aerospace major Lockheed Martin has joined hands with India's Tata Advanced Systems to build the planes in India.

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India today kick started the process to acquire a fleet of around 110 fighter jets which could be one of the world's biggest military procurement in recent years.

The Indian Air Force issued the RFI (Request for Information) or initial tender for the billion dollar procurement deal which will be in sync with the government's Make in India initiative.

Officials said the jets will be produced jointly by a foreign aircraft maker along with an Indian company under the recently-launched strategic partnership model which aims to bring in high-end defence technology to India.

Leading military aircraft producers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Saab and Dassault are among the competitors which are likely to vie for the mega deal.

The IAF has been pressing for expediting the process to acquire the aircraft citing declining strength of its fighter squadron as some of the ageing jets are being phased out.

It is the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force around five years ago.

Instead, the NDA government, in September 2016, signed an Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale twin-engine fighter jets.

The IAF was keen on a follow-on order of 36 additional Rafales. However, the government is yet to take a decision on it.

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India is full of potential and Indians are "born entrepreneurs", leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul said tonight, as he received a lifetime achievement award here.

The 87-year-old businessman, who was born in Jalandhar in Punjab, was honoured with the Golden Peacock Award for Lifetime Achievment by the Institute of Directors in the presence of Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal.

"We (India) have so much potential. And, an Indian is a born entrpreneur. Let us all work together. And, tonight, I dedicate this award to India," said Paul, also, member of the House of Lords.

Baijal, before his speech as the chief guest of the felicitation ceremony, said he was making his remarks in his personal capacity at the function and "not as the Lt Governor of Delhi".

He said that while there was a "lot of buzz" in skill development sector in the country, he did not see the same level of buzz in the job sector.

"Unskilled youth not getting jobs is an issue, but skilled youth not getting jobs is far more serious," Baijal said.

Former foriegn secretary Ranjan Mathai, in his special address, hailed Paul as the man with an "iron will and steel resolve", who has never deviated from his path despite challenges that he has faced.

According to the citation of the Award, Paul, Chairman of the Caparo Group, a leading UK-based manufacturer of steel products, has property and leisure interests and currently employs over 7,000 people across North America, UK, India and the Middle East.

He has been conferred with the life time achievement award for his outstanding contributions in the fields of manufacturing industry, education and philanthropy.

Paul, in his acceptance speech recalled his higher education in the US at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he said, taught him to "never settle for the second-best".

Just prior to the function, a thematic session on 'Empowering MSMEs for the National Growth' was also held at the India International Centre.

Secretary, MSME, Arun Kumar Panda, in his address during the session, said the MSME sector has contributed to the country in some of the biggest projects.

"Some of the parts used in Mars Mission, Tejas Project and the CERN in Europe were manfactured in this sector," he said.

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Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif today accused India of trying to resolve the Kashmir dispute "through the barrel of the gun".

Asif said this in a statement on 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' which is being observed in Pakistan.

"The recent killings of 20 unarmed civilians in Indian Kashmir are again a manifestation of the Indian policy of trying to resolve the dispute through the barrel of the gun," he said.

Indian security forces on Sunday gunned down 13 militants in three counter-insurgency operations that also claimed the lives of three Army jawans and four civilians in Anantnag and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The massacre carried out by the Indian occupation forces is totally unacceptable and should be unequivocally condemned by the international community and human rights community around the world," he said.

Asif said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir were being deprived of the basic right to life and self-determination.

"For the last 70 years the valiant people of Indian- occupied Jammu and Kashmir are waging a heroic struggle against Indian oppression, for the realisation of the inalienable right to self-determination which has been envisaged in the United Nations Security Council resolutions," he said.

These resolutions remain unimplemented because India has backed out of its commitments and wants to continue with subjugation and oppression of the Kashmiri people, he said.

"The courageous people of IoK have rendered unmatched sacrifices in this indigenous struggle. The atrocious Indian brutalities have failed to suppress their inviolable spirit," Asif said.

He said government and people of Pakistan and the people across the world salute the Kashmiri people for their courage, bravery and persistence in the just struggle against "Indian occupation" and reiterate the continued and steadfast political, moral and diplomatic support to them.

Asif said Pakistan reminds the international community of its responsibilities and urges them to fulfill their promise made with the people of Jammu and Kashmir by implementing UN Security Council resolutions.

To investigate gross human rights abuses, the international community should urge India to give access to the UN and OIC fact-finding missions to Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

Pakistan's Cabinet on Monday decided to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day in response to the latest violence.

Radio Pakistan reported that different programmes including rallies, demonstrations and walks were being held across the country and in different parts of the world by Pakistanis and Kashmiris to draw the attention of the international community towards the "Indian atrocities" in Jammu and Kashmir and to highlight the need for peaceful resolution of the longstanding dispute.

Separately, President Mamnoon Hussain assured Kashmiris that Pakistan firmly stands by them and would continue to support their just struggle.

The president appealed to the international community to play its role in stopping bloodshed of Kashmiris and resolution of the longstanding issue.

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The Delhi High Court today asked the CBI to ascertain whether 'chinki', a derogatory term used against those from the Northeast, has been notified as a casteist remark in the law on scheduled castes and tribes.

Justice Anu Malhotra tasked the CBI to find out whether any such notification has been issued, after it was informed by a counsel that as per a RTI response, no such notification has been ever issued by any public authority.

"CBI may ascertain the said aspect and also if any notification was issued in this regard at any stage. Also check if it is retrospective," the court said.

The issue cropped up during the hearing of two pleas by the CBI and the father of northeast student Nido Tania, who was killed in 2014 after being allegedly beaten up by some persons at Lajpat Nagar in South Delhi, challenging a trial court's decision to drop the charges under the SC/ST Act against the accused.

During the hearing, CBI prosecutor Rajdipa Behura said as per the statement of eye witness, the accused had used casteist words including, "chinki", to call the victim.

When the court sought to know if there was any notification of this word under the SC/SC (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the counsel for the accused said as per a RTI reply given to him, there was no such notification.

The high court had in January 2015, sought the response of four adult accused Farman, Pawan, Sundar Singh and Sunny Uppal on Tania's father Nido Pavitra's plea against the trial court order. The CBI has also filed a similar petition in the matter.

While Farman is in jail, the other three accused are out on bail and the trial is at the concluding stage.

The plea filed by Pavitra, a Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh, has sought quashing of the September 25, 2014, order of the sessions court which had held that no charge could be framed against the accused under the relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

It had said the trial court had adopted wrong interpretation of the law and had refused to frame charges against the accused under the provisions of SC/ST Act despite the fact that the entire assault, which resulted in the untimely demise of a young man, was unequivocally and clearly motivated by the accused perceiving him as belonging to Scheduled Tribe.

19-year-old Tania, a BA first year student of a private university here, had an altercation with some shopkeepers at the Lajpat Nagar market on January 29, 2014, after they made fun of his hair style. Following the altercation, the shopkeepers had allegedly thrashed him. He was brought dead to AIIMS the next day.

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The Supreme Court today refused to grant relief to a hospitality firm linked to Robert Vadra, rejecting its plea challenging an Income Tax notice to it for re-assessment of its profits from land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan for 2010-11.

The apex court rejected the appeal filed by Delhi-based firm, Sky Light Hospitality LLP, which has challenged the Delhi High Court's February order dismissing its plea against the I-T notice.

"Sorry. Dismissed," a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said while refusing to interfere with the high court verdict.

The high court had also asked the firm associated with Vadra, the son-in-law of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, to join the proceedings before the assessing officer.

During the hearing, the apex court did not agree with the contention of the company's lawyer that the notice was sent by the IT department to wrong entity -- Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd -- instead of Sky Light Hospitality LLP.

"They (I-T) have to issue notice to the right person," the counsel argued, adding, "they issued notice to a company which did not exist".

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for I-T department, opposed the submissions and said that when "reasons to believe" were recorded by the concerned official, it was recorded that the company's earlier name was Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd which was later renamed as Sky Light Hospitality LLP.

The I-T department, in a tax evasion report tabled earlier before the high court, had said it had reasons to believe that over Rs 35 crore, earned by the firm in 2010-11, "had escaped from assessment".

In its verdict, the high court had said, "After going through the reasons, we are satisfied that the 'reasons to believe' show and establish a live link and connect with the inference drawn that income had escaped assessment, which is required for issuance of notice."



The firm had challenged the I-T department's notice in the high court contending that the "reasons to believe" were mere reasons to suspect and did not establish that income had escaped assessment.

However, the high court had disagreed with the firm's contention and said that "absolute certainty is not required at the time of issue of notice and at the same time, 'reasons to believe' must not be based on mere suspicion, gossip or rumour. The said test and criteria, we have no hesitation in holding, is satisfied in the present case".

"There is evidence and material on record to justify issue of notice," it had said.

The division bench of the high court had also rejected the firm's plea that IT department had sent the notice to the wrong entity, Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd, instead of Sky Light Hospitality LLP, saying "there was no doubt and debate that the notice was meant for the petitioner (firm) and no one else".

It had also said as long as there was a "honest and reasonable opinion" formed by the assessing officer and the "reasons to believe" were not mere "reasons to suspect", courts should not interject to stop the adjudication process and scrutiny on merits.

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An Army jawan was injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops who opened fire and resorted to shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir today, district officials said.

Pakistan troops resorted to firing and shelling on forward posts along the LoC in Nowshera sector in which one jawan suffered injuries, they said.

On Wednesday, a man and his daughter were injured when the neighbouring country's troops fired mortar bombs at forward posts and targeted civilian areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera sector.

Pakistani troops also fired using small arms and automatic weapons and targeted the Sair and Kadli hamlets and forward posts of the Indian Army, the officials said.

On Tuesday, an Army jawan was killed while four others were injured as Pakistani troops fired mortar bombs at forward posts in Krishna Ghati sector along the LoC in Poonch.

The death toll due to Pakistani shelling along the LoC this year has gone up to 27. The dead included 13 security personnel and five members of a family who lost their lives when a shell hit their house in Balakote sector of Poonch district on March 18.

Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire along the LoC and the International Border over 650 times this year.

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Comedian Kapil Sharma started his day on Twitter defending Bollywood superstar Salman Khan but it soon turned into an ugly, full blown abusive rant.

His tirade on Twitter involved abusive engagements with Twitteratis, where he blamed the "system" and accused the "paid media" for spreading negativity about Salman, who was yesterday sentenced to five years in jail in the blackbuck poaching case.

"Maine bohat saare aise maharaja type dekhe hai jo bade fakr se batate hai ki humne sher ka shikaar kiya hai... main mila hun unse. Salman bohat logo ki madat karta hai... accha aadmi hai... I don't know if he did it or not...but see his best sides...ghatiya system... let me do good work (I have seen many royals who claim that they have killed lions...I have met them...Salman has helped a lot of people..He is a good man.)" read one of his tweet.

In another post, Kapil, who has 12 million followers on Twitter, requested media to refrain from spreading "negative news" about the 52-year-old star.

"Agar main prime minister hota to fake banane walo ko faansi laga deta (If I were the prime minister, I would have hanged the people spreading fake news)" he tweeted.

Kapil, however, deleted the tweets soon, claiming his account was hacked.

"Hi all please ignore the previous offensive tweets as my account was hacked . Apologies for the inconvenience caused. Love and regards to all," Kapil tweeted. This tweet was also deleted soon.

The actor-comedian may have removed the posts but the screenshots of the same went viral on the microblogging site, with many people expressing shock and disdain.

One of the users wrote, "Kapil Sharma's biography: 'What not to do when you are successful'."



"Kapil Sharma has given food for memes today," another post read.

"Abuse nights with Kapil Sharma," a user tweeted alongside the screenshots of Kapil's tweets.

The comedian, who became a household name with show "Comedy Nights with Kapil", has been going through a rough patch in his career as well as in his personal life.

It all started with infamous mid-night brawl with actor Sunil Grover. Followed by which Grover left his show along with other artistes including Ali Asgar.

Last year, Kapil, 37, had confessed that he was suffering from depression and had undergone treatment for the same.

The comedy star recently made a comeback to small screen with "Family Time With Kapil Sharma"but the show has not been able to recreate the success of his previous show.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused Lt Governor Anil Baijal of attempting to "paralyse" his government and demanded that the five powers enjoyed by his predecessor Sheila Dikshit be restored to his dispensation.

The powers, Kejriwal referred to in his speech during a discussion in the Assembly on an "Outcome Report" on the performance of the L-G's office, included the authority to take vigilance and disciplinary action against government officers.

Alleging that Baijal was "accountable" only to the BJP, and not the people of Delhi, he said the L-G enjoys "complete power without responsibility and accountability, while the Delhi government is accountable for everything without having any power at its disposal."



Kejriwal and Baijal have clashed on several issues in the past. The chief minister has accused the L-G of creating hurdles in the functioning of the Aam Aadmi Party government.

Baijal had red-flagged a few provisions in the ambitious programme for doorstep delivery of public services, before he finally cleared it in January after two months.

"LG is behaving like a head master. Not even our teachers bothered us so much," Kejriwal said during the discussion on the "Outcome Report".

The report details the alleged hurdles created by the L-G's office in the execution of Delhi government projects. It was tabled in the House earlier this week.

The chief minister said the L-G has admitted in a response to the report that he did not clear around 300 files sent to him.

"While he (L-G) passed 97 per cent files concerning routine matters, he did not clear 300 files that were related with policy," he said.

A "misunderstanding" is being created that all was good when Congress governed Delhi, but AAP fights on every issue, he said.

"Sheila Dikshit government had five powers including to undertake vigilance and disciplinary action against officers and punish them, recruitment on vacant posts, and anti-corruption branch - that have been taken away from us by the Centre. Also, the Sheila Dikshit-led government was not forced to send each and every file to the LG office," he said.

Pointing to L-G's objections on some of the files and his suggestion to Delhi government to send them to the Central ministries, Kejriwal said: "Why should policy related files be sent to the Centre. Delhi people voted for Kejriwal, not Modi."



He also targeted Baijal on his government's proposal to establish Delhi Health Corporation Limited (DHCL). He said the L-G rejected the file noting "'I do not think it's a good idea'" and sarcastically added, "May be he had a fight with his wife and so he wrote this."Kejriwal demanded that transfers and postings of officers should be handed to the Delhi government, saying vigilance powers can only be exercised by an elected government.

"In matters where the Legislative Assembly has the competence to make laws, the powers to take decisions should be with the elected government and files on such matters should not be sent to the L-G to avoid unnecessary hurdles and delays," he said.

The chief minister, however, left room for agreement.

He said the L-G should be allowed to exercise his difference of opinion with the council of ministers on matters mentioned in reserved subjects of the Constitution and on matters where the Union government's functioning will be affected.

He also mocked Baijal saying whether the L-G was accountable to anyone at all. "Is he accountable to the Queen of England, President of US, Prime Minister of India... He is not accountable to anyone. He is accountable only to the BJP."



"He is trying to paralyse Delhi, by sitting over recruitment of government staff and preventing action against guilty officers," he added.

Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "restrain" the L-G, sayinghe should ensure that Baijal interfere only in matters that may concern the Centre.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will now also hold the additional portfolio of Information, Public Relations and Languages department, which was earlier held by state's Women and Child Development Minister Kavita Jain, an official spokesperson said today.

Kavita Jain, according to sources, was divested of the Information and Public Relations portfolio to avoid "conflict of interest" after her husband Rajiv Jain was tipped to be appointed as the new media adviser to state's chief minister.

The chief minister will now hold this new portfolio along with some other key departments -- the ones he already holds -- including home and power.

A notification to this effect was issued by the state's Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki, who on the advice of the chief minister, has allocated the above mentioned portfolio to Khattar with immediate effect.

Having said that, senior cabinet minister Kavita Jain would continue to retain other key departments, including Urban and Local Bodies and Women and Child Development.

Meanwhile, according to sources, Kavita's husband Rajiv Jain, who is state BJP's media-in charge, is set to be appointed as the new media adviser to the Haryana chief minister.

Rajiv Jain has earlier worked as media adviser to late chief minister Bansi Lal also.

Importantly, all these changes took place after Amit Arya, who until recently was the media adviser to Haryana chief minister, was shifted to New Delhi for coordinating with the media in the national capital.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will now also hold the portfolio of Information, Public Relations and Languages department, which was earlier held by Kavita Jain, whose husband Rajiv Jain was today appointed as the new Media Advisor to the CM.

Khattar will be in charge of this portfolio along with some other key departments that he already holds, including home and power.

A notification to this effect has been issued which mentioned that Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on the advice of the chief minister has allocated this portfolio to Khattar with immediate effect, an official spokesperson said.

Cabinet Minister Kavita Jain will, however, continue to retain other key departments of Urban and Local Bodies, and Women and Child Development department.

According to sources, Kavita Jain was divested of the portfolio of Information, Public Relations and Languages department to avoid "conflict of interest".

Her husband Rajiv Jain, who is state BJP's media in-charge, was appointed as the new media advisor to the Haryana chief minister this evening.

"The Haryana government has appointed Rajiv Jain as Media Advisor to the chief minister with immediate effect," an official release said here this evening.

Notably, Rajiv Jain had also been Media Adviser to late chief minister Bansi Lal from 1996-99. Amit Arya, the media adviser of Chief Minister Khattar, was recently shifted to Delhi for coordinating with the media in the national capital.

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Allahabad High Court lawyers today abstained from judicial work and formed a human chain to protest against the demand by a section of their colleagues to constitute a bench of the court in western Uttar Pradesh.

Their protest was also aimed at the proposed expansion of the Lucknow bench of the high court.

The Allahabad High Court Bar Association (HCBA) previously adopted a resolution against the demand by a group of lawyers for a separate bench of the high court in western Uttar Pradesh.

After abstaining from judicial work, the lawyers under HCBA banner took out a march from Bhimrao Ambedkar's statue near the high court to Subhash Chowk in Civil Lines area.

They raised slogan such as "one state, one high court".

On reaching the Civil Lines crossing, the lawyers formed a human chain to protest any move to divide the Allahabad High Court.

According to HCBA joint secretaries - Prashant Singh and Santosh Singh, a five-member committee headed by its president I K Chaturvedi would meet the prime minister and the Union law minister to apprise them about the HCBA's stand.

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Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today asserted that "love, peace and goodwill" were essential for ensuring welfare of all, and cautioned against attempts to cause social strife.

Kumar's statement from Rohtas district came following communal flare up in various districts of the state such as Bhagalpur, Aurangabad, Nawada, Nalanda, Sheikhpura and Samastipur last month.

"It is only love, peace and goodwill that can bring about the welfare of all, not violence. There are many people who indulge in nonsense and keep making attempts to cause social strife. But peace and goodwill must be preserved to scale the heights of progress", Kumar was quoted as saying in an official release.

The Chief Minister has been making appeals for peace, while opposition parties have been blaming his ally, the BJP, for the communal tensions.

Kumar attended a meeting at a village in Rohtas district, where he took stock of various development schemes.

The Chief Minister also inspected a school, where children were being provided mid-day meals prepared on solar cookers, and said "It was a sight that was unprecedented for me and I shall always remember".

Lauding the roles played by self-help groups, he said "Bihar has eight lakh self-help groups now and our aim is to raise the number to 10 lakhs. Each group employs 11 to 15 women and if we succeed in attaining the target, we will be able to cover around 1.5 crore families".

Underscoring the tourism potential of Rohtas, Kumar said a decision has been taken to begin rope-way connectivity to spots like Rohtas Garh Fort and Mundeshwari temple.

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A magnitude 5.3 earthquake has struck under the ocean off Southern California and was felt widely along the mainland coast, but there were no reports of damage except to a chimney on one of the Channel Islands.

The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 12:29 PM in the Channel Islands region, about 61 kilometres southwest of the mainland city of Ventura.

Some bricks fell from a chimney at an 1860s ranch on Santa Cruz Island, but no one was hurt, said Yvonne Menard, spokeswoman for Channel Islands National Park.

The quakes epicenter was 27 kilometres from Santa Cruz Island, which is largely unpopulated but does have some staff and is visited by campers.

Authorities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties did not report any immediate damage.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said it went into "earthquake mode" and firefighters from all 106 of its firehouses began surveys of their territories, including bridges, dams, large buildings and power lines.

"We currently have no reports of damage or injuries," spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.

Scientists at the California Institute of Technologys seismology laboratory in Pasadena said the earthquake warning system under development for the West Coast gave about 10 seconds of warning before shaking arrived.

Earthquakes of such size usually occur about once a year in Southern California, although the most recent one was in 2014, according to veteran seismologist Lucy Jones, recently retired from the USGS.

The 248-square-kilometre Santa Cruz Island is the largest in the chain of eight Channel Islands, five of which are in the national park.

Most of Santa Cruz Island, including the historic ranch, is owned by The Nature Conservancy, which cooperatively manages the island with the Park Service.

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The Maharashtra Government is going to install "air pollution controlling" devices in areas of five municipal corporations, apart from 50 locations in Mumbai.

"The number of vehicles in the state has considerably increased in the last few years. Pollution levels are especially high at traffic signals, bus stands, railway stations, toll booths, petrol pumps, airports and construction sites," Minister Ramdas Kadam told reporters here.

As the high concentration of dust particles in air has increased health hazards, these devices have become necessary, he said.

"These devices will be installed in about 50 locations in Mumbai. Also, they will be installed in the areas of Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Chandrapur municipal corporations," Kadam said.

The minister was speaking to reporters after a meeting with Pune-based Strata Enviro, which manufacturers and installs outdoor 'air pollution controllers'.

"Strata Enviro has, on a pilot basis, installed these devices in Bengaluru, Delhi, Goa and Thane. I was informed that the company plans to install devices in 100 cities by 2019," Kadam said.

An official from the department said these devices suck dust particles, toxic gases from about 1,000 sq ft of area, and blow out purified air.

Kadam said the company will install these devices free of cost.

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A man has been arrested for allegedly passing lewd remarks at a college student in Kuakhia area of Odisha's Jajpur district, police said.

Balaram Rout (26) of Dihakuransh village was arrested on Wednesday night after the student's father filed a police complaint against him with the local police, Asish Kumar Sahoo, Inspector in-Charge of Kuakhia police station said.

According to the FIR, Balaram used to make vulgar comments at his daughter when she used to cross Dihakuransh chaak for going to Dharmasala college from her native Garual village on cycle.

"On Wednesday while my daughter was going to her college on cycle, Balaram passed lewd comments at her while she was passing through Dihakuransh village on Kuakhia-Jenapur road.

"He made lewd remarks at her again while she was returning home in the afternoon," he said in the complaint.

On returning home, the girl narrated the incident to her family members after which the FIR was lodged.

"Acting on the complaint we registered a case and started investigation," said the IIC.

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Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla today criticised Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif for his reported statement that Bollywood star Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in jail in a blackbuck poaching case, as he hails from the minority community.

She said that the Pakistan foreign minister has no business to interfere in India's internal affairs.

Heptulla told newsmen at Raj Bhavan here that in this country, individuals irrespective of religion, caste and creed, are punished on the basis of the crimes committed by them and there is no segregation based on "minority" or "majority" as claimed by the Pakistan minister.

If the actor made a mistake, he has to pay the price, Heptulla added.

"India has her own Constitution, laws and can solve its own problem," she told newsmen at Raj Bhavan here.

Her reaction came after Khwaja Asif had reportedly told a Pakistan TV channel yesterday that Salman was sentenced to five years in jail by a Jodhpur court as he hails from the minority community.

India has not interfered into the affairs of the neighbouring country, she said adding that Pak should concern itself with its own problems and not bother with the internal affairs of India.

"Pak has no right to interfere in the countrys internal affairs. We can take care of our problems and we have proper Constitution and laws," Heptulla said.

Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in jail and fined Rs 10,000 by a Jodhpur court in connection with the killing of two blackbucks near Jodhpur in October 1998, while he and a group of other actors were in Rajasthan for the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

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Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi today met visiting Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and discussed issues of mutual interest.

Gandhi and Singh drove down to Rashtrapati Bhawan, where the meeting took place, the Congress said.

During the over half-an-hour meeting, the leaders discussed issues of mutual interest and cooperation. They talked of the age-old ties between the two neighbouring countries.

Former Union minister Anand Sharma was also present during the meeting.

Oli is on a three-day visit to India, his first visit abroad after assuming office.

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Clashes between workers of the ruling TMC and the BJP over filing of nominations for the panchayat polls in West Bengal have left many people injured.

Poll-related violence has claimed two lives in Malda and Bankura districts so far since the beginning of the filing of nominations on April 2.

Clashes between TMC and BJP activists were reported from the Nabagram area in Murshidabad district, and Bankura and Nalhati in Birbhum district, police said.

In the Nalhati area in Birbhum district, clashes broke out between the police and BJP supporters when they defied orders against holding rallies or processions while filing nominations. The directives were issued after an attack on former CPI(M) MP Ramchandra Dome allegedly by TMC hoodlums on Thursday.

The BJP workers took out a rally and were stopped by the police. A heated argument erupted between the two sides and snowballed into a clash. The men in uniform used batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse the rallyists, a police official said.

In Bankura, BJP state secretary Shyamapada Mondal was attacked allegedly by TMC supporters when he and his party cadres were on their way to meet the district magistrate in the afternoon to submit a memorandum on the violence during filing of nominations for the panchayat polls.

He alleged that about 300 "TMC goons", who were present there in violation of Section 144 of the CrPC clamped in the area, attacked the BJP delegation.

The TMC leadership in the district termed the allegations baseless.

Video footage aired on TV channels showed crude bombs being hurled at Nabagram in Murshidabad district and activists of the TMC and the BJP clashing with each other over filing of nominations.

TMC secretary general and state minister Partha Chatterjee accused the BJP of trying to foment trouble in the state by bringing in outsiders.

"The BJP will never be allowed to disturb peace in the state. First it was communal violence on Ram Navami and now they are using muscle power to stop our candidates from filing nominations," Chatterjee alleged.

He said that allegations of opposition candidates being attacked are an excuse as the rival parties do not have candidates to file nominations.

The BJP, on the other hand, accused the TMC of not allowing its workers to file nominations for the panchayat elections, and said it was trying to turn the rural polls into a farce by use of money and muscle power.

"Democracy has ceased to exist in Bengal. But the BJP will not give up so easily. Our workers are being brutally beaten up in Murshidabad, Bankura and Birbhum and police are acting like cadres of the TMC," BJP leader Mukul Roy alleged.

West Bengal PCC president Adhir Chowdhury has moved the Calcutta High Court, which today directed the police to make adequate security arrangements to ensure that candidates can freely file nominations for the panchayat elections due in May.

A division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice J Bhattacharya ordered the superintendent of police of every district to ensure proper security arrangements for filing of nomination papers.

The Supreme Court during the day said it will pass orders on April 9 on the BJP's plea alleging that its candidates are not being allowed to file their nomination papers for the rural polls.

In its plea, the BJP has sought an extension of the last date of nomination, which is April 9.

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The Meghalaya government is exploring the possibility of having additional roads in the Guwahati-Shillong route to minimise the vibration caused by vehicular traffic causing harm to the wall of the Umiam hyro-electric dam, the assembly was informed today.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) recently expressed concern about the safety of the Umiam concrete dam saying the government may give priority to take up an alternative road, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said.

Presently every vehicle coming from Guwahati side has to pass the 220 sq km scenic lake, a tourist attraction, and everyday thousands of vehicles ply by the dam, the first and the main hydro electric project in the state.

"We are looking at the possibility of having multiple entry-exit points in the state. The CWC has advised that traffic is to be diverted downstream of the Umiam dam," Sangma said in his reply to the debate on governor's address.

The issue of diversion of traffic on Umiam dam, located around 15 from Shillong, was taken up by the Meghalaya Energy Corporation (MeECL) with the state government, he said.

He said the MeECL had conducted a traffic vibration measurement study on the Umiam concrete dam in 2012, through the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune.

"The findings indicated that the vibration levels are very low, insignificant and within safe limit," he said quoting the report of the CWPRS.

However, the chief minister said, the CWPRC also suggested that it was not advisable to have continuous vibration due to heavy traffic on such an important structure and suggested diversion of traffic near the dam.

"This will also help in taking up maintenance works at the dam without any hindrance of traffic," Sangma said.

The dam at the Umiam river came up in the early 1960s and the Meghalaya State Development Report in 2008 said it has a projected life span of 400 years with a gross storage capacity of 1,47,000 acre feet.

It also said the dead storage capacity has been silted up and the life of the reservoir would be reduced to about 65 years if the current rate of siltation is not checked.

Dead storage refers to water in a reservoir that cannot be drained by gravity through a dam's outlet, spillway or power plant intake and can only be pumped out.

Stating that the matter was brought to the notice of the House around nine years ago when he was the Leader of Opposition, Sangma thanked Congress MLA George B Lyngdoh for bringing up the matter again.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "personal connect" with BJP's grassroots functionaries and "keen understanding" of developmental projects were on display during his interaction with party workers via video conferencing, party sources said today.

On the BJP's 38th foundation day, the prime minister interacted with party workers of five Lok Sabha constituencies and all 734 district presidents of the organisation through his 'NaMo App'.

During his interaction, Modi spoke about New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi's "waste-to-best" project and recalled the names of her associates replying to a question by a party worker, Ravi Tanwar. Modi said the project is aimed at providing sustainable gas supply to a working women's hostel, according to party leaders.

During his interaction with party workers, Modi also recognised a party worker named Praveen Sharma from Himachal Pradesh and asked him if he was the same person, who has a big moustache, with whom he often interacted when he was in charge of the state's affairs. Sharma answered in affirmative and expressed his happiness, party sources said.

Modi also cited Sharma's ever-smiling and cheerful disposition as an example when another worker asked the prime minister how to face elections without stress.

Party sources said Modi also recalled an elderly BJP worker, Anguri Devi, during the interaction and said she never missed a party programme.

It showed his personal connect with workers and understanding of developmental projects, they said.

NaMo App booths were set up at 20 Assembly segments in the two Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. North East Delhi MP and president of state unit of BJP Manoj Tiwari and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi participated in the event along with senior party leaders and workers.

On Secretary of Mahila Morcha unit in North East Delhi Mamta Kumari's question about opposition parties attacking the BJP, the prime minister suggested that the party workers should not be disoriented by it.

Modi also said that the workers of the biggest political party in the world should also have a big heart, according to a Delhi BJP statement.

Five Parliamentary seats -- New Delhi, North East Delhi, Mumbai North Central, Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh) and Saran (Bihar) -- were selected for the programme.

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Global IT networking major Cisco is setting up an incubator for start-ups to nurture and develop ideas in the Internet of Things domain at the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K), in partnership with the NASSCOM Foundation.

A MoU was inked today in this reagard between Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation and Paul Antony, Kerala Chief Secretary in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the inaugural ceremony of the two-day conclave "Huddle Kerala."



The event is billed as one of Asias largest startup ecosystem congregations.

Another MoU for establishing the Cisco Networking Academy programme in Kerala through the ICT Academy of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, was also signed at the event.

Harish Krishnan, MD, Public Affairs and Strategic Engagements, Cisco India and SAARC, and M Sivasankar, IT Secretary, Government of Kerala, exchanged the MoU.

Ciscos thingQbator is an Internet of Things (IoT) laboratory and a "makerspace" that gives access to technology for creators to develop their ideas.

It is a project under the company's CSR mandate and is implemented by NASSCOM through it authorised partners at the college level with the aim of skill and entrepreneurship development among young people in India.

The Networking Academy Program was created by Cisco Systems Inc to meet the growing demand for people with the skills and knowledge required to design, build and maintain computer networks.

Through this program schools, colleges, universities and other non-profit educational institutions are provided with the possibility of integrating a curriculum in computer networking that has been developed by Cisco as part of the institutions educational offering.

Huddle Kerala is organised by the Kerala Startup Mission in association with Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IAMAI Startup Foundation.

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A call on social media and WhatsApp groups for a 'Bharat Bandh' on April 10, reportedly by people opposed to caste-based reservations in jobs and education, today led Madhya Pradesh police to issue an appeal for calm and peace.

A shutdown on April 2 by Dalit outfits opposing the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act had led to largescale violence in the Chambal-Gwalior region of the state which left eight people dead and scores, including 54 policemen, injured.

Responding to a media query on shutdown calls being circulated on social media by groups opposed to reservations, Director General of Police (DGP) Rishi Kumar Shukla said the police was prepared to deal with any situation.

"We are appealing to citizens to maintain peace and harmony in the state. But we are equally prepared to deal with any untoward situation," Shukla told reporters here today.

"There may be differences among members of different communities, but they should not resort to violence. Peace and harmony is necessary for the state to prosper," the DGP said.

The violence on April 2 had led to allegations of failure on the part of the police's intelligence gathering mechanism.

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Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli arrived here today on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with the Indian leadership to boost ties between the two countries.

Oli was received at the airport by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the evening and will hold delegation-level talks tomorrow.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

He will visit the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project there.

Oli will also be conferred with a Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science at the university.

While congratulating Oli over phone on his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

In February, Oli took charge as Nepal's prime minister for the second time.

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The main opposition party in Nepal has termed the government's white paper on the country's economy -- which blamed the previous regime for current dismal shape -- as "fabricated" and "misleading".

Former prime minister and Nepali Congress president Sher



Bahadur Deuba said the white paper lacked credibility.

In the white paper released recently, Finance Minister Yuvaraj Khatiwada claimed that Nepal's economy was in a "dismal shape" and its coffers "almost empty", for which he blamed the previous government led by the Nepali Congress.

"The governments formed after the 2006 people's movement in the country were mostly headed by leftists," Deuba said at a programme here, adding the leftist governments in the past were responsible for pushing the nation's economy towards deterioration.

Another NC leader, Prakash Man Singh said his party did not "spoil" the country's economy as highlighted in the white paper. He said, "Don't delude the public with misleading and baseless information about the Nepal's economy."



Former finance minister and NC leader Ram Sharan Mahat said Khatiwada has "cherry-picked" data to paint a "gloomy picture" of the economy.

A couple of days after Khatiwada had unveiled the white paper on the current economic situation of Nepal, which claims macroeconomic indicators of the country were not sound, budgetary position weak due to fiscal indiscipline and dependence on revenue generated through imports is expediting deindustrialisation process.

"The white paper should provide unbiased snapshot of the economy, which has not been the case this time," Mahat said.

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Government websites, including those of defence and home ministries, have not come under any cyber attack, but suffered a hardware-related glitch, National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai said today.

Explaining the outage, he said the websites have been down since afternoon after it was noticed that there was a "storage area networking system" failure.

"The same is being addressed. It is only a hardware failure," Rai, who has been working in the field of cyber security since 1998, said.

"There is no hacking or cyber attack," Rai, who heads the cyber security unit, said.

Rai, who was earlier heading the computer emergency response team, said that nearly a dozen government websites hosted by National Infomatics Centre, including defence, home, department of law and labour, were affected due to the outage.

"The hardware is being replaced and they will be up very soon," Rai said.

Earlier Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tweeted, "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website (http://mod.nic.in). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken."



The website of the home ministry was temporarily taken down as part of extra precautions.

An official spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs said the National Informatics Centre, which hosts the MHA site, is upgrading the security system of the website which has led to its temporary suspension.

"The requested service is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for Inconvenience. It would be available soon," the message read on the MHA website.

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Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli today met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi here ahead of delegation-level talks that would be aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

Oli, accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya Oli, arrived here this morning for a three-day India visit and was received at the airport by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. This is his first foreign trip after assuming office.

The Nepalese premier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi this evening ahead of delegation-level talks tomorrow.

"Delighted to meet the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr KP Sharma Oli," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Modi also posted photographs on Twitter of his meeting with Oli at the Prime Minister's official residence here.

Oli, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a dinner hosted by the Nepalese Embassy, said Nepal wants to be close with "every neighbour" and "every friend".

Responding to questions on his discussions with Prime Minister Modi during today's meeting, Oli said, "It was excellent".

Earlier in the evening, Oli also addressed members of the Nepalese community at an event at Nepal's Embassy here.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi also met Oli and discussed issues of mutual interest.

Oli also attended a business luncheon event on the first day of his visit.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow.

Oli's visit is in line with the tradition of a Nepalese premier visiting India on his first overseas trip.

The visit also assumes significance as it comes after Oli had publicly criticised New Delhi for interfering in Nepal's internal matters and accused it of toppling his government last year.

In February, Oli took charge as Nepal's prime minister for the second time.

Ahead of his visit, Oli had said his trip would focus mainly on implementing the past agreements signed between Nepal and India rather than singing a new one.

"We want to maintain trustful (ties) with India and clear any suspicion in the bilateral relations," Oli had said.

Swaraj had visited Nepal before Oli took office to congratulate him for the historic victory of the Left Alliance in the Parliamentary and Provincial elections.

She was the first senior Indian minister to visit Nepal after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament.

While congratulating Oli over phone upon his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

Ahead of the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said it would provide an opportunity to the two sides to review the wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples.

India and Nepal enjoy age-old, special ties of friendship and cooperation, it had said.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will also visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

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Disinvestment-bound has approached aviation regulator DGCA for renewal of its flying permit, expiring in June, amid the government scouting for potential buyer for the loss-making carrier, sources said.

A senior official at the disinvestment-bound national carrier said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already renewed the Scheduled Operator Permit (SOP) of Air India's international budget arm Express recently.

"In the case of Air India, it has applied to the DGCA for renewal of its flying permit and the documents pertaining to renewal are being processed," the official told PTI.

The DGCA has already renewed the SOP of Express, he added.

As per the DGCA, Air India's flying permit is valid till June this year, while Air India Express SOP was to expire on 21st of this month.

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, a move that is being opposed by the airline's unions on grounds that it would result in massive job losses.

On March 28, the ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum on Air India's strategic disinvestment.

As per the memorandum, the government plans to offload 76 per cent 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, which is an equal joint venture between the national airline and Singapore-based SATS.

In a letter to prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, eight employee unions of Air India had raised serious concerns about the disinvestment and have sought an alternative revival plan.

In the letter, signed by representatives of the eight unions, they have also flagged the possibility of job losses in case of privatisation.

Air Corporation Employees Union, All India Service Engineers' Association, Air India Employees Union, Aviation Industry Employee Guild, Air India Aircraft Engineers' Association, All India Aircraft Engineers' Association, Air India Engineers Association and United Air India Officers Association have written the letter.

Together, these unions represent more than 10,000 Air India employees.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis todayaccused theopposition Congress and NCP of raking upfrivolous issues such as 'the rat scam' and 'tea scam', as they could not find any substantial corruption allegations against his government.

Opposition was like "wolves" who can't fight "lions", he said.

Speaking at a rally here to mark the 38th foundation day of the BJP, Fadnavis took a dig at opposition parties, saying, "I offer my guests what I drink, and can't provide what your workers and you have.

"Since you haven't found anything against us, you come up with how there is a scam in rat-killing in Mantralaya (secretariat)," he said.

During the recent Budget session, the opposition had sought to corner the BJP-led state government on the issue of a contract given to a private firm to kill the rats in the secretariat, and the 'huge' expenditure on tea by the chief minister's office.

Opposition leaders have become jobless because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Fadnavis said.

"They have no clarity of thought and vision. They are like power-hungry wolves. But they can't fight lions," he said.

Slamming the NCP's recent 'halla-bol' agitation, Fadnavis said when in power, it only looted the state treasury.

The cadre should keep faith in Modi's leadership and work to retain the power in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he said.

The opposition was spreading misinformation that the BJP was against Dalits, tribalsand Other Backward Classes, he said.

Attempts are being made to polarise the society on the basis of caste and religion, the chief minister said.

"Social justice is our agenda, and people will not be fooled by election gimmicks of Congress and NCP," he said.

Fadnavis, in his speech, also paid tributes to Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, sahing that he, alongwith the BJP, sowed the "seeds of Hindutva" in Maharashtra.

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A Pakistani court has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker to issue a fresh production order of an imprisoned Hindu lawmaker-elect to attend the next session of the House on April 13 and take oath of the office.

Member of the Provincial Assembly-elect Baldev Kumar, who is in jail in the murder case of Sikh lawmaker Sardar Soran Singh, had moved the Peshawar High Court against the Speaker, treasury and opposition members of the House and the provincial government over the delay in his taking oath as a member.

Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Mohammad Ayub Khan of the Peshawar High Court bench asked KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar to ensure that the atmosphere during the session is conducive for Kumar to take oath.

The Speaker had previously issued the production order of Kumar, following which he was brought to the House to attend the session on February.

But he could not take the oath of office as MPAs protested against him and also staged a walkout and forcing the Speaker to adjourn the session due to lack of quorum.

Hearing the contempt petition yesterday, filed against KP assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, provincial minister Shah Farman, leader of the opposition Lutfur Rehman and MPA Arbab Jehandad.

Petitioner's lawyer Muhib Jan Salarzai said that his client was declared MPA-elect by the Election Commission of Pakistan on a seat reserved for non-Muslims in the KP Assembly, but the Speaker was reluctant to issue his production order.

He further said that on the high court's order, the Speaker later issued production order but when Kumar went to attend the House, an atmosphere of hostility was deliberately created to prevent him from taking oath.

Salarzai also said that only around a month was left in the tenure of the present provincial assembly and it was an injustice to his client not to administer him the oath of office.

Appearing for the defendent, additional advocate general Riaz Ahmad contended that the Speaker had complied with the court's earlier order, but when the quorum was incomplete then it was beyond his powers to administer oath to the petitioner.

He stated that the MPAs were agitating against the petitioner as he was accused of killing their former colleague.

Kumar was arrested in 2016.

The police claimed that Kumar's motive to murder Singh was that he wanted to become an MPA, as his name was in second position in the priority list of candidates, which the Pakistan-Tehreeq-e-Insaaf had submitted for the reserved seats for minorities in the 2013 general elections, therefore, he was declared MPA-elect by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

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A Pakistani intruder was shot dead and another arrested with four kg heroin at the Ramkot Border Out Post area here, a BSF official said.

Confirming the killing and arrest of the Pakistani nationals from the Amritsar sector, he said a BSF night patrolling team observed some suspicious movements on the Indian side of the international border.

BSF troops rushed to the spot and noticed two Pakistanis carrying something with them, the official said.

They were warned to stop, but they did not pay heed and kept coming towards the BSF troops in an aggressive manner, he said.

The Pakistani intruders did not stop even after repeated warnings, forcing BSF troops to open fire in self-defence, the official said.

One Pakistani was nabbed with four kg of heroin and another one was shot dead on the spot, he said



Interrogation of the arrested Pakistani national is in progress to ascertain who he was going to deliver the narcotics.

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has offered a major amnesty scheme and income tax respite as part of efforts to increase the tax base, ahead of elections this year.

Abbasi announced this late yesterday after a meeting of the Economic Advisory Council, according to the Dawn.

"We are introducing a tax amnesty scheme through which people with undeclared income earned before June 30, 2017 on assets within the country will be able to bring them in the tax net by simply paying a five per cent penalty," the prime minister said.

He added that people who hold undocumented assets outside the country will also be able to declare them through the new amnesty scheme by paying a 2 percent penalty.

Fixed assets will incur a 3 per cent penalty, to be evaluated at the market value of the asset, which cannot be less than the cost of its acquisition.

Foreign liquid assets like cash, securities and bonds held abroad and in local dollar accounts may be declared with a 5 per cent penalty.

Dollar account holders in Pakistan who have purchased dollars with undeclared funds can also regularise them on 2 per cent payment.

Further, all remittances less than USD 100,000 per year per person will continue without any questions from any agency about the source of funds and enjoy tax exemption but remittances greater than that amount will enjoy tax exemption but may be scrutinised by the Federal Board of Revenue.

Furthermore, any new foreign exchange accounts can only be opened by tax filers.

"People who take part in the amnesty scheme will be given a one-time exemption from accountability and other laws," the prime minister explained. However, he stressed that politically exposed persons and their families will not be able to avail the amnesty scheme.

The prime minister noted that only 1.2 million Pakistanis file income tax returns. He further noted that of these, only 700,000 actually paid tax, while others filed returns but paid no income tax.

Presenting his package as an incentive for more people to enter the tax net, Abbasi stressed he felt this to be the most optimum way to maximise the government's revenues keeping in mind the significant challenges it faces.

He said those with annual income up to Rs 1.2 million will be exempted from tax while 5 per cent tax will apply on annual income from Rs 1.2 to 2.4 million. 10 per cent will apply on income from Rs 2.4-4.8 million and 15 per cent on over Rs 4.8 million.

The government previously used 12 tax brackets for salaried individuals and eight for self-employed individuals to calculate their income tax liabilities.

Abbasi also revealed that national identity cards numbers of all citizens will now become their tax numbers and people will now be able to use these numbers to file taxes by simply filling out a form.

"Last year, only 0.7 million people paid taxes and most of those did not have an option since they were salaried employees. This is an unsustainable situation," he said.

He also hinted at major reforms to tax property holders.

"On any property that a citizen purchases, they will have to pay a one per cent 'presumptive tax'. That tax will be adjusted in their annual taxes," he said.

"No purchase of property over Rs 4 million is possible for non-filers of tax returns from July 1, 2018," he added.

"To avoid under-invoicing (in property sale and purchase deeds), the government now holds the right to buy any property that a citizen holds by paying 100 per cent over its declared price," the prime minister warned.

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Pakistan has rejected baseless Afghan allegations of violation of its airspace and air raids inside Afghan territory by the Pakistan Air Force.

The Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement shortly after midnight in response to claims by Afghan authorities about airspace violations.

Pakistani security forces are undertaking counter-terrorism operations in Bajaur Agency (Tribal region) directed against terrorist groups who continue to attack Pakistan from their sanctuaries based on Afghan soil that have resulted in loss of lives and injuries on the Pakistani side, FO said.

It said the information about the ongoing counter-terrorism operations is shared with Afghan security forces on a regular basis.

It said that in the meeting of the director generals military operations of the two countries held in Rawalpindi on Thursday, Pakistan shared details of the operations with the Afghan side indicating that these operations were on Pakistani side of the border.

Pakistan urged Afghanistan to focus on taking effective counter-terrorism actions including plugging of large gaps existing along the Afghan side of Pakistan-Afghanistan border to prevent the targeting of Pakistani civilians and security forces by terrorists from Afghan soil.

The two sides traded allegations on the eve of the visit of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who is paying a day-long visit to Kabul today on the invitation of Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani.

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Pakistan's prime minister arrived in Afghanistan today for a day-long visit many see as an effort to ease strained relations between the two neighbors and revive a push for peace talks with the Taliban.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was welcomed by Afghan President Asharf Ghani and the two inspected an honor guard at the Presidential Palace in Kabul before heading in for meetings.

Abbasi, accompanied by several other top Pakistani officials on the trip, his first to Kabul since becoming prime minister last year, is to hold meetings with a string of Afghan officials, according to Ghani's spokesman, Shah Hussain Murtazawi.

Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Pakistan, widely believed to be the only party that can bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, also insists its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated.

Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.

Late yesterday, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement rejecting a claim made by Kabul of Islamabad having violated Afghan airspace with Pakistani Air Force raids inside Afghan territory during counter-terrorism operations earlier in the week.

The statement said information about the ongoing "operations is shared with the Afghan security forces on a regular basis." In the latest military actions, Pakistan told the Afghan about them and stressed that these operations were on Pakistani side of the border, it said.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of failing to take action against militant groups who continue to attack Pakistan from their sanctuaries across the border in Afghanistan.

"Pakistan urges Afghanistan to focus on taking effective counter-terrorism actions, including plugging in of large gaps existing along the Afghan side of Pakistan-Afghanistan border," the statement said, adding that "it is also important that the Afghan government should refrain from the blame game."



Also yesterday, Javid Faisal, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan's chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, said that Pakistan's support was critical to talks with the Taliban and that Abbasi's visit would help improve the troubled Afghan-Pakistan relations.

In January, President Donald Trump lashed out at Pakistan, saying the United States had "foolishly" given Pakistan more than USD 33 billion in aid over the last 15 years and had gotten nothing in return but "lies & deceit."



Washington later confirmed it is withholding USD 255 million in US military aid to Pakistan this year.

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A Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire today as thousands protested and clashes erupted along the Gaza border a week after a similar demonstration led to the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

Gaza's health ministry also reported that around 40 Palestinians were wounded by around mid-afternoon.

Palestinians burned mounds of tyres and threw stones at Israeli soldiers over the border fence, who responded with tear gas and live fire.

Thousands of protesters gathered in locations near the border east of Khan Yunis, in the south of the blockaded Palestinian enclave, and east of Gaza City.

The number of protesters was, however, much lower than last week, when a demonstration by tens of thousands led to clashes in which Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians.

The tyre fires were meant to be a smokescreen from Israeli snipers, and thick black smoke covered the border area in some places.

Israeli forces took up positions across a ridge on the other side of the border and set up large fans in an apparent bid to push away the smoke.

They also used water canon to try to douse some of the flames.

"I will be a martyr today. I will cross the border," Ahmed Abu Ghali, 20, who held up his shirt to show his still seeping wound from last week that required 40 stitches.

"I was wounded last Friday but escaped yesterday from hospital," said the protester at the rally east of Khan Yunis.

Israel's military said there had been "rioting" in five locations along the border.

It added that "troops are responding with riot dispersal means, and fire in accordance with the rules of engagement".

Israel had warned that its open-fire rules would remain unchanged for Fridays protests, pledging to stop any damage to the fence and prevent infiltrations or alleged attacks.



But it has faced mounting criticism over its use of live fire, and UN chief Antonio Guterres called for restraint.

I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties. Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully," he said in a statement.

In last Friday's demonstration, a number strayed from the main protest and approached the heavily fortified fence on the border with Israel.

Israel says troops opened fire only when necessary against those throwing stones and firebombs or rolling burning 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.

It accuses Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip and with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

But the toll of those killed and wounded on March 30 -- more than 750 people were injured by gunfire, according to Gazas health ministry -- has led to criticism of Israel.

There were no Israeli casualties.

Palestinians say protesters were shot while posing no threat to soldiers, and unverified videos that have spread online have fuelled their accusations.

The videos include one appearing to show a man with a tyre shot while running away from the fence.

Human Rights Watch has called the actions by the Israeli soldiers "calculated" and illegal.

Guterres and the European Union have called for an independent investigation, which Israel has outright rejected. Israel says more than half of the dead from the previous Friday were members of militant groups, including the armed wing of Hamas.

Hamas's armed wing has claimed only five of them, saying they were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people".

Militant group Islamic Jihad has claimed at least one of the dead as a member, but it said he was not carrying a weapon when he was shot.

Hamas has meanwhile offered compensation of $3,000 to the families of protesters killed and $500 for those seriously injured, drawing outrage from Israel.

The protests, designed to last six weeks, are in support of refugees, including those in the Palestinian enclave who want to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.

More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their lands during the war surrounding Israels creation in 1948.

Israelis say allowing the so-called "right of return" would mean their country would cease to exist.

Protests will run until the expected opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem in mid-May.

The US move has led to deep anger among Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The White House on Thursday refrained from criticism of Israel and called on protesters to remain peaceful.

President Donald Trumps envoy Jason Greenblatt said protesters "should remain outside the 500-metre (-yard) buffer zone; and should not approach the border fence in any way or any location".
Panama has pulled its ambassador from Venezuela, retaliating after the South American nation banned key Panamanian businesses from operating within its borders.

Tension between the two countries began escalating in recent days when Panama put President Nicolas Maduro on a list of Venezuelan officials as being at "high risk" for laundering money.

Venezuela yesterday announced a temporary ban for a group of Panamanian businesses and leaders. That included President Juan Carlos Varela and Copa, one of the few airlines still operating within Venezuela.

In announcing the withdrawal of its envoy, Panama's government described the Venezuelan move as being "a political reaction lacking substance." Panama also asked Venezuela to call home its ambassador from Panama, officials said.

The dispute comes as Venezuela is mired in economic and political crisis and finds itself increasingly isolated from the global community.

The 90-day ban restricts commercial activities within Venezuela by 22 business leaders and 46 companies in Panama.

Caracas justified the suspension by saying it adds a "measure of protection of the financial, economic and commercial system." Panama has named 16 Venezuelan companies and 55 individuals suspected of money laundering.

The list also includes Venezuela's vice president, socialist party leader Diosdado Cabello and Attorney General Tarek William Saab.

The United States has sanctioned Maduro and dozens of top officials, accusing the country of human rights abuses and sliding into a dictatorship.

The European Union has also imposed economic and travel sanctions on seven senior Venezuelan officials accused of breaching the rule of law.

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The BJP today told the Supreme Court that "democracy is being murdered" in West Bengal as ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was engaged in large scale poll violence and not allowing its candidates to file nomination for the upcoming panchayat polls.

The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party sought availability of nomination papers online, extension of the last date of filing these papers and deployment of paramilitary forces in the state in the run up to the polls scheduled in the first week of May.

A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre, which reserved its verdict for April 9, was told by the BJP that even the Congress, which is also aggrieved, has approached the Calcutta High Court for similar relief.

"This is the question of democracy. Even if I have not approached the High Court, I can come directly to the Supreme Court because it is a question of democracy. Actually, democracy is being murdered in West Bengal," senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for BJP, said on being questioned by the bench on why he did not approach the high court.

He said that party candidates were not getting the nomination papers for the panchayat elections, a fact that could be established from the data of election commission which showed that nominations filed by TMC candidates so far was more than the Left parties, BJP or the Congress.

"Ruling party is engaged in large scale poll violence. We are not getting nomination papers. I have videos which show the violence at many places. Parties (BJP and Congress) who are arch rivals, are aggrieved and seeking the same remedy. I must say that this is a troubled state," Rohatgi said.

The senior lawyer tried to justify why he did not approach the high court, saying the work was paralysed there as lawyers were on strike from February 19 and advocates going to the court were being manhandled.

He said West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had appeared in person before the high court today, as the matter was being heard in the apex court seeking relief to allow Congress candidates to file nomination papers and setting aside of the poll notification.

"The last date for filing of nomination papers should be extended by couple of days and the only solution to avoid the physical ruckus is to make the nomination papers available online and ask Union of India to deploy the paramilitary forces in the state," Rohatgi said.

Senior advocate P S Patwalia, also appearing for the saffron party leaders, said they do not want the elections to be cancelled but were seeking extension of the date of filing of nominations. "The date should be extended as there is large scale violence and democracy is being throttled," he said.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the central government could deploy paramilitary forces if there was a requisition from the State Election Commission or a direction from the court.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for West Bengal, said the BJP's petition was based on a wrong premise as there are several districts in which BJP candidates have filed more nomination papers than the ruling Trinamool Congress.

He said that he did not want to go into the allegation of poll violence "as we know which party has no ground in the state and who wants to foment violence there".

"They just want a court order to make a splash in the media which would make the entire West Bengal go disarray. They have not made a single specific averment as to where the candidates were denied nomination papers or denied them," he said.

Singhvi said the BJP counsel has "hit a self goal" as the data he gave to the court also says that in Midnapore, Jhargram and Purulia, their candidates have filed more nominations than the TMC candidates.

"Till now 28 FIRs have been filed in the state for sporadic violence. Who is fomenting trouble? You do it and then ask for paramilitary troops in the apex court", said Singhvi, who was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal with TMC support.

He said it was a settled law that once the poll process has started, it cannot be tinkered with and if they have any grievances, they can easily file election petitions.

"There is a triple whammy in BJP's petition. First, they cannot directly come to the Supreme Court, they should have first moved the State Election Commission, and thirdly, they should have made some specific averments of nomination papers not being allowed in a particular district," Singhvi said.

The bench, after hearing the arguments, said it will pass orders on April 9.

The panchayat polls are scheduled to be held on May 1, 3, and 5. The votes will be counted on May 8. According to the notification, the last date of filing nominations is April 9 and the last date of scrutiny of the nominations is April 11.

The apex court had yesterday agreed to hear the matter today, considering the submission of Aishwarya Bhati, the counsel for BJP state general secretary Pratap Banerjee, that the last day for filing nominations was April 9.

It alleged that block development officers, appointed assistant panchayat electoral registration officers by the West Bengal State Election Commission, were refusing to give nomination forms to BJP candidates.

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Social activist Medha Patkar today came out in support of workers of Century Mill, and led a protest outside the company's head office in Worli here today.

Members of the local unit of the Aam Aadmi Party also supported the protesting workers.

"The crony capitalist society has always exploited the poor and laboureres, and the state has failed to act against them...we will not let ourselves become victims of exploitation until we get our justifiable dues," Patkar said.

Hundreds of men who once worked at Century Mill travelled from Santrati village in Khargone district in Madhya Pradesh to take part in the demonstration.

According to Rajkumar Dubey, an AAP leader from Madhya Pradesh who led these protesters, workers were denied their wages after the mill was sold to another company.

AAP Maharashtra unit also extended its support to the mill workers, who are agitating under the banner of Century Mill Kamgar Ekta Manch, said AAP Maharashtra leader Dhananjay Shinde.

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The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Enforcement Directorate's response on a plea by diamantaire Mehul Choksi's firm Gitanjali Gems in a money laundering case in connection with the over Rs 130 billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.

Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta issued notice to the ED, which was represented through advocate Amit Mahajan, on the plea challenging the alleged illegal seizure of documents and articles by the probe agency.

The court said it will hear the matter along with a similar pending plea of billionaire Nirav Modi's firm Firestar Diamond on April 11.

Advocate Sanjay Abott, appearing for Gitanjali Gems, sought direction to quash the ED's move of seizing the firm's moveable properties.

Nirav, his uncle Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the scam came to light in January following a complaint by the PNB that they had allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 114 billion, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The ED has registered the money laundering case against Nirav Modi, his firms and others on the basis of a CBI FIR.

The CBI and the ED have registered the cases and intensified the crackdown on Nirav Modi and Choksi with the ED seizing jewellery and assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, the I-T department attaching various properties, and the CBI grilling several senior executives of his company.
The CBI today questioned former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank Harun Rashid Khan in connection with bank scams involving jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and relaxation of gold import rules in 2014 by the erstwhile UPA government allegedly to the benefit of private traders.

Khan is the senior-most former official of the RBI to be questioned by the CBI in connection with the USD 2 billion scam in Punjab National Bank, considered the biggest in the financial history of the country, they said.

The sources said his questioning revolved around the policy framework of the time when fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) were issued by Punjab National Bank (PNB) to the firms of Modi and Choksi.

He was also questioned on the '20:80' gold import scheme, which was cleared by then finance minister P Chidambaram on May 13, 2014, barely three days before the counting of votes of the general election, they said. The scheme had allegedly helped Choksi's company and a few other make windfall gains.

After questioning the PNB top brass, the agency has now shifted its focus to the policies which could have been exploited by Modi and Choksi to further their alleged cheating.

The agency did not reveal the nature of Khan's questioning.

Khan was promoted from within the ranks as a deputy governor on July 1, 2011, and reappointed in July 4, 2014 for two more years.

He was in charge of financial markets, internal debt management departments, foreign management among others at the central bank.

The CBI had questioned three Chief General Managers and one General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) yesterday in connection with the case, agency officials said.

They said the questioning of Khan was a continuation of the examination of other RBI employees yesterday.

The four officials were asked questions related to the UPA government's gold import scheme.

The RBI sources said that its officials are routinely "consulted" by other probe agencies and regulators to provide "clarity" on banking and other related policy matters under the central bank's domain and the same has been the case in the present matter.

The CBI investigation into the matter came four weeks after the NDA government had issued a statement saying it would act against people who relaxed gold import rules for private trading houses during the previous dispensation.

The BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre, defeating the UPA in the 2014 election.

In a statement, the government had said the UPA government's '20:80 scheme' resulted in a windfall of Rs 4,500 crore to 13 trading houses in six months.

The BJP had last month accused Chidambaram of aiding jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the main accused in the Rs 12,600-crore fraud at Punjab National Bank, through the 20:80 gold import scheme.

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Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition, hospital officials said today.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital since they were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4 after a deadly nerve agent attack.

"He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition," said Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at the Salisbury District Hospital.

Yesterday, Yulia issued a statement from the hospital to say her "strength is growing daily".

About Yulia's condition, the doctor said, "Last Thursday, I informed you that Yulia Skripal's condition had improved to stable. As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital."



"Any speculation on when that date will be just that speculation. In the meantime, Yulia has asked for privacy while she continues to get better - something I'd like to urge the media to respect," she said.

Meanwhile, the UK government has confirmed that two guinea pigs were found dead at the home of Skripal.

The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) also said that a cat found in a distressed state at the house in Salisbury was put down by a vet.

The confirmation came yesterday amid concerns raised by Russia over the welfare of Sergei Skripal's pets as Moscow continued to deny any involvement in the attack.

"The property in Wiltshire was sealed as part of the police investigation. When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," a DEFRA spokesperson said.

"A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare," the spokesperson said.

The information on the animals was today followed by a withering Russian attack on the UK inventing a "fake story" and "playing with fire" over the poisoning in Salisbury, which the British government maintains involved a Russian-made deadly nerve agent.

At a United Nations' Security Council meeting today, Moscow's UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said Britain's main goal had been "to discredit and even delegitimise" Russia with "unsubstantiated accusations".

He said Novichok - the group of nerve agent the UK says was used in the poisoning - is "not copyrighted by Russia, in spite of the obviously Russian name" and has been developed in several countries.

"It's some sort of theatre of the absurd. Couldn't you come up with a better fake story," he questioned during his statement to the 15-member council.

Britain's UN representative Karen Pierce countered that the UK's actions "stand up to any scrutiny".

She said Russia came under suspicion for several reasons, saying it had "a record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations" and that it "views defectors as suitable targets for assassination".

Moscow had called the special meeting of the Security Council in New York to discuss the attack, saying Britain had "legitimate questions" to answer.

The attack on the former spy has sparked diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, with 60 expelled US diplomats leaving for Moscow. More than 20 countries have expelled Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK, following Britain's initial expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

The UK government maintains that Russia is behind the attack, claiming there is "no other plausible explanation". The Kremlin denies any involvement.

The Scotland Yard have said the Skripals first came into contact with the chemical at his home after forensic testing showed the highest concentration of the substance was found on the front door. The house was a focus of police activity in the aftermath of the attack and was sealed off as investigators combed the property for clues.

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A cat and two guinea pigs owned by the former double agent poisoned in the UK are dead, the British government confirmed today after questions were raised by Russia.

Nearly a month after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, prompting a global diplomatic crisis, the fate of the ex-spy's pets was made public.

"When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," a spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told AFP.

"A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare," she added.

British counter-terror police have said the Skripals first came into contact with a nerve agent at the house, with the highest concentration found on the front door.

Global attention since the March 4 attack has focused on the political fallout -- after Britain blamed Russia for the attack -- and the condition of the human victims.

It was not until this week that Moscow raised concerns over the welfare of the pets.

"Where are the animals, what state are they in? Why has the British side... not mentioned this fact? We are talking about living organisms, and if toxic agents were used then living organisms must have suffered," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

The Sun tabloid said Skripal's cat was named Nash Van Drake and was taken to the nearby British defence laboratory at Porton Down where the pet was put down.

The remains of the cat and the guinea pigs were incinerated, the newspaper said citing unnamed government sources.

Russia's embassy to London earlier referred to a second missing cat, which was not mentioned by the British government.

Moscow has vehemently denied being involved in the nerve agent attack and has reacted to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Britain and its allies with equal measures.

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Home Minister on Friday said there was a "crisis of credibility" for politicians in the country due to the perception that there was a vast difference in their "words and deeds".

Delivering awards to young women entrepreneurs at a function organised by business chamber FICCI, Singh also said there was a general perception that politicians cannot be successful without telling lies.

"I work in political arena. I know that there is a crisis of credibility for politicians. There is a general perception that there is a vast difference in the words and deeds of politicians," he said.

The home minister said he represents Lucknow constituency in the Lok Sabha but during campaigning he never promised and only assured the electorate that he would "try" to do the work needed by them.

"Whatever may be the circumstances, knowingly, I will not tell any lie. I just tell people that if you bless me, I would try to do the work (they need)," he said.

Referring to the achievements of women in different fields, Singh said they have been successful in all walks of life and the government has been giving them encouragement.

"When I was the BJP president, I took a decision that women must have 33 per cent representations from to village level in the party. The BJP was the first political party to amend its Constitution to this effect," he said.

Singh said that as the home minister, he advised the state governments to increase the representation of women in police forces to 33 per cent and has directed the paramilitary forces to do the same.

"Women in paramilitary forces are performing exceedingly well," he said.
Power trading solution provider PTC India today said it has secured trading of entire saleable electricity capacity of 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydro project.

The company has completed the sale of remaining 200 MW under the long term PPA (power purchase agreement) of hydro power under Karcham Wangtoo Hydro project to Punjab State Utility on April 1, 2018, PTC India said in a statement.

It had already sold 680 MW of the saleable capacity of the power station to the state utilities of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan under long term PPAs.

With the sale of remaining 200 MW saleable capacity, entire saleable power of the plant is being supplied on long term basis to various state utilities through PTC India, it added.

Having an installed capacity of 1,000 MW, Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric project is located on river Satluj in Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh. The project is a run of river plant with pondage, having peaking capability of more than 3 hours and is able to meet diurnal variation of power demand.

The project is owned and operated by Himachal Baspa Power Company Ltd, a company of JSW Group.

PTC India is the trading partner of this project to arrange sale of entire saleable power of the plant to various distribution utilities on long term basis.

Deepak Amitabh, Chairman and Managing Director, PTC India said in the statement, "The electricity produced from the Karcham Wangtoo project will help the beneficiary states in improving their hydro-thermal mix and will be help in meeting peak load requirement in a cost effective and friendly manner".

The PTC India Ltd is the pioneer in starting a power market in India. The company has maintained its leadership position in power trading since inception. PTC has also been mandated by the government to trade electricity with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

The trading activities undertaken by PTC include long term trading of power generated from large power projects as well as short term trading arising as a result of supply and demand mismatches, which inevitably arise in various regions of the country.

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Power trader PTC India today said its has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Punjab state discom for the remaining 200 megawatt (mw) of capacity of the Karcham Wangtoo hydro project.

The company had already sold 680 mw of the saleable capacity of the project to the state utilities of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan under long term PPAs.

"With the sale of remaining 200 mw, the entire 100 per cent of the saleable power of the project is being supplied on a long term basis to various discoms," it said in a statement issued here.

Having an installed capacity of 1,000 mw, the Karcham Wangtoo hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh is owned and operated by Himachal Baspa Power Company, a unit of JSW Group.

"The electricity produced from the Karcham Wangtoo project will help the beneficiary states in improving their hydro-thermal mix and will be help in meeting peak load requirement in a cost effective and friendly manner," said Deepak Amitabh, chairman and managing director, PTC India.

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Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called for immediate "political dialogue" to end the row with Madrid as he left a German jail on bail today after judges rejected his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge.

"The time for dialogue has arrived," Puigdemont told reporters outside the Neumuenster prison, after he walked free on a 75,000-euro (USD 92,000-) bail while judges mull whether to extradite him on a lesser charge of corruption.

"We have demanded dialogue for several years and we have only received violence and repression," Puigdemont said.

There is "no excuse" for the Spanish authorities not to start "a political dialogue with the Catalan political leaders", he added.

The 55-year-old also called for "the immediate release" of all Catalan separatists detained in the spat with Madrid over the wealthy northeastern regions failed breakaway bid.

In a major victory for Puigdemont, the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday dismissed Spains request to extradite Puigdemont on a rebellion charge over last Octobers independence referendum, deemed illegal by Madrid.

The judges ruled that the charge was "inadmissable" because rebellion -- which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in Spain -- was not punishable under German law.

The closest German equivalent, the criminal offence of high treason, did not apply because Puigdemonts actions were not accompanied by violence, the judges found.

But they said the former Catalan president could still be sent to Spain to face trial for the alleged misuse of public funds in organising the disputed referendum.

The German judges said they needed to gather more information before making a decision on the embezzlement charge in the coming weeks, but ruled that Puigdemont could be released in the meantime.

Madrid has estimated that some 1.6 million euros in public money was improperly used to hold the referendum. If convicted, Puigdemont faces up to eight years in jail.

As part of his bail conditions, Puigdemont must remain in Germany and report to police weekly.

German police detained Puigdemont on March 25 as he was travelling from Finland back to Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile for the past six months.

The arrest came two days after Spains Supreme Court ordered international warrants for Puigdemont and other fugitive Catalan leaders on charges linked to holding the banned referendum.

The German courts refusal to accept the rebellion charge is a blow to Madrid, as under European law it means Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted for the offence even if he is returned to Spain.

Despite the setback, the Spanish government said it "respected" the German judges decision.

Berlin, which has long expressed support for Madrids actions in the Catalan row, declined to comment on the latest judicial developments.

"The process lies in the hands of the justice system, as is right," said German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer.

One of Puigdemonts German lawyers, Wolfgang Schomburg, welcomed that the rebellion issue was "finally off the table", but warned that the legal battle continued.

"It would be best for all those involved in Europe if Spain took a different path and did not try to solve internal conflicts through the courts," he told reporters.

Catalonia has been mired in political crisis ever since the region unilaterally declared independence on October 27 in the wake of the controversial referendum.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys conservative government responded by sacking the Catalan government, taking direct control of the region and calling early elections.

The December vote was won by a block of separatist parties. But they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as their chosen candidates are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution.

Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22.

Puigdemont was one of a number of Catalan figureheads who fled abroad to escape prosecution, dragging other European countries into the row.

A Belgian judge on Thursday bailed three former Catalan ministers who fled to Belgium with Puigdemont after they handed themselves in to police there.

They face charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state.

Another former Catalan minister, Clara Ponsati, was bailed in Scotland last week.

Nine other pro-independence figures are currently in custody in Spain, including six members of Puigdemonts Catalan government and the former president of the regional parliament.

A major demonstration calling for imprisoned separatist leaders to be freed is planned for April 15 in Barcelona.

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Paper PlanesAlice Merton has premiered a new track called "Lash Out." The defiant tune is the follow-up single to the German-Canadian-English musician's breakthrough hit, "No Roots."

"Being an artist and a human in this world always means confronting people who make you feel like you have to act according to their rules," says Merton in a statement. "Like most people, I wanted and still want to live by my own rules. The idea, or, if you like, the need, to write and record 'Lash Out' was born of a feeling within me."

Both "Last Out" and "No Roots" are included on Merton's new No Roots EP, which is out today on digital platforms.

Merton will be opening for Vance Joy on a North American tour starting May 15 in Charlottesville, Virginia. She's also hitting a number of festivals this spring and summer, including BottleRock, Governors Ball and Firefly.

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The Punjab government today said it will come out with a new mining policy aimed at plugging revenue leakage.

"The main objective of the new mining policy will be to plug the revenue loss caused to the state exchequer," Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said.

He presided over a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee on mining which was also attended by private stakeholders.

The other members of the committee are Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who were also present.

Sidhu, after giving a hearing to all the concerned stakeholders, said that while framing the new policy all the suggestions put forward by them would be given due consideration.

He further elaborated that this new policy would be in accordance with the sand mining framework issued by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India in March 2018.

The minister also added that before giving final touches to the policy, he would personally meet the officers of the ministry of mines on Monday and the cabinet sub-committee would again meet on Tuesday.

Sidhu further said that the chief minister had sought a report within one month from the sub-committee. He also made it clear that the government would have the right to fix the prices of sand.

While quoting the mining policies of various states, Sidhu said Telangana came into existence in 2014 and at that time it had a meagre Rs 10 crore income from mining but the state government formed a mining corporation which saw the income increasing to Rs 374 crore in 2015-16, Rs 419 crore in 2016-17 and now in 2017-18 to Rs 1,200 crore.

Similarly, Haryana, which is smaller than Punjab in size, is minting Rs 900 crore from mining.

Sidhu instructed the officials of the department to brace up for the effective implementation of the proposed mining policy.

He said there would be provision of e-transport permit and by scanning the bar-coded permit, information like volume, origin point, destination would be displayed.

The minister reiterated that it would be ensured in the new policy that no overloaded truck/tipper crosses the roads which would put a stop to the damage being caused to the roads.

After the meeting, the sub-committee held another meeting with the contractors and crusher owners associated with mining and ascertained their views as well as suggestions.

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Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be touring in Bengaluru division for two days from tomorrow for campaigning ahead of the May 12 assembly polls in Karnataka.

Gandhi will tour in Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Bengaluru as part of his sixth leg of poll campaign in thestate, party sources said.

The Congress president will begin his tour by visiting Kudumalai Ganesha temple at Mulabagilu and will later take part in a road show.

He is also scheduled to address corner meeting and public meeting at Kolar and Chikkaballapura respectively.

On April 8, Gandhi is scheduled to take part in an interaction with Safai Karmacharis and industrialists in Bengaluru, following which he will address a public meeting here to mark the conclusion of 'Janashirvada Yatra'.

The Congress President had earlier toured in northern and coastal districts, also in old Mysuru and central Karnataka districts.

Visits to temples, mutts, church and dargha were part of Gandhi's successive trips to the poll bound state.

Though the party has not announced any Chief Ministerial candidate, it has projected Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as its face.

Pradesh Congress president G Parameshwara had recently said that the party would announce its candidates for all the 224 assembly seats in the state in a "single phase" by April 15.

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As the BJP celebrates its 38th Foundation day today, a rebel party MLA in Rajasthan, Ghanshyam Tiwari, wrote a letter to party chief Amit Shah making several accusations against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and demanding she be sacked in "public interest".

In a strongly-worded letter to Shah, who addressed a rally in Maharashtra on the occasion of the party's Foundation Day, the Sanganer MLA alleged Raje was "misusing" her political power for "personal gains" and that the state government is a group of those who "extort" money.

"The Rajasthan government is a government of dictator and is a group of those who extort money. Corruption has been institutionalised under her government and social harmony has been disturbed," Tiwari charged.

He alleged there was "resentment among all castes and communities" against the chief minister which evident when black flags were shown during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting at Jhunjhunu in March.

"The chief minister is not interested in the organisation and government reforms," Tiwari said.

He claimed party workers were opposed to the leadership in Jaipur, Bikaner, Barmer, Kota, Udaipur, Alwar, Ajmer, Sikar and other districts "which shows the level of resentment" against the chief minister.

Tiwari alleged the Raje government was "looting the state" and also questioned the party chief for not taking action against the chief minister despite "being aware of the situation".

This is not the first time the MLA has attacked the chief minister. Earlier, he had criticised Raje over several issues, including farmers' plight, and was also served a party notice.

On the occasion of the party foundation day, I have expressed my feeling and wrote the letter to the party president telling him what is going on in the state. I was (earlier) served a notice for indiscipline, but I gave very factual reply clarifying that it is the chief minister who is not disciplined. But no action against her has been taken so far, he told reporters.

Tiwari had earlier announced that he would launch a political party of his own.

The process to form Bharat Vahini, his political outfit, will be completed in a month and the party will then take up political tasks and contest upcoming assembly elections in all the 200 constituencies, he said today.

Tiwari, however, also said he can contest next assembly elections on a BJP ticket only if Raje is not at the helm of affairs in the state.

I demand from the party to sack the chief minister. She should no longer be in the state and this is the only condition on which I will consider contesting election on a BJP ticket he said. I cannot contest election under Vasundhara Raje's leadership.

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The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die today, bringing to an end the Budget session that was marked by continuous disruptions that saw 120 working hours being wasted.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu expressed anguish and pain over disruptions and also display of placards, flags and slogan shouting by various political parties.

Naidu said 120 hours were wasted due to disruptions during the Budget session, which started on January 29.

Proceedings of the second part of the Budget session in the House, after it reassembled on March 5, were practically washed out due to disruptions, except for passage of a bill related to payment of gratuity and farewell to retiring members.

Before adjourning the House sine die, Naidu said it was beyond his comprehension why the House did not debate important issues despite the Chair's approval for debates and asked members to introspect.

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The RBI today asked banks, NBFCs and payment service providers to disassociate themselves from entities dealing with virtual currencies (VCs), including bitcoins, with immediate effect.

The notification comes a day after the central bank in a 'Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies' warned of risks associated with virtual currencies.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins.

"In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by the Reserve Bank shall not deal in VCs or provide services for facilitating any person or entity in dealing with or settling VCs," the notification said.

The services flagged by the RBI include maintaining accounts, registering, trading, settling, clearing, giving loans against virtual tokens, accepting them as collateral, among others.

The instructions are applicable to all commercial, co-operative banks, payments banks, small finance banks, non banking financial companies (NBFCs) and payment system providers.

In his Budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that cryptocurrencies are not legal and affirmed to eliminate their usage.

Since then, top banks, including HDFC Bank, SBI and the American lender Citi, have virtually stopped supporting cryptocurrencies related transactions, resulting in what reports said was a 90 per cent decline in trading.

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Reliance Infrastructure's (Rinfra) subsidiary DAMEPL today moved the Delhi High Court seeking attachment of DMRC's bank accounts for not depositing 75 per cent of the over Rs 5,164 crore arbitral award, including interest, within the time given by the court.

Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Ltd (DAMEPL), in an application, said that the high court in its March 6 order, while upholding the arbitral award in favour of the Rinfra subsidiary, had granted DMRC four weeks to deposit 75 per cent of the amount.

The money was to be deposited in an escrow account maintained with the banks which had loaned money to DAMEPL for the Airport Express line project.

In its application, which came for hearing before Justice Vibhu Bakhru, DAMEPL said that till date the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has only deposited Rs 306 crore.

The court did not pass any order and listed the matter for hearing on April 10 after the DMRC said it has challenged the March 6 order and the appeal is expected to be heard by a larger bench on April 9.

DAMEPL, in its application filed through advocate Rishi Agarwal, has sought attachment of DMRC's bank accounts to the extent of the amount it has to deposit in the escrow account.

Earlier on March 23, the high court had directed DMRC to settle the immediate amounts that DAMEPL owes the banks for the Airport metro line project, so that its accounts are not termed non-performing assets (NPAs).

It had directed DMRC to ascertain what is the immediate amount that DAMEPL has to pay to the 11 lending banks and to make the payment before March 28.

The court said that the accounts of DAMEPL in the banks cannot be allowed to become NPAs despite having an arbitral award in its favour.

The direction came on an interim plea by DAMEPL claiming it has to pay over Rs 1,882 crore to the banks to prevent its accounts with them from being categorised as NPAs.

According to DAMEPL's plea, the 11 banks to whom immediate payments have to be made are -- Axis Bank, UCO Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Andhra Bank, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of India, IIFC UK and Canara Bank London.

On March 6, while dismissing DMRC's plea against the Arbitral Tribunal's May, 2017 order asking it to make payments to DAMEPL, the court had allowed a separate plea of the Rinfra subsidiary for an early payment of 75 per cent of the arbitral award in its favour.

The concession agreement between the two was signed on August 25, 2008. Under the agreement, DMRC was to carry out the civil works, excluding at the depot, and the balance, including the project system works, were to be executed by DAMEPL.

The Airport Express line was commissioned on February 23, 2011 after an investment of Rs 2,885 crore, funded by the DAMEPL's promoters' fund, banks and financial institutions.

DAMEPL had said it had terminated the concession agreement as DMRC had not cured certain defects in the Airport Express line within 90 days of a notice issued by it.

It had also said the agreement had come to effect from January 1, 2013 and the project was handed over to DMRC on June 30, 2013. Till the handing over of the project, DAMEPL had operated the line as a deemed agent of DMRC, it had said.

The arbitration was entered into in August, 2013 after efforts to amicably resolve the issue did not yield any result.

DAMEPL is a joint venture of Rinfra and a Spanish construction company -- Construcciones Y Auxiliar De Ferrocarriles -- with a shareholding of 95 and five per cent respectively.

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Authorities today imposed restrictions in parts of Kashmir, including the summer capital here, as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order in view of protests called by separatists and strike by trade bodies.

Restrictions under Section 144 CrPc have been imposed in seven police station areas of Srinagar, a police official said.

He said Khanyar, Maharajgunj, Nowhatta, Rainawari, Safakadal, Maisuma and Kralkhud police station areas of the summer capital here are where the restrictions have been imposed.

The officials said restrictions have also been imposed in Kangan town in central Kashmirs Ganderbal district as well as in Shopian town in south Kashmir.

The curbs were put in place as a precautionary measure to prevent protests against the killing of 13 militants in three encounters on Sunday and five civilians in the aftermath of those encounters.

Yesterday, while there were no restrictions or shutdown after three days and schools and colleges reopened, protests by students of various educational institutions erupted at several places in the valley.

The protests forced the authorities to shutdown schools and colleges across the valley once again today.

The separatists have also called for peaceful protests today.

The separatists, under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), asked people to stage peaceful protests after the Friday congregational prayers against the recent killings in south Kashmir and Kangan area of Ganderbal.

Trade bodies Kashmir Economic Alliance and Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation (KTMF) - have called for a strike today against the killings.

Meanwhile, shops and other business establishments across the valley were shut, while public transport was sparse, officials said.

They, however, said private cars, cabs and auto-rickshaws were plying in the areas where there were no restrictions.

Train service has also been suspended across Kashmir, the officials said.

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The appointment of MK Surappa as the vice chancellor of Anna University here has kicked up a political row with the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu questioning his Kannada origin.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are embroiled in a river water dispute with the former demanding the setting up of a management board for the distribution of Cauvery water to implement the February 16 Supreme Court verdict.

The Tamil Nadu government, on its part, said it had nothing to with Surappa's appointment as it was made by Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

"Governor of Tamil Nadu and Chancellor of Anna University (Purohit) has appointed Dr MK Surappa as Vice Chancellor of Anna University for a period of three years from the date of his assumption of office," a Raj Bhavan release said.

A former director of IIT Ropar, Surappa, who has a doctorate in Metallurgical Engineering, "enjoys rich teaching experience of more than 30 years, of which 24 years were spent at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru," the release said.

He had 150 research publications and four patents to his credit, it added.

Opposition parties, including the DMK and the PMK, pointed out that Surappa hailed from Karnataka and questioned if there were no qualified academicians in the state to be appointed as the VC of Anna University.

"At a time when Cauvery protests are raging in Tamil Nadu, the governor appointing Surappa, who is from Karnataka, as the VC of Anna University is not acceptable," DMK working president and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly M K Stalin said.

In a Facebook post, he said the academicians, who were "sons of the soil should not be belittled" by such appointments.

PMK founder S Ramadoss also voiced opposition to Surappa's appointment.

"This appointment, which does not respect the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu, is condemnable, should be withdrawn," he said in a statement.

MDMK founder Vaiko and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan also questioned the appointment.

Vaiko urged for the withdrawal of Surappa's appointment and said only an academician from Tamil Nadu should be nominated for the coveted post.

Haasan, in a tweet, said, "We asked for water from Karnataka and we get a vice-chancellor from Karnataka instead. The gulf between people and the government cannot be more obvious...."



The ruling AIADMK, however, said it had no role in the appointment since Surappa was selected from a pool of candidates by the governor.

"He has been appointed as the VC from that pool by the governor, who is the chancellor (of the university). Therefore, the government has no role in it," Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar told reporters.

State BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan defended the governor's move, saying it was an attempt at "cleansing" the university of "corruption".

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A group of gunmen today looted around Rs 20 lakh in cash and jewellery from a nationalised bank branch in Angul district, police said.

Six men armed with crude pistols entered branch in Angul posing as customers and locked up staff members and customers in a room.

They also taken away their mobile phones, police said.

Eye-witnesses said the looters, who were speaking in Hindi and Bengali, took away the booty in bags they had carried with them.

"We have got some clues and a thorough investigation is being conducted," Angul Superintendent of Police, Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said.

The police of neighbouring areas have been alerted, he said.

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Terming the violence in West Bengal ahead of the panchayat polls next month "virtual murder of democracy", five Left parties today demanded that the time for filling nominations for the election should be extended.

Training their guns at the Trinamool Congress, the five parties, including the CPI(M), CPI, CPIML, AIFB and SUCI said the ruling party in West Bengal has resorted to "full-fledged assault" on democracy and rule of law, and the panchayat election has started to become a "farce".

The parties also asked for alternative arrangements for the candidates who were prevented from filling nominations, so that they can register their candidature safely.

"We strongly protest against the ongoing violence in West Bengal. It is virtual murder of democracy happening in the state. From the declaration of schedule to murderous attacks on opposition candidates in the nomination process, this year's panchayat elections have brought out the authoritarian character of TMC most crudely," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters.

"We demand that those who wish to file their nomination should be allowed to do so without any fear and intimidation and the time for filling nominations should be extended," he said.

Yechury also claimed that the TMC is carrying out "planned attacks" on Left parties where there is a straight fight between them and the ruling party.

Lashing out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the state administration, the Left leaders also demanded that "firm action" should be taken against those indulging in hooliganism, intimidation and encirclement of administrative offices.

Over a BJP leader moving the Supreme Court seeking for a direction for deployment of central paramilitary forces to maintain law and order for smooth conduct of the panchayat polls scheduled next month, the Left leaders said their priority is that the state administration should conduct free and fair elections.

"May be having polls under central forces is not good, but we want the administration should make all arrangements for free and fair elections in Bengal," CPIML leader Kavita Krishnan said.

Criticising the State Election Commission, the parties said that the panel has "abjectly surrendered and has remained totally insensitive to atrocities committed".

The panchayat polls will be held in 20 districts of West Bengal on May 1, 3 and 5. The filing of the nominations began on April 2 and will continue till April 9.

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Violence over filing of nominations for the rural polls in West Bengal was reported today from Birbhum, Bankura and Murshidabad districts in which many people were injured.

The poll-related violence has claimed two lives in Malda and Bankura districts so far since the beginning of filing of nominations on April 2, the police said.

In the Nalhati area in Birbhum district, clashes broke out between the police and BJP supporters when they defied orders against holding rallies or processions while filing nominations. The directives were issued after an attack on former CPI(M) MP Ramchandra Dome allegedly by TMC hoodlums on Thursday.

The BJP workers took out a rally and were stopped by the police. A heated argument erupted between the two sides and snowballed into a clash. The men in uniform used batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse the rallyists, a police official said.

A number of police personnel were injured in brick batting by the BJP cadres.

Twenty-five BJP workers were arrested in connection with the violence, the police said.

In Bankura, BJP state secretary Shyamapada Mondal was attacked allegedly by TMC supporters when he and his party cadres were on their way to meet the district magistrate in the afternoon to submit a memorandum on the violence during filing of nominations for the panchayat polls.

He alleged that about 300 "TMC goons", who were present there in violation of Section 144 of the CrPC clamped in the area, attacked the BJP delegation.

The TMC leadership in the district termed the allegations baseless.

Video footage aired on TV channels showed crude bombs being hurled at Nabagram in Murshidabad district and activists of the TMC and the BJP clashing with each other over filing of nominations.

The BJP staged a demonstration in Nalhati to protest against the violence and demanded that paramilitary personnel be deployed in adequate numbers to ensure "free and fair" polls.

However, West Bengal Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee told reporters at the Secretariat that there was no need for such a move.

He said central forces are not deployed for rural or civic polls.

TMC secretary general and state minister Partha Chatterjee accused the BJP of trying to foment trouble in the state by bringing in outsiders.

"The BJP will never be allowed to disturb peace in the state. First it was communal violence on Ram Navami and now they are using muscle power to stop our candidates from filing nominations," Chatterjee alleged.

He said that allegations of opposition candidates being attacked are an excuse as the rival parties do not have candidates to file nominations.

The BJP, on the other hand, accused the TMC of not allowing its workers to file nominations for the panchayat elections, and said it was trying to turn the rural polls into a farce by use of money and muscle power.

"Democracy has ceased to exist in Bengal. But the BJP will not give up so easily. Our workers are being brutally beaten up in Murshidabad, Bankura and Birbhum and police are acting like cadres of the TMC," BJP leader Mukul Roy alleged.

West Bengal PCC president Adhir Chowdhury has moved the Calcutta High Court, which today directed the police to make adequate security arrangements to ensure that candidates can freely file nominations for the panchayat elections due in May.

A division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice J Bhattacharya ordered the superintendent of police of every district to ensure proper security arrangements for filing of nomination papers.

The Supreme Court during the day said it will pass orders on April 9 on the BJP's plea alleging that its candidates are not being allowed to file their nomination papers for the rural polls.

In its plea, the BJP has sought an extension of the last date of nomination, which is April 9.

Panchayat election is scheduled to be held in three phases on May 1,3 and 5.

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Russia unleashed a blistering war of words against Britain at the UN Security Council today, deflecting accusations of poisoning a former double agent in England with denials, "Alice in Wonderland" and Russian literature.

"It's some sort of theater of the absurd. Couldn't you come up with a better fake story?" Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the council. "We have told our British colleagues that 'you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry.'"



Sergei Skripal, a former double agent, and his daughter Yulia were found in a critical condition on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

London blames Russia but the Kremlin denies any involvement. Britain says the poisoning was carried out with a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union.

The row has triggered a wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and inflamed tensions between Russia and Western governments.

Nebenzia claimed "a propaganda war" against Russia was being waged that sought "to discredit and even de-legitimize Russia."



"This is all using the method of Dr Goebbels," he added in reference to Nazi Germany's propaganda chief.

Russia requested the UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, the same day that Moscow failed in its bid to join a probe into the Salisbury incident by global chemical watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

In response, British Ambassador Karen Pierce said London had conveyed Russia's demand for consular access to the spy's daughter Yulia Skripal and that the British government had acted entirely properly within international convention.

"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."



"It's yet another attempt by Russia to use this Security Council for political gains," said US diplomat Kelley Currie. "This is not a tactic that is appropriate for this body," she said of the Goebbels reference.

In lengthy, rhetorical flourishes, the Russian envoy referenced popular British television series "Midsomer Murders" -- set in the bucolic countryside -- and Russian literary masterpiece "Crime and Punishment."



"It's not a crime novel as the British (foreign) minister thinks, but rather a deep philosophical work of literature," he said. "I would suggest that Mr (Boris) Johnson read some other novels by Dostoevsky or at least get to know their names."



He then 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 told AFP today that both guinea pigs had died and that a cat found in a distressed state was euthanized. She did not mention a second cat.

Nebenzia also reached for a copy of "Alice in Wonderland" and read aloud an extract about the white rabbit.

"It suits Russia to turn the whole business into a farce. By playing up the melodrama at the UN, Nebenzia succeeds in distracting from the seriousness of the crime," Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.

"By turning it into a game, Russia aims to make the UK look a bit silly. A lot of other countries might like to let the matter drop before it worsens relations with Russia further, so Moscow's strategy may not be a joke," he added.

But even before the meeting, the British ambassador kicked off the literary allusions by taking aim at her Russian counterpart's purported fondness for a Sherlock Holmes analogy.

Allowing Russians scientists "into an investigation where they are the most likely perpetrators of the crime... would be like Scotland Yard inviting in Professor Moriarty," she told reporters of Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional criminal mastermind.

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Moscow today rejected a British report that the nerve agent used in the poisoning of a former double agent originated from a town on Russia's Volga river.

Yesterday, The Times newspaper cited British security sources saying they believed the so-called Novichok chemical was manufactured at the Shikhany facility in central Russia's Saratov region.

"This laboratory was never part of the scope of our work," Mikhail Babich, the Kremlin's envoy in the Volga Federal District, told Interfax agency.

"All the bases where chemical weapons were stored are well-known. Shikhany is not one of them," said Babich, who is the former chairman of the state commission for chemical disarmament.

He added that there used to be a different "facility" in the Saratov region but it was not located in Shikhany.

The Times said the facility was the Russian equivalent of Britain's Porton Down defence laboratory.

The closed town of Shikhany is the location of a branch of the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, or GNIIOKhT.

The Soviet Union created a network of closed towns to house secret military installations and research facilities to which access was hugely restricted.

Several chemists including Vil Mirzayanov, who first revealed the existence of Novichok, said the nerve agent was invented by scientist Pyotr Kirpichev in Shikhany.

Last month, Russian scientist Leonid Rink told state media he worked at a state laboratory in Shikhany for 27 years, where the development of Novichok formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation.

According to the website of GNIIOKhT, its branch in Shikhany is now involved in work related to "ensuring the security" of the country and destruction of chemical weapons.

In September 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had destroyed its last chemical weapons.

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.

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A South African Indian-origin woman has been charged with defrauding her employers of 2.1 million rand (Rs 1.13 crore) and faking cancer to hide her theft.

Vindra Jaickaran Chhoteylal Moodley, 49, shaved all her hair and eyebrows and plucked out her eyelids to seek sympathy after she stole more than two million rands by submitting fraudulent invoices to the school where she was teaching.

Moodley created a false company and billed the school for non-existent services, even trying to pin the blame on her son when she was caught out.

She recently pleaded guilty to 74 counts of fraud worth 2.1 million rand in the Durban Commercial Crime Court.

She is to be sentenced next month.

Moodley admitted about she lied to the school that she had cancer and had only four months to live.

She even produced fake doctors' letters and forged one from the respected Grey's Hospital Oncology Department to confirm this.

School staff, pupils, parents and various business houses were so convinced by Moodley's claims that they launched financial support efforts for her treatment.

One photo studio even arranged an expensive photo shoot at no charge as Moodley modelled to support her campaign to raise funds for her alleged cancer treatment.

The fundraisers have now called for a stiff sentence because of the impact on their efforts for genuine cancer sufferers due to Moodley's case.

Others who have started campaigns to raise funds for loved ones for the expensive treatments needed want Moodley to be severely punished, as her scam could impact their efforts.

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), a national NGO promoting cancer awareness, has strongly condemned Moodley's actions.

"The incident would negatively impact on sincere appeals for assistance as the public may doubt the sincerity of those who might be in desperate need of support," CANSA CEO Elize Joubert said.

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Electronics major Samsung today said it aims to be among the top players in India's industrial HVAC (Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) market as it focuses on segments like hospitality, real estate and healthcare.

The company, which estimates the segment to be worth USD 200 million currently, said the market in India is growing at a strong pace.

"We have an expansive range of HVAC products that can be customised as per the requirements of various industries. We are already seeing strong growth from sectors like hospitality, real estate and healthcare," Samsung India System AC Business Vipin Agarwal told reporters here.

He added that the company is also witnessing demand from sectors like education and offices that are looking to deploy cost-effective cooling solutions at their premises.

"Presently hospitality, residential, healthcare and office - these are all top four segments for us and each segment is almost similar, contributing 12 to 15 per cent," Agarwal said.

The total HVAC market in India is estimated to be around USD 200 million and is dominated by players like Daikin, Voltas and Blue Star.

The market is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 10-12 per cent, while the company has grown three times faster than the market, Agarwal said. He, however, declined to comment on the company's market share in the HVAC market.

Presently, Samsung India sources its entire HVAC range from overseas but is open to domestic production if it can attain "viable scale".

Besides, the South Korean chaebol is also expecting strong traction to come in from the 100 smart cities slated to come up across the country. These smart cities are expected to provide a major fillip to the technology firms, in India and overseas, that offer connected devices and solutions.

"Its a huge opportunity for us because our kind of products will suit those intelligent buildings," Agarwal said.

Besides, the educational segment is also emerging as big customer in last two years, where the air-conditioned class room are being set up at schools and higher institutions.

"India is adding many schools, colleges and educational institutions and this segment has also become equally important now," Agarwal said, adding that it has grown about 100 per cent in the segment.

Talking about the hospitality segment, he said the company is seeing huge opportunity in the tier II and III cities, where new hotels are coming up.

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Sarovar Hotels, with properties in more than 50 destinations in India and Africa, is eyeing 100 hotels by 2020, and is looking for opportunities to enter the Middle East market, a senior executive has said.

"We have 75 operational properties and 25 under various stages of development, including two in Africa. We are expecting to have 100 hotels by 2020," Sarovar Hotels managing director Ajay Bakaya told PTI here.

The company currently has three operating hotels in Africa, he added.

With an average 80 rooms, the company currently has 6,000 rooms and will be adding another 2,000 rooms with the completion of the pipeline, he said.

With this expansion, the hospitality group will also add more than 3,000 people to its existing workforce to take the total to over 13,000 employees by 2020.

The hospitality group has a strong presence in the northern region of the country followed by south, west and then east, he said.

The company has three brands, including Sarovar Premiere offering upscale 5 star properties, Sarovar Portico with full-service 3 and 4 star hotels and Hometel an economy or 3 star hotel.

"Sarovar Portico is our fastest growing brand and we expect our maximum growth in this category," he added.

The company, which owns two properties, follows asset light model and is into management contract, Bakaya said.

"We always actively look for suitable opportunities and are focused in the leisure and resort segment. Going forward we would like to add more properties under these two segments as since last 10 years, they have been growing and will continue to grow further," he added.

Bakaya, further said, the company is planning overseas expansion and is looking to foray into the middle east.

"After Africa, we are now looking at entering the middle east, due to its proximity with India. However, no deal has been signed yet," he added.

With strong fundamentals, things are looking positive for the industry, Bakaya said adding that in 2018, the hospitality sector is likely to witness 8-9 per cent growth compared to 6-7 per cent in 2017.

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The Supreme Court today dismissed the second PIL filed by a lawyer seeking the disqualification of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar from the state legislative council for allegedly suppressing from the Election Commission that a murder case was pending against him.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra expressed anguish over the fact that lawyer M L Sharma, whose earlier PIL on the same issue was dismissed, had moved another one with seeking similar reliefs and had even made the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as one of the parties.

"You do not file a properly constituted petition," the bench, comprising justices Misra, A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

"We have already dismissed your petition on the same issue two weeks back after getting the response from the other side," it said.

The bench also took exception to the fact that the PMO had been made a party to the petition and asked, "Why PMO has been made a party".

Earlier, the apex court on March 19 had dismissed the lawyer's PIL, saying it lacked merit as a candidate is liable to disclose the pendency of a criminal case only after a court takes cognisance.

The bench had taken note of Kumar's submission that he had informed the Election Commission of the pendency of the case in 2012 after the court took cognisance of it in 2009.

"The Election rules say that he (Nitish Kumar) should declare it (pendency of criminal case) post cognisance of the case," the bench had said while dismissing the PIL.

The PIL, filed by advocate Sharma, had alleged that there was a criminal case against the JD(U) leader in which he was accused of killing a local Congress leader Sitaram Singh and injuring four others ahead of the Lok Sabha by-election from Bihar's Barh constituency in 1991.

The lawyer had sought cancellation of Kumar's membership of the state Legislative Council in accordance with the Election Commission's 2002 order that it was mandatory for candidates to disclose criminal cases against them in their affidavits annexed to the nomination papers.

He had claimed that the Bihar chief minister had not disclosed the criminal case pending against him in affidavits since 2004, with the exception of 2012.

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A fervent plea was made in the Supreme Court to refer to its larger bench the Ayodhya land dispute case, saying the issue was far more important than that of polygamy among Muslims, which has been referred to a Constitution bench.

The plea was made by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who was appearing for a Muslim party, before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which said it will take a decision on referring the case to a larger bench after hearing all parties to the litigation.

"The Ayodhya land dispute is far more important than polygamy among Muslims and the whole nation wants an answer," Dhavan told the bench.

The special bench of the apex court is seized of a total of 14 appeals filed against the high court judgement delivered in four civil suits.

Earlier, the apex court had dashed the hopes of activists like Shyam Benegal and Teesta Setalvad to intervene in the sensitive Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute case, making it clear that only the parties to the original lawsuits would be allowed to put forth their arguments.

A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had in 2010 ordered that the land be partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
With the British capital experiencing an exceptionally high level of gun and knife crime and murder rate overtaking New York for the first time ever, Scotland Yard today held an emergency meeting with community leaders and youth workers in a bid to rapidly identify, hear and respond to any community tensions.

The rise in street violence in the British capital city has led to 55 murder investigations this year, with London's murder rate overtaking New York for the first time ever. At least 35 of those killed were stabbed to death.

Last evening, in another spate of violence, six teenagers were stabbed in separate incidents in London over just 90 minutes.

"London is currently experiencing an exceptionally high level of gun and knife crime. It is important that our response is fully informed by community concerns and any community tensions are rapidly identified, heard and responded to, the Metropolitan Police's invitation to today's emergency meeting said.

The victims of yesterday's stabbing included a 13-year-old boy and three 15-year-old boys, two of whom were injured in the same incident. All the boys are said to be in a stable condition in hospital.

Met Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, has announced a new 120-strong taskforce to tackle organised crime, in addition to the 80-member Operation Sceptre anti-knife unit launched in May 2017.

The issue of knife crime and street violence is set to dominate the ongoing campaign for local council elections in the city, scheduled for May 3.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has come under pressure over the issue from the Opposition Labour party, which have blamed the government's cuts to policing budgets for the spike in the city's crime rate.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has also faced criticism amid the growing number of violent crimes in the city and was forced to deny that the police had lost control of the situation.

"I'm angered and heartbroken by the number of violent deaths on our streets this week and this year. It's been devastating to see lives so many of them young lives senselessly ended and more families left in despair," he said in a statement on Twitter.

"Let me be clear there is no reason to carry a knife. To anyone who does they will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law," he said.

He also called on the UK government for increased funding for the police force.

"Already in the last seven years we have lost 700 million pounds from the policing budget. Over the next three years the government plans to cut another 300 million pounds. That's a billion pounds worth of cuts. So, my message to the government is please work with us to solve this national problem," he said.

Meanwhile, protesters and community leaders gathered in east London to call for an end to the recent spate of gang violence in which several teenagers have died. Protest organisers Guiding A New Generation (G.A.N.G) asked local residents to share their stories and plead for an end to the killings over a communal megaphone.

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BJP chief Amit Shah today mocked Rahul Gandhi for celebrating the saffron party's recent bypoll defeat in two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, saying the Congress president was celebrating his own party's "disastrous" performance.

"For the first time, I saw a leader distributing sweets for his own party's defeat as its candidates lost their deposits in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls," he said, addressing a rally here to mark the BJP's 38th Foundation Day.

"You are celebrating our defeat in two by-elections. We snatched 11 states from you," Shah said at the event, which is being seen as heralding the BJP's launch of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll campaign.

"What is the loss of two bypolls to the Lok Sabha? The BJP rules 70 per cent of the country now. From two MPs once, we have 330 MPs and 1,600 (state) legislators" now under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, he said.

"But our golden period is yet to come. It will come when we win Odisha, West Bengal and return to power in 2019 with an absolute majority under Modi and in Maharashtra, under (Chief Minister) Devendra Fadnavis," the BJP chief added.

Asking the party workers to ensure that the central government's welfare schemes and policies reach the last man in the society, Shah said, "All karyakartas (workers) should work to achieve Modi's dream of a New India."



He targeted Gandhi over his criticism of the dilution of the SC/ST Act and attempt to scrap reservations. The BJP would never allow reservations to be removed, he said, adding, "We will not allow you to do it either."



Shah said Gandhi was spending more time with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar these days.

"Rahul baba is asking us what has the Modi government done in four years, but the people of the country are seeking a report of development from four generations of his family," he said.

Asked by reporters after the rally if the BJP was taking Gandhi seriously as an opposition leader, Shah said, "Rahul is the Congress president now, so we will talk about him."



On RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remark that the Sangh did not endorse the BJP's "Congress-mukt Bharat" slogan, Shah said, "It was a political slogan. The RSS is not a political organisation and when we say Congress-mukt Bharat, we mean getting rid of the Congress culture and not the party organisation.

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Rabindranath Tagore renamed her Shanti. For the young Lithuanian woman, he was always Gurudev.

Almost a century after the two met, the story of Schlomith Flaum, who lived and taught in Santiniketan for two years, has been translated from Hebrew into English.

Recently launched in Delhi, the book -- 'Schlomith Flaum & Rabindranath Tagore' -- is an account of the young Jewish woman's meetings with Indian thinkers of the 20th-century, including Tagore and Gandhi.

The book, put together by Israeli author Shimon Lev, is a translation of Flaum's diaries, which were mostly written in Hebrew.

Jointly launched by the embassies of Lithuania and Israel, it recounts the time Flaum spent in Santiniketan from 1922-24.

It also contains copies of letters, some of which have not been published before, between Flaum and Tagore from 1922 to 1940.

It was during a lecture by Tagore at a Jewish synagogue in New York that Flaum met the poet in the early decades of the 20th century. She was then doing a teacher's training course at Columbia University.

Flaum, who was born in Lithuania in 1893 and died at the age of 70 in Israel, offered to teach at his school in West Bengal -- a proposal that Tagore agreed to.

She taught German language at Visva Bharati and was the headmistress of a nursery school in Santiniketan, which Tagore turned into an educational institute and later a university.

The book describes how during her stay in Santiniketan, Flaum interacted with leading figures of India's independence movement, including Gandhi, Annie Besant and Sarojini Naidu.

The letters to "Gurudev" included one where she expressed anguish over World War II and referred to "brutal Hitler and Mussolini.

"(They) sometime will pay for their deeds of treachery over humanity," she wrote.

Tagore named her Shanti (peace), which was the title that Flaum gave her publishing house. She brought out a biography of the poet in 1946.

It is not every day that we find such strong historical and cultural connections between three countries -- India, Lithuania and Israel -- in such a fascinating story," the ambassador of Israel to India, Daniel Carmon, said at the book launch.

Describing her as a feminist at a time when feminism wasn't a common practice, he said she did not look at India through the eyes of a tourist, but as a woman who cared for other women.

Author Lev called her the unofficial ambassador of India, and said his main motivation behind writing the book was to give a first-hand account of Tagore and Santiniketan through the eyes of Flaum.

This is my small contribution to the legacy of Santiniketan and Tagore, he said.

Lev, who conceived the idea of the book, approached the Lithuanian Embassy in 2016, proposing that he translate her diaries into English.

Stressing the importance of the book, Laimonas Talat-Kelpsa, the ambassador of Lithuania to India, said his country had lost about 95 per cent of its Jewish population during the Holocaust.

It is our duty today to rebuild of what we have lost, bring it back to our national memory and make it a part of our life, he said.

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Shubhankar Sharma was facing a tough challenge to make the cut as he was two-over through the front nine in the second round of the Masters at Augusta National here.

The 21-year-old, who shot five-over 77 in the first round, is now seven-over for the tournament and has nine more holes to go in the second round.

With the cut expected to fall around 5-over, Sharma would require a couple of birdies and play the back under par to stay on in the tournament.

However, if the conditions become tougher with more breeze and harder greens, it could be touch and go for him, even at 7-over. His best hopes would be the two Par-5s on 13th and 15th, where he had birdies on the first day.

Meanwhile, all the leading stars were in trouble, as overnight leader Jordan Spieth had a double bogey-bogey start and those three dropped shots in the first two holes meant he was down to three-under.

There were six players sharing the lead at 3-under. The six included Matt Kuchar and Spieth, besides Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman and Adam Hadwin, who were yet to start action on Friday.

Tiger Woods who shot 73 on first day was yet to begin.

Among leading players from first day, Tony Finau dropped from 4-under to 2-under after nine and McIlroy was down from 3-under to 2-under after getting to 4-under at one stage.

There were only a handful of players under par on second day and that included Dustin Johnson two-under through four.

Sharma, who had rough opening day with eight bogeys and three birdies for a 77, was still unable to hole makeable putts and finding the greens difficult to read.

On the second day, Sharma bogeyed the par-4, just as he had on the first day, and added a second bogey on ninth to turn in two-over and was still awaiting his first birdie of the second round. He is now 7-over with nine holes to play.

On Thursday, Sharma admitted, To be honest I not too happy with the round. I didn't finish the way I wanted to, but it was great out there, the atmosphere and everything, it was fantastic. The back nine I was just making birdies and bogeys, until the 16th hole, and then 17th and 18th were bad.

Summing up the first day, he said, The putter did not work on the front nine and approach (shots did not work) on the back nine. It was a mix of both.

Also on Thursday, Sergio Garcia, the defending champion after being 2-over through 14 holes shot a nightmarish 8-over 13 on a single hole 13, where he went into the water five times. He ended at 81.

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Further to the state government's 'Kerala Innovation Challenge' policy to find solutions for socially relevant problems, a partnership has been formed between Kerala Startup Mission and Singularity University, to launch SingularityU India Global Impact Challenge.

Singularity University (SU) is a global community using exponential technologies to tackle the world's biggest challenges and build an abundant future for all.

In line with this mission, the SingularityU India Global Impact Challenge is inviting moonshot innovations and startups in the field of education and that can positively impact a billion people over the next 10 years, a press releas said.

Singularity University has hosted many successful "Global Impact Challenges" since 2010 in many countries all over the world.

To date, the university has hosted 120 Challenges in 45 countries awarding 162 winners, it said.

The objective of these challenges is to spur moonshot innovations to solve the worlds greatest global challenges-- energy, environment, food, shelter, space, water, disaster resilience, governance, health, learning, prosperity and security-- by using exponential technology.

The newly announced "SingularityU India Global Impact Challenge" is open to all residents and citizens of India.

The winner of the Challenge will be selected on July 7 and awarded a prize to participate in the SU Ventures Incubator Program free of charge.

The winners will get training in leadership, structure and foundation for companies, develop a minimum viable product and meet other amazing innovators from all over the world.

The jury will consist of representatives from Singularity University, Kerala Startup Mission, as well as senior representatives of the entrepreneurship, business or innovation community, the release said.

The top teams will also be shortlisted for the Kerala Innovation Challenge and have the opportunity to pitch for an innovation grant for implementing the solution in Kerala.

"We are thrilled to partner with Kerala Startup Mission to identify talented entrepreneurs who are passionate to solve problems around education and environment", said Regina Njima, Director Singularity University Global Impact Challenge.

Through Global Impact Challenge, India edition, the effort was to identify and support innovations which could address various issues using exponential technologies, according to Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO of Kerala Startup Mission.

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Six activists were jailed for between seven and 15 years today for "attempting to overthrow the state", the harshest sentences in years as the communist country tightens its grip on critics.

The one-party state routinely locks up lawyers, bloggers and dissidents, but critics say a conservative leadership in charge since 2016 is a waging a crackdown that has sent a chill throughout the dissident community.

The six defendants convicted today, including prominent lawyer Nguyen Van Dai who got 15 years in jail, were sentenced after a one-day trial held under heavy security in the Vietnamese capital, lawyers told AFP.

The defendants were all charged under Article 79 for attempting to overthrow the state, the lawyers said.

The case has drawn international scorn and gained widespread attention in the country, where independent civil society groups, political parties and media are all barred by the communist state.

Article 79 carries the maximum penalty of death, but the accused were spared the harshest sentence.

The activists are linked to the Brotherhood for Democracy, a nationwide network of activists that says it has about 80 full-time members.

They were accused of carrying out human rights training, pushing for multi-party democracy and receiving funds from overseas, according to the indictment.

"At the trial today, no evidence showing the defendants' attempt at overthrowing the state was given," lawyer Le Luan told AFP after the one-day trial.

"The charge was very much groundless," he said.

Five of the accused have been previously convicted, included lawyer Dai who has long been a thorn in the side of the communist authorities. Dai served four years in prison in 2007 for anti-state activity.

He was arrested along with his assistant Le Thu Ha -- who was sentenced to nine years Thursday -- in December 2015.

Both were initially accused of anti-state propaganda before it was increased to the more serious charge of attempting to overthrow the state.

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The Kolkata Police has got in touch with the bank, from where pension was withdrawn in the name of a dead woman, whose body was preserved by her jobless son in a freezer at home for the last three years.

The police are looking into the genuineness of the life certificate in the name of the woman, which was presented at the bank to withdraw her pension. It is suspected that her son was withdrawing the money by taking his mother's thumb impression.

The police had yesterday recovered the body of the elderly woman, Beena Majumdar, from a freezer meant to keep meat. The body was preserved for about three years with the help of chemicals.

The body was found cut open from the chest till the abdomen with the internal organs removed. The corpse was embalmed regularly for its longevity.

The macabre act was reported from a house in the Behala area in the southern parts of the city after the police were tipped off by a journalist, who had come to know about it from the neighbours.

The son, Subhabrata Majumdar, who had mummified his mother's corpse, had studied leather technology.

Majumdar, in his early 50s, was jobless for at least two years.

He and his father, octogenarian Gopal Chandra Majumdar, were arrested last night. They were taken to the Alipur court today.

The police have booked the father-son duo under IPC section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life). The police said the section was bailable.

"We are probing if the life certificate presented at the bank to draw her pension was genuine or forged. If it was prepared by a doctor, we will question him," a police officer associated with the probe said.

He added that the police would also find out if someone from the bank had helped in illegally drawing the pension.

The officer said the son was preserving his mother's corpse in the freezer with the help of formalin, a chemical used to preserve dead bodies.

"Around a dozen jars of formalin, out of which 5-6 still had the seal, were found from the ground floor room of the house where the corpse was kept.

"The police will find out from where the chemical was purchased and whether it was bought showing a legitimate purpose," he said.

The son has told the police that he gathered information about preserving dead bodies using chemicals from medical journals.

"Many medical journals, in different languages, were recovered from the house," the police said.

Media reports claimed that the son was also inspired to carry out the macabre act after watching a programme on Discovery channel.

The police said they would also probe who helped the son take out organs from his mother's body.

The police would also talk to the neighbours to gather more details about the horrendous event, the officer said.

The world came to know about the matter after the neighbours alerted a journalist.

The neighbours knew the woman had died at a private hospital, but were clueless about what happened to her body.

The officer said the woman had died nearly three years ago and her body was preserved in a huge freezer in a locked room on the ground floor of the two-storeyed house.

There were two freezers in the locked room.

The body of the woman was kept in one of the freezers, while the other one was empty, the officer said, adding "We are trying to find out what was the purpose of the second freezer."



Both Gopal Chandra Majumdar and deceased Beena Majumdar had worked with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and were drawing a decent amount as pension.

Police sources said the husband of the woman told them that he was aware of the preservation of his wife's body and that he was convinced by his son, who showed him several medical journals on a corpse returning to life.

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Spanish police said today they had seized more than eight tonnes of hashish in two operations in the southern province of Cadiz, where drug traffickers are operating in an increasingly brazen manner that has alarmed authorities.

Officers seized around 2.5 tonnes of hashish from a house in a rural area near the port of Algeciras yesterday night after a tense standoff with suspected traffickers who had barricaded themselves inside, police said in a statement.

The police were targeted by "at least six shots from inside the house", some of which only narrowly missed officers, it added.

The four suspects inside the house gave themselves up after two hours of negotiation and were arrested.

Earlier on Wednesday, police seized more than six tonnes of hashish hidden in the basement of a house in the poverty stricken town of La Linea de la Concepcion on the border with Gibraltar, the disputed British territory on Spain's southern tip.

The entrance to the basement was hidden by the floor of a shower. A video released by police showed how the shower's floor could easily be opened by a hydraulic system activated by a remote control.

Police arrested one man during the operation, while several others managed to flee.

Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido in February vowed to send more police to Cadiz after around 20 people stormed a hospital in La Linea and freed a suspected narco who was under police guard.

In other cases traffickers have openly defied security forces by unloading drugs in broad daylight.

Spain's proximity to Morocco, a key source of cannabis, and its close ties with former colonies in Latin America, a major cocaine producing region, have made it an important gateway for international drug dealers.

According to the interior ministry, 40 percent of all drugs that come to Spain arrive via Cadiz.

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A sperm bank in the Chinese capital Beijing has listed loyalty to the ruling Communist Party as a prerequisite for prospective donors.

The 'Third Hospital of Peking University' launched a sperm donation campaign on Wednesday which will run until May 23.

It listed a series of requirements for the donors which include loyalty to the ruling CPC.

In addition to being in good health, the hospital says donors must have "favourable political qualities", the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

"(The donors must) love the socialist motherland and embrace the leadership of the Communist Party," the notice said.

"(He must) be loyal to the party's tasks, be decent, law-abiding and be free of any political problems," it said.

The Communist Party of China (CPC), headed by President Xi Jinping, now looks to stamp its control on sperm banks.

The CPC controls all walks of life in China including the military, police and all aspects of governance.

Apart from meeting the political requirements, would-be donors must be over 20 years old and show no obvious signs of hair loss, colour blindness or weight problems.

Donors will need to pass two rounds of tests first, one checking the quality of their semen and one for general health and fitness.

Those who pass the tests will be paid 200 yuan (USD 32) immediately. And those who successfully donate will be rewarded with 5,500 yuan (USD 872).

There appears to be no test for the donors' political reliability. A doctor on the hospital consultation hotline said no additional tests would be conducted for political requirements.

"It would be fine as long as you consider yourself suitable," the Post quoted the doctor as saying.

Donors will need to donate around 10 times in six months to ensure there is an adequate supply for artificial insemination.

Despite being the world's most populous country with over 1.3 billion people, China has tens of thousands of infertile couples longing for a child.

All sperm banks across the country face donation shortages because many young men are unaware or too embarrassed to donate.

Facing shortages, a sperm bank in Shanghai even offered iPhone in 2015 as inducement for more people to donate sperm.

Official media reports earlier said that the demand for donated sperm surged after Beijing relaxed its grip on the one-child policy in 2015, allowing two children in most families.

Families applying for IVF treatment could wait more than a year, partly due to a shortage of suitable donors.

Less than 20 per cent of donated sperm has been deemed suitable for use, according to the report.

Families using the sperm bank must prove that the husband is infertile or could transmit genetic diseases, the Post report said.

The sperm bank also provides a birth insurance, which allows clients to freeze their sperm in case of future medical problems.
Social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand today appeared before the city Crime Branch to record their statements in a case of alleged misappropriation of funds received by her NGO from the Union HRD Ministry between 2010 and 2013.

Setalvad and Anand were questioned by police officials for almost six hours at the Crime Branch headquarter here, said Assistant Commissioner of Police C N Rajput.

The couple also submitted some documents as demanded by the Crime Branch for the purpose of probe, he said.

"We recorded their statements today. While they have submitted some documents, they assured that remaining documents will be given later. We may call them again if needed," said Rajput.

When asked if the Crime Branch would probe Congress leader Kapil Sibal's role in the case (as he was the Union HRD minister at the relevant time), Rajput said they have not found any involvement of the Congress leader so far.

Yesterday, the Bombay High Court, while allowing Setalvad and Anand's 'transit anticipatory bail' plea, had asked them to appear before the Ahmedabad Crime Branch today.

The Crime Branch registered a complaint against Setalvad and Anand last month, alleging that they used fraudulent means to secure funds of Rs 1.4 crore from the Union Human Resource Development Ministry between 2010 and 2013 through their NGO Sabrang Trust.

The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Setalvad's former associate, Raees Khan Pathan.

The case was registered against Setalvad and Anand under various sections, including 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.

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The competing tariff proposals announced by the US and China will weigh on investor sentiment, and such "tit for tat" measures could lead to more financial market volatility in the coming months, global ratings agencies said today.

S&P Global Ratings in a statement said a greater threat is the dispute expanding beyond tariffs on goods.

"A breakdown in negotiations and policy missteps could spiral into a trade war, damaging global business and consumer confidence, investment prospects, and growth," it said.

Moody's Investors Service in its report said the rising uncertainty and political risk accompanying these "tit for tat measures" will likely have economic and financial impact beyond that which is transmitted through direct trade channels.

"A further escalation in trade tensions will weigh on investor sentiment and likely lead to more financial market volatility in the coming months. If the risk of escalation persists, it could also lead to reduced business investment over the medium term and lower production efficiency amid already low global productivity growth," Moody's said.

Earlier this week, the United States 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.

In a retaliatory move, China vowed to impose measures of the "same strength" on a host of American products in response to the tariff hike.

Terming China's move "unfair", the US yesterday said it would consider levying tariffs on an additional USD 100 billion in Chinese goods.

S&P said the US announcement that it may impose tariffs on another USD 100 billion of unspecified Chinese imports further raises the stakes in the China-US trade dispute.

"This action draws the countries even nearer to an all-out trade war," S&P Global Ratings said.

Moody's said it believes that the US and China will avoid a dramatic increase in trade restrictions, given the detrimental impact such an increase would have on both economies.

Moody's said it does not expect these proposals to take full effect.

"However, if implemented, these measures would signal a serious deterioration in the US-China trade relationship. In such a scenario, we would expect a material macroeconomic impact. Reciprocal tariffs would raise import prices and thus lower household real incomes, reduce trade flows, increase risk aversion and weaken wealth effects due to lower asset prices," Moody's said.

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Union minister Smriti Irani today pilloried the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal for the violence over nomination filing for next month's panchayat polls, claiming that the Mamata Banerjee-led regime had "failed in the state".

"The death of BJP leader Ajit Murmu only speaks of the law-and-order situation in the state. It speaks about how the TMC government has failed in the state...It shows how democracy is dying in Bengal," the information and broadcasting minister told a press conference at the state BJP office here.

Murmu, a BJP worker, died on Wednesday after allegedly being thrashed by TMC workers in West Bengal's Bankura district. The incident took place outside the office of the block development officer in the Ranibandh area.

Irani said the entire country was well aware of the "ground reality in Bengal".

Asked for her comment on the need for deployment of central forces for the rural polls, a demand made by the opposition parties, she said, "Being a central minister, I do not want to comment on the issue from this forum, but as a BJP worker, I would like to say that in a state, where a police official of the Asansol police commissionerate is not safe, what is happening in that state we all are aware of it."



The Deputy Commissioner (headquarters) of the Asansol-Durgapur police commissionerate, Arindam Dutta Chowdhury, was severely injured when agitators hurled a bomb at him near Ranigunj during clashes over Ram Navami processions.

Several incidents of political clashes between the workers of the BJP and the TMC have been reported from various areas of the state in the last few days over filing of nominations for the coming rural polls.

The violence that started since the beginning of the nomination filing on April 2 has claimed two lives in Malda and Bankura districts so far and left many injured.

Clashes between TMC and BJP activists were reported from the Nabagram area in Murshidabad district and Bankura today.

State BJP secretary Shyamapada Mondal was attacked allegedly by TMC supporters in Bankura in the afternoon, when he and his party workers were on their way to meet the district magistrate to submit a memorandum on the violence during filing of nominations for the panchayat polls.

Mondal alleged that about 300 "TMC goons", who were present there in violation of section 144, CrPC clamped in the area, attacked the BJP delegation.

The TMC leadership in the district dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Video footage aired on television channels showed crude bombs being hurled at Nabagram in Murshidabad district and supporters of the TMC and the BJP clashing with each other.

In the Nalhati area of Birbhum district, clashes broke out between the police and BJP supporters, when the latter defied the orders against taking out rallies or processions while filing nominations. The men in uniform used batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse the BJP supporters, a police official said.

A number of police personnel were injured when the BJP cadre hurled bricks at them and 25 workers of the saffron party were arrested in connection with the violence, the police said.

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Buried neck deep in the dry river bed with rose garlands, a group of farmers today chose the novel protest to symbolically highlight their plight and demand setting up of the Cauvery Management Board.

Choosing the Cauvery river bank in the temple town of Srirangam, encircled by the river Cauvery and its tributary Kollidam in the heart of the delta region for the protest, the farmers led by P Ayyakannu staged the 'burial protest' for nearly two hours.

Later they were removed by police persoonel with the help of volunteers.

Tense moments prevailed for some time when a group of about 50 farmers earlier arrived at the venue raising slogans, demanding immedaite constitution of the CMB.

When all of them tried to bury themselves, police personnel prevented them from doing so and allowed only 17 of them to stage the protest.

They immediately dug a pit and covered themselves with sand and raised slogans against the Centre for not setting up the CMB, despite the directive of the Supreme Court.

73-year-old Ayakannu, known for his macabre protests like eating rats to draw attention to farmers' problems, told PTI "we will wait upto April 9. we trust we will get justice."



The Apex Court is scheduled to hear the petitions of Tamil Nadu and the centre over formation of CMB on that date.

On his next action plan, Ayyakannu, president of National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association, said "we have no other option, but to follow the gandhian path and inflict harm on ourselves...."



Ayyakannu had spearhead a protest by farmers at Jantar Mantar in Delhi last year, demanding a drought relief package of Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre and farm loan waiver.

Meanwhile, a group of college students held an agitation beside a reservoir, near Thanjavur, demanding constitution of CMB.

The issue of setting up the CMB has rocked Tamil Nadu over the past few days, with ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK trading charges against each other.

The ruling AIADMK dispensation, led by Chief Minister K Palaniswamy and his deputy O Paneerselvam had observed a hunger strike on April 4 while the DMK led opposition parties' had observed a state wide bandh yesterday.

The bandh was by and large peaceful and near total in Tamil Nadu, barring some stone-pelting incidents.

DMK leader M K Stalin had accused the AIADMK regime of being "subservient" to the Centre and said the state should pressure the Centre to withdraw its plea in the Supreme Court.

The Centre has submitted a petition, seeking ' "clarification" on a scheme for implementing the top court's verdict over allocation of Cauvery water among riparian states.

The Tamil Nadu government had sought contempt action against the Centre for "failure" to frame the scheme.

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Hollywood star Tom Hanks' war drama "Greyhound" will hit the screens on April 5, 2019.

The Sony Pictures film, which stars Hanks, is based on C.S. Forester's novel "The Good Shepherd." Aaron Schneider is directing from Hanks' script, reported Variety.

"Greyhound" is currently filming in Baton Rouge, Los Angeles. It is set in the early days of World War II as an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by Hanks' Captain Ernest Krause, crosses the treacherous North Atlantic while being hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi U-boats.

Sony Pictures has also set "Grudge reboot for an August 16, 2019 release.

Directed by Nicolas Pesce, the film is a re-imagining of the supernatural thriller, for Ghost House and Good Universe.

"Grudge" will begin shooting in May.

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The trial in the rape and killing of British national Danielle McLaughlin began today with a South Goa court examining the first witness in the case.

The 28-year-old Briton, holidaying in Goa, was found dead at an isolated stretch between the Agonda and Canacona beaches in South Goa on March 14, 2017.

Vikat Bhagat (23), who was last seen with the victim and who the police claimed had previous cases against him, was arrested under the sections of the IPC relating to murder, rape, theft and destruction of evidence.

The trial began this afternoon before the District and Sessions Judge in Margao, Sayonara Telles, with the deposition of Prashant Komarpant.

"He was the person who saw the body of the deceased for the first time at an isolated spot and informed the police," Vikram Varma, the lawyer representing Andrea Branningan, the mother of the deceased, told PTI.

Varma is assisting Assistant Public Prosecutor D J Costa in the case.

Komarpant was cross-examined by defence lawyer A Moniz, Varma informed.

Komarpant told the court that he had been taking the same route, where the victim's body was found, regularly.

According to the chargesheet, Bhagat had tried to force himself on the woman at an isolated place between the Canacona and Agonda beaches.

When she resisted, he had hit her on the head with a beer bottle, raped and then strangulated her, the chargesheet states.

It adds that the accused then smashed the victim's face with a stone to destroy evidence.

The police examined 68 witnesses in connection with the case.

The case will be heard again on April 13.

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US President Donald Trump today said he did not know that his attorney had paid USD 130,000 to an adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public about an alleged affair with him.

"No, no," Trump told reporters, responding to a question if he knew about the USD 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, who is claiming that she had an affair with Trump.

The money was paid by his attorney Michael Cohen days before the 2016 presidential election so as to prevent Daniels from going public. Trump has denied all such allegations of having an inappropriate relationship with her.

"Well, you'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. And you'll have to ask Michael Cohen," Trump said when asked why Cohen made those payments if there was no truth to her allegations.

"No, I don't know. No," he said when asked if he knew where Cohen got the money to make that payment.

In a recent interview, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said that the payment was intended to keep a lid on allegations of a sexual encounter with the president.

Cohen has acknowledged having made the payment to her. He says that he made the payment from his personal account.

In a tweet, Michael Avenatti, her lawyer, said, "We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the USD 130,000 payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath".

"Good (actually GREAT) things come to those who wait!!! The strength of our case just went up exponentially. You can't have an agreement when one party claims to know nothing about it," he tweeted.

According to The New York Times, Trump's comments could create a predicament for him and his legal team. The case is based on the notion that the confidentiality agreement is invalid because Trump was not a party to it.

"By saying he was not aware of the agreement, Mr. Trump appeared to confirm that argument, which would mean neither party is legally bound by it, thus potentially paving the way for Ms Clifford to break her silence without consequences," the daily said.

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US President Donald Trump, who has sought to impose USD 150-billion worth of import tariffs on Chinese products, is taking actions to address China's "unfair trade practices", the White House said today.

Early this week, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced an initial proposed list of Chinese goods that could be subject to additional tariffs.

The Trump administration "is taking actions to address China's unfair trade practices, including the forced transfer of United States technology and theft of US intellectual property," the White House said.

Trump's trade actions are a response to years of unfair trade practices by China that have gone unaddressed.

The initial list included approximately 1,300 tariff lines valued at an estimated USD 50 billion. The list will now undergo an extensive public comment period and public hearing.

Once this process is complete, the USTR will make a final determination on the proper response.

"In order to develop the initial proposed list, the USTR worked with other agencies to identify products that unfairly benefit from China's industrial policies. There was extensive interagency analysis to ensure these tariffs maximise pressure on China to change its behaviour, while minimising the impact on the US economy," the White House said.

Instead of addressing its misconduct, China has retaliated against American farmers and manufacturers, the White House alleged.

"President Trump has therefore directed the USTR to determine if an additional USD 100 billion worth of tariffs would be appropriate under section 301. Any additional tariffs would be subject to a similar review and public comment period as the initial list," the White House said.

Noting that Trump has instructed the Secretary of Agriculture to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect American farmers and agriculture, the White House said that in addition to this week's tariff announcements, the USTR has initiated a WTO dispute against China for its unfair practices, is examining potential restrictions on Chinese investment, and is working with allies also affected by China's unfair behaviour to restore fairness to global trade.

"Year after year, China continues to distort global markets and harm US businesses and consumers with unfair trade practices," the White House alleged.

For example, China's unfair industrial policies, like 'Made in China 2025' policy initiative, clearly state China's goal of taking away domestic and international market share from foreigners. Members of all political parties, the US business community, and workers around the world are concerned about China's behaviour, it said.

The White House said Trump has made it clear that the US can no longer tolerate such behaviour and he is following through on his pledge to take actions to ensure China finally plays by the rules.

"While previous administrations let China's actions go unanswered, President Trump is standing up for American workers to ensure that American businesses are treated fairly and lawfully," the White House said.

Asserting that Trump is for free trade which must also be fair trade, the White House said that addressing unfair trade practices and ensuring that global trade is free, fair, and reciprocal will have a significant positive long-term impact on the US economy.

"The administration's responsive actions follow an extensive investigation by the USTR, which revealed how China's unfair policies and practices are harming American commerce. An inter-agency analysis concluded that these policies and practices cause at least tens of billions of dollars in damages to the US every year," it said.

The White House statement came as several US lawmakers criticised Trump for his anti-China measures, asserting that this would harm American economy and industry.

"Escalating the potential of a trade war with China is reckless and it gambles the livelihoods of US farmers and ranchers across rural America. Sixty per cent of North Dakota's exports to China are agricultural products. China's unfair trade policies need to be reined in but this isn't the way to do it," said Senator Heidi Heitkamp.

Virginia Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine - raised concerns after Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed that proposed tariffs could hurt Virginia businesses and employees, as China is its biggest export market for agricultural goods.

In retaliation, China said it was considering raising tariffs on soybeans, beef and other critical agriculture commodities produced in Virginia in response to President Trump's proposed tariffs.

"President Trump should be making it easier for Virginia farmers and families to get ahead, not driving us head-first into a harmful trade war," the Senators said.

"The President's reckless actions aren't 'good' for the farmers and local businesses whose products would face huge taxes from China. And President Trump causing massive volatility in the stock market sure isn't 'good' for our economy or Virginia families' retirement savings," they said.

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Eight days ahead of Dr B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary, two of his statues were today found vandalised in Madhya Pradesh.

A statue of Ambedkar was found damaged in Amoda area in Satna district this morning, superintendent of police Rajesh Hingankar said.

Another statue of the Dalit icon was found vandalised in Indira Nagar area under the Mehagaon police station limits in Bhind district this morning, said inspector N K Tripathi.

The Satna SP said a new statue of Ambedkar would be installed in Amoda.

In both cases, police have registered cases and probe is on, officials said.

The situation was peaceful in both the districts.

Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution, was born in Mhow town in Madhya Pradesh on April 14, 1891.

The state had witnessed widespread violence on April 2 during the "Bharat bandh" called by Dalit outfits to protest against the recent Supreme Court order on the SC/ST Act.

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Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians while around 250 others were wounded in clashes today as thousands protested along the Gaza Strips border, the enclaves health ministry said.

The latest Palestinian fatality was named as Shadi Shabat, 38, killed in clashes east of Gaza City. Another man was shot dead earlier east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the ministry said.

The clashes come a week after similar demonstrations led to violence in which Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians in the deadliest day since a 2014 war.

Israels army has faced criticism over its use of live fire, but it has warned open-fire rules will remain unchanged to stop damage to the border fence, infiltrations and attacks.

Today, Israels military said in a statement that "approximately 10,000 Palestinians have been rioting in five locations along the border with the Gaza Strip".

It added that "several attempts have been made to damage and cross the security fence under the cover of the smokescreen created by the burning tires that the rioters ignited".

The military also said explosive devices and firebombs were thrown.

"Troops are responding with riot dispersal means, including water cannons to put out fires, a huge fan to disperse the smoke, and fire in accordance with the rules of engagement," it said.

Protesters set alight mounds of tyres to create a smokescreen for Israeli snipers, sending thick black smoke into the air.

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1The United States imposed major sanctions on Friday against 24 Russians, striking at allies of President Vladimir Putin in one of Washingtons most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US election and other malign activity. The action, taken under pressure from the US Congress, freezes the US assets of oligarchs such as aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Putin, and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose family controls Russias largest gold producer, Polyus. The sanctions largely respond to what US ...
The United States today imposed sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs accused of supporting and profiting from President Vladimir Putins efforts to undermine western democracies.

Senior US officials described the wealthy international businessmen as members of Putins "inner circle".

"The United States is taking these actions in response to the totality of the Russian governments ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity across the world," one official said.

Those hit by sanctions include aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, described as operating for the Russian government, as well as Alexei Miller, director of state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

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The Delhi High Court today sought the response of a businessman on a plea by ED challenging bail granted to him in connection with a multi-crore money laundering case involving former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

Justice Anu Malhotra asked the ED's counsel what was wrong with the trial court's bail order and what was the evidence against the accused and listed the matter for further hearing on May 31.

Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, the director/promoter of Tarini Group of Companies, was granted bail by a trial court in March 9, noting that no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody.

During the hearing, advocate Nitesh Rana appearing for ED, argued that it was a case of economic offence which has to be kept at a higher pedestal and the allegation against the accused were of serious nature.

He contended that Chandrasekhar had helped Singh in laundering crores of rupeesand said the probe agency's investigation was still in progress.

Chandrasekhar was arrested on February 15 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was in judicial custody before getting bail.

The ED had alleged that Chandrasekhar "had provided an amount of Rs 5.9 crore to Singh and his family members through his three personal bank accounts".

It had claimed that when the source of funds was enquired into, it came to light that the amount was received through a web of firms indulging in accommodation entry operations.

The court had on February 12 summoned Singh, his wife and three others as accused in the case, after taking cognisance of the ED charge sheet against them and others, saying there was "prima facie" enough evidence against the accused persons.

The ED, in its charge sheet, named 83-year-old Singh, accusing him of projecting around Rs 7 crore "proceeds of crime" as agricultural income in connivance with his wife and others and invested them in purchasing LIC policies.

Besides Singh and his 62-year-old wife Pratibha Singh, the court summoned Universal Apple Associate owner Chunni Lal Chauhan and two other co-accused, Prem Raj and Lawan Kumar Roach.

The final report also named as accused Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent Anand Chauhan, against whom a charge sheet was earlier filed by the agency.

All six have been named in the charge sheet under relevant provisions of the PMLA. A disproportionate assets case, lodged by CBI, is also going on against Singh and others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China will take "comprehensive countermeasures" and fight "at any cost" US President Donald Trump's directive to authorities to consider tariffs on USD 100-billion worth of Chinese products, a top official said today.

The US, the world's largest economy, has a trade deficit of almost USD 500 billion with China, the world's second largest economy.

The statement by China came a day after Trump ordered the US Trade Representative (USTR) to consider imposing tariffs on an additional USD 100 billion in Chinese imports.

China will hit back with comprehensive countermeasures if US continues its unilateral, protectionist practices, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said.

"On Sino-US trade, China has made its position very clear. We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of such a war," the spokesperson was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua agency.

"Concerning the US statement, we will not only listen to the words but also watch the deeds," the spokesperson said.

If the US continues its protectionism regardless of opposition from China and the international community, "China will fight to the end at any cost to protect the interests of the country and the people. The conflict was initiated by the United States as provocation," the official said.

China will continue reforms and opening up, safeguard multilateral trade, and promote trade and investment liberalisation, the spokesperson said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also made similar pledge when asked to comment on Trump's direction.

"We have heard what the US has said publicly about imposing tariffs, and we will also monitor what moves it will take. If the US disregards the objections of China and the international community and persists in unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will follow through to the end and fight back resolutely," Lu said.

"China will take new comprehensive countermeasures to resolutely safeguard the interests of our nation and our people at whatever cost," he said in a statement posted on the Foreign Ministry website.

By provoking a trade conflict with China, the US side in fact mounted a challenge to the world multilateralism and free trade regime with its unilateralism and protectionism, Lu said.

Wei Jianguo, former vice-minister of the commerce ministry, said that China may cut down service trade with the US in view of the current trade conflict.

"China needs to have some countermeasures ready if the trade skirmish drags on," he told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

The trade spate which is deteriorating into a trade war between the top two economies of the world began with Trump imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the US.

China retaliated by imposing additional tariffs worth about USD three billion on 128 US products.

Trump, while demanding China to reduce the USD 375 billion by USD 100 billion, retaliated with tariffs on USD 50 billion in Chinese products. In retaliation, China announced plans to impose new tariffs on 106 American products.

China said the date of implementation of the new tariff regime will depend on when the US government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products.

Yesterday, China went a step further, raising a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation over the US' decision to slap duties on Chinese steel and aluminium products.

But the US and Chinese officials are still trying to play down the possibility of a full-scale trade war, the Post report said.

Larry Kudlow, the White House's National Economic Council director, said on Wednesday that both the countries still had time to work out their differences.

The US and Chinese officials favour using 'close communication' to avoid a full-blown trade war.

And after a meeting with acting US Secretary of State John Sullivan, Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai underscored the need to remain in close communication to restore fairness and balance to economic ties.

"We will always stand for consultation and negotiation. Negotiation would still be our preference, but it takes two to tango," Cui said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Backing the Uttarakhand election commission's accusation that the state government was delaying the civic body polls, noted rights activist Avdhash Kaushal today threatened to move court against the chief minister and the chief secretary if elections were not held on time.

Alleging that the delay in announcement of civic body poll schedule was part of an "evil design" hatched jointly by politicians and bureaucrats, Padmashree awardee Kaushal said his NGO, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), would seek legal action if elections to civic bodies were.

The five-year term of the municipal bodies in Uttarakhand ends on May 3 and polling should be held before that date as per provisions of the Indian Constitution.

"According to the 74th Amendment Act (Article 243U), duration of the municipality has been fixed at five years from the date of its appointment. Elections to constitute a municipality are required to be conducted before the expiry of its term.

If the municipality is dissolved before the expiry of five years, the elections for constituting a new municipality are required to be completed within a period of six months from the date of its dissolution," Kaushal said, citing constitutional provisions.

Quoting a Supreme Court order, he said, "The states concerned cannot be permitted to withhold the elections to panchayats/local bodies except in cases of genuine supervening difficulties to hold such elections, e.g., unforeseen natural calamities in the state like flood, earthquake, etc."



"There is an evil design by the state government to postpone the elections of municipal boards and corporations. This is being done because of bureaucratic and political nexus," Kaushal alleged.

"This is a clear case of violating the Constitution as well as the Supreme Court's order. We will file a case against the chief secretary and the chief minister if they do not hold the election in time and RLEK fully supports the Uttarakhand Election Commission," he said.

The Uttarakhand election commission has already moved the high court accusing the state government of not being serious about holding election to civic bodies on time.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
YSRCP MPs continued their indefinite hunger strike to press the demand of special category state (SCS) status for Andhra Pradesh here today even after a dust storm severely damaged the dais.

Five YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) members in the Lok Sabha today submitted their resignation letters to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over the "failure" of the Centre to grant special category state status to Andhra Pradesh



"People believed us that we will fight for SCS. If we still stick to our posts, it would be like cheating them. So we decided to quit and put pressure on the central government through our strike," YSRCP MP Mithun Reddy said at the Andhra Pradesh Bhawan.

"Telugu Desam Party members are going on mocking our efforts, but we do not want certificates from them, we are doing this for the people," he said.

Students hailing from the state also joined the protest in solidarity.

On TDP MPs not offering resignations over the matter, YSRCP MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy said, "It is their decision whether to resign or not...People are watching their actions and will respond to it accordingly."



Meanwhile, the TDP MPs who were protesting inside Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's chamber after the House was adjourned sine die were marshalled out in the evening.

TDP MP Murali Mohan Maganti was taken to RML Hospital after he complained of giddiness, according to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's media cell.
By Bruno FederowskiBRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's sugarcane industry on Thursday took aim at policies undertaken by Pakistan and India to protect local producers and boost sugar exports, arguing they could further depress global prices.Pakistan, whose stature as a sugar producer has been growing in recent years, in January quadrupled the volume of sugar eligible for export subsidies to 2 million tonnes in a bid to reduce excessive domestic supplies.Eduardo Leao de Sousa, the director for cane industry group Unica, said the organisation was assessing whether those practices comply with World ...
By Promit Mukherjee and Nidhi VermaMUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India plans to set up a natural gas trading exchange as early as October this year to prepare for a surge in supply from India's east coast and a slew of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a meeting last week with industry officials set a deadline of Oct. 1 for the country's primary natural gas distribution regulator to set up the exchange, said three sources familiar with the discussions. The exchange is aimed at standardizing natural gas prices, said a government official, a consultant and ...
By Nate Raymond(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson suffered its first trial loss in a lawsuit claiming its talc-based products including Johnson's Baby Powder contain cancer-causing asbestos, with a New Jersey jury on Thursday ordering the company to pay $37 million in damages.The verdict of liability in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick came as J&J fights thousands of cases claiming its talc products can also cause ovarian cancer. The jury found J&J and another company liable after more than two months of trial.The lawsuit was brought by New Jersey resident Stephen Lanzo, who said ...
By David Lawder and David LjunggrenWASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Top U.S., Mexican and Canadian trade officials met on Friday to discuss prospects for updating the North American Free Trade Agreement amid pressure from Washington to strike a quick deal despite several unresolved issues.No time limit has been set for the Washington talks between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, a Canadian government source said.Lighthizer, citing the need to avoid clashing with a Mexican presidential ...
By Stephanie KellyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 2 percent on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on China, reigniting fears of a trade war between the world's two largest economies that could hurt global growth.Trump said on Thursday he had ordered U.S. trade officials to consider tariffs on an extra $100 billion of imports from China, escalating tensions with Beijing.China warned on Friday it was fully prepared to respond with a "fierce counter strike" of fresh trade measures if the United States follows through on Trump's threat."The heightened ...
(Reuters) - Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) said on Friday the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has given its approval for the debt-laden company to proceed with the sale of its tower and fibre assets.The Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a high court stay on sale of the company's assets including media convergence nodes (MCNs), spectrum and real estate, allowing its secured lenders to proceed with the sale.The National Company Law Tribunal had prevented RCom from selling any asset without its permission, following a legal challenge from Swedish telecoms gear maker Ericsson, ...
By Apeksha Nair and Sethuraman N R(Reuters) - The escalating U.S.-China trade dispute is unlikely to derail the stellar run for U.S. cotton exports this year due to robust demand, crop issues in India and lower synthetic fibre output from China, traders and analysts said this week.The natural fibre came into focus in the dispute after Beijing proposed fresh tariffs on U.S. goods and commodities, including cotton and soybeans, following similar moves by the United States."It should be a zero-sum game in terms of trade, with U.S. cotton going to destinations other than China and competing ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is considering ways to require imported automobiles to meet stricter environmental standards in order to protect U.S. carmakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.Responding to the story, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump "will promote free, fair and reciprocal trade practices to grow the U.S. economy and continue to (bring) jobs and manufacturers back to the U.S." Citing unnamed senior administration and industry officials, the Journal said Trump had asked several agencies to pursue plans to use existing ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, again ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.Trump said in a statement the further tariffs were being considered "in light of China's unfair retaliation" against earlier U.S. trade actions that included $50 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods.In a statement, Trump said the U.S. Trade Representative had determined that China "has repeatedly engaged in practices to unfairly obtain America's intellectual property."Financial markets have swung ...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department presented evidence on Thursday to show that AT&T , owner of DirecTV, viewed buying Time Warner as a way to make viewers stick with their pay TV service instead of moving to cheaper online providers.The department has sued to block AT&T's $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner, saying the deal could raise prices for pay-TV rivals and subscribers while hampering the development of online video.In a hearing before U.S. Judge Richard Leon, Justice Department attorney Julie Elmer cited an email and report in which Gregory Manty, a director of ...
Peter Rork poses for a photo with staff members of the Cache Humane Society after transferring dogs from Arizona April 5, 2018.

LOGAN  A group of special passengers arrived at the Logan-Cache Airport from a private flight Thursday afternoon. Fifteen dogs were flown in from a high-kill shelter and transferred to the Cache Humane Society where they will have a better chance of survival and adoption.

Before landing in Logan, Rork picked up a group of dogs in Hobbs, New Mexico then flew to nearby Roswell to pick up more. After that, the retired orthopedic surgeon dropped them off to shelters in Denver and Salt Lake City before buzzing back down to Phoenix to pick up more. After transferring some of the dogs in Grand Junction, Colorado and again in Salt Lake City, he brought the rest to Cache Valley.

Thats not an unusual week for Rork.

Since being founded by Rork in 2012, the Dog is My CoPilot organization has rescued and moved almost 10,000 dogs from high-kill shelters. Utah is one of Rorks main destinations because the state is great with dogs, he said. Rork makes multiple trips per week from the southwestern states.

They just dont understand spay and neuter, so they are completely overrun, he said. So we provide that long distance transportation out of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California to the northern states where they are much better with their animals. We only fly from the kill facilities to the non-kill shelters.

Sadie Smith is the transportation coordinator for the Cache Humane Society. She works with other facilities to bring in animals in order to provide a better chance at adoption. For instate transfers the Humane Society uses its van, but Dog is My CoPilot has been a valuable organization for getting animals from out of state.

Smith said the Cache Humane Society is in contact with a lot of shelters and frequently brings in animals.

It starts with us reaching out to a shelter or them reaching out to us, she said. We have lots of connections with them as a shelter already. I think we actually reached out to them saying we have room.

Rork said there are four main ways people can help the animals. The first, and best way, he said, is to adopt. The second is to foster an animal.

Every animal that you save, saves two, he said. The one that you save and the one that takes its place.

If you are unable to do that, Rork said, you can volunteer your time at a shelter or donate money to an organization like Dog is My CoPilot, which doesnt charge the senders or receivers and relies on donations.

We dont run on pixie dust, Rork said. Jet fuel costs a lot and we burn a lot of it.

Those who wish to donate to Dog is My CoPilot can do so at this link.
The regions concerned are the Adamawa, Centre, Littoral, West, North West and South West report CT.

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Government is stepping up measures to tackle the upsurge in insecurity in the country perpetrated mostly by holders and users of locally fabricated and modern guns. The Minister of Territorial Administration who doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the National Security Council, Atanga Nji Paul in a press release issued on April 4, 2018 has banned the sale of arms in the Adamawa, Centre, Littoral, West, North West and South West Regions. The regions concerned are notorious with regard to insecurity in most cases perpetrated by armed gangs and gunmen. Robbery using arms is recurrent in the West, Centre and Littoral Regions. In the Adamawa Region, public authorities are constantly on the field fighting highway robbery and abduction of livestock breeders and business person with the help of arms.



Secessionist fighters in the North West and South West Regions have multiplied running armed battles with the countrys security and defence forces using either locally fabricated or imported modern arms. After the Regional Governors Conference of December 2017, Cameroons 10 Regional Governors were instructed to ensure the rigorous implementation of Law N 2016/015 of 14 December 2016 governing arms in the country. The implementation of the law, judging from the rising insecurity using arms must have been ineffective. With the Minister of Territorial Administrations instructions, much is expected to change in the six regions targeted and by extension the entire country. From April 4, 2018, holders of locally fabricated and modern guns who do not have licences have up to 30 days to submit the guns at local administrative offices that include Senior Divisional and Subdivisional Offices against a receipt.



Holders of guns with licences have to once more go through the identification process at the competent Governors, Senior Divisional and Subdivisional Offices. Minister Atanga Nji states that violators of the instructions would face administrative and penal sanctions in conformity with the laws in force. Besides overseeing the submission of the guns and identification of their legal holders, the administrative authorities have been instructed to shut up all guns fabrication units in the six regions until further notice. They equally have to do an exhaustive inventory of stocks of arms and ammunitions in manufacturing units and orders placed. Government through the measure intends to curb the current circulation of arms that is largely above the legalised the number. This situation, constitutes a veritable threat to public order and security. The success of the prescribed operation in the six regions, the Minister said, would guarantee the security of people and their property nationwide .





Emmanuel KENDEMEH







 Les detentions illegales darmes ne seront plus tolerees 



Chaibou, Prefet du departement de la Mifi.



Quel est le processus dacquisition des armes a feu ?



Le processus dacquisition des armes a feu est contenu dans la loi 2016/015 du 14 decembre 2016 portant regime general des armes et munitions au Cameroun. Cette loi reconnait aussi plusieurs categories darmes. Il y a des armes de defense et de securite quon appelle generalement armes de premiere, deuxieme et troisieme categorie. Ce sont des armes quon ne peut pas retrouver entre les mains des civils. Il y a les armes de quatrieme et cinquieme categorie. Ce sont ces armes a feu qui sont sous lautorite du Minat, et quon pourrait retrouver entre les mains des civils, parce que ce sont des armes de chasse, de protection, de defense. Enfin, il y a les armes de sixieme, septieme et huitieme categorie qui sont des armes a utilisation de poudre, ca peut etre des armes de salon ou de jeux. Mais les armes qui font probleme actuellement, ce sont les armes a feu. Cest-a-dire les armes de quatrieme et cinquieme categorie. On peut le dire, ces armes proliferent dans la region de lOuest.



Qui peut acquerir ces armes a feu ?



La loi parle des citoyens camerounais ayant au moins 21 ans et de bonne moralite. En plus de cela, nous demandons maintenant lextrait de casier judiciaire et lenquete de moralite aupres des services competents. Il faut aussi justifier de lopportunite de lutilisation ou du port de ces armes. Ce sont generalement des armes de chasse. Quelquun peut dire quil a une plantation et quil y a peut-etre des animaux qui viennent deteriorer son champ, sil justifie cela, on peut lui permettre davoir une arme pour pouvoir chasser les animaux. De meme, les chasseurs peuvent aussi acquerir ces armes a feu. Il y en a qui peuvent avoir des pistolets comme armes de defense.



Quelles sont les mesures a prendre pour reduire ce phenomene ?



La premiere mesure, cest quapres le communique du Minat, nous allons descendre sur le terrain nous adresser aux chefs traditionnels et aux populations. Sils sont detenteurs des autorisations, on va leur remettre leurs armes. Ensuite, nous demandons a tous ceux qui detiennent les armes daller declarer la taxe sur les armes a feu au niveau des communes, tel que la loi le prevoit. Cest une obligation. Si quelquun se retrouve avec une arme dont les taxes ne sont pas payees, ce nest pas normal. Enfin, pour ceux qui detiennent les armes illegalement, il ny a meme pas de negociations possibles. Ils doivent remettre ces armes, pour leur propre protection. Il ny aura pas de justifications lors des controles.



Eric Vincent FOMO
| BY Ricki Green |

Back for a third year, The Communications Council has announced member registrations are now open for the highly-sought-after AWARD Creative Leadership course. The 3-day intensive residential is a crucial step in the career journey for aspiring creative leaders, with nearly 50 percent of past delegates being promoted to leadership roles within a year of completing the course.

Exclusive only to The Communications Council corporate members, the 2018 course will feature guest talks by industry leaders, and will be curated and chaired by creative legend Warren Brown, partner at Gutthink & Partners.

Says Brown: This course is designed to prepare and empower those that are ready to become a catalyst for the success of those around them. Personally I wish Id had the benefit of this course when I was younger. For those who attend this year, if even only one thing from the course makes them a better creative leader then its been worth it.

Inspiring others to be the best they can be creatively is wonderfully rewarding. Just ask Susan Hoffman, co-chief creative officer from W+K, who Im delighted to say is joining me in this years Creative Leadership course.

Three intensive days on site feature a series of modules spearheaded by leading ECDs, agency CEOs and CFOs. Sessions are highly interactive, combining workshops, panels, role plays and Q&As with inspirational speakers.

In addition, this years students will have the opportunity to learn directly from Hoffman during a special Ask Susan segment.

As W+Ks co-chief creative officer, Susan Hoffman currently oversees the entire global network.

Recently inducted into the One Club for Creativity Hall of Fame, Hoffman is one of the most admired and awarded creatives in advertising.

Her portfolio of work includes some of W+Ks most memorable and game-changing ads, including Nikes If You Let Me Play and Revolution, Old Spices The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, and Chryslers Super Bowl spots starring Eminem and Clint Eastwood.

Says Mike Spirkovski, chair, AWARD: In its third year the AWARD Creative Leadership course has proved highly successful with many of its alumni being promoted to creative directors. Whilst it might be an intensive few days it mirrors what it takes to be a creative leader and there is no better way than learning how, from those that did it best, like Warren Brown and other industry greats.

This year we have special guest Susan Hoffman who needs no introduction. Susan is an inspiration and will no doubt share valuable insights on how to build a successful long term career as a creative leader.

The Creative Leadership course is proudly presented by AWARD  Australias longest-standing and most respected professional development programme for creatives.

The 2018 course agenda and daily chairs will be announced in the coming weeks.

Course information:

Sydney

Date: Sunday May 27  Tuesday May 29, 2018

Venue: Ovolo Hotel, Woolloomooloo Wharf, Sydney

Members: $4400* (including GST)

* Includes accommodation and meals

To ensure each delegate experiences a high level of mentoring, practical experience and direct value, the group is capped.
| BY Ricki Green |

Y&R New Zealand has today announced that Josh Moore has resigned and will leave the agency to pursue a new opportunity.

Moore joined Y&R New Zealand in 2011 as ECD and soon assumed the dual roles of CEO & CCO. In 2016 his CCO duties were expanded to include Y&R Australia. Under his leadership the NZ agency moved into new offices in City Works Depot and won a host of new business and creative awards, including agency of the year titles at D&AD, AWARD and Campaign Brief.

As a result of his departure, Jono Key, managing director Y&R New Zealand and Fleur Head, managing director Wellington will assume a dual leadership role overseeing their respective offices, ultimately reporting to Y&Rs regional CEO, Australia and New Zealand, Pete Bosilkovski.

Says Moore: Y&R NZ has been seven years of incredibly hard work, sleepless nights and much success and Im incredibly proud of the business weve built, the clients we have and I love the team we are. The agency has evolved from being just another dot on the agency map to one of the most celebrated in our network and the region. Which is why its incredibly hard to leave. But theres always something new to achieve and so its simply time to take up a new challenge.

Says Key: Under Joshs stewardship weve taken what was a middling agency to one that has over doubled in both size and revenue. Y&R New Zealand has a distinct style of work, that both demands attention and meets our clients business needs. Awards and campaigns aside, Joshs greatest legacy to Y&R is that he leaves behind a culture of ambitiousness, perseverance and sense of fun; ultimately this is what will be integral to the agencys continued ongoing success.
| BY Lynchy |

Thailand is one of the largest alcohol-consuming countries in ASEAN  especially in mid-April, when people celebrate the Thai New Year Songkran Festival. Its a big celebration in Thailand and a lot of fun until people get too recklessly drunk.

SangSom, one of the largest alcohol beverage brands targeting young Thais, initiated this CSR campaign called Drink Dont Dumb. The campaign was developed from consumer insight and their real-life situations of being unconsciously drunk. The brand aims to remind the younger generation in Thailand to drink appropriately for fun and to stay conscious and not act dumb and stupid.
Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 10:55PM

While its a brand you probably wont encounter here, the main selling point of its newest smartphone is too much to pass up on writing about. The Blackview P10000 Pro packs in a massive 11,000mAh battery that promises 50 days of standby time and seven days of use on a single charge. Its included 5V/5A charger promises to charge the P10000 Pro from dead to full in just two hours and 25 minutes. Of course, it isnt just the battery size that determines the batterys performance, things like software optimization plays a big role as well. But theres something to be said about a phone that doesnt need to rely on thatof course, actual use is going to paint a different picture than what the manufacturer claims it can do.

The other specs of the P10000 Pro include a 5.99-inch display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and 2,160 x 1,080 resolution, 13-megapixel and 0.3-megapixel front cameras, 16-megapixel and 0.3-megapixel rear cameras, MediaTek octa-core Helio P23 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and Android 7.1 Nougat (thats said to be upgradeable to Android 8.1 Oreo). If youre intrigued, the phone is selling on AliExpress for around $200 USD (around $250 CAD).

Source: Android Authority
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The ACT government's Professional Standards Unit has investigated 124 allegations of misconduct by public servants in its two years of operation, leading to 25 sackings since January 2016. The unit was set up in late 2015 to take over misconduct investigations for all ACT agencies and directorates, to centralise investigations and make them more independent of the agencies. Figures obtained by The Canberra Times show the unit has investigated 124 misconduct allegations since it took over, of 142 referrals from directorates, with allegations ranging from bullying and sexual harassment to fraud, conflicts of interest and the inappropriate disclosure of government information. It comes as the ACT Auditor-General Dr Maxine Cooper also investigates allegations of breaches of the Public Sector Management Act by ACT Health staff in recent months. Despite widespread and substantiated allegations of misconduct in the ACT public service's ranks, and lingering questions around a series of questionable land deals, the government earlier this year delayed introducing new laws to create an anti-corruption commission in the territory until at least next year. The total number of investigations does not equate to the number of individual staff investigated, as some investigations related to multiple allegations of misconduct. While most allegations investigated related to more minor "inappropriate behaviour" by territory public servants, at 41 in 2016 and 47 in 2017, the unit also investigated three fraud allegations last year and five in 2016. The figures also show the unit investigated two allegations of sexual harassment in 2016 and five such claims in 2017; eight bullying allegations in 2016 and 11 in 2017 and eight assaults or "excessive use of force" allegations in 2016, with 14 such claims in 2017. The Chief Minister's directorate, where the unit operates from, would not provide specific information linking all the allegations to individual findings or penalties, due to privacy concerns. But a directorate spokeswoman did provide figures on the numbers of penalties imposed in each calendar year, including 61 substantiated findings of misconduct in 2016, from 72 referrals made, and 43 substantiated findings in 2017, from 70 referrals. Those figures also show 20 public servants were issued a written warning or "admonishment" for their behaviour in 2016, a number falling to just three such warnings in 2017. The unit imposed 10 financial penalties in 2016, including fines, or temporary or permanent pay grade reductions, with a further 13 such penalties were imposed in 2017. Of all the investigations conducted in its first two years of full operation, the unit's investigations led to 15 employees getting the sack in 2016, and a further 10 were fired in 2017. There were also three Community Services directorate staff fired after fraud investigations during the two year period, but as a result of CSD internal investigations started before it became mandatory to refer matters to the unit. A fourth CSD employee resigned during a fraud investigation and a fifth was demoted, though the directorate refused to detail the scale of the alleged frauds. Other cases run by directorates or government companies in 2016-17, including four alleged fraud cases in the justice directorate, one of which led to minor changes to cash management. Icon Water, a public utility owned by the ACT government, also conducted or began four internal fraud investigations that fiscal year, one resulting in the sacking of an employee, and another leading to substantiated allegations of water theft. Both the education directorate and the chief ministers directorate had one fraud investigation continuing when annual reports were released. Of those managed by the central unit, another eight territory public servants "resigned prior to sanction" in 2016, with two resigning before a penalty was imposed in 2017. The spokeswoman said that when a territory public servant resigned prior to an outcome of an investigation, the investigation is usually ceased, but the individual concerned could also be told it was ended, but could be reopened if the person applies to re-entered the ACTPS. She said that while it was now mandatory for directorate to refer such matters to the unit, the directorates were still responsible for "preliminary assessments of the issues raised", to decide if it warranted referral. The directorate, she said, could also "internally manage" such allegations, without referring it to the unit, "if admissions are made negating the need for an investigative process". A further five potential misconduct sanctions were not finalised in 2016, with 12 not finalised before the end of 2017.

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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. 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. Mr Hogan is desperate to know whether Jonathon was being treated for substance abuse inside Junee, and why someone with a history of self-harm was locked in a cell with hanging points. In a letter jointly addressed to the ACT ministers for health, corrections and police, Mr Hogan urged the territory government to open an inquiry into his son's death. "This letter concerns my son Jonathon, a 23-year-old Aboriginal man who was born, raised and lived in Canberra and who died in Junee prison on February 3 2018," Mr Hogan wrote last week. "My purpose in writing to you is to ask you to institute an independent inquiry within the portfolio areas of the ACT for which you are responsible I ask this in the hope that the tragic fate suffered by my son will not be repeated." The NSW police force is investigating Jonathon's death and will prepare a report for the NSW Coroner ahead of a public inquest. Mr Hogan is worried this inquest will overlook important questions surrounding his son's death, such as whether ACT authorities told Junee prison about Jonathon's mental health issues, and how he was able to flee from Canberra Hospital in the first place. "These issues go to the nature, quality and effectiveness of services in the ACT," Mr Hogan wrote to the ACT government. "Not just for people such as my son who are in touch with the criminal justice system, but to people with multiple issues such as those with which Jonathon lived, including major mental health problems, a history of self-harm and extremely problematic alcohol and drug use." An ACT government spokesman said the government had agreed to investigate Jonathon Hogan's treatment in ACT custody. "The ACT government has given Mr Hogan and Winnunga an undertaking that ACT Corrective Services and ACT Health will examine Mr Hogan's treatment while in our custody and care," he said. The ACT government would also provide information to the ongoing NSW coronial inquest as required, the spokesman added. The Junee Correctional Centre is privately run by the GEO Group, a multi-national company that operates prisons in Australia, South Africa and the United States. At least three separate inquests as far back as 2007 have made recommendations related to the removal of hanging points in prisons run by the GEO Group in Queensland and NSW. The removal of prison cell hanging points was one of the key recommendations made by the historic Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1991. The GEO Group referred all questions about Jonathon Hogan's death at Junee prison to Corrective Services NSW. "One of our major strategies to reduce deaths from unnatural causes includes the audit and removal of obvious hanging points in correctional centres and court cells that accommodate inmates who are at risk of self-harm or suicide," a corrections spokeswoman said.

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At least one Canberra Liberal has already begun rattling the tin for the 2020 election campaign, even though the party is yet to outline its alternate vision for the city. Mark Parton announced via Facebook he will hold a fundraising dinner at the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club at the end of the month. Guests will include former jockey, Sky Racing's John Scorse as well as former Gold Coast Titans executive and new Greyhound Racing NSW boss Tony Mestrov. Mr Parton said the dinner would be casual, not "highfalutin and fancy", with tickets $35 a head. Canberra Liberals party director Zac Lombardo said via a statement the party put on fundraisers "in a variety of sizes and formats, including time-tested dinner events like Mark's upcoming fundraiser". Mr Lombardo said most events were organised by grassroots members, and elected representatives usually put together a few over their term. "I understand Mark has chosen to make a post on social media to attract interest to an event he has organised at the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club on April 27 and interest has certainly been generated," Mr Lombardo said. Asked what kind of access to Canberra Liberals politicians there would be, Mr Lombardo said it was up to the individual MLA whether they would attend. The public nature of the event advertisement raised some eyebrows within the party though, especially as the Liberals are yet to lay out their direction to win the next election, after five consecutive losses. Insiders have privately expressed concerns the Liberals were spending too much time "sniping from the trenches" rather than setting out their own vision for Canberra. Leader Alistair Coe promised envelope-pushing policy ideas from the Liberals after their reshuffle in early February, but the party has largely been focused on trying to pry apart the Labor-Greens coalition on issues of integrity and transparency. In a statement, Mr Coe pointed to several bills the party had brought forward this term as evidence of their vision for Canberra. "The Canberra Liberals have been putting forward policies about the future of Canberra. This work includes introducing bills into the Assembly to address concerns about the integrity of the Labor-Greens government on the sale and development of land in the ACT. The need for an anti-corruption commission is essential given the multitude of scandals engulfing the government," Mr Coe said. "In addition to exposing dodgy deals, our policy position has included stopping the decline in police funding and officer numbers, introducing dangerous dog legislation, proposed legislation to combat organised crime, improving building standards, reversing the ban on greyhounds, legislating to criminalise revenge porn, pushing for greater transparency in government spending, improved bushfire hazard reduction, establishment of a light rail stop in Mitchell, child sexual assault awareness, and improved provision of local urban services." One insider said it was unfair, and almost unheard of, to expect the Liberals to lay out their policy platform so far out from an election. They noted the Dickson land swap would not have been exposed without Mr Coe's digging, and the Opposition did not have the resources of government. Mr Coe said the party would have "much more to say on the economy, and all areas of policy in the coming months and years". The Liberals were hit with a 2.2 per cent swing against them in the 2016 election, despite a series of factors playing against the incumbent Labor government. An internal review carried out in the months after the election pointed to problems with understaffing, poor budget allocation, patchy communication between candidates and party officials, and candidates going off-message during the campaign. The party was urged to come up a fundraising campaign for 2017, 2018 and 2019 to bankroll pre-campaign research, staff and advertising.

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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. Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Glenn Fowler said the union had heard "hundreds" of testimonials about the stress and anxiety caused by NAPLAN. After 10 years of NAPLAN, student outcomes have not improved," Mr Fowler said. "Our international standing has declined. The list of perverse and disturbing outcomes is long and growing. "It is now time to lift the lid and ask: is this really what Australia should be doing? Teachers and principals expect to be listened to. Education Minister Yvette Berry recently wrote in The Canberra Times that the "high stakes culture" around NAPLAN "may actually be doing more harm than good". "In December 2017 I initiated a review of NAPLAN reporting through the national ministerial council to assess whether the current approach is working against equitable learning and school improvement," Ms Berry wrote. "The ACT is now leading this national piece of work and its great to have the support of other education ministers around Australia as we look at whether NAPLAN really is doing more harm than good and, if it is, plan a better way forward." The ACT government has also thrown its support behind a review of NAPLAN in a submission to a federal government panel examining school funding. But Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority chief executive Robert Randall - responsible for delivering NAPLAN - said the testing data had "proven value". "NAPLAN is doing exactly what it is meant to  provide an accurate measure of all Australian childrens literacy and numeracy skills, at a national, state/territory, school and individual level," he said. "In doing so this helps to identify those children in most need of support, so they dont get left behind. "Numerous studies have been conducted using NAPLAN data, providing insight into education and community issues." Mr Randall noted the Australian Education Union itself had published an analysis of NAPLAN data as recently as December. In that instance the union had used demonstrated gaps between the results of rich and poor students to call for greater funding to public schools. According to the Teacher Quality Institute's most recent annual report, more than 7500 teachers were registered in Canberra in the last financial year, including 4683 in public schools.

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It has been just about six months since Hurricane Irma churned through the center of Lee County, and the start of the 2018 hurricane season is eight weeks away.

Many of Lee Countys employees still work diligently day-to-day at Irma-related tasks and we still remember the long hours worked during the event.

I remain incredibly impressed by how well our employees handled the storm and continue to handle recovery efforts. I am not alone.

Lee County on March 28 accepted the 2018 National Hurricane Conference (NHC) Outstanding Achievement Award at the NHC Conference. The award recognizes the County for serving as a model for other organizations in its handling of hurricane-related activities. And in early March, Lee County Emergency Management Director Lee Mayfield and the county received state recognition for Irma-related efforts. The Florida Emergency Preparedness Association presented Mayfield with the Chad Reed Emergency Manager of the Year Award, which is awarded to those who show excellence in their profession.

NHC officials recognized the Countys achievement in hurricane-related preparedness in past years as well as 2017, including legislation, public awareness programs, financing mechanisms, sheltering plans, engineering research, warning notification systems and prediction techniques.

The key word for this award is innovation. Were looking for individuals or organizations who are doing things in a new or better way and who are worthy of emulation by others around the country. The award is not for someone who is simply doing his or her job well, the NHC said in a statement.

It takes the whole community to respond and recover effectively. No one entity can do it all. From individual citizens to the leadership of the Lee Board of County Commissioners, there were so many who helped. Among them: first responders, human services agencies, nonprofits, volunteers and faith-based organizations, utilities, the school district, hospitals, elected officials, municipalities, special districts, and state and federal agencies. Local media outlets played a role, too.

Irma, which made landfall here on Sept. 10, 2017, was unprecedented in its size and threat, and it was not your typical hurricane.

* More than 100 individuals worked in the Emergency Operations Center during Irma, providing support to responders in the field and determining protective actions, including evacuations and sheltering operations.

* About 300,000 people in Lee County were ordered to evacuate, prompting the largest sheltering operation in the Countys history.

* About 35,000 people took refuge in 14 shelters. This was the largest sheltered population of any of Floridas 67 counties. There was no loss of life.

* Sheltering efforts included caring for about 3,550 pets of evacuees -also the largest statewide.

After response operations came to a close, recovery from Hurricane Irma began.

* Contractors and Solid Waste workers have collected 1.75 million cubic yards of horticultural waste and nearly 67,000 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris.

* The County has undertaken an effort, in coordination with partners, to remove impediments from waterways to reduce future flooding.

* Long-term recovery efforts continue today by leveraging partnerships with agencies such as the United Way and many others throughout Lee County.

The fact that Lee County received state and national accolades speaks to a thorough and complete effort by our organization to help our community. There is more to be said here  I know many, many organizations helped in ways that are not reflected in this list of accomplishments. I am grateful for our collective efforts.

And, as we think about the achievements and lessons from Irma, be assured that Lee County governments employees are prepared for whatever challenges the future may bring.

 Roger Desjarlais is the Lee County county manager
To the editor:

I have written the following letter to Sen. Marco Rubio, Congressman Francis Rooney, Lee County Republican Chairman Johnathan Martine and Collier County Republican Chairman.

I share this with other Republicans and citizens.

The NRA, through its lobbying and campaign contributions, has supported excessive expansion of gun sales within our country. Today our country is awash with unnecessary guns that have contributed to growing numbers of mass slaughters, especially to our school children. More people are being shot than in the past: murder rates are down only because of medical advances as opposed to NRA claim down because of greater gun sales to individuals. As a long-time hunter and supporter of hunting, and Republican of long standing, I am not happy with your support of the NRA, and the campaign funding you receive from it. I will no longer support members of my Republican party who support the NRA.

I believe we protect hunted game animals and migratory birds better than we currently protect school children and adults in our society. When was the last time we saw a massacre of game animals or birds similar to our school childrens murders? Not any time recently because all states and the national government control guns used for hunting, especially for big game animals and migratory birds. Contrast what we do to prevent massacre of game animals and birds to what we dont do to prevent any massacre of school children and adults.

A great number of states provide restrictions on the bullet magazines capacity for hunting game animals and migratory birds, and the caliber and type of gun that can be used near populated area. In most cases, semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are limited to three bullets or shells. And many states require shotguns to be used for hunting within populated areas. The civilian use of .223 caliber semi-automatic military styles rifle should have similar controls and limitations much like those extended to our game animals and birds so as to reduce and limit the probability of massive killing of American citizens. Citizens are Homo Sapiens, and they should be given at least the same safety and consideration as game animals and birds. Republicans and Democrats alike need to act to provide this safety to citizens.

Enough is enough. We need a safer society and Im more than willing to give up some of my gun rights, and allow Republicans and non-Republicans to be voted in who wish to reduce gun rights to a reasonable level. We are aware that some Republicans, following the NRAs marketing goals, have worked to allow military style rifles to exist in growing numbers in our society. The military style semi-automatic AR-15/caliber .223 rifle, and other similar models were created to kill and maim individuals with grievous consequences. And they have! These type rifles are easy to use and have little recoil for the shooter. And the gun industry has manufactured bumpstocks to make them even more lethal.

The failure of the Republican Party to make illegal the possession and sale of bumpstocks (attachments that enable semiautomatic rifles to fire faster, almost like machine guns) demonstrates the weakness in Party leadership, including your own. When the Party and the NRA put military style gun sales and profits ahead of human lives, they become evil; there is no other way to say it. I believe your support of the NRA for campaign donations has corrupted your sensibility like many others in both Parties who pander to the NRAs legislative needs.

Where has your sense of family values evaporated to? Safety and security of our children should be your highest priority. The Second Amendment is not sacred: already it has been overridden by concern for public safety: for example, guns are prohibited from all government buildings -national, state, county, and city  as well as international and domestic airlines, and cruise ships. We need to expand our gun controls further to enhance public safety beyond the Second Amendment interpreted definition. Already the sale of full automatic weapons to the public requires registration of the owners.

There are good reasons to place more restrictions on gun ownership of military style rifles, especially semi-automatic .223 caliber rifles: indeed, their use in mass execution of innocent citizens is the most crucial reason. This rifle has limited recoil and is easy to use. We should limit ownership of these guns to those who know the consequence of its power such as sound-minded veterans, active National Guard, active duty armed force members, and various police groups, but even then there will be public safety risks from rogue individuals within these groups.

As a veteran, I believe Life Membership in the NRA is no longer a thing of honor. I dumped my membership long ago when the NRA supported public use of military style armor-piercing bullets. (More recently, members of the Republican Party in Georgia were supporting the public use of gun silencers by legislation so that potential shootings and slaughter an happen to relative silence. Both cases shows how callous and indifferent to public safety the NRA and some state Republican legislators have become.)

To conclude: I support Florida high school students, who, unlike many Republican politicians tied to the NRA, clearly see the national threat of military-style rifles against the life and liberty of innocent American citizens. Unlike most citizens, these students have experienced the killing power of military-style rifles.

The coming national election cycles will likely ensure that many Republican politicians are voted out for their support of the NRA as well as the current Administration, which also supports the NRA. I therefore encourage you to reconsider your prior positions and pass legislation to ban civilian use of assault weapons, large capacity gun magazines, and bump stocks..Your allegiance to public safety and school childrens safety should be greater than allegiance to the NRA. Elections are getting near and that should be a concern to each of you.

Charles W. Hampton,

Longtime Republican

Former Director of Finance (1976),

City of Cape Coral
Lee County deputies are hoping someone can provide information on a hit-and-run accident that occurred Thursday night, April 5, next to a popular ice cream shop.

Deputies report that shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, a car was attempting to turn from San Carlos Boulevard to get to the Love Boat Ice Cream store located at 16229 San Carlos Boulevard, when it was struck by a black sedan. The crash forced that car into another vehicle. Fortunately, the occupants of those two vehicle were not injured.

The driver of the black sedan immediately fled the scene. Deputies say the driver was a male and that the black sedan suffered heavy front end damage.

If you know anything about this hit and run crash, deputies want to speak with you. Anyone with information is asked to call the Lee County Sheriffs Office Traffic Unit at 239-477-1636.

Or, to remain anonymous and be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000, call Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477). Tips may also be made online at www.southwestfloridacrimestoppers.com or by submitting a tip on the P3Tips app.

Source: Lee County Sheriffs Department
Cape Corals tight rental market is getting a boost- a big boost.

Coralina Cape Coral, a 186-unit luxury apartment community off Pine Island Road east of Veterans Parkway, is leasing and has set its official grand opening for next Thursday.

The complex, which includes a clubhouse, fitness center, pool and parks, fulfills a housing market need in Cape Coral, which lacks multi-family options, officials said, adding Coralina is intended to complement the residential offerings of nearby Sandoval.

Our market research indicated a need for a new, more upscale rental community, not unlike our original market research for Sandoval indicated a need for an upscale master planned community in the Cape, said Gary Dumas, Coralina property owner and president and CEO of Phoenix Bay Ventures. So in both cases we simply responded to unmet market needs and pent up demand. Both projects have proven to be highly successful as a result of this process.

The apartment complex site was originally part of the acreage purchased for the 524-acre Sandoval community, which also offers a range of amenities.

The undeveloped Coralina site was always zoned for commercial development and was part of the original Sandoval land assemblage. We retained this 10-acre commercial site when we decided to sell the remaining residential phase of Sandoval to Taylor Morrison Homes, Dumas said.

The need for upscale rental options in the Cape Coral housing sector was met with a unanimous vote approval by the Cape Coral City Council when the project was proposed to the city, he added.

Im glad its open, its something we need in the city, said Councilmember Rick Williams in a telephone interview. Apartments and workforce housing are a definite need.

Affordable rentals for professionals such as teachers, police officers, firefighters and nurses as well as students returning from college and starting new jobs here are lacking in the Cape, he said.

They cant afford a house yet, they havent established credit, Williams said adding this is why this council, and the two before it, have been supportive of apartment projects.

Because there is a definite need, he said.

Coralina community amenities include a clubhouse with a TV lounge and WiFi Cafe, a fitness center, a heated resort-style swimming pool, a barbecue and picnic area, a walking trail and playground, and a Bark Park & Dog Run.

Apartment amenities include upscale kitchens with granite counters, an island and energy efficient appliances; laminate flooring in the living areas; and balconies and patios.

Monthly rentals for one- bedroom units start at $1,195; two-bedroom units start at $1,409 and three-bedroom units start at $1,589.

The Coralina Apartments will hold its grand opening from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 12.

A poolside event, featuring island style hordourves, a beer and wine cash bar, cocktails and steel drum music for good vibes is planned.

A broad range of area residents, community and business leaders, and professionals associated with the project are expected to attend the new property launch, officials said.

Members of the public interested in attending are welcome to RSVP to CoralinaRSVP@greystar.com to reserve entry. Reservations are requested no later than today, April 6.

The Coralina Apartment community is at 3305 Grant Ave,

Coralina Apartment units are now available to lease. For information contact the office manager at (239) 540-7274. Office hours are from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. on Sunday.

More information may also be found at coralinacapecoral.com/.

Luxury apartment community now leasing By Staff | Apr 5, 2018



Cape Corals tight rental market is getting a boost- a big boost. Coralina Cape Coral, a 186-unit luxury apartment community off Pine Island Road east of Veterans Parkway, is leasing and has set its official grand opening for next Thursday. The complex, which includes a clubhouse, fitness center, pool and parks, fulfills a housing market need in Cape Coral, which lacks multi-family options, officials said, adding Coralina is intended to complement the residential offerings of nearby Sandoval. Our market research indicated a need for a new, more upscale rental community, not unlike our original market research for Sandoval indicated a need for an upscale master planned community in the Cape, said Gary Dumas, Coralina property owner and president and CEO of Phoenix Bay Ventures. So in both cases we simply responded to unmet market needs and pent up demand. Both projects have proven to be highly successful as a result of this process. The apartment complex site was originally part of the acreage purchased for the 524-acre Sandoval community, which also offers a range of amenities. The undeveloped Coralina site was always zoned for commercial development and was part of the original Sandoval land assemblage. We retained this 10-acre commercial site when we decided to sell the remaining residential phase of Sandoval to Taylor Morrison Homes, Dumas said. The need for upscale rental options in the Cape Coral housing sector was met with a unanimous vote approval by the Cape Coral City Council when the project was proposed to the city, he added. Im glad its open, its something we need in the city, said Councilmember Rick Williams in a telephone interview. Apartments and workforce housing are a definite need. Affordable rentals for professionals such as teachers, police officers, firefighters and nurses as well as students returning from college and starting new jobs here are lacking in the Cape, he said. They cant afford a house yet, they havent established credit, Williams said adding this is why this council, and the two before it, have been supportive of apartment projects. Because there is a definite need, he said. Coralina community amenities include a clubhouse with a TV lounge and WiFi Cafe, a fitness center, a heated resort-style swimming pool, a barbecue and picnic area, a walking trail and playground, and a Bark Park & Dog Run. Apartment amenities include upscale kitchens with granite counters, an island and energy efficient appliances; laminate flooring in the living areas; and balconies and patios. Monthly rentals for one- bedroom units start at $1,195; two-bedroom units start at $1,409 and three-bedroom units start at $1,589. The Coralina Apartments will hold its grand opening from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, April 12. A poolside event, featuring island style hordourves, a beer and wine cash bar, cocktails and steel drum music for good vibes is planned. A broad range of area residents, community and business leaders, and professionals associated with the project are expected to attend the new property launch, officials said. Members of the public interested in attending are welcome to RSVP to CoralinaRSVP@greystar.com to reserve entry. Reservations are requested no later than today, April 6. The Coralina Apartment community is at 3305 Grant Ave, Coralina Apartment units are now available to lease. For information contact the office manager at (239) 540-7274. Office hours are from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. on Sunday. More information may also be found at coralinacapecoral.com/. News from around the region FWC virtual meeting open to the public The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will meet virtually Feb. 25-26 beginning at 9 a.m. each day. ... County BOCC approves agreement for water quality project The Lee County Board of County Commissioners voted on Feb. 16 to approve an agreement with the city of Fort Myers ... Save money on overdue traffic tickets, court fees For those with overdue traffic tickets or court fees in Lee County that are affecting their driver's license ...




You guys liked the first gallery so much, here are more stunning celebs with and without makeup!
Photo: Contributed

Kelowna's biggest yard sale is bigger, better and earlier this year.

The sale starts at 8 a.m Saturday at 3645 Benvoulin Rd. and continues Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon.

The yard sale will feature dozens of bicycles (some free, some for sale), two cars, furniture, tools, audio equipment, kitchen utensils and household goods.

The annual event started as a fundraiser for Bicycles for Humanity, a 13-year-old international charity founded in Kelowna.

The destination country, Ghana, has introduced taxation on donated bicycles, and the cost of shipping and distribution makes the end price close to that of new ones.

"The new benefactor of the sale will be St. Vincent de Paul, a volunteer organization. It helps disadvantaged migrant workers, refugees who continue to arrive in Kelowna and local needy," said organizer Jim Couper.

"Anyone wishing to donate bicycles for the sale can drop them off at the yellow sign at the back of the parking lot behind the church," he said.

If the weather is poor, the sale will move indoors to St. Charles Garnier Church.
You could have the missing piece of the puzzle that will help the RCMP put someone behind bars. Here are some recent crimes that Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers hope you can help solve by calling our anonymous tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit our website at www.crimestoppers.net or text to CRIMES (274637), keyword Ktown.

CRIME: THEFT/UTTER THREATS WITH WEAPON

DATE: April 3, 2018

RCMP FILE: 2018-16976

A loss prevention officer at a drug store located on the 1900 block of Harvey Avenue in Kelowna contacted Kelowna RCMP on April 3rd when he was threatened by a shoplifter. The LPO attempted to apprehend the thief behind the store when the suspect pulled out a knife and threatened to stab the loss prevention officer several times. The suspect was last seen jumping on a city bus. The male is described as a bald male, approximately 6 feet tall wearing a black and grey zip up hoodie.

Photo: Crime Stoppers

If you know anything about this crime, or any other crime, call the Central Okanagan Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS or visit our website at www.crimestoppers.net. Your information will be kept confidential and could lead to a reward of up to $2000.00.

CRIME: FRAUD

DATE: March 15, 2018

RCMP FILE: 2018-13430

On March 15th a wallet left in a car on Dougall Road was found by thieves and the debit and credit cards were used soon after at nearby Rutland businesses. Video surveillance shows a male and a female making purchases around 8:15 p.m. The male in the photos was accompanied by a female wearing a hat and baggy hoodie who seemed to know the camera angles and avoided being filmed.

Photo: Crime Stoppers

You can help catch these suspects and qualify for a reward by calling Crime Stoppers anonymous tips line at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit our website at www.crimestoppers.net or text to CRIMES (274637), keyword Ktown.
Photo: motionarray.com

On a recent trip to Vancouver Island, it took me four days to notice the oceanfront view from the house we had rented for spring break.

Four days.

Looking back, I chose to rent this house for our family precisely because of its location, and yet, I had completely missed it. How could I have missed it?

As I stood in the sunroom looking at the beach I spent my youth on, I realized I had lost a quality of connection to the life happening all around me.

I had become myopic, and lost sight of some other important dimensions of my life. As a therapist, I feel ashamed about this. As a human being, I see this as an opportunity for growth.

Travelling with my two-year-old is pretty fun. Hes adaptable, easy-going, and charming. Hes also very busy, which requires me to have a physical and mental prowess akin to a Jedi.

He has some turbulent moments, too, which requires me to be patient, attentive and emotionally self-regulated, much like a Buddhist.

By the time his bedtime rolls around, Im running on fumes and long for rest. Some days I dont have the energy to process this shortcoming. Other days, like the one in Victoria, I feel ripped off.

You see, I was in my hometown to visit my newborn niece and family, and Victoria was in full bloom. The cherry blossoms were bursting at the buds, the sun was sparkling off the ocean, and the birds were rejoicing.

After living in a snowy, grey, ping-pong ball in Kelowna since about October, youd think I would be hyperaware of my new surroundings. But I wasnt.

I was too caught up in sticking to routines and schedules, running interference on my sons explorations, cleaning up mess after sticky, smelly mess, organizing lunch bags, putting away the same toy for the 15th time, and managing meltdowns.

I forgot to look up.

Maybe it was the ocean breeze or the seagulls courting each other in song. Whatever it was, on our walk to the beach that afternoon, it gave me great pause.

I took a deep breath of the salty air, and exhaled all the management Id been doing for years. I felt my feet on the wet rocks, listened to the ocean lap against my sons boots, and felt the sun on my face.

I saw my mom and my sister-in-law embracing, and felt profound gratitude for my family. I watched my son dancing in the shoreline and let go of my need to keep him dry.

I watched a floatplane take flight in a dusty blue sky. In this moment of sensory connection, I found a peace and joy that filled my soul to the brim.

Ive long practised mindfulness and meditation, and always thought Ive done a pretty good job of living and teaching this work. But experiences like the one I had at the beach are transformative, and Im a work in progress.

The power of that feeling is one I want more of, so I have to dig deeper.

Connection is the heart of life. Further still, the quality of the connections in your life is paramount to living a purposeful and meaning-driven life, which generally results in happiness.

When we lack connection to self, others and the world, were just shells, and after a while, that feels pretty empty. So what can you do to connect more fully with your life? Here are a few (of literally hundreds) of my suggestions:

Slow down. Your business wont fail, you wont lose your job, your relationship wont end, things wont fall apart. If they do, they werent strong enough to begin with, and thats worth examining.

Your business wont fail, you wont lose your job, your relationship wont end, things wont fall apart. If they do, they werent strong enough to begin with, and thats worth examining. Find joy in simple, sensory things . Notice the sensation of eating or listening to music and connect to the force it ignites in you.

. Notice the sensation of eating or listening to music and connect to the force it ignites in you. Put down your phone, and go outside. The natural world can be a profoundly healing resource; take time to reflect on your environment and find gratitude for your place in it.

The natural world can be a profoundly healing resource; take time to reflect on your environment and find gratitude for your place in it. Get personal. Have lunch with an old friend, kiss your partner, hug your mother.

Have lunch with an old friend, kiss your partner, hug your mother. Make bids for connection. We are constantly doing things in a bid to connect with someone or something. Examine the ways you do this, and see if you can do more of it or if theres a need to do things differently.

The awareness of, and connection to, my son is unparalleled, yet my quest for mindful connections in other parts of my world will be lifelong and sometimes challenging.

No one ever said being a Jedi Buddhist was easy.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Two-thirds of people who fatally overdosed in British Columbia during a 19-month period were involved with the corrections system, says a panel that reviewed a skyrocketing number of illicit-drug deaths.

About 18 per cent of them had either been on community supervision or were released from a corrections facility within a month of their death, said panel chairman Michael Egilson, who was part of a team of experts reviewing 1,854 deaths.

Inmates who had received drug-substitution treatment, such as methadone, behind bars would have needed to be offered services in the community, Egilson said.

"There's an opportunity for services to be targeted for a group that certainly is at more significant risk," he said, adding those who had been incarcerated could have relapsed in the community and turned to illicit drugs laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl.

"It's making sure that these people are linked when they're released, and hooked up with services so there's a continuation of treatment."

The deaths reviewed by the panel occurred between January 2016 and July 2017, and the report included input from First Nations experts and those in health care, policing, corrections and mental health and addiction.

The panel is calling on B.C. Corrections, the Provincial Health Services Authority and regional health authorities to ensure, by September, that people who are released into the community have access to take-home naloxone, a medication used to reverse overdoses.

It also wants former inmates to be made aware of how to access services that check for toxins in drugs, often at supervised consumption sites, and for them to have access to drug-substitution programs providing methadone or suboxone.

Correctional facilities have received services through the health-care system since October, the Provincial Health Services Authority said in a statement.

It said the report will be reviewed in the coming weeks to address the recommendations.

"We are finalizing a policy that will ensure that all clients at risk for opioid overdose (or clients with family members/friends at risk for opioid overdose) will be offered a take-home naloxone kit and education before discharge," the statement says.

Nurses have been added at all 10 corrections facilities to help inmates connect with services in the community, it says.

Most of the overdoses during the period that was reviewed were in private residences involving people who used illicit substances alone.
Photo: Google Maps

Police in Surrey are warning residents following a break and enter and sexual assault on a young girl in Thursday's early morning hours.

At about 4 a.m., a man broke into a home on the 10700 block of 132A Street and assaulted the young girl, before fleeing when confronted by another resident in the home.

The female victim did not sustain any physical injury but is understandably shaken, Sgt. Chad Greig of the Surrey RCMP said in a release.

Police are searching for the man, who's described as a very thin, five-foot-five Caucasian or light-skinned Indigenous man in his 20s or 30s with short wavy black hair.

The man was wearing baggy blue jeans and a grey zip up hoody when he broke into the home. Police say the man may have also had facial injuries or markings of some kind.

At this time, this incident is not believed to be related to the recent sexual assault in Aldergrove, as the suspect descriptions are different, Sgt. Greig said.

Police are warning the public to be vigilant and to keep their homes secure.

Anyone with information on the assault or the suspect can call police at 250-599-0502.
Photo: Google Maps

A woman is in stable condition recovering from hypothermia after she was caught in what is believed to have been an avalanche in Banff National Park.

RCMP say they received an emergency call about 5 p.m. Thursday after a device equipped with global positioning system technology issued an SOS transmission.

A search and rescue helicopter crew was dispatched to survey an area called Sentinel Pass, south of Lake Louise, and located three people.

A woman who had been buried for about 15 minutes was conscious and breathing.

The other two people were not hurt.

Parks Canada is investigating the incident.
Photo: The Canadian Press

An accident report suggests that a military pilot was distracted and trying to see where a practice bomb had landed just before the deadly CF-18 fighter jet crash that claimed his life in November 2016.

The final report of the military's Airworthiness Investigative Authority found no evidence of a mechanical failure or bird strike in the crash near Cold Lake, Alta., that killed Capt. Thomas McQueen of Hamilton. There was no indication that the pilot was incapacitated.

There were also no radio transmissions from the plane in the moments before impact and the pilot did not eject.

McQueen had just dropped a practice bomb in a low-level exercise when the crash occurred, the report said.

"It appears that the pilot was capable of controlling the aircraft, but did not adequately monitor the aircrafts flight path while manoeuvring in the low-level environment," it said. The plane banked sharply and the nose dropped.

McQueen may have tried to recover at the last second, but was too low to pull out.

"While the reason for this lack of flight path monitoring is not knowable with any certainty, circumstantial evidence suggests that the pilot may have been distracted from the critical task of terrain clearance while attempting to spot his weapon impact."

The exercise was designed to drop the bomb from an altitude of just under 200 metres.

The report said rules have been changed to raise the acceptable altitude for such training to more than 300 metres and to underline safety standards for low flying.

"The low-level environment is an inherently hazardous and unforgiving region where only a few seconds of distraction can mean the difference between life and death," the report said.
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Victoria Coast Guard station on Thursday.

An oil company CEO is harshly criticizing Justin Trudeau as the prime minister tours the oilsands region of northeastern Alberta today.

Athabasca Oil CEO Rob Broen says if he met Trudeau, he would tell him the industry needs real leadership on oil export pipelines, "not just words."

Trudeau has been telling audiences in B.C. and Alberta that he supports both the environment and pipeline projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion from Edmonton to the Vancouver area.

But Broen says Trudeau should sit down with officials from Kinder Morgan Canada, the company building the much-delayed Trans Mountain project, to find out what obstacles it is facing and then take action to remove those barriers.

In a speech to investors at his company's annual general meeting in Calgary, Broen said the government shouldn't have launched a revamp of the National Energy Board, adding he doesn't understand what was wrong with the regulator as it was.

He says he disagrees with the prime minister that Alberta's adoption of a carbon tax last year makes it easier to push through pipeline construction, pointing out no new pipeline capacity has resulted as yet.

"I would tell him (Trudeau) he has to show leadership on the pipeline file. And it's not just words," said Broen.

"He needs to back up Kinder Morgan, the pipeline he's approved, and he needs to see it through to construction and make sure we can put shovels in the ground and get it built for the benefit of all Canadians."
Photo: The Canadian Press

The lawyer for an Alberta man charged after shots were fired during a confrontation on his rural property will let a jury decide his fate.

About 50 supporters of Edouard Maurice lined the sidewalk leading to the courthouse in Okotoks, south of Calgary, on Friday to shake his hand as he made a brief appearance on charges of aggravated assault, pointing a firearm and careless use of a firearm.

RCMP were called to a property Feb. 25 after a homeowner allegedly confronted two people rummaging through his vehicles. Shots were fired and one of the suspects was later found with an arm injury and taken to hospital.

Defence lawyer Tonii Roulston said outside court the case has been hard on her 33-year-old client.

"The toll that these allegations have taken on Eddie and Jessie have been overwhelming. These people are hard workers. These people are contributors to this community," said Roulston as Maurice and his wife, holding their baby girl, stood behind her.

"It's our intention to enter pleas of not guilty. We'll set this matter for a judge and jury trial."

The shooting has kept the spotlight on rural crime on the Prairies. Rural property owners say they feel bullied and aren't allowed to stand up for themselves.

Roulston said the case centres around whether an individual has a right to defend not only his property, but his family as well.

The organizer of the rally said it is important to keep the public's attention on the issue of property rights.

"We're not letting it go. We have to keep the issue alive," said Cory Morgan, who owns the bar in nearby Priddis.

"Every day, someone's coming in. Somebody else had their truck stolen. Somebody else got broken into. It's chronic and it's getting scary."

Sandra Moore, holding a sign that read "Eddy is the victim," said she knows the family and wanted to show her support.

"He's one of the nicest young men that I know absolutely beyond a doubt and I've said that way before this happened," Moore said. "He's a family man. He's the salt of the earth. They don't come any nicer."

Maurice is scheduled to appear in court next on April 20.
Photo: Contributed

What would future developments of lands east of Swan lake look like?

The Regional District of North Okanagan is in the process of developing a local area plan will address land use topics such as future growth areas, housing density (secondary suites and carriage homes), a possible community sewer system, water services, roads and recreational opportunities.

The public will have a chance to share its views at an open house on April 16 at the Vernon Christian Secondary School.

From 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. the RDNO will seek input on the future of the Swan Lake area to help shape the direction of this land use plan.



What do you think about the potential to have a community sewer system in the area? (i.e. getting rid of the need for septic tanks and holding tanks)

If sewer is provided, what do you think about the potential to allow secondary suites or carriage homes?

What about duplexes or townhouses?

What types of commercial or industrial uses do you think are appropriate in the future?

What do you think about water supply and fire protection in the area?

What recreation opportunities would you like to see in the area?



A draft plan will be prepared by early June with additional opportunities for the public to provide input before plan adoption at the end of the summer.

The plan is a critical component in providing direction for the future servicing, growth and development of this area.
Photo: Nick Griffiths

A U.K. man who lost three toes to frostbite in a Yukon race says he can't think of a better place for them to go than into people's drinks.

Nick Griffiths plans to donate his amputated appendages to the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon, home of the famed Sourtoe Cocktail.

Griffiths says he spent a year training for the eight-day Yukon Arctic Ultra race, a 483-kilometre race that follows the Yukon Quest trail  one of the world's toughest sled-dog races.

He says he was disappointed to have to drop out of the race when a ranger identified frostbite on his ear, nose and fingers, but he didn't realize how bad his toes were until they were examined in hospital.

Griffiths says doctors and nurses at the Whitehorse hospital where he was treated told him about the Sourtoe Cocktail, which is a shot of alcohol of the drinker's choice along with a genuine dehydrated toe.

He's keeping the toes in a jar filled with medical-grade alcohol at home in Bolton, England, until he figures out a way to send them to Dawson City.
Maryknoll may have left its mission house in San Lorenzo, where it hosted retreats, daylong programs and provided administrative services for the past nine years, but its mission to form missionary disciples has not changed.



The administrative offices have moved to the Catholic Community of Pleasanton. The overnight retreats will be at the Maryknoll center in Los Altos.



"Over the last couple of years, more of our overnight programs have been there," said Deacon Matt Dulka, who serves as the national associate director of Maryknoll's Mission Education and Promotion Department.



Deacon Dulka, who is in his 21st year with Maryknoll, was ordained to the permanent diaconate of the Diocese of Oakland in 2000. Maryknoll's missionary work has remained his ministry.



The Los Altos center offers more rooms for retreatants than the San Lorenzo center, Deacon Dulka said. The amenities are also improved: Each room has a private bath, and a Santa Clara County park borders the property.



Following a national trend, Maryknoll is planning to bring more daylong presentations to parishes, rather than sending a parish group away to another site.



"They want us to come do formation in their own parishes, bring the program to the users in a familiar location," Deacon Dulka said.



The missionary discipleship presentation's day session is about five hours; the overnight program at the retreat center is 10 hours.



Contacting Maryknoll



Carolyn Trumple

Mission Educator-Promoter

Maryknoll Fathers

and Brothers

23000 Cristo Rey Drive

Los Altos, CA 94024

650-386-4440, ext. 112

ctrumble@maryknoll.org Kris East

Coordinator, national immersion trips and parish mission appeals and visits

Maryknoll Fathers

and Brothers

4001 Stoneridge Drive

Pleasanton, CA 94588

925-474-2786

510-276-5021

Keast@maryknoll.org Building missionary disciples is Maryknoll's mission. "From 1911, go forth and represent the U.S. Catholic Church in international mission around the world," said Rev. Robert Jalbert, MM, who directs Mission Education and Promotion.



Deacon Dulka and Father Jalbert have recently returned from a 2-week mission trip, which included eight days in Kenya and Tanzania.



It was something of a homecoming for Father Jalbert, who spent 20 years in Tanzania and Kenya. Father Jalbert, who was ordained 39 years ago, has been back in the United States since 2003. He said he "looks for any and all opportunities to get back."



There they saw Pope Francis' "Joy of the Gospel" in real life.



"We saw a church that is very much outwardly focused," Father Jalbert said. In Kibera, Kenya, for example, "800,000 people live in a settlement the size of Central Park." Although they earn just a dollar or two a day, he said, the congregation is there on Sunday in finest clothes.



"The church was packed," Father Jalbert said. "They invited all the members of the Mission Childhood Society to come forward," he said. "This sea of 200 kids, they all wanted to be sent as missionary disciples."



"The joy is palpable," he said. "You see this vibrancy where missionary discipleship is taken seriously."



They also visited Mwanza, on Lake Victoria in Tanzania, in an area "we'd consider a slum," he said. "At 6:30 in the morning, the church is packed."



The community also has 28 small Christian communities, neighborhood groups of 10 to 20 households, where people gather to reflect on next Sunday's Gospel and make connections to their daily lives.



Father Jalbert said they also visit projects that were begun by Maryknoll and are now directed by the local church.



One of the ways Maryknoll is hoping to expand the reach of the transformative experience of these mission trips is to invite teachers, catechists, leaders in Hispanic ministry, deacons and their wives.



"Our focus is on groups of people in key positions," he said. "We hope to pass on to them the missionary discipleship program, hoping they will move this forward in their parishes."



Young adults are also being invited. Although they might have had the opportunity to study abroad "but they're not getting the mission piece of it," he said.



Deacon Dulka said the hope is to help people at the parish level to be mission educators.



The formation of these missionary disciples does not end when their plane lands back on U.S. soil. Father Jalbert said Maryknoll continues to answer the question, "How can we accompany them and give them resources?"



Among the follow-up are teleconferencing calls, and other follow-up. Resources are provided online. Returnees have been asked, to reflect on, for example, three things God's inviting them to do differently.



The follow-up, they hope, will help the missionary disciples move from "come and see" to "now go and tell." Next Front Page Article back to top home


By Pam Hersh In honor of Valentines Day, I declare my love for something that has sustained and inspired me during the darkest days of...
Janice Pendergrass, director of advancement at Bryan College, was honored with the award for Ambassador of the Year. The award was presented at the 2018 Dayton Chamber of Commerce banquet.

The award recognizes the dedication and contribution Mrs. Pendergrass made to the revitalization of the Leadership Rhea County program. Anna Johnson, who presented the award, said Mrs. Pendergrass spent countless hours creating a schedule, making phone calls, making personal visits, planning a budget and much more. It was her commitment to this project that made it a success.

Bryan College has long known of Mrs. Pendergrasss dedication and kindness. As the director of advancement, she works tirelessly with focus and dedication to ensure that events and projects exceed expectations, said officials.

Janice Pendergrass is well deserving of the Ambassador of the Year award, said Chuck Baker, vice president of advancement at Bryan College. We were blessed and excited to see her recognized for her work in the community. As we have come to expect, she led the effort to develop and implement the Leadership Rhea County program for the Chamber with excellence. She is a true role model of commitment, dedication and service and we could not be more proud of her accomplishments.

Mrs. Pendergrass joined the Dayton Chamber of Commerce as an Ambassador in 2016 with the desire to gain a better understanding and knowledge of all that Dayton has to offer and build a network of business professionals with whom to share ideas and projects, and to glean wisdom.

It is such an honor to be named Ambassador of the Year, said Mrs. Pendergrass. Its my privilege to serve the Dayton Chamber of Commerce as an ambassador. I love Dayton and am proud to call it my hometown.
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.

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."

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.

What happens when nanoparticles crash

The new research focused on small nanoparticles -- those with diameters of 5 to 15 nanometers. The scientists found that in collisions, particles of this size behave differently depending on their shape.

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 systems -- including chains of equal-sized masses with springs in between them -- that 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.

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.
Echoes of the Past Audio Article 10 Years Ago Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011  Bethlehem Lutheran Church will host a wellness screening event. . . CHS girls soccer team beats LaPorte 5-0 and clinches a share of the DAC title. Scoring goals are Rosie Biehl (2), Hannah Kollar (2), and Sam...

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...
"I am so, so happy with what we have done this year," he said. "So, so happy. It's impossible to do that, to play the way we play, the results we achieved, without top players. It's impossible. And today the top players cost a lot of money.
"I think it's got legs," Lissner said of the co-living trend. "It's got to be the right product in the right location, but it's another example of expanding the type of housing offerings we have in the market. I absolutely think there's a demand for short-term leases."
"Animal owners and shippers rely heavily on airlines to carry their precious cargo," Nick Careen, the association's senior vice president for cargo, said in a news release. "As an industry, we have a duty of care to ensure that standards and best practices are in place around the world to protect the welfare of these animals."
According to the lawsuit, real estate developers bought up units in the development through various limited liability companies to eventually gain a 75 percent stake, and therefore have a supermajority that allowed them to make the sale without the agreement of some residents. The three defendants, all linked to developers, were elected to the condo board, the lawsuit says. It alleges that the board didn't fulfill its fiduciary duty to find a market-rate buyer for the property. Rudolph said he doesn't believe that the board pursued other offers.
"Because of bias and standardized racism at every stage of the justice system, African-Americans and Latinos are convicted at rates that are much higher than whites," he said. "It's essential that people who have criminal backgrounds are given a fair chance if these are very old offenses, very minor offenses, or offenses that have nothing to do with the position they are seeking."
"We have been made aware of the filing but have not yet seen the lawsuit in full," Tronc spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said in an emailed statement. "Tronc's interest is always preserving its intellectual property rights and controlling the use of its historical Chicago Tribune name."
"Flight 3411 was a defining moment for our United family and it is our responsibility  our mission  to make sure we all learn from this experience," the airline said in a statement. "The changes we have implemented are designed to better serve our customers and empower our employees. We know we have more to do to become a great airline, which is why we are continuing to look at ways to improve."
Director Jerry Mitchell's "On Your Feet," the jukebox musical aimed at fans of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, danced its first conga in Chicago three years ago and then went on Broadway. I liked this populist hit from the start  it's wittily written by Alexander Dinelaris and a heck of a good time. You get ballads  "Anything For You." You get rhythms  "1-2-3." And you get dance tracks "Turn the Beat Around" and, of course, "Get On Your Feet," which likely will push you there, being as this is the best work to date from the choreographer Sergio Trujillo. The national tour at the Cadillac Palace Theatre is an Equity show and in no way diminished from the Broadway production. Through April 8 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.; $30-110 at 800-775-2000 or or www.broadwayinchicago.com
 The practice of "beak trimming" used by commercial egg farmers is used to prevent the chickens from causing injury to one another from aggressive pecking. Beaks should be trimmed when chicks are 10 days old or younger when there is little stress, with this process described by the AEB as "similar to clipping a dog's nails or trimming a horse's hooves" with the chickens "still able to eat and drink."
This April 2, 2017, file photo made with a drone, shows the U.S. Mexico border fence as it cuts through the two downtowns of Nogales. National guard contingents in U.S. states that border Mexico say they are waiting for guidance from Washington to determine what they will do following President Donald Trump's proclamation directing deployment to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling. (Brian Skoloff / AP)
Of the more than 200 buildings constructed for the World's Fair in 1893, only two still stand in place: the Palace of Fine Arts, aka the Museum of Science and Industry, and the World's Congress Building, which is now the Art Institute. Something even more influential to come out of this era was an influx of immigration, with the city's first Mexican neighborhood forming in the early 20th century near the steel mills and rail yards of South Chicago. This moment is the loose starting point of "Arte Diseno Xicago," an exhibition hosted by the National Museum of Mexican Art as part of Art Design Chicago.
The French-born, Southern California-based Thibaudet has long been celebrated as a master of the Ravel style, and so he proved Thursday. Urbanity and refinement, along with razor-sharp reflexes and sharply marked rhythm, highlighted his winning performance. The pianist knows the music of Bill Evans as well as he knows Ravel's, and it showed in his dexterous handling of the jazzy portions. If you closed your eyes during the virtuosic cadenza, you'd have sworn two hands were kicking up all that sound, which of course is precisely the illusion Ravel sought to create.
For much of the first half, I felt a sense of reactivity from the performers, a kinesthetic observance to one another, an emulation of others' movements, appearing to be improvised. And then Michelle Boule comes out in different pants, changing the color palette of the dance from grays and blacks by adding a pop of orange. The costumes took an opposite journey from the lights, with muted tones exchanged for bright, vibrant colors in the middle of the piece, only to return to their drab garb at the end. Boule's long, unbridled, solo near the end of the piece is followed by a return to each dancer moving, playing with internal soundtracks that don't match up. "OK, I'm going to stop this now," said Miller, and it was over.
This, truly, is a spectacularly charismatic performance: you see the improvisational charm and risk-taking that got this dude where he landed, and you also see the many heavens and hells of his arrival. Add in a fleet of fascinating cameos of those who find themselves orbiting around Paul like subservient planets of economic or personal desire and you've got, like, a snapshot of a world that will make you glad you have a boring job. A couple of the ensemble performances are of gut-wrenching intensity: Dushane Casteallo, who plays a band member and maybe (and maybe not) friend; and Aila Peck, who plays a maybe (or maybe not) love interest for a man condemned to at least some level of isolation, notwithstanding her willingness to fly to Berlin.
While musing over some Vegas vagaries - "You can still smoke indoors?"; "Oxygen bars are still a thing?"; "Glen Lerner (a personal-injury attorney with billboards everywhere) hasn't aged?"- we admire some of the developments downtown. Fremont East, a strip of bars and restaurants just past a cluster of old-school casinos and the touristy Fremont Street Experience light show, has picked up momentum and density since we've all left. Once associated with seedy hotels and a Wild West, anything-goes ambiance - I met with a self-described hit man in a hotel here in the early 2000s for a story - there's now a walkable district that includes the Downtown Container Park outdoor mall made of the stacked steel shipping boxes, as well as funky sculptures and a fabulous little book shop, the Writer's Block. We happen upon "Market in the Alley," which is a far cry from the unsanctioned dealings that once took place in surrounding passageways. People are buying crafts from vendors and sipping expensive cups of pour-over coffee. We run into an old friend and ask if there's anything else we should check out farther east. "Nooo," he warns, and gestures to a nearby business. "You don't want to go past murder mart." We nod. Change comes in increments.
Credit-card companies keep upping their travel-reward offerings to lure new customers, but there's more to that story. MagnifyMoney.com, a website that gives advice on personal financial services, has a new study that shows the average number of points given in introductory offers is slightly higher than 40,000 in 2018  more than double what was given 10 years ago. While the reward bonuses are on the rise, so are the annual fees charged for many cards. In 2008, the average fee was $74. Now it's $120. Hotel-branded cards tend to offer more points than airline-branded, but the redemption value per point tends to be lower. In 2018, the average introductory bonus for hotel cards is 60,000, while airline cards' offers average slightly more than 37,000. Study details are at http://tinyurl.com/y8ctx38r.
If you've had the flu  as apparently 62.3 percent of Chicagoans do at this very moment  you know what I'm talking about. It leaves you feeling you've been run over by a car, then by a truck and then, just as you thought you could get up, by a lawn mower.
Typically, synthetic pot is created by spraying chemicals onto plant matter to make it look like real marijuana leaves. It is then packaged by manufacturers and, although bans are in place in Illinois and Chicago, it still makes its way to gas station and convenience store shelves. Officials say those sickened in Illinois were using different brands; still investigators are trying to trace whether it's possible that the drug is from a single source.
Lawyers for six reputed Black Souls gang leaders convicted in December under a state RICO law filed an affidavit this week from a sister of defendant Antwan Davis in which she alleged the African-American juror told her other jurors had screamed insults, used the N-word, and thrown chairs and jumped on tables during the deliberations.
"I have never seen him act that way  I have never seen anger like that," Kathleen Thomas said by phone from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where her son was being treated. "He was under pressure trying to get his big bachelor's thesis done, but this is beyond a stress break. He was saying things, according to his friends, that just did not make sense, which makes me think there's definitely some psychological issues going on."
The man-made substance is a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, often called cannabinoids because they affect the same brain cell receptors as the main ingredient in marijuana. Cannabinoids are sometimes sprayed on plant material for smoking, or are sold as liquids to be vaporized and inhaled in e-cigarettes and other devices, a health department warning stated. The products are also sometimes referred to as herbal or liquid incense.
Officers saw the person firing a gun and "engaged the offender,'' by confronting him but there were no "confirmed'' reports of shots fired by police, tweeted head Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
On the contrary, Slosar said, Burge had instructed detectives under his command not to leave a visible mark on Jackie Wilson. And he smiled because one of his interrogators ordered him to and he was terrified to disobey, Slosar said.
Lloyd Luna, 66, was found dead of stab wounds and blunt force injuries around 2:20 p.m. on March 20 in the 4100 block of West Adams Street in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.
In the first attack, a 34-year-old man was walking around 12:25 a.m. on the sidewalk in the first block of West Polk Street in the Printers Row neighborhood on the Near South Side when a group of five males threw him to the ground and began beating him, police said.
"I think the right thing to do is go out to the community and let us hear their opinions on it, so I intend to do that," Reboyras said. "We're in the planning stages. We've got to, at the very least, go to South, West, North (sides) with it."
"Strong gun laws save lives, and we will not be intimidated by the gun lobby in our efforts to end the sale of assault weapons and protect our communities and schools," Healey, a Democrat, said in a statement. "Families across the country should take heart in this victory."
So the role a citizen board could play in policing is now sketched out in dueling ordinances. One would have civilians basically take over the Chicago Police Department and its oversight agencies  with the power to fire the police chief, set departmental policy, appoint the police board, and compel officials to appear at public hearings. We think it goes too far, but we understand the urge to overthrow the status quo. The politicians who are supposed to be running those institutions have failed again and again.
Another of my recollections of that time is that there were no subsequent mass demonstrations by adults, or by high school students, to protest against possession of firearms by the citizens of this country. Nobody cared about the weapons. The focus was on the fact that the president of the United States had been murdered. It was obvious that two inconspicuous guns were perfectly capable of creating significant havoc  and nobody cared.
Geez, 81,787 people in Michigan thought this was a stupid idea, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality went with the 75 people who were in favor. I wonder what business school those DEQ folks went to.
What sweet music that must be in the ears of Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In return for their support of Bashar Assad as a puppet president, the Big Three will get what each really wants  a Syrian government kowtowing to their collective bidding; the opportunity for Turkey to extinguish permanently the Kurdish independence movement; coveted control by the Russians of the Mediterranean Sea; and a stranglehold on Israel by Iran as it joins hands with Hezbollah in Lebanon  all facilitated by a compliant Assad. A return of the Islamic State in Syria is nothing to fear. This radical, terrorist Sunni sect is hated equally by the Big Three. Their combined military forces can handily keep at bay any initiative by IS to raise its ugly head.
She approached the checkout counter just a second before another shopper. Looking at her cart-full and then at the fellow shopper's few items in hand, and imagining him on his way home after a hard day at work, she implored him to please go in front of her. But the shopper insisted that he was in no hurry and patiently took his place in line behind her.
I say "luckily" and not "deliberately" because officers are not trained to shoot to wound. They are trained to shoot to kill. The reason, as explained to me in 2002 during a one-day mock training session for the media at the Chicago Police Academy, is that it's difficult, dangerous and often ineffective to aim at limbs, and if officers are going to fire their guns, they ought to do so only when they believe the situation is a matter of life and death.
Houston is close to overtaking Chicago as the third-largest city in the U.S., but the rivalry just got personal. The city recently installed its own version of The Bean near the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston  and not just any knock-off, but one thats also been designed by artist (and traitor) Anish Kapoor. Called Cloud Column, the Houston design apparently predates Chicagos Cloud Gate by seven years, but sat out of public view until now. The main difference between the two? Houstons bean stands straight up, while Chicagos lies on its side. Way more chill, just like us.
With Hispanic Heritage Month in full swing, take a look at which states U.S. Census data show are the most diverse. The Diversity Index (DI) measures the probability that two people picked at random will be of different racial or ethnic backgrounds. A DI close to 0 indicates people share the same heritage, while a number closer to 1 indicates a higher level of diversity. DIs have been converted into percentages.
Mervine added that he likes Crowe-Horwath, which has done more than $600,000 worth of tech consulting work for the city, and he called the tech plan "very needed." But he added that because of the familiarity Crowe-Horwath has with the city's technology system, less work is needed doing assessment in the plan, and that should reflect itself in a lower price.
"I started out looking for work. The first booth I came to was the Army. I hope to enlist in July. It will be the best decision that I ever made. I would be supporting the country in a big way. It's something I always have thought about," Fultz said.
Over the course of the year, Rubio said, "I get to see these girls grow. At the beginning, sometimes they are a little shy, but at the end I get to see their personality, their character and the qualities that each girl has."
"Whether we continue to hold green space in our zoning for industrial properties or whether we consider residential development there. There is no recommendation there. We should have that conversation," she said.
Witnesses including the resident targeted said Hobbs was the last person in the apartment, and a few weeks before the fire, he'd sent a threatening text message to the resident, who thought the message meant Hobbs was going to start a fire at the apartment, prosecutors said. A photo of a lit cigarette lighter was attached to the message, according to prosecutors.
Russian meddling: The indictments of the 15 Russians is good. It proves we are under attack by the Russian government. In retrospect to what the president is saying, he thinks this has vindicated him. That is not the case. Probably a lot of his followers think the same thing, even though Americans unknowingly participated in this and were tricked into participating in this, just like the president tricks everyone into believing he has been vindicated. He has not. It tells me the president only services in his self-interest because he said it is vindication. What he has not said still about protecting the United States and our voting rights against the Russian government, it tells me he is only about one thing and that is for himself. He is not for you or the ones who voted for him. He has no interest in doing anything about what the Russian government did and is still doing.
Upon arrival, firefighters saw that the four residents already had exited the home and noticed heavy smoke coming from a second-floor bedroom that was near the back of the residence, officials said.
"When you get to high school, don't spend your time complaining about the work, but just get out there because it goes so fast," said Bridget, one of 170 students from BGHS who spent the morning volunteering at Thomas Middle School in Arlington Heights as part of the high school's "Make a Difference Day."
Beeman then kicked in the front door and was attacked by the dog, Piper said. Beeman stabbed the dog and then stabbed Panzek as he tried to confront him, Piper said. Panzek ran for his handgun as Beeman chased Panzek's son and stabbed him and the female friend, Piper said.
Robert Acri, 61, was found not guilty on all counts in a bench trial before DuPage County Judge Robert Miller, who dismissed the case Thursday at the conclusion of the prosecution's case. The judge agreed with Acri's attorney that the Illinois attorney general's office had failed to show proof beyond a reasonable doubt, even when the prosecution case was viewed in the most favorable light.
While members of the Will County chapter of the National Organization for Women, the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women and Act Connect Engage say the amendment is needed now more than ever, opponents counter by saying Congress and the states need to go back to the drawing board because the existing language could hurt women in the long run.
Riverside police later learned from Minnesota child protective services authorities that Schleicher's children had been taken away from her because of the prior DUI arrest in Minnesota in October 2017, Weitzel said. Minnesota police told local authorities that Schleicher was arrested there while her children were in the car, including the one she was breastfeeding while driving intoxicated, Weitzel said.
Will County prosecutors allege Woulfe was driving east in his Chevrolet S10 pickup at more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit when he ran a stop sign at Corning Road and Yates Avenue in Beecher. He is accused of crashing into a 2014 Subaru Outback carrying Schmidt's pregnant wife, Lindsey, and their three sons. Schmidt and her children were en route to a Vacation Bible School program at their church at the time of the accident.
Fleckenstein's Bakery announced that it will open a second bakery in June in New Lenox , moving into a vacant space on U.S. 30 west of Vine Street, and abandoning plans to be part of the new Rock Island Shopping Center at U.S. 30 and Cedar Road.
"I can't be the person who walks in and delivers bad news. I want to do the good thing. I want them to have pure joy," she said. Prosthetics and orthotics is one field that she expects "will be so rewarding  giving people back a life that they thought they had lost."
"Some of these quilts are so picturesque, they make you want to get in the car and go there" said Holly Anderson, the curator at Bulloch Hall. Anderson, a fabric artist herself, said she can appreciate the creativity and the time and talent that went into the making of the quilts.
Other municipal officials said they have trouble attracting businesses to their communities. Companies considering southern Cook County often find the business climate more attractive in northwest Indiana or Will County, they said. Economic incentives are helpful, but the Southland needs more help because tax rates here are higher than in other parts of the county.
Maxwell's Hot Dogs, which now operates as Kabob Kitchen, was fined $650 since it was the second time it failed a compliance check. Wieteska said the restaurant's last violation was several years ago. The one-day suspension delay will also apply in their case.
The city has many different cultures within its boundaries, as well as having staff members of various cultures who drive into Elgin. The council is making a commitment to give its employees the tools to work with each other as a team regardless of cultural differences. The hiring of Relationships Matter Now will be a positive for Elgin.
At around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 22, police were dispatched to Close Knit yarn and crafts store, at 1630 Orrington Ave., on a report of an armed robbery. An employee told police that a man entered the store, showed what was believed to be a handgun in his waistband and told the employee to "open the cash register or I'll shoot," police said in the release.
So city leaders want Evanston to be able to review restoration project requests at the same that other state and federal agencies do  instead of having to wait until the latter two grant approval, according to the memo and text of the ordinance.
John R. Parks, 29, of the 4100 block of Kenmore Avenue in Chicago, was charged with driving without a valid license, improper use of a turn signal, driving an uninsured motor vehicle and two charges of failing to properly secure a child younger than 8 after he was stopped at 12:58 a.m. on April 1 near the intersection of Green Bay and Maple Hill roads, police said. He was released on a $2,000 bond and has a scheduled court date of April 24.
Commuters who take the train from Western Springs or La Grange to Chicago now have a choice of six trains between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. That would go up to eight, according to the proposed schedule, including a train that would originate at the Highlands station at 6:23 a.m., at Western Springs at 6:26 a.m. and La Grange Road at 6:33 a.m., arriving at Union Station at 7:01 a.m. Another train would stop at Western Springs at 8:30 a.m., get to the La Grange Road station at 8:37, arrive at Congress Park station at 8:41 a.m. and then runs express to Union Station arriving at 8:59 a.m.
To reflect usefully on King's legacy, accurate understanding of his life is essential. Especially in the case of a martyred leader, there is a natural tendency to idealize and therefore distort history. That is unfortunate for two reasons. First, oversimplifying complexity of human existence can easily diminish the person described. The leader seems less consequential as the internal personal as well as external ordeals that define courage are erased.
Both the Millburn bypass the Quentin Road projects are scheduled to go out to bid on April 27, Petko said. It usually takes about a month and a half to two months for work to start following the bid, so Petko said he expects construction to start toward the end of June or after the July 4 holiday.
"The City Council today disagrees with policy implementation choices for which Mayor Schoenheider bore responsibility under the city code. Such disagreements are an appropriate part of the political process," Filippini wrote. "But by promoting one-sided and legally baseless assertions that former mayor and current resident Don Schoenheider violated the law in order to discredit a policy implementation approach that he properly pursued, I believe that the council acted in an unacceptable manner. Had I been consulted, I would have advised you against the course that the council chose to take."
The owner of a business in the 0-100 block of Sherwood Terrace reported at 6:36 a.m. on April 2 that a drill and some accessories for the drill, plus an angle grinder, were taken from a 2006 Dodge van parked in the area. The value of the missing equipment was reported as being more than $800.
The village is looking to shorten that trip for commuters now that grant money is available for a long-proposed pedestrian overpass near the downtown Metra station. Officials are pushing for architectural revisions to the plans and expect the project to go out to bid by the end of the year.
The annual Arbor Day tree sale sponsored by the City of Naperville will be held from 8 a.m. to noon April 28 at the Public Works Service Center, 180 Fort Hill Drive. Multiple types of trees will be available for sale and city staff will be available to help load them into vehicles. Experts will be on hand to answer tree questions. The city will also have pre-ordered rain barrels and composters available for pickup. Both can be ordered online at www.naperville.il.us/arbordaytreesale/.
"They had a number of elected officials there including Mike Quigley (1978 graduate of Glenbard North) and Raja Krishnamoorthi. I made contact with both of these representatives, and they will be coming to Glenbard North to speak to students. Rep. Roskam has already spoken to our students because I reached out to him also," she said via email. "I'm going to see Gov. Jeb Bush at Elmhurst College on April 18. But those tickets are free, so (there's) no record."
According to village spokesman David Powers, the Oak Park Fire Department was called to the hospital at 3 Erie Court at about 10:30 a.m.
Both the referendum and grant options were the focus of some discussion during the board's April 5 meeting, which was attended by about 30 residents, several of them speaking in support of the park district buying the .75-acre Busse and Shibley site, preserving its 15 large oak trees and turning it into a public, neighborhood park.
From his children, Campbell learned Robinson's work schedule and got a key to the apartment to get in when Thomas was alone, Frost said. He used taking his children to school as an alibi when he shot Thomas while she slept, according to Frost.
Andras is a 2010 graduate of Crown Point High School and is currently a member of the U.S. Army Indiana National Guard. He completed Army basic training in 2012 and combat medic and healthcare specialist training later that year. He completed his paramedic training at Franciscan Health Crown Point in 2016 and graduated from the District 1 Firefighting Training Academy in July 2017. He currently works as a volunteer with Crown Point Fire Rescue and a couple other departments.
"I do agree with the voice of the local people to have that role, but I do understand you have to break down as many barriers as possible, so that (emergency management) team can come in and do what they need to do for kids."
"This has been a long time coming," said Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, in urging council members to approve the project. Initial work may begin around May 14, with the actual building to be complete and in service by September 2019, she said.
"Our parent company has a company in Italy that does this now. We want to make it a more efficient process by bringing parts to the U.S. to assemble here," Gilleo said. "We're trying to make our global company more efficient. Italy will supply to Europe and the Far East markets."
Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, said she is unsure the amended ordinance will do what is intended. She said there is nothing to prevent officials who have the money in their budgets to pay out an exiting employee's benefits on their last paycheck, instead of continuing to pay the benefits out on the regular payroll schedule until they are exhausted and then filling the position.
Indiana University Northwest's School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Center for Urban and Regional Excellence is collaborating with Ivy Tech Community College on a series of free events about public affairs and ways local citizens can get involved. With the theme of "Demystifying Government," IU Northwest's Public Affairs Month activities welcome multiple law enforcement and government representatives who will discuss a wide range of topics. Meet the Sheriff Candidates will take place from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium, Savannah Center, 3400 Broadway, Gary. Candidates invited to the forum include Democrats Mike Brown, Richard Ligion, Oscar Martinez, David Dowling, Nate Hall, Maria (Garcia) Trajkovich, Wally Derose, Maria Dominguez, and Republican Dan Bursac. Careers in Criminal Justice will be from 10:30-11:45 p.m. Wednesday in the Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium. Opening Day for "Demystifying Government: Lake County Law Enforcement" will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Lake County Government Center Auditorium, 2293 N Main St., Crown Point. The event will feature a wide variety of speakers, followed by a tour of the Lake County Jail and correctional department. Registration for the tour, or the students-only crime lab tour, is with Joseph Gomeztagle at 219-981-4288. More information is with Marsheila Harris at 219-981-5630 or mdharris@iun.edu.
"Conditions are not ideal," Pazour said, adding the roof is leaking now and will need to be patched in the interim before it is replaced, and he expects other surprises to pop up as the project progresses, given the age of the buildings.
But the Dovellos family of Munster, which owns Royal Brush Manufacturing, Inc., and the building, asked the county to reconsider because significant work inside the building, as well as a high-speed internet tower on its roof, added value that wasn't included in the original appraisals, McClure said.
PTC is mandated by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The Federal Railroad Administration has said railroads must install it by the end of this year  at their own cost. South Shore estimates the cost at $100 million is seeking a fare increase to help pay for installation and continued operation.
If farmers are worried, so are Republican politicians, who depended on small-town America to hand them control of Congress and know how quickly those voters could take it away. Just seven months before the 2018 midterm elections, Trump's faceoff with China over trade has exposed an unexpected political vulnerability in what was supposed to be the Republican Party's strongest region: rural America.
"I totally disagree with your admonishing of those who aren't fans of the 9-mile South Shore extension," wrote Mark Ashmann. "People in southern Lake County seem to be portrayed as heroes when they rally to oppose an expressway through the golden farmland or a freight line crossing their emerald fields. But if we up north find something not to our liking, we are portrayed as obstructionists."
"All I heard during his campaign to be president (including myself) was how unhappy everyone was with the career politicians, and how they wanted someone who was business savvy," said Wally M. "Well, here we are. The majority of us asked for it and now we have it. I'll be the first to admit I'm not particularly happy with how he handles some things, but I still support him," he said.
Getting the $30,000 back for the Gary school system is a start. Now, are they going to look into where all the money went with poor management by the Gary school board? The Gary school board and the ex-superintendent still need to answer questions about what happened to all of the taxpayers' money.
My life has been enriched through volunteering at the Alzheimer's Association-Illinois Chapter, where I answer the help line. For the past eight years, I served two days a week connecting family caregivers, people with dementia, and professionals with resources that address their unique questions. I can relate to many callers as the daughter of a person who lived with Alzheimer's disease for 10 years. I can also bring my professional knowledge as a social worker to the calls from people seeking help who come away with useful information, suggestions about solving a problem or the list of organizations equipped to respond with specialized care.
City council approves emergency ordinance for Holmes Hardware project

Multiple Agreements were approved by Pueblo City Council for the Fuel and Iron Project at Monday night's city council meeting.
You are here: Business

Railway trips in China are expected to hit 13.9 million on Thursday, as many Chinese return home to pay tribute to the deceased on Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day.

Some 551 trains are expected to be added during the travel rush, according to the China Railway Corporation, the national railway operator.

On Wednesday, some 11.7 million train trips were made, of which 2.4 million were operated by Shanghai Railway Bureau, up 8.7 percent year on year.

Beijing Railway Bureau saw train trips drop 3 percent year on year Wednesday.

Qingming Festival, which falls on April 5 this year, is an important occasion for Chinese to honor their ancestors. Many also spend the three-day holiday on leisure travel.
At the start of his career, Li Zhengjie would scour the streets, wander university campuses and even climb skyscrapers to drum up business. He quickly realized that being a freelance stenographer is hard workeven before you've landed a client.

Twelve years on, the job is still hard, but at least his income has increased.

Li's first client was a professor who paid him 160 yuan (US$25) in March 2006 to record and transcribe discussions during a two-hour seminar in Beijing. Li and his wife, also a stenographer, made about 1,800 yuan a month that year, but today they can earn up to 30,000 yuan a month.

"I could barely imagine such an income when I was starting out," said Li, 36, who now leads a team of 12 stenographers covering events across the Chinese capital.

However, some in the business fear breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and smart voice-recording software is threatening their industry.

"I'm kind of worried whether this job will still exist in the years ahead," said Pan Li, who has been in the business for 12 years. She works with her friend Ma Ruijuan from a home office in Handan, Hebei province, about 400 kilometers from Beijing. They handle interviews, academic speeches, court hearings, phone surveys and celebrity appearances, charging 80 yuan an hour.

Pan, Ma and Li were all inspired to become stenographers around 2006 after spotting advertisements in local newspapers that suggested demand for such skills would soar over the following decade.

The prediction was correct, and all three have so far enjoyed decent careers. Yet as demand begins to drop due to new technologies, so are incomes.

Li mostly now works conferences, seminars and forums, but in 2006 he was receiving a lot of business from journalists who wanted quick transcriptions of their interviews.

"They'd give me their recordings and I'd usually charge them 70 or 80 yuan an hour," he said. But since 2015, that kind of work has all but disappeared. "Few are still coming to me today because they can simply use smart software and apps to produce their own transcripts," Li added.

'Exciting experiences'

After graduating with an advertising degree from college in his native Shenyang, Liaoning province, Li worked for several months for a local ad agency. But he was not happy with the salary.

"Then I saw a newspaper ad for a stenography training school that said the industry would be one of the most promising for the next 10 years and promised high salaries," he recalled. "At that time, none of my friends and relatives had ever heard of such a job."

Li and his wife signed up for classes, paying about 10,000 yuan for tuition, and over the next six months dedicated themselves to learning how to use a stenotype, a machine that enables users to record speech in shorthand.

"The hardest part is improving your speed. To go from typing 60 words a minute to 120 words required us to practice by typing millions and millions of words," he said.

Due to the limited demand in his hometown, Li decided to move to Beijing shortly after completing his training. Stenographers typically start by transcribing audio files and then progress to conferences, which are high pressure but pay about 300 yuan an hour. Li started working conferences in 2008.

Ma from Hebei relocated to the capital in 2006 for the same reason as Li. "Most of my clients were introduced by friends in the same industry, and I was usually hired to do transcripts of media interviews," the 32-year-old said.

Before long, she was regularly working in the studios of China Central Television, the State broadcaster, and Beijing TV, and by 2010, she had helped produce transcripts of a number of high-profile shows, including CCTV's Legal Report.

"Those were the most exciting experiences of my 20s," she said, laughing. "I didn't know what a TV interview was like until I stepped into a TV studio."

Ma eventually moved back to her hometown with her husband and children, but she continues to work on interviews by receiving and sending files through the internet.

"I'm the main breadwinner in my family because this job allows me to earn more money than my husband," she said. "What's more, it keeps me connected with the outside world."

Coexisting with AI

Courts are a major source of work for stenographers, who record proceedings for the public record. However, tech tycoon Liu Qingfeng is hoping to change that.

Liu's company, iFlytekwhich is headquartered in Hefei, Anhui province, and makes language input software and voice-recognition programsunveiled an AI system last month that will not only record court hearings, but also aid judges in reviewing criminal cases.

"We're now able to use AI to help judges review four types of cases, namely homicide, theft, telecom fraud and illegal fundraising," he said at a news conference on March 5. As he spoke, his words appeared on a screen beside him almost instantly, demonstrating the speed and accuracy of the company's technology.

Stenographer Li Zhengjie said the rapid developments seen in AI in recent years have raised concerns about the future of his profession.

"I've been thinking about this problem since 2010, and I used to worry my job may one day no longer exist," he said, adding that voice-recognition software like that produced by iFlytek is the No 1 reason why demand from journalists for transcription services is drying up.

"When the conversation takes place in a very quiet environment and all the speakers are talking loudly and clearly, such apps work better and more efficiently than us humans," he conceded.

Yet he said he feels confident that such technology will not replace conference stenographers, at least not in the short term.

"I've never doubted the necessity for a human stenographer because only we can recognize who is speaking when, so we can record the correct order of speakers," Li said. "Plus, the environments at forums and conferences are usually too noisy for voice translation apps to work efficiently."

Ma agrees, and added that most interview recordings she works on are also conducted in noisy environments such as on streets or in restaurants.

Li said he ultimately believes his job can coexist with AI systems.

"It's like radio versus television," he explained. "When TV arrived and became popular in every household, many people were saying radio was a dying industry. Yet both are running well today and simply have adjusted to cater to varying customer demand.

"Such coexistence will also be seen between stenography and AI," he added.
China's time-honored brands, known as laozihao, are adopting fresh operation modes to catch the eyes of the country's increasingly sophisticated consumers.

Recently, traditional Chinese herbal tea producer Guangzhou Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Co Ltd launched four outlets, called 1828 Wanglaoji, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, bringing handmade herbal tea to physical stores.

Unlike conventional herbal tea, which is usually sold in cans in supermarkets, the handmade teas are now being served in physical stores, where clerks offer customized herbal drinks for the consumers.

"I ordered a classical one. Customers can choose herbs to add to their drinks, such as orange peel, goji berry and licorice. Compared with Wanglaoji's herbal tea sold in cans, I think the handmade one has a heavier taste of Chinese medicine," said Jackie Chen, 25, a Guangzhou resident.

Three of the new 1828 Wanglaoji outlets are in shopping malls, and consumers find them a great combination with adjacent restaurants.

"I feel great to have a herbal tea after having a spicy meal in the Sichuan restaurant nearby," Chen said.

"Because the climate in Guangdong is usually damp and hot, we often suffer from excessive internal heat. In order to repel internal humidity and heat, we are fond of drinking herbal tea," he added.

Industry insiders said that currently, the two leading Chinese herbal tea makers, Guangzhou-based Wanglaoji and Hong Kong-based JDB Group, take up more than 80 percent of the market share. Both the density and the scope of the distribution channels have reached a saturated level, and all categories of the products of the time-honored brands have reached maturity, making it difficult to find new market growth points.

As a result, they said, it is reasonable for those time-honored brands to extend their product categories and establish their own distribution channels.

Recent years have witnessed earthshaking changes in China's catering market. Consumers are aware of an increasing number of diversified food and drinks, and those time-honored brands that mainly rely on traditional operation modes face severe challenges.

Meanwhile, the market for instant food and beverages is continuously growing. Official statistics show that by the end of 2017, the market volume of instant drinks had reached more than 50 billion yuan (US$7.94 billion) per year, and the figure is still rising.
China will fight "at any cost" and take "comprehensive countermeasures" if the United States continues its unilateral, protectionist practices, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

"On Sino-U.S. trade, China has made its position very clear. We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of such a war," the spokesperson said.

The remarks came after the U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had asked the U.S. Trade Representative to consider 100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs on Chinese products.

"Concerning the U.S. statement, we will not only listen to the words but also watch the deeds," the spokesperson said.

If the United States continues its protectionism regardless of opposition from China and the international community, China will fight to the end at any cost to "protect the interests of the country and the people," according to the spokesperson.

"The conflict was initiated by the United States as provocation," the spokesperson said.

China will continue reform and opening up, safeguard multilateral trade, and promote trade and investment liberalization, the spokesperson added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang also made similar pledge when asked to comment on President Trump's direction, according to a document at the ministry's website.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for elevating the ties between China and the Philippines while meeting with his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte at the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference.
China's unmanned submersible "Hailong III" dived 4,266 meters below the sea surface in the western Pacific Ocean late Wednesday while conducting a 4,500-meter level deep water test.

The submersible entered the water from its mothership Dayang Yihao (Ocean No. 1), a Chinese scientific research ship, at 6:30 p.m. Beijing time (1030 GMT). It reached the depth of 4,266 meters some 174 minutes later, and returned to the deck of the mothership early on Thursday.

Yang Lei, head of a panel involved in Wednesday's sea test, said Hailong III has broad prospects in application in deep-sea exploration, and could be a favorable work platform for marine observation, deep-sea exploration and sampling.

Chu Fengyou, chief scientist of Dayang Yihao, said the submersible, which is able to dive to a depth of 6,000 meters, has completed a 400-meter level shallow sea test on March 24 and a 2,000-meter level test on the following day.

The submersible was scheduled to take the 4,500-meter level deep water test in late March, but Dayang Yihao could not find an ideal place for the submersible to carry out its tasks due to the influence of Typhoon Jelawat, said Chu.

The area where the submersible dived a depth of 4,266 meters was the best location at the time, said Chu, adding that the neighboring sea areas could not meet the requirements for the submersible to complete the test.

Dayang Yihao departed China's eastern port city of Qingdao on March 20, taking scientists on a 45-day scientific expedition.

Hailong literally means Sea Dragon in Chinese.
Financial authorities in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has allocated 1.1 billion yuan (about 174 million U.S. dollars) to fund pre-school education in rural areas this year.

Starting from October, 2016, school fees for all public kindergartens in the rural area of Xinjiang have been paid by the government. The free-education program started in four regions in southern Xinjiang, including Kashgar, Hotan, Kizilsu Kirgiz and Aksu. It has been expanded to other rural areas.

Every year, fund for each child is 2,800 yuan (444 U.S. dollars), covering meals, books, education expense and heating. The fund is also used to renovate kindergartens, the regional finance department said.

Apart from the special fund, other funds will also be allocated this year to support rural preschool education.
Bringing his eight-year-old son, Wang Wei visited the martyrs' tomb park in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, and placed some flowers in front of a monument.

"We should not forget the warriors who sacrificed their lives for our country," said Wang, a local resident.

"It is not only our relatives who should be remembered, but also the deceased heros," he said, adding he hoped his son would continue to visit every year in the future.

Thursday marks Qingming, Tomb-sweeping Day. It is a time for Chinese people to mourn the dead and worship their ancestors by visiting tombs and making offerings.

While the government has set up a Martyrs' Day on Sept. 30, Chinese people visit graveyards of martyrs to commemorate those who lost their lives for national independence and prosperity at Qingming.

Since retiring from the army, Liu Guoxin swept tombs of 13 martyrs every year near his hometown, Hunchun City.

The 13 were killed in an attack by Japanese troops in 1938. On one of the gravestones is only a surname "Lang."

"He died at the age of less than 20, with his full name unknown," the veteran said while wiping the gravestone.

Liu said he could not bear weeds growing near the tombs, so he decided to come to visit every day, removing weeds, leaves, or snow.

In Beijing, more than 700 people, including veterans, descendants of martyrs and students, attended a commemorative poetry recital on Wednesday at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Veteran Zhang Senshui led the participants to mourn deceased soldiers and present flowers. A concert was organized Thursday morning.

Authorities opened a webpage of "commemorating martyrs online" from March 6. As of Wednesday, 90 million netizens had presented virtual flowers at www.wenming.cn, with many of them leaving messages.

"Dear brave warriors, you are the most lovely people,... and the land you shed blood for has been filled with blossoms and trees. We will cherish the hard-earned happy life and better understand the responsibilities and missions shouldered on us," posted a netizen.

While deceased warriors rest in peace in graveyards, Yang Yumei only had a jar of soil.

Yang, 55, is granddaughter of Zhang Qi, the most senior Chinese officer to die in the Battle of Yenangyaung, Myanmar in April 1942. More than 7,000 British soldiers and their families were saved from in the bitterly fought campaign.

His body was blown up when being transported back home, with his belongings scattered.

In 2015, Yang brought back a jar of soil at the battlefield and buried it in Qiyang County, Hunan Province, Zhang's hometown.

Last year, funded by local government and Yang, a monument was erected as well as a gravestone at the site.

"He finally has a place to be mourned by people," Yang said.




Beijing will transform more old factories into cultural centers, libraries, museums and galleries, according to guidelines released by the Beijing municipal government at a press conference on April 4.





The guidelines, which aim at providing a practical and effective plan, will be implemented through various means, including working processes, relevant policies, supporting services and project management.





Beijing currently has 242 old and unused factory buildings, which cover more than 25 million square meters. Among them, 109 have been renovated and 26 are being renovated.





Zhao Lei, head of the Beijing Municipal Office for State-owned Cultural Assets Supervision and Management, said the old factories have their own histories. Therefore, the process of renovation will put protection first and carry out renovation in a scientific manner.





"The renovations will promote the further development of cultural and creative industries in Beijing," said Yu Junsheng, deputy director of the Publicity Department of Beijing Municipal Party Committee.





According to data released by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the volume of the cultural and creative industries of Beijing reached 390.8 billion yuan (US$61.98 billion), up 12.3 percent from 2010.




You are here: China

One person was killed when a cargo ship sank in the waters off east China's Zhejiang Province on Friday.

According to Donghai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, 13 people were onboard the ship "Dapujiang" when it sank in the early morning in waters near Zhoushan City.

A rescue vessel from the bureau arrived at the scene at 5:46 a.m. and found ten of the crew on board a life raft with three missing.

A helicopter joined the search at 6:05 a.m. and located two of the missing, who are said to now be in a stable condition.

At 7:04 a.m., rescuers found a body in the water.
A 58-member Chinese medical team arrives in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, on April 27, to provide medical assistance to quake-hit Nepal. It is the first medical team sent by the Chinese government to the country after a massive 8.1-magnitude quake shook the country. [Photo/Xinhua]





Nepal and China are set to take their bilateral ties to newer heights as both enjoy a favorable political climate following the installation of strong leadership.

Nepal has a majority-left government that has been seen as "China-friendly," while China has successfully re-elected the incumbent President and Prime Minister entrusted with the responsibility of transforming the second largest economy into an advanced and prosperous socialist state by middle of this century.





Meanwhile, China's foreign policy has evolved under the broad concept of "building a community with a shared future for humanity." The nation has started a series of groundbreaking initiatives aimed at ending poverty, inequality and alienation on a global scale. As an immediate neighbor, Nepal is poised to tap opportunities that come in the form of investment, aid, trade, infrastructure development and connectivity through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).





In his recent congratulatory message to Nepal's newly elected President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Nepal relations, and is willing to promote a comprehensive and lasting partnership between the two countries to engender ongoing achievement and friendship.





Xi stressed that China and Nepal are close neighbors and affirmed that "China always respects and supports the Nepalese people's independent choice of social system and development path."





Nepal's Premier KP Sharma Oli, who led the Left Alliance to sweeping victory in federal and provincial polls last year, has expressed optimism that Nepal-China ties will be further cemented during Xi's tenure in office. "Nepal and China enjoy cordial ties. Nepal is committed to a one-China policy and will never allow Nepali territory to be used against China," Premier Oli said in his congratulatory message to Xi on his reelection to the post of President.





Chinese President Xi is expected to visit Nepal by the end of this year, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Gyawali, who said that Nepal is working for the visits of both Xi and Indian PM Narendra Modi in a bid to enhance equal and amicable relations with both neighbors. Xi was scheduled to visit Nepal in October 2016 but the trip was canceled for logistical reasons.

The year 2017 witnessed significant bilateral activities between Nepal and China. In May of last year the two nations signed an accord on BRI, described as the project of the century, which is expected to help Nepal overcome its deficit in investment and infrastructure development. China has become the largest investor in Nepal, across diverse fields.

Nepalis have held an increasingly positive image of China since the latter's humanitarian aid was offered during the major crisis of the Indian blockade and earthquake in 2015.

With the formation of the Left Alliance government, atmosphere has become more conducive to implement the BRI in earnest. Nonetheless, Nepal can make even better use of the economic opportunities provided by China. For instance, China has granted duty-free access to Nepal on its 8,000 products but the Nepali side has been so far unable to cash in on this opportunity in the absence of appropriate export items.

Nepal and China have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to construct a cross-border Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to facilitate trade and investment between the two countries. They are planning to construct an SEZ in Rasuwagadhi near the Nepal-China border. A team of high-level Chinese officials have also visited the proposed site of the China-Nepal Eco Industrial Park in Damak Municipality-10 of Jhapa district in eastern Nepal. The SEZ is crucial to reduce Nepal's soaring trade deficit with China and create a win-win situation.

The idea of setting up an SEZ debunks the Western myth that the BRI is a "debt trap" for the poor countries participating in the ambitious Chinese project. By helping to operate the SEZ in Least Developed Countries like Nepal, China wants to ensure mutual benefit to all, to see that no country takes advantage of the economic vulnerabilities of weaker nations.

"We will have a broader mind. No matter what stage of development it reaches, China will stand for the equality of all countries, large or small, and will respect different civilizations and systems," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Speaking at a press meet organized during the first session of the 13th National People's Congress on March 8, Wang noted that China would put the greater good before its own self-interest to help less developed countries achieve better growth.

Ritu Raj Subedi is an associate editor of The Rising Nepal.





Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
 Flash

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday that the parliament will be dissolved on Saturday, paving way for the next general election to be held within 60 days in which he is seeking another mandate after holding the position for nine years.




Jewish families given visas needed to escape Holocaust and find haven

A square in Chinatown, Milan, has become the first location in Italy to be dedicated in honor of a Chinese person, Piazzetta Ho Feng Shan being named for the remarkable achievements of a 1930s diplomat.

Ho Feng Shan was the Chinese consul general in Vienna from 1938 to 1940, when the Nazi authorities would only allow Jews to leave if they had a visa to another country.

Consulates were flooded with applications from Jews desperate to escape the Holocaust, but while many countries were unwilling to accept more refugees, Ho saved thousands of lives by issuing visas to Shanghai, allowing Jews safe passage to China, away from the horrors of Europe.

Some applications were even stuffed into his car - but were treated and granted just the same as those by more conventional means.

Ho, born in 1901, obtained his PhD from the University of Munich in 1932 and spent nearly 40 years in the diplomatic service before retiring to San Francisco.

He died in 1997 and, in accordance with his wishes, was later buried in his beloved hometown of Yiyang in Hunan province.

During his lifetime he rarely spoke about his work with refugees. Even in his 700-page memoir Forty Years of My Diplomatic Life, published in 1990, he gave it just the briefest mention.

"Since the Anschluss (when Nazi Germany took over control of Austria), the persecution of Jews by Hitler's 'devils' became increasingly fierce," he wrote. "I spared no effort in using every means to help, thus saving who knows how many Jews!"

It was only after his death that his daughter Ho Manli, a journalist, began to investigate her father's past and the stories of the survivors he helped, during which she scoured archives in Washington, Vienna and Israel.

Her inquiries began when she received a telephone call from the curator of a touring photographic exhibit on diplomatic rescuers of Jews. Almost immediately she started uncovering the stories of many survivors, such as Eric Goldstaub, who applied to 50 consulates without any success before Ho came to his rescue, granting 20 visas for his entire family.

Goldstaub took refuge in Shanghai from 1939 to 1948 and never forgot Ho's help. After the war his story was recorded in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum archives.

His cousin Harry Fiedler still possesses one of the visas Ho issued, serial number 1193, issued on July 20, 1938, four months after the Anschluss. This was Ho Manli's first indication of the volume of visas her father had helped issue.

In subsequent years many other journalists, scholars and writers have followed in Ho Manli's footsteps in investigating the story.

Last year a Canadian-American producer, Rene Balcer, directed a documentary, Above the Drowning Sea, which recorded many first-person accounts of Jewish refugees, and the Chinese residents of Shanghai who became friends with them during World War II.

This year Elisa Giunipero, director of the Confucius Institute at the Catholic University of Milan, published a book on the same topic. She said remembering Ho is crucial for Europeans to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust.

"We always think of the Holocaust as European history, but, in fact, it is the history of humankind. What I find really interesting is to look at this history from another perspective."

As Ho's story has become better known around the world he has received numerous commendations. In July 2000 Israel bestowed on him the title of Righteous Among the Nations, one of its highest honors. In 2015 the Holocaust Museum of Houston honored Ho with the Lyndon Johnson Moral Courage Award.

Recently a new stone plaque in Ho's name was unveiled in Monte Stella Park, Milan. Gabriele Nissim, president of the Milan charity Gariwo which organized the memorial, said that in the modern world, now more than ever, it was vital to remember the importance of human kindness as shown by Ho.

The European refugee crisis, said Nissim, with hundreds of thousands fleeing from Asia and Africa, and thousands dying while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, shows how important Ho's example was.

"Remembering Ho and other World War II heroes is the process of remembering the possibility of humanity to do kindness and take care of each other," Nissim said.

"After World War II we thought what happened to the Jews would not happen again, but that is not true. So this day we push young people to take responsibility for what happened in history."

The naming of Piazzetta Ho Feng Shan came about through a two-year process by the Italian Chinese Entrepreneurs Union. Luca Song, chairman of the group, said the naming of the square meant Ho's story would continue to inspire generations of Chinese living overseas.

"His humanitarian deeds provide guidance to our conduct, so we must remember him."

cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com

Clockwise from above: Ho Feng Shan; A Jewish boy and his Chinese friend at play; A Jewish boy with a Chinese shopkeeper; A Jewish girl and Chinese friends. Photos provided to China Daily

(China Daily 04/06/2018 page6)
Benny Tai example of inflexible dogmatism Updated: 2018-04-06 07:24 (HK Edition)

Ho Lok-sang says controversial law professor has narrow, dogmatic views, and is out of touch with positive developments on the mainland

Professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting says he does not promote Hong Kong's independence, but he wants China to become "democratic" in the way that he understands democracy. He portrays the meeting in Taiwan in which he participated as merely an exchange among those who cherish the values of democracy and freedom. Tai sees the positioning of the democratic movement in Hong Kong to be "anti-dictatorship". He says he does not agree with Hong Kong becoming independent now, but only because "conditions are not yet ripe". He says Hong Kong people can exercise self-determination when China has become "democratic".

I have had the opportunity to exchange views with Tai many times before. I have often found his views to be narrow and dogmatic, and he is promoting his views religiously. He just took as faith that people will somehow enjoy more freedom and a better life after China is split into different chunks. In his view, the national interest is somehow better served when people of different regions and ethnicities look after their regional and ethnic interests and seek self-determination. The organizer of the Taiwan forum that he attended, Yang Yueqing, says her group aims at awakening Taiwan's people to the nature of the Communist Party of China and to arouse anti-Communist sentiment. Tai would say that he is not against the CPC, because upon the realization of "democracy" the CPC can compete with other parties to form a government if it is popular. To Tai, democracy is all about competition among different parties. He does not see the need for national unity.

Unfortunately, his views of China and of the CPC are too narrow. Along with Yang, he failed to see the increasing freedom enjoyed by the Chinese mainlanders - freedom from hunger, freedom to travel, freedom to run a business or to apply for jobs, freedom to form families, freedom to attend church services, freedom for creative works. These days millions of mainlanders write novels and poems and songs and post them on the internet. If Yang is concerned about freedom, let her visit the mainland, and see for herself how mainland people go about their daily lives pursuing various creative activities. On her Facebook page, she says she wants to promote the freedom from fear and the freedom to live as one pleases. She will be surprised to see plenty of this freedom on the mainland, which is being promoted by the party she hates.

A recent article by Li Chenjian of Peking University titled "Hold on to the Right of Freedom of Questioning and Freedom of Thought" caught the attention of columnist Li Yi, who restated that one of the greatest values of science lies in its questioning and inquiring spirit. Even if a scientist believes that he has found the truth, he would still retain a sense of doubt, almost ready to examine any evidence that may disprove what he held to be true. Li Yi says if one thinks that one has ready answers to various questions, and refuses to reexamine new evidence, one is likely to err. This is all fine. But then he went on to say: "Exactly because no one has the absolute knowledge to govern a country well, we need democratic institutions to ensure that new ways of thinking may bring us new development. These new ways of thinking will still be tested, and if necessary replaced. This is the systematic way of correcting errors and making for progress If we want to successfully solve problems never solved before, we must allow questioning and discussions." The problem with this argument is that Li Yi's inference that "democratic institutions" are the only way that will allow doubt and inquiry, and "democratic institutions" is understood to be party politics. Ironically, he and Tai do not question the "truth" that "party politics is the answer to the problem of good governance".

China is governed by the CPC, but the CPC does not suppress discussions on policies in general. Actually policy consultations are common. If there is any suppression, it is only suppression of discussion that sets out to overthrow the regime. Critics say that a government needs opposition parties for "checks and balances", but opposition parties are not well known for successful checks and balances. There are many political parties vying for power in India, Indonesia, and Mexico. But these countries fair worse than China in the fight against corruption. The "checks and balances" in the United States made it difficult to follow through with healthcare reform, and helped create the subprime mortgage crisis. The "checks and balances" made it difficult to control the proliferation of gun ownership. As recent US statistics noted: "Between 2014 and 2017, 56,755 Americans were killed by guns, including 2,710 children under the age of 12. In that time, there have been 1,333 mass shootings - defined as incidents in which at least four people are injured or killed - eight of them at elementary or high schools."

A dogmatic intellectual is a contradiction in terms. Unfortunately for Hong Kong, Benny Tai is a living example of that.

(HK Edition 04/06/2018 page5)
Last week, Chinese social media users began noticing that they couldnt find Bibles listed on some of their nations most popular e-commerce platforms.

Shoppers who searched the word Bible on retailers such as Taobao, Jingdong, Dang Dang, and Amazon.cn began receiving a no results response, reported the South China Morning Post.

Search analytics revealed a significant spike in the keyword Bible on March 30. But by April 1, analytics showed a zero, suggesting that the word may have been censored, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Two days before the Bibles were banned from online purchase, the Chinese government released a document outlining how it intends to promote Chinese Christianity over the next five years. According to the document, one of the governments key objectives is to reinterpret and retranslate the Bible in order to enhance Chinese-style Christianity and theology.

Among Chinas main religionswhich ...

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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.
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Termeni de referinta pentru selectarea unui expert/ e, grup de experti sau companii care va presta servicii de instruire pentru voluntarii din cadrul AO Concordia. Proiecte sociale
BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Just a couple of years ago, there was a feeling of doom and gloom regarding American Greetings moving out of the city.

Now Brooklyn Department of Economic Development Director Andi Udris said that frown has been turned upside down with numerous companies moving in. This includes Inogen, which is headquartered in Goleta, Calif., and develops, manufactures and markets portable oxygen concentrators.

"Inogen's original commitment was they were going bring 240 jobs within the first three years," Udris said. "They saw the job market was good. They found a lot of people that were qualified to do the kind of sales work and the follow-up work they needed.

"They also liked this very central location. They originally were looking for a second location, somewhere else on the East Coast, but I think they've decided now to stay in Cleveland and expand. Obviously, this means we have a business that's very happy being in Brooklyn."

Inogen Executive Vice President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer Ali Bauerlein said the sales and service support location, which opened last August, is growing in terms of square footage and the number of employees.

"We're proud of the talent that we are finding in the Cleveland area, particularly for our direct-to-consumer sales force," Bauerlein said. "We have begun phase two, and we are ahead of expectations in terms of reaching our goal of hiring 240 employees over the first three years in Cleveland.

"We hope to be able to hire even more employees, as we are still in the very early stages of market penetration in the oxygen therapy market."

Udris said 240 new jobs equates to a $12 million payroll. Inogen last year received a $250,000 Economic Development Grant from JobsOhio 2017, as well as a $1,515,000 Job Creation Tax Credit from the Ohio Department of Development Services.

Also, Brooklyn provided the company a Job Retention and Creation Tax Credit. The city will be returning income taxes totaling $100,000 over the next three years.

"It's helping anchor the former American Greeting site," Udris said. "There's Medical Mutual, and now the growth of Inogen is really setting up that space as an office park, which is exactly what we wanted it to be. This is ideal when you look at it from a job-creation standpoint.

"We're happy the building is getting reused, and it now has a brand or kind of an image, so when future employers look at the space, they know they're not going to be next to something that's incompatible or dirty manufacturing."
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Any one of Scott Pruitt's many ethics violations would justify his ouster, but his disastrous Fox News interview about his misconduct could ultimately be the kiss of death.

Getting grilled by President Trump's chief political,policy and personnel adviser, Fox News, does not bode well for job security.

It's another Fireday Friday at The White House. Pruitt could be gone by the time you're reading this, our on is way up the Trump House smokestack.

The following is some of the unethical conduct that justify Pruitt's firing.

-- For $50 a night, Pruitt leased rooms in a Condo owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist doing business with the EPA. The Washington Post reports lobbyist Steven Hart's name was scratched off the lease and replaced with his wife Vicki's name.

--The EPA's ethics office was not fully informed by Pruitt when they approved the lease

--Despite a lease amount well below market rates, Pruitt was still late in making the $50 rent payments.

-- An extensive array of lavish spending.

-- Five EPA staffers who filed whistleblower complaints about Pruitt's lavish spending were either reassigned, demoted or forced out of their jobs.

-- Pruitt gave one staffer a $50,000+ plus raise. Another staffer received a 33% raise. Both raises were granted by Pruitt after the White House rejected the increase requests.

--The New York Times reports the Pruitt was not being truthful when he said in the Fox News interview that he was unaware the raises had been granted.

--Pruitt ordered his vehicles sirens be turned on to cut through traffic when late for meetings.

The proverbial environmental sirens and flashing lights have been turned on ever since climate-change denier Pruitt was named the head of the Environmental Protection Agency he thinks shouldn't exist.

So far, Pruitt's ethics violations have been overlooked by Trump and conservative Republicans because Pruitt has been so effective in transforming the Environmental Protection Agency into the Environmental Pollution Agency, following Trump's marching orders to Make America's Air and Water Contaminated Again.

"I think he's done an incredible job," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, Thursday. "He's been very courageous. It hasn't been easy, but I think he's done a fantastic job."

Trump's praise is another sign Pruitt's soon to be gone, if it follows Trump's previous pattern of applauding the work of staffers just before ousting them.

The sad reality is it should be easy for Trump to find another Republican to effectively carry out Trump's EPA deregulation mandate without engaging in the ethical misconduct that Pruitt has.

Trump has been aggressively moving to fulfill his campaign promises. His ordering military troops to make an armed human wall on the border exemplifies that.

One campaign promise Trump's failed miserably to fulfill is to "drain the swamp." He can begin to rectify that by pulling the drain plug on Swampy Scott Pruitt.
Nikki Delamotte, cleveland.com

Rock Hall Induction Week 2018: 22 concerts, parties and more to celebrate

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions return to Cleveland this year, and the city is turning into one big party to celebrate it. This Saturday kicks off a week full of fun that includes everything from concerts to dance parties to film screenings to foodie events and more.

There are plenty of events at the Rock Hall itself  like fireworks blasting off on Celebration Day, author visits, interactive trivia and live music. Around town, you'll find music in some of the city's best bars and restaurants on East 4th St., local artists paying tribute to inductees on Public Square, tribute nights at the Music Box Supper Club on the waterfront and more.

In honor of this years class of inductees  Nina Simone, The Cars, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues and Bon Jovi  this is your guide to some of the best happenings around Cleveland.

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"Bad Reputation" film screening

The Rock Hall and the Cleveland International Film Festival are teaming up to screen Bad Reputation, a documentary about the life of rocker Joan Jett, at the museum's Foster Theater. The film covers her early years, her days with the Runaways and her legacy with the Blackhearts.

Friday, April 6

7:30 p.m.

More info

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(Photo: Joseph Llanes)

Free Celebration Day

You'll have plenty of chances to experience the excitement surrounding the Rock Hall inductions over the next week. This Saturday, the Rock Hall hosts their Celebration Day, which features live music by RSO (Richie Sambora and Orianthi) and Wesley Bright & the Honeytones. They'll also unveil their new Hall of Fame Experience, which is spread out over the building's entire third floor. Stick around for fireworks, which blast off at 9 p.m. Admission to the museum is free all day.

Saturday, April 7

10 a.m.-11 p.m.

More info

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Music Box Supper Club: ESC4P3, Journey tribute

If you didnt get a chance to belt out Dont Stop Believin at last years induction ceremony in New York, relive the moment with tribute band ESC4P3. Since 1993, the band has been covering the bands biggest hits of the Steve Perry era. Theyll bring their high energy act to the Music Box Supper Club at 1148 Main Ave., Cleveland.

Saturday, April 7

6 p.m.

More info

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(Photo: Thomas Ondrey / The Plain Dealer)

Stories of rock, inductee and album spotlights

The Rock Hall is getting extra interactive during the week of inductions. Their special Stories of Rock series include fun activities like Rock Hall trivia shows, inductee spotlight programs that allow experts to guide visitors through the lives and music of this years class and album spotlights, in which classic records will be played in full followed by commentary by experts.

April 9-14

More info

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(Photo: Marc Bona / cleveland.com)

Inductee-themed doughnuts at Brewnuts

Whats a more delicious way to celebrate the Rock Hall than some induction-themed doughnuts? Brewnuts, the Gordon Square bar and doughnut shop that bakes up dones made with craft beer, is rolling out a special line of sweets with a rock and roll twist. Think treats with names like The Mixed Up Candy O and Shot Through the Heart. Brewnuts is at 6501 Detroit Ave., Cleveland.

April 10-15

brewnutscleveland.com

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Nikki Delamotte, cleveland.com

Rock Hall Week UnWINE and dance party at Aloft

Rock Hall Music Week UnWINED

Relax with this casual night of music at Aloft Hotel in the East Bank of the Flats. Singer and pianist/keyboardist Rob Kovacs will devote this special happy hour show to covering inductee tunes as Aloft serves up half-priced bottles of wine.

Tuesday, April 10

4-30-7:30 p.m.

More info

Darcoha and more dance party

The night of the inductions, Aloft teams up with Sphere Productions for an epic dance party. Darocha of Sao Paulo, Brazil, will be making an appearance alongside Clevelands Shawn Vesco and resident WXYZ DJ Blackbird.

Saturday, April 14

10 p.m.-2 a.m.

More info

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Author series: "Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe"

Gayle Walds Shout, Sister, Shout! tells the story of the Arkansas-born guitar master Sister Rosetta Tharpe. With her fusion of gospel, blues, ballads, jazz, R&B, rock and more eclectic, genre-bending sounds, shes cited as an influence to some of rocks legends such as Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, Little Richard and more. Walds presentation will use video, audio and images to bring Tharpes career to life. It wraps up with an interview with Senior Director of Library & Archives, Andy Leach, an audience Q&A and book signing. This event takes place at the Rock Hall.

Wednesday, April 11

7p.m.

More info

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Silent No More: #Me Too and the Music Industry City Club panel

Last year, the #MeToo movement emboldened women to come forward and speak up about sexual assault and harassment. It also brought forth issues of equality and opportunity in the workplace. Within the entertainment industry, that disparity continues. To speak on these issues, Noelle Scaggs, lead singer of the Fitz & the Tantrums, will appear at the City Club alongside Rock Hall assistant curator Meredith Rutledge-Borger and professor and author Gayle Wald. The panel is moderated by Lauren Onkey, senior director of NPR Music. City Club is at 850 Euclid Ave., Cleveland.

Thursday, April 12

Noon-1:30 p.m.

More info

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"Days of Future Passed Live" film screening

The Moody Blues performed their album "Days of Future Passed" in its entirety on tour to mark its 50th anniversary. It was filmed as part of a PBS special at Toronto's Sony Centre and recently released on DVD, Blu-Ray and CD and will be playing continuously throughout the day at the Rock Hall's Foster Theater.

Thursday, April 12

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Hall of Fame Interview Series with the Moody Blues

Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and Graeme Edge of The Moody Blues will be interviewed live at the Rock Hall about their history and legacy. It kicks off with a happy hour featuring Moody Blues-themed food and drinks. If you cant make it, the event will be streamed on the Rock Halls Facebook page.

Thursday, April 12

7 p.m.

More info

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(Photo: John Petkovic / The Plain Dealer)

Beerhead Bar & Eatery Inductee bingo & beer tap takeover

Party in the East Bank of the Flats as Beerhead Bar & Eatery plays "Inductee bingo." They'll also have special brews on tap. Beerhead is at 1156 West 11th St., Cleveland.

Thursday, April 12

facebook.com/beerheadbarflats

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(Lynn Ischay / The Plain Dealer)

East 4th St. Party

Cleveland's bustling East 4th St. comes alive with the sound of music in honor of the inductions. Throughout the strip of the city's top restaurants, artists will be set up in eateries to entertain. You'll hear artists like Luca Mundaca, Hey Monea, The Ohio Weather Band, By Light We Loom, Jul Big Green, Kristine Jackson, DJ Genna Petrolla and more.

Friday, April 13

6-10 p.m.

More info

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(Photo: Music Box Supper Club / Chris Allen)

Music Box Supper Club: A tribute to Rock Hall inductees past & present

The Rock Hall is hosting this tribute extravaganza the night before the big event. Taking the stage will be some of Clevelands top regional acts, including Chris Allen, Don Dixon, Diana Chittester, Doug McKean, Kelly Wright and more. The all-star lineup will cover songs from artists spanning Chuck Berry to The Clash to The Ramones to Aretha Franklin. Music Box Supper Club is at 1148 Main Ave., Cleveland.

Friday, April 13

6 p.m.

More info

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(Photo: John Petkovic / The Plain Dealer)

Wild Eagle Saloon: Dueling piano party, inductee edition

Downtowns Wild Eagle Saloon will be tickling the ivories to the tune of rock and roll legends. Their dueling pianos will be playing the classics for this special inductee edition. Theyll also have inductee-themed cocktail specials throughout the night. Wild Eagle Saloon is at 921 Huron Road, Cleveland.

Friday, April 13

9 p.m.-1 a.m.

wildeagle.com

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Music Box Supper Club tribute to Van Morrison

Local musicians Colin Dussault and Nitebridge unite to pay tribute to Van Morrison. The Brown-Eyed Girl singer-songwriter was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1993.

Friday, April 13

6 p.m.

More info

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Public Square: Songs of Nina Simone, Sister Rosetta, Moving in Stereo Cars Tribute

Public Square will ring out in the sounds of legends as local acts perform the songs of inductees. Afi Scruggs will sing the soulful sounds of Nina Simone, Diana Chittester pays tribute to blues rocker and guitar virtuoso Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Cars tribute act Moving in Stereo performs the bands greatest hits.

Saturday, April 14

1-6 p.m.

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Nikki Delamotte, cleveland.com

Touch Supper Club: A Tribute to Nina Simone

The sounds of Nina Simone will fuel the nightlife as Ohio City hotspot Touch Supper Club hosts this special homage. Both floors will be filled with music as Mariama Whyte performs lives, and DJ Red-I spins upstairs and Mazi Jahi keeps the dance party going downstairs. Touch Supper Club is at 2710 Lorain Ave., Cleveland.

Saturday, April 14

9 p.m.-2:30 a.m.

More info

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Music Box Supper Club: Stevie Wonder Tribute

Stevie Wonders songs will be recreated by locals The Reid Project during this tribute at Music Box Supper Club. Known for their jazzy, R&B sound, the Reid Project is led by Lonnie Reid, who has been performing in R&B and fusion acts since the early 80s. Music Box Supper Club is at 1148 Main Ave., Cleveland.

Saturday, April 14

6 p.m.

More info

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(Photo: Jordan Strauss)

Induction afterparty with DJ Questlove

Keep the thrill of the induction ceremony going with the official after party at the House of Blues Cleveland. DJ Questlove will be spinning a 3-hour set to keep the fun going well into the night. House of Blues Cleveland is at

Saturday, April 14

11 p.m.

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Rock Hall live stage

Visitors swinging by the museum on the weekend of the induction will hear the sounds of some of the citys best local acts playing from their outdoor stage. On Saturday, Recess and Mike St. Jude and the Valentines perform. The next day, The Commonwealth and Shadow Division will appear.

April 14-15

rockhall.com/rockweekcle

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(Photo: PD file photo)

More foodie deals

Foodies can eat up Rock Hall inductee specials throughout town. Hilton Cleveland Downtown at 100 Lakeside Ave. will be serving induction-themed specials in its bar and restaurant. Zach Bruells Table 45 tucked within the InterContinental Hotel at 9801 Carnegie Ave., will serve an induction-inspired menu and host music by Nate Jones.

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Red carpet livestream

Cant be in the middle of all the action? Dont worry  you can screen it all from your own home. The Rock Hall will be live streaming the red carpet as musicians and celebrities arrive on their official site at rockhall.com

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(Photo: Lisa DeJong / The Plain Dealer)

Rock Hall extended hours

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. It's an opportunity for tourists and locals to share in the excitement ahead of the big event.

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, and 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, April 13. The Rock Hall is typically open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and open until 9 p.m. on Wednesday nights.

Read more: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame extends hours for induction week

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essentialCLE

Search the Essential CLE Visitors Guide, your source for the best places to eat, drink or play near you, or anywhere in Greater Cleveland.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ethnic and minority advocates are raising alarms about preparations for the 2020 U.S. Census, saying it is already underfunded and understaffed and that a just-added citizenship question has now made it inappropriately political.

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference Education Fund, on Thursday said the $3.8 billion that President Trump has budgeted for the census is $933.5 million short of what is needed to thoroughly and accurately count the nation's 325 million-plus residents.

She and others are convinced that the 2020 Census will undercount low-income, rural, urban, immigrant, and minority populations, leading to inaccurate distribution of about $800 billion in federal funds for schools, hospitals, police departments, and other resources.

Minority groups are criticizing U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to ask respondents for their citizenship status, saying it will intimidate unauthorized residents to avoid completing the form. For naturalized citizens, the form will also ask where they were born, when they entered the U.S., and what year they became a citizen.

Arturo Vargas, executive director of the nonprofit National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, said Ross decided to insert the question at the last minute, against the advice of census experts, former census directors and commerce secretaries. The question isn't on a draft version of the census being test-marketed in Providence County, Rhode Island, for example, so no one knows how residents will react to it.

Although Ross and the Justice Department say the citizenship data is necessary to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the census stopped asking the question on the full census after 1950.

The State of California filed a lawsuit against Ross and the Census Bureau over the question, and on Tuesday, New York and 16 other states - but not Ohio - filed their own lawsuit in an effort to remove the question. New York's lawsuit also includes seven cities and the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Vargas said having a complete and accurate count of the nation's 58 million Hispanic residents is critical, because of estimates that more than 1 million were not counted in the last census. If the Census Bureau doesn't have enough money, staff or time to prepare for the 2020 count, that will make it even more difficult to ensure that everyone is counted, as required by the U.S. Constitution.

John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, says the citizenship question will also reduce response rates among Asian Americans, 90 percent of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants, including those who are undocumented.

"The Census Bureau itself knows, based on its own research, that residents are fearful of responding to government surveys because of the current anti-immigrant environment," he said. "Asking additional questions such as these will stoke further fear in the community that the information could be misused and will only make our task more difficult as civil rights organizations in getting our communities to participate so we can have an accurate count of our population."

Getting the most complete count of ethnic minorities requires more census workers who are linguistically and culturally fluent, as well as credible and trustworthy to those who might not otherwise fill out their census forms.

The Constitution requires that all residents be counted, not just those who are U.S. citizens, Yang said.

Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said the nation's black population has been undercounted and underserved since enslaved peoples were considered three-fifths of their white neighbors.

He said the 2000 and 2010 census data each missed about 1 percent of the black population, contributing to inequities in housing, employment, education and other socioeconomic opportunities.

Yang pointed out that corporations also use census data to determine where to open stores and supermarkets and to be near potential employees.

The Urban League has also objected to "prison gerrymandering" on previous census forms, which counted inmates as residents of their prisons instead of where their homes are, Morial said. He said this disproportionately affects African Americans, who comprise 12 percent of the U.S. population but 33 percent of the prison population.

"If this were any other administration the inclusion of a citizenship status question would likely seem benign," Morial said on the Urban League's website. "However, the Trump administration has repeatedly proposed xenophobic and racist policies - and its handling of the Census appears to be no different. It is intentionally politicizing the decennial Census by using it as a tool to intimidate undocumented immigrants from completing the questionnaire, siphon government resources from communities of color, and undermine the assurance of congressional representation."

"The National Urban League will work with our coalition partners to challenge the inclusion of this question, and we urge members of Congress to overturn this deeply flawed decision," he said.
Evangelos R. Scullion

RICHFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio - State Highway Patrol troopers seized more than $177,000 in nitrous oxide during a traffic stop Tuesday in Summit County.

The tanks of nitrous oxide found in an SUV stopped on the Ohio Turnpike in Richfield Township weighed a combined 939 pounds, the Highway Patrol said in a news release.

Evangelos R. Scullion, 41, of Dansville, N.Y., is charged with trafficking in harmful intoxicants in the incident. He remains in custody at the Summit County Jail, records show.

Highway Patrol troopers stopped a rented 2017 Ford Expedition just after 3 p.m. because its driver committed a marked lanes violation.

They became suspicious of the driver, and a drug-sniffing dog alerted them to the nitrous oxide tanks and a bag of marijuana in the SUV, the Highway Patrol said.

To comment on this post, visit Friday's crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - In 2009, the world learned about Anthony Sowell and the 11 women he'd raped and murdered, their bodies found in and around his charnel house on Cleveland's Imperial Avenue.

The crimes themselves were horrific, but so was the fact that they'd gone on for so long.

Sowell was able to go about his ghoulish business for years, despite the fact that some of his victims had survived to tell their stories to police. These women, black and struggling to get by, some written off as addicts, were ignored.

Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Rachel Dissell and colleague Leila Atassi began digging into how sex crimes were handled in the city and found that a little over 4,000 rape kits - containing DNA and other forensic evidence collected from the bodies of survivors - had never been tested.

Read more about the Rape-Kit Series from Leila Atassi & Rachel Dissell

Mariska Hargitay tells Cleveland audience: "The good news is we can change this"

Their discovery, and how Cleveland's leaders and law enforcement community came together to deal with the shameful backlog, is featured in the HBO documentary "I Am Evidence," screening at the Cleveland International Film Festival tomorrow and Sunday.

The same year the Sowell killings shed light on the human cost of cold-shouldering rape victims and allowing evidence in their cases to languish, sometimes for decades, more than 11,000 untested rape kits were found in a dilapidated warehouse in Detroit.

Like wildfires that breakout simultaneously, stockpiled rape kits were unearthed in another city, then another, and another. . .

Today, there are an estimated 400,000 rape kits nationwide that have never been opened and tested.

"To me, the rape kit backlog is the clearest and most shocking demonstration of how we regard these crimes," says actress and activist Mariska Hargitay in an early scene at a press conference in Detroit. A producer of the film, her Joyful Heart Foundation has championed the testing of rape evidence across the country.

Best known for her Emmy-winning portrayal of Lieutenant Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," Hargitay has played the role for 19 years, 14 of which she spent working in an office next door to Trish Adlesic, a former location and production manager on the show.

Adlesic left to pursue documentary filmmaking fulltime, and co-directed "I Am Evidence" with Geeta Gandbhir. Their clear-eyed, moving, often infuriating examination of the reasons for the rape kit backlog, and a road map for how to fix it, also premieres on HBO April 16.

Adlesic says she learned about the issue through an episode of "Law & Order: SVU."

"Behave" aired in the fall of 2010 and starred Jennifer Love Hewitt as Vicki Sayers, a woman who had been raped and terrorized by the same man since her teens.

Benson convinces her to go to the hospital and submit to a rape kit where she is probed and prodded, her fingernails scraped and cheeks swabbed. The invasion pays off. The evidence leads Benson to her rapist - a man they soon learn has likely raped many women across multiple states. In a harrowing twist, he could go free because evidence collected in those cases has been misplaced, poorly stored and even destroyed.

The episode was inspired by the true story of Helena Lazaro, a woman in Los Angeles whose case is featured in "I Am Evidence." As her rape kit sat untested, her attacker, a long distance truck driver, continued to assault others, including a woman in Fairfield, Ohio.

The city of L.A. - how its cops treat evidence in rape cases and their willingness to investigate them - serves as the cautionary tale in the film. According to Human Rights Watch in 2009, Los Angeles County had the largest known rape kit backlog in the United States - at least 12,669 untested sexual assault kits. Many were past the statute of limitations, the maximum time period after a crime is committed when a defendant may be prosecuted.

And Cleveland?

"Cleveland, in particular, deserves credit," says Adlesic, "because former [Cuyahoga County] prosecutor Timothy McGinty was well aligned with your attorney general Mike DeWine. They put all their might, muscle and funding behind really doing something about the kits they had discovered and they organized a tremendous task force that really was leading the nation.

She's talking about Cuyahoga County's Sexual Assault Kit Task Force, made up of investigators, prosecutors and victim advocates formed in 2013.

Adlesic turns her lens on the work of the task force and one of its investigators, Nicole DiSanto. In one of the most engrossing sequences in "I Am Evidence," she is shown pursuing a suspected serial rapist to North Carolina to bring him to justice for raping three women in Cleveland.

DiSanto questions Carlin Powell in a sterile interrogation room 500 miles from home, laying out pictures of women and girls he claims he can't remember and never met, with a surgical calm.

Her efforts lead to Powell's conviction for the 1997 rape and kidnapping of Danielle Erbs, when she was 16.

"Nicole is a force," says Adlesic. "She works so hard at building these cases and finding survivors."

Adlesic also had a shout out for reporter Rachel Dissell, who appears in the film has continued to cover the work of the task force, following the arrest and prosecution of hundreds of rapists.

"She is keeping the attention on this issue through writing about it and that's really been phenomenal . . . because those articles go nationwide and worldwide and people take note."

Dissell and DiSanto will join Adlesic at a Q&A this Sunday following the 12:30 p.m. screening. (And word is Hargitay will be there as well.)

Though not perfect, Cleveland's commitment to ending the rape kit backlog, finding ways to treat survivors with more care and bringing justice to those denied it for so long, is striking.

"That's something that you should feel very happy about," says Adlesic, "because it makes your city safer."

For more information about the fight to end the nation's rape kit backlog, visit endthebacklog.org.

PREVIEW

I Am Evidence

What: Directed by Trish Adlesic and Geeta Gandbhir (2017/USA). 85 minutes. In English.

When: 7:40 p.m., Saturday, April 7, and 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 8 at Tower City Cinemas.
LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- No arrests have been made in a 30-person fight that happened early Tuesday at a Lakewood bar, police said.

The fight broke out shortly before 2 a.m. at the Lakewood Village Tavern on Madison Avenue near Elbur Avenue, according to a police report.

Someone threw a bar stool at a bartender during the fracas, the report says. The bartender suffered a minor injury and declined medical treatment.

Most patrons left the bar before police officers arrived to investigate the fight, but several were still walking out of the building, the police report says.

It's unclear why the fight began, the report says.

A bar employee declined to comment about the incident Friday afternoon.

To comment on this post, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 30-year-old man died late Thursday after being shot by a man chasing him from a home in the city's Stockyards neighborhood.

The shooter also wounded a 23-year-old man who was sitting in a parked car near the home, according to police. Police did not say if the two victims knew each other, or who lived at the home.

The shooting happened about 10 p.m. on West 58th Street between Storer and Dennison avenues.

Witnesses told police that the 30-year-old man came running out of a home on the street, followed by a gunman.

The gunman shot the 30-year-old man several times. Paramedics found the 30-year-old man dead in the middle of the street. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner will release the man's name once his family is notified.

A bullet also struck the 23-year-old man in the head as he sat in a parked car with two other men. His friends drove him to MetroHealth, where he is hospitalized.

The gunman ran off after the shooting and has not been arrested or identified by police.

To comment on this post, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
DAYTON, Ohio -- A Marine from Dayton was identified Thursday as one of four who were killed in a helicopter crash Tuesday in California.

Gunnery Sgt. Derik Holley, 33, had served in the Marines since 2003 and had been deployed twice to Iraq, the Dayton Daily News reports. He was a helicopter crew chief aboard a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter that crashed near El Centro, Calif.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that during his career, Holley was awarded with the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, nine Air Medals, including Strike/Flight designations for sustained operations, plus four Navy and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals.

Also killed in the crash were Samuel A. Schultz, 28, of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania; First Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, of Pinehurst, North Carolina; and Lance Cpl. Joseph Conrad, 24, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to the Associated Press.

"The loss of our Marines weighs heavy on our hearts," Maj. Gen. Mark "Notso" Wise, the commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar, Calif., said in a statement sent to the Union-Tribune by email. "Our priority is to provide support for our families and HMH-465 during this critical time."

The cause of Tuesday's crash remains under investigation, reports say.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State University trustees on Friday revoked an honorary doctorate degree granted to Bill Cosby, the actor and comedian who has faced numerous allegations of sexual assault.

Cosby, 80, was given an honorary doctor of education degree on June 8, 2001, after giving the spring commencement speech at Ohio State. The university reported in 2016 that Cosby's honorary degree was under review.

According to the resolution approved Friday, "a determination was made by the appropriate bodies to request that the Board of Trustees effectuate the revocation of said presidential honorary degree." President Michael Drake, other officials and committees concurred.

Cosby has been awarded about 50 honorary degrees since 1985.

Universities across the country began revoking honorary degrees awarded to the entertainer in the fall of 2015, following sexual assault allegations and filing of several civil lawsuits.

About 20 universities have taken action.

In December 2015, Oberlin College rescinded an honorary doctorate of humanities awarded to Cosby in 2010 as part of the opening of the college's Bertram and Judith Kohl Building for jazz studies, music history and music theory.

"Mr. Cosby's admitted actions are not congruent with Oberlin College's commitment to supporting survivors of sexualized violence, as reflected in its sexual misconduct policy, and do not epitomize the high standards Oberlin considers in awarding honorary degrees," then President Marvin Krislov said in a statement.

Cosby will be in court next week to be tried on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He is accused of drugging and molesting a former Temple University employee in 2004.

A jury was seated this week in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa.

Last summer a mistrial was declared in the case after jurors were unable to reach a verdict.

Cosby has denied the charges and maintains the contact was consensual.
MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Michael Green spent 13 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, and upon his release he wanted one thing: to become a police officer. On Thursday evening he accomplished part of that goal.

Green was sworn in as an auxiliary Maple Heights police officer.

"This kind of testimony, this kind of miracle, this kind of grace, this kind of mercy moves you," Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell said about Green while swearing him in. "It moves you if you have a heart and you move me. Everybody knows someone who's gone through something."

An auxiliary officer is able to handle traffic control, special events and community-oriented activities, according to the city's website.

Last year, Green, who was then 52, graduated from Cuyahoga Community College's Peace Officer Basic Training Academy.

Green was released from prison in 2001 after spending more than decade in jail after he was wrongfully convicted of the rape of a woman at Cleveland Clinic. He was later exonerated due to DNA evidence and the true rapist turned himself in after reading a series of stories chronicling Green's life after his release.

Read the series on Michael Green: The Burden of Innocence.

Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland-based attorney who later became friends with Green, attended the swearing in and recorded video of it. He said he's happy his fulfilled his goal of starting a new chapter in his life.

But, sadly, Chandra said, Green was robbed of the best years of his life and not eligible for large city police departments.

"After serving 13 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Michael still believes he wants to be a part of the justice system and a force for good," he said.

Watch Green's swearing in below:
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Strongsville man is accused of shouting racial slurs as he rammed another man's car during a road-rage incident in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood.

Kent Zavodny, 33, is charged with felonious assault in the March 31 incident on Wetzel Avenue near Pearl Road.

He is not in police custody and a warrant was issued for his arrest, records say.

Jason Woods was driving on Pearl Road about 11 p.m. when a Dodge Ram barreled down the road behind him. The Dodge was trying to pass several cars, and another driver had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid it, Woods said in a phone interview.

Woods, 41, turned onto Wetzel Avenue, but the Dodge followed and sped by him. Zavodny then slammed on his brakes and angled his truck to block Woods from passing, according to police reports.

"It was strictly random," Woods said. "I've never talked to him before, I've never seen him before. It was just road rage and he was acting a fool."

The Dodge then backed into a driveway. Woods tried to drive away, but the truck sped forward in an attempt to hit Woods' truck. The Dodge tapped Woods' door, according to police reports.

Woods, who is black, rolled down his tinted window to yell at Zavodny, who responded by repeatedly threatening Woods while using racial slurs, Woods said.

"I rolled down my window and that's when he really went nuts. He said, 'f-----g n----r, I'll shoot you in the face,'" Woods said. "I looked at him, and said 'after all this time that's the best thing you can come up with? He said, 'get the f--- out of the truck and I'll shoot you.'"

Woods drove away and pulled off to the side of the road to let the Dodge pass him. Woods got out of his car to confront Zavodny, who pointed something out of his window, Woods said.

"I couldn't tell if it was a gun or not because it was dark, but I wasn't taking any chances," Woods said.

Woods told police it appeared Zavodny was "plastered" because he was slurring his words. Woods told him to "Take his drunk a-- on home," police reports say.

The Dodge rammed Wood's truck from behind as Woods called 911. The impact pushed Woods' truck approximately six houses down the road, and Zavodny sped away, police reports say.

Woods recorded the Dodge's license plate number and gave it to police, according to police reports. Investigators later traced the license plate to Zavodny and obtained a warrant for his arrest.

"A person can only take so much," Woods said. "I tried to just let him go by me. He was pushing and pushing and pushing. I'd have rather just fought and got it over with. I could have understood a little bit if we had known each other and he was mad at me. But I didn't know him. I was just driving down the street."

To comment on this post, please visit our crime and courts comments section.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States hit seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions on Friday for what it called "malign activity" around the world, as the Trump administration tried to show that President Donald Trump is taking tough action to stand up to Moscow.

A dozen Russian companies owned by the oligarchs were also targeted, along with a state-owned arms-dealing company and a subsidiary bank, the Treasury Department said. Senior administration officials cast the penalties as part of a concerted and ongoing effort by the U.S. to push back Russian President Vladimir Putin's government and his inner circle, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions.

Trump has continued to avoid directly criticizing Putin himself, and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House. Still, in recent weeks Trump's administration has rolled out a series of actions -- including several economic and diplomatic steps -- to increase pressure on Putin and those in his circle.

"Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have," Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions are in response to "the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them. It was not clear whether any of those hit have significant, or any, holdings that would be covered and most of them were warned of possible penalties in January when they were identified as possible targets on lists published by the Treasury and State departments. The administration officials said Americans who may currently have business with them would be given guidance about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions.

The officials ticked through a list of activities they said had prompted the U.S. to act, including Russia's annexation of Crimea, backing separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, cyber-hacking and attempts to subvert Western democracy.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's government.

Many of the targets are individuals and businesses associated with Russia's energy sector, including those affiliated with state-owned Gazprom. Officials said the goal was to show that those who have benefited financially from Putin's position of power are fair game for U.S. punishments, noting that many of those being sanctioned are closely tied to Putin himself.

Targets include:

--Kirill Shamalov, who is reportedly Putin's son-in-law, married to his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, although neither Putin nor the Kremlin have acknowledged that she is his daughter.

--Igor Rotenberg, the son of Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putin's friend since they were teenagers.

--Andrey Kostin, named among government officials, heads the nation's second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state.

--Alexei Miller, the longtime head of the state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant. Both Miller and Kostin are longtime key members of Putin's team.

Other oligarchs on the list include some top names on the Forbes' list of billionaires, aren't part of Putin's inner circle but like any other billionaire tycoons in Russia they vie for the Kremlin's attention to preserve and extend their business empires.

Also targeted is aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a figure in the Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Deripaska has been targeted with U.S. sanctions previously, but officials said those being announced Friday were more comprehensive.

Many of the Russian oligarchs and politicians and affiliated businesses had already been identified by the Treasury and State Department as potential targets on a list that was compiled and published in January.

One of those hit by Friday's sanctions, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council's foreign affairs committee, expressed surprise he had not already been blacklisted by the U.S.

"As far as I am concerned the only thing I'm surprised at is that this didn't happen earlier," he told the Interfax news agency. "I never made secret of my criticism of the U.S. foreign policy, and I will not change my stance."

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them. But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions.

The Trump administration used a variety of legal mechanisms to implement the sanctions, including the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Known as CAATSA, the law was overwhelmingly passed by Congress in 2017 and signed by President Donald Trump despite some objections. The law aims to punish Russia for interfering in the U.S. election as well as actions intended to subvert democracy in Europe. The law also authorizes the president to impose sanctions on Iran for destabilizing activity in the Middle East and North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Last month, the U.S. targeted 19 Russians and five other entities with sanctions in the first use of the law. The administration has also expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian consulates in response to Russian behavior, including the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain that has been blamed on Moscow.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish is giving his State of the County report April 11 at the Huntington Convention Center. (The City Club of Cleveland is sponsoring the event.) Budish certainly has plenty of ground to cover, both good and bad. But such speeches generally focus only on the good and tend to be aspirational (and painfully dull). Budish can tout that the taxpayer-financed Hilton Cleveland is doing better than expected and the Global Center for Health Innovation (Med Mart!) is finally landing viable tenants. He also helped secure a deal to renovate the Quicken Loans Arena, which keeps the Cleveland Cavaliers around for a little longer. And he invested 10 million in pre-kindergarten education and raised an additional $12 million from private and philanthropic donations.

His administration also has been beset by controversies. Here's a brief list: salaried employees were improperly given overtime pay; Budish's first chief of staff was allowed to earn an MBA on county time and then she left for a private-sector job; top administrators in the IT department have been named in subpoenas of an ongoing corruption probe; County Council said publicly that it lacks confidence in the administration's ability to tie county computers and technology systems together and; the administration has been slow to watchdog delinquent county loans.

Now, the county Department of Children and Family Services is under fire for the handling of abuse allegations made against the mother of four-year-old Aniya Day-Garrett, who died of a stroke triggered by what investigators say was blunt force trauma.

The death of Aniya has sparked protests against the county and some activists are now targeting Budish and members of County Council's Health and Human Services Committee. In a meme circulating on social media, Budish's picture appears next to the headline, "Your hands are not clean - 45 children murdered by CCFS neglect on your watch." Black Lives Matter Cleveland is behind the shaming. The group hasn't always been well organized, but Aniya's case has been unifying activists, so it wouldn't be surprising to see protestors outside the convention center next week.

Speaking of speeches: Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is past due for his 13th State of the City speech. He has delivered his previous 12 speeches in early to mid-March. But he hasn't set a date for this year's speech. (Sorry to disappoint those who hoped they had missed it.) Jackson is in no hurry. He wants to have something to share and is busy accomplishing stuff, I hear. So, you will just have to wait a bit longer before ordering those City Club of Cleveland lunch specials. Expect Jackson to be ready sometime in May.

High-profile Democrats lending a hand: U.S. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley of New York is scheduled to headline the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party annual dinner and fundraiser on April 22 at the Hilton Cleveland Hotel downtown. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles is also expected to speak. While such events are generally boring networking affairs, this year's dinner might be worth watching for clues about the party's message in the midterm elections. Democrats have been debating for the last two years how to best reach voters. Some want to focus on pounding President Trump. Others argue candidates should be focused on kitchen-table issues, something Ryan is expected to stress. If the speakers fail to deliver, attendees could still entertain themselves by picking out which Democratic is wearing the worst tie. The competition is always robust. My money is on State Sen. Kenny Yuko.

Just like everyone else: State Sen. Mike Skindell and State Rep. Nickie Antonio, who are both from Lakewood, have been campaigning together. That's because they hope to swap seats in November and neither has the backing of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. In a recent letter from both of them to voters, they pitched themselves as trusted progressive leadership. "Our policy experience will be even more important if Democrats win additional legislative seats in Columbus," they added. What they didn't mention is that they are running for the other's seat. Why? Nothing screams institutional Democrat more than a seat-swap.

Free ride?: I know there's been a lot of politics in this edition of the column, so I'll shift gears and talk about a boat. I recently asked the Cleveland Metroparks if it has a sponsor this year for the water taxi, which ferries people between the East and West banks of the Flats in the summer months. The taxi typically begins running around Memorial Day and costs $2 to ride all day. Last year, the service provided 47,000 passenger rides, a 50 percent increase over its 2016 inaugural year. The increase was fueled by the fact that for much of summer there was no charge to ride. Steelmaker ArcelorMittal Cleveland paid for rides as a centennial gift to the Metroparks. And since the Metroparks spoiled its customers last year, it's only natural to ask about another free ride. The Metroparks didn't offer any insight, telling me that "full details regarding sponsorship are not available." Does that really mean no sponsor is on board yet? The park system is finalizing a deal, a Metroparks spokeswoman said in phone in a follow-up phone call. She would not offer any other details.

In this semi-regular column, I hope to offer news tidbits, complaints, shout-outs and the occasional poke in the eye. Sometimes the column will appear as a video or a slideshow. Got a tip or comment, send me an email at mnaymik@cleveland.com On Twitter: @marknaymik
CLEVELAND, Ohio - For one Democratic strategist, the Democratic Party is too full of old people.

"Except for my vote for Sherrod Brown in 2018, I'm not voting for anybody over 60 again," said Jerry Austin, a longtime consultant, on the most recent episode of the Ohio Matters podcast.

Austin ran campaigns for the last two-term Democratic Ohio governor, Dick Celeste, and has been involved with Ohio and national politics for more than four decades. Besides Celeste's campaign, he also headed Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign and Carol Moseley Braun's upset Senate victory in Illinois in 1992.

He said it was time for older members of the party to make way for the youth.

"It's time for young people to start taking leadership in this country," Austin said. "That's why I think Nancy Pelosi ought to step aside. I don't have any problems with Nancy Pelosi in terms of what she's done and how she's helped Democrats. But, you know, she's the face of the party and I think one of the reasons Conor Lamb won (in Pennsylvania) is because he basically disassociated himself from her to begin with."

Austin sat down with the politics team for the latest episode of Ohio Matters, the weekly indepth cleveland.com politics podcast that features reporters Seth Richardson, Mary Kilpatrick and Andrew Tobias.

Austin shared stories from his time on the campaign trail and his insights into Democratic Party politics.

Previous episodes of Ohio Matters can be found here and include guests like Attorney General Mike DeWine, former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Attorney General Marc Dann.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Outgoing Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger has hired a defense attorney as a result of an inquiry from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an Ohio House spokesman confirmed Friday.

Brad Miller, an Ohio House spokesman, confirmed a Friday evening Dayton Daily News report that Rosenberger had heard the FBI was asking questions about him. He did not specify what they were asking about.

"Quite frankly, I'll be up front: I think politics is a pretty dirty place right now," Rosenberger told the newspaper. "I have not been subpoenaed. And as far as I know I have not been told I'm under investigation."

The newspaper also quoted Rosenberger as saying: "As a precautionary measure, I went ahead and hired [Columbus attorney] David Axelrod because I had been made aware and understand that the bureau is asking questions about things I may have been involved in. But that is only from a precautionary standpoint. I'm not going to answer any more questions than that."

Miller said he had no further comment, and Rosenberger did not return a message, nor did Axelrod, a partner with Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP.

A spokesman for the Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee, the campaign arm of Ohio House Republicans, also did not return a message.

Rosenberger, 36, will leave the Ohio House of Representatives at the end of this year due to term limits. There is a heated behind-the-scenes battle to succeed him between Republican State Reps. Ryan Smith, who is close to Rosenberger, and Larry Householder, who previously served as Ohio's House Speaker in the 2000s. Democrats, meanwhile, hope to make gains in what's expected to be a favorable electoral climate and have fielded candidates in nearly all of Ohio's 99 House districts.

Smith and a spokeswoman for Householder didn't immediately return messages seeking comment. Several Republican Ohio House members said they had not heard anything beyond what has been publicly reported.
SOLON, Ohio -- Sexual imposition, Carter Street: At 2:50 p.m. March 22, a 26-year-old female employee of Cosmax, 30701 Carter St., reported that a co-worker had inappropriately touched her while in the workplace.

Police arrested the co-worker, an Akron man, 20, who is also a refugee from the Republic of Congo. He was charged with sexual imposition.

Domestic violence, Aurora Road: At 3:15 p.m. March 23, a Solon man, 36, reported that his former girlfriend -- who is the mother of his child -- has been harassing and following him since they went their separate ways last October.

On this day, the woman, 26, of Twinsburg, confronted the man while he was at the Imperial Wok, 33825 Aurora Road. The woman, who had with her the couple's baby, threatened the man and punched his car.

The man told police he feared for his safety and that of his baby. Police issued a warrant for the woman's arrest for domestic violence.

Theft, S.O.M. Center Road: At 7:30 p.m. March 24, police arrested a Solon man, 21, for stealing a bottle of vodka from True North Shell, 6170 S.O.M. Center Road.

Disorderly conduct, Solon Industrial Parkway: At 9:10 a.m. March 26, police were called to Interdesign, 30725 Solon Industrial Parkway, where a temporary employee was drunk and belligerent.

Police arrested the Cleveland man, 37, and charged him with disorderly conduct.

Drug abuse, Pettibone Road: At 2:10 p.m. March 28, police stopped a car that showed expired plates.

Police went on to arrest the driver, a Garrettsville woman, 29, for drug abuse and driving under suspension, as well as for the expired plates.

The car's passenger, also a woman, was arrested for marijuana and paraphernalia possession.

OVI, Ohio 91: At 8:50 p.m. March 29, police responded to a crash on Ohio 91 and learned that the at-fault driver was intoxicated.

Arrested was an Aurora woman, 40. The woman was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.096, above the state minimum for drunk driving of 0.08.

She was charged with OVI, prohibited BAC and failure to stop at a red light.

Drug abuse instruments, Cannon Road: At 12:50 p.m. March 31, police were called to a home where a resident, 38, was attempting to stop a man from injecting himself with drugs.

Police arrested the Solon man, 23, for possession of drug abuse instruments.

Burglary, Chagrin River Road: At 5:05 p.m. April 1, it was reported that a burglar stole several guns and a computer from a home. The burglary took place between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. that day.

When the resident returned home at 4 p.m., he found the garage door open and called police. The case has been turned over to the detective bureau.

Theft, Aurora Road: At 10:45 p.m. April 1, a Bainbridge Township resident, 31, reported that while he was working out at Planet Fitness, 33605 Aurora Road, someone removed his car keys from among his belongings, went to his car, and stole $220.

The thief, according to the man, then returned the keys.

Management reported that a suspicious man has been seen in the business and may have stolen the money. Police are reviewing surveillance video of the suspicious man.

Theft, Aurora Road: At 11:25 a.m. April 4, police were called to Market District, 34310 Aurora Road, on a report of employee theft.

The employee, a Bedford Heights man, 21, was arrested and charged with theft for stealing food items and cigars with a total value of $150.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and court comments page.
Gobierno del Peru expresa profundo pesar por los actos de violencia ocurridos en la zona de frontera entre Israel y la Franja de Gaza https://t.co/gkAf5MMx4Q pic.twitter.com/rneAZjbZXZ
Hoy fui reconocido como jefe supremo de las Fuerzas Armadas y Policia Nacional del Peru. Es oportuno reiterar la firme decision de mi gobierno de unir al pais, de conducirlo por la senda del desarrollo y avanzar juntos hacia un camino de grandeza para nuestro pais. #ElPeruPrimero pic.twitter.com/FLFd4B7NNQ
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AUGUST 4, 1981 - In London the Queen Mother celebrates her 81st birthday alongside the Queen. In Los Angeles her proud father tenderly cradles newborn Meghan Markle  a future royal princess

Two extraordinary pictures, which tell a truly extraordinary story. In the first, the Queen and her mother, marking the 81st birthday of a woman whose indomitable spirit helped steady a nation through war.

In the other, 6,000 miles away, a California dad on his second marriage, gazing at the newborn daughter whos just been laid in his arms  a momentous occasion for him, but not one that would warrant any headlines. Now, 37 years later, those tales have merged.

That baby girl, Meghan Markle, is about to marry the Queens grandson Prince Harry, and to celebrate their wedding next month we're presenting three sparkling souvenir editions of the Daily Mail's Weekend magazine.

They begin today with remarkable unseen photographs of the future princess, revealing her charming childhood innocence, her first steps in showbusiness  and the stunning figure that turned Harrys head.

As Meghan Markle prepares to marry her prince, David Jones charts the life of the Hollywood beauty that won Harry's heart

Then the Mails David Jones brings you the full, untold story of Meghans astonishing rise from humble beginnings to Hollywood actress and royalty.

He spent months talking to her relatives, friends and childhood acquaintances to learn how she overcame racism and her parents divorce, how she spent years on the hustle trying to forge a career, and how her childhood fascination with Princess Diana  Harrys mother, who married Prince Charles just six days before Meghan was born  inspired her determination to campaign for those less fortunate than herself.

Much has already been written about Meghan Markle, but this fabulous series paints the most complete portrait yet. Dont miss next Saturdays Mail for part two.

August 4, 1981: In London the Queen Mother celebrates her 81st birthday alongside the Queen on the day that Meghan was born

August 4, 1981: In Los Angeles her proud father tenderly cradles newborn Meghan Markle  a future royal princess

Meghans father Thomas (pictured) was so protective of his tiny daughter hed sometimes sleep with her on his chest

Meghan with her mother Doria (pictured), who was around a decade younger than her husband and just 24 when she had her daughter

As a little girl Meghan (pictured) was a cute, sunny-natured toddler, forever giggling

From her father, little Meghan inherited the distinctive, upturned Markle nose; from her mother, her curly hair and gorgeous complexion. Here she is, aged about six months, being held by her half-sister Samantha, from whom shes now estranged

Meghan, seen here playing with her mother aged around six months, was Dorias first and only child. The pair have remained particularly close, despite being separated for stretches during Meghans childhood when Dorias job as an air hostess took her away from home

Thomas (pictured) worked long hours, but did his best to spend time with his daughter, often carrying her in a sling

Meghans first home, in the LA commuter town of Woodland Hills, was close to a country park where her mother taught her to appreciate nature

A typical California girl from the start, Meghan poses in one of her first bikinis

A star already at five, Meghan is seen performing confidently on stage in 1986 at her school, the Little Red Schoolhouse kindergarten, which educated screen legends such as Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor

Stills from a home movie show a patient Auntie Meghan, age 11, letting her nephew Thomas (pictured left) pull her hair

Meghan's father reportedly watched the kids play as they created the home movie

Meghan rose from humble beginnings to Hollywood actress and royalty

Bow down before me!

With a crown perched on her curly head and issuing orders with a regal little wave, this is Meghan Markle, aged eight, putting in some practice for her future career as a royal.

These images, taken from a video shot by her friend Ninaki Priddys mother in 1990, at Ninakis ninth birthday party, show Meghan taking centre stage in an impromptu play. At one point in the 11-minute video she has her subjects bow and scrape; later she dispenses largesse in the form of cookies.

The show was called Your Royal Highness and the star was Meg, Ninaki has said. Its very funny to see this now and given what is going on with her life its quite eye-opening.

And... action! Meghan (pictured), a showbiz veteran already thanks to her fathers work in the industry, mimics a clapperboard to start the play.

Meghan (pictured) as a child played with others issuing royal proclamations

Let them eat cake: Queen Meghan guides one of her small subjects across the garden and into the house when its time to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles

Meghan (pictured) geared up for a royal procession supported by other children

The little princess: Meghan holds court while the real star of the day, birthday girl Ninaki (centre), sits directly in front of her

Is that a corgi? Meghan clasps a mechanical toy dog whilst playing with friends

All mine: Meghan was patient as she waited for the toy to totter towards her

Meghan (pictured) cuddled the beloved toy dog whilst at a kids party

Her royal shyness? No, Meghan gazes straight into the camera

Meghans parents had shared custody after they divorced. Here she is, looking as moody as any adolescent, with her father  and sporting the natural curls that she says she now has straightened

As a nine-year-old Meghan was still a tomboy, happiest playing outdoors and with her fathers pet dog, Beau

By age of 12 Meghan (pictured) had already begun to blossom into a young lady

Sauntering in a Madrid park in August 2016, on holiday with her friend, designer Misha Nonoo

Designer Misha Nonoo is thought to have introduced Meghan (pictured) to Prince Harry

Meghan looked serene and contented, was it because shed met the prince just weeks before

Before falling for Harry and shutting down her social media accounts, Meghan would post arty pictures of her exotic travels and Hollywood lifestyle on Instagram. In these images we see her on a break in her 20s with the boyfriend who would become her husband, Trevor Engelson

Meghan (pictured) cooled off on a trip to Mexico aged 34, the year before she met Harry

Paradise found... Meghan relaxed poolside for a picture while on holiday in Ibiza

Meghan shared a little smoulder over the shoulder on her social media

Meghan (pictured right) and a friend strike a cheeky pose like their pal in the background

A Mexican break in 2015  and a chance to show off that bikini body

A big smooch from designer Roland Mouret, one of those rumoured to be designing her wedding gown

Meghan enjoyed another day on another beach whilst taking time to relax from work
Parents are notorious for sharing every tiny detail of their child's life on the internet - whether it's their offspring running under a sprinkler in a swimming costume or the day when they're finally toilet trained.

But these seemingly innocent images can be misused by strangers online if they can find them - and it's becoming easier for them to do so if the parent posts them with hashtags.

Chairman of the Child Rescue Coalition, David Angelo, admits paedophiles are searching for tags like #BathTime, #NakedKids and #ToiletTraining to easily access snaps of children.

But these seemingly innocent images can be misused by strangers online if they can find them - and it's becoming easier to do so with hashtags (stock image)

'While parents are naively posting intimate photos and details about their kids on social media, they have no idea how easily these images can be screenshot and downloaded by predators and sex offenders, who can manipulate, misuse and repost them on other sites,' he said.

According to the agency, most parents will post 1,500 photos of their child before they turn five.

So in a bid to keep those kids safe Mr Angelo's coalition have launched a Kids For Privacy campaign, which encourages parents to share a photo of their child online holding a sign that reads 'privacy, please'.

'The term "sharenting" has been used to describe parents who feel the need to share almost every step of their childs life on social media, without asking them,' the campaign explained.

So in a bid to keep those kids safe Mr Angelo's coalition have launched a Kids For Privacy campaign, which encourages parents to share a photo of their child online holding a sign that reads 'privacy, please' (stock image)

'The end result may be a generation of children growing up who find much of their private lives have been online for years. And that may be dangerous.'

The other feature parents need to be mindful of is the location tool on Instagram - which allows you to pinpoint exactly where that child was in real time.

So while you might want your friend to know the family are currently on Bondi Beach, stalkers can use this information to track you and your child's routine.

So while you might want your friend to know the family are currently on Bondi Beach, stalkers can use this information to track you and your child's routine

Australian parenting expert Dr Kristy Goodwin said while there are benefits of 'sharenting', namely updating other family members about what your child is up to, the criminal aspect of it is a major drawback.

'It has been suggested that 50 per cent of images shared on paedophile sites have been taken from parents' social media sites. We lose full control of where our kids'' photos end up when we share them online,' she said in her book Raising Your Child In A Digital World.

She encourages parents to allow children to help them pick and choose what photos they share online so they can help control their 'digital DNA'.
A mother has a grave warning for others parents after her newborn daughter was ejected from her car seat during a crash that caused her aunt's vehicle to flip over twice.

Hannah McKinney's now three-month-old daughter, Robin Pope, was thrown to the back of the van during last month's accident, despite being tightly buckled into her car seat.

Miraculously, the infant only suffered a hairline fracture on her arm, but the 23-year-old mom from Henry County, Georgia, believes the sheepskin seat belt covers she added to the car seat caused her daughter to slide through the straps.

Scroll down for video

Accident: Hannah McKinney's infant daughter, Robin Pope (pictured this week), was ejected from her car seat during a crash last month, despite being tightly buckled in

Warning: The 23-year-old mom from Henry County, Georgia, believes the sheepskin seat belt covers she added to the car seat (pictured) caused Robin to slide through the straps

Sharing her story: Hannah took to Instagram last month to warn parents to never put things on a car seat that weren't provided by the manufacturer

Hannah took to Facebook last week to share a photo of the cozy-looking covers on her daughter's car seat while sharing her terrifying story.

'PSA to all parents and soon to be parents! These were on my two-month-old daughter's car seat when she was involved in a flip over car accident,' she wrote.

'The vehicle cartwheeled twice and rested on its side. She was ejected from the seat due to the sheep skin seat belt covers.'

When the mom examined the car seat after the crash, it was still securely attached to the base and the straps were all tight and intact.

Terrifying: Robin was traveling with Hanna's aunt when the van crashed and flipped over twice

Suspect: When the mom examined the car seat after the crash, it was still securely attached to the base and the straps were all tight and intact

She believes the force of the vehicle caused the sheepskin to slide against her shirt, allowing her to fly out of her seat.

'Please, please, please people DO NOT put things on a car seat that did not come that way from the manufacturer,' she warned, noting that anything added to the car seat also voids the warranty in the event of an accident.

'We had to learn the hard way, and I thank god everyday that he had his hands on her!' Hannah added. 'They may look cute and it may be soft, but for your childs safety dont do it.

'We attended a car seat safety class at childrens health care of Atlanta and it was a real eye opener.'

Miracle: Luckily, the now three-month-old only suffered a hairline fracture on her arm

Healthy: 'We had to learn the hard way, and I thank god everyday that he had his hands on her!' Hannah wrote in her post

Hannah's warning has been shared more than 137,000 times, with many people thanking her for spreading the word.

'I am SO glad you are posting this!' Jewel Messimer wrote. 'Many people dont know that ANYTHING aftermarket that didnt come with your car seat is extremely unsafe. I am so glad your baby is okay, thank goodness!'

'Im happy people are sharing!' Hannah wrote in the comments section of her post.

'I dont want it to happen to someone else and not be so lucky... Im so blessed they are both okay.'

Too cute: Little Robin celebrated Easter with her family earlier this week

Happy family: Hannah and her fiance Everett Pope are pictured with their baby girl on New Year's Day, just a few days after she was born

Johanna Martinez, a child passenger safety specialist, told WSB-TV that parents should never add anything to a car seat that didn't come with it.

'Its not crash tested with the car seat,' she explained. 'People think because theyre being sold theyre safe to use.'

She noted that seat belt covers can push the chest clip out of position to the point that the harness is no longer on the shoulders, which allow the baby to be ejected in the event of a crash.

The expert also warned that parents should never for their baby in a car seat wearing a bulky coat or jacket, as it can have a similar effect during an accident.
Have you ever wished you could lose weight just by thinking about it?

Australian hypnotherapist Mark Stephens has pioneered weight loss hypnotherapy, teaching people to hypnotise themselves into healthier habits.

His methods are unorthodox and include 'hypnotic lap band surgery', where participants are hypnotised while undergoing a mock operation and retreats at the Little Forest Health Retreat in New South Wales.

A two-day advanced hypnotic lap band weight release interstate weekend costs $495 per person.

Mr Stephens has props and costumes for the hypnotic lap band surgery, 'I fully dress up in scrubs and I've got the surgical spirit going, I've got the heart rate monitor going,' he said

Hypnotherapy weight loss patients are taught to identify negative self beliefs and replace them with 'memorable mantras' about healthy living which they repeat to themselves

Mr Stephens started the Think Slim weight loss hypnotherapy program in 2004 after suffering health setbacks including chronic childhood asthma and adult lymphoma.

'At eight years old, I had chronic Asthma and almost died a number of times and rushed to the hospital constantly,' he said.

'And through the hospital, at the age of eight, which is in 1970, which is almost 50 years ago, I started learning meditation, yoga breathing and self hypnosis techniques.'

At the age of 28, after losing his younger brother in a motorcycle accident, Mr Stephens found out he had cancer.

'I had a second stage, rapidly growing lymphoma, and I knew that I needed to get my mindset right,' he said.

'I started getting into hypnosis and realised, hypnosis was just a different form of meditation. I started doing hypnosis courses,' he said.

Mr Stephens developed his unusual weight loss therapy technique as a 'combination of meditation, visualisation and hypnosis.'

The hypnotherapy weight loss program is run through free seminars, a take home app called MindFree and retreats in the south coast of New South Wales.

As a weight loss technique, hypnotherapy patients identify negative self beliefs and are taught to replace these beliefs with 'memorable mantras' about healthy living.

'Basically, it's helping a person identify and unlock the blocks. So what's stopping them? Is it negative self talk, is it their habit, is it their beliefs or values.

'We help them identify and unlock the blocks, which might be, negative self talk, bad habits, emotional eating, stress, for example, they're four of the big ones,' he said.

Mark Stephens (pictured at age 28 following his cancer diagnosis) decided to develop a hypnotherapy program for wellness and weight loss after being diagnosed with lymphoma at the age of 28

Australian hypnotherapist Mark Stephens has pioneered weight loss hypnotherapy, teaching people to hypnotise themselves into healthier habits and tai chi (pictured) above is practised as an activity at these retreats

'And then, we give them mantras to help change that through hypnosis.'

'I come up with little memorable lines, or little mantras like 'only goodness enters my body'. I'm including things like rhyming verses and memorable mantras to help people change their thinking patterns and their habits,' he said.

One of his more unusual hypnotherapy techniques is the hypnotic lap band surgery. In this technique, patients are wheeled into a pretend surgical theater, and asked to imagine that they are having lap band surgery.

Mr Stephens has props and costumes for the hypnotic lap band surgery. 'I fully dress up in scrubs and I've got the surgical spirit going, I've got the heart rate monitor going,' he said.

Mark Stephens runs weight loss retreats at the Little Forest Health Retreat in New South Wales which include Sunrise Tai Chi sessions

'The hypnotic lap band has a person imagine they're being wheeled into an operating theater. Then they're imagining they're getting anaesthetic and we splash the surgical spirit around the room so they're smelling the anaesthetic,' Mr Stephens explained.

'And then, they imagine that they're having the surgery and that their stomach is being, the band is being put around their stomach, that's what they're visualising.

But then it's the suggestions that I give, the hypnosis suggestions of, 'your stomach is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, it's getting smaller'. And then I tell them, 'you'll drink more water, be more active, eat small, healthy portions',' he said.

The MindFree app is available here.
After enjoying some well deserved down time on the slopes with her family at Verbier in the Swiss Alps, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has returned to royal duties.

The mother-of-four jetted in to Paris on Wednesday for the launch of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Global Development Forum.

The effortlessly elegant 46-year-old donned corporate attire for the occasion and arrived at the OECD Conference Centre in her favourite Zara Crepe Frock Coat and a pair of tailored black trousers.

After enjoying some well deserved down time on the slopes with her family at Verbier in the Swiss Alps, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has returned to royal duties

The mother-of-four jetted in to Paris on Wednesday for the launch of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Global Development Forum

She injected some colour into the look with a stylish pastel pink blouse from Hugo Boss and accessorised with her go-to beige Gianvito Rossi pumps and a Prada handbag.

The Princess was joined by politicians and leaders of the business world for the occasion, where speakers gathered to discuss topics surrounding the empowerment of women and youth.

As a whole, the mission of the OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

The effortlessly elegant 46-year-old donned corporate attire for the occasion and arrived at the OECD Conference Centre in her favourite Zara Crepe Frock Coat and a pair of tailored black trousers

She injected some colour into the look with a stylish pastel pink blouse from Hugo Boss and accessorised with her go-to beige Gianvito Rossi pumps and a Prada handbag

The Crown Princess is a passionate advocate for health, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and opened the forum with a keynote speech on empowering women and youth.

Her keynote speech then launched a discussion on 'the way forward for turning the promise of women and youth empowerment into reality'.

The royal also attended a meeting with the OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria and was seen posing for snaps with attendees as the day progressed.

The Crown Princess is a passionate advocate for health, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and opened the forum with a keynote speech on empowering women and youth

Her keynote speech then launched a discussion on 'the way forward for turning the promise of women and youth empowerment into reality'

It's one of many scheduled events for the dedicated princess, who will also attend a WHO dialogue, the opening of the Plan Children's Fund's photo exhibition 'Transformation' and the official opening of Slagelse Hospital in coming weeks.

This is unsurprising, however, with News Corp reporting that Mary has been taking on an increased workload and public profile since the death of her father-in-law, Prince Henrik of Denmark in February.

As her mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe, 77, ages, royal insiders have said that those within Amalienborg Palace are increasingly turning to Prince Frederik and Princess Mary for public appearances and regal responsibilities.

'Princess Mary will become Queen but I think it is fair to say that she will also become King,' royal author and journalist, Trine Villemann, told News Corp.

It's one of many scheduled events for the dedicated princess, who will also attend a WHO dialogue, the opening of the Plan Children's Fund's photo exhibition 'Transformation' and the official opening of Slagelse Hospital in coming weeks

This is unsurprising, however, with News Corp reporting that Mary has been taking on an increased workload and public profile since the death of her father-in-law, Prince Henrik

'There is absolutely no doubt that Mary rules the roost at Amalienborg (palace).

'She is allowing Frederik quite a lot of space and in doing so she has managed to accumulate quite a lot of power.'

Speculation has mounted since early last year that Prince Frederik's mother, Queen Margrethe II, will abdicate the throne.

While the 77-year-old herself has said that she will not, if she were to, Crown Prince Frederik, 49, is next in line - which would leave Crown Princess Mary as queen consort.

'She is very active and a very professional representative for the royal family,' Lars Hovbekke Sorensen, an Assistant Professor, (PhD), at University College Absalon, told the publication.

As her mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe, 77, ages (pictured with Prince Henrik), Amalienborg Palace are increasingly turning to Prince Frederik and Princess Mary for public appearances

'She is very active and a very professional representative for the royal family,' Lars Hovbekke Sorensen said (pictured: Princess Mary)

'Crown Princess Mary is very popular. She is a princess of her time. (For example) she is much more informal when talking with people than Queen Margrethe.'

Not only this, but the Crown Princess regularly showcases Danish designers to the world, takes an active part in trying to make the lives of people in Denmark better via The Mary Foundation and is an excellent mother to Prince Christian, 12, Princess Isabella, 10, and seven-year-old twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.

She is also fluent in Danish; which is now the Australian-born mother's now-second language.

The Crown Princess regularly showcases Danish designers to the world (pictured with Prince Frederik)

While many royal insiders think the ascent of Princess Mary to queen consort will be imminent, not everyone is convinced.

Editor of the Australian Women's Weekly and author of The Royals in Australia, Juliet Rieden, said an abdication by Queen Margrethe would be very unlikely.

'I talked to a lot of people in Denmark about this and the consensus is that Queen Margrethe is very unlikely to abdicate,' she told FEMAIL.

'The only reason that she would abdicate is if she became infirm and incapable of being a queen.

'Prince Henrik hasn't been by her side for a little bit so she is already used to taking the reigns on her own and done so very easily and with a lot of confidence so I dont imagine she will step aside now.'

Obviously Princess Mary (pictured) will become Queen consort one day next to Prince Frederik who will be King but I don't think it will be in the next 12 months,' Juliet Rieden said

She added: 'Obviously Princess Mary will become Queen consort one day next to Prince Frederik who will be King but I don't think it will be in the next 12 months.

'You can never tell and other European monarchs have stepped aside for younger heirs but Queen Margrethe has always been very devoted to the job and she is known for that.

'There is a long tradition in Denmark for the head of state to stay in office for as long as he or she lives. In fact, the last time a Danish King resigned before he died was in 1523 so I think for Queen Margrethe to break with that historic tradition would be a big deal for Denmark.'

Queen Margrethe II is the ruling monarch of Denmark, and she has had the throne since 1972 following the death of her father, King Frederick IX.

Prince Frederik and Princess Mary will become King and Queen of Denmark at the time of Queen Margrethe's abdication or death.
Writer and comedian Rosie Waterland, 31, has opened up about her battle with depression in a heartfelt Instagram post.

'Depression is depression, and as much as I have tried to deal with it myself, it has not gone away,' said Ms Waterland.

Famous for her novels 'The Anti-Cool Girl' and 'Every Lie I've Ever Told', Ms Waterland wrote about her struggles with online bullying, a recent break up and her ongoing battle with depression.

Author of 'The Anti-Cool Girl', Rosie Waterland, 31, has opened up about her battle with online trolls and mental health, in a heartfelt Instagram post.

Ms Waterland tweeted her original Instagram post and commented, 'Mental illness strikes again. But, its an illness like any other and with treatment Ill get though it. See you all soon x'

'The last few weeks have seen a few difficult situations that have helped me realise some things. First, there were the nasty tweets I got for commenting on feminism and toxic masculinity in mainstream TV,' she said.

Ms Waterland then spoke of criticism of her body following her involvement as a Brand Ambassador for Aussie label Modibodi.

'Then there were the nasty comments about my body when I posed for an underwear campaign,' she said.

Compounding these issues, Ms Waterland spoke about how she 'had a relationship end quite unexpectedly'.

This followed a previous Twitter post where she spoke about a recent break up where she was electronically ghosted, or blocked from contact.

'Then there were the nasty comments about my body when I posed for an underwear campaign,' said Ms Waterland, speaking of online bullying following her underwear shoot for Aussie brand Modibodi

Ms Waterland posted about a recent break up on 2 April, where she was blocked from electronic contact or 'ghosted'

'Hello I'm 31 and just got dumped via messenger and simultaneously blocked across all platforms so I couldnt respond, high school-style. Can't decide if I'm heartbroken or want to bitch to Ja'mie. Both I guess. IT'S ALL MATERIAL,' she tweeted.

Ms Waterland said she had suffered from depression for two years.

'Now - not one of those things is the reasons I'm not doing well. Honestly - I'm made of stronger stuff than that, and there is no blame to be laid here.

But all those things weren't easy to cope with, and they have forced me to look at how I've been coping with life generally,' she said.

'[D]epression is depression, and as much as I have tried to deal with it myself, it has not gone away,' Ms Waterland said, speaking about her mental health following the loss of her friend Tony

'And the truth is, I haven't. Not since I lost my dearest friend Tony almost two years ago. I have been suffering from clinical depression since his loss.

There have been moments it has alleviated- when I had to finish my second book or tour my comedy show or started dating someone new - but ultimately, depression is depression, and as much as I have tried to deal with it myself, it has not gone away,' she said.

Commenting on the post from her Twitter account, Ms Waterland left her fans with some words of resilience.

'Mental illness strikes again. But, it's an illness like any other and with treatment I'll get though it. See you all soon x,' she said.
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Four sisters who used to spend their weekends with Prince Charles when he was 17 have been reunited with the heir to the throne after more than half a century.

Prince Charles stayed at their family's dairy farm during his time at college in Australia- and on Friday, the women came face to face with him again after 52 years.

Charles could not hide his surprise as he was greeted by Jane Tozer, Amanda Boxshall, Penny Jenner and Lisa Tozer during his trip to Bundaberg.

Prince Charles could not hide his surprise as he was greeted by Jane Tozer, Amanda Boxshall, Penny Jenner and Lisa Tozer during his trip to Bundaberg

The Prince of Wales was given this photo of him with four sisters he boarded with when he was 17, in Geelong, Victoria

As they clutched a photo of them with the prince, taken on the day they were last together, the sisters were given a warm reception by the now 69-year-old Charles.

And they wasted no time in telling him of all their memories from when he used to stay with them at Devon Farm, Lilydale, while he was at Timbertop college in Victoria.

'I remember you used to follow my dad around asking him questions and I remember you stirring the milk,' said Jane, as Charles smiled and laughed.

They then presented him with a copy of the photograph, taken in 1966, which they had all signed the back of.

The Prince of Wales with (from left) Penny Jenner, Jane Tozer, Amanda Boxhall and Lisa Lawlor

As they clutched a photo of them with the prince, taken on the day they were last together, the sisters were given a warm reception by the now 69-year-old Charles

Prince Charles enjoyed Australia's signature rum at the Bundaberg Rum Museum as his Commonwealth Games tour continued

The heir to the throne got to sample a selection of exclusive rum during his Bundaberg visit

Afterwards, Jane, 62, said: 'He said he was rapt that we still had the photo.

'It was really lovely to see him again.'

Jane - the oldest of the siblings - was 10 when Charles would visit. Amanda was six, Penny was four and Lisa was just three.

Jane said: 'I remember him being very curious about the farm. I remember him coming tadpoling and swimming - I taught him how to duck dive.

'At that age we didn't really think of him as royalty.'

Lisa, 54, added: 'All I really remember was thinking that he spoke funny.

Prince Charles created his own version of Queensland's favourite tipple, blending four beakers of rum

It reminded him of 'chemistry class', he joked, before successfully mixing a brew which will be taken home to England

'We all had to get changed out of our farm clothes and put on our Sunday best when he came.'

The sisters spent several minutes chatting to Charles - before recreating their 1966 photo.

The prince had been on a tour of the Bundaberg Distillery as part of his seven-day trip in Australia.

The 69-year-old spent a couple of hours on Friday in the central Queensland city, which he last visited in 1994.

He took a particular interest in a section of the famous distillery museum where a commemorative 'high water' bottle of Bundaberg Rum is displayed.

He was taken through a tasting in Barrel House, and took a slug of one of five options presented to him

Declaring he could detect 'fruit cake' overtones, the Prince then went a step further and created his own version of Queensland's favourite tipple, blending four beakers of rum

He was taken through a tasting in Barrel House, and took a slug of one of five options presented to him.

Declaring he could detect 'fruit cake' overtones, the Prince then went a step further and created his own version of Queensland's favourite tipple, blending four beakers of rum.

It reminded him of 'chemistry class', he joked, before successfully mixing a brew which will be taken home to England.

Prince Charles cuts a cake during his tour of the Bundaberg rum distillery on Friday

Prince Charles at Bundaberg Rum Museum which will highlight the history of Bundaberg Rum

Prince Charles - who was rocking a pair of black sunglasses - delivered a speech to the 'wonderful' people of Bundaberg for their strength in the face recent natural disasters.

'The Australian spirit and character is such that you are unbelievably resilient and somehow you've managed, regardless of what happened,' he told locals, referring to recent floods, after he toured the Bundaberg Rum distillery on Friday.

'That is one of the great characteristics I've always admired (about Australians) ever since I first came here 52 years ago.'

Prince Charles delivered a speech to the 'wonderful' people of Bundaberg for their strength in the face recent natural disasters

The speech was unexpected, and was warmly received by the more than 1,000 people who had gathered for a community barbecue outside the distillery on Friday, despite gusty winds and overcast skies.

'It's taken me, I'm afraid, all these years to come back for another tot and I'm thrilled that this distillery's proving to be the one that produces some of the most famous and special of all rums around the world,' he said.

Discussing the extreme weather events, Prince Charles delivered a summary of the floods which have struck the town numerous times, most recently in 2013.

Prince Charles was taken through a tasting in Barrel House, and took a slug of one of five options presented to him

The Prince of Wales participated in a tour of the Bundaberg Rum Distillery on Friday

Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall are on a seven-day tour of Australia, visiting Queensland and the Northern Territory

The 69-year-old seemed pleased with the liquor as he enjoyed a tasting of the signature rum

Prince Charles was welcomed by more than 1,000 residents in Bundaberg on Friday

The Prince of Wales (right) talks to his former History teacher Michael Collins Persse from Timbertop Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, during a reception at Government House in Queensland

'The problem is they are growing in intensity,' he said to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

He charmed the crowd which had lined up six deep behind security fences to catch a glimpse.

Pat Allison and husband Jim were among the hundreds of Bundaberg residents who turned out under grey skies to meet the prince.

Mr Allison said the Royals represented one of the world's most enduring institutions.

The Duchess of Cornwall on day three of her and Prince Charles' Australia Visit

Camilla started the day having tea with the Woods family at Government House before going to view the One Million Stars exhibition

Thousands of people from across the world have woven the one million stars set to feature in this public artwork

Camilla started the day having tea with the Woods family at Government House

'They talk to senior politicians, world leaders and kids and always seem to conduct themselves well.'

He is flying solo on Friday - the third day of his visit to Queensland - with his wife Camilla having her own engagements in Brisbane.

He is attending an environment round table on Lady Elliot Island with members of the Irwin family and others, before returning to Brisbane on Friday night for a reception at Government House.

Prince Charles came to Australia to open the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Wednesday night.

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales stands on the beach ahead of a roundtable, discussing coral resilience on Lady Elliot Island in Queensland

Britain's Prince Charles poses for a photo with Terri (left), Bindi (centre) and Robert Irwin (second from left) and Peter Gash, managing director of Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort
A yogi who overcame crushing confidence issues by marrying herself even appointed three friends as witnesses when she recited her vows into a heart-shaped mirror on an idyllic beach.

After being inspired by a relationship guru to tie the knot, Mickie Monroe, 28, claims her love for herself has deepened every day since her wedding.

Proudly wearing her $100 (56) wedding ring, Mickie, who lives on Australia's Gold Coast and was married on its Miami Beach, said: 'If you'd have asked me a couple of years ago about self-marriage, I'd have thought it was narcissistic.

'But now I realise it's nothing to do with narcissism, which focuses on what other people think of you. It's more about self-awareness, and how to deal with those negative, critical thoughts everyone has about themselves.

'If I can be kinder to myself, then it has a ripple effect and will, in turn, make me a more loving person to others.'

Mickie Monroe, 28, married herself on Miami Beach on Australia's Gold Coast to help overcome her crippling confidence issues

The yogi recited her vows into a heart-shaped mirror, in front of three witnesses

Since her wedding day, Mickie has noticed a seismic shift in the way she treats herself

Growing up, Mickie said she didn't 'like or look after' herself.

Ballooning in weight, she hit 15st at her heaviest, battling with her size as well as having alcohol issues.

She continued: 'I was so disconnected from myself, and very lost and angry.

'I abused cigarettes and alcohol and was so critical of my own body. My way of dealing with the world was just to numb myself out.'

Mickie bought herself a special, featuring a carnelian stone, which symbolises devotion and leadership.

But over the years, Mickie, who has since shed 6st, realised that most of her negative thoughts were coming from within.

She continued: 'I was my own worst enemy. Even now, that critical voice comes back when I look in the mirror.

'As humans, we're never going to be truly okay with who we are, but marrying myself has helped me to stop comparing myself to others so much.'

Then, in February 2017, Mickie made friends with a lady named EJ Love  a former escort turned relationship guru  who helped her to throw her own self-marriage ceremony on Valentine's Day.

Mickie before and after her weight loss. At her heaviest she weighed 15 stone and admits she didn't take care of herself

Mickie previously struggled with her weight, confidence and alcohol issues

Mickie's vows were off-the-cuff and came from the heart, as she recited them into the mirror

'Meeting EJ made me see what a beautiful moment self-marriage is,' she said, explaining how her friend then helped 275 people to marry themselves in a mass ceremony in the US in 2017.

Inspired by EJ, Mickie organised her own nuptials for November 2017, and rather than reciting prepared wedding vows, she spoke off-the-cuff and from the heart.

'In my tantra classes, I teach that everyone has a masculine and feminine energy inside them,' said Mickie.

'I saw the ceremony as almost marrying those two energies together. I promised to be kind to myself, to be authentic and to create healthy boundaries.

Mickie said she saw the ceremony as a marrying of her male and female energies

'I bought myself a special ring, too, featuring a carnelian stone, which symbolises devotion and leadership.

'Before my ceremony, I was going through a hard time. I was in the throes of very bad depression, and didn't know how to silence those negative thoughts  self-care isn't exactly something they teach in school.

'But now I've promised to commit to and love both the good and bad parts of me. I've stopped waiting around for perfection because it's never going to happen.'

Although she's had some negative reactions when she reveals she is married to herself, once she has explained the reasoning behind it, Mickie said people often come round.

Mickie, pictured here when she was heavier and struggled with self-esteem (left). During her ceremony the yoga teacher promised to be kind to herself, to be authentic and to create healthy boundaries

Since her wedding day, she has also noticed a seismic shift in the way she treats herself.

'I've realised there's nothing wrong with honouring yourself. It's bizarre  if I'd given that ring and made those vows to someone else, nobody would have an issue. But somewhere along the way, it's become taboo to love yourself,' she said.

'That's a real shame because ultimately, you're the person you'll spend your life with.

'I take much better care of myself now  there's no more putting off things until tomorrow, or agreeing to do things I don't want to do for fear of annoying someone.

'I understand I may potentially be ridiculed for loving myself but I'm okay with that. I don't seek validation from other people anymore.

'And if reading about me can help one other person out there who is struggling to accept themselves, then I'll be happy.'

Since marrying herself, Mickie has experienced a few negative reactions but people usually understand when she explains the reasons behind it
As well as looking forward to the big day in May, royal fans are also eagerly anticipating the release of the Harry and Meghan movie.

And the new trailer for the Lifetime film is likely to send their excitement into over-drive - with its Hollywood treatment of the royal romance.

The sneak-peek of the movie shows Harry, 33, telling Meghan, 36, she looks lovely, as well as the couple going on a romantic safari in Botswana.

It also sees Harry discussing marriage with the Duchess of Cambridge, as well as the prince railing against tradition as he defends his decision to marry Meghan.

The new trailer for Lifetime's Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance shows the royal couple meeting on their first date, believed to be at London's swanky Soho house

The sneak-peek of the movie also shows the couple on a romantic safari in Botswana

Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance will air in the US on May 13, less than a week before the royal wedding at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The film stars Murray Fraser as Harry, and Parisa Fitz-Henley, who bears a striking resemblance to the royal bride-to-be, as Meghan.

According to Lifetime, the movie will recreate their relationship 'from the moment they met after being set up by friends.'

It will follow 'through their initial courtship when they were able to keep their romance under wraps, and ultimately the intense global media attention surrounding their relationship and Meghans life as a divorced American actress'.

The new trailer will no doubt send fans into overdrive with its Hollywood treatment of the royal romance

Harry, played by Murray Fraser, is also seen proposing to Meghan in the film trailer

Meghan, played by Parisa Fitz-Henley, reacts with delight as the prince gets down on one knee

The new trailer starts with the Duchess of Cambridge, played by Laura Mitchell, telling Harry that 'Peter Pan can't stay in Neverland forever', adding that 'marriage isn't so bad'.

He then goes on to meet Meghan on their first date, believed to be at London's swanky Soho House, where he tells the Suits actress, 'You look lovely'.

The sneak-peek then takes viewers through the various stages of their romance, including the couple's trip to Botswana and Harry's intimate proposal at home.

The movie is due to be released in the US less than a week before the royal wedding in May, while a UK air date has not yet been confirmed

In the film trailer, Harry is seen railing against tradition as he defends his decision to marry the American divorcee

Meghan is seen wearing her trademark beanie hat and sunglasses, with actress Parisa Fitz-Henley bearing a striking resemblance to the royal bride-to-be

The Duchess of Cambridge, played by Laura Mitchell, is seen discussing marriage with Harry in the trailer

The trailer also sees an angry Harry defending his decision to marry the American divorcee, shouting: 'She makes me happy, so to hell to tradition!'

Earlier this week, it was announced that Channel 5 in the UK has bought the rights to air the movie, although an exact date has not been confirmed.

Lifeline's Harry and Meghan film comes after William & Kate: The Movie, the network's 2011 film depicting the romance of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

In that movie, Camilla Luddington, who stars in Grey's Anatomy, was cast as Kate, while William was portrayed by Nico Evers-Swindell.

British actor Murray (left) plast Prince Harry (right) in the upcoming Lifetime movie

Jamaican-American actress Parisa (left), best known for her role as Reva Connors in Jessica Jones back in 2015, plays Meghan (right)
A grandfather who was forced to miss his grandson's wedding after suffering a heart attack was left speechless when the newlyweds surprised him in hospital the following day.

William Reid, 77, was taken ill six days before grandson Scott Ventisei, 34, married fiancee Lisa, 36, at the Grand Central Hotel, in Glasgow, on March 24.

On the morning of the nuptials hospital nurses dressed Mr Reid in his kilt and arranged for him to watch the ceremony and reception over FaceTime, so that he still felt part of the day.

The following day, Scott and Lisa donned their wedding finery to pay a surprise visit to Mr Reid at the University Hospital Monklands, North Lanarkshire. A photographer captured the touching moment Mr Reid saw his grandson walking onto the ward.

Touching: William Reid, 77, was left open-mouthed with shock when his grandson Scott Ventisei, 34, and his new wife Lisa, 36, surprised him in hospital the day after their wedding

Memories: Nurses dressed Mr Reid in his kilt ahead of the newlyweds' arrival so the family could still have photographs together. Pictured, Mr Reid with Lisa and Scott Ventisei

Romantic: Scott and Lisa married at the Grand Central Hotel, in Glasgow, on March 24

Scott said: 'My granddad was shocked. Because he was in a heart ward I didn't know if it would be possible.

'We took his kilt to the hospital and asked the nurses to get him ready. Then we turned up wearing our wedding clothes. I want to say thanks to the nurses for everything they did.'

The newlywed explained that it was the nurses who came up with the idea to FaceTime the ceremony.

Part of the day: Mr Reid watched his grandson say his vows, pictured, over FaceTime

Every moment: Nurses helped Mr Reid watch the speeches, pictured, from his hospital bed

'They organised everything and sacrificed their lunch breaks to make it happen,' Scott said. 'They let my granddad see not only the ceremony but the speeches too.'

They also helped dress Mr Reid in the kilt he was going to wear to the wedding ahead of Scott's arrival, meaning he was properly dressed for the pictures.

Mr Reid, who lost a leg due to injury, accompanied Scott on his stag do to Tenerife last November and was nicknamed 'Peg Leg Billy' by the rest of the group.

Scott said: 'We all had T-shirts made and we nicknamed my granddad Peg Leg Billy because he has one leg. He also got called Bad Grandpa.

Scott's five-year-old son Alessio, from a previous marriage, was 'best boy'

The couple spent their honeymoon in Rome and are also going on a family trip to Tenerife

'The age range on my stag do was 21 to 77. My younger cousin Liam Donnelly was getting a go on our granddad's mobility scooter.'

Mr Reid is now out of hospital and waiting to find out whether he will need a heart bypass.

The couple spent their honeymoon in Rome and are also going on a family trip to Tenerife next week.
A new 'V-bar' bikini design sweeping Instagram is set to become the summer's hottest swimwear trend.

The swim tops feature underwiring shaped in an inverted V, sitting just below the cleavage.

Australian label Bamba was one of the first designers to showcase the trend, with their AUD$79 (43) Vino top.

Other brands have now followed suit with their own versions of the V-bar design, including British retailer Missguided.

A new 'V-bar' bikini trend sweeping Instagram is set to become one of this summer's hottest trends. Pictured is vlogger Madi Edwards showing off the design

Australian label Bamba was one of the first designers to showcase the trend, with their AUD$79 (43) Vino top, as worn by model Shannon Lawson

Other brands have now followed suit, including British retailer Missguided. Their underwire bikini comes in black and blue

The unusual swimwear design has already been sported by an array of Instagram stars.

Models Gizele Oliveira and Shannon Lawson have been among the early adopters of the trend, along with vlogger Maddie Bruce.

Celebrity stylist Rochelle White predicts that the 'V-bar' design will be popular this summer, as it works for all shapes and sizes.

She told FEMAIL: 'Not only does it create a flattering shape to the bust area it adds a nice amount of cleavage, without looking too in your face.'

The swim tops feature underwiring shaped in an inverted V, sitting just below the cleavage. Pictured is Victoria's Secret model Gizele Oliveira sporting a Bamba design

Bamba says its Vino bikini (left) provides 'extra support for all cup sizes'. LA-based brand Hai Swim is set to launch its own version of the trend (right)

British vlogger Maddie Bruce has been showing off Missguided's black V-bar bikini set, which is priced at 25

On its website, Bamba describes its Vino bikini as having a 'minimalist V wire feature' that provides 'extra support for all cup sizes.'

The top comes in a range of colours, including a chic white bikini featuring blue piping.

Meanwhile, Missguided offer several versions of the trend, including for a black V-bar bikini set priced at 25.

The online retailer also has an underwired bikini top featuring the inverted V shape, priced at 14, which is available in blue and yellow.

LA-based brand Hai Swim is set to launch its own version of the trend, as part of its SS18 collection entitled The Painter.
Marie Claire published an article about Meghan Markle having a single strand of gray hair and people are going berserk.

The article in question, published on Thursday, pointed out that the 36-year-old has a 'single gray hair', suggesting that this makes her, 'human'; it quickly prompted fury online, with many readers bashing the publication for pointing out such a minor detail in the future royal's appearance.

Many were quick to call out the magazine's website on Twitter, with some users joking about their own gray hairs, while others lashed out in a much angrier way, with some going as far as to label the article 'disgusting' and 'ridiculous'.

Gray hairs: Marie Claire prompted outrage online after publishing an article about Meghan Markle having a single strand of gray hair based off this image of her in Ireland on March 23

Just like us: The article in question stated that the 36-year-old has a gray hair in the front of her head, suggesting that it makes her 'human' referring to these photos from a recent royal visit

Royal wedding: The photos of Meghan were from a recent visit she and Prince Harry, 33, made to Catalyst Inc, a science park in Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 23

Colorist: This annoyed user called out the magazine for writing about Meghan missing a hair appointment

Breaking news: One woman got angry that the site thought it was breaking news that they found a gray hair

Gossip: Another user commented on the fact that gray hairs are normal and it's not gossip

The title of the original article reads: 'Meghan Markle Has a Single Gray Hair' while the subhead adds: 'And it's magnificent.'

In the article, the publication referred to photos of Meghan and Prince Harry from their recent royal visit to Catalyst Inc, a science park in Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 23.

Although author Sally Holmes did not pose Meghan in a negative light, a number of social media users were outraged that the article was even published in the first place.

'Important news: Meghan Markle, human, has a gray hair,' the article read.

'She revealed this truth when she left the house and it was, well, right there on her head,' it continued.

Within hours of publishing the story, Twitter was flooded with furious users calling out the magazine.

'Shame on Marie Claire for this nonsense about Meghan Markle and a grey hair,' one user commented.

While someone else vented: 'Hopefully God will forgive Meghan Markle for committing the unpardonable sin of having a gray hair.

'Thanks Marie Claire for confirming that I'm not missing anything other than everyday sexism by not buying your magazine.'

'That's disgusting in my opinion. Marie Claire as a women's magazine has to support women. It is totally normal to have grey hair,' another woman commented.

Ridiculous: Annoyed user Liana shamed the publication and told them to adjust their perspective

Shameful: This woman called out the author of the article for trying to be cheeky in her writing

Dark thoughts: Famous author Jojo Moyes of Me Before You even got involved in the debate

Hilarious: While many people were venting about how angry they were, some users made light of the situation with jokes like this user did

Uh oh: One user Nats got very heated when she cursed out the publication after they deleted their tweet with a link to the article

More important things: User Emma shared that this type of article is the reason she stopped buying their magazine in the first place

One furious woman tweeted, 'Seriously Marie Claire this is not what a strong confident modern woman wants to read about!

'No wonder I stopped buying your magazine! I've way more important things to worry about than another woman's grey hair!'

Another woman shared her annoyance with the article saying, 'So I guess Marie Claire posted an article about Meghan Markle's one gray hair.

'I'm seven years younger than her and I've got a head full of them. NOBODY CARES.'

Meanwhile, two people got very wound up about the article and cursed their frustrations.

''If it matters to women, it's in Marie Claire.' I can assure you guys at Marie Claire HQ, women do not give one single f**k about Meghan Markle's grey hair,' someone commented.

Another person cursing out the magazine addressed the fact that the publication deleted it's original tweet with the article link.

'F**k you Marie Claire you can delete tweets/articles all you want, but you are still trash.

'Who approved writing a piece on Meghan Markle's strand of grey hair? What the actual frick, get in the bin,' another livid user wrote.

New headline: This woman made a joke that the new headline should read Meghan is the new head of the magazine

Nobody cares: One woman said she has a head full of gray hair but it doesn't matter because no one cares

Important news: One sarcastic user joked that Meghan's gray hair was much more important than serious news

Grays: This woman said she has more gray hairs than Meghan and therefore she should have her own article

Disgusting: One user called out the magazine for not supporting other women

In the article the author writes: 'Who knows if Meghan Markle is choosing to just own it, not waste the time and money on such frequent upkeep or just doesn't notice because it's ONE HAIR.

'But, either way, it's nice to see she's a regular person with a few stray grays, just like everyone else!'

The tone of voice the author used in the story was not sitting well with some people as one woman commented about her frustration.

'Sally Holmes may think she's cutely encouraging to 'age gracefully' as she implies Markle is.

'But she's dismissing legions of who don't have money or desire for a colorist or box dye.'

Despite all of the hatred people tweeted about towards the magazine, many annoyed readers chose to share their exasperation through jokes.

Matters to women: This woman was quick to point out that other women don't care about gray hairs

Hilarious: One person made a joke of the article saying her pubic hair is available for interviews

Total catch: A very sarcastic user joked that Meghan's hair is single and is a great catch

Sponsored: This woman made a mock headline saying Meghan's gray hair got its own beauty brand contract

Here for it: One user was amused by all the drama and shared that she's loving it

'If Meghan Markle's lone gray hair on her head is news, my gray pube is available for interviews,' one comment read.

'I can't believe Meghan Markle's gray hair is single. IT'S A TOTAL CATCH!' said one sarcastic woman.

While another sarcastic user wrote: 'I'm really tired of people saying this isn't the most important story of 2018.'

'Meghan Markle's Gray Hair Named Editor-In-Chief of Marie Claire,' another woman commented.

Meanwhile famous author Jojo Moyes of Me Before You tweeted, '*Clicks on Twitter. Sees that Marie Claire has tweeted about Meghan Markle having ONE GREY HAIR.

'Closes Twitter again, thinking dark thoughts.*' she continued.

One woman who was loving the drama wrote, 'Everyone's dragging Marie Claire for pointing out Meghan Markle's single grey hair and I'm here for it.'
It has no doubt been something of a stressful week for Anna Wintour, after reports surfaced on Monday that she is set to leave her role as Vogue Editor-in-Chief after 30 years at its helm.

So it should come as no surprise that the 68-year-old fashion icon looked slightly stony-faced as she stepped out in New York on Friday, heading to visit the New York home of friends George and Amal Clooney, just days after the rumors of her alleged departure from Conde Nast were first made public.

But despite her somber expression, Wintour made quite the statement with her look, wearing a bold printed red, white, and navy midi skirt along with a silk patterned blouse.

Straight-faced: Anna Wintour looked rather somber as she stepped out in New York on Friday, days after it was reported that she is planning to leave Conde Nast this summer

Making a statement: Although she looked stony-faced, the 68-year-old's bold and colorful outfit spoke volumes

She topped off the colorful ensemble with a bold purple leather trench coat, matching purple heeled boots, and - of course - a pair of her signature sunglasses, an accessory which has become synonymous with the editrix.

Wintour's hair was styled in her trademark sleek bob, and she was seen carrying a manila folder filled with papers in one hand - perhaps part of the reason that she was paying a visit to actor George, 56, and human rights lawyer Amal, 40.

Although Anna is known to be close to the famously-private couple, and was one of just a handful of guests invited to their intimate Italian wedding in 2014, the meeting may well have been more about business than pleasure.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Amal had invited Vogue into the $14 million Berkshire home that she shares with her husband in order to do a sit-down interview with the magazine, while showing off the changes she has made to her newly-refurbished mansion.

According to The Mail on Sunday, Amal posed up for pictures taken by acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz, having borrowed a staggering $9.8 million worth of Cartier jewelry for the shoot.

A source close to the Clooneys told the newspaper: This has been organised for a long while. It is Amals chance to do a sit-down interview and show the inside of her house.

It will be a really special piece for her. She and George have put blood, sweat and tears into getting their house to be perfect, so its the ideal location to do this.

Style staple: Wintour topped off her look with a purple leather trench coat, purple boots, and her signature sunglasses

Friends: Wintour was paying a visit to the New York City home of her close pals George and Amal Clooney

Business or pleasure? Although the nature of the meeting is not known, it was reported this week that Amal recently posed up for a Vogue spread at her Berkshire mansion

A shoot with the notoriously-private Amal would certainly be a coup for the magazine - and would add yet another feather to Wintour's cap before she makes a departure later this year.

According to Page Six, Wintour will depart Vogue and Conde Nast - where she has served as artistic director since 2013 - after the July wedding of her daughter Bee Shaffer, 30, allowing her to go out in style, ending her time at the company with the publication's iconic September issue.

But while sources insist that Wintour's time at the company is coming to a close, Conde Nast has rebuffed the claims, with a spokesman telling Page Six: 'We emphatically deny these rumors.'

The company's denial has not stopped speculation, however, that it has a replacement lined up for the editrix - whose frosty demeanor earned her a host of less-than-flattering nicknames including 'Nuclear Wintour' and 'fashion's ice queen'.

Sources allege that Vogue UK Editor-in-Chief, and former fashion stylist, Edward Enninful, 46, is a frontrunner to take over the position at the US publication - despite only holding the role at its British counterpart for less than a year.

Page Six reports that there is nobody currently in place to take over her wider role as Conde Nast's artistic director.

Enninful would certainly be no stranger to the task of taking the reigns from a seasoned veteran, however; he was named as the rather surprising successor to British Vogue's former Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Shulman when she left the magazine last year, following a 25-year run at its helm.

Happy as can be: According to The Mail on Sunday, Amal opened the doors to her $14 million mansion in order to show off the refurbishments she has made to it

Happy times: Wintour was one of just a handful of guests invited to attend George and Amal's Italian wedding in 2014

Success: Landing a shoot with the famously-private Amal would certainly enable Wintour to go out with a bang - should she indeed leave Conde Nast later this year

It was suggested by many that the British magazine needed to be rejuvenated and re-focused as the industry continued to shift towards digital media, and print sales plummeted across the board.

However, sources allege to Page Six that Wintour's ousting may be the work of Jonathan Newhouse, chairman of Conde Nast International.

Newhouse, who is currently based in London with his wife Ronnie Cook, is expected by many insiders to be preparing for a move back to New York City in order to take over as Chairman of Conde Nast after the October death of his cousin Si Newhouse, who held the position for more than 40 years.

Si Newhouse was a long-time fan of Wintour's, and supported her throughout her time at the company, however one insider told Page Six that Jonathan Newhouse 'doesn't like [the amount of power] Anna has' within Conde Nast and is eager to see Enninful take over.

The current British Vogue boss might seem like an odd choice to some, however, given his lack of editorial experience; prior to his appointment at the publication, he had spent decades working as a fashion stylist.

Others say that Wintour, who is the daughter of the late Charles Wintour, former editor of the London Evening Standard newspaper, is hoping to secure a job back in her home England, such as leading the British Fashion Council, which is responsible for organizing London Fashion Week.

It was also reported while Hillary Clinton was running for president that Wintour - an outspoken supporter of the Democratic candidate - had hoped to secure an ambassador position in London if Clinton had won the election.

A special occasion: Wintour is said to be planning her departure for the end of July, after the wedding of her daughter Bee Shaffer, 30, to Italian-born director Francesco Carrozzini

Style queens: The editrix would certainly be going out with a bang, having sat next to Her Majesty the Queen at the royal's first London Fashion Week show in February

Handing over the reigns? It has been reported that Vogue UK Editor-in-Chief and former stylist Edward Enninful (left) is being lined up to take over the American version of the magazine

A move back to London would certainly see Wintour come full circle as far as her career is concerned; she started out working as an editorial assistant at the UK version of Harper's Bazaar in 1970, before she moved to New York and joined its sister publication in 1975.

She returned to London in 1985 to serve as the editor of British Vogue, a position that she held for two years before heading back to New York City.

However, she has maintained close ties with her home nation; she was made a Dame in the 2017 New Year's Honors, and in February of this year achieved a major victory on British turf when she arranged for Her Majesty the Queen to attend her first ever London Fashion Week show.

Once there, the royal was seated on the front row alongside a beaming Wintour herself.

According to reports, the surprise attendance of the Queen was arranged by Wintour and British Fashion Council chief executive Caroline Rush - a move that allegedly reduced British Vogue Editor-in-Chief Enninful to tears after he was kept in the dark about the royal's attendance.

Further controversy was then caused by the fact that Wintour failed to remove her signature sunglasses during the event, a move which many saw as being incredibly disrespectful towards the Queen.

Power struggle? Page Six reported that Wintour's departure comes as Conde Nast International's London-based Chairman Jonathan Newhouse (right) plans a return to New York

Another one bites the dust: Wintour's alleged departure would come almost exactly one year after Vogue UK Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Shulman (left) left the British magazine

Something new: It was reported that Wintour, pictured in a Hillary Clinton tee in 2016, had hoped to secure an ambassador position in London if Clinton won the presidential election

Wintour's departure is reported to come as Conde Nast is considering a major financial review, with sources claiming that consultants are in the process of reviewing how the company can best move forward in the changing media climate.

Conde Nast has certainly struggled as the industry as shifted, shutting down the print editions of Teen Vogue, Self, and Details in the last year alone. Insiders told Page Six that the company is losing a staggering $100 million a year.

In the UK, Glamour magazine made a move towards a 'mobile-first, social-first' focus, cutting back on its print issues, which are now only published twice a year.

Wintour's exit would also come in the wake of several magazine closures and the recent stepping down of several other long-serving glossy magazine editors, including Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter, who spent 25 years at the publication, Glamour's Cini Leive, and Allure's Linda Wells within Conde Nast alone.

It is even being reported that Wintour's exit interview with the New York Times has already been arranged.

The Times also interviewed Carter and Leive after they left their magazines following decades-long stints.
There is general consensus in our society about our foreign policy, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview for a special edition of Gulf News newspaper and Global FDI Reports about Armenia.

April 6, 2018, 13:14 Armenias cooperation with both EU and EEU is result of principled policy, says Sargsyan

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 6, ARTSAKHPRESS:Asked about the most significant foreign policy priorities, the President said: First, I have to say, that Armenias foreign policy has been based on four main dictums: being proactive, being engaged, being consistent and ensuring a firm presence where our interests require it. In the past 10 years we have continued our efforts aimed at finding a peaceful resolution in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ensuring a sustainable peace between Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan.

Despite all our efforts and goodwill, supported by the United States, France and Russia, which form the co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group  the main mediation format here  we have a long way to go. Our efforts have been further jeopardized by continuous ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan up to now, the flare-up in August 2014, and the Four Day War of April 2016. Its unfortunate that the Azerbaijani leadership has long been misled by its oil money and still holds maximalist views on the resolution.

Sargsyan mentioned that he aspired to open a new chapter in relations with neighboring Turkey during his presidency.

At my initiative, supported by the international community as a whole and under Swiss mediation, we negotiated and signed two protocols in Zurich in October 2009, aimed at opening the common borders and normalising our relations. Its unfortunate that the Turkish leadership backtracked from the spirit of signed documents and good neighbourly relations and put forward unrelated preconditions for the ratification and implementation. It was due to this position that I had to declare in September 2017 in the UN General Assembly and reiterate at the recent Munich Security Conference that in that unfriendly environment we have no choice but to shelve the documents in the archives of history. On March 1 the National Security Council further deliberated the matter and I signed a decree to terminate the procedures of conclusion of the Zurich protocols. Of course, we may pursue other opportunities in the future when the Turkish leadership matures. 

In the present volatile international environment, we have remained faithful to our longstanding and principled position of seeking to benefit the common interests of our partners. We firmly believe that its our duty to bridge, where possible, the differences of our partners and allies, and not create additional tensions. That would be irresponsible. To that end, I must say, there is general consensus in our society about our foreign policy. Its a dictum of this patient and principled policy that we chose to participate in both the Eurasian Economic Union  where in fact we became a co-founder  and sign the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the EU in November 2017. It is dear to our hearts to see our partners cooperating, while we all benefit from such cooperation. We have seen enough contradictions and wars in our history, President Sargsyan said.
Baby wipes increase children's risk of developing life-threatening food allergies, new research suggests.

Immune reactions to everyday produce like nuts, eggs and soy may be brought on by a 'perfect storm' of baby wipes, dust and food exposure, a study found today in a 'major advance'.

Researchers believe this is due to an ingredient in soap found in baby wipes, known as sodium lauryl sulphate, lingering on infants' skin and disrupting its protective fatty barrier.

In youngsters with genetic mutations that predispose them to allergies, this disruption could lead to immune reactions if they are, for instance, kissed by a sibling with peanut butter on their face, according to the US researchers.

The scientists recommend parents reduce their youngsters' food allergy risk by washing their hands before touching them and rinsing off excess soap after baby wipe use.

Around one in 13 children in the US suffer from at least one food allergy, according to Food Allergy Research & Education.

Baby wipes increase children's risk of developing life-threatening food allergies (stock)

WHAT IS SODIUM LAURYL SULPHATE? Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) is a common additive that causes cleaning products to create a foam. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), SLS is a 'moderate hazard' that has been linked to cancer, organ toxicity, skin irritation and hormone disruption. SLS can be found in most body washes, soaps, baby wipes, shampoos, toothpastes and laundry detergents. Although it is a derivative of coconuts, SLS is contaminated with a toxic byproduct during manufacturing. This by-product, known as 1,4 dioxane, is defined as being 'possibly carcinogenic to humans' and may affect the kidneys, liver and central nervous system, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. SLS may appear on product labels under sodium dodecyl sulfate, sulfuric acid, monododecyl ester, sodium salt, sodium salt sulfuric acid, sodium dodecyl sulfate, aquarex me or aquarex methyl. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review reports SLS is a skin irritant at concentration above two per cent. Most personal-care produces include SLS at around one per cent. Undiluted SLS can cause skin and eye irritation, as well as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, if ingested, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The EWG recommends people use SLS-containing products with caution as our bodies lack the enzymes needed to break such chemicals down, causing them to accumulate. Source: Live Strong Advertisement

Food 'enters' newborns via their skin

The researchers analysed food and environmental allergen exposure in newborn mice with the same skin-related genetic mutations that occur in humans.

When rodents' skin was exposed to peanuts, this alone induced no allergic response.

Lead author Professor Joan Cook-Mills said: 'Then I thought about what are babies exposed to.

'They are exposed to environmental allergens in dust in a home.

'They may not be eating food allergens as a newborn, but they are getting them on their skin.

'Say a sibling with peanut butter on her face kisses the baby. Or a parent is preparing food with peanuts and then handles the baby. '

Professor Cook-Mills then investigated skin studies that assessed the impact of soap, saying: 'I thought "oh my gosh!' That's infant wipes!"'

After the study's mice were exposed to food and dust on their skin three-to-four times for 40 minutes over two weeks, they were given pieces of egg or peanuts to eat.

As a result, the animals suffered allergic reactions at the site of skin exposure, as well as in their intestines.

Their body temperatures also fell, which indicates the severe food allergy anaphylaxis.

Professor Cook-Mills added: 'It's a major advance in our understanding of how food allergy starts early in life.'

How to reduce children's allergy risk

Speaking of how parents can lower their children's risk of such reactions, Professor Cook-Mills said: 'Reduce baby's skin exposure to food allergens by washing your hands before handling the baby.

'Limit use of infant wipes that leave soap on the skin. Rinse soap off with water like we used to do years ago. '

On the back of the findings, the researchers plan to carry out further studies investigating how food allergies can be prevented in children.

Professor Cook-Mills added: 'The goal is to determine unique signals in the skin that occur during development of food allergy.

'This will lead to approaches to intervene with those skin signals and block the development of food allergy.'

The findings were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Allergens like peanut butter may enter babies' bodies from their siblings' faces (stock)

Peanut patch could cure major food allergy

This comes after research released last November suggested a simple patch could cure life-threatening peanut allergies.

Viaskin Peanut is a stick-on band designed to gradually expose patients to the proteins that cause such reactions.

In October last year, the so-called 'vaccine' failed in a large clinical trial, faring no better than a placebo.

Yet, researchers, at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, insist it should not be ruled out just yet, seeing as the patch left patients 10 times more resilient.

Lead author Dr Hugh Sampson claimed the results suggest the patch is effective if administered at a high dose, despite fears it flopped in previous trials.
A cancer patient recovering from a life-saving operation was forced to sleep in a hospital cupboard due to a bed shortage.

Shocking images show Martyn Wells, 49, from Worcester, lying in the cramped, windowless room after being wheeled into the makeshift ward days after having his stomach removed.

The father-of-four, who had stage four malignant melanoma, went under the knife at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital last Wednesday and claims he was wheeled into the cupboard while he slept.

When he complained to a nurse the next morning, Mr Wells was told the room was classed as a 'clinical decisioning space'.

Mr Wells, who had a '15-inch incision' in his abdomen, tweeted Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt a picture of the 'broom cupboard' to highlight the state of the NHS but is yet to receive a response.

The IT manager, whose Facebook post has been shared thousands of times, said: 'For me, this whole incident encapsulates the issues that we have in the NHS today.'

At the beginning of the year, NHS chiefs demanded radical action to free up beds and medical staff due to casualty units being under 'extreme and sustained' pressure with flu cases, with at least 306 related deaths, according to Public Health England.

Cancer patient Martyn Wells was forced to sleep in a hospital cupboard due to a bed shortage

Days after undergoing a life-saving operation to remove his stomach, Mr Wells was left lying in the cramped, windowless room after being wheeled into the makeshift ward while asleep

A spokesman for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation said placing Mr Wells in the 'consultant room' followed protocol to free up beds on wards for more at-need patients

The following day, Mr Wells tweeted Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt about the issue

'They claimed it was a "clinical decisioning space"'

Speaking of the incident, Mr Wells said: 'What on earth is the logic between putting a stage four cancer patient in a broom cupboard? I don't understand it.

'The night before, I was told that I might have to be moved from my side ward, because I was waiting for discharge and there were other patients.

'I told them I'd rather not be moved, as I was on a drip and had just taken a laxative, and didn't want to be embarrassed by being moved too far away from a toilet.

'At some point during the night, I must have been moved in there. I woke up in the morning, and was completely disorientated.

He said: 'I actually woke up to a nurse checking my blood pressure.

'They claimed that it was a "clinical decisioning space", but that just seemed to be an attempt to justify putting me in a cupboard. It's jargon.'

In a post shared thousands of times of Facebook, Mr Wells is seen surrounded by medical supplies, which hospital staff frequently came in to access, shaking their heads in disbelief

On a drip, Mr Wells had to walk 50 metres to the nearest toilet despite being on laxatives

Surrounded by cannulas and stoma bags, Mr Wells called the cupboard a 'dark haven'

HOW HOSPITALS TACKLED THE CRISIS CANCELLED OPERATIONS Non-urgent operations and hospital appointments scheduled for January were postponed.

Cancer operations and time-critical procedures went ahead as planned.

Hospitals contacted patients to tell them if their appointments were cancelled. MIXED SEX WARDS NHS rules banning mixed sex wards were temporarily lifted to help hospitals use all available beds.

Usually hospitals are fined 250 every night that a patient has to stay in a mixed ward, however, this was waived.

Patients could request a move if they had strong objections. DOCTORS ON THE DOORS Consultants whose appointments were cancelled were expected to pitch in by manning the doors of A&E.

Patients could be questioned by doctors as soon as they arrived at hospital.

The patients were then told to wait for a full examination, be seen immediately or be given advice and sent home. Advertisement

'There seems to be no accountability'

Mr Wells claims that if he had gone into cardiac arrest while in the cupboard he would have died due to staff being unable to reach him in time.

He added: 'I was told that the nearest toilet was 50 metres up the main corridor, which was no help given that I was on a drip feed and had been given laxatives.

'Having to stagger down to go the loo was humiliating - it's an awfully long way to walk for someone that has just had their stomach removed.

'Somebody came in and gave me my breakfast, but there was no tray table for me to put it on. I had to literally balance it on my lap.

'There was equipment all up the shelves alongside me, and clinical staff kept coming in to pick things up for other patients.

'Some of them were apologetic, but others just shook their heads in disbelief. They were embarrassed, that's the best way to describe it.

He said: 'I almost feel guilty for complaining because the surgeons that operated on me saved my live.

'But there must be something very wrong with the system if this is what's happening to ill people like me.'

Mr Wells added he felt sorry for hospital staff, whose abilities are limited by insufficient funding.

He said: 'All the time hospitals are having to try to do more for less, and it's just not working out.

'There seems to be no accountability, and that's a crying shame.'

WHAT REGIONS OF THE UK WERE MOST AFFECTED BY THE NHS WINTER CRISIS? During the NHS winter crisis, certain hospitals declared themselves at the most severe pressure level while doctors warned scores are operating at almost full capacity. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned overcrowding in A&E departments leads to avoidable deaths. It also cautioned pressure on the health system results in lengthy waits and patients being treated in corridors. Meanwhile, a number of ambulance services were also under severe pressure, with one even resorting to using taxis to ferry patients to hospital. The East of England Ambulance Service said that during December 30, 31 and January 1, 13 patients deemed to be 'low acuity', meaning they did not require intensive nurse care, were transported to hospital by taxi. During the first few days of 2018, paramedics working for the trust wasted more than 500 hours waiting outside hospitals admiting patients due to handover delays. A number of hospital trusts also declared they were Operational Pressures Escalation Level 4, which means patient care is compromised. Darent Valley Hospital A&E in Kent, Royal Cornwall Hospital and University Hospitals Of Leicester NHS Trust all said they declared OPEL4 at the end of 2017-beginning of 2018. Meanwhile, Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group said the health system in the whole county declared OPEL4. University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trusts medical director Dr John Oxtoby admitted the pressure was severe over Christmas. Advertisement

Mr Well said he feels guilty complaining but such treatment of patients is unacceptable

Mr Wells asked on Facebook 'what happened to patient dignity?', adding the hospital's justification for keeping him in the room was 'jargon' with 'no accountability'

'Whatever happened to patient dignity?'

Mr Wells, who was diagnosed with cancer last March, wrote on a Facebook post describing the incident, 'I woke up in a cupboard. So I lie here typing this, surrounded by cannulas, stoma bags and other accessories.

'A team of ninja nurses burst into my room in the small hours, told me gently I was being moved and wheeled me into another dark haven.

'Waking this morning I find my new location is a cupboard.

'Are things SO bad in our great health service that they have to move stage IV cancer patients into a cupboard? Whatever happened to patient dignity?

'I've been told to use the staff toilet and have no access to any washing facilities.

'I'm trying hard not to moan as I am genuinely grateful just to be alive but I'll be glad to get home as there is something very wrong with the bed management in our hospitals.'

Health chiefs defended the decision to put Mr Wells in the room, saying staff followed 'standard operating procedure for capacity escalation.'

A spokesman for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation added: 'We are sorry Mr Wells is unhappy with his situation.

'The trust has a standard operating procedure for capacity escalation and a full capacity protocol which are strictly followed to ensure the safe care of all of our patients.

'When a ward reaches maximum capacity a patient who is clinically fit for discharge may be moved into a consultation room to allow another patient with clinical needs to be transferred onto the appropriate ward.

'The consultation rooms such as the one occupied by Mr Wells are fully equipped clinical areas and are used to support capacity management across the hospital.

'The dignity and safe care of all of our patients remains our priority.'

Mr Wells is due to walk the length of the River Severn for 10 days in September to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Donate here.

A Twitter user was in disbelief over how stretched the NHS is for Mr Wells to sleep in a 'closet'

Another sympathised with the NHS' 'unsung heros' who 'can only do so much'

PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY FINALLY APOLOGISES FOR THE 55,000 OPERATIONS CANCELLED... A DAY AFTER REFUSING TO ACCEPT THE NHS WAS IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS Mrs May finally apologised to patients who faced a delay on January 4 Prime Minister Theresa May finally apologised to patients who faced a delay on January 4, after it was announced 55,000 operations will be postponed. The unprecedented move to cancel non-urgent procedures to free up beds and frontline staff was made by NHS bosses. The decision prompted an apology from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday, following pressure from his critics that he was 'running scared'. Mrs May apologised during a visit today to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, one of many trusts affected by the NHS move to cancel procedures. After refusing to accept the NHS was in a crisis the day before, she said: 'I know it's difficult, I know it's frustrating, I know it's disappointing for people, and I apologise.' Her comments followed official data which showed record numbers of patients are being forced to wait in ambulances for treatment. Some 16,900 people were forced to wait for more than 30 minutes in ambulances to be seen by staff at A&E over the Christmas week - the highest total this winter. Advertisement

Summary of NHS crisis

Research released earlier this month suggested NHS trusts in England were forced to cancel hundreds of cancer operations last winter.

Out of a poll of 81 NHS hospital trusts, 43 postponed at least one cancer surgery between December and February, according to a survey by the Health Service Journal.

Hospitals in England were told to delay pre-planned operations and routine outpatient appointments throughout January to help overcome severe winter pressures.

Yet NHS England stressed cancer operations and time-critical procedures should go ahead as planned. Delays in cancer-patient procedures could affect people's survival prospects, Macmillan Cancer Support warns.

Up to 55,000 non-urgent operations were postponed until February, along with thousands of outpatient appointments and scans.

Strict rules regarding single-sex wards were waived, while doctors were also expected to man the doors in A&E.

For part of the winter crisis, which lasted from around November to February, Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre was put on 'black alert', meaning it was operating at full capacity with no beds left.

During one week a patient arrived at the centre's A&E every two minutes, prompting 346 operations to be cancelled in January alone.
A six-year-old girl has had a metre-long hairball removed from her stomach by doctors in India.

The child, whose identity is unknown, suffered from Rapunzel syndrome - where hairs that have been eaten become tangled in the stomach.

Doctors in New Delhi treated the girl, who complained of a bloated stomach and excruciating pain before they found the 2.1kg (4lbs 10oz) mass.

They removed the revolting clump of hair, which had folded up inside her intestines and had a tail. It measured 126cm in length, in total.

Doctors in New Delhi treated the girl, who complained of a bloated stomach and excruciating pain before they found the 2.1kg (4lbs 10oz) mass

The enormous length of the hairball astounded medics, who published the tale of the girl in the reknowned BMJ Case Reports.

Doctors at Safdarjung Hospital, who treated the girl and then removed the hairball, jokingly titled the case 'A tail too long to tell!'.

Figures suggest the average six-year-old girl is 105cm tall (3ft 5in) - meaning the tail was longer than most girls her age.

Doctors wrote in the journal: 'Trichobezoar leading to Rapunzel syndrome (RS) is an extremely rare entity with about 90 cases reported in literature.'

Its name is derived from the fairy tale 'Rapunzel', where the princess let her long, golden hair down from a tower to facilitate a tryst with her lover.

WHAT IS RAPUNZEL SYNDROME? Rapunzel syndrome is a rare condition where hairball are found in the digestive tract after a person ingests their own hair. It is predominantly found in emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded youngsters. A hairball - called a bezoar - extends from the stomach, with it's 'tail' in the small intestine. Hairballs are accumulations of human or vegetable fibers that accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract. They increase in size because hair and fibre is not absorbed. They cause abdominal pain and nausea. Sometimes people can present at healthcare facilities with a mass, but no symptoms, but it can progress to tearing and obstructing the stomach and bowel. Most hairballs in children are from swallowed hair from the head, dolls, or brushes. Source: Clinical Medicine and Research journal Advertisement

The doctors added that the hairball is only due to RS 'when the tail of hair extends beyond the stomach into the small intestine'.

It is predominantly found in emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded youngsters, according to medical literature.

The girl, who reportedly had no mental illness, presented to hospital with stomach pain and bouts of vomiting that had lasted four days.

Hospital staff noted how her abdomen was swollen and conducted tests as they feared she had an obstruction in her bowel.

They discovered her symptoms were being caused by a trichobezoar, which can be deadly as it can lead to infections that trigger sepsis.

The main hair ball measured roughly 11cm x 16cm - but its tail stretched a further 110cm and passed through to her small intestine.

Surgeons, led by Dr Vikram Khanna, quizzed her parents about how their daughter may have ended up with a hairball so large.

They admitted that their daughter had, for years, often played with her hair and pulled them out before putting them in her mouth.

However, they claimed she had no history of any mental illness. The girl received a psychiatric evaluation and was discharged after week.
Hawaii has become the seventh state to legalize medically assisted suicide, a topic that has been deeply divisive in the medical community.

The practice that has come to be known as 'dying with dignity' involves prescribing life-ending medication to terminally ill patients.

Supporters say it's a compassionate choice to prevent suffering and critics say it's immoral and goes against the Hippocratic Oath which states: 'I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.'

Physician-assisted suicide is becoming increasingly common around the world and several other states including Massachusetts and Alaska have been considering its legalization.

Hawaii governor David Ige is pictured signing a law that legalizes medically assisted suicide, a practice that involves prescribing life-ending medication to terminally ill patients

Medically assisted suicide is also legal in California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Montana, Washington state and the District of Columbia.

Critics of the practice say could lead to hasty decisions, misdiagnoses and decreasing support for palliative care, in which dying people can be sedated to relieve suffering.

Hawaii's new law was debated for several hours in the state Senate in late March.

In a hearing Democratic Senator Breene Harimoto said that allowing for the option of medically assisted suicide could create 'an environment of hopelessness' that would allow a doctor to help cause death.

The Hawaii Family Forum submitted a written testimony that the legislation may create subtle pressure on the elderly to end their lives early so they are not a burden to their families.

Senator Russell Ruderman countered those arguments saying the bill is about freedom.

'If you don't believe in it, don't do it. But there is no reason to deny to others the freedom to live and die as we choose,' he said.

The chamber's only doctor, Senator Josh Green, who works in an emergency room, voted for the bill but said he wished lawmakers would take more time to debate it.

When Governor David Ige signed the bill on Thursday he said: 'It is time for terminally ill, mentally competent Hawaii residents who are suffering to make their own end-of-life choices with dignity, grace and peace.'

'We know that we have gotten to a point in our community that it does make sense to give the patient a choice to request the medication, obtain it and take it, or ultimately change their mind.'

In order to be eligible for the option under Hawaii's new law, patients must be 18 or older and have fewer than six months to live.

To safeguard from potential abuse the law requires that two medical providers confirm the diagnosis and prognosis.

A counselor must also confirm that the patient isn't suffering from any conditions that may interfere with their ability to make decisions.

The patient has to make two oral requests for the life-ending medication with a 20-day waiting period in between.

They're then required to sign a written request witnessed by two people, one of whom cannot be a relative.

There will be criminal penalties for anyone who tampers with a request or coerces a prescription for life-ending medication.

'The safeguards Hawaii state legislators have enacted into this law will ensure that patients are in control of this process and make their own decisions at every step of the way  as is their right,' said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Thousands of GPs have been urged to stop dishing out antibiotics amid growing fears over the dangers of superbugs.

The Chief Medical Officer penned personal letters to approximately 8,800 doctors to warn they are over-prescribing the crucial drugs.

Antibiotic resistance is considered one of the biggest threats to humanity and has been cited as severe as terrorism and global warming.

Desperate health chiefs have taken the matters into their own hands over concerns once harmless bugs could mutate and become killers.

Professor Dame Sally Davies sends the letters out to certain GPs each year - but this is the largest batch that has even been posted across the country.

Professor Dame Sally Davies sends the letters out to certain GPs each year - but this is the largest batch that has even been posted across the country

The Chief Medical Officer penned letters to approximately 8,800 doctors to warn they are over-prescribing the crucial drugs

Angry doctors today warned that they are being held to a 'completely unrealistic expectation' because of the NHS drive to reduce sepsis rates.

More than 6,000 GPs received the letter because their practice had some of the highest rates of antibiotic prescriptions.

Dame Sally has sent out the letter to the 20 per cent of practices with the worst prescription rates annually.

The move, first tested in 2014, helped slash prescribing rates by around 3.3 per cent in GP practices targeted, Pulse reports.

Health chiefs then rolled out the programme as part of a national drive to help cut rates after the trial proved successful.

However, nearly 2,400 additional GPs have received the letter this year in order to cut down prescription rates even further.

They were sent them because their surgery has seen antibiotic prescription rates soar by at least four per cent in a year.

WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE? Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fueling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs. The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously warned if nothing is done the world is heading for a 'post-antibiotic' era. It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate solutions to the growing crisis. Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics or if they are given out unnecessarily. Former chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies claimed in 2016 that the threat of antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism. Figures estimate that superbugs will kill 10 million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs. Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world. Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the 'dark ages' if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years. In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, there have only been one or two new antibiotics developed in the last 30 years. In September, the WHO warned antibiotics are 'running out' as a report found a 'serious lack' of new drugs in the development pipeline. Without antibiotics, C-sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements will become incredibly 'risky', it was said at the time. Advertisement

Dr Zishan Syed, of the Local Medical Committee for West Kent, told Pulse of his anger towards the move.

He said: 'Frequently experts who have little experience of frontline pressures of general practice blame GPs for "high rates" of antibiotics.'

Dr Syed added that the same experts 'conveniently ignore the drive to prescribe to reduce sepsis rates'.

Government officials began a drive to combat sepsis, which kills roughly 44,000 people each year in the UK, three years ago.

But GPs have repeatedly voiced concerns that sepsis is notoriously difficult to spot until it has spread throughout the body.

As a result, many doctors have dished out antibiotics to patients they suspect are battling the violent immune response to an infection.

A Public Health England spokesperson said: 'We hope the letters will respectfully support GPs to improve their antibiotic stewardship.'

They added that antimicrobial resistance - the mutations of bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms - is an issue of serious concern.

Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fueling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs.

The World Health Organization previously stated that if nothing is done to combat the problem then the world was headed for a 'post-antibiotic' era.

It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate answers to the growing crisis.

Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics, or they are given out unnecessarily.

England's chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies claimed in 2016 that the threat of antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism.

Figures estimate that superbugs will kill ten million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs.

Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world.
The cost of treating opioid addiction and overdoses has increased eight-fold since 2004 to an eye-watering $2.6 billion in 2016, a new report reveals.

More than half of that cost was spent covering employees' children.

And yet, the analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found, prescription use of addictive painkillers among people with employers-based health coverage declined to its lowest levels in 10 years.

The finding comes just days after a CDC study revealed there was been a nearly 30 percent uptick in overdoses between 2015 and 2016.

A new report revealed that employers spent $2.6 billion on opioid addiction and overdoses even though the prescription use of the drug among people with health coverage has significantly declined

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids killed more than 42,000 people in 2016, more than any year on record.

About 40 percent of those deaths involved a prescription opioid such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.

The report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the $2.6 billion spending cost companies and workers about $26 per enrollee in 2016.

Employers have been limiting insurance coverage of opioids because of concerns about addiction.

The report found that spending on opioid prescriptions falling 27 percent from a peak in 2009 - when 17.3 percent of large employer plan enrollees had at least one opioid prescription during that year.

However, by 2016, that number dropped to 13.6 percent.

These drugs relieve pain by attaching to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found on nerve cells in the brain, spinal cord, gastrointestinal tract, and other organs in the body.

When they attach to these receptors, they reduce the perception of pain.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Opioid drugs killed more than 42,000 people in 2016

HOW AMERICA GOT HOOKED ON OPIOID DRUGS Prescription opioids and illicit drugs have become incredibly pervasive throughout the US, and things are only getting worse. In the early 2000s, the FDA and CDC started to notice a steady increase in cases of opioid addiction and overdose. In 2013, they issued guidelines to curb addiction. However, that same year - now regarded as the year the epidemic took hold - a CDC report revealed an unprecedented surge in rates of opioid addiction. Overdose deaths are now the leading cause of death among young Americans - killing more in a year than were ever killed annually by HIV, gun violence or car crashes. Preliminary CDC data published by the New York Times shows US drug overdose deaths surged 19 percent to at least 59,000 in 2016. That is up from 52,404 in 2015, and double the death rate a decade ago. It means that for the first time drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old. The data lays bare the bleak state of America's opioid addiction crisis fueled by deadly manufactured drugs like fentanyl. Advertisement

These drugs also effect the brain regions involved in reward, so it can also produce a sense of pleasure by triggering the same processes that make people feel good when they are having fun or sex.

Experts say many people's first contact with opioids is through some form of social contact: either a friend who was sent home with Oxycontin after a surgical procedure or a relative who received an opioid prescription for chronic pain.

'Opioids are not infectious in terms of [being] an agent,' Columbia University epidemiologist Dr Guohua Li previously told Daily Mail Online.

'Opioids, are not a bacteria virus, but the drug, in this case, spreads through social networks...even in some ways a virus, like HIV, is spread to a great degree through social networks,' he added.

Due to the link between hospitals and the opioid crisis, doctors have been coming up with innovative ways to curb the epidemic.

However, hospitals have been doing their part in trying to curb the opioid epidemic.

For instance, the ER department at St. Joseph University Medical Center in New Jersey managed to halve the rate of opioid prescriptions by using dry needles and laughing gas to treat chronic pain.

In 2016, the department launched an Alternative to Opiates program that uses trigger point injections and a local anesthetics in lieu of opioids to relieve pain.

Other alternative pain relieving methods they used was warm compressors and music - they have a harpist roam the halls playing tunes to soothe the patients.

Dr Mark Rosenberg, chair of emergency medicine, said he and his colleagues founded the program after they realized chronic pain was one of the reasons most patients came to their emergency department.

'We wanted to develop an aggressive acute pain management program that focused on evidence based principles but avoided opioids,' Dr Rosenberg said.

St. Joseph University Medical Center isn't the only hospital to implement this program, Kaiser Permanente has implemented an Integrated Pain Service, an eight-week course designed to educate high-risk opioid patients about pain management.

Experts believe the beginning of the end of the epidemic may be near due to tightened regulations on opioid prescription monitoring, local-level efforts to make naloxone, an anti-overdose drug, and drug-assisted rehabilitation more accessible to high-risk populations.

The efforts in addition to federal intervention could help curb the crisis.
The drug manufacturer accused of fueling the opioid epidemic will soon be given the green light to market synthetic marijuana for medical use.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency is close to approving a synthetic formula for THC, the main psychoactive component in marijuana, made by Insys Therapeutics.

The company has said launching the new drug Syndros will be a 'pivotal milestone' to turn around Insys's reputation following several lawsuits alleging its top execs have been pushing prescriptions for fentanyl, an opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin.

The new drug could potentially replace highly addictive and dangerous drugs like fentanyl that are fueling the opioid epidemic that kills thousands of Americans each year.

Pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics will soon be approved to market a synthetic marijuana product called Syndros for medical use

Medical-grade synthetic marijuana is not to be confused with street versions known as 'K2' or 'spice' that are an unpredictable mix of chemicals recently found to cause severe bleeding from the eyes and ears in Illinois.

Medical synthetics are scientifically and specifically calibrated to mimic cannabinoids, the active compounds in marijuana that create the 'high'.

They are similar to chemicals the body makes that are involved in appetite, memory, movement, and pain.

The two main cannabinoids are THC and CBD.

Syndros is a synthetic formula for THC. The main component of the drug, dronabinol, was first government-approved in pill-capsule form in 1985. It is sold under the name Marinol.

Once it receives final DEA approval, Insys will be able to start selling oral spray intended to treat nausea, vomiting and weight loss in AIDS and cancer patients by mimicking THC.

In November the DEA announced that Syndros will be classified as a Schedule II controlled substance, meaning it can be legally prescribed by doctors.

Schedule II drugs including cocaine, fentanyl and morphine are considered to have a 'high potential for abuse'.

Natural marijuana is currently listed in the more restrictive Schedule I category, which is reserved for drugs that have 'no currently accepted medical use'.

The Schedule II classification indicates that the DEA considers the synthetic marijuana to be safer and more valuable that regular marijuana.

Last fall Insys founder John Kapoor and several other top executives at the company were accused of offering bribes to doctors to write large numbers of prescriptions for the fentanyl-based spray called Subsys.

Subsys was only approved by the FDA for used by cancer patients with severe nerve pain, but an investigation found that most of the people who received prescriptions did not have cancer.

Although originally intended as a painkiller with medicinal uses, the substance has increasingly been used an illicit recreational drug and is often made illegally.

More than 20,000 deaths occurred in the United States in 2016 from fentanyl overdoses alone.
Advertising guru Sir Martin Sorrell was on the brink of stepping aside over shock misconduct claims against him, friends of the executive revealed last night.

The 73-year-old boss of WPP, the worlds biggest ad agency, considered taking a break during an investigation into allegations he misused company funds.

The claims have sparked an inquiry by top lawyers and left Sorrells future at the company hanging in the balance.

They have also triggered fresh speculation over who could succeed him at the helm of the sprawling empire he has built over 33 years. But rather than standing aside, Sorrell resolved to fight the allegations, which he rejects unreservedly.

WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell considered taking a break from the company during an investigation into allegations he misused company funds, friends say

He cut short a holiday with his second wife Christina, who is almost 30 years his junior, to be back at WPPs headquarters in London.

Friends of the multi-millionaire said he felt a duty to the firm he built  particularly to its 200,000-strong workforce and shareholders.

And they denied he had misused any company money, insisting he had always been scrupulous with expenses claims.

Sorrell was paid 70million in 2015 and 48million in 2016, including tens of thousands of pounds for a car, private healthcare and for accommodation while travelling.

WPPs board has revealed no details about the personal misconduct claims against Sorrell, which insiders say involve only small amounts of cash.

But legal big guns have been brought in to manage the situation, including magic circle firms Allen & Overy and Slaughter and May.

Washington-based WilmerHale has been put in charge of the investigation into the claims against Sorrell, a WPP spokesman confirmed.

Former lawyers at WilmerHale have gone on to work for US presidents, including Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton as they battled various crises.

One senior figure at WPP said: Its serious  for it to have come this far and the board not to have resolved it.

There are growing doubts Sorrell, one of the worlds best-paid executives, can survive the controversy in his current position.

And although WPP insiders rejected suggestions there was a boardroom split over his future, the affair is seen to have weakened Sorrells iron grip on power.

City analysts have ramped up speculation about his succession, something WPP is said to have extensively prepared for.

The announcement draws attention, once again, to the issues that can arise when an individual has too much power, said Guy Jubb, Standard Life Investments former global head of governance and stewardship.

Ketan Patel, a fund manager at WPP shareholder EdenTree Investment Management, said: We would like to see a clear step of succession planning.

In Sorrells case, he hasnt even identified or brought in the people or a layer of management where you feel, if he did leave, theyd be ready to take over.

But the chief executive has received backing for now from the firms biggest shareholder, Harris Associates. Unless we hear Sir Martin has committed material offences, we believe he is the correct person to lead WPP, Harris partner David Herro said.

Yesterday sources said the probe into allegations against Sorrell was expected to report back within weeks, although there is no fixed timetable. The stakes are high for the chief executive, who is on a zero hours contract which means he can be sacked without notice.

Shares in WPP fell 2 per cent on Wednesday after news broke of the claims. However yesterday the stock recovered and was up nearly 4 per cent, or 43.5p, to 1138.5p.
Shopping centre owner Hammerson sought to distance itself from the woes facing the High Street as it stepped up its defence against a 4.9billion takeover by French rivals.

The landlord, whose 10.6billion estate includes the Bullring in Birmingham, Brent Cross in London and Cabot Circus in Bristol, said not all retail is equal.

Boss David Atkins argued that while the number of people who went shopping in the UK over Easter fell by 2.4 per cent  reflecting the tough times facing High Street businesses  visitor numbers to Hammerson sites rose 5 per cent.

The futuristic Selfridges store in Birmingham's Bullring centre. Owner Hammerson, is trying to buy British rival Intu but has itself become a takeover target by French giant Klepierre

Hammerson, which is trying to buy British rival Intu but has itself become a takeover target by French giant Klepierre, added that it signed 7million of new leases in the first quarter of the year, up 59 per cent on the same period of 2017.

Whilst we recognise the difficult trading environment and challenges felt by many retailers and restaurants in the UK, there continues to be good demand for space across our centres, Atkins said.

He also said the companys assets were now worth an estimated 790p a share  way above the Klepierre offer price of 615p a share.

The update, the first such quarterly report Hammerson has issued in years, came just two weeks after it rebuffed interest from Klepierre, which runs more than 100 shopping centres across Europe.

The approach by the French threatens to derail Hammersons planned 3.4billion takeover of Intu, whose estate includes the Metro Centre in Gateshead and Trafford Centre in Greater Manchester.

Hammerson has now delayed the publication of documents relating to the Intu deal while Klepierres position remains unclear.

Analysts at Exane BNP Paribas said: By producing a first quarter valuation, Hammerson is clearly trying to force Klepierre into improving on its initial approach.

But Atkinss bullish assessment of Hammersons fortunes was undermined by an admission that sales in stores across its UK estate fell 2 per cent in the first quarter.

The company said this was better than seen in the wider market and as severe weather and subdued consumer confidence hit sales across the country.

It added that sales at its Bicester Village site in Oxfordshire grew by more than 10 per cent.

Many shopping centres and high streets are struggling in the face of fierce competition from internet retailers such as Amazon as well as rising costs.

Toys R Us and Maplin crashed into administration this year, New Look is preparing to shut 60 stores leaving 980 staff unemployed, and the future of Mothercare and Moss Bros hang in the balance.
A US private equity firm is snapping up Australia's largest wine maker for 500million as it looks to cash in on China's burgeoning taste for wine.

The Carlyle Group said it will buy Accolade Wines after exports of wine to China rose 63 per cent last year to 465million, putting it second only to France.

Accolade owns Banrock Station, Echo Falls, Kumala and Hardys, the latter of which is the best-selling Australian wine in the UK.

US private equity firm the Carlyle Group said it will buy Accolade Wines after exports of wine to China rose 63 per cent last year to 465m, putting it second only to France

The group sells over 35m cases to 140 countries a year including the US, Japan, New Zealand and China.

Chinese drinkers have been knocking back more Australian wine after a trade agreement in 2015 saw import tariffs slashed from as much as 20 per cent to about 3 per cent.

The purchase is seen as a major opportunity for Carlyle after China introduced retaliatory 15 per cent tariffs on wine exports from the US as part of a tit-for-tat trade spat with President Trump.

According to Accolade's current owner, Champ Private Equity, the wine maker is expected to grow China exports by around 80 per cent this year.
Armenia has all the qualities to be an attractive destination for tourists from the Gulf region or elsewhere, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview for a special edition of Gulf News newspaper and Global FDI Reports about Armenia.

April 6, 2018, 14:52 Any investment in Armenia is safe and protected  President Sargsyan on countrys attractiveness

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 6, ARTSAKHPRESS:He highlighted that Armenia eliminated visa requirement for UAE nationals, and the language issue is easily addressed and resolved. The country has a rich historical and cultural heritage and fascinating nature, as well as mild weather all year round. We have already established the necessary infrastructure and there are numerous ways for tourists to enjoy themselves  everything is available. Both Yerevan and Armenia in general are extremely safe, the President said.

Addressing potential investors, the Armenian President said as a small country, Armenia has the advantage on working individually with every single large investor who arrives in the country. We furnish investors with privileges and tax breaks when their new enterprises produce goods that have not been produced here before. Any investment in Armenia is safe and protected, President Sargsyan noted.
Publicly quoted companies ignore whistleblowers at their peril. The board of advertising champion WPP had little choice but to probe allegations brought against the firms chief executive of 32 years Sir Martin Sorrell.

What is harder to understand is why directors should have thought it necessary to employ three legal firms to conduct the inquiry.

The choice of America big hitters WilmerHale is curious given its reputation rests on Washingtons convoluted politics.

WPPs usual legal advisers Allen & Overy could have managed on their own. The idea that Slaughter & May is needed as well is nothing short of ludicrous.

The board of advertising champion WPP had little choice but to probe allegations bought against the companys chief executive of 32 years Sir Martin Sorrell

The City habit of bulking up on advisers and lumbering investors with enormous bills is abhorrent.

This is especially true if the only purpose is to grant witnesses some form of qualified privilege, which makes it harder for regulators to do their work should they be called in at a later date.

Whistleblowers have a variety of reasons for intervening. But the leak to the Wall Street Journal suggests at WPP they were out to cause maximum disruption at a sensitive moment.

The share price has been under pressure in recent months and the market value has almost halved to 14.2billion.

Fast-changing technology in advertising, together with the changing model in which groups such as Unilever are going directly to the consumer online, is a threat.

WPP also has suffered from succession jitters with investors worrying about the post-Sorrell period. If someone wanted to create mischief there was no better time.

Be that as it may, chairman Roberto Quarta and senior non-executive Nicole Seligman, had no choice but to step in with an inquiry given the recent past.

An accounting whistleblower at Tesco in 2014 was at first ignored, but eventually led to the uncovering of a black hole in the retailers finances.

At Barclays, a whistleblower cast aspersions on the character of a senior manager brought into the bank by chief executive Jes Staley. When the Barclays chief sought to identify the whistleblower, he found himself under investigation.

There is no suggestion that anything as serious as this has occurred at WPP. Sorrell may have come under criticism over his pay, but friends say he has been scrupulous in accounting for personal expenses.

In the current climate any powerful executive alleged to have behaved in an inappropriate fashion towards colleagues must also expect their behaviour to be scrutinised.

Sorrell considered stepping aside during the inquiries, but felt his responsibility to WPPs 200,000 workers was to carry on. What is clear is that plans for his succession at WPP will now have to be sped up.

The founder is the glue which holds WPP together. But the great communicator needs to recognise that the time for change is upon him.

Nex steps

Theresa May has been vocal about Fintech, arguing that Britain is at the core of the revolution changing the delivery of financial services.

Yet each time the UK builds a substantial presence, the maturing company is sold off. Earlier this year global payments group Worldpay was swallowed by American rival Vantiv. More recently, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange has swooped in and is offering 3.9billion to buy up electronic broker Nex.

It has sought to pacify any opposition by promising the European headquarters would be in London.

That may be very satisfying in the context of Brexit, but decisions about its future will still be taken in Chicago. So far ,no binding promises on jobs, software development or anything else have been extracted by the Government.

As noted here before Nex would have been an ideal buy for the London Stock Exchange. And Nex founder Michael Spencer an entrepreneurial replacement for beleaguered LSE chairman Donald Brydon.

Saving Intu

There is the first sign of weakening in Hammersons determination to press ahead with its sweetheart deal with Trafford Centre owner Intu.

Hammerson says it is waiting to see the colour of French intruder Klepierres cash before publishing its offer.

If Hammerson is serious about being the UKs retail champion it should end the pretence of a merger of near equals and find a way of making the Intu deal more attractive to its shareholders and thwarting the overseas predator.

Highly paid Hammerson advisers Deutsche, JP Morgan Cazenove and Lazard need to find a way of tying the Intu knot and quick.
Arrest: HSBC whistleblower Herve Falciani was this week detained by police in Madrid

A whistleblower who revealed a massive tax avoidance scandal at HSBC has been arrested in Spain.

Herve Falciani was this week detained by police in Madrid while on his way to a whistleblowing conference and is facing extradition to Switzerland to serve a prison sentence.

A judge has ordered him to hand over his passport and stay in Spain until a decision has been made, but rejected a Swiss request to keep him in custody.

Falciani is French and lives in France, which rarely extradites its own citizens.

The 46-year-old was an IT worker at HSBCs Swiss bank who fled to France in 2009 with the records of 120,000 mega-rich customers.

It revealed a toxic list of clients including arms dealers and blood diamond traffickers as well as politicians and celebrities  sparking a worldwide criminal probe which is still continuing.

HSBC paid 262million to the French last year to end a tax investigation into the affair.

While abroad in Spain  where he had fled in fear of assassination  Falciani was found guilty of corporate espionage and sentenced to five years in jail.

The Spanish authorities rejected a request to extradite the whistleblower in 2013 on the basis his actions were not illegal in their country, releasing him with eight bodyguards and a bulletproof vest to stop his enemies killing him.

But his fresh arrest this week suggests there has been a rethink.

It comes as Spain seeks the extradition of two Catalan separatists who fled to Switzerland earlier this year.
A Christian school has sparked outrage by asking its female students to wear head scarves when visiting a Muslim mosque.

St Paul's Anglican Grammar School at Warragul, in eastern Victoria, sent a letter out to parents explaining in bold font that girls in Year 9 would have to wear special clothing during a visit to the Emir Sultan Mosque, at Dandenong in Melbourne.

'Girls and boys are asked to bring their school track pants and girls additionally require a head scarf so that they comply with respectful practices,' it said.

'I have no doubt this will be a valuable learning experience for your child.'

A Christian school asked its female students to wear headscarves when visiting a Muslim mosque

St Paul's Anglican Grammar School at Warragul, in eastern Victoria, told parents explaining girls would have to wear headscarves during a visit to the Emir Sultan Mosque (pictured)

However the Interfaith Network of the City of Greater Dandenong, which co-ordinates school visits to religious places of worship, said it wasn't compulsory for girls to cover their heads.

'It's not a requirement, it's put as a respectful practice,' the group's development officer Helen Heath told Daily Mail Australia.

'We do that because if we went to one another's homes, and for example the people we were visiting don't smoke and we do, we'd go outside.'

Former federal Labor leader Mark Latham said forcing girls to wear headscarves was an affront to women's rights.

However the Interfaith Network of the City of Greater Dandenong, which co-ordinates school visits to religious places of worship, said it wasn't compulsory for girls to cover their heads

'This takes away the right of women to dress as they see fit, to be in control of their own fashion sense and appearance,' he told his Facebook followers.

He added it was sexist to make women follow the Koran, which stipulates that women don't flaunt their beauty to men who aren't relatives.

'There is nothing respectful about sexism, in forcing non-Islamic women "not to display their beauty" as they might choose to,' he said.

Mr Latham also claimed 'some parents boycotted the excursion' and kept their daughters away from school on that day.

Emir Sultan Mosque president Abdul Latif, a Sunni, said visiting non-Muslim schoolgirls had been wearing head scarves for the past seven years.

'We do every year maybe a thousand of students from the Christian schools, where they come in they cover their head,' he said.

'It's out of respect because this is the religion.'

The mosque visit in March occurred on the same day as an excursion to a Hindu and a Buddhist temple.

Daily Mail Australia sought comment from the school and the Anglican Schools Commission.
The sheer scale of the cuts to police numbers is today laid bare as research reveals that forces across England and Wales have lost over 20,000 officers since 2010.

A study uncovered by Mail Online shows how cuts to police budgets have depleted officer numbers for each area.

It comes as the capital finds itself in the grip of a bloody crime wave with 55 murders in London so far this year - a higher killing rate than New York.

In England and Wales overall, the number of deployable officers across the 43 forces plummeted from 143,734 in March 2010 to 123,142 in March 2017.

Three of Britain's biggest forces lost nearly 2,000 officers each other the seven years.

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New research reveals the scale of the cuts to police forces across England and Wales - with the number of deployable officers across the 43 forces plummeted from 143,734 in 2010 to 123,142 in 2017

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has vowed to use al Capone tactics to crack down on the violent crime wave gripping the capital

Amber Rudd (pictured in Salisbury last month) is facing a flood of calls to increase the funding going to police forces to help them cope with the rising tide of violence

The West Midlands shed a massive 1,870 officers, while Greater Manchester Police Force lost 1,830 officers - going from 8,148 to 6,318 officers.

The Metropolitan Police, the country's largest force which takes the lead on counter terrorism as well as policing the capital, lost 1,850 officers over the same period.

What areas which have lost the highest proportion of their police since 2010? Cleveland: Lost 25.5% (441 officers) Staffordshire: Lost 24.7% (535 officers Durham: Lost 24% (363 officers) Nottinghamshire: Lost 23.7% (572 officers) Hampshire: Lost 22.7% (852 officers) Greater Manchester: Lost 22.4% (1,830 officers) Leicestershire: Lost 22.2% (515 officers) Lancashire: Lost 21.8% (799 officers) Merseyside: Lost 21.6% (978 officers) West Midlands: Lost 21.6% (1,870 officers) Advertisement

The figures, contained in a House of Commons briefing paper slipped out just before Easter, shines a light on the toll austerity has taken on police numbers.

And figures for September 2017 - the latest snapshot available - shows that the trend of falling numbers is continuing, down again to 121,929 in England and Wales.

Diane Abbott MP, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, said the numbers show the Government is failing in its most important duty - to protect its citizens.

She said: 'It is clear that the Tories are the party of crime and disorder.

'Every police force has seen its funding and workforce slashed by this Conservative Government, yet they still claim to be protecting the police.

'The most important duty of any Government is to protect its citizens, but the Tory record on policing and on crime is one of failure.

'Labour in office will recruit ten thousand police officers. We will prioritise the fight against crime.'

The research also shows that England and Wales is lagging near the bottom of an international poll ranking the police strength of 33 countries.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan broke cover yesterday to speak out about the violence - but admitted he has not spoken to any of the bereaved families (file pic)

Measuring how many police officers there are per 100,000 members of the public, England and Wales came sixth last at number 28.

The countries are behind Romania., Estonia, Lithuania and Bulgaria, the research found.

And it is lagging behind the rest of the UK, with Northern Ireland ranked 11th and Scotland coming in at number 17.

Police Federation of England and Wales Vice Chair Che Donald said: 'These figures show the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen again and is now at its lowest level since the current recording standards were introduced.

STUDENT WAS 55TH VICTIM OF LONDON'S 2018 MURDER SPREE Israel Ogunsola was found fatally wounded by officers in Hackney at 8pm yesterday 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. He became the 55th victim of London's 2018 murder spree. 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. 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. Advertisement

'In March last year there were 123,142 police officers, by September this had fallen further to 121,929 - which equates to a total reduction of almost 22,000 officers since March 2010.'

He said the further reduction comes at a time when crime is rising with a huge upswing in the most serious offences.

He said: 'I am starting to feel like a stuck record. But believe me I will not stop saying this until something changes. We are at breaking point.

'If this continued squeezing of the police service goes on we will not be able to guarantee the safety of the people we have sworn to protect and serve  and that to any officer is unimaginable.

'I urge the Government to take stock  all the warning signs are there  increased crime, fewer officers and a police service in a perilous state. It is time to stop the cuts and reinvest in policing before the damage becomes irreparable.'

The figures comes as London has seen a spate of murders and knife stabbings.

Met Police chief Cressida Dick yesterday vowed to use the use 'Al Capone' tactics to tackle the rise in knife and gun related murders.

She said a new task force of 120 officers would target the most violent gang member to remove them from London streets 'for any crime'.

And police forces are upping the number of officers they are sending out on patrol to try to reassures locals in London.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan broke cover yesterday to speak out about the violence - but admitted he has not spoken to any of the bereaved families.

Mr Khan said: 'We've got bereaved families, we've got two teenagers who have lost their lives just in the last week.

'As a father of two teenagers, it's personal to many of us who understand these problems - I've got full confidence in the Met Police service but I'm not going to apologise for making the point of the context of the cuts over the last few years.

'One of the jobs of the Mayor is to be the champion and advocate of our city and that means standing up for our city when we are facing massive cuts.'

Police have lost control of the streets, former senior officer says Victor Olisa, the Met's former head of diversity and head of policing in Tottenham, said the silence from senior officers was 'deafening' A former senior officer has issued a stark warning that police are 'losing control of the streets' amid the rising death toll in London. Victor Olisa, the Met's former head of diversity and head of policing in Tottenham, said the silence from senior officers was 'deafening'. Mr Olisa said communities no longer saw police and claimed officers had 'lost control of the streets'. He said: 'Communities are saying we don't see the police around any more. 'It appears to people I have spoken to as though the police have lost control of public spaces and the streets. 'The silence from senior officers in the Met is deafening.' Advertisement

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 Home Office is unveiling a new strategy next week on dealing with violent crime.

It is expected to contain measures which will force social media companies like YouTube to do more to take down videos and photographs glorifying gang violence.

But a former senior officer has issued a stark warning that police are 'losing control of the streets' amid the rising death toll in London.

Victor Olisa, the Met's former head of diversity and head of policing in Tottenham, said the silence from senior officers was 'deafening'.

Mr Olisa said communities no longer saw police and claimed officers had 'lost control of the streets'.

He said: 'Communities are saying we don't see the police around any more.

'It appears to people I have spoken to as though the police have lost control of public spaces and the streets.

'The silence from senior officers in the Met is deafening.

Police are using stop and search powers less than a year ago despite crime wave The use of stop-and-search by police has fallen under the new Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, figures show. The Met Police Commissioner has vowed to use Al Capone tactics to get tough with criminals as London finds itself in the grip of a murder wave. But despite the tough talk, numbers show the Met carried out 19,931 stop-and-searches in January and February this year, a drop of some six per cent compared to last year. There were 65,894 stop-and-searches in the second half of last year, compared with 69,895 during the same period in 2016, according to figures obtained by The Times. The Met Police chief yesterday said a new task force of 120 officers would target the most violent gang member to remove them from London streets 'for any crime'. Ms Dick said the Violent Crime Task Force would target the most violent individuals in crime 'hotspots'. Advertisement

'They should say we need more information from the public, this is what we are doing, this is what the results are.'

Meanwhile, figures show that the use of stop-and-search by police has fallen under the new Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick.

The Metropolitan Police carried out 19,931 stop-and-searches in January and February this year, a drop of some six per cent compared to last year.

This comes despite the Scotland Yard chief pledging to use 'Al Capone' tactics to tackle the rise in knife and gun related murders.

There were 65,894 stop-and-searches in the second half of last year, compared with 69,895 during the same period in 2016, according to figures obtained by The Times.

The Met Police chief yesterday said a new task force of 120 officers would target the most violent gang member to remove them from London streets 'for any crime'.

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.

She said they would be 'even more pro-active', as well as police flooding hotspots to disrupt potential gang violence before it begins.

Plus, officers would use intelligence-led stop-and-search and the use of specialist covert tactics.

Full breakdown: How many police officers has your force lost since 2010? 2010: Avon & Somerset: 3,302 Bedfordshire: 1,246 Cambridgeshire: 1,471 Cheshire: 2,155 Cleveland: 1,724 Cumbria: 1,238 Derbyshire: 2,074 Devon & Cornwall: 3,556 Dorset: 1,486 Durham: 1,507 Essex: 3,606 Gloucestershire: 1,309 Greater Manchester: 8,148 Hampshire: 3,748 Hertfordshire: 2,130 Humberside: 2,058 Kent: 3,787 Lancashire: 3,649 Leicestershire: 2,317 Lincolnshire: 1,206 City of London: 852 Merseyside: 4,516 Metropolitan Police: 33,367 Norfolk: 1,662 Northamptonshire: 1,343 Northumbria: 4,187 North Yorkshire: 1,486 Nottinghamshire: 2,409 South Yorkshire: 2953 Staffordshire: 2,161 Suffolk: 1,246 Surrey: 1,890 Sussex: 3,213 Thames Valley: 4,434 Warwickshire: 973 West Mercia: 2,391 West Midlands: 8,626 West Yorkshire: 5758 Wiltshire: 1,181 Dyfed Powys: 1,195 Gwent: 1,437 Notrth Wales: 1,590 South Wales: 3,148 2017: Avon & Somerset: 2,667 Bedfordshire: 1,119 Cambridgeshire: 1,346 Cheshire: 2,008 Cleveland: 1,283 Cumbria: 1,112 Derbyshire: 1,710 Devon & Cornwall: 2,914 Dorset: 1,266 Durham: 1,144 Essex: 2,819 Gloucestershire: 1,089 Greater Manchester: 6318 Hampshire: 2,896 Hertfordshire: 1,952 Humberside: 1,641 Kent: 3,259 Lancashire: 2,850 Leicestershire: 1,802 Lincolnshire: 1,087 City of London: 684 Merseyside: 3,538 Metropolitan Police: 31,517 Norfolk: 1,515 Northamptonshire: 1,378 Northumbria: 3,283 North Yorkshire: 3,289 Nottinghamshire: 1,837 South Yorkshire: 2,483 Staffordshire: 1,626 Suffolk: 1,102 Surrey: 1,986 Sussex: 2,587 Thames Valley: 4,096 Warwickshire: 835 West Mercia: 2,055 West Midlands: 6,756 West Yorkshire: 4,720 Wiltshire: 983 Dyfed Powys: 1,160 Gwent: 1,178 North Wales: 1,441 South Wales: 2,908 Advertisement
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Though it is almost impossible to pick even a few favorites out of the more than half a million photographic slides owned by The Anonymous Project, founder Lee Shulman can think of a couple off the top of his head. One is a picture of a couple on roller skates in 1984, likely in California. The woman, in an all-red aerobics outfit  crop top and all  even has red wrist guards. The man with her is wearing blue and white knee socks with short shorts and a pink headband. All in all, a pretty goofy picture.

'I don't know why,' Shulman tells DailyMail.com. 'It's not the prettiest picture and they're not the most beautiful people in the world, but they look like they're having the best time in the world. And it's their Sunday and it's total freedom and it's great. I love that photo. And I think that's one of the photos I loved the most.'

The Paris-based nonprofit, which was started just more than a year ago, is working on collecting and preserving photographic slides  which are positive images on a transparent base, meant to be shown using a slide projector  and the 'collective memory' that goes along with them. The Anonymous Project is run by Shulman and his friend Emmanuelle Halkin and has curated a collection out of the more than 500,000 images they have bought or received in the past year. The images in the collection  which today includes an estimated seven or 8,000, according to Shulman  are chosen for the narratives they tell, not their beauty or professionalism.

Named, according to the website, 'because the names of the people in the images as well as the names of those who provide them or those who took the pictures will never be known or shared', The Anonymous Project is also working on collaborative projects including a book and a documentary.

'We actually do have an important mission,' Shulman says. 'And it's a really important mission. And I think apart from all the fun moments of life, I saw that this was also something about the preservation of these images, which is very important to me, because color photography and technology used at the time was extraordinary. I mean, it was so ahead. We realized that over time the color disappears. They haven't been preserved well and a lot of the slides we see, sometimes we get slides and the image has almost disappeared. I mean, it's almost not there. And it's very sad, obviously. You feel like some people are just disappeared into the ether.'

The Anonymous Project, a Paris-based nonprofit, collects and preserves vintage photographic slides. The organization was founded by British-born filmmaker Lee Shulman last January after he bought a set of vintage slides on eBay on a whim. Pictured is one of Shulman's favorites, a pair of roller skaters in the US in 1984

As he collected more slides for fun, Shulman realized it was important to preserve the images, which deteriorate and fade away over time, so he brought in his photo publisher friend Emmanuelle Halkin and they decided to create The Anonymous Project. Two women are pictured in a hair salon in the US in 1969

Shulman says: 'The reason we called it [anonymous] is 'cause we didn't really want people to focus on that,' he says. 'I think we like the idea [that] it wasn't about who the person was, but it's more about what they represented.' Three bodybuilders on Venice Beach, California are pictured in 1975

The project all started in January 2017 when Shulman was browsing on eBay. He saw a set of vintage slides up for sale and on a whim decided to buy them for about $11 (10 Euros). The 44-year-old filmmaker from London says he's always loved looking at and projecting slides, even when he was a child, so it wasn't a completely out-of-the-blue purchase.

When the box arrived with the collection of images  from the mid-1950s, he remembers  he picked up the first slide and practically fell in love right away.

'It was amazing,' he says. 'The quality and the colors were amazing Every time I started looking at them, I saw these little moments of life and I just kind of fell in love.

'I started buying a couple of lots just out of interest and then I realized as I was looking at the images that there were a lot of similar images from different parts of the world. I was finding and somehow realized everyone has shared experiences and I sort of had this idea about creating this collection, which would be a collection of shared feelings and emotions... There was no defined idea at the beginning, to be honest. It kind of organically grew.'

He eventually called in his photo publisher friend Halkin and their collection grew. They bought more slides online and at flea markets and received donations from friends and other people from around the world who heard about their project through the press coverage they got. Shulman's initial interest had quickly 'snowballed' into The Anonymous Project.

'When I started looking, it really came from just this passion, this personal passion I had for slides and really just that format and that medium, which was so advanced of its time.'

Even with more than half a million slides in their possession, donations are still coming in every day. When Shulman speaks with DailyMail.com over the phone, he says 'two huge lots' have arrived that day.

'We need to get a bigger office,' he laughs.

Today, the project has more than 500,000 slides in their possession, but only about seven to 8,000 images in their curated collection. Pictured is a woman laughing in the US in the early 1960s

Shulman and Halkin go through several rounds of selections before choosing the images to be edited, numbered, scanned and added to the collection. Within the collection online there are 'themes' including Home Sweet Home, When We Were Young, Sweet Dreams and By the Seaside. A couple in the US are pictured in the early 1950s

One of the things that helps the selection process is taking out empty landscape pictures. Shulman says those make up somewhere between 60 to 70per cent of the slides that are sent to the project. They still keep and store those images, they just don't make it into the collection. A boy from the US is pictured buried in the sand in the mid-1960s

Though they keep and store every slide they have received, Shulman and Halkin follow a system to whittle down the images from the 500,000 to their curated collection. One of the first steps is taking out the empty landscapes, which Shulman says makes up somewhere between 60 to 70per cent of the slides they receive.

'That actually makes it easier for us,' he says. 'We're really looking for human content. Or even if not, something that has some narrative sense to it We don't look for the most beautiful photos, that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for images that tell a story. So it's not always the prettiest image, but it's an image that says something.'

He adds: 'It's not like these are the good ones and these are the bad ones, that's not how we feel about it. We feel that they all have worth.'

Shulman and Halkin go through several rounds of selections before choosing the images to be edited, numbered, scanned and added to the collection, which itself has categories or 'themes' including Home Sweet Home, When We Were Young, Sweet Dreams, By the Seaside and Cake  under which all the images are related to the dessert.

Regardless of whether the images make it into the collection or not, Shulman says they have organized all the slides in such a way that they know exactly where every single image comes from and when it was taken.

After about 14 months, The Anonymous Project's collection is mostly made up of American images  Shulman estimates about 60 to 70 per cent  likely because the technology was American. There are plenty of images from other countries including a good selection from Japan and the UK, though Shulman says they are trying to gather even more images from around the world.

Most of the slides that The Anonymous Project has are from the US, which Shulman says is because the technology was American, though they also have a good selection of images from other countries such as Japan and the UK. They are hoping to get even more from around the world as they expand their project. Two women are pictured laughing in the US in the early 1960s

Though his project revolves around vintage technology and slides from around the late 1930s to the late 1980s, Shulman is clear he's a huge fan of contemporary photography and technology. He says: 'I love digital technology and that's the reason I do this, it's actually the reason I can do this project is because of the digital technology that exists today.' A couple in the US are pictured in the early 1960s

The project's images date from around the late 1930s  the earliest color slides are from around '36-'37  to the late 1980s. But despite the decades between then and now, Shulman is clear he's not a Luddite or a 'retro-freak', nor is he trying to challenge the digital world with the analog world.

'I am a total geek,' Shulman declares. 'I love digital technology and that's the reason I do this, it's actually the reason I can do this project is because of the digital technology that exists today.

'What I think's amazing is that because my project's really about light  because slide images were made to be projected and were made to be seen through light  so when I look at them on a computer screen, I'm seeing them how they should be seen, because they're backlit and that's how they come out. When I look at them on my phone, I actually feel this is how this should be seen. When I see them printed up and on the wall, I feel not as attracted to them. So the actual addition of technology [has] just allowed me to do this project.'

He says he's a 'big fan' of contemporary photography and that there are plenty of wonderful things that are happening in the field today. And besides, he says, people back then weren't all that different than people are today.

'What's amazing is that people who are taking photos today and people who took photos then, it's not such a big difference We feel that what happened then [and] what happened now, they're in two different worlds, but we're not so much that different, I feel. I think we all share the same hopes and dreams and things like this.'

He adds: 'A lot of the experiences I see and a lot of these little moments of time that I see when you look at them, you see yourself in them. I think that's really something I've found is that I kind of, I really project myself into [the images].'

In January this year, when The Anonymous Project opened their physical exhibit in Paris for a couple of weeks, Shulman says it was mostly young people who attended the exhibit. Though he says it's likely many of them came because 'we're floating on a wave of retro-cool at the moment', he also thinks they came to 'see a world that they don't know'.

'The people that came to our exhibition were pretty much 80, 90 per cent young kids with skateboards under their arms and they were our main audience They have no concept of this world, so when they see it, it seems so foreign.

'What's great is, at my age, I'm on the bridge between the two,' he adds. 'I think my interest came because I'm between the two worlds. But what's I think nice is that on that bridge there are people from both sides that take interest in stuff like that, which I think is great I wouldn't have been able to start this project if I wasn't this age, because I don't believe that someone who's much, much younger would get it or would understand or would have any connection to this. I remember taking slides and my parents having slide shows and showing stuff like that.'

Shulman says: 'What's amazing is that people who are taking photos today and people who took photos then, it's not such a big difference We feel that what happened then [and] what happened now, they're in two different worlds, but we're not so much that different, I feel. I think we all share the same hopes and dreams and things like this.' A man does a flip off a diving board in the US in 1977

When Shulman and Halkin choose which images to include in their collection, they look for the images that tell a narrative. Shulman says: 'We don't look for the most beautiful photos, that's not what we're looking for. We're looking for images that tell a story. So it's not always the prettiest image, but it's an image that says something.' Tow men on a fishing trip are pictured with their catches in the US in the late 1950s

'I feel very responsible for these people who are mostly, to be honest, a lot of them are not here anymore,' Shulman says. 'So I feel a kind of strong moral responsibility to these people to give them a second life, which is really amazing for me and also I feel very privileged. Every day, I go through and find these amazing.' A woman is pictured in the US in the early 1950s

Shulman is certainly passionate about his project. Even after looking through hundreds of thousands of images over and over again, he still hasn't gotten bored or tired of it. Instead, he just becomes more attached to the pictures and the people in them.

'Someone was joking, he said, "you've got the biggest family in the world". And I kind of laughed because it's a bit true. I feel very responsible for these people who are mostly, to be honest, a lot of them are not here anymore. So I feel a kind of strong moral responsibility to these people to give them a second life, which is really amazing for me and also I feel very privileged. Every day, I go through and find these amazing.'

He adds: 'What I find about these slides that is extraordinary, is because they're amateur slides, they're not professional, people are generally always looking at the camera And I think they're very, very intimate moments. And I find those very powerful sometimes.

'I think what's nice also is, they're often taking a good moment in life. I think in a world that's pretty difficult at the moment with everything that's going on, it's very nice to see these moments of life that are pretty much joyful and are full of hope and tenderness And sometimes they're very poetic images.'

One of the things Shulman loves about The Anonymous Project is the endless directions he can go with the images.

'Often people, when they set out with a creative idea, they know where they want to go. What's great about this project is this project is taking us places. It's evolving. People will say, you should do this or that and we're very open to collaborating.

'What's great is the project takes us into a sort of historical side of the world. It also takes us into an artistic side of the world, it takes us into the photography side of the world, it takes us into a lot of different aspects. You can come in and out of this project in any direction you like. It sounds overwhelming when you say it, but when you're actually in it, I find it so comforting. The other way I find it so great every day to come in and have a new surprise every day. I feel really privileged to be in this position.'

One of the things Shulman loves about The Anonymous Project is the endless directions he can go with the images. He says: 'Often people, when they set out with a creative idea, they know where they want to go. What's great about this project is this project is taking us places. It's evolving. People will say, you should do this or that and we're very open to collaborating.' A woman is pictured on the beach in the US in the mid-1960s

The Anonymous Project held their first physical exhibition in Paris for about two weeks at the end of January and will be bringing the exhibition to London in September. For the Paris exhibition, the images were displayed on slideshows and screens and some of the small slides were set out on a light table. A family is pictured in the late 1950s

One of the first endeavors of The Anonymous Project was a physical exhibition in Paris showing a part of the collection from January 24th to February 4th. The images were displayed on slideshows and screens and some of the small slides were set out on a light table. Several of the images were even printed, probably for the first time ever, and put on display.

Shulman says the physical exhibition was something he knew he wanted to do back when he was first starting the project last year, particularly because the slides are intended to be shown on projectors. Shulman says the exhibition began with portraits and eventually followed those people and themes throughout the space, ending on a 1950s-modeled living room with a fire place, a couch and a projector.

'It becomes very much between cinema and photography,' he says. 'That's where we kind of sit comfortably, between projecting and creating stories that way.'

The exhibition was so successful that they will be going to London in September, around the same time that they plan to start working on a documentary, which will follow a couple of boxes that have been sent to The Anonymous Project as they try to find the identities of people in all the slides.

They are also working on a collaboration for a book, where the project will be sending images to several French authors who will write new fiction around those images. The other details of the project are meant to stay secret for now, Shulman says, because they're still in the middle of the project.

'The idea is that our project has become a collaborative art project,' he says. 'As someone who's a filmmaker and works in the artistic domain, I suddenly realize the value of collaborating when you have different collaborations with different kinds of mediums, which is really exciting.'

He adds, laughing: 'As we have these collaborations, it's started to take over my life. But it's actually a good take over. I'm kind of happy. I think it's a little bit stronger than I am and I'm still giving into it because I love it so much. I really do feel so incredibly passionate about the project and it links in very much with my work as a filmmaker. I mean, we're putting the images together to make new stories and it's all about narration, so it feels very close to what I'm doing anyway. But it's a lot of time.'

Aside from the physical exhibitions, The Anonymous Project is also working collaboratively on a documentary that will try to identify some of the people from one or two of the boxes that were sent to the project. They are also working collaboratively on a book with several French authors. A small girl is pictured in the French countryside in 1952

Shulman says about this 1961 photo from the UK: '[It's a] very beautiful image, very poetic image. Sometimes that little moment of life captured like that from a distance is very beautiful'

Though the documentary is going to be focused on trying to find the identities of people from the slides in specific boxes, Shulman says he and Halkin don't really intend to worry so much about who the people are in the images.

'The reason we called it [anonymous] is 'cause we didn't really want people to focus on that,' he says. 'I think we like the idea [that] it wasn't about who the person was, but it's more about what they represented.'

That's not to say Shulman doesn't want to know who the people are, just that they don't intend to focus too much on that part of the project. As he says: 'I don't think that's our primary goal.'

'I couldn't think of a better way to sit down and talk about them and get a background on those peop... that person. That would be amazing, it would give more value to these images to me. But it wasn't the primary reason,' he says.

In an unusual case, however, they did get a box of slides donated from the neighbor of a man who had passed away. The neighbor wrote a note to The Anonymous Project giving them a bit of the man's background story along with the slides.

'She wrote a beautiful letter, a really stunning letter about who he was and his voice and what he sounded like and [that] he ended up bagging in Wal Mart when he was an old man on his own I found it really strong, actually, to have that background and see the images. It was extraordinary, but it's rare.'
Jordan Peele, who won an Oscar for taking on racism with the film Get Out, will now target domestic abuse with a documentary about Lorena Bobbitt.

Amazon announced the director, writer and comedian will be executive producer on the series, which will challenge the 'long-held narrative' surrounding Lorena, who cut off her then-husband John Wayne Bobbitt's penis.

She was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1993 after arguing he abused her. The series is expected to premiere along the timeline of the 25th anniversary of the popular case.

Jordan Peele (left) will executive produce 'Lorena', an Amazon docu-series about Lorena Bobbitt (right)

Peele, who won the best original screenplay Academy Award, said: 'When we hear the name Bobbitt we think of one of the most sensational incidents to ever be catapulted into a full-blown media spectacle.

In 1993, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity for cutting off her then-husband John Wayne Bobbitt's (pictured) penis

'With this project, Lorena has a platform to tell her truth as well as engage in a critical conversation about gender dynamics, abuse, and her demand for justice. This is Lorena's story and we're honoured to help her tell it.'

The 'groundbreaking re-investigation', titled Lorena, will be a four-part documentary series on how the event created 'sensationalistic' media coverage in a time of 24-hour news, Amazon said.

'Lost in the tabloid coverage and jokes was the opportunity for a national discussion on domestic and sexual assault in America,' Amazon said in a statement.

'Jordan has proven himself as a captivating voice of social critique and we are excited to work with him on this project,' Heather Schuster, Head of Unscripted at Amazon Originals, explained to EW.

'Lorena reframes Lorena Bobbitt's story around issues of sexism and domestic abuse and offers Prime members an exclusive new view into how America got her story wrong and maybe continues to get it wrong.'

Her lawyers argued that she had a breakdown after suffering domestic abuse at the hand's of her husband, who would rape her

The series, which does not yet have a release date, will be directed by Joshua Rofe, the producer of Lost For Life, a documentary about youngsters serving life in prison.

In the era of #MeToo, the streaming service hopes to reexamine the case through a new lens.

Lorena, then 24, was cleared by a jury in 1994 of malicious wounding after she used a kitchen knife to cleave off the penis of her ex-Marine husband, then 26, in their home in Manassas, Virginia. The woman cut off John Wayne's member while he was sleeping.

John Wayne Bobbitt's penis had to be surgically reattached in a nine hour procedure and was done by the time of the trial.

She told a court she was raped after her husband came home from a night of drinking with a friend. During her testimony, Lorena said that after the rape, she was drinking a glass of water when she saw the 12-inch knife and attacked

Peele won the best original screenplay Academy Award for the film Get Out which covered racism

She told a court she was raped after her husband came home from a night of drinking with a friend. During her testimony, Lorena said that after the rape, she was drinking a glass of water when she saw the 12-inch knife and attacked, the New York Times reported.

'Lost in the tabloid coverage and jokes was the opportunity for a national discussion on domestic and sexual assault in America,' a press release for the series states.

The famous verdict was delivered by a jury comprised of seven women and five men, and the not guilty convictions for malicious wounding saved her from what could have been 20 years in prison.

At the time, the Ecuador born woman was found to have had an 'irresistible impulse' to strike back for all the abuse she alleged to have been subjected to.

Following the trial, John Wayne Bobbitt had a semi-successful career as an adult porn star. He was able to get a penis enlargement thanks to Howard Stern, who frequently had him on as a guest.
Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, 34, died early Wednesday after his F-16 fighter jet crashed at the Nevada Test and Training range

The Thunderbirds pilot who was killed in a training flight crash at the Nevada Test and Training range this week has been identified.

Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, 34, died early Wednesday after his F-16 Fighting Falcon, otherwise known as Thunderbird 4, crashed just outside Las Vegas, the U.S. Air Force confirmed.

The late pilot was a resident of Valencia, California. Prior to his time with the Thunderbirds, he worked as a F-35A evaluator pilot with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, according to the Air Force Times.

Del Bagno was also a 'civilian flight instructor, corporate pilot, skywriter and a banner tow pilot' beforehand.

The pilot expressed excitement about joining the Thunderbirds team to WEAR-TV back in the fall.

'The best thing is going to the airshows and getting to talk to the kids. You can't help but get reblued a little bit and just find what it was that drove you to fly or to join the Air Force,' Del Bagno told the news station.

Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, shared a condolence message after the tragedy in a news release.

Del Bagno, who was a California resident, is pictured above in this photo by the United States Air Force

Prior to his time with the Thunderbirds, he worked as a F-35A evaluator pilot with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base. He is pictured left

'We are mourning the loss of Maj. Del Bagno,' Leavitt said in the statement, where she described the pilot as an 'integral part' of the Thunderbirds team.

'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 crash is currently under investigation. The Thunderbirds will no longer participate in an air show this weekend at the March Air Reserve Base.

The U.S. Air Force says Thunderbirds member Del Bango (shown) of the flight demonstration team, was killed in the crash of his F-16 fighter jet in central Nevada

Del Bagno is pictured above shaking hands with Vice President Mike Pence in this undated photo

Memorial service plans for Del Bagno are currently being arranged with a date to follow.

The aircraft crash was the third in the United States this week.

The Mirimar air station in San Diego said Wednesday four marines were killed after a helicopter crashed while they were practicing desert landings in Southern California.

The group took off from a ground-combat center in the city of Twentynine Palms for the routine training mission on Tuesday, when the helicopter went down.

The massive CH-53E Super Stallion crashed about 100 miles to the south in a remote desert area just outside of El Centro, near the U.S.-Mexico border. There were no survivors.

Also on Tuesday, a Marine Harrier jet crashed during takeoff in East Africa. The pilot was killed.
A 14-year-old girl is in hospital in a coma after being stung by the extremely venomous Irukandji jellyfish.

The girl was stung on the arm while swimming at Nickol Bay in Dampier, Western Australia on Monday.

She was taken to the Nickol Bay Hospital in Karratha before being flown to Perths Princess Margaret Hospital in a stable condition 9 News reported.

A 14-year-old girl is in hospital in a coma after being stung by the extremely venomous Irukandji jellyfish

The Irukandji jellyfish grows to only 2.5 centimetres in length and has a bell shape and tentacles and is almost completely transparent, which makes them notoriously difficult to spot in the water.

It is part of the box jellyfish family and they have stinging cells on their tentacles and their bodies which means there is no safe way to touch them.

The girl was stung on the arm while swimming at Nickol Bay in Dampier, Western Australia on Monday, she was taken to the Nickol Bay Hospital in Karratha before being flown to Perths Princess Margaret Hospital in a stable condition

When stung symptoms include nausea, extreme muscle pain and fluid in the lungs.

Western Australia Country Health said it's the first Irukandji case in 2018.

And the Australian Marine Stinger Advisory Services said there have only been three deaths caused by the Irukandji jellyfish in the last century.

The Irukandji jellyfish is considered one of the five deadliest jellyfish in the world.
Searchers looking for three missing children of a lesbian couple whose family's SUV plunged off a Northern California cliff have found a cellphone that could have belonged to a member of the large brood.

However, there was no sign of the children who are missing but presumed dead in the crash that killed Sarah and Jennifer Hart and three of their other adopted children.

Eighty people continued to search for them on Wednesday, with divers heading near the coastline about 40 miles south from the crash.

The Mendocino County sheriff's office told Portland, Oregon, TV station KOIN that a searcher found a cellphone that was being analyzed.

A cellphone has been found at the site where an SUV plunged off a California cliff, killing a lesbian couple and their six adopted children (pictured is the site of the crash)

Jennifer and Sarah Hart, 39, were not wearing seatbelts when they drove off a cliff. From left to right: Hannah, Abigail, Sierra, Jeremiah, Jennifer, Devonte, Markis and Sarah Hart

News of the recovered cellphone comes after the sheriff's office backtracked on claims the couple was wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

'Information released... by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office incorrectly stated that Jennifer Hart and Sarah Hart were wearing a seat-belt during the incident,' the sheriff's office said in a news release, The Oregonian reports. 'Investigators from the California Highway Patrol... determined Jennifer Hart and Sarah Hart were not wearing seat-belts during the incident.'

Their children were also not wearing seat belts.

The couple, both 38, and three of their six children - Markis, 19, Jeremiah, 14, and Abigail, 14 - were pulled from the wrecked SUV last week.

Their other three children - Devonte, 15, Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12 - are presumed dead.

Eighty people continued to search for Devonte, 15, Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12, on Wednesday, but there was no sign of the children, who are presumed dead

Surveillance footage shows Jennifer Hart (right) shopping at a grocery store in Fort Bragg, California just hours before she is believed to have driven off a cliff with her wife and kids

Investigators believe that Jennifer drove the car off the cliff intentionally as there were no skid marks and evidence shows the speedometer was 'pinned' at 90mph.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman revealed on HLN that he is now calling the crash a 'crime' instead of an accident.

The California Highway Patrol also released a photo of Jennifer Hart shopping at a grocery store just a day before the crash, and revealed more details about their movements.

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.

Investigators believe that Jennifer drove the car off the cliff intentionally as there were no skid marks and evidence shows the speedometer was 'pinned' at 90mph

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman revealed on HLN that he is now calling the crash a 'crime' instead of an acciden

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 believed 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.

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.

'This situation may have been an intentional act and not the result of a traffic collision,' the highway patrol said

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.

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.

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 snake has showed off its long jump moves just in time for the Commonwealth Games after it jumped from one tree to another when a groundskeeper tried to move it on.

The moment was captured on video by staff at a Queensland school earlier this week and shared to Facebook by Sunshine Coast Snake Catcher 24/7.

'A local school recently tried to relocate this Tree Snake from a tall shrub out the front of their office block. Lets just say it didn't go to plan!' the Facebook post read.

The snake begins the leap of faith as a groundskeeper tries to pick it up with snake thongs

'The snake made the perfect getaway and hasn't been seen since!'

In the clip the groundskeeper can be seen holding what looks like snake tongs up into the tree.

Someone can be head saying 'oh i see it,' in the background before the snake makes the leap of faith.

'Its a common tree snake. Theyre across Australia, the whole East Coast. Theyre also known as the green tree snake,' Richie Gilbert from Sunshine Coast snake catchers told Daily Mail Australia.

'I would say it was falling gracefully, it was leaping. It felt threatened so as a last resort it wanted to make a jump for it.'

The video was shared to Facebook and has been watched over 4,000 times. Many users expressed disbelief that the snake had made the incredible jump.

As it flies through the air the children run away screaming. It lands inside the shorter tree to the right

'Who needs wings, I wouldn't have believed that, a snake leaping from tree to tree, wow,' wrote one.

'Theyre too good for the ground now,' wrote another.

'I'd say that's a successful relocation, if the snake hasn't been seen since,' another added.

Despite the video suggesting otherwise snakes can't actually jump.

The do perform striking moves when they feel threatened and can swing themselves between branches.

To escape a threat they can 'fly' toward the ground or another tree.
Dr Joyce Sauk, a district medical officer from Papua New Guinea, and Ingrid Schoeman, an advocate for TB patients in South Africa, are both survivors of TB and spoke of their experiences at the parliamentary breakfast in Canberra.

But how to convince politicians? Can advocates make inroads in time for governments to make the big commitments needed just six months from now?

This was a precursor to a high-level meeting on TB at the United Nations in September to urge governments to shore up their commitments to end the TB epidemic by 2030.

CANBERRA  In Canberra in late March, TB advocates descended on Parliament House to bring the story of TB directly to politicians, calling on them to be leaders in the fight against a disease that is preventable and curable.

Sharing personal struggles is an important strategy in educating politicians and policy makers and encouraging them to do more in the fight against TB.

Peoples stories, honest and authentic stories, do stand up and get the attention of policy makers  as long as it is someone who is emotional, Ms Schoeman said.

Dr Sauk agreed that it was an important strategy that was needed to achieve change.

Our stories are very important to building change, she said. It is our experiences with TB and how its affected our lives, changed our perceptions of the way we see things  these should be heard.

We dont want this happening to other people. Our stories can encourage investment into research and development in all aspects  medicine and diagnostic tools as well as taking care of the health care workers.

Where I am from, health care workers are not insured and there are issues around infection and control, availability of masks, so we are able to help patients.

Both Dr Sauk and Ms Schoeman contracted TB while working in hospitals and delivering health care support, showing that anyone can be vulnerable.

And the direct threat to Australians travelling internationally was highlighted through the experiences of Australian journalist Jo Chandler, who spoke at the parliamentary breakfast of her experience as a TB survivor after contracting the disease while on assignment  as well as her luck in being treated in Australia and not a hospital within a health care system that was being pushed beyond its limits.

Aligning the conversation with government policies is also important, TB consultant Colleen Daniels explained.

We have approaches for engaging high burden countries, another one for middle income countries  especially because there is so much potential for TB to be reduced globally if they invest more  and then for developed countries, Ms Daniels said.

Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the minister for international development and the Pacific, explained how the TB campaigns best align with Australian aid priorities.

Twelve of the world's 30 highest TB burden countries are located in our region, accounting for nearly half of all cases of drug resistant TB and TB deaths worldwide, Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.

In 2017, around five million Australians visited South-East Asia and Pacific Island countries, expecting to have an enjoyable holiday. Sadly, some contracted TB and consequently, the disease is brought back to Australia.

In Australia, the cost of treating a single patient with drug resistant TB can be up to $260,000. This means that Australia's health security is directly linked to the health security of our neighbourhood.

Highlighting the direct and long-term threats to Australia, both in terms of health and economics through treating a preventable disease, is an important strategy in targeting Australian politicians.

Dr Sauk said it is crucial to highlight the impact directly to donor countries  such as in the case of PNG being only four kilometers from northern Australia.

Were close to Australia and we have a lot of Australians doing business in PNG also, so there should be interest by the Australian government in terms of investment, she said.

There is no question Australia has always been helping us, but there is more to do with the drug resistant TB emerging. It requires more political support and investment.

The stigma and discrimination [of TB] even surround health care workers, Dr Sauk said.

I got TB when I was going through medical school and working in an overcrowded emergency department. We have had a lot of doctors and nurses come down with TB who wont discuss it. Were not immune to TB  it is everywhere. There is no respect to where you are from when it comes to TB.
Horrible stories of the effects of rampant ice addiction are emerging from South Australia, where meth addicts have chased a person with a chainsaw, threatened a baby and torn families apart.

Now regarded as the nation's ice capital, the terrible tales from the festival state include one daughter who was utterly neglected by her meth-addicted mother, who locked herself in her room.

The 19-year-old told Channel 9 how her parent's 'toxic' and disgusting addiction to the drug ripped her family apart.

Tragic stories have emerged people being chased down the road with chainsaws, babies being threatened and mothers isolating their children in South Australia, the nation's ice capital.

'She's not a mother. She never really did anything that was remotely like taking care of us. She took care of herself and her partner and their addiction,' the girl told the network.

In another case, a 69-year-old woman described how she was 'chased down the road with a chainsaw that was going' and witnessed a six-month-old baby being threatened by an addict holding a glass bottle.

'There was (also) an argument between two families, and the male member of one family smashed a bottle and aimed it at the head of a six-month-old baby that its mother was nursing,' she told Nine News.

A 19-year-old South Australian daughter (pictured) opened up about how the drug ripped her family apart, and how her parent was 'not a mother'.

And a business-owner, also in the small regional town, revealed that she was in 'constant fear' as she lived next door to a drug house where children as young as five collected drugs for their parents.

'They'd be five, six-year-olds going into this house to collect drugs for their parents,' she said.

The news comes as it was revealed South Australia is the nation's 'ice capital'.

South Australia had the highest per capital consumption of ice (pictured) in the country in 2017

At least one in 10 people in Adelaide take one dose of the drug every day, according to an Australian Criminal Intelligence Commissions March report released Wednesday.

The fourth National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report found an overall increase in illicit drug consumption across the country from the previous report in August 2017.

Federal Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Angus Taylor said the report provides law enforcement agencies with a more accurate understanding of the demand for illicit drugs across the states and territories.

'We know drug traffickers are increasingly global while maintaining local distribution networks, so we need to be more sophisticated than ever before in our fight against this devastating scourge,' Taylor said.
Preliminary autopsy findings confirmed that a family-of-four from Iowa died while vacationing in Mexico as a result of asphyxiation from propane inhalation, according to local authorities.

Kevin Sharp, 41, his wife, Amy Sharp, 38, and their children, Sterling, 12, and Adrianna, 7, of Creston were found dead on March 23 in a residential unit at Tao Mexico, a private community with both permanent residents and investment properties often rented out by tourists.

'There was a leak, and it was coming right from the laundry room,' Christopher Martinez, the main investigator on the case for the Fiscalia General Office, told the Des Moines Register through an interpreter. 'The laundry room had no ventilation whatsoever.'

Following the deaths of the Sharps, locals have noticed that tourism has declined in the area surrounding the luxury community, which is located on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, near the city of Akumal, just north of Tulum.

Preliminary autopsy findings confirmed that Kevin Sharp, 41, his wife, Amy Sharp, 38, and their children, Sterling, 12, and Adrianna, 7, of Creston, Iowa died while vacationing in Mexico as a result of asphyxiation from propane inhalation

Authorities said after finding the bodies at 3am Pacific on March 23, they went back the next day and combed through the property.

They found black marks on the laundry room walls and ceiling surrounding the water heater tank. Investigators did not believe there was any kind of fire, but instead think the water heater malfunction stained the wall.

Upon taking apart the water heater, it was found that rust had corrupted the device, which police said is a common problem for appliances in the Riviera Maya.

The Delta Raptor was found to have been purchased in 2012, and its warranty expired in 2017, Martinez said.

The family was found on March 23 in a residential unit at Tao Mexico, a private community with both permanent residents and investment properties often rented out by tourists

When found, the mother and father were in separate bedrooms, and the children's bodies were in the living room, in front of the television, police said

The Sharp was family was supposed to check out of their unit at Tao Mexico two days earlier on March 21.

Loved ones back home said they became suspicious that something was amiss when the Sharps stopped responding to messages, but it's not clear exactly when that happened.

Police said they believed the family spent their last day alive at the beach, because their rental car was covered in sand.

When found, the mother and father were in separate bedrooms, and the children's bodies in the living room in front of the television.

'They were totally relaxed,' Martinez said, 'like if you go to sleep and stay in one position.'

He added that the unit showed no signs of an attempted break in, and nothing pointed to any kind of struggle.

'The only thing with a question mark is why [no one went] to the condo for cleaning [at the Sharp family's scheduled check out time],' Martinez said.

An exact time of death is not yet know, but Mexican officials hope to have those more specific results soon, once the autopsies are completed.

Police said they believed the family spent their last day alive at the beach

Tao Mexico released a statement detailing how the bodies of the Sharp family came to be found on March 23, after police contacted the security team at the residential community

Tao Mexico released a statement detailing how the bodies of the Sharp family came to be found on March 23.

'On Friday March 23, the security team in Residencial Tao was asked to help find an American family that was supposed to get back home to the USA days before. A missing persons report was filed through the US Embassy in Mexico while the Mexican authorities started looking for them,' it read.

'The security team in Residencial Tao promptly reviewed all the data at the compound security checkpoints, finding the registered entry of the Sharp family to a private apartment in the QI building, and reported the findings back to the authorities, who came to the apartment and found the four bodies of the Sharp family.'

The security team 'found the registered entry of the Sharp family to a private apartment in the QI building, and reported the findings back to the authorities, who came to the apartment and found the four bodies of the Sharp family,' the statement said

The Home Owners Association would not reveal who owned the unit where the Sharps had been staying, but stated that maintenance is the responsibility of that person; Kevin Sharp and his wife, Amy, are seen here

The Home Owners Association would not reveal who owned the unit where the Sharps had been staying, but stated that maintenance is the responsibility of that person.

'The apartment where this unfortunate event happened, was sold and handed over to the current owner on November 1, 2013, when he became the legal representative and also, accountable for its maintenance,' the statement read.

'Since then, the apartment is regularly rented to tourists using online services like Airbnb, with the help of a property manager appointed by the owner.'

Mexican authorities stressed that this accident, while tragic, is not unique to the area that relies so heavily on tourism.

The Sharp family is seen here in a photo shared to social media, celebrating at a race

An exact time of death for the members of the Sharp family (shown here around the holidasy) is not yet know, but Mexican officials hope to have those more specific results soon

'It is important to know this wasnt a crime,' Maritnez said. 'Its just something unfortunate that happened Its something that could happen in the United States or anywhere.'

Even so, one local tour company operator whose company services the area near Akumal Beach told the Register his business has dropped 30-40 per cent over the past few days.

Manuel Jimenez said he thinks the drop is due to fears related to traveling to Mexico.

In early March, US government employees were barred by the US State Department from traveling to Playa del Carmen, another very popular resort town, after an explosion occurred in February on a ferry that linked the location to the island town of Cozumel.

Tainted alcohol at some resorts in the Caribbean has also garnered national attention in the US.
David and Jane Matthews at Pippa's wedding

A second woman to accuse Pippa Middletons father-in-law of rape is believed to be a former family friend.

She reported her claims about David Matthews to South Yorkshire Police earlier this week.

Now thought to be in her 60s, the British woman is said to have accused the tycoon of assaulting her in Sheffield in the 1980s, when she would have been in her twenties or thirties.

It comes after multi-millionaire Mr Matthews, 74, was quizzed by French prosecutors over claims he raped a minor, which he strenuously denies.

He was arrested at a Paris airport last week and appeared in court after a woman, now aged 35, told police he carried out two offences between 1998 and 1999, when she was 15 and he in his fifties.

One was allegedly in Paris and the other on the Caribbean island of St Barts, where he and his wife Jane own a 5,000-a-night hotel.

Mr Matthews has vehemently denied the younger womans allegations, with friends suggesting he is the victim of a revenge plot.

There was no immediate comment from him yesterday about the latest claims, published by The Sun newspaper. He has not been arrested or questioned.

The second woman came forward after the first womans claims surfaced last weekend.

She gave details to detectives in South Yorkshire, who must now assess the strength of her allegations before deciding whether to arrest Mr Matthews, interview him under caution, or drop the case. In the 1980s, when he allegedly forced her to have sex with him, she was believed to be a friend of the family. Sources close to Mr Matthews insist he has been set up over the first allegation to humiliate him, nearly a year after his financier son James married Prince Williams sister-in-law Pippa Middleton. David Zara, who has known the former racer and property magnate for decades, said the rape allegations were completely out of character.

David is not that sort of person. He is certainly not a rapist and certainly not a child molester.

He said the Me Too movement, established in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sex abuse scandal, had made it hunting season on powerful people. Another friend said of the first womans claims: Its outrageous. I feel very sorry for David. Hes being completely set up just to cause family embarrassment.

The first woman, now living in Britain, contacted French police last year and initially told officers Mr Matthews had acted inappropriately towards her when she was 15.

She later told police from the French Brigade for the Protection of Minors that she was raped.

She told officers she had initially blamed herself for the attacks, which left her feeling shocked and disgusted, saying: Afterwards I felt like I was to blame. I developed feelings of self-loathing and I felt worthless.

Pippa Middleton and James Matthews attend The Miles Frost Fund party at Bunga Bunga Covent Garden on June 27, 2017 in London, England

Last week Mr Matthews was held for 48 hours and questioned before appearing at the Palais de Justice, where he was charged with the rape of a minor by a person with authority over his victim, a crime that carries a maximum 15-year jail sentence in France.

His official status with French prosecutors is mis en examen, which is widely considered to be similar to being charged in the UK, although there is no exact equivalent in the British legal system. He has since been released on bail and has been told he can leave the country, although he is expected to return to Paris as the investigation continues.

Authorities have up to six months to decide whether he should stand trial or to drop the charges.

French investigators said yesterday they were being kept up to date with developments in Britain related to the Matthews case.

A spokesman for Mr Matthews, who is represented by the Queens solicitors Farrer & Co, said: David Matthews categorically denies the allegation and unequivocally contests the untrue and scandalous accusation.
Peak-hour commuters making their way through a packed public square in Perth have been confronted with a two-metre electronic screen displaying a pornography website.

Pornhub's homepage was broadcast on the large touchscreen at Yagan Square on Thursday, after an apparent hacking attack on the digital system - normally used to help people navigate their way around the city.

'There was quite a few people walking by who took a second glance, some having a bit of a giggle, but a couple looked pretty shocked. It's not a huge screen but it's pretty prominent,' a commuter who saw the display at about 6pm told the ABC.

Another joked on social media: 'This is the most interesting thing that will ever happen at Yagan Square, to be honest.'

Peak-hour commuters making their way through a busy Perth thoroughfare have been confronted with a two-metre electronic screen displaying a pornography website

Pornhub's homepage was broadcast on the large touchscreen at Yagan Square on Thursday

The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority quickly switched off the screen when it was alerted to the issue and said the system had been 'compromised'.

'Yagan Square has two touch screen wayfinding signs, one at each entrance of the William Street Mall,' an MRA spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

'Unfortunately, it appears that these screens were compromised this evening and for a brief period of time some inappropriate content was displayed on one of the screens.

'Both screens were immediately turned off and power has also been switched off to the units to eliminate all possibilities of a reoccurence.

'The MRA takes this matter very seriously and will undertake a full investigation to understand how this event has happened and identify those responsible.'

Yagan Square was opened last month and includes a children's park. WA Premier Mark McGowan previously described the $73million, 10-year project as the new 'heart of the city'.

The apparent hack on the system was quickly spotted by pedestrians and shared on social media
President Donald Trump is facing an astonishing leak of a confrontation in the Situation Room with his most senior military commander and another leak of talks with the CIA.

He and Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, clashed over what to do about Syria in the White House's most secret and guarded area.

Five officials brief the Associated Press on that happened as Gen Dunford told him his approach was 'unproductive' and demanded that he issue 'specific instructions' on how to proceed.

And the Washington Post detailed how Trump demanded of its head of drone operations - an official whose name is a secret - why operators had waited until a terrorist had left his family's home before killing him.

The two leaks will serve to increase tensions in Washington over Syria.

Trump on Tuesday said 'I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home,' and later that day held the meeting in the situation room.

Closely guarded secret: The White House situation room - where Trump was photographed in September 2017 - is supposed to be sacrosanct but five officials brief the Associated Press on a confrontation between the President and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

U.S. presence: Regular soldiers and special forces have been deployed in northern Syria to fight ISIS - but now Trump wants them out

United front: Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Marine General Joseph Dunford and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis - also a retired Marine four-star general - both went head to head with Trump on pulling out of Syria in a Situation Room encounter which has leaked

Trump's desire for a rapid withdrawal faced unanimous opposition from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon, the State Department and the intelligence community, all of which argued that keeping the 2,000 U.S. soldiers currently in Syria is key to ensuring the Islamic State does not reconstitute itself.

But as they huddled in the Situation Room, the president was vocal and vehement in insisting that the withdrawal be completed quickly if not immediately, according to five administration officials briefed on Tuesday's White House meeting of Trump and his top aides.

The officials weren't authorized to discuss internal deliberations and requested anonymity.

If those aides failed in obtaining their desired outcome, it may have been because a strategy that's worked in the past - giving Trump an offer he can't refuse - appears to have backfired.

Rather than offer Trump a menu of pullout plans, with varying timelines and options for withdrawing step-by-step, the team sought to frame it as a binary choice: Stay in Syria to ensure the Islamic State can't regroup, or pull out completely.

Documents presented to the president included several pages of possibilities for staying in, but only a brief description of an option for full withdrawal that emphasized significant risks and downsides, including the likelihood that Iran and Russia would take advantage of a U.S. vacuum.

Ultimately, Trump chose that option anyway.

The president had opened the meeting with a tirade about U.S. intervention in Syria and the Middle East more broadly, repeating lines from public speeches in which he's denounced previous administrations for 'wasting' $7 trillion in the region over the past 17 years.

What has the U.S. gotten for the money and American lives expended in Syria? 'Nothing,' Trump said over and over, according to the officials.

The intensity of Trump's tone and demeanor raised eyebrows and unease among the top brass gathered to hash out a Syria plan with Trump, officials said: Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary James Mattis, CIA chief Mike Pompeo and acting Secretary of State John Sullivan.

Aftermath: Raqqa, which as ISIS's de facto capital, is one of the areas of Syria where new infrastructure will be needed. Trump suggested ending all U.S. efforts to build it in the Situation Room argument

Key weapon: Drones like the Reaper have become a part of the US Air Force's tool kit and Trump told the CIA to arm their fleet in Syria 'within 10 days' on his first day in office, a leak revealed

Deadly force: An Air Force drone destroyed a T-72 tank from the air in Syria - an indication of what they are capable of

At one point, Dunford spoke up, one official said, telling Trump that his approach was not productive and asked him to give the group specific instructions as to what he wanted.

Trump's response was to demand an immediate withdrawal of all American troops and an end to all U.S. civilian stabilization programs designed to restore basic infrastructure to war-shattered Syrian communities.

Mattis countered, arguing that an immediate withdrawal could be catastrophic and was logistically impossible to pull off in any responsible way, without risking the return of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in newly liberated territories, the officials said. Mattis floated a one-year withdrawal as an alternative.

Trump then relented - but only slightly, telling his aides they could have five or six months to complete the mission to destroy the Islamic State and then get out, according to the officials.

Trump also indicated that he did not want to hear in October that the military had been unable to fully defeat the Islamic State and had to remain in Syria for longer.

The president had spoken. But what to say about it publicly?

In a brief and vague statement released Wednesday, the White House said the U.S. role in Syria is coming to a 'rapid end' and emphasized that the U.S. was counting on other countries and the U.N. to deal with Syria's future.

But it offered no specificity as to the timing of a U.S. withdrawal.

'The president has actually been very good in not giving us a specific timeline,' Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, said Thursday. 'We've always thought that as we reach finale against ISIS in Syria, we're going to adjust the level of our presence there. So in that sense, nothing has actually changed.'

Mattis said Friday that the military is talking with Kurdish partners and others in Syria to resolve questions over US support once the United States eventually withdraws from the war-torn country.

'We are in consultation with our allies and partners right now, so we'll work all this out,' Mattis said when asked whether the US military is committed to supporting Syria's Kurdish fighters.

Pentagon officials stressed that no formal order had been handed down to the military to alter course or start a withdrawal. Nonetheless, the officials said Trump was clear in his intent.

For Trump, any notion of a 'timeline' comes with significant political risk.

After all, he had regularly bashed Obama on the campaign trail for forecasting his military moves in advance.

In fact, Trump was so critical of Obama for putting an arbitrary deadline on the 2011 Iraq withdrawal that he dubbed Obama 'the founder of ISIS,' arguing that Obama had signaled to al-Qaeda sympathizers in Iraq that they need only wait the U.S. out.

The leak of the Situation Room showdown was matched by another leak of top-secret activity - this time talks with the CIA operative in charge of its drone strikes om his very first day in office.

The Washington Post revealed how Trump met three agency officials when he visited CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and was shown a feed from Syria, where Obama had limited CIA drones to surveillance flights.

He ordered them to arm CIA drones there and said, according to two former officials who spoke to the Washington Post: 'If you can do it in ten days, get it done.'

Then he was shown a video of a previous strike in which a terrorist was killed after leaving his family home and responded by saying: 'Why did you wait?'

Trump has been infuriated by leaks throughout his presidency and demanded action against leakers repeatedly.
Just as Jeremy Corbyn was on the ropes this week over his woefully inadequate response to the anti-Semitism row engulfing Labour, he received an unexpected message of support. It came in the form of a carefully co-ordinated intervention from an impressive sounding list of 42 academics.

In a letter published in the Guardian (where else), the academics leapt to his defence, claiming he was being subjected to an 'unfair trial by the media'. And these were not any old dons, according to the Guardian, they were 'senior academics'.

The 42 signatories, including 17 professors, wrote: 'the debate on anti-Semitism has been framed in such a way as to mystify the real sources of anti-Jewish bigotry and to weaponise it against a single political figure just ahead of important elections.'

Jeremy Corbyn has received support from a group of academics

Ignoring the fact that much of the criticism came from within the Labour Party as well as Corbyn's own deputy leader, Tom Watson, the letter continued: 'We condemn anti-Semitism wherever it exists. We also condemn journalism that so blatantly lacks context, perspective and a meaningful range of voices in its determination to condemn Jeremy Corbyn.'

So who are these intellectual heavyweights, and why did they merit such prominent coverage in the Guardian? The paper published the letter the day after Corbyn provocatively attended a supper in London with a Left-wing, anti-Zionist group where some of the central tenets of the Jewish faith were mocked and where a poem that abused the Queen and Prince Philip was circulated.

Among those who signed the letter is one Jane Dipple, a lecturer at Winchester University school of media and film, whose blog highlights her contribution to the world of learning. 'My PhD Thesis is entitled: Zombies in Britain from cinema to counter-culture.'

Warming to her theme, she boasts: 'I have devised a third-year undergraduate module entitled 'Zombie Apocalyse: the rise in zombie culture'. Now in its sixth year it is currently the only academic [zombie] course in the UK.' There's a surprise!

A paper on her website is entitled: 'Rocking with the undead: how zombies infected the psychobilly subculture.' Ms Dipple goes on to tell us: 'Zombie culture is ubiquitous: the undead can be found lurking in a number of unexpected areas of popular culture.' Some might joke that one or two zombies can be found in Corbyn's Labour Party.

Another signatory is William Proctor from Bournemouth University, where he is a 'senior lecturer in journalism, English and communication'.

His academic achievements are listed online. 'He has published on a variety of topics including Batman, James Bond, Spider-Man, The Walking Dead, One Direction fandom, and the reboot phenomenon [whatever that means] in popular culture.

'William is Director of The World Star Wars Project, a five-year study of the franchise from multiple perspectives which will culminate in 2020 with a multilingual, mixed methods global online questionnaire.

The first phase of the project, 'The Force Re-Awakens', attracted over 1,800 responses in December 2015 prior to the release of Star Wars Episode VII.'

Then, from York University, comes Jonathan Eato, a music lecturer whose credits include taking part in an international music prize in Luxembourg. He reached the final in 2004 with composition titled Bling Bling Balaam and tells us that two years later, in a revised form, the work was broadcast on Danish radio.

Bournemouth University is also represented by Dr Peri Bradley, a media studies lecturer who earned her doctorate in film at Southampton University. Her academic interests are centred on the way the human body is represented in literature, art, film and TV.

Her online biography says: 'This has included looking at representations of the body in the horror genre, reality TV and specific celebrity case studies who embody a camp sensibility.'

Another 'top academic' is Allan Moore, a graduate from Southampton University who is now the professor of music in the school of arts in the city.

He has also written a book on the 70-year-old rock musician Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull  or more specifically on the ageing rocker's 1971 album Aqualung. 'Moore tackles the album on a track-by-track basis, looking at the lyrics and studying the complex structures and arrangements of these classic songs,' we are told.

The acadmics' letter was published in The Guardian

Southampton University features again in the form of Seth Giddings, the Associate Professor of Digital Culture and Design. He describes himself as a 'media and cultural theorist who specialises in research on playful media, from videogames and social media to activist and art projects'.

Then there is Ruth Catlow who is not even connected to an academic institution but is listed as a director of Furtherfield, an 'artist led online community'. With a degree in sculpture, Ms Catlow describes herself as an 'artist, theorist, curator,' and a 'recovering web-utopian', whatever that is.

Meanwhile, Zeta Kolokythopoulu, who is listed by the Guardian as being at London South Bank University, is not known there as a member of its staff. A separate website suggests she may be a PhD student.

There will have been little surprise at the pro-Corbyn views advanced by another individual who put his name to the letter: Jeremy Gilbert, the professor of cultural and political theory at East London University.

In his biography, Gilbert boasts he writes regularly for the Guardian as well as the Left-leaning New Statesman, and that he has appeared on national TV 'as a spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party'.

In its news coverage of the letter, the Guardian skated over that admission as well as the fact he is a 'member of the founding national committee of Momentum', the group set up in 2015 to shore-up Corbyn's leadership of Labour.

The shadow chancellor John McDonnell, a self-confessed Marxist, will have been delighted by the inclusion of Theodore Koulouris on the list.

A 'senior lecturer in media theory' at Brighton University, his work is described thus: 'His research interests lie in the interstices of media and literary theory with a focus on the intersections of Marxism with deconstruction, on the political significances of mourning, on media ethics, and on literary and socio-political articulations of feminism, gender performativity, and feminist activism in the digital era.'

Protesters hold placards as they demonstrate in Parliament Square against anti-Semitism

Another of the letter's authors, Michael Chanan, professor of film at Roehampton University, is proud to state he is the 'New Statesman magazine's first video blogger'.

Hacked Off, the lobbyist group seeking to muzzle the Press, is inevitably involved. Julian Petley, Professor of Journalism at Brunel University, a supporter of the group, signed the letter.

A member of the editorial board of the British Journalism Review which over the years has been hijacked by the Left, he has been a full-time academic for 26 years.

None of these academics is from Oxford or Cambridge. In fact only one of them, Bart Cammaerts of the London School of Economics, comes from one of our top ten universities. And he is an associate professor in the Department of Media and Communications who is currently on sabbatical.

There are several signatories from Goldsmiths, University of London, and the less well-known universities of Aston and Lincoln.

The fact is that even a cursory glance at the list reveals these people  18 of whom are from media journalism and communciations departments  are anything but the senior academics they were claimed to be (and God help our universities if they are!)

So why has the Labour-supporting Guardian exaggerated their status? Could it be down to the influence of Corbyn's all-powerful communications chief Seumas Milne? He is a former columnist on the newspaper. He also happens to be an old colleague of Becky Gardiner, who signed the letter in her capacity as senior lecturer in media and communications at Goldsmiths University.

What the letter did not make clear is that she worked for 14 years on the newspaper and was comment editor when Milne was a columnist between 2010 and 2014.
After undergoing major surgery to remove his colon, bowel and rectum, a Brisbane father was denied the Sickness Allowance by Centrelink after being told he did not meet the strict criteria.

Tristan Hardwick, 33, of Brisbane was diagnosed with stage-three bowel cancer last year and was in surgery within a week of his diagnosis.

Knowing he would be unable to work while recovering in hospital Mr Hardwick applied for the sickness Allowance from Centrelink 9 News reported.

After undergoing major surgery to remove his colon, bowel and rectum, Brisbane father Tristan Hardwick, 33, was denied the Sickness Allowance by Centrelink after being told he did not meet the strict criteria

Mr Hardwick spoke to Daily Mail Australia and said he was worried early on for the fate of his business which employs up to four staff.

'One thing I want make clear though is that I didn't want to be on Sickness Benefits or any other assistance too long,' he said.

'Just for the recovery period when I was unable to work in my business.

'Even though I own the business if I do not work I don't bring in business for the company and I still had to pay my staff plus the extra staff to cover me while I was laid up.'

He said the process was a complicated and stressful one but wanted to reiterate that he harbored no hard feelings toward staff at the Centrelink offices.

'One thing I want make clear though is that I didn't want to be on Sickness Benefits or any other assistance too long,' he told Daily Mail Australia

'At the end of the day they have assessment tools and calculations that have been developed by the government and when I am talking about Centrelink I am talking about the government agency, not necessarily a staff member,' he said.

The payment is only $200 a fortnight which Mr Hardwick said would help with childcare payments and for his family to afford parking at the hospital.

After Centrelink lost the paperwork for his first application he was asked to come into the office in person to be assessed, which he did.

'I went there within the first few days of being out of hospital,' he said.

After he submitted more medical documentation to prove his sickness, Centrelink again lost his application and it took another two months before he was informed his application had been rejected.

The payment is only $200 a fortnight which Mr Hardwick said would help with childcare payments and for his family to afford parking at the hospital

The criteria for the Sickness Allowance say families earning more than $960 a fortnight would not be eligible for the payment.

Mr Hardwick's wife earns $45,000 a year.

'The assessment they carry out is not clearly communicated with the person being assessed,' he said.

'And when they do reject you, all you get is a letter saying sorry you're rejected as your and your partner's income do not meet the criteria.'

Mr Hardwick was not happy at being denied the application and said he feels the system 'rorts' and worked against people who were legitimately sick.

'Unless you are dying from it, they are not interested, thats pretty much what they were saying, which I think is wrong,' Mr Hardwick said.

Department of Human Services general manager Hank Jongen told 9 News the body is not given any discretion when processing applications.

'We recognise medical conditions can have a significant impact on peoples lives, however, we do not have any discretion to grant payments outside the very clear criteria set down in legislation,' he said.

Mr Hardwick said being denied the payment has only added to the stress of his recovery but a dedicated staff and loving family is helping him get through.

Mr Hardwisk said being denied the payment has only added to the stress of his recovery but a dedicated staff and loving family is helping him get through

'I also have a few say just go get a job and don't be a bludger but hey I own a business that employs 3-4 staff and myself,' he said.

'It also means that if I couldn't have some support during my treatment and recovery period to help take the financial burden on.

'To allow my income from the business to be used to employ or contract temporary staff to do my work the company could have shut down.'

Mr Hardwick said thankfully his business did not fold but it did require him to get back into it before he probably should have.

'At the time I was not sure how well my recovery was going to be and Cardiac Safe is now booming along and I am now working almost full time back in it,' he said.

He contributes his businesses survival while he was in hospital to his dedicated staff and their continued support.

'I have been in hospital again this week all week with a Blood Clot in my blood supply for my Small Bowel and during this time I have worked from my bed,' he said.

Mr Hardwick said he remains patient in ensuring that his business survives while he battles to get back to good health again.
A regional council has backflipped on a decision to give a new park an Aboriginal name because it is too hard to pronounce.

Wollongong councillors voted unanimously in December to call a new green space at West Dapto by the Dharawal name for Moreton Bay Fig, Karreuaira.

However, on Tuesday night the council south of Sydney voted by a margin of eight to three to overturn that decision, with two Greens councillors unsuccessfully joining the mayor to keep the indigenous name for the park.

A regional council has backflipped on a decision to give a new park an Aboriginal name because it is too hard to pronounce

Wollongong councillors voted unanimously in December to call a new green space at West Dapto (pictured) by the Dharawal name for Moreton Bay Fig, Karreuaira

Speaking in favour of the rescission motion, Labor councillor Vicky King argued the New South Wales government's Geographical Names Board had enough trouble with the name.

'I am trying to get the correct pronunciation,' she told the council meeting, which the Illawarra Mercury covered.

'If the GNB cant get the right pronunciation, what hope have we got?'

Mayor Gordon Bradbery said local people could get used to a challenging Aboriginal name.

'Personally, I think where there is an opportunity to use an Aboriginal name or an opportunity to reflect on our wonderful Aboriginal heritage, that to me is the better way to go,' he said.

The council's heritage committee had endorsed the indigenous name, Fairfax Media reported.
Thirty million workers will get a tax cut today when the latest rise in the basic rate threshold takes effect.

It means that workers will not start paying income tax until they earn 11,850  a 350 rise on the level last year.

A typical basic rate taxpayer will pay 1,075 less in income tax this year than they did in 2010, when the coalition government began a radical programme to take the low-paid out of tax.

Chancellor Philip Hammond last night said the changes showed the Conservatives were determined to keep taxes low, despite dealing with the vast budget deficit left by the last Labour government

Higher rate taxpayers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will also benefit, with the 40p tax threshold jumping from 45,000 to 46,350, producing an annual saving of 270.

Treasury figures suggest a typical higher rate taxpayer will pay 1,323 less in income tax than they did in 2010.

But the changes do not apply in Scotland, where the SNP government has used its tax-varying powers to hit the better-off. Some basic rate taxpayers will pay less, but anyone earning around 33,000 or more can expect a higher bill.

A series of other financial changes will also come into force today as the new tax year begins.

The National Living Wage will rise by 4.4 per cent, from 7.50 and hour to 7.83, benefiting more than two million workers. And the threshold for repaying student loans will rise from 21,000 to 25,000, saving graduates up to 360 a year.

Theresa May has vowed to keep to manifesto pledges to raise the basic rate threshold to 12,500 by 2020 and the higher rate level to 50,000 by 2020, meaning that further tax cuts will be introduced in the next two years

Chancellor Philip Hammond said yesterday the changes showed the Tories were determined to keep taxes low, despite dealing with the vast budget deficit left by the last Labour government.

From today, millions of people will have more pounds in their pocket and keep more of their hard-earned wages, Mr Hammond said. By increasing the National Living Wage, cutting income tax and freezing fuel duty for the eighth year running, we are boosting living standards for millions of people this April, giving them more choice over how to use their pay packet and building an economy that works for everyone.

Theresa May has vowed to keep to manifesto pledges to raise the basic rate threshold to 12,500 and the higher rate level to 50,000 by 2020, meaning that further tax cuts are expected over the next two years.

But beyond this there is also a fierce debate within Cabinet over how to raise billions more for the NHS promised by the Prime Minister. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is pushing for the introduction of a dedicated NHS tax, possibly funded by a 1p rise in National Insurance rates, which would raise 5billion a year.

But Mr Hammond is resisting the idea, insisting that the Government has to keep taxes low to distinguish itself from Labour.

The changes will also sharpen the debate in Scotland over the SNPs approach.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Tories shadow finance secretary, warned that the growing divide in tax rates was punishing enterprise.

It will reinforce Scotlands reputation as the highest-taxed part of the UK, punishing hard work and aspiration in the process, he said.

But ministers are also braced for a backlash today when a new system of mortgage interest support is introduced for those on very low incomes.

Some 90,000 households currently have their mortgage interest paid by the government after losing their job or falling ill.

From today, the payments will end and be replaced by a government loan.

However, figures suggest only 13,000 families have signed up for the loan, while more than 30,000 have not even been informed of the change.

Helen Morrissey, a personal finance specialist at Royal London, called on ministers to delay the changes, saying: The first many people are going to know about this is when their mortgage company contacts them to tell them they are in arrears.
Police have released video of officers engaged in a dramatic gunfight with an armed Florida man as they rescued his estranged wife and three children from their home.

Emmanuel Rosado was found guilty last month of attempted second degree murder over the incident that unfolded at his home in Deltona back in July 2016.

Following his guilty verdict, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office on Thursday released the full bodycam footage from the officers involved in the shoot out.

The shooter's estranged wife (top right) was captured on video climbing out of the front window and crawling to safety after being shot during the incident at her home in Deltona, Florida in 2016

The video shows the first deputy to arrive on the scene taking cover behind a tree as Rosado fires off bullets from inside the house.

The shooter's estranged wife, Victoria Rosado, was captured on video climbing out of the front window and trying to crawl to safety after being shot in the backside while she was inside the home.

Another deputy can be seen rushing to Victoria's aide and dragging her to safety.

The video also shows deputies rescuing three terrified children just moments before Rosado came out of the home and surrendered.

One of the children can be heard sobbing: 'He shot, he shot'.

Authorities had responded to the home after Victoria called 911 when her estranged husband turned up acting 'crazy' and refused to leave.

Bodycam footage captured a sheriff's deputy rushing to Victoria's aide and dragging her to safety after she was shot in the backside

The video also shows deputies rescuing three terrified children just moments before Rosado came out of the home and surrendered

The video shows the first deputy to arrive on the scene (pictured above) taking cover behind a tree as Rosado fires off bullets from inside the house

She was on the phone to 911 for several minutes while hiding in the bedroom before the operator heard a scream and the line went dead.

Rosado was found guilty by a jury of battery and attempted second degree murder

When officers arrived they reported hearing a male voice yelling: 'You're going to die tonight!'

Rosado eventually shot his estranged wife before exchanging gunfire out of a window with the officers who had arrived on scene.

He was initially charged with aggravated battery and two counts of attempted first degree murder but was found guilty by a jury of battery and attempted second degree murder.

Rosado was found not guilty of attempted first degree murder involving one of the officers.

He is currently being held at Volusia County Jail until his sentencing.
U.S. Rep. John Katko fell short of calling for Scott Pruitt to resign, but expressed concerns about the Environmental Protection Agency administrator's conduct.

During an editorial board interview with The Citizen Friday, Katko responded to questions on whether Pruitt should step down. There have been several stories that raise ethical concerns about Pruitt, including his decision to rent a Washington D.C. condominium from an energy industry lobbyist.

Before his condo rental was revealed, Pruitt was under fire for flying first class  at taxpayer expense  to events across the country.

When asked if Pruitt should resign, Katko, R-Camillus, said "he's getting awful close."
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The crowd is cheering, beer cans are flying, and the floor is packed with mud.

Two people on bikes are staring each other down, long PVC plumbing pipes gripped tight in their hands, before they start to pedal with everything they can... until they collide.

This is Bike Kill, an annual jousting competition organized by The Black Label Bike Club in the Bedstuy neighborhood of Brooklyn.

And it was all captured by photographer Julie Glassberg, who spent three years with the BLBC for her self-published book, a trade edition of which will come out this summer.

This is Bike Kill, an annual jousting competition organized by The Black Label Bike Club in the Bedstuy neighborhood of Brooklyn and captured by photographer Julie Glassberg

Glassberg spent three years with the BLBC, documenting their jousting competitions, costumes, and performances

Many BLBC members ride tall bikes which they modify themselves, teetering on the frames while holding long PVC pipes for the competition

Glassberg told DailyMail.com that she had been struggling to document another subculture in New York when someone told her about the BLBC.

She decided to do some research, watching videos of the notorious jousting events and a movie that followed the early years of the club in the 1990s.

'I thought those kids were crazy (in a completely good way), out of the norm, rebels disobeying social pressure to follow a certain life path and constructing their own freedom,' she said. 'I was attracted by all that.'

The Black Label Bike Club is an offshoot of an 'outlaw' bicycle club that was started in Minneapolis in the early 1990s, according to Collector Daily.

The Black Label Bike Club is an offshoot of an 'outlaw' bicycle club that was started in Minneapolis in the early 1990s

Glassberg told DailyMail.com she had been struggling to document another subculture in New York when someone told her about the BLBC and she immediately became hooked

'I thought those kids were crazy (in a completely good way), out of the norm, rebels disobeying social pressure to follow a certain life path and constructing their own freedom,' she said. 'I was attracted by all that'

'Its members revel in the improvisational DIY hacking of bicycles, particularly in the creation of tall bikes that totter along on frames two or three times as high as a normal two-wheeler,' the site explains.

'It is a culture of pared down modification and extension, of welded steel and over-sized tires, of bikes that include surfboards, painted shark teeth, and other carnival clown-like features.'

This all culminates in an annual event that includes jousting competitions, races, and performances.

The BLBC's annual event is Bike Kill, which takes place in the parking lot of a supermarket just behind the club's headquarters, called the Chicken Hut.

Glassberg revealed that the event begins early in the afternoon, when people from the neighborhood - especially children - come to check out and try the new bikes that have been built by the club members and their friends.

Bike Kill happens in the parking lot of a supermarket behind the Chicken Hut, the BLBC's headquarter in Bedstudy

People dress up in costumes and enjoy plenty of beer as they await for the jousting competitions to begin

Glassberg said the girls aren't intimidated at Bike Kill, and are always joining in on the fun and debauchery of the events

'Late in the evening starts the jousting,' she said. 'And girls aren't intimidated.'

'Bike Kill is a big apocalypse. Various unidentified objects are projected through the air. Bikes are flying and colliding. No one can escape.'

'If you come to Bike Kill, you're all in it. Spiritually and physically. It's a big nonsense where everybody expresses their freedom, however they want to.'

While many of Glassberg's photos capture the incredible activity of Bike Kill in all its chaos, her collection also includes many of the quieter moments among the club.

While many of Glassberg's photos capture the incredible activity of Bike Kill in all its chaos, her collection also includes many of the quieter moments among the club

Many nights were simply spent sitting around a table playing dices with some beer and dollar bills at the Chicken Hut

Glassberg also captured many moments of the members stealing a few moments of sleep on a sofa at the busy headquarters

It was these moments that Glassberg was able to really get to know the club, and saw that there was more to them than jousting and tattoos

There are the stolen hours of sleep on a sofa or kitchen table in the Chicken Hut, and the nights sitting around a table playing dices with some beer and dollar bills.

'After a long night at the hut, friends are welcome to spend the night over,' Glassberg explained. 'Sometimes they plan big party events at the Hut, with activities and concerts.'

'But this one time, nothing was planned, and like most of the times people started showing up during the night, hanging out in the kitchen, by the turtle tank.'

'Tequila is flowing, they start playing dices, put some nice music on, and the night is on...until the early morning.'

It was during these moments that Glassberg was able to really get to know the club, and saw that there was more to them than jousting and tattoos.

'I quite liked the contrast between how they look and who they are,' she said. 'There is this tough outside image with the clothes, colors, jousting, tattoos, and anarchy events. But some of those folks are the greatest I've met'

Glassberg said that in her three years with the club she found that the members had 'big heart, culture, and intelligence'

Pictured are stacks of bikes at the Chicken Hut. Before the annual Bike Kill, children from the neighborhood come to get a chance to ride these DIY bikes

'I quite liked the contrast between how they look and who they are,' she said. 'There is this tough outside image with the clothes, colors, jousting, tattoos, and anarchy events.'

'But some of those folks are the greatest I've met, with a big heart, culture, and intelligence.'

'They may seem like the careless youth, yet they are more aware than most young people about what's going on in the world and are very united.'

'It seems to me they have real values of human relationships that we seem to be losing today with technology.'
A farmer who was jailed for life for shooting a burglar dead has called for a pensioner arrested for the same thing to be released without charge.

Tony Martin, 73, killed Fred Barras, 16, after he and Brendon Fearon, 29, broke into his house in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk in August 1999.

Barras died of his gunshot wounds and Fearon was blasted in the legs after the notorious shooting, which saw Martin sentenced to life in prison.

Eventually he appealed his sentence and got it reduced to three years for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

After fellow pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks, 73, was arrested on suspicion of murdering an intruder at his south London home this week, Martin has been quick to defend him.

Tony Martin (pictured), 73, killed Fred Barras, 16, after he and Brendon Fearon, 29, broke into his house in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk in August 1999

He told the Daily Mirror: 'I would have done the same thing if I was in Richard's situation.

'Richard is not a criminal, he's just a very unlucky man to be caught up in the muck of other people and legislation.

'The same thing happened to me 20 years ago so I can understand how it ended up the way it did.'

Mr Martin has lived at a secret address since his release.

After fellow pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks, 73, was arrested on suspicion of murdering an intruder at his south London home this week, Martin has been quick to defend him

Homeowner Mr Osborn-Brooks, was upstairs asleep with his wife when he was woken by two men breaking into his suburban home in Hither Green, south-east London in the early hours of Wednesday.

One, 38, was armed with a screwdriver, but was left with stab wounds to the chest after a struggle ensued between him and the pensioner inside the house. He later collapsed and died in hospital.

Mr Osborn-Brooks has been arrested on suspicion of the 38-year-old's murder.

There have been multiple calls for him to be freed from neighbours and politicians.
The grandfather of two young SA children murdered with their mother yelled at their killer after he was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison.

Steven Graham Peet appeared in the Supreme Court on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to killing Adeline Yvette Wilson-Rigney and her children, Amber, six, and five-year-old Korey at a property north of Adelaide in May, 2016.

Justice Malcolm Blue said the murder of the children was a 'senseless and incomprehensible act' in sentencing him to the mandatory life term.

Steven Graham Peet (pictured) has been sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison for murdering his partner and her two young children at a property north of Adelaide in 2016

After the sentence was handed down, Steven Egbert, the children's grandfather (centre), yelled 'we'll be here when you get out you weak little f****'

Peet appeared in the Supreme Court on Friday after earlier pleading guilty to killing Adeline Yvette Wilson-Rigney (left) and her children, Amber, six, and five-year-old Korey (right)

He said he would have sentenced him to 33 years non-parole had it not been for Peet's eventual guilty pleas to all three murders.

After the sentence was handed down, Steven Egbert, the children's grandfather, yelled 'we'll be here when you get out you weak little f****' before being removed from the court by security.

Another yelled out 'animal' as Peet was led away.

The bodies of Ms Wilson-Rigney and the children were all found with cable ties around their necks and hidden under clothes and bedding and, in the case of the boy, under a child's play tent.

The young girl had adhesive tape wrapped around her head and a sock had been stuffed in her mouth.

Her arms had been tied behind her back.

The young boy had parts of his body wrapped in tape and his hands and feet were secured behind his back in a hog-tied fashion.

Peet and Ms Wilson-Rigney had been dating since February 2016, the Supreme Court heard.

After the attack, Peet confessed the crime to a relative.

'I killed my lady and her two kids,' he later told police on the phone, according to ABC.
A family that suffered through a four-month-long bed bug infestation in 2012 that left their then-three-year-old son with lifelong scars has been awarded nearly $1.6 million by a jury in California.

Lilliana Martinez, 34, said the infestation began in 2012 two years after she and her husband moved into their Inglewood home, and was followed by a host of other 'slum-type living conditions' that resulted in their having to move out and sue the unit's owners in 2014.

On Monday, the jury in the case ordered the apartment's owners, Amusement Six Apartments, to pay the family $1,593,500.

The family's attorney, Brian Virag, told the New York Times the award is the largest sum ever granted to a single family in a bed bugs case.

Lilliana Martinez and her family that suffered through a four-month-long bed bug infestation that left their then-three-year-old son with lifelong scars was awarded nearly $1.6 million by a jury in California on Monday

Martinez said she first noticed there was a problem when her son, Jorge Maravilla, who was three at the time, developed red spots all over his body and face.

She took him to the doctor, who said the marks were from bug bites.

'I was horrified, because I had never seen something like that before,' she said.

Martinez went home, and realized that bed bugs were to blame, and that they were also biting up the back of her three-month-old daughter as she slept.

Martinez said she first noticed there was a problem when her son, Jorge Maravilla, who was three at the time, developed red spots all over his body and face

She took him to the doctor, who said the marks were from bug bites

Martinez home in Inglewood was infested with bed bugs for four months in 2012

She immediately told the property managers, who had them throw out all of their furniture, including the baby's crib, and fumigated the unit, leaving them to live in an apartment covered in white powder.

'All we could do is just vacuum a little place on the floor,' Martinez said, which is where the entire family of four slept.

She said she thought at the time, 'How am I going to lay my newborn baby and my 3-year-old right where everything is?' but she felt she had no choice.

'We didnt have anywhere else to go,' she said.

She immediately told the property managers, who fumigated the unit, leaving them to live in an apartment covered in white powder

The bed bugs did not go away for four months, until the company removed the carpet

The company had them throw out all of their furniture, including the baby's crib

Additionally, the family suffered discomfort, sleeplessness, property damage and emotional distress stemming directly from the bed bugs infestation

The family suffered through continuing bed bug bites for four months, until the company finally removed the carpet, which helped to ease the infestation.

But the damage had already been done to her son, who couldn't stop scratching the bites covering his legs, arms, torso and face.

Additionally, the family suffered discomfort, sleeplessness, property damage and emotional distress stemming directly from the bed bugs infestation, according to court documents.

In 2014, the family moved out of the apartment owned by Amusement Six Apartments and sued the company for breach of warranty of habitability, emotional distress, negligence, breach of contract and other charges, with the help of attorney Brian Virag

The family suffered through continuing bed bug bites for four months, until the company finally removed the carpet, but the damage had already been done to Jorge Maravilla (shown)

And after the bed bugs were gone, other problems remained, like a cockroach infestation.

As a result, the family was eventually forced to move out in 2014.

That's also when they sued the management company for breach of warranty of habitability, emotional distress, negligence, breach of contract and other charges.

Four years later, Martinez said the jury award comes as a 'great relief' to the family, who she said went to court for her son, who has been marked for life; his scars are shown here

At eight years old, Jose Maravilla's scars from those bed bug bites remain, seen here

Martinez hopes to use some of the money from this jury award to try to lessen the marks

Four years later, Martinez said the jury award comes as a 'great relief' to the family, who she said went to court for her son, who has been marked for life.

At eight years old, his scars from those bed bug bites remain.

Martinez hopes to use some of the money from this jury award to try to lessen the marks.

Attorneys for Amusement Six Apartments declined to comment on the award.

The home was located as 10131 Buford Avenue in Inglewood, and the family moved into it in 2010, CBS reported.

There are now living in another apartment in South LA, according to NBC.
A British snowboarder was suffocated and killed when his head became stuck in snow in the French Alps.

The 25-year-old, who has not been named, was off-piste when he fell during heavy snow, according to local police in Meribel.

He is thought to have been in the Las Alluel when he fell head first and suffocated.

A rescue team and a helicopter were dispatched from nearby Courchevel before 2pm yesterday.

The 25-year-old was spending the winter working as a seasonair, or chalet worker, in Meribel, according to Le Dauphine libere. File photo

Sadly, the man pronounced dead at the scene, despite efforts to resuscitate him.

While the avalanche risk level was set at three out of five, it is not believed that he was caught in a snowslide.

The 25-year-old was spending the winter working as a seasonair, or chalet worker, in Meribel, according to Le Dauphine libere.

It comes after Formula One driver Michael Schumacher suffered brain damage at the same resort in December 2013.

It comes after Formula One driver Michael Schumacher suffered brain damage at the same resort in December 2013

The 25-year-old, who has not been named, was off-piste when he fell during heavy snow, according to local police in Meribel

More than 30 people have died in avalanches in the French Alps this winter, and skiers have been urged to stay on piste to avoid the risk of snowslides.

Seasonaire, Jordan Waugh, 23, was working for a specialist chalet company when he was killed falling off a 650ft cliff in Oz en Oisans, in February.

In January, Owen Lewis, 22, froze to death after becoming lost on a night out in Risoul.

John Bromell, 39, who went missing in January, is presumed dead after last being seen boarding a chairlift alone in heavy snow.
A former paralegal who fleeced more than $1.3million from Macquarie Bank to fund her luxury lifestyle will spend at least two years behind bars.

Danika Lena, 27, splashed cash on Chanel handbags, in swanky bars and on Ubers for almost two years while she made withdrawals in the name of the clients at the legal firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

The young woman from Drummoyne in Sydney's inner west cried throughout the sentencing at the Downing Centre Distract Court where judge Deborah Sweeney jailed her for a minimum of two years, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Danika Lena (pictured) is accused of defrauding Macquarie Bank of more than $1.3million

In August last year Lena pleaded guilty to 21 charges of using a false document to obtain a financial advantage, a crime carrying a maximum jail term of 10 years.

The court heard that her white collar crime spree was fuelled by severe body-image issues and other mental health problems.

Between September 2013 and June 2015 Lena used her position in the development sales arm of legal firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth to make large withdrawals from Maquarie bank in the name of clients.

She would fill out a withdrawal slip for the partners at the law firm to unwittingly sign but would put her bank details instead of the clients.

Lena started with smaller amounts, taking $5,000 to start with but she quickly started siphoning off larger amounts. She stole $82,394.57 in December 2013 and $116,000 on one day in April 2015.

In total she fraudulently obtained a total of $1,304,324.67 from the bank.

Lena (pictured out of court in 2017) lived large for almost two years while she made withdrawals in the name of the clients at the legal firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Lena pleaded guilty to making 21 fraudulent transactions in total, the largest being for $116,000 in April 2015 (pictured out of court in 2017)

The law firm tipped police off in June 2016 after a client complained that they had not been paid.

Lena blew $547,000 on designer threads between 2013 and 2015 shopping for brands like Sass & Bide, Pierre Haddad and Chanel.

Hey there big spender! Exactly what Lena spent the money on: David Jones: $180,000 Myer: $36,000 Sass & Bide, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Pierre Haddad Hair: $280,000 Scanlan & Theodore: $60,000 Tuchuzy Bondi: $30,000 Taxi Fares, Uber, Car Park fees: $140,000 Cash withdrawals: $200,000 Debt repayments: $25,000 Advertisement

She spent a whopping $140,000 on taxis, Ubers and car parking fees.

She also cleared $25,000 of her own debts and would withdraw more than $200,000 in cash from ATM machines at one time.

Lena's criminal behaviour and excess shopping was linked to her body dysmorphic disorder and other body-image related mental health issues.

The court heard that she had been diagnosed with severe depression, bulimia and self-esteem issues.

'A psychiatrist report states her compulsive shopping behaviour was linked to poor body image,' Ms Sweeney told the court.

'Of her compulsive shopping she felt excited beforehand but her depression returned afterwards.'

'During her stealing she also went to great lengths to tell her family, friends and work colleagues she was suffering health issues to gain adoration and attention.'

She will be eligible for release on parole in April 2020.
Hugo Gonzalez, 49, of Fontana, was being questioned by investigators

A man was taken into custody Thursday after two explosive devices detonated inside a Sam's Club store in Southern California, police said. No injuries were reported.

Hugo Gonzalez, 49, of Fontana, was being questioned by investigators after the explosives went off inside the store in Ontario, which is about 45 miles east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

Witnesses had seen Gonzalez flee from the scene and they quickly rushed to alert the authorities, Sgt. Bill Russell explained to KTLA.

Gonzalez led officers on a short pursuit after he was seen leaving the store, but eventually pulled over, said Ontario Police Department spokesman Officer Eliseo Guerrero.

After officers searched his car, they found additional materials 'similar to those used in the devices' that were found in the store, police said.

Authorities say all of the customers and employees were accounted for and there doesn't appear to be any damage to the building

Investigators are still trying to determine a motive, but believe Gonzalez acted alone. He appeared to have no connection to Sam's Club, Guerrero said.

Authorities say all of the customers and employees were accounted for and there doesn't appear to be any damage to the building.

Police were also searching an apartment that was connected to Gonzalez in the neighboring city of Fontana, Guerrero said.

The vehicle belonging to Gonzales is searched by authorities

Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to assist police with the investigation.

Casey Staheli, a spokesman for Walmart which owns Sam's Club, said the company was relieved no one was injured.

The store remained closed Thursday night as police investigated, he said.
A woman who disturbed neighbours with a 'loud and penetrating voice like a foghorn' is fighting eviction from a public housing property.

The 72-year-old's medical condition allegedly caused a 'lack of control' causing 'considerable grief' to other tenants.

Just one day before the Housing Department released a warrant for police to enter her home, her case was heard in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

A 72-year-old woman who disturbed neighbours with a 'loud and penetrating voice like a foghorn' is fighting eviction from a public housing property (stock image)

Justice Philip McMurdo revealed how the woman suffered psychiatric disabilities including chronic paranoid schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

'On her case, at least, her psychiatric disabilities are so severe that they sometimes deprive her of her capacity to control her actions,' the court reportedly heard.

Her actions however caused 'considerable grief for neighbours', despite her vulnerability, Judge McMurdo told the court.

Her reported actions also caused problems for the department, who must consider not just one tenants but also others requiring public housing.

The judge ordered the woman will not face any eviction until her appeal is heard, meaning the department will not be able to apply for a warrant for possession of the unit.

Queensland's Housing Department outlines on its website how everyone has 'the right to enjoy reasonable peace, comfort and privacy' in their home.

Tenants must also pay rent on time, take good care of the property and avoid 'disturbing the peace, comfort or privacy' of neighbours.
Primary schoolchildren who accused their teacher of sexually abusing them have admitted they lied in parts of their claims in a failed attempt to have him sacked.

The teacher, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on trial to face charges of indecent assault against three 11-year-old girls at a school in Auckland, New Zealand, last year.

Prosecutors argued the defendant 'stroked the students' hair in an indecent manner, swiped his hand over the chest area of two of the victims and grabbed the breasts of another victim,' according to Stuff NZ.

But under cross-examination, one of the girls admitted she lied when she told police she had seen the teacher touch another student. The girl maintained that the teacher had touched her.

Primary schoolchildren who accused their teacher of sexually abusing them have admitted they lied in parts of their claims in a failed attempt to have him sacked (stock)

'My friend told me that she got touched and I pretended to believe her,' she said, according to the publication.

A boy who initially claimed he had witnessed the alleged assaults admitted in court a plan had been hatched to have the teacher sacked.

'I joined in because my friends were there and I wanted to support them and because I didn't really want to put up with any of that other stuff,' he said.

The teacher admitted that in March last year he lost his temper at his students, leading to a tense classroom standoff.

Under cross-examination, one of the girls admitted she lied when she told police she had seen the teacher touch another student (stock)

His lawyer claimed that was when the children devised a plan to have him fired.

In less than an hour of deliberation, a jury found the teacher not guilty on all seven charges.

He described the ordeal as his 'year of hell' and said he may never teach again after having a 'total meltdown'.

'When the verdict was announced I was stunned, relieved and angry that my elderly parents, family and friends had to go through the trauma of a year of hell,' the teacher told the New Zealand Herald.

'Only through the support of colleagues, friends and family was I able to continue with the semblance of a ''normal'' life.'
The four US Marines who were killed when their helicopter crashed during a training mission in the California desert on Tuesday have been identified.

Military officials named the crash victims as being Capt. Samuel Schultz, 28, of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania; 1st Lt. Samuel Phillips, 27, of Pinehurst, North Carolina; Gunnery Sgt. Richard Holley, 33, of Dayton, Ohio; and Lance Cpl. Taylor Conrad, 24, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The Marines were with the Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.

The military identified the four Marines who died when their helicopter crashed during a training mission Tuesday. Among those killed were highly-decorated Gunnery Sgt. Richard Holley, 33 (left), of Ohio, and Capt. Samuel Schultz, 28, of Pennsylvania

Also among Tuesday's helicopter crash victims were First Lt. Samuel Phillips, 27 (left), of North Carolina, and Lance Cpl. Taylor Conrad, 24, of Louisiana

Their CH-53E Super Stallion, the largest helicopter in the U.S. military, crashed Tuesday at about 2.35pm in the desert outside El Centro, California, near the U.S.-Mexico border. The crew were on a squadron training mission involving aircraft landings in unimproved zones, according to an official Marine Corps statement.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

'These 'Warhorse' Marines brought joy and laughter to so many around them,' Col. Craig Leflore, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 16, said in the statement.

'They each served honorably, wore the uniform proudly and were a perfect example of what makes our Marine Corps great - its people! They will forever be in our hearts and minds.'

President Trump tweeted that his 'thoughts and prayers' are with the victims of the crash, adding: 'We pray for their families.'

The four Marines were flying in a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter (stock) over the California desert during a training mission when their helicopter crashed

The Marines were on a squadron training mission involving aircraft landings in unimproved zones. Military officials are investigating the cause of the crash

President Trump tweeted condolences to the families of the Marines who died in the crash

Capt. Schultz was a pilot, who joined the Marine Corps in May 2012. He had previously been deployed with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and was stationed at bases including Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida; Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas; and MCAS New River, North Carolina.

First Lt. Phillips was also a pilot. He joined the Marines in August 2013 and had been stationed at NAS Pensacola, NAS Corpus Christi and MCAS New River.

Gunnery Holley was also a CH-53 helicopter crew chief, who joined the Marine Corps in November 2003. He had been deployed to Iraq twice for combat tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Holley was also deployed to Japan as part of the Unit Deployment Program and with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. He had been stationed at Marine Corps Base Quantico and MCAS Miramar.

Holley had been awarded with the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, nine Air Medal-Strike/Flight awards, and four Navy and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals.

Lance Cpl. Conrad was a CH-53 helicopter crew chief, who joined the Marine Corps in May 2016.

Conrad's family and friends noted that he had just become a father, with Cpl. Brock Portier, a good friend and fellow Marine, said that his 'brother,' Conrad, was 'the gold standard' in the corps.

Lance Cpl. Conrad was a CH-53 crew chief, who joined the Marine Corps in May 2016

First Lt. Phillips was a pilot, who joined the Marines in August 2013. He received his wings in September 2016 (pictured left on the helicopter flight deck in Pensacola, Florida)

Phillips (right) had been stationed at NAS Pensacola, NAS Corpus Christi and MCAS New River

Conrad's great aunt, Pam Scoggin of Texas City, Texas, said he loved serving his country.

Tuesday's crash is said to be the deadliest involving a Marine aircraft since a KC130T transport plane went down in Mississippi last July, killing 15 Marines and a sailor.

The CH-53 helicopter crash was just one of several crashes involving military aircraft within the week, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

A Marine AV-8B II jet crashed while flying over Africa's Djibouti on Tuesday, leaving the pilot in stable condition after he was forced to eject from the plane.

And on Wednesday, Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, 34, of Valencia, California, died during a training flight inside the Nevada Test and Training Range north of Las Vegas' Nellis Air Force Base. At the time, he was in his first season with the Air Force's Thunderbirds  the elite aerial acrobatics unit  and flying an F-16 Fighting Falcon.

In March, 11 crew members total died in crashes involving an Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter in Western Iraq and a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter off the Florida coast near Key West.
Juanita Perez Williams wants to be the Democratic nominee in the 24th Congressional District race. She wants to defeat Republican U.S. Rep. John Katko in November.

However, she has a hurdle to clear in a short period of time. She must collect at least 1,250 valid signatures to qualify for the June 26 primary ballot. She has until Thursday to do it.

Perez Williams' decision to run for Congress race caused a stir among local Democrats. Dana Balter, a professor at Syracuse University and a leading activist, won the Democratic designation in February. Until this week, it appeared Balter would be a lock to face Katko, R-Camillus, in the general election.

Enter Perez Williams, the 2017 Democratic nominee for Syracuse mayor, a mother of four adult children, an ex-Naval officer and former regional representative for the state Department of Labor.

"This is such an important vote for people in central New York and I just couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore," Perez Williams said in an interview with The Citizen Thursday evening. "Watching this race unfold, I felt like if I want to change this region, I want to change this country, then I had to have the courage to get into this race."

Perez Williams offered a blunt assessment of Katko's performance as central New York's congressional representative. She considers him a "nice guy," but doesn't believe he has stood up to President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders.

Central New York, she continued, needs someone who will fight the "unreasonable policies" coming out of Washington. She also accused Katko of being unwilling to meet or communicate with those he represents.

"He tries to act like he's there for us, but he doesn't do any town halls. He doesn't respond to his constituents," Perez Williams said. "I've been involved with a number of groups that just try and get in his office. He doesn't want to talk to anyone and the reason is he can't. He can't be a voice for us if he wants to keep his job."

Katko's voting record also bothers Perez Williams. She singled out his vote in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a law signed in December that temporarily reduces income taxes for most Americans and permanently slashes the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent.

When Katko explained his vote, he said the tax measure would help a vast majority of his constituents. But critics claimed it would largely benefit wealthy individuals and corporations.

"For him to come out and say that this benefits his constituents is just so untrue," Perez Williams said. "We look at how it's going to impact the individual taxpayer as opposed to corporations. We look at how it's disingenuous with regard to health care. John is attempting to really tell his voters one thing but on the other hand, he's doing another."

But before Perez Williams can take on Katko, a primary awaits. If she can qualify for the June 26 ballot, she will face Balter.

Balter has been in the race for seven months  she formally declared her candidacy in September  and won the support of Democratic committees in Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego and Wayne counties. She has been endorsed by grassroots groups in central New York, including local Indivisible chapters. The national Indivisible organization, which was created to oppose the Trump agenda, endorsed Balter this week.

Balter's campaign released a statement after it was revealed that Perez Williams would run for Congress. The comments highlighted the support for Balter and her focus on defeating Katko in the general election.

"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," the campaign wrote. "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."

Perez Williams praised Balter and called her a "great candidate." But, she added, her decision to enter the race is "about winning."

"This is about being able to get out there and mount a serious campaign that beats John Katko," she said. "In order to do that, we need national attention. We need a focus on us that brings in not only funding but endorsements and the ability to flip this seat.

"I waited on the sidelines. I was part of that designation process. I supported Dana and was there for her. But at the end of the day, it's about winning. I jumped into this because we need to win. It's not just about sticking to our principles with a designated candidate that is not getting any traction."

Local Democratic leaders were surprised by Perez Williams' decision to enter the race. Earlier this week, she contacted Mark English, chairman of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee, to notify him that she would be a candidate for Congress.

There was a new development Wednesday. English and the three other Democratic chairs in the district issued a joint statement criticizing the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for "meddling" in the 24th district race.

The statement didn't mention Perez Williams by name, nor did it detail the DCCC's activities in the district. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Citizen that the DCCC was supporting Perez Williams' effort to gather petitions.

Perez Williams asserted it was her decision to run for Congress.

"I know there are people out there talking about who's involved, who's supporting me, who's behind this and that gets to the point," she said. "When you're an experienced candidate and people know you can raise money and people know you can get national attention, they're going to come after you. That's what we need! We need that type of support."

With the deadline approaching, Perez Williams is confident she will collect the signatures needed to qualify for the primary ballot. She said hundreds of people who supported her mayoral campaign last year are circulating petitions.

She is familiar with playing the role of the outsider in a Democratic primary fight. In the Syracuse mayoral race last year, she did not win the party's designation. She ran in the primary and won.

As the Democratic nominee, she received support from prominent officials and organizations. Former Vice President Joe Biden and EMILY's List, a group that works to elect Democratic women, endorsed her campaign.

Perez Williams lost the general election to independent candidate Ben Walsh. But she believes that experience will help her as she prepares for a grueling congressional campaign.

"We learned that when you fall and when you lose you get right back up because it's not about you. It's not about your agenda. It's not about worrying about the naysayers," she said. "It's about getting up, knowing people are relying on you. They have an expectation and really that's what led me to get in this congressional race."
Crystal Mostek, 33, strode into the Virginia Beach, Virginia, convenience store, on Tuesday and allegedly placed a device on the counter

A woman was arrested on Wednesday after she allegedly threatened to blow up a 7-Eleven in Virginia.

Crystal Mostek, 33, strode into the Virginia Beach, Virginia, convenience store, on Tuesday and was reported to have put a device on the counter.

She was then said to have allegedly told the store clerk that it was actually a bomb, WAVY reported.

Virginia Beach Fire Department spokesman Art Kohn asserted that the woman threatened to blow up the store.

It was later determined that the device she sat on the counter wasn't actually a bomb.

The woman was charged with threatening to bomb and possession of a hoax device.

A motive has not been released for the woman, who is still currently being held at the Virginia Beach Jail.

Her mugshot showed Mostek with several tattoos and piercings on her face. She also appeared to have lots of eye makeup.

She was then said to have told the store clerk that it was actually a bomb but local authorities determined that it wasn't a bomb

At her arraignment on Thursday, Mostek declared that she was not guilty and that the charges were false.

Her attorney is now trying to determine if a mental health evaluation and treatment will be needed, WTKR reports.

She is scheduled to appear back in court in June.
Centrelink fraud Alison Christie Mains, 39, appeared at Sydney's Downing Centre court on Friday

A mother who rorted Centrelink for almost 15 years by claiming her dead, disabled baby was alive has denied she did 'anything' wrong.

Alison Christie Mains, 39, took home nearly $210,000 in regular welfare payments for her baby girl Tyler Maree from 1998 until 2013.

But court documents said the girl was long dead - having passed away just a few months after she was born.

That didn't stop Mains from claiming the Child Carer Allowance, Family Tax Benefit and Parenting Payment for many years.

More than six months after pleading guilty to six fraud and financial deception charges, Mains appeared at a Sydney courthouse on Friday morning.

'I didn't do anything ... I didn't do anything, no,' she said outside court.

She complained to a police officer she was being 'harassed' by media, but he was not overly concerned.

Mains claimed she was caring for her daughter for 15 years - but her little girl, who had a severe neurological condition, was actually dead

She raked in nearly $210,000 in regular welfare payments for her baby girl Tyler Maree from 1998 until 2013

District Court court documents laid bare the hefty sums Mains was wrongly paid over the years.

She was overpaid $85,969.32 in family tax benefits from July 2000, a further $39,403.80 in child carer allowance from July 1998 and $83,741.46 in parenting payment from November 1998.

She rang the Department of Human Services asking for advances due to her daughter's severe neurological condition.

As previously reported, her first call came on 14 October 1998, with Mains claiming her daughter was still alive and in her care.

After a brief confrontation with the media, Mains sat on the steps of the Downing Centre court and puffed on a cigarette

Mains was smartly dressed in platform shoes and blazer for court - but her fraud and financial deception case was adjourned until July

A former neighbour told Daily Mail Australia Mains had a 'good heart' but knew she had troubles with authorities

ALISON MAINS' BIG WELFARE PAYMENTS Family Tax Benefit: Overpaid $85,969.32 from July 2000 Child Carer Allowance: Overpaid $39,403.80 Parenting Payment: Overpaid $83,741.46 Source: Court documents Advertisement

The girl died two months prior, court documents said.

At one point, Mains told a Centrelink staffer she was moving to Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales north coast, even though she was 'in palliative care that day'.

It is unclear why it took so long for her claims to raise red flags with the welfare agency.

Mains' case was adjourned on Friday, with the District Court awaiting an updated medical report.

She was accompanied to court by a psychologist but did not arrive in time to appear in front of the judge.

The matter returns to court for sentencing on July 6.
Some black students at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School say their voices are being ignored in the aftermath of the mass shooting and are urging their white peers to include them more in the anti-gun violence movement.

About half a dozen African-American students from the school held a press conference last week in Parkland to say they felt their perspectives on the gun law debate weren't being adequately heard.

'We are proud to say we are from Douglas, we are proud to say that those who are at the front are doing a great job, but we have so much to say too,' Mei-Ling Ho-Shing, a 17-year-old student, said.

Some black students at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School say their voices are being ignored in the anti-gun violence movement following the shooting massacre

Parkland's student protesters have been in the national spotlight ever since the February 14 mass shooting as they work to invoke change.

David Hogg, who is white, and Emma Gonzalez, who is Latina, have become two of the more recognized faces of the student-led Never Again movement.

Hogg recently called out the mainstream media for not given the minority survivors of the Parkland shooting a prominent voice.

But some of the students say their peers are not practicing that inclusiveness with their own classmates.

'David Hogg, we're proud of him, but he mentioned he was going to use his white privilege to be the voice for black communities, and we're kind of sitting there like, 'You know there are Stoneman Douglas students who could be that voice',' Ho-Shing told HuffPost.

She said it 'hurt' when her Parkland protester peers recently met with Chicago teens to hear of their experiences growing up in communities that are prone to gun violence.

Tyah-Amoy Roberts, a junior who also spoke at last week's press conference, said she had not been invited to the March For Our Lives meetings by her peers

Another Parkland junior, Kai Koerber, told reporters last week: 'I would say that our voices were not intentionally excluded, but they were not intentionally included

'They went all the way to Chicago to hear these voices when we're right here. We go to school with you every day,' Ho-Shing said.

She added that black students had a key perspective to add to the anti-gun violence movement because often their family and friends suffer from gun violence in their communities.

'The problem (is) with having the leadership at the forefront having the same experience growing up in a neighborhood that's safe and wealthy, where gun violence is not,' she said.

'We just want to share the mic.'

She did, however, point out that the blame wasn't to be put on her peers because mainstream media, including a recent TIME magazine cover, hadn't included black students in their coverage.

'You can't blame them for how big they got,' Ho-Shing said. 'We're definitely going to start talking to them, because this is not a divisive thing.'

Parkland students David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez have become two of the more recognized faces of the student-led Never Again movement

Hundreds of students from different backgrounds took part in the March For Our Lives protest in Washington DC on March 24

Tyah-Amoy Roberts, a junior who also spoke at last week's press conference, told Refinery29 that she had not been invited to the March For Our Lives meetings.

'I'm not saying they're excluding us on purpose. I'm asking them really, turn to your neighbor and ask 'Do you have a story to share? We're having a meeting on this date. I would love to hear it,'' she said.

'They've been saying but they haven't been doing.

'We feel like people within the movement have definitely addressed racial disparity, but haven't adequately taken action to counteract that racial disparity.

'We're not trying to form any rift in the movement, we're not trying to form a separate group. We are proudly representing Never Again. We're just trying to ensure our voices do not get lost in the movement, as we feel we have before this press conference.'

Another junior, Kai Koerber, told reporters: 'I would say that our voices were not intentionally excluded, but they were not intentionally included.

'Obviously we're going to continue to propose action plans and we're going to meet with legislators, and we're going to make sure that those groups that we do have meet with legislators are culturally inclusive of the message that were trying to convey.'
A search is underway for a six-month-old girl who was last seen more than a week ago.

Police are searching for Layla Tullbery, from Pakenham, in Melbournes south-east.

Officers said they are worried for the infant's safety and believe she's with her mother Brittany Tullberg, 19, and her friend Nathan Toro.

A search is underway for six-month-old Layla Tullbery (pictured), from Pakenham, in Melbournes south-east, who was last seen more than a week ago

'It is believed the three may be frequenting the Burwood, Ringwood, Scoresby, Dandenong, Bayswater, Ferntree Gully and Boronia areas,' police said.

'They may be travelling in a maroon-coloured Holden Calais with registration UQN531.'

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
The bomb squad has rushed to a service station outside Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport after the discovery of a suspicious device.

Police cordoned off a Caltex on Mickleham Road in Westmeadows and evacuated the store as they waited for explosive experts to arrive on Friday afternoon.

The Bomb Response Unit discovered the suspicious package was in fact drug paraphernalia, according to Seven News, and the area has been declared safe.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia there were no further details at this stage.

The Australian Federal Police has been contacted for comment.

More to come.
An Indiana woman got a blast from the past when she received a postcard her mother had written to her nearly 60 years ago on Thursday.

Sharon Ann Gongwer received the touching surprise thanks to a hotel manager who found the postcard tucked away in a filing drawer at the Quality Inn & Suites.

The manager, Christine Combs, was shocked when she turned the postcard around and saw it was dated August 26, 1958.

Sharon Ann Gongwer of Goshen, Indiana received a postcard her mother had written to her nearly 60 years ago thanks to Quality Inn & Suites hotel manager Christine Combs

The postcard was dated August 26, 1958 and detailed Gongwer's mother's travels through Southern California

Gongwer's mother Mary had sent the postcard, which featured palm trees lining a neighborhood street, while traveling through Southern California.

The letter discusses having dinner and window shopping around the block 'for exercise' and upcoming plans to head down to San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.

'I thought of you,' Gongwer's mother wrote in the postcard, which cost three cents to send.

'I wish you could have come along. You would have enjoyed speaking Spanish!'

Gongwan, who now lives in an assisted living center, was delighted to receive 'a touch of my mother' on Thursday

The postcard featured palm trees lining a neighborhood street and cost three cents to send

Combs saw that the letter was addressed to a 'Miss Sharon Ann Gongwer' and the address was listed in Wakarusa, a city about 12 miles away.

But when Combs looked up Gongwer, she found out that the woman only lived two miles away from the hotel in Goshen.

Combs personally delivered the letter to Gongwer, who now lives in an assisted living center, on Thursday.

'It's a touch of my mother,' Gongwer told Goshen News. 'I don't have many of her things anymore.'

Combs saw that the letter was addressed to Gongwer at an address 12 miles away. But when she looked Gongwer up, the woman only lived two miles away from the hotel

Gongwer said Mary, who passed away in 1973, had loved traveling and often sent postcards to her daughter back home.

But both Combs and Gongwer have no idea how the postcard could have ended up at the hotel, which has only been around for 30 years.

Gongwer said she is grateful that Combs found it, and couldn't believe the postcard was so well-preserved.

'To have a postcard in this good of condition is amazing,' she said. 'You don't expect to find things like that.'
A local councillor from remote Western Australia has been left red-faced after staff in her fashion retail store displayed items emblazoned with Nazi imagery.

Bandanas bearing the swastika with colouring used by the German Nazi party were displayed for sale at long-established business VA Fashions.

The town, in Kununurra in Western Australia's Kimberley region, is a popular stop for visitors touring Australia's Top End.

Opened in 1974, VA Fashions is owned by Alma Petherick, who was re-elected to Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley Council last October as an independent.

Bandanas bearing the swastika with colouring used by the Nazi party were displayed for sale at VA Fashions in Western Australia (pictured)

She says the employee who displayed the bandanas was unaware of their meaning and that they had been in storage for two years after they were wrongly included in a delivery from a supplier.

Executive Council of Australia Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim believed it was a honest mistake.

'I want to commend the owner of the shop for doing the right thing once the mistake was realised,' he told ABC News.

'Some people think it is a symbol or decoration and don't understand the history [and] it is important to point out to people what the facts are and explain the history.'

Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley president David Menzel, said the incident did not reflect community attitudes but that no further action will be taken.

'I'm comfortable it's no more than a mistake,' he said.

Established in 1974, VA Fashions (pictured) is in Kununurra in Western Australia's Kimberley region. The town is a popular stop for tourists

Opinion was divided on social media.

'I don't buy the excuse that younger people don't know the meaning of it. The bandannas should have been returned to the supplier if they were a mistake, not kept for years,' one woman posted on Facebook.

But another added: 'If you don't know what the symbol represents what would you Google? Give them a break! And get over it. The owner has taken appropriate action.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Cr Petherick for further comment.

The grandmother and retired justice of the peace has lived in the region her whole life.

'If you are not happy, don't complain, do something about it,' she told the Kimberley Echo while running for council last year.

'Good management, fairness, honesty and community at heart is the qualities I will take to council.'
Democratic Councilwoman Kelly Burke (pictured) reportedly started shouting obscenities at a group of teens, one of which was wearing a MAGA shirt

A Texas councilwoman is accused of screaming obscenities at a teenage girl who was wearing a MAGA shirt and waiting in line along with her friends to get cookies.

West University Place Democratic Councilwoman Kelly Burke had approached the group of teens on Saturday and reportedly shouted 'Grab 'em by the p***y girls!'

The father of the girl wearing the Make America Great Again shirt said they tried to ignore the woman, who they did not know was an elected official, however Burke kept shouting.

'At that point the girls were getting kind of scared, and then the woman starts going, 'MAGA! MAGA! MAGA!' while shaking her fist,' the father told KPRC.

The father said the girls left without responding, however the teen in the MAGA shirt noticed Burke had taken a picture of her.

'They were scared,' the father said. 'They were absolutely scared. My little girl essentially wanted to know if this woman was going to hurt her.'

The father said he did not want to be identified for he feared his daughter would be retaliated against.

The Harris County Precinct One Constable's office filed a class C misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct against Burke.

'Adults can't behave towards children like that, period,' the father said.

He said Burke reached out to his wife, and met with and apologized to both of them.

The incident on Saturday unfolded at Milk & Cookies (pictured) in West U on Saturday. Burke is facing disorderly conduct charges

'We accepted her apology,' the father said. 'I would be just as angry if any parent said this to my child but as an elected official I'll let her voters handle this matter.'

West University Place Mayor Susan Sample said that she's glad Burke took 'responsibility for her own actions and has reached out to the affected families to apologize for her remarks.'

'My position as Mayor, however, does not afford me any official authority with respect to matters such as this,' Sample said. 'Neither the city council nor the Mayor has any authority to remove fellow councilmembers.'
Converting old churches into post modern properties is popular among renovators however not many have gone in the opposite direction when choosing to redesign.

A house being advertised on realestate.com.au has done just that and went from a normal suburban home to being a dead ringer for an old church.

The property is located in Strathmore, Victoria, and the before and after photos could be mistaken for two completely different properties.

A classical brick veneer house has been converted into a 'Victorian Gothic dream home' after 17 years of planning and renovating

Prior to the renovation the home, located in Strathmore, Victoria, looked like any other regular brick home

The home, advertised on realestate.com.au, is described as a 'Victorian Gothic revival dream house' after being converted from a more classical brick veneer home.

Considine Real Estate agent Chauntel Considine described the home as one of the most unique she had come across, which isn't a surprise given the professions of the sellers.

'One of the vendors is an architect, and the other an interior designer, so the quality of the home is outstanding,' she said.

Considine Real Estate agent Chauntel Considine described the home as one of the most unique she had come across, which isn't a surprise given the professions of the sellers

The owners bought the property in 2001 before spending the next 17 years renovating it, eight years planning and nine years building

'It would suit a family, or a professional couple, who appreciate great design and are after something different.'

The owners bought the property in 2001 before spending the next 17 years renovating it - eight years planning and nine years building.

The full renovations were only complete a fortnight before going on the market.

As well as the standout exterior, the interior contains four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a double lock up garage, solid hardwood floors and a new marble kitchen with butler's pantry

The property is listed at $1,485,000 and Ms Considine the property also boasts a great location as an extra selling point

Ms Considine the property also boasts a great location as an extra selling point.

'Its within a prominent pocket of Strathmore, and within the Strathmore Secondary College zone,' she said.

The property is listed at $1,485,000.

As well as the standout exterior, the interior contains four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a double lock up garage, solid hardwood floors and a new marble kitchen with butler's pantry.
Embattled Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt reportedly tried to use his motorcade's sirens and lights in Washington DC traffic so he could speed up his trips to the airport or dinner.

Multiple agency officials told the New York Times that Pruitt was often late to meetings and urged his detail to use the lights, including on one trip to the French restaurant Le Diplomate, which is he was known to frequent.

Eric Weese, who used to run his security detail, said he tried to stop him but was unsuccessful.

Two weeks after he told Pruitt that the sirens were only for emergencies, Weese said he was reassigned to another job within the EPA.

Embattle EPA chief Scott Pruitt reportedly tried to use his motorcade's sirens and lights in Washington DC traffic so he could speed up his trips to the airport or dinner

Weese also said he expressed concerns about Pruitt's desires to fly first class on short trips like DC to New York City.

When Weese was removed from his security detail, Pruitt reportedly began flying first class regularly.

Pruitt is currently at the center of a swirl of ethics questions after it was revealed that he lived in a bargain-priced Capitol Hill condo with ties to a fossil fuels lobbyist.

A review of Pruitt's ethical conduct by White House officials is underway, adding to other probes already being conducted by congressional committees and EPA's inspector general into outsized spending on luxury air travel and unusual security precautions.

But despite a growing list of scandals hanging over his head, Pruitt's job seemed safe on Thursday as his boss  President Trump - took his side.

Aboard Air Force One on the way home from an economic roundtable in West Virginia, Trump told reporters that he's standing by his man.

'I think he's done an incredible job. He's been very courageous. It hasn't been easy, but I think he's done a fantastic job,' he said, while acknowledging that he would 'take a look at' reports about ethics lapses in the office of America's most powerful green regulator.

'I think he's a fantastic person,' the president added. 'I just spent  I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Scott Pruitt, and they love Scott Pruitt.'

Asked earlier as he left Washington whether he still had confidence in the EPA chief, a wind-swept Trump told reporters: 'I do.'

The president's show of support is the latest swing of a pendulum that holds Pruitt's career in the balance.

President Donald Trump lent strong support to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Thursday aboard Air Force One, even in the face of ethics scandals

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly demanded Tuesday that Pruitt tell him if any more scandalous shoes were about to drop

Pruitt faced questions Wednesday about his sweetheart apartment lease from a lobbyist and two big raises he pushed through for EPA staff members close to him

It's all good: A wind-swept Trump said boarding Air Force One that 'I do' have confidence in Pruitt

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly called him Tuesday, demanding in a testy exchange to know if any more shoes would drop.

A day later, one did.

Trump had urged Pruitt to buck up and plunge ahead with an ambitious regulatory agenda on Monday night, telling him to 'keep your head up, keep fighting  we got your back.'

That followed news reports that his housing arrangement in Washington was a sweetheart deal struck with high-octane lobbyists.

At the time, the White House was publicly backing him, albeit cautiously, with Trump telling the press: 'I hope he's going to be great.'

But shortly after Kelly's damage-control call with Pruitt, The Atlantic published allegations that the EPA chief executed a defiant end-run around the White House to secure $85,000 in salary hikes for two longtime Oklahoma friends working at his agency.

Pruitt denied that accusation in a contentious Fox News Channel interview. But by Wednesday afternoon White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was telling reporters, with news networks broadcasting, that 'the president's not' okay with his conduct.



'We're reviewing the situation. When we have had the chance to have a deeper dive on it we'll let you know the outcomes of that,' she added. 'But we're currently reviewing that here at the White House.'

By Wednesday afternoon the White House was saying, via Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, that President Trump was 'not' okay with Pruitt's conduct, but Trump contradicted that a day later

Trump had outwardly backed Pruitt before Wednesday, largely because of his aggressive deregulation actions

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, but his landlord is a lobbyist with business before his agency

Pruitt's EPA also raised eyebrows with the recent revelation that it had considered contracting with a private aviation company last year to get him a corporate jet for trips around the country.

The idea was quickly dumped after the price tag of $100,000 per month was suggested by the aircraft leasing company.

Pruitt had already been in hot water for falsely claiming that he had a 'blanket' waiver of rules that require government officials to fly in economy class when taxpayers are footing the bill.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that Pruitt's long-term career prognosis isn't something that can be predicted.

'You can't speak to several months or several weeks,' he said. 'If the president has confidence in somebody, they stay.'

Gidley wouldn't say which of Pruitt's scandals the White House is reviewing.

'We see what you guys see. We read what you guys report,' he said, emphasizing that Trump 'demands the highest ethical standards.'

Trump has touted his EPA chief's relentless efforts to reverse, scrap or rewrite pollution limits opposed by industry.

On Wednesday, unnamed officials told the Associated Press that he was given a green light for the Fox interview, knowing that if he failed to clear the ethical cloud his job would be in serious doubt.

That turned out to be inaccurate, according to White House officials who said Thursday that Pruitt went rogue and did the interview without the West Wing's blessing.

Pruitt got a call from the president Monday night indicating that he should buck up and ride out the storm  but that was before a new scandal torrent

More than two dozen members of Congress, including two Republicans, called this week for Pruitt to resign or for Trump to fire him.

Pruitt denied that his job was in any danger, saying his enemies will 'resort to anything' to stop his and Trump's regulatory rollbacks.

His use of a little-known legal maneuver to push through the pay raises for his 30-year-old senior legal counsel and his 26-year-old scheduling director resulted in salaries of more than $164,000 and nearly $115,000, respectively.

Pruitt strongly denied on Fox that he knew anything about it before news reports splashed it across the Internet.

'I did not. My staff did and I found out about (it) yesterday and I changed it,' Pruitt said, adding that the agency was now 'walking back' the raises.

But he defended his employees, saying with a touch of hubris that they 'serve a very important person.'

His lodging scandal involves a decision last year to lease a Capitol Hill condominium co-owned by the wife of prominent Washington lobbyist Steven Hart, whose firm represents fossil fuel companies.

Pruitt paid $50 a night for the unit  totaling $6,100 in payments over the six-month period he leased the condo, an average of about $1,000 a month.

Current rental listings for two-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood show even the more modestly priced units typically go for more than twice what Pruitt paid.

'I'm dumbfounded that that's controversial,' Pruitt told The Washington Examiner on Tuesday, insisting that he paid a market rate. Pruitt also described Hart, the registered lobbyist, as a personal friend from Oklahoma who didn't have business before the EPA.

Hart is chairman and CEO of the powerhouse Washington firm Williams & Jensen, which required federal disclosure reports show lobbied EPA extensively in the last year - including Pruitt himself.

EPA also granted a favorable ruling to a pipeline company represented by Hart's firm.
Smith and Ehrhart ultimately teamed up to form Watchill Solutions, a central New York-based technology startup, and in December, they released their first product: Welloh.

A free mobile app for both iOS and Android devices, Welloh was designed to help consumers navigate their health care options. Specifically, the app provides detailed information about nearby convenient care facilities, hospitals and pharmacies.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The idea stemmed from Smith and Ehrhart's work at Welch Allyn. In the past, Ehrhart said, the company had produced "doctor-facing tools"  products doctors use to monitor the patient. However, as health care changed, companies realized more responsibility was falling on the patient.

"Welch Allyn started looking at 'patient-facing tools'  things you could use in your home  and these days, as you're developing devices to use in your home, you develop an app to go with it," Ehrhart said.

Then, Smith and Ehrhart received notices from their insurance companies stating that if either went to an emergency room and were not admitted, the insurance wouldn't cover the visit. It was time to start researching the alternatives.
When President Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, White House chief of staff John Kelly wasn't on the line.

When Trump tapped John Bolton to be his next national security adviser, Kelly wasn't in the room.

And when Trump spent a Mar-a-Lago weekend stewing over immigration and trade, Kelly wasn't in sight.

Kelly, once empowered to bring order to a turbulent West Wing, has receded from view, his clout diminished, his word less trusted by staff and his guidance less tolerated by an increasingly go-it-alone president.

Emboldened in his job, Trump has rebelled against Kelly's restrictions and mused about doing away with the chief of staff post entirely. It's all leading White House staffers and Trump allies to believe that Kelly is working on borrowed time.

In recent weeks, Trump has governed at breakneck pace, ousting aides and issuing surprise policy announcements on Twitter, recreating the helter-skelter feel of his first months in office. Kelly's allies maintain that his retreat is strategic.

Iced out: John Kelly, a retired four star Marine general and ex-Homeland Security secretary is facing internal exile as chief of staff

Over him: Trump is said to be 'tired of being told no' and has overruled Kelly repeatedly recently, including by having guests for dinner who the chief of staff had kept out of his orbit

They suggest that the belief that Kelly was Trump's savior was an overstated idea all along and that the chief of staff is now content to loosen the reins and allow an increasingly comfortable president to govern from his gut.

But those close to the president say that Trump has increasingly expressed fatigue at Kelly's attempts to shackle him and that while Trump is not ready to fire Kelly, he has begun gradually freezing out his top aide.

Trump recently told one confidant that he was 'tired of being told no' by Kelly and has instead chosen to simply not tell Kelly things at all, according to a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In Trump's West Wing, once the rumors begin that an aide's exit is forthcoming, the 'stink' on that staffer never leaves, according to one of the nearly dozen White House aides, former administration officials and outside advisers who spoke to The Associated Press under the same conditions.

As Kelly's public profile and behind-the-scenes influence has faded, speculation has risen that chaos could return.

'It's not tenable for Kelly to remain in this position so weakened,' said Chris Whipple, author of 'Gatekeepers,' a history of modern White House chiefs of staff.

'More than any of his predecessors, Donald Trump needs an empowered chief of staff to tell him what he does not want to hear. Trump wants to run the White House like the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and it's simply not going to work.'

Kelly was once a fixture at the president's side, but Trump has now cut him out of a number of important decisions.

For months, Kelly made it a practice to listen in to many of the president's calls, particularly with world leaders.

While he is still on the line for some of those conversations, Kelly was not part of the call Trump made to Putin last month from the White House residence during which Trump ignored advisers' advice against congratulating the Russian president on his re-election.

Although Kelly had agitated for the removal of outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster, he counseled Trump against hiring Bolton, a neo-conservative media commentator. Trump did it anyway, offering the job to Bolton in a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office and telling his chief of staff about it later.

As Trump spent the Easter weekend at his Florida resort and tweeted about his tariffs plan, Kelly was out of state, though the men did consult by phone.

While Kelly has fumed about the ethics questions swirling around Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, Trump was at least initially more supportive of Pruitt, telling him, 'We've got your back.'

The president also has cast aside the constraints the retired four-star Marine general tried to place on Trump about whom he could see and speak to.

Those restrictions led shunned advisers to try to undermine the chief of staff in the press and with Trump.

For months, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was barred from the White House, only to return when Kelly was overruled by Trump, according to four White House aides and outside advisers.

Many in the West Wing believed that Kelly's attempts to curtail Trump's interactions with Lewandowski, as well as Trump allies such as David Bossie and Anthony Scaramucci, were always destined to fail and alienate the president, who has privately contemplated recreating the freewheeling nature of his campaign and Trump Tower office.

Kelly also has clashed with Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who had his security clearance downgraded after a policy change written by the chief of staff.

Toxic coupling: One of Trump's frustrations at Kelly is over his handling of Rob Porter's firing. Kelly's shifting version of events elicited frustration from former communications director Hope Hicks who was Porter's lover until DailyMail.com revealed he was accused by both his ex-wives of domestic abuse

Bright moment: Kelly enjoyed himself at the Easter egg roll at the White House this week

Clashes: Kelly has repeatedly been at odds with Jared Kushner, stripping him of access to the most guarded secrets

Some White House aides contend that Kelly has been intentionally giving Trump more leeway to be himself and that Kelly recognizes that's what Trump wants.

But allies acknowledged Kelly's receding power and said he's trying to keep his head down and focus on policy, such as the plan to mobilize the National Guard along the U.S. border with Mexico.

The White House declined to make Kelly available for an interview. In public, Trump praises his chief of staff, telling Marines in California last month that Kelly probably 'likes what you do better than what he does, but he's doing a great job.'

The speculation surrounding Kelly echoes the treatment of his predecessor, Reince Priebus, who was the subject of months of questions about how long he would last on the job. Priebus eventually resigned under pressure.

Kelly also no longer commands the same respect among some quarters of the staff.

His role came under harsh scrutiny this year over his handling of the controversy surrounding ousted White House aide Rob Porter, who was accused of domestic abuse.

Kelly's shifting version of events elicited frustration from former communications director Hope Hicks, who had been dating Porter, and dismayed a number of West Wing staffers.

That episode frustrated Trump, who still remains agitated about an interview that Kelly gave to Fox News months ago in which he suggested that Trump had 'evolved' in his thinking about the need for a wall on the Mexican border.

Kelly, who took the job last July, had previously told confidants he hoped to be on the job for a year. One person familiar with his thinking said the chief of staff recently voiced doubt he would make it that far.
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Three people, including a teenage boy, have been shot dead and at least 250 others have been injured by Israeli forces as clashes yet again erupted on the Gaza-Israel border today, Palestinian health officials said.

The death of the male protesters, aged 16, 29 and 38, raises the number of casualties to 22 in the week-long disturbances, during which thousands of Palestinians have gathered along the border, calling for refugees to be allowed to return to the lands that are now inside Israel.

Palestinians have been burning tyres and throwing stones at Israeli soldiers over the border fence, with the military is responding with tear gas and live fire throughout the day.

Black sky: Israeli soldiers are seen next to the border fence on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, as black smoke rises while Palestinians protest on the Gaza side of the border

Projectiles: A Palestinian man throws a burning tyre during a protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday

Shot: An injured Palestinian protester is carried by fellow demonstrators during clashes with Israeli security forces

As at least one Palestinian protester is reported to have been hit by live fire from the Israeli military, concerns grow about more bloodshed. Last week, more than 20 protesters were killed by Israeli fire and hundreds injured, Gaza health officials said.

Today's march has been nicknamed 'the Friday of Old Tires' because protesters plan to burn rubber in hopes that thick black smoke will block the view of Israeli snipers deployed on the other side of the border fence.

Yesterday, Hamas announced that it would pay $3,000 (2,140) to the family of anyone killed in the protests, $500 (357) to Palestinians critically wounded and $200 (143) to those who sustain more minor injuries.

Israeli leaders have said payments by Palestinian authorities to the families of militants killed or imprisoned by Israel encourages attacks on Israelis.

'I will be a martyr today. I will cross the border,' Ahmed Abu Ghali, 20, who held up his shirt to show his still seeping wound from last week that required 40 stitches, said east of Khan Yunis. 'I was wounded last Friday but escaped yesterday from hospital.'

Outrage: Palestinian protesters burn a U.S flag at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest demanding the right to return to their homelands, which are now on the Israel side of the border

Burning: Other protesters burned tyres in order to obstruct the view of Israeli forces on the other side of the fence

No view: Palestinian men wave their national flags as smoke billows from burning tyres at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest, east of Gaza City in the Gaza strip

Shooting blind: Israeli security forces are seen against the backdrop of the thick black smoke near Kibbutz Nir Oz

David and Goliath: A Palestinian demonstrator uses a slingshot to hurls stones at Israeli troops and snipers

Yehia Abu Daqqa, a 20-year-old student, said he had come to demonstrate and honor those killed in the past.

'Yes, there is fear,' he said of the risks of advancing toward the fence. 'We are here to tell the occupation that we are not weak.'

Protesters also moved toward other camps, including east of Gaza City, where a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, greeted the crowd. Nearby, smoke from burning tires rose into the sky.

Friday's march is the second in what Gaza's Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory.

Israel has accused Hamas of trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of large protests and said it will prevent a breach of the fence at all costs.

A woman holds a Palestinian flag during clashes with Israeli troops at the Israel-Gaza border at a protest demanding the right to return to their homeland, in the southern Gaza Strip

On fire: A young Palestinian demonstrator holds a burning U.S. flag at the Israel-Gaza border, left, and right, Palestinian protesters carry a wounded man during today's protest

Palestinian men run for cover from tears gas canisters at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest

Israeli sharpshooters can be seen in the foreground as some of the hundreds of protesters are obstructed by the black smoke

Young fighter: A Palestinian boy has made a make-shift gas mask out of a plastic bottle and a can filled with what appears to be cotton wool to protects himself from inhaling tear gas at the Israel-Gaza border

Clashes: Palestinian men carry an injured protester after clashes with Israeli forces at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest, east of Gaza City in the Gaza strip

Strategy: Palestinian men collect tyres and burn them to protect themselves from shots of Israeli soldiers at the border

Israel's defense minister has warned that protesters approaching the border fence endanger their lives, drawing condemnation from rights groups that said such seemingly broad open-fire rules are unlawful.

A leading Israeli rights group, B'Tselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers to refuse 'grossly illegal' orders to fire at unarmed protesters.

A White House envoy urged Palestinians to stay away from the fence. Jason Greenblatt said the United States condemns 'leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters - including children - to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed.'

Last Friday, thousands of Gaza residents participated in the demonstration, many gathering in five tent encampments that had been set up from north to south along the narrow coastal strip's border with Israel, each at a distance of about several hundred meters from the fence.

Smaller groups, mostly young men, rushed forward, throwing stones, hurling firebombs or burning tires and drawing Israeli fire.

Hiding from bullets: Palestinian demonstrators take cover during clashes with Israeli troops on Friday

Moving in: Palestinians remove part of the Israeli fence at the Israel-Gaza border

Israeli forces are deployed near the kibbutz Nir Oz at the Gaza-Israel border where tyre fire smoke billows from the Palestinian camp of Khuza'a near Khan Yunis, in the southern part of Gaza

Rows to burn: A Palestinian protester sids in a tyre lined up during a protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah

Planning the next move: Palestinian protesters sit over tens of tires collected to be burned during the protest

In all, 22 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, among them 16 involved in last Friday's protests, according to Gaza health officials. This includes a 30-year-old who died on Friday of injuries sustained last week, the officials said.

The six other deaths included three gunmen killed in what Israel said were attempts to attack the border and three men who were struck by Israeli tank fire.

Last week's turnout was apparently driven by the organizational prowess of Hamas as well as the growing desperation of Gaza residents who live in what has been described as the world's largest open-air prison.

The crowd size was seen as a test for Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seized the territory in 2007 from its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

For Hamas, it's perhaps the last chance to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm.

Home made: A Palestinian woman protects herself from inhaling tear gas with the help of a piece of plastic and an onion

Palestinian men hold their national flag next to a tyre fire at the Israel-Gaza border during a protest, east of Gaza City

Ready to demonstrate: Palestinian men prepare to protest at the Israel-Gaza border near Khan Yunis, east of Gaza City

Encampment: A Palestinian youth sits on a tyre stack as protesters run back and forth between the tyre fires

Smoke rises: A picture taken from the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz across the border with the Gaza strip shows Palestinian men protesting and black smoke from burning rubber rising to the sky

Another image taken from Nahal Oz shows dozens of protesters on the Gaza side

Make-shift strategy: A Palestinian man wearing a Guy Fawkes maskprepare to protest with onions meant minimize the effects of tear gas at the Israel-Gaza border near Khan Yunis

The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza's economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.

Hamas leaders billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the 'Great March of Return' of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel. But they stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the border fence.

Israel has warned that it will not permit a breach of the fence and said it has a right to defend its sovereign border.

Military officials have said Hamas has used the protests as a cover for damaging the fence, planting explosives and, in one incident, opening fire on soldiers.

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza's 2 million people by disarming and renouncing violence.

Hamas has refused to give up its weapons - even at the cost of derailing talks on getting Abbas to assume the burden of governing Gaza, seen by Israel and Egypt as a prerequisite for opening Gaza's borders.
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Nasim Aghdam legally purchased a firearm in San Diego two months before she would use it to shoot three people before killing herself at YouTube's headquarters 500 miles away, it has been revealed.

San Bruno police revealed that Aghdam, 38, had bought the 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun from a gun dealer in her name on January 16, 2018.

Authorities said that one of the magazines Aghdam used was empty and that she had loaded a second to continue shooting at the YouTube employees before taking her own life, according to CBS News.

The gun had a capacity of 10 rounds. It remains unknown if the first magazine was fully loaded and how many shots Aghdam fired in total before killing herself.

San Bruno police commander Geoff Caldwell said the investigation will be 'long and very methodical'.

That has included following Aghdam's trek from her home in San Diego to the San Bruno headquarters and what she did in between, including visiting a gun range.

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Nasim Aghdam legally purchased a firearm in San Diego two months before she would use it to shoot three people before killing herself at YouTube's headquarters 500 miles away, it has been revealed

San Bruno police revealed that Aghdam, 38, had bought the 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun from a gun dealer in her name on January 16, 2018

Authorities said that one of the magazines Aghdam used was empty and that she had loaded a second to continue shooting at the YouTube employees before taking her own life. Pictured is a video of Aghdam parodying Taylor Swift

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

Early on Tuesday police in Mountain View, a Silicon Valley hub around 30 miles from YouTube's HQ, found Aghdam 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 days earlier.

The cops who found Aghdam in her car at 1.40am claim 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.

Aghdam told police she was in the area to stay with relatives and was looking for work.

After finding her 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 walked into the YouTube campus through the parking garage and opened fire at 12.46pm, injuring three people before turning the gun on herself.

A man who was injured in the shooting has been upgraded from critical to fair condition. Two women who were shot have since been released from the hospital.

Workers at the shooting range claimed not to have seen Aghdam when she visited 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.'

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.'

After finding her 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

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 with her grandmother prior to the rampage

There was no sign of Aghdam's grandmother at the small home on Wednesday 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.'

Aghdam, who is from Southern California but is Persian, regularly complained online that YouTube were filtering and demonetizing her various video channels

Aghdam was a prolific YouTuber who had ranted online against the company's new policies and for 'censoring her videos and not paying her'

Earlier, the woman's family in Manifee, California, revealed that they came to the US from Iran in 1996 and that Aghdam had 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.

Her father, Ismail Aghdam, told DailyMail.com that Aghdam would lock herself in her bedroom for up to 24 hours a day while creating the 60,000 videos posted on her website and social media channels.

Aghdam 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.

The family released a statement on Wednesday expressing their 'utmost regret' after the shooting.

'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,' they 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 that 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 content.

They also revealed that she accessed YouTube's 200,000 sq ft 'campus' through a parking garage but that she parked her own vehicle behind another business nearby.

On Wednesday YouTube announced plans to increase security both as its headquarters and for offices around the world.

Authorities cover a body with a yellow tarp at YouTube's headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday after Aghdamn opened fire before she shot and killed herself. Smashed glass on one of the doors is also shown

Terrified employees were spotted leaving YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, California in a line after Aghdam opened fire on Tuesday afternoon

Staffers returned to work on Wednesday and waited to be escorted into the building by police. One wore a YouTube T-shirt

An injured woman stands outside YouTube's headquarters, while another employee cries on the phone after escaping the shooting on Tuesday
A Muslim imam has slammed The Project's Waleed Aly for being apparently condescending to a female co-host who disagreed with him on a radical Greens welfare policy.

The Gold Logie-winning TV personality and Rachel Corbett were debating the merits of paying every citizen the equivalent of the age pension, or $23,000 a year.

However at one point during the exchange Aly suggested the female panellist didn't understand Greens leader Richard Di Natale's universal basic income policy, which is being trialled in Kenya.

A Muslim imam has slammed The Project's Waleed Aly (pictured with Carrie Bickmore) for being apparently condescending to a female co-host during a debate of a Greens policy

'Yeah but that's because you're thinking about it the way we're currently thinking about government payments,' he said on Thursday night.

Adelaide-based Muslim imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi said Aly, whose parents immigrated to Melbourne from Egypt, didn't respect the right of women to express an opinion.

'Waleed, this is not Egypt,' he tweeted on Friday.

'In Australia women have the freedom to speak and defend their opinions without the need for your type to try and school them on TV.'

Aly, whose Muslim-convert wife Dr Susan Carland is an author and academic, said the universal basic income policy of the Greens would eliminate the need for expensive means testing of all social security payments.

Adelaide-based Muslim imam Sheikh Mohammad Tawhidi said Aly, whose parents immigrated to Melbourne from Egypt, didn't respect the right of women to express an opinion

'In Australia women have the freedom to speak and defend their opinions without the need for your type to try and school them on TV,' he said

Rachel Corbett, a former Big Brother contestant, said means testing welfare was more equitable than giving social security to everyone regardless of their wealth

'The idea is... if everyone gets this amount of money you don't need to police who gets it... and that costs a lot to do,' he said.

'Once you means test it, like we do welfare, it sort of defeats the whole purpose of it.'

However Rachel Corbett, a former Big Brother contestant, said means testing welfare was more equitable than giving social security to everyone regardless of their wealth.

'I just can't make sense of that... surely this money should only be going to people who without it would be below the poverty line,' she said.

Some viewers were quick to slam Waleed for what they considered 'mansplaining'

Sheikh Tawhidi, a Shia Muslim, joined the criticism of Aly after viewers took to Twitter to accuse the Sunni Muslim presenter of 'mansplaining'.

'Why is this clown still on air? Stopped watching it long ago,' one man said.

'I'm not impressed with Waleed Aly's sense of of self righteous [sic]. He's negative and shuts down community conversations,' another wrote online.

'Waleed is a t**t,' another bluntly said.

Sheikh Tawhid also referenced Aly's interview with millionaire businessman Dick Smith, who in December 2016 accused him of not understanding economics during a debate about immigration numbers.

'Dick Smith was right, you know nothing about the economy,' he tweeted.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto released a statement directly to President Trump via Twitter saying negotiations 'never justify threatening or disrespectful attitudes between our countries.'

'If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn to, not to Mexicans,' he said in a five-minute, video statement.

'We're not going to permit that negative rhetoric to define our actions. We're only going to work in the best interest of the Mexicans.'

Pena Nieto's statement follows a week of public lashings by Trump blasting immigration laws, Mexican government, NAFTA and Honduran asylum-seekers traveling in a caravan into Mexico where some will continue on to seek asylum in the US.

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Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto addressed Trump directly over Twitter after a week of Trump beefing up the border security, calling for the wall and railing against the caravan of asylum seekers headed for the border

During an event in West Virginia on Thursday Trump made several remarks about the caravan of asylum seekers and emphasized the need for more border security until the wall is in place

During an event in West Virginia on Thursday president Trump railed against the human caravan from Honduras organized by Pueblo Sin Fronteras - People Without Borders.

Trump said it's impossible to know the backgrounds of people coming across the border illicitly, and whether they are 'thugs' or 'killers' and 'murderers.'

Talking about the dangerous journey to the U.S. from Mexico, he said it's now been proven that 'women are raped at levels nobody's ever seen before' as he cited a report that he said came out yesterday.

Trump added: 'We have to have strong borders' and vowed that troops would remain at the border 'until we can have a wall.'

A few hours after Trump's remarks the Pentagon issued a statement that said it was creating a 'Border Security Support Cell' to coordinate between the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

'The cell will focus on supporting (the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol) priorities based on missions and threats, which will determine the time frame and number of military personnel employed,' the statement said.

Pena Nieto's statement also comes on the heels of Trump ordering the secretary of Defense to deploy National Guard troops on the U.S.-Mexican border to beef up security on Wednesday.

Trump said that in issuing the deployment the conditions at the border is at a 'point of crisis' and that 'lawlessness' on the Southern border is 'fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security and sovereignty of the American people.'

US President Donald Trump waves next to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto (R) ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit leaders gala dinner in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 10, 2017

While the Mexican president spoke in front of the flag in his Thursday statement, he listed the ways Mexico has worked with Trump and the US, including modernizing NAFTA and working to stop transnational criminal gangs and other things.

'The bilateral relationship entails enormous opportunities that should benefit both nations,' he said. 'It is an intense and dynamic relationship, which understandably also poses challenges. Nevertheless, these will never justify threatening or disrespectful attitudes between our countries.

'Paraphrasing the words of a great president of the United States of America: We will have no fear to negotiate, but we will never negotiate out of fear,' he said, quoting President Kennedy.
Police have released a montage of surveillance videos showing a mentally ill black man wielding a metal pipe like a gun in people's faces in the moments before he was shot dead by officers in Brooklyn.

Saheed Vassell, 34, was killed on Wednesday when NYPD officers unleashed 10 shots in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn after officers mistook the metal pipe he was holding for a gun.

The surveillance footage released by police on Thursday showed Vassell thrusting the metal object at several people, including a woman holding the hand of a child.

A final video snippet showed Vassell, who has a teenage son, raising the object in a two-handed shooting stance as five officers arrived on the scene before the opened fire on him.

Police have released a montage of surveillance videos showing Saheed Vassell, 34, wielding a metal pipe like a gun in people's faces before he was shot dead by officers in Brooklyn

The officers fired off 10 rounds between them and the city's medical examiner found he was hit seven to nine times, including one shot to the head.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police said no gun was recovered from the scene and officers determined that the man had been holding a 'metal pipe with a knob at the end of it'.

Along with the footage, the NYPD also released transcripts of the three 911 calls they received from residents reporting that a man in a leather jacket was pointing what appeared to be a silver gun at residents on the street.

According to the transcripts, one caller to 911 reported that Vassell 'looks like he's crazy but he's pointing something at people that looks like a gun.'

'Where is the gun?' a dispatcher asked one caller. 'His hand,' the caller replied.

The surveillance footage released by police on Thursday showed Vassell thrusting the metal object at several people, including a woman holding the hand of a child

The release of material was meant to back up claims by police that the officers who responded had a legitimate reason to open fire

A final video snippet (above) showed Vassell raising the object in a two-handed shooting stance as five officers arrived on the scene before the opened fire on him

The shooting sparked huge protests in Brooklyn on Thursday among many who felt police should have known that Vassell, a fixture in the Crown Heights neighborhood, had emotional problems.

Police said no gun was recovered from the scene and officers later determined that the man had been holding this metal pipe pictured above

Vassell's father, Eric, said his son had been hospitalized several times for psychiatric problems, some involving encounters with the police, but that he was polite and kind.

'Police had a choice. They always have a choice. They should not train them to kill. They should train them to protect life, to save life,' Eric Vassell said in an interview with WABC-TV.

A tense crowd gathered after the shooting, with some people shouting at officers and decrying the killing as another example of an unarmed black man dying at the hands of police officers who overreacted.

On Thursday, Ruta Deshong, who owns a reggae record shop on the same block where Vassell lived, said she had known him since he was a young boy and that the police who normally patrol the neighborhood knew him well.

Saheed Vassell, 34, was shot dead by NYPD officers on Wednesday in Brooklyn following reports he was wielding a gun on the streets

Vassell's father, Eric, said his son had been hospitalized several times for psychiatric problems, some involving encounters with the police, but that he was polite and kind

'If they had said, 'Drop your weapon,' he would have,' Deshong said. 'The officers in the neighborhood know him. He's all around the place. They know he's not trouble.'

A family friend, Berrest Biggs, said he learned of the shooting through social media.

'I said, 'Is that Saheed?'' Biggs said. 'He was like a child. ... This kid didn't bother nobody.'

The release of the edited material on the NYPD's Twitter account - the full videos and transcripts weren't immediately provided - was meant to back up claims by police that the officers who responded had a legitimate reason to believe they needed to move swiftly to stop a deadly threat.

The material released by the department didn't answer questions about whether the officers had identified themselves or ordered the victim to drop the object before they opened fire.

Mayor Bill De Blasio didn't lay blame on the officers who happened to be passing through and were not from the local precinct.

Protesters march towards the New York Police Department's 71st Precinct on Empire Boulevard to protest Wednesday's fatal police shooting

Hundreds rally for a march to the 71st Precinct on Empire Boulevard to protest Vassell's death

A heavy NYPD presence was needed in Brooklyn on Thursday night as hundreds rallied against Saheed Vassell's shooting death

He said they had no information that the person they were confronting was mentally ill.

'It's a tragedy because a man with a profound mental health problem... was doing something that people perceived to be a threat to the safety of others,' de Blasio said at a news conference.

'What we have seen from the images that are publicly available, people in the community thought he had a weapon and was aiming it at residents.

'That's the kind of calls, multiple calls, that NYPD received.'

New York's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, announced that he would investigate the shooting.

Under an executive order issued by the governor in 2015, the attorney general has the power to act as a special prosecutor in cases involving police killings of unarmed people.

Schneiderman's spokeswoman promised 'an independent, comprehensive and fair investigation.'

Protesters march towards the New York Police Department's 71st Precinct in Brooklyn brandishing signs
Scenes of utter devastation was all that was left behind after a truck carrying more than 100,000 chickens rolled and sent its load flying down a hill.

The incident unfolded on Easter Monday when a driver crashed in Yass Valley, 50 kilometres west of Canberra, about 1.20am, killing an estimated 25,000 baby chicks.

Yass Valley Council workers, who were sent to clean up the aftermath at 3am, have been accused of burying injured poultry alive by bulldozing debris into mounds.

There was carnage on Easter Monday when a truck carrying more than 100,000 chicks rolled - council workers cleaned up the mess, but were accused of 'burying alive' injured chicks

About four hours after workers left the site at 12pm the next day, members of the public attended to scour the scene for any live animals.

They found the area scattered with 'thousands of little bodies both living and deceased', according to a post shared on Vegan ACT's Facebook page.

'Everything in the area, including the living and dead chicks, had been bulldozed into piles of debris, with live chicks left to suffocate and die in the wreckage,' it read.

'Rescuers then worked for over five hours digging the babies out of the mounds by hand.'

Footage of the sweep conducted by the chicken rescuers show them scooping through a mound of debris before discovering a chick that was still alive.

Council workers appeared to be stepping on top of piles of chicks that were flung from the truck on impact

Dirty chicks were scattered among debris in the aftermath of the Easter Monday crash

It could be heard chirping from inside the pile and wriggling about in the hand of its saviour as it was pulled to safety.

'This kind of hideous occurrence epitomises the cruelty and suffering inherent in animal agriculture and the consumption of animals, and animal products,' the post continued.

The council hit back at claims it intentionally 'buried alive' any chickens in its clean up operation.

'The reality is that they (workers) collected about 80,000 of the baby chickens,' Mayor Rowena Abbey said.

The legs of deceased birds stuck out from mounds of dirt and debris from the crash

Council workers were understood to have scooped the debris, including live chickens, into large piles

Ms Abbey said she believed the workers were on scene for about 15 hours, arriving in darkness and struggling 'baby chickens running around everywhere'.

Michelle Isobel from ACT Vegans told Daily Mail Australia it was unlikely the chicks were as active as the mayor recalled, given one-day-old chickens couldn't run.

She also noted a discrepancy in how events were relayed, with the mayor saying workers took great care, yet photos showed them standing on piles of live chicks.

Ms Isobel said the chicks were broiler hens and were likely on their way to be fattened up before being slaughtered for their meat.

The carcasses of one-day-old chicks were scattered across the scene of the crash
The Justice Secretary said homeowners have a right to defend themselves against burglars after a pensioner stabbed an intruder to death.

Career criminal Henry Vincent, 37, died after an attempted break-in at the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, just after midnight on Wednesday.

Vincent, who was one of Kent Police's 'most wanted' criminals, died from a stab wound during a struggle with Mr Osborn-Brooks at the 500,000 suburban property in Hither Green, South East London. A second man is still on the run.

After Vincent died, Mr Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder and only released on bail yesterday following 24 hours in custody. He remains under investigation.

David Gauke, the Justice Secretary, last night said he was on the side of homeowners who resisted during break-ins.

Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, was arrested on suspicion of murder and only released on bail yesterday following 24 hours in custody. He remains under investigation

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'While we cannot comment on specific cases, our sympathies are with householders who have to defend themselves when intruders break in.

'That's why we strengthened the law in 2013 to give householders greater protection from intruders.

'Those changes make it clear that if a householder believes their life or the lives of their family are in danger, and they act in self-defence, they would not ordinarily be convicted of an offence.'

Mike Penning, a former justice minister, said the decision to arrest the 78-year-old pensioner on suspicion of murder appeared 'heavy-handed'. He added that he now faces a 'month of hell' while he is on bail.

David Gauke, the Justice Secretary, (pictured) said he was on the side of homeowners who resisted during break-ins

Mr Osborn-Brooks, a retired RAC office manager and keen chess player, had been asleep next to his disabled wife Maureen, 76, when two men broke into their home and threatened them with a screwdriver.

Vincent was stabbed in the chest after marching Mr Osborn-Brooks into the kitchen, while the other man went upstairs to ransack the property, where his wife, who has dementia, lay defenceless and terrified.

A former Tory defence minister last night described Mr Osborn-Brooks' treatment at the hands of police 'absurd'.

Sir Gerald Howarth said: 'There's clear law on this. If an intruder armed with a weapon suffers fatal injuries, that's his fault. There should be no mercy for people like that.

'It's not only absurd, it's wholly immoral that a householder seeming to protect himself and his family and his property should be the subject of a police investigation - and he should not have been held in custody. The police force is in crisis. It is completely consumed by political correctness.'

In a notorious previous case, Norfolk farmer Tony Martin was jailed for life for murder after shooting a 16-year-old burglar in the back at his home in 1999.

Since then ministers have toughened up protection for householders. In England and Wales they can use 'disproportionate force' to challenge an intruder in their home, which could include the use of lethal force.

Last night Mr Martin, who served three years in prison, said: 'I would have done the same thing if I was in Richard's situation. The police should let him go as soon as possible, not hold him on a murder charge.

'Richard is not a criminal, he's just a very unlucky man to be caught up in the muck of other people and legislation.'

Career criminal Henry Vincent, 37, (pictured) died after an attempted break-in at the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, just after midnight on Wednesday

Mr Osborn-Brooks' wife's close friend Dorothy Kirby, 87, said would he have done anything to protecting his frail wife - who is known as Mo.

She added: 'He is a decent man. You would pick up anything you would need to defend yourself and your home.

'He would be more worried about Mo. He's a very sensible man. He really is a good man. The charges should be completely dropped.'

Neighbour Val Barclay, 63, said: 'He deserves a medal. This is a pensioner who has worked all his life and wants to live and die quietly.'

Adam Lake, who lives near the scene, said he did not feel safe from crime and defended Mr Osborn-Brooks.

He said: '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.'

Police and council workers took up drains in the street on Thursday in an apparent bid to find the screwdriver used during the raid

It yesterday emerged Vincent was named by police on a 'most wanted' list and had helped con pensioners as part of a gang with his father and five uncles, operating in Kent and south London.

The group was jailed for a total of almost 29 years at Croydon Crown Court in 2003 after conning pensioners out of 448,180.

The cowboy builders frog-marched victims to the bank after telling them their homes were about to fall down, using tricks such as displaying rotten pieces of wood they had brought with them and squirting water on walls to claim roofs leaked.

One 80-year-old woman was forced to sign over her 150,000 house. A man aged 80 paid his life savings for unnecessary work that was never done.

The gang even sent one victim a postcard from Ibiza, where they had funded a holiday with their scam. Although the families lived in council houses within a few roads of each other in St Mary Cray, Kent, they drove luxury cars including BMWs and Mercedes. When detectives searched their houses they found a pot containing 27,500 in cash.

The scam  led by Vincent's father Henry  also involved his uncles Clifford, David, John, Robert and Steven. They were jailed for a total of almost 30 years in 2003, with Vincent sentenced to four and a half. Judge Simon Pratt said: 'It is quite clear the family business was devoted to preying upon and fleecing elderly, vulnerable victims.'

In 2009, Vincent got a six-year sentence after he and his father charged a pensioner 72,000 to repair a single roof tile.

His father, then 52, went on the run and was not caught until 2011.

Forensic officers at the scene in South Park Crescent in Hither Green where Vincent was stabbed to death

In 2013 Vincent was named as one of Kent Police's 'most wanted' criminals after he was suspected of carrying out another burglary in Gravesend.

Most recently Kent Police appealed again for him in January this year after he was suspected of being involved in a distraction burglary when jewellery and valuables were stolen from a man in his 70s.

Last night a single bouquet of tulips, which had no message attached, was left on the ground where he died.

A cousin of the burglar told the BBC: 'I don't know what happened in that home, but all I do know is that my cousin is dead today.

'The Henry I know, he was such a loving person and it's probably something what just went wrong but he shouldn't have died out of it.'

A close relative told The Daily Telegraph: 'Henry got in with the wrong crowd. He used to be a good professional boxer. He was wrong to do a burglary, I agree, but he didn't deserve to die because of it.

'He was a gentle giant with three beautiful little girls and what happened to him was wrong.'

Detectives have renewed their appeal for information about the incident early on Wednesday in Hither Green. They particularly want to speak to a second burglary suspect who fled the scene.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding said: 'I would like to speak with anyone who has information regarding the outstanding suspect from the burglary, who is believed to be a white male; he may have told someone what happened at the address.

'It is possible that he fled the scene in a vehicle, possibly a white van, leaving the scene in the direction of Further Green Road. Did you see this vehicle? Do you know where it went after this? I ask anyone to contact our incident room as soon as possible.'

Anyone with information can contact the incident room on 020 8721 4205, call 101 quoting reference CAD214/4Apr or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Oil company BP, known for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said that an oil spill in the Great Australian Bight would be a good thing.

According to documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws by Climate Home News the company said small coastal towns would benefit from the clean up as it would bring in more jobs.

It even said a diesel spill would be 'socially acceptable'.

Documents released under Freedom of Information laws obtained by Climate Home News revealed BP said coastal towns in the Great Australian Bight would benefit from an oil spill (stock image)

BP made these statements in a document submitted in March 2016 to National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.

They wanted to drill two wells off the South Australian coast.

The worst case scenario would mean 750km of coastline would be covered in oil.

A BP spokeswoman told Sydney Morning Herald that the documents were part of ungoing correspondence and 'included a range of feedback that BP was working to address'.

BP made these statements in March 2016 to National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (stock image)

Greenpeace senior campaigner Nathaniel Pelle also told the publication that there was no safe way to drill in the Bight.

After being rejected in November 2015 BP resubmitted their application failed to comply or provided a lack of information on 69 of the 88 requirements set out, including potential ecological consequences.

In October 2016 BP cancelled two of the leases and transferred two to Statoil.

At the time NOPSEMA said that they had requested further information from BP on potential oil spill scenarios and arrangements in place, plans to monitor the environment in case of a spill and consultations with the relevant people.

'Further information on these key areas was not provided prior to the withdrawal notification being issued by BP, and no further assessment of the environment plan submissions will be undertaken by NOPSEMA', the media release said.

Statoil plans to drill a well in October 2019.

In an emailed statement to Daily Mail Australia Statoils country manager in Australia, Jacques-Etienne Michel, said the company couldn't comment on BP's work but Statoil was working on a environmental plan to submit to NOPSEMA.

The applications were made five years after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill (stock image)

He said: 'The plan will be subject to a consultation and engagement process. We will only undertake drilling activity if we can do it safely. By the time we drill we will have spent more than two years planning this project to satisfy ourselves that we can operate safely and in accordance with Australias strict environmental and regulatory requirements.'

Mr Michel said that Statoil had collaborated with CSIRO to study the local environment and they want to protect the interests of fishing, aquaculture and tourism operators.

He said: 'As the worlds leading deep-water operator, we will draw on more than 45 years of experience successfully operating in similar offshore environments. We have completed extensive research on the conditions and geology of the area, and determined this project sits well within our range of safe operating parameters. Globally, we have drilled more than 65 deep water wells safely.'
A 32-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of a baby boy after police were told his brother jumped on him.

The nine-month-old child was found unresponsive at his home near Dareton, in the far west of New South Wales on October 31, 2017.

The baby was critical when NSW Ambulance rushed him to the Mildura Base Hospital on October 31, 2017.

A 32-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of a baby boy after police were told his brother jumped on him (stock image)

At the time, police allege they were told the boy's 22-month-old brother had jumped on him.

The baby was flown to The Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital, but died the next day.

Detectives arrested a 32-year-old woman at Dareton Police Station on Thursday, and charged her with murder.

Detectives arrested a 32-year-old woman at Dareton Police Station on Thursday, and charged her with murder (stock image)

The woman was refused bail at the Wentworth Local Court on Thursday.

She will re-appear in court on Wednesday 9 May.

Her arrest followed a five month-long investigation by Strike Force Pembrook, established by the NSW Crime Command's Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad.
Every Friday, The Citizen features a pet available for adoption from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York.

This week, we spotlight Bandit.

Q: Who is your best friend?

A: Well, let me ask you a question: How much time do you have? Because I have so many BFFs that it would take hours to list them all. I know that sounds big-headed, but I have probably set a record for having more BFFs than any other dog in history  ever! This is true!

Q: What has been your best experience?

A: I'm sorry, but I'm going to disappoint you here. I keep my best experience to myself. Only my shelter people and some of my BFFs really know it, but they would love to share it with any of our good readers who might be interested in meeting me. So does that pique your interest? I hope so.

Q: If you could meet someone famous who would that be?

A: I'm a silly kind of guy, so I like to think that everyone is famous. But the most famous someone for me would be my new human.

Q: If you could visit any place in the world, where would that be?
Former President Jacob Zuma has appeared in South Africa's High Court to face corruption charges relating to a 1.8billion arms deal scandal from the 1990s.

The 75-year-old smiled as he sat in the dock in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban, where he faces 16 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

Zuma is accused of accepting more than 235,000 in bribes from a French arms company in 1999, but denies any wrongdoing and is challenging the decision to prosecute the case.

However, Judge Themba Sishi ordered that the court adjourn until June 8 to give both sides time to prepare their submissions relating to charges against Zuma.

Still smiling: The 75-year-old former President of South Africa is facing 16 charges, including fraud, racketeering and money laundering, over the 1999 arms deal

Free - for now: The judge ordered that the court adjourn until June 8

Cheering: Zuma is seen leaving the Durban High Court after the court was adjourned

Zuma was at the centre of the controversial 1999 deal to buy billions of dollars of European military hardware from a subsidiary of French arms company Thales.

The former president, who was forced to resign by the ANC last month, was deputy president at the time.

He is accused of taking bribes worth more than four million rand (237,120) to favour Thales, which has been indicted alongside Zuma and will also appear in court.

Schabir Shaikh, his former financial adviser, was found guilty and jailed in 2005 for trying to solicit bribes for Zuma.

Charges against Zuma were filed in 2009, but then set aside by the National Prosecuting Authority shortly before he successfully ran for president.

brace yourself: Zuma stands accused of taking more than 235,000 in bribes from a subsidiary to the French arms company Thales in 1999

#HandsOffZuma: Protesters in support of former president Jacob Zuma rally outside the High Court in Durban, South Africa, Friday

Still backing: Dozens had gathered outside the High Court on Friday morning as the ousted leader of the ANC made his appearance

Dancing in the streets: Zuma and ANC supporters paraded outside the court ahead of Zuma's appearance on Friday

In the dock: Zuma and the company Thales represented by Christine Guerrier, right, appear at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban, South Africa

Since his election nine years ago, his opponents have fought a lengthy legal battle to have the charges reinstated, and succeeded in 2017. The case has been delayed as Zuma countered with his own legal challenges.

But te speed with which prosecutors have booked his day in court is a sign of the loss of control Zuma has suffered since his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, became head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December.

However, Zuma still retains some popular support, especially in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, where the case is being heard.

Heavily armed police in riot gear lined the square outside the court, as thousands of Zuma supporters gathered to express solidarity with a leader they say is the victim of a politically motivated witchhunt.

Police secure the entrance to the High Court in Durban before the ex-President's appearance

Day in court: Security and reporters gather ahead of Zuma's arrival on Friday morning

Supporters of Zuma march to the high court in Durban, South Africa this morning

Marchers, many clad in the distinctive yellow, green and black of the ANC, carried placards reading 'Hands off Zuma' and performed the high-stepping toyi-toyi protest dance made popular in South Africa's decades-long struggle against apartheid.

Businessman Siya Khoza said he admired Zuma's determination to bring in economic policies that he said were designed to spread the wealth in what remains one of the world's most unequal societies.

'Whatever happens we will still support Zuma because we believe he brought us radical economic transformation and we still believe that him being in the ANC he will push for it,' said Khoza, wearing a waistcoat emblazoned in ANC colours.

Zuma' son Edward told supporters at nearby park where several thousand people held an overnight vigil that his father was not worried.

'I would want to believe that as an innocent man, he is definitely not worried,' the domestic News24 agency qouted Edward Zuma as saying.
A man has been charged with manslaughter and sexual intercourse without consent in relation to the death of a five-month-old baby in the Northern Territory.

The 25-year-old's arrest is related to the death of a baby in Alice Springs on July 26, 2012.

Acting Commander Neil Hayes from the NT Police Crime Division said the delayed charges came after a thorough investigation.

The 25-year-old's arrest is related to the death of a baby in Alice Springs on July 26, 2012

Acting Commander Neil Hayes from the NT Police Crime Division said the delayed charges came after a thorough investigation

'The arrest this morning and subsequent charges were the culmination of an extensive police investigation, and follow a coronial inquest held on December 12, 2016 during which further avenues of investigation were identified,' he said.

Police said bail had been refused for the man.

The latest charges come after a 16-year-old youth was charged with the rape of four-year-old boy in the remote NT desert community of Ali Curung.

Ali Curung is about 170km south of Tennant Creek, where a two-year-old girl was allegedly raped on February 16.

The four-year-old boy was allegedly sexually assaulted behind Ali Curung's Baptist Church.

A police spokesman said a 16-year-old boy had been charged with sexual intercourse without consent'.

Police said bail had been refused for the man

The latest charges come after a two-year-old girl was allegedly raped on February 16

In March, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the incident would be referred to the Children's Commissioner and extra staff from Territory Families had been sent to Ali Curung.

'This is an extremely disturbing incident. Every child, no matter where they live, deserves to be in a safe environment.'

Both Ali Curung and Tennant Creek have had major problems with alcohol consumption and crime.

In 2015, Barkly Regional Council chief executive Edwina Marks said alcohol consumption was leading to 'anti-social behaviour'.

'People are leaving their kids and going off and buying grog at 10am. People desert their family life.'
A service station outside Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport has been deemed safe after a suspicious package turned out to be a bong.

The bomb squad had rushed to a service station earlier in the day after the discovery of the glass pipe which was those to be suspicious.

Police cordoned off a Caltex on Mickleham Road in Westmeadows and evacuated the store as they waited for explosive experts to arrive on Friday afternoon.

Police have cordoned off a Caltex petrol station as they wait for explosive experts to arrive

The Bomb Response Unit discovered the suspicious package was in fact the drug paraphernalia, according to Seven News, and the area has been declared safe.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia there were no further details at this stage but confirmed the area had been declared safe.

The Australian Federal Police has been contacted for comment.
Tracy Crowley, 51, who earned 14,000-a-year for cashing takings as a team leader, began to steal money from her employers after getting into debt. Pictured: Outside Stockport Magistrates Court

A trusted supermarket cashier chief who stole 34,000 from Asda to spend on presents for her children in the hope of being seen as a 'better money' was jailed yesterday.

Tracy Crowley, 51, who earned 14,000-a-year for cashing takings as a team leader, began to steal money from her employers after getting into debt.

During an eight-month period in 2015, the mother-of-three began to take sums of up to 1,500-a-day before spending the money on presents for friends, her two of her adult children and her 14-year-old.

Crowley was caught when a senior colleague at the Marple branch in Stockport, Greater Manchester, examined CCTV footage and noticed she would hide the thefts by surrounding herself with post-it notes and calculators while counting money at a table.

When confronted, she tried to justify her actions by claiming she 'wanted her children to see she was a better mother'. The details of what gifts she bought were not disclosed.

Crowley cried in the dock at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester as she was was given 10 months behind bars after admitted theft and false accounting. She will also face a Proceeds of Crime hearing in August when it is expected she will be asked to pay the money back.

The court heard how Crowley was employed by Asda in 2009 and then appointed to a Service Section Leader in 2015. It was in 2015 that a fellow staff member, James Dewhurst, noticed the store's 25,000 daily takings were down.

Miss Maria Brennan, prosecuting, said Crowley often tried to send Mr Dewhurst out of the room, sometimes by making him get a coffee, so that she could falsify the records to match receipts and then pocket the money for herself.

She added: 'Mr Dewhurst became suspicious as this was usually his role at the end of the days. She would tell him she needed to check the final takings and send him off for coffee whilst she falsified the report and picked the cash.

When confronted, she tried to justify her theft by claiming she 'wanted her children to see she was a better mother'

Miss Maria Brennan, prosecuting, said Crowley often tried to send him out of the room so that she could falsify the records to match receipts and then pocket the money for herself

'She was taking money home in her pocket and Mr Dewhurst reported his enquiries to Asda and upon checking CCTV they discovered the defendant surrounded by post it notes and calculators during cashing up. This was showing she was in fact falsifying the numbers.

'The total loss was 34,448.58 and on many occasions she took 1,500 in a day. This lady was in a position of trust yet she abused it. Despite the thefts being carried out against a large organisation, many people have been impacted.'

In a statement, Asda security investigations officer Andrew Lawton said: 'Throughout my career this is the biggest fraud I have ever dealt with. The investigation by Asda has been time consuming and costly and the bonuses of staff have been affected as a result of what happened.'

On occasions, Crowley took as much as 1,500 a day

Her lawyer Miss Kay Driver said in mitigation: 'She has worked since she was 16 and had three children and has never claimed benefits. In a psychiatric report, the doctor found her to be suffering from depressive episodes at the time of offending and this would have impacted upon her behaviour.

'She suffered with a miscarriage eight years ago and the doctor concluded she had a recurring depressive disorder. She has two grown children and one who is 14 years old. This has been hanging over her.

'She is in debts and tells me she was getting money to decrease these debts. But although all the money is gone, none of it was spent to aid her debts.'

Upon sentencing, Miss Recorder Rowena Goode told Crowley: 'You explained you used the money to buy gifts for other people. But this money has all gone and the theft was akin to fraud. This is the first time you appeared before a court and you tried to cover your theft by false accounting. You were in a position of trust. '
A mother has been caught on camera ordering her son to 'smash' a boy who he had allegedly been relentlessly bullying.

The footage was shot in February at a bus stop in Nerang, in Gold Coast's west, after the mother of the boy, Deb Cooper, confronted her son's alleged tormentor.

In the video, Ms Cooper screams at the boy 'don't touch my f***ing kid', before his mother intervenes.

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Footage shot in February at a bus stop in Nerang, in Gold Coast's west, shows a mother (pictured) ordering her son to 'smash' a boy who he had allegedly been relentlessly bullying

The footage was shot after the mother of the boy, Deb Cooper (pictured), confronted her son's alleged tormentor (right)

'He's a little c*** and he f***ing deserves it,' the mother tells Ms Cooper while pointing to her son,A Current Affair reported.

Heated debate ensues between the two parents before the alleged bully's mother tires of the argument and orders her son to bring it to an end.

'Just smash the c***s, just smash them,' she can be heard saying.

Her son - wearing a white school polo and a black cap - appears to oblige his mother's orders with another boy, as horrified screams of 'leave him alone' come from Ms Cooper.

Heated debate started between Ms Cooper (left) and the mother (right) before she ordered her son to bring it to an end, saying: 'Just smash the c***s, just smash them.'

An all-in brawl (pictured) involving the alleged bully and Ms Cooper's son broke out after the woman's orders

Ms Cooper's son (pictured) was taken to hospital with a broken nose and head injuries

An all-in brawl breaks out between the pair, another boy and Ms Cooper's son, who was taken to hospital with a broken nose and head injuries.

'The doctor actually said to me if [the injury] had been two millimetres back, this would be a whole different conversation, and your son wouldn't be in it,' Ms Cooper said on Friday.

'No parent wants to bury their child, no parent wants to end up with a child who's disabled over a school fight.'

The brazen attack was witnessed by several horrified onlookers - many just young students waiting for the bus to take them home from school.

The brazen attack on Ms Cooper's son (pictured) was witnessed by several horrified onlookers - many just young students waiting for the bus to take them home from school

Ms Cooper (pictured) defended her behaviour in the build up to the fight by saying that she'd do anything to protect her son

Ms Cooper said she used 'a little bit too much colourful language' in the build up to the brawl.

But she defended her behaviour by saying that she'd do anything to protect her son.

She claimed her youngest sons - including the boy in the video - have been physically kicked off buses to the ground, thrown into fences and have had food rubbed in their faces and hair.

Ms Cooper added that she is fearful of a phone call saying one of her sons has been killed.
A British tourist was killed after his car was hit by an oncoming lorry in a horror head-on smash - days before he was due to fly home.

James McGrory, 59, was driving with his Filipino girlfriend on a country road in Davao City, on the Philippines' southernmost island, on Tuesday afternoon.

A dumpster truck driven by a local man allegedly veered on to the opposite lane and smashed directly into James's car.

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A British tourist was killed after his car was hit by an oncoming lorry in a horror head-on smash - days before he was due to fly home

Mr McGrory was killed instantly before paramedics pulled his lifeless body from the wreckage, and his girlfriend badly injured.

The driver of the truck, Brendo Dablo, was arrested for 'reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property' and held in custody.

Mr McGrory's girlfriend Paula was fighting for her life Southern Philippines Medical Center with suspected brain damage, given a 50/50 chance of survival.

The tourist was due to return home from his eight week trip on Friday. He was believed to come from Northern Ireland.

James McGrory, 59, was driving with his Filipino girlfriend on a country road in Davao City, on the Philippines' southernmost island, on Tuesday afternoon

Mr McGrory was killed instantly before paramedics pulled his lifeless body from the wreckage, and his girlfriend badly injured

British exapt John Rowley, who was in touch with the family, went to the funeral home and saw Mr McGrory's body, then found Paula was in hospital.

'I went to the hospital and talked to the staff. The girlfriend is very bad off with brain swelling. The sister was also there,' he said.

'The family did not know how long he was here but I found out it was eight weeks and he was to return home today.'

Police in the Marilog district of Davao City said Mr McGrory's had his car 'under control' when the accident happened at 3pm.

The driver of the truck, Brendo Dablo, was arrested for 'reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property' and held in custody

The tourist was due to return home from his eight week trip on Friday. He was believed to come from Northern Ireland

'The truck came into the opposite lane and collided with the foreigner's car,' they said.

'Brendo Dablo has been detained at Marilog Police Station for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property.'

The British Embassy in the Philippines was informed of the death.
Theresa May campaigned for the local elections just two miles from the scene of a spate of murders but failed to meet police officers or bereaved families, it has emerged.

The Prime Minister was canvassing in Waltham Forest, just a short drive from the centre of Walthamstow.

The visit was not announced by the Tory party in advance and no reporters are thought to have been invited, as is common for campaign trips by Mrs May.

She is back in the capital after an Easter holiday walking in North Wales and is stumping for votes ahead of the elections on May 3.

The Walthamstow Conservatives revealed the visit on Twitter, posting a picture of Theresa May with Tory activists, but the event was not trailed in advance to reporters

Mrs May was also pictured with local Tory activists and MP Iain Duncan Smith in the neighbouring constituency of Chingford

Mrs May's canvassing trip was just a short drive from several of the crime scenes following the spate of killings in the capital, including Billet Road (pictured) where a man in his mid 20s was stabbed yesterday

Local Labour MP Stella Creasy accused Mrs May of ignoring calls for help in tackling violent crime after the fact of her visit emerged

Local Labour MP Stella Creasy accused Mrs May of ignoring calls for help in tackling violent crime after the fact of her visit emerged.

On Monday night a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in Walthamstow, alongside a 15-year-old who was stabbed.

London Labour MPs accuse PM and Home Secretary of being absent as crime surges London Labour MPs wrote a letter to the PM and Home Secretary accusing them of being 'absent' as crime 'surges across the country' - and demanded an urgent meeting. They said Theresa May and Amber Rudd have both shown a lack of leadership as the murder toll in the capital this year alone reached 55. The group of 47 politicians said the Government's cuts to police budgets and youth clubs are now being seen in the bloodshed on the streets. And it warns that ministers have failed to learn the lessons of the 2011 riots, which saw days of violence and looting in cities across the UK. It states: 'To us, and to many Londoners, both the current Home Secretary and the Prime Minister have shown no signs of changing their approach. 'In fact, both have been absent while violent crime surges across the country. Communities are crying out for national leadership on this issue.' Their demand for tougher action comes as Israel Ogunsola, 18 died after being stabbed in Hackney last night becoming the latest victim of the killing wave. The letter, drawn up by Labour MP Wes Streeting, has been signed by Jeremy Corbyn, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott. It also has been signed by Labour MPs Stella Creasy and David Lammy - who have seen murders in their constituencies of Walthamstow and Tottenham respectively. They warn that in recent weeks they have seen 'too many lives lost on the streets of London to guns and knives' A Government source said: 'You will find shortly that we are setting out the Government's next steps to address this issue next week.' Advertisement

In a separate incident, a 20-year-old man was stabbed in the borough.

Mrs May was pictured with local Tory activists and Chingford MP Iain Duncan Smith.

The Walthamstow Conservatives revealed the visit on Twitter, posting a picture of Mrs May with activists.

They said: 'Great to have Theresa May out canvassing this morning in Waltham Forest ahead of the local elections on May 3.'

Ms Creasy blasted: 'If you can come to our borough looking for votes as you did today Theresa May the least you can do is hear our call for help to tackle the violent crime we are experiencing.'

The Labour MP attached a letter to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd detailing the spate of gun and knife crime in the area and calling for action.

A political backlash has been growing over the bloody scenes in London after 52 killings on the streets of the capital.

Labour's London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also been under fire for failing to intervene and admitted yesterday he has not met the families of any of the victims.

Mr Khan, who has been accused by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith of going 'missing in action', acknowledged in a radio interview that he has yet to meet any relatives of victims.

He told LBC: 'I've spoken to a number of people over the last few days.'

Pressed by the interviewer, he added: 'No, I haven't spoken to the bereaved families, but I've got a deputy mayor and police commissioner. The point is that we are a team.

'I accept there are elections in four or five weeks' time, and politicians will have an attack. That's part of politics.

'But we've got bereaved families, we've got two teenagers who have lost their lives in just the last week.'

Meanwhile, London Labour MPs wrote a letter to the PM and Home Secretary accusing them of being 'absent' as crime 'surges across the country' - and demanded an urgent meeting.

They said Mrs May and Amber Rudd have both shown a lack of leadership as the murder toll in the capital this year alone reached 55.

The group of 47 politicians said the Government's cuts to police budgets and youth clubs are now being seen in the bloodshed on the streets.

And it warns that ministers have failed to learn the lessons of the 2011 riots, which saw days of violence and looting in cities across the UK.

It states: 'To us, and to many Londoners, both the current Home Secretary and the Prime Minister have shown no signs of changing their approach.

'In fact, both have been absent while violent crime surges across the country. Communities are crying out for national leadership on this issue.'
A fisherman has been rescued after spending two nights stranded on a crocodile infested sand bank in the Northern Territory.

Alan Jones' boat was airlifted to safety after he became stuck on the wrong side of the tide at the Baines River in the north-west of the territory.

The fisherman made a snap decision to go out on the adventure on March 31, but didn't expect to come home four days later.

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Alan Jones' boat was airlifted to safety after he became stuck on the wrong side of the tide at the Baines River in the north-west of the territory

'I went up the Baines and I knew they were big tides ... but I thought 'oh I'll get in and get out before the tides muck me around,' Mr Jones told the ABC.

The fisherman made a wrong turn and ended up in trouble becoming marooned on the sandbank.

'I hit this little sandbar and realised it was getting real shallow ... when I turned right, I ended up on top of the sandbar,' he said.

Mr Jones waited 12 hours until the tide came in to push back off again but there wasn't enough water to float the boat.

Alan Jones: ''I made the stupid decision that I would ring up and get a helicopter to drag me off into the water'

Another 12 hours passed until the next tide came and the water didn't reach his tinny.

It wasn't until Mr Jones received a message that he had one bar of reception left and called police.

'I made the stupid decision that I would ring up and get a helicopter to drag me off into the water,' he said.

The $30,000 boat was hooked on to a hovering chopper with snatch straps and dragged in to deep enough water so he could continue his trip.

Four days later the adventurer came home with five barramundi and a bill for the helicopter.
Two thugs wearing clear masks with black eyebrows and moustaches on them attacked a Jaguar driver and forced him to hand over his keys - but fled when Tesco shoppers wrestled him to the ground.

The carjackers had driven to a Tesco car park in Falkirk to scout out potential targets when they spotted the 60-year-old at the wheel of his blue Jaguar XE.

They jumped out their Mercedes A-Class and started attacking the victim.

One hit the motorist on his leg, while the second man snatched the victim's car keys.

But when shoppers jumped in to help the Jaguar driver, the masked men fled the car park in their Mercedes, which had its licence plate partially masked with white tape.

The two thugs, wearing masks with black eyebrows and moustaches on them, attacked a Jaguar driver and forced him to hand over his keys at a car park in Falkirk

The incident took place at the Tesco in Glasgow Road, in Falkirk, around 7.45pm on Wednesday.

A witness told the Daily Record: 'The car the thugs were in was going around the car park really slowly, looking at cars.

'They must have spotted the man and targeted him. He had a really nice car and it was obvious they thought he would be an easy target.'

She added: 'One of the robbers got into the man's car but younger lads chased them.

'My partner and another guy ran at the other one.

'They didn't hang about after that as quite a few people had gathered by then. They sped off in their car.

'It was really scary and the poor man was shaken up. He had cuts and bruises and was taken away by paramedics.

'The police turned up really quickly but they were long gone by then.'

The masked men fled the car park in their Mercedes, which had its licence plate partially masked with white tape (pictured)

Police are now appealing for information as part of the ongoing investigation into the attempted robbery.

The driver of the vehicle was wearing grey trousers and a black jacket, while his sidekick was around 5ft 10ins tall, wearing a green parker jacket, blue jeans and red and black gloves.

Both carjackers were wearing clear masks with black eyebrows and moustaches on them.

The Mercedes was missing a back windshield wiper and had white tape obscuring part of the number plates.

The Jaguar driver sustained minor injuries but didn't require medical treatment.

The incident took place at the Tesco in Glasgow Road, in Falkirk, around 7.45pm on Wednesday

Detective Inspector Kenny McAndrew said: 'This was a shocking ordeal for the victim and we are committed to pursuing all lines of inquiry to trace those responsible.

'We've spoken to several witnesses to the incident and are very grateful to those who have provided us with images that they took of the suspects and their vehicle.

'We'd urge anyone who may have seen this car, the suspects or who has any information which may be relevant to contact us as soon as possible.'

Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 3175 of April 4, or report this anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Former reality TV star Mellie Stanley - now known as Mellie Jeanette Lee - has been charged in Kentucky with using used fake coupons to obtain thousands of dollars' worth of goods from Toys R Us in November.

Lee featured on the TLC reality show Gypsy Sisters which chronicled the thriving gypsy community of West Virginia, allowing viewers to experience life in the sometimes outrageous Stanley family.

Lee and her former husband were arrested in December by police in Lexington over claims she used bogus coupons to buy $18,000 worth of goods from Toys R Us.

Mellie Jeanette Lee, 28 - previously known as Mellie Stanley, appeared on TLC's now defunct 'Gypsy Sisters' show - she has been charged with seven counts of criminal simulation and was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on $350,000 bond

The Gypsy Sisters show featured the thriving gypsy community in West Virginia, allowing viewers to experience life in the sometimes outrageous Stanley family and the four outrageous Romanichal siblings

Mellie Jeanette Lee (left) has been charged in Kentucky with using used fake coupons to obtain thousands of dollars' worth of goods from Toys R Us (right)

On Wednesday she was charged with seven counts of criminal simulation and booked into the Montgomery County Jail on $350,000 bond. She has denied the charges.

It is not the first time Stanley, who was arrested under the name Mellie Lee, has been booked for fake vouchers after she and her sister were arrested for a similar scheme in 2014.

At that time she was accused of theft by deception, criminal possession of a forged instrument and unlawful access to a computer.

She was also understood she tried to defraud Babies R Us in a scam about three years ago related to phony coupons.

Nettie, Laura, Mellie and Kayla from 'Gypsy Sisters', an American reality documentary television series on TLC which followed the daily life of four Romanichal sisters located in Winchester, Virginia

Mellie Lee's route to motherhood was a key part of the 'Gypsy Sisters' story line - the series made by Firecracker Films, who devised both the UK and American versions of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, goes back to the thriving Gypsy community in West Virginia to experience life in the Stanley family

Wild child: The reality star Mellie Stanley - now known as Mellie Lee - separated from her baby's father, Robbie York, just six days after marrying him in March 2013, when she said she got pregnant by accident after getting 'drunk one night'

Part of the family: In the 2013 installment of Gypsy Sisters, the well-known Stanley sisters - Kayla, Nettie and Mellie - were joined by JoAnn (far left) Sheena (far right) and Annie (second right)

According to her most recent arrest warrant, Lee and unnamed co-defendants went to the Clarksville Toys R Us on November 22 and showed a clerk 'counterfeit coupons on her phone, with modified bar codes' to obtain more than $2,400 worth of goods.

The clerk, concerned about the amount of the coupons, questioned Lee, who said a manager had approved the coupons, usatoday.com reported.

Lee had seven coupons scanned, each valued at $300. She used them to purchase gift cards and merchandise valued at $2,412, according to the warrant.

After Lee left the store, the clerk talked to the manager and Toys R Us attempted to cancel the gift cards but they had already been 'offloaded onto another form of card', the warrant said.

Lee was identified on video surveillance by loss prevention officers and law enforcement, it said.

Gypsy Sisters was a spin-off of My Big Far American Gypsy Wedding which gave an insight into the lives of Romanichal women in West Virginia.

Lee appeared in all four seasons from 2013 to 2015.

She was an outcast in her family because she wanted to leave the Romani culture behind.

Lee for much of the series was a young woman best-known for her wild antics, from excessive drinking to cursing and fighting. Her course to motherhood featured in the 2013 series of the TLC show.
AUBURN  The city of Auburn released its 2018-2019 preliminary city budget with a proposed 5-percent tax levy increase.

City Manager Jeff Dygert and Treasurer Robert Gauthier discussed the 2018-2019 budget draft during Thursday's Auburn City Council meeting. Multiple department heads presented their individual budgets during the meeting as well.

A 1-percent spending increase is planned from the previous fiscal year, which puts the city's general fund budget at $34,287,715. The preliminary tax levy increase is set at 5 percent, which would be over the state tax cap. With this tax levy increase, the city would not have to dip into its fund balance to balance the budget. Garbage collection, sewer and water fees are not expected to increase.

While the city has not yet learned what this year's tax cap will be from the state, Dygert said it is usually around 2 percent. Dygert also noted that the city's property value assessment has not been completed yet. He estimates those assessments will be final in mid-May.

Dygert stressed that the budget is still in the preliminary stages and is by no means final.

"There's still a lot of things that can potentially change with this budget so this is our jumping off point," he said.
A mother who killed her newborns and stuffed them into a deep freezer for 10 and 14 years has been jailed in Germany.

Steffi Schmidt, 46, was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years behind bars for the crimes.

At least one of the babies was still alive when it was put into the deep freezer.

A mother who killed her newborns and stuffed them into a deep freezer for 10 and 14 years has been jailed in Germany. Stock photo

She told the court in Halle: 'What I did is serious. I have to be punished for it.'

Judges heard how she blamed 'overwork' for the wilful murder of her two babies.

She kept the bodies because she could not bear the thought of being separated from them.

Police raided her home in the small village of Benndorf in January after her new partner raised the alarm.

The court heard that the defendant disguised her pregnancy from the world in 2004, giving birth to a healthy girl in her bathtub.

She immediately put it into a plastic bag and then into the deep freezer.

An autopsy showed that the baby was still alive and expired from hypothermia. Four years later she gave birth to a baby boy who she also killed at birth.

The prosecution had requested a 10-year sentence for the woman, who also has two older children, while the defence had asked for six years.
Bibles have been pulled from Chinese online retailers in 'recent days', merchants told AFP on Friday, as Communist authorities ramp up control over religious worship.

The clamp down on 'illegally published books' also comes as the Vatican and Beijing negotiate a historic agreement on the appointment of bishops in China.

'Bibles and books without publication numbers have all been removed in recent days,' a merchant on Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao told AFP, without giving details on how authorities have enforced the ban.

However, another merchant said she can list Old Testament editions of the Bible while English editions were still available in search results on Amazon China and Dangdang.com.

Online sales of other major religious texts including the Koran and the Taoist Daodejing did not appear to be affected.

All books sold in China technically must go through an official approval process, but Bibles have been readily available in recent years

All books sold in China technically must go through an official approval process, but Bibles have been readily available in recent years.

The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) governs the distribution of China's equivalent of the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), which is needed for books to be legally sold in the country.

China's State Council and GAPP authorities did not immediately respond to AFP's requests for clarification.

Jin Mingri, pastor of the Protestant Zion Church in Beijing, which is not registered with the government, said the restrictions were tied to 'overall tightening in the overall environment.'

'Maybe (authorities) think that the spread of the Bible on informal channels is not conducive to state ideology,' Jin told AFP.

'This certainly has an impact on believers' access to the Bible,' he added.

The state-linked China Christian Council estimates the country has around 20 million Christians - excluding Catholics - in official churches supervised by the authorities.

China's officially atheist government is wary of organised movements outside its own control and analysts say controls over such groups have tightened under President Xi Jinping (pictured)

But the true number of worshippers could be higher, at least 40 million to 60 million, according to some estimates, as some pray at 'underground' or 'house' churches which seek to exist outside government control.

Meanwhile China's roughly 12 million Catholics are divided between a government-run association, whose clergy are chosen by the atheist Communist Party, and an unofficial underground church loyal to the Vatican.

The Vatican relaunched long-stalled negotiations on the appointment of bishops with Beijing three years ago.

China's officially atheist government is wary of any organised movements outside its own control, including religious ones, and analysts say controls over such groups have tightened under President Xi Jinping.

The national security law explicitly bans 'cult organisations', which includes Falun Gong, Buddhist-inspired groups and several Christian groups.

A new regulation in Xinjiang bans religious activities in schools and stipulates that parents or guardians who 'organise, lure, or force minors into religious activities' may be reported to the police.

The far-western region is the homeland of the Uighurs -- a traditionally Muslim group, many of whom complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination.
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Britain enjoyed the warmest day of the year so far today as temperatures soared in parts of the country.

The wettest March in a decade has given way to a warm early April, with thermometers hitting a new 2018 UK high of 62.4F (16.9C) at St James's Park in London today - and they could rise further to 65F (18C) tomorrow.

The high temperature smashed both the previous UK record so far this year of 62F (16.6C) set on March 10 in North Wales, and the 2018 record for England of 61F (15.9C), set on March 27, set in Kew, South West London.

Parts of Britain will be hotter over the next few days than Barcelona (61F/16C today and tomorrow) and Nice (59F/15C today and 63F/17C tomorrow), while tomorrow will also be hotter than Tangier in Morocco (61F/16C).

Two young women take a selfie among the daffodils as they enjoy the spring sunshine at St James's Park in London today

A woman relaxes on a deck chair at Hyde Park in London today as the capital enjoys a warm spring day

People enjoy the spring sunshine at St James's Park in London today as they make the most of the warm temperatures

A man goes for a jog through a churchyard as he makes the most of the afternoon sunshine today in Sonning, Berkshire

People enjoy the sunshine at St James's Park in London today which saw temperatures rise to 62.4F (16.9C) this afternoon

People enjoy the sunshine at St James's Park in London as they make the most of the warm spring weather in the capital

Daffodils in the sunshine by Sonning Bridge in Berkshire today as the weather continues to improve in parts of Britain

A man and woman chat as they sit among daffodils during the warm spring sunshine at St James's Park in London today

The Met Office said today would be clear and sunny for most parts of the country, following another beautiful day yesterday that saw conditions get as warm as 56F (13.5C) in Gravesend, Kent.

But it follows a wetter than average month in places such as Devon, the Severn Vale and Tyneside. Figures showed average UK rainfall last month was 104.4mm, the highest for that month since 2008 when it reached 122.5mm.

The latest figure includes the heavy snowstorms, dubbed the Beast from the East, which came in two waves and caused widespread disruption to transport, schools and power supplies across the country.

Forecaster Graeme Madge said an area of low pressure threatened to bring some rain to western parts of the UK today, including Northern Ireland and Wales.

Mr Madge 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.

'Today 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 were around 54F (12C) to 55F (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'. 'Saturday is an unsettled day whereas tomorrow looks like it's going to be a very nice day,' Mr Madge said.

A man has a snooze in the warm spring sunshine at St James's Park in London this afternoon

People enjoy the warm weather among blooming daffodils at St James's Park in London this afternoon

A woman takes a selfie among spring flowers at Hyde Park in London this afternoon as temperatures rise

A man relaxes on a deck chair at Hyde Park in London today as the capital enjoys warmer temperatures

A woman takes a selfie as she sits with a man among blooming daffodils at St James's Park in London today

People take photos of a blossom tree at St James's Park in London today as warmer weather arrives in parts of Britain

A woman cycles past blooming daffodils at St James's Park in London as the weather improves in the capital

A stunning spring sunrise over Bournemouth Pier in Dorset this morning as temperatures are set to get above 60F today

'We could see similar temperatures (to today) on Saturday in the South East but because of the uncertain nature over the weekend the range of temperatures will be greater.'

Previously, the warmest day of the year so far was March 10, when 61.2F (16.6C) was recorded in Colwyn Bay, Morth Wales, he said. 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. Not record-breaking necessarily but a particularly wet month.'
A relative of the burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner wrote that 'old b******s deserve everything they get' after his cousins were jailed for distraction break-ins.

Henry Vincent, 37, collapsed in a south London street and died from a stab wound after grappling with 78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks during a break-in on Tuesday night.

As Vincent's family's history of targeting pensioners continued to emerged today, it was revealed his cousins were jailed for the theft of a former airman's cherished war medals in 2007.

Henry Vincent was the alleged burglar who died after he struggled with a pensioner during a break-in at a house in Hither Green, south-east London earlier this week

Richard Osborn-Brooks, pictured with friend and supporter Stacy Seymour, was arrested on suspicion of murder. The incident has reignited the debate over the rights of homeowners

It emerged last night that Vincent was part a family who have repeatedly targeted pensioners. His cousins William (left) and Amos Vincent (right) were jailed in 2007 for stealing war medals during distraction burglaries

After the crimes were reported on a local neighbourhood watch page, a Bill Vincent posted these vile comments, which were later deleted

William Vincent got a four-year sentence and Amos Vincent got three years for distraction thefts in south-east London. Victim Ronald Butler, 82, had his father's First World War medals taken in one of the break-ins.

A neighbourhood watch group later publicised the thefts on Facebook to warn residents in the area, but was met with a foul-mouthed response from one of the Vincent family.

A Bill Vincent wrote: 'The old b******s deserve everything they get. So stupid handing over thousands upon thousands... An oap a day will keep ur bank balance a bay. Got to love the old c***s.'

He went on: 'Old c***s ain't safe. Take every penny they got get old b*******s to remorgage, take the money and let erm get chucked owt nxt one (sic).' The posts were later deleted.

In Tuesday night's incident, Mr Osborn-Brooks, a retired RAC office manager, had been asleep beside his disabled wife Maureen, 76, when two men broke into his home just after midnight on Wednesday and threatened the terrified couple with a screwdriver.

Henry Vincent was stabbed in the chest after marching Mr Osborn-Brooks into the kitchen, while an accomplice went upstairs to ransack the property where his wife Maureen, 76, who has dementia, lay defenceless and terrified.

Police remained at Mr Osborn-Brooks' home today as they attempt to track down the second burglary suspect

A friend of Mr Osborn-Brooks described him as a 'gentleman' and said he would have only acted to defend his wife, who is understood to suffer from dementia

After Vincent died, Mr Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder and only released on bail yesterday following 24 hours in custody. He remains under investigation.

Thousands sign petition and give money to support OAP Well over 7,000 people have signed a petition calling to better treatment for those to defend their homes following Richard Osborn-Brooks' arrest. A petition was launched on change.org called for and end to the 'criminalisation of victims of crime' after the incident on Wednesday morning. A total of 7,800 had signed the petition by 11am this morning. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe crowd-funding page set to support Mr Osborn-Brooks has received more than 5,000. Advertisement

Scotland Yard faced a backlash from MPs, relatives, friends, neighbours and members of the public who accused the force of being 'consumed by political correctness' and launching an 'immoral' witchhunt of a heroic homeowner, who many said should get a medal for defending his disabled wife and home from two screwdriver wielding robbers.

Yesterday it emerged that Vincent is a predatory conman, burglar, drug addict and fraudster who has spent the last 15 years preying on the vulnerable.

At the time of the break-in, Vincent was one of Kent Police's most-wanted criminals who was on the run after a distraction burglary last November targeting a man in his 70s in Farningham, Kent.

The career criminal hails from a family of cowboy builders who were jailed for a total of 30 years for fleecing elderly householders out of more than a million pounds in 2003.

Together with his father, Henry Charles Vincent and five other brothers, Vincent tricked pensioners into handing over cash for fake building works after telling them their houses were about to fall down.

In 2003, Vincent's father, Henry Charles Vincent (left) Vincent was locked up for five-and-a-half years, while his uncle Robert Vincent (right) was jailed for four-and-a-half years

After Vincent was released from a four year jail term for that scam, he and his father conned an 81-year-old pensioner out of 72,000 to repair a single tile on his roof in 2009 Vincent was jailed for six years in 2009, but was let out of prison early to commit two burglaries in 2008.

In 2013, Vincent was put on Kent Police's 'most wanted' list following another raid in Gravesend and most recently police appealed to trace him in January this year.

Criminal family jailed for more than 54 years Henry Joseph Vincent 2003 - Jailed four-and-a-half years 2009 - Jailed for six years Henry Charles Vincent (father) 2003 - Jailed for five-and-a-half years 2011 - Jailed for six years Robert Vincent (uncle) 2003 - Jailed for four-and-a-half years 2011 - Jailed for eight years 2017 - Jailed for five years, 3 months Clifford Vincent (uncle) 2003 - Jailed four-and-a-half years David Vincent (uncle) 2003 - Jailed for six years John Jack Vincent (uncle) 2003 - Jailed for two years Steven Vincent (uncle) 2003 - Jailed for 21 months Advertisement

In stark contrast, the homeowner he targeted was described yesterday as a gentle, intelligent man who has never been in trouble.

His wife's close friend Dorothy Kirby, 87, said Mr Osborn-Brooks would have done anything to protecting his frail wife, known as Mo, who struggles to walk and has dementia.

She said: 'He is a decent man. You would pick up anything you would need to defend yourself and your home. He would be more worried about Mo.

'It's just a shame they were never able to have children because they would have been perfect with kids.

'He had a few pains once and drove himself to the hospital where I think they found he had a slight heart condition.

'He's a very good, thoughtful, proper old English gentleman. He's a very sensible man.

'He would never have had anything in his hand if he hadn't felt threatened for Mo. I think [the investigation into him] should be completely dropped.

'I don't think he would've picked up the screwdriver intending to do anything. As for being deliberately vicious, he's just not like that. He was just defending his wife.'

The Ministry of Justice has today reiterated that a householder has the right to defend their family from intruders.

Police forensics experts have been scouring the street in Hither Green after a murder probe was launched and the pensioner Vincent fought with was arrested for murder

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: 'While we cannot comment on specific cases, our sympathies are with householders who have to defend themselves when intruders break in.

'That's why we strengthened the law in 2013 to give householders greater protection from intruders.

'Those changes make it clear that if a householder believes their life or the lives of their family are in danger, and they act in self-defence, they would not ordinarily be convicted of an offence.'

Career criminal's family 'are ANGRY the pensioner who killed him has been bailed' as his cousin says he was 'a loving person who shouldn't have died'

The cousin of a burglar who died after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in has said she is angry the OAP has been bail.

Vincent was wanted for another burglary at the time of his death and he had previously served a prison sentence for conning elderly victims out of thousands of pounds.

A unnamed cousin of his has insisted however that he was a 'loving person' and the pensioner he fought with should be kept in custody as police investigate him for murder.

A cousin of burglar Henry Vincent, who asked not to be identified, told the BBC's Bryony Williams (right) that the pensioner accused of killing him should not have been bailed

The woman told BBC's South East Today: 'I don't know what happened in that home but all I know is my cousin is dead today.

'The Henry I know, he was such a loving person and I think it is probably something that just went wrong but he shouldn't have died out of it.'

Relatives of Vincent declined to comment to MailOnline yesterday afternoon, but many have posted pictures of him on Facebook next to broken heart emojis.

A woman at his family home told The Sun she was grieving and insisted: 'Things have been twisted.'

The comments of Vincent's cousin stand in contrast to the views of Mr Osborn-Brooks' neighbours and friends, who say the murder investigation into him should be immediately dropped.

Henry Vincent has been named as the man who died after a pensioner clashed with suspected burglars at his home in south-east London on Tuesday night

A former Tory defence minister last night called Mr Osborn-Brooks' treatment at the hands of police 'absurd'.

Sir Gerald Howarth said: 'There's clear law on this. If an intruder armed with a weapon suffers fatal injuries, that's his fault. There should be no mercy for people like that.

'It's not only absurd, it's wholly immoral that a householder seeming to protect himself and his family and his property should be the subject of a police investigation - and he should not have been held in custody.

'There is clear case law on this involving a man some years ago in Fulham who had a sword on his wall. Confronted by an intruder, he ran him through with the sword. The householder was acquitted by a jury. The police force is in crisis. It is completely consumed by political correctness.'

Tim Loughton MP, a member of the Home Affairs Committee, said: 'Due process of law needs to take place but every constituent who has contacted me about it said (Mr Osborn-Brooks) should be treated as a hero rather than being in the frame for a crime.

'You are talking about a vulnerable 78 year-old pensioner with a disabled wife in a house interrupted by two burglars. Why on earth is he being investigated for murder?

David Green, of justice think tank Civitas, said Mr Osborn-Brooks should be 'given a medal'.

'Good riddance': Armed burglar's past pensioner victim says 'it's a jolly good job' he was 'killed by OAP' as he tells of anger at being conned in a distraction theft months before botched break-in

Cyril Goodearl was burgled by Henry Vincent last year. He commented 'good riddance' after finding out the criminal died during a raid on another pensioner's home this week

A former victim of the armed burglar who died after raiding a pensioner's home has said he has no sympathy for the 'scum' career criminal.

Henry Vincent had already served time for conning elderly victims out of money and was wanted over a distraction burglary at the time of his death this week.

Cyril Goodearl, 78, was the victim of that previous theft, in which Vincent stole a jewellery box containing his mother's engagement and wedding rings and a signet ring which belonged to his father.

Asked how he felt about what happened to Vincent this week, Mr Goodearl replied: 'Jolly good job - that's got rid of another bit of scum.

'I am all in favour of capital punishment. They should never have let him out of prison. It's good riddance and he got what he deserved.'

Like thousands around the country, he backed Richard Osborn-Brooks, the 78-year-old homeowner who fought off Vincent, leaving him with fatal injuries.

Mr Goodearl added: 'I would like to shake his hand. If I was in the same position I would have done exactly the same thing.'

Vincent targeted Mr Goodearl at his home in the picturesque Kent village of Farningham

An unknown woman came to Mr Goodearl's front door in the village of Farningham, Kent in November last year and said she had been attacked.

While the kind-hearted former aerospace engineer made her some coffee, she opened the door for a man, believed to be Vincent, who ran upstairs and stole valuables.

Mr Goodearl said he would like to shake Mr Osborn-Brooks by the hand

Mr Goodearl only realised he had been a victim of the crime two weeks later.

Describing the crime, he said: 'It was in the early afternoon and there was a knock at the door. I went out there and there was a young lady in her 30s there.

'She looked quite distressed. I felt sorry for her and I did what any gentleman would do and invited her in.

'She asked for a glass of water but I was making a cup of coffee at the time so I asked her if she wanted one.'

He added: 'She wanted to use the phone to call her mum so I let her. She was a fairly attractive young lady in her 30s with swept back hair.

'We sat down chatting about this and that for a good half an hour in the kitchen.

'She seemed to cheer up somewhat. While we were talking someone must've walked up the stairs and taken the jewellery box.'

'Trying to revive him - I think he's gone': Neighbour films failed bid to save 'burglar stabbed by OAP in his kitchen' as he lay bleeding to death in the street following botched break-in

Footage has emerged of the moment a burglar lay dying in the street after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in.

The images obtained by the BBC show Henry Vincent at the centre of a group of emergency service workers as they fight to keep him alive.

The homeowner who filmed the scene is heard saying: 'It's a stabbing. A stabbing. [They're] trying to revive him. I think he's gone.'

Footage filmed by a neighbour shows the moment burglar Henry Vincent was treated by emergency services after he was stabbed during a break-in in south-east London this week

During the botched raid in South Park Crescent, Hither Green, an accomplice dragged Vincent toward a van before leaving him for dead, according to a witness.

He was found collapsed in nearby Further Green Road by paramedics from London Ambulance Service, who took him to hospital where he died shortly before 4am.

The second man has not been found and at least one suspect was believed to be armed with a screwdriver, police said.

Detectives think a struggle took place between one of the burglars and the elderly homeowner before Vincent was stabbed in the upper body, but would not confirm if he was stabbed with the screwdriver.

A car was removed from the scene yesterday as police continue to appeal for information
Disgraced Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who died last month following a fall, has asked for forgiveness to those he has offended in his will.

It emerged during his funeral that the former head of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland wrote, 'I ask for forgiveness for all I have offended in this life'.

O'Brien, who received the last rites on his 80th birthday, was forced to resign as archbishop of St Andrew's and Edinburgh following allegations of sexual misconduct.

His resignation came in February 2013 after three priests and former priest accused him of improper sexual conduct in relation to a number of incidents in the 1980s.

A member of the Catholic church blesses the coffin as members of the church gather after the funeral service of Cardinal Keith O'Brien

Cardinal Keith O'Brien speaks to waiting media outside St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh (pictured 2007)

Although the cardinal denied the allegations at first he handed in his resignation to Pope Francis days later.

At the time he said: 'My sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.'

'I have valued the opportunity of serving the people of Scotland and overseas in various ways since becoming a priest. Looking back over my years of ministry, for any good I have been able to do, I thank God. For any failures, I apologise to all whom I have offended.'

O'Brien, who was the most senior Catholic figure in the UK at the time, was named 'bigot of the year' in 2012 by LGBT rights organisation Stonewall after his campaign against gay marriage and gay rights.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh attends a mass held by pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Basilica (pictured 2012)

Despite the claims the cardinal managed to keep his titled before moving to Ireland, and then on to Northumberland.

Mourners at a requiem mass in St Michael's church in Newcastle included archbishop Edward Adams and around 40 priests and nuns which made up the 200 strong congregation.

The service was led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols who said: 'In recent days, as we all know, the life of Cardinal Keith has been laid bare', reports the Times.

He told the congregation that O'Brien had thanked God for the graces and blessings he had been given and asked them to pray for his soul.

Cardinal Nicholas recognised O'Brien's failings but said their was 'great goodness' in his life - including his help with the poor.

He will be buried in the grave of his mother and father on Friday at Mount Vernon cemetery in Edinburgh.
A man was beaten, attacked with scissors and had a vase broken over his head when four of his jilted lovers decided to take revenge.

The 27-year-old was allegedly set upon in his flat in Sathonay-Camp on the outskirts of Lyon in France last Tuesday.

The young Lothario almost died in the frenzied 15-minute attack and spent three days in hospital recovering from his injuries.

A man was beaten, attacked with scissors and had a vase broken over his head when four of his jilted lovers decided to take revenge (stock image)

He was insulted, slapped, threatened with a pair of scissors and hit over the head with a vase so hard it broke before he could alert police.

Local media said 'the irreparable might have occurred' if police hadn't rushed to his aid in time, causing the attackers to flee.

On the way out, the women stole clothes and the man's mobile phone and took back gifts they gave him during their relationships.

The man was dating all four women, whom he met online, at the same time while he was also having a series of one-night stands (stock image)

The man was dating all four women, whom he met online, at the same time while he was also having a series of one-night stands.

They met on the internet and realised they were all being cheated on by the same man and decided to teach him a lesson in a 'veritable vendetta'.

The group was arrested two days later and will face court on September 17 charged with assault in company and theft.
Four police officers in Utah have been hailed as heroes for putting their lives on the line to rescue a suicidal man who set himself on fire at a Kaysville gas station.

The four were hospitalized Thursday with burns suffered as they extinguished the flames. Video has been released which showed them being taken for treatment.

The Kaysville police officers responded to the 911 calls from the gas station to encounter a man who had doused himself with gas holding a lighter.

Police have praised the bravery of the four officers who have been credited with saving the life of the suicidal man

Police responded quickly to an emergency situation at the Kaysville gas station

Police said the incident happened at a McDonald's restaurant when the suicidal man walked in, purchased a gas can, then went outside to fill it up

As officers attempted to restrain him and extract the lighter from his hand, he managed to use it and immolate himself and them.

Officers managed to stifle the flames by covering the man and dragging him outside the building as they did so.

Police said the incident happened at a McDonald's restaurant when the suicidal man walked in, purchased a gas can, then went outside to fill it up.

He returned inside, went to a bathroom, doused himself with the gasoline and then threatened to light it.

Three of the four police officers who extinguished the flames have been released from hospital - the fourth is expected to continue receiving treatment for the next 10 days

The officers have been praised for putting their lives on the line in order to bring an end to what was considered to be a highly dangerous situation

Nearly a dozen agencies responded to the scene - including seven ambulances and two AirMed helicopters

All of the officers who overcame the man suffered burn injuries after he set himself alight and them by using a lighter to igniter himself

'Employees heard screaming and smelled gas' after the man went into the bathroom, Waylon DeRobaum, manager of the nearby Top Stop, told deseretnews.com.

Two of the officers were taken from the scene by medical helicopter and the other three were transported by ambulance.

All have now been released apart from the officer who dealt directly with the individual on fire, police said.

He remains at University Hospital in a fair condition, according to a post on the Kaysville City Facebook page.

'It's heartbreaking. It's very emotional for me to hear and see,' Kaysville Police Chief Sol Oberg told desertnews.com

'I saw some of the burns and they were substantial - to the back of one officer, the arm and face of one officer.

'There was some concern about burns in their mouth and throat or lungs that would block an airway,' he said, adding that the officers were alert but in pain when he arrived, and they were worried about each other.

'I feel a lot of pride in the fact that these officers, without hesitation, responded to an emergency to save not only this suicidal person but a lot of other people in what could have been literally an explosive situation here.

'But it's heartbreaking to see these great men and women go through this, and see their burns and call their families and say that their spouse is injured.'

Following calls of 'officer down,' police and firefighters from nearly a dozen agencies responded to the scene. Seven ambulances were sent as well as two AirMed helicopters.

A police spokesman said said he considers the officers heroes for their actions in extinguishing the flames.

'They obviously put their lives on the line,' he said.

'Who knows how many people they may have saved?' I know it was horrible, but it could have been a lot worse.'
This is the incredible moment quick-thinking onlookers saved a baby boy who almost suffocated from pressing onto the floor by his ill mother in southeast China.

The mother, surnamed Hu, suddenly collapsed when she was taking a walk with her six-month-old baby at a hospital. She dropped her son on the floor and pressed onto him unconsciously.

Nearby onlookers and security guards rushed to pull the baby up and freed him from suffocation. Ms Hu and the baby did not sustain any injuries, reported KanKanNews.

A mother was not feeling well when she was holding her son for a walk outside a hospital in China (left). She dropped her baby on the road and collapsed on him (right)

One on-duty security guard rushed to pull the six-month-old boy out from under the mother

The incident took place at Xingguo People's Hospital at Jiangxi Province recently when Ms Hu took her baby boy for a walk outside the accidents and emergency department.

Surveillance camera footage captures Ms Hu suddenly faints while holding her son in her arms.

She knelt down and dropped her son on the floor as she fell towards the baby.

On-duty security guard, Hu Guiyan, noticed and rushed to pull Ms Hu away from the baby.

Onlookers alerted the medical workers and sent the mother and the baby to the hospital

Ms Hu, the mother, and her son were treated and did not sustain any injuries

Other onlookers called the nurses and doctors from the hospital for help.

The baby was saved and Ms Hu was put onto a stretcher and pushed to the hospital for a checkup.

Huang Yujuan, a nurse who helped during the rescue, told the reporter that the situation was very dangerous to the baby.

'The mother is putting her weights on the baby when she fell. The baby is only six months old, he could suffocate within minutes if no one pulls him out immediately,' Ms Huang said.

Ms Hu was treated and the baby was found to have no injuries.

Ms Hu's husband arrived later and thanked the good samaritans and medical staff who saved his wife and son.
Ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has been freed after he posted 75,000 euros (65,000) bail and German prosecutors ordered his immediate release.

It will allow him to move freely in Germany pending a decision on his extradition sought by Spain.

The Schleswig prosecutor's office said Puigdemont also provided authorities with an address in Germany where he will reside pending the decision.

'No information will be provided about his current whereabouts,' prosecutors said in a statement.

Ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has been freed after he posted 75,000 euros (65,000) bail

Lawyers for Puigdemont had arrived at the Neumuenster prison early Friday, but it wasn't immediately clear how and when the 55-year-old would leave jail.

Supporters said Puigdemont planned a news conference later Friday.

Puigdemont was detained by German police on March 25 after crossing the border from Denmark.

Spain is seeking his extradition for rebellion and misuse of public funds in organizing an unauthorized referendum last year on Catalonia's independence from Spain.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, center, gives a press statement after he was released on bail from the prison in Neumuenster

His release will allow him to move freely in Germany pending a decision on his extradition sought by Spain

The state court in Schleswig ruled Thursday that Puigdemont can't be extradited for rebellion because the equivalent German law presumes the use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities.

He can still be extradited on misuse of funds charges.

The German court's decision is a setback for the Spanish judiciary's efforts to crack down on the separatist movement.

Supporters, with Catalan Estelada flags on their shoulders, answer journalists' questions

Journalists stand outside the prison in Neumuenster, northern Germany, on Friday, where former Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont is expected to be released on bail

It is also an embarrassing blow for Spain's conservative government, which has insisted the dispute over Catalan separatism is a legal issue, not a political one, and has refused to be drawn into negotiations with Puigdemont and his supporters since October's banned referendum.

Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the government would respect the German ruling and awaited further details of it before deciding on appropriate action.

She also took a swipe at the Catalan pro-independence parties, which the government accuses of flouting the Constitution and disobeying court orders, by adding that Spain is 'a state that is shows its character by respecting the decisions of the courts in whatever direction that decision is made.'
Arlene Foster has threatened to leave Northern Ireland if it ever votes to leave the UK and join the Republic in a united Ireland.

The leader of the DUP said she does not think it would ever happen - but may feel forced to leave her home if it did.

Her comments come as the fate of Northern Ireland and its border with the Republic has been thrust again onto the political agenda with Brexit.

Theresa May has vowed that the entire UK will leave the EU's single market and customs union, but has also promised to keep a soft Irish border.

Mrs Foster, whose DUP party is propping Mrs May up in No10, was asked in a documentary what she would do if the people of Northern Ireland voted for Irish unification.

She said: 'First of all I don't think it's going to happen. If it were to happen, I'm not sure that I would be able to continue to live here, I would feel so strongly about it.

'I would probably have to move.'

Arlene Foster has threatened to leave Northern Ireland if it ever votes to leave the UK and join the Republic in a united Ireland (file pic)

Asked where she would move to, she added: 'Well that's the question. It's not going to happen so I don't have to worry about it anytime soon.'

Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the island of Ireland could be unified if the majority of people in both the Republic and Northern Ireland want to to be.

There would have to be referendums held in both Northern Ireland and the Republic for unification to happen.

The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, brought peace to the province after years of sectarian violence and bloodshed.

It also set up powersharing in Stormont where unionists and republicans jointly rule.

Arlene Foster (pictured left to right, with her deputy Nigel Dodds, her who Jeffrey Donaldson, Gavin Williamson, Theresa May and Damian Green, signing the confidence and supply deal with the Tories) and her party is propping up Theresa May in No 10

But powersharing collapsed over a year ago following a row over a botched energy scheme which developed into a clash about wider political issues - including attempts by republicans to bring in an Irish language Act.

Westminster has threatened to impose direct rule if the squabbling parties cannot form a government together soon.

And it has had to step in and start the process of setting a budget itself.

But critics say that Mrs May has undermined her role as a neutral referee in the row by entering into a confidence ad supply deal with the DUP.

Under the agreement, the DUP's ten MPs have promised to vote for the Tories in crucial parliamentary votes in return for an extra 1billion of funding in the province.
If elected, Schenck said he would focus on securing the safety, respect and trust of the community. He listed his primary goals: combating the drug epidemic, exploring new technology, supporting staff at the local jail, enhancing efforts to stop drunk and impaired driving and partnering with other agencies to prevent and prosecute domestic violence.

"Working together as a community, we can secure a safe environment for us all to live in," he said. "Together, we can continue building a sheriff's office that everyone can be proud of."

Following Schenck's announcement, Duckett echoed the importance of fighting the opiate crisis in the county. As coroner, he said he has seen the epidemic firsthand, and the number of drug-related deaths continues to rise.

"The thing that has been most challenging for me and something that truly changed my life is seeing what the heroin epidemic and opiate epidemic has actually done to our community," he said. "It made me realize that as a coroner and as a physician, I couldn't just sit there and do my job as a coroner  I had to get involved in the community and make people aware of what was going on and what was plaguing our community."

Duckett first ran for county coroner in 2014 and recently joined the medical staff at the sheriff's office. He is 37 years old.

Staff writer Megan Blarr can be reached at (315) 282-2282 or megan.blarr@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @CitizenBlarr.

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Former gang members have today spoken out about London's criminal underworld as the death toll in the capital continues to rise.

Sephton Henry, Jermaine Lawlor and Nequela Whittaker revealed how their lives spiralled out of control when they were sucked into a life of crime as teenagers.

The trio appeared on Good Morning Britain today amid the continuing 'postcode wars' which are thought to have led to seven stabbings in 24 hours and claimed four lives in just one week.

The former gang members said drugs were a lucrative market on the streets of London and an easier way for young people to make money

Sephton Henry (pictured during his time in a gang), got involved in gangs aged eight, and had been in jail seven times before the age of 23 for selling drugs

Jermaine Lawlor, second from right, was just 10 when he got involved in gangs

The show also heard from other gang members who would hide Samuari swords in trench coats to protect themselves in London's streets.

Nequela Whittaker revealed how she formed a gang in Brixton at the age of 13 before ending up with a four-year jail sentence for misuse of crack and heroine.

Nequela Whittaker told the show she got involved in a gang at the age of 13

She said she came from a 'loving background' but was bullied and 'didn't fit in' so 'become someone who wasn't a victim' anymore.

Nequela, who is from Clapham, took the money her mother gave her for violin lessons, and used it to buy and sell drugs.

She said: 'I came from a loving background where my mum provided continuous opportunities.

'But I didn't fit in so had to become a part of my peer group, in order to become someone who wasn't a victim any longer.

'My mum gave me money for violin lessons and I took the money and used it to sell drugs.

'People taunted me for the violin so I got rid of it. I stopped playing and picked up selling drugs.'

Left, Sephton Henry got involved in gangs aged eight, and had been in jail eight times before the age of 23. Right, Jermaine Lawlor was just 10 when he got involved in gangs, following the lead of his father

Sephton Henry got involved in gangs aged eight, and had been in jail seven times before the age of 23 for selling drugs.

Jermaine Lawlor was just 10 when he got involved in gangs.

They said an absence of positive role models, and a need to fit in among their peers, prompted their decision to join a gang.

She said authorities had taken away youth clubs in London, leaving young people without a place to go.

She added: 'The black community need to take a bit more responsibility.'

Nequela has since penned the book Street Girl, which charts her life as a young black girl in south West London, raised by a single mother and older sibling before going on to join a gang.

She has since turned her life around, completing a BA Hons Degree at Goldsmiths University in Applied Social Science, Community Development and Youth Work and running a youth mentoring service.

Speaking to the BBC last month, Nequela said her street name was 'Mouthy' and she was 'savage'.

She said: ''I would really know how to humiliate or wind people up. My reputation for fighting was well-known. I loved conflict for a long time.'

The trio revealed how their lives spiralled out of control when they were sucked into a life of crime as teenagers

Sephton told the hosts: 'I was groomed by older boys from the estate, I was groomed by the culture, the music - everything plays a part and I found myself in a hole I couldn't get out of.

'I didn't see a way out. Older boys would say to me, 'take this down the road and give it to that guy.' I didn't know what it was, but it turned out to be drugs.

'When your basic needs are not met you are likely to go elsewhere to find them. My basic needs were not met by society or at home. I got them from these people who were not good for me.

But he explained he was able to turn his life around thanks to positive role models.

He added: 'I found a male mentor who helped me. I also found Jesus and everything about me changed.

Sephton now works with charity Gangsline, which helps young people and community staff to tackle gang culture.

He also visits schools and talks to pupils about how to stay safe.

Sephton Henry, Jermaine Lawlor and Nequela Whittaker appeared on Good Morning Britain today amid the continuing 'postcode wars' in London

The trio spoke out after two more murders in London, bringing the total in the capital this year to 55

Sephton also spoke about the role of social media in the gang wars.

'Social media plays a part, it is an external issue, but there are root causes  rejection, abandonment.'

Jermaine added: 'Lack of a positive role model, feeling isolated and trapped, feeling like you're in a cycle - it really feels like there is not another option.

'For the majority of young men and women caught up in gang culture feel isolated, socially socially excluded and like they don't have a voice.

'Drugs are at the root of this. There is a lot of money you can make in drug dealing.'
The family of Alfie Evans have claimed his life support could be switched off as early as today, accusing the hospital caring for him of 'going behind their backs'.

The 23-month-old has a rare degenerative neurological condition that has not been definitively diagnosed by doctors.

Mother Kate James and father Thomas Evans want to take him to the Vatican-linked Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome for treatment.

But in a post on the Alfies Army Facebook page, Ms James said the Liverpools Alder Hey Childrens Hospital had 'disregarded' recent discussions and sent an application to the High Court.

Alfie Evans - pictured - is in a semi-vegetative state and his parents want to take him to Rome for treatment

Kate James has accused the hospital of going behind her back by requesting that Alfie's life support be switched off today

Tom Evans, pictured with Alfie's mother Kate James on March 21, has reportedly refused to give his written consent allowing doctors to withdraw Alfie's treatment

Ms James wrote on Facebook: 'After the meeting today with alder hey that we have fresh evidence and fresh material including a second opinion from another air ambulance company agreeing that Alfie is fit to fly and if alder hey were to lease with them they would fly Alfie.

'They have gone behind our backs and at 4 pm sent the application back to justice Hayden to remove Alfies life support as soon as tomorrow [Friday], even though in the meeting they agreed to view the evidence and have a meeting over it.

'We walked out of that meeting with confidence that alder hey were listening too us and in reality they went behind our backs and disregarded everything that went on in the meeting.'

She added that the familys wishes had been 'completely ignored' and they felt 'disgusted'.

As they maintain a vigil at the 23-month-old's side, Alfie's parents have also uploaded heartwrenching photos which they claim show the youngster breathing independently and responding to their touch

Theyve been involved in a long legal battle with hospital doctors, who say Alfies condition is untreatable and want to withdraw his life support, but have exhausted all options open to them.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rejected the case last week after the decision to withdraw treatment was upheld by the Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court.

An Alder Hey spokesman said the hospital has applied to the High Court judge who made the first decision about Alfies treatment to give them directions as to when his treatment should be withdrawn but a date has not been set.

WHAT THE DOCTORS SAY ABOUT ALFIE'S MOVEMENTS Professor Maria Fitzgerald, from the Developmental Neurobiology at University College London, said: 'It is possible for touching the skin to trigger reflex movements even when an individual has no perception or 'sense' of the touch. 'This is because reflexes are mediated at the level of the spinal cord which can continue to operate even if the brain itself is no longer functional.' Dr Joe Brierley, Consultant in Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: 'The rooting reflex described is one of what are called 'primitive reflexes.' 'It is present when babies are born (at term) and helps the newborn baby feed and bond with its mother/others. 'It makes the baby turn its head towards anything that strokes its cheek or mouth, and as the baby then moves its head in decreasing movements it looks to be searching for what has stimulated it. 'Trained child-health assessment can easily distinguish between these two types movements (voluntary and involuntary) and parents and families can then be helped to understand that this is not a voluntary conscious movement but a reflex action to a stimulus.' Advertisement

'We understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for Alfie's family and we continue to support them in every way we can,' he said. 'Understandably, there is a lot of interest in this case but, despite reports, at no point has a date for withdrawal of treatment for Alfie been agreed with his family.

'After a long and difficult legal process, the courts have ruled that Alfies condition is irreversible and untreatable and that continued active treatment is not in his best interests.

'We always aim to reach agreement with parents about the most appropriate palliative care plan for their child but sadly, in this case, we have not been able to do this.

'Consequently we must return to the High Court, as we are legally required to do, for guidance about a date on which to withdraw treatment from Alfie.'

It comes after MEP Stephen Woolfe said the hospital was prepared to consider 'alternative options' for the 21-month-old toddler including treatment in Italy after meeting with them yesterday.

But Ms James said they were given 'false hope' as, within an hour of the meeting, Alder Hey's lawyers were contacting the High Court to arrange a date for a court hearing for a judge to rule on a date for withdrawing life support.

Today Mr Woolfe, who represents North West England in Brussels, said: 'Hospital agreed not to end Alfies life today [Thursday] and will consider the alternative options we presented, including for Alfie to receive treatment available in Italy.

'Our position is the family are saying Alfie's physical condition has changed.

'He's showing more activity, smiling, lifting his eyelids.

'I'm not a doctor but I've seen him myself, you can see physical signs of life. He's a beautiful little boy.

'They believe there are possible physical changes with Alfie to enable him to be safely transported to Italy and an Air Ambulance that would carry him that would satisfy Alder Hey's concerns.'

Earlier this week, Pope Francis waded into Alfies life-support treatment battle, saying: '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.'

In a previous statement the hospital said its priority was to 'work with' Alfies parents and 'agree the most appropriate palliative care plan'.

Yesterday Stephen Woolfe visited Alfie at his bedside and later spoke to hospital officials.

In a statement, he said: 'I have just been in a meeting with Tom Evans and with Alfie Evans army and we have had some really positive news.

'Instead of the end of life of Alfie in the next 24 hours the hospital is considering and reviewing not only Alfies care and the way that he is physiologically, but to see if he is capable of travelling to Italy, and also whether the planes are capable of taking him there and whether the hospital in Italy will take him.

'I think this is really positive and a very good move from the hospital.'

Mr Evans, 21, and Ms James, 20, from Bootle in Merseyside, had failed three times to convince judges that Alfie should be transferred to an Italian clinic.

The MEP's intervention came 24 hours after the Pontiff expressed his hopes on Twitter that 'everything necessary would be done' to help the child, who suffers from a mystery brain disorder.

His parents have this week posted videos in which they say Alfie is 'showing an improvement'

Mr Evans had begged Pope Francis to intervene in the way he did in the case of Charlie Gard, another critically ill baby, whose parents wanted further treatment for him.

At the High Court last month, Mr Justice Hayden ruled that Alfie could not be taken to Rome for treatment and should have the life support machine eventually withdrawn.

The ruling was endorsed by the Appeal Court and later by the Supreme Court.

Alfie has a 'relentless and progressive' neurological condition that has destroyed part of his brain, and he cannot breathe or swallow on his own.

He has been treated at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, where specialists say his life support should be switched off.

Pope Francis has spoken about Alfie and his family's struggle to keep the youngster alive

Writing on his official Twitter account, Pope Francis shared his support for the tragic youngster

Alfie's parents last week suffered a major blow when they lost a last-ditch plea for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to hear the case, having exhausted all their legal options in Britain

His parents have this week posted videos in which they say Alfie is 'showing an improvement.'

They wrote on Facebook: 'We are begging the hospital to continue this process to give us and Alfie the chance to see if he wakes up or improves.

'They want machine off Friday but we are still trying to work on a day.'

In February a High Court judge ruled that he could be allowed to die, prompting Mr Evans to say his son had been 'sentenced to the death penalty'.

This judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal last month.

And last week they suffered a major blow when they lost a last-ditch plea for the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to hear the case, having exhausted all their legal options in Britain.

His father warned that doctors could act on the ruling as soon as Friday.

Alfie's parents want to explore treatment at a hospital in Rome, hoping that specialists will be able to pinpoint what is wrong with their son.
China vowed on Friday to fight the U.S. 'at any cost' after President Donald Trump proposed slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Trump's surprise move Thursday to instruct the U.S. trade representative to consider the additional tariffs came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a U.S. move this week to slap tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports.

In Beijing, the Commerce Ministry said China doesn't want a trade war  but isn't afraid to fight one.

President Donald Trump waves as walks from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 5, 2018, after returning from a trip to West Virginia

In this March. 29, 2018 photo, container ships is docked at the Yangshan port in Shanghai. President Donald Trump has instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods in a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute between the two countries

'China will dedicate itself to the end and at any cost and will definitely fight back firmly' if the U.S. persists in its 'protectionism,' the ministry said in a statement.

Trump's proposal intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since World War II. Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the world's two biggest economies squared off over Beijing's aggressive trade tactics.

They calmed down Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the U.S. and China would find a diplomatic solution but slid Friday after Beijing said it would fight the Trump administration's latest threats.

The White House announced after the markets closed Thursday that Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to. He's also instructed his secretary of agriculture 'to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.'

'China's illicit trade practices  ignored for years by Washington  have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs,' Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.

The latest escalation comes after the U.S. on Tuesday said it would impose 25 per cent 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 per cent tariffs.

A bucket of yellow soybeans is shown at Deerfield Farms Service on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at the facility in Volant, Pa. After the Trump administration unveiled plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports, China lashed back, matching the American tariffs with plans to tax $50 billion of U.S. products, including soybeans, corn and wheat. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

The Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods in response to the Trump administration's duties on all steel and aluminum imports, including from China.

U.S. officials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But economists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear the hallmarks of a classic trade rift that could escalate. And already, the tensions have rattled global stock markets.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called China's move 'unjustified' and said Trump's proposal was an 'appropriate response to China's recent threat of new tariffs.'

'Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses,' he said in a statement. 'Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTR's report.'

China's Commerce Ministry said it must 'adopt new countermeasures' to protect the interests of the Chinese people - but it did not announce any specific measures.

The clash reflects the tension between Trump's promises to narrow a U.S. trade deficit with China that stood at $375.2 billion in goods last year and China's ruling Communist Party's development ambitions. Trump says China's trade practices have caused American factories to close and lead to the loss of American jobs.

Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said earlier Thursday in an interview with Fox Business Network that negotiations were ongoing. But, he said, 'at the end of the day, China's unfair and illegal trading actions are damaging to economic growth, for the U.S., for China and for the rest of the world.'

He also called Trump 'the first guy with a backbone in decades ... to actually go after it. Not just whisper it, but to go after it with at least preliminary actions.'

One trade policy expert said he doubted that Trump's rhetoric would help forge any deal with China.

'Mr. Trump is upping the ante, but the lack of a clear game plan and an incoherent messaging strategy from the administration is setting this up for an all-out trade war rather than a fruitful negotiation,' said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

In China, some observers held out hope that the two countries were headed toward negotiations and noted that despite Beijing's tough talk, it likely does not want the country's export-driven economy to be hit by punishing tariffs.

'If the trade dispute escalates or lasts for a long time, it will have a big impact on China's manufacturing industry, and foreign investment in related projects will be affected too,' said Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based independent political commentator. 'In the long-run, losses in manufacturing will lead to decrease in tax revenue and eventually affect China's economic growth.'

Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a frequent Trump critic, called the escalation 'the dumbest possible way' to punish China.

'Hopefully the President is just blowing off steam again but, if he's even half-serious, this is nuts,' Sasse said in a statement. 'Let's absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us.'

Any additional tariffs would be subject to a public comment process and would not go into effect until that process is complete.
A mother who was told that her pancreatic cancer was getting worse has married her partner of 42 years in a hospital bedside ceremony.

Mandy Helen Lucitt, 57 from West Kingsdown in Kent, tied the knot with her partner Kevin McCarthy, 62, on the Oak Ward of the Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford in a 2pm ceremony.

The new Mrs McCarthy had earlier been told that her condition, pancreatic cancer, was getting worse and so the couple decided to bring forward their April 27 wedding.

Pictured are newlyweds Helen and Kevin McCarthy with their daughter Jessica, 31 (back left), son Rudi, 39 (right) and second cousin Sarah Lyons, 32 from Ireland (front left)

The couple are parents to Jessica, Rudi and Ryan, who was lost to cot death in 1984.

They have been together for 42 years and their decision triggered a rush to prepare the ceremony in just one day.

Friends and family digested the news and managed to rally around to pull off a beautiful ceremony.

This included finding a wedding ring that would fit, which was picked up from a jeweller's at 10pm on Tuesday, April 3, the night before.

Other duties also included arranging a cake, flowers, balloons, hair and makeup, and the dress.

Pictured is Kevin McCarthy looking emotional as he holds the hand of his new wife Mandy as she is greeted by friends and relatives

The couple of 42 years had decided to bring their April 27 wedding forward after the new Mrs McCarthy was told her pancreatic cancer had worsened

Friends and relatives made a special effort to attend, with some even flying in from Ireland.

The ceremony itself was conducted by Janet Potter and Peter Tongue from the Dartford Registry Office.

Ms Potter said: 'Ceremonies such of these are always a priority for our office and we will always go above and beyond to ensure that a Registry of General Licence can be done straightaway for such occasions'.

After the ceremony, the couple went home with the hospital taking to Facebook to share photos of the wedding.

The photos have been met with an outpouring of support for the couple with messages of congratulations on social media.

Pink balloons filled the room as Mandy Helen Lucitt and Kevin McCarthy exchanged their vows at the Darrent Valley Hospital

The Facebook posts have been shared 314 times, more than 2,100 people have acknowledged the post and there are nearly 500 comments.

In a statement posted by the hospital, staff said Mrs McCarthy is passionate about fundraising for children's charities.

In 2014, her four-year-old granddaughter Layla lost her battle with Leukaemia, making her even more determined to help children's charities.

She has since raised 12,000 which has been pledged to charities such as Great Ormond Street, Demelza House, The Royal Marsden and Ellenor.

A message on the Just Giving page, written by her daughter Jessica, reads: 'Mum's grandchildren are her everything, but instead of spending her time sad she channeled her energy into making Layla proud by continuously fundraising.

'Mum has organised several events over the years which have raised money for charities such as the Royal Marsden children's ward and GOSH charity.

The couple tied the knot on the Oak Ward of the Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent in a 2pm ceremony

'Sadly, this Easter mum wasn't able to take part in this charity work as she was diagnosed with cancer and is currently fighting in hospital.'

People are encouraged to donate to the online page to help Mrs McCarthy continue her positive work.

The statement added: 'In order to make mum feel like she is doing her bit we are asking our kind friends and family to spare a little change and work together to help mum feel like she is still helping those poorly children.'
He punched Jacob Cruz, 32, knocking him out before going live on Facebook

Personal trainer rushed to his home in South Tilden Street, Waterford Township

Jonathen Abrams's teenage daughter called and said someone had broken in

A father knocked out a 'home intruder' who appeared to be trying to break into his home before live streaming the take down on Facebook.

Jonathen Abrams, from Pontiac, Michigan, told how he caught an intruder outside his front door after his teenage daughter called and said someone had broken in.

He rushed back and spotted a figure outside his house on South Tilden Street.

Abrams said he saw the man trying to force his way through the door of his Waterford Township house.

'He had one arm like this, and he was doing this and was trying to get in,' Abrams told Local 4, motioning how the man was trying to force open the door.

Abrams, a trained boxer and personal trainer, said his instincts kicked in.

He 'instantly punched' the man 'out cold' before pulling out his cellphone and streaming the intruder's limp body.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 14,000 times, Abrams is heard saying 'if anything happened, everyone would clearly see' it was not his fault.

After police arrive he calls out to them not to shoot him while his daughter is heard saying the man had tried to enter the property.

'My heart's racing because I don't know if he has a knife,' Abrams says in the footage.

Jacob Cruz, 32 (pictured), was arraigned Wednesday on a breaking and entering charge

Jonathen Abrams (pictured outside his home) said he thinks Cruz had more sinister intentions and wanted to 'snatch a kid'

'I don't know if he has a gun. I don't know what he has, but I'm going to protect my family.'

Court records show 32-year-old Jacob Cruz was arraigned Wednesday on a breaking and entering charge.

However, Abrams believes Cruz had more sinister intentions.

'You were here to snatch a kid,' Abrams said. 'You weren't here for anything else.'

Cruz was not represented by an attorney.
Footage has emerged of the moment a burglar lay dying in the street after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in.

Henry Vincent, 37, died after being stabbed during a botched raid at the south-east London home of Richard Osborn-Brooks in the early hours of Wednesday.

Mr Osborn-Brooks was later arrested on suspicion of murder, reigniting a national debate about the rights of homeowners to protect themselves during break-ins.

Footage filmed by a neighbour shows the moment burglar Henry Vincent was treated by emergency services after he was stabbed during a break-in in south-east London this week

Footage obtained by the BBC now shows Vincent laying the street as emergency service workers fight to keep him alive.

The homeowner who filmed the scene is heard saying: 'It's a stabbing. A stabbing. [They're] trying to revive him. I think he's gone.'

During the botched raid in South Park Crescent, Hither Green, an accomplice dragged Vincent toward a van before leaving him for dead, according to a witness.

He was found collapsed in nearby Further Green Road by paramedics from London Ambulance Service, who took him to hospital where he died shortly before 4am.

The second man has not been found and at least one suspect was believed to be armed with a screwdriver, police said.

Moyo Ojo, who lives next-door to Mr Osborn-Brooks said he heard the sound of a fight at around 12.30am.

Henry Vincent (left) died from a stab wound after struggling with Richard Osborn-Brooks (right) following a break-in at the pensioner's home this week

Police remained at Mr Osborn-Brooks' home today as they attempt to track down the second burglary suspect

He said: 'I was awake when it happened at around 12.30am, 12.45am. I heard a struggle, I could heard shouting and loud voices, but I couldn't heard the words. I could hear something smash as well and the banging.'

Mr Ojo added: 'At first I couldn't tell which side it was coming from. I thought it was just an argument between housemates.

'Then in the morning I heard someone knock a bin over, by then the police arrived.

'He was a very quiet person, keeps himself to himself. They are a very nice couple.

'It would only be a small kitchen, he wouldn't of had the ability to run. His is also old so what could he do? He was in a difficult situation.'

Detectives think a struggle took place between one of the burglars and the elderly homeowner before Vincent was stabbed in the upper body, but would not confirm if he was stabbed with the screwdriver.

A friend of Mr Osborn-Brooks described him as a 'gentleman' and said he would have only acted to defend his wife, who is understood to suffer from dementia

Police forensics experts have been scouring the street after a murder probe was launched

Supporters have rallied around Mr Osborn-Brooks, insisting the investigation into him should be dropped because he has a right to defend his home.

His wife's close friend Dorothy Kirby, 87, said would he have done anything to protecting his frail wife Maureen, who is known as Mo.

She added: 'He is a decent man. You would pick up anything you would need to defend yourself and your home.

'He would be more worried about Mo. He's a very sensible man. He really is a good man. The charges should be completely dropped.'

Neighbour Val Barclay, 63, said: 'He deserves a medal. This is a pensioner who has worked all his life and wants to live and die quietly.'

Moyo Ojo, who lives next door to the elderly couple, said he heard the struggle. He added: 'There were a number of voices, some screams but I couldn't make out the words. That kitchen is very small he wouldn't have had the opportunity to run. He is an old man, but it's fight or flight.'

A car was removed from the scene yesterday as police continue to appeal for information

Vincent, 37, had been on a police force's 'most wanted' list, had a string of convictions and was suspected of burglaries targeting the vulnerable.

He was a predatory conman, burglar, drug addict and fraudster who had spent the past 15 years preying on the vulnerable.

At the time of the break-in, Vincent was one of Kent Police's most wanted criminals who was on the run after a distraction burglary last November which targeted a man in his 70s in Farningham, Kent.

The career criminal hails from a family of cowboy builders who were jailed for a total of 30 years for fleecing elderly householders out of more than 1million in 2003, police believe. Together with his father, Henry Charles Vincent, and five uncles, the younger Vincent tricked pensioners into handing over cash for fake building works after telling them their houses were about to fall down.

After Vincent was released from a four-year jail term for that scam, he and his father conned an 81-year-old pensioner out of 72,000 to repair a single tile on his roof in 2009.

In 2013, Vincent was put on Kent Police's 'most wanted' list following another raid in Gravesend.
Fears there may be more inbred children from the infamous 'Colt' family are being investigated by child abuse detectives.

It comes after police extradited six relatives from three states across Australia including the family's matriarch, mother-of-13 Betty Colt.

She arrived at Sydney Airport on Friday after NSW Police successfully applied for orders following the arrests on Thursday.

Fears there may be more inbred children from the infamous 'Colt' family are being investigated as the family's matriarch was extradited to Sydney on Friday

Mother-of-13 Betty Colt will face perjury charges relating to allegations relating to incest and child abuse at the family's farm in New South Wales

Six members of the Colt family - a pseudonym given to them by the court - were extradited on Friday

Eight people have been arrested across three states following a six-year investigation into suspected historical and ongoing child abuse in southern New South Wales

Betty, 50, previously claimed her 13 children were fathered by a non-relative.

But police allege her five youngest - believed to be aged between 12 and 19 - were her relative's children, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph.

Eight members of the family were arrested on Thursday with six being brought back to New South Wales in relation to allegations which emerged in 2012, when state authorities took 12 children into care.

All the members of the family have now been given pseudonyms by the court after a six-year investigation into alleged incest and abuse at the family's farm near Yass, in the NSW Riverina region.

Detectives from the State Crime Command's Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad established Strike Force Hermoyne in 2012 to investigate allegations of incest, child sexual assault and serious neglect of children

Detective escort a woman (centre) to Griffith police station after a series of arrests across Australia as part of a six-year investigation into alleged historical incest and child sex offences

Officers from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad spoke to reporters on Friday about the arrests.

Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec said they were not aware of other children being born into the family after 2013 but added 'it will certainly be part of our ongoing investigations'.

Mr Kerlatec added the investigation had 'tested the resilience' of detectives.

'Betty Colt' - a court ordered pseudonym - has been arrested as part of an investigation into years of child abuse within a family in southern rural NSW

A woman (centre) outside Griffith police station was one of eight people arrested this week

He explained complex investigations including DNA testing, legal issues and the seriousness of the allegations were reasons for it taking six years until any charges were brought.

Police footage shows the diminutive Charlie Colt wearing high-vis workwear next to a tractor kneeling in the red dirt while being arrested.

Detective Superintendet Kerlatec explained complex investigations including DNA testing, legal issues were reasons for it taking six years until any charges

All the members of the family have now been given pseudonyms by the court into alleged incest and abuse farm near Yass, in the NSW Riverina region

The 45-year-old was charged with more than a dozen offences, including six counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and common assault.

Martha Colt, 38, is shown being escorted to Griffith Police Station with her hands in her pockets. She was charged with perjury.

The pair appeared in Griffith Local Court on Friday and were refused bail.

Several members of the 'Colt' family were found living in this shed in southern rural NSW

They are due to appear in a Sydney court on Thursday.

A man and two women were arrested in the Riverland region of South Australia on a NSW warrant.

Derek Colt, 29, faces two charges of incest with a person under the age of 16.

Raylene Colt, 34, and 50-year-old Betty Colt face perjury charges.

'Betty Colt', one of the family members investigated over incest allegations, arrives at Moss Vale Local Court for a previous matter

Two women and a man were also arrested in the Riverland region of South Australia

The trio appeared at Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday when NSW Police won an extradition hearing to return them back to the state.

Two men and another woman were also arrested in the Northam area of Western Australia.

A 51-year-old woman was charged under a NSW arrest warrant for perjury.

A man and woman were arrested in the Griffith area, in NSW's Riverina district, and remain in police custody

A 36-year-old man was charged under a NSW arrest warrant for four counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, two counts of indecent assault and having sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10-14.

A 48-year-old man was charged under a NSW arrest warrant for counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10.

They appeared before magistrates in Perth on Friday before they were extradited to NSW.

A man and woman were arrested in the Griffith area, in NSW's Riverina district, and remain in police custody

All of the six interstate accused are expected to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.

Detectives from the State Crime Command's Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad established Strike Force Hermoyne in 2012 to investigate allegations of incest, child sexual assault and serious neglect of children.

The notorious case involving the 'Colt' family shocked the world when they were discovered living in ramshackle caravans, sheds and tents six years ago.

The Colt family home in southern NSW from where children were taken from their parents

Authorities removed 12 inbred, illiterate and malnourished children from the camp and placed them in care.

Officers swooped on the remote property after one of the children was overheard saying that his sister was having a baby - but the family didn't know which brother had fathered the child.

They were 'shocked and appalled' by what they found on the property in the hills surrounding a picturesque farming community.

A 38-year-old woman was charged with perjury, while a 45-year-old man was charged with more than a dozen child sex offences, including six counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and common assault

Around 40 members of the family were found living in squalid conditions where the children were discovered living in tents.

The children had facial deformities, could not speak intelligibly and did not know what a toothbrush or toilet paper were.

They had filthy, bare feet, did not know how to wash their hair or bathe and slept in dirty beds among cigarette butts and rotting food.
Sharlene Godding, 27, was found hanged the day after running away from a mental health ward, an inquest heard today

A mother-of-one was found hanged the day after running away from a mental health ward, an inquest heard today.

Sharlene Godding, 27, ran away from the Birch Ward at Royal Bolton Hospital where she had been sectioned in February 2017 due to poor mental health.

She was admitted to a ward in a distressed state after complaining of police helicopters 'following her' and 'trying to get her'.

She was taken in by her brother, David Walsh, after she begged him to stay at his flat.

But the following day she was found hanged in his bathroom.

The Bolton hearing heard Miss Godding had started to suffer from mental health problems in 2016 after her son was taken into care by social services.

In his statement, Mr Walsh said her mental health then deteriorated 'very quickly' over a two month period.

She was admitted to Birch Ward for the first time where she stayed for three weeks before being released.

In January 2017 Miss Godding went to live with her brother in Halliwell, in Greater Manchester.

However the next month, her mental health started to deteriorate again as she struggled without seeing her son, who she eventually lost custody of.

Sharlene Godding, aged 27, ran out of the Birch Ward at Royal Bolton Hospital where she had been sectioned in February 2017 due to poor mental health

Miss Godding was admitted to the Birch Ward at Royal Bolton Hospital (pictured) in a distressed state after complaining of police helicopters 'following her' and 'trying to get her'

Mr Walsh returned from work on February 24 and found a staff member from the mental health team at the door to his flat.

He let them in because Miss Godding had refused.

The mental health worker said Miss Godding, who was born and grew up in Bolton, needed to be sectioned and a doctor was called.

The doctor sectioned her but police had to be called to restrain her and put her in an ambulance.

Mr Walsh recalled: 'She was as strong as an ox. It took four of them.'

When she arrived at Royal Bolton Hospital Miss Godding continued to be aggressive towards staff and the police had to call for back-up.

Miss Godding went on the run and, with the help of her half brother, David Walsh, avoided police because she did not want to return to the hospital

The inquest heard an assessment was made as to the risk of Miss Godding self harming and absconding - but she was ticked as 'amber' and 'green' respectively which means 'medium' and 'low' risk.

Hospital mental health nurse Christopher Bell told the inquest: 'With the absent without leave, we made a plan to bring her in, give her medication and see how she would respond. Following the medication, she responded very well. She felt safe on the ward and was not going to try to escape. That is why I ticked it as green.

'She had been given medication and had changed dramatically. She was calm.'

He added: 'She spoke about the police helicopters "trying to get her". I had stayed beyond my shift to help calm her down. She was allocated a named nurse and I phoned her brother to tell him she was doing much better. She had gone to sleep by the time I had left.'

Friends and family visited Miss Godding over the next few days and Mr Walsh said she was often in a 'zombie-like' state.

On February 28 Mr Walsh said he was called by the police and they told him Miss Godding had escaped from the ward and asked if he had seen her or heard from her.

That afternoon Miss Godding called him and told him she had 'done a runner' from the hospital and asked him to come pick her up.

He told her to get a taxi to his flat and she refused and told him to pick her up from Raikes Lane.

At around 3.30pm Mr Walsh went to pick her up and was driving up the slip road from the A666 when Miss Godding came running across the road out of the bushes and jumped in the front seat of the car.

The pair went to the KFC on Waters Meeting Road where she told him she had escaped by pushing past someone and running away.

She was begging Mr Walsh not to take her back to the hospital or tell the police.

They went back to his house and he went to work the following day but when he came home he found her hanged in the bathroom.

In a statement Mr Walsh said: 'I could not believe that she had taken her own life. I am very sad that at what she did. I wish I had contacted the police or hospital when she rang me. But I only wanted what was best for her.'

The hearing continues.

For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org for details.
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A Russian tycoon who bought former Rangers owner Craig Whytes Highland castle is trying to offload it at a knockdown price after being convicted of a 4million fraud.

Sergey Fedotov, who purchased Castle Grant near Grantown-on-Spey in Moray for 1million, admitted a massive embezzlement while he was head of the Russian Authors Society (RAO), which collects royalty payments on behalf of writers.

The 40-year-old businessman was arrested in Moscow, 2016, and held in custody. He bought the 16-century A-listed pile in 2014 after it was repossessed from Whyte when he failed to keep up with mortgage payments.

Sergey Fedotov, who purchased Castle Grant (pictured) near Grantown-on-Spey in Moray for 1million, admitted a massive embezzlement while he was head of the Russian Authors Societ

The 40-year-old businessman is selling the property after he was arrested in Moscow and forced to pay back the money that he swindled from the RAO

The refurbished A-listed building features its own billiards room and has gone back on the market for offers of over 850,000 as Fedotov attempts to pay back what he owes

The grand property, which is set in 35 acres of grounds, has modern en-suite bathrooms and a fitted kitchen and one of the rooms features a tartan carpet

He admitted carrying out the fraud during a hearing at Moscows Meshchansky Court in June last year and was jailed for 18 months. However he was released on parole after serving just six months.

Fedotov, who is still the registered owner of Castle Grant, put it up for sale last October for offers over 950,000 after he was ordered to pay back the money he had swindled from the RAO. However it was swiftly removed from the market and was put back up for sale this week for offers over 850,000.

Reports in Russia said the RAO had refused an offer for the castle to be transferred into their ownership and instead want it sold with the proceeds paid to them.

Fedotov (pictured), who is still the registered owner of Castle Grant, put it up for sale last October for offers over 950,000 after he was ordered to pay back the money he had swindled

Prosecutors told the Moscow court that Fedotov deliberately misled the RAO board, encouraging them to transfer properties held by them to a private company.

The company then sold the property to third parties, leaving the RAO out of pocket to the sum of 300million rubles - 3.8million. It is now on sale with Strutt & Parker's Inverness office.

Interior photos show Fedotov has spent thousands of pounds refurbishing Castle Grant after it fell into disrepair during Whytes ownership.

He has installed modern en-suite bathrooms and a fitted kitchen and one of the rooms features a tartan carpet.

The grand property, which is set in 35 acres of grounds, also boasts a ballroom, drawing room and billiard room.

A sales blurb for the property reads: 'In the last year the castle has undergone a significant amount of work as part of a renovation programme and this is very much ongoing work in progress, providing the potential purchaser with an outstanding development opportunity.'

Russian police started investigating Fedotov in 2015 after concerns were raised about where he got the funds to buy the castle and other properties in the south of England.

During a preliminary hearing in the case, Fedotov insisted that Castle Grant was bought lawfully and said the purchase was modest as the castle was only worth the price of a small apartment in Moscow.

The A-listed castle has been refurbished throughout to combine the best in modern living with the Highland heritage that makes it such a distinctive home

The castle, which sits within 35 acres of land, has undergone a significant amount of work as part of a renovation programme and this is very much ongoing work in progress

Fedotov bought Castle Grant, on the outskirts of Grantown-on-Spey, in September, 2014, after it was repossessed by the Bank of Scotland when the former Rangers owner fell behind on payments

In 2015 Fedotov allowed the castles grounds to be used for a massive banquet and concert to mark the 250th anniversary celebrations of the town of Grantown

Castle Grant in Grantown-on-Spey in Moray used to belong the former Rangers owner Craig Whyte - who failed to keep up with payments - and now the Russian tycoon is being forced to offload it too

The huge property - which is located in the Scottish Highlands - has gone on the market for a knockdown price after its previous owner fell behind on payments

'That castle in Scotland I have, I acknowledge,' he said. 'But this property is irrelevant. The cost corresponds to the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in the centre of Moscow.'

The RAO is a non-governmental organization created in 1993 for collective management of authors rights and has more than 25,000 members.

After his scam was exposed the tycoon referred to the castle as having a cost that corresponds to a two-bedroom apartment in the centre of Moscow

Though the house has been refurbished throughout, the castle presents a potential project for those who are passionate about developing the home

Fedotov bought Castle Grant, on the outskirts of Grantown-on-Spey, in September, 2014, after it was repossessed by the Bank of Scotland.

In 2015 he allowed the castles grounds to be used for a massive banquet and concert to mark the 250th anniversary celebrations of the town of Grantown.

Whyte bought it for 720,000 in 2006 but fell into arrears with the 7,000-a-month mortgage. The Bank of Scotland took legal action to recover it after his Ibrox reign ended. He has been made bankrupt and last year was cleared of charges related to his takeover of the club.

Craig Whyte bought the house for 720,000 in 2006 but fell into arrears with the 7,000-a-month mortgage. The Bank of Scotland took legal action to recover it after his Ibrox reign ended

Modern fittings feature throughout Castle Grant, which is on the market once more after its current owner was found to have scammed the RAO
A mother has relived the moment her husband shot her in the face and neck while she was pregnant with his child.

Roxana Nelson, 32, from Harman, West Virginia, thought she was going to die after her husband Donald Lee Nelson, 43, pulled the trigger - unloading two bullets into her jaw from just inches away.

The mother would need four surgeries to repair the horrific wounds, which destroyed nerves, bone, teeth, gum and a large part of her mouth.

Roxana Nelson, 32 (pictured), has been left with chronic pain after she was shot in the face by her husband

Roxana Nelson is seen with her horrific injuries in her hospital bed

Roxana needed has already had four surgeries to repair the wounds left by the two bullets, which tore through her jaw

On Monday, April 2, Donald Lee Nelson, 43, of Dry Fork, pleaded guilty to malicious assault and wanton endangerment involving a firearm at Randolph County Circuit Court. He faces a sentence of 15 years. The couple are seen together above

And Roxana has racked-up more than $500,000 of medical bills and still needs two more surgeries.

An argument over belongings at their home escalated before her husband picked up the weapon and opened fire.

Roxana felt blood begin to pour from where the bullet tore through her left cheek and exited from the right-side of her neck.

Time slowed as she fell to the floor, breaking her clavicle, scapula and damaging her lung.

Roxana said her husband pointed the gun at her three-year-old daughter who was pleading 'stop hurting mommy', before fleeing the scene.

She said: 'He had the gun and pointed it at my face, I wasn't afraid, I didn't have any fear of him and assumed it wasn't loaded so I pushed it out the way.

'I thought he must be crazy for threatening me with a gun.

'Soon after I was hit in the head with a bullet, all I heard was a really loud, high-pitched noise.

Donald Lee Nelson, 43 (pictured), faces a sentence of as many as 15 years in jail

Roxana is fundraising for vital surgery and to highlight the damage caused by domestic gun violence

'Then just like in movies everything seemed to move in slow motion, I didn't realize from the shock that I had been shot.

'I turned around to him and felt the warm blood trickling down my shirt, I felt my blood pumping out, I yelled 'You really shot me in the head, I'm going to die'.'

Roxana fell to the ground, cutting her leg on a vent. Donald, apparently unfazed, continued to shout at her like she 'had done something wrong'.

'My little girl saw him like a father, she was there yelling 'No, don't hurt mommy, stop hurting my mommy', when he looked at her it was like he woke up.

'He snapped out of whatever he was in, looked at me, panicking and pulled the gun up in line with her, I stood between them.'

Roxana pleaded for him to call for help but he turned and left, driving away in his car while his wife lay in a pool of her own blood.

The expectant mum was due to deliver Nelson's child in just three months.

In hospital she was put into a medically induced coma by doctors, who worked to save her life and begin initial efforts to repair her shattered jaw.

Roxana's face became extremely swollen and she was unable to see from her eyes

Roxana said: 'My mouth was wired for just over six weeks and I had the piece of bone pushed up inside my cheek.

'It was one big open spot, I had no bone or teeth on that side of my face, oral surgeons did a bone graft, it was difficult and made my face swell massively.

'It was huge, it had swollen three times in size, my eyes had swelled shut and tongue enlarged, it was extreme.'

Roxana gave birth to her child with Donald in August 2016 - but had to delay further surgery due to the trauma of the attack and labor.

The couple in happier times: Donald drove off in his car leaving his wife for dead

On Monday, April 2, Donald Lee Nelson, 43, of Dry Fork, pleaded guilty to malicious assault and wanton endangerment involving a firearm at Randolph County Circuit Court.

He is yet to be sentenced but could face 15 years.

Roxana is fundraising for vital surgery and to highlight the damage caused by domestic gun violence.

She said: 'This type of violence is happening far too often, I feel like I have a duty to shed much needed light on it.

'I will need support both emotionally and financially to be able to get through the next few months and in the next few years while I go through more surgeries without any financial support from him.'

Roxana said: 'Every day I had a series of pills and a range of different medications, I am in pain every day.'
Northern California is bracing for a major spring storm that is expected to dump several inches of rain on burn-scarred areas of wine country and could present the first test of the partially repaired spillway at the nations tallest dam.
The mother of a mentally unstable Frenchman who stabbed two backpackers to death in a paranoid frenzy says her son was a 'peaceful boy' before he smoked marijuana every day for 18 years.

Smail Ayad, 30, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in August 2016 when he dragged British backpacker Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, from her bed at a hostel in Queensland's north.

He killed her and another Brit - 30-year-old Tom Jackson - but on Thursday, had criminal charges dropped and was sent to a mental health facility.

On the same day, a note from his mother was delivered to the family of Ms Ayliffe-Chung, explaining how he was never aggressive prior to suffering a 'psychotic episode' and going on a stabbing rampage.

Mia's mother Rosie Ayliffe revealed the note in full on Friday, and now plans to meet with the mother of her daughter's killer.

The mother of Smail Ayad, 30, said her son was a 'peaceful boy' before he killed Mia Ayliffe-Chung (pictured), 21, at a hostel in Queensland's north in August 2016

Ayad (pictured) was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he dragged Ms Ayliffe-Chung from her bed at a hostel in Queensland's north and stabbed her to death

A note from his mother was delivered to the family of Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) on Thursday, explaining how he was never aggressive prior to suffering a 'psychotic episode' and going on a stabbing rampage

Mia's mother Rosie Ayliffe (pictured with Mia) revealed the note in full on Friday, and now plans to meet with the mother of her daughter's killer

The note read: 'We share your immense pain and grief because I am a mother first and foremost but words are too weak to ask for forgiveness.

'My son has never been aggressive, violent or nasty in his past life. He was a peaceful and respectful boy and now he is portrayed as a monster.

'Our suffering thinking what he has done will never end. It is a nightmare. May you one day find peace in your hearts.'

Ms Ayliffe, from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, wept as she told the Brisbane Mental Health Court on Thursday that she was haunted by thoughts of her only child's last moments.

Ms Ayliffe-Chung's mother Rosie (pictured) told court on Thursday that she was haunted by thoughts of her only child's last moments, wondering if she felt pain and whether she knew 'she was going'

But Ms Ayliffe said on Friday she had found peace over her daughter's (pictured) killing after making a 'connection' with Ayad - who smoked up to four joints a day since he was 12

Criminal proceedings against Ayad (pictured) were dropped on Thursday after Brisbane Mental Health Court found he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack

Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) was staying at the Queensland hostel while working on a farm as part of Australian visa requirements

She said she spent many nights lying awake and thinking about her daughter's final moments on the floor of her hostel bedroom, where she was staying while working on a farm as part of Australian visa requirements.

'Did she feel pain? Did she know she was going? The images haunt me,' she told court in a victim impact statement.

But on Friday, Ms Ayliffe said she had found peace over her daughter's killing after making a 'connection' with Ayad - who smoked up to four joints a day since he was 12.

The heartbroken mother said the pair stared at each other for three seconds after she told the court that his realisation of what he had done was punishment enough.

'It's only through those moments of connection and understanding, when you get a moment of insight into the mind of another being, that change can be initiated,' she wrote in a Facebook post on Friday.

She studied psychology and childcare in the UK before she moved to the Gold Coast

Ms Ayliffe-Chung (right) spent time working as a VIP waitress at Surfers Paradise nightclub The Bedroom, before heading to Home Hill for farmwork where she was killed

Ms Ayliffe said prior to the moment she had wished Ayad and his family 'pain, anguish and death' and left the courtroom furious.

'And then I suddenly realised what was happening to me. I was becoming Ayad,' she wrote.

'I was developing a paranoid, delusional conspiracy theory in my head which was taking me along the path he trod. It was a dark place, and I was angry and I knew I could go as far as I wanted down that path and it would never get any lighter.'

Ayad killed her daughter and Mr Jackson while under the delusion that 50 local farmers and hostel staff wanted to kill him and would burn his body in a pizza oven.

He claimed to have no or limited memory of the attack, which reportedly started when he yelled 'Allahu Akbar'.

Court heard Ayad killed Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) and repeatedly stabbed British backpacker Tom Jackson

Mr Jackson (pictured) was trying to help the 21-year-old when he was fatally stabbed by Ayad

Ayad was under the delusion that 50 local farmers and hostel staff wanted to kill him and would burn his body in a pizza oven when he allegedly killed Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured)

But terrorism was ruled out as a motive for the attack after he was found by psychiatrists to be of 'unsound mind'.

The hostel manager tried to stop Ayad after he fatally attacked Ms Ayliffe-Chung, but was himself stabbed in the leg.

Ayad jumped headfirst from the first floor balcony, sustaining neck and back fractures in the fall.

He then got up and stabbed the hostel owner's dog, the court heard.

'This was an extraordinary action and I think, in the context of all this offending, points to how frightened he was and how ill he was,' Justice Jean Dalton said on Thursday.

Ms Ayliffe cried as she read a victim impact statement on Thursday, telling how tributes had come in from all over the word acknowledging her daughter's (pictured) kindness

Ms Ayliffe said she wanted everyone to understand that the man's acts of violence had robbed her world of her beloved daughter (pictured), who had everything to live for

Four psychiatrists have assessed Ayad, who was initially charged with murdering Ms Ayliffe-Chung and Mr Jackson (pictured)

The court heard Ayad returned to the room where he had killed Ms Ayliffe-Chung and repeatedly stabbed Mr Jackson as he tried to help the 21-year-old.

Mr Jackson later died in hospital.

Justice Dalton discontinued criminal proceedings against Ayad after finding he was suffering paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack.

Statements submitted to the court by other backpackers stated the French man had been acting strangely and sending text messages that did not make sense, despite previously being polite and good-mannered.

'He thought that a cleaner at the hostel had told him he would be killed when he went to check out and he thought the owner of the hostel was making excuses as to why he couldn't leave,' Justice Dalton said.

Mr Jackson (pictured) later died in hospital after he was stabbed in a paranoid frenzy by Ayad

The court heard Ayad (pictured) will likely be repatriated to France

'He interpreted her as telling him that he had to die.'

Mr Jackson's father Les told the court he thought of his son at the beginning and end of each day.

'For me, sleepless and disturbed nights with visions of my defenceless son being attacked by a knife-wielding professional martial arts fighter or lying in a coma in a hospital bed are not uncommon,' he said.

Four psychiatrists have assessed Ayad, who was initially charged with 16 offences, including two counts of murder.

Criminal proceedings against him were dropped after the court hearing, but he will be detained in a mental health facility.

The court heard he will likely be repatriated to France.

Ayad jumped headfirst from the first floor balcony of the hostel, sustaining neck and back fractures in the fall (pictured is the scene of the killings)

Ms Ayliffe-Chung was killed at Shelley's Backpackers in Home Hill, Queensland, a popular place to stay for backpackers doing rural work to fulfill visa requirements

Backpacker Ms Ayliffe-Chung (pictured) was staying at Shelley's Backpackers when she was killed

Daily Mail Australia revealed in August 2016 that Ayad was allegedly acting strangely for two weeks before the attack, and his ramblings led other backpackers to give him more space.

It was claimed that his behaviour changed when Ms Ayliffe-Chung arrived and he became infatuated with her, but Daily Mail Australia understands he had 'not been himself' for days before that.

Lorraine Gorizia - who is the part owner of one of the farms backpackers from the hostel were contracted to - told Daily Mail Australia that a group of six backpackers warned her of Ayad's behaviour before the killings.

'They told me he had been talking funny, saying strange things for weeks. At first it was slurred like he was drunk,' she said.

'He had been telling them he was going to massacre them all but they thought it was him being light-hearted.

'They didn't take it seriously because he was such a nice kid, he was always smiling.'

Bloody footprints on the footpath just outside Shelley's Backpackers

More blood was found splattered on the floor of the hostel in one of the communal areas

Pictured is the scene where Mr Jackson and Ms Ayliffe-Chung were killed by Ayad

Ms Ayliffe-Chung's arrival to the hostel came four or five days after the Frenchman's behaviour allegedly changed.

'When she came on the scene he was infatuated but she just wasn't at all interested in him,' Ms Gorizia said.

'I only met Mia once, they worked together on the farm that day, and the next day I had a text on my phone saying she had been killed and that people wouldn't be able to leave the hostel to come to work.'

Mia shared her hostel room with Ayad and two other men.

She studied psychology and childcare in the UK before she moved to the Gold Coast.

There she spent time working as a VIP waitress at Surfers Paradise nightclub The Bedroom, before heading to Home Hill for farmwork, The Courier Mail reported.


Chinese doctors successfully removed a three-foot-long phone cable from a pensioner using laser technology in northeast China.

The man, said to be in his 60s, thought of inserting a cable to stop itchiness in the urethra that caused by prostatitis, an inflammation of the prostate.

However, the cable tied a knot in the bladder and caused bleeding when the man tried to pull it out himself.

A Chinese pensioner rushed to a hospital in China with a 3ft long cable stuck in his penis

According to Kankan News, the unnamed pensioner inserted a one-metre-long (3ft) phone charging cable into his penis to relieve the itchiness caused by the inflammation.

He rushed to Dalian Hospital on March 30 and sought for medical help.

Dr Gao Zhanfeng, a urologist at the hospital noticed the cable, measured five millimetres (0.2inches) wide, had tied a knot inside the man's bladder under a scan.

'The knot gets tighter when the patient tried to pull it out. This causes bleeding in the bladder,' said Dr Gao.

The cable got tangled up in the man's bladder and caused bleeding as the man tried to pull

Urologist, Dr Gao, used lasers to cut the cable and removed it from the pensioner's body

The man told the reporter that he took a lesson from the incident and would not do it again

The reporter asked the man: 'Did you sterilise the cable before putting it in?'

'I just roughly washed it under running water,' he answered.

Dr Gao decided to user lasers to cut the knots inside and pulled the cable out by sections.

He said the patient was lucky for not inserting any metal or hard materials, otherwise the bladder could be impaled by the sharp objects.

The pensioner said he took the incident as a lesson and would not do it again.
The cousin of a burglar who died after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in has said she is angry the OAP has been bail.

Henry Vincent died from a stab wound after he and another man broke into the south-east London home of 78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks in the early hours of Wednesday.

Vincent was wanted for another burglary at the time of his death and he had previously served a prison sentence for conning elderly victims out of thousands of pounds.

A unnamed cousin of his has insisted however that he was a 'loving person' and the pensioner he fought with should be kept in custody as police investigate him for murder.

A cousin of burglar Henry Vincent, who asked not to be identified, told the BBC's Bryony Williams (right) that the pensioner accused of killing him should not have been bailed

The woman told BBC's South East Today: 'I don't know what happened in that home but all I know is my cousin is dead today.

'The Henry I know, he was such a loving person and I think it is probably something that just went wrong but he shouldn't have died out of it.'

Relatives of Vincent declined to comment to MailOnline yesterday afternoon, but many have posted pictures of him on Facebook next to broken-heart emojis.

A woman at his family home told The Sun she was grieving and insisted: 'Things have been twisted.'

Career criminal Henry Vincent was wanted for another break-in when he died following a struggle with a 78-year-old homeowner in Hither Green

The comments of Vincent's cousin stand in contrast to the views of Mr Osborn-Brooks' neighbours and friends, who say the murder investigation into him should be immediately dropped.

A former Tory defence minister last night called Mr Osborn-Brooks' treatment at the hands of police 'absurd'.

Sir Gerald Howarth said: 'There's clear law on this. If an intruder armed with a weapon suffers fatal injuries, that's his fault. There should be no mercy for people like that.

'It's not only absurd, it's wholly immoral that a householder seeming to protect himself and his family and his property should be the subject of a police investigation - and he should not have been held in custody.

'There is clear case law on this involving a man some years ago in Fulham who had a sword on his wall. Confronted by an intruder, he ran him through with the sword. The householder was acquitted by a jury.

'The police force is in crisis. It is completely consumed by political correctness.' Tim Loughton MP, a member of the Home Affairs Committee, said: 'Due process of law needs to take place but every constituent who has contacted me about it said (Mr Osborn-Brooks) should be treated as a hero rather than being in the frame for a crime.

'You are talking about a vulnerable 78 year-old pensioner with a disabled wife in a house interrupted by two burglars. Why on earth is he being investigated for murder?

Richard Osborn-Brooks has been bailed by police while the murder investigation continues. Family friends say he would have done anything to protect his disabled wife Maureen, 76

David Green, of justice think tank Civitas, said Mr Osborn-Brooks should be 'given a medal'.

Yesterday it emerged that Vincent is a conman, burglar, drug addict and fraudster who has spent the last 15 years preying on the vulnerable.

At the time of this week's break-in, Vincent was one of Kent Police's most-wanted criminals who was on the run after a distraction burglary last November targeting a man in his 70s in Farningham, Kent.

The career criminal hails from a family of cowboy builders who were jailed for a total of 30 years for fleecing elderly householders out of more than a million pounds in 2003.

Together with his father, Henry Charles Vincent and five other brothers, Vincent tricked pensioners into handing over cash for fake building works after telling them their houses were about to fall down.

After Vincent was released from a four year jail term for that scam, he and his father conned an 81-year-old pensioner out of 72,000 to repair a single tile on his roof in 2009 Vincent was jailed for six years in 2009, but was let out of prison early to commit two burglaries in 2008.

In 2013, Vincent was put on Kent Police's 'most wanted' list following another raid in Gravesend and most recently police appealed to trace him in January this year.
Four Victoria Police officers have been suspended ahead of investigations into claims of police brutality.

In a statement released on Friday, it was announced the members of the Victoria police force have temporarily been stood down.

Three of the suspended officers were seen using force on disabled pensioner, John* in CCTV video released on Tuesday.

Assistant Commission Luke Cornelius(pictured) initially resisted standing down the officers when the footage was released on Tuesday

The footage showed John pinned down, beaten with a baton, washed with a high-pressure hose in his face and capsicum sprayed at his Preston home.

'You f***ing idiot... You like that? Smells good doesn't,' one officer said in the footage obtained by Fairfax.

Assistant Commission Luke Cornelius initially resisted standing down the officers when the footage was released on Tuesday, The Age reported.

The footage showed John pinned down, beaten with a baton, washed with a high-pressure hose in his face and capsicum sprayed at his Preston home

he head of Professional Standards Command said there would be an investigation by the Independant Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission

He said it was 'too early' to form an opinion about whether members should be stood down.

The head of Professional Standards Command said there would be an investigation by the Independant Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission.

Police were called after John's psychologist was worried he could self-harm.

The fourth officer who has been stood down was involved in an arrest with an Sudanese man who was having a psychotic episode in February 2016

The officer was caught on CCTV footage punching the man and stomping on his back during a robbery at a Preston chemist

The fourth officer who has been stood down was involved in an arrest with an Sudanese man who was having a psychotic episode in February 2016.

The officer was caught on CCTV footage punching the man and stomping on his back during a robbery at a Preston chemist.

Police minister Lisa Neville defended the honour of Victoria Police.

She said: 'You don't tar the whole police force by a few incidents'.

A new body has been developed for complaint that is more independent from Victoria Police.

The fourth officer who has been stood down was involved in an arrest with an Sudanese man who was having a psychotic episode in February 2016
A grandmother has been left reeling after she received a chilling text during an attempted home invasion.

The Thursday night intruder was captured by a CCTV camera which detects movement and alert the homeowner via text message.

Footage of the incident in Tinana, Queensland, was uploaded to Facebook by the home owner's son-in-law Shane Bradbury.

Scroll down for video

A grandmother has been left reeling after she received a chilling text following an attempted invasion at her Queensland home

The invasion happened at the home on Thursday night and was captured by a CCTV camera which detects movement and alert the homeowner via text message

He said the unnamed home owner was shaken following the attempted crime, but was not home when it happened.

'She is pretty horrified. She is really upset, I think because its so visual it's quite a shock,' Ms Bradbury told Yahoo7 News.

Mr Bradbury's wife Tara also told the website of her mother's panic when she received the message.

'She told us 'there's just been someone outside the house!'' she said.

In the vision, a hooded man is seen making his way around the alfresco area of the home before pulling out a pair of gloves and trying to opening the backdoor.

After realising any attempts to get in would be unsuccessful, the man soon left the premises.

The attempted break-in has been reported to police who are currently investigating.
Leah Walsh, pictured, has been missing from her home in Greenford, West London for almost a week

The search is on to find a missing teenage girl who was last seen six days ago in Ealing.

The last sighting of 15-year-old Leah Walsh was at her home in Greenford, on Saturday March 31 at around 11pm.

Police are 'increasingly concerned for her wellbeing' following Leah's disappearance and have launched an appeal for the public's help to find her.

She is believed to frequent the Hanwell, Gurnell Grove and Northolt areas.

Leah is described as white, approximately 5ft 5in tall, of slim build and with shoulder length brown hair.

She was last seen wearing a light grey 'bodycon' dress, a pink crop top, black tights and black Puma trainers.

The Metropolitan Police are also looking to locate missing pensioner Bridget Ann McLaughlin, from Hayes.

Anybody with information about Leah's disappearance is asked to call Ealing police on 101 or contact the Missing Person charity

Leah was last seen in Greenford, West London at 11pm on Saturday, March 31
Officers searching a car in Oldham, Greater Manchester, as three men have been arrested as part of an operation to tackle a people smuggling network

Three men suspected of smuggling almost 3,000 migrants into Europe over a three-month period last year have been arrested.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested the suspected members of people-smuggling network - which is believed to operate between Iraq and the UK - in Greater Manchester and Staffordshire on Thursday.

A 41-year-old man from Oldham, a 38-year-old arrested in Stoke-on-Trent, and a 35-year-old from Newton Heath, Manchester, were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.

The 41-year-old, suspected of being the head of the criminal network, is still being questioned, while the other two men have been released on bail.

Officers also arrested a 25-year-old man in Newton Heath on suspicion of illegally entering the UK.

The action coincided with the arrests of two men in the Ghent area of Belgium following several months of joint operational work between the NCA and Belgian Federal Police.

In the Belgian operation, a 15-year-old boy was rescued before he boarded a lorry bound for the UK, an NCA spokesman said.

The rescues followed arrests made last month in Germany and Romania, co-ordinated by Europol and Eurojust.

The network is suspected of illegally bringing almost 3,000 migrants into Europe over a three-month period

The spokesman said the network, made up of smugglers, couriers and lorry drivers, is believed to be behind the smuggling of almost 3,000 migrants into Europe during a three-month period last year.

Business premises in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Stoke-on-Trent were inspected during the UK operation, which involved officers from Greater Manchester Police and Staffordshire Police, Immigration Enforcement and HMRC.

A haul of 165lb (75kg) of hand-rolling tobacco and more than 500,000 cigarettes were discovered during searches.

NCA branch commander David Norris said: 'Between the Middle East and the UK lies a network of highly organised criminal groups who smuggle desperate people in dangerous conditions for huge sums of money.

'We believe during this operation we have identified and now disrupted one of the most significant of these groups, and the impact of acting in tandem with our European partners on this operation has meant we have been able to cause permanent damage to a well-established network.

'The NCA takes people-smuggling extremely seriously. Its a crime based on exploitation of the vulnerable and puts the security of the UKs border at significant risk.'
YouTube's shooter Nasim Aghdam's bereft parents broke down as they spoke on Friday about their daughter who they said 'never hurt an ant' and was not capable of violence.

Ismail Aghdam, the 39-year-old's father, and his wife Fauria spoke to Good Morning America for their first joint appearance since their daughter shot three people and killed herself at the tech company's HQ on Tuesday.

'She never hurt one ant, how she shoot the people?' Ismail said in disbelief as his wife sobbed next to him.

They were adamant when asked if their daughter was a terrorist, quickly responding: 'No'.

Thursday, Aghdam's mother added, would have been her 39th birthday. They spoke from their home in Manifee, California.

Nasim Aghdam's bereft father Ismail Fauria sobbed on Friday as they spoke about her suicide and attack on YouTube's HQ last Tuesday

.@ABC EXCLUSIVE: The family of the YouTube shooter speaks out, saying she was not a terrorist: https://t.co/pQNMKNaWPu@mattgutmanABC reports. pic.twitter.com/jYyTctU7qk  Good Morning America (@GMA) April 6, 2018

The family are frustrated that police did not do more to prevent their daughter's suicide after they reported her missing a day before she killed herself after shooting up the San Bruno tech headquarters.

They had reported Nasim missing on April 2 in San Diego, where she was living with her grandmother.

Police found her sleeping in her car on April 3, the morning of the shooting, at 1.40am but after speaking to her, allowed her to go on her way.

'They said "don't worry about it, go to sleep." [That it was] under control,' Ismail said on Friday.

The woman's brother Sean told police that she might go to YouTube's offices in 'protest' or to 'fight' with someone but they did nothing to stop her.

'I said maybe she go there, like, to protest or start a fight or with somebody or that kind of stuff,' he said.

The shooter's mother Fauria cried as her father described her as a gentle woman who had 'never hurt an ant' before Tuesday's attack

The brother said he did not tell police that he anticipated she would be so violent.

Nasim Aghdam used a legally purchased 9mm handgun to kill herself after shooting three people at YouTube on Tuesday

Police in Mountain View have defended their decision not to follow Aghdam after finding her asleep in her car outside a strip mall on Tuesday morning.

They spoke to her for 20 minutes and said she was 'calm and cooperative so they let her go on her way.

'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,' they said.

At no stage did she say she planned to go to YouTube, they added.

Aghdam used a legally purchased 9mm handgun to carry out her rampage and bought the gun in January.

Two of the three people she wounded have been released from hospital and the third is in a serious condition but is expected to recover.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's troubles are mounting, and now his lobbyist D.C. landlord is getting grief from the Washington D.C. government.

Vicki Hart and Stephen Hart, the power couple who let Pruitt lease a room in their Capitol Hill townhouse for just $50 a night, did not register as landlords under Washington D.C.'s laws.

The DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs issued a news release about the violation, which it said carries a potential fine of $2,034, having failed to procure the proper business license, CNN reported.

Until this point, it has been Pruitt who has been taking the lumps for the special deal that White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Trump is not 'okay' with.

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is under fire on multiple fronts, including for a lease he got for a room in a Capitol Hill townhouse belonging to a lobbyist for just $50 a night

Under the terms of the lease, Pruitt got hotel-like use of a room in the townhouse  paying for it only when he stayed there, but with the ability to claim it when he wanted.

He inked the lease with Vicki Hart, the wife of lobbyist Steven Hart, who's lobby firm Williams & Jensen has been revealed to have multiple clients with business before the agency.

Pruitt's daughter stayed in the second bedroom of the home while she was a White House intern.

ABC News reported that Pruitt and the landlord didn't put dates next to their signatures where they signed, making it impossible to verify when it got executed.

'This was an Airbnb-type situation where I rented literally one room that was used in a temporary status until I found more permanent residence,' Pruitt told Fox News.

Politico reported that Pruitt also got behind on his rental payments at times.

President Trump expressed confidence in Pruitt on Thursday, on a day when he got hit with numerous new negative reports.

FAIR HOUSING ACT? townhouse sits on the 200 block of C Street, NE, March 30, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. It has been reported that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has lived in the property, which is co-owned by the wife of an energy lobbyist, for about six months during his first year in office

Vicki Hart, right, could owe the D.C. government $2,034 for failing to register as a landlord

Among the new damaging revelations is that Pruitt wanted to have his security detail use traffic-snarling sirens to get him through D.C. traffic  and that the lead of his security detail advised him the sirens were for emergencies, only to be reassigned weeks later.

Veteran Special Agent Eric Weese got replaced by Pasquale "Nino" Perotta, who issued the determination that Pruitt needed to fly First Class, CBS reported.

Trump said Thursday: 'I think he's done an incredible job. He's been very courageous. It hasn't been easy, but I think he's done a fantastic job.'

The president said he would would 'take a look at' reports about ethics lapses in the office of America's most powerful green regulator.

'I think he's a fantastic person,' the president added. 'I just spent  I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Scott Pruitt, and they love Scott Pruitt.'
Corbyn ally Chris Williamson echoed Kremlin attack lines in an appearance on RT as he claimed the Salisbury attack was being used to distract attention from Brexit.

The former shadow minister, one of Jeremy Corbyn's most vocal supporters, defied warnings Labour MPs should no longer appear on the Kremlin-funded channel.

He said Boris Johnson had 'raced ahead of the evidence' to accuse Vladmir Putin's regime and insisted Mr Corbyn had been right to urge caution.

And Mr Williamson said the timing of the nerve agent attack was 'very convenient for the Government' - a central part of Russia's denials it was involved.

Corbyn ally Chris Williamson echoed Kremlin attack lines in an appearance on RT (pictured) as he claimed the Salisbury attack was being used to distract attention from Brexit

Critics branded Mr Williamson's appearance 'depressing' and accused him of mouthing Kremlin propaganda

The Derby North MP's intervention is a new escalation of Labour's criticism of the Government, a day after the party demanded an inquiry into Mr Johnson appearing to exaggerate evidence from the Porton Down laboratory.

Mr Williamson told RT: 'It seems to me that the Government were indulging in political point scoring; particularly Boris Johnson, who raced ahead of the evidence and used this terrible incident not so much as a smoking gun but as a smoke screen.

'It was very convenient for the government to use it as a way of diverting attention away from Brexit and economic policy.'

Mr Williamson, who was sacked as shadow fire minister last year after calling for council tax to be doubled on high-value homes, added: 'I think Jeremy Corbyn was absolutely right to urge caution and to ask for clear evidence before we start to raise international tensions.'

Senior Tory Nigel Evans told MailOnline: 'It is depressing that close allies of Corbyn are prepared to mouth similar messages to Kremlin propaganda on state owned Russia Today.

'To make it easier, why doesn't he stand next to the Russian Ambassador the next time he decides to use his embassy as the broadcasting tool of Putin.'

Michael Fabricant added: 'Who needs dangerous enemies abroad when some are within? I like to think of people like Mr Williamson as gullible fools.

'But the likelihood is they are far more sinister. It's all the more shocking when they aspire to Government.'

Labour has demanded an official inquiry into whether Boris Johnson exaggerated evidence from the Porton Down laboratory on the nerve agent used in Salisbury as the Foreign Secretary's war of words with Jeremy Corbyn escalates

Former Liberal Democrat leader and Best for Britain champion Tim Farron said: 'Chris Williamson went on Russia Today and delivered the Kremlin's talking points. It is utterly shameful that MPs are doing Putin's dirty work for him.

'Corbyn's cheerleader is now freelancing for Putin.'

The Opposition wants the PM to order the investigation which would look wt whether Mr Johnson breached the ministerial code.

Calling for the inquiry, shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said: 'The Foreign Secretary has some serious questions to answer over whether he misled the public, but is instead trying to deflect criticism with his characteristic bluff and bluster.'

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said Boris Johnson has some serious questions to answer over whether he misled the public (file pic)

The call was the latest twist in a war of words between Mr Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.

The Foreign Secretary has said the Kremlin is to blame for the attempted murders of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

And he has accused Mr Corbyn of being part of the Russian 'spin machine' by casting doubt over whether Moscow was behind the poison plot.

But the head of Porton Down has said that while they identified the poison use don the Skripals as Novichok they could not say where it came from.

And the Foreign Office Twitter account yesterday deleted a tweet saying the la had categorical proof Russia made the poison in a damaging propaganda coup for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Johnson lashed out at Mr Corbyn last night, accusing him of a 'lamentable' approach that saw him 'side with the Russian spin machine'.

And a number of ministers have said that looking at all the intelligence the UK security services have into the attempted killings, it is clear Russia is behind the attack.
City

 Tramel L. Cathcart, 20, 255 Grant Ave. Apt. 19, Auburn, was picked up April 2 on a bench warrant.

 Damien M. Smith, 25, 21 Venice St., Auburn, was picked up on an indictment warrant April 2 and charged with three counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and three counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

 Brooke N. Schramm, 23, 2593 Earl St., Weedsport, was picked up April 2 on a bench warrant.

 James B. Hobby, 38, 22 Canal St., Auburn, was charged April 3 with third-degree assault.

 Christopher J. Rogofsky, 47, 23 Mattie St., Auburn, was charged April 3 with second-degree menacing.

 John R. Bowers, 42, 108 Clymer St., Auburn, was charged April 3 with second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

 Maeshanell C. Adams, 39, 8534 Sumac Dr., Baldwinsville, was picked up April 4 on a bench warrant.

 Nushaw R. Nwankwo, 33, 37 William St., Auburn, was picked up on a warrant April 4 and charged with second-degree criminal mischief.
Cyril Goodearl was burgled by Henry Vincent last year. He commented 'good riddance' after finding out the criminal died during a raid on another pensioner's home this week

A former victim of the armed burglar who died after raiding a pensioner's home has said he has no sympathy for the 'scum' career criminal.

Henry Vincent had already served time for conning elderly victims out of money and was wanted over a distraction burglary at the time of his death this week.

Cyril Goodearl, 78, was the victim of that previous theft, in which Vincent stole a jewellery box containing his mother's engagement and wedding rings and a signet ring which belonged to his father.

Asked how he felt about what happened to Vincent this week, Mr Goodearl replied: 'Jolly good job - that's got rid of another bit of scum.

'I am all in favour of capital punishment. They should never have let him out of prison. It's good riddance and he got what he deserved.'

Like thousands around the country, he backed Richard Osborn-Brooks, the 78-year-old homeowner who fought off Vincent, leaving him with fatal injuries.

Mr Goodearl added: 'I would like to shake his hand. If I was in the same position I would have done exactly the same thing.'

Henry Vincent (left) died of stab wounds after struggling with pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks (right) during a break-in at the pensioner's home

An unknown woman came to Mr Goodearl's front door in the village of Farningham, Kent in November last year and said she had been attacked.

While the kind-hearted former aerospace engineer made her some coffee, she opened the door for a man, believed to be Vincent, who ran upstairs and stole valuables.

Mr Goodearl only realised he had been a victim of the crime two weeks later.

Describing the crime, he said: 'It was in the early afternoon and there was a knock at the door. I went out there and there was a young lady in her 30s there.

'She looked quite distressed. I felt sorry for her and I did what any gentleman would do and invited her in.

'She asked for a glass of water but I was making a cup of coffee at the time so I asked her if she wanted one.'

Vincent targeted Mr Goodearl at his home in the picturesque Kent village of Farningham

Richard Osborn-Brooks, pictured with friend and supporter Stacy Seymour, was arrested on suspicion of murder. The incident has reignited the debate over the rights of homeowners

He added: 'She wanted to use the phone to call her mum so I let her. She was a fairly attractive young lady in her 30s with swept back hair.

'We sat down chatting about this and that for a good half an hour in the kitchen.

'She seemed to cheer up somewhat. While we were talking someone must've walked up the stairs and taken the jewellery box.'

Thousands sign petition and give money to support OAP Well over 7,000 people have signed a petition calling to better treatment for those to defend their homes following Richard Osborn-Brooks' arrest. A petition was launched on change.org called for and end to the 'criminalisation of victims of crime' after the incident on Wednesday morning. A total of 7,800 had signed the petition by 11am this morning. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe crowd-funding page set to support Mr Osborn-Brooks has received more than 5,000. Advertisement

Vincent had previously been on a Kent police 'most wanted' list over another burglary, in Gravesend in 2013.

In 2003, members of his family were jailed for a total of almost 29 years at Croydon Crown Court after they conned pensioners out of 448,180.

He was in a gang with his father and five of his uncles and the group operated in Kent and south London.

They would knock on doors and say homeowners had structural problems and promised they would fix it for huge fees.

The gang would even escort the vulnerable victims to their banks so they could withdraw the cash to pay for the work.

Two of the family members persuaded a woman in her 80s to sign away her 150,000 property and the gang admitted deception charges after conning homeowners out of 448,180.

Vincent was jailed for four-and-a-half years and his father, Henry Charles Vincent, was locked up for five-and-a-half years for their involvement.

His uncle Clifford Vincent was jailed for four-and-half years along with David Vincent who was sentenced to six years.

Career criminal's family 'are ANGRY the pensioner who killed him has been bailed' as his cousin says he was 'a loving person who shouldn't have died'

The cousin of a burglar who died after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in has said she is angry the OAP has been bail.

Vincent was wanted for another burglary at the time of his death and he had previously served a prison sentence for conning elderly victims out of thousands of pounds.

A unnamed cousin of his has insisted however that he was a 'loving person' and the pensioner he fought with should be kept in custody as police investigate him for murder.

A cousin of burglar Henry Vincent, who asked not to be identified, told the BBC's Bryony Williams (right) that the pensioner accused of killing him should not have been bailed

The woman told BBC's South East Today: 'I don't know what happened in that home but all I know is my cousin is dead today.

'The Henry I know, he was such a loving person and I think it is probably something that just went wrong but he shouldn't have died out of it.'

Relatives of Vincent declined to comment to MailOnline yesterday afternoon, but many have posted pictures of him on Facebook next to broken heart emojis.

A woman at his family home told The Sun she was grieving and insisted: 'Things have been twisted.'

The comments of Vincent's cousin stand in contrast to the views of Mr Osborn-Brooks' neighbours and friends, who say the murder investigation into him should be immediately dropped.

Burglar Vincent died after clashing with a pensioner in south-east London on Tuesday night

A former Tory defence minister last night called Mr Osborn-Brooks' treatment at the hands of police 'absurd'.

Sir Gerald Howarth said: 'There's clear law on this. If an intruder armed with a weapon suffers fatal injuries, that's his fault. There should be no mercy for people like that.

'It's not only absurd, it's wholly immoral that a householder seeming to protect himself and his family and his property should be the subject of a police investigation - and he should not have been held in custody.

'There is clear case law on this involving a man some years ago in Fulham who had a sword on his wall. Confronted by an intruder, he ran him through with the sword. The householder was acquitted by a jury. The police force is in crisis. It is completely consumed by political correctness.'

A friend of Mr Osborn-Brooks described him as a 'gentleman' and said he would have only acted to defend his wife, who is understood to suffer from dementia

Tim Loughton MP, a member of the Home Affairs Committee, said: 'Due process of law needs to take place but every constituent who has contacted me about it said (Mr Osborn-Brooks) should be treated as a hero rather than being in the frame for a crime.

'You are talking about a vulnerable 78 year-old pensioner with a disabled wife in a house interrupted by two burglars. Why on earth is he being investigated for murder?

David Green, of justice think tank Civitas, said Mr Osborn-Brooks should be 'given a medal'.

'Old b******s deserve everything they get': Sickening online rant of relative of burglar killed by OAP

A relative of the burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner wrote that 'old b******s deserve everything they get' after his cousins were jailed for distraction break-ins.

As Henry Vincent's family's history of targeting pensioners continued to emerged today, it was revealed his cousins were jailed for the theft of a former airman's cherished war medals in 2007.

William Vincent got a four-year sentence and Amos Vincent got three years for distraction thefts in south-east London. Victim Ronald Butler, 82, had his father's First World War medals taken in one of the break-ins.

It emerged last night that Vincent was part a family who have repeatedly targeted pensioners. His cousins William (left) and Amos Vincent (right) were jailed in 2007 for stealing war medals during distraction burglaries

After the crimes were reported on a local neighbourhood watch page, a Bill Vincent posted these vile comments, which were later deleted

A neighbourhood watch group later publicised the thefts on Facebook to warn residents in the area, but was met with a foul-mouthed response from one of the Vincent family.

A Bill Vincent wrote: 'The old b******s deserve everything they get. So stupid handing over thousands upon thousands... An oap a day will keep ur bank balance a bay. Got to love the old c***s.'

He went on: 'Old c***s ain't safe. Take every penny they got get old b*******s to remorgage, take the money and let erm get chucked owt nxt one (sic).' The posts were later deleted.

'Trying to revive him - I think he's gone': Neighbour films failed bid to save 'burglar stabbed by OAP in his kitchen' as he lay bleeding to death in the street following botched break-in

Footage has emerged of the moment a burglar lay dying in the street after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in.

The images obtained by the BBC show Henry Vincent at the centre of a group of emergency service workers as they fight to keep him alive.

The homeowner who filmed the scene is heard saying: 'It's a stabbing. A stabbing. [They're] trying to revive him. I think he's gone.'

Footage filmed by a neighbour shows the moment burglar Henry Vincent was treated by emergency services after he was stabbed during a break-in in south-east London this week

During the botched raid in South Park Crescent, Hither Green, an accomplice dragged Vincent toward a van before leaving him for dead, according to a witness.

He was found collapsed in nearby Further Green Road by paramedics from London Ambulance Service, who took him to hospital where he died shortly before 4am.

The second man has not been found and at least one suspect was believed to be armed with a screwdriver, police said.

Detectives think a struggle took place between one of the burglars and the elderly homeowner before Vincent was stabbed in the upper body, but would not confirm if he was stabbed with the screwdriver.

Police remained at Mr Osborn-Brooks' home today as they attempt to track down the second burglary suspect

Moyo Ojo, who lives next-door to Mr Osborn-Brooks said he heard the sound of a fight at around 12.30am.

He said: 'I was awake when it happened at around 12.30am, 12.45am. I heard a struggle, I could heard shouting and loud voices, but I couldn't heard the words. I could hear something smash as well and the banging.'

Mr Ojo added: 'At first I couldn't tell which side it was coming from. I thought it was just an argument between housemates.

'Then in the morning I heard someone knock a bin over, by then the police arrived.

'He was a very quiet person, keeps himself to himself. They are a very nice couple.

'It would only be a small kitchen, he wouldn't of had the ability to run. His is also old so what could he do? He was in a difficult situation.'
A disgraced former lawyer and convicted paedophile is accused of snatching a four-year-old girl from her bed and molesting her.

Paul John Crowley, an ex-lawyer from Brisbane, has appeared in court over charges while serving a suspended sentence and on bail.

Allegations that 51-year-old Crowley dragged the little girl from her bed last September were heard at a bail hearing at Brisbane Supreme Court.

Paul John Crowley, an ex-lawyer from Brisbane, has appeared in court accused of snatching a four-year-old girl from her bed and molesting her

The disgraced former lawyer and convicted paedophile admitted child molestation charge on 13-year-old girl in 2016, the court heard

The former lawyer from Toowong and Biddaddaba, the son of the former acting chairman of the now defunct Criminal Justice Commission, was denied bail, the Courier Mail reports.

The girl, who cannot be named to protect her identity, was allegedly assaulted after Crowley plied her 15-year-old aunt with rum and coke.

The court heard the little girl later told her mother she was taken outside behind a garage claiming Crowley pulled down her pants before he 'touched my bum and my parts' and 'spanked' them.

He was taken into custody on October 5 and charged with indecent treatment and supplying alcohol to the underage girl.

The court heard the girl later told her mother she was taken outside behind a garage claiming Crowley pulled down her pants

Prosector Evan O'Hanlon-Rose told the court Crowley was on bail accused of laundering money for bikies and was serving a suspended sentence after admitting to molesting a 13-year-old girl, according to the Courier Mail.

Calling for Crowley to be denied bail, Mr O'Hanlon-Rose added the circumstances of the case - alleged to have happened on September 25 last year - were similar to his previous conviction two years ago.

Justice Peter Davis, who admitted knowing Crowley's brother 'quite well socially', said the girl's account was uncorroborated, called the prosecution case weak but might be believed by a jury.

Justice Peter Davis denied Crowley bail during the hearing at Brisbane Supreme Court

He also criticised the police response for not attending the home to interview the girl after the claims were reported, the Courier Mail report says.

The court was told Crowley returned the girl to her mother's bed - where she and the girl's aunt were sleeping - but that the allegations about his alleged assault came four days later when the girl's mother asked if he had touched her.

The court heard Crowley was given an eight-month suspended sentence in January 2016 for molesting a 13-year-old girl - after he met her mother on an internet dating website.

He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for fraud after losing $4 million of his clients' money to a Nigerian scam in 2001, the court heard.
The United States hit seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions on Friday for what it called 'malign activity' around the world, as the Trump administration tried to show that President Donald Trump is taking tough action to stand up to Moscow.

A dozen Russian companies owned by the oligarchs were also targeted, along with a state-owned arms-dealing company and a subsidiary bank, the Treasury Department said.

Aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, one of Britain's best known oligarchs, is among those accused by the White House of 'directly or indirectly' acting on behalf of the Kremlin.

Raising the stakes: Senior Trump officials cast the penalties as part of a concerted and ongoing effort by the U.S. to push back against Russian President Vladimir Putin's government and his inner circle

Industry bigs: Oleg Deripaska, an aluminum magnate whose Rusal is one of the country's biggest companies and who has ties to ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort is being hit, as is Gazprom CEO Alexi Miller

Mr Deripaska, 50, hosted George Osborne for drinks on his yacht in 2008, sparking accusations the ex-chancellor was canvassing him for donations to the Conservative Party coffers. Osborne denies these accusations.

The Russian has featured prominently in US prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation over his ties to former chairman of the Trump campaign, Paul Manafort.

He has also been accused illegal wiretapping, extortion, racketeering, money laundering, and death threats against business rivals.

Shares in his energy company En+ dropped 19 per cent on the London Stock Exchange after the sanctions were announced.

Senior administration officials have cast the penalties as part of a concerted and ongoing effort by the U.S. to push back Russian President Vladimir Putin's government and his inner circle, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions.

Trump has continued to avoid directly criticizing Putin himself, and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House.

Pout of order: Kiril Shamalov, who is believed to be married to Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova, is one of those facing new sanctions

Friends and allies: Igor Rotenberg's father is one of Putin's oldest friends while Andrey Kostin heads Russia's second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state

Still, in recent weeks Trump's administration has rolled out a series of actions - including several economic and diplomatic steps - to increase pressure on Putin and those in his circle.

'Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have,' Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions are in response to 'the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern' of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them.

It was not clear whether any of those hit have significant, or any, holdings that would be covered and most of them were warned of possible penalties in January when they were identified as possible targets on lists published by the Treasury and State departments.

The administration officials said Americans who may currently have business with them would be given guidance about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions.

The officials ticked through a list of activities they said had prompted the U.S. to act, including Russia's annexation of Crimea, backing separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, cyber-hacking and attempts to subvert Western democracy.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's government.

Many of the targets are individuals and businesses associated with Russia's energy sector, including those affiliated with state-owned Gazprom.

Officials said the goal was to show that those who have benefited financially from Putin's position of power are fair game for U.S. punishments, noting that many of those being sanctioned are closely tied to Putin himself.

Targets include:

Kirill Shamalov, who is reportedly Putin's son-in-law, married to his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, although neither Putin nor the Kremlin have acknowledged that she is his daughter.

Igor Rotenberg, the son of Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putin's since they were teenagers.

Andrey Kostin, named among government officials, heads the nation's second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state.

Alexei Miller, the longtime head of the state-controlled Gazprom natural gas giant. Both Miller and Kostin are longtime key members of Putin's team.

Victim: Sergei Skripal, a Russian who spied for Britain. was poisoned with a nerve gas agent which the British government concluded was an act of the Russian government, prompting tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats. His daughter Yulia (left) was also left seriously ill

On their way home: Russian diplomats kicked out of the U.S. were picked up by government bus in Moscow on Sunday, while later in the week American embassy staff flew back to the U.S.

Other oligarchs on the list include some top names on the Forbes' list of billionaires, aren't part of Putin's inner circle but like any other billionaire tycoons in Russia they vie for the Kremlin's attention to preserve and extend their business empires.

Many of the Russian oligarchs and politicians and affiliated businesses had already been identified by the Treasury and State Department as potential targets on a list that was compiled and published in January.

One of those hit by Friday's sanctions, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian Federation Council's foreign affairs committee, expressed surprise he had not already been blacklisted by the U.S.

'As far as I am concerned the only thing I'm surprised at is that this didn't happen earlier,' he told the Interfax news agency. 'I never made secret of my criticism of the U.S. foreign policy, and I will not change my stance.'

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them.

But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions.

The Trump administration used a variety of legal mechanisms to implement the sanctions, including the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.

Known as CAATSA, the law was overwhelmingly passed by Congress in 2017 and signed by President Donald Trump despite some objections.

The law aims to punish Russia for interfering in the U.S. election as well as actions intended to subvert democracy in Europe.

The law also authorizes the president to impose sanctions on Iran for destabilizing activity in the Middle East and North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Last month, the U.S. targeted 19 Russians and five other entities with sanctions in the first use of the law. The administration has also expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian consulates in response to Russian behavior, including the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain that has been blamed on Moscow.
The 'nerdprom' that serves as the Washington press corps' annual celebration of itself will be missing its yugest target for a second year in a row.

President Donald Trump won't be in attendance while journalists hobnob at the April 28 White House Correspondents Dinner, according to the association that runs the annual event.

'The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment,' White House Correspondents Association President Margaret Talev, a Bloomberg News reporter, said in a statement.

Sorry not sorry: President Donald Trump won't be at the White House Correspondents dinner later this month but he smiled and took questions from journalists aboard Air Force One on Thursday  including some of the same 'fake news' reporters he chastises on a regular basis

'In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also will represent the administration at the head table. The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy,' Talev said.

Trump himself told a New York City radio audience in an interview broadcast Friday morning that 'I want to get it straightened out with the press before I do it. So it's pretty probably unlikely, I won't do it.'

'I didn't do it last year. I had a rally instead which was great. And the dinner was a massive failure,' he said on WABC Radio's 'Bernie and Sid in the Morning' program'

'It's one of those things. I probably won't do it.'

He slammed the political media in his signature backhanded style, saying: 'I sort of feel that the press is so bad, it's so fake, it's so made-up.'

'I mean, "Sources say," and they have no sources. They're like novelists. I call them novelists. They make up the sources. Now in some cases there are sources, but then they won't do it correctly either. But in many cases they literally make up the sources. You know, "Nine sources within the White House have said"  there are no nine sources.'

That interview was taped Thursday night, giving the White House press office a rare heads-up about a decision of the type the president typically makes on the fly.

Mired in his first year of doing battle with the 'fake news' outlets he loves to hate, Trump made a public show of being out of town on the night of last year's dinner.

Trump spend 'nerdprom' night in 2017 holding a competing campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania  an event that drew more TV coverage

That made him the first president in three decades to send regrets instead of an RSVP.

The White House staff also boycotted the event in 'solidarity' with the president.

At a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that night, boos rang out when he mentioned 'another big gathering taking place tonight in Washington, D.C.''

A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation's capital right now,' he said, insisting that 'I could not possibly be more thrilled to be more than 100 miles away from Washington's swamp.'

Trump also said he had attracted 'a much, much larger crowd  and much better people.'

Friday morning on the Fox news Channel, White House strategic communications director Mercedes Schlapp said that Trump 'wants to be with the American people. It's why that rally last year was so incredible.'

'Here in Washington it's a lot of fancy-pantsy elitism. And what I love about this president is the fact that he wants to be with the people,' she said.

The dinner has traditionally been a festive occasion that attracts heavyweights from the media, Washington power brokers, and Hollywood celebrities. Then-President Barack Obama (right) is seen with comedian Joel McHale (left) at the 2014 dinner

Past headline acts at the event include comedians Jimmy Kimmel (seen left in 2012) and Cecily Strong (seen right in 2015)

Two months ago the White House appeared to spill the beans and announce that Trump would bury the hatchet and attend this year's dinner.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded 'yes' to an emailed question from DailyMail.com about whether he would be there.

She walked it back a half-hour later, writing: 'Really sorry, totally misread your email. No decision has been made.'

His absence this year comes after the correspondents association announced it had chosen as this year's award recipients some of the reporters who have been toughest on the president.

They include correspondents from The New York Times, Politico, and CNN  Trump's least-favorite and most oft-maligned cable news station.

Trump did attend the annual Gridiron Club Dinner this year, zinging jokes at the annual white-tie event featuring journalists and public officials.
It's a mystery that would test the skills of the famous detective - who owns 221b Baker Street?

The prime central London property, spanning 215 to 237 Baker Street, is valued at 137million according to Land Registry Records yet ownership of the expensive block is shrouded in mystery.

An investigation has revealed the famous city address is held via a web of secretive offshore companies which hide its owner's identity.

But court documents seen by Quartz and files leaked in the Panama Papers suggest the plush property has belonged at least in part to one or more family members of Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The property includes the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, at 221b Baker Street - the famous city address is held via a web of secretive offshore companies

Court documents suggest the plush property has belonged at least in part to one or more family members of Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev (pictured)

Nurali Aliyev (left) may have ties to the sprawling London property, an investigation has found

Dariga Nazarbayeva, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince Andrew (pictured at Buckingham Palace in November 2015)

The property includes the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, but also (until 2009) the freehold of the Beatles store (at 231 Baker Street) and the Elvis Presley souvenir shop at 233 Baker Street.

The Quartz investigation suggests that Nazarbayev's grandson 33-year-old Nurali Aliyev, his daughter Daria Nazarbayeva and ex-wife Dariga may have ties to the property.

Their investigation revealed how, in 2011, Nurali sold a yacht he had bought three years earlier to British Virgin Islands firm Greatex Trade & Investment Corp, which also owned the Baker Street properties.

Quartz also revealed Dariga's link to Italian Massimiliano Dall'Osso. In 2007, Aliyev claimed Dall'Osso worked as a 'personal assistant' to Nazarbayeva. The Italian is the nominee director of the Baker Street holding companies.

The Quartz investigation suggests that Nazarbayev's grandson 33-year-old Nurali Aliyev, his daughter Daria Nazarbayeva and ex-wife Dariga (pictured at Buckingham Palace in 2015) may have ties to the property

The pair have both held government jobs for many years but still earned hundreds of millions in private wealth, according to Forbes Kazakhstan.

BCL Burton Copeland, which represents the nominee director of the holding company that owns the properties, previously denied Rakhat Aliyev, the ex-son-in-law of the Kazakh president, being an owner following a 2015 report by Global Witness.

MailOnline have contacted the law firm to ask whether Nurali, Daria or Aliyev's ex-wife Dariga have ever owned any portion of the properties.

Tom Mayne, who co-researched Global Witness's report on the properties in 2015, said: 'Any money from people related to [president Nazarbayev's] inner circle arriving in the Westespecially in the EU and UKmust be treated as suspicious.'

In 2016, investigative journalism non-profit the OCCRP concluded from the Panama Papers that Nurali had stashed assets offshore.

Transparency International estimating that 4.2 billion worth of London real estate is owned by people whose wealth comes from suspicious sources.

This graphic, from the Global Witness 2015 investigation, shows the size of the Baker Street property

This is the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes (221B Baker Street) which is in fact 187 Gower Street

Kazakhstan ranks 122nd out of 180 countries on the firm's global corruption index.

Following their 2015 investigation Global Witness said the case highlighted worrying loopholes in the UK's property market which they said could be exploited to hide the proceeds of corruption and launder the proceeds of crime or 'dirty' money.

They called for an investigation into the ownership by the UK authorities.
Michael Morris, pictured, was jailed for almost nine years after he admitted causing the deaths of Michael Crampton and James Montegriffo by dangerous driving at Woolwich Crown Court

A teenage driver killed two men when he smashed into their van after sniffing 'hippy crack' and speeding at more than 70mph on the wrong side of the road has been jailed for almost nine years.

Michael Morris, 19 at the time, had inhaled a balloon full of 'laughing gas' nitrous oxide just moments before ploughing head-on into Michael Crampton and James Montegriffo's vehicle.

Morris was driving at 72mph in a 60mph zone on the A20 in Farningham, Kent, when the fatal collision happened just after 1am on April 29 last year.

Mr Crampton, 23, a keyboard player in ska punk band The Pisdicables, and Mr Montegriffo, also 23, died at the scene while four other people were seriously injured.

Morris, now 20, of Swanscombe, Kent, admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Woolwich Crown Court heard Mr Crampton and Mr Montegriffo were in a Citroen Berlinger van travelling at less than 60mph, which was being followed by a VW Polo.

Julian Winship, prosecuting, said: 'As the Citroen was passing a junction, the Vauxhall approached from the opposite direction at a speed of approximately 72mph, but in the same lane - and that was the wrong lane.

'The Vauxhall struck the Citroen with such force the impact pushed the Citroen backwards onto the roof.'

The Vauxhall stopped near the scene, the court heard.

Investigations showed that before crossing the carriageway into the opposite lane, the Vauxhall had collided with road side bollards.

Mr Crampton and Mr Montegriffo sustained fatal injuries and both died at the scene.

The three passengers in Morris's car - Connor Boarer, Callum Daffurn and Shaun Floyd - and VW Polo passenger Jack Watson suffered serious injuries involving various bone fractures.

The driver of the Polo, James Williams, and passenger Elleshia Smith sustained minor injuries and were treated at a hospital and discharged the same day.

Mr Winship said: 'Small capsules containing nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas and balloons, were found in the Vauxhall.

'Callum Daffurn, a rear passenger in the vehicle, made admissions to bringing those capsules into the vehicle.

'An orange deflated balloon was seized from the driver's footwell of the Vauxhall.'

Cannisters were also recovered from the car, the court was told.

Michael Crampton, pictured, was killed alongside his friend James Montegriffo after their car was struck by Michael Morris who was driving on the wrong side of the road while high on hippy crack on the A20 in Farningham, Kent on April 29, 2017

The prosecutor continued: 'Upon analysis, the orange balloon was found to have DNA matching that of the defendant. This was most likely transferred from the opening of the defendant's mouth.

'Nitrous oxide isn't detectable in the body after a short period.

'The effects are rapid, and last for up to 30 minutes, and can include feelings of euphoria, dizziness, drowsiness. Nitrous oxide can effect an individual's judgment,

'Its use is fundamentally incompatible with the safe use of a vehicle.'

Lucy-Ella Morgan confronted her boyfriend Morris after the crash, the court heard.

In a statement, she said: 'He said, "ok fine, I did do the balloon, and what?"

'It was the way he said what, as if he didn't care. He said he did the balloon while driving, and that's why he crashed.

'He said he didn't want to talk about it anymore.'

In a later text message, he said 'they can't prove if I done it or not, they don't have any evidence to prove it', she added.

Mr Winship said: 'She refers in there to seeing the defendant taking nitrous oxide on previous occasions, when he wasn't driving.'

He told the court: 'Her statement makes it clear that the collision was caused by the taking of a balloon.'

The prosecutor said the dangerous driving was a combination of Morris's speed and his driving on the wrong side of the road.

He added: 'The taking of nitrous oxide was the feature and cause of the collision.

'The choice to take that drug, which is entirely incompatible, is a feature which shows the apparent disregard to the danger to others.'

At the start of today's sentencing hearing, Morris apologised to the families of the two men he had killed, Michael Crampton, 23, and his friend James Montegriffo, 23.

Their Citroen Berlinger van was travelling at less than 60mph and was followed by a VW Polo driver by James Williams, whose passenger Jack Watson suffered serious injuries.

At his sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court Morris said he will 'never expect forgiveness' following the crash.

His actions also injured his three friends in the smash, Connor Boarer, Callum Daffurn and Shaun Floyd who suffered broken bones fractures, cuts and bruises to their arms and legs.

Mark Dacey, mitigating, reading part of a letter written by Morris to his victims' families, said: 'I honestly cannot express enough how sorry I am.

'I will never expect forgiveness and I will do whatever punishment they deem feasible.'

Mr Dacey added: 'There is nothing I can say to mitigate the loss and injury of those involved in this incident nor undermine the seriousness of this offence.

'He was barely 19 when this happened, he was an experienced driver and it was a relatively new car, he had only had it for four to six weeks'

Prosecutor Julian Winship read out statements from the family of Michael Crampton and James Montegriffo who said it was the worst tragedy a parent could go through.

As the family statements were read out Morris, in a grey suit and blue tie, cried in the dock.

The family of the two musicians who filled the courtroom were also wiping tears from their eyes.

In her statement Michael's mum Noreen Crampton, said: 'We are all suffering from unresolved grief and there is no meaning in our lives.

'We are missing not seeing him and listening to him play music in our local pub.

'From a young age Michael was interested in music.

'He was offered a place at Brit school but chose to develop his musical talents and studied sound engineering at Middlesex University where he achieved a first class honours.

'His biggest legacy is the amazing group of friends he surrounded himself with and unfortunately he was never able to fulfil his potential in the music and audio industry.'

Parents Francis and Jenny Montegriffo said: 'There are no words to describe the worst tragedy that a parent will ever have to go through.

'There will be a missing voice and a hug longed for.

'Michael was the youngest of four children and he strove always to do his best.

'He excelled in school and was a hugely talented musician and could have attended Berkeley College in New York.

'He was accepted into Reading University where he read Philosophy and History.

'We will miss your down to earth atmosphere and down to earth shrug and smile to all and sundry.'

VW Polo passenger Jack Watson spent 15 days in hospital as doctors treated him for three broken bones in his lower back, a ruptured spleen, a broken right arm and a fractured right wrist.

In a statement read by Mr Winship he said he felt responsible to get justice on behalf of Michael Crampton and James Montegriffo.

Mr Watson said: 'Before the accident I was a normal 19-year-old, but I still feel too traumatised to drive or be driven for long periods of time.

'Morris took the lives of two men when he chose to drive recklessly, they had their whole lives ahead of them.

'Their lives were taken and I feel responsible to get justice not only for myself but for these two innocent men.'

Judge John Lees condemned Morris at his sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court saying he had performed an 'extremely dangerous act'.

Handing Morris an eight year and eight month sentence, Judge Lees said: 'Around 1am on the April 29 a catastrophic road accident occurred.

'You drove your vehicle onto the wrong side of the road into a Citroen Berlinger van which was forced into a collision with a VW Polo.

'The tragic result was that both occupants of the Citroen, Michael Crampton who was the driver, and James Montegriffo, the passenger, were killed and four passengers were seriously injured.

'The Citroen was travelling wholly within the correct lane, it was proceeding below 60mph speed limit.

'It was being followed by a VW Polo which was in the correct lane.

'The Vauxhall, driven by you, approached from the opposite direction at a speed of around 72mph to 76mph, the wrong lane for which it was travelling.

'The collision pushed the Citroen backwards onto the roof of the VW Polo behind.

'In the opinion of accident examiners it is likely that you would have applied corrective steering which resulted in your vehicle crossing into the other traffic lane.

'There was evidence that you inhaled nitrous oxide from a balloon whilst you were driving that caused you to drive as you did.

'I am sure that you did inhale nitrous oxide which caused the death of two young men and the serious injury to four others, including your own passengers.

'What you did was an extremely dangerous act.

'I am sure that you knew what would be the effect of inhaling nitrous oxide, it was an act of utter folly which has had disastrous consequences.

'Inhaling nitrous oxide whilst driving in the region of 72mph was a deliberate decision to ignore and disregard the great danger being caused to others.

'I would like to convey my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Michael and James."

Family and friends of those killed and injured packed the court to hear the sentencing with many fighting to hold back tears.

Morris was also banned for driving for four years which will come into force when he is released from jail.

Speaking after the case, Detective Constable David Holmes of Kent Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: 'On the night of this incident the weather was clear and the roads were dry and there was no logical reason as to why Morris lost control of his car crossing over the road and into the oncoming van.

'Nitrous Oxide is used recreationally by people and has many side effects which causes people's reactions to slow down and often gives a feeling of euphoria, drowsiness and loss of muscle control.

'The effects associated with Nitrous Oxide are not compatible with the safe control of a motor vehicle, as it can affect an individual's judgement leading to reckless or careless behaviour.

'This is a tragic incident which claimed the lives of two young men and has affected the lives of countless others.

'I hope today's sentencing is also a lesson for others to take responsibility when getting behind the wheel of a car because if you do not, you could find yourself in a similar situation.'
Residents in a small town in northern Norway were abruptly awoke fearing a Russian invasion when a Civil Defence alarm went off in the middle of the night.

Vads in Finnmark, is located just across the water from Russia, and residents can spot the coast on a sunny day.

So many 'feared the worst' when the siren went off at 11.50pm on Wednesday evening.

The Russian's are coming: Residents in Vads in Finnmark, Norway, were brutally awoken by a Civil Defense siren in the middle of the night - sparking panic

The siren that went off is located in a disused fire station, and it took the owner 15 minutes to get into the building to turn the alarm off.

In that quarter-of-an-hour, many of the 5,000 residents in Vads had woken up in terror, and local police were inundated with calls.

'Some people are - of course - fearing the worst, thinking that it is war,' the local police's head of operations Jan-Olav Schjlberg told state broadcaster NRK.

Schjlberg told NRK that police had been in touch with the national Civil Defense, but had not had an explanation as to why the alarms went off.

Close call: The small town is located near the Russian border

'They [Civil Defense] have to check it out before they can comment further on the matter,' he added.

Vads, home to a Norwegian military intelligence base, has several defense alarms, but only the one in the fire station went off.
A TV reporter was doing a Facebook Live broadcast alongside a road in suburban Pittsburgh when she herself became the story after someone called 911 reporting a 'crazy lady' talking to herself.

KDKA-TVs Meghan Schiller was using her cellphone to report live on Thursday from Route 30 that was closed by a landslide.

About five minutes into the video, a North Versailles police officer pulled over alongside Schiller's car.

On the scene: KDKA-TVs Meghan Schiller was doing a Facebook Live broadcast alongside a closed road in suburban Pittsburgh when she had an unexpected run-in with the law

'You realize I got called for a crazy person talking to herself,' he told her through the car window, with the Facebook Live video still rolling.

Schiller appeared surprised, then broke into a smile and reassured her viewers that the officer was 'kidding.' Turns out, he was not.

'I would believe it, though, if someone called and said that,' Schiller tells the cop with a smile.

'They did,' he tells the reporter. 'That's why I'm here.'

'Oh, wait, you're not kidding?' a stunned-looking Schiller says.

Unexpected guest: Five minutes into the video, a North Versailles police officer (left) pulled over, telling Schiller: 'You realize I got called for a crazy person talking to herself'

Taken aback: Schiller initially thought the officer was kidding, but she was stunned to learn that he was serious

Good sport: After sharing a laugh with the officer, a bemused Schiller said: 'That might be the best thing Ive heard definitely all day, maybe all month'

Schiller and the officer laughed the incident off and he left after clearing up the misunderstanding.

'That might be the best thing Ive heard definitely all day, maybe all month,' Schiller says in the video.

'He literally got called because someone called 911 and said there was a crazy person talking to themselves along the road.'

The TV reporter's surprise run-in with the law was streamed live and the video has since gone viral, drawing more than 16,000 views as of Friday morning.

Schiller later addressed the mishap and the media attention it has generated in a self-deprecating tweet: 'Oy vey! Not exactly how you want to end up on @CBSNews @CBSEveningNews as a young reporter, but at least it gave people a good laugh! I mean, Im not saying the concerned caller was wrong #crazyreporter #pittsburgh #cbs #ReporterDiary'

Rookie: Schiller joined the CBS affiliate KDKA just seven months ago as a reporter

She earned a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and worked as an anchor and reporter for WJCL News in Georgia for over three years

According to her LinkedIn page, Schiller joined the CBS affiliate KDKA just seven months ago.

Prior to that, she worked as an anchor and reporter at WJCL News in Georgia for over three years.

She earned a Bachelor's degree in opera performance from the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, followed by a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.
University Minister Sam Gyimah said over a lifetim some graduates will save as much as 24,000 under the new system

Hundreds of thousands of graduates will save up to 360 a year from today thanks to a new more generous repayment threshold on student loans.

Over a lifetime, some will save as much as 24,000 under the new system  freeing up money that can be saved for a housing deposit or spent on essentials.

It is the biggest shakeup of student funding for six years and will benefit 600,000 graduates this year alone  running into millions over the next decade.

Launching the change, universities minister Sam Gyimah said it proved the Conservatives 'walked the walk' when it came to being 'the party for young people'.

He said the Tories understood the pressures youngsters face and warned baby boomers not to 'make the mistake' of thinking they have a 'cushy' existence.

From today, the repayment threshold after which graduates must start repaying their loans rises from 21,000 to 25,000.

It means anyone earning less than 25,000 will now pay nothing  and everyone earning more than this amount will pay less per month.

Because debts are wiped after 30 years, and most people will never repay the full loan amount, the majority of graduates will now pay back much less over their lifetime.

The move is part of Theresa May's bid to appeal to younger voters after Labour's claim that they would abolish tuition fees.

Mr Gyimah said: 'This increase will hugely benefit hundreds of thousands of graduates this year, and millions more in the years to come.

'There are potentially savings of up to 24,000 for some graduates over the 30 year lifetime of a student loan, which not only means more cash in people's pockets but it will help many save towards their futures, for example getting them on the housing ladder.'

Anyone earning over 21,000 a year will save around 30 a month from the change  or 360 a year.

New analysis from the Department for Education (DfE) shows graduates on 25,000 per year will now repay nothing per month instead of 29.

Meanwhile, someone on 30,000 per year will repay 37 per month instead of 67, and someone on 40,000 per year will repay 112 per month instead of 142.

Today's reform is the biggest shakeup of student funding for six years and will benefit 600,000 graduates this year alone  running into millions over the next decade.

'What we recognise here is that people are making a more significant contribution to their education today than they have done before,' Mr Gyimah said.

'Any help for them can only be a good thing.

'We are the party for young people when it comes to really helping them realise their aspirations in life.

How much does a degree cost? Student fees are now set at 9,250 a year  and those who take out loans to cover both tuition fees and maintenance are graduating with up to 50,000 of debt. Graduates repay nine per cent of everything they earn over the salary threshold  now set at 25,000. The interest rate can be up to around 6 per cent. An estimated 83 per cent of current students will never repay their loans in full  meaning the rest of the cost of their degree is subsidised by the taxpayer. Advertisement

'While Corbyn may talk the talk, the Conservatives are definitely walking the walk when it comes to delivering for young people.'

Student fees are now set at 9,250 a year  and those who take out loans to cover both tuition fees and maintenance are graduating with up to 50,000 of debt.

Graduates repay nine per cent of everything they earn over the salary threshold  now set at 25,000.

The interest rate can be up to around 6 per cent.

An estimated 83 per cent of current students will never repay their loans in full  meaning the rest of the cost of their degree is subsidised by the taxpayer.

Mr Gyimah said he recognised that youngsters today are facing much more challenging times than previous generations  contrary to the belief of some older people.

'For young people now life is a lot more challenging in many ways,' he said.

'Getting into university is more competitive. Getting your first job is more competitive, getting on the housing ladder is more challenging. Starting to have a family, if that's what you want to do, requires more effort and more cost.

Critics of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's pledge to scrap tuition fees say it would be unsustainable and would lead to funding shortages

'The very idea that anyone would see them as having it easy is deeply unfair and misunderstands the challenge that young people today face in their lives.

'It's a mistake to look at the younger generation and think they've had it all easy but that is the mistake that a lot of older generations quite easily make and we shouldn't fall into that trap.

'Life is far from cushy for young people.'

Critics of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's pledge to scrap tuition fees say it would be unsustainable and would lead to funding shortages.

The Tories say students must make some contribution towards their education if the number attending university is to remain uncapped.

Experts have said abolishing fees would result in fewer disadvantaged people attending since the taxpayer would only be able to fund a limited number.

The increased repayment threshold applies to any student who has taken out a post-2012 undergraduate student loan or Advanced Learner Loan.

Graduates living in the UK will not be required to take action in order to receive the saving. Repayments will be calculated automatically by employers (for those paid through PAYE) or as part of the Self-Assessment return to HMRC.

Full-time students are not required to begin repaying their loans until the April after graduation.
Anthony Blatz, 44, of Elkhart, Indiana, embarked on a cross-state getaway with his wife, ending in a high-speed chase with police in Michigan

Police have released dashcam footage of back-to-back, high-speed chases which occurred as an Indiana man and his wife crossed state lines into Michigan while trying to evade arrest.

Anthony Blatz, 44, of Elkhart, Indiana, was first pursued by Indiana police, before driving across the Michigan state border, at which point Michigan State Police took over the chase on March 15.

Dashboard camera footage released yesterday shows the dramatic chase which ended in a fiery spin out in Paw Paw, Michigan, about 45 miles away from where Blatz first began his mad dash.

Blatz was wanted in Indiana for larceny and probation violation,ABC News reported.

During the second half of the pursuit, while being chased by Michigan State Police troopers, Blatz wound up crashing his car.

Michigan State Police chased Blatz executed a PIT maneuver, forcing Blatz to come to a stop

During the chase, Blatz hit speeds of up to 121mph, causing his car to catch fire

Blatz was taken into custody along with his wife and another person who was in the car

He and his wife then ran off on foot, before being picked up by friends of theirs from Indiana, who they had called for help, according to police.

Police then said that they pulled Blatz's car over, after seeing its Indiana plates, at which point Blatz 'pushed the driver of that vehicle from Indiana out of the Jeep, and then a pursuit ensued with that car,' Michigan State Police Lt. Chuck Christensen told ABC 57.

Blatz then drove off, leading the trooper on another chase, which lasted about 10 minutes and reached speeds of up to 121mph.

Blatz was said to have driven through red lights and swerved to avoid hitting other cars until, as the dashcam video showed, his car began to malfunction and a fire was sparked under his car.

Blatz was wanted for larceny and probation violation when he attempted to evade police

The chase then apparently continued at a slower speed, with the trooper eventually performing a PIT maneuver to spin Blatz's car and force him to stop.

Once Blatz's car spins to a stop, it catches fire and a person can be seen jumping out of the car, at which point he was arrested.

Blatz, his wife, who was not identified, and a third person in the car, also unidentified, were all taken into custody.

Blatz and his wife could face felony charges for the police chase, the Newburgh Gazette reported, although it's is unclear whether Blatz's wife or the third person in the car have been charged yet.

There were no injuries during the chase.
Two heavily tattooed bikies have been using Instagram to take shots at each other's Gold Coast girlfriends - who also happen to be cousins.

Former Hells Angels and Finks bikie gang member Ben 'Notorious' Geppert posted a photo on social media of ex-Bandidos boss Brett 'Kaos' Pechey's girlfriend Rikki Louise Sutton with a pig's snout on her face.

The photo also included two police emojis with the caption 'ONION', a derogatory term for the girlfriend of a bikie.

Former Hells Angels and Finks bikie gang member Ben 'Notorious' Geppert posted a photo on social media

It showed ex-Bandidos boss Brett 'Kaos' Pechey's girlfriend Rikki Louise Sutton with a pig's snout on her face

Pechey was granted bail in the Southport Magistrates Court where he was charged with threatening to stab police during a three-hour siege

Pechey and Gebbert were good friends and both dating Gold Coast models before they fell out in February.

Geppert, 26, and Pechey's, 31, falling out followed numerous friendly showings over recent weeks alongside their partners, Rikki and Allaina Vader.

Pechey was granted bail in the Southport Magistrates Court where he was charged with threatening to stab police during a three-hour siege.

The stand-off ended when Pechey overdosed on Valium and Xanax and had to hospitalised, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

Pechey reportedly became enraged when he was told Ms Sutton was cheating on him.

His defence lawyer Campbell McCallum said Pechey, a paranoid schizophrenic, was involved in a 'strange type of feud going on with another couple on the Gold Coast'.

Pechey reportedly became enraged when he was told Ms Sutton was cheating on him

Geppert also posted a photo of an old mugshot of Pechey and called him a 'dog', 'loser' and a 'pin head'

Geppert also posted a photo of an old mugshot of Pechey and called him a 'dog', 'loser' and a 'pin head'.

Ms Sutton and Ms Vader are also believed to be not speaking to each other.

Ms Sutton posted a photo of herself and Pechey at dinner, with the caption: 'I will have your back until the end #evilneverwins'.

Geppert and Allaina themselves made headlines after being kicked out of a luxury resort by police while on a recent holiday to Hamilton Island.

Geppert and Allaina themselves made headlines after being kicked out of a luxury resort by police while on a recent holiday to Hamilton Island

Just weeks later, in his since deleted post to his online story, Geppert abused Pechey by posting a photo of his Instagram account with the words 'weak dog' written on it.

'Kaos you weak boneyard dog... don't hide behind me for protection. Ya know where I live so come be a man,' he also wrote in a subsequent post.

It has been reported that Pechey has been interview by police about his knowledge of the Brothers 4 Life gang.

Just weeks earlier the pair shared pictures together and commented as mates, with Pechey going as far as to write: 'Nothing but love for u [sic] always brother'.
There are fresh fears for a new chapter in Melbourne's infamous gangland war as it is revealed the man who witnessed the death of a kingpin is to be released from prison.

Thomas 'Little Tommy' Ivanovic, has spent the last fifteen years behind bars after shooting dead a motorcyclist in 2002 road rage incident.

The 43-year-old was granted parole last month and is set for release in the coming weeks, The Herald Sun revealed.

Carl Williams was a well known Melbourne crime figure before he was bludgeoned to death with part of an exercise bike in 2010

The news of his impending return to the community follows Ivanovic being targeted in a stabbing attack in the yard of Barwon Prison early last year.

Following the incident - which insiders signalled marked a change in popularity among underworld figures - Ivanovic was temporarily placed in a segregation unit.

'Little Tommy' is allegedly a close associate of both underworld figure Rocco Arico and current inmate Matthew 'The General' Johnson, head of gang Prisoners of War.

In 2010 notorious Melbourne gangster Carl Williams was bludgeoned to death with an exercise bike by Matthew Charles Johnson in the Barwon exercise room.

In 2010 notorious Melbourne gangster Carl Williams was bludgeoned to death with an exercise bike by Matthew Charles Johnson in the Barwon exercise room

Ivanovic was the only other prisoner in the room when Williams was fatally attacked, at a time he was rumoured to be assisting police

The killing sent shock waves through the Victorian crime community with many seeing it as the end of a chapter in Victoria's long running crime war.

Ivanovic was the only other prisoner in the room when Williams was fatally attacked, at a time he was rumoured to be assisting police.

Johnson was eventually convicted of Williams' murder and sentenced to 32 years in prison.
New Zealand-born actress, Rebecca Gibney has opened up about how she fought off her grandfather as a child when he attempted to sexually assault her.

The television star said the abuse from her maternal grandfather, who is now deceased, was kept a secret from her father.

'He tried to touch me once but I was a very strong 12-year-old and I told him to get his hands off me,' she said.

Rebecca Gibney, 52, (pictured) revealed she fought of her grandfather who attempted to sexual assault her when she was 12

The 52-year-old star opened up on an upcoming episode of Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery.

The Flying Doctors actress said her grandfather also abused her mother from the age of two until she was 15-years-old, The Daily Telegraph reported.

She said her mother would not have purposely put her seven children in danger.

The New Zealand actress opened up on an upcoming episode of Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery

'She never thought for a moment that he would try it on any of us,' she said.

Coming from a family riddled with domestic violence, the Logie award winning actress said her father never found out about the abuse.

'My mum never told him because she said he would have killed him,' she said.

Gibney said the abuse cover-up forced the family to continue seeing their grandfather until he died.

Coming from a family riddled with domestic violence, the Logie award winning actress said her father never found out about the abuse

The Wanted producer opened up to Women's Day last year about her mother, Shirley, and her domestic abuse from her father Austin.

'He beat her so badly she had bruises for six months on her legs,' she said last year.

The actress said her mother would get in between her husband and children to protect them.

'She'd always shut the doors... So you'd hear the yelling and the shouting and the slapping, but you'd never actually see it,' she said.

After her father died the actress struggled to cope and began seeing a therapist twice a week.

She was prescribed Valium and said she was in a dark place for a while.

The Packed to the Rafters actress revealed with the help of a special woman she was bought out of that dark place.

Julia Zemiros Home Delivery with Rebecca Gibney airs 8pm, May 2, on ABC.
Ellie Cheswell leaving court with family and friends after giving evidence

A British holiday rep scarred in an horrific Algarve acid attack allegedly ordered by her former boyfriend told a court how he had 'ruined he life'.

Brave Ellie Chessell, 29, returned to the area where she cheated death last May to give evidence against 'abusive' ex Claudio Gouveia at the start of his attempted murder trial.

She avoided an unwanted courtroom encounter with the jobless barman by asking the three women judges trying Gouveia to take him to a police cell underneath the court before she gave evidence.

They ordered him out to spare her the agony of a first meeting in more than a year - but she still left the courtroom shaking and in tears after an hour and a half in the witness stand.

Speaking in a near-whisper at times through an interpreter standing by her side, she said: 'He has ruined my life.

'I should have ended the relationship way before I did. If I had done, my family wouldn't have been affected like they were, I wouldn't be sitting here and this mess wouldn't have happened,.

Ellie Chessell (centre in left image and far right) arrived at court supported by several relatives thought to include her mum Diana Newman and a British consulate official

Ellie Chessell, 29, arrived at court to give evidence against her ex Claudio Gouveia (pictured with Ms Chessell) at the start of his attempted murder trial

'There is nothing else I can do to repair the physical damage. The scars will last forever. I cannot get the sun on my skin as there is a high risk of cancer.'

Revealing how she had to give up a dream career with travel firm TUI and is now back living with her mum in her home town of Newport, Isle of Wight, she added: 'I loved the Algarve, I just wanted to keep on working.

'I live in a small place now and I face questions from people all the time about what happened.'

Ellie arrived at the courthouse in Portimao less than five miles from the attack spot in neighbouring Alvor as authorities confirmed the dramatic arrest of the 'hitman' prosecutors say Gouveia allegedly got to douse her in acid after an ugly break-up.

It emerged last November fugitive Edmundo Helder Rodrigues Fonseca, 44, had been tracked down to a jail cell in Uganda, east Africa, after fleeing Portugal and being arrested with six kilos of heroin in a separate case.

A UK Interpol liaison officer discovered he was in custody there after checking European databases and seeing a European Arrest Warrant was out for Fonseca over the Ellie Chessell acid attack.

Just hours before Gouveia was due to be driven in a police van to his trial - Portuguese authorities announced Rodrigues Fonseca had been arrested on foot of the international warrant in Belgium.

A spokesman for Portugal's Attorney General's Office confirmed: 'He was arrested on Thursday afternoon at Brussels Airport on foot of the European Arrest Warrant issued by Portugal's Public Prosecutor's Office.'

Claudio Gouveia is seen being escorted out og a police van to his trial in Portimao

Today's trial started just after 2pm local time with lead judge Cristina Mira reading out part of the 25-page written indictment against Gouveia.

Prosecutors claim the 34-year-old masterminded the attack on May 6 last year after Ellie walked out on him two months earlier for assaulting her and he discovered she had relocated to the Algarve after leaving their home in his native Madeira.

They say he did a recce of the area with Rodrigues Fonseca before ordering him to attack Ellie, and lured her to to the spot where she was targeted near a four-star hotel she was working at by posing as a wealthy businessman called Diogo and setting up a dinner date on a fake Tinder account.

The sickening attack happened after Ellie and her family went to police in the UK and Portugal to tell them her ex-boyfriend was threatening to track her down and kill her after she left him in Madeira to move away from him.

One of the messages she received, dated April 3 2016, was titled: 'I Will Find You' and read: 'I'm going to find you and I will take your head off. You are a slut and you are going to die.'

Claudio Gouveia (right) allegedly got a 'hitman' friend to douse her in acid after an ugly break-up

The court building in Portimao is near the scene of her attack (pictured) last May

Gouveia, who has been in custody since his arrest shortly after the attack, stood with his hands crossed in front of him as the head judge read the long list of chilling Facebook and text messages prosecutors say he sent Ellie before she was targeted.

He told the court after hearing the prosecution evidence that he did not want to be questioned, claiming: 'I'm a bit nervous and for that reason I will not give evidence at this stage.'

Ellie told the three judges she wanted him out of the room while she took the witness stand because 'she was afraid.'

She recounted episodes of violence while they lived together in Madeira, recalling one time when he smashed her head against a door frame as she tried to flee their home.

Her arrival comes after the arrest of the man accused of throwing two litres of acid over her face, arms, chest and stomach in the Algarve holiday resort of Alvor

Prosecutors claim Gouveia masterminded the attack on May 6 last year after Ms Chessell walked out on him two months earlier

She described the man who attacked her as a complete stranger, telling the court he said 'Desculpe' - 'Sorry' in Portuguese - before dousing her in acid.

Shown a picture of Rodigues Fonseca by the judge and asked if he was the man who had attacked her, she replied: 'Yes', revealing scars on her right finger as she pointed to the photo.

Ellie's mum Diana Newman, among the relatives supporting Ellie, told the court: 'At the beginning everything seemed okay. They lived six months in the UK. He seemed a very charming man at first but I started noticing he wanted to control her in little ways.

'When I spent a week in Madeira he was very controlling all the time. He always had her arm round Ellie. Whenever we said a joke he wanted to know what was happening.'

She said Gouveia had also sent her threatening messages after their break-up in March last year, warning in one he would burn her daughter's face.

She added: 'I found out about the attack at 7am on May 7 when someone from the hospital phoned me.

'I connected it with Claudio immediately because he had threatened to do it.'

Gouveia is pleading not guilty to his ex-girlfriend's attempted murder.

The trial, expected to last another day, will continue next month.

Rodrigues Fonseca, originally due to be tried with Gouveia, will now be tried separately after he is extradited from Belgium.
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has bragged about Russia and China supplying him with firearms after the United States turned down his request.

Speaking in Manila on Thursday, Duterte slammed the US government for blocking a planned sale of arms  and suggested the CIA is targeting him.

'The fact is, the Americans really do not honour their word,' he said, according to Al Jazeera.

'At least, if my airplane ever explodes, or if some roadside bomb explodes, maybe you can ask the CIA.'

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Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte (pictured in March) has bragged about Russia and China supplying him with firearms after the United States turned down his request

Duterte has been seeking to acquire weapons in a bid to step up the fight against Islamists since he took office in June 2016.

But the US refused to provide assault rifles amid concerns over the Philippines' human rights record.

As a result, he turned to China and Russia to provide the weapons  and some were given for free.

The US refused to provide assault rifles amid concerns over the Philippines' human rights record. Pictured, President Duterte on Thursday

After Duterte visited Moscow in May last year, Russia sent a shipment of weapons to the Philippines, RT reports.

In October, around 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles and around a million rounds of ammunition were donated by Russia  as well as 20 military trucks.

China donated thousands of rifles and ammunition as a gesture of friendly relations in June and October last year.

But Duterte insists that there is no military alliance between the countries.

'To this day, Russia and China have yet to even ask for a piece of paper or pencil.'
A Baton Rouge police officer returned to work Thursday for the first time since his partner's fatal and controversial shooting of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man.

Sterling's death was caught on video and set off widespread protests in Louisiana and elsewhere nearly two years ago.

Officer Howie Lake II returned to work 'with no restrictions,' Sgt. Don Coppola, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department said Friday.

While Salamoni (left) was fired for violating police policies on use of force and 'command of temper', Lake (right) was punished with a suspension because he was only deemed to have lost his temper

Sterling, a father of five who sold pirated DVDs was shot as he lay pinned to the ground

Salamoni's bodycam shows him moving towards Sterling and screaming: 'Don't f****** move or I'll shoot your f****** ass, b****'

Police Chief Murphy Paul announced last Friday that he was suspending Lake for three days and firing Officer Blane Salamoni, who shot and killed Sterling during a struggle outside a convenience store in July 2016.

Bodycam footage of the killing which emerged at the end of last month showed Salamoni screaming profanities at Sterling from the moment he arrives at the store, before drawing a gun and threatening to shoot if he does not turn around.

Meanwhile, the visibly confused father says, 'What did I do, sir?'

Lake then Tasers Sterling before the pair wrestle him onto the tarmac forecourt of the Triple S Food store. After a brief tussle, Salamoni fired six shots.

Black Lives Matter activists recently blocked the streets of Sacramento for several days in a row as a protest over Clark's shooting

In this file image taken from security camera video provided Friday, March 30, 2018, by the Baton Rouge Police Department, officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II confront Alton Sterling, left, during a struggle outside the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge

Protesters place a sign on a car parked in front of Triple S Food Mart, where Sterling was shot, on March 27, 2018, after Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced no prosecutions would be brought over his death

Afterwards, a breathless Salamoni can be heard repeatedly saying 'stupid a** motherf*****' as Sterling lies lifeless on the ground with a bullet wound in his chest.

The officers recovered a loaded revolver from Sterling's pocket. As a convicted felon, he could not legally carry a gun.

The shooting came amid increased scrutiny of fatal encounters between police and black men.

Sterling's death led to protests across America, which were embodied in this iconic photograph of a glamorously-dressed Ieshia Evans being arrested by heavily-armed police outside the Baton Rouge police headquarters on July 9, 2016

Unidentified members of Sterling's family are pictured above arriving at the AG's office in Baton Rouge last month to learn if charges would be brought

Tuesday, March 27 2018: Andricka Williams (left), the mother of Sterling's three youngest children, joins attorney Mike Adams (center) and attorney Brandon DeCuir (right) for a meeting with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, when he announced he would not be prosecuting over Sterling's death

The day afterwards, Philando Castile was killed in Minnesota by a police officer and the aftermath streamed on Facebook by his girlfriend.

Then as demonstrators in Dallas protested those police shootings, a gunman killed five police officers. And on July 17 2016, a black military veteran shot and killed three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers.

Police Chief Paul said he fired Salamoni for violating department policies on use of force and 'command of temper.' He suspended Lake only for losing his temper.

As the Taser is deployed the officers scream at Sterling to 'get on the ground', then struggle with him for 20 seconds before some six shots are heard being fired

Other officers arrive at the scene moments after Salamoni and Lake radioed in to say shots had been fired

Salamoni can be seen rifling through Sterling's pockets with his bloodied hands while searching for a weapon

Camera footage at the time of the incident showed Sterling lying dead, as Salamoni says, 'stupid a** motherf****'

State and federal authorities ruled out criminal charges against the two white officers, who had remained on paid administrative leave since the shooting.

Salamoni's attorney, John McLindon, has said he intends to appeal the officer's firing to a civil service board.

Lake's attorney, Kyle Kershaw, said he doesn't know if his client will challenge the suspension he has been served, but he has less than two weeks to decide.

Sterling pleads, 'What happened, what did I do?' as he is held against the car, before Salamoni says, 'Tase his a**'

Salamoni (left) and his partner Officer Howie Lake II, who was suspended, wrestled Sterling to the floor and shots are fired

'I'm waiting to hear back from him on that. I put the ball in his court,' Kershaw said of Lake.

Salamoni told an internal affairs investigator in September 2016 that he saw Sterling reach for and hold a gun in his pants pocket right before he shot him during their struggle on the ground.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced last Tuesday that his office isn't charging either officer with state crimes.

The Justice Department ruled out federal criminal charges in May 2017.

Police arrested nearly 200 people at protests in 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital city, after two cellphone videos of Sterling's shooting quickly spread on social media.

Paul insisted at the time he had decided to dismiss Salamoni solely because he had broken the rules.

The police department's use of force policy says: 'Every member of the department shall use only the force necessary to effect an arrest or maintain the custody of a suspect.'

Paul added: 'Just to be clear, my decision was not based on politics.

'It was not based on emotions. It was based on the facts of the case. The testimony provided by our officers and witnesses and the recommendation from our board members during the disciplinary hearings.

'But I take full responsibility for the decision that I made. And it's a responsibility that I take very seriously. And I understand that this decision will not only affect the officers, but it will also affect their families and the community as well,' he said.

Salamoni had served as a Baton Rouge police officer for four years before the shooting; Lake was a three-year member of the force.




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The burglar who died after tussling with a 78-year-old pensioner during a break-in in south-east London and his family have a long history of targeting the elderly and vulnerable.

Henry Vincent was being hunted by police for another distraction theft on an retired victim when he was stabbed during a burglary in Hither Green in the early hours of Wednesday.

He and his family have also repeatedly featured on a neighbourhood watch Facebook page set up in Orpington about local crooks.

Here, MailOnline sets out the full and sorry history of misery the Vincents have wreaked on pensioners in south-east London and north Kent.

Henry Vincent's family (pictured) have been in and out of jail after conning vulnerable victims in Kent and the south east

Henry Vincent died after he struggled with a pensioner during a break-in at a house in south-east London earlier this week. The full history of his family's crimes can now be revealed

The cowboy builders scam

In 2003, Vincent along with his father and five uncles were jailed for more than 28 years in total for a 450,000 building scam.

The family would knock on the doors of elderly people in south London and Kent, telling them they had structural problems with their homes and quoting large fees to fix them.

The victims were then pressured into paying, with some even being marched to the banks to withdraw funds.

One woman in her 80s ended up signing over her 150,000 home to cover the cost of guttering and other building work.

Vincent got four and a half years for his part in the scam. His father got a five-and-a-half year term.

Uncles Clifford, David, John Jack, Robert and Steven were also caged with sentences between six years and 21 months.

Uncles Clifford, David, John Jack, Robert and Steven (pictured) were also caged with sentences between six years and 21 months

In 2003, Vincent's father, Henry Charles Vincent (left) and his uncle Robert Vincent (right) were jailed along with five other family members of a cowboy builders scam

The family gave become notorious in Orpington, where a Facebook page has repeatedly alerted locals about their crimes

The waterboard con

In 2007, Vincent's cousins, William and Amos were both jailed for a series of distraction burglaries in south-east London.

The pair would pose as officials from the waterboard and distract elderly victims., with two women in the Lewisham, aged 83 and 90, falling prey to their scam.

After the pair were sent to prison, police appealed for the public's help in tracking down stolen war medals belonging to 82-year-old Ronald Butler.

The medals included his father's First World War medals, his own medals from the RAF and his 'exemplary discharge papers', which he had hoped to pass on to his grandchildren.

It has now emerged that Vincent's cousins William (left) and Amos Vincent (right) were jailed in 2007 for distraction burglaries

Colossal bill for single roof tile

After Vincent was released from a four-year jail term for the cowboy builders scam, he and his father conned an 81-year-old pensioner out of 72,000 to repair a single tile on his roof.

A surveyor found little work had been completed and proper repairs would have cost only 50.

Vincent was jailed for six years in 2009, but was let out of prison early and went on to commit further offences.

Vincent Snr went on the run after the scam and was not caught until 2010. He was jailed for six years in 2011.

Kent Police's Detective Sergeant Benjamin Turner described their crime, saying: 'This was a cowardly crime in stealing from this elderly and vulnerable man... these rogue builders give a bad name to tradesmen who just want to do an honest day's work.'

James Vincent (left) and Robert Vincent (right) were both jailed for targeting pensioners over house repairs

100-year-old targeted in 'repairs' fraud

In 2011, Vincent's uncles James and Robert and his cousin Amos were jailed for a total of 17 years, again over attempts to charge elderly home owners for unnecessary repairs.

An elderly couple, aged 78 and 76, in Mottingham, south London were targeted, along with a 100-year-old man in Dartford, who had water splashed on his walls before being told the house needed work.

Luckily, the police were monitoring the area following reports of rogue traders and the trio were round up.

Robert was sentenced to eight years, James to six years and Amos to 40 months, all for fraud charges.

Most wanted appeal

In 2013, Vincent was put on Kent Police's 'most wanted' list following a raid in Gravesend.

Few details were given about the break-in due to the then-on-going police investigation and police have declined to say whether he was ever charged over the crime.

Left: One of a number of appeals made by police trying to track Vincent. Right: Cyril Goodearl, who was targeted by the burglar last November

Fraud hunt

In 2016, Vincent was again the subject of a police appeal, this time by the Met Police in Orpington, south-east London.

Again, few details were given about the then-ongoing investigation, although detectives urged any one with information to contact the CID.

Christmas roof leak con

Around Christmas 2016, Vincent's uncle Robert - using the fake name Terry Griffiths - preyed on a 68-year-old man in Haringey, telling him his roof needed to be replaced because of a leak.

The victim handed over 14,000 before Robert tried to convince him to sign over his 540,000 house.

Luckily, the man told his solicitor of his plans and trading standards became involved.

Distraction theft in Kent village

After evading police over break-in and fraud offences, Vincent was hunted over a distraction theft at the home of a pensioner in the pretty village of Farningham, Kent,

Cyril Goodearl, 78, was targeted in November last year. A woman knocked on his front door of his Georgian home on the early afternoon looking distressed. She said she had been assaulted and was seeking refuge.

But as she distracted the kind-hearted victim over coffee, a man, thought to be Vincent, got into the house and stole a box containing Mr Goodearl's mother's wedding and engagement rings and his father's signet ring.

Mr Goodearl said today: 'It made me feel so invaded. I felt conned and cheated. It has definitely made me lose my faith in people. I trust people a lot less now.

'There was my Mum's engagement and wedding rings and my father's cygnet ring and other jewellery. It was all of great sentimental value.'
Nasim Aghdam, the female shooter who wounded three people before killing herself at YouTube on Tuesday, did not stand out to employees at the gun store where she legally purchased her 9mm handgun on January 18.

Aghdam, who would have turned 39 this week, went to The Gun Range, a store 22 miles from her grandmother's home in San Diego, to buy the weapon after YouTube announced changes to its creator policies which would restrict how she made money.

On Friday, one of the store's employees told how she went back 10 days later after submitting her order to pick up the weapon and that she seemed completely normal.

'It's not like she stood out. I wish we could look into someones soul,' Manny Mendoza, the store's manager, told Mercury News.

Nasim Aghdam visited The Gun Range in San Diego on January 18 to buy her 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun

Manny Mendoza (right) said Aghdam did not stand out and that she seemed ordinary. After making the purchase, she waited the mandatory 10 day period before collecting it again

Aghdam passed a background check which reviewed criminal history, DMV records, outstanding warrants, restraining orders and mental health holds.

January 18 was the day that YouTube announced how it would make it more difficult for 'bad actors' to earn a living through the site's ads.

Until then, creators with more than 10,000 views over the entire lifespan of a video could monetize them.

On January, that changed so that only creators with 1,000 subscribers could earn money on videos which had earned 4,000 hours of watchtime in the last month.

It prompted a sudden rush of creators following one another back to try to keep their earnings flowing.

On the same day, YouTube announced policy changes that make it more difficult for influencers to monetize their videos

On Friday, the gun woman's parents said they had no idea she had purchased the weapon

Aghdam had several accounts on the site which have since been removed. She posted in both Farsi and English and had amassed thousands of subscribers between them but it is not clear how many she had on each account.

On her website, she had also complained about YouTube putting an age restriction on one of her videos and not allowing her to monetize another despite it meeting the requirements, she said.

YouTube's policy change was prompted by a string of scandals and examples of people making money from videos even if they were in poor taste.

The most prominent is Logan Paul, an influencer with millions of fans, who controversially posted a video of himself next to a suicide victim in Japan's suicide forest in December.

On Tuesday, Aghdam used one full gun magazine then loaded another one before shooting herself.
A student threatened to chop off her lecturer's penis after she believed he was trying to mock her with a cartoon due to her lack of sexual experience.

Stephanie Christol, 30, was sent a reading list by Dr Christopher Dillon which featured a cartoon called The Virgin Snail.

Christol attended Kings College London where she studied history and is believed to have met Dr Dillon in her final year when she was writing her dissertation.

Furious at the perceived slight she emailed Dr Dillon, who worked at the universitys Strand Campus, threatening to chop of his penis and stick it up his bottom.

Stephanie Christol, 30, was sent a reading list by Dr Christopher Dillon which featured a cartoon called The Virgin Snail

The defendant, from Islington in London, also sent a series of emails and offensive Facebook messages about Dr Dillons partner's appearance.

Dr Dillon told Westminster Magistrates Court that he had been helping Christol with her dissertation which was on First World War films.

He said: One message threatened me with violence. Between April to 25 September there were dozens of emails.

Christol attended Kings College London where she studied history and is believed to have met Dr Dillon in her final year when she was writing her dissertation

One of them threatened to cut of my penis and shove it up my bottom. They were threatening I was concerned they may spread over to my partner.

Two of the messages said: I am going to get you and, I am going to find a way to make you apologise.

Christol sent her letters on pink and blue writing paper with the lecturers name on the envelope.

Furious at the perceived slight she emailed Dr Dillon, who worked at the universitys Strand Campus, threatening to chop of his penis and stick it up his bottom

Ed Cohen, prosecuting, said: Starting with the emails. They were extremely abusive in their nature- saying Doctor Dillons partner was a dog and ugly as f***k.

This caused some real issues between him and his partner.

The defendant, from Islington in London, also sent a series of emails and offensive Facebook messages about Dr Dillons partner's appearance

The lecturer went to the police in September 2016 who issued the student with a harassment warning.

But the bombardment continued and Christol sent five letters, and a framed picture to the lecturers pigeon hole when he was in Munich on research leave.

The picture showed a gagged woman with the caption: Ask the children of the UK who are grown up if contact denial was in their best interest?

Dr Dillon did not open the letters but had a friend check what they were about.

Many of the letters told of Christols feelings about her traumatic upbringing and a sense of alienation from her parents.

Christol told the court: They sent me articles and one of them I reacted badly to. It was at the end of a stage of articles which had been sent.

I was first angry because I thought he was laughing at me for being sexually inexperienced. I was a paranoid about it and I was trying to deal with my paranoia.

Christol pictured on the set of Grantchester with James Norton and Robson Green

The letters were an explanation of my traumatic parental background. I write a lot to my relatives.

I want to be a screen writer. I would like those letters which the prosecution has back, so I can send them to my relatives.

I wanted to use that letter for writing a book and I want that letter back.

Christol denied but was convicted on one count of harassment without violence.

She was granted conditional bail ahead of sentencing at Westminster Magistrates Court.
Vegan activists were in a nine-hour stand-off with police at a pig farm after locking themselves inside a slaughterhouse.

Police arrested 34 of the animal liberation activists at the piggery in Beerburrum on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

They let themselves in early on Friday morning as 68 activists were locked inside with 40 supporters outside the farm gates.

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Vegan activists were in a nine-hour stand-off with police at a pig farm after locking themselves inside

Police arrested 34 of the animal liberation activists at the piggery in Beerburrum, Queensland

James Aspey, who was among the protest's leaders, shared a video on his Facebook page explaining why it was happening

The protest attracted attention from police who arrived later in the morning.

Activists argue the cruelty, poor conditions and environmental benefits to boycotting meat needs to be considered.

After emerging following the nine-hour protest, during which activists chained themselves to fences, they reported seeing pigs allegedly caged in tight confinement unable to move.

Police and farm managers spoke to the activists on Friday afternoon after gaining access to the building as they eventually agreed to leave, the Northern Star reports.

After emerging following the nine-hour protest protesters reported seeing pigs allegedly caged in tight confinement unable to move

Vegans say the treatment of pigs and animals in the farming industry is cruel and unnecessary

James Aspey, who was among the protest's leaders, shared a video on his Facebook page explaining why it was happening.

'Those pigs in there have done nothing wrong, they don't deserve this,' he said. 'They don't deserve to suffer.

'Just like you don't if someone was inflicting something on you and your family, you would want someone to do something about it.

'That's what we're doing and to do something about it we need to inspire people to boycott animal products.

Several police officers were brought in to control crowds at the piggery in Beerburrum in Queensland

'This is 2018 and in 2018 we don't need to consume animal products. We know it's not for our health, we can be much healthier without animal products and get the nutrients we need [from plant based items].

'They lie to us. They tell us we need meat for protein and dairy for calcium.

'They won't let the media in. If it's not bad, why not show them.'

Inspector John Van Egmond of Queensland Police described the activists moves to 'enter unlawfully' as 'disappointing', Seven News reports.

In a statement, Australian Pork Limited said: 'Anyone entering a pig farm without completing the relevant biosecurity protocols puts the health of the animals at risk.'

Footage of the group inside the pig farm sheds shared on social media showed the protesters wearing PPE gear.
A former social worker at a suburban Chicago mental health center has been charged with 14 felony counts for allegedly turning a male patient into her sex slave.

Christy Lenhardt formerly worked at the Elgin Mental Health Center. On Thursday she was indicted on eight counts of sexual misconduct with a person with disabilities and six counts of official misconduct, and was ordered held on $100,000 bond.

The charges against the 53-year-old Lenhardt relate to allegations made in a federal lawsuit filed in November by Benahdam Hurt, of Aurora.

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Former social worker Christy Lenhardt, 53 (left), has been charged with 14 felony counts for allegedly turning Benahdam Hurt, 24 (right), a mental health patient, into her sex slave

Hurt was involuntarily committed for treatment to the Elgin Mental Health Center in Illinois in 2014 after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for felony aggravated battery

He accuses Lenhardt of making him her sex slave during a nearly three-year relationship.

The 24-year-old Hurt was involuntarily committed for treatment to the Elgin facility in 2014 after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for felony aggravated battery of an Aurora peace officer.

He remains under treatment at Chicago Read Mental Health Center.

'She engaged in all kinds of various sexual misconduct. The graphic details are every sex act that you can imagine,' Hurt's attorney Joe Cecala told WBBM-TV last fall.

'She's accused of manipulating and seducing our client, repeatedly, and it took her about four months until she actually had sex for the first time with him.'

Hurt (left) filed a federal lawsuit against Lenhardt (right) in November, accusing her of manipulating him into a sexual relationship that lasted three years

Cecala said Lenhardt sent his client sexually explicit emails and nude photos.

Hurt's mother, D'Anntanette Lee, said he should have been released from the facility within six to 12 months, but was held longer because of Lenhardt.

'They assured me that they were going to help me with my child,' she said. 'What she did to my son was wrong.'

Ousted: Lenhardt was removed from the center in July 2017 and officially resigned her $90,000-a-year position in August

Lenhardt was removed from the center in July 2017 and officially resigned her $90,000-a-year position in August.

In November, Hurt and his family filed a $10million civil suit against Lenhard and the state's Department of Human Services.

In the lawsuit, Hurt claimed the social worker admitted to him that she had inappropriate sexual contact with two other patients at the center, including child kidnapper and registered sex offender Angelo Rotunno.

Rotunno escaped from the facility in 2006, allegedly with Lenhardt's assistance, and remains on the lam, reported Chicago Tribune.

In January, fellow patient Mark Owens, 27, filed a separate lawsuit against Lenhardt, also accusing her of sexual misconduct. Both cases are still pending.

Lenhardt was arrested on Wednesday but has since been freed on bail. She is due back in court on April 20.

If convicted of the charges against her, the 53-year-old woman could face up to five years in prison.
Lakeith Smith, 18 (pictured), was sentenced to 65 years after rejecting a plea deal of 25

A teenage burglar who rejected a 25-year plea deal has been jailed for 65 years after a jury found him responsible for death of one of his accomplices.

Elmore County Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds offered Lakeith Smith, 18, a final opportunity Tuesday to take a plea deal before the first witnesses were brought to the stand - an offer he rejected.

Yesterday Smith, of Montgomery, was convicted of felony murder, burglary and theft for his part in two 2015 home break-ins in Millbrook.

On Thursday Judge Sibley Reynolds of Alabama's 19th Judicial Circuit Court handed down three sentences Smith will serve back to back.

He was sentenced to 30 years for murder, 15 years for burglary and 10 years each for two theft convictions.

Despite the drastically lengthened sentence of 65 years, Smith grinned and guffawed as the judgement was read.

Later he flashed a broad smile as he was led from the courtroom, said C.J. Robinson, chief assistant district attorney.

'I don't think Mr Smith will be smiling long when he gets to prison,' Robinson told USA Today.

'We are very pleased with this sentence. Because the sentences are consecutive, it will be a long time before he comes up for even the possibility for parole, at least 20 to 25 years,' he added.

Smith was tried under Alabama's accomplice laws and was found responsible for the acts that led to the death of a A'Donte Washington, 16, of Montgomery.

Alabama's accomplice law states a person is legally liable for the behavior of another who commits a criminal offense if that person aids or abets the first in committing the offense.

Smith did not kill Washington, who he had taken part in thefts with, but was found responsible for his death.

Members of the group, including Washington, fired shots at Millbrook police officers who responded to a call of a burglary in February 2015.

When Washington, armed with a .38 caliber revolver, ran towards one attending officer, pointing a .38 caliber revolver in his direction, the officer fired his police-issued sidearm four times, killing the boy.

An Elmore County grand jury cleared the officer of murder and declined to release his name.

The fault for Washington's death fell in part on Smith, the court found.

'The officer shot A'donte, not Lakeith Smith,' Smith's lawyer, Jennifer Holton, said.

'Lakeith was a 15-year-old child, scared to death. He did not participate in the act that caused the death of A'donte. He never shot anybody.'

Jadarien Hardy, 22, Jhavarske Jackson, 23, and La'Anthony Washington, 22, all pleaded guilty of felony murder, burglary and theft, court records show.

They await sentencing.
Jennifer Reali, then 28, shot Dianne Hood, 31, in September 1990 as she left a lupus support meeting in Colorado Springs, having lain in wait wearing a ski mask and camouflage. She is pictured in an undated mug shot

Jennifer Reali, who was dubbed the 'fatal attraction' murderer after shooting the wife of her lover at point-blank range in an execution-style killing, has died aged 55.

Reali, then 28, shot Dianne Hood, 31, in September 1990 as she left a lupus support meeting in Colorado Springs, having lain in wait wearing a ski mask and camouflage.

She died on March 24 just three months after being released on parole from the Colorado Department of Corrections, having maintained her defense that Hood groomed her into the killing by saying it was Gods work.

Reali was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2014, but treatment was said to have cured her.

Neither her niece, Carly Dudley, nor Colorado prison officials, have released any more details of the circumstances surrounding her death.

The murder of Dianne Hood in September 1990 was shocking both for its cruel calculation and ruthless execution.

Reali (pictured centre, at her trial in 1991) died on March 24 just three months after being released on parole from the Colorado Department of Corrections

Reali grabbed Hood's purse as she was leaving the Otis Park Community Center to slow her down, before shooting her twice.

The first shot floored her, while the second was delivered to Hood's chest as she lay on the ground begging for mercy.

Reali, the wife of an Army officer, was arrested within two days and soon confessed.

At her trial, Reali claimed she was brainwashed by Brian Hood, 33, into believing the killing was wanted by God.

He countered with the 'fatal attraction' defense - claiming Reali was driven to kill by her own jealousy after Hood said he was going to abandon their affair.

The couple met in March 1990, in a health club Jacuzzi, People.com reported.

Their relationship became sexual two months later, when they had sex at Reali's home when her husband was away on military maneuvers.

They met up frequently for illicit liaisons in the back of Jeep Cherokee, and as their relationship became more intense Hood groomed Reali to kill, according to her testimony.

At her trial, Reali (pictured left in 1991 and right in an undated mug shot) claimed she was brainwashed by Brian Hood, 33, into believing the killing was wanted by God

Reali's sister Erin Dudley of Seattle, Washington, testifies on April 30, 1991, about her relationship with Jennifer during their childhood

He is said to have quoted verses from the Book of Samuel about King David's marriage to Bathsheba, which took place after he sent her husband off to war and certain death.

On the morning of September 10, Hood is said to have tipped off Reali that his wife was leaving the house that day, and that it would be the perfect time to strike.

Hood received 37 years in prison and Reali went down for life.

Reali soon became a model prisoner and even released two albums of gospel music, Love Me In and Prisoner Of Hope.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter commuted her sentence in 2011 and made her eligible for parole, which she was denied in 2014.

Further bids in 2014 and 2015 also failed because Reali was deemed to still be a risk, but she achieved success on the fourth attempt, and left prison on December 12 last year.
A witness who has been interview by Robert Mueller's investigators is telling a different account of a mysterious Seychelles meeting involving blackwater founder Erik Prince than the one Prince testified about to a committee.

The meeting had already drawn attention from investigators because of the way it brought together Trump supporter Prince, representatives of the United Arab Emirates, and a Russian oligarch just days before Donald Trump took office.

A top Democrat has said Prince, whose sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, may have been trying to establish a back channel to Russia, which he denies.

Among the claims Prince made when he testified under oath before the House Intelligence Committee is that he met coincidentally with the oligarch, Kirill Dmitriev, 'over a beer.'

Erik Prince testified before the House Intelligence Committee about his Seychelles trip, but his account appears to contradict that of a Lebanese-American businessman

That encounter followed his meeting with United Arab Emirates officials, who arranged the meeting with Prince, who said he was there for business reasons.

'So, as I recall, I met him, this same guy I talked about, Kirill Dmitriev. Met him down in the bar after dinner, and we talked for 30 minutes over a beer, and that was it,' he said.

But Lebanese American businessman George Nader, who has been interviewed by Mueller's team several times, said the Emiratis wanted to introduce a Russian close to the Kremlin to someone who was close to the incoming administration, ABC News reported.

Sources told the network Nader met with Prince at the Pierre hotel in New York in advance of the Seychelles get-together, which took place Jan. 11 in the Pacific nation.

He also sent biographical information to Prince about the meeting  which might suggest something other than a chance encounter.

LETS GRAB A BEER: Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), gestures as he speaks during a panel session on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018

That information 'noted that Dmitriev had been appointed by Putin to oversee the state-run sovereign wealth fund,' the report said, citing sources.

Nader also says he attended the meetings, although Prince didn't mention him when asked about other people who were there.

A Prince spokesman told ABC: 'Erik has said all there is to say to the committee and has nothing further to add.'

Prince also testified that his purpose wasn't to represent the Trump campaign in any way.

FANCY MEETING YOU HERE: The meetings occurred in the Seychelles before Trump took office

Lebanese-American businessman George Nader has told special counsel Mueller he briefed Prince on the meeting in advance

Nader was convicted of possession of child pornography, in a case that was unsealed just last month. He got arrested after getting caught with videos of minors engaged in explicit conduct. His lawyers have accused rivals of trying to discredit the Mueller probe.

He is a Lebanese-American businessman who has advised successive administrations and found himself negotiating arms deals, hostage situations, and Middle East allies and adversaries of the U.S. He has appeared before a federal grand jury in addition to sitting for interviews with Mueller's team.

Prince told Fox News: 'I never ever have represented as anyone from the Trump transition, and the only reason I went to the Seychelles' was to see UAE crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

'No one from the Trump transition team knew I was going,' he said, Mother Jones reported.
Two decades before he was dictator of Germany, Adolf Hitler was just a young soldier doodling in his sketch pad on a summer's day.

Charlotte Lobjoie was cutting hay with her friends across the road and was nominated to find out what he was drawing.

A century later Hitler's painting of his little-known lover, and alleged mother of his lovechild, will be auctioned off next week for 52,000.

The pair met in France in 1916 during World War I had a short romance between his deployments after a chance meeting

The artwork, signed by Hitler and dated 1916, depicts the 19-year-old Frenchwoman as he met her - in the hayfields with a red scarf over her head blocking the sun.

She is wearing a light-colored shirt, open from the neck down, exposing part of her breasts, and holds a pitchfork in her hand.

The extraordinary story of their brief wartime romance was revealed by Jean-Marie Loret, who claimed to be their son until his death in 1985.

His claims, told to him by his mother, were hotly debated by historians for decades until new evidence came to light via his lawyer in 2012.

Their chance meeting took place in the town of Fournes-en-Weppe, west of Lille, where Hitler, then 28, was on leave from the front lines of World War I.

'All the women found this interesting, and were curious to know what he was drawing. I was designated to approach him,' Ms Lobjoie told her son.

Ms Lobjoie claims her son Jean-Marie Loret (right), born in 1918, was the lovechild of Hitler (left) after a 'tipsy' night during their romance

Their chance meeting took place in the town of Fournes-en-Weppe, west of Lille, where Hitler, then 28, was on leave from the front lines of World War I

Hitler and his teenage belle were an odd couple as neither spoke each other's language and he was often away in the trenches.

'When your father was around, which was very rarely, he liked to take me for walks in the countryside,' she said.

'But these walks usually ended badly. In fact, your father, inspired by nature, launched into speeches which I did not really understand.

'He did not speak French, but solely ranted in German, talking to an imaginary audience.

'Even if I spoke German I would not be able to follow him, as the histories of Prussia, Austria and Bavaria were not familiar to me at all, far from it. My reaction used to anger your father so much that I did not show any reaction.'

Hitler treated her well and was a 'good lover', according to Jean-Marie's son Philippe, but unsurprisingly had an envious streak.

'Apparently he was a jealous person and did not like other men giving her the eye,' Philippe Loret said.

The artwork depicts the 19-year-old Frenchwoman as he met her - in the hayfields with a red scarf over her head blocking the sun

It is signed by Hitler (picture) and dated 1916 in its top left corner

The extraordinary story of their brief wartime romance was revealed by Jean-Marie Loret, who claimed to be their son until his death in 1985

Ms Lobjoie claimed Jean-Marie was conceived after a 'tipsy' evening in June 1917, and he was born the following year.

However, having a child ruined their relationship as the teenage mother was so ashamed she left the baby with her parents and fled to Paris.

Later she was reunited with her son during the occupation of Paris and lived off envelopes of cash from German soldiers that were recorded in army papers.

Ironically, Jean-Marie fought for the French Army and joined the French Resistance against his father's own forces, as was recounted in the diary of a British soldier.

Family of Royal Engineer Leonard Wilkes came forward after reading Jean-Marie's claims, having unearthed the diary years earlier.

'An interesting day today,' Mr Wilkes wrote on September 30, 1944.

'Visited the house where Hitler stayed as a corporal in the last war, saw the woman who had a baby by him and she told us that the baby, a son, was now fighting in the French army against the Germans.'

Jean-Marie's son Philippe found out about his ancestry when he was just 16 and his father suddenly broke the news at the dinner table, and now carries on the story

Family of Royal Engineer Leonard Wilkes (left) came forward after reading Jean-Marie's claims, having unearthed the diary years earlier that mentioned him meeting Ms Lobjoie

'Visited the house where Hitler stayed as a corporal in the last war, saw the woman who had a baby by him and she told us that the baby, a son, was now fighting in the French army against the Germans,' Mr Wilkes wrote on September 30, 1944

Ms Lobjoie finally told Jean-Marie about his father in the years before she died in 1951 and he spent two decades trying to forget he knew.

'In order not to get depressed, I worked non-stop, never took a holiday, and had no hobbies. For 20 years I didn't even go to the cinema,' he said.

Eventually he accepted it and spent the rest of his life researching his background in an effort to prove he was the notorious dictator's son.

Jean-Marie's lawyer revealed more evidence in 2012, including that the his long-deceased client shared the same blood type as Hitler.

DID HITLER ALSO HAVE A BRITISH LOVECHILD? Sensationally, evidence that Hitler had a British lovechild emerged five years ago when a magazine journalist was contacted by a woman who said that her aunt, a nurse, had may have delivered it. New Statesmans respected political editor Martin Bright wrote an article describing how the woman, from Oxfordshire, told him that her aunt ran a nursing home to the gentry during the war and that a British woman known to have had a relationship with Hitler, Unity Mitford (above, with Hitler) gave birth there. When asked who she thought the father was, the aunt had replied: Well, she [Unity] always said it was Hitler's. Mitford was the tall, blonde daughter of an English aristocrat and was wedded to the Nazi cause before war broke out. She knew the Fuhrer, was part of his social circle and even one of his favourites. She had pursued a friendship with him for years, virtually abandoning her debutante life in London, and from 1934 trailing him - some think stalking would be a better word - to the restaurants where he ate and the political rallies he attended, until he noticed her. She waited for him wherever he went, and eventually wormed her way into Hitler's life. When war erupted she faced the prospect of being a traitor to her homeland or a traitor to her evil adopted cause and its often said that she shot herself in desperation. But the New Statesman magazine raised the incredible supposition that Unity Mitford returned to England in early January 1940 not on a stretcher as an irreversibly braindamaged patient but as a mother-to-be. This reputed baby of the Fuhrer was apparently given up for adoption, raising the prospect that somewhere in Britain today is the Fuhrer's 72-year-old lovechild.

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The alleged lovechild also had similar handwriting and shared an uncanny physical resemblance he passed on to his own children.

Philippe found out about his ancestry when he was just 16 and his father suddenly broke the news at the dinner table.

'Suddenly my father said: "Kids, I've got something to tell you. Your grandfather is Adolf Hitler",' Philippe recalled.

'There was stunned silence as no one knew what to say. We didn't know how to react.'

One of 10 children to Jean-Marie's two wives, Philippe too struggled with the information - not even telling his wife's father, who struggled with poverty in the war.

The 56-year-old plumber who worked at a French airbase for 34 years told his story for the first time two months after his father's story went public.

Despite Hitler's reputation as one of the worst mass murderers in history, he has embraced his lineage and taken up his father's cause.

He even sweeps his hair into the same side parting and has a moustache, something most people would avoid were they said to be related to Hitler.

'It's not my fault that I ended up as his grandson or that all the things happened during the war. What he did has nothing to do with me. He will always be family for me,' he said.

Philippe has read more than 40 books on Hitler, met the daughter of Himmler and claimed to have spoken to one of the dictator's mistresses unknown to historians.

'What Hitler did to the Jews was wrong. But some of the things Hitler did were admirable  he brought Germany back from collapse after the Treaty of Versailles. He built the country up with roads and highways,' he said.

'I dont think evil passes on. Of course qualities from your parents pass on to you, but you build your own life and you make it what it is.'

However, Philippe's grandchildren still haven't been told, as his family don't want them to be bullied at school.

As for the painting, it was bought by Flemish industrialists about 1967 and was exhibited in art galleries around Europe and even Japan.

After changing hands through various collectors, it will go under than hammer next Thursday through auction house Weidler in Nuremberg.
President Donald Trump knocked down a 'dishonest' media report he is protecting his under-fire EPA chief Scott Pruitt in order to preserve the option of installing him to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump dismissed the complex game of musical chairs that would potentially allow a loyalist like Pruitt to fire special counsel Robert Mueller and therefore stifle the Russia probe. Sessions has recused himself from the inquiry.

He also threw in an attack on the media, even while he buttressed Pruitt with an unusual form of praise.

'Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege?' Trump wrote Friday morning on Twitter.

President Donald Trump knocked down a 'dishonest' media report he is protecting his under-fire EPA chief Scott Pruitt in order to preserve the option of installing him to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions

JOB SECURITY: Trump said embattled EPA chief Scott Pruitt is 'doing a great job'

SCOTT PRUITT'S SCANDALS IN BRIEF Ex-Oklahoma attorney-general Scott Pruitt had never lived in Washington D.C. until he became EPA Administrator last year. But his scandals now include how he: Paid just $50 a night to stay in a condo owned by an energy lobbyist's wife but only when he was in town (and called it 'market rent');

Had his door battered down by Capitol Hill Police because he wasn't responding and claimed he was 'napping' - on a weekday afternoon;

Allegedly demanded flashing lights and sirens to get through traffic because he was late for dinner;

Also allegedly demanded a bulletproof SUV with run-flat tires - and a bulletproof desk;

Got a desk 'bigger than the Resolute' and a soundproof phone booth to stop officials hearing his calls;

Had his security chief reassigned, allegedly for questioning his demands;

Allegedly had other officials moved or reassigned for questioning his spending;

Claimed to know nothing about pay raises given to two key aides he brought with him from Oklahoma; when the White House turned them down, officials found a loophole;

Booked private jet flights and got authorization afterwards when it was too late to turn them down;

Used flights through hubs so he could then get home to Oklahoma more cheaply from there;

Got first class flights, with officials claiming he had 'threats' and needed to be kept from ordinary passengers - but only concrete example was someone shouting 'you're f***ing up the environment' in Atlanta Airport;

Officials looked into getting him $100,000 a month private jet from NetJets;

His spokesman falsely claimed he had a 'blanket waiver' to fly in first;

Missed a flight en route to Morocco and spent a day and a night in Paris instead;

Took his round the clock security detail on his vacation to the Greek islands and Turkey;

When he was questioned about his $50-a-night deal by Fox News said it was 'unfair to ask.'

Used an aide to help him shop for a used luxury mattress at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Used 24/7 security detail to pick up dry cleaning and help him shop for lotion

Had aides keep 'bad' information off his official schedule

Asked a top aide to help get his wife a $200,000 job

Sought to use contacts to get his wife a Chick-fil-A franchise

Asked an aide to get him a used mattress at a Trump hotel in Washington

Spoke to Trump about becoming attorney general in midst of Russia probe Advertisement

'Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!'

His missive came after CNN reported Trump was still discussing the idea this week of installing Pruitt, despite a stunning proliferation of scandals.

"He was 100% still trying to protect Pruitt because Pruitt is his fill-in for Sessions," a source familiar with Trump's thinking told the network.

Trump's support for Pruitt came after new negative headlines broke about him Thursday evening.

A string of reports have shown demanded private jets and first-class travel, 24-hour security, wanted a a bulletproof SUV and desk bulletproof desk, and pushed agents to use sirens to dodge D.C. traffic.

He also had an unusual got a $50 a nigh hotel deal at the home of a lobbyist couple, where the lease he inked didn't have a date on it.

Trump hailed him Thursday even as the bad news kept pouring in.

'I think he's done an incredible job. He's been very courageous. It hasn't been easy, but I think he's done a fantastic job,' he said, Trump said, acknowledging that he would 'take a look at' reports about ethics lapses in the office of America's most powerful green regulator.

'I think he's a fantastic person,' the president added. 'I just spent  I just left coal and energy country. They love Scott Pruitt. They feel very strongly about Scott Pruitt, and they love Scott Pruitt,' he said after a trip to West Virginia.

Asked earlier as he left Washington whether he still had confidence in the EPA chief, a wind-swept Trump told reporters: 'I do.'

Under the Vacancies Reform Act, if Sessions were to resign, the president could replace him with another Senate-confirmed cabinet member for an interim period of up to 210 days, New York Magazine reported.

It is less than certain he could use it were he to fire Sessions, who Trump has publicly complained about in public and in private.

Trump has vented about Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, a decision which begat deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein to appoint Mueller as special counsel.

Sessions' recusal was predicated on his campaigning for Trump, having been a key advisor to him in 2016.

SHORT-TIMER: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resisted pressure from Trump for months

Pruitt is a former Oklahoma attorney general who has carried out Trump's agenda to slash regulations, even as his travel preferences and staff missteps have brought bad press.

If he survives the torrent of investigations that are just beginning, his survival will be attributable to his support from the president.
A Venezuelan man has confessed to murdering a local farm owner and eating part of his body before using his blood and ashes to create a 'piece of art'.

Luis Alfredo Gonzalez Hernandez admitted to the crime to police, but claims the farm owner had hired him to carry out the brutal deed.

The shocking incident occurred in Barlovento region of the Venezuelan state of Miranda and local police have dubbed the killer 'the cannibalistic artist'.

Cannibal: Luis Alfredo Gonzalez Hernandez confessed to the murder in the Venezuelan state of Miranda, claiming the unnamed farm owner had hired him to carry out the bizarre ritual

Shocking: Police found charred human remains and bones at the crime scene as well as several pieces of art, some of which are reported to have been painted using the victim's blood

Gonzalez Hernandez was arrested by agents from the Scientific,Penal, and Criminal Investigative Body (CICPC) and the body's director, Douglas Rico, posted a photo of the suspected murderer on social media.

Rico explained that Hernandez had been arrested and confessed to the shocking crime, saying: 'After his arrest and through interrogation he admitted his guilt in the incident, stating he had quartered and eaten a large part of the human.'

According to the director, the alleged murderer claims the unnamed farm owner had hired him to carry out a bizarre funeral service.

Rico writes: 'The deceased had hired him for a funeral service, which consisted of killing him (the victim), eating part of the body and making paintings on canvas with his blood and ashes.'

Immortalised: Gonzalez Hernandez claims that the murder victim had hired him to carry out the bizarre ritual, which included making art using his remains

Scene of the crime: Police investigators at the crime scene

Investigators found documents belonging to other people at the crime scene and are working to discover if they are listed as missing.

Other pieces of art were reportedly found at the crime scene and Rico wrote that forensic analysis will be carried out on them to discover if they were made from human remains.

The photo of the suspected murderer shows him looking into the camera with wild black hair.

In 1999, Dorancel Vargas Gomez was found guilty in Venezuela of a similar crime, after killing and eating the remains of at least ten men.
A man who served six years of a life sentence for stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death on her due date has been acquitted after a retrial.

Derrick Redd, now 44, was jailed for 25 to life in 2011 for the murder of Niasha Delain, 25, who had been found butchered in her New York apartment three years before.

But his case was overturned by an appellate court based on mistakes by prosecutors before a retrial jury cleared Redd of all charges this week.

Derrick Redd, now 44, was jailed in 2011 (pictured left) for 25 to life for the murder of pregnant girlfriend Niasha Delain, 25 (right), who was stabbed to death on her due date

The New York Daily News first reported the retrial, citing unnamed sources.

Delain was found dead in her Queens apartment on October 25, 2008, having been stabbed 20 to 30 times in the torso.

The knife had also caused five stab wounds to her unborn son, who she had planned to call Aiden.

Her body was discovered by her mother, who had become concerned for her daughter's safety after not hearing from her that day.

The mother had called Redd, who let her into the apartment using a spare key.

After years of investigations, Redd was arrested and charged with the killing.

At his initial trial, jurors were told that Redd and Niasha had not been living together at the time she was killed and there were doubts over the father of the baby.

Delain was found dead inside her Queens apartment on Lefferts Boulevard (file image) with 20 to 30 stab wounds, including five knife wounds to her unborn fetus

Redd also confessed to officers that he did not want the child and had urged Niasha to get an abortion.

He was put on trial in 2011, and in November a jury convicted him of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree abortion.

But that conviction was quashed this year after an appellate court was told of 'pervasive prosecutorial misconduct' by former Assistant District Attorney Eugene Reibstein.

In his fiery closing statement, Reibstein had introduced evidence that was not discussed earlier in the trial, robbing the defense of their chance to question it.

At the retrial a key witness gave inconsistent testimony to jurors, while cell phone records placed Redd away from the crime scene at the time of the killing.

As a result he was acquitted on all charges, and will now be freed from jail.

This is not the first time Redd has been acquitted of murder, the Daily News reports.

In 1992, then aged 19, he was found not guilty of shooting dead 59-year-old diamond cutter Carlos Sarmiento inside his shop.
Ramon Nuiry, 57, was arrested after allegedly leaving a gun in his eight-year-old son's backpack, dropping him off at school and then going back to the school to retrieve it

A Miami man was arrested after he put a gun in his eight-year-old son's backpack, forgot about it and then went to the school to get it back.

Ramon Nuiry, 57, of Miami, was charged with possessing a weapon on school grounds, improper exhibition of a weapon and possession of a concealed firearm after authorities said he put his pistol in his son's backpack while taking him to school Thursday morning.

Instead of calling authorities to report what happened, Nuiry went inside the Kendale Elementary School and asked administrators to call his son and tell him to bring his backpack with him, according to the Miami Herald.

Nuiry then allegedly took the gun out of the backpack, tucked it into his waistband and left the school.

A Kendale parent, who claims to have seen Nuiry retrieve the gun from the backpack, told school officials who then contacted Miami-Dad Schools police.

Detectives examined school surveillance footage and confirmed the parent's report.

Nuiry was arrested on Thursday afternoon when he arrived at the school to pick up his son.

Police said they found a loaded, unchambered .9mm Smith & Wesson and an illegal police scanner inside his car, according to Local 10.

When questioned, Nuiry told detectives that he had accidentally left the gun in his son's backpack that morning.

Nuiry confessed, admitting he accidentally left the gun in his son's backpack that morning. He was arrested and charged with possessing a weapon on school grounds among other charges

A Kendale parent, Jessica Colon, said that her daughter, a classmate of Nuiry's son, knew about the gun.

Nuiry's son 'just opened his book bag, he saw in the book bag, he said, "Oh," (he) closed his book bag, and I guess in that time frame is when the father came,' Colon told Local 10.

Parents said they received a robocall about the incident on Thursday at about 9pm.

'It could have been a worse outcome,' Colon said. 'A whole lot of other things could have happened - a whole lot of kids could have been hurt. It could have been a scary situation.'

Nuiry was released from jail on Friday on a $17,500 bond.
Refugees from South Sudan, Somalia and Iran have been excluded from settling in Australia through the government's sponsorship-based program.

Eight countries will be prioritised as part of the resettlement program: Afghanistan, Bhutan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Myanmar and Syria.

Samuel Dariol from the Refugee Council of Australia told News.com.au that Somali, Sudanese and Iranian refugees would not be considered for the Community Support Program.

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Refugees from South Sudan, Somalia and Iran have been excluded from settling in Australia through the government's sponsorship-based program (stock image)

The program offers up to 1000 places for refugees.

'What's strange is the inconsistency around the eligibility,' he said.

'If you're Eritrean and coming Kenya you're not eligible, but if you're Eritrean coming from Ethiopia you are.'

Mr Dariol said the Refugee Council had received information from refugee community leaders and service providers - although verbally, and not in written terms.

A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said the program does not discriminate by race or nationality.

'Australia's refugee and humanitarian program is non-discriminatory and has the flexibility to respond to emerging humanitarian situations,' they said.

'No nationality is excluded from consideration, but the Australian Government does establish priorities each program year based on a range of inputs including NGO and community views put forward through the annual program consultations.'
The Chinese navy has launched a navy drill in the South China Sea involving 40 ships to put on a show of strength as three U.S carrier battle groups pass by.

According to its state media, are centred on the aircraft carrier Liaoning, with warships combining from the North, East and South Sea fleets.

The exercises for the first time also involve its only aircraft carrier, the refurbished Soviet era vessel Liaoning, taking part in live-fire drills.

China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, pictured in Hong Kong harbour, will be taking part in the exercises

This handout satellite picture shows the Liaoning (centre right), sailing with other ships at sea, south of China's southern Hainan island

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt moored at Changi Naval Base in Singapore

They take place in seas that are the source of a dispute between China and several countries.

A large part of South China Sea has been declared sovereign territory by Beijing under the so-called 'Nine Dash Line' which extends some 1240 miles from its mainland.

Meanwhile the United States has also sent three aircraft carrier battle groups to the Asia-Pacific region.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt flotilla arrived in Singapore on Monday for a regular port call after a deployment in the Middle East.

It has been reported it will conduct drills with two US 7th Fleet carrier groups, centred on the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson, as they pass through the disputed waterways.

The military manoeuvres are being held as an Asian economic forum gets underway on the Chinese island of Hainan, which borders the disputed South China Sea.

Li Jie, an expert on the Chinese navy, said it was the first time the Liaoning had taken part in live-fire drills.

'This will test the Liaoning's real combat strength as well as joint-operations skills between the aircraft carrier and warships from other fleets,' Beijing-based Li told the South China Morning Post.

Another Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming told the paper: 'China wants to show the outside world its determination to defend the fruits of its economic reforms over the past 40 years.

'The increasing military presence in the South China Sea indicates that Washington sees Beijing as a serious competitor, not only economically, but also militarily.

'But China realises that the military gap with the US is still very big, and all its military deployments in the South China Sea are basically defensive, including its DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile.'

The exercises come as China has vowed to fight the U.S. 'at any cost' after President Donald Trump proposed slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods - escalating an already bitter trade war.

Trump's surprise move on Thursday came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft.
Pictured: Muhammad Durrani, outside Southwark Crown Court on Thursday

A Uber driver's wife burst into tears after he was convicted of grabbing a drunk customer and carrying her back to his car before raping her.

Muhammad Durrani, 38, forced himself on the woman and took nude pictures of her after he picked her up from a nightclub in Clapham, south London.

He followed his 27-year-old victim out of the car when they reached her home and picked her up and carried her back to his Toyota where he performed a sex act before raping her.

Durrani claimed the woman hugged and kissed him, then went back to the car and grabbed at him after stripping for sex.

But the jury at Southwark Crown Court found Durrani guilty and Judge David Tomlinson refused to grant bail to the rapist.

The difficulty with admitting someone to bail in a case like this is the condition of the defendant between now and sentencing is likely to be unbearable, the judge said.

So bail is refused at this stage.

The woman was very very drunk when she got into Durranis car.

She had been out with friends in London Bridge and Clapham before ordering the Uber taxi and had drunk around six medium or large glasses of wine throughout the evening.

I remember thinking I was feeling quite drunk, I need to go home because I thought that was the safest option, she said.

The woman said she was confused and bewildered when Durrani picked her up and carried her towards the car.

I dont remember anything being said, I just remember being scared, she said.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court found Durrani guilty of sexual assault and rape. Judge David Tomlinson refused to grant bail to the rapist, causing Durrani's wife to burst into tears

She said: I was obviously very very drunk, and he was the sober driver who picked me up and took me to the back of his car without my wanting him to.

He picked me up, he carried me to his car, I ended up in the back of his car and he performed oral sex and I didnt remember ever giving any formal consent for that.

The next thing I remember is just lying there. He moved my playsuit to one side and started performing oral sex on me.

Durrani then asked if she would give him oral sex and lowered his trousers to expose himself.

The victim said she kept her mouth shut and tried to move her head to the side as he kissed her.

She said she managed to escape after he became distracted and looked out of the window, jurors heard

He backed off and thats when I decided to put my playsuit back on. He got up looked outside the window as if to make sure that no-one was there.

Durrani admitted having sex but said it was consensual after he succumbed to her advances.

He said: She went into my car herself. She was right outside her front door. She hugged me with her own free will. I tried to avoid her a few times.

I tried to control myself for some time but how far could I have controlled myself?

He claimed the woman was making noises like she was enjoying it.

The court also heard Durrani took pictures of his victims body and of them together.

He told police he deleted the photos because he was a family man and his wife might find them.

Durrani, of Oakdale Road, Streatham, southwest London, gave out sounds of incredulity as he was convicted by the jury of rape and sexual assault.

His wife burst into tears in the public gallery and the court usher passed her a large box of tissues.

Durrani will be sentenced Southwark Crown Court on 10 May.
The pensioner arrested over the killing of a serial burglar who broke into his home has today been released with no further action.

Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, allegedly stabbed career criminal Henry Vincent, 37, at his home in south-east London this week, leading to the burglar's death.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder but has now been told that no action will be taken following discussions between the Met Police and Crown Prosecution Service.

On Friday afternoon, Mr Osborn-Brooks' house was boarded up and CCTV cameras were installed amid fears the pensioner might be attacked.

Richard Osborn-Brooks (pictured), 78, was arrested after burglar Henry Vincent was found stabbed after he broke into his home in south east London this week

Burglar Vincent died after clashing with a pensioner in south-east London on Tuesday night

Officers have also spoken with the family of Vincent who have been informed of the decision and the reasons for it have been explained to them.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, of the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: 'This is a tragic case for all of those involved.

'As expected with any incident where someone has lost their life, my officers carried out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the death.

'We have approached the CPS for early investigative advice, as required under the guidance.

On Friday afternoon Mr Osborn-Brooks' house was boarded up amid fears for his safety

CCTV cameras were installed in the street where the pensioner killed burglar Vincent

'We have received and considered that advice, and, at present - on the evidence available - we will not seek a charging decision. Therefore, no further action will be taken against the man.

'Whilst there might be various forms of debate about which processes should be used in cases such as this, it was important that the resident was interviewed by officers under the appropriate legislation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act; not only for the integrity of our investigation but also so that his personal and legal rights were protected.

Workers installed cameras in lampposts in case Osborn-Brooks is attacked or his home vandalised

Officers stand outside the murder scene while workers put up boards and install CCTV

'There will be an inquest in due course which will further review the circumstances into Mr Vincent's death in a public forum.

'Our thoughts remain with the families whose lives have been devastated by these events.'

Police were called in the early hours of Wednesday morning after reports of a burglary in progress and a man injured at an address in Hither Green.

Mr Osborn-Brooks, who was at home with his disabled wife Maureen, had found two men inside the address and a struggle ensued between him and the men.

The home of Richard Osborn-Brooks in south-east London was today boarded up amid security fears

Mr Osborn-Brooks was described as a 'gentleman' and a friend said he would have only acted to defend his wife, who is understood to suffer from dementia

It is believed that one of the suspects had a screwdriver and threatened the homeowner with it.

Vincent, from Kent, was found collapsed on the street and had suffered a stab wound to the upper body.

He was taken by the London Ambulance Service to a central London hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3.37am.

A post-mortem examination has given a provisional cause of death as a stab wound. Mr Osborn-Brooks suffered bruising to his arms.

He was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and further arrested on suspicion of murder. He was taken to a south London police before being bailed.

An unnamed cousin of Vincent said on Friday that she was angry the OAP was initially bailed by police.

Burglar Vincent (right) died after clashing with pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks (left) on Tuesday night

She insisted he was a 'loving person' and the pensioner he fought with should be kept in custody as police investigate him for murder.

The woman told BBC's South East Today: 'I don't know what happened in that home but all I know is my cousin is dead today.

'The Henry I know, he was such a loving person and I think it is probably something that just went wrong but he shouldn't have died out of it.'

Meanwhile, the second suspect in the burglary fled the scene prior to police arrival and remains outstanding.

On Friday, his house was being boarded up and metal shutters were placed over windows amid security fears

Two vans, one with a cherry picker on the back, arrived this afternoon to secure the empty house.

Heavy duty security grills were also fitted around all the windows. A forensics tent which had been outside the front door was also taken down.

Career criminal's family 'are ANGRY the pensioner who killed him has been bailed' as his cousin says he was 'a loving person who shouldn't have died'

The cousin of a burglar who died after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in has said she is angry the OAP has been bailed.

Vincent was wanted for another burglary at the time of his death and he had previously served a prison sentence for conning elderly victims out of thousands of pounds.

A unnamed cousin of his has insisted however that he was a 'loving person' and the pensioner he fought with should be kept in custody as police investigate him for murder.

A cousin of burglar Henry Vincent, who asked not to be identified, told the BBC that the pensioner accused of killing him should not have been bailed

The woman told BBC's South East Today: 'I don't know what happened in that home but all I know is my cousin is dead today.

'The Henry I know, he was such a loving person and I think it is probably something that just went wrong but he shouldn't have died out of it.'

Relatives of Vincent declined to comment to MailOnline yesterday afternoon, but many have posted pictures of him on Facebook next to broken heart emojis.

A woman at his family home told The Sun she was grieving and insisted: 'Things have been twisted.'

The comments of Vincent's cousin stand in contrast to the views of Mr Osborn-Brooks' neighbours and friends, who say the murder investigation into him should be immediately dropped.

Thousands sign petition and give money to support OAP Well over 7,000 people have signed a petition calling to better treatment for those to defend their homes following Richard Osborn-Brooks' arrest. A petition was launched on change.org called for and end to the 'criminalisation of victims of crime' after the incident on Wednesday morning. A total of 7,800 had signed the petition by 11am this morning. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe crowd-funding page set to support Mr Osborn-Brooks has received more than 5,000. Advertisement

A former Tory defence minister last night called Mr Osborn-Brooks' treatment at the hands of police 'absurd'.

Sir Gerald Howarth said: 'There's clear law on this. If an intruder armed with a weapon suffers fatal injuries, that's his fault. There should be no mercy for people like that.

'It's not only absurd, it's wholly immoral that a householder seeming to protect himself and his family and his property should be the subject of a police investigation - and he should not have been held in custody.

'There is clear case law on this involving a man some years ago in Fulham who had a sword on his wall. Confronted by an intruder, he ran him through with the sword. The householder was acquitted by a jury. The police force is in crisis. It is completely consumed by political correctness.'

Tim Loughton MP, a member of the Home Affairs Committee, said: 'Due process of law needs to take place but every constituent who has contacted me about it said (Mr Osborn-Brooks) should be treated as a hero rather than being in the frame for a crime.

'You are talking about a vulnerable 78 year-old pensioner with a disabled wife in a house interrupted by two burglars. Why on earth is he being investigated for murder?

David Green, of justice think tank Civitas, said Mr Osborn-Brooks should be 'given a medal'.

'Old b******s deserve everything they get': Sickening online rant of relative of burglar killed by OAP

A relative of the burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner wrote that 'old b******s deserve everything they get' after his cousins were jailed for distraction break-ins.

As Henry Vincent's family's history of targeting pensioners continued to emerged today, it was revealed his cousins were jailed for the theft of a former airman's cherished war medals in 2007.

William Vincent got a four-year sentence and Amos Vincent got three years for distraction thefts in south-east London. Victim Ronald Butler, 82, had his father's First World War medals taken in one of the break-ins.

It emerged last night that Vincent was part a family who have repeatedly targeted pensioners. His cousins William (left) and Amos Vincent (right) were jailed in 2007 for stealing war medals during distraction burglaries

After the crimes were reported on a local neighbourhood watch page, a Bill Vincent posted these vile comments, which were later deleted

A neighbourhood watch group later publicised the thefts on Facebook to warn residents in the area, but was met with a foul-mouthed response from one of the Vincent family.

A Bill Vincent wrote: 'The old b******s deserve everything they get. So stupid handing over thousands upon thousands... An oap a day will keep ur bank balance a bay. Got to love the old c***s.'

He went on: 'Old c***s ain't safe. Take every penny they got get old b*******s to remorgage, take the money and let erm get chucked owt nxt one (sic).' The posts were later deleted.

'Trying to revive him - I think he's gone': Neighbour films failed bid to save 'burglar stabbed by OAP in his kitchen' as he lay bleeding to death in the street following botched break-in

Footage has emerged of the moment a burglar lay dying in the street after struggling with a pensioner during a break-in.

The images obtained by the BBC show Henry Vincent at the centre of a group of emergency service workers as they fight to keep him alive.

The homeowner who filmed the scene is heard saying: 'It's a stabbing. A stabbing. [They're] trying to revive him. I think he's gone.'

Footage filmed by a neighbour shows the moment burglar Henry Vincent was treated by emergency services after he was stabbed during a break-in in south-east London this week

During the botched raid in South Park Crescent, Hither Green, an accomplice dragged Vincent toward a van before leaving him for dead, according to a witness.

He was found collapsed in nearby Further Green Road by paramedics from London Ambulance Service, who took him to hospital where he died shortly before 4am.

The second man has not been found and at least one suspect was believed to be armed with a screwdriver, police said.

Detectives think a struggle took place between one of the burglars and the elderly homeowner before Vincent was stabbed in the upper body, but would not confirm if he was stabbed with the screwdriver.

Moyo Ojo, who lives next-door to Mr Osborn-Brooks said he heard the sound of a fight at around 12.30am.

He said: 'I was awake when it happened at around 12.30am, 12.45am. I heard a struggle, I could heard shouting and loud voices, but I couldn't heard the words. I could hear something smash as well and the banging.'

Mr Ojo added: 'At first I couldn't tell which side it was coming from. I thought it was just an argument between housemates.

'Then in the morning I heard someone knock a bin over, by then the police arrived.

'He was a very quiet person, keeps himself to himself. They are a very nice couple.

'It would only be a small kitchen, he wouldn't of had the ability to run. His is also old so what could he do? He was in a difficult situation.'
An 11-year-old boy has been airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after falling from cliffs in north Devon.

Emergency services, including the Lynmouth and Ilfracombe coastguard, two lifeboats and the police, were called to the Valley of the Rocks at Lynton at about 6.60pm on Thursday.

The boy, believed to be a visitor to the area from Los Angeles, was found at the bottom of the cliffs and winched up.

An 11-year-old boy has been airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after falling from cliffs in north Devon

Emergency services, including the Lynmouth and Ilfracombe coastguard, two lifeboats and the police, were called to the Valley of the Rocks at Lynton at about 6.60pm on Thursday

It is thought he had a double fracture of the fibula and an injury to his back.

He was taken to Plymouth's Derriford Hospital by air ambulance and then transferred to Bristol.

A brave Samaritan pretended to be superhero Captain America to keep the boy calm after finding him in the rocks.

Holidaymaker Jozef Mordawska, 35, from Northamptonshire, had been fossil hunting with his four children when he heard that the tourist had gone missing.

The boy's family, who Jozef said were confused and clearly in shock, were searching for him nearby.

Jozef said: I spoke to his mum just before 5pm to find out his name, what he was wearing, his hair colour - all the information I could get.

I then drove round the head of the bay to see if I could see him from there. I was with my 14-year-old daughter Anna-Rose and when we looked down to the beach, we both had a feeling he was probably down there.

Jozef clambered down to a footpath which led to the beach, shouting the boy's name.

He said: I couldn't hear anything but then I heard a quiet moaning. I kept looking and found a shoe, then his hat and then him. He was hidden in a ravine and looked like a rock. He was slightly conscious and so I kept talking to him.

I told him I was Captain America and that his parents were nearby and that he was safe. I stroked his hair and helped him stay calm.

Despite poor phone signal, Jozef eventually managed to call 999 and a coastguard boat and police officers were quickly on the scene.

The tide was on the way in too so time was of the essence. Where he had fallen, there were rocks falling too so I had to shield him from them as well - it was all going on.

It is thought the boy had a double fracture of the fibula and an injury to his back

Jozef said the boy was in a bad way when he found him and neither he nor his daughter slept well last night thinking about the ordeal.

He said: All our family are thinking about him and wishing him the very best.

Police say the boy is in a serious but stable condition.

James Instance of HM Coastguard said: 'This was an awful accident and a tragic reminder that although the UK's coastline is spectacular to explore - it can also be very, very dangerous.

'Even for the experienced, it can be very easy to lose your footing, slip and fall.'

Tavistock Police praised officers for helping the injured boy's family.

The force tweeted: 'This was a great team effort. The family were transported down from Lynton to Derriford by uniformed officers.

'[They were] met by are two duty detectives who supported the family by arranging food, drinks and keeping two other little ones entertained while parents comforted their injured son.'

A Devon & Cornwall Police spokesman said: 'Sadly someone has fell off rocks.'
This is the incredible moment a herd of buffalo take on lions in an astonishing stand-off.

The video begins with the buffalo herd running into shot in a cloud of dust, before one animal launches itself at a lion.

After the dust settles, the two groups can be seen watching each other warily before the buffalo inch forwards, forcing the pride back.

The animals to and fro back and forth, as awestruck on-lookers spectate on the incredible scene in Zambias South Luangwa National Park

After the dust settles, the two groups can be seen watching each other warily before the buffalo inch forwards, forcing the pride back

The animals lurch back and forth, as awestruck on-lookers spectate on the incredible scenein Zambias South Luangwa National Park.

Shenton Safaris, who captured the amazing encounter, wrote: 'During an afternoon game drive, we witnessed the Mwamba-Kaingo Pide challenge a herd of 500 buffalo.

'Both sides were determined to win, but the buffalo stood together and the lions couldn't get through their defence'.

The brave buffalo launches itself towards a lion in the astounding footage in from Zambia

The lions were unable to take down the buffalo, despite being their natural predator

Lionesses are normally the hunters of buffalo in the pride, and the animals rarely take on the buffalo alone, as they are too large.

Buffalo generally travel in large herds of up to 350, in order to protect themselves. Another defence used is lack of sleep - the African animal sleeps for just minutes before waking in order to stay aware of a potential threat.

They also have a strong sense of smell, so that they can sniff out predators before they see them.
The sheriff of a Georgia county known for his controversial welcome signs has a new board - and it comes with a warning to visitors.

'Our citizens have concealed weapons. If you kill someone, we might kill you back,' the sign reads.

'We have ONE jail and 356 cemeteries. Enjoy your stay!'

Harris County sheriff Mike Jolley put the sign up Tuesday outside the sheriff's department.

Harris County sheriff Mike Jolley posted a new controversial sign warning visitors that residents carry concealed weapons and will use them if threatened

Harris County sheriff Mike Jolley is known for posting unconventional welcome signs outside the sheriff's department

He told the Washington Post that his new sign is his way of welcoming people to Harris County but also a warning that a number of residents exercise their right to bear arms.

'If you come and put someone's life in danger in Harris County, you could stand the risk of being put in danger yourself,' he said.

'Georgia is very much a Second Amendment State, and Harris County is a strong Second Amendment county.'

According to a 2012 Government Accountabilty Office study on state gun laws across the US, Georgia had the third highest number of valid concealed weapons permits with about 600,00.

Florida was first with 887,000 permits and Pennsylvania was second with 786,000.

Jolley said Georgia's number has tripled in the past several years.

In a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia saw 1,448 firearm deaths in 2015, above the national average.

'We want people to come and enjoy Harris County, but we want them to do it in a safe manner, and we want them to know that they're safe when they get here,' Jolley explained to the Washington Post.

The Harris County sheriff has become known for displaying unconventional welcome signs outside the department's building.

In 2015, Sheriff Jolley posted this 'politically incorrect' sign that told visitors they could leave if them saying Merry Christmas and God Bless offended them

In 2015, he made headlines for his 'politically incorrect' sign that read: 'WARNING: Harris County is politically incorrect. We say: Merry Christmas, God Bless America and In God We Trust. We salute our troops and our flag. If this offends you  LEAVE!'

Jolley said the sings change about every eight months and he pay for them out of his pocket.

He also said the response to his latest sign has been '99.9 per cent positive', although a few Facebook users had some harsh words for Jolley.

'Well I know one place I will never go. If you want to ensure you don't have any income from tourism, this is a great way to go! I suggest taking the loss out of Mike Jolley's salary,' Facebook user Susie Park commented on a photo of the sign.

'I think I'll skip that county' Olivia Polk posted.

Jolley told the Post he doesn't mind the controversy.

'I've been in office a long time, so I like to stir the pot,' he said.
The niece of poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal has been denied a visa to enter Britain, the Home Office has said.

Viktoria Skripal, had planned to travel to Britain to take Sergei's daughter Yulia back to Russia, it was reported, and claimed her relatives only suffered from food poisoning.

Police are still scouring their Salisbury home as the investigation into their poisoning continues.

Viktoria Skripal, pictured visiting the British embassy in Moscow to demand details about the health of her relatives

Emergency services stand by as police in protective suits and gas masks gear up to enter the Skripal home in Salisbury

The Skripals' home remained the focus of the probe in to the March 4 incident

The investigation into the poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal continues but they are no longer in a critical condition

The Novichok nerve agent used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia is among the most deadly poisons ever created

Experts say they could be left with neurological problems by the poisoning

According to Viktoria, the Skripals 'ate something wrong' before they collapsed on a park bench

In a statement the Home Office said: 'We have refused a visitor visa application from Viktoria Skripal on the grounds that her application did not comply with the immigration rules.'

Sergei and Yulia Skripal are being treated in hospital after being found unconscious on March 4 after an attack with nerve agent, but both are no longer in critical condition.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow is seeking an explanation for the refusal to grant Viktoria a visa.

Russian state television on played a recording of what they said was a phone call from Yulia to her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, in Russia. In it, Yulia said she would be discharged soon.

Viktoria Skripal works as an accountant in Russia and a recording of her speaking to Yulia was played on Russian television

Viktoria, who works as a chief accountant in the city of Yaroslavl, told The Associated Press on Friday that she has no doubt it was Yulia who called and that she has not heard from her since.

She said the call was recorded because she has an app on her phone to keep track of all the calls she makes for work.

'I made this recording, that was Yulia,' she said.

Viktoria also told Sky News she believes Yulia and Sergei 'ate something wrong' at a pub they visited before collapsing on a public bench in Salisbury city centre.

She said neither Yulia nor her father Sergei believed they would be attacked adding: 'Until this situation is resolved, my opinion will remain with me.

'I will stick with a simple theory that they ate something wrong at the pub, as well as the option that Yulia brought this with her on the plane from someone she knew.'

Asked who she believes was behind the attack on her relatives, Viktoria replied: 'I am not a fortuneteller.'

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement that 66-year-old Sergei Skripal 'is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.'

Scientists says the Skripals' recovery is not unprecedented though they would be left with neurological problems

Yulia Skripal, 33, regained consciousness last week and is now in stable condition, she said.

Blanshard said Friday that Yulia Skripal could 'look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital,' but called any speculation about her release date 'just that - speculation.'

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.

Scientists said the Skripals' recovery was not unprecedented. Nerve agents work by blocking an enzyme in the body that lets nerves communicate with each other and with the body's organs.

Alastair Hay, professor emeritus of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds, said recovery can happen over time because 'eventually the body will restore the enzyme to full capacity, and nerve function will be restored.'

Michelle Carlin, senior lecturer in forensic and analytical chemistry at Northumbria University, said there is limited knowledge about the long-term effects of Novichok poisoning, but 'neurological damage has been reported in other historic cases.'
A cancelled flight that landed embattled EPA administrator Scott Pruitt in Paris for a day and a overnight is drawing pointed questions from lawmakers demanding detailed explanations for his high-priced travel.

The Paris layover happened on a trip Pruitt took to Morocco in December, when his own ticket alone cost $16,164.

Pruitt, who has come under fire for demanding first class tickets, brought along a staff entourage and members of his security detail for the trip.

In addition to pressing for details about Pruitt's efforts to promote liquid natural gas exports while in Morocco, Oversight Committee top Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings is pushing the committee to hand over information about the unexpected stay in Paris.

SNOW JOB: Pruitt spend a day and a night in Paris after his inbound flight got delayed due to winter weather

Pruitt arrived from an overnight flight in the City of Lights, but missed his 10:25 am connecting flight.

'Based on the documents, it appears that Pruitt stayed in Paris for the full day and night on December 10, 2017,' Cummings wrote in a 10-page letter to the agency.

'The documents do not indicate whether events were planned for that day in Morocco that had to be cancelled. As a result, although the trip was scheduled for December 9 through 13, 2017, it included only one full day in Morocco  December 12, 2017  and Mr. Pruitt returned to the United States the following day,' Cummings wrote.

Winter weather caused delays in about 1,500 U.S. flights December 9, when Pruitt had his outbound flight.

GET YOUR OWN PLANE: President Donald Trump lent strong support to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Thursday aboard Air Force One, even in the face of ethics scandals

STICK AROUND: Pruitt and Moroccan cabinet minister Mohamed Aujjar wrapping up a productive discussion around rule of law and strategic cooperation between the U.S. and Morocco

GRIPPING: Lawmakers peppered the EPA with questions about why Pruitt spent only one full day in Morocco and overnighted in Paris after a flight delay

Samantha Dravis, a close aide to embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and senior policy advisor to him resigned her post, it was reported this week. According to a Washington Post report last year, Pruitt brought along four political aides including Dravis on his trip to Morocco

The letter stated that EPA 'did not produce any documents in response how many other EPA employees' came on the trip.

It also 'did not produce any documents indicating whether other EPA officials flew first class, whether they also missed their connecting flight and had to spend the night in Paris, or how much the entire trip cost the U.S. taxpayers.'

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox said the delay was inconsequential

'This is not news. Due to snow in Washington, Administrator Pruitts outbound flight was delayed, he missed his connection in Paris, spent the night there and flew out the next morning,' he told DailyMail.com.

A quartet of EPA staff traveling with Pruitt also got delayed.

HOW WAS YOUR FLIGHT? 'Administrator Pruitt discussing the ongoing areas of collaboration with Minister Rabbah,' the EPA wrote in a photo it released from the trip

Rep. Elijah Cummings wants to know more about Pruitt's flight delay

'Travel delays required that you spend some amount of time in Paris,' wrote Whitehouse

According to a Washington Post report last year, Pruitt brought along four political aides. Among them were Samantha Dravis, who ran the Office of Policy, and who it was revealed this week has resigned. Also traveling with him were advisers Sarah Greenwalt and Lincoln Ferguson.

Dravis, who reportedly contacted White House lawyer Don McGahn with information about accused wife-beater Rob Porter, whom she dated, has worked with Pruitt in two previous jobs.

Also leaning on the EPA over the Morocco trip is Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

The stated purpose of the trip in documents EPA provided was ''To meet with partners and key stakeholders for EPA cooperation activities to advance EPA programs and priorities in Morocco in support of this administrations [sic] mission.'

But according to numerous reports Pruitt also promoted U.S. natural gas exports.

Calendars show you received only one official briefing before the trip,' Whitehouse wrote.

'Reconstructing the trip from your calendars shows that you spent only one full day, December 12, working in Morocco. You departed the United States the evening of December 9. It has been reported that travel delays required that you spend some amount of time in Paris on December 10, a day on which your calendars suggest no official business was planned, Whitehouse added, calling attention to the Paris layover.
The recent wave of violence to sweep the streets of London has seen two teenagers stabbed in Croydon this evening.

Police were called to the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon just after 5pm on Friday to reports of a man being stabbed.

When they arrived at the scene they found a man in his 'late teens or early 20s' with stab wounds along with another, 16, suffering similar injuries.

Both men have been taken to hospital, where police officers are awaiting an update on their condition. No arrests have yet been made.

It follows six stabbings in just 90 minutes across the capital yesterday.

Another two stabbings have taken place in London tonight, leaving two teenagers in hospital after an attack at the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon (pictured)

A Met Police spokesman said: 'Police were called at 5.17pm on Friday, 6 April, to a male aged in his late teens or early 20s suffering stab injuries at the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon.

'Officers, LAS and London's Air Ambulance all attended the location. A 16-year-old male, also suffering stab injuries, was found at the location.

'Both were taken to hospital. We await an update as to their conditions. Detectives from Croydon CID are investigating. There has been no arrest at this stage.'

All the teenagers caught up in yesterday's carnage were taken to hospital and five arrests were made in connection with the attacks.

Police were called to the Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon (pictured) just after 5pm on Friday to reports of a man being stabbed. There they found two young men with injuries

They left a boy, 15, man, 18, and a man in his 40s with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Pictures show the bloodied aftermath of a stabbing in Mile End, which saw two seriously injured in a brutal attack in broad daylight.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: 'Two boys, aged 15, taken to hospital following stabbing in Grove Road, E3 remain in hospital in a serious but stable condition.

'The 16-year-old treated for minor injuries has now been arrested for conspiracy to commit GBH. Another male also remains in custody for attempted murder.'

Officers and paramedics were to the stabbing in Manor Park, east London, just before 7pm on Thursday.

Crime scene: The Whitgift Shopping Centre in Croydon is pictured cordoned off after two men were found with knife wounds just after 5pm today

Police said: 'Three juvenile males arrested on suspicion of GBH with intent after 13-year-old boy stabbed in Gainsborough Avenue, E12 near Little Ilford Park. His condition is serious but stable.'

A 15-year-old boy found stabbed in Tower Hamlets, east London, remains in a 'stable condition' in hospital after emergency services were called at about 5pm last night.

An 18-year-old is being treated for injuries not thought to be life-threatening at a central London hospital.

Officers found him stabbed just after 7pm following reports of an assault in Ealing Broadway, west London.

A man in his 40s remains in hospital with injuries not believed to be 'life threatening or life-changing' after he was stabbed at about 8pm in Herne Hill, south London.
Champion cage fighter Adrian Preda, 36, was sentenced to nine years and six months in jail in Bucharest in February 2016 for attempted murder, blackmail and being a member of a criminal gang

A Romanian gangster is free to walk the streets of Britain because overcrowded jails in his homeland might breach his human rights.

Convicted mobster Adrian Preda, 36, was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison in Romania for attempted murder, blackmail and organised crime.

But the champion cagefighter went on the run by skipping bail and sneaking into Britain. Now a judge here has ruled against extraditing him back home  in case overcrowded Romanian jails breach his right to avoid degrading treatment.

District judge Robin McPhee, sitting at Westminster Magistrates Court, told Preda: You are free to go.

To add insult to injury, he also allowed the gangster to charge taxpayers 56 for parking his 60,000 BMW outside court. Even Predas lawyer told him he was very lucky, as MPs warned the case could open the floodgates to criminals who only have to reach soft-touch Britain to cheat justice.

Tory MP Tim Loughton, a member of the home affairs select committee, said: This judgment beggars belief and makes our courts the laughing stock of Europe.

How on earth can it be right that a convicted attempted murderer, whos absconded from Romania, is now completely free to roam the streets of the UK based on a judges concern about the lack of cushiness of Romanian jails?

Small cells, but plenty of privileges Cramped conditions in Romanian jails contravene rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. Prisoners must ordinarily be allowed personal space of about three metres squared but most cells in the Eastern European nation are only two metres squared. However, inmates still enjoy a range of benefits and privileges. The jails have smoking zones, unlocked areas for walking, phones and up to ten hours visiting a month. Also on offer are educational and cultural facilities, social assistance and vocational training outside prison. Semi-open jails also give inmates plenty of freedom. Detainees can buy food every week in the prison shops and may be allowed to spend all day outside their cells. They have to return to their rooms only for meals and roll call. Last year the European Court of Human Rights took Romania to task for its dismal prison conditions, saying they could be considered inhumane and degrading. Advertisement

Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen added: This makes a mockery of the EU and our own judicial system. It also sets a very dangerous precedent because any similar characters from Romania will be using this and it will open the door to every criminal who will want to come here if they know they can just walk free. Its absolutely outrageous.

Preda is the latest in a string of Romanian criminals exploiting a legal loophole to head to the UK before using human rights laws to prevent themselves being sent back.

His gang  the Sportsmen  flooded Europe with more than 2 million worth of heroin, stole machine guns and pistols from a Romanian army base, and were known to open fire on rivals in the streets.

In February 2016, Preda and 28 fellow mobsters were convicted in a court in Bucharest. Preda was found guilty of attempting to murder rival gangsters at a shopping centre when he and his cronies attacked them with knives and swords.

In addition, he was found guilty of threatening to order the murder of a man to whom he had given a high-interest loan, as well as fights related to a turf war with a rival gang called the Cats.

His gang was jailed for a combined 220 years, although Predas sentence was reduced to five years and six months in December 2016 at the Romanian Supreme Court.

Inexplicably, he had been granted bail during an earlier hearing, and apparently no one had thought to rescind it  so Preda promptly fled the country.

Free parking: District judge Robin McPhee allowed the gangster to charge taxpayers 56 for parking his 60,000 BMW outside court (shown)

The gangster has since been living in a semi-detached 367,000 home with his partner in a neat cul-de-sac in Northolt, North-west London. On January 9 this year, he handed himself in and was arrested by the Metropolitan Police under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). He was given an electronic tag and curfew while awaiting an extradition hearing.

And YOU pay his 56 parking bill As well as allowing convicted criminal Adrian Preda to stay in Britain, the judge also agreed to reimburse him for the cost of parking for his court appearances. The Romanian gangster was charged 14 to leave his 60,000 BMW on each of the four occasions he was ordered to appear before Westminster magistrates in central London  a total of 56. His lawyer, Benjamin Seifert, asked for the parking costs to be reimbursed. District judge Robin McPhee granted the request, meaning the taxpayer will have to foot the bill. Defendants who are found not guilty or have their case dismissed can reclaim some of their expenses and costs. Advertisement

On Tuesday, the court was told that extraditing Preda to Romania to serve his sentence could breach Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Ruling in Predas favour, Judge McPhee said case law had established Romanian jail cells could be too small, and he had received no assurances Predas human rights would not be breached. The judge told him: This is a case in which I am clear I would need an assurance, to satisfy me that there would be no breach of his Article 3 rights. Therefore, I am discharging his case. You are free to go.

Outside court, Predas lawyer, Benjamin Seifert, was heard telling his client, who also received legal aid: You are very lucky.

As an EU citizen living in Britain, there is technically nothing to stop Preda claiming benefits.

Preda benefited from case law set last June when the High Court blocked the extradition of two Romanian criminals because the cells in their homelands semi-open prisons were too small. The Crown Prosecution Service said: In light of a recent ruling from the High Court, which upheld the recommendation of the European Court of Human Rights, it was not appropriate to appeal the decision.

But Mr Loughton said: This judgment needs to be reviewed urgently otherwise, when this gets around, its just a green light for any absconder from justice to come and stick two fingers up at the UK justice system on the basis were a soft touch.
Police have released CCTV footage of a schoolgirl who hasn't been seen for three days.

Suellen Crawt, 14, was last seen getting on a train in Slade Green, south east London, at around 8.45pm on Wednesday.

She was spotted boarding a service to Dartford but disappeared soon afterwards.

Suellen Crawt (pictured), 14, was last seen getting on a train in Slade Green, south east London at around 8.45pm on Wednesday

Police have released this CCTV footage of Suellen in the clothes she was last seen wearing

The schoolgirl, of Sidcup, is described as white, 5ft 7ins tall, of slim build with long brown hair.

At the time of her disappearance she was wearing a black dress, black tights, a khaki green bomber jacket, light blue Nike trainers and possibly carrying a cream coloured bag.

She is known to frequent Bromley, Croydon and Surrey.

Social media appeals to find her have been shared on Facebook and Twitter thousands of times across the capital and beyond.

Officers are increasingly concerned for her wellbeing and would urge anyone with information on her whereabouts to call police on 101 or Missing People on 116000.

Suellen was last seen getting on a train in Slade Green, south east London, pictured
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Historians believe the Queen is a descendant to the founder of Islam - after tracing her family tree back 43 generations.

The claim makes the British monarch a distant ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad.

The findings were first published in 1986 by Burke's Peerage, a British authority on royal pedigrees.

But the claim has recently resurfaced after a Moroccan newspaper said it had traced the queen's lineage back to the Prophet.

Family tree: According to some historians, the Queen's heritage can be traced back 43 generations to the Prophet Muhammad

According to their findings, Elizabeth II's bloodline runs through the Earl of Cambridge in the 14th century, across medieval Muslim Spain, to Fatima, the Prophet's daughter.

Although disputed by some historians, genealogical records of early-medieval Spain also support the claim and it has also been verified by Ali Gomaa, the former grand mufti of Egypt.

Burke's publishing director wrote to the-then Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher in 1986 calling for increased security for the royal family.

The study from Burke's Peerage first officially suggested the Queen's connection to the Prophet Muhammad

'The royal family's direct descent from the prophet Mohammed cannot be relied upon to protect the royal family forever from Moslem terrorists,' he wrote to Thatcher.

Recognising the connection would be a surprise to many, he added, 'It is little known by the British people that the blood of Mohammed flows in the veins of the queen. However, all Moslem religious leaders are proud of this fact.'

The study from Burke's Peerage first officially suggested the Queen's connection to the Prophet Muhammad.

They claimed the Queen descends from a Muslim princess called Zaida, who fled her home town of Seville in the 11th century before converting to Christianity.

Zaida was the fourth wife of King Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad of Seville. She bore him a son Sancho, whose descendant later married the Earl of Cambridge in the 11th century.

But British magazine the Spectator points out Zaida's origins are 'debatable'. Some historians believe she was the daughter of a wine-drinking caliph descended from the Prophet. Others say she married into his family.

A study came out in 2008 from Burke's Peerage suggesting the Queen's connection to the Prophet Muhammad (pictured above, thousands of Muslims circle the Kaaba inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca)

The reaction to the Queen's reported links to the Prophet have been mixed (pictured above, the Queen greets Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia earlier this year)

The reaction to the Queen's reported links to the Prophet have been mixed.

Abdelhamid Al-Auouni welcomed the news in his piece in Moroccan newspaper Al-Ousboue, writing: 'It builds a bridge between our two religions and kingdoms.'

Meanwhile a tongue-in-cheek headline on the Arab Atheist Network's web forum read: 'Queen Elizabeth must claim her right to rule Muslims.'

One person on internet forum Reddit rubbished the claims however, writing: 'This is just propaganda used by the British monarchy to appease the growing number of Muslim subjects.'

Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
Baroness Lawrence has campaigned tirelessly to bring her son's killers to justice in the quarter of a century since, and two of them have been convicted

Baroness Lawrence will not lay flowers on her son Stephens grave in Jamaica later this month.

She used to go there every year to mark the anniversary of his death, but it is now 25 years since he was fatally stabbed by a gang of racist white youths for no other reason than because he was black.

Two lives ended with that brutal murder at a bus stop in South-East London on April 22, 1993: her 18-year-old sons and hers  or, at least, hers as she knew it.

Doreen has campaigned tirelessly to bring his killers to justice in the quarter of a century since, and two of them have been convicted.

This 25th anniversary will be marked with a memorial service and a concert, after which Doreen wants to draw a line.

I cant keep doing this, she says. I just want time for me  time to reflect.

Ive been on the go for 25 years. I havent stopped. I dont think Ive even completely grieved for Stephen.

If you spend 25 years fighting for justice, where do you find the time? There isnt any.

'You pick up your grief and put it down; pick it up and put it down because there is always something you need to do.

I've been on the go for 25 years. I haven't stopped. I don't think I've even completely grieved fro Stephen.

I went to his grave last year. His photograph was all worn, so I brought a new one, laid flowers and did the things I needed to do.

I sat with him, telling him whats been happening  what his niece and nephews have been up to.

In your head, you know hes not hearing you. You know hes gone, but it doesnt stop you talking. Its a way of just trying to get something out.

I used to go every year. I know I cant do that any more. I have my other children [Stephens younger brother Stuart, now 40, and sister Georgina, 35] and my grandchildren.

Stephen is buried in a peaceful plot overlooked by coconut and ackee trees next to his great-grandmother.

Doreen said that if it hadn't been for the Daily's Mail's front page on February 14 1997, Stephen's killers might never have been brought to trial again

Doreen, now 65, spent the happiest years of her childhood with this decent, deeply loving, woman before she joined her mother in England at the age of nine.

She knows her grandmother, who called her Joy, would be hugely proud of all she has achieved.

At the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, Doreen was invited to carry the flag in recognition of her tireless work on issues of social justice with the charity she set up in her sons name, to prove his death at least made a difference.

The following year she was made a life peer, and two years ago the new Chancellor of De Montfort University, Leicester.

I remember, when I became Chancellor, standing there thinking: If my grandmother could see me now.

But Id give all of this up . . . Her eyes sweep around the grand, black marbled office that overlooks the Palace of Westminster.

Stephen used to tell me: 'Do you know what your problem is, Mum? You care too much,' when I'd tell him to be careful.

Stephen is much more important to me than this. Id love to know what hed have been like. Those are the sorts of things Im always thinking about. Hed have been 43, a grown man with a family.

What would they be like? What would he be like? Would he be working as an architect? Thats what he wanted to do. Hed done some work experience before he died. Ive still got those drawings.

Stephen used to say to me: Do you know what your problem is, Mum? You care too much, when Id tell him to be careful.

Id like to hear those words again  hear him telling me whats happened at school.

'You dont realise how precious those things are at the time because theyre just ordinary, everyday things. You expect them to be there all the time. Now you look back and . . . she shrugs.

Thats why its so important for me to let my children know Im there and Ill do whatever I can for them. Otherwise, what else is there?

Doreen searches my face for an answer. She has been accused in the past of lacking emotion, of being aloof. She tells me she doesnt like exposing myself so tries to put on a poker face. But 25 years is a long time to suppress your feelings.

Today, talking to the Mail, she is often close to tears. I find myself getting ever more tearful now, hence why Im drawing the line, she says.

I cant remember when I was last really happy. Since Stephens death, there are little pockets in your life where you can say: Thats a really good thing. Like when my granddaughter was born or when my seven-year-old grandson dances in front of me.

Youre happy with your grandchildren. You can laugh and play with them, but that stuff  that hole  its there and you cant get rid of it.

Doreen has campaigned tirelessly to bring his killers to justice in the quarter of a century since, and two of them have been convicted

I get on with life but the happiness you should feel, I dont think Ive got that. I havent got that. Its been a hard 20-odd years.

Indeed. Doreens marriage to Stephens father Neville collapsed in 1998 under the intolerable pain of their sons death.

So much so that they sat apart at the 2012 trial that saw two of Stephens killers, Gary Dobson, 41, and David Norris, 40, finally brought to justice.

Doreen was only 40 years old when her son died but she has never had another relationship.

Neville and I were two different people after that night, she says. They say a tragedy like that either pushes you together or pulls you apart. The latter is exactly what happened.

Neville seemed to believe this thing had only happened to him and not to the rest of us. He went off for six months in 1994 and then for a year.

It was, as she says, a difficult time. So much so that Doreen doesnt wish to speak further about it.

We cant know how life would have been without Stephens murder, but I do know I felt alone. I was alone.

'There were two children and I had to be there for them. If they wanted to shout and scream, it was me they were shouting and screaming at.

Now I get home in the evening and just collapse.

Of course Id like to share my life with someone. Who wouldnt? You want to be able to share things with someone, talk to them, have that one-to-one with somebody. But I think my name goes before me.

Dobson and Norris were finally convicted 19 years after the murder when new DNA and fibre evidence linked them to Stephens murder.

Dobson was sentenced to serve at least 15 years and two months while Norris was given a minimum of 14 years and three months for what the judge, Mr Justice Treacy, said was a terrible and evil crime.

He urged the Metropolitan Police to continue the investigation, but the three other killers, who were with Dobson and Norris that night, remain free.

Doreen last met the officers working on the case at the end of February. She doesnt believe they have a single significant lead to go upon.

As Stephen's mother, I think all of the gang should be behind bars spending time for murder.

Police were so slow to act in the days and weeks following Stephens murder that vital evidence was never recovered.

These initial failings led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deciding in 1993 that there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction and the suspects were released.

A subsequent inquiry into the handling of the case, chaired by Sir William Macpherson, found the Metropolitan Police were institutionally racist.

If theyd done all they should do in that first investigation, none of them [Stephens attackers] would be walking the streets, says Doreen.

In their eyes, Stephen was just another black boy, so they did nothing. But Stephen wasnt just another black boy: he was my son who had a future. Ive had to make sure they havent forgotten that.

But now I dont think they have any more lines of inquiry. They say theyre carrying on the investigation, but carrying on doing what? If theyve come to the end, they should be honest  say theyve come to an end and stop.

I think theyre carrying on pretending everythings fine because they dont want to hear what Ill say if it is stopped.

As Stephens mother, I think all of the gang should be behind bars spending time for murder.

But its six years now since those two convictions and Im very conscious that the money for the investigation is coming out of the public purse.

Had the police done their job properly in the first place we wouldnt be here. But they were incompetent and racist. They are the reason we are here today.

Doreen still keeps a running shirt and a cream, crew-neck jumper that belonged to her son. She last saw him alive on April 20, 1993, when she left for a field trip to Birmingham as part of the humanities degree she was studying as a mature student.

I said: Ill be back in a couple of days. He said: Bye Mum, and youre through the door. Youre not leaving thinking: This is the last moment Ill see my son.

It was very casual. Thats what really sticks in my mind  how ordinary it was.

Now, whatever happens, I always try to remember not to take my children for granted. Cherish the memories, whatever they are.

Ive got a scar here on my lip. She points to a barely visible mark. The baby powder used to be in a tin container and, for whatever reason, Stephen threw it at me when he wasnt even a year old. Thats a memory that isnt a sad memory.

Things had gone blank in my head because you just cant believe it. You say: 'Thats not true, thats not true'.

Doreen had returned from her trip and Stephens dinner was in the oven when she began to feel anxious that he wasnt home by his 10.30 pm curfew.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. A neighbour was there to tell them Stephen had been attacked. Nothing was the same from that moment on.

I didnt think it was serious, Doreen recalls. Thats the last thing on your mind. You dont think your son is going to die.

We got to the hospital not knowing, and, eventually, when the doctor and nurse came out, it was like watching a drama play out in front of us.

She remembers the doctor saying: Im sorry to inform you that your son has died. After that, they took them to see him.

Growing up: Young Stephen with his little brother Stuart

He had a sheet up to his neck, so the only thing you saw was his face. He had a gash, a deep cut on his chin. It was a funny colour. Stephen had my complexion  maybe a bit lighter. He just looked as if he was sleeping. He didnt look angry.

This is the first time Doreen has spoken publicly about this in 25 years and for a moment she is back there in that hospital room. She breathes deeply to collect herself.

Things had gone blank in my head because you just cant believe it. You say: Thats not true, thats not true.

You just stand there and nobodys saying anything to you. Nobodys explaining what has happened  what he came in with, what they did  and if they did explain, I cant remember.

Youre just thinking: Why would something like this happen? Then Neville and I were just left.

You were in the hospital thinking: What am I supposed to do now? I suppose Id better go home.

I think of how he shouted out when they stabbed him, the pain he would have felt.

You dont know what to do. Nobodys telling you anything, so youre just lost.

Such was Doreens distress, she also doesnt remember if her husband comforted her.

I dont think he ever did, she says. I think it was the shock.

I think we got home and Stuart was up, so we had to tell him. Youre telling your 16-year-old son that his brother is dead. Thats something Id never want to do ever again.

The anguish of that night is writ large on her face.

That first Christmas after Stephens death, Georgina bought two presents for everyone: one from her and one from Stephen. She was only 11 years old. Even now, when she writes me a card for Christmas or Mothers Day, she includes Stephens name.

Christmas remains a particularly difficult time. There are too many memories of happier family celebrations when Stephen was alive and she was married.

A deeply Christian woman, Doreen has questioned time and again how a benevolent God could have allowed her son to suffer as he did.

I think of how he shouted out when they stabbed him, the pain he would have felt.

She pauses to collect herself.

After Stephen died, going to church was very difficult, she continues. The question I asked is: Why werent You there to protect him?

I used to go each week. Stephen went to that church. He grew up there at cub scouts and doing drama stuff. The first Sunday of each month they used to have parade days and hed want me to get to church early because he always wanted to carry the flag.

So, after he died, thats where I would sit and, in my minds eye, see him with the flag or doing some drama.

As soon as the service was over Id leave; I didnt want anybody talking to me. They couldnt give me any comfort. Id get tearful and I didnt want that  I dont like exposing myself. I now believe that those circumstances at the time made me draw into myself.

Today, Doreen is no longer the person she used to be.

Before, I used to go out with friends. We talked a lot and wed go out in the evening, she says. That doesnt happen any more.

Whether or not its because they didnt know how to deal with me, or whether its because I was too focused and concentrated on what I needed to do and didnt notice, thats a question I cant really answer.

After Stephen died, going to church was very difficult. The question I asked is: 'Why weren't You there to protect him?'

When the CPS refused to bring charges against Stephens killers, insisting that there was insufficient evidence, his parents launched a private prosecution of their own  the first in modern British legal history  against Dobson and two other suspects, Luke Knight and Neil Acourt.

This extraordinary determination and the absolute refusal of Stephens parents to accept the judicial systems decision is examined in a landmark BBC1 three-part series by BAFTA and Academy Award-winning documentary makers James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia and James Rogan.

For the first time, every aspect of one of the longest, most complex and mishandled murder investigations in Metropolitan Police history will be explored, including the ensuing murder trial which began at the Old Bailey on April 18, 1996.

All three men were acquitted after Mr Justice Curtis ruled identification evidence from Stephens friend Duwayne Brooks, who was with him when he was attacked, was inadmissible.

At the time, Doreen collapsed. All I remember was being taken up through the back of the court in a chair and being put in a car. I dont remember getting home, I was so hazy.

The doctor came to see me. I was in a bad way. I was so shocked we werent given an opportunity to present the case to the jury. I was convinced they would be convicted and go to prison.

The worst part was that the judge instructed the jury to bring a not guilty verdict, which meant those boys could never be charged again [because at the time a defendant couldnt stand trial twice for the same crime]. If it hadnt been for the front page of the Daily Mail, they might never have been.

If it hadn't been for the front page of the Daily Mail, they might never have been [charged again].

In February 1997, the day after an inquest into Stephens murder delivered a verdict of unlawful killing in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five youths, this newspaper identified the five white racists on its front page and accused them of being murderers.

It invited them to sue if it was wrong. They never have, but the furore that followed that headline  with calls for the Mails editor to be jailed  had profound consequences.

What the Daily Mail did was fantastic for exposing those individuals for who they are, says Doreen.

That was a poignant moment for me. Before that, our faces were out there, but Stephens killers could just get on with their lives and nobody knew who they were. Suddenly, there was nowhere for them to hide.

Without that front page I felt we were being criticised the whole time. How dare you take out a private prosecution? How dare you criticise the police?

Having that front page was like opening the whole countrys eyes: this is what the family has been going through and these are the ones you should point your anger at  not us.

The Macpherson Inquiry followed, and in 2005, following a campaign by the Mail, the double jeopardy rule  which prevented suspects being tried twice for the same crime  was scrapped by the Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Doreen never gave up her fight for justice. In November 2011, the trial against Dobson and Norris began following a review of forensic evidence.

If we hadnt had those convictions, Im not sure what state of mind Id be in, she says. If youd spoken to me ten years ago youd have found me very angry still, but I dont think Im as angry as I used to be.

You cant walk around angry all the time because it just eats away at you. Ive got far too much in my life now for that.

Ive spent the past 25 years doing things for everyone else; now I need time for me.

I used to be able to walk down the street and have a conversation at the bus stop without people always saying: Are you Stephens mum?

One time I said no  and I felt so bad because I felt as if I was denying him. But sometimes you just want to go to the shops and do whatever you want to do without someone stopping you to talk.

But those other men who killed Stephen and havent been convicted will always have everybodys finger pointed at them. They dont have a future.

As for me, the times come to spend time with my children and grandchildren.

I want time to be me again  yes, still grieve properly for Stephen, but live my life and be happy and feel joy again.

Stephen Lawrence's mother says police should stop investigating her son's murder 25 years after he was killed

By Stephen Wright Associate News Editor

Stephen Lawrences mother has suggested that the police inquiry into her sons murder should be closed after 25 years.

Doreen Lawrence said Scotland Yard should shelve the investigation if, as she suspects, there are no more significant leads.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she urged officers to be honest about the probe  saying she was conscious it was funded by taxpayers.

Baroness Lawrences comments came as she prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of Britains most notorious race murder.

Since her 18-year-old son was stabbed to death by white thugs at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, on April 22, 1993, the peer has campaigned tirelessly.

They say they're carrying on the investigation, but carrying on doing what?

Scotland Yard has spent in excess of 50million trying to nail all the culprits.

In 2012, two of the students killers were jailed for life for his murder  but three others have so far dodged justice.

Lady Lawrence made it clear that the Metropolitan Police cannot keep the inquiry open indefinitely.

She was recently briefed on developments and told the Mail last night she does not think the Met has any more lines of inquiry.

She said: They say theyre carrying on the investigation, but carrying on doing what?

If theyve come to the end they should be honest, say theyve come to an end and stop.

'I think theyre carrying on pretending everythings fine because they dont want to hear what Ill say if it is stopped.

As Stephens mother I think all of them should be behind bars spending time for murder, but its six years now since those two convictions and Im very conscious that the money for the investigation is coming out of the public purse.

'Had [the police] done their job properly in the first place we wouldnt be here. But they were incompetent and racist.

'They are the reason we are here today.

I think they're carrying on pretending everything's fine because they don't want to hear what I'll say if it stopped.

Lady Lawrence also told the Mail she needed to draw a line.

She said: I cant keep doing this. I just want time for me  time to reflect.

'Ive been on the go for 25 years. I havent stopped. I dont think Ive even completely grieved for Stephen.

'If you spend 25 years fighting for justice, where do you find the time?

Original prime suspects Gary Dobson, now 42, and David Norris, 41, were convicted in 2012 when DNA and fibre evidence linked them to Stephens murder.

Dobson was sentenced to serve at least 15 years and two months while Norris was given a minimum of 14 years and three months.

The judge urged the Met to continue the investigation but the three other killers are yet to be brought to justice.

The third suspect, 42-year-old Neil Acourt, is serving a jail term for masterminding a 4million cannabis smuggling ring. Another, Acourts 41-year-old brother Jamie, is wanted for his links to drugs and on the run in Spain.

The only gang member suspected of killing Stephen who is still on British streets is Luke Knight, now 41.

When prosecutors initially refused to bring charges against Stephens killers, his parents Neville and Doreen launched a private prosecution  the first in British legal history  against Dobson, Knight and Neil Acourt, but the trial collapsed in April 1996 when a judge ruled key evidence inadmissible.

In February 1997, the day after an inquest into Stephens murder delivered a verdict of unlawful killing in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five youths, this newspaper went to the extraodrinary length of naming the five men on its front page under the headline: Murderers.

What the Daily Mail did was fantastic for exposing those individuals for who they are.

If we are wrong, let them sue us, we said, throwing down a legal gauntlet to the men who had refused to answer questions about Stephens murder for fear of incriminating themselves.

The campaign placed enormous pressure on the Met to deliver justice  and triggered a public inquiry into Stephens death which, in turn, resulted in a change to the centuries-old double-jeopardy rule that had prevented cleared suspects being tried for the same murder twice.

What the Daily Mail did was fantastic for exposing those individuals for who they are, Lady Lawrence said.

That was a poignant moment for me.

'Before that our faces were out there but Stephens killers could just get on with their lives and nobody knew who they were. Suddenly there was nowhere for them to hide.

Without that front page I felt we were being criticised the whole time. How dare you take out a private prosecution?

'How dare you criticise the police? Having that front page was like opening the whole countrys eyes: This is what the family has been going through and these are the ones you should point your anger at  not us.

A shameful veil of silence that obstructed investigations into Stephens murder from the start still shrouds the truth.

Potential witnesses fear they may pay a heavy price if word gets out that they have spoken to the police.

Despite a mass DNA screening programme in 2016, Yard sources confirmed there are no significant new lines of inquiry.

A separate investigation into alleged corruption in the initial murder investigation continues.

Later this month, a three-part BBC1 documentary series will examine the murder of Stephen later this month.
Lady Lawrence also told the Mail she needed to draw a line. She said: I cant keep doing this. I just want time for me  time to reflect'

Stephen Lawrences mother has suggested that the police inquiry into her sons murder should be closed after 25 years.

Doreen Lawrence said Scotland Yard should shelve the investigation if, as she suspects, there are no more significant leads.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she urged officers to be honest about the probe  saying she was conscious it was funded by taxpayers.

Baroness Lawrences comments came as she prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of Britains most notorious race murder.

Since her 18-year-old son was stabbed to death by white thugs at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, on April 22, 1993, the peer has campaigned tirelessly.

Scotland Yard has spent in excess of 50million trying to nail all the culprits.

In 2012, two of the students killers were jailed for life for his murder  but three others have so far dodged justice.

Lady Lawrence made it clear that the Metropolitan Police cannot keep the inquiry open indefinitely.

She was recently briefed on developments and told the Mail last night she does not think the Met has any more lines of inquiry.

She said: They say theyre carrying on the investigation, but carrying on doing what?

If theyve come to the end they should be honest, say theyve come to an end and stop.

'I think theyre carrying on pretending everythings fine because they dont want to hear what Ill say if it is stopped.

As Stephens mother I think all of them should be behind bars spending time for murder, but its six years now since those two convictions and Im very conscious that the money for the investigation is coming out of the public purse.

'Had [the police] done their job properly in the first place we wouldnt be here. But they were incompetent and racist.

'They are the reason we are here today.

Lady Lawrence also told the Mail she needed to draw a line.

She said: I cant keep doing this. I just want time for me  time to reflect.

'Ive been on the go for 25 years. I havent stopped. I dont think Ive even completely grieved for Stephen.

'If you spend 25 years fighting for justice, where do you find the time?

Original prime suspects Gary Dobson, now 42, and David Norris, 41, were convicted in 2012 when DNA and fibre evidence linked them to Stephens murder.

Dobson was sentenced to serve at least 15 years and two months while Norris was given a minimum of 14 years and three months.

The judge urged the Met to continue the investigation but the three other killers are yet to be brought to justice.

The third suspect, 42-year-old Neil Acourt, is serving a jail term for masterminding a 4million cannabis smuggling ring. Another, Acourts 41-year-old brother Jamie, is wanted for his links to drugs and on the run in Spain.

The only gang member suspected of killing Stephen who is still on British streets is Luke Knight, now 41.

When prosecutors initially refused to bring charges against Stephens killers, his parents Neville and Doreen launched a private prosecution  the first in British legal history  against Dobson, Knight and Neil Acourt, but the trial collapsed in April 1996 when a judge ruled key evidence inadmissible.

In February 1997, the day after an inquest into Stephens murder delivered a verdict of unlawful killing in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five youths, this newspaper went to the extraodrinary length of naming the five men on its front page under the headline: Murderers.

If we are wrong, let them sue us, we said, throwing down a legal gauntlet to the men who had refused to answer questions about Stephens murder for fear of incriminating themselves.

The campaign placed enormous pressure on the Met to deliver justice  and triggered a public inquiry into Stephens death which, in turn, resulted in a change to the centuries-old double-jeopardy rule that had prevented cleared suspects being tried for the same murder twice.

Doreen Lawrence said Scotland Yard should shelve the investigation if, as she suspects, there are no more significant leads

What the Daily Mail did was fantastic for exposing those individuals for who they are, Lady Lawrence said.

That was a poignant moment for me.

'Before that our faces were out there but Stephens killers could just get on with their lives and nobody knew who they were. Suddenly there was nowhere for them to hide.

Without that front page I felt we were being criticised the whole time. How dare you take out a private prosecution?

'How dare you criticise the police? Having that front page was like opening the whole countrys eyes: This is what the family has been going through and these are the ones you should point your anger at  not us.

A shameful veil of silence that obstructed investigations into Stephens murder from the start still shrouds the truth.

Potential witnesses fear they may pay a heavy price if word gets out that they have spoken to the police.

Despite a mass DNA screening programme in 2016, Yard sources confirmed there are no significant new lines of inquiry.

A separate investigation into alleged corruption in the initial murder investigation continues.

Later this month, a three-part BBC1 documentary series will examine the murder of Stephen later this month.
Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold resigned his seat in Congress on Friday, avoiding a House Ethics Committee inquest into multiple allegations of sexual harassment and other improper workplace behavior.

Farenthold had already pledged not to run for re-election in November. he also deleted his Twitter account Friday shortly after 5:00 p.m.

'While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it's time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve,' he said in a videotaped statement.

'Please stay in touch,' he added.

The married Texan was the butt of jokes even before taking office in 2011, when a photo emerged during the 2010 campaign showing him in blue flannel pajamas with yellow ducks, sidling next to a lingerie-clad woman at a party.

Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold (right, in pajamas), quit his job in Congress on Friday as the House Ethics Committee continued a probe into allegations that he sexually harassed his aides  one of whom got an $84,000 settlement from him, paid out of taxpayer funds

Farenthold said in a video statement that 'it's time for me to move along'

Lauren Greene, his former communications director in Congress, sued him, claiming he ran a sexually charged workplace and harassed her

Farenthold once registered the Internet domain 'blow-me.org.' It was a harbinger of things to come.

As a congressman, he used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a 2014 sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Lauren Green, his female former communications director whom he had fired.

He pledged to repay the $84,000 to the government, but it's unclear if he ever did.

Green claimed he told her that he was 'estranged from his wife and had not had sex with her in years.'

Another male staffer told her that the congressman had confided in him about 'sexual fantasies' and 'wet dreams' he had about her.

Her lawsuit claimed that '[o]n one occasion ... during a staff meeting at which she was in attendance, Farenthold disclosed that a female lobbyist had propositioned him for a "threesome".'

Farenthold, shown in in a 2015 Texas town hall meeting, has pledged to repay the $84,000 in taxpayer money that he used to settle Greene's legal claim, but it's unclear if he ever did

Life on the Hill? Farenthold's working environment once led a staffer to recommend a social media posting of the congressman's aides attending the grand opening of Twin Peaks, a Hooters-like restaurant in his district

On another occasion, she claimed, the office's chief of staff complained that Greene's shirt was 'transparent and showed her nipples.'

Farenthold then allegedly told his personal assistant that as far as he was concerned, Greene 'could show her nipples whenever she wanted to.'

The legal complaint also revealed that the congressman 'regularly drank to excess, and because of his tendency to flirt, the staffers who accompanied him to Capitol Hill functions would joke they had to be on "red head patrol to keep him out of trouble".'

Farenthold has denied the accusations, which also included earlier claims that he fostered a working environment rife with drinking, discussions of sex tapes and strip clubs, and lobbyists who texted photos of their genitals.

An earlier House Ethics Committee probe was closed in 2015, but the panel restarted its inquiry in late 2017, setting Farenthold up for more public embarrassment if he had remained in office.

He acknowledge allowing 'a workplace culture to take root in my office that was too permissive and decidedly unprofessional,' but insisted that he had personally never misbehaved with his staff.

But former senior aide Michael Rekola, who took over Farenthold's communications operation after Greene's departure, complained that his boss made a sexual joke before his July 2015 wedding within earshot of other aides  telling him: 'Better have your fiancee b*** you before she walks down the aisle. It will be the last time.'

The Texas Republican allegedly told one of his male aides before his wedding: 'Better have your fiancee b*** you before she walks down the aisle. It will be the last time'

Farenthold also joked about whether his bride could wear white on her wedding day, Rekola said, a reference to whether she was a virgin.

In December he said during a Skype-enabled message to constituents that 'I absolutely did not engage in any improper conduct.'

Rekola, however, described Farenthold as a nightmare employer.

'Every time he didn't like something, he would call me a "f**ktard" or "idiot",' he told CNN at the time.

'He would slam his fist down in rage and explode in anger. He was flying off the handle on every little thing. I couldn't find a way to control it.'

Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins called Farenthold 'fat' and 'unattractive' last year after he challenged her to a duel over their contrasting positions on Obamacare

Farenthold made enemies on the other end of the U.S. Capitol too, once challenging Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins to a duel over her moderate position on Obamacare.

The following week during a Senate hearing, Collins Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed were caught reacting on a hot-mic.

'Did you see the one who challenged me to a duel?' Collins asked.

'I know,' Reed replied. 'Trust me  do you know why he challenged you to a duel?Because you could beat the s**t out of him!'

Collins eventually addressed the hirsute Farenthold's physical appearance

'What a fat guy. He's huge,' she said.

'He's so unattractive. It's unbelievable.'
Amid boasting and street talk, police witnesses are named and shamed, stabbings are celebrated  and gang feuds are ramped up to a lethal intensity.

This is everyday chat on the Twitter account @snitchsociety, which has almost 3,000 followers and is readily available for public viewing.

Pictures of serving prisoners are shared, with captions such as: Free my brothers doing time.

Gang rivals are mocked for weakness or for their jewellery  one is taunted for having a gold chain worth only 10.

Pictured: Gang members on the way to a stabbing show off their weapons on YouTube

But the accounts main purpose  as its name indicates  is to intimidate snitches. One young girl is even named and pictured, accused of setting up 16-year-old Leoandro Osemeke, otherwise known as a rapper called Showkey.

He was stabbed to death at a party in Peckham, South London, in 2016, and the girl was viciously targeted afterwards for her perceived  although unexplained  responsibility for his demise. Comments on the site exploded in fury: This b***h needs to die legit, says one; Little b***h, says another.

It is precisely this sort of online aggression that Britains most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, blamed for the passing of a grisly milestone: 50 murders have been carried out in London this year, many of them gang-related, making it deadlier to live in than New York for the first time in modern history.

The fuel for this epidemic of violence, she says, is aggressive communication on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram  as well as a flood of horrifying YouTube videos showing stabbings, violence and inter-gang mockery that have, in some cases, been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The Commissioner warned social media was driving children to commit violent crimes within minutes and told how trivial disputes quickly escalate, thanks to online goading.

Such talk on social media does cast a deadly shadow, as in the quest for online notoriety and street cred, gang members are driven to commit ever-worsening crimes.

When viewed on-screen, such terrible acts of violence not only have a desensitising effect on impressionable youngsters, but they also dehumanise: the taking of a life is reduced to something more akin to a computer game. Add to this a toxic background of fatherless households, educational failure and a lack of personal aspiration and you have a recipe for disaster.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is perhaps the most visible of the social media platforms on which gangs communicate today.

Gang members seem to love the way even the smallest of school-age teens can be made to look like hardened gangsters, just by giving violent footage easily filmed on their iPhone a heavy rap soundtrack and uploading to YouTube.

But thats not to say gangs dont use other social media platforms to deadly effect, too. Witness this weeks sickening Instagram posts about the shooting of Tanesha Melbourne, a 17-year-old youth worker, in Tottenham, North London, on Monday night. Screenshots of a news story about the killing were posted on the photo-sharing website  which is owned by Facebook  with the hashtag #NPK, referring to Northumberland Park, where it happened.

Appearing to be bragging about the shooting, they were overlaid with the words: If your chillin with my ops [rivals] I aint gonna adjust my aim for you. According to friends, Tanesha may have been shot in retaliation for a beating carried out by NPK (Northumberland Park).

How bad was this beating? Well, if you can bear it, you can see it for yourself  because a 45-second video of it is still up on YouTube.

It shows a teenage boy lying huddled in a stairway while blow after blow rains down on him with quick, animal ferocity.

A girl tries to shield him with her body, but his three hooded attackers continue to inflict relentless kicks and punches. In their hands, tellingly, each attacker holds a smartphone  filming their brutal assault to share online, to further humiliate their victim.

Pictured: An attack in Newham, East London, uploaded on YouTube

This, then, was a potential spark that led to Taneshas death.

Although her father reportedly had links to the criminal world, she was murdered, according to her family, for being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Gangs appear to be enamoured, too, with another social media platform, Snapchat, as a way of communicating, as the messages and pictures disappear after a certain time, leaving no trail.

Indeed, the murder of Leoandro Showkey Osemeke, who was stabbed twice in the chest with a Rambo-style knife, was filmed on Snapchat and quickly went viral on other longer-lasting platforms.

Despite the fact that it is more than 18 months since his murder, typing showkey stabbing video into Google still instantly brings up two distressing YouTube videos of the bloody moments of his death.

One video asks you to sign in to confirm your age  easily done with a fake birthdate  and the other merely asks if you wish to proceed to view a video that has some distressing images.

One click yes and there are the last moments of a teenager soaked in blood on your screen.

More than 160,000 people have viewed the two videos in total. Despite the terrifying effect such social media communication is having on the streets of London, all of these images, videos and comments remain freely available, instantly and widely shared.

This, according to Cressida Dick and other experts, only worsens the subsequent violence between the hundreds of gangs that exist in London.

Predominantly consisting of young black men, these gangs are willing to fight to the death over their pitiful territories  often defined by a postcode  or any perceived slight.

They communicate on social media using their own codes, language and hand signals, with a graphic vocabulary consisting of a skeng (knife), strapped (gun carrying) and trapping (drug dealing). Most important is their street reputation. They seek notoriety as hardmen by using their social media accounts as savvily as any PR supremo, posting violent footage where people are kicked, punched, beaten or knifed on private Instagram accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers. Often, this footage will also be shared on Twitter.

Pictured: A knife and what appears to be a shotgun in drill videos. These dont show a crime but glamorise violence

The more provocative the post, the more views and more followers they receive.

Tanayah Sam, 37, was a gang member in Birmingham until his early 20s and now runs a charity working with young people. He told the Mail: Violence is a commodity on the street. Violence lets you get the reputation and status.

Social media is one of the biggest catalysts for fame, especially for young people. The more views, the more fame. There are social media profiles set up solely for showing violence and crime. The more violent and inflammatory, the more followers will come.

In the days before social media, gangsters would generally only be famous within their district; today, communicating online means their rep can go national or even further. You can get a reputation from it globally and have access to a global audience, says Mr Sam.

As well as building people up into being hardmen, social media can intensify the humiliation of victims, as any attack is now so public.

Before social media, the news of any attack would also have time to spread, allowing for a cooling-off period. But the immediacy of todays communications can be deadly.

Gavin McKenna, 29, is a former gang member from Newham, East London, who now runs a youth project called Reach Every Generation and has witnessed first-hand the devastating consequences of attacks being shared on social media.

In the past, if you were beaten up or mugged, only a few people knew, but today, somebody could film it and it goes viral, he says.

In two seconds, its been shared on Instagram. If this happens, theres a very short window for a gang member to decide what to do. Their reputation is on the line, they have to retaliate.

Social media is 100 per cent a contributing factor in the increase in violence were seeing today.

He recalls one disturbing case he came across as a youth worker. There were two boys who had been kidnapped by a rival gang. They were made to strip and perform sex acts on each other. This footage was shared. One boy later killed himself because of this.

These social media postings place no real value on human life and have no concept of humanity.

Tanayah Sam agrees that online activity has desensitised young brains to violence, leading to more people carrying weapons  and an ever-increasing rise in bloodshed.

Pictured: Even girls are involved: Beating that may have led to Taneshas death

I think social media is part of life, especially for younger people. Their life revolves around it. But it has brought a lot of harm. If they see violence in their area, theyll feel the need to protect themselves by carrying a knife.

The everyday nature of such violence is, perhaps, best summed up in one YouTube video I find with the most cursory of searches, after typing the words gang and London into the site.

Immediately, Im watching four masked men set upon another on a scooter. One of the gang is armed with a 12in blade. He draws his weapon, viciously stabs the man  and then wipes off the blood on his jacket before walking away. His manner is impossibly casual, as if this is the most normal of events.

And, in many ways it is, as the comments on this video  watched almost 50,000 times  reveal. That slid in like butter, crows one viewer. Another remarks: Thats what happens to oppz [rival gang members] shoulda cheffed [stabbed] him again for good measure.

Undoubtedly, there are deep sociological reasons for the existence of these gangs and the violence they commit. An underclass existing outside societys moral boundaries. Its a world where father figures are rare and, often, family ties have been replaced by a perverted sense of gang loyalty and fear of reprisals should anyone break rank.

Yet the lack of male role models in these deprived backgrounds is nothing new. What is different is that the spark of social media, added to this combustible mix, has created a seemingly unquenchable bonfire of violence.

So why, you might wonder, arent social media giants such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram doing more to remove this sort of footage?

Google has been accused of putting lives at stake and glamorising gang culture, after it emerged last year it had refused more than half of Metropolitan Police requests to remove videos from its YouTube site that reportedly incited knife and gun crime.

Its worth noting that Google et al often make money from these sorts of videos. Because as well as recordings of violent attacks, they also facilitate the lucrative, widespread sharing of homemade gangster rap videos, known as Drill Music.

These videos, made by the gangs, serve to threaten rivals, as well as glamorising their crimes. There are thousands of such videos on YouTube, showing young men, faces masked, making gun signs, taking drugs and, in some, displaying weapons.

One such menacing video, Trapline Jump, made by the Birmingham-based gang 61, has been viewed more than 120,000 times. It also includes linked advertising  even though its violent lyrics refer to putting a 44 (short for a 44 calibre revolver) to your brain.

The fact the video is accompanied by an advert (the businesses advertised change on a regular basis, but when the Mail viewed it, a life insurance company for mothers, called Polly, was promoting alongside it), means the gang  known for selling Class A drugs  could earn 5,000 a month, while Google also benefits from selling the advertising space.

The impact of videos such as this was highlighted after the murder of Corey Junior Davis, 14, caught up in a feud between two gangs, Woodgrange E7 and rival Beckton E6, last September.

The warring factions posted footage online showing masked men striking gun poses and rapping about shooting to kill. One clip was viewed 280,000 times before it was taken down.

Speaking anonymously to the Mail, one East London teenage gang member told of the impact watching these videos had on him. The boy, 15, is trying to leave the gang because he fears he will end up in prison or dead.

His face hidden by a balaclava, he says hes seen horrific videos that hype up deadly beefs [quarrels]. Ive seen videos of GMs [gang members] getting all sorts done to them. People go into these estates to cause trouble. YouTube hypes up everything. If they upload it, everyone can see it.

Ive seen people getting abused and hurt, a painful thing to see.

Meanwhile, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat claim they have a zero-tolerance policy towards content that bullies, threatens, harasses or intimidates, and work to remove explicit material.

Tell that to the grieving families of murdered youngsters. Like engineering student Mariam Moustafa, 18, who died after being attacked by a gang of teenage girls in Nottingham who allegedly accused her of criticising them on social media.

Her family say this was a case of mistaken identity. Yet she was beaten into a coma in February, succumbing to her injuries three weeks later.

A harrowing 11-second video posted on YouTube  which reportedly shows Mariam cowering on a bus she had fled to, to escape the violence  remains online. One can only wonder how many impressionable minds will watch it before it is finally removed by the impossibly wealthy social media giants.

Additional reporting: Stephanie Condron
More than 26million has been raised by the generous British public to assist victims of the horrific Grenfell Tower fire.

Charities, businesses and individuals clubbed together to help those who lost everything  and most of the money they raised has already been distributed.

Next of kin, those injured and residents of Grenfell Tower and nearby Grenfell Walk have all received funds. The fire in Kensington, west London, on June 14 last year left 71 people dead.

More than 26million has been raised by the generous British public to assist victims of the horrific Grenfell Tower fire

Of the 26,832,675 donated after the tragedy, 22,412,766 has been awarded to distributing organisations. A total of 3,215,314 has not yet been allocated to those organisations, while 1,204,595 has been allocated but not spent.

The delays are so that case workers can properly assess and verify individuals receiving the money, the Charity Commission said. Charities, which are still open to donations, are also discussing plans for longer term community projects and support with local groups.

Payments include 100,000 to the next of kin of each person who died, up to 10,000 to those who spent up to a week in hospital, and 30,000 for longer stays. Further grants of up to 20,000 are given to each of the 140 Grenfell Tower households, and up to 10,000 to 26 from Grenfell Walk.

David Holdsworth, deputy chief executive of the Charity Commission, said he was encouraged to see that great strides have been made by charities in getting funds to those in need. The commission has co-ordinated ten official distributing organisations which deal with allocating funds. They include the British Red Cross, Muslim Aid, London Emergencies Trust and The London Community Foundation.

Local distributing charities include the Kensington and Chelsea Foundation and the Rugby Portobello Trust.

Of the 26,832,675 donated after the tragedy, 22,412,766 has been awarded to distributing organisations. A total of 3,215,314 has not yet been allocated to those organisations, while 1,204,595 has been allocated but not spent

A combination of the pace and volume of the funds raised, alongside the unique nature of the tragedy, meant a collaborative effort between large national charities, local charities and the frontline local community was vital, said Mr Holdsworth. This joined-up effort ensured those affected had a voice in the way charities responded.

Many of the distributing organisations were at the heart of the community long before the tragedy, and are therefore trusted by those affected.

Individuals and organisations across Britain reached into their pockets to help Grenfell survivors rebuild their lives.

In one night alone, 1.9million was raised through a Sothebys auction featuring work from artists including Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley.

Haley Yearwood, a teacher at a secondary school close to Grenfell Tower, raised 1.3million through a Just Giving page.

The British Red Cross praised the incredible response from the public. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of kindness across the country and we want to reassure the public that, as the figures show, their generous donations have reached the people that it was intended for and who needed it the most, a spokesman said.

Immediately after the fire the relief effort was criticised as chaotic, and the Charity Commission is leading a review to ensure the charity sector learns lessons.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick admitted it was a very worrying time as she was forced to deny her officers had lost control of crime

Scotland Yard admitted yesterday it had run out of detectives to investigate murders as six teenagers were knifed in just 90 minutes on another blood-soaked night in the capital.

The force was forced to call in neighbouring City of London Police to carry out an inquiry into a killing in East London this week.

It took the highly unusual action as the capitals soaring murder toll hit 55.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick admitted it was a very worrying time as she was forced to deny her officers had lost control of crime.

She said: Over the last three months and in particular in the last several days, we have had a unusual spike in horrible homicides, ghastly events, that have taken peoples lives and devastated other peoples lives.

It is important that we investigate those to the best of our ability and that we bring people to justice. I anticipate that we will. We are very good at that.

We work really closely with the City of London Police. We frequently help them with serious crime. Occasionally they help us. This is not an unprecedented time, but it is a very worrying time.

It came after another evening of attacks when six teenagers  the youngest just 13  were stabbed in separate attacks between 5.30pm and 7pm on Thursday.

It started at 5.30pm when a 15-year-old boy was knifed in Poplar, East London.

Following criticism that he had not visited the bereaved families of those killed this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday visited the scene where Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was shot dead on Monday

At 6pm two boys of 15 and a third boy aged 16 were stabbed and injured during a fight just two miles away in Mile End.

May won't change rules on stop and search Theresa May has ruled out relaxing rules on the use of stop-and-search as part of a new strategy to tackle serious violence to be unveiled next week. Use of the controversial tactic has fallen dramatically since Mrs May ordered a reduction when she was Home Secretary. She issued new guidelines after discovering that young black men were seven times more likely than young white men to be stopped and searched. However, with 55 murders in London already this year, some have suggested that use of stop-and-search should be expanded again. Earlier this week, former Home Secretary David Blunkett warned that officers had become afraid to use the tactic following Mrs Mays reforms. But Whitehall sources yesterday said Mrs May would resist pressure to roll back her reforms. Guidance on how stop-and-search should be used will remain unchanged when Home Secretary Amber Rudd published her serious violence strategy next week, they added. Instead, it is understood the strategy will include a demand that internet companies do more to rid their platforms of content that fuels youth violence. There were 387,448 uses of stop-and-search in England and Wales in 2015-16  down more than 150,000 on the previous year. Advertisement

Less than an hour later, a 13-year-old boy was set upon by a gang who stabbed him in a park in Newham, East London. Eight minutes later, an 18-year-old was attacked in Ealing Broadway.

The violence continued last night as two more young males, one aged 16 and the other in his late teens or early 20s, were stabbed at a shopping centre in Croydon, South London.

Following criticism that he had not visited the bereaved families of those killed this week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday visited the scene where Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was shot dead on Monday, after it emerged police had arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of her murder.

A group of 47 MPs also sent a letter to Downing Street calling for action, accusing the Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd of being absent while violent crime surges across the country. The letter, co-ordinated by Ilford North Labour MP Wes Streeting, said: Violent crime has been on the rise since 2014 and in recent weeks we have seen too many lives lost on the streets of London to guns and knives. This is neither acceptable nor inevitable.

More must be done to tackle both crime, and the root causes of crime.

Yesterday Miss Dick was forced to deny police had lost control of crime in London. She said: It is not this enormous epidemic that people are talking about. There are plenty of us who can go about our business pretty certain that we are not going to be affected by this knife crime.

Martin Griffiths, head of trauma surgery at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, tweeted yesterday: Tired after another brutal night managing stabbed children. Proud to serve my community in this amazing unit, but wondering how many children have to die before we stop squabbling and invest in youth.

Bus drivers, train staff, cabbies and security guards are being trained to spot children being used as drug mules.

The Home Office has distributed posters highlighting possible signs that youngsters were being exploited by gangs to run Class A narcotics and money around Britain. The campaign focuses on county lines networks, where criminals deploy juveniles as couriers to carry drugs and cash to small market towns and seaside resorts.
When, one Monday morning in August 2014, the personal assistant of Robin Williams used a paper clip to open his locked bedroom door and found him hanging dead by his belt inside, the world of showbusiness was stunned.

The actor-comedian had left no note nor had he given any warning.

Not only his millions of fans, but even close friends failed to comprehend how a genius with a reputation for exuberance and humour could have ended his life in such a brutal and solitary manner.

It later emerged that 63-year-old Williams, who had long battled depression, had been diagnosed with Parkinsons  a degenerative disease that gradually shuts down the body and mind. The autopsy revealed he was actually suffering from undiagnosed Lewy body disease, a devastating brain disorder which causes dementia.

Flawed genius: Robin Williams as Mork in the Seventies TV Comedy Mork & Mindy with Pam Dawber

This suggested he had been wrongly diagnosed with Parkinsons and that his suicide might have been the act of an unhinged mind rather than a coldly deliberate act.

Either way, it was a desperately dark final curtain for the much-loved star of films including Mrs Doubtfire, Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society and the irrepressible master mimic who would bring the house down every time he appeared on Parkinson or The Graham Norton Show.

Now a new biography, Robin, seeks to answer the lingering puzzle over Williams chaotic life and sudden death. It reveals he was a deeply complicated and contradictory man who battled not only drink, drugs and rampant infidelity but lifelong loneliness and crushing insecurity.

Williams was both wildly outgoing and painfully introverted, it claims, and even those who spent a lot of time with him barely felt they knew him. He would hide behind the myriad comic characters he created, switching between their voices and personalities with mesmerising speed. Few people could recall ever having a serious conversation with the real Williams.

Biographer Dave Itzkoff also reveals how Williamss treatment of women repeatedly crossed the line in terms of acceptability, only for his famous twinkly-eyed charm and childlike manner to come to his rescue and earn forgiveness.

It has already emerged how, while making Mork & Mindy, the hugely popular TV comedy series that catapulted Williams to fame in the late Seventies, he would grope his pretty co-star Pam Dawber, grabbing her breasts and bottom, breaking wind on her and even exposing himself to her on set. Somehow he could get away with it, she says now. It was the Seventies, after all.

But that wasnt the half of it, says Itzkoff, who believes the acute insecurity Williams experienced throughout his life stems from his unsettled childhood.

Williams was born in 1951. His wealthy fathers job as a senior executive for the Ford motor company meant the family moved around the U.S. regularly. At school, Williams was always the new boy and had difficulty making friends. He learnt that telling jokes was effective in keeping the bullies off his back.

His father was often away on business and his mother frequently accompanied him, leaving Williams to be raised by servants.

The star  who had two much older half-brothers  sought companionship with his toys, spending hours in an attic of a mansion when they lived in Detroit. He invented different personalities and voices for hundreds of toy soldiers, sometimes borrowing the voices of favourite stand-up comics he had taped from the TV.

In a sense, says Itzkoff, he never left that attic. He would spend his entire life surrounded by fictional friends  the characters he would mimic  and emotionally cut off from real people.

Robin Williams and first wife Valerie Velardi pictured in New York City in 1981

Still, he was deeply influenced by his parents  his fastidious, serious father bequeathing to Williams a fierce intelligence and tendency to lapse into long silences, while his light-hearted mother instilled a love of entertaining others.

They expected him to become a diplomat and his father wasnt pleased when Williams fell in love with acting. He warned him to learn a skill such as welding in case it fell through.

Friends believe that, even if subconsciously, Williamss determination to succeed reflected a desire to impress his father. Teachers at the acclaimed Juilliard drama school in New York certainly werent that impressed, accusing Williams of ad-libbing for laughs to make up for acting limitations.

He had far more success when he turned to stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, impressing rivals with his arsenal of dirty jokes and astonishing ability at mimicry.

Cocaine was rife in LAs hard-partying comedy scene and it was here that Williams began an enduring pattern of behaviour, says Itzkoff, staying up past dawn drinking and taking drugs with other comedians.

Bob Davis, a friend from school days who went to see Williams on stage, was stunned by what he witnessed in a car park after one show. Some guy just walked up to him [Williams] with a spoon full of cocaine, held it up to his nose, and  whoosh, he recalled. This wasnt a friend of his  this was a fan who just walked up.

Valerie Velardi  a dancer and Williams girlfriend until they married in 1978  tolerated his after-hours debauchery, hoping it would inspire his performances.

She also put up with his heavy drinking and infidelity, even when he boasted about the latter on stage. Valerie claimed any man would have to be a saint to resist the attractive women who threw themselves at her husband.

Perhaps it was such indulgence from his wife that made Williams feel he could get away with any outrageous behaviour while making Mork & Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982.

Williams loved to go off script and many of his improvisations were sexual, directed at the women in the cast, Itzkoff reveals.

More often than not, his target was Mindy, played by Dawber. A 26-year-old former model just breaking into acting, she admits she was intimidated by his brilliance. She laughed off his dirty behaviour to her as his way of expressing affection for her.

I had the grossest things done to me by him, she told Itzkoff. And I never took offence. I was flashed, humped, bumped, grabbed. He probably did it to a lot of people...hed look at you, really playful, like a puppy, all of a sudden. And then hed grab your t**s and run away.

The shows director Howard Storm put it down to the hyperactive Williams just getting bored, recalling: Hed be doing a paragraph and in the middle of it he would just turn and grab her arse. Or grab a breast. And wed start again. Id say, Robin, theres nothing in the script that says you grab Pams arse. And hed say, Oh, OK.

Williams with wife number two Marsha Garces as they attend the 'Memories of Me' Premiere Party on September 22, 1988 at the Tavern on the Green in New York City

Garry Marshall, the shows producer, said Williamss aim in life was to make Pam Dawber blush. Going off-stage while she was continuing a scene, Williams would take all his clothes off, be standing there totally naked and she was trying to act, he said.

Williamss marriage couldnt survive his mega-fame. Although he publicly disowned the drug, which he called the Devils Dandruff, Williams binged on cocaine every night and binge-cheated on his wife.

Whenever colleagues would hear she was coming to the Mork & Mindy set they would rush away whichever woman he was seeing at the time. He was out all night and screwing everybody in town, said Storm.

The death of actor John Belushi from a drug overdose in 1982 shook up Williams, who had been carousing with him only hours earlier. After Valerie gave birth to their son, Zak, in 1983, Williams vowed to clean up his act. He overcame his drug and drink problems but found it harder to kick the women.

In 1984, he started a two-year affair with a cocktail waitress, Michelle Carter.

Three years later came Good Morning, Vietnam, his first hit after a string of dismal films, in which he played a DJ on U.S. Forces radio. It was while filming in Vietnam that he started an affair with Marsha Garces, Zaks former nanny and now Williams trusted assistant and confidante. He and Valerie split in 1988, and Williams married Marsha the following year.

The second Mrs Williams took an active role in managing his career, tempering his often appalling judgment in the films he made. The Nineties was to be a golden period in which he made Mrs Doubtfire, Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting, which earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

The couple had two children, Zelda and Cody. But for Williams, the glass  metaphorically speaking  was always half empty.

He spent considerable time in therapy, his major terror being that he was about to be eclipsed by a younger comedy superstar.

In the 2000s, he again suffered a run of box-office flops and was also rocked by the deaths of his parents and two close actor friends, Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor.

He started drinking heavily again and considered suicide  sitting naked, he said, in a hotel room with a bottle of Jack Daniels.

He drank not just because he was upset by his friends passing  it was more selfish than that, he admitted darkly. Its just literally being afraid and you think this will ease the fear.

In 2006 he went into rehab but, having lied to his wife about his drinking, he had ruined another marriage. They split up in 2008 and Williams returned to Tiburon, the quiet California town where he had last lived with his parents.

It was a trip down memory lane in more ways than one. He bought a house whose main feature was a huge windowless room  more like a bunker  where he meticulously curated a vast collection of toy soldiers, thousands strong and covering many wars. The few visitors who were allowed in reported that it was spotless.

Wife three Susan Schneider with Williams as they arrive at the premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' 'Old Dogs' at the El Capitan Theatre on November 9, 2009 in Hollywood, California

I think if you moved a soldier at all, he would know it, said a friend. People wondered, why is he collecting them, still? But I think they were his friends.

With two ex-wives to support, he had to get back to work but in 2009 he needed major heart surgery.

By then, a new woman had emerged in his chaotic private life  Susan Schneider, a graphic designer and recovering alcoholic.

They married in 2011 but, two years later, he was beset by health problems including dramatic weight loss and motor function impairments.

Williams couldnt remember his lines while making a sequel to the film Night At The Museum and would pour his heart out to Cheri Minns, his long-time make-up artist. He was sobbing in my arms at the end of every day, she says. At night I was on my computer, looking up, How to deal with a paranoid so that I wouldnt say the wrong thing.

The following May he was diagnosed with Parkinsons but couldnt understand why doctors assured him he had another good ten years while he knew his brain was out of control. His managers told close friends to keep quiet about his depression.

To Williams, says Itzkoff, the diagnosis was the realisation of one of his most deeply felt and lifelong fears, to be told that he had an illness that would rob him of his faculties, by small imperceptible increments every day, that would hollow him out and leave behind a depleted husk of a human being.

At 10.30pm on Sunday, August 10, 2014, Williams said goodnight to his wife and took an iPad with him to his bedroom (they had begun to sleep separately since his health deteriorated).

Susan thought the iPad was a good sign as he hadnt read anything for months. It wasnt.

She left the house at 10.30 the next morning, believing he was still asleep. Shortly before noon an assistant found his body hanging. He had cuts on his left wrist. A bloodied penknife was nearby.

The tragedy soon turned to open war between his widow and children over his estate. Williamss son Zak describes Susan as having thought she struck gold with his father, while she accused him and his siblings of having possessions filched from her home.

There may never be a definitive answer to what prompted his suicide. Many friends insist it must have been the dementia, refusing to believe that such a loving father would have consciously abandoned his family. Others, such as the actor Billy Crystal, say it was reasoned and deliberate.

Crystal recalls Williams quizzing him about what happened to Muhammad Ali after he got Parkinsons. He was seeing himself, he says. My heart breaks that he suffered and only saw one way out.

Its certainly clear that Williams lived to work. First wife Valerie once summed him up as a stimulus junkie, addicted to performing in front of an audience as much as to cocaine or alcohol.

He operated on working. That was the true love of his life, said make-up artist Cheri.

Above his children, above everything, if he wasnt working he was a shell of himself. And when he worked, it was like a light-bulb was turned on.

Robin by Dave Itzkoff will be published in June by Sidgwick & Jackson.
The helter-skelter expansion of higher education in the past 30 years is probably the single most profound change to British society in my lifetime.

Around two-thirds of our current universities have opened in that period as the proportion of young people going to university has increased from 15 to nearly 50 per cent.

Like most big and rapid changes, this transition from higher education for an elite to higher education for the masses has both its blessings and drawbacks.

There been a 40 per cent increase in the proportion of students getting a first in the past five years

The move away from an industrial economy and the increase in administrative and graduate-only occupations is one obvious consequence of the expansion.

The school system has also become more overtly focused on directing pupils into full-time academic study, while other forms of technical and vocational education, both at school and post-school, have struggled.

Less quantifiable are the political and cultural changes. The last election might have been the first in which the university seats made a significant difference  there are now so many universities that almost 20 per cent of political constituencies have a substantial university-related vote.

The growth of the graduate population is also closely linked to a trend towards individuals becoming more liberal.

Leaving home and spending several years among people of different backgrounds tends to make you more comfortable with social change and less concerned with loyalty, tradition and group attachment  the values of small-c conservatism.

Surely this has contributed to the sharpness of divisions in society, revealed by support for Brexit among traditionalists on the one hand, and fierce concern about equalities, human rights and identity politics among Britains graduate class on the other.

Openness, individual autonomy and internationalism are key values in modern universities, yet are often viewed with suspicion by ordinary voters.

Indeed, the roots of the Brexit vote can be found in the sense of alienation felt by these ordinary voters, caused by what I term the two masses  mass immigration and mass higher education.

The former has increased competition for jobs and public services, while the latter has surely contributed to the declining status of non-graduate employment.

For those who dont go to university, there is a big psychological difference between seeing 15-20 per cent of your schoolmates attending and 50 per cent going.

Yet some experts and policy makers such as David Willetts, who was Minister for Universities and Science in the coalition government, want to send even more people to university.

Balliol College, Oxford University. Britain has expanded its higher education system with little differentiation

In his recent book, Willetts extols the benefits of mass higher education. He argues that we should be sending 70 or even 80 per cent of school leavers to university, as is the case in Finland, Sweden and South Korea.

But to expand Britains version of higher education in that manner surely fails to take into account both the variety of aptitudes  whether academic or practical  in the population, and the variety of needs of the modern economy.

It is true, of course, that all developed countries have hugely expanded post-school and university education in recent decades.

But Britain has done so with much less differentiation within higher education than other countries: it has simply expanded the form and ethos of universities that already existed.

Consider the ancient spires of Oxford and the University of Bedfordshire, a new university. In both places what is offered is essentially the same  a three-year academic degree usually focused on developing analytical skills.

The course will be taught by academics who see research as their primary interest. And the students will, in the main, leave home to board at the university. This is unlike most students in Europe and the U.S. who tend to go to college in their home town.

Willetts regards the residential system and the focus on research as strengths of our system. In his book, he defends his own recent reforms, including the increase in tuition fees to 9,000 a year and the removal of any limit on the number of students who can go to university.

But he happily turns a blind eye to other obvious problems caused by the expansion, such as dumbing down.

Not only has there been a 40 per cent increase in the proportion of students getting a first in the past five years  a result of turning them into fee-paying consumers, perhaps  but there is now effectively no entry requirements at all in some of the new universities.

And how do we know that all this world-class research Willetts describes at universities is in fact world-class?

In the one corner of the humanities that I know something about  immigration, race, multiculturalism  much of the academic research is barely disguised political advocacy. Education departments are often very ideological, too.

But the real problem with those who are cheerleaders for the current configuration of higher education is that they tend to see it as operating in a vacuum.

They seem blind to the impact rapid university expansion has had on the rest of post-school education. It has almost wiped out sub-degree technical education and eclipsed higher-level vocational education.

All the prestige and financial incentives point in one direction, from the schools, that are now judged on how many people they can send to good universities, to the universities bottomless funding system. This is backed by the Student Loans Company and the simple Universities and Colleges Admissions Service portal, which give easy access to a national system of university education.

University of Bedfordshire. The expansion of the university sector has wiped out technical education and eclipsed higher-level vocational education

As Professor Alison Wolf of Kings College London, who specialises in the relationship between education and the labour market, puts it: In post-19 education, we are producing vanishingly small numbers of higher technician-level qualifications, while massively increasing the output of generalist bachelors degrees and low-level vocational qualifications.

In 2016, 332,000 people got a generalist first degree and just 6,000 completed a higher technical Higher National Diploma (HND) or Certificate (HNC).

No wonder employers complain about skill shortages and hire people from abroad.

The adult skills budget, covering all non-university post-school education, has been in freefall.

Further education colleges which were once closely connected to local employers now do mainly remedial classroom teaching for 16- to 18-year-olds. They also commomly offer multi-purpose community provision, teaching English to immigrants, for example.

University expansion has almost certainly diverted some students away from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and technical courses into business, arts and social science degrees. Prior to 1992, STEM subjects would have been done at one of the 35 polytechnics that then existed, which focused on technical education.

Claims for the economic success of the current university model do not stack up, either. One third of recent graduates are in non-graduate jobs and the premium that graduates get in pay is falling.

Willettss claims that graduates are good for Britains productivity and exports ring hollow given the nations weaknesses in both those areas. It turns out that just creating lots of graduates who did the courses they fancied at 18 does not magically lead to a high-productivity economy.

Of course, every parent wants their child to go to university: it signifies security and status and joining the middle class.

And vocational education will never compete with the high road of A-levels and a prestigious academic university course. At university, students mingle with the next generation of managers and professionals.

But combining an economic growth model in a Britain based around high employment rates and high immigration  where firms expect to able to hire and fire easily  with generalist academic training for as many people as possible, is lopsided socially and economically.

The fact is that 40 per cent of all new workers have studied an irrelevant subject and an increasing proportion of graduates have poor basic skills.

David Willetts extols the benefits of mass higher education and argues we should be sending 70 or even 80 per cent of school leavers to university

Despite the rigidity of the company-based vocational training system that is so typical in Germany, for example, it helps to motivate the bottom 50 per cent of pupils in the schooling system  those who tend not to go on to university. The better they do, the better the apprenticeship scheme they can join.

In Britain, by contrast, if you dont make the cut to do A-levels  and it is usually pretty clear if you will by the age of 13 or 14  the post-school education system has little to offer.

When he was an adviser to the Thatcher government of the early Eighties, Willetts himself was instrumental in destroying the old craft-based, union-dominated apprenticeship system. But none of the mainly state-funded replacements has ever really worked and the gulf in status between vocational and academic post-school education has widened.

It is not clear if the new initiatives of T-level technical qualifications at schools (will any of the bright kids do them, I wonder?) and an apprenticeship levy will change anything.

We often congratulate ourselves on having become a less class-bound society in recent decades. There is some truth in that, but the debate about post-school education remains haunted by class guilt and accusations of snobbery.

David Willetts, and others who have shaped policy, are so keen to not kick away the ladder and deny others some version of their own experience  grammar school and an Oxford degree in politics, philosophy and economics for Willetts  that they commit the equal and opposite sin of saying that their experience, or an inferior version of it, should be good for almost everyone.

The result is a cluster of institutions that proudly bear the title of university, yet are condemned to permanent second-class status compared with the universities which truly do world-class research.

Many of them do important work, much of it in professional vocational areas such as nursing, law, pharmacy and surveying. Some offer recently introduced degree apprenticeships which combine on-the-job training with degrees.

So why are they forced to compete in the same league as the top tier, where they are judged by academic research standards they will never excel in?

They could be in a different league, where they are judged on what they actually do.

Yet any suggestion that the new universities should be called something else to illustrate their different and less academic courses usually attracts howls of anger and complaints about demotion in status.

More mildly, John Raftery, Vice Chancellor of London Metropolitan University, describes the problem  with the help of a military metaphor  as how to avoid tearing off the epaulettes.

But this is not about titles. It is about what institutions do. And it is clear that we have a gaping hole between research-led, academic universities and further education colleges.

A British version of the German Fachhochschule or the American community colleges  both predominantly technical institutions  is needed to fill the big intermediate skills gap.

They should be able to offer two-year courses with a practical rather than academic focus, run by teachers, not academics.

If students on sub-degree technical courses develop a more academic aptitude, they should be allowed to switch to a full degree course in the same institution or a different one.

To sidestep the status-ridden debate about titles, we could just call all institutions providing any kind of post-school education a university or a college.

All of them, including further education colleges, could perhaps come under the umbrella of a fully-fledged university, too.

Of course it must be said that our great universities are a national asset that, despite hand-wringing about visa restrictions and counting students as immigrants, attract a rising number of international students (though internationalisation can go too far).

Yet expansion has amplified societys value divisions, weakened our vocational skill base and probably done little for what Christopher Lasch, the American historian and moralist, called the general competence of society. (About 20 per cent of pupils still leave school more or less illiterate and innumerate).

People in the bottom half of society do not need rescuing by spending three years at a new university.

They need a better basic academic school education than most of them are getting now, and then a choice of a good non-academic vocational or technical education, or a university. Ideally both would offer a residential and stay-at-home option.

For years, mass higher education has reinforced the general trend towards elevating cognitive or academic ability as the gold standard of human esteem. This may now be correcting itself as dissatisfaction with some of the lower-status universities grows.

Men who graduated from the 23 lowest-performing British universities went on to earn less than those who did not go at all, according to Barnaby Lenon, a former headmaster of Harrow School, in his forthcoming book Other Peoples Children.

Moreover, the combination of artificial intelligence replacing a range of middling cognitive jobs, an ageing society, and a reduction in immigration after Brexit, might force us to again place more value on many essential caring and manual or technical occupations.

Over-expansion of the university sector has damaged the status balance of society.

It is true that three years away at university discovering oneself and the world can be a positive, life-changing experience.

It was for me, but it isnt for everyone, and it is certainly not the only route to a happy and successful life  or the best route to a thriving economy.

:Adapted from an article in Standpoint magazine. David Goodhart is author of The Road To Somewhere (Penguin), about divisions in British society, and works at the think tank Policy Exchange.
Productivity in Britain is growing at the fastest pace for more than a decade in a major boost to the economy, official figures showed yesterday.

In yet another sign that the UK continues to defy warnings of a sharp economic slowdown, the Office for National Statistics said output per hour rose by 1.7 per cent in the final six months of 2017. That was the strongest half-year performance since 2005.

The figures came just a week after the ONS revealed that business investment and exports hit a record high last year.

The Office for National Statistics said output per hour in the UK rose by 1.7 per cent in the final six months of 2017 - marking the strongest half-year performance since 2005

Brexit campaigners said the UK economy continues to confound the gloom-mongers and said a 1.6 per cent slide in industrial production in Germany in February could be a sign of things to come in the eurozone, where unemployment is still around twice as high as in the UK.

The report showed British productivity still lags behind other big economies and is 16.3 per cent lower than the average in other G7 nations.

Howard Archer of the Ernst & Young Item Club, an economic forecasting group, said: The UK has a lot of catching up to do on the productivity front.

Britains economy lagged behind the eurozone last year, with output up 1.8 per cent while output in the single currency bloc rose 2.3 per cent.

But unemployment in Britain is at a 43-year low of 4.3 per cent compared with 8.5 per cent in the eurozone.
BY SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

Gaza is a coastal strip of land that lay on ancient trading and maritime routes along the Mediterranean shore.

Held by the Ottoman Empire until 1917, it passed from British to Egyptian to Israeli military rule over the last century and is now a fenced-in enclave inhabited by two million Palestinians.

Here are some of the major milestones in its recent history.

Today: Palestinian protesters use slingshots against Israeli security forces as they burn tires during the mass-protests in the first week of April, 2018

1948 - Refugees and Egyptian military rule

As British colonial rule came to an end in Palestine in the late 1940s, violence intensified between Jews and Arabs, culminating in war between the newly created State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in May 1948.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took refuge in Gaza after fleeing or being driven from their homes. The invading Egyptian army had seized a narrow coastal strip 25 miles (40 km) long from the Sinai to just south of Ashkelon. The influx of refugees saw Gaza's population triple to around 200,000.

Egypt held the Gaza Strip for two decades under a military governor, allowing Palestinians to work and study in Egypt.

In the 1950s and 1960s armed Palestinian 'fedayeen' - many of them refugees - mounted attacks into Israel, drawing reprisals. The United Nations set up a refugee agency, UNRWA, which today provides services for 1.3 million registered Palestine refugees in Gaza, around 70 per cent of the population, as well as for Palestinians in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.

1967 - War and Israeli military occupation

Israel captured the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war. An Israeli census that year put Gaza's population at 394,000, at least 60 percent of them refugees. It found that 65 percent of working-age men in the 145 sq. mile (375 sq. km) territory were employed in Gaza before the 1967 conflict, mainly in agriculture, fishing, industry and quarries.

With the Egyptians gone, the focus of many Gazan workers shifted. Thousands took jobs in the agriculture, construction and services industries inside Israel, to which they could gain easy access at that time. Israeli troops remained to administer the territory, and to guard the settlements that Israel built in the following decades. These became a source of growing Palestinian resentment.

Two sides: A Palestinian police officer, left, aims his AK-47 assault rifle at Israeli soldiers during a confrontation in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis in January 1998

1987 - First Palestinian uprising and birth of Hamas

Twenty years after the 1967 war, Palestinians launched their first intifada, or uprising. It began in December 1987 after a traffic accident in which an Israeli truck crashed into a vehicle carrying Palestinian workers in Gaza's Jabalya refugee camp, killing four. Stone-throwing protests, strikes and shutdowns followed.

Seizing the angry mood, the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood created an armed Palestinian branch - Hamas - with its power base in Gaza. Hamas, dedicated to Israel's destruction and restoration of Islamic rule in what it saw as occupied Palestine, became a rival to Yasser Arafat's secular Fatah party that led the Palestine Liberation Organization.

1993 - The Oslo Accords, and Palestinian semi-autonomy

Israel and the Palestinians signed an historic peace accord in 1993 that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Under the interim deal, Palestinians were first given limited control in Gaza, and Jericho in the West Bank. Arafat returned to Gaza after decades in exile.

The Oslo process gave the newly created Palestinian Authority some autonomy, and envisaged statehood after five years. But that never happened. Israel accused the Palestinians of reneging on security agreements, and Palestinians were angered by continued Israeli settlement-building.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad carried out bombings to try to derail the peace process, leading Israel to impose more restrictions on movement of Palestinians out of Gaza. Hamas also picked up on growing Palestinian criticisms of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement by Arafat's inner circle.

Palestinian boys and young men throw stones at an army camp in Gaza in 2000

2000 - Second Palestinian Intifada

In 2000, Israeli-Palestinian relations sank to a low with the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada. It ushered in a period of suicide bombings and shooting attacks by Palestinians, and Israeli air strikes, demolitions, no-go zones and curfews.

One casualty was Gaza International Airport, a symbol of thwarted Palestinian hopes for economic independence and the Palestinians' only direct link to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel or Egypt. Opened in 1998, was deemed a security threat by Israel three years later. Israel destroyed its radar antenna and runway a few months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Another casualty was Gaza's fishing industry, a source of income for tens of thousands. Gaza's fishing zone, set by the Oslo deals at 20 nautical miles, was reduced by Israel to between three and 12 nautical miles. Israel said the restrictions were necessary to stop boats smuggling weapons. Palestinians accused Israel of reneging on Oslo.

United: An elderly Palestinian woman holds a rocket propelled grenade as she and others demonstrate in Gaza City in July 2006

2005 - Israel evacuates its Gaza settlements

In August 2005 Israel evacuated all its troops and settlers from Gaza, which was by then completely fenced off from the outside world by Israel.

Palestinians tore down the abandoned buildings and infrastructure for scrap. The settlements' removal led to greater freedom of movement within Gaza, and the 'tunnel economy' boomed as armed groups, smugglers and entrepreneurs quickly dug scores of tunnels into Egypt.

But the pullout also removed settlement factories, greenhouses and workshops that had employed some Gazans.

2006 to 2007 - Isolation under Hamas

In 2006, Hamas scored a surprise victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Later that year, Hamas militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, and killed two others in a tunnel raid. In 2007 Hamas seized full control of Gaza, overthrowing forces loyal to Arafat's successor, President Mahmoud Abbas.

Much of the international community cut aid to the Palestinians in Hamas-controlled areas because they regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

Israel stopped tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from entering the country, cutting off an important source of income, and closed an industrial zone on the Gaza border.

Israeli air strikes crippled Gaza's only electrical power plant, causing widespread blackouts. Citing security concerns, Israel and Egypt also imposed tighter restrictions on the movement of people and goods through the Gaza crossings.

Gaza's economy increasingly went underground, becoming more dependent on a network of smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. Ambitious Hamas plans to refocus Gaza's economy east, away from Israel, foundered before they even started.

White phosphorus bombs explode over Gaza city during Israel's three week offensive in January, 200

2013 - Coup in Egypt

In 2011 the Arab Spring brought a window of opportunity for the Islamist-led government in Gaza. The Muslim Brotherhood won parliamentary and presidential elections in Egypt, bolstering Hamas. But the Egyptian army slowed the flow of cash, food, building supplies, cars, petrol - and weapons that used to come through tunnels.

Egypt's newly elected president, Mohammed Mursi, was overthrown after just a year. Viewing Hamas as a threat, Egypt's new military-backed leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, closed the border with Gaza and blew up most of the tunnels. Once again isolated, Gaza's economy went into reverse.

2008 to 2014 - Border wars

Gaza's economy has suffered repeatedly over decades in the cycle of conflict, attack and retaliation between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, from the 1970s to recent years.

Israel and Gaza militants led by Hamas fought three wars since 2008 which resulted in widespread destruction and the killing of thousands of Palestinians and about 100 Israelis.

The worst fighting was in 2014. Hamas and other groups launched rockets at heartland cities in Israel. Israel carried out air strikes and artillery bombardment that devastated neighbourhoods in Gaza. More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, mostly civilians. Israel put the number of its dead at 67 soldiers and six civilians.

2017 - Palestinian split worsened

In 2017, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas launched a series of economic sanctions on Hamas in a bid to force the group to relinquish control of Gaza. He orchestrated a reduction of electricity for Gaza and slashed salaries of 60,000 Palestinian Authority employees there by 30 percent, weakening buying power.

2018 - US cuts aid to Palestinians

President Donald Trump announced the United States would withhold some future aid payments to Palestinians, accusing them of unwillingness to talk peace with Israel. Washington held back $65 million of a first scheduled payment to UNRWA, the U.N. agency that cares for Palestinian refugees.

It is unclear how much more, if any, it will contribute. UNRWA received $355 million from the United States in the 2017 fiscal year. UNRWA is funded mainly by voluntary contributions from U.N. member states, with the United States by far the largest donor.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during protests at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip in the run-up to celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

And last month's decision by Mr Trump to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, an issue that cuts to the heart of conflict in the region and has garnered international censure, sparked the worst outbreak of violence in four years and left more than 60 Palestinians dead.
Remains of a once lavish 2,200-year-old Greco-Roman temple have been uncovered in Egypt's western desert.

Archaeologists have discovered the sculpture of a man's head and two limestone lion statues at the site near Siwa Oasis, once allegedly visited by Alexander the Great.

The remains date to between the second century BC and the third century AD, according to the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry.

Three-feet-thick stone walls and the temple's main entrance, which leads to a courtyard and entrances to other chambers, have also been uncovered.

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Remains of a lavish 2,200-year-old Greco-Roman temple (pictured) have been uncovered in Egypt's western desert.

Situated around 200 miles (320km) south of the Mediterranean Sea and 31 miles (50 km) west of Siwa Oasis, experts expect to find more remains at the site later this year.

Dr El-Demery said there were Greco-Roman motifs on the walls.

The upper lintels and pillars have well-known egg-and-dart patterns on them, often found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, writes National Geographic.

Head archaeologist Abdel-Aziz al-Demiri said pottery fragments and coins, were found at the site.

'What's amazing is you don't tend to hear every day of new temples found in Egypt,' said Sarah Parcak, a space archaeologist and National Geographic explorer.

'It's going to shed more light on the history of Siwa Oasis.'

The remote oasis became well-known after it was alleged Alexander the Great visited it and was told he was the divine king of Egypt by an oracle.

Archaeologists have discovered the sculpture of a man's head and two limestone lion statues (pictured) at the site near Siwa Oasis, once allegedly visited by Alexandra the Great

The remains date to between the second century BC and the third century AD, according to the Antiquities Ministry. Pictured is the man's head

Archaeologists still do not know how large the temple is and exactly when it was constructed.

These temples would have been economic hubs home to priests and locals as well as for worship.

Experts hope to understand Greco-Roman occupation and activities better in the area as a result of the find.

In 332BC Greek King Alexander the Great conquered Egypt.

After his death Greek monarch ruled for the next 275 years. In 30 BC the Romans took over and controlled the area until 295 AD.

Few ruins from this period remain although many subsequent monuments saw carvings with Greek influence, particularly representation of the female form.

The remote oasis became well-known after it was alleged Alexander the Great visited it and was told he was the divine king of Egypt by an oracle. Pictured is 'Alexander the Great Refuses to Take Water' painted in 1792 by Giuseppe Cades

Archaeologists still do not know how large the temple is (pictured) and exactly when it was constructed. These temples were economic hubs home to priests and locals as well as for worship

WHO WAS ALEXANDER THE GREAT? Alexander III of Macedon was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia in July 356 BC. He died of a fever in Babylon in June 323 BC. Alexander led an army across the Persian territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt claiming the land as he went. Alexander III of Macedon was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia in July 356 BC His greatest victory was at the Battle of Gaugamela, now northern Iraq, in 331 BC, and during his trek across these Persian territories, he was said to never have suffered a defeat. This led him to be known as Alexander the Great. Following this battle in Gaugamela, Alexander led his army a further 11,000 miles (17,700km), founded over 70 cities and created an empire that stretched across three continents. This covered from Greece in the west, to Egypt in the south, Danube in the north, and Indian Punjab to the East. Alexander was buried in Egypt, but it is thought his body was moved to prevent looting. His fellow royals were traditionally interred in a cemetery near Vergina, far to the west. The lavishly-furnished tomb of Alexander's father, Philip II, was discovered during the 1970s. Advertisement

Situated around 200 miles (320km) south of the Mediterranean Sea and 31 miles (50 km) west of Siwa Oasis, experts expect to find more remains at the site later this year

According to the Greek historian Herodotus (484-425 BC), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, was first to send soldiers to attack the Oasis of Siwa in 525BC.

Their mission was to destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimise his claim to Egypt.

However, his attack was a failure.

Two centuries after the soldiers disappeared, Alexander the Great made his own pilgrimage there in 332BC before he began his conquest of Persia.

Historians claimed that the oracle then confirmed he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek god equated with Amun, and the legitimate pharaoh of Egypt.
Researchers are one step closer to creating artificial intelligence that can communicate just like humans.

A social chatbot made by Microsoft and used in China can now interrupt people.

This technology could transform conversations between AI and humans into more natural interactions.

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A chatbot named XaioIce made by Microsoft and used in China can now interrupt people speaking to it. The updated AI can both talk and listen at the same time, Microsoft said in a statement

A statement from Microsoft said: 'When people interact with most personal digital assistants or chatbots today, the experience is a lot like speaking into a walkie-talkie or texting: first one party says or writes something and then the other party digests that information and responds.'

Now, Microsoft's AI-powered chatbot XiaoIce will come off as a little more human-like.

Lead engineer Li Zhou explained: 'People don't actually talk that way. [The new feature] is the art of conversation that people use in their daily life.'

Zhou noted that what differentiates humans' conversational abilities from those of AI is the human ability to talk and listen simultaneously.

Often, humans can predict what their conversation partner is about to say before that person even finishes their sentence.

This leads to natural interruptions and people building on information they assume they are about to hear.

'Microsoft believes it has created the first technological breakthrough that can allow people to have a conversation with an AI powered chatbot that is more like that natural experience a person might have when talking on the phone to a friend,' Microsoft's statement explained.

More than 200 million people in Asia use XiaoIce, and Microsoft is now trying to implement the new technology into other chatbots, among them the company's Zo, which is used in the US.

XaioIce lead engineer Li Zhou (pictured) said the update marks a new era for chatbots. The new feature will decrease the lag time during conversations between users and the AI

WHAT IS 'FULL DUPLEX' IN AI? 'Full duplex' refers to one's ability to communicate two ways at once. The skill allows a person to both listen and speak simultaneously. Microsoft said that XaioIce's new ability to perform both actions at once allows the chatbot to make predictions about what users will say. The new capability will cut down the unnatural lag time that sometimes occurs during conversations between humans and AI. Microsoft said this will make the interactions seem less awkward and forced. Advertisement

The new feature lets XaioIce communicate using 'full duplex', meaning it can talk and listen at the same time.

'It differs from "half duplex", which is more like the walkie-talkie experience in which only one person can talk at a time,' Microsoft said.

According to Zhou, the update helps XiaoIce make choices about when and how to reply to people talking to her.

Additionally, the update means users do not have to use a 'wake word', such as the chatbot's name, to get XiaoIce's attention mid-conversation.

The advance also expands XiaoIce's skill set to allow her to accomplish two tasks at once. For example, the chatbot can pause in the middle of a story and turn on the lights before picking up where she left off.

XiaoIce general manager Di Li said the improvements help Microsoft come closer to creating chatbots that have a sense of emotional and intellectual needs.

Microsoft said that is at the core of the company's goals for Zo, XiaoIce and other chatbots used in India, Japan and Indonesia.

The company also clarified that its social chatbots are designed to be more conversational and less productivity-focused. The statement said: '[The social chatbots] have a sense of humor, can chitchat, play games, remember personal details and engage in interesting banter with people, much like you would with a friend.'
Facebook has been in talks with high profile US hospitals in an attempt to obtain patient data about illnesses and prescriptions.

The project was being led by a Stanford cardiologist called Freddy Abnousi who claims to lead 'top-secret projects' on his LinkedIn.

The project aimed to build profiles of people that combined their medical conditions - gathered from the hospitals - and their social and economic status - gleaned from their information on Facebook.

According to the company, the goal was to match this medical data and Facebook user data in order to help hospitals work out which patients might need special care.

However, the creepy proposal has been put on pause after the Cambridge Analytical scandal raised concerns about how much data the company takes from users.

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Facebook has been in talks with high profile US hospitals in an attempt to obtain patient data about illnesses and prescriptions. Pictured is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Although the data would obscure identifiable information such as the patient's name, the company could have used a technique called 'hashing' to match individuals in both sets, according to a report by CNBC.

This means individuals could have been identified if they appeared in both sets.

The company claims this information could help hospitals provide better care.

For example, if someone is elderly and does not have friends or family living nearby (information that can be obtained from Facebook), doctors could send over a nurse to check on them after serious surgery.

However, experts have raised privacy concerns about this latest plan.

'Consumers wouldn't have assumed their data would be used in this way,' said Aneesh Chopra, president of a health software company called CareJourney.

Just last month, the company was in talks with Stanford Medical School and American College of Cardiology about potentially sharing and analysing their data.

'For the first time in history, people are sharing information about themselves online in ways that may help determine how to improve their health', according to a quote provided by Facebook on behalf of Cathleen Gates, interim CEO of the American College of Cardiology.

She said the partnership looked 'to further scientific research on the ways social media can aid in the prevention and treatment of heart disease'.

The company assures the project - which has now been suspended - would only have been used for medical research.

The company assures the project - which has now been suspended - would only have been used for medical research (stock image)

In a statement the company said the aim was to do further research into how 'medical professionals develop specific treatment and intervention plans that take social connection into account.'

'Last month we decided that we should pause these discussions so we can focus on other important work, including doing a better job of protecting people's data and being clearer with them about how that data is used in our products and services', a Facebook spokesperson told MailOnline.

'This work has not progressed past the planning phase, and we have not received, shared, or analysed anyone's data,' the spokesperson said.

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

The company has been criticised in the past for carrying out research on users without permission, notably in 2014 when they manipulated people's news feeds to work out if specific content made people happy or sad.

This latest scandal has again raised concerns about quite how much data the company has about its users.

This issue has been in the public eye after reports Cambridge Analytica improperly received information about Facebook users.

Earlier this week it was revealed the company's misuse of personal information was even worse than first thought.

According to the CTO, most of the affected users were in the United States, as shown in the graph above

WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL? Communications firms 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. It was initially estimated that the firm was able to mine the information of 55 million Facebook users even though just 270,000 people gave them permission to do so. But, Facebook has since revealed the number was actually as high as 87 million. 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

On Wednesday, Chief Technology Office Mike Schroepfer revealed the firm shared data of up to 87 million users  a dramatic increase from initial media estimates of roughly 50 million.

Schroepfer shared the new figures in a blog post outlining nine changes the firm is making to the platform in light of the massive data scandal that unfolded last month.

According to the CTO, most of the affected users were in the United States.

In the post, the Facebook exec also revealed the troubling ease with which 'malicious actors' could 'scrape' public information from most users' profiles.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed the growing scandal in a media call on Wednesday afternoon, admitting the firm 'didn't do enough' to protect user data or to prevent the spread of disinformation.

In a call with reporters, Zuckerberg admitted the firm made a 'huge mistake' in failing to take a broad enough view of what Facebook's responsibility is in the world.

'It's my mistake,' the Facebook CEO added.

Referring to the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, in which a consultancy firm was able to access millions of users' data and use it to target voters during political campaigns, he said that 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.

'Life is learning from mistakes,' Zuckerberg told reporters, according to CNET.

'At the end of the day, this is my responsibility. I started this place, I run it, I'm responsible.'

'We know now we didn't do enough to focus on preventing abuse and thinking through how people use these tools to do harm,' the Facebook CEO added.

Now, as the company looks forward, Zuckerberg said the firm must address Facebook's role in democracy.

'It's not enough to give people a voice, we have to make sure that people are not using that voice to spread disinformation,' Zuckerberg said, according to CNET.

While Facebook grapples with the unfolding data scandal, more and more worrying details continue to emerge.

The latest indicates the issue, which Zuckerberg himself called a 'breach of trust,' affected many more users than initially suspected.

'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,' Schroepfer said on Wednesday.

London-based Cambridge Analytica, which has counted US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign among its clients, disputed Facebook's estimate of affected users.

It said in a statement on Wednesday that it received no more than 30 million records from a researcher it hired to collect data about people on Facebook.

In Facebook's blog post, Schroepfer shed light on additional ways 'malicious actors' could access users' data without their knowledge, by scraping public information from profiles.

On Wednesday, Chief Technology Office Mike Schroepfer (pictured) revealed the firm shared data of up to 87 million users with the political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica  a dramatic increase from initial media estimates of roughly 50 million

Starting Monday, April 9, Facebook will begin showing users a link at the top of their News Feed to more easily reveal the apps they use (as shown above)

The site previously allowed users to enter someone's phone number or email address into the search bar to locate that person.

While the tool was helpful for finding friends in some scenarios, for example, in languages which 'take more effort to type out a full name,' the firm says it was also regularly abused.

As a result, Facebook is now doing away with it entirely.

'Given the scale and sophistication of the activity we've seen, we believe most people on Facebook could have had their public profile scraped in this way,' Schroepfer wrote.

'So we have now disabled this feature.

'We're also making changes to account recovery to reduce the risk of scraping as well.'
An out-of-this-world hotel is set to launch in 2021.

California-based firm Orion Span has announced that first-ever luxury 'space hotel' will be in orbit within four years, and able to welcome passenger within five years.

But a stay won't come cheap. The firm is charging space tourists $9.5 million (6.7 million) for a 12-day visit.

The experience will allow guests to test out zero gravity and gaze upon stunning views of Earth, as well as witness an average of 16 sunrises and sunsets a day.

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An out-of-this-world hotel is set to launch in 2021. California-based firm Orion Span has announced that its luxury 'space hotel' will be in orbit within four years, and able to welcome passenger within five years

The project was announced yesterday at the Space 2.0 summit in San Jose, California.

The space hotel, dubbed Aurora Station, will house six people at any one time - four paying passengers and two crew.

Orion Span was founded by Frank Bunger, now the CEO, and the company claims it's mission is to 'build and sustain human communities in space accessible to all.'

'We developed Aurora Station to provide a turnkey destination in space,' Bunger said at the summit.

'Upon launch, Aurora Station goes into service immediately, bringing travellers into space quicker and at a lower price point than ever seen before, while still providing an unforgettable experience.'

Although the company intends to build the space station itself, it has yet to confirm launch details with any other firms.

It is believed the space hotel will be modular in design, making it easier to launch and add to at a later date.

Orbiting Earth every couple of hours, the lucky few guests will be able to experience 16 sunrises and sunsets a day. Developed by Orion Span, a California-based company, the space hotel will house six people at any one time - four paying passengers and two crew

As well as the extraordinary accomodation, customers will be able to take part and experience aspects of life as an astronaut.

Bunger told Forbes: 'We have a virtual reality experience, what we call the holodeck, named after Star Trek.

'Lastly, when the guests return home to Earth, we're going to treat them to a hero's welcome.'

Although pegged as a space hotel and offering all the bells and whistles for the guests, Aurora will also serve other functions outside of hospitality.

'Aurora Station is incredibly versatile and has multiple uses beyond serving as a hotel,' Bunger explained.

'We will offer full charters to space agencies who are looking to achieve human spaceflight in orbit for a fraction of the cost - and only pay for what they use.

'We will support zero gravity research, as well as in space manufacturing.

'Our architecture is such that we can easily add capacity, enabling us to grow with market demand like a city growing skyward on Earth.'

Inspired by the International Space Station (ISS), the Aurora Station is considerably smaller. It will be about the size of a large private jet's cabin, measuring 43.5 feet long by 14.1 feet wide (13.3 by 4.3 meters) and feature a pressurised volume of 5,650 cubic feet (160 cubic m).

The space station will be about the size of a large private jet's cabin, measuring 43.5 feet long by 14.1 feet wide (13.3 by 4.3 meters) and feature a pressurised volume of 5,650 cubic feet (160 cubic m).

With cloth and material switched out on every flight and high speed wireless internet to keep in touch with friends and family, the Aurora hotel is designed to be a luxurious stay.

Unlike most hotels however, the guests will be living in zero gravity conditions for the duration of the trip.

An ambitious time scale was also revealed at the summit, with Bunger claiming that the hotel will launch by 2021.

After a brief period of time, tourists will be welcomed to the orbiting hotel the following year.

Whilst the total cost of a return ticket is $9.5 million (6.7 million), those keen to experience 'the world's first luxury space hotel' will be required to put down a $80,000 (57,129) deposit up front.

The 12 day experience equates to more than $28,00 (20,000) an hour.

An ambitious time scale was also revealed, the company hope to launch Aurora by 2021. After a brief period of time, tourists will be welcomed to the orbiting hotel the following year at the start of 2022

In order to ensure safety of guests on board the satellite, prospective customers will be subjected to a three-month training regime at an Orion Span facility in Houston, Texas.

The design of the craft means that EVAs (extravehicular activities) and spacewalks are unnecessary.

In a blog post, Bunger said that the company has plans beyond the space hotel too.

'As Aurora Station continues to grow with market demand, we will also sell space condos  your own capacity aboard Aurora Station and future space stations to visit, sublease, or one day live in as you wish.'

Down the line, the company hopes to sell or rent space in the Aurora, allowing people to sublet or live there.

This is not the first attempt at commercialising space travel.

In December 2017, Russia declared that it wants to welcome space tourists to the ISS by 2022.

This venture was projected to be far more expensive than the Aurora mission, with tourists charged 30 million ($40 million) per person for a one to two week stay.

An extended month-long visit will set travellers back an additional $15 million ($20 million).

Several other companies, headed up by different billionaire owners, are trying to crack commercial spacecraft too.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is leading the Blue Origin project which is being funded by the billionaires vast wealth of Amazon stocks.

Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic dream last night recorded its first rocket-powered flight with supersonic Unity spaceplane.

Over the Mojave desert, the plane flew to an altitude of roughly 46,500 feet carried by the Eve WhiteKnightTwo 'mothership,' before separating to fire up its own rocket motor and accelerate to over 1,400 miles per hour (Mach 1.87).

Elon Musk, the entrepreneurial phenomenon who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the Boring company, recently launched his 'Falcon Heavy' rocket towards Mars.

The enormous rocket, the biggets in history, also carried his red Tesla Roadster.
Scientists have harvested their first crop of vegetables grown in an Antarctic greenhouse, a major step in cultivating fresh food on distant planets.

As part of the Eden ISS project, researchers have been trying to grow plants in the desolate region for several years.

Experts managed to grow a variety of vegetables to make an entire salad without the use of soil, daylight or pesticides.

The long-term aim is to help astronauts who venture off-world set up self sustaining colonies on Mars and elsewhere in deep space.

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Researchers at Germany's Neumayer Station III picked 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes. The food was grown inside a high-tech greenhouse as temperatures outside dropped below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit)

Researchers at Germany's Neumayer Station III picked eight pounds (3.6 kilograms) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes.

The food was grown inside a high-tech facility as temperatures outside dropped below -20C (-4F).

'After sowing the seeds in mid-February, I had to deal with some unexpected problems, such as minor system failures and the strongest storm in more than a year,' Paul Zabel, an engineer involved with the project, told Deutsche Welle.

'Fortunately, all these things could be fixed and overcome.'

The German Aerospace Center (DLR), which coordinates the project, said that by May scientists hope to harvest 9 to 11 pounds (four or five kilograms) of fruit and vegetables a week.

The plants were grown using a reusable water cycle and a nutrient system, LED lighting and carefully monitored carbon dioxide levels to replicate natural conditions.

The progress and success of the study bodes well for applications on future space missions.

Currently, astronauts live off dehydrated packet food, which is ideal for the current duration of missions but this would be impossible for deep space exploration.

Scientists hope to harvest 9-11 pounds (four or five kilograms) of fruit and vegetables a week by May. The plants were grown using a reusable water cycle and a nutrient system, LED lighting and carefully monitored carbon dioxide levels to replicate natural conditions

As part of the Eden ISS project, researchers have been trying to grow plants in the desolate region for a few years. The long-term aim of the project is to help astronauts cultivate fresh food on other planets

The vast volume and weight required to sustain the crew would cause an exponential increase in the amount of rocket-fuel needed, ruling it out as a source of nutrients for missions to Mars.

As a result, astronauts will be forced to grow their own food, or face starvation.

This is where Eden comes in, developing techniques and systems to make this possible in the most adverse conditions imaginable.

While NASA has successfully grown greens on the International Space Station, the Antarctic project aims to produce a wider range of vegetables that might one day be grown on Mars or the Moon

Researchers at Germany's Neumayer Station III, part of the Eden ISS project, picked 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of salad greens, 18 cucumbers and 70 radishes

While Nasa has successfully grown greens on the International Space Station, DLR's Daniel Schubert says the Antarctic project aims to produce a wider range of vegetables that might one day be grown on Mars or the Moon.

Nasa has been trying to do this for some time now, with astronaut Scott Kelly succeeding in growing a zinnia flower while orbiting in space.

As well as this botanical marvel, his fellow space travelling peers on board the International Space Station (ISS) successfully grew red romaine lettuce.

Whilst Nasa have successfully grown plants on a small scale in orbit, the European Space Agency (ESA) have been working to determine how plants will grow long-term in space.

The Eden ISS project consists of two shipping containers subdivided into three distinct sections.

A 2014 Nasa mission focused on 'robogardens' used to grow plants in space. Here, the crew are pictured with the red romaine lettuce that was successfully grown on-board the ISS

Growing food and recycling waste is a key obstacle the missions must overcome. Pictured is a scientist aboard the ISS working on Nasa's 'robogardens' study

The facility is operated by a crew member, with a large emphasis on remote monitoring and operations.

The international trial contains life-support systems which use recycled urine to manufacture fertiliser.

Urine has the potential to be a valuable asset in the growth and fertilisation of plants on long term space missions.

Human urine is 95 per cent water and the remaining five per cent is made of nitrogen, potassium and other elements that plants use to grow.

The plants were grown using a reusable water cycle and a nutrient system, LED lighting and carefully monitored carbon dioxide levels. Pictured is a cucumber grown at the German Aerospace Center in 2014 in conditions designed to mimic those inside a space station

The Eden ISS project consists of two shipping containers subdivided into three distinct sections.The facility is operated by a crew member, with a large emphasis on remote monitoring and operations

In March, a team led by Dr Federico Maggi at the University of Sydney in Australia published the results of a study which looked at how plants could take up nutrients from human urine.

Because these elements aren't destroyed between eating them and passing them, they could be recycled indefinitely.

Plant scientist Dr Abraham Noe-Hays of the Rich Earth Institute in Guilford, Vermont, who was not involved in the research, told New Scientist: 'If you're trying to operate independently and grow food, plants need fertiliser.

'And the only fertiliser that would be available would be [human] wastes.'
A new tool promises to protect your privacy as you browse the internet.

The free service will help to mask your online history, keeping this information hidden from your internet service provider (ISP) and other third parties.

It works using the Domain Name System, or DNS, the directory of the internet used to direct traffic between servers hosting data and users trying to access them.

By rooting your DNS requests through a private network, the company behind the service can help to mask the pages you visit.

Combined with a new encryption standard proposed for future internet browsing software, this data could soon be totally hidden.

The service also aims to speed up your connection by setting up computers in locations across the world to make the DNS process even faster.

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A new tool promises to protect your prviacy as your browse the internet. The free service will help to mask your online history, keeping this information hidden from your internet service provider and other third parties

The new tool, dubbed 1.1.1.1, has been developed by Cloudflare, a computer security and optimisation firm based in San Francisco.

DNS is a crucial process that matches up web addresses, or URLs, like facebook.com with the site's specific location, or IP address - 157.240.18.35 in the case of the world's largest social network.

Whenever you click on a link, send an email or open a mobile app, one of the first things that has to happen is your device needs to look up the address of that domain.

ISPs, mobile carriers and WiFi hotspot providers normally control this process, which means they can see and store data on the pages you've clicked on.

By redirecting DNS requests to Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 resolver, it makes it harder for third parties to collect this data.

And the firm says that it will never record this information themselves, working with auditing firm KMPG to ensure it lives up to this promise.

Speaking about the tool, CEO Matthew Prince said in a written statement: 'With all the concern over the data that companies like Facebook and Google are collecting on you, it worries us to now add ISPs to the list.

The new tool, dubbed 1.1.1.1, works using the Domain Name System, or DNS, the directory of the internet used to direct traffic between servers hosting data and users trying to access them. ISPs, mobile carriers and WiFi hotspot providers normally control this process

WHAT IS THE DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM AND HOW DOES IT WORK? The Domain Name System, or DNS, is the directory of the internet. Whenever you click on a link, send an email, open a mobile app, often one of the first things that has to happen is your device needs to look up the address of a domain. There are two sides of the DNS network: the authoritative side, ie webpages and other content, and the resolver side, devices that are trying to access this content. Every domain needs to have an authoritative DNS provider, servers which store DNS records. Amazon, Cloudflare and Google are among the bigger names in authoritative DNS server provision. On the other side of the DNS system are resolvers. Every device that connects to the Internet needs a DNS resolver. By default, these resolvers are automatically set by whatever network you're connecting to. So, for most Internet users, when they connect to an ISP, or a WiFi hot spot, or a mobile network, the network operator will dictate what DNS resolver to use. The problem is that these DNS services are often slow and don't respect your privacy. What many Internet users don't realise is that even if you're visiting a website that is encrypted, indicated by the green padlock in your browser's address bar, that doesn't keep your DNS resolver from knowing the identity of all the sites you visit. That means, by default, your ISP, every WiFi network you've connected to, and your mobile network provider have a list of every site you've visited while using them. Advertisement

'We don't see personal data as an asset; we see it as a toxic asset.

'While we need some logging to prevent abuse and debug issues, we couldn't imagine any situation where we'd need that information longer than 24 hours.

'At no time will we record the list of where everyone is going online. That's creepy.'

Traditional DNS queries and responses are sent without encryption.

This makes them vulnerable to eavesdropping and spoofing attacks, where hackers masquerades as other sites or uses using information contained in DNS requests.

A new system called DNS over HTTPS uses the encryption behind secure websites, indicated by the green padlock in your browser's address bar, to enhance the privacy and security of the DNS process.

The creators of web browsers, operating systems and devices need to build in support the new system.

By rooting your DNS requests through a private network Cloudflare, the company behind the service, can help to mask the pages you visit. Combined with a new encryption standard proposed for future internet browsing software, this data could soon be totally hidden

Using a DNS service like 1.1.1.1 would completely cut off access to DNS requests, if it becomes industry standard.

Cloudflare, which is behind the new standard, is also investing in IT infrastructure to make 1.1.1.1 as fast as possible.

In a separate written statement, the company's director of engineering Olafur Gumundsson added: 'Our goals with the public resolver are simple: Cloudflare wants to operate the fastest public resolver on the planet while raising the standard of privacy protections for users.

'To make the Internet faster, we are already building data centers all over the globe to reduce the distance (i.e. latency) from users to content.

'Eventually we want everyone to be within 10 milliseconds of at least one of our locations.'
Moscow has the most congested roads in Europe beating London and Paris into top spot, new research has revealed.

Drivers in the Russian capital spend an average of 91 hours a year stuck in traffic as many living in the city prefer to travel around by car rather than use public transport.

Coming second in the study was London, where researchers found people spend 73 hours every year caught up in busy roads.

New research has revealed that Moscow, pictured, has the most congested roads in Europe

Drivers in the Russian capital spend an average of 91 hours a year stuck in traffic, a study has uncovered

Traffic has become a main headache for Londoners with TfL (Transport for London) considering a scheme to ban vehicles from the famous shopping area Oxford Street.

Meanwhile Paris is third with those in the French capital spending 65 hours a year in traffic - despite huge efforts by city authorities to limit the number of cars in the city.

The research was conducted by insurance site GoCompare, who analysed data from a variety of different sources, including INRIX and the Department of Transport.

Making up the top five of the most congested cities are Istanbul in Turkey with an average of 59 hours a year spent in traffic followed by the Russian city of Krasnodar on 56 hours.

Drivers sit in gridlock on the M25 in London. Researchers found people spend 73 hours every year caught up in busy roads in the British capital

Other congested places on the list include Zurich (54 hours), Saint Petersburg (53 hours), Sochi (49 hours), Munich (49 hours) and Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (47 hours).

In the UK, Manchester makes it on to the list in 18th place with drivers there spending 39 hours a year at a standstill.

Interestingly, the research shows that Moscow is far and away the worst city for traffic as drivers there spend nearly 20 hours more in gridlock compared to its nearest competitor London.

Paris, pictured, is third with those in the French capital spending 65 hours a year in traffic - despite huge efforts by city authorities to limit the number of cars in the city

Germany and Russia are the worst countries in Europe overall for congestion, with five cities in Russia and seven in Germany making the top 25.

While 10 of the cities on the list are capitals including Moscow, London, Paris, Oslo, Brussels, Berlin, Madrid, Rome and Stockholm.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Los Angeles was the world's most gridlocked city for the sixth straight year, with drivers spending 102 hours in congestion during peak time periods.
British tourists could be endangering their health before they even leave the UK when the NHS bans certain free travel vaccinations, an expert has warned.

The cost-cutting measure will see some jabs - including those to ward off rabies and yellow fever - no longer available on prescription from GPs.

Instead, those heading to tropical climes may have to fork out hundreds of pounds themselves for essential inoculations.

British tourists could be endangering their health before they even leave the UK when the NHS bans certain free travel vaccinations, an expert has warned

But an expert has revealed how the change could lead to an increase in people obtaining the vaccines via a private prescription and attempting to self-administer them to save costs.

And pharmacist Shamir Patel has warned how this could lead to medication being incorrectly stored on its journey from the pharmacy to the home, putting its effectiveness at risk.

Mr Patel, director of online pharmacy Chemist4U, said: 'These vaccines must be stored and managed correctly, and that takes a level of understanding and expertise.

'They are created to be handled a precise way, and the NHS has a whole range of strict guidelines about this of which any professional practitioner is aware.

'The same rules apply to pharmacists, GP surgeries and the specialist clinics where holiday and overseas travel vaccines are administered.

'But I am concerned that the NHS's policy change will place far too much responsibility on the individual traveller.

'Even with the best intentions, it would be far to easy for someone who buys a vaccine to get side-tracked and not store it at the right temperature immediately.

Experts say that in the worst-case scenario, travellers could find themselves falling seriously ill a long way from home

'The medicine could be bought during a lunch break and instead of being refrigerated properly, may be left in a car, handbag or briefcase.

'People should absolutely not pick up their vaccine and then decide to go shopping or anywhere but home  that is a recipe for disaster.'

And Mr Patel added that in the worst case scenario, travellers could find themselves falling seriously ill a long way from home.

He explained: 'These are very fine lines and even a degree or so difference in temperature can reduce a vaccine's effectiveness.

'Unfortunately, people could spend a lot of money on a product to protect them but in effect just be going through the motions.

'My advice for anyone administering a vaccine themselves is to do so exactly as they are advised by their pharmacist.

THE TRAVEL JABS WHICH ARE SET TO BE AXED FROM THE NHS Yellow fever

Rabies

Meningitis A

Hepatitis B

Japanese encephalitis

Tick-borne encephalitis

Tuberculosis Advertisement

'Doing anything less could put them in real danger of falling seriously ill while abroad.'

Mr Patel spoke out after the NHS said it would stop or restrict GPs from prescribing 18 items it describes as low priority in a bid to save 141m annually.

Although the travel vaccines cost just 4.5m a year, they have been included in the crackdown.

Anyone seeking them exclusively for travel will be forced to pay, although they will still be available on prescription for 'appropriate' use.

Other vaccines on the NHS that will be no longer available are for meningitis A, hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, tick-borne encephalitis, and tuberculosis.

It has not been confirmed when the changes will start but vaccine prices for hepatitis B start at round 120 and meningitis A at about 50.

Yellow fever usually costs between 60 and 80, while a course of rabies vaccine is up to 165.

All vaccines biodegrade over time, but buyers can maintain maximum potency if a few simple rules are followed.
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A heart-wrenching series of images has captured the plight of refugees in Paris, with whole families living on the streets.

French photographer Vladimir Antaki started investigating the migrant crisis in his hometown last October in a bid to capture the 'faces of men, women and children that the public doesnt want to see'.

His project, titled Family Portraits, shows people from Kosovo, Romania, Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria and Syria who have fled their country for political or economic reasons.

A heart-wrenching photography series captures the plight of refugees in Paris, with whole families living in the streets

French photographer Vladimir Antaki started investigating the migrant crisis in his hometown last October in a bid to capture the 'faces of men, women and children that the public doesnt want to see'.

His project, titled Family Portraits, shows peopled from Kosovo, Romania, Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria and Syria who have fled their country for political or economic reasons

He told MailOnline Travel that homelessness has always been a problem but children were never in the picture.

However today, as his photos show, youngsters are also left fighting for survival with no roofs over their heads.

The artist, added: 'Human beings are spending their days and nights on the streets of Paris huddling under threadbare blankets on dirty mattresses.'

Mr Antaki says he tries to spend time getting to know his subjects and learn more about their lives.

Antaki told MailOnline Travel that homelessness has always been a problem but children were never in the picture

Europe's migrant influx began in 2015, centering on Greece, where hundreds of thousands of people, many of them fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Afghanistan, crossed from Turkey

Number of refugees in Paris have swelled since the destruction of the so-called 'Jungle' camp in Calais in 2016, when around 8,000 migrants were dispersed

He says he often lets children play with his camera as it 'makes them happy' and helps to break the ice.

Other times, he will purchase food for those who are willing to talk with him and he will sit and eat with them.

While he has had many enlightening conversations with migrants, he says lots of them don't want to talk.

Begging in the French capital comes in many forms, Antaki says, with many people destitute for legitimate reasons.

However, he notes that some beggars are there 'just for the money as they have been drawn into organised crime'.

Much of the photographer's work focuses on human behaviour.

While he has had many enlightening conversations with migrants, Antaki says lots of them don't want to talk

Antaki's photos show how young migrants are left ruthlessly fighting for survival with no roofs over their heads

Begging in the French capital comes in many forms, Antaki says, with many people their for legitimate reasons

Antaki spends time getting to know his subjects and learn more about their lives

Antaki says he often lets children play with his camera as it 'makes them happy' and helps to break the ice

His series, The Guardians, shows store owners across the globe giving an insight into their world.

In total, he has visited 18 different cities including Montreal, New York, Las Vegas, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Beirut to capture more than 250 shopkeepers and tell their story through imagery.

He said: 'I'm interested in the relationship between the environment and the attitude of the Guardians, how they position themselves in space.

'I become the director of their universe. I show them their day to day life through my eye and my camera.'

Antaki's Family Portraits project remains ongoing.

Sometimes Antaki will purchase food for those willing to talk with him and he will sit and eat with them

Much of the photographer's work focuses on human behaviour and he strives to show the day to day lives of people around the world
She recently revealed on The Project that she 'hasn't found love' despite rumours that she is engaged to Jarrod Woodgate after the pair met on Bachelor In Paradise.

And on Friday, Keira Maguire exposed more details about her personal life as she joked about having 'history' with Studio 10's John 'Joe' Hildebrand.

During her appearance, the 31-year-old blonde beauty played a game of 'date or dump' with the Network Ten panelists.

'What happens at the Logies stays at the Logies!' Bachelor In Paradise's Keira Maguire jokes about having 'history' with Studio 10's Joe Hildebrand

The former Bachelor star was asked to choose whom she would rather date; the 41-year-old Australian journalist or English-born Australian television personality Jonathan Harry Coleman.

'I love Joe! Look Joe and I actually have some history,' the buxom blonde gushed to the Studio 10 hosts.

As Keira waxed lyrical about the veteran TV presenter, she reached out and affectionately touched his arm.

Seconds later, Joe nodded in agreement and said: 'We do. We do'.

Later in the interview, Keira backtracked and exclaimed: 'I mean nothing... I shouldn't have said anything'.

She then turned to Joe and said: 'On a serious note, I would definitely date you'.

The reality TV star proceeded to put her arm on Joe's shoulder and jokingly asked the happily married man whether he's single.

Comedians: Keira asked the happily married man whether he's single before the Australian TV personality said ' Yes I am' and started to take his wedding band off in jest

The Australian TV personality said ' Yes I am' and started to take his wedding band off in jest.

The pair revealed they met at the Logie Awards and 'got their picture taken together'.

Keira then halted the discussion and said: 'I can't go into detail'.

Secret squirrel: The pair revealed they met at the Logie Awards and 'got their picture taken together'

At this point one of the Studio 10 guest panelists piped up and said: 'What happens at the Logies, stays at the Logies'.

Keira's in-joke with Joe comes after she revealed on The Project she 'hasn't found love'.

During her appearance on Monday, the beauty was quizzed by the panel about what her next life decision will be after starring on three Channel 10 shows; The Bachelor, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, and Bachelor In Paradise.

What would Jarrod say? Keira's in-joke with Joe comes after she revealed on The Project she 'hasn't found love'

Keira rather vaguely responded: 'Look, I don't know, I feel like hopefully I mean I haven't, like, I haven't found love yet but we will see what happens.'

Later in the interview, host Lisa Wilkinson touched on the moment Jarrod was brutally dumped by Sophie Monk during The Bachelorette finale.

'Now, Jarrod enters the Island this evening. He's famously the Shannon Noll of the whole Sophie Monk experience... just how broken was he?' the former Today show host asked Keira.

What's going on: Rumours have been running rife that Keira is now engaged to Bachelor In Paradise co-star Jarrod Woodgate

'I don't feel like he was broken when I saw him, he seemed to be having a good time,' Keira told the Network Ten panelists.

The Project guest panelist, former Australian Senator Jacqui Lambie jumped in and joked: 'So, it was after you he was broken!'

The blonde reality TV star laughed and said: 'Exactly'.

It comes amid rumours Keira has already made plans to move from Sydney to Jarrod's Melbourne hometown as they settle into life as an 'engaged' couple.
Dakota Johnson was overjoyed to get lunch with a pal in LA Thursday.

The Fifty Shades star, 28, was dressed in easy workout-wear for her mid-day meetup.

While out, the girlfriend of Chris Martin flattered her toned legs and thin waist in a combo of clingy Lululemon yoga pants, a heather grey tee, and a classic-looking Nike hoodie.

Simply stylish: Dakota Johnson dressed down in comfy athleisure to meet with a friend for lunch in LA on Thursday

She added a pair of hip trainers on bottom.

It looked like Dakota, who is the daughter of actress Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, had been growing out her hair, as her brunette ombre flowed down to her chest while styled into a fun half-bun.

Her genetically-gifted looks made it easy for the star to go makeup-free and she masked the rest of her face with wire-rimmed shades.

Happy to see you! The Fifty Shades star was overjoyed while meeting up with a friend for lunch in LA Thursday

Warm embrace! The granddaughter of Hollywood legend Tippi Hedren was so happy to see her friend she gave her a full body hug, throwing her arms and a leg around the blonde

While most of the second generation starlet's look was low-key, she added a dash of class by carrying a stylish frame bag with gold chain strap.

The granddaughter of Hollywood legend Tippi Hedren was so happy to see her friend she gave her a full body hug, throwing her arms and a leg around the blonde.

The star arrived back on in the States yesterday after shooting her film Bad Times At The El Royale in Vancouver, Canada.

Touching down! The star arrived back on in the States yesterday after shooting her film Bad Times At The El Royale in Vancouver, Canada, seen above at LAX Wednesday

The 1960s set drama/thriller tells the story of a motley bunch of characters whose paths gets intertwined at the rundown El Royale hotel near Lake Tahoe, California.

Dakota acts opposite a talent-packed cast that also included Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Nick Offerman, Russell Crowe, and Chris Hemsworth in the feature written, directed and produced by tktkt auteur Drew Goddard.

Bad Times At The El Royale arrives in US theaters October 5 2018.
Zoe Saldana has discussed the issue of race in Hollywood - and claimed she has been refused numerous film roles and magazine covers due to the colour of her skin.

Speaking to NET-A-PORTER's digital magazine, PorterEdit, the 39-year-old revealed is often unable to bag the lead part in a film as she is deemed the 'non-traditional' choice by producers and directors.

However the Avatar star, who has Dominican and Puerto Rican roots, affirmed she is incredibly proud of her upbringing and will 'never accept' she is any different, as she embarked on the powerful shoot with the magazine.

Honest: Zoe Saldana discussed the issue of race in Hollywood, and claimed she has been refused numerous film roles due to her skin colour in a new interview with PorterEdit

Zoe was truly stunning as she posed for the publication - first slipping into a crisp white shirt and leather mini skirt as she basked in the sunlight of a hotel room.

Known for her statuesque frame - having been a ballet dancer in her youth - she later layered a leather trench coat atop her look and reclined on a sun lounger outside, to display her leggy figure to all.

Never failing to look glamorous on red carpets everywhere, the Star Trek lead lastly posed in a slinky floor-length gown, complete with cut-outs at the bust and stomach, as she fiercely smouldered for the cover shot.

'Unsuitable': Posing for an array of stunning shots, the 39-year-old revealed is often unable to bag the lead part in a film as she is deemed the 'non-traditional' choice

While she was the picture of confidence at the shoot, Zoe revealed she had faced plenty of knock-backs throughout her career - which she believes is because of her race.

Looking back at previous auditions, she explained: 'Every time I read a script, even if it was a period piece, I read it thinking that I was going to go after the lead role.

'It wasn't until I would come across the introduction of a supporting ethnic role that I realised, 'Oh'. I wasn't even allowed to try to get that main role, because 'they want to go traditional on the part'.

'I would hang up on that conversation from my agents, thinking, 'What about me is non-traditional'? It was a very hard pill to swallow.'

Fierce: However the star, who has Dominican and Puerto Rican roots, affirmed she is incredibly proud of her upbringing and will 'never accept' she is any different during the powerful shoot

She admitted this judgement had been very upsetting in her youth, but affirmed she is now prouder than ever of her roots - having grown up in both the Dominican Republic and New York.

'In my country, where I pledged allegiance every day since I was five, to be told when I'm out there trying to pursue my American dream that I was not a traditional American was very hurtful,' she continued.

'I will never accept that I am not a traditional anything. I come from where I come from, I can't change that, and you come from where you come from.'

However, Zoe also revealed she faces the same battle in the fashion industry - and is convinced she is rejected magazine covers because of her race, despite being told otherwise.

Super woman: She also claimed she suffers the same reality in the fashion world - and is told her sci-fi roles make her 'too masculine' for magazine covers (above as Gamora in Marvel)

Having starred in the likes of Star Trek and Guardian of the Galaxy, the actress said she is often turned down because sci-fi roles are too 'masculine' for women's magazines.

Not fully believing this however, she said: 'I feel like the action genre, for many of these editors, feels rather masculine, and I'm just going to say it like that for their benefit, because I've also seen a lot of females that are in action-driven films be on the covers of their magazines.

'I think it has a lot to do with race. 'Colour doesn't sell'  they hide behind that excuse.

'But in reality, if you are in a position of leadership, that means that you have the responsibility to guide the narrative and re-shape it and put it on the right track.'

Success: Despite her past struggle Zoe is now a well-known actress in the industry - having starred in the likes of Star Trek, Avatar and Live By Night

Despite recalling her past struggles, Zoe is now a well-known actress in the industry - having most recently taken on the role of Gamora in the Marvel franchise.

Proving her career to only be going from strength to strength, the Colombiana star is also currently working on Avatar 2 and 3 - set for release in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

She first played Neytiri in James Cameron's original epic back in 2009, with the flick becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.

However, while she is often recognised by fans on the street, Zoe admitted she now refuses selfies in order to teach her children about the dangers of strangers.

'It's confusing for them': While she is often recognised by fans on the street, Zoe admitted she now refuses selfies in order to teach her children about the dangers of strangers

She explained: 'It has been confusing to the boys when they see us approached for a picture; it shifts their behavioir.

'So I talk to that person: 'I'm teaching my sons about strangers, and [taking a picture with you] will be very confusing to them.' The response is 100% receptive. People go, 'My God, we get it,' and walk away, knowing why I turned them down.'

Zoe is mother to three-year-old twins Bowie and Cy and one-year-old Zen with her husband Marco Perego, who she married in 2013.

To see the full interview with Zoe Saldana, read PorterEdit here and/or download the Net-A-Porter app for iPhone, iPad and Android.
Ben Fordham took a swipe at Karl Stefanovic live on the Today show on Friday.

Ben joked that Karl, 43, gets paid 'too much money' after his former co-host Lisa Wilkinson quit over pay parity.

It came as Karl said he wanted to buy a chariot worth a whopping $10,000 - $15,000 from Russell Crowe's Art of Divorce auction.

'I think you might be paid too much money!' Ben Fordham takes a swipe at Karl Stefanovic and his $3 million salary live on air...after his former Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson quit over pay parity

'I think that Karl might be paid too much money,' Ben said as he prepared to host Today Extra with Sonia Kruger.

'If you can afford that chariot, you've got too much money,' he added.

Karl laughed and fired back: 'Thank you for the help again Fordo (sic), what a wonderful friend.

'How are you going Fordo?'

'I think that Karl might be paid too much money,' Ben said as he prepared to host Today Extra with Sonia Kruger

Pricey! The swipe came as Karl said he wanted to buy a chariot worth a whopping $10,000 - $15,000 from Russell Crowe's Art of Divorce

Ben quipped bacl: 'I'm going alright, alright, just battling away mate, enough to keep the shirt on the back and have a beer with the boys!'

In October, Lisa Wilkinson quit her Today co-hosting role with Karl after negotiations for her new salary stalled.

Speaking in December, she said she had felt pushed past her limit when she decided to defect to Network 10.

'When you feel that theres a pattern being repeated thats when you have to take a stand,' she explained.

Moving on: In October, Lisa Wilkinson quit her Today co-hosting role with Karl after negotiations for her new salary stalled

'You draw a line in the sand, you work out this far and no further, and I got to that line in the sand and said ''this far and no further''. And it was a really simple decision in the end.'

The decision to leave was part of being 'true' to herself and standing by her previous comments about gender equality in the workplace, she added.

'I had to be true to myself and if it did reignite the conversation, Im thrilled because I just didnt want to live a lie anymore,' Lisa explained.

While admitting it had been 'tough' to quit, Lisa said it made her work out 'what my value was' and how she didn't need to be 'grateful' for everything.

Awkward: Following Lisa's departure, Nine had argued they were unable to pay Lisa the same as Karl because she didn't do as much work

Following Lisa's departure, Nine had argued they were unable to pay Lisa the same as Karl because she didn't do as much work.

News Corp previously claimed Karl made between $2 and $3 million annually depending on ratings, while Lisa was reportedly taking home a salary of $1.1 million.

Nine CEO Hugh Marks argued that Lisa could not have been paid the same as Karl because of her work as editor-at-large of Huffington Post Australia, which ended when Fairfax Media terminated their joint venture with the news outlet.
She has recently returned to her modelling duties, after a quick family holiday in Miami.

And Kaia Gerber proved to be back to her fashionable best on Thursday, as she embarked on another busy day in Paris.

The model, 16, kept things casually chic in striped flared jeans and retro sunglasses as she hopped between working commitments in the French capital.

Chic: Kaia Gerber proved to be back to her fashionable best on Thursday, as she embarked on another busy day in Paris

The daughter of Cindy Crawford proved her natural sense of style in the vibrant flares, patterned with vertical stripes of red, white and blue.

She teamed the trousers with a simple black T-shirt and matching bomber jacket, but added chunky lace-up boots to inject a grungy touch to her look.

Never without a hint of glamour however, she accessorised with a trendy leather bum bag, slung casually over one shoulder, and jet black rectangular shades in a retro finishing touch.

Showing her stripes: The model, 16, proved her natural sense of style in the vibrant flares, patterned with vertical stripes of red, white and blue

Simple chic: She teamed the trousers with a simple black T-shirt and matching bomber jacket

Leaving her hair in loose waves and sporting minimal make-up, the brunette displayed her youthful and radiant complexion to all as she embarked on her day.

Kaia returned to Paris to continue her modelling duties on Tuesday, after a brief spot of respite in Miami following her hectic start to 2018.

The young star walked in an incredible 22 shows across the New York, Paris, Milan and London Fashion Weeks during February and March.

Rock chick: She added chunky lace-up boots to inject a grungy touch to her look

Finishing touches: Never without a hint of glamour however, she accessorised with a trendy leather bum bag, slung casually over one shoulder

Shady lady: She tied her look together with jet black rectangular shades in a retro finishing touch

As well as her catwalk appearances, Kaia has also just seen the release of her new campaign for designer Marc Jacobs' $102 fragrance Daisy Love - shot last year by Alasdair McLellan in her native Malibu.

According to WWD, Kaia is now preparing design her first-ever capsule collection with none other than Karl Lagerfeld, which will hit stores globally in September.

Her impressive achievements all come while she is just 16 years of age, and still working on her education.

Back on track: Kaia returned to Paris to continue her modelling duties on Tuesday, after a brief spot of respite in Miami (above) following her hectic start to 2018

Discussing how she juggles life as a student and international model, Kaia told Harper's Bazaar in January: 'I usually use the afternoon to catch up on homework.

'I'm completing my diploma at Malibu High through an online program, and it's difficult to get much done during the week, as the Wi-Fi on planes is really annoying.

'My favourite class this year is AP Calculus because I just like math. It's definitely super hard to teach yourself derivatives, though!'
He has been on the edge for weeks as he tried to keep his murderous ways a secret.

And it appears time has run out for Hollyoaks Ryan Knight, as he was finally exposed by Tegan Lomax for killing Amy Barnes (Ashley Slanina-Davies).

Thursday's E4 first look episode left fans on tenterhooks as Tegan (Jessica Ellis) typed out the news on her communication device, while many wondered whether Ryan would escape before the truth could come out.

The secret's out: Hollyoaks fans were left reeling after Thursday night's E4 first look episode, as Tegan Lomax finally revealed that Ryan Knight was Amy Barnes' killer

Fans have seen Tegan unable to reveal that Ryan (Duncan James) was Amy's killer, as she finally woke up from her coma unable to speak.

As Ryan discovered that Tegan would eventually learn to talk again, he frantically began plotting a move to Brazil with Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson).

This comes just a week after he desperately committed another murder to keep his crimes a secret, murdering uncle DS Geoff Thorpe (James Bradshaw) by strangling him with a necklace.

Revealing all: Tegan used a communication app on her tablet to reveal the news, as she was left unable to talk after awaking from a coma

Almost there! As she typed the words Tegan suffered a seizure, dropping the tablet before she could complete the message

And as Ryan plotted the move, Ste bid an emotional farewell to half-sister Tegan with her still unable to explain that Ryan was actually a murderous criminal.

Ste said that despite his impending departure from the village he would always love her, breaking down in the touching scenes.

After she was left alone, Ste used a communication app on her tablet to type out the message 'Ryan killed Amy.'

However before she could finish the message Tegan suffered a seizure, dropping the tablet down the side of the bed with only the words 'Ryan killed A-.'

Exposed: It appears Ryan Knight's murderous ways will finally be exposed, over a year after he killed Amy Barnes on their wedding day

Fans will have to wait and see whether Ryan's crimes are finally exposed before he makes it to Brazil with Ste, as his barrage of secrets were about to be exposed.

Ryan's crimes all stemmed from a desperation to keep his homosexuality a secret, smothering Amy on their wedding day after she discovered he had been sleeping with Kyle Kelly (Adam Rickitt).

After several red herrings Ryan was finally revealed as Amy's killer back in October, after fans were made to think it was Harry Thompson, only for a flashback episode to reveal she was still alive after he pushed her into a glass table.
She's days away from celebrating her 28 birthday on Monday.

And Kristen Stewart was happy to have a mellow morning with girlfriend Stella Maxwell in LA Thursday, where they snagged coffee and pastries from a nearby coffee shop.

The Twilight actress went for her typically messy-chic style, sporting wild bed-head and a 'Keep Portland weird!' hoodie while taking the Belgium-born beauty's chihuahua for a walk.

Rise and shine! Kristen Stewart rocked her typically laid-back style during a mellow morning walk with girlfriend Stella Maxwell and their dog Thursday in LA

KStew kept carried the coffee and pastries while her lady strolled along beside her.

Stella flaunted her model figure in a belly-baring baby tee, monochrome zip-up, and capri-length Adidas joggers while leading her pup Trip by leash.

The night before the couple dressed down in denim for an omakase dinner date at Sushi Park in West Hollywood.

Abs-olute stunner! Besides KStwe, girlfriend Stella flaunted her model figure in a belly-baring baby tee, monochrome zip-up, and capri-length Adidas joggers as she walked their pup Trip

Turning 28 on Monday! They night before the couple dressed down in denim for an omakase dinner date at Sushi Park in West Hollywood

The Cesar Award winner - turning 28 on Monday - sported some serious bedhead after removing her orange beanie outside the strip mall sushi joint.

Judging by her day-to-day casual androgynous off-camera style, you'd never know Kristen has been a chic Chanel brand ambassador as far back as 2013.

The LA native and the 27-year-old Belgium-born Brit - first linked in 2016 - put on a united front following OK! Magazine's false report of 'secret meetings' with her former Twilight leading man Robert Pattinson.

First linked in 2016: The LA native and the 27-year-old Belgium-born Brit put on a united front following OK! Magazine's false report of 'secret meetings' with her former Twilight leading man Robert Pattinson

'Coming soon!' On March 20, Maxwell teased a 'secret project' with fellow Lions Model and Victoria's Secret Angel, Irina Shayk (R)

On March 20, Maxwell teased a 'major' secret project 'coming soon' with fellow Lions Model and Victoria's Secret Angel, Irina Shayk.

The 5ft9in blonde - who got her 'wings' in 2015 - has been modeling for the San Francisco bra brand as far back as 2013.

Stella collaborated on the mystery shoot with Lions Model managing partner Ali Kavoussi, photographer Beau Nelson, and hairstylist Adir Abergel.

'On set today for something major!' Stella collaborated on the mystery shoot with Lions Model managing partner Ali Kavoussi, photographer Beau Nelson, and hairstylist Adir Abergel

Meanwhile, Kristen will next play housemaid Bridget Sullivan opposite Chloe Sevigny's axe murderer in Craig William Macneill's sapphic psychological thriller Lizzie.

Saban Films, in partnership with Roadside Attractions, will release the critically-acclaimed biopic based on the 1892 murders on September 14 in North America.

Stewart will also play Savannah Knoop, who pretended to be HIV-positive teenage boy JT Leroy before the literary persona was exposed as sister-in-law Laura Albert (Laura Dern) in Justin Kelly's biopic JT.

The hoax drama - which wrapped filming in Canada and France on August 18 - was adapted from Knoop's 2008 memoir Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy.

Sapphic duo: Meanwhile, Kristen will next play housemaid Bridget Sullivan opposite Chloe Sevigny's (R) axe murderer in Craig William Macneill's psychological thriller Lizzie
A Quiet Place (15)

Verdict: Scarily masterful

Rating:

John Krasinski, who directed, co-wrote and stars in the superb A Quiet Place, might get more respect next time he arrives in England, where he is regarded  or recently was, by a customs official at the airport  as little more than Mr Emily Blunt.

His wife of eight years also stars in A Quiet Place, and moreover is going to be the new Mary Poppins, so, spit-spot, maybe theres no escaping her shadow. But theres no doubt that Krasinski, with this film, announces himself as a serious creative talent.

A horror-thriller as taut and tense as a high wire, it runs for just 95 minutes, but plunges us into a terrifyingly believable world in which monstrous aliens, without sight but with extraordinarily sensitive hearing, have taken over the planet (or anyway the United States, which to American film-makers counts as the same thing).

In Anthony Buckeridges Jennings books that I loved as a child, one of the teachers at Linbury Court school possessed something the boys called supersonic ear-sight. Thats what these monsters have. If they hear you, they will pounce from nowhere and devour you.

Emily Blunt holds her finger to her lips in the scarily masterful A Quiet Place

The films opening shot is of a traffic light, that emblem of order and control, lying on its side. Soon, we are in an abandoned supermarket, where a bare-footed family of five is gathering  very, very quietly  some of the items it needs to survive.

We dont get to know them by name, but they are the Abbotts: Evelyn (Blunt), Lee (Krasinski) and their three children. The youngest covets a battery-operated toy aircraft, which could spell trouble. One of the many small strokes of genius about A Quiet Place is that, although the narrative provokes many questions, were too distracted to need answers.

Either that, or we can make up the answers ourselves. Boldly, Krasinski and his co-writers, Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, withhold much of the information that a lesser film might divulge. This is Day 89  but since what? An alien invasion, presumably.

And why do the Abbotts at first appear to be the only human survivors in this ravaged world? Perhaps because their oldest child, Regan (Millicent Simmonds, the marvellous, hearing-impaired actress who also appears in another of this weeks releases, Wonderstruck) is deaf. So they can all communicate in sign language.

There are only sporadic bursts of dialogue louder than a whisper, which of course cranks up the tension. But theres a lovely moment next to a roaring waterfall, when Lee persuades Regans younger brother Marcus (the excellent young British actor Noah Jupe) that he can give a rare bellow, since the noise of the cascading water will stop his shout reaching alien ears.

Meanwhile, glimpses of alarming newspaper headlines  Stay Silent, Stay Alive  imply that humanity, what little is left of it, is purely on the defensive. Why didnt all those gun-owners in America fight back? Well, because sound attracts more and more of the critters. But in any case, we are only concerned with the Abbotts, who by Day 472, having endured one family tragedy, must avert another.

They are holed up in a remote farmhouse where Evelyn is about to give birth to the couples fourth child, but, with no access to pain relief, how can she do so noiselessly?

John Krasinski (left), who directed, co-wrote and stars in the superb A Quiet Place, might get more respect next time he arrives in England, where he is regarded  or recently was, by a customs official at the airport  as little more than Mr Emily Blunt

Krasinski possibly didnt anticipate one tongue-in-cheek way in which his film would be deployed; I went to the Odeon in Hereford last Sunday, where clips from it were shown before the main feature, to encourage the audience to put away their mobile phones and generally stay quiet.

But it could also be shown to anxious expectant mothers, on the basis that they wont have anything like as much to contend with as poor Evelyn, who, with the monsters circling and listening, even goes and steps on a nail during her contractions.

That is one of several unforgettable scenes. Another rivals Peter Weirs 1985 movie Witness for the most compelling turn of events ever in a corn silo. About halfway through that scene, I realised I was forgetting to breathe.

On one level, A Quiet Place might be about hostile aliens, but on another, more visceral level, it is about parental love and sacrifice.

What are we, if we cant protect them? laments Evelyn. Indeed.

Although it feels irreverent, not to say dangerous, to offer everyone involved in this brilliant film a loud round of applause, thats what they deserve.

Ghost Stories (15)

Verdict: Properly chilling

Rating:

It is unusual for the weeks best two releases to be horror films, but Ghost Stories, adapted by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson from their own stage play, is spine-chillingly terrific, too.

Nyman plays Professor Goodman, the presenter of a British TV series called Psychic Cheats.

He is the ultimate sceptic, who spends his life scoffing at the notion of the paranormal, at least until another professional debunker resurfaces, a dour Scotsman who disappeared years earlier in mysterious circumstances.

Martin Freeman pops up as a wealthy landowner, haunted by his dead wife and child

He summons Goodman to his home on a godforsaken seaside caravan park and invites him to investigate three cases that will indeed prove the existence of malign spirits.

The first of the cases involves an embittered nightwatchman, splendidly played in a rare departure from comedy, by Paul Whitehouse. Later, Martin Freeman pops up as a wealthy landowner, haunted by his dead wife and child.

Rather topically, given the desperate current travails of the Labour Party, anti-Semitism, both overt and subtle, also rears its ugly head. So while there are plenty of standard horror-film tropes, Ghost Stories is also full of originality. It is an ingeniously crafted and properly scary film.

Shades of Hitchcock in a great teens-in-trouble thriller

Thoroughbreds (15)

Verdict: Gripping psycho-thriller

Rating:

A psychological thriller heavier on psychology than thrills, yet gripping from enigmatic start to chilling finish, Thoroughbreds is a remarkably accomplished debut from writer-director, Cory Finley.

He is clearly influenced by Alfred Hitchcock  certainly, there is a firm nod here to the maestros Strangers On A Train. In common with that 1951 film, this story also might have originated in the dark, twisted mind of Patricia Highsmith.

Talented British actresses, Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch), are perfectly cast as two troubled young American women, Amanda and Lily, who live in an affluent part of Connecticut and plot the murder of the latters wealthy stepfather (Paul Sparks).

Talented British actresses, Olivia Cooke (Ready Player One) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) - pictured - are perfectly cast as two troubled young American women, Amanda and Lily, who live in an affluent part of Connecticut and plot the murder of the latters wealthy stepfather (Paul Sparks)

He is a controlling bully and Lily loathes him, but that doesnt mean he deserves to die. The story pivots around the relationship between the women. They were childhood friends who grew apart, then reconnect in the most awkward of circumstances.

Amanda is a sociopath seemingly devoid of emotions, who has just carried out an alarming mercy-killing of the beloved family horse. Her mother, desperate for her to have a social life, pays Lily to spend time with her. Gradually, they bond, especially once it becomes clear that Lily, in her way, is just as odd as Amanda.

Thoroughbreds has plainly taken a long while to reach the cinemas because it also features the Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, who died in June 2016. He plays a small-time drug dealer, Tim, who gets roped into the plot so that Lily and Amanda might avoid suspicion.

The strangeness of all this is compounded by an almost comically quirky score, a device which can sometimes be annoyingly distracting, yet freeform jazz somehow works perfectly here. And Lyle Vincents striking cinematography, practically making an extra character of the New England mansion in which most of the narrative unfolds, cleverly evokes Stanley Kubricks The Shining.

For all its cinematic influences and references, Finleys film at times strains a little hard to be singular. But it is never less than extremely watchable.

Love, Simon (12A)

Verdict: Bold tale of teen sexuality

Rating:

Love, Simon, is also set in well-heeled U.S. suburbia and also deals with young people in crisis, but there the parallels end. Simon (Nick Robinson) is an attractive 17-year-old, popular at school and happy at home, but wrestling with the awareness that he is gay.

Nobody knows, but when an anonymous classmate posts online that he too is secretly homosexual, he and Simon embark on a deep and meaningful exchange of emails. Eventually, of course, though the film somewhat laboriously keeps us waiting, we discover his correspondents identity. The same theme, of a young man coming to terms with his sexuality, has recently been addressed in acclaimed films such as Call Me By Your Name and Moonlight.

But Love, Simon, based on a young adult novel, is different. In a way, its even more bold in that it tackles gay awakening within the structure of a mainstream high-school rom-com, complete with all the cliches: the school play (Cabaret), the school bullies, the teacher who thinks hes cool but isnt, and countless more.

Its far from perfect. Most of the adult characters are little more than caricatures and the screenplay lurches between the sweetly sensitive and the clumsily clunky. But Robinson is an immensely engaging lead, and Simons tricky predicament, while rendered rather simplistically at times, rings true.

Stylish period piece with a big dollop of syrup

Wonderstruck (PG)

Verdict: Impressive, but sickly sweet

Rating:

The last picture by American director Todd Haynes was 2015s sumptuous-looking lesbian romance Carol, and Wonderstruck contains many of the same stylistic flourishes.

In particular, Haynes treats period detail like a great portrait painter preoccupied with getting the eyes right, and here he has two periods to obsess over, as Wonderstruck tells two stories simultaneously, one set in 1977, the other exactly 50 years earlier.

The last picture by American director Todd Haynes was 2015s sumptuous-looking lesbian romance Carol, and Wonderstruck contains many of the same stylistic flourishes

The film is based on a 2011 novel for young adults by Brian Selznick, who also wrote the screenplay, and whose very name is a throwback to another age . . . he is related to the celebrated Thirties producer David O. Selznick.

His famous forebear would feel right at home in the 1927 setting, which is rendered in black and white and follows a young deaf girl, Rose (delightfully played by hearing-impaired actress Millicent Simmonds, pictured). She lives with her wealthy, but emotionally distant, father in Hoboken, New Jersey, but longs to escape, her imagination kindled by the (silent) movies. She is understandably discombobulated to see that talkies are on their way.

Well come back to Rose, as the film does again and again, but really its main protagonist is 12-year-old Ben (Oakes Fegley, also excellent), who in 1977 is living in Minnesota with his aunt, after his librarian mother (a fleeting role for Michelle Williams) has been killed in a car crash.

Bens mum never told him anything about his father, but Ben thinks he lives in New York, so sets off to find him. This task would be tricky enough, but to add a further challenge, Ben has lost his hearing following a lightning strike.

From this point on, the lives of Ben, in what might be termed Kojak-era New York, and Rose back in the Jazz Age, run closely in parallel. He is looking for his father, while she is just as keen, for reasons I shouldnt divulge, to track down a major silent-movie star called Lillian Mayhew (Julianne Moore).

Gradually, steered either by delightful serendipity or thunderous contrivance, depending on how cynical you are, their parallel lives start to converge. For me, the film flounders and eventually drowns in its own syrupy ambition. But there were plenty of people around me dabbing their eyes.

Certainly, Wonderstruck has some sweet things to say about the imagination of children, especially those who are deaf. And, perhaps ironically, it has a memorable soundtrack, combining Seventies classics (David Bowies Space Oddity, The Sweets Fox On The Run) with jazz and ragtime.

Haynes has also made his film a kind of visual hymn to New York. Rose and Ben are never more wonderstruck than when they arrive in Manhattan, she stepping off the Hoboken ferry into a monochrome world of flat caps and Model T Fords, and him off a Greyhound bus into a dazzlingly colourful cityscape, full of thieves and derelicts and, that thumping Seventies cliche, black kids playing under a gushing fire hydrant.

So the picture has plenty of pleasures, but in attempting to manipulate the audience as he manipulates his characters, Haynes overdoes it. I believed in everything except the story.
She has adopted a laidback and often monochromatic style since becoming the mother of two young children.

But Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) definitely wasn't wearing 'mum jeans' on Thursday, as she took to social media to model a new tight denim addition to her wardrobe.

The ever-stylish 30-year-old showed off her very trim and toned stomach as she shared a video trying on jeans to her 491k followers.

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They're NOT mum jeans! Lara Bingle flaunts toned stomach in black bra as she shows off her trim pins and pert derriere in tight denim

The Cronulla-born stunner tagged the brand, RE/DONE, in her post, which is marketed as an 'American luxury' label offering handmade, sustainable, and one-of-a-kind pieces.

Lara wore a black bra as she tried on the jeans, twirling around to show how the item hugged at her trim pins and pert derriere.

The Base founder's signature blonde bob was tucked behind her ears as she appeared to sport a minimal makeup application.

Model perks? The blonde beauty gave her 'thanks' to the brand, suggesting the clothing may have been given to her rather than purchased

The blonde beauty gave her 'thanks' to the brand, suggesting the clothing may have been given to her rather than purchased.

Lara is the mother of two young boys: Rocket Zot, three, and Racer, one.

She shares her adorable sons with Hollywood actor husband Sam Worthington.

The couple began dating in September 2013 and married the following December.

Family life: Lara is the mother of two young boys, Rocket Zot, three, and Racer, one, who she shares with actor husband Sam Worthington (PICTURED)

Lara and Sam's wedding was an intimate affair, with the Melbourne ceremony having less than 10 guests in attendance.

The former Tourism Australia ambassador previously praised her husband for being an 'amazing husband', telling The Sun Herald: 'He's so good with the kids. He's very hands-on, and I think we really complement each other. He is our world.'

As Australian hunk Sam is currently filming Avatar 2 in Los Angeles, the family are currently residing in California away from their usual New York residence.
The Project host Waleed Aly went head-to-head with panellist Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald in a rap battle on Nova 96.9's Fitzy & Wippa on Friday.

During the light-hearted hip hop contest, Fitzy jokingly accused Waleed, 39, of ignoring him on Network Ten's current affairs show.

Performing to Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang, the radio host, 41, said: 'You're looking at me with a confused stare, I'm the bloke you ignore in the fourth chair.'

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'I'm the bloke you ignore in the fourth chair!' During a Nova FM rap battle on Friday, Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald (R) jokingly accused Waleed Aly (L) of not paying attention to him on The Project

Elsewhere during Fitzy's rap, the funnyman roasted Waleed over his job as a university lecturer and his absence from social media.

When it was Waleed's turn to respond, he joked that Fitzy was a 'turn-off' for viewers and claimed 'It's me they wanna see!' on The Project.

He also quipped that Nova FM co-host Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli has 'more personality' than Fitzy does in his 'little finger'.

He concluded his performance with: 'Take notice, boys, the duo's over. As of Monday morning, it's Waleed on Nova!'

He went there! Performing to Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang, the radio host said: 'You're looking at me with a confused stare, I'm the bloke you ignore in the fourth chair'

On Thursday, Waleed was accused by viewers of 'mansplaining' to panellist Rachel Corbett as they discussed a controversial Greens proposal.

During the show, Waleed delivered a passionate editorial praising a proposal from Greens leader Richard Di Natale to give every citizen $23,000.

The taxpayer-funded payment, known as a universal basic income, would be handed out to offset lost wages from jobs being replaced by robots and computers.

Rachel suggested that only those who would lose their jobs due to automation would deserve the payment, but Waleed disagreed.

'I just can't make sense of that... surely this money should only be going to people who without it would be below the poverty line,' Rachel said.

Controversy: On Thursday, Waleed was accused by viewers of 'mansplaining' to panellist Rachel Corbett (right) as they discussed a controversial Greens proposal

'Why is this clown still on air? Stopped watching it long ago': Some viewers were quick to slam Waleed for what they considered 'mansplaining'

Waleed replied: 'Yeah but that's because you're thinking about it the way we're currently thinking about government payments.

'The idea is... if everyone gets this amount of money you don't need to police who gets it... and that costs a lot to do.

'Once you means test it, like we do welfare, it sort of defeats the whole purpose of it.'

Some viewers were quick to slam Waleed for what they considered 'mansplaining'.

'Why is this clown still on air? Stopped watching it long ago,' one man commented.

'I'm not impressed with Waleed Aly's sense of of self righteous (sic). He's negative and shuts down community conversations,' another wrote on social media.

FITZY'S RAP Welcome to the house of pain, Waleed I'm Mick Jagger, baby, you're the singer of Creed Prepare to draw battle, draw your vocal sword This rap is bigger than a Walkley Award You're looking at me with a confused stare I'm the bloke you ignore in the fourth chair Don't get comfy, you'll be feeling some heat I'll sit next to you 'cause I'm coming for Pete (Helliar) Is it true that you lecture at uni? Patches on your elbow make you look groovy Poltics the subject that you (inaudible) I've heard that it's as riveting as a night at the Logies You're a human encyclopedia Yet refuse to have social media Don't you want to hear from all those trolls? When you do, "it's game on, molls!" Well that's it, my roast is done I've got two more lines, just for fun I am the greatest, Waleed Aly 'Cause I float like a butterfly, rap like Jay-Z Advertisement
Busy Philipps is addressing the backlash from her subtle tribute to actor Heath Ledger on the 10th anniversary of his death in January.

Some accused the Dawson's Creek alum of 'being exploitative' when she shared a grainy photo with best friend and Heath's ex Michelle Williams with the words 'Its ok' back on the date of the actor's passing.

But the star made her intentions clear while speaking to The Cut for the cover story of their April issue, breaking down into tears as she told the magazine she 'never would want to have it be misconstrued in that way.'

Her reasons: Busy Philipps addressed the outcry after her subtle tribute to actor Heath Ledger on the 10th anniversary of his death, telling The Cut she's 'hyper protective' of the actor's ex Michelle Williams during a intimate cover story for their April issue, above

The actress got emotional as she told the mag: 'I've never even really spoken about [Ledger's death], because I never would want to have it be misconstrued in that way, but it was the ten-year anniversary.'

'It's just been a long ten years, you know?' the Mom actress explained, 'That anniversary just brought up a lot of I can't believe it's been ten years. I was pregnant with [daughter] Birdie.'

Busy said her close relationship with Williams made her careful with her words, saying: 'I've never shared [my feelings], because I'm hyper protective of [Williams] and her daughter. But I also think  I think it's okay.'

'Everyone's allowed to have their own feelings about something that happens.'

By her side: Some accused the Dawson's Creek alum of 'being exploitative' when she shared a grainy photo with best friend and Heath's ex Michelle Williams with the words 'Its ok' back on the date of the actor's passing

'Protective': Busy said her close relationship with Williams made her careful with her words, saying: 'I've never shared... because I'm hyper protective of [Williams] and her daughter. Above, the ladies are seen during the 2017 Oscars where they went as each other's dates

Williams also spoke to the magazine, telling them she 'trusts [Busy's] judgement implicitly.'

Back on January 22, 10 years after Heath's unexpected passing, Busy shared a photo of she and pal Michelle.

Williams and Ledger dated for several years after meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain and shared daughter Matilda, now 13, who Philipps is the godmother of.

In the photo, both ladies wore somber faces as they supported each other through the tough time.

Still processing: The star also explained how the tribute was part of her own healing journey, saying 'That anniversary just brought up a lot' and 'Everyone's allowed to have their own feelings.' Above Busy, Michelle and Heath are seen at the 2006 Oscars

Though the picture clearly showed two friends in need of one another, Busy understood how 'some people felt like [she] was being exploitative,' but said the post was a necessary part of her own healing process.

Ledger's untimely death is still ripe reminder of the pressures of Hollywood life.

The Australian actor died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January 2008 in New York when he was only 28.
She's preparing to tie the knot later this year after getting engaged to boyfriend Chris Zylka in January.

And Thursday, hotel heiress Paris Hilton flashed her enormous $2 million diamond engagement ring as she went shopping in Beverly Hills.

The 37-year-old paired her sparkler with a pair of diamond stud earrings.

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Blinged: Paris Hilton flashed her $2 million diamond engagement ring as she went shopping in Beverly Hills Thursday. She paired her sparkler with a pair of diamond stud earrings

Paris was spotted shopping at the Chanel boutique wearing a Juicy Couture long sleeve cropped velour top over a long black shirt.

She added skin tight black leather trousers and black ankle boots with laces.

The blonde also sported a jaunty peaked cap and carried a backpack.

Paris covered up with a pair of large designer sunglasses and wore a shade of glossy pink color on her lips.

Everything matched: Paris, 37, was spotted shopping at the Chanel boutique wearing a Juicy Couture long sleeve cropped velour top over a long black shirt and finger-less black gloves

Stylish: The hotel heiress showed off her lithe figure in a pair of skinny black leather trousers and added inches with a pair of high-heeled black ankle boots with laces

Blonde beauty: Paris covered up with a pair of large designer sunglasses and wore a shade of glossy pink color on her lips

Shopping spree: She seemed to behaving a great time as she tried on a shiny choker with a little help from an assistant

The shopping expedition was clearly a successful one as the club DJ left the store carrying purchases in a large bag.

In fact, she looked very pleased with herself as she stopped to pose for photos on the sidewalk.

She also took time to take a selfie with a group of excited fans who'd recognized her.

All smiles: The shopping expedition was clearly a successful one as the club DJ left the store carrying purchases in a large bag

Camera friendly: In fact, Paris looked very pleased with herself as she stopped to pose for photos on the sidewalk

Kind: The former The Simple Life star also took time to take a selfie with a group of excited fans who'd recognized her

Paris accepted a proposal from boyfriend Chris, 32, after the actor got down on one knee during a romantic trip to Aspen, Colorado, in January.

The couple had been dating for two years when he popped the question.

Last week, Chris told TMZ that he is going to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before the wedding.

'Well, any gentleman that's about to marry a very wealthy and well-established business woman wouldn't be a gentleman to not bring up a prenup in the first place,' he said. 'So yes of course we're going to have one.'

The couple have not publicly announced a time and place for their nuptials.

Getting married: It's a happy time for Paris who is preparing to tie the knot later this year with her actor beau Chris Zylka, 32

She said yes: Chris got down on one knee to propose during a romantic trip to Aspen, Colorado, in January. The couple had been dating for two years




She recently survived a stint on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

But the nightmare isn't over for Simone Holtznagel, who looked positively terrifying on Thursday while wearing green face mask.

The 24-year-old took to her Instagram Story to share a disturbing image of herself looking eerily featureless as she used the beauty product.

'Someone sneezed on me': Simone Holtznagel looks TERRIFYING in a green face mask that completely covers her eyes and mouth

In the photo, Simone relaxes on a towel with an application of the clay-like substance completely covering her face, with only her nostrils and eyebrows visible.

She also wore a headband that protected her flaxen locks from coming into contact with the mask.

Looking more like a horror film character than a model, Simone joked in the caption: 'Someone sneezed on me'.

Much better! Simone recently survived a stint on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Haunting: Simone later shared a second photo of the treatment, with the caption: 'When you take your face mask game seriously.'

She later shared a second photo of the treatment, with the caption: 'When you take your face mask game seriously.'

It seemed to pay off in the end though, as Simone looked fresh and revitalised after removing the ghostly green face mask.

Simone recently hit back at Triple M's Mick Molloy after he likened her to a 'baby elephant' while she was filming I'm A Celebrity.

The big reveal: It seemed to pay off in the end though, as Simone looked fresh and revitalised after removing the ghostly green face mask

On Triple M's Kennedy Molloy drive show, the 51-year-old suggested Simone was too curvy to be a model, leaving his co-host Jane Kennedy shocked.

'She claims to be a model of some description. She claims to be a world class international model. I call bulls**t on that,' he said.

'I mean, maybe a plus-size model. She's been in the jungle for 10 weeks now and still...' Mick added, before humming the tune to Baby Elephant Walk.

He said what?! Simone recently hit back at Triple M's Mick Molloy after he likened her to a 'baby elephant' while she was filming I'm A Celebrity

Jane then scolded Mick, saying: ''Come on, that is incredibly rude of you!'

Speaking with News.com.au afterwards, Simone admitted she found Mick's comments 'hilarious.'

'If I'm going to take modelling career advice, or any advice on fitness, he's not going to be the person I take it from,' she said.
Australian actress Rose Byrne is famed for her movie-star good looks.

But the beauty's two-year-old son Rocky seems to have inherited the genetic features of his famous father, Bobby Cannavale.

On Thursday, the actor took to Instagram to share two cute snaps of his tot, with fans remarking on the resemblance between dad and son.

There's no mistaking who his dad is! On Thursday, actor Bobby Cannavale took to Instagram to share pictures of his two-year-old son Rocky, who has clearly inherited his genetic features

Young Rocky is blessed with Bobby's deep brown eyes and dark curly hair, with one fan remarking: 'OMG no doubt whose kid he is'.

The acclaimed actor is also known for his distinctively thick eyebrows, with a follower also anticipating that the youngster would soon be inheriting those.

'I think he's going to have your eyebrows!' they predicted.

'I think he's going to have your eyebrows!' Rocky has inherited his dad's distinctive curly hair and deep brown eyes

However, Bobby's looks aren't the only thing Rocky appears to have inherited, with the toddler already showing a clear love of the camera.

Adorable Rocky made a series of animated faces whilst posing for pictures, causing one fan to predict:'He's going to be a great actor like his father,'.

Bobby also anticipated his son's future on the silver screen, describing him in the caption as a 'baby Marlon Brando'.

Adorable: Photogenic Rocky loves the camera, meaning he may take after his actress mother Rose

Expanding their brood: In November last year, Rose gave birth to her second child with Bobby, a son named Rafa.

In November last year, Rose gave birth to her second child with Bobby, a son named Rafa.

No pictures of the newborn have been shared on social media, so it remains unclear whether the baby boy will take after Bobby or Rose in the looks department.

However, it does appear Bobby has the stronger genes.

The actor also has a 22-year-old son Jake, from a previous relationship, who is every inch his dad's doppelganger.
She's the multiple Logie Award-winner who plays the fan favourite Nina Proudman on the hit Channel Ten series Offspring.

And with rumours swirling that the show has been axed, Asher Keddie has revealed she is making a move to behind the camera.

Speaking to TV Tonight, the 43-year-old said she is trying her hand at producing and developing projects for Matchbox Pictures.

'I am moving on': Offspring star Asher Keddie reveals she will focus more on producing amid rumours that the hit Channel Ten drama has been axed

'I am moving on for the first time in my professional life,' she explained.

'For the first time in my working life, I'm starting to plan.

'I dont know if that might be an age thing too. Also Im responsible for 2 children so things have changed enormously for me in the last few years. But thats whats happening. Im starting to make plans and it feels good!'

She added that the move to behind the scenes was about challenging herself creatively.

The revelation comes after Asher hinted this week that the hugely popular 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,' she told the Herald Sun.

Is this the end of Nina Proudman? Asher hinted this week that the hugely popular Network Ten series may not be returning to screens for an eighth season

The show centres on the life of 30-something-year-old obstetrician Nina Proudman and her family.

Meanwhile, rumours have been swirling that the show has been axed altogether, since Channel Ten confirmed that the network is undecided on whether it 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 family

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.

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, 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
She was rejected by 'ex-husband' Sean Thomsen on Married At First Sight after she begged him for a second chance.

Now Blair Rachael has gushed over a new 'sexy' man on Instagram.

The blonde reality TV star posted a happy snap of herself posing with a shirtless hunk at Bondi Beach.

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'Love you so much': Married At First Sight's Blair Rachael gushes over her 'sexy man' on Instagram after being brutally dumped by 'ex-husband' Sean Thomsen on social experiment

'SO MUCH BIRTHDAY HAPPINESS to this SEXY man Michael Cowdroy. Love you so much,' she wrote alongside the curious shot.

The former MAFS star added: 'See you tomorrow'.

In the latter part of the post, Blair mentioned the photo was captured on the first day they met.

'This was the first day we met,' she wrote in the caption.

Poor Blair! Blair was rejected by 'ex-husband' Sean Thomsen after she begged him for a second chance on Married At First Sight

In the selfie, the duo are beaming as they enjoy a warm embrace on the sun-drenched grassy knoll.

On Friday, Blair told Daily Mail Australia her relationship with the man is purely platonic.

'[Michael's] Just a very good friend,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

The bubbly blonde added that the public 'will know' when she's in an official relationship.

Not cool: Sean, who is now in a relationship with fellow MAFS star Tracey Jewel, told Blair he did not want to spend any more time together, which prompted the tearful bride to pack her bags and announce: 'I feel really betrayed right now and I'm p**sed off'

Blair's loved-up post comes after she was left in tears when Sean rejected her during the social experiment in late February.

Sean, who is now in a relationship with fellow MAFS star Tracey Jewel, told Blair he did not want to spend any more time together, which prompted the tearful bride to pack her bags and announce: 'I feel really betrayed right now and I'm p**sed off.'

Just minutes earlier, Blair had begged Sean for a second chance after he voted to 'leave' their marriage the previous night.
She's no stranger to strutting down the runway.

And Tyra Banks looked ready for the catwalk once again on Thursday as she attended a promotional event with her mother Carolyn at 92Y in New York City.

The 44-year-old supermodel definitely turned some heads thanks to her sheer top, which showcased her toned arms, and provided just a glimpse of her cleavage underneath.

Two of a kind! Tyra Banks looked ready for the catwalk once again on Thursday as she attended a promotional event with her mother Carolyn at 92Y in New York City

The 5ft10in stunner's black trousers were skin tight, which revealed her sculpted legs.

Black booties completed her all-black ensemble.

Her caramel tresses were parted on the left and also sported an intricate braid on the top of her head.

A smokey eye, subtle blush and some shiny rose-colored lipstick ensured the mother-of-one was ready for her turn in front of the cameras.

Peek-a-boo! The 44-year-old supermodel definitely turned some heads thanks to her sheer top, which showcased her toned arms, and provided just a glimpse of her cleavage underneath

She was there to take part in a discussion about her new book Perfect is Boring, which she co-wrote with her mother Carolyn London, 72.

It certainly looked as though sheer runs in the family, as Carolyn also rocked a sheer outer garment, which also featured an abstract print on the sleeves and down the front.

Black trousers and a pair of black loafers rounded out her outfit for the evening.

Leggy lady! The 5ft10in stunner's black trousers were skin tight, which revealed her sculpted limbs

CNN's Don Lemon was there to act as a moderator, and also took a lovely snap with the two women.

Tyra has bravely opened up the doors to her life in her intimate new memoir, in which she confessed she had a nose job at the start of her career.

'I had bones in my nose that were growing and itching,' she wrote.

'I could breathe fine, but I added cosmetic surgery. I admit it! Fake hair, and I did my nose. I feel I have a responsibility to tell the truth,' she explained.

Man in the middle! CNN's Don Lemon was there to act as a moderator, and also took a lovely snap with the two women

Earlier in the day Tyra posted a fun snap showing herself before and after applying make-up and styling her hair.

In the left pane of the twitter post, she wrote 'if you don't love me at my,' which accompanied a candid shot of the celeb.

Next to it, she wrote 'then you don't deserve me at my,' which accompanied a glammed up shot of the talk show host.

Slight differences: Earlier in the day Tyra posted a fun snap showing herself before and after applying make-up and styling her hair




She is about to unleash her second book onto the world.

But fans have slammed Married At First Sight star Tracey Jewel for charging up to $126 per head for a series of launch 'soirees' to promote her new tome 'This Goddess Means Business'.

Tracey took to Instagram this week to announce launch events will take place in Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland.

Bargain? Fans have slammed Married At First Sight star Tracey Jewel for charging up to $126 per head for a series of launch 'soirees' to promote This Goddess Means Business

In the caption, the buxom brunette urged fans to 'drink sparkling, eat macaroons and chat about life, MAFS and Why #thisgoddessmeansbusiness'.

However, one follower commented on the fact that Tracey was charging up to $126 to attend the events - a sentiment which the reality star deleted.

Unperturbed, the follower reiterated the original post chiming in again with: '@traceyjewel_ify you deleted my comment which means you understood full well what "Book signings are meant to be free in order to sell books" means.'

No free launch: One follower commented on the fact that Tracey was charging up to $126 to attend the events - a sentiment which the reality star deleted.

More books: The upcoming book is Tracey's third, after she published The Goddess Within - 50 Inspirations Top Open Up Your Goddess Energy in 2011 and Don't Mess with the Goddess: The New Rules of Consciousness for the Millennial Woman in 2016

The follower continued: 'This "book" is a thinly veiled disguise to earn appearance money from hapless fools.'

Another fan bolstered the criticism with: '$126 want more then just a book' while a third suggested the tour was a cynical 'cash-in.'

'Just another way all these mafs ppl are cashing in. Give it another 6 months Everyone will be saying WHO,' they wrote.

Spell check? It wasn't just the ticket prices fans took umbrage with either, with many pointing out a glaring grammatical error on the post. Superimposed over an image of the reality star were the words: 'Tracey Jewels new book launch soirees', with the apostrophe of possession absent in her surname

It wasn't just the ticket prices fans took umbrage with either, with many pointing out a glaring grammatical error on the post.

Superimposed over an image of the reality star were the words: 'Tracey Jewels new book launch soirees', with the apostrophe of possession absent in her surname.

'There are writing errors in just this short post. How skilled are you at writing??' one eagle eyed fan pointed out.

Oops: 'There are writing errors in just this short post. How skilled are you at writing??,' one eagle eyed fan pointed out

Another added: 'It's "Jewels" Tracey. Hope youve proof read your book!'

Defending her grammatical faux pas, Tracey commented: 'lol Im a writer just not a good editor!'

The upcoming book is Tracey's third, after she published The Goddess Within - 50 Inspirations Top Open Up Your Goddess Energy in 2011 and Don't Mess with the Goddess: The New Rules of Consciousness for the Millennial Woman in 2016.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Tracey Jewel for comment.
Her relationship with fellow Married At First Sight star Sean Thomsen, 34, has been going swimmingly since the pair made it 'Facebook official' in March.

And Tracey Jewel, 35, has proved the couple aren't slowing down any time soon, flying to Brisbane on Friday for a 'mini vaycay.'

Taking to Instagram to mark their arrival, the author posted a snap of the couple while beaming from ear-to-ear.

'Mini vaycay in Brissy': Tracey Jewel, 35, has proved her relationship with fellow Married At First Sight's Sean Thomsen isn't slowing down any time soon, having flown to Brisbane for a 'mini vaycay'

It appears Tracey has been brushing Sean up on his selfie skills, with her beau perfectly capturing the lovebirds and the Brisbane City backdrop in the shot.

Captioning the post, the reality star wrote: 'Mini vaycay in Brissy', adding the hashtags 'cocktail time', 'holiday', 'vaycaymode' and 'Brisbane'

Fans were quick to comment, with the post rallying almost 3,000 likes in just two hours of being posted.

Sealed with a kiss! Taking to Instagram, Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel has posted a series of intimate snaps with new beau Sean Thomsen during a romantic weekend spent in Perth with her daughter

One fan wrote: 'You two are so cute together.'

It's not the first time the duo have jetted off, with Tracey taking to Instagram late March to post a series of intimate snaps with beau Sean during a romantic getaway in Perth.

The self-proclaimed relationship expert captioned: 'What an amazing weekend.'

Precious moments! In the second snap, Tracey is seen with her eight-year-old daughter, Grace atop her shoulders, smiling joyfully during their Perth trip

Tagging Crown Towers Perth, her partner and Perth-based floral store Flores De Amor, Tracey also added the hashtags: 'Muchneededrandr', 'pooltime' 'relax', 'toomuchfood' and 'rest'.

In the first snap, the newly announced couple are seen kissing, with Sean comfortably resting his hand on Tracey's knee.

Holding a bouquet of fifty pink-dusted roses, Tracey appeared to be on cloud nine while sitting sky-high on a beige sofa in the couple's luxury suite.

Bottom's up! The third picture showcases the couple poolside, enjoying the resort's facilities and a cheeky alcoholic beverage to accompany

In the second snap, Tracey is seen with her eight-year-old daughter, Grace, atop her shoulders, smiling joyfully during their Perth trip.

The third picture showcases the couple poolside, enjoying the resort's facilities and a cheeky alcoholic beverage to accompany.

Showing off his tattoos, Sean was snapped shirtless, revealing inked text across his left upper chest, along with his upper left-arm sleeve tattoo.

In the final picture of the series, Tracey flaunts her feet at the bottom of a pool snap, rallying envy from fans across the social platform.
On Thursday she was snapped looking casual in a vintage band T-shirt and tiny shorts as she accepted a food delivery at home.

But in recently released pics from a Jimmy Choo photoshoot, Chloe Grace Moretz was the epitome of chic, slipping into a variety of glamorous garments that showcased the Kick Ass star's slim pins.

The 21-year-old Aeropostale model flaunted her gorgeous gams in a variety of Californian locales.

Legs for miles: In recently released photos from a Jimmy Choo photoshoot, Chloe Grace Moretz was the epitome of chic

In one shot, the Brain On Fire star reclines poolside in a rose gold gown, wearing a pair of royal green skyscraper heels on her feet.

In another, the 30 Rock actress is perched atop a classic convertible in the middle of the desert, wrapped in a leather jacket over a black dress with a deep plunging neckline that shows off Chloe's ample assets.

The blonde beauty has been upping her fashion game of late, no doubt thanks to her on-again relationship with Brooklyn Beckham and his famous designer mom Victoria.

At the beginning of March, Moretz made it to France just in time to catch the end of Paris Fashion Week, where she made a stylish appearance at the Louis Vuitton show.

At the end of January, Chloe was seen wearing five garments from international fashion designer Victoria's eponymous fashion label.

Just deserts: The 21-year-old Aeropostale model flaunted her gorgeous gams in a variety of Californian locales

Trendsetter: The blonde beauty has been upping her fashion game of late, no doubt thanks to her on-again relationship with Brooklyn Beckham and his famous designer mom Victoria

Fashionable: At the end of January, Chloe was seen wearing five garments from international fashion designer Victoria's eponymous fashion label

Chloe has recently returned to the West Coast after spending some quality time with her boyfriend in New York.

The loved up pair celebrated his 19th birthday on March 4 and Chloe gushed about David and Victoria Beckham's eldest son on social media.

Chloe and Brooklyn first met in 2014, and they went on to date in summer 2016 before the distance proved too much - with the actress based in LA.

However, the duo rekindled their romance in September 2017, when Brooklyn moved to the Big Apple to study photography at Parsons School of Design.

Legs 11 (out of ten): Chloe has recently returned to the West Coast after spending some quality time with her boyfriend in New York

Stepping out: At the beginning of March, Moretz made it to France just in time to catch the end of Paris Fashion Week, where she made a stylish appearance at the Louis Vuitton show

Age gap: Moretz is seen here with her younger boyfriend Brooklyn Beckham, 19, at her 21st birthday in February 2018

The Hugo actress slipped into something a little more comfortable as she accepted a food delivery outside her Los Angeles apartment on Thursday.

Wearing a vintage The Police T-shirt and Under Armor shorts, Moretz grabbed a massive food order from a delivery driver.

The Georgia-born beauty again showed off her legs when she propped the gate open with one toned thigh.

Dressing down: The Hugo actress slipped into something a little more comfortable as she accepted a food delivery outside her Los Angeles apartment on Thursday
They celebrated their first wedding anniversary last month.

And Amanda Seyfried looked smitten with husband Thomas Sadoski as they attended the H&M celebration of 2018 Conscious Exclusive collection at John Lautner's Harvey House in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Cuddled up to one another, the pair only had eyes for each other as they attended the glamorous bash.

Cute couple: Amanda Seyfried looks smitten with husband Thomas Sadoski at the H&M celebration of 2018 Conscious Exclusive collection in Los Angeles on Thursday

Amanda looked sensational on the outing as she sheathed her incredible figure in a billowing halter neck dress that cinched in at her slender waist.

The garment flared out to full length, with just her barely-there black heels peeking through, which aided in boosting her modelesque frame.

The Mammia Mia star finished off the look by styling her glossy blonde locks in a side parting that framed her pretty features.

Dressed to impress: Amanda looked sensational on the outing as she sheathed her incredible figure in a billowing halter neck dress that cinched in at her slender waist

Perfectly paired: Cuddled up to one another, the pair only had eyes for each other as they attended the glamorous bash

Pretty in prints: The garment flared out to full length, with just her barely-there black heels peeking through, which aided in boosting her modelesque frame

Blonde bombshell: The Mammia Mia star finished off the look by styling her glossy blonde locks in a side parting that framed her pretty features

The couple, who got married in March last year, welcomed their first child later that month.

The pair have agreed to keep their daughter's name private, with only family and friends let in on the secret.

'Im a parent now and I appreciate things in a way I never have,' Amanda said during an interview on Dr Berlin's Informed pregnancy podcast last July.

'I wouldnt want you to ask me what her name is, because I wouldnt tell you. Its about us as a family.

'Our friends [know] and you know what that caused? A lot of embroidery. A lot of embroidered towels.'

Two's company: Amanda looked sensational in her printed maxi dress as she cosied up to fellow actress Kate Bosworth, who looked delightful in a green floral hanky hem gown

Lovely ladies: : (L-R) Amanda, Kate Bosworth, Christy Turlington, Mena Suvari and Naomie Harris were a vision of beauty in their printed dresses as they posed for pictures

Meanwhile, Amanda is gearing up to star in the eagerly-anticipated Mamma Mia 2, which will hit the big screen on July 20.

She previously told EW that the musical sequel is going to be 'better than the original.'

She said: 'I actually had a better time than I did shooting the first movie.

'Everybodys back together and its been 10 years. Theres so much love and so much family that its infused 100 times in this movie.'
She spoke about the pressures she faced adjusting to motherhood when she welcomed longed-for son Teddy in a candid interview earlier this week.

And Alex Jones was supported by her doting husband Charlie Thomson as she left BBC Studios in central London after filming The One Show on Thursday.

The TV presenter, 41, seemed in good spirits as she stepped out after revealing she feared she would be replaced if she stayed on maternity leave for too long.

Stronger together: Alex Jones was supported by her doting husband Charlie Thomson as she left BBC Studios in central London after filming The One Show on Thursday

The One Show host, who returned to work just three months after giving birth to baby Teddy in January 2017, looked stunning in a floral top and cropped loose-fitting jeans.

Stepping out in bold red boots, the Welsh star kept the cold weather at bay by slipping a pale pink coat over her shoulders.

The brunette beauty styled her cropped locks with a middle parting, and opted for natural make-up and a slick of bright red lipstick to frame her pretty features.

Staying close to her husband as they left the studios, the presenter wrapped her arm around his as they walked side-by-side.

Happy couple: The TV presenter, 41, seemed in good spirits as she stepped out after revealing she feared she would be replaced if she stayed on maternity leave for too long

Chic: The One Show host, who returned to work just three months after giving birth to baby Teddy in January 2017, looked stunning in a floral top and cropped loose-fitting jeans

Alex's insurance broker husband was suited and booted for the occasion, as he walked out in a grey two-piece, pink button-up shirt and black brogues.

Thanks to his close-cropped beard and raven locks, which were brushed to the side, the star's beau looked ruggedly handsome as he walked alongside her.

Alex and Charlie tied the knot at Cardiff Castle on New Year's Eve in 2015, before welcoming baby Teddy in January 2017.

Speaking during an appearance on ITV1's Lorraine on Thursday, Alex said she now has regrets over how quickly she returned to work after having her son.

Stylish: Stepping out in bold red boots, Alex kept the cold weather at bay by slipping on a pale pink coat over her shoulders

Dapper dude: Alex's insurance broker husband was suited and booted for the occasion, as he walked out in a grey two-piece, pink button-up shirt and black brogues

The TV presenter said she wishes she had waited at least five months because it would have given her more time to bond with her baby.

Fearing her bosses would replace her, Alex admitted to host Christine Lampard: 'I think women find it hard to be able to admit that they want to go back to work and that they are going to go back a bit earlier than everyone thinks is acceptable.

'It's ok to say I like my job and I want to continue doing it while I'm a mother. You've worked very hard to get where you are.

'Anyone who respects their job, they are scared about someone stepping in and doing it better. It is a worry.

Pretty as a picture: The brunette beauty styled her cropped locks with a middle parting, and opted for natural make-up and a slick of bright red lipstick to frame her pretty features

Longed for baby: Alex welcomed her baby boy Teddy with husband Charlie in January 2017

'People expect you to say the baby is the most important, and of course it is, but side-by-side you still want to be the same person you were before. You'll never be exactly the same, of course. I think it's OK to say, 'Yes I'm going to go back to work'.'

She said: 'I went back a bit too soon. 'Before you have a baby you don't really understand how it's going to change you. I made promises that were a sort of unrealistic.

'Three and a half months was very early. But we made it work. In hindsight, five and a half months would have been better. But you don't know before going off on maternity.'

The One Show presenter, who gave birth to her first child at age 39, also spoke on Lorraine about her new book Winging It where she revealed that she was close to depression as she struggled to breastfeed her son.

Candid: Speaking during an appearance on ITV1's Lorraine on Thursday, Alex said she now has regrets over how quickly she returned to work after having her son

'Hellish': The TV presenter told Christine Lampard she wishes she had waited at least five months because it would have given her more time to bond with her baby

Presenter Christine, who is filling in for regular host Lorraine, said: 'Alex you've said in the book, you were close to depression?

The brunette then replied: 'Yeah. There was so much pressure when I was trying to breastfeed , all you want to do is keep this little human alive, there is too much pressure on women to breastfeed, it was painful, it was so painful.

'Id be in tears, and nobody tells you that beforehand.

'In the end Charlie went out and got a bottle of formula, and said "youre trying your best but we need to feed Ted". And in the end it did get better.'

Honest: She added: 'Parenthood is joyous and incredible but sometimes it is hard and difficult, sometimes you dont want to be a parent. It is a rollercoaster'

'I didnt want to stop. If that conversation was a bit more out in the open, it would be better.'

She added: 'Parenthood is joyous and incredible but sometimes it is hard and difficult, sometimes you dont want to be a parent. It is a rollercoaster.'

The former Strictly Come Dancing star also spoke about her 12-hour labour with Teddy which saw her rushed to the emergency unit afterwards, as well as praising her husband Charlie, who she wed in 2015.

She said: 'I think people forget how traumatic it can be for dads, Charlie was an immense birthing partner, he came through more than I can tell you.

Devoted: The former Strictly Come Dancing star also spoke about her 12 hour labour with Teddy which saw her rushed to the emergency unit afterwards

'We got through it together, as soon as he came out, my maternal instinct kicked in, the job was done. But Charlie didnt know what to expect, suddenly I was in the emergency room.

'There was a team of doctors, he was left holding this new little baby, he was thinking is she gonna make it, am I gonna be a single dad?

'For the first eight weeks, it took him a while to adjust, he was meant to be a dad, its his calling.

'Men can only be supportive bystanders, we forget how difficult it is for the men. Charlie loved him from the word go. Dads have to work harder, for women it comes more naturally.'
He suffered a major gaffe when he accidentally called Laurina 'Lenora' during the rose ceremony on Sunday's episode of Bachelor In Paradise.

And good-looking Blake Colman appeared to admit he isn't blessed with high intelligence as he thanked his Bachelor In Paradise co-star for being so 'understanding' over his mistake.

Shared on Instagram on Friday, the hunk can be seen hugging the beautiful brunette on the set of the show in Fiji.

'I was not blessed with a high IQ': Blake Colman confessed he's not intelligent as he praised Laurina Fleure for being 'understanding' after his MAJOR gaffe on Bachelor In Paradise

'Still getting free hugs...' Blake penned on Instagram. 'Thank you for being a wonderful human being and understanding i was not blessed with a high IQ.'

The television star claimed despite his low IQ levels, he has maintained his likeable and sociable personality and as a result he still 'gets free hugs'.

Although Laurina appears to have dumped him following his mistake, Blake proved there was no bitterness between them when he hailed her as 'wonderful'.

Forgiveness: Although Laurina appears to have dumped him following his mistake, Blake proved there was no bitterness between them when he hailed her as 'wonderful' (pictured together)

It comes after Bachelor In Paradise's Jake Ellis told News.com.au that Blake was suffering from the flu when he accidentally called Laurina 'Lenora'.

'To back Blake up, he was very crook at that rose ceremony,' Jake said.

'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.'

Social butterfly: 'Still getting free hugs...' Blake penned on Instagram. 'Thank you for being a wonderful human being and understanding i was not blessed with a high IQ'

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.

Blake first found fame when he competed and lost the love of Sophie Monk on The Bachelorette series.

Bachelor In Paradise continues Sunday at 7:30pm on Network Ten.
She is in the midst of filming the second season of her reality show.

And Ferne McCann certainly seems to be enjoying herself while doing so as she was seen heading to her former TOWIE co-star Elliott Wright's Marbella eatery Olivia's to watch her pal James 'Arg' Argent perform on Thursday evening.

The 27-year-old reality star, who is shooting Ferne McCann: First Time Mum, looked absolutely sensational in a risque ensemble comprising of a crop top with a knotted front and a high-waisted trousers with perilously slashed details at the leg.

A vision: Ferne McCann certainly seems to be enjoying herself while doing so as she was seen heading to her former TOWIE co-star Elliott Wright's Marbella eatery Olivia's to watch her pal James 'Arg' Argent perform on Thursday evening

Ferne looked stunning as she headed out in her bold look which showed off every inch of her stunning figure - the result of hours spent in the gym.

The reality hit is mother to six-month-old daughter Sunday, who she shares with incarcerated ex-boyfriend Arthur Collins, who is currently serving over two decades in prison for committing a horrific acid attack a year ago.

Making the best of life as a single mother, the former TOWIE star has been shooting the reality show which follows her solo foray into motherhood and how she is coping - with the first season going down a storm with fans.

Proving she is as stylish as ever, the chic star sported the bold ensemble which not only made an impact through its colouring but also its cheeky cut complete with an abs-flashing stomach tie and the perilously slashed legs.

Woah mama! The 27-year-old reality star, who is shooting Ferne McCann: First Time Mum, looked absolutely sensational in a risque ensemble comprising of a crop top with a knotted front and a high-waisted trousers with perilously slashed details at the leg

All things bright and beautiful: Ferne looked stunning as she headed out in her bold look which showed off every inch of her stunning figure - the result of hours spent in the gym

Strutting her stuff: Making the best of life as a single mother, the former TOWIE star has been shooting the reality show which follows her solo foray into motherhood and how she is coping - with the first season going down a storm with fans

She boosted her already staggering height with the addition of heels with a dainty duo of straps across her perfectly manicured toes and an ankle strap.

Her blonde tresses were coiffed into elegant curls falling to shoulder length and parted at the middle to frame her perfectly made-up face.

James meanwhile appeared to be delighted to be back on the stage and crooning as he sported a white shirt and cardigan before belting out hits at the restaurant owned by his best friend Mark Wright's cousin.

Elliott was looking dashing in head-to-toe black with a slick suit jacket with an open-necked shirt while his wife Sadie dazzled in sequins.

Happy days: James meanwhile appeared to be delighted to be back on the stage and crooning as he sported a white shirt and cardigan before belting out hits at the restaurant owned by his best friend Mark Wright's cousin

Keep your friends close... Ferne seemed overwhelmed as James gave her a firm hug inside the bash while continuing his set

Doing what he does best! Since bursting on to screens eight years ago, James has made his love of singing clear to all

Hot stuff! Ferne looked stunning in her outfit which she was clearly made to show off her figure

A helping hand! Ferne was on hand to help James on stage as they belted out songs together

Silver sensation: Elliott was looking dashing in head-to-toe black with a slick suit jacket with an open-necked shirt while his wife Sadie dazzled in sequins

The look of love: The duo, who were married last year, were gazing at one another lovingly

Belting it out: James was giving his performance his all as he danced on stage

Having a giggle: James was in the mood to serenade in the bash as they played around

The whole group were loving life inside the restaurant as they larked around while Arg took to the stage to the delight of patrons all over.

Former TOWIE and Love Island Georgia Harrison was going for a quirky look in a checked mini with a stylish black shirt and round sunglasses.

She added length to her already endless legs with some funky patterned shoes which gave an elegant feel to the kooky look.

Chic: Former TOWIE and Love Island Georgia Harrison was going for a quirky look in a checked mini with a stylish black shirt and round sunglasses

Dancing around: James went from the stage to the dancefloor later in the evening
She's the Sydney PR queen who slipped on the bathroom floor and broke two of her teeth in January of this year.

And it appeared as if Roxy's teeth troubles aren't over - with the PR guru making another dash to the dentist.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, the blonde entrepreneur shared a painful-looking snap of her in the waiting room of a dental clinic.

Oh dear! Sydney PR queen Roxy Jacenko, 37, has slipped in the bathroom and broken two teeth in half. This being for the second time in less than three months

Blonde Roxy's hair was pushed to one side, giving a grimacing look with her painful dental problem.

'When you slip onto the bath and break two teeth in half,' Roxy wrote in the caption for the photo.

She then added: 'It's vital to call the big guns.'

However, Roxy confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that it was a follow-up visit from when she broke two teeth in January of this year, after slipping on her bathroom floor and hitting her mouth on the bathtub.

"Still a work in progress...fixing the damage," Roxy told Daily Mail Australia.

"[It] will be complete by end [of] April."

The glamazon PR guru had the fall when she broke two teeth after slipped in the bathroom in January.

'When you slip onto the bath and break two bath in half': The PR guru let followers know she slipped in the bathroom and broke two of her teeth in half - for the second time this year

In that accident, Roxy had two painful looking bruises and broke two of her front teeth, with the blonde beauty being forced to have 'emergency dental work.'

At the time, a friend told Daily Mail Australia: 'Roxy had a very bad accident in the evening. She slipped over on the wet floor of her bathroom at home.'

Before adding: 'She fell onto the bath, hit her leg, arm and then face.'

Pearly whites! The mother-of-two and entrepreneur is known for her perfect smile, with her being an ambassador for teeth whitening service, Sparking White Smile

At the time, Roxy was spotted in Sydney's Rose Bay looking in high spirits while doing one of her grueling exercise regimes.

Roxy is actually a brand ambassador for mobile teeth whitening service, Sparkling White Smile, often showing off her own pearly whites for the role.

Having founded the reputable company Sweaty Betty PR at just 24-years-of-age, Roxy has grown the business into a multi-million dollar empire, representing some of Australia's biggest brands over the past 13 years.

Always one step ahead, Roxy founded The Ministry of Talent in 2012, the country's first management agency solely dedicated to digital influencers.

Looking back over her career to-date, Roxy told Daily Mail Australia that the business has taught her to always take risks.

'From the day I started I took risks and never settled with what would be good enough or what would 'do'. I always did and continue to take risks that will see us break the rules and not conform,' she said.
Station 19 isn't just an ABC drama, it's also an object lesson in fire safety. Take this April 5 episode, for example. At the start of the hour, we meet two sisters preparing to open a B&B while drinking a lot of wine and fiddling with the pilot light on their gas stove. You can see where this is going... but other plot points in this episode are even more explosive. Read on, Shondaland fans

At the station, Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) is yelling at co-captain Jack (Grey Damon) for ordering new boots for the team without consulting with her about the expense. She's also angry he let Battalion Chief Frankel (Leslie Hope) insinuate Andy got her job through nepotism  as we saw last week  but Jack rightly tells her he defended her. She's not appeased, though.

'I don't need you propping me up,' she says. Of course, it's not long before they're making out, because this is how each of their arguments ends.

Sexual tension: Andy, right, is yelling at co-captain Jack, left, for ordering new boots for the team without consulting with her about the expense

Hot: It's not long before they're making out, because this is how each of their arguments end

Dean (Okieriete Onaodowan), on the other hand, isn't making out as much as he'd like to. He's wondering how long he should wait before asking out his crush, JJ, considering her sorta-boyfriend just died in a fire in last week's episode. You know, he's trying to be respectful of her mourning process and whatnot.

Pruitt (Miguel Sandoval) overhears Dean taking it over with Travis (Jay Hayden), but he only makes the discussion awkward since he used to be the captain. Later, however, Pruitt tells Dean he's just not accustomed to being just one of the guys. He urges Dean to go ask JJ out, and he even pours his kale smoothie on the incident report regarding the fire at JJ's building, just so Dean has a reason to visit her. (Plus, we all know he doesn't like those smoothies anyway.)

As foretold at the start of the episode, the squad is soon called to a fire at the sisters' B&B. One of the sisters, concerned about the rising costs of their business venture, implores the firefighters not to use axes as they battle the blaze or water, for that matter. (Yes, she actually made that request.)

As Andy leads a team into the house, Jack hooks a hose up to a nearby hydrant. But one of the sisters' neighbors runs over the hose with his SUV, and the hose springs a leak. Luckily, the fire turns out to be just a flaming oven mitt, not a gas-fueled inferno. And the team easily extinguishes the fire, even without the use of the hose.

Housecall: Responding to a medical call, Travis pays another visit to Edith, an elderly woman showing signs of Parkinson's who he helps with her dislocated shoulder

Concern: Jack pleads for Edith to talk to her grandson about her condition. She tells him, in so many words, to butt out, until her grandson Travis arrives at the house

Responding to a medical call, Travis pays another visit to Edith (Marla Gibbs), an elderly woman showing signs of Parkinson's. He helps her with her dislocated shoulder and pleads for her to talk to her grandson about her condition. She tells him, in so many words, to butt out. But later, when Travis returns to check on her, he comes face-to-face with her grandson and is rendered speechless. This grandson of hers, a guy named Grant, is majorly cute. 'Get your jaw off the floor,' Edith tells Travis.

Back at the station, Andy yells at Jack for not securing the line  but it's all a charade, of course. Behind the closed doors of the captain's office, they start hooking up again. Jack tells Andy he's looking forward to the end of their competition so they can drop these pretenses. He's ready to go public with their relationship, but she reminds him it's against the rules. He argues those rules were her dad's, and he's not the boss anymore, but she's still not convinced.

Also at the station, Ben (Jason George) pleads for Victoria (Barrett Doss) to let him play with the VR firefighting simulator. She refuses, but he later finds her using the headset herself. He watches the screen as a simulated fireball explodes in Victoria's face. She freaks out and rips the headset off. Ben notices that extreme reaction and asks her about it.

'I'm not your patient,' Victoria tells this former surgeon. 'You're my rookie. I don't need your help.'

On the way back from Edith's residence, Travis and Maya (Danielle Savre) talk about how it's frustrating when people go through something and don't let their loved ones in. They're talking about Edith, but Maya realizes she's also venting about Andy since Andy has been acting so secretive of late. When she gets back to the station, she goes looking for her friend but can't find her.

Back: Before long, the squad is called to the sisters' doomed B&B again. This time, the house is actually on fire. One sister, Sue, emerges from the blaze, saying she can't find her sister

Rescue attempt: The team goes in and extinguishes the fire in the kitchen but still can't find the other sister Debra despite calling out her name

PTSD: As some of the firefighters get Victoria out of the house, others try to figure out where Debra is and why this latest fire keeps reigniting.

Help: The heat from the fire was causing the bottles in the sisters' wine cellar to explode, and the alcohol is only fueling the flames. Plus, Debra is trapped at one end of the wine cellar

Heroes: Outside the house, after a tense round of CPR, Maya resuscitates Debra. Andy tries praising her, but Maya blows her off

Her search is interrupted, however, by a call from Ryan (Alberto Frezza) at the police station. He has detained Mason, Maya's brother, after Mason tried to shoplift art supplies. Maya is surprised when Ryan tells her Mason is homeless.

Later, she opens up to him about her and Mason's relationship. While she pursued Olympic glory, her parents focused only on her, not on Mason. The day she won her gold medal was the first day he OD'd, she says. Ryan tells her he'll keep an eye on Mason while he's on patrol.

When she gets back to the station, Maya sees Jack's jacket strewn carelessly on the floor outside the captain's office, and she puts two and two together. When she finally sees Andy, she grills her about where she's been. Andy lies, and Maya knows she's lying. It's uncomfortable all the way around.

Concern: Back in the safety of Station 19, Ben asks Victoria if she's feeling traumatized by the ethanol blaze two episodes ago. But she rejects his PTSD implications

She says: 'That's not something you work through. That's the kind of thing that turns a firefighter into a postal worker. That is not a problem I have

Before long, the squad is called to the sisters' doomed B&B again. This time, the house is actually on fire. One sister, Sue, emerges from the blaze, saying she can't find her sister. The team goes in and extinguishes the fire in the kitchen but still can't find the other sister, Debra. Victoria and Ben remove their helmets and masks to call for her, but a fireball comes out of nowhere and stuns Victoria. It's real fire this time, not a simulation. She reels back in a panic.

As some of the firefighters get Victoria out of the house, others try to figure out where Debra is and why this latest fire keeps reigniting. They find the answers to both questions at once.

The heat from the fire was causing the bottles in the sisters' wine cellar to explode, and the alcohol is only fueling the flames. Plus, Debra is trapped at one end of the wine cellar. Andy runs the gauntlet to save Debra and sees she has a glass shard sticking out her leg. Andy uses a metal tray to shield her from the exploding bottles as they make their escape, but Debra still inhales some glass en route and starts asphyxiating. (This woman cannot catch a break!) Outside the house, after a tense round of CPR, Maya resuscitates Debra. Andy tries praising her, but Maya blows her off. They're not exactly friends at the moment.

Getting steamy: Andy tries to initiate one hookup too many with Jack. He stops her and tells her he wants to take the next step as he still has the engagement ring

Caught in the act: Andy makes another move on him  but suddenly, her dad, Pruitt, walks in. They're totally busted

Back in the safety of Station 19, Ben asks Victoria if she's feeling traumatized by the ethanol blaze two episodes ago. But she rejects his PTSD implications.

'That's not something you work through,' she says. 'That's the kind of thing that turns a firefighter into a postal worker. That is not a problem I have.'

And speaking of problems, Andy tries to initiate one hookup too many with Jack. He stops her and tells her he wants to take the next step  he still has that engagement ring at the ready, after all  but she's nowhere near ready to take that next step with anyone, even him. The squad is all the family she needs at the moment. Besides, she argues, they have a good thing going. Why shake things up now?

She makes another move on him  but suddenly, her dad, Pruitt, walks in. They're totally busted. Even though Andy and Jack have jointly succeeded him as captain, Pruitt still seems like the ruling disciplinarian of the firehouse, so we can only imagine the hell in store for Andy and Jack next week!
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She welcomed daughter Sunday a mere five months ago.

But Ferne McCann proved she's had no trouble snapping straight back into shape as she slipped into a skimpy pink bikini whilst holidaying with her little one and her friend James 'Arg' Argent in Spain.

Hitting the pool at their Marbella resort on Thursday, the trio seemed in good spirits, with Ferne a vision of beauty as she set to work topping up her tan in the Spanish sunshine.

Yummy mummy! Ferne McCann proved she's had no trouble snapping straight back into shape as she slipped into a skimpy pink bikini whilst holidaying with her little one and friend James Argent in Spain

Whilst Ferne may be in the midst of filming the second season of her reality show Ferne: First Time Mum, and also caring for a baby on her own, she proved she hasn't neglected the gym as she flaunted her toned figure.

The mother-of-one's hot pink swimsuit complemented her tanned complexion with the plunging bikini top showing off her cleavage and and her enviably taut stomach.

A pair of matching briefs with string detailing offered a look at her peachy posterior as she enjoyed some bonding time by the pool with her daughter and best friend.

Allowing her natural beauty to shine through, the blonde bombshell went make-up free for the outing, slicking her glossy locks back into a high ponytail and accessorising with a pair of aviator style sunglasses.

Tanned and toned: Whilst Ferne may be in the midst of filming the second season of her reality show Ferne: First Time Mum, and also caring for a baby on her own, she proved she hasn't neglected the gym as she flaunted her toned figure

Snapping selfies for Gemma? James 'Arg' Argent seemed in great spirits on the outing as he checked his phone, possibly snapping pictures for girlfriend Gemma Collins after confirming they are now back together

Meanwhile, Arg tore himself away from girlfriend and The Only Way Is Essex co-star Gemma Collins in order to spend some time with best friend Ferne on the trip.

Yet whilst he may have been without his bubbly blonde beauty, he appeared to have her in mind while admiring the view from the balcony of his rented villa.

The 30-year old went shirtless as he took a call before appearing to pose for a fun selfie on another warm day in the popular Spanish resort town.

Tan-tastic scenes! Hitting the pool at their Marbella resort on Thursday, the trio seemed in good spirits, with Ferne a vision of beauty as she set to work topping up her tan in the Spanish sunshine

Squat it like it's hot! Ferne was seen attending to her little one as she played with Sunday by the side of the pool

Stretching out on a sun-lounger, the reality star was rarely off his phone while preparing to shoot scenes for his friends TV show, Ferne McCann: First Time Mum.

James had wasted no time in making himself at home after arriving with a small group earlier that day.

Wearing a blue windbreaker jacket, the reality star retrieved his bags from the back of their car before making his way inside while Ferne attended to baby Sunday.

Doting mother: Ferne was seen cradling her little one as she tended to Sunday's every need whilst walking around the pool

Life's a peach: A pair of scanty bikini briefs with string detailing offered a look at her peachy posterior as she enjoyed some bonding time by the pool with her daughter and best friend

Ferne shares daughter Sunday with ex-boyfriend Arthur Collins - who has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Arthur was convicted of GBH and ABH against 14 people after he sprayed party-goers with acid following an argument at the Mangle E8 nightclub in east London during the Easter weekend last April.

The attack left several clubbers hospitalised and scarred for life, while some required skin grafts. Arthur is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence for the act.

Pretty in pink: The mother-of-one's hot pink swimsuit complemented her tanned complexion with the plunging bikini top showing off her cleavage and and her enviably taut stomach

Baby love: Ferne was seen playing with her little one as they enjoyed the change of scenery and warm weather at the resort

The horrific incident left 22 innocent clubbers injured, several of whom confronted him in court, with one woman recalling the moment she felt her skin 'come off'.

Arthur claimed he thought he was throwing a date rape drug, but he was labelled a 'calculating liar' who has not shown the 'slightest remorse' by the judge.

While Ferne has remained silent about her relationship with Arthur, it was reported that the I'm A Celebrity star was finally ready to talk openly about her devastation in a second series of her reality show First Time Mum.

Taking it easy: Meanwhile, Arg tore himself away from girlfriend and The Only Way Is Essex co-star Gemma Collins in order to spend some time with best friend Ferne on the trip

Chatting to Gemma? The 30-year old went shirtless as he took a call before appearing to pose for a fun selfie on another warm day in the popular Spanish resort town

Taking it easy: Stretching out on a sun-lounger, the reality star was rarely off his phone while preparing to shoot scenes for his friends TV show, Ferne McCann: First Time Mum

A source said: 'Ferne's already told producers that she's happy to speak about Arthur again following his jail sentence  and her plans of making a life without him.'

Ferne previously gushed about being a mother to daughter Sunday, enthusing: 'Sunday's beautiful. She's watching at home with my mum right now.'

Ferne began filming the new series earlier this year, with The Sun reporting at the time that she will open up about her turmoil over ex Arthur.

Feeling hot, hot, hot! Ferne seemed in great spirits as she enjoyed a drink by the poolside and reclined on a sunlounger

Bending over backwards for her! Ferne ensured she put daughter Sunday's needs first as she doted over her little ones

A source said: 'Ferne has completely thrown herself into being a full-time mum and shes really excited to share more of her and Sundays adventures with her fans after being given three hour-long shows.

'During the last series, Ferne spoke about coping with pregnancy at the same time her ex-partner was on trial for an acid attack that took place last April.

'Shes already told producers that shes happy to speak about Arthur again following his jail sentence  and her plans of making a life without him.'

Touched down in paradise: James had wasted no time in making himself at home after arriving with a small group that day

Luxurious: The trio will be staying in Marbella whilst filming scenes for season two of Ferne's reality show
McFly's Danny Jones has paid tribute to his beloved grandmother after she died just hours after meeting his baby son Cooper, four months.

The musician, 32, and his model wife Georgia, 31, both shared the heartbreaking news via their Instagram feeds on Friday, revealing 'the most wonderful nan' Peggy had sadly passed away.

The former Miss England uploaded a sweet black-and-white photo of the couple's late relative cradling little Cooper in her arms.

Emotional: McFly's Danny Jones has paid tribute to his beloved grandmother after she died just hours after meeting his baby son Cooper, four months

Georgia captioned the snap: 'After a day filled with lots of lovely Cooper cuddles our gorgeous Peggy sadly passed away.

'An amazing woman & the most wonderful Nan-in-law. You will be missed so very much'

Also sharing the loving moment between Cooper and his great-grandmother on her Instagram stories, Georgia wrote: 'Shortly after this photo was taken, this gorgeous lady left us forever.

'RIP Peggy, I was lucky enough to have you in my life and so glad you got to meet your grandson.'

Heartbreak: The musician, 32, and his model wife Georgia, 31, shared the heartbreaking news via their Instagram feeds on Friday, revealing 'the most wonderful nan' had sadly passed away

'I was so lucky': The former Miss England uploaded a sweet black-and-white photo of the couple's late relative cradling little Cooper in her arms

Danny shared his own touching tribute to his grandmother, posting a smiling photo from her wedding day with a caption that read: 'My Nan has left us and gone to heavy. Say hello to grandad [sic] for me. RIP Nan.'

Fans and followers were quick to send their condolences to the couple, with one writing: 'So sorry for your loss, Danny. Sending you and your family SO much love.'

Another commented: 'Thinking of you and all of your family, Danny. Sending lots of love and well wishes. Im sure she is watching down on you proudly already.'

Danny and Georgia - who have been happily married since 2014 - welcomed first child Cooper Alf back in January.

Heartfelt: Danny shared his own touching tribute to his grandmother, posting a smiling photo from her wedding day

The loved-up couple previously talked about Georgia's labour, revealing their son was almost born at home nine days after his due date.

Speaking to Hello! Magazine, Georgia said she was having a bath when she suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to push.

'I thought this baby is going to be born at home in the bath... or in the car', she added.

The couple made an urgent dash to the hospital, during which Georgia kept her hands between her legs in a desperate attempt to delay the impending birth.

Happy couple: Danny and Georgia - who have been happily married since 2014 - welcomed baby son Cooper Alf back in January (pictured December 2016)

Danny continued: 'I would love to see that CCTV of us arriving at one o'clock in the morning. I was frantic.'

Cooper was born just 36 minutes after the couple arrived at hospital at 1.36am in the morning.

'All our plans for having lavender burning to keep us calm and our favourite music playing went out of the window!' Georgia said.

'I keep telling her how proud I am of her, my respect for her went through the roof. Our little man's a ledge and we are overwhelmed with love,' Danny added.
Amid his birthday celebrations at the X Factor house in London, Simon Cowell is embroiled in a copycat war with Michael McIntyre over his new BBC dance show The Greatest Dancer, where performers unwittingly are judged by Cheryl and Ashley Banjo from backstage.

The comedian is claiming that the concept of Simons show is similar to a segment on The Big Show where he lures talented people to the studio before they are given the chance to perform as reported in The Daily Star.

Simons company Syco, which is making the show with Thames TV, is being forced to change the format of The Greatest Dancer and a source revealed that Its all very embarrassing.

Simon Cowell is embroiled in a copycat war with Michael McIntyre over his BBC dance show

Michael knows Simon well because he was a judge on Britains Got Talent but now theyre at loggerheads over this. Michael was not happy. The similarities between The Unexpected Star and The Greatest Dancer are simply uncanny.

A BBC spokesperson also said: The Greatest Dancer will go ahead but the format has yet to be confirmed. The pilot show contained a surprise element but it is a format thats in development.

The new series of Britains Got Talent will hit our screens imminently and there is speculation that Dec, who is expecting a baby with his wife Ali Astall, could be hosting the show without Ant after his arrest and subsequent charge for drink-driving.

But who is Simon Cowell, who is his wife, when was his son born and what is his net worth?

Who is Simon Cowell?

Born Simon Phillip Cowell on October 7, 1959, in Lambeth, London, he was raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire and after passing two GCE O Levels (GCSEs) and another GCE in Sociology, he took on menial jobs including working as a runner on Stanley Kubricks The Shining.

His father Eric, an executive at EMI Music Publishing, got Simon a job in the mail room but left to find other jobs in the early 1980s. In 1983, he formed Fanfare Records with his former boss at EMI and then Fanfare Records with Iain Burton after he quit.

Prince Charles meets Simon Cowell and BGT winner Susan Boyle at the Pride of Britain Awards

Simon Cowells music career

His first hit song was Sinittas So Macho in 1986, but his company went under and Simon was on the brink of becoming bankrupt. After this, Simon managed to secure a job with BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group) as an A&R consultant and went on to set up S Records under BMG.

Simon, wanting to restart his music career, made novelty records for the Power Rangers and World Wrestling Federation and persuaded British actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn to sing Unchained Melody on their drama series Soldier Soldier.

The recording reached number one in the UK and became the best selling single of 1995, resulting in the duo releasing two album and two more singles, selling a total of 7 million albums and 5 million singles in total. Simon has been known to claim that this is how he made his first million.

Simon went on to sign Five, Teletubbies and Westlife, the latter selling over 50 million records worldwide and a total of 14 number one singles in the United Kingdom.

Simon Cowells television career

After he and Simon Fuller pitched the idea to ITVs Claudia Rosencrantz, Simon became a judge on the first ever series of Pop Idol and his one-liners made him a television hit, even in the US after American Idol was launched a year later in 2002.

In 2004, Simon launched The X Factor starting out with himself, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh as the original judges and is still on UK television to this day. Successful winners from the show include One Direction and Leona Lewis.

Britains Got Talents debut was in 2007 and saw the likes of Susan Boyle receive international acclaim as a result of her win. The X Factor Australia was also launched around this time and he went on to form his company Syco, which was split into three units, Syco Music, Syco TV and Syco Film.

In 2010, Simon left American Idol, was replaced by Steven Tyler and it was announced that FOX had acquired the rights for The X Factor USA. The X Factor USA launched in 2011 and saw Fifth Harmony signed to his record label.

Simon Cowell was also involved in La Banda, a show designed to form a Latino boy band and American Inventor, where Dragons Den judge Peter Jones would rate product concepts as well as Celebrity Duets, Grease Is the Word, game show Red or Black?, to name a few.

Simon Cowell posing with Cheryl during an episode of The X Factor during Judges' Houses

Who is Simon Cowells wife?

Reports claim that Simon started dating Lauren Silverman in 2013 after her husband and Simons friend Andrew Silverman filed for an at-fault divorce citing adultery by his wife.

The divorce became public and it was also revealed that Simon and Lauren would be expecting a baby together. She gave birth to their son, Eric, on February 14, 2014.

BRITs 2017 A post shared by @ simoncowell on Feb 23, 2017 at 6:50am PST

What is Simon Cowells net worth?

Simon Cowells net worth has accumulated to approximately $550 million (393m), according to Celebrity Net Worth.

While he earned around $33 million (23.5m) per season of American Idol, Simons annual salary is thought to be around $95 million (68m).

According to The Sunday Times Rich List, he was one of the richest people in the United Kingdom in 2015 with a worth of 325 million.

He has a collection of cars including a Rolls Royce, a Jaguar E-Type Eagle Speedster, a Bentley Azure, a Ford Bronco and a Smart Car.
He's carving out a successful career on the big screen, with his latest film The Quiet Place receiving rave reviews.

But John Krasinski is still keen to return to his TV roots as he discussed a potential reboot of the US series of The Office on the IGN Podcast on Friday, admitting he would love to reunite with his former co-stars for a one-off special of the NBC sitcom.

The actor, 38, portrayed prankster and doting dad Jim Halpert in the long-running series from 2005 to 2013, appearing alongside the likes of Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, Mindy Kaling, B. J. Novak and Jenna Fischer.

Bring back Jim Halpert! John Krasinski, 38, revealed he would 'love' to do a reboot of The Office for a one-off special with the original cast during an IGN podcast on Friday

While rumblings of an Office reboot have been banded about by NBC bosses, no official talks have taken place to re-open the fictional paper company Dunder-Mifflin for TV screens.

John admitted he would happily return as the affable Jim, but recognised bringing back the rest of the cast would be a logistical nightmare.

'I've talked about it a bunch', he said of a potential reboot. 'I love the idea of coming back together [but] I think it'd be impossible to get us all together to do a run of the series.'

Noting that British comedies routinely return for a one-off special during the festive period, John said he believes a once-a-year TV offering would work for fans of the cult favourite to 'check in' with their beloved characters.

Returning: While rumblings of an Office reboot has been banded about by NBC bosses, no official talks have taken place to re-open the fictional paper company Dunder-Mifflin for TV

He continued: 'I absolutely think we should do that, and I don't know why more shows don't do that. Hey America! We need to do Christmas specials.'

The US version of the British comedy under the same name ran for nine seasons and racked up an impressive five Emmy wins - with lead actor Steve Carell picking up a Golden Globe for his portrayal of bumbling boss Michael Scott.

Fans grew particularly attached to John's lovable character and his on-screen wife Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer), following their relationship from an office flirtation to marriage and then children.

Since the comedy ended in 2013, John has seen big screen success of his own but is open to the idea of returning to TV to share the small screen with the cast he lovingly refers to as 'my family'.

Checking in: Noting that British comedies routinely return for a one-off special during the festive period, John said he believes a once-a-year TV offering would work for fans of the show

He added: 'It's not some sentimental bogus bulls**t, it's true. They are the people that I started this business [with].

'Every cool opportunity I've gotten is from that show. I feel so lucky to have been on that show, I'd love to go back.'

John is currently promoting his latest directorial venture - The Quiet place - in which he stars alongside actress wife Emily Blunt, 35.

The horror flick - which was released in UK cinemas earlier this week - follows Evelyn Abbott and her husband Lee, who hide in silence from creatures that hunt by sound.

Fan favourite: The show ran for nine seasons (L-R Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute, Jenna Fischer as Pam Beesly, Steve Carell as Michael Scott and B.J. Novak as Ryan Howard)

During an appearance on The Graham Norton show on Friday, John confessed to not being a fan of horror genre, but the actor wanted the film to act as a 'love letter' to the couple's two daughters - Hazel, four, and Violet, two.

'I'm actually a bit of a scaredy-cat' John confessed. 'But doing this film was phenomenal.

'It's actually a love letter to my kids - it shows the extremes you would go to for your children.'

Emily and John met in 2008 and married in an idyllic ceremony in Italy's Lake Como two years later.
She recently returned to her modelling duties after a quick family holiday in Miami.

And Kaia Gerber appeared to be pining for America as she stepped out in Paris, France, on Friday.

The Malibu-based teen catwalk queen, 16, wore a white beanie with an 'I love New York' logo and an outline of the Manhattan skyline as she hopped between work commitments in the French capital.

Missing home? Kaia Gerber appeared to be pining for America if her accessories were anything to go by as she stepped out in Paris, France, on Friday

The model kept things casual in flared black trousers and a dark green and black jacket, teamed with a simple white tee.

Kaia - the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and model turned businessman Rande Gerber - accessorised with retro rectangular sunglasses and a black leather bum-bag worn over one shoulder.

The brunette stepped out in a pair of classic black Converse canvas shoes to inject a grungy touch to her look.

Kaia tucked her hair behind her ears and sported minimal make-up so she could display her radiant complexion.

So good they named it twice: The teen catwalk queen, 16, wore a white beanie with an 'I love New York' logo and an outline of the Manhattan skyline as she hopped between commitments

Keeping it casual: The model kept things casual in flared black trousers and a dark green and black jacket, teamed with a simple white tee

Stylish: Kaia - the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and model turned businessman Rande Gerber - accessorised with retro rectangular sunglasses

Kaia returned to Paris to continue her modelling duties on Tuesday, after a brief respite in Miami, Florida, following her hectic start to 2018.

The young star walked in an incredible 22 shows across the New York, Paris, Milan and London Fashion Weeks during February and March.

As well as her catwalk appearances, Kaia has also just seen the release of her new campaign for designer Marc Jacobs' $102 fragrance Daisy Love - shot last year by Alasdair McLellan in her native Malibu.

According to WWD, Kaia is now preparing design her first-ever capsule collection with none other than Karl Lagerfeld, which will hit stores globally in September.

Back to work! Kaia tucked her hair behind her ears and sported minimal make-up so she could display her radiant complexion

Glamorous in green: Kaia looked incredibly stylish as she strutted out of the hotel

Hat's a good look! Despite wearing a beanie hat, Kaia didn't manage to go low-key and still turned the heads of several passers-by on the outing

On the move: Kaia was seen hopping out of the car and heading to the Karl Lagerfeld studio

Shopping spree: The brunette beauty carried some shopping bags as she headed out and about in the fashion capital

Working the catwalk: Kaia returned to Paris to continue her modelling duties on Tuesday, after a brief respite in Miami, Florida, following her hectic start to 2018

Model of the moment: The young star walked in an incredible 22 shows across the New York, Paris, Milan and London Fashion Weeks during February and March

Her impressive achievements all come while she is just 16 years of age, and still working on her education.

Discussing how she juggles life as a student and international model, Kaia told Harper's Bazaar in January: 'I usually use the afternoon to catch up on homework.

'I'm completing my diploma at Malibu High through an online program, and it's difficult to get much done during the week, as the Wi-Fi on planes is really annoying.

'My favourite class this year is AP Calculus because I just like math. It's definitely super hard to teach yourself derivatives, though!'
Pregnant Vogue Williams was hand in hand with fiance Spencer Matthews as the Made in Chelsea star made his first public appearance since his father was quizzed by French police over historic allegations of rape.

Keeping her growing baby bump concealed beneath a white track suit top, Vogue  whose pregnancy was confirmed by Spencer in March  looked casual as the couple walked their pet dog close to their London home.

The Irish DJ, 32, added to her relaxed look with a pair of cropped leggings, while red Nike trainers rounded things off.

Stepping out: Pregnant Vogue Williams was hand in hand with fiance Spencer Matthews as the Made in Chelsea star made his first public appearance since his father was quizzed by French police over historic allegations of rape

Joining her for the brief outing, Spencer, 29, looked preoccupied during his first appearance since his father David Matthews' questioning over rape allegations dating back to the 1980's.

The TV personality kept his eyes shielded behind a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses while sporting an equally casual T-shirt beneath a black hooded gilet.

Multi-millionaire businessman David , 74, had been charged by French authorities over an alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl.

Low key: Keeping her growing baby bump concealed beneath a white track suit top, Vogue  whose pregnancy was confirmed by Spencer in March  looked casual as the couple walked their pet dog close to their London home

He was arrested at a Paris airport last week and appeared in court after a woman, now aged 35, told police he carried out two offences between 1998 and 1999, when she was 15 and he in his fifties.

One was allegedly in Paris and the other on the Caribbean island of St Barts, where he and his wife Jane own a 5,000-a-night hotel.

Now South Yorkshire Police are said to be investigating a new allegation of rape from another woman dating from the '80s, according to The Sun.

Now thought to be in her 60s, the British woman is said to have accused the tycoon of assaulting her in Sheffield in the 1980s, when she would have been in her twenties or thirties.

David has strenuously denied the allegations against him. He is also father to son James, who married Pippa Middleton last year.

Gym ready: The Irish DJ, 32, added to her relaxed look with a pair of cropped leggings, while red Nike trainers rounded things off

Difficult time: Joining her for the brief outing, Spencer, 29, looked preoccupied during his first appearance since his father David Matthews' questioning over rape allegations dating back to the 1980's

Hidden: The TV personality kept his eyes shielded behind a pair of heavily tinted sunglasses as they ventured out on Friday morning

Difficult times: French police have quizzed Spencer's father David, 74, (above left) over allegations of sexual assault against a teenage girl two decades ago

Spencer and Vogue announced their pregnancy last month, one month after confirming their engagement.

The former Made In Chelsea star announced the news in February after he proposed following a performance of The Lion King at London's Lyceum Theatre.

They have been together since January 2017 after meeting on reality show The Jump.

Happy couple: Spencer and Vogue announced their pregnancy last month, one month after confirming their engagement

Long-term: They have been together since January 2017 after meeting on reality show The Jump




He's swapped the This Morning studios for the Maldives while enjoying the Easter holidays with his family.

And Phillip Schofield, 55, has been giving fans an insight to their luxury getaway by taking to social media to share snaps from the idyllic beach break.

Along with his daughters Ruby and Molly and wife Stephanie, the Schofields have been turning their followers green with envy on the trip.

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Holiday fun: He's swapped the This Morning studios for the Maldives. And Phillip Schofield, 55, has been giving fans an insight to their luxury getaway by taking to social media to share snaps

Easter holi-yay! Along with his daughters Ruby and Molly and wife Stephanie, the Schofields have been turning their followers green with envy on the trip

Phillip has been updating his fans via Snapchat, revealing the only mishap so far has been coming from using new suncream.

He posted: 'Some new posh aftersun... doesn't say 'don't put it on your face' ... stings like hell!!'

Meanwhile, Phillip's eldest daughter Molly, 24, also shared scenes from the trip, flaunting her incredible figure in a bikini as she posed with younger sister Ruby, 22, on the trip.

'Only thing I love more than the heat is this little one @rubyschofe', she sweetly captioned the shot.

Tan-tastic! Phillip has been updating his fans via Snapchat, revealing the only mishap so far has been coming from using new sun cream

Beach babe: Phillip's eldest daughter Molly, 24, also shared scenes from the trip, relaxing in an infinity pool whilst overlooking the crystal blue ocean

Roll on the holidays! Molly proved she was still getting some exercise in, however, with a snap of herself riding a bicycle across the dock

Beach babe: Molly shared a snap chilling out on the beach beneath some palm trees

Another serene snap showed the Assistant Talent Manager relaxing in an infinity pool whilst overlooking the crystal blue ocean.

Molly proved she was still getting some exercise in, however, with a snap of herself riding a bicycle across the dock.

Ruby also shared snaps from the holiday, snapping selfies with her sister and showing off the idyllic beach.

Sister act: Ruby also shared snaps from the holiday, snapping selfies with her sister and showing off the idyllic beach

Sitting pretty: Ruby was a vision of beauty as she chilled out after the sunset

Whilst Phillip's weekdays are usually spent filming This Morning with Holly Willoughby, the star has no doubt enjoyed some quality time with his wife of 24 years Stephanie.

Despite his hectic work schedule, Phillip is a family man at heart and lives in Henley-on-Thames with Stephanie, who he wed in March 1993, and their daughters

Speaking about his wife, the star previously said on Lorraine: 'She worked in television years ago, that was how we met, so she can do it [television], she just doesn't want to these days.

Rolling on: Ruby Schofield shared pictures before she went cycling down the dock

Private dinner: The group revealed they were dining on a beach in private

Idyllic: Ruby shared snaps of the incredible location and private beaches

Stephanie met Phil when she worked as a BBC production Assistant and he was working for the BBC Childrens television.

He said at the time: 'You'd have thought someone wouldn't be attracted to a man with a puppet and dodgy jumpers!'

Last year the pair teamed up to film Schofields South African Adventure, and the presenter said he was so pleased she joined him for filming.
She's returning to TV for a new FBI drama which she is also executive-producing.

And Katie Holmes was in character on Friday as she filmed scenes for the Fox pilot previously titled Mrs Otis Regrets.

The 39-year-old actress was dressed in business clothes and a long green trench coat as she showed off her FBI badge.

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She means business: Katie Holmes was seen in character on Friday as she was photographed on the set of her new Fox FBI drama. She is seen with co-star Christian Camargo

Strolling alongside co-star Christian Camargo the Batman Begins beauty appeared to be wearing minimal makeup.

Camargo, who reportedly plays Katie's onscreen husband, also looked smart in wintry layers including beige coat and blue scarf.

The duo appeared to be filming a somber scene but Katie was spotted flashing a smile in between scenes.

The show follows FBI Special Agent Hazel Otis (Holmes) whos in the midst of investigating a domestic terrorism threat when a personal indiscretion - an affair with a prominent general  shatters her life and threatens her career at the FBI.

Now labeled 'the mistress,' Otis  wife, mother, patriot  begins to rebuild her personal life and professional reputation.

Caffeine fix: The actress looked gorgeous as she arrived on set in a slouchy turtle-neck sweater

The 39-year-old actress was dressed in business clothes and a long green trench coat as she filmed scenes for the untitled project formerly known as Mrs Otis Regrets

Busy day on set: The actress took a phone call as she was spotted leaving her trailer later

Camargo, plays Larry Otis, Hazel's TV reporter husband who is bitter, hurt and humiliated after Hazel's affair. He is a good father who wants the best for their daughters and and will try to work things out after Hazels indiscretion.

As well as starring, Katie is executive-producing the project which comes from former Empire showrunner Ilene Chaiken and Melissa Scrivner Love.

Meanwhile, Katie was reminiscing about her younger years on Thursday as she shared a throwback photo showing her enjoying a night out with pals in New York.

'#tbt amazing nights in NYC with @michaelcavadias #friendship' she captioned the image.

Katie is mom to 11-year-old Suri who she shares with ex-husband Tom Cruise.
Have I Got News For You will be returning to our television screens for its 55th series, welcoming Jeremy Paxman who will be joining regular team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

The satirical BBC show will also see guest panelists Josh Widdicombe and Steph McGovern in the first of nine new episodes, with comedian Greg Davies also taking on the role of host for the first time.

While the return of previous presenters Jo Brand and Victoria Cohen Mitchell has been confirmed, Jeremy Paxmans presenting role was announced after Paul Merton and Ian Hislop made comments about the lack of female hosts.

Have I Got News For You will be returning to our television screens for its 55th series

Paul Merton told Radio Times magazine: The producers always ask more women than men. More women say no. He added that right from the early days, thats been the case. Ian Hislop added that everyone you think should have been asked has been. Really, they really have.

He went on to suggest that on the whole, women are slightly more reticent and think, maybe modestly, I cant do that. Maybe more men in public life say yes, I can do that.

Women have hit back against these too modest claims and brought attention to the fact that Ann Widdecombe is the only female MP to have presented HIGNFY.

What is Have I Got News For You?

Have I Got News for You is a British comedy panel show, which is loosely based on BBC Radio 4s The News Quiz and has been on television since 1990.

Often cited as the original panel show, after first being shown on BBC Two for 10 years, it moved over to BBC One. The BBC were then forced to change BBC Nine OClock News to BBC News at Ten as HIGNFY was shown at 9pm.

Angus Deayton, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton were chairman and team captain respectively from the launch of the show in 1990, but after Deaytons departure two shows into series 24, guest hosts took over each week and resulted in audience figures rising.

Ian Hislop is the only person to have appeared in every episode, as Paul Merton took a leave of absence in 1996. Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong holds the record for the most appearances as guest presenter, having appeared 30 times in the central chair and Andy Hamilton, the record for guest panelist.

Ann Widdecombe is the only female MP to have presented Have I Got News For You on BBC

When is Have I Got News For You next on TV?

Have I Got News For You will be returning to television for its 55th series on Friday, April 6, 2018 at 9.30pm on BBC One.

Who is Ian Hislop?

Born on July 13 1960 in Swansea, Ian Hislop is an English journalist and the current editor of the magazine Private Eye. His television debut was in Loose Talk and he also appeared on Room 101.

He was a scriptwriter on the 1980s political satire series Spitting Image with Nick Newman and the pair also worked together on a few Radio 4 dramas.

Who is Paul Merton?

Born on July 9 1957 in Parsons Green, London, as Paul James Martin, he is known for his deadpan humour. He was the former host of Room 101 and appears on Radio 4s Just a Minute.

Pauls breakthrough came in Whose Line Is It Anyway? and performed in a number of Christmas pantomimes.
Daniel Day-Lewis seems to be enjoying his newfound retirement from acting in a very old school way.

The Oscar-winning star of My Left Foot and The Age Of Innocence was spotted by a fan doing two very common man things on Thursday.

The husband of Rebecca Miller was seen using a flip phone while riding a subway.

So ordinary: Daniel Day-Lewis was seen with a flip phone on a subway in NYC; the image was posted on Thursday

Matcher! The Lincoln actor wore a near exact outfit on March 12 in NYC

The image was shared by journalist Karen Han in a New York City.

'Daniel day-Lewis is on my train and casually looking at his flip phone,' she remarked on social media.

Follower Charles Bramesco wrote, 'My man out here using a damn Razr in the year 2018?'

And Alan Zilberman added: 'You know DDL has had the same phone since 2007.'

Donna remarked, 'I'm shocked he actually has a phone.'

The Gangs Of New York star is dressed down in casual attire including a black jacket and beige slacks.

On the go: The actor normally keeps a low profile while walking in NYC; seen in 2016

He likes hats: The actor said that he no longer wanted to make movies after he starred in the critically acclaimed Phantom Thread

The actor also has on a black hat and prescription glasses.

Daniel said that he no longer wanted to make movies after he starred in the critically acclaimed Phantom Thread.

He was Oscar nominated for his work but did not win. Instead Gary Oldman took home the gold for The Darkest Hour.

The love of his life: The movie legend with his wife Rebecca Miller at the 85th Annual Academy Awards in 2013

In February, Daniel's Phantom co-star said the icon has gotten a bit quirky.

Vicky Krieps has admitted she found it 'difficult' to work with Day-Lewis on the film because he remains in character, even when not shooting.

The Luxembourg-born actress plays Alma Elson in the Oscar-nominated film, the love interest of Day-Lewiss character Reynolds Woodcock, a fastidious fashion designer.

Odd: In February, Daniel's Phantom co-star said the icon has gotten a bit quirky. Vicky Krieps has admitted she found it 'difficult' to work with Day-Lewis on the film because he remains in character, even when not shooting

Krieps told the Evening Standards ES Magazine that, because of his unwavering devotion to method acting, she ended up interacting with him while they were both in character, away from the cameras.

She said: 'He stays in character always, and between takes he retreats to his green room.

'And I found this difficult. All I got was a screen of whispers and footsteps and closed doors. I was thinking, "I cannot make a movie like this."

'One day, between takes, I left my green room and said: I want to see Reynolds.'

Krieps said she was told by several crew members not to go to see him, but she kept walking because she had had it up to here.

She said: 'Finally, I got to the door of his green room and knocked. I didnt know what would happen. Would I be screamed at?

'He opened the door and said, Alma! And we had tea together and a lovely conversation about music and Virginia Woolf.

'From then on, it became a regular thing; we would meet between takes, in character, and just talk.'
She finally made her relationship with James 'Arg' Argent official earlier this week.

But Gemma Collins didn't look like she was missing her man too much, as she was spotted filming scenes in Essex on Friday with Irish radio presenter Lucy Kennedy.

The 37-year-old TOWIE star was beaming as she flaunted her curves in a stylish black floral maxi dress, as she became Lucy's latest houseguest as part of her TV3 reality series Living with Lucy.

Girls day out: Gemma Collins, 37, was beaming on Friday as she sported a stylish floral maxi dress to film scenes with Irish radio presenter Lucy Kennedy

Gemma looked ready for the summer weather in her stylish look, sporting a black maxi dress with pink floral detailing as she showed Lucy around her home county.

The vivacious reality star teamed her pretty look with simple white sandals and a large nude tote bag, carrying some extra makeup essentials.

Covering up from the unexpected April sunshine with large-framed sunglasses, Gemma had her blonde hair styled into classic waves as she filmed scenes with Lucy.

The 41-year-old Dublin-born presenter also rocked a glamorous ensemble, sporting high-heeled black suede boots along with a fur-lined blue coat and matching black suede handbag.

Stylish: The reality TV star looked ready for the sunshine in her black frilled maxi dress with pink floral detailing as she filmed scenes in her native Essex

Happy girl: Gemma carried her makeup bag to film the scenes, as she finished her look with a pair of simple nude sandals

Fashion forward: Dublin-born presenter Lucy, 41, looked every inch Essex-ready in her glamorous blue fur-lined coat and black high-heeled suede boots

Pals: The duo were filming scenes for Lucy's reality show, which sees her live with various celebrities for a weekend

Vivacious: During filming the pair emerged from a building as Gemma showed Lucy around Essex

Having fun? Gemma teamed her summery look with a nude bag and big sunglasses, as she took a break from TOWIE filming for the series

Glowing: Gemma was still beaming despite missing boyfriend James 'Arg' Argent, who is currently filming in Marbella with First Time Mum star Ferne McCann

Gemma had been filming scenes with Lucy for the latest installment of her reality show Living with Lucy, which sees her spend a weekend in the homes of various celebrities.

Following in the footsteps of Katie Hopkins and Jedward, it looked as if Lucy was getting a first class look at Gemma's glamorous Essex lifestyle, as the pair got up to some hilarious antics during the filming.

At one point Gemma appeared to emerge from a building sporting a pair of Elton-John-esque pink sunglasses along with a matching robe.

Loved-up: Gemma and Arg made their relationship official during TOWIE last week, as he asked her to be his girlfriend with the help of a loud Mexican band

Moving forward: After weeks of will-they won't-they tension, Gemma has been gushing about her romance with Arg, hinting that children could be on the cards

Fascinating: Lucy took in the Essex landscape as she headed to stay with Gemma

Gemme's boyfriend Arg was nowhere to be seen during filming as he has been joining friend Ferne McCann in Marbella in scenes for her upcoming reality series First Time Mum.

The couple finally made their relationship official on last week's TOWIE, with Arg declaring his love for Gemma with the help of a Mexican band.

Fans wept with joy as the will-they won't-they couple cemented their love at last, and have already talked about their future, hinting that children may be on the cards.

Welcome! In a hilarious moment, Gemma donned a bright pink robe and Elton John-style sunglasses to invite Lucy into her house

Superstar: The GC was difficult to miss as she headed to the door to welcome Lucy into her home for the weekend

Big kisses: The pair exchanged pleasantries as they filmed the scenes for the reality TV series

Come on in! Inviting Lucy into her home, Gemma was her ever-bubbly self during filming for the scenes

Bite to eat: Gemma and Lucy also headed into a nearby restaurant for some food during filming

Wish you were here! Gemma didn't appear to be missing boyfriend Arg (above) as he filmed in Marbella for friend Ferne McCann's series First Time Mum

However, Gemma was forced to defend their relationship against trolls after their relationship emerged.

Responding to a follower who accused the pair of a 'showmance', the feisty star said: 'I don't need publicity stunts honey.'

Gemma recently took to Instagram to praise her beau following his triumphant performance in The Real Full Monty Live last week.

Fans praised Arg for stripping off along with seven other male celebrities to raise awareness for prostrate and testicular cancer, and Gemma was keen to praise him for overcoming his body fears.

Posting a sweet selfie of the pair, she wrote: 'So PROUD of you tonight! #therealfullmontylive your always gorgeous to me no matter what and dont like to see you so insecure about your body you must never be insecure and always own who you are all different its whats in your heart that always counts.'

Riding high: Gemma was in great spirits for filming as she showed Lucy the best of her home county
She's known for her love of keeping fit and is often seen flaunting her rock hard abs.

And Davina McCall, 50, demonstrated her fitness prowess once again as she learned to surf with son Chester, 11, on Wednesday during her Maldives getaway.

The former Big Brother presenter - who has just received her Level 3 certificate in Fitness Instructing from LDN Muscle's PT academy - showed off her washboard abs and toned physique as she took to the Indian Ocean to learn the new hobby.

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Beach babe: Davina McCall, 50, demonstrated her fitness prowess once again as she learned to surf with son Chester, 11, on Wednesday during her Maldives getaway

Sharing a photograph on Instagram, the mother-of-three cut a beach babe figure as she wore a pink and white Roxy surfing rash top, teaming it with a pair of striped bikini bottoms.

Davina knew exactly how to work her best angles as she smiled and put her best foot forward while clutching a surfboard on the golden sand.

The Jump star looked fresh-faced as she went make-up free for the fun activity while her brunette locks appeared tousled with the fresh sea salt air.

Surf's up: The former Big Brother presenter showed off her washboard abs and toned physique as she took to the Indian Ocean to learn the new hobby

Natural: The legendary presenter managed to ride an entire wave for an impressive distance without wiping out

She captioned the sunkissed snap with: 'Such a poser... but today Chester and I LEARNED TO SURF!!!!!

'We actually both stood up ! Such great teachers at @rachelmckendrick at @tropicsurf thank you so so much ! See u tomorrow!!!!

'If Im honest ... I nearly cancelled... was nervous and tired ( big activity day today ) and was telling myself I would never get it so whats the point ... so I told myself to shut it and just go... and we are feeling pretty chuffed ... we tried tried tried and succeeded! Way to go Chester !!!!' followed by heart, surfing and wave emojis.

Stylish: The mother-of-three cut a beach babe figure as she wore a pink and white Roxy surfing rash top, teaming it with a pair of funky bikini bottoms

While Davina also added a video of her impressive new hobby on Thursday, captioning it as: 'Obsessed. Going again today !!!' followed by three smiling emojis.

In the footage, the legendary presenter managed to ride an entire wave for an impressive distance without wiping out.

Onlookers can be heard cheering on Davina until she decided to fall backwards into the ocean at the end.

Wipe out: Onlookers can be heard cheering on Davina until she decided to fall backwards into the ocean at the end

Relax: The TV star will no doubt be making the most of the relaxing vacation after announcing that she was splitting from her husband of 17 years, Matthew Robertson, in November 2017

The television star will no doubt be making the most of the relaxing vacation after she announced that she was splitting from her husband of 17 years, Matthew Robertson, in November last year.

In a statement, she told MailOnline: 'I am very sad to say that Matthew and I have separated.

'Our amazing children are our number one priority, above everything else so therefore we ask for as much space and respect from the media as possible while our family goes through this difficult time.'
She split with Jesse Williams earlier this year.

And Minka Kelly certainly looked single and ready to mingle on her latest outing.

The 34-year-old actress recently put on an eye-popping display at the Garret Leight X Ulla Johnson collaboration launch party in Beverly Hills.

Stunning: Minka Kelly recently put on an eye-popping display at the Garret Leight X Ulla Johnson collaboration launch party in Beverly Hills

She rocked a very low-cut white lacy number which showed off her cleavage.

Her highlighted tresses were worn down flowing over her shoulders as she sported natural, complimentary make-up.

Minka was not the only talented star there as she was joined by This Is Us actress Mandy Moore.

Wow factor: The 37-year-old actress rocked a very low-cut white lacy number which showed off her cleavage

This is us: Minka was not the only talented star there as she was joined by actress Mandy Moore

Back in January it was reported that the stunner and the Grey's Anatomy actor, 36 had gone their separate ways after a year of dating, according to UsWeekly.

This comes just as Williams has seen his bitter custody battle over his two children - daughter Sadie, aged four, and son Maceo, aged two - with estranged wife Aryn Drake-Lee take another nasty turn as she argues over cupcakes and a woman named 'Mama C.'

It must have been difficult for Jesse and Minka to have had a thriving relationship with the agony of his split from Drake-Lee.

Done for good? Jesse Williams and Minka had split after dating for one year, according to a report from UsWeekly in January

Often, their bickering over custody of their children has made headlines.

Jesse and Aryn filed for divorce in April.

Jesse and Minka allegeldy started dating in January 2017 when they filmed a video game together in Paris. The two were rarely seen together during their romance.

Doing her own thing: The siren was seen with a male friends earlier this week

Solo flier: She was seen in public in LA leaving LAX airport in August

They were photographed together in 2013 along with other stars such as Oprah and Lenny Kravitz, but it is not known if they were friends at the time.

Last year, the brunette bombshell was asked online if she was dating the actor. That caused her to blow up.

When a hater wrote 'I hope the cheating rumors arent true. It would be disappointing,' Minka wrote back: 'Theyre not. Hate for you to be disappointed. Glad I could clear that up for you. Now f*** off.'

And when things got too difficult, they 'took a few steps back,' according to the site.

Now it looks as if they have taken many steps back.

Ouch: Williams was being accused of introducing his children to his new girlfriend before the agreed upon time by his ex Aryn Drake-Lee according to a Wednesday report from TMZ; seen in 2016

It is not known when they split up.

Kelly has not been spotted since earlier this month when she left LAX airport but she has been active on social media.

On January 2 she wrote: 'Heres to a better year. I insist on believing we are on the upswing of goodness, kindness and service of others. We are a more awake society than weve ever been and that has to be the silver lining in all the madness over the last year. Right?'

Jesse had said in the past that he did not leave Aryn for Minka.

Pays anatomy! This comes just days after reports that Jesse's spousal support payments to his estranged wife have increased from $33 to $50k per month; seen in 2013

The split news comes after Aryn accused Jesse of introducing their kids too soon to a woman nicknamed Mama C, according to TMZ.

Drake-Lee says that Williams has been taking their two children to his new girlfriend's house since October. She also claims that the actor had taken the youngsters on a short vacation to Big Bear Mountain in California with his new ladylove.

Drake-Lee believes this is all a violation of their custody agreement in which it states that each of them have to wait at least six months into a new relationship before the significant other can be introduced to the children.

Mama C is not Minka, but rather a visual artist named Ciarra Pardo, the site claimed on Thursday.

It was further alleged that Ciarra is a longtime friend of Jesse and Aryn's and he has 'never hooked up with her.'

In addition, Jesse's ex claims that the actor broke a rule at four-year-old daughter Sadie's school as he apparently brought cupcakes for her birthday when it is mandated by the school to have one day a month to celebrate all the students' birthdays.

Aryn also believes that this has affected her relationship with their daughter as the documents say that Sadie was tearful as she said 'she was mad at me for not attending her birthday party' at the school.

A new role: The star is on pre-production on the TV series Titans; seen in July

The mother-of-two also claims there are other issues which are due to Jesse's unpredictable schedule and not giving enough notice before picking the children up.

So ultimately Jesse's ex is asking for the judge to set a more consistent schedule of visitation.

TMZ spoke to a source close to the couple who claims that Drake-Lee is 'lying' because of her desire to be seen as the victim.

'Aryn is obsessed with being seen as a victim. She hasn't had a job in nearly a decade, blew a marriage with a successful, generous, happy man who just built her a new house, loves his kids and pays her over $50K a month,' said the insider.

This comes just a week after it was claimed that Williams' monthly spousal support payments have been increased from $33k to $50k, TMZ reported.

Drake-Lee made the request to the court based on his ability to pay, and the judge granted it.

Under the new agreement, Aryn is responsible for all mortgage payments and expenses on the family home.

She is also entitled half of his residual checks from September 2012 to April 2017
She has been showcasing her sartorial flair in an array of elegant ensembles while teaching at Columbia University this week.

And Amal Clooney upped the fashion stakes once again as she stepped out in New York in another high-fashion outfit on Friday.

The 40-year-old human rights barrister oozed glamour as she slipped her incredible figure into a leopard print midi-dress.

Power outfit: Amal Clooney upped the fashion stakes once again as she stepped out in New York in another high-fashion outfit on Friday

Amal put on a leggy display in the tight pencil dress which fell just above her knees and accentuated her lithe limbs with patent black stilettos.

The wife of George Clooney teamed the look with a powder blue coat, which hung loosely over her trim frame.

The British-Lebanese beauty, who shares twins nine-month-old twins Ella and Alexander with the Hollywood heartthrob, styled her long brunette tresses in loose waves and accentuated her striking looks with a bold red lip.

Leading lady: The 40-year-old human rights barrister oozed glamour as she slipped her incredible figure into a leopard print midi dress which fell just above her knees

She completed the stylish ensemble with a pair of tortoise shell sunglasses and an oversized black bag.

Amal, who has worked on a number of high profile cases throughout her career, stepped out as it was revealed that she will represent two journalists jailed in Burma.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo  reporters for the Reuters news agency  are being held in a Yangon prison after being arrested in December.

They are being held under the countrys Official Secrets Act, a statute which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

Stylish: Showing off her sartorial flair, she teamed the look with a powder blue coat, which hung loosely over her trim frame and completed the ensemble with tortoise shell sunglasses

Her latest case comes amid claims she recently threw open the doors of her familys newly refurbished 10 million Berkshire mansion to renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, for an at home interview, set to be published in Vogue this year.

In the unlikely event that the A-listers nine-bedroom property isnt impressive enough, Amal also borrowed 7million of diamonds to wear for the occasion.

A source close to the Clooneys told The Mail on Sunday: This has been organised for a long while. It is Amals chance to do a sit-down interview and show the inside of her house.

'It will be a really special piece for her. She and George have put blood, sweat and tears into getting their house to be perfect, so its the ideal location to do this.

The choice of photographer is also significant, as Leibovitz took the pictures of Amal during the final fitting of her Oscar de la Renta wedding dress for the couples marriage in September 2014.

However, it is understood that neither George, 56, nor their children will appear in the new pictures.

The couple bought the 17th Century, Grade II listed mansion in the village of Sonning Eye  where neighbours include British Prime Minister Theresa May and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page  for about 7.5 million in 2014, soon after they married.
Giada De Laurentiis sent temperatures soaring in Florida on Thursday.

The Italian-American beauty hit the beach in Miami showing off her slender figure in a stylish mauve swimsuit.

Showing off her age-defying physique, the 47-year-old TV chef cooled off in the ocean before strolling back across the sand.

Bathing beauty: Giada De Laurentiis showed off her beach body in Miami on Thursday

She wore her brunette tresses up in a sophisticated updo and sported stylish oversize sunglasses to complete the look.

The TV chef is currently doing press to promote her new cookbook Giada's Italy and the opening of her Baltimore restaurant GDL Italian.

Earlier this week she returned to the Ellen Show to redeem herself after an awkward cooking demo with Nicole Kidman.

She had a hard time impressing Kidman who blatantly threw shade at her cooking during a segment last May.

The Australian actress was left seriously underwhelmed after tasting De Laurentiis' focaccia.

Making a splash: The TV chef wore a stylish mauve bikini as she enjoyed a cooling dip in the ocean

Age-defying: She wore her brunette tresses up in a sophisticated updo and sported stylish oversize sunglasses to complete the look

In January it was rumored that the TV personality may be fired from the Today show following anchor Matt Lauer's departure.

Giada reportedly denied bosses were going to give her the boot in the wake of the disgraced star's exit following allegations of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment.

A source told PageSix that 'Matt always had the final say on show experts, but now they want new blood. They want more diversity'.

The TV chef is currently doing press to promote her new cookbook Giada's Italy and the opening of her Baltimore restaurant GDL Italian

But a De Laurentiis rep said it's 'not true'.

'Giada will still be making her appearances on Today and we are currently working on her schedule to confirm,' the representative told the news site.

It came after Today's top producer Don Nash announced he'll be stepping down after 30 years.

Giada shares daughter Jade, 10, with fashion designer ex-husband Todd Thompson.
Bella Thorne announced on Tuesday to her 17 million followers that she was going to take a break from social media for the rest of the year.

But on Friday the 20-year-old Blended actress was back at it.

The pinup posted several images where she could seen in her underwear.

No break: Bella Thorne announced on Tuesday to her 17 million followers that she was going to take a break from social media for the rest of the year

More: But on Friday the 20-year-old Blended actress was back at it

The Shake It Up actress was posing in her hotel in front of a table of room service which included bottles of ketchup and mayonnaise.

The star wore a pink and white top that was cropped and had safety pins on the bottom

And she also modeled little light pink undies, adding a silver belt.

On her head was a black and white cap.

Hungry: The Shake It Up actress was posing in her hotel in front of a table of room service which included bottles of ketchup and mayonnaise

She likes to shock: The movie star then posed makeup free with her tongue out

The movie star then posed makeup free with her tongue out.

She wore several items of jewelry as well as her nose piercing. Her caption said, 'Posted pix in my undies and my OG collection.'

Earlier this week, the star announced on Instagram that she might be taking 'a break from social media for the rest of the year.'

She posted the declaration on Sunday along with a photo of herself in a pink bra and crimson beret.

Over it: Thorne posted a photo captioned, 'Work is tomorrow ???:((( decided to take a break from social media for the rest of the year. I love you guys promise Im still here'

The seductive Amityville: The Awakening star's was playfully pulling on what appeared to be a brown jumpsuit in the photo.

Despite the definitive tone of Bella's caption, she has since posted stories to her popular page.

The image was posted to her Instagram April 1st, which suggests the whole thing could possibly be an inelaborate hoax.

Nonetheless, if this indeed is the actress' last social media post of 2018, she painted an alluring figure with her long red hair flowing over one breast.

Bella was also seen taking in sunny Los Angeles on Sunday with her sister Dani Thorne and boyfriend Mod Sun.

The trio were snapped after exiting Blue Jam Cafe, while walking with one of her many pets.

Dressed in a purple sweater and matching beanie, The Midnight Sun star showed off her typical colorful punk-inspired style.

The actress wore an oversized white t-shirt underneath her violet ensemble and completed the look with a pair of grape shoes with giant laces.

Mod Sun was also in his usual harlequin attire with a bright yellow beanie situated atop his multicolored dreadlocks and a tie-dyed long sleeve.

The rapper added a pair of navy track pants to complete his ramshackle look.
Dakota fanning sure knows how to look like an elegant lady.

On Thursday the blonde beauty looked sophisticated as she wore a black suit with black lace cropped bustier to attend the Please Stand By Screening.

The event was held on Annual United Nations Observance of World Autism Awareness Day at The Landmark in New York City.

Looking fine: Dakota fanning sure knows how to look like an elegant lady. On Thursday the blonde beauty looked sophisticated as she wore a black suit with black lace cropped bustier to attend the Please Stand By Screening

Two much fun! The Runaways actress posed with director Ben Lewin who was dapper in a dark suit

The star wore the long blazer unbuttoned to show off her tummy.

The slacks were nicely tailored and high waisted. She added black platform heels that looked inspired by the 1940s.

The Runaways actress posed with director Ben Lewin who was dapper in a dark suit.

Glam: The former child star wore her long light blonde hair down over her shoulders and stick straight and parted in the middle

Good photo op: Lewin, Fanning and William Leaman during the screening

The former child star wore her long light blonde hair down over her shoulders and stick straight and parted in the middle.

She added rose-toned makeup with light ruby lips.

Fanning opened up about her plans to join forces with her sister Elle Fanning during an interview on Wednesday's edition of The One Show in London.

The Charlotte's Web actress, 24, put on a typically chic display in a fashion-forward skater dress as she promoted her latest TV series The Alienist with co-star Luke Evans.

Hollywood royalty: The Charlotte's Web actress, 24, and her younger sibling Elle, 19, have cemented their place as leading actresses; seen in October

In the discussion with presenters Alex Jones and Matt Baker, the former child star revealed: 'I would love to work with my sister Elle. Its something weve always wanted to do, but its about finding the right thing.'

'We dont want to be sisters in whatever we do as it would be expected, we want to do something different.'

The Brimstone star also touched on the unexpected reality of acting, and relocating to California at a young age.

'I love what I do, the only thing is that you're all over the place, and I love a routine!'

'I was born in Georgia, but lived in LA since I was six to try acting. My family are very southern, but I feel most connected to LA.
An alleged Sydney rapist who's been on the run for nearly 40 years, accused of sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint near the airport, is back in police custody.

The now 62-year-old man was charged over a 1981 incident when a 22-year-old woman was raped at gunpoint in a vehicle in Mascot, when he was 26.

He was committed to stand trial but after being granted bail, failed to attend court in 1984 and had been on the run since.

Police arrested the 62-year-old in Shepparton in Victoria on Thursday before extraditing him to NSW overnight.

He is due to face Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
A man who allegedly caused a scene during a shirtless rampage at a NSW Central Coast restaurant before breaking a policeman's nose is behind bars.

Officers were called to a waterfront restaurant at Ettalong Beach at 10.30pm on Thursday on reports a 26-year-old man was displaying concerning behaviour.

The bare-chested man allegedly punched a senior constable in the face without warning, knocking him backwards onto the road, before running off.

The accused was arrested at a home in nearby Woy Woy at 6am on Friday.

He's been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and resisting police and has been remanded in custody to face Gosford Local Court later in the day.
Prince Charles has arrived in a Bundaberg where he will spend a few hours touring the famous rum distillery and enjoying a community barbecue.

He will be flying solo on Friday - the third day of his visit to Queensland - with his wife Camilla attending her own engagements in Brisbane.

Around 500 people from Bundaberg and nearby towns have been waiting for his arrival. He touched down at 11.30am and headed straight to the distillery.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will host the barbecue for the prince.

Later on Friday, he will attend an environment round table on Lady Elliot Island with members of the Irwin family and others.

Charles opened the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Wednesday night.
Noosa on Queensland's Sunshine Coast needs no introduction.

For the past 50 years, its mix of secluded beaches, boutique shops and upscale restaurants have wooed both domestic and international visitors.

The national park trail is the most walked in Australia, however strict building regulations mean much of the natural beauty of the area has been retained.

But there is much more to the region than Hastings St and its immediate surrounds.

Trek a little further north and you'll discover an untouched paradise just waiting to be explored.

The Great Beach Drive is one of the world's longest beach roads, stretching 380km from Noosa over to Fraser Island and across to Hervey Bay.

There's no feeling quite like driving on the sand with nothing but the whole beach ahead of you.

While Teewah Beach - the strip of road from Noosa North Shore to Double Island Point - fills with campers on weekends and school holidays, during the week it's almost empty. This is when it's at its best.

But it's not just the beach on show in this part of the world.

The entertaining guys at Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours offer day trips from the Sunshine Coast up to Rainbow Beach.

They take a drive through the nearby rainforest and up to Double Island Point lookout, where whales, dolphins and sharks can be spotted throughout the year.

Then it's time to head to the little town of Rainbow Beach.

Despite being founded more than 50 years ago and having Aussie heartthrob Chris Hemsworth as one of its fans, the population remains at just 1000.

I'm told the primary reason for that is because it's landlocked by national park, which only adds to its charm.

Tourism reigns supreme here, with visitors flocking to see the famous coloured sands.

Stretching for several hundred metres, the sand-formed cliffs are made up of deep reds, yellows and browns, providing a stark contrast to the blue ocean water. There's nothing quite like it.

There is also another, lesser-known attraction, worth visiting on a trip to Rainbow Beach.

JD runs the Rainbow Beach Learn to Surf Company. Self-titled Australia's Care Bare, this fair dinkum surfer dude is all about making sure visitors have a good time in the water. "Safe travels, big barrels", is his motto.

Within one hour, everyone in our group has stood up and surfed a wave at least once, even those of us who have never been on a board before. To put it simply, it's awesome.

Rainbow Beach is the perfect place to relax, take in some Queensland hospitality and recharge. It's also just a short drive from Inskip Point, one of two gateways to Fraser Island.

The Indigenous word for the world's largest sand island is K'gari, for which the literal translation is paradise. Between the rugged coastline and freshwater lakes, it's easy to see how it got its name.

K'gari is starting to be used more frequently and it is hoped it will eventually follow the path of Uluru, which has now largely replaced Ayers Rock as the central Australian icon's primary name.

Whether you stay for a day, a week or a month, there is plenty to see along Queensland's Fraser Coast, which really is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Sunshine Coast.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE:

Noosa Heads is 215km from the Gold Coast, where the 2018 Commonwealth Games are being held from April 4 to 15.

The drive from Noosa Heads to Rainbow Beach takes about one hour along the Great Beach Drive.

It's about a 15-minute drive from Rainbow Beach to the Inskip Point ferry, which then travels across to Fraser Island.

Visitors can also access Fraser Island by flying direct from Brisbane to Hervey Bay.

STAYING THERE:

Noosa: Sofitel, 14-16 Hastings St, Noosa Heads. Visit: http://www.sofitelnoosapacificresort.com.au/

Rainbow Beach: Plantation Resort, 1 Rainbow Beach Rd, Rainbow Beach. Visit: http://www.plantationresortatrainbow.com.au/

Fraser Island: Kingfisher Bay Resort. Visit: https://www.kingfisherbay.com/

Hervey Bay: Mantra Hervey Bay, Buccaneer Dr, Hervey Bay. Visit: https://www.mantraherveybay.com.au/

PLAYING THERE:

Kanu Kapers: Kayak the Noosa Everglades, one of only two in the world. Visit: https://www.thecovenoosa.com.au/kanu-kapers/

Equathon: Learn to ride or go for a gallop along Teewah Beach at Noosa North Shore. Visit: https://www.equathon.com/

Rainbow Beach Learn to Surf: Take a one-hour lesson on the beach in front of the surf club. Visit: http://www.rainbowbeachlearntosurf.com/

Great Beach Drive 4WD Tours: Take a full-day tour from Noosa to Rainbow Beach. Visit: https://www.greatbeachdrive4wdtours.com/

Fraser Experience Tours: See Fraser Island from the comfort of a hummer. Visit: https://fraserexperiencetours.com.au

The writer travelled as a guest of Tourism and Events Queensland.
As we ascend into the sky my stomach drops slightly. It's a nausea that is foreign to me, but not one that feels unpleasant.

We float higher, almost as if following a direct line from the ground, and tears of rain begin to trickle down the window. The helicopter's wings are forcibly cutting through the crisp air and the loud sounds spinning off the blades whip the eardrums - despite the thick earphones we have strapped over our ears.

The sound wobbles as we continue to climb, but eventually becomes part of the background as Nick, our pilot, twists and turns around the valley.

Having been to the Hunter Valley one too many times, the helicopter ride across the wine country encourages a different take on the region which is abundant with more than 150 wineries, a multitude of restaurants and some of the most beautiful accommodation destinations.

It is a different and more artistic way to view the land as opposed to my usual crawl from Tempus Two to Pepper Tree to Vinden Estate and to the biodynamic vineyard Krinklewood (just to name a few).

It's a privilege to see Australia in such detail. The curves of the mountains, the height of the native trees, the flow of the rivers and lakes that break up the land. It makes me think - how have I never done this before?

It is a quick ride - a mere 15 or so minutes - but it is enough to leave a thirst for more. Luckily, only a day later we have the opportunity to embrace a slightly more extreme look at the valley from the sky.

It is dark when the alarm rings and echoes throughout my hotel room - a sign that it is too early. But I reassure myself it is going to be worth it. And it is.

After a short bus ride to the outskirts of the Hunter Valley the preparation begins. From hauling fabric off the truck to giant fans forcing air into the balloons.

Twenty-or-so minutes later an enormous balloon is positioned proudly above a rectangular wicker basket. Its posture is impeccable and reassures a few unsettled flyers.

I gaze up into the shelter of the hot air balloon. It is larger than I could have ever imagined but despite its size and dominance, the balloon it completely submissive to the wind. In fact our entire tour depends on which way the wind decides to sway us.

Similarly to the helicopter, the hot air balloon lifts us straight into the air but this time there is not the roaring beat of the helicopter blades - instead only silence.

I can hear my friend breathing out of beat next to me and in the distance a gentle hum of traffic.

Within minutes Nathan, who has more than a decade's experience piloting hot air balloons across Australia, Africa and Canada, has us soaring at more than 3,000 feet (more than 914 meters).

Our balloon takes a different flight path to our brightly coloured fellow parachutes and floats peacefully across the orange-kissed sky. Nathan smiles as we jump in shock each time he flicks on the fire to elevate the balloon.

The sun has risen just in time for our flight and the clouds have departed. I take in the sight we are privileged to see: Trees folding over one another, cows and lambs speckled across dry land and neighbouring vineyards scattered across the valley.

The layers of wind send us travelling more than 25 kilometres throughout the morning. We hover over hotels, sparkling blue pools, chapels, vineyards and more vineyards.

Nathan steers us lower and at one point, we are close enough to wave to a family sitting on their front porch for their morning cuppa. It's still too early for breakfast.

After one last hike high in the sky we begin to prepare for the inevitable. Our landing field awaits us and not before long we are tucked into our safe squatting position, bracing for the possibility of a tip-over. The anticipation is a killer. So is the squat, which reminds me why I no longer have a gym pass.

Some of us grip onto the wicker basket and close our eyes. But the fear is needless. The basket touches the earth gently and without struggle as if the ground has its arms open waiting to catch us.

While it is nice to be back on land, enjoying a buffet breakfast at Crowne Plaza and a wine tour across the valley, I have no doubt that the Hunter Valley is meant to be seen from the sky.

IF YOU GO:

GETTING THERE: The Hunter Valley is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney's CBD. For a scenic road trip, guests should take the Tourist Drive.

STAYING THERE: The Crowne Plaza is located at the heart of the Hunter Valley and is only meters away from the helicopter pad. The hotel can organise for guests to take part in hot air ballooning with Beyond Ballooning who pick up visitors at the hotel early in the morning and drop them off just in time for breakfast. Visit www.crowneplazahuntervalley.com.au/ and www.beyondballooning.com.au/

PLAYING THERE: Crowne Plaza is surrounded by an array of vineyards including Tempus Two, Callais, Pepper Tree, Vinden Estate and the biodynamic vineyard Krinklewood. Visitors would regret not experiencing a wine tasting in the Hunter. For more info, www.visitnsw.com/destinations/hunter/hunter-valley

The writer travelled to the Hunter Valley as a guest of Crowne Plaza.
The Duchess of Cornwall has put her hand up to be the first volunteer for a charity founded in Brisbane, if it starts in the UK.

Orange Sky Australia, founded by Brisbane man and former Young Australian of the year Nicholas Marchesi, is the world's first free mobile laundry service for homeless people.

The organisation's chief financial officer and self-confessed royal family fan, Emma Young, shared a joke with the Duchess when she asked her if the charity needed more money.

"Always," Ms Young replied.

"We had really genuine conversations with her when she visited us and that's what Orange Sky Laundry is all about, having genuine conversations with our friends on the street and (Camilla) proved no matter what walk of life you come from, we can have genuine non-judgmental conversations," she said.

The duchess visited King George Square in the centre of Brisbane for an hour, chatting with organisations delivering assistance to the city's homeless.

Her first stop was with the One Million Stars To End Violence installation by artist Maryann Talia Pau who explained that every star had a story.

Camilla, who said the work was very impressive, poked her hand through the installation to greet the waiting public.

The duchess, who was wearing a chiffon dress by Anna Valentine, also met with charities OzHarvest and MICAH Projects.

Her last royal engagement on Friday is a Think In at the Power House for Women of the World.

Camilla flew solo while her husband, Prince Charles is in Bundaberg.

He returns to Brisbane on Friday evening for a reception at Government House hosted by Queensland Governor Paul de Jersey before flying to Vanuatu on Saturday.

He returns to Australia for final visits to Cairns and the Northern Territory before returning to the UK on Tuesday night.
The ACT's third federal seat is proposed to be called Bean, in honour of Australia's official WWI correspondent Charles Bean.

Under a redistribution, the ACT will go from two to three seats, with Canberra and Fenner being redrawn but retaining their names.

The new electorate of Bean will take in southern parts of the ACT including the Molonglo Valley, Weston Creek, Tuggeranong and part of Woden Valley, as well as Norfolk Island.

It is expected the seat will be targeted by the Liberal Party.

Canberra will take in central parts of the national capital plus inner Belconnen and Hawker.

Fenner will cover the north including Gungahlin, Hall and Belconnen, as well as Jervis Bay.
Australia's next generation of surgeons have been given access to some of the world's most sophisticated medical imaging technology designed to improve patient outcomes.

Dedicated to biomedical research and clinical training, Sydney Imaging at Sydney University was launched on Friday and is home to a state-of-the-art Hybrid Theatre.

The operating theatre for surgeons-in-training and researchers features the first ARTIS pheno C-Arm, a robotic imaging system.

Manufactured by Siemens Healthineers, the system delivers high quality fluoroscopic and CT-like 3D images quickly using less radiation.

It also accommodates any patient regardless of their size, condition or position.

Head cardiothoracic surgeon at Royal Prince Alfred hospital, Professor Paul Bannon, said a hybrid theatre means critical medical imaging can be done while surgeons are operating.

This means complicated surgeries can be done in a minimally invasive way.

"At RPA we have a hybrid theatre and it's where we do the most complex procedures," said Professor Bannon, who is the appointed Deputy Director of Sydney Imaging's Hybrid Theatre.

"It gives us the opportunity to do high-end procedures such as (heart) valve replacements in a minimally invasive setting, so the patients get out of hospital in a day or two rather than a week and is recovering far more quickly."

Professor Bannon says the C-Arm's real-time 3D imaging also allows them to re-construct the anatomy while in theatre.

In the event of a medical emergency like an aortic dissection, where the body's largest artery splits, a hybrid theatre could "absolutely" mean the difference between life and death, Professor Bannon said.

When the aorta splits, two channels of blood run through the artery, and this starts cutting of the blood supply to the brain and gut.

"Prior to the hybrid theatre you would have to rely on images that were taken before the operation, which can change dramatically from acts in emergency to theatre, then you have to do a traditional operation and basically just hope for the best," said Professor Bannon.

Not only will the Sydney Imaging facility help train surgeons, it will also allow researchers to study complex biological systems and disease processes, said University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Michael Spence.

"Sydney Imaging empowers our finest researchers from across a range of disciplines, and our partners, to find innovative solutions for the world's most complex health conditions," said Dr Spence.
The federal government will block a ship of 65,000 live sheep bound for the Middle East if the export company fails to meet stringent conditions.

The agriculture department has written to Emanuel Exports saying new footage showing live exports on one of its vessels suffering from heat stress and other poor conditions last year has raised "serious concerns" about animal welfare.

The company will not be able to export the sheep - due to leave Australia for Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar on Tuesday - without departmental approval.
Manus Island is known more for housing Australia-bound asylum seekers, but there's a plan to turn it into a tourism destination.

The federal government is working with Papua New Guinean authorities to identify opportunities for economic growth, including opening up greater tourism opportunities.

Aid contractor Abt Associates is scouting to hire a "tourism specialist", to determine what the sector needs to do to change national and international perceptions.

It includes producing a database of natural and cultural points of interest for tourists, developing tourism plans for 2018 to 2030 and redeveloping the island's tourism website.

Manus Island is currently home to around 600 refugees and asylum seekers, moved into the community this year after Australia's offshore detention centre was shut down.

That resulted in protests from people who feared for their safety in the community.

The job advertisement recognises the difficult task at hand, requiring the successful candidate to have more than a decade of tourism and business development experience "in a challenging country context".

It reportedly pays up to $146,000 plus allowances.

PNG tourism authority boss Jerry Angus thinks Manus has "huge potential" for tourism.

"One of the greatest areas of strength they have in terms of tourism is diving, surfing is one of them, and there's a lot war relics in Manus Island as well," he told ABC.

The adviser would work with the Decentralisation and Citizen Participation Partnership, supported by the Australian government.

The position requires official sign-off from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
A 32-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of a nine-month-old baby in western NSW.

The woman was charged with the murder of the young boy on Thursday, five months after he was found dead at his home near Dareton in the state's far west.

Police were told at the time that his 22-month-old brother had jumped on the baby, who died in hospital the following day, November 1.

The woman appeared before Wentworth Local Court on Thursday, where she was refused bail to reappear on May 9.
Both major parties expect two new federal seats to go to Labor under a proposal to redraw electoral boundaries, which could effectively wipe out the Turnbull government's majority.

Under the redistribution, Victoria and the ACT will each get an additional lower house representative, while South Australia loses one seat, taking the total number of federal MPs to 151.

A raft of seats will be redrawn and renamed.

Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne agreed with Labor frontbencher Richard Marles that the new electorate of Bean, which will take in southern parts of the ACT, and Fraser in Melbourne's west, are likely to go Labor's way.

But the redrawing of boundaries across 37 existing Victorian electorates is cause for hope for the Liberals, Mr Pyne said.

"The new map for electoral boundaries is as exciting for politicians as an astronomer discovering a new star," he told Sky News on Friday.

"We absolutely love redistributions. We spend days poring over maps, working out what the outcomes are going to be."

Mr Pyne's South Australian seat of Sturt could be abolished when his state's redistribution proposal is released next Friday.

He is confident he will hold his eastern suburban Adelaide seat whatever shape it takes, while Mr Marles was also unfazed by the new electoral map.

"There's been a couple of boundary changes but I think I'll be fine," he said.

As part of the flagged Victorian changes, the division of Corangamite will be renamed Cox, McMillan will change to Monash, Melbourne Ports will become Macnamara and Murray will be Nicholls.

ABC election expert Antony Green said the Liberal-held Dunkley in Melbourne's south-east would become notionally Labor.

Changes to Dunkley and Cox, along with the two new seats would effectively wipe out the government's majority, he said on Twitter.

The ACT will go from two to three federal seats, with the new division proposed to be called Bean, in honour of Australia's official WWI correspondent Charles Bean.

Fenner has been redrawn to cover the territory's north including Gungahlin, Hall and Belconnen, as well as Jervis Bay, while Canberra will take in central parts of the national capital.

The Greens are eyeing Canberra, which they say will be a contest between them and Labor.

"The seat of Canberra is now one of the greenest in the country. Finally Canberrans have a chance to send someone to parliament who will truly represent them," ACT Greens Co-Convenor Emma Davidson said.

The public has until May 5 to lodge objections.

A half-Senate and full lower house election is due between early August this year and mid-May 2019.
Research reveals poor physical activity habits are starting at a concerning young age.

An Australian study of 1600 Perth preschoolers aged two to five years found two-thirds were not getting the recommended three hours of daily physical activity needed for their growth and development.

Physical activity is not only important for a child's physical health but for brain development and mental health as well, says Associate Professor Hayley Christian at the University of Western Australia.

Knowing how important the first five years of life are, Professor Christian says physical activity intervention must start at an earlier age; in pre-school, not waiting till primary school.

"A lot of the focus is on school readiness but we're trying to highlight the importance of physical development and the development of the whole child because it all works together," said Professor Christian.

"A child that develops well physically also does well cognitively."

The PLAYCE study, led by UWA, tracked the physical activity of 1600 children from more than 100 Perth early childhood education and care services over the past two years.

The researchers attached activity monitoring belts to the children and tracked their activity throughout the day over the course of a week.

On average the majority of participants were doing 160 minutes of physical activity per day.

The Australian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for the Early Years, released by the department of health last year, recommends 180 minutes of physical activity per day.

"180 minutes is just where we want to start, more is better, kids do better when they have more, and it's got to be fun and it's got to be play based," said Professor Christian.

The study also found only 16 per cent of early childhood education and care services had a written physical activity policy in place.

"It is concerning that so many young children are falling short of meeting national physical activity guidelines," Professor Christian said.

The public health expert says the key message is just to keep a child moving.

It doesn't have to be intense exercise, rather lighter intensity, play-based activities.

"Anything but sitting still, definitely not sitting in front of a screen," said Professor Christian.

"It is about having fun - moving and playing every day. This includes fast-paced activities like riding bikes, dancing and playing hide and seek, as well as slower-paced activities such as making and playing in cubby houses, dress-ups and water play."
Sydney Roosters' forwards have dominated Cronulla's representative pack to lay the platform for a 28-10 NRL victory on Friday night.

Comprehensively beaten by the Warriors big men last week, the Tri-colours bounced back to nullify the impact of the Sharks' forwards at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

Cooper Cronk and Luke Keary kicked twice for tries, leaving a James Tedesco show-and-go in the second-half as the only try that didn't come off the boot.

But the stars of the night were the Roosters' pack, who gave Cronk and halves partner Keary the field position to be at their clinical best.

Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Boyd Cordner both topped 145m, nullifying the output of Paul Gallen and Andrew Fifita who rallied late.

After Cronk got the Roosters moving with a kick for Ryan Matterson in the 20th minute to score, he landed the knockout blow before the break when he again booted the ball across field for the second-rower.

Keary also contributed with a grubber for Joesph Manu midway through the opening half, setting up the 18-6 half-time lead before Tedesco crossed after the break.

The five-eighth then finished the job with another perfectly placed for winger Reece Robinson on full-time.

Cronulla's loss was soured by a serious head knock to bench hooker James Segeyaro after he collided with Cronk's knee while trying to charge down a kick.

Matt Moylan was easily the Sharks' best in the first half after he was shifted to fullback for the injured Josh Dugan, while Valentine Holmes crossed twice on the right wing.

Moylan is the third fullback the Sharks have used in five matches.

He set up three line breaks and had one of his own before the break, and also threw a cut-out ball for Holmes' first try.
A Sydney man has been charged over a shooting in the city's southwest.

The 22-year-old was arrested at Liverpool Police Station on Friday afternoon after police allegedly found drugs, shotgun casings, fireworks, cash and tasers at homes in Ashcroft and Casula on Wednesday.

It came three weeks after a 24-year-old was shot in the leg at a property on Carnation Avenue, Casula, on March 15.

The victim was later charged with two counts of possess unauthorised firearm and possess ammunition without holding a license after police seized a replica pistol, a firearm and ammunition from the property.

The 22-year-old man was charged with multiple offences including discharge firearm, inflict grievous bodily harm, and special aggravated break and enter.

He's expected to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.
Poring over the pages of history in a Victorian classroom more than 50 years ago, an unlikely bond formed between a high school teacher and the Prince of Wales.

It was fitting then, that Prince Charles was reunited on Friday with his Geelong Grammar School history teacher in the drawing room of Brisbane's heritage-listed Government House.

Michael Collins Persse was among those gathered to mark the royal's 70th birthday year at an official reception, where he recalled the then 17-year-old as a young history buff with a unique access.

"He saw history from the inside," Mr Collins Persse told AAP.

"He was a unique pupil in that, in his understanding of it."

In 1966 the prince spent two terms at Timbertop, a rural outpost of Geelong Grammar School at the foothills of the Victorian Alps.

"He's been a great friend ever since," Mr Collins Persse added.

The pair have remained in contact over the decades, writing letters to one another and occasionally meeting face to face.

During his time at the school Charles was a well-behaved student, but was known to prefer outdoor adventures over classroom lessons.

"He did send me a lovely big Red Emperor ... trouble is I didn't know how to fillet it," the prince's former French teacher Janet West said.

The prince had caught the "enormous" fish during a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and carried it to the campus on ice, she said.

Charles despaired at how much time had passed since his brief Australian education, expressing mock scepticism towards approaching the age of 70.

"I do know only too well and understand the strange feeling of disbelief that this is actually happening and that never again, for instance, will it be possible to squeeze into a pair of budgie smugglers," the prince told the crowd.

"Don't worry', they keep telling me, 'You have great genes', but the trouble is I can't even get into them either."
A stunning night of swimming domination has propelled Australia above England and into top spot on the overall medals table after day two of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Big guns Kyle Chalmers and Emma McKeon were among five Australian individual winners in the pool, while the powerhouse men's 4x100m relay capped off a rollicking night for the host nation with a commanding victory.

With Stephanie Morton and Matthew Glaetzer saluting at the velodrome and CrossFit queen Tia-Clair Toomey securing a thrilling victory in the 58kg weightlifting division, Australia finished the day with nine gold medals - more than they had won on any single day of the 2014 Games in Glasgow.

South African superstar Chad le Clos claimed first blood in the pool on Friday evening by winning the men's 50m butterfly.

Less than half an hour later he was back in the pool, but this time could do no better than seventh behind Chalmers and runner-up Mack Horton in the 200m freestyle final.

"I was really nervous. I could feel my legs were cramping up," said le Clos.

"The turnaround was tougher than I expected. It's not the breathing, it's the lactic acid that you can't flush out.

"It was very tough, especially the last 50."

It ended le Clos' audacious bid to win seven medals on the Gold Coast, which would have taken him past shooters Mick Gault and Philip Adams as the owner of most medals in Commonwealth Games history.

I don't make excuses," said le Clos.

"It doesn't matter if I had more time, maybe things could be different."

Australia rode a wave of momentum to win six of the concluding seven events in the pool on Friday, with the promise of plenty more success to come in the remaining four days of swimming action.

After two full days of competition, the host nation had cleared away at the top of the overall medals table with 36 medals, including 14 golds.

England was second with nine golds among a total of 18 medals.

No other nation had won more than two titles in the opening two days.

Over at the Anna Meares Velodrome it was a very good evening for the Archibald family from Scotland.

Katie Archibald held off the challenge of Australian Rebecca Wiasak to win the women's 3000m individual pursuit, while elder brother John was second in the men's individual pursuit behind Englishman Charlie Tanfield.
Jordan Spieth has suffered a disastrous start to the second round of the Masters, opening the door for several big names to move within striking distance at Augusta National.

Spieth started Friday with a two-shot lead after an opening 66, but the 2015 Masters winner carded a double bogey on the first after driving into the trees to the right of the fairway.

Another errant tee shot on the par-5 second and a three-putt from long range led to a bogey, before Spieth dropped another shot at the seventh to fall to two under.

Austria's Bernd Wiesberger is among those cashing in on Spieth's early collapse, picking up two shots in three holes to move into the outright lead at four under.

Wiesberger currently holds a one-shot cushion over world No.8 Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar, while Henrik Stenson, Pat Reed, Charley Hoffman, and Adam Hadwin are also at three under but are yet to get their second rounds underway.

A shot back at two under sits Australia's Marc Leishman, three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, Spieth, Rafael Cabrera-Bello and 2007 Augusta champion Zach Johnson.

Leishman is the leading Australian and will tee off with Tiger Woods (one over) and Tommy Fleetwood (even par) in their afternoon marquee group.

Cameron Smith is a shot further back at one under nearing completion of his round, while fellow Queenslander Jason Day (three over) will get his round underway in the afternoon wave.

Adam Scott rounds out the Australian contingent and the 2013 Masters champion remains at three over.
Prince Charles will spend the day in Vanuatu, the Pacific island nation where some villagers consider his father Prince Philip a god.

But the visit on Saturday has a more serious edge for the Prince of Wales, who is keenly interested in focusing attention on protecting the environment.

Charles is in the middle of a visit to Queensland and the Northern Territory, which included opening the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.

But he's making the side trip to Vanuatu to inspect reconstruction efforts after Cyclone Pam devastated the region three years ago.

He will join Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in inspecting the recovery efforts.

Cyclone Pam smashed into Vanuatu on March 13, 2015, killing 16 people and inflicting widespread destruction and destroying the livelihood of many.

The tour with Ms Bishop will take in the Port Vila Central Hospital and the Chief's traditional meeting place, Nakamal.

Australia has provided $35 million to Vanuatu to support recovery from the 2015 cyclone.

"The visit ... reflects the shared interest Australia and the United Kingdom have in a revitalised Commonwealth, which addresses common challenges including vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters," Ms Bishop said in a statement on Friday.

"These are key issues for the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in mid-April."

The prince is known for his keen interest in the environment and climate change and raised the issue during a visit to Bundaberg on Friday.

He took a particular interest in a section of the rum distillery museum where a commemorative "high water'' bottle of Bundaberg Rum is displayed, complete with a summary of the floods that have struck the town numerous times, most recently in 2013.

"The problem is they are growing in intensity,'' he said to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as the two discussed extreme weather events.

He also discussed the future of the Great Barrier Reef at a business roundtable on Lady Elliot Island on Friday.

Villagers of Younanen on Tanna Island pray to Prince Philip daily, asking for his blessing on the banana and yam crops that make their primitive and extremely poor community self-sufficient.

According to local legend, the pale-skinned son of the mountain god had ventured across the seas to look for a rich and powerful woman to marry.

Prince Charles' wife, Camilla, joined him for the first three days but has ended her official engagements.

The prince will return to Queensland on Sunday to spend the day in Cairns.
Cameron Smith believes his trusty short game will leave him with a fighting chance for the weekend rounds at the Masters as the Augusta National bares its teeth on day two.

With defending champion Sergio Garcia carding a disastrous 13 on the par-5 15th on Thursday, Augusta claimed another victim early on Friday as overnight leader Jordan Spieth dropped four shots on his opening seven holes.

But playing in the first group off, Smith took advantage of briefly favourable early morning conditions to post an even par 72 and remain at one under and well in the hunt.

World No.45 Smith sits just four shots off the pace with play still underway.

The 24-year-old ranks 11th on the US PGA Tour in scrambling for par saves and says it is the reason he has avoided the landmines which have struck some of the big names.

"Belief in my short game; regardless of where I am, I know I have a good chance at making par and that's really helped me out the first two days," Smith said.

"It's so tough out there and the course has changed so much over the last two days and everyone is trying to wrap their heads around it.

"I do feel I left a few shots out there today but you have to take what you're given."

Smith urged himself to find accuracy with the driver to have any hope of charging up the leaderboard.

He hit just seven of Augusta's 14 fairways on day two - bringing his total to just 13 across two rounds.

"Just the longer (shots) I need to improve on," Smith said.

"I feel really comfortable with the putter and the short game, so if I can get the long (game) sorted and I think I'll be good.

"It's going to be an interesting weekend."
A man's been charged after a clandestine drug lab was found at a property in Sydney's south west.

The lab was discovered when police knocked on the door of a unit in Miller on Friday afternoon.

Specialist police and fire department officers had to be called in to process the scene where a child was believed to be on the premises.

The 48-year-old man was charged with manufacturing a commercial quantity a drug and running a drug lab. He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday.
Prince Charles has launched an industrial cadetship to nurture Australia's next generation of skilled manufacturing workers.

His Royal Highness introduced the Australian arm of the GFG Industrial Cadet Programme with GFG executive chairman and cadet ambassador Sanjeev Gupta on Friday night in Queensland during celebrations for his upcoming 70th birthday.

The program started in the UK in 2010 to bridge the generational skills gap and it aims to connect employers with youth to develop their abilities.

Australia is the first move for the program internationally.

A team flew in from South Australia's Whyalla, where GFG's main Australian mining, steel and port operations are based, to meet with Prince Charles, including local school principal Damien Judd and student Grace Smallacomb, 13.

Mr Gupta, the executive chairman and CEO of GFG Alliance Australia, was appointed by Prince Charles as his official ambassador for the cadets program in March to help the Australian launch.

The Prince of Wales is in Australia with his wife Camilla for the Commonwealth Games.

He travels to Vanuatu on Saturday before returning to Queensland on Sunday.
Palestinian protestors run for cover from tear gas fired by the Israeli forces during clashes on April 2, 2018 as they protest along the border with Israel east of Gaza City; Israeli troops killed 18 Palestinian protestors last Friday

The White House on Thursday called on Palestinians to engage in peaceful protest and stay 500 meters from Gaza's border with Israel, after Israeli troops killed 18 Palestinians.

On the eve of fresh demonstrations and amid warnings from the UN that Israel should use "extreme caution," Donald Trump's envoy Jason Greenblatt put the onus squarely on Palestinians.

"The United States strongly urges protest leaders to communicate loudly and clearly that protestors should march peacefully; should abstain from all forms of violence," he said.

Greenblatt said protestors "should remain outside the 500-meter buffer zone; and should not approach the border fence in any way or any location."

"We condemn leaders and protestors who call for violence or who send protestors - including children - to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed."

Israel has warned that its open-fire rules will not change, amid fears of a fresh bout of violence Friday.

Thousands of Palestinians are again expected to gather at five spots near the Gaza border on Friday, while Israeli soldiers and snipers will take up positions on the other side of the fence.

Protest organizers said they were planning to try to stop smaller numbers of protesters approaching the fence and hurling stones or rolling burning tires at Israeli troops, who killed 18 Palestinians last Friday.

It was the bloodiest day since a 2014 war. Another two Gazans have been killed since.

The protests are in support of refugees, including those in the Palestinian enclave who want to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.

The violence would appear to put Trump's claimed aim of reaching a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis even further beyond reach.

Palestinians have been infuriated by Trump's decision to upend decades of US policy and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Palestinians also claim the city and have pointed to the decision as evidence of pro-Israel bias.
Samsung Electronics flagged a first-quarter operating profit of 15.6 trillion won ($14.7 billion), a record for any-three month period, as it benefited from soaring demand for its memory chips for mobile devices

Samsung Electronics flagged Friday a first-quarter operating profit of 15.6 trillion won ($14.7 billion), a record for any three-month period, as it benefited from soaring demand for its memory chips for mobile devices.

Sales for January to March are expected to reach 60 trillion won, the world's largest maker of smartphones and memory chips said in an earnings forecast.

The profit forecast from Samsung Electronics -- the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group -- widely surpassed the market consensus for about 14.6 trillion won.

This marks the fourth straight quarter in which the South Korean tech firm has beaten its record operating profit.

First-quarter operating profit was up nearly 60 percent from the same period a year ago, while sales jumped by 19 percent.

The South Korean company has seen profits soar over the past year thanks to solid demand for memory chips for mobile devices, which has helped offset shrinking profits from its own mobile production.

The mobile unit suffered a serious blow after the disastrous worldwide recall of its Galaxy Note 7 device over exploding batteries two years ago, which cost the firm billions of dollars.

Samsung Electronics

But the firm rolled out its latest flagship mobile phone, the Galaxy S9, in the first quarter to largely favourable reviews -- potentially contributing to the better-than-expected profits.

Samsung withholds net profit and sector-by-sector business performance until it releases its final earnings report, which is expected later this month.

"The earnings estimate is quite a surprise," said Kim Sun-woo, analyst at Seoul-based Meritz Securities.

"There is no disagreement on how well Samsung's chip business is doing, but Samsung's mobile business must be doing better than we had expected," he said.

Profits from the mobile unit, which once contributed more than 70 percent of Samsung's overall profits in its 2012-2014 heyday, accounted for less than 20 percent of total profit in the fourth quarter last year.

The firm's semiconductor business filled the void -- thanks to soaring global prices for NAND memory chips used in mobile gadgets and DRAM chips used in servers.

Samsung's chipmaking unit -- currently dominating the global market after the firm invested tens of billions of dollars each year to build and expand factories -- provides chips for Samsung devices as well as those of competitors including Apple.

The latest positive result comes just months after Samsung's reputation was dealt a blow by the bribery conviction of heir Lee Jae-yong, the son of current group boss Lee Kun-hee.

Lee Jae-yong was a key figure in the scandal that ousted former South Korean leader Park Geun-hye last year after massive, nationwide protests.

Lee Jae-yong had been sentenced to five years in jail last year. But the sentencing was reduced in February to a suspended jail term on appeal, which saw the 49-year-old scion released after spending nearly a year in jail.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit France as part of a world tour that has already taken him to the Egypt, Britain and the United States

Saudi Arabia's crown prince travels Sunday to France on the next leg of his global tour, extending his diplomatic charm offensive as he seeks to project a new liberal image of his conservative kingdom.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman's two-day official visit, which starts Monday, comes after a weeks-long tour of the United States, Britain and Egypt, where the self-styled moderniser courted business leaders and signed a host of multimillion dollar deals.

In Madrid, the royal palace announced that the crown prince will also travel to the Spanish capital on Thursday to meet with King Felipe VI.

For France, President Emmanuel Macron treads a delicate line as he hosts the king-in-waiting in a visit expected to focus on cultural ties and investments, as well as the long-running war in Yemen, dubbed the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

"This is not a traditional state visit," a source close to the crown prince's delegation told AFP.

"It is about forging a new partnership with France, not just shopping for deals."

More than a dozen memorandums of understanding in tourism, energy and transportation are set to be signed between French and Saudi organisations, another source close to the delegation told AFP.

A Franco-Saudi cooperation deal to develop Al Ula, a Saudi city richly endowed with archeological remnants, is also expected to be a central highlight of the visit, he added.

- 'Enduring scepticism' -

Prince Mohammed's first visit to France as the heir to the Saudi throne comes after a tumultuous period at home that saw a major military shake-up and a royal purge as he consolidates power to a level unseen by previous rulers.

His global tour is meant to "garner recognition and acceptance as the de facto leader and next king of Saudi Arabia," Bernard Haykel, a professor at Princeton University, told AFP.

"This is a signal both to domestic as well as international observers that he is in charge and can leave the country for several weeks without any challenge to his authority," he added.

A Saudi woman poses for a photo after having a driving lesson in Jeddah on March 7, 2018 after the historic lifting of a ban on women driving

The 32-year-old prince, well-known as MBS, has used his global tour to project his dazzling reforms including the historic lifting of a ban on women driving, cinemas and mixed-gender concerts, following his public vow to return the kingdom to moderate Islam.

"There is little genuine affection for Saudi Arabia across the West," Kristin Diwan, of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told AFP.

"MBS's clear break with Saudi taboos on women and religious tolerance have been welcomed, but with a fair amount of enduring scepticism."

- Underlying tensions -

Saudi officials project strong ties between Prince Mohammed and Macron, both young leaders undertaking the difficult task of reforming their countries, but the trip follows a period of underlying tensions.

Macron waded into a regional crisis last November when Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri tendered his resignation on live television from Riyadh, apparently under pressure from the crown prince.

A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace on November 9, 2017, shows Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman receiving French President Emmanuel Macron in the capital Riyadh

Macron invited Hariri to Paris for talks and he has since rescinded his resignation.

"There were tensions when MBS reportedly attempted to challenge Macron in his role in the Hariri episode, but later MBS had to back down," said Abdullah Alaoudh, a Saudi scholar at Yale Law School.

"It's never easy for an authoritarian like him to accept that."

In another embarrassment, a French arrest warrant was issued in December against the crown prince's sister for allegedly ordering her bodyguard to beat up a worker at her Paris apartment in 2016.

Macron also faces the challenge of bolstering ties with the world's top crude exporter while managing other regional relationships in the Middle East.

The crown prince has emphasised closer ties with US President Donald Trump just as Macron has sought to improve relations with Iran, Saudi Arabia's arch-nemesis.

Trump has threatened to abandon the 2015 nuclear cooperation deal with Iran unless improvements are proposed by May 12.

The challenge for Macron is to convince the crown prince that "it is better to have the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran than no deal at all," Denis Bauchard, of the French Institute of International Relations, told AFP.

Macron also faces seething criticism from over the export of arms to Saudi Arabia, including Caesar artillery guns, sniper rifles and armoured vehicles despite the kingdom's role in the Yemen crisis.

Three out of four French people believe it is "unacceptable" to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia, according to a poll last month by independent research group YouGov.

And this week, 10 international rights groups implored Macron to pressure Prince Mohammed over the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen.

But there are several areas of convergence, including anti-terrorism cooperation as France mourns the latest jihadist rampage in the towns of Carcassonne and Trebes last month where a 25-year-old Islamist killed four people.

The incident triggered a new debate in France over radical Salafist interpretations of Islam which originated in Saudi Arabia.

burs-ac/hkb/hc
Saudi Arabia's powerful young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman seen in a picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace on August 15, 2017

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, who is set to visit France next week, has shaken up the ultraconservative oil superpower with economic, social and religious reforms since becoming crown prince.

The 32-year-old de facto ruler has overseen the most fundamental transformation in the modern history of the Gulf nation and sidelined all rivals after emerging as first-in-line last June.

Known by his initials MBS, the prince has pledged a "moderate" Saudi Arabia as he seeks to get international investors on board with his grandiose vision to overhaul the kingdom's oil-reliant economy.

He has taken on the powerful clerics who long dominated Saudi life and struck out at the nation's coddled elite with a dramatic purge of royals, ministers and business figures that saw hundreds detained in a probe over graft worth $100 billion.

"We want to live a normal life. A life in which our religion translates to tolerance, to our traditions of kindness," he told international business leaders at a conference in Riyadh last year.

"Seventy percent of the Saudi population is under 30, and honestly we will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today and at once."

On the international stage, he has ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East by plunging the usually staid kingdom into the quagmire of regional rivalries.

He has overseen a blistering military campaign in Yemen, ramped up a stand-off with Shiite rival Iran and tried to bring Qatar to heel by isolating it.

- 'Freed himself' -

Born on August 31, 1985, Prince Mohammed graduated in law from Riyadh's King Saud University. The dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls.

In a dramatic announcement on June 5, he was named to replace his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir to the Saudi throne. He had been second-in-line since early 2015.

Prince Mohammed's drive to create a "moderate" Saudi Arabia could be fraught with risks, but so far he has managed to avoid triggering a public backlash from powerful conservatives.

In September 2017, a royal decree said women would be allowed to drive. The kingdom has also lifted a public ban on cinemas and has encouraged mixed-gender celebrations -- something unseen before.

The government last year set up an Islamic centre tasked with certifying the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed in a stated bid to curb extremist texts.

The authorities appear to have clipped the wings of the once-feared religious police -- long accused of harassing the public with rigid Islamic mores -- who have all but disappeared from big cities.

In tandem with reforms, Prince Mohammed has been shoring up power, culminating in the dramatic detention of some high-profile individuals after he was named head of a new anti-corruption commission.

But the lightning accumulation of authority has sparked fears that Prince Mohammed might have upended the fine balance of powers in Saudi Arabia too quickly and could end up sparking instability.

"He has freed himself to engage in ill-fated confrontations abroad that dilute Saudi power, exposing the kingdom to greater military threats and scaring off investors," wrote Federic Wehrey, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In February, he oversaw a dramatic shake-up that saw top brass, including the chief of staff and heads of the ground forces and air defence, replaced largely with younger leaders loyal to him, further consolidating his control within the military.

The prince is the architect of a wide-ranging plan dubbed "Vision 2030" to bring social and economic change to Saudi Arabia's economy.

Among his most prominent positions have also been defence minister and chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which coordinates economic policy.

Mohammed is also overseeing plans to sell under five percent of state-owned oil giant Aramco, the crown jewel of the Saudi economy, in what is expected to be the world's largest initial public offering.

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Egypt Today

FILE - Under-construction Japanese school in Egypt - Egypt Today/Mahmoud Fakhry

CAIRO  6 March 2018: Around 45 Japanese schools will be furnished at the beginning of September, the director of the School Buildings Authority, Yousry Abdallah, said on Friday.



He added that Egypt has already received 31 Japanese schools and will start furnishing it immediately.



Egypt is establishing Japanese schools for the first time in history; the government has planned such schools since 2016.



The schools will focus on teaching the Egyptian curriculum, while implementing some distinctive features of Japanese education, such as focusing on music, arts and collective games, as well as with teaching cleanliness and self-reliance.



Enrollment in the schools started this year, and classes will begin in September with the 2018/2019 educational year.



Even though they are called Japanese schools, students will not learn the Japanese language in them. Instead, they will study the same exact curriculum as other international schools.



In addition, they teach Tukatsu to children, which is a Japanese educational activity that is based on developing both a sense of community and responsibility for the students towards society and school life.



Besides that, the activity works on achieving a balanced development between social, emotional and educational growth, as well as with developing a spirit of cooperation with others in order to cultivate balanced and integrated mindsets in the students.



The fees, however, will cost more than other international schools, the Ministry of Education has not yet given an exact figure but it is believed that the fees will exceed LE 5,000, with additional expenses for activities and such.



The schools will also require cooperation from the parents; they are expected to give 20 hours of their time to the school per year.



The classes and the schools themselves are modeled according to the Japanese style, with a focus on spacious rooms and individual desks for each student. In addition, there will be more than one board in each class, to help the teacher arrange students seating as they like.



This Japanese experiment will be introduced with 200 new schools; 100 of them are still under construction. The admission requirements are not going to be too different from other international schools; they ask for an application and state that priority will be given to the older child. Unlike other international schools, there will not be any exams for the parents.



According to the President of the Association of Private Schools, el-Mandooh el-Hussainy, the private education system in Egypt supports the public education system, as it tries to relieve the burden and pressure of the number of students, which is 18 million, including 2 million students in private education.
A South Korean court is set to hand down its verdict in the trial of disgraced former President Park Geun-hye, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on multiple charges of bribery and abuse of power

A South Korean court Friday began reading its verdict in the trial of disgraced former President Park Geun-hye, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on multiple charges of bribery and abuse of power.

Hundreds of flag-waving pro-Park protesters had gathered outside the Seoul courthouse in support of the country's first ever woman leader, carrying banners and chanting slogans proclaiming her innocence.

Park was impeached and arrested in March 2017 over a wide-ranging corruption scandal that exposed shady links between big business and politics and prompted massive street protests.

She has largely boycotted her own 10-month corruption trial, and earlier this week informed the Seoul Central District Court that she would be absent for the verdict and possible sentencing Friday.

But due to intense public interest in the graft case, events from inside the courthouse are being broadcast live on television -- a highly unusual move in South Korea.

The reading of the verdict and sentencing began shortly after 2:00pm local time (0500 GMT) but could take hours to complete. Park, the daughter of assassinated dictator Park Chung-hee, faces a total of 18 charges.

The spectacular fall from grace of a former conservative icon who cast herself in the role of an incorruptible "Daughter of the Nation" has captivated South Koreans either side of the political divide.

How South Korea's first female president fell from grace

In front of a heavy police presence, protesters outside the court held a large banner with the slogan "Stop murderous political revenge".

One 57-year-old Park supporter, who identified himself by the surname Yom, told AFP: "President Park is an innocent victim of a political revenge."

But for her opponents, Park has become a figure of public fury and ridicule.

She stands accused of colluding with her secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil in taking tens of millions of dollars from conglomerates in return for policy favours.

The case reignited public anger over the cosy and often corrupt ties between top officials and the powerful family-run conglomerates -- called "chaebol" -- that dominate the world's 11th-largest economy.

Choi was tried separately and sentenced to 20 years in prison in February by the same court.

Prosecutors are demanding a steeper, 30-year-jail sentence and a 118.5 billion won ($110 million) fine for the 66-year-old Park, saying she must take overall responsibility for the scandal due to her position as president.

- Detention centre -

Park is expected to learn her fate at the detention centre near Seoul where she has been in custody for almost a year.

She began her boycott of the trial after being denied bail in October.

During that time she has refused to see any visitors, including her brother and sister, except for her two lawyers.

If convicted, Park would have the right to appeal to the Seoul High Court, although she would remain in custody during the process.

Otherwise her best hope would lie in a presidential pardon.

Yet with her left-leaning successor Moon Jae-in having come to power largely because of the public backlash against her and her conservative party, analysts say an imminent pardon is unlikely.

Park Geun-hye would become the third former South Korean leader to be convicted on criminal charges after leaving office.

Former military generals-turned-presidents Chun Doo-Hwan and Roh Tae-Woo were sentenced in the same Seoul courtroom in the 1990s.

Park's immediate presidential predecessor Lee Myung-bak is also currently in custody as prosecutors investigate multiple corruption charges involving him and his relatives.
Eight people have been arrested across Australia following a lengthy investigation into disturbing allegations of incest and child abuse

Eight people have been arrested across Australia, police said Friday, following a lengthy investigation into disturbing allegations of incest and child abuse.

The four men and four women, aged between 29 and 51, were seized over offences allegedly committed at a rural property in New South Wales state, both historical and ongoing.

Local media said they were part of an infamous family first exposed several years ago when police and child protection workers visited their compound and found a dozen filthy, neglected children.

They were all removed into state care.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph said that one of the claims was that one man had fathered children with his sister and then raped them, while other young children were raped by their teenage siblings.

Grandparents were also accused of sexually assaulting their grandchildren, it reported.

New South Wales police said a strike force was set up in 2012 to investigate allegations of "incest, child sexual assault, and serious neglect of children".

"Following extensive investigations, strike force detectives, assisted by South Australia Police and Western Australia Police Force, arrested eight people across three operations," it said.

Among the charges they face are sexual intercourse with a child under 10, incest, indecency, common assault and perjury.

They were all remanded in custody with police seeking the extradition of those not in New South Wales back to the state to face court.
England's Adam Peaty is unbeaten in the 100m breaststroke since his Commonwealth Games gold in 2014.

Olympic champion Adam Peaty flexed his muscles in the Commonwealth Games 100 metres breaststroke Friday as the title-holder clocked the best time of the morning heats.

South Africa's Chad le Clos continued his bid to rewrite Games history, meanwhile, as he went out hard in the 200m freestyle heats before he lines up in the evening's 50m butterfly final.

Peaty, leading England's challenge against home nation Australia's dazzling swimming cast, is unbeaten in the 100m breaststroke since storming to gold in Glasgow four years ago, and touched in 59.14 seconds in the Gold Coast sunshine.

Aussie Matt Wilson finished a distant second in 1:00.29 but realistically Peaty's rivals will be contesting silver, such is the gulf in class between them and the 23-year-old world record-holder.

"It was slower than expected but that's sport -- you never know what you're going to get," said Peaty. "A true margin of what I'm capable of will come tonight, and hopefully tomorrow night."

Fellow Englishman James Wilby, who won 200m gold on Thursday, was the only other man to break the one-minute mark as he pipped former Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh to win his heat in 59.80.

History-chasing le Clos is six Commonwealth Games medals behind shooters Mick Gault and Philip Adams, who lead the way with 18.

He went out strong in the 200m freestyle heats -- one of seven events the South African is contesting on the Gold Coast -- but he was caught by Australia's Kyle Chalmers, who clocked 1:47.10 to win by just under half-a-second.

"I thought I'd be a little quicker," shrugged le Clos, who claimed a surprise silver medal in the 200m free at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Olympic 100m champ Chalmers said: "I knew he was going to be out quick. I just wanted to get on the wall first."

Mack Horton also returned to the pool the morning after adding the Commonwealth crown to his 400m Olympic title, finishing second to England's James Guy, who won their heat in 1:47.04.

Scotland's Duncan Scott clocked the fastest time of the 200m prelims in 1:46.62.

Australia dominated the 50m freestyle heats as Cate Campbell followed her phenomenal anchor leg in Thursday's 4x100m world record to top the timesheets in 24.24 seconds, almost half-a-second quicker than Shayna Jack with sister Bronte Campbell third quickest.

"It was a bit exciting last night," said Cate. "We were all up late so that was nice, everyone sat down and unwound and didn't go to bed all hyped up."

World record-holder Kylie Masse posted a new Games mark of 58.70 as the Canadian qualified in top spot for the women's 100m backstroke, while Australian Clyde Lewis went quickest in the men's 400m individual medley with a 4:17.25.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak chaired a cabinet meeting Friday, official media reported, as speculation mounted he was due to dissolve parliament later in the day for a tough election battle

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak chaired a cabinet meeting Friday, official media reported, as speculation mounted he was due to dissolve parliament later in the day for a tough election battle.

Najib and other members of the cabinet arrived at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, state-run news agency Bernama reported.

He is expected to announce the dissolution of parliament later Friday, paving the way for a general election that poses one of the sternest tests of his ruling coalition for 60 years, due to a massive financial scandal and a challenge from his one-time mentor and former leader Mahathir Mohamad.

After parliament is dissolved, the election commission will hold a meeting within days to set the date for the poll, which must take place within weeks.

The ruling coalition headed by Najib has seen its support drop in recent years, and a scandal surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB that captured global headlines has added to their unpopularity.

Billions of dollars were allegedly looted from the fund that Najib set up, in a seemingly audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering which is being investigated in several countries.

The leader and fund deny any wrongdoing.

Najib has so far weathered the 1MDB scandal by lurching sharply to the right with a crackdown that has seen numerous critics arrested, and analysts believe he is on course to win a third term.

He stoked further controversy last week by pushing a law through parliament to redraw the electoral map that critics say greatly tilts the election in favour of his ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Victory is however less certain due to the return of Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia at the head of BN for 22 years but has now joined the opposition, and enjoys much support among the country's Muslim Malay majority.
Zuma's appearance in court is the culmination of a years-long odyssey -- the charges against him were dropped shortly before he became president

Former South African president Jacob Zuma came out fighting on Friday after appearing in court to face corruption charges over a suspect multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal.

Zuma was composed in the dock wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie as about 1,000 cheering supporters rallied outside to protest against the prosecution that has deepened political divisions.

The ex-president, who was forced to resign just seven weeks ago, has been charged with 16 counts of graft stemming from an arms contract dating back to before he became president.

After just 15 minutes of legal discussions in the packed courtroom A of the Durban High Court, the case was adjourned until June 8 by judge Themba Sishi.

Zuma, surrounded by a large entourage, left the courtroom to address his supporters, telling them that the charges were "politically motivated".

"I am innocent until proven guilty, but there are people who want to treat me like I am guilty," Zuma told the crowd from a concert-style stage to wild cheers.

In the case, which is officially known as "the State v Zuma", he is referred to as "accused number one".

His lawyers confirmed to the court on Friday that he would appeal against the decision to prosecute him.

The appeal is likely to prolong his epic legal battle to head off the charges and avoid a trial could send him to jail.

- Loyal supporters -

"What we are saying, what the former president is saying, is true -- we don't think we are going to get a fair trial," said a supporter, Bishop Timothy Ngcobo who appeared on stage alongside Zuma.

"Zuma came with ideas that are going to boost the black people."

Backers of ex-president Jacob Zuma gathered outside the courtroom in Durban to protest his prosecution

In the courtroom, supporters chanted Zuma's name, while outside, the crowds sang, "Tell us what he has done wrong" and "Hands off Zuma".

"He might have made his own mistakes, but we say allow the old man to retire in peace. It is a conspiracy," pro-Zuma business manager Sphelele Ngwane, 29, told AFP.

Police equiped with shields, water cannon and armoured vehicles mounted a major security operation outside the court, but the hearing and speeches were peaceful.

A young traditional dancer in full warrior costume and clutching a shield took to the stage following Zuma to entertain the crowd after he addressed them in his native Zulu language.

He sang and danced along enthusiastically to a rendition of "Umshini Wam", a struggle-era song that means "Bring me my machine gun".

- Accused of taking bribes -

Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms maker Thales over a contract worth several billion dollars during his time as a provincial economy minister and later as deputy ANC president.

Thales, which supplied naval vessels as part of the deal, also faces charges of corruption and a company representative from France appeared in court alongside Zuma.

Thales' lawyer, Robert Driman, declined to comment to AFP on the case.

Zuma is accused of illicitly pocketing 4,072,499.85 rand -- 280,000 euros, $340,000 at today's rates -- from 783 payments handled by Schabir Shaik, a businessman who acted as his financial adviser.

Supporters sang the liberation-era song "Umshini Wam", meaning "Bring me my machine gun", which Zuma often sang at rallies

Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2005 based on the same accusations, but a much-criticised 2016 inquiry absolved Zuma of any blame.

Zuma has claimed the inquiry proved there was "not a single iota" of evidence for wrongdoing.

Last month, prosecutions chief Shaun Abrahams -- dubbed "Shaun the Sheep" for his loyalty to Zuma during his presidency -- ordered that Zuma be charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering.

Thuman Mkhize, 43 and unemployed, from Durban said Zuma "was the perfect leader" because he "opened free education and land".

"The prosecution is because they don't want to give our land back. He's innocent," Mkhize said.

The ANC forced Zuma from office in February largely due to his mounting legal challenges and multiple corruption scandals, and the party has distanced itself from its former leader.

Zuma's successor as president Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to crack down on government corruption, which he has admitted is a serious problem.

Campaign groups are hoping that the case could set a benchmark for allegedly corrupt leaders to face prosecutions, which are a rarity on the African continent.
Rifaat al-Assad (left) with his brother Hafez, whom he tried to topple in 1984 before fleeing Syria

The uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alone accounts for 80 percent of the assets seized by French customs authorities last year as a four-year probe into his eye-popping assets in Europe winds up.

Dubbed the "Butcher of Hama", Rifaat al-Assad, now 80, may soon face trial over his allegedly ill-gotten gains valued at tens of millions of euros, according to sources close to the case.

He headed an elite force that put down a Sunni insurrection in the central city in February 1982, a crackdown that claimed between 10,000 and 40,000 lives, according to varying estimates.

Two years later, he fled the country after mounting a failed coup bid against his brother Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, who led Syria from 1971 to 2000.

After he arrived in Europe, Rifaat al-Assad's lavish lifestyle with four wives and a dozen children soon raised eyebrows.

The breadth of Assad's alleged fortune, amassed mainly during the 1980s, is dizzying: more than 500 properties in Spain; two mansions in Paris including one covering 3,000 square metres (30,000 square feet); a stud farm and chateau near the French capital; 7,300 square metres of office space in Lyon.

Most of these were acquired through offshore companies in Panama, Curacao, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Gibraltar.

In France alone, his fortune has been valued at 90 million euros ($110 million).

Authorities in Spain, where Rifaat al-Assad allegedly owns 500 properties, carried out a raid in Marbella last April, seizing vehicles

Most of the assets have been sequestered.

Last year, of the 862 million euros confiscated by French customs authorities, 691 million euros' worth belonged to Assad, they said in March.

The family is also thought to have been the owners of Witanhurst, the largest residence in London after Buckingham Palace, through a shell company in Panama, before selling it in 2007.

- 'It was raining cash' -

A source close to the case said a former manager in France described how "it was raining cash" from 1996 to 2010, recalling that he withdrew around 100,000 euros a month to pay the Assads' many employees.

French authorities opened an investigation in April 2014 after two anti-graft groups, Sherpa and Transparency International, raised red flags.

Two years later, they charged Assad with tax fraud and embezzlement of public funds.

Appearing before a French magistrate for the first time in January 2015, Assad was evasive, saying he did not manage his fortune personally. "I'm concerned only with politics," he insisted.

However, wiretapping records and witnesses suggested otherwise, painting a picture of a man who did not delegate and closely watched his holdings.

- Saudi benefactor? -

He also claimed he owed his fortune to the largesse of Saudi king Abdullah, who died in January 2015.

Assad claimed he owes his fortune to the largesse of Saudi king Abdullah, who died in January 2015

His lawyers Pierre Haik, Pierre Cornut-Gentille and Benjamin Grundler produced a cheque for $10 million from Abdullah dating from when he was still crown prince in 1984.

They said in a statement to AFP: "We provided proof of three other very large transfers in 2008, 2009 and 2010 -- admittedly after the acquisitions (of French property) -- but which illustrate continuous and massive aid from the king since the early 1980s."

The defence team also recently handed over a letter from Abdullah referring to donations to Assad.

They argued that its was practically impossible to dig up bank records from more than 30 years ago.

Allegations of corruption and embezzlement have come from a variety of sources.

The former head of Romania's secret service, Ion Mihai Pacepa, wrote in a book that the late dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu referred to Rifaat al-Assad as his agent in Syria, performing services in exchange for large sums of money.

Investigators also cite statements by Syrian former foreign minister Abdel Halim Khaddam, who said Hafez al-Assad had some $300 million paid to his brother in 1984 as a way to get rid of him following the abortive coup.

Two-thirds allegedly came from the president's budget and the rest from a Libyan loan.

Investigators noted that the budget spiked in 1984.

Former defence minister Mustafa Tlas alleged that Assad's "men" helped themselves to pallets laden with banknotes from the Syrian central bank as well as cultural property.

Another witness testified to archaeological looting, telling investigators that the president's uncle had stolen "a treasure of great value" from land owned by his grandfather in Syria.

Assad has dismissed the allegations as attempts by rivals to smear him.

He may also face charges in Switzerland, where he has been under investigation since 2013 for war crimes allegedly committed in the 1980s.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said the latest round of talks on the Nile dam had failed

A new round of talks held in Khartoum to ease Egypt's concerns over a controversial dam that Ethiopia is building along the Nile have failed, a Sudanese minister said Friday.

The foreign ministers and intelligence chiefs of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met in Khartoum on Thursday, and after nearly 17 hours of discussions they failed to reach an agreement on issues concerning Addis Ababa's ongoing construction of the controversial Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile.

"We didn't reach an agreement," Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters after the officials of three countries wrapped up their talks held at a luxury hotel in Khartoum.

"We spent the whole day talking as ordered by the leaders of the three countries, but we didn't reach an agreement."

"I can't specify what the disagreements were, but they were technical issues," Ghandour said as his Ethiopian and Egyptian counterparts refused to speak to journalists.

Ghandour also said that no new date had been fixed for the next round of talks.

The latest round of discussion had been held after leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met in Addis Ababa last month and agreed to break the months long impasse over the dam.

Ethiopia began building the $4 billion dam in 2012, but the mega project has triggered tensions primarily with Egypt as Cairo fears that once commissioned the dam will reduce water supplies from the Nile to Egypt.

Egypt relies almost totally on the Nile for irrigation and drinking water, and says it has "historic rights" to the river, guaranteed by treaties from 1929 and 1959.

Cairo argues that the treaties grant it 87 percent of the Nile's flow, as well as the power to veto upstream projects. It fears that any reduction of water supplies to the biggest Arab country will affect its agriculture.

Cairo is primarily concerned at the speed at which the dam's reservoir would be filled.

The Blue and the White Nile tributaries converge in Sudan's capital Khartoum and from there run north through Egypt to the Mediterranean.

Initially Sudan too had concerns over the project, but in recent months has supported it, with experts saying that the dam will help regulate floods along Sudan's share of the Nile.

The Grand Renaissance Dam aims to produce 6,000 megawatts of hydro-electric power -- the equivalent of six nuclear-powered plants.

The dam was initially expected to be commissioned in 2017, but Ethiopian media reports say only about 60 percent has so far been built.
Britain's heir to the throne Prince Charles, who is passionate about the environment and promoting sustainability, said society was "truly at a crossroads" in its ability to protect the world's reefs

Prince Charles has called for a "blue economy" to promote the sustainable use of ocean resources and save Australia's Great Barrier Reef, as he visits the World Heritage-listed ecosystem Friday.

The 2,300-kilometre (1,429-mile) long biodiverse site off the Queensland state coast is reeling from significant coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

The world's largest living structure is also under pressure from farming runoff, development and predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, with experts warning it could be suffering irreparable damage.

Britain's heir to the throne, who is passionate about the environment and promoting sustainability, said society was "truly at a crossroads" in its ability to protect the world's reefs.

"This will need to be a central aspect of the rapidly emerging concept of a sustainable 'blue economy', through which sustainable economic development is achieved via the wise use of ocean resources," he told the Australian Financial Review in a rare interview.

"Within the blue economy it would be helpful to think of coral reef ecosystems as natural capital assets, assets that require the kind of prudent and wise management that will yield dividends long into the future."

The prince said investment in projects promoting coral reef health and their resilience against global and ocean warming were needed.

But he admitted it was "no simple matter" and would require widespread support including from the private sector.

Prince Charles is visiting Lady Elliot Island, a coral cay at the southern tip of the Barrier Reef, for a roundtable discussion with business leaders on the role they can play in conservation.

His visit has prompted Aus$10 million (US$7.7 million) in donations for conservation efforts, with Australian property giant Lendlease donating Aus$5 million and Canberra matching the amount.

Other companies involved in the roundtable include mining giant BHP, airline Qantas, aerospace titan Boeing and the Walt Disney Company.

Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish.

Prince Charles added in the interview that it was crucially important that world transitions to a low-carbon economy "which more closely mirrors nature's own economy where nothing is wasted".

"Whatever the case, we must act before it is to late," he said.
IndiGo has pulled out of the race to acquire Air India

India's largest airline IndiGo has pulled out of the race to acquire national carrier Air India, dealing a blow to the government's privatisation campaign.

Indigo told the Bombay Stock Exchange late Thursday that it was interested only in Air India's international routes and not its domestic operations.

The government, which said last week it wants to sell a 76 percent chunk of the debt-laden carrier, wants the prospective buyer to take on all of Air India's operations.

The government last week released bid documents on one of the country's highest-profile asset sale in decades.

The documents said the proposed sale would include a 100 percent stake in Air India's low-cost arm Air India Express, which operates in West Asia, and a 50 percent stake in its ground-handling SATS Airport Services.

"From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India's international operations and Air India Express," IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said in the statement to the stock exchange.

"However, that option is not available under the government's current divestiture plans for Air India.

"Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air India's airline operations."

IndiGo publicly expressed interest in acquiring Air India's international operating arm after the government first approved a sale in June last year.

Once the country's monopoly airline, Air India has slowly lost market share to new low-cost private players in one of the world's fastest-growing airline markets.

Air India ran losses for nearly a decade after a botched merger in 2007 and has debts of around $7.67 billion according to government figures.

It has received $5.8 billion in bailout funds from the government but needs even more working capital to turn it around, experts say.

India has the world's fastest-growing passenger airline industry, expanding at an annual rate of around 20 percent.

About 100 million of its 1.25 billion people took to the skies in 2016 and airlines have embarked on huge purchases of new jets in expectation of new growth.
Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is visiting India in the first foreign trip of his new term

Nepal's new Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli left for India Friday on the first foreign visit of his latest term, a trip which analysts say signals a possible reset of strained relations.

During the three-day visit Oli will meet his counterpart Narendra Modi, and possible deals on the use of Indian waterways by landlocked Nepal as well as an expansion of an India-backed railway to Kathmandu have been mooted.

Nepal's prime minister is also expected to push for India to complete previously promised infrastructure projects, many of which have limped along for decades and are key to Oli's ambitious plans to kickstart moribund growth at home.

Relations soured during Oli's last term in office in 2015 after deadly protests in southern Nepal over a controversial new constitution that led to a blockade of the border with India.

The months-long shutdown caused a severe shortage of goods, including fuel and medicine, at a time when Nepal was still reeling from a devesting earthquake early that year.

Oli blamed the blockade on interference by Delhi and tilted Nepal's diplomatic relations towards China, stoking nationalistic sentiment.

The Communist leader returned to power in February after his party, together with a bloc of Maoist former rebels, won a thumping two-thirds parliamentary majority in elections late last year.

Oli has since signalled he will take a less antagonistic approach towards India, which is Nepal's largest trading partner.

Delhi -- which has historically acted as big brother to its small northern neighbour -- has similarly been on a charm offensive, alarmed by Beijing's growing influence over Kathmandu.

Nepal in May last year signed up to China's ambitious One Belt, One Road initiative, a massive infrastructure drive at the centre of the Asian giant's push to expand its global influence.

Beijing is the single largest donor to Nepal's reconstruction effort following the earthquake three years ago and has also invested heavily in much-needed infrastructure projects, particularly in hydropower, in the impoverished Himalayan nation.

Addressing parliament before the visit, Oli said his goal was to "create a balanced, reliable, friendly and cordial atmosphere" with both India and China.

"Enhancing just relations with the neighbours on the basis of non-interference... and mutual interest is the starting point," he said in a nod to his nationalistic base.

Akhilesh Upadhayay, editor-in-chief of The Kathmandu Post newspaper, said the visit suggested a "shift in the dynamics" between the neighbours.

"Nepal has never had a government this strong. This is a prime minister with extremely strong support," he said.

"It is certainly about resetting relations. This visit is as important for India as it is for Nepal, perhaps even more.

"It an opportunity for them to offset old mistakes and re-establish trust. It is an effort by India to reach out to Nepal."
Zuckerberg is accused of failing to act quickly to suppress hate speech in Myanmar

Facebook apologised on Friday to Myanmar civil society groups who took issue with Mark Zuckerberg's defence of the platform's record on curbing hate speech roiling the country.

Facebook has been battered by allegations that posts on its site have helped fuel communal bloodshed in Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist country accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims.

On Thursday six Myanmar organisations published an open letter criticising an interview Zuckerberg gave with news site Vox this week. In it he cited examples of both Myanmar Buddhists and Muslims spreading "sensational" messages on Facebook Messenger that warned of imminent violence from the other community.

"That's the kind of thing where I think it is clear that people were trying to use our tools in order to incite real harm. Now, in that case, our systems detect that that's going on. We stop those messages from going through," Zuckerberg was quoted as saying.

In their letter the six local tech and human rights organisations said they were "surprised" to hear Zuckerberg "praise the effectiveness" of Facebook's systems in Myanmar.

"It took over four days from when the messages started circulating for the escalation to reach you," said the groups, who had flagged the worrying content to Facebook.

"Far from being stopped, they spread in an unprecedented way, reaching country-wide and causing widespread fear and at least three violent incidents in the process."

When reached for a comment on Friday, a Facebook spokesperson conceded the company was too slow in responding to reports about the incendiary messages.

"We should have been faster and are working hard to improve our technology and tools to detect and prevent abusive, hateful or false content," the spokesperson told AFP by email.

"We are sorry that Mark did not make clearer that it was the civil society groups in Myanmar who first reported these messages."

Facebook has also added more Myanmar-language reviewers and is rolling out the ability to report content in the Messenger service, the spokesperson added.

In late January Facebook removed the page of popular monk Wirathu, known for virulent anti-Rohingya rhetoric. Last year it regulated the use of the word "kalar" which is considered derogatory against Muslims.

- Facebook a 'beast' -

In their joint letter the local groups said Facebook's handling of hate speech and vicious rumours in Myanmar has been "inadequate" for years, adding that their offers to craft broader solutions have gone unanswered.

They urged the social media giant to add reporting mechanisms to the Messenger app, increase transparency, engage more with local stakeholders and draw on data and engineering teams to identify repeat offenders.

"Facebook doesn't have an office in Myanmar," Jes Kaliebe Petersen, CEO of Phandeeyar, a Yangon tech hub that signed the letter, told AFP.

"We don't really see much of a commitment to dedicate resources to fix what's going on on Facebook in Myanmar," he added.

Facebook dwarfs all other social media platforms in Myanmar, with even the government and the military using it to make public announcements.

But it has come under fire for allegedly helping broadcast ethnic hatred in a fledgling democracy still emerging from decades of repressive junta rule.

Scrutiny has intensified in the wake of a bloody military campaign against the Rohingya that erupted last August, expelling some 700,000 of the minority to Bangladesh.

In March the UN's special rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee said Facebook had morphed into a "beast" and had incited "a lot of violence and a lot of hatred against the Rohingya or other ethnic minorities".
Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of parliament, with a general election expected to be held in early May

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Friday announced the dissolution of parliament for a general election that will pose one of the sternest-ever tests for his ruling coalition, due to a massive financial scandal and a challenge from former leader Mahathir Mohamad.

After laying out the Barisan Nasional coalition's recent achievements in a speech on state television, Najib announced the legislature would be dissolved Saturday to pave the way for the hotly-anticipated poll.

"We have delivered and we will continue to deliver," he said, appealing to the country's 14.9 million voters.

Following the dissolution, the election commission will announce in the coming days the date for the polls, which are expected early May.

The coalition has been in power since independence from Britain in 1957 but its support has been dropping in recent years. A scandal surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB that captured global headlines has worsened its problems.

Billions of dollars were allegedly looted from the fund in an audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering which is being investigated in several countries, and it is claimed that large sums ended up the personal bank accounts of Najib.

The leader and the fund deny any wrongdoing.

Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the main coalition party, has clung on to power by pushing policies that favour the Muslim Malay majority. It was already struggling after losing the popular vote in the 2013 election for the first time in history.

Voters had become increasingly disillusioned over recurring graft scandals, divisive racial politics in the country which is home to substantial ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, and the rising cost of living.

Despite the problems, the 64-year-leader is tipped to win a third term at the head of the coalition after weathering the 1MDB scandal by sacking critics in government and launching a crackdown. He has also been helped by a robust domestic economy.

His government fuelled further criticism last week by pushing through parliament a controversial redrawing of the electoral map which critics say will tilt the poll in Najib's favour. MPs also passed a law banning "fake news" that could see offenders jailed, which some fear could be used to crack down on dissent.

- Mahathir upends race -

Victory is however less certain due to the comeback of Mahathir, 92, who has turned on his former protege Najib over the 1MDB scandal.

In a volte-face, he was named the prime ministerial candidate in the opposition coalition Pact of Hope, which is filled with parties he crushed during his 22 years in power.

Veteran former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, 92, has re-entered the political fray to challenge his former protege Najib

Mahathir has long championed the Malay cause and the opposition hopes he can win over Muslim voters disillusioned with BN, to bolster their support base of urban voters and ethnic minorities, particularly the Chinese.

But his political party Bersatu suffered a blow Thursday when authorities ordered it to temporarily disband due to a failure to submit paperwork. Mahathir has disputed the legality of the move and said the party will not halt its activities.

After Najib announced the dissolution of parliament, Mahathir -- himself accused of being an authoritarian ruler -- raised concerns the move against Bersatu meant Malaysia was losing "the democratic right to choose our own leaders through elections".

The opposition are facing other major challenges. They have suffered from the absence of charismatic leader Anwar Ibrahim, who is in jail, and the loss of support from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, an influential group with huge appeal among rural voters.

While 1MDB has captured global headlines, rising living costs and the economy are the key issues in the Malay heartland in the country of 32 million.

The government lost a two-thirds parliamentary majority, needed to amend the constitution, in the 222-seat parliament at the 2008 election and is hoping to win it back.

"Najib is likely to win again," Oh Ei Sun, from Malaysian think-tank the Pacific Research Center, told AFP.

"Mahathir is unlikely to make major inroads with rural voters."
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has been haunted by controversy surrounding 1MDB

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration was rocked by claims he was involved in a campaign to plunder state investment fund 1MDB, slammed by the US as "kleptocracy at its worst".

But for voters saddled with rising living costs, there may have been economic reasons closer to home for the shock electoral result that wrenched 64-year-old from power.

The polls Wednesday delivered a decisive defeat to Najib, in a major political upheaval likely to reverberate deeply across the country's political landscape.

Malaysia's outgoing leader has not been seen since official results showed he had been defeated by the country's opposition, led by his 92-year-old former mentor Mahathir Mohamad.

And as the scale of the drubbing started to become clear reporters who had flocked to the headquarters of Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) were told to leave.

Najib, the son of a Malaysian founding father, presented himself as a reformer when he came to power in 2009.

He made limited changes such as replacing security laws widely criticised as stifling dissent, offering a glimmer of hope for the end to repressive tactics by the UMNO-dominated coalition which has led Malaysia for six decades.

But soon after winning a second term in 2013, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a fund launched by Najib to promote economic development, slid into a massive debt hole and allegations surfaced that money was missing.

The story exploded in 2015 when The Wall Street Journal published documents allegedly showing that the premier received $681 million in payments to his personal bank accounts.

Najib and 1MDB have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Since then, there has been a steady drip of allegations. The US Department of Justice launched civil lawsuits seeking to seize $1.7 billion in assets allegedly bought with money looted from 1MDB, from real estate to artworks.

In a speech last year, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions criticised those allegedly involved in the scandal, adding: "This is kleptocracy at its worst."

- Losing the Malay vote -

As the controversy escalated, Najib lurched sharply to the right.

Opponents were arrested on various charges and critics were purged from government, while domestic investigations cleared him of wrongdoing.

His government lost the popular vote for the first time at the last elections in 2013.

But it was the return of veteran ex-premier Mahathir into frontline politics at the head the opposition, that finally signalled the end to Najib's rule.

Mahathir raised the stakes in the electoral battle against his former protege Najib, vowing to bring him to justice over 1MDB.

Analysts had widely predicted that Najib's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition -- which led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 -- would retain power.

That was partly thanks to claims that Najib's coalition had been manipulating the electoral system for years to tilt polls in their favour.

The 1MDB scandal may have grabbed international headlines, but in the rural heartlands of the Muslim Malays -- who make up some 60 percent of the multi-ethnic country's population -- it is not the most important issue.

While the overall economic picture is improving, many voters in the countryside have struggled with inflated living costs.

Mahathir has succeeded in luring away Malays from Najib, chipping away at a support base that his government had nurtured with an official affirmative action programme and racially-charged rhetoric.

That saw the opposition make strong gains in long-time BN strongholds in the polls, including Sarawak state on Borneo island, and the state of Johor, the birthplace of UMNO.
Coincheck executives are bowing out

Japanese online broker Monex Group said Friday it would buy virtual currency exchange Coincheck, which was hit by a massive hack that saw thieves steal hundreds of millions of dollars in virtual currency.

The decision came after Coincheck refunded more than $440 million to its 260,000 customers who lost their holdings of NEM, a leading cryptocurrency, following the hack.

Thieves siphoned away 523 million units of the virtual currency from Coincheck -- then valued at $547 million -- during the January hack, thought to be one of the biggest ever.

Monex said in a statement it would acquire all of the 1.78 million shares of Coincheck for 3.6 billion yen ($34 million).

"I think we'll be able to create a new, powerful group company" with Monex's experience and Coincheck's new technology, Monex Group CEO Oki Matsumoto told a news conference.

"Coincheck is a pioneer of cryptocurrency exchange businesses and has a global brand," Matsumoto said.

Coincheck chief executive Koichiro Wada and chief operating officer Yusuke Otsuka will step down from their roles but stay on as executive officers.

"Our objective is to regain customers' trust and take the lead in the industry," Monex managing director Toshihiko Katsuya, who will take over the role of CEO, told the news conference.

Monex shares surged nearly 40 percent since local media first reported the deal earlier this week.

Japan's Financial Services Agency last month ordered five cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coincheck, to make improvements to their business operations, while slapping two exchanges with suspension orders.

On Friday the FSA imposed fresh punishments, ordering Yokohama-based FSHO to temporarily halt operations for two months -- partly for not establishing a system for risk management despite the watchdog's instructions.

The FSA also ordered the "Eternal Link" exchange to suspend operations for two months and issued an improvement order to a Tokyo-based exchange known as "Last Roots."

Japan is a major centre for virtual currencies and as many as 10,000 businesses in the country are thought to accept bitcoin

The Coincheck theft exceeded the $480 million in bitcoin stolen in 2014 from another Japanese exchange, MtGox.

That hack in 2014 prompted Japan to issue new regulations, requiring exchanges to obtain a government licence, but Coincheck was allowed to continue operating while the FSA was reviewing its application.

In February, seven plaintiffs -- two companies and five individuals -- filed a lawsuit against Coincheck seeking the reimbursement of 19.53 million yen in lost virtual currency and further compensation for interest lost due to the hack.

Japan is a major centre for virtual currencies and as many as 10,000 businesses in the country are thought to accept bitcoin.
Award-winning actress Viola Davis is an executive producer for ABC's seven episode documentary series "The Last Defense"

Julius Jones, an African American former high school honor student and star college athlete, was 21 when he was convicted of murder by a predominantly white jury and sentenced to death.

Now 37, Jones's fight to overturn the ruling following what his lawyers describe as "pervasive and highly racialized pre-trial media coverage" is the subject of a new ABC show on death row.

Jones was convicted in April 2002 of shooting dead 45-year-old father-of-two Paul Howell, an Edmond, Oklahoma insurance executive, on July 28, 1999. The victim's car was stolen after he was shot in the head at point blank range.

ABC's seven-episode documentary series "The Last Defense" opens with an hour-long episode on Jones's legal battle as lawyers race against the clock to get him a new trial before his execution date is set.

Executive produced by Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Viola Davis with her husband Julius Tennon, the seven-episode show aims to expose flaws in the American justice system through in-depth examinations of multiple death row cases.

The series, which debuts the Jones episode at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, returns to the scene of the crime in each case, re-interviewing witnesses and delving beyond the details of the court proceedings.

The idea, said a spokeswoman for ABC, was to take "a deep look into the personal stories of the subjects, seeking to trace the path that led them to their place on death row."

"With incisive, compelling storytelling, 'The Last Defense' gives voice to those who can no longer be heard," she added.

- 'Deserved to die' -

Oklahoma's attorney general at the time, Scott Pruitt -- now the controversial head of the Environmental Protection Agency -- had submitted that Jones's attorneys failed to demonstrate the judge's personal bias or prejudice

Jones has always maintained that his co-defendant Christopher O. Jordan fired the gun, but Jordan testified against Jones in exchange for a 30-year to life sentence and was released in 2014.

Prosecutor Sandra Elliott told jurors during her opening statement in the 2002 trial that Jones and Jordan were looking for a sport utility vehicle with keys because they thought they could sell it for $5,000.

"Paul Howell was murdered simply because he had a car they wanted," Elliott said.

The Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals let the death sentence stand in 2014, rejecting Jones's claim that his attorney was ineffective for failing to seek evidence that someone else had committed the crime.

One of three appellate judges who upheld his sentence, Jerome Holmes, had written a newspaper opinion piece in 2002 while he was still a federal prosecutor, stating that Jones "deserved to die."

Jones, a former University of Oklahoma freshman on a "presidential leadership" scholarship, was refused a review of the appeal rejection in 2016 by the US Supreme Court.

Oklahoma's attorney general at the time, Scott Pruitt -- now the controversial head of the Environmental Protection Agency -- had submitted that Jones's attorneys had failed to demonstrate the judge's personal bias or prejudice.

Then potentially explosive new evidence emerged in a 2017 report from The Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission highlighting systemic flaws in the state's capital sentencing, prompting a fresh petition from Jones's legal team, which argues that his sentence is unconstitutional.

Jones's attorneys also note that no physical evidence connected him to the scene of the shooting, the murder weapon or the stolen car.

- 'White victim effect' -

A study appended to the report stated that defendants accused and convicted of killing white victims were nearly two times more likely to receive a death sentence than if the victim was non-white.

"Not only does this study illustrate that Julius faced a greater risk of execution by the mere happenstance that the victim who he was accused and convicted of killing was white," attorneys for Jones contend, "but we also argue that race operated invidiously throughout Julius's case from the very earliest stages."

A study published in 2015 in the North Carolina Law Review in 2016 by Catherine Grosso and Barbara O'Brien, associate law professors at Michigan State University, came to a similar conclusion.

"The white victim effect was the clearest and strongest finding in this study analysis," Grosso says.

"Race still matters in the criminal justice system, and it shouldn't."

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Jones's petition, however, and he is now asking the US Supreme Court to review that decision and to direct the lower court to give Jones's constitutional claims consideration before rubber-stamping his execution.

Amanda Bass, a federal public defender working on the case, said in a statement to the City Sentinel local newspaper last year that the decision was "another example of how that court puts form over substance even in cases where a human life hangs in the balance."
Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike (C) poses for photographs at a food tasting to promote the new Toyosu market in February

Tokyo officials said Friday they had found levels of benzene 130 times above the recommended amount in groundwater at the new site for the country's famed Tsukiji fish market.

The high levels of contamination were detected in December in one of the inspection wells at the Toyosu market, said Michio Yasuma, an infrastructure coordination official with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

However, Yasuma said the facility, slated to open in October on the site of a former gas plant, was safe and groundwater contamination was not getting worse.

"Air quality data taken above ground, where businesses will operate, show that, scientifically, it is safe," Yasuma told AFP.

"What needs to be monitored is the trend of groundwater samples -- whether it is going up or down or staying the same. Our surveys show groundwater quality remains largely stable," he said.

The world-famous Tsukiji market is due to close in October to make way for a transport hub for use during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The market, near the swanky Ginza shopping district, has long attracted tourists who flock to its traditional pre-dawn tuna auctions.

However, the market, which dates from 1935, is old and crumbling and does not conform to modern safety and sanitary standards.

Tourists walking its crowded alleys often remark on the stench of raw fish and crumbling walls.

The new market at Toyosu, around three kilometres (two miles) to the east, offers modern sanitation and refrigeration.

But the move has been repeatedly delayed for various reasons including the discovery of soil contamination.

There is no plan to use groundwater at Toyosu and officials have covered soil with concrete and other materials.

But the Tokyo government is regularly monitoring air and groundwater samples for benzene and arsenic.

The well containing the extremely contaminated groundwater samples was located in a paved parking lot of the market, official documents show.
Boracay island's shutdown has sent shockwave through the Philippines' tourist industry.

The Philippine tourism industry scrambled Friday to manage the fallout from the temporary shutdown of its world-famous Boracay island, which threw into chaos trips planned by hundreds of thousands of tourists.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the once-idyllic white-sand resort closed to tourists for up to six months from April 26, after describing the country's top tourist attraction as a "cesspool" tainted by raw sewage.

Checkpoints manned by police or soldiers will be set up at piers to turn away visitors.

Hundreds of Boracay hotels, as well as restaurants, tour operators and business establishments were on Friday unwinding bookings for rooms, flights, weddings and other events and facilities.

"Some people are cursing us... it's nasty," Hotel Sales and Marketing Association president Christine Ibarreta told AFP.

"I hope (there will be) no mess and no chaos," she added. "We just want it to be orderly."

Ibarreta said "hundreds of thousands" of bookings made as far as two years in advance -- potentially worth millions of dollars for hotels and other tourism services -- would have to be either cancelled and refunded, or rebooked.

"Some people are okay but some people cannot understand," tour operator Clang Garcia told AFP, adding clients are typically offered a refund or an alternate destination "to save the account".

Domingo Enerio, the retired former head of the government's Tourism Promotions Board, said some of the cancelled bookings had non-refundable clauses and must be renegotiated or credited for future use.

The government plans police, or even military, checkpoints at ports to keep tourists away from the tiny central Philippine island that draws two million visitors each year. Residents will get passes while Boracay is rehabilitated.

Domestic airlines announced on Thursday they would scale back the number of flights to the jumping-off point for the 1,000-hectare (2,470-acre) island.

Industry leaders say Boracay accounts for about 20 percent of the country's tourism revenue and fear a longer-term fallout.

Holiday island Boracay

"Boracay will definitely take a hit and the Philippine tourism industry will take a hit," said Enerio, the former tourism official.

Beach weddings, typically held at sunset for barefoot couples in bohemian costumes, were an immediate casualty.

Wedding planner Ronald Soncio said 19 of his nuptials over the period involving mostly western couples had already been cancelled, with five others moved out of Boracay.

"It's difficult because our next wedding is a month away.... it's bloody," Soncio told AFP.

Wedding photographer Donnie Magbanua said his three wedding shoots in Boracay in May were now in peril, while enquiries and reservations for his services had dried up.

- Choke points -

The threat of closure first emerged in February when Duterte accused the island's businesses of dumping sewage directly into surrounding turquoise waters.

Ibarreta, the hotel industry official, said some of Boracay's 17,000 resort workers would be lost in the ban.

"So we'll have to retrain people (after the ban is lifted) and that's expensive," she added.

The authorities plan checkpoints manned by police or soldiers at the piers to keep out tourists, who arrive at nearby airports, but will not close businesses to avoid lawsuits that could hamper rehabilitation.

Assistant Secretary for the Interior and Local Governments Epimaco Densing told reporters barring tourists was "an issue of the state exercising its valid exercise of police power".

"Someone has to compensate them or frankly they will find ways around," Raffaello Pantucci, a security expert with British-based RUSI, think tank told AFP.

"But as far as I know the Philippine government is not incredibly flush with cash and I imagine that would be quite an expensive endeavour to do."
Judge Kim Se-yoon reads the verdict in the trial of disgraced former President Park

South Korea's disgraced former president Park Geun-hye was jailed for 24 years Friday for corruption, completing a dramatic fall from grace for the country's first woman leader who became a figure of public fury and ridicule.

A trial which lasted more than 10 months and highlighted shady links between big business and politics in South Korea ended with Park being found guilty on multiple criminal charges, including bribery and abuse of power.

Park's successor described the sentencing as a "heartbreaking event" for both the nation and the ex-leader herself.

"The accused abused the power bestowed by the people -- the true ruler of this country -- to cause chaos in national administration," said Judge Kim Se-yoon, delivering the ruling.

Park, 66, was convicted of receiving or demanding more than $20 million from conglomerates, sharing secret state documents, "blacklisting" artists critical of her policies, and firing officials who resisted her abuses of power.

"Despite all these crimes, the accused denied all the charges against her, displayed no remorse and showed an incomprehensible attitude by blaming Choi and other... officials," Kim said, referring to Park's secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil.

Park was also ordered to pay a fine of 18 billion won ($17 million).

The verdict was greeted with public displays of outrage and grief by Park supporters

When the wide-ranging corruption scandal broke last year it prompted massive street protests against Park across the country.

On Friday, the verdict was greeted with public displays of outrage and grief by several hundred Park supporters who had gathered outside the courthouse.

Many protesters sat or lay in the road crying, while others formed a protest rally calling for her release.

"The rule of law in this country is dead today," said Han Geun-hyung, a 27-year-old Park supporter.

Park herself was not in court for Friday's judgement which, in a rare move, was broadcast live on television. She had boycotted most sessions of the trial in protest at being held in custody.

Instead she was informed of her fate at a Seoul detention centre, where she sat in a reception hall with her lawyer awaiting the outcome, Yonhap news agency reported.

She now has seven days in which to file an appeal.

Park becomes the third former South Korean leader to be convicted on criminal charges after leaving office, joining Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, who were both found guilty of treason and corruption in the 1990s.

Judge Kim said he had passed a tough sentence to "prevent such an unfortunate event from happening again".

Supporters of Park stand next to a picture demanding her release outside the Seoul Central District Court

The presidential Blue House said in a statement after the verdict: "Each person must have different feelings about former President Park Geun-hye. But a bleak wind blew through the hearts of all of us today.

"It is a heartbreaking event for the nation as well as for the person's life. A history that is not remembered is bound to be repeated. We will not forget today."

- A Korean 'Rasputin'? -

Park, the daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee, lost both her parents to assassins. She took office in 2013 as a conservative icon who cast herself in the role of daughter of the nation -- incorruptible and beholden to none.

How South Korea's first female president fell from grace

Less than four years later, she was impeached, stripped of all her powers and ousted from office on the back of months-long mass protests that brought millions on to the streets of Seoul and other cities.

Much of the public anger was focused on Park's relationship with Choi and accusations that she let her friend -- who held no formal position or security clearance -- meddle in state affairs, including high-level appointments and editing official speeches.

Choi is the daughter of a shadowy religious figure who had served as a mentor to Park for decades until his death in 1994. She was tried separately and sentenced in February to 20 years in prison.

Condemned in the media for her "Rasputin-like" influence over Park, Choi was convicted of using her presidential ties to squeeze tens of millions of dollars out of major South Korean businesses, including Samsung -- the world's top smartphone maker -- and retail giant Lotte.

- 'No remorse' -

Former leaders Chun and Roh received presidential pardons after each spent around two years in jail -- a privilege that may elude Park for many years, said Jeong Han-wool, an analyst at think tank Hankook Research.

"Given her attitude and public anger over her scandal that remains raw, it will be difficult to create a political environment in favour of her release any time soon," Jeong told AFP.

The daughter of assassinated dictator Park Chung-hee, Park took office in 2013 as a popular conservative icon who cast herself in the role of Daughter of the Nation -- incorruptible and beholden to none

Park's left-leaning successor Moon Jae-in came to power largely because of the public backlash against Park and her conservative party, dimming hopes for a pardon under the current administration, he added.

Chun Sang-chin, sociology professor at Seoul's Sogang University, said the verdict could also spell bad news for Park's immediate predecessor Lee Myung-bak, who is in custody as prosecutors investigate multiple corruption charges involving him and his relatives.

There is some residual sympathy for Park among her core supporters, who have always seen her as a heroically tragic figure who lost both her parents to assassins and devoted her life to the service of her country

"This is a good news for people who took to the street with candles but a nightmare for Lee Myung-bak," Chun told AFP.

Park's core supporters have always seen her as a heroically tragic figure who devoted her life to the service of her country despite childhood tragedy.

But for the vast majority of Koreans, she has now been permanently disowned, and will go down in history not as the country's first woman president but the first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.
Park at the presidential Blue House

South Korea's presidential palace was Park Geun-hye's home for more than two decades -- once when her father was president and later when she herself led the country.

Now, humiliated and vilified, she faces spending the next 24 years of her life in prison after being convicted of corruption -- a spectacular fall from grace unimaginable six years ago when she became South Korea's first female president amid great fanfare.

Park, 66, grew up in the spotlight at the Blue House, the presidential compound just north of one of Seoul's royal palaces, and enjoyed a pampered life as the eldest child of strongman Park Chung-hee.

Her father, despite widespread rights abuses and a brutal crackdown on dissent, remains a respected figure for many South Koreans for overseeing the country's dramatic economic rise during his 1961-79 rule.

The Park family was treated like royalty by supporters and she was dubbed the young "princess" -- a nickname that endured for decades even as she aged.

The assassination of both her parents five years apart in the 1970s only further fanned public sympathy for the young protege.

Park's mother -- widely praised as a dutiful wife and caring mother in the still-traditional society of the day -- was shot dead in 1974 by a Korean-Japanese aiming for her husband. He is believed to have been acting on orders from North Korea.

- Daughter and first lady -

Park, a student in France at the time, returned home to assume the role of first lady until her father was killed by his own security chief in 1979.

She then kept a low profile for nearly two decades, until she made a successful 1998 bid to become a lawmaker as the South reeled from the fallout of the Asian financial crisis.

She became an instant political star among older conservative Koreans who fondly remember her parents and revered her father for helping pull a war-ravaged country out of poverty.

Adept at taking advantage of the nostalgia for them and the sympathy for her, she frequently peppered her campaign speeches with the phrase "After I tragically lost my parents to assassins' bullets".

Park rose quickly up the political ladder, earning the nickname "The queen of elections" due to the unwavering loyalty of her largely aged, conservative supporters.

The fact that Park never married and was estranged from her two siblings was part of her appeal, in a country where leaders had often been embroiled in major corruption scandals involving relatives.

"I'm married to the Republic of Korea. I have no children. South Koreans are my family," Park once said, citing Elizabeth I of England -- known as the "Virgin Queen" -- as her role model.

Park was elected the South's first female president in 2012, winning the highest vote share of any candidate in the democratic era.

- The confidante -

But few people then knew about Park's secret: the family of a shadowy religious figure practically controlled most aspects of her life.

The influence of Choi Tae-min -- a seven-times-married founder of a cult-like group 40 years Park's senior -- began in the 1970s when he sent her letters claiming he had seen her dead mother in his dreams.

His influence grew until a US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks noted widespread rumours that he had "complete control over Park's body and soul".

He died in 1994 and one of his daughters, Choi Soon-sil, inherited his role as the orchestrator of Park's everyday decisions -- from who she met to what she wore.

Choi's influence grew further after Park became president, and she enjoyed secret and free access to Park's residence and allegedly meddled in major decisions, including senior official nominations.

The Choi-Park dynamic first came to light in 2016, sparking nationwide fury and mass protests calling for Park's ousting. These continued for months until her impeachment in March 2017.

Supporters of Park hold a banner with portraits of herself and her father, former dictator Park Chung-Hee, in 2016

The pair were tried separately, with Choi sentenced to 20 years in prison in February for using her presidential ties to squeeze tens of millions of dollars from major South Korean firms like Samsung and Lotte.
The epic scandal that led Friday to the jailing of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye for 24 years broke more than 18 months ago.

The once-popular leader and her confidante Choi Soon-sil were ensnared by allegations of dodgy links with big business, abuse of power and kickbacks worth tens of millions of dollars.

Here are the main events that led to Park's downfall:

- Fake academic records -

The influence Choi had over Park -- her longtime friend -- came to light in September 2016 when thousands of students at Seoul's prestigious Ehwa University staged a protest against what they claimed was the manipulation of the academic records of a student -- Choi's daughter -- in her favour.

Prosecutors launched a probe and arrested Choi and three faculty members, including the school head.

- Meddling in state affairs -

South Korea's JTBC TV said in October 2016 that it had obtained Choi's tablet computer after she inadvertently left it in her old office, and had found official documents on it.

Prosecutors later confirmed JTBC's findings: the tablet contained government files, including advance copies of Park's policy speeches. It corroborated allegations that Choi, who had no official title, was meddling in state affairs.

- Apologies in vain -

Park issued her first public apology on October 25, 2016, but only for Choi's access to official documents. It failed to prevent hundreds of thousands of angry protesters from taking to the streets over other graft allegations.

The president had to issue a second apology within days, and agreed to appoint a special prosecutor.

When one of her top aides was arrested for corruption -- and another for leaking official documents to Choi -- Park issued a third apology on November 29. She agreed to let parliament discuss her possible impeachment.

- Kicked out -

As a special prosecutor probed the corruption allegations, the National Assembly in December 2016 adopted a resolution to impeach Park and asked the Constitutional Court to endorse it.

In February 2017 a special prosecutor wrapped up the investigation, indicting 17 people -- including Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong -- and identifying Park as a "suspect" for taking bribes.

In March the Constitutional Court unanimously approved Park's impeachment, removing her from office and also stripping her of immunity from any criminal indictment.

- Arrest and trial -

Park was questioned and then arrested on March 31, 2017. She has since been held at the Seoul Detention Centre. She was indicted on a variety of charges linked to corruption and abuse of power.

In February 2018 prosecutors asked that the court imprison the former president for 30 years and fine her 118.5 billion won ($113 million).

Her confidante Choi was sentenced in February to 20 years in prison for corruption and for interfering in government business.
A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to throw stones towards Israeli forces along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on April 5, 2018

Thousands of Palestinians are to protest Friday near the border between Israel and Gaza, a week after 19 people were killed by Israeli troops in the bloodiest day since the 2014 war.

What happened a week ago?

Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered near the border last Friday at five main sites across the Gaza Strip for the start of what was dubbed the Great March of Return.

It was one of the largest protests in recent years and organisers said it would be peaceful in nature.

While the majority of those involved engaged in social events including weddings, dances and communal prayers, smaller numbers approached Israel's border fence, throwing stones and rolling burning tyres toward troops.

In response, Israeli snipers fired live ammunition, killing 19 and injuring hundreds of others, sparking accusations of disproportionate force.

Israel had pledged to stop any damage to the fence as well as infiltration bids. It also said there was an attempted shooting attack on soldiers.

It accuses Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs Gaza and with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

What are they calling for?

The march is calling for the right of return -- meaning Palestinian refugees being allowed to go back to the land they fled or were expelled from during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

This is supported by the United Nations in a resolution but has never been implemented, while around five million Palestinian refugees and their descendents live in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and countries surrounding Israel.

It is a key issue for Palestinians, many of whom still have the keys of the homes their families were forced to leave.

Israel says demanding they be allowed to return amounts to calling for the country to cease to exist.

Protests are to continue until mid-May, around the time the United States is due to move its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The controversial pledge by President Donald Trump infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern sector of Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Who is behind the protests?

Israel has accused Hamas of being behind the protests.

Organisers reject this, saying the rallies are independently organised and that Hamas is one of many groups involved.

Hamas leaders appeared at the first protest on March 30.

What are the causes of the protests?

Analysts say the protests are fuelled by growing desperation in Gaza, which has been under a strict Israeli blockade for a decade. Egypt has also largely sealed its border with the enclave in recent years, citing security reasons.

President Mahmud Abbas's internationally recognised Palestinian government, based in the West Bank and opposed to Hamas, has also increased measures against Gaza that analysts say are designed to punish the Islamists.

The result has been a stagnant economy with unemployment around 40 percent and youth unemployment even higher. Protesters cite the lack of meaningful opportunities in Gaza for their attendance, with many claiming they are not afraid of death.

Israel also says that Hamas glorifies death and encourages angry young men to seek "martyrdom". The Islamist movement has paid the families of those killed $3,000.

What is expected Friday?

Thousands are again expected to approach the border in the same five locations.

Organisers say they are trying to take new measures to prevent this from happening but it is unclear if they will succeed.

Young men have been gathering piles of tyres they plan to burn along the border to create smokescreens, to make it harder for snipers to hit them.

On Thursday, young men approached the border and threw stones in multiple sites, and there are fears of more bloodshed.

Will Israel change tactics?

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the European Union and others have called for an independent investigation into last week's deaths.

Human Rights Watch said the killings were "calculated" and illegal, while Guterres urged Israel to exercise "extreme caution".

Israel has rejected calls for a probe and insists its open-fire rules for Gaza remain unchanged.

"If there are provocations, there will be a reaction of the harshest kind like last week," Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
Salman Khan faces a five-year sentence for killing endangered wildlife.

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, now Prisoner 106, will have to spend at least another night in jail as he fights a five-year prison term for killing endangered wildlife.

Khan, one of the world's highest paid actors, was imprisoned Thursday after a court convicted him for killing rare antelopes known as black bucks on a hunting trip while shooting a movie in 1998.

Khan's lawyer asked for bail but the plea was adjourned after a judge said he wanted to see the entire case record.

"We argued for bail in the court. Basically the eyewitness is not reliable ... the trial court has convicted Salman on the basis of basically just one eyewitness," Mahesh Bora, a lawyer for Khan, told reporters in Jodhpur, in the northwestern state of Rajasthan.

The court is to sit again on Saturday.

The 52-year-old action star has denied killing the black bucks.

His conviction shocked fans and the Bollywood elite.

Hundreds flocked to his home in Mumbai to show solidarity with the star who moved from his luxury apartment to sleeping on the floor of a cell in the Jodhpur Central Jail.

"Everyone knows that he is used to the lavish lifestyle, which is why he was unable to sleep," the Deccan Herald newspaper said, quoting an unnamed jail official.

"He laid down on blankets spread on the floor. He hardly slept. At 6:00 am in the morning, the sound of siren woke him up."

- Wave of sympathy -

Jail Superintendent Vikram Singh said no special arrangements have been made for Khan who is now Prisoner 106 and was served a dinner of lentils and cabbage like other inmates on his first night.

"He has a simple wooden bed, a rug and a cooler in his cell," Singh told reporters.

Khan has accused Rajasthan's forest department of trying to frame him.

His lawyers claim the black bucks died of natural causes such as overeating, claiming there was no evidence the animals were shot.

Four other Bollywood stars -- Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari -- who were also accused in the case were acquitted for lack of evidence.

"The prosecution has proved beyond doubt the case of hunting two black bucks against Salman but the case against the other accused does not prove beyond doubt," the trial court judge said in his judgement.

Film industry analysts say Khan has nearly $90 million riding on him with at least three big projects in the pipeline.

The case, which has dogged Khan for 20 years, has seen him held in custody three times before.

In 1998, Khan spent a week in prison after being accused of using unlicensed arms to shoot the black bucks.

Khan was also found guilty of killing gazelles on the same trip and served very brief stints in jail in 2006 and 2007, but was later acquitted on appeal.

The actor affectionately called "bhai", or "brother" in Hindi, enjoys a cult-like status with the majority of his devotees young men who envy Khan's glamorous lifestyle.

The latest verdict has triggered a wave of sympathy for the "bad boy" of Hindi cinema whose life has been dogged by controversies.

Khan, who has had a string of glamorous relationships but never married, was cleared in 2015 of killing a homeless man in a hit-and-run accident. That decision is now being challenged in the Supreme Court.

He was also accused of assaulting a former Miss World and provoked a firestorm in 2016 by saying his workout schedule for a film left him feeling "like a raped woman".

"Tough times don't last, tough people do, waiting for tiger to be back," tweeted actor Maniesh Paul, referring to Khan's most recent blockbuster "Tiger Zinda Hai" (Tiger is Alive) which has earned more than $85 million worldwide.

Other Bollywood figures have also rallied around the actor, voicing support and decrying the harsh sentence.
Mayor Nakagawa (C) delivers a speech from outside the sumo ring

A female Japanese mayor was barred Friday from delivering a speech inside a sumo ring a day after controversy erupted over a longstanding ban on women entering the sport's rings.

On Thursday Japan's sumo association chief made headlines at home and abroad after issuing an apology to several women who were ordered out of a sumo ring while trying to offer life-saving medical assistance.

Women are traditionally banned from sumo rings, which are sacred spaces in the Shinto religion from which the sport emerged, because they are considered "ritually unclean".

On Friday mayor Tomoko Nakagawa from the western city of Takarazuka slammed a decision to prevent her from delivering a speech from a sumo ring, something her male counterparts have regularly done.

"I'm a female mayor but I am a human being," she said in a speech delivered from a podium sited outside the ring.

"But because I am a woman, despite being a mayor, I cannot make a speech in the ring."

"It is regrettable and mortifying," she said, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Nakagawa delivered a speech from outside the ring last year, when the city hosted a tournament, but said she had not realised she was being prevented from entering the ring because of her gender.

After seeing a male mayor deliver a speech from inside the ring, she unsuccessfully petitioned sumo authorities to extend her the same right.

"We may have a female prime minister some day... I want them to think about whether they would hold her back," she said.

"Isn't it important to have the courage to reform while keeping tradition?"

City spokesman Yuki Miyata told AFP the association had cited "tradition" in rejecting Nakagawa's request, adding that the mayor planned to make the request again the next time the city hosts a sumo tournament.

Among the male officials who have delivered speeches from inside sumo rings is the mayor of the western city of Maizuru, who collapsed Wednesday while addressing the audience at a bout.

When several women, among them a nurse, rushed to help him, an announcement was made repeatedly over loudspeakers asking them to leave the ring.

The sumo association chief, who goes by the name Hakkaku, described the announcements as "an inappropriate act in a situation that involves one's life".

"We deeply apologise," he added, thanking the women for their help.

The incident sparked an uproar in Japan, which lags behind many countries on gender equality.

But the government declined to comment Friday, citing the sumo association's status as a "private entity".
Bangladeshi Muslims offer prayers during Ramadan at the National Mosque last June: the country is building hundreds of new mosques

Bangladesh has launched a billion-dollar campaign to build hundreds of "model mosques", partly with Saudi funding, to try to counter radical Islam in the Muslim-majority country, officials said Friday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who inaugurated work on nine mosques through a video conference on Thursday, is also trying to bolster links with Muslim groups in an election year, according to analysts.

A senior official said 560 "model mosques cum cultural centres" would be built in the next 30 months as part of a government attempt to fight extremism.

"In the next one to one and a half months, work on another 100 mosques will begin," Shahmim Afzal, who heads the government Islamic affairs department, told AFP.

They will be used to preach against "distorted Islamic philosophy" of groups such as Bangladesh's largest opposition Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the official added.

The country has been fighting Islamist extremism in recent years after militants carried out attacks on religious minorities, secular activists and foreigners.

Afzal said the centres of worship would be open to women, unlike most of the country's 300,000 mosques, and would be equipped with libraries and cultural centres.

"Each mosque will cost 150 million taka ($1.8 million)," he said.

Imams would be required to give sermons "to inspire people against extremism".

Afzal last year said Saudi Arabia would bear the lion's share of the project, but a senior official of the Islamic kingdom later denied any such plan.

Afzal, however, told AFP that Saudi Arabia was partly funding the project. "They have already sent part of the fund," he said, without disclosing the amount.

Minority groups have raised concerns over the proliferation of Saudi-backed mosques, saying these could spread the ultra-conservative Sunni doctrine of Wahhabism practised in the Gulf kingdom.

An expert said the real aim of the billion dollar mosque project by Hasina's government could be political.

"She wants to build rapport with traditional Islamic groups. She wants to win over these forces," said Ataur Rahman, chairman of the Dhaka-based Centre for Governance Studies.

Hasina's ruling Awami Legaue party has over the decades championed secular causes.

In recent years Hasina has cracked down on hardline Islamist groups, and tried and executed Islamist leaders accused of war crimes. She has made secularism part of Bangladesh's constitution.

"Ahead of the elections, she is adjusting her secular stand by leaning towards a more rightist Islamist position," Rahman said.

Hasina has said a general election will be held this year.

Some 90 percent of Bangladesh's 160 million people are Muslims.

sa/tw/sm
A Palestinian boy holds his national flag during clashes with Israeli security forces on the Gaza-Israel border on April 6, 2018

Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians as thousands protested and clashes erupted along the Gaza border on Friday, a week after a mass demonstration led to violence and the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

Gaza's health ministry also reported that 408 Palestinians had been taken to hospitals and medical centres for treatment. The dead included a 16-year-old, it added.

A Palestinian covers her face with the colours of her national flag during clashes with Israeli security forces on April 6, 2018

At least six journalists were shot and wounded, according to a statement from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army had no immediate comment on the statement.

Palestinians burned mounds of tyres and threw stones at Israeli soldiers over the border fence, who responded with tear gas and live fire.

Israel said there were also attempts to break through the barrier.

Thousands of protesters -- Israel estimated 20,000 -- gathered in locations near the border east of Khan Yunis, in the south of the blockaded Palestinian enclave, and east of Gaza City, among other spots.

The number of protesters, however, was lower than last week, when a demonstration by tens of thousands led to clashes in which Israeli forces killed 19 Palestinians on March 30.

- 'Return to our land' -

Israeli security forces fire tear gas during clashes on the Gaza-Israel border on April 6, 2018

Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, hailed the protests and condemned Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"They said Gaza would give up its principles, its project of liberation and (dream) of return if they starve it, but Gaza is coming out today," he said to protesters east of Khan Yunis.

He referred to the protest's call for Palestinian refugees to be able to return to land they fled or were expelled from what is now Israel.

Sinwar said Gazans would "break the border and return to our land and pray in Jerusalem".

Palestinians collect tyres and burn them during protests at the Israel-Gaza border east of Gaza City, on April 6, 2018

Israel's military said "attempts were made to infiltrate into Israel under the cover of a smoke screen".

It also said explosive devices and firebombs were thrown, adding that soldiers opened fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement".

Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Ronen Manelis defined the day's events as a success.

"None of our troops were wounded, the border was not crossed," he said, noting that what happened last week had "deterred Hamas, which prevented the masses from approaching the (border) fence".

- Call for restraint -

Mona al-Shaar, 43, who was distributing bottles of vinegar to protesters east of Khan Yunis to dab onto tissues to help them cope with tear gas, said: "We came here for the land and for a better future."

"The Israelis are cowards."

Israel had warned that its open-fire rules would remain unchanged for Friday's protest, pledging to stop damage to the fence and prevent infiltrations or alleged attacks.

It had faced mounting criticism over its use of live fire, and UN chief Antonio Guterres called for restraint ahead of the new protest.

"I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties," he said.

Kuwait on Friday called on the UN Security Council, to back an independent inquiry on the Israeli-Palestinian clashes, a week after a failed attempt to do the same thing.

"It's a matter the Security Council should address," said Kuwait's UN ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi.

The text brought by Kuwait, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, is the same as the one it submitted earlier which was blocked by Washington.

The Palestinian UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said that if the UN does nothing it "is encouraging Israel" in its operations against Palestinians. If the Security Council fails to act then the Palestinian side could take the issue to the wider UN General Assembly, he added.

Washington will again oppose Kuwait's move, a diplomat from a UN Security Council nation said later Friday

Palestinians protest on the Gaza-Israel border on April 6, 2018

Meanwhile the Palestinian representative in Washington warned Friday that the situation in Gaza was explosive and that the region cannot afford to wait for the promised new US peace plan.

Israel accuses Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip and with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

- US embassy move -

Israel says more than half of the dead from the previous Friday were members of militant groups, including the armed wing of Hamas.

Hamas's armed wing has claimed only five of them, saying they were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people".

Militant group Islamic Jihad has claimed at least one of the dead as a member.

Hamas has meanwhile offered compensation of $3,000 to the families of protesters killed and $500 for those seriously injured, drawing outrage from Israel.

The protests in support of refugees are designed to last six weeks.

More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their lands during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.

Israelis say allowing the so-called "right of return" would mean their country would cease to exist.
Zimbabwean police investigating an ivory-smuggling racket will soon question former ruler Robert Mugabe's wife Grace.

She is accused of arranging shipments abroad, a government-owned newspaper reported on Friday.

The Herald newspaper, once the mouthpiece of the Mugabe regime, said police were making progress in their probe into Grace's role in allegedly smuggling ivory to China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Grace Mugabe, the wife of Zimbabwe's former president Robert, has been accused of smuggling ivory worth millions to underground foreign markets

'We are closing in with our investigations,' a police source told the paper under the headline 'Police tighten noose on Grace Mugabe'.

'We have also picked up and questioned several suspects whom we believe are linked to the case.'

Documents from the Zimbabwe parks authority allegedly accuse Grace Mugabe of ordering officials to grant her permits to export millions of dollars of ivory as gifts to foreign leaders.

Once outside Zimbabwe, the ivory was routed to black markets.

Robert Mugabe stepped down last year, ending his 37-year rule of the southern African nation after having been put under house arrest by the military

A police spokesman declined to comment to AFP on Friday.

Grace Mugabe had been tipped as a candidate to succeed her husband, 94, who ruled Zimbabwe since independence from British colonial rule in 1980.

But he was forced to step down in November last year following a military takeover that ushered former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa to power.

Grace has not been seen in public since, but she attended a press meeting her husband held at their house in the capital Harare last month.

She was known for her lavish spending habits and fierce verbal attacks on her husband's perceived critics.
South Africa's National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams said there were 'reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution of Mr Zuma'

Here is a timeline of major events in the corruption charges against South African former president Jacob Zuma:

- Red flag -

- November 1998: The cabinet approves an arms deal at a price tag of $2.5 billion. On the same day Zuma, then a provincial minister, meets with his personal financial advisor Schabir Shaik and an official from French arms dealer Thomson-CSF. The auditor-general soon raises a red flag over the deal as "high-risk".

- June 1999: Thabo Mbeki is elected president of South Africa with Jacob Zuma as his deputy.

- September 1999: An opposition lawmaker Patricia de Lille alerts parliament that the arms deal could be graft-ridden and calls for an inquiry.

- December 1999: Finance Minister Trevor Manuel seals the deal at 29.9 billion rand.

- February 2000: The serious economic crimes offences police unit known as the Scorpions launch investigations.

- October 2004: Trial of Zuma's adviser Shaik opens.

- President Zuma -

Zuma was forced to resign as South African president by his party in the wake of mounting corruption scandals

- June 2005: Shaik is convicted and jailed for 15 years for fraud and corruption. Four years later he is released on medical parole in 2009, the year Zuma becomes president.

Zuma is accused in court of having had a "generally corrupt" relationship with Shaik. Mbeki fires him as deputy president.

- December 2007: Zuma is elected president of the ruling African National Congress party. Ten days later Zuma is slapped with fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering charges.

- April 2009: Acting chief prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe withdraws charges against Zuma based on the phone conversation of the so-called "spy tapes" that suggest the charges were politically motivated.

- May 2009: Zuma is sworn in as South Africa's president.

- Mounting scandal -

- April 2016: The inquiry clears all government officials of corruption over the arms deal. But days later, the High Court in Pretoria rules that the 2009 decision to drop the charges was "irrational" and that charges must be reinstated.

- October 2017: The Supreme Court of Appeal rules that Zuma is liable for prosecution.

- February 2018: Zuma is forced to resign as South African president by his party in the wake of mounting corruption scandals.

- March 2018: Prosecutors decide he should face 12 counts of fraud, two of corruption, one of racketeering and one of money laundering.

- April 2018: Zuma appears in Durban High Court for preliminary hearing, with the case adjourned until June 8.
China has formally launched a World Trade Organization challenge against the US' first round of proposed tariffs on Chinese goods

China reached out for Europe's support in its bitter trade war with the US, leaving the EU at risk of getting entangled in a conflict with repercussions around the world.

The European Union is caught in a bind as it too shares many of Washington's grievances with Beijing's trade practices, but is also under a threat of protectionist measures ordered up by US President Donald Trump.

In a rare diplomatic plea, China on Friday called on the EU to take a joint stand against US protectionism as Trump warned that he could slap another $100 billion (86 billion euros) of extra tariffs on China's imports.

"China and the EU... should take a clear stance against protectionism, jointly preserve the rules-based multilateral trade order, and keep the global economy on a sound and sustainable track," Zhang Ming, the head of the Chinese mission to the EU, said in a statement sent to AFP.

"This is a joint responsibility of China and the EU. We must act together to make that happen," Zhang said.

The EU declined to respond directly to the envoy's invitation, insisting only that trade conflicts should be resolved at the World Trade Organization, the Geneva-based body set up to resolve disputes.

The bloc is "firm in the belief that free and fair trade is one of the most powerful engines for growth, supporting millions of jobs and contributing to prosperity," European Commission spokesman Daniel Rosario said in a response to AFP.

The EU and the US themselves nearly descended into a trade war after Trump in March threatened to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports that would, if confirmed, punish European manufacturers.

But Trump granted Europe a last-minute exemption, giving EU negotiators until May 1 to come up with a solution to unfair trade policies alleged by the US leader.

The Europeans reject Trump's allegations, which have mostly circled on Germany's auto industry, and prepared a list of counter-measures in case the US reverses course and slaps on the tariffs.

The European Commission, which handles trade for the EU member states, said contacts with the US would continue next week, though French President Emmanuel Macron has angrily said that Europe should refuse to negotiate "with a gun to your head."

- 'Fruitless' -

Complicating matters, European leaders are largely in agreement with Trump that China fails to play fairly when it comes to international trade, not only for metals exports, but also market access for European companies and respecting intellectual property.

Many Europeans also rail against cash-flush Chinese tycoons that have snapped up European companies, sports clubs and airports, all while foreigners are barred from investing in equivalent industries in China.

China ranked 84th globally -- behind Saudi Arabia and Ukraine -- in the World Bank's ease of doing business index for 2016, and second to last in an OECD report on the restrictiveness towards foreign investment.

"The problem is the method," a European official told AFP, when asked about Trump's hardball approach to Beijing.

"The US is completely ignoring WTO rules. Until now they at least kept up appearances, but no longer," the source said.

Against China, the Europeans have always chosen the soft approach -- through lures of investment deals and closer cooperation -- said Economist Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels.

But this strategy will remain "fruitless, partly because there isn't any degree of confrontation, there is no bad cop next to the good cop and we need that," he said.

However he added: "While confrontation with China is necessary, Trump's way of doing it has too much collateral damage and does not deal with the issue in a rational way."
Thousands of migrants have made the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to the island of Lesbos

Three Spanish firefighters will stand trial in May in Greece for allegedly trying to help illegal migrants enter the country via Lesbos where they were taking part in sea rescue operations.

The three, from the southern city of Seville, made the announcement late Thursday after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis in Madrid.

"We've received commitment from the minister that we will get all the necessary consular help to face this process," said Manuel Blanco, one of the accused.

In a tweet, Dastis described the trio as having done "rescue and humanitarian aid" work.

After their meeting, the firefighters told reporters they were detained in early 2016 while volunteering for Proem-Aid, a Spanish group of emergency professionals that helps people in distress in the Mediterranean.

Greek coastguards arrested them on the island of Lesbos -- the destination of thousands of migrants making the perilous sea crossing from Turkey.

"Just like we go out on a rescue mission if there is an earthquake, we were rescuing people who needed help," said Blanco.

"In this case, they were at sea, trying to reach Europe's coasts," he added.

"We went on a rescue mission that night in really cold conditions, in winter. But there was no rescue as we didn't find the boat."

On their return, the firefighters were stopped by Greek coastguards.

Blanco said no migrants were on their boat, but prosecutors accuse them of "trying to facilitate the entry of illegal migrants".

The firefighters are due to stand trial on May 7 in Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos.

Apart from the three Spaniards, at least one member of another similar NGO, Team Humanity, will stand trial on May 7, according to the group's Facebook page.

Some 5,100 migrants died in 2016 crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The ASEAN bloc was estimated to have grown by 5.1 percent last year and is expected to outpace most other regions this year

Southeast Asia will maintain robust economic growth despite rising tensions as tit-for-tat tariffs between the US and China stoke fears of a damaging trade war, regional finance ministers said Friday.

"We sounded a warning about the risk of rising protectionism and the possibility of the trade disputes deteriorating," Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat told reporters after a meeting of ASEAN finance chiefs.

However detailed briefings by economists from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the private sector on ASEAN's prospects were consistent with projections for strong growth, said Heng, who chaired the meeting.

The 10-member ASEAN bloc was estimated to have grown by an "impressive" 5.1 percent last year and is expected to outpace most other regions this year, Heng said.

"As to the question whether the risk of trade disputes would then undermine investment sentiment and so on -- those are things that we really have to watch," he said.

"It is too early for us to conclude and revise growth projections. These are risk scenarios that we always have to watch out for but our central scenario remains pretty benign."

With tensions between the US and China stoking fears of a full-blown trade war, Heng stressed that no one would emerge a winner.

"We need to send a strong signal that trade tensions -- and if it escalates into something worse -- will not benefit anyone. It will be very negative for everyone involved," he said.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to slap an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods on top of $50 billion worth of items already identified to be hit with punitive taxes.

China has also unveiled plans for retaliatory import duties on politically-sensitive US exports, including soybeans, aircraft and autos and launched a challenge at the World Trade Oganization.

Heng said the ASEAN ministers had agreed to push ahead with trade liberalisation but take steps to help those who are negatively affected by globalisation.

"We must continue to have very strong commitment to trade and to openness to the globalisation process," he said.

ASEAN covers a region of 650 million people, grouping Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Asma Nawab, who was just 16 when her parents and brother were murdered in 1998, spent 20 years in prison

A Pakistani woman infamously put on death row for killing her family in 1998 has been acquitted and walked free after 20 years in prison, her lawyer said Friday.

Asma Nawab was just 16 when her parents and brother were murdered in 1998, apparently during an attempted robbery in the southern port megacity Karachi.

The familial nature of the murders sent a chill through the city, setting them apart from the political, ethnic and sectarian violence that gripped Karachi for many years.

Nawab, her then-fiance Farhan Ahmed and two others were arrested and sentenced to death, accused of killing the family as they had not given permission for the couple to marry.

Appeals moved slowly through Pakistan's creaky justice system. It was not until 2015 that her lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court, which -- after a three-year hearing -- ordered Nawab and the others to be released.

"The Supreme Court ruled that there was not sufficient evidences against my client and thus she was set free," Javed Chatari, who was been Nawab's lawyer since 1998, told AFP.

She left prison on Thursday.

With no family left, Chatari said, he took her to Karachi's famous waterfront hoping that the breeze and the sight of the Arabian Sea buffeting the sands would help her understand that her 20-year ordeal was over.

"We made her ride on the horse on the Clifton Beach and later had a dinner, and then she started realising she was free," Chatari said.

Nawab -- who is expected to visit her family home on Saturday for the first time since the murders -- could legally file a case against the state, he said.

But, describing her as a poor and lonely woman, he thought it unlikely she would.

"That would be a tough call for her," he told AFP.
Those hit by the new US sanctions include metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, described as operating for the Russian government

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs accused of supporting and profiting from President Vladimir Putin's efforts to undermine western democracies.

Senior US officials described the wealthy international businessmen as members of Putin's "inner circle" and said that any assets they hold in areas under US jurisdiction can be frozen.

Those hit by sanctions include metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, described as operating for the Russian government, as well as Alexei Miller, director of state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

In all, President Donald Trump's administration targeted seven oligarchs, 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian officials and a state-owned arms export company.

"The United States is taking these actions in response to the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity across the world," one official said.

"This included their occupation of Crimea, instigation of violence in eastern Ukraine, support for the Assad regime in Syria ... and ongoing malicious cyber-activity," the official said.

"But most importantly this is a response to Russia's continued attacks to subvert western democracies."

The measures were taken under a US law passed to punish Russia for its alleged bid to interfere in the 106 US presidential election, engage in cyber-warfare and intervene in Ukraine and Syria.

But Friday's announcement also came as Washington and its allies face a new diplomatic crisis with the Kremlin over the attempted poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil.

Trump begrudgingly signed the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) into law in August last year, despite arguing that its terms were "seriously flawed."

The president had long disputed the idea that Russia's alleged cyber-espionage and propaganda efforts had sped him to victory in the election and long sought better relations with Putin.

But Congress, backed by evidence from US intelligence agencies persisted, and in March the administration finally imposed sanctions on 19 Russian entities for "malicious cyber attacks."

In parallel, and to Trump's fury, former FBI chief Robert Mueller has been empowered as a special prosecutor to investigate claims of collusion between the president's campaign and Russia.

So far Mueller has indicted 19 people, including 13 Russian nationals, and reports suggest he is close to asking to interview Trump himself.

US officials confirmed that their action against the oligarchs was in part related to Russia's interference in US politics, but stressed the broader nature of their concerns.

"The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

"Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities."
South Africa's Chad le Clos moved closer to becoming the most decorated athlete in Commonwealth Games history.

South Africa's Chad le Clos romped to Commonwealth Games gold in the men's 50m butterfly on Friday, but his hopes of rewriting the history books were scuttled by Aussie grit and an overloaded schedule.

Hosts Australia flexed their muscles on the Gold Coast with five more swimming gold medals, including a clean sweep in the women's 100m butterfly.

Meanwhile, England's Olympic champion Adam Peaty limbered up for the defence of his Commonwealth 100m breaststroke crown with a Games record of 58.59 seconds in the semi-finals, despite rain falling at the outdoor venue.

Four-time butterfly world champion le Clos took full advantage of title-holder Ben Proud's absence to win in 23.37 seconds.

It puts swimming's pin-up boy five medals behind shooters Mick Gault and Philip Adams, who lead the all-time Commonwealth Games tally with 18.

Le Clos finished behind world champion Proud in Thursday's heats but the Englishman was disqualified for a false start, gifting the South African an opportunity he gleefully seized.

Dylan Carter took silver for Trinidad and Tobago, three-tenths back, with fellow South African Ryan Coetzee claiming bronze in 23.73.

"If Ben Proud had been in the final he would have won for sure," said le Clos after his first major 50m long course title.

"I don't make excuses," he added about his failure to overtake Gault and Adams. "I'm only 25 years old, it's my third Games -- I'll get the record, so there's no problem."

His tilt at history ended in the 200m freestyle and the 4x100m free.

There was no repeat of his surprise Rio Olympic silver in the 200m freestyle for le Clos, who faded badly as Australian Kyle Chalmers romped to victory.

- Aussie, Aussie, Aussie -

Olympic 100m champ Chalmers touched in 1:45.56 as fellow Aussie Mack Horton pinched silver in 1:45.89 from lane one, a day after adding the Commonwealth crown to his Olympic title in the 400m.

"I knew I had a bit to give in that last 50," said Chalmers. "It's awesome to go one-two with one of my best mates."

Duncan Scott (1:46.30) took bronze for Scotland as le Clos ran out of steam after a blistering start to finish seventh, dashing his hopes of overtaking Gault and Adams at these Games.

"It's the lactic acid that you can't flush out," said le Clos after his quick turnaround.

"I wanted to go out hard and kill the race, but I felt like lead in the last 20m and when I saw Kyle Chalmers going past, and I nearly grabbed his leg!"

Chalmers returned to anchor Australia to victory over England by two and half seconds in the 4x100m freestyle, giving the home swimmers a total of seven gold medals after two days.

"Everyone is beatable," insisted Peaty, despite not having been beaten at the 100m breaststroke in four years.

"But I want to defend my titles and that's what I've come here to do."

Elsewhere, Sarah Vasey took down favourite Alia Atkinson to snatch a shock gold in the 50m breaststroke, leaving the Jamaican flag-bearer with silver for the second successive Games.

Australia's Clyde Lewis won the men's 400m individual medley before Mitch Larkin triumphed in the 100m backstroke and Emma McKeon led an Aussie one-two-three in the women's 100m fly ahead of Madeline Groves and Brianna Throssell.
Syrians walk past destroyed buildings in Douma in Eastern Ghouta on March 25, 2018

Air strikes killed four civilians on Friday in the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said, the first bombardment there since talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal.

"Twelve air strikes hit multiple areas in Douma," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain.

"Four civilians were killed and around 25 wounded," he told AFP.

They were the first bombing raids on Douma since negotiations began around 10 days ago over a withdrawal of rebels and civilians from the town, the largest in Eastern Ghouta.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops have recaptured 95 percent of Ghouta since February 18 through a combination of a deadly air and ground assault and evacuation deals.

Moscow had announced a deal with Jaish al-Islam, the Islamist faction that holds the town, but hardliners within the group were reportedly refusing to leave their positions.

Syria and Russia had threatened a resumption of their brutal assault if Jaish al-Islam did not agree to the deal.

Syria's state news agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town on Friday in response to rebel mortar fire from Douma that wounded seven people near the capital.
-Major Indian government department websites were reported either 'unreachable' or 'not found'

India's defence minister said the department website was hacked on Friday, with the web portals of at least three other government departments including the interior, law and labour ministries also appearing to be down.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed the attack, but India's cybersecurity czar denied hacking had taken place, saying a "hardware problem" was to blame.

"Action is initiated after the hacking of the MoD (ministry of defence) website. The website shall be restored shortly," Sitharaman said on Twitter.

"Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken," she added.

The defence ministry website was the first to be affected, with its homepage replaced by a screen showing a chinese character that means "zen".

Soon, other major departments' websites were either "unreachable" or "not found".

The Ministry of Home Affairs website's main page said that the site was offline "due to technical problems".

Gulshan Rai, the national cybersecurity coordinator, contradicted Sitharaman.

"There is no hacking of any nature anywhere in the Defence Ministry website. There is a hardware problem due to which the website is down. It will be up shortly," Rai told the local NDTV news network.

"Due to malfunctioning of storage network system, websites of few ministries (are) down and will be up soon," he added.
South Africa is battling a scourge of rhino poaching fuelled by insatiable demand for their horn in Asia

A Dutch court Friday sentenced a Chinese man to a year in jail for smuggling five rhino horns and four other horn objects worth about 500,000 euros ($613,000) in his luggage.

The man was caught by customs officials at Schiphol airport in December, as he transited through Amsterdam on his way from South Africa to the eastern Chinese metropolis of Shanghai.

"The Amsterdam court has sentenced a 30-year-old man of Chinese nationality to 12 months in prison for smuggling rhino horns and falsifying a visa," the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said.

It recalled that trading in endangered species is banned under the CITES convention prohibiting sales of protected animals and plants.

South Africa is battling a scourge of rhino poaching fuelled by insatiable demand for their horn in Asia. The country's ministry of environmental affairs said earlier this year that 1,028 rhinos were slaughtered in 2017.

In the last eight years alone, roughly a quarter of the world population of rhinos has been killed in South Africa, home to 80 percent of the remaining animals.

Most of the demand comes from China and Vietnam, where the horn is coveted as a traditional medicine, an aphrodisiac or as a status symbol.
Buses carrying families of fighters from former rebel bastion Eastern Ghouta arrive at a checkpoint in northern Syria on April 5, 2018

Air strikes killed 40 civilians in the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta on Friday and the army launched a ground offensive on its outskirts after talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops have captured nearly all of the one-time opposition stronghold of Ghouta with a combination of ferocious bombing raids and negotiated withdrawals.

All that remained was its largest town of Douma, held by the Jaish al-Islam Islamist faction and home to tens of thousands of people.

Moscow announced a deal with Jaish al-Islam last Sunday, ushering in three consecutive days of evacuations from Douma that saw nearly 3,000 fighters and civilians bussed to northern Syria.

But the evacuations stalled this week amid reports Jaish al-Islam remained divided over a withdrawal, and heavy bombing hit Douma on Friday afternoon for the first time in around 10 days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of air strikes hit various parts of Douma, including some suspected to have been carried out by Russian warplanes.

Syrians walk past destroyed buildings in Douma in Eastern Ghouta on March 25, 2018

"At least 40 civilians including 8 children have been killed in air strikes and rocket fire on Douma," it said.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said dozens of people had been injured.

On Douma's outskirts, Syria's army entered fields surrounding the town, state news agency SANA said.

Regime forces were locked in violent clashes with Jaish al-Islam rebels in agricultural areas to the southwest and east of the town, the Observatory said.

- Dentists operating -

A medic inside Douma described to AFP chaos at the local hospital as wounded and dead were brought in.

"The hospital is in a state of panic," the medic said.

"Dentists are carrying out emergency surgeries. Dead bodies are being brought in pieces and are unrecognisable."

A doctor inside the town said state television was broadcasting the bombardment live.

"It feels like we're back in the days of the Gaza war" when Israel was bombing the Palestinian enclave and people around the world watched, he said, giving his name only as Mohammed.

State news agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town on Friday in response to deadly rebel mortar fire from Douma.

It said mortar shells hit several suburbs of the capital and killed at four people and wounded more than a dozen.

But Jaish al-Islam spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar in a statement late Friday denied that the group had targeted any Damascus neighbourhood.

The regime and its ally Russia launched a blistering air and ground offensive on Eastern Ghouta in mid-February, killing more than 1,600 civilians and causing an international outcry.

The enclave on the eastern edge of Damascus had escaped government control since 2012 and, although it had shrunk over the years, it still covered sizeable territory two months ago.

The daily air raids kept residents cowering in basements for weeks and a ground assault soon sliced the area into three isolated pockets, each held by different rebel factions.

- Deal dead? -

The first two were evacuated under Russian-brokered deals last month that saw more than 46,000 rebels and civilians bussed to the northwestern province of Idlib, which the regime does not control.

Tens of thousands of people also fled through humanitarian corridors opened by Russia and Syrian troops.

Some have already returned to their devastated neighbourhoods, while others are staying in crowded shelters.

As talks over the third and final pocket of Douma dragged on, Russia and Syria's regime threatened Jaish al-Islam with a renewed military assault if they did not agree to withdraw.

Those still trapped in Douma had been nervous that any attempt to renege on an evacuation would only prompt Russia and regime warplanes to resume deadly strikes.

The nature of the ongoing discussions over Douma is unclear and Jaish al-Islam itself has not stated its position since this week's first evacuation.

It remains unclear exactly why the talks between Moscow and Jaish al-Islam have faltered.

SANA reported that they fell apart when rebels refused to release detainees they were holding in Douma, and said Friday that "military operations against Jaish al-Islam will not stop until the hostages are released."

Jaish al-Islam had been angling for a reconciliation deal that would allow them to stay in Douma as a police force.

The group appears to have little leverage, however, to face the regime's recovered might, and the latest strikes raised fears of a brutal end to the five-year-old siege of Eastern Ghouta.
The violet-blue stone is unique to Tanzania

Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday inaugurated a 24-kilometre (15-mile) around the country's tanzanite mines to prevent smuggling of the precious violet-blue stones, which are unique to the East African country.

Magufuli in September ordered the army to build the wall around the mines, located in the Mererani hills near Mount Kilimanjaro.

Several metres (around 10 feet) high, the mustard-yellow wall has only one entrance, which is secured by the army. It cost 1.8 million euros ($2.2 million), according to official figures.

"Before the construction of this wall, there was a lot of tanzanite being lost, about 40 percent of all production," Magufuli said during a ceremony transmitted on national television, referring to miners smuggling out the gems.

He highlighted a 2017 decision that from now on the wholesale of tanzanite must be carried out under the control of the Tanzanian Central Bank inside the new wall.

Prior to this decision, tanzanite was sold in Arusha and Nairobi.

The wall is the latest move by Magufuli -- who swept to power in 2015 on an anti-corruption platform -- to regulate the mining sector, which has faced allegations of fraud and underreporting of production and profits.

A commission of enquiry set up by Magufuli estimated in June that 75 billion euros ($90 billion) had been lost in tax evasion arising from mining operations since 1998.

A parliamentary report published in September found that corruption and unfavourable contracts meant that the craze for tanzanite was mainly benefitting smugglers and mining operators.

Magufuli has locked horns with foreign mining companies, accusing them of under-valuing their production of gold, diamonds and tanzanite, resulting in a loss of billions of dollars in taxes and royalties since 1998.

Tanzanite was first found in the foothills of Kilimanjaro in 1967, although the discoverer is a matter of some dispute.

The Tanzanian government recognises a Maasai herdsman named Jumanne Ngoma who stumbled upon the distinctively-coloured gem; there are rival claims for another Maasai tribesman, Ali Juu Ya Watu, and a local prospector named Manuel de Souza.
Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave Turkish flags outside the White House where Erdogan and President Donald Trump met last May

A Washington court has confirmed prison sentences for two supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who assaulted peaceful pro-Kurdish protesters last year.

Judge Marisa Demeo confirmed on Thursday the sentences of one year and a day in jail for each of the two US citizens, Sinan Narin and Eyup Yildirim, over the incident in May that raised tensions between Washington and Ankara.

The pair pleaded guilty in December to "assault with significant bodily injury" against protesters outside the Turkish ambassador's residence following a meeting between Erdogan and US President Donald Trump.

Demeo confirmed the sentences reached under earlier plea agreements, which will allow the two US residents to get out of prison in the next few weeks.

Their time in custody is counted from June, when they were arrested.

It is likely that the two men, aged 45 and 50 when charges were laid, will be the only ones convicted in the case which saw indictments against 19 people, including members of Erdogan's entourage.

Narin and Yildirim were the only suspects arrested. Two more suspects were Turkish-Canadians, and the rest were Turkish citizens who were members of Erdogan's security team, all of whom remain at large.

The US quietly dropped charges against 11 of the Erdogan bodyguards, although much of the assault was filmed by bystanders and police identified the suspects partly through the video recordings.

The first batch of four dismissed cases came on the eve of a visit to Washington by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in November 2017.

The second dismissal, of seven accused, took place a day before then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's February meeting with Erdogan in Ankara.

A Washington police spokesman described the assault as a "brutal attack on a peaceful protest," with several people hospitalized.

The attack was an embarrassment for US authorities, who invited Erdogan to meet Trump despite concerns over the Turkish government's increasingly authoritarian clampdown on media and opposition.

The indictments further raised the temperature of heated relations between the two countries. Erdogan called the case a "scandalous demonstration of how American justice works."

Washington considers its NATO ally Turkey crucial to the battle against the Islamic State group.
Bio was sworn in on Wednesday after a bitterly-fought election

Sierra Leone's new president, Julius Maada Bio, on Friday promised civil servants they need not fear a purge despite a historic shift in the country's politics.

Bio, whose election has ended decade-long rule by the All People's Congress (APC), praised state workers and "gave them assurance and expressed commitment to work with them," the spokesman for his SLPP party said.

"The meeting between the president and civil servants went well today and the president assured them that there will be no witch-hunting of workers," spokesman Alie Kabba told AFP.

Bio also called for Sierra Leone -- whose 1991-2002 civil war claimed around 120,000 lives -- to turn its back on "tribalism and regionalism".

"I want you to work hard to deliver and be prompt and professional -- don't worry, be happy," he said.

Bio, a former soldier who briefly led a military junta more than two decades ago, won 51.81 percent of ballots in the March 31 election runoff, according to the official results released late Wednesday.

He defeated Samura Kamara, the APC's champion, who secured 48.19 percent of the vote.

The campaign was bitterly fought, marked by ugly verbal exchanges and sporadic violence, and Kamara has said his party will launch a legal battle to contest the outcome.

Bio called Kamara on Thursday, according to Kabba.

"They had a very friendly conversation and (he) plans to meet (him) soon," Kabba said.

Bio on Friday also named a transition team of 10 men and two women, whose first job will be to "interface" with the team of the outgoing president, Ernest Bai Koroma.

Separately, the country's electoral commission said the APC retained most seats in the 132-seat legislature, which was contested at the same time as the presidency.

With two seats left to be determined, the APC had 67 seats and the SLPP 47, it said.

Kabba said the SLPP was confident it would be able to form a majority in parliament, working with smaller parties and individual legislators who were traditional chiefs.

Cornelius Devoux, the APC's spokesman, said the party would work in the country's "best interest".

But he also called on the SLPP "to protect APC supporters who have been attacked or threatened".

One of the world's poorest nations despite huge mineral and diamond deposits, Sierra Leone is recovering only gradually from war and an 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak that killed 4,000 people.

Its economy remains fragile with investors slowly returning, and corruption is widespread. Political loyalties are often divided along ethnic lines and traumatic memories of the civil war run deep.
Demonstrators assist an injured Palestinian journalist Yasser Murtaja during clashes with Israeli security forces following a protest near the border with Israel, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on April 6, 2018

Six Palestinian journalists were shot and wounded by the Israeli army during clashes Friday between demonstrators and troops on the Gaza border, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate said.

The union said the six were shot despite wearing clothes clearly identifying themselves as journalists, adding it held Israel "fully accountable for this crime".

None of the injuries were life threatening, but it called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

An Israeli army spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the statement.

The Gaza Center for Media Freedom, which defends Palestinian journalists, called on the international community to intervene to protect its journalists.

At least seven protesters were killed during Friday's protests, as thousands of Palestinians faced up to Israeli forces in five locations along the Gaza-Israel border.

Gaza's health ministry also reported that 408 Palestinians had been taken to hospitals and medical centres for treatment. Those killed included a 16-year-old, it said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the network will hire "thousands" of new employees to verify the identity of political advertisers

Facebook announced Friday it will require political ads on its platform to state who is paying for the message and would verify the identity of the payer, in a bid to curb outside election interference.

The social network, which is under fire for enabling manipulation of its platform in the 2016 election, said the new policy would require any messages for candidates or public issues to include the label "political ad" with the name of the person or entity paying for it.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the change will mean "we will hire thousands of more people" to get the new system in place ahead of US midterm elections in November.

"We're starting this in the US and expanding to the rest of the world in the coming months," Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page.

"These steps by themselves won't stop all people trying to game the system. But they will make it a lot harder for anyone to do what the Russians did during the 2016 election and use fake accounts and pages to run ads."

A separate Facebook statement said the changes would help improve transparency and accountability of the network around political campaigns.

"We believe that when you visit a page or see an ad on Facebook, it should be clear who it's coming from," the statement said.

To get authorized by Facebook, "advertisers will need to confirm their identity and location," the statement said.

"Advertisers will be prohibited from running political ads -- electoral or issue-based -- until they are authorized."

Facebook made the announcement as Zuckerberg prepared to appear before Congress next week to answer questions about the harvesting of personal data on 87 million users by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy working for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

The move also comes amid concerns that Russian-sponsored entities delivered Facebook ads designed to create discord and confusion ahead of the election and that firms like Cambridge Analytica created messages based on psychographic profiles gleaned from the platform to influence voters.

- Sandberg's apology -

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg apologized to users for privacy lapses and acknowledged the social network should have done more to stop Russian election interference

Separately, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg offered fresh apologies to users for failing to do enough on privacy and data protection.

"We know that we did not do enough to protect people's data," Sandberg told National Public Radio. "I'm really sorry for that. Mark is really sorry for that, and what we're doing now is taking really firm action."

Sandberg said Facebook first became aware in 2015 that Cambridge Analytica had obtained user data from a researcher who put up a poll on the social network.

"When we received word that this researcher gave the data to Cambridge Analytica, they assured us it was deleted," she said.

"We did not follow up and confirm, and that's on us -- and particularly once they were active in the election, we should have done that."

Sandberg was asked by NBC television's "Today Show" if other cases of user data misuse could be expected.

"We're doing an investigation, we're going to do audits and yes, we think it's possible, that's why we're doing the audit," she said.

Sandberg said Facebook also should have been more proactive in dealing with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"That was something we should have caught, we should have known about," she told NPR. "We didn't. Now we've learned."

The firestorm over the improper data shared has sparked calls for investigations on both sides of the Atlantic.

In Brussels, a European Union spokesman said Facebook confirmed that up to 2.7 million people in the EU may have been affected by the personal data scandal.

"We will study the letter (from Facebook) in more detail, but it is already clear that this will need further follow-up discussions with Facebook," spokesman Christopher Wigand said.
Fourteen suspected jihadists were killed on Friday during an "alleged escape attempt", a day after they were taken in for questioning, the Malian army said in a statement

Fourteen suspected jihadists were killed on Friday during an "alleged escape attempt", a day after they were taken in for questioning, the Malian army said in a statement.

However, two local officials told AFP that 20 civilians had been killed or arrested in Dioura, central Mali, and cast doubt on the prison escape story.

On Tuesday Amnesty International called on authorities in Mali to investigate extrajudicial killings following the discovery last week of a mass grave containing six bodies.

Once a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, Mali has been undermined by a coup, civil war and Islamist terrorism.

Extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of Mali's desert north in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali's government signed a peace agreement with some armed groups, but the jihadists remain active, and large tracts of the country remain lawless.
A door to a room where actor Humphrey Bogart once resided -- now up for sale in an unusual auction -- is seen at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York

More than 50 doors from New York's fabled Chelsea Hotel that guarded the secrets of stars such as Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen and Jimi Hendrix are going on sale, thanks to an enterprising former homeless man.

The unusual auction comes after the historic bohemian hangout closed in 2011 for extensive renovations, which will leave only the original facade of the 12-story hotel on 23rd Street.

Since opening in 1884, the Chelsea Hotel became a refuge for writers and artists who would stay days, weeks or indefinitely. Among them were Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Bob Marley, Humphrey Bogart, Joni Mitchell, Madonna and Andy Warhol.

Cohen immortalized the building in his song "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," later revealed to be about a fling with Joplin, while the hotel gained notoriety when punk rocker Sid Vicious was charged with stabbing to death his girlfriend Nancy Spungen there.

Entering the story is a lesser-known resident, Jim Georgiou, who lived at the Chelsea Hotel from 2002 to 2011 when he was evicted for failing to pay rent. He moved nearly across the street from the hotel with his dog Teddy and tried to make a living by selling records.

In 2012, Georgiou spotted workers preparing to throw out old doors and managed to recover more than 50 of them with help from friends, said Arlan Ettinger, the president of auction house Guernsey's, which will sell the mementoes on Thursday.

- 'Great significance,' at least for finder -

"When you're homeless, a door takes a great meaning, a great significance. It's a portal to a home that a homeless person doesn't have," Ettinger told AFP.

Georgiou started to visit a nearby library and spent hundreds of hours trying to connect the Chelsea Hotel doors with their residents.

Number 105, for example, was the home of Edie Sedgwick, the model and muse of Warhol, who filmed some of his "Chelsea Girls" experimental film in the room.

Cohen immortalized the building in his song "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," later revealed to be about a fling with Joplin

In total, Georgiou identified 22 of the doors for association with famous residents.

He approached Guernsey's last year after unsuccessfully proposing the door sale to other auction houses.

Georgiou no longer lives on the street as friends have provided him accommodation.

But even though he has little money, he will donate half of the proceeds from the auction to City Harvest, which distributes uneaten food from New York restaurants and markets to people in need.

Ettinger said he was unsure how much the auction would generate.

"They are old, beat-up doors that don't look very pretty but have incredible significance. It's hard to estimate their value," Ettinger said.

"I've been running Guernsey's for 43 years and I've never heard of something like this."

For now, the doors are on display at the Ricco/Maresca Gallery in the neighborhood.

"Each door will take a significant number of ghosts with them," gallery owner Frank Maresca said.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress next week. His appearance comes as authorities around the world investigate allegations that the political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica inappropriately accessed data on as many as 87 million Facebook users to influence elections.

Here's a look at the various investigations and requests for information.

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FILE- In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg meets with a group of entrepreneurs and innovators during a round-table discussion at Cortex Innovation Community technology hub in St. Louis. Zuckerberg will testify before Congress next week as authorities investigate allegations that the political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica inappropriately accessed data on millions of Facebook users to influence elections. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

IN THE UNITED STATES:

- CONGRESS: Zuckerberg is set to testify April 10 in a joint hearing of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees and April 11 before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This will be his first-ever testimony before Congress. Individual congressional members have also written Facebook seeking answers.

- FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, says the agency's probe will include whether the company engaged in "unfair acts" that cause "substantial injury" to consumers. Facebook reached a settlement with the FTC in 2011 offering privacy assurances, though the FTC's probe may extend to Facebook's compliance with U.S.-EU principles for transferring data.

- INDIVIDUAL STATES: The attorneys general for 37 U.S. states and territories have written a letter seeking details on how Facebook monitored what app developers did with data collected on Facebook users and whether Facebook had safeguards to prevent misuse.

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IN EUROPE:

- EUROPEAN UNION: The EU is contacting data protection authorities in its member nations and in the United States to better follow up investigations into whether Facebook breached EU privacy laws.

- U.K. INFORMATION COMMISSION: Britain's information regulator has seized evidence from the London office of Cambridge Analytica. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has said the prime allegation against Cambridge Analytica is that it acquired personal data in an unauthorized way.

- U.K. PARLIAMENT: The U.K. parliamentary media committee has summoned Zuckerberg to testify. The chairman, Damian Collins, says his panel has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data. He says Facebook officials "have been misleading to the committee."

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ELSEWHERE:

- AUSTRALIA: Australian authorities say they are investigating whether Facebook breached the country's privacy law, which requires organizations to ensure personal information is held securely.

- INDIA: India's government has sent a notice to Facebook asking whether the personal data of Indian users has been compromised.
TOKYO (AP) - More than six decades after the troops died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. military personnel missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their countries.

Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea.

Efforts to recover and return the remains have been stalled for more than a decade because of the North's development of nuclear weapons and U.S. claims that the safety of recovery teams it sent during the administration of President George W. Bush was not sufficiently guaranteed.

In this Dec. 3, 2015, photo, village elder Kim Ri Jun digs up a burlap sack which he claims contains the remains belonging to a soldier who fought in the Korean War from a burial site on Ryongyon-ri hill in Kujang county, North Korea. Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea. More than six decades after they died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. troops missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their two countries. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

There are indications, however, that Trump may raise the issue directly with Kim when they meet. There is also a chance Kim might return some remains even before the summit. The location and date of the summit have yet to be announced, though officials have suggested the meeting should take place by May.

"Hopefully, the North Koreans will turn over some remains as a goodwill gesture before the summit," said Bill Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador and New Mexico governor who secured the return of six sets of remains from North Korea in 2007. "This would help enormously to diffuse some tension."

Frank Metersky, a Korean War veteran and a leading advocate of efforts to recover the remains with Korea Cold War Families of the Missing, one of three main support groups for families of service personnel missing in action, said he has been told by administration officials dealing with the matter that it is tentatively high on the summit agenda.

"The MIA issue, recovery of remains from the Korean War is the third item on the list if they get to it," he said by phone from New York. "If the meeting takes place and they get past the nuclear and missile issues, it's the third item on the agenda."

Trump's decision to meet Kim has come under criticism amid skepticism over whether he will be able to negotiate a nuclear deal with the North.

An agreement from Kim to return remains or allow future search missions would allow Trump to claim a concrete success. Hopes are high that Kim might also be willing to release three Americans of Korean descent it is now holding in custody for what it calls "anti-state" activities.

According to the Pentagon's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency , most of the missing Americans died in major battles or as prisoners of war. Others died along the wayside or in small villages. Many of the losses from aircraft crashes also occurred near battle zones or roads connecting them.

North Korea and the United States remain technically at war because the 1950-53 fighting ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. But between 1996 and 2005, joint U.S.-North Korea military search teams conducted 33 joint recovery operations and recovered 229 sets of American remains.

Washington officially broke off the program because it claimed the safety of its searchers was not guaranteed, though the North's first nuclear test, in 2006, was likely a bigger reason. Critics of the program also argued the North was using the deal to squeeze cash out of Washington, calling it "bones for bucks."

The total cost to the U.S. to carry out the joint missions was $19.5 million.

Talks to restart recovery work resumed under President Barack Obama in 2011, only to fall apart after North Korea launched a rocket condemned by the U.S. as a banned test of ballistic missile technology. There has been essentially no government-to-government progress since.

Richard Downes, president of the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs, said the North had expressed a willingness to return remains as recently as 2016, when he traveled to Pyongyang as a private citizen with a non-profit headed by Richardson.

"If progress is made, even without the remains issue being raised, windows may open sometime afterward," he said in an email to The Associated Press.

The passage of time is making recovery efforts more difficult.

In 2016, the AP visited a site about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Pyongyang were villagers have buried what they claimed to be dozens of sets of remains that were unearthed during the construction of the Chongchon River No. 10 Hydroelectric Power Station.

The villagers collected the remains that had been dug up, put them in large burlap bags and buried them in three separate places on a nearby hill overlooking a valley that was to be flooded as part of the construction project. Whether the remains are actually of Americans, of course, can't be determined until they are recovered, separated and probably DNA tested.

But the U.S. government has estimated as many as 270 sets of American remains are likely recoverable in the area, which is now called Kujang County. Searching for them was one of the top priorities when the U.S. missions were still going to North Korea. Nearly a dozen joint searches were conducted in the area from 1998-2000.

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Talmadge, currently in Tokyo, is the AP's Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @EricTalmadge

In this Dec. 3, 2015, photo, village elder Kim Ri Jun digs up a burlap sack which he claims contains the remains belonging to a soldier who fought in the Korean War from a burial site on Ryongyon-ri hill in Kujang county, North Korea. Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea. More than six decades after they died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. troops missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their two countries. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In this Dec. 3, 2015, photo, human remains, which village elders claim belong to soldiers who fought in the Korean War, is laid out at a burial site on Ryongyon-ri hill in Kujang county, North Korea. Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea. More than six decades after they died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. troops missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their two countries. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In this Dec. 3, 2015, photo, a pair of boots and a helmet, which village elders claim belong to soldiers who fought in the Korean War, is laid out next to a burial site on Ryongyon-ri hill in Kujang county, North Korea. Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea. More than six decades after they died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. troops missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their two countries. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In this Dec. 3, 2015, photo, village elders Song Hong Ik, left, and Kim Ri Jun, carry shovels as they walk past Ryongyon-ri hill on their right, where remains of soldiers they claim fought in the Korean War are buried in Kujang county, North Korea. Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea. More than six decades after they died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. troops missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their two countries. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In this Dec. 3, 2015, photo, village elder Song Hong Ik, carries his shovel as he walks past Ryongyon-ri hill on his right, where remains of soldiers he claims fought in the Korean War are buried in Kujang county, North Korea. Nearly 7,800 U.S. troops remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. About 5,300 were lost in North Korea. More than six decades after they died for their country, the repatriation of the remains of thousands of U.S. troops missing in action and presumed dead from the Korean War may finally get a boost now that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold the first-ever summit between their two countries. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
ATLANTA (AP) - Authorities have partially solved the mysterious disappearance of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee with the discovery of his body. But they may never know how he drowned in a river not far from his home.

Fishermen found Timothy Cunningham's body on Tuesday partially submerged in water and mud on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta, fire-rescue department spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford said at a news conference.

Fulton County Chief Medical Examiner Jan Gorniak determined the cause of death as drowning, but said she couldn't provide additional information because she was still awaiting toxicology reports.

Fulton County chief medical examiner Dr. Jan Gorniak, tells reporters that a body found in Chattahoochee River, Tuesday has been identified as missing CDC employee Timothy Cunningham during a news conference Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Atlanta. Gorniak said the cause of death was drowning and she found no signs of foul play. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

"Since the investigation is ongoing, we do not have ... whether it was an accident, a suicide, or anything other than that" Cunningham drowned, Gorniak said at the news conference Thursday.

Maj. Michael O'Connor of the Atlanta Police Department's Major Crimes Section said Thursday that investigators had spoken to everyone of importance and that barring any new information, "this case will likely close fairly soon."

Cunningham, 35, was an epidemiologist at the Atlanta-based federal agency. He disappeared Feb. 12. His family reported him missing on Feb. 16 after going to his home and finding his belongings and vehicle there.

His family released a statement Thursday evening thanking investigators and rescue workers, news outlets reported.

"We appreciate all the time, attention and professionalism you have contributed as we searched for our beloved son and brother, Timothy Cunningham," the statement said. "We sincerely thank all of you for the support and kindness you have shown our family during this difficult time."

Rescue crews had to use boats and special equipment to reach Cunningham's body after it was found Tuesday because it was in difficult terrain in a "remote area not easily accessible," Stafford said. He noted the body was found in an area authorities had searched in February without finding anything. The site was not far from Cunningham's house, O'Connor said.

Gorniak said the decomposing body was positively identified using dental records.

Police previously had said they had no evidence of foul play but couldn't rule it out. The civilian group Crime Stoppers offered a reward of up to $15,000 for information pointing to any criminal activity.

CDC officials also said previously that reports Cunningham had been passed over for a promotion were incorrect. In a statement, the CDC said Cunningham received an "exceptional proficiency promotion" July 1 to the position of commander, an early promotion reflecting his excellence as an employee.
Texas National Guard says it's preparing to deploy to border

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The Texas National Guard says it is preparing to deploy to the U.S.-Mexico border in response to a call from President Donald Trump.

The Texas Military Department, the umbrella agency over the Texas' National Guard branches, said on its Twitter account that it would hold a Friday night news conference on the deployment. Further details were not immediately available.

Trump told reporters Thursday that he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the border to help fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

That would be lower than the roughly 6,000 National Guard members that former President George W. Bush sent in 2006 during another border security operation, though more than the 1,200 Guard members President Barack Obama sent in 2010.

While several governors, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have welcomed Trump's call for troops on the border, none have announced specific plans. A spokeswoman for Abbott did not immediately return messages Friday.

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Trump, China escalate trade dispute as markets tumble

WASHINGTON (AP) - Unwilling to yield, President Donald Trump and China's government escalated their trade clash Friday, with Beijing vowing to "counterattack with great strength" if Trump follows through on threats to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods.

Trump made his out-of-the-blue move when China threatened to retaliate for the first round of tariffs planned by the United States. But for someone who has long fashioned himself as a master negotiator, Trump left it unclear whether he was bluffing or willing to enter a protracted trade war pitting the world's two biggest economies against each other, with steep consequences for consumers, businesses and an already shaken stock market.

"They aren't going to bully him into backing down," said Stephen Moore, a former Trump campaign adviser who is now a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He said the Chinese "are going to have to make concessions - period."

The White House sent mixed signals on Friday as financial markets slid from investor concern about a significant trade fight. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC he was "cautiously optimistic" that the U.S. and China could reach an agreement before any tariffs are implemented but added, "there is the potential of a trade war."

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters the U.S. was "not in a trade war," adding, "China is the problem. Blame China, not Trump."

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EPA head fights for his job in meeting with Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) - Embattled Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt met with President Donald Trump on Friday to lay out his case for why he should remain in his post amid a stream of questions about his ethical standing.

Pruitt visited the White House to discuss his agency's recent steps to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency standards for cars, but he also fought for his job in his meeting with the president, according to two administration officials. While White House aides are increasingly fed up with Pruitt and chief of staff John Kelly has advocated firing him, Trump remains less certain. Pruitt is one of the most effective members of his Cabinet in undermining his predecessor's regulatory agenda, and Trump enjoys his hard-charging style.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions.

Kelly and other White House aides are frustrated by the steady drip of negative press Pruitt is attracting over a seemingly below-market lease on an apartment owned by the wife of a leading lobbyist, reports that he instructed his security detail to use emergency lights and sirens to beat traffic, and the continuing fallout from using private and first-class air travel last year. Pruitt has vigorously denied any wrongdoing and blamed the accusations on political opponents of the policies he is enacting.

Though Pruitt has few allies in the White House, his team has activated a network of conservative activists and lawmakers to rally behind him. Pruitt has also sat for a series of interviews with largely conservative news outlets to defend himself - though even supporters acknowledge he did himself no favors with a Fox News interview this week in which he seemed unable to fend off some of the allegations.

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Facebook says it should have audited Cambridge Analytica

NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's No. 2 executive says the company should have conducted an audit after learning that a political consultancy improperly accessed user data nearly three years ago.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told NBC's "Today" show that at the time, Facebook received legal assurances that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the improperly obtained information.

"What we didn't do is the next step of an audit and we're trying to that now," she said.

The audit of Cambridge Analytica is on hold, in deference to a U.K. investigation. But Facebook has been conducting a broader review of its own practices and how other third-party apps use data.

In addition, Facebook announced on Friday that it will require advertisers who want to run not just political ads, but also or so called "issue ads" -which may not endorse specific candidates or parties but discuss political topics- to be verified.

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Stocks dive as US proposes more China tariffs; Dow falls 572

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks ended the week the way they began it: tumbling as investors worry that tariffs and harsh words between the U.S. and China will touch off a trade war that derails the global economy. The latest drop came as the White House proposed tripling the amount of goods from China that will be subject to tariffs.

The stock market changed direction again and again this week as investors tried to get a sense of whether the trade dispute between the world's two largest economies will escalate. On Friday technology companies, banks, industrial and health care stocks sank. The market didn't get any help from a March jobs report that was weaker than expected.

With administration officials sounding conciliatory one day and hostile the next and the president quick to fire off yet another tweet, investors simply don't know what the U.S. wants to achieve in its talks with China, said Katie Nixon, chief investment officer for Northern Trust Wealth Management.

"The process itself seems to be quite chaotic," she said. "We're not quite sure what the long-term strategy is."

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 572.46 points, or 2.3 percent, to 23,932.76. It's down 10 percent from its record high in late January.

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Brazil's ex-President 'Lula' defies order to turn self in

SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil (AP) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defied an order to turn himself in to police on Friday as he hunkered down with supporters at a metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his rise to power.

The once wildly popular leader, who rose from poverty to lead Latin America's largest nation, had until 5 p.m. local time to present himself to police in the city of Curitiba to begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

At 5 p.m., however, da Silva remained inside the union building in the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo, about 260 miles (417 kilometers) northeast of Curitiba. Party leaders said he was planning to address supporters.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against endemic graft, ordered da Silva to turn present himself to police by Friday afternoon.

Two sources close to da Silva told The Associated Press that the former leader would not go to Curitiba, but instead was considering either waiting for police at the union or presenting himself in Sao Paulo. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share internal deliberations being discussed.

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7 killed, scores wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza protest

KHUZAA, Gaza Strip (AP) - Thousands of Palestinians protested along Gaza's sealed border with Israel on Friday, engulfing the volatile area in black smoke from burning tires to try to block the view of Israeli snipers and cheering a Hamas strongman who pledged that the border fence will eventually fall.

Israeli troops opened fire from across the border, killing at least seven Palestinians and wounding 293 others - 25 of them seriously - in the second mass border protest in a week, Gaza health officials said. Hundreds more suffered other injuries, including tear gas inhalation, the officials said.

The deaths brought to at least 29 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since last week.

The latest casualties were bound to draw new criticism from rights groups that have branded Israel's open-fire orders on the border as unlawful, after Israel's defense minister warned that those approaching the fence were risking their lives.

The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has indications that Israeli forces used "excessive force" against protesters last week, when 15 Palestinians were killed or later died of wounds sustained near the border.

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US takes aim at Putin's allies in Russia with new sanctions

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials on Friday with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, as President Donald Trump's administration tried to show he's not afraid to take tough action against Moscow.

Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russia-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its "ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russia's actions beyond its borders, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and cyber-hacking.

Above all else, Russia's attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the U.S. sanctions, officials said, in a direct nod to concerns that the U.S. president has failed to challenge Putin for alleged interference in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Deripaska, whose business conglomerate controls assets from agriculture to machinery, has been a prominent figure in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Treasury Department said Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretaps, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and even death threats against business rivals.

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Governors could be powerless to deny Trump troop request

SALEM, Ore. (AP) - President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the border with Mexico has drawn resistance from some governors, most of them Democrats, but they could be powerless to deny the commander in chief's request for soldiers.

Governors have some leeway to say no to presidents, but depending on which federal law Trump uses to order the deployment, the matter could be out of the governors' hands.

The statute known as "Title 10 duty status" establishes that National Guard personnel operate under the president's control and receive federal pay and benefits. It also forbids them from performing tasks of civilian law enforcement unless explicitly authorized, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that she had a "productive conversation" about the deployment with governors of the Southwest border states.

On Friday, North Dakota's Republican governor joined leaders of some border states in saying he would send forces if asked.

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Teens dreamed of future together before their grisly deaths

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - They were teenagers in love, bonding after overcoming personal struggles and dreaming of a family and future together. When they vanished days after Christmas, friends and family combed Utah's west desert for months in search of answers.

What police eventually discovered was more unspeakable than anyone had imagined: The teens' bound and stabbed bodies were 100 feet (31 meters) down an abandoned mine shaft.

"We had every scenario run through our heads, but for the events that truly took place, words can't even describe it," said Amanda Hunt, after learning the fates of her 17-year-old niece, Brelynne "Breezy" Otteson, and 18-year-old Riley Powell.

A man enraged that his girlfriend had welcomed her friends into their home bound, beat and stabbed Powell to death as Otteson watched in horror before he cut her throat, prosecutors said this week.

"It's as bad as anything I've ever seen," said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "They just seem like decent kids ... they never did anything to deserve this."
LONDON (AP) - The former Russian spy who was left fighting for his life after exposure to a rare nerve agent is no longer in critical condition, a British health official said Friday, a month after the mysterious poisoning in a quiet English city triggered a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found unconscious on a bench March 4 in Salisbury and were hospitalized for weeks in critical condition. British authorities blame Russia for what they say was poisoning with a military-grade Soviet-developed nerve agent called Novichok. Russia denies the accusation.

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement that 66-year-old Sergei Skripal "is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition."

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia holds up a British report on the Salisbury Incident as he speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Yulia Skripal, 33, regained consciousness last week and is now in stable condition, she said.

Russian state television on Thursday played a recording of what they said was a phone call from Yulia to her cousin, Viktoria Skripal, in Russia. In it, Yulia said she would be discharged soon.

Blanshard said Friday that Yulia Skripal could "look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital," but called any speculation about her release date "just that - speculation."

Scientists said the Skripals' recovery was not unprecedented. Nerve agents work by blocking an enzyme in the body that lets nerves communicate with each other and with the body's organs.

Alastair Hay, professor emeritus of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds, said recovery can happen over time because "eventually the body will restore the enzyme to full capacity, and nerve function will be restored."

The Skripals' long-term prognosis is uncertain, however. Michelle Carlin, senior lecturer in forensic and analytical chemistry at Northumbria University, said there is limited knowledge about the long-term effects of Novichok poisoning, but "neurological damage has been reported in other historic cases."

The poisoning has chilled relations between Russia and the West, producing a wave of diplomatic expulsions unseen even at the height of the Cold War.

Britain, along with the United States and at least two dozen other U.K. allies, have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats. Russia has sent home the same number of those nations' envoys.

Russia has challenged Britain's allegation that Moscow was behind the attack. Scientists at the U.K.'s Porton Down defense laboratory identified the poison as Novichok but have not pinpointed where it was manufactured. The British government says the scientific findings and other intelligence points to Russia.

At a U.N. Security Council meeting called Thursday by Russia to discuss the Skripal poisonings, the Russian ambassador warned Britain that it was "playing with fire" and claimed that Russia was the victim of a hasty, sloppy and ill-intentioned defamation campaign by London and its allies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov kept up the offensive Friday, once again urging Britain to show its evidence in the case.

Speaking on a trip to Belarus, he said British officials have engaged in "frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position" instead of producing evidence.

Lavrov said Britain and its Western allies are wrong if they expect Russia to "confess to all deadly sins" it did not commit.

In the phone call recording released by Russian state Rossiya TV, Yulia Skripal said she and her father were both recovering and that her father's health was not irreparably damaged.

Viktoria Skripal, who works as a chief accountant in the city of Yaroslavl, told The Associated Press on Friday that she has no doubt it was Yulia who called and that she has not heard from her since. She said the call was recorded because she has an app on her phone to keep track of all the calls she makes for work.

"I made this recording, that was Yulia," she said.

Viktoria Skripal said she hoped to travel to Britain to visit Sergei and Yulia, but the British government said Friday it had denied her a visa because her application "did not comply with the immigration rules."

Britain also announced that pets in Skripal's home - two guinea pigs and a cat - were also poisoned. The two rodents were found dead after the home was sealed off by investigators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the cat was put down after it was found "in a distressed state."

The Russian Embassy in London claimed the treatment of the pets might amount to animal cruelty and said "it is difficult to avoid the impression that the animals have been disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence."

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Vasilyeva reported from Moscow. Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, Danica Kirka in London and Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia holds up a copy of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" as he speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a meeting with China's Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Russia's top diplomat has dismissed the recent expulsions of Russian diplomats as a mockery of international law. Two dozen countries have kicked out a total of more than 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain, which blames Russia for last month's poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia, left, greets British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce before a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Buses wait to carry expelled diplomats to leave the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Russia last week ordered 60 American diplomats to leave the country by Thursday, in retaliation for the United States expelling the same number of Russians. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

CORRECTING TO CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTER WANG YI - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov listens during his meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Russia's top diplomat has dismissed the recent expulsions of Russian diplomats as a mockery of international law. Two dozen countries have kicked out a total of more than 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain, which blames Russia for last month's poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko prepares to speak about the Salisbury incident, during a news conference at the Russian Embassy in London, Thursday April 5, 2018. Britain has blamed Russia for the March 4 nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Buses believed to be carrying expelled diplomats prepare to leave the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Russia last week ordered 60 American diplomats to leave the country by Thursday, in retaliation for the United States expelling the same number of Russians. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko speaks about the recent Salisbury poisoning incident, during a news conference at the Russian Embassy in London, Thursday April 5, 2018. Britain has blamed Russia for the March 4 nerve agent poisoning attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Russian ambassador to the UK Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko speaks about the Salisbury incident, during a news conference at the Russian Embassy in London, Thursday April 5, 2018. Britain has blamed Russia for the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. In response, more than two dozen Western allies including Britain, the U.S. and NATO have ordered out over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia, left, speaks to British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce at the end of a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The United Nations Security Council meets on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia arrives for a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia, Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia, left, greets British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce before a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia, Thursday, April 5, 2018 at UN headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

American Ambassador on the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Kelley E. Currie speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

The United Nations Security Council meets on the situation between Britain and Russia Thursday, April 5, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump first tried to disarm Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago with smooth talk and hospitality. A year later, he's resorted to hardball and found that Xi is willing to throw it back.

The growing acrimony over trade is deepening mistrust between the two governments and roiling global markets. But at least for now, it is unlikely to spill over into sensitive national security issues, former U.S. officials and China experts say.

China has no interest in escalating the dispute over tariffs and wants to reach a trade compromise with the U.S., they say. The White House also says it hopes differences can be mended through negotiations. But when Trump on Thursday doubled down on his threat to tax Chinese imports, the path to resolution appeared to narrow. China vowed Friday to "counterattack with great strength" and said negotiations were impossible under current conditions.

FILE - In this April 7, 2017, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. A year after Trump tried to disarm Xi at Mar-a-Lago with smooth talk and hospitality, he's resorted to hard ball and found that Xi is willing to throw it back. But at least for now, the acrimony over trade is unlikely to spill over into sensitive national security issues.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

So far, both sides have outlined plans for $50 billion in tariffs on each other's exports. On Thursday, Trump said he had instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider imposing $100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese goods, despite opposition from some of his supporters who could be hit hard by a trade war.

"The Chinese have to assume that Trump is willing to go through with this," said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, "but at the same time, a lot of it just seems he's trying to get leverage to force the Chinese to give him a better deal" to dramatically reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China.

The barrage of tough rhetoric belies a personal rapport forged between Trump and Xi when they met at his Florida resort last April 6-7, when Trump sought Xi's help on North Korea and on trade.

China has cooperated to an unexpected degree on North Korea by agreeing to and applying international sanctions to punish its wayward ally for developing nuclear weapons. Trump has often praised Xi for that - rhetoric that is welcomed in China's authoritarian political system, where great importance is vested in leadership ties.

But in recent months, Washington has adopted an increasingly adversarial stance toward Beijing, and not just on trade. That trend could be intensified as Trump replaces moderates in his administration with hawks such as incoming national security adviser John Bolton, who has advocated a tougher approach toward China.

"The relationship is spiraling downwards, and the risk of a miscalculation or accident is only increasing," wrote Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In December, the Trump administration adopted a national security strategy that identified China, along with Russia, as a "revisionist power" intent on challenging American interests. The U.S. has ruffled Beijing's feathers by stepping up the tempo of naval operations in the South China Sea. And Trump signed legislation last month that calls for Cabinet-level official visits to Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as part of Chinese territory.

Doug Paal, who handled Asian affairs at the White House under the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, said China views this as a gambit by Trump to exact concessions on trade. Speaking earlier this week, Paal said it hasn't undermined China's belief that Trump, who has avoided criticizing China on human rights, is someone they can work with.

But Daniel Russel, who was President Barack Obama's point man on Asia, said Trump's trade gambit was playing into the Chinese perception of the U.S. as a malevolent rival bent on containing China's rise as a world power.

"The Chinese know how to play this game and have had abundant time to prepare a counterstrike strategy. It includes grabbing the moral high ground and getting other countries to look at China as a victim, not the offender, and as the defender of the international trading system," he said. "It is a ridiculous turn of events."

Under Obama, the U.S. exacted an agreement from China that reduced - but did not halt - cybertheft of U.S. commercial secrets. The U.S failed to narrow the trade deficit with China, which hit a record $337.2 billion last year.

"We chose not to blow up the relationship," said Russel, now at the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute. "We chose not to put the global economy at risk through some sort of suicide-vest type of challenge."

Compromise on the trade dispute remains possible. The U.S. tariffs won't take effect for about two months, and China says it is waiting to see what Washington does.

"What we are seeing so far, although it's ugly and it's confrontational, it's still posturing," said Yun Sun, China expert at the Stimson Center think tank. "We have not yet seen the ax falling."

She said the differences go beyond the level of import taxes: It's also about ascendancy in the high-technology economy, where China seeks global leadership in electric cars, robotics and other fields.

"Trump has made clear he wants to strike deals, but the bar is so high that the Chinese don't know whether they can meet it," Yun said.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The Latest on the corruption verdict for former South Korean President Park Geun-hye (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

A lawyer of ex-South Korean President Park Geun-hye has called her sentence of 24 years in prison over corruption "very bad" and hinted that she would appeal.

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2017, file photo, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, arrives to attend a hearing on the extension of her detention at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea. A South Korea court is set to issue a verdict Friday, April 6, 2018, on disgraced former President Park over a corruption scandal. Park has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, after she was removed from office on a landmark court ruling. Prosecutors have requested a 30-year prison term on her.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

Kang Cheol-gu told reporters after Friday's ruling that he believes the "appeals court and the Supreme Court will make a different judgment."

He says Park's legal team will decided whether to appeal after confirming Park's willingness.

Thousands of Park's supporters have marched near the Seoul court to protest the ruling, carrying South Korean and U.S. flags and also signs and banners that read, among other things, "Immediately release innocent President Park Geun-hye" and "Stop murderous political revenge."

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3:55 p.m.

A South Korean court has sentenced disgraced ex-President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison over a corruption scandal.

The Seoul Central District Court issued the verdict on Friday after convicting Park of bribery, abuse of power, extortion and other charges.

Park has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Friday's court session, citing sickness.

The biggest charge was that she colluded with a longtime confidante to take tens of millions of dollars from companies in bribes and extortion.

Park was removed from office last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the streets calling for her ouster.

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2:45 p.m.

A South Korean judge says former President Park Geun-hye is guilty of abuse of power and coercion.

The verdict came as a Seoul Central District Court judge read a lengthy statement Friday. The sentencing was to follow. Prosecutors have requested a 30-year term.

Park has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Friday's court session citing sickness.

Park was removed from office early last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the nation's streets calling for her ouster.

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10:40 a.m.

A South Korean court is set to issue a verdict against disgraced former President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal.

Park has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, after she was removed from office amid months of massive rallies calling for her ouster.

Prosecutors have requested a 30-year prison term on Park, after charging her with colluding with a confidante to take tens of millions of dollars from businesses in bribes and extortion.

The Seoul Central District Court says it plans to issue a verdict on Park on Friday.

Park is a daughter of late dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea from 1961-1979.
HONOLULU (AP) - Khanh Huynh has been a commercial fisherman since he was 12 years old. For the past six years, he's been living on a fishing boat in Hawaii, catching premium ahi tuna for some of the world's most discerning consumers.

The 28-year-old fisherman from outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, recently saved the lives of two Americans and helped rescue five others after the fishing vessel he was working on sank hundreds of miles off Hawaii's Big Island.

But Huynh isn't the captain. He works 12- to 20-hour days for less than $10,000 a year in one of the most dangerous occupations. In fact, it's illegal for Huynh to act as the master of a commercial vessel in federal waters because he's not a U.S. citizen. But the American captain, who was supposed to be in charge of the Princess Hawaii, had never worked a longline vessel in the Pacific before.

Khanh Huynh, 28, of Long Khanh district, Dong Nai province, Vietnam, stands aboard the commercial fishing vessel Commander on Thursday, March 29, 2018 in Honolulu. Huynh was about the Commander's sister ship, the Princess Hawaii, when it sank off Hawaii's Big Island on March 25, 2018. The Vietnamese fisherman helped save the lives of two Americans aboard the vessel as well as six other foreign workers from Vietnam and Kiribati. (AP Photo/Sophia Yan)

A federal observer who was one of eight people on the boat said the Vietnamese worker was in charge of the vessel from the time it left port to when it sank.

"I never once saw the American captain make any attempt to operate the vessel, to issue any commands, directions or anything to make the vessel more seaworthy, more stable," the federal contractor, Steve Dysart, told The Associated Press. "I only saw him in his bunk."

The American captain, Robert Nicholson, declined to comment.

The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating.

The sinking is the latest in a string of potentially deadly mishaps in a fleet that has been plagued with concerns about exploitative, dangerous and sometimes abusive labor practices.

State and federal labor laws do not extend to Huynh and the roughly 700 other foreign workers like him in Hawaii. Because they have no U.S. work visas, the workers are refused entry into the United States and must live aboard vessels for years at a time, even when docked in Honolulu.

A 2016 Associated Press investigation found men living in squalor on some of these boats, suffering sores from bed bugs and sometimes lacking sufficient food. It also revealed claims of human trafficking .

The arrangement is facilitated by both federal and state officials and allows boat owners to pay brokers to bring in low-wage crews from Southeast Asia and Pacific island nations.

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When he's not at sea, Huynh, who grew up in Vietnam's Dong Nai province, spends his nights locked behind a gate on a fishing pier a few miles from Waikiki's postcard-perfect beaches.

On the Sunday the ship sank, he was working 400 miles (644 kilometers) offshore, cleaning the cabin as the crew set about 15 miles (24 kilometers) of fishing hooks.

Huynh was hired as a deck hand but served as the vessel's de facto captain, Dysart said. Under a known tactic in federal waters, U.S. captains are sometimes listed as master to comply with law but in fact do little to run the ship.

No federal regulations prohibit foreign workers from standing watch over a boat when the American captain is asleep or otherwise unavailable, but the American aboard is required by law to be in charge of the vessel. Penalties include hefty fines for ship owners.

Just before noon, the 61-foot (19-meter) Princess Hawaii started to rock. As ocean swells rolled across the Pacific, it dipped to the waterline, filled with salty water and started to sink.

In the wheelhouse, Huynh tried to right the ship, but seawater was already sloshing against the cabin's windows.

"I rushed to the control cabin, grabbed the steering wheel and tried to turn it, but I couldn't," Huynh told the AP. "The boat kept on tilting. It was almost vertical, and I fell on the window."

Huynh grabbed a hammer, smashed the window and escaped. He then saw five men already in the water.

Still inside the boat were the two Americans: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observer and the captain.

Dysart heard Huynh yelling, "Get out, get out, get out!" Dysart grabbed a life jacket and headed for the only exit, a door at the rear of the vessel.

"I was really worried because when I was heading toward the door, I'm looking out the porthole, and all I see is water," Dysart said.

Huynh stretched out his hand to grab Dysart.

"He saved two people's lives, my own included," Dysart recalled. "He grabs my arm and literally drags me over this hook box."

To flee the sinking ship, the observer and captain had to swim underwater, find the doorway and swim back to the surface.

Huynh had already deployed their life raft. He pulled the Americans aboard, and the three men rescued the five crewmembers, a mix of fishermen from Vietnam and Kiribati.

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The vessel, formerly named the Lihau, was recently altered, owner Loc Nguyen said.

Dysart was on the same boat years earlier and thinks the changes could have made the vessel unstable. He noted it was listing days earlier as it left Honolulu Harbor.

"The boat had been so extensively modified, I did not recognize it," Dysart said.

Nguyen said he added an icemaker, water machine and some steel support elements, but blamed the sinking on two huge rogue waves.

"A big wave in the back come in and clobber the boat, and one more time and on the side," said Nguyen, who was not on the ship.

Dysart disagrees about the rogue waves. "We got about an 18-knot wind, about 6- to 10-foot (2- to 3-meter) seas. ... It wasn't real bad."

The Coast Guard confirmed the conditions observed by Dysart, who believes the boat was simply positioned incorrectly - not facing into the oncoming waves - when it sank.

NOAA's observer program manager in Honolulu also said he had no reason to doubt Dysart's account.

"He's telling it like it is," John Kelly said. NOAA contracts observers to monitor and log information about the commercial fishing industry.

Commercial fishing vessels undergo routine safety inspections, but they mainly involve "primary life-saving equipment," said Charlie Medlicott, with the Coast Guard in Honolulu. "It doesn't really get into machinery and hull and structural integrity."

The Coast Guard inspected the boat in February and found no violations.

There are no federal licensing requirements to operate smaller commercial fishing vessels in federal waters, other than being a U.S. citizen. Some states require a license for state waters, but not Hawaii.

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A single tuna can fetch more than $1,000. And while the Hawaii fleet is among the nation's smallest, it routinely ranks in the top 10 in terms of value.

In Vietnam, Huynh worked on fishing boats for 10 years, usually earning about $140 to $180 per month.

On American-flagged ships in Hawaii, he can make three times that - $500 a month- much of which he sends to his parents in Vietnam.

Despite the terrifying ordeal, Huynh has no plans to return home.

"When I was inside the boat, I was scared," he said. "I'm not scared of getting back out to the sea."

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Associated Press writers Sophia Yan in Honolulu and Hau Dinh in Hanoi, Vietnam, contributed to this report.

Federal fisheries observer Steve Dysart talks to The Associated Press on Friday, March 30, 2018 in Honolulu. Dysart, who works for a company that contracts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was aboard the commercial fishing vessel Princess Hawaii when it sank off Hawaii's Big Island on March 25, 2018. The observer and seven others, an American captain and six foreign fishermen, were rescued from their life raft about 12 hours after the boat sank. (AP Photo/Sophia Yan)

In this March 30, 2016 photo, the commercial longline fishing vessel Lihau is shown in Honolulu. The boat was sold and the name was changed to the Princess Hawaii, which sank off Hawaii's Big Island on Sunday, March 25, 2018. Eight people aboard the boat, including a federal fisheries observer, an American captain and six foreign fishermen, were rescued from their life raft about 12 hours after the vessel sank. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Commercial fishing vessel owner Loc Nguyen holds a stack of passports as the crew of one of his boats, the Princess Hawaii, returns to Honolulu on Thursday, March 29, 2018. The Princess Hawaii sank off the Big Island with a crew of eight people, including a U.S. federal fisheries observer, an American captain, and six fishermen from Kiribati and Vietnam, on Sunday, March 25, 2018. All eight people survived and were returned to Honolulu by one of Nguyen's other fishing boats, the Commander. (AP Photo/Sophia Yan)

The commercial fishing vessel Commander motors into Honolulu Harbor on Thursday, March 29, 2018 after rescuing the crew of its sister ship, the Princess Hawaii, four days earlier. The Princess Hawaii was fishing off the Big Island when the vessel capsized and sank with eight people aboard on March 25, 2018. Everyone escaped and was rescued by the Commander about 12 hours later. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Teweti Aukitino, 25, left, and Boata Temataake, 31, both of Kiribati, stand aboard the commercial fishing vessel Commander on Thursday, March 29, 2018 in Honolulu. The men were part of the crew of the Princess Hawaii, which sank off Hawaii's Big Island on March 25, 2018. All eight people aboard the vessel, including a federal fisheries observer, were rescued by the Commander about 12 hours after the sinking. (AP Photo/Sophia Yan)

Commercial fishing boat owner Loc Nguyen, left, of Honolulu, talks with the captain of the vessel Princess Hawaii, Robert Nicholson, after he and seven others from the were rescued and returned to Honolulu on Thursday, March 29, 2018. The Princess Hawaii sank off the Big Island on March 25, 2018. All eight people aboard escaped and were rescued by their sister ship, the Commander. (AP Photo/Sophia Yan)

A federal drug test kit for the crew of the commercial fishing vessel Princess Hawaii is shown on Thursday, March 29, 2018 in Honolulu. Princess Hawaii sank off Hawaii's Big Island on March 25, 2018 with eight people aboard. Everyone escaped and was rescued by their sister ship, the Commander, which brought them back to Honolulu on Thursday. (AP Photo/Sophia Yan)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, the commercial longline fishing vessel Princess Hawaii sinks about 400 miles north of the Big Island on Sunday, March 25, 2018. Eight people, including the crew, captain and a federal fishery observer abandoned the ship and escaped in a life raft. A Coast Guard air crew dropped a radio to the life raft and helped establish communication with the vessel's sister ship, the Commander, which was fishing nearby and came to rescue the survivors. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - In the same courtroom where an ex-military dictator was once sentenced to death, Park Geun-hye's corruption conviction on Friday extended the tradition of South Korean presidencies ending badly. Nearly every former president, or their family members and aides, have been mired in scandals near the end of their terms or after they left office. One leader, Park's father, was assassinated by his spy chief, and another former president killed himself.

Here's a look at South Korea's tarnished presidential legacies:

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FILE - In this Aug. 25, 2017, file photo, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, arrives for her trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea. A South Korean has sentenced disgraced ex-President Park to 24 years in prison over a corruption scandal. The Seoul Central District Court issued the verdict on Friday, April 6, 2018, after convicting Park of bribery, abuse of power, extortion and other charges. Park has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Friday's court session citing sickness. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)

SYNGMAN RHEE (1948-1960)

The U.S.-educated Christian leader and independence fighter became South Korea's first president in 1948 with help from the United States, three years after the Korean Peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II. Rhee's government became increasingly authoritarian, especially after the 1950-53 Korean War. Critics accused Rhee of corruption and nepotism as he attempted to prolong his hold on power. He won his fourth presidential term in 1960 amid widespread suspicions of vote-rigging. This triggered nationwide protests that forced him to flee to Hawaii, where he died in 1965.

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PARK CHUNG-HEE (1961-1979)

Park, then an army general, came to power in a coup in 1961, which overturned another government elected after Rhee resigned. Park has been credited with industrial policies that drove the country's rapid economic growth during the 1960s and '70s. Critics remember Park as a ruthless dictator who jailed, tortured and executed dissidents. He was assassinated by his spy chief during a late-night drinking session in 1979.

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CHUN DOO-HWAN (1980-1988)

Chun, an army general, and his military cronies drove tanks and troops into the capital of Seoul to seize power in a coup in December 1979 that ended the interim government of acting President Choi Kyu-hah following Park's death. In the summer of 1987, massive pro-democracy demonstrations forced Chun's government to accept a constitutional revision for direct presidential elections. After his tenure ended, Chun spent two years in exile in a remote Buddhist temple amid public calls for his punishment over corruption and human rights abuses.

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ROH TAE-WOO (1988-1993)

Roh, Chun's army buddy, won the 1987 election, thanks largely to divided votes among opposition liberal candidates. Both Chun and Roh were arrested in late 1995 on charges of taking bribes from businessmen while in office. They were also indicted on mutiny and treason charges stemming from the 1979 coup and a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests that killed hundreds in the southern city of Gwangju in 1980. Chun was initially sentenced to death and Roh to 22 1/2 years in jail in August 1996. South Korea's Supreme Court in April 1997 ruled on a life sentence for Chun and a 12-year prison term for Roh. Both were released by a presidential pardon in December 1997.

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KIM YOUNG-SAM (1993-1998)

Kim, whose election formally ended military rule, initially enjoyed strong support for his ambitious anti-corruption drives. That was before his popularity nosedived amid the late-1990s Asian financial crisis, which toppled some of South Korea's biggest companies and forced his government to accept a $58 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Critics accused him of mismanaging the economy. He left office amid a corruption scandal that saw his son arrested and imprisoned.

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KIM DAE-JUNG (1998-2003)

A longtime opposition leader and democracy activist, Kim rose to the presidency and held an unprecedented summit with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that year. He left office tainted by corruption scandals involving aides and all three of his sons. Kim was also accused of having the Hyundai business group allegedly pay more than $400 million to North Korea ahead of the inter-Korean summit.

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ROH MOO-HYUN (2003-2008)

Roh leaped to his death in 2009, a year after his tenure ended, amid allegations that his family members took bribes from a businessman during his presidency. His older brother was sentenced in 2009 to 2  years in prison for influence-peddling, although he was later pardoned. Lawmakers in 2004 had voted to impeach Roh on allegations of incompetence and election law violations, but the Constitutional Court reinstated him two months later, saying the accusations were not serious enough to justify his unseating.

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LEE MYUNG-BAK (2008-2013)

The conservative Lee's victory, which ended a decade of liberal rule, reflected voters' hopes that the former Hyundai CEO would revive a bad economy. His popularity declined over unmet economic promises and policies that critics saw as attacks on freedom of speech. He left office with rock-bottom popularity amid a series of corruption scandals surrounding his family members and key government figures. Prosecutors earlier this month arrested the 76-year-old over various corruption allegations, including suspicions that he took a total of 11 billion won ($10 million) in bribes from his own intelligence agency, companies and others. Prosecutors also allege Lee used a private company as a channel to establish illicit slush funds totaling 35 billion won ($33 million), embezzled official funds and evaded taxes.

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PARK GEUN-HYE (2013-2017)

Park was formally ousted from office and arrested in March 2017 over allegations that she colluded with a confidante to take tens of millions of dollars from companies in bribes and through extortion and also allowed the friend to manipulate affairs from the shadows. She apologized for putting trust in her friend, Choi Soon-sil, but denied any criminal wrongdoing. She called her trial political revenge and declined to attend sessions.

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Follow Kim Tong-hyung on Twitter at @KimTongHyung.
NEUMUENSTER, Germany (AP) - The Latest on the Catalonia crisis (all times local):

5:40p.m.

A human rights expert says Spain should avoid pursuing "rebellion" charges against Catalan separatists, highlighting the differences between protest and dissent and actual acts of violence.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont greets supporters after he was released on bail from the prison in Neumuenster, northern Germany, Friday, April 6, 2018. (Carsten Rehder /dpa via AP)

The U.N.'s human rights office in a statement Friday noted a conviction on the criminal charge of rebellion can carry up to 30 years in prison in Spain.

The expert, David Kaye, says "prosecutions for 'rebellion' that could lead to lengthy jail sentences raise serious risks of deterring wholly legitimate speech."

Kaye says he is "concerned that charges of rebellion for acts that do not involve violence or incitement to violence may interfere with rights of public protest and dissent."

Kaye is an independent rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression mandated by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council. He does not speak for the U.N.

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3 p.m.

Spain's Supreme Court says the magistrate investigating Catalan separatists' attempt to break away from Spain is considering consulting the European Court of Justice on the procedures for extradition among European Union member states.

The decision follows Carles Puigdemont's release on bail in Germany after a state court's ruled against extraditing the former Catalan president to be judged for rebellion, a charge sought by the Spanish Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena. The court upheld an embezzlement charge for Puigdemont.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman said Llarena was considering consultations to the highest European court on the scope of the bloc's arrest warrant, a tool that is aimed at removing political red tape in extradition cases among EU members.

The spokeswoman, who spoke anonymously according to court rules, declined to elaborate but said that obtaining clarity on Puigdemont's extradition process was the goal of the consultations.

- By Aritz Parra

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2:15 p.m.

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is calling on Spanish authorities to open a dialogue with Catalan politicians.

Following his release on bail from a German prison, Puigdemont also called for the immediate release of other Catalan separatist leaders being held in Spain.

In a statement in English outside the prison in Neumuenster, Puigdemont said that "the time for dialogue has arrived" and that it was time to "find a political solution."

He said Catalan leaders have demanded dialogue for six years but have "only received a violent and repressive response."

He added: "Now, seeing the fall of that response, it's time to do politics."

Puigdemont contended that Spanish authorities have "no excuses" not to talk with Catalan leaders "in order to find a political solution of our demands, not by criminal law."

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2:05 p.m.

The Spanish government denies it is hounding Carles Puigdemont, after a German court decided to release the former Catalan leader on bail pending a decision on his possible extradition to Spain.

Government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo says Puigdemont "is not a victim of political persecution, he's a fugitive from justice."

Mendez de Vigo told a regular weekly news conference in Madrid on Friday that the government respects Spanish and German court decisions and doesn't interfere in their rulings.

He says the Spanish government "met its obligations" by imposing direct rule on Catalonia after Puigdemont and other separatists organized a forbidden referendum last October on Catalonia's independence.

The government argues that Catalonia's breakaway bid is a legal issue, not a political one.

The Supreme Court has since charged 14 Catalan separatists, including Puigdemont, with rebellion, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years.

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2 p.m.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has left German jail after posting a 75,000-euro ($92,000) payment demanded by a court for his release on bail pending extradition proceedings.

The 55-year-old has walked out of the Neumuenster prison in northern Germany, almost two weeks after he was detained crossing the border from Denmark.

Speaking to reporters outside the prison he thanked supporters "all around the world" for their message of solidarity during his time in jail.

Spanish authorities accuse Puigdemont of rebellion and misuse of public funds in organizing an unauthorized referendum last year on Catalonia's independence from Spain. Madrid is seeking his extradition under a European arrest warrant.

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1:15 p.m.

The German government isn't commenting on a court decision to release former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on bail, stressing that the case is in the hands of the judiciary.

A state court in Schleswig ruled Thursday that Puigdemont can go free on bail pending a decision on whether to extradite him to Spain, and decided that he can't be extradited on the most serious charge Spain levels against him.

German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said Friday that the question of any intervention by the government in Berlin "doesn't arise." She stressed that "the proceedings are in the judiciary's hands."

Demmer reiterated the German government's position that the conflict over Catalonia's future "must be resolved within the Spanish legal and constitutional order," supporting the Spanish government's stance.

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12:10 p.m.

German prosecutors say they have ordered the immediate release of ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after he posted 75,000 euros ($92,000) bail.

The Schleswig prosecutor's office said Friday that Puigdemont also provided authorities with an address in Germany where he will reside pending a decision in his extradition case.

The 55-year-old was detained March 25 after crossing the border from Denmark. Spain is seeking his extradition for rebellion and misuse of public funds in organizing an unauthorized referendum last year on Catalonia's independence from Spain.

The state court in Schleswig ruled Thursday that Puigdemont can't be extradited for rebellion because the equivalent German law presumes the use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities. He can still be extradited on misuse of funds charges.

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11:15 a.m.

Lawyers for Carles Puigdemont have arrived at the German prison where the former Catalan leader has been held for the past two weeks.

Puigdemont is expected to be released on bail Friday pending extradition proceedings, once he posts a 75,000-euro ($92,000) payment.

The 55-year-old was detained March 25 after crossing the border from Denmark. Spain had issued a European arrest warrant seeking his arrest and extradition.

Madrid accuses Puigdemont of rebellion and misuse of public funds in organizing an unauthorized referendum last year on Catalonia's independence from Spain.

The state court in Schleswig ruled Thursday that Puigdemont can't be extradited for rebellion because the equivalent German law presumes the use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities. He can still be extradited on misuse of funds charges.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont reads a press statement after he was released on bail from the prison in Neumuenster, northern Germany, Friday, April 6, 2018. (Axel Heimken/dpa via AP)

Journalist stand outside the prison in Neumuenster, northern Germany, Friday, April 6, 2018 where former Catalonian leader Carles Puigdemont is expected to be released on bail later the day after he was detained in March. (Carsten Rehder/dpa via AP)
BERLIN (AP) - Austrian police say they have questioned a group of British teenagers and two Germans over a brawl outside a ski lift that left three people injured.

Police say the incident happened Thursday morning following a verbal dispute between the skiers over who could get into the Gruenwaldkopfbahn gondola first.

In a statement late Thursday, Salzburg police said a 51-year-old German, his 16-year-old son and the group of seven British students aged 15-16 began beating each other with fists and ski poles as they exited the lift.

The brawl ended after a ski instructor and one of the students' chaperones intervened. Police said the 16-year-old German suffered a broken arm in the incident.
TOKYO (AP) - A woman mayor in western Japan protested sumo's male-only rules Friday in a speech she was forced to make outside of the ring unlike her male counterparts, as controversy over the sport's divisive tradition deepened.

Takarazuka City Mayor Tomoko Nakagawa said that she is frustrated and pained by the sexist tradition in sumo. In the sport, the ring is considered sacred and women are prohibited from entering because they are seen as "unclean."

"I am not allowed to go up to the ring and greet to you, just because I am a woman, and I feel mortified," Nakagawa said, as she received applause from the crowd. "It's painful."

Tomoko Nakagawa, mayor of Takarazuka City, delivers a speech outside a sumo ring at a sumo exhibition in Takarazuka, western Japan Friday April 6, 2018. A female mayor in western Japan has protested sumo's male-only tradition in her speech she was forced to make outside of the ring _ unlike her male counterparts who go inside _ seeking a change. (Yoshihiko Imai/Kyodo News via AP)

The Japan Sumo Association's adherence to their rule caused outrage this week, when they ordered women first responders to leave the ring as they attempted to revive an official who collapsed at another event in northern Kyoto.

The 67-year-old mayor of the city of Maizuru collapsed during a ring-top speech, and two women, apparently medical experts, rushed in and started performing first aid. When two more women rose to the ring trying to join the effort, announcements demanded the women get out of the ring.

The mayor, a man, was then taken to a hospital and survived.

Footage and photos on social media have triggered an uproar, with many criticizing sumo officials and saying they were choosing tradition over life. Sumo officials apologized over the incident Wednesday, saying the announcement was inappropriate in the life-threatening situation.

Nakagawa said that's not enough.

"Tradition is important, but it is also important to have courage and make a change," she said. "I don't care whichever side of the ring we stand, but I do want both men and women to be treated equally."

Sumo officials cited their male-only tradition when they rejected Nakagawa's request to speak on the ring. They asked her to respect the tradition.

The tradition has sparked controversy for decades, with even top women politicians barred from honoring winners in the ring.

In Japan, sumo ring is not the only place that women are discriminated against. Many women still fall behind men in hiring, promotion and pay. Japan also doesn't allow women to become the emperor.

Top government officials on Friday asked the sumo association for flexibility.

"Nothing is more important than life under any circumstances," said Yoshimasa Hayashi, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, urging the sumo association not to repeat the same mistake.

Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda, seen as a possible future prime minister, said she had been rejected years ago entering a tunnel construction site due to a similar religious belief.

"That is no longer the case (at tunnels), and I expect the sumo association to appropriately respond to the recent incident and decide what steps to make," she said.

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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Find her work at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi
FRANCONIA, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say a driver crashed into a Pennsylvania home, killing an elderly woman inside the residence.

It's not yet known what caused the accident that happened early Friday in Franconia, a town about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.

The car crashed into a bedroom, trapping the woman. Emergency responders worked to free her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman's name has not been released.

Authorities say the man driving the car was able to get out of the vehicle on his own. He was treated at a hospital for injuries that are not considered life-threatening. His name and additional details on his condition were not immediately disclosed.

No other injuries were reported. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed, so far.
JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) - As Bernie Sanders contemplates making another president bid in 2020, the Vermont senator still is searching for the right way to attract more black voters who backed Hillary Clinton and effectively denied him the Democratic nomination in 2016.

His challenge was on display in Mississippi this week, where he traveled to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination but along the way managed a clumsy critique of the Democratic Party under the nation's first black president

Former President Barack Obama, Sanders said, was a "charismatic individual ... an extraordinary candidate, a brilliant man." But "behind that reality," Sanders said, Obama led a party whose "business model" has been a "failure" for more than a decade.

In this April 4, 2018 photo, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, left, applauds as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., answers a question during a town hall meeting examining economic justice 50 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

It served as the latest confirmation that Sanders, even as he tries for new footholds in the black community, hasn't mastered his precarious relationship with a key Democratic Party constituency that he will need if he hopes to reshape the party going forward, much less make another presidential run in 2020.

Sanders, who is elected in Vermont as an independent but caucuses in Washington with Democrats, has been spending more time in places dominated by black voters, including Southern states where African-Americans shape Democratic primaries.

He went to Memphis this week to remember King's assassination alongside Martin Luther King III; then he moved on to Jackson to join the first-term mayor whose candidacy he endorsed last year.

Sanders and Chokwe Antar Lumumba have become a sort of political odd couple: the white 76-year-old democratic socialist with his rumpled suit and untamed hair, preaching in his Brooklyn vernacular, and an impeccably clad 35-year-old black attorney-turned-politician smiling his way through calm expositions sprinkled with the occasional "y'all."

But they share a common vision. Lumumba expresses hopes to make Jackson "the most radical" of U.S. cities.

Besides campaigning for Lumumba, Sanders came to Mississippi last year to lobby workers to unionize a Nissan auto plant.

The senator backed another black millennial in neighboring Alabama, helping Randall Woodfin to the mayor's office in Birmingham. In New Orleans, Our Revolution, the spinoff of Sanders' presidential campaign, tapped the eventual winner of a crowded mayoral race. LaToya Cantrell will be sworn in May 7.

On Capitol Hill, Sanders aides say he huddles more routinely with black lawmakers to discuss shared priorities.

In an interview in Mississippi, Sanders brushed back "the myth" that he has little black support, noting 2016 primary exit polls showing he won voters under 30 across racial lines. But he mostly shuns most race-based analysis and casts his post-2016 maneuvering as ideological: He wants to move public policy leftward on everything from health care and college access to criminal justice and labor policy, and he argues the way to do that is increase voter turnout across demographic groups.

"My goal is to bring forth a progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of working people, whether they are black, white or Latino, and get people involved in the political process in a way we have not seen in a very long time," he said in an interview before his event with Lumumba.

His mentions of the civil rights movement still don't include his own activism as a white college student in Chicago.

His travel itinerary has been void of state and local party galas where lower-level party players are accustomed to welcoming would-be presidents. Clinton attended such events for decades, and by her presidential campaigns often could call several attendees by name.

"We haven't heard from him at all," said Alabama's Joe Reed, who leads an influential black caucus within his state's party.

Georgia's Nikema Williams, her state party's vice chairwoman and a first-term state senator, said the same. Sanders came to Atlanta last year to campaign for a black mayoral candidate who ultimately lost, but didn't reach beyond Vincent Fort's campaign circle.

As a comparison, Williams said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a possible 2020 candidate, called to congratulate her after her election. "It struck me that she'd be calling a new state senator in Georgia," Williams said.

Sanders answered that he doesn't need "the establishment," regardless of race, and said most voters are "estranged" from the two-party system anyway.

As with Sanders' comments on Obama, some of the rub is as much about emphasis as substance. Seated with Lumumba, the senator was asked about the marginalization of black LGBTQ citizens. He shifted the question to people "you didn't talk about" like "people working two or three jobs" and "people who spend 50 percent of their limited income on housing." He repeatedly turned discussion of fighting racism to fighting poverty.

"If all I hear about is 'the working class,' and it seems he's talking to just one segment, then it's easy to feel he's not talking to me," said Williams, the Georgia Democrat, explaining that she cannot "separate my blackness" from where she fits in the economy.

Exit polling from the 2008 and 2016 Democratic presidential primaries showed that the eventual nominee - Obama, then Clinton - actually lost the cumulative white vote, but prevailed on the strength of non-whites, particularly black voters.

Those trends may not apply neatly in 2020, when the Democratic field is expected to include well more than two competitive candidates. There could be multiple credible black candidates, including Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

But Clay Middleton, who ran Clinton's South Carolina campaign in 2016, said the takeaway remains: "You want to get elected president, you want to win the nomination, you cannot take the African-American vote for granted."

Reed, the Alabama Democrat, offered a warning both to Sanders and black Democrats.

Black voters, Reed said, must recognize that "we can't elect a president by ourselves" and that any victorious candidate must "appeal to more than just us." But any presidential hopeful, Reed said, must understand that black voters "will look for somebody that looks out for our interests."

----

Follow Barrow at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP.

In this April 4, 2018 photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks on a question during a town hall meeting with Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, examining economic justice 50 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

In this April 4, 2018 photo, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba speaks on a question during a town hall meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., examining economic justice 50 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress next week, while an EU official plans to speak with Facebook's No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, over the company's data practices.

Authorities around the world are investigating allegations that the political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica inappropriately accessed data on as many as 87 million Facebook users to influence elections.

Here's a look at the various investigations and requests for information.

FILE- In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg meets with a group of entrepreneurs and innovators during a round-table discussion at Cortex Innovation Community technology hub in St. Louis. Zuckerberg will testify before Congress next week as authorities investigate allegations that the political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica inappropriately accessed data on millions of Facebook users to influence elections. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

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IN THE UNITED STATES:

- CONGRESS: Zuckerberg is set to testify April 10 in a joint hearing of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees and April 11 before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This will be his first-ever testimony before Congress. Individual congressional members have also written Facebook seeking answers.

- FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: Tom Pahl, acting director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, says the agency's probe will include whether the company engaged in "unfair acts" that cause "substantial injury" to consumers. Facebook reached a settlement with the FTC in 2011 offering privacy assurances, though the FTC's probe may extend to Facebook's compliance with U.S.-EU principles for transferring data.

- INDIVIDUAL STATES: The attorneys general for 37 U.S. states and territories have written a letter seeking details on how Facebook monitored what app developers did with data collected on Facebook users and whether Facebook had safeguards to prevent misuse.

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IN EUROPE:

- EUROPEAN UNION: The EU is contacting data protection authorities in its member nations and in the United States to better follow up investigations into whether Facebook breached EU privacy laws. EU spokesman Christian Wigand says EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova will have a telephone call next week with Sandberg.

- U.K. INFORMATION COMMISSION: Britain's information regulator has seized evidence from the London office of Cambridge Analytica. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham has said the prime allegation against Cambridge Analytica is that it acquired personal data in an unauthorized way.

- U.K. PARLIAMENT: The U.K. parliamentary media committee has summoned Zuckerberg to testify. The chairman, Damian Collins, says his panel has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data. He says Facebook officials "have been misleading to the committee."

- ITALY: Italy's competition authority has opened an investigation. Authority chairman Giovanni Pitruzzella told Sky News24 that the investigation will focus on Facebook's claims on its home page that the service is free, without revealing that it makes money off users' data.

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ELSEWHERE:

- AUSTRALIA: Australian authorities say they are investigating whether Facebook breached the country's privacy law, which requires organizations to ensure personal information is held securely.

- INDIA: India's government has sent a notice to Facebook asking whether the personal data of Indian users has been compromised.

- INDONESIA: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology says it has asked the National Police to investigate possible violations.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican authorities say a police chief has been shot to death in the crime-battered city of Chilapa in the southern state of Guerrero.

The Guerrero state prosecutors' office said Friday the police chief was killed late Thursday by a lone assailant during an annual town celebration.

The office said the sound of the gunshots was masked by the explosion of fireworks related to the celebration.

A day earlier the office reported that five corpses were found in a field near Chilapa, which has been ravaged by turf battles between local drug gangs.

The city of about 130,000 is among the most violent in Mexico, with a homicide rate of about 128 per 100,000 in 2017.
DENTON, Texas (AP) - A 42-year-old man accused of stabbing his parents to death in 2016 at their home in North Texas has been found not guilty by reason of insanity.

The Denton Record-Chronicle reports that a judge ruled Thursday in the capital murder trial of Stephen Scott and sentenced him to a maximum security mental health facility for a time to be determined.

Prosecutors say Scott stabbed 75-year-old Marion Scott 23 times and 70-year-old Linda Scott 38 times. He then dialed 911 and told a dispatcher that he had killed his parents.

Medical experts testified Scott was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the 1990s. The diagnosis was later changed to schizoaffective disorder, which means he could hallucinate and suffer delusions. Psychiatrists testified that Scott didn't always take his medication.

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Information from: Denton Record-Chronicle, http://www.dentonrc.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - An Indiana man accused of setting a house fire that killed an 85-year-old woman falsely claimed she was his mother and fled to California after her death to try to claim her estate, authorities allege in court documents.

Indiana State Police said Friday that Noel Montes Cazares, 48, was arrested late Thursday in Riverside County, California. Cazares is charged in Monroe County, Indiana, with murder and arson for a February house fire near Bloomington that killed Lerae Britain Moeller Bush.

A relative of Bush told investigators that her estate may be worth millions, court documents show.

This undated photo provided by The Indiana State Police shows Noel Montes Cazares. Cazares, a southern Indiana man accused of setting a house fire that killed an 85-year-old woman has been arrested in California. Indiana State Police say Cazares was arrested Thursday, April 5, 2018 in Riverside County, Cal. Cazares was charged in Monroe County, Indiana, with murder, arson and other charges in Lerae Britain Moeller Bush's Feb. 10 death in a house fire near Bloomington. (Indiana State Police via AP)

State police said Bush had dementia and Alzheimer's, and was dependent on Cazares for food, transportation and clothing. Cazares also face charges of neglect of a dependent and obstruction of justice.

He remained jailed in Indio, California, on Friday and it wasn't immediately clear whether he has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

Cazares told officers he arrived home Feb. 10 to find the house burning, but couldn't rescue Bush, whom he believed was already dead, The Herald-Times reported , citing court documents.

Cazares was treated for minor injuries after the fire at the house, which authorities described as garage-like, lacking functioning utilities, with no working appliances and furnished only with a sectional couch, an ottoman and a large television.

Cazares claimed Bush was his mother, but state police said in a statement Friday that investigators could find no records establishing their relationship and Bush's relatives told detectives that to their knowledge she never had children.

Friday's statement said investigators found a trust agreement in the name of Lerae Bush with one beneficiary, but that person's name had been removed and replaced with the name of Giovanni Bush - an alias used by Cazares.

A cousin who lives in Texas said Bush owned "an unknown amount of real estate properties across the United States, and assets in artwork and collectibles of high value in addition to her financial assets." The cousin said that "10 million dollars of wealth was an extreme understatement of Lerae Bush's financial value," court documents state.

A December 2000 profile of Bush in The Herald-Times described her as an aristocratic woman who was born in Chicago, grew up in Hollywood and spent her life surrounded by artists and musicians. She had been a photographer, was a national advocate against ear cropping of dogs and had worked as a high school teacher and college instructor in Hawaii.

The newspaper's story said Bush moved to Bloomington in 1989 and had hoped to transform her home there into a museum displaying the works of her late stepfather, Italian sculptor Edgardo Simone, who had worked in marble and bronze.

"My parents are gone, my husband is gone, no children, no brothers and sisters," she told the newspaper.

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Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com
PLAINSBORO, N.J. (AP) - Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday acknowledged there is "a lot of opposition" to President Donald Trump's plan to open most of the nation's coastline to oil and gas drilling.

Speaking at a forum on offshore wind energy in Plainsboro, New Jersey, Zinke touted Trump's "all of the above" energy menu that calls for oil and gas, as well as renewable energy projects.

But he noted strong opposition to the drilling plan, adding there is little to no infrastructure in many of those areas to support drilling.

United States Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks at an offshore winds energy forum Friday, April 6, 2018, in Plainsboro, New Jersey. The secretary noted there is "a lot of opposition" on the east and west coasts to President Trump's offshore oil and gas drilling plan, but would not say if he will exempt any state from it. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

"There is a lot of opposition, particularly off the East Coast and the West Coast, on oil and gas," Zinke said.

He said on the East Coast, only the Republican governors of Maine and Georgia have expressed support for the drilling plan, which has roiled environmentalists but cheered energy interests. Maine Gov. Paul LePage has endorsed the plan, but Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has hesitated to take a public position on it.

"The rest of the governors are strongly opposed," Zinke said, promising to consider the desire of coastal states when deciding on the drilling plan.

Zinke also took note of the growing number of states that are employing state-level laws to thwart the possibility of drilling off their coasts by banning infrastructure that would support drilling in state waters.

"If local communities don't want it in state waters, the states have a lot of leverage," Zinke said.

Zinke said oil and gas production seems to be moving to waters off Latin America where regulations are less stringent, and added that oil and gas drilling is more environmentally risky than renewable energy such as wind projects, which he said have the greatest growth potential of all the options on America's energy menu.

Yet Zinke would not commit to giving any state an exemption from the program, and specifically noted that Florida has not been exempted. In January, he said "Florida is different" and indicated the state would not be part of the drilling plan.

On Friday in New Jersey, Zinke said Florida has a drilling moratorium already in place.

"No one was exempted," he said.

While the secretary was far from waving the white flag on the drilling proposal, elected officials and environmentalists smelled blood in the water. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo applauded the interior department's plan to solicit interest in wind projects off the New York and New Jersey coasts, which was announced Friday, but renewed his request to be exempted from the drilling plan.

"We believe offshore wind is a better direction for our economy, for our environment and for our energy future," the Democratic governor said.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat representing part of the Jersey shore, was ready to ring the death knell for the drilling plan - even if Zinke wasn't.

"While it is encouraging that Secretary Zinke has implied that the administration understands that drilling for oil and gas off of the East Coast is not a viable option, it is concerning that the secretary has not provided concrete assurance to New Jerseyans" about being left out of the plan, Pallone said.

Cindy Zipf of the Clean Ocean Action environmental group said Zinke should "back off and tell President Trump the Atlantic is a no-go zone for offshore oil and gas development."

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management also announced Friday it is proposing lease sales for two additional areas off Massachusetts for commercial wind energy projects totaling nearly 390,000 acres.

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Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

United States Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks at an offshore winds energy forum Friday, April 6, 2018, in Plainsboro, New Jersey. The secretary noted there is "a lot of opposition" on the east and west coasts to President Trump's offshore oil and gas drilling plan, but would not say if he will exempt any state from it. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina debated seceding from the Union more than 150 years ago ahead of the Civil War. Now, the topic has come up again, amid a national debate over firearms and gun rights.

A trio of state House Republicans on Thursday introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to debate seceding from the U.S. if the federal government confiscates legally purchased firearms in the state.

The measure has no real chance of passage this session. The deadline for bills to move from one chamber to the other is April 10.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas' attorney general begged lawmakers Friday to quickly approve a plan that would satisfy a court mandate to increase spending on public schools as majority Republicans struggled to bridge big differences in mere days.

Some legislators and Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer have worried that a frustrated state Supreme Court would take the unprecedented step of preventing the state from distributing dollars through a flawed education funding system - effectively closing schools statewide.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt has until April 30 to report to the high court on how the GOP-controlled Legislature responded to an education funding ruling last fall. Schmidt sent a letter Friday to legislative leaders in both parties, saying his office needs "adequate time" to prepare its report and he was expressing his "profound concern" that no school funding bill has passed.

Kansas Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, answers questions from reporters, Friday, April 6, 2018, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Lawmakers are working on a plan to address a Kansas Supreme Court mandate to boost spending on public schools. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Schmidt sent his letter just before negotiators for the state House and Senate began talks to resolve the differences between their rival plans. The House plan would increase spending almost twice as much as the Senate plan, phasing in a roughly $520 million increase in education funding over five years. The Senate's figure is $274 million.

"If we go changing it in any direction much, you lose people on one side or the other," said the House's lead negotiator, Rep. Fred Patton, a moderate Topeka Republican. "We don't have that flexibility."

The court declared in October that the state's current funding of more than $4 billion a year is insufficient for lawmakers to fulfill their duty under the Kansas Constitution to finance a suitable education for every child. The House and Senate have passed rival school funding plans, and their negotiators began meeting Friday afternoon to work on a final version.

Lawmakers had been their annual 2-week spring break Saturday, then return to return to the Statehouse on April 26 - a mere four days before the court's deadline. GOP leaders said legislators would remain at the Statehouse at least through Saturday.

"I implore you: Do not adjourn for an April recess without finishing this legislation," Schmidt said in his letter's final line.

Colyer has also urged legislators to postpone the start of their break until they have approved a school funding legislation.

Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers but are split.

Senate GOP leaders have excoriated the House's funding plan as likely to force lawmakers to raise taxes within two years. Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican and one of the negotiators, even suggested that the House should pass a second, smaller plan.

"They're more than likely going to have to regroup over there," he said. "I'm just trying to figure out how to get out of here."

Some GOP conservatives argue that the Supreme Court has encroached too much on the Legislature's budget-setting power and see even the Senate's plan as too large. Democrats argue that neither plan is large enough to satisfy the court.

Also in the mix are numerous policy differences between the House and Senate over how funds are allocated for specific programs or split between populous suburban districts and sparsely populated rural ones.

"I mean, it's like the Grand Canyon in terms of the width of differences we have to deal with," said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat and another negotiator.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .
WASHINGTON (AP) - As hundreds of people stood outside the White House and cheered, outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster strode out of the West Wing on Friday for the final time.

He shook hands with staff and waved to clapping onlookers, his warm exit a stark contrast to the unceremonious departure of so many prior senior Trump aides. McMaster left after meeting for the final time with his successor, neo-conservative television commentator John Bolton, and then received a traditional "clap out" by staffers arrayed on West Executive Avenue.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said McMaster and his family were met by President Donald Trump, who thanked him for his year-long service in the post. Sanders also praised McMaster during the daily White House briefing, saying it had been a "real privilege" to work with and travel the world with the outgoing aide.

Outgoing National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster walks out of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Friday, April 6, 2018, on his last day as he is applauded by staff. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A three-star general, McMaster is set to retire from the Army later this year. Bolton will be Trump's third national security adviser.

Trump never formed a close personal bond with McMaster and the two men frequently clashed on policy. After weeks of rumors, his departure was announced last month soon after someone at the White House leaked that Trump was urged in briefing documents not to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin about his recent re-election win. Trump did it anyway.

The White House said McMaster's exit had been under discussion for some time and stressed it was not due to any one incident. The national security adviser, who took over last year after Mike Flynn was fired for lying about his contacts with Russian officials, had previously withstood an assault from figures in the conservative media for allegedly being not sufficiently supportive of Israel.

A number of Trump senior aides did not receive a similarly warm exit.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired last month via tweet soon after returning from a trip to Africa. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was ousted last week amid ethics violations and not permitted to bid his staff farewell. But former communications director Hope Hicks, Trump's closest and longest-serving aide, received a kiss on the cheek from the president when she left the West Wing for the final time last week.

Bolton, probably the most divisive foreign policy expert ever to serve as U.N. ambassador, has served as a hawkish voice in Republican foreign policy circles for decades.

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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue headlines of the week. None of these stories is legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:

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NOT REAL: Breaking: Trey Gowdy Breaks His Silence After 2 Of His Investigators Are Found Tortured And Killed

FILE - This Wednesday, May 13, 2015 file photo shows the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark. On Wednesday, April 4, 2018, The Associated Press has found that stories circulating on the internet that two deputies were killed in Arkansas on their way to the Clinton Presidential Library to deliver a search warrant are untrue. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

THE FACTS: An online story that claimed two deputies on their way to deliver a search warrant at the Clinton Presidential Library were killed in Arkansas is "100 percent false." That's according to Amanda Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. The incorrect story on the americacomefirst site alleged the deputies were investigators for Gowdy and that as a result of their deaths, he was holed up in his office with protection from the U.S. Marshals Service. The piece attributed a false statement to Gowdy, alleging he said a mole on one of his congressional committees leaked the deputies' travel plans.

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NOT REAL: Obama Appeal Denied: Judge Orders Him To Pay Back $400 Million

THE FACTS: Online stories have falsely claimed that federal courts have ordered former President Barack Obama to pay $400 million in restitution to the United States for money supposedly lost in a transaction with "hard-liners" in Iran. One version from the conservativenation site takes it a step further, alleging the U.S. Supreme Court has denied Obama's appeal. It calls the fictitious lower court the West Texas Federal Probate Court and gives a name for a supposed judge there who is not on the federal bench.

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NOT REAL: Canadians Could Be Jailed or Fined for Using Incorrect Gender Pronouns

THE FACTS: No, Canadians can't be jailed just for calling someone "he" or "she" when the person uses another pronoun to refer to themselves. An article posted to The Daily Signal website said a law enacted last year would lead to hate crime charges against people who used an incorrect pronoun to describe a transgender person. The bill added gender identity and gender expression as areas that can be grounds for discrimination under Canada's Human Rights Act. It also amended the country's criminal code to add protections for transgender people against hate speech. But Canadian legal and free speech experts say just using an incorrect pronoun isn't enough to qualify as criminal hate speech.

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This is part of The Associated Press' ongoing effort to fact-check misinformation that is shared widely online, including work with Facebook to identify and reduce the circulation of false stories on the platform.

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Find all AP Fact Checks here: https://www.apnews.com/tag/APFactCheck

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Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2016 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks about the release of Americans by Iran, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. An online story false claims the U.S. Supreme Court denied Obama's appeal of an alleged $400 million restitution order. The Associated Press previously debunked a similar false story that claimed Obama has been ordered to pay the "restitution" to the United States for money supposedly lost in a transaction with "hard-liners" in Iran. That story said three judges at a West Texas Federal Appeals Court for the 33rd District ordered the payment. There is no such court, and an account on the Daily World Update satire site gave names for people who are not federal judges anywhere. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil (AP) - The Latest on the looming arrest of Brazil's ex-President "Lula" (all times local):

4:47 p.m.

Brazil's top appeals court has rejected the latest plea by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to stay out of jail until he has exhausted all appeals of his corruption conviction.

Supporters of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, with signs that read in Portuguese "No to prison for Lula," gather outside the Metallurgic Union headquarters after an arrest warrant for da Silva was issued, in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. The warrant came after the country's top court denied da Silva's request to stay out of prison while he appealed a corruption conviction that he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

The decision was announced in a court document Friday, less than an hour before da Silva's 5 p.m. deadline to turn himself in to authorities.

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4:33 p.m.

A Brazilian newspaper is reporting that an airplane and helicopter are ready to transport former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to prison in the city of Curitiba.

"Lula" continues to be hunkered down at a metallurgical union in the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo. That's about 260 miles (417 kilometers) southwest of Curitiba.

The Estado de S. Paulo newspaper says Friday that if da Silva decides to travel to Curitiba on a private plane, the federal police will be waiting for him at the airport and will transport him to prison by helicopter.

A plane is also waiting for him if he turns himself in to authorities in Sao Paulo, the outlet says.

Neither scenario looked likely since Lula remained in Sao Bernardo do Campo about a half hour before the 5 p.m. deadline that he was given to present himself.

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3:35 p.m.

Two sources close to former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tell The Associated Press that he will not travel to the city of Curitiba to turn himself in to authorities.

The sources said Friday that "Lula" is considering either waiting for police at the union where he has gathered with supporters or presenting himself in Sao Paulo. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share internal deliberations being discussed.

The former leader has by 5 p.m. local time to present himself in Curitiba.

It remains to be seen whether he will defy the arrest order in an attempt to wait for a higher court to rule on a last-minute appeal.

Clashes could break out with supporters if authorities come to arrest him.

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2:36 p.m.

Demonstrators for and against the arrest of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are taking to the streets across Brazil.

Da Silva has a 5 p.m. Friday deadline to turn himself into authorities after a federal judge issued an arrest order to begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

The Globo television network's G1 internet portal said demonstrators took to the streets in more than a dozen Brazilian states Friday to show their support for the former leader.

G1 said detractors traded insults with supporters of "Lula" in the political capital of Brasilia. Police also seized knifes and sticks.

Da Silva left office with high approval ratings and remains popular among many Brazilians. He had hunkered down at a metallurgical union hours before he was supposed to show up at a jail in the city of Curitiba.

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, and his lawyer Cristiano Zanin leave the Lula Institute building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Marcelo Chello)

Supporters of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, with signs that read in Portuguese "No to prison for Lula," gather outside the Metallurgic Union headquarters, after an arrest warrant for Lula was issued, in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

A man lays injured on the street after he was hit by a passing vehicle, apparently by accident, after he fought with supporters of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva outside the Lula Institute after da Silva had already left the building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. The man was walked to a nearby hospital. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

A security guard closes the garage door of the Lula Institute after Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left the building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, and his lawyer Cristiano Zanin leave the Lula Institute building in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Marcelo Chello)

Brazil's former President Dilma Rousseff speaks to supporters of her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who gathered outside the Metal Workers union headquarters after an arrest warrant for da Silva was issued in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Thursday, April 5, 2018. The warrant came after the country's top body denied da Silva's request to stay out of prison while he appealed a corruption conviction that he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

Federal police officers stand guard in front of the Federal Police Department building where the arrival of the former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected, in Curitiba, Brazil, Friday, April 6, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Federal police officers stand guard in front of the Federal Police Department building where the arrival of the former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is expected, in Curitiba, Brazil, Friday, April 6, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)






















Spring has sprung, the grass is riz! Do you wonder where Jack Reacher is?



Per usual, there will be an excerpt from



In the last newsletter, we promised you a hint about







One more thing - and it's a doozy. Do you think Reacher can carry a tune? Turns out, he can. The American pop/rock duo Naked Blue and Lee Child have recorded an album! Lee wrote the lyrics and Naked Blue wrote the music. Lee plays on a few tracks, too. The songs are about our favorite Mr. Hands-the-Size-of-Supermarket-Chickens. I haven't heard it yet and I cannot wait. Check out Naked Blue's website



Finally, for those of you who inquired about Jack Reacher Custom Coffee in K-cup, you may purchase them now at



We hope you're enjoying the change of season wherever you are - and happy reading!



Webmaven Maggie

Team Reacher





Spring has sprung, the grass is riz! Do you wonder where Jack Reacher is? The Midnight Line , last year's Reacher novel which YOU made a #1 bestseller everywhere, is now available in mass-market paperback in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and on April 24th in the US and Canada. If you had the fortitude to wait for the paperback, now you can discover what some critics think was Reacher's best novel to date. Yippee! A new Reacher edition always puts spring in my step.Per usual, there will be an excerpt from Past Tense in the US and Canada paperbacks and ebooks, and UK paperbacks in int'l airports and abroad.In the last newsletter, we promised you a hint about Past Tense : Reacher is traveling south through New England when he sees a sign for the town where his dad was born. Our guy is a curious cat so he changes direction. At the city clerk's office, Reacher is told no one by his name ever lived there. Uh oh. Was his dad lying or... What else could it be? Past Tense , Reacher novel #23, goes on sale November 5th worldwide wherever English language books are sold. Tour info is not available yet (please don't ask me). All we know so far is Lee will tour Australia and New Zealand in late November. When we confirm all the dates, countries and cities, we'll send you a new Reacher Report.One more thing - and it's a doozy. Do you think Reacher can carry a tune? Turns out, he can. The American pop/rock duo Naked Blue and Lee Child have recorded an album! Lee wrote the lyrics and Naked Blue wrote the music. Lee plays on a few tracks, too. The songs are about our favorite Mr. Hands-the-Size-of-Supermarket-Chickens. I haven't heard it yet and I. Check out Naked Blue's website NakedBlue.com and, if you're so inclined, you may pre-order either a signed or unsigned CD here: The Jack Reacher Music Project Finally, for those of you who inquired about Jack Reacher Custom Coffee in K-cup, you may purchase them now at Baltimore Coffee & Tea . The cups are biodegradable and a great way to introduce your office buddies to the bliss of a highly caffeinated day ala Reacher.We hope you're enjoying the change of season wherever you are - and happy reading!Team Reacher


















URBANA, Ohio (AP) - A teen accused of shooting two students at an Ohio high school changed his mind about a trial and pleaded guilty.

Champaign County Prosecutor Kevin Talebi says 18-year-old Ely Serna was convicted Friday of attempted murder, felonious assault and inducing panic.

Serna faces up to 23 years in prison at sentencing on May 2.

Serna had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the January 2017 shooting at West Liberty-Salem High School in West Liberty, roughly 55 miles (89 kilometers) northwest of Columbus.

One teen survived critical injuries. Another suffered minor injuries.

Defense attorney Dennis Lieberman says Serna didn't want to put the victims, their families and the school through a trial.

Lieberman says Serna's severe mental illness contributed to the shooting.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold abruptly resigned Friday, four months after announcing he wouldn't seek re-election amid sexual harassment allegations.

"While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it's time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve," Farenthold said in a video statement, adding that his action was effective as of 5 p.m.

In December, Farenthold had posted another video denying a former aide's 2014 accusations, including that he'd subjected her to sexually suggestive comments and behavior and then fired her after she complained. Still, the congressman apologized in that video for an office atmosphere he said included "destructive gossip, offhand comments, off-color jokes and behavior that, in general, was less than professional."

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 file photo, Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, arrives for a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Friday, April 6, 2018, Farenthold abruptly resigned, four months after announcing he wouldn't seek re-election amid sexual harassment allegations. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Capitol Hill has found itself in the center of a national reckoning over sexual misconduct and gender discrimination in the workplace. Since October, eight lawmakers have either resigned or abandoned re-election bids amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Some members and aides have complained about a patchwork system for reporting offenses and secrecy around settlements paid by lawmakers' offices.

A ninth lawmaker, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, announced on Monday she will not seek re-election this year amid calls for her resignation over her handling of the firing of a former chief of staff accused of harassment, threats and violence against female staffers in her congressional office.

Esty, a Democrat from Connecticut and an outspoken #MeToo advocate, made the announcement not to seek a fourth term in the November election days after apologizing for not protecting her employees from the male ex-chief of staff.

The lawsuit by former Farenthold aide Lauren Greene alleged that the congressman had discussed his sexual fantasies about her and said at a staff meeting that a lobbyist had propositioned him for a threesome. It accused Farenthold of repeatedly complimenting her appearance, then joking that he hoped the comments wouldn't be construed as sexual harassment.

Farenthold, a seven-year House veteran from Corpus Christi, had said he'd engaged in no wrongdoing when he settled the case in 2015. But after congressional sources said he'd paid the $84,000 settlement using taxpayer money, public focus intensified. Farenthold has promised to reimburse the Treasury Department for the cost of the settlement, but hasn't done so yet.

In an ominous sign for Farenthold, the head of the House GOP's campaign committee said in a statement Friday that he hopes Farenthold is "true to his word and pays back the $84,000 of taxpayer money he used as a settlement."

Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, the GOP campaign chief, added that "Congress must hold ourselves to a higher standard and regain the trust of the American people."

Two Republicans, former Texas Water Board official Bech Bruun and ex-Victoria County Republican Party Chairman Michael Cloud, are squaring off in a May 22 primary runoff to succeed him.

A businessman and self-described radio sidekick who was new to politics, Farenthold upset long-serving Democratic U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz during the tea party wave of 2010. But his district has since been redrawn to make it more reliably Republican - including removing many areas along the Texas-Mexico border which had favored Democrats.

In Friday's video, Farenthold thanked his staff for its hard work and his family for its support while saying: "Leaving my service in the House, I'm able to look back on the entirety of my career in public service and say it was well worthwhile."

"I look forward to staying in touch with everyone," Farenthold said. "It's been an honor and a privilege to serve."

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Weissert reported from Austin, Texas.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a Florida teen fatally has shot his girlfriend's parents during an argument.

A Miami-Dade police news release says the shooting occurred Friday morning at a Homestead trailer park.

Police say the 19-year-old man shot his 17-year-old girlfriend's mother, 35-year-old Deborah Ramos-Arce and the mother's boyfriend, 31-year-old David Fluitt.

The release says a 911 caller said someone had been shot at the house, and both teens were there when police arrived. Officials say four children, ages 1 to 10, were in the home at the time of the shooting.

No charges were immediately reported.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) - The designer of a waterslide at a Kansas waterpark where a 10-year-old boy was decapitated is on his way from Texas to Kansas for his first court appearance.

John Schooley, who designed the Verruckt slide for the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City, Kansas, is charged with second-degree murder in the 2016 death of Caleb Schwab.

The Kansas City Star reports he was released from a Texas jail Friday and was on his way to Wyandotte County, Kansas.

His attorney, J. Justin Johnston, says in a court motion that Schooley's design for the waterslide and the raft involved in the boy's death were modified after the ride was commissioned, meaning his design is not responsible for the fatality.

The bond motion also says Schooley wasn't affiliated with the Kansas park after April 2015.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
A family-of-four, whose quintuplet pregnancy gained them thousands of fans on social media, just welcomed their five new additions to the roster.

Jamie Scott delivered her five bundles of joy via a Caesarean section after 29 weeks of pregnancy on March 21 at Dignity Health St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

'I feel so blessed when I look at each of their little faces, and each of their little souls I can feel,' she said.

Jamie Scott gave birth to a set of quintuplets after 29 weeks on March 21

Babies Lily (left) and Logan (right) are pictured in the hospital. All were born weighing less than three pounds

Daisy sits on her mother's chest while she sleeps. The babies are doing well

She and her husband Skyler Scott temporarily moved from Utah to Phoenix in December to get care at St. Joseph's.

The hospital, in partnership with the Elliott Center for Multiples, is a go-to facility for pregnancies with high-order multiples, or triplets or more.

The new Scott children include three girls -Violet, Daisy, Lily - and two boys, Logan and Lincoln. All were born weighing less than three pounds.

The babies are doing well; no one needs a breathing tube or is on antibiotics, said Dr. Vinit Manuel, who is the medical director of what St. Joseph's calls its Nursery Intensive Care Unit.

He said they'll likely spend the next five to six weeks in the hospital.

Finishing up the three girls and two boys are Lincoln (left) and Violet (right)

The Scotts amassed more than 53,000 Facebook followers and more than 35,000 Instagram followers during the pregnancy. Speaking to the media on Friday, the Scotts praised their health care team. Jamie Scott required eight weeks of bed rest.

'They really made it so bearable and wonderful,' Skyler Scott said. 'And I really believe that some of the best, most angelic people in the world somehow find their way into the NICU.'

The Scotts have a 12-year-old son, Shayden and a 7-year-old son Landon. They learned they were welcoming quintuplets after struggling to get pregnant for a third baby and seeing a fertility specialist. When they learned they were expecting five babies, they 'researched like crazy' to find the best care, Jamie Scott said.

She and her husband Skyler Scott temporarily moved from Utah to Phoenix in December to get care at St. Joseph's

The high-risk pregnancy saw complications; at 21 weeks, the sac surrounding one of the babies ruptured. But it eventually began to heal itself, something Dr. John Elliott said he hadn't seen before in a quintuplet pregnancy.

Throughout the pregnancy, Jamie Scott gained 73 pounds - just shy of a 75-pound goal - while consuming around 4,000 calories a day.

Elliott wanted to deliver the babies at 34 weeks, but a 29-week delivery was still longer than the national average of less than 27 weeks for quintuplets, Elliott said.

The Scotts have a 12-year-old son, Shayden and a 7-year-old son Landon

Much of the journey was shared on their Facebook and Instagram pages, dubbed 'Five Two Love' as a nod to the 'scquints' and their two sons. At first, Jamie Scott was hesitant to share details of her pregnancy publicly.

'The messages of love and hope that we've received from around the world have really helped strengthen us to get through this tough time of very, very high risk pregnancy,' she said.

The Scotts plan to return to their community in St. George, Utah, once the babies and mom are healthy enough to travel. A GoFundMe account set up for the family has raised more than $25,000 in two months.

For now, the Scotts are focused on keeping the babies fed, with mom pumping breastmilk every three hours, and looking forward to getting their family of nine under one roof.

'I'm excited,' she said. 'I'm very, very tired right now, but I know with doing this it's gonna take the two of us and a whole village of people back home.'
The wettest March in a decade has given way to a warm early April as forecasters predict double-digit temperatures across the UK ahead of the weekend.

The Met Office said Thursday and Friday would be clear and sunny for most parts of the country, reaching possible highs of 17C in the South East on Friday.

(PA Graphics)

It follows a wetter than average month in places such as Devon, the Severn Vale and Tyneside in the North East.

Met Office data showed average UK rainfall last month was 104.4mm, the highest for that month since 2008 when it reached 122.5mm.

(PA Graphics)

The latest figure includes the heavy snowstorms, dubbed the Beast from the East, which came in two waves and caused widespread disruption.

Forecaster Graeme Madge said: After a cold start, any residual cold in the east and South East will quite rapidly move away.

The sun has got his hat on hip hip hip hooray, consider sun cream if you're heading out today!  Seriously, the strength of the sun is increasing as we head through April pic.twitter.com/0HLDEq2BFj  Met Office (@metoffice) April 5, 2018

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.

It is a gorgeous #sunrise here at Met Office HQ. If you have captured the sunrise where you are, we would love to see your snaps #loveukweather pic.twitter.com/oggxwY1e2n  Met Office (@metoffice) April 5, 2018

He added Edinburgh, in Scotland, could see up to 8C or 9C.

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: Theres a front associated with that low pressure thats going to be trying to make progress across the UK in western areas.

As far as England is concerned its 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.

The forecasts offer a stark contrast to last weeks chilly conditions (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Mr Madge said average temperatures for early April in the South East, where he suggested the mercury could reach up to 17C, were around 12C to 13C.

So the fact that this is early April, it will feel nice, he said.

(PA Graphics)

The warmer weather might not last long though, with the weekend looking certainly unsettled.

Saturday is an unsettled day whereas tomorrow looks like its going to be a very nice day, Mr Madge said.

We could see similar temperatures on Saturday in the South East but because of the uncertain nature over the weekend the range of temperatures will be greater.

The warmest day of the year so far was March 10, when 16.6C was recorded in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, he said.

The brief warmth will be welcome respite from what Mr Madge called a very wet March.

(PA Graphics)

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.

Not record-breaking necessarily but a particularly wet month.
A day after dislocating his ankle, Tony Finau amazingly found himself in contention on his Masters debut as Jordan Spieth assumed his customary position on top of the leaderboard.

Spieth eagled the eighth and fired five birdies in succession on the back nine to card an opening 66 and finish two shots ahead of Finau and Matt Kuchar.

Rory McIlroy was just a shot further back after breaking 70 in the first round for just the second time, with crucial par saves on the last three holes completing a 69 in pursuit of the win he needs to complete the career grand slam.

Tiger Woods endured a tough start to his opening round (David Goldman/AP)

And former Open champion Henrik Stenson celebrated his 42nd birthday in style by joining McIlroy in a seven-strong group on three under which also included Patrick Reed, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Chinas Li Haotong.

Having led from start to finish in 2015 and for 54 holes in defence of his title, Spieth has now led or shared the lead after nine of his 17 rounds in the Masters.

In comparison, Tiger Woods  who struggled to an opening 73 in his first competitive round at Augusta National since 2015  has led nine times in 79 rounds.

I know as well as anyone that anything happens at Augusta National and Im not going to get ahead of myself, said Spieth, who blew a five-shot lead with nine holes to play in 2016.

Its about riding momentum from last week (finishing third in Houston) and this first round.

Jordan Spieths leaderboard position after each of his 17 career rounds at Augusta:



 12th

 3rd

 1st

 2nd

 1st

 1st

 1st

 1st

 1st

 1st

 1st

 2nd

 41st

 10th

 4th

 11th

 1st



Pretty solid. pic.twitter.com/XRfaBYumR4  Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) April 5, 2018

The performance of Finau was arguably even more remarkable given the sickening injury he suffered during the pre-tournament par-three contest.

Finau was running backwards in an enthusiastic celebration of a hole-in-one on the seventh, when his left ankle buckled underneath him.

The 28-year-old then appeared to pop the dislocated ankle back into place, but subsequent X-rays and an MRI scan revealed a high ankle sprain and no significant damage.

After what happened to me in the par-three contest and the way I felt this morning, there was no way I thought I would be in this position, said Finau, who admitted he found footage of the incident tough to watch.

This is horrible. My man Finau. Crying for him. Surely wont be pegging it up this week #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/3nBX8CYy0X  Toby Tree (@TobiasTree) April 4, 2018

On a scale of one to 10, the pain was 10 for sure. It was pretty excruciating. I was quite embarrassed but I said the last thing thats going to happen is me getting carried out of here on a stretcher celebrating a hole-in-one.

This is a moment I have dreamt of my whole life. I was very excited to hear at seven this morning that nothing was broken and I could play. It was mind over matter, trying not to think about the ankle and it felt better and better as the round went on.

The same could not be said for defending champion Sergio Garcia, who carded an 81 after taking an amazing 13 shots to play the 15th hole.

Garcia dumped five balls into the water on the same par five where he made a vital eagle in last years final round, surpassing the previous highest score on the hole of 11 shared by Jumbo Ozaki, Ben Crenshaw and Ignacio Garrido.

With his 10th shot of the 15th hole, Sergio Garcia delivered his fifth consecutive ball into the water. #themasters https://t.co/Nj020wsUeB pic.twitter.com/kWA0XBSlUK  CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 5, 2018

The 38-year-old went for the green in two and then needed five more attempts to find the putting surface and hole out from nine feet to avoid any further damage.

Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler both carded rounds of 70, while Tommy Fleetwood recorded a 72  while playing alongside Woods  which was matched by Justin Rose.

World number one Dustin Johnson and two-time champion Bubba Watson were alongside Woods on one over, with Ian Poulter carding a 74 matched by Sandy Lyle on the 30th anniversary of his 1988 triumph.
US president Donald Trump has instructed the US trade representative to consider slapping an additional 100 billion dollar (71bn) in tariffs on Chinese goods in a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute between the two countries.

Mr Trumps surprise move came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax 50 billion dollars (35bn) in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a US move earlier this week to slap tariffs on 50 billion dollars in Chinese imports.

And it intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since the Second World War. Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the worlds two biggest economies squared off over Beijings aggressive trade tactics. But they had calmed down on Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the US and China would find a diplomatic solution.

The countries are locked in a trade dispute (Evan Vucci/AP)

Instead, the White House announced after the markets closed on Thursday that Mr Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether 100 billion dollars of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to. He has also instructed his secretary of agriculture to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.

Chinas illicit trade practices  ignored for years by Washington  have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs, Mr Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.

NEWS: USTR Lighthizer: President Trump is proposing an appropriate response to Chinas recent threat of new tariffs. Read the full statement here: https://t.co/Q6pqcRuYlw  USTR (@USTradeRep45) April 5, 2018

The latest escalation comes after the U.S. on Tuesday said it would impose 25% duties on 50 billion dollars of imports from China, and China quickly retaliated by listing 50 billion dollars of products that it could hit with its own 25% tariffs. The Chinese list on Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest US export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whisky, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on three billion dollars (2.1bn) of US goods in response to the Trump administrations duties on all steel and aluminium imports, including from China.

US officials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But economists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear the hallmarks of a classic trade rift that could escalate. And already, tensions between the worlds two biggest economies have rattled global stock markets.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called Chinas moved unjustified and said Mr Trumps proposal was an appropriate response to Chinas recent threat of new tariffs.

Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses, he said in a statement. Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTRs report.

The clash reflects the tension between Mr Trumps promises to narrow a US trade deficit with China that stood at 375.2 billion dollars (267.8bn) in goods last year and Chinas ruling Communist Partys development ambitions.

Mr Trumps top economic adviser, Lawrence Kudlow, said earlier on Thursday in an interview with Fox Business Network that negotiations were ongoing. But, he said, at the end of the day, Chinas unfair and illegal trading actions are damaging to economic growth, for the US, for China and for the rest of the world.

He also called Mr Trump the first guy with a backbone in decades to actually go after it. Not just whisper it, but to go after it with at least preliminary actions.

Any additional tariffs would be subject to a public comment process and would not go into effect until that process is complete.
The hospital treating seriously ill toddler Alfie Evans will consider alternative options including treatment in Italy, an MEP has said.

Alfie 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 after his parents exhausted their legal options as they fought for doctors to continue treatment.

Just had a meeting at @AlderHey with Alfie's parents @Alfiesarmy16. Hospital agreed not to end Alfie's life today and will consider the alternative options we presented, including for Alfie to recieve treatment available in Italy.  Steven Woolfe (@Steven_Woolfe) April 5, 2018

Steven Woolfe, who represents North West England in Brussels, said: Hospital agreed not to end Alfies life today (Thursday) and will consider the alternative options we presented, including for Alfie to receive treatment available in Italy.

Tom Evans and Kate James, who are in their 20s and from Liverpool, had wanted judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg to examine issues relating to the future of Alfie.

But ECHR judges rejected their bid last Wednesday, after the decision to withdraw treatment was upheld by Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices.

Tom Evans and Kate James have fought for their sons treatment to continue (Philip Toscano/PA)

Alfie is getting stronger and more responsive, according to a post on the Alfies Army Instagram page.

The post said: Alfie is NOT dying, he is IMPROVING and he is an ABSOLUTE WARRIOR!!!!!

He is MORE RESPONSIVE, his reactions are STRONGER and Alfie is getting STRONGER!

Alfie was absolutely amazing today as usual! He is fighting, he is comfortable and he wants to live.

Alfie James Evans, we will fight for you harder and harder all the way no matter what!! We love you so much.

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

Earlier this week, Pope Francis waded into the life-support treatment battle, saying: 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.
South Koreas former president Park Geun-hye has been found guilty of abuse of power and coercion.

The details came in a nationally televised verdict as Judge Kim Se-yun read a lengthy statement at Seoul Central District Court.

Sentencing is to follow, and prosecutors have demanded a 30-year prison term.

Parks supporters take to the streets of Seoul (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

Park has been held at a detention centre near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Fridays court session, citing sickness.

Park was removed from office early last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the nations streets calling for her to be ousted.

Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, she was dubbed Queen of Elections by local media for her track record of leading her party to victory in tight races and still has a small group of fierce supporters who regularly stage rallies calling for her release.

Park maintains that she is a victim of political revenge and has been refusing to attend court sessions since October.
South Koreas former president Park Geun-hye has been jailed for 24 years over a corruption scandal.

Park was earlier found guilty at Seoul Central District Court of bribery, abuse of power, extortion and other charges.

Park has been held at a detention centre near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Fridays court session, citing sickness.

The main charge was that she colluded with a long-time confidante to take tens of millions of dollars from companies in bribes and extortion.

Parks supporters take to the streets of Seoul (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

Park was removed from office last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the streets calling for her to be ousted.

The conviction, which Park can appeal, is the latest hit in a dramatic fall for South Koreas first female president.

Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, she was dubbed Queen of Elections by local media for her track record of leading her party to victory in tight races and still has a small group of fierce supporters who regularly stage rallies calling for her release.

Its inevitable that the defendant should be held strictly responsible for her crimes, if only to prevent the unfortunate event of (a president) abusing the power given by the people and causing chaos in state affairs, Chief Judge Kim Se-yun said as the sentence was delivered.

Along with the prison sentence, Park was also fined 18 billion won (12 million), Judge Kim said.

Both Park and the prosecutors have one week to appeal. Prosecutors in February demanded a 30-year prison term.

The Seoul court convicted Park of colluding with long-time confidante Choi Soon-sil to pressure 18 business groups to donate a total of 77.4 billion won (52 million) for the launch of two foundations controlled by Choi.

The two women were also convicted of taking bribes from some of those companies, including more than 7 billion won (4.6 million) alone from Samsung in return for government support for a smooth company leadership transition.

The court said Park colluded with senior government officials to blacklist artists critical of Parks government to deny them state assistance programmes. Park was also convicted of passing on presidential documents with sensitive information to Choi via one of her presidential aides.

The scandal has already led to the arrests, indictments and convictions of dozens of high-profile government officials and business leaders. Choi is serving a 20-year prison term; Samsung executive Lee Jae-yong was initially sentenced to five years in prison before his sentence was suspended on appeal; and Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin was given two-and-a-half years in prison.

Protests in Seoul ahead of the verdict (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

Hundreds of Parks supporters gathered near the southern Seoul court hours before the ruling, swinging South Korean and US flags under signs and banners that read, among other things, Immediately release innocent President Park Geun-hye and Stop murderous political revenge.

Long live President Park Geun-hye! Long live the Republic of Korea! protester Choi Hyung-suk shouted into a microphone, referring to South Korea by its formal name.

Parks conservative supporters  most of them middle aged and elderly  have been passionately rallying near the court and other parts of the city over the past year, although their gatherings have been much smaller than the earlier ones calling for Park to be ousted.

The protests show how deeply South Koreans are split along ideological and generational lines, the result of decades-long tension with rival North Korea and the lingering fallout from the conservative military dictatorships that ran the country until the late 1980s.

Park is the daughter of a deeply divisive dictator, Park Chung-hee, who is revered by supporters as a hero who spearheaded South Koreas rapid economic rise in the 1960-70s. But he is also remembered for imprisoning and torturing dissidents.
A pensioner has bagged his third Guinness World Record on his 106th birthday by becoming the oldest person to ride a zip wire.

Daredevil Jack Reynolds, from Derbyshire, took a ride on the 197ft (60m) high, 1,312ft (400m) long zip wire live on ITVs Good Morning Britain to raise money for the Stroke Association.

Giving the camera a big thumbs-up, he said: This speaks for itself.

Its the latest in a string of daring feats  Mr Reynolds celebrated his 105th birthday by becoming the oldest person to ride a rollercoaster.

Jack Reynolds rode the Twistersaurus rollercoaster in 2017, when he was 105, to raise money for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air Ambulance fund (Nigel Roddis/PA)

The previous year, at 104, he became the oldest person to get a tattoo.

At the age of 102, he was one of the oldest people to take part in the ice bucket challenge, raising money for research into motor neurone disease  sporting nothing but a pair of Union flag underpants.

When asked how the zip wire ride compared to his previous adventures, he replied: Its different but its better. Its been a really good day today. Its been perfect.

The icing on his cake on his birthday was being presented with his third Guinness World Record certificate.

Mr Reynolds has previously said it is the drop of whisky that he adds to his morning cup of tea which has helped him stay fit and healthy.

On his JustGiving page, Mr Reynolds said: It has become somewhat of a tradition that on my birthday I use my new age to help raise money for worthy charities.

He added: Please follow my journey and help me achieve my target for this great cause.
German prosecutors have ordered the immediate release of ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont after he posted 75,000 euros (65,000) bail.

The Schleswig prosecutors office said Puigdemont also provided authorities with an address in Germany where he will reside pending a decision in his extradition case.

The 55-year-old was detained on March 25 after crossing the border from Denmark.

Spain is seeking his extradition for rebellion and misuse of public funds in organising an unauthorised referendum last year on Catalonias independence from Spain.

Puigdemont supporters celebrate in front of the prison in Neumuenster (Carsten Rehder/dpa/AP)

The state court in Schleswig ruled on Thursday that Puigdemont cannot be extradited for rebellion because the equivalent German law presumes the use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities.

He can still be extradited on misuse of funds charges.

The ruling will allow Puigdemont to move freely in Germany pending any decision on his extradition.

No information will be provided about his current whereabouts, prosecutors said in a statement.

Supporters said the 55-year-old planned a news conference later.

The German courts decision is a setback for the Spanish judiciarys efforts to crack down on the separatist movement.

It is also an embarrassing blow for Spains conservative government, which has insisted the dispute over Catalan separatism is a legal issue, not a political one, and has refused to be drawn into negotiations with Puigdemont and his supporters since Octobers banned referendum.

Spains deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said the government would respect the German ruling and awaited further details before deciding on any response.

She also took a swipe at Catalan pro-independence parties, which the government accuses of flouting the constitution and disobeying court orders, by adding that Spain is a state that shows its character by respecting the decisions of the courts in whatever direction that decision is made.
Former South African president Jacob Zuma has appeared in the dock of a packed courtroom to face corruption charges in a long-running case that fuelled the public anger that forced him from power.

Zuma, 75, appeared relaxed during the brief hearing during which the case was adjourned until June 8.

He later emerged from the courthouse in the coastal city of Durban to address a large crowd of supporters, many sporting regalia of the ruling African National Congress party.

Zuma addresses supporters outside the High Court in Durban (Themba Hadebe/AP)

The charges are politically motivated, Zuma said.

The ruling party leadership had instructed him to resign in February after a leadership crisis that destabilised the ANC, which was already weakened by other scandals during his presidency.

At the hearing, Judge Themba Sishi said Zuma was free on warning.

Zuma supporters gathered near the courthouse  in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal  to declare that the former leader is not guilty of fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

Hands off Zuma, they chanted.

Zuma supporters in Durban (Themba Hadebe/AP)

The corruption charges were recently reinstated after being thrown out nearly a decade ago. They relate to an arms deal in the 1990s, when Zuma was deputy president.

Zuma, who resigned on February 14, says he has done nothing wrong.

He was replaced as president by his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who has promised a robust campaign against corruption and also wants to rebuild a ruling party whose moral stature has diminished since it took power at the end of white minority rule in 1994.

Zuma could face several years in prison.

Outside the courthouse, he sang and swayed on a stage before a large group of supporters, telling them he was the victim of a political vendetta and that he has campaigned for the economic rights of South Africas black majority since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The message resonates among many people who resent the fact that much of the economy remains in the hands of the white minority despite the advent of democracy.

Also in the dock was a representative of Thales, a French defence company accused of paying bribes to Zuma in the arms deal.

His financial adviser at the time, Schabir Shaik, was convicted of corruption in the case in 2005 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released after two years on medical parole.

South African authorities also want to arrest members of the Gupta business family, which allegedly used its connections to Zuma to influence cabinet appointments and win state contracts.

South Africas top court also ruled in 2016 that Zuma violated the constitution following an investigation of multimillion-pound upgrades to his private home using state funds.
The chairman of NHS Tayside has stepped down after ministers were forced to intervene in the running of the health board.

Health Secretary Shona Robison had called for Professor John Connell to quit after it emerged NHS Tayside had apparently used donations to fund new technology.

Ms Robison thanked Prof Connell for his personal probity but said it was the right thing to do to move the health board forward.

Health Secretary Shona Robison had called on Professor John Connell to resign (Scottish Parliament/PA)

She also described the position of chief executive Lesley McLay as untenable after being forced to exercise ministerial powers of intervention.

The Chairman of Tayside NHS Board Professor John Connell has tendered his resignation with immediate effect https://t.co/btBb7KnKRM  NHS Tayside (@NHSTayside) April 6, 2018

In a statement Prof Connell said: It has been an absolute privilege to provide leadership to NHS Tayside over the last 30 months; I am acutely aware of the outstanding efforts of all staff to deliver safe and effective healthcare to the population of the region.

I have always maintained a focus on safe patient care and ensuring staff are supported to deliver that at all times. I am very pleased that this has not been compromised during a difficult financial period.

I believe that NHS Tayside is set on the correct course to transform its services and maintain safe health and care for Tayside. I know that my successor will have the support of a superb group of healthcare professionals in taking this forward.

Earlier this week it emerged that NHS Tayside took more than 2 million from its endowment fund  which is made up of donations from the public or bequests in wills  to cover general running costs, which could normally be funded from its core budget.

The health board, which was bailed out with a Scottish Government loan of 33.2 million in 2016-17, was reported to have used the endowment fund when faced with a funding deficit in 2013-14.

It was further claimed NHS Tayside had to temporarily suspend its constitution to allow this to happen, as the money was going to retrospectively fund projects already approved by the board.

Prof Connell had earlier said the projects that were funded were appropriate for endowment funding but that he was seeking further assurances.

Last week NHS chief executive Paul Gray told MSPs he expected NHS Tayside would require further brokerage cash from the government of between 9 and 12 million.

Meanwhile a review carried out by accountants Grant Thornton found that since 2012 the health board had misrepresented its financial performance by holding 5.3 million that had been allocated by the Scottish Government for eHealth initiatives.

The health boards director of finance Lindsay Bedford was suspended and an internal investigation launched shortly before he decided to retire earlier this year.

Opposition parties focused their criticism on Ms Robison, with Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs saying the government had lost control of our NHS.

He said: After 11 years of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP centralisation and mismanagement it will clearly now suit incompetent ministers to blame NHS senior management for the failings and financial difficulties which we have seen across the board. Perhaps its time they started to look closer to home.

Scottish Labours Anas Sarwar said: This is not an isolated incident  there has been a series of incidents over a number of years, reflecting a complete lack of leadership and mismanagement of our NHS by the SNP minister.

Shona Robison must now consider her own position as she has serious questions to answer.

Lib Dem Alex Cole-Hamilton said: Tayside has been limping along for years and the Health Secretary must apologise for the governments failure to get to grips with this.
A hospital will ask a judge to set a date for withdrawing life support for terminally ill Liverpool boy Alfie Evans.

The 23-month-old, who has a rare degenerative brain disease which doctors have been unable to diagnose, is being kept alive on a ventilator at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool.

His parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, both in their 20s and from Liverpool, have fought a long legal battle through the courts to keep their son alive.

Tom Evans and Kate James, the parents of seriously ill Alfie Evans

They took their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, but it was rejected by the ECHR last week, ending their legal options after a decision to withdraw life support was upheld by Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices in the UK.

The case has drawn interventions from the Pope, and the White House has been contacted by North West England MEP, Steven Woolfe, who has supported Alfies family.

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

On Thursday, Mr Evans and Mr Woolfe had a meeting with hospital officials, where Mr Evans presented what he believed was fresh evidence.

His understanding was that a decision on ending life support was on hold for the hospital to reconsider and review the case, including alternative options, including taking Alfie to Italy for treatment.

But Alfies mother said they were given false hope as, within an hour of the meeting, Alder Heys lawyers were contacting the High Court to arrange a date for a court hearing for a judge to rule on a date for withdrawing life support.

Alder Hey Chidlrens Hospital in Liverpool, where Alfie Evans is being treated

In a statement on Friday, Alder Hey Childrens NHS Foundation Trust said: We understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for Alfies family and we continue to support them in every way we can.

Understandably, there is a lot of interest in this case but, despite reports, at no point has a date for withdrawal of treatment for Alfie been agreed with his family.

After a long and difficult legal process, the courts have ruled that Alfies condition is irreversible and untreatable and that continued active treatment is not in his best interests.

We always aim to reach agreement with parents about the most appropriate palliative care plan for their child but sadly, in this case, we have not been able to do this.

Consequently, we must return to the High Court, as we are legally required to do, for guidance about a date on which to withdraw treatment from Alfie.

We understand that this case is highly emotive and many people have an interest in Alfies situation.

We are receiving an unprecedented amount of queries, concerns, comments and questions on social media, via phone, email and in person.

We need to make it clear that Alder Hey will not make any comment about Alfie or his treatment to any members of the public.

We ask that our staff are treated with respect.

Steven Woolfe, MEP, who is supporting the family of Alfie Evans

Mr Woolfe said: Our position is the family are saying Alfies physical condition has changed. Hes showing more activity, smiling, lifting his eyelids. Im not a doctor but Ive seen him myself, you can see physical signs of life.

Hes a beautiful little boy.

They believe there are possible physical changes with Alfie to enable him to be safely transported to Italy and an Air Ambulance that would carry him that would satisfy Alder Heys concerns.

Earlier this week, Pope Francis waded into the life support treatment battle, saying: 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.
Three men have been arrested as part of an operation to tackle a people-smuggling network suspected of illegally bringing almost 3,000 migrants into Europe.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested three suspected members of the network, believed to operate between Iraq and the UK, in Greater Manchester and Staffordshire on Thursday.

A 41-year-old man from Oldham, a 38-year-old arrested in Stoke-on-Trent, and a 35-year-old from Newton Heath, Manchester, were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.

The 41-year-old, suspected of being the head of the criminal network, is still being questioned, while the other two men have been released on bail.

Officers also arrested a 25-year-old man in Newton Heath on suspicion of illegally entering the UK.

Five arrests made in #UK and #Belgium in international #PeopleSmuggling strike alongside @policefederale. The suspected head of a significant smuggling network operating between #Iraq and the #UK has been arrested in Oldham. Full story: https://t.co/a7X6tGR5p4 @FederalePolitie pic.twitter.com/ZzoLekMd85  National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) April 6, 2018

The action coincided with the arrests of two men in the Ghent area of Belgium following several months of joint operational work between the NCA and Belgian Federal Police.

In the Belgian operation, a 15-year-old boy was rescued before he boarded a lorry bound for the UK, an NCA spokesman said.

The swoop followed arrests made last month in Germany and Romania, co-ordinated by Europol and Eurojust.

The spokesman said the network, made up of smugglers, couriers and lorry drivers, is believed to be behind the smuggling of almost 3,000 migrants into Europe during a three-month period last year.

Business premises in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Stoke-on-Trent were inspected during the UK operation, which involved officers from Greater Manchester Police and Staffordshire Police, Immigration Enforcement and HMRC.

National Crime Agency (NCA)officers search a car in Oldham as part of an operation to tackle a people smuggling network (NCA/PA)

A haul of 165lb (75kg) of hand-rolling tobacco and more than 500,000 cigarettes were discovered during searches.

NCA branch commander David Norris said: Between the Middle East and the UK lies a network of highly organised criminal groups who smuggle desperate people in dangerous conditions for huge sums of money.

We believe during this operation we have identified and now disrupted one of the most significant of these groups, and the impact of acting in tandem with our European partners on this operation has meant we have been able to cause permanent damage to a well-established network.

The NCA takes people-smuggling extremely seriously. Its a crime based on exploitation of the vulnerable and puts the security of the UKs border at significant risk.
The family of a missing woman has issued an emotional appeal, as police said they cannot rule out a sinister explanation for her disappearance.

Julie Reilly, 47, was last captured on CCTV at a Glasgow supermarket on February 6.

Two months on, her mother Margaret Hanlon, 69, begged her daughter or anyone with information about her to get in touch.

Accompanied by Ms Reillys sister Lynne Bryce, 36, she said: Please, please if you are out there somewhere Julie, please let us know youre ok.

We are all so sick with worry for your safety.

If anyone, anywhere knows of Julies whereabouts please dont let us go on like this  Im begging you from the bottom of my heart.

Julie is a daughter, a mother, a sister, an auntie, and a grandmother to a beautiful grandson who turned one in February. We all need her home.

She said Ms Reilly, who was reported missing on February 15 after failing to make appointments, would never miss these.

She added: This is so not Julie. She would be with us now if she was able.

Police said they cannot rule out that something untoward may have happened to Julie Reilly (Police Scotland/PA)

Police said they have no direct evidence pointing to a sinister outcome but cannot exclude this.

Forensic searches of her home near Shieldhall Road in Govan are ongoing but detectives stressed her disappearance is still a missing persons inquiry.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Bell from the Major Investigations Team said: I cannot exclude that something sinister has happened to her but it is my absolute wish and sincere hope that I find Julie alive and well.

He said Ms Reilly has had a number of issues in the past and elements of her private life give him concern.

The detective said the forensic search of her home was to ensure that nothing untoward had happened in the property but said there was no wider threat to the public.

Julie has never gone missing before. For me at this time I dont see an obvious trigger as to why Julie would go missing. That is what causes me concern, he said.

If someone does know something about Julies welfare, where she currently may be right now or the circumstances which have led to her disappearance, I would ask that person to really consider their conscience and to contact the police.

He also appealed for sightings and said officers had spoken to 216 bus passengers on routes Ms Reilly was a frequent user of, leading to potential positives which are being followed up.

The last known sighting of the missing woman was via CCTV at 5pm on February 6 at Aldi in Paisley Road West, Govan.

Police Scotland has employed its underwater unit, dog branch and specialist search officers as part of the investigation.

Ms Reilly, who has been known to use the surnames Hanlon, Martin and Collins, is white, around 5ft, with a medium build and dyed blonde short hair.

When last seen she was wearing a pink jacket, jeans and aqua trainers.

Anyone with information is asked to call 101.
Food wholesaler Bestway has acquired the retail arm of beleaguered Conviviality in a 7million deal that includes Bargain Booze.

Bestway, founded and chaired by billionaire Sir Anwar Pervez, will also seize control of Wine Rack, WS Retail and Select Convenience.

Around 2,000 jobs are understood to have been safeguarded as part of the deal, which was conducted via a pre-pack administration process.

In administration: Bargain Booze and Wine Rack owner Conviviality has collapsed into the hands of administrators

A pre-pack involves a pre-arranged buyer cherry-picking the best assets of a company at a knockdown price.

PwC handled the sale and administration process.

Conviviality confirmed its intention to appoint administrators last week after a string of profit warnings and the discovery of a 30 million tax bill, putting over 2,600 jobs at risk.

Bestway is one of Britains biggest food wholesalers serving thousands of retailers, as well as owning the Well pharmacy chain.

Sir Anwar Pervez is the man behind Bestway (PA)

Convivialitys retail arm operates more than 800 stores.

On Wednesday, Magners owner C&C snapped up Convivialitys wholesale arm, also through a pre-pack administration.

The Irish cider giant said that, with the support of drinks group AB InBev, it had bought Conviviality brands Matthew Clark, Bibendum, Catalyst, Peppermint, Elastic and Walker & Wodehouse for a nominal sum.

The break up of Conviviality marks a pathetic end for the firm.

In the space of a few weeks its chief executive Dianna Hunter has stepped down, while it has issued a string of profit warnings and revealed a 30 million tax bill.

The black hole created what the company called a short-term funding requirement and its shares were suspended.

Conviviality was then forced to go cap-in-hand to investors to raise 125 million as a result, but has been unable to convince them of its long-term future.
Theresa May and Amber Rudd have been absent while violent crime surges across the country, MPs claim, amid calls for action to make London safer.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is among a group of 47 MPs urging the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to agree to an urgent meeting with them and London mayor Sadiq Khan to discuss how the Government is planning to tackle rising levels of violence.

They argue Mrs May and Ms Rudd have shown no signs of changing their approach, with communities crying out for national leadership on the issue.

Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Ministers also cannot just blame Labours Mr Khan and pretend the Government has no responsibility, the MPs add.

Along with London MPs, including @jeremycorbyn @HackneyAbbott and Shadow Education Secretary @AngelaRayner, Ive written to @theresa_may and @AmberRuddHR seeking an urgent meeting with London MPs and @SadiqKhan about violent crime. Londoners, especially young people, need action. pic.twitter.com/k3vAf4icE6  Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) April 6, 2018

The letter co-ordinated by Ilford North Labour MP Wes Streeting was sent to Downing Street and the Home Office following a flurry of violent attacks in the capital, where more than 50 people have been killed since the start of the year.

It states: Violent crime has been on the rise since 2014 and in recent weeks we have seen too many lives lost on the streets of London to guns and knives. This is neither acceptable nor inevitable.

More must be done to tackle both crime, and the root causes of crime.

That is why we are calling on you, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, to urgently meet with us, along with the mayor, to discuss what more must be done to make our city safer.

The MPs warn of the impact of funding cuts to the police while probation and prisons are in chaos, meaning criminals are leaving violent and crime-ridden jails unreformed.

They also voice concerns over difficulties faced by schools, the health service and youth services, plus the need for social media companies to take down videos and posts which are fuelling the rise in violent crime by glorifying and amplifying violence.

The MPs add: To us, and to many Londoners, both the current Home Secretary and the Prime Minister have shown no signs of changing their approach.

In fact, both have been absent while violent crime surges across the country. Communities are crying out for national leadership on this issue.

They also say Mr Khan and the country desperately need the Government to step up to the plate, with urgent action needed to stop violence becoming normalised.

The MPs who have signed the letter are all Labour and predominantly represent London constituencies.
Palestinians have torched piles of tyres near Gazas border with Israel, sending plumes of black smoke into the air and drawing Israeli fire that killed six men in a second mass protest in a week.

Fridays deaths brought to 28 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire over the past week, including 22 protesters.

Gazas Health Ministry said 1,070 people were wounded on Friday, including 293 by live fire.

It said 25 of those wounded were in serious condition. Among those hurt were 12 women and 48 minors, the ministry added.

Palestinian protesters gather in front of burned tyres (Adel Hana/AP)

Fridays march was the second in what Gazas Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory.

Israel has accused the Islamic militant group of using the protests as a cover for attacking Israels border, and has warned that those approaching the fence put their lives at risk.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians streamed to five tent encampments set up at various points several hundred metres from the border fence.

In one camp near the border community of Khuzaa, smaller groups of activists moved closer to the fence after Muslim noon prayers. They torched large piles of tyres, engulfing the area in black smoke meant to shield them from Israeli snipers. The faces of some of the activists were covered in black soot.

Israeli troops on the other side of the fence responded with live fire, tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and water cannons trained at the fence.

Protesters carry away a wounded youth (Adel Hana/AP)

The Israeli military said protesters hurled several explosive devices and firebombs in an attempt to damage the fence under cover of smoke.

It said attempts to cross the fence were thwarted, and troops brought in a huge fan to disperse the smoke.

After the first tyres started burning, several young men with gunshot wounds began arriving at a field clinic at the camp.

Mohammed Ashour, 20, who had been among the first to set tyres on fire, had been shot in the right arm. He rested on a stretcher placed on the ground.

We came here because we want dignity, he said before paramedics carried him to an ambulance to be transported to the strips main hospital.

Later on Friday, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, visited the Khuzaa camp, receiving a heros welcome. He was surrounded by hundreds of supporters who chanted: We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs.

Mr Sinwar told the crowd the world should wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at Al-Aqsa, referring to the major Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

It appeared to be the first time a Hamas leader had specifically threatened to break through the border  something Israel has said it would not allow at any price.

Hamas had billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the Great March of Return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel, but they had stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the fence.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, portrayed the protests as riots, and said Hamas organisers were trying to use them as a diversion to open up the fence and then to insert terrorists into Israel.

Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border.

#Gaza: UN experts condemn killings by Israeli security forces of Palestinian protesters & urge independent/impartial investigation. Law enforcement officials shld refrain from using lethal force unless unavoidable in order to protect own or others lives. https://t.co/vxRES0rCPA pic.twitter.com/4r2Is7cu1f  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) April 6, 2018

The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had indications that Israeli forces used excessive force against protesters last week.

Rights groups have branded orders permitting the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters as unlawful. A leading Israeli rights group, BTselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers this week to refuse grossly illegal open-fire orders.

Lt Col Conricus said snipers are used sparingly and only against those that pose a significant threat.
With a looming deadline to turn himself into authorities, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hunkered down with supporters at a metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his rise to power.

The once wildly popular leader, who rose from poverty to lead Latin Americas largest nation, had until 5pm local time to present himself to police in Curitiba, about 260 miles southwest of the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against endemic graft, issued an order for da Silvas arrest on Thursday so he would begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

Three hours before the deadline, it remained to be seen whether da Silva would comply, or instead wait for authorities to pick him up.

The latter would be a logistical nightmare given the thousands of supporters outside and heavy Friday traffic in Sao Paulo, South Americas largest city.

Two sources close to da Silva told The Associated Press the former leader would not to go to Curitiba, but instead was considering either waiting for police at the union or presenting himself in Sao Paulo.

I dont see why he should turn himself in just because judge Moro had an anxiety crisis, Senator Lindbergh Farias, from the Workers Party, told journalists at the union.

He added: I think they should have to go through the embarrassment of coming here and taking him in front of all these people.

That footage will be seen around the world and it will be historic.

Judge Moros warrant came after Brazils top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by the former president to stay out of prison while he appealed a conviction he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot in Octobers election.

The 72-year-old is the front-running presidential candidate despite his conviction.

In a statement, Mr Moro said he was giving da Silva the opportunity to come in of his own accord because he had been Brazils president.

He also said a special cell away from other inmates had been prepared for da Silva at the jail in Curitiba, where Mr Moro ordered da Silva to present himself.

Last year, he convicted da Silva of trading favors with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January.

The speed with which Mr Moro issued the warrant surprised many, as legal observers said there were technicalities from da Silvas upheld appeal that would not be sorted out until next week.

Such technicalities were simply a pathology that should be eliminated from the judicial world, Mr Moro said in his statement.

Supporters of da Silva gather in front of the metal workers union headquarters (Nelson Antoine/AP)

Late on Thursday, thousands gathered outside the metallurgical union in Sao Bernardo do Campo where the ex-president, universally known as Lula, got his start as a union organiser.

Hundreds spent the night sleeping on the street and early on Friday, da Silva waved to supporters from a window at the union but did not speak.

Why are they in a rush to arrest him? said former President Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded da Silva and in 2016 was impeached and ousted from office.

They fear that Lula would get a favorable decision in (a higher appeals) court. That is part of the coup that removed me from the presidency.

However it happens, the jailing of da Silva will mark a colossal fall from grace for a man who rose to power against steep odds in one of the worlds most unequal countries.

Born in the hardscrabble northeast, da Silva rose through the ranks of the union in the countrys industrial south.

In 1980, during the military dictatorship, da Silva was arrested in Sao Bernardo do Campo for organising strikes. He would spend more than a month in jail.

After running for president several times, in 2002 da Silva finally won. He governed from 2003 to 2010, leaving office a world celebrity and with approval ratings in the high 80s.

Former US president Barack Obama once called da Silva the most popular politician on Earth.

Since leaving office, things have steadily gotten worse for the leader, who has been charged in several corruption cases.

He has always maintained his innocence while continuing to campaign across the country the past year.

Despite his legal troubles, he leads preference polls to return to office  if by some chance he is allowed to run.

Like so much in a nation that has become deeply polarised, the fact da Silva would soon be behind bars was being interpreted differently by supporters and detractors.

Brazil scored a goal against impunity and corruption, said Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a right-leaning former army captain who is second in the polls after da Silva.

Lula is one of us. He knows what it is like to have a tough life and loves the poor more than the rich, said Antonio Ferreira dos Santos, a 43-year-old bricklayer who was keeping vigil outside the union.

Signs in Portuguese read `No to prison for Lula (Andre Penner/AP)

Workers Party leaders insist da Silva would still be the partys candidate in October.

Technically, beginning to serve his sentence would not keep da Silva off the ballot.

In August, the countrys top electoral court makes final decisions about candidacies. It was expected to deny da Silvas candidacy under Brazils clean slate law, which disqualifies people who have had criminal convictions upheld.

However, da Silva could appeal such a decision, though doing so from jail would be more complicated.

Da Silva is the latest of many high-profile people to be ensnared in possibly the largest corruption scandal in Latin American history.

Over the last four years, Brazilians have experienced near weekly police operations and arrests of the elite, from top politicians to businessmen like former Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht.

Investigators uncovered a major scheme in which construction companies essentially formed a cartel that doled out inflated contracts from state oil company Petrobras, paying billions in kickbacks to politicians and businessmen.

While Mr Moro, who oversees many cases in the so-called Operation Car Wash, is hailed as a hero by many, others see him as a partisan hit man out to get da Silva and the Workers Party.

Da Silva was convicted in July of helping a construction company get sweetheart contracts in exchange for the promise of the apartment.

He denies any wrongdoing in that case or in several other corruption cases that have yet to be tried.

An appeals court upheld the conviction in January and even lengthened the sentence to 12 years and one month.
US President Donald Trump plans to skip the White House Correspondents Association dinner, marking the second year he has shunned the glitzy gathering of Washington journalists he routinely assails as fake news.

White House Correspondents Association president Margaret Talev said in a statement the White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this years dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend.

Mr Trump had said he probably wont do it in an interview on the Bernie and Sid radio show on 77 WABC Radio.

Calling the media so bad and so fake, he said: I want to get it straightened out with the press before I do it.

But the president, who has long had an adversarial relationship with the news media, did not elaborate on how he planned to do so.

Since his campaign, he has ceaselessly blasted the fake media and dishonest reporters, singling out specific journalists and news outlets for criticism.

He has also avoided holding a traditional news conference for over a year, though he often answers shouted questions from reporters.

True to form, Mr Trump tweeted on Friday: So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!

Traditionally the president and first lady attend the annual dinner, a fundraiser for college scholarships and a venue for reporting awards, which mixes politicians, journalists and celebrities.

The televised event requires the president to smile through remarks by a comedian  who typically roasts the president  as well as deliver a humorous address, teasing the press and political opponents.

Though notoriously thin-skinned, Mr Trump has subjected himself to ribbing before, including New Yorks Al Smith dinner during the 2016 campaign.

However the correspondents dinner would return him to the site of past humiliation having attended in 2011 and was relentlessly mocked by then-president Barack Obama and comedian Seth Meyers.

He skipped it in 2016, which came amid the presidential campaign and was the last of the dinners at which Mr Obama was the honoured guest.

That did not mean Mr Trump was not the butt of jokes. At one point Mr Obama told guests Mr Trump has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world  Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina, Miss Azerbaijan.

This year, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders will attend the April 28 dinner and represent the administration at the head table.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders speaks during the daily briefing at the White House (Susan Walsh/AP)

Cabinet members and staffers are also free to attend, a message welcomed by West Wing aides who were forced to sit out the celebrations last year.

Mr Trump did attend the annual Gridiron Club Dinner earlier this year, delivering a speech at the annual white-tie affair featuring journalists and officials.

At that event, Mr Trump offered a series of good natured one-liners in his remarks.

Among his quips: I was very excited to receive this invitation and ruin your evening in person. Thats why I accepted.

But he drew a more mixed response at the Alfred E Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner that benefits needy children, also attended by his presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump began innocently enough, joking senate minority leader Chuck Schumer used to love him when he was a Democrat.

He poked fun at plagiarism involving the first lady, but remarks soon devolved into bitterness and insults with the soon-to-be-president earning boos as he accused Mrs Clinton of corruption and hating Catholics.
Hungarys main political parties held their last major rallies before Sundays parliamentary election, harshly criticising their rivals days before voters go to the polls.

In the city of Szekesfehervar, where Hungarian kings were crowned for centuries, Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned again of the supposed dangers of mass migration.

Mr Orban claimed Hungarys opposition parties  in cahoots with the United Nations, the European Union and wealthy philanthropist George Soros  will settle the first 10,000 immigrants in Hungary this year, if they defeat his right-wing nationalist Fidesz party.

Go tell everyone that migration is the rust that slowly but surely consumes our nation, he told supporters packed into a city square.

If migration comes our economic growth will all be in vain. We wont have the means to support families or pay pensions.

Despite the scare-mongering, supporters in the crowd were more impressed by his governments economic and social policies than the issue of migration.

Supporters at the Fidesz party rally in Szekesfehervar (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

Now, you get so much. School books are free up until the eighth grade, said Margit Nemeti, explaining that she supports Mr Orban because he is making life easier for her children and grandchild.

Orban speaks the language of the people and he works for the people, added Antal Nyari, an 83-year-old retired engineer.

A handful of protesters trying to enter his rally were violently ejected by security guards.

In the capital of Budapest, a Jobbik politician said he was beaten when he tried to stop Fidesz supporters from vandalising Jobbik billboards.

At their own rallies, Hungarys left-wing parties described Mr Orban as a gangster swindler, criticising his authoritarian tendencies and his governments alleged large-scale corruption.

Ive already seen many politicians who promised nice things before the elections but changed after getting in the vicinity of power, Gergely Karacsony, candidate for prime minister for the left-wing Socialist Party and the Dialogue party, said at a rally in Budapest.

Viktor Orban is such a man, too. He lost his original character. Not a single word of what he said is true and its clear that he didnt change the country. Power changed him.

Gabor Vona, leader of the nationalist Jobbik party, as well as the two other parties most likely to win parliamentary seats  the green Politics Can Be Different party and former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsanys Democratic Coalition  were also holding rallies to motivate voters.

Some 199 seats in the national parliament are up for grabs in Sundays vote.

Mr Orbans Fidesz party now has a near two-thirds majority along with the Christian Democrats.

Polls expect the Fidesz party to win a majority of votes but increasing cooperation between the fragmented opposition parties is building uncertainty about Fidesz likely margin of victory.
Ospreys celebrated a bonus point 39-10 victory over Connacht in their Guinness PRO14 clash at the Liberty Stadium to keep alive hopes of qualifying for the European Champions Cup.

Ospreys five tries came from wing Jeff Hassler, full-back Dan Evans, hooker Scott Otten, centre Ashley Beck and wing Hanno Dirksen, with Dan Biggar kicking 14 points.

Connachts points came from a try and conversion for replacement Craig Donaldson, plus a Jack Carty penalty.

Wales fly-half Dan Biggar booted 14 points for Ospreys (David Davies/PA)

Ospreys made two enforced changes with Guy Mercer and James King coming in for Olly Cracknell and Justin Tipuric.

Cracknell has been ruled out by a shoulder injury while Wales flanker Tipuric is away at the Commonwealth Games with Wales Sevens.

Connacht made five changes from the forward pack that started their European Challenge Cup defeat by Gloucester with prop Denis Buckley the only member of the front-five to retain his place. Ireland international centre Bundee Aki was among the other absentees for Connacht.

Ospreys went into half-time armed with a 20-10 lead but they did not have it all their own way in the opening 40 minutes.

The home side were given a cushion early on from the boot of Biggar, who was playing his last home game before he leaves for Northampton.

Biggar kicked penalties after three and 10 minutes to open up a 6-0 lead.

But Ospreys found themselves down to 14 men for 10 minutes when Evans was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.

However, Connacht could not take advantage initially as Hassler ran 70 metres to score Ospreys first try after picking off Eoin Griffins pass. Biggar converted as Ospreys led 13-0 after 11 minutes.

But before Evans sin-bin was over Connacht hit back with a try for Donaldson, who was on while Carty had a concussion test. Donaldson also converted.

Ospreys hit back five minutes later as Evans made up for his yellow card by jinking his way over by the posts after taking Biggars flat pass. Biggar converted.

Connacht had the final say of the half with Carty kicking a penalty from the 22 following a line-out infringement.

And straight after the break Carty had another penalty but missed his chance to cut the deficit to one score.

After that Connachts challenge seemed to disappear as Ospreys scored three more tries.

Otten burrowed his way across in the 53rd minute after Dan Biggar took a quick penalty and Beck went over for the bonus point try just after the hour mark. Both tries were converted by Biggar to see Ospreys lead 34-10.

After Tom Habberfield had a try disallowed for a forward pass from Hassler, Ospreys found the try line again when Dirksen went over in the left corner, but Biggar missed the extras.
Its difficult to recall a period in the past which was similar to the past few weeks where the attention of the Sri Lankan general population was on social media and the internet. This was because of a temporary ban on social media, brought upon due to a lot of hate mail and visuals posted on this type of media which was threatening the peace in the country. The ban was extended to such a level that some even sought the assistance of the law, claiming it was a violation of human rights. In our attempt to reminisce and analyse this blackout of social media we decided to obtain the views of Dr. Kosala Amaranayake, MBBS, MD (Psychiatry) Consultant psychiatrist, Lecturer at the Teaching Hospital Peradeniya and Department of Psychiatry and Faculty of Medicine, Peradeniya.



Q Is there any good in social media ?



One can argue that there is no good at all in social media. However in a superficial outlook people tend to infer that there are more advantages in social media than disadvantages. For example if you want to get hold of a childhood friend that you havent seen for years, all it takes is a matter of a few seconds of doing a search and one can locate this friend in social media. These efforts can be followed by sending a friend request. If the friend is operating under his true name, definitely you will find the friend on the social media within seconds. Then if you want to send a message you can send it within a fraction of a second. Not just the message if you wish to send that particular person a photo of yourself, you can use your phone with high definition camera and send a high quality photograph. However if social media is used responsibly only for the above reasons there is no doubt that there are more advantages compared to disadvantages in using social media. However is this the real picture of social media today?



Q Can someone be addicted to social media? Is it an illness?



Some of the recent research studies reveal that people can be addicted to social media. But the recent classification systems of psychiatric disorders (ICD 10 and DSM 5) do not categorize these kinds of addictions as illnesses. However there are enough reports which suggest that some who are addicted to social media and the internet are being treated by psychiatrists considering the harmful effects caused by such tools in communication to the user.



If you want to check whether you have issues with social media, internet or to find out whether these tools have affected your life, ask the following question from yourself ?

Are you obsessed with thoughts of using social media ?

Has the time you spend with social media increased over time ?

Do you use social media despite knowing its harmful effects?

Do you feel lonely when you dont use social media ?

Do you neglect other alternative pleasurable activities to use social media?

Do you use social media to distract your loneliness?

Do you find it difficult to stop having access to social media ?

If your answer is yes to many of these questions there is a high possibility that you are negatively affected by social media or Internet.



Q What are the negative effects of social media?



American Journal of Preventive medicine reports that people who use social media more often are more likely to be isolated in society. The Forbes journal reports that social media stimulates the feeling of sadness in many folds compared to the feeling of happiness. And at the same time it reports that social media curbs the skill of assessing the success of life correctly due to the fact that social media, most of the time, over estimates your achievements and underestimate your weaknesses.



Many researchers worldwide report the detrimental effects of social media on children and adolescents. Sabatini and Sarracino from Italy report their research findings by using 50,000 social media users. They have come to the conclusion that people who use social media more often lose the trust they have in society.



On the other hand people who excessively use social media may be having psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety disorders for which they are using social media to cope up with the symptoms of these mental conditions.



The electronic equipment used to access social media like computers, smartphones, tabs are an integral part of social media. Childhood and the adolescent period are the times that children acquire life skills. Therefore whatever negative effects their psychological development brings during this period can badly affect their whole life.



When there was no social media or electronic equipment, children used to spend time with their parents, peers, siblings or the environment. This led them to acquire new social skills and improve existing skills. It is a known fact that the new generation of children and adolescent are spending most of their time with electronic equipment. This leads to poor development of physical as well as psychological skills leading to physical disorders like diabetes and psychological disorders like depression, anxiety disorders and etc.



Poor impulse control is a major contributing factor of various types of problems seen in the modern society. This can range from a simple road traffic accident to a murder. Some of the studies revealed that social media, computer games and the internet can have negative effects on impulse control. These effects can be either direct or indirect.



Some studies identify anger in people who use violent games. These past times cause changes in the brain anger control centres. On the other hand the patience we acquired from waiting till the postman delivers the letters to the doorstep has vanished with the technological development. Now we are used to getting a reply in the form of a message, email or as a post on social media in double quick time. Some researchers hypothesize that these effects can impair a persons ability to control anger.



The child who watches or experiences the violent character in the computer games or cartoons he or she watches, tries to mimic it. The shooting incidences occurring in most of the countries around the world provide good examples of these effects. Most of the countries are now in the process of making legislations either to ban or control violent cartoons, computer games etc.



Due to lack of experience and considering only a limited number of factors when they make decisions, children tend to draw wrong conclusions and try to believe fully in what they see. Some capitalise on this psychological concept and operate with fake profiles in social media and to abuse children physically and psychologically.



Q If you or your child is addicted to social media or using electronic equipment what must you do?

Set the maximum time limit to one hour of using electronic equipment if your child is between 6 years and 12 years

Set the maximum time limit to half an hour of using electronic equipment if your child is between 2 years and 6 years

Do not allow children under 2 years to use such equipment

Dont use your smartphone to ease the feeding of the child

Always let children use the electronic equipment with Parental Control option.

Dont allow children to be isolated with electronic equipment and always make them use it under supervision.

Do not allow children at all to watch violent content in films, cartoons, social media or in games

Q What message would you give to the public on the careful use of social media?

Limit the time you spend on social media

Have self control when using social media

Do not post all your activities on social media

Be cautious when you communicate through social media, specially when you are depressed and anxious

Do not watch violent, impulsive content on social media

Do not believe everything as it is when you see something on social media

Do not believe what you see in social media as the reality

Always think that excessive social media usage is a waste of time

Do not compare your life with what you see in the social media.

Minimize exposing your personal life matters through social media

The recent advancements in technology, the use of social media and the electronic equipment has been rapid. Using them without control leads to various physical and psychological consequences. If you are cautious and use them with control the detrimental effects of using social media and electronic equipment can be minimized. Dr. Amaranayake concludes this discussion leaving you to carefully think over whether the advancement of the technology has presented you with advantages or disadvantages.
It has taken me six months to muster enough courage and get into the right frame of mind to pen a few lines in memory of my late father, Major General (Retd) Duleep Justin De Silva Wickremanayake psc. rcds.



My father passed away peacefully in Sydney, Australia on September 29, 2017. He lived a life full of joy, happiness, care and integrity. Thatha would always remark that his biggest achievement and best asset in life was his family. He loved his wife, his children, grandchildren and one great grandchild.



Although we were blessed to have our father with us for 87 years, my father never enjoyed the love of his own father. My grandfather, Justin De Silva Wickremanayake, passed away when Thatha was only 10 months old. After his demise, my very young grandmother, Violet De Silva Wickremanayake, remarried a wonderful man who became a surrogate father to Thatha. Kaleani Seeya, Uyanage Robinson De Silva as we used to call him, was a gentleman who made sure Thatha never felt the loss of his father. He ensured his love and support to Thatha at all times.

Thatha, as I see your smiling face looking down at me across my work desk, my heart is heavy with pain and my eyes are filled with love and admiration for you



Despite the loss of his father at such a young age, Thatha was an absolute role model when it came to fatherhood. He was a great provider, mentor and motivator for all of his children. We were fortunate to grow up under the love and guidance of our father and mother. We enjoyed our younger days roaming carefree around the various Army quarters in Panagoda and Diyatalawa. Thatha ensured we learnt the basics and encouraged us to follow our dreams and passion in whatever we did. Thatha made sure we grew up appreciating what we had and instilled in all of us the values of humility, respect, honesty, integrity and above all, love.

Thatha enjoyed his life but always made sure we were taken care of. We were never left wanting for anything, as he would make sure we had everything we needed.

As for every child, to me my father is my hero and he could do no wrong. I remember waiting for him to come home so I could try his uniform and walk around the Army quarters parading in my fathers cap and uniform tunic top. I am sure my mother would agree that its an understatement to say I was a handful when I was growing up. As a result, my mother would pack me off to the camp for the day with my father on most days, also whenever he visited outstation camps. I loved it! Thatha was a great host and he took good care of me allowing me to roam around the camp under the watchful eye of his driver or a nominated soldier. Needless to say, they took good care of me and the highlight of the day was riding in the back of Army trucks, watching the parades and of course having lunch at the Army Officers Mess.

These are some of my most cherished memories which contributed to me wanting to emulate my father and follow his footsteps in joining the Sri Lanka Army.

This dream came true when I joined the Sri Lanka Army in March 1984 as a young Officer Cadet with my fathers blessings, encouragement and support. Unfortunately, I left early and I am sure, although my father never said it, he was happy to see me do well in my chosen field; though he would have liked to have seen me as a senior officer in the Sri Lankan Army.

Thatha was a fierce fighter for justice and he fought and won many benefits still enjoyed by our gallant officers and soldiers in the Army



My father unconditionally loved his Army, his regiment (4th Artillery) and everything to do with the Army. Thatha was the ultimate officer and gentleman who was renowned for his no-nonsense approach, logical thinking, dedication, loyalty and calmness. Recently, I met a retired Army General who was full of praise for Thatha and referred to him as their God at the time. This was because of the trust they had in my father as a man who always did the right thing by everyone. This officer was not alone, as we have had many touching tributes paid to my father during and after the funeral by many retired and serving senior Army officers and others.

As a family, we were immensely proud of Thatha and his many achievements during his distinguished career at Ananda College, in the Army and in Australia. He was a humble man who, after leaving Sri Lanka, managed to join the Veteran Affairs Department in Australia. Thatha was sharp and intelligent; he used to get 100 out of 100 for most of the public-sector exams he participated in at the department. As a result, he rose to the top as one of the highest ranking public service officials. In my view, this simple act showed great character for a man of his stature to pursue another career after a stellar 29-year career with the Sri Lankan Army. He showed us that nothing is impossible and Thatha worked till he was 65 years old; the official retirement age in Australia.



This article is not intended to highlight my fathers many accomplishments. As his son, it is simply my way of expressing the love and gratitude I have for my father and to help us with the grieving process in coming to terms with the loss of such a wonderful husband and father.



Having said that, I want to conclude this article with a small reminder of the type of man my father was and how respected he was as an Officer and a Gentleman.

Thatha was a fierce fighter for justice and he fought and won many benefits still enjoyed by our gallant officers and soldiers in the Army. In fact, at my fathers funeral, the following was mentioned in the Part 1 Order issued by the Adjutant General of the Army (my friend and batch mate Major General Shavendra Silva) and which, in my view, encapsulates what a brilliant man my father was.



Maj. General Wickremanayake was a source of encouragement and inspiration to the Officers and Other Ranks of the Army. He was always held in high esteem by his peers and colleagues for his absolute integrity and honesty. His name is written in the history of the Regiment of Artillery as the 5th Commanding Officer of the 4th Field Regiment of Sri Lanka Artillery. Apart from that he commanded the Corps of Military Police as the 3rd Commanding Officer of the 1st Ceylon Corps of Military Police. He, as the Director Personnel Administration and Director Operations and Training of the Army had enormously contributed in formulating many Training Programmes, Regulations and Orders for the smooth functioning of the Army. Further, his visionary thinking as a field commander and a principal staff officer, contributed immensely to uplift the state of morale and wellbeing of the members of the Army

Thatha was the ultimate officer and gentleman who was renowned for his no-nonsense approach, logical thinking, dedication, loyalty and calmness

Thatha, as I see your smiling face looking down at me across my work desk, my heart is heavy with pain and my eyes are filled with love and admiration for you. I want you to know that you were and will always be my hero! Thatha, I wish I was half the man you were and I, along with Amma, Roshan Aiya, Deso Akki, Ingi Akki and Hiran will miss you and remember you every day for the rest of our lives.



Thank you for making me the man I am today and the life you provided for us.



May you Attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana



Your loving son Dinesh



Dinesh Wickremanayake, Managing Director, WNS Global Services, Sri Lanka
In a bid to enforce registration of all tourism industry service providers in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) has deployed a new cyber tool to track accommodation providers operating without SLTDA valid licence.



This tool scans publicly available online data about tourism businesses and cross-checks them with the Business Licensing Platform run by the state tourism authority.



At the initial stage, the SLTDA will send warning letters to the unregistered tourism-related businesses in Sri Lanka and direct them to register with its

licensing platform.

If these businesses continue to operate without a license, the SLTDA will then transfer their information to the newly established Enforcement Unit of the SLTDA for further legal action.



The SLTDA has already introduced a new online registration service from the beginning of April this year, giving five months notice to the industry of its move to go fully digital.



Currently, over 6,000 establishments have registered with the SLTDA, including star-class hotels, guest houses, travel agents, restaurants, home stays, bungalows, boat operators, tour guides, chauffeur guides, jeep operators, etc., with a total of 35,000 rooms.



Registration of all tourism related service providers in Sri Lanka is a mandatory requirement under the Tourism Act.
Personally Im a coward. Im unlikely ever to be a hero. (I have rescued on different occasions three young children from drowning, but I didnt risk my life.) I certainly would never have done what Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, the French policeman, did. He asked the terrorist who had taken over a supermarket if he could substitute himself for the female hostage he held. The terrorist agreed and then murdered him. Last Wednesday Beltrame was given a state funeral. The Moroccan terrorist who appears to be a supporter of ISIS is in jail, awaiting trial.



Islamic terrorism has hit France particularly hard. In the last few years it has claimed over 300 lives in France and neighbouring, French-speaking, Belgium. Compare this with the US where murders committed by Islamic-minded terrorists were only eight in 2017 yet white men murdering schoolchildren en masse has almost become a sport. In Britain where there was more (35) the number is much less than the French.



In France most of the assassins have been locals although many of them have worked for ISIS abroad. They can be the most dangerous. However, most returnees seem to want to give up violence and settle down.

One result of the failure has been the rise in politics of the xenophobic right, personified by Marin Le Pens National Front

A good proportion of the French electorate would like to see the doors totally closed to new immigrants, even if they are refugees from war. The government doesnt go this far, recognizing that the terrorists are not new arrivals but second or third generation sons of migrants who have not been properly educated, brought up in third-rate housing far from amenities, and jobless.



Like other countries in Europe the French have long believed in multiculturalism. This means as a foreigner you can live where you want, and group together with members of your own nationality. This has had the effect of cutting immigrants off from the mainstream. In France it has usurped laicite, the traditional French republican ideal of civic secularism. Apart from banning the full body covering of the burka, worn by a few female immigrants, often under pressure from their husbands, the French government has only modest results to show for its effort to stand up for its principles.



But there is a need for fighting back and winning back lost ground, necessary now after the failure of multiculturalism. What is needed if the fight is to succeed is integration, (as the Supreme Court in America recognized 53 years ago with its banning of white-only schools. Regrettably it has only been partially enforced.)



One result of the failure has been the rise in politics of the xenophobic right, personified by Marin Le Pens National Front. Apart from recruiting white racists the extreme right has fuelled the rise of Muslim identity politics.



Now a few countries in Europe are changing course to integration. In Sweden there is a policy to disperse new arrivals around the country. Language and cultural tuition is compulsory, including emphasis on the rights of women. They have to fit in, not join the old de-facto ghettos. In Finland there are special programmes for women- to get them out of the house, where many men like to keep them, into normal working life outside. France has been, belatedly and too slowly, pushing integration.

But there is a need for fighting back and winning back lost ground, necessary now after the failure of multiculturalism.

Good, but what to do about immigrants already here? In France there has been the emergence of ultra-conservative Salafi enclaves which have bred violent Islamists and have encouraged confrontation with the French authorities. Lax government supervision of mosques has allowed non-Francophonic imams to preach on the evils of French society.



The main push to counter Islamic extremism must be to reach those whose minds are closed to the tenets of French society because of the geography of where they live, combined with the fury that comes from young people with no prospects.

Now a few countries in Europe are changing course to integration. In Sweden there is a policy to disperse new arrivals around the country

In France the right, as in the UK and the US, has stirred the pot of discrimination, highlighting the crime rate and the lack of effort of young men to find jobs. For its part the left has defended the right of immigrants to live where they want and how they want. French Muslims are seen as the victims of Islamophobia- which they too often are- but they are also victims of the laissez-faire (live and let be) policies of successive governments.



The election of Emmanuel Macron as president was a victory for the centre, a necessary step for France, not just because of the immigrant question but because of economic and other social issues too.



It will be a long haul to put society right again, to break up the ghettos, to build good housing and schools, to find imaginative ways to give the young unemployed jobs and to give the security services the resources to monitor would-be terrorists. There is no easy answer to the knife that killed Arnaud Beltrame.



For 17 years, the writer was a foreign affairs columnist and commentator for the International Herald Tribune/New York Times.
This is a journey we are undertaking as partners  INTA Standing Rapporteur

Says certain political elements trying to mislead public on EUs role in SL

From left: Visiting European Parliament Committee on International Trade Chairperson Jan Zahradil, EU Ambassador for Sri Lanka and Maldives Tung-Lai Margue and INTA Standing Rapporteur for South Asia Sajjad Karim

Pic by Pradeep Pathirana



By Shabiya Ali Ahlam

A delegation of the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA) currently in Colombo stressed that the European Union (EU) demand nothing from Sri Lanka and assistance would only be extended if the island nation is willing to accept such.



They said it is important to dispel the myth that Sri Lanka is being compelled by external parties to meet certain demands.



The language is very important. We have heard the use of the phrase in parliamentary debates that the EU demands. We demand nothing.



This is a journey we are undertaking as partners; as equal partners with Sri Lanka in order to arrive ultimately at a place where we have a strong, open, vibrant, and tolerant Sri Lankaa Sri Lanka that is providing opportunities for its citizens and is raising living standards, INTA Standing Rapporteur for South Asia Sajjad Karim told reporters in Colombo.



He said it is quite clear to the EU that certain sections of the political discourse in Sri Lanka want to put in the minds of the general public that there are demands that are being made by the EU and possibly elsewhere as well.



Karim stated that to take the economy to the next level, Sri Lanka wants to lift its standards for itself and the EU is of the view that the people of Sri Lanka are committed to raising their own standards, the countrys standards and thereby their living standards.



Strengthening the EUs message to Sri Lanka was also the delegation head Jan Zahradil who stressed that the EU comes to Sri Lanka as friends, allies and as partners.



We are keen to cooperate with Sri Lanka to keep GSP Plus alive. We are certain it will happen. We are not here to master anyone, teach anyone or headline any newspaper that this is another EU scrutiny on Sri Lanka. We are not here for that. We are here to communicate, if necessary to help and assist, said Zahradil.

The six-member INTA delegation arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday to follow up on Sri Lankas commitments made in exchange for access to the EU market through the GSP Plus scheme.



Their tone was certainly different from the tone of the 4-member delegation of the European Parliament that visited Sri Lanka last November, who expressed disappointment over the pace of Sri Lankas political reform process in return for having the GSP Plus reinstated.



The INTA delegation however said they were pleased to note that the trade between Sri Lanka and the EU now has a positive trajectory.



They also pointed out the need for further progress in implementing the international human rights conventions and labour conditions relevant to GSP Plus.



The delegation met with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and other key figures in the government which included Speaker of Parliament, Opposition Leader, Minister of Trade and Development, Minister of Law and Order and Minister of Labour.
A main political party was in a position to easily take control of a mini-governing body in an area of rock-city fame because it commanded the majority in it, but it had lost the chair of the body to a party that had returned a lesser number of members, they say.



The rival Pohottuwa group was able to grab the chair of this local body due to the majority group woefully riven by dissention failed to field a unanimous choice for the chair.



The in-fighting in the majority group had started when a deputy purohita wielded his clout to have his wife elected to the chair which had sparked off immediate objections from some other members of the group who themselves were eyeing the position.



Finally, when the vote was taken, a dark horse from Pohottuwa won the chair.



Meanwhile, the activists of the majority groups political party are reportedly berating the members they returned to the mini-governing body using strong terms for turning the victory they offered them into a debacle.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) is welcomed by Frances Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as they attend the international CEDRE conference in Paris

AFP: International donors are set to pledge billions of dollars in aid and development loans for Lebanon at a conference in Paris yesterday, hoping to stave off an economic and humanitarian crisis.



Lebanons economic growth has plummeted due to repeated political crises, compounded by the Syrian war which has sent a million refugees across the border -- equivalent to a quarter of the Lebanese population before the conflict.



Some 40 countries have sent representatives to the CEDRE conference along with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where they are aiming to put together a package worth US$10 billion over four years.



French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian kicked off the conference Friday by announcing that France would provide 550 million euros (US$675 million), saying the contribution reflected the level of our ambitions in Lebanon. In a Middle East shaken by crises, wounded by civil wars, Lebanon remains the model of pluralism, tolerance and openness which we need, he said.



But Lebanon is not an island. Its borne the full force of regional tensions and the Syria crisis. It combats terrorism on its borders and in its own country, and with more than a million refugees, it has taken more than its share of the Syrian exodus, he said.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron, who will close the conference, said donors were set to approve an investment plan that would notably pour cash into Lebanons creaking infrastructure.



Le Drians entourage said this week that the investment plan would total an initial US$10.1 billion over four years, rising to US $23 billion over 12 years.

Officials in the office of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is attending the conference, said Lebanon was hoping to raise US$6 billion to US$7 billion, with private investors funding the rest of the initial phase.



France held mandate power over Lebanon for the first half of the 20th century and Macron has sought an active role in ensuring its stability, intervening after Hariris shock resignation in November 2017, a move he later withdrew.



The Paris conference comes as Lebanon gears up for its first general elections in almost a decade in May, after parliament renewed its own mandate three times since 2009.



Parliament last week adopted a 2018 government budget, projecting a deficit of US$4.8 billion more than double the deficit in 2011, when Syrias war started.

Economists say the state urgently needs to reduce its spending to avert a crisis.



But public services such as water supplies, electricity and waste management have suffered huge underinvestment.



The political idea behind (the investment plan) is that the Lebanese state could be able to provide services and infrastructure to the public, rather than others, an aide to Le Drian said, referring to the powerful Hezbollah Shiite movement.



Macrons office said Saudi Arabia, widely believed to have pushed Hariri to announce his resignation in November, had sent positive signals in terms of whether it will participate in the conference.



Riyadhs great regional rival Iran, which backs Hezbollah, has in contrast not been invited.



Lebanon will for its part sign up to a string of reforms including tougher measures to fight corruption as well as tighter regulation of the transport and telecoms sectors.

It will also have to find ways of reducing a massive budget deficit equivalent to more than 10 percent of GDP.



Everyone is well aware that these investments will not work unless they are accompanied by major structural reforms, Macrons office said.
The Colombo Fort Magistrate today issued notices on four individual suspects and a Ukrainian and Singapore business institutions during the magisterial inquiry on the US$14 million loss caused to the government when purchasing four Ukrainebuilt MiG 27 aircraft in 2006.

Among the suspects named in the report filed by FCID were two Singaporeans, two Ukrainians and a Ukrainian and Singaporean business entities. FCID requested court to direct the suspects to report to the FCID to record further statements.

Based on the evidence filed in Court, Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne observed that the two institutions and the suspects appeared to be directly involved in the MIG 27 transaction and as such the Court could consider issuing notices despite questions on the jurisdiction of the Court in issuing notices on foreign individuals.

Notices were issued on Singaporeans T.S. Lee and N.G. Lay Kim and Ukrainians  D.A. Peregudov and Mykola Kulayrkaiv and Belimsa Holdings and D.S. Alliance.

The case was fixed for June 29.

Earlier, the FCID confirmed the arrest of the first suspect, former ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga and told Court that the steps were being taken through the Foreign Affairs Ministry to bring him to Sri Lanka. (Yoshitha Perera and Shehan Chamika Silva)
New director board hopes to return the airline to black within 3 years

Currently studying restructuring plans by airline consultant Nyras

Implies focus now is on breaking even and not finding strategic partners

Says negotiating directly with Airbus to cancel orders for A350s

From left: National Public Private Partnership Agency Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe, SriLankan Directors Susantha Katugampala, Mano Tittawella, Ranjit Fernando (Chairman), Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathi and Dr.Roshan Perara

Pic by Samantha Perera

By Chandeepa Wettasinghe

The national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, which is running at massive losses, is hoping to return to profitability in three years according to the new director board, which was appointed this week following the resignation of the previous directors.



In 2-3 years, we hope to make it into a profitable entity. Based on our experience in management, its a challenge, but were hoping to meet the challenge and succeed, SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ranjit Fernando, a former banker told reporters in Colombo yesterday.



Speaking at the first media briefing held at the airline headquarters following the board change, he said the airline had incurred a loss of US$ 100 million for the2016/17 financial year, which ended last week. Higher oil prices had contributed to the poor performance.



The budgeted loss for this year is between US$ 140-160 million, which is unacceptable, Fernando added.



However, a restructuring plan has been submitted by the airline consultants Nyras, and the board is evaluating the proposals which could begin implementation within the next two months, according to Fernando.



He said that he cannot specify by how much the loss could be cut down this year if the restructuring plan is implemented.

SriLankan Director Mano Tittawella, who is currently an advisor to the Finance Ministry and the Treasurythe airlines main shareholdersaid SriLankan would for now focus itself on becoming profitable instead of searching for a strategic partner like it did over the last two years.



Were not at that stage, but we will study when to go for a strategic partnership, he said.



The restructuring will take into account every facet of the company, including finance, human resources, aircraft and routes.



With US$ 750 million in debt guaranteed by the Treasury and US$ 400 million in negative net worth, Tittawella said that the Treasury is willing to invest in SriLankan and ease the debt burden if the airline can deliver mid to long term returns.



We will have to determine what sort of Treasury support will be given, he said, stopping short of explaining the issue in greater detail, while also failing to outline the Treasurys contingency plan, despite boasting that it has one in case the restructuring fails.



Fernando meanwhile added that the 7,000 strong work force may have to be downsized to 5,000.



With 7,000 staff, the airline is terribly overstaffed. With 2,000 excess people, you cant run a profitable airline, he said, noting that lengthy discussions, humane treatment and attractive severance packages would be extended in order to persuade the powerful trade unions to agree with these hard choices.



He said that the new board, which has no airline management experience, would depend on consultants and the top management to help steer the airline in the right direction, and if the top management cannot meet the targets set by the board, it would replace them.



Many in the management have been with the airline from 2008 to 2014, when SriLankan was transformed from a profitable venture to one of the publics biggest burdens.



Fernando also explained that according to the consultants, most of SriLankans aircraft have been purchased or leased at much higher prices than the market prices, and that continuing payments to the lessors and sellers only serves to provide them with super profits.



It would have been fine if the difference was one or two percent. We have paid much more than 20 percent of the market price, he said, pledging to renegotiate all such contracts.



Fernando further added that many of the wide-bodied aircraft in the fleet are not suited for the routes currently in operation which could be plied at lower cost with narrow-bodied aircraft.



A US$ 720 million contract with Airbus to acquire four Airbus A350 is currently close to being cancelled at no cost to the airline, according to National Public Private Partnership Agency Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe, who was also present at the media briefing yesterday.



The lease of four similar aircraft was cancelled recently at a cost of US$ 115 million to the airline. Both these contracts were signed in 2014.



Meanwhile, decisions taken by the previous board such as making SriLankan into a regional airline will also be revisited during the restructuring, Fernando said.

He said that past action of employees, top management and former directors which had contributed to the airlines downfall would not be looked into by the new board, but left for the Presidential Commission set up for this purpose by the President.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe has given his consent to ten conditions proposed by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), to apparently please the Tamil Diaspora, former MP and retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera alleged yesterday.

He told the Daily Mirror that one of the main conditions was to draft a new constitution which would make Sri Lanka a federal State.

The tactics of the PM would divide the country and Mr. Wickremesinghe is betraying the country by giving priority to condition put forward by the TNA. It became evident how strong the relationship between the TNA and Premier Wickremesinghe when the TNA voted against the no-faith Motion against him, Mr. Weerasekera claimed.

It is a shame to say that TNA being the official opposition party in Parliament, is voting in favour of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe against whom several allegations have been levelled pertaining to the controversial Central Bank bond scam, he added.

Meanwhile, he said all the members of Parliament who voted in favour of the PM, should bear the responsibility for any actions of the Mr. Wickremesinghe in future.

All the members who voted against the No faith motion are not honest and if there had been enough honest politicians in Parliament, the PM should have been removed, he said. (Sheain Fernandopulle)
President Maithripala Sirisena has reportedly asked the SLFP Ministers and Deputy Ministers who voted for the no-confidence motion not to quit the government.

Social Empowerment and Welfare Minister S.B. Dissanayake told the Daily Mirror that the President asked all of them to remain in the government. Those government members who voted for the motion met the President yesterday morning.

Labour and Trade Union Relations Minister John Seneviratne said he, along with others, met the President and expressed their desire to relinquish their ministerial portfolios. He said he and his colleagues voted for the motion in keeping with a decision taken by the party as a whole.

However, the Minister did not want any of them to leave the government at this hour.

We will discuss the Presidents request and take a decision accordingly, he said.

During the vote, 16 SLFP Ministers, Deputy Ministers and State Ministers voted for the motion along with the Join Opposition which moved the motion. (Kelum Bandara)
Addressing the first media conference after Wednesdays no-confidence motion which produced conflicts within conflicts, divisions within divisions and crises within crises, President Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday he did not get directly involved in the motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.



Apparently trying to prevent further splits or friction, the President told editors and other senior journalists he had met leaders or representatives of all parties and told them his only interest was that the United National Front government, the joint opposition and its Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, needed to show a majority in parliament.



The UNF supported by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya clearly showed its majority with 122 members voting against the no-confidence motion and 76 in favour with 26 abstentions. Significantly, though the SLPP motion was signed by 51 of its members along with four SLFP members, at voting time 76 members voted for the motion. That means 21 SLFP members including ministers, state and deputy ministers voted for the motion. Equally significant was the fact that among the 26 absentees were about 20 SLFP members including Senior Ministers. Before the vote on the no confidence-motion, the joint opposition comprising SLFP dissidents had 51 MPs and there were 44 in the pro-Sirisena camp. Now the presidents support base has been split in two again with UNP backbenchers saying they would move a no-confidence motion in parliament against SLFP ministers, state and deputy ministers who voted for the motion against the Prime Minister. Some 22 UNP backbenchers had reportedly signed no confidence motions against six SLFP ministers and deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala who had voted against the Premier and motions were presented to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday evening. But the government announced last night that the Prime Minister had asked them to withdraw the motions because they had not been approved by the UNP Parliamentary group. This was seen by analysts as a good move towards compromise and an act of magnanimity by the UNP in its hour of victory.



According to reports, the President had met the Prime Minister on Thursday for what hopefully was a friendly dialogue, with Mr. Wickremesinghe suggesting the yahapalana government should revive the mandate received from the people at the historic presidential election on January 8, 2015. At that election Mr. Sirisena, who dramatically pulled out of the SLFP in November 2014 had only three SLFP MPs supporting him, though President Chandrika Banadaranaike Kumaratunga  who negotiated the historic turn of events with Mr. Wickremesinghe -- had promised that about 30 to 40 SLFP MPs would support the Democratic Peoples Alliance under which Mr. Sirisena contested the election. Reports say Mr Wickremesinghe had asked Ms. Kumaratunga one important question, can you trust him (Mr Sirisena) she said a clear-cut yes and history was changed.



Most analysts say they hope that the trust  which was broken to a large extent in the weeks and months before the no-confidence motion  would now be restored so that the Yahapalana government would continue with the support of the minority parties and the SLFP frontliners who are loyal to the President. Among the SLFP frontliners who did not vote against the Prime Minister and are likely to remain in the UNP-SLFP cabinet are the partys general secretary Duminda Dissanayaka, Sarath Amunugama, Faizer Musthapha, Nimal Siripala De Silva, Wijithamuni de Soyza, Piyasena Gamage, A.H.M.Fowze, Lakshman Seneviratne, M.L.A.M. Hisbullah, Mahinda Amaraweera and Mahinda Samarasinghe. Among the ministers who voted against the Prime Minister were S.B. Dissanayaka, Susil Premajayantha, Dayasiri Jayasekara and W.D.J. Senaviratne. The UNP is making a strong appeal for their removal from the Cabinet.



Whatever the Cabinet changes, we hope the ministers and MPs will also experience a change of attitude. They need to make a resolution or even pass a motion that they will serve the people with honesty and integrity in an unselfish and sincere manner without getting involved in large scale corruption, bribery or other political crimes. If this sincere and selfless service is seen and if the politicians realise they are servants of the people, then during the next two years Sri Lanka could take major steps towards reaching sustainable, eco-friendly development with the vision of building a peaceful, just and all inclusive society.
The shareholders of Property Development PLC (PDL) have shot down an attempt to delist company shares from Colombo Stock Exchanges (CSE) official list.

PDL in a stock market filing said a resolution towards delisting the shares of the company was not duly passed by the shareholders at an Extra Ordinary General Meeting held on Wednesday.



The principle business activity of PDL is to own, maintain and manage the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) headquarters building, which the company has rented

out to BOC.

The minority shareholders of PDL were said to have recently raised some concerns about the rental rates the company had been charging from BOC, which they had claimed, were below the market rates.



PDL also has interest in the mini-hydropower sector through its subsidiary Koladeniya Hydropower (Pvt) Limited.



A stock market filing on February 9 communicated to the market a decision made by the PDL director board to de-list the shares of the company subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.



The same filing said the BOC, the majority shareholder of PDL holding 95.55 percent of the company offered to acquire the shares of the minority shareholders who may wish to divest at a price of Rs.123 per share.
Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison by the Seoul Central District Court after she was found guilty of corruption, Al-Jazeera reported today.

The former president was found guilty of several corruption charges, abuse of power and coercion in a verdict issued on Friday. She was also fined $16m.

It was alleged in the trial that Park, 66, colluded with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, and a former presidential aide, in pressuring big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

She was also charged for soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favours.

Park was acquitted in at least two of the charges, including abuse of power relating to forcing Hyundai automobile company to run ads for the company owned by Choi.

South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported that Park did not appear in the sentencing trial.

She has been in prison for more than a year, but has refused to appear in court for most of her hearings.

In December 2016, South Korean lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park, but she refused to resign offering instead an apology while denying any legal wrongdoing.

Three months later, the eight-member Constitutional Court then voted unanimously to remove her from office.

She was charged and detained soon after her dismissal from office.

She is the daughter of another president, Park Chung-hee, who seized power in 1961 and was assassinated eight years later.
Three Royal Thai Naval Ships; HTMS Bangpakong, Makutrajakumarn and Pattani arrived at the port of Colombo on a training and goodwill visit yesterday. Sri Lanka Navy welcomed the visiting ships in accordance with naval traditions upon their arrival.
By Karen DeYoung, Shane Harris (c) 2018, The Washington Post Apr 05, 2018



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.

In a meeting with top national security aides Tuesday, Trump backtracked on his public insistence that the troop exit was imminent



Trump agreed that the military, as they continued fighting against remaining militant pockets, could train local security forces.
Social activist Anna Hazare today claimed that "vested interests" were trying to tarnish his image by linking him and his agitation for Lokpal in Delhi last month with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).



Hazare ended his six-day hunger strike at Ramlila Maidan on March 29 after the Centre gave him assurance on fair crop prices for farmers and appointment of Lokpal and electoral reforms.

"A racket is operating with the sole objective of maligning my image by making such baseless allegations," he said.

"Vested interests are trying to malign me and my movement," he added.

Hazare rubbished reports linking activist Kalpana Inamdar, who was included in the 20-member National Core Committee ahead of the March 23 agitation in Delhi, to Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a rightwing advocate of Hindu nationalism, who shot dead Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi on January 30, 1948.

"Inamdar was linked to Godse as part of a conspiracy to defame the movement led by me," Hazare said in a statement.

He also rejected reports that Inamdar was the "main organiser" of the agitation in Delhi. "She was not handed over the charge of the stir. As per allocation of work, she volunteered to handle stage arrangements," he said.

Hazare said he has been fighting for issues related to the common man, and not for issues related to any political party or group, for the past 25 years.

The social activist said he will consult lawyers to take legal action against those who spread such "fake news".
Actor Salman Khan who is currently lodged in Jodhpur's Central Jail is facing uncomfortable moments inside.



As per the insiders in jail, Salman Khan, who was given tag of Qaidi No 106 was unable to sleep till 2 AM in the night. "Everyone knows that he is used to the lavish lifestyle, which is why he was unable to sleep. He lied down on blankets spread on the floor. He hardly slept. At 6 am in the morning, the sound of siren woke him up" a Jail official told DH.

Salman also Known for being a fitness freak continued his routine by walking into the barrack on Friday morning. Post-walk actor had milk and moong ki daal in his breakfast offered by jail staff.

On Thursday night after Salman was lodged in Barrack No 2, his bodyguard Shera had handed over bermudas and mosquito repellent to the jailer, which actor wore throughout the night. He had sabzi and chapatti in dinner.



The actor reached allotted a barrack next to the self-styled Godman Asaram Bapu who is also housed in the same jail after being convicted of rape.

Speaking to DH, Jodhpur Central Jail Superintendent Vikram Singh said, "No special arrangements have been made for the actor. We have allotted him Barrack No 2, which is adjacent to Asaram's barrack". Before his lawyer applies for bail on Friday, the barrack where Salman will spend a has no cooler or AC - only a fan to comfort the 52-year-old superstar. Moreover, the actor will be using a common toilet, which as per the jailer is clean enough.



When asked about the internal security in the jail as it houses few aides of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi who had threatened to harm Salman, Singh said, "We will provide him extra security inside the jail, in case it is needed".

Salman returns to the same jail he spent one week in 2007:

In August 2007 Salman Khan had spent a week in the same Jodhpur Central Jail after Rajasthan High Court sentenced him to five years in prison, under the Arms Act which was suspended a week later on his appeal.

At present, the Jodhpur Central Jail houses self-styled Godman Asaram Bapu and former MLA Mahipal Maderna, a convict in Bhanwari Devi sex scandal and Shambulal Regar - infamous for the murder of Muslim labourer Afrazul which he had video-recorded

The central jail was recently in the news for a major security breach after Shambulal Regar -posted hate videos online from the jail premises.
The Congress today gave a notice for breach of privilege against Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar for misleading the Lok Sabha over continued disruptions by naming its top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.



The notice was given by Congress leader K C Venugopal to the Lok Sabha Speaker today in which he also accused the government of not being interested in running the House.

I would kindly like to submit a breach of privilege notice against Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar for misleading the House in particular and the people of the country in general regarding the ongoing disruption in the Lok Sabha, the notice said.

The Congress and the entire opposition is keen to hold a discussion on the no-confidence motion and other key national issues, but the government is not showing any inclination and is not interested to discuss important issues such as the banking scam, Venugopal said.

He said as per the custom of the House after a no-confidence motion is moved, it is first taken up but it seems the government is not ready.

He (Kumar) even accused Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi for the disruption in the House by naming them. He has been repeating this accusation for all these days.

"The minister was deliberately misleading the house by naming the Congress leadership, thereby hiding the fact that it was the government who was actually stopping any kind of discussion on these issues including the no-confidence motion, Venugopal said in his notice.

The Congress has been demanding a discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.

Some other parties have also given separate notices of no confidence against the council of ministers.
Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli arrived here on Friday on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with the Indian leadership to boost ties between the two countries.



Oli was received at the airport by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the evening and will hold delegation-level talks on Saturday.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

He will visit the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project there.

Oli will also be conferred with an honorary degree of Doctor of Science at the university.

While congratulating Oli over phone on his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

In February, Oli took charge as Nepal's prime minister for the second time.
It's that time of the year again when all of a sudden it hits you - that whole new year's resolution to hit the gym at the crack of dawn is nothing but a distant memory and your battle with the weighing machine is now down to a cold war. All of a sudden waking up early is the most difficult thing to do, especially when you think of the rest of the day ahead. All of a sudden, it's not the extra pounds that matter but the extra minutes of sleep that count.



Here's a thought to consider: While it could be that you ought to be in the gym, how about, you agree that it's more sensible to sleep and enjoy those extra few minutes instead. Throw that guilt out of the window, and quit the gym before you even begin - if you were meant to go there, you'd already be there. Staying happier matters so much more than spending your waking moments worrying about things you should be doing and aren't.

So maybe not all of us can live in Bhutan with its fascinating Gross Happiness Index, but it could be that we can all get some sort of personal happiness with where we are today. Agreed, happiness depends a lot on what point and where we are in life at that moment, but there is a larger factor that doesn't really depend on what the weather is outside. Today, there is a huge industry that thrives on just the 'happiness factor'. From bestsellers like The How of Happiness, programmes like Happify and Tal-Ben Shahar's Wholebeing Institute, one can learn a lot about what it takes to be happy.

However, maybe it's time we paused for a second. Stop the whole rat race of trying to read too much into everything, and accept happiness for what it really is - a feeling of general well-being and contentment, knowing that life is actually rather good and we're all doing okay. Happiness is clearly a state of mind that can be achieved with just a couple of minor tweaks in the way we look at life. Eating healthier, getting outdoors a little more, looking up from those smart gadgets we own.

It has always been thought that happiness does indeed affect one's health, and a study of a large group of women in the United Kingdom proved just that in a review published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being in July 2017. A group of people was asked to evaluate their lives based on various aspects of physical health over a decade. The ultimate conclusion was, with "almost no doubt," that happiness really can influence health, according to lead author Edward Diener, professor of social psychology at the University of Utah. The review suggested a couple of theories on how this could happen. For instance, happy people tend to take better care of themselves, have their hair cut regularly enough perhaps aside from choosing healthier options like exercising or eating better (with clearly more sleep), as opposed to unhealthy ones.

A well-researched thesis topic, The Happiness Project became a household name in 1996 when the BBC broadcast a QED science documentary called How to be Happy. Three volunteers took part in an eight-week happiness programme called 'Be Happy'. The results, as measured by independent scientists, were outstanding. Professor Michael Argyle, from Oxford University, declared it "a genuine fast-track to happiness." Professor Richard Davidson, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, concluded: "This happiness training not only changes the way you feel; it actually changes the way your brain functions." The programme, originally conceived by Robert Holden, PhD, does confirm, much to our relief that you don't really have to choose. Health and happiness essentially go together, and ultimately 'there is no true health without happiness.'

Jai Krishnan, a project coordinator at The Ashoka Tree, an NGO in Chennai, talks about how "working out isn't something I want to do every day. I enjoy my job and what I do does give me a sense of satisfaction, but eating healthier for a couple of days and generally taking the stairs or being active does contribute to how well my day goes." Maybe there's more to staying healthy and happy at the same time.

Sure there is the odd "laughter is the best medicine" clich, but does that prove really that health and happiness are correlated?

Happy hearts

Maybe love and happiness could actually scientifically be related to matters of the heart, and studies prove they're connected. A paper in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information in 2008 came up with some interesting findings. Of the 76 patients (with known cardiac-related issues) studied, it was found that everyone who rated themselves as happy on a tested day actually had healthier heart rate variability than others tested on that day. Not a life-saving technique clearly, but staying happy could actually keep you healthy.

Sneezing & smiling

Of all the things in the world that are connected, it turns out your immune system gets stronger when you're happier. The NCBI experiment in 2003 had 350 adults exposed to a cold virus in quarantine. Needless to say, those with more positive emotions had a greater resistance to the virus. Maybe smiling more could have you sneezing less.

Less stress & happiness

Life, as my mother told me, is "10% of what life gives you but 90% of how you take it." Sure, we've all had depressing moments of pain and panic, but what actually keeps you going is managing to view life as a 'glass half full' instead of going down. Unhappiness can be literally painful, and stress contributes a fair amount to those migraines and more. Taking life as it comes, learning to count down before you lose the plot, just breathing one breath at a time is bound to temper the effects of those hormones and rising blood pressure.

Needless to say, you can't really be blamed for those Monday morning blues that come after a long weekend of partying. However, what could help beat those blues is getting out and doing something instead of moping around while you procrastinate. It isn't so much about how much you force yourself to smile through your pain but how if you get out a bit, join a local zumba class or get to the park to play ball with your neighbour's dog before you find yourself feeling just a little better. Eating healthier does help your overall well-being, but so does a little bit of exercise. Start talking to people instead of texting, walk instead of waiting for the cab, make eye contact while you strike up a conversation with the person next to you at work - it's those little lifestyle changes that make a healthier, happier you.

Besides, Utrecht University in the Netherlands found that 'odours produced by our bodies can communicate happiness to others.' According to researchers here, "happiness benefits the individual on multiple levels, as it restores the damaging impact of negative emotions on the cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune systems, and broadens attention to inspire creative ideas."

Happiness is contagious, and your smile today could spread so many more tomorrow.
The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Enforcement Directorate's response on a plea by diamantaire Mehul Choksi's firm Gitanjali Gems in a money laundering case in connection with the over Rs 11,000 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.



Justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta issued a notice to the ED, which was represented through advocate Amit Mahajan, on the plea challenging the illegal seizure of documents and articles by the probe agency.

The court said it will hear the matter along with a similar pending plea of billionaire Nirav Modi's firm Firestar Diamond on April 11.

Advocate Sanjay Abott, appearing for Gitanjali Gems, sought direction to quash the ED's move of seizing the firm's moveable properties.

Nirav, his uncle Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple probe agencies after the scam came to light in January following a complaint by the PNB that they had cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of Rs 11,400 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The ED has registered the money laundering case against Nirav Modi, his firms and others on the basis of a CBI FIR.

The CBI and the ED have registered the cases and intensified the crackdown on Nirav Modi and Choksi with the ED seizing jewellery and assets worth thousands of crores of rupees, the I-T department attaching various properties, and the CBI grilling several senior executives of his company.
South Korea's disgraced former president Park Geun-hye was jailed for 24 years on Friday for corruption, closing out a dramatic fall from grace for the country's first woman leader who became a figure of public fury and ridicule.



She was found guilty on charges of bribery, coercion and abuse of power, and ordered to pay a fine of 18 billion won ($17 million).

"The amount of bribery the accused received or demanded in collaboration with Choi amounts to more than 23 billion won," Judge Kim Se-Yoon said, referring to Park's secret confidante and long-time friend Choi Soon-sil.

"I sentence the accused to 24 years in prison and 18 billion won in fines."
Despite India being the world's topmost buyer of arms, the international arms market has given a lukewarm response to the Defence Ministry's biennial exposition that would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister near Chennai next week.

Only 677 companies would take part in the Def-Expo-2018 as against participation of more than 1,000 firms in the previous edition of the show in Goa in 2016. The four-day exhibition will be inaugurated on April 11 at Thiruporur, 35 km south of Chennai.

"The overall number of exhibitors may be 10% lower than last year," Ajay Kumar, Secretary, Defence Production claimed here on Wednesday.

In reality, the drop was almost 30% - from 1,055 companies in Goa to 677 in Chennai.

For years, Def-Expo was a platform for the arms sellers from around the world to showcase their latest wares to the Indian Army and Navy.

According to Kumar, there is now a policy turnaround as the event would be used to showcase India's manufacturing capabilities to the world as India positions itself to become a hub of defence manufacturing.

The FDI figures for the defence sector, however, don't reflect any enthusiasm among the foreign vendors to make in India.

Between April 2014 to December 2017, the defence industry received only Rs 1.17 crore worth of FDI, though the sector was opened up to 49% of FDI through the automatic route within months of Modi government coming to the power.

Kumar claimed almost 55,000 crore worth of defence equipment was manufactured in India in 2017.

The bulk of the manufacturing happened in the state-owned Defence Public Sector Undertaking and ordnance factories as the private sector, being a late entrant in the market, has only a tiny share of the pie.

The new Strategic Partnership model that was conceived to facilitate lateral entry of big private companies in defence manufacturing, is yet to take off, though the scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet in May 2017.

After nearly three years of consultations with the industry, the government now considers bringing the DPSU's into the scheme, which was thought of only for the private sector.

When asked about the possibility of including the DPSUs in the scheme, Additional Secretary of Defence Production Subhash Chandra said, "The government was committed to creating a level-playing field for all the stakeholders. We will consider inclusion of the DPSUs if they have the wherewithal to do this."
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will have to spend another night in Jodhpur's Central Jail, after a Sessions Court adjourned a hearing on the actor's bail plea till Saturday.

District and Sessions Court Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi heard arguments on the suspension of sentence and bail application before deferring the matter till Saturday.

Moreover, the court heard the defence counsel's arguments and the the prosecution will present their arguments on Saturday.

In his arguments, defence counsel Mahesh Bora said there were various loopholes in the investigation.

He argued that no probe in any of the cases of poaching proved that Salman used firearms.

"The court has asked us to present records on Saturday. After hearing the public prosecutor's arguments, it will deliver its order on the actor's bail plea. We are ready with a 51-page bail plea, which raises 54 grounds on which the superstar can be granted bail", Mahesh Bora, the actor's counsel for sessions court, told DH.

Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Joshi also sought a record of the case from the lower court.

"We have argued that the eyewitness in the case was not reliable," Bora added.

A trial court in Jodhpur on Thursday convicted actor Salman Khan in the two-decade-old blackbuck poaching case and sent him to five years in prison.

However, five others, including his co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, and a local travel agent Dushyant Singh, were acquitted.

Order stated

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri, after hearing both the sides, pronounced the verdict and convicted the actor on the basis of evidence gathered against Salman from DNA fingerprinting report, postmortem report of the blackbuck and an eyewitness.

The order stated: "Salman Khan is not any regular actor, he is a star who has a huge fan following. His fans imitate him and it becomes his responsibility not to break any law".

Hence, the actor has been convicted, while the others have been given the benefit of the doubt, Judge Khatri ruled.

Salman was also fined Rs 10,000.

The actor has been convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which carries a maximum punishment of six years and a minimum one-year jail term.

The case dates back to October 1998 when Khan, Saif, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali went on a hunting expedition in Kankani and killed two blackbucks.

The actors were in Rajasthan to shoot for the Hindi film "Hum Saath Saath Hain".

The blackbucks were killed near a village inhabited by Bishnois, a community that revers the blackbuck and is passionate about protecting the animal.

Blackbucks are an endangered species and hunting them is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Five YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha MPs on Friday submitted their resignation letters to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over their demand for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.



The five MPs are Vara Prasad Rao V, Y V Subba Reddy, P V Midhun Reddy, Y S Avinash Reddy and the party floor leader Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy.

The MPS met the speaker in her chamber and submitted their letters.

"I hereby tender my resignation of my seat in the house with immediate effect," said one of the letters.

"We do as we say! YSRC MPs are submitting their resignations today! Challenge N Chandrababu Naidu to make TDP MPs resign and stand united with the people of AP in their rightful demand of special category status for AP," YSRCP leader Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a tweet.

The MPs had said in a press conference on Thursday that they were resigning to protest the "failure" of the NDA government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

They said they were also upset as their notice for a no-confidence motion against the NDA government on the issue could not be taken up for discussion in the House due to continuous disruptions.

Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced in February that the party's five MPs would resign if its demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh was not fulfilled by the Centre.
A decapitated body of a 25-year-old youth, who was abducted by unidentified militants on Wednesday night from his home in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district, was recovered on Friday morning.

A police officer said the headless body of Manzoor Ahmad Bhat was found at an orchard in Bonmohalla, Hajin, 32 kms from here.

Police blamed the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit for Bhat's abduction and killing.

Militants barged into Manzoor's house on Wednesday night and beat the inmates before abducting the victim and his father Abdul Gaffar.

While Abdul was successful in escaping from the clutches of militants in spite of being fired upon his belly and injured with knives, Manzoor was brutally tortured by the ultras before his throat was slit, a senior police officer said.

"Four to five LeT militants, including Pakistanis, are behind the killing of Manzoor. The killings of civilians are the outcome of desperation by militants following a successful anti-insurgency operation launched by the forces across Kashmir. They (militants) have got rattled and are now targeting those who are not protected," he said.

Last year on November 2, a state BJP leader - Gowhar Bhat - was killed by the militants after slitting his throat in south Kashmir's Shopian district.

Before that on October 18, a school teacher was found dead with his throat slit in the same district, a week after three militants were killed in an encounter with security forces at his house.

Meanwhile, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah questioned separatists for "maintaining silence" over the killing and decapitation of Bhat's body.

Without naming any separatist leader, Omar in a series of tweets said he is not surprised that no shutdown call was issued to protest Manzoor's killing.

"Any shutdown call or call for 'peaceful protests' for Manzoor Ahmed who's decapitated body was found in North Kashmir after he'd been abducted & killed by militants? No? I'm not surprised," he said.
An army major was injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday night.



Sources said the officer was deployed on a forward area near the LoC on Thursday night.

"The officer received an injury from a splinter in his feet and was moved to a hospital where he is under treatment," they added.

The Pakistan Army has been violating ceasefire along the LoC and international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir frequently.

Since the third week of January, 27 people, including 13 security personnel and 14 civilians, have been killed in Pakistani ceasefire violations along the LoC and the IB in Jammu.

Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir informed Parliament recently that Pakistan has violated ceasefire along the LoC and the IB 633 times in just two months this year.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah today hit out at separatists for not criticising and condemning the killing of civilians by militants.



Omar's remark came after Manzoor Ahmad was abducted and killed by suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants.

He was abducted from his home at Hajin in Bandipora district on Wednesday night and his headless body was found today by police.

"Any shutdown call or call for peaceful protests for Manzoor Ahmed whos decapitated body was found in North Kashmir after he d been abducted & killed by militants? No? I m not surprised (sic)," Omar said on Twitter.

"The unknown gunmen are conveniently termed to give cover to those who don t want to/cant criticise terrorist crimes (sic)," the opposition National Conference leader said in another tweet.

Terming the incident "inhuman", he tweeted, "What happens to Kashmir Solidarity and wannabe Imran Khans when people like Manzoor are inhumanly butchered? Its so easy to flow with the tide, much tougher to swim against it."
The Defence Ministry on Friday began a fresh tendering process to purchase 110 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force that is battling a critical problem of depleting squadron strength.

The new Request for Information (RFI) first step in tendering process was issued more than two years after the Defence Ministry canceled a previous tender to purchase 126 combat jets as the Narendra Modi government struck a deal with France to buy 36 Rafale aircraft.

According to the new RFI, 15% of the 110 aircraft (16 jets) would be purchased in a flyaway state and the remaining would have to be manufactured in India by a Strategic Partner or an Indian Production Agency.

Once a commercial agreement is inked, the vendor has to deliver the first batch of 16 jets in 36 to 60 months. The manufacturing, in an Indian plant, should start within 5 years and completed in 12 years.

Global aviation majors evinced keen interest in what would potentially turn out to be a multi-billion dollar deal.

An earlier government preference announced by former defence minister Manohar Parrikar of single engine vendors that put USA Lockheed Martin (F-16) and Swedish major Saab (Grippen) ahead of others in the race, has now been done away by the RFI.

As a result, France's Dassault Aviation, USA's Boeing, Europe's Eurofighter and Russian MiG Corporation can also respond to the tender, effectively restarting what can potentially be Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition, Part 2 a fiercely competitive trial process of six combat aircraft that was started by the UPA government to buy 126 jets for the IAF.

The Congress-led government, however, couldn't conclude the commercial deal with Dassault Aviation that won the competition.

Subsequently, Parrikar canceled the MMRCA tender in July 2015 after Modi announced his decision to buy 36 Rafale in a government-to-government deal.

IAF sources said fresh evaluation trials would be conducted for the aircraft as the MMRCA trial conducted almost 10 years ago wouldn't hold good any more. In the previous trial, each aircraft was tested on 600 points and they were flown in high-altitude and desert conditions.

Deposing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal S B Deo said the force has 31 squadrons but "there is a gap in the force level since induction and de-induction was not commensurate."

Out of the 31 squadron, nearly 10 squadrons are vintage MiG aircraft, which are being phased out. While the first Rafale aircraft is expected in 2019, only two squadrons of the French fighters is not good enough to make up for the deficiency.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Friday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi against playing with the sentiments of Andhra people, or risk disappearing into history.



His caution came while addressing a cycle rally in Amaravati, where he highlighted the injustice meted out to the state by Narendra Modi government.

Naidu led a three-kilometre cycle rally from Venkatayapalem village in Amaravati to the State legislative assembly at Velagapudi. His cabinet colleagues, including his son Nara Lokesh, besides several MLAs, MLCs and party leaders took part in the cycle rally. Naidu garlanded NTR statue and addressed the rally.

"The Centre is trying to weaken the state. It appears that Modi is underestimating the power of Telugu people. One must remember what happened to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had tried to topple the NTR government in 1984. The perpetrator Congress party has gone into political oblivion by dividing the combined state. Modi will meet the same fate, if he plays with the sentiment of Telugu people," Naidu said. "Do anything but don't hit the Telugus below the belt," Naidu warned Modi.

Commenting on YSR Congress MPs' absence at Opposition's human chain protest in Parliament premises on Thursday, Naidu said it clearly showed the collusion politics of the Opposition party. "Their MPs never protest when PM Modi is around in Parliament. People of AP are watching their drama and will give a befitting reply in the ensuing elections," Naidu said.

Special Parl session

Later, the AP Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution demanding a special Parliament session to discuss all the issues related to the promises made to the residual state. "A special session is needed as the Centre has successfully evaded discussion on no confidence motion by citing the "din" in Lok Sabha," the CM pointed out. The AP budget session was then adjourned sine die.

On the other hand, CPI, CPI(M) activists and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan, took out a "Padayatra" in Vijayawada demanding special category status.

Addressing the media, Pawan made it clear that he will not attend the proposed All Party Meeting called by Chief Minister Naidu.
CHENNAI, DHNS: An Indian Army helicopter on its way to Chennai from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), in Bengaluru, with four people on board made an emergency landing at an open field in Vellore district after it developed a technical snag.



The helicopter- IA 2123 - made an emergency landing in an open field in Kulithigai near Madhanur, 35 km from Vellore, after the pilot spotted an open barren land.

Sources in the Defence Ministry said the aircraft was ferrying four persons, including Lieutenant Colonel Akshay Khalia and Major Puneet, and was on its way to participate in the DEFCOM to be held in Thiruvidanthai on the outskirts of Chennai from April 11 to 14.

"The chopper developed engine problems when it was flying towards Vellore and the pilot was looking for an open barren land to land the helicopter. He made a safe landing in an open field in Kulithigai at around 1 pm," a senior ministry official said.

Within hours, another helicopter carrying necessary spares and recovery support landed to rectify the technical snag. "The snag was rectified in couple of hours and both helicopters took off to their destination in the evening," a senior district police official said.
In a comedy of errors, the Bihar Government has asked a teacher languishing in jail to evaluate the answerbooks of intermediate examinations conducted in the State this year.



Ironically, the teacher, Sanjiv Kumar Suman, is behind the bars for his complicity in the 2016 intermediate toppers' scam, which brought disrepute to the State in general and the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) in particular.

Apparently, the BSEB has not learnt any lesson from its past blunders. It recently issued a letter appointing Sanjiv as an examiner to evaluate Mathematics answer books.

The letter has been issued to other teachers too. But what is more baffling is that Sanjiv, a teacher at Government Boys' High School, has been cooling his heels ever since he was nabbed in 2016 for helping the kingpin of toppers' scam Bachcha Rai. The Government Boys' High School in Patna's Rajendra Nagar was the evaluation centre for the candidates admitted to the school run by Bachcha Rai. Suman had helped Rai manipulate results.

Old list of teachers

"Stern action should be taken against the official who goofed up and issued the letter to a jailed teacher," said Shatrughan Prasad Singh, president of the Bihar Secondary Teachers' Association.

BSEB Chairman Anand Kishore, however, said it was quite possible that the letter was issued on the basis of the old list of teachers. "The list of teachers should be updated every year," he quipped.

Meanwhile, the teachers' union has asked the board to pull up its socks. "Letters have been issued to retired and dead teachers too. It's high time the BSEB gives up its callous approach," said Singh.
In a statement that is bound to generate political heat, BJP President Amit Shah on Friday likened Opposition parties to dogs, snakes, cats and mongoose.



"The countdown of the 2019 (Lok Sabha) election has begunOpposition parties are coming together against BJP. I had once heard, when there is a massive flood, trees and shrubs are washed away, but tall banyan trees survive," Shah said in reference to the political surge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.



"Then, snakes take shelter in the banyan tree, mongoose climb on it and so as dogs, cats, cheetahs and lions.because of the fear of the (flood) water below," Shah said addressing a mammoth rally at the MMRDA Grounds coinciding with the 38th foundation day celebrations of the BJP.



"Because of Modi (popularity) they are feared and the Opposition parties are teaming up like cats, dogs, snakes and mongoose to fight elections," he said.



Later, at a news conference at a nearby Sofitel Hotel, Shah tried to clarify his statement. "I have said in a different contextit was in reference to ideologies... I apologise if anyone is hurt I did not want to take names," he said.



However, he elaborated that what he meant was the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party coming together, Congress and TMC getting closer and Congress and TDP getting together.



It may be recalled, last month, former Congress President and ex-UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had hosted a dinner for Opposition leaders at her New Delhi residence. Also several Opposition leaders are meeting each other individually and collectively - as the next general elections approach.



At the rally, Shah also came down heavily on Rahul Gandhi, who in his rallies have been repeatedly asking for the performance card of the Modi government.



"Rahul Baba...you are asking what Modi ji has done in the last 4 years...The country want to ask you....What your party did when it was in power for four generations," Shah said.

Referring to the recent loss in by-elections, Modi said: "You have won 2 seats, we have won 11 states."



Shah, a former Gujarat minister, said that the "golden period" of BJP is yet to come.

"We will win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections...We will in West Bengal and Odisha Assemby elections and return to power in Maharashtra...that would be the golden period," he said virtually kick-starting the campaign for BJP for 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai.




The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea by a hospitality firm linked to Robert Vadra against an Income Tax notice for re-assessment of its profits from land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan for 2010-11.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan rejected the appeal filed by Delhi-based firm, Sky Light Hospitality LLP, challenging the Delhi High Court's February order which dismissed its plea against the I-T notice.

The HC had also asked the firm associated with Vadra, son-in-law of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, to join the proceedings before the assessing officer.

During the hearing, the apex court did not agree with the contention of the company's lawyer that the notice was sent by the IT department to wrong entity -- Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd -- instead of Sky Light Hospitality LLP.

"They (I-T) have to issue notice to the right person," the counsel argued, adding, "they issued notice to a company which did not exist".

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for I-T department, opposed the submissions and said that when "reasons to believe" were recorded by the official concerned, it was recorded that the company's earlier name was Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd which was later renamed as Sky Light Hospitality LLP.

The I-T department, in a tax evasion report tabled earlier before the high court, had said it had reasons to believe that over Rs 35 crore, earned by the firm in 2010-11, "had escaped from assessment".
New Delhi, DHNS: Indian Air Force (IAF) will undertake its biggest ever war game involving nearly 1,100 aircraft to practice quick deployment of troops between two valleys in the Himalayas and test the viability of its operational plans.



To be held between April 10-21, Exercise Gagan Shakti 2018 will be a pan-Indian day-night mock drill, the IAF will test its ability to fight the enemy along the western (Pakistan) and northern (China) borders.

Nearly 300 officers and 15,000 men will be involved in the exercise in which more than 3,500 sorties would be undertaken by the IAF aircraft.

While every IAF command will participate in the exercise, several Army and Navy units have also been roped into for the making the drills as close as to the reality.

"It will be as real as it gets (in a conflict situation). The focus will be on weapon delivery as we will find out who was shot and who wasn't," IAF sources said.

One of the key components of the drill is intra-valley transfer of troops, which would come handy for the Indian military if it is faced with another Doklam-like situation in future.

Last year Indian and Chinese troops had a 72-day long face-off at Doklam plateau, near India-Bhutan-China tri-junction, necessitating mobilisation of troops in the eastern sector along the Sino-Indian border.

Sources said IAF would take about 48 hours to shift troops from one front to another.

For quick transfer, mainly the new C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft and Mi-17V5 choppers would be used. Even the 9 IL-76 aircraft, that are past their technical lives, still being flown by the IAF will also be used in the exercise.

The exercise will also be the first major war drill of the 45 Squadron flying the indigenous Tejas Light Combat Aircraft.

"IAF will test the viability of its operational plan in multiple threat scenario with embedded emergency and contingency," a source said.

As a part of the drill will take place near the western border, Pakistan authorities have duly been informed.

"Notwithstanding the scale of the exercise, there will be very little impact on civil flights," said an IAF official.
In a bid to launch 5G data services by the end of this year, the country's largest telecom services provider, Airtel, is piloting its 5G capabilities pan-India starting with Indian Premier League (IPL) matches from Saturday.



The company has already started testing 5G in Bengaluru and it recently tested the same at Mobile World Congress (MWC), Barcelona. "We are quite encouraged with the success of our trial runs. So we are planning to experiment it across the country," Airtel sources told DH.

As part of the trial run during IPL, Massive Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO) Wi-Fi devices will be set up across the stadium spanning 10 cities.

People who come to watch IPL, can get enhanced Internet service. At Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium, it is expected to accommodate 25,000 users at any point of time, providing an average speed of 60 Mbps, which is four times that of the current 4G speed of Airtel.

"We believe this will enhance the digital experience for our customers and enable them to share, post and stream content seamlessly even in locations with massive crowds," Shyam Mardikar, CTO Mobile, Bharti Airtel said.

Airtel, as per the sources, is set to roll out 5G services, starting from Bengaluru by this year end.

With this, India would become the first country globally to use Massive MIMO Technology for 5G data. Though the technology is already live commercially in China and Japan on the 4G network, India will experience it on the 5G network.

Airtel had joined hands with SK Telecom of South Korea to evolve standards for 5G.

The deployment is part of Airtel's ongoing network transformation programme, Project Leap, in which it is investing Rs 60,000 crore, officials said.

Airtel has a user-base of about 38 crore customers. State-owned telecom firm BSNL has plans to start a field trial of 5G services by the end of this financial year. But one of its board members, on condition of anonymity said, that 5G venture is not feasible option for the company at present.
The DMK and its allies on Friday announced that they would organise Cauvery Rights Retrieval March from Tiruchirapalli to Cuddalore from Saturday in two phases.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader K Veeramani will launch both the phases.

The first phase of the march would start from Mukkombu in Tiruchirappalli district on Saturday, DMK working president M K Stalin said, after chairing a meeting of 'like-minded parties' on Cauvery issue.

The second phase from Ariyallur district will start on Monday (April 9) and the walks will culminate in a mega public rally in Cuddalore on April 16, Stalin said.

He said the DMK and other parties would discuss and decide on the next course of action if the central government does not set up Cauvery Management Board.

The meeting also stuck to its decision of showing black flags to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his scheduled visit to Chennai on April 12.
As Kashmir grapples with rise in violence, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put an end to the bloodshed in the state.



Interacting with youth from various parts of the state here, she said it was high time for the entire country to support the people of the state in getting out of the vicious cycle of killings and uncertainty.

"Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as the most powerful political executive of the country, can lead this peace project by responding to the need of putting a stop to the bloodshed in the state which has been going on for almost three decades now," Mehbooba said.

The Chief Minister said peace, reconciliation and dialogue form the core of 'Agenda of Alliance' reached out between the two ruling parties (PDP and BJP) and "it is the belief in Prime Minister Modi's leadership abilities and his political clout that the people of the state are looking up to for the resumption of the same."

Our state and the whole region, she added, expect the Prime Minister to revive the spirit of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's initiative and also "expect the other shades of political opinion in the country to avoid falling into the trap of old partisan politics and instead support such an initiative which would get the state out of the uncertainties and herald into an era of progress and development."

Recalling the Prime Minister's remarks about Kashmir on Independence Day, the Chief Minister hoped the same to be translated into reality by everyone in the country dealing with the affairs of the state. "From media to administration, strategic community and the security forces, everyone will have to be part of this national effort," Mehbooba said.

It is high time, she added, that enough hope is generated to persuade young men from going on a violent path by creating their stakes in peace and life rather than in death and rebellion.

A successful peace process in Jammu & Kashmir, the Chief Minister said, alone can fulfil the objectives of democracy and justice in the country. India, she said, can truly don the moral leadership of the region by increasing the level of satisfaction of the people of the state by winning their trust and hearts and minds.
An engineering student-turned-militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday.



Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Pulwama, Aslam Choudary said a cordon-and-search operation was launched by a joint team of army's 55 Rashtriya Rifles, police and CRPF in orchards of Kangan, Pulwama, following inputs about the presence of some militants.

As the joint party approached the suspected spot, the militants hiding in the area opened fire triggering off an encounter, he told DH adding one militant was killed in the retaliatory action by the forces.



The slain militant was identified as Musavir Wani, a resident of nearby Dalipora village, affiliated to Hizbul Mujahideen outfit. Wani, according to reports was a B. Tech student in a Chandigarh college before joining the militancy.

The latest encounter comes six days after 13 militants were killed in three separate encounters with security forces in neighbouring Shopian and Anantnag districts on April 1.

Reports said as soon the news about the killing of a local militant spread, clashes between protesters and security forces erupted in Kangan and other parts of Pulwama.

Meanwhile, security forces on Friday arrested a Pakistan militant, who was injured in a gunfight last month, from Juktiyal area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district. The militant had reportedly escaped in injured condition from the forests of Check Fateh Khan in Kupwara, after five militants and five security personnel were killed in a two-day encounter on March 20 and 21.

Sources said the militant, identified the militant as Zabiullah alias Hamzah son of Sonaullah, a resident of Multan, Pakistan was without arms and was in bad health condition when forces arrested him.

A police officer while confirming the arrest said a radio set has been recovered from his possession.
NEW DELHI, DHNS: Senior advocate and former law minister Shanti Bhushan on Friday filed a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking clarification on the administrative authority of the Chief Justice of India(CJI) as the 'master of roster'.



He also sought laying down of principles and procedures to be followed in preparing the roster for allocation of cases to benches.

Following a PIL by Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms for a CBI probe into the medical college bribery case, a five-judge bench presided over by CJI Dipak Misra had on November 11 declared, "The CJI is the master of roster, though on judicial side, he is first among equals. No judge can hear a matter unless assigned by the CJI."

Bhushan, in his plea, stated the "master of roster" cannot have unguided and unbridled discretionary powers, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking benches of select judges.

The PIL said the CJI's authority as the master of roster is "not an absolute, arbitrary, singular power that is vested in CJI alone and which may be exercised with his sole discretion" and such an authority should be exercised by him in consultation with senior judges.

He filed the PIL through his son and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who also wrote a letter to the apex court's secretary general stating that the matter should not be listed before a bench that includes CJI Dipak Misra.

The letter also said that it would be appropriate that the plea be listed before three senior-most judges of the top court for allocating it before an appropriate bench.

In the petition, the CJI has been named as one of the respondents along with the registrar of the top court.

This petition assumes significance as on January 12 four senior-most judges- J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph- of the Supreme Court had called an unprecedented press conference.

They claimed important and sensitive PILs were being assigned to "junior judges".

In the PIL, Bhushan sought to replace the CJI with the Collegium of five senior-most judges in allocating cases as "extremely disturbing trend of listing matters subjectively and selectively" was seen, reflecting "serious erosion of independence of the judiciary".
On a day BJP president Amit Shah derided the Opposition's unity moves as a motley group of animals during a flood, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his party workers to "never lower political discourse, keep focused on your work of transforming India."



Modi was interacting with BJP district presidents from across the country to mark the party's founding day.

Asking them to shun the negativity spread by some vested groups, the PM said, "We are living in a time when the opposition to the BJP is at its highest. Sometimes, it also takes a violent turn. This is not because we made a mistake. It is the strength of the BJP that is affecting our opponents. They are unable to digest that a poor person born into a backward family is serving as the nation's PM."

A few hours earlier, Shah had told BJP workers in Mumbai that "A mongoose, a cat, a dog, a cheetah and lion, they are coming together because they see water rising below them. So they are all in one boat --to fight elections." Later, at a press conference, the BJP chief said, "I apologise if anyone felt bad, but I was only talking in the context of ideologies. I want to tell the Congress, BSP and all other opposition parties. Those assembled together do not match in ideologies but they have come together only because they are afraid of PM Modi."

On the other hand, Modi recalled that "the BJP was born in the city of Mumbai, in extremely tough circumstances. The BJP and its senior leaders were virtually ostracised from prevalent political scenario. In fact, if there is one party that has consistently been a victim of political untouchability, it is the BJP."

Modi said, "Times have not changed and now it is for everyone to see where the BJP is and where those who treated the BJP shabbily are."

Shun anger, says Modi

Taking questions from BJP workers, Modi said, "First and foremost, I want to tell you, there is no need for anger. Truth will always triumph. Our way is Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and we must remain dedicated to this cause."

He told BJP Karyakartas that elections are won or lost at the booth level, which is why it is important to have effective booth management. "The NDA family is getting Jeet after Jeet (victory after victory), which is forcing the other parties to spread Jhooth after Jhooth (lie after lie). Their only aim is to defeat Modi, nothing else."

The PM said the BJP had spent long years in the Opposition, and knew the issues faced by the people. "Now being in the government, we should work towards those solutions."
Opposition attempts to move impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra have fizzled out following a divide within the Congress on supporting the move.



A large section of the Congress, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some lawyer-MPs, struck a note of caution on removing the top judge of the country contending that institutions should be protected.

While Trinamool Congress and the BJD had ruled out support for the move, one of the early signatories to the draft motion had a change of heart and conveyed to the Congress its decision to withdraw from the exercise.

"It is not happening," a senior Congress leader said when asked about the status of the petition for impeachment of the Chief Justice of India.

"We have told them that we will not be a party to the impeachment notice. We have conveyed it to the Congress formally. Anyways, Congress on its own has the requisite number to bring a motion," DMK sources said.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was quoted in a section of the media as saying that the issue of impeachment of CJI was "closed now". However, Kharge clarified on Friday that he had said that the process was never initiated in the Lok Sabha.

As per the Judges Inquiry Act, judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court can be removed through the process of impeachment which has to be initiated by either of the Houses of Parliament.

Support required

An impeachment petition requires support of at least 50 members if it has to be initiated in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha, such an initiative requires the support of 100 members.

Asked about the impeachment proceedings, Anand Sharma, deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha said the issue was being discussed by political parties. "Whenever we reach a decision, we will inform you. It is pointless to discuss if there is no decision or announcement," Sharma said.

The suggestion for impeachment of the CJI was first mooted by CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. The Congress had initially ignored the suggestion, but later took the initiative to collect signatures in its support from other Opposition parties.

However, the failure to reach a consensus within the party has prompted the Congress to put the issue on the back burner.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday played host to his Nepal counterpart, K P Sharma Oli, who arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit.



Modi and Oli had an informal meeting at the Prime Minister's residence at Lok Kalyan Marg.

"Delighted to meet the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr K P Sharma Oli," Modi posted on Twitter, along with pictures.

The two Prime Ministers will hold formal talks on Saturday.

Oli was received by Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the airport earlier in the day.

This is Oli's first visit to New Delhi after taking over as Prime Minister of Nepal for a second term on February 15. New Delhi is keen to see that the new government in Kathmandu led by Oli and backed by three left parties does not lead Nepal into a closer embrace with China.

His first term in office from October 2015 to August 2016 witnessed escalation of tension between New Delhi and Kathmandu over the new Constitution of the neighbouring nation.

India and Nepal are unlikely to ink any new agreement after the meeting between the two Prime Ministers on Saturday. Modi, however, might offer Oli a new credit line from India for development of infrastructure in Nepal.

"Nepal's political transformation is not just a transformation but a comprehensive social, economic, cultural change. We have institutionalised political transformation through our Constitution. It is now time for us to realise our next objective economic transformation," Oli said at a business meeting. He said that Nepal was now safe for foreign investment.
History-sheeter V Nagaraj sent everyone into a tizzy by consuming what appeared to be poison at the Press Club here on Friday, just a day after he was released from prison on bail.



The 58-year-old former corporator had called the press meet to speak out against some politicians and a senior police officer, who had "destroyed his career by implicating him in a false case".

Minutes before the purported suicide attempt, Nagaraj claimed that a total of 83 people had conspired against him and plotted to kill him. Among them were KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, minister K J George and senior IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar, he added.

"They foisted 10 false cases on me and my sons, Gandhi and Shastri. They got history sheets opened against us as they knew I will contest the Assembly polls," Nagaraj said.

Around 1.45 pm, in the middle of the press conference, Nagaraj suddenly took out a bottle and gulped some liquid from it. But his associates snatched the bottle, which they later said contained poison and carried him out of the venue.

Meanwhile, Nagaraj kept screaming, 'don't vote for the Congress', 'don't vote for Dinesh Gundu Rao and George'.

Out of danger

He was first taken to Bowring Hospital before being shifted to St Martha's Hospital. Doctors there gave him a stomach wash and put him on a ventilator. The hospital later sent a memo to the jurisdictional Vidhana Soudha police station. The police visited the hospital to take his statement, but doctors advised them against it. They, however, said he was stable and out of danger.

Responding to Nagaraj's allegations, Gundu Rao said he didn't know him and refused to comment further.

Nagaraj and his sons were arrested on March 11, 2017, in Tamil Nadu's Vellore district, almost a month after they absconded when the police raided their home in Swathanthrapalya, Srirampura, on April 14 and seized Rs 14.8 crore in demonetised currency.
The Chitradurga police on Friday registered an FIR against Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani for allegedly inciting violence in his speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The police registered the FIR following a complaint by Chitradurga district unit BJP president K S Naveen.

The BJP also lodged a separate complaint with the election commission in this regard.

Earlier in the day, the Gujarat MLA had urged the Karnataka youth to create ruckus at Modi's rallies in the state in the run up to the Assembly elections, to protest against the prime minister's failure to generate two crore jobs."Biggest role of Karnataka's youth should be to enter Modi's campaign programme in Bengaluru on April 15, hurl chairs in the air and disrupt and then ask him what happened to two crore jobs." Mevani had said if Modi cannot answer, he should retire and go to the Himalayas.
BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Friday arrived in Bengaluru and held a series of meetings with top Sangh functionaries, intellectuals and civil society members.



Madhav is one of BJP national president Amit Shah's lieutenants who has been deputed to the state for a grassroots assessment of the poll preparedness of the Karnataka unit of the party.

He also addressed party workers at Yelahanka Assembly constituency and did door-to-door campaign with local MLA S R Vishwanath. Madhav, who is the national general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern states, played a key role in finalising the party's electoral strategy in the states of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya, which went to polls recently. He was also central to the BJP's Kashmir experiment which saw the party forming the government in alliance with PDP.
Veteran actor Jayanthi was discharged from the hospital on Friday. She was admitted to Vikram Hospital 10 days ago as she suffered from severe asthma and acute respiratory failure. Jayanthi, her son Krishna Kumar and the doctors who treated her spoke to the media.



The actor appreciated the concern showed by the media for publishing authentic news about her. Dr K S Satish, senior pulmonologist, said that the actor had recovered from her illness and is fit to go home.
Apprehending that granting of separate religion tag to the Lingayat community may boomerang on the party in the Assembly elections, the Congress high command has suggested its Karnataka leaders to avoid mentioning the contentious issue in poll rallies.

With a section of leaders from the state unit informing the high command that the Veerashaiva-Lingayat issue may prove negative for the party in the polls, the central leaders want to tread cautiously on the issue, said a senior Congress leader.

Besides, an analysis of the reactions to the issue on social media done by the party also clearly demonstrates the public outpour against the state government and the Congress, the leader said.

Though the Congress wanted to seek votes on development issues such as distribution of free rice, construction of roads and providing drinking water, only the Veerashaiva-Lingayat issue was dominating the media as well as public discourse for the past several weeks, said the leader.

The Congress top brass has also suggested the state leaders to maintain the line that the state government has no role in granting separate religion tag to Lingayats and, it just forwarded the request that came from the community itself.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been criss-crossing Karnat-

aka ahead of the May 12 polls, also deliberately avoided talking on the issue during his meetings.

Even during an interaction with traders in Davangere on Wednesday, the Congress chief ducked a question on separate religion tag to Lingayats and, asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to answer it.

To contain further damage to the party, some of the state leaders have also suggested the top brass that Rahul should intensify his tours in the Lingayat-Veerashaiva dominated areas, mostly in north Karnataka and visit their religious institutions to send a message that the Congress is not against them.

"With BJP national president Amit Shah giving a spin to the issue by stating that the Congress wanted to divide the community to prevent state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa (a Lingayat leader) from becoming the chief minister, we have to counter it strongly," said the leader.

Of the total 224 Assembly segments in the state, Veerashaiva-Lingayats have a sizable presence in around 125 constituencies, mostly in Central and North Karnataka regions. "Though Veerashaiva-Lingayats are considered as the major support base of the BJP, in the 2013 Assembly elections, as many as 21 from the community won on the Congress ticket. So, we can't summarily dismiss the community members as BJP voters," the leader opined.
India and China held discussions on high-level visits in the coming months as Foreign Secretary, Vijay Gokhale, met his counterpart and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Kong Xuanyou, in New Delhi on Friday.

"During the meeting, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement, including high level exchanges, in the coming months," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

Kong is currently on a visit to New Delhi. He also had a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday.

Modi is likely to visit China to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at Qingdao on the east coast of the communist country in June. He is likely to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sideline of the summit.

New Delhi is also keen to host Xi or Premier Li Keqiang on a visit to India this year.

Li visited New Delhi in May 2013, while Xi did so in September 2014. Modi already visited China thrice since taking over office in May 2014.

Gokhale and Kong discussed possibility of exchange of high-level visits between the two nations during their last meeting in Beijing in February too.

New Delhi conveyed to Beijing that a high-level visit from China to India would add impetus to the efforts to mend fences and ease strains in bilateral relations.

The face-off between the Indian Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army in Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan from June 18 to August 28 brought the bilateral relations to a new low in 2017.

Gokhale and Kong on Friday also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest.
France, Germany Agree Future Fighter Requirements



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Ginger Marshall (Courtesy )

Solana Beach Mayor Virginia Ginger Marshall has resigned her seat effective immediately, the city councils second unexpected departure in the past month.

Please accept my letter of resignation from Mayor of Solana Beach, she wrote in her April 5 resignation letter. It has been an honor to serve the community.

Marshall has been the councils sole conservative voice in her three years on the council, casting the lone no votes on a wide range of issues, including state-driven mandates on affordable housing, the citys effort to launch a city-controlled energy entity, and, most recently, the citys March 28 resolution calling for tighter gun controls and a ban on the Del Mar Fairgrounds five annual gun shows.

Im looking forward to a change in lifestyle, Marshall said in an April 6 interview.

The vacancy leaves the council with only three out of five seats filled after the March 12 resignation of three-term councilman Mike Nichols.

Marshall and Nichols both had less than a year left in their four-year terms after being appointed to the council in December 2014 when the city canceled that years council election because they were the only candidates vying for the two open seats.

Nichols seat will be filled on April 11 at a specially scheduled meeting to appoint one of the eight residents who applied. The council will then discuss how or whether to fill the seat vacated by Marshall before this Novembers election.

Nichols cited family reasons for leaving after attending two of the previous four council meetings via teleconference from North Carolina, where he was raised.
Del Mar, the only city in North County to allow off-leash dogs on the beach, decided April 2 to expand the area and the hours for the animals to run free, the first change to its canine regulations in 30 years.

Del Mar residents love their dogs. For years, their pets have been allowed to run free on the beach, often in areas or at times that the regulations prohibit, and city officials have looked the other way.

But the fur began to fly last summer after a crackdown on off-leash dogs. Hundreds of pet owners signed a petition asking for new rules, and the city agreed to back off enforcement until a change could be worked out.

A compromise approved Monday, April 2, will allow dogs without leashes from dawn to 8 a.m. all year on the beach from 25th Street north to the citys border with Solana Beach, a distance of about a half-mile. That includes the popular area known as Dog Beach along Highway 101, near the mouth of the San Dieguito River, where previously off-leash animals were not allowed at any hour during the busy summer tourist season.

Council members voted 4-1, with Terry Sinnott opposed, to draft an ordinance with the changes.

I dont think were ready to implement anything like this right now, Sinnott said. We are not managing our existing dog regulations in a successful way.

People who dont own dogs need their rights protected, as well, he said. Most dogs and their owners are well behaved, but not everyone is comfortable around dogs on the beach.

Part of the problem is that the beach is shrinking because of erosion, so theres less room for everybody, said Councilwoman Ellie Haviland.

Really, the long-term solution is for us to fix our beaches, get the sand back, she said. Del Mar, like all the countys coastal cities, depends heavily on sand restoration projects to maintain the eroding shoreline.

During winter high tides, the waves come up to the seawalls in the northern blocks of Del Mar, leaving no room for anyone to walk on the beach.

Still, the new regulations are a start, and they need to be backed up by enforcement, Haviland said.

More than a dozen speakers addressed the council on the subject April 2, and most supported the change. Many of them were long-time Del Mar residents who said theyve been exercising their pets on the beach for decades.

These partners of ours, they are family members you know, they mean so much to us, said resident David Shannahoff-Khalsa, whos been walking golden retrievers in Del Mar since 1971.

Current regulations prohibit off-leash dogs anywhere on the beach at any time during the summer.

Yet people often exercise their dogs without a leash on the sand and in the surf early in the morning when few people are around. Lifeguards are not on duty before 8 a.m., and enforcement is lax.

The only area that allows off-leash canines at all is the citys North Beach, also known as Dog Beach, from the end of 29th Street north to the Solana Beach border. Dogs can be unrestrained there from the day after Labor Day through June 15 the next year, a total of about nine months. That rule does not change under the expansion.

People come from across the county to exercise their animals at Dog Beach. But many dont know or choose to ignore that a leash is required in the summer, lifeguards said.

Most people will follow the rules when contacted by lifeguards, but they contact thousands of pet owners each year. The rules can be confusing and difficult to explain.

Del Mar has two other beach areas with different rules for dogs.

The Main Beach area, from 29th Street south to Powerhouse Park, does not allow dogs during the summer season from June 16 through Labor Day, and only on a leash the rest of the year.

The South Beach area, from Powerhouse Park south to Torrey Pines State Beach, requires dogs to be on leashes year round.

--Phil Diehl is a writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune
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RENTON  A warehouse-distribution property at 200 S.W. 34th St. in Renton has sold for $19.5 million, according to King County records. The seller was American Legend Cooperative, which acquired the property in 2001 for $4.8 million.

The buyer was LBA RVI Company XVIII LLC, which is associated with LBA Realty of Irvine, California.





. . .
Following an ASIC investigation, mining magnate and former politician Clive palmer has been charged with breaching takeover law arising from a proposed takeover of The Presidents Club (TPC).

His company Palmer Leisure Coolum (PLC, previously known as Queensland North Australia) has also been charged over the proposed takeover.

ASIC alleges that in April 2012 PLC publicly proposed to make a takeover bid for securities in TPC but subsequently did not make an offer for those securities within two months, as required under section 631(1) of the Corporations Act 2001. Palmer, a director of Palmer Leisure Coolum, has been charged with contravening section 631(1)  through the operation of section 11.2 of the Criminal Code  for aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the company to commit that offence.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and fine of $11,000 for an individual, and fines of $55,000 in respect of a corporation. The matter has been listed for a pre-trial hearing before the Brisbane Magistrates Court on 13 June 2018.

An application has been made by Palmer and Palmer Leisure Coolum to the Supreme Court of Queensland for the charges to be permanently stayed, with the application returnable before that court on 19 April 2018.

The matter is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Background

TPC operated a time share scheme at a property previously known as Hyatt Regency Coolum, and now known as Palmer Coolum Resort.

On 12 April 2012, Queensland North Australia Pty Ltd (now known as Palmer Leisure Coolum Pty Ltd) lodged a bidders statement with ASIC that proposed a bid for all of TPCs shares and the corresponding villa interests.

Section 631(1) of the Corporations Act requires that offers for the securities under a takeover bid must be made within two months after the public proposal of the takeover bid.

No offer was made by Queensland North Australia Pty Ltd to TPCs members within this period, which commenced on 12 April 2012 (being the date of the public proposal of the takeover bid).
Small businesses and startups face as much risk in employment as larger enterprises but they are often less well-equipped to address these issues. When working in a small business, people tend to form strong personal relationships and employers plan to retain staff. Sometimes, however, businesses need to dismiss staff for a number of reasons.

While larger employers have human resource departments and sophisticated policies to assist with the dismissal procedure smaller business often have less experience and expertise which increases the risk of legal claims. Whenever a small business determines that it must move on from an employee it needs to ensure that it fulfils its legal obligations in order to protect itself from any legal action.

The first issue that businesses face when conducting dismissals is clearly communicating the reason for dismissal. If an employer has a genuine reason for a dismissal this should be communicated because often an employees biggest concern is that they were unsure of the reason they were moved on. If an employer can calmly explain the reason this goes a long way to avoiding a legal claim whereas stating something like the employee was not the right fit will most likely inflame the situation.

The next issue for small business is being aware of the claims that can be made. Generally, these claims are to the Fair Work Commission as an unfair dismissal or general protections application.

First, for an employee of a business under 15 employees to be able to make an unfair dismissal claim he or she must be employed for at least 12 months. Assuming this requirement is met, the Commission will consider whether the Small Business Unfair Dismissal Code under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) has been complied with. The Code states that if an employer wishes to terminate employment for a reason other than serious misconduct the small business employer must give the employee a reason why he or she is at risk of being dismissed. The reason must be a valid reason based on the employees conduct or capacity to do the job.

Regardless of unfair dismissal restrictions, any employee (with any length of service) can make a general protections application alleging that their dismissal was for a prohibited reason. Prohibited reasons include discriminating against an employee for reasons such as race, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, marital status family or carers responsibilities, pregnancy, religion or political opinion or dismissing an employee because they exercised a workplace right. In order to guard against these claim employers should limit any dismissal to reasons of performance and/or conduct and communicate this reason clearly.

Generally speaking, a simple way that small businesses or startups can safeguard themselves from legal action is to keep well documented notes on employees. By keeping notes of any issues that arise in relation to the employees conduct or performance throughout the duration of their employment an employer can defend its decision to terminate an employee. Similarly, notes should be recorded at all formal disciplinary meetings. If small businesses dont have appropriate documentation to support the reasons for dismissal they leave themselves open for legal recourse.

Finally, employers should educate themselves on the laws that apply to their business and develop and enforce policies and procedures which are consistent with these laws.

Related: Three tips for avoiding unfair dismissal claims in your business

About the author

Andrew Jewell is a Principal Lawyer at McDonald Murholme, an employment law firm based in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Brian Ziff

Even though he's only 19 years old, Shawn Mendes is a global superstar with a string of hits to his name. But he says sometimes, the pressure of having to top his own success wears him down, to the point where he feels like his biggest competition is himself.

"The hardest thing in the world is to wake up in the morning and be, like, 'Today I'm me, regardless of how big of a song "Stitches" was,'" Shawn says in an interview with Beats 1's Zane Lowe.

He continues, "Y'know, just be me today, instead of, 'Shawn Mendes -- who released "Treat You Better," and "Holdin' Me Back" and "Mercy."' I hate that guy! How do I beat him?'"

"The best way to do it," Shawn reveals, "is to ignore that, and just take your step forward into what you think sounds amazing. And that's kinda all you can do."

Helping Shawn in his journey to "beat Shawn Mendes" is his longtime producer Teddy Geiger, who also co-wrote all Shawn's hit singles. But working with Teddy on his upcoming album presented a unique challenge.

You see, last October, Teddy transitioned from male to female and, as Shawn tells Lowe, it took a while for him to refer to Teddy as "she" without thinking about it. But Shawn says when he finally did, Teddy's reaction was unforgettable.

"I remember, she turned around and the look on her face..., it was pure joy, pure happiness," recalls Shawn. "I was like, 'This really is a stunning thing. I wish everybody could experience this.' 'Cause there would be no questions."

"There would be no I dont get it, no confusion about the process," Shawn adds. "If somebody could just see the look on her face in that moment, everything would make sense."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.




In the midst of celebrating LGBTQ Pride the U.S. Supreme Court rained on our virtual parade by ruling in favor of the Catholic Social Serv...
Michigan wine.

For a majority of my readers and for mid-Atlantic wine consumers, it's likely an unfamiliar pairing of state and product. But any presumptions would dissipate quickly after tasting not only the quality but also exploring the variety of the wines, something I had a chance to do at an evening social during the USBevX conference in Washington D.C. in February.

Over the past 15 years, St. Julian Winery in Paw Paw, Michigan, has focused on producing a new line of single varietal wines. The grapes come from the best vineyards in southwest Michigan, producing top-quality wines. The winery is open noon to 4 p.m. seven days a week and offers free tours. The basic tasting costs $7.

Now I'm a believer, having tried samples of everything from still wines to sparkling, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Gewurztraminer. All of that plus a bubbly named Sex by a winery called L. Mawby, located around 20 miles north of Traverse City. It's a sparkling rose

that doesn't need a unforgettable name to build its fan base.

So what is there to know about Michigan wine? Well, for one, there are 140 wineries and more opening every year. Like most U.S. states, it has seen a remarkable increase in its wine industry's size and scope, with only 52 wineries operating in 2008. Several Michigan wineries, including St. Julian, have licenses to ship into Pennsylvania. St. Julian, by the way, is Michigan's oldest winery and probably already planning for its centennial celebration, which will occur in 2021.

The other three wineries that can ship into Pa., by the way, are Winery at Black Star Farms, Fenn Valley Vineyards and Entente Spirits.

Per some fast facts courtesy of the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council:

Michigan has 13,700 acres of vineyards, making it the fourth largest grape-growing state.

Most of this acreage is devoted to juice grapes such as Concord and Niagara.

About 3,050 acres are devoted to wine grapes, consistently ranking Michigan in the top 10 in wine grape production in the nation.

Vineyard area has doubled over the last 10 years.

Michigan's 140 commercial wineries bottle more than 2.7 million gallons of wine annually, making Michigan fifth in wine production. The vast majority of production is from Michigan-grown grapes.

Wineries are popular tourist destinations, attracting more than 1.7 million visits annually.

The pleasant surprise during the USBevX tasting was the quality coming from a mix of grapes, including the following:

Lawton Ridge

Chateau Chantal

Domaine Berrien

Free Run

Shady Lane Cellars

Tabor Hill

St Julian

Black Star Farms

Emily Dockery, project/marketing director at Michigan Wine Collaborative, wrote in an email that in 2005, "the last time we had a full economic impact report done, the value of the industry was estimated at $300 million and we had 42 wineries. At present, we have 140 wineries and an estimated economic impact of $5.4 billion. Each year in recent years, the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council has welcomed 10 to 12 new wineries."

To qualify as a Michigan winery, she said, wineries must use a majority of fruit sources from the state. "Because of the unique, Great Lakes climate in Michigan, we are able to grow high-quality, vinifera grapes. Acreage continues to grow. We currently have 3,050 acres of wine grape vineyards. We don't see a ceiling at this time. There are approximately 45 wineries in northwest Michigan, but they don't feel even close to the saturation point. There are about 400 wineries in Napa County. [So] there is room for growth and growth is happening."

St. Julian Winery's winemaker Nancie Oxley.

That growth will be enhanced by more vineyards, she noted, as the addition of wineries continues to push the demand. What doesn't come from Michigan is, for now, sourced largely from California and Washington.

Dockery was asked how difficult it has been to educate those outside the state about its wine industry. She noted that, despite the challenges, coverage the past few years has increased, citing stories in Wine Enthusiast and on CNN.

"Michigan's wine industry is very closely linked with the tourism industry and that marriage has proved a successful one as far as supporting industry growth," she said. "At the same time, the wines are vastly improved. Maturing vines, talented winemakers, and a few glorious growing seasons have helped to bring the quality of Michigan wines to a level that hasn't been seen before. Cool climate white vinifera, such as Riesling and Pinot Blanc, are outstanding examples of Michigan wines. At the same time, we have wineries winning major international awards with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon, and Blaufrankisch."

Dablon Vineyards, she said, recently received a 90 point score from Wine Enthusiast for its 2015 Cab Sauvignon.

"It is not hard to win over competition judges with the quality of our wine," she added. "Sometimes the challenge is to get people in our own back yard to support this blossoming industry. But those 'in the know' know. And that group is growing."
PRESS RELEASE

ECB asks European Court of Justice to clarify Latvian case

ECB seeks ruling on whether security measures imposed on Governor Rimsevics comply with Union law

Central bank has also applied for interim measures and expedited procedure for main proceedings

The European Central Bank (ECB) has referred a case regarding the suspension of a national central bank Governor to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ). The ECB is requesting a ruling on whether Latvian authorities have breached European Union law by imposing certain security measures on the Governor of Latvijas Bankas, Ilmars Rimsevics, which prohibit the Governor of Latvijas Bankas from holding office at the Latvian central bank and exercising his functions as a member of the ECBs Governing Council.

Article 14.2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the ECB states that a Governor may be relieved from office only if he no longer fulfils the conditions required for the performance of his duties or if he has been guilty of serious misconduct.

In addition, the ECB has submitted a request for interim measures in order to preserve the normal functioning of its decision-making until the ECJs ruling on its referral. Furthermore, the ECB has requested an expedited procedure to enable a ruling on the referral as soon as possible.

The referral to the ECJ is not meant to interfere with the criminal investigation by the Latvian Anti-Corruption Authority (KNAB).

For media queries, please contact Lena-Sophie Demuth, tel.: +49 69 1344 5423.
UPDATED

Puerto Ricos Education Department announced Thursday that it would close 283 public schools this summer in the face of plummeting student enrollment after Hurricane Maria.

The move would leave Puerto Rico with 828 public schools in a system that currently serves about 320,000 students, the Associated Press reported Thursday . Secretary of Education Julia Keleher said the closures were necessary to better serve the students who are in schools with relatively large enrollments, telling the AP that, We know its a difficult and painful process. ... Our children deserve the best education that we are capable of giving them taking into account Puerto Ricos fiscal reality.

Enrollment in the U.S. territorys schools was already on the decline before Maria struck Puerto Rico last September and upended the islands school system. In the summer of 2017, the island closed 179 public schools. Before the hurricane, the islands public K-12 enrollment was roughly 350,000 students. Many schools, Keleher said, are at less than 60 percent of capacity.

Keleher also said that there wouldnt be teacher layoffs, and that teachers at schools designated for closure would be transferred to schools that are serving more students and will remain open. The school closures are also supposed to save the education department $150 million.

A spokeswoman for Puerto Ricos education department didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Asociacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico, the islands teachers union that represents nearly 30,000 active teachers, immediately opposed the move.

This is like killing 300 communities, said Aida Diaz, the president of the Asociacion de Maestros de Puerto Rico, in an interview with Education Week. Were going to have communities that are not going to have any schools. The only place they have to meet is the school.

She added that she believed close to 4,000 teachers who dont have tenure would leave their jobs, irrespective of Kelehers pledge of no layoffs. Diaz also said that her union was exploring all possibilities to try to stop the schools from being closed.

Keleher noted that 500 schools on the island are at least 40 percent below capacity. She said that school closures would be relatively evenly distributed across different regions of the island.

Closing the schools is part of a larger comprehensive effort to right size the system, Keleher wrote in an email.

The secretary also rejected the idea that teachers would leave their jobs in droves rather than transfer to work at a different school.

This has never happened. They want to keep their jobs. Teachers are concerned about that issue specifically and we are addressing it, Keleher wrote.

The school closure plan is just one aspect of the growing conflict over Puerto Ricos schools. Last month, Gov. Ricardo Rossello signed a bill, which had Kelehers backing, that would allow charter schools and vouchers within two years. Although there are caps imposed on both programs, the union quickly filed a lawsuit to stop the school choice expansion. The governor has also supported closing roughly 300 schools as part of a plan to shore up the islands finances.

Go here for our reporting from Puerto Rico on the state of the islands schools from earlier this year.

And for the list of schools slated to be closed by the department, see the list below. The schools due to be closed are in the left-hand column.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .




EU cheese exports in January follow up 2017 rise

EU cheese exports increased 2% year-on-year in January 2018, following an upward trend in cheese price in 2017 due to demand.

According to the European Commission's short-term outlook report for EU agricultural markets in 2018 and 2019, a further 4% growth in exports is expected this year, driven by Asian markets.

The report said the EU cheese price recovered in 2017 and the annual average price of cheddar recorded a year-on-year increase of almost 20 % (EUR3,390 per tonne) after three years of continuous decline.

EU exports in 2017 rose 4% in volume to 830,000 tonnes and 10% in value. The EU kept its dominant position on the US market despite a 1 % drop in EU exports to this destination compared with 2016.

The most promising growing markets are in Asia, the report noted. In China, between 2013 and 2017, the share of EU exports grew by 5 percentage points (15 % share in 2017) and the volume shipped to China increased almost 250%. The decision of Chinese authorities to cut some import tariffs on consumer goods, including some cheeses, may fuel further increase in EU cheese exports.

The domestic market, driven by the use of cheese in processed products, likewise continued its increasing trend in 2017, as per capita cheese consumption reached 18.1 kilogramme (+1.4 %).

Consumption in the EU-N13, or the new EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) is still significantly below that of other member states, but it increased at a faster pace (+5 %) to 14.8 kg last year. Cheese use is expected to grow steadily this year and in 2019.

Because of the demand, EU cheese production is expected to increase 2% this year. In 2019, the lower growth in milk collection may lead to a smaller increase of cheese production, the report said.-Rick Alberto






Impact on Europe's pork industry: Russia, EU sanctions not likely to end soon



The recent election of Russian president, Vladimir Putin, means the EU's sanctions and Russia's counter-sanctions would not end anytime soon - a serious development which costs Europe's pork industry EUR1.4 billion (US$1.7 billion) yearly, according to a EUobserver report.



Russia's ban of EU pork imports happened in 2014, following the annexation of the Crimea region in Ukraine. The country claimed that the ban was implemented due to the risk of bringing in African Swine Fever (ASF).



After the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rejected Russia's veterinary ban last year, the latter reimposed the pork ban in response to EU sanctions targeting its energy firms, arm exporters and banks.



"Its real motive [for the pork ban] was more likely an economic one," EUobserver's Andrew Rettman wrote.



"Up to half of Russian pig farms are expected to make a loss this year due to high feed costs, overcapacity, low domestic prices, and poor export opportunities. Another 500,000 tonnes of pork a year in extra capacity is scheduled to come online by 2020."



To export its pork to markets not affected by the EU sanctions, Russia had turned to the troubled Donbass region in eastern Ukraine as well as China, which showed "little interest" in Russian pork due to the ASF risk.



"[Donbass], which is home to six million people, has become the principal foreign destination for Russian pork, consuming a significant majority of the 21,000 tonnes of pig meat and 50,000 tonnes of pig offal and by-products that Russia exported last year," Rettman added.



Pre-sanctions, Russia had imported close to 500,000 tonnes of EU pork and other by-products, which made up for 18% of overall European exports.



Rettman observed that the Russia's current aggression in Donbass showed no signs of ending while the EU would probably renewed economic sanctions in July.



However, even if Russia lifts its 'political ban' on EU pork, "there will be a threat to Russian pig production," Yulia Melano, the spokeswoman for Russian veterinary body, Rosselkhoznadzor, said in December last year.



The net cost of Putin's foreign and agricultural policy for EU pork producers amounts to EUR1.39 billion (US$1.7 billion) a year in lost sales, rising by 15% yearly. The figure is the same sum that European Commission asked the WTO in January for permission to levy as compensation through new tariffs on other Russian imports.



Russia protested the move, which would set the stage for a WTO arbitration hearing over the matter.



Nevertheless, some EU states hope for an end to Russian sanctions. Ireland, in fact, had sent a delegation, which included its trade minister and 17 businessman, to the Agrofarm trade exhibition in Moscow this year.



"But Ireland, as well as other EU states, such as Finland, are also looking to reorient lost pork and other food sales from Russia to further afield in the long term," Rettman pointed out.



For now, Europe is exploring China, the world's biggest pork import market, worth 1.2 million tonnes a year.



Finnish pork seller Atria had launched its products in Chinese shops last summer and aims to sell 5,000 tonnes in its first year of trading.



EU companies can offer cautious Chinese consumers quality products as compared to Russia, said Atria CEO, Juha Grohn.



"What we can offer is transparency and traceability. We can follow production from farm to the last step of delivery to China," he commented.



- EUobserver
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.


By The Hill , April 04, 2018





On April 19, Cubas National Assembly will meet to elect Cubas next president. There will only be one name on the ballot for the legislators to consider and the vote will be unanimous. First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel will become president and Raul Castro, at 86 years old, will formally retire from government. Raul personally selected Diaz-Canel five years ago as his first vice president and has groomed him as his successor.





While Raul will retire from his head of state position, he will continue as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, where he is likely to exercise a chairman of the board role rather than chief executive officer. At 57 years old, Diaz-Canel was born after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. He is a civilian who held increasingly important Communist Party positions and has a reputation as a low-key and efficient administrator.

Read More:



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Louisiana wants to overhaul tests to measure students reading skills to better reflect the curriculum that students actually encounter in class, rather than to use the random and often dull reading passages that populate the current exams.

The state is one of just two, plus Puerto Rico, to apply for the U.S. Department of Educations innovative assessment pilot program. It would allow up to five districts in the winning states the opportunity to allow some districts to use innovative new tests to measure achievement, rather than the usual state standardized exam.

Louisianas plan is to base its reading tests on a collection of texts that students have actually read, discussed, and analyzed over the course of the school year.

So why does Louisiana think this is an improvement? The answer to this depends on knowing a bit about what current reading tests look like. Mostly, they measure specific skills, like finding an authors point of view or the main idea of a paragraph. The main criticism of this approach has come from cognitive psychologists and scholars like E.D. Hirsch Jr., a longstanding proponent of content-rich curricula, who argue that to fully grasp these random reading passages, you actually need to have some background knowledge of the subject at hand.

If on the test you get a passage on blueberry cultivation, or how Nancy Drew was a role model for young women, or hiking in Irelands Dingle Peninsula, for instance, but have never seen or tasted a blueberry, heard of a roadster, or know where Ireland is located, then youre at a disadvantage, the thinking goes. (True confessions: All three topics showed up on my SAT exam once upon a time.)

And so in this way, they argue, the tests tend to be unfair to students from low-income backgrounds. Students who come from print-rich homes and have had more opportunities to build this knowledge are more likely to do well on the tests, they argue.

Louisiana officials are clearly drawing from this argument.

The current tests, officials in Louisiana say in their application, do not always value the background knowledge students bring to them, including students deep understanding of books and texts they have studied previously. Instead, state tests preference reading and writing skills over the content that renders them rich and meaningful. And that in turn tends to weaken instruction in the English classroom, they say.

Building Students Background Knowledge

In some ways, the proposal flows from the states curriculum work, for which its received a lot of attention. Among other things, teachers helped develop new curricula in the form of guidebooks in reading that couple literary, nonfiction, and social science texts all on a particular theme. In its proposal, it imagines testing students on several different collections of texts; districts could choose which theyd like to use for their curriculum and for the test.

There was a lot of excitement in the early days of ESSA about the innovative assessment pilot, but as my colleague Alyson Klein writes in this story, it has not ended up being all that popular with states. In part, thats because of all the guardrails in the program: The tests have to be modified as appropriate for English-language learners and students with disabilities, and the results have to be comparable with those from the state tests. And thats without any extra cash.

Louisiana seems to think the extra trouble is worth it. Read all 300 pages of the states proposal here.

Image: Sebastien Wiertz . Licensed under Flickr/Creative Commons

For news on standards, curriculum, and testing,

And sign up here to get alerts in your email inbox when stories are published on Curriculum Matters.


By SacBee , April 04, 2018





More than 1 million undocumented immigrants have received driver's licenses, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday.





Assembly Bill 60, authored by then-Assemblyman Luis Alejo in 2013, required California DMV offices to issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants as long as they can prove their identity and residence within the state. The law has led to 1,001,000 undocumented immigrants receiving licenses as of March 31 but doesn't give the licensees carte blanche to drive outside of California or fly across state or federal borders.

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By Yahoo , April 05, 2018





Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signalled Thursday he saw a strong chance of reaching a deal with the US and Mexico to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.





"We have a high chance of reaching a win-win-win deal for Canada, the United States and Mexico," Trudeau told reporters.

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On day five of the statewide teacher walkout, the Oklahoma state senate passed two bills that would generate a combined $40.5 million for education.

But its not enough to send teachers back to the classroom. The walkout will continue on Monday.

The first bill to place a sales tax on Amazon vendors would raise about $20.5 million for education funding. The second bill would allow casinos to have ball and dice table games, and thats projected to raise up to $20 million for education. Both bills are now headed to the governors desk.

The bills passage fulfills two of the Oklahoma Education Associations three legislative demands . The other one was for the state Senate to reject the Houses repeal of a tax on hotel and motel stays. That tax would have given $42 million to public schools. Instead, on Friday, the Senate voted to repeal the tax.

This revenue source would provide much needed additional funding for students, is widely supported by the public, and would be paid for by non-Oklahomans, said Alicia Priest, the OEA president, in a statement. We call on Governor [Mary] Fallin to immediately veto [the tax repeal] because it steals $42 million in funding away from Oklahomas students.

Priest urged state legislators to consider a bill that would reinstate the capital gains taxcurrently, taxpayers can exempt from their taxable income any gains from the sale of Oklahoma property or stocks. That deduction mostly benefits the wealthy, according to a local think tank .

Passing a bill that would reinstate the capital gains taxwhich would provide more funding for schoolswould end the walkout, Priest said.

So far, Oklahoma lawmakers have declined to hear that bill, according to local news reports .

Several school districts, including the Tulsa and Oklahoma City districts, have announced they would be closed on Monday. For the Oklahoma City district at least, this will add two additional days to the school year. (Its worth noting that not every district in the state is participating in the walkout: Many teachers in rural areas are already back at work.)

The teachers union had originally demanded a $10,000 pay raise over three years and a $200 million boost to education funding, along with raises for support staff and other measures. Instead, the legislature passed a $6,100 pay raise for teachers and $50 million for public schools.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Greg Treat told reporters that he didnt anticipate any modifications to the education budget, according to the Oklahoman newspaper. Fallin has already called on teachers to return to the classroom.

In a statement, Shawn Hime, the executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, said teachers advocacy has put schools in their strongest financial position in more than a decade.

My hope now is local communities will begin a serious conversation about the need for children to return to class so they can finish the school year strong and ensure all of the dedicated employees in our schools can continue to be paid, Hime said.

But it seems like teachers are still maintaining large community support. In an Oklahoman online poll with more than 29,000 votes, over 86 percent of respondents say they support the walkout .

Image: Six-year-old Coe Amos, a student in the Deer Creek school district of Edmond, Okla., stands in line to enter the state Capitol on the fifth day of protests over school funding, in Oklahoma City, April 6. Sue Ogrocki/AP
This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. it is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.
Turkeys gift to the world: Tulips

The 13th Tulip Festival has started on Monday in Istanbul. During the month of April, you can spot these glorious spring flowers literally everywhere in Istanbul.

The symbol of Istanbul, tulips were taken from the Turkic homeland in Central Asia's Pamir Mountains to Anatolia and spread worldwide and continue to be the main theme for spring events.

These flowers were brought by Turks from Central Asia to Anatolia during the Turkic migration and have been used in decorative patterns since the 12th century. The plant also became a main theme in art, poems, stories, handicrafts and miniature crafts and its pattern was imprinted on mosque decorations, carpets, war helmets, robes, skirts and money. In the 15th century.

Tulip bulbs sent by the Austro-Hungarian Empire's ambassador in Istanbul, Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, who was also a botanist, first arrived in Vienna and then in the Netherlands.

"Going to the Netherlands for landscaping, the tulip became a trade good in that country. In Turkey, it's much more cultural. You can see a tulip pattern on Turkish banknotes and on Turkey's advertising logo" for its 2020 Olympics candidacy. You can see it anywhere; on fountains, tombstones. It is supposed that the tulip was part of Ottoman monarchy culture, but it's a culture of the people. It has been a culture that we carried from Central Asia." says Ismail Hakki Gulal, a member of the Istanbul Tulip Foundations science committee.

Becoming popular in the Netherlands, the tulip made its way to the Canadian capital Ottawa and came to be known worldwide. In Canada, the Netherlands and Japan, tulip festivals are held every year.

DISCOVER THE ART OF TULIPS IN ISTANBUL

Every April since 2006, the city government in Istanbul has planted millions of tulips in Istanbuls parks and avenues. Within the scope of International Istanbul Tulip Festival, during the month of April, you can spot these glorious spring flowers literally everywhere in Istanbul, particularly in Emirgan Park -which is located by the Bosphorus in Sariyer. And the "world's largest tulip carpet" as it is touted by the municipality, will be on display at city's Sultanahmet Square.
Rob Kardashian isn't happy about his ex-girlfriend Blac Chyna's recent fight at Six Flags and has allegedly made contact with her other ex, rapper Tyga.

According to a new report, Kardashian and Tyga are both in the same boat when it comes to their safety concerns for the children they share with the model and have reportedly begun communicating with one another in hopes of teaming up against her.

Tyga is demanding changes for Kings safety after Chynas outburst. The latest drama brought Tyga and Rob closer together, and with the help of Kylie [Jenner, 20, Tygas ex], Tyga and Rob have been talking about how to best handle Blacs out of control behavior, a source close to the situation told Hollywood Life on April 4.

Blac Chyna Used A Stroller As A Weapon

Blac Chyna was caught on camera in a fight with another woman at the Six Flags amusement park in Los Angeles last week and in the shocking video, she was seen using her daughter Dream's stroller as a weapon. Needless to say, Kardashian and Tyga have allegedly grown concerned about the model's violent behavior and how it may affect their children.

Rob Kardashian And Tyga Have Safety In Mind

Hollywood Life's source revealed that the rapper has demanded his ex-girlfriend make some changes for both his son, King Cairo, and Kardashian's daughter, Dream, to ensure their safety. He's also looking for help from Kardashian and talking with their lawyers about their legal options. As the outlet explained, Kardashian and Tyga are in the same boat when it comes to their drama with Blac Chyna and both allegedly want to seek out more custody rights to their kids. They're also interested in getting new rules into place that would require Dream and King Cairo to be kept out of harms way.

Rob Kardashian And Tyga Haven't Met Blac Chyna's Boyfriend

During Blac Chyna's recent fight at Six Flags, she was joined by her new boyfriend, 18-year-old rapper YBN Jay Almighty, who neither Kardashian nor Tyga has met.

According to Hollywood Life, Tyga is concerned that his son could be learning bad habits and bad language from Blac Chyna's new man and hasn't heard any good things about the rapper.

"They know nothing about this guy outside of the outrageous videos they see of him online, the insider added.
John Cena has finally responded to Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's "diss" on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. The two wrestlers, who are now apparently friends, were at one point rivals but that's all in the past.

However, Johnson stopped by Jimmy Kimmel's show earlier this week and stated that if Cena should ever act up, he would "knock his teeth" so far down his throat that he would have to stick a toothbrush "up his a**" to clean it.

Cena didn't take that threat lightly and responded to his "friend's" smart remarks.

"Listen up, Dwayne Johnson, if that is your real name because everyone around the world knows that your first name is T and your last name is He-Rock. You just pronounce all stupid and that gets me even more p-ed off," Cena stated. Cena did clarify that if Johnson wants to clean his butt, he should be prepared to wear a body suit and latex gloves because it's like a "Mississippi cornfield in a downpour."

Whether this is friendly banter or serious warnings, the two wrestlers know how to make trash talk entertaining.

John's Future With Nikki

In the meantime, Cena is gearing up to say "I do" to his fiancee, Nikki Bella. The actor proposed to the model on April 2, 2017, after their victory against The Miz and Maryse.

While this isn't the first time that Cena exchanged vows, it is the first time the actor has started thinking about having children. The 40 year-old actor has no children and is now open to the idea of the possibility after portraying a father in the film Blockers.

"The movie helps with that, certainly. My perspective on life helps with that and working on my relationship with my bride-to-be helps with that. It's amazing what you can accomplish if you just sit down and talk with people, so I've done a lot of that," Cena stated.

The film follows three parents that try to thwart their daughters' plans to lose their virginity at a party. The movie also stars Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, and Kathryn Newton.
Fans of MTV's hit reality series, Jersey Shore will be happy to know that the network has already renewed the show for a second season. However, there might a huge alteration to the cast if MTV doesn't make some serious changes.

Will Snooki Stay?

Sadly, it looks like the cast might lose Snooki formerly known as Nicole Polizzi if MTV can't get with the program and respect her role as a mother. Those who watched the Jersey Shore know that the 30-year-old went on to marry her longtime boyfriend, Jionni LaValle, and now shares two children with him, 5-year-old Lonrenzo Dominic LaValle and 3-year-old Giovanna Marie LaValle.

Although the former Snooki & Jwoww star seemed to enjoy reuniting with her castmates to recreate a modern rendition of the series, a Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, the mother of the two explained that if she does come back for Season 2 there has to different a format.

"Supposedly it's going to be like a Housewives format, where we film three days a week and then we go about our lives and we're not sequestered in a house for a month without seeing my family," Snooki explained.

Snooki further explained that if the format doesn't change, she's going to pull out of Season 2. Hopefully, MTV does consider her request as fans would definitely miss watching the meatball's continuous struggles with the duck phone and her boozy banter after a few drinks.

The reality star also stated that she suffered major mom guilt because she spent a great deal of time away from her children to film the new season.

"If it's like that again, I am pulling out of season two. Being a mother comes first, so hopefully they'll work with me on that," the author remarked.

Sammi 'Sweetheart' Ditches The Shore Cast

Snooki would not be the first cast member to refuse to return to film the show.

As previously reported, Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola decided to decline the opportunity to reunite with her fellow Shore family. Sources close to the former Jersey Shore star claim that she does not want to be anywhere near Ronnie Ortiz-Magro. Those who heavily watched the series know that their relationship revolved around drama and turmoil, which led her to refuse the offer. The two are also in new relationships now. Earlier this week, Ortiz-Magro welcomed a baby girl with his girlfriend, Jen Harley.

Jersey Shore: Family Vacation premieres on Thursday, April 5 at 8 p.m.
Sean Penn's son has found himself in a tight spot in Nebraska. Hopper Penn is facing drug possession charges in the state.

Busted On The Road

Local law enforcement busted the 24-year-old son of the Into the Wild director and actress Robin Wright for possession of marijuana, mushrooms, and prescription pills.

Penn and a woman, later confirmed to be his girlfriend, 26-year-old actress Uma von Wittkamp, were pulled over on Wednesday after failing to signal.

The officer on duty detected drug activity during a subsequent traffic stop on Interstate 80 and searched the car.

Authorities found fourteen grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills, and three grams of mushrooms in the vehicle. They took in Penn for possession of shrooms and marijuana, and von Wittkamp for shrooms and amphetamines.

Von Wittkamp was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, while Penn was charged with possession of a controlled substance as well as possession of marijuana. Possession of a controlled substance is a felony. Both were taken to Hamilton County Jail.

An Ongoing Struggle

The young Penn has struggled with substance abuse in the past and he credited his father's zero-tolerance approach for helping him get clean in the past.

A source close to the family confirmed that Penn is furious that his son has ended up in this situation.

"[He] doesn't even want to talk to him at the moment," the source claimed.

Although Hopper had been doing better since his last rehab stint, he reportedly fell in with the wrong people in L.A. and reverted to where he was with his addiction.

He previously told a reporter that he was happy to have finally gotten out of those bad habits because it's not fun when it becomes a dependency.

The Final Straw

His father, however, may be at the end of his tether at this stage.

"[His dad] is not going to bail Hopper out of this one! This is the last straw for him and as much as this pains him, Hopper is just lucky he is still alive " the source advised.

Penn's divorce from Wright may have gone some way towards contributing to their son's ongoing substance abuse issues.

The actor battled his own demons at the height of his fame in the eighties, so his approach to his son's problems is definitely of the tough love variety.

"He is going to give him one more chance and has ordered him to go rehab as soon as he is out and it isn't going to be one of those easy-breezy rehabs either. He wants him to check into a longterm facility and clean himself up for good, or else," the source revealed.

Penn and von Wittkamp were released from prison on Thursday. Sean Penn has yet to publicly comment on his son's arrest.
Flag Disposal Ceremony held in Charter Oak The Charter Oak Legion held a Flag Disposal Ceremony at the Charter Oak-Ute School on Friday, Sept. 17. The members explained to the students why its important to dispose of a flag properly. 

Danbury Corn Days is this weekend Its going to be a beautiful weekend which makes the Danbury Corn Days Committee very relieved. This weekend their planning plays out as Corn Days weekend.The weekend starts on Friday, Sept. 24 
Letters

COVID It is ironic the Federal Government appointees are blaming the unvaccinated U.S. citizens for the new COVID-19 explosion. When at the same time, people  900,000 so far and going up  are crossing the southern border, coming in hot with COVID in their body. Government appointees sprinkle these people into the interior of the U.S.

Safety At Rural Road Intersections Crawford County Farm Bureau Board of Directors wants to remind everyone when traveling on rural roads to slow down at intersections, especially where there is tall corn.

A plea for a plea To the Editor, Mr. Schauer and Ms. Creasman wrote a pitiful plea to their followers (Times News July 14) to be Silent No More. Their call to action for support of 

In response to the July 14 Letter to the Editor by Harrison County Chair and Vice-Chair. It was a relief to read the recent Letter to the Editor submitted by Benjamin Schauer and Jan Creasman. Their letter strongly outlined our current political climate, but did so in a respectful manner. They asked the reader to think, rather than telling the reader what to think.

Dig Deeper After my last editorial in this paper on the extreme property tax increases being forced on Harrison County taxpayers, I was tipped off to dig deeper into what really is going on with our County Assessor and Boards.

Read more letters
BMW SA Open hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni

Glendower GC, City of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, South Africa
Have changed the thread title for you.



It could help to know what you need an English speaking accountant for. At least as to whether it's for business purposes (say, setting up a business) or personal (personal income taxes, whether French or UK).



For business accountants, you may want to check with your local CCI (Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie) through their section for new business set-ups. There is a system of accounting "associations" that work with small businesses (and will earn you a tax credit on your business taxes) and the CCI might know if any of the associations have English speaking staff.



For personal taxes, take a look at either your own consulate website or at the US Consulate website for their listings of English speaking professionals in the area.



Some professions are forbidden (or at least strongly discouraged) from "advertising" their language proficiencies. And some professionals simply don't like to refer to any language skills they may or may not have - due to the additional liability of working in what to them is a "foreign" language.

Cheers,

Bev
FARMING businesses in Western Australia are struggling to keep permanent staff with the agricultural industry not being as attractive as it was for many.

South Stirlings farmer and 2015 Nuffield scholar Reece Curwen attended the Inspire Summit 2018, Perth, last week to share his findings on how to create a stable workplace.

Mr Curwen currently has 12 members working on his team and in the past he has had an unstable workforce.

A few years ago we were losing 30 per cent of our workforce a year which was really hard when you are trying to create a stable place to work, Mr Curwen said.

This issue led to him studying the business growth through employment.

Mr Curwen said the ag industry was hugely reliant on foreign labour and casual staff to get the job done.

The backpacker system is just fantastic, they are only here for a short period of time, they want to work as many hours as possible and work as hard as they like to make as much money so they can enjoy the country, he said.

But this has resulted in us being very reliant on backpackers and we are always importing this expertise, we are training them up and teaching them, then they leave and we have to start the process again.

Mr Curwen believes the most critical element about a business was the people and as a result people were the ultimate key to expansion and capturing opportunities at home.

Trying to create an environment that people want to be a part of is really important to us, he said.

Throughout his research, Mr Curwen discovered that in WA the number of people in rural areas was decreasing, the average age of the farmer was increasing and the industry as a whole isnt appetising enough to encourage the next generation to come through and choose agriculture as a viable option.

Mr Curwens study objectives were to focus on what were the best ways to attract and engage the current labour force and how do you retain your team for the long run.

If you attract, engage and retain you have made steps to becoming the employer of choice with higher staff retention, he said.

In 2015 Mr Curwen travelled throughout 16 countries and had 130 meetings with global industry professionals, including farmers.

He found there was no silver bullet when it came to managing people, however there were a number of one percenters that could collectively make a significant difference when it comes to creating a place that people want to be a part of.

A lot of farmers have chosen to make investments in machinery and technology before making investment in people on their farms, he said.

Its an easier thing to invest in and thats because the human brain is unique, each and every one of us thinks differently so there is no standard and no one size fits all when it comes to managing someone.

Something Mr Curwen found interesting on his worldwide study was a lot of really great companies he visited didnt employ people on their skill set, instead looking at their attitude.

He said the next generation would see struggles in the ag industry with the average farmer being 58 years of age.

Its predicted that by 2020, 40pc of the industries labour force is going to consist of Gen Y (born between 1980 and 1994) and Millennials (born between 1994 and 2000).

They have the motto of work to live rather than live to work and this is because we have never really had it hard, we have never been through a recession, a depression, a war and we have been very fortunate throughout our lives and that has set the way that we think and there is no fault for that, thats just the way we are, Mr Curwen said.

The millennial will average more than four careers, staying an average of two years in a role and working for more than 17 employers in a lifetime.

An interesting finding for Mr Curwen was that people and cultural fit, along with career potential and a work/life balance, was what Millennials were looking for in employers over compensation or money.

He said it was something employers needed to take hold of because once they know what the generation was like then they could create a working environment around those key points.

Mr Curwen has been focused on his working environment for his staff by implementing a few key steps.

Some things to consider is - developing the shared mission, vision and team goals, creating shared core values of your business which sets the standard and removes attitude, understand the employees vision and conducted weekly meetings and constant communications, he said.

The most powerful tool when it comes to staff retention is giving them responsibility in what they do and when you give them responsibility you also have to make them accountable.

The most successful businesses that Mr Curwen visited around the world were those who had delegated responsibilities to others.

He did this by changing roles such as when the sprayer driver was getting bored of spraying at some point, giving them some exposure to other parts of the business.

Mr Curwen said farmers needed to support growth through training and there should be a section in the budget for training of staff.

Its great to continually up skill the team through what ever they would like to learn and at the end of the day it will benefit you, if you are allowing them to get something done, he said.

Your team needs to be seen as an investment rather than a cost.
WA cattle breeders last week shone through strongly in the judging ring at this years Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Seven studs representing five breeds exhibited and all showed there is plenty of quality among WA stud herds.

Leading the way for the WA team were two handy young Droughtmaster entries from Doug and Dani Giles, Quicksilver Droughtmaster stud, Newdegate.

The pair were sashed the champion bull and champion female in the other breeds section, for breeds with 19 or less entries.

The junior bull, Quicksilver Navman, by Wajatryn Jimbeam 2228, was 11-months-old, weighed 466 kilograms and scanned 83cm2 EMA.

The heifer, Quicksilver Talia, was a 12mo daughter of Connor Enis.

Navman also claimed the best exhibit in the other breeds section claiming the title over Talia.

The Giles have been long time supporters of the show and regularly exhibit their Charolais cattle and truck across other breeders cattle to the event.

This was the first year they had exhibited Droughtmasters, after previously exhibiting them at the Make Smoking History Wagin Woolorama and IGA Perth Royal Show.

Mr Giles said their Droughtmaster stud was an accidental pursuit.

We had two dark red Charolais bulls we were having trouble selling, so we decided to buy some Droughtmaster females to trial them on, he said.

Dani and one of our farm managers James Morris went to Kapalee stud, Biloela, Queensland to look for some.

They bought 27 in-calf cows and six unjoined heifers, but before they could complete the paperwork and get the cattle home, a commercial client bought the bulls.

So then we turned around, went back to Queensland, bought a bull and a couple more females.

Mr Giles said the Droughtmaster exhibits in Sydney were from the second drop of calves from those females.

Along with exhibiting their two Droughtmaster animals, for an eighth consecutive year the Giles were also in the Charolais ring.

They exhibited two Charolais entries and their best result in this section was a third in the class for bulls over 20 months but not over 24 months.

Winning the third ribbon for the stud was Quicksilver Macca (AI) (P).

The Thompson familys Venturon stud, Boyup Brook also exhibited in the Charolais classes.

The Thompsons this year exhibited three junior bulls, three junior heifers and a cow/calf unit and five of them walked away with place ribbons, including two first-placed ribbons.

Winning one of the blue first-placed ribbons was Venturon Maximum Impact (P), which the Thompsons exhibited in partnership with the Winchester stud, Orange, New South Wales.

The Thompsons sold a half share in Maximum Impact to Winchester for $15,000 at last years IGA Perth Royal Show.

Maximum Impact, which is by Venturon Keystone (P) placed first in the class for bulls over 14 months but not over 16 months.

When Maximum Impact won its class judge Tom Baker, Woonalee Simmentals, Millicent, South Australia, said the young bull was a star in the making.

He has the best sires head I have seen on a bull and he moves really well, Mr Baker said.

He is the complete package.

Maximum Impact weighed 700kg and had an EMA scan of 114cm2.

Also shining through in the bull classes for Venturon was Venturon New Generation (AI) (P) (R/F), which placed second in the class for bulls between nine and 12 months.

The 566kg New Generation is by Sparrows Kingston 139Y (P) and displayed a 101cm2 EMA in the ring.

The Venturon female line-up also placed strongly and leading the way was Venturon Mariah (P) which won its class for females over 18 months but not over 19 months, while another young heifer from the stud Venturon Need A Diamond placed third in the class for females between nine to 12 months.

Both Mariah and Need A Diamond are by Venturon Keystone.

The studs cow and calf unit, a Venturon Crusty Demon daughter Venturon Hollie (P), which was exhibited with a heifer calf at foot, placed second in the class for females over 36 months that attracted six entries.

The stud rounded out its strong showing placing first in the sires group class with a team of three animals all sired by Venturon Keystone and second in the breeders group class which attracted seven entries.

After a successful showing at last years show, James and Casey Morris, Morrisvale stud, Narrikup, again made the trek across to Sydney this year with a team of three  one bull and two females.

Their young bull Morrisvale Nightrider was a standout for the stud.

The 11mo 555kg sire placed first in a class of three for bulls aged nine to 12 months.

Nightrider is by Morrisvale Kept Secret, which was sashed the grand champion bull at last years Sydney show when Limousins were the feature and was sold to Warriwindi Limousin stud, Penola, South Australia, at last years show.

Nightrider is the first son of Morrisvale Kept Secret to be shown and it carried scan figures into the ring of 9mm rump fat, 6mm rib fat and 105cm2 EMA.

After the judging, the Morris family sold Nightrider to Black Opal Limousins, Coonabarabran, NSW, for $10,000.

Also exhibiting in the Limousin section at this years show was Kevin Beal, Shannalea Limousin stud, Albany.

Mr Beal had two entries in the showing  a bull and a heifer and both went home with ribbons.

Shannalea Wisteria Lane N9 placed second in its class for heifers over 12 months but not over 14 months and Shannalea Net Profit (2P) (R) (PU) was second in its class for bulls in the same age range.

The black Wisteria Lane is by RPY Paynes Derby 46Z, while the 666kg Net Profit is a son of Wulfs Xclusive 2458X and displayed an EMA of 118cm2 in the ring.

In the Murray Grey judging Viv Giles, Willawa Greys, Newdegate, presented three animals including Willawa Greys Noelle which finished third in its class for females aged 12 to 16 months and Willawa Greys Manuel, which placed third in the bull class for entries aged over 24 months but not over 30 months.

Also in the Murray Grey classes was a bull, Monterey Mighty Man M79, bred by Gary and Julie Buller, Monterey stud, Karridale, which was exhibited by GP & EJ Burnett, Maefair stud, Artarmon, NSW and CP & TP Ernst, Dehavlyn stud, Singleton, NSW.

The studs purchased the bull at this years Monterey sale in a three quarter share sale for $14,000.

The 932kg Mighty Man won its class for bulls over 20 months but not over 24 months before going on to be sashed the reserve senior champion Murray Grey bull.

WA bloodlines also shone through in the Murray Greys sire or dams progeny class with a team sired by Tullibardine Jeopardy J14, exhibited by the Glenliam Farm stud, Glen Williams, NSW, taking first place.

Rounding out the WA exhibitors in the show was Murray Williams, Yongerellen Red Poll stud, Quairading.

Mr Williams best result was a fourth place with Yongerellen Gracious Kin in the class for females over 30 months.
SO, you may ask, what is all the fuss about truffles?

And by truffles, were not talking about the small, round, sweet chocolate variety that feature prominently around Christmas time.

Were talking about the mysterious earthy pieces of fungi that have been increasingly featured on the Australian culinary scene over the past couple of decades, and are renowned for their scarcity and unique aroma, as well as their hefty price tag.

Well, it turns out that they grow really well in the south west of WA  so much so that around 70 per cent of the total annual Australian truffle exports are now supplied from producers around Manjimup and neighbouring towns Pemberton and Northcliffe.

Formerly renowned for its timber industry, the Southern Forests region, with its picturesque karri trees, is building a reputation as a food bowl, producing a whole range of amazing agricultural products including world-class wines.

But it is the staggering success with which truffles have been cultivated over the past 20 years, to the point it is now the biggest producing region in the southern hemisphere, that has helped to shine the spotlight on the region, some 300 kilometres south of Perth.

It is fitting then that they are the headline act at an annual winter festival created in their honour.

The eighth annual Truffle Kerfuffle is to be held at Manjimup from Friday, June 22 to Sunday, June 24, coinciding with the truffle harvest.

According to the Australian Truffle Growers Association (ATGA), truffles are a fungus and grow under the ground as a result of a symbiotic relationship with the roots of particular trees, such as oaks and hazelnuts, infected with the appropriate mycorrhiza or fungus root.

The truffles form in late summer, slowly maturing during autumn before being ready to harvest in winter, when specially-trained truffle dogs locate them by the scent they emit when ripening.

The ATGA said truffles had been consumed for more than 3000 years and, as they are native to the south west of Europe, France has led the way in modern times for growing and also incorporating them into their cuisine.

Production of the black or Perigord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) in the southern hemisphere began in New Zealand in the late 1980s as a government initiative, and work in Tasmania quickly followed.

It was in 1997 that the first commercial crops were planted around Manjimup, which were then harvested in 2003.

As has been the case with producing wines comparable with those from the great wine-growing regions of France, the climate around Manjimup proved to be suitable for successful truffle production, along with the rich karri loam soils.

And as the gourmet delicacy is best consumed fresh, the roughly seven tonne of winter southern hemisphere crops are able to help fill demand, while the northern hemisphere is in its summer period as around 90 per cent is exported, finding their ways into the kitchens of world renowned chefs including Heston Blumenthal from The Fat Duck and Brett Graham from The Ledbury, who describe Australian truffles as amazing and outstanding respectively.

For Truffle Kerfuffle president Jeremy Beissel, the festival has emerged as a great way of showcasing the region, not only for its truffle production, but also as a horticultural wonderland.

The owner of iconic local business Fontys Pool Chalets and Caravan Park, it was Mr Beissel, Al Blakers of Manjimup Truffles and Gavin Booth, now of Australian Truffle Traders, who hatched the plan for the festival in a shed at Mr Blakers property over a few beers back around 2010.

We thought that, coming out of the decline of the timber industry, the truffles were a unique product that could help to shine the spotlight on Manjimup and showcase the plethora of agricultural products that are found in the region, Mr Beissel said.

Financially backed by Mr Blakers, the first festival was a very simple, humble one-day event in 2011 of demonstrations and a small market, attracting less than 1000 people.

Fast-forward just seven years to 2017 and the Truffle Kerfuffle was a three-day festival attracting more than 5000 participants, which resulted in more than $2.1 million in economic impact for the region, and more than $2m in earned media exposure, based on estimated advertising value.

It has been touted as one of Australias best food and wine festivals in Australia by popular travel guide QANTAS AWOL.

Planning is well underway for this years event, which is expected to be even bigger and better than before.

The heart of the Truffle Kerfuffle will once again be at the Fontys Pool Chalets and Caravan Park, just south of the Manjimup townsite, when it is transformed into a festival village for the weekend.

Patrons will be able to purchase an all-weekend ticket for the festival village, with children aged 15 and under admitted for free, and explore on either or both Saturday and Sunday between 10am-5pm, where they will find a gourmet marketplace, pop-up dining, family activites, live music, truffle dog demonstrations, and cooking demonstrations and much more.

While the names of this years special guests are yet to be released, previous attendees of the festival include Shane Osborn of one star Michelin restaurant Arcane in Hong Kong, Curtis Duffy formerly of three star Michelin restaurant Grace in Chicago, Paul West from River Cottage Australia, Matthew Evans from Gourmet Farmer, Guy Grossi, Jack Stein; and from WA, Anna Gare, David Coomer, Aaron Carr, Sophie Zalokar, Amy Hamilton, Russell Blaikie, Kiren Mainwaring, Hadleigh Troy, George Cooper, Paul Iskov, Jesse Blake, Scott Brannigan, Kenny McHardy, Tony Howell and Ben Day.

Those who do attend the 2018 Truffle Kerfuffle are sure to have access to the premium product, known for its unique and indescribable aroma, fresh out of the ground, as its picking season runs from June to August.

Mr Beissel said he was a big fan of truffles, of which the smallest amount could transform a dish.

Theyre not well-renowned for no reason, although they can be prepared badly, he said.

If they are picked at their prime, and then prepared by someone who knows what they are doing, theres nothing quite like them.

The taste explosion they can create is indescribable.

That sentiment was echoed by Russell Blaikie, head chef of renowned Perth restaurant Must Winebar, who attended the 2017 festival.

Truffles can be tricky to use, they are delicate, so their aroma can be lost in a dish if incorrectly prepared, but when their sensually pungent funk is highlighted, the sensory experience of tasting truffle becomes mind-bending, decadent and joyous, all at once, he said.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the dinner where our first WA truffle was served, a defining moment in WAs culinary history and a meal that Ill never forget.

Despite the truffle being the third most expensive food in the world, regularly attracting prices around $2000 per kilogram, Mr Beissel said the Truffle Kerfuffle was not a high-end event just for the wealthy.

While people could choose to add-on to their festival weekend pass by booking additional experiences including going on truffle hunts, taking part in intimate masterclasses in the Chefs Cabin or attending sessions in the wine shed, there were still plenty of relatively inexpensive opportunities to buy small pieces of truffle or food containing truffle in the marketplace, as well as many free cooking demonstrations and even a free truffle dog demonstration.

Other dining events scheduled over the weekend include a Feast and Fire Opening night on the Friday evening, which will feature live music, campfires, food and wine; the Hunters Breakfast; and A Winters Night on the Saturday evening, which promises to be a beautiful yet down-to-earth dining experience.

The Truffle Kerfuffle is owned by a not-for-profit association, and is overseen by a volunteer board, relying largely on the support of the local community, truffle industry and volunteers, while also supported by their strategic partner the State government through Tourism WA, which describes the event as the States premier winter festival.

Mr Beissel said the festivals objectives were to drive brand awareness for Manjimup truffles and the regions position at the heart of Australian truffle country, to deliver a positive economic impact for the Southern Forests region, to deliver a high-quality destination tourism experience, and to drive awareness for the Southern Forests region as a winter tourism destination rich in natural beauty, premium produce and hands-on experiences.

Mr Beissel said he and his fellow committee members could never have anticipated the rate at which the festival would grow, yet they were proud that at its heart it still retained the essence of their original plan- to create a unique food festival that promoted the region.

It is all about showcasing the people, place and produce of the region at its best, from local truffle growers to farmer, winemakers and artisans, he said.

Were incredibly proud that 90 per cent of the total value of all produce at the event comes from the Shire of Manjimup.

And the flow-on effects of the festival certainly extend beyond Manjimup, with neighbouring towns able to offer accommodation and shuttle services in accommodating the influx of visitors to the region.

The Truffle Kerfuffle is also helping local producers to connect with visiting chefs, who are then forming partnerships.

For example, last year Mr Blaikie met Carlo Pessotto from Karri Country Gourmet Potatoes, and now he has included their potatoes on his menu.

Truffle Kerfuffle Inc also has a strong community program, including having local school children visiting truffle orchards as part of a school science program.

Also, last year Paul West from SBS program River Cottage Australia visited local truffle growers and farmers as well as schools, where he talked to students about the regions produce and even did some cooking demonstrations.

Tickets for the 2018 Truffle Kerfuffle go on sale on Tuesday, March 20 at trufflekerfuffle.com.au

The program will be released in the week prior to tickets going on sale, and those who wish to receive an email notification can sign up to the mailing list on the website.

People unable to attend the festival, or who would like access to truffles at other times of the year, can always visit local businesses the Truffle and Wine Co, or Australian Truffle Traders.

Including WAs first truffiere, which has since become the worlds biggest single black truffle producer, The Truffle and Wine Co is home to The Truffle Kitchen, which specialises in truffle-inspired food and wine pairings, and is open seven days a week from 11am-3pm.

They also offer opportunities for visitors to book and go on a truffle hunt during the harvest period, as does Australian Truffle Traders.
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Michelle Pfeiffer could be in 'Avengers: Infinity War'.

Michelle Pfeiffer

The 59-year-old actress is set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet Van Dyne in the upcoming 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' movie - which is slated to be released this summer - but Victoria Alonso, a Marvel Studios executive producer, teased that Pfeiffer could be making her MCU debut earlier.

When asked about the experience filming 'Avengers: Infinity War', Alonso told The Hollywood Reporter: "Yes. I'm not going to lie to you, I cried.

"You say to yourself, 'Huh?' You have big stars talking about other big stars as in, 'Gasp, is that Michelle Pfeiffer? It is! Oh, was that so-and-so?'

"It's like their little Hollywood moment, which I found lovely and endearing."

In 'Ant-Man and the Wasp', Pfeiffer will portray Janet, the wife of Michael Douglas' Hank Pym, in the upcoming sequel alongside Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as the two titular superheroes.

In the comic books, Janet was the original Wasp and a founding member of the Avengers, and continued as a superhero after her husband retired, but she eventually went missing in another dimension and was assumed to be dead.

The rest of the cast includes Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo and Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Bill Foster.

Michael Pena will also star in the film, which sees Peyton Reed, who helmed 2015's 'Ant-Man', returning as director.

Both Rudd and Lilly are also set to appear as their superhero alter egos in the upcoming 'Avengers: Infinity War' movie.

'Avengers: Infinity War' will see the hero squad, which includes Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), join forces with the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' troop to save the Earth.

The two teams will have to work together to fight intergalactic tyrant Thanos, but they will also receive a helping hand from Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), as well as Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), which will mark the star's debut in a Marvel production.
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QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/05/18 -- Nemaska Lithium Inc. ("Nemaska Lithium" or the "Corporation") (TSX: NMX)(OTCQX: NMKEF)(FRANKFURT: N0T) is pleased to provide further details on its project financing plans and to announce that it has entered into an investment agreement (the "Investment Agreement") with SoftBank Group Corp. ("SoftBank") for a private placement (the "Placement") of common share subscription receipts (the "Receipts") at a price of CAD 1.12 per Receipt for aggregate gross proceeds of up to CAD 99,075,000.

The Corporation's March 28, 2018 press release outlined its overall project financing plans to raise between USD 775M and USD 825M to fund the construction and commissioning of its Whabouchi Mine and Shawinigan Plant project and for general working capital (the "Project Financing"). The Placement proceeds will therefore be an important component of the equity portion of the Project Financing as the Corporation continues to work on various complementary financing alternatives, including a USD 300-350M debt financing and a USD 150M streaming facility for which the Corporation expects to provide further details in the short-term, both combined with additional private and/or public equity offerings. Under the Investment Agreement, SoftBank will acquire up to 9.9% of Nemaska Lithium's outstanding common shares ("Shares") after giving effect to the consummation of the Project Financing.

"Upon the completion of this transaction, SoftBank will be a new esteemed shareholder and customer for Nemaska Lithium and we are very pleased to welcome its team to our shareholder base and eventually welcome its nominee to our Board," said Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium. "As a global technology pioneer and leader, SoftBank's culture of innovation melds very well with our own corporate values and is a clear endorsement of our approach to producing environmentally friendly, low-cost lithium compounds."

"This investment in Nemaska is of monumental importance to the SoftBank Group's strategy," said Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. "We are extremely pleased to be further accelerating the Mobile Revolution, an era of IoT (Internet of Things) and electric vehicles enabled by the fusion of technology and energy storage."

Completion of the Placement is subject to customary escrow release conditions for this type of transaction, including approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange. The closing of the Placement is expected to occur on or about 10 days following the announcement thereof.

The gross proceeds from the Placement will be held in escrow and, once the escrow release conditions will be satisfied or waived (which include raising additional equity, concluding the streaming facility agreement and securing debt financing commitments), each Receipt shall be automatically converted into one (1) Share and the net proceeds of the Placement will be released to the Corporation. If the escrow release conditions have not been satisfied or waived by August 6, 2018, the Receipts will be automatically cancelled and funds will revert to SoftBank.

If, after giving effect to the Placement, SoftBank holds less than 9.9% of the Shares then outstanding, it will be entitled to purchase additional Shares upon the same terms as the equity offerings forming part of the Project Financing to maintain its shareholdings up to 9.9% of the outstanding Shares. If, after giving effect to the Placement and consummation of the remaining equity portion of the Project Financing, SoftBank would hold more than 9.9% of the Shares outstanding on the escrow release date, the Receipts that would result in such excess will be cancelled such that SoftBank will hold no more than 9.9% of the Shares outstanding at such time (and the corresponding proceeds will revert to SoftBank).

Upon release of the Placement proceeds to the Corporation and for so long as SoftBank holds at least 5% of the outstanding Shares, an agreement providing SoftBank with a right of first offer to purchase up to 20% of the lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate produced at the Shawinigan Plant from the spodumene concentrate coming from the Whabouchi Mine, will be effective and all purchases will be at pre-agreed discounts applicable to a pre-determined market price-based formula. SoftBank will also be entitled to one nominee as director of Nemaska Lithium and has been granted a pre-emptive right to participate in any further equity offering as long as it holds at least 5% of the Shares then outstanding.

SoftBank has agreed to customary standstill and support covenants and to either vote its Shares in favour of the slate of directors proposed to be elected by the Corporation or abstain from voting its Shares with respect to such matter; provided, however, that in no circumstances may SoftBank withhold any votes attached to any Shares with respect to such matter until the earlier of (a) September 1, 2020 and (b) the commencement of commercial production at the Whabouchi Mine and the Shawinigan Plant.

About Nemaska Lithium

Nemaska Lithium is a developing chemical company whose activities will be vertically integrated, from spodumene mining to the commercialization of high-purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. These lithium salts are mainly destined for the fast-growing lithium-ion battery market, which is driven by the increasing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage worldwide. With its products and processes, Nemaska Lithium intends to facilitate access to green energy, for the benefit of humanity.

The Corporation will be operating the Whabouchi mine in Quebec, Canada, one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in volume and grade. The spodumene concentrate produced at the Whabouchi mine will be processed at the Shawinigan plant using a unique membrane electrolysis process for which the Corporation holds several patents.

Nemaska Lithium is a member of the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index, S&P/TSX Global Mining Index, S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals Index, and the MSCI Canada Small Cap Index. For more information, visit nemaskalithium.com or twitter.com/Nemaska_Lithium.

About SoftBank Group Corp.

The SoftBank Group is a global technology player that aspires to drive the Information Revolution. The SoftBank Group is comprised of the holding company SoftBank Group Corp. (TOKYO: 9984) and its global portfolio of companies, which includes advanced telecommunications, internet services, AI, smart robotics, IoT and clean energy technology providers. In September 2016, Arm Holdings plc, the world's leading semiconductor IP company, joined the SoftBank Group. In May 2017, the SoftBank Vision Fund, which invests globally in the businesses and technologies that will enable the next stage of the Information Revolution, had its first major close with over USD 93 billion in committed capital. To learn more, please visit www.softbank.com.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the closing of the Placement and fulfillment of the escrow release conditions of the Receipts as well as the completion of the Project Financing (or any portion thereof) in general, constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of certain securities laws and are based on expectations and projections as of the date of this press release. Certain important assumptions by the Corporation in making forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the satisfaction, in a timely manner, by the Corporation of conditions precedent to (a) the release of the Placement proceeds from escrow and (b) the closing of each Project Financing component, including regulatory (and TSX) approval, the receipt by the Corporation of proceeds from the Placement and from all other components of the Project Financing, and the Corporation having raised a sufficient amount under the Project Financing to bring the Whabouchi Mine and the Shawinigan Plant to commercial production.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, those related to (i) the Placement proceeds being an important component of the Project Financing's equity portion, (ii) the equity financing being complemented by a streaming facility, debt financing and additional private and/or public equity offerings, (iii) SoftBank's becoming a new Nemaska Lithium shareholder and its compliance with the Investment Agreement's standstill and supporting provisions, (iv) the melding of SoftBank's culture with the Corporation's corporate values, (v) the Corporation providing further details of the Project Financing in the short-term, (vi) the completion of any purchases of lithium products by SoftBank, (vii) SoftBank's exercise of its pre-emptive right to participate in any further equity offering, (viii) the closing of the Placement to occur on or about 10 days following the announcement thereof, and (ix) generally, the above "About Nemaska Lithium" paragraph which essentially describe the Corporation's outlook, constitute 'forward-looking information' or 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of certain securities laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that a comprehensive USD 775M to USD 825M Project and general corporate working capital financing package will be put in place and that any component of the financing transactions will be completed, as the next steps and, eventually, the actual results of financing endeavors, in particular as regards the debt financing and the equity offerings, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's endeavors to complete its project financing and, more generally, its expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada including, but not limited to, the cautionary statements made in the "Risk Factors" section of the Corporation's Annual Information Form dated October 5, 2017 and the "Risk Exposure and Management" section of the Corporation's quarterly Management Discussion & Analysis. The Corporation cautions that the foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive, and new, unforeseeable risks may arise from time to time. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Further information regarding Nemaska Lithium is available in the SEDAR database (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website at: www.nemaskalithium.com.

Contacts:

Victor Cantore

Investor Relations

514 831-3809

victor.cantore@nemaskalithium.com



Wanda Cutler

Investor Relations

416 303-6460

wanda.cutler@nemaskalithium.com



Fanny-Eve Tapp

Media Relations

B. 514 935 2777 # 204

C. 514 442 0445

fanny-eve.tapp@nemaskalithium.com

www.nemaskalithium.com




NEW BRUNSWICK (dpa-AFX) - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and a talc mining company must pay at least $37 million to an investment banker who blamed the companies' products for causing him to develop a deadly cancer linked to asbestos. Jurors in state court in New Brunswick, New Jersey concluded Thursday J&J and Imerys SA hid that their talc-based products, including J&J's iconic baby powder, had been tainted by asbestos and helped cause Stephen Lanzo III's disease. The jury will also weigh next week whether the companies' mishandling of the talc warrants an award of punitive damages. The verdict is the first time a jury has backed a consumer's claims that the company's baby powder causes mesothelioma, an often-fatal cancer linked to asbestos. About 6,600 women have sued the world's largest health-care company blaming the powder for causing their ovarian cancers. Jurors in a court located less than a mile from J&J's headquarters awarded Lanzo $30 million for his pain and suffering. The panel awarded Lanzo's wife, Kendra, $7 million in damages as well. The seven-woman jury deliberated less than a day before holding the companies liable. 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.
Industrialization contract amounting 1 million signed with VIRBAC

Strategic partnership signed for the Newguard TM device with a leading global player in the heparin market

device with a leading global player in the heparin market CE mark approval for Easylog TM and partnerships to be started

and partnerships to be started 2017 turnover: 2.321k

R&D invests: 1.918k

Regulatory News:

BIOCORP (Paris:ALCOR) (FR0012788065 ALCOR Eligible PEA-PME), a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of innovative medical and drug delivery devices, announces today its annual results for the year that ended on December 31, 2017, as approved by the Board of directors on April 3rd (1)

"Connected devices DatapenTM, EasylogTM, InspairTM and OnejetTM turn BIOCORP into a key player in the field of connected systems for chronic diseases treatment: many contacts and feasibility phases have been initiated with several pharmaceutical companies. As demand for this type of connected solution is extremely strong, BIOCORP has continued to structure its development team to meet the needs of the market.

The unconnected business is no exception since a strategic partnership with a leading global player in the heparin market has been signed for NewguardTM. An industrialization contract has also been signed with VIRBAC, a company dedicated to animal health, for an amount of 1 million for the development of an innovative administration and closure system for vials; the first deliveries are expected on the first semester of 2018. This is an incontestable recognition of our products quality and our innovation strategy in targeted areas.

The annual turnover is slightly below than expected due to lower orders on some of our historical products but mainly due to prepaid income of 780k on the Virbac project; which will therefore have a positive impact on sales in the first half of 2018. Operating expenses increased by 2,774k, largely explained by the termination of the Carpseal and Newseal contract with NUOVA OMPI, resulting in an allocation to provisions on fixed assets of 2,371k, without any impact on the cash position of the company.

We are therefore successfully pursuing our development strategy in our two areas of activity and are planning to launch our connected products in 2018 with partners, in Europe and the USA as a first step" commented Jacques Gardette, founder and CEO of BIOCORP.

(1) The audit procedures on the annual accounts have been carried out. The certification report is being issued.

2017 highlights

Signed an industrialization contract with VIRBAC for the development of an innovative administration and closure system for vials

Ordered feasibility and evaluation studies for non-connected and connected platforms (Newguard TM , Datapen TM , Easylog TM and Inspair TM

, Datapen , Easylog and Inspair Signed a strategic partnership for the Newguard TM device with a leading global player in the heparin market

device with a leading global player in the heparin market Received CE mark approval for smart cap Easylog TM

Won CPhI Pharma Awards in the "IT, mHealth and Digitalization" category for its entire connected devices range

Strengthened intellectual property: 4 new patents and a soleau envelope, issuance of 7 patents including Australia, Russia, Japan and the US

Broke partnership with Nuova Ompi on Newseal TM and Carpseal TM with a 2.3m accounting entry (provisioning for intangible assets) and an impact on the item "Other operating expenses"

and Carpseal with a 2.3m accounting entry (provisioning for intangible assets) and an impact on the item "Other operating expenses" Obtained a 500k assistance from Bpifrance Financing for the "Development of pen injector" project

2017: Development strong dynamics goes on. BIOCORP stands out as a major player in digital health and industrializes its patented medical devices developed by the R&D department.

Annual financial results highlight the development strategy continuation and activities structuring set up after the IPO in July 2015. International development dynamics is strong and fits the company expectations. BIOCORP confirms its innovation policy with the continuation of research projects, existing projects finalization and the widening of products range, as well as the intensification of commercial development with the signature of agreements and significant partnerships. Regarding the intensification of activities, BIOCORP still supports expenses in relation with the development of its products for several major clients, without benefiting from matching revenues.

Turnover reached 2,321k in 2017, down from 2016 ( 2,950k), mainly generated by traditional products sales which are the main generator of recurring revenue. An amount of 780k corresponding to tool manufacturing hasn't been accounted in the 2017 turnover and will be reported on the first semester of 2018.

In 2017, other operating income amounted to 306k and were mainly composed of the variation in stored production (220k) and expense transfers ( 80k).

Operating expenses amounted 10,474k, that is to say a 36% increase compared to 2016, the R&D effort representing a 18% of expenses. This increase is primarily due to the OMPI contract break up which generated a provision for the additional technical mali on the remaining balance, ie 2,371k, along with the amount of the break agreement, ie 137.5k. Both companies had different views on the product promotion and strategic opportunities, which prevented the collaboration from succeeding. The 270k residual increase results from the outsourcing increase of tools manufacturing, the expenses related to investments in a design and manufacture workshop for injection tools that will allow BIOCORP to be more responsive and to save on external maintenance costs. The strengthening of the operating structure of BIOCORP over a full year amounts to 400k in these expenses increase. Since the IPO, the company has been in a high investment phase and has focused on strengthening its Research Development and its Quality Regulatory departments, which are strategic services for business development.

Given these elements, the operating result is negative at ( 7,846k) in 2017 against ( 4,665k) in 2016. The financial result shows a loss of ( 12k) in 2017 against ( 1k) in 2016.

Exceptional profit amounting to ( 23k) vs. 17k last year, are mainly due to committed expenses for a feasibility study on the extension of the company's offices amounting to 45k.

In 2017, BIOCORP benefited from Research Tax Credit and Innovation Tax Credit for 373k, compared to 201k in 2016.

Considering these information, the 2017 net result is negative at ( 7,509k) against ( 4.448k) in 2016.

On December 31, 2017, BIOCORP posted free cash of 691k vs 4.739k on December 31, 2016. The level of equities is ( 1.264k) against 6.245k in 2016.

In 12/31/2017 12/31/2016 Sales 2 321 083 2 950 164 Other operating income 306 221 85 085 Total operating income 2 627 304 3 035 249 Operating expenses External purchases and expenses Taxes, duties and other levies 3 540 433 79 212 3 387 601 80 998 Wages and expenses 3 404 423 3 029 485 Other operating expenses 3 449 680 1 201 777 Total operating expenses 10 473 748 7 699 861 Net operating income -7 846 445 -4 664 612 Net financial income -12 300 -1 360 Exceptional item -22 974 17 444 Research Tax Credit and Innovation Tax Credit 373 019 200 882 Net profit -7 508 699 -4 447 646

Objectives and outlook for 2018:

BIOCORP intends to continue its development on different strategic lines:

Expand and intensify the development of its injectable connected devices and expand them to new applications, whether in respiratory or ophtalmic fields

Continue partnerships for developing and manufacturing Newseal , Carpseal and Newguard as well as the innovative vial closure and delivery device developed for VIRBAC

, Carpseal and Newguard as well as the innovative vial closure and delivery device developed for VIRBAC Initiate new development and industrialization programs thanks to specific developments and services on a project mode relying on BIOCORP know-how

A private placement transaction or other alternative financing by the end of the first semester will help in ensuring business continuity

ABOUT BIOCORP

Founded in 2004 in Issoire (near Clermont-Ferrand), France, BIOCORP is a French company specializing in the development and manufacturing of medical devices and innovative drug delivery systems. It is listed as 'Innovative Company' by the French public investment bank Bpifrance. With over twenty years of experience and more than 30 million units of manufactured products a year and 21 patents families, BIOCORP is a key player in the industry, providing drug delivery solutions that meet the evolving needs of patients. Today, BIOCORP continues to innovate in medical plastics processing, its core business, and to market traditional devices (alternative to aluminum capsules, syringes and vials administration systems) that have been an important source of recurring income. Its solid expertise and capacity to innovate have allowed the company to develop new connected products range, including: the Datapen, a reusable smart injection pen that automatically transmits data to a mobile app; and treatment management add-on, such as Easylog that turns any existing insulin pen into a smart device. BIOCORP is listed on Alternext since July 2015 (FR0012788065 ALCOR).

For more information, please visit www.biocorpsys.com

Follow us on Twitter @BIOCORPSystems

(1) source https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/global-biologics-market.htm

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180405006009/en/

Contacts:

BIOCORP

Jacques Gardette

CEO

investisseurs@biocorp.fr

or

Eric Dessertenne

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

or

Sylvaine Dessard

Marketing Communication Manager

rp@biocorp.fr

+ 33 (0)6 88 69 72 85
The companies of Gurit Holding AG, Wattwil/Switzerland, (SIX Swiss Exchange: GUR) are specialized on the development and manufacture of advanced composite materials, related technologies and select finished parts and components. The comprehensive product range comprises fibre reinforced prepregs, structural core products, gel coats, adhesives, resins and consumables. Gurit supplies global growth markets with composite materials on the one hand and composite tooling equipment, structural engineering and select finished parts on the other. The global Group has production sites and offices in Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, the U.K., Poland, Canada, the U.S.A., Ecuador, New Zealand, India and China. For more information, please visit www.gurit.com

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.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Destatis releases German industrial production for February at 2:00 am ET Friday. The output is seen rising 0.2 percent on month, reversing a 0.1 percent drop in January. Ahead of the data, the euro traded mixed against its major counterparts. While the euro held steady against the yen and the greenback, it rose against the pound. Against the franc, it dropped. The euro was worth 131.34 against the yen, 1.1778 against the franc, 0.8746 against the pound and 1.2237 against the greenback as of 1:55 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
STOCKHOLM, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Annual General Meeting of AB Electrolux was held on Thursday, April 5, 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Petra Hedengran, Hasse Johansson, Ulla Litzen, Bert Nordberg, Fredrik Persson, David Porter, Jonas Samuelson, Ulrika Saxon and Kai Warn were re-elected to the Board of Directors. Staffan Bohman was elected new Board member. Staffan Bohman was also elected Chairman of the Board.

The proposed dividend of SEK 8.30 per share was adopted. The AGM adopted the proposal that the dividend shall be paid in two equal installments of SEK 4.15 per installment and share, the first with the record date Monday, April 9, 2018, and the second with the record date Tuesday, October 9, 2018. The first installment of the dividend is expected to be paid by Euroclear Sweden AB on Thursday, April 9, 2018 and the second installment on Friday, October 12, 2018.

Jonas Samuelson, President and CEO of Electrolux, addressed the AGM to provide an update on the Group's strategy and results for 2017. His speech will be available to view here. The parent company's and the Group's income statements and balance sheets were adopted. The Board of Directors and the President were discharged from liability for the financial year 2017.

The meeting adopted the Board's proposal concerning an amendment of the Articles of Association which means that the auditor may be elected for a term of office of one, two, three or four years. The meeting also approved the proposal of the nomination committee to elect Deloitte AB as auditor for the period until the Annual General Meeting in 2019.

The Meeting resolved to adopt the remunerations to the Board that were proposed in the notice convening the AGM. The proposal for remuneration guidelines for Group Management was also approved, as well as the scope of and the principles for Electrolux performance based, long-term share program for 2018.

The Meeting authorized the Board of Directors to resolve on acquisitions of Electrolux B shares up to a maximum amount of 10 percent of all shares issued by the company. The Board was also authorized to transfer own shares on account of company acquisitions and to cover costs that may arise as a result of the share program for 2016. These authorizations are effective during the period until next year's AGM.

Full details on the proposals adopted by the AGM can be downloaded at www.electroluxgroup.com/agm2018.

For further information, please contact

Electrolux Press Hotline,

+46-8-657-65-07

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/electrolux/r/bulletin-from-ab-electrolux-annual-general-meeting-2018,c2488366

The following files are available for download:
COPENHAGEN (dpa-AFX) - Denmark's industrial production declined for the first time in five months in February, figures from Statistics Denmark showed Friday. Industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent month-over-month in February, reversing a 1.3 percent rise in January. Production in the metal industry fell the most by 7.5 percent over the month, followed by electronics industry with 6.3 percent decrease. At the same time, production in the furniture and other industries registered a double-digit growth of 18.7 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks fell modestly on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he has instructed his trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, dashing hopes for a cooling of trade tensions. Investors also waited for cues from the U.S. Labor Department's closely-watched monthly jobs report for March due out later in the day. The benchmark CAC 40 index was down 28 points or 0.52 percent at 5,249 in opening deals after surging 2.6 percent the previous day. Vivendi lost about 1 percent after the media firm announced its proposed list of candidates for Telecom Italia's board. Utility Suez rallied 1.8 percent in reaction to a bullish broker note. In economic releases, France's trade deficit decreased in February as the pace of decline in imports was bigger than the fall in exports, the customs office said. The trade deficit narrowed to 5.2 billion euros from 5.4 billion euros in January. Separately, data from the Bank of France showed that France's seasonally and working-day-adjusted current account deficit stood at 2.0 billion euros in February, unchanged from January. 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.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - U.K. shares opened Friday's session on a subdued note after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed an additional $100 billion in tit-for-tat tariffs on Chinese imports, dashing hopes for a cooling of trade tensions. Investors also awaited the release of U.S. jobs report later in the day for clues on whether the Federal Reserve might need to accelerate the pace of interest-rate hikes. The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 10 points or 0.14 percent at 7,189 in late opening deals after rising 2.4 percent on Thursday. Low-cost airline easyJet slid half a percent after unveiling its passenger traffic figures for March. Marks & Spencer tumbled 3.7 percent after Citigroup downgraded its rating on the stock. Next Plc shares also fell over 3 percent. Big Yellow Group dropped 1.4 percent. The company said that it has been granted planning consent for new 72,000 sq ft store in Camberwell, London. 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.
Baker Hughes, a GE company (NYSE:BHGE) announced today that the Baker Hughes international rig count for March 2018 was 972, down 7 from the 979 counted in February 2018, and up 29 from the 943 counted in March 2017. The international offshore rig count for March 2018 was 185, down 9 from the 194 counted in February 2018, and down 12 from the 197 counted in March 2017.

The average U.S. rig count for March 2018 was 989, up 20 from the 969 counted in February 2018, and up 200 from the 789 counted in March 2017. The average Canadian rig count for March 2018 was 218, down 105 from the 323 counted in February 2018, and down 35 from the 253 counted in March 2017.

The worldwide rig count for March 2018 was 2,179, down 92 from the 2,271 counted in February 2018, and up 194 from the 1,985 counted in March 2017.

March 2018 Rig Counts

March 2018 February 2018 March 2017 Land Offshore Total Month

Variance Land Offshore Total Land Offshore Total Latin America 167 26 193 -6 169 30 199 150 35 185 Europe 56 33 89 5 55 29 84 63 31 94 Africa 78 11 89 -1 74 16 90 70 10 80 Middle East 353 44 397 1 356 40 396 341 45 386 Asia Pacific 133 71 204 -6 131 79 210 122 76 198 International 787 185 972 -7 785 194 979 746 197 943 United States 976 13 989 20 952 17 969 770 19 789 Canada 215 3 218 -105 321 2 323 252 1 253 North America 1,191 16 1,207 -85 1,273 19 1,292 1,022 20 1,042 Worldwide 1,978 201 2,179 -92 2,058 213 2,271 1,768 217 1,985

About the Baker Hughes Rig Counts

The Baker Hughes rig counts are counts of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the U.S., Canada and international markets. The company has issued the rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of the U.S. and Canadian drilling activity. The monthly international rig count was initiated in 1975.

The North American rig count is scheduled to be released at noon Central Time on the last working day of each week. The international rig count is scheduled to be released on the fifth working day of the month at 5:00 a.m. Central Time. Additional detailed information on the Baker Hughes rig counts is available from our website.

About Baker Hughes, a GE company

Baker Hughes, a GE company (NYSE: BHGE) is the world's first and only fullstream provider of integrated oilfield products, services and digital solutions. We deploy minds and machines to enhance customer productivity, safety and environmental stewardship, while minimizing costs and risks at every step of the energy value chain. With operations in over 120 countries, we infuse over a century of experience with the spirit of a startup inventing smarter ways to bring energy to the world.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005145/en/

Contacts:

Baker Hughes, a GE company

Media Relations:

Stephanie Cathcart, +1 202-549-6462

stephanie.cathcart@bhge.com

or

Melanie Kania, +1 713-439-8303

melanie.kania@bhge.com

or

Investor Relations:

Philipp Mueller, +1 281-809-9088

investor.relations@bhge.com


BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks fell modestly on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed an additional $100 billion in tit-for-tat tariffs on Chinese imports, dashing hopes for a cooling of trade tensions.



Investors also awaited the release of U.S. jobs report later in the day for clues on whether the Federal Reserve might need to accelerate the pace of interest-rate hikes.



The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was down half a percent at 374.28 in late opening deals after rising as much as 2.4 percent the previous day to score its biggest single-day gain since June 2016.



The German DAX was losing 0.6 percent, France's CAC 40 index was declining half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.1 percent.



Marks & Spencer tumbled 3.7 percent in London after Citigroup downgraded its rating on the stock. Next Plc shares also fell over 3 percent.



Deutsche Bank shares dropped 1.6 percent. The Bloomberg reported that Matt Zames, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive, is among candidates contacted by recruiters in recent weeks to replace the German bank's Chief Executive Officer John Cryan.



Infineon Technologies gave up 1 percent on concerns that DRAM price growth is about to end.



Vivendi lost about 1 percent after the French media firm announced its proposed list of candidates for Telecom Italia's board.



Telecom Italia rallied 3.5 percent after Italian state lender CDP said it would buy a 5 percent stake in the firm.



Utility Suez rallied 1.7 percent in reaction to a bullish broker note.



On the data front, German industrial production declined unexpectedly in February, data from Destatis revealed. Output dropped 1.6 percent month-on-month in February, in contrast to a revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January.



France's trade deficit narrowed to 5.2 billion euros in February from 5.4 billion euros in January as the pace of decline in imports outpaced the fall in exports, the customs office said.



Separately, data from the Bank of France showed that France's seasonally and working-day-adjusted current account deficit stood at 2.0 billion euros in February, unchanged from January.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
The Newly-Updated Website Offers In-Depth Information about Arizona Land Partners and their Services as Well as Videos about Current and Past Deals

GILBERT, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2018 / The founders of Arizona Land Partners, a land investments company based in the thriving Phoenix metropolitan area, are pleased to announce the launch of their new and user-friendly website.

To check out the new website and learn more about Arizona Land Partners and the services that they offer, please visit https://arizonalandpartners.com.

As a company spokesperson noted, Arizona Land Partners was founded by Brian Matlock and Kevin Petersen. The Arizona natives are both highly experienced in real estate; Brian has been acquiring real estate in the Phoenix area since 1989 and Kevin has worked in all areas of real estate including land syndication, development, brokerage, consulting and land entitlement.

Together, Brian and Kevin are devoted to making the best possible land purchases in Arizona, typically looking at hundreds of properties before deciding to buy only one.

"We purchase strategic parcels, for cash, in the path of growth, with an eye carefully fixed on development cycles," Brian noted, adding that he and Kevin then position that land for resale to developers by adding value through entitlement-which is the process of working with local municipalities to establish an approved development plan.

"The results are substantial increases in the value of the properties, which sometimes include radical increases in those values and outstanding returns for our investor-partners."

Now, with the launch of their new website, Brian and Kevin hope that more people will learn about Arizona Land Partners and as a result will partner with them on land investments throughout The Grand Canyon State.

In addition to general information about the company and bios about Brian and Kevin, the new website also features an educational video that gives an interesting overview of what they do. To learn as much as possible about Arizona Land Partners, visitors to the site can also watch videos about current deals and past deals.

About Arizona Land Partners:

The founders of Arizona Land Partners are seasoned and licensed real estate investors who know how to build wealth through strategic land purchases. They invite those who are interested in land investments to partner with them, and also to take a look at their compelling history and strategy on the company's new website. For more information, please visit https://arizonalandpartners.com.

Arizona Land Partners

3369 E. Queen Creek Road, Suite 101

Gilbert, AZ 85297

Contact:

Brian Matlock

brianmatlock@gmail.com

602.786.5124

SOURCE: Arizona Land Partners
6 APRIL 2018

INTU PROPERTIES PLC

LEI: 213800JSNTERD5CJZO95

Regulated Information Classification: Additional regulated information required to be disclosed under the laws of a Member State of the EU.

AMENDMENT AND EXTENSION OF PUERTO VENECIA TERM LOAN

intu properties plc ('intu') announces an amendment and extension to the 225 million term loan secured on Puerto Venecia shopping centre in Zaragoza, Spain. The centre is jointly owned with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Following negotiations with lenders, the margin on the loan has been reduced by 120 basis points compared to the existing facility and the maturity date has been extended from 2019 to 2025. The loan will be hedged for its full value and tenor.

Matthew Roberts, chief financial officer of intu, commented:

"We have worked closely with our relationship banks on the margin reduction and extension of this loan and we are pleased to have been able to secure these revised terms. This is a further example of the refinancing work we have been doing over the last few years at intu to reduce our weighted average cost of debt and increase the debt maturity profile."

ENQUIRIES

intu properties plc Matthew Roberts Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)20 7960 1353 Hugh Ford General Counsel & Group Treasurer +44 (0)20 7960 1207 Adrian Croft Head of Investor Relations +44 (0)20 7960 1212

NOTES FOR EDITORS

intu owns and manages some of the best shopping centres, in some of the strongest locations, in the UK and Spain.

Our UK portfolio is made up of 17 centres, including eight of the top 20, and in Spain we own three of the country's top 10 centres, with advanced plans to build a fourth.

We are passionate about creating compelling experiences, in centre and online, that make our customers smile and help our retailers flourish.

We attract over 400 million customer visits and 26 million website visits a year offering a multichannel approach that truly supports retail strategies. In 2017, we launched the UK's first tailor-made promotional services model to help brands as they look to optimise their portfolio or expand their UK coverage.

Our strategic focus on prime, high-footfall flagship destinations, combined with the strength and popularity of our brand, means that intu offers enhanced footfall, dwell time and loyalty. This helps our retailers flourish, driving occupancy and income growth.

We are committed to our local communities, with our centres supporting over 120,000 jobs (representing about 3 per cent of the total UK retail workforce), and to operating with environmental responsibility. We have already met or exceeded a significant number of our 2020 environmental targets.


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar dropped against its major counterparts in early European deals on Friday amid risk aversion, as U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he has instructed his trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, renewing trade tensions.



Trump said the measures were being implemented 'in light of China's unfair retaliation' against U.S. tariff announcement in this week.



Investors looked ahead to the release of U.S. jobs report later in the day for clues on whether the Federal Reserve might need to accelerate the pace of interest-rate hikes.



U.S. employment is expected to increase by 198,000 jobs in March after spiking by 313,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 4.0 percent from 4.1 percent.



The kiwi has been trading lower against its major counterparts in the Asian session.



The kiwi slipped to a 3-day low of 1.0609 versus the aussie, off its early high of 1.0539. On the downside, 1.08 is seen as the next support level for the kiwi.



The kiwi declined to a 2-day low of 1.6895 against the euro, after having advanced to 1.6815 at 5:00 pm ET. The kiwi is seen finding support around the 1.72 region.



Data from Destatis showed that Germany's industrial production declined unexpectedly in February.



Industrial output dropped 1.6 percent month-on-month in February, in contrast to a revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January. Output was expected to climb 0.3 percent.



The kiwi reversed from an early high of 0.7278 against the greenback, dropping to a 3-day low of 0.7245. If the kiwi falls further, 0.70 is seen as its next support level.



The kiwi dropped back to 77.78 against the yen, edging closer to a 2-day low of 77.68 set in the Asian session. The kiwi is likely to find support around the 74.00 region.



Preliminary figures from the Cabinet Office showed that Japan's leading index improved unexpectedly in February, though slightly.



The leading index, which measures the future economic activity, rose to 105.6 in February from 105.6 in January. Meanwhile, economists had expected the index to fall to 105.5.



Looking ahead, U.S. and Canadian jobs data for March, U.S. consumer credit for February and Canada Ivey PMI for March are set for release in the New York session.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) reported that the company flew 11.7 billion revenue passenger miles (RPMs) in March 2018, an increase of 3.7 percent from the 11.3 billion RPMs flown in March 2017. Capacity, measured in available seat miles (ASMs), increased 2.4 percent to 13.8 billion. Load factor was 85.1% compared to 84.1%. For the first-quarter, traffic rose 3.7%, while capacity increased 1.8%. Load factor for the first-quarter was 81.5%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points. 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 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Global light engine market was valued at US$ 2,534.9 Mn in 2016 and is projected to expand at a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 9.61% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Light Engine Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2018-2026.' The report suggests that the rising popularity and adoption of LED is one of the primary factors boosting the expansion of the light engine market. Furthermore, there has been significant rise in the adoption of LEDs on a global level owing to their multiple benefits such as cost effectiveness and energy efficiency. Additionally, LED-based solutions are gaining popularity in commercial and industrial applications. These segments hold a significant share in the market. Furthermore, multiple regulations have been implemented by government bodies of various countries to increase the adoption of LED-based solutions. For instance, in 2016, the California Energy Commission adopted new standards updating the 2015 Appliance Efficiency Regulations for lighting appliances. The updates are expected to roll out in two tiers with Tier 1 effective by January 1, 2018 and Tier 2 to be effective by July 1, 2019. These updates are significantly focused on the optimal adoption of LED-based solutions in California. Such initiatives are expected to have an indirect positive impact on the global light engine market.

Brochure Download for Industry Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=41897

Temperature Issues with LED to Hinder the Global Light Engine Market

With increased temperature, LED lights can face major issues such as mechanical failure or significant drop in performance. This can have a negative impact on the global light engines market, as changes in the sale of LEDs can have a direct impact on the light engine market. Furthermore, in 2016, the American Medical Association (AMA) in the U.S. adopted an official policy statement about street lighting: 'Cool it and dim it.' Within the statement, AMA discussed issues related to LEDs such as the high color temperature (CT) due to the significant blue light content in it, which could have a harmful impact on the human eyes. However, AMA suggested the use of LED lights with lower blue light content i.e. decreased CT level, which can have an indirect positive impact on the expansion of the global light engine market.

Request a Sample PDF athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=41897

Prominent Adoption of Linear Light Engines in the Residential Sector

Based on application, the light engine market can be segmented into residential, commercial, industrial, and others. The others segment includes square and custom made light engines. In terms of form, the global light engine market can be divided into flexible and rigid. The rigid segment can be further categorized into linear, round, and others. The commercial segment is expected to expand at a rapid CAGR over the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. The increasing adoption of linear light engines in LED lighting in households across the globe is expected to boost the rigid sub-segment.

Request for Discount on this Report athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=41897

North America is a Rapidly Expanding Region of the Light Engine Market

The market in North America is expected to expand at a rapid CAGR over the forecast period. The factors contributing to the expansion in North America are increased LED adoption across countries such as the U.S. and Canada and technological advancements pertaining to light engines. Furthermore, the adoption of LED lighting in the horticulture industry across Canada is continuously increasing, which is likely to have a positive impact on the light engine market in North America. Also, North America is a home to many well-established as well as emerging players providing light engine solutions including General Electric Company and Cree Inc. These players are innovating highly advanced light engine solutions for customers, helping boost the light engine market across the region.

Key Players such as OSRAM Licht Group, Philips Lighting Holdings B.V., General Electric Company, Cree Inc., and Tridonic are Likely to Lead the Global Light Engine Market

Philips Lighting Holdings B.V., OSRAM Licht Group, Fulham Co., Inc., Tridonic, MaxLite, Inc., General Electric Company, Thomas Research Products, Fusion Optix, Inc., RS Components Pty Ltd., and Cree Inc. are some of the major players operating within the light engine market profiled in this study. Various market players are establishing partnerships, entering in strategic M&A, and carrying out acquisitions to enhance their light engine offerings worldwide. For instance, in June 2017, Osram Licht Group acquired LED Engin, a provider of LED emitters, optics, and light engines, to enhance its current light engines offerings.

Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/41897

The global light engine market has been segmented as follows:

Global Light Engine Market

Global Light Engine Market, by Application

Residential

Commercial

Industrial

Others

Global Light Engine Market, by Form

Flexible

Rigid Linear Round Others



Global Light Engine Market, by Geography

North America The U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe France The U.K Germany Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC) India Japan China Rest of Asia Pacific

(APAC) Middle East and Africa (MEA) GCC Countries South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa

and (MEA) South America Brazil Rest of Latin America



Popular Research Reports by TMR:

Spear Phishing Protection Market:

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Mining Hoses Market:

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Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend 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.

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If you haven't yet experienced the authentic, gritty world of Kari Lynn Dell's Texas Rodeo series, her latest installment should definitely be on your to-be-read list!

Want to give Kari a try?

Melanie polished off the last bite of her cold-cut combo and stood to brush the crumbs off her sweatshirt before pulling on her coat. As Wyatt had predicted, the air had cooled quickly, although the breeze had also died to a mere rustle in the knee-high bunches of grass. Beyond the broad north-south valley that held the main highway, the sun hung low over a smaller range of hills that would lie north and west of Pendleton. If she remembered correctly from her map, the massive Columbia River must be just beyond that rise, flowing east through the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland, Washington, then making a sweeping U-turn back to the west, forming the border between the states on its way to the Pacific.

must-see list, Melanie slung her pack over her shoulder and, drawn by what sounded like a small waterfall, picked her way down through the trees on the sheltered side of the ridge, only to be brought up short by one of the thick bands of lava rock. The cliff wasnt highten or fifteen feetbut it extended as far as she could see in either direction. The splash of water seemed to be directly below her, so she eased as close as she dared and peered over the crumbling edge of the cliff. Mentally adding the Columbia Gorge to herlist, Melanie slung her pack over her shoulder and, drawn by what sounded like a small waterfall, picked her way down through the trees on the sheltered side of the ridge, only to be brought up short by one of the thick bands of lava rock. The cliff wasnt highten or fifteen feetbut it extended as far as she could see in either direction. The splash of water seemed to be directly below her, so she eased as close as she dared and peered over the crumbling edge of the cliff.

Be careful, Wyatt said, practically in her ear.

She squeaked, startled, and jumped back, colliding with a hard male body. Her elbow caught him in the ribs. He grunted and sidesteppeddirectly onto one of the loose rocks. His leg buckled, and he stumbled. For a heart-stopping instant, he teetered at the edge of the cliff. Just as Melanie made a grab for him, the unstable rock gave way.

She caught nothing but thin air as he fell. With a curse and a clatter, he was gone.

Melanie listened in horror to a thud, another curse, and the unmistakable sound of a body hitting something solid. And then there was silence.

Wyatt? She dropped to her belly to peer over the Wyatt! edge, but couldnt see past the trees and shadows. 

Oh God, oh God, oh God. She scooted along the cliff, squinting into the trees, but in his faded jeans and gray sweatshirt, he was invisible in the shadows beneath the trees. The second was on the verge of a shriek as panic clamped an icy hand on her throat.She scooted along the cliff, squinting into the trees, but in his faded jeans and gray sweatshirt, he was invisible in the shadows beneath the trees.

Wyatt! she shouted again. She heard what might have been a groanor the wind through the trees. No other sound or movement. She scrambled to her feet, glancing first up the hill, then over the cliff. Did she run back to the car and race into town for help? No. Wait. Wyatt had the keys. She clawed her phone out of her pocket. No signal, of course.

There was only one option. She had to get down there. He could be bleeding. He could be

Melanie shook off that thought and crab-walked along the edge, looking for a likely set of hand- and footholds. A few feet from where Wyatt had gone over, a large pine grew on the edge, its roots extending down the cliff. Below, the rock face was pocked with holes and jagged points. She lowered onto her belly, took a deep breath, then grabbed the root and swung her legs over the edge. For a terrifying moment she dangled, legs flailing. Then her feet found purchase.

too slow, dammitshe lowered herself, the rough bark of the root digging into her palms. Her descent was an agonizing crawl, fear and adrenaline pounding through her veins and accelerating her heart rate into the red zone. She had to fight the urge to rush. Shed be no good to Wyatt if she fell, too. The muscles in her toes cramped from grasping at the slippery footholds, testing each before trusting it with her weight. Slowlyshe lowered herself, the rough bark of the root digging into her palms. Her descent was an agonizing crawl, fear and adrenaline pounding through her veins and accelerating her heart rate into the red zone. She had to fight the urge to rush. Shed be no good to Wyatt if she fell, too. The muscles in her toes cramped from grasping at the slippery footholds, testing each before trusting it with her weight.

And wonderingdamn her self-centered mindif Tori knew a good defense attorney, too, because no one was going to believe shed done this by accident.

She was over halfway down when she heard another groan. Her heart leaptand her foot slipped. For an instant she hung, cursing as her toes scratched desperately for purchase. Her shoe caught on a lip of rock. She clasped the root to her chest and flattened against the cliff face, panting from terror and exertion.

Mel This groan was louder, but distinctly her name. Wyatt was alive and conscious. Relief blasted through her.

Im coming! Ill be there in just a minute.

No, dont

She eased down another stepand the rock beneath her foot gave way. She dropped, hitched for an instant, then the force of her weight snapped the root. There was an instant of Oh shit, this is gonna hurt before her butt hit the ground. The impact jarred every molecule in her body and made stars burst behind her eyes. Her legs bounced, flipping her backward down the steep incline. She threw her arms up to cushion the back of her head against rocks and branches, twisting sideways just as she crashed into a huge fallen logand something that grunted in pain.

She lay on her stomach, eyes squeezed shut, braced for the searing pain of a broken bone. It didnt come. As the universe slowly righted itself, she took inventory. She felt the deep throb of bruises, the burn of scrapes, but when she inhaled, her rib cage expanded right on cue. She let the breath out in a rush and opened her eyes to discover that the log under her cheek was actually a hard, denim-clad thigh.

Melanie? Her name was a harsh wheeze.

She lifted her head to meet his gaze. Wyatt was sprawled on his back, struggling to take in airand her nose was buried in his crotch.

And damn his eternal soul, those blue eyes were laughing.





###





Title: Fearless in Texas

Series: Texas Rodeo #4

Author: Kari Lynn Dell

Pub Date: April 3, 2018



Hed step in front of a bull to save a life But even hes no match for a girl this Texas tough

Rodeo bullfighter Wyatt Darringtons got it all figured out. The perfect car, the perfect job, the perfect looksthe perfect lie. He may be on the fast track to the Hall of Fame, but he knows hell always be an outsider to people like Melanie Brookman. Texas-born and bred, with the arena in her blood, Melanies come to see Wyatt as her personal enemy, and that suits him just finethis way, shell never realize the truth.

Hes been crazy in love with her for years.

Melanies always been a fighter. Fiercely independent and tough as nails, shes stood up to everything that got in her wayincluding Wyatt. But now her infamous tempers got her on the ropes, and theres nowhere left to run but toward the man she swore shed never trustand this time, theres no denying just how hot he makes her burn.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | iTunes | Chapters

KARI LYNN DELL brings a lifetime of personal experience to writing western romance. She is a third generation rancher and rodeo competitor existing in a perpetual state of horse-induced poverty on the Blackfeet Nation of northern Montana, along with her husband, son and Max the Cowdog.



Read on for excerpt from Fearless in Texas, available now.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 6, 2018) - Stina Resources Ltd. (the "Company") (CSE: SQA) (OTCQB: STNUF) is pleased to announce that, further to its press release dated March 13, 2018, it has completed the first tranche of its non-brokered secured convertible debenture financing (the "Debenture Offering") through the issuance of $2,150,000 principal amount of debentures (the "Debentures"). The Debentures mature on the second anniversary of the date of issuance and bear interest at a rate of 9.0% per annum, which shall accrue and be paid on the maturity date. Each Debenture shall be convertible into units ("Debenture Units") of the Company at a conversion price of $0.60 per Unit. Each Unit will be comprised of one Common Share of the Company and one-half of a Common Share purchase Warrant, each whole Warrant will be exercisable to purchase a Common Share at an exercise price of $1.00 for a period of three (3) years from the date of issuance.

The Company is further pleased to announce that, pursuant to its press release dated March 28, 2018, it has closed the second tranche of its fully subscribed non-brokered private placement for gross proceeds of $2,687,999 through the issuance of 4,479,998 units ("Units") of the Company at a price of $0.30 per Unit (the "Unit Offering"). Each Unit consists of one common share (a "Common Share") of the Company and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase a Common Share at an exercise price of $0.60 for a period of three (3) years following the closing of the Unit Offering.

The balance of the Debenture Offering and Unit Offering are expected to close in the coming days.

Eligible persons (the "Finders") were paid a cash commission equal to 6% of the proceeds raised from subscribers introduced to the Company by such Finders and Finder Warrants equal to 6% of the Units issued pursuant to the Unit Offering. Finders were also paid a cash commission equal to 6% of the proceeds raised from subscribers introduced to the Company with respect to the Debenture Offering.

Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including completion of the requisite filings with the Canadian Securities Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation. Proceeds of the Offering will be used for general working capital purposes.

For further information, please contact:

Brian Stecyk

President

Telephone: 780-953-0111

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
New hires bolster company's global capital markets services

CSC, a world leader in business, legal, tax, and digital brand services, today announced the addition of two key members to its Global Financial Markets services business in London. Joining the Capital Markets Europe team are Chairman Robert Berry and Director Debra Parsall, who bring a combined 45 years of industry experience to the business.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005115/en/

Chairman Robert Berry and Director Debra Parsall help to bolster CSC's Capital Markets Europe team. (Graphic: Business Wire)

Bill Popeo, president of CSC's Global Financial Markets business, calls the hires additional critical building blocks in CSC's global capital markets team.

"Securing superior talent has been part of the fabric of CSC since our company's founding more than a century ago," says Popeo. "Bringing on these talented individuals helps CSC deepen its expertise in the structured finance and securitisation services sector, particularly across Europe."

Robert Berry will serve as chairman of CSC's Capital Markets Europe group in London. He most recently served as global head of Capital Markets at Intertrust Group. Debra Parsall will serve as a director, also working in London. She most recently served as director of Capital Markets at SFM Europe (now part of Intertrust Group). Both provide expertise in the structured finance and real estate markets.

"We're ecstatic that these highly experienced leaders are joining our business," says J-P Nowacki, managing director. "As we strategically grow the team and add expertise to help serve our clients, both Robert and Debra will help us lay the foundation for CSC's long-term growth in the region."

CSC's dedicated financial teams offer a comprehensive range of adaptable services addressing client needs across the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

About CSC

CSC is the world's leading provider of business, legal, tax, and digital brand services to companies around the globe. From keeping your business in compliance and streamlining operations, to protecting and promoting your brand online, we use our expertise and personal approach to help your business run smoother. We are the business behind business. We are the trusted partner for 90% of the Fortune 500, more than 65% of the Best Global Brands (Interbrand), nearly 10,000 law firms, and more than 3,000 financial organizations. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, since 1899, we have offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005115/en/

Contacts:

CSC

Rob Kalesse

PR Manager

+1-302-636-5401 ext. 65533

CSC News Room
HONG KONG, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Vistra, a leading provider of international incorporations, trust, fiduciary, private office, and fund administration services, hasannounced their expansion into the Canadian market with the opening of an office in Toronto, representing a further extension of their footprint in North America.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/631530/Vistra_Logo.jpg )



The expansion into Canada comes about at the same time Vistra's Alternative Investments division was awarded a major fund administration mandate from a leading Private Equity firm headquartered in Toronto.

Commenting on the opening of Vistra's Toronto office, Onno Bouwmeister, Group Managing Director, Alternative Investments at Vistra said: "This is a huge milestone for all of us at Vistra and I am incredibly proud of the team from across the globe that came together to get this office operational within six weeks of the decision. This new office will complement our existing offices in North America and further strengthen the experience and expertise we can provide to our clients in this critical region.Initially our focus in Canada will be around our Alternative Investments business, however we plan to build upon our existing local relationships to expand our service capabilities to offer Vistra's full suite of services across all business lines."

Martin Crawford, CEO at Vistra commented: "Canada is home to some of the most sophisticated institutional investors, largest multinationals and innovative high growth companies, as well as being a target for inbound investment from across the globe and a market that has been on our radar for some time.This new local presence will strengthen our ability to provide our high calibre expertise to these clients and better support global clients interested in Canada. I am excited to watch Vistra establish itself as a major presence in Canada."

Editor Notes

http://www.vistra.com/about-us
The "The Future of Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Markets to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals 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 Drugs and Pharmaceuticals has witnessed strong growth in terms of sales.

The Drugs and Pharmaceuticals is further segmented by type and in addition to overall market forecast, the report provides forecasts for Drugs and Pharmaceuticals by type. Further, the growth and industry conditions in the Ireland market are assessed in comparison to regional Drugs and Pharmaceuticalss.

Report Scope

Market overview for Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals 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 Drugs and Pharmaceuticalss

Supply opportunities including tenders available for bidding in Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals segment

Trade value, import and export values and quantities of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals sector

In depth analysis of companies present in Drugs and Pharmaceuticals along with their strategies and company SWOT profiles

Analysis and forecasts of both macro and micro factors set to impact the existing players in Drugs and Pharmaceuticals

Insights into recent industry developments and their impact on companies operating and planning to enter Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals

Key Topics Covered:

1. Table of Contents

2. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Market Overview, 2018

3. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Strategic Analysis Review, 2018-2025

4. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals-Market SWOT Analysis

5. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Market Value Forecast, 2017-2025

6. Global Drugs and Pharmaceuticals market Analysis

7. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Trade (Import-Export) Value and opportunities

8. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Supply Opportunities

9. Ireland Economic Outlook, 2019-2025

10. Ireland Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Competitive Landscape

11. Recent Industry News and Developments

12. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/sszs2x/irelands_drugs?w=4

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005345/en/

Contacts:

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

Related Topics: Pharmaceuticals
HYLAS 4 is Company's Third GEOStar-3 Satellite to Launch This Year

Initial On-Orbit Testing Shows Satellite Performing Nominally

Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, today announced the HYLAS 4 commercial communications Ka-band satellite, built by the company for Avanti Communications Group plc (Avanti), was successfully launched aboard an Arianespace rocket. HYLAS 4 is the third GEOStar-3 satellite to be completed by Orbital ATK and will provide high speed and affordable broadband communications to Europe and Africa.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005355/en/

HYLAS 4 was built in Orbital ATK's satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia. (Photo: Business Wire)

Liftoff occurred at 5:34 p.m. EDT from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite separated successfully from the launch vehicle approximately 35 minutes into the mission after reaching its targeted orbit. Orbital ATK completed the satellite's initial post-launch health check and configuration in preparation for orbit-raising procedures and in-orbit tests. The spacecraft handover to Avanti is anticipated in April.

"The data from initial testing shows the satellite is in good health and performing as expected," said Amer Khouri, Vice President of the Commercial Satellite business at Orbital ATK. "As the third GEOStar-3 satellite to launch within three months, HYLAS 4 demonstrates Orbital ATK's ability to develop and execute an enhanced product that offers increased capability to meet our customers' emerging needs."

HYLAS 4 was built in Orbital ATK's satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia. It is a hybrid electric propulsion and all Ka-band high-throughput satellite that sets a new standard for affordability and payload flexibility in its class. The satellite will extend Avanti's Ka-band coverage across Europe, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, additional capacity can be provided through four steerable beams, which can address existing regions or new regions such as Latin America.

The GEOStar-3 platform is the newest, highest power and most advanced platform in the flight-proven GEOStar product line. The spacecraft bus features an increase in both battery capacity and solar array power, enabling the GEOStar-3 to provide up to 8 kilowatts of power to the payload. The hybrid electric propulsion system provides the benefits of higher power and greater payload capability while maintaining cost-effective launches and a faster path to orbit than all electric systems.

About Orbital ATK

Orbital ATK is a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies. The company designs, builds and delivers space, defense and aviation systems for customers around the world, both as a prime contractor and merchant supplier. Its main products include launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; missile products, subsystems and defense electronics; precision weapons, armament systems and ammunition; satellites and associated space components and services; and advanced aerospace structures. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Orbital ATK employs approximately 14,000 people across the U.S. and in several international locations. For more information, visit www.orbitalatk.com.

About Avanti

Avanti connects people wherever they are in their homes, businesses, in government and on mobiles. Through the HYLAS satellite fleet and partners in 118 countries, the network provides ubiquitous internet service to a quarter of the world's population. Avanti delivers the level of quality and flexibility that the most demanding telecoms customers in the world seek. Avanti is the first mover in high throughput satellite data communications in EMEA. It has rights to orbital slots and KA-band spectrum in perpetuity that covers an end market of over 1.7bn people. The Group has invested $1.2bn in a network that incorporates satellites, ground stations, datacentres and a fibre ring.

Avanti has a unique Cloud-based customer interface that is protected by patented technology. Avanti Communications is listed in London on AIM (AVN: LSE). www.avantiplc.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005355/en/

Contacts:

Orbital ATK

Media Contact:

Kristen Basham, 703-404-7476

Group Lead Public Relations

kristen.basham@orbitalatk.com

or

Investor Contact:

Barron Beneski, 703-406-5528

Public and Investor Relations

barron.beneski@orbitalatk.com
ALBANY, New York, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Transparency Market Research has published a new report titled, "Sharps Containers Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2025". According to the report, the global sharps containers market was valued at US$ 450.0 Mn in 2016 and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.4% from 2017 to 2025. The report suggests that stringent government regulations for waste management is likely to spur demand for sharps containers in the next few years (2017 to 2025). Key players introduce technologically advanced sharps containers in developed markets such a North America and Europe. Hence, these regions are likely to account for significant share of the global sharps containers market. Rise in awareness about safe disposal of sharps waste, wide distribution network of major players, and market penetration of emerging players are likely to boost the growth of the sharps containers market in Asia Pacific. The market in the region is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017 to 2025.

Multipurpose Containers to Witness Consistent Growth

The report offers detailed segmentation of the global sharps containers market based on product, waste type, usage type, waste generators, distribution channel, and size. In terms of product, the multipurpose containers segment is poised to account for leading share of the global market during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. However, the segment is anticipated to lose market share from 35.0% in 2016 to 34.3% by 2025. Rise in usage of insulin and steroid injectables which propels demand for patient room sharps containers for home use is a major factor likely to hamper the growth of the multipurpose containers segment.

Get PDF Brochure for Research Insights athttps://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=28175

Hospitals to Account for Maximum Revenue

In terms of waste generators, the global sharps containers market has been segmented into hospitals, clinics & physician offices, long term care & urgent care centers, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, and others. The hospitals segment accounted for the largest market share in terms of revenue in 2016, and is anticipated to continue to dominate the market during the forecast period. Dominance of the segment is attributed to rise in number of invasive surgical procedures across the globe. Expansion in the pharmaceutical industry and increase in R&D activities are projected to propel the pharmaceutical companies segment during the forecast period.

Reusable Containers to be Most Promising Usage Type Segment for Investment

Based on usage type, the global sharps containers market has been bifurcated into reusable and disposable. The disposable segment held significant share of the global sharps containers market in 2016. However, the reusable containers segment is likely to expand at a high CAGR from 2017 to 2025. According to Greenhealth Magazine, over one third of the 2 million sharps containers used in hospitals in the U.S. are reusable. Increased investment by key manufacturers to improve the distribution network of reusable sharps containers systems and consumer shift toward reusable containers are the major factors likely to boost the growth of the reusable containers segment by 2025.

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Direct Sale Segment to Expand at a High CAGR

Emphasis of local and regional players on diversifying the distribution network of sharps containers in niche countries is projected to drive the direct sale segment during the forecast period. The segment is expected to capture largest market share of 40.7% by 2025. It is likely to expand at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period. Rise in adoption of e-commerce platform by small & medium quantity waste generators is anticipated to propel the online sale segment by 2025.

Sharps Waste Segment to Generate Maximum Revenue

In terms of waste type, the sharps waste segment is expected to account for a leading market share by 2025. Infectious & pathological waste is likely to be the second most prominent segment in terms of revenue during the forecast period. According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 18.2 million people in the U.S. have diabetes; of these 5.6 million require daily insulin injections. High uptake of needles, syringes, and other sharps owing to rise in prevalence of chronic blood borne infections such as hepatitis and HIV is projected to boost the growth of the sharps waste segment during the forecast period.

Sharps Containers of 2-4 gallons to Expand at Fastest CAGR

Miniaturization of sharps containers and significant popularity of pocket sharps containers are the major factors attributed to the dominance of sharps containers of 1-2 gallons in 2016. However, increase in number of health care facilities and other medium quantity waste generators across the globe are expected to boost the growth of sharps containers of 2-4 gallons during the forecast period. The segment is likely to expand at a CAGR of 4.9% from 2017 to 2025.

Request Sample of Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=28175

Asia Pacific to Offer Highest Incremental Opportunity

In terms of revenue, North America was the leading market for sharps containers in 2016. Strategic presence of key manufacturers in the U.S. and emergence of the services sector in the U.S. for sharps management drive the sharps containers market in North America. Rise in health care spending in emerging markets such as China and India fuels the growth of the market in Asia Pacific. Geographical expansion of international players to this region through distribution and licensing agreements with local distributors and suppliers is anticipated to propel the market in the region. The market in Asia Pacific is likely expand at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017 to 2025. Latin American markets such as Brazil is augmenting healthcare expenditure through rise in entry of international sharps containers manufacturers & healthcare providers in this region. This is one of the major factors projected to drive the market in Latin America from 2017 to 2025.

Lack of Awareness about Collection of Sharps Waste in Specific Containers to Restrain Global Market

According to WHO, over 16 billion injections are administered globally every year. Hence, it is crucial for health care facilities and other medical waste generators to collect and dispose the contaminated metal sharps waste correctly. The emerging sharps management services industry in developed countries is projected to fuel the growth of the sharps containers market in terms of revenue from 2017 to 2025. However, lack of awareness in the developing economies about the process to discard infected needles and syringes is anticipated to hamper the sharps containers market. According to India's National Aids Control Organization, an estimated 86,000 new HIV infections were recorded in the country in 2015. Hence, poor awareness among health care workers and medical professionals about proper methods of sharps waste disposal is expected to restrain the sharps containers market by 2025.

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Key Players such as Medtronic, Daniels Health, and Becton, Dickinson and Company to Continue to Lead the Global Sharps Containers Market

The report provides profiles of leading players operating in the global sharps containers market. These include Sharps Compliance, Inc., Henry Schein, Inc., Bemis Manufacturing Company, Bondtech Corporation, EnviroTain, LLC, and MAUSER. Expansion of sharps containers portfolio through the acquisition of waste management business of emerging players is a key strategy adopted by the key players.

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https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/medical-waste-containers-market.html Medical Waste Management Market:

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Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend 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.

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Intelsat (NYSE: I), operator of the world's first Globalized Network and leader in integrated satellite communications, today announced that STN, the Satellite Telecommunications Network, signed a multi-year extension with Intelsat for satellite services supporting direct-to-home (DTH) and media distribution services in North America via the Galaxy 19 satellite.

As part of the agreement, STN is utilizing the power of the Intelsat's Galaxy 19 video neighborhood. Located at 97 West, Galaxy 19 serves as the premier U.S. neighborhood for free-to-air multicultural programming, distributing content originating from 60 countries around the world in more than 30 different languages. The satellite offers a Ku-band DTH platform that serves customers in the continental United States as well as Canada, Alaska and Hawaii. Intelsat is also providing an uplink via the IntelsatOne? PoP in London and transporting the signal via IntelsatOne? fiber to the company's Mountainside Teleport in Maryland. At the Mountainside Teleport, the signal is being uplinked to Galaxy 19 for the DTH application.

"Intelsat's Galaxy 19 satellite enables us to reliably distribute premium programming and deliver regionalized content from the Middle East and Asia to millions of homes across North America", said Mitja Lovsin, Chief Commercial Officer of STN. "The quality, unparalleled coverage and efficiency provided by Galaxy 19 have spurred the rapid growth of our media distribution services in North America. Our continued partnership with Intelsat will enable us to further build our subscriber base and deliver more compelling programming and services to our customers"

"Galaxy 19 enables service providers such as STN to reliably and cost-efficiently deliver programming to millions of homes across the continental United States, the Caribbean, Alaska and Hawaii and Mexico," said Rob Cerbone, Intelsat's Vice President and General Manager, Media. "Its premier multicultural video neighborhood provides a perfect venue for STN to distribute content, grow their subscriber base and achieve a strong return on their investment."

For more information, NAB Show attendees are invited to visit the Intelsat Booth located at SU 1510 in the Las Vegas Convention Center beginning Monday, April 9 through Thursday, April 12.

Supporting Resources:

Intelsat Media Services: http://www.intelsat.com/solutions/media/

http://www.intelsat.com/solutions/media/ Intelsat Video Neighborhoods: http://www.intelsat.com/solutions/media/distribution-solutions/video-neighborhoods/

http://www.intelsat.com/solutions/media/distribution-solutions/video-neighborhoods/ Galaxy Postcards: Expand Your Reach and Connect with Viewers across North America: http://www2.intelsat.com/GalaxyPostcards

About Intelsat

Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world's first Globalized Network, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat's Globalized Network combines the world's largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live. For more information, visit www.intelsat.com.

About STN

STN, the Satellite Telecommunications Network, is a leading global teleport. With world-class facilities that elevate industry standards, it provides a vast array of modern broadcast media solutions. STN's worldwide client base receives superior quality services that include multiple solutions, satellites and platforms. By using the most effective technology on the market, STN is able to maximize the broadcasting possibilities and deliver cost-effective solutions. STN provides global solutions while also serving individual regional markets in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas. For more information, please visit our website: www.stn.eu.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005097/en/

Contacts:

Intelsat

Michele Loguidice

Director, Corporate Communications

+1 703-559-7372

Michele.loguidice@intelsat.com
Including Share Exchange Ratio and Addition of Industry Leaders to the Board at Closing

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - April 6, 2018) - Eureka Resources, Inc. (TSXV: EUK) ("Eureka") is pleased to provide an update on its proposed three-cornered amalgamation (the "Transaction") with Kore Mining Ltd. ("Kore"), as previously announced on February 27, 2018.

Highlights of the update include:

Kore shareholders to receive 3.28 common shares of Eureka (each, a "Eureka Share") following a 1 for 10 consolidation of the Eureka Shares (the "Consolidation") , resulting in the former shareholders of Kore holding 91.8% of the issued and outstanding Eureka Shares following the closing of the Transaction (the "Closing")

Industry leaders, Harry Pokrandt (Sandspring, Macquarie, Lithium X) and Don McDonald (QuadraFNX, NovaGold, DeBeers), to be appointed to the board of directors of the Resulting Issuer (the "Board") in connection with the Closing

Eureka Consolidation and Transaction Exchange Ratio

At the annual general and special meeting of Eureka shareholders held on March 22, 2018, the shareholders of Eureka authorized the Eureka board of directors to proceed with the Consolidation. It is expected that the Consolidation will be completed immediately prior to the Closing, at which time there are expected to be 5,474,740 Eureka Shares outstanding, after giving effect to the Consolidation and the Debt Settlement (as defined below).

As at the date of this news release, there are 18,707,220 Kore common shares (each, a "Kore Share") outstanding. Eureka has agreed to issue 3.28 post-Consolidation Eureka Shares in exchange for each Kore Share (the "Exchange Ratio"), resulting in the shareholders of Kore being issued a total of 61,290,384 Eureka Shares (on a post-Consolidation basis). Immediately following the Closing, the former Kore shareholders shall hold no less than 91.8% of the total number of issued and outstanding Eureka Shares, prior to giving effect to the concurrent financing of Eureka subscription receipts to be undertaken in connection with the Transaction, as further described in Eureka's news release dated February 27, 2018.

Director Appointments

It is expected that, in connection with the Closing, all of the current directors and officers of Eureka will resign. The Board is expected to consist of James W. Hynes, Adrian Rothwell, Brendan Cahill, Robert J. ("Don") MacDonald, and Harry Pokrandt. Details with respect to the backgrounds of Mr. Hynes, Mr. Rothwell and Mr. Cahill were included in Eureka's news release dated February 27, 2018. The following are brief descriptions of the backgrounds of Mr. Pokrandt and Mr. MacDonald.

Harry Pokrandt

Mr. Pokrandt is currently the Chief Executive Officer and a director of Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (formerly Leeta Gold Corp.) and a director of Sandspring Resources Ltd. Mr. Pokrandt previously served as Managing Director of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. (formerly, Orion Securities Inc.) from 1985 to 2015, leading its Vancouver Metals & Mining Group where he worked on numerous financing and advisory assignments. He was formerly a director of Lithium X Energy Corp. prior to its sale and was also formerly a director of Fiore Exploration Ltd., and BQ Metals Corp.

Don MacDonald

Mr. MacDonald served as Chief Financial Officer and then acting Chief Executive Officer at KGHM International (formerly Quadra FNX Mining) from 2010 until March 2017. QuadraFNX was purchased in 2012 for $3 billion by Polish mining company, KGHM. Mr. MacDonald has over 30 years' experience in mine development, operation and financing and has been involved in the operation or development of over twenty mines in North and South America, the completion of mine financings totaling $5 billion, and multiple M&A transactions. He previously served as Chief Financial Officer for NovaGold, De Beers Canada Mining (formerly Winspear Diamonds) and Dayton Mining. Mr. MacDonald is a Chartered Professional Accountant, CA and holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Engineering from Oxford University. From 2013 to 2017, he was a director of the Mining Association of Canada.

Eureka Debt Settlement

Eureka is also pleased to announce that it has entered into debt settlement agreements with two arm's length and seven related party creditors (being Michael Sweatman, Brent Petterson, Christina Boddy, Warren Stanyer, John Kerr, Kristian Whitehead and Gary Vivian), pursuant to which Eureka will issue the creditors an aggregate of 4,285,000 Eureka Shares (on a pre-Consolidation basis) at a deemed price of $0.05 per Eureka Share in satisfaction of aggregate indebtedness of $214,250 (the "Debt Settlement").

As noted above, seven of the creditors, being MDS Management Ltd. (a company controlled by Michael Sweatman) MBP Management Ltd. (a company controlled by Brent Petterson), Rhodanthe Corporate Services (a Company controlled by Christina Boddy), Warren Stanyer, John Kerr, Kristian Whitehead and Gary Vivian, are each considered to be a "related party" of Eureka within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") and the issuance of Eureka Shares to them in connection with the Debt Settlement will be a "related party transaction" within the meaning of MI 61-101. However, the Debt Settlement will be exempt from the valuation requirement of MI 61-101 by virtue of the exemption contained in Section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 as the Eureka Shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV"), and from the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 by virtue of the exemption contained in Section 5.7(a) of MI 61-101 in that the fair market value of the Eureka Shares issued to each related party will not exceed 25% of Eureka's market capitalization.

Completion of the Debt Settlement, which is expected to occur prior to the Consolidation and the Closing, is subject to the approval of the TSXV. Eureka Shares issued in connection with the Debt Settlement will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the completion thereof.

Transaction Update

The Transaction will be effected by way of a three-cornered amalgamation, without court approval, under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia), pursuant to which, through the amalgamation of a newly incorporated British Columbia subsidiary of Eureka and Kore, Eureka will acquire all of the issued and outstanding Kore Shares in exchange for the issuance of Eureka Shares (on a post-Consolidation basis) and Kore will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eureka.

Following the Closing, the Resulting Issuer will continue on with the business of Kore and remain a Tier 2 mining issuer on the TSXV, with Kore as its operating subsidiary. The Resulting Issuer is anticipated to hold all existing assets of Eureka and Kore as at the Closing. It is expected that, in connection with the Closing, Eureka will change its name to "Kore Mining Ltd.", or such other name as agreed by the parties, with a corresponding change of the trading symbol for the Eureka Shares on the TSXV.

Certain Eureka Shares to be issued to Kore shareholders in connection with the Transaction will be subject to escrow under the policies of the TSXV.

The Transaction remains subject to a number of terms and conditions, including, among other things:

the completion of the Consolidation;

Eureka and Kore obtaining all necessary consents, orders and regulatory approvals, including the conditional approval of the TSXV;

completion of the concurrent financing for minimum gross proceeds of $2,000,000;

there being no material change occurring with respect to the business of Eureka or Kore;

the satisfaction of obligations under the amalgamation agreement relating to each of the parties;

the delivery by each of the parties of standard closing documents, including legal opinions;

approval of the Transaction by the shareholders of Kore and Eureka, as required by applicable corporate law and the policies of the TSXV; and

execution of support and voting agreements by all directors and officers of Kore and Eureka and any shareholders holding greater than 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of each of the parties.

None of the securities to be issued pursuant to the Debt Settlement or the Transaction have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and any securities issued pursuant to the Transaction are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon available exemptions from such registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

About Kore

Kore is a development stage company that offers exposure to precious metals exploration and development in North America, with a corporate strategy focused on the identification and acquisition of attractive development and advanced exploration stage projects.

Kore, indirectly through wholly-owned subsidiaries, owns 100% interests in the Imperial and Long Valley gold development projects, located in California, USA (together, the "Projects"). Combined, most recent historical estimates of resources specify a total of 2,090,200 measured and indicated and 1,869,500 inferred gold ounces. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current resources and Kore is not treating the historical estimates as current resources. Significant data compilation, re-drilling, re-sampling and data verification may be required by a Qualified Person before the historical estimates at the Projects can be classified as current resources. Kore has no other material financial assets or liabilities.

Each of the Projects has the potential to host near-surface, open pit, heap leachable gold deposits. The Projects combine low technical risk, high advancement potential and a low initial cost.

The Imperial Project has a historical feasibility study and environmental impact study published in 1996 by Glamis Gold. A historical preliminary economic assessment was prepared in 20121, which stated a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") of US$215 million (US$1,200/oz gold price) while projecting average production of 120,000 ounces of gold per year over a mine life of 10 years. Long Valley had a historical preliminary economic assessment performed in 2008, which projected an internal pre-tax NPV of US$102 million (US$800/oz gold price) on oxide ounces of gold only (approximately 535,400 ounces of gold).

Table 1: Combined historical2 estimates of Kore Project resources3

Size Grade Au Source4 Au Cutoff (tonnes) (g/t) (oz) (g/t) Measured Long Valley 24,128,309 0.58 452,500 2008 PEA 0.34 Imperial 0 0.00 0 2012 PEA 0.00 Total Measured 24,128,309 0.58 452,500 Indicated Long Valley 37,810,382 0.62 758,700 2008 PEA 0.34 Imperial 45,762,947 0.60 879,000 2012 PEA 0.17 Total Indicated 83,573,330 0.61 1,637,700 TOTAL M&I 107,701,638 0.60 2,090,200 Inferred5 Long Valley 29,858,452 0.58 571,500 2008 PEA 0.34 Imperial 76,334,175 0.53 1,298,000 2012 PEA 0.17 TOTAL INFERRED 106,192,627 0.54 1,869,500

The historical mineral resources in this news release were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council.

Imperial Mineral Historical Resource Estimation Parameters: a) Grade estimation is based on assay samples composited to 20ft intervals. Grade capping thresholds were determined following a detailed statistical analysis of the data for the entire mineralized domains varied from 0.02 to 0.2 ounces per ton (opt) gold (Au). b) Resource model grade blocks were estimated using Gemcom GEMSTM modeling software based on a traditional wireframe interpretation constructed from a sectional interpretation of drilling data. c) The database for the Imperial model consisted of 349 RC holes totalling 190,134 feet of drilling. A total of 36,361 analyses were considered for use in the resource estimate. d) The modelled gold mineralized zone was subdivided into three domains displaying different strike or dip directions with a total length of 3,200 ft, width up to 800ft and average thickness of 85ft in the East area and 1,200ft in length, 1,000ft in width and average thickness of 90ft to 120ft in the West area, dipping from 5 to 35 degrees e) A bulk density value of 0.077 ton per cubic foot was used and derived from 9 core holes consisting of 32 samples collected in a 1994 and 1995 drilling program. f) Mineral resources were reported within an optimized pit shell using a gold price of US$1,400/oz with a process recovery of 80%. g) Process costs used were US$1.50/ton and G&A was US$0.40/ton. Open pit mining costs were US$1.20/ton and sustaining capex was US$0.50/ton with open pit slopes of 45 degrees.

Long Valley Historical Mineral Resource Estimation Parameters: a) Grade estimation is based on assay samples composited to 10ft intervals. Grade capping thresholds were determined following a detailed statistical analysis of the data for the entire mineralized domains and varied from 0.029 to 0.452 ounces per ton (opt) gold (Au). Capped Au grade in the MDA model was 0.25opt. b) Resource model grade blocks were estimated using Surpac modeling software based on a traditional wireframe interpretation constructed from a sectional interpretation of drilling data. c) The database for the Long Valley model consisted of 896 holes, including 20 core holes, totalling 268,275 feet of drilling. A total of 47,792 analyses were considered for use in the resource estimate. d) The modelled gold mineralized zone is contained within the Hilton Creek South and Southeast zones with a total length of 7,748ft and widths ranging from 500ft to 1,500ft in a generally flat lying tabular body from 50 to 200ft thickness e) A bulk density value of 0.065 ton per cubic foot was used and derived from 7 core holes consisting of 12 samples collected by Royal Gold, 10 core holes consisting of 93 samples collected by Amax and 10 samples by MDA. f) Mineral resources were reported within an optimized pit shell using a gold price of US$550/oz with a process recovery of 79% less than 150ft from surface and 39% between 150ft and 200ft. g) Process costs used were US$1.96/ton and G&A was US$0.71/ton. Open pit mining costs were US$1.20/ton with open pit slopes of 45 degrees.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

A LARGE GOLD RESOURCE

Historical estimate of 2,090,200oz Measured and Indicated, 1,869,500oz Inferred with historic 2P reserves. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current resources and Kore is not treating the historical estimates as current resources.

Last California exploration completed in 1996

Updated in 2008 (Long Valley), 2012 (Imperial)

OVER 141,225 METRES (468,000 FEET) OF DRILLING

Long Valley drilling has consisted of 869 holes totaling 268,275ft

Imperial drilling has consisted of 349 RC holes and 9 core holes totalling 200,000ft

LOW COST MINING, HISTORICAL FEASIBILITY, PEA

Low strip ratios (Long Valley 1:1, Imperial 2.68:1)

Feasibility and draft EIS-EIR completed by Glamis (Goldcorp) in 1996 on Imperial

California gold deposits deeply oxidized epithermal systems with broad disseminated zones

Excellent metallurgy in oxide zones (Long Valley 79%, Imperial 83% recoveries projected)

Low operating cost projects with weakly cemented gravel overburden at Imperial and consolidated pyroclastic and moat sediments at Long Valley

The financial statements of Kore for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and the period from inception to December 31, 2016 are currently being audited. They will be included in the information circular to be prepared by Eureka in connection with the Transaction.

Technical information with respect to the Projects contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by David S. Smith, CPG, who is Kore's designated independent qualified person for the purposes of this news release.

About Eureka

Eureka is a mineral exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

British Columbia, Canada

Eureka's 100% owned FG Gold property is an advanced-stage gold project located in the Cariboo Mining Division. Historical exploration has established a Measured and Indicated (376,000 ounces) gold resource at an average grade of 0.776 g/t gold, using a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t, and an Inferred gold resource (634,900 ounces) at an average grade of 0.718 g/t gold, using a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t. Details of the gold resource can be found in "NI 43-101 Technical Report, Frasergold Exploration Project, Cariboo Mining Division, dated July 27, 2015" available under Eureka's profile on SEDAR or on Eureka's website.

Eureka has a 100% interest in the Gold Creek property located in the Cariboo Mining Division. Gold Creek is a grassroots gold project neighbouring, and with similar geology to the Spanish Mountain deposit owned by Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd.

Yukon Territory, Canada

Eureka's 100% owned Luxor property consists of three non-contiguous claim blocks totalling 360 mining claims. Luxor is located in the Dawson Range Gold Belt, a district of major porphyry, breccia and vein occurrences. Eureka's 100% owned TAK property is also located in the Dawson Range Gold Belt and consists of 82 mining claims.

Neighbouring projects include Goldcorp's Coffee project and White Gold's White Gold project.

Nevada, USA

Eureka owns a 50% interest in the Gemini lithium brine project located approximately 40 kilometres (26 miles) south of North America's only producing lithium mine at Silver Peak, Nevada.

Technical information contained in this news release related to Eureka's properties has been reviewed and approved by Kristian Whitehead, P.Geo., Eureka's designated Qualified Person.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the Eureka Shares in the United States. The Shares have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Further information on Eureka can be found on Eureka's website at www.eurekaresourcesinc.com and at www.sedar.com, or by contacting Michael Sweatman, President and CEO, by email at info@eurekaresourcesinc.com or by telephone at (604) 449-2273.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon.

The Exchange has in no way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

All information contained in this news release with respect to Eureka and Kore was supplied by the parties, respectively, for inclusion herein, and Eureka and its directors and officers have relied on Kore for any information concerning such party, including information concerning the Projects.

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the timing and completion of the Transaction, the future operations of Eureka, Kore, and the Resulting Issuer and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Transaction and the future plans and objectives of Eureka, Kore, and the Resulting Issuer are forward-looking statements that involve 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 Eureka's, Kore's, and the Resulting Issuer's expectations include the failure to satisfy the conditions to completion of the Transaction set forth above and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by Eureka, Kore, and the Resulting Issuer with securities regulations.

The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of Eureka, Kore, and the Resulting Issuer. As a result, Eureka, Kore, and the Resulting Issuer cannot guarantee that the Transaction will be completed on the terms and within the time disclosed herein or at all. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Eureka, Kore, and the Resulting Issuer will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities law.

____________________

1 Long Valley Project: Technical Report, February 20, 2003 by Neil Prenn, P.Eng. and Charles V Muerhoff, P. Geo. of Mine Development Associates, and Technical Report, Preliminary Assessment, January 9, 2008 by Neil Prenn, P.Eng and Thomas Dyer, P.Eng. of Mine Development Associates, Reno Nevada. Prepared for Vista Gold Corp. ("2008 PEA").

Imperial Project: Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report October 26, 2012 by Gordon Doerksen, P.Eng. Lois Boxill, P.Eng. et al of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. Prepared for ADR Capital Corp., Vancouver, BC. ("2012 PEA").

2 The reader is cautioned that the above referenced "Historical Resource" is considered historical in nature and as such is based on prior data and reports prepared by previous property owners. The work necessary to verify the classification of this mineral resource estimate has not been completed and the resource estimate, therefore, cannot be treated as NI 43-101 current resource verified by a Qualified Person. There can be no assurance that any of the historical resources, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable.

3 Mineral Resources are not mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the mineral Resource will be converted into mineral Reserves. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.

4 Long Valley Project: Technical Report, February 20, 2003 by Neil Prenn, P.Eng. and Charles V Muerhoff, P. Geo. of Mine Development Associates, and Technical Report, Preliminary Assessment, January 9, 2008 by Neil Prenn, P.Eng and Thomas Dyer, P.Eng. of Mine Development Associates, Reno Nevada. Prepared for Vista Gold Corp. ("2008 PEA").

Imperial Project: Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report October 26, 2012 by Gordon Doerksen, P.Eng. Lois Boxill, P.Eng. et al of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. Prepared for ADR Capital Corp., Vancouver, BC. ("2012 PEA").

5 The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred resources as an Indicated or Measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral resource category.


BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's industrial production declined at the fastest pace in two-and-a-half years in February largely on weak construction activity.



Industrial output dropped 1.6 percent month-on-month in February, in contrast to a revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January, data from Destatis showed Friday. Output was expected to climb 0.3 percent.



This was the biggest decline since August 2015, when output fell 1.7 percent.



On a yearly basis, industrial production grew at a slower pace of 2.6 percent in February after rising 6.3 percent in January. Economists had forecast 4.4 percent expansion for February.



Production in industry excluding energy and construction decreased 2.0 percent.



Within industry, energy production grew 4 percent, while construction dropped 2.2 percent. The production of capital goods slid 3.1 percent and that of consumer goods by 1.5 percent. Similarly, intermediate goods output showed a 0.7 percent fall.



Order book situation and the positive mood among companies suggest that the industrial economy will continue to move upwards, the economy ministry said. However, growth momentum is likely to be weaker than in the previous year.



Ralph Solveen, an analyst at Commerzbank, said he expects a lower dynamic in the coming quarters as well. However, this is hardly the end of the upswing.



The European Central Bank's expansionary monetary policy continues to stimulate the economy, Solveen added.



Elsewhere, the Purchasing Managers' survey for construction showed that the sector contracted for the first time in more than three years in March due to colder-than-usual weather.



The IHS Markit construction PMI fell to 47.0 in March from 52.7 in February. The contraction was followed by particularly strong growth in January, when the PMI had hit an 82-month high.



Nonetheless, constructors remained highly confident about the outlook for activity over the next 12 months, citing a strong pipeline of new orders.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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This Blog is a digital journal for two cute pooches, Casey (A White Color Shih Tzu Dog Mix) & Peanut (A Brown Dachshund Dog Mix) who are both two complete opposites who have nothing in common except this blog and same owners.
Monex Securities Australia, which is part of the Monex International Group, is set to shake-up the Australian online broking industry by opening their doors to Australian investors

CREMORNE, NEW SOUTH WALES / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2018 / Alex Douglas, the managing director of Monex Securities Australia, is pleased to announce that the company recently opened their Australian operations. With the launch of Monex Securities Australia, they are poised to take a slice of the domestic online stockbroking industry.

To contact a friendly and experienced member of the Monex team, please visit https://www.monexsecurities.com.au/page/our-contact-info/.

As Douglas noted, Monex International, which is currently the second largest online broking company in Japan, has set its sights on the Australian market as part of its global expansion.

"We believe there is a yawning gap in the Australian investors' portfolio because they have not been accessing international equity markets," Douglas said.

"And we will bridge this gap by giving investors one platform that will allow them to trade 12 different markets around the globe."

This approach, Douglas said, will help to cut back on "home country bias," which is the tendency for investors to hold a significant portion of their portfolio in domestic equities, thereby limiting their investment opportunity.

According to Douglas, while home country bias is not unique to Australia, research findings show that Australian investors have a stronger home country bias than most other developed countries. In Australia, he said, some 66 percent of investor holdings are in domestic shares.

This explains why most mum and dad investors have majority of their investment capital in Telstra, Qantas, BHP, CBA, Westpac or Macquarie Bank shares.

"You may not realise it, but by holding and buying mostly Australian shares, you as an investor are limiting your investment potential due to what is known as home country bias," he said.

Douglas said there are a number of key reasons why there is such a high level of home country bias in Australia. The first reason, he said, is the difficulty in buying and selling international shares.

Until now, it has been quite difficult to invest in international shares because few brokers have offered access to international markets, and those that do provide a very limited number of markets. For investors wanting to trade multiple offshore markets, Douglas noted, this often forced them through a complex process of establishing accounts with multiple brokers. This has been a significant hurdle for investors wanting to trade international shares.

The high cost of trading is another factor, Douglas said.

"Australian brokers are renowned for charging high commissions and expensive platform fees - especially for international markets. These costs directly affect your bottom line profits,' he said.

Thanks to the launch of Monex Securities Australia, home country bias and its possible negative impact on Australian portfolios will be a thing of the past.

In addition to providing access to 12 different markets around the globe, the company will also be offering competitive rates in a bid to win investors away from other online broking providers, with trading in U.S. markets starting from just US$9.99.

By providing a single platform that will let investors trade multiple global markets and by offering lower fees, Monex Securities Australia is aiming to win a healthy slice of the investment community in Australia.

Monex Securities Australia believes that by offering access to international markets at competitive rates, it can help investors avoid their home country bias and therefore access more investment opportunities globally.

"If you continue to allow home country bias to dominate your investment decisions, you are restricting the diversification of your investment portfolio and losing out on the associated benefits of risk reduction," Douglas said.

"This is because you are participating only in a very small section of the overall market with an overweight exposure to any adverse conditions that may afflict the local market."

About Monex Group International:

Monex is the second largest online broker in Japan and the 6th largest in the US. Monex was founded by Oki Matsumoto after his suggestion to set up an online broking company in Japan was ignored by Goldman Sachs. Monex acquired TradeStation, a Florida-based online broker for about $400 million in 2011. For more information, please visit https://www.monexsecurities.com.au/.

Contact:

Eva Diaz

eva@profilebooster.com.au

0421333763

SOURCE: Monex Group International
BIRMINGHAM (ALABAMA) (dpa-AFX) - BB&T Corp. (BBT) said that BB&T Insurance Holdings, Inc. has agreed to acquire Regions Insurance Group subsidiary from Regions Financial Corp. (RF). Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, were not disclosed. Regions Insurance is an insurance broker serving more than 60,000 clients across the Southeast, Texas and Indiana. It offers property and casualty and employee benefits products to businesses through a retail network of insurance professionals. BB&T Insurance Holdings, the fifth largest insurance broker in the U.S. and internationally, operates more than 200 offices through subsidiaries BB&T Insurance Services, BB&T Insurance Services of California, McGriff, Seibels & Williams, CRC Insurance Services, Crump Life Insurance Services and AmRisc, LLC. BB&T noted that the acquisition of Regions Insurance will add incremental balance to BB&T's insurance business between its wholesale and retail insurance channels. Following this acquisition, BB&T Insurance's retail network will contribute almost half of its insurance brokerage revenue. 'Regions Insurance significantly adds to our retail insurance network providing us the opportunity to further build out our footprint in core BB&T markets across the Southeast. With this acquisition, BB&T increases the contribution from our insurance brokerage business to almost $2 billion in annual revenue and further affirms our commitment to growing the business,' said BB&T's chairman and chief executive officer, Kelly King. Separately, Regions Financial said that the capital generated from this transaction at the time of closing is expected to be used to repurchase shares of common stock, subject to review and non-objection by the Federal Reserve as part of the 2018 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review. 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.


MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - Claiming they benefit from the Russian government's destabilizing activities, President Donald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions on several Russian Oligarchs.



The Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday it has designated seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank.



'The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,' said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.



Mnuchin accused the Russian government of engaging in a range of malign activity, including the occupation of Crimea, supplying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with material and weaponry, and attempting to subvert Western democracies.



'Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities,' Mnuchin said.



The Treasury said the targets include individuals who benefit from Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and play a key role in advancing Russia's malign activities.



The oligarchs targeted include Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire linked to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been charged with money laundering in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.



The Treasury also imposed sanctions on Kirill Shamalov, who is married to Putin's daughter, and Putin adviser Suleiman Kerimov.



Relations between the U.S. and Russia have become increasingly strained recently after Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack on a former spy.



Trump also ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle due to its proximity to a U.S. submarine base and Boeing (BA).



Russia responded by announcing it would expel 60 American diplomats and close the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.



Nonetheless, the White House confirmed Monday that Trump and Putin discussed potentially meeting at the White House in the 'not-too-distant future' during a phone call last month.



(Photo: www.kremlin.ru)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Canadian dollar drifted higher against its key counterparts in the European session on Friday, after a data showed that the economy created more jobs than forecast in March.



Data from Statistics Canada showed that the employment rose by 32,300 jobs in March after adding 15,400 jobs in February.



Economists had forecast an increase of 20,000 jobs.



The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent, matching forecasts.



Meanwhile, oil prices dropped ahead of weekly rig count data due later in the day.



Crude for May delivery fell $0.04 to $63.50 per barrel.



The Baker Hughes North American rig count that tracks weekly changes in the number of active operating oil & gas rigs will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North American Rig Count was 1127, while U.S. rig count was 993.



The currency fell against its major counterparts in the Asian session, amid rising risk averion on renewed trade war concerns, as President Donald Trump threatened China with $100 billion of additional tariffs.



The loonie spiked up to 1.2733 against the greenback, its strongest since February 27. The loonie is seen finding resistance around the 1.26 region.



The loonie climbed to more than a 5-week high of 1.5588 against the euro, from an early low of 1.5656. The next possible resistance for the loonie is seen around the 1.52 level.



Survey data from IHS Markit showed that Germany's construction sector contracted for the first time in more than three years in March due to colder-than-usual weather.



The construction Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 47.0 in March from 52.7 in February. This was the first time since January 2015 that the score fell below the 50.0 no-change level.



The loonie bounced off to 0.9789 against the aussie, heading to pierce its early near a 2-month high of 0.9783. On the upside, 0.96 is seen as the next resistance level for the loonie.



The loonie recovered to 84.24 against the yen, from an early low of 83.76. The loonie is likely to find resistance around the 86.00 region.



Preliminary figures from the Cabinet Office showed that Japan's leading index improved unexpectedly in February, though slightly.



The leading index, which measures the future economic activity, rose to 105.6 in February from 105.6 in January. Meanwhile, economists had expected the index to fall to 105.5.



Looking ahead, U.S. consumer credit for February is set for release shortly.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Markets in Asia finished mixed on Friday as Hong Kong returned from a one-day holiday, after US president Donald Trump suggested more tariffs against China could be in the pipeline. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.36% at 21,567.52, as the yen strengthened 0.16% to JPY 107.22. The broader Topix index was down 0.31% in Tokyo, with real estate and shipping being the worst performing sectors for the session. Drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceuticals plunged 5.03%, as investors poo-pooed comments from its ...

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.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market ended Friday's session in the red, following the strong gains of the previous day. Renewed concerns over a potential trade war between the U.S. and China weighed on investor sentiment at the end of the week. The weaker than expected U.S. employment report for March also added to the negative mood. President Donald Trump has threatened China with $100 billion of additional tariffs. In response, the Chinese Commerce Ministry declared it would 'not hesitate' to retaliate to new tariffs 'at any cost.' The U.S. Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 103,000 jobs in March after spiking by an upwardly revised 326,000 jobs in February. Economists had expected an increase of about 193,000 jobs. The Swiss Market Index decreased by 0.82 percent Friday and finished at 8,671.04. The Swiss Leader Index dropped 0.83 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 0.35 percent. Zurich Insurance weakened by 4.2 percent, Swisscom sank 4.7 percent and Geberit fell 2.6 percent after the stocks began trading on an ex-dividend basis. Sika, ABB and Schindler surrendered 1.4 percent each. Credit Suisse declined 1.2 percent and UBS lost 0.9 percent. Among the index heavyweights, Roche fell 0.6 percent and Novartis dropped 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, Nestle gained 0.5 percent. Dufry was among the top performing stocks Friday with an increase of 3.1 percent. Vifor Pharma climbed 1.8 percent, Givaudan rose 0.5 percent and Sonova added 0.4 percent. Swiss Life advanced 0.6 percent and Baloise increased 0.5 percent and Swiss Re added 0.1 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks on Wall Street have seen considerable volatility amid an escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China, but President Donald Trump has continued to defend his proposed tariffs on Chinese imports.



Trump acknowledged in an interview on 77 WABC Radio's 'Bernie & Sid in the Morning' on Friday that the tariffs could cause some 'pain' in the markets but argued the U.S. would eventually come out stronger.



'I'm not saying there won't be a little pain,' Trump said. 'The market has gone up 40 percent, 42 percent, so we might lose a little bit of it.'



'But we're going to have a much stronger country when we're finished,' he added. 'We may take a hit, and you know, ultimately we're going to be much stronger for it, but it's something we have got to do.'



The comments from Trump come as his threat to impose $100 billion of additional tariffs on Chinese goods has contributed to notable weakness on Wall Street on Friday.



Trump noted in a statement on Thursday that the U.S. Trade Representative recently announced $50 billion in proposed tariffs on imports from China over intellectual-property violations.



China retaliated by announcing plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of U.S. exports, including aircraft, cars, and soybeans, which Trump called an effort to harm U.S. farmers and manufacturers.



'In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs,' Trump said.



He added, 'I have also instructed the Secretary of Agriculture, with the support of other members of my Cabinet, to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.'



Responding to the threat from Trump, the Chinese government declared it would retaliate to new tariffs 'with force and without hesitation.'



However, Trump has continually denied he is instigating a trade war with China, arguing that the war had already been lost.



(Photo: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Republican Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was highly critical of President Donald Trump's escalating trade dispute with China in a statement on Thursday, claiming the president does not have a plan to win a trade war between the world's two largest economies. Sasse said he was hopeful Trump was just blowing off steam when he threatened to impose $100 billion of additional tariffs on Chinese imports. 'If he's even half-serious, this is nuts,' Sasse said. 'China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire.' 'Let's absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us,' he added. 'This is the dumbest possible way to do this.' Sasse has been a frequent critic of Trump but is not the only Republican Senator from an agriculture-dependent state to raise concerns about China's retaliatory tariffs on products such as soybeans. In a statement on Wednesday, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the U.S. should take action to defend its interests but argued farmers and ranchers shouldn't be expected to bear the brunt of retaliation for the entire country. 'The Administration knew that if it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, China would retaliate against U.S. agriculture,' Grassley said. 'I warned President Trump as much in a White House meeting in February. Today shows that's exactly what happened.' He added, 'If the federal government takes action on trade that directly results in economic hardship for certain Americans, it has a responsibility to help those Americans and mitigate the damage it caused.' Senators Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., have also expressed concerns about the impact China's retaliatory tariffs could have on U.S. agriculture. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) 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.
A.M. Best has commented that the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings (Long-Term ICR) of "bbb-" of Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (Maiden Holdings) and its downstream, intermediate holding company subsidiary Maiden Holdings North America, Ltd. (MHNA) and all Long-Term Issue Credit Ratings assigned to securities issued by Maiden Holdings and MHNA, as well as the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term ICR of "a-" of its operating subsidiaries Maiden Reinsurance Ltd. and Maiden Reinsurance North America, Inc., are unchanged by the April 6, 2018, announcement that Maiden Holdings management has engaged bankers to manage a strategic review process to enhance value. The outlook for the Credit Ratings remains negative.

Management has indicated in recent public comments that it was reviewing strategic options to enhance the value of the enterprise. A.M. Best views today's announcement as a step in that process. A.M. Best will remain in contact with the company's leadership regarding its progress in evaluating alternatives, and should management determine that specific action will be taken, will evaluate the ratings impact of that decision.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best press releases, please view Guide for Media Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and A.M. Best Rating Action Press Releases

A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2018 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005761/en/

Contacts:

A.M. Best

Jennifer Marshall, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5327

Director

jennifer.marshall@ambest.com

or

Michael Lagomarsino, CFA, FRM, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5810

Senior Director

michael.lagomarsino@ambest.com

or

Christopher Sharkey, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5159

Manager, Public Relations

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

or

Jim Peavy, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5644

Director, Public Relations

james.peavy@ambest.com
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO / ACCESSWIRE / April 6, 2018 / The appeal of blockchain technology extends beyond cryptocurrency. Currently, it is being explored by governments around the world for applications ranging from e-residency to Internet of Things devices. Increased efficiency and security are the major reasons national administrations are considering the integration of blockchain technology in their operations, says Pablo Soria de Lachica.

The distributed ledger is a digital record of transactions that is spread across peer-to-peer networks. Attempting to create unrealistic records is very difficult since each "block" in the chain is encrypted. Also, because the blockchain is not found in a single location, it is nearly impossible to alter every single record on the ledger. If applied, citizens' identities and transactions with the state will need fewer checks to ensure accuracy and security. The US Food and Drug Administration recently issued a formal notice to obtain information on the blockchain's application for exchanging patient-level medical data in the United States Critical Illness and Injury Trails Group network. The secure exchange of sensitive information will reduce the required investment in governments' cybersecurity infrastructure.

The decentralized nature of Ethereum and other blockchain technologies has considerable potential to reduce costs borne by the state to provide public services. For example, McKinsey reported that for real estate transactions across countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, buyers pay $3.5 billion per year in fees to register their properties. A reliable and safe digitalization of these processes could allow governments to pass cost reductions onto citizens, or reallocate resources where they are most needed.

The significant reduction in operating costs due to distributed ledger technology in the private sector can have similar benefits for the public sector, notes Pablo Soria de Lachica. In the business world, Forbes reports financial reporting costs could fall by up to 70% for business to business transactions. After a successful testing period, the Australian Securities Exchange (with a market capitalization of $1.5 trillion) announced in December 2017 that it would use distributed ledger technology for the clearing and settlement of equity transactions in the near future. Blockchain technology is already being used as a tool to allow democratic governments to remain transparent to the public. The National Research Council of Canada is using the Ethereum blockchain to disclose the award of federal grants in real time. Such practices are expected to increase the level of trust between taxpayers and their elected representatives. Using Ethereum also enables the government to reduce paperwork with smart contracts, reducing the administrative costs of grant programs.

Pablo Soria de Lachica is an internationally recognized foreign exchange broker, who currently collaborates with Kartoshka, a global leader in technological solutions for sales, telemarketing and customer support. He also offers professional guidance and educational materials to the investment community, authoring a number of instructional texts and series of webinars. Soria de Lachica received his MBA from Universidad Tecnologico de Mexico. He is an active supporter of community causes, including the Boy Scouts and Delta Epsilon Sigma programs. He is also a contributor to many charitable organizations including Bridges for Peace, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.

Pablo Soria de Lachica - Foreign Exchange Specialist: http://PabloSoriaDeLachicaNews.com

Pablo Soria de Lachica Highlights Investment Opportunities Created by Mexican Market Liberalization: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pablo-Soria-la chica-highlights-investment-163000542.html

Pablo Soria de Lachica Examines How Mexico is Set-Up for Innovation: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pablo-Soria-la chica-examines-Mexico-031500574.html

Contact Information:

PabloSoriaDeLachicaNews.com

http://PabloSoriaDeLachicaNews.com

contact@pablosoriadelachicanews.com

SOURCE: Pablo Soria de Lachica
Nantero Inc., a Woburn, MA-based nanotechnology company developing next-generation memory using carbon nanotubes, raised $29.7m in funding.

Investors include:

 Dell Technologies Capital,

 Cisco Investments,

 Kingston Technology Corporation,

 CFT Capital,

 Schlumberger, and

 three strategic investors not disclosed at this time, all of which are global companies in the semiconductor industry.

The company, which has raised over $120m to date, intends to use the funds to bring multiple products into the market.

Led by Greg Schmergel, Co-Founder & CEO, Nantero is a nanotechnology company using carbon nanotubes for the development of next-generation semiconductor products. The companys main focus is the commercial introduction of NRAM  a high-density high-speed nonvolatile random access storage device. The applications for the nonvolatile RAM Nantero is developing include smartphones, tablets, enterprise systems, notebook and desktop computers, as well as applications in the automotive and industrial arena. NRAM can be manufactured for both standalone and embedded memory applications. Nantero is also working with licensees on the development of additional applications of Nanteros core nanotube-based technology.

The company currently has more than a dozen partners and customers in the consumer electronics, enterprise systems, and semiconductor industries actively working on NRAM. Fujitsu Semiconductor and Mie Fujitsu Semiconductor will be the first customer to bring NRAM to market in 2019, followed by other companies when they are ready to announce. Nantero also recently set up an office and wholly-foreign-owned-entity (WFOE) in Beijing, China, as part of its commitment to grow and expand its business in China with both Chinese customers and manufacturers.

FinSMEs

06/04/2018
Next47, the $1.2 billion global venture fund backed by Siemens, has extended its US team.

Matthew Cowan and T.J. Rylander joined as Partners and Ching-Yu Hu as a Principal. With backgrounds in venture capital and as founders of businesses, these newest members expand the firms expertise and network.

Matthew Cowan came from Breezeworks, a mobile CRM platform for small business owners, where he was the CEO and co-founder. Prior to Breezeworks, he was the co-founder of Bridgescale Partners, a venture capital fund with investments in companies such as BitGo, Jasper Wireless, Plum Organics and Proofpoint. Cowan was also the founding General Partner of Bowman Capitals venture capital group in 1998, focusing on expansion-stage technology companies. In the earlier part of his career, he worked in Intel Corporations business development group focused on broadband and internet media.

T.J. Rylander was a Managing Partner at In-Q-Tel (IQT), the strategic venture firm affiliated with the U.S. Intelligence Community, leading investments in 20 technology startups, including Pure Storage, Cloudera, and FireEye. He also served as co-lead for the companys Infrastructure and Security practice. Prior to IQT, Rylander spent several years at Boston Consulting Group and also held various finance roles focused on international energy development and clean energy M&A.

Ching-Yu Hu joined Next47 as a Principal based in the Palo Alto office. He co-founded Skybox Imaging, a data and aerospace startup that designed, built, and launched a large constellation of high resolution imaging satellites, which was acquired by Google in 2014. Prior to joining Next47, Hu was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in Googles internal startup incubator, Area 120.

Led by Lak Ananth, CEO and Managing Partner, Next47 is a global venture firm created by Siemens that invests in, and partners with, entrepreneurs who think big and build industry-defining companies. With offices in Boston, Beijing, London, Munich, Paris, Palo Alto and Stockholm, Next47 gives startups access to a large portfolios of customers in the areas of industry, energy and infrastructure as well as domain expertise in the deep technologies that impact those customers.

FinSMEs

06/04/2018
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Eddie R. Jacks, pastor of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church for 40 years, died Sunday at the age of 78.





Hewas born May 4, 1939, to the late Amos and Annie Jacks. He retired from BASF after 30 years of employment.



Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Norriee V. Jacks, children, Pastor Randy (Deborah) Jacks of Chattanooga, Cynthia (Kalvin) Hudgins of Douglasville, Georgia, Elder Eddie D. (Cliftina) Jacks of Chattanooga, and Tarashenda Harris of Chattanooga, sisters, Shirley Edwards of Athens, Ga., Betty (Stanley) Kenny of Statham, Ga., and Lunette (Lonnie) Hillman of Lawrenceville, Ga., brothers, Hugh (Joanne) Jacks of Chattanooga, Hayward ( Julie) Jacks of Monroe, Ga., Lewis (Mamie) Dowdy, of Athens, Ga., and Al Jacks of Monroe, Ga., 14 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, three sisters-in law, two godchildren, and five adopted children.



Pastor Jacks will lie in state on Friday at the funeral home from 12-4 p.m. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. at the Miracle Missionary Baptist Church.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday at noon at Galilee Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Randy Jacks as the eulogist. Interment will be in Greenwood Cemetery.

Arrangements are by John P. Franklin Funeral Home.
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Empowered to Connect is coming to Chattanooga to provide "practical teaching in a safe and supportive community to families, churches, and professionals who serve children impacted by trauma."

The two-day telecast trains adults to facilitate healthy attachment and connection in families through Trust Based Relational Intervention established by Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross. Empowered to Connect will be held at Hixson United Methodist Church on April 13 and 14 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at 5301 Old Hixson Pike.

"As an elementary teacher and also a parent to three internationally adopted children, the conference has been truly life-changing, said Jennifer Johnson, choir director at the Bethlehem Center. The training completely altered the way I relate to kids who have experienced the harmful effects of trauma by giving me tools to relate to them. Another great thing is that my husband and I are better equipped as parents to provide a safe, healing and emotionally nurturing home environment for our children."

Additionally, continuing education credits are available for professionals and certificates of participation are available for foster and adoptive parents.

The conference is also close for residents in Rome, Fort Oglethorpe, Dalton, Dayton, Athens, Cleveland, Knoxville, and more.

Tickets are $25 for individuals and $35 for couples and scholarships are also available. To RSVP visit thebeth.org/empoweredtoconnect. Email jjones@thebeth.org for more information.






Samsung has posted its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2018, which reveals that it will post an all time high 15.6 (15.5 ~ 15.7) trillion Korean won ($14.6 billion approx.) in operating profits for the quarter, 57% up from a year earlier. This will beat the 15.15 trillion won ($14.13 billion) profit that it had posted in Q4 2017.

The main reason for jump in profits is likely to be due to strong memory chip sales that is said to have contributed some 11 trillion won, while the Galaxy S9 sales along with the Galaxy Note7 could also be one of the reasons for the boost in profits in the mobile sector.

Samsung is expected to continue its profit streak in second quarter from continued high demand for semiconductors and sales of the Galaxy S9 series. In the first quarter, revenue will rise about 18.6% from a year earlier to 60 (59 ~ 61) trillion Korean won, says Samsungs forecast.

Samsung did not announce the performance of each business division. We should know the exact profit amount and division-wise results when Samsung releases its full earnings results later this month.

Source
Logitech today has launched the first of its kind Logitech MK235 Wireless Devanagari Keyboard Combo, as well as wired Devanagari keyboard K120 under the Digi Bharath campaign which is a part of the flagship Digital India initiative. With the Devanagari Keyboard, the company is aiming to reach 40-crore Hindi speaking people in India.

The move is aimed at dissolving Indias major language barrier in technology and focus on working towards bridging the digital divide. The new keyboards in Devanagari will help people to communicate in their preferred choice of language.

The Logitech MK235 Wireless Hindi Keyboard Combo is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Chrome OS as well. It connects via a USB receiver and weighs 70.5 g. It has a range of 10 meters 2 AAA batteries for the keyboard and 1 AA battery for the mouse. The mouse also has an on/Off power button.

The Logitech K120 keyboard is priced at Rs. 695 and comes with 3-year warranty. While the Logitech MK235 Wireless Hindi Keyboard Combo (with a mouse) is available at Rs. 1995 with a 1-year warranty. Both these will be available through retailers and online on Amazon.in starting from 15th April.

Commenting on the new launch, Sumanta Datta, Managing Director, India and SWA, Logitech Asia Pacific said:
The gang got a rare opportunity to vote against Sheldons typically fussy nature on the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory. When its revealed that he is the president and sole member of the buildings tenant board, Leonard and Penny will stop at nothing to remove him from office.

Season 11, Episode 19 opens with Penny arriving at Friday night dinner with a sandwich from a food cart outside the building. Sheldon is unsettled because theyre all supposed to eat Chinese food on Fridays. Amy notes that its possible the sandwich was invented in China, causing the couple to argue. While they do, everyone slips out of the room to go get something from the cart outside.

Later, Sheldon admits to Amy that hes enamored by the truck outside to the point of it being a distraction. With that, he takes action.

The following day, Penny comes home to inform Leonard that the truck was forced to move after someone complained to the tenant board. They immediately deduce that this is Sheldons handy work and go to confront him. Penny is so livid with his flippant attitude about the whole thing that she sends her own complaint email to the board. However, when she does Sheldons phone buzzes and it becomes clear that hes the president of the board.

President, sole member and its harshest critic, he says.

It turns out the building had no board and then Sheldon called a meeting, was the only one to show up and elected himself president. Leonard and Penny immediately try to call a vote to remove him from office, but the deciding vote comes down to Amy, who must go with Sheldon for the sake of their relationship. Later, she goes to Leonard and Penny in confidence to suggest they find one other person in the building to vote with them.

It turns out, thats easier said than done as the couple hasnt necessarily been the most welcoming neighbors over the years. Meanwhile, Sheldons reputation and wrath has gone far and wide throughout the building resulting in no one wanting to do anything about him.

Wanting to put all this behind them, Amy feeds them a technicality. It turns out, Sheldon isnt on the lease of either apartment. Now, she can pretend that shes bound by the rules of the building to vote in Leonards favor. However, when Sheldon quotes a rare loophole, she panics and simply casts her vote for Leonard.

Sheldon is hurt, but they explain to him that the power is going to his head and that, for his own sake, he needs to pass the baton on to his friend. After a smart comparison to the movie Ant-Man Sheldon agrees noting that he now gets to be the opposition that vocally challenges Leonards every move.

Just like that, the problem is resolved, and Sheldon has new power to weild as an opposition force.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D- Calif., a rising Democratic star and potential 2020 presidential candidate, raised eyebrows during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday for one of her answers to a hypothetical question.

DeGeneres asked Harris a series of lighthearted questions, ranging from whether she has any tattoos (no) to her celebrity crush (Tito Jackson).

She was then asked, If you had to be stuck in an elevator with either President Trump, (Vice President) Mike Pence or (Attorney General) Jeff Sessions, who would it be?

Does one of us have to come out alive? Harris asked, prompting cheers from the audience. Harris laughed hysterically at the joke and took a second to compose herself.

The San Francisco Chronicles report pointed out that Even DeGeneres applauded the senator's wit.

Conservatives responded to the remark on social media. Fox News Sean Hannity called the comment a shocking new low.

Harris, Californias first African-American senator, has not responded to the conservative response online.

DeGeneres asked her if she is considering a 2020 run, and the senator responded, "Right now, we are in the early months of 2018, and at this very moment in time, there are people across America who have priorities around their health care, have priorities around: Can they get through the month and pay the bills? Can they pay off their student loans? Can they afford to pay for gas, housing?" Critical issues."

This is not the first time a Democrat received backlash over comments about Trump.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, a possible 2020 candidate, made headlines in March when he said he would beat the hell out of Trump back in high school for disrespecting women.
Two Idaho men caught a monster 8-foot sturgeon while kayak fishing last weekend.

Steve Carroll of Caldwell and Bryce Thompson of Twin Falls were fishing on Snake River last Saturday when the duo caught the fish.

The sturgeon took nearly an hour to reel in, Carroll, 32, told Fox News on Friday. Once they landed the fish, the men measured the sturgeon and determined it was 8-feet long and 3-and-a-half feet around. Thats significantly larger than the average sturgeon, which typically measures 6-and-a-half feet long, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

It was an awesome experience, Carroll said, adding that this particular stugeron was the biggest one he's landed to-date.

The moment was especially exciting for Thompson, Carroll said, as Saturday was his first time fishing for sturgeon from a kayak.

After viewing his YouTube channel, Thompson reached out to Carroll to learn how to fish for stugeron using this method, opposed to standing on a river bank. Carroll was more than happy to teach Thompson because igniting the passion in other people, is one of his favorite aspects of the sport, he said.

After taking measurements, the two released the fish back into the water (it is illegal in Idaho to take a sturgeon out of the water, Carroll said).

Next time, Carroll said he hopes to catch a 10-foot sturgeon he's been chasing after in the same area.

"Its a huge draw for me; its a passion of mine to get out and explore the waters, he said.
Baker Donelson announced Clinton P. Sanko has been recognized as a 2018 Readers' Choice Award winner by JD Supra.

Mr. Sanko is listed as a "Top Author" nationwide on the topic of eDiscovery for the excellent reach attained with readers through written contributions in 2017. JD Supra recognized more than 240 top authors nationwide across 26 categories in their third annual Readers' Choice Awards.

A shareholder in Baker Donelson's Chattanooga office, Mr. Sanko serves as the firm's eDiscovery and document review officer and is a seasoned litigation trial lawyer who focuses his practice on bringing client value through efficient, effective and expeditious managing of the work associated with eDiscovery and document review. Mr. Sanko has been the lead lawyer on various high-stakes commercial litigation and principally manages the critical juncture where electronically stored information intersects with legal need. He has led the development of Baker Donelson's LeanDiscovery system, which seeks to closely integrate process, technology and the various team constituencies for the cost-effective and efficient management of eDiscovery and document review.

Mr. Sanko authored seven articles on the topic of eDiscovery in 2017 which were published on JD Supra, drawing more than 11,000 total views.
An investment banker from New Jersey and his wife walked out $37 million richer from a court in New Brunswick Thursday, after a jury ordered Johnson & Johnson and a talc mining company to pay for causing him to develop a deadly cancer linked to asbestos.

The verdict is the first time a jury has backed a consumers claims that the companys baby powder causes mesothelioma, Bloomberg reported.

The lawsuit was brought by Stephen Lanzo, who said he developed the often-fatal lung cancer after inhaling dust that was generated through his regular use of J&J talc powder products since 1972.

CLAIRE'S PULLS 17 MAKEUP PRODUCTS THAT TESTED POSITIVE FOR ASBESTOS

According to Lanzos lawyers, officials of J&J and Imerys, its talc supplier, were worried that asbestos were tainting talc and other products as early as 1969.

The jury awarded Lanzo $30 million and his wife $7 million in compensatory damages.

"While we are disappointed with this decision, the jury has further deliberations to conduct in this trial and we will reserve additional comment until the case is fully completed," Carol Goodrich, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.

RESEARCH FINDS TALC DOESN'T CAUSE CANCER; JURIES DISAGREE

The jury will return on Tuesday for further proceedings to determine whether to award punitive damages, according to an online broadcast of the trial by Courtroom View Network.

The Lanzos did not respond to Reuters request for comment.

J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, faces talc-related lawsuits by 6,610 plaintiffs nationally, largely based on claims it failed to warn women about the risk of developing ovarian cancer by using its products for feminine hygiene.

Reuters contributed to this report.
At least six cases of E. coli in New Jersey may be tied to a local restaurant and are being investigated, health officials said Thursday.

"The Warren County Health Department and state Health Department are investigating a cluster of E. coli cases" potentially from "local Panera Breads," said Sarah Perramant, public health epidemiologist in Warren County, as quoted by NJ.com.

Perramant cautioned that Panera Bread has not been definitively determined to be the source.

A manager at the Phillipsburg, N.J. Panera restaurant being eyed declined to comment to NJ.com.

Fox News' email to the Panera Bread parent company press site was not immediately answered.

The state Department of Health said they are looking into a cluster of cases in four counties: Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren.



EXPERTS WARN AGAINST ROMAINE AFTER E. COLI OUTBREAK IN US AND CANADA

Most varieties of E. coli (Escherichia coli) are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea, according to Mayo Clinic, but a few particularly nasty strains can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.

Healthy adults usually recover from infection within a week, but young children and older adults have a greater risk of developing a life-threatening form of kidney failure called hemolytic.

State officials said they are collecting evidence and doing tests, and that the investigation is ongoing.

CALIFORNIA BOY CONTRACTS E. COLI AFTER SWIMMING IN POPULAR LAKE

"It is very early in the investigation," Department of Health spokeswoman Donna Leusner said to myCentralJersey.com. "Two of the six [cases] were from Somerset County with the other four from the other Central Jersey counties."

They could have eaten at several restaurants, at home or eaten food purchased at a supermarket. Sometimes the source of the food that made people sick is never determined," said New Jersey epidemiologist Dr. Tina Tan in a local radio interview.

Symptoms of E. coli infection typically begin three or four days after exposure to the bacteria.
A Georgia police officer has gone viral after someone shared a video of him playing guitar and singing with the public while on duty.

Travis Goodson of the Albany Police Department told Fox News he wanted to try and spread positivity any way he could think of. This included not only singing with his fellow citizens, but also hugging strangers, which hes calling the #HugACop campaign.

KENTUCKY PIZZA DRIVER RESCUES TWO PEOPLE FROM BURNING HOUSE

Over the last couple months, there have been a couple things going awry in the news, so I just wanted to spread some positivity, he said on Fox and Friends Friday morning.

Along with my normal duties of walking downtown, I just wanted to start something positive. I said, what if every day I gave a hug to a complete stranger and what a difference that would make in the United States right now.

As for the viral video, Goodson said it started out as a simple conversation with a group of people, but turned into a night of singing.

ARTICLE ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE'S 'SINGLE GRAY HAIR' SPARKS BACKLASH

"I saw a couple people downtown and went and fellowshipped with them," he told WTXL. "And after a couple minutes or so, he allowed me to play on his guitar and someone caught that moment on camera. It was beautiful."

The video, which was posted to Facebook by Reka Young on April 1, had over 126,000 views and nearly 2,000 shares as of Friday afternoon.

Hes hoping his campaign will spread outside his Georgia town and across the country.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

"I had a message today from someone in Maryland. Someone I have never met before who wanted to share positivity about the community policing here in Albany. If that could be carried forward throughout the United States, I would be extremely happy," Goodson told WTXL.
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Action by the Trump administration Friday imposing its most aggressive round yet of economic sanctions against Russian politicians, oligarchs and companies is a welcome and long overdue development.

The new sanctions are a vital, although small, advance against the Russian governments overt corruption, oppression and aggression. It is essential now that the Trump administration and Congress support implementing and enforcing measures like this to weaken Russian President Vladimir Putins regime economically, politically and militarily.

It is time, at last, to show Putin that the United States will stand firm and do everything in our power to thwart any and all of his advances against us and against the democratic values upon which America was built.

In his official announcement of the new U.S. sanctions, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites. Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their governments destabilizing activities.

These latest sanctions send a clear message to Putin that the United States is willing and able to take actions against the Russian government that will have large and potentially destabilizing impacts on his regime.

Specifically, the sanctions are aimed at seven Russian oligarchs (extremely rich and powerful businessmen) and the 12 companies they control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company.

By targeting the oligarchs and political elites who profit from the Russian governments corrupt and destabilizing aggression around the world, the new sanctions are not only a good step  they are a necessary step.

Economic and military defensive actions are the primary way for the United States to put a stop to Putins rogue behavior at home and abroad  especially as he plays an increasingly dangerous role in North Korea, Iran, and Syria by propping up their violet and oppressive regimes and authoritarian leaders.

From his malicious cyberattacks attacks during the 2016 election, to supporting North Koreas nuclear missile program with Soviet technology, Putin has revealed time and time again that he is ruthless and knows no bounds.

These latest sanctions send a clear message to Putin that the United States is willing and able to take actions against the Russian government that will have large and potentially destabilizing impacts on his regime.

But sanctions are only the beginning  not the end  of a stronger U.S. policy toward Russia. It is equally vital that the U.S. effectively counter Moscows militaristic aggression by bolstering NATO politically and militarily, specifically in the Baltic region.

NATOs deployment of allied troops in each of the Baltic States is a significant and important effort to counter Russias aggressions, though it is not nearly strong enough.

The U.S. must also urge its NATO allies to deploy permanent troops to the Baltic States, as this will convey to Putin that his aggressions in the region and in surrounding regions will not be tolerated.

In addition to bolstering military defenses, it is also vital that the U.S. focus intently on enhancing our cybersecurity, which currently represents a major vulnerability.

This is especially important as our November midterm elections draw closer. Numerous intelligence agencies have confirmed that attempts by Moscow to infiltrate our elections through cyberattacks will only grow in magnitude until we devise a system to stop them.

Enhancement of U.S. cybersecurity largely falls into the hands of our intelligence agencies at home. But it is also vital that our nation begin to create cyber partnerships among NATO members to collectively develop a methodology for cyber cooperation that will effectively counter Russian interference in U.S. elections  as well as in all Western elections that have the potential to be undermined.

Putin said in 2005 that the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. His ultimate goal is to use every opportunity to restore Russian power and influence back to the glory days of Soviet strength.

Putin will not be stopped by smiles, flattery and appeasement. He will only be stopped if he is compelled to do so. And the United States is the only nation on the planet powerful enough to lead the effort to make him back down.
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It looks like the Department of Justice botched the May 17 appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

About three weeks ago, former Trump presidential campaign Chairman Paul Manafort asked a judge to dismiss Muellers indictment against him, arguing that Mueller overstepped his jurisdiction in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In response, the special counsel was recently forced to pony up a heavily redacted memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein blessing the investigation into Manaforts work with Ukraine, which turned out to have been written on Aug. 2  six days after the July 26 predawn, guns-drawn raid of Manaforts home, and 10 weeks after Muellers appointment. Reportedly, Muellers team photographed Manaforts suits during the raid.

In the deputy attorney generals subsequent justification for Muellers wide-ranging investigation into matters related to Ukraine, Rosenstein claims that the special counsel appointment order was purposely vague, without confirming specific investigations involving specific individuals.

The original memo authorizing Muellers appointment, signed by Rosenstein and dated May 17 last year, focused on Russia. It states:

The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:

i. any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and

ii. any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and

iii. any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R.  600.4(a). (This refers to the special counsels original jurisdiction).

There is nothing about Ukraine.

The after-the-fact Rosenstein memo (that had been secret for months!) suggests, without any evidence, that the Ukrainian issue was part of Muellers original jurisdiction. Is there another secret document authorizing Mueller to investigate any and all foreign contacts by the Trump team?

Yes, Mueller could have gone back to his putative supervisor  Rod Rosenstein at the Justice Department  and asked for permission to investigate Manafort. And, yes, since no one running the Justice Department seems willing to say no to King Mueller, permission would likely have been granted.

But Mueller and Rosenstein did not do that. The special counsel raided Manaforts home (as part of the investigation already underway) and then received authorization to investigate him! Mueller and company seem to be making up the rules as they go along.

Rosensteins August CYA memo demonstrates that when it comes to the Mueller operation, the Department of Justice is willing to throw the rule of law out the window.

The irregular Rosenstein memo also highlights the constitutional infirmities of the special counsel office.

Mueller isnt supervised on a day-to-day basis by any Senate-confirmed or otherwise accountable official in the Justice Department. This has resulted in an uncontrolled investigation by a special counsel into who knows what.

All this helps explain why Muellers operation has been deep sea fishing in Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and into the costs of Paul Manaforts suits.

Shut it down.
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The U.S. and China are not in a trade war yet  but they are in a rapidly escalating war of words that poses a danger to them both.

President Trumps new threat Thursday to consider imposing tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese products gives him leverage to negotiate a peace settlement that will avert economic warfare and benefit the U.S. But achieving this will not be easy.

You might call this challenge  if I may borrow a phrase from the president  the art of the deal.

President Trumps new threat comes on top of a threat he made Tuesday to slap tariffs on $50 billion of goods imported from China, in addition to tariffs he imposed last month on Chinese steel and aluminum exports coming to the U.S. That brings the total amount of Chinese products imported into the U.S. each year that President Trump has threatened with tariffs to $153 billion.

Whats needed now are tough and serious negotiations between China and the U.S. to reach a reasonable and fair compromise that gives each nation some of what it wants.

Unsurprisingly, China matched the earlier tariffs President Trump floated with threats to impose its own tariffs on $53 billion worth of U.S. crops and products it imports annually.

However, China would have a hard time matching the new round of tariffs proposed by President Trump because it purchased only $130.4 billion worth of goods from the U.S. in 2017. In contrast, America imported $505.6 billion in Chinese goods last year.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce responded to President Trumps latest threat with a statement Friday that said: If the United States disregards the opposition of China and the international community, insisting on unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will follow suit and fight at any cost.

But even if a deal is struck to prevent most of the new tariffs from taking effect, we have crossed an important milestone in the U.S.-China relationship. Both sides now realize the nature of their ongoing geopolitical struggle. It is not out of the question to wonder whether ties between these countries with the two largest economies in the world are entering a heated, almost Cold War atmosphere.

As I noted in an op-ed for Fox News this week, clearly China is no friend of America. Our two nations have very different trade as well as diplomatic, economic and geopolitical goals that will naturally create tensions for perhaps decades to come. And as President Trump pointed out Thursday, each nation is understandably seeking to come out on top in any deal the two work out.

Whats needed now are tough and serious negotiations between China and the U.S. to reach a reasonable and fair compromise that gives each nation some of what it wants. But this is now a matter for diplomacy  not tweets or off-the-cuff comments. It would be a strategic mistake for the U.S. and China to engage in a tit-for-tat war of words in the media, simply adding gasoline to the fire of their trade dispute.

This is especially true because there are some indications that Beijing may be ready to blink  for strategic reasons.

Thursday night I spoke with several top-tier Chinese academics, scholars, and economists  all close to the government, all with good insights into Beijings thinking on escalating trade tensions with Washington. They all echoed a very similar opinion: there is a possibility of a deal with America, even despite Beijings comments that no negotiations are likely, for very clear reasons.

The experts I spoke with talked to me on the condition that I not identify them by name, so they could speak candidly.

China was not ready for the sheer magnitude of President Trump coming after us on the so-called trade imbalance, a senior Chinese economist with close ties to the government told me. However, there is a deal that could be struck, as both sides have a lot to lose, especially China, as we are not ready for economic warfare with such a big power as America.

The economist continued: What scares me, and many government officials, is the rhetoric is heating up very quickly, leaving both sides very little room to work out a deal. Both sides are making a big mistake, as trying to score quick points for their own domestic political audiences is a big error. Now is the time to get both sides in a room, lock the doors, and work towards a deal that is fair to everyone.

A Chinese scholar, also with close ties to the Beijing government, agreed with that sentiment, but with a twist.

Chinese officials will likely offer some strong concessions to make sure we avoid a trade battle with Washington, the scholar told me. At the moment, we arent fully ready to take America on, and must continue to grow our economic and military power. This confrontation is not in our interest, and must be, at least for the moment delayed, until we are in a more powerful position.

This scholar explained that it might even be in Chinas interest to fold on this issue, because Beijing has much bigger issues that it must confront in the coming years.

China must think correctly on all of this trade discussion, the scholar said. Our goal is to ensure our rise is not halted. We have greater strategic goals in mind. Winning a trade skirmish with America could come at the highest of prices  and turning America into an enemy that we cant hope to defeat, at least not yet. We must delay that day for as long as we can.

A White House official, who spoke to me Friday on condition that I not name him, also expressed hope that a deal could be worked.

President Trump has always said he was willing to negotiate with Beijing, that is nothing new, the U.S. official said. But we are done being suckers to China. We want fair, reciprocal trade. I think we can get there. However, the official expressed some caution, stating quite clearly that the ball is now in Chinas court.

What happens now is really anyones guess. I would argue that a deal is most likely possible, with both sides making some concessions, especially China on intellectual property and access for U.S. products to its massive domestic markets in the years ahead.

But, at the same time, we should be cautious. The Trump administration has invested precious political capital in making sure China not only understands our intent but understands that we will defend our interests  even if that requires America to take an economic hit.

The U.S. must make sure that any agreement protects American workers, our technological base and other vital national priorities. Such a negotiation could take some time and cause us some economic pain, but would protect our long-term economic interests.

There is, however, a much bigger challenge looming just over the horizon: Chinas changing strategic outlook.



Beijing is adjusting its gaze across the globe, seeing America as a very real strategic threat  and posing an increasing threat to America. Just this week, Chinese defense officials offered words of support to Russia, forging ties that are looking more and more like a straight-up alliance.

Washington must be prepared for the long haul and be ready to confront Chinese power in the months and years to come.

A Chinese economist, based out of Hong Kong, who I have known for a long time now, put it bluntly: Washington and Beijing are set to clash. Its just a matter of when and how.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was fired last month for committing three violations of the bureau's ethics code, an investigative source told Fox News on Thursday.

The violations initially were uncovered by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General and confirmed by the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility. They included lack of candor under oath, lack of candor when not under oath, and the improper disclosure of non-public information to the media about the FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

The violations stemmed from McCabe's response to an October 2016 Wall Street Journal report about sizeable campaign donations from Democrats to McCabe's wife, Jill, during her campaign for the Virginia State Senate. The investigation found that McCabe instructed FBI lawyer Lisa Page and FBI public affairs chief Michael Kortan to work with the Journal's reporter to set the record straight.

JILL MCCABE, WIFE OF FIRED ANDREW MCCABE, BREAKS HER SILENCE ON CAMPAIGN MONEY

The source said Pages statements to investigators were critical because they directly contradicted her boss, McCabe.

According to the source, McCabe's lack of candor about the contact with the Journal reporter led to his firing. The source added that Page's testimony about the matter contradicted McCabe's. Then-FBI Director James Comey claimed he never authorized the leak to the Journal.

"Mr. McCabe's interaction with the Wall Street Journal  which by FBI rule and practice he was fully authorized to do  was not done in secret: it took place over the course of several days and others knew of it, including Director Comey. Now, after a failure to justify the process by which Mr. McCabe was terminated with 26 hours to his retirement after more than 21 years of service, it appears that members of the House of Representatives are attempting to selectively and unfairly leak pieces of information from a report that is not public," McCabe's attorney Michael Bromwich told Fox News. "We understand that these members are attempting to create a false narrative that pits former Director Comey against Mr. McCabe. We deeply regret being compelled to respond to this selective leaking with any comment at all. Nevertheless, one thing is clear: Mr. McCabe never misled Director Comey."



Separately, text messages between Page and since-demoted FBI official Peter Strzok indicated that Strzok traveled to London in early August to interview a key witness in the FBI's Russia investigation just days after the probe was opened.

The messages showed the officials were debating what they would share with their Justice Department superiors when Strzok returned to Washington.

"I think we need to consider the lines of what we disclose to DOJ," Strzok texted Page early on the morning of Aug. 3, 2016. "For example, the last stipulation notes we will not disclose."

Less than a week later, the texts suggested a series of high-level briefings began on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

There was no immediate response from the FBI.
A few blocks away from the Quicken Loans Arena, site of the convention where Donald J. Trump officially accepted his partys nomination, an investment banker who has never held elected office is hoping to channel the presidents success.

Hes kind of blazed the trail, businessman Mike Gibbons told Fox News, about the presidents political career path. Hes been very effective and accomplished an awful lot for the good of America, and Id like to follow in his footsteps.

Gibbons is one of the Republican candidates hoping to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Weve put 65,000 miles on our car, Gibbons said about his race to introduce himself to primary voters ahead of the May 8 primary.

The Senate hopefuls biggest applause line at every campaign stop? Its my first line: the first thing you need to know about me is, Im not a politician, Gibbons said.

Hes facing stiff competition for a spot on the midterm ballot from Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, a member of Congress since 2011.

Initially a candidate in the Ohio Governors race, Renacci says he changed course at the commander in chiefs request.

Really, it was a call from the White House, Renacci told Fox News. Ive said that all along: poor kid from Western Pennsylvania gets asked by the White House to help, Im going to do it.

At a March event in Ohio, President Trump addressed Renacci in the crowd, to say, Jim, get in there and fight, we need you. But there has not been a formal endorsement, thus far.

Renacci was a businessman, like his competitor Gibbons, for several decades before his election to Congress in 2010.

The House Ways and Means Committee member insists his outsider mentality remains intact, despite serving in D.C. since the start of the decade.

Politicians make their decisions based on the next election, not the next generation, Renacci said. Businesspeople make their decision based on the next generation.

The incumbent in this race, Sen. Brown, was first elected to the upper chamber in 2006 and is well known as a progressive who seldom supports President Trumps agenda  with a very notable exception, that could be on front pages until Election Day.

I supported the Presidents move on steel tariffs, Brown said. I think its time we draw a line on Chinese misbehavior.

Brown, the only Democrat currently holding statewide office in Ohio, isnt concerned with possible headwinds in November just because hes a Democrat in a state President Trump carried by 8 points in 2016.

I dont think they  most people  think of themselves as an ideology, Brown said. They think of themselves as I want whats best for my family, my community, and my country.
Chinas commerce ministry on Friday said it would fight the U.S. at any cost after President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports.

Trump asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to consider lobbing additional tariffs against China in light of the countrys illicit trade practices that have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs.

The president issued a statement saying he has been committed to level the playing field after an investigation by the USTR found that certain Chinese policies have given the country an unfair advantage over the U.S. One policy requires foreign companies to hand over technology in violation of Beijing's free-trade commitments, often forcing U.S. firms to license their technology in China.

This is what a trade war looks like, and what we have warned against from the start, National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay told Reuters.

"This is what a trade war looks like, and what we have warned against from the start.  Matthew Shay, president and CEO, National Retail Federation

On Tuesday the Trump administration announced a tariff on 1,300 products from China, including medical, aerospace and information technology accounting for nearly $50 billion in annual imports. Prior to that, additional tariffs were placed on Chinese steel and aluminum.

The Chinese government fired back with $3 billion in tariffs of its own, targeting American goods.

Chinas illicit trade practices  ignored for years by Washington  have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs, Trump wrote. Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers. In light of Chinas unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate.

TRUMP IMPOSES TARIFFS ON ALL STEEL, ALUMINUM IMPORTS; EXEMPTS MEXICO AND CANADA FOR NOW

Thursdays comments were just the latest show of Trumps attempt to narrow the gap between the U.S. and China, focusing particularly on its trade practices, which he said, have caused concern around the world.

Trade barriers must be taken down to enhance economic growth in America and around the world, Trump said in his statement. I am committed to enabling American companies and workers to compete on a level playing field around the world, and I will never allow unfair trade practices to undermine American interests.

Trade barriers must be taken down to enhance economic growth in America and around the world.  President Donald Trump

TRUMP SAYS TRADE WAR WITH CHINA WAS LOST MANY YEARS AGO

China has accused Trump of damaging the global system of trade regulation by taking action under U.S. law instead of through the WTO. The Commerce Ministry's statement Wednesday criticized the latest moves as a typical unilateralist and protectionist practice.

Trump has said that despite the tariffs, he is still open to negotiating with China.

The United States is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people.

Fox News Edmund DeMarche, Samuel Chamberlain and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Chattanooga State Dental Hygiene Clinic is now taking appointments through July 1. Many services offered are complimentary and/or at reduced rates. The clinic is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through April 30, and Fridays the month of June.

Adult new patients receive a complimentary screening and X-rays at the first visit. Children 13 and younger receive all preventative services free.

For more information or to make an appointment, call the Chattanooga State Dental Clinic at 423 697-4488.
Amid swirling controversy surrounding Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, a group of well-known conservative activists came out in support of the EPA chief on Friday.

The Conservative Action Project - a group that includes former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins - backed Pruitt in a letter by detailing "actions he has taken to implement President Trump's deregulatory agenda.

"President Trump campaigned on reducing Washingtons bureaucracy, and Administrator Pruitt has been instrumental to that effort," the group wrote. "His leadership has helped President Trump keep his promises in a number of critical areas which conservatives support."

Pruitts role in the Trump administration has been under fire recently amid reports that he accepted a $50 a day condo rental from the wife of a lobbyist and allegedly approved a controversial pay raise for two of his staff members.

Pruitt, though, told Fox News Wednesday that he just "found out about" the pay bumps this week and "changed it."

"I found out about this yesterday and I corrected the action and we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting it," Pruitt said.

The letter from the conservative activists comes in stark contrast to calls from Democratic leaders for Pruitt to resign. On Friday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed that Pruitt "displayed a staggering ethical blindness." On the same day, dozens of House Democrats sent a letter to Trump demanding Pruitts resignation.

"Scott Pruitts unethical behavior, wasteful use of taxpayer money, and his efforts to undermine the EPAs core mission to protect our environment and public health demand an appropriate response: his resignation or his firing," the Democrats wrote.

Despite the calls for Trump to get rid of Pruitt, however, the conservative activists claimed the work he has done should ensure his position.

"Overall, Administrator Pruitt has finalized 22 deregulatory actions, saving American families and businesses more than $1 billion in costs. He is critical to President Trumps efforts to streamline agency efforts in a way that assists American families and the economy," they wrote. "We applaud President Trump for his appointment of Scott Pruitt and support his continued tenure at the EPA."

The letter, according to the Conservative Action Project, was sent to 600 conservative activists and all Republican members of Congress.

For his part, Trump doubled down in support of his embattled EPA chief on Friday, disputing reports that he was considering replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Pruitt.

"Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege," Trump asked in a Friday morning tweet. "Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!"

Fox News Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs in Washington, D.C. has issued a citation to the landlords who leased a room in their condo to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, stating they did not have the required license to rent out the space.

The city issued a Notice of Infraction to the [landlord] for engaging in unlicensed rental housing activity, ABC News reported, citing a press release by the agency.

The condo, co-owned by Vicki Hart, wife of Steven Hart, a prominent fossil-fuels lobbyist, apparently did not have the business license required by the city to rent out the space. The notice of infraction carries a potential fine of $2,034, the press release stated.

EPA'S SCOTT PRUITT PUSHES BACK ON PAY RAISE, CONDO CONTROVERSY IN FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Pruitt has come under increasing scrutiny following a report by ABC News that revealed he lived in the condo last year. His daughter also stayed in the second bedroom while interning at the White House last summer. A memo stated Pruitt paid $50 a night to stay in the condo.

The ABC News report stated Pruitt paid a total of $6,100 over a six month period. He leased the property, paying an average of about $1,000 a month.

Agency ethics officials said the deal did not violate federal ethics rules but the deal has raised eyebrows due to the fact the EPA head rented the space from the wife of a Washington lobbyist. Pruitt told Fox News when asked, "Is draining the swamp, renting an apartment from the wife of a Washington lobbyist? that it was not remotely fair to ask that question.

Pruitt explained that he rented the condo from a fellow Oklahoman and that everything was above board.

SCOTT PRUITT FACES CRITICISM OVER PAY RAISES FOR STAFFERS

This was like an Airbnb situation, Pruitt said of his home, located a block from the U.S. Capitol. 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.

Steven Hart told The Associated Press last week that Pruitt is a casual friend from Oklahoma with whom he had only occasional contact. The Hart family did not immediately comment on the citation.

Fox News Barnini Chakraborty, NuNu Japaridze, Andrew O'Reilly and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
At the end of last year, former Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, surveyed the field of Democrats hoping to succeed Gov. John Kasich next year, and started thinking about jumping in the race.

The Democratic Party had an insider pick, Kucinich said about his Democratic primary opponent, Richard Cordray. But the people of Ohio want fresh thinking.

Kucinich is referring to voters in a state that gave President Trump an 8-point victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Kucinich believes a platform focused on jobs and an assault-weapons ban has the potential to win them over.

We want to bring them back into the Democratic Party, Kucinich said about Trump supporters. They are people in working-class communities, I have the ability to reach them. Why? Because thats where Im from.

Opposing Kucinich on the May 8 primary ballot is Cordray, the first-ever head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

They are battling to replace two-term governor John Kasich, who cannot run again because of term limits.

We stood on the side of people and saw they were treated fairly in the marketplace, Cordray said about his tenure at the CFPB, which has endeared him to progressives.

That job is a big part of the pitch Cordray plans to make over the next month, to contrast himself from Kucinich.

I think we do have political differences, but I think a big difference is experience, Cordray said.

Republicans are resume-focused in their primary fight as well.

One candidate, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, suggests in a new campaign advertisement that his primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, is unfit for the governors mansion.

She is someone with no accomplishments, DeWine told Fox News.

Taylors defense against those attacks includes an effort to cast her 16-year career in the private sector as more appealing to voters than DeWines decades spent in a variety of elected offices.

We need more people in government who understand and remember what it means to create a job, Taylor told Fox News.

Taylor and DeWine both serve in the Kasich administration, and both share a desire to keep their term-limited governor at arms-length.

We started with conservative solutions, Taylor, Kasichs lieutenant governor, said. John Kasich walked away from that conservative governance and those conservative principles.

I dont think the governor is a big factor in this race at all, according to DeWine.


Former Sen. Daniel Akaka has died at the age of 93, Fox News has confirmed.

Akaka spent 36 years in Washington as a member of the House and the Senate, retiring in January, 2013.

The first ethnic Hawaiian to serve in the Senate, Akaka became an advocate for federal recognition of his home states native population. He was also the only Chinese American member of the Senate during his tenure  out of only six Asian-Americans to serve in the history of the body.

Akaka had the distinction of having his name called first at the beginning of every roll call vote and quorum call for years, as the clerk would start by yelling "Mr. Akaka!"

Akaka wielded the gavel of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee near the end of his career to advance legislation for ethnic Hawaiians rights, such as the ability to form their own sovereignties like native Alaskans and American Indians.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed an Akaka-sponsored resolution that officially apologized for the U.S.-led rebellion a century earlier to overthrow Queen Liliuokalani, the former Hawaiian Islands monarch.

Akaka was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1976 and served for 13 years. In 1990, Hawaiian Democratic Gov. John Waihee appointed Akaka to fill the Senate seat previously held by the recently deceased Democratic Sen. Spark Matsunaga. Akaka later won the fall election that year after facing off Republican Rep. Patricia Saiki for the seat.

After 21 years in the Senate, Akaka announced in March 2011 that he would not seek reelection in 2012. Many political handicappers had speculated the 86-year-old senator would retire amid reports of low fundraising.

Upon graduation from high school, Akaka served in the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Army during World War II. After the war, he rose through the ranks of the Hawaii Department of Education, first as a high school teacher and principal and later as a chief program planner.

In addition to his work on behalf of native Hawaiians, Akaka chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee from 2007 to 2010. In 2009, Akaka and his Hawaii Senate colleague, the late Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye, successfully pressed for legislation of payments to Filipino World War II veterans.

Akaka and his wife, Millie, had five children.
The Justice Department announced Friday that it is implementing a zero-tolerance policy for prosecuting those attempting to enter the U.S. illegally -- the latest in a series of measures by the Trump administration to combat illegal immigration.

The situation at our Southwest Border is unacceptable, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement announcing the policy. Congress has failed to pass effective legislation that serves the national interest -- that closes dangerous loopholes and fully funds a wall along our southern border. "



As a result, a crisis has erupted at our Southwest Border that necessitates an escalated effort to prosecute those who choose to illegally cross our border, he said.



The Trump administration says the number of attempted border crossings was up 203 percent in March compared to March 2017. In response, Trump this week signed a proclamation sending the National Guard to the border. He has said he would like to see 2,000-4,000 members sent to the border.



The latest move by the Justice Department orders U.S. attorneys along the border to adopt a policy of prosecuting all referrals from DHS of illegal entry and attempted illegal entry into the U.S. It comes almost a year after Sessions issued a memo to federal prosecutors directing them to prioritize certain immigration offenses.



The DOJs announcement comes amid increasing criticism by Trump of U.S. laws for the border -- specifically on so-called catch-and-release.



Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong, he tweeted Wednesday. Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW!



We don't have laws, we have catch-and-release, he said Tuesday. You catch and then you immediately release and people come back years later for a court case, except they virtually never come back.

In particular, Trump was riled by media reports of a caravan of more than 1,000 Central American migrants heading through Mexico toward the U.S. border. Trump threatened to end the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and cut aid to Honduras if the caravan was not stopped. He has also increased his calls for Congress to fund the wall on the southern border.

Other administration officials have echoed Trumps stance, urging Congress to pass laws securing the border and promising more action from the administration. The Pentagon said Thursday it is establishing a new border security support cell that will be manned 24 hours a day and will support U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

PENTAGON ESTABLISHES 24/7 OPERATION AFTER TRUMP ORDERS MILITARY TO MEXICO BORDER

"We will not allow illegal immigration levels to become the norm," DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said this week. "More than 1,000 people a day, 300,000 a year violating our sovereignty as a nation will never be acceptable to this president."



On Friday, Sessions -- who has a long-standing reputation for his tough stance on illegal immigration -- warned that illegal entry into the U.S. will not be rewarded and will be instead met with the full prosecutorial powers of the Department of Justice.



To the Departments prosecutors, I urge you: promoting and enforcing the rule of law is vital to protecting a nation, its borders, and its citizens, he said.



Fox News Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
State police in Colorado have reportedly posted signage and changed the access code to a previously unmarked womens restroom inside the state Capitol building in Denver, based on complaints that a male Democratic state senator had frequently been using the room, according to media reports.

The lawmaker in question, state Sen. Daniel Kagan, disputes the accusation, saying he used the womens restroom just one time, by mistake, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

But in March, state Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik filed a workplace sexual harassment complaint against Kagan, contending he had used the womens restroom multiple times.

She claimed, in an interview with KUNC radio, she personally encountered Kagan in the restroom and asked What are you doing in here?, and claims other women who work in the Capitol have had similar experiences.

Also last month, the state Senate posted signs indicating men and women, outside its unmarked restrooms, Denvers KUSA-TV reported.

A report in March by Colorado Public Radio said the allegations against Kagan are part of a broader feud between the states Republicans and Democrats over sexual harassment issues.

The report mentions that Kagan was among a group of Democratic senators who called for the ouster of Republican state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, who had been accused of groping an aide in 2016.

Many butt-slappers and thigh-strokers fancy that they are merely flirting and flattering, Kagan said before the Senate, in remarks that, Colorado Public Radio reported, irked some of Kagan's Senate colleagues.

Baumgardner remains a senator, having survived an expulsion vote earlier this week, but said in a letter that he agreed to take sensitivity training and resign as chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, the report said.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit organization Compass Colorado published excerpts of a recorded phone conversation between Colorados nonpartisan Senate secretary, Effie Ameen, and Heather White, communication supervisor for the Colorado State Patrol, in which Ameen requests that the access code to the restroom be changed.

Ameen: I wanted to change the code, because I know the code we have on there is sort of our generic one that we use like for everything so its not shocking that people would know it but ummm . . .

White: So whats his name?

Ameen: Its one of my senators. Its Senator ... Senator Kagan.

.
Former first lady Michelle Obama got political during a chat at a women's leadership conference Thursday, likening her husband's presidency to having "the good parent at home" opposed to what she called the "other parent," referring to President Trump.

Barack was like the "responsible parent -- the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time," the former first lady said at the Simmons Leadership Conference in Boston, clearing her throat. "And now perhaps we have the other parent in the house."

Obama suggested those who voted for Trump did so because they thought it'd be "fun."

We thought itd feel fun -- maybe it feels fun for now because we can eat candy all day and stay up late and not follow the rules," she continued. "And we're going to at that point in time look at those two experiences and see how we feel."

"[Barack Obama was like the] responsible parent -- the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time. And now perhaps we have the other parent in the house."  Michelle Obama

Earlier, the 54-year-old said her husband was "born" with patience and applauded his temperament.

"We're at a point in time where we have to figure out who we want to be as a nation, and we've had two stark examples of what we can be," Obama said. "I certainly know what direction I want to go."

The former first lady then went on to praise Hillary Clinton, who she deemed "the best qualified candidate" in the 2016 presidential race. She blamed poor voter turnout for Clinton's loss, urging young voters to turn out and vote their "interests" in upcoming elections.

"The question is: What's your interest now, young people?" Obama said. "And we've got some clear choices to make."

Clinton "wasn't perfect," Obama admitted.

"But she was way more perfect..." Obama said, pausing with a grin as some audience members laughed and applauded "...than many of the alternatives."

Some applauded Obama's "refreshing" comments, calling her a "truly amazing woman" and someone who is "deeply missed." Others, however, dismissed the former first lady's remarks and called the parenting metaphor "rude."

"Literally why should a former First Lady trash talk in such a way and get attention for it?" one Twitter user asked.

"She is sadly mistaken," another added.

This isn't the first time Obama's comments have sparked controversy.

Obama critcized women who voted for Trump, suggesting they voted against their own interests, in September 2017.

Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice, Obama told the audience during a talk at a marketing conference in Boston, according to Boston.com.

The former first lady insinuated female Trump supporters were just following suit.

"What does this mean for us as women? she asked, according to the Washington Times. That we look at those two candidates, as women, and many of us said, Hes better for me. His voice is more true to me. To me that just says, you dont like your voice. You just like the thing youre told to like.

While Obama does not shy away from offering her political views, the former first lady did confirm -- once again -- that she does not plan on running for office in 2020, The Hill reported Thursday.
President Trump said in an interview Friday that it is unlikely he will attend the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Association, as he took a swipe at members of the press and called them novelists.

In a radio interview with Bernie and Sid in the Morning, which aired Friday, he described the press as so bad, its so fake.



I call them novelists, he said, accusing members of the press of sometimes making up sources.

In many cases they literally make up sources. You know, nine sources in the White House have said. There are no nine sources, he said.



He also said it was unlikely he would attend the April 28 White House Correspondents' dinner, which he did not attend in 2017.



I probably wont do it, he said.



Shortly after his remarks were aired, the White House Correspondents Association said that the White House had told them the president would not be in attendance.



"The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner, but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment, WHCA President Margaret Talev said in a statement.



Talev said that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders would be representing the Trump administration at the head table.



The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy," Talev said.

Fox News' John Roberts and Jenny Buchholz contributed to this report.
Experts warned Thursday that the United States and China are barreling towards a potentially catastrophic trade war, citing each country's increasingly heated rhetoric and unique economic pressure points.

Most Asian stock markets were holding early Friday, in an early sign that investorsfor now--are brushing off concerns about the brewing brouhaha between the world's two biggest economies.

President Trump on Thursday called for Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China. The two nations have already slapped each other with planned tariffs totaling $50 billion this week.

But economic analysts said the situation -- which some U.S. news outlets have already branded a "trade war" -- could change rapidly, especially given the nations' ongoing war of words.

This is what a trade war looks like, and what we have warned against from the start, National Retail Federation President and CEO Matthew Shay said in an interview with Reuters.

For their part, Chinese officials said they won't capitulate to U.S. demands.

"If someone wants a trade war, we will fight to the end, Wang Shouwen, Chinas commerce vice minister, told reporters Wednesday, after announcing a planned tax on U.S. goods, including airplanes and soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China.

CHINA PROMISES TO FIGHT US 'AT ANY COST' AFTER TWO SIDES THREATEN HUGE TARIFFS

One trade policy expert specifically faulted Trump's communications strategy in an interview with the AP.

"Mr. Trump is upping the ante, but the lack of a clear game plan and an incoherent messaging strategy from the administration is setting this up for an all-out trade war rather than a fruitful negotiation," said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

"I like to say that there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow."  Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow

Chinese officials know they can effectively target specific sectors of the American economy, experts said, decreasing the likelihood that they will feel the need to retreat from the brink.

The American agricultural sector is quite influential in the Congress, Peking University economics professor told The New York Times. China wants the American domestic political system to do the work.

Some of that work was being done by Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who said this week that Trump was threatening to light American agriculture on fire" and calling the White House's approach "the dumbest possible way to do this.

China, by contrast, has unique tools to counteract U.S. tariffs, according to analysts. President Xi Jinping's government controls huge swaths of the country's economy and has an iron grip on the press, which would insulate the administration from some political and financial pressures in the short-term.

My impression is that there is in Washington an exaggerated sense of how painful these tariffs might be in China, Gavekal Dragonomics director Arthur R. Kroeber told the paper.

But as President Trump noted on Twitter on Wednesday, the U.S. runs a significant trade deficit with China, giving the White House its own blunt leverage.

"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. "Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion."

Trump economic advisor Larry Kudlow told Fox Business that negotiations are underway, suggesting that talk of a trade war is premature.

There is a process here, theres going to be some back and forth, but theres also some negotiations and we may talk about that, but thats the key point," Kudlow said, describing Trump as "the first guy with a backbone in decades" to take some action on China  "at least preliminary actions."

Kudlow downplayed the urgency of the situation, saying tariff discussions won't play out overnight.

In the United States at least, were putting it out for comment, its going to take a couple months," he said, referring to the proposed new tariffs. "I doubt if there will be any concrete action for several months. ... Trumps putting his cards on the table. Hes standing up for this country, but hes also standing up for better world trade.

China on Thursday also formally challenged the U.S. tariffs at the WTO, setting the stage for a potentially lengthy legal battle.

The result of all the tension and brinksmanship, the White House says, will be a fairer international business climate for U.S. industries.

"I like to say that there is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow," Kudlow told Politico this week.
President Trump has been making some dramatic moves lately, leaving his out-of-the-loop aides scrambling to either catch up or change his mind.

And the mainstream media take is clear: This is a crazy way to run a government!

Well, it can certainly be erratic. But I'm going to float a theory that perhaps there's a method to the madness.

First, let's look at the dizzying pace of action. Just the other day, the president stunned his staff by saying at a news conference that he wanted to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. But after consulting with Pentagon chief Jim Mattis and othersin what CNN says was a testy meeting--he agreed to hold off for now.

The White House was also caught off guard when Trump invited Vladimir Putin to the White Houseonly to have the Russians leak the news. And even his secretary of Statethe now-departed Rex Tillersondidn't know about his offer to meet with Kim Jong-un.

Nor, for that matter, did most of Trumps inner circle know he was going to hire John Bolton and Larry Kudlow.

The "DACA is dead" tweet, seemingly out of nowhere, cast a shadow on the stalled congressional efforts to strike a deal on immigration.

And then there are the tariffs, announced over Gary Cohns objections, which have prompted retaliation by China and sparked heavy losses in the stock market.

But then Kudlow seemed to tap on the brakes, telling Bloomberg: "None of the tariffs have been put in place yet, these are all proposals. Were putting it out for comment."

Aha.

Now Washington has never seen a president operate like this. This seat-of-the-pants style makes him hard to cover, hard to work for and hard to negotiate with.

But here's the contrarian view: Trump is extremely frustrated with the slow pace of government. Having rid himself of some of his more cautious aides, he's more determined than ever to trust his instincts and shake things up.

And he does this by announcing, or tweeting, "decisions" that land with explosive impact in the media and political world. That forces everyone else to react. He moves the debate onto his turf.

The tariffs aren't final. The Syrian pullout is delayed. Maybe DACA isn't dead. And who knows if the Kim meeting will actually come off?

In other words, Trump's pronouncements are actually just a negotiating position, as he would do as a Manhattan businessman. He dominates the media coverage, which he loves, and then the details are worked outor not.

But the media are far more critical. Axios' Mike Allen says that "checks are being ignored or have been eliminated, and critics purged as the president is filling time by watching Fox, and by eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants ...

"Trump's closest confidants speak with an unusual level of concern, even alarm, and admit to being confused about what the president will do next  and why."

The Washington Post says Trump's campaign promises are colliding with the complexities of governing, "creating backlash among allies, frustrating supporters and threatening the pocketbooks of many farming communities that helped get him elected."

And even among Trump's own allies, the paper says, "immigration hawks have been infuriated by his inability to build the border wall with funding from either Mexico or U.S. taxpayers. Many military leaders and foreign policy strategists have been alarmed by his promise to remove troops from Syria. And Republicans on Capitol Hill have protested the rising signs of a trade war with China."

Maybe Trump's shoot-first style will ultimately pan out and maybe it won't. But given the Beltway's bureaucratic obstacles, it's not as crazy as it seems.
Local businesses and nonprofits are celebrating saving money and invite the public to participate. University of Tennessee Extension Agent June Puett is leading a campaign to encourage people of all ages and incomes to set financial goals.

More than 35,000 area people have taken take steps toward making sound financial decisions by taking the Tennessee Saves pledge, said Ms. Puett. A goal of the campaign is to illustrate how easy and fun saving money can be. Ms. Puett shares some of these suggestions:

Tennessee Saves Pledge at www.tnsaveschatt.org . Choose to receive free emails or texts with motivational savings tips. Take theatChoose to receive free emails or texts with motivational savings tips.

Vote for your favorite Pigs on Parade piggy banks decorated by twenty-two local businesses and nonprofit organizations in order to promote financial literacy. The public can vote by visiting the Tennessee Saves Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TennesseeSavesChattanoogaChapter . Click on photos, see all, then albums. Click on the two categories: 2018 Business Category and 2018 Nonprofit Category. Vote by opening the individual photo(s) and like your favorite(s). Vote by April 14, at 4 p.m.

piggy banks decorated by twenty-two local businesses and nonprofit organizations in order to promote financial literacy. The public can vote by visiting the Tennessee Saves Facebook page at Click on photos, see all, then albums. Click on the two categories: 2018 Business Category and 2018 Nonprofit Category. Vote by opening the individual photo(s) and like your favorite(s). Vote by April 14, at 4 p.m. View the piggy banks live at the Garden Expo on April 14, at Camp Jordan. Vote before 4 p.m. There is a $10 admission fee to attend.

Tennessee Saves is affiliated with the national America Saves campaign and University of Tennessee Extension. The purpose to promote and provide financial education for youth and adults. Community partners conduct year round social marketing and educational programs. Contact June Puett with University of Tennessee Extension at jpuett@utk.edu or 423 855-6113 to schedule a program for your group. Activities are not limited to Tennessee residents.
Virgin Galactics new SpaceShipTwo flew at supersonic speed over Californias Mojave Desert on Thursday, marking the first powered flight for the company since the fatal 2014 crash of its original rocketship.

Back on track ... Space feels tantalisingly close now, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson tweeted.

VSS Unitys flight was a big step forward, the company said. The craft is reportedly named for Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist who died March 14 after dedicating his life to studying the cosmos.

Eventually, Virgin Galactic plans to carry tourists on suborbital hops into the lower reaches of space, where they can see Earth far below and the stars beyond.

Virgin Galacticas goal of space tours has a price tag of $250,000, but the company has not officially disclosed a timeline for its first customer flights, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Customers would experience several minutes of weightlessness when their space plane reaches suborbital space, the Times reported, citing the companys website.

Virgin Galactic said Thursday's milestone marked the start of the final portion of Unitys flight test program, which began after a 2014 test-flight crash of its predecessor, VSS Enterprise, which killed one of its two pilots and set back the project.

The company noted that Unity has safety mechanisms that were developed after the accident.

On Thursday, pilots Mark Forger Stucky and Dave Mackay were in the cockpit of Unity as it took off from Mojave Air & Space Port at 8:02 a.m. attached to VMS Eve and climbed to an altitude of 46,500 feet over the Sierra Nevada.

Unity was released, and a few seconds later, its engine ignited. The spaceship climbed steeply and went supersonic  Mach 1.87  during the 30-second rocket burn.

With the engine shut down, Unity coasted upward to an apogee of 84,271 feet.

The tail booms are known as feathers because their function is likened to the feathers of a badminton shuttlecock.

The Enterprise accident occurred when the co-pilot prematurely unlocked the feathers and the ship broke apart.

The spaceships are built by the Spaceship Company, which operates in Mojave and is a unit of Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Galactic also envisions a fleet operating from Spaceport America in New Mexico, and plans to offer flights for research as well as satellite deployment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg continued the social media companys apology tour on Friday  saying she was sorry for the controversial data harvest currently embroiling the company and promising to do a better job at keeping people's information safe in the future.

Speaking on Fox News "The Daily Briefing" with Dana Perino, Sandberg said that while the company expects to find more data breaches, Facebook is taking action to prevent such problems in the future.

"We know at Facebook we did not do enough to protect people's data," Sandberg told Perino, also referencing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "Mark is sorry about that. I'm sorry about that."

Sandbergs admission comes as the social media giant struggles to address mounting security concerns in the wake of revelations that 87 million Facebook users may have had their data harvested by Cambridge Analytica, the controversial data firm that was employed for a time by President Trumps campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

"We did not pay enough attention," Sandberg added. "Now we're getting on that."

Sandberg also noted that the tech company is taking steps to become more transparent in what stories it shows on users' news feeds and that the company is aggressively going after fake news.

"We're definitely increasing transparency," she said, adding that the company is also looking to share news from only trusted news sources - both conservative and liberal - and it will start requiring political advertisres to verify their identities before they can post on Facebook.

"The goal is to make sure everyone can share safely," Sandberg added.

Sandberg's apology tour comes only two days after Zuckerberg said the company is shutting down a feature that allows people to search for Facebook users by phone number or email address after it acknowledged that many of its 2.2 billion members have probably had their personal data scraped by "malicious actors."

The scrapers were at it long enough, Zuckerberg said, that "at some point during the last several years, someone has probably accessed your public information in this way."

Over the past few weeks, the Cambridge Analytica scandal has mushroomed into investigations across continents, including a probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Zuckerberg himself will be questioned by Congress on April 10 and 11.

This will be the first time Zuckerberg has ever testified before Congress. Last fall, the company sent its top lawyer to speak before Congress about Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Google and Twitter also sent lower-level executives to the three public hearings on the matter.

Neither Zuckerberg nor Sandberg have identified those who carried out the data scraping, but outside experts believe they could have been identity thieves, scam artists or shady data brokers assembling marketing profiles.

Zuckerberg said the company detected the problem in a data-privacy audit started after the Cambridge Analytica disclosures, but didn't say why the company hadn't noticed it  or fixed it  earlier.

Privacy advocates have long been critical of Facebook's penchant for pushing people to share more and more information, often through pro-sharing default options.

While the company offers detailed privacy controls  users can turn off ad targeting, for example, or face recognition, and post updates that no one else sees  many people never change their settings, and often don't even know how to.

The company has tried to simplify its settings multiple times over the years, most recently this week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
One woman is accusing Alaska Airlines of disability discrimination after the carrier deplaned her teenage brother with Down syndrome ahead of a flight from St. Louis to Seattle because he vomited a little after boarding.

On April 2, Patrick Hess boarded flight 779 with his family after an Easter weekend getaway and soon threw up. He was then asked by flight attendants to deplane with his parents, NBC News reports.

"After boarding the flight, Patrick threw up a little and the airline workers kicked my family off the flight," Meaghan, a third-year law student and a staffer for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, confirmed to the outlet. She was not traveling with her parents and brother at the time.

FURIOUS NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE PASSENGERS SLAM SHIP'S HORRIBLE, NONSTOP CONSTRUCTION ZONE

Though Alaska Airlines rebooked the Washington family for a 6 a.m. flight the next morning, Meaghan said that they did not offer to pay for hotel accommodations. A representative for the carrier told Meaghan and Patricks father that the family should have been charged, but the airline was extending a courtesy, NBC reports.

Furious, Meaghan claims the carrier left her parents and brother effectively "stranded at the airport for nearly 11 hours knowing that my family had nowhere to go for the night.

Instead, all they did was hand my parents a black garbage bag, saying that my brother could just throw up in that, she added.

An Alaska Airlines spokesperson later told NBC that the teen presented a possible health risk.

FBI SEEKS MECHANIC LINKED TO VALUJET CRASH THAT KILLED 110 IN 1996

"The family was not able to depart on their original flight because the familys child was visibly ill. Out of an abundance of caution, the agent determined that the child was not fit to fly," representative Ann Johnson told NBC. "In the case of a medical-related situation, it is safer for guests to be treated on the ground, as our crew are not trained medical professionals."

Johnson further returned Fox News' request for comment with the following statement:

"We apologize that Patrick and his family had a difficult experience traveling with us. When a guest is actively ill prior to a flight, it is safer for them to be treated on the ground than in the air, where medical assistance is limited," she said.

"In this case our guests symptoms did not improve and we were concerned for his wellbeing. We understand that this change put the family in a difficult situation and have reached out to them. We strive to be our best for every guest, every time."

Though Alaska Airlines flew the Hess family back home first class, Meaghan isnt satisfied with the way the carrier handled the situation and described their actions as "disability discrimination."

"I cant help but think if [it had been] a non-disabled child that threw up, would the airline have kicked that family off the flight," she mused.

Disabled persons are in a vulnerable class and often cant speak out for themselves and thats why we feel it is so important to share our experience to help bring awareness to these issues. Its not just about getting kicked off but the terrible treatment after the fact, Meaghan told Fox News on April 6.

We are not looking for anything. We do hope this will encourage companies to ensure they have policies and procedures protecting disabled persons. In this divided country, I hope that we can come together to stand against disability discrimination, she added.

Alaska Airlines did not immediately return Fox News request for comment on the Hess familys claim, but confirmed to NBC that they are investigating how the incident was handled.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

In recent months, Alaska Airlines has been plagued with complaints of harassment and discrimination, involving both passengers and staffers.

In November, Randi Zuckerberg publically chastised the carrier for allowing a passenger to make "lewd sexual remarks" to her during her flight. In January, the carrier banned a California man from future flights over allegations that he sexually harassed a flight attendant during the trip.

In March, Alaska Airlines pilot Betty Pina filed lawsuit against senior pilot Paul Engelien for allegedly drugging and raping her during an overnight layover in June 2017. A spokesperson for the carrier confirmed to Fox News that Engelien is not flying and was taken off the line immediately after learning of the incident.
Three U.S. military aircraft crashes this week that killed five service members within two days have some on Capitol Hill worried the military's worn-out air fleet may not be getting the funding it needs.

At a press conference Thursday, the director of the Pentagons Joint Staff refused to say the crashes marked a negative trend when a reporter asked if military aviation was in crisis.

I would reject wave and crisis, said Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr. Were are going to look at each one in turn. Each one is tragic. We regret each one. We will look at them carefully. I am certainly not prepared to say that its a wave of mishaps or some form of crisis.

But the crashes this week indicate a continuation of a disturbing pattern.

There have been five noncombat aviation crashes in 2018, killing nine service members  37 were killed in aircraft crashes last year, nearly double the number killed in 2016.

Only 37 percent of Marine Corps CH-53E heavy-lift helicopters can fly right now, the head of Marine Corps aviation, Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, told Congress in November.

If you are flying a smaller number of airplanes, they break more frequently, and if you cant pay for the parts, you have a smaller number of airplanes, and so youre not getting the hours, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller told a Reagan National Defense Forum audience moderated by Fox Newss Jennifer Griffin in December.

Last year in aviation, we had a horrible safety year, probably the worst year in 10 years, Neller added.

I think the high-op tempo and stress on the force over the past 17 years of continuous combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere is catching up to the U.S. military, Todd Harrison, a defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Task & Purpose.

The Pentagon just received $700 billion in the massive spending bill signed by Trump last month  a sizable portion of that is supposed to help fix aircraft and improve pilot training.

A month after the Marine Corps transport plane crash killing 16, a Marine MV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Australia, while landing aboard a U.S. Navy warship. Three Marines drowned, 23 others were rescued.

Days later, Neller ordered all of his aircraft grounded for 24 hours.

Eight hours before the deadly Super Stallion crash in Southern California, a Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed shortly after takeoff in the East African nation of Djibouti.

The pilot ejected, and was released from the hospital later in the week, according to the Marines.

But just a day later, a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion was forced to make an emergency landing on a beach in Djibouti causing minor damage. No marines were hurt.

But the two crashes in consecutive days were enough for the Djibouti government to ground all U.S. military flights Thursday, including Reaper drones from the largest American base in Africa  hindering counterterrorism operations in nearby Somalia and Yemen, where the U.S. military has launched dozens of airstrikes this year.

The U.S. military cut short a two-week training exercise, which had just started in Djibouti when the grounding was announced, potentially robbing American forces of vital training.

A year ago, the exercise was dubbed preparation for real-world missions in the region  because we dont get do-overs when it comes to crisis operations, said Navy Cmdr. Tom Sandoval, a deputy operations director at the time.

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, warned the White House in an interview earlier this week not to rob the militarys readiness money to fund the National Guard at the border.

When President George W. Bush sent 6,000 troops to the border, it cost $415 million  money that was stripped from the Air Force and Navys Operations and Maintenance (O&M) budgets.

When President Barack Obama did the same thing in 2010, sending 1,200 Guard troops to the border, it cost roughly $160 million.

The Pentagons top spokeswoman assured reporters that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has not ignored the readiness problems of his forces.

Border security is national security. We are leaning forward to support the president, and his intent and his goal, said chief Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White about Trumps move. But readiness remains our top priority.

But when asked by a reporter if the Pentagon could rule out stripping critical operations and maintenance dollars to fund the National Guard deployment to the border, the Pentagon was mum.

We havent made those determinations, White said.

A new support cell to coordinate Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security efforts would examine the issue, White said.

Maj. Stephen Del Bagno of Valencia, Calif., the pilot of the F-16 fighter jet that crashed outside Las Vegas during a training flight Wednesday, flew for the elite Thunderbirds, the Air Forces premier flight demonstration team. He had accumulated more than 3,500 flying hours in 30 different air frames, and had been a civilian flight instructor before joining the Air Force.

The crash that killed Del Bagno this week marked the third time in less than two years a Thunderbirds jet had crashed.

Tuesday, a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed in Southern California, killing four marines. The Super Stallion is the largest helicopter in the U.S. military, capable of carrying up to 55 marines with full combat load.

The Marine Corps identified the four killed late Thursday: Capt. Samuel A. Schultz, 28, of Huntington Valley, Pa., 1st Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, of Pinehurst, N.C., Gunnery Sgt. Derik R. Holley, 33, of Dayton, Ohio, and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, 24, of Baton Rouge, La.

The crash was the deadliest for the Marine Corps since a KC-130 crashed in the Mississippi Delta, killing 15 marines and a sailor in July.
Authorities in California have a suspect in custody after an explosive device detonated inside of a Sam's Club in California on Thursday afternoon.

Hugo Gonzalez, 49, of Fontana, was identified as the man suspected of detonating the device, the Ontario Police Department tweeted, noting it's believed he acted alone and a motive remains unclear.

Law enforcement was dispatched to the Sam's Club store in Ontario after it was reported around 2 p.m. that someone heard a "popping sound," KABC reported.

"Responded to a possible fire structure at [Sam's Club]," the Ontario Police Department tweeted earlier Thursday. "It has been determined the suspect detonated a small explosive device in the store."

A follow-up tweet stated, "There appears to be no structural damage or any injuries at this point," and noted that "All employees and customers are accounted for."

Miles from the store, Gonzalez was pulled over and detained, police said. Within his car, investigators found "[additional] materials" that were "similar to those used in the devices" found inside Sam's Club.

Police are now investigating an apartment in Fontana, "which is believed to be associated w/Gonzalez."

Gonzalez is currently in police custody and is being interviewed by investigators.
A man who shot and killed three people inside a Kansas City, Kansas, home has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The Kansas City Star reports 29-year-old Jason Tucker was given the sentence Thursday. He pleaded guilty in February to capital murder in the May 2017 deaths of Vincent Rocha, his wife Bernadette Gosserand, and his adult son Jeremy Rocha.

Wyandotte County prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for Tucker's guilty plea.

The shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between Tucker and Gosserand's son, Bryan Balza, who had sought an order of protection from Tucker.

Prosecutors say Tucker confronted and shot Balza on the front porch of the family's home, then went inside and killed the three victims. Balza survived.

___

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
The U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday identified the four servicemen who were killed earlier this week in a helicopter crash near El Centro, California along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The four Marines from the 3rdMarine Aircraft Wing were killed when their CH-53E Super Stallion chopper went down during a training mission, military officials said.

The deceased were identified as Capt. Samuel A. Schultz, a 28-year-old from Pennsylvania, First Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, a 27-year-old from North Carolina, Gunnery Sgt. Derik R. Holley, a 33-year-old from Ohio, and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, a 24-year-old from Louisiana, according to a news release.

4 MARINES KILLED IN HELICOPTER CRASH NEAR US-MEXICO BORDER

"The loss of our Marines weighs heavy on our hearts," Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, commanding general of 3rd MAW, said in the news release. "Our priority is to provide support for our families and HMH-465 during this critical time."

Schultz and Phillips were both pilots and joined the Marines in May 2012 and August 2013, respectively, officials said. Holley joined in November 2003 and had previously been deployed to Iraq twice. He and Conrad, who joined in May 2016, were both CH-53 helicopter crew chiefs.

All four were with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing's 465th squadron out of Miramar air station, officials said.

DISTURBING STRING OF CRASHES IN 2018 CONTINUES DEADLY TREND FOR US MILITARY

"The hardest part of being a Marine is the tragic loss of life of a fellow brother-in-arms," Col. Craig Leflore, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 16, said. "My deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of Capt. Samuel Shultz, 1st Lt. Samuel Phillips, Gunnery Sgt. Derik Holley, and Lance Cpl. Taylor Conrad.

These 'Warhorse' Marines brought joy and laughter to so many around them, he continued. They each served honorably, wore the uniform proudly and were a perfect example of what makes our Marine Corps great - its people! They will forever be in our hearts and minds."

The cause of the crash is being investigated, officials said.

Fox News Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Tennessee Association of Independent Schools brings its annual Innovation & Tech Institute to downtown Chattanooga on Monday. This years focus, The Future of School and Work, finds a place among Chattanoogas Innovation District and features panel discussions led by Ken Hayes of The Enterprise Center, Marcus Shaw from The Company Lab, and Lori Quillen with The Benwood Foundation. The event website can be viewed here.

Jointly held at the Chattanooga Public Library and The Edney Center, the conference offers workshops to participants throughout the day. Girls Preparatory Schools faculty and staff will lead six sessions with 11 presenting. Those sessions include:

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous: The New Public Purpose of Private Education/Learning to Use a Start-Up Canvas (Parts 1 & 2)

Presented by Dr. Autumn A. Graves, GPS head of school; Bilda Small, GPS director of Strategic Communications & Marketing; and Allison Reedy, chief operating officer of CoLab

In an effort to shift from deficit-filling to civic engagement in Chattanooga, Girls Preparatory School launched a two-day entrepreneurship symposium that sparked a cultural revolution. The program has evolved like the startups that GPS wants girls and women to create. Through MBD, parents, mentors, the startup community, and traditional businesses come together to support girls from public and private schools to push the boundaries of the innovation economy and build partnerships across communities. Participants will brainstorm ways to monetize this program that is accessible to schools and community organizations while building brand identity and growing their understanding of how a startup canvas can be used in their our own teaching with students and leadership practice with adults. Lastly, they can learn how a community partnership with the startup community was formed and continues to grow.

Technology Integration in the Foreign Language Classroom

Presented by Marinda Cauley and Dr. Cindy Lepore, GPS world language teachers

Participants will learn how to use Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, texting, Padlet, Google Docs, Duolingo, and other technological advances to keep students engaged. This session offers practical, hands-on techniques to achieve 21st-century goals in language and technology classrooms.

Digital Organization with Google

Presented by Elizabeth Resnick, GPS technology innovationist

GSuite and Google Drive have expanded the ways classrooms and teams can innovate and collaborate, but all those files in My Drive and Shared with Me can get out of hand. Participants will leave this session with a plan for a beautifully organized Google Drive. Files and folders, shared files, student files, and even their Chrome browser will be in order. The session will end with strategies for when organization fails.

Implementing New Technology Should Be a Positive Experience for Your School

Presented by GPS staff: Daniel Millbank, director of Educational Technology and Information Services, and Melanie Northcutt, data operations manager

Technology systems implementation has come to be associated with painful change to any school. Learn effective and successful strategies for constituent buy-in, training, roll-out, and success measurement that can be applied to large and small technology projects that historically have made faculty and staff nervous. Presenters will share an example of how GPS successfully transitioned from using multiple, disjointed technology solutions to one integrated solution, transforming the way the school communicates internally and externally.



Student-Driven Placemaking Through Design Thinking and Social Entrepreneurship: Chattanooga as Text

Presented by GPS faculty: Andrea Becksvoort, history teacher; Claudia Goldbach, associate director of College Guidance; and Sonya Steele, science teacher

This panel will discuss the Chattanooga As Text class, offered free of charge in summer 2017. The interdisciplinary, social entrepreneurship course for 10th- and 11th-grade girls from across the region allowed students to utilize design-thinking skills to develop an innovative solution to a community problem. After spending a week in various nontraditional spaces throughout the city, they refined and prototyped their concept and then pitched it to a panel of local stakeholders. With guidance, the students came to see the city itself as their text, giving them the opportunity to recognize and develop the myriad skills to empower them to be agents of successful placemaking.

Connecting Middle School Life Science to Refugees Through Human-Centered Design Thinking

Presented by Kipton Tugman, GPS science teacher

How might one design/build something to help a specific body system of a refugee work better while traveling to and/or from life in a refugee camp? In this session, participants will explore the connections found between middle school life science, social studies, and human-centered design thinking. They will discuss a project that is done by students to connect the study of the human body systems to the refugee crisis. Tugman will illustrate the steps of the design-thinking process, how she engaged the community, and how the prototypes were shared with family and friends.
The New York Police Department has reached a settlement with New Jersey Muslim groups who accused officers of illegal surveillance of mosques, student groups and businesses after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

New York City agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of $75,000 in damages and $950,000 for their legal fees.

Under the settlement, which still has to be approved by a judge, the NYPD is required to follow existing guidelines for how police conduct surveillance of political groups in New Jersey. In New York City, the department is already required to follow these guidelines, which changed last year due to the settlement of two federal lawsuits making similar claims of unconstitutional surveillance.

In the New Jersey settlement, as in the New York ones, the department didnt admit misconduct or wrongdoing.

The resolution of this case affirms and enhances the NYPDs commitment to conducting effective investigations to prevent crime and terrorism, Police Commissioner James ONeill said in a statement.

The 2012 lawsuit alleged the NYPD investigated and conducted surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey because of their religious beliefs. The complaint claimed the mosques attended by one of the plaintiffs, Farhaj Hassan, a New Jersey resident and U.S. Army Reserve member, were under surveillance by the NYPD.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
A Pennsylvania man was arrested after allegedly killing his father with a butter knife and removing one of his eyeballs which officers later recovered from the floor of their Philadelphia home.

Preston Lonnberg-Lane, 30, was arrested for first-degree murder in the disturbing death of his 74-year-old father, Thomas Lane, District Attorney for Montgomery County said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the press release, a 911 call was made at approximately 4:45 a.m. on March 27 by the suspect saying he needed police help at his home in Lansdale, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Police responded arrived on scene only to find the mans father semi-conscious in the bedroom with a traumatic eye avulsion and apparent stab wound to his head, neck and arm.

An investigation by Montgomery County Detectives and Lansdale Police led officials to believe that Lonnberg-Lane attacked his father with a butter knife. Officers recovered his father's eyeball from the floor.

Court records say he also told investigators he had snorted what he thought was fentanyl about an hour earlier.

Lane was taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital where he died two days later.

This father was asleep in his bedroom and was savagely attacked by his son, District Attorney Kevin Steele said. Now the man is dead and a son is behind bars.

The suspect is being charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and possessing an instrument of crime and will be due in court on April 9.

He was not offered bail.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A former Tennessee teacher pleaded guilty to federal charges on Thursday after he left the state last year with a teen student, sparking a national manhunt that lasted more than a month, The Associated Press reported.

Tad Cummins, 51, who previously pleaded not guilty, got emotional during the court hearing in Nashville.

"I cannot be the man I need to be and not tell the truth," Cummins said before he broke down in tears.

A court document filed by his lawyer last week said Cummins wanted to enter a plea of guilty.

TENNESSEE AMBER ALERT OVER: TIP LEADS AUTHORITIES TO TAD CUMMINS, ELIZABETH THOMAS IN CALIFORNIA

His charges include transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual conduct, for which he faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, and obstruction of justice, for which he could be sentenced to up to 20 years. He was handed the latter charge for allegedly destroying both his and the teen's cellphone.

A federal prosecutor told the court that Cummins engaged in sexual activity with the girl several times in a classroom closet and in a car. They allegedly first had intercourse after he took her out of state.

Cummins fled the state with the 15-year-old student, Elizabeth Thomas, in March 2017. The pair was located more than a month later at a remote forest cabin near Cecilville, California after police received a tip.

TEEN GIRL ALLEGEDLY ABDUCTED BY HER TEACHER SAYS SHE DOESN'T REGRET IT

Authorities discovered the girl safe and credited the property's caretaker with helping police find her and arrest Cummins.

While on the run, Cummins changed the license plates on his vehicle twice and disconnected its GPS, according to federal court documents. He also reportedly went by different names, changed his physical appearance and only used cash.

Cummins was previously employed by Culleoka Unit Schools and taught forensics. The former teacher lost his job a day after an Amber Alert was issued for Thomas. His teaching license was revoked in July.

Fox News' Christopher Carbone and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kenneth Wakefield, the Arizona man who decapitated his wife and two dogs in 2015, was sentenced to 29 years in prison Friday.

The sentencing came after Wakefield pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and two counts of animal cruelty, according to Maricopa County Superior Court records.

Wakefield gruesomely killed his wife, 49-year-old Trina Heisch, and their pets in July 2015, decapitating them all, and put the bodies in a closet in their Phoenix home, police said at the time. He also cut off part of his left arm and gouged out one of his eyes.

Police said Wakefield was high on methamphetamine and synthetic marijuana during the attack, KSAZ-TV reported. He also reportedly told officials that he was hearing voices at the time.

I just wanted to say Im sorry, Wakefield said during the sentencing, the Arizona Republic reported. I cant change it. I suffer also. She was my best friend.

MOM CHARGED WITH DECAPITATING 7-YEAR-OLD SON IN NEW YORK

Wakefield had recently been released from a mental hospital before the attack, according to the Arizona Republic. He and Heisch had met in a mental hospital where both were serving time for stabbing relatives, the newspaper reported.

Wakefield received 25 years for the second-degree murder charge and two years for each of the dogs he killed, according to the Arizona Republic.
A senior chief boatswain mate charged with overseeing operations at Coast Guard Station Noyo River in Fort Bragg, Calif., has been reassigned, according to a report.

The U.S. Coast Guard cited a loss of confidence in Ryan Sanfords ability to lead and will begin an information-gathering process with no timetable, the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa reported.

A Coast Guard spokesman said Thursday that Sanfords transfer was not punitive.

The move is reportedly temporary. A second review will be conducted before a recommendation is made to Coast Guard headquarters whether to make the move permanent.

Sanfords post will be taken over by Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Moore, who previously oversaw Station Golden Gate.

Command positions at a Coast Guard unit are the most important and challenging assignments in our service, Rear Adm. Todd Sokalzuk said in a news release. We sometimes must take these types of actions to ensure those standards are met.

Station Noyo River, operating 100 miles of Northern Californias coastline and 50 miles offshore, is among the Coast Guard Districts 13 search-and-rescue boat stations. According to the Press Democrat, the station responded to 94 cases in 2017.

Click here for more from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
A Connecticut school bus driver was busted for allegedly using his vehicle to deliver and pick up bags of heroin after dropping children off at the end of school days.

Stratford Police arrested Garfield Howell, 29, on Thursday following a months-long investigation in which surveillance footage reportedly showed him using the bus for drug transactions.

Howell worked for We Transport, a charter bus company that transports students in the Bridgeport Public Schools district, and all the transactions were made after he dropped off his passengers, police told NBC New York.

A manager from the company told FOX61 it is investigating the allegations.

When police arrested Howell Thursday at his home in Stratford, they seized around 195 grams of heroin, the station added.

Howell has been charged with sale of narcotics, conspiracy to sell narcotics and risk of injury to a minor, and will appear in court on April 18 after failing to post a $100,000 bond.
A dog that disappeared into the New Hampshire wilderness after being spooked one day last May has finally been reunited with his family. For months, there were no sightings of Beowolf -- and his family thought the skittish pup was a goner.

But it turns out Beowolf was stronger and more resilient than they could have imagined. About eight months after the blonde retriever disappeared, volunteers with the Granite State Dog Recovery called the dog's family to inform them of a possible sighting.

In January, someone said they saw the skinny dog bolting down the road.

"A food station was quickly set up but nothing came of it," Granite State Dog Recovery said in a Facebook post chronicling the dog's incredible journey. "Reports came in that he fell through the ice of Newfound lake but was able to pull himself out. We were never able to confirm but that was our biggest fear that this would happen and the outcome would not be good."

"Dogs are resourceful and a lot smarter than we give them credit for."  Granite State Dog Recovery

Again, Beowolf's family lost hope. Surely, the dog would not survive with a wet coat in freezing temperatures -- but the Granite State Dog Recovery staff didn't give up hope. The group set up cameras around the wooded area, hoping to capture the dog on video.

Days later, they found a match. The dog was once again spotted near Newfound Lake in Bristol -- about seven miles from his home.

Volunteers set up traps, concerned Beowolf would succumb to the freezing temperatures before they could reach him.

"Our hearts broke every day for Beowolf but we knew he could stay warm whether under a cabin or under a porch he had shelter from the wind, snow or freezing rain," the group said. "Dogs are resourceful and a lot smarter than we give them credit for."

The group tried using food, toys and other tricks to trap the dog, but Beowolf wouldn't bite. For nearly 90 days, the dog "outsmarted" the volunteers, escaping capture.

Finally, on Monday -- roughly 11 months after he disappeared -- they caught him.

"Beowulf looked to have no injuries or signs of frostbite," the dog recovery service added. "He is one true survivor."

"Remember if you have a missing dog you should never give up. They are out there somewhere waiting to come home."  Granite State Dog Recovery

The next day, Beowolf was reconnected with his shocked family.

He came right over to us and just sat on us and came as close as he could to us, the dog's owner, Randy Sanborn, told WMUR. I was afraid he was going to come back wild because he was gone so long. When I let him out, he doesn't want to stay out; he wants to come right back in again. So I think he's had enough cold weather for a while.

The dog's will to survive proves no family should ever give up on a lost pet, Granite State Dog Recovery says.

"Remember if you have a missing dog you should never give up. They are out there somewhere waiting to come home," the group advised. "That one sighting call might be the key that provides the clues to that lead your dog to safety."
A 53-year-old female social worker in northeastern Illinois was arrested Thursday, accused of sexual misconduct with at least two patients. One patient, a 24-year-old man, says the suspect used him as her personal "sex slave" for nearly three years.

The suspect, identified as Christy Lenhardt, faces 14 felony charges stemming from two lawsuits that allege sexual misconduct with a disabled person and official misconduct, FOX 32 reported.

Patient Benahdam Hurt filed his civil rights complaint in November, alleging that Lenhardt had made him her sex slave between November 2014 and July 2017, the Chicago Tribune reported.

In the lawsuit, Hurt alleges that Lenhardt gave him electronics and various gifts during that time. Hurt also alleges that Lenhardt admitted to sexual misconduct with two previous patients -- one of whom she allegedly helped to escape from the facility.

Another lawsuit, filed in January by 27-year-old Mark Owens, alleges that Lenhardt made sexual advances toward him after his arrival at the facility in 2012. Owens contends he reported the alleged abuse but no action was taken.

Lenhardt faces eight counts of sexual misconduct with a person with disabilities and six counts of official misconduct, an investigation concluded. She will appear in court April 20 at the Kane County Judicial Center. Her bail was set at $100,000.

Officials from the Illinois Department of Human Services confirmed that Lenhardt is no longer an employee at its facilities. An investigation is continuing.
The FBI, already under fire for its handling of tips involving the Parkland school shooter and rocked by the firings and demotions of several high-ranking officials, suffered another significant blow with the acquittal of the Orlando nightclub terrorists widow.

And it happened in large part -- according to the jurys foreman -- due to the bureau's failure to record Noor Salman's interview statements.

Any time you lose you need to take a hard look at why did we lose? former FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko told Fox News, noting the rare terror trial loss should be a wake-up call for the bureau and federal prosecutors to re-evaluate their investigative efforts and their decision making."

I do think it is time because of this, certainly because of some national conversations about trust in the FBI, that the FBI should look hard as to are we in the right place? he said.

The Salman verdict reportedly is only the third time since 9/11 someone has been acquitted in a terrorism-related trial and the first time in more than a decade. And now  once again  the embattled bureaus tactics and actions are being put under the public microscope.

After Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people, it quickly emerged the FBI had been tipped off twice that Cruz was potentially dangerous, with both tipsters mentioning the possibility of a school shooting. The Bureau has also been in the middle of a political -- and potentially criminal -- fight amid the firing of former Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and the demotion of several other high-profile officials.

But even before Salman was found not guilty last Friday of the charges facing her -- obstruction and aiding and abetting by attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization -- the trial almost never even made it to a jury because of a bombshell admission from government prosecutors.

In its closing stages, Salmans lawyers tried to get the case thrown out after Assistant United States Attorney Sara Sweeney revealed in a letter to them that Seddique Mateen, the father of Omar Mateen, who gunned down 49 people in the gay nightclub in June 2016, had been a secret FBI informant for years.

When Fox News e-mailed Sweeney and asked why prosecutors decided to release that information  which ended up giving Salmans lawyers a chance to absolve their client before the jury eventually did  the message was forwarded to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Florida, which said it wasnt commenting on moves made during the trial.

Go buy a $50 digital tape recorder and put in on the table and just press play.  Florida State Sen. Jeff Brandes

While we are disappointed in the outcome of the trial, we respect the jurys decision and thank them for their hard work, the office said in a statement.

But what ultimately appeared to have sunk the FBI in this case was its decision not to record an alleged confession from Salman. One of the statements she allegedly made after the shooting that was written down by an FBI interviewer  whose notes ended up being the backbone for the governments arguments -- started to fall apart during questioning.

Prosecutors, citing the interview statements, had argued that Salman and Mateen scouted out the Pulse nightclub together as a shooting target in the lead-up to the massacre. However, FBI Special Agent Richard Fennern testified that within days of Salman signing the statements, the bureau found out  using cell phone geolocation data and other information  that Salman was nowhere near the facility when she claimed she was, according to The Intercept.

FBI Special Agent Ricardo Enriquez, who wrote down the alleged statements, testified that he did so because Salman was too nervous to write. But the defense  which won over the jury -- portrayed Salman as someone who was pressured into making a false confession and had a low IQ, making it easy to manipulate her.

I wish that the FBI had recorded their interviews with Ms. Salman as there were several significant inconsistencies with the written summaries of her statements, the jurys foreman revealed in a statement last week to the Orlando Sentinel.

A verdict of not guilty did NOT mean that we thought Noor Salman was unaware of what Omar Mateen was planning to do, the foreman added. On the contrary we were convinced she did know. She may not have known what day, or what location, but she knew. However, we were not tasked with deciding if she was aware of a potential attackthe bottom line is that, based on the letter of the law, and the detailed instructions provided by the court, we were presented with no option but to return a verdict of not guilty.

So why didnt the FBI record their interviews with Salman?

I honestly never thought about it, FBI Special Agent Christopher Mayo testified during the trial, noting that he was focused on getting info from Salman in the hours after the attack and sending it to local law enforcement, according to the Orlando Sentinel. It wasnt a conscious decision.

A FBI spokesperson, in a statement to Fox News, said while I cannot comment on specific cases, I can tell you that according to FBI policy, the electronic recording of non-custodial interviews is not required.

At this time, there are no plans to revise this policy, the spokesperson said.

In 2014, then-Attorney General Eric Holder announced a policythat establishes a presumption that the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the United States Marshals Service will electronically record interviews occurring in a place of detention with suitable recording equipment.

He added: "It allows for certain exceptionssuch as when the interviewee requests that the recording not occur or when recording is not practicable."

Holders policy was a departure from a 2006 memo in which the FBI advised its field offices, in most cases, to not record interviews, fearing that it would discourage suspects from opening up and cast agents in a negative light, the New York Times reported.

Hosko also told Fox News the bureau historically has leaned on its reputation under the premise it would give their side a boost in courtrooms.

There was always this strong belief that the sworn statement of an FBI agent raising his right hand tended to be good in the court of law, he said. However, that was becoming a losing argument over time.:

He added: You see cases like this and others, it certainly isnt alone, where you are going to have experienced defense attorneys making the argument that the subjects will was overcome by aggressive FBI tactics, that the statement really didnt reflect their version of the truth, their statement was written by the agent."

Florida State Sen. Jeff Brandes, who recently co-sponsored a bill in the state legislature calling for a requirement that law enforcement officers record custodial interrogation at a place of detention, told Fox News a change in how authorities conduct their investigations is long overdue.

My belief is that in 2018 you should be recording all interrogations, especially interrogations regarding terrorism, he said.

Brandes said jurors should be able to see and hear the actual testimony in cases and that he doesnt understand why the FBI didnt record the interrogation in Salmans instance.

To me, its frankly malpractice, said the Republican state senator, who represents part of Pinellas County.

How many of these types of episodes do we need before we recognize for virtually no expense we could record, whether the video, or the video and audio of these interrogations? Brandes added. Go buy a $50 digital tape recorder and put in on the table and just press play.
Halley Thames in the red shirt as Anita

Olivia Speek in the role of Sherrie Christian

Ethan Fell in the role of Drew Boley and Noah Roach as Dennis Dupree

Olivia Speek in the role of Sherrie Christian, surrounded by two ensemble players

The Signal Mountain High School Theater Department will be presenting the high school edition of the famous 80's jukebox musical Rock of Ages, by Chris D'Arienzo and directed by John Lennon, on April 19-22.

The show will be performed April 19 and 21 at 7 p.m., April 20, at 8 p.m., and April 22, at 2 p.m. at Signal Mountain Middle High School.

Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults.
A Georgia sheriff, whose politically incorrect welcome sign went viral in 2015, has a new, bold message for visitors to his county.

Our citizens have concealed weapons, the welcome sign reads in part. If you kill someone, we might kill you back.

But it doesnt stop there.

Enjoy your stay! the sign added. We have ONE jail and 356 cemeteries.

Jolley's previous sign in 2015 defended the American flag and Christmas. He paid $553 for the sign out of his own pocket.

The text read: WARNING: Harris County is politically incorrect. We say: Merry Christmas, God Bless America and In God We Trust. We salute our troops and our flag. If this offends youLEAVE!

At the time, Jolley told FOX & Friends he was humbled after receiving so much support, especially in his community, where he said people made supportive yard signs and t-shirts.

The politically incorrect sheriff didnt shy away from talking about those who disagree with him, either.

"I spent 20 years in the army to give everyone the right to disagree with me or anyone else," Jolley said. "Hopefully, if they disagree, they can voice that opinion. But if it offends them, truly offends them, maybe they're in the wrong country."
President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the Mexico border has drawn resistance from some governors, most of them Democrats, and the law he invoked creates an opening for them to turn him down, officials said Friday.

But so far, three of the border states with Republican governors have endorsed the plan, and two, Arizona and Texas, quickly announced troop deployments. The Democratic governor of the fourth border state, California, has been silent on the issue.

Trump's order invoked a federal law called Title 32, under which governors retain command and control of Guard members from their state, with the federal government paying for the deployment.

Another statute, known as Title 10, establishes that National Guard personnel operate under the president's control and receive federal pay and benefits. The law also forbids them from performing tasks of civilian law enforcement unless explicitly authorized, according to the Congressional Research Service. Trump's order issued Wednesday did not mention Title 10.

Arizona's Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said about 150 Guard members will deploy next week. The GOP governors of New Mexico and Texas also back the plan. The Texas Army National Guard planned to deploy 250 people to the border within three days.

Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that she had a "productive conversation" about the deployment with governors of the Southwest border states.

It's unclear if Trump will ask for troops from states other than those along the border.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the deployment as "a good first step." If the administration determines that more troops are needed, "we'll make that decision at that time."

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, also a Republican, on Friday became one of the latest leaders to oppose Trump's plan. His spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an email that Sandoval does not believe the mission would be "an appropriate use" of the Nevada Guard.

But North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said his state would "answer the call," just as it has done in other times of need, like historic floods.

"We North Dakotans know from experience how critical it is for states to support each other in times of need," Burgum said.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said she would deny Trump's request.

"As commander of Oregon's Guard, I'm deeply troubled by Trump's plan to militarize our border," Brown tweeted.

Her spokesman, Bryan Hockaday, said that if Trump invoked Title 10, the president "can federalize the National Guard forces, and there's not much the governor can do to prevent that."

However, under Title 32, a governor could try to reject a request for troops or order Guard members to remain in rear staging areas and not participate.

"If the president were to deploy under Title 32, he'd obviously have to have the approval of the governor," Hockaday said, citing an assessment from the governor's attorney. Lawyers reviewed all the pertinent legal provisions as soon as Brown's office heard the announcement about the deployment plan, he added.

While California Gov. Jerry Brown has not spoken publicly about Trump's plan, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said any request "will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners."

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said Friday that she will consult with the head of the Alabama Guard to see what resources are available.

The deployments will not be the first time the National Guard has gone to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Almost every U.S. state and territory contributed Guard members to Operation Jump Start, announced by President George W. Bush in 2006. Around 30,000 Guard members eventually participated, according to a 2008 National Guard analysis, including more than 1,000 each from Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina.

During Operation Phalanx, ordered by President Barack Obama in 2010, 1,200 Guard members deployed to the border, most of them from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

In the mid-1980s, National Guard troops were deployed even farther south, in Honduras, where they carried out military maneuvers. The missions happened as Sandinista forces in neighboring Nicaragua battled Contra rebels who were backed by Washington and had clandestine bases in Honduras.

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Associated Press writers Bob Christie in Phoenix, Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Jonathan Cooper in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.

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Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky .
A cellphone possibly belonging to a member of the Hart family, all eight of whom are presumed to have died when their SUV mysteriously plunged off a California cliff, was discovered Wednesday near the crash site, authorities said.

Searchers looking for the missing Hart siblings found the phone and authorities believe that it could belong to one of the family members, the Mendocino County Sheriffs Office told KOIN-TV.

There have been no signs of the three children who remain missing but presumed dead in the crash that killed Sarah and Jennifer Hart and three of their adopted children. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said one person reported something bobbing in the water nearly 40 miles out at sea, but divers didnt find anything, according to Oregon Live.

Five bodies were found March 26 near Mendocino days after Washington state authorities launched a probe into the Harts for possible child neglect.

The bodies of three children  Markis, 19; Jeremiah, 14; Abigail, 14  were found at the scene. The search for the three other children  Devonte, 15, Hannah, 16, and Sierra, 12  was still ongoing as police looked for additional clues to help determined what may have led to the crash.

Allman said there is every indication all six Hart children were in the vehicle at the time.

Police said Thursday that Jennifer and Sarah Hart were not wearing their seat belts when the vehicle plunged into the waters off the Pacific Coast Highway, about 150 miles north of San Francisco.

Im leaning to say that this is more of a crime than it is a crash, Allman told FOX12 Oregon.

California Highway Patrol said in a Wednesday news release the family of eight was believed to be in the Newport, Ore. area around 8:15 a.m. on March 24, two days before their vehicle was found. A map released by California Highway Patrol showed the coastal route the family possibly took based on cellphone pings, Officer Cal Robertson told Oregon Live.

Police are hoping a surveillance video taken just after 8 a.m. Sunday, appearing to show Jennifer Hart at a Safeway in Fort Bragg, could lead to more information on where the "Hart Tribe" was located Sunday night  when their trail went cold.

Im leaning to say that this is more of a crime than it is a crash."  Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman

The search for what caused the deadly crash has led investigators to examine red flags in the Harts past. On Tuesday, Alexandra Argyropoulos, a former friend of the family, told The Associated Press she alerted Oregon welfare officials about Jennifer and Sarah Hart because she felt they were withholding meals from their six adopted children.

A similar instance also prompted neighbors Bruce and Dana DeKalb to alert Child Protective Services three days before the family was found dead. They feared Devonte  who gained nationwide fame after a photo of him at a 2014 Portland, Ore., rally holding a Free Hugs sign went viral  was going hungry because he'd been coming over to their Woodland, Wash., house too often in the past week asking for food.

Fox News Katherine Lam and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Latest on a Northern California storm (all times local):

9:02 a.m.

The big storm entering Northern California is not expected to threaten areas recently scarred by wildfires in the southern half of the state.

Santa Barbara County officials say the rainfall predicted for Friday and Saturday doesn't meet thresholds for evacuations and there is, at most, very low risk for mud and debris flows.

The south Santa Barbara County community of Montecito was devastated by massive debris-laden torrents on Jan. 9 when a storm unleashed a deluge on a huge burn scar in the mountains above town.

County officials say they are monitoring the storm in case it intensifies.

Most of Southern California will get little to no rain but gusty winds are expected in the mountains and deserts while beaches will see high surf.

___

7:35 a.m.

Authorities are warning morning commuters to drive slowly and watch out for standing water as heavy rain pelts Northern California.

A spring storm is expected to dump several inches of rain on burn-scarred areas of wine country through Saturday.

Santa Rosa fire department spokesman Paul Lowenthal says the city has additional firefighters and emergency staff on hand Friday.

The storm could also bring the biggest test so far of a partly finished new spillway at the nation's tallest dam.

___

12:05 a.m.

Northern California is bracing for a major spring storm that is expected to dump several inches of rain on burn-scarred areas of wine country. It could also bring the biggest test so far of a partly finished new spillway at the nation's tallest dam.

The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings throughout Northern California ahead of Friday's atmospheric river.

Officials in Santa Rosa are more concerned about how quickly the rain comes than how much. Fire department spokesman Paul Lowenthal says workers have been monitoring hundreds of storm drain inlets, especially the ones protecting the neighborhoods destroyed by the fires.

To the north, state water officials have been releasing water from Lake Oroville ahead of the storm.
A judge in Massachusetts on Friday ruled against a lawsuit that questioned the states ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, declaring that the weapons were not protected by the Second Amendment.

Assault weapons are considered to be military firearms, U.S. District Judge William Young said in his ruling, therefore disqualifying them from being included in a citizens right to bear arms.

Policy makers, rather than the courts, were better suited to decide on the regulation for the weapons, he said.

"Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and available to their law-abiding citizens," Young said in his ruling. "These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous and robust debate about these matters. We call it democracy."

WHERE DOES TRUMP STAND ON GUN CONTROL? A LOOK AT THE PRESIDENTS VIEWS

The lawsuit was filed against state Attorney General Maura Healey last year by the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts, among other parties, who claimed that AR-15s couldnt be considered a military weapon because of their inability to shoot in fully automatic mode. They also claimed the ban infringed on Second Amendment rights.

That notion was ruled out, however, as the judge pointed out that the design of semi-automatic AR-15's is based on guns "that were first manufactured for military purposes" and that the AR-15 is "common and well-known in the military."

"The AR-15 and its analogs, along with large capacity magazines, are simply not weapons within the original meaning of the individual constitutional right to 'bear arms,'" Young said.

GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS HAND OUT HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINES AT VERMONT RALLY

The decision was championed by Healey, who said the judges decision vindicates the right of the people of Massachusetts to protect themselves from these weapons of war and my offices efforts to enforce the law.

Strong gun laws save lives, she continued and we will not be intimidated by the gun lobby in our efforts to end the sale of assault weapons and protect our communities and schools. Families across the country should take heart in this victory.

The ruling in Massachusetts follows an ongoing debate about AR-15s, due in part to their use in shootings such as the violent spree in Parkland, Florida on Valentines Day that left 17 people were dead. Authorities said the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, used an AR-15 during the deadly assault.

STUDENTS HOLD SECOND AMENDMENT RALLY TO COUNTER WALKOUT PUSHING FOR STRICTER GUN LAWS

Young also upheld Healey's 2016 enforcement notice to gun sellers and manufacturers clarifying what constitutes a "copy" or "duplicate" weapon under the 1998 assault weapon ban, including copies of the Colt AR-15 and the Kalashnikov AK-47.

The Massachusetts assault weapons ban mirrors the federal ban that expired in 2004. It bans the sale of specific and name-brand weapons and explicitly bans copies or duplicates of those weapons.

Fox News Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Massachusetts man is facing attempted murder charges after police said he attacked a woman and lit a house on fire with her inside.

Mondel Johnson, 40, attacked an unidentified woman with a hammer, doused her in fluid and then set the house ablaze, the Wareham Police Department said in a statement.

The victim was able to escape the raging fire that destroyed the entire house and receive help from a nearby resident, police said.

Johnson was arrested Thursday, one week after the March 29 fire in Wareham  about 60 miles south of Boston. He is being held without bail, according to police.

Johnson was charged with attempted murder, arson of a dwelling house and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Evan White, a reporter for WFXT-TV, said on social media that Johnson and the victim had met at the house for a drug activity, and the alleged attack occurred after she called him names.

The victim was taken to a hospital and treated, but she has since been released, police said.

A not guilty plea was entered for Johnson in court Friday, according to the Boston Globe.
A 38-year-old Michigan woman was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison this week for pimping out a teenage girl for drugs and money.

Meleney Pully was sentenced to 230 months  just over 19 years  Wednesday in what a federal judge called a horrific offense, a spokesman for the U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan told Fox News.

Pully had pleaded guilty in 2017 to sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud or coercion, the spokesman said.

The teenager testified last year that she was taken in by Pully and her husband, Marvin, after running away from home when she was 16. She said Pully asked her to join a website where she would be prostituted for sex in order to get money for rent for their home in Saginaw, Michigan.

Eventually, the victim testified, the couple wanted even more money for drugs such as heroin and crack. Pully then took nude photographs of the teenager for a sex ad, the victim said.

She said she was tortured and endured abuse  including being urinated on  at the hands of men she was forced to have sex with, according to MLive.

The victim also accused Pully of getting her addicted to crack.

She told Pully in court Wednesday that she forgave her even though she took away my happiness and my will to live.

As of today, I will no longer be carrying this burden, the victim said in a prepared statement. Id like to end this letter by saying I forgive you, from a survivor.

Id like to end this letter by saying I forgive you, from a survivor.

In court Wednesday, Pully blamed her upbringing and drugs for making her a damaged person, MLive reported.

When all this was going on, I didnt see anything wrong with it, she said during her apology. "I'm ashamed and embarrassed and I'm completely sorry."

According to MLive, Pully will participate in a drug treatment program while in prison. Upon her release, she will have to register as a sex offender and be on supervised release for five years, the newspaper reported.

The victim said she was afraid to go to the police because she didnt have anything at the time.

When she pleaded guilty, Pully said she drove the teenager to motel rooms in Saginaw and Bay City for sex, MLive reported. She said she received both drugs and money for the acts.

The trafficking occurred from November 2016 to February 2017, the couple said.

My daughter is stronger than me because she forgave you. I cannot, the teenagers biological mother told Pully in court Thursday. Inmate Pully, I hope you rot.

According to local reports, the couple was arrested in March 2017 at a motel in Bridgeport Township, Michigan after police an anonymous received a tip.

They gained her trust during her status as a runaway and then exploited her by prostituting her out for sexual activity and utilizing that money to further their drug habits, Saginaw County Sheriff Bill Federspiel told WJRT-TV.

The pair was arrested just before a representative from an organization that helps victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking was set to give a presentation on trafficking to hotel workers.

Melvin Pully, 57, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 24 before the same judge, according to a court spokesman. He pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking of a minor in January.
A mother stabbed and decapitated her 7-year-old son in rural western New York minutes before deputies arrived in a response to a call of a suicidal female armed with a knife, according to reports Friday.

First-grader Abraham Cardenas was killed Thursday evening after being stabbed in the back and neck with a "large-bladed kitchen knife," authorities said. Hanane Mouhib, 36, was charged with murder after deputies subdued her with a stun gun in the small town of Sweden, near Rochester.

Theres absolutely no explanation for us, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said at a Friday news conference, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The word evil comes to mind.This is a mother who took her sons life.

Abrahams father, grandmother and 10-year-old brother were in another room in the house when he was killed, Baxter said.

In a span of three days in early March, deputies took Mouhib to a local hospital for psychiatric care after she called 911 twice to say she did not feel right, the paper reported.

After the second visit, Mouhib admitted herself to the hospital and was a patient for nearly three weeks.

Doctors discharged her on March 26.

Mouhib worked as a nurse practitioner for a year at Rochester Mental Health Center, WROC-TV reported. She left that job in January 2017 after a year.

Brockport School District Superindentent Lesli Myers said Abraham was an incredibly vibrant and engaged learner who was loved by his teachers and the school community.

He lit up a room every time he entered it, she said, according to the station.

Mouhib is being held in the county jail without bail.
A goat rescue in western Pennsylvania was no kidding matter.

Two goats had to be saved from a perilous predicament when they wandered onto the 8-inch ledge of a bridge beam over the Mahong River in Lawrence County, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The animals had escaped from a local farm before apparently seeking shelter from a light rain on the ledge on the Beaver Valley Expressway near New Castle.

Borrowing a crane from PennDOT, both goats were rescued and safely returned to their home, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said on its Facebook page Wednesday.

State troopers spotted the wayward goats Tuesday and called in state workers to assist in the rescue.

They may have been there 18 hours, WGAL-TV reported.
Tennessee is the Volunteer State and has a long and proud tradition of volunteers investing their time and talent to the call to service. National Volunteer Week, April 16-21, is a way to honor this state tradition and recognize individuals who have lead by example, demonstrating commitment and inspiring other deeply committed leaders and volunteers to engage in volunteerism which impacts leading to positive change.

Rev. Dr. Roderick L. Ware, senior pastor of New Monumental Baptist Church will be leaving the city of Chattanooga on Sunday, April 22, and a Farewell Musical Tribute in his honor is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, at 6 p.m. at Greater Tuckers Banquet Hall. During this Farewell Musical Tribute, Pastor Ware will receive the 2018 Presidents Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) for Lifetime Achievement; the highest honor bestowed upon active citizens for their contribution to our nation and this award comes from the office of the President of the United States. Scheduled to appear during the Presidential Award Ceremony portion of the program will be Mayor Andy Berke, Commissioner Greg Beck, Councilman Russell Gilbert and a 2017 Presidential Award recipient, Bishop Kevin L. Adams, Sr., pastor of the Olivet Baptist Church.

This National Award, created from the White House, is an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) established in 2003 to recognize, celebrate, and honor citizens as role Model Americans who have dedicated 4,000 or more hours of valuable volunteer service during a 12-month period or over the course of a lifetime and in the process, inspiring others to engage in volunteering. The review and award selection was made during the Trump Administration and therefore will be signed by President Donald J. Trump.

Jacqueline Carmon, CEO of Jaloore Enterprises, Inc. (JEI), is proud to be an official, registered certifying organization, approved, authorized and administered to review, verify and distribute one of the countrys highest honors  the presidential volunteer service award. She said, Over the last 9 years, Pastor Ware showed us that volunteerism has a powerful impact on the community and through mentoring young boys, he embodied the spirit of serving, which snowballed and encouraged others to take action and serve. With gratitude, I am honored to present him with this prestigious award and join in with our nations President to thank him.

Along with the honor of presidential recognition, Pastor Ware will receive a Lifetime Personalized certificate, an official pin, medallion or coin and the Lifetime congratulatory letter signed by the President.

Hosts for this Farewell Musical Tribute & Presidential Award Ceremony will be Greg Funderburg, WTVC News Channel 9 Reporter & Natalie Newbill, 2016 Miss Chattanooga International. For tickets or event details, contact Mrs. Dee Hatten, event coordinator at 423 629-6106. The deadline for tickets will be Sunday, April 15.
Authorities say a Florida teen fatally has shot his girlfriend's parents during an argument.

A Miami-Dade police news release says the shooting occurred Friday morning at a Homestead trailer park.

Police say the 19-year-old man shot his 17-year-old girlfriend's mother, 35-year-old Deborah Ramos-Arce and the mother's boyfriend, 31-year-old David Fluitt.

The release says a 911 caller said someone had been shot at the house, and both teens were there when police arrived. Officials say four children, ages 1 to 10, were in the home at the time of the shooting.

No charges were immediately reported.
The remains of a man believed to have been murdered by the notorious MS-13 gang in 2015 was found on Long Island, the FBI announced Thursday.

The FBI said they believed the body found in Babylon Village, NY, was Ceasar Rivera, 29, who vanished in October 2015, Newsday reported.

Riveras disappearance was first being investigated as a missing person, but was moved to the homicide bureau by the Suffolk County Police Department. The FBI led the case with help from Suffolk County police.

Old body, old murder, a law enforcement official told Newsday. There is no threat to the community at all. This is a case law enforcement has been aware of for a long time. This is more of a recovery than a search.

WHAT IS MS-13, THE VIOLENT GANG TRUMP VOWED TO TARGET?

Rivera was murdered by the violent street gang MS-13 but it was not immediately clear why he was targeted, sources told the newspaper. Officials also believe the suspected killers are already in custody for different crimes.

Its clear from the condition of the remains that theyve been at the site for an extended period of time, and will require forensic testing to determine the identity, FBI public affairs specialist Amy Thoreson told Newsday. We dont have any information to suggest this is associated with an imminent threat to the safety of the community in Babylon.

Thoreson refused to comment regarding the gangs alleged involvement in Riveras death.

Residents were surprised by the discovery of the remains, calling the neighborhood safe.

I wouldnt expect it here, Jessica Patanjo, a resident, told Newsday. Its safe. There are a lot of kids and families.

UNARMED BLACK MAN FATALLY SHOT BY NYPD HAD LONG RAP SHEET, ONCE ARERSTED WITHOUT PANTS AND EATING ROCKS: REPORT

The search for remains comes nearly one year after the FBI found four bodies of men believed to be victims of the gang.

MS-13 violence on Long Island has sharply escalated in recent years and authorities believe the gang is behind at least 25 murders in the area the past two years.

The gang has become a prime target of President Trump, who has vowed to combat the violent group.

Trump in July 2017 visited Brentwood, N.Y., a town that has experienced firsthand tragedy caused by MS-13, and pledged to push Congress for additional federal immigration agents to crack down on gang members who are in the country illegally.

Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Students at a Pennsylvania college want to ban a specific brand of hummus from their campus for its ties to the state of Israel.

Swarthmore Colleges Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter wants to permanently knock Sabra hummus off campus shelves, calling it morally unacceptable because of what they called the Jewish States human rights violations. They claim the company once sent care packages to the Israeli Defense Forces.

By selling Sabra, Swarthmore is an accessory to the occupation of Palestine, the petition reads. We call upon President Smith to affirm the dignity of Palestinian life, recognize the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, and deshelve all current Sabra products and end their future sale at Swarthmore College.

PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENT GROUP SHOUTS DOWN OPENLY GAY ISRAELI ACTIVIST, CALLS HIM FASCIST

The SJP chapter has gained support from several groups on campus, including the Swarthmore African-American Student Society, the Swarthmore Indigenous Students Association, the LatinX Students Organization, the Interfaith Center Interns, the Muslim Student Association and the Swarthmore Queer Union, CampusReform.org reported.

But one campus group is standing in defiance of what they called a divisive and anti-Semitic ban.

The [...] movement is an effectively anti-Semitic movement which seeks to delegitimize and ultimately eliminate the State of Israel, the Swarthmore Students for Israel said in a statement.

To counter the petition, the pro-Israel group announced a fundraiser for an organization that fosters co-existence between Israeli Arabs and Jews.
Survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla., perpetrated by a supporter of the Islamic State terror group, are suing Google, Facebook, and Twitter, alleging that the tech firms allowed the group to proliferate and spread propaganda.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Orlandos federal courthouse, 16 victims of the June 12, 2016 shooting -- the second deadliest in American history -- claim that the three tech giants were responsible for letting ISIS disseminate propaganda on their platforms, thus providing material support to the terror group, in violation of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).

Such support, the suit alleges, let gunman Omar Mateen carry out his attack, which left 49 people dead and another 58 injured, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Mateen was killed in a shootout with responding police officers.

By the time of the terror attacks in this case, ISIS had become one of the largest and most widely recognized and feared terrorist organizations in the world ... due in large part to its use of the Defendants social media platforms to promote and carry out its terrorist activities, wrote Ari Kresch and Keith Altman, the Michigan attorneys who filed the lawsuit.

The expansion and success of ISIS is in large part due to its use of the defendants social media platforms to promote and carry out its terrorist activities, the lawsuit reads. But for ISISs postings using defendants social media platforms, Mateen would not have engaged in his Orlando attack.

"But for ISISs postings using defendants social media platforms, Mateen would not have engaged in his Orlando attack.  Attorneys Ari Kresch and Keith Altman

The survivors of the attack also argue that the tech giants profited from content created by ISIS and that the terror group may have received money from Google-owned YouTube in the form of ad revenue.

The suit requests a judge to declare that the three companies have violated, and are continuing to violate, the Anti-Terrorism Act and force them to pay compensatory damages in amounts to be determined at trial in addition to covering legal costs and other relief.

The legal action in Florida came after a federal judge in Michigan dismissed last Friday the survivors lawsuit against the three tech giants, saying the companies cannot be held responsible for the actions of the shooter, the Sentinel reported.

The only conduct involved with the attacks that is described with any particularity is Mateens, U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson said as he dismissed the case.

The lawsuits dismissal also coincided with a federal jurys ruling that Mateens widow, Noor Salman, was not guilty of aiding her husband and obstructing justice.
The smell of freshly brewed coffee fills a packed cafe situated on a cobblestone street in the coastal city town of Charleston, S.C. Baristas greet customers with smiles, sometimes hugs. At one point, customers and employees start dancing.

I love parties, dance parties, Sam Hazeltine, a barista, told Fox News as he danced behind the counter. I got my groove on. I got my groove onIts fun. Its a happy place.

This small mom-and-pop coffee shop, Bitty and Beaus Coffee, is getting national attention because of its employees, all of whom have intellectual or cognitive disabilities.

Two former Broadway performers opened the shop to open up opportunities for those who, because of physical or developmental delays, struggle finding jobs. Experts say more than 80 percent of individuals with disabilities are without a job.

When we opened this coffee shop we thought we would put a dent in the unemployment rate, Bitty and Beaus Coffee owner Ben Wright told Fox News. What we figured out, what this really is and continues to be, is a human rights movement disguised as a coffee shop.

Named after their two youngest children with Down syndrome, the Wrights opened the first Bitty and Beaus Coffee in Wilmington, N.C. in 2016.

The cafe employs more than three dozen workers with disabilities ranging from Down syndrome to autism.

I think people with developmental and intellectual disabilities (I.D.D) .are not valued like people who dont have those disabilities, Ben Wright said. I think theyre looked at looked upon as broken, as less than less than human. And we are here to say, they are not.

This year they opened their second shop in Charleston with nearly two dozen workers, serving up to 500 people a day.

Hazeltine is one of those workers. Born with Down syndrome, he began working at the shop when it opened in March.

Im trying to help. Hazeltine told Fox News.

The Wrights say they train their employees for about a week in a classroom setting, but they do not use a set curriculum because everyone has a unique way of learning.

Once the employees complete training, they work side by side with members of the management team for on-the-job training. They make more than the minimum wage, which is $7.25 in South Carolina.

People with and without disabilities should be working together, shoulder to shoulder, in every environment. Thats the point of what we are doing, Ben Wright said.

Members from Family Connection, a non-profit dedicated to promoting inclusion for those with disabilities, said they believe people with I.D.D have a harder time seeking employment because there are a lot of misconceptions regarding what it would take to employ them.

They are viewed as not having an ability vs. seeing them as or the capabilities that they do have to our society, Family Connection Executive Director Amy Holbert told Fox News. Not only does it improve morale in the workplace, but it also improves productivity.

She said research has shown corporations that hire people with I.D.D described them as dependable, reliable, productive and engaged.

Employment is great, but I believe integrated employment, meaningful employment, are what we need to strive for as employers and employees, Holbert said.

The Wrights say they are looking at areas to build their next shop, with the hope of having it up and running by the end of the year.

We hope to have shops all over the country one day, where we employ people with disabilities, Amy Wright said. Also, bring people together with and without disabilities so they can see how their lives have value just like everybody elses.


Embattled casino mogul Steve Wynn filed a defamation lawsuit Thursday against attorney Lisa Bloom and her law firm, claiming accusations Wynn leered at female performers could not have been true because he was legally blind at the time.

The lawsuit cites a press release from The Bloom Firm from March 22 when the lawyer detailed her clients sexual harassment allegations against the casino mogul, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

A former ShowStoppers dancer claimed fellow performers would have to strip from workout clothes to their bra and panties when Wynn would visit them during practices, Blooms press release stated.

Mr. Wynn would then sit in the front row of the theater and leer while the female performers danced particularly physically revealing segments of the show, the release said.

Wynn, 76, said the dancers wore audition-appropriate attire, according to court documents filed in Nevada.

During rehearsals of ShowStoppers, all performers  men and women  were expected to wear audition-appropriate attire. The performers selected their own audition-appropriate rehearsal attire, Wynn's suit stated.

STEVE WYNN RESIGNS AS CEO OF WYNN RESORTS, COMPANY SAYS

The documents also included a letter from Wynns attorney to Bloom regarding the press release.

Wynns lawyer claimed his client could not have been leering because he has suffered severe problems with his eyesight for decades and has been legally blind since 2010.

I strongly suspect that at the time you wrote your fictional press release, you intentionally ignored the undisputed fact that Mr. Wynn was legally blind at all times you allege that he 'leered' at [redacted name] on the stage from late 2014 through late October, the note stated.

Wynn is seeking at least $75,000 in damages from Bloom, the lawsuit stated.

Bloom fired back Thursday, saying she will fight him in court and will win.

VEGAS MOGUL STEVE WYNN TO FACE REVIEWS AFTER REPORT ALLEGES SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

In my opinion, Mr. Wynn sued me in an attempt to intimidate other women. This time, he chose the wrong woman. I will fight him in court, and I will win, just as I have won against so many other high profile men, Bloom wrote in a statement. Perhaps Mr. Wynn has not heard of the #MeToo movement. It is even more powerful than an unemployed billionaire.

Wynn resigned from his position as CEO and chairman of Wynn Resorts in February, following sexual misconduct allegations.

Dozens of women have accused the businessman of engaging in inappropriate behavior. He also resigned as the Republican National Committees finance chairman due to the allegations.

Wynn has denied all of the allegations against him.

Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report.
Forgiveness is a central Easter theme, and for one Texas pastor, eliminating medical debt for more than 4,000 local families and veterans was the perfect way to give back.

Pastor Stephen Hayes of Covenant Church, a Dallas-based megachurch, spent 12 days in intensive care after he was struck by a car and fell into a coma when he was a teenager.

His fathers church prayed around the clock for his healing. Hayes miraculously woke up from the coma but his family was then bogged down with escalating medical bills.

The church that prayed over him gathered together and helped pay that debt.

Hayes, now 34, wanted to honor that tradition and teamed up with nonprofit group RIP Medical Debt.

CHURCH HANDS OUT $125,000 TO ATTENDEES WITH ONE SIMPLE REQUEST: PAY IT FORWARD

The group, a debt collector turned debt forgiver, acquires unpaid medical debt at greatly reduced rates and then forgives it. Every $1 donated to the group translates to $100 in debt paid off.

Hayes and Covenant Church donated $100,000, which helped pay off a total of $10,551,618 in medical debt for 4,229 families in the Dallas area.

Not only is the debt itself gone and paid, but also, any negative impact that debt has had on their credit history is wiped clean, Hayes told The Stream. Its the easiest decision weve ever made.

The church helped locate every veteran in the greater Dallas area facing unpaid medical debt, as well as individuals and families, to help them out.

Hayes told Fox News on Thursday that he believes Christians should be known for efforts like this.

Our prayer to God in the past has been Give us our city. We recently have changed that prayer to God, give us to our city.

He added: We began to ask the question, If our doors closed tomorrow, would our city even notice?

NETWORK OF CHURCHES RAISES MORE THAN $1M FOR NATIONWIDE DISASTER RELIEF

Last year, Stephens father, Pastor Mike Hayes, founder and president of Churches In Covenant International, a network of churches and ministries in the United States, started the relief fund, HelpChurches.org, that brought together a network of 50 churches to help raise money for victims of hurricanes that ravaged Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, as well as the survivors of the Las Vegas shooting and the wildfires that swept through California.
A man shot and killed by an NYPD officer Wednesday evening reportedly had a long rap sheet, including one incident in 2008 where officers found him on the street without pants, eating rocks.

Saheed Vassell, a 34-year-old whose family describes him as having bipolar disorder, was killed in a Crown Heights neighborhood after police responded to multiple 911 calls about a black male walking around the area and pointing an object at people.

Vassell had reportedly been arrested 28 times since 1999, including one bizarre incident in 2008 when officers found him on the street, sans pants, the New York Post reported. A source told the New York Post that Vassell was running on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn in boxer shorts before he laid down in the street, banging his head on the pavement and eating rocks.

NYPD RELEASES VIDEO, 911 CALLS TO DEFEND SHOOTING OF PIPE-WIELDING BLACK SUSPECT

Vassell was taken in for psychiatric treatment following the incident. The source also said Vassell was hospitalized in 2011 when his mother alerted police after her son refused to take his medication, adding he was acting erratically. She called police again in 2014 to inform them her son wouldn't take his medication. It was not immediately clear if he was taken to a psychiatric facility following the call.

The 34-year-old's rap sheet includes a first-degree gang assault charge, possession of a firearm and a few assault charges. He was also arrested for armed robbery, grand larceny, criminal mischief, driving without a license and disorderly conduct. The last time he was arrested was in 2013 for assault.

Vassell was not sentenced to time in state prison for any of the charges.

FAMILY, WITNESSES BLAST NYPD AFTER BROOKLYN MAN KILLED BY OFFICERS WHILE WIELDING PIPE RESEMBLING GUN

His shooting has sparked anger aimed at the NYPD. The department released several security videos and 911 transcripts from the minutes leading up to the officers decision to fatally shoot Vassell. The videos appeared to support NYPD claims that Vassell was repeatedly thrusting a metal object that looked like a gun into the faces of several people  including a woman holding the hand of her child. The weapon turned out to be an L-shaped section of pipe.

There must be a way to save this person than to kill them, his father, Eric, told the New York Post. Arent the police trained how to defend [themselves] and prevent killing a mental person?

The material released by the department didn't answer questions about whether the officers had identified themselves or ordered the victim to drop the object before they opened fire. The city's medical examiner found Vassell was struck by bullets seven to nine times, including one shot to the head.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A sperm bank in China wants donors  but only if they're good Communists who love the socialist motherland.

The Third Hospital of Peking University launched a donation campaign this week on its social media account asking potential donors between the ages of 20 and 45 to vow their loyalty to the ruling party.

The requirements, it announced, are that the donors must have no signs of hair loss, weight problems or color blindness, and also that they must love the socialist motherland, support the leadership of the Communist Party, be loyal to the party's cause and be decent, law-abiding, and free of political problems, according to The Telegraph.

The newspaper said demand for sperm in China is booming since the country dropped its one-child policy in 2016, but there are reportedly 40 million infertile men and women there.

Those who pass the requirements at Peking University will be given $32, and then an additional $872 when a donation is received, The Telegraph reported.

As to how devout Communist donors are, a doctor at the hospital said told the South China Morning Post that there is no test for their political reliability.

It would be fine as long as you consider yourself suitable, the doctor said.
An Iranian cleric says the state-sanctioned broadcaster owes an apology to the country's Arab minority for insulting them in a recent program.

The Semi-official Tasnim news agency on Friday quoted Ayatollah Mohsen Heidari, prayer leader of the Khuzestan provincial capital Ahwaz, as saying state TV Channel 2 should apologize.

Heidari was apparently referring to a children's program in March that showed figurines of various minorities in Iran's provinces while ignoring Arabs. The majority of Iran's population is Persian but nearly half the 4 million population of Khuzestan are Arab.

Since then, foreign-based media have reported protests in Khuzestan over the incident.

Though Iranian media have remained silent, Iran's police chief Gen. Hossein Ashtari said last week there were no casualties in Khuzestan.
The Women and members of Bethel A.M.E. Church invite the public to worship with them as they celebrate their annual Womens Day on April 15.



The 11 a.m. speaker will be Mrs. Fannie Wright

The church is at 2000 Walker Ave., Chattanooga, Tn. 37404. This years chairperson is Ms. Birdie Knowles. Rev. A.J. Holman is the pastor.
Hungarys right-wing ruling Fidesz Party, led by outspoken Prime Minister Viktor Orban, looks likely to emerge victorious in the countrys elections Sunday after sticking to its Trump-like policies on illegal immigration -- although it may find its majority in parliament weakened.

While issues such as the economy are high on the agenda, mass migration has been the dominant issue for Orban and his party since 2015. Hungary was on the frontlines of the initial wave of migrants from the Middle East, with hundreds of thousands of migrants flowing through Hungary until Orbans government implemented strict border controls and a fence across its border.



One bad decision, one step in the wrong direction, and our downhill course will be unstoppable, Orban said Wednesday, adding that once again there are those who want to take our country from us, who want us, too, to become an immigrant country.



We leave it to the voters but this is a very clear question that should be decided, whether they would like to have a Hungarian Hungary or a Hungary occupied by migrants, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told Fox News this week.



Orbans hardline approach has sparked ire from human rights groups and international pro-migration governmental organizations such as the U.N. and the European Union. Orban has also accused left-wing billionaire George Soros, who was born in Hungary, of sponsoring anti-Orban forces.



Orbans government has stuck to its rhetoric, regularly using language about Muslim invaders to describe the flow of migration in language that has won him support not just in Hungary but from the nationalist-populist movement in Europe and the U.S.



If you take masses of non-registered immigrants from the Middle East into your country, you are importing terrorism, crime, anti-Semitism, and homophobia, he said in an interview with Bild in January.



Polls suggest that on Sunday, Orban will be rewarded with a fourth term as prime minister -- but with a reduced majority. Some analysts suggest that three years after the migration wave crashed against Hungarys borders, voters are itching for something other than a migration-first campaign.



Fidesz has lost its adaptability as a skill. The whole machinery is so built on this anti-immigration narrative, Peter Kreko, an analyst at Budapest-based think tank Political Capital, told The Wall Street Journal. Its like the air you breathe: Switch on the TV, you see it. Switch on the radio, you hear it.

Orbans Fidesz Party is being squeezed by opposition from parties to its left, plus from the far-right Jobbik. Some of the splintered opposition parties are urging supporters to vote tactically in order to prevent a Fidesz victory, and believe that if there can be a united anti-Fidesz push, they can overturn Orbans majority.



"People may not even vote for their favorite party or candidate but rather for the one with biggest chance" to defeat Fidesz, Jobbik leader Gabor Vona said, according to the Associated Press.

Opponents are hoping to unite by focusing on Orban's anti-democratic and authoritarian moves, countering by promising to expand press freedom, increase anti-corruption efforts and restore checks and balances they say have been eroded during the Orban-era.

Critics accuse Orban of allowing corruption, squashing the free press and rigging the political system. This week Jobbik launched an anti-corruption package that would increase punishment for corruptions and lift parliamentary immunity among other measures.

"The Orban regime is a hybrid regime between democracy and dictatorship," Gergely Karacsony, the prime ministerial candidate of the Socialist Party and the Dialogue party said, according to The AP. "This isn't one election among many, where people vote about their judgment of a good or fairly good government. This is about the social model which has solidified in Hungary."

But Foreign Minister Szijjarto told Fox News that, with the memories of the initial migration wave still in the minds of Hungarians, when tens of thousands of migrants entered the country and turned a railway station in Budapest into a refugee camp, migration is still the main issue on voters minds. He also criticized the approach by the European Union as a failed approach that prioritizes political correctness over national security.

EUROPEAN LEADERS, FACING GROWING PUBLIC EASE, TOUGHEN UP ON IMMIGRATION



There has been a very hypocritical and politically correct approach to migration in Brussels but Hungary has always looked on it as a security issue, he said. For us security comes first, the number one priority is securing the Hungarian people and that Hungarians can make the decision on who should be allowed to come into the country. We are the only ones.



Orbans government welcomed President Trumps victory in 2016, meaning the White House now shared Hungarys skepticism on immigration that European leaders had tried to dismiss as fringe and far-right.



Szijjarto told Fox News that they have seen a more receptive attitude from the U.S. government since Trumps election. He noted that there are currently 1,700 U.S.-based companies in Hungary, at which 100,000 Hungarians are employed.



We understand we share similar approaches on migration -- that the security of our own people comes first, he said, adding that the fence was built before Trump was elected.



The Hungarian government has also claimed success with those policies. Orbans government says that there are still a number of attempted crossings, but they have all been thwarted since they upped their security at the border.



There are still dozens of attempts on a weekly and daily basis to cross the border illegally but we have the fence and we have the army, and since the fence, we have not allowed one single illegal migrant into our country, he said.



The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy who was poisoned in the UK last month, is no longer in critical condition and is responding to treatment, Salisbury District Hospital said Friday.

Hospital officials said Skripal is "responding well to treatment" and is "improving rapidly," Sky News reported.

The BBC reported Skripal was conscious and speaking.

Skripal, 66, along with his daughter, Yulia Skripal, 33, were poisoned with novichok, a Soviet-engineered nerve agent, in the southwestern city of Salisbury on March 4. The two were found unconscious on a public bench before being transported and treated at Salisbury District Hospital.

On Thursday, the Metropolitan Police released a statement by Yulia Skripal, who said her "strength is growing daily" and she is grateful for the interest shown in her case. She said she woke up over a week ago following the poisoning.

EX-RUSSIAN SPY'S DAUGHTER SAYS HER 'STRENGTH IS GROWING DAILY' AFTER NERVE AGENT POISONING

"I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received," she said. "I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated. Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism."

Yulia called the attack "somewhat disorientating" and asked for her family's privacy.

Britain blamed Russia for the attack while Moscow denied all allegations. In response, more than two dozen Western allies, including the U.S., ordered out over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity. In response, Russia ordered out 60 U.S. diplomats and closed the consulate in St. Petersburg in a tit-for-tat response.

Around the same time Skripal's improved condition was announced, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was punishing seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions for what the U.S. called Russia's "malign activity" around the world.

EX-RUSSIAN SPY SERGEI SKRIPAL ALLEGEDLY POISONED: WHAT TO KNOW

Skripal served with Russias military intelligence agency, often known by its Russian-language acronym GRU, and retired in 1999. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry until 2003, and later became involved in business.

Skripal was arrested in 2004 in Moscow and later confessed to having been recruited by British intelligence in 1995. He also said at the time that he provided information about GRU agents in Europe, receiving over $100,000 in return.

At the time of Skripals trial, the Russian media quoted the FSB domestic security agency as saying that the damage from his activities could be compared to harm inflicted by Oleg Penkovsky, a GRU colonel who spied for the United States and Britain. Penkovsky was executed in 1963.

In 2006, Skripal was convicted on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced to 13 years. However, he later was pardoned and released from custody in July 2010 as part of a U.S.-Russian spy swap, which followed the exposure of a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the U.S.

Skripals wife and son have both died in recent years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A South Korean judge said Friday that ex-President Park Geun-hye is guilty of abuse of power and coercion. The details came in a nationally televised verdict as Judge Kim Se-yun read a lengthy statement at Seoul Central District Court.

The sentencing was to follow; prosecutors have demanded a 30-year prison term.

Park has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Friday's court session, citing sickness. Park was removed from office early last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the nation's streets calling for her ouster.

Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, she was dubbed "Queen of Elections" by local media for her track record of leading her party to victory in tight races and still has a small group of fierce supporters who regularly stage rallies calling for her release.

Park maintains that she's a victim of "political revenge" and has been refusing to attend court sessions since October.

Park has previously maintained her innocence.
Russia issued a stark warning to Britain at the United Nations Security Council Thursday, saying youre playing with fire and youll be sorry amid tensions over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter living in the U.K.

Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian U.N. ambassador, addressed the Security Council in an over 30-minute speech aimed to dismiss Britains fake allegations levelled against Moscow, Reuters reported.

We have told our British colleagues that youre playing with fire and youll be sorry, he said at the meeting.

We have told our British colleagues that youre playing with fire and youll be sorry."  Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were the targets of a nerve-agent attack on March 4 while living in England. Tensions between the two countries have reached a level not seen since the end of the Cold War.

The Russian official mocked Britain and suggested anyone who ever watched TV crime shows would know hundreds of clever ways to kill someone to illustrate the risky and dangerous nature of the method Britain claims was used to poison the former spy and his daughter.

The British government said there is evidence Moscow carried out the attack, an allegation the Kremlin denies. The UK, together with its allies, has expelled numerous Russian diplomats from their countries. Russia reacted with expulsion of Western diplomats.

Moscow has seized on the revelation that there is disagreement in Britain whether the poison attack came from Russia. The British Foreign Office admitted this week that it deleted a Twitter post claiming experts had made clear the nerve agent was produced in Russia, Sky News reported.

The now-deleted tweet 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."

This came after the head of the laboratory told Sky News on Tuesday that they could not yet prove the nerve agent used to poison the former spy and his daughter was produced in Russia.

But British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told the Security Council that her countrys actions stand up to any scrutiny and said that We have nothing to hide ... but I do fear that Russia might have something to fear.

Pierce also dismissed Russias demands to allow Russian scientists participate in the UKs investigation into the poisoning.

Allowing Russian scientists into an investigation where they are the most likely perpetrators of the crime in Salisbury would be like Scotland Yard inviting in Professor Moriarty, she told reporters on Thursday, referring to a fictional criminal mastermind character from Sherlock Holmes.
The start of the school year usually involves a lot of paperwork for parents and schools as parents fill-in their information multiple times on a variety of different paper forms, and school personnel spend hours inputting the data into the computer system. Those chores will become a problem of the past as Hamilton County Schools is taking the registration process digital. Registration is online this year to streamline the process for parents of children in kindergarten through twelfth-grade. An application for Pre-K will not be available online but will be available at local schools on Wednesday.

Kindergarten online registration will open Monday and continue thru Friday. Parents may access the online registration for Kindergarten at www.hcde.org/kreg. Parents of returning students will need a Snap Code for the online registration to access a childs current information. The school system mailed the codes to each current Pre-K students home address to allow parents to register online.

Registration for first through twelfth-grade students in Hamilton County Schools will open on Wednesday, July 11, and continue thru Tuesday, Sept. 7.

There are several items needed to be upload during the online registration process including a copy of the childs birth certificate, social security card, and an up-to-date immunization/physical form. Two proof of residence documents and a parent identification will also be required. Acceptable documents for proof of residence can include a current electric, water, gas, phone, or cable bill from within the last 60 days in the custodial/guardians name. Please make a pdf copy of the documents or take a picture of them with a smartphone to upload into the online registration system.

The new online registration process will be for new and current students in the system. Students attending Hamilton County Schools last year will have current information populated into the online registration documents that parents will access with a Snap Code. Schools will provide codes to parents of students registering for first thru twelfth-grade closer to the registration window opening for those grades. Parents are asked to please review the information in the system to make sure it is accurate. If changes are necessary, simply change the information on the online form. Those with more than one child in the system will be able to automatically populate information to the registration of additional children after the first childs registration has been completed.

The online registration system is new, but the process should be a tremendous time saver for parents and school personnel, said officials. For more information or to receive assistance, contact Hamilton County Schools at 498-7074 or email questions to bridges_b@hcde.org. For technical support, parents can visit the school systems PowerSchool Community help center at https://help.powerschool.com or click Help from any page while in the registration system.

Local schools will hold a Kindergarten registration day at individual school locations on Wednesday to assist parents without computer access or uncomfortable with registering their children online. The times for registration at the local schools will vary and are listed on the system website. Paper forms will also be available that day for parents wishing to use them for registration. Student Services Department personnel in the Department of Education office will also be available to assist parents during registration on Wednesday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Department of Education is at 3074 Hickory Valley Road.

Parents may apply for a slot in the systems Pre-K program at the local schools on Wednesday. Application times for schools in the system with Pre-K classes may vary and are available on the system website. The Student Services Department at the Department of Education will also be available to assist with Pre-K registration. The slots for Pre-K are filled based on income and space. Parents need to provide proof of income and residence when submitting the Pre-K application. Pre-K registration is not available online.
Crye-Leike Real Estate Services Affiliate Broker Donna Darnes has earned the Graduate, Realtor Institute designation. Ms. Darnes currently works out of the Crye-Leike Ooltewah office at 5913 Main St., Ste. 107, in Ooltewah.

Real Estate is my passion and learning more to help my clients achieve better success in the real estate endeavors makes it worthwhile," said Ms. Darnes. "My efforts are to give my clients 110 percent of the most competent and dedicated services and deliver to them outstanding results."

With the GRI designation, Ms. Darnes stands out among her peers as a real estate professional that can render broader and more effective services and elevate the standards of the real estate industry, said officials. Administered by the Tennessee Association of Realtors, her new designation will indicate to the public that she has obtained and fulfilled stringent requirements through completion of various real estate courses.

Ms. Darnes actively serves as a chairperson for her local Realtors Grievance Committee. She is a lifetime member of Crye-Leikes Multi-Million Dollar Club and a member of the National Association of Realtors, Tennessee Association of Realtors, and the Greater Chattanooga and Cleveland Association of Realtors.

Ms. Darnes is a current resident of Harrison and is in her 12th year working in the real estate industry. A lifetime member of Crye-Leikes Multi-Million Dollar Club, she is licensed in both Tennessee and Georgia and serves the real estate needs of buyers and sellers in all of (and surrounding areas) of Hamilton County, and Catoosa and Walker Counties in Georgia.

In addition to Ms. Darness recent designation, she is also nationally recognized as a LeadingRE Relocation Specialist, At Home With Diversity Certification, Certified TREES Graduate, and e-PRO certified, Certified Residential Specialist and an Associates of Applied Science degree.

For further information about real estate in and around Hamilton County, contact Ms. Darnes at 544-1906, by email at donna.darnes@crye-leike.com, or visit her website at https://donnadarnes.crye-leike.com/.
Bryan Colleges annual All-College Service Day takes place next Tuesday. During this annual day of service, Bryan College hosts a Luke 14 Fun Day on the Hill event, in which education majors and athletes have invited 90 Rhea County school students with mental or physical disabilities, ranging in age from pre-k to high school, to come to campus for a day of outdoor games, carnival booths and a lunch picnic.Officials said, "Luke 14 Fun Day on the Hill is inspired by a scriptural calling to invite the disabled:Then Jesus turned to his host.'When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,' he said, 'dont invite your friends, brothers, relatives and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.' Luke 14:12-14 (NLT)."Luke 14 Fun Day on the Hill is a part of Bryan Colleges Service Day. On this day, students, faculty and staff take a day off from classes and serve throughout Rhea County and the surrounding areas.
Rotary Club of Chattanooga Hamilton Place hosted Mark Whitacre as their featured speaker.

"Mark, as an executive with Archer Daniels Midland, learned of a corporate price fixing scandal and became the highest level corporate executive in U.S. history to become an FBI informant.

"Mark's presentation centered around his life and faith journey, before, during and after the scandal, which included an almost nine year stay in federal prison. Hollywood made a movie of his story entitled 'The Informant.'

"Mark's account of how he ended up in prison was fascinating, and he credits his wife for being his moral compass and his journey in becoming 'The Informant.'

"Mark stated that in the early years of his career, he was caught up in material possessions, was selfish and did not have God in his life.

"Chuck Colson, who went to prison during the Nixon years, mentored Mark and led him to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While in prison, Mark led 61 prisoners through the Operation Timothy study, which led them to become believers in Christ, and Mark helped them obtain their GED.

"Mark stated that when he was free, he was in a prison and when in prison, he was freed. As an outcome of his experience, he became 'better,' not 'bitter.' Mark wrote a book, 'Against All Odds,' which chronicles his amazing story.," officials said.


Farmers seeking commercial units will be encouraged by the blossoming spring land market, which has offered several strong opportunities.

More than 3,000 acres have hit the market across England and Scotland. Agents say more is to come after heavy snow impeded some sale preparations.

Tom Stewart-Moore, head of Scottish farms agency at Knight Frank, said potential buyers may see a flush of land in May rather than April.

See also: Video: Estate comes to market as family leaves farming after 70 years

In England, Woolley & Wallis partner Richard Nocton said 2018 supply in England was likely to be steady.

In March, his firm brought 451-acre Poulton Farm Estate to the market: a rare, chalk downland farm on the Marlborough Downs with 1,000t of grain storage, cattle buildings and house at a guide price of 7.25m.

This year may well prove to be quieter than last, but for those thinking of holding off selling, the market is unlikely to have improved next year, so there are advantages of selling now, he said.

Heres whats on the spring market:

Large Lincolnshire block

Fully equipped 869-acre Hawerby Hall Farm has been guided at 8.85m as a whole, or in two lots, by Strutt & Parker. Situated at Hawerby-cum-Beesby, near Grimsby, it has Grade 2 and 3 soils with a yard, 4,275t of grain storage, floor drying facilities, large shed and office.

Two rented cottages add a non-farming income and there are further opportunities to convert buildings.

Rare Fife farm

Logie Farm overlooks the Tay estuary in north Fife and has 325 acres of Grade 2 and 3 arable land with the remaining 195 acres split evenly between pasture and woodland.

The property has a farmhouse and modern farm buildings including a cattle court, grain store, workshop and general purpose sheds.

Logie has a guide price of offers over 3m and selling agent Savills said there is a further 264 acres of irrigated arable land available nearby at Dunbog.

Cambridgeshire offering

Most of Manor Farms 314 acres, which surround the village of Broughton, are put to arable production with just 26 acres in grass and two acres in woodland.

There are good farm buildings and two houses included in the sale, which is guided at 3.5m as a whole, or in up to six lots, with Carter Jonas.

Essex farm

Bidwells has launched ring-fenced 298-acre Woodbarns Farm at Belchamp St Paul in Essex at 3.3m as a whole.

But the unit, which comprises 234 acres of Grade 2 cereals land, could sell in up to six lots.

The entire acreage is down to wheat and is supported by some basic grain storage, plus general purpose buildings. The farmhouse needs renovating and a cottage is included.

Dorset investment opportunity

With 884 acres of arable and pasture, buildings, a farmhouse and eight further dwellings, Wyke Farm in north Dorset is an opportunity to create a mixed investment holding, Savills said. Located at Bradford Abbas near Sherborne, the guide price is set at 10.5m.

Flexible Kent block

BTF Partnership has launched 130 acres of bare land in the Weald of Kent between Frittenden and Staplehurst near Maidstone for offers in excess of 895,000. The five fields are in grass but have grown cereals.
Intense competition for British lamb has seen year-on-year values soar by up to 45% at auction markets this week, while the latest deadweight prices have hit their highest ever level.

Figures released by the AHDB show the GB deadweight old season lamb (OSL) SQQ recorded its 22nd week of consecutive growth  gaining another 7.5p, to 536.7p/kg in the week to 31 March.

The measure now stands at the highest ever level across both the new season lamb (NSL) and OSL series. The previous high was recorded in May 2013, the AHDB said.

See also: Fat lamb prices increase 10 per head in a month

Estimated slaughterings for the week stood at 231,700 head, 3% above the same week last year.

Strong performance

AHDB analyst Rebecca Oborne said throughput was an especially strong performance considering the Easter weekend.

Reports suggested some abattoirs still worked a full kill week despite the bank holidays, Ms Oborne added.

AHDB figures for GB liveweight OSL standard quality quotation also rose sharply by 7.68p week-on-week, to 240.07p/kg standing at 61.77p above year earlier levels up to 31 March.

The trend has continued through the past week with prices up to 251.42p/kg by Wednesday 4 April, 26.07p above week earlier levels and 10p above the previous day.

Soaring prices

The soaring prices have been seen across the country, according to Livestock Auctioneers Association executive secretary Chris Dodds.

Competition between buyers at livestock markets is intense and we have seen them driving up the price by 60-70p/kg year on year, Mr Dodds said.

He suggested that was due to strong demand for British lamb combined with a lower supply after the harsh winter and spring weather.

The demand has been driven by retailers switching to British. That is especially good news given the uncertainty over Brexit, Mr Dodds said.

Relatively high global prices and a weaker sterling have also made imports less attractive, he added.

Buoyant market

The buoyant market showed no signs of abating, he said, with old season supply dwindling and a slow changeover to new caused by losses and poor growth rates in harsh weather.

In the south east of England auctioneer Elwyn Davies said Ashford market in Kent had seen 35-55kg hoggets average 112 a head. That is 45% higher than the same price a year ago when the average was 77 a head for the same weight.

We are optimistic that the buoyant market will continue because demand is high both for exports and the home market, Mr Davies said.

I cant see that changing any time soon because the supply of NSL is going to be slow.

Fewer people produce early lamb in the south because input costs are so high that it doesnt make sense to push them hard, Mr Davies suggested.

Strong demand

At the opposite end of the country Jonny Williams, senior livestock procurement officer for farmer marketing group Farm Stock Scotland, said price rises had been similar to those at Ashford.

We are seeing the highest levels for many years driven by a strong demand for Scotch lamb.

I dont see that changing before the Royal Highland Show [at the end of June] because NSL supplies have been hit so hard, said Mr Williams.

There have been big losses of stock in the severe weather so that will hold back supply, Mr Williams added.

The situation was repeated in North Wales and the Welsh borders.

Livestock Auctioneers Association chairman John Brereton who sells at St Asaph and Oswestry markets said demand for lamb was strong across all weight ranges and breeds.

[On Thursday 5 April] St Asaphs old season lamb had hit 285p/kg while new season had gone beyond the 3/kg mark, Mr Brereton said.

Competition between buyers at the markets even for the heavy weigh ranges has been intense and fuelled further by an excellent export trade.

I am optimistic this buoyant trade will not slow down, Mr Brereton added.
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Thunderstorms in the morning followed by occasional showers in the afternoon. High 83F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Overcast with showers at times. Low 79F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
The officer was investigating an altercation when the shooting occurred after a car nearly struck him in a parking lot.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will host the 2018 Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop June 1-3 in Crossville at the Clyde M. York 4-H Center.



The popular annual event is hosted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is conducted in a relaxed atmosphere. The BOW workshop is an opportunity for those 18 or older to learn outdoor skills usually associated with hunting and fishing.



However, the workshop provides useful for other outdoor pursuits and interests. Workshop participants will have a chance to select from a variety of courses over the three days and the classes are taught by experts in their respective fields.



This year's workshop offers classes in introduction to firearms/safety, basic fishing skills, advanced fishing techniques, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) operation, basic archery, paddleboarding, boating safety education, outdoor cooking, wild edible foray, beginning fly fishing, nature photography basics, basic canoeing, introduction to kayaking, basic shotgun, survival skills, backyard habitat, map/compass, introduction to muzzleloading, introduction to turkey hunting, introduction to deer hunting, introduction to waterfowl hunting, basic trapping, reading the woods, scuba, and stream ecology.



The workshop fee is $225 and includes lodging at the Clyde M. York 4-H Center, meals, T-shirt, and a 2018-19 Tennessee Hunting and Fishing License. Registration is taken on a first-come, first-serve basis. Applications may be obtained from the TWRA website at www.tnwildlife.org, or any TWRA regional office. For more information contact Donald Hosse, Wildlife Education Program Coordinator, at don.hosse@tn.gov or telephone (615) 781-6541.






China-Russia relations are at the best level in history and the two countries need to further strengthen their cooperation in view of various uncertainties on the international and regional agenda, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting. [Photo: IC]

At a press conference following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Wang, also special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin once again on his re-election with record support rate, recalling that Xi was also elected Chinese president by a unanimous vote last month.

He said that the results of the presidential elections of China and Russia fully manifested that the paths of development of the two countries are supported wholeheartedly by their peoples.

China believes that under the leadership of President Putin, the Russian people will unite as one and keep on achieving new accomplishments in national rejuvenation and development regardless of difficulties, Wang said.

In the meantime, China will continue to support Russia's efforts to safeguard its own rightful and legitimate interests and play a bigger role in international and regional affairs, he said.

Noting that current international and regional situations are still full of uncertainties, Wang said China and Russia, as close strategic partners, need to strengthen their communication and cooperation.

Wang said the fact that he was visiting Russia as the special envoy of President Xi showed that China attaches great importance to the development of its relations with Russia and reflected the priority of the bilateral ties on the respective diplomatic agendas of the two countries.

During the talks, the two ministers held in-depth discussions on bilateral ties and crucial international and regional issues, according to Wang.

They agreed that current China-Russia relations are better than ever. With the pairing of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, major projects are actively promoted in such fields like energy, investment, infrastructure and aerospace, Wang said.

Cultural cooperation is also in full swing as the "years of China-Russia local cooperation and exchange" are being held this year and the next, which opens up new space in the bilateral relations, he added.

As for cooperation on international affairs, Wang said China and Russia will work actively together to push forward a political settlement on major issues and enhance coordination within the framework of multilateral mechanisms including the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS.

In view of the complicated international situation, China and Russia, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and comprehensive strategic partners of coordination, need to strengthen and prioritize coordination with each other, especially on their major policies and actions, so as to safeguard regional and global peace and stability, Wang said.

President Putin is scheduled to visit China this year, and the two heads of state of the two countries are also expected to meet on a number of other important bilateral and multilateral occasions, he said.

China and Russia will coordinate in preparation of a series of activities on the highest level and implement agreements reached by the heads of state afterwards, Wang said.




xspraise at 6-04-2018 02:18 AM (3 years ago) (m)

Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy and Cassie are making sure Game isnt having too much fun in Dubai. The hip-hop couple have come through to flex their overseas relationship goals.

Bad Boy Records CEO Diddy and Cassie are making sure Game isnt having too much fun in Dubai. The hip-hop couple have come through to flex their overseas relationship goals.

Puff Daddy went to Instagram Thursday (April 5) to share a Dubai moment with his 10.2 million followers.



He made his first Middle East appearance at a party in Lebanon last July, and now P. Diddy is in Dubai. Ahead of an appearance at Gotha club on April 5, the rapper-and-producer made sure he enjoyed the emirate's luxury dining scene, namely Zuma.



Diddy certainly arrived in style at the DIFC neighborhood venue before chowing down on Japanese food, he emerged from an elevator with enough people to fool your eyes into thinking your witnessing a party trick.







LAST NIGHT, GAME SHARED SOME EPIC DUBAI SHOTS ON HIS SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES.







In a new GQ interview, Diddy revealed his plans to launch a new app with rap icon JAY-Z to help people locate black-owned businesses.



He said he wants to develop an app that will allow users to look at a given city or neighborhood and see where the black-owned and black-friendly businesses are. He didnt want to say too much about the app. It wasnt finished. He didnt have a name for it yet. This is not about taking away from any other community, he said. Well still go to Chinatown. Well still buy Gucci! He laughed. But the application will make it possible for us to have an economic community. Its about blacks gaining economic power. He and Jay-Z have been talking about this, he said, about moving the race forward actively, by means of: making a lot of money and putting it back into the community. (GQ)



Last month, JAY-Z made headlines after finally dethroning Puffy from Forbes annual wealthiest hip-hop artists list.



Jay-Z upped his net worth from $810 million to $900 million over the past year, seizing hip-hops cash crown for the first time since Forbes started counting back in 2011. The Brooklyn-born moguls jump is due mostly to the rising value of his interests in Armand de Brignac champagne and DUsse cognac, on top of nine-figure ownership stakes in his Roc Nation empire and Tidal streaming service. Dre ranks third with $770 million, creeping upward thanks to the market trends boosting his nine-figure windfall from Apples $3 billion buyout of Beats in 2014. (Forbes)



The countdown has begun!!! Dubai I cant wait to meet you and all my brothers and sisters out there!! This is my first time in Dubai and Im going to be at Club Gotha April 5th. Aint no party like a Diddy Party so dont miss out. A post shared by Diddy (@diddy) on Mar 31, 2018 at 5:24am PDT

GREETINGS FROM DUBAI A post shared by Diddy (@diddy) on Apr 5, 2018 at 9:59am PDT Puff Daddy went to Instagram Thursday (April 5) to share a Dubai moment with his 10.2 million followers.He made his first Middle East appearance at a party in Lebanon last July, and now P. Diddy is in Dubai. Ahead of an appearance at Gotha club on April 5, the rapper-and-producer made sure he enjoyed the emirate's luxury dining scene, namely Zuma.Diddy certainly arrived in style at the DIFC neighborhood venue before chowing down on Japanese food, he emerged from an elevator with enough people to fool your eyes into thinking your witnessing a party trick.In a new GQ interview, Diddy revealed his plans to launch a new app with rap icon JAY-Z to help people locate black-owned businesses.He said he wants to develop an app that will allow users to look at a given city or neighborhood and see where the black-owned and black-friendly businesses are. He didnt want to say too much about the app. It wasnt finished. He didnt have a name for it yet. This is not about taking away from any other community, he said. Well still go to Chinatown. Well still buy Gucci! He laughed. But the application will make it possible for us to have an economic community. Its about blacks gaining economic power. He and Jay-Z have been talking about this, he said, about moving the race forward actively, by means of: making a lot of money and putting it back into the community. (GQ)Jay-Z upped his net worth from $810 million to $900 million over the past year, seizing hip-hops cash crown for the first time since Forbes started counting back in 2011. The Brooklyn-born moguls jump is due mostly to the rising value of his interests in Armand de Brignac champagne and DUsse cognac, on top of nine-figure ownership stakes in his Roc Nation empire and Tidal streaming service. Dre ranks third with $770 million, creeping upward thanks to the market trends boosting his nine-figure windfall from Apples $3 billion buyout of Beats in 2014. (Forbes)

Post Reply I am Victor, I write reportage on sport news and latest metro happenings in Nigeria. Posted: at 6-04-2018 02:18 AM (3 years ago) | Hero
xspraise at 6-04-2018 02:28 AM (3 years ago) (m)

Detectives have arrested Lavender Akinyi Ogilo, a woman who has been on their list of most wanted gangsters in Nairobi. Lavender was arrested on Tuesday after police raided her house in Ruaka.

Detectives have arrested Lavender Akinyi Ogilo, a woman who has been on their list of most wanted gangsters in Nairobi. Lavender was arrested on Tuesday after police raided her house in Ruaka.

Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti has described Lavender as the head of a gang of four that targets upmarket neighbourhoods.



The gang has been terrorising residents of Muthaiga, Lavington and Kileleshwa for the last three years. They were recently captured in CCTV cameras robbing residents of Muthaiga.



Laveder is being held at Kilimani Police Station.



Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti has described Lavender as the head of a gang of four that targets upmarket neighbourhoods.The gang has been terrorising residents of Muthaiga, Lavington and Kileleshwa for the last three years. They were recently captured in CCTV cameras robbing residents of Muthaiga.Laveder is being held at Kilimani Police Station.

Post Reply I am Victor, I write reportage on sport news and latest metro happenings in Nigeria. Posted: at 6-04-2018 02:28 AM (3 years ago) | Hero
kacylee at 6-04-2018 07:01 AM (3 years ago) (f)

A playboy with a penchant for scams, has been arrested after a manhunt that lasted almost 2 weeks, for his role in scamming a number of high profile Kenyan legislators, senators, cabinet secretaries and others.

A playboy with a penchant for scams, has been arrested after a manhunt that lasted almost 2 weeks, for his role in scamming a number of high profile Kenyan legislators, senators, cabinet secretaries and others.

Benson Chacha of Kenya is the main suspect in a fraudulent venture involving fake M-Pesa accounts registered in the names of MPs and used to solicit money. Several MPs and other VIPs were duped into sending money in the belief they were responding to distress calls by their colleagues. Chacha also claimed to have been involved romantically and sexually with no less than 13 female politicians and it is believed that he used this influence to run his fraudulent operation.



He is reported to have used the name of Muranga Woman Representative, Sabina Chege, a Kenyan politician, to solicit for funds from fellow MPs and other politicians.



He had fled to Tanzania where he planned to then make his way to Zanzibar where he had already rented a house.











Chacha claimed to be in the possession of CCTV footage of his trysts with the female politicians, a claim which one of the alleged lovers, Chege, has denied, even going as far as to dare him to release it.



She said during an interview with Hot 96; Im waiting. Because, let me tell you, I will not be intimidated. When I spoke about it in Parliament and I asked the Speaker that I needed to make a personal statement, one, it is because I can tell you I have never had any personal contact with Chacha,



With the kind of relationship we are talking about, if Chacha had videos, he would have released them, she added. Benson Chacha of Kenya is the main suspect in a fraudulent venture involving fake M-Pesa accounts registered in the names of MPs and used to solicit money. Several MPs and other VIPs were duped into sending money in the belief they were responding to distress calls by their colleagues. Chacha also claimed to have been involved romantically and sexually with no less than 13 female politicians and it is believed that he used this influence to run his fraudulent operation.He is reported to have used the name of Muranga Woman Representative, Sabina Chege, a Kenyan politician, to solicit for funds from fellow MPs and other politicians.He had fled to Tanzania where he planned to then make his way to Zanzibar where he had already rented a house.Chacha claimed to be in the possession of CCTV footage of his trysts with the female politicians, a claim which one of the alleged lovers, Chege, has denied, even going as far as to dare him to release it.She said during an interview with Hot 96; Im waiting. Because, let me tell you, I will not be intimidated. When I spoke about it in Parliament and I asked the Speaker that I needed to make a personal statement, one, it is because I can tell you I have never had any personal contact with Chacha,With the kind of relationship we are talking about, if Chacha had videos, he would have released them, she added.

Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 6-04-2018 07:01 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero
clarajancita at 6-04-2018 12:46 PM (3 years ago) (f)

A teenager in north-east London named Israel Ogunsola was stabbed to death, on Wednesday night, taking the capitals suspected murder toll to more than 50 in just three months.

A teenager in north-east London named Israel Ogunsola was stabbed to death, on Wednesday night, taking the capitals suspected murder toll to more than 50 in just three months.

The teenager died in Hackney at 8.24pm, about half an hour after being stabbed, despite the efforts of a police officers, paramedics and a trauma doctor.



Chief superintendent Sue Williams, who leads the Hackney and Tower Hamlets police command said:



My officers  did all they could to try to save the life of the teenager, rendering emergency first aid and chest compressions with the help of an off-duty paramedic until the ambulance service and Londons air ambulance arrived. They are devastated they were unable to prevent yet another tragic death in the capital.



According to Guardian, two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder. The teenager died in Hackney at 8.24pm, about half an hour after being stabbed, despite the efforts of a police officers, paramedics and a trauma doctor.Chief superintendent Sue Williams, who leads the Hackney and Tower Hamlets police command said:My officers  did all they could to try to save the life of the teenager, rendering emergency first aid and chest compressions with the help of an off-duty paramedic until the ambulance service and Londons air ambulance arrived. They are devastated they were unable to prevent yet another tragic death in the capital.According to Guardian, two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 6-04-2018 12:46 PM (3 years ago) | Hero
South Africa Police Disgrace And Assault Nigerian Man For Not Having A Driver's License (Video)

clarajancita at 6-04-2018 01:14 PM (3 years ago) (f)

The metropolitan police has been accused of assaulting and disgracing a Nigerian man for allegedly not having his driver's license. Some metropolitan police officers in South Africa have been caught on camera assaulting and stripping a Nigerian man unclad for allegedly not having his driver's license.

The metropolitan police has been accused of assaulting and disgracing a Nigerian man for allegedly not having his driver's license. Some metropolitan police officers in South Africa have been caught on camera assaulting and stripping a Nigerian man unclad for allegedly not having his driver's license.

It was gathered that the Nigerian man was stopped by the police officers while driving and it was discovered he had no drivers license. The officers decided to forcefully arrest him before allegedly stripping him unclad.



Despite the mans screams and shouting, the police officers continued with the arrest and placed him in handcuffs. Reacting on Facebook, The Eze Ndigbo in South Africa condemned the police over the sad incident. He wrote:

It was gathered that the Nigerian man was stopped by the police officers while driving and it was discovered he had no drivers license. The officers decided to forcefully arrest him before allegedly stripping him unclad.Despite the mans screams and shouting, the police officers continued with the arrest and placed him in handcuffs. Reacting on Facebook, The Eze Ndigbo in South Africa condemned the police over the sad incident. He wrote: Quote "Nigeria government see what South African Government are doing to Nigeria in South Africa, n*ked him, heating him on his p*nis because of driving Licence of which his friend said he got. Black Africa are Selevery in South Africa, xenophobia is better than slave. Why South African forces is very wicked towards Nigeria in South Africa why?"



Watch video below:

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<iframe src="

[\html] Watch video below:[html] https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FGossipMillNaija%2Fvideos%2F924520857754429%2F&show_text=0&width=261 " width="261" height="476" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"> [\html]

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:14 PM (3 years ago) | Hero

fineboy77 at 6-04-2018 01:22 PM (3 years ago)

(m) First of all,driving without a drivers license though an offense,but not a criminal offense,so why manhandle him? What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:22 PM (3 years ago) | Hero First of all,driving without a drivers license though an offense,but not a criminal offense,so why manhandle him? Reply

fineboy77 at 6-04-2018 01:22 PM (3 years ago)

(m) The Eze ndigbo should just go back to school jare,which kain English be dat sef? What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:22 PM (3 years ago) | Hero The Eze ndigbo should just go back to school jare,which kain English be dat sef? Reply

nature7888 at 6-04-2018 01:25 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Very bad Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:25 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac Very bad Reply

fineboy77 at 6-04-2018 01:26 PM (3 years ago)

(m) i tire for the video too,wan turn my eyes into 4:30 eyes What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:26 PM (3 years ago) | Hero i tire for the video too,wan turn my eyes into 4:30 eyes Reply

Mashbol at 6-04-2018 01:37 PM (3 years ago)

(m) I've told everyone I know "even my enemies" to leave that country Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:37 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac I've told everyone I know "even my enemies" to leave that country Reply

fineboy77 at 6-04-2018 01:51 PM (3 years ago)

(m) lest i forget,the poster of this news should learn how to get better headlines. Please remove the disgrace from that post,this is just an assault and if anything disgrace,it is the SA police disgracing themselves,in this hate crime. What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 6-04-2018 01:51 PM (3 years ago) | Hero lest i forget,the poster of this news should learn how to get better headlines. Please remove the disgrace from that post,this is just an assault and if anything disgrace,it is the SA police disgracing themselves,in this hate crime. Reply

Wazubia at 6-04-2018 02:01 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Quote from: fineboy77 on 6-04-2018 01:26 PM i tire for the video too,wan turn my eyes into 4:30 eyes

Lol guy man. Posted: at 6-04-2018 02:01 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac Lol guy man. Reply

cypanyahucha at 6-04-2018 03:34 PM (3 years ago)

(m) Na waaoo. You ought to have complete papers in a crazy country Posted: at 6-04-2018 03:34 PM (3 years ago) | Gistmaniac Na waaoo. You ought to have complete papers in a crazy country Reply

ruthie at 6-04-2018 03:39 PM (3 years ago)

(f) they hate Nigerians.... Posted: at 6-04-2018 03:39 PM (3 years ago) | Hero they hate Nigerians.... Reply

slimber at 6-04-2018 04:16 PM (3 years ago)

(f) Was my own always one thing or the other Posted: at 6-04-2018 04:16 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Was my own always one thing or the other Reply

kacylee at 6-04-2018 07:01 PM (3 years ago)

(f) na wa ooo..... but they come here and do as they like I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 6-04-2018 07:01 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero na wa ooo..... but they come here and do as they like Reply

gogoman at 6-04-2018 07:24 PM (3 years ago)

(m) SO HE FIT DRIVE WITHOUT LICENSE BUT HE NO WON GO JAIL Posted: at 6-04-2018 07:24 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero SO HE FIT DRIVE WITHOUT LICENSE BUT HE NO WON GO JAIL Reply

EDDYPRINCE at 6-04-2018 11:38 PM (3 years ago)

(m) SA name racist country, dem hate naija Posted: at 6-04-2018 11:38 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero SA name racist country, dem hate naija Reply

fineboy77 at 7-04-2018 10:18 PM (3 years ago)

(m) SA na racist country,especially against fellow blacks,i just hate them What is the color beneath your skin? Posted: at 7-04-2018 10:18 PM (3 years ago) | Hero SA na racist country,especially against fellow blacks,i just hate them Reply
bohlah at 6-04-2018 09:51 PM (3 years ago) (m)

Botswanas newly appointed 30 year old minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo is being celebrated on social media by many Africans, who say her appointment despite her age is a rare feat that needs to be replicated across the continent.

Botswanas newly appointed 30 year old minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo is being celebrated on social media by many Africans, who say her appointment despite her age is a rare feat that needs to be replicated across the continent.



Kenewendo was one of the ministers appointed by Botswanas new president Mokgweetsi Masisi, who in his inaugural address pledged to invest in the youth and create job opportunities for them.



Kenewendo, appointed the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister becomes Botswanas youngest ever minister, two years after she was appointed by the former president Ian Khama as a member of parliament.



While some social media users have cautioned against celebrating her appointment simply because of her age, Kenewendo is no stranger to the portfolio shes been tasked to manage.



She has previously worked as a trade economist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Government of Ghana.



Botswanas newly appointed 30 year old minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo is being celebrated on social media by many Africans, who say her appointment despite her age is a rare feat that needs to be replicated across the continent.





Kenewendo was one of the ministers appointed by Botswanas new president Mokgweetsi Masisi, who in his inaugural address pledged to invest in the youth and create job opportunities for them.



Kenewendo, appointed the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister becomes Botswanas youngest ever minister, two years after she was appointed by the former president Ian Khama as a member of parliament.



While some social media users have cautioned against celebrating her appointment simply because of her age, Kenewendo is no stranger to the portfolio shes been tasked to manage.



She has previously worked as a trade economist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Government of Ghana.





She was one of two youth delegates to represent Botswana at the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she presented a statement of African youth to the UN Secretary General.



Kenewendo holds an MSc in International Economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and was a recipient of a prestigious Chevening Scholarship in 2012. Kenewendo was one of the ministers appointed by Botswanas new president Mokgweetsi Masisi, who in his inaugural address pledged to invest in the youth and create job opportunities for them.Kenewendo, appointed the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister becomes Botswanas youngest ever minister, two years after she was appointed by the former president Ian Khama as a member of parliament.While some social media users have cautioned against celebrating her appointment simply because of her age, Kenewendo is no stranger to the portfolio shes been tasked to manage.She has previously worked as a trade economist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Government of Ghana.Botswanas newly appointed 30 year old minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo is being celebrated on social media by many Africans, who say her appointment despite her age is a rare feat that needs to be replicated across the continent.Kenewendo was one of the ministers appointed by Botswanas new president Mokgweetsi Masisi, who in his inaugural address pledged to invest in the youth and create job opportunities for them.Kenewendo, appointed the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister becomes Botswanas youngest ever minister, two years after she was appointed by the former president Ian Khama as a member of parliament.While some social media users have cautioned against celebrating her appointment simply because of her age, Kenewendo is no stranger to the portfolio shes been tasked to manage.She has previously worked as a trade economist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Government of Ghana.She was one of two youth delegates to represent Botswana at the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she presented a statement of African youth to the UN Secretary General.Kenewendo holds an MSc in International Economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and was a recipient of a prestigious Chevening Scholarship in 2012.

Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 6-04-2018 09:51 PM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Colonial Coal International Corp. (TSX-V:CAD) (the Corporation or Colonial Coal) is pleased to announce that it has granted stock options (each, a Stock Option) to acquire an aggregate of up to 7,325,000 common shares of the Company to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants of the Company in accordance with the provisions of the Companys previously approved share option plan. The Stock Options are fully vested and are exercisable at a price of $0.31 per common share for a period of 10 years from the date of grant.

Following the issuance of these Options the Company has a total of 11,570,000 options outstanding pursuant to its share option plan, which represent approximately 7.78% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company. This grant of Options is subject to regulatory approval.

About Colonial Coal International Corp.

Colonial Coal is a publicly traded coal corporation in British Columbia that focuses primarily on coking coal projects. The northeast Coal Block of British Columbia, within which our Corporations projects are located, hosts a number of proven deposits and has been the subject of M&A activities by Xstrata, Anglo-American and others.

Additional information can be found on the Corporations website www.ccoal.ca or by viewing the Corporations filings at www.sedar.com.

For further information please contact:

Colonial Coal International Corp.

David Austin, President and CEO

604.568.4962

daustin@ccoal.ca

www.ccoal.ca

Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release involves forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the Corporations potential sale of an interest in its Flatbed Property. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a Corporations expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, and intend, statements that an action or event may, might, could, should, or will be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; and the volatility of common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on managements beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and except as required by law, the Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS NEWS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE CORPORATION AS OF THE DATE OF THIS NEWS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE CORPORATION MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE SECURITIES LEGISLATION.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
English Latvian

In 2017, Baltic International Bank embarked on implementing its business strategy approved in the autumn of 2016. The strategy envisages a business model geared towards various wealth management solutions and socially responsible investing both in Latvia and overseas.

In 2017 the Bank actively worked to transform its operations in line with the Banks new investments-based business model. Upon concluding the organisation of the Banks assets and introducing the new business model, the structure and number of customers of the Bank changed, and deposits decreased significantly.

In the 2nd half of 2017, Baltic International Bank significantly strengthened its clients service team and actively focused on attracting new clients, as well as establishing a new level of business relations with existing clients, thus in the 2nd half of 2017, all financial indicators relating to the amount of client funds increased.

In the 2nd half of 2017, the total of customer funds grew by 18% and reached EUR 444 million, the amount of deposits attracted by Baltic International Bank went up by 25,5% during the reporting period. The assets under management at the end of 2017 amounted to EUR 68,17 million, and the value of financial instruments in brokerage service  EUR 120,71 million.

According to the unaudited results of Baltic International Bank, at the end of December 2017 the banks assets demonstrated 11,5% increase, amounting to EUR 297,95 million. The Banks loan portfolio totalled EUR 62,73 million or 21,1 percent of the total assets as of 31 December 2017.

The financial asset structure is still predominantly represented by investments in available-for-sale financial assets: EUR 42,19 million or 14,2 percent of the total assets. High-quality liquid assets (assets carrying investment-grade credit rating and balances due from the Bank of Latvia) amounted to EUR 159,44 million or 53,5 percent of the total assets. Investments in government bonds totalled EUR 26,87 million or 9 percent of the total assets.

Operations related to changing the business model and customer structure, as well as the quality assessment of some historically acquired assets of the Bank created an expected temporary negative impact on the Banks financial indicators, thus the Bank ended 2017 with a loss of EUR 8,09 million. The financial results were also influenced by investments in continued improvement of the internal control system, development of information technologies and infrastructure that Baltic International Bank carried out in 2017, as well as investments in staff and strengthening their competence.

The operating income totalled EUR 14,4 million, which is less than at the end of previous period. The management of the bank appreciates the dynamics of the income structure - the percentage of fee and commission income increased to 24,5 percent compared to the same period last year when the fee and commission income totalled 17,7%. The net interest income increased by 13,8 percent compared to the same period last year when The net interest income totalled 11,3%.

Administrative costs reached EUR 13,73 million, which is 5,9 percent below the level of the previous year.

The liquidity ratios exceed the regulatory thresholds. As of 31 December 2017, the liquidity ratio was 92,28 percent. The structure of liquid assets is well diversified, as represented by bonds 19,92 percent, due from credit institutions 13,21 percent, due from the Bank of Latvia 65,87 percent and cash 1 percent. The liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) totalled 375,45 percent. The net stable funding ratio (NSFR), characterizing the availability of a stable funding profile in relation to the composition of assets and off-balance sheet activities, reached 158,08 percent.

As of 31 December 2017, the Banks own funds totalled EUR 24,85 million. The Banks Tier I capital ratio (CETI) totalled 9,39 percent. Total capital ratio reached 13%.

Taking into account the financial results of the Bank in 2017, and actively supporting the development of Baltic International Bank, basing on the new business model, shareholders meeting in January 26, 2018 made the decision to increase Banks capital by EUR 6 million. We firmly believe that the capital-increase will give a decisive fillip to the expansion of banks business both domestically and internationally, and the banks current and potential customers will all be winners!

In 2017, Baltic International Bank continued to implement a broad range of social responsibility projects promoting the development of culture, art and public opinion in Latvia. Baltic International Bank supported the publication of several books in the series Mes. Latvija, XX gadsimts (Us. Latvia. The XX century) and other publications of significance to Latvias cultural history. In 2017, the Bank also supported the development of start-ups. The Baltic International Bank Latvian Barometer surveys were carried out throughout the year, providing a unique monthly insight into the general mood and public opinion in Latvia regarding various current topics of national importance. Thanks to its sustainable model of operations and broad range of social responsibility initiatives, Baltic International Bank ranked in the Gold category of the 2017 Sustainability Index.
Eleven Year Old Girl Publishes The Baptism Song as a Picture Book for Children and Families Around the World (www.BaptismSong.com) Contact: Dennis Buettner,

410-852-6928,

Dennis.Buettner@gmail.com;

www.BaptismSong.com



SEVERNA PARK, Md., April 6, 2018 /



Budding artist, Bethany Buettner wanted some "daddy and me" time when she asked her father to show her how to design, draw and publish a book. Little did she know they would create a "first and only one-of-a-kind," children's picture book illustrated to enhance and memorialize the celebration date of Christian Baptism, Christening and Baby Dedications around the world.



"I like spending time with my daddy," says Bethany. "My father is a fun teacher. With his guidance, I took the song he wrote, The Baptism Song, and we found an Christian illustrator named Mentol from Malang City, East Java, Indonesia. My job was art director of the book, discussing the project with our team (Mentol, daddy and me) and making very precise sketches, photographs and directions for our Mentol. We spent 3 months of work and passed over 150 pages of notes, pictures, sketches and videos back and forth between our home and Mentol in Malang City."



Dennis stated, "The Baptism Song and Book is currently being translated into Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. We have been approached by individuals and groups from around the world who want to translate it into their language. It is very exciting and humbling for us. Bethany's favorite part is that she is able to send money to Mentol to help in her life mission assisting underprivileged boys and girls in Malang City, Indonesia. Bethany says when she hears people sing The Baptism Song she 'happy cries' every time knowing that she is helping people in need on the other side of the world."



We can mail a printed version of The Baptism Song for your review (US, Canada, England and Europe). The entire book, musical arrangement, song and video are available for free on our website,



Note: We live in Maryland, USA on Washington, D.C. time. Bethany does homework from 4:00 - 4:30 PM. Dennis can be contacted anytime.



Share Tweet Contact: Dennis Buettner,410-852-6928,SEVERNA PARK, Md., April 6, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- Eleven year old Bethany Buettner, working with her father, published The Baptism Song Book from a lullaby her father wrote to be sung at children's Baptism celebrations. When his wife was pregnant with twins, Dennis penned The Baptism Song after he could not find a suitable song for their old fashioned riverside Baptism celebration. The Baptism Song Book is being translated into at least 7 languages sung and spoken by over 1 billion Christians worldwide.Budding artist, Bethany Buettner wanted some "daddy and me" time when she asked her father to show her how to design, draw and publish a book. Little did she know they would create a "first and only one-of-a-kind," children's picture book illustrated to enhance and memorialize the celebration date of Christian Baptism, Christening and Baby Dedications around the world."I like spending time with my daddy," says Bethany. "My father is a fun teacher. With his guidance, I took the song he wrote, The Baptism Song, and we found an Christian illustrator named Mentol from Malang City, East Java, Indonesia. My job was art director of the book, discussing the project with our team (Mentol, daddy and me) and making very precise sketches, photographs and directions for our Mentol. We spent 3 months of work and passed over 150 pages of notes, pictures, sketches and videos back and forth between our home and Mentol in Malang City."Dennis stated, "The Baptism Song and Book is currently being translated into Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. We have been approached by individuals and groups from around the world who want to translate it into their language. It is very exciting and humbling for us. Bethany's favorite part is that she is able to send money to Mentol to help in her life mission assisting underprivileged boys and girls in Malang City, Indonesia. Bethany says when she hears people sing The Baptism Song she 'happy cries' every time knowing that she is helping people in need on the other side of the world."We can mail a printed version of The Baptism Song for your review (US, Canada, England and Europe). The entire book, musical arrangement, song and video are available for free on our website, www.BaptismSong.com Note: We live in Maryland, USA on Washington, D.C. time. Bethany does homework from 4:00 - 4:30 PM. Dennis can be contacted anytime.
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
The Chinese government has angered Christians after banning the sale of Bibles at online bookstores across the country amid a continuing crackdown on "foreign" religions.



According to Australia's ABC News, copies of the Gospels have been disappearing from online retailers following the release of a "white paper" document: The "China's Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief."



The new guidance states that Chinese faith communities "should adhere to the direction of localizing the religion, practice the core values of socialism, develop and expand the fine Chinese tradition and actively explore the religious thought which accords with China's national circumstances."



Additionally, the document states that the next five years will see an effort to build up Chinese Christianity and the Chinese theology to "consciously develop Bible study talents to lay a solid foundation for reinterpreting and re-translating the Bible or writing the reference books."



After the release of the document, searches for the Bibles on China's largest e-commerce platforms including Taobao, Jingdong and Amazon as well as DangDang.com - which claims to be the world's biggest Chinese online bookstore - started turning up "no results" responses, notes ABC News.



The move has left Chinese Christians speaking out in "confusion and outrage" online, the article said.



Warren Wang, a Christian who immigrated to Australia from Shanghai in 2012, said that believers could sense such a move was coming.



"I'm not that surprised that they're taking the Bible off the shelves now," Wang said.



"This is a lot like something China would do - the Communist Party teaches atheism and since Xi Jinping is becoming increasingly powerful - this is expected," he added, referring to the Chinese president.



Sarah Cook, senior research analyst for East Asia at Freedom House, told CNN the sales ban "is an important example of how internet censorship intersects with restrictions on religious freedom."



"Sensitive religious topics and groups are among the most censored in China," she said. "In our research we found the Chinese authorities increasingly using more high-tech methods to control religion and punish believers -- including surveillance and arrest of believers for sharing information online."



William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said the Chinese Government should immediately reverse its ban on the sale of Bibles, and ensure all Christians and people of other regions could exercise their faith without government interference or intimidation.



"The Chinese Government under President Xi Jinping has taken a much harder approach towards Christianity while reinforcing atheism among Communist Party cadres," he said.



"Most likely this ban on the Bible is an attempt to limit the spread of what the Government fears is an alternative belief system."



Nee pointed out that while China claims that it allows religious freedom, it has been carrying out a crackdown on underground churches and Christian activists for years. Still, he acknowledged that despite all the pressure put on Christians, "China is seeing a surge of religious belief."



"The situation for freedom of religion varies greatly form location to location, with some people going to church and holding Bible studies and other activities with little interference, while in other areas the Government is much more hard line".



Persecution watchdog Open Doors USA has ranked China 43rd on its World Watch List of 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution.



A primary source of persecution, Open Doors says, is the Communist government.



"Christians, in particular, are hedged in by authorities, as they are the largest social force in China not controlled by the state," notes the outlet.


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.
Agricultural and Related Product 2017 U.S. Exports to China China's Proposed Tariffs Soybeans $12,355,952,000 Tariff proposed Fish Products $1,233,494,000 None Cotton $976,417,000 Tariff proposed Hides & Skins $946,225,000 None Coarse Grains $836,636,000 None Dairy Products $570,263,000 None Pork & Pork Products $488,594,000 Tariff proposed Hay $377,210,000 None Wheat $348,727,000 None Tree Nuts $237,697,000 Tariff proposed Feeds & Fodders $235,284,000 None Fresh Fruit $225,810,000 Tariff proposed Food Preps. & Misc. Beverages $193,087,000 None Meats Not Elsewhere Specified $186,364,000 None Tobacco $162,297,000 Tariff proposed Corn $151,883,000 Tariff proposed Processed Fruit $143,570,000 Tariff proposed Planting Seeds $127,904,000 None Processed Vegetables $114,877,000 None Essential Oils $113,833,000 None

Fears of a trade war continue to escalate this week as Chinese officials and the Trump administration threaten to slap tariffs on a growing number of imports, potentially roiling the worlds two biggest economies.Chinas latest announcement, on Wednesday, outlined another round of tariffs on imports from the U.S., bringing the total to more than 230 different products. The initial list of proposed tariffs, which focused on agricultural items, has since been lengthened to include motor vehicles, medical equipment, plastics and a slew of other goods from almost every corner of the U.S. economy.And on Thursday, President Trump doubled down , calling for $100 billion more in tariffs on Chinese imports.Its unknown how the trade dispute will unfold. But what is certain is that the consequences of China's tariffs would play out unevenly across state and regional economies. Although theres no precise state-level data tracking trade exports, several federal datasets provide an idea of just how much tariffs could disrupt state economies.Last year, U.S. exports to China totaled $130 billion, an amount thats grown in recent years. Our calculations of federal trade data suggest that products related to aerospace, soybeans, motor vehicles, electronics and paper alone accounted for nearly half the value of all U.S. exports to China.Most of these top exports would be affected to varying degrees by the proposed tariffs.The inclusion of aircrafts on China's list, for instance, could carry significant long-term consequences in regions where jobs in the industry are concentrated, such as Washington state, where Boeing operates several major facilities. The company recently projected greater demand from China, estimating that airlines based in the country would soon account for 20 percent of global demand for new airplanes.Washingtons aerospace and defense exports to all countries total nearly $52 billion annually, easily the most of any state, according to data reported by the Aerospace Industries Association. Other states with high aerospace and defense export totals include California ($12.6 billion) and Kentucky ($8.8 billion).China's tariff threat for most types of motor vehicles would further deal a potential blow to the auto industry. Recent figures from the Labor Departments Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages indicate that auto companies and parts makers support about 180,000 jobs in Michigan. The industry also represents a disproportionately large segment of the workforce in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.The broad industry classification of transportation equipment -- including motor vehicles, aerospace, ships and rail manufacturing -- was responsible for about $29.5 billion of U.S. exports to China last year. Federal data suggests the biggest exporter of transportation goods to the country was Washington state, followed by South Carolina, California, Alabama and Kentucky.Its important to note that numbers for some states are inflated because of limitations in how exports are tracked. Products might be shipped from distribution centers in other states, for instance, or consolidated near shipping ports, which wouldnt reflect where they were actually manufactured. As a result, Washington, South Carolina and other states with major ports report higher totals.An all-out trade war would stifle port cities at a time when forecasts are calling for strong growth in cargo shipments between the U.S. and Asia. Consider the Port of Long Beach in California, where China accounts for about two-thirds of its imports and a third of all exports.In the agricultural sector, China ratcheted up pressure on the U.S. significantly with the recent addition of black and yellow soybeans to its tariffs list. The U.S. sent China $12.4 billion in soybeans last year, accounting for over half of the $19.6 billion total for all agricultural exports, according to federal data. A tariff on soybeans could spell trouble for farmers in several mostly Midwestern states, led by Illinois and Iowa. The following map shows 2016 estimates of soybean exports to all countries:While Chinas proposal would hit most U.S. exports with a 15 percent tariff, it calls for a much steeper additional tariff of 25 percent on pork products. Pork exports support 110,000 jobs nationally, according to the National Pork Producers Council . Iowa is the nations largest exporter of pork products, along with Minnesota and North Carolina.Additional agricultural commodities accounting for sizable, albeit smaller, exports to China include various cotton products, corn, tobacco, and some fruits and nuts. Other top exports, such as fish and dairy products, were excluded from Chinas current list of proposed tariffs.The oil and gas industry, another major segment of the economy, would also likely take a hit. It accounted for nearly $7 billion in exports to China last year. About half of the 143,000 American jobs in the industry are found in Texas, according to Labor Department figures. Other states economies relying more on the sector include Colorado, Louisiana and Oklahoma.Generally speaking, more conservative areas of the country would incur greater consequences if China goes through with its tariffs. The Brookings Institution crunched employment numbers for several industries potentially subject to Chinese tariffs, finding that that they support more jobs in counties won by Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton.China has not announced an effective date for its tariffs. White House officials said both countries plans wouldnt be implemented for a couple months if theyre unable to negotiate an agreement.
Maryland lawmakers approved $6.5 billion in tax incentives for Amazon on Wednesday, pushing through the largest economic development package in state history on the hope the internet retail giant will build a new headquarters here.The massive tax incentive package comes on top of an additional $2 billion in promised infrastructure and transportation improvements for the White Flint Mall area of Montgomery County, one of the 20 spots across the country Amazon picked as finalists for its so-called HQ2 project.Maryland's $8.5 billion package, which is $3.5 billion bigger than originally advertised by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, would be the largest publicly known incentive offered to Amazon in exchange for building its second headquarters. The next largest offer came from New Jersey, which offered $7 billion for the project to be built in Newark.Hogan's administration contends the package will cost less -- $5.27 billion with the tax incentives costing $3.27 billion. The governor has called it "the single greatest economic development opportunity in a generation."Amazon set off a nationwide bidding contest last fall when it announced it was looking for a site for a second headquarters. The HQ2 project is expected to create 50,000 high-paying jobs and a $5 billion investment.Were the headquarters to be built in Maryland, the state would get a $17 billion annual infusion to its economy eventually, according to a state-funded study. The site in Rockville is one of three Amazon picked in the Washington area.Hogan originally championed building HQ2 at the Port Covington site in Baltimore, but when the city lost out, he threw his weight behind the location in the Washington suburbs. Hogan pushed for lawmakers to approve the deal, which passed with bipartisan but not unanimous support.The incentive package -- a mix of credits, incentives and grants that will be doled out over more than a decade -- dwarfs any other economic development deal in Maryland by several orders of magnitude: The most costly existing deals are measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.House Majority Leader C. William Frick, a Democrat from Montgomery County, called the deal "the single most important economic project" that has ever come before the state."This is the single most important company in the future economy," Frick said.Lawmakers who explained why they backed the deal said the ripple effects from Amazon could drive employment and improve economic fortunes across the state.Republican Del. Robert B. Long represents the Dundalk area of Baltimore County, where shuttered steel mills and the decline of manufacturing ushered in tough economic times. Long said he voted for the the deal because he expects prosperity propelled by Amazon to "spill over" into his district."This is a vote for the future of Maryland's economy," Long said. "This is not corporate welfare. They have to give us jobs before they get anything. It's a no-brainer."In the House of Delegates, many Democrats from Prince George's County and Baltimore City voted against the proposal.The economic development deal, which Hogan called the PRIME Act -- named for Amazon's membership program -- would provide Amazon incentives if it creates at least 40,000 jobs that pay an average of $100,000 a year. The proposal would provide a $10 million-a-year grant out of the state's Sunny Day fund, it would give a state sales tax exemption for construction materials used to build the project, and it would create a new, annual tax credit equal to 5.75 percent of each new job's wages. The company could apply for that tax credit every year.Legislative analysts say the package would cost state and local governments $6.5 billion over the next 35 years in lost tax revenue and increased costs.That huge tab prompted several state lawmakers to disparage the proposal as unnecessary "corporate welfare.""Maryland's going to give one of the biggest corporations in America a $6.5 billion corporate welfare check," said Del. Herbert H. McMillan, a Republican from Anne Arundel County. "A $6.5 billion corporate welfare check paid out over a generation with the sweat and labor of Maryland's small businesses. ... There's no free lunch. Someone's tax dollars are going to pay for this."Republican Del. Susan K. McComas of Harford County said she voted against the bill because she doubted it would deliver all the benefits proponents promised, in part because state officials said they were not at liberty to reveal some of Amazon's plans because they are private and proprietary."If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good," McComas said. "It's a hard decision, because I'm going against my party and my governor. But I fear we're buying a pig in a poke."Anne R. Kaiser, a Montgomery County Democrat who leads the Ways and Means Committee that worked on the package, said the deal only takes effect when Amazon delivers on its promised jobs and incentives. If they don't, the state is not on the hook for the tax deals, she said."We're not writing a blank check. We're staggering incentives," she said. "The worst that happens is that we don't lose anything. The best that happens is we get 50,000 jobs."
An attorney challenging North Dakota's voter ID law welcomed a federal judge's ruling Wednesday, April 4, that expands Native Americans' options at the polls but eliminates voter affidavits.U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland's Tuesday order came almost two months before the statewide primary election, a rapidly approaching event that prompted the state to ask for an expedited review of the case. Seven members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa first challenged the state's voter ID law more than two years ago and notched a victory just before the 2016 election that led to last year's legislative changes.While declining to invalidate all of the new law, Hovland imposed several restrictions on it. His order prevents the state from mandating that IDs include a "current residential street address" and expands the valid forms of ID to include more tribal documents.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday it would stay away for now from lingering litigation over a now-closed investigation into Gov. Scott Walkers campaign, leaving a Brown County judge to sort out the legal fight.In its 4-0 order, the high court handed over to Brown County Circuit Judge Kendall Kelley millions of pages of emails and other evidence from the probe known as John Doe II. It will be up to Kelley  not the high court  to determine what to do with that material.Individuals and entities who were caught up in the investigation contend the material should be returned to them because the Supreme Court terminated the investigation and found no one had engaged in any criminal wrongdoing.The John Doe II judge shall have authority to make all decisions in the first instance regarding that evidence, the justices wrote in the unsigned order.The ruling came as the governor gears up his re-election bid and two days after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet won a seat on the high court. Dallet will be seated in August.
Echoing a recent call by President Donald Trump, both U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Wednesday that they were open to the idea of executing drug dealers as a method of combating the opioid crisis.Specifically, the comments from the two Republicans were aimed at pushers of fentanyl, an especially cheap and lethal synthetic opioid that has been linked to a rising number of overdoses. A Tuesday news conference at the attorney general's Little Rock offices highlighted a bill Cotton has proposed to increase the federal minimum sentences for possession of fentanyl.Asked if he supported the president's idea to use the highest form of punishment on drug dealers, Cotton was unequivocal."I support the death penalty for people who are dealing in fentanyl," Cotton said. "They're imposing a death sentence on the young men and women in our societies."
A new Ohio law expands civil protection orders to dating partners, bringing Ohio in line with every other state except Georgia.Ohio law previously allowed spouses, cohabitants and parents to seek protection orders but excluded people who weren't living together. House Bill 1, signed Thursday by Gov. John Kasich, expands the court orders to dating partners. It takes effect in early July.The bill, sponsored by Democrat Rep. Emilia Sykes and Republican Rep. Nathan Manning, unanimously passed the Ohio House last year and cleared the Senate earlier this month. Sykes said the new law ensures dating partners statewide have an avenue to obtaining a protection order. Under previous Ohio law, some domestic relations courts granted protection orders to dating partners, but not all.Sykes said there's a misconception that protection orders are ineffective, in part because most people only hear about them when they don't work."Protection orders are a very good and effective early intervention in domestic violence," Sykes, an Akron Democrat, said in an interview. "They provide an opportunity to intervene into this relationship using the courts, using the authority of the law to say you need to remove yourself from this situation and stay away from this victim."Sykes said the bill also modernizes Ohio law to reflect changes in relationship patterns. Domestic violence is more common among 18- to 24-year-olds, she said, who may not be living together.One in 4 women and 1 in 7 men will experience extreme physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.At a public bill signing Thursday night, Kasich said he was praying for victims of domestic violence but House Bill 1 is more than thoughts and prayers, it is action. Kasich said the next step was a state law prohibiting people under domestic violence protection orders from buying or possessing firearms."That should be a gimmee. That should be a lay-down hand," Kasich said.Such a law was one of six recommendations made by Kasich's bipartisan gun policy group. Democrats have introduced legislation that has gone nowhere at the GOP-controlled Statehouse. A Republican-backed bill proposing all of Kasich's gun policy recommendations was introduced Thursday.Kasich has touted bipartisanship on the national stage since failing to become the Republican nominee for president in 2016. On Thursday, he urged Democrats to ask him for help if they have bills that are "really critical.""We need to come together to make sure the folks of the state are served," Kasich said.The bill's supporters say the new law is an important step, but there are still concerns it won't be implemented uniformly across Ohio's 88 counties.Victims will have to prove in court they have a dating relationship. The law broadly defines that relationship, leaving domestic relations court judges to make that determination.Nancy Neylon, executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, said it might not be easy for a victim to appear in court and describe the relationship."You may have to talk about your sexual relationship. You may have the respondent denying the relationship," Neylon said. "That's going to be tricky. There are judges who still don't want to give protection orders for married people in this state."
Description

GIS - 06 April, 2018: An Entrepreneur Info Session, aiming to raise awareness on the different schemes and support services put at the disposal of entrepreneurs, was held yesterday at the Farmers Service Centre, in Goodlands.

The one-day event, organised by SME Mauritius Limited, was attended by the Minister of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives, Mr Soomilduth Bholah, and other stakeholders active in the entrepreneurship field.

The session comprised interactive discussions between entrepreneurs and resource persons from seven institutions namely: MauBank, SME Equity Fund Limited, Investment Support Program set up by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, SME Registration Unit, Food and Agricultural Research & Extension Institute, SME Mauritius Limited, and Development Bank of Mauritius. The resource persons gave a short presentation of the different business development services, followed by a question and answer session.

In his address, Minister Bholah, indicated that the Info session is a key initiative to help further stimulate entrepreneurship development across Mauritius. The main purpose, he emphasised, is to address the queries of both potential and existing entrepreneurs with regards to available financial and support services provided by various institutions.

The Minister also underlined the importance of access to information, and, added that many entrepreneurs are not fully aware of the benefits that can be reaped from the available schemes. The schemes, he pointed out, have been carefully worked out and tailored to the needs of entrepreneurs with the objective of supporting business start-ups and stimulating further development of existing businesses. Mr Bholah called on entrepreneurs to make maximum use of the schemes and services put to their avail to scale up their businesses.

Speaking of SME Mauritius Limited, the Minister highlighted that the newly incorporated institution is committed to support and facilitate the development of entrepreneurship in Mauritius and is also responsible for ensuring the successful implementation of the 10-Year Master Plan. The organisation is driven by a new set of values and visions which will help to give a new impetus to the SME sector, he added.
Description

GIS  06 April, 2018: The inaugural Government-to-Government (G2G) meeting at Senior Officials level between Mauritius and Australia which was held yesterday afternoon in Port Louis, marked the start of activities of the Australia Week Festival. The Week is being organised, from 5 to 11 April 2018, in the context of the Golden Jubilee Independence celebrations of Mauritius and is also an occasionto honour the strong relations that exist between the two countries since 1970.

Ambassador Mrs U. C. Dwarka Canabady, Secretary for Foreign Affairs (SFA), at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade; the High Commissioner of Australia, Ms Jenny Dee; the Assistant Secretary, Africa Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, Mrs Gita Kamath, as well as Senior Officials from both Mauritius and Australia attended the meeting.

Discussions focused on bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, and education and research. Issues relating to regional cooperation, the blue economy, maritime security and renewable energy were also on the agenda.

In her opening remarks the SFA said that twelve international weeks are scheduled this year and which comprise a Government component so as to provide a platform to interact with the organising country more formally and to consolidate our relations.

Ambassador Dwarka Canabady recalled that ties with Australia are particularly special given that the country has a big Mauritius diaspora and that diplomatic relations were established in November 1970, hardly two years after Mauritius attained Independence. Over the years a lot of dynamism has been instilled in our ties as well as momentum being picked up in the relations since then, she said.

The two countries share a lot in common, both are multicultural nations and melting pots and share the same values. Even though Australia is an island continent and Mauritius is far smaller, yet, both are islands and have similar issues on which we have to work together, the Ambassador said. Mauritius and Australia have both services-based economies and Mauritius has a lot to learn from Australia when it comes to the ocean economy, she added.

The Ambassador also mentioned that Mauritius is sugar producer and is now getting in organic farming and producing small niche products with a lot of added value and these products could find good markets in Australia. She spoke of Mauritius strategy to Africa where the country is already investing on the continent and doing whatever it can as a small nation to help grow certain sectors on the continent which includes the setting up of special economic zones in Senegal and Ghana, along with Madagascar and Cote dIvoire which are also in the pipeline.

For her part, the Assistant Secretary, Africa Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, Mrs Gita Kamath, stated that the size of the work agenda for the talks is testimony to the multidimensional nature of our relations and how much potential there is to grow even more. She congratulated Mauritius on its Golden Jubilee celebrations and outlined that Australia is looking forward to celebrating the 50 years of bilateral relations in two years.

Australia Week Festival

The Australia Week Festival is celebrating people-to-people links between Mauritius and Australia among youth, students and the diaspora. It is showcasing the arts and culture and culinary expertise and promoting the diversity of partnerships between Mauritius and Australia and shared values including gender equality.

Activities comprise the following: launch of Ducere Foundation Golden Jubilee collection; A taste of Australia Food Festival featuring a Melbourne-based Chef along with workshops fusing the best of Australian and Mauritian cuisine; Australian Design and Cultural Showcase with Australian film screening and student graphic design competition and exhibition in conjunction with Charles Telfair Institute/Curtin University; and a workshop on Australian Alumni Women in Leadership.

The activities of the Australia Week will culminate with an official tree planting ceremony during which the Australian government will gift to Mauritius a Wollemi Pine, one of the oldest and rarest trees in the world. The Wollemi Pine belongs to the 200 million year old Araucariaceae family and the oldest known fossil is 90 million years old. There are less than 100 mature trees in the wild.
Description

GIS 06 April, 2018: The Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, exhorted youths to seize opportunities in agricultural sector which will undergo a major transformation in the coming years. The Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, exhorted youths to seize opportunities in agricultural sector which will undergo a major transformation in the coming years.

He was speaking yesterday during the inauguration of the Plaine Magnien Young Entrepreneurs Sheltered Farming Park, a Government-funded project to the tune of Rs 20 million to be implemented by the Food and Agricultural Research Extension Institute in collaboration with SME Mauritius Ltd and the Human Resource Development Council. Omnicane has allocated 2000 hectares for this project. Nine beneficiaries aged between 25 and 35, and possessing university degrees have been selected for the project after having undergone training in sheltered farming.

Prime Minister Jugnauth expressed the wish for a new generation of entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector with emphasis on sheltered farming He also evoked the difficulties faced by planters in both the sugar and non-sugar sectors, as well as the livestock sector and reiterated his full support to help them overcome the challenges which are mostly due to climate change. He observed that the number of planters has decreased with 15 000 planters as at date.

Moreover, he cautioned planters against the abusive use of pesticides and added that severe sanctions will be taken against those who are thinking only about profit making thus putting at risk the lives of others and making the lands infertile. Hence, he recommends a judicious use of pesticide for the well-being of one and all.

The Prime Minister recalled the various measures and projects put in place by Government for the development and sustainability of the agro-industry sector.

For his part, the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Mahen Seeruttun, listed out the measures upon which his Ministry has embarked to provide the best facilities to planters. He said that Rs 14 million has been disbursed to help planters who have been severely affected by the effects of climate change and a sum of Rs 36 million has been disbursed by the Development Bank of Mauritius to help planters put their business back on track .
Sign the petition: The City of Atlanta should publish a blameless post-mortem of the ransomware attack https://t.co/AkcQLuMmFE  Code for Atlanta (@codeforatlanta) April 5, 2018

Code for America launches new Community Fellowship program

The ACLU looks to hire data scientists

U.S. Treasury launches data lab as part of revamped USAspending.gov

Homelessness Analysis: Visualizes national homeless grant spending by region.

Federal Account Explorer: A browsable map of the 2,000 federal agency accounts.

Budget Function: How the purpose of spending maps relates to the spending mechanism.

Contract Explorer: Intuitively browse agency awards to specific contractors.

Two weeks after a major ransomware attack waylaid Atlantas municipal government  to the point the FBI and Department of Homeland Security were called upon to assist in the response  a local civic tech group is now calling for a blameless port-mortem on the incident.Code for Atlanta is a circulating a petition requesting the city do just that, the language of which notes that in the tech industry conducting a blameless post-mortem after software failures or data losses is widely considered a best practice.As the name suggests, a blameless post-mortem does not seek to point fingers, Code for Atlanta writes in the petition. Instead, its aim is to create a fair and just accounting of what mistakes were made in the lead up to the failure and what was done in response.The petition calls upon Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to direct the review and to share it with the public once completed, stressing that it will remove fear of anyone involved being blamed and allow the relevant agencies to focus on making necessary improvements to mitigate the risks of a future attack.As GovTech has recently reported , officials have not publicly discussed the origin of the attack. And the FBI, U.S. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security have all assisted the citys incident response team, as have units from Microsoft, Cisco and security solutions provider Secureworks.Code for America announced the new Community Fellowship pilot that seeks to pair talent from its local brigades with government, boasting an end goal of improving services for constituents.The program is, of course, in service of the long-standing mission of Code for America, a non-political and nonprofit group that seeks to facilitate more efficient use of technology by government to improve quality of life for residents. The Code for America Brigade Network is a national alliance made up of community organizers, developers and designers across the country. Member groups use tech and tech-based projects in service of the communities in which they are located.In the medium post announcing the program, Code for Americas founder and executive director, Jennifer Pahlka, described the new pilot as a way for local leaders  including developers, designers, procurement experts, policy wonks, product managers, and more  to help their communitys most vulnerable residents.The announcement comes with an about page an application and a set of frequently asked questions . Accepted fellows will spend between three and six months basically embedded with government, collaborating with staff, researching citizen and other user needs and meeting with stakeholders, all with an eye toward using tech to improve services for vulnerable populations.Code for America has hired Hashim Mteuzi to lead the work. Mteuzi comes from the private sector, having previously served as senior manager of tech for FedEx.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is looking to hire a senior data scientist for its data and analytics department.Announcing its search in a job posting , the ACLU emphasized that the position was one steeped in innovation and finding data-driven methods and advanced analytics to transform the way the nationwide organization achieves its mission. In a broader sense, the ACLU looking to hire data scientists is part of an ongoing trend in which government and government-adjacent organizations are increasingly focused on data-driven decision-making.Within municipal and state governments , there has been a recent rise of chief data officers , and while the role is not yet omnipresent in such organizations, it is far more common than it was even two or three years ago. Data scientists are also becoming increasingly sought after by public safety agencies such as the police and fire departments, as analytics have begun to prove useful in learning more about  and ultimately reducing  a diverse set of problems ranging from fires to opioid overdoses The ACLU itself already has a chief data officer, whom the successful candidate for this position would report to. Work is expected to include supporting the ACLUs advocacy, fundraising, affiliate support, and communications needs. The senior data scientist will play a leading role in designing the ACLUs data architecture, building models, and deploying solutions to help the ACLU identify meaningful insights, inform strategic decisions and enhance modes of constituent engagement.The U.S. Treasury Departments Bureau of Fiscal Service has launched an analytics portal on its newly revamped USAspending.gov website.The portal is in accordance with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 , the nations first open data law, which requires federal government agencies to transform spending info into open data. Open data advocacy groups have praised the new portal, saying it is the first of its kind, and that it is poised to transform government methods for publishing spending data that has not previously been available.We congratulate the Treasurys Fiscal Service team and the Office of Management and Budget for the successful roll-out of the new DATA Act site, USASpending.gov, said Hudson Hollister, executive director of the Data Coalition , in a statement. The revamped site and Data Lab provide greater insights, accountability and oversight into $3.98 trillion of government spending last year alone. We are encouraged by the progress and recognize that agencies must continue to improve the quality of their data submissions in accordance with the laws requirements.In addition to increased spending info, the portal enables members of Congress, data scientists, nonprofit groups and journalists to freely access information and analysis via a bulk download or the application programming interface (API).Additional features include:
The rise in value of cryptocurrency appears to be tempting public employees in technology departments across the country to violate the public trust. In recent months, several news stories have come to light about the prosecution or terminations of government employees who were allegedly caught cryptomining on the government's dime.Cryptocurrency miners solve computational puzzles to verify digital coin transactions and add them to the blockchain. Anyone with access to the Internet and suitable hardware can participate in mining. The miner who first solves the puzzle gets to place the next block on the blockchain and claim rewards, which include incentives like a portion of transaction fees and a newly released coin. The act of cryptomining takes a good deal of energy and requires a server farm to run the mining function.And the temptation to take advantage of available government resources to those in state technology departments to earn more money is obvious to some. The Checkpoint Software Technologies blog estimated that a cryptominer who validated a bitcoin transaction in the blockchain would earn 12.5 BTC, which at the current exchange rate (March 7, 2018) would be valued at $10,515.Security expert Avi Rembaum, with Checkpoint Security Software Technologies, said government is no more insulated from this activity than the private industry, where cryptomining activity has also been on the rise.Some employees, he explained, might have the mindset that allows them to ignore the violation of public trust. The fact that they are only stealing resources and not introducing software into the system may allow them to justify what they are doing. For example, he said, an employee might think, I didnt do anything. I didnt steal anything. All I did was use a piece of software, and the software used the available computation cycles of that machine.What they are doing is misusing government resources and goes against the use agreement that they signed as an employee of a government agency,he said.While it is difficult to determine the attitudes of public employees breaking basic guidelines  and the law  many agencies do not know when their systems have been accessed for the purposes of cryptomining or whether the employees in charge of the department are in on the scheme.The Louisiana State Office of the Attorney General's technology department fired five employees in February after hardware for a mining operation was discovered.Those fired included a systems administrator, a help desk manager, a litigation support coordinator and a human resources employee who worked closely with the IT division. No one was charged.In other states, IT security systems are such that they detect foreign intrusion immediately. The California Department of Technology (CDT) quickly acted when it found two software systems specialists using its technology in 2016.According to CDT Information Officer Bryce Brown, the employees criminal actions were discovered between October and November. We identified the activity using our primary network monitoring and all the appropriate administrative action was taken including notification of law enforcement, in that case, he said.The Department of Technology employs 950 people and offers technology services to all state agencies in addition to ISP services throughout the state of California for state, local government and educational agencies."Anyone with access to the California network is also monitored by the department. We are constantly monitoring state computer networks and tech systems to ensure that those folks that have access ... adhere to our written policies and procedures, said Brown. If there is suspected criminal activity, like there was in this case, we notify the appropriate law enforcement."In what might be a classic case of cryptomining on a public system, the Florida Department of Citrus was seeing an unexplained spike in its utility billing. Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested an information technology manager and charged him with grand theft and official misconduct for allegedly using state servers to mine digital currency. The systems manager also allegedly used a state credit card to purchase 24 graphics processing units, often used to extract cryptocurrency.Utility bills for the department jumped by more than 40 percent between October 2017 and January 2017, at the cost of about $825, according to the agency's inspector general.Agents learned the employee had accessed a virtual currency exchange from several computers in the department and was part of a mining pool, which is made up of any number of miners who pool computing resources to validate purchases on the blockchain. A pool combines its resources to help offset costs and the resulting rewards for validation are also split.We are grateful for the swift and professional actions of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement," Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Department of Citrus, said in a press release. This is a breach of ethics that is far outside the character of the Florida Department of Citrus and the industry we serve. Fortunately our agency has internal controls that detected suspicious activity, and our inspector general immediately notified the proper channels. We will continue to work with FDLE and the court system through this process.Government agencies need to know what IT employees are doing on their networks, Rembaum said, and that ability should be built into your data system.A server that is at work mining crypto requires a lot more power, this can also require a lot more cooling, and it is going to overwhelm resources that are required elsewhere, he said. "If a server is overheating or the CPUs are spiking, or bandwidth use is abnormal, you should be able to see this.""An administrator should be looking for attempts to exploit known vulnerabilities that is the function of intrusion prevention which is a standard of network security function, he said.The flip side of this is that system administrator also needs to be on guard for the installation of cryptomining software. If an employee is not authorized or does not have administrative privileges, they may choose to steal credentials through hacking or exploiting vulnerabilities, he said.Rembaum compares cryptomining to a typical malware attack. In this instance, the malware is not stealing credentials from the machine or watching keystrokes, instead the software takes advantage of the resource capacity of the server, he said.
(TNS) - All four members of Hawaiis congressional delegation urged the U.S. military Thursday to take responsibility for alerting the public about any future ballistic missile attacks, taking that role away from the state, which botched the job in January.The delegation made that recommendation Thursday at a hearing held at the East-West Center in Honolulu. The hearing, called by U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, sought to examine the causes of a Jan. 13 false ballistic missile alert, which cast doubt on whether the state Hawaii Emergency Management Agency should handle future notifications.We want the origination of a notification of a missile alert to start with people who know, Schatz said.The false alert occurred when a state warning officer, who worked for HI-EMA, responded to a drill as if it were an actual event. The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), which has responsibility for notifying the state about a real missile threat, quickly verified that the Jan. 13 threat was false, but it took HI-EMA an agonizing 38 minutes to issue an all-clear.The state warning officer was fired following the event, which also led to the resignations of HI-EMA Administrator Maj. Gen. Vern Miyagi and Executive Officer Toby Clairmont. HI-EMA has implemented new safety checks and in mid-March hired retired U.S. Navy Capt. Thomas Travis as its new administrator.The colossal blunder, which became an international story, has been the subject of a state inquiry and action plan, a Federal Communications Commission investigation and a Federal Emergency Management Agency investigation.U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said the issuing of missile alerts to the public would be streamlined if PACOM, which is responsible for monitoring incoming missiles, also sent out the alert.U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa said its an issue of trust, and most people would trust the military to get the alert right. I believe people would have a lot more confidence if HI-EMA was out, Hanabusa said.When asked by U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono whether the military could send out missile alerts, Rear Adm. Patrick A. Piercey, U.S. Pacific Command director of operations, said the process is not technically supported, but I could imagine it could be technically supported.Schatz unveiled a new bill Thursday called the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act of 2018, which is designed to streamline the delivery of emergency warnings.Schatz said the legislation would examine expanding the emergency alert system to distribute warnings to audio and video streaming services delivered over the internet, he said.Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel testified that the FCC recognizes that ballistic missile attacks are a completely different category in the panic that ensues and also in the damage that can occur.We might need to treat those differently, so for all of you who have introduced legislation or supported legislation to do so, I think thats a really good idea, Rosenworcel said.Maj. Gen. Arthur Joe Logan, state adjutant general, said part of HI-EMAs challenge on Jan. 13 is that we really started flying the plane before we built the whole plane.Schatz said there werent any best practices when Hawaii became the only state to start testing its nuclear warning system in response to heightened threats from North Korea, and there really arent any now.Logan said improvements have been made and the system does work, as evidenced by the state issuing a quick all-clear following a Jan. 23 tsunami warning.Following the hearing, Logan said the federal government could take over missile alert notifications if it were properly trained; however, it would be easier for the state to continue since we already know how to do it.Logan said he would support a change if the federal government could be as accurate and timely and specific to the targeted area as we can, so that we dont cause widespread panic.Gov. David Ige, who did not attend the event, said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Now is the time for us to work together without the politics of blame, to improve the states notification system.The state is happy to work with federal and county partners to continue to develop the best emergency warning system possible so that our community can be made aware of natural and man-made disasters as quickly and efficiently as possible, Ige said. If Congress decides to change who issues notifications, we are happy to comply.2018 The Honolulu Star-AdvertiserVisit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Labour leader added: "Where does that leave the Foreign Secretary?"

"Porton Down identified never agent as military grade Novichok".

Asked directly how he could assert that the source of the Novichok nerve agent was Russian Federation, the Foreign Secretary replied that he had "interrogated" the scientists. "Egg on his face for the statement he made on German television". I said 'Are you sure?'.

"I asked the guy myself, I said, 'Are you sure?' And he said there's no doubt", Johnson said. It prompted criticism of Johnson for his previous comments.

Diane Abbott of the opposition Labour Party called on Johnson to explain the apparent discrepancy.

"It seems to me that the government were indulging in political point scoring; particularly Boris Johnson who raced ahead of the evidence and used this bad incident not so much as a smoking gun but as a smoke screen".

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, said scientists had not "identified the precise source". It was very convenient for the government to use it as a way of diverting attention away from Brexit and economic policy. Boris Johnson needs to answer some questions. Kevin Maguire, an editor at the left-wing Daily Mirror, wrote on Twitter.

The Foreign Secretary made a statement, the Foreign Office put out a tweet in support of what he said.

Boris Johnson is facing embarrassing questions over his claims that #Russia had produced the Salisbury nerve agent after it emerged that the Foreign Office had deleted a tweet blaming Moscow for the attack.

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".

Russian Federation strongly rejects the claim that it is responsible for the poisoning.

"It is lamentable that Jeremy Corbyn is not playing Russia's game and trying to discredit the United Kingdom over Salisbury attack".

Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, seized on the interview, and the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom subsequently highlighted a deleted Foreign. The Russian Embassy in Britain also noted the deleted Foreign Office tweet in a message on Wednesday. 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.

Sergei Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital following the nerve agent attack a month ago but his daughter Yulia has improved after spending three weeks in a critical condition.

"28 other countries have been so convinced by United Kingdom case they have expelled Russians".

She also highlighted "knowledge that Russian Federation has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so, Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations and our assessment that Russian Federation views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations".
Bahrain GP 2018

Friday Team Quotes

Valtteri Bottas, Bahrain GP 2018  RV Press

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport

Valtteri Bottas (3rd, 1:30.380): "This weekend is difficult because the track improves so much from one session to another. We could already see it today, you feel more grip with every single lap and the car balance is changing so we always had to make estimates for the next session and the next runs. It will be the same for tomorrow. Our main goal today was to get the softer compounds to work. On the SuperSoft we did pretty much the same time as on the Soft, so getting the most out of that compound is the key thing for tomorrow. The car feels okay, but we still need to find some pace, especially for a single lap. So we still have some work to do."

Lewis Hamilton (4th, 1:30.472): "It's been a normal Friday, we've got through all our programme. It looks very close between all the teams and we definitely have got some work to do to try and see if we can eke out to be ahead of the others. The tyres have felt the best they've felt here in years; very stable and with less degradation. The track is great and it's amazing at night-time. The hospitality here is really second to none, it's an enjoyable stay and a great place to work."

James Allison, Technical Director: "Although we were untroubled by any reliability issues, and we ran through our programme as expected, it wasn't our best day from a performance point of view. We've got more to do overnight and in the session tomorrow to give us a car that will allow us to have a good fight in Qualifying and on Sunday. The base is okay but we have not yet found the sort of edge that we had in Melbourne."

Toto Wolff:

Scuderia Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen (1st, 1:29.817):

Sebastian Vettel (2nd, 1:29.828):

Maurizio Arrivabene, Team Principal:

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (5th, 1:30.745): "We had a small issue this morning. These things happen so it doesn't concern me looking ahead to the rest of the weekend. It was not ideal to miss so much track time, it meant that I spent the beginning of the second session searching for the balance of the car which took a while. For such a short time in the car I managed to find quite a good balance and the long run pace looked pretty positive. I was also happy with how the tyre degradation looked at the end of that session. Come race day it will depend a lot on strategy, you can follow at this track better than others so with the right planning and a bit of luck you can get a good result. I think Practice 2 is the most important as it's the closest conditions to the race, the others are a bit warm. Tomorrow we need to fine tune the short run pace in order to put ourselves in contention on Sunday, I'll try to improve the feeling and balance to put myself in the best position possible."

Daniel Ricciardo (6th, 1:30.751): "Overall it wasn't a bad day. Obviously, this morning was pretty strong but the evening session was not as good; we made some changes that didn't work as well as we hoped. I don't just want to go back to the Practice One car as I think we can still make it better. We can find a happy medium on the balance and the overall feeling is not too bad. I don't think the position this evening is too important. I got traffic on the first lap, so I had to go for the second lap, and for sure I lost a bit of lap time there. Mercedes will still turn it up in Qualifying but we will be closer than where we were tonight. I'm confident that we will have a good car and tomorrow I'm sure we can be better than sixth and hopefully even better again in the race. I also just want to say that I don't want Valtteri to get a penalty. This is Practice and it's frustrating but I don't think anyone agreed with my penalty last week and I don't want to start that game. I believe he wasn't told on the radio, so it's probably not his fault."

Sahara Force India F1 Team

Esteban Ocon (13th, 1:31.809): "The team worked really hard today. It's not easy to change the floor quickly during a session, but the guys did a really quick job and it didn't cost us too much time on track. All the aero work we did today will give us valuable information for the future. The second session was pretty normal. We did lots of laps and I'm feeling quite happy with the car. We made improvements each time, but we are still missing a little bit of pace to be right at the front of the midfield."

Sergio Perez (14th, 1:31.868): "The first session was very busy with lots of aero work. It's given us lots of information to help us understand which parts are giving the best performance. We were evaluating the new front wing and will decide tonight if we will continue using it for the rest of the weekend. The evening session went smoothly and we did all the usual things to prepare for the race. Our long run pace is still stronger than our qualifying speed and I think we can come away with some points this weekend."

Otmar Szafnauer, Chief Operating Officer: "The hot track conditions this morning are not representative of racing conditions here so we chose to carry out a big testing programme to better understand the updated parts of the VJM11. Both cars ran with different aero configurations and it was an important day of learning. The evening session was focussed on the usual race weekend preparations and we completed the run plan without any significant issues."

Williams Martini Racing

Lance Stroll (17th, 1:32.382): "It's been a tricky day in terms of where we are on the time sheets. There is a lot to improve on, that's for sure. The car feels better than last year, but its's still not where we want to be. Melbourne was a little bit better on Friday than the Friday we have experienced here in Bahrain, but it is another day tomorrow. We have a meeting tonight to discuss the car and where we can improve our pace, so hopefully we can get on top of things and come back better tomorrow. I think we can improve in many areas, so there is a lot that can be better. I think I could make my lap a tenth or two better than where it is, but still that is not enough as we need to be looking for big gains and not just minor details."

Sergey Sirotkin (18th, 1:32.474): "It was quite a good session. I think we completed, learned and collected quite a lot of information. We also tried very different compounds for tomorrow on short and long runs, so I think it was a very productive session. That's what we needed, some clean running which we can use later on in the year, so I think we have to be happy with today. I was on the hardest tyre for the first run. I think where we are is not too far off what we were expecting. The main thing is we're not talking about results, we're talking about the data and information we collected. In these terms, it was quite productive. Realistically, we have some things to work on, but I think we will improve a little bit, just the same as others will, so let's see who does the better homework tonight."

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: "We completed our programme with two relatively minor issues; one on Lance's car in FP1, which lost us his final run but was easily fixed, and a puncture on Lance's car on his final run of FP2 cut that run short. Other than that, we ran a number of experiments across both sides of the garage with downforce levels, and some mechanical and aerodynamic changes. The drivers are not entirely unhappy with the car, but the pace is not where we need it to be. Particularly in FP2, we lost competitiveness - something we need to understand overnight in order to put ourselves in better shape for qualifying."

Renault Sport Formula One Team

Nico Hulkenberg (7th, 1:31.220): "A pretty routine Friday, where we made progress through the day, and hopefully learnt sufficient for us to find further pace overnight to take into tomorrow. I'm reasonably happy with the car but there's definitely potential for improvement and that's what we're targeting."

Carlos Sainz (12th, 1:31.601): "Quite a challenging Friday, as always in Bahrain, as we worked on our understanding of the car in both the sessions. We did gain a lot of grip over the day and it was tricky to handle the rear of the car with the right balance for all the different corner speeds, but overall I think we have a good starting point for the weekend."

Nick Chester, Technical Director: "We ran pretty well to programme today and completed positive aero comparisons with our updates including a new Halo fairing in FP1. In FP2 we completed the usual tyre comparisons. We will now analyse our data to identify where we can improve for FP3 and qualifying."

Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda

Pierre Gasly (8th, 1:31.232): "Today was a very productive Friday for us, it felt very comfortable in the car since the first lap in FP1. We showed some decent pace in both sessions with a 7th and 8th best time. It's a good beginning but there are still things we can improve for tomorrow because it's really tight between everyone, so I need to spend a lot of time tonight analysing everything we tested today. The first feeling with the car is really positive, so hopefully we can keep it and have a similar day tomorrow."

Brendon Hartley (20th, 1:32.908): "It was a pretty productive day for the team today; Pierre and I ran very different setups across the cars as we had new bits to test and this was very useful because Pierre looked very quick for the whole day. Unfortunately, I didn't do a representative lap on the supersofts in the afternoon, but we gathered some really important information on the long runs. We definitely seem a lot more competitive than in Melbourne and it looks positive for tomorrow."

Jonathan Eddolls, Chief Race Engineer: "Today was a very productive and successful day for the team as a whole, a bit more so on Pierre's side of the garage than Brendon's. We came to this event with quite a few new aero components  actually a new package  that we fitted to Pierre's car for today, while Brendon was on the old Melbourne one for today's sessions. The new package appears to be working very well - we can see a difference between them so that's positive  the aero guys have done a good job! We've also spent a lot of today working on optimising the setup around the aero package based on what we saw in Melbourne as well. After the last race the engineers across the two factories in Bicester and Faenza spent an awful lot of time analysing everything and trying to come up with some new setup directions which we've tested successfully here today. We have some good direction now which hopefully we can carry into tomorrow. There's a bit of work to do on Brendon's car - he will get the same new aero package tomorrow - so he will take a step with that and take on the learnings that we have from today. Another positive as well is that in the long runs the tyre degradation looked good on our car - maybe a bit lower than other competitors - so overall a good start to the weekend."

Haas F1 Team

Romain Grosjean (11th, 1:31.591): "It was a decent day for us, but I think we can be better tomorrow. The afternoon pace was not as good as the morning. My fastest lap was compromised by traffic in the last corner, so I guess there's a little bit in there. We didn't do enough for the night, but that's where practice is good. Now we've got a good delta. We can work in FP3 to get ready for qualifying."

Kevin Magnussen (15th, 1:31.969): "We've had a bit of a tricky Friday, but the car didn't feel bad. There's lots to learn about the tires, though. It wasn't easy with the change of temperature from morning to the afternoon. At the moment, we have a lot of stuff to go through just to understand the tires and how to get them up to temperature and by how much, which is a tricky thing here with the tarmac being very rough and the temperature varying as much as it does. I'm still hopeful that we can make up some time tomorrow."

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "FP1 was pretty good. In FP2, we learned, but we also need to find a bit more speed. I still think we're in a good position for tomorrow. We're looking forward to qualifying."

McLaren F1 Team

Fernando Alonso (9th, 1:31.282): "Today was a case of 'so far, so good'. The weekend has started in a positive way and there's nothing in particular to worry about. There is a lot of analysis that we need to do concerning some of the new parts we have on our two cars, so I think we need to put everything together now and find the best compromise for tomorrow. Our aim for qualifying is to be in Q3  a target we missed in Australia  and we need to deliver and do a perfect lap, so that we can beat some of the cars in front of us. It's good that we completed our programme today. It's always very important, especially in the evening session, to do as many laps as possible and understand the tyres, as we probably had higher degradation than we expected and we need to take this into account for Sunday. There's a little bit more to extract from the car and hopefully we'll do that tomorrow."

Stoffel Vandoorne (10th, 1:31.422): "Today has been a pretty good Friday for us. We have a few new bits on the car which we went through and evaluated in FP1 and FP2. FP2 is really the most valuable session for us in terms of preparing the car for qualifying tomorrow and for the race. The feeling was positive. Like in Australia, we are in this group where the lap-times are very close, and every tenth or hundredth we can find in the car will boost us further up the grid. Qualifying is always very tight and everyone puts their car at 100 per cent performance. We're looking to do that as well tomorrow and we'll see where we end up. The tyres are quite sensitive to this circuit and we know from the past few years that it's quite harsh on degradation. There's a lot of performance to be gained or lost in that area, so it's an extra challenge, but the same for everyone. Despite our result in Australia, for us it's just business as usual. We haven't really changed our expectations, and we've put a lot of effort into preparing the car and making sure we maximise everything this weekend. Hopefully that will pay off and tomorrow will be a positive day for us. There's a bit of work to do overnight but we're looking forward to tomorrow."

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Today was a valuable day of learning for us here in Bahrain. The two sessions went very smoothly on both sides of the garage, and Fernando and Stoffel provided constructive and positive feedback about the progress made throughout the day. We completed our programme with both cars, which included longer runs at the end of the day and has presented us with useful data in more representative conditions from the upgrades we have brought here. I'd also like to say thank you to everyone back at the factory who has been working hard to ensure we could come here with the remaining components we'd planned that we weren't quite able to have ready in time for Australia. Qualifying is all-important tomorrow to decide our grid slots, and we're under no illusion about the strength of our competition. We saw today that the midfield pack is very tight, so positions can be won or lost by the smallest of margins. We have work to do overnight to ensure we give ourselves the best opportunity for Sunday's race, but we will surely put up a fight here tomorrow in front of our Bahraini friends and colleagues."

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

Charles Leclerc (16th, 1:32.372): "In general, it was quite a positive day for us. The qualifying performance was good and the car felt good to drive. At the end of the second session I completed a red flag practice. We will be looking at what we learned during today's sessions, and build on that for FP3 and qualifying. I look forward to being back in the car tomorrow."

Marcus Ericsson (19th, 1:32.733): "It was a busy session today. FP1 was quite good  I focused on mechanical set-up work. During FP2 I lost the rear of the car, which was not ideal, but as the session progressed the balance improved and the car felt good towards the end. It seems that we are moving in the right direction. We will be analysing the data tonight and will see what we can do for tomorrow's qualifying."
Garcia followed the octuple-bogey with a birdie at the par-3 16th, then parred the last two holes for 81.

The reigning champion was left stunned when he made a shambolic 13 on the 15th hole in his opening round at Augusta.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, enjoyed a decent start to his Masters campaign.

One such score was remarkably coming from American Tony Finau, despite suffering a sickening injury during the pre-tournament par-three contest.

The 13 is the highest score ever on the 15th hole by two strokes and ties the highest score on any hole in Masters history.

Garcia's hopes of successfully defending his title were in tatters after taking 13 shots to complete the par five 15th at Augusta National.

"I don't know what to tell you".

"I thought it was ideal, straight at the flag", the Spaniard said after carding nine-over-par 81. It's just one of those things.

"I kept hitting good shots with the sand wedge and unfortunately, I don't know why, the ball just wouldn't stop". "If it carries two more yards, it's probably flawless", Garcia said. "It's just unfortunate, but that's what it is". He holed a 9-foot putt to avoid the highest score in Masters history. As a result, he earned an entry in the Masters record book, alongside the 13 by Tom Weiskopf on the par-3 12th in 1980 and Tommy Nakajima's 13 on the par-5 13th in 1978.

In the 1996 movie Tin Cup, the main character was in contention playing the final hole at a US Open, only to run up a 12 after repeatedly finding the water with his approach shot.
Singapores A*STARs NanoBio Lab and Canadas Hydro-Quebec have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to finance US$20 million for a joint laboratory for battery research. Housed in Singapores biomedical research hub, Biopolis, the new facility will focus on making batteries more efficient and safer through the use of innovative nanomaterials.

The joint laboratory aims to improve solid-state batteries, which are considered to be a safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries, as they do not use flammable liquid electrolytes. In particular, the lab will focus on developing new nanomaterials and nanotechnologies for electric vehicles and energy storage that are safe, efficient and cost-effective.

The NanoBio Lab, headed by Professor Jackie Y. Ying, has invented several techniques for producing unique nanostructures that are tailored for various biomedical, catalytic and energy applications.

Hydro-Quebec is a global leader in battery materials research and is a major supplier of electricity, relying on renewable energy in Canada. Recently, it announced the opening of a new Center of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage (CETEES), which is headed by Dr. Karim Zaghib. CETEES has expertise in the development of battery and related technologies for the electrification of transport.
The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament has issued a draft opinion on the proposed regulation of the European Parliament and of the European Council for emission performance standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles.

The gist of the draft is that greater urgency and stringency are required in setting requirements.

Your draftsman considers that the context of the global commitment to swift decarbonisation of the economy needs to be taken seriously also when designing CO2 fleet average targets for new vehicles in the Union market. This is necessary in order for the Union to contribute its fair share to the global efforts, but also to ensure the future of the European vehicle manufacturing industry.

In order for the EU economy to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions that are in line with a justifiable Union share for the remaining Paris Agreement compatible global carbon budget, light duty vehicle fleets need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and electrify in a rapid manner. Sectors of economy where affordable emission reduction technologies exist, and are available even at negative cost over the life-cycle like it is the case for light duty vehicle transport, must decarbonise first, in order to allow for a most cost-effective and least disruptive transformation.

The EU has already lost some of its technological leadership in particular with respect to zero/low emission vehicles. Your draftsman considers that in order to restore the leadership in vehicle manufacturing, the policy makers need to set targets that are strictly in line with the climate necessities in a technology neutral manner to allow for manufacturers to define the most cost-effective path to decarbonising their fleet.

The proposed fleet average targets are drawn from an analysis1 of the necessary carbon reductions that would be consistent with the Paris Agreement objectives. Taking into account the mechanism that has been adopted to transfer from the NEDC to the WLTP test cycle and the strong incentive for manufacturers to ensure favourable outcomes in the process, the reduction percentages (45% for 2025 and 75% for 2030) are set assuming that the correlation factor will be 1.25 by 2020. In order to ensure that the expected reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are not undermined by significant discrepancies in the real world driving compared to the test cycle results, a mechanism should be introduced to follow-up evidence from the collected fuel consumption data and to adjust the reduction targets accordingly.

The proposed reduction targets imply a high level of zero emission vehicles already for 2025 (app 50%), however instead of weakening the incentives for the fleet average emission reduction through ZEV bonuses, a relatively low minimum mandatory share of zero emission vehicles per manufacturer is introduced at 15% for the purposes of creating investment certainty for the development of charging point infrastructure.

Jakop Dalunde, Rapporteur for opinion
Editors note: Jose Maria Edito K. Tirol, PhD, is an assistant professor of the Department of History, Ateneo de Manila University.

Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  Contrary to public perception, the word valor was not initially about courage or bravery in combat. The etymology of the word can be traced from two sources. First, there is from the 14th century Old French valor or valour, which meant merit, moral worth, or virtue. Alternatively, there is from the Latin valere, to be strong or to be worth. Valor being equated with courage was not actually recorded until the 1580s, from the Italian valore as derived from the original Latin.

Following this train of historical thought, when we celebrate the national holiday Araw ng Kagitingan, Day of Valor, on April 9, we are not just reminding ourselves of the acts of courage exhibited by the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. What we are commemorating is the very moral fiber of the men who fought against the invading Japanese. We honor not just the quantitative, but the intangible virtues drawn upon in times of struggle.

The fall of Bataan

The United States Army Forces in the Far East, or USAFFE, outnumbered the Japanese who besieged them on the Bataan peninsula. That we were eventually overrun and forced to surrender was never a question of individual courage. Rather, it was the results of months of hunger, thirst, disease, and the failure of the United States to send reinforcements. In other words, although from a military standpoint, defeat was inevitable, the ability of the USAFFE to hold out beyond the expectations of both sides remains a historical achievement for the Filipino people.

There is no going around the facts of our history. Following the fall of Bataan, the subsequent surrender of Corregidor on May 6, and later by USAFFE units in the Visayas and Mindanao, organized resistance against the Japanese had to come to an end. But, as I remind my students, what had already begun as sporadic actions even before April 9 would eventually grow into the largest armed guerrilla movement in all of Southeast Asia.

The willingness, the courage, the valor of thousands of ordinary Filipinos  with or without formal training but took up arms anyway, soldiers who had not surrendered or had escaped, and civilians providing logistical, intelligence, and moral support  to find ways to continue the struggle against the occupation forces says much about what we are as a people.

What the Dambana ng Kagitingan represents

The Mount Samat National Shrine, or the Dambana ng Kagitingan, was completed in 1970, in time for the 25th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The complex was supposed to honor the gallantry of the war dead and the surviving veterans, dedicated to the tragedies of the battlefields, the agony of the Death March, and the continuing memories and lessons that can be passed on to younger generations of Filipinos.

One interesting observation during the commemorative activities every April 9 is that the base of the Memorial Cross, the towering structure above the shrine, is actually not just about the Second World War. Rather, the base depicts slabs and reliefs of other moments of struggle in Philippine history, including the execution of Jose Rizal and the resistance of Lapu-Lapu to the Spanish invaders.

What the Memorial Cross represents therefore, and Araw ng Kagitingan as a whole, are both the linear and lateral dimensions of valor in our history.

And because history does not stop at our past, or even at our present, Araw ng Kagitingan reminds us that our valor cannot stop solely in the face of defending our shores against foreign invasion. As we have seen in many specific moments, our enemies can be found within our own nation, amongst ourselves. There is no shortage of individuals and groups with selfish interests, often conniving with foreigners with their own agendas.

The call to valor is for every Filipino

Yes, April the ninth is primarily about Bataan and Corregidor, and today we remember those events that took place 76 years ago. The Day of Valor is an opportunity for Filipinos today, and for Filipinos tomorrow, to remember moments of our past, of strength and courage against overwhelming odds, and to call upon that strength once more if need be.

Thus we recall not just Bataan and Corregidor, but the revolts against Spain and the Philippine Revolution, the repelling of a Dutch fleet and Chinese pirates, the resistance against the British invaders, the Philippine-American War, the other battles of the Second World War on Philippine soil, and the heroes and victims during the martial law era.

Araw ng Kagitingan reminds us that our valor cannot stop solely in the face of defending our shores against foreign invasion. Our enemies can be found within our own nation, amongst ourselves.

These are stories not just of soldiers in combat, but of ordinary Filipinos doing extraordinary accomplishments. Yet do not forget that valor is not exhibited only in times of actual war. Sometimes, the threat is in times of peace  the struggle less obvious, the threat more insidious.

In the same way the tragedies of Bataan and Corregidor need not have occurred had we been more aware and better prepared, many of the divisive issues facing us today  the threats against our democratic institutions, national patrimony, virtues, the war against memory, our very future as a nation  tell us the urgent need for constant vigilance, courage in the face of deceit and public condemnation, and to never forget the costs of failure.

Araw ng Kagitingan can never just be about acts of courage of those who have come and fought before us. The call to valor is for every Filipino to know who we are, what we have been capable of in the past, what values we hold most dear today, and what we must do to defend them, always.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 5)  Former Senator Jinggoy Estrada is mulling over a Senate comeback in the 2019 elections  and joining the ruling party is one of his options.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday, Estrada was asked if he was open to running under Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).

"Definitely. I am supportive of the administration of President Duterte," said Estrada.

The former senator was previously affiliated with Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino and United Nationalist Alliance.

Without naming parties, he said, "There are some negotiations, but I'll just keep mum about it."

Estrada is out of a three-year detention for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion pork barrel scam. He was accused of receiving P183 million in kickbacks from his Priority Development Assistance Fund, but he was allowed to post bail in September.

He disputed a statement by his half-brother, Senator JV Ejercito, who said he sought a Senate seat "to vindicate himself." Ejercito is also seeking re-election.

Related: JV Ejercito: Jinggoy Estrada's possible Senate comeback bid a personal challenge

"First of all, I have a lot of things to do in the Senate. I have a lot of bills that haven't been passed. Marami pa ring unfinished business, contrary to what my brother said," said Estrada. "Please, don't spin the story."

The actor-turned-lawmaker was detained alongside his colleagues Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla. Enrile was also allowed out of detention, while Revilla is still under government custody.

Estrada declined to comment on another co-accused, businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles.

Napoles, who is alleged to be the mastermind of the P10-billion pork barrel scam, is accused of conspiring with about 12 former lawmakers to divert public funds to bogus organizations.

Amidst much controversy, she was provisionally admitted to the Justice Department's witness protection program.

Related: Robredo: Placing Napoles under witness protection a 'mockery' of justice

However, Estrada did admit to an oversight.

"Siguro [Maybe] my only mistake was I was quite careless," he said. "I trust my staff in letting me sign documents. Siguro [Maybe] next time around, I will have to exercise due diligence."

Watch the full interview with Estrada here.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 5)  Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte is willing to visit Kuwait even as the country would push for conditions to protect Filipino workers in a labor deal with the Gulf state.

There's no date as yet for the visit, but Bello pointed out the importance of the President's change of heart after a previous decision to scuttle the planned trip.

"Hindi pa nade-decide, kasi alam mo [It hasn't been decided yet], this will be a state visit, kailangan ng mahabang preparasyon [It needs preparation]. So ang importante diyan [what's important] is the President is willing to go there to strengthen the ties between the Philippines and Kuwait," he said.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday said Duterte might proceed to Kuwait provided the Labor Department can make sure the President's conditions for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait are met.

These include no confiscation of passport  depositing instead with the Philippine embassy, seven hours of sleep, a day off, permission to cook food, and no physical abuse.

Meanwhile, Bello said he will be flying to the Gulf state "anytime soon" to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kuwait on labor issues. He added he has coordinated with Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano on the MOU's contents.

"'Yung mga probisyon na magbibigay sa ating mga overseas workers ilalagay namin doon sa employment contract, maliban doon sa mga provisions sa Memorandum of Understanding," he said.

[Translation: The provisions for our overseas workers will be in the employment contract, on top of the provisions in the MOU.]

The Philippine and Kuwait have approved the draft MOU on March 16, the latest development in the government's goal to protect Filipino workers in Kuwait.

Duterte pushed for the protection measures after the gruesome death of household worker Joanna Demafelis from the hands of her employers. Demafelis' body was found in a freezer, where it may have been kept for over a year.

Roque said the worker deployment ban to Kuwait stays pending a final labor deal.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 6)  President Rodrigo Duterte has called the Rohingya crisis a "genocide" and offered the refugees a home in the country.

"I'm willing to accept refugees. Rohingyas, yes," Duterte said in a speech on Thursday.

Without naming Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Duterte called the leader his "friend."

"Kaibigan ko pa naman yung babae (The female leader is my friend)," he said. "Pero the way, it's being presented to the world, kawawa talaga ang mga tao doon (I really pity the people there)."

The Rohingya is a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar's Rakhine State. More than 680,000 of them have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since August 2017, an exodus which the United Nations called the "world's fastest-growing refugee crisis."

Myanmar's military has repeatedly denied claims it was deliberately attacking the Rohingya civilians, insisting instead that it was combating a terrorist insurgency in the province.

Suu Kyi, meanwhile, has drawn international criticism for her perceived silence on the army's supposed crackdown on the Rohingya.

Duterte in a January speech recalled telling Suu Kyi, "Do not mind the human rights (groups). They're just a noisy bunch actually.'"

READ: Duterte to Suu Kyi: Don't mind human rights critics

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, a democracy icon, has been stripped of a number of prestigious awards amid allegations of indifference to the supposed ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

The UN Refugee Agency said there have been "nine waves of refugees" in the Philippines since the 1900s, the most recent in 2000, where the government gave temporary protection to 600 East Timorese refugees during their country's struggle for independence from Indonesia.

In 2015, the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III also offered refuge to thousands of Rohingya refugees who were then stranded on boats in the hope of finding a place that would take them in.




Haiti - DR : Nearly 35,000 Haitians deported or turned back in Haiti since the beginning of the year





The Directorate General of Migration (DGM) of the Dominican Republic reported that in March 2018, more than 11,500 Haitians were deported to Haiti or turned back to the Dominican border.



5,901 Haitians were turned back at the border while attempting to enter the Dominican territory illegally and 5,599 Haitians in an irregular migration situation were deported after being arrested during control operations on Dominican territory.



For the first 3 months of the year, nearly 35,000 Haitians were deported to Haiti or turned back to the border.



According to the Support Group for Repatriated and Refugees (GARR) during the first 3 months of the year, nearly 15,000 Haitians repatriated have been identified at official border crossings.



Ouanaminthe / Dajabon (North-East): 6,893 returnees.

Carisal / Comendador, Belladere (Center): 5,989 returnees.

Anse-a-Pitres / Pedernales (South-East) more than 1,500 returnees

Malpasse / Jimani: 290 returnees

Cornillon / Grand-Bois: 110 returnees.



These figures do not include Haitians turned back to the borders.



It should be noted that from July 2015 to March 2018, at the official and unofficial border points, have been identified nearly 263,000 Haitians that returned to Haiti (123,000 Haitians repatriated by the Dominican authorities and 139,990 returned voluntarily), to which must be added a total quasi-equivalent number of Haitian turned back at the border.



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23982-icihaiti-dr-strong-increase-in-haitian-expulsions-in-2018.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-23925-icihaiti-social-multiplication-of-migratory-control-patrols.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23748-haiti-rd-nearly-7-500-haitians-deported-to-haiti-or-turned-back.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23510-haiti-flash-nearly-16-000-haitians-deported-or-expelled-from-the-dominican-territory-in-january.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















The week that was

By Jo Gilbert

In case you missed some of the headlines this week on harpers.co.uk, we have put together a review of the top online news, Q&As, and opinion stories.

Fall of an empire: In what will go down as one of the quickest corporate collapses, not just of an alcohol wholesaler, but any business in UK history, the lightening fast unravelling of Conviviality has left the trade reeling this week.

For the UKs biggest BWS distributor, which turned over 1.6bn in 2017, to be stumped by a 30m tax bill shows wider cracks in a company that was left vulnerable by a series of rapid acquisitions.

The desire to expand was clearly outlined in 2017s annual report, in Diana Hunters own words, as the systematic pursuit of a strategy to take the core competence of the business, the wholesaling of alcohol, and extend Convivialitys reach to more consumers across the UK drinks market.

Some of those acquisitions have since been thrown a lifeline, with Magners producer and Budweiser brewer AB InBev swooping in to rescue to Matthew Clark, Bibendum PLB and the rest of the wholesale side of Convivialitys ailing business, saving 1,900 jobs and securing supply continuity in the process.

The saga is far from done however, with Wine Rack and Bargain Booze still in limbo  the latter of which has shut many of its stores while it waits to learn its future.

More from our coverage on the links below.





Top Stories: In a further twist to an extraordinary week in wine, the news emerged yesterday that a ruminating buyout of Accolade Wines has been completed.

The leading Australian producer was bought out by multinational investment firm Carlyle Group for AUD$1bn.

And there was yet more Australian-related news via the unfortunate exit of Brown Brothers from the UK after more than 25 years of trading.

The independent Australian company said it had, in conjunction with UK partner John E Fells & Sons, taken the difficult decision to remove the brand from the UK due to a combination of reasons making the market unsustainable for the business.





Analysis and Insights: This week, we brought you an analytical piece from Harpers editor Andrew Catchpole on the fallout and future impact of Convivialitys collapse on the trade.

Elsewhere, we looked at the closing gap between everyday fizz and high-end Champagne, the independents broadening their remits and a look at the future of ordering wine in the increasingly connected and smart home.







People and Opinion: Tim Atkin MW looked at the impact of globalisation of wine via the lens of the California versus China debate.

And we caught up with Rachael Leach, director of private client sales at Swig Wines.
Trivento TV partnership with Discovery Channel

By Andrew Catchpole

Argentine wine brand Trivento has announced a new media partnership with Discovery Channel, to run from 6 April through December across four of the networks outlets.

Backed by a new label for the Reserve Malbec, currently the UKs top selling branded line of Argentinas flagship grape, the new Bold Discoveries campaign will be featuring a series of video clips during the channels documentary content, featuring both the Trivento brand and an Ultimate Adventures competition linked to neck collars on two million bottles on UK shelves.

Aimed primarily at a 25 to 45 year old audience, the activity will also be backed by a social media and YouTube campaign.

There is a really strong and authentic brand fit with Discovery; their audiences, like ours, are looking for new experiences and adventures they can share with friends, said Clare Griffiths, commercial director at brand owner Concha y Toro UK.

Trivento has enjoyed a phenomenal few years of growth in the UK market now were ready to take the brand to the next level in terms of recognition and household penetration.

Trivento is the number one selling Argentine brand in the UK, with Chardonnay and Shiraz sitting alongside Malbec in its Reserve range, plus a Private Reserve Malbec as its top tier.

Malbec continues to be the fastest growing variety in the UK, up 32.5% by value (Nielsen varietals data, 52 weeks to 24 February 2018), with Trivento selling over 422,000 9 litres cases over that same period.






Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 6)  President Rodrigo Duterte is set to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Hainan province of China on April 10, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee announced in a press briefing earlier today.

Teehankee said the President will be discussing how the Philippines and China can "further enhance bilateral relations."

He added that they will also be tackling issues of violent extremism, terrorism, and cross-border traffic of illegal narcotics.

The meetings come in the wake of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano's bilateral discussion with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on March 21 regarding the joint gas and oil exploration on the South China Sea. They will also be conducted parallel to the President's attendance in the Boao Forum for Asia plenary on the same day.

Previous meetings

This is not the first time the President decided to conduct bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart.

President Duterte expressed his interest in resolving the long-standing South China Sea dispute through bilateral talks back in November 2017. This was a shift from his initial position to conduct multilateral discussions.

READ: Duterte admin open to multilateral talks on South China Sea issue - Yasay

During his visit to Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, President Duterte brought up the territorial issue to President Xi which led to an agreement between both parties to have a "safe passage for all" in the South China Sea.

READ: Duterte: China guarantees safe passage in South China Sea

Teehankee said the South China Sea dispute may come up again in the upcoming bilateral meeting.

"On this (South China Sea dispute), I think the President has been very clear that he maintains the Philippine position, and the meetings are based on mutual respect and equality among nations," Teehankee said.
Hawaiis ill-chosen legalization of assisted suicide

by Matt Valliere, Patients Rights Action Fund, April 5, 2018

Hawaii just made the mistake of becoming the eighth jurisdiction in the United States to allow assisted suicide.

We can learn a lot about the folly of this path if we look to other places here and abroad where assisted suicide already is legal. A quick survey turns up countless instances of the failures of these laws to safeguard the most vulnerable.

From Europe, there seems to be a constant stream of documented cases related to the practice of assisted suicide and euthanasia, which would give anyone pause.

In the Netherlands, the number of people with experience of mental illness being euthanized is rising by the day . There are known cases of such people being abused or coerced into death by people they should be able to trust. A whistle-blowing doctor in Belgium went to the Associated Press with the details of a dementia patients death by euthanasia  the patient had never formally asked to die.

A column in the Washington Post recounts another sad story of one case gone very wrong. In 2016, an otherwise healthy elderly woman with dementia, having made an ambiguous advanced directive to end her life when the time was right, was euthanized against her will at the request of her husband by a nursing home doctor whose assessment was that the patients suffering was unbearable and incurable. She prepared the lethal injection. The physician tried silencing the patients protests by slipping a sedative into her coffee. When the sedative failed, this doctor had the family of the patient restrain her so that she could administer the lethal injection.

The columnist rightly asks, How many botched cases would it take to end euthanasia of the vulnerable?

In January, a physically healthy 29-year-old suffering from depression was euthanized . The Daily Mail reported that in Holland in 2013, a total of 42 people with severe psychiatric problems were killed by lethal injection compared to 14 in 2012 and 13 in 2011.

Are these abuses confined to Europe or are they the inevitable fruits of what is everywhere bad public policy? There is evidence for the latter.

In Oregon, Michael Freeland , who had a 40-year history of acute depression and suicidal ideation, not only received the lethal prescription but also was allowed to keep the drugs even when all other means of his taking his own life had been removed from his home.

Another Oregonian, Kate Cheney , who had been diagnosed with dementia, was first referred for the non-required psychiatric evaluation and denied the lethal dose. Her family shopped for a doctor until they found one who would sign off; the doctors report stated that her choices may be influenced by her familys wishes and her daughter, Erika, may be somewhat coercive.

In fact, just this legislative session, there was a bill before the Delaware General Assembly that would sanction the assisted suicides of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This flies in the face of the central concerns of the disability rights community : Nothing in the proposed Delaware bill ensures that people actually have access to the pain relief, palliative care and home-based and community-based personal care services they need.

Moreover, just like all of the proposed bills and assisted suicide laws, the Delaware bill utterly fails to prevent coercion. Coercion to request lethal drugs, like any form of abuse, occurs behind closed doors.

Lets all note how legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia has led to the tragic death of vulnerable people. Whether in Europe, Canada, or even here in the U.S., this public policy push is unsuccessful at instituting any structures that would protect those who are most vulnerable from abuse and coercion.

We can avoid making the same mistake here by rejecting such laws and proposals altogether.

---30---

Matt Valliere is executive director of Patients Rights Action Fund , a national organization that opposes assisted suicide.

* * * * *

18,000 Sign Petition against aid in dying -- presented to Gov. Ige

KHON: The governor is set to sign a bill legalizing medical aid in dying. Not everyone is happy about it.

Over 18,000 people signed a petition to try to deter him from signing the bill, which he said he would do Thursday.

"Our concern has been with the wider community," said Eva Andrade of the Hawaii Family Forum. "Whether it's elderly kupuna or youth. Suicide is not what the people of Hawaii really want."

Gov. Ige thanked everyone for coming to share their feelings on the issue.

He's still slated to sign the bill Thursday morning.

read  Petition against aid in dying presented to Gov. Ige

* * * * *

GOVERNOR SIGNS OUR CARE, OUR CHOICE ACT, ALLOWING END OF LIFE CHOICES FOR TERMINALLY ILL

News Release from Office of the Governor, Apr 5, 2018

HONOLULU  Gov. David Ige today signed HB 2739  the Our Choice, Our Care Act. The bill gives mentally capable, terminally ill people with six months or less to live  the option to take prescription medication that enables them to die peacefully in their sleep.

HB 2739 is modeled after Oregons Death with Dignity Act, which has been in practice for 20 years. The Hawaii bill establishes a regulatory process under which the terminally ill patient may choose to obtain a prescription for medication to end the patients life.

The bill includes strict eligibility criteria and safeguards that ensure a safe, compassionate and patient-centered end-of-life practice. In addition, there are additional regulatory requirements to address opponents concerns about misuse.

Among the safeguards: the patient is required to take the medication on his/her own; two doctors must confirm the terminal illness and six-month prognosis; patients are not eligible for medical aid in dying based on age or disability; the attending physician must inform the requesting patient about all end-of-life care options, including pain and symptom management, hospice and palliative care; the patients mental capacity must be confirmed by a mental health professional; two separate requests for medication must be made, with a 20-day waiting period between the first and second request; a written request overseen by two witnesses is also required, with one witnesses prohibited from being a beneficiary of the patients estate.

The measure also makes it a criminal offense to tamper with a patients request for a prescription or to coerce a patient to request a prescription.

I believe that we have clear safeguards in place. It is time for terminally ill, mentally competent Hawaii residents who are suffering to make their own end-of-life choices with dignity, grace and peace. I am honored to sign HB 2739 into law, in hopes of giving these patients and their families choices and peace of mind, said Gov. Ige.

With Gov. Iges signature, the Department of Health will form an Advisory Committee to help facilitate the implementation of the new law.

Act 2 becomes law on Jan. 1, 2019.

---30---
Mandatory paid sick leave wrong medicine for Hawaii economy

From Grassroot Institute, April 6, 2018

The Hawaii Legislature may have shelved an increase in the minimum wage this year, but that doesnt mean it is done creating new regulations for local businesses.

One proposal currently moving through the halls of the state Capitol poses many of the same issues as a minimum-wage bill, but with a much greater chance of passing: paid sick leave.

There are currently three different bills still alive that would require local companies to give all employees paid sick leaves: HB 1727 , HB 2598 and SB 2990 . They vary in their approaches and implementation.

One would be a direct mandate from the Legislature that employers provide a minimum amount of paid sick leave to employees, while the others would pass off the rulemaking and study of the issue to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The bills go beyond current federal and state law, which provide for family leave but not necessarily paid leave.

For local businesses, the paid sick leave mandate is like a shadow minimum-wage hike. It would increase the cost of labor in the state and be hardest on businesses that operate on thin margins.

In testimony to the Legislature, business groups have repeatedly warned that a paid leave mandate would require them to raise prices and be yet another financial burden on doing business in Hawaii.

There are nine states (plus the District of Columbia) that have enacted similar measures, two of which will be implementing their mandates just this year.

None of those states are among the top 10 in the Economic Freedom of North America . Economic freedom is the ability of people to choose how to use their time, talents and resources.

Several of those states  California, Oregon, Vermont, Rhode Island  are among the least free states in the Economic Freedom Index. Hawaii generally ranks among the least free states as well, but that is not the route to prosperity.

This is not a question of whether workers should get sick leave. Employees are already free to negotiate those terms with their employers, along with salary and benefits. This is about whether the state should intervene and add more regulations and red tape for Hawaiis businesses.

As with the minimum wage, these measures will hurt the very people theyre trying to help by raising the cost of labor in Hawaii, slowing hiring and discouraging entrepreneurship.

The best way to help low-income families in Hawaii is by pursuing policies that will encourage investment and rejuvenate the economy.

We need less government, not more, if we want to increase economic freedom in our state. Thats the surest route to greater prosperity and a better life for all our citizens.

E hana kakou (Lets work together!),

Keli'i Akina, Ph.D.
(Bloomberg) BlackRock Inc., the worlds largest asset manager, is seeking $2.5 billion for a private credit fund, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The fund has raised $1.5 billion so far, according to the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private. The fund can either directly lend to businesses or invest in the credit of companies facing distress.

To read this article:
The Finnish Construction Trade Union has announced work stoppages at the construction sites of seven construction companies and their subsidiaries that apply the current collective bargaining agreement in the construction industry to their employees.

The Finnish construction industry will come to a standstill due to a series of intermittent work stoppages to be staged between April and May.

The work stoppages are scheduled to take place on 1924 April, 34 May and 78 May.

The Construction Trade Union has also said it will take further industrial action if the announced measures do not unlock the collective bargaining negotiations in the industry.

Employers insist on offering wage increases proposed by [the Confederation of Finnish Industries] EK. The employers also demand that we approve the competitiveness pact retroactively  harmful revisions to agreements, removal of Sunday bonuses and complete de-regulation of temporary agency work, says Matti Harjuniemi, the chairman of the Construction Trade Union.

The stoppages will have far-reaching consequences for not only the construction industry but also the national economy, says the other stakeholder in the gridlocked negotiations, the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (RT).

Tapio Kari, the head of labour market affairs at RT, says the stoppages will cause major damage to the construction industry due to the participation of concrete suppliers, possibly delaying the completion of residential and other construction projects by up to three months.

Construction is closely tied to the deliveries of ready-mixed and pre-cast concrete products, he explains. Random strikes throw off the schedule entirely. The interruption of supply chains necessitates the re-organisation of schedules and also reflects on other projects not affected by the strikes, causing long-term damage, he argues.

RT has not provided an estimate of the costs of the announced stoppages but points out in its press release that a one-day strike affecting the entire construction industry would have a negative impact of 30 million euros on the national economy.

The Finnish Construction Trade Union and Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries are tasked with renewing a total of eight collective agreements.

The main bone of contention in the talks, which have dragged on for almost three months, has been wage increases. RT has proposed that wages be raised by 1.6 per cent per year during the two-year validity period of the new agreement. The Construction Trade Union, however, has rejected the proposal as insufficient, demanding that hourly wages be raised by 0.5 euros for the entire validity period.

The counter-proposal would raise wages in the construction sector by 5.7 per cent for the next two years, according to RT.

Why should well-paid construction workers receive wage increases that are almost two times as high as in other industrial sectors or, for example, in female-dominated lower-wage sectors, asks Kari.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 6)  Embattled Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has sought the inhibition of one of her harshest critics from hearing the petition to remove her from office.

In a 132-page motion with annexes filed on Friday, Sereno said Associate Justice Teresita de Castro should be disqualified from participating in the Supreme Court's oral arguments on the quo warranto petition against Sereno. The hearing is set for April 10.

Sereno, who is on leave at the request of her colleagues, cited five grounds in her motion.

First, Sereno said de Castro "had already prejudged" the issue on the validity of her appointment as Chief Justice.

This is the subject of the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida. It asks the Supreme Court to void Sereno's appointment over her alleged failure to file Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) for 10 years before she applied for the Chief Justice post in 2012.

Sereno noted that in a January hearing of the House Committee on Justice, de Castro said Sereno should have been disqualified from vying for the chief justice post after failing to comply with the SALN requirement.

READ: SC justices: Sereno's failure to submit SALN should have disqualified her application as CJ

"With due respect to Justice Leonardo-De Castro, it would be contrary to normal human experience for her to suddenly repudiate her conclusions," Sereno said, adding that de Castro made these statements under oath.

Sereno accused de Castro of having a "personal interest" in the outcome of the petition, saying this should make her inhibition "mandatory."

De Castro's participation in the case would be in violation of the New Code of Judicial Conduct, Sereno said, which mandates the inhibition of a judge who "is unable to decide the matter impartially or who may appear to a reasonable observer to be unable to decide a matter impartially."

De Castro also has "repeatedly manifested actual bias, if not personal animosity" towards Sereno, the motion read. It cited several statements de Castro has made against Sereno.

The Chief Justice said allowing de Castro to participate in hearing her quo warranto cause would violate her constitutional right to due process.

De Castro in a November 2017 House hearing broke her silence on the rumored rivalry between her and Sereno. She denied having any bias against Sereno, adding that she do not let her emotions get in the way of her job as a magistrate.

"I cannot stand idly by when the power of the Supreme Court, the collegial authority of the Supreme Court under the Constitution is being undermined," de Castro said in response to questions on her motive for testifying against Sereno.

Sereno earlier filed separate motions for four other associate justices to inhibit. Sereno said Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza and Noel Tijam all "manifested actual bias against her."

Like de Castro, these magistrates testified against Sereno before the probable cause hearings conducted by the House Committee on Justice.

Sereno has said impeachment is the only way to remove a chief justice from office, asking lawmakers to "give me my day in the Senate impeachment court."

On Friday she insisted that the motions she filed in relation to her quo warranto case are "without prejudice" to her contention that the petition should be dismissed as the Constitution allows her to be ousted only through impeachment.

CNN Philippines' Eimor Santos and Anjo Alimario contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 6)  Two out of five people accused in the drug-traffic case linked to the 2016 Closeup '"Forever Summer" concert tragedy were sentenced to life imprisonment Friday.

Marc David Been and Seergeoh Villanueva, were fined 5 million each after the Paranaque City Regional Trial Court Branch 259 and sentenced to a life term.

Meanwhile, Erica Valbuena, Thomas Halili and Martin Dimacali were sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined 500,000 each.

The five were arrested during a buy-bust operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) outside a Paranaque City condominium in 2016. The NBI said the five were spotted selling drugs at the concert, where five people died of overdose.

READ: Two more Pasay concert victims found positive for illegal drugs
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 6)  A private body that advises government on tourism policies said the three-week notice to shut Boracay island down is unfair to the tourism industry.

"They held out on the date of closure for so long, we were not really able to adjust as much as we could," Tourism Congress of the Philippines President Jose Clemente III told CNN Philippines' The Source on Friday. The group is an assembly of accredited tourism enterprises and former government officials.

Asked about the lead time before the scheduled closure on April 26, he said, "For my stakeholders, no. We were asking for at least a six-month leave time so we would be able to prepare."

The Cabinet decided Wednesday to close the island for six months. Officials said the period could be shorter depending on the progress of rehabilitation work.

READ: Rebuilding Boracay: Timeline, what to expect

The scramble to clean up the world-famous tourist destination came after President Rodrigo Duterte called it "a cesspool," and threatened to shut it down permanently if its environmental problems are unsolved.

The Interior, Environment, and Tourism Departments pushed for the April 26 closure, but Budget Secretary Ben Diokno believed it was too soon, and the Trade Department recommended having it in phases. Clemente said they had high hopes the President would reconsider.

Tourism officials are advising beachgoers to divert their trips to alternative destinations in the Philippines, but Clemente is unconvinced this will prosper.

"If you're from Europe, they set their vacations one year in advance... Chances are, they will cancel the whole trip, so the Philippines loses out in the long term," said Clemente.

"We will try to rebook them to these other places. But then, puno na rin sila [those are full too] because it's peak season," he added.

Residents are concerned about the island's closure, even as the Tourism Congress estimates job losses at close to 40,000.

Interior Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III earlier pegged revenue losses at between 18 and 20 billion, but Clemente estimates a higher amount of as much as 32 billion.

Annabella Wisniewski, President of Raintree Hospitality Group, told CNN Philippines they were left out in the planning and seemingly told to "take it or leave it." Her group manages hotels and restaurants on the island.

"They never included... the private sector in the planning. Nakakasama ng loob kasi hindi nila in-involve yung mga tao na maapektuhan, hindi yung mga taong naghahanap-buhay doon, yung nagtatrabaho," said Wisniewski.

[Translation: There are hard feelings because they didn't involve those who will be affected, those working and earning a livelihood there.]

She also asked whether the government could be likened to a police state, following officials saying they would bar tourists with police. "Parang hindi tama [Something's not right]," she said.

The government has assured the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) would assist those whose livelihoods were on the line. Clemente said this was not enough, citing DOLE's promise of only 5,000 jobs.

Clemente said a number of locals had a "hand-to-mouth existence," who would be completely cut from their main source of income.

"[A boatman] only makes about 300 to 600 per day. Imagine cutting that off coming into May, which is the enrolment period for kids," he said. "Huwag na natin isipin ang enrollment, anong ipapakain niya sa pamilya niya [Without even considering enrollment, what will he feed his family]?"

He also lamented that businesses that followed environmental laws and other restrictions were "being punished for the sins of other people," including lenience on the part of local and national government officials.

Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones admitted on The Source that the government also had its shortcomings. The Interior Department is preparing charges against accountable local officials.

The government announced on Thursday that a 2-billion calamity fund would assist displaced workers of law-abiding hoteliers and businesses.

Related: Gov't to use calamity fund to help displaced Boracay workers

The Environment Department's first order of the day following the closure is to fix the sewage system. Tourism Undersecretary Ricky Alegre said only 47 percent of 1,900 business establishments are connected to the sewage treatment plan. An area of the island has open pipes that pour out waste to the open sea.

"For the restoration of the drainage system, the governor assured us they can do it in 30 days," Leonen said. "But the upgrading of the sewer lines may take six months or more."

Watch the complete interview with Leones and Clemente here.
(CNN) -- Brazil's supreme court has ruled that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must start serving a 12-year jail sentence for corruption, a move that may end his political career.

Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011, had been considered a frontrunner in elections due in October. But the court's decision not to grant his request to remain free while appealing the conviction has cast doubt on his bid to regain power.

The 72-year-old former president had filed a habeas corpus request to delay his prison sentence, but the supreme court ruled against him 6-5, a close verdict on an issue that has divided the country and raised tensions ahead of the elections.

The decision will now go back to the lower court, where a warrant for his arrest is expected to be issued within days.

In late January, an appeals court unanimously upheld the corruption and money laundering charges against him, and he was handed a 12-year prison sentence. Lula da Silva was initially found guilty of the charges in July 2017.

Lula da Silva strongly denied any wrongdoing. His defense said he was a victim of political persecution.

His conviction stemmed from a wide-ranging corruption investigation into the state-run oil company Petrobras, dubbed "Operation Car Wash." The accusations against him emerged after he left office in 2011.

Lula da Silva was accused of benefiting from the renovation of a triplex in a beach town near Sao Paulo by the construction company OAS. The charges were connected to 3.7 million reais' ($1.1 million) worth of bribes received from OAS through the beachfront apartment. In return, Lula da Silva helped the builder acquire contracts from the oil company, prosecutors charged.

Universally known as Lula, Lula da Silva is a founding member of Brazil's only socialist political party, Partido dos Trabalhadores, the Workers' Party.

He won two terms as president, serving from October 2002 until January 2011. He was friends with the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who supported his political career, and attended Castro's funeral last December.

He left office with a 90% approval rating but was questioned by police about the corruption allegations in March 2016.

Lula da Silva's wife, Marisa Leticia Lula da Silva, and six others also was charged. She died in February.
(CNN) -- The Bible appears to have been removed from online marketplaces in China, as Beijing clamps down on how its citizens practice religion.

China has always controlled sales of the Bible, only allowing it to be distributed and printed by state-sanctioned churches, but in recent years it had been available to buy online.

That loophole now appears to be firmly closed. Searches for "Holy Bible" did not return results on JD.com, and results on Amazon.cn did not include the main text, but did include study guides and the Koran.

On Taobao, China's biggest online marketplace, a search returned results for the "baby food bible" and the "autoimmune disease healing bible," but not the Christian scripture, though some related products such as an illustrated set of children's Bible stories were still available.

JD.com, Amazon.cn and Taobao did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Thursday was a public holiday in China.

Two online merchants told CNN customers may still obtain copies of the holy book from them through private messages, but public listing of the Bible is now impossible on Taobao.

Historical hostility

Sarah Cook, senior research analyst for East Asia at Freedom House, said the sales ban "is an important example of how internet censorship intersects with restrictions on religious freedom."

"Sensitive religious topics and groups are among the most censored in China," she said. "In our research we found the Chinese authorities increasingly using more high-tech methods to control religion and punish believers -- including surveillance and arrest of believers for sharing information online."

Religious practice in China is tightly controlled by the government, with the five recognized faiths -- Chinese Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and Taoism -- supervised by official organizations such as the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church or the Buddhist Association of China.

According to a recent five-year plan on Christianity in China, published by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), maintaining the "principle of independence and self-management" is important due to the "humiliating history of the Chinese people" and the use of Christianity by the powers of "colonialism and imperialism."

Chinese Catholic bishops are not appointed by the Pope, which has been a key sticking point between Beijing and the Vatican since relations broke down in 1951.

Progress did appear to have been made in recent weeks, with some Chinese officials saying a deal with the Holy See could take place over Easter, but this did not pan out.

William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said the Vatican "should probably take this issue into consideration in its discussions with their Chinese counterparts -- since the banning of the sale of Bibles is obviously a worrying move demonstrating the worsening state for freedom of religion in China."

Religious oversight

Analysts said China is currently undergoing a major shift in how it governs and sanctions religion.

The United Front Work Department, a previously shadowy department of the ruling Communist Party that oversees Chinese influence efforts overseas, recently took over responsibility for ethnic and religious affairs, further strengthening the Party's absolute control over society.

According to a new government white paper on religious freedoms, published this week, faiths must "adapt themselves to the socialist society."

"Religious believers and non-believers respect each other, and live in harmony, committing themselves to reform and opening up and the socialist modernization, and contribute to the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation," the paper said, listing official Communist Party policies.

"(There is) a broader trend under President Xi Jinping to more tightly control religion, especially Christianity," Amnesty's Nee said. "It's absurd that the government claims to promote religious freedom at the same time that they're banning the sale of Bibles."

Efforts are underway to produce a new version of the Chinese Bible, with a more "Sinicized" text, according to the SARA five year plan.

"The possibility of the Bible's being removed because of planned efforts to engage in and publish official reinterpretations would fit with a broader effort by the atheist (Communist Party) to actively interpret religious scriptures that we've seen for Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and to a lesser extent to date, Christianity," Cook said.

She said the move could backfire on the authorities however, alienating mainstream Chinese Christians who are "otherwise apolitical ... and perhaps encouraging them to jump the Great Firewall or seek out extralegal avenues for obtaining a copy of the Bible."
(CNN) -- At least 50 artificial intelligence (AI) scientists from around the world called for a boycott of a South Korean university over concerns it was working with a defense company to research autonomous weapons, or "killer robots."

In announcing the boycott, the AI scientists said they were disappointed the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) was looking "to accelerate the arms race to develop such weapons," a claim the university has denied.

"We therefore publicly declare that 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 Center will not develop autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control," the statement said.

The scientists added that if developed, autonomous weapons will be a "third revolution" in warfare.

"They will permit war to be fought faster and at a scale greater than ever before," the statement said. "They have the potential to be weapons of terror. Despots and terrorists could use them against innocent populations, removing any ethical restraints. This Pandora's box will be hard to close if it is opened."

In late February, KAIST announced the opening of a research center investigating AI in cooperation with defense company Hanwha Systems. The original announcement has since been deleted from the university's website.

KAIST President Shin Sung-chul released a statement Wednesday saying the university had no intention to develop "lethal autonomous weapons systems or killer robots."

"As an academic institution, we value human rights and ethical standards to a very high degree. KAIST has strived to conduct research for better serving the world," he said.

Toby Walsh, organizer of the boycott and professor of AI at the University of New South Wales, told CNN he was mostly satisfied with Shin's remarks. The organizers of the boycott have not yet said whether it will continue following the KAIST President's statement.

"I still have a few question marks about what they intend to do but broadly speaking they have responded appropriately," Walsh said.

Calls to ban AI weapons

The boycott comes less than a week before a United Nations meeting in Geneva to discuss concerns over autonomous weapons systems.

According to the statement released by the boycott supporters, 22 countries have so far called for a preemptive ban on autonomous weapons.

"Some weapons are better to be kept out of the battlefield," Walsh told CNN. "We decided that with biological weapons, chemical weapons and nuclear weapons and use the same technology for better, peaceful purposes, and that's what we hope to could happen here."

The boycott is not the first time AI researchers have voiced calls for restrictions on autonomous weapons.

In 2017, the Future of Life Institute released a dystopian, seven-minute video which showed palm-sized drones carrying out massacres, entitled "Slaughterbots."

Two years earlier, thousands of AI researchers from around the world signed an open letter calling for the weapons to be banned if they were "beyond meaningful human control."

"Previously if you wanted to do harm you needed an army to do as you heeded, hundreds of people to follow your orders, now you just need one programmer," Walsh said said.
JNS is proud to partner with the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., to celebrate 70 of the greatest American contributors to the U.S.-Israel relationship in the 70 days leading up to the State of Israel's 70th anniversary.

(JNS)-Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was without question a great Jewish figure, and one of the greatest Jewish leaders of the 20th century.

A talented and charismatic scholar, he was known across the world as simply "The Rebbe." As the seventh Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect of Chassidism, he exponentially increased the movement's influence and size. In an unprecedented flurry of Jewish outreach campaigns, he sent emissaries around the world, establishing thousands of Chabad centers in cities, remote locales and on college campuses that continue to serve the spiritual and physical needs of Jews of all backgrounds.

Even in an era before the Internet, the Rebbe had a global reach, with followers all over the world. In addition to guiding his own immediate flock of Lubavitcher Chassidim, he expressed great concerns for the status of global Jewry. As such, he took a special interest in the success and welfare of the State of Israel. Given his myriad of lectures and writings about Israel, many are surprised to discover that the Rebbe never personally visited the country. Nevertheless, Israeli leaders of all stripes continually sought out his advice and blessing.

Many of these moments were captured on camera and can today be viewed online. For example, in one recording from 1988, Benjamin Netanyahu approaches the Rebbe for a blessing, and the Rebbe offers him a fascinating combination of religious guidance, along with practical political opinions and insight. Similarly, when Ariel Sharon was considering retiring from the military, he consulted with the Rebbe, who convinced him to remain as one of Israel's top generals.

Rabbi Schneerson often faced disdain and derision from "mainstream" haredi Judaism for stubbornly continuing to praise Israel and its military, and pray for its continued success. Many major rabbinic figures of the haredi establishment tended to negatively view any aspect of Israel connected to its mostly secular government (more so in the early years than today). In response, the Rebbe occasionally suggested that God acts through the courageous soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, as in the case of the 1967 Six-Day War and "Operation Entebbe" in July 1976.

Through his steadfast leadership, the Rebbe steered the Chabad movement into embracing a pro-Israel attitude, writing to David Ben-Gurion "that Eretz Israel in all aspects, both present and future, should constitute a factor uniting Jews everywhere, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox of all trends."

Not surprisingly, many of his emissaries are among the most fervent supporters of Israel in their communities. The Rebbe continues to serve as a light of inspiration for Jews around the world, with his heartfelt dedication to Israel remembered and cherished by all who encounter his teachings.
FBI reports uptick on anti-Semitism...

I read this recently in the World Jewish Congress (WJC) digest (got upset as usual) and pass it along:

"According to hate crime statistics recently released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States rose slightly over the previous year and each year.

Following Jews, Muslims were the targets of the second-largest number of hate crimes."

(No surprise to me. Anti-Semitism seems to be back and just as strong as before. I remember being beaten up at the age of five, living in the Red Hook Projects in Brooklyn, just for being Jewish. And because of my age and the fear, I found myself denying my Judaism just to get home from kindergarten alive! )

JCC 39ers...

On the next Meet & Mingle Monday, April 9th at 1 p.m. in the Roth Family JCC Senior Lounge, "Game Day" will be presented by CLAIRE MERCER. It is called "Stick Schtick."

(Sounds like my mother named it!)

More JCC39ers activities...

Also at the Roth Family JCC on Maitland Avenue, on Thursday, April 12, at 1:30 p.m., there will be a current events discussion. All of us will be heard. (Boy, would I like to record that!)

Bring a brown bag lunch. Dessert and coffee will be provided.

The discussion will be lead by VICTOR GRANATSTEIN.

(In light of today's news, we can stop shouting back at the television set!!)

And more from the Maitland JCC...

Every Sunday at 2 p.m., movies are shown in the JCC Senior Lounge.

On April 15th, the movie "A Dog's Purpose" with JOSH GAD and DENNIS QUAID will be shown.

(I love dogs better than most people! Uh oh, that sentence once got me in a lot of trouble...but it's true.)

Shout-Out...

Speaking of loving dogs, I recently landed back in the hospital again, this time Winter Park Memorial Hospital. I had vertigo for the first (and hopefully the last) time in my life. I couldn't even walk with balance and had to undergo many tests.

The wonderful nurse who took care of me was named JORGE, a handsome (but married) dude who was very kind and caring.

Also, I received a visit from COOPER, who is a Pet Therapy dog for Florida Hospital Volunteer Services. He said (yes, I understand dog language, woof!) "I love my job of putting smiles on faces." He also said, "I love meeting new people every week."

(Woof, Cooper. I'm very glad I was one of them!)

All that jazz...

(Next to dogs, I love jazz!)

According to our own ALAN ROCK:

"We live in an area that offers some excellent live jazz. From the Altamonte Chapel Jazz series to The Central Florida Jazz Society to the great Blue Bamboo. Add to that the local clubs like Heidi's, Jazz Tastings, Vines, Eddie V's and Pilars Martini and many others. Then those special events like the Dr. Phillips Center and The Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center and we have a potpourri of creativity.

Also, Central Florida is blessed with WUCF (89.9 FM) a full-time jazz radio station rated the number one full-time jazz station in the nation as well as UCF's Jazz Studies Program, one of the premier programs in the nation."

That said, the next jazz performance scheduled for the Altamonte Chapel, 825 SR 436, Altamonte Springs, will be on Sunday, April 29th, 12:30 p.m. Of course, our Alan will be emcee.

And Alan says "get ready for the Birth of the Cool, a tribute to Miles Davis with JOHN DEPAOLA, (trumpet), CHRIS ROTTMAYER, (piano), BOB BURNS, (bass) and WALT HUBBARD, (drum) plus, our open JAM SESSION."

One for the road...

Ruth takes one look inside her 10-year-old son Daniel's bedroom and immediately goes downstairs to confront him. "Daniel," she says to him, "I thought you told me that you had thoroughly cleaned your room. I've just taken a look at it and it's still a big mess. What have you got to say about it?"

"I really don't know why you're making such a fuss, mom," Daniel replies. "After all, I never actually told you my room was clean."

"Oh but you did, Daniel," says Ruth.

"No, mom, you're wrong there," says Daniel. "What I actually told you at 5:10 p.m. this afternoon was, 'Ok mom, I'm done with the cleaning of my room.'"

Ruth can't help but smile. "Ok smarty pants," she says, "I should have remembered that you want to be a lawyer when you grow up. You're obviously going to make a brilliant lawyer."
(JTA)-There's no reason Hodaya Koskas and Barrett Brickell would know each other.

Koskas, 14, is a high school student from a small city in central Israel who takes ballet classes and hopes to be a dancer. Brickell, 71, is a retired schoolteacher from Ottawa, Canada.

But they've been video chatting every week since September. The unlikely pairing begins by having Koskas read a one-page English description of a place in Israel, perhaps the Western Wall or a mall. Then they shift into talking about their lives.

Koskas talks about an upcoming ballet competition that, if she wins, could lead to a trip to New York City. Barrett talks about life in Canada-the snow outside his window, the particulars of the local malls. Koskas says she now understands that in Canada, people hit the malls with a bigger bag than in Israel, so they can buy more stuff.

"I feel a connection to another world," Koskas told JTA of the conversations. "I talk about what's done there and what's polite there. We talked about how they shop and how we shop."

The Israeli teen and the Canadian retiree are participants in Israel Connect, a program where older North American adults tutor Israeli kids in English once a week via video chat. For seniors like Brickell, the program is a relatively easy way to connect with Israel and help kids. For kids like Koskas, the sessions expand their vocabulary, improve their pronunciation and introduce them to North American culture (she now knows how to pronounce "read" in the past tense, for example).

"I want to find out about their personal lives," said Brickell, who taught fifth and sixth grade for nearly 20 years, and now tutors three kids as part of Israel Connect. "I end up liking them a lot. The time I get to spend with young people is very meaningful to me, and I have a feeling that they enjoy it."

The program began in 2011 as a side project of Sarah Gordon, a Canadian with Israeli parents who taught Hebrew in Ottawa. A former classmate of Gordon who taught English in Israel told her about some of her Arab-Israeli students who were struggling to pick up what would be their third language. So Gordon matched them with Canadian seniors she knew who could tutor them from afar.

Since then, Israel Connect has mushroomed. It spread to Toronto and a few areas in the United States, from New Jersey to Baltimore to Florida. It now has 400 volunteer tutors, mostly baby boomers and older, and 500 Israeli high school students from 35 schools. Gordon said baby boomers are a good fit because they wake up early and tend to have free time.

The schools are mostly on Israel's periphery-smaller and often poorer towns that are distant from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv The students themselves come from a range of religious, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Gordon said she has a waiting list of 100 schools that want to join, and is hoping to expand her volunteer base.

"Most of our volunteers are connecting with students in towns they've never heard of before," said Gordon, who now co-directs the organization full-time with her husband. "We take the ones that have the strongest need. Some of the schools we work in don't have English teachers. We have schools where we are the English program-we do not recommend that."

English is usually a key part of the school curriculum in Israel, and is viewed as a gateway to cultural exposure, academic excellence and professional success. Students in Israeli high schools receive four to five hours of English education per week, and an entire section of Israel's version of the SAT is devoted to English proficiency. But Gordon said most of the students' practical knowledge of English comes from pop culture.

"They watch a lot of TV and listen to a lot of music," she said. "It's not uncommon for them to show up the first week and [as] they're talking with a retired dentist or brain surgeon, they'll say, 'Hey, what's up, dude.' And the teacher will say, 'We start with 'Hi, how are you?'"

The core of Israel Connect's curriculum is the one-page handouts on Israeli locales, which come with pictures. Volunteers will help the students read through the paragraphs, and then will discuss them before pivoting to casual conversation.

The only restriction Gordon gives is to avoid politics. Some of the participating schools are in West Bank settlements, and Gordon stresses that the program does not take political positions and aims to serve Israeli kids regardless of where they are. Retired doctors are also told not to provide medical advice.

"They didn't choose to be born into this conflict," Gordon said of the students. "They didn't choose to go to the army in two years. We should just be empathetic to their reality."

But Gordon emphasizes that the point of the program is to rigorously teach English, not just to create informal video pen pals. Most of the students' chats happen while they're at school, under a teacher's supervision. Gordon said that out of 300 alumni of the program, all but four scored over 90 percent on the English comprehension section of the standardized test.

"They're more confident in reading, in their interactions talking with the volunteers," said Ofira Mor, a teacher at Koskas' high school. "They have a wider vocabulary."

But volunteers say that aside from the tutoring, they enjoy having direct exposure to life in Israel through young people's eyes. Beverly Grostern, a volunteer from Ottawa, took her first trip to Israel in decades after a year of tutoring an Israeli girl.

"It's reintroduced me to Israeli life, to their food, to their attitude," she said. "They're like your typical teenager anywhere. I ask them something, what's your favorite activity, what do you like to do, and nine out of 10 it's like, 'I like to go shopping, I like to visit my grandmother, I like my computer.'"
President Donald Trumps decision to appoint former UN Ambassador John Bolton to serve as his national security adviser is arguably the most significant single step he has taken to date toward implementing his America First foreign policy since taking office.

The news hit Americas enemies and competitorsfrom Pyongyang to Teheran to Moscow to Beijinglike a wall of bricks Thursday night.

Early criticisms on the political right of Boltons appointment have centered on two points. First, it is argued that Bolton, who has been involved in U.S. foreign policymaking since the Reagan administration, is a creature of the Washington foreign policy swamp.

While it is true that Bolton held senior foreign policy positions in both Bush administrations, he has always been a thorn in the side of the establishment rather than a member of that establishment.

For the better part of three decades, Bolton has bravely held positions that fly in the face of the establishments innate preference for appeasement. He was a vocal critic, for example, of then-President Bill Clintons disastrous nuclear diplomacy with North Korea.

The 1994 Agreed Framework that Clinton concluded with Pyongyang was touted as a peaceful resolution of the nuclear crisis with North Korea. In exchange for shuttering its nuclear installations, North Korea received light water reactors from the U.S. and massive economic relief. As Bolton warned it would, North Korea pocketed the concessions and gifts and continued to develop its nuclear weapons. In other words, far from preventing North Korea from developing nuclear weapons, the Agreed Framework preserved the North Korean nuclear program and enabled the regime to develop it effectively with U.S. assistance.

For his warnings, Bolton has been reviled as a warmonger and a superhawk by the foreign policy elite.

President George W. Bush appointed Bolton to serve as UN ambassador in 2005 in a recess appointment. Three moderate Republicans on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Lincoln Chafee (RI), Chuck Hagel (ND), and George Voinovich (OH), signaled that they would oppose Boltons confirmation.

At the time, rumors surfaced that then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had quietly undercut Boltons confirmation in private conversations with senators. Those rumors were denied, and Rice publicly supported Boltons confirmation. But in 2016, Rice, along with her mentor, former secretary of state James Baker, and her deputy and successor as national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, openly opposed President Trumps intention to appoint Bolton deputy secretary of state. At the same time, all three lobbied Trump to appoint outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Bolton was a vocal opponent of Rices nuclear diplomacy with North Korea, undertaken after Pyongyang conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. He also opposed Rices pursuit of diplomatic ties with Iran through negotiations in Iraq. In both cases, as events showed, Boltons criticisms were all in place.

Rices nuclear diplomacy with North Korea emboldened the regime, and enabled its continued testing of nuclear weapons and development of ballistic missiles.

In Irans case, Rices negotiations with the Iranians in 2007 and 2008 set the stage for then-President Barack Obamas nuclear talks with Tehran, which led to the 2015 nuclear deal. That deal, like the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea, preserves, rather than dismantles, Irans nuclear program while providing Iran with the financial means to expand its regional power through its terrorist proxies.

On the other hand, Boltons actions while in office brought extraordinary benefit to US national security. For instance, as Bushs undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, in 2003 Bolton conceptualized and launched the Proliferation Security Initiative. The purpose of the PSI was to empower nations to interdict ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems, and related materials from states and non-state actors of proliferation concern. Originally launched with 11 state members, today the PSI has 105 state members. Its members have interdicted multiple ships suspected of transferring illicit weapons systems to other states and to non-state actors.

Like Trump, Bolton is an opponent of international treaties that bind the U.S. in a manner that may be antithetical to its national interests, and prefers bilateral agreements that are tailor-made to defend Americas national interests. Bolton was a firm opponent of the Rome Treaty, which established the International Criminal Court. He worked avidly to vacate Americas signature from the treaty. Due largely to his cogent opposition, the Bush administration decided not to submit the treaty to the Senate for ratification. Bolton concluded 100 bilateral treaties with nations committing them never to present complaints against U.S. military personnel before the tribunal.

Boltons nationalist convictions, and his refusal to join the foreign policy elite in its adoration of diplomacy over a firm, fact-based pursuit of Americas national interests lies at the heart of the foreign policy establishments opposition to him.

Indeed, the level of hostility the foreign policy establishment has directed toward Bolton over the years has been so ferocious, it is a testament to his diplomatic skills, and success, that he has managed to persevere in Washington, in and out of office for 40 years.

As to the second charge by conservative critics, that Bolton is a neoconservative interventionist, the fact is that he is neither a neoconservative nor is he a knee-jerk interventionist. Rather, Bolton supports the judicious use of American power in the world to advance U.S. national security and economic interests when the use of force is the best way to achieve those interests.

It is true that Bolton supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. But it is also true that he opposed the nation-building strategy that stood at the root of Americas failure to achieve its aims there.

It is also true that like many of the neoconservatives, Bolton is a firm supporter of Israel. However, Bolton is actually far more supportive of Israel than the neoconservatives are. As a nationalist, he supports U.S. allies because he understands that the stronger Americas allies are, the better able they are to defend their interests. Since American alliesparticularly Israelshare Americas interests, the more powerful they are, the more secure Americas interests are, and the less the U.S. needs to assert its power abroad. Bolton urged Israel to destroy Irans nuclear installations during the Obama presidency. Rather than treating Israel as what Rice referred to patronizingly as Americas special friend, Bolton views Israel as Americas most powerful ally in the Middle East. He opposes Palestinian statehood and an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Bolton rejects the notion that American values are universally applicable, and argues that nation building and humanitarian intervention are both antithetical to American national security interests. Boltons opposition to nation-building and humanitarian interventionism was all borne out by events. As the so-called Arab Spring showedand indeed, as Turkeys democratic transformation into an Islamic theocracy also demonstratesAmerican values are not universal values at all. Supporting democratic processes with no concern about the values and culture those processes empower is unwise and irresponsible, and as the rise of Islamist regimes in Gaza, Egypt, Turkey, and beyond make clear, it is also antithetical to American national security interests.

Boltons healthy skepticism for international agreements; his support for a foreign policy that prioritizes the advancement of American national interests over multilateral diplomacy; and his belief that Obamas signature diplomatic achievement, the nuclear deal with Iran, is a disaster, all make him the senior diplomat most aligned with President Trumps America First agenda in Washington.

Given the hatred Bolton inspires in the Washington swamp, it took great courage for Trump to appoint him. America and its allies will be the primary beneficiaries of this bold move.

Caroline Glick is the senior Middle East Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.; the deputy managing editor of The Jerulsaem Post; and a contributor to the Jewish World Review.
(JNS)-Ahead of Israel's 70th birthday in May, longtime Harvard University law professor, attorney and author Alan Dershowitz announced that he is donating an ambucycle to Israel's volunteer medic organization, United Hatzalah, in honor of his 80th birthday.

JNS interviewed Mr. Dershowitz about this gift and to hear his thoughts on Israel at 70-and what the next seven decades might look like.

Q: What prompted you and your friends to donate an ambucycle to United Hatzalah for Israel's 70th?

A: There is a group of guys I've known since kindergarten. We've known each other for 75 years, more or less. And we try to spend several weekends a year together and try to get together on New Year's Eve. We all went to yeshivah in Borough Park in Brooklyn together. We all went different ways, but we are still very close. We are turning 80 this year, and we thought it would be nice commemoration of our birthdays to do something that saves lives, and I can't imagine a charity more worthy than Hatzalah. It has led the way in quick availability on the scenes of acts of terrorism. And so we all agreed to make contributions and to dedicate this ambucycle on Yom Ha'atzmaut [Israel Independence Day].

Q: What else are you doing to celebrate Israel's big year?

A: I've been to Israel for every one of its major birthdays from the 30th on. I'm hoping to be there to celebrate Israel's 70th, and my real goal in life is to be there to celebrate its 80th.

Q: What do you think of when you reflect on Israel at 70?

A: No country in the history of the world ever contributed more to the welfare of humankind in such a short period of time than Israel. Hatzalah is a perfect representative of that. In Hatzalah, you have Jews and Arabs, Christians and Muslims, atheists, religious and secular, people living in the territories all working together to save lives. It represents the best of Israel. People call Israel the startup nation, and I call it the life-saving nation. Israel has saved lives through its medical technological breakthroughs, through its agricultural breakthroughs and through its pharmaceutical breakthroughs. Israel saves more lives in teaching the world how to prevent terrorism, in teaching the world how to absorb immigrants... Israel has really been a light unto the world for 70 years, and I think it's important to commemorate and look forward.

Q: How do you define the U.S.-Israel relationship at this point in time?

A: It couldn't be stronger. It's very, very positive, but there are trends that are quite dangerous-trends among young Democrats [turning] away from Israel pose risks to the bipartisan consensus in support of Israel. And that's why I remain within the Democratic Party-to try to strengthen the Democratic Party's approach to Israel. But it's a real challenge.

Q: What are Israel's current challenges at 70 years?

A: I think the biggest challenge is Iran, both a nuclear Iran and [Iranian-supported] Hezbollah to Israel's north. Another challenge facing Israel-one that is really Israel's domestic problem-is how to resolve disputes between the haredi community and the modern Orthodox community, and the secular community. That is a very, very serious issue. And number three: how to make peace with the Palestinians, to make some kind of compromised peace with the Palestinians. Those are the issues facing Israel today.

Q: As a legal expert, can you comment on the current status of the Taylor Force Act, and what impact you hope it will make regarding the United States and the Palestinians?

A: The Taylor Force Act is mostly symbolic. It sends a powerful message that the United States will not tolerate Palestinian terrorism, whether from Hamas or from the West Bank, and that the Palestinian Authority has to do a lot more to constrain it and condemn it, and not to promote it. I think a very powerful message needs to be sent to the Palestinians that the world and the United States will not tolerate the Palestinians talking out of both sides of their mouths: on the one hand, nominally condemning terrorism; and on the other hand, naming streets and parks glorifying terrorism and glorifying terrorists. So the Palestinian leadership has to make a decision about which side of the terrorism issue it's on. It can't be on both sides.

Q: What is your take on Netanyahu's legal woes?

A: It's very important for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to be able to continue with the work he's doing in terms of diplomatic successes on behalf of Israel with China, Russia, with South Africa and Africa, and I strongly oppose what I call the criminalization of political differences. If people don't like what Netanyahu is doing, then they will vote against him. But the idea of turning what he's done into crimes is very antithetical to democracy, and I'm strongly opposed [to it].

Q: What are your hopes for Israel's next seven decades?

A: For Israel to get even stronger. I can imagine what the peace dividend would be if Israel were allowed to turn its swords into plowshares, its nuclear weapons into nuclear medicine. The peace dividend would be incredible. And that's why I am a strong supporter of Israel and a strong supporter of the peace process.
The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center in Maitland invites the community to its annual commemoration of Yom HaShoah, A Day of Remembrance on April 8, at 2 p.m. at the Congregation of Reform Judaism. The event commemorates the millions of Jews who suffered during the Holocaust and honors the liberators who fought to defeat Nazi Germany.

Each year, the Holocaust Center hosts Yom HaShoah, A Day of Remembrance, to remember the six million Jews who perished during the Holocaust. On this special day, we stand with our local survivors and remember the families they lost. We also honor the brave liberators whose heroism continues to inspire us today.

This year's program will feature a moving performance of songs that were once performed by the Women's Orchestra at Auschwitz. Performed by renowned violinist Matitiahu Braun, these songs remind us of our duty to carry the lessons from this tragic history forward. Other program highlights include a survivor-led candle lighting, responsive reading, and presentation of awards for the Creative Arts Contest.

This family-friendly event is free and open to the public.

CRJ is located at 928 Malone Drive, Orlando. For more information, contact Terrance Hunter at thunter@holocaustedu.org.
More than 500 evangelical Christians and Jews from across North America gathered at Mar-a-Lago on March 25 for the "Together in Fellowship" gala.

(JNS)-As many as 500 evangelical Christians and Jews from around the world gathered on March 25 at U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.-otherwise known as the "Winter White House"-for a one-of-a-kind event celebrating Israel's upcoming 70th anniversary, as well as the unity of Christians and Jews supporting the Jewish state.

Hosted by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (also known as "The Fellowship"), the "Together In Fellowship" gala raised $1.67 million that will be put toward two causes: a new educational campaign for the next generation of Christians and Jews to help deepen their bonds with Israel and the Jewish people; and helping elderly Holocaust survivors living in poverty by providing them with food, medicine, heating fuel and personal visits they desperately need in their final years. The latter is already one of the more than 400 global initiatives undertaken by The Fellowship.

"It's a great honor to have everybody at Mar-a-Lago, a special place for a special group of people," Trump told the gathering in a video message recorded shortly before the gala. The president left his weekend retreat several hours before the start of the event to head back to Washington, D.C. "I wanted to be there so badly. I had to leave-we have some pretty big things going on with our country, but our country is doing really well. Your taxes are down, your regulations are down, a lot of good things are happening, we're appointing a lot of fantastic federal judges, and I think you are all very happy with the results. So I'll see you next time. I hope you have a fantastic evening."

Guests hailed from throughout the United States, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands, Jamaica and Brazil. Half were Christian, half were Jewish. The evening began with a VIP poolside reception, with hors d'oeuvres and drinks, followed by a general sit-down reception and three-course meal inside Mar-a-Lago's exquisite ballroom.

The Fellowship's founder and president, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, started off the evening speaking about the gala's distinctiveness. He told the crowd: "Tonight is the first time I believe in history where Christians together with Jews are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the state of Israel. It's not Christians inviting Jews and Jews inviting Christians; it's Christians and Jews, and that is the theme for us tonight... there were those who were dubious, there was those who said no it cannot be done, and here we are together."

Eckstein also talked about the organization's new headquarters, "The Fellowship House," which will be, as he said, a "home away from home" for the 1.5 million Christians who visit Israel each year. The rabbi said it will be located "right next door" to the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem-an announcement that drew loud applause from the crowd. He noted that Israeli American billionaire Haim Saban is one of the Fellowship's "greatest supporters," who has contributed $1 million toward the new headquarters.

The decision to hold the event at Trump's South Florida property was likely a strategic decision by Eckstein. His organization draws heavily from support by evangelical Christians, who also overwhelmingly support Trump and have applauded his policies towards Israel, such as his recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. It also comes as last year many charities and other organized canceled event plans at Mar-a-Lago following Trump's controversial remarks after a white-supremacist rally that turned violent in Charlottesville, Va.

'A new era where Israel wins'

Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon received The Fellowship's "Defender of Israel Award" at the gala and told JNS that in representing Israel at the United Nations, "sometimes I feel that I am alone, but I know that I am not. I know that we have millions of Christians and Jews who support Israel. And tonight is a sign of the great support that we have from different countries around the world."

The ambassador also talked about Israel's upcoming seven-decade anniversary, saying he believes it's a "miracle" that Israel has come so far and accomplished so much in such a short period of time. He told JNS.org "we are very proud of what we have achieved in the short 70 years," adding that he will be celebrating the landmark by taking 70 ambassadors from the world body on a trip to Israel.

On stage at the gala, Danon talked about U.S.-Israel relations, especially at the United Nations. He said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley once told him that as long as she is around, America "will always have Israel's back."

"[It's] the strongest alley we have," said Danon. "Seventy years later, the U.S. remains the first country to stand by Israel through thick and thin, and there is nowhere I feel that more than what I feel at the UN... Me and Ambassador Haley, we play defense and offense."

He also addressed the five resolutions against Israel passed at the United Nations on Friday, saying, "I'm telling you now, [the] U.S. will take action and Israel will take action [against them]."

Danon's late father taught him about speaking up and "standing strong" in support of Israel, he told the audience. He said, "Nowhere have I felt the importance of my father's words more than at the UN It's why I came to the UN I heard stories about this place. I didn't realize how bad it was until I arrived, but let me tell you, today we are shaking things up at the UN We are bringing a new future for Israel at the UN A new era where Israel wins."

The Fellowship also honored Museum of the Bible Chairman and Hobby Lobby President Steve Green, and VitaQuest Founder Edward Frankel with a Bridge Builder Award. The event's keynote speaker was former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

'Where religious freedom and religious tolerance flourishes'

During his speech, Harper said Trump "deserves enormous credit and congratulations" for recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. "That was one of the rare times I actually wish I was back in office, and I could've stood and done that with President Trump," he said.

The former premier additionally spoke of his "clear" and "very consistent" defense of Israel, and his "special admiration" for the Jewish state. He said his ancestors have always been pro-Jewish, and told the audience that his father was a "life-longer admirer of the Jewish people," and a "strong and vocal opponent" of anti-Semitism in Canada.

Harper discussed radical Islam and the Iranian regime, particularly the Iranian nuclear program that threatens both Israel and Western nations. He then talked about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and urged pro-Israel supporters that "whenever we encounter [BDS], we should denounce it vocally, loudly and with every fiber of our being."

He concluded his speech by insisting that Israel is not at fault for the lack of peace in the Middle East. "It is not because of anything Israel had done or not done," he said in his final remarks. "It is not because of Israel's failures or imperfections, Israel's existence or policies... In too many countries, it is still easier to scapegoat Israel then copy its success, and it's only in Israel where religious freedom and religious toleration flourishes in the Middle East.

"I tell my friends in politics around the world, never be afraid to take the right position on Israel. And I also tell organizations like this, never be reluctant to be proud of Israel... [It is] an oasis of wealth, freedom, culture, technology and security in the most dangerous and troubled part of the world. I think Israel may be the most remarkable country that has ever been created."




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.
More than 350 women and men converged on the Maitland Jewish Community Campus on the evening of March 26 for Choices, a community tradition that took on a bold, new look for its 24th year.

Themed "Women Transforming Lives," this year's fundraiser in support of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando was all about transformations, starting with the venue, the Roth Family JCC gymnasium, which was draped, staged, decked out and lighted in dramatic fashion to create a formal yet intimate atmosphere. The production, which included a 20-foot HD video screen, was the work of AV Media, the event's Diamond Sponsor.

Visual transformations aside, Choices 2018 was, from start to finish, a celebration of women's empowerment. Co-chairs Shira Spector and Judy Kahan Davis welcomed the crowd and thanked Presenting Sponsor Harriett Lake for her support before segueing into the poignant "Lights of Empowerment" presentation. The candle-lighting ceremony was a tribute to women from 12 categories and vocations that have played a significant role in transforming the local Jewish community. A 13th candle was lighted in tribute to the Jewish women who passed away over the last few years as well as women whose names were shared in remembrance by Choices attendees. The women were the subject of a musical tribute video that concluded the presentation.

Following the video, JFGO board secretary Ming Marx, and his wife, Hilary, joined by their two young sons, took the stage to talk about their life journey and how the Jewish Federation played a significant role in helping them find a "home" in the local Jewish community through the PJ Library program, meaningful family events and the Bornstein Leadership Development Program.

After the formal program, women had another hour to socialize as co-chairs Spector and Davis announced the lucky winners of the Choices Raffle, which this year featured more than $10,000 worth of prizes-including, for the first time, reserved parking spaces on both the Rosen and Roth Family JCC campuses.

On the way out the door, women received "swag bags," take-home totes that included a sweet treat and other items from Choices sponsors, along with a special keepsake button that featured original artwork submitted by children who participate in the Federation's PJ Library, PJ Our Way and JTEN programs.

Based on feedback from previous Choices fundraisers, the Federation limited the formal program to a half-hour so that attendees would have ample time to socialize. The revision was a hit with the women who attended.

"I lost count of how many women complimented us on all the changes we made this year to Choices," said Rhonda Forest, Federation's Acting Executive Director. "They really enjoyed having the extra time to socialize and catch up with their friends, and I loved that I was able to speak with more women and thank them in person for their support of Federation."

Forest said she was also pleased that the Federation was able to have the high-profile event on the Maitland campus, which has a storied history in the local Jewish community and has long been a hub for Jewish life in Orlando.

In addition to Harriett Lake and AV Media, top Choices sponsors included Ruby Sponsors Orlando Health and Krise Wealth Management.

Studio T Productions More than 350 women and men attended the annual Choices event.

Forest announced two more upcoming Federation-sponsored events for women:

 A "Charmed by Charity" event on May 24 at Alex and Ani, 356 South Park Ave., Winter Park. During this special shopping event, 15 percent of the proceeds from all sales at Alex and Ani will be donated to the Federation. Keep an eye on the Federation website (www.jfgo.org) and the Fed Friday email in the weeks ahead for more details.

 Women in Politics, a discussion of women serving in elected office, will be presented in August by the Federation's Jewish Community Relations Council. Details and speakers are still being confirmed for this event.

You can view all the photos from Choices 2018 on the Federation's Choices web page, http://www.jfgo.org/choices.
Temple Israel, a progressive Conservative synagogue, prides itself on its lay leadership during services and Torah readings. This egalitarian model ensures that congregants will experience services led by people who are just like them on most occasions. This has proven very popular and a powerful spiritual model which is becoming more common around the country. Although Jewish cantorial professionals have amazing skills, the bimah should be a place where all can lead.

On the other hand, Temple Israel recently had a wonderful weekend with the renowned vocal artist Sam Glaser, which was made possible thanks to a collaboration with Temple Shir Shalom and the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. This experience whetted the members appetite for more singing and engagement. Creating that engagement with the congregation is a unique skill and Temple Israel is looking for a unique person to help bring it to us on a regular basis.

Therefore, Temple Israel is seeking to hire an experienced, personable service leader who can lead our services once a month. Cantorial training is preferred but lay leaders who have a deep understanding of the service liturgy and a strong ability to connect with a congregation are welcome to apply. We are looking for someone with a pleasing voice who will encourage congregational participation and enhance the tefillah of the community rather than perform for it. He/she needs be conversant in both traditional and contemporary melodies. Torah reading will continue to be handled by volunteers and the rabbi.

If youre interested, please submit a resume and voice sample recording to Rabbi Joshua Neely. (rabbi@tiflorida.org). Temple Israel is located at 50 S. Moss Road in Winter Springs, 32708. 407-647-3055.
In response to her criticizing the apparent use of anti-Semitic propaganda by a UN official, NGO Monitor Legal Advisor Anne Herzberg was called to order for violating the "sense of respect" during Friday's 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in Geneva.

Herzberg was addressing language in a report by "UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967" Michael Lynk, which characterized Israel as greedy. Lynk referred to Israel and its role in the Arab-Israeli conflict as "avaricious," "rapacious," and "pathological"-unprecedented language that is well beyond standard UN condemnations of Israel. NGO Monitor will be filing a formal complaint against Lynk for the exceptional language in his report.

In addition to an oral statement before the Council, NGO Monitor published a report describing Lynk as unqualified for his position as Special Rapporteur. According to NGO Monitor, Lynk has a history of working with terror-linked and virulently anti-Israel non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in violation of his mandate. The Canadian labor law professor also admitted that he lacks experience in international law, and his 2016 appointment was protested by the Canadian government.

"Special Rapporteur Lynk's latest rhetoric is a stark reminder that he is unqualified for his role," stated Herzberg. "It is completely inappropriate for a UN official charged with assessing human rights to behave in such a partisan manner and to use this kind of inflammatory language. We will continue to monitor and expose the use of anti-Semitic language in UN reports as well as Lynk's close partnerships with and reliance on radical anti-Israel groups that discredit his work. As long as he continues in his position, he compromises the legitimacy of the entire UN."

Inaccurate, unverified, and false reporting

Herzberg told World Israel News, "There must be a basic change in the UNHRC charter, which mandates them to single out Israel for condemnation. It brings shame and embarrassment to the UN. They produce about a dozen anti-Israel reports annually, all flawed by inaccurate, unverified and false reporting."

Herzberg also points out the UNHRC's lack of transparency. March is the "bash Israel session," said Herzberg adding, "Their 'shtik' this time was the inclusion of anti-Semitic language. I pointed it out and they chastised m e for 'being disrespectful.' I consider their criticism to be a badge of honor. My criticism hit home."

Turning to the adoption of five new anti-Israel resolutions, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley slammed the Human Rights Council. "They are foolish. When the Human Rights Council treats Israel worse than North Korea, Iran, and Syria, it is the Council itself that is foolish and unworthy of its name," Haley said in the statement, continuing, "It is time for the countries who know better to demand changes. Many countries agree that the Council's agenda is grossly biased against Israel, but too few are willing to fight it."

When the focus is on Israel, Haley continued, "the Council fails to fulfill its duty to uphold human rights around the world."

Haley also warned that the US is still weighing whether it plans to remain on the council, adding that Friday's resolutions were another blow to the institution's credibility. "The United States continues to evaluate our membership in the Human Rights Council. Our patience is not unlimited. Today's actions make clear that the organization lacks the credibility needed to be a true advocate for human rights," Haley added.

An Israeli arms embargo?

The most serious of the anti-Israel resolutions was one which called for ending all arms sales to Israel, which passed in a 27 to 4 vote, with 15 states abstaining.

International law expert Alan Baker told WIN, "Israel has not been a member of the UNHRC for a number of years. We should now stop all contact with them. Their resolutions have no significance whatsoever and are just non-binding recommendations. The Human Rights Council lost all credibility as a viable organization because of its absolute bias against Israel, while largely ignoring the world's most pressing issues of human rights."

Baker's advice is to not get excited. "The media and the political leaders get upset by these resolutions, but they get little publicity outside of Israel. There is no reason for panic, for which I blame on the hysteria led by reporting in the Jerusalem Post," he said.

Herzog does not favor the US pulling out of the UNHRC altogether. She told WIN, "The US has been very supportive in exposing the anti-Israel bias and they are threatening to leave the council. I believe they can have more impact if they remain in the organization and use their funding as leverage and place conditions on the aide money. European democracies have shown a profound lack of courage. The US should be encouraging other democracies to take the high ground regarding real human rights issues."

She expressed no room for compromise when it comes to Michael Lynk. She calls him, "an anti-Israel demagogue" who can have no role in a human rights organization.
JERUSALEM (JTA)Israels deportation of African migrants will be delayed until after Passover.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to a government request for an extension on the courts order for a brief to outline the states deportation policy and related issues to April 9. The original deadline was March 26.

The state said it needed more time to respond to the courts request for clarification of the policy and said it will submit classified documents as part of its filing, which are believed to include information on the African nation that Israel is deporting them to.

The state also said it likely will grant refugee status to Sudanese migrants from the Nuba area, as well as 300 refugees from Darfur.

The Supreme Court froze the deportations in mid-March in response to a petition.

In January, the Israeli Cabinet approved a plan and the budget to deport thousands of migrants from Sudan and Eritrea.

Prior to that, the Population and Immigration Authority notified the migrants that as of Jan. 1, they must return to their own countries or to a third nation, or be sent to jail until they are deported. According to the government plan, migrants who choose to leave by March 31 will receive a payment of $3,500 as well as free airfare and other incentives, according to reports.

They are believed to be sent to Rwanda, and possibly Uganda, according to reports, which also say that the migrants rights have been violated in the third country.

For now, deportation notices will not be issued to women, children, fathers of children, anyone recognized as a victim of slavery or human trafficking, and those who had requested asylum by the end of 2017 but have not received a response, Haaretz reported.

There are up to 40,000 Eritreans and Sudanese living in Israel, including 5,000 children.

Human rights activists in Israel and major U.S. Jewish organizations have urged the Israeli government not to go ahead with the plan to force the migrants to choose between jail and deportation.
(JNS)-A new report presents, for the first time in Israel, a detailed model for the estimation of food loss in the retail and distribution sectors: in retail chains, open markets, local grocery stores and small retailers.

Leket Israel, in partnership with BDO, released its "Third National Report on Food Waste and Rescue in Israel" at a press conference on Tuesday.

It reveals that food loss in Israel this year amounts to 2.3 million tons with a market value of NIS 19.3 billion ($5.6 billion). A large part of the loss is salvageable; approximately 1.1 million tons, valued at NIS 7 billion ($2 billion). Almost half of the value of salvageable food is found in the retail and distribution sectors, with total food loss in these segments amounting to 400,000 tons this year, worth NIS 4.2 billion ($1.2 billion).

The loss in the retail and distribution sectors is of particularly high economic value since it includes the entire investment: growth, production, packaging and transportation.

This refers specifically to food that is produced for marketing and consumption, and is lost even before reaching the consumer. Due to the characteristics of the loss at this stage, the vast majority of the food is rescuable and can be prevented from becoming waste. Of the NIS 7 billion ($2 billion) worth of food that can be saved, NIS 3.5 billion ($1 billion) is in the retail and distribution sectors.

The report also reveals that rescuing 470,000 tons of food loss each year-constituting about 20 percent of the total amount of food loss in Israel-will fill the gap between food consumption and the normative expenditure of the Israeli population living in food insecurity.

According to Gidi Kroch, CEO of Leket Israel, "The report brings to light that there is enormous levels of food waste that can be saved, if only there was a greater level of public awareness and the implementation of adequate governmental regulation. Eighteen percent of the population in Israel lives in food insecurity, when Israel ranks 18th in food insecurity as compared to other OECD countries, and places ninth in expenditure on food in private consumption spending."

Kroch said Leket rescued 15,500 tons of fruits and vegetables, and 2.3 million cooked meals valued at NIS 150 million ($43 million) this year, and continues its efforts to raise the profile on food waste in Israel.

"Since the publication of the Inaugural Food Waste and Rescue in Israel Report, two years ago, Leket Israel initiated and implemented new programs for food rescue with the support and through partnerships with the Ministries of Agriculture and Welfare," said Krosh. "I am calling on the other government offices to advance this issue, to create a national program that will work to reduce food waste, increase food rescue and actively promote the enactment of the law to encourage food rescue."

"It is imperative that Israel set a national goal similar to the U.N.'s resolution of a 50 percent reduction in food waste by 2030, [which has] since adopted by other nations, including the U.S. administration," concluded Kroch.

According to Chen Herzog, chief economist at BDO, "Israel is lagging behind Western countries in formulating a national policy on food rescue, and as a result, the national economy loses NIS 4.5 billion [or $1.2 billion] every year."

"Israel, more than any other country, has an economic advantage in rescuing food, due to the combination of high expenditure on food and the growing levels of inequality across the demographic," said Herzog. "Food rescue is one of the most effective policy measures to reduce social gaps in the economy, and it is a critical oversight that the government has not yet formulated a comprehensive national plan to rescue food."

He went on to point out that "retail chains and food manufacturers lost NIS 3.5 billion [$1 billion] worth of products this year, which is taken directly out of the consumer's pocket."

"Surplus food in the retail and distribution sectors is inevitable since retailers are required to ensure a wide, varied and readily available food supply at all times," said the economist. "However, the reality-in which excess food is thrown away instead of being donated to the needy-is a serious failure on economic, social and environmental levels."

One way that Americans can support food rescue for the needy in Israel is to shop Amazon with Amazon Smile.

For more information, please visit: http://www.leket.org.
Come join members of the Citrus Club as they honor The Jewish Pavilion at the April 16 "United For a Purpose" event. Hosted by the Club's Leadership Alliance and held in the Club's scenic downtown location, attendees to this exciting happy hour have the opportunity to enjoy fabulous food, beautiful sunset views and enhanced networking opportunities, all while learning more about the important community work of The Jewish Pavilion.

This is the second year in a row the Club is hosting The Jewish Pavilion. Typically, a nonprofit is not invited to return in back-to-back years. But because last year's event resulted in the highest attendance "United For a Purpose" event of the year (200 compared to the next closest attendance of 110), the Club extended a repeat invitation. 100 percent of proceeds from the evening's event will be given to The Jewish Pavilion.

A big credit for last year's success belongs to Jewish Pavilion board member Carina Gerscovich. While serving as both a volunteer last year with The Jewish Pavilion and also a member of the Club's Leadership Alliance, Gerscovich worked with both groups to facilitate the inaugural event. Because last year's event was so successful, The Jewish Pavilion will be honoring Gerscovich at the organization's 2018 Elayne Burke Wershil Fashion Show.

The Citrus Club is located at 255 South Orange Ave., Suite 1800; and the event will be held Monday, April 16 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ticket prices start at $10 for Club members, $15 for non-members and $20 at the door. The price of admission provides attendees with food and one drink. To purchase your tickets for this fun evening, visit https://jpav.ticketspice.com/2018-cocktails-for-a-cause.

The Jewish Pavilion has been bringing community to the doorsteps of elder-care residents since 2001. You can personally make a difference. Become a fan at Facebook.com/jewishpavilion. Make a donation or learn more by visiting JewishPavilion.org.
(JTA)-The editor in chief of National Geographic Magazine made waves when she admitted that the magazine's past coverage was tinged with racism.

"For decades, our coverage was racist. To rise above our past, we must acknowledge it," Susan Goldberg wrote in a letter for the magazine's April issue, which marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.

The letter forced readers and staff to grapple with the legacy of the magazine, which has been reporting on the world's far-flung peoples and places since 1888 and has reflected-and been a reflection of-all the cultural changes, and prejudices, since then.

But Goldberg also made waves in 2014 when she became the first woman-and, incidentally, the first Jew-to serve as editor in chief of a magazine that has often stumbled in reporting on women and Jews.

"It was a place with a lot of white men," she told JTA, referring to the magazine's beginnings as the journal of the National Geographic Society, an elite club of academics, philanthropists and adventurers interested in travel and exploration.

Even an otherwise sympathetic article on the Jews in the July 1919 issue suggested that their persecution by Christians "increased their intense activity, their cunning in business, in order that they might live at all against such opposition, and it produced in them the traits that are now made the basis for denouncing them."

In her letter, Goldberg details how she enlisted John Edwin Mason, a scholar of African history and the history of photography at the University of Virginia, to critically examine the magazine's past.

He found that the publication largely ignored the lives of African Americans in the United States until the 1970s, while also covering people of color outside the country in a way that perpetuated stereotypes. Natives were pictured "as exotics, famously and frequently unclothed, happy hunters, noble savages-every type of cliche," Goldberg wrote.

In a phone interview with JTA earlier this week Goldberg, 58, said she was not surprised by Mason's conclusions, pointing out that racism in the magazine had been written about previously, including in a book by Robert Poole.

Some of Mason's most egregious findings did shock her, like a 1916 article on Aboriginal Australians that called them "savages" who "rank lowest in intelligence of all human beings."

"It's very difficult to read something like that," she said.

Goldberg said the issue of race is especially important in light of recent events, such as the white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.

"After Charlottesville, if it wasn't already clear, it became even more clear that we have a very fraught situation going on in the United States with regard to any kind of discussion around race," she said.

The April issue launches a series of articles on race, which will continue through the end of the year, but Goldberg felt it important that the magazine first look inward.

"I just really didn't see a way to do an entire issue on race, and then spend the year covering race if we didn't look into our history as well," she said. "I just didn't think we would be credible."

Goldberg, who identifies as a Reform Jew, grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the granddaughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe who came to the country in the beginning of the 20th century and settled in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in Detroit.

"These neighborhoods were really so ghettoized that my mother, who was born in the United States, in Detroit in 1927, went to kindergarten when she was five years old [and] she didn't speak English, she only spoke Yiddish," Goldberg said.

Growing up, her family celebrated Jewish holidays but was "probably more culturally Jewish than religiously Jewish," she said. She was involved in the Habonim Labour Zionist youth movement, and at the age of 17 she lived for six months on a kibbutz in southern Israel.

Though she describes the experience at Kibbutz Grofit as "a fantastic thing to do as a very young woman," she said it made her realize that she did not want to immigrate to the Jewish state.

"The lives of the women on the kibbutz were to my way of thinking kind of constrained. You didn't have a world of choice. This was a small kibbutz in the middle of the desert, right on the border of a bunch of other countries, and it just made me realize that it wasn't going to be the lifestyle for me," she recalled.

Instead, she set her sights on pursuing a journalism career in the U.S. She enrolled at Michigan State University but dropped out to accept a job as a full time reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. She later returned to Michigan State to pursue a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Throughout her career, she has been the first woman in many of her positions, including as managing editor of the San Jose Mercury News, editor-in-chief of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and executive editor of Bloomberg News' Washington bureau.

She joined National Geographic as executive editor in January 2014, and succeeded Chris Johns as editor in chief a few months later.

Goldberg's letter drew both praise, from those who lauded her for looking critically at the magazine's coverage of race, and criticism, from others who wondered why it took the magazine so long to do so and said the letter did not go far enough in addressing the issue.

"I can't explain why other editors haven't done this directly. I'm not criticizing them in any way. What I will say is we're in a moment of reckoning as a society, as a country, where people are willing to look back at actions of themselves or their organizations and lay out maybe a lot of really great history but [also] some things that weren't so good," she said.

The magazine also plans to focus on Muslims, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans. Though the magazine examines racism and other forms of bigotry there are no plans at the moment to look into anti-Semitism, she said.

"That's not to say in the future that we wouldn't, but we don't have anything that we've planned right now," she said.

Goldberg, who lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband Geoffrey Etnire, a real estate lawyer, said that since starting her position, her "biggest push" has been to increase gender, ethnic and racial diversity on the staff. Currently about a quarter of the staff are people of color.

"I just don't think that you are going to end up with authentic stories if you've only got an all-white staff, and a majority male staff, and that is what it was," she said. "We've been working very hard to change it. We're not there yet, but we've been making a lot of progress."
(JNS)The White House published a proclamation by U.S. President Donald Trump honoring the memory of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, stating that March 27 is recognized as Education and Sharing Day, U.S.A.

An event was scheduled on March 27 in the Oval office with Chabad-Lubavitch representatives. The date marks the Jewish calendar birthday of the Rebbe on 11 Nissan, which fell on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also marked the day, posting on Facebook a link to a Hebrew article (English version here) describing his relationship and interactions with the Rebbe.

Today, we honor the life and legacy of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was a widely respected scholar and leader of faith who believed in the potential of all persons and sought to empower young people through education, character development and civic pride, said Trumps statement released by the White House.

Throughout his long and distinguished life, Rabbi Schneerson inspired millions of people, across multiple generations, through his example of compassion, wisdom and courage in the face of oppression. He recognized that access to education, paired with moral and spiritual development, could transform the world for good, and he devoted his life to these principles, it said.

His commitment to invest in the lives of the next generation led to the establishment of academic and outreach centers to help grow and engage young minds and provide them with spiritual and material assistance. Thanks to his drive and dedication, these educational and social service centers can be found in every state and throughout the world.

It continued: The Lubavitcher Rebbe believed that even in the darkest place, the light of a single candle can be seen far and wide. His life is an example of the power of one person to influence the lives of many. May we strive to be that light for future generations, instilling in them the value of education and the virtues of courage and compassion that can impact our communities and the world for the better.
(JNS)The United Nations Human Rights Council passed five anti-Israel resolutions at the end of its 37th session in Geneva, under the Agenda Item 7, a UNHRC mandate that a discussion of Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians must be part of every council session.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley expressed Americas outrage at the UNHRCs treatment of Israel and warned that the U.S. would reconsider its membership in the body.

When the Human Rights Council treats Israel worse than North Korea, Iran, and Syria, it is the Council itself that is foolish and unworthy of its name, said Haley.

The United States continues to evaluate our membership in the Human Rights Council. Our patience is not unlimited, she added. Todays actions make clear that the organization lacks the credibility needed to be a true advocate for human rights.

One resolution passed, called on Israel to give the Golan Heights to civil war-torn Syria, with 25 votes in favor, 14 against and 7 abstentions. Another, ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem, called upon member states not to sell any military armaments to the Jewish state. It passed by a vote of 27 to 4 with 15 abstentions.

Three additional resolutions included one calling for Palestinian self-determination and Israeli withdrawal to the 1948 border lines, a resolution calling on Israel to cease building homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria, commonly referred to as the West Bank, and a resolution condemning Israel for committing human rights abuses against Palestinians. All the resolutions, which were authored by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, were approved.

In addition to the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom spoke out against UNHRCs Agenda Item 7, requesting that the UNHRC move debates on Israeli violations to Agenda Item 4, where human rights abuses of all other member states excluding Israel are currently discussed. The U.K. still supported two of the Agenda Item 7 resolutions.

Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva Ibrahim Khraishi said if Israel wanted to abolish Agenda Item 7, it should withdraw to 1948 borders and end the occupation.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a tweet that Israel has no business being in the UNs Human Rights Council. He stated that its presence there gives legitimacy to... anti-Semitic resolutions, and the farce must end.
Jewish students leading the Reform movement to the March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C, March 24, 2018.

WASHINGTON (JTA)-The organizers of the March for Our Lives, almost all of them under 20, had a gun control agenda packed with specifics. They were able to get 800,000 people on and off of this city's Pennsylvania Avenue in three hours. They attracted A-list celebrities. They turned out marchers at more than 800 satellite events held around the world.

But the politics and logistics of the weekend often paled next to the simple, and harrowing, stories of the students who were inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, when a gunman roamed their halls and killed 17 students and faculty.

On the stage on Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday, Aaliyah Eastmond and Samantha Fuentes described the terror they felt at Stoneman Douglas when the gunman burst in on their Holocaust studies class. Two students in the class, Nicholas Dworet and Helena Ramsey, were killed.

Fuentes said she wanted a world where "you don't have to worry about going into a Holocaust history class to learn about death, and then experience it before your eyes." She was so overcome with emotion describing the day, she threw up-and then completed her speech, with encouragement from the crowd.

Marchers came from across the country, among them at least 2,500 Jewish teenagers from as far afield as California, Colorado and Minnesota. They threw sleeping bags on the floors of local synagogues and Jewish community centers under the aegis of the Reform movement's North American Federation of Temple Youth, or NFTY.

It took 21 hours for 75 teens to bus in from Minneapolis-St. Paul. They turned up outfitted in T-shirts that were colored orange for gun control and read #Dayenu, "it would have been enough" in Hebrew.

At an event in a ballroom deep in the bowels of Washington's Marriott Marquis hotel in the hours before the march, the NFTY leadership-as with the wider demonstration, the Jewish presence was largely organized by teenagers-gave them permission to vent.

"We march today because it's what we have to do to sleep tonight," said Zoe Terner, the social action vice president for NFTY's Southern Tropical Region. "This is how we grieve."

Five of the slain at Stoneman Douglas were Jewish and the school is estimated to be 40 percent Jewish. Terner, 18, attends high school in nearby Delray Beach and has made friends from Stoneman Douglas through the movement.

The night before, at a Shabbat service at Washington Hebrew Congregation in the capital's Northwest quadrant, Terner pledged: "Tomorrow I will pray with my feet, and with every step, I will think of those few hours a month ago when I didn't know if my friends were alive or dead."

And so they grieved by telling their stories.

"I will not stand idly by the blood of my classmates," survivor Zoe Fox-Snider told the marchers gathered in the hotel ballroom Saturday morning, paraphrasing Leviticus 19:16, "after spending two-and-a-half hours fearing for my life in the storage room of the media center."

The evening before at Washington Hebrew, she told congregants about her thoughts in the storeroom.

"I was forced to text my mom, 'I love you and everyone. This is real,'" she recalled.

At a media opportunity organized by NFTY, Stoneman Douglas students Talia Rumsky, 16, Charlie Goodman, 15, and Kayla Renert, 15, started an interview by talking about the Jewish values that brought them to the march. But Renert soon lapsed into remembering the day, and the others started talking over her.

"We had to run past the middle school ...," Renert said.

"We saw the SWAT team...," Rumsky said.

"We heard the gunshots...," Renert said.

"My sister Sophie was in the middle school," Goodman said. "I had no idea what was going on."

They slowed down and got back to what brought them to Washington.

"Those people we lost on that day, that's who we're here for," Rumsky said.

"It hit home so hard," Renert said.

"We have a lot of nervous energy," Goodman said. "We're using this as an outlet."

Rumsky later drew a placard reading "NRA, stop killing my friends."

Marlee Gordon, a counselor at Camp Coleman, the Union for Reform Judaism camp in Georgia attended by a number of Stoneman Douglas High students, remembered when she heard that Alyssa Alhadeff was among the missing and presumed dead. Alhadeff had been a Coleman camper under another friend's charge.

"He refused to believe she had died," recalled Gordon, 19, who along with two other friends at the University of Georgia kept her fellow counselor company that night. "We stayed with him all night waiting for Alyssa's name to be said on the news, so we would be there."

The disciplined message, delivered to lawmakers on Friday, honed at the NFTY event on Saturday and reiterated again and again by the speakers at the main event on Pennsylvania Avenue, was multi-pronged. It called for a ban on the purchase and sale of assault weapons, on the sale of high-capacity magazines, the institution of universal background checks for gun purchasers, and ending background check exemptions for purchases online and at gun shows.

There was plenty of glitz at the march itself, including performances by Broadway stars Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt, by rapper Common and by pop stars Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande. (The survivors on stage, who sounded so wizened, became kids again when Grande finished singing "Be Alright," rushing her for selfies, which she accommodated with a grin.)

There was an acutely self-aware sense of why they were able to attract that star power.

"Gun violence disproportionately affects people of color," said Rachel Berlowe Binder, a Duke University student speaking at the NFTY event. "The death rate from gun violence is 10 times higher than among white children."

One of the speeches that drew the loudest cheers was by Naomi Wadler, 11, from Alexandria, Virginia.

"I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper," said Wadler, who is African-American and Jewish. "I represent the African-American women who are victims of violence, who are simply statistics instead of vibrant, beautiful girls who are full of potential."

There were the moments of faith. Marchers spilled out of churches along Pennsylvania Avenue. Edna Chavez, who lost her brother to gun violence in south Los Angeles, crossed herself as she walked on stage. Some Jewish marchers held signs emblazoned with words from Leviticus 19:16) "Do not stand idly by while your neighbor's blood is shed." (Not all the signs were so reverential. "ALTE KAHKERS STAND WITH OUR CHILDREN," read one placard, using a salty Yiddish term for the elderly.)

Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of the Orthodox Ohev Shalom Synagogue in Washington planned to walk the more than seven miles from his shul to the rally with 75 kids from around the country spending Shabbat with his community. Jews and Muslims Acting Together also planned on marching, according to an organizer, Walter Ruby, carrying sings reading "Quran and Talmud say, 'If you save one life, you save the world.' Prevent Gun Violence Now!"

Friday night's interfaith service at the National Cathedral began with the Washington Children's Choir singing "Al Shlosha Dvarim," a Hebrew song about the three pillars of Jewish faith. Rabbi Jonah Pesner, the director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center, delivered a sermon based on Yom Kippur's Al Cheit, a recitation of communal sins.

"'Al Chet Shechatanu Lifanecha'-for being understandably outraged by a mass shooting in an affluent, majority white community, and being all too silent when children of color are murdered every day," he said.
Netanyahu backtracks, suspending African migrants deal he praised hours earlier

(JTA)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is freezing an agreement made with the United Nations that would have relocated thousands of African asylum seekers to Western countries.

Just hours after announcing and praising the agreement, Netanyahu said Monday that he needed to consult with residents of South Tel Aviv before carrying it out. Many of the migrants reside in that region of the Israeli city.

In the agreement announced earlier Monday with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, Israel would have allowed thousands of African migrants to stay in the country for up to five years. The rest, some 16,000 or so, would have been settled in countries such as Canada, Germany and Italy.

The plan put Netanyahu under fire from several conservative politicians, including some in his own Likud party. Naftali Bennett, head of the right-wing Jewish Home party, said it would turn Israel into a paradise for infiltrators.

Netanyahu will also meet with Interior Secretary Aryeh Deri, head of the religious Shas party, before reconsidering the agreement, according The Times of Israel.

US blocks UN Security Council resolution calling for investigation of Gaza border violence

(JTA)The United States blocked a United Nations Security Council statement calling for an investigation of Israels use of force against Palestinians who massed on Gazas border.

The statement proposed on Saturday by Kuwait called for an independent and transparent investigation of the Israel Defense Forces use of live fire, rubber bullets and other crown control methods to push back the estimated up to 30,000 Palestinians in six spots along the border. Some of the Palestinians threw firebombs and rocks, and planted explosives on the border, according to the IDF.

The statement also expressed grave concern at the situation at the border and reiterated that he Palestinians have the right to peaceful protest.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,000 injured during the Friday clashes along Israels southern border with Gaza.

Following the meeting on Saturday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that an impartial and transparent investigation must be conducted into the deaths and injuries of Palestinian protesters during the Friday Land Day clashes. He also appeals to those concerned to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and in particular any measures that could place civilians in harms way, a spokesperson for the Secretary General said.

The Security Council first met in a closed meeting on Friday night to discuss the violence even after the United States and Israel asked that the discussion be postponed to Saturday due to beginning of the Passover holiday and the first seder night.

While Jews around the world gathered with their family at the Seder table to celebrate the Passover holiday, the Palestinians sunk to a new deceitful low so that they could use the U.N. to spread lies about Israel, Israels ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said in a statement.

This shameful exploitation of our holiday will not succeed in stopping us from speaking the truth about the Hamas terror-gatherings that aim to destabilize the region, he also said.

Hamas said the lack of a resolution from the Security Council about the border clashes due to the U.S. rejection showed that Washington is fully biased for Israel and said it was encouraging Israel to commit more violence and terrorism against Palestinian children

The head of the Palestinian Authoritys delegation to the United States in a statement issued on Saturday called the killing of the at least 16 Palestinian demonstrators a crime against humanity.

Our legitimate protest against Israeli military occupation, colonization and apartheid is granted in international law and must be protected by the international community, Dr. Husam Zomlot said. He added that the 70-year-old practice of Israels shoot-to-kill policy and dehumanization of the Palestinian people must end and Israeli criminals must be brought to justice. These atrocities deserve the strongest condemnation from the US government and action to uphold international law.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement about Fridays violence that Freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are fundamental rights that must be respected.

The statement also said: The EU mourns the loss of life. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims. The use of live ammunition should, in particular, be part of an independent and transparent investigation. While Israel has the right to protect its borders, the use of force must be proportionate at all times.

Israeli soldiers did what was necessary on Gaza border, defense minister says

JERUSALEM (JTA)Israels Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman asserted that there will not be an international inquiry into the Gaza border clashes that left at least 15 Palestinians dead and hundreds injured.

Israeli soldiers did what was necessary. I think all our soldiers deserve a medal, Lieberman told Army Radio Sunday. As for a commission of inquirythere wont be one.

Liberman said that Israeli soldiers did not fire on peacefully protesting Palestinians and only targeted those who charged the border fence in an attempt to breach it or to plant explosives there.

The defense minister also asserted that Israel would act more forcefully if the violent protests continued.

On Saturday night Liberman tweeted: I do not understand the choir of hypocrites who are calling for a commission of inquiry. They got confused and thought Hamas organized a Woodstock festival and we had to meet them with flowers.

At least 30,000 Palestinians protested at six points along the Gaza border with Israel on Friday to mark Land Day, which has been observed by Palestinians around the world since 1976, when six Israeli Arabs were killed and another 100 injured in clashes on March 30 with Israeli soldiers and police during protests over the expropriation of Arab-owned land in northern Israel by the state for housing for Jewish citizens.

This years protests have been dubbed the March of Return, and are set to be followed by six weeks of protest at the border until May 15, the date on the Gregorian calendar marking 70 years since the establishment of the state of Israel, which the Arab world calls the Nakba, or catastrophe. It is also the date by which the Trump administration has pledged to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The six weeks of protest are set to include several tent camps housing thousands of protesters living near the border.

The Israeli army on Saturday evening announced that at least 10 of those killed in the Friday clashes were known terrorists with track records of terrorist activity. The IDF spokesman also released photos of the ten men and information about their terrorist activity.

Hamas operatives camouflage themselves among civilians, turning a protest from peaceful to an area of terror, the IDF spokesman said in a tweet.

Earlier Saturday, Hamas publicly acknowledged that five members of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, were among those killed in the clashes.

The bodies of two of the Hamas gunmen reportedly are being held in Israeli custody.

Israels Foreign Ministry in a statement issued on Saturday said that the border fence between Israel and Gaza separates a state that protects its citizens from murderers who send their people into danger. The fence separates an army that uses force in self-defense and in a focused and proportionate manner, from Hamas, which has for yearsincluding yesterdaybeen trying to harm millions of Israelis, and which sanctifies murder and death.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement issued on Saturday night praised the countrys soldiers for guarding the countrys borders and allowing Israeli citizens to celebrate the holiday quietly.

Israel acts firmly and with determination to protect its sovereignty and the security of its citizens, Netanyahu also said.

The Jerusalem Post cited unnamed Israeli sources as saying that there are photos and videos to back the Israel Defense Forces claim that it only fired on violent protesters who posed a threat to the border fence, Israeli troops or civilian Israelis. The evidence will be shown to international officials who accused Israel of using disproportionate force, according to the report.

But one video clip being widely distributed by news outlets, the Palestinians and on social media shows an 18-year-old Palestinian man shot in the back and killed by Israeli snipers while running away from the border fence. It is not known what actions the fleeing Palestinian man took before he was shot.

Pope Francis calls for peace in the Holy Land on Easter

(JTA)Pope Francis called for peace in the Holy Land saying the violence between Israel and the Palestinians does not spare the defenseless.

Francis Easter address, known as Urbi et Orbi, or to the city and the world, was delivered Sunday from the balcony of St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican, two days after at least 15 Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured on the border between Israel and Gaza.

The pope called for reconciliation for the Holy Land, which he said was experiencing in these days the wounds of ongoing conflict that do not spare the defenseless.

Francis also prayed for peace for the entire world, beginning with the beloved and long-suffering land of Syria, whose people are worn down by an apparently endless war.

US Supreme Court deals terrible blow to families suing the PLO

WASHINGTON (JTA)The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a setback to victims of terrorism seeking the right to sue the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The court declined Monday to consider an appeal of a decision in a case known as Sokolow v. Palestine Liberation Organization. The plaintiffs won $656 million in a 2015 federal jury verdict, but it was overturned a year later by an appellate court.

The court upheld that appeal.

The lead plaintiff, Mark Sokolow, his wife and two of his daughters were injured in a Jerusalem suicide bombing in 2002 that killed an 81-year-old man. His fellow plaintiffs are families of victims of terrorist attacks in Israel that killed 33, including several Americans, and wounded over 450.

Their suit argued that the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat had paid attackers and their families, and that they had standing to sue his organization under the 1992 Anti-Terrorism Act.

Susan Tuchman, the director of the Center for Law and Justice of the Zionist Organization of America, said in an email that the Supreme Courts decision was a terrible blow for those seeking to hold backers of terrorism accountable.

Im not sure how, in the future, most terror victims will be able to proceed successfully with a suit under the Anti-Terrorism Act, she said.

The PLO in a statement praised the decision. This decision reaffirms the vital relationship between the Palestinian and American people, which depends on mutual respect and, as importantly, on respect for the rule of law, Husam Zomlot, the PLO envoy to Washington, said.

Several administrations, including President Donald Trumps, worried that such lawsuits could undermine American foreign policy interests. U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco sided with the PLO in February, drawing rebukes from conservatives, including some of the Trump administrations most steadfast Jewish community defenders. Lawmakers in Congress from both parties had urged the Trump administration to back the plaintiffs.

The United States has in effect assented to the jurisdictional hurdles imposed by the [appeals court], which will prevent many if not most victims of international terrorism from suing to hold their terrorist attackers accountable, the ZOA said at the time.

Sokolow told JTA in an interview at the time that he was shocked by the solicitor generals filing, citing Trumps invocations of America first when it comes to foreign policy.

The Trump administration said last month that it sympathizes deeply with the families, but the case does not meet the standards for Supreme Court review.

Netanyahu calls son of murdered Holocaust survivor in Paris to offer condolences

JERUSALEM (JTA)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the son of an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor from Paris who was burned and found dead with 11 stab wounds in what is being called an anti-Semitic attack.

Netanyahu on Sunday spoke with Daniel Knoll, the son of Mireille Knoll, who was found dead in her apartment on March 23.

The people of Israel and the State of Israel is with you. This was a shocking murder, the prime minister reportedly said during the phone call. The story of your dear mother, who was cruelly taken, is a reminder for us that the struggles of our people are still before us.

At least 10,000 people participated in a memorial march in Paris on Wednesday for Knoll; many of the marchers were Jewish. Earlier the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron attended Knolls funeral in the Paris suburb of Bagneux. He wore a kippah and was seen talking with Knolls friends and relatives.

Two men, including one of her neighbors, have been indicted in connection with what is being tried as a murder with aggravated circumstances of a hate crime. They are also charged with robbery.

On Friday, Israels president, Reuven Rivlin, sent a letter of condolence to the Knoll family.

On behalf of all of Israel, I send our sincere condolences. The fact that this terrible incident took place merely two weeks before the date when we mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and mourn the victims compounds the heartbreak, Rivlin said in the letter.

Knoll, 85, who escaped deportation to a Nazi death camp when French police rounded up Jews in Paris in 1942 by escaping to Portugal, returned to Paris and spent most of her life living in the apartment in eastern Paris where she was killed.

Trump wishes Jewish community a Happy Passover

(JTA)U.S. President Donald Trump offered holiday greetings for Passover.

During the sacred holiday of Passover, Jewish families around the world give thanks to God for liberating the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt and delivering them to the promised land of Israel, Trump said in a greeting released on Friday, which also was combined with Easter greetings.

He said in his message released on YouTube that the sacred celebrations of Passover and Easter remind us that Gods love redeems the world.

Trump also quoted the book of Isaiah: For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but upon thee the Lord will arise, and His glory shall be seen upon thee the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light (Isaiah 60:2, 20).

The president concluded: In America, we look to the light of God to guide our steps. We trust in the power of the almighty for wisdom and strength and we praise our heavenly father for the blessings of freedom and the gift of eternal life. Happy Passover, Happy Easter.

Steven Bochco, Emmy-winning creator of Hill Street Blues and LA Law, dies at 74

(JTA)Steven Bochco, the Emmy-winning television writer and producer who was responsible for iconic series such as Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and L.A. Law, has died.

Bochco died Sunday at his home following a years-long battle with leukemia. He had received a stem cell transplant from an anonymous donor in 2014, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He was 74.

The winner of 10 Emmy Awards and four Peabodys, Bochco also created the popular series Doogie Howser, M.D, starring Neil Patrick Harris.

Bochco worked on Hill Street Blues at MTM Enterprises, a production company started by Mary Tyler Moore, for five of seven seasons, during which time it won 26 Emmys. The Jewish writer and producer later formed the Steve Bochco Productions company.

He had his first job at Universal after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1966 with a theater degree and worked on Columbo for a few seasons. The first episode he wrote was directed by Steven Spielberg, and with that came the first of 34 Emmy nominations, according to the Hollywood Reporter. He stayed at Universal for 12 years.

Steve was a friend and a colleague starting with the first episode of Columbo in 1971 that he wrote and I directed, Spielberg said in a statement. We have supported and inspired each other ever since, and through many deep mutual friendships we have stayed connected for 47 years. I will miss Steve terribly.

Bochco was born in New York and attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, where he sang. His father, Rudolph, was a violinist, and his mother, Mimi, was a painter and jewelry designer.
(JNS) Legislation to combat the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement against Israel has been adopted in more than 20 states in recent years, but it was derailed last month in Massachusetts. Pro-Israel activists are divided over the reasons why.

The Massachusetts bill, known as the Act Prohibiting Discrimination in State Contracts, would have made it illegal for state agencies to do more than $10,000 worth of business with companies that discriminate on the basis of national origin, including, by implication, Israeli national origin.

The bill was referred to study by a regulatory oversight committee of the state legislature on Feb. 8. That froze the legislation for the foreseeable future.

Jeremy Burton, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, which helped draft and promote the measure, told JNS that the bill fell victim to the overall political climate in [heavily Democratic] states, where anti-BDS legislation is seen as conflicting with free speech.

He noted that since 2016, anti-BDS bills have been enacted almost exclusively in states where the legislatures are Republican-controlled or, in the case of New York and Maryland, where the governor used an executive order to combat BDS.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union came out against anti-BDS legislation, claiming it could chill protected expression by scaring people into self-censorship. Although that position has been challenged by many legal experts, the ACLU has filed suit against anti-BDS measures in a number of states.

In Kansas, the ACLU filed suit against a recently enacted anti-BDS law on behalf of a member of the Mennonite Church USA, which promotes divestment from Israel. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction on Jan. 30 blocking implementation of the law.

Nuanced considerations in each case

Some voices in the Boston Jewish community charge that the local JCRC did not do enough to promote the proposed legislation. In its coverage of the hearings concerning the bill, the Boston-based Jewish Advocate reported that no representatives of any non-Jewish groups with whom JCRC collaborates spoke in favor of the bill.

Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, with which the JCRC has partnered on voter-registration legislation, confirmed to JNS that her group took no position on the anti-BDS bill. Amy Grunder, director of legislative affairs for another JCRC partnerthe Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalitiontold JNS that we did discuss the bill [with the JCRC], and we were asked if we would oppose the bill, and we said we would not. She added that some coalition members did oppose it.

Burton said that as a result of the JCRCs request, the New England Regional Council of Carpenters supported the anti-BDS bill.

Rev. Edwin Johnson of St. Marys Episcopal Church, in Dorchester, Mass., who participated in a JCRC-sponsored study tour of Israel in 2015, told JNS that the JCRC did not ask me to take a position [on the anti-BDS bill]. Did not mention it at all.

Burton pointed out that Rev. Dudley Rose, associate dean of the Harvard Divinity School, who took part in an earlier JCRC trip to Israel, did speak out in favor of the bill.

There were contacts with our interfaith allies [regarding the bill], but I cant discuss my private conversations with them, Burton told JNS, adding, I dont expect every one of them to support us on every one of our issues.

He said that we value our long-term relationships with them, and there are nuanced considerations in each case that we have to weigh.

Burton said he did not recall whether or not his organization asked Harvard University Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, a prominent local opponent of BDS, to help promote the legislation.

Some in the Boston Jewish community contend that the JCRC made insufficient efforts in the period preceding the vote. All Burton managed was a few blog posts and a desperate email blast the day before the vote, according to a Feb. 21 editorial in The Jewish Advocate. Burton obviously grossly overestimated the efficacy of his online organizing, as well as JCRCs clandestine politicking, if there was any.

Former Boston Globe correspondent Deborah Schuss, writing in The Jerusalem Post, argued that the defeat was due in part to the fact that communal organizations supporting the bills failed to mobilize advocates during that perioda lethargy that was not lost on members [of the legislature].

More we could have done to mobilize other groups

Its troubling that the JCRC has managed to bus hundreds of Jews to rallies for other issues, but failed to bring the manpower needed for rallies or more substantial lobbying at the State House to fight BDS, said Charles Jacobs, head of the Boston-based pro-Israel group Americans for Peace and Tolerance.

Jacobs believes that part of the reason the JCRC was not as forceful as it could have been is that its ranks include groups such as the Workmens Circle, which opposed the legislation.

The broader problem, in Jacobss view, is that JCRC leaders are genuinely confused by the fact that left-wing groups whose causes the JCRC has always championed have turned against Israel. If the JCRC leadership cant figure how to effectively respond, then the community needs leaders who can.

The JCRCs Burton acknowledged that in retrospect, there was more we could have done to mobilize other groups, to make more public noise about the bill.

But, he emphasized, I dont think it would have mattered because people who know the Massachusetts legislative process from the inside have told us that there were just too many obstacles to overcome. He noted that a number of legislators declined to support the bill as a result of the Kansas court ruling.

The JCRC has not yet decided if it will seek re-introduction of the Massachusetts bill.

There needs to be a serious conversation in the pro-Israel community about what strategy can win over liberal pro-Israel folks on issues like this, acknowledged Burton. At the same time, we need to explore if there other legislative methods that can be used to strengthen the Israel-Massachusetts economic relationship.
JERUSALEM (JTA)Israel, dont shut the door in our faces.

My name is Monim Harun, an asylum seeker from Sudan. I was born in a small village nested between mountains and forests, where we lived together as one big family. At a young age I was separated from my family and the people I loved most in the world when the militia forces attacked our village. They went through the village killing every man and boy in sight, but by a miracle I survived. My mother wanted me to live in a safer place and have the opportunity to study, so in 2001, at the age of 12, she sent me to the other side of the country, to the Blue Nile region of the Republic of Sudan.

When I left the village it felt bittersweetleaving behind my mother and sisters, and the people I loved. But I knew that in doing so, I would be able to acquire new skills that would help me rebuild my community on my return. In the Blue Nile region I completed elementary through high school, and was accepted to Blue Nile University. I spent three years there studying toward a degree in electrical engineeringfive years are required for the program. During those years I joined a student organization that fights against the rule of radical Islam in Sudan, and calls for a democratic, secular and liberal system of government. My involvement in social and political advocacy wound up placing my life in great danger, all the more so because my Fur ethnicity is one against which the Sudanese government has been perpetrating genocide.

In 2011, the Sudanese dictatorship decided to attack the area in which I was studying. I was forced to flee the Blue Nile region when the security forces began searching for me in order to arrest me. After trying many times to return and finish my studies, I finally realized in 2012 that I would not be able to remain in the country. The security forces continued searching for me and arrested some of my friends, one of whom was held in captivity for three years and only released in 2014. I fled to Egypt but was unable to remain there because the Muslim Brotherhood, who were in power at that time, were sympathetic to Sudans Islamist government.

I made my way to Israel, arriving in June 2012. Upon arrival I was sent to prison for three years and later was told that I would be deported to the country from which I fled, despite my request for asylum and my statement that my life would be in danger if I were sent back. I was imprisoned for a year and a half in Saharonim prison and then was held in the Holot detention center until January 2015.

Israels current deportation plan is the final stage in its established policy of pressuring us, the African asylum seekers, to leave the country. Israel has already been taking some of the money that we earn from our work in the lowliest jobs available (asylum seekers must put aside 20 percent of their salaries until they leave Israel) by refusing all of our asylum requests and imprisoning many of us indefinitely in Saharonim.

All of these policies, and many others, stem from the states approach to us as infiltrators rather than refugees. The economic punishments inflicted upon us have indeed made our lives difficult, but that is certainly not what bothers us the most, nor is it what stands at the head of our struggle as asylum seekers. Our struggle is to be seen, and treated, as human beings.

What is incredibly frightening to me is how the Israeli government has succeeded in disconnecting itself from the history and values of the Jewish people.

How can the Jewish people forget the meaning of the word refugee?

How can a people who were forced again and again to flee their homes decide not to give temporary refuge to those who are fleeing their homes today?

It is obvious to me that the majority of the Israeli public does not know why the Sudanese and Eritreans arrive in Israel. They do not see us as refugees.

This raises the question: How would you define a refugee?

A person who suffered force labor, violence, rape and torture in his own countryis he not a refugee? Someone who was persecuted only because of her religion and ethnic backgroundis she not a refugee?

A person forced to flee his home only because of his skin coloris he not a refugee?

Someone whose village was burned and her family members killed in front of her eyesis she not a refugee?

And he who survived a genocideis he not a refugee?

If these people are not considered refugees in Israel, than who is?

Believe me, it is not pleasant for anyone to leave his country, his house and his family, and to go in search of asylum in a place he does not know. One will only do this if he has come to the conclusion that an unknown future in a foreign land is better than a certain death now.

The area in Darfur from where I originated has been attacked many times by the Sudanese government. Last year they started using chemical weapons. This is what has already been happening on a daily basis in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile region.

In fact, just a week ago, on March 22, the area in which I was born and raised was attacked again. Dozens of people were killed, most of whom are women and children.

There are many more like me in Israel, people whose families are being attacked every day in the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile region and in Darfur, asylum seekers who wake up every day not knowing whether their relatives are still alive. If you live in Israel, they travel next to you on the bus, they wash your dishes in the restaurant in which you will eat tomorrow and they clean the streets on which you walk. And all the while, they are living in constant fear for the lives of the people they love.

We understand that the government of Israel does not want us here, but we have nowhere else to go.

Therefore, our last and only hope lies with the Israeli people and the Jewish nation. When you stand with us, it gives us inspiration. Only you can protect us now that we have lost hope in every other direction. Please dont shut the door in our faces. Dont let this disaster happen.

Monim Harun is a Sudanese asylum seeker, community activist and a member of the African Students Organization in Israel based in Jerusalem.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.
A Palestinian used his car as a weapon and drove into a cluster of soldiers alongside an IDF base in the West Bank. He killed two and injured two others. A few days later, a Palestinian stabbed a security guard in Jerusalems Old City.

Those were the third, fourth, and fifth deaths so far in 2018 attributed to Palestinian terror. That equals the number of American Jews that we know were killed by gunfire. Four Jewish students and one Jewish teacher were killed in the school shooting at Parkland, Florida.

The number of Israeli deaths from terror has ranged from 6 to 36 annually in recent years.

We can quarrel if the numbers are as important as the continued threat, or what can be done to deal with it. Just as dead and tragic are more than 30,000 Americans and about 300 Israelis who die annually from traffic accidents.

In terms of the incidence of traffic deaths per billion vehicle miles, American roads and/or drivers are about 30 percent more dangerous than those of Israel. And according to murder rates, Americans are three times more dangerous than Israelis.

Weve also been reminded of Islamic terror in France. The most recent terror attacks in Israel here have produced the usual responses. Media devoted considerable attention to the incidents, interviews with family members and friends of those killed, and updates on the condition of the wounded. Members of the Palestinian drivers family insisted that it was a traffic accident; that the young man was law abiding and had no connection with politics. After a few hours of questioning, the driver admitted that he intended to kill Jews, but that it was a spur of the moment decision and had no connection with anyone else.

Israeli security forces have already closed his family residence, and have begun the legal process intended to destroy it. Some 70 members of his extended family have lost the permits that allowed them to work in Israel.

No doubt some will continue to arrive surreptitiously. That may be more difficult, however, if Israeli officials continue with their announced intention of extending the security wall to put their village on the other side.

Merchants in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, near where the stabbing occurred, have been charged with knowing that an attack was imminent, and not doing anything against it.

Should we worry about collective punishment, or see such moves as reasonable ways of dealing with terror coming from a culture where family and community loyalties are pervasive.

Some politicians are calling for the application of the death penalty. Others dispute the effectiveness of a death penalty; see it as a spur to more terror; and cite the legal hassles, time, and expense likely if a military court uses existing provisions to sentence the driver to death.

The Palestinian who stabbed a guard in the Old City was shot and killed by security personnel. One can doubt that Israel will solve its problem with the Palestinians any sooner than Americans will deal with its guns.

A recent incident of police killing a black man holding a cell phone, then saying it looked like a pistol, suggests the limits of arming teachers as a response to mass attacks at schools.

Parkland has provoked a mass response in favor of doing something about weapons, but the task is enormous. Responses can vary between 50 states and thousands of local jurisdictions. Advocates of control are talking about increasing the age of those allowed to buy guns, or tweaking the details of the weapons available.

There are advocates of a general response from the Supreme Court, equivalent to the 1973 decision about abortion. It could take the form of a ruling that the Second Amendment stands for the right of States to maintain militias in the form of the National Guard, and not for a general right of citizens to have firearms. One shouldnt bet a great deal of that happening anytime soon.

Israel takes care in providing gun permits. Among the requirements are prior military service, approvals as to criminal record, mental and physical health; and either a work place or residence where a weapon is considered necessary.

Aside from cynicism, fatalism, and another rendition of the problems in the way of true peace between Israelis and Palestinians, there seems little to be done that hasnt already being done.

With respect to killing by car, the IDF is extending the protection of problematic locations with meter-high concrete posts put in place at bus stops where Palestinians had used their cars to attack people waiting for transportation.

Officials are warning security personnel and the public that were approaching several events likely to be associated with increased attacks: Land Day when Arabs commemorate an event in 1976, Passover, Israels 70th anniversary, the movement of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and Ramadan.

We can expect the closing of crossing points between Palestinian and Israeli areas on several of those occasions, as well as increased police and military patrols.

Theres also been an uptick in the incidence of events on the border of Gaza, so far without Israeli casualties and a minimum of Palestinian casualties associated with Israeli responses. Hamas is threatening to send thousands of civilians to the border with Israel, saying it will assert the right of refugees return to their homes. Israeli security personnel are training, getting the tear gas and water cannons ready, as well as snipers.

Further afield, and more dangerous, are the continued actions of Iran to supply and incite violence against Israel. There may be thousands of missiles capable of reaching Israel.

Things could be better, and theyve been a lot worse.

We can be optimistic, but cautious.

Comments welcome. irashark@gmail.com.
(JNS)For a quarter of a century, the Palestinian Authority has cynically wrapped itself inside a fig leaf dubbed as the Peace Process. The naked truth, however, is that it has been using every means available to incite for, incentivize and reward terrorism. With Fridays passage of the Taylor Force Act, which aims to deduct payments to Palestinian prisoners and martyrs, fissures are finally emerging in its iron wall of deception.

The phrase Peace Process served as an ingenious linguistic sedative, lulling the international community into the dream of a peaceful P.A. The harsh reality is that the objective of the P.A. has never been peace, but the gradual, staged elimination of the State of Israel. The P.A. has been consistently teaching their children that Jews and Israelis are odious, detestable creatures, and their final elimination would be of huge benefit to the Palestinian people, the Arab world and all of humanity.

The Palestinian National Covenant was adopted on May 28,

1963, in which most of the 33 articles invoke an armed struggle until the Zionist entity is totally wiped out and Palestine is liberated.

Note that this happened four years before the 1967 Six-Day War, so it had nothing to do with the disputed territories that followed that war, and everything to do with the 1948 War of Independence and the sheer existence of Israel.

In April 1996, amid the euphoria of the signing of the Oslo Accords and under much political pressure from the Clinton administration, the Palestinian National Council had a well-publicized vote to discuss whether to revoke the covenant. Despite the fanfare, they voted simply to extend the period of time to decide on what to do.

P.A. spokesperson Marwan Kanfani emerged from the meeting, saying: This is not an amendment. It is a license to start anew, to found a new resolution, a new charter. This is really a vote to form a committee to look into it.

The committee never was formed; the members never appointed; no meetings were subsequently announced.

Yet the international media was ablaze with headlines of how the P.A. had renounced the charter. Peter Jennings, the anchor of World News Tonight began his broadcast with: They said it couldnt be done. The P.A. has revoked its charter calling for the destruction of Israel.

The PNC didnt convene until 2009, in which Fatah spokesman Nabil Shaath said that the covenant cannot be changed. Azaam al Ahmed, another P.A. spokesman said it [the covenant] will remain as is. It wont be subject to change. We have the right to practice all forms of national struggle.

Nevertheless, for decades the world convinced themselves that the P.A. was actually a peaceful entity, the moderate alternative to Hamas.

The P.A. has been playing a dubious game. It had used all means available to systematically indoctrinate their people to despise and murder Israelis and Jews, using textbooks, childrens television shows, sporting and cultural events to demonize Jews, to praise the shahid, (martyr) and to encourage their youth to follow in this glorious path.

As Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch writes, P.A. libels claim that Israel conspires to infect Palestinians with AIDS, spread drug addiction, conspired and successfully murdered Arafat, and more. The P.A.s goal has been to inculcate hatred to the degree that fighting and murdering Jews and Israelis will be glorified as heroic self-defense.

After so many years of this systematic indoctrination, its no wonder that murdering Jews and Israelis is seen as a heroic act in the eyes of many Palestinians, and a regnant value of the P.A. In 2015, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said: We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem, which is clean and pure blood.

In defiance of the United States, the P.A. just announced that it will now directly pay the prisoners and the families of martyrs to the tune of $355 million a year.

Does this not constitute material support for terrorism?

At least, however, so far as the U.S. Congress is concerned, the gig is finally up.

Sarah N. Stern is founder and president of the Endowment of Middle East Truth, EMET, an unabashedly pro-Israel and pro-American think tank and policy shop in Washington, D.C.
(JNS)At this years AIPAC conference, a great deal of attention was given to organizational efforts to present Israel as an attractive cause for Democrats and liberals to continue to embrace. As I noted earlier this month, while perils are associated with any attempt to rebrand the Jewish state without addressing the core issues of the conflict, the group got generally good reviews for working hard to address major concerns for the pro-Israel community.

Fueling those worries was a recent Pew Research Center poll that highlighted the growing gap between how Republicans and Democrats view Israel. While the GOP seems to be leaning more pro-Israel, the Democrats seem to be heading in the opposite direction. Those numbers were easily explained by a Republican base dominated by Christian conservatives who are passionate about Israel, and a Democratic base whose activists are vulnerable to specious intersectional arguments that portray the Palestinians as the moral equivalent to blacks in the Jim Crow Deep South. The fact that the leadership of the Womens Marchthe engine of the increasingly important anti-Trump resistanceis dominated by sympathizers of Louis Farrakhan, and Israel opponents like Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, has only highlighted this problem.

But for all of the fears of the growing polarization between the parties, the predictions of the death of the bipartisan consensus on Israel are, to paraphrase Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated. As a new Gallup poll shows, support for Israel in the United States hit record levels. Americans of every age, ethnicity, religious group and political stripe like Israel, and back it against the Palestinians. Those who question why U.S. foreign policy remains so pro-Israel need to reckon with the fact that most Americans just love the Jewish state.

The basic numbers are impressive. The percentage of Americans who favor Israel over the Palestinians scores 64 percent. That ties an all-time high that has only been reached twice before in 1991 and 2003.

Whats so fascinating about that number is that Israel should be so popular at this particular time. Those two previous years came in moments of crisis. In 1991, Israel was under attack from Iraqi SCUD missiles during the Persian Gulf War. In 2003, the second intifada was raging. Its easy to understand why images of Israelis suffering missile attacks as a form of revenge against Americas effort to rescue Kuwait or being blown up in buses and cafes by Palestinian terrorists would engender sympathy. But Israel is not currently being attacked. The assumption has been that President Donald Trumps tilt towards Israel would alienate both centrists and liberals who see anything associated with him in a negative light. The unpopularity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also supposed to be a drag on Israels popularity, as is the mainstream medias continued assertions that West Bank settlements, rather than Palestinian intransigence, remains the obstacle to peace in the Middle East.

But the numbers dont back up those assumptions.

Gallups survey is useful because researchers have been asking these same questions of the public for decades. That makes the fact that Israels favorability ratings come in at an all-time high is something for both its friends and its critics to ponder. Indeed, in the last 12 months, which coincide with Trumps first year in the White House, the already positive numbers increased again. In 2017, Israel was viewed positively by 71 percent of Americans and negatively by 27 percent. In 2018, the totals are 74 percent positive and only 23 percent negativea net gain of nine points. To put that in perspective, there are no U.S. politicians and few foreign places or people viewed as positively by Americans as Israels net plus 51 percent favorability rating.

Its true that a huge gap exists between the two parties. A staggering 87 percent of Republicans sympathize with Israel, as opposed to 49 percent of Democrats. That still means that fully half of the Democrats stand on the side of the Jewish state.

Were also told that young people are rejecting Israel. Its true that many college campuses have seen a rise in support for the BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement. But Gallup also tells us that 65 percent of Americans ages 18 to 34 back Israel. While thats admittedly lower than the 80 percent of support Israel gets from those 55 and older, it still reflects a solid consensus.

Nor is there anything in the poll to encourage Israels foes. Only 27 percent of Democrats view the Palestinians favorably, as opposed to a mere 13 percent of Republicans.

What conclusions can we draw from this survey?

The most important one is that the idea that the pro-Israel consensus is fading is bunk. Israel is as popular as it has ever been in the history of American polling. While the shift of the Democratic Party to the left is troubling, the numbers also dictate that those competing for that partys presidential nomination in 2020 must realize that smart politics will compel them to stay firmly in the pro-Israel camp.

There is also no evidence that Trumps willingness to move the United States closer to Israel after President Obamas eight years of seeking more daylight between the allies has discredited the pro-Israel cause. Nor is there any reason to think that Netanyahu or settlements has done so, or that the youth of America will eventually reject Israel once their elders die.

This shouldnt breed complacency among advocates for Israel, and it must be understood that the situation elsewhere, especially in Europe, is very different. But hard as it may be for the Jewish states critics to accept, Americans care deeply for Israel. Support for it isnt the result of a conspiracy or campaign fundraising. Americans love Israel, period. And Trump, Netanyahu, Israeli settlementsnot even decades of Palestinian propaganda or anti-Semitism masquerading as anti-Zionismcan change that.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNSthe Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
In 168 bc Roman legionaries and Macedonian phalangites fought to decide once and for all who would rule the ancient Mediterranean

Lucius Aemilius Paullus, a member of two of Romes greatest families and commander of the Roman expeditionary force in Greece, was not normally given to fear on the battlefield. But on this day in the summer of 168 bc the consul had never beheld anything so alarming and terrible. Over the heads of his own troops he could see the oncoming phalanxes of King Perseus of Macedon, their masses of upraised spears resembling a forest, impenetrable and unstoppable.



It was a fearsome and intimidating display with a reputation that preceded it. The phalanx had dominated warfare in the Hellenistic world for two centuries, and Paullus feared the lethal formation might roll over his army as it had so many others.

But the battle about to be waged on a plain near the village of Pydna, on the northwestern Aegean coast, would go much differently than Paullus feared. Indeed, it would resolve a conflict that had started almost a half-century earlier, confirm the superiority of one military formation over the other and mark the death

of one empire and birth of another.

Romes 201 bc victory over Carthage in the Second Punic War had left it master of the western and central Mediterranean, in turn drawing Roman forces to intervene increasingly in disputes in the eastern Mediterranean. In the first decade of the second century bc the legions marched into Greece and Asia Minor to protect allies, and subsequent victories left Rome the acknowledged leader of the entire Mediterranean, which it imperiously dubbed Mare Nostrum (Our Sea)

Among Romes vanquished foes was Philip V of Macedon, who had sought to return his kingdom to the prominence it had enjoyed under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. His ambition brought Philip V into conflict with Roman-allied Greek city-states. In 197 bc Roman legions destroyed the Macedonian army at the Battle of Cynoscephalae, a chaotic affair fought on the side of a ridge in the fog. Its defeat forced Macedon to surrender its claim on all Greek holdings outside of the Macedonian homeland, disband its fleet and pay a large war indemnity.

When Philip V died in 179 bc, son Perseus ascended to the throne with a shared vision of ending Roman domination and returning Macedon to glory. Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of his father, however, Perseus resolved not to confront the Romans until he was ready. He first sought to strengthen the Macedonian army and his diplomatic ties in Greece. But his enthusiastic rebuilding of the military and overt attempts to court Greek allies drew nervous attention from Rome. Thus when a dispute developed in 172 bc between Macedon and Roman-allied Pergamum in coastal Asia Minor (present-day western Turkey), the Romans decided it was time to deal with Perseus.

Unfortunately for Rome, the green troops it initially dispatched to Greece behaved more like a drunken mob than an army. After an early setback against the Macedonians, they spent much of their time pillaging the lands of Romes Greek allies. Compounding the demoralization of the Roman forces was the fact their commanders regarded the campaign as little more than an opportunity to amass wealth.

Only Perseus own military incompetence saved the Romans from disaster. The Macedonian commander failed to follow up his successes in 171 and 170 bc, and a 169 bc Roman advance into Macedon panicked Perseus into a hasty, humiliating retreat. When the Romans were forced to withdraw due to supply difficulties, Perseus regained enough composure to occupy a strong position south of the fortified city of Dium. His quick thinking barred a follow-up Roman advance into Macedon, leaving the war to settle into a stalemate.

In 168 bc the Roman Senate, fishing about for an experienced soldier to lead the war against Macedon, settled on 60-year-old Paullus, son of the consul slain in combat against Hannibal at Cannae in 216 bc and brother-in-law of Scipio Africanus, arguably Romes greatest military commander to that time. But it wasnt his family ties or political connections that secured Paullus the consulshipthe Senate chose him for the exceptional warfighting ability he had exhibited in Spain and southern France.

Paullus arrived in Greece in the spring of 168 bc and immediately set about establishing the discipline Roman forces lacked. Among other measures, he ensured his soldiers were never idleif the legionaries werent training or standing guard duty, they were expected to polish their armor and sharpen their weapons. Within a few months Paullus was convinced the troops were ready to fight, if for no other reason than simply to escape the tedium of camp life.

The Roman commander first sought to flank the Macedonians, moving his forces around the enemys right by way of little-used mountain passes. Detecting his opponents flanking movement, Perseus withdrew south of Pydna to a level plain well suited to the phalanx. The Romans followed and set up camp on broken ground near the foot of a coastal mountain, while the Macedonians deployed on the opposite bank of a stream that ran between the two camps.

Paullus personally commanded his two legions and various allied troops. Supporting the estimated 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry fielded by Rome and its Italian allies were troops from two key foreign allies: King Masinissa of Numidia had supplied 5,000 infantry, 300 light cavalry and some two-dozen war elephants, while Pergamum, whose dispute with Perseus had pushed Rome toward war, had brought 8,000 infantry and 500 heavy cavalry. The combined force comprised roughly 33,000 infantry and 3,800 cavalry. Numbers aside, victory in the coming battle would hinge on the fighting skill of the 7,600 heavy infantrymen in each Roman legion, each of whom relied primarily on a short stabbing sword called the gladius.

For his part, Perseus fielded the largest military force led by a Macedonian king since the days of Alexander the Great39,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. At the heart of his army were 21,000 phalangites, each armed with the 18- to 21-foot spear known as a sarissa, its length and heft requiring the use of both hands. The first five ranks thrust their spears forward at hip level, while succeeding ranks held them upward at the ready. Given the length of the sarissa, the spear points of all five lead ranks extended out in the front of the formation like a bristling hedgehog. In combat the phalanx would advance and simply try to drive the enemy from the battlefield. When faced with this moving fortress of spears, only the most courageous and disciplined troops would stand and fight.

The opposing armies, each representing wholly different military and political systems, faced one another across the small stream for two days, each waiting for omens from their respective gods. A lunar eclipse on the eve of battle served the purpose. Then, as so often happens in war, a chance encounter served as the catalyst for decisive action.

On the afternoon of June 22 a Roman horse slipped its bridle and galloped toward the Macedonian lines. Three Romans went to retrieve the animal as two Macedonians ran forward to capture it. The parties met in the middle of the stream, a clash of arms ensued, and one of the Macedonians was killed. His death brought 700 of his comrades storming across the stream seeking revenge, only to be met by 1,000 Romans. The encounter quickly escalated into a pitched battle, and Perseus led the bulk of his army across the stream in formation. When Paullus received word of the Macedonian advance, he sent out his light infantry and cavalry to delay the enemy while he mobilized his heavy infantry. On riding out of camp, he was awestruck at first sight of the Macedonian ranks. Drawn up 16 men deep and 1,310 men across, their sarissa points and armor glittering in the sun, the phalanx appeared an impregnable fortress in motion.

The Macedonians had advanced swiftly and met the Romans only 250 yards from the latters camp. Given the density of the Macedonian phalanx and length of the sarissas, each legionary faced a cluster of spear points. Some of the Romans tried hacking off the spear points, others attempted to wrest the sarissas from the phalangites, and still others sought to force the sarissa points into the ground. All efforts proved futile as the phalanx inexorably pushed back the Romans.

Hoping to inspire his men, a commander on the Roman left threw his cohorts standard into the midst of the phalangites opposing his legionaries. While his gesture inspired frenzied efforts to retrieve the banner, his men remained unable to penetrate the Greek ranks. Worst yet, the action had disordered that part of the Roman line, and panicked legionaries scattered in disarray. Their retreat in turn caused the entire Roman line facing the phalanx to give ground. The phalangites pressed forward, perhaps hoping to butcher the Romans before they could regain camp. In fact, in their haste the Greeks had sown the seeds of their own destruction.

As the phalanx rushed over the rocky, uneven ground, gaps opened in the formation. Seeing an opportunity to save his army, Paullus sent word to subordinate commanders to have their legionaries break ranks and exploit the gaps. As fleet-footed Romans infiltrated the Greek lines, phalangites in the interior ranks suddenly found themselves facing sword-wielding legionaries. They had but one choice: to drop their now tactically useless sarissas and engage in sword fights with soldiers for whom the gladius was an extension of their arms. Either way, the phalanx was almost certainly doomed. As increasing numbers of phalangites were slain or dropped their weapons, fewer spear points faced forward, enabling ever more Romans to breach the Greek lines.

Meanwhile, Paullus exploited another, equally fatal flaw in Perseus line of battle. Even as the phalanx surged forward in the center, the assorted Greek spearmen, light infantrymen and swordsmen on the Macedonian left faced a determined charge from Romes Italian allies and the Numidian war elephants that soon drove them back. That in turn opened a yawning gap between the Macedonian center and left, leaving the phalanx susceptible to a flanking attack. Paullus saw it. Taking personal command of the second and third lines of a legion yet to be engaged in the fight, he led them into attack on the flanks and rear of the Macedonian host. Beset from all directions, internally and externally, Perseus phalanx shattered. With the destruction of the cornerstone of his army, the battle turned into a rout. Only an elite 3,000-man Macedonian guard unit remained unbowed in the face of the Roman assaultand it fought to the last man.

By the time the fighting was over, some 20,000 Macedonians lay dead and 11,000 had been captured. The battle that ended 170 years of Macedonian prominence in the ancient world had taken less than an hour.

Early in the fight as the tide turned against his phalanx, Perseus had fled with most of his cavalry. A more fitting symbol of the sea change to Macedons military fortunes could not be found than that of the heavy cavalry, the arm of decision in Alexanders army, fleeing the field at Pydna at the moment of decision.

Perseus flight was pointless, for though he survived the battle, all of Macedon lay at the mercy of Paullus and the Roman army. To emphasize the new reality that Perseus represented Macedons last king, the Roman Senate ordered the defeated monarch brought to Rome for humiliating display during Paullus triumphal procession into the city.

In the aftermath of the war Rome partitioned Macedon into four independent republics and forbade trade and intermarriage between the citizens of each. Most citizens were disarmed, except along the northern borders, which faced an ongoing threat from barbarian invasion. Rome also claimed in tribute half of the taxes that used to go to the king.

Otherwise seeking a status-quo relationship with its defeated foe, Rome did not send occupation troops into Macedon. Such a relationship proved impossible, however, for the balance of power had forever changed. Rome had shown itself willing go to war to protect its interests in the Mediterranean. Indeed, some 20 years later Roman troops returned to Greece when the Macedonian republics erupted in unrest, stirred up by a firebrand claiming to be Perseus son. This time the legions stayed.

In 146 bc Rome formally annexed Macedon, declaring it the province of Macedonia and handing its governor supervisory authority over the rest of Greece. That same year Scipio Aemilianus, Roman consul and second son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus, completed the conquest of longtime archenemy Carthage, leading to creation of the province of Africa.

Rome was well on the road to empire.

New Jersey-based attorney Brian M. English is a longtime student of ancient and medieval warfare. For further reading he recommends A Military History of the Western World, by J.F.C. Fuller; In the Name of Rome, by Adrian Goldsworthy; and Greece and Rome at War, by Peter Connolly.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act turned peaceful prairies into battlegrounds.

It can be argued that the Civil War actually began in 1854 when blood stained the prairie grass of the Kansas Territory. The American vs. American bloodshed started because of two words: popular sovereignty, the idea at the heart of the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act.

The crisis that enveloped Kansas had its origins in the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery from the Louisiana Purchase above the 36 degree/30 minute line. Many Americans believed that compromise was permanent.

But when the time came to organize the Purchase lands of Kansas and Nebraska into territories, Stephen A. Douglas, a long-term Democratic senator from Illinois, introduced legislation that tossed the Missouri Compromise out the window by stipulating that settlers could exercise popular sovereignty and take a vote to determine whether the territories would be slave or free.

The concept of popular sovereignty threw the country into turmoil. Southerners, of course, backed the proposal, while Northerners felt betrayed by Douglas and feared that slave power was once again dominating federal legislation.

Douglas had to know he was playing with fire, so why would he want to get rid of 36/30? The senator hoped the fledgling town of Chicago would be picked as the railhead for the proposed Transcontinental Railroad. Advocating the concept of popular sovereignty was one way to get Southern support for that.

Douglas also believed that the Kansas and Nebraska territories were unsuited to grow plantation crops, and therefore slavery would never take root on the prairie. But the reality hardly mattered; the idea alone of involuntary servitude north of Missouri was enough to cause furor.

After months of debate, Douglas proposal became law, and lawfulness promptly disappeared in Kansas as pro- and antislavery forces quickly moved in and began battling to swing the territory to their respective sides.

Bleeding Kansas soon entered the countrys nomenclature as violence escalated. Both sides established capitalsproslavers at Lecompton and Free State supporters at Lawrence. Abolitionist organizations began to sponsor settlers into the territory, none more notorious than Captain John Brown. After a May 21, 1856, attack on Lawrence by proslave forces, Brown and his followers raided the proslave settlements along Pottawatomie Creek, hacking the victims up with Army surplus swords purchased by their abolitionist backers.

Federal troops finally quelled the violence, but not until after at least 50 settlers had died. Finally after four state constitutions had been put to a referendum, Kansas entered the Union as an antislavery state on January 29, 1861. The more thinly populated Nebraska Territory escaped the bloodshed of its neighbor and became a state after the war.

The impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act did not end with statehood, however. John Brown escaped Kansas after the massacre, but he used his fame to continue attracting abolitionist funds and reappeared at Harpers Ferry in 1859. The pattern of sectarian violence that started in 1854 led directly to the gruesome wartime guerrilla conflict in Kansas and neighboring Missouri.

Stephen Douglas political career was never quite the same after 1854. His act weakened the Democratic Party and divided it into Northern and Southern wings. He remained a power in Illinois, but the controversy eventually cost him the presidency.

A fellow Illinoisan, a lawyer who had given up on politics, would have much to do with shortening Douglas career. That lawyer was so disgusted by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the potential for slaverys expansion that he decided to once again enter the political fray.

Douglas would get the chance to meet the unintended consequence of his legislation head on when he debated Abraham Lincoln in 1858 over the issue of popular sovereignty in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Originally published in the July 2009 issue of Americas Civil War. To subscribe, click here.
A Yankee flotilla encounters unforeseen adventures in its perilous attempt to find a back way to Vicksburg.

During the winter and spring of 1863, Union General Ulysses S. Grant had tried every trick in the book to get his army across the Mississippi River to attack the Confederate fortress of Vicksburg. All had failed, and his soldiers languished in the fever-ridden swamps on the wrong side of the river. He had recently sent a 10,000-man infantry division in 25 steam transport ships guarded by several powerful ironclads on a circuitous 400-mile route through the back bayous, rivers and swamps, hoping to catch the Rebels off-guard above the city. This was known as the Yazoo Pass Expedition. It had been driven back, however, though Grant did not know it yet.

But Admiral David Dixon Porter, the U.S. Navy commander on the scene, came up with yet another scheme to surprise the Rebels in their own backyard. In order to get the Yazoo Pass Expedition out of the Mississippi and into its backwaters route, it had been necessary to blow up a levee some 200 miles north of Vicksburg and this, in turn, had flooded the entire countryside for hundreds of square miles. Porter smelled an opportunity.

It was now the middle of March, and Grant, as yet un- certain about the fate of the thousands of men he had sent down the Yazoo Pass, found himself much exercised for [their] safety. Being a man of action, Grant decided to see for himself if there was another way to pre- vail, for Admiral Porter had come up with his own bizarre proposal for attacking Vicksburg from the rear. It involved yet another amphibious expedition that would take advantage of the now flooded bayous and rivers that the admiral asserted would not only get the troops above the Confederate batteries at Haines Bluff, but get them past the Rebel guns of Fort Pemberton as well.

The scheme was to steam into the Yazoo River to an obscure stream opposite Vicksburg called Steeles Bayou, then follow it north, away from the city, through Cypress Lake, Black Bayou, Deer Creek to the Rolling Fork where, a hundred miles later, they would then turn southward again into the Sunflower River for another hundred miles back down to the Yazoo. It was a tortuous loop of 200 miles, but it left Fort Pemberton about 30 miles to the east, before reentering the Yazoo 20 miles above the Confederate batteries at Snyders, Drurys and Haines Bluffs.

As luck would have it, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman himself got tapped for the duty, along with one of his divisions, and on March 16 he embarked 7,000 infantrymen on transports that were to follow close behind the van, which consisted of five ironclads, four mortar boats and four tugboats, commanded by Porter himself. They had no sooner shoved off than things began to go awry.

Surely it was one of the strangest wartime expeditions in naval history. Because of the levee break, the water was so high that in many places the big ironclads sometimes found themselves steaming above drowned roads and houses and even entire forests, with only the very tops of their trees showing. Keeping in the channel became a major project. The ironclads drew 7 feet of water, whereas in normal times, according to Porter, these streams did not contain enough water to float a canoe. But the flood had put 15 feet under them, provided they did not sail off into an underwater hill or vale.

Almost immediately, another problem presented itself, similar to the one encountered by the Yazoo Pass Expeditiononly worse. The twisting narrowness of the streams and the rise in water level often put the boats right in the path of overhanging trees and limbs that, when struck, carried away almost everything on deck, especially on the river steamers with their tall smokestacks, elevated pilothouses and ponderous loading tackle. Not only that, but the trees and branches were inhabited by all species of swamp creatures that had sought refuge from the flood. Whenever a boat crashed or bumped into one of these natural obstacles, its decks were immediately inundated with a perfect shower of live zoological specimens: coons, possums, snakes of all descriptions and temperaments, rats, mice, cockroaches, lizards, squirrels, wildcats, and a host of insects so varied and plentiful that their identification could only be guessed at. Sailors manned brooms to sweep these startled visitors overboard, but some refused to go, which made life aboard ship more interesting.

After a few days, Shermans flotilla began to look like a moving shipwreck; most smokestacks had been torn off the transport boats, or bent beyond use. Wheelhouses, booms, ships boats, masts, sometimes entire superstructures had been demolished, and whenever the steamers hit a dead or damaged limb, it would come crashing straight to the deck, smashing skylights and framework, adding to the chaos. As with the Yazoo Pass Expedition, smoke from burning cotton billowed from whatever high ground there was, and often obscured navigation. Porter was appalled by the wicked[ness] of such wanton destruction, and shouted to a grizzled old overseer, Why did those fools set fire to that cotton?

Because they didnt want you fools to have it, was the equally discourteous reply.

At one point, pyres that blazed along Cypress Bayou actually threatened to roast Porters gunboat crews alive. As he described it, the bayou was exactly forty- six feet wide. My vessel was forty-two feet wide. On both sides of the stream some 6,000 bales of Confederate cotton were aflame. After learning from a slave that the cotton would burn for two or three more days, Porter was determined to push through. All the ports were shut in and the crews called to fire quarters, standing ready with fire-buckets, he said. A tugboat that was in the lead disappeared into the inferno after soaking everything down and when it emerged on the other side, all the paint was blistered and many of the crew singed. On the deck of Cincinnati, Porter was forced to jump into a small iron-plated closet, followed by the captain, to keep from getting scorched, while the helmsman covered himself with an old [wet] flag that lay in the wheelhouse.

Just after we passed through the fire, Porter reported, there was a terrible crash, which some thought was an earthquake. We had run into and quite through a span of bridge about fifty feet long, and demolished the whole fabric, having failed to see it in the smoke.

And that was just the beginning. Cypress Bayou was so crooked, Porter said, At one time the vessels would all be steaming on different courses. One would be standing north, another south, another east, and another west through the woods. The tugs and mortar-boats seemed to be mixed up in the most marvelous manner. It was also filled with huge soggy logs with their ends pointing upward, presenting the appearance of chevaux-de-frise, over which we could no more pass than we could fly. All this had to be cleared by hand, and no sooner had it been done than they heard the sinister racket of chopping from the dismal swamps ahead.

The ironclads, which had no tall masts or booms, managed to weather the damage better than the transports, and as a result Sherman and his infantry fell farther and farther behind the armored van. By March 20, Porters naval force had reached the head of the Rolling Fork, the pass that would take them into the wide and deep Sunflower River. From there, the sailing promised to be fast and smooth all the way back down to the Yazoo River and victory. But just then a combination of bad luck, misapprehension and Rebel ingenuity brought the operation up short.

Right at the entrance to the Rolling Fork was a small collection of houses, and along the banks a number of slaves stood watching Mr. Linkums gumboats as they gathered to enter the pass. Suddenly Porter looked out over his bridge and saw a large green patch extending all the way across. It looked like the green scum on ponds, he wrote in his memoir. When he asked the slaves what it was, one of them replied: Its nuffin but willers, sah. When de waters out ob de bayou, den we cuts de willers to make baskets wib. As Porter was digesting this, the man added, You can go troo dat like a eel.

It was not so. As Porters new flagship Carondelet entered the strange patch of vegetation full-steam-ahead, it first slowed abruptly, and then came to a complete halt. The little withes caught in the rough iron ends of the overhangs and held us as if in a vice, Porter reported. I tried to back out, but twas no use. We could not move an inch, no matter how much steam we put on.

The men brought out large hooks and tried to snag off the willow branches to no avail. Porter looked to the banks for the man who had originally advised him about the willows and received a sobering reassessment, All I could find out from them was that dey was mo tougher than ropes. Presently the crew produced saws, knives, cutlasses and chisels and went over the side, but soon as the little willow switches were cut away, others sprang up from under the water and took a fresher grip on us, so we were worse off than ever. And even that was wishful thinking.

Suddenly from ahead came a boom of artillery fire, along with the chilling crack of a Whitworth rifled gun (possibly the same one that had helped thwart the Federal armada at Fort Pemberton during the Yazoo Pass Expedition) which had a dead-on accurate range of more than a mile. Earlier, as the flotilla was waiting for the other ironclads to catch up, a Lieutenant Murphy, who commanded one of Porters boats, pointed out that there was an old Indian mound ahead, and that it might be a good idea to fortify it with several artillery piecesjust in casewhile they were waiting. Porter agreed, wondering why, if it was such a desirable strong point, the Confederates had not occupied it themselves. It must have been because they thought it worthless, he recalled thinking. They showed themselves to be poor judges in such matters.

As Rebel shells began bursting all about them, Porter quickly came to appreciate why the enemy hadnt occupied the Indian moundit was indefensible. Suddenly I saw the sides of the mound crowded with officers and men. They were tumbling down as best they could; the guns were tumbled ahead of them. There was a regular stampede, he said. Just as he was taking that in, scores of Rebel sharpshooters abruptly opened up on them from the swamps, behind trees, stumps and hummocks and worseif such a thing was possibleWe could not use our large guns; they were way below the banks, and lying so close to it that we could not get elevation enough to fire over.

Porter was in a fix for sure. His boats were stuck fast in the willows and surrounded by enemy sharpshooters, who made any attempt to free them up suicidal; he was powerless to return fire, and Shermans infantry, his only salvation at this point, was somewhere back down Deer Creek, oblivious to his predicament. For all Porter knew, there may have been Confederates behind him as well as ahead and on both sides, and if they could obstruct the creek, and keep his crews pinned down inside the boats, then a boarding attack was probably imminent. A shiver of fear must have run over him when he realized what would happen if the Rebels actually seized his ironcladsin a nutshell, the whole face of the war on the Mississippi would instantly be changed.

But Porter was determined that would not happen on his watch and took preventive measures. First, even if he could not elevate his own guns, the four mortar boats hed brought along had no such problem, and he immediately set them into action lobbing their big 13- inch shells. It took a while to get the range, but finally the mortars managed to silence the Rebel batteriesat least temporarily. Next Porter sent out riflemen of his own to try to deal with the sharpshooters, and when their fire had slackenedalso temporarily he set to work again to overcome the willows. As the gunfire stopped, the slaves again began to gather on the bank and one of them overheard Porter grumble to himself, Why dont Sherman come on? Id give ten dollars to get a telegram to him. According to the admiral, the following colloquy ensued:

Im a telegram-wire, Massa, said one of the slaves. Ill take him for half a dollar. Im de county telegraph. Sah. I does all dat bizness.

Astonished, Porter asked the man, Wheres your office, Sambo?

My name aint Sambo, sah. My names Tub, an I run yer line fer yer half a dollar.

With nothing much to lose at that point, Porter handed him the half dollar and scribbled out a message: Dear Sherman: Hurry up for heavens sake, which Tub tucked into his hair, and then van ished into the swamps. No sooner had this hopeful measure been set into motion than word reached Porter that Rebel steamers were in the process of debarking some 2,000 troops at a landing up ahead. As if to emphasize how unpromising the situation had become, the Confederate artillery opened up on them again from a different location. As night came on, Porter was constrained to issue a general order steeped in gloom: Every man and officer must be kept below, ports kept down, and guns loaded with grape and canister and only fired when an attempt is made to board us or rush upon us. Put all hands on half rations. No lights at night. Men to sleep at the guns.Every precaution must be taken to defend the vessels to the last, and when we can do no better we will blow them up

But then, right at sundown, Providence smiled on Admiral Porter and his beleaguered flotilla. The crews suddenly began to notice that the water in Rolling Fork had begun to run rapidly, and large logs began to come in, and pile up on the outside of the willows. The water continued to rush in almost like a rising tidealthough they were hundreds of miles from the ocean and soon began to lift the boats free of the accursed willows. It was, Porter realized afterward, the torrent from the second levee that General Isaac Quinby of the Yazoo Pass Expedition had blown up a day or so earlier in hopes of flooding out Fort Pemberton. Somehow the wall of water did not reach that place, but it did pile up enough under the Yankee boats in Rolling Fork and Deer Creek for Porter to give the order to ship all rudders, and try to back out down into the fraternal embrace of Shermans 7,000 infantrymen. As an added bonus, the new flood lifted the ironclads high enough to employ their big guns against their Rebel tormentors in the swamps.

Sherman, however, knew nothing of this when the telegrapher, Tub, found him late that night and handed him Porters note, which he had thoughtfully concealed in a cigar wrapper. The admiral stated, Sherman recalled, that he had met a force of infantry and artillery which gave him great trouble by killing the men who had to expose themselves outside the armor to shove off the bows of the boats, which had so little headway that they would not steer. He begged me to come to his rescue as quickly as possible.

Immediately Sherman dragooned a regiment of Missouri infantrymen and sent them forward down a swampy river road, then set off himself in a canoe after more reinforcements, which were farther back down the river. Presently he located a brigade on a steamer and off they went to Porters rescue, crashing through trees, carrying away the pilot-house, smoke-stacks, every thing above deck, but the captain was a brave fellow, and realized the necessity, Sherman wrote. The night was absolutely black, and we could only make about two and a half of the four miles. We then disembarked, and marched through the canebrake, carrying lighted candles in our hands.

After this Druid-like procession had slogged till nearly dawn, Sherman rested the men in a plantation field, and at daylight began marching again toward the sound of Porters guns, which they could now hear distinctly in the distance and which, Sherman remembered, told him that time was precious. Still they waded through miserable mires where the smaller drummer boys had to carry their drums on their heads, and by noon had actually come 21 miles, when they met up with a detachment of the Missouri troops Sherman had sent earlier. Porter had ordered these men back downriver to prevent the Confederates from blocking his gunboats in from behind, and not a moment too soon, for the Rebels were already at work with their axes, chopping down trees on the banks to obstruct his escape. Finally Sherman and his soldiers came in sight of the big ironclads, which the rising tide had lifted enough to occasionally [fire] a heavy eight-inch gun across the cotton fields into the swamp behind.

Somewhere along the way, Sherman had acquired an old horse that he rode bareback with a rope bridle, and when he approached the stricken gunboats the sailors came out and cheered him most vociferously, as his bluecoats swept forward across the cotton-field in full view. When Sherman found Porter, He was on one of his ironclads, with a shield made from a section of a smoke-stack, and I doubt if he was ever more glad to meet a friend than he was to see me. I inquired of Admiral Porter what he proposed to do, and he said he wanted to get out of that scrape as quickly as possible.

It was now March 21, five days after the invasion force had entered Steeles Bayou; now the boats and men were backing out single file, thwarted, rudderless, dejected, caroming off the banks in place of steerage, and with Vicksburg no closer to capture than it was when they first arrived there in December.

Grant eventually did cross the river and take Vicksburg, in a series of deadly battles that ended in a terrible siege. With it, he took control of the river and the entire Mississippi River Valley as well, severing the Confederacy in two; all on the same day ironically, the Fourth of July, 1863that Rebel General Robert E. Lee began his long retreat from Gettysburg. These two events, a thousand miles apart, were the death knell for the Southern Confederacy, but her politicians refused to concede and fought on for nearly two more bloody years. Vicksburg should have ended the war, Sherman later observed, but the Rebel leaders were mad.

Best-selling author Winston Groom has written 15 books and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 as coauthor of Conversations With the Enemy. This article was excerpted from his new book, Vicksburg 1863 (Alfred A. Knopf, April 2009).

Originally published in the July 2009 issue of Americas Civil War. To subscribe, click here.
Liffey Records and Celtic Collections have issued a statement following the death of the music impresario, Dave Kavanagh , who began his career as a booking agent for U2, Thin Lizzy, The Boomtown Rats and more...

"It is with great sadness we share the news that our Chairman and Chief Executive Dave Kavanagh passed away peacefully this morning at Blackrock Clinic, the statement says. "Dave will be sorely missed by his wife Rhona, his son Luke and daughter Phoebe, his family, all those who work with him at the labels, the artists and his many friends both within and outside the music industry worldwide.

"Dave was a giant of the music industry with a massive life-long love for it. The industry will be a lesser place without him.

"From being U2s first booking agent to managing Clannad to global success throughout the Eighties and then bringing the musical phenomenon Celtic Woman to huge International success and launching the career of The High Kings amongst many others. He has been at the helm of the Celtic Collections record label since 2004 bringing great Irish Music to an audience around the world.

The full biography issued by Liffey Records reads:

Dave Kavanagh was born in Dublin Ireland and attended St. James's CBS, Rathmines College of Commerce and UCD. While at UCD he became Ents Officer which was his introduction to the music business. After college he set up the Roadrunner agency in 1978 which represented U2, The Boomtown Rats, Christy Moore, The Chieftains and Thin Lizzy.

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Dave started managing Clannad in May 1982. The band had an international hit in 1983 with Harrys Game and won the Ivor Novello Award for best song that year. This was the start of their international success and over the next 14 years the band won BAFTA, Grammy and Billboard Music awards and achieved platinum sales in many countries including USA, UK, Australia and Germany.

He cofounded with Paul McGuinness the Celtic Heartbeat label in 1994. The label was responsible for releasing and promoting many Irish artists in the US market and had notable success with the Riverdance album which won a Grammy in 1997. The label was later sold to universal records.

Dave bought the Celtic Collections label in 2004. The label is the largest Irish Independent record company selling Irish music globally. The labels artists include Celtic Woman, The High Kings, The Fureys, The Wolfe Tones, Clannad and The Dubliners. The label is based in Dublin and released the last Sharon Shannon album Sacred Earth.

Dave was co-creator and main shareholder of the phenomenally successful Celtic Woman. The show was launched in 2004 in Dublin and Kavanagh has been the executive producer since the beginning. The Capitol music group (owned by UMG) are partners with Kavanagh in Celtic Woman. Celtic Woman has sold over 10million CDs and DVDs and over 4 million concert tickets. The act has released 11 studio albums and all have reached No. 1 on Billboard Music Charts. They have been Billboard World Music Artist of the year 6 times and were nominated for a Grammy in 2017.
The latest complaint, filed with federal regulators, claims that the social media giants Tag Suggestion feature violates privacy rights through facial-recognition software.

The complaint, filed to the Federal Trade Commission by a coalition of US consumer rights organisations led primarily by the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, takes issue mainly with the feature which helps users identify people in photographs they have uploaded by suggesting names of people that the software recognises. The facial recognition software compares faces in photographs with an enormous amount of faces in a database.

The complaint alleges that Facebook routinely scans photos for biometric facial matches without the consent of the image subject, using the confirmations by users to further advance its facial recognition techniques.
Labour Senator Ivana Bacik has said the new British wage transparency reporting law has shone an important light on the existence of a substantial gender pay gap there, and that it is time for similar legal provisions to be introduced in Ireland.

The Labour Partys Gender Pay Gap Information Bill passed Committee Stage in the Seanad last October 2017, and is awaiting progression to Report stage.

Senator Bacik said: The passing of the deadline for large companies in Britain to publish wage transparency surveys has thrown up some pretty startling figures."

According to the data, more than three quarters of British companies pay women on average less than their male colleagues.

While this might confirm what many had suspected, these figures are certainly a wake-up call for employers right across Britain, and indeed also here in Ireland," she said.

Irish women are paid around 14 per cent less than men, meaning those in full time employment work for free for around one month a year, or clock off financially at around 3.50pm every day.

The rate of change in pay levels has become stagnant - over the past 11 years, the pay gap has narrowed by only four percentage points.

However the very fact that the gender pay gap is back in the headlines today , and is likely being discussed in offices and workplaces right across the UK, is testament to the effectiveness of wage transparency reporting," she said.

Since last May, the Labour Party has been arguing the case for similar legislation here in Ireland, and our Gender Pay Gap Information Bill, if enacted, would require medium to large-sized companies to regularly publish wage transparency surveys that would highlight any difference in pay between their male and female workers.

We believe, as we are now seeing in the UK, that by shining the spotlight on any gender based pay discrepancies, companies can address and remedy such inequalities where they exist," she said.

There is now a general acceptance that some form of gender pay gap reporting is essential to help drive down the gap, which still exists despite passing equal pay legislation in Ireland more than 40 years ago.

We have been working with Minister Stanton on our legislation, which passed committee stage in the Seanad in October 2017, and I am hopeful that the Bill will be progressed to Report stage and into the Dail this year.

"Ireland has seen much social change on many issues over the years. Labour has been at the forefront of many progressive social campaigns, and we are also leading on this one, to ensure that gender-based pay inequality finally becomes a thing of the past."
A wonderful, youthful energy will be found backstage at the National Concert Hall on Wednesday, 11 April. Choirs will arrive by the busload, and orchestras will be tuning up their instruments. Solo performers will be looking for a quiet space to practice, while an organist will even bravely clamber into the seat of the beautiful organ that sits above the stage for his afternoon rehearsal.

These exceptional young musicians were prize-winners at the 2018 ESB Feis Ceoil competitions, held at the RDS in March over 2 weeks. Many will go onto professional music careers, but on this night, when the Feis honors their talent and musical commitment in front of friends, teachers, families and music lovers it is always very special.

The music played on the evening will range from a solo piano performance of Chopin, a string quartet playing Brahms, an operatic Rossini aria, and a spectacular orchestral James Bond medley.

Those performing at the Gala Concert include:

 Sandford Park School Orchestra, winners of Post-Primary Schools Orchestra competition.

 Dida Condria, piano, winner of Dorothy Stokes Cup - Sonata, age 14 to 17

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 Christopher Moriarty, clarinet, winner of the McCullough Cup

 Mount Sackville Secondary School Senior Choir, winner of the Folen's Publishers Award

 Dylan Rooney, baritone, winner of the John McCormack Cup

 Jane Brazil, piano, winner of the Morris Grant Bursary

 Alan Fagan, organ, winner of the Fitzgerald Trophy for advanced organ playing

 St Brigid's National School Choir Castleknock, ESB Choir of the Year

 Jack Cullen, tuba, winner of the Senior Brass Recital

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 Doolan Quartet, string quartet, winners of the Chamber Music Cup

 Killian White, cello, winner of the Aileen Gore Cup

 Sinead O'Kelly, mezzo-soprano, winner of the Gervase Elwes Memorial Cup

The Gala Concert will be hosted by Laura Gilsenan, CEO of Feis Ceoil Association.

Pat ODoherty, Chief Executive of ESB said, ESB has always appreciated the important role the arts play in every aspect of Irish life, especially in the next generation and we are very proud of our long standing relationshipwith Feis Ceoil. The festival promotes excellence in learning and performance and showcases the very best in Irish musical talent.

Over half a million musicians have competed in Irelands premier classical music competition since it began in 1896, with past competitors including James Joyce and Count John McCormack and more recently, John OConor, Finghin Collins, Regina Nathan, Cara OSullivan and Celine Byrne.

For further information check out

Facebook:www.facebook.com/feisceoil

Twitter @esbfeisceoil @ESBGroup

[email protected]

Gala Concert Ticket Prices: 15, 12.50 conc., or 40 family (2 adults + 2 children)

Gala Concert Bookings: www.nch.ie
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Clarksburg Votes Yes to Interstate School District Talks

CLARKSBURG, Mass.  Voters on Thursday gave strong approval to embarking on a path that could significantly change the Clarksburg School District.

With 59 registered voters in attendance at the special town meeting, the decision was unanimous to begin talks with Stamford, Vt., that could create Massachusetts' first interstate school district. The entire process took barely 15 minutes.

"We are delighted. There is a lot of work to be done but I think long term it's going to lend stability, cooperation, and I think it's going to be a good fit," said Town Administrator Carl McKinney.

McKinney and Selectmen Chairman Jeffrey Levanos, a former School Committee member, had attended a meeting in Stamford last spring about the town's future in regard to Act 46, passed in 2015 by the Vermont Legislature to encourage consolidations between the state's more than 270 school districts as a way to streamline governance and find cost savings.

Stamford School, barely four miles from Clarksburg School, was being pushed to enter into a school union with the closest Vermont elementary schools, in Readsboro and Halifax. School officials balked at the idea of being able to share suppliers and staff with faraway Halifax and jumped on the idea proposed by McKinney and Levanos of joining with Clarksburg.

Despite it being across the state line, the Stamford Board of School Directors felt a union with Clarksburg would align with the spirit of Act 46.

Stamford overwhelmingly voted to reject the state's proposed union with the strong intention of entering into talks with Clarksburg. Since then, state legislators in both states have indicated their support and Massachusetts has ponied up $25,000 toward a feasibility study. Thursday's unanimous positive vote in Clarksburg is expected to prompt Vermont to do the same.

The vote will also formalize what have so far been informal talks between Stamford's ad hoc committee and Clarksburg officials. A consultant will have to be hired and the recommendations it puts forward worked into a legislative act that can be approved by both towns and state legislatures as well as the U.S. Congress.
Kimberly Grady, who has been leading the Williamstown-Lanesborough schools since November 2016, will be offered the permanent post.

Mount Greylock Committee Offers Interim Super Full-Time Post

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The Mount Greylock Regional School District's Transition Committee Thursday voted to offer its superintendent position to interim Superintendent Kimberly Grady.

On a vote of 6-0-1 with committee member Steven Miller abstaining, the panel chose Grady from among two finalists for the position.

Thursday's special meeting of the Transition Committee kicked off with two hour-long interviews of Grady and Taconic High School Principal John Vosburgh, and the vote was preceded by a 45-minute discussion in which the committee members reflected on the answers they heard in the interview and discussed the extent to which each candidate would be a good fit to lead the three-school preK-12 district.

Although both candidates were given high marks for their performance in the interview, a theme that ran through several of the committee members' remarks was that the recently expanded regional school district needs someone in the corner office who has experience as a superintendent and a background in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools.

In March 2015 , the district (then operating as a Tri-District that included Mount Greylock and its two feeder elementary schools) hired a then-high school principal seeking his first superintendency post. In November 201 6, that relationship ended abruptly, eventually leading to Grady, then the assistant superintendent, being elevated to the interim post.

Earlier this year, the Transition Committee voted 4-3 to post the permanent position and 7-0 to include language in that advertisement saying the district had a "strong internal candidate." On Thursday, Grady's strength as a candidate was confirmed.

"Two years ago, I don't know what I would have said, but I feel like we've had a two-year interview with Ms. Grady and the opportunity to observe her over that time," said committee member Chris Dodig, who led off the discussion of Grady as a candidate. "She's impressed me considerably. Her work ethic, everything she brings to the table.

"It would take a big gap between candidates to give up the familiarity, the continuity. Even just being involved with the negotiations [to bring contracts from the three schools into alignment] and the regionalization stuff and the building project and the Williams [College] gift.

"Ms. Grady, having that continuity and familiarity, is a big benefit for us and one I'd be hard-pressed to give up."

Miller, who ultimately chose to abstain from both parts of a two-stage voting process, joined his colleagues in praising Grady for her work in her current capacity, pointing out the strong relationships she has developed in both member towns, Lanesborough and Williamstown.

All the committee members also praised the performance from Vosburgh, with a couple noting that they were grateful he chose to participate in the process even with the presence of a strong internal candidate.

"In terms of fit, I think his fit was as good as I could have asked for from a candidate who lacks prior superintendent experience," Dodig said.

"He knows how to lead a building," Regina DiLego said, alluding to Vosburgh's nine years as Taconic's principal. "But it concerns me that he doesn't have the experience leading a district. It would be a learning position for him, and I don't think that's a good fit for us."

Carolyn Greene noted that the complications specific to Mount Greylock in 2018 would make it particularly challenging for a first-time superintendent.

"[Vosburgh] probably, I would imagine, very likely would be able to come up to speed on all of those things," Greene said of the inherent challenge of operating a three-school district. "I would add that we're a challenge. We, in and of ourselves, are the challenge because of the position we're in with the building project and regionalization.

"It's not that someone doesn't have experience. We're requiring more experience than we would if it was five years down the road or a few years back."

A couple of the committee members said they were looking for more specifics from Vosburgh, but Al Terranova said he thought Vosburgh had a lot of things going for him.

"I liked the idea that I got the feeling he had a connection with teachers and parents and students," Terranova said. "I liked the fact that he obviously knows about Berkshire County. He knew about Mount Greylock.

"I think in the years to come, we'll see questions about expanding or contracting districts, and he understands the setting of Berkshire County. That bodes well for him and bodes well for us."

Terranova, who reiterated during the discussion that he feels internal candidates have an "unfair advantage," praised the job that Grady has done in the interim post, cited a number of interview answers that he particularly liked and generally gave her high marks.

"She's sharp," Terranova said. "There's no two ways about it. She knows her stuff."

Transition Committee Chairman Joe Bergeron, who serves on the committee as one of two representatives of the Williamstown Elementary School Committee, said that Vosburgh, who lists no elementary school experience on his resume, would face particular challenges in the PreK-12 district.

"I think that from the outset of this process, making sure the elementary schools and their age group would have as much emphasis as the middle/high school, has been important," Bergeron said. "I didn't hear from Dr. Vosburgh that response that indicated he's already thinking about them. He fell back on his experience, which is valuable.

"But for our buildings  understanding that the emphasis will be spread across all three buildings  that is really important. That's a challenge for Dr. Vosburgh."

From 2010-16, Grady was the director of pupil personnel services for Mount Greylock, Lanesborough Elementary and Williamstown Elementary, overseeing special education throughout the three schools.

Bergeron also said the successful candidate would need to have experience in regional schools.

"I don't believe [Vosburgh] showed experience within a regional setup," Bergeron said. "The pair of towns we represent here and the interests of the numerous buildings across two towns is a challenge, compared with a single city or town."

And, later, Bergeron talked about the notion that Grady is more than a "short-term fit" for the challenges the district faces today.

"Let's say I was at another regional school district, preK-12 in Berkshire County that's not us or it was us five years from now," Bergeron said. "[From Grady], I got answers to the questions tonight that showed mindfulness of the process. For example, the question about moving the secondary and primary school start times  one, it relates to [staff] contracts; two, it relates to contracts around buses; three, it relates to sports.

"Also, the idea that within special education that building programs internally can serve students' needs better and contain costs. The other thing is preK-12  We need to make sure all of our students are addressed over the next few years, and any preK-12 district needs to be aware of that."

The Transition Committee now will enter into negotiations with Grady on a three-year contract. Assuming that process is successful, the district will have two positions to fill, a currently vacant assistant superintendent post and the director of pupil personnel services position currently filled on an interim basis. The district also is deciding whether it wants to fill its business manager post or continue its contract with Auburn's The Management Solution for business management services.

"I do think it will be interesting to see what happens when [Grady] has a full support team working with her," Dan Caplinger said prior to Thursday's vote. "Rather than juggling all the things she's been doing, she can really focus on what she wants her legacy to be."
New Nurse Joins Southwestern Vermont Medical Center's Hospital Medicine Department

BENNINGTON, Vt.  The Hospital Medicine Department at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center has welcomed Nurse Practitioner Rebecca Filson.



Filson has worked as a registered nurse on the medical floors, the intensive care unit, and as a clinical care coordinator at SVMC since 2011. With this appointment, Filson transitions from the nursing team to the medical staff and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Medical Group.



"Rebecca emerged as a leader early on in her career at SVMC," said James Poole, hospitalist director and medical director of medical affairs at Southwestern Vermont Health Care. "It is gratifying to see her take this new position on our team."



Filson earned a post-master's family nurse practitioner certificate from the University of Massachusetts in 2017 and a master's degree in Nursing from the University of San Diego in California in 2011. In addition, she holds a bachelor's in sociology from Wesleyan University.



"It's exciting and humbling," Filson said. "I just feel such deep gratitude for the mentors that have helped pull me up and grow me as a practitioner."



Filson has served as a chairperson of the Professional Practice Council, as Critical Care Consortium liaison and as a member of the Nursing Strategic Planning Committee, the Hospital Ethics Committee, and on several task forces. She was a nominee for SVMC's Magnet Nurse of the Year. She is a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and an inductee of the Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor Society. In addition, she was a recipient of the Helen Kunzleman scholarship through SVMC.



Filson is grateful to many of her physician and nurse colleagues for their encouragement and support, including her University of Massachusetts preceptors Dr. Martin Luloff, Dr. Malcolm Paine and Dr. Robin Tarnas; Dr. James Poole; Dr. Marinshine Gentler; and her fellow nurses who worked with her in the Intensive Care Unit.



"They helped me learn and grow as an ICU nurse and helped push me forward," Filson said.
Left to right: Anne Nemetz-Carlson, District Attorney Paul Caccaviello, state Sen. Adam Hinds, Suzin Bartley, Mayor Linda Tyer, state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Kiersten Thomann, and state Reps. John Barrett III and Smitty Pignatelli. There were 89 pairs of shoes displayed to represent the number of local child abuse cases a month. Anne Nemetz-Carlson. Suzin Bartley. Kiersten Thomann. John Barrett III. State Sen. Adam Hinds. PreviousNext

'Step Up' Event Raises Awareness of Child Abuse in Berkshires



Others didn't think Kiersten Thomann would graduate high school after she got pregnant. But, she proved them wrong with the help of local parenting programs. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  When Kiersten Thomann, a senior at McCann Tech, got pregnant, she heard what people were saying.

"People would say you can't do this, she ruined her life, she will never graduate," Thomann said.

"But I did do this. I am a great mom to my son. To me, having a baby at a young age meant my life had just begun. My son didn't take away my future. He gave me a new one."

She had quickly got in touch with Child Care of the Berkshires, which got her into the Healthy Families program. They helped her with everything she needed to do as a young mother.

She gained confidence. She continued on in high school. And got an internship at North Adams City Hall.

"I now know what career path I want to go down. I want to become a social worker. Having been a part of such great programs, I was able to get my driver's license, a car, my very own apartment, my first job," Thomann said.

But not every parenting story has that kind of happy ending. In fact, 89 children a month in Berkshire County are abused.

On Friday, the Children's Trust, an organization fighting child abuse statewide, placed 89 pairs of shoes in the City Council chambers to demonstrate the seriousness of the issue.

"The 89 pairs of shoes here today is reflective of what is going on, what continues to go on here in the Berkshires. I think we have a lot more to do," state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, said.

Children's Trust Executive Director Suzin Bartley said the annual event is to raise awareness of child abuse prevention programs. She said an abused child can never get his or her childhood back and that helping to grow strong families who can protect their children is far better than intervening after a traumatic event.

"By reaching out to parents right from the start, providing them with the tools, resources, and confidence, we avoid the need for more intensive and expensive intervention after something bad has happened," Bartley said.

The organization helps fund such things as a family center of the Berkshires. That serves as a one-stop shop for parents to get the help they need. And the need is great. State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, said she had the means and the knowledge of the resources available and even she needed help raising her children. She said she had a master's degree and was in a stable two-income household when she had her first child.

"I was set, right? Not. There's a lot of challenges in being a parent. Followed with two more kids, so I had three kids under 5 years old at one point. I needed help. I had the resources to be able to ask for that help," Farley-Bouvier said.

She was in touch with the Pediatric Development Center and her neighborhood formed what they called "the village" to support each other and their families. The neighbors could not only keep an extra eye on each other's children but also share in good times and bad.

"If somebody with the resources I had needed help, then about a young mom by themselves needing that help. We can do that. We can provide that kind of support," Farley-Bouvier said.

While raising awareness is the intent of Friday's event, Mayor Linda Tyer said awareness is only a piece of it. She said Pittsfield is putting its money where its mouth is by providing funds to Berkshire Children and Families, Child Care of the Berkshires, and a number of other support agencies.

"We don't just talk about it. It is important to talk about it, it is important to raise awareness, but it is also important to fund programs. We use our financial resources from the city of Pittsfield both from our block grant funds and our human services funds to make sure the agencies that are providing these important programs have money," Tyer said.

Tyer said it is a "moral obligation to make sure parents have all the resources they need to building their parenting skills and the supports in the community that our kids have access to programs, safe places at school."

State Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams, remembered taking action on the issue in North Adams when he was first elected as mayor there. He said when he took office, North Adams had the highest rate of reported cases of child abuse.

"I was shocked by that and I had come out of a school system for teaching elementary school for 12 years. I knew it was there but I started to realize, too, that we were sticking our heads in the sand," Barrett said.

The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition started programs. The Parent's Place was formed. And in North Adams, programs were launched in schools.

The state level helps to fund various programs too. State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, said Massachusetts does have very strong reporting laws that document incidents that may otherwise go unreported. But, it is concerning that Massachusetts is in the highest percentile when it comes to the number of reports.

"There is a framework for prevention, there is a framework for intervention that needs to be supported at all levels. It is all the work your doing. It is the state funding and state intervention. We have to keep our eyes on this," Hinds said.

That community assistance is what helps places like Child Care of the Berkshires churn out success stories. Anne Nemetz-Carlson, president of Child Care of the Berkshires, told the story of a 4-year-old named Joe. Joe was a foster child who was having tantrums, hitting the other children and having trouble controlling his emotions.

Child Care of the Berkshires helped to try to get him the structure and surroundings he needed.



Mayor Linda Tyer says there is something 'compelling' about the imagery of the shoes and imagining the children who fill them. "We're not trying to get rid of Joe, we are trying to keep him in care, quality care. One of our solutions was to move him from a large child-care center to a family daycare home. We picked a family daycare home, some people might say she was very structured and Joe needed structure, consistency, he needed routines," Nemetz-Carlson said.

He moved through the foster system for some time and then was adopted. He behavior and attitude was better. She remembers seeing him and "he was happy. He was smiling. He had friends."

She told a similar story of a pair of young girls who had been sexually abused. But the problem isn't really going away right now. She mentioned that the opioid epidemic is contributing greatly to the cases they are seeing.

For those children who aren't a success story, they often end up dealing with the district attorney's office as adults.

"In my own work, I see the results of what happens when those steps were not taken, when children we left alone with inadequate or underdeveloped devices to deal with very adult, traumatic experiences," newly appointed District Attorney Paul Caccaviello said.

Protecting the children is not only for their sake but for the betterment of society, he said. He voiced his support for prevention efforts, calling it "critical."

"Ensuring a safe and secure rearing of the next generation requires the efforts of all of the policymakers Caccaviello said.

The annual event is held in April for child abuse prevention month. Pignatelli has been to many of those events and said he's hoping for the day when there are no shoes being placed at City Hall because even one case of child abuse is too much.
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Digital currencies in the US will be included on the SDN list. This may backfire significantly
Imperial Valley News Center

Trump Infrastructure Plan Provides Skilled Jobs

Washington, DC - Since President Donald Trumps election, American job creators have added nearly 3 million jobs, including more than 50,000 here in Ohio. The national unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1 percent, a 17-year low, and Ohios unemployment rate is also the lowest it has been in nearly 17 years.

The presidents bold infrastructure proposal promises to create even more jobs.

The presidents plan to strengthen our nations infrastructure  including modernizing roads, bridges, tunnels and airports  represents an outstanding opportunity for Americans to build their career while building a stronger foundation for our nation. This is a great time to be a job-seeker in America.

I joined President Trump last week at the operating engineers union training facility in Richfield, Ohio. Their apprenticeship programs are impressive. Apprentice and journeyman operators learn and hone their skills on cranes, scrapers, bulldozers and more. They learn how to perform their jobs safely and efficiently.

If Congress passes the presidents plan, jobs like these will be created across industry sectors and in communities around the country. Americans are ready and willing to fill these jobs, and they will need specialized skills to get hired.

The presidents plan not only invests in physical infrastructure, it also invests in workforce education. The common-sense proposals put forth in the plan will make it easier for Americans to access skills-based learning by reforming a cumbersome federal bureaucracy that too often limits Americans to using federal assistance for traditional educational programs.

First, the infrastructure plan reflects the reality that there are many educational pathways to family-sustaining jobs. Short-term workforce education programs can provide immediate economic return by helping job-seekers gain the skills and education necessary to quickly join the workforce. Accordingly, the infrastructure plan calls for expanding federal Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term programs. There is no reason a student should be precluded from using a Pell Grant to earn a certificate at a community college that moves the student quickly into the workforce. High-quality programs that prepare Americans for in-demand occupations deserve the same treatment as traditional educational options.

Second, the presidents proposal will reform career and technical education programs. The infrastructure plan includes improvements that focus funding on high schools and earn while you learn programs. This strategy will create a pipeline of skilled Americans to meet the demands of high-growth industries.

Third, there is a need to update the federal work-study program to provide students with pathways to all kinds of well-paying careers. Work-study funds are disproportionately distributed to traditional four-year established colleges and universities. The presidents plan will revamp the funding formula to more effectively distribute these work-study funds to schools with a strong record of enrolling Pell Grant students, including community colleges and other programs that are more focused on workplace readiness. This proposal will better support workforce and career-oriented opportunities for low-income undergraduate students.

In addition to equipping Americans with skills needed to build our nation, the presidents proposal includes provisions to reduce licensing barriers that prevent Americans from using their skills across state lines.

In the past decades, state licensing requirements have become increasingly burdensome. These licenses represent a significant barrier to Americans who want to use their skills in different states, with military spouses and veterans facing these barriers more frequently than others.

President Trumps infrastructure plan calls on states that receive federal funds for infrastructure projects to accept workers with out-of-state licenses, expediting project delivery, reducing costs and providing greater mobility and flexibility for American workers.

President Trumps proposal will bring Americas infrastructure into the 21st century while creating new jobs. With reforms to help students pursue demand-driven education, the president also will help prepare the American workforce to thrive in good, family-sustaining careers.
Imperial Valley News Center

What You Need To Know About Loopholes Allowing Unaccompanied Alien Children To Stay In The Country

Washington, DC - A very small percentage of the Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) who illegally enter the United States each year are ultimately removed.

Tens of thousands of UAC are released into the interior of the United States each year, including more than 107,000 since fiscal year (FY) 2016. Only about 3.5 percent of unaccompanied minors apprehended at the border, however, have been removed.

Putting into perspective how relatively few removals take place each year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed only 3,598 UAC during FY 2017, while 41,435 UAC were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol.

Loopholes in our immigration laws hinder immigration enforcement efforts, allowing UAC to enter and remain in the United States while effectively avoiding removal.

In staying true to his oath of office, President Trump and his Administration are responsibly enforcing our immigration laws, including by executing immigration enforcement actions to the fullest extent under the law. Legal loopholes, however, continue to hamstring efforts to enforce our immigration laws and secure our border, ultimately resulting in catch and release.

Catch and release practices have enabled the vast majority of UAC who enter the United States each year to avoid removal. Currently, based on a consent decree in a court case from roughly twenty years ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can only detain UAC for a maximum of 20 days combined. All UAC must be promptly transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for reunification with sponsors in the interior of the United States. Further, current Federal law prevents UAC who are not from Canada or Mexico from being promptly returned to their home countries. UAC are unlikely to appear in court for removal hearings once released, and as a result they generally go on to remain in the country.

For years, catch and release has enabled tens of thousands of UAC to enter and remain in the United States. It is time to close the loopholes and ensure Federal authorities are empowered to fairly and effectively carry out immigration enforcement efforts.
Imperial Valley News Center

Loopholes in Child Trafficking Laws Put Victimsand American Citizens At Risk

Washington, DC - When President Donald J. Trump delivered his first State of the Union Address in January, he introduced Americans to a number of important guests. Most of these guests were not public officials or dignitaries. Many were ordinary Americans, some of whom had heart-wrenching stories to tell because our country had not kept their children safe.

Four of these guestsEvelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado, and Robert Mickenswere the parents of two teenage girls from Long Island. One evening in September 2016, neither child came home. The two friends, Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens, had been assaulted and killed while walking together on the streets of their hometown.

Six members of the savage gang MS-13 have been charged with Kayla and Nisas murders, President Trump said. Many of these gang members took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws to enter the country as unaccompanied alien minorsand wound up in Kayla and Nisas high school.

Under current law, unaccompanied alien children (UACs) who are apprehended either illegally crossing the border or within the United States must be transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within 72 hours of determining they are unaccompanied. Since October 1, 2017, more than 13,000 UACs have been released into the country by ORR, according to HHS.

ORR normally releases these minors to individuals who present themselves as family members or other sponsors living in the United States. Once released, with very few exceptions, UACs will generally remain in the country.

Previous HHS reports have found that most UACs are older teens (16-17 years old) from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Some are MS-13 gang members who use our immigration system to infiltrate the United States, but UACs who are not gang members are still at risk of harm from MS-13. Releasing UACs to sponsors with unstable living situationsoften in areas where violent criminal gangs such as MS-13 have a substantial presencemakes these teens prime targets for gang recruitment and violence.

This broken system is dangerous. Unaccompanied alien children often are smuggled into the United States by criminal organizations. These human smugglers are typically paid by a UACs family members or sponsors, many of whom are in the United States illegally themselves. Too often, such family members are also insufficiently vetted for fitness to house these children.

In practice, these human smuggling operations are essentially using Federal resources to complete the final leg of their journeys, which only encourages this dangerous pattern further.

Beyond the perils of human smuggling, UACs frequently fail to appear for immigration hearings, exacerbating our sky-high immigration court backlogs with cases that remain unresolved. Two-thirds of all removal orders for UACs from fiscal years 2015 to 2017 resulted from a UACs failure to appear for their immigration court hearings. These UACs and those who house them simply ignore Federal law.

For the safety of all involved, including the American citizens whose communities have been torn apart by violence, Congress must act to restore law and order. These practices continue because of unreasonable constraints that judges have imposed on the ability of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain family units, even in situations where there may be attempts to subvert the law. Changes to Federal law are essential to fix that problem.

The Trump Administration has repeatedly asked Congress to amend the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which human smugglers and other criminals exploit. This law must be updated to provide special protections for any UACs who are genuinely victims of trafficking, while allowing U.S. officials to promptly and safely repatriate those UACs who are not.

It is long past time for Congress to strengthen our immigration laws, fix the loopholes that aid human smugglers, improve public safety nationwide, and serve the communities they purport to represent.

What You Need to Know About Loopholes Allowing Unaccompanied Alien Children to Stay in the United States
Imperial Valley News Center

Attorney General Sessions on National Guard Deployment

Washington, DC - Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued the following statement on border security:

Earlier this week, media outlets reported that a so-called migrant caravan was making its way through Mexico with the intent of illegally crossing the southern border of the United States. The President was clear that this caravan needed to be stopped before it arrived at our southern border, and his efforts now appear to be successful. But let me be clear as well: 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.



When I visited Nogales, Arizona, in April 2017, I announced my direction to federal prosecutors to prioritize the prosecution of all illegal entry, illegal reentry, and alien smuggling offenses. We have surged hundreds of immigration judges to our border over the last year. We hired new judges at the fastest pace ever. We added performance metrics to ensure that these cases arent languishing in the courts while illegal aliens spend years living in our country without consequences. We will have a more efficient and effective immigration court system that supplies due process. As such, aliens who enter our country illegally should be aware that the government will use any and all lawful tools, including expedited removal and prompt immigration proceedings, to ensure that our immigration courts will not be burdened with cases that lack merit under the law.



But this will not be enough if Congress does not act to pass clear, fair, and effective legislation that ends the illegality and creates a system that serves the national interest is crucial at this time. It is essential for Congress to act.



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.
Imperial Valley News Center

33% of top WordPress sites are at least two versions behind

Jacksonville, Florida - Following WordPress recent update to version 4.9.5, we decided to do a little bit of research to see just how quickly WordPress websites were updatingand how many were multiple updates behind. What we found was disconcerting to say the least. 49% of WordPress sites in the Quantcast Top 10,000 are not running the latest, most secure version of WordPress. And 33% are multiple updates behind.

WordPress is the number one platform globally used to build websites, says Adam Cohen, a web developer and security expert with over 15 years of experience. With the count of the number of websites being run off WordPress in the millions, its also the most common platform for hackers to attack against. Because if they find any exploits, it can be replicated on hundreds of thousands of sites.

That makes the fact that many websites are not keeping up to date with new releases a huge concern. These sites are playing fast and loose with known vulnerabilities. This is how you get hacked.

Methodology and Key Findings

To perform our survey, we created a tool to crawl the homepages of every website in the Quantcast Top 10,000. The crawl was performed on April 5th, 2018two days after the release of WordPress 4.9.5. With 48 hours since the official release, any site configured to update automatically would have already done so.

Of the Quantcast top 10,000, 17% of website homepages were running on WordPress. The total number of sites that may use WordPress for their blogs or on other portions of their sites it obviously much higher, but owing to the complexity and time-consuming nature of such a scan, we opted to stay with just the homepages.

Here are our key findings:

17% of websites in the Quantcast Top 10,000 run primarily on WordPress

50.93% of those WordPress websites are running the latest, most secure version

49.07% of WordPress websites are not running the latest version

33.58% of WordPress websites are at least two updates behind

Not Updating WordPress is a great way to get hacked

Lets talk about why this is so crucial. And before we go any further, understand that this a universal problem. Organizations are constantly weighing the need to patch, update and harden their systems with the costs associated, both in terms of price, and downtime/interruptions to business. Thats not just limited to WordPress sites, either.

Many people forego WordPress updates because they are worried that they will impact the stability of the site, says Paul Bischoff, a security expert and privacy advocate for Comparitech.com. WordPress plugins can stop working, for example. If you made changes to a theme but didnt put those changes into a child theme, those changes might get wiped in the next update. If youre running an online business of some sort, the prospect of downtime can seem more costly than the risk of malware or attack.

Senior web developer and WordPress expert Ken Dawes is quick to warn site owners that WordPress needs constant attention.

The biggest problem in WordPress security (or any other kind of site) is getting people to realize that having a WP website is like having a puppy, says Dawes. If you dont take care of it  feeding, grooming, vaccinations and the like  Youre going to have problems.

Taking care of it means regularly updating to the latest version and keeping your plugins up to date, too.

WordPress is making these updates for a reason

Just like pretty much any other software, WordPress releases updates on a regular basis. While these updates also provide new features, its the security improvements that are critical. And cybercriminals are paying attention to what gets fixed.

People dont realize that hackers often dont find vulnerabilities in software all on their own, says Bischoff. When a software publisher like WordPress puts out a patch that includes a security update, it tips off hackers to the fact that a vulnerability will exist on any WordPress installation that didnt perform said update. If you dont update, youre a target. The longer you wait, the more vulnerable you are.

That nearly half of the WordPress sites in the Quantcast Top 10,000 arent on the most recent update is alarming. The fact that over one-third, 33.58% are multiple versions behind is outright dangerous.

Once your website is hacked its very difficult to repair. Essentially, hackers who get in to your website will create new hidden entry points and unless you close them all, its easy for them find a way back in. The results are horrible for the business, says Mazdak Mohammadi, head of Canadian WordPress Design Studio, BlueBerryCloud.

The good news is that WordPress makes it very easy to update the installation along with plugins through the WordPress Admin dashboard. Your web developer should be able to do this for you, otherwise you can ask for access and figure it out yourself. Its not rocket science and also, should the update fail, WordPress automatically takes your website to back to the point in time before you started the update.

WordPress hacks can happen to ANYONE

Small and medium-sized businesses are not immune to being hacked. Thats a common misconception that is not backed up by statistics. In fact, Symantecs 2017 Threat Report says that 74% of SMBs were targeted last year. And the National Cyber Security Alliance reports that 60% of SMBs go out of business within six months of a data breach.

Anecdotally, youll find website owners who say, I havent updated anything in years and I havent gotten hacked! So whats the big deal? or Im just a little guy, they wont bother with my site, says Dawes. Its a game of numbers. All sites get attacked randomly every day by hack-bots. The bots just go through lists of IP addresses and attack using lists of known, exploitable vulnerabilities. All a company needs is for their site to be vulnerable to the right bot at the wrong time.

When a vulnerability is found in a version of WordPress, hackers will create an exploit for that vulnerability and then cast a wide net, usually in an automated fashion, looking to see who is not up to date, adds Greg Kelley, an EnCE and DFCP with Vestige Digital Investigations. Realize the importance of a wide net, they dont care who you are or what you do, just that you have a site. Once compromised, the hacker will then see what they can get from their site such as account information and then maybe try to use that information to attack other systems that you may have. At the very least, the hacker will trash your site or use it to store data of importance to them (stolen data, illegal pictures, etc.). The result, at the very least, is a bad public image when it is discovered that your site was compromised.

Or, you could go the way of nearly 60% of the SMBs that get attacked and end up going under.

What you need to do to keep your WordPress site safe

Obviously, the biggest piece of advice you can take away from here is that you need to stay on top of your WordPress updates, both for the CMS itself and for the plugins youre running with it.

When plugin and theme vulnerabilities are discovered and remedies released, your dashboard will indicate an update is available, says Bob Herman, the co-founder and President of IT Tropolis. Also, always use child themes so that you can update all themes in your installation without affecting your site. Wordfence is a great plugin to notify you of important issues in your installation. And, if you dont want to update WordPress because a plugin may not be compatible with the latest version, then its probably not a plugin worth using. Most widely adopted plugins are updated in sync with WordPress so that vulnerabilities can be patched as fast as possible.

Cohen has some additional advice, too:

Make sure you regularly update your passwords and make sure your hosting company is updating Linux/Unix, Php, and MySQL libraries annually (and installing patches as needed). Delete old plugins or themes when not in use or when theyre outdated. Install a service like Sucuri or Wordfence for monitoring files and access of your site.

But above all else, if you only take one thing from this article, dont fall into the trap of thinking that you dont need to stay on top of updates.

Its a false economy to *not* keep everything up to date, says Dawes. If a company doesnt want to make updates because they are afraid that their site will break, then they need to be cognizant of the increased risk of their site becoming compromised and be willing to accept those risks that their site will be hacked. And if the companys site contains personal information about website visitors  names, email addresses, credit card info, etc.  They better be very accepting of their legal liabilities!
California accepting proposals for the California State Trade Expansion Program

Sacramento, California - The State of California is currently accepting proposals for the California State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) - a federally funded grant program of the U.S. Small Business Administration to increase exports activities among small businesses. Funding associated with this program will support trade development and enhancement activities that help small businesses enter or expand their exporting activity to additional markets.

As the program administrator, CDFA is seeking project proposals from qualified entities to conduct export development activities in foreign markets to assist California businesses in trade expansion. Activities may include foreign trade missions and trade show exhibitions. Suitable promoted product categories include, but are not limited to: aircraft /automotive parts; construction; manufacturing equipment/technology; medical devices; pharmaceuticals; health and beauty; food and agricultural products; and green/sustainable technologies.



Grant funds will not be awarded for projects that directly benefit or provide profit to a single organization, institution or individual. Federal funding is dependent on a competitive grant award by the U.S. Small Business Administration to the State of California. Total available federal funding for California activities is estimated at $900,000.



Applications must be submitted online at https://citd.org/step-2018-2019-export-promotion-concepts/, no later than April 18, 2018, 5:00 p.m. (PST). Further information on the grant program, including timeline and application criteria, are available at: https://citd.org/step-2018-2019-export-promotion-concepts/



CDFA will host a webinar to provide an overview of California STEP on Monday, April 9, 2018 at 10:30 am PDT. Prospective applicants interested in attending can RSVP at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.



The California State Trade Export Promotion (STEP) Program is a partnership between the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), CDFA, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office and the California Centers for International Trade Development. The program brings together state, federal, private and non-profit trade promotion organizations to promote export activities among targeted industries. California STEP is funded in part by a U.S. Small Business Administration Grant.
2018 Leopold Conservation Award seeks nominees

San Francisco, California - The Sand County Foundation, the California Farm Bureau Federation and Sustainable Conservation are accepting applications for the $10,000 California Leopold Conservation Award. The award publicly honors California farmers, ranchers, foresters and other private landowners who demonstrate outstanding stewardship and management of the states natural resources.

It is an honor to be a recipient of the Leopold Conservation Award and to be affiliated amongst the other alumni who share a passion for conservation and are committed to sustainable practices in agriculture, said Jack Thomson of C. Jeff Thomson, International, the awards 2017 recipient. I strongly encourage those who care deeply about conservation and agriculture to apply for this award.

Given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, the Leopold Conservation Award inspires other landowners and provides a public forum where farmers and ranchers are recognized as conservation leaders. In his influential 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac, Leopold called for an ethical relationship between people and the land they own and manage, which he called an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity.

Landowners learn best from one another, looking across fence lines, attending field days, and sharing stories of land stewards who have managed to achieve both conservation and profitability, said Sand County Foundation President, Kevin McAleese. The Leopold Conservation Award has much to contribute to this kind of peer learning.

Collectively, we save California or, collectively, we lose it, said Ashley Boren, Executive Director of Sustainable Conservation, which has co-sponsored the award since its launch in California more than a decade ago. The Leopold Conservation Award celebrates those deserving, but often overlooked, landowner heroes doing their part every day to steward our environment and the quality of life for all Californians. From clean water, to healthy air, to thriving wildlife, the were in this together spirit of these individuals and their families keeps California leading in solving big conservation challenges.

Aldo Leopold was a pioneer in the concept of the land ethic, a concept that resonates within Californias agricultural community, said California Farm Bureau Federation President Jamie Johansson. The daily practice of this ethic is demonstrated not only in the diversity of landscapes where our farms and ranches operate, but also in the diversity of crops that drive Americas most successful farm economy. The California Farm Bureau Federation is proud to partner with Sand County Foundation in awarding the Leopold Conservation Award to a California farm or ranch whose land ethic has developed creative and replicable ideas concerning the stewardship of the natural resources on its land while providing a sustainable economic stimulus that feeds our nation.

Nominations must be postmarked by July 13 and mailed to California Leopold Conservation Award c/o Sustainable Conservation, 98 Battery Street, Suite 302, San Francisco, CA 94111. The award will be presented in December in San Diego, CA.

The California Leopold Conservation Award is possible thanks to generous contributions from many organizations, including Farm Credit West, American AgCredit, The Harvey L. & Maud S. Sorensen Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Leopold Conservation Award Alumni.

For application information, please visit leopoldconservationaward.org.

ABOUT THE LEOPOLD CONSERVATION AWARD

The Leopold Conservation Award is a competitive award that recognizes landowner achievement in voluntary conservation. The award consists of a crystal award depicting Aldo Leopold and $10,000. Sand County Foundation presents Leopold Conservation Awards in California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

ABOUT SAND COUNTY FOUNDATION

Sand County Foundation is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to working with private landowners to advance the use of ethical and scientifically sound land management practices that benefit people and the environment. sandcountyfoundation.org

ABOUT CALIFORNIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION

The California Farm Bureau Federation works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of nearly 40,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of more than 5.5 million Farm Bureau members. cfbf.com

ABOUT SUSTAINABLE CONSERVATION

Sustainable Conservation helps California thrive by uniting people to solve the toughest challenges facing the states land, air and water. Since 1993, it has brought together business, landowners and government to steward the resources that all Californians depend on in ways that make economic sense. Sustainable Conservation believes common ground is Californias most important resource. suscon.org
Houses Seized and Approximately 74 Properties Searched in Multi-Agency Operation Against Foreign-Funded Residential Marijuana Grows

Sacramento, California - Wednesday, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan, DEA Special Agent in Charge John J. Martin, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin, and IRS Criminal Investigation Assistant Special Agent in Charge Cindy Chen announced one of the largest residential forfeiture efforts in the nations history in a multi-agency effort to eradicate criminal enterprises operating in neighborhoods throughout the Sacramento region.

Transnational criminal organizations are a blight on our communities, bringing dangerous drugs to our streets and trying to impose a false sovereignty over our neighborhoods, Attorney General Sessions said. The day I was sworn in as Attorney General, President Trump ordered me to make dismantling these organizations a priority, and we are carrying out that order with vigor. Today we take a major step toward that end using civil asset forfeiture, which is a key tool that helps us defund organized crime and weaken the criminals and the cartels. We have searched and filed forfeiture actions against dozens of houses allegedly used for criminal activity by Chinese drug traffickers, making this one of the largest residential forfeiture actions in American history. I want to thank all of our fabulous OCDETF members with the FBI, DEA, the Marshals Service, ICE, the IRS, Homeland Security Investigations, and our state and local partners with the California Highway Patrol, the Sacramento and Placer County Sheriffs Offices, and the Elk Grove police. They have helped make Sacramento safer. At the Department of Justice, we will remain focused on carrying out President Trumps order and keeping dangerous and illegal drugs out of our country.

When criminal organizations funded by money from China reach into our cities to profit from illegal activity, our communities suffer, said U.S. Attorney Scott. These marijuana grow operations are illegal under federal and state law and are used to distribute marijuana all over the United States. They are a blight on our neighborhoods and create an unsafe environment for the men, women, and children who live there. The scope of this enforcement operation sends a clear message to international organized crime: get out of our neighborhoods. If you dont, we will pursue you with all of the resources available to the federal government, seize your assets, search your properties, and target you for criminal prosecution. The success of this operation speaks to the effective partnerships across the federal and local law enforcement community and our united commitment to reduce violent crime in our residential neighborhoods by taking them back from criminal organizations with international ties and financing.

The FBI is committed to working with its federal, state, and local partners to disrupt and dismantle transnational organized criminal enterprises that place financial gain from their illicit activities ahead of the safety, security, and health of the residential communities they have hidden within, said Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Sacramento Field Office. Our partnerships within the intelligence and law enforcement communities are essential to ensure identification and coordinated investigation of those who threaten our neighborhoods with crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking.

This operation targeted a sophisticated large-scale organized criminal network operating in our backyard, said DEA Special Agent in Charge John J. Martin. Individuals looking for opportunity chose the Sacramento region to set up shop and profit. DEA and our law enforcement partners will not stand for this and the message has been sent to those looking to invade our area with similar aspirationyou are not welcome. The citizens of our community deserve safe neighborhoods and we will work every day to ensure it.

Homeland Security Investigations has unique investigative authorities and has lent vast resources of specialized teams from across the country for this large-scale joint operation, said Ryan L. Spradlin, special agent in charge for HSI overseeing Sacramento. The work on this case highlights our signature transnational investigative authorities and how we are able to help tackle these types of criminal organizations working side-by-side with all of our federal partners to make our communities safer.

This was a large-scale operation, with millions of dollars coming into the U.S. from China, said Cindy Chen, assistant special agent in charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. This criminal organization used foreign money to purchase homes and turned them into marijuana grow houses; all at the cost of innocent neighborhoods. We are proud to provide our financial expertise as we work alongside our law enforcement partners to bring criminals to justice.

On April 3 and 4, 2018, hundreds of federal agents and local law enforcement officers executed search warrants at approximately 74 houses suspected of being used by an international organization for marijuana cultivation, as well as two related business offices. Simultaneously, civil forfeiture actions were filed against more than 100 houses in the Sacramento region suspected of being related to this criminal organization and used as indoor marijuana grows. Some of the houses searched during this operation are subject to the forfeiture action. This represents one of the largest residential forfeiture efforts in the nations history.

Since 2014, state and federal law enforcement agencies have been investigating a number of indoor marijuana grows in residential neighborhoods throughout the Sacramento area. Common elements in some of the cases started to emerge: the down payments on the houses were financed by wires mainly from Fujian Province, in China; they used common Sacramento realtors; they used hard-money lenders rather than traditional banks; and they used straw buyers. The houses would then be converted into large-scale marijuana grows that often occupied a substantial portion, if not all, of the house and frequently involved hundreds or thousands of marijuana plants, which were later processed and distributed to other parts of the country, particularly the Eastern United States.

Such large-scale indoor grows violate federal and state law, as well as local codes and ordinances throughout the region. Further investigation found houses in the cities of Sacramento and Elk Grove and the counties of Sacramento, Calaveras, Placer, San Joaquin, El Dorado, Yuba, and Amador. The houses tended to use an extraordinary amount of electricity per month due to high-wattage lighting, circulatory fans, and other equipment, posing fire and environmental hazards; and frequently were left damaged or uninhabitable due to the grow operations. The influx of these marijuana cultivation sites into neighborhoods creates a risk of increased crime in from burglaries, robberies, and related activity. As of this afternoon, agents have seized approximately 61,050 marijuana plants from the houses and approximately 200 kilos of processed marijuana. They have also seized 15 firearms.

This operation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the IRS Criminal Investigation with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office, the Elk Grove Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, the Placer County Sheriffs Office, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations.

This case was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) effort. The OCDETF program was established in 1982 to conduct comprehensive, multilevel attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nations drug supply.
Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security

Washington, DC - Securing the Southern Border of the United States:

1. The security of the United States is imperiled by a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border. Large quantities of fentanyl, other opioids, and other dangerous and illicit drugs are flowing across our southern border and into our country at unprecedented levels, destroying the lives of our families and loved ones. Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and other deadly transnational gangs are systematically exploiting our unsecured southern border to enter our country and develop operational capacity in American communities throughout the country. The anticipated rapid rise in illegal crossings as we head into the spring and summer months threatens to overwhelm our Nations law enforcement capacities.

2. The combination of illegal drugs, dangerous gang activity, and extensive illegal immigration not only threatens our safety but also undermines the rule of law. Our American way of life hinges on our ability as a Nation to adequately and effectively enforce our laws and protect our borders. A key and undeniable attribute of a sovereign nation is the ability to control who and what enters its territory.

3. Our professional and dedicated U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement personnel work tirelessly to defend our homeland against these threats. They risk their lives daily to protect the people of this country. Theirs is a record of dedication and sacrifice, meriting the unwavering support of the entire United States Government.

4. The situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis. The lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people. My Administration has no choice but to act.

5. The Department of Defense currently assists other nations in many respects, including assisting with border security, but the highest sovereign duty of the President is to defend this Nation, which includes the defense of our borders.

6. The President may assign a mission to the Secretary of Defense to support the operations of the Department of Homeland Security in securing our southern border, including by requesting use of the National Guard, and to take other necessary steps to stop the flow of deadly drugs and other contraband, gang members and other criminals, and illegal aliens into the country. The Secretary of Defense may use all available authorities as appropriate, including use of National Guard forces, to fulfill this mission. During the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the National Guard provided support for efforts to secure our southern border. The crisis at our southern border once again calls for the National Guard to help secure our border and protect our homeland.

Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 502 of title 32, United States Code, and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby direct as follows:

Section 1. The Secretary of Defense shall support the Department of Homeland Security in securing the southern border and taking other necessary actions to stop the flow of deadly drugs and other contraband, gang members and other criminals, and illegal aliens into this country. The Secretary of Defense shall request use of National Guard personnel to assist in fulfilling this mission, pursuant to section 502 of title 32, United States Code, and may use such other authorities as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of Homeland Security shall work with the Secretary of Defense to provide any training or instruction necessary for any military personnel, including National Guard units, to effectively support Department of Homeland Security personnel in securing the border.

Sec. 3. The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Attorney General, are directed to determine what other resources and actions are necessary to protect our southern border, including Federal law enforcement and United States military resources. Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall submit to the President a report detailing their findings and an action plan, including specific recommendations as to any other executive authorities that should be invoked to defend the border and security of the United States.

Sec. 4. Any provision of any previous proclamation, memorandum, or Executive Order that is inconsistent with the actions taken in this memorandum is superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.

Sec. 5. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP
Chinese Scientist Sentenced to Prison in Theft of Engineered Rice

Washington, DC - A Chinese scientist was sentenced to 121 months in a federal prison for conspiring to steal samples of a variety of rice seeds from a Kansas biopharmaceutical research facility.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers of the Justice Departments National Security Division and U.S. Attorney Stephen R. McAllister of the District of Kansas made the announcement.

Weiqiang Zhang, 51, a Chinese national, and U.S. legal permanent resident residing in Manhattan, Kansas, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia in the District of Kansas. Zhang was convicted on Feb. 15, 2017 of one count of conspiracy to steal trade secrets, one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property.

Evidence at trial established that Zhang worked as a rice breeder for Ventria Bioscience in Junction City, Kansas. Ventria develops genetically programmed rice to express recombinant human proteins, which are then extracted for use in the therapeutic and medical fields. Zhang has a masters degree in agriculture from Shengyang Agricultural University in China and a doctorate from Louisiana State University.

According to trial evidence, Zhang acquired without authorization hundreds of rice seeds produced by Ventria and stored them at his residence in Manhattan. The rice seeds have a wide variety of health research applications and were developed to produce either human serum albumin, contained in blood, or lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein found, for example, in human milk. Ventria spent millions of dollars and years of research developing its seeds and cost-effective methods to extract the proteins, which are used to develop lifesaving products for global markets. Ventria used locked doors with magnetic card readers to restrict access to the temperature-controlled environment where the seeds were stored and processed.

Trial evidence demonstrated that in the summer of 2013, personnel from a crop research institute in China visited Zhang at his home in Manhattan. Zhang drove the visitors to tour facilities in Iowa, Missouri and Ohio. On Aug. 7, 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found seeds belonging to Ventria in the luggage of Zhangs visitors as they prepared to leave the United States for China.

Weiqiang Zhang betrayed his employer by unlawfully providing its proprietary rice seeds to representatives of a Chinese crop institute, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. Todays sentence demonstrates the significant consequences awaiting those who would steal trade secrets from American companies. The Criminal Division and its law enforcement partners will continue to work closely with companies like Ventria to protect American intellectual propertywhich is essential to our economy and way of lifeagainst all threats both foreign and domestic.

Cross-border intellectual property theft not only hurts victim companies, it also threatens our national security, said Assistant Attorney General Demers. FBIs vigilance stopped Ventrias intellectual property from leaving our country in the nick of time, but it was Ventrias cooperation that allowed us to hold Zhang accountable for his crimes.

Ventria invested years of research and tens of millions of dollars to create a new and beneficial product, said U.S. Attorney McAllister. It is vital that we protect such intellectual property from theft and exploitation by foreign interests. We all benefit when American companies continue to drive socially valuable advancements in food, medicine and technology.

The FBIs Little Rock, Arkansas, Field Office and Kansas City, Missouri, Field Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas investigated the case. Trial Attorney Matt Walczewski of the National Security Division, Trial Attorneys Brian Resler and Evan Williams of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask of the District of Kansas prosecuted the case.
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Seven Kings County and Tennessee Residents Indicted for Firearms Trafficking Conspiracy

Fresno, California - A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging seven Tennessee and California residents with various firearms offenses, including conspiracy to traffic in firearms by an unlicensed person, illegal transportation of firearms, and being a felon in possession of firearms, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. None of the defendants is licensed to deal or import firearms.

Rafael Sanchez Jr., 38, of Kettleman City, Califorinia, is charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in firearms by an unlicensed person, three counts of illegal transportation of firearms and three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Alexis Sanchez, 19, of Kettleman City; and Tennessee residents Juan Daniel Gonzalez-Vazquez, 24; Victor Luna, 23; Ashley Sanchez, 22; and Elvia Sanchez, 40, are all charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in firearms by an unlicensed person and three counts of illegal transportation of firearms

Veronica Ramirez, 38, of Lemoore, California, was charged with one count of conspiracy to traffic in firearms by an unlicensed person.

According to court documents, between April 2016 and March 2018, Rafael Sanchez conspired to have firearms purchased in Tennessee and shipped to him in California. Rafael Sanchez and Alexis Sanchez then transferred money to the Tennessee co-conspirators. With the assistance of Ramirez, Rafael Sanchez identified California-based purchasers and offered to sell them the firearms he received from Tennessee.

According to the indictment, the Tennessee co-conspirators shipped numerous firearms to California, including .45, .40 and 9 mm caliber handguns, as well as ammunition and firearms accessories, including extended magazines. In November 2017, Rafael Sanchez offered to sell to an associate in California an AR-15-style rifle with two 30-round magazines for $1,000.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Lenoir City Police Department in Tennessee, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher D. Baker is prosecuting the case in the Eastern District of California.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 fine for each of the conspiracy and firearms offenses. Rafael Sanchez faces an a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine if convicted of the separate felon in possession of firearms counts. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Doctor Indicted for Tax Evasion and Disability Fraud

Fort Pierce, Florida - A federal grand jury sitting in Fort Pierce, Florida, has returned an indictment, which was unsealed yesterday, charging a Hobe Sound, Florida, resident with tax evasion, mail fraud, wire fraud, theft of government funds, and Social Security disability fraud announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Departments Tax Division.

According to the indictment, Arthur John Kranz, was a doctor specializing in psychiatry. Beginning in 2002, Kranz allegedly made a claim on his private disability policy that he was unable to work, and began receiving disability payments from his insurance company. The indictment further alleges that in December 2003 Kranz submitted an application to the Social Security Administration (SSA) for disability benefits, which was approved. As part of his application, Kranz agreed to notify the SSA if he returned to work.

The indictment charges that between 2006 and 2013, Kranz worked as a psychiatrist at a hospital in Pennsylvania and earned over $1.6 million in income, but did not report this fact to the SSA or the insurance company. Moreover, Kranz is alleged to have taken steps to conceal his income from the insurance company, the SSA, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by directing that his income be paid to two nominee corporations, and by not reporting the income from his work as a psychiatrist on his personal tax returns.

The indictment further alleges that during the time Kranz was working, he submitted documents to the insurance company on which he falsely stated that he was not working in order to continue to receive disability payments. The indictment alleges that in total, Kranz received over $700,000 in fraudulent disability payments from SSA and the insurance company.

If convicted, Kranz faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count of tax evasion, 20 years in prison for each count of mail and wire fraud, 10 years in prison for theft of public money, and five years in prison for Social Security fraud. Kranz also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman commended special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation and SSA Office of Inspector General, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Charles M. Edgar, Jr., Michael C. Boteler, and Terri-Lei OMalley of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case with assistance from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Declaration to Celebrate 100 Years of Independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Renewed Partnership

Washington, DC - The United States of America, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, and the Republic of Lithuania, Commemorating the centennial anniversary of independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in 2018, Marking the beginning of diplomatic relations between the United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on July 28, 1922,

Recalling the consistent recognition by the United States of America of the independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania including through the Welles Declaration of July 23, 1940,

Recalling the commitments made by the United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania under the Charter of Partnership Among the United States of America and the Republic of Estonia, Republic of Latvia, and Republic of Lithuania of January 16, 1998,

Acknowledging the tremendous progress achieved by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in political stability, economic growth, and security cooperation and the contributions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to European and international security and advancement of democratic values through their memberships in NATO and the European Union, Desiring to create a blueprint for expanding and strengthening cooperation between the United States of America and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,

Affirm the following principles and ideals to guide the further development of mutually beneficial relations:

Principles of Partnership

The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania share the view that peace, security and prosperity depend on strong sovereign nations that respect their citizens at home and cooperate to promote peace abroad. The partnership between the United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is based on our joint dedication to the principles of democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law. We remain firmly committed to the principles of national sovereignty, the sanctity of borders, and the inviolable territorial integrity of all European nations.

Security Cooperation

The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania share a continued commitment to European security, and pledge to deepen our collaboration to confront forces threatening our common values, security interests, and shared vision. NATO, under the strong leadership of the United States, is the fundamental bedrock of transatlantic ties and the cornerstone of collective security. Together, we will continue to improve NATOs ability to provide strong deterrence and defense. The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania reaffirm their ironclad commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will continue to modernize their armed forces to enhance interoperability with the United States and other NATO Allies, but also to build territorial defense capabilities in fulfillment of their Article 3 obligations. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will work to further enhance regional infrastructure to support additional U.S. and NATO rotational deployments and exercises in the region. The United States of America commends Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for meeting their Wales Summit commitments on defense spending and taking a leadership role in the Alliance on burden sharing. The United States of America, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will continue to support NATO activities in addressing hybrid threats, including through the NATO Centers of Excellence in the Baltic States.

In addition to cooperation within the NATO Alliance, the United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania value their longstanding bilateral and regional security relationships, as exemplified inter alia by the State Partnership Programs begun in 1993 between Estonia and the Maryland National Guard, Latvia and the Michigan National Guard, and Lithuania and the Pennsylvania National Guard. The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania value their cooperation on the common fight against transnational terrorism, and pledge to strengthen cooperation in counterterrorism and cybersecurity, as well as in the fields of strategic communications, border security, and nuclear, safety, security and nonproliferation.

The United States of America intends to continue periodic deployment of forces to the Baltic States to strengthen deterrence and to catalyze the efforts of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to develop their national defense. The United States is determined to help Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to improve their military readiness and capabilities through sustained security assistance. We continue to explore new ideas and opportunities, including air defense, bilaterally and in NATO, to enhance deterrence across the region.

Economic Cooperation

The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania share a common interest in fair and reciprocal trade and investment among partners that provide economic benefits to all concerned. We will strengthen our cooperation to promote the rule of law and improve the security of financial markets. Working together, we will unlock the economic potential of citizens and businesses by promoting technological innovation and access to capital. We will encourage the exchange of investments, goods, and services between the United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and will intensify the exchange of trade missions and business forums to support our economic growth.

The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will partner to strengthen cooperation to enhance energy security and independence through diversification of sources, supplies and routes, to include U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas and other state-of-the art energy technologies. We will seek to bolster the individual and collective resilience of our critical infrastructure, including energy, through the development and enhancement of existing cross-border transmission routes, increased integration of regional energy markets, and continuous improvement of our cybersecurity capabilities. We will also continue to strengthen cooperation in the security and defense industries, to include procurement of each others technologies and equipment.

People to People Contacts

The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania share a desire to continue to increase and expand ties between and among communities and states. We celebrate the contributions of citizens of the Baltic States and Americans of Baltic heritage in the fields of politics, economics, culture and the arts, science and sports, and commit to continuing to encourage student and youth exchanges, scholarship programs, cooperation among universities, innovation and research, and support for tourism and private sector economic partnerships. The United States of America and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will continue to work together to support the development of independent, professionally strong and objective media and journalism, to promote critical thinking, media and information literacy.
Houthi Commercial Maritime Attack

Washington, DC - The United States is very concerned about the Houthis latest attempt to escalate the war in Yemen, this time by attacking a commercial vessel while it transited one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, the Bab al-Mandab, in international waters.

A significant portion of global trade moves through the Bab al-Mandab every day, including key energy and food supplies. In January, the Houthis publicly threatened to attack international commercial maritime traffic in the Red Sea, and launched this attack near the vital port of Hudaydah. Yesterdays attack coincides with the UNs High-Level Pledging Event in Geneva, where the Saudi-led Coalitions contributed $930 million. In contrast, the Iranian regime continues to perpetuate the conflict and provide destabilizing weapons to the Houthis. We call on the Houthis to cease further escalation and demonstrate their commitment to a peace process by engaging in constructive dialogue.
Sentencing of Peaceful Activists in Vietnam

Washington, DC - The United States is deeply troubled that a Vietnamese court has convicted and sentenced peaceful activists Nguyen Van Dai, Le Thu Ha, Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton, Nguyen Bac Truyen and Truong Minh Duc to harsh prison sentences under the vague charge of activities aimed at overthrowing the peoples administration. We note with concern that Vietnamese authorities held Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thu Ha in pre-trial detention for over two years.

Individuals have the right to the fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, both online and offline. The United States is deeply concerned by the Vietnamese governments efforts to restrict these rights, through a disturbing trend of increased arrests, convictions, and harsh sentences of peaceful activists.

The United States calls on Vietnam to release all prisoners of conscience immediately, and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to express their views freely and assemble peacefully without fear of retribution.

We also urge the Vietnamese government to ensure its actions and laws, including the Penal Code, are consistent with the human rights provisions of Vietnams Constitution, and Vietnams international obligations and commitments.
Pure linen bedding has never been so popular. With a focus on self-care, more and more of us are coming round to the idea of investing in top quality materials in the sack. Its where we spend a good third of our lives, after all.

Linen is made from the long fibres of the flax plant  one of the oldest continuously cultivated plants in the world, and a renewable source thats fully biodegradable. Not only does the fabric score high on sustainability, allowing us to sleep soundly in our eco-friendly sheets, it offers a wealth of other benefits, too.

Pure linen is naturally breathable, durable, hypoallergenic, and cool in the summer months yet toasty warm in the winter, making it the perfect choice for relaxed year-round style.

Ready to shop now? Our current best buy is the Secret Linen Store violet white 100% linen bedding (from 28.80 , Secretlinenstore.com)

If thats not convincing enough, linen bedding is also pleasingly low maintenance. It boasts an attractive crumpled texture that only looks better wash after wash. Youll find your linen sheets get increasingly suppler, too, so you can lock up your ironing board and dive straight in.

We tested a range of linen bedding sets from the relatively affordable to the super high-end, with a few exciting new brands thrown into the mix, too.

Read more:

The best linen bedding sets for 2021 are:

Best overall  Secret Linen Store violet white 100% linen bedding: 32, Secretlinenstore.com

 Secret Linen Store violet white 100% linen bedding: 32, Secretlinenstore.com Best luxury set The Linen Works Picardie ecru linen bedding: 28.13, Thelinenworks.co.uk

The Linen Works Picardie ecru linen bedding: 28.13, Thelinenworks.co.uk Best bundle  Bedfolk linen bedding bundle: 189, Bedfolk.com

 Bedfolk linen bedding bundle: 189, Bedfolk.com Best fuss-free sheets  Soak & Sleep French linen bedding: 30, Soakandsleep.com

 Soak & Sleep French linen bedding: 30, Soakandsleep.com Best non-iron bedding  Scooms linen bedding, soft pink: 45, Scooms.com

 Scooms linen bedding, soft pink: 45, Scooms.com Best bedding that wont shrink, fade or lose shape  Piglet midnight stripe bedding: 36, Pigletinbed.com

 Piglet midnight stripe bedding: 36, Pigletinbed.com Best for something a bit different Loom & Last Aegean blue French linen bundle: 274, Loomandlast.com

Loom & Last Aegean blue French linen bundle: 274, Loomandlast.com Best lightweight bedding  Resident washed linen bundle bedding set: 120, Residenthome.co.uk

 Resident washed linen bundle bedding set: 120, Residenthome.co.uk Best affordable option  Dunelm Rowan 100% linen duvet cover and pillowcase set: 70, Dunelm.com

 Dunelm Rowan 100% linen duvet cover and pillowcase set: 70, Dunelm.com Best for a cosy feel  Chalk Pink Linen Co. stone blue ticking linen duvet cover set: 159, Chalkpinklinencompany.co.uk

Secret Linen Store violet white 100% linen bedding Best: Overall Sizes: Double, king, super king, emperor

Double, king, super king, emperor Set: Sold separately

Sold separately Machine wash: 40C This is a beautiful, vintage-inspired bedding set, evocative of a French chateau of yesteryear. In pure snowy white, its as soft on the eye as it is to the touch. We loved its understated elegance. The duvet cover and pillowcases are finished with an intricately embroidered border, which we found, holds the bedding in shape nicely with a little bit of stretch  and this really comes into its own with the Oxford pillowcases and their pretty, frilly frames. Impressively, the bedding goes up to an emperor size, which is apt, given its grand design roots. It also washes well but youll want to avoid any coffee stains. Prices start from 32 for pillow cases and up to 225 for an Emperor duvet cover. Buy now  32 , Secretlinenstore.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} The Linen Works Picardie ecru linen bedding Best: Luxury set Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Sold separately

Sold separately Machine wash: 40C If, like us, youre a sucker for packaging, The Linen Works wont disappoint. Scoring top marks for presentation, this luxury bedding arrived beautifully boxed with ribbon and bows  a sure indication theres something very special inside. The bedding is made from the finest Belgian flax weave and proved lovely and lightweight. In ecru, linens natural pre-dyed hue, these ethereally soft sheets are a calming neutral. Beautifully crafted, high quality and offering timeless style. Pillowcases start at 37.50 and duvet covers are 150. Buy now  28.13 , Thelinenworks.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Bedfolk linen bedding bundle Best: Bundle Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Includes duvet cover, fitted sheet, pair pillowcases

Includes duvet cover, fitted sheet, pair pillowcases Machine wash: 40C If youre looking to kit out your whole bed with pure linen, including a sheet, then a bundle is the way forward. Not only can it save some pennies, but it offers an all-in, fuss-free purchase. Bedfolks linen bundle comes in a small range of muted earthy tones, as well as a pure snowy white  the brands back to nature colourways reflecting the organic nature of the material itself. Our set, in Ink, proved super soft. It has a charming pre-loved look and feel, while the colour is an attractive, faded, utilitarian blue. Buy now  189 , Bedfolk.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Soak & Sleep French linen bedding Best: Fuss-free sheets Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Sold separately

Sold separately Machine wash: 30C This is a brand that offers a no-frills approach to linen bedding  from its simple packaging to its contemporary, fuss-free product design. Instead, it allows the beauty of the material, and the quality of craftsmanship, to speak for itself. With six shades to choose from, and each piece sold separately, its ideal for mixing and matching colours  but we plumped for the modern mono look in a matching duvet cover, fitted sheet and pair of pillowcases. Our set, a dark and masculine navy, proved itself to be beautifully soft and lightweight, and its deep pigment stayed that way even after washing. Prices range from 30 to 237. Buy now  30 , Soakandsleep.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Scooms linen bedding, soft pink Best: Non-iron bedding Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Sold separately

Sold separately Machine wash: 40C Simple and stylish, Scoomss offering boasts the prettiest baby pink hue  and it had us sleeping like a baby. The double duvet cover can be matched with a pair of standard (housewife) pillowcases and a fitted sheet in a contrasting pure white linen. True to form, the material boasts a beautifully crumpled texture that really comes into its own after a wash  no ironing needed. This one proved a great mid-season buy, although it promises year-round comfort. It is light in look but super cosy and warm once youre cocooned in it. Finished with large mother of pearl buttons, we loved this little hint of glamour. Prices start from 45 for pillowcases and up to 294 for a super king duvet cover. Buy now  45 , Scooms.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Piglet midnight stripe bedding Best: Bedding that wont shrink, fade or lose shape Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Sold separately or in basic or bedtime bundles

Sold separately or in basic or bedtime bundles Machine wash: 40C Another brand with bundle-buying options is Piglet, whose linen bedding collection continues to impress. This is one of Piglets best sellers, and its not difficult to see why. The midnight stripe linen offers a fresh, nautical look in the bedroom  perfect for spring but itll see you year-round. Made from 100 per cent natural French flax, it is wonderfully soft to the touch. The linen comes pre-stonewashed to ensure it wont shrink, fade, or lose its shape and is finished with little wooden buttons. And we loved that we could team our bedding with a matching pyjama set in the same midnight stripe. The height of cosy. Buy now  36 , Pigletinbed.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Loom & Last Aegean blue French linen bundle Best: For something a bit different Sizes: Double, king, super king

Double, king, super king Set: Includes duvet cover, fitted sheet, pair pillowcases

Includes duvet cover, fitted sheet, pair pillowcases Machine wash: 40C While pure white linen is positively cloud like, Loom & Lasts latest addition to their linen offering recalls the calming sea. It is an attractive mid-blue hue  bold but not dark  and it makes the perfect springtime update. This is a brand that knows its stuff when it comes to fine French linen. The bedding is woven from flax plants found in the rolling hills of Normandy, which, Loom & Last says, gives us the best of the best. Indeed, the bedding proved super soft and supple, delicate but durable, and it gave us that inviting crumpled texture when washed  not unlike the ripples in sea water. Buy now  274 , Loomandlast.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Resident washed linen bundle bedding set Best: Lightweight bedding Sizes: Double, king, super king

Double, king, super king Set: Includes duvet cover, fitted sheet, pair pillowcases

Includes duvet cover, fitted sheet, pair pillowcases Machine wash: 40C The first thing that grabbed us about this linen bedding was its wonderfully lightweight feel  even from within its fully recyclable and compostable packaging. Suffice to say, the double duvet set we put to the test proved a dream to dive into. In driftwood  a warm mid-beige  it offers a homely look in the bedroom, yet the aesthetic is cool and contemporary. It washed beautifully, becoming more soft and supple with subsequent washes. Resident promises linen bedding that restores health and wellbeing and well certainly atest to that. Buy now  120 , Residenthome.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Dunelm Rowan 100% linen duvet cover and pillowcase set Best: Affordable option Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Includes duvet cover, pair pillowcases

Includes duvet cover, pair pillowcases Machine wash: 40C Pure linen bedding isnt cheap, so we were excited to discover Dunelms new and affordable offering. Even in size super king the duvet cover set comes in at a relatively purse-friendly 100. Effortlessly chic, the Rowan bedding boasts a homely, biscuity beige-grey hue, celebrating the material in its natural form. And while this one isnt the finest, or softest weve tested, it certainly behaves the way pure linen should: breathable, durable, and with an inviting texture. We recommend giving it a machine wash before use to bring out its best qualities. Buy now  70 , Dunelm.com {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Chalk Pink Linen Co. stone blue ticking linen duvet cover set Best: For a cosy feel Sizes: Single, double, king, super king

Single, double, king, super king Set: Includes duvet cover, two pillowcases

Includes duvet cover, two pillowcases Machine wash: 40C The first thing that hits you about this pre-washed set is its wonderfully homely, spring-fresh scent. Breathe it in and youre immediately transported to a boutique hotel, or the guest bedroom of a country pile. The gentle blue and white stripe recalls charmingly old fashioned pyjamas, while its supple, bumpy texture is just as alluring. The bedding arrived feeling lived in and loved, complete with its matching draw-string bag. But, as in all the best linen bedding sets, this one came up even softer after a few machine washes. We teamed our stripy set with the brands still white fitted sheet  similarly scented, textured and incredibly cosy. Buy now  159 , Chalkpinklinencompany.co.uk {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}}

The verdict: Linen bedding sets Secret Linen Stores violet white bedding won us over for its timeless, vintage look. Its embroidered borders elevate the otherwise plain white set to something really special. It also proved itself to be beautifully soft and supple  and it looked and felt even more lived in and loved after a few washes. We were also impressed with our stripey sets from Chalk Pink Linen Co. and Piglet, each with a slightly different take on the traditional pyjamas look and both offering a wonderfully homely appeal. Voucher codes For the latest discounts on armchairs and other home furniture offers, try the below links: Made discount codes

Sofa.com discount codes For more bedroom inspiration, weve found the best bedsheets

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.
The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) issued an alert this week to warn residents of an increase in opioid overdose activity throughout the state. The alert comes on the heels of the state recording 48 reports of opioid overdoses from hospital emergency departments from September 12-18. Have you or your family been personally affected by the opioid epidemic in Rhode Island? Let us know in this week's poll question below.

You voted:
Jonas Cullwick, a former General Manager of VBTC is now a Senior Journalist with the Daily Post. Contact: [email protected]. Cell # 678 5460922
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Indian American business student Ria Patel was killed Sept. 17, 2017, as her boyfriend, who was driving drunk, careened into a stoplight in northeast Minneapolis. Patels boyfriend, Michael Laurence Campbell, has been sentenced to four years in prison. (riapatelfoundation.org photo)
An Indian man looks at the Facebook app on his smartphone in Amritsar on March 22. The State Department announced March 30 that it intends to ask visitors from abroad applying for a U.S. visa for their social media profiles, along with five years of past phone numbers and email addresses. This is unnecessarily intrusive and beyond ridiculous, commented Indian American Prof. Anil Kalhan. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and French President Emmanuel Macron stand together during the inauguration of a solar power plant in Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh March 12. French President Emmanuel Macron March 11 pledged millions of dollars for solar projects in developing countries, as world leaders met in India to promote greater investment in renewable energy. A U.N reports says Indias imposition of a duty on Chinese imports as well as the Goods and Services Tax have slowed the growth of solar power in India. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)
April 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - On September 1, 1939, German radio announced the outbreak of the Second World War by reporting Adolf Hitlers speech to the Reichstag, in which the dictator said, This night for the first time Polish regular soldiers fired on our own territory. We have been returning the fire since 5:45 A.M. Henceforth, bomb will be met with bomb.

Under the direction of Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, the invasion of Poland was portrayed as an act of self-defence.

A similar resort to lying and demonization has been carried out by the British, American and several European governments around the March 4 poisoning in Salisbury, England of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

Are You Tired Of The Lies, Bull*hit And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

It is now beyond any reasonable doubt that the claims of the Conservative government of Theresa May charging Russia with responsibility for the poisoning of the Skripals are fabrications.

On Tuesday, Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the UKs chemical weapons facility, the Porton Down Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, told Sky News that scientists had not verified the precise source of the material used in the attack in Salisbury on March 4. Aitkenheads statement came on the eve of the convening at Moscows request of the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at The Hague, which would have exposed the UK governments case. But this resort to damage control only underscores the monstrous hoax perpetrated by the British and American governments and their European allies.

May told parliament on March 12 that Porton Down was absolutely categorical that the nerve agent used on the Skripals had come from Russia. Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at Porton Down, she said, the government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for an attempted murder on British soil.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle on March 20 that the people from Porton Down were absolutely categorical that the source of the nerve agent used against the Skripals was Russia. I asked the guy myself, he said, and he said theres no doubt.

So politically devastating is the exposure of Britains lies that yesterday the Foreign Office deleted a text it sent out on March 22 declaring that the 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.

Based on this lie, and without asking for any proof other than the word of May and Johnson, the United States, 14 European Union member states, Ukraine, Canada, Australia and three other allies between them expelled more than 100 Russian diplomatic personnel. The NATO military alliance followed suit, expelling seven Russian staff to send a clear and very strong message that there was a cost to Russias reckless actions.

Every one of these states knew from the outset that the allegations against Russia were a fraud. Even though Britains supposed case against Russia has fallen apart, this has had no impact on the backing it has received from its imperialist allies.

The emergency session of the OPCW called at Russias request received no answers to the serious questions Moscow insisted Britain had to address. Instead, the UKs representative said Russia could not take part in a joint investigation with Britain into the Skripal affair, as it was a likely perpetrator. This was given unqualified backing by an EU spokesperson, who demanded that Russia respond to the UKs legitimate questions about its alleged continued production of novichoks.

No less implicated in this criminal affair is the corporate media, especially the New York Times, which has spent the past month disseminating the raw propaganda issued by London and Washington and baying for Moscows punishment.

At no point did the Times raise a single question about the reliability of the claims of the May government. And now its response to the refutation of the lies is to ignore and bury Aitkenheads statement.

The role of the corporate media in the Skripal provocation confirms the political purpose of the hysterical campaign it has been leading against fake news, and its insistence that social media be regulated, restricted and monitored.

After the Skripal affair, is any more proof required that nothing the officially sanctioned media publishes or broadcasts can be taken at face value?

It denounces any questioning of the imperialist narrative as fake news, while it carries out its function of publishing false and lying reports.

As Leon Trotsky wrote 80 years ago, the lie is the ideological cement of social and political reaction. The World Socialist Web Site is an indispensable and powerful tool of the working class in combating the lies of the imperialist powers and their state-controlled propaganda machines.

In January, the World Socialist Web Site issued an open letter to socialist, anti-war, left-wing and progressive websites, organizations and activists calling for the formation of an international coalition to fight Internet censorship. Recent events attest to the importance of this critical initiative.
April 05, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - John Boltons March 22 appointment-by-tweet as President Donald Trumps national security adviser has given March Madness a new and ominous meaning. There is less than a week left to batten down the hatches before Bolton makes U.S. foreign policy worse that it already is.

During a recent interview with The Intercepts Jeremy Scahill (minutes 35 to 51) I mentioned that Bolton fits seamlessly into a group of take-no-prisoners zealots once widely known in Washington circles as the crazies, and now more commonly referred to as neocons.

Beginning in the 1970s, the crazies sobriquet was applied to Cold Warriors hell bent on bashing Russians, Chinese, Arabs  anyone who challenged U.S. exceptionalism (read hegemony). More to the point, I told Scahill that President (and former CIA Director) George H. W. Bush was among those using the term freely, since it seemed so apt. I have been challenged to prove it.

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I dont make stuff up. And with the appointment of the certifiable Bolton, the the crazies have become far more than an historical footnote. Rather, the crucible that Bush-41 and other reasonably moderate policymakers endured at their hands give the experience major relevance today. Thus, I am persuaded it would be best not to ask people simply to take my word for it when I refer to the crazies, their significance, and the differing attitudes the two Bushes had toward them.

George H. W. Bush and I had a longstanding professional and, later, cordial relationship. For many years after he stopped being president, we stayed in touch  mostly by letter. This is the first time I have chosen to share any of our personal correspondence. I do so not only because of the ominous importance of Boltons appointment, but also because I am virtually certain the elder Bush would want me to.

Scanned below is a note George H. W. Bush sent me eight weeks before his son, egged on by the same crazies his father knew well from earlier incarnations, launched an illegal and unnecessary war for regime change in Iraq  unleashing chaos in the Middle East.



Shut Out of the Media

By January 2003, it was clear that Bush-43 was about to launch a war of aggression  the crime defined by the post-WWII Nuremberg Tribunal as the supreme international crime differing from other war crimes only in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. (Think torture, for example.) During most of 2002, several of us former intelligence analysts had been comparing notes, giving one another sanity checks, writing op-eds pointing to the flimsiness of the intelligence cobbled together to allege a weapons-of-mass-destruction threat from Iraq, and warning of the catastrophe that war on Iraq would bring.

Except for an occasional op-ed wedged into the Christian Science Monitor or the Miami Herald, for example, we were ostracized from mainstream media. The New York Times and Washington Post were on a feeding frenzy from the government trough and TV pundits were getting high ratings by beating the drum for war. Small wonder the entire media was allergic to what we were saying, despite our many years of experience in intelligence analysis. Warnings to slow down and think were the last thing wanted by those already profiteering from a war on the near horizon.

The challenge we faced was how to get through to President George W. Bush. It had become crystal clear that the only way to do that would be to do an end run around the crazies  the criminally insane advisers that his father knew so well  Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and Undersecretary of State John Bolton.

Bolton: One of the Crazies

John Bolton was Cheneys crazy at the State Department. Secretary Colin Powell was pretty much window dressing. He could be counted on not to complain loudly  much less quit  even if he strongly suspected he was being had. Powell had gotten to where he was by saluting sharply and doing what superiors told him to do. As secretary of state, Powell was not crazy  just craven. He enjoyed more credibility than the rest of the gang and rather than risk being ostracized like the rest of us, he sacrificed that credibility on the altar of the supreme international crime.

In those days Bolton did not hesitate to run circles around  and bully

 the secretary of state and many others. This must be considered a harbinger of things to come, starting on Monday, when the bully comes to the china shop in the West Wing. While longevity in office is not the

hallmark of the Trump administration, even if Boltons tenure turns out to be short-lived, the crucial months immediately ahead will provide Bolton with ample opportunity to wreak the kind of havoc that the crazies continue to see as enhancing U.S.  and not incidentally  Israeli influence in the Middle East. Bear in mind, Bolton still says the attack on Iraq was a good idea. And he is out to scuttle the landmark agreement that succeeded in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon any time soon.



Trying to Head Off War

In August 2002, as the Bush-43 administration and U.S. media prepared the country for war on Iraq, the elder Bushs national security advisor, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, and Secretary of State James Baker each wrote op-eds in an attempt to wean the younger Bush off the crazies milk. Scowcrofts Wall Street Journal op-ed of August 15 was as blunt as its title, Dont Attack Saddam. The cautionary thrust of Bakers piece in the New York Times ten days later, was more diplomatic but equally clear.

But these interventions, widely thought to have been approved by Bush-41, had a predictable opposite effect on the younger Bush, determined as he was to become the first war president of the 21st Century (his words). It is a safe bet also that Cheney and other crazies baited him with, Are you going to let Daddy, who doesnt respect ANY of us, tell you what to do?

All attempts to insert a rod into the wheels of the juggernaut heading downhill toward war were looking hopeless, when a new idea occurred. Maybe George H. W. Bush could get through to his son. Whats to lose? On January 11, 2003 I wrote a letter to the elder Bush asking him to speak privately to your son George about the crazies advising him on Iraq, adding I am aghast at the cavalier way in which the [Richard] Perles of the Pentagon are promoting the use of nuclear weapons as an acceptable option against Iraq.

My letter continued: That such people have the Presidents ear is downright scary. I think he needs to know why you exercised such care to keep such folks at arms length. (And, as you may know, they are exerting unrelenting pressure on CIA analysts to come up with the right answers. You know how that goes!)

In the letter I enclosed a handful of op-eds that I had managed to get past 2nd-tier mainstream media censors. In those writings, I was much more pointed in my criticism of the Bush/Cheney administrations approach to Iraq than Scowcroft and Baker had been in August 2002.

Initially, I was encouraged at the way the elder Bush began his January 22, 2003 note to me: It is only meet and right that you speak out. As I read on, however, I asked myself how he could let the wish be father to the thought, so to speak. (Incidentally, POTUS in his note is the acronym for President of the United States; number 43, of course, was George Jr.)

The elder Bush may not have been fully conscious of it, but he was whistling in the dark, having long since decided to leave to surrogates like Scowcroft and Baker the task of highlighting publicly the criminal folly of attacking Iraq. The father may have tried privately; who knows. It was, in my view, a tragedy that he did not speak out publicly. He would have been very well aware that this was the only thing that would have had a chance of stopping his son from committing what the Nuremberg Tribunal defined as the supreme international crime.

It is, of couse, difficult for a father to admit that his son fell under the influence  this time not alcohol or drugs, but rather the at least equally noxious demonic influence of the crazies, which Billy Graham himself might have found beyond his power to exorcise. Maybe it is partly because I know the elder Bush personally, but it does strike me that, since we are all human, some degree of empathy might be in order. I simply cannot imagine what it must be like to be a former President with a son, also a former President, undeniably responsible for such widespread killing, injury and abject misery.



Speaking Out  Too Late

It was a dozen years too late, but George H.W. Bush finally did give voice to his doubts about the wisdom of rushing into the Iraq War. In Jon Meachams biography, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, the elder Bush puts most of the blame for Iraq on his sons iron-ass advisers, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, while at the same time admitting where the buck stops. With that Watergate-style modified, limited hangout, and his (richly deserved) criticism of his two old nemeses, Bush-41 may be able to live more comfortably with himself, hoping to get beyond what I believe must be his lingering regret at not going public when that might have stopped arrogant Rumsfeld and hardline Cheney from inflicting their madness on the Middle East. No doubt he is painfully aware that he was one of the very few people who might have been able to stop the chaos and carnage, had he spoken out publicly.

Bush-41s not-to-worry note to me had the opposite effect with those of us CIA alumni alarmed at the gathering storm and the unconscionable role being played by those of our former CIA colleagues still there in manufacturing pre-Iraq-war intelligence. We could see what was going on in real time; we did not have to wait five years for the bipartisan conclusions of a five-year Senate Intelligence Committee investigation. Introducing its findings, Chairman Jay Rockefeller said: In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent.

Back to January 2003: a few days after I received President Bushs not-to-worry note of January 22, 2003, a handful of us former senior CIA officials went forward with plans to create Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). We had been giving one another sanity checks before finalizing draft articles about the scarcely believable things we were observing  including unmistakable signs that our profession of intelligence analysis was being prostituted. On the afternoon of February 5, 2003, after Powell misled the UN Security Council, we issued our first (of three) VIPS Memoranda for the President before the war. We graded Powell C for content, and warned President George W. Bush, in effect, to beware the crazies, closing with these words:

After watching Secretary Powell today, we are convinced that you would be well served if you widened the discussion  beyond the circle of those advisers clearly bent on a war for which we see no compelling reason and from which we believe the unintended consequences are likely to be catastrophic.

Team B

When Gerald Ford assumed the presidency in August 1974, the White House was a center of intrigue. Serving as Chief of Staff for President Ford, Donald Rumsfeld (1974-75), with help from Dick Cheney (1975-76), engineered Bushs nomination to become CIA Director. This was widely seen as a cynical move to take Bush out of contention for the Republican ticket in 1976 and possibly beyond, since the post of CIA director was regarded as a dead-end job and, ideally, would keep you out of politics. (Alas, this did not turn out the way Rumsfeld expected  damn those unknown unknowns.)

If, at the same time, Rumsfeld and Cheney could brand GHW Bush soft on communism and brighten the future for the Military-Industrial Complex, that would put icing on the cake. Rumsfeld had been making evidence-impoverished speeches at the time, arguing that the Soviets were ignoring

the AMB Treaty and other arms control arrangements and were secretly building up to attack the United States. He and the equally relentless Paul Wolfowitz were doing all they could to create a much more alarming picture of the Soviet Union, its intentions, and its views about fighting and winning a nuclear war. Sound familiar?

Bush arrived at CIA after U.S.-Soviet detente had begun to flourish. The cornerstone Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was almost four years old and had introduced the somewhat mad but stabilizing reality of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). Crazies and neocons alike lived in desperate fear of losing their favorite enemy, the USSR. Sound familiar?

Bush was CIA Director for the year January 1976 to January 1977, during which I worked directly for him. At the time, I was Acting National Intelligence Officer for Western Europe where post-WWII certainties were unravelling and it was my job to get intelligence community-wide assessments to the White House  often on fast breaking events. We almost wore out what was then the latest technology  the LDX (for Long Distance Xerography) machine  sending an unprecedentedly high number of Alert Memoranda from CIA Headquarters to the White House. (LDX, of course, is now fax; there was no Internet.)

As ANIO, I also chaired National Intelligence Estimates on Italy and Spain. As far as I could observe from that senior post, Director Bush honored his incoming pledge not to put any political gloss on the judgments of intelligence analysts.

Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, of course, had made no such pledge. They persuaded President Ford to set up a Team B analysis, contending that CIA and intelligence community analyses and estimates were naively rosy. Bushs predecessor as CIA director, William Colby, had turned the proposal down flat, but he had no political ambitions. I suspect Bush, though, saw a Rumsfeld trap to color him soft on the USSR. In any case, against the advice of virtually all intelligence professionals, Bush succumbed to the political pressure and acquiesced in the establishment of a Team B to do alternative analyses. No one was surprised that these painted a much more threatening and inaccurate picture of Soviet strategic intentions.

Paul Warnke, a senior official of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency at the time of Team B, put it this way: Whatever might be said for evaluation of strategic capabilities by a group of outside experts, the impracticality of achieving useful results by independent analysis of strategic objectives should have been self-evident. Moreover, the futility of the Team B enterprise was assured by the selection of the panels members. Rather than including a diversity of views  the Strategic Objectives Panel was composed entirely of individuals who made careers of viewing the Soviet menace with alarm.

The fact that Team Bs conclusions were widely regarded as inaccurate did not deter Rumsfeld. He went about promoting them as valid and succeeded in undermining arms control efforts for the next several years. Two days before Jimmy Carters inauguration Rumsfeld fired his parting shot, saying, No doubt exists about the capabilities of the Soviet armed forces and that those capabilities indicate a tendency toward war fighting  rather than the more modish Western models of deterrence through mutual vulnerability.

GHW Bush in the White House

When George H. W. Bush came into town as vice president, he got President Reagans permission to be briefed with The Presidents Daily Brief and I became a daily briefer from 1981 to 1985. That job was purely substantive. Even so, my colleagues and I have been very careful to regard those conversations as sacrosanct, for obvious reasons. By the time he became president in 1989, he had come to know, all too well, the crazies and what they were capable of. Bushs main political nemesis, Donald Rumsfeld, could be kept at bay, and other crazies kept out of the most senior posts  until Bush the younger put them in positions in which they could do serious damage. John Bolton had been enfant terrible on arms control, persuading Bush-43 to ditch the ABM Treaty. On Monday, he can be expected to arrive at the West Wing with his wrecking ball.

Even Jimmy Carter Speaks Out

Given how difficult Rumsfeld and other hardliners made it for President Carter to work with the Russians on arms control, and the fact that Bolton has been playing that role more recently, Jimmy Carters comments on Bolton  while unusually sharp  do not come as a complete surprise. Besides, experience has certainly shown how foolish it can be to dismiss out of hand what former presidents say about their successors appointments to key national security positions. This goes in spades in the case of John Bolton.

Just three days after Boltons appointment, the normally soft-spoken Jimmy Carter became plain-spoken/outspoken Jimmy Carter, telling USA Today that the selection of Bolton is a disaster for our country. When asked what advice he would give Trump on North Korea, for example, Carter said his first advice would be to fire Bolton.

In sum, if you asked Bush-41, Carters successor as president, how he would describe John Bolton, I am confident he would lump Bolton together with those he called the crazies back in the day, referring to headstrong ideologues adept at blowing things up  things like arms agreements negotiated with painstaking care, giving appropriate consideration to the strategic views of adversaries and friends alike. Sadly, crazy seems to have become the new normal in Washington, with warmongers and regime-changers like Bolton in charge, people who have not served a day in uniform and have no direct experience of war other than starting them.



Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. He served as an Army Infantry/Intelligence officer and then as a CIA analyst for a total of 30 years. In January 2003, he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and still serves on its Steering Group.
Vice-Chancellor of IMSU, Prof Adaobi Obasi says Big Brother Housemate, Nina will undergo Moral Rehabilitation upon return from BBnaija House.

This is to purge her from any bad influences she might have picked up while featuring on the BBN show.

Vice Chancellor of the institution reportedly told some Owerri based journalists that the measure is to forestall and foreclose any of the bad influences being transmitted on other students of the university where Nina is currently a student.

She said:

As we have a lot to do, you too have a lot to do. One of my students is now in Big Brother Naija. It is not the type of thing I am saying because I dont see the need. I am talking of something positive; something that will help. We are praying, I told some people that this lady, whatever influence that she has, does not affect my other students here, my daughters here.

We give something that will yield something. I never know what that BBN, the morals it is teaching. Maybe I am the only one out there. I dont know what it is teaching us. Is it to have sex in the public? So, this is my own opinion and I hold onto it. Can you imagine my student telling them that she will sort us out here. We are waiting for her to come and sort us out

Didnt you listen to her, that she would sort us out. When she finishes, let her come home and sort us out. If this girl comes back, I will watch her and make sure she has dropped those influences. I know I sent out some girls to America for leadership training. I allowed them upon return to teach others. This is the type of thing I want us to do. I will watch her and I will make sure she has dropped that influence

We have never had hostels, but those hostels are ready now. I am taking the first year girls to the hostels because I can say they are intact. We can work from anywhere to do something. I have a passion for IMSU. If I leave it where I found it, generations will be against me.

Mrs Obasi stated

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Nigerian internet domain registrar & web hosting provider DomainKing.NG has recently introduced their new bundle Web Hosting packages for Small Businesses & Professionals. The packages start from just N300/month & have everything you would need to setup a website in simple steps.

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Commenting on this initiative, DomainKings CEO Karan Singh said Our easy-to-get-started hosting packages have been built with constant feedback from our customers. We have added all the features that any small business owner would need to get complete online presence. At the same time, we have tried to keep the cost very affordable to fit in the budget of every entrepreneur.

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The Secretary General of ICAO, Dr. Fang Liu, and Prime Minister Charlot Salwai. International air connectivity is particularly critical to small island developing states, but throughout the Pacific Ocean many are challenged by their geographic isolation and a prevailing lack of financial and human resources.
Father arrested for raping underage girl

A Father has been arrested by the Niger State Police Command for raping a 12-year-old girl at Madalla village in the Suleja Local Government Area of the state.

The suspect is 25 years old.

The father of five allegedly ambushed his victim and assaulted her in an uncompleted building in the area sometime in January this year, when the girl was on her way from an errand.

The suspect who spoke to Punch Thursday said that he had been engaging in the act for some time.

He said:

I dont have appetite to make love to grown up women; I prefer little girls to satisfy my sexual urge and enjoy doing that as long as I want it; each time I stopped, something would push me to do it again.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar, said the suspect had confessed to the crime and regretted his action.

He added that the suspect was arrested by the police operatives attached to Madalla Division. Abubakar said the command had concluded investigation and would soon arraign the suspect in court.

culled from Punch

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The Niger State police have arrested a 25- year-old man, Tunde Vincent, for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl at Madalla village in the Suleja Local Government Area of the state.

The father of five allegedly ambushed his victim and assaulted her in an uncompleted building in the area sometime in January this year, when the girl was on her way from an errand.

The suspect who spoke to Punch Thursday said that he had been engaging in the act for some time.

He said,

I dont have appetite to make love to grown up women; I prefer little girls to satisfy my sexual urge and enjoy doing that as long as I want it; each time I stopped, something would push me to do it again.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar, said the suspect had confessed to the crime and regretted his action.

He added that the suspect was arrested by the police operatives attached to Madalla Division. Abubakar said the command had concluded investigation and would soon arraign the suspect in court.

-Punch
Earlier today, we brought you reports about a Nigerian Guy who reportedly proposed to his girlfriend with a Diamond Ring, and a 2 million naira cheque.

Identified as Salt Nate on Facebook

He has taken to the platform to explain why he did it, and to of course clear the air, saying that no 2 million cheque was presented during the proposal.

He wrote on his Facebook wall:

No 2million cheque was used during our proposal

I was wowed when I saw our faces all over the internet to be sincere I have been longing to cement my relationship with my girlfriend but I dont know how to express the love I have for her so I organised with few friends who know our story and our journey I was able to get a ring worth N50,000 and the cheque was just a dummy stuff to express shes worth millions of naira.

I am working day and night to make sure she gets the best.

I love her so much and I wont fail her

Share my helper might be on your wall

More Photos of the Couple:

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It came as a rude shock to many, when it was learned that only 28 children in Zamfara state registered for the National Common Entrance exam. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu made this known recently in Abuja.

In a statement released by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Priscillia Ihuoma, it was found out that only three states had the highest number of pupils registered so far are: Lagos with 24,465 candidates, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with 7,699 and Rivers State with 4,810 candidates respectively.

On the other hand, three states with extreme low registration are: Zamfara with only 28 candidates, Kebbi, 50 and Taraba, 95 candidates respectively.

Reactions from Nigerians

3 states with the highest # of pupils registered: Lagos with 24,465

Abuja, with 7,699

Rivers with 4,810 3 states with extreme low # are: Zamfara with 28

Kebbi with 50

Taraba with 95 But we expect every state to send quality lawmakers to NASS? 

https://t.co/NS6ObDXYlA  Adetutu Balogun (@Tutsy22) April 6, 2018

I find it very weird that only 28 candidates would register for Common Entrance exams in Zamfara. The population of Zamfara is about 4,000,000. I dont understand this at all.  Nejeeb Bello (@Bar_Baric) April 6, 2018

A whole State has only 28 registered children for the National Common Entrance exam. Interestingly, this same State has millions of people (including children) who are on the electoral roll and who have PVCs. Priorities.  Uncle Jaj. (@JajaPhD) April 6, 2018

Instead of blindly supporting Buhari, how about Hausas focus more on EducationOnly 28 candidates registered for common entrance exam in Zamfara state  Oba Of Nigeria (@UrbanCulture06) April 6, 2018

Only 28 registered for common entrance examination in zamfara state, just how did we get here? We must take back Nigeria and it begins with registering to vote. #takebackNigeria #getyourpvc  Governor Onuh (@Reclaim_Nigeria) April 6, 2018

SMH. Only 28 pupil registered for the National Common Entrance exam in Zamfara State. Interestingly, this same State has thousands of children who are on the electoral roll and who have PVCs. I sorry for Northern Nigeria, Sorry Sorry for Nigeria.  chinanu Ndumele CN (@CN4real) April 6, 2018

Zamfara state has only 28 candidates registered for common entrance, just 28 for an entire state, since they do not want education the only choice left would be terrorism.. the root of our problems in Nigeria are not far fetched.  Rotimi Daramola  (@Mr__Rotimi) April 6, 2018
Following the controversy that ensued when Yomi Fabiyi was accused of sexual harassment by an Instagram user @ennygold1 last year, the Nollywood actor and filmmaker has taken the case to court and is demanding 15million naira for attempted blackmail.

He shared the activities that have ensued between himself and the lady over the period of time on his Instagram page, stating that he has already pressed charges and her lawsuit of N15m is to be served to her.

FOR THE RECORDS:

This lady EUNICE OMOSHALEWA ENIOLA @ennygold1 who tried to CRIMINALLY BLACKMAIL me a few months ago:

i. Wrote a fictitious sex for role event she claimed happened 10yrs ago to tarnished my image on INSTABLOG9JA @instablog9jacomment section, which instablog later munched, attached my pix and her with a damaging headline.

ii. I immediately refuted her claim and instructed my lawyer to file a civil suit + PETITION the Police CP to investigate as I am 100% sure I never met her and that she is either just reckless or an agent used to blackmail.

iii. The ONLY place she ever accused me of such weighty allegation was online, that is perhaps the only place I can ask for help to locate her house or office for service or get the police to invite her. I even kept a reward for whoever supplies the information, which I got eventually.

iv. A petition was swiftly written to the CP, Lagos State.

v. On sighting copy of my remedy, she/her sponsor wrote a FALSE INFORMATION of threat to her life to Domestic Violence Office, Min of Women, Lagos. This is someone I never visited, met, called, sent a text or whatsoever. I was invited and gave the courtesy of Absence. I asked they give another date. She ran out claiming I fled. I phoned the PS and they denied telling her I fled and that she did not provide any evidence of sexual harassment to them(there is an audio evidence to this effect).

vi. The next, she wrote another false information to the AIG, Zone 2. The Police invited me and I was there to proved my innocence. The PPRO, Dolapo Badmus was in charged. She has video evidence of our interview. At the end, they told her she has hurt me and we both to step out to reach a compromise. I insisted the only solution was PUBLIC APOLOGY and withdrawal of such allegations. We wrote undertaken to this effect. On the next visit, she said she CANNOT do public apology but a personal one. I was furious and left.

vii. Police Officers in CPs office went to her house and office but nowhere to be found. She sneaks in & out.

viii. The 15m suit already in court, the baliff was at her house to serve her but no avail. They phoned her, she told them she was coming but ran & keeps hiding till date.
Tokunbo Idowu, otherwise known as T-Boss, a former Big Brother Nigeria runner-up has shared photos from a recent trip to see her family in Romania over the Easter period.

T-Boss mom is Romanian while her father is from Edo state.

She posted pictures from her holiday there on her Social media, saying;

#Flashback To a couple of days ago when I went to spend the Easter with My Family in Romania.

Even though their own Easter is gonna be this weekend. I Hadnt Seen these Bunch in over 2 years.

Yeah it was Brief but it was totally worth it. Wished @miss_goldilocks & @christhova were present then we would have been Complete. Someday though

Ps: For some reason, nobody seems to have caught on that I was the one in this very first photo- everyone thought it was Wendy- Do we really look that much alike?

Recall that T-Boss father cursed her on Instagram saying that woe unto any man who married his daughters, he also said he wants to move on from T-Boss and her mother and siblings and start a new life with a younger wife.

T-Boss responded with a measured manner, placing a picture that talked about how the closest people to you are also the most toxic.

Source  Herald
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday jetted out of the nations capital, Abuja.

He traveled to his hometown, Daura, Katsina state, to condole with the people on the passing of Senator Mustapha Bukar.

63-year-old Bukar, who was representing Katsina North in the Senate, died on Wednesday after a brief illness.

The President will be back to Abuja on Sunday.

President @MBuhari departs Abuja for Daura, Katsina State, to pay a condolence visit to Senator Mustapha Bukars family who died on Wednesday. He will be back to Abuja on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/YjF1stTprC  Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) April 6, 2018

Source  TORI
Yesterday was a sad day in Offa, Kwara State, after heavily armed bandits laid siege on the whole town slaughtering innocent Nigerians indiscriminately without compassion. The central police station according an eyewitness was sacked and policemen & women were slaughtered. Four banks were raided at the same time and security men were killed at sight.

According to Nigerians who frequent the town, Men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, otherwise known as SARS are always seen parading the town but wondered why they were no where to be found while the bandits unleashed mayhem on the town. See their reactions below;

Im a regular visitor to offa town in kwara state, SARS officials are visible everywhere & always harass unnecessarily. The question is; where were they when an army of thieves invaded the town & rob 1,2,3,4,5 banks.. 5!!. Shot several civilians dead This is saddening!! #offa  RPG (@ATM_ReGe) April 6, 2018

I dont understand how they were able to rob 5 banks successfully in Offa without Police/SARS intervening. 1 2 3 4 5 tearssssss.  #FUNAABwitches (@uthman_waxcav) April 6, 2018

So armed robbers comfortably killed people, Robbed 5 banks, yes FIVE in Offa, Kwara state. my question is where was the Anti Robbery squad, Armed Policemen and SARS?. #PrayForOffa  Slay King  (@deoluajao) April 6, 2018

SARS, Special Anti Robbery Squad in kwara state are more than 500 and more than 100 in OFFA where armed men robbed for more than 1hour. Stop attack on internet fraudsters and face armed men. What a sad story pic.twitter.com/m3eY72UZ9l  FK-9JA (@Afolabiolabisi9) April 5, 2018

Let me get this straight @PoliceNG, so SARS that youve refused to scrap, that relentlessly harass young men in Offa and Ilorin, were on duty and nearly 40 people were killed by armed robbers hitting five banks?   jeffrey (@VillageParrot) April 6, 2018

You see when we said #EndSARS, we knew exactly what we were talking about. Theres no way in this world that SARS officers will not be anywhere close-by during that Offa robbery. They probably were part of the robbery or they simply were busy searching peoples phones.  Demola (@OmoGbajaBiamila) April 6, 2018
A Magistrates Court has remanded a 23-year-old suspected conman accused of having slept with more than 13 female members of the countrys parliament and used it as a ploy to extort money from them. According to reports, 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 Kenyan 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.

The suspect is currently being held in custody at the Kenyan Central Police Station pending the substantive hearing scheduled for April 9.
TROIS-RIVIERES, QC  Our theme for 2018, 50 percent of Quebecers will face cancer  we must help them beat it will provide a focus for our annual fund-raising campaign.



Our $500,000 target for the Mauricie region will allow us to deliver on our Mission Statement: to provide everyday real-life support to those fighting the disease as well to their essential care givers.

Our campaign presidents  NASCAR Pintys Series drivers Jean-Francois and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin  will make use of their local visibility and business contacts to increase public awareness of our foundation as we continue to grow our financial resources and our team of engaged supporters. The group will also work to increase our ability to deliver ever more support and services to the women and men touched by the disease.

Our foundation focuses on the needs and major issues of cancer sufferers and those close to them that help them cope with day-to-day needs. We become part of their support structure, always available to listen, inform, as well as provide comfort, companionship and shelter.

Luce Girard, Director, Regional Centre and Hotel Services for the Mauricie Region of the Quebec Cancer Foundation, is enthusiastic about the coming year, I am proud of the Blue-Ribbon team of committed volunteers we have built-up for our 2018 campaign, and with the ongoing support of our Campaign Presidents, Jean-Francois et Louis-Philippe Dumoulin.

Our group is convinced that we can continue to create and deliver more and better suited services to all cancer victims in our region. The active support of our population and of the local business community remains essential in the ongoing delivery of the support to cancer sufferers in our region.

After raising nearly $30,000 for the Foundation over two years of their Race Against Cancer program, Jean-Francois and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin realized how important the personal commitment and generosity of everyone are important in helping cancer victims through overwhelming difficulties. They both decided to renew their commitment to that cause in 2018.

Our first two years helping the foundation showed us how people in general took the cause to heart, with many connected personally or through family to the disease. In fact, close members of our own family have lived through such experiences. They allowed us to discover the essential nature of the support offered by the Quebec Cancer Foundation. Our decision to continue helping the movement became a very natural and easy one.

The campaign presidents will also continue the Race Against Cancer promotion for a third consecutive year, inviting donations from racing fans and adding their signatures to the cars body. They will also participate in the Foundations Un ou lautre promotion.

The Quebec Cancer Foundation

Our foundation has been providing ongoing services to thousands of cancer victims and their families for over 40 years, through regional centres in Montreal, Quebec City, and the Outaouais, Estrie and Mauricie regions.

The services range from physical and psychological well-being, to overnight hosting. Services for the 15-to-30 age group are available through the Programme a Felix.

Finally, the Info-Cancer help line offers listening, Q&A and motivational service throughout the province.

Info-cancer services: 1 800 363-0063 | cancerquebec.com |Facebook : fqcancer
TUNIS, Tunisia - April 6, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Devery.io, a blockchain based startup focused on supply chain tracking, signed with the Tunisian Ministry of Education to implement a blockchain-based tracking system for its school meals programme.

The Tunisian government operates a school meal programme designed to offer one fresh meal a day to underprivileged students in its primary and secondary educational system. In seeking to improve the system and to track the quality of the meals provided, the Ministry of Education is now exploring the utilisation of blockchain-based tracking.

The implementation will involve an initial roll out to a scheme to feed 1500 primary school kids, with the goal of ultimately rolling out to the scheme to all 400,000 Tunisian school children currently receiving food assistance once successfully trialed.

The meal programme currently serves approximately 6000 schools. In recognising the importance of nutrition as part of a broader goal to ensure and improve educational achievements, the Ministry of Education's programme is aimed to ensure that children from underprivileged backgrounds meet their nutritional requirements.

The programme is currently managed by the United Nation's World Food Programme to ensure that the programme is implemented appropriately and the schools have an adequate supply of meals for the students that require them. In achieving these goals, the ability to track the delivery of the meals as well as possible aspects on the best utilisation of funds are key measures of success for the programme.

"This project is allowing us to explore how supporting innovation, through the introduction of solutions based on blockchain technology, can contribute to strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the Tunisian national school meals programme," said Maria Lukyanova, the United Nations World Food Programme Representative and Head of Country Office for the Republic of Tunisia.

Devery.io will provide the technical advisory and development capability to build, train and utilise a transparent and more accountable system of tracking the meal deliveries as well as reporting issues directly to the Ministry in real time. Further, Devery will train personnel on the ground to utilise and maintain the technology for the foreseeable future.

"Blockchain technology has the potential to impact billions of people through bridging the gap between the physical and digital world. Ensuring the safe delivery of the food to children via blockchain technology is a cause we truly believe will impact the lives of many to come" - Andrew Rasheed, founder and CEO of Devery.io.

The World Food Programme expects to use the technology developed for this programme to assist with the delivery of food in other missions around the world.

Website: https://devery.io

Telegram: https://t.me/deverychat

About Devery.io

Devery is a leading global blockchain start-up that provides comprehensive product verification services. The company provides software that abstracts the difficulties of blockchain development by providing easy-to-use tools and applications to clients.

Media Contact:

Darren Toh

darren@blockpr.io

More Info:

This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders

Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions.

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April 6, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) A while back if you asked people about investing, it was assumed you were into property or stocks/bonds. Investments have been changing over the last few decades and we are seeing a rise in taking a different route. The two investment strategies that everyone is talking about is foreign currency and cryptocurrency. Seems like an unlikely duo but there are solid reasons why these can be successful investments for everyone.

Investing Made Easy

Some investments are not the easiest to engage with. You may find yourself hiring professionals to help you on the way and eating at some of your profits. Foreign markets and cryptos are available to everyone. In this age where self-education is easy, you don't have to hire anyone to help you. You can if you want to, but it's not required. Let's say you want to invest in West African single currency or Bitcoin. US Markets usually run on banker's hours but cryptos and foreign currencies are accessible 24 hours a day. Just login online and do your thing on your time. No taking off time for work or spending your day off with a broker.

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

Every bit of advice available about investing always begins with diversification. It's true, having a mixed portfolio allows you to grow money in various ways and at various speeds. Having a slow tried and true method keeps you moving upward while a high-risk option can grow your pot substantially. You could choose to invest in Ethereum right alongside Omisego and Steem. Or you can invest in some property and the Japanese Yen.

It Doesn't Take Much

It really doesn't take that much money to invest in foreign currency or cryptocurrencies. Ideally, you will look for a country that is going through an economic upswing that will result in a stronger currency later. It translates into a bigger payout! Cryptocurrencies are booming and many new ones are being introduced on a weekly basis. These ICO's can be cheap to buy into and grow into a large value after some time. Additionally, some cryptos are accepted at local restaurants or to pay bills online. It eliminates the need to cash out into your bank account.

Why Not Invest The Old Way?

There is certainly nothing wrong with investing in property or stocks, but technology has been actively changing the investing field. People are witnessing the massive success of others and want a part of the action. People want it to be easier, less costly, and take up less time. Even if you invest in property or stocks, you will be able to do it easier and online now. The biggest concern is the volatility of these newer methods. Just like the Gold Rush, people are getting excited at possibilities and ready to take a chance. Unlike the Gold Rush, there aren't finite opportunities. As we see the investment world change, we will see our options change with it.

Getting started is easy! You study the currency or crypto that is most appealing to you and is affordable for your budget. You can do it all online and add your bank account to transfer funds in and out of. With crypto's, you take an extra step of getting a crypto wallet that supports your desired coin to secure your investment with. You can go on all sorts of investing message boards to learn more about processes, upcoming changes, and new things heading down the pipeline. It will open up an entirely new world for you!

Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Contact each company directly regarding content and press release questions. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. More disclaimer info: http://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp. This article is paid for published third party content and not the content of Investorideas.com . Read our article disclaimers. Learn more about posting your articles at http://www.investorideas.com/Advertise/
The Ames Main Street Farmers Market is a local market that has been a staple of downtown Ames for the past eight years. The market 
Minister Napuat says after his visit to the main market that people must produce more food to help address food crisis caused by natural disasters.
Today

A few passing clouds. Low around 65F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low around 65F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tomorrow

Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 90F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.
VRC Field officer, Shirley Johnson, supported by Dano (her right) and Walter (her left), interviewing a young lady in Luganville.
Minister Napuat,Mayor Sandy and councilors visited all markets within the Port Vila Municipality this week to hear and address concerns of vendors and challenges of each market management
Public Sector Organization Lahore Jobs 2018 for Managers

Latest Public Sector Organization Management Posts Lahore 2021 Public Sector Organization Lahore, Pakistan required candidates or the posts of Assistant Manager Accounts (MBA Finance, ACCA, M Com, ACCA, CMA Inter), Assistant Manager Sales and Sales Officer.

How to Apply on Public Sector Organization 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.

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.
Security Guards Job in Qatar

Latest Faisal Usman Overseas Employment Promoters Security Posts Qatar 2021 Security Guards are required in Qatar Through Faisal Usman Overseas Employment Promoters. Candidate must be experience as security Guards in well known company.

How to Apply on Faisal Usman Overseas Employment Promoters 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.

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.
State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan Jobs

Latest State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan Management Posts Karachi 2021 Assistant Manager F & A, Assistant Manger Electrical, Assistant Manger General, Assistant Manger IT, Assistant Manger Software Developers, Executive Offices, Office Assistants, naib Qasid and Drivers are required in State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan in Karachi. Apply Through PTS.

How to Apply on State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan 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.



Telephone: 051-2806090-92

Official Website: www.pts.org.pk

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.
Do you remember this song?



Money

The Beatles



The best things in life are free

But you can keep them for the birds and bees

Now give me money

That's what I want

That's what I want, yeah

That's what I want



You're lovin' gives me a thrill

But you're lovin' don't pay my bills

Now give me money

That's what I want

That's what I want, yeah

That's what I want



Money don't get everything it's true

What it don't get, I can't use

Now give me money

That's what I want

That's what I want, yeah

That's what I want, wah



Well now give me money

A lot of money

Wow, yeah, I wanna be free

Oh I want money

That's what I want

That's what I want, well

Now give me money

A lot of money

Wow, yeah, you need money

Now, give me money

That's what I want, yeah

That's what I want....


remaining of

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Clara007 said: I thought it was hilarious! Go get your sense of humor, Sabcat. You usually THRIVE on "pithy". Click to expand...

It pains me that the general population has been brainwashed into seeing everything as some sort of "marginalize group" vs something else. It has always been a sence of pride that all of that shit was irrelevant to me and was an important value i instilled in my kids. No matter who you are where you come from you are no better or worse than the person you are standing next to. It is a persons actions that establish their merit not whatever group that society has attempted to place them in. Now, all of the sudden this intersectionality , post modernist, cultural marxist garbage has taken hold and everyone wants to break off into little tribes to compete for victim points and cry how they are oppressed. What happened to personal responsibility, pulling yourself up from the bootstraps, stcks and stones and turning the other cheek?
JUIRST Guest Columnist Oday Talal Mahmood of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law discusses the potential implications of judicial review in Iraq. In Iraqs Constitution of 2005, more than 67 of the 144 Articles include the language: shall be regulated by law, referring to the most important laws including the Federation Council Law, and the Oil and Gas Law. Aside from these laws, there are some others which need to be enacted by the Iraqi Parliament. All of these essential laws are concentrated in the institutional structure of the country. The Federal Supreme Court in Iraq has to review all of these laws in case there is a challenge to their constitutionality. Before 2003, there was no judicial review in Iraq. Thus, this is a new method of legal scrutiny and Article 2 was fundamental to the establishment of a judicial review mechanism in Iraq. This Article established the Repugnancy Clause, which stipulated that the Iraqi legislature cannot enact any law which is contrary to the Islamic settled rulings, democracy, and human rights. In practice, adding a religious component to the standard of judicial review may raise concerns about the influence of religion on the governance of a young democratic country. Especially considering the fact that the Courts decisions would be superior and binding on other branches. Furthermore, the Courts decisions are often still controversial.

The provision of the Federal Courts right to a constitutional review was made clear in Article 93. In Article 2, the Constitution clearly outlines the standards of review a constitutional judge must follow to determine whether or not laws are constitutional. However, what is lacking in the Iraqi constitutional judiciary is the courage to render stricter decisions to protect the Constitution. This courage will not come unless constitutional judges are free from the texts of ordinary laws and rely solely on constitutional values, logic, and reason. The function of the constitutional judge is quite different from the ordinary judge, and no less important than the legislator in achieving the interests of society. For example, an ill-conceived judicial decision may ignite civil war or undermine a basic right enshrined in the Constitution.

Today, the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq is bound by the imaginary limitations of the difficulty in the application of Article 2 of the Constitution, which contains elements that some may consider incompatible with Islamic settled rulings, democracy, and human rights. Regardless of the philosophical interpretations of these elements, there are two solutions for this problem. First, procedurally, the court can enable parties to submit adversarial briefs asking them to describe specific issues of Islamic settled rulings, democracy, and human rights. The other solution is to accelerate the formation of the court structure as Article 92 provided: The Federal Supreme Court shall be made up of a number of judges, experts in Islamic jurisprudence, and legal scholars. This solution will ensure that each member of the court will bear his or her moral, legal, and intellectual responsibility that the interpretation of these concepts aligns with the needs of the community. It will also ensure that the interpretation is in a way that secures the operation of the Article and does not disrupt the Constitution. The effective judicial review of the laws today in Iraq is an important factor in the success of the democratic rule. This can establish the loyalty of all the government institutions in the country to the Constitution and prevent the emergence of another dictatorship.

Oday Talal Mahmood is a S.J.D. candidate for 2019 at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Suggested citation:Oday Talal Mahmood, Toward the Effective Judicial Review in Iraq, JURIST  Student Commentary, Apr. 6, 2018, http://jurist.org/dateline/2018/04/Mahmood-toward-the-effective-judicial-review-in-iraq.php
China filed a complaint [materials] against the US with the World Trade Organization (WTO) [official website] on Thursday over US tariffs against Chinese goods.

The complaint is a request for consultation [press release], which is the first step in a dispute in the WTO. The US and China have 60 days to resolve the dispute. If an agreement can not be made during that time, then an adjudication by panel can be requested.

Chinas complaint claims that the tariffs published by the United States on April 3 are in excess of the United States bound rates in its Schedule of Concessions and Commitments annexed to the [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade] 1994. The complaint argues that the tariffs result in three separate violations. These violations include:

1. Article I.1 of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue fail to extend immediately and unconditionally to China an advantage, favour, privilege or immunity granted by the United States [w]ith respect to customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in connection with the importation of products originating in the territory of other Members.

2. Article II.1(a) and (b) of the GATT 1994, because the measures at issue fail to accord to the products originating in China identified in the above mentioned documents the treatment no less favourable than that provided for in the United Statess Schedule of Concessions and Commitments annexed to the GATT 1994.

3. Article 23 of the DSU, because the measures at issue fail to recourse to, and abide by, the rules and procedures of the DSU, when the United States seek the redress of a violation of obligation or other nullification or impairment of benefits under the covered agreements or an impediment to the attainment of any objective of the covered agreements.

US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum [JURIST report] calling for tariffs against China in March. The announcement came two weeks after Trump imposed sanctions [JURIST report] against aluminum and steel imports.
Ammar al Baluchi [The Rendition Project backgrounder], a forty-one-year old Pakistani national accused of helping to plan the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has filed a motion in military court requesting it to strike down the Defense Departments [official website] restrictions on his ability to create and distribute artwork.

al Baluchi had been creating his artwork in his cell at Guantanamo and wants to be able to publicly distribute it, but he has thus far been blocked from giving his artwork to attorneys and has found it increasingly difficult to be able to draw or paint because of the new restrictions.

These restrictions came about as a consequence to an art exhibition titled Ode to the Sea held between early October and late January that received widespread public attention, including coverage in over two hundred articles and editorials worldwide. According to the curator of the exhibition, Erin Thompson, al Baluchis artwork were among those that received said public attention. One of these artworks depicts the aftermath of al Baluchis torture while in CIA custody.

The media exposure for al Baluchis artwork led to references in the articles to al Baluchis pending military commission proceedings and his years of CIA torture. In November 2017 and for months thereafter, apparently in response to the increasing attention received by al Baluchis artwork, the DOD made public statements effectively declaring all Guantanamo detainee art as federal government property covered by the military commissions privileged written communications order.

Furthermore, JDG Commander Rear Admiral Edward Cashman in February justified these public statements and the decision to stop the transfer of detainee-made objects off Guantanamo as a policy decision. Since then, al Baluchi has been unable to distribute any of his artwork despite heavy demand from museums, public space exhibitions, and even journalists wishing to discuss his story through his artwork.

Lawyer for al Baluchi and Human Rights Counsel at the Guantanamo Bay Military Commissions, Alka Pradhan [official profile], has made several legal arguments through the motion to strike down the restrictions imposed on the distribution of al Baluchis artwork including US copyright law. But Pradhans primary argument has centered on the artworks potential to serve as an effective form of treatment for trauma and al Baluchis right of access to such a treatmenti.e. his right to create and publicly release art as therapy for his torture.

While some family members of 9/11 victims have expressed anger and frustration at the idea of al Baluchis ability to create and/or distribute art, Pradhan responded [WT report]: you cannot discount every possible method of humanizing these men to the public when they have been so dehumanized by the government for so long. Pradhan added that al Baluchis art can help present him as more human to military officers tasked with putting him to death.

The motion contains as many 14 declarations including those of two separate family members [PDF] of 9/11 victims and a decorated Iraq war veteran [PDF] who have come in support of al Baluchis right to create and distribute his artwork. Other supporting declarations include those of a copyright law expert [PDF] and several art therapists. According to Pradhan, a hearing is expected on the motion in May.
"The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities. Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities."

U.S. Hits Russian Oligarchs And Officials With Sanctions Over Election Interference



The Trump administration is laying sanctions on 38 Russian oligarchs, government officials and business entities, citing "the Kremlin's malign agenda" that ranges from malicious online campaigns and efforts to undermine democracy to its actions in eastern Ukraine and Syria.



Seven Russian oligarchs and the 12 companies they own or control are on the new sanctions list. So are 17 senior Russian government officials, along with a government -owned weapons trading company and its subsidiary bank.



The move by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control targets members of Russia's elite, including Kirill Shamalov, the husband of Russian President Vladimir Putin's daughter, who famously received a loan of more than $1 billion from state-owned Gazprombank.



The list also names Oleg Deripaska, a businessman who has been linked to President Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. The Treasury says Deripaska has operated on the Russian government's behalf; it also cited "allegations that Deripaska bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group."



Because of the sanctions, assets held by the individuals in the U.S. will be frozen; Americans are also barred from doing business with those named in the list. Click to expand...

Wow. It appears to me that a US-Saudi Arabia-Israel alliance is strengthening in opposition to a Russia-Iran-Syria alliance. The Bible prophesies a big battle in the region. Things are shaping up. Here, from SecTreas Mnuchin:Seems the Russian "hooker" who posted incriminating video on Facebook just might have been on to something, re:For the time being, she's out of sight....Bunch more: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/06/600083466/u-s-hits-russian-oligarchs-and-officials-with-sanctions-over-election-interferen
FOCUS ON DEFENSE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA AND OCEANIA
SALEM, Ore.  Oregon's Attorney General Rosenblum announced today that the state will provide $600,000 in grants intended to help fight the state's opioid epidemic. The grants will go to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) Department of Family Medicine, according to a statement from the Attorney General's office.

The grant money is sourced from a $2.4 million settlement between the state and medical technology company Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. The lawsuit claimed that the company unlawfully promoted their Infuse Bone Graft Device as far superior to existing bone graft techniques.

"We take an even greater satisfaction in resolving consumer cases like Medtronic when we are able to provide portions of the settlement to help with the underlying problems the case addresses. Here we are able to do that with two exceptional grantees that will be able to expand their work addressing pain management and opioid addiction," said Attorney General Rosenblum.

CLICK HERE for our recent story on how medical marijuana affects opioid use.

According the Attorney General's office, both the OHA and OHSU have programs aimed at providing opioid addiction services, which the grants are intended to support.

- $260,000 will go to the OHA so that they can expand their Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention and Clinical Prescribing Guidelines Implementation Project. The project will now be able to increase the number of health systems in Oregon that implement best practices in pain management and safe opioid prescribing as recommended by the CDC, and establish a second Pain Management Improvement Team.

- $360,000 will go to OHSU's Project Nurture, a Health Share supported program with several sites in the Portland Metro area that was created to address the needs of pregnant women with substance use disorders. Project Nurture integrates substance use disorder treatment with primary care (including pain management), prenatal care, intrapartum care, postpartum care and well-baby care that women with substance use disorders need while pregnant and in the first year of the child's life.

"In order to fight Oregon's opioid crisis, we must find innovative ways to fund pain management research and support our local communities that are on the front lines of this health crisis, said Attorney General Rosenblum.
By ANDREW SELSKY and TOM JAMES , Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP)  President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the border with Mexico has drawn resistance from some governors, most of them Democrats, but they could be powerless to deny the commander in chief's request for soldiers.

Governors have some leeway to say no presidents, but depending on which federal law Trump uses to order the deployment, the matter could be out of the governors' hands.

The statute known as "Title 10 duty status" establishes that National Guard personnel operate under the president's control and receive federal pay and benefits. It also forbids them from performing tasks of civilian law enforcement unless explicitly authorized, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that she had a "productive conversation" about the deployment with governors of the Southwest border states.

On Friday, North Dakota's Republican governor joined leaders of some border states in saying he would send forces if asked.

The GOP governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas also back the plan. California's Democratic governor has been silent on the topic. It's unclear if Trump will ask for troops from states other than those along the border.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the deployment as "a good first step." If the administration determines that more troops are needed, "we'll make that decision at that time."

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said that if he's asked, he will contribute.

"We will answer the call," Burgum said. "From historic floods to more recent events, we North Dakotans know from experience how critical it is for states to support each other in times of need."

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, also a Republican, on Friday became one of the latest leaders to oppose the plan. His spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an email that Sandoval does not believe the mission would be "an appropriate use" of the Nevada Guard.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said she would deny Trump's request.

"As commander of Oregon's Guard, I'm deeply troubled by Trump's plan to militarize our border," Brown tweeted.

Her spokesman, Bryan Hockaday, acknowledged she might not have a say if Trump uses the federal code.

Trump "can federalize the National Guard forces, and there's not much the governor can do to prevent that," Hockaday said.

However, if a National Guard mission were ordered under another federal law called Title 32, the protocol could be different. That law says command and control of National Guard personnel remain with their respective governors, even though the troops generally serve a federal purpose, according to the Congressional Research Service.

In that scenario, a governor could try to reject a request for troops or order Guard members to remain in rear staging areas and not participate.

While California Gov. Jerry Brown has not spoken publicly about Trump's plan, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said any request "will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners."

"We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state," Keegan said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said Friday that she will consult with the head of the Alabama Guard to see what resources are available.

If the deployment happens, it would not be the first time the National Guard has gone to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Almost every U.S. state and territory contributed Guard members to Operation Jump Start, announced by President George W. Bush in 2006. Around 30,000 Guard members eventually participated, according to a 2008 National Guard analysis, including more than 1,000 each from Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

During Operation Phalanx, ordered by President Barack Obama in 2010, 1,200 Guard members deployed to the border, most of them from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

In the mid-1980s, National Guard troops were deployed even farther south, in Honduras, where they carried out military maneuvers. The missions happened as Sandinista forces in neighboring Nicaragua battled Contra rebels who were backed by Washington and had clandestine bases in Honduras.

___

Associated Press writers Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas and Jonathan Cooper in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.
GRANTS PASS, Ore.  The historic island of Iwo Jima, site of the pivotal WWII battle between the United States and Japan, only opens up to visitors one day each year. That day has become known as the "Reunion of Honor," when Japanese and American veterans meet on the battlefield to honor the memories of their fallen brethren.

This year, Young Marine Molly Carino accompanied those veterans on the Reunion as something of an honor guard, along with ten of her Rogue Valley Young Marine comrades and their adult leaders.

The trip was a chance of a lifetime, Carino said. A highlight was meeting Woody Hershel Williams, a medal of honor recipient and a WWII veteran. The ability to shake his hand and hear some of his stories was truly spectacular. His spirit and service make him one of the most incredible veterans I have ever had the chance to meet.

The Young Marines joined veterans and their families along the landing beaches to take part in a memorial service, led by dignitaries and veterans from both the U.S. and Japan. The service remembered the many young men who gave their lives during the battle for the island, according to a statement from the Young Marines.

Every Young Marine who makes this annual trip treasures the experience, said Col William P. Davis USMC (Ret), national executive director and CEO of the Young Marines. They learned history from those who made history. Truly it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

According to the organization, the Young Marines are a national non-profit youth education and service program for boys and girls, age eight through the completion of high school. They promote the mental, moral and physical development of their members, the statement said. The program focuses on teaching the values of leadership, teamwork and self-disciplineso members can live and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Iwo Jima is a small, volcanic island that lies 750 miles south of Tokyo. As a result of its volcanic heritage, the five-mile-long island is pocked and tunneled with ancient volcanic vents and caves.

In 1945, an American naval bombardment failed to dent the heavily fortified Japanese defenses, and the result was a 36-day assault led by American Marines. The battle for the island, though ultimately a U.S. victory, left over 25,000 dead between both sides.
Supporters of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye with her portrait stage a rally to call for her release near the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 6, 2018. A South Korean court is set to issue a verdict against disgraced former President Park on Friday, a year after she was forced out of office and arrested over an explosive corruption scandal that ensnared aides and prominent business leaders. The signs read: " Release." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
FILE - This June 3, 1937 photo shows Wallis Simpson and Britain's Edward VIII, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, after their wedding at the Chateau de Cande near Tours, France. Simpson, the twice-divorced socialite from Baltimore, whose love affair with King Edward VIII, triggered a constitutional crisis for the British monarchy in the 1930s. (AP Photo, File)
The CTV logo outside their studios in Halifax on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010. A former CTV News reporter facing sexual misconduct allegations is suing the broadcaster, its parent company and the woman who levelled accusations against him. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
A cargo ship sits in the bay at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, on September 2, 2017. The Canadian government is on board an international proposal passed this week to force the shipping industry to cut its emissions in half by the middle of the century. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister speaks to reporters in his office in Winnipeg on Friday, April 6, 2018. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said Friday he will see the federal government in court if it imposed a higher carbon tax on Manitobans than Pallister's government is planning. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Lambert
Asylum seekers line up to enter Olympic Stadium Friday, August 4, 2017 near Montreal, Quebec. Canadian border officials are preparing for another expected spike in asylum seekers coming illegally into the country through Quebec and Ontario from the U.S. as the weather gets warmer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
In this April 3, 2018 photo, President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly attends a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Kelly, once empowered to bring order to a turbulent West Wing, is receding from view, his clout diminished, his word less trusted by staff and his guidance less tolerated by an increasingly go-it-alone-president. Emboldened in his job, President Donald Trump has rebelled against KellyAos restrictions and mused about doing away with the chief of staff post entirely, leaving White House staffers and Trump allies to believe that Kelly is working on borrowed time. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The undated photo provided by the German aerospace center (DLR) shows various salads which were harvested in the EDEN-ISS greenhouse at the Neumeyer-Station III on Antarctica. The project without soil but with a closed water cycle, optimized lightning and carbon dioxide levels is a test to become part of the nutrition for astronauts in future moon or Mars missions. (DLR via AP)
Supporters of Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva protest against the warrant for his arrest, outside the metal workers headquarters in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Friday, April 6, 2018. Federal judge Sergio Moro on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for da Silva, a major blow for the once wildly popular leader who was trying to mount a political comeback ahead of October's elections. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
FILE - In this March 28, 2018 file photo, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin speaks during a news conference following a vote on a package of tax hikes to fund teacher pay raises in Oklahoma City. Fallin says public school teachers who are striking for more classroom funding are like "a teenage kid that wants a better car." In an interview with CBS News, Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Fallin signed legislation last week increasing teacher pay but teachers have been on strike for more. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki File)
MASON CITY, Iowa  A man facing charges in two counties pleads guilty in one of them.

Jeremy Nicholas Mulford, 37 of Mason City, has entered a guilty plea to trespass in Cerro Gordo County. Mason City police say he was found with burglary tools on the property of Alliant Energy on October 6, 2017. Officers say Mulford used bolt cutters to get through the fence.

Sentencing has been scheduled for May 23, which is the same day Mulfords trial for a Worth County burglary is to begin. For details on that story, click here.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa  Police had to deal with two significant car crashes Wednesday afternoon.

The first happened just after 4 pm at the intersection of 8th Avenue and I Street. Charles City police say Rebekah Gasso, 36 of Charles City, was driving east and was hit by the southbound vehicle driven by Michelle Ferch, 63 of Floyd. Ferch was cited for failing to yield to the vehicle on the right and police say some minor injuries were treated at the scene. Officers say both vehicles suffered major damage and estimate it to about $20,000 combined.

Another two-vehicle collision then happened around 4:45 pm. Police say Dianne Blackburn, 72 of Charles City, was stopped at the intersection of Highland Avenue and 1st Avenue. Officers say as Blackburn moved into the intersection, she was struck by the eastbound vehicle driven by Theresa Rand, 52 of Charles City. Rand was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign. Police estimate the damage to both vehicles at around $5,000.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa - Each month, KIMT News 3 and our Giving Your Best Partners, Diamond Jo Casino and First Citizens Bank, honors some who go above and beyond to give back to their community.

Our April Volunteers of the Month are Jessamy Orcutt and Allen Murray. They are the founders of Transcend North Iowa, an organization dedicated to supporting people who are transgender, non-binary or gender non-conforming.

"Our son came out as transgender about two years ago and we were sort of looking around for resources for him and we just couldn't find any. So we decided to start a support a group," said Orcutt.

The group is continuing to grow.

"We started with 4 people at our very first meeting and now we do meetings in 3 different locations. We do advocacy, outreach, training. We have a clothing closet for people who want to come refresh their wardrobe," Orcutt said.

"Being transgender is often a really lonely experience and having a support group like this is so important," said Eliott Bowers, who nominated Orcutt and Murray for the award.

"They really do deserve to be recognized for, not just what they do for me, but what they do for all of us here in Transcend, and essentially what they do for the transgender community throughout the area here in Iowa," said Bowers.

"Really overwhelmed and grateful. I'm kind of on the verge of tears because just knowing that what we do makes a difference and that people really appreciate it and that you know we are helping somehow. It makes us want to work that much harder," Orcutt said.

If you'd like to nominate someone for our GYB Volunteer of the Month, click here: http://www.kimt.com/community/giving-your-best-volunteer-of-the-month/
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - It's something you don't want to think about happening in your city but an estimated 25 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery known as human trafficking.

Chuck Myers will never forget getting a call from his 15 year old daughter after she was approached by a stranger.

The first thing I thought was Taken, Liam Nelson, so when this came up with Libby we knew we were going to that, Myers said.

Myers describes being at the movie theater last Thursday. His daughter called while she was at target saying a man asked her to touch a napkin he was holding. Myers got there in less than two minutes telling a manager and police the story.

Fear and rage all at the same time I got to get to her, protect her, who is the guy what is he doing, is he just a weirdo, is he dangerous, it was scary, Myers said.

Human trafficking came to Myers mind. Luckily he found out from police this wasn't the case but now Myers says he realizes trafficking could happen in our area and wants to know how he can help stop it. Thats why he's attending Clear Lake's human trafficking awareness and prevention program saying after his incident he's not questioning if it could happen.

You could, right at the gas station they could snag your girl and be gone in a minute, Myers said.

In Iowa, nearly 1,500 tips on human trafficking have been reported since 2007 to 2017. In Minnesota that number sits at nearly 1,600 tips according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP)  An Avon police officer who stopped a knife attack at a shopping mall is the first Minnesota officer to receive the Congressional Badge of Bravery.

Officer Jason Falconer received the honor Thursday at a ceremony in St. Cloud.

Falconer, a firearms instructor and competitive shooter, was off-duty and shopping at Crossroads Center in St. Cloud in September 2016 when Dahir Adan stabbed and wounded 10 people. Falconer shot and killed Adan after Adan lunged at him with a knife.

U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith and U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer presented Falconer with the award, created by Congress 10 years ago to honor exceptional acts of bravery by law enforcement.

The St. Cloud Times reports Falconer said he appreciates the honor but added, "It's over, done. We move on."
KIMT NEWS 3 - A bill that has been sent to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds desk aims to reduce the amount of liability businesses have when it comes to selling alcohol to intoxicated patrons.

The bill looks to lower the liability on bar owners to make dramshop protection more affordable. Dramshop protection essentially covers alcohol related incidents, more specifically, to the point of intoxication.

The bill also looks to reduce the number of lawsuits that are filed against those who serve alcohol to intoxicated patrons by lowering the amount of damages that can be sued for to $259,000 unless a jury finds that severe body damage was done.

A former North Iowa Police Officer, Roger Trettin, of Rockford, worries this could lead to more drunk drivers. He says most of the responsibility is on the driver because it is their decision, but said the business needs to share some of the responsibility.

If they are going to be selling alcohol to their customers, they need to be taking the reasonability of controlling the amount some people drink," he said.
FOREST CITY, Iowa  A judge has found a Britt man guilty on two counts of 2nd degree sexual abuse.

Chad Bonner, 48, was arrested in June 2017 after charges were filed against him in Winnebago County. He pleaded not guilty and waived his right to a jury trial, allowing his case to be decided by a judge.

He was accused of performing sex acts upon two girls under the age of 12 between January 2005 and September 2008. Court documents say the abuse occurred in Forest City and Thompson.

In handing down his guilty verdict on Friday, the judge stated he could find no reason the victims would make false accusations against Bonner and that sexually abused children do not always immediately tell people about the abuse when it is happening.

A sentencing date for Bonner has not yet been scheduled.

Bonner is listed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for a Cerro Gordo County conviction in 1991 for 3rd degree sexual abuse and 2010 convictions in Winnebago County for dissemination of obscene material and sexual exploitation of a minor.
HANCOCK CO., Iowa - New tariffs on agricultural goods heading to China have many farmers in our area worried.

Wilma Kmop is one of them. Kmop lives on a century farm where her and her husband farmed 150 acres of land.

We had cows, cattle, chickens, a little bit of everything, she said.

But she says farming is changing as the prices of crops continue to drop. But now she is worried about young farmers not being able to afford rent on her land.

If my renters cant pay rent because of the decrease they cant sell their crops. If they cant do that they wont be able to have a go at it, she said. I wouldnt be able to charge them rent because I dont want them to starve.

Congressman Steve King says he has brought the issue up to President Trump a number of times and is worried this could lead to a trade war, hurting the Iowa economy as bad as the farm crisis in the 80s.

I certainly lived through the 80s and I paid 22 percent interest, and I know what happened in these communities for that period of time, Congressman Kings said. The children that grew up in that bad economic time in the farm crisis decade of the 80s, many of them moved out of Iowa and never came back.

While King is still fighting to have these tariffs eased, he said there could be a silver lining after the South Korean government gave the President an invitation to meet with the North Korea leader, Kim Jung Un.

Perhaps well look back on this in 10 years and see that this was the start of the negotiations of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, Congressman King said. Thats the best result that I could see come out of all of this.

While we are still learning what these changes will mean to Iowas economy and farmers, Kmop worries about the future if these tariffs dont change.

It will affect the sale of our corn, soybeans, hogs, those are three things that are very prominent in Iowa, Kmop said.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa woman has been indicted on fraud charges for allegedly stealing $175,000 from her now-dead fiancee and his elderly mother.

Robin Ann Bertelli was arrested Thursday on a 35-count indictment and expected to make an initial appearance Friday in Cedar Rapids.

Bertelli is charged with stealing from accounts that belonged to her fiancee  former Navy SEAL Ken Martin Jr.  and Martin's mother. Bertelli allegedly started a relationship with Martin around 2013 after a prior husband died and lived with his family in Central City, Iowa.

Martin died in 2016 while on vacation with Bertelli in Puerto Rico from what Bertelli told others was an accidental drowning after hitting his head on a rock. He was 57.

The indictment alleges that Bertelli stole checks that belonged to the Martins before and after his death and wrote them payable to herself, forging their signatures.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced Thursday he will run for his old job, ending months of speculation about a return to politics following his short-lived 2012 presidential campaign.

The two-term Republican governor had been inching toward a run for months, quitting his Washington lobbying job and filing a campaign committee so he could begin fundraising. His entry blows up a crowded group of candidates that has struggled to raise money, and may entice spending by national conservative groups eager to win in a left-leaning state.

Pawlenty joined the race via a 2-minute campaign video that featured the sweater-clad, salt-and-pepper-haired politician speaking to the camera in a living room. He made only one reference to his eight years as governor, instead going heavy on such conservative issues as expanding vocational schools, cracking down on ineligible enrollees in the states public health care programs and cutting taxes on Social Security income.

Pawlenty was treated as the presumptive GOP front runner by both parties well before Thursday. His shadow kept big-money donors on the sidelines for months, making it difficult for Republicans already in the race to build their campaigns. And Democrat-allied groups started to attack Pawlenty while he was still publicly flirting with a bid.

The former governor spent the weeks leading up to his launch putting campaign pieces in place, including recruiting staff and filing a formal campaign committee in mid-March  a necessary step to begin fundraising in earnest. He also started an aggressive outreach campaign to Republican activists who will vote on the partys endorsement, testing messages that were deeply critical of his Democratic successor, Gov. Mark Dayton.

The 71-year-old Daytons decision not to seek a third term set off a wide-open race to replace him. Despite Minnesotas liberal history and talk of a wave election in 2018, Republicans see hope for breaking through two years after Donald Trump nearly beat Hillary Clinton in Minnesota.

For Pawlenty, a return to his old perch would be political redemption. Marketing himself as a Sams Club Republican, he flamed out early as a presidential hopeful in 2012, quitting after a third-place finish in the Iowa straw poll.

His career since then gives fodder to both Democrats and his GOP rivals. Pawlenty joined the Financial Services Roundtable in 2012, making more than $1 million a year while lobbying on behalf of the nations largest banks until he left the job in mid-March. On his campaign website, Pawlenty refers to that work only as serving as the leader of a large trade association.

As Pawlenty publicly mulled a run, some Republican rivals dismissed him.

Recent history from Minnesota and nationally is filled with Republicans who had piles of money and lost, said Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, who lost the 2014 race to Dayton.

Democrats started laying the groundwork for a campaign against Pawlenty months ago. They bashed his high-powered lobbying job and accused him of mishandling the states finances while governor, saddling the Legislature with a $6 billion budget deficit when he left office.

While Pawlenty is the last Republican to win statewide office, that was 12 years ago. And he never got more than 47 percent of the vote, winning both of his elections with the help of third-party candidates seen as drawing off some of the Democratic vote.

Pawlenty is re-entering a Republican Party drastically different from his previous electoral wins  and, in the eyes of some Republican voters, with the possible baggage of being a once-vocal critic of Trump.

Johnson and other GOP candidates dinged Pawlenty for withdrawing support for Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election. Pawlenty called then-candidate Trump unhinged and unfit for the presidency after his vulgar comments about women surfaced from a 2005 recording.
ROCHESTER, Minn.-

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resource warns people that just because we are still experiencing some winter weather, does not mean it is still safe to do winter activities such as ice fishing or riding ATVs on ice.

The DNR has responded to more than a half-dozen ice emergencies in Minnesota since the last week in March, and there are five reported ice-related deaths in the state this winter.

Sam Jaquith teaches ice rescue courses at Riverland Community College. He thinks it's best if people avoid ice completely right now. However, if they must go onto the ice, they should have safety gear including an ice pick and probing poll to check the stability of the ice, and they should always wear a life jacket.

"If the pole goes through the ice, it's time to get out of there," advises Jaquith.
ROCHESTER, Minn.- Rochester Area Habitat for Humanity and Homes for All Minnesota held a "Lunch with Legislators and Leaders" at Rochester Area Habitat for Humanity's current construction project. They invited legislators to come see the work in progress at the house and talk about the need to address affordable housing.

"Why do we have so many people who cannot afford just a basic place to live? Well, it's because of what's going on in our economy," said Minnesota Representative Tina Liebling at the event. "The fact that over many years, jobs have not paid enough for people to actually live. Wages have not gone up, but the cost of living, especially the cost of housing, has gone up."

RAHFH usually purchases empty lots to build new houses on. However, with the help of Olmsted County Housing and Redevelopment Authority, they were able to find and purchase a property with an existing house at an affordable price. Upon closer inspection, they discovered the foundation of the house was not salvagable.

They are currently in the process of tearing down the house so they can they build a new one in it's place. This is the first time RAHFH has deconstructed a house.

Rochester Area Habitat for Humanity's construction manager Brian Wimmer calls the demolition "an opportunity" for volunteers to learn more about the remodeling process.

The new house is expected to be completed sometime early next year. RAHFH also has construction plans drawn up to begin a house in Clermont this year.
STEWARTVILLE, Minn.  A man with a blood-alcohol level of .20 had two children under the age of five in his car when he was arrested for DWI Thursday night.

Timothy Toppin, 39, of Rochester, told deputies he was driving home from Cresco, Iowa, after his vehicle was located in the ditch in the 3000 block of 16th St. SW. at 8:19 p.m.

Toppin, who had children ages 2 and 4 in the car, admitted he was showing off for his kids and that resulted in the vehicle in the ditch. He could not give a general location of where he was at, authorities said.

He is facing charges for DWI and child endangerment.

Authorities say Toppins wife suspected he was drunk and was able to flag down a Rochester squad car and they were able to ping his cell phone to the southwest part of Stewartville.
NASHUA, Iowa  A Florida murder suspect is arrested in northeast Iowa.

The Iowa State Patrol says it attempted to stop a vehicle for speeding on Highway 218 near Nashua around 9:30 am Wednesday. The State Patrol says the chase hit speeds of over 100 miles per hour and the driver swerved into oncoming traffic. Stop sticks were deployed that punctured the tires of the fleeing vehicle and the State Patrol says the 21-year-old driver, Devon Cooke of Miami, Florida, was captured after a short foot chase.

Cooke has been charged with 1st degree OWI, felony eluding, assault on a peace officer, possession with intent to deliver, failure to affix a drug tax stamp, possession of drug paraphernalia, and multiple traffic violations. Authorities say Cooke is also wanted in Florida for 2nd degree murder.

He is being held in the Chickasaw County Jail.

Assisting with this pursuit and arrest were the Iowa Department of Transportation, the sheriffs offices in Bremer, Chickasaw, and Black Hawk counties, and the Janesville Police Department.
AUSTIN, Minn.  Police are investigating a burglary and vehicle theft.

Officers were called to a home in the 400 block of 3rd Avenue Southeast in Austin around 2:46 am Wednesday. The residents told police that while they were putting their daughter back to bed, they noticed a purse in the home had been gone through and a debit card, a credit card, an ID, and an undisclosed amount of cash was missing.

Police say two sets of keys and a silver Dodge Caravan with Minnesota license plate 857 PDP were also gone. Officers also found footprints outside in the snow but they were in poor condition due to blowing and drifting.

The victims say the burglary must have occurred between 9 pm Tuesday and 2 am Wednesday. They say the home was locked and they did not hear anything.

Austin Police Chief Brian Krueger says there was no sign of someone breaking into the home and there are no suspects at this time.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  A not guilty plea has been entered in a case that sent police searching through Rochester for bombs and hazardous materials.

Kyle John Miller, 19 of Dodge Center, is charged with five counts of threats of violence. He was arrested on February 26 after police were called to the Generose Parking Ramp at St. Marys Hospital on a report of a man with a gun to his head. Officers say they found Miller with what appeared to be a rifle pointed at his head but it turned out to be a BB gun.

Rochester police say Miller claimed to have place explosives and other harmful substances around the city, which resulted in almost every on-duty officer heading out to check various locations. Oak Hills Wesleyan Church, Century High School, and Calvary Evangelical Church were among the places examined.

Police say they found metal containers with what appeared to be writing on them and an envelope but their contents were not dangerous.

Miller underwent an evaluation at St. Marys Hospital and was then charged.

His trial is scheduled to begin on August 20.
ROCHESTER, Minn.

Community members and members of local organizations attended an online webinar together at the Diversity Council. The Center for Social Inclusion in the Twin Cities lead an online discussion as part of the 2017-2018 GreenStep Cities Workshop Series on understanding the relationship between racial equity in communities and the role of local governments. The webinar also introduced viewers to the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, an organization networking local and regional governments working to create racial equity and equal opportunities.

People in attendance included members of various government organizations, nonprofits, and service organizations in Rochester. The discussion was largely focused on how to address racial equity and disparities in the community.

Kylie Osterhus, a member of the political committee of the Sierra Club and coordinator of Women on Wednesdays, says "one thing I would like to see changed is having people who represent this community start talking about race equity more often and normalizing that conversation and helping change public policy to address that in our community."

The workshop happened to fall on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. Executive director of the Diversity Council, Dee Sabol, says that is a perfect chance to have these conversations. "I think we have an opportunity right now, especially as we think about how this correlates with the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, to rethink how race is played out in communitieshow it affects outcomes for different people," she explains.

Rick Morris, clean energy coordinator of the Sierra Club, also attended the workshop. He said it was great to learn about what approaches people are taking to racial equity in different parts of Minnesota. "I had no idea that this work on racial equity and inclusion was going on at an intergovernmental and local government level all around the state and throughout the country."

However, Morris mentions that one topic of dicussion is that the people involved in various equity initiatives are often white. "Inside our organizations, we all need to do the work to truly embrace diversity and to have equity within our ranks," he says. He continues to explain that local organizations need to "continually bring together folks who are impacted by those issues to be part of the solutions that are being created in Rochester and in Minnesota."

24/7 Wall Street compiled a report on the most and least equittable states. Minnesota was named the second least equittable state, and Iowa was named the fifth least equittable. The report analyzed the differences between white and black residents in areas including income, unemployment, homeownership, and incarceration.
LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Friday that governments and companies around the world were making progress in the push toward creating a low-carbon economy.

The good news is that governments are now establishing the policy frameworks, and the private sector is beginning to allocate capital accordingly, Carney told an international conference on climate risk for regulators in Amsterdam.

As well as running the BoE, Carney heads a body representing financial regulators around the world and has led a push to get banks, insurers and other companies to recognize the long-term risk to their businesses from climate change.

Central banks and supervisors from eight nations, accounting for over a third of global financial assets and carbon emissions, have set up the Network for Greening the Financial System to improve coordination, a step Carney welcomed.

With better information and risk management as the foundations, a virtuous circle is being built with better understanding of tomorrows risks, better pricing for investors, better decisions by policymakers and a smooth transition to a low-carbon economy, Carney said.

Financing the transition to a low-carbon economy would require investments in long-term infrastructure at roughly quadruple the current rate, he said.
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are modestly higher in early U.S. trading Friday, boosted by a weaker-than-expected U.S. employment report. June Comex gold futures were last up $4.30 an ounce at $1,332.70. May Comex silver was last up $0.03 at $16.39 an ounce.

The just-released U.S. employment situation report for March from the Labor Department showed the key non-farm payrolls number up 103,000, which was a big miss to the downside. The jobs number was forecast to come in at up 178,000. Wednesdays ADP jobs number came in much higher than expected, at up 241,000, which had hinted this mornings job number would come in hot.

The U.S. dollar index weakened on the jobs report, which also is working in favor of the precious metals bulls on this day.

World stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are also pointed toward lower openings when the New York day session begins. The marketplace is again rattled at least a bit as U.S. President Donald Trump said late Thursday he might impose another $100 billion in tariffs on Chinas imports. Meantime, Chinas news outlets are already saying China will fight the U.S. on trade matters to the bitter end. Trump has already slapped $50 billion in tariffs on Chinas products. In the near term, look for more market volatility coming from this situation. Such should be a positive for the gold and silver markets.

Other U.S. economic data due for release Friday includes the consumer installment credit report.

Technically, June gold bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage amid recent choppy trading. Gold bulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at the March high of $1,362.60. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at the March low of $1,309.30. First resistance is seen at Thursdays high of $1,338.70 and then at $1,347.00. First support is seen at todays low of $1,322.60 and then at the March low of $1,312.40. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0

May silver futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage amid recent choppy trading. Silver bulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the March high of $16.895 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $16.00. First resistance is seen at $16.50 and then at this weeks high of $16.68. Next support is seen at this weeks low of $16.15 and then at the March low of 16.10. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.
Torex Gold Resources Inc. (TSX: TXG) reports that negotiations between community leaders have resulted in an end to blockades of the companys ELG Mine Complex in Mexico. Processing operations have been uninterrupted since a January restart. Mining in the El Limon Pit is expected to resume Friday. We are more than pleased that we can now get back to unimpeded operations and value creation for the companys shareholders and all stakeholders, says Fred Stanford, president and chief executive officer. The company says a government-regulated process for selecting between two competing unions continues, with the public-hearing stage is now complete and the next step to be a decision on when and where a vote will occur. Torex says it will work with whichever union workers elect. Meanwhile, the processing plant has operated continuously since the Jan. 16 restart, except for planned maintenance. In the first quarter, 67,000 ounces of gold were produced in dore, and an additional 8,000 ounces of gold were shipped in carbon fines, the company says. Looking forward, the operations are well positioned to complete the ramp-up in 2018 and to move forward with optimization and development initiatives, Stanford says. By Allen Sykora For Kitco News Follow @AllenSykora

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.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - U.S. industrial conglomerate Honeywell International Inc (HON.N) is targeting a roughly 10 percent increase in revenue from Southeast Asia this year, in part boosted by growing defense spending in the region, a company executive told Reuters.

The company, which makes everything from jet engines to thermostats, is primed to benefit in the region as Chinas territorial stance on South China Sea has raised the stakes for its ASEAN neighbors.

For a long time, militaries in Southeast Asia were a bit laissez faire about ordering and upgrading aircraft and so on, Honeywells Southeast Asia president Briand Greer told Reuters in a recent interview.

They are not anymore; they realized that they want to have capability, he said.

Countries are spending on extending the life of old aircraft through mechanical modifications and software upgrades, a big growth segment for the firm, Greer told Reuters in a separate interview on Thursday.

The company targets a growth rate of twice that of ASEANs gross domestic product, he said, making the region one of Honeywells fastest growing businesses.

ASEAN contributed $800 million to Honeywells global revenue last year, Greer said, but declined to specify what the company got from the regions military business.

The New York-listed company had said in January it expects global sales from all its businesses to rise 2 percent to 4 percent this year, reaching up to $42.5 billion.

Greer pegs military spending in Southeast Asia to grow 4 percent this year, driven by Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Global defense expenditure is expected to hit $1.67 trillion this year, the highest since the end of the Cold War, according to the IHS Janes Defence Budgets Report released in December.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The United States, Mexico and Canada are moving forward in a significant way at talks to modernize the NAFTA trade pact, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday.

Trudeaus remarks to reporters in Quebec City were the latest in a series of upbeat comments by officials in the three countries about the chances of striking some kind of deal soon on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

I believe were in a moment where were moving forward in a significant way. Hopefully there will be some good news coming, Trudeau said.

We know these negotiations, there are good moments and there are slower moments. But right now were having a very productive moment of engaging with the United States and Mexico, he added.

Mexican officials say that with enough progress, the leaders of the three nations could make an announcement at a regional summit in Peru next week.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is pressing for a deal in principle to avoid clashing with Mexican presidential elections on July 1.

Any such agreement would likely tackle a main issue of autos content while leaving other contentious chapters to be dealt with later, officials say.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will hold talks in Washington on Friday with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, said a Canadian government source.

Freeland said on Wednesday that there was still work to do before the talks could be wrapped up.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday criticized Trumps plan to send National Guard troops to the border.

But Moises Kalach, head of the international negotiating arm of Mexicos CCE business lobby, insisted NAFTA negotiators are not entering into that debate.

We are staying away from those things, he said on local radio.

Uncertainty over the future of the $1.2 trillion pact rattled markets earlier this year but that concern appears to be abating. Bank of Montreal is confident that the talks will result in a positive outcome, Chief Executive Darryl White said on Thursday.

That said, only six of the roughly 30 chapters have been closed and wide differences remain on topics such as dispute resolution and government procurement.

Canadian officials feel the three governments could produce a symbolic agreement in principle that signaled they had reached a consensus on five or six key issues, a source familiar with Canadas negotiating position said on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said it had targeted allegedly illegal stock sales involving Longfin Corp stock as well as the finance and technology companys chief executive and three other people. The regulator, in a statement, said it had obtained a court order to freeze more than $27 million in trading proceeds from allegedly illegal distributions and sales of restricted shares of Longfin, which saw its shares halted earlier on Friday. Reporting by Susan Heavey and Michelle Price; 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.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 64F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
South College, Chattanooga State partner on pharmacy education



KNOXVILLE/CHATTANOOGA -- Qualified students enrolled in the pre-pharmacy program at Chattanooga State Community College will be guaranteed an admission interview with South College to pursue a Doctor of Pharmacy under an agreement between the two institutions of higher education.



The partnership, officially called an articulation agreement, is effective immediately and will facilitate the process for Chattanooga State students to seek entry to the PharmD program at South College.



This articulation agreement is ideal for a community college and its students because the coursework required before entry into the PharmD program can be completed in just two years, said Dr. Walter Fitzgerald, dean of the South College School of Pharmacy.



South Colleges PharmD program is an accelerated three-year program, so five years after beginning at Chattanooga State, a student could become a licensed pharmacist. South College is the only institution in the state offering a three-year PharmD program rather than a traditional four-year program.



Career options after completing the prerequisites and PharmD program include licensed pharmacist, community pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, outpatient pharmacy manager, pharmacist in charge (PIC), pharmacy informaticist and staff pharmacist.



This agreement facilitates the process of Chattanooga State Community College students seeking admission to the PharmD program at South College, said Steve South, president of South College. Among other benefits, the articulation agreement guarantees qualified Chattanooga State students an admission interview with the School of Pharmacy.



Articulation agreements like this one with South College provide pathways for our students to continue their education after leaving Chattanooga State, said Dr. Rebecca Ashford, president of Chattanooga State.



South College is a private institution accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to offer programs at the doctorate, masters, baccalaureate, and associate levels. To learn more about South College, visit www.southcollegetn.edu.

Published April 5, 2018














Second Suffrage Monument to be unveiled June 9th



KNOXVILLE  A public unveiling of Knoxvilles second woman suffrage monument is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, June 9, 2018 by the Suffrage Coalition. The new Burn Memorial will commemorate the historic vote of state legislator Harry Burn, and the important role of his mother, Febb, in winning the right to vote for American women.





Clay sculpting of Burn Memorial in LeQuire studio. Image courtesy of the Suffrage Coalition





The festivities will begin with an historic re-enactment suffrage parade up Gay Street at 4:00 p.m. The parade will be followed with a short program on Market Square at 4:30. suffrage. The unveiling at the corner of Clinch Avenue and Market Square is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m.



The Burn Memorial is a powerful companion to the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial which already graces Knoxvilles Market Square. Nashville sculptor Alan LeQuire crafted both Knoxvilles Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial unveiled here in 2006 and the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument unveiled in Nashville in 2017. LeQuire is also known for the Tennessee's Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, Athena Parthenos, and Musica in Nashville.



A fundraising campaign is ongoing to raise the remaining $100,000 needed to install and maintain the memorial. Individuals or organizations can make donations to support the memorial. Engraved bricks that will be placed around Memorial are available for a suggested donation of $100. Individuals and organizations can have their names placed on the base of the Memorial: $1,000 suggested donation for individuals; $2,500 suggested donation for community groups; $5,000 suggested donation for businesses. The deadline for all engravings is May 15, 2018. More information is available online at suffragecoalition.org/engage-in-history/ or by contacting Wanda Sobieski at wsobieski@sobieskimesser.com.



The Suffrage Coalition has been hard at work with activities leading up to the official unveiling:



Febb Burn Day: The Suffrage Coalition presented and Tennessees House and Senate have unanimously passed a resolution to set aside August 18th as Febb Burn Day. The resolution is awaiting the Governors signature.



Student Suffrage Contest: A contest is under way for students in grades 5 through 12 to create a visual presentation about their favorite suffragist. The video or PowerPoint submissions must be received by April 12th. More information about the contest is available at suffragecoalition.org/powerpoint-video-contest/.



Reception: A reception is scheduled for Friday, June 8, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. at the East Tennessee History Center to honor those who persisted and sacrificed to win the vote for women. Elaine Weiss, author of newly released The Womans Hour, will be present at the reception to sign copies of her book. The public can purchase tickets for the reception online at suffragecoalition.org.



Parade: An historical re-enactment Suffrage Parade kicks off the unveiling ceremony. Individuals and groups are encouraged to participate in the parade, beginning at 4:00 p.m. on June 9. The parade will process from Main to Gay Streets, to Union Avenue to State Street, and will culminate on Market Square. Participants are encouraged to wear 1920s era dress or white clothes. More information and registration forms will be available shortly from the Suffrage Coalition website, suffragecoalition.org Wanda Sobieski at wsobieski@sobieskimesser.com.



The Suffrage Coalition is co-ordinated by local attorney Wanda Sobieski and is responsible for the development of the Burn Memorial, as well as the Tennessee Womans Suffrage Memorial. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN, the Suffrage Coalition is a 501c(3) nonprofit group and a special project of the East Tennessee Foundation. The Coalition works to locate, preserve, and educate regarding the history of womens suffrage, especially in the state of Tennessee. More information about the Suffrage Coalition is available at suffragecoalition.org and on FaceBook at Suffrage Coalition.


Financial Supervisory Service head Kim Ki-sik

By Jhoo Dong-chan



New Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) chief Kim Ki-sik is facing heavy criticism for spending taxpayer money on his extravagant business trip abroad when he was serving as a member of the National Assembly's National Budget and Accounting Committee three years ago.



Kim also took his personal secretary on the trip, and the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) paid all the expenses for their trip to the U.S. and Europe.



The KIEP is a government-funded research institute under the Prime Minister's Office. Kim was overseeing the agency's budget as a member of the committee.



According to the KIEP report submitted with the National Assembly, Kim and his personal secretary spent a total of 30.77 million won ($29,085) during his 10-day business trip, which included visits to Washington D.C., Brussels, Rome and Geneva.



The KIEP also sponsored four assistants to provide translation services and arrange their schedules on the two continents.



Kim and his secretary spent 14.76 million won for flights, assuming seats in business class, and another 3.2 million won for lodging. About 12 million won was also used for transportation and hiring local guides.



Kim reportedly met heads of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins and Korea Economic Institute at Washington D.C. Both institutes have been sponsored by KIEP to promote the two countries' academic networks, and Kim had requested to cut the related budget for both agencies in his committee meeting in 2014.



Following Kim's claim, the National Assembly cut the KIEP budget by 410 million won, including the budget for both institutes in the U.S. worth 40 million won.



The KIEP sponsored Kim's 10-day business trip six months after he legislated the budget cut.



The KIEP said in the report that the government agency spent an extra two months to arrange Kim's schedule before his trip.



"KIEP sponsored Kim's business trip to win back the agency's budget in the following National Assembly Budget and Accounting Committee in July 2015, a month after Kim's trip to the U.S. and Europe," said rep. Kim Jong-seok of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.



"Kim was also the only lawmaker of the 19th National Assembly who went on a business trip with KIEP money."



An FSS official declined to comment about the trip.



"Kim's trip to the U.S. and Europe took place before he was appointed to be FSS chief. There is nothing to comment," he said.






By Yi Whan-woo



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received an invitation to visit Russia, according to U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats.

Coats' claim adds to speculation that Kim may meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to bolster diplomatic leverage on North Korea's nuclear program before a planned inter-Korean summit on April 27.

Kim, who visited Chinese President Xi Jinping in late March, is scheduled to send his Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho to Russia next week.

Russian news agency TASS reported that on Wednesday Coats mentioned Kim's invitation to Moscow when asked about the possibility of resuming the six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization in the wake of the Kim-Xi meeting.

TASS said the DNI chief told reporters in Washington, D.C., he is trying to discover what the North Korean leader intends to discuss in Russia.












By Yi Whan-woo



Nuclear dialogue with North Korea may possibly extend to all members of the now-dormant six-party talks after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets leaders of South Korea and the United States, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.



Kim is scheduled to meet President Moon Jae-in on April 27 and U.S. President Donald Trump in May.



"Possibly, there will be a three-way summit among the leaders of the two Koreas and the U.S. following the inter-Korean summit and the Pyongyang-Washington summit," a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity. "And if necessary, such dialogue may expand to the six-party talks."



The official said joint nuclear negotiations among the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia may be needed as part of efforts "to better guarantee and ensure safety" in coping with Pyongyang's nuclear program.



The official, however, said this should not be taken to mean the Moon government is actively considering restarting the six-party talks suspended in December 2008.



"President Moon Jae-in has mentioned the Seoul-Pyongyang-Washington dialogue up to this moment besides the cross-border talks and the Pyongyang-Washington talks. We can find out whether the six-party talks will be helpful, only after Pyongyang's bilateral summit with Seoul and Washington as well as their joint talks end," he said.



Cheong Wa Dae's view on nuclear dialogue came a day after Tokyo's Nihon Keizai Shimbun report Kim agreed to return to the six-party talks during his visit to Chinese President Xi Jinping in late March.



The report adds to optimism that the six-party talks are the only viable mechanism to end North Korea's nuclear program peacefully.



Pessimism, however, remains over whether restarting such multilateral negotiations will be effective after the last round of talks collapsed in December 2008.



Launched in 2003, the six-party talks culminated in September 2005 when Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons. But it was later found to be pursuing a uranium enrichment program and subsequently exited the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).



Since then, Pyongyang has refused to accept Washington's calls to observe its past commitments to dismantle its nuclear program if it wants to continue the negotiations.



Resuming the six-party talks will "require patience," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.



"It will not be easy to draw a consensus from all parties," he added.



"Every party has its say as a condition to restart the dialogue. And even if they do, they may face challenges in narrowing gaps over their respective security interests before resolving North Korea's nuclear program."



Meanwhile, the Cheong Wa Dae official also hinted at possible four-way talks, which will include the two Koreas and the U.S. plus either China, Japan or Russia.



"Russia, Japan and China may want to talk about their roles and stakes. And the decision should be made in a comprehensive manner whether the four-party or six-party talks should be held," he said.



The presidential official speculated the North Korean leader does not intend to discuss denuclearization on the agenda "right away" when asked about the Nihon Keizai Shimbun's report.



The U.S. remained prudent over Pyongyang's possible return to the six-party talks.



"While we will not comment on our diplomatic discussions, we are focused on ensuring that negotiations lead to concrete steps towards the goal of denuclearization," said Katina Adams, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. "The international community is unified in our desire to see a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. We are working with our allies and partners to achieve the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the DPRK."


Cho Hi-yeon, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Education Office



By Kim Hyun-bin



Korea has been covered with ultra fine dust lately.



Its concentration levels in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province areas marked the highest since measurements began in 2015, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.



The presidential website was filled with over 300 petitions from parents requesting the government install air purifiers at schools, while tens of thousands of citizens backed their claim.



The government strengthened its figures on measurements last month, putting fine dust levels over 36 micrograms per cubic meter into the "bad" category from the previous 51.



The move is likely to reduce outdoor school activities around the nation as an increasing number of parents request the government establish indoor gymnasiums at schools.



Education superintendent candidates have been using the parents' worries as their key campaign pledge ahead of the June 13 local elections.



The Ministry of Education also it will install air purifiers in classrooms within three years.



Gu Hee-hyun, who is a candidate running for superintendent of education for Gyeonggi Province, vowed to install air purifiers in every classroom.



"I will not use the lack of budget as an excuse. Even if I have to add a supplementary budget we will install them immediately," said Gu.



Chung Jin-woo, former president of the Korea Teacher and Education Workers Union (KTU), who is also running for superintendent in Gyeonggi Province, vowed to increase cooperation with companies to install air purifiers and fine dust measurement devices in each school.



Unlike other candidates, Cho Hi-yeon, the current head of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, who is likely to run for re-election said it is unrealistic to install air purifiers in every classroom in the city as there are budgetary limits.



However, he supported Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's plan to close schools when fine dust levels remain high in the capital.



Earlier this week, Park described fine dust as an invisible, silent killer and added the city could begin discussing measures with Seoul's education administration.



He cited other countries' cases where schools are closed even during minor natural events.



Lee Jae-jung, the current head of Gyeonggi Province Office of Education, spent 3.6 billion won ($3.4 million) to install air purifiers and ventilation devices in populated streets and areas around elementary schools last winter break.

In addition, Lee plans to spend 4.7 billion won to install air filters at kindergartens this year.



The government plans to announce new fine dust measures for students sometime next month.

It is looking into ways to supply masks to daycare centers, kindergartens and primary and secondary schools.



To tackle the root of the problem, the government expanded its scope of anti-fine dust measures to include private companies and factories that are responsible for emitting large amounts of pollution.



39 private companies located in metropolitan areas in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon will be subject to the new guidelines.



The plan will also include 193 large factories that are responsible for roughly 80 percent of total fine dust emissions in the metropolitan area.



The government will keep track of their fine dust discharges and report these to local governments for supervision.
















Prosecutors on Friday raided Samsung Electronics Service in an investigation into allegations that Samsung Group sabotaged the establishment of labor unions in its affiliated companies.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office has recently secured thousands of pages of documents that contain details regarding the top conglomerate's attempts to hamper workers' efforts to set up labor unions. Samsung is notorious for its "no union" policy.

The files were obtained during a raid of two Samsung Electronics buildings as part of an investigation into suspicions that it paid lawsuit fees on behalf of a company allegedly owned by former President Lee Myung-bak.

The prosecution investigated Samsung's alleged anti-union maneuvers after Sim Sang-jeung, an opposition lawmaker, in 2013 disclosed the group's 2012 report containing guidelines to prevent employees from organizing labor unions and to dismantle them if they form.

Unionized workers at Samsung Everland Inc. -- now merged with Samsung C&T Corp. -- filed a complaint with the prosecution against Chairman Lee Kun-hee and other group officials.

But the prosecution dropped most charges and closed the case in 2015.

The prosecution sources said the recently secured documents from Samsung show it has continued such activities as of late. (Yonhap)
Park Geun-hye / Korea Times file

People watch a live broadcast of the court's ruling on former President Park Geun-hye at Seoul Station's passenger terminal, Friday. Park was sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined 18 billion won on 16 corruption charges. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



# Verdict summary

- Former President Park Geun-hye sentenced to 24 years' jail, fined 18 billion won on 16 charges.



- Park convicted of 16 of 18 charges against her.



- Park convicted of power abuse to extort money from companies to set up two non-profit foundations under her friend's control.



- Park found guilty of pressing Hyundai Motor to sign a deal with KD Corporation, a company run by a close friend of Park's friend Choi Soon-sil.



- Park acquitted of power abuse relating to forcing Hyundai Motor to run ads for Choi's company.



- Park convicted of pressing Lotte Group to donate 7 billion won ($6.55 million) to the K-Sports Foundation, a non-profit foundation run by Choi.



- Park found guilty of forcing telecom company KT to hire Choi's close friend and sign a deal with an ad company run by another of Choi's friends.



- Park convicted of pressing steelmaker POSCO to sign a deal with The Blue K, a company run by Choi.



- Park convicted of power abuse to extort 1.6 billion won from Samsung to fund a foundation under her friend's control.



- Park convicted of an attempt to sack CJ Group vice chairwoman.



- Park convicted of leaking 47 confidential presidential documents to Choi.



- Lotte's 7 billion won donated to a foundation run by Park's friend was a bribe to Park. The money was sent to Choi, but given the Park-Choi relationship, the money is considered a bribe to Park via Choi.



- Park convicted of pressing SK Group to donate 8.9 billion won to the K-Sports Foundation, a non-profit foundation run by Choi.



- Park acquitted of forcing Samsung to fund 21.3 billion won for Choi's equestrian daughter.



- Samsung's 3.64 billion won donation to Core Sports, a foundation run by Choi, was a bribe to Park given the Park-Choi relationship.



- Park convicted of forcing Samsung to offer Choi's equestrian daughter free horses, cars and training material.



- Park found guilty of power abuse for sacking ranking out-of-favor government officials.



- Park acquitted of accepting illegal requests from Samsung over company's leadership succession.



- Park convicted as a collaborator in the compilation of a "blacklist" of out-of-favor cultural figures and cutting state support for them.



- Park convicted of power abuse over promotion of a Hana Bank official who provided inappropriate favors to Choi.



(Written by Park Si-soo)





People watch a live broadcast of the court's ruling on former President Park Geun-hye at Seoul Station's passenger terminal, Friday. Park was sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined 18 billion won on 16 corruption charges. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison and 18 billion won in fine on Friday in a massive corruption scandal that toppled her from power early last year.



In a live televised trial, the Seoul Central District Court meted out the guilty verdict for the 66-year-old former leader, about a year after her arrest in late March of 2017.



Park was convicted of 16 counts of corruption, including bribery, coercion and abuse of power. Prosecutors had demanded a 30-year jail term.



South Korea's first female president, who took office in early 2013, became the nation's first elected head of state to be ousted and now the third former leader to be convicted of corruption.



The scandal led to a parliamentary impeachment of Park in December 2016. She was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court on March 10 the following year.



Park did not appear in Friday's sentencing trial. She has been boycotting the hearing in protest of the court's October decision to extend her incarceration six months. (Yonhap)
By Park Si-soo



Human bones were found inside a water purifying facility of a manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, police said Friday.



They were discovered in a jacket on Tuesday that workers removed while cleaning the facility.










By Oh Young-jin







Korean police are discarding their stocks of tear gas canisters, except for a small amount.







Tear gas was the main tool riot police used to put down demonstrations in the 1970s and 1980s when generals-turned-strongmen were in power.







The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, which is responsible for the southern parts of the province, has scrapped 35,000 canisters stored with riot police units and 30 police stations. The 10 smaller precincts had all their stocks scrapped.







It came after the National Police Agency's instruction that tear gas should be eliminated promptly. The agency said the instruction confirmed the police pledge not to use it.







The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency plans to scrap its stocks by September.







Police stopped using tear gas after firing over 3,000 canisters in 1998 but kept stockpiles.







Police have resorted to water cannon to keep violent demonstrators at bay.






Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, speaks during a meeting at the National Assembly, Friday, urging parties to cooperate with passing the government supplementary budget plan. / Yonhap



By Park Ji-won



The government's supplementary budget plan, concentrated on creating jobs for young people, faces strong headwinds from opposition parties, while the ruling party is determined to push it through.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) vowed to block the extra budget bill, once it is submitted. The minor opposition Bareun Mirae Party (BMP) is also critical of any measures to spur growth by using taxpayer money.

On Thursday, the government announced a plan to set up an extra budget worth 3.9 trillion won ($3.7 billion), including 2.9 trillion won to create 50,000 jobs for young people. The country has set a supplementary budget for four consecutive years since 2015 amid sluggish economic growth.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) asked all political parties to cooperate for the approval of the extra budget plan as soon as possible, saying the budget will revitalize local economies as well as help young and unemployed people.

Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the ruling DPK, urged the Assembly to refrain from taking party-oriented attitudes against the extra budget plan and looked for cooperation.

"In order to prevent tragedy, it is necessary to take the pre-emptive action of passing the extra budget to revitalize youth employment and local economies," Choo said Friday.

"Timing is vital to maximize the effects of the budget. If the Assembly does its job, it will create a double effect."

However, the LKP loudly panned the supplementary budget plan as a ploy to win more votes in the upcoming local elections.

Ham Jin-gyu, policy chief of the LKP, said the government is using the extra budget to cover up the political failure of youth employment for the June 13 local elections.

"The supplementary budget plan is created to soothe young voters ahead of the elections," Ham said.

"The government should apologize first to the nation before submitting the supplementary budget proposal."





Bareun Mirae Party co-leader Yoo Seong-min, second from right, speaks during a meeting at the National Assembly, Friday. He opposes the government's extra budget plan, saying spending cannot drive growth./ Yonhap



Meanwhile, the minor opposition BMP also denounced the government bill insisting the extra budget cannot help growth and create jobs for the young.

"The BMP pledges to stand against the extra budget proposal aiming to seek growth by mainly using taxes," BMP co-leader Yoo Seong-min said.

Passing the extra budget has been on the table for months but has been entangled with the contentious election debate.

The supplementary budget can be executed in May, following approval by the National Assembly.

try has set a supplementary budget for four consecutive years since 2015 amid sluggish economic growth.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) asked all political parties to cooperate for the approval of the extra budget plan as soon as possible, saying the budget will revitalize local economies as well as help young and unemployed people.

Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the ruling DPK, urged the Assembly to refrain from taking party-oriented attitudes against the extra budget plan and looked for cooperation.

"In order to prevent tragedy, it is necessary to take the pre-emptive action of passing the extra budget to revitalize youth employment and local economies," Choo said Friday.

"Timing is vital to maximize the effects of the budget. If the Assembly does its job, it will create a double effect."

However, the LKP loudly panned the supplementary budget plan as a ploy to win more votes in the upcoming local elections.

Ham Jin-gyu, policy chief of the LKP, said the government is using the extra budget to cover up the political failure of youth employment for the June 13 local elections.

"The supplementary budget plan is created to soothe young voters ahead of the elections," Ham said.

"The government should apologize first to the nation before submitting the supplementary budget proposal."
People in Seoul Station watch the judge reading the verdict on former President Park Geun-hye on television, Friday. /Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Kim Se-jeong



A lower court in Seoul sentenced former President Park Geun-hye, 66, to 24 years in prison and fined her 18 billion won ($16.8 million) on corruption charges Friday.



This makes her the nation's third ex-president to be criminally convicted.



The decision by the Seoul Central District Court came almost a year after she was removed from power.



Park was not in the courtroom to hear the verdict and sentencing.



She submitted her absence note earlier Friday, citing health problems, according to the court.



She has been boycotting hearings since last October.



"As the head of state, Park ignored her responsibility and abused her power to destabilize the country, which is a total disrespect to citizens who elected her as president. Making it worse, she only denied all charges, which is not appropriate," judge Kim Se-yoon said.



Park has one week to appeal. Park's lawyers condemned Friday's ruling and said they'll consult with Park on what to do.



The prosecution which requested a 30-year prison sentence and a fine of 118.5 billion won ($110 million) in the final hearing in February did not have an immediate response.



The judge found her guilty of pressuring major conglomerates to donate 77.4 billion won to the Mir and K-Sports foundations, organizations controlled by her key confidant Choi Soon-sil. Choi received a 20-year jail sentence in the lower court for taking bribes.



Park was also guilty of pressuring SK Group and Lotte Group to make separate donations to the K-Sports Foundation for projects and granted them business favors in return.



Park was also found guilty of abuse of power in creating a blacklist of artists and writers who were hostile to the government and deliberately excluding them from government support.



Kim Ki-choon, Park's former chief secretary, and Cho Yoon-sun, her political secretary and culture minister, were also found guilty on this charge and sentenced to four years and two years, respectively.



However, the judge found Park not guilty of pressuring Samsung Electronics' Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to financially help Choi's equestrian daughter, Chung Yoo-ra. In return, she allegedly pressured the National Pension Fund, a key shareholder of Samsung's two key arms  Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries  to vote in favor of their merger in 2015. The merge reinforced Lee's standing in the group's management.



Lee was found guilty of offering bribes to Park. Ex-Minister of Health and Welfare Moon Hyung-pyo was also found guilty of abusing power to smooth out the process. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.



Park was elected president of Korea in 2012. As a daughter of Park Chung-hee who ruled the country for almost two decades and its first female president, Park's victory made headlines in the country and around the world.



Her downfall began with the ferry Sewol disaster in April 2014 in which more than 300 passengers of the commercial passenger ferry died.



The passenger rescue operations were slow and the ferry was not salvaged until last year. The recent prosecution investigation revealed she was irresponsible as commander-in-chief in the time of national crisis and her team at the presidential office faked documents to conceal her dereliction of duty. The disaster fed anti-government sentiment in the public and triggered anti-government protests.



In 2016, a corruption scandal involving her confidant Choi eventually stripped her of her presidential office. On March 10 last year, the nation's Constitutional Court confirmed her removal from power. She left the presidential office and headed to a detention center in southern Seoul for a criminal investigation into corruption allegations.



On Friday, thousands of Park supporters gathered outside the court in southern Seoul, calling her trial "unfair."


Rescuers search the debris of a crashed F-15K fighter jet on a mountain in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. The aircraft was on its way back to its base in Daegu before the crash killed two pilots. The Republic of Korea Air Force has yet to find the exact cause behind the accident. / Yonhap



Black box of crashed plane in Chilgok retrieved



By Lee Min-hyung





F-15K fighter jet

Safety concerns are coming up again for the Air Force's F-15K Slam Eagle fighter jet in the aftermath of the recent crash in Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province.

This is the second time the fighter jet, manufactured by Boeing, has crashed since 2006 when a jet crashed into the sea, killing the two pilots on board. On Thursday, an F-15K aircraft also crashed into a mountain for unconfirmed reasons, killing the two pilots on board.

The F-15K was designed for the Republic of Korea Air Force, having served as its top combat jet in use since 2005.

Last year, Rep. Kim Hak-yong of the Liberty Korea Party raised safety concerns over the fighter jet, as the Air Force had suffered difficulties in securing parts from Boeing. The lawmaker claimed that the grounded not operationally ready for supply (G-NORS) rate of F-15Ks has in recent years risen rapidly, citing data.

In 2015, 50 F-15Ks had been reported G-NORS, with the number reaching 60 by the end of the first half of 2017, according to data released by the lawmaker.

The Air Force said it is still investigating the causes of the recent crash.

"As of Friday morning, the Air Force has recovered the bodies of the two victims near the crash scene in Chilgok," an Air Force spokesman said. "But it will require some time for us to analyze the exact causes of the incident."

Unlike the crash in 2006, the military authority said it has secured the black box of the ill-fated fighter.

"We acquired the plane that crashed in July 2008. The aircraft had logged 2,158 hours of flying time before the accident," the official said. "The two victims were on their way to base after conducting military training."

He said the military leaves open all possibilities for the accident, and upon finishing its investigation, will notify the authorities.

The Air Force also noted it found no evidence that the pilots used the aircraft ejection seat system before the crash.

"Once the pilots pull the ejection lever, the aircraft automatically flashes an emergency beacon," he said. "But we have not found any signs of the beacon, so they may have failed to attempt to escape."

It still requires further investigation to find out whether the accident occurred due to aircraft defects or not, according to him.

The crash took place at 2:47 p.m. on Thursday when it was on its way to an Air Force base in Daegu.

The Air Force plans to hold funerals for the deceased pilots at the Daegu base, home to the 11th Fighter Wing, on Saturday. The remains will be buried at the Daejeon National Cemetery in a ceremony to be attended by Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Air Force chief Gen. Lee Wang-keun.
By Keyu Jin





BEIJING  China's recent constitutional amendment eliminating the term limits for the president and vice president has left much of the West aghast. Critics fear the emergence of a new and unaccountable dictatorship, with President Xi Jinping becoming "Chairman Mao 2.0." This response is more than a little inappropriate.







Long tenures are not exactly unheard of in the West. For example, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has just begun her fourth four-year term  a development that the rest of Europe has largely welcomed rather than criticized.







Of course, a Westerner might argue that Merkel has an electoral mandate, whereas Xi does not. But democratic elections are not the only way to achieve accountability. And Xi's approval rating, according to almost all international surveys, seems to exceed the combined approval ratings of U.S. President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. While there may be reason to worry that Chinese politics could change for the worse, the same is true in the United States and the United Kingdom.







Term limits are little more than an arbitrary constraint, which are not needed to ensure competent and responsive government in China. In fact, term limits could do just the opposite, cutting short the tenure of effective leaders, leading to policy disruptions, or even leading to political chaos.







The U.S. has long recognized this. Alexander Hamilton wrote that it is necessary to give leaders "the inclination and the resolution" to do the best possible job. They can thus prove their merits to the people, who can choose to "prolong the utility of [their leaders'] talents and virtues, and to secure to the government the advantage of permanency in a wise system of administration."







In 1947, however, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to four terms in office, Congress enacted the Twenty-Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; since its ratification in 1951, U.S. presidents have been limited to two four-year terms. The idea was to make a virtue of inexperience. But most new presidents make significant blunders at the start, and now there are more starts. If the U.S. had no term limits, Trump might well not be in office today.







To be sure, term limits have their value. Deng Xiaoping added them to the Chinese constitution after the Cultural Revolution, in order to prevent the recurrence of chaotic and brutal one-man rule. But the new generation of Chinese leaders is not just well-educated, but also well aware of international norms and standards. Unlike the ideological diehards of the past, they can be expected to behave rationally, intelligently, and responsibly.







In this context, the removal of term limits will enable Xi to sustain a complex reform process that will take years to complete. It will not make him president for life, nor deliver him unbridled and undivided power.







Western critics emphasize that Xi has done much to concentrate power in his own hands over the last six years. And, to some extent, that is true. For example, he has taken over some of the economic policy decisions that used to be the prime minister's domain.







But a strong leader is not necessarily an autocratic leader. And, in a high-stakes environment, a strong leader is needed to neutralize vested interests that resist crucial reforms. Xi knows the obstacles that blocked the implementation of his initiatives during his first term, and he is committed to overcoming them.







In any case, the situation is hardly a "one-man show," as much foreign commentary suggests. Half of the members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's supreme government body, are not of Xi's choosing. And compromises were made in the placement of many senior officials, including key cabinet members.







It would be a mistake to assume that because China has vowed not to copy the Western political model, there are not hidden democratic processes at work. While leaders are not elected, either directly or by a representative body, their performance is subject to close scrutiny  for example, by the National People's Congress (NPC) and local people's congresses. The Chinese government is also unusually responsive to citizens on social media.







Moreover, checks and balances, though still inadequate, have been strengthened in recent years. Policy changes require consensus within the Politburo, especially the Standing Committee. On major issues, the NPC must give the green light. Nothing stops deputies from casting a dissenting vote, thanks in part to the growing prevalence of secret ballots. A small but significant feature of this year's Congress is the elimination of the electronic voting system; instead, officials will drop paper slips into a ballot box.







This is not the first time that Western media have adopted a perspective on Chinese political developments that runs completely counter to the prevailing view in China itself. Over the last few years, Xi's anti-corruption drive has raised many eyebrows in the West, where it is often regarded as just a means for Xi to remove would-be political rivals. But the almost two million officials who have been indicted surely weren't all Xi's opponents. Among Chinese, the effort to root out corruption has boosted respect and support for Xi.







In the West, government accountability is closely identified with democratic elections. In China, it is a function of how  and how well  the government responds to and protects the needs and interests of the people. Given the sheer complexity of modern China  not to mention the paramount need for the government to continue the country's progress toward high-income status  success may require leaders to stay in place longer than initially expected.







But, if recent history is any guide, the recent changes will contribute to making China's political and economic system increasingly stable  without undermining accountability.







). The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.



Keyu Jin, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a member of the Richemont Group Advisory Board. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate ( www.project-syndicate.org
The world is increasingly speeding toward a future of clean, zero-emissions cars. China  the largest auto market on the planet  plans to ban the sale of new vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel engines in the coming decades. Until then, the Chinese government requires that carmakers sell an increasing number of hybrid and electric vehicles in the country each year.



France, Britain, Norway and India have also pledged to phase out fossil fuel vehicles. And automakers have responded. Volvo pledged in 2017 to sell only hybrid or battery models starting next year, while General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Daimler and other big carmakers have said they will roll out more and more electric models to serve the growing market demand worldwide.



But here in the United States, President Donald Trump and his anti-environmental protection sidekick, Scott Pruitt, are determined to head recklessly in the opposite direction. It's up to California and other environmentally responsible states to stop them.



On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it has abandoned ambitious but much-needed fuel economy rules that required automakers to step up the improvements in their cars' and SUVs' mileage and emissions. Adopted under the Obama administration, the regulations were a crucial piece of the national effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and slow global climate change.



Indeed, the regulations being heedlessly ditched were slated to improve the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks 50 percent by 2025, to almost 55 miles per gallon. To meet the new standards, automakers were expected to develop and sell more hybrid and electric models, which, over time, would slash oil consumption, smoggy tailpipe pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.



But those benefits apparently carried little weight with Pruitt, a stalwart shill for the fossil fuel industry, who claims the Obama administration rushed the analysis of whether the regulations were feasible and set the standards too high. That's mere pretext, given that Pruitt has used his tenure at the EPA to systematically attack responsible, science- and health-based regulations. Nor, apparently, is it enough that he's weakened national environmental protections; Pruitt has suggested he may go after California's essential air quality regulations and climate change program as well.



In order to address the enormous contribution cars and trucks make to California's unusually severe air-quality problems, the federal Clean Air Act gave the state unique power to adopt vehicle emissions rules that are more stringent than the EPA's.



The federal government can block the state rules only if the EPA deems them inconsistent with the Clean Air Act's efforts to protect public health or welfare. Thankfully, Gov. Jerry Brown and state leaders have made it clear that California is not rolling back its clean-car rules. Other states can follow California's lead on tailpipe standards, and a dozen states, representing about one-third of the U.S. auto market, have said they will continue to do so.



That would leave manufacturers with two options. They could go the costly route of making two versions of each vehicle: A more fuel-efficient model for states with California's standards, and a less fuel-efficient model for the rest of the country. Or carmakers may just comply with California's rules, which would negate the EPA's rollback. Or Pruitt and Trump could try to deny California its longstanding power to enact emissions standards, triggering (another) legal battle with the state.



It sure sounds like Pruitt is readying for a war. "Cooperative federalism doesn't mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country," he said in a statement. California leaders, already practiced in Trump resistance, are digging in as well. The state has already intervened in a lawsuit filed by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers to overturn the federal fuel-efficiency standards. Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said his office is prepared to sue again to "fight the administration's war on our environment."



Pruitt's efforts are a colossal waste of time and money. Every other government in the industrialized world recognizes that climate change is real and that it will take serious action now to minimize the devastating effects of global warming. The leading world economies also recognize that there is a much-needed shift from fossil fuel vehicles underway, and they are choosing to lead the transition to low- and no-carbon transportation systems.



Even automakers know this. That's why most of them are already developing and marketing electric and hybrid models to sell around the world. Instead of making progress toward innovation and a cleaner future, Trump and Pruitt have chosen to keep this country guzzling gas and pumping out carbon.





The above editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.




Ex-leader faces grave consequence for wrongdoings



The impeached former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined 18 billion won ($16.8 million) Friday for corruption and other illegalities while in office.



The 66-year-old has been detained since March 2017 after being impeached and arrested over a corruption scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-sil, her aides and some of the nation's key business leaders.



In a ruling delivered by chief judge Kim Se-yun, the Seoul Central District Court found Park guilty on 16 out of 18 charges, including bribery, abuse of power and coercion.



The court's sentencing is shorter than the 30-year prison term requested by prosecutors. Nonetheless, the hefty sentencing shows the court's grave judgment of Park's key role in the scandal that toppled her administration and blemished the nation's hard-won democracy.



The verdict was delivered without Park in attendance and broadcast live on TV despite her objections. Park has been boycotting court sessions since October. Since her arrest, she has denied all wrongdoings and has blamed her aides and others rather than taking responsibility for her actions.



Regardless of political inclination, the Korean public watched the verdict with a heavy heart. Supporters of the former president claim Park did not break the law or seek personal gain. Those who have been critical of the ex-leader think Park got what she deserved for being negligent of her duties as president and allowing Choi to meddle in state affairs despite holding no official position in her administration or having expertise in any field.



The nation's first female president arrived at Cheong Wa Dae in February 2013 promising to build a new Korea and drive out corruption. But like her male predecessors, she was implicated in corruption and ended up in jail.



The ruling came as her predecessor, former President Lee Myung-bak, is set to begin a corruption trial after being detained late last month.



It is a strong wish of the people to not see presidents ending up in prison again after they leave office or becoming involved in corruption scandals toward the end of their presidency. Park's sentencing is an embarrassing repetition of history which must not happen again.



Park's case provides a lesson for all leaders to honor their oath of office by upholding the rule of law and doing their utmost to fulfill their duties.



One of President Moon Jae-in's key pledges was to eradicate various longstanding social evils in the aftermath of Park's corruption scandal. The Moon administration should make tireless efforts to build a corruption-free Korea.










By Kim Ji-myung





"History never looks like history when you are living through it." This is a statement by American educator John W. Gardner.







Quoting this famous sentence, Forbes explained this means history is always confusing, messy and uncomfortable.







The history we are now living through, especially around Seoul, indeed looks confusing, messy and uncomfortable. As a senior citizen, I cannot agree more with this statement. If anyone disagrees with this, then he or she must have some information which is not available to the elderly.







It so happens that today's leadership in the four strong powers surrounding us, the United States, China, Russia and Japan yield extraordinary charisma. In many aspects, they defy the traditional shape of predictable and reliable statesmen.







On the other hand, in South Korea, the speedy and radical measures, based on the ideology and philosophy of this administration are welcomed by some but not all of the population. Both domestic and international policies of President Moon Jae-in and his staff, such as relations with North Korea, industrial relations, employment policies, education issues follow the radical orientations of the government.







The press, in general, carries positive reports of the sustained high rate of support for these policies. Those opposing or warning against government policies are heard at a very feeble mosquito-decibel.







Building a fair and just society quickly is by no means simple and easy. Rectifying the past either by verbal criticism or judicial punishment simultaneously in all corners of the public has cornered and fatigued people.







In little more than a month after the Winter Olympics at PyeongChang, rapprochement with North Korea has become the top priority of the nation.







The beautiful scene of reunion and harmony as "one people" among political leaders, entertainers, and people from the South and North Korea evokes, in the older generation, a feeling of deja vu. To many aged Koreans, the national leaders now sitting in the driver's seat seem too naive, inexperienced and over confident. They seem to ignorantly or willingly ignore the many pitfalls and dangers lying ahead.







It is a pity that a majority of elderly people seem to refrain from speaking out for fear of being attacked by social media. If the history we are now living through does not look like history, what should we do? History here means, in my view, the traditional, long-term, and understandable evolvement of historical events.







The wisdom will come from taking time. When you cannot see things clearly, wait until the fog will clear away. With the passing of time, people will calm down. Then we may tell signals from noises and find out if the pied piper of Hamelin, as in the fable, is leading the rats or the village children with his music.







In the meantime, I hope the nation does not make foolish choices. Never let your friends down. Don't confuse friends who shed blood to protect you with your enemy. Find lessons from history.







Good press should be able to set the agenda for the nation, and suggest solutions. And yet, independent, objective and fact-based reporting sometimes collides head-on with political power and commercialism.







There are many historical cases in which our judgment of leaders and policy changes rapidly. The changing tone of newspaper headlines about Napoleon's return to Paris after exile on Elba in 1815 is just one example. Over the course of just 13 days, Napoleon goes from being called an ogre, tiger, monster and tyrant to being called the Emperor and Royal Majesty?







I have tried to avoid serious political topics in my column. Because I don't have an extra source of information that my readers don't have and also because I want to discuss more interesting subjects. However, friends and colleagues around me feel grim, and concerned about the uncertain future of the economic, social, diplomatic, political path of the nation.







According to Dr. Yoon Sun-bong of Samsung Economic Research Institute, an analysis of Korean media showed Korea's policies have been sticking to affairs of the past. In this chaotic period of profound changes, I hope the leaders will provide people with a feeling of security and stability with a clearer picture of the future.











Kim Ji-myung ( Heritagekorea21@gmail.com ) is the chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage).
By Jun Ji-hye



Samsung Electronics has reported another record operating profit for the first quarter as brisk sales of memory chips offset weak display panel sales.





In its earnings guidance for the January-March period, Samsung Electronics said it expects to generate 15.6 trillion won ($15 billion) operating profit. This was far better than the market forecast and also a fresh record in terms of quarterly operating profit. A year earlier, Samsung reported 9.9 trillion won.



Quarterly revenue increased to 60 trillion won compared to 50.6 trillion won during the same period of last year.



Samsung will not provide a net income or break out divisional performance until it releases the final results later this month.



Market analysts say it is no question that Samsung's memory chip business was the top contributor to help the company see an "earnings surprise." The division was estimated to report an operating profit around 11 trillion won, accounting for about 75 percent of the total operating profit it generated during the quarter.



Samsung is the global leader in both the DRAM and NAND flash memory chip markets. The DRAM industry is becoming rationalized with the top three players including Micron Technology of the U.S. and SK hynix controlling the market, while the number of bits consumed sees moderate growth.



That means the leading players keep the supply under tight control via disciplined spending, helping them avoid any sharp downturns caused by excess supply, or at least limit such downturns to recessions that may have a major impact on demand.



It was also estimated that the firm may have gained the better-than-expected earnings thanks to the impressive performance of the company's newest flagship mobile Galaxy S9 smartphone.



"Samsung Electronics' strong performance would continue till the second half of the year," said Kim Seon-woo, an analyst from Meritz Securities. "The selling price of memory chips and the amount of shipping is expected to increase continuously."



Unlike the continued healthy performance of the two business categories, its display business is expected to be hit hard due to weak sales of Apple iPhone X, for which Samsung's display affiliate provided its premium OLED displays.



Samsung officials identified as risk factors the bubbling trade war between the United States and China, variables involving exchange rates and the government's move to reform the ownership structures of conglomerates.



In addition, a managerial vacuum is cited as another challenge for Samsung, after Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the scion of the Samsung owner family, was released from prison in February.



After his release, Lee has taken a low-key stance, apparently mindful of unchanged controversy over the cozy relations between politics and business as well as financial regulators' ongoing initiative to reform governance structures of conglomerates.



This may have made it difficult for Samsung to make bold, strategic decisions such as large-scale investments or M&A deals.



Another uncertainty comes from China's growing pressure to reduce the price of semiconductors as well as U.S. protectionist moves.




By Nam Hyun-woo





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(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) Two local lawmakers were in St. Joseph on Thursday pushing for an initiative that would, if passed, work to "clean up" Jefferson City politics.

Sen. Rob Schaaf, (R) St. Joseph, and Rep. Galen Higdon, (R) St. Joseph, stopped by East Hills Library to talk about the Clean Missouri initiative petition.

Schaaf said the initiative would put Missourians before big donors, lobbyists and partisan politics.

"I would say that it's experiences with big money, special interests coming to the legislator trying to sort of buy their legislation, and we've seen evidence of that several times," Schaaf said.

Clean Missouri would eliminate all lobbyist gifts to lawmakers that go over $5, require that politicians wait two years after leaving office to become a lobbyist and lower campaign contributions for state legislative candidates ($2,500 for state senate and $2,000 for state house).

Rep. Higdon said he stands behind the initiative because of his own experiences in Jefferson City.

"I found out that some of the former house leaders were leaving with millions of dollars, and I'm like you know what that's just wrong. I didn't come down here to get rich," Higdon said.

The legislation would also stop legislative fundraising on state property, require that legislative records be open to the public and ensure that neither political party is given an unfair advantage when new maps are drawn after the next census.

"So, we had a Right to Work initiative. Do I think Right to Work is right for Missouri? I think that there's a good possibility that what they want to do is right," Higdon said. "In my district, 60 percent said no, so I had to vote no. I get a phone call that tells me that for $35,000...you change your vote. That's just wrong."

Show Me Integrity, a coalition from around the state that consists of organizations and individuals who are pressing for anti-corruption reform in Missouri, has been working to gather signatures for the Clean Missouri Initiative.

According to a representative from the coalition, they have been gathering these signatures for roughly a year.

"You want to have your laws that your legislature pass represent the wishes of the people, but that's not what really happens in the legislature," Schaaf said.

However, Schaaf hopes Clean Missouri would help fix that issue.

"I'm a republican, and the republican party is pushing this bill," Schaaf said. "All the democrats are opposed to it."

Schaaf said the Clean Missouri bill should be on the ballot in November.
Following the mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida school two months ago, Gunter ISD compiled a survey for parents, asking them to rate how safe they felt about sending their kids to school.

"The biggest thing is just to get the community involved in our conversation," said superintendent Jill Siler.

The survey asked parents their opinions on things like arming teachers or adding school resource officers. On Thursday, they were able to voice their opinions at a school forum.

"Gunter ISD sent every parent an email invite to this asking are you interested in school security," said parent Nat McClure, "and of course I was."

McClure wanted to attend especially following the news that a student at Gunter Middle School made a written threat last month.

"When it happens in your own school district certainly there are lots of conversations happening," Siler said. "We've made some improvements even since then."

"Every parent is really concerned about it, but oftentimes we don't know what we don't know," McClure said,

To help parents better understand, local police departments helped chime in on the conversation too.

"They've asked if we're doing anything about it and we are," said Gunter police chief Shawn Johnson. "At the end of the day, the children's safety is my number one priority."

Parents talked about the safety measures they've already put in place, like bus video surveillance and visitor ID scanning, along with a tip line app for students to voice concerns or write in if they are having negative thoughts.

They also discussed possible downfalls, like kids traveling between campuses or letting visitors inside.

"All parents have to take an active part and participate in what the schools are doing," McClure said.

SIler said if parents really think they need to start arming teachers or add resource officers, there will be another forum held to discuss those options.
Rome, April 6 - An Italian Navy helicopter crashed into the sea in the central Mediterranean overnight, killing one person from the five-member crew. The four other members of the crew are in a relatively good physical condition but suffering from shock. The Navy said the SH 212 helicopter fell into the sea during a nighttime exercise near to its base ship, the Borsini, for reasons that have yet to be established. Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti has given her condolences to the family of the deceased serviceman, Andrea Fazio. He was pulled out of the helicopter by Navy scuba divers but died during attempts at resuscitation.
Rome, April 6 - The Italian antitrust authority said Friday that it has opened a probe into Facebook for alleged "deceptive information about the collection and use of data". The announcement was made in a tweet citing an interview the agency's President Giovanni Pitruzzella gave Sky TG24. Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer has said that up to 87 million people may have had their personal information taken from the social-media platform by Cambridge Analytica for electoral purposes, including 214,134 users in Italy. Schroepfer said Facebook will tell people if their information may have been improperly leaked to Cambridge Analytica. The Italian privacy watchdog on Thursday asked for more information from Facebook on the Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting case. It said it had already received initial info from the Web giant in a probe it recently opened, but needed more "for a full assessment of the case".
Rome, April 6 - League leader Matteo Salvini said Friday that he would ask his centre-right coalition allies, Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Giorgio Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI), to go the next round of government-formation consultations with President Sergio Mattarella together, rather than separately. "I'll ask Berlusconi and Meloni to go to the consultations together," Salvini told RAI television. "The only possible government is that of the centre right and the M5S together," he added, referring to the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, the biggest party in the new parliament after winning around 32% of the vote in last month's inconclusive general election. The centre right is the biggest coalition with around 37% of the vote. Mattarella announced there would be a new consultations next week on Thursday after this week's first round failed to produce a possible way out of the country's apparent political deadlock.
Rome, April 6 - Some 28 people condemned of physical and mental abuse on peaceful protesters at the Bolzaneto police barracks at the 2001 Genoa G8 summit were ordered to pay the Italian State six million euros in damages on Friday. The Genoa audit court found police, Carabinieri, penitentiary police and medical and health staff guilty of damaging the Italian State. They included top anti-mafia prosecutor Alfonso Sabella, at the time of the abuse head of the Italian penitentiary inspectorate, and General Oronzo Doria, former Liguria area chief of the penitentiary police. On October 26 the European Court of Human Rights said police brutality at the Bolzaneto barracks were acts of torture. The ECHR condemned Italy for the actions of the police officers and also because the State did not carry out an effective investigation. The judges awarded plaintiffs between 10,000 and 85,000 euros a head in damages. Earlier last year, on June 22 the ECHR condemned Italy over a more infamous case of police brutality during the Genoa G8 in 2001 - a police raid described by Amnesty International as "the most serious suspension of democratic rights in a Western country since the Second World War". The court said Italy's laws were inadequate to punish torture committed by the security forces in a ruling related to a night blitz at the Diaz school, which was being used as a billet for protesters. The court also condemned Italy for not having adequately punished those responsible for what happened in Genoa. In the night assault on the Diaz school, hundreds of police attacked about 100 activists and a few journalists, wounding 82 and seriously injuring 61 - three critically and one, British journalist Mark Covell, left in a coma with rib and spinal injuries. Later, at the barracks in Bolzaneto, some 252 demonstrators rounded up at the Diaz and another school, the Pascali, were spat at, verbally and physically humiliated or threatened with rape while being held. Officers planted evidence including two Molotov cocktails and hammers and knives from a nearby construction site to justify the Diaz raid, which was depicted in the 2012 hit film Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood. Last April Italy admitted responsibility for police brutality at the Bolzaneto barracks and agreed to pay 45,000 euros each to six citizens for moral and material damages as well as court costs. In clashes between police and demonstrators at the 2001 G8, one protester was shot dead while attacking a Carabinieri policeman with a fire extinguisher, shops and businesses were ransacked, and hundreds of people injured. photo: the Bolzaneto barracks in Genoa
Vatican City, April 6 - Pope Francis on Friday issued an appeal for "an economy that is not one of exclusion". Francis released a video message accompanying his prayer intention for April which is "For Those who have Responsibility in Economic matters", Vatican News reported. In his prayer intention for the month of April, the pontiff said: "Let us raise our voices together, asking that economists may have the courage to reject an economy of exclusion and know how to open new paths".
Rome, April 6 - A 29-year-old US seminarian found dead in his room in Rome on Monday, Anthony Freeman, died of a congenital heart condition, the Legionaries of Christ said after an autopsy Friday. Freeman died of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is decreased because the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, is enlarged and weakened. In some cases, it prevents the heart from relaxing and filling with blood as it should. Freeman, from Louisiana, was described as a sporty type who had no bad habits. He was found in his bed in the Legionaries of Christ international college in the Italian capital.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Education Sec. Betsy DeVos is re-examining Obama-era guidance intended to prevent "discriminatory discipline" against minority students, the Department of Education has confirmed.



In a pair of "listening sessions" this week, the secretary met with two groups, one that supported the previous administration's recommendations, and one that had "concerns."



The guidance, issued in 2014 in the form of a "Dear Colleague" letter, urges schools to develop policies based on "specific and objective criteria" and to emphasize positive interventions, like counseling, over more punitive measures, like suspension or expulsion.



But according to the School Superintendent's Association  invited to join the group opposing the guidance because of its concerns about what it says the government's "burdensome" investigatory process  DeVos and her staff may be overestimating the document's practical impact, positive or negative.



"If the Department was hoping to have school leaders come out vigorously against the guidance, that wasn't what they achieved," advocacy director Sasha Pudelski told ABC News.



"Based on what we know, our school leaders are not taking their cue from Washington," she continued. According to the association's latest data, "only 16 percent of members indicated they have changed their policies in light of the guidance."



These "Dear Colleague" letters don't create new law, they simply clarify existing law  in this case, titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964  and outline best practices for following it.



So while rescinding the guidance wouldn't have much legal significance  it could "signal to everyone that the federal government doesn't care about black and brown children," according to Vanita Gupta, who led the DOJ's civil rights division under President Obama.



Like Gupta, most proponents of the guidance point to government data that suggests "discriminatory discipline" remains a real problem.



The typical African American student is three times more likely to be expelled or suspended than their white peers, a statistic "not explained by more frequent or more serious misbehavior by students of color," according to the letter.



"Many American schools still have a pretty distinct problem: separate and unequal discipline practices," Gupta told ABC. "We're not sure what is prompting this, outside of a desire to repeal everything from the prior administration."



Experts worry that the disparate treatment sets up a "school-to-prison pipeline," diverting kids out of the educational system and into the criminal justice system. Many say the 2014 guidance, championed by Attorney General Eric Holder, send a message that disrupting the pipeline that hurts kids of color is a government priority.



Critics, however, contend that teachers and staff are so afraid of triggering a federal investigation that they aren't disciplining enough. They argue that teachers, the very people who know students best, are being denied the discretion to punish kids who might pose a danger to themselves or others.



Pudelski acknowledged that a small portion of Superintendent's Association members "said they felt pressure to keep students in school who school staff would have preferred to remove due to pressure from the office of civil rights."



But according to Pudelski, Wednesday's discussion  which took place behind closed doors, to protect attendees privacy, the Department said  included a lot of crying, descriptions of bullying and anecdotes about teachers feeling threatened and having limited recourse to discipline students.



A self-described "policy wonk," she said she said she wasn't confident that "very specific, tragic situations" opponents described stemmed from the guidance in question.



"It was not substantive, not a discussion about policy merits," she said of her experience in the listening session. "I don't know how it was helpful to [the Department]."



In the meantime, 153 civil rights groups, from the ACLU to the National Bar Association, have signed a missive urging DeVos to let the "Dear Colleague" letter stand.



"Rescinding the guidance would send exactly the wrong message. Every child deserves and should be included in a warm, welcoming and responsive school," the letter says. "These regulations and guidance documents, and continued enforcement of the law are critical to making students rights real."



According to Education Department officials, DeVos hasn't made a decision about how to proceed.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Serzh Sargsyan answers questions of "Armenpress"

There is general consensus in our society about our foreign policy, Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview for a special edition of Gulf News newspaper and Global FDI Reports about Armenia. Asked about the most significant foreign policy priorities, Serzh Sargsyan said: First, I have to say, that Armenias foreign policy has been based on four main dictums: being proactive, being engaged, being consistent and ensuring a firm presence where our interests require it. In the past 10 years we have continued our efforts aimed at finding a peaceful resolution in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ensuring a sustainable peace between Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan. Despite all our efforts and goodwill, supported by the United States, France and Russia, which form the co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group  the main mediation format here  we have a long way to go. Our efforts have been further jeopardized by continuous ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan up to now, the flare-up in August 2014, and the Four Day War of April 2016. Its unfortunate that the Azerbaijani leadership has long been misled by its oil money and still holds maximalist views on the resolution. Serzh Sargsyan mentioned that he aspired to open a new chapter in relations with neighboring Turkey during his presidency. At my initiative, supported by the international community as a whole and under Swiss mediation, we negotiated and signed two protocols in Zurich in October 2009, aimed at opening the common borders and normalising our relations. Its unfortunate that the Turkish leadership backtracked from the spirit of signed documents and good neighbourly relations and put forward unrelated preconditions for the ratification and implementation. It was due to this position that I had to declare in September 2017 in the UN General Assembly and reiterate at the recent Munich Security Conference that in that unfriendly environment we have no choice but to shelve the documents in the archives of history. On March 1 the National Security Council further deliberated the matter and I signed a decree to terminate the procedures of conclusion of the Zurich protocols. Of course, we may pursue other opportunities in the future when the Turkish leadership matures.  In the present volatile international environment, we have remained faithful to our longstanding and principled position of seeking to benefit the common interests of our partners. We firmly believe that its our duty to bridge, where possible, the differences of our partners and allies, and not create additional tensions. That would be irresponsible. To that end, I must say, there is general consensus in our society about our foreign policy. Its a dictum of this patient and principled policy that we chose to participate in both the Eurasian Economic Union  where in fact we became a co-founder  and sign the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the EU in November 2017. It is dear to our hearts to see our partners cooperating, while we all benefit from such cooperation. We have seen enough contradictions and wars in our history, Serzh Sargsyan said.
Rome, April 6 - Caretaker Democratic Party (PD) leader Maurizio Martina on Friday appealed for unity in the centre-left party amid rumours some members were unhappy with its staunch stance on forming the opposition to the next Italian government. "I ask (everyone) to stop discussions and mistaken polemics and stay focused on our work," he said. "I still think the PD does not need internal tallying and the assembly must be time for awareness and relaunch. "I ask for unity and I offer collegiality, because we need this and not to split." Earlier another PD bigwig, Lorenzo Guerini, said "I would advise everyone, starting from myself, to calm down. "We are in a complicated phase of a start to the legislature in which the arrogant weakness of the supposed winners has emerged," he said, referring to the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League.
Foggia, April 6 - The cousin of a late boss in the Puglia mafia was gunned down near Foggia on Friday evening. Gianbattista Notarangelo, 45, was a cousin of boss Angelo Notarangelo, the Vieste-based clan leader murdered in January 2015. At least two killers carried out the hit Friday, local police said. He was shot at least six times at his country home near Vieste. The Puglia mafia, the Sacra Corona Unita (United Holy Crown, SCU), is the fourth and smallest of Italy's four mafias. It has dwindled to a fraction of its former strength thanks to waves of police action. The other three mafias are 'Ndrangheta from Calabria, Cosa Nostra from Sicily and the Camorra from Naples.
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.  Charles Dickens

There are times when an e-mail just doesnt have quite the effect as the printed word. Imagine if the Declaration of Independence had been delivered via e-mail. It would have gone into King Georges spam filter and he would have been left wondering why he hadnt heard from those rowdy colonists in a while.

No, to make a statement, one must put ink to paper.

Warwicks has been La Jollas premier location for fine stationery for generations. After all, its in their masthead (books, stationery, gifts and office supply). While e-mails are often ignored, a printed House Warming Announcement, Baby Shower Invitation or Save the Date will command attention when presented on the finest paper. Spruce up your personal and business correspondence with customized cards, thank-you notes and letter sheets.

When narratives fracture, when words fail, I take consolation from the part of my life that always works: the stationery order.  Hilary Mantel

You do not have to face the myriad of stationery choices alone. Warwicks stationery expert, Jolene Whitecavage, has been assisting clients for almost 15 years. During that time, she has helped families as their lives progressed from graduation announcements to wedding invitations and finally baby shower notices.

Theres a special connection that can result from assisting a client in designing the perfect announcement for a momentous occasion, and I have many clients who stop by to share photos with me of the event itself. Theres a personal meaning and satisfaction in memorializing a life event on custom stationery, and its something that gets saved and treasured, Jolene says.

Genius can write on the back of old envelopes but mere talent requires the finest stationery available.  Dorothy Parker

Quality is the hallmark of personalized stationery products at Warwicks. They have represented the Crane Stationery line for decades. Established in 1801 and one of the oldest brands in the United States, Crane includes premium brands regarded as the reference point for fine stationery. Even the U.S. Treasury Department has contracted with them to provide the special paper that is used in our currency. With Crane & Co 100-percent recovered cotton fiber paper, their master engravers have honed their craft to perfection over decades of experience, building on the companys centuries of history and knowledge to deliver quality craftsmanship, impeccable levels of service and stunning results that are, quite simply, on a level all of their own.

Being an employee owned company, we understand the importance that comes from partnering with independent dealers, said Sharon Miller of Crane Stationery.

During August and September, Warwicks conducts its annual 20-percent-off Holiday Greeting Card sale that allows customers to send out personalized greetings. As with most special orders, order early to allow plenty of time for the preparation. The cost for personalized stationery depends on the process (thermography or engraved), paper weight and quantity. Your choices are only limited by your imagination. Even your business needs are solved with Warwicks offering of high quality business cards and letterhead.

If I were a criminal, stationery stores and bakeries would be the two kinds of places I would concentrate on.  John Turturro , Italian-American actor, writer, filmmaker

Being Warwicks, you know its going to have suggestions about books involving writing. Top on the list is Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience. This fascinating collection from Chronicle Books presents letters from such diverse people as Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley, Emily Dickinson, Zelda Fitzgerald, Iggy Pop, Ernest Hemingway and Fidel Castro. For budding writers, check out Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann or I Promise to be Good (The Letters of Arthur Rimbaud). Even some of the best known novels such as Dracula, The Color Purple and We Need to Talk About Kevin, are basically a series of letters. Theres so much to choose from to inspire your own correspondence.

Now is the time for you to get back in touch with the art of the printed page. Select your favorite stationery, charge up the cartridge on your fountain pen, and show your friends and family that you care enough to slow down and choose your special thoughts to them. Let Jolene assist you with those important invitations and announcements that will become treasured keepsakes. You can reach out to Warwicks for your stationery needs by contacting Jolene at invite@warwicks.com or calling the store at (858) 454-0347.

Warwicks is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday at 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. (858) 454-0347. warwicks.com

 Business Spotlight features commercial enterprises that support the La Jolla Light.
The City of San Diego Department of Parks & Rec dropped a bombshell on the La Jolla Parks & Recreation, Inc. (LJP&R) board that will affect how the community groups signature projects must now be carried out. The Citys new regulations will apply to the LJP&Rs playground renovation plans, bocce ball court construction and installation of shade structures.

Chiefly, any new construction project must go through the Department of Public Works and be subject to the Citys implementation process and choice of contractors.

Further, should a project be considered maintenance and carried out by volunteers, a Right of Entry permit would be required, which typically takes 30 days to obtain.

At the LJP&Rs March 28 meeting, Parks & Rec Department district manager Marilyn Stern told the board: The process changed about 18 months ago through the City Attorneys office and Public Works. Together, they decided anything that has to do with construction has to go through Public Works. Without elaborating, she said the new process was approved, but wasnt 100 percent as of a year ago.

Whether the Rec Council pays for it or the City pays for it, all new construction projects are put out to bid and the City selects the contractor, Stern added. In a noticeably quieter tone, she said that usually means the lowest bid would be selected.

LJP&R board chair Mary Coakley Munk, taken aback, said: We want to be really clear on this ... If we raise the money for the playground renovation project, were not allowed to select the vendor wed like to see carry it through? Youre telling me we have no voice in who that person is?

Stern replied that it might be an option to have a member of the LJP&R board review the applications that come in after the City publishes a Request for Proposals and have some input.

Coakley Munk noted: This is very important because as a board, if we continue working so diligently to come up with a project for our community that is desperately needed  (if we lose our input) Im not sure how much energy or interest there would be in perusing something thats not going to be what we feel is needed.

Marilyn Stern, district manager of the City Parks & Rec Department (Ashley Mackin-Solomon )

Trustee Jan Harris questioned whether the changes, and trusting the City to choose the right contractor, would discourage donors.

Stern replied: I hope not, because you could tell the donors they are still getting a new playground out of it.

Some of the reasons the board is concerned over the new process include the additional funds that would need to be raised to cover Public Works employee time and associated permits, the additional time projects would take, and the Citys less-than-sparkling reputation for selecting a contractor based on the lowest bid. As an example, the new La Jolla Cove lifeguard tower and La Jolla Rec Center auditorium tiles installation were cited.

Originally scheduled to be completed in December 2014, unforeseen problems pushed the lifeguard tower construction back by almost a year. Issues included the City struggling with the contractor for several months and the fact that the quality of the work completed by the contractor was not to our standards and a lot had to be redone, according to former Light reports.

Additionally, the La Jolla Rec Center auditorium tiles were installed in 2017 and are now coming apart at the seams.

This is why, we, as a board, are so opposed to the City choosing their vendors to do our projects, Coakley Munk said.

We paid for these tiles and we were required to use your vendor and the job is abominable. The room would be beautiful if the tiles were laid properly. We are also worried about someone tripping in there. We have been trying to get this fixed for a year and were really frustrated,

Trustee Carolyn Parrish added: Its a perfect example of good materials and a sloppy job.

However, with the passage of Proposition H, approved by voters in November 2016, the City Charter was amended to say the City is no longer required to take the lowest bid.

Gaps in tiles in the Rec Centers year-old auditorium floor are cause for board concern when it comes to the City executing projects. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon )

Additional projects

The bocce ball court, which was funded by the board to the tune of $7,000, was going to be installed by volunteers. It would be a temporary installation until the playground renovation, at which time the board would determine if there is enough demand for the court to install a permanent one. The idea came from a group of La Jolla residents who travel to Little Italy to play, and was approved in September 2017.

However, Stern explained: Anything having to do with maintenance we can do with a Right of Entry permit, and I would have to check and see if the bocce ball court would count as maintenance because there is no existing bocce ball court. It is the construction of something brand new.

Similarly, the board agreed to fund playground shade sails at a cost not to exceed $22,000.

Stern said: If this is going to be a Public Works project (as its new construction), I dont think it can be done by June 30, due to the timing associated with a Right of Entry permit and construction.

If it cannot be done by June 30, it must go into the 2018-2019 budget.

She promised an answer before the next meeting.

Stern also assured the LJP&R board that in the event the funds would need to be given to the City to pay for the projects, the funds are earmarked and will not go to anything but these projects.

All said, Parrish commented: Youve given us a bombshell.

 La Jolla Park & Recreation, Inc. next meets 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 25 at La Jolla Rec Center, 615 Prospect St. reviveljrc.org
The La Jolla Parks & Beaches (LJP&B) advisory group discussed a bevy of items during its March 26 meeting at the Rec Center, including the controversial dockless bikes.

Dockless bikes: Addressing the proliferation of dockless bikes in La Jolla and across San Diego, and noting their presence in public parks, LJP&B is figuring out the most efficient next step in addressing the issue.

This problem is bigger than La Jolla, explained trustee Bill Robbins. There are piles of these vehicles in Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. These companies are giants.

He said hes been communicating with Sheila Fortune, director of the La Jolla Village Merchants Association (LJVMA), because she scheduled a presentation with LimeBike reps, which was canceled at the last minute due to an emergency. A follow-up presentation is set for 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 11 at La Jolla Library, 7555 Draper Ave.

Fortune later confirmed to La Jolla Light : I have three of the companies committed to be at the next meeting so far. Rather than have piecemeal presentations, LJP&B opted to see what happens when any bike-share companies present to the LJVMA and proceed from there.

In addition to bikes being used and left in parks, LJP&B members said they couldnt understand how these companies are allowed to operate without any local notice. Robbins said further, there is no enforcement for the existing bicycle laws, such as that riders must wear helmets, cannot ride on the sidewalk, must be 16 years old, etc.

Part of the problem is no matter what rules we or the City put together, just like the short-term rental issue, there are not enough code enforcement officers. The City is going to have to come up with a plan, he said. The board will reconsider the issue 4 p.m. Monday, April 23 at the Rec Center.

Fixin a hole: As part of its annual request for repairs, the board asked the City to patch a gap in some brush near the Childrens Pool lifeguard tower in December 2017. The gap leads to a steep drop down to the beach, and is blocked only by caution tape. LJP&B chair Ann Dynes explained that right now, the City said it doesnt have the resources to make the repairs. The City carpenter assigned to this was sick, now hes busy. But its on their to-do list. Something is going to happen there, she said.

Since December 2017, the La Jolla Parks & Beaches board has been asking the City to repair this gap in vegetation. Photo taken March 30, 2018. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon )

Reservoir committee: Although the La Jolla View Reservoir project is a few years out, a comittee would likely meet this month to collect comments that should be addressed in any environmental documents. Trustee Patrick Ahern said the reservoir is in La Jolla Natural Heights Park, which has the most beautiful view of The Village, and will be demolished and replaced with one several times its size at a location slightly off from its present location.

According to the Citys webpage on the project, the existing 720,000-gallon above-ground La Jolla View Reservoir, put into service in 1949, will be demolished and replaced with a 3.1-million gallon underground reservoir that will be located at a higher elevation within the park and will blend in with the surroundings. The project will also restore the site to its original topography and install 3,000 feet of 30-inch pipeline to connect the new reservoir to the Citys water distribution system.

Ahern said the City would release a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) indicating there are no impacts that havent been addressed in the plan. We said they need an Environmental Impact Report  so an environmental consultant is coming on board. Theyre going to issue a Notice of Preparation for the EIR, and well have 30 days to respond about what we want to see happen. This will probably occur in mid-April. This is the chance to give your input on what you see as an issue  emergency response, pedestrian safety, access to public parks, biological preservation  as any comments would be appreciated, Ahern said.
Ani Zakharyan pretends for post of Minister of Culture

Head of the "New Political Culture" party Ani Zakharyan returns to active political life and has already gained partners from the Diaspora. She was temporarily inactive in political life because of becoming a mother. She pretends to the post of Minister of Culture. Ani Zakharyan does not like the fact that the position of a minister is appointed, it would be desirable to be competitive. "Armen Amiryan may be a good person, he speaks well, but I do not see him as a Minister of Culture," Mrs. Zakharyan mentioned at a meeting with reporters in "Noyan Tapan". To a journalist's question, whether she, as the Minister of Culture, would be able to preserve and show the Armenian in the outside world, she replied that it would be possible if she had been supported by the Government and the President, as it was not only within the minister's activities. The politician likes the work of Vigen Sargsyan, Artsvik Minasyan, David Lokyan and Suren Karayan. She noted that David Harutyunyan was a government-fit person, but he did not justify himself as the Minister of Justice. Apart from the Ministers of Culture and Justice, she is also dissatisfied with the work done by the Minister of Healthcare. "Cosmetic changes are being made under the name of reforms which have nothing to do with healthcare," she said. For her trial, she noted that she intended to get to the European Court and would not allow anyone to play with her reputation. At the end of the press conference, she urged journalists: "I would like you to see a more serious politician in my me, prepare better questions, so that I come to press conferences better prepared."
Robert Revazyan: Independent Commission was a complete failure (video)

The activities of an independent commission on termination of parole and the replacement of the unserved portion of the sentence with a more mild punishment are terminated. The reason is the change of the president's powers. However, everyone was dissatisfied with the commission's activities. "If rejecting was the commission's function, then it implemented it very well as it used to rejected. But if we consider its real function and what it was to do then we can say that it was a complete failure as the mechanism did not work in Armenia," said advocate Robert Revazyan. According to statistics, only 5 per cent of convicts submitting application is early released. The Government has a draft law, suggesting early release from punishment to be allowed to by the decision of the penitentiary and probation services. If the services give a negative conclusion, the convict has the right to appeal to courts. "Will the court examine the issue of ones early release or will it consider whether the conclusion of the probation service was true or not? This the first question. The second: if it will examine the issue of ones early release whether the cort will be able to make fair decisions? The courts have not reached the level of making just decisions yet," said Robert revazyan. The independent commission has never accepted the petitions of life-sentenced prisoners over the past 20 years. The lawyer refers to the rejection of Stepan Grigoryan's application who has been serving his sentence for 23 years. The reason for this is the identification of two phones over the years. "It's ridiculous. The phone is for keeping in touch with the family. And you deprive him of freedom because of that." Yesterday the decree of the commission on pardon issues was also annulled.
Bells have rung at vigils after Pulse, and the Charleston church shooting and the carnage at Las Vegas  and they rang again in the aftermath of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where another angry well-armed young man unleashed a hail of bullets and took seventeen lives. We ring bells to mourn and we ring them as well to sound the alarm. We must sound the alarm right now and everyday to end the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

Kyle Dacuyan of PEN America spoke these words to a room of poets, writers and activists on March 9 at an offsite event during AWP, North Americas largest literary conference, for the poetry collection Bullets into Bells. Although it was published in December 2017, the reading was a kind of prelude to the past month of walkouts, protests and marches across our nation.

Despite gun violence being a national conversation, this was a Floridian event, one taking place in a state still reeling from both Februarys Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and 2016s Pulse Nightclub shooting. References to mass shootings and police abuse were not dealt with as hypotheticals. The audience, as well as the organizers and poets on stage, had been personally affected by gun violence. Everybody felled by a bullet had a name, along with a history and a friend in the room.

Soon after Barack Obama inaugural poet Richard Blanco stood to read from his poem One Pulse  One Poem, a woman two rows in front of me began to weep. Shed made the less than two hour drive from Orlando for the event, as a part of the organization Moms Demand Action - FL.

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Poet Richard Blanco during U.S. President Barack Obamas second inauguration (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images )

Here, a poet spoke to a mother: Use warm words to describe / the cold bodies of our husbands, lovers and wives, / our sisters, brothers and friends. Draw a metaphor / so we can picture the choir of their invisible spirits / rising with the smoke toward disco lights, imagine / ourselves dancing with them until the very end.

This is a role poetry can play during our national debate  to invoke the beauty and value of each life lost. Individual stories and faces can be overlooked in discussion over policy  the victims of a shooting become a number (17 for Stoneman Douglas, 58 for Las Vegas, 28 for Sandy Hook, 13 for Columbine) instead of individuals with families, loved ones, communities. Of course, when those stories are brought up by politicians, they can seem cynical or removed from a persons humanity. The difficulty of accepting the actual persons lost to gun violence has led to theories of crisis actors, signaling that it is more palatable to accept a conspiracy rather than the death of a living, breathing person  especially when that person is a child.

The poetry reading, like the anthology, followed each poem with a response from an activist. After Blancos, Ladd Everitt, Director of One Pulse for America, writes, One day, I hope we can build awe-inspiring memorials to all the beautiful souls we have lost to gun violence and remember them with smiles and laughter. I just wish that day felt closer.

After the response, the room took a minute to put itself back together. The mother was still crying  maybe over her son or daughter, or maybe over a strangers. The moment felt pure, uncynical. Perhaps this is another role that poetry plays as we attempt to unravel systemic gun violence: poetry is a source for raw, sincere emotion.

A rally in Sacramento after autopsy results were released in the death of Stephon Clark, who was shot and killed by police. (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock )

But poetry is not apolitical. As poet Jericho Brown read from his poem, Bullet Points, it was difficult to miss the direct criticism of law enforcement.

I promise that if you hear / Of me dead anywhere near / A cop, then that cop killed me. He took / Me from us and left my body, which is, / No matter what weve been taught, / Greater than the settlement a city can / Pay to a mother to stop crying

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Of course, theres a difference between a mass shooter and dying in police custody. Yet, both speak to the very human struggle to understand the relationship between power and machinery. Its a bit messy thematically, but in a way thats circling the same discussion  about power and who gets to have it, especially when theres a weapon involved that can end a life so quickly when in the wrong hands, whomevers those may be.

In the case of this anthology, the alternative to policy is that folks (poets, victims of gun violence of all sorts) are getting together and studying with each other, trying to figure out how to do something that government and politicians wont do, said the poet Roger Reeves.

Reeves continued, My poem in the anthology is about suicide via gun. And neither the suicide that is referenced nor the prefiguring violence that occurred before the suicide would have occurred if there were more stringent laws concerning the procurement and owning of guns.

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From Reeves poem, Maggot Therapy:

Teach me again that I do not own this body / That walks me over this snow and cracked pavement, / The winter light pulling at my bare ankles, teach me / What to do with the dead I carry in my mouth, / Teach me to travel light with their bodies in my belly.

In response to Reeves poem, Yvonne Crasso writes, I have learned from [survivors of gun violence] that no one is exempt from gun violence. Not in a school, a theater, or their homes. We all grieve differently, yet we all grieve just the same  we carry our dead with us everywhere we go.

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Throughout the anthology and evening, the image of a loved one, usually a mother, still crying, still holding on, permeates. The image emerges again and again, but its never old. The pain of losing someone is always fresh, always necessary.

Poet Nick Flynn (Ulf Andersen/Getty Images )

As poets Joy Harjo, Adrian Matejka and LeAnne Howe, among others, read from their work, the beauty of language rendered each image new, each poet mourning in the present, never letting grief slide into memory. Even as Nick Flynn read a poem first published eighteen years ago, it was difficult to not hear the urgency in his voice casting the poem necessary for the now.

Look at this, one / bullet, / how almost nothing it is   except for the part where its everything.

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In response to Flynns poem, My Mother Contemplating Her Gun, Ashlyn Melton, mother of Noah James Dangle (1998-2011), who was shot to death by his best friend, says:

Dont call it an accident. That undermines all I try to do in sharing [my sons] story. It was a negligent incident. It was free will.

For a moment, the room was silent, all considering our own negligence, our own accountability, our own stories  and the dead we all carry with us, everywhere we go.

Ramirez is a Mexican Colombian writer, critic and performance poet based in Pittsburgh. She won the inaugural PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize in 2015 for her novella-length work of nonfiction, Dead Boys (Little A, 2016). Her full-length work of nonfiction, The Violence, is forthcoming from Scribner.

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When something is on peoples minds, publishers notice. In the past year, there has been a surge of books about politics. That means there will be a plethora of conversations about politics at the Festival of Books. Here are a few favorites.

For an in-depth conversation about our president, dont miss the panel Trump: The First Year (Sat. April 21, 1:30 p.m.). It will feature Sarah Kendzior, a journalist in St. Louis who is a regular on MSNBCs AM Joy and author of the The View from Flyover Country; David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author the deeply researched book The Making of Donald Trump; and Steve Almond, co-host of the New York Times podcast Dear Sugars, whose upcoming book is Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country. Their moderator is The Times Christina Bellantoni, who has a voracious appetite for political news and dialogue.

The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston, Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country by Steve Almond and The View From Flyover Country by Sarah Kendzior (Melville House / Red Hen Press / Flatiron Books )

Listen to experts in history and the law discuss todays challenges in the panel Our Endangered Constitution (Sat. April 21, 3:30 p.m.). Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the Berkeley Law School, who co-authored two books in 2017, Closing the Courthouse Doors: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable and Free Speech on Campus, will be one of four panelists. Hes joined by legal scholar Adam Winkler, whose new book is We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights; activist and historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment; and Richard Rothstein, one of the finalists for the L.A. Times Book Prize in history for his book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Their moderator is Barry Glassner, author of the bestselling book The Culture of Fear.

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On the panel Immigrants: We Get the Job Done (Sun. Apr. 22, 12:00 p.m.) the three panelists will discuss the power and perils of immigration in our current moment, in America and around the world. University professor Alberto Ledesma, whose graphic memoir is Diary of a Reluctant Dreamer, will be joined by two journalists: Sasha Polakow-Suransky, author of the big-picture, reported book Go Back to Where You Came From: The Backlash Against Immigration and the Fate of Western Democracy and Lauren Markham, who tells the story of twins from El Salvador in her book The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life, a finalist for the L.A. Times Current Interest Book Prize. The conversation will be moderated by journalist Frances Dinkelspiel, author of Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California.

Healing From Hate by Michael Kimmel, American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear by Khaled A. Beydoun and Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey into the Syrian Jihad by Asne Seierstad (University of California Press / Farrar, Straus and Giroux )

Three authors will discuss the attraction and impact of extremist ideologies on the panel The Rise of Extremism (Sun. Apr. 22, 12:30 p.m.), moderated by The Times Matt Pearce. Professor Khaled A. Beydoun, author of American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear will be joined by sociologist Michael Kimmel, whose new book Healing from Hate looks at what causes young men to join  and also leave  American neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups. The third author on their panel is Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad, among those traveling farthest to attend the festival, whose riveting new book examines how two generations flee from and return to extremism: Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey into the Syrian Jihad.

carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com

@paperhaus
Nine West Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection with a plan to sell some assets and reorganize others, after too much debt felled the shoe and clothing company controlled by Sycamore Partners.

The Chapter 11 filing in New York lists debts of more than $1 billion. The company will use the bankruptcy to sell its Nine West and Bandolino brand while reorganizing around other businesses including the Anne Klein name, according to a statement. Most creditors have already agreed to support a reorganization, and a $300-million loan will fund operations during the process, the company said.

We will retain our strong, profitable and growing apparel, jewelry, and jeanswear businesses and continue to operate them under a new capital structure so that we can leverage their existing strengths to drive even greater growth, Ralph Schipani, Nine Wests chief executive, said in the statement.

Nine West carried one of the most severe debt loads in the retail industry. The company has been negotiating with its creditors at least since last year, with an eye on selling assets to raise cash. Authentic Brands Group will submit an initial bid for the Nine West and Bandolino footwear and handbag business, and an auction will test the market for higher offers, according to the statement. The profitable One Jeanswear Group, Jewelry Group, Kasper Group and Anne Klein businesses will be retained.

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Kirkland & Ellis LLP is Nine Wests bankruptcy counsel, according to the filing. Among the largest unsecured creditors are holders of 8.5% unsecured notes due in 2019, a $305-million unsecured term loan, and $256 million in 6.125% notes due in 2034.

Nine West, named for its original Manhattan street address, aimed to meld comfort and fashion. But the company missed on some style changes and wound up in the hands of Sycamore, a New York private equity firm known for turning around deeply distressed retail brands. Sycamore bought Nine West as part of its 2014 purchase of Jones Group Inc. for about $2.2 billion including debt.

Since Sycamore was founded in 2011, it has snapped up, financed or invested in struggling retailers such as Staples, Belk department stores and Talbots.
With President Trump upping the ante in his trade fight and Beijing showing no signs of backing down, the two nations entered a new phase of escalated tensions that already have rocked financial markets and set off deepening worries of a trade war that could undermine global growth.

In what has become a high-stakes game of economic poker, China on Friday responded defiantly to Trumps threat the previous night to slap tariffs on another $100 billion in imported Chinese goods on top of $50 billion in products announced earlier. Chinas Commerce Ministry quickly vowed to fight the new tariffs at any cost with a full slate of unspecified counter-measures.

It was the sharpest and latest in a series of tit-for-tat actions that, so far, have been mostly threats and warnings of retaliation. And officials on both sides left open the possibility of negotiations that could avoid tariffs and other protectionist measures from being erected.

But Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin on Friday acknowledged the potential of a trade war, and Trumps top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, said that Trump is not just using tariffs as a negotiating card and is prepared to use them.

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I dont like to use tariffs, but sometimes you have to use tariffs to bring countries to their senses, Kudlow said, even as he sought, unsuccessfully, to calm markets and individuals by emphasizing that the U.S. is still months away from enacting the tariffs against China and that there were all kinds of back-channel discussions going on between the two nations.

Trump said Friday that investors might feel a little pain because of his trade actions against China, and the stock market quickly proved him right.

The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 572.46 points, or 2.3%, the Dows worst percentage drop in two weeks and, at its low Friday, the blue-chip average had plummeted 767 points, or 3.1%.

It ended a seesaw week on Wall Street in which prices gyrated widely as investors grappled with how much the trade dispute could escalate and thus hinder economic growth, corporate earnings and consumer spending.

Trump administration officials insisted that the American economy remained on strong footing, but job growth moderated in March and a trade conflict will almost certainly prove costly for both the U.S. and China, as well as the world economy.

The year had begun with major economies hopeful about what analysts saw as a rare period of synchronized global growth, but there have been recent declines in world manufacturing confidence, noted economists at Barclays Bank.

Ongoing trade-war uncertainty leads us to recommend shifting away from risk assets, the economists said.

Trade tensions have been building for weeks, slowly at first with Trump imposing tariffs on Chinese solar panels and then on roughly $4 billion of Chinese steel and aluminum, the latter penalties justified in the name of U.S. national security.

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Earlier this week, the Trump administration issued a list of about $50 billion in Chinese products such as semiconductors and machine tools that would be hit with 25% penalties for alleged intellectual property theft and unfair technology transfer policies.

Beijing reacted swiftly by announcing its own list of American-made goods, including cars, aircraft and soybeans, that would be subject to import taxes of a similar amount.

Trump, apparently angered by Beijings dollar-for-dollar threat of retaliation, said China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers.

In a statement, he added, Chinas illicit trade practices  ignored for years by Washington  have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs.

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Trumps economic team piled on the criticisms Friday.

The problem here is China, not Trump, said Kudlow, complaining of what he called decades of illegal practices by China that violate World Trade Organization rules. Theyre a first-world country now and they have to act like a first-world country and they have to play by the rules, he said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the presidents proposal to increase China tariffs was an appropriate response, although he made clear that any additional tariffs, like the earlier ones announced, would not take effect immediately. The tariffs would first be subject to a 60-day public comment and hearing period.

Even so, the intensifying rhetoric and threats from both sides have left many exasperated.

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Hopefully the president is just blowing off steam again, but if hes even half-serious, this is nuts, said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). Hes threatening to light American agriculture on fire. Lets absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us. This is the dumbest possible way to do this.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) called for both sides to resolve their differences in talks. The deliberation period announced by the president gives the U.S. and China a long-overdue opportunity to resolve this serious trade dispute, he said in a statement. It is in both of our countries interest  and frankly, the worlds  to find a new path forward on unfair trade practices.

Businesses and investors remained hopeful of negotiations but were nonetheless bracing for a potentially long standoff.

As both China and the U.S. try to gain concessions from each other in the ongoing trade talks, the back-and-forth between the two countries on tariff threats is not likely to end soon, said the Fung Group, a Hong Kong-based firm involved in trading, logistics and retailing.

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Including Trumps latest threat, China could end up being hit with tariffs on $150 billion of goods, or about 30% of all Chinese exports to the U.S. China will be hard-pressed to match tariffs on that level of goods because its more than 100% of what China currently imports from the U.S. in merchandise.

But that apparent advantage for the Trump administration could end up being a Pyrrhic victory, especially for U.S. companies that have production or sales in China.

For all of the difficulties and obstacles operating in China, many are there because of the countrys large and growing market, and a trade war would do serious damage to their business, particularly if Beijing pulls out its full arsenal by tightening regulations, increasing inspections, and just making life very difficult for them.

Some of the biggest losers Friday were giant multinational companies with considerable sales to China. Caterpillar Inc. fell 3.3%, Boeing Co. dropped 3.1% and General Electric Co. lost 2.8%.

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But the selloff was across the board, with particularly big losses in the aerospace and defense, financial, healthcare and retail industries. The NYSE/FANG+ index, which tracks the markets largest technology stocks, fell 2.4%.

Trump earlier had noted the markets gone up 40%, 42%  so we might lose a little bit of it  but were going to have a much stronger country when were finished.

He apparently was referring to how the Dow Jones industrials had soared 45% from election day, Nov. 8, 2016, until it hit a record high 26,616.71 on Jan. 26.

But the Dow now has fallen 10% from that peak, the point at which Wall Street calls a pullback a correction.

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Lee and Puzzanghera reported from Washington: Peltz reported from Los Angeles.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Don Lee 

don.lee@latimes.com

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Follow me at @dleelatimes

UPDATES:

3:30 p.m.: The article was updated with more market reaction and analysis.

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12:10 p.m.: The article was updated with comments from White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow and afternoon trading figures from Wall Street.

8:40 a.m.: The article was updated with comments from GOP lawmakers.

The article was originally published at 8:35 a.m.
President Trump ordered his administration to consider imposing tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports, a salvo that sent U.S. stock futures tumbling on concern that the worlds two largest economies were hurtling toward a full-blown trade war.

The move threatens to unravel efforts by top U.S. and Chinese trade officials to lower the heat and reach an agreement that could stave off an escalating conflict.

U.S. stock futures dropped on Trumps latest trade directive. Standard & Poors 500 index futures slid as much as 1.6%, after the underlying gauge ended the trading day Thursday with a gain of 0.7%.

In light of Chinas unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR [United States trade representative] to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs, Trump said in a statement issued by the White House.

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A White House official later said the $100-billion figure Trump used in the statement referred to the value of the imports that would be covered by the additional tariffs, not the total amount of tax that would be charged on the products.

Chinas state news agency said Friday that Beijing vowed to defend its interests against new U.S. actions.

On Wednesday, China said it would levy a 25% tariff on about $50 billion worth of U.S. imports including soybeans, automobiles, chemicals and aircraft. That was in response to the release by the U.S. of a list of proposed tariffs the day before, covering $50 billion in Chinese goods.

The trade conflict stretches back to March 8, when the Trump administration announced global tariffs on steel and aluminum to protect U.S. producers, eventually exempting many nations but not China. Beijing shot back by levying 15%-to-25% tariffs on $3 billion worth of American goods, including scrap aluminum, frozen pork, dried fruits, nuts and wine.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer quickly followed up Trumps Thursday evening declaration with a statement of his own stressing that none of the tariffs would take immediate effect. He said that any additional tariffs first would be subject to a 60-day public comment period, as would the penalties announced earlier in the week.

No tariffs will go into effect until the respective process is complete, Lighthizer said.

Fantastic relationship

Trump chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow and other administration officials have spent the last two days trying to tamp down trade-war fears.

I think were going to come to agreements, Kudlow said Wednesday on Fox News. I believe that the Chinese will back down and will play ball.

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Yet Trump signaled a harder line in a speech earlier Thursday, saying it is time to stop China from taking advantage of America.

You have to go after the people who arent treating you right, Trump said in West Virginia. Were going to have a fantastic relationship long term with China, but we have to get this straightened out, we have to have some balance.

Kudlow, Trumps newly installed economic advisor, has spent days trying to calm investors who are concerned the spat will spark a trade war, saying on Thursday the administration was involved in delicate negotiations that might forestall the need for tariffs. He said the U.S. could still hammer out a deal with Beijing, in part by convincing other major economies to call out the Asian nation for unfair trading practices.

But there is no quick or cosmetic solution to the deep-seated grievances at the heart of dispute. Trump wants fundamental changes from Beijing  to reduce its fat trade surplus with the U.S., to open up Chinese markets and to alter policies and behavior that officials say have hurt American intellectual property and innovation.

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David Loevinger, a former senior Treasury official who is now managing director of emerging markets at TCW Group Inc., said the move casts doubt on the direction of U.S. policy.

Its just not clear what the connection is right now between what the president says and what will actually become policy, Loevinger said. Markets increasingly have to discount White House statements on trade issues.

Next month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to propose a plan to clamp down on Chinese investments in the U.S., a move that will almost certainly be met with retaliation from Beijing in the form of tougher regulations for American firms in China.

Chinas counterstrike

China countered Trumps plan, announced Tuesday, to slap tariffs on 1,333 of Chinas products  such as semiconductors and lithium batteries  by saying Wednesday that it would impose duties on a variety of agriculture products, including soybeans, the second-most-valuable U.S. crop.

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The U.S. shipped $14.6 billion of soybeans to China, its biggest buyer, in the last marketing year  more than a third of the entire U.S. soybean crop. Agriculture is one of the few sectors of the American economy that run a trade surplus.

Such a tariff would hit U.S. farmers hard at a time they are already dealing with depressed crop prices and stagnant values for their land.

Trump said in his statement that hes directing Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to use his authority to put a plan in place to protect agricultural interests.

Concern about a potential trade war already had been rippling through farm states, which are a crucial part of Trumps political base and a powerful voting bloc. Trump won eight of the 10 states that are the biggest producers of soybeans.

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Farm state Republicans, including Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Charles E. Grassley, and agriculture groups had urged Trump to reconsider his actions on trade.

There is a real danger that increased tariffs on U.S. exports will harm Iowa producers and undermine the rural economy, Ernst said in a statement Wednesday.

Another Republican senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, blasted Trumps announcement late Thursday. If hes even half-serious, this is nuts, Sasse said in a statement. The president has no actual plan to win right now. Hes threatening to light American agriculture on fire. Lets absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but  this is the dumbest possible way.

Perdue said at an event Wednesday in Ohio that Trump had assured him that the administration would take care of our American farmers, possibly foreshadowing Thursdays announcement.

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He said, Sonny, you can assure your farmers out there that were not going to allow them to be the casualties if this trade dispute escalates,  Perdue told reporters, according to a copy of his remarks distributed by the Agriculture Department.

Times staff writer Don Lee contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

7:12 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Chinas state news agency and Sen. Ben Sasse.

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5:35 p.m.: This article was updated with White House clarification on Trumps $100-billion figure and with more background on the trade conflict, including comments from Sen. Joni Ernst and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

This article was originally published at 4:35 p.m.
Its no secret that Americans pay more for healthcare than people in all other developed countries. And a big reason for that is because our $3 trillion healthcare system is focused to a large extent on generating profits for businesses, rather than the well-being of patients.

Much of that profit-seeking is perfectly legitimate, by which I mean its frequently outrageous, unethical and immoral, but within the letter of the law.

Then theres all the profiteering that occurs in the shadows, seeking to exploit the insane complexity of the U.S. healthcare system and in so doing drive costs even higher.

All healthcare systems have fraud, said David Frankford, a law professor at Rutgers University. But the U.S. system is so complicated and so fragmented, it just makes it easier to get away with.

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A good example arose this week with the indictment of the owner of a Sacramento company, Trina Health, that offers what it calls one of the most important advancements in the treatment of diabetes since insulin.

G. Ford Gilbert was charged by the U.S. Justice Department with bribing an Alabama lawmaker to help expand Trina Healths business by forcing an insurance company to cover the companys treatment, which most major insurers, including Medicare, had deemed medically useless.

The indictment is eye-opening on a number of levels, not least the extremes this California business owner allegedly went to in order to pad his own pockets and enrich investors  all at the expense of insurers, which pass along costs to policyholders, and people with diabetes, who struggle daily with a chronic disease thats the countrys seventh-leading cause of death.

Trina Health is named after Gilberts daughter. According to the companys website, he was driven by a fathers love to help her after she was diagnosed as a child with Type 1 diabetes, which is the autoimmune kind, as opposed to Type 2, which is often the obesity kind.

Gilbert devised a treatment called microburst insulin infusion, which the site says is nothing short of a miracle.

The treatment utilizes a precise high-pressure pulsation algorithm to intelligently perfuse insulin into a diabetic patient, Trina Health says, claiming that the serious complications from advanced diabetes are halted or reversed.

Im no doctor but I do know a thing or two about this disease (I have Type 1 diabetes myself). My sense is that although Gilbert says his treatment turned his daughters life around, it seems more snake oil than miracle cure. If it were as effective as he purports, it would be commonly prescribed by endocrinologists. Its not.

Nor is there much of a case to be made for Trina Healths claims that microburst insulin infusion can help not just with diabetes complications but also hypertension, chronic fatigue, wounds and erectile dysfunction.

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded in 2009 that the treatment, which consists of three hours of intravenous insulin injections on a weekly basis, does not improve health outcomes in Medicare beneficiaries. As such, it wasnt worthy of coverage, Medicare said. Many private insurers followed suit.

Heres where things get hinky. Allegedly.

According to the indictment, Gilbert, 70, who had licensed his technology to investors in various regions, came up with ways to alter billing codes so Medicare wouldnt know it was paying for insulin microbursts.

In 2014 and 2015, Trina Health opened three clinics in Alabama, the Justice Department said. Soon thereafter, the states largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, informed Trina Health that it would not cover the treatments provided by them. Gilbert then schemed to force Blue Cross to change its position.

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He concocted legislation that would require the insurer to cover the procedure and then made payments to State of Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon in exchange for his efforts on behalf of the bill, according to the Justice Department.

Gilbert hired a local lobbyist, Marty Connors, who helped persuade the chairman of the Commerce and Small Business Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives, Jack D. Williams, to hold a public hearing on the bill, the indictment says.

Williams knew of the payments to the majority leader, the Justice Department said, and acted in part to help Hammon, who, as everyone in the scheme knew, was experiencing grave financial problems. The bill eventually failed.

Gilbert was charged this week with wire fraud, healthcare fraud and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. Williams and Connors face similar charges. If convicted, each man could be imprisoned for up to 20 years.

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Hammon pleaded guilty to mail fraud last September in a separate case involving use of campaign money for personal expenses. He was sentenced in February to three months in prison.

Neither Gilbert nor his lawyer returned calls requesting comment.

I dont want to suggest we wouldnt see alleged shenanigans such as this if we had a Medicare-for-all insurance system similar to just about every other developed country.

Despite the fact that most Europeans pay about half what Americans pay for healthcare, theres still a European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network to keep tabs on scammers.

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But it seems indisputable that the needless complexity of the U.S. system, and the emphasis on profits rather than patient protection, create an environment that doesnt just encourage fraud, but greatly facilitates it.

By some estimates, 10 cents of every dollar spent on healthcare in this country is lost to fraud. Thats almost twice the global average.

The vast number of providers and suppliers in our healthcare system will naturally lead to more opportunities for fraud, said Pat Souter, a professor of healthcare studies at Baylor University School of Law.

While single-payer insurance systems found in other developed countries also have fraud, he said, having a system such as ours, with the number of payers, contributes to increased opportunities.

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Each expert I spoke with said a higher rate of fraud is to some extent the price we pay for our free-market-driven medical system, which may be strong on innovation but is woefully lacking in transparency.

For me, the alleged actions of Gilbert and Trina Health demonstrate that this may be too high a price to pay.

Its time this country explored a precise high-pressure pulsation algorithm to intelligently perfuse a little rationality into the healthcare market.

Which is to say, its time we simplified things.

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David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
Although some people may daydream of owning a vintage home, probably few would imagine buying three at once. Now a compound containing a trio of historically designated houses has come on the market in La Jolla at $4.35 million.

Known as Heritage Place La Jolla, the Barber Tract area enclave was created by moving the structures from other sites in the seaside town. The cottages, built from 1895 to 1917, offer a rare sampling of the areas early architectural history. Most homes this old would have been razed to make way for new construction.



For the record: A previous version of this article said Galusha B. Grow was a baker. Grow was a banker.

At the heart of the property is the Rhoads house, named for a newspaperman instrumental in the development of the community. Horace Rhoads relocated the 1917 Craftsman bungalow, once a duplex, to the site in 1928 for use as his residence. The shingle-sided house was restored and expanded in 2006 to contain 3,000 square feet of open-plan living space with four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

The oldest of the homes, an 1895 yellow Victorian known as the Galusha B. Grow Cottage, joined the Rhoads house close to 50 years later. Grow, a San Diego banker, had used the two-bedroom house as a vacation home. A porch creates a welcoming sitting area at the front door.

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1 / 11 The 1909 Victorian bungalow was moved to the property in 2003. (Anthony Ghiglia) 2 / 11 The house is named for Martha Dunn Corey, La Jollas first female doctor. (Anthony Ghiglia) 3 / 11 The house was used as the doctors residence and office. (Anthony Ghiglia) 4 / 11 The Victorian was built in 1895. (Anthony Ghiglia) 5 / 11 The home is the oldest of the three that make up the property. (Anthony Ghiglia) 6 / 11 The cottage is named for the San Diego baker who used it as a vacation home. (Anthony Ghiglia) 7 / 11 The home has two bedrooms. (Anthony Ghiglia) 8 / 11 The Craftsman-style home was built in 1917 and moved to the site in 1928. (Anthony Ghiglia) 9 / 11 The shingle-sided house was restored and expanded in 2006. (Anthony Ghiglia) 10 / 11 The expanded house now has 3,000 square feet of open-plan living space. (Anthony Ghiglia) 11 / 11 The home now has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. (Anthony Ghiglia)

The 1909 Victorian bungalow called Corey House was named for Martha Dunn Corey, La Jollas first female doctor. She used the house as both office and residence. It was moved several times before arriving at its final destination 15 years ago. Today the painted lady is adorned in green with pops of orange and red trim.

Combined, the meticulously restored houses have a total of eight bedrooms, 6.5 bathrooms within the 5,000 square feet of living space. The third-acre lot is gated and landscaped.

The homes have been in use as rentals and, due to their age and historic nature, come with Mills Act property tax savings.

Linda Marrone of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is the listing agent for the property at 7210 La Jolla Blvd.

This occasional feature celebrates Southern Californias architectural heritage through homes built before 1950.

Submit candidates for Vintage SoCal to lauren.beale2@latimes.com.

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MORE FROM HOT PROPERTY:

Akiva Goldsmans Old World estate charms a buyer in Beverly Hills Post Office area

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Rooney Mara reintroduces her restored Midcentury home in Los Feliz at $3.45 million

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Former Mens Wearhouse CEO George Zimmer sells Hawaiian haven at a steep discount
Anyone who has spent time on the internet has come across something that confounds them  a blog post that doesnt seem to make any sense, a rant that goes off the rails, a YouTube video so strange its hard to tell if the person behind it is sincere or creating performance art.

Often, this content becomes the butt of online jokes, fodder not just for viewers who cant look away but also those who choose to share and mock it.

For some who stumbled upon Nasim Aghdams prolific library of online videos, that wasnt an uncommon reaction.

Aghdam used YouTube to espouse the benefits of veganism and exercise with videos that were at once surreal and unhinged. In one clip, pulsing electronic music plays in the background while Aghdam stares expressionless at the camera. In another, she dances wearing a sheep mask in front of a picture of a frowning cow before the words Go Vegan, Go Healthy & Humane appear across the screen  exactly the kind of fodder that internet users love to point and gawk at.

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That was before Aghdam opened fire with a handgun at YouTubes San Bruno, Calif., campus Tuesday, wounding three people before taking her own life.

Those who had seen her clips are now taking stock of their own reactions.

I feel guilty, Sahar Motallebi wrote on Facebook. Although I only laughed at her and never shared her posts  we all saw there is an issue with her and we only entertained ourselves or kept quiet about the cyberbullying going on.

Viewers of Aghdams videos took to social media in the days after her attack, admitting to having made fun of her. In some cases, they appeared to be grappling with remorse. Others seemed to be coming to terms with how what they viewed as an internet joke could have ended so tragically.

Some of her videos in Farsi had got famous in the Persian community because she acted weird and was talking crazy. People were actually laughing at her stupid videos, one Reddit user wrote.

Holy crap, I remember that woman. People on the Turkish internet used to make fun of her, wrote another.

Aghdams videos had made their way back to her native Iran  where social media channels are often blocked  and to Turkey, where a fellow YouTube creator derided her creations in a video of his own. He described one of her videos as something I can only see in my nightmares.

If you watch a video of her five times, shell appear under your bed, the fellow YouTuber says in his September 2016 post.

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Such treatment of a random online personality isnt unusual, said Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a Stanford University psychiatrist and author of Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality.

The negative traits that surface on social media are not new, Aboujaoude said.

In real-life interactions, people generally keep their worst instincts in check. Online, however, people feel less accountable, which often makes it easier to be angry, hostile or even just careless.

What we see with social media is a shortcut right back to these instincts that have always been there, he said. But now we have this outlet to bring it to the surface.

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Part of what drives the internets tendency toward mockery is that it normalizes an its just a joke mentality, Aboujaoude said. Its all virtual, its not real, and if its not real then its OK.

The fact is it has become real, he said. Society is being transformed in the image of social media. We dont have that excuse anymore. What happens online does not stay there.

Authorities are still trying to determine a motive behind Aghdams attack. Law enforcement is looking into her frustration with YouTube  a service she used to forge her online identity but later blamed for stifling the reach of her videos, censoring her content and underpaying her for the traffic she attracted.

Her videos have been removed from YouTube and other sites. (YouTube did not respond to a request for comment).

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Although trolling and harassment are near constants in online communities  another negative behavior that the web has normalized  they may have an outsized effect on those who turn to the platforms to seek validation, according to psychology experts.

Social media is so seductive because its a place where people go to expose themselves in the hope for a positive outcome, said Mary Lamia, a psychologist whose work has focused on the topic of shame. And when we dont get that positive outcome, its a recipe for shame.

Some of the responsibility for policing behavior falls on consumers, psychology experts say. They say its up to individuals to have a conscience, exercise self-control and rein in the habit to point and laugh at whatever weird video is buzzing around social media.

But this doesnt mean the companies behind the platforms should be let off the hook, they said. After all, if social media is capable of changing our political opinions and influencing elections, what could it do to our psyche?

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These companies need to be asking themselves what part theyre playing, said Susan Liautaud, an ethics expert at Stanford University. Theyre not responsible for everything users do, theyre not responsible for what schools or parents should be doing, but they need to be asking themselves about how their products are being misused.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

Twitter: @traceylien

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

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Twitter: @sarahparvini
Its been a tough week for Laura Ingraham. And for Lauren Ingram.

Laura Ingraham is the embattled Fox News host currently on what the network is calling a pre-scheduled vacation after her comments about Parkland survivor David Hogg sparked social media outrage.

Lauren Ingram is an Australian journalist who wound up on the receiving end of a lot of that vitriol.

On Twitter, the Fox News host is @IngrahamAngle, the name of her show. The Australian Ingram is @laureningram. Both are verified accounts with the blue check mark next to their names. Both have profile photos of blond white women. People got confused.

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For almost a week, Ingram said, she was functionally unable to use Twitter because of the onslaught of angry tweets directed at a different journalist on the other side of the world. They came so fast that she wasnt even able to see tweets from friends and people who actually know who she is.

So it looks like Laura Ingraham has said something horrible overnight because Ive woken up to a bunch of abusive mentions not intended for me once again  Lauren Ingram (@laureningram) March 29, 2018

She got abuse and threats even after she clarified, multiple times, that she was not Ingraham. In some cases, that made it worse.

When I tweeted saying, Im not Laura Ingraham, Im a feminist journalist from Australia and I dont like guns, then I started getting abuse from Trump supporters and supporters of Ingraham, she said.

In an ironic twist, she said, shes on the same side politically as most of the people rage-tweeting at her.

My political views could not be any more opposite than Laura Ingraham, she said. Everything Ive ever heard her say, Ive disagreed with.

In the digital age, the distinction between who you are and who you are online is blurred. Mark Marino, an assistant professor of writing at USC who studies digital literature and social networks, said young people absolutely consider things like their Twitter handle part of their identity.

Of course, what we put online is a curated version of our day-to-day existence: Youre more likely to post a photo of a delicious meal you cooked than the sink full of dirty dishes afterward. But our digital existences are still an extension of the lives we lead both online and off, and our handles are how we functionally connect with other people.

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Our Twitter handles are more than just names, Marino said. He likened them to doorbells, or mailboxes  direct connections to us in a way that even our names are not.

In the past, it could be a funny coincidence or mild nuisance if you happened to share a name with someone more famous than you. But, Marino said, you wouldnt start getting that persons mail. Now, were all one keystroke away from a rage-filled tweet storm meant for someone else.

Ingram said that people on Twitter had started confusing her for Ingraham around the 2016 election cycle, but that its never been as bad as it has in the last week. She has been subjected to thousands of hateful messages, including violent threats. She described the experience as overwhelming.

A 2017 Pew study on online harassment found that experiencing severe harassing behavior on the internet had a negative effect on peoples mental health, and that the effect could be similar to experiencing a traumatic event.

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Ingram said a lot of people suggested she just change her Twitter handle. There are a few issues with that: If you have a verified account, you cant change your handle or else you risk losing the blue check mark, the prestige that comes with it and the exclusive access it provides to Twitter analytics tools. And in Ingrams case, she has purposefully made her digital presence consistent across social media for professional reasons.

Also: Its my name. Its not like its a handle youve made up or something, she said. On Twitter, she invoked an infamous scene about name changes from the movie Office Space:

Me right now pic.twitter.com/niwcII6ecg  Lauren Ingram (@laureningram) April 4, 2018

There isnt much Twitter can do about this particular issue: The company is not responsible for peoples errant tweets. But, Ingram said, Twitter should do more in general to combat the types of messages shes received.

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Even when its not meant for you, its unsettling to get abusive messages, especially threats, she said.

Ingram said she reported some of the worst offenders to Twitter, but the sheer volume of tweets made it impossible to report each one that was offensive.

Of course shes not the first person to be confused for someone else on Twitter. A financial planner named George Papadopoulos  not to be confused with the former Trump campaign aide who pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI  reached out on Twitter: Stay strong Laura!

Stay strong Lauren, we are a special group! pic.twitter.com/pRtolOduYQ  George Papadopoulos (@feeonlyplanner) March 29, 2018

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Another person who feels her pain: Jeffrey Shih, a video game streamer in Austin, Texas. Though streamers rarely go by their given names, they choose their handles carefully, and its a big part of their brand online.

A couple of weeks ago, another streamer, who goes by @Amaz, complained that people were tweeting at him about their Amazon.com shipping problems.

Oh boo hoo, Shih responded. His Twitter handle, which hes had since 2011, is @TrumpSC.

Follow me on Twitter @jessica_roy.

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jessica.roy@latimes.com
Natalia Tzabris reading fairly tale in French for Armenian children (video)

Today at the Avetik Isahakyan Library was a fairy tale time. But it was special because this time the tale for the little ones was read by the French Embassy's Cultural Affairs Officer Natalia Tzabris. Lusine Khachatryan, head of the department of the Francophonie Center, noted that that was not the first case. "The library has an interesting tradition of often inviting ambassadors being Yerevan to read fairy tales. There are often such readings in our country. On the occasion of Francophonie, we invited Natalia Tsatzatis." The fairy tale was also not accidental. This year's famous French fairy tale was Charles Pero's 390th anniversary and was chosen one of his fairy tales. Natalia Tzabris was extremely excited about children's songs and dances. She said that it was for the first time she read a fairy tale in French for Armenian children. "It was very interesting to me, I wanted to see, whether they understand me or not. The French language teaching comes to a higher level. This time we organize cinema, theater, paintings as well as culinary festivals within the framework of the Francophonie Festival. This time we will also go to Gyumri. There are many events this year, as in October, the Francophonie summit will be held in Yerevan," added Natalia Tzabrits.
Natalie Coughlin and Nathan Adrian are best known as world swimming champions  Coughlin as a 12-time Olympic medalist and the first woman to swim the 100-meter backstroke in under a minute, and Adrian as an eight-time Olympic medalist and a top freestyle sprinter for the U.S. national team. On a recent Saturday morning, they dropped those identities for a lesser-known one.

Being hapa  thats a big part of my identity, Coughlin said, as she and Adrian each sat for a portrait by photographer Kip Fulbeck at a makeshift studio in Oakland.

Fulbeck started photographing people of mixed racial heritage in 2001. Hapa, a Hawaiian word for part, has been adopted by some as a way to describe themselves. After each sitting, Fulbeck asked participants to hand-write responses to the question: What are you?

Its a loaded question that each person already was confronting on a regular basis. It was meant as a provocation.

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This eventually became the Hapa Project, a collection of the words and images of more than 1,500 volunteer subjects from across the country, most with partial roots in Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry. In each spare, luminous frame, a person looks directly at the camera. Each subject has no name, no clothing, no jewelry. All that accompanies is what people write about themselves.

Recently Fulbeck tracked down the original participants, reshooting and reinterviewing them for a new book titled Hapa.me: 15 Years of the Hapa Project, released this month in conjunction with an exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown L.A.

Amy, idenfied as Chinese-Japanese-German-Hungarian-English. (Kip Fulbeck )

Curtiss, identified as Japanese and African American. (Kip Fulbeck )

Jenn, identified as Japanese, French, Native American (Cherokee) and Irish. (Kip Fulbeck )

Photographing subjects without identifiers like clothing and names takes away a major source of external supposition and judgment about the subjects in terms of their ethnicity, paternal/maternal lineages, social class and cultural adherences, sociologist and curator Cindy Nakashima writes in one of five essays included in Fulbecks new book. She describes the empowerment that comes from being able to answer the question What are you? in whatever way one wants.

This stripping away, Fulbeck said, was a conscious artistic decision, one to put the agency in the hands of his subjects.

A lot has changed since Fulbeck started the Hapa Project. In 2015, one in seven babies was multiracial or multiethnic, according to a Pew Research Center study released last year. Thats up from 10% in 2000 and 5% in 1980. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that the multiracial population as a whole will triple by 2060.

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Fulbeck has seen his Hapa Project exhibited worldwide, including in 2006 at the Japanese American National Museum. The photographer is now a professor at UC Santa Barbara, and his work has been shown at the Getty Center, the Smithsonian and the New York Historical Society.

For his Hapa Project update, Fulbeck not only revisited past subjects but also included new ones  mostly non-famous people, but with a few artists, actors and athletes like Coughlin and Adrian thrown into the mix.

Coughlin, 35, grew up in Vallejo, Calif., which includes some of the most racially diverse ZIP Codes in the country.

Even though I look white, my moms side is Filipino, and the culture was always around me, she said.

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Adrian, 28, who describes himself as German-Irish-Chinese, has cheerfully answered fans tweets about his background: Half Chinese #hapapride.

As a kid growing up in rural Washington, when they told me to check one box, I just checked two anyway, he said. Yes, Im a mix. And as time goes on, it just gets more normal.

To Fulbeck, 52, this signals a sea change. He is half Chinese, half English-Irish-Welsh. Growing up in Southern California, he was picked on  by his white elementary school classmates and by his Chinese peers at the local Chinese cultural association.

Back in 2001, we did not talk about hapa, and there was very little space for mixed-race people to fit in, he said. It meant something to them to be recognized. Some people were in pain. He remembered one shoot with a woman who sat for hours not touching pen to paper.

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As a kid growing up in rural Washington, when they told me to check one box, I just checked two anyway. Nathan Adrian

Now Fulbeck sees strength in numbers, and proud role models. Shifts in popular culture can make the general public more open to conversations about race and he welcomes that. He is optimistic about the fact that multiracial people are more common and more settled in themselves individually, but hes pessimistic in the societal shift that came with the exit of Barack Obama and the entrance of Donald Trump.

Theres apprehension that whatever gains we have made are being or will be erased, Fulbeck said. And anxiety about the victimized white male being legitimized.

In other words, not everyone likes the browning of America.

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Critics say that Trumps actions  aggressively deporting immigrants of color, playing to white racial anxieties and demonizing Mexicans, Chinese and Haitians (to name a few)  reflect these fears, which have taken the concrete shape of White House policy.

But if you look through Fulbecks new portraits, the then-and-now diptychs, you can find equally concrete reminders of the fight against the for me, not you way of thinking.

Fifteen years ago, one Hapa Project participant called himself queer Eurasian. In that photo, his eyes are alert, serious. In the new photograph, he looks into the camera with a relaxed gaze and the hint of a smile.

Love is love, he writes. My parents were only able to marry because in 1948 the California Supreme Court became the first state Supreme Court to rule that banning marriage between people of different races was unconstitutional. When my husband and I were denied the freedom to marry, we sued the state and won at the same California Supreme Court. His parents were there as witnesses on his wedding day.

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Reed identified as Japanese, Italian, Jewish, English, Irish and Scottish. (Kip Fulbeck )

Adrian, identified as Chinese and Danish. (Kip Fulbeck )

Harper identified as Japanese, Swedish, Norwegian, Irish, German and English. (Kip Fulbeck )

When comparing the early Hapa Project photos to the more recent set, Fulbeck finds the evolution from child to adult to be the most revealing. The project is an ear to what the youngest multiracial citizens have to say now about race relations, shifting identities and who belongs in America.

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The photo shoot, which was open to the public, drew exuberant remixes of American immigrant identity: Japanese-Guyanese, Filipino-black, Hawaiian-Lebanese-Scottish, Trinidadian-Korean-Jewish-Swedish. This was the multicultural Bay Area, of course, but Fulbeck has photographed people coast to coast, from Honolulu, Seattle and L.A. to Chicago and Boise to Syracuse and New York City.

One confident, flippant teenager wrote, Im a Japanese Jew: a latke-sushi roll.

Coughlin, the Irish-Filipina swimmer, wrote, I eat corned beef with white rice. #hapa.

Taken together, all the photos and statements reveal the archetypal mixed-race themes of acceptance, rejection, marginalization, authenticity, choice, privilege, projection, Nakashima writes in Fulbecks new book. The project resists the rigid codification and categorization in the history of photography.

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What youre left with on each page is a face, a few words and a surprising amount of wisdom.

One boys adult self feels fortunate to have grown up between worlds.

All Ive ever wanted to do was to soften the border between the two, he writes. Thats what love is, ultimately.

Writes one blue-eyed young woman: When I was little I wrote that I am a person, and now that Im older I cant think of anything better to say.

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There are calls to take responsibility, to be on the front lines, to speak out, to get each vote counted. In dangerous times, its important to stand strong in who you are, writes another participant. Ive never felt more fierce.

In the beginning, Fulbeck said, it was about getting individual voices heard. Now its about trying to get a collective voice heard.

         

Hapa.me: 15 Years of the Hapa Project

Where: Japanese American National Museum, 100 N. Central Ave., L.A.

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When: Tuesdays-Sundays, ends Oct. 28

Admission: $6-$12

Info: (213) 625-0414, www.janm.org/visit/

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

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MORE MUSEUM NEWS:

Jackson Pollocks drips and dribbles? Theres a science to that

How good is the King Tut exhibition in L.A.? An art critic weighs in

In Egypt, conservators try to protect Tuts tomb from tourists
Being where you're not supposed to be, seeing what youre not supposed to see, hearing people say what they're not supposed to say  the threat and thrill of transgression can give so much power to live theater.

This week on L.A.s intimate stages, actress Bellina Logan talks about growing up biracial in Confessions of a Mulatto Love Child. Claire Booth Luces modern classic The Women invades a vintage clothing store in Burbank. Echo Theater Companys What Happened When immerses the audience in the creepy action, and the Group Rep revives Deathtrap, a play that uses every trick of stagecraft to keep its audience in the dark.

Mulatto Love Child at the LGBT Center

The essentials: Bellina Logan, whose TV roles have included Nurse Kit on ER and Fiona on Sons of Anarchy, shares stories about her mixed-race parents and her tumultuous relationship with her eccentric mother.

Why this? Jon Imparato, director of cultural arts at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, encountered Logans solo show at last years Hollywood Fringe Festival and decided that it needed a wider audience. As he explained by email, Confessions of a Mulatto Love Child really spoke to me. It is very funny and very moving at the same time  a real achievement in a solo play  and Bellina Logan's shape-shifting reminded me of Lily Tomlins work in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

Details: Los Angeles LGBT Centers Davidson/Valentini Theatre, 1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood. Check website for schedule. $20. (323) 860-7300, lalgbtcenter.org.

Bellina Logan's solo show Confessions of a Mulatto Love Child plays at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Ben Bode

The Women at Pinup Girl Boutique

The essentials: In 1936, Claire Booth Luces comedy of manners The Women was the first play on Broadway with an entirely female cast. A giant leap for womankind? Well 

Luces vain, bored, backstabbing Manhattan socialites make the loopiest contestants on The Bachelor look staid and levelheaded. A conclave of all the hell-hags is how the New York Times review described the original productions finale. In other words: Wheee! Archway Theatre Company has found an ingenious setting for this fashion-focused, fur-flying flame-fest: a vintage clothing boutique.

Why this? Have you ever wished you could buy the costume off an actress back? The ensembles modeled by the 18-member cast  designed to evoke the 1960s, when Luce last updated her script  are available in a range of sizes, making for an evening of one-stop shopping-and-Schadenfreude.

Details: Archway Theatre Company at Pinup Girl Boutique, 3606 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; ends April 21. $32. (818) 980-7529 or www.archwayla.com.

Carolyn Vasko, left, Annie Sabel and Crystal Allen-Haines in "The Women." Elias McCabe

Randall Clute and Ellen Neary in Echo Theater Companys What Happened When. Daniel Talbott.

What Happened When at Echo

The essentials: Chris Fields puts the audience inches from the action in an immersive staging of Daniel Talbotts spooky memory play about three siblings snowed in at a farmhouse without electricity, hashing out the mysteries of their past by flashlight.

Why this? Fields and his team have a reputation for producing adventurous new work with strong casts, and Times theater critic Charles McNulty called Echo Theater my go-to place in Los Angeles for symbiotic ensemble acting. Talbott, a member of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, is also the author of Slipping, a gay coming-of-age story that generated buzz when it played in L.A. in 2013. Time Out Chicago praised an earlier production of What Happened When for its air of Pinterian menace.

Details: Echo Theater Company, Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; opens April 12 and ends April 26. $34. (310) 307-3753 or www.EchoTheaterCompany.com

Deathtrap at the Lonny Chapman

The essentials: The prolific veteran director Jules Aaron directs this revival of the comic thriller by Ira Levin, a master of ingenious stage plotting who also wrote novels (Rosemarys Baby, The Stepford Wives) that proved catnip to movie studios.

Why this? Deathtrap may have acquired a whiff of the attic since it premiered in 1978, especially in its daring-for-its-time but timid-in-retrospect use of homosexuality as a plot device. (In his 1982 film adaptation, Sidney Lumet added a fiery onscreen kiss between two men that, although it isn't in the original script, made its way into subsequent stage revivals. Levins estate has since denied that he intended the characters to be lovers.) Still its hard to beat this real stage stunner, as the Guardian once described the Tony-nominated play, for edge-of-your-seat twists and turns that are best experienced live. As director Aaron puts it, "There are very few theatrical genres that are as frightening and titillating as the roller-coaster ride of the well-honed thriller."

Details: The Group Rep, Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends May 20. $25. (818)763-5990, www.thegrouprep.com

The 99-Seat Beat appears every Friday. Our reviewers shortlist offerings with an emphasis on 99-seat theaters and other smaller venues. Some (but not all) recommendations are shows we've seen; others have caught our attention because of the track record of the company, playwright, director or cast. Comprehensive theater listings are posted every Sunday at latimes.com/arts

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

MORE THEATER:

South Coast Reps Shrew!

Skylights The Madres

Last week on the 99-Seat Beat

2018-19 season preview for the Taper and Kirk Douglas
This weekends Skull and Roses Festival in Ventura is, on one level, a parallel dimension reversal of the typical pop music festival.

Instead of dozens of acts playing a disparate array of songs from any number of different songwriters, nearly two dozen performers draw their set lists from a single source: the Grateful Dead.

The event taps the plethora of groups that the venerated San Francisco jam band has spawned over the decades, and if the songbook is the same, the manner in which they interpret it is anything but.

The lineup for the three-day festival, which runs Friday to Sunday at the Ventura County Fairgrounds (long a favorite venue for the Dead), spans from Cubensis, the long-running L.A.-based Dead tribute band, and the Grateful Bluegrass Boys, which puts a mountain-music spin on the songs, to Punk Is Dead (punk rock) and Shred Is Dead (heavy metal).

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Grateful Dead music has become a standalone genre of music that is played by bands in every city in the country, longtime Dead spokesman Dennis McNally tells The Times. Bruce Hornsby called them hymns, and hes put his finger on something  they have that resonance and authority.

Others on this years Skull and Roses Festival bill include Golden Gate Wingmen, Stu Allen & Mars hotel, Roosevelt Collier, Circles Around the Sun, Melvin Seals and JGB.

McNally noted the particularly distinctive spin that Collier has on the bands deep repertoire, describing him as a brilliant part of the Florida evangelical sacred steel [guitar] world, who jammed with Bob Weir and now plays Grateful Dead music.

As he also noted, the Grateful Dead will be remembered for generating arguably the most extraordinarily passionate and involved following of any music act ever. The proof is that the [1995] death of Jerry Garcia did not end this. Twenty-two years later, Dead & Company will fill stadiums, but that only hints at the phenomenon.

Tickets and additional information are available at the Skull and Roses website. Prices range from $39.95 for single-day admission on Friday to $139.95 for adult three-day weekend passes.

randy.lewis@latimes.com

Follow @RandyLewis2 on Twitter.com

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SUNDAY

Sandra Oh from Greys Anatomy returns to TV in the imported espionage drama Killing Eve. Lets hope shes not Eve. 8 p.m. BBC America

That evil twin is evil  evil, I tells ya!  in the new made-for-cable thriller Twin Betrayal. With Jen Lilley and Peter Douglas. 8 p.m. Lifetime

Agent Carters Hayley Atwell takes on the role for which Emma Thompson won an Oscar in a four-part adaptation of E.M. Forsters Edwardian-era novel Howards End. Matthew Macfadyen and Tracey Ullman also star. 8 p.m. Starz

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The unearthing of a long-buried skeleton sets events in motion in the mystery drama Unforgotten airing on Masterpiece. With Nicola Walker (Last Tango in Halifax) and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Indian Summers). 9 p.m. KOCE

River Monsters  Jeremy Wade wades into the Ganges in India in the debut episode of Jeremy Wades Mighty Rivers. 9 p.m. Animal Planet

An antiquities expert explains why he thinks hes cracked some sort of God Code hidden in the Hebrew scriptures in this special. 9 p.m. History Channel

MONDAY

Mush this! The dark side of Alaskas famed canine-assisted cross-country sled race known as the Iditarod is exposed in filmmaker Fern Levitts 2016 documentary Sled Dogs. 9 p.m. Starz

Practitioners of The Art of the Shine share their secrets for keeping shoes spiffy, as well as their personal stories, in Stacey Tenenbaums documentary airing on Independent Lens. 10 p.m. KOCE

TUESDAY

Have elephants, will travel: Secrets of the Dead seeks the truth behind a Carthaginian generals famous feat in the new episode Hannibal in the Alps. 8 p.m. KOCE

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Deadliest Catch returns with a live pre-show followed by the docuseries 14th season premiere. 8 and 9 p.m. Discovery Channel

Miley Cyrus and John Legend are among the myriad performers paying tribute to the original Rocket Man in the star-studded special Elton John: Im Still Standing  A Grammy Salute. 9 p.m. CBS

Hey, New Girl, where ya been? This sitcom starring Zooey Deschanel returns for its seventh and final season. 9:30 p.m. Fox

The presidents remaking of the GOP in his own image is the subject of the episode Trumps Takeover on Frontline. 10 p.m. KOCE

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She objects! A defense attorney (Erica Ash) for a legal-aid office in NYC holds the system In Contempt and vice versa in this new drama. 10 p.m. BET

Sportsmanlike: The new documentary Andre the Giant remembers the pro-wrestling legend who also portrayed the lovable henchman Fezzik in the 1987 comedy The Princess Bride. 10 p.m. HBO

WEDNESDAY

Expecto Patronum! The fantasy novel-and-movie franchise J.K. Rowling built is celebrated in the special Harry Potter: A History of Magic. 8 p.m. KTLA

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The war between Earth and Mars drags on for a third season of the sci-fi drama The Expanse. 9 p.m. Syfy

The 2017 documentary GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II salutes the men and women of Jewish heritage who played their part in fighting the good fight against fascism. 10 p.m. KOCE

If you have to ask, you cant afford it: A Manhattan real estate agent plies his trade in the reality series Sell It Like Serhant. 10 p.m. Bravo

The premiere episode of Inside Out With Katie Couric sees the veteran journalist diving into the contentious debate over the removal of Confederate monuments. 10 p.m. National Geographic Channel

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Ciao, Italia! Mr. OBrien finds himself in Italy on a new edition of his occasional series Conan Without Borders. 10 p.m. TBS

THURSDAY

A slate of films set during the Victorian Era includes the Oscar-winning 1956 adaptation of the Jules Verne adventure tale Around the World in 80 Days. With David Niven and Cantinflas. 7 p.m. Turner Classic Movies

Harry Potters Jim Broadbent plays an elderly Brit who reconnects with his college girlfriend (Charlotte Rampling) in the 2017 adaptation of Julian Barnes novel The Sense of an Ending. Emily Mortimer and Downton Abbeys Michelle Dockery also star. 8 p.m. Showtime

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FRIDAY

Bosch is back in a fourth season of this crime drama based on Michael Connellys bestselling novels. Titus Welliver stars. Any time, Amazon

What the hell? Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) plays a fundamentalist preacher who begins to question the doctrine of eternal damnation in the fact-based 2018 drama Come Sunday. Jason Segel, Danny Glover and Martin Sheen also star. Any time, Netflix

Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! Toby Stephens, Molly Parker and Parker Posey get Lost in Space in a reboot of Irwin Allens 1960s sci-fi series. Any time, Netflix

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Nicole Kidman portrays Gertrude Bell  a sort of female Lawrence of Arabia  in Werner Herzogs 2015 bio-drama Queen of the Desert. James Franco, Damian Lewis and Twilights Robert Pattinson also star. 7:45 p.m. Showtime

A British detective hunts the homicidal maniac who disfigured him in an acid attack in the imported police procedural Rellik. With Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones). 10 p.m. Cinemax

The new comedy series Wyatt Cenacs Problem Areas has the former Daily Show correspondent traveling far and wide to tackle some of todays touchier topics. 11:30 p.m. HBO

SATURDAY

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Thankyouverymuch! The one and only King of Rock and Roll is remembered in the two-part documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher. 8 and 9:49 p.m. HBO

Northern Exposures John Corbett plays a rural pastor assisting with the resettlement of Burmese refugees in the inspirational 2017 drama All Saints. 8 p.m. Starz

Its like deja vu all over again for a teen (Zoey Deutch) who keeps reliving the day of her tragic death in the 2017 drama Before I Fall. 9 p.m. Showtime

A superhero franchise toots its own horn and previews its next blockbuster in the special The Marvel Cinematic Universe: 10 Years From Iron Man to Infinity. 10 p.m. ABC

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Customized TV Listings are available here: www.latimes.com/tvtimes

Click here to download TV listings for the week of April 8 - 14, 2018, in PDF format

This weeks TV Movies
To portray the life of homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles, Times photographer Francine Orr enters their world slowly.

Working alongside colleague and videographer Albert Lee, Orr visits at night to witness people at their most vulnerable.

She asks permission to photograph them, and when they allow it, she spends time listening and watching. Her work is painstaking. She compares it to casting a fishing net and waiting for the right moment.

People sometimes yell at her for being there with a camera. Other times, they thank her for documenting their lives. She wins the trust of those who are untrusting simply by being there, respectful of their space but unflinching in her gaze.

Her images are stark, raw and haunting. Her pictures capture the despair and perseverance of people who are homeless in L.A. and give their lives a depth and dimension that passersby rarely see.

Homelessness has a harsh, daily routine. Morning means waking up on a sidewalk at San Pedro and 5th and rolling up your belongings before heading off to wherever the day takes you.

On Skid Row, one homeless person shuffles from one side of the street to the other as police and sanitation workers clear it for deep cleaning.

On those rare days when it rains, a blanket serves as an umbrella. In fact, a blanket for a homeless person is like armor. It offers warmth and privacy and fends off intruders, both well-meaning and malevolent.

Homelessness has become so normalized in Los Angeles that a man waiting at a crosswalk for a light, engrossed in his phone, doesnt even notice the body on the sidewalk under a blanket next to his feet. A worker outside a downtown storefront simply sweeps around a man sleeping on the sidewalk, taking care not to disturb him.

Those who are homeless carry on through the day, harrowing though it may be. An addict and her boyfriend near MacArthur Park refuse to go to an overnight shelter with its numerous rules. An Iraq War veteran on the streets of Hollywood says he keeps his hands filthy to repel anyone who may come too close.

A flock of birds flies over a sidewalk encampment early one morning  a vision of calm above a landscape of misery.

Michael Tipton begins to cry as he stands outside of Jack in the Box in Hollywood, CA February 20, 2018. Mike says he is a veteran and he served in Iraq. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A man climbs into the garbage bin in an alley in Los Angeles. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A homeless person huddles under a blanket next to a McDonald's bag near Alameda and 4th streets. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Richard Moorehead takes a break from wheeling his cart. The 39-year-old, who says he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, wants to live in an RV. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Shirley Velastegui, 22, sits next to her luggage near MacArthur Park. She says she has been homeless for a year and is a drug user. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Oscar Gonzalez, 50, showers using a small bottle of water before he heads off to work in Los Angeles. Gonzalez said he has been homeless for five years. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A shopkeeper sweeps around a man sleeping on the sidewalk in the jewelry district. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A woman sitting on the sidewalk washes her hands using sanitizer outside the Midnight Mission in the skid row neighborhood of downtown L.A. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Officer Yolanda Gutter, left, speaks with Ken Adam while riding the Metro in Los Angeles. Gutter is a mental health evaluation officer with the LAPD and works as part of the HOPE project, the Homeless Outreach Partnership Endeavor. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

At dawn, a homeless man walks around Venice Beach wearing a blanket. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Angel Barros, 48, packs up her tent in preparation for sidewalk cleaning on Spring Street. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A person stands beneath a blanket in the rain trying to keep dry, on San Pedro Street on skid row. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A man sleeps on the sidewalk beneath a blanket in downtown Los Angeles. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Isabella, who goes by Bella, lives on a sidewalk in Hollywood and uses a wheelchair. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A person sleeps on a piece of cardboard, surrounded by boxes on the sidewalk on skid row. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Even as it continues to gentrify, downtown Los Angeles remains the epicenter of a staggering homeless problem. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, a beach blanket and nothing on his feet in the predawn hours, a man sits quietly on a sidewalk on skid row. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

As dawn breaks, several people wrapped in tarps and covered with cardboard sleep along a sidewalk on Boyd Street. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A homeless man eats dinner out of a Campbell's soup can while he clutches a teddy bear at a bus stop on Spring Street. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A flock of birds flies over a sidewalk homeless encampment early one morning. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A homeless man known as Cat talks with his childhood friend next to a small fire on skid row. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

A person sleeps at 1st and Spring streets, across from Los Angeles City Hall. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

While sitting on a sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles, a man shoots up. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

After photos showed portable toilets on skid row being used for prostitution, the city hauled them away in 2006. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times
Lisa Mosconi, an Italian-born neuroscientist and nutritionist, had no idea how important the taste of water was to her until she moved to New York City and took a long sip from the tap.

This is supposed to be the best water in America, she said, but it tasted awful. It was disgusting.

She set off to the grocery store in search of the sort of good-tasting water that flowed from her tap in Italy, and was soon confronted by a confusing array of choices: purified, distilled, natural spring, seltzer, soda. Most were in the refrigerated section.

No Italian puts water in the fridge, she said. Water is actually more hydrating when its warm.

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It didnt take long for Mosconi, the associate director of the Alzheimers Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, to conclude that Americans, with their affinities for coffees, Frappuccinos, sodas, juices and alcohol, are basically walking around in a state of dehydration, which can be devastating for the brain.

About 40% of Americans, she discovered, drink fewer than four glasses of water a day, including 7% who drink no water at all.

This is incredibly dangerous, she told me during a phone interview on Thursday. The rationale is I drink milk, juice, thats water right? No, its not.

In the brain, which is 80% water, even very mild dehydration  a 3% to 4% decrease in water  can cause neurological issues, Mosconi said. Fatigue, brain fog, headaches, mood swings. More worrisome, it may contribute to serious brain problems.

There are no studies that look specifically at water intake and Alzheimers, she said. But some look at the brains of people who are not drinking, and they show many parts of the brain get thinner and lose volume over time in people who are dehydrated. If you dont drink water, it looks like your brain is aging faster.

::

Last week, I heard Mosconi speak at an event organized by former California First Lady Maria Shriver, who founded the Womens Alzheimers Movement, which is focused on discovering why two-thirds of Alzheimers patients are women.

Mosconi has just published her first book, Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating for Cognitive Power, a guide to the latest research on the links between nutrition and brain health. (This book will make caviar lovers very happy; Twinkie lovers, not so much.)

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The cover of neuroscientist and nutritionist Lisa Mosconis new book, which offers the latest research on the relationship between food and Alzheimers prevention. (Penguin Random House )

Mosconi, who has received a five-year grant from the NIH to study Alzheimers and womens brains, mentioned onstage that she recommended people drink tap water, which I repeated probably a little too glibly, as I soon received a number of emails from people wondering why.

Everybody is asking me about water too! Mosconi emailed when I reached out to her for elaboration.

As it turns out, compared with, say, distilled water or purified water, tap water generally contains minerals the brain needs to keep itself hydrated. As long as water districts filter out harmful substances like asbestos, lead and benzene, tap water is better for your brain than water stripped of all substances.

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Purified and distilled waters are just fluids, Mosconi said. There is nothing hydrating there.

For herself and her family, Mosconi buys bottled spring water or mineral water. Often, people complain about the expense. But the cases of Poland Spring water that she buys cost about the same as a case of Coca-Cola, and surely there is no question which is better for your brain. (Or your body.)

Also, she said, she drinks aloe water every morning because it makes her feel more alert than coffee does.

What makes aloe so beneficial? Plant experts say its natures most potent hydrator, Mosconi said. The aloe leaf is 99% water with more than 200 active compounds.

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Now, a few words about food, including Twinkies and caviar.

::

Sadly, so many of the foods we think of as nutritious are not. Take most string cheese, a processed food. Or processed yogurt.

Any yogurt with sweeteners and natural flavorings and low-fat milk, Mosconi said. Those are crappy foods. If you get a nice plain, full-fat yogurt  thats good for you.

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As we chatted, she looked up the ingredients listed on a container of 80-calorie lite strawberry yogurt: Fructose, modified food starch, natural and artificial flavors, black carrot juice concentrate for color. Malic acid, sucralose, potassium sorbate, sodium citrate. This is a very highly processed food, she said, although McDonalds is much worse.

Lately, as weve transitioned from anti-fat hysteria into a more measured approach, people may not realize, said Mosconi, that the only kind of fat the adult brain wants (and can use) comes from fish, nuts and seeds.

Neuroscientist and nutritionist Lisa Mosconi, associate director of the Weill Cornell College Alzheimers Prevention Clinic, has just published Brain Food, a book about the links between food and brain health. (Allison Hooban )

If youre eating butter thinking that fat is going to replenish your brain, that is not correct, she said.

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This is where caviar  or really, any kind of fish eggs  come in. Fish eggs are the best treat for our big, hungry brains, writes Mosconi in Brain Food. They are full of beneficial fats, and you dont have to break the bank to get them.

Salmon roe is just as good as the black caviar, Mosconi said. Four ounces costs roughly the same as a box of Dunkin Donuts, she said.

I suggested that getting people to trade their maple logs for fish eggs might be a struggle, given that doughnuts taste so much better. No, they do not! she exclaimed, putting voice to what is probably an unbridgeable cultural divide.

At this point, I had to ask about Twinkies.

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Mosconi had never heard of them.

Oh my God, she exclaimed as she skimmed over the ingredient list she had Googled. Bleached wheat flour, B vitamins, sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable and/or animal shortening, dextrose, modified corn starch, whey, glucose, soy bean oil, etc. etc. I would say 95% of the ingredients are toxic. This is horrible!

Maybe so, but Americans love them some Twinkies. In 2012, production of the golden sponge cake with creamy filling ceased after Hostess filed for bankruptcy. After a public outcry, the company began making them again in 2013. Sales are stronger than ever.

I didnt have the heart to tell her about Sno Balls and Ho Hos.

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robin.abcarian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AbcarianLAT
They need to prepare, they say, in case they never come back.

Patients at the St. Johns Well Child & Family Center in South Los Angeles have recently started asking for copies of their medical records. Some request extra medicine from their doctors, taking home as much as theyll supply.

They want to have a stockpile, clinic Chief Executive Jim Mangia said. Theres this tremendous fear that on their way to take their kids to school, or on their way to the clinic, or on their way into the store, theyre going to get picked up and deported.

Healthcare providers say President Trumps aggressive moves against illegal immigration are posing risks to the health of many Californians, as patients cancel medical appointments or wait until the last minute to seek treatment.

Others are asking to leave public programs because theyre worried their personal information will end up with the federal government. Even more seem to be feeling anxious or depressed because of possible raids, prompting some providers to offer special training to deal with such mental health issues among immigrants.

And the recent anxiety has extended beyond those in the country without legal authorization, health advocates say.

St. Johns, which treats more immigrants who lack legal status than any clinic in the state, often hears from patients who are afraid theyll run into federal authorities on their way to the clinic, employees said. In the last several months, staff members have practiced forming a human chain around the facility, in case immigration agents do show up one day.

Health advocates say immigrants reluctance to seek medical care is a step backward for a state that spent years encouraging people to sign up for health insurance and make regular doctor visits under the Affordable Care Act.

Mayra Alvarez, head of the L.A. -based advocacy group the Childrens Partnership, recalled a story of a Mexican American boy who asked his mother if he was going to be deported, though he was born in the United States.

Its sort of this blurred line between undocumented and documented, Alvarez said. All you need is one story in our community, one example of a pickup, a deportation, and it spreads like wildfire.

Rumors of raids and canceled appointments

The patient calls started shortly after Trump took office, said Dulce Valenzuela, who works the front desk at St. Johns.

Their No. 1 concern was, If I go in, is my information going to be given to him? she said.

Though Valenzuela reassures patients theyll be safe, St. Johns has experienced an 8% drop in visits among patients lacking legal status across the clinics 14 Southern California sites, Mangia said.

Immigration agents are prohibited under federal law from entering healthcare facilities. Still, staff members were recently trained in how to read an Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant and also taught to link arms outside the clinic door to block agents from entering.

This is L.A., said Mario Chavez, the clinics director of government affairs. If ICE really wanted to scare people, they could just do raids here.

Thousands of people were deported under President Obama, but operations focused on convicted criminals or those who had been caught entering the country illegally in the past. The Trump administration has said it will target any of the 11 million people in the country illegally.

A man was picked up after he dropped off his daughter at school. Another was detained on his front lawn. A young girl was stopped by agents on her way to have gallbladder surgery and then followed to the hospital.

Valenzuela, who came to the United States illegally from Mexico as a toddler, said her parents are on edge because of such stories.

Theyve been saying: ICE has been here, ICE has been there. Please be careful, said Valenzuela, 21. They just worry about me not coming home one day.

These fears have affected how people access healthcare. Statewide, roughly 40% of providers said patients from immigrant families have been skipping appointments or scheduling fewer visits, according to a recent survey by the Childrens Partnership.

For years, health advocates had been pushing Californians, including immigrants who lack legal status, to go to the doctor. Regular visits could catch problems that would otherwise result in big emergency room bills, they said. Now some worry those medical issues are going unaddressed again.

A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that some patients were making fewer appointments for checkups for their kids, and some expectant mothers are skipping prenatal care. People seem wary of drawing attention to themselves, the study found.

Samantha Artiga, a Kaiser Family Foundation analyst who led the study, said immigrants  whether in the country legally or not  appear unsettled by policy changes around immigration, such the decision to undo the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Even if theyre not affected by that particular policy change, it just makes them worried about the stability of their status, and we even heard that among green-card holders and lawfully permanent residents, she said.

The rush to leave public programs

Statewide, healthcare workers who enroll people in public programs said theyve been fielding questions from worried immigrants about their health plans and other public benefits.

Elba Gonzalez-Mares, head of the nonprofit Community Health Initiative in Napa County, said her organization has been been helping county workers with urgent requests. Immigrants who lack legal status are eligible for certain public programs, such as food stamps for pregnant mothers or Medi-Cal for those younger than 19.

Theyve received phone calls and actual people walking in and saying, I need to end it today, said Gonzalez-Mares, who pointed out that several people in Napa County were detained during a raid in February. Anxiety is really high.

The concerns have increased workloads for health workers, but ultimately there hasnt been a significant drop in enrollment, according to county and state officials.

Ironically, people usually end up staying in a program once they learn that the system will remember their name even if they disenroll, they say.

Still, enrollment workers jobs seem to have shifted recently: They now focus on stopping people from leaving programs, instead of signing more people up.

Edgar Aguilar, program manager of Dignity Healths Community Health Initiative of Kern County, said workers trying to enroll more people noticed a drop last year in how many people would open the door when they came around.

They could tell they were there, but the door remained closed, he said.

Toxic stress: What if they deport my dad?

Then there are the health effects that are more difficult to measure.

When Yessenia Cux leaves the house in the morning to go running, she worries she wont see her sister and brother-in-law again. She immigrated illegally to the United States from Guatemala in 2015.

Its hard to be happy, said Cux, a junior at Manual Arts High School in South L.A.. Its hard to think about a future when youre not sure that future is going to be assured.

Many healthcare providers said they had to conduct special training on anxiety and depression related to deportation because so many people were experiencing such problems.

We have kids coming in and crying, What if they deport my dad? said Mangia, with St. Johns. I dont think we can underestimate the mental health impact.

Some health workers recounted stories of children in border counties coming to school with two backpacks, one with their pencils and books, the other with their belongings in case their parents get deported. Others said theyd heard kids talking about who would take care of them if their parents were taken away.

I see children every day, said Maria Ruiz, who works at Soto Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights. They go to the office and say I have a headache. I couldnt sleep. I have a stomachache  theyre seeing stress.

Pediatricians call this toxic stress. It can increase childrens risk of infections and damage memory in the short term. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently warned that it can also cause physiological changes that lead to chronic health problems and other mental health disorders down the road.

Every single pediatrician we spoke to raised this concern about the long-term effects of stress and anxiety, said Artiga, the Kaiser Family Foundation analyst. Whats happening today will have long-term implications that could affect children over their life span.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla
Southern California air quality officials delayed action Friday on a proposal to draft regulations for warehouses, rail yards and large construction projects that are responsible for much of the regions most harmful, smog-forming emissions.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board had been scheduled to vote on whether to use its authority to regulate freight facilities and development projects as indirect sources of pollution due to the large number of trucks, trains and construction equipment they attract.

But the panel postponed the matter to its next meeting in May, citing the absence of three members, including chairman William A. Burke, who was out sick.

Despite the absences, the board heard results of a poll it commissioned, which found a majority of voters in the region support the agency pursuing a local ballot measure for a quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund pollution-reduction programs.

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The tax-hike proposal is controversial and remains in early stages. If ultimately approved by voters across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties on the 2020 ballot, it could raise an estimated $700 million a year, according to the district.

Of those surveyed, 65% favor the state Legislature giving the South Coast district authority to seek voter approval of a ballot measure to raise incentive funds for cleaner cars and trucks, according to online and telephone interviews with 1,490 registered voters. A narrower majority of 54% would support a quarter-cent sales tax hike for such programs.

The air board did not take action based on the poll. It remains unclear whether such a measure would require a simple majority or a two-thirds vote to pass.

The idea has drawn criticism from environmentalists and business-aligned Republicans on the board, who say it would unfairly burden residents across the region to fund clean-air incentives to industry. But Democrats on the panel say voters should have the chance to decide how to pay for cleaning the air.

A potential sales tax increase has emerged as one possible way for the agency to meet its obligations to cut the nations worst smog to federal health standards. To meet looming deadlines, the district says it must increase funding for cleaner vehicles to $1 billion a year, but so far is falling short.

Also Friday, the panel approved a $120,000 no-bid contract with the consulting firm of former California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez to help in the search for those pollution-reduction funds.

Under the agreement, Perezs company, Double Nickel Advisors, would provide strategic advice to the air district regarding its communication and messaging to the state Legislature and governors administration.

The contract was not competitively bid, according to a staff report, because Perezs position as former Assembly speaker gives his firm special and unique capabilities that will ensure the agencys communications ... garner support for our funding needs.

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Perez is not registered as a lobbyist and has agreed not to lobby on the districts behalf, according to staff for the district, which has three lobbyists in Sacramento.

The district previously hired Perezs firm in 2016 and records show the district has since awarded the firm more than $250,000 in strategic consulting contracts.

tony.barboza@latimes.com

@tonybarboza
A man who stole several firearms from a Bay Area home and threatened to kill police officers and civilians in San Francisco was captured Friday, authorities said.

Dustin Hamilton, 44, was arrested while in possession of two firearms, the San Francisco Police Department announced on Twitter around 7 a.m.

On Wednesday night, Hamilton allegedly broke into a San Jose home and stole several guns, investigators said. San Jose police said Hamilton made threats to kill people in the City of San Francisco and any law enforcement personnel.

Hamilton apparently made the threats in a lengthy note left inside the residence where he stole the guns, according to Sgt. Enrique Garcia, a San Jose police spokesman. Garcia would not say what type of firearms were stolen.

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Police described Hamilton as a transient with outstanding warrants on assault and vandalism charges in San Francisco. Police in San Francisco did not respond to a call seeking additional comment.

james.queally@latimes.com

Twitter: @JamesQueallyLAT

UPDATES:

10:50 a.m.: This article was updated with additional information from San Jose police.

This article was originally published at 8:25 a.m.
Actress Jaime Kings 4-year-old son was struck by glass when a man jumped on her car in Beverly Hills, smashing its rear windshield, police said.

Police received several calls shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday when Paul Francis Floyd, 47, allegedly vandalized two cars in the 400 block of North Bedford Drive, said Lt. Elisabeth Albanese of the Beverly Hills Police Department.

First the man kicked a car stopped in a driveway, causing damage. Then he jumped on Kings car, which was parked along the curb with her son and friend inside, shattering the back windshield. King was outside of the car.

When the driver, Kings friend, got out of the car and confronted the suspect, he threw a can at her, striking her arm.

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Floyd was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment, misdemeanor battery and two counts of felony vandalism. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and is due in court Friday.

In a statement posted on Twitter, King said she and her son were shaken up.

The attack was incredibly violent, and my 4-year-old son was obviously the target of the individuals brutal attack, which is terrifying, she said. She also said she was saddened that the paparazzi chose to terrorize my son and I by shoving cameras in our face during an attack.

Police launched a secondary investigation related to the photographers for intentional harassment of a child or ward of another person because of that persons employment, Albanese said.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
A Los Angeles jury has awarded $3 million to a police officer who alleged she was retaliated against  and placed under surveillance  after complaining that a supervisor sexually harassed her.

The weeklong trial came to an end late Wednesday with the 12-0 verdict, said Gregory Smith, an attorney representing the officer.

We were very pleased with the verdict, Smith said Thursday. She feels completely vindicated now.

A spokesman for the city attorneys office said the agency was reviewing its options, including whether to appeal.

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Linda Allstot, a longtime officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, accused then-Lt. Wayne Lightfoot of repeatedly leering at her body, making unwanted sexual or demeaning comments and other sexual advances, according to her lawsuit.

At the time, Lightfoot was Allstots superior, working as an adjutant to the deputy chief in charge of the Professional Standards Bureau where they worked.

The lieutenant invited Allstot on vacations to Cabo San Lucas and Lake Havasu, according to the lawsuit. As he did so, the lawsuit alleged, his eyes traveled up and down from [Allstots] face to her breasts. He also looked up and down her body in a sexual manner when they passed each other in hallways or spoke in his office.

In another instance, Allstot alleged, she heard Lightfoot tell another female LAPD employee, Why dont you come to my office and let me watch you put that in your mouth? as she ate a sub sandwich.

The behavior caused Allstot extreme discomfort, humiliation and disgust, according to the lawsuit.

Lightfoot and others began to retaliate against Allstot after she refused his advances and began avoiding him, the lawsuit alleged. When she complained about his behavior to the deputy chief in charge of the bureau, the lawsuit stated, nothing was done.

At one point, undercover officers trailed Allstot  including following her to her home in Palmdale  looking for her to do something, Smith said.

Allstot sued in August 2015, alleging that she was subjected to a hostile work environment and retaliated against. The jury reached its decision after about 2 hours of deliberation, Smith said Thursday.

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Lightfoot retired from the LAPD last month, according to City News Service. He could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

kate.mather@latimes.com

For more LAPD news, follow me on Twitter: @katemather
The owners of the El Mercado shopping center have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a 49-unit project of affordable and homeless housing, opening a new chapter in a five-year battle that has pitted homeless advocates against a popular Boyle Heights institution.

The lawsuit, filed by El Mercado de Los Angeles and its owner Tony Rosado, asks for a writ ordering the City Council to vacate its approval of the project and demand a full environmental impact report.

The City Council approved the development by the nonprofit A Community of Friends March 6 when Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents Boyle Heights, changed course after passionately opposing the project for years.

In a dramatic council hearing, Huizar, who had criticized the project as inappropriate for the location, said he had changed his mind after the developer accepted conditions that reduced the number of units reserved for mentally ill homeless people and increased the environmental scrutiny.

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Rosado, however, continued to oppose the project, which would erect a four- and five-story apartment building on a vacant lot between the three-story shopping center on 1st Street and the historic Evergreen Cemetery to its west.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that city officials allowed the project to go forward without adequate environmental study and that the City Council then inappropriately approved it based on the developers promise to do additional environmental work.

A spokesman for Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer said Friday that the city, named as the defendant in the lawsuit, had not been served and would reserve comment. Dora Leong Gallo, executive director of A Community of Friends, also declined to comment until she could review the lawsuit.

The project became a cause for influential civic and nonprofit leaders who feared that its rejection could set a precedent for local opposition across the city to homeless housing projects funded by the Proposition HHH bond measure approved by voters in 2016.

United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the California Community Foundation, all major backers of HHH, lobbied for the project.

Huizar first spoke out against it in 2013 as a dissenting member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, when it approved A Community of Friends plan to use surplus Metro land at 1st and Lorena streets.

He said his stance was not based on NIMBYism but rather changes in the plan that had reduced the retail space on the ground floor.

Los Angeles planning officials approved the project with a determination that any environmental problems at the site could be mitigated. The Rosado family appealed the environmental approval, forcing the proposal to go before the City Council.

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As chairman of the citys Planning and Land Use Management Committee, Huizar opposed the plan again last August, leading to a recommendation that the council accept Rosados appeal.

By then Rosado had retained the law firm of Robert Silverstein, which prepared a lengthy rebuttal. It cited environmental issues, including an abandoned oil well, and presented a log of crimes reported at another nearby building owned by A Community of Friends.

The developer then submitted a more detailed mitigation plan, saying it would resolve any environmental issues under the oversight of the appropriate state agencies.

The lawsuit contends that a full environmental report should have been completed before the project was approved.

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doug.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATDoug
A man accused of detonating explosive devices inside a Sams Club in Ontario on Thursday has no known links to terrorism and has offered no motive, police said.

Hugo Gonzalez, 49, of Fontana, was arrested Thursday after police said he set off two explosive devices inside the store, triggering a pair of small fires and prompting an evacuation. No one was injured, and Gonzalez was arrested a short time later after a brief pursuit, according to Ontario Police Sgt. Bill Russell.

Russell said Gonzalez is not connected with any known criminal organizations, nor is he on a terrorist watch list. Gonzalez never worked for Sams Club, Russell said, and he did not say why he chose to set off the devices inside the bulk grocery store when interviewed by police, according to Russell.

Investigators did not discover any other explosive devices when they searched Gonzalezs car, the store and his apartment in Fontana on Thursday night, Russell said. Police, however, did recover materials similar to those used to create the explosive devices, which ignited in two separate places in the store, hel said.

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Russell declined to comment on what Gonzalez used to make the devices, citing concerns about copycat behavior.

Agents with the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting with the investigation.

Gonzalez is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in lieu of $1-million bail on suspicion of arson and ignition of a destructive device, Russell said.

james.queally@latimes.com

Twitter: @JamesQueallyLAT
A man who may have been under the influence of drugs stole a Los Angeles Police Department vehicle early Friday morning and led officers on a chase from Hollywood to Woodland Hills, authorities said.

Officers had exited their vehicle to chase a vandalism suspect on foot near Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Avenue around 1:45 a.m. when 28-year-old Ethan Rutland commandeered the police SUV, said Det. Meghan Aguilar, an LAPD spokeswoman.

Police quickly located the vehicle, and officers with the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol began chasing Rutland along the northbound 101 Freeway, Aguilar said. The stolen cruiser was disabled by a spike strip, forcing Rutland to pull over and surrender near the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and De Soto Avenue around 2:15 a.m., she said.

Aguilar said investigators believe Rutland was under the influence of narcotics at the time of the theft.

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Rutland was jailed on suspicion of unlawful taking of an emergency vehicle, and is being held in lieu of $55,000, Aguilar said. Online jail and court records show Rutland has been arrested several times by Los Angeles County sheriffs deputies, and pleaded no contest to vandalism and destruction of public property in recent years.

There were several police firearms in the vehicle but Rutland did not try to access them, Aguilar said. No one was injured during the incident.

The incident marked the second time this week that someone has stolen a city emergency vehicle. On Monday, a woman jumped into an unattended ambulance at the downtown California Hospital Medical Center and led police on a 45-minute chase before surrendering in Chino Hills.

Last summer, Los Angeles police also found themselves chasing their own vehicles after members of the departments cadet program stole several police cars. A wild pursuit with the cadets ended in a pair of car crashes in South L.A.

james.queally@latimes.com

Twitter: @JamesQueallyLAT

UPDATES:

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12:05 p.m.: This post was updated with the suspects identity and criminal history.

This post was first published at 7:50 a.m.
Yosemite Valley will close to the public Friday ahead of a powerful storm that could bring flooding to the area, officials said.

Visitors were asked to leave by 5 p.m. and all overnight reservations were canceled through Saturday night, according to Yosemite National Park officials who say the storm may cause significant impacts.

After the storm passes, authorities will assess road and facility conditions to determine when Yosemite Valley, home to many of the parks picturesque waterfalls and cliffs, can reopen.

Access to Yosemite Valley will be closed on Big Oak Flat Road at the Foresta Road Junction, on Wawona Road at Chinquapin and on Highway 140 at the park boundary in El Portal, officials said.

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Campgrounds in Wawona, Hodgen Meadow, Crane Flat and El Portal are expected to stay open, along with the Big Trees Lodge, El Portal Market and the El Portal gas station.

The incoming atmospheric river, a long plume of water vapor from the Pacific tropics, is expected to bring between 3.5 and 4 inches of rain to Yosemite Valley through Saturday, with the heaviest rain coming late Friday and into the early morning hours, said Jim Bagnall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Forecasters said the Merced River at Pohono Bridge, currently running about 4 feet, is expected to rise close to 15 feet. Flooding occurs at about 10 feet, Bagnall said.

Thats one of the reasons that theyre closing the campgrounds, getting the people out of there, Bagnall said. With all that rain theres a possibility of flooding, mudslides and rockslides, rivers and creeks rising out of their banks.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
The early morning commuters stepping off the Metro escalator paid little attention to the 10 people huddled under blankets and curled up in corners at the Hollywood and Vine station.

John Gant, 60, lay sprawled on the tile floor, his hoodie drawn over his face. When three social workers stopped to ask if he wanted help, he nodded.

Over hot coffee and pages of paperwork, Gant, who had been homeless for years, called his mother to share the news. He cracked a rare smile, saying: Theyre trying to find me a place to sleep.

The Metro system has been a refuge for homeless people for decades. But as Los Angeles Countys homeless population has surged, reaching more than 58,000 people last year, the sanitation and safety problems on trains and buses are approaching what officials and riders say are crisis levels.

People looking for warm, dry places to sleep have barricaded themselves inside emergency exit stairwells in stations, leaving behind trash and human waste. Elevator doors coated in urine have stuck shut. Mentally ill and high passengers have assaulted bus drivers and other riders.

This is a crisis. If we dont get a handle on it, its going to keep growing. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis at a recent Metro meeting

People sleep at the Civic Center/Grand Park Metro Station. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A Metro transit security guard wakes up a sleeping person on the Red Line. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A man sleeps next to a wheelchair as morning commuters exit the Red Line at the Hollywood/Highland station. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Top: People sleep at the Civic Center/Grand Park Metro Station. Bottom left: A Metro transit security guard wakes up a sleeping person on the Red Line. Bottom right: A man sleeps next to a wheelchair as morning commuters exit the Red Line at the Hollywood/Highland station. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Amid a wave of complaints about homelessness, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has bolstered spending on law enforcement and security by 37% this year. But the agency is testing a different approach, too: social workers on the subway.

Under a one-year, $1.2-million contract  one of the first of its kind in the country  outreach workers spend five days a week on the Metro Red Line, trying to help the systems homeless riders.

Its a modest sum for an agency with a $6.1-billion budget, though the program will probably expand. Whether the outreach workers efforts will retain current riders, or bring back those who have left, is unclear.

How Metro addresses homelessness is crucial to the agencys future. A perception that trains and buses are dangerous or dirty could undercut Metros ambitious expansion plans, which call for the construction of nearly a dozen new rail lines over the next four decades.

This is a crisis, said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis at a recent Metro meeting. If we dont get a handle on it, its going to keep growing.

Filthy, noisy, scary

Without a Home Theyre part of the Los Angeles streetscape, as familiar as the swaying palm trees and idling traffic, living under freeways, alongside riverbeds and on canyon hillsides. The mentally ill, the drug addicts, the economically disadvantaged, many with their life belongings in a backpack or shopping cart. In this ongoing series, Without a Home, The Times is examining the crisis of homelessness in our region. Full coverage

Riders feelings about the safety of buses and trains have had a direct effect on ridership. More than 1 in 5 current passengers has been harassed on the train. In a 2016 survey, 29% of former riders told Metro they stopped taking transit because they felt unsafe.

Too many homeless and not enough cops, wrote one former rider, in survey responses reviewed by The Times. Others described their commutes as filthy, noisy, scary and rather disturbing at times.

Theres little solid data on how many homeless people use the transit system each day, and the regions yearly count has not historically included rail stations, trains or buses.

But the scant available numbers are grim. One cold, rainy night in January, Los Angeles police swept 160 people from buses and trains on their final stops of the night. That figure dramatically understates the extent of the problem, officers say, because it does not include the lines that finish their runs in other cities.

Passengers who encounter chronic addiction, illness and misery say they feel they can do little to help, and struggle to stay empathetic when they encounter trash and human waste on platforms, urine in train cars, and harassment from riders who are mentally ill.

John Fuller, right, talks to himself while riding the Red Line. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) An LAPD officer speaks with Ken Adam, wearing a hospital gown, in the subway. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Left: John Fuller, right, talks to himself while riding the Red Line. Right: An LAPD officer speaks with Ken Adam, wearing a hospital gown, in the subway. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

More photos: Scenes from homelessness 

Week by week, it seems like it just gets worse, said Sarah Caldwell Sim, who takes the Expo Line, the subway and the Gold Line to work in a Cypress Park factory. My frustration with what I see is turning me into someone that Im not. Im really struggling with this.

Sim said she saw a man pull down his pants, squat over the edge of a platform and defecate onto the train tracks at Union Station. She said she has sat in urine on the subway, hopscotched through peoples feces on sidewalks, and endured verbal and sexual harassment on the train.

Metro doesn't need more security officers, Sim said, but the employees it does have should step in more often when something is wrong. When a homeless man followed an elderly woman across a Gold Line platform, screaming profanities, a guard dismissed the man as a local and did nothing, she said.

Her other suggestion: Stop putting carpet on the seats.

Metro budgeted nearly $207 million this fiscal year on law enforcement and system security. Policing on the system is shared between the Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments and the Sheriffs Department, aided by private security guards who write citations for loitering, littering and fare evading.

The security contracts, approved last year, will cost Metro almost $800 million over five years.

On a sidewalk, officers can really take their time with someone, but we cant just step off the train and let it continue. LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green

LAPD Officer Ian Cochran, center, and LAPD officer Yolanda Gutter walk into the subway platform in Hollywood. Gutter is a mental evaluation officer and part of the Homeless Outreach Partnership Endeavor. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Reports of violent crime  including rapes, assaults and robberies  fell 9% in 2017 compared with the previous year and total crime fell by 20%, according to the agencies. Officials attribute the decline to the new contracts, which nearly doubled the number of uniformed officers on the system.

Metro officials say that placing a police officer on every bus or at every station would be prohibitively expensive, and could intimidate some black and Latino riders, who have expressed concerns about racial profiling.

Passengers should never feel unsafe on Metro, officials say, and should soon see the effects of the costlier law enforcement contract, if they have not already.

The hope is that housing the homeless will reduce policing costs in the long term. But that progress could take years or decades.

It feels like a tsunami of a crisis, where the water just keeps coming, said Jennifer Loew, who oversees Metros homeless services contract. We are having to temper our expectations of whether this can be solved overnight.

Funding from Measure H, the quarter-cent sales tax approved in 2017, will pay for an additional 40 social workers who will split their time between the transit system and the countys parks, beaches, harbors and libraries.

Directors have also asked Metro to study how to best expand the outreach program to some of the sprawling systems bus lines, which carry 70% of riders. All-night buses on major thoroughfares face frequent issues with homeless riders, drivers say, including erratic and dangerous behavior.

If you ride every day, youre going to have those experiences more than once a year, maybe more than once a month or once a week, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who said he supports a dramatic expansion of the outreach program. We cant make those experiences zero overnight. But we have to make them fewer and fewer, until we eliminate them.

Andrew Tisbert of People Assisting The Homeless talks with Anthonie Johnson on the Red Line. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A PATH team, led by program manager Karen Barnes, assisted with the homeless count in early 2018. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A PATH team, led by program manager Karen Barnes, assisted with the homeless count in early 2018. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Top: Andrew Tisbert of People Assisting The Homeless talks with Anthonie Johnson on the Red Line. Bottom: A PATH team, led by program manager Karen Barnes, assisted with the homeless count in early 2018. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Hundreds contacted, 19 permanently housed

Hiring social workers is a new step for transit agencies, where officials have traditionally dismissed homelessness as a societal problem that should be addressed through nonprofit organizations or other government programs, said Dan Boyle, a San Diego consultant who surveyed U.S. transit agencies on their approach to homelessness.

Boyle said a surge of complaints from riders is often the driving force for agencies to pursue new policies on homelessness. Hiring more law enforcement creates a revolving door, where you sweep someone off the system and theyre back the next day, he said, and many agencies eventually turn to partnerships with nonprofits.

Metro hired the nonprofit People Assisting The Homeless, or PATH. Since May, its outreach workers have conversed with more than 1,500 homeless people on the subway and placed 19 in permanent housing. They report that 237 others have been connected to programs that could lead to permanent housing.

Though 19 is much lower than you'd want to hear, Boyle said, the data show promise. Workers provided some form of aid, including rides to the doctor and help securing photo identification, to 821 people. Those relationships could later lead to housing, he said.

Some acutely ill homeless people have secured spots in the Department of Public Healths Housing for Health program, which uses county and federal money to subsidize rents and pay for intensive case management.

Finding a shelter bed can be more challenging, because the facilities mostly fill up by 3 p.m., hours before people filter into stations to sleep.

Outreach workers use the story of Henry as an example of an immediate and early success. He left Arizona when his father was killed and his grandfather died. He wound up living in the Santa Ana riverbed, and then, when Orange County officials cleared the area, Union Station.

An outreach team found him at Union Station, tracked down his family in Arizona, and used funds from L.A. Countys rapid rehousing program to buy him a bus ticket, said Karen Barnes, a program manager for PATH.

But often, efforts to help the homeless can take months or years and still fail.

Many of Metros homeless riders have chosen the anonymity of a bus or a train over the community of an encampment or a shelter, outreach workers say. Some have not spoken to anyone in days or weeks, or vanish when they step on a train or a bus.

We may never see them again, Barnes said. We have to build that rapport quickly.

A person sleeps on the floor at Hollywood/Vine Metro Station in Los Angeles. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

Unease over interactions with law enforcement

Law enforcements active role on the system can complicate the workers efforts to build relationships. Police officers and security guards often stop people from sleeping at stations, or ask them to leave if they dont have a valid fare.

On a Monday in February just after 7 a.m., a Los Angeles police officer approached a woman sleeping near the ticketing machines at Union Station and turned his flashlight on and off in her face.

The woman, disheveled and angry, screamed that she had not slept all night. She brushed past the outreach workers nearby, refusing their offers of help.

Later that morning, on a crowded train in North Hollywood, Barnes sat down next to a young woman who was fast asleep with a duffel bag in her lap. A Metro security guard boarded the train, rapped her flashlight against the womans seat, and asked to see her fare.

Barnes intervened, saying: Can you let us talk to her for a few minutes? Were a homeless outreach team.

Some interactions can leave homeless people permanently wary of police, including when officers forcibly remove someone from a train.

From July to December of last year, Los Angeles police reported 54 incidences of use of force on Metro. Half of those cases involved a homeless person, and in many cases, addiction or mental illness played a role, police said.

The use of force cases were overwhelmingly minor incidents where officers touched someone when they took them off a train, Deputy Chief Bob Green said. He said police are left with few good choices when someone is having a breakdown or threatening other passengers in an enclosed space.

On a sidewalk, officers can really take their time with someone, but we cant just step off the train and let it continue, Green said. They have to take some kind of action. It puts officers in a very difficult and delicate position.

In one more serious case, Loew said, LAPD officers used a Taser on a man who was brandishing a knife and threatening passengers.

Metros security guards frequently move through stations, asking people to board a train or move along. After one such sweep at the Civic Center station, Barnes and her partner found Boyd Williams gathering up his belongings.

Formerly an oil and gas futures trader in Dallas, Williams developed alcoholism and abused his wife, he said. He became homeless, and moved to California five years ago for the weather. He lives in an encampment along Cesar Chavez Avenue, and frequently charges his phone at Metro stations.

Living on the street, I didnt realize the health problems were so rampant, Williams said. Finding stable housing could be hard, he said, because he has a criminal record and is addicted to heroin.

Metro is also a year behind schedule in developing a policy on how to clear encampments on agency property, including in arroyos near the Gold Line and along the Harbor Freeway and Orange Line busways.

Officials said the agency cleaned five encampments in the last year without a policy in place, which could be a dicey legal position. In Los Angeles, legal settlements obtained by homeless advocates have created tightly controlled cleanups that are sometimes supervised by attorneys.

Metros cleanups stopped after the LAPD refused to oversee them without a formal policy in place, Loew said. But the agency still plans to clear any encampments that spring up too close to railroad tracks or other rights-of-way.

There will be a tentative legal decision within weeks, and a formal policy by September, Loew said.

A homeless woman stands and watches as other pass by in the Hollywood/Vine Metro station in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) LAPD officer Ian Cochran talks with Joshua Gonzalez sitting on the floor in the subway in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A homeless man sleeps next to his cane inside the Hollywood/Vine Metro station in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Top: A homeless woman stands and watches as other pass by in the Hollywood/Vine Metro station in Los Angeles. Left: LAPD officer Ian Cochran talks with Joshua Gonzalez sitting on the floor in the subway in Los Angeles. Right: A homeless man sleeps next to his cane inside the Hollywood/Vine Metro station in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Theres only so much we can take

On a recent weekday, many residents of an encampment along the Orange Line busway scattered before the citys tree-trimming trucks came through.

One resident, a man with unkempt hair and wild eyes, left the encampment and sat on a bench at the Van Nuys station, clutching his stomach.

Carmen Arboles approached and offered him a McDonalds gift card, which she carries to give to people who seem like they could use a meal. She said she tries to be kind to homeless people on the line to set an example for her kids.

We want to raise them to help people and to be kind, Arboles said. But its hard when there are so many people who need help.

Outside the station, a long line formed outside the public toilet on the sidewalk  one of the few available in the San Fernando Valley.

Faced with complaints about defecation and urination on vehicles and in stations, Metro's directors have begun to question whether the agency should build more public bathrooms. The lack of toilets across the system is a source of discomfort for riders with long commutes, and one reason seats, trash cans and elevators wind up soaked in urine.

If we dont want the consequences, then we have to offer the solution, said Duarte mayor and Metro director John Fasana. But, he said, keeping the facilities clean and safe would come at a significant cost.

In 2010, the W Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard opened a public bathroom next to the subway station. After replacing three sinks, three mirrors, and five toilet seats in three and a half months, and spending an average of $250 a day on paper products, the hotel closed the facility, officials said.

If more bathrooms led to less urine on trains, Trevor Barajas might start riding again.

For more than five years, Barajas caught the 5:59 a.m. train from North Hollywood to his mechanic job near downtown. He said he tried to peacefully coexist with the high concentration of homeless riders, who board trains in the early morning to warm up after a night spent outside. Sometimes, he packed peanut butter sandwiches to share.

But recently, he said, the trains seemed dirtier and more chaotic. Some riders began spraying perfume and air fresheners to neutralize odors. Others brought magazines to sit on.

He kept riding, until he sat down one morning on a seat that was wet and hot with urine. With no change of clothes on hand, he wore the urine-soaked pants to work. Then he started driving to work again.

Theres only so much we can take, Barajas said. At least I can sit in my car without worrying what Im sitting in.

laura.nelson@latimes.com

Twitter: @laura_nelson
Following a recent rash of arrests of teenagers attempting to sneak fentanyl through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, federal and local law enforcement authorities have joined forces in a push to warn underage smugglers of the consequences of getting caught.

Juveniles should be forewarned that their age doesnt necessarily give them immunity from prosecution, said Anne Maricich, deputy director of field operations in San Diego for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, speaking at a Thursday news conference at the port of entry.

The agency is working with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the San Diego County district attorneys office to prosecute these cases. Law enforcement officers also are preparing to visit area schools to inform students of the dangers of fentanyl, a powerful opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin.

Maricich said the San Diego field office  which oversees ports of entry on the California border  has seen a steady increase in fentanyl seizures over the last three years. But this happens to be the first year that weve seen youth involved in the smuggling of fentanyl, she said.

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In the current fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, six juveniles have been caught with fentanyl, according to the field offices figures. Five of those arrests took place over a five-day period  from March 27 to March 31  at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Last months cases involved four teenage boys, ranging in age from 15 to 17, caught with the drug strapped to their bodies in the ports pedestrian lanes. The fifth involved a 17-year-old girl driving a car through the dedicated SENTRI lane.

While drug-trafficking organizations for years have used teenagers to smuggle narcotics across the border, the involvement of juveniles in smuggling fentanyl is raising new alarm.

In 2009, the prime concern was the involvement of young people in marijuana smuggling, and law enforcement authorities began visiting area schools.

Now theyve turned to the harder drugs, and fentanyl is the most dangerous one theyre doing, said David Shaw, the special agent in charge of the San Diego office of Homeland Security Investigations.

Even the smallest exposure to the drug, including through skin absorption or inhalation, could prove deadly to smugglers.

Shaw said the juveniles are taking great risks for small sums of money, typically less than $500. They are recruited though a variety of channels on both sides of the border: It can be schools, public transportation, while waiting in line to come across, through social media.

Lisa Weinreb, who heads the juvenile branch of the district attorneys office, said the message is very clear: These youth will be caught and they will be prosecuted if they engage in this very, very dangerous felony activity.

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Smuggling organizations often tell teens that if they are caught, the consequences will be minimal due to their age.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, Weinreb said.

Dibble writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com
In the latest sign of plummeting relations with Moscow, the Trump administration slapped new sanctions Friday on seven Russian oligarchs with close ties to the Kremlin, including President Vladimir Putins son-in-law, for what a U.S. official called attacks to subvert Western democracies.

The administrations long-delayed move against Russias ruling elite, mandated by Congress last year to punish Moscow for its meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, also included targeted sanctions against 12 Russian companies and 17 senior government officials.

The direct assault on Putins inner circle seemed to signal an end, at least for now, to President Trumps persistent efforts to revive moribund U.S. relations with Moscow despite growing warnings by U.S. intelligence officials that the Kremlin will try to interfere in the November election.

The blacklist was issued a week after the United States and two dozen other countries expelled about 150 Russian diplomats, alleged to be intelligence operatives, in retaliation for the nerve gas poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England last month.

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Putins government, which has denied responsibility for the attack, responded by expelling a similar number of U.S. and other diplomats in the kind of crude tit-for-tat clash not seen since the Cold War. Dozens of U.S. diplomats and their families left Moscow on Thursday.

Trump has been reluctant to publicly criticize Putin, even inviting him to the White House in a phone call on March 20, although no summit has been scheduled. Trump did not publicly mention the new sanctions on Friday.

But the White House took a stronger line Friday, signaling that the olive branch has been withdrawn.

What we would like to see is the totality of the Russian behavior change, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, told reporters.

Asked whether Trump agreed, Sanders said the president has signed off and directed these actions. I think that that speaks volumes, actually, on how the president feels.

A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said Trump seeks a better relationship with Russia. That can only happen when Russia curbs its aggressive behavior. Actions have consequences.

The abruptly tougher tone by the White House was previewed this week in a speech by H.R. McMaster, the outgoing national security advisor.

So for too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats, he said Tuesday at the Atlantic Council, a foreign policy think tank. Russia brazenly and implausibly denies its actions. And we have failed to impose sufficient costs.

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The push comes as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III investigates Russias interference in the 2016 campaign, and any potential illegal ties between Trumps campaign and Russian authorities. Mueller recently obtained criminal indictments against 13 Russians, including several of those on the latest blacklist.

Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their governments destabilizing activities, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said.

Mnuchin criticized Putins government for engaging in a range of malign activity around the globe, including its occupation of Crimea and military operations in eastern Ukraine, its military support for Syrian President Bashar Assads forces in that countrys brutal civil war, as well as attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities.

In March, the administration levied sanctions against 16 Russian entities and individuals, as well as Russian intelligence agencies and officials. The new measures stand out because they go after the pocketbooks of some of Russias wealthiest businessmen, including some of Putins closest advisors and supporters.

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They include Oleg Deripaska, a 50-year-old metals magnate said to be worth $5.8 billion. Deripaska had business ties with Paul Manafort, who served as Trumps campaign chairman for several months in 2016. Manafort has been indicted on charges of money laundering, bank fraud and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty.

Also on the list is 36-year-old Kirill Shamalov, a petrochemical executive whose fortune reportedly soared to nearly $1.5 billion after he married Putins daughter Katerina in 2012. Recent unconfirmed reports suggest the marriage has collapsed.

Among the businesses sanctioned is a state-owned weapons company that supplied military equipment to the government in Syria, which Moscow backs. The sanctions bar the individuals or entities from using U.S. financial systems or doing business with any U.S. citizens or companies, and freezes any assets they may have in the United States.

According to a White House statement, the Trump administration has taken a broad array of steps to confront destabilizing and malicious behavior by Russia.

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They include export controls against two companies working with Russias missile program, charges against three Russians for the 2014 hack of Yahoo and sanctions against 100 targets in response to Russias occupation of Crimea and military operations in Ukraine.

Shortly before he left office, President Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds, in New York and Maryland, that were allegedly used for intelligence gathering. Those sites remain shuttered.

Speaking in Moscow on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained about the increasingly hostile U.S. stance toward Russia but expressed hope that Trump and Putin could conduct a broad dialogue as long as it does not fall victim to domestic political intrigues in Washington.

U.S. intelligence officials have publicly warned since the fall of 2016 that Russias government was conducting what it calls active measures against the U.S. political system, including aggressive hacking, use of social media and other tactics.

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Adm. Michael S. Rogers, director of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, told Congress this year that the U.S. government had not acted strongly enough to deter future meddling from Moscow.

I believe that President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion that, theres little price to pay here and therefore I can continue this activity, Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February.

Trump has acknowledged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, but insisted it had no impact on the voting. As recently as March 6, he appeared to deflect blame from Moscow, however.

Certainly, there was meddling and probably there was meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals, he said.

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On Friday, lawmakers from both parties, including some who have complained about Trumps soft approach to Putin, praised the sanctions on the Russian leaders top backers.

The United States must press forward with a broader strategy to deter and, if necessary, defeat Russian aggression and counter Russian malign influence activities, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. Anything less will only encourage Putin to continue attacking us, our allies, and democracies around the world.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

chris.megerian@latimes.com

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Staff writers Tracy Wilkinson and Brian Bennett in Washington and special correspondent Sabra Ayres in Moscow contributed to this report.
At 67, Rose Knuckles Bull has had enough. The onetime government administrator and Liberian refugee says she put in her time working, paid her taxes and now just wants to go home. Bit by bit, she is packing her things and saving up for a container to ship everything back to Careysburg.

Thats not an option for Prince. The 52-year-old has a teenage daughter in school here and nothing to return to in Unification Town.

As for 50-year-old Alexander Morris? The clergyman from Monrovia is leaving his fate to God.

Across America, time is running out for thousands of Liberians who came here in the face of a grinding civil war, staggering poverty and disease. Some have already lost their legal status to be here. For others, their protected status will expire in less than a year.

But for all, theres an inescapable reality  those who have made a life in the U.S. now must decide whether to return to a country they havent known for years, or stay put and live life on the margins, risking deportation. In the larger picture, the Liberians are just the front edge of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from other countries who soon could face the same fate.

Temporary protected status, or TPS, the legal designation that allows immigrants from countries affected by war or natural disaster to work and live in the U.S., expired for Liberian immigrants last May.

Another form of discretionary relief known as deferred enforced departure, offered to Liberians who arrived in the 1990s and early 2000s, was set to run out last month but President Trump gave those Liberians one final year to wind down their lives in America. Some hold out hope that Congress will intervene before time runs out.

The Census Bureau estimates there are close to 90,000 Liberians in the U.S., many of whom are concentrated in the Northeast and East Coast, from Minnesota to New York.

Left, Liberian immigrant Rose Knuckles Bull has been living and working in the United States since 1999, when she left her country because of war. Right, thousands of Liberians and other West Africans have settled in Staten Island, N.Y. Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

On Staten Island, New York Citys smallest and whitest borough  and the only one that voted for Trump  Liberians are clustered in a few brick apartment buildings along Park Hill Avenue. The area, next to the islands northeastern shore, was once plagued by violent crime and drugs, but is today a mostly peaceful, tightknit community shared with immigrants from other West African nations.

Liberians on Staten Island are at the front lines of the Trump administrations attack on immigrants, said Javier Valdes, co-executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York. This community is  experiencing the pain that will strike roughly 300,000 TPS holders from other countries very soon if Congress fails to act.

In one building full of Liberians, nicknamed the executive mansion after the presidential home in Liberia, an elderly woman cooks lunch each day for anyone who needs a meal. On Sunday mornings, women wearing tall head wraps and bright dresses with geometric prints fill the pews of evangelical churches. People take one another food from the local pantry. They dont inquire about legal status.

Bull arrived in the U.S. on a visitors visa in 1999. She had been in the country before, in the 1970s, when she studied sociology at Susquehanna University and earned a masters degree in education at Howard University.

Back in Liberia she worked for the Ministry of Education and administered the governments civil service exam. But when the country devolved into civil war, she fled with her children, living as a refugee in the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria.

Shortly after Bull came to the U.S., then-President Clinton granted Liberians a form of deportation relief and work authorization known as deferred enforced departure.

Top, Alexander Morris, a clergyman from Monrovia, Liberia, is leaving his fate to God. Bottom, Liberians gather and worship at the Christ Assembly Lutheran Church on Staten Island. Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Since then, Bull has lived and legally worked in New York through various renewals of that program and of TPS. She did temp work, worked as a substitute teacher and eventually got a full-time clerical job with the city. Through it all, she paid taxes and sent money back home to help put her four children through college. Two of them now live in the U.S.

In 2013, Bull retired and began collecting Social Security, a benefit she is legally entitled to as long as her status doesnt change. But when deferred enforced departure ends, so will her monthly payments.

As the original March 31 expiration date loomed, Bull began preparing for her departure, slowly packing clothes, bedding and even furniture to take back home. She said she wants to return to Careysburg, about 20 miles northeast of Monrovia, the countrys capital, to see her 93-year-old mother and to help rebuild her country. She has plans to open a home for seniors. Mostly, though, shes tired of trying to carve out a full life in America.

I have outgrown the stress of this, Bull said. I have never used my skills here. I just decided I would be more helpful to my people back home.

Liberia and the U.S. have a long, intertwined history, going back to the early 1800s, when Liberia was settled by freed American slaves. The country, whose flag bears a strong resemblance to Old Glory, became independent in 1847.

In 1926, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. began operating in Liberia under a 99-year, 1 million-acre land concession that dramatically expanded U.S. influence. Firestone supplied rubber for the Allied powers during World War II and later cooperated with warlord Charles Taylor during the civil war of the 1990s.

The Liberian migration to the U.S. began with the civil war, which dragged on for 14 years and killed more than 200,000 people, and flared again with the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Some who fled were admitted and settled in the U.S. as refugees. Others received temporary protected status, first designated in 1991 and later renewed and redesignated several times.

Returning to Liberia is out of the question for some. Still recovering from the legacy of conflict and Ebola, the country has a weak economy, poor infrastructure and limited healthcare.

For the most part if it were feasible for people to return, people would have returned, said Amaha Kassa, executive director of African Communities Together, a New York-based nonprofit that supports African immigrants. People are saying, Unless Im deported, Im going to remain as long as Im able.

Kassa is working with other advocates and policymakers to ensure that Liberians are included in any immigration deal that Congress considers.

Critics of TPS say the program was always meant to provide only temporary emergency relief, not a long-term path to residency.

In Staten Island, the area near Targee Street and Sobel Court is a main shopping spot for Liberians and others from West Africa. Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

But thats precisely what Prince, who asked only to be identified by his first name for fear of being deported, is hoping for. He came to the U.S. in 2013 and was granted TPS in 2014. He underwent back surgery for a ruptured disc and worries he cannot get adequate care in Liberia. His daughter, whom he described as an A student who dreams of becoming a doctor, is about to graduate high school.

The situation back home is so bad  we can never go back, Prince said. If she goes she will not have the same opportunities.

Since losing their status last year, Prince and his daughter have quietly continued to go about their lives. He works off the books as a private security guard and avoids going out in public.

Every day I think we could be picked up any time, Prince said. I dont socialize. I work, I go home. I tell my daughter, From school, come straight home. Dont go nowhere.

As Prince spoke, standing near an empty lot where in warmer weather vendors sell dried fish and fufu at an outdoor market, the streets around him were empty. One man, an immigrant from Guinea whose temporary status also expired last year, sat in his car watching for police and immigration officers, ready to alert his neighbors and friends at the first sign.

People are hiding, said Jennifer Gray-Brumskine, a community organizer with Make the Road New York who is Liberian and lives on Staten Island. Theyre always in a hurry, just going to work or going to the store and staying out of trouble.

On Sundays, some churches provide van transportation and meals so people dont have to walk to services or the grocery store and risk encountering a police officer.

For a lot of people the refuge is the church, Gray-Brumskine said.

Morris is one of them. He came to the U.S. about six years ago to study with the Bethel Church. He worked two jobs  a park maintenance worker by day and a home health aide by night. On weekends he led prayer services, earning a stipend from church donations.

Now that stipend is all Morris can count on. He lost his jobs when TPS ended.

What I really miss is the people I worked with  work mates, patients. I miss the companionship and being able to help, he said.

Morris usually takes home about $500 a month from the church, just enough to pay rent on the basement apartment he hopes his wife and three children, who are still in Monrovia, may one day call home. He gets by doing odd jobs for other Liberians, helping someone move, for example, or cleaning an apartment. He refuses to go to the local food pantry  or go into hiding.

On a recent Sunday morning the gray-haired deacon, dressed in a collared shirt and neatly pressed slacks, paced back and forth at the front of the Bethel Worship Center, delivering rapid-fire prayers. During the service, a boisterous affair with loud music and dancing, he mingled with congregants in the aisle, shaking a saasaa for percussion and swaying his hips, his eyes closed.

Youve just got to make yourself joyful, Morris said. Which one of us by worrying can add anything to our situation?

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

Twitter: @AgrawalNina

carolyn.cole@latimes.com

Twitter: @Carolyn_Cole
After war tore apart her homeland, Rasema Handanovic arrived in American as a refugee in 1996 and settled into a quiet life in Oregon. She became a lawful permanent resident two years later, and a U.S. citizen four years after that.

It seemed a relatively easy process. She filled out the required forms, told immigration officials that she was of good moral character and never mentioned anything about her role in the violence that divided the country where she grew up, Yugoslavia.



For the record: This article incorrectly reported that Rasema Handanovic worked at Boston Market and Nike in Portland, Ore., after completing a 2012 prison sentence. According to federal charging papers, she was employed by Boston Market and Nike in 1997.

A decade later, that all changed.

U.S. authorities arrested her and extradited her to Bosnia-Herzegovina for trial in 2012. In court, she admitted to committing war crimes involving citizens and prisoners of war while a member of an elite unit of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was sentenced to five years and six months in prison and branded a war criminal.

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When her prison stint was complete, Handanovic returned to the U.S. and moved into a suburban neighborhood in Portland with her young son. She baby-sat, worked as a cashier at a Boston Market, did warehouse work at Nike and collected government disability payments for her fibromyalgia. She also changed her name to Sammy Rasema Yetisen.

Now, her past in Bosnia-Herzegovina has caught up with Handanovic again. On Wednesday, she was targeted by federal authorities who want to strip her of her citizenship and expel her from the country for failing to identify herself as a war criminal.

Rasema Handanovic (U.S. Attorney, District of Oregon )

When she first arrived in the U.S., Handanovic hid her role with a special forces unit that attacked the village of Trusina on April 16, 1993, in what came to be known as the Trusina massacre.

The unit, known as the Zulfikar Special Purposes Detachment, targeted Bosnian Croats for their Christian beliefs and Croat ethnicity. Federal court documents identify Handanovic, who also used the alias Zolja, and other members of the group as being Bosniaks, or Bosnian Muslims.

Court documents filed in support of removing Handanovics citizenship described the attack on Trusina, a small village roughly 50 miles from Sarajevo, the countrys capital, as a planned-out war within a war.

Handanovics unit rounded up seven men and ordered them to stand against a wall, the document said. When one man tried to escape, he was shot and killed. The remaining six were then ordered to face the wall and were shot in the back, the document said.

After all six had been shot, Handanovic walked over to the bodies and shot each one again, court documents say.

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She murdered these civilians and prisoners of war because of their Croat nationality, ethnicity, and Christian beliefs, the federal documents said.

Handanovic and others in the unit then used other villagers as human shields to escape Trusina. In all, 22 unarmed people,including women and seniors, were killed in the massacre.

At her trial in Bosnia, the court determined that Handanovic and a fellow Zulfikar soldier named Edin Dzeko, 46, played key roles in the massacre as members of the firing squad and that their actions were the equivalent of murder.

In addition to his participation in the firing squad, according to Portland U.S. Atty. Billy Williams, Dzeko also killed an elderly man and then shot the mans wife in the back, killing her because she would not stop crying.

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In the words of the prosecutor in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which maintains an extradition treaty with the U.S., the two participated in a well prepared and planned attack on the village of Trusina, Municipality of Konjic, led by the Deputy Commander of the Special Purposes Detachment Zulfikar  who ordered before the attack that there must be no survivor  and then from a high ground overlooking the village, using a hand-held radio, led the attack by issuing orders to soldiers subordinated to him, members of the Zulfikar.

There, Handanovic and Dzeko held the village under attack from several directions, making no difference between civilian and military targets, the prosecutor said.

The federal complaint for Dzekos denaturalization states that he and other soldiers in the village that day captured several Croatian Defense Council soldiers by telling them that they would kill the soldiers wives and children if they did not surrender.

Arrested and tried in 2014, Dzeko is now serving a 13-year sentence and also faces a federal hearing to remove his U.S. citizenship.

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The federal governments petition puts Handanovic on notice that she facesa denaturalization hearing, which could result in the loss of her citizenship and removal from the country.

Anderson is a special correspondent in Seattle
Arizona and Texas announced Friday that they were preparing to deploy National Guard members to the U.S.-Mexico border in response to President Trumps call for more border security.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said about 150 Guard members would deploy next week. And the Texas Military Department, the umbrella agency over the Texas National Guard branches, said on its Twitter account that it would hold a Friday night news conference on its preparations, though further details were not immediately available.

Trump told reporters Thursday that he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the border to help fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

That would be fewer than the roughly 6,000 National Guard members that President George W. Bush sent in 2006 during another border security operation, but more than the 1,200 Guard members President Obama sent in 2010.

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A spokesman for Ducey, a Republican, said Friday that the deployment would be funded under a federal law called Title 32. Under that law, the National Guard remains under the command and control of each states governor.

In North Dakota, GOP Gov. Doug Burgum said that if hes asked, he will contribute Guard members.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, also a Republican, on Friday became one of the latest leaders to oppose the plan. His spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an email that Sandoval does not believe the mission would be an appropriate use of the Nevada National Guard.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, has said she would deny Trumps request.

Department of Homeland Security officials have said Guard members could support Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement agencies. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said this week that Guard members could help look at the technology, the surveillance, and that the department might ask for fleet mechanics.

From 2006 to 2008, the Guard fixed vehicles, maintained roads, repaired fences and performed ground surveillance. Its mission in 2010 and 2011 involved more aerial surveillance and intelligence work.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trumps energy secretary, also sent about 1,000 Guard members to the border in 2014 in response to a surge in the number of unaccompanied immigrant children crossing the Rio Grande. About 100 Guardsmen remain deployed as part of that state mission.

Also Friday, U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions ordered a zero tolerance policy aimed at people entering the United States illegally for the first time on the Mexican border.

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Sessions told federal prosecutors in border districts to put more emphasis on charging people with illegal entry, which has historically been treated as a misdemeanor offense for those with few or no previous encounters with border authorities. Smugglers and frequent offenders are usually charged with more serious crimes.

His one-page order lacks specifics on how the policy will be carried out but signals that major change is in the works. He tells prosecutors to ask for additional resources if needed to prosecute cases.
As bad as things looked for Facebook two weeks ago when the Cambridge Analytica scandal surfaced, things actually got worse this week. First, the company upped to 87 million the estimated number of people whose personal information was siphoned off without authorization  74% more than was first reported. Cambridge Analytica used that information in 2016 to try to raise support for Donald Trump by targeting voters with messages designed to play to their susceptibilities.

Then on Wednesday, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told reporters that personal information from every Facebook user who left the default search settings in place is likely to have been scraped off the site by third parties. I would assume if you had that setting turned on, that someone at some point has accessed your public information in this way, Zuckerberg said. The information was almost certainly gathered for commercial reasons, not altruistic ones. After all, your public profile on Facebook can be quite revealing  it includes anything youve ever shared on Facebook under the least restrictive privacy setting, potentially including your friends list, your likes, your photos and the places youve visited.

Lawmakers need to stop relying on internet companies to police themselves.

In short, Zuckerberg confirmed again what critics of his company have been saying for years: Personal information shared on Facebook can spread far and wide, often unbeknownst to the person who posted it. You may think of Facebook as a place to huddle electronically with your friends, but its also a platform for Facebook and countless other companies to collect data about you. And Facebook has repeatedly shown itself unable, or perhaps unwilling, to restrain those companies, let alone keep its own promises to users about how personal data will be handled.

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The good news is that Congress may have reached the end of its rope when it comes to online privacy scandals. The glare from lawmakers is so intense that Zuckerberg himself will appear before House and Senate committees next week  a first for the youthful billionaire. And in anticipation of the verbal beating lawmakers are expected to inflict, Facebook has taken an encouraging series of steps to reduce the information that third parties can extract from the social network.

But lawmakers need to stop relying on internet companies to police themselves. And while the Federal Trade Commission has broad authority to crack down on unfair and deceptive privacy practices, the court orders it has obtained against Facebook and other internet companies havent stopped the abuses. Internet users should have clear privacy rights under federal law that regulators and the courts can enforce. At a minimum, those should include the right to know what data is being collected about them and to limit its use. In other words, instead of continuing blithely along the path of unfettered data collection and sharing, we need to give internet users more control over the data generated by what they say and do online.

The European Union is well ahead of the U.S. government on this issue, having adopted a General Data Protection Regulation two years ago. The rules, which will go into effect May 25, require companies that want to collect personal data from an EU citizen to obtain the persons freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent  not just overall, but for each type of use the company might find for the data (for example, separate consents would be required to use an email address for in-house marketing and to share the address with a third party).

Under the EU rules, users must also be able to revoke the consent theyve given and to retrieve the data a site has collected on them, giving them a clearer picture of whats being recorded. Meanwhile, new rules for the companies that obtain data from other sites will effectively expose how internet users are tracked online, bringing much needed transparency to the world of advertiser-supported sites and services. The mandates are backed by eye-popping penalties  up to 4% of a companys worldwide earnings.

Zuckerberg said Wednesday that his company will extend the European Unions privacy protections to all of its users worldwide, which is the silver lining in the cloud cast by Cambridge Analytica. But Facebook users shouldnt be the only ones covered by such a shield. Proposals for a consumer privacy bill of rights have been circulating in Washington since 2012. Its time for lawmakers to translate their outrage over the latest privacy scandal into durable protections for internet users.

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President Trump and the auto industry are teaming up to roll back gas mileage and emissions rules that would deliver a new car fleet in 2025 averaging 36 mpg in real-world driving. Fortunately, California  and a dozen other states  insist we need to keep the tough standard, which is the biggest single step ever taken against climate change.

The Trump administrations counter-arguments make as much sense as buying a pickup truck to haul your latte home from Starbucks.

Californias leadership role grows out of its historic smog problems. Under the 1970 Clean Air Act, it is allowed to set air pollution rules tighter than the federal governments. Relying on that authority in 2002, the state adopted a law to reduce cars carbon dioxide emissions. Twelve states, mostly in the Northeast, followed Californias lead. Because automakers didnt want to build cars under two sets of rules, they negotiated with the Obama administration in 2009 to set strong U.S. standards that California accepted.

On Monday, embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced plans to trash it  and he has repeatedly threatened to revoke Californias authority to set tougher rules than Washington.

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How do the carmakers feel? Some publicly claim they oppose this rollback  never mind that their lobbyists stood beside Pruitt on Monday. And privately, their chief executives pitched the cuts to Trump in the White House days after he took office.

As it seeks to enhance sales of its truck cash cows, the industry is following the same path that nearly killed it a decade ago.

The Trump administration and the auto industry have constructed a house of cards to defend their efforts. The technology that makes vehicles more fuel efficient makes cars and trucks more costly, they claim, so people wont buy them. The drop in sales would drive up unemployment. But regardless of cost, they assert, efficient vehicles arent safe and no one wants them.

Since 2008, average fuel economy has risen 5 mpg. Meanwhile, the industry has been riding high, banking record sales of approximately 17 million vehicles in each of the last three years.

Under the Obama-era rules, autoworker jobs have grown by 700,000, according to the BlueGreen Alliance of labor and environmental organizations. So much for the argument that Fords then-CEO Mark Fields presented to Trump 14 months ago, that tougher fuel economy standards would cost the industry 1 million jobs.

Efficient vehicles dont sell? How would automakers know? Gas guzzler ads are ubiquitous in what Kantar Media has estimated is the industrys $14-billion annual marketing campaign. Thats no surprise: SUVs and other trucks are the industrys most profitable segment. According to the Detroit News, buyers are paying as much as $73,000 for some Cadillac Escalades that cost only $35,000 to produce.

(Would it be churlish to mention that just before they negotiated these rules back in 2009, Americas auto industry chieftains readily accepted $85 billion in bailouts from taxpayers to survive bankruptcy? Or that they stood by President Obama applauding when he unveiled the auto rules, and signed corporate commitments to adhere to them?)

This is auto mechanics, not rocket science. Existing technology such as advanced transmissions, stop-start engines and high-strength, low-weight steel and aluminum deliver mileage improvements. The savings at the gas pump more than cover the cost of the added technology. In fact, car owners will come out far ahead  saving on average $6,000 on gasoline over the vehicles life. The planet will come out ahead, too: The improved fleet mileage cuts carbon dioxide pollution by 6 billion tons while slashing the nations oil appetite by 12 billion barrels.

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As for what makes cars safe, it isnt their heft. Smart design and safety features such as automatic emergency braking, electronic stability control and new, strong materials are truly what protect drivers and passengers, said Jason Levine, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, with which our Safe Climate Campaign is affiliated.

Automakers also blame the recent drop in gas prices for their failure to sell more fuel-efficient vehicles. But do carmakers truly think gas prices will stay low forever? Were just one Middle East crisis away from a return to $4-a-gallon gas.

As it seeks to enhance sales of its truck cash cows, the industry is following the same path that nearly killed it a decade ago, when the 2008 recession and rising gas prices caught it unprepared.

Californias clean-car leadership already benefits the state, the nation and the world. Now, we are counting on its leaders to stay strong in the face of the Trump-automaker assault on our lungs, our wallets and our atmosphere.

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Dan Becker directs the Safe Climate Campaign, which advocates strong measures to fight global warming. James Gerstenzang, the campaigns editorial director, formerly covered the White House and environment for The Times.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
Amid our escalating trade war with China this week, President Trumps top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, tried to assure investors that, despite roiling stock markets, a pot of gold lies at the end of the dispute. But the brinkmanship on both sides is more likely to cost Americans a pot of gold in disrupted trade and lost economic opportunity.

The spat between the worlds two largest trading nations started last month with U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum; China responded in kind with tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. exports. This weeks round two  over Chinese appropriation of U.S. intellectual property  marks an exponential escalation, with each side first threatening tariffs on $50 billion of the others exports. On Thursday, Trump told the U.S. trade representative to look for $100 billion more.

The risks for Americans are clear and present. Although the people of China certainly will pay, so too will millions of American farmers, ranchers, manufacturing workers and consumer households. The most immediate casualties will be U.S. exporters. China bought $130 billion worth of U.S. goods in 2017, making it the third-largest market for our exports, behind only Canada and Mexico.

Nobody appreciates that reality more than American farmers. China is poised to slap tariffs on $12 billion of U.S. soybean exports, representing more than half of total U.S. exports of the crop. That will come on top of retaliatory duties China already has imposed on fruits, nuts and wine  actions that hit California producers especially hard.

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There is no precedent in U.S. history for using this level of tariff threats to successfully wrest concessions from a major commercial partner.

U.S. industry will also suffer. Already in the crosshairs of Chinese retaliation are U.S. exports of $6 billion in motor vehicles and $16 billion worth of civilian aircraft. In a double whammy to U.S. industry, our own government is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on a range of industrial goods and machinery imported from China. Those imports enable U.S. companies to remain competitive and keep assembly of final products here in the United States. Combined with a 30% jump in domestic steel prices brought on by the administrations earlier steel tariffs, U.S. manufacturing companies are facing a cost squeeze that threatens to disrupt supply chains and employment.

Despite promises from the Trump administration, these tariffs will not fix the trade deficit. If the Chinese earn fewer dollars selling into the U.S. market, they will have fewer dollars to buy U.S. exports; both imports and exports will then fall. The Chinese also will have fewer dollars to buy U.S. Treasury bonds, which will lead to higher long-term borrowing costs for Uncle Sam and the rest of us.

A trade showdown wont necessarily fix the underlying complaint about intellectual property either. There is no precedent in U.S. history for using this level of tariff threats to successfully wrest concessions from a major commercial partner. Three decades ago, the U.S. government got tough with Japan over similar issues, but never came close to threatening the kind of sweeping duties that the Trump administration is talking about today. Japan was also a different kind of negotiating partner, a democracy and a more accommodating ally. An authoritarian and nationalistic China is less likely to back down.

A more promising and less risky strategy would be to press the U.S. case in the World Trade Organization, the intergovernmental body formed to resolve trade disputes. The United States has brought a number of WTO cases against China, prevailing in almost all of them, and the Chinese government changed its policies as a result. Japan, the EU and other Western economic powers that share our complaints against China could join the United States in pressing its case. Instead, its China that has just approached the WTO with its complaint about our steel and aluminum tariffs.

Another more constructive strategy for the United States would be to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This trade agreement with 11 other Pacific Rim nations contains strong intellectual-property protections that provide a stark alternative to Chinas lax approach. More broadly, the Trump administration could deescalate its hostile trade rhetoric against our allies such as Canada, Mexico and the EU, making it easier for these countries to unite in demanding Chinese reforms.

Like Japan in the 1990s, China is in transition to a more advanced economic state in which developing and protecting intellectual property will be crucial. If China wants to continue to attract foreign direct investment, it would be in its own interest to reform its domestic laws to protect the intellectual property of all companies, domestic and foreign-owned.

A full-blown escalation of tariffs is not in the interest of either the United States or China. Contrary to the much-referenced tweet by Trump, trade wars are not good nor are they easily won, as we may soon learn at great cost.

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Daniel Griswold is a senior research fellow and co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the Mercatus Center and George Mason University.

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Media coverage of Israels massacre of Palestinian protesters during the first weekend of multiweek demonstrations in Gaza offered textbook examples of how syntax and word choice shape, and even distort, representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even if the facts are accurately stated, the ways in which sentences are constructed, and the extent to which details are contextualized, can subtly lead readers astray.

Consider for instance the enormous consequence of choosing passive rather than active language to convey what happened. At least 15 Palestinians die as Israel responds to protest, wrote the Guardian in one early headline. 15 dead in Gaza demonstrations read the front page of this newspaper, and the New York Times led with a similar formulation: Confrontations at Gaza Fence Leave 15 Dead.

Such phrasing separates facts from the agency that makes them intelligible. After all, those Palestinians (the actual number varies according to reports) did not simply drop dead: They were shot, deliberately. Simply splitting subject from verb, however, obscures who did what to whom and under what circumstances. Israeli troops kill 15 Palestinians at Gaza protest, for example, would tell a different story  and would cue a different response from readers.

Palestinians are not merely a ragtag collection of refugees; they are a people purposefully kept from their homes by an army of occupation.

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So too with the use of the words clashes and confrontations in describing what happened. The next-day story in the Los Angeles Times began this way: A day of clashes between Israeli soldiers and protesters left 16 Palestinians dead. Again the passive voice obscured agency, and the word clash suggested a rough parity between the action on both sides, an exchange of equal blows. Yet there is no parity between a milling, overwhelming nonviolent crowd of 30,000 demonstrators and heavily armed soldiers manning fortified positions, let alone army snipers picking off their targets from a comfortable distance. Moreover, an army of occupation and an occupied people do not clash. One tries to crush; the other tries to resist, or at least to remain steadfast.

Significant ancillary circumstances were either elided or obscured in the coverage as well. There were plenty of references to the border between Israel and Gaza, suggesting that what happened took place on the frontier between two states. Yet Israel refuses to declare its borders, and Gaza is not a state, but occupied territory. The soldiers werent protecting sovereign space so much as violently suppressing the Palestinian peoples internationally recognized demand for their rights. In a video posted on an Israeli news site, Eli Hazan, the foreign affairs director of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Likud Party, went so far as to assert, in defiance of international law, that all 30,000 [protesters] are legitimate targets.

Precious little of this came through in the U.S. media. We were told in The Times, correctly, that the Gaza protests mark the buildup to the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, the calamitous dispossession of the Palestinians during the establishment of Israel in 1948. A majority of Gazans, were told, are the descendants of the 1948 war. The demonstrations demand the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.

I am from the city of Majdal, one demonstrator told the reporter from The Times. I am from Jaffa, said another. I wont accept any solution that does not grant me my rights to return to my fathers hometown.

The quotations are poignant, but they offered an opportunity  missed  to clarify what the speakers, Khalil Abu Qammar and Khadrah Zaqout, were talking about. People like them, from Majdal and Jaffa, did not become refugees by happenstance; they were driven from their homes by Israels founders, who aimed to create a state with a Jewish majority, in which, by definition, too many Muslims and Christians would be problematic.

Palestinians such as them are now not allowed to return to their hometowns, cities and villages for the same simple reason: They are not Jewish; their homes and lands are held by a state that insists on its Jewish identity at the expense of anyone and any right that stands in the way. The army that shot at them last weekend  and may do the same this weekend, as the Gaza protests continue  was, in other words, enforcing an as-yet-incomplete project of ethnic cleansing.

The Palestinian scholar Edward Said once pointed out that facts dont speak for themselves; they require a narrative to absorb and sustain them. What was missing from almost all of the mainstream media coverage, as usual, was not the facts as such, but rather the Palestinian narrative of enforced exile and struggle for return that renders those facts comprehensible, both politically meaningful and emotionally resonant.

Palestinians are not merely a ragtag collection of refugees; they are a people purposefully kept from their homes by an army of occupation. Restoring or even acknowledging their narrative would enable us to understand them as genuine human beings animated (as the great English essayist William Hazlitt put it in his essay What Is the People? in not dissimilar circumstances) by thoughts, feelings, affections, cares, worries, desires, rights  and the will to be free.

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Saree Makdisi is a professor of English at UCLA.

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Gavin Newsom releases ad that highlights his push to allow same-sex couples to marry By Phil Willon A new ad from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom features Phyllis Lyon, who with her partner, Del Martin, received the first marriage license after Newsom vowed to allow same-sex couples to marry when he was mayor of San Francisco in 2004. The current lieutenant governors push for marriage equality thrust him into the national spotlight and he has emphasized that effort to portray himself as a bold, progressive leader. Facebook

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Failed California housing bill was not a bad idea, Gov. Jerry Brown says By Liam Dillon Gov. Jerry Brown (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Earlier this month, high-profile housing legislation that would have allowed for four- to five-story apartments and condominiums near transit stops failed to advance in the state Legislature. But had it reached his desk, would Gov. Jerry Brown have signed it? Maybe. I think that was not a bad idea, Brown said of Senate Bill 827 at a meeting with business leaders from the Bay Area Council on Monday afternoon. The bill, written by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), attracted national attention and a maelstrom of opposition in part because it would have eliminated single-family zoning near transit stops in favor of apartments or condominiums. Brown said that a relative of his who lives in West Portal, a low-density neighborhood in San Francisco, told the governor he was horrified by the bill. Brown also lamented dramatically rising housing costs. He said he bought his first house in Los Angeles in 1973 for $75,000 at a time when his salary as secretary of state was $35,000. Now, he said, buying a house for a little over twice ones annual salary is virtually impossible anywhere in the state. FOR THE RECORD

May 1, 9:32 a.m.: This post originally misstated the year Brown purchased his house as 1970. It was 1973. Facebook

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John Cox begins California barnstorm with the delivery of gas tax repeal signatures By Javier Panzar Gubernatorial candidate John Cox, left, and Assembly candidate Bill Essayli load boxes of signatures for the gas tax repeal initiative. (Francine Orr) GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox strolled up to the stack of 12 boxes in front of the Los Angeles County registrar-recorders offices in Norwalk on Monday and placed his hands on top of his partys hope for success in 2018. The boxes, stacked four across and three high, contained 211,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in Californias gas tax and vehicle fees. Cox says the effort has gathered more than 940,000 signatures from registered voters to put the measure on the ballot  far more than the 585,407 signatures that are required. The aim: to bring out the partys base to the polls this November and help candidates in tough congressional and legislative races down the ticket. A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in November found 54.2% of registered voters surveyed said they would repeal the tax and fee hike, but a survey a month earlier by another group said a majority would vote to keep the higher taxes. Cox was flanked by Bill Essayli, a former federal prosecutor who is challenging Democratic Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside in the June primary. Cervantes voted for the gas tax and Essayli plans to use that vote against her. He even launched his campaign at a 76 gas station in Norco. This is a central issue in my campaign, he said. Cox also submitted signatures in San Diego on Monday and is headed to Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento, as well as Shasta and Butte counties in coming days. We are going all across the state, Cox said. The whole state is paying this tax and the whole state wants it gone. Facebook

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All Californians would be able to serve on state boards  even people in the U.S. illegally  under new bill By Jazmine Ulloa Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State lawmakers on Monday introduced legislation that would allow all Californians to serve on state boards and commissions regardless of immigration status. Senate Bill 174, by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), comes as the state is locked in a broader legal battle with the Trump administration over state immigration laws and his call for mass deportations. Lawmakers point to what they say is the states own discriminatory history as their basis for introducing the legislation. The proposal would amend an 1872 provision that was first adopted to exclude Chinese immigrants and other transient aliens from holding appointed civil positions. At the time, antipathy toward the Chinese had been building in California, though, Chinese immigrants opened hundreds of businesses across the state and would play a critical role in building the transcontinental railroad. The Senate bill would delete the phrase transient aliens from the government code and make clear that any person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, can hold an appointed civil office if they are at least 18 years old and a resident of the state. That would allow any Californian to serve on hundreds of boards and commissions that advice in an array of policy areas, including farm labor, history and employment development. Californias two million undocumented immigrants are a source of energy for our state, Lara said in a statement. It is shocking to read the words of fear and exclusion that are still in California law but belong in historys trash can. Facebook

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Tony Mendozas fundraising dries up after resignation amid harassment inquiry By Patrick McGreevy Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). (Steve Yeater / Associated Press) Political contributions to Tony Mendoza, who resigned from the state Senate under pressure amid sexual harassment allegations, have nearly dried up. New documents he filed with the state in his bid to reclaim the seat he once held show that his support has eroded. As a result, five other candidates for the 32nd District senate seat in the June 5 election have raised more than Mendoza so far this year. With the June 5 election approaching, Mendoza has reported raising just $7,750 in cash from six supporters during the nearly four-month period from Jan. 1 to April 21. Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia, went on a leave of absence from the Senate Jan. 3 and resigned a month later under the threat of expulsion from colleagues. An investigation ordered by the Senate found a pattern of unwanted flirtatious or sexually suggestive behavior based on testimony from six women. Mendoza has denied wrongdoing. Last year, Mendozas reelection campaign raised $412,600, or an average of about $34,000 per month, from more than 350 supporters. Most of Mendozas 2018 total was contributed by the political arm of the Southern California Pipe Trades District Council 16 on Jan. 22, a month before Mendoza resigned. Mendoza also reported that his campaign loaned $125,000 this year to his legal defense fund. That left him with $446,600 in his campaign account at the end of April. Mendoza is running against eight Democrats and two Republicans. Democrat Bob J. Archuleta, a Pico Rivera city councilman, raised the most, $210,000, during the period. On Monday, Mendoza suffered another setback when the State Legislative Womens Caucus endorsed Democrat Vicky Santana, a member of the Rio Hondo College Board. Facebook

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Newsom and Villaraigosa affairs coming to TV ads in California By Phil Willon An independent political committee backing Republican John Cox for governor released an ad blasting both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for their past sexual affairs. The California Deserves Better ad, which was first reported by Politico, criticizes Newsom for having an affair with a woman on his staff in 2005 while he served as mayor of San Francisco. It also goes after Villaraigosa for having an extramarital affair with a television reporter in 2007 while he was mayor of Los Angeles. The ad, which begins airing on Fox stations in the states top media markets Monday, links Newsom and Villaraigosa to the men accused of sexual impropriety in the #MeToo movement, including movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and disgraced Today show veteran Matt Lauer. Powerful men are finally being held to account, punished for inappropriate sexual conduct with women over whom they exercise power, the ad begins. Newsom and Villaraigosa think the rules shouldnt apply to them. The independent campaign committee, called Restore Our Values, already has raised more than $100,000, said Leigh Teece of Emeryville in Northern California, co-founder of the group. Teece, the CEO of a nonprofit that helps line up students with professional mentors, said the campaign will actively support Cox. She called him a true conservative and noted that he supports cutting taxes and opposes Californias sanctuary state policy. John is a business person who has demonstrated integrity, Teece said. Facebook

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Was that Cisneros in the voicemail? Dispute is latest espisode of Democratic infighting in crowded primary races By Christine Mai-Duc Gil Cisneros speaks during a forum at Fullerton College in January. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) With less than five weeks to go before Californias primary, insults and accusations are flying with abandon in the most crowded races Democrats hope to ultimately win. The latest example of this is in the 39th Congressional District, where a half dozen Democrats are vying for a chance to replace Rep. Ed Royce, whos retiring. Its one of several California contests where Democratic leaders are already worried that divisions could ultimately split votes and shut Democrats out of key pickup opportunities. In that race, millionaires Gil Cisneros and Andy Thorburn are going negative  about going negative. Cisneros was recently elevated to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees Red to Blue program in hopes it would serve as a signal to Democratic activists and donors that his campaign was the most viable. But both Cisneros and Thorburn have poured millions into the race, which promises to be a knock down, drag out fight through June 5. At the center of the latest controversy is a voicemail, allegedly left by Cisneros on Thorburns home answering machine earlier this month. The recording, which the Thorburn campaign turned over to media outlet The Intercept, lasts less than 10 seconds. Hi Andy, its Gil Cisneros. Im gonna go negative on you, a mans voice is heard saying. Cisneros campaign manager Orrin Evans denied the candidate made the call, posting a cease and desist letter to The Intercept on Twitter. The letter, sent by a Cisneros campaign attorney, called the voicemail fabricated and demanded that the story be taken down, calling it defamatory. It gave the publication until 3 p.m. Friday to take down the story before they pursue all legal rights and remedies. An attorney for The Intercept, in a letter to Cisneros, said the publication confirmed with multiple sources familiar with Mr. Cisneros that his voice was on the recording, and that it stands by its reporting. Thorburns camp says it flatly rejects Cisneros denial, and that the timing of a negative website filled with unflattering background on Thorburn, released three days later, suggests it was him. Track the California races that could flip the House According to The Intercepts report, Cisneros campaign manager did not respond to initial inquiries about the voicemail, calling its questions ridiculous. In a follow-up statement Friday, Evans said called the episode a dirty, desperate trick by the Thorburn campaign and said they are readying to pursue legal action for defamation and false light against both him and the publication. It sounded like him to me! said Thorburns wife, Karen, in a statement released by the campaign. She was the one who first heard the voicemail, they said. Thorburn campaign manager Nancy Leeds called Cisneros threats Trump-like tactics and accused the candidate of trying to harass and intimidate anyone who stands in his way. Its not the first time candidates from the same party have clashed in the lead-up to the June 5 primary, and its all but certain to not be the last. Cisneros sued two of his opponents, Thorburn and Sam Jammal, over their ballot descriptions until they had to change them. Earlier this month, Democrat Bryan Caforio asked his opponent, Katie Hill, to sign a pledge rejecting the use of independent expenditure committees, entities that neither of them can legally coordinate with, in the race to unseat Rep. Steve Knight (R-Lancaster). Hill refused and called the attempt hollow and likened it to political theater, while Caforio accused her of empty campaign promises. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: The money raised in the race for governor hints at a race thats now red hot By John Myers With less than six weeks before election day, the cash raised in the California governors race mirrors the overall dynamics: one major front-runner and a heated race for second place. This weeks podcast episode offers a glimpse into those cash reports and how the Republican field seems more settled in a new statewide poll than the battle between Democrats. We also examine the reasons why a nationally talked-about housing bill in Sacramento was killed by the Democratic authors own allies. Im joined by Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Liam Dillon. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher. Facebook

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L.A. County politician sexually assaulted woman when she was 16, lawsuit claims By Dakota Smith A woman sued an unnamed politician in Los Angeles County on Friday, alleging the man sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager after he gave her an unusual-tasting drink. The politician, identified as John Doe, was in his early 40s and a public figure at the time of the 2007 assault, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The man is an elected official today and lives in Los Angeles, said attorney Lisa Bloom, who is representing the woman identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe. Bloom declined to say what branch of government the man represents. Read More Facebook

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Villaraigosa touts his working-class upbringing, accomplishments as mayor in first TV ad By Phil Willon Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa released his first TV ad in the governors race Friday, touting his record and accomplishments as mayor of Los Angeles when up against the economic downturn during the recession. The 30-second television spot opens with a sweeping shot of Los Angeles and cuts to Villaraigosa sitting on a bus. In kindergarten, my sister and I took three buses to get to school. As mayor, I remembered that, Villaraigosa says into the camera. And despite the recession, we built more new schools and rail lines than any city in America, added 200,000 living wage jobs, built 20,000 units of affordable housing and nearly doubled graduation rates. Campaign spokesman Luis Vizcaino said the ad will air statewide over the next week at a cost of approximately $1 million. The commercial will being airing Saturday. Two Democratic rivals in Californias race for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Treasurer John Chiang, also launched ads this week, signaling the biggest ramp-up of the campaign as the June 5 primary approaches. Newsom is the front-runner, while Villaraigosa is battling for second place with Republican John Cox. One recent poll has Villaraigosa trailing both Cox and Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach. Chiang has been stuck in the single digits in almost all polling in the race. Last week, an independent expenditure group called Families and Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor, funded largely by a trio of wealthy charter school backers, launched a spot in support of the former mayor of Los Angeles. That ad campaign is focused on increasing Villaraigosas chances of coming in second in the June 5 primary and moving on to the general election. Villaraigosas ad, titled Three Buses, emphasizes the struggles he faced growing up in East Los Angeles and addresses one of his central campaign themes  that hes the candidate best suited to help working-class Californians. I know how far a bus can take you, Villaraigosa says in the ad. Facebook

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein wont participate in pre-primary debate By Sarah D. Wire (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call) California Sen. Dianne Feinstein will not participate in a proposed pre-primary debate because there are too many candidates in the race, her campaign spokesman said Thursday. Political activists with the group Indivisible Los Angeles said they had a venue and date  May 5  reserved for a debate with four of the Senate candidates. But they said if Feinstein does not participate, it will be canceled. Feinstein faces 31 primary opponents in her bid for a fifth full term representing California in the Senate. Feinstein staffers initially said she had a prior commitment on May 5 in San Francisco. When organizers offered to let her campaign pick another date, her campaign said it wasnt fair for the group to invite only some of the candidates when there is such a big field, said Tudor Popescu, volunteer community organizer with Indivisible Los Angeles. The invited candidates, all Democrats, were Feinstein, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, political action committee director Alison Hartson and lawyer Pat Harris. They were selected based on fundraising and poll numbers. There are 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, nine independents and 2 third-party candidates running for Senate on the June ballot. Indivisible Los Angeles is still hoping Feinstein will pick another date, Popescu said. Feinstein spokesman Jeff Millman pointed to a San Francisco Chronicle endorsement of Feinstein, which indicates that she told the editorial board she would be willing to have a debate ahead of Novembers general election. Senator Feinstein looks forward to debating her opponent in the general election, Millman said in an email. Feinstein holds a substantial lead in both fundraising and in the polls. Front-runners in statewide races have routinely declined to debate their challengers, knowing that its free publicity for candidates who dont have the cash to increase their name recognition on their own. De Leon spokesman Jonathan Underland said the state senator has done candidate forums before, but planned to attend the May 5 debate only if Feinstein did. We basically said well clear his calendar 100%, well clear his calendar if Feinstein shows up, Underland said. Wed love to make it happen, but we want her to be there. Facebook

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NRA, Olympic shooter sue California over its restrictions on ammunition sales By Patrick McGreevy Olympian Kim Rhode is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the NRA and its state affiliate against California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) The National Rifle Assn. and its state affiliate have filed a fourth lawsuit against California over its gun control laws, this time challenging new restrictions on the sale and transfer of ammunition. The NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. filed a challenge in federal court to a requirement that ammunition sales and transfers be conducted face to face with California firearms dealers or licensed vendors, ending purchases made directly from out-of-state sellers on the internet. The lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California also challenged a requirement starting next year for background checks for people buying ammunition. The lawsuit was filed in the name of Kim Rhode, a six-time Olympic medal-winning shooter, and others. It challenges Californias new ammunition sales restrictions as a violation of the 2nd Amendment and the commerce clause of the United States Constitution. Restrictions on ammunition purchases were included in Proposition 63, approved by voters in 2016, and in bills approved by the Legislature. As a result of these laws, millions of constitutionally protected ammunition transfers are banned in California, Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRAs Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. Californias law-abiding gun owners are sick of being treated like criminals and the NRA is proud to assist in this fight. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for governor, defended his initiative and vowed to fight the NRA lawsuit. We wrote Proposition 63 on solid legal ground and principle: If youre a felon banned from possessing guns in California, then you should not be able to purchase the ammunition that makes a firearm deadly, Newsom said in a statement. California voters said loudly and clearly that guns and ammunition do not belong in the hands of dangerous individuals  but once again, the NRA has prioritized gun industry profits over the lives of law-abiding Californians. Facebook

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Republicans hope to ride a gas-tax repeal to victory By Patrick McGreevy In a Central Valley barn decked out in red, white and blue, dairyman and state Senate candidate Johnny Tacherra drew cheers from a crowd of fellow farmers when he said he opposes the California Legislatures hike on gas taxes and vehicle fees. I would not have voted for that. It is not the time to be voting on (raising) the gas tax, said Tacherra, a Republican running against Democratic Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, who voted for the tax increase last year. Three hundred miles away the same week, a campaign mailer arrived at homes in Orange County from an Assembly candidate with a message blaring from the cover in bold type: Republican Greg Haskin  tough enough to stand up to Jerry Brown and repeal the gas tax. Read More Facebook

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Treasurer John Chiang launches ad in governors race touting his record as a fiscal steward By Seema Mehta In his first television ad in the governors race, state Treasurer John Chiang touts his record on fiscal issues as California faced the recession. Some thought we were done, Chiang says in a voiceover in the 30-second spot he released Thursday, with images of him standing seriously at a lectern and complimentary headlines about his work as controller and treasurer. But I knew better. I made the tough calls. And brought California back from the brink of financial disaster because you trusted me to manage our economy. Chiangs campaign is spending about $500,000 to air the ad in Los Angeles and San Diego in coming days. That buy is dwarfed by seven-figure purchases for ads supporting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Newsom is the front-runner, while Villaraigosa is battling for second place with Republican businessman John Cox. Chiang has been mired in the single digits in almost all polling in the race. His ad, called Quiet Storm, tries to portray Chiang as a progressive who is effective and can move policy in Sacramento. Chiang points to his work challenging Wells Fargo before arguing that he could accomplish what doubters say is impossible to improve the states healthcare, housing and schools. I say, we got this, Chiang concludes. Facebook

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Been ignoring the race for California governor? Thats OK, in some ways its just starting By Mark Z. Barabak On a recent trip to Iowa, Eric Garcetti  the mayor of Los Angeles and a possible 2020 White House contestant  raised eyebrows with a bit of exuberant outreach. Los Angeles and Iowa, Garcetti insisted, have a ton in common, and he didnt simply mean both are inhabited by carbon-based life forms needing oxygen to survive. Urban or rural, farmer or fashion plate, all of us harbor the same hopes and dreams, the mayor suggested, and if it wasnt a terribly original thought it also wasnt the most egregious sort of political pandering  like, say, ordering that every home in Los Angeles be powered by Iowa-produced ethanol. Read More Facebook

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California voters should expect to decide on an $8.9-billion water bond in November By Liam Dillon (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A proposal to borrow $8.9 billion for improvements to Californias water quality systems and watersheds and protection of natural habitats is eligible for the statewide ballot in November, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced in a press release Wednesday. Padilla said the measure, which is backed by agricultural interests, had exceeded the 365,800 valid signatures it needed to qualify for the general election ballot. The bond measure will appear on the ballot unless proponents withdraw it by June 28, the release said. The bond is one of many voters could decide on in 2018. A $4-billion bond for parks and water infrastructure improvements will appear on the June 5 ballot. State lawmakers approved it last year. Facebook

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They came for Darrell Issa. They stayed with their inflatable chicken, blue wall and signs for political therapy By Christine Mai-Duc (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) A mother of two turned ringleader of the resistance and more than a hundred of her faithful followers gathered on Tuesday morning outside Rep. Darrell Issas office in a northern San Diego County suburb. Across the street was her foil, a wedding DJ in a red Make American Great Again cap, setting up hefty speakers for an upcoming war of words. For about 65 weeks the deep divide in America played out along this 100-yard stretch of road in Vista. Here, at 10 a.m. every Tuesday, passersby found signs, chants, songs and, if they were lucky, sometimes a 20-foot-tall inflatable chicken with a Trump-esque coif. Theyd also glimpse the state of the body politic in 2018, a time when shock has turned to anger and post-2016 calls for reconciliation have morphed into grudging acceptance that each side might be better off in their respective corners. Or in this case, their sides of the street. On Tuesday, the anti-Issa, anti-Trump contingent fought this particular battle for the last time, declaring it their final protest at the congressmans office. They said they planned to use their energy to knock on doors and get out the vote, with an occasional protest on the side. Their pro-Trump rivals vowed to show up wherever they do. Read More Facebook

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Efforts to regulate bail companies have some unlikely allies: bail agents By Jazmine Ulloa Jane Un, chief executive and founder of Abba Bail Bonds, works with a client. ( Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) In recent years, the seriousness and number of official complaints related to the bail industry in California have significantly increased while bail agents and bounty hunters face limited oversight, putting vulnerable communities at risk of fraud, embezzlement and other forms of victimization. This year, as Gov. Jerry Brown has pledged to work with lawmakers in a push to overhaul how courts assign defendants bail and to better regulate bail agencies, even some who profit from the court practice admit its time for regulation. These bail and bail-recovery agents could become unlikely allies, saying they advocate for change because theyve seen the system abuse the poor. Read More Facebook

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California voters: Get ready for an onslaught of television ads By Seema Mehta After a sleepy campaign, California voters are now being bombarded with television advertisements in the governors race, an onslaught that is expected to ramp up in coming weeks. The ads most frequently seen on television are those promoting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the front-runner in the race, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is trying to secure the second spot in the June primary. Newsoms campaign and an outside group backing Villaraigosa are spending seven figures weekly on these efforts, according to filings with the California secretary of states office and a media buyer who asked not to be identified in order to freely discuss the ads. Other gubernatorial candidates are expected to hit the airwaves soon, the media buyer said. State Treasurer John Chiang has reserved a half-million dollars in the coming days in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets, and Villaraigosas campaign has requested availability in at least five of the states biggest TV markets. The GOP candidates in the race, who will be seeking the state Republican Partys endorsement at its convention next weekend, have been much less active. Businessman John Cox in recent weeks has been spending about $90,000 per week, but doubled that this week in Los Angeles and added small buys on KFI-AM radio and cable in markets including Fresno, Bakersfield and Salinas. State Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach, who has been scooping up Republican Party endorsements across the state, has yet to make a notable television or radio buy, though he and Cox have received some attention as commentators on Fox News. Facebook

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Republicans ready to turn in signatures for ballot measure to repeal California gas-tax increase By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices last year. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Republican activists said Tuesday that they have collected at least 830,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in Californias gas tax and vehicle fees, more than enough to qualify the measure for the November ballot. The activists need 585,407 signatures of registered voters to qualify the ballot measure. Because signatures are still being processed and counted by the campaign, backers hope to have 900,000 by the time they begin turning them in to the counties on Friday, according to Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and organizer of the drive. The breadth and depth of voter anger over the car and gas tax hikes is just amazing, said DeMaio, who hosts a radio talk show. We are seeing Democrats, independents and Republicans sign the petition and volunteering to carry the petition, people from all walks of life. The initiative targets a law approved in April 2017 by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown that is expected to raise $5.4 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and improvements to mass transit. The money comes from a recent 12-cents-per-gallon increase in the gas tax, a 20-cent increase in the diesel fuel excise tax and a new annual vehicle fee ranging from $25 for cars valued at under $5,000, to $175 for cars worth $60,000 or more. The petition drive raised more than $2 million with significant contributions from the California Republican Party and Republican members of Congress from California, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and Reps. Ken Calvert of Corona and Mimi Walters of Irvine. Republicans hope the issue will help their candidates for office in this years election and hurt Democrats who support the higher taxes. I think this is going to put Democrats in real bad spot, DeMaio said. A spokesman for Brown declined to comment until the signatures are filed. DeMaio said there were approximately 20,000 volunteer petition circulators who brought in more than 250,000 signatures, with the rest collected by paid circulators who received $1 to $2.50 per signature. Its a pretty comfortable margin [of signatures] that we have been able to hit here, DeMaio said. Opposition will grow, he said, as more Californians get their annual vehicle registration notice. The repeal campaign hopes to raise $5 million for the campaign to pass the constitutional amendment, which would not only repeal the increase in the gas tax and vehicle fees but require future increases to be submitted to voters. We know that Gov. Brown and his cohorts are going to spend an amazing amount of money to mislead voters, DeMaio said. But I feel pretty confident that we will repeal the gas tax. Read More Facebook

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Rep. Duncan Hunter sets up trust to raise money for legal expenses amid ongoing criminal investigation By Morgan Cook Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has filed paperwork to establish a legal expense fund amid an ongoing federal criminal investigation into misused campaign cash. Hunter filed the required paperwork March 27, seeking a rarely granted Legal Expense Fund through which members of Congress under investigation or being sued in connection with doing their jobs or running for office can raise money for their legal expenses. Such funds are administered by an independent trustee and allow donors to give above the maximum amount they can contribute a candidates campaign. Hunter has spent more than $600,000 of campaign money on lawyers. Read More Facebook

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Kamala Harris says she wont take corporate donations anymore By Sarah D. Wire (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) California Sen. Kamala Harris says she will no longer accept money from corporate political action committees. In an interview with WWPM-FMs The Breakfast Club, in New York that aired Monday, the senator said she wasnt expecting a question at a town hall this month about whether she would accept money for corporations or corporate lobbyists. At the time, Harris said it depends, but she said on Monday that she had reflected on the matter and changed her mind. Money has had such an outside influence on politics, and especially with the Supreme Court determining Citizens United, which basically means that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money influencing a campaign, right? Harris said. Were all supposed to have an equal vote, but money has now really tipped the balance between an individual having equal power in an election to a corporation. So Ive actually made a decision since I had that conversation that Im not going to accept corporate PAC checks. I just  Im not. You can watch the video of the interview here. (Harris corporate money comments come about 30 minutes in.) Harris wouldnt be on the ballot for a second Senate term until 2022, though its widely believed that she is planning a presidential bid in 2020. Other potential 2020 presidential candidates, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have also ruled out taking corporate PAC money. Soon after Mondays show aired, Harris campaign sent out a fundraising request noting her new stance. As corporate PACs continue to corrupt our politics and twist Congress priorities at your expense, were going to focus on raising money from small-dollar, individual donors like you, the email says. Facebook

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With money tied up in court, California lawmakers try again with new plan to spend $2 billion on homeless housing By Liam Dillon A man sleeps on the sidewalk in front of the Union Rescue Mission in the skid row neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A measure to spend $2 billion on housing homeless Californians could be on the November statewide ballot. State Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is pushing the idea to deal with what he said was a burgeoning humanitarian crisis whose epicenter is here in California. De Leons new measure is a do-over for a 2016 plan passed by the Legislature to redirect $2 billion toward building homeless housing from a voter-approved 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires that funds mental health services. A Sacramento attorney sued over that decision, arguing that the move violated constitutional rules on approving loans without a public vote and that lawmakers shouldnt take money away from mental health treatment. The case remains active in Sacramento Superior Court and its unclear when, or if, the state will be able to spend the $2 billion. De Leons Senate Bill 1206 would put the $2-billion loan on the ballot in November, freeing up the money if voters approve the measure. De Leon said had he been able to predict the 2016 plan would end up in court, he would have sought a ballot measure at the time. We thought this was like apple pie and baseball and puppies, De Leon said. Who would oppose the idea of repurposing the dollars to build immediate housing as a permanent solution for homelessness? Obviously with a crystal ball, had I anticipated the litigation, I would have worked to place it on the ballot. De Leon noted that the 2016 plan had bipartisan supermajority support in the Legislature, something his new bill also will need to get on the ballot. Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) is a coauthor of the plan. SB 1206 is scheduled for its first hearing in the Legislature on Wednesday. Should De Leons measure be approved, it will join a crowded list of housing issues before voters in November. Californians will decide on a separate $4-billion bond to help finance new low-income housing and home loans for veterans. De Leon said hes not worried those two measures will compete against each other because voters are aware of the scale of the states housing problems and the proposed homeless housing bond redirects existing dollars instead of raising taxes. Once [voters] know that the impact on their pocketbook is not existent, Im confident that theyll join me and my colleague John Moorlach in support of this measure, De Leon said. Facebook

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California lawmakers say too many former felons are being denied professional licenses By John Myers Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) along with supporters of bills to allow more former felons to receive professional licenses. (John Myers/Los Angeles Times) A trio of California Assembly members urged colleagues on Monday to pass legislation that would prohibit state commissions and agencies from rejecting a professional license for those who were once convicted of less serious crimes. We cant say we want to rehabilitate people, and then block them from getting the jobs that they need when theyre released, said Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco). That leads to more recidivism and to more crime. The bills, scheduled to be heard in Assembly committees Tuesday, would ban the use of arrest or conviction records as the reason for denying a professional license. The bill would not apply to Californians who served time for any of the offenses on the states list of violent crimes. The authors, all Democrats, said that a government-issued professional license is required for some 30% of all jobs in the state. Their bills would change the licensing process at the California departments of Consumer Affairs and Social Services and agencies that certify emergency medical technicians. The bills would block prior convictions from leading to the delay or denial of a license unless that crime is directly related to the profession the person intends to pursue. Two of the bills also specifically say convictions less than 5 years old could continue to play a role in licensing decisions. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that keeps private sector employers from inquiring about a job applicants conviction history prior to an offer of employment. Advocates joined the lawmakers at a press conference in Sacramento to point out that limits on awarding licenses should focus only on those whose prior criminal activity could pose a threat to consumers. Continuing to hold people back for crimes that are 6, 7, 8, 10, 20 years old does not actually make sense if youre looking at public safety, said Jael Myrick of the East Bay Community Law Center. One of the proposals, Assembly Bill 2293, seeks to make it easier for ex-felons to get a license allowing a job with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection  the same agency that often uses prison inmates to battle blazes around the state. If a person is good enough to risk their life fighting fires for the state of California as an inmate, said Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Grand Terrace), their previous actions should not prevent from having a job utilizing the skill set that they learned. Facebook

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Assembly speaker rebukes building trades union after it targets Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia By John Myers ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) The decision by a politically powerful labor group to openly campaign against an embattled Los Angeles-area lawmaker drew a sharp rebuke on Friday from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. The Lakewood Democrat lashed out hours after the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California filed paperwork for a political action committee to defeat Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). Garcia, whos seeking her fourth term, took an unpaid leave of absence in February following allegations of sexual misconduct. She has denied the reports and an Assembly investigation remains underway. Rendon didnt criticize the labor group by name, insisting instead that the decision was driven by oil and gas industry interests. This is a thinly veiled attempt by Big Oil and polluters to intimidate me and my members. It is an affront to my speakership, Rendon said in a statement. We are proud of the work that the Assembly has done to increase jobs and wages while defending our environment. We will vigorously defend the members of our caucus from any ill-advised political attack. A statement from the labor group, which sparred with Garcia last year on her effort to link new climate change policies with a crackdown on air pollution, said it had decided to reverse past support for her. The Trades have thousands of hard working members in Garcias district, and we look forward to lifting up another Democrat in the 58th Assembly to better represent them and their families, said the statement. The political action committees campaign finance filing on Friday listed nonmonetary in kind contributions from Erin Lehane, a public affairs consultant aligned with the building labor group. Lehane said she had begun researching Garcia in November. In January, a former legislative staffer accused her of groping him in 2014. Lehane, who identified herself as a spokesperson for the labor groups political action committee, said on Friday that she believed Garcias hypocrisy threatened a movement that will dictate how much harassment and abuse my daughter will face in her work life. Garcia, who has been an outspoken advocate for women in the #MeToo movement, has complained that her political opponents helped fan the flames of the accusations. Through a campaign consultant, she declined to comment on Friday. Rendons critique came on the heels of a full-page ad in The Times on Friday, partly paid for by the Trades Council, that criticized well-funded ivory tower elites who push proposals that hurt the oil and gas industry. We are the real jobs that fuel the real California economy, read the advertisement. Facebook

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Legal tiff breaks out over independent committees ad backing Antonio Villaraigosa for governor By Phil Willon An attorney representing Gavin Newsoms campaign for governor is demanding that California television stations cease airing an ad by an independent political committee supporting his Democratic rival Antonio Villaraigosa. Attorney Thomas A. Willis, in a letter to the stations, said the ad is false and misleading and violates California law because it uses snippets of video footage from Villaraigosas own campaign ads. Willis called that illegal coordination between the campaign and PAC. Under California law, advertisements made by entities other than a candidate are presumed to be coordinated  and thus not independent expenditures  when the advertisement replicates, reproduces or disseminates substantial parts of a communication, including video footage, created and paid for by the candidate, the letter states. A representative for the independent expenditure committee  Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor  fired back. Attorney Brian T. Hildreth says those allegations have no merit and accused the Newsom campaign of being misleading. Hildreth sent a letter to the television stations in response, urging them to ignore the Newsom campaigns accusations. He said the Newsom camp appears to intentionally misrepresent the law and that the video use was permissible. He said only six seconds of video from Villaraigosas campaign ads was used, which is well within the legal limits. The independent committee is sponsored by the group California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of states office. The ad is airing on broadcast and cable stations statewide. The committees ad is focused on Villaraigosas record as Assembly speaker and as mayor of Los Angeles when there was a drop in crime. Facebook

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Governors race snapshot: Californians are generally upbeat but not focused on the campaign By Mark Z. Barabak Armand Werden, a 29-year-old community college student who works the taps at Dust Bowl Brewery in Turlock, said the state is on the upswing. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) As California chooses a new governor  one of just a handful in the last 40 years not named Jerry Brown  the state seems to be enjoying something unusual in these tumultuous political times: a feeling of relative contentment. Not to say things are perfect. Still, more than 100 random interviews conducted over the length and breadth of the state  from Redding in the north to Santee in the south, from the Pacific coastline to the edge of the Sierra Nevada  found most saying things are looking up, at least so far as Californias direction is concerned. Read More Facebook

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Sierra Club backs Gavin Newsom for California governor By Phil Willon Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with members of the public following a debate at USC in January. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The Sierra Club endorsed Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in the race for California governor, with officials in the established environmental group praising the Democrats record on climate change and clean energy. He has a proven record for leading on environmental protection, public health and clean energy, Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, said in a statement released by the Newsom campaign. He understands that we are feeling the effects of climate change and that California must reduce carbon emissions and reach 100% renewable energy to achieve our climate goals. Phillips said the Sierra Clubs extensive network of volunteers will campaign for Newsom as the June 5 primary approaches. Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also praised the Democrat, saying he will protect California from Donald Trumps attacks on our clean air and water. The Sierra Club joins a series of other influential groups in California that have backed Newsom. The California Medical Assn., the powerful state doctors lobby, announced its endorsement of Newsom on Thursday. The California Nurses Assn. and the Service Employees International Union, one of the most powerful labor unions in the state, also support Newsom. Newsom is the races front-runner in polls and fundraising. A poll released earlier this month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 26% of likely voters backed Newsom. John Cox, a Republican from Rancho Santa Fe, was favored by 15% of likely voters and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, by 13%. Facebook

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Californias GOP House members are taking their challengers more seriously and the numbers show it By Christine Mai-Duc For much of last year, consultants and campaign managers for some of Californias most vulnerable Republican incumbents maintained a bullish tone on the prospect that the GOP would hold the House in this years midterms. The National Republican Congressional Committee insisted that longtime Republican incumbents in California had built up reputations as effective champions of local issues that would help them weather a flood of Democratic enthusiasm. Since then Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) have decided not to seek reelection and the NRCC has opened a West Coast headquarters in Orange County. Read More Facebook

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California officials say Pentagon has confirmed National Guard funding despite Trump threat By John Myers (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The awkward dance between Gov. Jerry Brown and the federal government over the National Guard jerked back toward discord on Thursday, when Trump said he would refuse to pay for a new deployment of troops  just hours after his administration said otherwise. And a few hours later, California officials said they had received written confirmation from the Pentagon that the mission would indeed be funded. Trump had earlier called Browns decision to approve 400 troops for a mission focused on combating transnational crime and drug smuggling a charade in a tweet. We need border security and action, not words! the president wrote. Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy up to 400 National Guard Troops to do nothing. The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Browns charade. We need border security and action, not words!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2018 A spokesman for Brown pointed to a tweet written Wednesday night by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, thanking the California governor for his efforts. Trump was meeting on Thursday with Nielsen at his Mar-a-Lago estate not long after his tweet was posted. A tweet later posted by the California National Guard said that almost three hours after Trumps comment, the state received written confirmation from the Pentagon to fund the mission as outlined by Brown the day before. In short, nothing has changed today, said a subsequent Guard tweet. Just spoke w @JerryBrownGov about deploying the @USNationalGuard in California. Final details are being worked out but we are looking forward to the support. Thank you Gov Brown!  Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (@SecNielsen) April 19, 2018 Brown was the last of the nations border governors to respond to Trumps insistence earlier this month that National Guard troops were needed to assist with immigration-related duties at the U.S.-Mexico border. And he has consistently refused to allow California troops to engage in any mission related to federal immigration law. This will not be a mission to build a new wall, Brown wrote last week to Nielsen and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life. Exactly what the California operations will cost remains unclear, as state officials have said it will depend on decisions made once the mission begins. The funds would not be transferred to the state, but instead would be paid directly by the Department of Defense. Trump has critiqued California several times over the past few days, often writing tweets that embrace the actions by some cities and counties to join his administrations lawsuit against the states sanctuary immigration law. He made similar comments to reporters on Thursday afternoon. If you look at whats happening in California with sanctuary cities  people are really going the opposite way, Trump said. They dont want sanctuary cities. Theres a little bit of a revolution going on in California. 2:26 p.m.:This article was updated with additional information from the California National Guard and with remarks from Trump. This article was originally published at 9:51 a.m. Facebook

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Gay conversion therapy services would be banned under measure advancing in California By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The California Assembly voted Thursday to add gay conversion therapy to the states list of deceptive business practices, following a debate that focused on the personal experiences of several lawmakers and hinted at potential lawsuits to come. It is harmful and it is unnecessary, Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the bills author and one of the Legislatures most vocal LGBTQ members, said of the practice. Low, who told Assembly members that he explored conversion therapy as a teenager and suffered depression over his sexual orientation, insisted that the bill would be limited to efforts that involve the exchange of money. Theres nothing wrong with me, he said in an emotional speech on the Assembly floor. Theres nothing that needs to be changed. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, has become the focal point of intense debate on social media. Some religious groups have said that such a law would be a violation of their constitutional rights, while advocates insist the provisions are narrow and theres no credible evidence that the services work. One key part of the debate centers on whether Assembly Bill 2943 would stretch beyond businesses that charge for these programs and extend to printed documents, even Bibles. An analysis by the Assembly Judiciary Committee says the bill would apply only to services that purport to change a persons sexual orientation and offered on a commercial basis, as well as the advertising and offering of such services. Lawmakers who spoke in support of AB 2943 also made clear that they believe those kinds of services have been discredited. This is fraudulent, it should not be occurring, said Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton). But you can still try to pray the gay away, if you like. Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who said the bill addresses a difficult issue, nonetheless said that its important to ensure laws dont tamper with religious freedom. We have to think about the legitimate experience of people who have gone through conversion therapy and said this was a good thing for them, Gallagher told his colleagues. California law already bans the use of conversion therapy by mental health professionals on those under age 18. Lows bill would expand the states efforts beyond minors. It would join a list of commercial activities deemed unfair or deceptive acts or practices and therefore banned under state law. Facebook

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Gavin Newsom gets backing from doctors group, despite differences over single-payer healthcare By Melanie Mason Gavin Newsom speaks at the California Democrats State Convention in San Diego on Feb. 24. (Kent Nishimura) Californias doctors are siding with Gavin Newsom in the governors race, even though they dont see eye-to-eye on a defining issue of the campaign: single-payer healthcare. The California Medical Assn., the state doctors lobby and a political heavyweight, announced its endorsement of the lieutenant governor on Thursday. Gavin is a lifelong champion for health care in California, and we know he will continue to fight for pragmatic solutions to our most crucial health care challenges, including working to achieve universal access and tackling our states physician shortage, CMA President Theodore M. Mazer said in a statement. Newsom has made his support for state-financed healthcare a centerpiece of his campaign, and he earned the early backing of the most ardent single-payer supporters, the state nurses union. The doctors, meanwhile, oppose the nurses bill, SB 562, which emerged as a flashpoint in the healthcare debate last year. The CMA said the bill would dismantle the healthcare marketplace and destabilize Californias economy. Newsom has said SB 562 should advance in the Legislature, but also said it has open-ended issues that still need to be addressed. The doctors group is also battling with another prominent Newsom endorser, the Service Employees International Union, over a new measure that would impose price caps on an array of medical services paid for by commercial health insurers in the state. The SEIU is a leading sponsor of the proposal; the doctors fiercely oppose it. Newsom and the physicians group have a history of political alignment. Newsom was the first statewide official to support Proposition 56, a 2016 tobacco tax pushed by the CMA that raised revenue in part to increase money for doctors who saw Medi-Cal patients. That year, the association also endorsed two initiatives championed by Newsom: Proposition 63, which imposed new gun control measures, and Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana. Facebook

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Independent committee backing Antonio Villaraigosa for governor hits the airwaves with first ad By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at the 2018 California Democratic Party Convention in San Diego in February.. (Denis Poroy / Associated Press) A well-financed independent committee backing Antonio Villaraigosas bid to be Californias next governor released its first television ad Thursday, praising his record for working with Republicans and as a candidate for all of California. The ad, which is to air statewide on broadcast and cable stations, is focused on Villaraigosas record as Assembly speaker and mayor of Los Angeles, including on education and a drop in crime while he was at City Hall. To move California forward, we need to help more Californians get ahead, the ad says. Thats why Antonio Villaraigosa brought both parties together to balance the state budget with record investments in public schools and new career training programs. The independent expenditure committee behind the ad campaign, Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, is sponsored by the California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of states office. The committee is spending seven figures per week on the ad buy, said Josh Pulliam, a political consultant for the committee. As mayor of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa clashed with teachers unions, starting with his failed attempt to take political control of the Los Angeles Unified School District. His fight with those unions continued after he left office in 2013. Money has poured into the committee this month from wealthy charter schools supporters: Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, donated $7 million, and Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Eli Broad donated $1.5 million. On Wednesday, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan donated $1 million. The independent expenditure committee is expected to provide a boost to Villaraigosas campaign. Democratic front-runner Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a major advantage in fundraising over all other candidates in the race and has received the backing of the California Teachers Assn. and other education unions. A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll also showed Villaraigosa lagging in third place in the race, trailing Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox. The candidates who finish in the top two in the June 5 primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of their party affiliation. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown says Trump administration will fund his National Guard mission  without immigration duties By John Myers (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown formally mobilized 400 California National Guard members Wednesday for transnational crime-fighting duties, thus preventing any effort by President Trump to have the troops focus on immigration enforcement on the Mexican border. The governor announced that federal officials have agreed to fund the plan he announced last week  a mission to combat criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers in locations around California, including near the border. The order Brown signed makes clear that the troops will not be allowed to perform a broader set of duties as envisioned by Trumps recent comments. California National Guard service members shall not engage in any direct law enforcement role nor enforce immigration laws, arrest people for immigration law violations, guard people taken into custody for alleged immigration violations, or support immigration law enforcement activities, the order read. The cost of the mission, a spokesman for Brown said, will be paid directly by the federal government. No initial estimate has been made, as the exact amount will depend on exactly how the troops will be used. Though the duties of California Guard members were outlined last week, the state had been waiting for an agreement by federal officials to pay for the operations. Since that time, the president has taken Brown and the state to task over its decision to avoid any immigration-related duties at the border. On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted, Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW! There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018 Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border, Trump tweeted Tuesday. There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Browns announcement. On Tuesday, Brown told reporters in Washington that his plan was consistent with a safer border. That sounds to me like fighting crime, the governor said. Trying to catch some desperate mothers and children, or unaccompanied minors coming from Central America, that sounds like something else. The order Brown issued Wednesday after returning from a brief trip to talk climate change in Toronto and to speak to a national trade union and visit with reporters in Washington is set to expire at the end of September. It specifically says no Guard service member may participate in a mission that would exceed the mission scope and limitations related to transnational crime activity. It also says troops cannot help build any new border barrier. 5:27 p.m.: This article was updated with information related to the cost of the Guard mission and Browns trip to Washington. This article was originally published at 5:13 p.m. Facebook

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California bill aims to end practice that keeps workplace misconduct cases out of court By Melanie Mason A California bill would prohibit employers from requiring workers to use private arbitration to settle disputes, a practice that critics say shields improper workplace conduct from public view. The bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) would bar businesses from making employees, when they are hired, waive their future rights to take any harassment, discrimination or other claims to court. Arbitration can be a highly effective dispute resolution method when both parties can choose it freely, when both parties are equal, Gonzalez Fletcher said at a news conference on Wednesday. It is far less successful when the more powerful party forces the other to accept those terms, especially as a condition of employment. Forced arbitration has come under increasing scrutiny since the #MeToo movement, with high-profile figures such as former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson pointing to the practice as shielding workplace abusers from public disclosure because arbitration resolutions often include nondisclosure agreements. Last year, a bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress to end mandatory arbitration in employment agreements. Gonzalez Fletcher said she was pursuing an unusual tool to draw attention to the issue  a subpoena issued by the Legislature to compel testimony from a worker bound by a nondisclosure agreement as a result of arbitration. The Legislature has subpoena power but it is rarely used. The bills sponsors believe lawmakers last issued a subpoena in 2001 while investigating price manipulation by Enron. Gonzalez Fletcher said she has requested Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) to issue the subpoena to require Tara Zoumer, who sued the company WeWork in 2016 for overtime pay, to testify before the Assembly Judiciary Committee next week. Zoumers suit was moved to arbitration and resolved. She is now subject to a nondisclosure agreement and could face a financial penalty for speaking publicly about her case. A spokesman for Rendon said the subpoena request is under consideration. Business groups oppose the bill, AB 3080. The California Chamber of Commerce has dubbed it a job biller, claiming it would dramatically increase legal costs for businesses. Banning such agreements benefits the trial attorneys, not the employer or employee, the group said. The bill must first advance from the Assembly Labor Committee on Wednesday. Facebook

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At least 240 House lawmakers want a vote on immigration. California supporters say they arent ready to force one By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock), flanked by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) speak about DACA legislation (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Rep. Jeff Denham says at least 240 of the 430 current House members have signed onto his resolution to hold votes on four immigration bills, and he hopes House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and President Trump are paying attention to the show of support. But, the Republican from Turlock and his allies said Wednesday that they are not yet willing to commit to forcing Ryans hand through a little-used procedural move called a discharge petition; they acknowledged theres no guarantee that all of 47 Republicans and 193 Democrats House co-signers will back them up if they try to force the issue. Im sure that it is something that will be discussed in the coming weeks. You should not need a discharge petition. When you can show the overwhelming majority of the House, the support of it, you should not need a discharge petition, but it is something we would talk about in the future, Denham said. It is far too early to talk about next steps. Ryan said last week that he opposes Denhams effort, saying its a waste of time for the House to vote on bills the president might veto. Denhams resolution would prompt debate and votes on four very different immigration bills: one favored by the Trump administration, one preferred by Democrats, one bipartisan proposal and another immigration bill of Ryans choice. Whichever got the most votes would move forward to the Senate. All four bills would help Dreamers to differing degrees and include varying levels of border security or immigration enforcement. For example, the Trump-backed bill would also dramatically reduce legal immigration, while the Democrats would only deal with legal status for Dreamers. Democrats say they dont expect the show of support will sway Ryan. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said Tuesday night she expects Ryan will have to be forced into allowing a vote. It doesnt matter how many signatures we get. We could have every signature, technically, except his, on the floor of the House and... if he doesnt want to, it doesnt happen, Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), who gathered the Democratic co-sponsors for Denham, also wouldnt give a deadline for House leaders to act, but said the co-sponsors are only willing to wait weeks not months. We do want to give them an opportunity to bring up the rule and to use whatever process they want, Aguilar said. They do have options, but I think they need to understand that we have options too. Facebook

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Billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer endorses Kevin de Leon in his insurgent bid against Sen. Dianne Feinstein By Seema Mehta Tom Steyer, left, and California state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). (Getty Images; Los Angeles Times) Billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer is endorsing state Sen. Kevin de Leon in his insurgent challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and did not rule out funding an outside effort to boost De Leons chances. I think hes the kind of young progressive that reflects California and would be a very strong advocate for our state nationally, Steyer said in an interview on Tuesday, pointing to De Leons efforts on issues such as immigration, climate change and gun control while he was the state Senate leader. I know him well and hes a friend. We share a lot of values. Steyer, who flirted with running for the Senate seat, did not criticize Feinstein as he has in the past. Sen. Feinstein has been an outstanding public servant who has dedicated the bulk of her adult life to the service of our state and the country, he said. These are two strong, very good Democrats. I just believe Kevin is the true progressive and he reflects something we need representing California going forward. I have nothing bad to say about Dianne Feinstein. I have a lot of good to say about Kevin de Leon. De Leon faces enormous odds as he tries to oust Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for a quarter-century, is well known to the states voters and has daunting leads in polls and fundraising. But De Leon has gained notable endorsements, most recently from the 2.1-million-member California Labor Federation last week. Campaign finance reports released this week show that Feinstein has more than $10 million in the bank, while De Leon has just more than $670,000. Feinstein, a multimillionaire and one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, has already lent her campaign $5 million and could easily write another check. But Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager, could write a larger one. He is among the largest Democratic donors in the nation and has already committed more than $50 million to push for the impeachment of President Trump and to register young voters. He was noncommittal when asked if he would fund an independent expenditure group on behalf of De Leon. I dont have any concrete plans for that, he said. Read More Facebook

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Californias largest pension fund sends next years invoice to state government: $6.3 billion By John Myers The California Public Employees Retirement System building (Max Whittaker / Getty Images) As part of a shift toward less optimistic expectations for investment returns to pay for government worker pensions, board members of the California Public Employees Retirement System voted Tuesday to require an almost $6.3-billion payment from the state budget in the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The action, which could receive final approval on Wednesday, reflects a gradually higher annual contribution to public employee pensions by the state and from local governments across California. In 2016, CalPERS approved a half-percentage point decrease in its official estimate of the long-term investment return on its $353.3-billion portfolio. That shift was designed to happen over several years, in hopes it would lessen the financial shock of shifting more of the costs onto government employers. The highest costs are also, in part, a reflection of increases in the size of the states payroll. The states CalPERS payment will be about $450 million more than the total paid in the current fiscal year and more than double what it was only a decade ago. CalPERS board members voted on Tuesdays staff proposal with little discussion, save for a question about the increase in contributions also required from workers hired after a pension overhaul that took effect in June. It seems like it will be a ding on peoples salaries, said Theresa Taylor, the chairwoman of CalPERS finance committee and a member of SEIU Local 1000, the union that represents some 96,000 state employees. The $6.299-billion payment required from Californias state government must now be factored into the budget crafted by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in late June. Brown had already assumed a similarly sized payment in his budget proposal unveiled in January. In February, a coalition representing city governments warned about the effects of rising pension costs under the expectations of less money from Wall Street investments. The report issued by the League of California Cities projected an average increase of more than 50% in annual pension payments made by the states largest cities over the next seven years. A CalPERS staff report notes that the net return on all of the funds investments for the fiscal year that ended in July was 11.2%. But expectations on profits over the next 30 years remain significantly more modest, and theres long been a robust debate about how to properly set those future expectations. The lower the rate of projected investment return, the larger the share of pension costs that must be covered by taxpayers and some employees. Overall, CalPERS officials believe the system has assets to cover 71% of its long-term obligations. Facebook

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California warns legal pot sellers not to participate in unlicensed 4/20 events By Patrick McGreevy Marijuana on display at a dispensary in Los Angeles. ( (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)) The state issued a warning Tuesday that businesses holding licenses to sell marijuana could face penalties if they participate in unlicensed temporary events away from their stores, including on Friday, April 20, which has become an annual celebration for counterculture groups. The warning was issued ahead of 4/20 by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control. Since Jan. 1, the bureau has issued more than 700 state licenses to sell marijuana for medical or recreational use. The bureau has issued 47 temporary event licenses to groups that are limited to holding the marijuana celebrations on county fairgrounds that have authorized such events with city approval. Any bureau licensee participating in an unlicensed cannabis event may be subject to disciplinary action, the warning said, adding that lawful participation by bureau licensees in any temporary cannabis event that allows sales and/or consumption is dependent upon issuance of the appropriate licenses from the bureau. While many Californians have been issued medical approval to sell or use marijuana, the law does not allow them to participate in unlicensed events, also referred to as Proposition 215 events after the ballot measure that legalized medical pot two decades ago in the state. Participation in such events may lead to civil penalties for unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, the warning said. Meanwhile, a survey of some 1,000 marijuana users that was released Tuesday by the firm LendEDU found that the average 4/20 participant plans to spend $71 on marijuana to celebrate the unofficial holiday, and about 35% of respondents are planning to take off work Friday. Facebook

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California police groups shift position on officer discipline records, now consider support for making some of them public By Liam Dillon Los Angeles Police Department recruits at a graduation ceremony in April (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Some major law enforcement groups signaled Tuesday they are willing to support making part of police officer disciplinary records public, a dramatic departure from their past positions. Local and national attention on police shootings and misconduct has led law enforcement organizations to reconsider their blanket opposition to proposals that would give public access to some internal disciplinary investigations of officers. Were going to be open to supporting efforts that would allow for some records to be released, said Ryan Sherman, a lobbyist with the Riverside Sheriffs Assn. Debate over secrecy provisions in officer disciplinary files came during a legislative hearing on Senate Bill 1421 from Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). Skinners bill, which advanced out of the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, would require public disclosure of all internal officer shooting investigations and confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. Currently, all police discipline information is confidential outside of a courtroom in California, which has some of the nations strictest standards against public disclosure. Unfortunately, the fact that we have such strict restrictions on any access to public records has affected certain communities trust towards our law enforcement, Skinner said during the hearing. Prior to Skinners effort, other have tried to loosen these rules, some of which date back 40 years. Most recently in 2016, a bid by then-Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) failed in a Senate committee. In debate two years ago, no major law enforcement groups indicated they would accept changes to state laws that would make individual internal investigations public, saying they were essential to protect officer privacy and safety. But Tuesday, Sherman and other lobbyists including those representing the states largest police labor organization, signaled they might be willing to entertain changes. They said they were negotiating with Skinner on the bills details. Law enforcement groups still have major concerns about SB 1421 as written. Ed Fishman, an attorney for the Police Officers Research Assn., told legislators that the bill would wrongfully expose police officers who acted within departmental policy to invasions of their privacy. It has unintended consequences that are extreme and will hurt the public, Fishman said. Tuesdays hearing featured testimony from many who have had relatives killed by police officers in recent years advocating for the bill. Senators on the Public Safety Committee also gave public rebukes to law enforcement lobbyists, criticizing them for a lack of diversity and insensitivity to concerns raised by communities of color. I think that you are completely and utterly out of touch with the realities of how those you are representing are perceived by major segments of California, said Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles). You are not going to be able to continue to lobby your way out of it. The bill faces at least one more committee hearing in the Senate before reaching the floor. It will have to pass both houses of the Legislature by the end of August. Facebook

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Newest member of the California Assembly arrives ready to work on criminal justice issues By John Myers Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove prepares for the oath of office from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon with her husband, Austin Dove. (California Assembly Democrats) Two weeks after winning a Los Angeles special election, the newest member of the California Assembly says she hopes to focus on reforms to the states criminal justice system during her time in Sacramento. Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) took the oath of office on Monday, filling one of three vacant seats representing Los Angeles County in the lower house. The Democrat, a former community college trustee and legislative staffer, thanked her mentors in remarks from the Assembly rostrum. So many women, and in my life so many black women, have paid in giving me the kind of morals and integrity and grit that is required to fight on behalf of people that you know, and people that you dont know, she said. Kamlager-Dove won handily on April 3, receiving 70% of the votes cast in the 54th Assembly District which encompasses communities west of downtown Los Angeles, from Crenshaw to Culver City and as far north as Westwood. She will serve the remaining eight months of the term of former Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, who resigned last year citing health concerns. She has said she hopes to focus her attention on poverty issues and on reform of the states criminal justice system. I think we have an opportunity to really push the needle in terms of how we look at rehabilitation, how we look at incarceration, and how we look at changing the lives oftentimes of poor men and women of color, Kamalager-Dove said on Monday in a video released by Assembly Democrats. Facebook

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Survivors of violent crime raise their voices in California to call for a new approach to criminal justice By Jazmine Ulloa Aaliyah Smith marches with her cousins. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Her father, uncle, a cousin and two older brothers. Those are some of the family members 16-year-old Aaliyah Smith has lost to gun violence. Then there are her friends. Jermaine Jackson Jr., 27, was shot and killed in 2016 while he painted over graffiti in San Francisco. Toriano Tito Adger, 18, was shot there a year later at a bus stop. He called Smith, who was nearby, and warned her to run. She made it inside a library moments before the crack of gunfire. Last week, Smith was among hundreds who gathered in Sacramento for annual National Crime Victims Rights Week events, where calls were issued for a new approach to criminal justice and public safety in California, one that puts survivors at the center of policy. But a debate is brewing over what that entails. Read More Facebook

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California expects $14 billion in tax payments this month By John Myers State workers handle income tax returns at the California Franchise Tax Board offices. (Laura Morton / For The Times) Gov. Jerry Browns proposed state budget is built on what taxpayers might find an audacious assumption: almost $14 billion in tax payments in the month of April, an average of $83 million collected per hour on every business day of the month. Most of that money will come from the taxes Californians pay in advance of Tuesday nights filing deadline for income tax returns. If history is any guide, the rate of payment could quadruple by weeks end. While tax rules have shifted some of the payment schedules to other months, April remains a vitally important month to the fiscal health of state government. The state controllers office reports more than 15% of all personal income tax revenues in 2017 were collected in April. In the recession years of a decade ago, tax revenue predictions were frequently off the mark by hundreds of millions of dollars. The last two state budgets have seen significant windfalls of personal income tax revenue, thanks in part both to an improving economy and to the continuation of a temporary surcharge on the wealthiest taxpayers  extended by voters in 2016. In the budget plan he sent to lawmakers in January, Brown projected a $6.1-billion windfall and proposed using a sizable amount to top off Californias rainy-day fund ahead of schedule. The independent Legislative Analysts Office reports that through the end of last week, the months income tax tally stood at $3 billion, slightly ahead of projections. By the end of the current week, a single days total could be almost that large. Lawmakers began reviewing the governors $190.3-billion spending plan during the winter, but few decisions are made until they get a look at Aprils tax revenues. The governor will release a revised plan based on the new data next month; lawmakers are required to send him a completed budget no later than June 15. Facebook

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Feinstein war chest tops $10 million while Kevin de Leon struggles to keep pace By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Dianne Feinstein widened her already-massive fundraising advantage in the run-up to Junes primary, raising twice as much in the first quarter than her strongest Senate challenger has sitting in the bank. Feinstein raised $1.3 million between January and March, bringing her war chest to just over $10 million as Californias U.S. Senate race begins in earnest, according Federal Election Commission reports. Former state Senate leader Kevin De Leon, the best known of the more than 30 people who will appear with Feinstein on the June primary ballot, raised just $575,991 in that same period, bringing his cash on hand to $672,331, according to his quarterly FEC report. Read More Facebook

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Trump has met his match, says Gov. Jerry Brown in promoting climate action on a quick trip to Canada By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown told a Canadian audience Monday that he believes President Trumps efforts to reverse course on climate change policy are a momentary deviation as others in the United States seek limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Thats very temporary, I can assure you, Brown said at a joint event in Toronto with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The governors quick international trip, announced only late last week, comes as Wynnes Liberal Party faces a stiff challenge in Junes election from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and its leader, Doug Ford. Critics of Wynnes party have called for Ontario to pull out of the Western Climate Initiative, a cooperative agreement between three Canadian provinces and California on efforts to limit greenhouse gases. Brown sought to link the efforts of Canadian conservatives with Republicans in the United States who oppose existing climate change programs. In contrast, he told the audience, several GOP lawmakers voted last summer to renew Californias cap-and-trade program. I would say to the conservatives of Canada, wake up and see what your friends in California are doing, he said. The Democrat took particular notice of Trumps efforts to shift away from climate change policies from the administration of former President Obama, as well as a push by the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel Californias strict limits on automobile emissions. If Trump tries to change that, well have litigation well beyond his term in office, Brown said while also noting Chinese government efforts to produce more low-emissions vehicles. Between California and China, Trump has met his match. What hes saying is not going to happen. Many of the governors remarks, though, were aimed at the tough political situation in which Wynne finds herself with seven weeks to go before Ontarios parliamentary elections. Dangers abound, but success is right in our hands, Brown said. So dont blow it! Facebook

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California voters are getting to know the states attorney general through his aggressive stance challenging Trump By Patrick McGreevy Less than two months from his first statewide election, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has become adept not only at challenging President Trump but at using the bully pulpit of his office to raise his profile with voters. The aggressive effort may help boost the former Los Angeles congressmans chances at winning a full term in office this fall, almost two years after he was appointed to replace Sen. Kamala Harris in 2017. Appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Becerra took office as attorney general four days after Trumps inauguration. Thats afforded him an opportunity to get in front of Californians  and potential voters  on an array of issues including immigration, healthcare and the environment. Read More Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown forms commission for 2020 census outreach By Melanie Mason In an effort to make sure California has a strong showing in the next national census, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday established a state commission to prepare outreach for the decennial count. It is vitally important for California to do everything it can to ensure that every Californian is counted in the upcoming census, Brown said in a prepared statement. The commissions formation comes on the heels of a Trump administration plan to ask about citizenship status as a part of the census. State officials fear that such a question, which has not been asked in a census since 1950, could chill participation among California residents. That could result in the state losing billions of dollars in federal funds and a seat in Congress. The 23-member panel, appointed largely by Brown as well as picks by legislative leaders, comes from private- and public-sector backgrounds, including civil rights groups, religious institutions and educational institutions. Facebook

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Garcetti kicks off Iowa visit with 2020 on his mind and a hardhat on his head LA Mayor - and 2020 prospect - Eric Garcetti makes his Iowa debut at the Carpenters Union Training Center. Fearlessly flaunts the never be photographed in head gear/safety glasses rule. pic.twitter.com/14bUOPXMvF  Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) April 13, 2018 Facebook

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Asm. Rocky Chavez takes the lead in race to replace Issa, while Doug Applegate slips By Joshua Stewart A new poll shows that Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez has taken a clear lead over 15 other candidates running to replace Rep. Darrell Issa in Congress and has overtaken Democrat Doug Applegate, the previous frontrunner. In a SurveyUSA poll by 10News and The San Diego Union-Tribune, Chavez, R-Oceanside, has support of 16 percent of likely voters, putting him ahead of Applegate, a lawyer, who was favored by 12 percent of voters and is in second place. The top two vote-getters in June, regardless of party, will proceed to a November runoff election. Competing with Applegate for the No. 2 spot is Democrat Mike Levin, also a lawyer, with support of 9 percent of voters. Several other candidates were right at his heels. Democratic Businessman Paul Kerr and Board of Equalization Member Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, were tied for fourth at 8 percent each. Read More Facebook

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Pro-Kevin de Leon group launches ad castigating Dianne Feinstein By Seema Mehta A group that is supporting Kevin de Leons bid for the U.S. Senate launched a blistering ad against Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday, questioning her progressive principles and tying her to President Trump. The ad buy from A Progressive California is minuscule  $10,000 to air it in Los Angeles for one day on CNN and MSNBC during programming such as The Rachel Maddow Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews and Anderson Cooper 360. The minute-long ad features news clips about Feinstein not getting the California Democratic Party endorsement earlier this year, as well as footage of Feinstein saying that Trump can be a good president and appearing to share a laugh with Trump. That moment actually came during a White House meeting in the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting when the president suggested an assault weapons ban should be included in a bipartisan bill to expand gun background checks. It also features extensive clips of de Leons speech at the state partys convention. De Leon, who just ended his final term as leader of the state Senate, announced last year he would run against fellow Democrat Feinstein as she seeks her fifth full term. Feinsteins longtime political advisor dismissed the ad, noting the size of the buy. Its not really a buy, said Bill Carrick. Ten thousand dollars in cable in L.A. Poof, its gone. Still, he said he planned to have the campaigns lawyers review the ad to see if it violates campaign law that limits what outside groups like A Progressive California can do. Such groups cannot coordinate with campaigns or candidates, and are limited in how much their messages can support a candidate. Ann Ravel, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said if the ad was in a state race, she is certain that the state commission would open an investigation into potential coordination with de Leons campaign because of the messaging and the types of footage in the ad. But the bipartisan federal commission cant agree on how to enforce the federal regulations, she said. The problem is [outside groups] understand that given the lack of very strong enforcement at the federal level, theres the ability to stretch the law, she said. A spokeswoman for the FEC declined to comment. Dave Jacobson, a spokesman for A Progressive California, disputed the suggestion that the ad violated campaign law. This frivolous allegation shows that Sen. Feinstein is afraid of the public seeing an ad which showcases her own words, that Donald Trump can be a good president, he said. Facebook

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Dispute over money emerges in campaign to repeal Californias gas tax increase By Patrick McGreevy A motorist prepares to gas up her vehicle in San Rafael, Calif., in 2015. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) A proposed initiative to repeal hikes to Californias gas tax has been caught in the middle of a dispute involving Republican rivals in the governors race. Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican candidate for governor, decided in January to drop plans for his own initiative and said he would urge supporters to sign a separate petition being supported by several Republican members of Congress. Then last week, the committee Allen formed to finance his ballot measure reported a $300,000 contribution from PISF Inc., a Novato, Calif., real estate firm. Now, an organizer of the still active Give Voters a Voice committee is urging the Allen committee to immediately donate their funds in support of the ongoing signature gathering efforts. There is only one gas tax repeal measure currently in circulation and that is the measure sponsored by the Give Voters a Voice Committee, said Dave Gilliard, a consultant to the group. PISF Inc., he said, gave to repeal taxes a
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
President Trump reached back to some of his most visceral campaign rhetoric against illegal immigration on Thursday as his administration released new figures showing a surge in March in the number of people caught crossing the border unlawfully.

The new numbers come as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tries to make the case that National Guard troops along the southwest border are needed to contain a crisis, even as longer-term figures show that the number of illegal border crossings remains at the lowest levels since the early 1970s.

The plan to use National Guard units was arranged hastily after Trump  who has been frustrated with his inability to get Congress or Mexico to pay for a border wall  said publicly this week that he wanted to use the military to patrol the border until the wall is built.

(Los Angeles Times )

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(Los Angeles Times )

Immigrant advocates and many Democrats have argued that the emergency is being manufactured to stoke Trumps political base and demonize immigrants.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that he would send between 2,000 and 4,000 troops  a figure higher than the 1,200 deployed by President Obama in 2010 and lower than the 6,000 deployed by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Trump doesnt fully control the numbers, however: Guard units are controlled by their states governors, and none of the four border-state governors have formally committed to specific deployments, in part because the federal government has not yet committed to pay the cost.

At the Pentagon, officials who briefed reporters struggled to answer questions about what the Guard troops would do or whether they would be armed.

Were going to coordinate with Homeland Security officials and the governors, said Dana White, the Pentagons chief spokesperson. They will provide us with the requirements, and then, from that, well determine how many, and whats the mission, and how many well deploy.

Once we know the requirements, this department will move very quickly, added Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr., director of the militarys Joint Staff. We havent been given a timeline.

Asked whether the troops would carry weapons, McKenzie said, Our advice is always that soldiers are able to defend themselves, and they have the right of self-defense. However, were going to be guided by the dialogue thats going on now between DHS and the governors, and then well work that here internally.

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Nielsen told Mexican authorities that the National Guard troops would not be armed or participate in immigration or customs duties, according to a Mexican Foreign Ministry statement released late Wednesday.

Can onetime Trump favorite Scott Pruitt save his job? 

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto planned to deliver a televised speech to an outraged nation Thursday night calling for national unity in the face of offensive and unfounded statements concerning Mexicans.

We will not allow negative rhetoric to define our actions, he planned to say, according to remarks released ahead of time. We will only act in the best interest of Mexicans.

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Pena Nieto was not the only chief executive expressing frustration. Trump went on an extended tangent about immigration during a roundtable in West Virginia that was designed to showcase the Republican tax cut. He railed against illegal border crossers. He complained once again that Californias sanctuary city laws were protecting a lot of really bad people, said that Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf should have been prosecuted for giving public warnings ahead of immigration raids earlier this year, and claimed, inaccurately, that other countries were stocking the visa lottery system with undesirable immigrants.

Trump also highlighted a well-documented problem  migrant women raped while traveling north toward the U.S. border  and seemed to suggest that it proved the accusation he made at the start of his presidential campaign that Mexico was sending rapists across the border into the U.S.

Women are raped at levels that nobodys ever seen before, Trump said Thursday.

He added that MS-13 gang members on New Yorks Long Island were using knives instead of guns to terrorize people because its much more painful, where they cut people up  young girls walking home and their parents never see them again. Theyre cut up.

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This is the kind of stuff and crap that were allowing in our country, he said.

One clue about what may have sparked Trumps recent rhetorical flurry over immigration came as the Border Patrol announced the latest figures on arrests of people illegally crossing the border. Officials arrested 37,393 people in March, a 37% increase from February and more than double the number from March of last year, according to statistics released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security.

The numbers remain quite low by historical standards, and border crossings typically rise in the spring. But the increase marked a reversal of the sharp downward trend in illegal crossings that took hold after Trumps election. The fact that illegal crossings fell last year had been a proud boast for the administration. Overall, illegal border crossings for the last several have been at the lowest levels since the early 1970s.

Nonetheless, administration officials said the sharp increase from the previous month was cause for concern.

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The crisis at our southwest border is real, said Nielsen, once again repeating the administrations pitch to change immigration laws, fund Trumps border wall and gain operational control of the border.

In recent years, most immigrants illegally crossing the border with Mexico have come from violence-wracked Central American countries. They include many families and children who often surrender themselves at the border and are, by law, released from detention while they pursue asylum claims.

In his West Virginia remarks, Trump repeated his claim that almost none of the people released from detention show up for their court hearings. In fact, a large majority of them appear on schedule, according to government figures.

Last month, border agents detained 8,882 asylum seekers in families and 4,171 unaccompanied minors  far more than in March 2017, when families and children together accounted for 2,167 apprehensions. Overall, the increase from the previous month was the greatest since 2011.

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Because so many asylum seekers surrender voluntarily, its not clear how deploying National Guard troops will change the situation.

At the Pentagon, White, the spokesperson, emphasized that the National Guard would be in a support role, assisting the Customs and Border patrol. Planners are looking at sending National Guard units that can assist with aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance, and logistics support, she added.

The officials provided no estimate for when troops will begin flowing to the border.

Although the Guard units will be mobilized by state authorities in each of the border states, it appears that the cost of the operation will be paid out of the federal budget. But White said where the money will come from had not been decided.

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Pentagon officials are also looking at beefing up protection on military installations abutting the border, White said, including an Air Force bombing range in Arizona, where officials are looking at expanding a border fence.

Times staff writers Brian Bennett in Washington and Kate Linthicum and Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington 

noah.bierman@latimes.com

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david.cloud@latimes.com
Newly released records from the California Legislature show seven sexual misconduct investigations prior to 2006 that resulted in some sort of reprimand.

The documents were released Thursday after a request made by the Los Angeles Times in mid-February, part of an ongoing examination of what women have called a pervasive culture of sexual harassment in the legislative workplace. Officials say the records, which detail complaints ranging from lewd remarks to unwelcome physical contact, are the final documents meeting their strict criteria for public disclosure.

Identical letters to The Times from Senate Secretary Daniel Alvarez and Assembly Chief Administrative Officer Debra Gravert said the information released included all such records dated earlier than 2006 that are responsive to your request.

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The Senate records pertained to a total of four complaints of staffers engaging in inappropriate workplace behavior in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996. Officials also provided a copy of the 1998 settlement regarding a complaint against former Sen. Richard Polanco of Los Angeles. That case first surfaced in 2001 when the Democrat abruptly canceled his plans to run for a Los Angeles City Council seat. It involved a former staff member who said she was retaliated against for rejecting his romantic advances.

The Senate ultimately paid a $102,500 settlement to the staff member. Polanco, a leading voice in Latino politics in the 1980s and 90s, served in both houses during a 16-year career in the Legislature. No other lawmakers were named in the records.

Documents show three separate staff-level allegations against one Senate aide between 1992 and 1994. The aide, David Commons, was ultimately fired after what one reprimand letter called his unwelcome physical gestures toward female employees of the Senate. Commons died in 2000.

In the Assembly, officials released documents related to complaints against two staff members. In 2002 a staff member complained about a male colleague for sending an email with strong sexual innuendo. In 2005 there was a complaint made against Josephine Figueroa, who served as chief of staff to former Bay Area Assemblyman Gene Mullin, for inquiries into personal aspects of a subordinate staff members life. Neither investigation resulted in anyone being fired.

That there were only a few substantiated complaints in a period spanning more than two decades might be explained, in part, by years of reluctance on the part of many women to come forward. That has changed in the wake of the #MeToo movement sparked last year by dozens of allegations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

The newly released information is the second batch of documents turned over to The Times detailing specific allegations of inappropriate behavior in the state Capitol. In early February, officials released information on 18 alleged sexual harassment incidents  naming five legislators and 12 senior staff members, with one staff member accused in two separate incidents.

In total, the documents offer the most comprehensive look to date of the last 25 years of the legislative work environment. The information was previously shielded from public view by a 1975 law that gives the Legislature greater discretion over its own records than state agencies and local governments across California. Both houses again invoked that law in Thursdays letters to The Times, saying the records were technically exempt from production but nonetheless being released.

After resignations last year by two members of the Assembly accused of sexual misconduct  Democrats Raul Bocanegra of Pacoima and Matt Dababneh of Woodland Hills  lawmakers were reluctant to release records related to cases in which allegations had been corroborated.

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Requests last fall by The Times for documents were answered only with summary data of recent complaints, 31 legislative investigations since 2006. In December, attorneys for The Times told legislative officials that the newspaper might a pursue a legal challenge to the Legislatures refusal to disclose information. In early January, leaders of both the Senate and Assembly changed course.

Documents released on 18 cases of serious sexual harassment charges in the Legislature 

Even so, the resulting disclosure has been limited. Legislative leaders decided in January to only release records pertaining to accusations against high-level staff members  even though sexual harassment, by the Legislatures own definition, is not limited to persons in a position of power but can happen in any workplace setting. As such, the new documents may again only be a subset of those that exist from the last two decades.

In recent legislative hearings on sexual harassment, top staff members have said records are only kept for a few years  a minimum of six years in the Assembly. That may explain why so few documents were made public, though some of the cases dated much further.

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There are efforts underway to formalize the Legislatures release of substantiated sexual misconduct cases. Last month, legislative officials said they will proactively release documents related to current and future investigations once they are completed. Lawmakers are also in the process of reviewing all internal operations when it comes to sexual harassment, and a Bay Area lawmaker has introduced a bill to make disclosure required under state law.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast
As the fight over Californias immigration policies intensifies, so have the attacks from opponents who argue its landmark sanctuary state law is allowing the release of violent criminals into the streets.

The California Values Act, which was signed into law last year, prevents law enforcement officers in many cases from holding and questioning people at the request of federal immigration agents, and limits them from sharing the release dates of some county jail inmates who are in the country illegally.

The law has set off a tense showdown over public safety. But some officials who oppose it have distorted its scope.

Here is a look at some of those statements.

Thousands of dangerous & violent criminal aliens are released as a result of sanctuary policies, set free to prey on innocent Americans. President Donald Trump in a March 13 tweet

The argument: The Trump administration has challenged Californias so-called sanctuary state law in federal court, alleging it is unconstitutional. State officials argue they can prove it is not, but the case is likely a long ways from being decided.

President Trump at a March news conference in the White House. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

The presidents tweet also misrepresents the state law in claiming it allows the release of violent criminals. The law was the result of months of tough negotiations between Gov. Jerry Brown, state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and law enforcement officials over how to prevent dangerous and violent criminals being set free.

What the law does: It prohibits alerting federal immigration agents of an inmates release from a county jail  unless the information is already available to the public, or if the person has been convicted of any of the 800 offenses outlined in a 2013 state law, the Trust Act.

That list includes serious or violent felonies, arson, registered sex offenses and domestic violence. Many other crimes are on the list, including nonviolent drug charges and wobblers, criminal offenses that can be charged under California law as a felony or misdemeanor. In those cases, cooperation with federal immigration officials is allowed.

The sanctuary law also permits state prison officials to continue working with federal immigration agents on deportations  a key concession Brown demanded  and immigration agents are still allowed to enter county jails to question immigrants.

Trump's immigration war with California has reached a fever pitch 

There is little data available on county jail inmates who are in the country illegally and have been released, and the new law does not require the collection of such data, so theres no clear evidence to back up Trumps assertion.

Orange County Sheriffs Department officials, for example, said the agency released 172 inmates from Jan. 1 to March 19 because the new state law prohibited them from notifying ICE. Some had been charged  but not convicted  with domestic violence, burglary and criminal threats, while others had been convicted of lower-level, nonviolent crimes such as driving under the influence. Officials said it was unclear if they committed other crimes after being released.

California wont let law enforcement officers transfer prisoners to ICE custody or even communicate with ICE that youre about to release them. U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, in a March 7 speech to law enforcement officers in Sacramento

The argument: U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions overstates the limits on law enforcement officers regarding who they can communicate about or transfer to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A federal court ruling four years ago also influenced many cities and counties to stop or lessen their cooperation with ICE in holding and moving inmates to federal immigration detention.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions addresses the California Peace Officers' Association in Sacramento. Rich Pedroncelli / AP

What the law does: Law enforcement officers can respond to requests for information, share release dates for and transfer to ICE inmates convicted of any offenses listed in the Trust Act. Officers also can transfer people to ICE if a judge finds probable cause or issues a warrant.

Californias new sanctuary law is based on the the states response to a 2008 Obama administration policy that allowed ICE to ask local law enforcement to hold immigrants for eventual federal detention.

In September 2014, a federal court held an Oregon county liable for damages after officials detained an inmate past her release date to turn her over to ICE. That prompted hundreds of cities and counties around the country to stop complying with immigration hold requests, and Obama ended the program that year. President Trump reinstated it in 2017.

Despite the severe challenges that SB 54 creates for ICE, we continue to seek cooperation with... [law enforcement so] criminal aliens arent released. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Thomas Homan, in a March 27 statement

The argument: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan exaggerates the challenges California law enforcement agencies face in working with the federal immigration agency. As long as they dont violate existing city or county laws, California officers can continue working with ICE in various ways.

Thomas Homan, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kevin Dietsch/EPA-EFE/REX/S

What the law does: It allows local officers to arrest or charge people for illegal reentry to the U.S. if a person has previously been deported and been convicted of an aggravated felony.

Officers also can provide ICE with information about a persons criminal record. They can ask questions to determine whether that person is eligible for temporary legal status given to victims of human trafficking or violent crime. And they can interview people to determine if they have violated federal laws on the sale of firearms to immigrants without U.S. citizenship.

Law enforcement officials also are able to participate in multi-agency joint task forces responsible for broad investigations, which sometimes include ICE criminal investigators. But their primary goal cannot be to enforce immigration laws, and they have to submit annual reports to the state attorney general on their activities, including on the type and frequency of arrests.

Our inability to relinquish these individuals to the custody of ICE causes them to be returned to the communities which they prey upon. Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes, addressing reporters on March 26

The argument: Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes mischaracterizes the population that officers are prohibited from transferring to ICE, mostly people charged with nonviolent crimes, and has no clear data to support they prey on their communities.

Orange County Undersheriff Don Barnes. Chris Carlson / AP

Californias 58 county sheriffs, most of whom opposed the sanctuary state law, now find themselves on the front lines of implementing it. Some are finding ways to work around it: Last month, the Orange County Sheriff's Department made the release dates of all jail inmates  including those in the country illegally  available online.

Some sheriff officials have argued such moves are necessary to protect residents, and have argued the release of immigrants without legal residency could have an impact on local crime rates.

But national studies do not support the claim, and law enforcement has long been divided over what the sanctuary state laws ultimate effect will be on public safety. Some university police chiefs, for example, supported it from the beginning, saying fear of deportation can keep witnesses and victims of crimes from coming forward.

What statistics show: A 2013 study by the University of Illinois found 44% of Latinos in Los Angeles County, Cook County in Illinois, Harris County in Texas and Maricopa County in Arizona were less likely to contact police if they have been a victim of a crime because they fear police officers will ask about their immigration status.

Meanwhile, immigrants have been found much less likely to commit crime than people born in the United States, according to a 2015 report by the independent National Academy of Sciences. A 2017 study by the Cato Institute, a libertarian research group, found immigrants in the country illegally were 44% less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the U.S.

In a study released late last month, the Marshall Project found crime in the U.S. dropped more often than it rose even as immigrant populations grew. In Oakland, where city leaders have fought Trumps call for deportations, and in Orange County, where county leaders support it, immigration increased while crime fell, the research showed.

Most California sheriffs fiercely opposed the 'sanctuary state' law. Soon they'll have to implement it 

jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com

@jazmineulloa
As President Trump declared last month, hes finally getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want.

The past week demonstrated what that means in practice  a president who has ousted most of the people who would tell him no and who feels freed to make decisions according to his gut, much as he did in business.

The results, now as then, are not always pretty.

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IMPROVISATION ONE  SEND IN THE MILITARY

As is often the case, a tweet captured the dissonance at the heart of Trumps message on immigration.

Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low, he declared Thursday morning on Twitter.

Its hard to turn a 46-year low into an unacceptable crisis, but Trump spent the week doing his best, sending the government scrambling to improvise policies to keep up with his pronouncements.

Illegal crossings  gauged by how many people the Border Patrol apprehends  are at levels lower than any seen since the early 1970s and have been for several years. Trump and his aides have taken great pride that the number plummeted even further after his election.

That picture changed somewhat in March, however, as Noah Bierman, Joe Tanfani and David Cloud reported: The number of people caught crossing the border illegally jumped.

Experts will say that the number typically rises in the spring and that last months figures pretty much followed the normal pattern of recent years. None of that, however, would be likely to satisfy a president who has staked his reputation on controlling the border.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen dutifully declared the one-month increase a sign of a serious threat.

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White House officials havent said exactly when Trump became aware of the new numbers, which the Homeland Security Department publicly released on Thursday. But in a series of tweets that began Sunday and extended through the week, he repeatedly returned to the subject of the border.

Trump began, as Laura King wrote, with an Easter Sunday tirade in which he suggested he would no longer make a deal on DACA, the Obama-era program that shields nearly 700,000 young immigrants from deportation.

As the week went on, he focused on a caravan of people traveling up through Mexico from Central America.

As Kate Linthicum reported from the scene, the caravan, which attracted much attention from Fox News and its loyal viewer in the White House, consisted of about 1,000 bedraggled people, mostly from Honduras, stuck in southern Mexico, more than 1,500 miles from the border, with little prospect of ever reaching the U.S.

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To Trump, however, they posed at least a political threat  hes already been under fire from conservative allies for failing to get Congress to appropriate money to build his much-vaunted border wall.

His response came on Tuesday, when he surprised advisers  and blindsided the Pentagon  by declaring that until we can have a wall and proper security, we are going to be guarding our border with our military. Thats a big step.

Officials spent the next 48 hours frantically improvising  in the end, turning Trumps bold words into much more pallid deeds. They gave the president a proclamation to sign which authorized officials to negotiate with governors over sending National Guard units to the border, much as Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama did in their tenures.

Trumps deployment of the Guard has a couple of commonalities with the decisions by his two predecessors  politics, for one. Sending in the military sounds tough even if it doesnt change much on the ground.

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Under long-standing U.S. law, military personnel are not allowed to apprehend anyone. They provide support to the Border Patrol, which in most cases has meant helping with surveillance. Its a far cry from guarding our border with our military.

As Cathy Decker wrote, Trumps renewed focus on immigration highlights an issue on which both parties think they have a political advantage. Paradoxically, both may be correct, depending on which part of the country one looks at.

The main difference with the Bush- and Obama-era deployments was Trumps total lack of advance planning. Pentagon officials this week could not say how many Guard troops would go to the border, what they would do or even if they would be armed. According to Mexican officials, Nielsen assured them the troops would not be armed.

By Thursday night, none of the governors had yet made any firm commitment, although at least some likely will as soon as Washington commits to pay the full cost.

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IMPROVISATION TWO  TRADE WAR

On Tuesday, following directives Trump issued last month, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer published a lengthy list of some $50 billion in Chinese products on which the U.S. plans to impose a 25% tariff.

China quickly responded with a list of U.S. imports that it would tax, matching the size of the U.S. list.

As Don Lee and Jonathan Kaiman wrote, the question quickly became who would blink first.

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Analysts see two scenarios:

In one, the bluster leads both sides to negotiate a settlement that would avoid a trade war and, perhaps, put some limits on Beijings practice of forcing foreign companies to turn over technology secrets in order to get access to Chinese markets. The tariffs dont actually take effect for months, giving plenty of time for talks.

The more pessimistic scenario is that neither side will be willing to make concessions and that a full-scale trade war will begin to damage the economy.

As the week went along, the administration sent conflicting signals.

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Trumps economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, sought to reassure jittery investors that the tariffs might never take effect, calling the exchange of threats the early stages of a process of negotiations that will end with a pot of gold.

Trump, by contrast, tweeted that the U.S. cant lose a trade war.

Many analysts believe the opposite  that Chinese President Xi Jinping has the stronger hand. Xi doesnt have to worry about running for reelection; Trump needs his help in negotiations over North Korea; and Trumps record so far has indicated that in the interest of declaring a victory, hell sometimes settle for very small concessions.

Perhaps to counter that impression, Trump keeps escalating. Thursday night, he issued a statement telling the trade representative to consider adding an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods to the tariff list.

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WILL KOREA BE IMPROVISATION THREE?

Many foreign policy experts fear Trumps off-the-cuff approach will raise the risk of failure when he meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

As Tracy Wilkinson reported, U.S. officials are urgently starting to plan for a summit meeting thats supposed to take place next month, even though the North Koreans havent officially said theyll take part, and the two sides havent yet set a time or a place.

The fear in U.S. foreign policy circles is that Trump will arrive unprepared and make ill-considered concessions to Kim.

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This is a president who rejects the notion of history, of knowledge, but prefers to rely only on his capacity to feel the moment and use his intuition, said Christopher Hill, a former senior U.S. diplomat who helped lead the last round of nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

That is not a recipe for success.

ANOTHER CABINET MEMBER ON THE BRINK

Few Trump administration officials have carried out Trumps agenda as aggressively as EPA administrator Scott Pruitt.

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The former Oklahoma attorney general has moved to dismantle a wide range of environmental regulations. He has also stepped into a series of ethical swamps that have left him struggling to hold onto his job, Evan Halper reported.

The list of problems includes repeated use of first-class travel (his supporters claim security concerns justify it); a below-market deal to rent a room from the wife of an influential Washington lobbyist; skirting rules to give big raises to favored aides; and shoving aside EPA personnel who raised questions about his expenditures.

As Halper noted, the saga also includes the sort of soap-opera twists that provide a unique odor to Trump-era personnel intrigues:

One of Pruitts longtime top aides, until she resigned last week, was a lawyer named Samantha Dravis. Last year, she dated Rob Porter, who, at the time, held a powerful, if largely anonymous, White House post.

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The two broke up last fall after Porter started a romance with Hope Hicks, Trumps aide and communications director until recently. Dravis then told Don McGahn, the White House counsel, about accusations that Porter had abused his two former wives, Colby Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby.

After those allegations became public, Porter lost his job. But while Porter and Dravis were dating, Porter learned a lot about Pruitt. Reportedly, hes getting revenge by acting as the source for some of the stories disclosing Pruitts alleged misconduct.

A SHIELD FOR OFFICERS

Improper shootings of civilians by police has been a major public concern in recent years, but the Supreme Court has made suing officers in federal court almost impossible.

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This week, over dissents from Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court reinforced the legal barriers to suing officers, David Savage reported.

The legal shield, known as qualified immunity, has gotten increasing criticism not only from the left, but also from some influential libertarian voices on the right. But so far, the majority of the court seems unmoved.

REVIVING A CANARD

Speaking in West Virginia on Thursday, Trump revived his false claim that millions of people voted illegally in California. Its another example of the president feeling increasingly free to say, or do, whatever comes to his mind.

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LOGISTICS

That wraps up this week. My colleague Christina Bellantoni will be back Monday with the weekday edition of Essential Politics. Until then, keep track of all the developments in national politics and the Trump administration with our Essential Washington blog, at our Politics page and on Twitter @latimespolitics.

Send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

If you like this newsletter, tell your friends to sign up.

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David.lauter@latimes.com

@davidlauter
Despite years of effort, researchers have so far failed to find a pill you could take or a food you could eat to harden your brain against the injury that could be caused by a stroke.

But new research offers the prospect of limiting a strokes long-term damage in a different way: with a drug that enhances the brains ability to rewire itself and promote recovery in the weeks and months after injury.

In experiments, both mice and macaque monkeys that suffered strokes regained more movement and dexterity when their rehabilitative regimen included an experimental medication called edonerpic maleate.

The drug, which has already run a gauntlet of safety trials as a possible medication for Alzheimers disease, appears to have enhanced the effectiveness of rehab by strengthening the connections between brain cells and nourishing the chemical soup in which those cells forge those new connections.

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A report on the experiments appears in Fridays edition of the journal Science. The work was conducted by researchers at Yokohama City University School of Medicine and employees of Toyama Chemical Co., Ltd., a Japanese pharmaceutical firm that owns intellectual property rights to edonerpic maleate. Toyama provided funding for Yokohama City University to study the drug in macaque monkeys.

The findings from the mice shed important light on how edonerpic maleate may work in an injured brain.

But many experimental drugs have been effective in improving mobility in mice after a stroke, yet failed to work as well in primates. The fact that this one also improved movement in stroke-affected monkeys is evidence that it may be a strong candidate to help humans recover from a stroke, and possibly traumatic brain injury as well, the researchers said.

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked or ruptured, depriving a portion of the brain of oxygen and causing the death of affected brain cells. Even after oxygen is restored, permanent damage usually remains, often involving the loss of mobility and dexterity.

The most common kind of stroke is an ischemic stroke, in which blood flow is compressed or cut off by a clot or other blockage. In a hemorrhagic stroke  the kind the studys authors induced in monkeys  bleeding into the brain shuts off oxygen to cells and causes them to die.

For the 800,000 patients who have a stroke and the 1.7 million who suffer a traumatic brain injury each year in the United States, recovery can be arduous, miraculous and uncertain.

But neurologists and rehabilitation specialists have discerned a common pattern in most patients trajectory of recovery. Patients typically take back much of the lost speech, movement and intellectual function they will regain in the first weeks and months after their injury, even though brain cells that have died are gone forever.

On their own and in response to rehabilitation, a patients surviving brain cells will work overtime to devise work-arounds. Theyll lash themselves together to create new pathways for electrical signals, and a patient will often regain many lost skills. This ability of the brain to rewire itself is called plasticity, and the better it works, the more function can be regained.

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At a certain point, however, recovery will begin to plateau. Any motor, speech and intellectual skills that have been lost may stay lost.

Scientists have spent years looking for neuroprotective agents that can buffer the brain against the initial whack of a stroke, but theyve had little success. Thats why a therapy that turbocharges this process of building back neuroplasticity after a stroke could be uniquely welcome.

 Another example of how an experimental drug callededonerpic maleate aided the recovery of macaques after a stroke. (Credit: H. Abe et al., Science, 2018)

The Japanese researchers tested edonerpic maleate by inducing hemorrhagic strokes in six macaques. One to two weeks later, the monkeys had recovered enough mobility to begin a series of exercises designed to mimic the rigors of stroke rehabilitation.

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At this point, three of the monkeys were administered the drug 15 minutes before their therapeutic sessions. Compared to three monkeys that didnt get the drug, the ones that did experienced a greater degree of functional recovery.

For instance, they performed better in reward-retrieval exercises that required greater coordination of their arms and fine-motor function. And while the monkeys in the control group rarely recovered their ability to use a precision grip to grasp treats, the treated monkeys frequently showed dexterous hand movements, the researchers reported.

UCLA neurologist Jason D. Hinman, who did not work on the new research, welcomed the results. He said edonerpic maleate is one of many therapies being tested to augment the effects of post-stroke rehabilitative therapy.

Other approaches include the use of robotics and other types of brain-machine interfaces to restore the flow of messages to a patients limbs; encouraging stem cells to grow new connections between surviving neurons; and a range of medications. In mice, the Alzheimers disease drug memantine (marketed as Namenda) has shown promise.

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Whats interesting about this approach is that, while theres some spontaneous recovery of function, its meant to be activated by rehabilitative therapy, Hinman said. If you just sit on the couch, you dont get the benefit.

With a drug that makes cells in an injured brain more active, Hinman cautioned, a runaway electrical event  in other words, a seizure  is one obvious safety concern.

Early research on endonerpic maleate had suggested it might protect neurons against the toxic build-up of the protein beta-amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimers disease. Two rounds of clinical trials bolstered its safety record in humans.

Only after that, in July 2017, did Toyama Chemicals parent company, Fujifilm Corp., announce that the drug had failed to help patients with mild- to moderate Alzheimers.

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Its side effects included diarrhea, nausea, dizziness and headache, and it may have caused two serious adverse events in human trials, researchers reported at the time.

Many stroke patients either dont get the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (or tPA), which can lessen the impact of strokes, or they dont get to a hospital quickly enough for tPA to be tried.

Often debilitated by impairments, these patients are desperate for new treatments, so many would accept those risks, Hinman said.

To read this article in Spanish, click here

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melissa.healy@latimes.com

@LATMelissaHealy

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Burbank police are investigating a possible hate crime after an apartment building was vandalized with a swastika and several derogatory messages late last month.

The incident occurred sometime between March 19 and 20 in the 200 block of South Buena Vista Street. Sgt. Derek Green, a spokesman with the Burbank Police Department, said residents of the building found their garage doors had been vandalized with black spray paint.

Among the graffiti was a swastika symbol, a derogatory term towards the elderly and a derogatory term towards homosexuals, he said.

The buildings residents told police the graffiti was directed toward them specifically.

A separate incident also occurred the same day, when a man in the 100 block of South Parish Place found his car covered in profanities written with black spray paint. Because spray paint was used in both cases, Green said theres a chance theyre connected.

Just based on the circumstances they could very well be related, but we dont know definitively, he said.

And, several days later, a swastika was also scrawled on a sign displayed outside a home in the 900 block of North Keystone Street. Green said that incident occurred sometime between March 23 and 26.

The homeowner allowed signs from the recent March for Our Lives gun reform rally to be displayed on a fence and they were soon defaced sometime after. The sign with the swastika also had No Blacks written on it, according to Green.

He said the homeowner is neither Jewish nor black.

Other signs were modified with messages that disparaged their original meanings.

Green said its unknown if this incident is related to the other two and they all remain under investigation.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
Arthur Mitchell was on his way to an airport when he heard that Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.

Mitchell, the first African American principal dancer in a major ballet company, was headed out of the country to establish the National Ballet of Brazil  a task given to him by the United States government.

Mitchell changed course upon hearing the news.

With Kings death a renewed vigor arose in Mitchell, who now sought to affect his own community the way the great civil rights activist did.

His childhood neighborhood of Harlem, with derelict homes slowly disintegrating and aimless youths wandering into hopeless futures, seemed the perfect place to make an impact.

Mitchell started the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969.

The idea was to train kids in classical ballet because you learn focus, discipline and perseverance, said Virginia Johnson, artistic director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem. He wasnt thinking about making ballet dancers  he just wanted to give these kids the tools to step out of the cycle of poverty.

In 1970, Mitchell opened a Dance Theatre of Harlem company to perform on tour.

The Irvine Barclay Theatre will host the group on April 18.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem is a wonderful company that represents diversity and the African American community, said Jerry Mandel, president of the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Orange County is not the most diverse place and its good to expose people to that.

Arthur Mitchell (left), founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, in 2004. The Dance Theatre of Harlem will be performing on April 18 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. (File photo / Los Angeles Times )

Johnson said the theatre is considered the first racially-mixed ballet company.

When it started there were 400 students. It currently has about 500 students, but vacillates between a few hundred and 1,500, Johnson said. The Harlem dance theatre consists of three limbs: the school, arts education programs and the dance company.

At the time, ballet was considered an exclusive art form that only white people could practice.

By creating the theater, Mitchell was saying that ballet belongs to everyone, Johnson said.

There were few black ballet dancers in America at the time. Those with any talent usually went to Europe to pursue their careers because American ballet companies werent hiring black dancers.

Johnson faced the rampant racism firsthand.

She was 18 when she came to New York after having studied ballet most of her life. Yet, she was told that she couldnt make it in the art form because of her skin color.

She joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969 with 13 other dancers.

We had all been told that we cant do ballet, Johnson said. People used to call us the Harlem Globetrotters because they couldnt envision us as ballet dancers.

There were white and black people who didnt want us to perform in this art form. Some black people thought, Why are they doing the white mans art form? while whites thought, This is ours and you dont belong here.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem gives a Dancing Through Barriers demonstration in 2000 for thousands of Los Angeles high school students. (File photo / Los Angeles Times )

Decades later, the group has become part of the fabric of the American ballet industry, being honored at the White House in 2006 and hosting Nelson Mandela at their facility, among other honors.

However, the groups history isnt all success.

In 2004, the company had to disband its 44 dancers due to financial issues in an effort to preserve the school and arts education programs. It was understood at the time that they would be able to get back up and running within a year, but that didnt happen.

Eventually, Johnson, who had left the company in 1997, was brought on by Mitchell to act as the new director. After repairing the groups financial wounds, they started performing again in 2012 with a scaled-down group of 16 dancers.

Mitchell is still acting as an adviser to Johnson.

While the group is substantially smaller and theyve had to make various financial concessions, their goal is still very much the same: promote ballet to the masses.

Ballet is the most inspirational dance form, Johnson said. We dance on the tips of our toes. I like to say that its the closest you get to flying before you leave the Earth.

If You Go

What: Dance Theatre of Harlem performance

Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre at 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine

When: 8 p.m. April 18

Tickets: bit.ly/2IugLhD

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter:@benbrazilpilot
A modest museum in Old Towne Orange is celebrating its two-year anniversary by presenting five new exhibitions and gearing up for some ambitious plans in its future.

The Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University has just opened Scenic View Ahead: The Westways Cover Art Collection; Magical Visions: The Enchanted Worlds of Eyvind Earle; A New Hope: The Star Wars Art of Robert Bailey; Sunlight and Shadow: A Gift of California Art from the Collection of Jim and Lynne Doti and Character References: The Art of the Animation Drawing.

Scenic View Ahead highlights original artworks commissioned by the Automobile Club of Southern California for its member magazine cover between 1928 and 1981. Originally titled Touring Topics, the auto club changed the magazines name to Westways in 1934.

For decades, the magazine was one of the few publications showcasing fine arts on the West Coast, and put a spotlight on the artistic movements of the time  plein air painting, California Impressionism and California scene painting.

Artists in this exhibit include Alson Clark, John Frost, Donna Schuster, Maynard Dixon, Rex Brandt of Corona del Mar, Phil Dike, William Pajaud, Neil Boyle and Jake Lee.

A 1957 Westways magazine cover by Corona del Mar artist Rex Brandt is on display at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University. Brandt created a series of covers contrasting scenic views of the American West with scenic views in other lands. (Courtesy of Hilbert Museum )

A version of the Westways cover art collection exhibited at the Irvine Museum between October 2014 and January 2015. But the paintings currently on view at the Hilbert were selected and curated by Hilbert Museum director Mary Platt and registrar Emily Valdez.

A master possibly overlooked

Eyvind Earles Three Noble Horses is among his works exhibited at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University. Earle is best known for his work on Disneys Sleeping Beauty. (Courtesy of Hilbert Museum )

Magical Visions offers a rare look at the paintings, drawings, prints, poems and scratchboard etchings of Eyvind Earle. He was an accomplished landscape painter and respected Disney artist, whose best known work appears throughout Sleeping Beauty (1959). Earle gave the animated movie a magical, medieval look.

He also did backgrounds and illustrations for Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955) and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Bloom, which won the 1954 Academy Award for best short subject (cartoons). Earle died in 2000, but his work can still be seen in the Sleeping Beauty Castle dioramas at Disneyland.

On view at the Hilbert are more than two dozen of his original oil paintings and serigraphs, which celebrate natural landscapes, yet are also mystical, primitive, serene and nostalgic. The Earle Family Trust recently donated eight of Earles paintings to the Hilbert Museum, and five of them are on view.

It was his dream to work at Disney, said Ioan Szasz, curator of the Earle exhibit and CEO of Eyvind Earle Publishing, based in Monterey. Szasz knew and worked with the artist for 13 years, and is the caretaker of his artistic estate.

When he was creating a serigraph (silkscreen print), he was controlling the process, said Szasz, who also runs Gallery 21 in Carmel, featuring Earles work. But when he was painting, there was someone or something else controlling him to create. He said there was a driving force making him do that.

One of the highlights of the exhibit is Three Noble Horses, an oil painting from 1993 that features a red, white and blue horse, each in a majestic pose, against a blue and green speckled background. A gift from the Earle Family Trust, its now part of the Hilbert Museums permanent collection.

Other shows

A New Hope: The Star Wars Art of Robert Bailey is also part of the current exhibition at the Hilbert Museum in Orange. (Courtesy of Hilbert Museum )

Also on view at the Hilbert is A New Hope, featuring graphite pencil drawings by Robert Bailey, an English illustrator whos an official Lucasfilm artist. He has drawn 12 scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy.

Sunlight and Shadow spotlights a dozen paintings that are part of a gift of 17 donated by Jim Doti, former president at Chapman, and his wife, Lynne Doti, a retired economics professor at the university. The collection includes works by Brandt, Franz Bischoff, Millard Sheets, Emil Kosa Jr., Jack Laycox and Irv Wyner.

Character References is a mini-exhibit focusing on the lively and often impromptu drawings of animation artists from Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Artists include Chuck Jones, Tim Burton and Jeff DeGrandis.

The location of the Hilbert Museum on 167 N. Atchison St. was meant to be temporary, with an eventual move to the Packing House on Palm Avenue and Cypress Street but administrators decided to stay put.

Hilbert Director Platt says the staff and benefactors, Mark and Jan Hilbert, like the current space, and plan to expand into the Partridge Dance Center next door over the next five years, effectively tripling its space.

Its been a great ride, said Platt, who previously directed communications and media relations at Chapman for 13 years. Shes served as director of the Hilbert for a year.  Ive really enjoyed it. Its an adventure every day.

If You Go

What: Five new exhibitions of California art

When: Through Oct. 13; hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays

Where: Hilbert Museum of California Art, 167 N. Atchison St., Orange

Cost: Free

Information: (714) 516-5880 or hilbertmuseum.com.

RICHARD CHANG is a contributor to Times Community News.
Three men have been charged in a months-long probe into what Costa Mesa detectives and federal agents allege was a scheme to distribute counterfeit opioids, authorities said Thursday.

Wyatt Pasek, 21, of Santa Ana, Isaiah Suarez, 22, of Newport Beach and Duc Cao, 20, of Orange are facing one felony count each of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Authorities became aware of the possible scheme in May through a tip from a confidential FBI source about two men in Orange County selling counterfeit pharmaceutical pills.

The investigation culminated Tuesday, when Pasek, Suarez and Cao were arrested and thousands of fake oxycodone pills, a pill press lab and hoards of cash were seized, according to a police affidavit.

Authorities allege the men used fentanyl, a synthetic opioid more powerful than heroin, and a similar drug they bought online to manufacture counterfeit pills designed to look like brand-name oxycodone. The pill press allegedly was used to make the drugs and stamp them with numbers to make them appear legitimate. They were then mailed to buyers, authorities said.

We recognize that the opioid epidemic transcends the boundaries of our Costa Mesa community, and this case is a prime example of that, Costa Mesa Police Chief Rob Sharpnack said in a statement Thursday. Fentanyl is a highly dangerous opioid that contributes heavily to the epidemic.

The affidavit says one of the men had a business in Costa Mesa, but it does not provide details.

Using fentanyl in a counterfeit pill that appears to look like a less-lethal opioid dramatically increases the possibility of overdoses and deaths that we see far too often, U.S. Attorney Nicola Hanna said in a statement.

Authorities allege the men, collectively using the online moniker Oxygod, arranged the sales through Dream Market, a marketplace on the dark net where the primary currency of doing business is bitcoin, according to the affidavit.

The dark net is an encrypted portion of the internet that is not indexed and not accessible through typical internet browsing software.

The investigation gained momentum in January when detectives with the Costa Mesa Police Departments special investigations unit staked out a luxury high-rise apartment building on MacArthur Boulevard in Santa Ana, where Pasek lived in a $5,749-per-month unit on the top floor.

Detectives watched as Pasek pulled into the parking garage with Cao riding in a black Lamborghini. Paseks luxurious accommodations and exotic cars didnt seem to jibe with his lack of a legitimate place of work, according to the affidavit.

During the investigation, authorities placed devices on Paseks Ferrari and SUV and Caos Mercedes-Benz and used data from Paseks cellphone to track their movements.

Authorities watched for months as Pasek made frequent trips from his apartment to his mothers house on Bedford Lane in Newport Beach, where he stopped briefly before continuing to Suarezs apartment at 705 E. Balboa Blvd. Authorities later determined that the Balboa Peninsula apartment was the site of the pill pressing operation, according to the affidavit.

On March 5, authorities said, detectives watched Cao deposit seven packages into a mailbox near the Balboa Boulevard apartment. They waited for Cao to return to the residence and then seized the parcels.

Inside the packages, which were being shipped to addresses in several states, detectives found about 1,400 blue pills marked A215 and made to resemble 30mg pills of oxycodone. The pills tested positive for fentanyl, according to the affidavit.

On Monday, Cao visited Paseks apartment, traveled to Suarezs apartment and then drove to a post office on Sunflower Avenue in Santa Ana, where authorities later recovered 13 boxes similar to those seized March 5.

The 13 boxes contained more than 4,000 A215 pills, authorities said.

Authorities arrested the three men a day later as they drove from the Balboa Peninsula apartment.

Law enforcement said a pill press lab was seized at Suarezs apartment, along with bags containing nearly 3 kilograms of possible counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax pills and other bags containing about 4.5 kilograms of white and blue powders that are being tested.

In Paseks apartment, detectives reported finding cash and about 13,000 pills that appeared to be counterfeit oxycodone.

Cao, a citizen of Vietnam who is in the United States on an expired student visa, is scheduled to be arraigned April 23.

Suarez was due in court for a bail hearing Thursday afternoon, and Pasek is due in court Friday.

If convicted, each could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorneys office.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
A 30-year-old man died after the pickup he was driving crashed into a Caltrans grader on the 73 Freeway in Newport Beach, closing southbound lanes for hours Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The crash, which occurred south of Bison Avenue on the southbound 73, was reported shortly after 1 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. The name of the man killed was not released.

CHP Officer Paul Fox said a Ford F-250 veered to the center divider and slammed into the grader, which was being operated by a California Department of Transportation employee. The worker was not injured.

Paint in the pickup spilled onto the road, Fox said.

An SUV traveling behind the Ford crashed into it. A passenger in the SUV was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The driver was not injured, Fox said.

The southbound 73 at MacArthur Boulevard was closed while officers investigated and crews cleaned up debris. The lanes remained closed at 5 p.m.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
The most important classrooms for the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguards are the sand and sea. But that doesnt mean the single-wide trailer a few yards from the Balboa Pier is sufficient for the popular city-run summer program, boosters say.

The blocky, low-slung structure lacks not just space but also running water for the roughly 1,400 children who show up for the two daily sessions from late June through early August to learn ocean safety. That means that when the 9- to 15-year-old kids need to go to the bathroom, they have to walk to the spartan, dim and sometimes hectic public restrooms in groups of three.

Graham Harvey, chairman of the nonprofit Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard Foundation, said safety and sanitation are the main reasons the foundation wants an upgrade, which it hopes can be achieved through a public-private partnership.

The group has about $130,000 from private donors and a set of color renderings that show a 4,900-square-foot, approximately $3.25-million building in the same location. The boosters are grateful for the funds and theyre patient, Harvey said. But they also want a renewed commitment from the city, which could reinvigorate the fundraising, he added.

The city put a new Junior Guards facility, along with other building projects like a fire station-library complex in Corona del Mar, on hold last year in the face of budget concerns driven by pension costs. Now the city is more financially optimistic  the CdM fibrary is set to break ground Tuesday  and so are the Junior Guards supporters.

Harvey said he would like to see the city dedicate money to begin the projects preliminary phase next year.

At a City Council meeting last month where council and staff discussed upcoming capital projects, City Manager Dave Kiff suggested the city could add the Junior Guards project to next years lineup via the budget checklist. The checklist is the citys final look at its budget in June after it has prepared the bulk of the document but before it passes it.

The Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard programs headquarters is a single-wide trailer that lacks running water. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer )

The Junior Guards foundation was formed in 2011 with a new facility as a goal, said Harvey, a former program participant and instructor who now works as an insurance broker.

The program has a strong reputation  recently, one of its older guards, Jax Richards, was named a Junior Guard of the Year by the California Surf Lifesaving Assn.  but its current home doesnt reflect that, Harvey said.

Sisters Bianka, 12, and Gianna Gaspar, 10, waited in a line that quickly filled the trailer last week while picking up their uniforms for their second year with the program. They said theyve enjoyed Junior Guards but would like to see more from the building.

Make it stand out, Bianka said.

Plans for the new headquarters, which would be more than twice the size of the current space, show a large shaded deck, an auditorium with audio/visual capabilities, a first-aid room, secure indoor storage, locker rooms with showers, and several controlled-access bathrooms.

Spencer Smith, left, a Newport Beach lifeguard, helps Courtney McKenna, 11, and her mother, Marcy, choose a Junior Lifeguards sweatshirt at the Junior Guards headquarters. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer )

For now, though, the headquarters consist of two main rooms in the small trailer, with staff desks in one and group instruction in the other. In the summer, staff brings out boxcar-like storage containers for larger items such as buoys and paddleboards, which are kept in private storage during the offseason.

The multipurpose room can fit about 30 to 40 people. Locker rooms are closet-like spaces with curtains stapled to the wall.

The deck is used for presentations, functions and daily announcements and as an observation post. Its also a treatment and quarantine corner when a child is sick or injured.

There is nothing equivalent to a principals or nurses office  the latter of which would help when an illness runs through, as it does like a freight train every summer, said program director and lifeguard training captain Brian ORourke.

The proposed headquarters would be utilitarian, with no air conditioning, Harvey said, but it would be attractive.

The rest of the Balboa area looks pretty nice, he said.

The trailer kind of stands out as an eyesore in the area, he added.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD
Newport Beach will consider formally opposing Californias key sanctuary state law with a City Council resolution Tuesday.

The council will weigh a resolution that specifically targets Senate Bill 54, which in many cases prohibits local law enforcement from alerting federal immigration agents when detainees who may be subject to deportation are released from custody.

A pending U.S. Justice Department lawsuit challenging the states sanctuary policies contends they obstruct federal immigration law and thus violate the Constitutions supremacy clause, which gives federal law precedence over state law.

Newports proposed resolution says the city respects and supports the United States Constitution.

Newport has a history of opposing SB 54. In August, the council voted to have the city manager send a letter against the bill while it was still in the Legislature.

The proposed resolution further states that the City Council is committed to protecting the city of Newport Beachs residents through the enforcement of local, state and federal laws. The adoption of SB 54 has created a conflict between state and federal law and has restricted local law enforcements ability to cooperate with federal authorities to protect California residents.

The conflict leaves the City Council no choice but to publicly state its opposition to SB 54.

Other California laws aimed at protecting people in the United States illegally include one shielding workers from workplace raids and one creating a state inspection program for federal immigration detention centers.

Other Orange County governing bodies that have shown their opposition include the city of Los Alamitos, which ignited the sanctuary resistance in March with a council vote to exempt the city from SB 54; the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which voted to join the federal lawsuit; the city of Huntington Beach, which filed its own lawsuit this week; and the city of Fountain Valley, which joined a law groups court brief supporting the federal suit.

Costa Mesa is studying the potential effects of SB 54, and other cities throughout the county, including San Juan Capistrano, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo and Yorba Linda, have recently taken stands against the sanctuary laws.

Balboa Peninsula Trolley

The Newport council also will consider extending the upcoming second season of the Balboa Peninsula Trolley.

The proposal would put the summer shuttles on the streets three weeks earlier than last year, running them from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.

The free shuttle debuted in 2017 during the peak tourist season to ferry visitors and locals around the usually congested peninsula.

Vehicles ran Saturdays and Sundays between June 17 and Sept. 3, plus the Fourth of July and Labor Day, between Hoag Hospital and the Balboa Pier. The service had about 900 boardings per day, according to ridership figures compiled by the shuttles contracted operator, Signal Hill-based Professional Parking Corp.

Tuesdays council meeting starts at 4:30 p.m. with a study session, followed by the regular session at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD
At Mondays meeting, the Huntington Beach City Council members were presented with an incredible opportunity.

At a time when so many elected officials find themselves struggling for credibility and relevance, our council members were put center stage under a glowing spotlight. Residents were hoping to see their strength of purpose, pragmatic problem solving and sound leadership on display. Instead, H.B. locals got an all-too-familiar serving of political folly.

I guess Huntington Beach council members simply couldnt resist the political shiny object of immigration. Rather than constructively focusing on actual issues impacting our city, Mayor Mike Posey and his cast of political hucksters did little more than host a pep rally for professional agitators and out-of-town haters.

For years, the residents of Huntington Beach have been bombarded with scary tales of our citys financial demise. City services, staffing levels and a variety of individual budget items have been debated and re-debated ad nauseam. At this point, those who follow our citys politics just kind of assume the city will be in financial ruin within six months and shortly thereafter silently slip into the Pacific. So with this as a context, one must ask: Why is it important for the city of Huntington Beach to invest in filing a duplicative lawsuit against the state of Californias Senate Bill 54? (SB 54 is already being challenged by the federal Department of Justice.)

If the council wishes to state its position and bark at the moon on SB 54, it should simply pass a resolution. Why the lawsuit?

While Id personally strongly object to the content of such a resolution, Id prefer the City Council only waste the councils time rather than our city funds and resources.

To be clear, the city of Huntington Beach has real challenges: homelessness, growth/density, maintaining infrastructure, pension liabilities, etc. These are real local issues impacting our city and citizens and they are not going away. Currently these are our most pressing issues, and logically these are the issues our City Council must address.

Until someone can provide credible statistics proving that undocumented immigrants pose a real and significant threat to public safety in Huntington Beach, Ill consider this entire exercise little more than an ill-conceived political stunt.

Residents of Huntington Beach should expect our elected officials to be better.

Our country and communities are struggling to find common ground, and its clear that a certain amount of unity among residents would be helpful in productively moving our community forward. Unfortunately, the Huntington Beach City Councils actions (or inaction) on Monday did little more than inflame negative emotions and disrupt the fabric of our community.

This is not positive civic leadership but rather a wayward detour into politics that takes the city of Huntington Beach nowhere.

Steve Shepherd

Huntington Beach

SB 54 has benefits for local law enforcement and community

There seems to be a common misconception about the meaning of sanctuary cities.

In the epic novel by Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda from a mob and carries her into the cathedral and yells sanctuary and the crowd is prohibited from entering the cathedral and attacking them.

This is not what sanctuary cities means, and illegal immigrants are not automatically protected, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement or local law enforcement are not prevented from taking them into custody.

The Huntington Beach City Council meeting Monday was not to withdraw from being a sanctuary city but to discuss whether the city attorney should file a lawsuit against the state to object to the passage of Senate Bill 54.

The manner in which Senate Bill 54 is applied is that local law enforcement is not obligated to automatically assist ICE in the apprehension of illegal immigrants in the absence of an emergency. The jurisdiction of local law enforcement is limited to state penal code violations and local ordinances. Cooperation with federal immigration authorities is permitted as long as it does not violate local law or policy.

Therefore, in order to avoid exposing local law enforcement to liability and/or injury when participating in activities not related to local issues, it becomes necessary to limit its enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Members of the immigration community who may be victims of crimes or a witness thereto may not approach a local police agency to report a crime if they fear they are placing themselves in jeopardy since the local police are entangled with federal immigration authorities. If you were a victim of a crime witnessed by a member of the immigration community, would you want to deter that person from aiding you or reporting a crime?

Richard C. Armendariz

Huntington Beach

Newport city manager doesnt have a lifetime gig

Daily Pilot opinion columnist Barbara Venezia recently wrote that Newport Beach City Manager Dave Kiff should stay as long as he wants.

I disagree.

No one in the private or public sector receives nor deserves a lifetime no-cut contract.

Venezia also needs to be reminded that the city manager doesnt work for the public, he is an employee of the City Council.

Taxpayers pay him handsomely to implement policies adopted by the City Council.

In 2016, Kiff made $353,000, including benefits, according to Transparent California.

If the City Council members decide to make a change, its their call  not the communitys.

Venezia presumptuously pretends she is the voice of the community. She is not. She is only one voice  hers.

There are 85,000 Newport Beach residents  its hardly a reflection of the community when 15 people show up, two from Costa Mesa, at a council meeting with an opinion on Dave Kiff or anything else.

The feedback I am receiving from the community supports change.

Bob McCaffrey

Newport Beach

Helping the homeless is everyones responsibility

Contrary to Orange Countys reputation, we have a large and growing population of homeless people. The problem has been in the news lately, with stories about large numbers of indigent people without shelter at the Santa Ana Civic Center, and as county authorities removed a large encampment of several hundred people from the Santa Ana River trail in February.

This past week, tentative plans to house some of those who were relocated drew angry protests at an Orange County supervisors meeting, and various city councils, including those in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, voted to oppose hosting these people, citing fear of crime and drugs.

One angry homeowner was quoted as saying, Who cares? This is not our responsibility.

As members and churchgoers at Irvine United Congregational Church, we want to affirm that we do care. Jesus himself was a homeless wanderer who told us to love our neighbors and care for the least of these.

This is a multifaceted problem. The focus tends to be on the personal failings of the homeless. But it is also clear that there is inadequate funding for low-income housing and other social services for the poor (including for mental health and addiction issues), growing economic inequality, soaring rents and other costs (for necessities like food and medical care), particularly in expensive Orange County.

Behind the loud protests about dangerous homeless people and fear of declining home values lies a difficult and complex problem. We need creative leadership and a public awareness that solutions are not always cheap. And we need moral witnessing from the faith community to awaken peoples consciences in order to redress the suffering.

Helping these people is our responsibility  they are our neighbors. We want our political leaders at the city, county, state and federal levels to take action. We call for compassionate and welcoming approaches that allocate adequate resources to bring about real solutions for homeless men, women and children in Orange County.

David A. Smith

Irvine

Koll Center Residences condo plan seems out of place

I used to work in a four-story office building in Koll Center Newport and still have friends there whove been worrying lately about a new project that is being proposed next door called the Koll Center Residences.

It is apparently three very large condo towers that will be put where the parking lots have been for the offices. They will tower over the next-door business properties and force workers to park farther away in another bulky parking garage.

Even though Koll Center Newport is a fairly intense business complex by previous Newport Beach standards, it was well laid out and provides a pleasant place to work with an open feeling that is a big relief from maneuvering around Los Angeles.

Putting three bulky 160-foot-high luxury condominium towers in this location seems out of place, out of scale and out of order. Are the people who work there going to be able to live in these very large luxury condos?

It makes me seriously wonder who thinks up these things.

Tamara Watt

Newport Beach

How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.
As of this publishing, the Oklahoma teachers are in their fifth day of a statewide strike. The starting salary for a teacher there is $31,600, third lowest in the country.

The teachers began their walkout after rejecting a 6% pay raise over three years, and $50 million in education funding. Why? Because the last time teachers in the state received any raise was in 2008.

Several school districts in the state are only open four days a week because they dont have the money to literally keep the lights on. Their demands: a $10,000 raise over three years and $200 million in funding.

Its not just about more money in teachers pockets, but more textbooks in students hands.

Last month, teachers from West Virginia went on strike for nine days to earn a 5% pay raise. Last week, there was a sickout in Kentucky to protest cuts in their pensions. Now, Arizona teachers are pondering action as well.

Whether inspired by the #MeToo movement or the student-led March for Our Lives, teachers now feel emboldened to speak out on the national stage about their working conditions, charging en masse to state capitals.

While I have reservations about teachers going out on strike, such action is rattling the status quo.

Upon hearing what the teachers want, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin told a reporter that teachers wanting more money was kind of like having a teenage kid that wants a better car. Such a condescending comment underscores how teachers are perceived by some.

Taxpayers who have no sympathy for higher salaries base it primarily on the amount of time teachers are at a school.

While hours from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. may not seem overwhelming, the teacher is working nearly every minute of that time frame, hosting club meetings at lunch, tutoring students after school.

Yes, teachers have many holidays and summers off. It is the off-the-job hours, however, that justify a higher teachers salary.

When do teachers develop lesson plans, create assignments and grade work? They do it at home, at their childrens practices, in doctors waiting rooms, stealing away minutes whenever they can.

Then there is the mental toll on teachers, always thinking about the next lesson, even while celebrating Thanksgiving or lugging a bag of student papers while vacationing over spring break. Rarely is a teachers mind not thinking about how to spark students curiosity.

Some teachers are paid decently, no question. California teachers do enjoy the second highest average salary in the country at $78,711, but the state has the second highest cost of living as well. The majority of teachers who work in Glendale cant afford to live in Glendale.

The rent for a one-bedroom apartment goes for $2,284 based on Rent Jungle averages; the median home is priced at $816,500 according to Zillow.

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Assn., told the New York Times that recent teacher uprisings is an education spring.

Time will tell if these events are the beginnings of a sustained movement or just a passing phase. Still, it is refreshing to see educators get out of their soft shells and show how much they care about their work with Americas youth, and how much Americans should care about it as well.

BRIAN CROSBY is a teacher in the Glendale Unified School District and the author of Smart Kids, Bad Schools and The $100,000 Teacher. He can be reached at www.brian-crosby.com.
Lompoc is waking up early, really early, on May 5 to welcome travelers who want to see the launch of NASA-JPLs latest mission to Mars spacecraft. Its the first time the space agency will launch a spacecraft to another planet from the West Coast.

The rocket-driven Mars InSight lander, which is expected to dig deep into the surface of the Red Planet, is set to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base and create a streak in the sky that will be visible from Santa Maria to San Diego.

Its scheduled to take off at 4 a.m. May 5, about nine miles from the town of Lompoc, and land on Mars on Nov. 26.

One big caveat: Launch times and dates can be squishy, depending on weather or technical concerns. The InSight lander could blast off anywhere from May 5 through June 8, with launch windows that last two hours each day, according to NASAs website.

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(InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.)

The Lompoc Airport (1801 N. H St.) and the parking lot at St. Marys Episcopal Church (2800 Harris Grade Road) will open at 2:30 a.m. to welcome visitors. The sites are free and open to the public. In addition, members of the NASA/InSight team will appear at both sites to answer questions.

Prior to the launch, the Mars InSight Roadshow is coming to museums and public spaces from Sacramento to Santa Barbara with hands-on science activities, exhibits, models and public talks about the mission that will study the deep interior of Mars.

The show is scheduled from 3 to 8 p.m. May 2 at the Dick DeWees Community & Senior Center, 1120 W. Ocean Ave. Talks and exhibits will be held 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Lompoc Public Library at 510 E. North Ave.; and 1 to 8 p.m. May 4 at the Allan Hancock College, Main Campus, 800 S. College Drive, Santa Maria.

If you not traveling to Lompoc for the blastoff, find a high point in Southern California where theres not a lot of artificial light. NASA gives these suggested spots, which include Figueroa Mountain in Los Padres National Forest.

Info: Mars InSight Mission

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In 1987, the Los Angeles Police Department embarked on a major crackdown on homeless encampments on skid row. In response, Mayor Tom Bradley proposed a temporary site to relocate the homeless.

In a June, 4, 1987, Los Angeles Times article, Penelope McMillan and Roxanne Arnold reported:

In an effort to supply short-term housing for residents of sidewalk encampments on Skid Row who face a police crackdown starting today, Mayor Tom Bradley proposed Wednesday a temporary "urban campground" on vacant land downtown near the Los Angeles River.

"This is a shelter we think will offer another housing alternative for those who are in need," Bradley said of the proposed campground, which would be operated for two months on 12 acres of Southern California Rapid Transit District land at 4th Place and Santa Fe Avenue.

The camp, which Bradley said could accommodate "600 people or more," would be operated by the Salvation Army. The Community Redevelopment Agency would fence the property, provide portable toilets, water and lighting, he added. 

On June 15, 1987, the urban campground opened. Within two weeks, about 500 homeless were at the site. Social service agencies sought to help. Schooling and daycare were provided for the children.

June 16, 1987: Two people sleep in open-air tents at the campground. Larry Bessel / Los Angeles Times

June 26, 1987: Mike Linea checks on his wife, Patricia, right, who was hurt in a car accident. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

June 15, 1987: A child looks at a banner displayed by protesters outside the encampment. Activists said the city needed more low-income housing, not campgrounds for the homeless. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

But the site was temporary  it closed on Sept. 25, 1987.

The headline for a McMillan article in the Sept. 25, 1987, Los Angeles Times summed up the results:

Homeless Camp Ends Much Like It Began : A Grim Place of Refuge Closes Today  and No One Involved Calls It a Success

From McMillan's article:

It was ugly to begin with, a flat stretch of land flanking the Los Angeles River, fenced and then filled up with trailers, canopies, hundreds of cots and tents. Then came the people, 2,600 in all, who said they had no other place to go.

It is still ugly as it ends, a grim, dusty refuge for 236 people who say they still will have no other place to go when the camp is shut down at 5 p.m. today.

The City of Los Angeles' urban campground for the homeless has been, as Maj. William Mulch of the Salvation Army put it, "a desperate attempt to help very desperate people.

No one calls the attempt a success--not the city, the Salvation Army or advocates for the homeless.

The city's ambition when it opened the camp June 15 was to temporarily shelter the homeless, provide social services and help them find work. The camp did shelter people, in the most minimal way, and several services were set up.

But officials noted that only a small percentage availed themselves of the services, and the vast majority of the homeless who passed through the campground apparently left no better off than when they came.

After 103 days and $397,000 in city costs, Deputy Mayor Grace Davis said the camp left city officials convinced "we should not be in the shelter business." 

The Salvation Army, which incurred $227,000 in costs of its own in running the camp for the city, leaves with its reputation as a friend of the needy tarnished.

'We never thought the Salvation Army would be involved in something like this.' I've had that said to me," Lt. Col. David P. Riley, the army's Southern California division commander, said.

"There was the dust in the air all the time, lack of drainage of the water, showers that leaked from the day they were installed," Riley continued. "The equipment was not adequate. There was no way you could bring dignity or cleanliness to it."

"The campground was unsanitary, unhealthy and a bad environment for children," said Jack Faz, social services coordinator for Para Los Ninos, the service agency that shouldered most of the burden of relocating 119 families with 265 children, 75% of whom came from within Los Angeles County. "It was a bad thing all around."

Yet, it did give a small number  240 of the 2,600 homeless who passed through -- a leg up with help to find jobs. "I couldn't have done that on the street," said 22-year-old Raymond Byfield, who now has a $640-a-month job driving a truck. It also helped more than 100 people obtain legal identification, which employers must require under new immigration laws.

"A lot of people learned to live collectively and to share," David Bryant, a homeless leader, said. "For a lot of people, there was a real sense of community they hadn't had."

This post was originally published on Dec. 20, 2016.

June 15, 1987: A man is searched for weapons and contraband at the entrance to the encampment. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

June 26, 1987: Two children play with toys and an empty box at the encampment. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

June 26, 1987: Lisa Gillie, 7 months' pregnant, sorts clothes outside her tent. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

June 26, 1987: Esperanza Huerta washes clothes in front of tent while her dog Snowball takes it easy in the shade. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

July 15, 1987: Volunteer Janice Estes, a medical assistant from Fullerton, examines a 2-year-old boy with sores on his legs. The boy's mother and sister look on. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

July 15, 1987: Carolyn Blue hangs her wash on a fence to dry while daughter Shameka, 3, plays. Blue, mother of five, was at the camp awaiting housing assistance. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Aug. 14, 1987: Assistant Principal George Alexander, third from left, confers with teachers at Plasencia School where a dozen students from the encampment are enrolled. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Aug. 14, 1987: A child peers out of a school bus window as she waits for others at the encampment for the ride to Plasencia Elementary School. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Aug. 11, 1987: Children are gathered to be taken to the Fred Jordan Mission day care program. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Aug. 11, 1987: Children from skid row hotels and the encampment have breakfast at the Fred Jordan Mission day care program. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Aug. 13, 1987: Segura Williams, 13, left, with his brother Lamartina, 7, outside of their tent. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Sep. 18, 1987: Graffiti left on a wall near the encampment for the homeless. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Sep. 18, 1987: Jose Lopez shampoos his hair with the help of a garden hose. He was cleaning up before going on a job search. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Sep. 24, 1987: The encampment as seen from the 4th Street bridge the day before it shut down. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Sep. 25, 1987: With his belongings piled on a shopping cart, Alfred Gueva leaves the encampment where he had lived since it opened in June. Ken Lubas / Los Angeles Times

Sep. 23, 1987: A shirt flaps in the breeze after the encampment is closed. Iris Schneider / Los Angeles Times

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here
Former South African President Jacob Zuma told cheering supporters he was not guilty of corruption after appearing in KwaZulu-Natal High Court on Friday, two months after his party, the African National Congress, forced him from office.

In a sign the corruption case against the 75-year-old Zuma could go on for years, prosecutor Billy Downer said Zumas legal team planned to challenge the legitimacy of the prosecution, which involves the reinstatement of charges of fraud, racketeering and money laundering that had been dropped years ago, and to seek a permanent stay.

Although Downer said authorities were ready to proceed with a trial in November, the challenge and request for a stay of prosecution could each take months, especially if appeals are pursued.

The case at the Durban courthouse was adjourned until June 8 on the agreement of both parties to enable Zumas defense legal team to prepare their documents for the challenge.

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One controversial aspect of Zumas case is its funding by taxpayers, enabling his lawyers to mount successive appeals and challenges  a legal strategy dubbed in South African media as Zumas Stalingrad approach, a reference to his lawyers determination to fight for every yard of legal turf, however long it takes.

Zuma looked tense at times, sitting in a dark suit on the court bench behind his lawyers. He is charged with 16 counts of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering in relation to 783 payments he allegedly received as part of a South African arms deal in 1999, when he was deputy president. Also facing prosecution was Thales, a French arms company whose South African affiliate was formerly known as Thint, which was accused of bribing Zuma.

Zumas appearance so soon after leaving office was striking in a continent with a history of top officials in various countries being criticized for corruption, sometimes running into tens of millions of dollars, but where few ex-presidents have faced justice.

Since being ousted by the ANC and then replaced by his former deputy Cyril Ramaphosa in February, Zuma has claimed the prosecution amounts to an attack by political enemies.

Zuma said nothing in his court appearance but spoke to supporters in Zulu on a stage outside the courthouse, saying the charges were political and that he was being persecuted because he had exposed the lack of freedom in South Africa.

The truth will come out. What have I done? I am innocent until proven guilty, Zuma said. I cant believe all the lies about me.

He criticized the ANC, which banned his supporters from wearing party colors, clothing and regalia at his trial to support him. He said when he asked for answers about what had been done to him, no one was willing to talk to him.

Why am I being treated as if Im guilty? he said.

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The ANC leadership last month said members could support party figures facing trial, but ordered them not to wear the ANCs green, black and yellow colors. It was an order ignored by Zumas supporters Friday.

Zuma told supporters he had been betrayed by people he trusts, an apparent reference to Ramaphosa and his supporters who forced Zuma from power.

They are fighting me because I said there is no freedom. Thats why they take me to court. They want to shut my mouth, he said, calling for radical economic transformation and the return of land from white people to black South Africans.

He ended by dancing and singing a song in Zulu: I am wounded by people I grew up with.

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Thousands of Zuma supporters marched in Durbans streets after his court appearance. Earlier, supporters held an overnight prayer vigil outside Durbans High Court in KwaZulu-Natal, a stronghold for Zuma.

The case against Zuma has been a long time coming. It came after his financial advisor Schabir Shaik was found guilty of fraud and corruption in relation to the arms deal and alleged corrupt dealing with Zuma in 2005. Zuma was sacked as deputy president and two years later was charged.

At that point the charges seemed likely to crush Zumas ambition to be president. But after he became leader of the African National Congress in December 2007, the case against him began to topple.

Just weeks before the 2009 parliamentary election, the head of the National Prosecuting Authority at the time, Mokotedi Mpshe, abruptly dropped the charges, removing the political barriers for Zuma to become president. Later that year, the opposition Democratic Alliance launched an application that the decision to drop the charges be reviewed in the courts.

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In 2016, the High Court ruled that Mpshes decision to drop the charges was irrational and ordered the charges be reinstated. Last year Zuma lost a Supreme Court appeal against that decision.

Some legal analysts say Zumas chances of successfully challenging the legitimacy of the prosecution have no chances of succeeding.

Constitutional lawyer Pierre de Vos tweeted that a court had already ruled that the decision to prosecute Zuma was valid. He believed Zumas chances of appeal had zero chance of success and amounted to an abuse of legal process.

robyn.dixon@latimes.com

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Twitter: @RobynDixon_LAT
Ex-spy Sergei Skripal is improving rapidly and is no longer in critical condition, a British health official said Friday, a month after he and his daughter were poisoned with a rare nerve agent that triggered a diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4 and were taken to a hospital, where for weeks they lay unconscious in critical condition. British authorities blame Russia for what they say was a military-grade Soviet-made nerve agent poisoning. Russia denies responsibility for the attack.

Dr. Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement that 66-year-old Sergei Skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition.

Yulia Skripal, 33, regained consciousness last week and is now in stable condition, Blanshard said.

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Russian state television on Thursday played a recording of what they said was a phone call from Yulia to her cousin Viktoria Skripal in Russia. In it, Yulia said she would be discharged soon.

Blanshard said Friday that Yulia Skripal could look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital, but called any speculation about her release date just that  speculation.

The poisoning has chilled relations between Russia and the West, producing a wave of diplomatic expulsions unseen even at the height of the Cold War.

Britain, along with the United States and at least two dozen other U.K. allies have expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats. Russia has ordered the same number of their envoys out.

On Thursday, Russia called a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the Skripal poisonings. The Russian ambassador to the U.N. warned Britain that it was playing with fire and claimed that Russia was the victim of a hasty, sloppy and ill-intentioned defamation campaign by London and its allies.

In the recording released by Russian state Rossiya TV on Thursday, Yulia Skripal allegedly said she and her father were both recovering and that her fathers health was not irreparably damaged.

Viktoria Skripal, who works as a chief accountant in the city of Yaroslavl, told the Associated Press on Friday that she has no doubt that it was Yulia who called and that she has not heard from her since. She said the call was recorded because she has an app on her phone to keep track of all the calls she makes for work.

I made this recording, that was Yulia, she said.

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Viktoria has said she wanted to visit Sergei and Yulia and has applied for a U.K. visa. She told the AP that she was invited to come to the British Embassy on Friday afternoon, supposedly to pick up her visa, but the embassy emailed her earlier Friday to say the appointment has been canceled and that the decision on her visa application has not yet been made.

Theyre not giving me a visa, they keep postponing it, she said Friday. They told me to wait. They told me that everything depends on London and that [Prime Minister] Theresa May is on holiday so there is no one to sign on to this.

The Skripals two guinea pigs and a cat were also victims of the poisoning, the British government said Friday. The two rodents were found dead at the Skripals home after it was sealed off by investigators. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Friday the cat was put down after it was found in a distressed state.

Russias Foreign Ministry was quick to react, questioning the decision. Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a Facebook post called the pets who lived at the former double agents home important evidence in the case.

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Later Friday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov once again urged Britain to produce its evidence in the poisoning case.

Lavrov, speaking on a trip to Belarus, said British officials have engaged in frantic and convulsive efforts to find arguments to support their indefensible position instead of producing evidence.

He said Britain and its Western allies are wrong if they expect Russia to confess to all deadly sins it did not commit and play by their rules.
Thick, acrid black smoke enveloped the Gaza Strip on Friday as 20,000 demonstrators rallied along the border with Israel, burning tires, the occasional Israeli flag and, for the first time, photographs of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Eight Palestinians, one of them a 16-year-old, were reported killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

The Israel Defense Forces did not explain what caused them to respond to the rallies with live fire, but in a statement said the violent riots took place at five sites along the Gaza-Israel border, including several attempts to infiltrate into Israel under the cover of a smokescreen, as well as additional explosive devices and firebombs thrown towards IDF soldiers.

The demonstration was the second of six planned protests Friday organized by Hamas, the Islamist militia that rules the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave that is separate from the West Bank.

The rallies are scheduled to culminate in a massive effort to flatten the fence separating the blockaded strip from Israel on May 14, commemorating Israels establishment 70 years ago. Palestinians call it Nakba, or catastrophe, day.

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The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza identified the teenager who was killed in Fridays clashes as Hussein Mohammed Madi. It reported that 293 people were wounded in the beleaguered Palestinian territory caught between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. The injuries ranged from bullet wounds to smoke inhalation.

The demonstrators, who dubbed their protest the Great Return March, rallied at five points along the border. The turnout represented a significant decrease from last weeks protests, in which more than 30,000 people participated and 19 were killed.

At least one Palestinian journalist, Yasser Mourthaja, was wounded in the clashes. He was photographed being taken from the clashes on a stretcher, still wearing his bulletproof vest marked PRESS.

Protesters rolled or hurled more than 10,000 burning tires toward Israeli soldiers stationed along the border fence. Wind blew the smoke over the Gaza Strip, but left southern Israeli communities largely unaffected.

Palestinian demonstrators cover their faces as they burn tires during a protest, on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on April 6, 2018. (Mohammed Abed / AFP/Getty Images )

Israeli army sources reported several thwarted Palestinian attempts to breach the fence that marks the border. In a Thursday briefing, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis told journalists Israel believed the heavy smoke, which he described as an ecological catastrophe, served two strategic purposes: to conceal the reduced number of demonstrators and to cover attempted terrorist attacks along the fence, or attempted infiltrations into Israeli territory.

For Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Europeand Israel, the rallies are an attempt to show force in the face of increasingly dire punitive measures exacted against it by the Palestinian Authority, such as severerestrictions on the flow of potable water and electricity into the strip, and what it perceives to be the apathy of the Arab leadership.

Alongside Israeli flags burned in the Gaza protests, photographs of the Saudi crown prince were also set on fire, a commentary on the princes visit this week to the United States  where, among other high-profile meetings, he also engaged in highly visible encounters with the American Jewish community.

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For the second Friday, Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, made a rare public appearance, mingling among the crowds near the city of Khan Younis, at a safe distance from the fence itself.

Sinwar said the world should wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at Al Aqsa, referring to the mosque in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has becomea principal Palestinian rallying point since President Trump declared in December that the United States would recognize it as Israels capital, without mentioning Palestinian claims for sovereignty over its eastern half.

Sinwar was greeted with cheers and hundreds of supporters chanting, We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs.

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Special correspondents Tarnopolsky reported from Jerusalem and Abu Alouf from Jabalya.

UPDATES:

12:35 p.m.: This article has been updated with higher death toll.

10:05 a.m.: This article has been updated with higher death toll, additional details.

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This article was originally posted at 8:05 a.m.
The decision Friday in ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hyes yearlong trial was delivered slowly, charge by charge, for more than an hour as the nation watched on live television and commented on social media.

In the process, Chief Judge Kim Se-yoons calm voice itself became the trending topic on Twitter, with transfixed observers describing his tone as sweet and gentle.

The courts final judgment, however, was not.

The judges found the disgraced former leader guilty of 16 criminal charges, including bribery, coercion and abuse of power, which involved some of the nations largest companies. Park received a 24-year prison term that, at age 66, could be a life sentence. She also faces a hefty $16-million fine.

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The defendant denied these crimes and did not show any repentance, instead making incomprehensible excuses, Kim said in his recitation of the three-judge panels decision.

In the end, the court largely sided with prosecutors, who presented their case for months, with the former president  the daughter of a transformative figure in modern South Korean politics  refusing to participate as she remained in a jail cell in southern Seoul.

The judges found Park guilty of participating, sometimes indirectly, in a scheme to coerce and solicit bribes from major South Korean companies, including Samsung and Hyundai. They also found that she abused her power by blacklisting her critics.

It is a sad occasion for the country as a whole and for an individuals life, said Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for Parks successor as president, Moon Jae-in. Today will not be forgotten.

An appeal of the ruling with these stakes would seem likely, but legal observers questioned that possibility given the former presidents refusal to participate in her defense.

Still, Kang Cheol-gu, her defense lawyer, expressed hope that the former presidents legal case hadnt ended. We believe that on appeal and at the Supreme Court, the correct judgment will be issued, he said.

Either way, Fridays decision represents a major milestone in a political and legal saga that has transfixed South Korea since late 2015.

This verdict is significant in that it demands not only political responsibility, but also legal responsibility from Park, said Lee Sang-don, a lawmaker from a center-right faction, the Bareun Future Party, that split with a main conservative party in large part over the presidents case.

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It was just over a year ago that authorities received court permission to arrest the former president, the daughter of the late South Korean dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled in the 1960s and 1970s as a strongman but also sparked its rise from the ashes of the Korean War into the worlds 11th-largest economy.

Her presidency  a first for a woman in East Asia  began to unravel in the fall of 2015 amid media revelations that a longtime confidant, Choi Soon-sil, who had no government position, had access to secret government documents under Parks control.

The investigation snowballed, drawing in more than two dozen Park associates, aides and business figures  including, for a time, the de facto leader of the Samsung empire  on various corruption-related charges.

Supporters of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye march in front of the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul on Friday. (Kim Hee-chul / EPA/Shutterstock )

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Choi was convicted of using her connection to Park to extort from businesses to benefit firms she controlled  a broad, multimillion-dollar scheme that implicated the embattled leader by association. A court sentenced Choi this year to a 20-year prison term.

Parks downfall came swiftly but only after media coverage, which was quickly confirmed by prosecutorial disclosures, increased scrutiny on her administration in late 2015.

Ryan Song, a law professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, said the Park case rose quickly to a cacophony because of South Koreas diffuse, immediate and aggressive news culture. What started as a small political scandal  a kitchen cabinet run amok, he said  snowballed into a national obsession, almost overnight.

Im wondering whether historians will look back and say that the legal and judicial institutions were swayed by the public sentiment that, again, was swayed by the media and the overall public dissatisfaction with the political affairs that were happening in Korea, he said.

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To this day, I dont think its been proven that President Park has personally financially gained, in terms of bribery, he said, reflecting the courts ruling, which also found that she indirectly gained by helping herself politically and by funding a friends businesses, which included national sports promotion.

The decision represents another remarkable turn for Park, who has been a tragic figure associated with some of the nations most historic events since the war, which remains unresolved since the 1953 armistice

A Park supporter reacts after a court sentenced the former president to 24 years in prison. (Jung Yeon-je / AFP/Getty Images )

An assassin killed her mother, Yuk Young-soo, in 1974, leading to Parks return from a university in Europe to serve as de facto first lady under her fathers leadership, which ended with his own slaying in 1979 at the hands of the nations intelligence chief.

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Park returned to power two decades later as a national lawmaker and conservative party leader. She sought the presidency in 2007, losing to Lee Myung-bak, who was recently jailed on corruption charges. He was accused of accepting bribes and embezzlement and tax evasion during his tenure in office.

Park won on her second try for president in 2013, boosted by her political pedigree, which attracted supporters nostalgic for a past era. She won narrowly over the current liberal president, Moon Jae-in, and struggled often as a national leader, alienating the public with a leadership style viewed by many as autocratic and aloof.

The sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, a tragedy that killed more than 300, mostly high school students, was in many ways the beginning of the end of her authority as president.

The allegations and lingering anger about the ferry sinking played a role in the paralyzing political scandal in late 2016, as millions of South Koreans took to the streets, Saturday after Saturday, to demand her ouster. The protesters created a political climate in which South Korean lawmakers felt compelled to act.

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The National Assembly impeached her in December 2016. A constitutional court approved the decision the following March, ending her presidency and any immunity from criminal charges. Prosecutors questioned Park and then received authority to arrest her, leading the onetime leader away, grim-faced, to a detention center.

The case has led to a lengthy, drama-filled trial that, under the South Korean system, has proceeded sporadically in individual hearings.

Parks lawyers resigned in October, protesting her continued incarceration, prompting more delays. She has in recent months refused to participate, including the decisive hearing Friday.

A small faction of supporters has remained. Hundreds gathered near the court to support the former president on Friday.

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Political reaction in South Korea largely split along party lines, though the nation could be moving toward constitutional reforms that might change the democratic nations ultra-strong presidency, offering hope that a long history of executive-related scandals could end.

At least three other former presidents, including Lee, have been jailed since the nation transitioned to direct democratic elections in the late 1980s. Another committed suicide while his family was being investigated for corruption.

Todays verdict proves that the kind of imperial presidency that we have today must not continue, said Shin Yong-hyeon, a spokesman for Bareun Future.

Stiles is a special correspondent.

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UPDATES:

11:15 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the case and comments, including a statement from Park Geun-hyes defense lawyer, Kang Cheol-gu, that theres still hope the conviction could be overturned on appeal.

This article was originally published at 6:40 a.m.
The longtime director of The Cadets of Allentown has resigned in the wake of a newspaper report on multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

Director and Youth Education in the Arts CEO George Hopkins resigned effective immediately, the YEA! board of directors of Youth Education in the Arts said in a statement Friday.

"This is a painful moment for all those who care about The Cadets and Youth Education in the Arts," the board said. "Though he denies the allegations, (Hopkins) believes stepping aside is in the best interest of the organization. We agree."

YEA! is a national nonprofit organization that runs the Cadets. Its offices are in the Musselman Arts Center at Hamilton and Sixth Streets in Allentown.

On Thursday, the Philadelphia Inquirer story reported multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Hopkins, some dating back to 1980.

The allegations range from making lewd comments and groping to rape, the story says. The women victims ranged in age from 16 to 37 at the time of the alleged incidents.

Hopkins, 61, was hired by the Cadets in 1979 and became director in 1982, the Inquirer reported.

Hopkins responded case by case, denying some allegations outright; denying "nonconsensual relations" with two of the accusers and denying any relations with one accuser while she was a minor.

"Many of these allegations are criminal in nature," his attorney David Blumenthal said in an email to the Inquirer. "Such allegations are inflammatory and defamatory and require no further comment. ... To be sure, Mr. Hopkins vehemently denies any criminal actions."

The YEA! board said in January board members received an email demanding Hopkins be removed or allegations of misconduct would be sent to the media.

"It was the first time any such allegations were communicated to the board," the statement said. "From the beginning, the board took the matter seriously and engaged a law firm to investigate the anonymous claims."

YEA! claims the accusers would not cooperate with the law firm's investigation unless Hopkins was removed from his role.

The Cadets was one of the thirteen founding corps of Drum Corps International. DCI said in a statement it is conducting its own internal review in light of the Hopkins sexual misconduct allegations.

YEA! said it plans to move forward with its programs, including a Cadets camp this weekend, and named Sean King acting CEO. The nonprofit's programs include: The Cadets Drum Corps, the USBands and the Urban Arts Center of the Lehigh Valley.

"We have a full schedule and intend to keep it," the board said.

As news of the allegations broke, members and supporters of the Cadets and DCI expressed frustration with the organizations' responses, especially before Hopkins' resignation was announced.

The drum corps community deserves better leadership than this. #TimesUp  Philip Nathan (@nathan42nathan) April 5, 2018

I am a Cadet.

representative of decades of working harder, longer. of pushing past limits and achieving the unthinkable. decades of commitment and family that surpasses any bounds.

I am a Cadet.

George Hopkins, is not.  Kodi Myles (@kmyles12) April 5, 2018

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Allentown's newest mayor has a new police chief to lead the department.

Mayor Ray O'Connell on Friday named Capt. Tony Alsleben the interim police chief of the city's police department.

Alsleben replaces Chief Glen Dorney. Friday marked Dorney's last day with the department, as he retires to become chief of the South Whitehall Police Department.

Alsleben was born and raised in Allentown, and has a degree in administration of justice from Penn State, the city said in a news release.

He joined the department in 2000, and assumed command of the Allentown Police Academy in September 2012.

Alsleben was promoted to captain two years later and his most recent assignment was administrative captain and the police liaison for special events in the city.

Alsleben is the department's sixth chief in six years.

Roger MacLean took the chief job in 2006 and retired in September 2013.

Joe Hanna served as interim chief and then retired, and Joel Fitzgerald was chosen after a nationwide search to fill the department's top job.

In 2015 news broke that Fitzgerald was planning to leave the city, and he resigned in October 2015 to become police chief in Fort Worth, Texas. The move came after Fitzgerald's son was acquitted at trial of charges stemming from an armed confrontation with two undercover Lehigh County detectives.

Fitzgerald was replaced by Keith Morris, who was named the new chief in 2016.

Eighteen months after becoming chief, Morris announced he, too, was leaving, to be police chief at Penn State University.

Morris was replaced by Dorney, who was named interim chief in March 2017.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Pennsylvania State Police are seeking a 31-year-old Allentown man as a person of interest in the slaying of a 42-year-old Easton man.

Willie Sam Wallace, 31, of Allentown. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Willie Sam Wallace was in a Land Rover before and after the shooting Monday night of Shyheem J. Smith in a Kia SUV in the 1100 block of Centre Street in Williams Township. Smith died the next day from a wound to the neck and head.

The Land Rover was later found in Easton, along with possible evidence from the shooting, police said in court papers.

Wallace, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 280 pounds, is wanted on a felony warrant out of Bucks County, police said.

He was charged Jan. 27 with aggravated assault, simple assault, three related counts and a vehicular violation in a domestic-related crash that involved a pedestrian being struck in the 100 block of South Hellertown Avenue in Quakertown, court papers and borough police say. Wallace fled after the incident, police said.

Wallace lived on that block at the time, police said.

He hasn't been arraigned on those charges.

State police have yet to identify the man who was wearing a black ski mask and gloves when he approached the rear of the maroon Kia Sorento about 9:30 p.m. and allegedly fired at least two shots. Smith was in the front passenger seat, police said. Two women in the vehicle were not wounded and one of them drove Smith to Easton Hospital, police said. He was pronounced dead just before noon on Tuesday at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, according to the Lehigh County Coroner's Office.

As they drove off toward the hospital, at least one of the women in the Kia noticed a Land Rover nearby and police, working off a description of the vehicle, later found a 2005 Land Rover registered to an Allentown man. It was parked in the 1100 block of Northampton Street in Easton and there was a ski mask next to it in the gutter and black gloves on the floor of the passenger side, state police said.

State police obtained video surveillance footage of two men walking away from the car, but have not publicly released that footage, citing the ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information on Wallace's whereabouts is asked to called Trooper Matthew Villano of the Belfast barracks at 610-759-6106.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Half a century later, Dorothy Mack was no less startled than she was the first time a 21-gun salute sounded in honor of her late husband.

The former Dorothy Stephens married Allen Glenn Mack on Dec. 16, 1967. With the Vietnam War reaching the peak of its bloodshed for United States troops, Allen Mack had enlisted four and a half months earlier in the U.S. Marine Corps.

By January, he was on his way to California en route to southeast Asia. Private First Class Allen Mack was killed in action April 6, 1968, in northern Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, less than a month after his 21st birthday.

Friday afternoon at Grandview Cemetery on Walbert Avenue in South Whitehall Township, outside Allentown, friends, family and fellow veterans assembled to remember Allen Mack on the 50th anniversary of his death.

He was laid to rest with full military honors back in 1968, his widow said. Friday's service paid tribute, complete with the "Marines' Hymn" and taps played by a bugler, and a presentation to Dorothy Mack of the American flag on behalf of a grateful nation. The Marine Corps League in Emmaus Honor Guard also gave a 21-gun salute. Members of the Leathernecks Nation MC Belleau Wood Chapter and Patriot Guard lined the service, holding flags.

"It seems like it was just yesterday," Dorothy Mack said of her husband's death 50 years to the day prior. "He was a great guy. He loved his family. Definitely loved his country."

Mack was the 15th of 16 children born to his parents, Lilllian Iseline Howath and Edward J. Mack. They grew up in the Slatington area and in Allentown, said his younger sister, Evelyn "Em" Crowson. The baby of the family, she was among those on hand for Friday's 50th anniversary memorial service.

"It's been a long time coming," Crowson said.

Joe Prusak, with the Lehigh Valley-based Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 415, had met Crowson at a Subway. They got to talking.

"They didn't have proper closure on the funeral to begin with, because of the time -- 1968 -- everybody was down on veterans," Prusak said. "The funeral went really quick. All the family members weren't able to attend."

Today, Allen Mack's extended family includes nieces and nephews of all those brothers and sisters. About 100 people were in attendance Friday.

Prusak served with the Marines in Vietnam for seven months and 21 days in 1970 before contracting malaria and getting sent home. His health maladies related to his tour continue today, with cancer he attributes to exposure to Agent Orange. The United States sprayed the toxic defoliant by the barrel-full in a bid to deprive the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army of jungle canopy cover.

Of 58,220 Americans who died during the war, Allen Mack was one of 16,899 killed in 1968 -- the bloodiest year for American troops. The years 1969 and 1967 saw the next highest death tolls, of 11,780 and 11,363, respectively, according to the National Archives.

Friday marked the second Lehigh Valley commemoration this week of a tragegdy from 50 years ago. Dozens of people marched through Bethlehem on Wednesday, the anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968.

"Today we are honoring the life of Allen Glenn Mack, who gave his life in battle for the cause of freedom and the love of his country," Prusak said during Friday's service.

Mack served with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, and was helping to protect Camp J.J. Carroll in northern Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam, according to information shared at Friday's service. On April 6, 1968, he was airlifted to the area around Hill 190 west of the village of Cam Lo, to rescue a comrade missing in action.

The enemy launched a heavy mortar attack, and two Marines were killed instantly. Mack was one of two wounded and was flown to Da Nang, where he died later that day.

"In his heart, he knew that strong men and women always stepped up when their country needed them," George Puzio, of Nazareth, said during Friday's service.

"Private First Class Mack made the ultimate sacrifice," said Puzio, who served with the U.S. Army in 1966 in Vietnam, and lost a brother, Sgt. Hank Puzio, to maladies linked to Agent Orange exposure, he said.

"It's difficult, even today, to understand why men and women of character step forward to serve willingly," he continued Friday. "Anyone who has been in combat knows that it is the men and women, like Private First Class Mack, who push through the dreadful elements of your mission and at the end of the day, rise up to personify those intangibles that we call commitment, bravery and selfless devotion to your brothers and your country.

"You go where others fear and will not."

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: On Friday, health officials in Warren County said the Phillipsburg-based Panera Bread is part of a "regional investigation" into the E. coli outbreak, which may involve other chain restaurants.

New Jersey health officials have confirmed two more E. coli cases in the state amid a cluster of cases spanning four counties and possibly linked to a restaurant chain.

The Warren County Health Department on Thursday confirmed that it -- along with the state -- was investigating certain Panera Bread restaurants as one potential source of exposure.

"The Department is investigating a possible association with a chain restaurant, but the association may be broader than a single chain restaurant," the state health department's statement said.

At least eight E. coli cases have been reported so far in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties, the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement on Friday.

The state Health Department said that all eight of the E. coli patients had been hospitalized but that five of the eight have been discharged.

In a statement Friday afternoon, the state noted that there may be other sources of the illnesses and that it is "still awaiting lab tests to determine if these cases are linked at all."

"It can be very difficult to determine where someone got sick ... They could have eaten at several restaurants, at home or eaten food purchased at a supermarket," the statement said.

Sarah Perramant, public health epidemiologist in Warren County, told NJ Advance Media on Thursday that health officials were looking into a Panera Bread in Phillipsburg one of the possible sources of E. coli exposure.

However, she noted that the matter remains under investigation.

Panera's corporate office, located in Sunset Hills, Missouri, did not return a request for comment on Friday.

There has only been a single E. coli case in Warren County so far, and some of the cases in the other counties were reported as far back as the third week of March, according to Perramant.

She stressed that people should not be overly concerned, saying that illness from E. coli is typically not that severe.

Most strains of E. coli are not harmful. However, the bacteria can still cause some awful symptoms, including diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and vomiting.

The state Department of Health reiterated on Friday that it plans to conduct many interviews with those who have gotten sick to gather food history data.

Nick Falsone for LehighValleyLive.com contributed to this report.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have information about this story or something else we should be covering? Tell us. nj.com/tips
By Morgan Wolper and David Berg

There are real and serious risks for children and teens who are forced into gay conversion therapy. Almost 700,000 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) adults have already been subjected to such horrors; about half received the treatment under the age of 18.

An estimated 77,000 more LGBT youth between 13 and 17 will be subjected to conversion therapy from a licensed healthcare professional or a religious or spiritual leader in their near future.

Conversion therapy aims to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The techniques can range from talk therapy to aversion treatments such as induced vomiting, electroshock and medication, as well as being sent to "gay away" camp.

The basis for this belief is that being LGBT isn't normal and must be "fixed." Statistically, there is a higher likelihood of attempted suicide, high levels of depression, and heavy use of illegal drugs in individuals who have experienced conversion therapy.

LGBT youth should not be subjected to a practice in which the negatives greatly outweigh any possible positives. The truth is, LGBT youth deserve real and actual health care and support that improves their lives rather than destroys it.

Sam Brinton, the head of advocacy and government affairs for the Trevor Project (which provides crisis and suicide prevention services to LGBT youth), was subjected to conversion therapy in his early teenage years. He said, "the therapist ordered me bound to a table to have ice, heat and electricity applied to my body. I was forced to watch clips about gay men ... I was supposed to associate those images with the pain I was feeling to once and for all turn into a straight boy."

Christy Mallory, lead author on a study on conversion therapy and LGBT youth by the Williams Institute, recently told the Huffington Post , "I think many people do not realize that conversion therapy is still being used, particularly by licensed health care professionals." The Williams Institute is a think tank at UCLA's School of Law dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.

There is no actual evidence supporting the efficacy of conversion therapies. Not one single health professional organization supports this so-called practice. They have deemed it unethical and morally wrong to alter a patient's sexual orientation which is more often than not physically and emotionally harmful.

Conversion therapy violates a health care provider's Hippocratic oath to provide safe care to patients. The job of a health care provider is to heal, not harm.

Multiple organizations, such as the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have spoken out against conversion therapy and identified it as a threat to the well-being of LGBT youth.

Allentown and Reading have banned this harmful practice. Why hasn't Bethlehem done the same?

Why hasn't the Pennsylvania Legislature even held a hearing on this issue? Banning conversion therapy would be following a string of actions by government bodies that recognize these harmful effects.

We must do our part as a community and not stand by idly. We need to contact our local and state representatives and tell them we support legislation to protect our youth. Let science and evidence, along with your heart, be your guide. It is simply the right thing to do.

Morgan Wolper, of Easton, and David Berg, of Cherry Hill, N.J., are juniors at Muhlenberg College.
A Phillipsburg man faces nine drug charges following a month-long investigation into heroin dealing in town, the Warren County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Oreste Herrera, 35, of 70 Schultz Avenue, was taken into custody after Phillipsburg police, the prosecutor's office narcotics unit and other law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant Wednesday, Prosecutor Richard Burke said in a news release.

Authorities seized heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and a large amount of cash as part of search warrant execution, Burke said.

According to information from the operation, investigators converged at Herrera's home and followed him as he drove a short distance to a parking lot along Memorial Parkway (Route 22). He was taken into custody there, and a Washington Township police K-9 team searched his car.

Police then searched Herrera's home.

He is charged with three counts of possession of heroin, one count of possession of cocaine, three counts of heroin possession with intent to distribute and two counts of heroin distribution, according to Burke.

The prosecutor's office narcotics unit partnered with police partnered on the investigation that led to Wednesday's arrest, Burke said.

Upon conviction, Herrera would face up to five years in prison and a $35,000 fine for each possession charge. The fine would be $75,000 for each charge of possession with intent to distribute.

Assisting in the execution of the search warrant and arrest were the Washington Township and Hackettstown police departments and New Jersey State Police.

Freelance photographer Tim Wynkoop contributed to this report.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Computer & Technology IT Pros Vote 2018 Brand Leaders for Networking & Storage

2018 Networking & Storage Market Leaders

06.04.2018 02:09:46 - SAN CLEMENTE, CAApril 5, 2018  IT Brand Pulse, a trusted source for research, data and analysis about data center infrastructure, today announced the results of the recent IT brand leader survey covering Networking & Storage products. IT professionals from around the world responded to the independent, non-sponsored annual survey in March 2018, asking which vendors they perceive to be leaders in these eleven categories:



 Bare Metal Switch OS

 Scale out Object Storage Appliance

 Embedded Blade Server Networking

 Scale out Object Storage Software

 Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing

 Scale-out File Storage

 Multi-Protocol Core Switches

 Servers for Software Defined Storage

 Multi-Protocol Top-of-Rack Switches

 WAN Optimization

 Open Networking Switch (Bare Metal Switch)



(live-PR.com) - Although Enterprise IT giants mostly prefer to sell their branded products, they are carefully building brand equity for their open networking and bare metal products, said Frank Berry, CEO and Sr. Analyst, IT Brand Pulse. This is evidenced by IT pros selecting Arista and Dell EMC as market leaders for bare metal switch OS and open networking switches.



Survey Highlights



NetApp

Scale-out File - Although Enterprise IT giants mostly prefer to sell their branded products, they are carefully building brand equity for their open networking and bare metal products, said Frank Berry, CEO and Sr. Analyst, IT Brand Pulse. This is evidenced by IT pros selecting Arista and Dell EMC as market leaders for bare metal switch OS and open networking switches.Survey HighlightsNetAppScale-out File Storage

NetApp retained Market leadership for Scale-out File Storage, along with accolades for Performance, Reliability, and Innovation. Dell EMC was named Price Leader and finished second as Market Leader; while IBM walked away with Service & Support and rounded out the third market award.



In 2018, digital transformation is only possible through innovative data management solutions that are performant and reliable in both data center and hybrid cloud environments. We are especially pleased to be recognized in the innovation category in back-to-back years, which reflects our mission to build future-ready solutions that fuel our customers digital transformation as they increasingly invest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, real-time analytics and other data-driven technologies, said Jeff Baxter, Chief Evangelist, ONTAP at NetApp.



Red Hat

Scale-out Object Storage Software

In this competitive grouping with thirteen vendor choices, Red Hat was selected Market Leader and closed out all remaining achievements in this class  Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. The number two and three market positions went to IBM/Cleversafe and Scality, respectively.



Organizations are adopting object-storage to handle the needs of the modern data center. We are honored that Red Hat has once again been recognized as a leader in scale-out object storage software, said Irshad Raihan, senior manager, Product Marketing, Storage, Red Hat. Red Hat Ceph Storage is designed to offer a single, open, and unified platform to handle the web scale object storage for modern workloads often require. Managing data on distributed scale out clusters, Red Hat Ceph Storage can simultaneously lower the cost of storing enterprise data and enhance customers ability to efficiently, flexibly, and automatically manage this exponential data growth.



Cisco

Embedded Blade Server Networking

Former runner-up in this section, Cisco, secured the Market Leader accolade this year along with honors for Performance, Reliability, and Innovation. After five consecutive years on top, Dell EMC dropped to the second market spot, but was able to hold onto Service & Support and Price; followed by HPE, which finished third overall.



Multi-Protocol Core Switches

Expanding this section from Ethernet to Multi-Protocol Core Switches, Cisco was voted Market Leader for the eighth consecutive year with over two thirds of the votes; all while completing the sweep for Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Following behind were Dell EMC and HPE as number two and three in the market category.



Multi-Protocol Top-of-Rack Switches

The ToR Switch segment has been expanded to Multi-Protocol as well, with Cisco winning over 65% of the votes to be named Market Leader (fifth year) and picked Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. HPE and Dell EMC captured the next two shares of the market titles, in that order.



WAN Optimization

Cisco successfully defended its 2017 Market Leader designation for WAN Optimization while clinching Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Riverbed and Citrix landed in the same positions as last year with second and third place market honors.

Dell EMC

Open Networking Switch (Bare Metal Switch)

Dell EMC headed up all six leader categories in Open Networking Switch for the fourth time: Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. HPE concluded second all around, along with Quanta QCT placing in the top three.



Scale-out Object Storage Appliance

Dell EMC picked up the entire lot of Scale-Out Object Storage Appliance honors  Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation  for the fifth straight year. NetApp and IBM garnered their own share of market votes, accordingly.



Servers for Software Defined Storage

Former runner-up, Dell EMC, became the 2018 Market Leader champ while sweeping the other award classes  Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Cisco dropped in market votes to second place, followed by HPE in third.



Arista

Bare Metal Switch OS

Arista repeated its Market Leader achievements from last years Bare Metal Switch OS and went on to claim Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Cumulus Networks and Big Switch ended up in the number two and three slots in the market.



Google

Enterprise File Synchronization & Sharing

As more vendors enter this sector, a new Market Leader emerged in Google; which also earned honors for Price, Reliability, and Innovation. Market runner-up, Microsoft, held on to Service & Support (and this time around added Performance Leader); leaving Dropbox, third place overall.



IT Brand Leader Surveys

IT Brand Pulse awards are the symbols for brand leadership. Winners are voted by global IT pros in surveys that are independent, non-sponsored research. The surveys are designed to measure the pulse of brand leadership in specific product categories. Within each product category, respondents choose the overall Market Leader, as well as the leader in Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Voters are provided with a category description at the start of each product section, a randomized choice of vendor answers, and the ability to write in a vendor, if not listed.



Global IT Pro respondents to recent surveys include: Advance Pierre Foods (Tyson Foods) - Advocate Health Care - Allstate - Allergan - AT&T - AXA - Bank of America - British Columbia Lottery Corporation - Bechtle - Belfast Health and Social Care Trust - BMPC (Naval Nuclear Laboratory) - Boeing - Boston Scientific - Brinker International - British Airways - CA Department of Insurance - Capital Group - Capital Power Corp - Cargill - CBS - Chevron - Citigroup - City of Los Angeles - Comcast - CoreLogic - Cox Media Group - Daiwa Capital Markets  Delta Airlines -DISA - Daybreak Game Co. - ESPN - Estee Lauder Companies - EverBank - FedEx - Fermilab - FHLBC - Foley & Lardner - Four Seasons Resorts - Freudenberg - GWDG mbH - General Motors - Infosys - Intuitive Surgical - Investment Technology Group - Japan Vietnam Petroleum Co - Kaspersky Lab - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - LRZ - Milliman - MSC Industrial Direct - Mylan - NASA - National Nanotechnology Center - NCR - NIH - NIS - NORC - Novelis - Ogilvy & Mather - Optum - OraSure - Orbital ATK - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - Porsche Cars, North America -Polycom - Raytheon - Ryder - Sandia National Laboratories - Scottrade - SEC - Siemens Corp. - State of Alaska. - Sysco - TD Ameritrade - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - T-Mobile - UBS - U.S.Navy - United Nations - United Airlines - USC - U.S. Dept. of Labor - UPS - Verizon - Walgreens  Walmart- Warner Brothers - William Blair...and many more.



About IT Brand Pulse

IT Brand Pulse is a trusted source of research, data and analysis about private, public and hybrid cloud IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking and operating platforms. Learn more at itbrandpulse.com.

StorageNetApp retained Market leadership for Scale-out File Storage, along with accolades for Performance, Reliability, and Innovation. Dell EMC was named Price Leader and finished second as Market Leader; while IBM walked away with Service & Support and rounded out the third market award.In 2018, digital transformation is only possible through innovative data management solutions that are performant and reliable in both data center and hybrid cloud environments. We are especially pleased to be recognized in the innovation category in back-to-back years, which reflects our mission to build future-ready solutions that fuel our customers digital transformation as they increasingly invest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, real-time analytics and other data-driven technologies, said Jeff Baxter, Chief Evangelist, ONTAP at NetApp.Red HatScale-out Object Storage SoftwareIn this competitive grouping with thirteen vendor choices, Red Hat was selected Market Leader and closed out all remaining achievements in this class  Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. The number two and three market positions went to IBM/Cleversafe and Scality, respectively.Organizations are adopting object-storage to handle the needs of the modern data center. We are honored that Red Hat has once again been recognized as a leader in scale-out object storage software, said Irshad Raihan, senior manager, Product Marketing, Storage, Red Hat. Red Hat Ceph Storage is designed to offer a single, open, and unified platform to handle the web scale object storage for modern workloads often require. Managing data on distributed scale out clusters, Red Hat Ceph Storage can simultaneously lower the cost of storing enterprise data and enhance customers ability to efficiently, flexibly, and automatically manage this exponential data growth.CiscoEmbedded Blade Server NetworkingFormer runner-up in this section, Cisco, secured the Market Leader accolade this year along with honors for Performance, Reliability, and Innovation. After five consecutive years on top, Dell EMC dropped to the second market spot, but was able to hold onto Service & Support and Price; followed by HPE, which finished third overall.Multi-Protocol Core SwitchesExpanding this section from Ethernet to Multi-Protocol Core Switches, Cisco was voted Market Leader for the eighth consecutive year with over two thirds of the votes; all while completing the sweep for Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Following behind were Dell EMC and HPE as number two and three in the market category.Multi-Protocol Top-of-Rack SwitchesThe ToR Switch segment has been expanded to Multi-Protocol as well, with Cisco winning over 65% of the votes to be named Market Leader (fifth year) and picked Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. HPE and Dell EMC captured the next two shares of the market titles, in that order.WAN OptimizationCisco successfully defended its 2017 Market Leader designation for WAN Optimization while clinching Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Riverbed and Citrix landed in the same positions as last year with second and third place market honors.Dell EMCOpen Networking Switch (Bare Metal Switch)Dell EMC headed up all six leader categories in Open Networking Switch for the fourth time: Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. HPE concluded second all around, along with Quanta QCT placing in the top three.Scale-out Object Storage ApplianceDell EMC picked up the entire lot of Scale-Out Object Storage Appliance honors  Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation  for the fifth straight year. NetApp and IBM garnered their own share of market votes, accordingly.Servers for Software Defined StorageFormer runner-up, Dell EMC, became the 2018 Market Leader champ while sweeping the other award classes  Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Cisco dropped in market votes to second place, followed by HPE in third.AristaBare Metal Switch OSArista repeated its Market Leader achievements from last years Bare Metal Switch OS and went on to claim Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Cumulus Networks and Big Switch ended up in the number two and three slots in the market.GoogleEnterprise File Synchronization & SharingAs more vendors enter this sector, a new Market Leader emerged in Google; which also earned honors for Price, Reliability, and Innovation. Market runner-up, Microsoft, held on to Service & Support (and this time around added Performance Leader); leaving Dropbox, third place overall.IT Brand Leader SurveysIT Brand Pulse awards are the symbols for brand leadership. Winners are voted by global IT pros in surveys that are independent, non-sponsored research. The surveys are designed to measure the pulse of brand leadership in specific product categories. Within each product category, respondents choose the overall Market Leader, as well as the leader in Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support, and Innovation. Voters are provided with a category description at the start of each product section, a randomized choice of vendor answers, and the ability to write in a vendor, if not listed.Global IT Pro respondents to recent surveys include: Advance Pierre Foods (Tyson Foods) - Advocate Health Care - Allstate - Allergan - AT&T - AXA - Bank of America - British Columbia Lottery Corporation - Bechtle - Belfast Health and Social Care Trust - BMPC (Naval Nuclear Laboratory) - Boeing - Boston Scientific - Brinker International - British Airways - CA Department of Insurance - Capital Group - Capital Power Corp - Cargill - CBS - Chevron - Citigroup - City of Los Angeles - Comcast - CoreLogic - Cox Media Group - Daiwa Capital Markets  Delta Airlines -DISA - Daybreak Game Co. - ESPN - Estee Lauder Companies - EverBank - FedEx - Fermilab - FHLBC - Foley & Lardner - Four Seasons Resorts - Freudenberg - GWDG mbH - General Motors - Infosys - Intuitive Surgical - Investment Technology Group - Japan Vietnam Petroleum Co - Kaspersky Lab - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - LRZ - Milliman - MSC Industrial Direct - Mylan - NASA - National Nanotechnology Center - NCR - NIH - NIS - NORC - Novelis - Ogilvy & Mather - Optum - OraSure - Orbital ATK - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - Porsche Cars, North America -Polycom - Raytheon - Ryder - Sandia National Laboratories - Scottrade - SEC - Siemens Corp. - State of Alaska. - Sysco - TD Ameritrade - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - T-Mobile - UBS - U.S.Navy - United Nations - United Airlines - USC - U.S. Dept. of Labor - UPS - Verizon - Walgreens  Walmart- Warner Brothers - William Blair...and many more.About IT Brand PulseIT Brand Pulse is a trusted source of research, data and analysis about private, public and hybrid cloud IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, networking and operating platforms. Learn more at itbrandpulse.com. Contact information:

IT Brand Pulse







Contact Person:

Alec Berry

Analyst

Phone: 949-713-2313

eMail: eMail



Web: http://www.itbrandpulse.com

Author:

Cheryl Parker

e-mail

Web: http://itbrandpulse.com

Phone: 9497132313 06.04.2018 02:09:46 -

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Stock Market News

China says it will take on the US "at any cost" after Trump threatens more tariffs 06-04-2018 08:11



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

FTSE 100 movers: United Utilities gains on upgrade, M&S hit by Citi downgrade 06-04-2018 13:29



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

London close: Stocks weighed down by trade tensions, weak US jobs 06-04-2018 17:38



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

Pembridge Resources announces Paul Fenby as new CFO 06-04-2018 15:38



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

Sector movers: Utilities sought out amid global trade tensions, market volatility 06-04-2018 15:45



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

Dixons Carphone's UK & Ireland CEO hired as head of new SSE/Innogy business 06-04-2018 09:07



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
Properties / Hotels

The new Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana takes Cubas first European style shopping arcade and turns it into a luxurious 5-star modern hotel experience with all the modern conveniences

Feb 12, 2019 | By Jonathan Ho

In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the beginning of a process of normalizing relations between Cuba and the United States. On 20 July 2015, after 54 years of sanctions, diplomatic relations have resumed and with it, the slow revival of international commercial relationships with the exotic Caribbean island nation; thus, while the US does not have direct dealings with the island state, Europe appears to be among the first, getting into Cuba in grand style with the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana.

Havanas First 5 Star Hotel: Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana

Founded in Berlin in 1897 but headquartered in Geneva, Kempinski Hotels S.A. is Europes oldest luxury hotel group with a history of more than 119 years, operating 75 five-star hotels and residences, across 30 countries and now, they have finally added Cuba into their portfolio of hotels with the Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana.

During the Republican Period, from 1902 to 1959, Havana saw a new era of development. Cuba was home to the third largest middle class in the hemisphere as well as a growing number of Cuban tycoons, spurring the development of numerous luxury hotels, casinos and nightclubs were constructed during the 1930s to serve Havanas burgeoning tourist industry. At the time, Havana became an exotic capital of appeal and numerous activities ranging from marinas, grand prix car racing, musical shows and parks; and then, communism and the Cold War literally put an end to all that. Hopefully, the Kempinski La Habana is a step towards those glorious swinging days of partying and living.

The new Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habana takes Cubas first European style shopping arcade (originally built between 1894 and 1917) and turns it into a luxurious 5-star modern hotel experience with all the modern conveniences paired with an enjoyable contrast of heritage and provenance.

The Kempinski La Habana is situated in the heart of the old Havana with a direct view of the Capitol and the Great Theater of Havana and amidst UNESCO World Heritage sites. Havanas First 5 Star Hotel in over 50 years is without doubt not only opulent but amazingly accessible to the historical sites like the famous Castillo del Morro, accessible within a 10 minute drive.

Experience Havanas first true luxury hotel in Cuba and indulge yourself while staying in one of Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La Habanas 246 large rooms or suites with extra high ceilings and French windows opening out to the old city. Experience a variety of restaurants and bars, which also includes a one of a kind cigar lounge (naturally) and a roof top Panoramic Restaurant and Bar with spectacular views over the old city. Kempinski La Habana is also equipped with a spa, fitness center and rooftop pool.

Prices from start $440+. Visit www.kempinksi.com. Alternatively, for reservations and inquiries, please contact reservations.lahabana@kempinski.com.
Motoring

Experiencing local hospitality, and open friendliness towards travelers, is not as customary as it used to be, when voyaging to faraway lands was relatively rare. But such welcoming warmth can still be found in the Anambas Islands of Indonesia, near Singapore, making this place a joy to visit.

Apr 06, 2018 | By Yacht Style

Sunreef 62 Blaze 11 Cruises Anambas Isles

Anambas has a lot more to offer. These pristine waters are a truly tropical paradise, largely undiscovered by passing yachties and private motor vessels. Here you can step back in time, swim in warm blue seas, azure lagoons, and view underwater scenery unparalleled in Asia.

Cruising through the Anambas group, modern day explorers will come across the occasional island village whose inhabitants all seem to have friendly smiles, and outdo each other in kindness. And those curious to visit this region dont have to travel to the end of the earth. An easy start can be made from the cosmopolitan travel hub of Singapore. Then a leisurely day-sail on a yacht brings you to this hidden gem in the South China Sea. Best time to travel is May-June to October.

Day 1 | Singapore To South China Sea

Depart in the morning from One15 Marina in Singapore. Customs and Immigration clearance out of Singapore is a quick and efficient on-water process, just a few minutes from the marina. You can sit back and, after clearance, enjoy a two-hour sail across the Singapore Straits to Nongsa Point Marina. At Nongsa Point, your captain arranges for clearance into Indonesia. You may go ashore to walk around and have a look at the marina. After completion of formalities, set sail for the Anambas Islands.

Day 2 | Pulau Bawah

As the sun rises, awaken to usually clear blue skies. The first of the Anambas Islands come into view. Arrive at Pulau Bawah in the late morning. The gorgeous lagoon is surrounded by really pristine white sand beaches and coral reefs. Swim and snorkel and, in between, enjoy delicious meals on board.

Day 3 | Exploring Pulau Bawah

Theres no way anyone could get bored in this amazing anchorage. Spend the day enjoying more swimming, snorkeling or paddle boarding. Rendezvous diving can be arranged. Or pick one of several hiking trails on the island for a vigorous jungle trek. The island is home to an exclusive resort project called Bawah Private Island. Opened mid-2017, this extreme-eco resort has safaritented villas and water villas that afford unbelievable sunrise and sunset views. Even before opening, the resort received Indonesian and international accolades.

Day 4 | Pulau Airabu

A pleasant sail brings you to Pulau Airabu, another equally stunning, azure-colored lagoon. With a little luck, you may be escorted by a playful pod of dolphins. And with more luck, you might catch a fish for a delicious seafood dinner. Local fishermen know how to conserve their resources. No trawling or fish nets are allowed. Just simple line and hook are used to fish for Tongkol (little tuna), Kerisi or Kerapu (grouper). At Airabu there are beaches, mangrove forests and coral reefs to explore in every direction. And very likely, there will not be another yacht in sight.

Day 5 | Lubang Tamban

Early morning, sail with the wind northeast to your next destination. The island group of Lubang Tamban is largely uninhabited, and surrounded by the clearest water youve ever seen. It has amazing coral reefs. Walk on the white sand beach, snorkel among beautiful corals, gather coconuts straight from the trees, and feel like a modern-day Robinson Crusoe.

Day 6 | Tarempa, Siantan Island

Tarempa, in the heart of the Anambas, is the capital and administrative center. There are many small shops, a bakery and a market offering a wide range of goods. Walking through this friendly and clean place is punctuated by waves and hellos. Youll be met with an openness and generosity that is humbling. Rent a moped, or ojek as theyre called in the Anambas, for a ride around town.

Dine onboard, or enjoy a local dinner with fresh seafood at one of the lively restaurants in town. Highly recommended is to try some of the local delicacies like nasi dagang, roti rendang, smokey tongkol, or the popular mie Tarempa which is spicy fried noodles with fish and egg. Local cultural events are organized now and then, such as a dance or kite-flying. Or you might catch a local wedding.

Day 7-8 | Jemaja Island Group

This group of islands is again largely uninhabited, and has numerous, wonderfully sheltered bays and coves. Youll want to spend at least one night at Pulau Ayam, a true gem, with fine white sand beaches, and the remains of a simple resort onshore.

The following day youll cruise to Padang Melang, which has the longest white sand beach in the Anambas. There is a small, colourful village to explore. Beyond the village lie shimmering rice fields, with waterfalls further afield.

Day 9 | Departure For Nongsa Point Marina

After breakfast, set course for the return trip to Nongsa Point Marina. Help take the helm, trim the sails, or lounge in the spacious cockpit or on the flybridge. Curl up with a book and relax in the stillness without interruptions. Then again, you might have a tuna striking the fishing lines, or dolphins surfing on the bow waves.

Day 10 | Return To Singapore

After checking in to Nongsa Point Marina in the morning, depart for Sisters Islands, Singapore, for inward immigration clearance to Singapore. After a farewell breakfast, disembark at One15 Marina Club in Sentosa around noon.

Summary

The Anambas Islands are an amazing, authentic place with kind and generous people, living at a blissfully unhurried pace. If you like to go off the beaten track, prefer active holidays and idyllic and secluded survivor-type lagoons, then Anambas is the place for you.

Blaze 11

Charter yacht Blaze 11, a Sunreef 62 catamaran, sails to Anambas from May to October. She has four spacious double cabins with private bathrooms, and accommodates up to 8 guests. Captain Ekachai and his two crew provide outstanding service. They have received high praise from prior charter guests.

For further information, please contact liesphuket@gmail.com.

Words Lies Sol | Images courtesy of Blaze 11
Yesterday, the Spanish regimes strategy of repression against the Catalan independence movement suffered a serious blow, when a German court in Schleswig-Holstein decided there were no grounds to extradite Catalan President Carles Puigdemont for rebellion. Additionally, a series of decisions by the Belgian justice system further undermined the position of the Spanish regime.

Catalan president Puigdemont was arrested in Germany on 25 March. The Spanish secret service had followed him as he travelled back from Finland, where he had attended a public meeting, to Belgium: his place of residence since he left Catalonia on October 29 to avoid arrest. Spain had issued a euro-arrest warrant against him while in Belgium, but then withdrew it when it became clear that the Belgian courts would not accept extradition for rebellion, a crime that doesnt exist in that countrys penal code.

The Spanish state thought that this would not be a problem in Germany, where an equivalent crime, high treason, does exist. Furthermore, Merkel is regarded as a close political ally to Spanish right-wing premier Rajoy and the Spanish state it would be a matter of course for the Germans to proceed with the euro-arrest warrant and extradition request. The German State Prosecutor recommended that the request should be granted.

Rajoy assumed his ally Merkel's justice system would extradite Puigdemont for 'high treason' (comparable to rebellion) / Image: EPP

Yesterday, surprisingly, the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Regional Court that had to take the decision rejected extradition for the crime of rebellion and agreed to release Puigdemont on a 75,000 bail pending consideration of the details of the extradition request for the lesser charge of aggravated misuse of public funds. This decision throws the whole strategy of the Spanish regime into disarray.

In its ruling, the regional court specifies that the reason to reject the charge of rebellion is that it cannot see there was any violence committed by Puigdemont during the 1 October referendum. This is a necessary requisite for the crime of rebellion, which in the Spanish penal code is described as a violent uprising against the state. Violence is also a necessary part in the German crime of high treason. The eligible offense of high treason was not met because it lacked the feature of violence, the German court declared, very clearly.

The whole case of judge Llarena in the Spanish Constitutional Court, involving dozens of Catalan politicians, is based precisely on the argument that they exercised violence to carry out the referendum and can therefore be indicted for rebellion, a charge that carries a jail sentence of up to 30 years.

As we have already explained, the judge has had to carry out multiple legal pirouettes in order to include violence in his arguments for prosecution. The organisation and conduction of the Catalan independence referendum was completely peaceful on the part of its promoters. There was violence, yes, but that was on the part of thousands of police and civil guard agents sent by the Spanish state to physically prevent the referendum, which used brutal repression on the day against peaceful civilians attempting to cast their ballots. Judge Llarenas argument is that the Catalan authorities must have known that the state would use its monopoly on violence to prevent the the referendum, therefore they are responsible for the violence of the Spanish state!

The decision of the German tribunal blows a big hole under the water line of the whole strategy of the Spanish state. Even if Puigdemont is finally extradited for misuse of public funds, the Spanish court cannot try him for rebellion. Since the charges against the Catalan politicians are part of one single prosecution it is very unlikely that the others can now be tried for that charge, meaning the whole prosecution will crumble. Furthermore, prosecution for rebellion implies inhabilitation for public office, even before trial, preventing Puigdemont and other Catalan politicians from being eligible for the position of president of the Catalan government, but this is not the case with misuse of public funds. The Spanish state could still prevent Puigdemont from being elected as president by putting him in pre-trial detention, which they will probably will, but the arguments against this will now be stronger and such a move will be seen, even more, as a politically motivated action of interfering with the democratic will of the Catalan people. The Spanish courts are already looking for ways to minimise the damage done. They will probably ask for the maximum sentence possible for aggravated misuse of public funds, which carries up to 12 years in jail. At the same time, unable to prosecute the others for rebellion, they could change the charge to sedition, which could mean up to 15 years in jail.

The embarrassment for the Spanish regime was compounded by two decisions of the Belgian justice system. First of all, a Belgian court decided to release Catalan ministers Toni Comin, Meritxell Serret and Lluis Puig. The judge has decided to not impose any cautionary measures nor ask for bail whilst they consider the extradition warrants requested by the Spanish state against the three.

Failing to get Puigdemont extradited for rebellion is a huge blow for the Spanish state's strategy of repression against the Catalan independence movement / Image: Flickr, EPP

Secondly, the Belgian Public Prosecution Service has opened an investigation into the use of a GPS tracker on Puigdemonts car by the Spanish secret services while he was in that country. This action, which allowed the Spanish intelligence to follow Puigdemont on his way back from Finland and decide the exact country in which they wanted him to be arrested, could potentially have been carried out against Belgian law.

The decision of the German judge is also an embarrassment for the Spanish left, which while vaguely condemning in general terms the judicialisation of a political conflict, had fallen short of denouncing the jailing of Catalan politicians, demanding their immediate release and opposing the extradition of Puigdemont. More importantly, they had not lifted a finger in any practical way to mobilise against the repression of democratic rights that all these actions represent.

The Spanish left has failed to mobilise in unequivocal opposition to the repression of Catalan democratic rights / Image: public domain

The embarrassment was aggravated by contrasting the lack of action by the leaders of PODEMOS and United Left, with the behaviour of their German, Portuguese and even French counterparts. In Portugal, both the Communist Party and the Bloco dEsquerda moved motions in parliament rejecting repression against Catalan politicians and demanding Puigdemont should not be extradited. The motions were defeated but managed to split the ruling Socialist Party. One clause of the motion, demanding a political solution to the Catalan issue, was passed. In France, the Communist Party issued a statement openly demanding the release of Catalan political prisoners and opposing the extradition of Puigdemont, something the Spanish Communist Party couldnt bring itself to do. For its part, the German Die Linke party adopted a democratic and principled approach to the question, demanding Puigdemont should not be extradited, visiting him in jail and offering practical and legal support (including a permanent residence in Germany) and mobilising in the streets against the extradition.

In Spain though, it was left to a small group of activists around Madrilenos por el Derecho a Decidir (Madrid for the Right to Decide) to mobilise to oppose the extradition of Puigdemont. Had the leaders of Podemos and United Left taken a principled democratic stance on this question and mobilised to oppose the extradition of Puigdemont, the blow to the Spanish state delivered by the German courts would be more damaging and the left in Spain would benefit from it.

As a matter of fact, the Spanish regime is in a very weak position at the moment. The mass movement of the 8 March womens day strike and of the pensioners (which continues unabated) have created a different mood, one of confidence and militancy. The ruling Popular Party has tried to agitate the themes of Spanish tradition and unity during Easter, but that can only have a limited effect amongst the hardcore of its rank-and-file supporters. The party is now immersed in an extremely damaging scandal as it has been revealed that Madrid Region President, Cristina Cifuentes, forged her Masters degree. The web of lies with which it attempted to protect her is rapidly unravelling and the case could lead to her downfall.

The bold and rebellious mood in Spain puts the PP in a weak position / Image: Isabel Serra

The ruling PP calculated that an offensive against Catalonia, possible including images of Puigdemont arriving in Madrid in handcuffs, would guarantee the necessary support of Ciudadanos for its budget, which is now going to be put to Parliament. Even that was a complicated gamble, as the PP and Ciudadanos do not have the necessary majority and require the additional votes of the Basque Nationalist Party, whose rank-and-file is not pleased with the jailing of Catalan politicians. The decision of the German court weakens the PP even more.

In these conditions, the Spanish left should be organising a broad front against repression, in defence of democratic rights and against corruption; linking this with the more general demands of higher pensions, against cuts and austerity and so on. Such an offensive, with mass mobilisations in the streets, could bring the government down. The meekness and cowardice of the leaders of the Spanish left is a major impediment.
Hieronymus Bosch was one of the most remarkable and original painters of all time. His works were painted five hundred years ago, yet they seem astonishingly modern, anticipating surrealism. This is the art of a world in a state of turbulence, torn by contradictory tendencies  a world in which the light of reason has been extinguished and where animal passions have gained the upper hand. A world of terror, violence and plague: a living nightmare. In short  a world very like our own, particularly given the current pandemic. Alan Woods examines Hieronymus Bosch from the standpoint of historical materialism. Originally published 23 December 2010.
(Lisa Cohen Photography)

By Kristin LaFratta

Former First Lady Michelle Obama is not running for president, and shes confident the United States is exactly where it needs to be in this moment in history. Thats according to Obama herself, who spoke to thousands at the Simmons Leadership Conference in the Boston Seaport on Thursday.

Obama spoke on a variety of topics during a moderated discussion with Simmons College President Helen G. Grinan. She took the most modest of jabs at President Donald Trump while providing an optimistic voice for those who remain distraught with the current administration.

Here are six takeaways from Michelle Obamas Boston visit.

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On Barack vs. Donald: "We've had two stark examples of what we can be."

Michelle Obama candidly acknowledged the current political strife in the United States. She said the country exists at a point in time where it must decide who it wants to be as a nation.

When it comes to her husband versus President Donald Trump, she subtly noted, Weve had two stark examples of what we can be.

She compared Barack Obama to a responsible parent, or the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time.

Now perhaps we have the other parent, she said, describing a fun parent who lets the kids eat candy all day and stay up late and not follow the rules. In the future, she said, the country can look back at those two experiences and reflect.

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On progress - or regress: "We're going to have some struggles as we push the needle."

Simmons College President Grinan euphemistically touched on the tug and pull of political partisanship, or what she called the grayness. She highlighted how millennials who have come of age under Barack Obamas presidency  like college students  are experiencing a great shift in national politics.

Were going to have some struggles as we push the needle, Obama said. Folks are alive today that were raised with a totally different reality.

Obama, 54, cited the fact that milestones like the passage of Voting Rights Act and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. occurred just 50 years ago, or within her lifetime. While she didnt live in the Jim Crow south or a segregated society, Obama said she was close to it and understood the history of it. The effects of those upbringings are still alive and well in many parts of the country, she said.

Progressive laws on issues of marriage equality and immigration reform have all occurred in the last few decades, which may make some younger people impatient when it comes to progress, Obama said. But, she added, two steps forward often means one step backward.

The arc of history is long, Obama said, echoing her husband. What were here to do is make a mark.

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On those who want her or Oprah to be president: "I think I can do a lot of things...but that's not one of them."

When it comes to the droves of fans and supporters who say Michelle Obama or Oprah Winfrey should be president of the United States, the former First Lady says the two famous women know what they do best.

Obama said that while she had not talked to Oprah about the subject, she believes there are other women who are more inclined and need to be supported to run for local office and higher offices.

I think I can do a lot of things, Obama said. But thats not one of them.

She noted that after witnessing her husband work as president for eight years, it takes a lot more than charisma to do the job. The U.S. leader needs to outsmart his or her top advisors, and voters should forget party affiliations, Obama said.

Thats what gets us in trouble, she said. We focus on Rs and Ds, and we dont look deeply into the competency and ability of people.

Obama also acknowledged that her husband dragged her kicking and screaming into the political arena, and that politics was never her passion.

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On Hillary Clinton: "Probably the most qualified person to ever seek the office"

Michelle Obama said voters should be less disheartened at the unlikelihood that she or Oprah would run for president, and more disheartened at the fact that voters failed to turnout to vote for Hillary Clinton last presidential election.

Clinton, Obama said, was probably the most qualified person to ever seek the office of the presidency. And she lost. Obama said women must own the fact that many female voters still feel uncomfortable voting for a woman, or a different vision of leadership.

She wasnt perfect, Obama said of Clinton. But she was way more perfect than many of the alternatives.

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On the future of the Obamas? "Identify the next generation of leaders"

Instead of running for office, Michelle Obama said she and her husband are working to cultivate a generation of new leaders who can be at the helm of the nations future. They created the Obama Foundation, through which they are building a main campus  the Barack Obama Presidential Center  on the South Side of Chicago, where the former First Lady grew up.

Our time is better used helping to develop thousands of Michelle and Barack Obamas all over the world, Obama said to applause. One of the goalsis to identify that next generation of leaders.

Don't Edit

On traveling: "I saw the world from the back door."

The former First Lady said traveling with the president is very odd. Between being shuffled through back doors, secret elevators and strange rooms, Obama said she likely saw more monkeys than people on her trips to India.

I saw the world from the back door, Obama said. I have a checklist of places I want to go back and see like a normal person.

She recounted visiting Nelson Mandelas private home with her family, doing a push-up competition with Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and meeting the Pope.
Steve Crosby, the chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission defended the agency investigators looking into sexual misconduct allegations against casino mogul Steve Wynn after a public records request showed they were aware of a story on a settlement a month before they launched their probe.

Less than a month before the bombshell Wall Street Journal report alleging a pattern of harassment that drew denials from Wynn, Bloomberg published a story titled "Steve Wynn's settlement with worker haunts him in ex-wife's suit."

State Police Lt. Brian Connors sent an email with just a link to the Bloomberg article to colleagues within the Gaming Commission's investigative bureau that same day. The email was obtained through a MassLive public records request.

The commission's top investigator, Karen Wells, received the email but did not read it, and she was not aware of the settlement until the Wall Street Journal published its article, a commission spokeswoman told MassLive. After the Wall Street Journal report, the commission launched an investigation into whether Wynn's now-former company is suitable enough to hold the lone eastern Massachusetts casino license.

Crosby, the commission chairman, said they had been monitoring lawsuit filed by Wynn's ex-wife Elaine and a separate lawsuit filed by a Wynn Resorts co-founder Kazuo Okada.

"So we were watching where those lawsuits were going and waiting until some facts settled out. So that article was not, you know, particularly different, that I recall," Crosby said, referring to the Bloomberg article. "We were just aware of the lawsuits, aware that they might eventually have some bearing on suitability or something else, but we were simply watching it."

Crosby said he does not recall whether he himself saw the Bloomberg article when it was posted online at the end of 2017.

The Wall Street Journal piece that ran in January 2018 had much more specificity, which prompted the commission's investigation into suitability, according to Crosby.

"That had some real meat and potatoes where we felt we had an obligation to get out there and start digging into some of the facts that were specific and proposed in the Wall Street Journal article," he said.

"But the Bloomberg piece and other sort of chit-chat about those lawsuits were very, very vague, with just these sort of vague hints and allegations, and with tens of thousands of pages of depositions, and so forth and so on," Crosby added. "Not worth looking at until we got the detail that came out of the Journal article."

After the Wall Street Journal article, Wynn stepped down from the company he founded.

The $2.4 billion Wynn Boston Harbor casino remains on track for a June 2019 opening, but construction proceeds on an "at-risk" basis, Crosby noted at a recent meeting of the commissioners.

The commission's suitability investigation is slated to finish by this summer.
A Tiverton, Rhode Island man, armed with a .50 cal. buffalo gun was shot and wounded by a police officer Wednesday night as he confronted officers in the doorway of his home, the Fall River Herald News reported.

The suspect, 44-year-old Scott Banville was transported to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where he was last known to be in stable condition in the intensive care unit.

Tiverton Police Chief Patrick Jones told the newspaper that police received a report of a domestic situation at a Pelletier Lane home at about 11:25 p.m. The caller said the male party at the subject home had a high-powered weapon.

When police knocked on the front door, Banville answered while holding a muzzle-loading, .50 cal. rifle. The black-powder gun was once the mainstay of big-game hunters.

Officers ordered Banville to drop the weapon, but he, instead, raised the gun and pointed it at police.

A Tiverton police lieutenant fired twice, hitting Banville with both rounds.

The Rhode Island State Police are investigating the incident. The lieutenant has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
HOLYOKE -- There are days when the only meal Rosa Rosado has is breakfast served at the West Springfield hotel she and her two sons have been living in since November.

Rosado arrived to Massachusetts after spending two months in a shelter in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit the island on Sept. 20, 2017.

"It was not easy. We left in desperation and were placed in a hotel in West Springfield where we are still desperate and depressed, trapped within four walls, every day fearing it might be the last night we have a place to sleep," Rosado said in Spanish to a large group gathered at Iglesia Centro de Restauracion on Chestnut Street in Holyoke.

On Thursday night, dozens of evacuee families, local political leaders, representatives for Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, and members of various service organizations and evangelical churches in Holyoke, met to hear from evacuees still living in hotels six months after the hurricane.

The event was organized by the newly formed Holyoke chapter of the Pioneer Valley Project, a regional faith-based grassroots organization.

The chapter is led by evangelical pastors Jose M. Torres of Iglesia Centro De Restauracion Emanuel; Aida Villegas of El Dios Incomparable; Miguel A. Cruz of Templo Ebenezer; Elena Oyola of Ministerio Buen Camino; Wilson Ramos of Iglesia CHARIS; and Carmen Andino of Ministerio Agape.

"We want you to know that as Puerto Ricans and as fellow American citizens you have our full support," said Ramos before saying an opening prayer. The meeting was conducted in Spanish with English-language translation available for those who needed it.

Many of the people attending the meeting are still looking for housing and employment as the Federal Emergency Management Agency's cutoff for temporary shelter assistance approaches on May 14.

Ramon Siaca arrived to Florida with his wife and three young children in November.

"We were left with nothing after the hurricane. As a father it was very difficult to hear my child tell me, 'Dad, I'm hungry,'" he said. "We went to Florida looking for shelter, but it was very difficult. Many agencies turned us away."

After three months they moved to a hotel in West Springfield with help from FEMA.

"We live every day with uncertainty. Can we stay or will we have to go? Will we have a place to sleep tonight?" he said. "We came here improve our situation and our lives. We are citizens. We have rights and we want to stay here."

Nilsa Santos, an evacuee who also served as the facilitator for the meeting said Siaca and Rosado are just two examples of the many people who are suffering since the hurricane hit.

"These are just a few of the stories that represent so many of us," she said. "We don't want to remain hidden in hotels, in silence. We want to rebuild our lives."

Santos and Jose Rivera, a fellow evacuee, addressed the local officials present at the meeting including Holyoke City Councilors Jossie Valentine and Nelson Roman, Springfield City Councilor Adam Gomez and representatives form Mayor Alex Morse's office as well as Warren and Markey's offices.

"We are not just here to talk about the crisis, we are here because we expect solutions. We are looking for clear commitments tonight," he said in English.

The group has asked for Warren and Markey to commit to meeting with evacuees living in hotels in the West Springfield and surrounding communities in Western Massachusetts withing the next 30 days as well as a commitment to finding a solution to the housing crisis for the families still living in hotels.

Representatives from both offices said they will take the information back Boston, but confirmed that both senators are willing to meet with evacuees.

Pastor Aida Villegas from Iglesia Dios Incomparable in Holyoke said after six months many evacuees are experiencing trauma not only from the hurricane but from the experiences they have had since then.

"We are calling on the Puerto Rican community across the state and across the country - along with our allies - to join Puerto Rican leaders in Holyoke in mobilizing our voices and our votes to demand a real plan and solution to this crisis," she said.
SPRINGFIELD -- A Dominican national deported after a drug trafficking conviction in the late 1980s was sentenced Friday to six months in prison after authorities here found him living under an assumed name following another drug arrest.

Franciso Siri, aka Javier Ciravello Perez, 48, was discovered by officials at the Hampden County House of Corrections 25 years after his deportation back to the Dominican Republic.

Siri in 1983 was admitted to the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident, court records show. By 1989 he had been convicted of cocaine trafficking, and was ordered deported in 1992.

In October 2017, a task force member for the U.S. Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was notified that a man using the name Javier Perez had been arrested for drug trafficking and was being held at the Hampden County jail.

"Perez" agreed to an interview and told investigators he was born in Puerto Rico and was a United States citizen. He told agents that his parents were dead, he had never been arrested and had never left the U.S., never mind having been deported.

He claimed not to know a lot about his home island. "He does not know a lot about Puerto Rico. When he was little, his parents traveled all the time," an affidavit written by an HSI agent states. He also made up schools he attended and gave a fake social security number.

Federal agents learned Siri's true identity through fingerprints and photographs.

After running his fingerprints, authorities discovered he had been sentenced to 12 to 15 years in state prison in Walpole in 1989 and faced a deportation order, but was arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking in Springfield on Oct. 12.

Siri pleaded guilty Jan. 19 in U.S. District Court in Springfield to unlawful re-entry of a deported alien. He is slated for deportation back to the Dominican Republic once again.
US Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she plans to serve out her six-year term if she's re-elected this year.

"It's certainly my plan," Warren, D-Cambridge, told the Dorchester Reporter's news editor Jennifer Smith during a town hall at the Boston Teachers Union building.

Warren, first elected in 2012, is frequently mentioned in national media outlets as a possible 2020 presidential contender.

Speaking with other reporters after the event, Warren offered the same answer on serving out her term if re-elected: "Yes, that's my plan."

The GOP candidates jockeying to take her on in November 2018 frequently point to her national profile as an indication she is interested in the White House. The candidates are state Rep. Geoff Diehl, former Mitt Romney aide Beth Lindstrom and businessman John Kingston.

Asked again if she's committing to a six-year term if re-elected, Warren said, "I'm running for the United States Senate in 2018. I am not running for president of the United States. That's my plan."

Warren covered a range of issues during the town hall, putting a dollar figure on a proposal to spend $100 billion over ten years to curb the opioid epidemic across the country.

Warren is scheduled on Friday to visit the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program and introduce the opioid crisis legislation with US Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland.

Warren also took audience questions from the friendly crowd. One person asked about impeaching President Donald Trump, who has frequently clashed with Warren.

"I want to be sober about this because this is serious business," Warren said. "Right now, I believe it is absolutely critical that the special counsel, [Robert] Mueller, be allowed to complete his investigation in full with no interference from anyone," Democrat or Republican.

Asked about the state of the MBTA, which sometimes struggles to provide reliable service, Warren said, "You get what you pay for."

The public transit system has seen under-investment for 30 years, and while she says she helped get federal funds for a Green Line extension project, it's "not nearly enough."

Asked after the town hall forum whether that means she supports a millionaires income tax proposal headed for the 2018 ballot in Massachusetts, Warren said," Yes." Advocates of the proposal say it would funnel more money to education and transportation funding accounts.

During the lightning round of questions, Smith, a coffee connoisseur, asked Warren which brand she prefers. "Is it really Dunkin'?" Smith asked, referring to the brand based in Canton, Mass.

"Uh," Warren said.

When Smith pressed her, Warren said, "I'm going to have to come clean on this. I don't drink coffee."
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation Highway Director for much of central and western Massachusetts has been placed on unpaid leave due to a "personnel matter," the department confirmed this week.

Patrick J. Paul, who has overseen MassDOT's District 2 operations in Hampshire, Franklin, Hampden and Worcester Counties since his appointment over two years ago, was placed on leave on March 30, MassDOT spokeswoman Jacquelyn Goddard wrote in a statement.

MassDOT would not provide specific information about the cause of Paul's suspension. State police confirmed that troopers were on scene at MassDOT's Northampton office when Paul was placed on leave.

"We had two department members present when a DOT supervisor notified Mr. Paul that he was being placed on unpaid leave," State Police spokesman David Procopio wrote in an email. "This is standard procedure when we are requested to do so. We did not 'escort' Mr. Paul from the office. He left the office without incident.

District 2 Project Development Engineer Richard Masse has been named acting director, Goddard wrote.

Paul, a civil engineer with more than 30 years of experience, was appointed to administer MassDOT operations in District 2's 56 cities and towns in March of 2016, according to a MassDOT press release at the time. The district, which reaches from Westfield and Greenfield to as far east as Barre, covers 2,000 lane miles of state highways and 500 state-owned bridges, according to MassDOT.

Paul represented MassDOT at public events on major infrastructure projects, including a $5.8 million project in Springfield's North End and the $250 million I-91 viaduct reconstruction project.
State Police have identified the 40-year-old New York man killed in a crash on Interstate 84 in Sturbridge Thursday night as Marlon Galeano.

Galeano of Elmont, New York, was killed after the box truck he was driving struck a second box truck on I-84 westbound in Sturbridge. State Police responded to the crash around 6:20 p.m.

Galeano's truck, a 2015 Izusu, was traveling in the middle lane when it entered the right lane, hitting the rear passenger side of the second box truck, a 2007 Hino.

Galeano was transported to a Life Flight helicopter but died as a result of his injuries while on the way to the landing area. The operator of the Hino was uninjured in the crash.

All lanes were closed for nearly an hour, after which the left travel lane was opened for travel. The two right travel lanes were closed for three hours.

This crash remains under investigation with assistance from the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Crime Scene Services Section.

State Police were assisted on scene by Sturbridge Fire and EMS and the state Department of Transportation.
NORTH ADAMS -- Months after allegations of irregularities in a fuel account, longtime North Adams Airport Commissioner Trevor Gilman has been cleared of all wrongdoing.

Mayor Tom Bernard said Friday that "Massachusetts State Police have closed their investigation, and the individual has been cleared of improprieties."

In late 2017, former mayor Richard Alcombright removed Gilman from the five-member commission that oversees the municipal Harriman-West airport, as first reported by the Berkshire Eagle.

Last year, Gilman told the the Pittsfield newspaper that "every accusation will be proven false." He said he has volunteered at the airport for 20 years.

Gilman told the Eagle at the time that his role organizing a flight school and fuel provider to fill the gap when Shamrock Aviation left the airport "created a perception of conflict" and resulted in "an effort to discredit me."



"It has hurt the airport and my reputation," Gilman said.

Bernard declined to immediately provide further details.
NORTHAMPTON - The Northampton City Council unanimously voted to pass a resolution in support of stricter gun laws Thursday night.

The non-binding resolution advocates for certain measures that it claims would help "reduce gun violence" across the state. It lists a number of proposed legal restrictions for firearm owners in Massachusetts--including universal background checks, the instatement of "extreme risk protective orders," state divestment from gun manufacturers and retailers, and data collection on firearm purchases. More detailed descriptions of the regulations are provided below.

The resolution was recommended by Council President Ryan O'Donnell and Ward 7 Councilor Alisa Klein. The Mayor's Youth Commission also contributed to the document.

The legislation was largely inspired by local activism, Councilors said Thursday. It comes after students at Northampton High School and schools throughout the Pioneer Valley participated in the national walkout on March 14, followed shortly by the nationwide March for Our Lives protest on March 24.

The document drew contrasting remarks from city residents during the meeting's public comment section.

Henry Pope, a firearms instructor for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife, said that he objected to the recommended legislation in the resolution--saying it violated fundamental rights of gun owners.

Pope, who said he has also worked as a firearms instructor for a number of other organizations, including Smith & Wesson, said that while "on the surface" the suggested laws appeared to be "common sense," they actually violated constitutional rights.

Another resident, Greg Goff, said he felt that the resolution did not go far enough because it failed to address police violence in the community. "It's time to talk about all the violence in this town, especially the locally sanctioned violence of the police," Goff said.

Goff went on to criticize the City Council for passing a resolution "with direct reference to the survivors of the Parkland shooting" weeks after it approved capital improvement funds for the local police department to purchase or upgrade tactical gear for its officers--a move that drew criticism from some in the community.

Councilors also commented on the resolution.

"This has just really gone on for too long," said Councilor Nash, explaining that he felt gun violence had drastically altered American culture during his lifetime. "We as a society have really gone too out of our way to accommodate the gun industry, gun ownership, and that needs to change," he said.

Councilor Klein said that, given recent gun control activism locally, statewide, and across the country, she felt the legislation was merely responsive to the concerns of the public.

Council President O'Donnell said that he thought the proposed laws were easily achievable given proper political support. He also thanked the organizers of the city's recent march. "You may look back on this some day and realize that you actually helped catalyze something," he said, commending the youth activism.

Councilors voted unanimously to pass the resolution. It will be revisited for its 2nd reading at the Council's meeting on April 19.

Below are listed more detailed descriptions of some of the gun control measures that the resolution supports. It includes:
NORTHAMPTON - New legislation in Northampton would provide a cap for the number of retail pot stores that could open in the city when recreational venues become legal on July 1.

The new ordinance would only allow 10 retail marijuana venues to operate in Northampton at one time.

The legislation was introduced at the City Council meeting Thursday night by Ward 2 Councilor Dennis Bidwell and Ward 3 Councilor James Nash.

Councilors referred the ordinance to the city's Committee on Legislative Matters for further review.

Bidwell and Nash discussed the ordinance Thursday, stating they supported the new industry but felt that the cap would protect the local community from an unexpected inundation by the new market.

Bidwell even said he thought it was unlikely that the cap would actually be needed but that it provided a necessary limit. "I think it's very unlikely that we would need such a cap because the requirements and the burdens that have to be met to complete an application that the CCC would process are substantial," he said.

Bidwell also noted that the idea of a cap had been supported by a number of local health organizations, including several prevention coalitions and the city's Board of Health.

Nash said that he felt the cap was a means of "insuring that our new retail marijuana industry will not grow in an unchecked manner."

Nash said that he "welcomed" the new industry but said that he felt that the cap was a "surge protector" that provided the new cannabis industry "room to grow" but that ensured the community was not hit with a "tidal wave" of new stores.

Cities across Massachusetts have been readying for the imminent retail marijuana market.

Northampton recently approved a bevy of legislation to address the new industry, including adjustments to current zoning laws and an ordinance allowing old mill buildings to be used for marijuana production.
SPRINGFIELD- Bay Path University's 23rd Annual Women's Leadership Conference kicked off Friday morning with thousands in attendance at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield.

Designed to be a day of making connections, hearing renowned speakers, and participating in breakout sessions and workshops, the conference's keynote speakers are sharing their perspectives on this year's conference theme, "Be Curious," motivating and inspiring attendees to engage curiosity in their daily lives.

Headlining speakers include:

Lena Waithe - Actor, producer, and writer who, in 2017, became the first African-American woman to win an Emmy Award for Comedy Writing. Waithe is one of Hollywood's most promising up-and-coming talents, who continues to grow her body of work with diversity, charisma, and comedy. Waithe debuted on the big screen this weekend starring in Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One." One of Variety's "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in 2014 and Hollywood Reporter's "TV Breakouts", Waithe expertly taps into emerging cultural sensibilities with a sharp wit, peaking to myriad experiences from her unique perspective and challenging audiences to think outside of conventional norms. (to be interviewed by University President Carol A. Leary at approx 3:15 p.m.)

Amy Cuddy, PhD - Social psychologist who teaches at Harvard Business School and is a New York Times bestselling author. Focusing on the power of nonverbal behavior, prejudice and stereotyping and how people can affect their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, Dr. Cuddy teaches thousands of people how to become more present, influential, and satisfied in their professional and personal lives. (was interviewed around 8:45 a.m.)

Nancy Shendell-Falik, RN, MA, Baystate Health; Lisa Tanzer, Life is Good; and Kirk Arnold, Data Intensity - Regional leaders in the fields of retail, healthcare, and technology, will discuss the obstacles they've overcome during a lunchtime panel with a moderator and an opportunity for audience Q&A (to speak approx 12:30 p.m.)

Stick with MassLive.com for a full report and more photos from the conference.
HAMPDEN -- A lawsuit accusing the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District of providing inequitable education to middle school students from Hampden will go to trial and be combined with a preliminary injunction to stop the closure of Thornton W. Burgess Middle School, or TWB.

Superior Court Judge Karen L. Goodwin, who heard preliminary arguments in the case March 30, has scheduled a status conference for April 13 at the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse in Springfield.

"During the hearing, counsel for the parties raised the issue of advancing the trial on the merits and consolidating it with the preliminary injunction proceedings," Goodwin said Wednesday. "The court now orders that the trial on the merits be advanced and consolidated with the preliminary injunction proceedings."

Goodwin acknowledged the "need for prompt action" in the suit, which seeks to prevent further implementation of a districtwide reorganization plan that calls for closing TWB and transferring its students to Green Meadows Elementary School before the fall 2018 term.

Goodwin's order to consolidate the preliminary injunction with the trial essentially eliminates the need for the injunction.

The defendants in the case are the school district and the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee, including Chairman Bill Bontempi and members Lena Buteau, Sherrill Caruana, Michelle Emirizian, Mary Ellen Glover, Sean Kennedy and Patrick Kiernan. Buteau and Glover are Hampden residents, while the other committee members live in Wilbraham.

Next week's status conference is expected to establish an expedited schedule for discovery -- the formal process of exchanging information about the witnesses and evidence lawyers plan to present at trial -- set a deadline for defendants to answer the complaint, and determine whether the case will be resolved by a jury or bench trial.

A final pretrial conference date will also be selected. By that date, all deposition transcripts, witness lists and exhibits, and other relevant documents are expected to be filed, including any motions to limit or prevent certain evidence from being presented at trial.

The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District's five-year reorganization plan -- crafted by Superintendent Albert G. Ganem Jr. and his leadership team and approved by the School Committee in October 2017 -- begins with the permanent closure of TWB and culminates in the closure of at least one Wilbraham school by 2022.

The plan also calls for transforming Minnechaug Regional High School, currently a 9-12 school, into a 7-12 middle-high school by 2022.

Hampden's lawsuit has exacerbated tensions in the school district, which has been divided since Hampden voters rejected a proposed middle school merger plan in October 2016.

The proposal, which was supported by Wilbraham voters, specifically called for amending the regional school district agreement to allow TWB students to cross town lines to attend Wilbraham Middle School.

Under the current agreement, Hampden students are educated in their own schools -- TWB and Green Meadows -- until they reach high school, when they cross town lines to attend Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham.

"The Town of Hampden is asking the court for protection for itself, its residents and students in order to enforce the right to an equitable and excellent education at facilities within the Town of Hampden as promised under the agreement," Hampden Board of Selectmen Chairman Vincent Villamaino said after the suit was filed in March.

The Town of Hampden and its select board are plaintiffs in the suit.
AMHERST -- The University of Massachusetts Amherst has issued new guidelines that ban consensual dating or sexual relationships between faculty members and any students or postdoctoral researchers they teach, advise or supervise, according to a statement issued Thursday.

"Dating or sexual relationships between faculty and students or post-docs are problematic in many ways, because of an unequal power dynamic between the parties," reads the statement, which summarizes an April 4 email from interim Provost John J. McCarthy and Eve Weinbaum, president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors.

Among the ways in which such relationships are problematic, the statement said, "The integrity of the faculty when it comes to evaluating students' work can be undermined, and trust and respect between faculty and students can erode."

The university "strongly discourages such relationships," according to the statement -- even when the relationships are consensual.

The policy reads, in part:

In order to avoid any conflict of interest or abuse of authority, any faculty member who has any responsibility for supervision, evaluation, grading, advising, employment, or other instructional or supervisory activity related to a student or postdoc is prohibited from entering into a sexual relationship with that individual beginning with the effective date of this policy. For relationships that predate this policy or that began before the faculty member assumed the responsibilities, the faculty member must immediately disclose the relationship to their immediate supervisor and, if possible, remove himself/herself/themselves from these responsibilities.

The university developed the policy through an agreement with the faculty-librarian union.

While the statement did not explain how or why the university and union came to discuss a new policy, the announcement follows a discussion about harassment on campus and beyond sparked last year by a report issued by the group Graduate Women in STEM.

The group's report included numerous accounts from women who said they experienced harassment or abuse either at the university or in other workplaces or academic settings.

In a blog post linking to the report, the group wrote: "This issue brings to light a prevalent and disturbing problem within STEM: that sexual harassment and sexual assault of graduate students is rampant, both on the UMass campus and throughout STEM academia, especially by those in positions of power."

University administrators met with graduate students in October to discuss their concerns. Through a spokesman, Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy, who attended the meeting, said that "fundamental to making progress is recognizing that across the nation sexual harassment occurs in the academic workplace and must be addressed."
If you're looking to face off against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, this may be something to put in the opposition research file: The Cambridge Democrat admits she doesn't drink coffee.

Warren sent gallons of coffee to striking Tufts Medical Center nurses last year and brought an order from Dunkin' Donuts, which is headquartered in Canton, to House Democrats who were staging a sit-in on over gun control legislation.

But she doesn't touch the stuff herself, she acknowledged during a town hall forum with Jennifer Smith, the news editor of the local newspaper Dorchester Reporter and a coffee buff.

"When you need coffee very, very badly, where do you go?" Smith asked.

"So, uh, we've got a Dunkin' at Porter Square near my house," Warren said. "We've got - see, I have to be ecumenical about this."

"No, no," Smith pressed. "If you have every single coffee shop lined up in front of you and you go to one of them, is it really Dunkin'?"

"Uh," Warren said, and then paused.

"Okay," Warren continued. "All right. All right. I'm going to have to come clean on this. I don't drink coffee."

The senator said she had a "half a cup" at a Dunkin' Donuts store five years ago "and I'm still working it off."

"I love the smell of it," she added. "I'm married to a coffee addict. And I love every part of the coffee scene. But I actually can't drink it. I just kind of absorb the caffeine out of the air."

Warren is running for a second six-year term this year.

Three GOP candidates are looking to challenge Warren: state Rep. Geoff Diehl, former Mitt Romney aide Beth Lindstrom and businessman John Kingston.

The winner of the GOP primary will face off against Warren on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
A victim of an alleged 2015 beating by off-duty Springfield police officers following an argument at Nathan Bill's Bar and Restaurant filed multiple lawsuits Friday, alleging that an array of private and public institutions violated his civil rights and worked to cover up a vicious assault.

Together the suits allege the fight was more serious, and more systemic, than a barroom dispute that got out of hand.

Rather, according to the complaints, it was a symptom of a deeper corruption in the city of Springfield and its police department - a culture of extra-legal privilege that allowed a group of off-duty officers to reasonably believe they could beat four men without consequence, aided by a permissive bar owner, neglectful medical responders and uniformed colleagues willing to lie on their behalf.

"Through this action, [the plaintiff] seeks damages for personal and emotional injuries suffered as a result of the violent and racist conduct of the Springfield Police Department," one federal lawsuit filed by alleged beating victim Paul Cumby claims.

Springfield City Solicitor Ed Pikula wrote in an email that the city would respond in court. The Springfield police patrolman's union did not return a request for comment.

Cumby, who was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken leg and loosened teeth in the altercation, is suing the individual officers allegedly involved as well as the police department as a whole. He is also suing AMR, the emergency response company whose EMTs allegedly failed to properly treat him.

AMR said it would not comment on pending litigation.

Michelle Cruz, Cumby's attorney, said she also filed a suit Friday afternoon in Hampden County Superior Court against Nathan Bill's for allegedly tolerating the aggressive behavior of the off-duty officers.

Daniel Kelly, the bar's attorney, said he looks forward to responding to the suit in court.

"It's riddled with inaccuracies," he said. "They misstate facts about who owns the bar and who doesn't, among other things."

Jackie and Jozelle Ligon, Cumby's cousins, and their friend Michael Cintron also plan to file suit today against the police department and the Hampden County District Attorney's Office, their attorney Joe Smith III told MassLive.

Over the three years since the altercation, a picture of what happened the night of April 7, 2015 has come into gradual focus, through media interviews with the alleged victims, internal police investigations obtained by MassLive following a legal dispute with the city and District Attorney Anthony Gulluni's public report released after his office declined to press charges.

The DA's report, which concluded that the Ligon brothers, Cumby and Cintron were victims but that they could not identify their attackers with enough certainty to support criminal charges, found that the men were getting drinks at Nathan Bill's when an argument began between Jozelle Ligon and a group of off-duty officers at the bar.

Cumby and Ligon have said that Jozelle was whistling at a bartender for a drink, but that Officer Daniel Billingsley accused him of whistling at Officer Melissa Rodriguez, his girlfriend. Billingsley and Rodriguez were at the bar with fellow officers Christian Cicero, Anthony Cicero and Igor Basovskiy, according to the department's Internal Investigations Unit report.

After a verbal argument, which Cumby and Jackie Ligon said they attempted to defuse, Billingsley allegedly told staff that the men were not welcome in the bar. Uniformed police officers responded to the bar but made no arrests as the dispute remained nonviolent.

Cumby and his group left the bar, where they separated, with Cumby walking down the street while speaking to his girlfriend on the phone and the Ligons and Cintron waiting in the parking lot of a nearby store for Cumby to return and drive them home, according to interviews with the alleged victims.

Cumby, who has said he was afraid he would be targeted and pulled over if he drove away while the off-duty officers were still at the bar, reunited with the other men around 2 a.m. - and saw a crowd of ten to 15 bearing down on them, he said.

Leading the way was Billingsley, according to Cumby's lawsuit, who allegedly began yelling at the men and hit Jozelle. Jackie threw a punch in return, and Cumby - who has said he was trying to peacefully end the fight -- was allegedly struck from behind by a baton and knocked unconscious.

When he awoke, uniformed officers and EMTs were on scene. Cumby was escorted back to the bar and drove away in his truck, according to statements officers made to internal investigators.

But in his lawsuits, Cumby alleges that their account of the night was incomplete - and in some cases, actively dishonest.

The initial police report by Officer Darren Nguyen was brief, did not include any mention of the alleged presence of off-duty officers and described Cumby's injuries as "scrapes and cuts" when he was concussed and had a broken leg. It also described Cumby and his group as "uncooperative."

But, according to Cumby's federal lawsuit, he did cooperate, giving a full description of what happened to Nguyen's partner Shavonne Lewis. Lewis did not author her own report and no reference to her interview with Cumby made it into Nguyen's account - an omission that Cumby alleges was part of a deliberate coverup.

That suit, which names the department, off-duty and responding officers, supervisors responsible for training, the captain who conducted the criminal investigation and Commissioner John Barbieri, claims the department violated Cumby's constitutional rights.

"These claims arise from the physical assault and emotional abuse suffered by the Plaintiff at the hands of the Officers of the City of Springfield Police Department, and their subsequent cover-up, including but not limited to failure to intervene, failure to investigate, failure to author accurate police reports, failure to facilitate Plaintiff's report of the assault and battery, and failure to discipline the defendant officers for their misconduct," the lawsuit says.

No officers have yet undergone disciplinary hearings related to the case. A statewide grand jury, which is still ongoing, heard testimony from the alleged victims last month, raising the possibility of future criminal indictments from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office.

Cumby's federal suit includes several allegations also uncovered by the department's internal investigation unit, including that Officer John Wajdula learned of the fight from a Nathan Bill's bartender he was dating and ran criminal record checks on the victims. The suit also alleges that when Cumby returned to the Nathan Bill's parking lot after the fight to pick up his truck, he saw Officer Jose Diaz standing outside and several of the officers who attacked him inside the bar.

"The Plaintiff could see through Nathan Bill's front windows that the other assailant police officers had taken refuge in the bar after closing time," the suit claims. "The Plaintiff then pointed out his assailants in Nathan Bill's to Officers Nguyen and Lewis who replied that they would go inside the bar and interview them as soon as they left the scene. Neither Lewis nor Nguyen provided any documentation, reports or statements indicating they had interviewed the perpetrator officers hiding in Nathan Bill's."

When IIU investigator Bill Andrews asked Diaz about his presence at the bar after the fight, Diaz clammed up and asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, Andrews wrote in his report. Andrews also noted in the internal investigation that responding officers could not provide explanations for why they did not search the inside of Nathan Bill's for suspects.

But the suit's claims reach further than what was included in the IIU report. Cumby alleges that Lewis appeared to be diligently taking notes on his description of the assault - until a male uniformed officer pulled her aside and whispered to her. She then stopped taking his statement, the suit claims.

The federal suit also contests statements officers gave to internal investigators that the men were uncooperative, accusing Sgt. Louis Bortolussi, who responded to the aftermath of the fight, of falsely stating there were no witnesses or suspects on scene. Cumby maintains that he told police his assailants were off-duty officers shortly after regaining consciousness.

The suit also documents Cumby's struggles to report the assault, claiming that he attempted to file a complaint the next day but was kept waiting for 45 minutes without assistance.

He returned to police headquarters twice more, waiting two hours one visit and four hours on another, the suit claims.

"While waiting, the Plaintiff went to the information window and requested assistance in filing a report, and each time he was ignored. The Plaintiff could see from his vantage point police officers laughing and looking at him while he waited in the lobby," the suit claims. "Eventually, an officer came out on the last occasion, after four hours, and told the Plaintiff he had to report the incident to internal affairs."

Internal police emails obtained by MassLive show that department officials later substantiated Cumby's claims of waiting hours to make his complaint.

The suit also accuses Capt. Trent Duda and Lt. Norman Charest, who interviewed Cumby in July for their criminal investigation into the fight, of showing Cumby a photo array of over a thousand images "in an effort to dilute his memory and frustrate any real investigation of the perpetrators."

More broadly, the suit alleges that Barbieri and Chief Paul Williams have failed to rein in officers despite a history of misconduct and brutality allegations against the department, helping perpetuate a culture of impunity.

"The Springfield Police Department officers knew they would incur no significant risk of discipline or dismissal from employment for participating in or covering up the assault and battery of the Plaintiff, because all officers were aware of the police and practices of the City, Barbieri and Williams in not substantially investigating allegations of constitutional violations by the officers and not disciplining its police officers for such violations," the suit claims.

In another federal suit Cumby takes aim at both AMR, the emergency service company whose EMTs responded to the fight

In the AMR suit, which accused the company of negligience and civil rights violations, Cumby alleges that the EMT misdiagnosed him and did not check him for a concussion - despite his being knocked unconscious by a blow to the head.

Rather, the suit claims, an EMT suggested Cumby had "had too much to drink and should go home and sleep it off."

A male EMT allegedly diagnosed Cumby's broken leg as a sprain without asking him if it could bear weight, and did not check his teeth despite Cumby saying it felt like they had been knocked loose.

"Instead, John Doe told the Plaintiff, 'You should be fine,' " the suit claims.

Cumby, feeling as though the EMT had discouraged him from seeking medical treatment, continued to put weight on his leg and went to his cousin's house, where he vomited and fainted twice, according to the suit. It was not until the next day that he went to the emergency room at Baystate Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a head injury, loose teeth and a complex fracture of his calf bone.

The suit against the police department is also filed on behalf of his young daughter. Cumby lost his long-time job as a sprinkler system installer because of his injuries and has struggled to financially provide for her as a result, the suit claims.

Cumby's suit against the police department seeks $10 million in damages, and the suit against AMR seeks $2 million.

"Mr. Cumby is seeking justice for the life changing injuries he sustained," Cruz told MassLive.
Worcester Regional Airport has a new landing system that allows planes to touch down in low visibility - a major improvement aimed at attracting more commercial carriers to the city.

The $32 million Category III landing system is now up and running, allowing planes to land in low-visibility weather conditions. For Worcester Regional, it's an essential. The area is often foggy due to its location atop Tatnuck Hill, which used to cause planes to have to divert to other airports.

"It's going to allow landing in very low visibility conditions, so it's going to essentially make Worcester an airport that can be flown in and out of in almost any condition," said Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis, chairman of the Massachusetts Port Authority's Board of Directors.

Massport owns and operates Worcester Regional Airport.

Evangelidis said he expects the new system to attract more commercial carriers to the city. Massport is planning an announcement of a new "commercial service" to Worcester at 8 a.m. Monday. MassLive has learned the announcement will reveal a new airline carrier to operate out of the airport.

JetBlue already operates out of Worcester.

The CAT III system was installed in December. It adds more lighting to Worcester Regional's two runways, helps approaching planes align vertically with a glide slope indicator that provides information about the plane's elevation and angle of approach, and helps approaching planes to better center on the runway with a localizer.

The system also includes a 1,000-foot jug-handle partial parallel taxiway that allow planes to turn around or move to the side if needed.

Evangelidis said airports are a key component of the economic engine of a community.

"You really need to have the ability for people to be able to fly in and out - so business travelers, corporate executives, college students and the traditional leisure travel person - it will have enormous ripple effects for economic development when you have an airport of this level," he said.

Federal grants and money from Massport was used to pay for the CAT III system. Now, planes can land with visibility down to 600 feet or a 50-foot ceiling. Previously, they were limited to 1,800-foot visibility with a 200-foot ceiling.

The high-tech system helped entice JetBlue to add flights to New York City, which will begin in May. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes previously said he was "very excited" about having the CAT III system in Worcester.

JetBlue already flies from Worcester to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

Evangelidis believes the CAT III also helped attract the new commercial carrier that will be announced Monday.

"I think they've watched the success of JetBlue and they've seen that if you bring the flights, people will frequent them and they're excited to offer this additional flight," he said. "We have great expectations that we're going to see significant increases in passenger activity at Worcester and we have every expectation that we're going to draw additional carriers. This is just the beginning of what we hope will be a very prosperous and long trend."
Responding to reports of mistreatment and miscarriages at ICE facilities, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, asked federal immigration officials this week to provide information regarding a policy change that impacts the number of pregnant women being detained.

Warren, along with other Senate Democrats, penned a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Thomas Homan seeking information on why ICE changed its detention policy, how many pregnant women are in immigration detention and what pregnancy-related health services are available at the agency's detention centers.

The Democrats, who argued that ICE implemented a policy of presumptive release for pregnant women in 2016 because its detention centers were ill-equipped to address their needs, asked why Homan reversed that practice in a December 2017 directive.

They noted that the move came despite a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report that found "significant issues" at four of five inspected ICE detention facilities, and a case in which a detained Honduran woman seeking asylum had a miscarriage after not receiving proper medical care.

"In light of reports that ICE has failed to provide critical medical care to pregnant women in immigration detention, resulting in miscarriages and other negative health outcomes, this policy change is particularly alarming," they wrote.

The senators raised concerns that ICE's new policy of determining whether to detain or release a pregnant woman on a case-by-case basis could result in an increase in the number of pregnant women in custody.

Since the directive took effect, ICE has detained more than 500 pregnant women, with 35 in the agency's custody as of March 20, they said.

The senators further took issue with what they called the directive's elimination of policies that "help ensure pregnant women in immigration detention are timely and properly identified and provided with appropriate care."

"Once immigrants are in the custody of ICE officials, it is the responsibility of ICE to ensure that their basic medical and health needs are met," they wrote. "By reducing protections available to pregnant immigrants, this new policy jeopardizes the health and well-being of an exceptionally vulnerable group of people -- many of whom are fleeing sexual and physical violence, or experience it as they travel to the United States -- and threatens to exacerbate the trauma that led many of those women to seek refuge in the United States in the first place."

Seeking clarifications on ICE's policy of detaining pregnant women, the lawmakers asked Homan to respond to a series of questions by April 19 and to provide a staff-level briefing on those answers by April 26.

ICE officials said the agency changed its policy on detaining pregnant women to better align with President Donald Trump's January 2017 executive order, which directed officials to enforce immigration laws "against all removable aliens."

"In accordance with the (executive order,) ICE will allow the exercise of discretion to be made on a case-by-case basis and in a manner that no longer exempts a category of aliens from enforcement of the nation's immigration laws," the agency said.

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada; Kamala Harris, D-California; and Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, joined Warren in sending the letter to ICE officials.

Warren and other Senate Democrats introduced legislation last summer that would overhaul how the federal prison system treats incarcerated women and better prepare female inmates to return to their communities.
WEST SPRINGFIELD -- Just as city officials were celebrating a string of success stories in West Springfield Public Schools -- teachers being recognized for excellence and the High School attaining its lowest dropout rate and highest graduation rate ever -- the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a new charter school for West Side, casting a pall over the celebratory mood.

The news didn't sit well with Mayor William C. Reichelt, who believes opening a West Springfield branch of the Chicopee-based Hampden Charter School of Science will have a "deleterious impact" on city public schools and lead to higher taxes.

Sen. James T. Welch and Rep. Michael J. Finn, the Democratic state lawmakers who represent West Side on Beacon Hill, are also opposed to a charter school opening in town. Both legislators have raised concerns about the lack of public input before the plan was approved by the state.

Prior to approval, Welch and Finn had voiced concerns to Jeff Wulfson, acting commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Now, they're taking their concerns to Gov. Charlie Baker to see what, if anything, he can do to remedy the situation.

"The process by which this decision was made did not take into account the voice of West Springfield's public school officials, parents, or teachers, the majority of whom opposed this move," Welch and Finn wrote in a letter to Baker this week.

All indicators had pointed to Westfield as the community most likely to host a new branch of the Hampden Charter School of Science, or HCSS. The only public hearing to take place on the issue was held at Westfield State University, according to Welch and Finn, noting that "financial burdens" prompted HCSS officials to pull out of Westfield at the last minute and set their sights on West Springfield.

In West Side, HCSS has signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield for 475-485 Main St., a 3.3-acre property that was formerly home to Immaculate Conception-St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. HCSS officials say the Chicopee school will now be referred to as HCSS-East, while the West Springfield site will be known as HCSS-West.

Because the only area public meeting about the charter school plan was held in Westfield, "West Springfield stakeholders missed out on the opportunity to voice their concerns and present an argument on why West Springfield would not be a proper host community for the charter school," Welch and Finn said in their letter to the governor.

"After it became public knowledge that HCSS-W was trying to relocate to West Springfield, there was not one public hearing and a public commentary period of only two weeks, in which dozens of residents emailed the commissioner to only receive a generic, premeditated response in return," the lawmakers said.

"In short, we feel there was no true public commentary period and that the conversations with acting Commissioner Jeff Wulfson were more of a courtesy than a genuine conversation," they said. "It is wholly unfair to the students of West Springfield to see their schools lose funding on something over which the town had no say."

Wulfson visited West Springfield on March 9, joining Reichelt, Welch, Finn and Tarkan Topcuoglu, the leader of HCSS, for a tour of the Main Street site. Missing was Superintendent Michael J. Richard, who was unaware of the tour, according to Welch and Finn, who referred to his absence as "a massive oversight."

On March 26, the legislators received a copy of a March 9 letter from Topcuoglu to Wulfson stating that HCSS would not seek any transportation reimbursement from the state for the 2018-19 school year. The letter was dated "the same day we took the tour," Welch and Finn said.

"This offer was not brought up to us or the mayor during the visit," the lawmakers said. "It is these types of actions that make us believe that this decision was made up beforehand, and all other steps were nothing more than a formality before granting HCSS-W the ability to move to West Springfield."

Meanwhile, both Welch and Finn commended West Springfield Public Schools for "continually improving from year to year," including the district's high graduation and low dropout rates.

HCSS coming to West Side "completely disregards the tremendous work being done by West Springfield's teachers and students and threatens to jeopardize the recent success the district is seeing," they said. "Simply put: The public school system is working perfectly in West Springfield and there is no need to fix what is not broken."

The strides being made in city public schools, coupled with "overwhelming opposition among teachers, parents and students" to HCSS, precludes the need for a charter school in West Side, said Welch and Finn. Both lawmakers have vowed to "continue to work with state and local officials to ensure West Springfield Public Schools do not lose any funding."

Another area of concern for Mayor Reichelt is the book "Empire of Deceit: An Investigation of the Gulen Charter School Network," which alleges that HCSS and similar Massachusetts charter schools in Everett and Saugus have connections to Apple Education Services of New Jersey and Ace It Education of Boston. Both of these entities have alleged ties to Fethullah Gulen, a controversial Turkish cleric and multibillionaire who lives in Pennsylvania.

Gulen has been accused of trying to destabilize Turkey and overthrow its democratically elected government from the safety of his 26-acre gated compound in the Pocono Mountains, where he has lived for almost two decades.

Gulen has denied any part in a July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, which the Turkish government has blamed on the "Gulen movement" -- a designated terrorist organization, according to the Republic of Turkey.

Topcuoglu, who will now serve as CEO of both the Chicopee and West Springfield schools, says HCSS has no financial ties to Gulen, a moderate Muslim imam, or any of the charter schools affiliated with the cleric.

"We are an independent public school," Topcuoglu told The Republican / MassLive.com earlier this week. "We are not a religious school at all. It's not the purpose of this school. We are a college prep school."

HCSS-West is slated to open in September in West Springfield.
WESTFIELD -- Westfield State University announced Friday that MSNBC has reversed its decision to hold a live town hall with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, on the school's campus following backlash from some students.

University President Ramon S. Torrecilha, in an afternoon message sent to the campus community, confirmed that the event planned for April 13 would no longer take place.

Torrecilha added that while work had been underway to hold the live MSNBC Town Hall on Dever Stage, the network decided to back out of hosting it at the university in wake of "disappointment and passionate opposition" from students involved in the spring musical's production.

"Although this is a missed opportunity that was sure to help the prominence of our institution, the relevance of public higher education in Massachusetts and create an amazing experience for students, faculty, and staff alike, the spring theater production will now move forward without interruption," he said in a statement. "Look for promotion about the 'Urinetown' performances, which debut April 18."

The university's efforts to hold the MSNBC Town Hall on Dever Stage just days before the musical was set to take place in the same venue drew sharp criticism on social media.

Anaila Aleman, a Westfield State senior and theater major involved in the "Urinetown" production, said the cast and crew were told Thursday night that they would have to move their show to another space so MSNBC could hold the live town hall at Dever Stage.

"We had the news broken to us and we just kind of sat there, like, 'Is this really going on? Do we really have to take all of this down?'" she said in an interview. "It was my first time actually coming in to see the entire set in completion."

Aleman said although the cast and crew were willing to be flexible -- and even excited about the idea of Warren being on campus -- she and other students felt hurt and frustrated by the university's handling of the town hall.

"It's been awhile since we put on a musical in Dever ... this was something that was talked about for awhile and planned for awhile," she said. "The fact that all of this news just came down on us so suddenly, it was a real shocker. Understandably so, we just felt like, 'Wow, do you guys not care about the work that we're doing if you're so willing to just scrap it for something else?'"

Andrew Morin, who graduated from Westfield State University in 2017, said he became aware of pushback over the town hall after seeing a post in an online alumni group.

"They were looking for support, to kind of get the word out about how this was happening," he said.

Morin, who said he performed in various shows at WSU, criticized Torrecilha's handling of the situation -- particularly the statement sent to the campus community Friday.

"As an alum, reading his response made it feel like MSNBC cares about the students more than the president does," he said.

MSNBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the town hall.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more information is made available
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will miss the White House Correspondents' Dinner for the second year in a row, citing concerns with news coverage of his administration.

Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the media and accused outlets of pushing "fake news," told New York radio station 77 WABC that he did not plan on attending the annual event.

"It's probably won't do it," told "Bernie & Sid in the Morning" when asked if he would go to the April 28 dinner.

The president added that he wants to get things "straightened out with the press," whom he accused of using made up sources, before he decides to end his boycott of the fundraiser.

The White House Correspondents' Association confirmed Friday that Trump will not attend the April 28 dinner, but noted that the president will "actively encourage" administration officials to go to the event.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will represent the administration at the head table -- a spot typically reserved for presidents and first ladies, WHCA President Margaret Talev said in a statement.

Statement on President and WHCA Dinner pic.twitter.com/WiemgnIvcq  WHCA (@whca) April 6, 2018

Trump skipped the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, opting instead to hold a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

White House staff members also did not attend the 2017 event out of reported "solidarity" with the president.

Comedian Michelle Wolf will host the 2018 dinner, which raises money to support the White House Correspondents' Association's work and scholarships for aspiring journalists.
University of Montana President Seth Bodnar is making a concerted effort to involve students as he leads the school into a major re-thinking of how it does business, and what kinds of graduates it produces.

During a taping this morning for MTNs "Face the State" program, Bodnar explained how students are playing a role in the University Planning Committee, organized in February to take a complete look at UMs future. That panel is analyzing the universitys mission statement, the "communities of excellence" or disciplines and programs, and how those course offerings align with those objectives.

Bodnar believes UM graduates need to be prepared for a future of change after they graduate.

By Dennis Bragg

http://www.kpax.com/story/37892032/um-president-involves-students-in-drive-to-academic-excellence

***

City Club Missoula Presents: State Of The Community: A Confluence Of Opportunity  4/9

Missoula City Mayor John Engen, Missoula County Commission Chair David Strohmaier and University of Montana President Seth Bodnar examine how the city, county and university contribute culturally and economically within Missoulas diverse ecosystem.

http://www.matr.net/article-81881.html
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed into law a forfeiture reform bill last week that will require law enforcement officials to obtain a criminal conviction before permanently taking a persons cash or property, making Wisconsin the 15th state to do so.

The law is intended to address the controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture, a common legal maneuver that allows police to seize and keep cash, real estate and other property from people suspected of criminal activity, regardless of whether those people are convicted.

by Christopher Ingraham

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/05/in-wisconsin-authorities-now-have-to-convict-you-of-a-crime-before-they-can-take-your-cash/?utm_term=.62198e55ad16
"For small to medium to national organizations, for events and fundraisers of any size, in any format  live, virtual or hybrid  the platform is built for scale."
Young women from high schools across western Montana will gather for the inaugural ChickTech High School Program kickoff event on Saturday, April 14, in Pablo.

The event, which is free to participants, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. at Salish Kootenai College. It is hosted by ChickTech: Missoula whose aim is to encourage high school girls to enter computing and technical fields.

"We really want to expose young women who might not otherwise consider a career in a tech field to the options that exist for them," said ChickTech: Missoula Chapter Director Brigitta Lee. "This workshop will build participants confidence in their technical abilities and introduce them to other female role models right here in Montana."

Multiple workshops will run simultaneously throughout the day. Participants will be assigned to one workshop, so they can spend the day creating a project that they can take with them at the conclusion of the event.

The morning workshop session will run from 10:30 a.m. to noon and the afternoon session will run from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Parents, teachers and sponsors are invited to a tech show from 4:15 to 5 p.m. where the girls will showcase their projects.

A detailed list of workshops follow:

* Data Science Workshop, organized by the University of Montana Computer Science Program. Students will learn the basics of programming and take home a program that analyzes a data set and produces a visual.

* App Inventor, organized by ATG. Students will learn the basics of building software using "if statements" and loops, among others. They will build a mobile application game.

* Kwul Itkin. To Make. Designing for the Flathead Reservation, organized by the spectrUM Discovery Area. Students will explore culturally relevant activities with laser cutters and 3D printers.

* Storytelling in the Digital World, organized by LumenAd. Students will explore how to leverage data in the ever-evolving world of advertising technology. They will learn how to use technology to tell an effective story and build a community of loyal supporters.

Nearly 100 young women throughout western Montana were nominated by an educator. Nominated participants attend school in Missoula, Kalispell, Columbia Falls, St. Ignatius, Superior, Hot Springs, Stevensville, Victor, Polson, Ronan and Pablo.

"We were looking for girls who would not find tech on their own, girls who might never think of a career in tech on their own," Lee said. "We wanted educators to nominate these girls so that they see that someone believes in them and that they can follow any career path  even the one they never considered before."

After the kickoff event, ChickTech: Missoula will offer monthly workshops for the girls to continue their education through June.

Sponsors include The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Blackfoot, LumenAd, Submittable, ATG, Workiva, Opportunity Bank of Montana, Salish Kootenai College, Missoula Federal Credit Union, Montana Code School, Neptune Aviation Services, Great Harvest Bakery, Smart Data SEO and Loose Caboose.

For more information visit http://missoula.chicktech.org/chicktech-high-school-faq/ or call Lee at 520-307-8865.

Contact: Brigitta Lee, chapter director, ChickTech:Missoula, 520-307-8865, [email protected]; Katrina Schweitzer, chapter marketing manager, 406-270-2367, [email protected].

###

Note to the media: The media is invited to cover this event. The workshops will be held in Adeline Mathias Building Rooms 119 and 120 , Darcy McNickle Building Rooms 206 and 212 and in the parking lot between Adeline Mathias and 3 Woodcocks building.
American Prairie Reserve

The bison move is an important part of our bison management practices. When the population reaches the carrying capacity of the land on which they are permitted to graze, we move bison to other properties or to other conservation herds in order to maintain habitat health. Our herd can only grow as much as the land will allow.

For the herd to reach its full potential, we are asking the federal and state government to provide access for bison to graze over 250,000 acres of public lands where the Reserve has grazing privileges.

We are asking you  our supporters, friends, and family  to be ready to submit a comment to the Bureau of Land Management letting them know that you are in favor of our proposal. Be on the lookout for follow-up instructions on how to submit written comments to the BLM between April 9  May 9.

In the meantime, read more at https://www.americanprairie.org/take-action
Truong Thi Mai addresses the Congress. (Photo: CPV)

Over the past 5 years, more than 83,400 members of the VPSU at all levels have given consultancy on cutting over 2,000 administrative procedures, contributing to eliminating bureaucracy and increasing State management efficiency. The supervision of the implementation of the Labour Code and Trade Union Law as well as policies relating to laborers have been increased with over 1,500 inspections having been carried out nationwide and 12 law consultancy meetings having been held for over 2,000 laborers in businesses.

Trade unions have helped equality in the implementation of policies for cadres, officials, officers and laborers. So far a majority of agencies have supported lunch for their staff members, shared difficulties with those living in disadvantaged circumstances. In the previous term, trade unions mobilised nearly VND20 billion for humanitarian activities.

Addressing the Congress, Ms Mai praised the organization for making contribution to national development.

She urged the organization to renew its operation for realizing its function in caring for and protect cadres, officials, officers and laborers interests; promoting the role of its staff members in implementing the 4th PCC meeting resolution (term XII) on Party building and rectification; and preventing and pushing back a degradation on political ideology, morality and lifestyle in the Party.

During the Congress, delegates reached a concensus to increase the quality of consultancy to law making, better protection of cadres, officials, officers and laborers legitimate interests, better education for cadres, officials and officers to meet the demand of the nations increased industrialization and modernization and international integration, and increase the quality of emulation movements./.
The press conference. (Photo: CPV)

This information was released at a press conference held on April 5

The event will attract the participation of 170 exhibitors from 22 countries and territories, many of them being famous for mining industry such as England, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Singapore, China and Australia.

Encompassing up to 4,000 square meters of hall space, the exhibition will highlight the latest mining equipment, technologies and services, ranging from automation, control equipment, engineering, to underground mining equipment, minerals processing, software and fire safety.

Mining Vietnam 2018 will be attended by a multitude of key industry players, leading manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, such as Mico, PET, Robert Bosch, Sailun Vietnam, Tamiha, Tsurumi, Vinza, YHI, Weir Minerals, and especially the countrys largest State-owned mining group - Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group.

Opening from 08h30-17h00 daily, it is expected to attract more than 3,000 visitors./.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (fourth from the left) and other participants at the summit (Source: VNA)



Speaking at the third Mekong River Commission (MRC) Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia on April 5th, he stressed the prime concern of the Vietnamese Government is how to respond to negative impacts caused by climate change in the Mekong Delta region, extreme weather phenomena and human activities.

He urged the MRC to focus on building development planning framework in the Mekong River basin to harmonize with the water resources planning of countries, and promote the implementation of cooperation projects.

The Vietnamese leader also stressed the need to enhance the sharing of information and data related to the basin, and boost coordination and connectivity between the MRC and its dialogue partners and development partners, and cross-border river basin management organisations, thus mobilising resources, and collecting management experience and modern technologies for the implementation of sub-regional cooperation initiatives.

With the theme 'Enhancing Joint Efforts and Partnerships towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong River Basin, the summit saw the attendance of the Prime Ministers of the four members of the MRC namely Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. It also saw the participation of the Minister of Water Resources of China and the Minister of Environment of Myanmar, the two dialogue countries of the MRC, and representatives from other development partners.

The summit reviewed cooperation within the commission and the implementation of commitments made at the second summit in Vietnams Ho Chi Minh city in 2014, while identifying priority areas in the next periods.

The leaders affirmed their resolve to push Mekong cooperation in order to utilise development opportunities and overcome challenges.

They agreed to apply the set of procedures of the commission on the sustainable, reasonable and equal use of water resources and other resources of the Mekong River.

They shared the view that the MRC should promote its role in orienting cooperation and setting forth specific measures in order to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the region.

It is necessary to enhance cooperation with mechanisms in and outside the region such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Mekong-Lancang cooperation, the Greater Mekong Sub-region cooperation and other international river basin management organisations, while encouraging public involvement in these efforts, the summit heard.

The delegates approved the Siem Reap Declaration which acknowledges achievements recorded by the commission, points to opportunities and challenges for the Mekong River Basin and affirms the importance of Mekong cooperation as well as the acceleration of the implementation of the 1995 Mekong Agreement.

The document also outlines priority activities of the commission for the next four years and long-term orientations for cooperation within the commission.

Later on the day, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc left Siem Reap for Hanoi.

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./.
There are always plenty of Michigan beers to choose from for summer imbibing, from wheat beers to light pilsners, to shandies and more. With so many choices, it can be hard for just one beer to rise to the top of your list. However, a new offering from Odd Side Ales this season is as unique as it is delicious, and it very well might be THE beer of the summer.

Fruitcicle beers from Odd Side Ales.

The brewery has been working all spring on their brand new line of Fruitcicle beers, and will be releasing them in cans and on draft at their pub in Grand Haven on Saturday April 7. It's your chance to get your first taste of what is sure to be a hot new beer trend.

Odd Side Ales plant manager Joel Brower told us that this beer is "Fantastic, perfect for summer, very crushable, thirst quenching, not overly sweet, and very drinkable." After trying the beer myself, I could not agree more.

Brower had seen a few similar styled beers out on the West Coast, and thought the time was right to try it here in Michigan. The beer features fresh fruit puree, and is brewed with lactose for a creamy mouthfeel. The addition of a small amount of soured beer to the brew lightens and brightens this liquid.

"The lactose gives a redisidual sweetness to the beer, and we really amped up the fruit, almost double more than normal," Brower explained. "I don't want to label this a sour beer. It's only about 15% sour beer, and we used the sour to make the beer more balanced, especially with all the lactose in it."

As of now, Odd Side will be releasing two flavors of Fruitcicle, Black and Blueberry and Strawberry. They are going to wait and see how the beer is recieved before commiting to more flavors.

To Odd Sides I say: the beer is totally killer. Start brewing more post haste.

The Black and Blueberry that I sampled had everything you'd like in a summer refresher. Bright fruit flavor that wasn't cloying, or extracty. A hint of sour that didn't make you pucker up, but did make you want more. A round mouthfeel, not quite creamy, but gentle. Nice tiny tight bubbles. A low ABV of 4.5% so you can enjoy a few. I'm not normally a super fan of fruit beers, but this one hits all the right notes, in all the right ways.

If you'd like to try this beer, and grab a few cans to go, head to Grand Haven this weekend. Odd Side will be releasing the two beers on Saturday during a limited beer release party at the pub.

The event, which starts at noon for the public and 11am for mug club members, will have four packs of the Fruitcicle beer available for $12, with no limits.

They'll also have two other special beers available for purchase. The double oaked Hipster Brunch Stout, a big beer at 11% ABV with notes of maple, coffee and vanilla, will be in 750 ml bottles for $15 each. The Nihilist, a barrel aged double IPA, which delivers a nice hoppy punch from both Simcoe and Citra hops, will be available for $15 each 750 ml bottle. There is a limit of 4 bottles per customer for the Hipster, and one bottle for Nihilist.

As of now, the Fruitcicle beers will not be distributed, although that may change later this season. For now, you have to head to the pub in order to attain this gem of a beer.

If you go:

41 Washington Ave Suite 160

Grand Haven, Michigan 49417

(616) 935-7326
PITTSFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI - A Detroit man has been charged in the stabbing and beating death of his reported girlfriend in an Ypsilanti apartment last year.

Demetrius Montgomery, 38, was arraigned Thursday, April 5 on one count of open murder in the death Latisha Bargaineer, 29.

"I don't understand why I'm charged," he told Magistrate Elisha Fink during the arraignment, after she asked if he understood what the charge was.

Bargaineer was found dead June 18, 2017, in Montgomery's vehicle in Detroit, but the crime scene was found at the couple's Ypsilanti apartment, in the 300 block of West Cross Street, police previously said. Montgomery was suspected of fleeing in a cousin's vehicle.

Montgomery was arrested on June 25, 2017, in Lincoln, Alabama, for attempting to elude police, resisting arrest, and using a false identification to obstruct justice, Talladega County Jail records show.

At his arraignment Thursday, Montgomery said he pleaded guilty to charges in Alabama and was sentenced to time served before being extradited to Michigan.

After being returned as a fugitive in February, Montgomery was arraigned March 6 in Wayne County in one felony case involving assault with intent to murder and armed robbery and several misdemeanor cases, Talladega and Wayne county records show. The assault case was dismissed March 19 when the complaining witness failed to appear.

Montgomery had a pending case in Washtenaw County for receiving and concealing a stolen vehicle and unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle on June 18 - the same date Bargaineer was found dead - before the homicide charge was authorized. Those charges were dismissed earlier in the day Thursday.

Montgomery said he has had no income since being locked up last year and was appointed an attorney from the Washtenaw County Public Defender's Office at the Thursday hearing.

Fink ordered Montgomery be held without bond after Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor Blake Hatlem listed a lengthy criminal history for Montgomery - including attempted delivery of cocaine and a weapons charge.

Hatlem also argued Montgomery faces "a strong likelihood of conviction."

Montgomery faces up to life in prison if convicted.

He is now scheduled for an April 12 probable cause conference and an April 19 preliminary examination.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Ashley Spaulding says she had such a traumatic experience trying to prove the first time she was raped as a college freshman, she didn't attempt to report the next two times she was sexually assaulted.

Spaulding, now 24, was a freshman at Northern Michigan University when two men who lived in her dorm offered to help her get back to her room after she had been drinking at a party. Instead, they took her back to their room and raped her, Spaulding said.

She told her friends about the assault, and they convinced her to have a rape kit exam. Spaulding said the male doctor performing the exam winked at her at one point and made an inappropriate comment. Already vulnerable, that moment destroyed her.

"It destroyed my self confidence and I didn't know how to cope," she said.

Spaulding and her mom joined about 100 people at the University of Michigan's 40th annual Take Back The Night rally and march on Thursday, April 5, which is part of a national movement to take a stand against sexual violence.

This year's march coincided with growing national attention on sexual assault in the wake of the #MeToo movement that reignited in late 2017 and the January sentencing of former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar, who was accused of sexually assaulting more than 160 women.

Earlier on Thursday, the House of Representatives proposed reforms to state law in response to its findings on gaps in MSU policies that enabled Nassar to sexually molest patients.

"I think we do have a moment right now that is palpably different than any time in my career, around sexual violence," said Kaaren Williamsen, director of UM's Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center. "I think we know it as an individual issue, and we're starting to understand it as a cultural issue and this is actually going to take culture change."

Williamsen was one of the panelists at a town hall discussion on campus sexual assault that took place at UM's Ford School on Thursday, prior to the Take Back The Night march.

At the Take Back The Night rally, Mayor Christopher Taylor and Margaret Tallet, COO of the Michigan Women's Foundation who led grassroots efforts to raise money to process years-old untested rape kits in Wayne County, addressed the crowd before they marched around downtown Ann Arbor and UM's campus.

"There's a lot of people out there who care and are trying to make it better," Spaulding said of Take Back The Night.

After being raped, Spaulding struggled through one more semester at Northern Michigan University, and then she moved to Ann Arbor.

She took some time off from college, then enrolled at Washtenaw Community College and finally worked up enough confidence to apply to the University of Michigan, where she will graduate this spring with a degree in movement science.

It took years, but Spaulding says she has started to heal emotionally from the assaults and her self-esteem is bouncing back, thanks in large part to support she received at SafeHouse Center, a nonprofit that provides free and confidential services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Washtenaw County.

Discovering a love for running helped, too.

"Running is my biggest thing that made me feel powerful again," she said.

Spaulding says she was sexually assaulted two more times while living in Ann Arbor, but she didn't report either incident after how badly her first attempt to report had gone.

It's important for victims of sexual assault to decide what action - if any - they want to take to report the incident and seek justice, said panelists at the town hall discussion.

"It's about putting the agency back on the person who has been harmed, giving them choice and options and supporting them in what they need along the way, and making sure they have good information," Williamsen said.

She joined UM students and representatives from the UM police department, Title IX office and counseling center on the panel, which was convened by state Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor.

UM's Counseling And Psychological Services provides individual therapy for 4,500 to 5,000 students each year, said Todd Sevig, director of CAPS, and between 15 and 20 percent of those students say they have had an unwanted sexual experience.

UM's Office for Institutional Equity received 218 reports of alleged sexual misconduct in the 2016-17 school year, and 92 of those reports were related to sexual assault.

Panelists and speakers at the Take Back The Night rally touted End Violence Against Women International's "Start by Believing" campaign that aims to make sexual assault victims feel more comfortable reporting the assault to law enforcement or other officials.

Spaulding said her parents were supportive when she told them she had been sexually assaulted, but she was hurt when other relatives didn't believe her. She did not pursue criminal charges or a university investigation after she was assaulted at NMU.

"I thought it would be way too much work and I didn't feel very confident that anything would come of it," she said.

Whether a sexual assault victim chooses to file a police report in hopes of pursuing criminal charges; to report a Title IX violation, which triggers a university investigation; to pursue both of those avenues or neither, the goal is to make sure the student is able to stay in college, achieve academic success and feel safe on campus, said Pam Heatlie, a Title IX coordinator who heads UM's Office for Institutional Equity.

A confidential conversation with a social worker at the counseling center or sexual assault prevention center can help sexual assault victims decide what they want to do next in terms of reporting the incident, Williamsen said.

Questions from the two dozen people in attendance at the sexual assault panel discussion centered on how the university's different departments share information and what safeguards are in place to make sure there's follow through when an assault is reported.

The panelists said the university's police department, Title IX office, CAPS and Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center frequently communicate.

If a student reports an alleged assault that occured off-campus, UM police create an initial report that is turned over to the Ann Arbor Police Department to investigate, said UM police Sgt. Janet Conners.

UM is one of four Michigan colleges and universities - and more than 250 higher education instutions nationwide - that have been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights for alleged Title IX violations. Alma College, Grand Valley State University and MSU are the other Michigan instutions.
ANN ARBOR, MI - There is no service number or instruction manual for taking apart a nearly 11,000-year-old mastodon that has been pieced together and held in place inside a museum for nearly 70 years, joked University of Michigan Paleontologist Dan Fisher.

He and a team of researchers have faced some challenges as they disassembled the female Owosso mastodon inside UM's Museum of Natural History, where it had been on exhibit since 1947, greeting more than 4 million visitors during that time.

Fisher, UM Research Museum Collection Manager Adam Rountrey and a crew from Research Casting International spent the better part of Wednesday and Thursday, April 4-5, taking the behemoth apart, with the intention of eventually putting it all back together again inside the new UM Biological Sciences Building.

Special care is taken when disassembling the mastodon skeleton, which Fisher describes as one of the most complete models in Michigan.

"These things are intrinsically somewhat delicate," Fisher said. "Having stood in their mounts for decades upon decades, they don't get any stronger - if anything there are little cracks that open up here and there through changes in temperature and drying out. Our winter humidity is really hard on ancient bone like this.

"There are ways in which they have become more weak as time goes by," he added. "We have to take special precautions so that none of that results in some unexpected failure of a piece."

Before the bones are put on display at their new home Fisher plans study them at the UM Museum of Paleontology in search for signs of human interaction.

Rountrey, meanwhile, will take more than 100 of the mastodon bones and photograph each one from 150-200 different angles to create a 3-D digital model of each, through a process called photogrammetry. The bones will be reassembled in a computer program to create a full 3-D skeletal reconstruction.

Prior to the disassembly, Rountrey and a group of undergraduates at UM conducted 3-D scanning of the mastodon's full articulated skeleton. Taking the skeleton apart will allow them to expand upon that work.

The 3-D model of the Owosso mounted skeleton can be viewed on the University of Michigan Online Repository of Fossils website.

"What we don't have from that model is views of all sides of each bone," Rountrey said. "In this window that we have between the disassembly and the reassembly, we're going to try to do detailed models of each bone that's accessible. We'll be able to place those in the context of the full skeleton and sort of be able to pull one out and look at it from all sides."

The crew from Research Casting International will return in August to dismantle the companion Buesching mastodon - a cast of a male mastodon found near Fort Wayne, Indiana - and reassemble both skeletons in the five-story atrium of the Biological Sciences Building. Inside, the mastodons will be the official greeters to the new UM Museum of Natural History, which will open in the spring of 2019.

While there is an extensive process of labeling all the bones and supports for the skeleton, Fisher said there are still inherent difficulties in taking apart the skeleton.

"As far as disassembly goes, it was very difficult to get the head off," Fisher said. "The head and the jaw and the neck and even the interior ribs - all of that comes together in a very tight junction. There's a lot of weight and mass in there.

"The other thing to realize is, the people, when they mounted this 70 years ago - nobody ever expected it to go anywhere," he added.

Rountrey compared the disassembly to doing a car repair, stressing that special care is taken in labeling individual elements, while making note of where support structures for the skeleton are located.

"It should be pretty much this operation in reverse," Rountrey said. "We will have that 3-D model to do those measurements to make sure the spacing is as they were in the original.

"Obviously, the size and weight of some things makes it difficult to deal with them," he added. "There was some difficulty getting the skull off, just because things had been sitting there long enough that they weren't sliding the way they were supposed to."
YPSILANTI, MI - Maribel Rivera Martinez's four children say they're going to miss their mother dearly now that she's deported to Honduras.

She boarded a plane early Friday, April 6, at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, leaving her home and family in the Ypsilanti area behind.

Her youngest daughter, 10-year-old Sisi, is going to miss her mom brushing her hair in the morning.

Her middle daughter, 11-year-old Sandra, is going to miss her mom teaching her and her sisters how to cook and clean.

Her oldest daughter, 13-year-old Jennifer, is going to miss her mom taking care of her when she's sick.

And much more.

"We want our mom to stay here because she does things for us that we can't do," Sisi said on a recent afternoon ahead of her mother's scheduled deportation to a country which the children note has the highest murder rate in the world.

"The main head of the family is being taken out. We feel like it's not going to be the same. It will never be the same," said Rivera Martinez's 23-year-old son Darwin Medrano-Rivera, a 2012 graduate of Ypsilanti High who came to the United States with his mom in 2003.

After 15 years in the U.S. and laying roots in the Ypsilanti area, the 47-year-old mother of four said goodbye on Friday to her family and her life here.

She cooperated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to book a flight to Honduras, flying out of Detroit.

She hugged and shed tears with family and friends at the airport terminal as she said final goodbyes.

Forced by the U.S. government to return to her home country, she leaves behind her husband of 28 years, Oscar Medrano, and their four children, three of whom are U.S. citizens.

The Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights is speaking out about the case, calling it another sad example of a family being unjustly separated and harmed by current immigration policies.

WICIR argues ICE, which showed discretion in the past by issuing temporary stays of removal for Rivera Martinez, should have continued to let her stay in the country and raise her children, one of whom the family says has serious medical issues.

"One daughter has had a serious medical condition since birth, which has required multiple surgeries and demands regular specialized treatment at local hospitals. Her recovery will be extremely difficult without Maribel's support and care," WICIR said in a statement.

"ICE is aware of all of this, but the agency refuses to use its considerable discretion to grant Maribel a stay of removal."

A spokesman for ICE did not respond to requests for comment on the case.

Rivera Martinez's three daughters are U.S. citizens, having been born here, while her son -- who along with his mother entered the country without authorization in 2003 -- has been temporarily protected from deportation since 2012 under DACA, the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He's currently studying software engineering at Washtenaw Community College and hopes to someday become a police officer, though he knows there will be hurdles ahead due to his lack of citizenship or permanent legal status.

According to the family, the father, who came here from Honduras for work in 1999, went through immigration court proceedings in 2013 and was allowed to stay here, and he has a work permit to legally work in the U.S. He's a roofer who also works at Walmart.

Rivera Martinez, who is now deported, provided supplemental income to support her family by working as a housekeeper and had a federal work permit, according to the family.

"She still has her work permit. It's still good. It doesn't expire until August," her son said.

"That's why I'm wondering why are they sending her back when they're not even giving her a chance to renew her work permit."

Rivera Martinez was originally scheduled to be deported on Monday, March 26, but before she could make it to the airport that morning, the family says she fainted and had to be taken to the hospital.

"Her stress took over," her son Darwin Medrano-Rivera said, noting his mother fainted after receiving the news that her request for a stay of removal from the country was denied by ICE.

"She was talking on the phone, she dropped the phone, couldn't contain herself, and she fainted," he said, indicating his mother was unconscious and then barely conscious and in a state of confusion.

Darwin Medrano-Rivera said paramedics arrived and he rode with his mother in the ambulance. After that episode, her deportation was rescheduled for Friday.

According to WICIR, Rivera Martinez fled Honduras with her young son 15 years ago because she had become a target of gang violence and she feared for her life. The family says their home in Honduras was robbed and someone held a gun to Rivera Martinez's head.

After crossing into the U.S., Rivera Martinez and her son voluntarily turned themselves into immigration agents, explaining they were fleeing violence in their country and seeking asylum, her son said.

He said the agents released them with paperwork written only in English, indicating they would receive further instructions at a future date. He said they didn't know much English at that point and couldn't fully understand the paperwork they received.

He said they later realized it was a notice to appear before an immigration judge in San Antonio on a date to be set at a later time, and they never got a date to appear in court.

Rivera Martinez and her family say they never received further instructions and they continued living their lives in the U.S. until 2013 when ICE tracked her down and the family learned an immigration judge had already ordered her removal from the country.

"The agency put Maribel under supervision, initially shackling her with an ankle monitor," according to WICIR. "However, because of Maribel's standing in the community and her rootedness in Ypsilanti, she was considered a 'low priority' for deportation. Moreover, Maribel complied with all ICE directives. She does not have a criminal record, and she acquired a lawful work permit."

According to WICIR and the family, Rivera Martinez checked in with ICE consistently at regular meetings, and year after year she received a temporary stay of removal, allowing her to stay in the country.

Despite her compliance, WICIR says, when she voluntarily appeared for her regular appointment with ICE in February 2018, an agent informed her she must purchase a ticket to self-deport.

According to WICIR, her attorney then submitted a request for a stay of removal on the basis of her compliance, her good standing in the community, and her role as a caretaker for her U.S.-citizen daughters.

"Continuing to pursue all legal avenues available to her, Maribel also submitted a request for a reasonable fear interview with the Asylum Office of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service," WICIR says, indicating she still wanted to seek asylum in the U.S.

"She fears for her life if she returns to Honduras because she was targeted for violence before leaving and, in recent years, two of her relatives have been murdered there."

WICIR claims that when Rivera Martinez then appeared for another appointment with ICE, an agent coerced her into withdrawing her request for an interview with the Asylum Office by threatening to detain her if she continued to pursue that legal option.

"Faced with the possibility of spending her final days in the United States in a jail cell instead of at home with her family, Maribel withdrew her request," WICIR says. "ICE thus remains unwilling to offer her any sort of reprieve from deportation and has further restricted her ability to pursue alternative legal avenues for relief."

Her husband and children say they want the family to be together, but they're not going to relocate to Honduras because their life is here and they don't believe it's safe there, nor does Honduras have the same quality of medical care or educational and economic opportunities.

"This is our home. We were born here," said 13-year-old Jennifer. "And our parents, they need to be here for us."

On a recent afternoon in late March, the family said 11-year-old Sandra had another surgery coming up in April and it was going to be difficult to not have her mother around to help with her recovery.

According to the family, Sandra was born prematurely and has had to undergo a number of surgeries, and she continues to have stomach, heart and lung problems that require medical attention.

Darwin Medrano-Rivera said he knows he's going to have to step up more to help out without his mother around, but he also hopes there's some way she can come back to the U.S. eventually.

"They should try to at least give her a chance and consideration of my sister's health to try something, to give her another option that might be out there for her," he said.

"We are all stressed out, but the ones who are most impacted by this are my little sisters," he said, indicating at least one may need to see a mental health specialist for depression. "I feel helpless."

The children say they now fear for their mother's safety in Honduras, as the threats of violence in the country are very real. They said one relative deported to Honduras more than a decade ago was shot and killed, along with another relative, after being sent back.

"Our country is poor," Darwin Medrano-Rivera said, also mentioning police corruption in Honduras. "Our government is basically broken and they're not stepping up to make our country safer."
TROY, MI - The Troy Police Department has chosen its new crime fighting cat, but will have to wait a couple weeks before the kitty can join the department.

Last month, you'll recall, Troy PD put out a Twitter challenge: "If we get 10,000 followers by April, we want a police cat." It reached the goal weeks before April.

The Michigan Humane Society in Westland brought five kittens and one cat to the Troy Police Department today after narrowing down the choices based on behavior. The officer who the kitty will be living with chose one of the little kittens to be the department's crime fighting partner.

The kitten along with the four others up for adoption (pictured in the gallery at the top) all weigh about one pound. They need to be two pounds before they can leave the Humane Society, which should take a couple weeks. The officer the kitten will be living with is a cat lover who already has two adult cats at home.

So what about a name? That will be done via a contest with kids at Troy Public Schools. "We're trying to get the schools, the kids to come up with names," said Sgt. Meghan Lehman of the Troy PD. "We'll then narrow the kids' choices down to the best four and put it out on Twitter and have people vote. The kids that picked the winning name, we'll reward them with a pizza party, or something like that, with the school resource officer."

What will the cat do at the department? The whole point of getting this police cat is to bring attention to other cats and kittens in need of being rescued at shelters like the Michigan Humane Society.

The cat will also be used for community outreach purposes. Ultimately, Sgt. Lehman says she hopes the cat will be able to do a lot of community appearances and interact with people.

Sgt. Lehman also says the cat will visit the Troy Police Department to hang out with other officers. "We also will interact on social media posting tweets as the cat."
FLINT, MI -- Danyell Croom never knew how to make a pie from scratch until she stepped into the dining room of Carriage Town Ministries during the sixth-annual Bake Fresh Friday on April 6.

"I know everything from the box, so it's exciting to do," Croom said.

Croom, along with nearly 30 Carriage Town residents, rolled up their sleeves to learn how to bake breads, pastries and desserts from students and faculty from Mott Community College Baking and Pastry Arts program.

There were five stations teaching basic baking needs while focusing on a specific baked good. Stations included how to make pies, muffins, cakes, cookies, brownies and yeast rolls.

The residents were taught how to sift flour, measure liquids, make frosting, roll pie crust and use a knife to properly dice and chop ingredients.

These are skills culinary student and Genesee Valley Rotary Club member Sharon Fouts thinks are employable skills and a give a sense of pride to the residents.

Fouts is the reason this program came to be. While volunteering at Carriage Town Ministries, which provides housing, food and health emergency services for the community, she noticed the residents didn't have any fresh pastries or desserts during the holidays.

While also taking culinary classes at Mott Community College, she approached Chef David Miller and asked if students had ever baked for an organization. He liked the idea but it would need funding.

So she approached her Rotary Club to ask for a grant to fund the project.

"Feeding the hungry is one of the Rotary's missions," Fouts said.

The program is funded by a matching grant from Rotary District 6330 and the Genesee Valley Rotary Club. The grant provides all the baking ingredients and equipment.

Some equipment residents had never used before.

Oshera Jones, 22, and Destiny Hoffman, 12, laughed as they watched ingredients swirl around the standing mixer while it was spitting flour into the air. Jacob Hoffman, 6, learned how to crack an egg over a mixing bowl for the first time.

"What I really enjoy is when you see the little ones," said Miller, who began his career in culinary arts at 16. "They are the future, what they see and if they enjoy themselves maybe when I retire maybe I'll see them in one of these classes."
Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang. (Source: VNA)



Hang made the statement at the ministrys regular press conference in Hanoi on April 5th, in response to reporters queries regarding some human rights organisations voicing their condemnation of the trial on April 5th, 2018 for six defendants accused of trying to over throw the peoples administration.

She said Vietnam rejected the inaccurate and subjective information provided by these organizations, affirming that in Vietnam, there are neither so-called prisoners of conscience nor arrests of people who have freely expressed their own opinions.

Like in other countries worldwide, in Vietnam, all violations of law will be strictly handled in line with legal regulations, the spokesperson said.

Hang emphasised that Vietnams efforts and achievements in ensuring and promoting human rights over the past years have been widely acknowledged by the international community.

According to the indictment of the Supreme Peoples Procuracy, from March 2013 to July 2017, Nguyen Van Dai, Pham Van Troi, Nguyen Trung Ton and Nguyen Bac Truyen initiated and established the Hoi anh em dan chu (Brotherhood for Democracy) organisation. They built the organisations platform, statutes and regulations and also steered its activities.

Dai and his accessories induced Truong Minh Duc, Le Thu Ha and some others to set up representative offices and a website of the organisation and build a brief platform of Hoi anh em dan chu. This organisation had a strict structure, strategies for internal and external affairs, and activities to develop its membership.

The indictment said the defendants took advantage of fighting for democracy, human rights and civil society to conceal the purposes of Hoi anh em dan chu. They connected with domestic and foreign organisations and illegal organisations in Vietnam to seek overseas support and financial aid and conduct propaganda against the State, aiming that when their force was strong enough and the time was right, they would publicly confront the administration and change the political regime in Vietnam so as to build a regime of pluralism, multiparty and separation of powers and topple the peoples administration.

According to the Supreme Peoples Procuracy, Nguyen Van Dai was the mastermind and acted as the second Vice President of Hoi anh em dan chu. He built the platform of the organisation, engaged in discussing and planning operation methods and developing the force, and induced Le Thu Ha to take part.

Dai was also accused of training and instructing other members about methods and experience of implementing activities, setting up schemes and contacting foreign organisations and individuals to call for donation, and receiving USD71,726 and EUR9,161 financed for activities of Hoi anh em dan chu. He was accused of conducting propaganda against the State.

Meanwhile, Pham Van Troi founded and acted as President of Hoi anh em dan chu, held positions in charge of the organisations activities in the northern region, and built the platform. He was accused of discussing and planning development of the organisations membership, inducing six people to join Hoi anh em dan chu, and guiding other members about methods and experience of implementing activities.

Troi was also accused of being in charge of the fund of Hoi anh em dan chu, directing the organisations members to oppose the National Assembly election in May 2016, and conducting anti-State propaganda./.
FLINT, MI -- City council members said they were left in the dark on the state's decision to no longer supply free bottled water to Flint residents after it says the city's water quality has been restored.

"We on council have been pleading on the behalf of the people of Flint to remain informed on any decision making regarding the distribution of clean, bottled water and the state has failed us once again by keeping us in the dark," said Eva Worthing, councilwoman for the Ninth Ward.

"It's unfortunate for our residents who have been put through so much already. The state poisoned our city and we've been fighting really hard to keep our residents supplied with clean water they can trust. Now we have to fight even harder for that right."

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced Friday, April 6, it was ending the free water program after testing showed Flint's water quality was below federal action levels for lead for two years.

Current testing puts the 90th percentile at 4 ppb of lead, which is below the federal action level of 15 ppb, according to the state.

However, council members said they found out about the state's decision at the same time as residents.

"I was afraid when they announced that the receivership from the state ended that this decision would follow, but I had no idea up until now when it'd be made," First Ward Councilman Eric Mays said. "Council has written a letter to the state asking them to continue to provide the financial support to provide clean bottled water to our residents and it seems like our requests are being ignored. Whether the state decides to help or not, the city will figure something out for our people."

Mays said the council will begin discussions with Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich on how the city will move forward with the state's decision.

Ananich released his own statement taking issues with the state's decision.

"It's beyond belief that the governor expects the folks in Flint to trust the government now, when they lied to our faces about lead in our water just a few years ago," Ananich stated "That trust was broken, and families in Flint still don't feel that the water in their homes is safe to drink. We won't feel safe drinking our water until every bad pipe is replaced, and the administration that caused this disaster needs to make sure bottled water stays available until that happens."

The remaining four water distribution sites will operate until their current supply of state-funded bottled water runs out.

State officials estimate the current supply could last a week at most.

"Based on what has been standard recently, we would estimate up to a week," said Ari Adler, communications director for Gov. Rick Snyder. "However, if there is a sudden uptick in demand then it won't last that long. It is very hard to say for certain."

However, city leaders weren't as optimistic about how long the water would last.

"Given resident's response to the announcement, it is expected water will be exhausted over the weekend," the city said in a press release.

"The people of Flint are not being considered in regards to this decision," Fifth Ward Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter said. "The residents don't trust the water and they shouldn't, given what's happened to this city. The state shouldn't discontinue the distribution of clean water. They need to take us, the people living in this, into consideration."

Access and functional needs deliveries will also end once the current supply of bottled water runs out.

Despite the end of free bottled water, the state is still advising residents to use filters rather than use the water directly from the tap.

"I'm really sorry to hear the state has decided to pull the only ensured clean water in Flint," Fourth Ward Councilwoman Kate Fields said. "There are a lot of people, the elderly, who are still in need of getting clean water delivered to their homes. We'll have to figure out a way to make sure those needs are still met."

In December, a spokeswoman for the MDEQ said the state would likely reconsider the burden of paying for Flint water - provided tap water continued to show lead levels below the federal action limit of 15 parts per billion of lead.

Testing during the last six months of last year did show that improvement, but Weaver has said the support should not end until water in Flint Community Schools was tested - something that took place throughout last month.

"The PODs should remain open until the water is 100 percent clean, not almost 100 percent clean," said Allan Griggs, Eighth Ward councilman. "The results are better, yes, but they're not at zero and that's what we need in order to trust our water again, zero."

More than 4 percent of water samples collected in the final round of testing at Flint Community Schools' buildings had elevated levels of lead, according to reports published online by the MDEQ.

The final tests in the city's public school buildings showed at least one instance of water with at least 15 parts per billion of lead in each of the 10 buildings.

"The PODs should be remained open until all of the lead pipes in Flint are replace, bottom line," Third Ward Councilman Santino Guerra said.

Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech researcher who helped expose the city's water crisis, said his group will continue to monitor the city's water quality.

"The Flint Water Study will remain vigilant, and keep close tabs on the water quality issues in Flint -- just as we have been since May 2015," Edwards said in an email.

Flint's supply of bottled water has been an issue since Gov. Rick Snyder recognized lead contamination in the city's water system in January 2016.

The water crisis unfolded while the city was run by a series of emergency managers, appointed by Snyder, putting pressure on the state to clean-up the water system and provide safe drinking water in the interim.

"We have worked diligently to restore the water quality and the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended," Gov. Rick Snyder said in a press release announcing Friday's decision.

"For the past two years I have repeatedly been asked when I would declare the water safe in Flint and I have always said that no arbitrary decision would be made -- that we would let the science take us to that conclusion. Since Flint's water is now well within the standards set by the federal government, we will now focus even more of our efforts on continuing with the health, education and economic development assistance needed to help move Flint forward."

Weaver sent a letter to Snyder April 5 expressing the people of Flint's "great anxiety over the potential end to the supply of bottled water and funding needed to continue the operation of water distribution sites, known as PODS, and Access and Functional Needs home delivery services."

"As I have stated before and will continue to say, this is not what I want for our city and I stand by my position that free bottled water should be provided to the people of Flint until the last known lead-tainted pipe has been replaced," Weaver states in the letter.

Weaver called on the state to have more discussion with the city about the water test results from the MDEQ.

"We know that the water in Flint is much better than when I made the Emergency Declaration in December 2015, and that is a good thing. However, we also know that trust has to be restored before residents are ready to rely only on filtered water," Weaver states in the letter.

"Thus, you may conclude that bottled water no longer needs to be provided but I believe more discussion is needed on the test results. Moreover, I hope that the state can provide the public a clear and detailed explanation of the test results and sampling methodology used."

In the letter, the mayor states that residents can request water filters and detailed instructions on how to properly install and maintain filters until December 2018 through the state-funded Community Outreach and Resident Education.

During the time the city has administered the water distribution, the cost of the water alone has averaged $22,000 per day.

State taxpayers have provided more than $350 million to Flint, in addition to the $100 million from the federal government, according to the state's announcement. The funding helped with water quality improvements, pipe replacement, healthcare, nutritional food distribution, educational resources, job training and creation, and more.

"Bottled water may be ending, but the state's commitment to the residents of Flint remains strong," said Rich Baird, senior advisor to Gov. Snyder and team leader for the state's Mission Flint Office.

There have been signs that the state could end it's support for bottled water for several months.

Weaver wrote the state should continue to pay for bottled water until all lead or galvanized water service lines in the city have been replaced, which could take another two construction seasons to complete.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Twp., said bottled water should continue in the city until the construction is complete.

"The state should provide Flint families with bottled water until all of the lead service lines have been replaced," Kildee said. "Flint families rightfully still do not trust state government, who created this crisis and lied to our community about the safety of the water.

"Continuing to provide bottled water service until all of the lead pipes are replaced will give peace of mind to residents and help restore Flint's trust in government. Until then, I understand why Flint families still do not trust the water coming out of their taps."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has warned of the potential for lead to break free from water pipes during such heavy underground construction.

Flint Journal staff writer Ron Fonger contributed to this report.

Snyder, following Friday's decision, wrote a letter to Weaver's letter.

04.06.18 Mayor Weaver Flint by zahra A on Scribd
FLINT, MI - District officials are keeping hush on votes they took during a special Board of Education meeting this week.

Board members voted April 2 to unanimously approve a voluntary separation and release of claims agreement and settlement of a federal class-action lawsuit against the state Department of Education, Flint Community Schools, and Genesee Intermediate School District.

The board entered a closed session prior to the votes for discussion.

However, the specifics on what the board voted on, including who the voluntary separation agreement was for, have not been made public by the district.

Messages left by MLive-The Flint Journal for board president Diana Wright and other members about the items have not been returned. Board secretary Betty Ramsdell declined to comment on the matters.

Kendall Williams, the district's attorney, said the information provided to board members has not been finalized "so that's why they haven't been released at this time."

Wright said following a March 14 special board meeting -- during which board members approved hiring Gregory Weatherspoon as interim superintendent -- that the district would be working on a separation agreement with former superintendent Bilal Tawwab.

Tawwab was placed on paid administrative leave, along with Assistant Superintendent Sherri Merriweather and general counsel Gwendolyn A. de Jongh, the day before the March 14 meeting.

Wright told reporters Merriweather and de Jongh had submitted their letters of resignation, effective at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

Merriweather has been replaced by Durant-Tuuri Mott Elementary School principal Shelly Umphrey, who was replaced by Angela Ascencio, a math instructional specialist at DTM.

When questioned about the decision on Tawwab, Wright said: "As soon as Mr. Tawwab gave his non-renewal request, it's the responsibility of the board to begin to develop a transition plan. As a result of that, we began to see who's out there."

Tawwab informed the school board in early February he would not seek renewal of his contract following the 2018-19 school year. He served as the district's superintendent since July 2015, moving from the Detroit Public Schools.

The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Education Law Center and the White and Case law firm during Tawwab's tenure in office alleges the educational institutions violated federal civil right laws, including the Disabilities Education Improvement Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, and seeks items including:

- Identifying and meeting the academic and behavioral needs of all Flint students in the FCS school district.

- Positive behavioral interventions implemented in every school with training provided to all administrators, teachers and staff, including school resource officers.

- Prevention of unnecessary and illegal suspensions and expulsions.

- Require all Flint schools to identify and provide for special education services and accommodations for children with disabilities.

- Ensure all necessary resources to comply with requirements of federal law.

- Oversight and monitoring of corrective measures needed to meet the educational needs of all students.

- Convene a panel of experts to evaluate current special education services in Flint.

- Appointment of a special monitor to oversee implementation of expert recommendations.

During an Oct. 18, 2016, press conference, ACLU executive director Kary Moss also called on the state to dismiss the district's deficit and provide positive behavioral intervention for teachers to reduce the number of suspension and expulsions.

Lead services lines to Flint school buildings have been replaced and the city water was declared safe to drink with a filter by the state, but recent testing found lead levels above 15 parts per billion -- the federal action limit set by the federal government -- in four percent of the samples.

A final round of testing by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in the city's public school buildings showed at least one instance of water with at least 15 parts per billion of lead in each of the 10 buildings.

Funds have come in to provide for expansion of early childhood education -- in particular children from birth to age 3 and universal preschool -- but Moss pointed to the measures as temporary fixes and more needs to be done to make the items permanent, such as nurses for every school building.

U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow denied motions in late September 2017 to dismiss the case, but he did grant a motion by Flint schools to dismiss a claim seeking universal preschool in the district.

In a motion to dismiss the case, the state Department of Education said the ACLU made "only generalized and conclusory assertions of systematic violations" of the law, and that "even those assertions concern future anticipated violations as opposed to present ones."

Williams did not offer a timeline on when details of the lawsuit settlement would be made available to the public, adding there are several moving parts with the number of parties involved.

Bill Disessa, MDE spokesman, declined to comment on the lawsuit "as this is still pending litigation."

A message left with the Genesee Intermediate School District for comment was not immediately returned.
UPDATE:

FLINT, MI -- The state will no longer supply free bottled water to Flint residents after it says the city's water quality has been restored.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality announced Friday, April 6, it was ending the free water program after testing showed Flint's water quality was below federal action levels for lead for two years.

Current testing puts the 90th percentile at 4 ppb of lead, which is below the federal action level of 15 ppb, according to the state.

The remaining four water distribution sites will operate until their current supply of state-funded bottled water runs out.

State officials estimate the current supply could last a week at most.

"Based on what has been standard recently, we would estimate up to a week," said Ari Adler, communications director for Gov. Rick Snyder. "However, if there is a sudden uptick in demand then it won't last that long. It is very hard to say for certain."

However, city leaders weren't as optimistic about how long the water would last.

"Given resident's response to the announcement, it is expected water will be exhausted over the weekend," the city said in a press release.

Access and functional needs deliveries will also end once the current supply of bottled water runs out.

"We have worked diligently to restore the water quality and the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended," Gov. Rick Snyder said in a press release.

"For the past two years I have repeatedly been asked when I would declare the water safe in Flint and I have always said that no arbitrary decision would be made -- that we would let the science take us to that conclusion. Since Flint's water is now well within the standards set by the federal government, we will now focus even more of our efforts on continuing with the health, education and economic development assistance needed to help move Flint forward."

Water workers will be paid for a few more weeks while they distribute the remaining cases of water.

Flint's supply of bottled water has been an issue since Gov. Rick Snyder recognized lead contamination in the city's water system in January 2016.

The water crisis unfolded while the city was run by a series of emergency managers, appointed by Snyder, putting pressure on the state to clean-up the water system and provide safe drinking water in the interim.

Mayor Karen Weaver sent a letter to the Governor April 5, expressing the people of Flint's "great anxiety over the potential end to the supply of bottled water and funding needed to continue the operation of water distribution sites, known as PODS, and Access and Functional Needs home delivery services."

"As I have stated before and will continue to say, this is not what I want for our city and I stand by my position that free bottled water should be provided to the people of Flint until the last known lead-tainted pipe has been replaced," Weaver states in the letter.

Weaver called on the state to have more discussion with the city about the water test results from the MDEQ.

"We know that the water in Flint is much better than when I made the Emergency Declaration in December 2015, and that is a good thing. However, we also know that trust has to be restored before residents are ready to rely only on filtered water," Weaver states in the letter.

"Thus, you may conclude that bottled water no longer needs to be provided but I believe more discussion is needed on the test results. Moreover, I hope that the state can provide the public a clear and detailed explanation of the test results and sampling methodology used."

In the letter, the mayor states that residents can request water filters and detailed instructions on how to properly install and maintain filters until December 2018 through the state-funded Community Outreach and Resident Education.

The governor initially activated the Michigan National Guard to assist in water distribution, and soldiers were assigned to fire stations, freeing up members of the American Red Cross to assist with door-to-door distribution of bottled water and lead-clearing faucet filters.

Later, the Michigan State Police coordinated bottled water distribution at nine "points of distribution" - or PODS - one of which was located in each ward in the city.

At one point, the MSP captain overseeing the state's response to the water crisis claimed non-residents were loading up on water giveaways and suggested re-evaluating the residency verification process.

The state continued to coordinate water distribution and provided bottled water until six months ago when the administration of the program was turned over to the city of Flint. The state continued to purchase the water, and workers were paid with a federal grant that ended at the end of March.

At the time of the transition of the program to the city, the United Way of Genesee County provided $40,000 to assist in establishing and maintaining small water pickup stations at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, El Shaddai Ministries, Joy Tabernacle, Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist, Salem Lutheran Church and Vernon Chapel.

In addition to those stations, four primary water distribution sites were set up at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, a lot on Franklin Avenue, West Court Street Church of God and Eastown Bowling Alley.

During the time the city has administered the water distribution, the cost of the water alone has averaged $22,000 per day.

State taxpayers have provided more than $350 million to Flint, in addition to the $100 million from the federal government, according to the press release. The funding helped with water quality improvements, pipe replacement, healthcare, nutritional food distribution, educational resources, job training and creation, and more.

"Bottled water may be ending but the state's commitment to the residents of Flint remains strong," said Rich Baird, senior advisor to Gov. Snyder and team leader for the state's Mission Flint Office.

There have been signs that the state could end it's support for bottled water for several months.

In December, a spokeswoman for the MDEQ said the state would likely reconsider the burden of paying for Flint water - provided tap water continued to show lead levels below the federal action limit of 15 parts per billion of lead.

Testing during the last six months of last year did show that improvement, but Mayor Karen Weaver said the support should not end until water in Flint Community Schools was tested - something that took place throughout last month.

More than 4 percent of water samples collected in the final round of testing at Flint Community Schools' buildings had elevated levels of lead, according to reports published online by the MDEQ.

The final tests in the city's public school buildings showed at least one instance of water with at least 15 parts per billion of lead in each of the 10 buildings.

Weaver wrote the state should continue to pay for bottled water until all lead or galvanized water service lines in the city have been replaced, which could take another two construction seasons to complete.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has warned of the potential for lead to break free from water pipes during such heavy underground construction.

Flint Journal staff writer Ron Fonger contributed to this report.

Trust needed for Flint to rebound from water crisis, say those who know
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The spill of toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan early this week may have been caused by a passing vessel, according to new information from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard on Friday, April 6, initiated a marine casualty investigation, the Coast Guard states in a Friday press release. Such investigations are conducted by the Coast Guard in response to boat collisions, shipwrecks, vessel groundings and other incidents.

The Coast Guard cannot confirm whether a boat caused the leak or even what vessels might have been passing through the Straits of Mackinac at the time, Ensign Pamela Manns said.

"This is just one investigation that's part of the larger response," Manns said.

On average, about 4-6 commercial vessels pass through the Straits of Mackinac daily, she said.

The Coast Guard is also leading the "unified command," a group of local, state and federal officials that joined Wisconsin-based utility American Transmission Company in responding to the spill reported to authorities on Monday, April 2.

An estimated 600 gallons of dielectric fluid leaked into Lake Michigan from underwater electrical cables operated by ATC. The leaking fluid was composed primarily of alkyl derivatives of benzene, a hydrocarbon, and is categorized as potentially fatal for humans if swallowed or if it enters airways, and "very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.

Whatever caused the spill, still in the cleanup stages, could also pose a risk to underwater oil and gas pipelines, prompting a call from the Coast Guard for other entities to check for damage.

The unified command group has notified all others with lines crossing the Straits of Mackinac of the incident, according to a Coast Guard press release.

"The Unified Command initiated notifications to entities responsible for other lines that cross the Straits to ensure that all steps are taken to assess and mitigate any potential damage to infrastructure or risk to the public health and the environment," the release states.

One of those other crossings is the controversial Enbridge Line 5 twin pipelines, which transport up to 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids per day.

The company reports it shut down the Line 5 crossing Tuesday, April 3 to fully evaluate its leak detection systems, Enbridge spokesperson Michael Barnes said in a statement.

"In addition, Enbridge launched additional inspection tools on each of the dual pipelines on Wednesday to confirm the integrity of the pipelines," Barnes said. "A review of all available data indicated the structural integrity of the pipelines had not been compromised and Line 5 was restarted Wednesday afternoon."

Other crossings in the area include the TransCanada twin natural gas pipelines and a power line that runs between St. Ignace and Mackinac Island.

The Coast Guard, which completed flyovers of the area on Monday and Wednesday, reports finding no signs of other pollution related to the incident.

Response to this week's spill continued Thursday, April 5, as crews worked to remove the remaining dielectric fluid from the two effected transmission lines. On the first day of cleanup efforts, the Coast Guard reported crews from Oil Spill Response Organization, a firm contracted by ATC, removed about 10 percent of the fluid from inside one of the lines.

An estimated 800 gallons remain -- 400 gallons in each line -- and will be removed by a 10-person work crew and vacuum truck working to draw the fluid from the decommissioned lines.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican candidate for governor, weighed in on the issue in a statement his office released Thursday, April 5.

"The remaining American Transmission Co. cables should not be re-activated until there is a thorough and complete DEQ review of what caused the leakage of coolant into the Straits of Mackinac," Schuette said in the statement.
ST. IGNACE, MI -- Analysts with the U.S. Coast Guard and the state Department of Environmental Quality say a mineral-oil spill from power lines has shown no observable signs of pollution so far in the Straits of Mackinac.

A Coast Guard marine science technician and a DEQ analyst surveyed the water while aboard a vessel Thursday, April 5.

They could not find any mineral oil sheens, signs of pollution or adverse impact to the environment or wildlife.

An estimated 600 gallons of dielectric fluid was released from two American Transmission Company power lines earlier this week.

Workers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have estimated the trajectory of the spill and say it should be headed to the east and northeast of the utility lines.

Communities with water intake lines have been notified, but authorities say the danger to drinking water supplies is low because of the mineral oil's low toxicity and ability to dilute in water.
ST. IGNACE, MI -- Though the environmental damage from a chemical spill in the Straits of Mackinac this week was likely minimal, one expert says it should serve as a warning of what could be a much more catastrophic spill.

An estimated 600 gallons of dielectric fluid leaked into Lake Michigan this week from underwater electrical cables owned by Wisconsin-based utility American-Transmission Company (ATC), according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The leaking fluid was composed primarily of alkyl derivatives of benzene, a hydrocarbon, and is categorized as potentially fatal for humans if swallowed or if it enters airways, and "very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects.

Since ice still rings shorelines near Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, the Coast Guard said the chemical poses little threat to humans who will likely not come into contact with it. Though there are drinking water intakes in the general area, the Coast Guard said dilution of the chemical and distance between the spill and any intakes "provide additional protection."

The Coast Guard also said the spill poses little threat to fish and other wildlife.

Allen Burton, a University of Michigan professor and expert in ecological risk assessment and aquatic ecosystems, confirmed the risk to animal life is minimal.

"The fluid that leaked into the water of course is bad," Burton said. "By aquatic toxicity standards, it is toxic."

But the substance's volatility means it would likely rise to the surface and disperse before doing much damage, he said. Combined with the relatively small quantity officials believe to have been released and the large volumes of water and strong currents in the Straits of Mackinac, Burton said, the toxic chemicals were likely "almost immediately diluted."

The key ecological threat, he said, would be to any benthic organisms that live on the lake bottom very near the leaking cables.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported the spill is "a low risk to fisheries and wildlife" because of dilution of the product and the mobility of fish.

"A concern remains that waterfowl or shore birds may come in contact with the product floating on the surface," a Coast Guard press release states.

The group of local, state, federal and business officials responding to the spill are exploring methods to deter birds from areas nearby the spill site.

Wake-up call

Burton said the relatively small spill should serve as a wake-up call.

Real risks remain of much larger spills of harmful materials from other crossings, he said, like Enbridge Energy's Line 5 oil and gas pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac.

"This could be a whole lot worse," Burton said. "This is a huge red flag of what can happen on a bigger scale. If we were to get thousands of gallons of oil leaking into the Straits, it would be a huge environmental issue."

The 65-year-old twin pipelines -- which carry light crude oil and natural gas liquids from Superior, Wisc., to Sarnia, Canada -- stretch along the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac not far from ATC's crossing. Built in 1953, the pipelines transport up to 540,000 barrels of oil and natural gas liquids per day.

The Line 5 pipelines were not impacted by this week's incident.

But as the pipeline ages, and new revelations about risks to pipeline integrity surface, some have renewed public calls to decommission Line 5.

Enbridge has maintained the safety of its Straits crossing.

"Recent inspection reports show that the Line 5 Straits crossing, from an engineering and integrity perspective is in very good condition," Enbridge spokesperson Ryan Duffy said in a statement.

In November, the company began operating under a new temporary agreement with state regulators. In the meantime, an ongoing risk analysis is intended to explore the potential damage that could result from an oil spill in Straits of Mackinac.

"Enbridge is committed to safely operating Line 5 well into the future and our focus is on the agreement," Duffy said.

State agreement

Duffy pointed to seven stipulations in the Nov. 27 agreement with the state, which included a requirement for Enbridge to stop the flow of oil during "sustained adverse weather conditions."

The agreement also requires Enbridge to:

Replace the portion of Line 5 where it crosses beneath the St. Clair River

Undertake a study evaluating alternative options for replacing the Straits pipleline

Evaluate the possibility of a water crossing somewhere else

Evaluate and implement measures to mitigate the risk of boat anchors damaging the pipeline

Explore underwater technologies to improve leak detection and assess the condition of the pipeline's protective coating

Improve coordination and communication between Enbridge and state agencies

"We hope Michigan residents find peace of mind in knowing the seven actions contained within the Agreement are designed to enhance safety, as well as protection of the Great Lakes, while ensuring the public is informed every step of the way," Duffy said.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality recently issued a permit that will allow Enbridge to install 22 new anchors along Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, intended to provide stability in an environment with powerful currents between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Last month, Enbridge applied for a permit to install another 48 anchors.

Though a comprenensive risk analysis has yet to be completed, a report on Line 5 alternatives completed last year by Canadian firm Dynamic Risk modeled an oil spill to serve as a baseline.

Potential spill impact

Dynamic Risk acknowledged the model did not represent a worst-case scenario, but estimated their "credible worst-case" oil spill from Line 5 would release about 4,500 barrels of oil and result in total cleanup costs of about $200 million.

The estimate was notably smaller than a 2016 "worst case" spill study by University of Michigan scientist David Schwab, who modeled 840 different spill scenarios and concluded up to 700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline could be oiled depending on when a spill happened and how much was released. Enbridge's own cleanup cost estimates for a worst-case spill from Line 5 range from a $450 million to $1 billion.

The cleanup after the 2010 Kalamazoo River spill along Enbridge's Line 6B -- where the company did not notice the rupture until notified by an outside caller 17 hours later -- totaled more than $1.2 billion. In that case, more than 843,000 gallons of crude tar sands oil, spilled into Talmadge Creek, a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.

Records obtained by the National Wildlife Federation through the Freedom of Information Act revealed Line 5 has spilled at least 1.13 million gallons of oil in 29 incidents since 1968.

A 'big warning'

In a brochure on the Enbridge website, the company points to the construction of the pipelines, frequent inspections and tests, constant monitoring, periodic spill response exercises and a tactical response plan as precautions meant to ensure such a spill never happens in the Straits of Mackinac.

If those monitoring the pipeline observe a change in pressure or flow that might indicate a leak, the company claims it can shut off pipeline flow and activate responders within three minutes.

Burton pointed out any system can fail.

In the case of this week's American Transmission Company leak, the Coast Guard was not notified until 5 p.m. Monday, April 2. The company reports the first sign of trouble was when the electric lines tripped off on Sunday evening, April 1.

"To me, it's really a big warning," Burton said. "It says, 'You guys better get your ducks in a row.'"

Cleanup continues

Response to this week's spill continued Thursday, April 5, as crews worked to remove the remaining dielectric fluid from the two effected transmission lines. On the first day of cleanup efforts, the Coast Guard reported crews from Oil Spill Response Organization, a firm contracted by ATC, removed about 10 percent of the fluid from inside one of the lines.

An estimated 800 gallons remain -- 400 gallons in each line -- and will be removed by a 10-person work crew and vacuum truck working to draw the fluid from the decommissioned lines. The Coast Guard's unified command group will consult with oil recovery experts and engineers to ensure the extraction process is effective, according to a Coast Guard press release.

A Coast Guard helicopter flew over the Straits Wednesday, and did not locate any oil sheen or other signs of pollution, the release states.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican candidate for governor, weighed in on the issue in a statement his office released Thursday, April 5.

"The remaining American Transmission Co. cables should not be re-activated until there is a thorough and complete DEQ review of what caused the leakage of coolant into the Straits of Mackinac," Schuette said in the statement.
HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, MI -- Police are investigating a report of a strong-arm robbery at a Walgreen Pharmacy in Holland Township.

Deputies from the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office were dispatched around 2 a.m. Friday, April 6, to the pharmacy at 494 Butternut Drive.

Police said a man in his 20s or 30s entered the store and demanded that the clerk open the cash drawer. When the clerk refused, the man pulled the drawer out and fled the store.

With the help of a Holland Department of Public Safety K-9 unit, police conducted an "extensive search" of the area but did not locate the individual.

No injuries or arrests were reported by police.

Police are asking anyone with information about the suspect or robbery to contact the sheriff's department at 616-738-4000, or submit an anonymous tip to Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT.
JACKSON, MI - A man has been charged with driving a motorcycle while drunk in January and causing the death of his former wife, Ann Marie Sahadi, 39, of Brooklyn.

Dail Debruyne, previously imprisoned for a drunken driving offense, was arraigned Wednesday, April 4, on charges of operating while intoxicated causing death; reckless driving causing death; and drunken driving, his third offense, court records show. All are felonies and the first two carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

Accompanied by his attorney, Tim Doman, he turned himself in to authorities this week, Doman and Napoleon Township Police Chief Duaine Pittman said.

Debruyne, 40, of Brooklyn was riding Jan. 26, an unseasonably warm winter day, on Austin Road in Napoleon Township when the bike went off the pavement at a bend in the road. It landed well off the road in the grass in a resident's front yard. Sahadi, his passenger, died at the scene, east of Wolf Lake Road, according to Napoleon police.

Pittman said a witness had reported Debruyne was driving in a reckless manner, tailgating cars and trying to pass them. Police have said speed was a factor, but Pittman said on Friday he did not know how fast the motorcycle, an Indian Scout, was traveling.

Sahadi, also of Brooklyn, and Debruyne were divorced but in the process of reconciling. They had two children. "His life is never going to be the same," Doman said.

Not only did he lose his partner, he is now facing criminal charges, the lawyer said. "It has been tough on Dail. I will say that," he said.

"It has turned his world upside down."

Debruyne also was injured in the crash. He spent 10 days at Henry Ford Allegiance Health and is now doing OK, Doman said. There are some after-effects. He worked 20-some years at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, but is now on disability.

At the time, police thought both Sahadi and Debruyne would not survive, Pittman said.

Doman could not now speak on Debruyne's defense of his alleged actions. The case still is in the early stages and Doman had not yet obtained police reports.

He declined to comment on any previous charges.

Records show Debruyne was twice arrested for operating while intoxicated in 1997, first in March 1997 by police in Gibraltar, south of Detroit. He pleaded guilty in April 1998 and was sentenced to 15 months of probation, according to a Michigan State Police criminal history search.

Three months later, he was arrested by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for operating while intoxicated causing serious injury. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in September 2000 to two to five years in prison. At the same time, Debruyne was convicted of resisting and obstructing an officer and driving with a suspended, revoked or denied license, the records show.

In his most recent case, he was released on a $10,000 bond. A preliminary examination is scheduled for April 18 before District Judge Joseph Filip.

Sahadi is survived by three children, according to her obituary, published by The Blade in Toledo, and enjoyed time with them, the outdoors, singing and cooking. She graduated from Maumee High School in the Toledo, Ohio, area and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
MICHIGAN CENTER, MI - Debra Duvall's kitchen floor was cracking and the Leoni Township resident had no way to replace it.

Then two Jackson nonprofit organizations and more than 20 high school students decided to spend their spring break helping her out.

With assistance from the Community Action Agency of Jackson County and Jackson Habitat for Humanity, youth group parishioners of St. Michael Catholic Church in Grand Ledge and St. Gerard's in Lansing spent the day on Thursday, April 5, working on Duvall's Michigan Center home.

The crew ripped out the cracked ceramic tile in Duvall's home and replaced it with brand new, grey vinyl plank flooring.

Duvall, 61, picked out the flooring herself, she said.

When Duvall told the crew that she was going to install a new backsplash in the kitchen herself, the volunteers jumped in and did that for her as well.

Duvall had nothing but appreciation and gratitude for the young adults and nonprofits who helped get the job done, she said.

"It's very exciting," she said.

As a token of her appreciation, Duvall gave all the helpers blankets that she knitted herself.

"It's not a lot to let them know how much I appreciate everything they've done for me," she said.

While thousands of high school students spend their spring breaks on the beaches of Florida or at home relaxing, Sam Konen and Nathan Nelson, Grand Ledge High School students, opted for service.

For Konen, the work has been rewarding, he said.

"I don't think I could enjoy a beach vacation where you're just sitting around at a resort," Konen said. "It's nice to be able to work with your hands and not think about school.

"There's also the human aspect like seeing (Debra) and her gratitude. When she sees the job we're doing and is overwhelmed by it, that's a pretty powerful and cool thing."

Konen and Nelson are two of the more than 20 volunteers from the two parishes who are doing service projects around Jackson County with Habitat for Humanity during spring break.

Duvall has lived in the house on Broad Street for four years, she said. It was built by the Community Action Agency, which also helped fund her new floor.

The grey, waterproof flooring is a nice touch, Duvall said. It needs to be durable for her two dogs, she said.

What she is really excited for is when her 88-year-old mother comes to stay with her in May.

"The thought of my mom getting to see the new floor is tickling me a little," she said.
MUSKEGON, MI - A community memorial service has been planned for 30 dogs that perished in a fire at a Muskegon area boarding kennel.

The service on April 12 will allow families to share memories of their pets that died in the fire that destroyed the Storm's Ahead Kennel on March 30.

The kennel was full at the time since area schools began spring break on that day, and many families were out of town. The kennel is located in Fruitport Township between Muskegon and Grand Rapids.

Clock Timeless Pets, a company of Clock Funeral Home of Muskegon, is hosting the memorial service. Clock helped recover the dogs' remains and offered cremation services to the families.

"This service will be an opportunity for the pet parents to honor the life of their four-legged family members, as well as receive support from each other and the surrounding community," said Jodi Clock of Clock Funeral Home. "Therapy dogs, along with grief support will be on site. This is a family-friendly event, and all leashed pets are welcome."

Each pet that died was able to be identified. Urns and burial containers were donated by Eric Peterson, veterinarian and owner of Northside Veterinary Clinic and Paw Pods, which is a Michigan-based urn company. In addition, an eco-friendly product for scattering pet's remains was offered by Let Your Love Grow.

One of the kennel's owners woke up around 4:40 a.m. March 30 and noticed the glow of the fire from the kennel house, located on the same property at 6911 E. Mount Garfield Road as the owner's residence.

The kennel was engulfed in flames when the first firefighters arrived on the scene, according to Brian Michelli, public safety director for Fruitport Township. The fire's cause has not been determined.

"We're just devastated," co-owner Janet Rehfus told MLive on the day of the fire. "Many of those dogs have been coming to me for years, some of them were dogs that we bred and sold. We're heartbroken and trying to make sense of it all."

The kennel also breeds Labrador retrievers.

The memorial service will begin at 6:30 p.m. April 12 at the Clock Funeral Home's Clock Chapel, 1469 Peck St. in Muskegon.
Standing Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh city Peoples Committee Le Thanh Liem meets with delegates. (Photo: thanhuytphcm.vn)

Saying thanks to Ho Chi Minh citys leaders for making favourable conditions for the operation of the Australian General Consulate in the city, Ms Karen Lanyon said she believed that the cooperation between Australia and Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh city, would develop well.

So far, Australia is Vietnams 8th largest trade partner, with the two-way trade turnover reaching nearly USD6.5 billion in 2017, an increase of 22.9% compared to 2016.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh city Peoples Committee Le Thanh Liem highlighted steps of development between the two countries, especially when they upgraded the relationship to a strategic partnership in March.

According to Mr. Liem, there are currently 176 Australian projects worth nearly USD184 million in Ho Chi Minh city, while cooperation projects between universities in the city and Australian partners in human resources training have been actively carried out.

He also expressed his belief that the Vietnam - Australia cooperative relationship would be further reinforced for the two countries prosperity and development./.
SAGINAW, MI -- An issued hall pass is what cracked the case of who made the prank call alerting police there was a shooting at a Saginaw elementary school.

Saginaw police and other law enforcement agencies from throughout Saginaw County responded to Kempton Elementary School the morning of Thursday, April 5, for the call but soon found out that a 10-year-old student had made the call from a phone she had taken from another student's locker.

She admitted it was supposed to be a practical joke on the owner of the phone, Chief Bob Ruth said.

She then took police to the locker where the phone was hidden.

Ruth said it was easy to identify who had made the call because she was the only person to have a hall pass at the time the 911 call was made.

The prank call came into Saginaw County 911 around 9:45 a.m.

News spread over social media that there was a heavy police presence at Kempton and parent began showing up there.

While the practical joke was no laughing matter, it did give law enforcement, first responders and school officials a good platform to practice the various trainings they've received for situations like such.

"The central dispatch operators did an outstanding job of keeping the juvenile on the phone and advising officers of the incident," Ruth said. "The Saginaw schools have a very good security plan in place for this type of incident. You could see how the teachers, principal, security, maintenance and other staff care for the safety of the students.

"Truly everyone worked together today to keep our students safe."

Though she was turned over to her parents, the student is not totally out of the woods yet.

"We as a community cannot and will not tolerate this type of behavior," Ruth said. "Students need to understand the effects of choices they make in life and be prepared to suffer the penalties for such decisions."

Ruth said more information will be released on Friday.

"It will be determined after the investigation how the case will be handled," he said.
UPDATE: Task force investigating Saginaw Diocese warns against witness intimidation

SAGINAW, MI -- The Rev. Robert "Father Bob" DeLand Jr. is charged with more sexual assault offenses, the result of another teenage boy coming forward since the priest was first charged more than a month ago.

Wearing a black-and-gray striped jumpsuit, the 71-year-old DeLand on Friday, April 6, appeared before Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank via closed-circuit TV from the jail for arraignment on single counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing personal injury, assault with intent to commit second-degree criminal sexual conduct, manufacturing or distributing an imitation controlled substance, and selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor.

The sex offenses are 15- and five-year felonies, respectively. The drug charge is punishable by up to two years' imprisonment, while the alcohol count is a 60-day misdemeanor.

DeLand stood mute and Frank entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Defense attorney Alan Crawford asked the judge to free his client on a personal recognizance bond, stating he's been free on a GPS tether on the previously filed charges and has complied with all court orders.

"This is not a new offense," Crawford said. "He's committed no new crimes; he's committed no crimes, your Honor."

Crawford said DeLand is not working and has limited financial resources. He added he is not a flight risk and poses no danger to the community.

Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Hoover asked the judge not to free DeLand.

"He is, in fact, a danger to the community, in particular to young men," Hoover said. "We have charged four additional counts against the defendant. He clearly is a threat to anybody around him, so we would ask that he be held without bond."

Frank set four bonds, the highest being $50,000. If posted, DeLand is not to leave his residence except for doctor appointments, meetings with his attorney, or court hearings.

Police first arrested DeLand on Feb. 25 at his Saginaw Township condominium on accusations that he had molested a 17- and a 21-year-old male. The arrest stemmed from a months-long investigation by Saginaw Township and Tittabawassee Township police involving allegations of sex crimes involving underage boys.

In the Saginaw Township case, DeLand was charged with attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross indecency between males. That case pertains to a 21-year-old man having reported in August that DeLand made unwanted sexual advances on him while they were at the priest's condo.

In the Tittabawassee Township case, DeLand was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury, the result of parents of the 17-year-old in November having voiced concerns about the pastor's behavior to police. The teen had been associated with DeLand through court-ordered community service.

Since DeLand's first arrest, Saginaw County Prosecutor John McColgan Jr. announced the formation of a special investigative team to coordinate and investigate allegations of abuse involving officials within the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

Since DeLand's arrest, numerous tips and allegations about further sexual abuse dating back as far as three decades have flooded area police departments, investigators previously said. Among the tips were allegations against other clergymen.

Police on March 22 executed search warrants on and raided several Saginaw Catholic Diocese properties, including the Saginaw Township home of Bishop Joseph R. Cistone.

As a result of the task force's probe, police on April 5 again arrested DeLand at his condo at 29 Mallard Cove in Saginaw Township.

Three of the four new charges involve one of the prior two victims, while the remaining charge relates to a third victim, an 18-year-old male. This third victim has alleged DeLand tried assaulting him inside St. Agnes Catholic Church, 300 Johnson St. in Tittabawassee Township, in May 2017, police said.

"The day after the May 2017 incident, the victim's father reported the incident to the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw and never heard back from them, nor received word the police were notified by them," Tittabawassee Township Police Detective Brian J. Berg said in a press release. "After Father Deland's Feb 25, 2018, arrest, the victim's father and the victim notified investigators from the Special Investigative Team about the incident and requested assistance in prosecuting Father Deland for this attempted sexual assault inside St. Agnes Church."

Crawford has called the investigation a witch hunt.

"This is a case of entrapment," Crawford has told MLive. "The police, of all people, sent a troubled high school student undercover, that was already on probation, and attempted to use this teenager to seduce Father DeLand."

DeLand is to appear in court for a hearing at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, April 20.
TAWAS, MI -- Saginaw native and kiteboarder Maurice Murillo says the action sport connects him with nature and gives him a feeling of bliss.

That's all evident in this video produced by the nonprofit Heart of the Lakes and Stone Hut Studios. We're guessing it will have you dreaming of summer -- especially on a day where snow covered roads across Michigan and warmer temperatures seem nowhere in sight.

The Geography I Call Home from Heart of the Lakes on Vimeo.

Heart of the Lakes is the collective voice for Michigan's land conservancies.

This video follows Murillo from Saginaw to the waters of Tawas Point.

"I'm from Saginaw, Michigan. Definitely didn't grow up on California waters," Murillo says. "Kiteboarding has humbled me. I used to have, maybe, a chip on my shoulder, had this tough facade. Kiteboarding opened my eyes and opened my heart."

Heart of the Lakes touts itself as the "collective voice for Michigan's land conservancies." It has about 25 members, most of which are land trusts or land conservancies. Jonathan Jarosz is the executive director.

The video featuring Murillo is part of a series called "The Power of Nature" funded by the state of Michigan's Coastal Zone Management Program, the Bay Area Community Foundation and the Saginaw Bay Watershed Initiative Network.

The videos are "first person narratives about the power of nature in each of these individuals' lives," Jarosz said, for example, the power to inspire, the power to heal and the power to educate.

He said nature has value for all of us and conservation is only possible when people are engaged in it.

See more videos from Heart of the Lakes here and learn more about the organization and its mission here.
SAGINAW, MI -- The Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office has issued a statement discouraging intimidation and derision of those coming forward in the ongoing investigation of sexual abuse within the Saginaw Catholic Diocese.

"The recent verbal attacks on the victims in these cases are unfounded," reads the statement, jointly authored by the task force and prosecutors handling the investigation. "The charges (against the Rev. Robert "Father Bob" DeLand Jr.) are based, in part, on audio/visual police recordings. Any attempts to discourage other victims to come forward by letting them know that they too will be publicly attacked will also be addressed."

The statement came the morning of Friday, April 6, a few hours after DeLand was arraigned in Saginaw County District Court on four more charges related to the suspected abuse of young men. Police on Thursday again arrested DeLand at his Saginaw Township condominium.

After the priest's arrest, defense attorney Alan Crawford told The Saginaw News-MLive that the investigation amounted to a witch hunt.

"Furthermore, this is a case of entrapment," Crawford said. "The police, of all people, sent a troubled high school student undercover, that was already on probation, and attempted to use this teenager to seduce Father DeLand."

Crawford called DeLand a man of God who was serving his community and helping those in need and said that the alleged victims and their families saw a "payday" and were only concerned with rising from their current economic situation.

"The other alleged victim's claims are baseless," Crawford said. "This is an individual with a 0.27 (blood alcohol level) and is saying whatever he can to improve his financial situation."

District Judge A.T. Frank on Friday arraigned DeLand on single counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing personal injury, assault with intent to commit second-degree criminal sexual conduct, manufacturing or distributing an imitation controlled substance, and selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor.

The sex offenses are 15- and five-year felonies, respectively. The drug charge is punishable by up to two years imprisonment, while the alcohol count is a 60-day misdemeanor.

Police had first arrested DeLand on Feb. 25 at his Saginaw Township condominium on accusations that he had molested a 17-year old and a 21-year-old, both males. The arrest stemmed from a months-long investigation by Saginaw Township and Tittabawassee Township police involving allegations of sex crimes involving underage boys.

In the Saginaw Township case, DeLand was charged with attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross indecency between males. That case pertains to a 21-year-old man having reported in August that DeLand made unwanted sexual advances on him while they were at the priest's condo.

In the Tittabawassee Township case, DeLand was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct causing injury, the result of parents of the 17-year-old in November having voiced concerns about the pastor's behavior to police. The teen had been associated with DeLand through court-ordered community service.

The new charges pertain to one of the prior two victims, as well as a third. This third victim, an 18-year-old male, has alleged DeLand tried assaulting him inside St. Agnes Catholic Church, 300 Johnson St. in Tittabawassee Township, in May 2017, police said.

"Law enforcement will continue to investigate the leads they have been provided," the task force's statement continued. "We will not be deterred from pursuing the alleged criminal activity which has been brought to our attention. We encourage other victims to continue to come forward so that those who are responsible for any attempt to cover up abuse of minors by priests are likewise brought to justice."
Target has agreed to pay more than $3.7 million to settle a lawsuit concerning how the company using criminal backgrounds checks as part of the hiring process has been done with racial bias.

According to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in New York, Target's hiring practices resulted in 41,000 African American and Latino applicants being denied jobs based on its screening process between May 2008 and December 2016.

"Target's background check policy was out of step with best practices and harmful to many qualified applicants who deserved a fair shot at a good job," Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"Criminal background information can be a legitimate tool for screening job applicants, but only when appropriately linked to relevant questions such as how long ago the offense occurred and whether it was a nonviolent or misdemeanor offense."

With approximately 1,800 stores, Target's new hiring practices can mean access to 100's of 1000's of jobs for African-American & Latino applicants.



Want to see how far-reaching our @Target settlement truly is? Our @TMI_LDF Senior Researcher @DocGallJr maps it out for us. https://t.co/ShPEriY0r9  Legal Defense Fund (@NAACP_LDF) April 5, 2018

The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based retail chain released a statement on Friday, April 6 saying that it holds diversity and inclusion at the top of its list of core values. Target says in the statement that it began conducting criminal background checks as part of its hiring process more than 10 years ago "to help ensure our stores were safe places to work and shop."

"As a result, there were claims that the approach may have unintentionally disqualified certain applicants, and that some applicants were disqualified because of convictions that weren't related to the position for which they applied," the company says. "Since then, we've revised our hiring practices, removing the criminal history question from our employment application nationwide.

"Now, we gather criminal background information in the final stages of the hiring process. This ensures individuals are considered for employment based on their qualifications, interview and availability."

The Star Tribune reports that Target will also donate $600,000 to five different organizations that set out to find work for people with a criminal history.

The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges Target's hiring process automatically denied people for a variety of misdemeanor and felony charges ranging from violent acts, theft and controlled substance issues. The retail chain's human resources department was granted final say in whether to allow or deny an applicant move onto the next step.

Plaintiffs in the case included 47-year-old Carnella Times from Connecticut in 2006, and 40-year-old Erving Smith from Smyrna, Georgia in 2014. The court documents in question detail each plaintiff's case.

Times was disqualified from getting an overnight stocker position in South Windsor, Connecticut for two misdemeanor convictions from 10 years prior in 1996. The 47-year-old made it clear she had overnight stocking positions, but Target HR disqualified her for two misdemeanors from a decade before.

Smith applied for a stocker position for a store in Pittsburgh, but was disqualified for a drug-related felony from a decade prior in 2004. He had two interviews for the position and even received a conditional offer contingent on his criminal background check. Two weeks later, Target rescinded the job offer to Smith due to his drug conviction from 2004 for a job he applied for in 2014.

"However, as part of our commitment to safety and security, we still believe it is important to consider an individual's criminal conviction history as part of the overall hiring process," Target says in its Friday statement. "Individuals are given an opportunity to explain their criminal history and provide information about the circumstances, mitigating factors, good conduct and rehabilitation.

"We exclude applicants whose criminal histories could pose a risk to our guests, team members or property, and design our process to treat all applicants fairly while maintaining a safe and secure working and shopping environment for team members and guests."
"Jersey Shore" is back ... "yeahhhhh ... buddy." The highly popular MTV reality series has been missed, but after almost six years, the reality series is making its grand return as "Jersey Shore Family Vacation." Many fans are excited to see the gang reunite and watch their shenanigans unfold. But others argue that "Jersey Shore" is trash and has always been trash. What do you think?

PERSPECTIVES

Trash TV is good TV.

Jersey Shore is back tonight and if you think my grown self is gonna waste an hour of my life once a week watching that trash then youre 100% correct. The cabs are hea!!  Greg Gonzalez (@GGONZALEZ6) April 5, 2018

But others can't get with it.

Jersey Shore is the epitome of trash television idc idc  slymee (@spcghstOG) April 4, 2018

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[April 05, 2018] Future of 5G Discussed in Istanbul 5G technology was discussed at the Technology Summit organized by Turkcell (NYSE: TKC) (BIST:TCELL), with the attendance of more than 2500 business partners. The participants of the summit included major global and Turkish actors of the communication and telecommunication industry. The opening speeches of the summit were given by Kaan Terzioglu (Turkcell CEO), Gediz Sezgin (Turkcell Chief Network Officer ), Galip Zerey (Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications), Taha Urey (Member of the Radio & Television Supervisory Board), Dr. Chaesub Lee (Director of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Standards Office) and Axel Clauberg (Board Chairman of Telecom Infra Project and Assistant General Manager of Deutsche Telekom (News - Alert) ). At the summit, Turkey was recognized as having the best infrastructure for transition to 5G thanks to its well-organized 4.5G infrastructure. '5G is the basis of the Industry 4.0 transformation' Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioglu says that 5G is not just a communication technology and noted: "5G should be considered as the basis of the digitalization of automotive, agriculture and health industries as well as Industry 4.0 transformation. Therefore, it is important that actors from all industries participate in 5G development efforts. Through long-term collaborations, we think that early adoption of locally-developed 5G services will trigger a boost not only in technology but also in national economy. Turkcell's strategy in building the 4.5G network included the facilitation of transition to 5G. Our current network is a high-end network offering the best speed and quality of mobile services. There are 7 operators in the world which can offer a speed exceeding 1Gbps and Turkcell is one of them." 'We offer the best speeds supported by devices' Gediz Sezgin, host of the summit and Turkcell's Chief Network Officer (CNO), told that Turkcell is a leading global operator with many innovations in 5G and continued: "With 5G, we will offer 10 times the current speed. We will also ensure low levels of communication delays. The delays will be minimum 20 times lower than today. Operations which require instant decision-making in case of emergencies will be possible. Devices connected to the network will be used efficiently. 5G networ will allow connection of 1 million devices per square kilometer. 5G will change all industries from education to health and transportation. Ways of doing business will change. Last year, we performed the first and fastest 5G tests in Turkey. We achieved record speeds with approximately 71 Gbps. As of today, we can say that we are using 5G. Because we reach the best speed supported by today's devices. During the tests in Mardin last week, we achieved 1.05 Gbps. This speed will increase as terminals which support better speeds are available. We are now waiting for better terminals to be launched." 'Fiber infrastructure is important for 5G' Galip Zerey, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, said that the commercial use of 5G is expected in 2020 and Turkey will be one of the first countries to use 5G technology with the international standards currently specified. Zerey mentioned that they are in collaboration with the operators to develop Turkey's 5G infrastructure and stressed on the importance of the fiber infrastructure for 5G. '5G will not be developed in a single day' Dr. Chaesub Lee, Director of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Standards Office, said that the transition to 5G will not be completed in a single day and continued: "These efforts are in progress for a long time and at this point, we are actually using 5G. USA is aggressive and 5 networks use this technology. So are China and Japan. Here is an example from Korea. Korea Telecom (News - Alert) announced and performed initial 5G tests. It was used in the latest winter Olympics. They did not just modify 4.5G systems but also installed new systems. It was not just in stadiums, it covered 100-km areas; and they are pretty good. They are now waiting for the standards to be defined. I see that Turkey is progressing in this direction and I am glad that the transition will happen in 2020." 'We are in a brand-new age of Internet' Dr. Axel Clauberg, Board Chairman of Telecom Infra Project, said: "Devices we use today remind me of Stone Age tools. This is not the 1980s' internet any more. We are in a brand new age of internet. 5G started with limits but will gain speed in 2020. With a focus on costs, operators should change their ways of doing business. This will allow more data to be offered to the subscribers. Telecom Infra Project has 500 members including Turkcell. 80 percent of these members are there to learn about the ways of doing business of leading internet companies." 5G technology was discussed by experts in detail At the second session, current 5G technologies were discussed by Prof. Umit Ozguner (President of Transportation Research Center (TRC) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Ohio State University Researcher), Prof. Huseyin Arslan (Medipol University Engineering Faculty Dean and Chairman of ULAK Communication Board) and Javan Erfanian (Next-Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) 5G Board Member and Bell Mobility (Canada) Technology Board Member). The session was on the importance of smart vehicles, fleets and autonomous devices which will be available through smart transport systems and 5G as well as the relevant needs and requirements. At the panel moderated by Turkcell Elif Yenihan Kaya Turkcell Access Network Capabilities Director and titled "5G Innovation Opportunities", panelists included Ramazan Yilmaz (Information Technologies and Communication Board (BTK) Technical Regulations Office Director), Dr. Metin Balci (General Manager of ULAK Haberlesme A.S.), Serdar Bayar ( ASELSAN (News - Alert) Technology Transfer Manager), Riza Durucasugil (NETAS Innovation & R&D Strategies Director) and Veli Murat Celik (Communication Technologies Segment ( HTK (News - Alert) ) Board Director). The speeches were on 5G's possible contributions to the Turkish economy. At the final session titled "5G Technologies for Digital Transformation", the speakers were Zhu Huimin (Huawei 5G Marketing Director), Ahmed Ijaz (Ericsson Senior Radio Access Network Consultant), Dr. Wonil Roh (Samsung Asst. General Manager) and George Tsirtsis ( Qualcomm (News - Alert) Senior Technology Director). They talked about the effects of 5G on daily life. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180405006166/en/

[ Back To www.mobilitytechzone.com/wimax's Homepage ]
Ambassador Doan Xuan Hung speaking at the event (Photo: vov)

Apart from donation to support Truong Sa archipelago, the exchange was also an opportunity for the members to report to the overseas Vietnamese community what they have done over the past time and what they will do in the coming time. This is also a way to communicate and mobilize the overseas Vietnamese to pay attention to and look toward Truong Sa with practical activities.

Over a year of operation, the Truong Sa Club has organized two donations to support the sea and islands; support children of officials and soldiers on duty in remote islands, studying in Hanoi with accommodation in five apartments for five years free of charge; mobilize students to write letters and books to share their feelings with soldiers and encourage those who are protecting the sea and islands of the country; organize art programs and talks with second generation Vietnamese students, German and international friends about Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

Speaking at the exchange, Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Doan Xuan Hung praised the positive activities of the Truong Sa Club over the past year. He believed that with such enthusiastic and efficient efforts, the club will build its influence in the overseas Vietnamese community and create charismatic activities about Truong Sa for them in the coming time.

During the exchange, the club mobilized the overseas Vietnamese to support planting trees on islands in order to restore trees destroyed by hurricanes sweeping through Truong Sa archipelago last year and the club collected EUR6,750. With the amount of the previous donation, the club has EUR10,000 to donate to Truong Sa.

In the framework of the exchange, the club also admitted five new members, who will visit Truong Sa archipelago in April. The Truong Sa Club will donate all proceeds from the two donations to those who will visit to the island to present soldiers and people on Truong Sa archipelago./.




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Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
According to Climbing the ladder: Poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Vietnam report released on April 5th, improving income from highland agriculture can help nation further reduce poverty, which has fallen by almost 4% points since 2014, to 9.8% in 2016. Ethnic minorities - many of them living in highland areas - account for 72% of Vietnams poor, and encouraging them to grow more profitable industrial crops may improve their earnings.

Vietnam has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for millions. The decline in poverty amongst ethnic minorities is encouraging, and more focused efforts on improving their incomes can further broaden their opportunities and reduce persistent inequalities. The aspirations of those with less opportunity cannot be ignored, said Mr Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam.

Mr Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam spoke at the event.

The report, outlining recent trends and patterns of poverty in Vietnam, proposes solutions for that untapped agriculture potential in highland areas where the poor are concentrated. Land use and cropping decisions, for example, contribute more to agriculture income differences between households. Low-income families in highland areas use their land to grow basic crops such as rice or maize instead of raising more profitable crops such as coffee, black pepper, or rubber.

Improving access to credit may help highland farmers make the necessary investments for higher-earning agricultural production. Strengthening earning capacity can help narrow inequalities between groups. The average per capita consumption of ethnic minorities, for example, remains less than 45% of the Kinh and Hoa. Moreover, the poor faces a widening gap in terms of access to upper secondary education and improved water and sanitation.

At the same time, it recognizes that 70% of its population is now classified as economically secure, including the 13% who are now part of the global middle-class. These income classes are growing rapidly, rising by over 20% points between 2010 and 2017.

An average of 1.5 million Vietnamese joined the global middle class each year since 2014, confirming that households continue to climb the economic ladder after escaping poverty. The rise of the consumer class changes societys aspirations and the focus of the poverty and shared prosperity agenda shifts from combating extreme poverty to effecting broad improvements in the quality of life and supporting the further expansion of the middle class. Rapid job creation and an ongoing transition to wage employment are driving gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

Several areas of strategic priorities to further reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity were suggested, including:

* Boosting labor productivity and investing in infrastructure to sustain job creation and wage growth without losing competitiveness

* Implementing education reforms designed to equalize opportunities and develop workforce skills

* Spurring agriculture structural transformation through changing farm land use patterns, strengthening land user rights, and improving skills of the poor farmers.

While reducing inequality remains a challenge, the report notes that the number of individuals vulnerable to falling back into poverty declined to only 2% between 2014 and 2016. In contrast, the period saw the middle class expanding by more than 3 million people.

One of the prioritized areas under the new World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework with Vietnam for the period from fiscal year 2018-2022 is inclusive growth, with a specific objective for the economic integration of the poor and vulnerable groups under which the Bank will provide support for targeted interventions to expand economic opportunities for people in lagging areas./.
By By:

Dr. Francis R. Souder, 85, formerly of Telford, died Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 in the skilled nursing unit of Peter Becker Community, Franconia Township. He and his wife Marion R. (Parker) Souder celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in July.

Born in Souderton, he was a son of the late Elvin B. and Mary (Rittenhouse) Souder.

A 1938 graduate of Souderton High School, he received his undergraduate degree in 1941 from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Souder went on to receive his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in 1944 and completed his internship at Hahnemann Hospital from Oct. 1944  July, 1945.

He served with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps for 30 months in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif. during WW II and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant prior to his discharge. He entered his second tour of duty during the Korean War where he served in Panama City, Fla. as the medical officer for the Panama City Naval Air Station and the Tyndal Air Force Base.

Dr. Souder owned and operated his family practice on Main Street in Telford from 1947-1989. He served on the staff of Grand View Hospital, and as its president, and taught at the Grand View Hospital Nursing School. He was a member of the Pa. Medical Society, the Bucks County Medical Society, Diplomat American Academy of Family Practices, and served on the board of trustees at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville.

He was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Telford, where he sang in the church choir. He was also a member of the MacCalla Lodge #596 in Souderton, the Raja Shrine, and Lehigh Consistory.

In addition to his widow, he is survived by a son, Dr. Ronald L. Souder, and his wife Susan L. of Green Lane; a daughter, Susan J. Souder, and her husband Stephan Russo of New York, N.Y.; five grandchildren: Jennifer A. Souder of Philadelphia; Emily E. Souder of Philadelphia; Kathryn A. Souder of Washington, D.C.; Noah Russo of New York, N.Y., and Rebekah Russo of New York, N.Y., and two brothers: Attorney Elvin B. Souder of Souderton and Dr. Lawrence Souder of Souderton.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 12 p.m. in Trinity United Church of Christ, 101 S. Main St., Telford, with calling hours following the service.

Interment will be private in Trinity UCC Cemetery Telford.

Memorial contributions may be made to Grand View Hospital, 700 Lawn Ave., Sellersville, Pa. 18960.

Arrangements are by Sadler-Suess Funeral Home, Telford.
As Fire Prevention Week approaches, Bucks County firefighters urge residents to Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety
Driving while texting or talking on a hand-held phone is dangerous. Thats the message that Morgan Hill Police and other law enforcement agencies hope to get across throughout the month of April, which is recognized as National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

<

During the month, MHPD, the Office of Traffic Safety and agencies throughout the state will work together to end distracted driving through education, and raise awareness about the associated dangers, according to an April 4 press release from MHPD. The campaign aims to change motorists dangerous distracted driving behavior year-round, and not just for one month.

<

The statewide campaign also aligns with the Morgan Hill City Councils goal of reducing collisions and eliminating traffic related deaths, reads the press release. Distracted driving, police advice, is 100 percent avoidable, but it continues to be a serious problem among drivers.

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Police urge all motorists to silence their cell phones while driving and devote all their attention to the roadway. Adults should remind any new or inexperienced drivers in their household of the dangers of distracted driving. California drivers younger than 18 are prohibited from using a cell phone or hands-free device while operating a vehicle. Adult drivers may only use a hands-free device if they must use any personal electronic device while driving.

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Other safety tips offered by MHPD include:

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 Never text and drive;

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 Dont text or call others when you know they are likely to be driving;

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 Dont program your GPS or other devices while driving;

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 Pull over and stop to read maps.

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It has been 10 years since hands-free became the state law. In the last three years, California traffic officers have issued hundreds of thousands of tickets to drivers for texting or calling on a hand-held cell phone, according to police. A ticket for a first offense of driving while using a hand-held device is about $150, while a second or subsequent ticket can cost the same driver more than $250.
A few months back I got an email from a friend who said she would like to talk to me about the Poppy Jasper Film Festival. I kind of thought, Poppy Jasper Film Festivaldidnt that film festival kind of fade away a year or so ago?

<

Well, yes it did take a short break, but it has returned and the word International was added to a film festival already known for global participation. So now its Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, and it is starting this Thursday, April 5, and runs through Sunday, April 8.

<

For over 12 years, the festival was under the guidance of a dedicated local group that decided that it needed a refresh of the popular local festival.

<

Its still about movies and moviemaking, but the festival is taking more of a regional approach with events in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. This has gotten some in the two downtowns pretty excited about highlighting the festival with events at Morgan Hills Granada Theater and movies shown at the historic Strand Theater in downtown Gilroy. Was there a rumor about freshening up the old Strands marquee?

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Frank Leal in Morgan Hill and Gary Walton in Gilroy are believers in the local movie scene and are investing in the growth of the festival and the thousands of attendees it could bring to the downtowns.

<

The goal for this year is up to 3,000 filmgoers over the four-day festival run. To see a film festival like this take off and bring many more thousands to the region annually would be a boon not only to local businesses, but also the regions image. Interest in international film festivals is growing, and we are being listed with some of the most prominent and prestigious locales in the US.

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Wouldnt it be nice to add (reinforce?) one more thing to be known for that has to do with a finer thing in life?

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Ive also been learning that we have quite a bit of local interest in movie making, and this festival is bringing it to the forefront.

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We have a keynote and guest speaker that are leaving their mark on Hollywood and theyre returning home for the festival.

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The festival is not only featuring the impact locals have on Hollywood; it is also highlighting and nurturing the future impact we can have on the industry.

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With the ability to make a movie on everything from your smartphone to your iPad, its all about the art of filmmaking now. We all have a movie camera in our hands every day now, and many are taking advantage of that resource.

<

There will be several workshops at the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, for every age group to learn how to script and edit your own movie. Ive been told that even someone like me could do it.

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We have an incredible festival of movies and opportunities to learn about movie-making right here in our home town this week, so go out and have some fun watching great movies, and maybe make one of your own on the way home.

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For more information about the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, visit pjiff.org. John McKay is president of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association. He can be reached at [email protected].
Vietnamese F1 fans will get their first glance of a Grand Prix car next month, when David Coulthard races through Ho Chi Ming City thanks to Heineken.

The Dutch brewing company and F1 partner is set to organise an event entitled "Perfect Experience with F1" which will blend beer, music and demo runs by Coulthard with a Red Bull Racing charger.

The event will also support Heineken's long-standing commitment to responsible driving by raising awareness for its "When you Drive, Never Drink" campaign that wa slaunched last September in several countries, including Vietnam.

"The Perfect Experience with F1 campaign is an important opportunity for us to contribute to consumers driving awareness and behavior after consuming alcohol, said Mr. Leo Evers, Managing Director of Heineken Vietnam.

"F1 has always focused on the message Think before you drive. We will continue to spread the message of When You Drive, Never Drink at subsequent events in Vietnam.

"Heineken shook hands with Formula One Management (FOM) to become a Global Partner of Formula 1 in 2016, aiming its sponsorship at promoting its responsible drinking campaign."

Liberty Media, F1's commercial rights owner, is rumored to be working on a deal to bring an F1 Grand Prix to the streets of Hanoi sometime in the near future.

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclstone came close to signing a deal with Vietnam a few years ago, but ultimately declined to award a franchise to the country because of its complete lack of motorsport history.

"The deal I could have signed with Vietnam would have been $64 million," he told Forbes last month.

"Liberty are going to get the deal done with the people in Vietnam for sure."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
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After Monaco's announcement that the Principality will be retaining its grid girls this year, Russian Grand Prix organisers have followed suit on the same subject.

This year, Formula 1 has replaced the glamorous female presence with a 'grid kids' programme at each venue, to better reflect the sport's brand and values.

But Monaco, and now Russia, appear to have ideas of their own on the matter.

Dmitry Kozak, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, says the Russian Grand Prix organization committee has engaged in discussions with Liberty Media to keep the women on the grid for next September's race in Sochi.

"Our girls are the most beautiful," Kozak told Interfax.

"Its wrong at races to lead out children, who are frightened of mechanical things, you need grown-ups," he said.

"In all kinds of motorsport, girls advertise the cars and it looks harmonious and pretty.

"If we manage to reach agreement we plan to reinstate this tradition. After all, our girls are the most beautiful."

No argument there Dmitry!

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
February 22, 2018

La Paz, Bolivia

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=177dc5a62c0d1d6a1c&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

The road from Puno, where we took an early morning tour of the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, to La Paz, is 160 miles and as flat as a pool table. We did not vary our altitude  12,500 feet  so much as 100 feet in two short days of riding. Along the way we would face an easy border, saying goodbye to Peru and El Condor Pasa, which judging from the number of times we heard the depressing tune, must be the national anthem  and being welcomed to Bolivia and its president, Evo Morales, that countrys answer to Bernie Sanders.

Jairo and I spent the two-hour jaunt to the frontier teaching each other our respective alphabets and arguing about whether the Spanish ll, the 27th letter of their alphabet, should be pronounced the way they do in Argentina or as the rest of the Spanish-speaking world does. Take llama, for example, pronounced YAH-ma by everyone but the Argentineans and Jairo, whos from Colombia. He says SHA-ma. Its a soft sound, though irritating and clanky to the non-Argentinean ear. He does another thing with the letter V, saying vista instead of bista, though I hope to be able to disabuse him of that habit quickly. I dont want him to be embarrassed when hes speaking in public.

The easy border turned into a four-hour suicidathon, made marginally entertaining by watching blood periodically shoot out of nearly everyones ears, a morbid sign of terminal boredom and frustration. The basic problem was a new-to-the-game clerk. You could not give her any answer that she did not immediately have to confirm with her supervisor. She was also in charge of looking at VIN plates. That became my problem since my Suzukis VIN isnt located in the same place as the BMW VINs. She was ready to reject me altogether until Jairo explained to her that not every moto in the world is a damned BMW. I could barely watch this blithering charade since I was busy changing the bandages on my ears.

A little while later we were advised that motorcycles cannot be hauled into the country on a trailer because shut up. That meant Bobby would get to ride for a while. It was about an hours lope to the hotel, but riders whod already left reported back that they had run through thunder, lightning, hail, and a military checkpoint along the way. A black storm was crawling up behind us. My phones Magic 8 Ball app said that the outlook was Very doubtful. It was 20 degrees colder than Id have liked, but I got dressed, tried to remember where the ignition key went, and followed Helge to the hotel. At least it was still sunny in the late afternoon, and my worthless right eye wasnt any worse. We didnt see a drop of rain. Gracias.

Im not going to embarrass our hotel by naming it. The lady who owns it is a warm, gentle person and an excellent cook. I know shes doing her best, but Chris sent me a text: Just read some reviews of your hotel in Trip Advisor. Hope you have something warm to wear to bed. I was in Room #301 on the top floor. There are 32 steps, each one a dagger to the lungs. The desk clerk begged me not to lose the key. Es la unica, the only one. I locked it in the room the next morning when I went to breakfast.

The cold wasnt the worst feature of the night, though it did attract ones attention. The feral dogs roaming the streets were worse. Even in a Class A hotel in Puno my room featured a small cloth bag of ear plugs. My experience has been that the staff wont go to that trouble and expense without a reason. More dogs.

My feet had not yet touched the frigid floor the next morning before I realized that I might have left the GPS running all night on the bike. If I had forgotten to turn it off, I would have a dead battery for sure. Dressing as quickly and warmly as possible, I tromped down the 32 steps and out into the parking lot. Jairo had pulled the GPS off the bike the previous evening and had rolled the bike back onto the trailer. Thus did he save me once again. Back up the 32 steps I went to the dining room. I collapsed half-frozen into the nearest empty chair. Almost everyone had already finished breakfast and was now engaged in watching Ron demonstrate the wonders of measuring the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) in the blood with a pulse oximeter.

I know you may think you have wandered into an episode of The Twilight Zone here. I did as well. Why, you might ask, when every cubic inch of space on a touring bike is as precious as uranium isotopes, is anyone in this group toting such a device? Well, Ron is not quite anyone. His father is Indonesian, his mother Dutch, his wife Korean, and at home in Switzerland the family speaks English. I need not mention that he also rides as if his rear tire is about to catch fire, so I guess if he wants to stick his fellow riders fingers in the oximeter, I doubt anyone is going to make a churlish comment. And no one did. They just held out their fingers to be tested. So did I.

I should mention here as a recovering medical malpractice defense lawyer that I used to be paid the big bucks for knowing what the oximeter did and what the numbers meant. So I waited my turn, still recovering from the 32 steps, with a bit of trepidation. The PO2 tells whether the circulatory system is adequately oxygenated. Yours now is in the upper 90s. Thats good. Around our breakfast table the numbers were in the 91-93 range, a result of the diminished oxygen supply at our altitude. When Ron turned to me, he couldnt get a reading at all. A second try failed with a different index finger. I sat on my hands for a couple of minutes to warm them up. On the third try the device produced a PO2 of 82 and a heart rate of 118.

I sat back but said nothing. This was definitely not good news. Organs begin failing with a PO2 below 80. I checked my respirations: 30, twice normal. I checked my pulse: 88, 40% above normal. With numbers like this I might as well have been at Mt. Everests base camp. If that PO2 was accurate, my first stop in La Paz would be the airport, where Id be booking a seat on the next flight to Santiago and sea level. The only cure for altitude problems is to get out of it.

We spent a couple of hours on a hike around the Tiwanaku ruins. They are ruined ruins, looted thoroughly by grave robbers and invading Spaniards for centuries. I spent most of my time checking my pulse and respirations. They were moderating a bit. I had hoped to have another chance with Rons meter, but by the time Id returned to the hotel he had already fled to La Paz on the heels of The Boys.

Back in the van on the short ride to the city, I continued to fret about that PO2, trying to convince myself it was an aberration. The heart rate reading had clearly been wrong. Surely the inability to get any readings at all initially must have been due to my cold fingers, and they were cold because the small veins and capillaries had been constricted by my having been outside. If theres not a lot of blood flowing, theres not going to be a lot of oxygen to measure. When we got to the hotel, I sent a text to Ron, asking to borrow the oximeter. By the time we were able to get together, my pulse and respirations had returned almost to normal. I wasnt even surprised when the PO2 showed a new and improved reading of 89. No worries and case closed. Now to fix this damned right eye.
Liberty Media presented to F1 teams Friday in Bahrain a series of 'strategic initiatives' from which the sport will derive its 2021 regulations.

In a 90-minute meeting in Sakhir, The Formula One Group's CEO Chase Carey and F1 sporting manager Ross Brawn delivered the commercial rights vision for the future, most of which was drafted in last year's proposal.

The blueprint addresses cost cap measures, revenue distribution, power units, governance and overall sporting and technical regulations changes.

Liberty is calling for a cheaper, louder and simpler engine from 2021, but one which will remain road relevant and prove attractive to new manufacturers from an engineering and cost perspective.

On the subject of cost, F1 vows to focus on how teams spend their budget rather than how much money shall be spent. A $150 million budget cap is rumored to be in the cards to limit teams' investments, with no details on how the restrictions would be controlled. If true, that new reduced level of spending - which does not include driver salaries and marketing expenses - will require a massive amount of "downsizing" on the part of F1's $400 million-budget teams, such as Mercedes and Ferrari.

Standardized elements - the root of Ferrari's opposition to Liberty's 2021 vision - shall be incorporated but car differentiation must remain a core value.

New revenue distribution criteria "must be more balanced", based on meritocracy of the current performance and reward success for the teams and the Commercial Rights Holder. Revenue support will be provided to both cars and engine suppliers.

According to Friday's reports, historical bonus payouts to Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull shall be maintained, but the Scuderia's bonus payments could be reduced, a shortfall likely to further frustrate Sergio Marchionne.

Governance is expected to be simplified, with a streamline structure between the teams, the FIA and Formula One.

Finally, with regard to the future sporting and technical rules and regulations, FI will aim to make cars more "raceable to increase overtaking opportunities". Engineering technology must however remain a cornerstone but drivers skill must be the predominant factor in the performance of the car.

The cars must and will remain different from each other and maintain performance differentiators like aerodynamics, suspensions and PU performance. However, areas not relevant to fans need to be standardised, according to F1.

Teams will likely now digest the list of "strategic initiatives" before providing feedback to F1's management.

"It was a more a meeting to pass the information and to pass the views onto the teams, Brawn told Motorsport.com.

"The teams need to digest it now, and then the discussion proper will start. It was a straightforward meeting with no major controversies."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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Teams and drivers kicked off their Bahrain Grand Prix weekend on Friday under cloudy skies but warm temperatures.

Check out the action in our picture gallery which will be regularly updated over the day.
Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []
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Ukraine in January-March this year exported electricity for $80.471 million, in particular in March for $30.813 million.

According to the State Fiscal Service, in January-March electricity was supplied to Hungary for the amount of $51.395 million, Poland for $19.024 million, Moldova for $8.147 million and other countries for $1.905 million.

Thus, in monetary terms exports of Ukrainian electricity in January-March 2018 increased by 18.1% compared to the same period in 2017 ($68.12 million).

In addition, Ukraine in January-March 2018 imported electricity for $457,000 (from Russia for $442,000, from Belarus for $15,000 and Moldova for $1,000).
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.
China's government vowed Friday to "counterattack with great strength" if President Donald Trump goes ahead with plans to raise U.S. tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods and said negotiations were impossible under current conditions.



President Trump proposes another $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods

Escalating trade war between to largest economies

China vows to fight US on trade "at any costs"

Trump has instructed the U.S. trade representative to consider slapping $100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese goods.

The move comes a day after China issued a $50 billion list of U.S. goods including soybeans and small aircraft for possible tariff hikes in an escalating and potentially damaging dispute.

The White House says Trump has instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to.

He's also instructed his secretary of agriculture "to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests."

Trump argues China's trade practices have led to the closure of American factories and the loss of millions of American jobs.

In Beijing, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said China doesnt want a trade war  but isnt afraid to fight one.

"If the U.S. side announces the list of products for $100 billion in tariffs, the Chinese side has fully prepared and will without hesitation counterattack with great strength," spokesman Gao Feng said.

He gave no details of what measures Beijing might take.

The latest escalation comes after the U.S. 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. The Chinese list Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest U.S. export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons (41 metric tons) in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whiskey, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on $3 billion of U.S. goods in response to the Trump administrations duties on all steel and aluminum imports, including from China.

U.S. officials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But economists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear the hallmarks of a classic trade rift that could escalate. And already, the tensions have rattled global stock markets.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
The leadership of the German concern Siemens AG and the German government have assured Ukraine they intend to prevent the launching of four Siemens turbines illegally delivered to the occupied Crimea by judicial and political means, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.

"We have repeatedly appealed to the German government, to the European Union, and directly to Siemens. I met with the Siemens management and we coordinated our attempts to achieve this by filing relevant lawsuits. Siemens continues these lawsuits in order to stop the launch of turbines that were delivered to the territory of the occupied Crimea by fraud," Klimkin said during an hour of questions to the government in the Verkhovna Rada on Friday, answering the question of MP Refat Chubarov about the government actions to prevent the launch of these turbines in Crimea.

"I've received from the Siemens management  and the same message we've received from the German leadership  that they will continue to act both politically and judicially in order to prevent this [putting the turbines into operation]," the Ukrainian foreign minister said.

As reported, Siemens requested that the deal from October 16, 2015 to supply turbines to LLC VO Technopromexport to be used in Crimea be recognized as invalid and to apply the consequences of invalidating the deal. The German concern is accusing Technopromexport of illegally transferring four turbines to Crimea which were supplied for the construction of power plants in Taman. In accordance with sanctions, the German company banned the use of its turbines for the production of electricity in Crimea.

The EU imposed sanctions against three Russian companies and three individuals over the delivery of the turbines to Crimea.
Orange County Sheriffs deputies confirmed they found the body of a woman missing for nearly a week, inside the apartment rented by her estranged boyfriend.



Now deputies are looking for a man wanted for questioning in the death of Vanessa Cocly, whose body was found early Friday.

Vanessa Jessica Cocly was reported missing last weekend

Christian Valentin Penchi is being called a person of interest

Deputies investigating death as homicide

Deputies found Cocly's body in 32-year-old Christian Penchi's apartment early Friday morning at the Heritage Hotel, a former motel-turned-apartment complex, on 7900 South Orange Blossom Trail.

Investigators say they do not believe this was an accidental death. Penchi is considered a person of interest in the investigation.



Cocly has been missing for the better part of a week and was last seen on Saturday, March 31, 2018, until her remains were found in the #1100 unit Friday, which is rented by her on-again/off-again boyfriend.

Jeff Williamson, public information officer for OCSO, said an autopsy is being conducted to determine and exact cause of death, although it is being investigated as a homicide.

My understanding is that there was some turbulence, but Ive not heard that it was physical turbulence, just issues between the two and they were on-again and off-again, Williamson said.

Israel Rivera has lived at the Heritage Hotel Orlando for three years, just a few doors down from the unit deputies raided.

"I can't understand it. I can't understand what's going on, why would someone do something like this to a young lady?" said Rivera.

Family members reported Cocly missing March 31 after she failed to show up for work and a family get together on Easter. Her car was later found near the technical college Cocly was a nursing student.

Williamson stated that Penchi was last seen driving a black 2013 Lexus with the Florida license plate 735 RQI.

"She had missed several days of work at her new job which she apparently loved and was in school studying to be a nurse and she missed some kind of Easter celebration with her family, which is highly unusual and unlike her," said Jeff Williamson, the public information officer for the Sheriff's Office.

Anyone with information is asked to call OCSO or Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.
On Friday, April 6, at 11.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference titled "Ignoring Criminal Procedure Norms after Adoption of "Stop Masks-Show" Law". The participants will include co-founder of the Biotexcom clinic Albert Totchilovsky, lawyer Viacheslav Samsonenko, legal adviser of the Polyglot Translation Bureau LLC Denys Herman, and lawyer Denys Statnikov (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation.
Russia's hybrid military forces have attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 27 times in the past 24 hours in defiance of an earlier announced ceasefire, the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations has reported.

"Over the past day, Russian-occupation troops continued to ignore the 'Easter truce' by carrying out 27 shelling attacks on positions of Ukrainian defenders," the press center of the headquarters of Ukraine's military operations reported on Facebook on Friday morning.

In the Luhansk sector, the invaders fired machine guns in the direction of Ukrainian forces near the villages of Troyitske, Novozvanivka and Luhanske. In addition, mortars of 82 mm caliber were used by militants on the defenders of Troyitske, and large-caliber machine guns and small arms in the area of Novozvanivka.

In the Donetsk sector, the militants used grenade launchers and mortars near the town of Avdiyivka, Butovka coal mine, and the villages of Lebedynske, Vodiane, Novotroyitske, Verkhniotoretske, Pavlopil, Nevelske, Kamianka, Novomykhailivka, Talakivka and Berezove.

"The situation along the entire contact line of the parties is reliably controlled by our defenders," the headquarters said.
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko supports Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman's idea of securing medium-term budget planning at the legislative level.

"I would like to support government initiatives, support the prime minister about the creation of legislative framework for medium-term budget planning," he said at an extended government meeting on decentralization in Vinnytsia on Thursday, April 5.

He recalled that the parliament, unfortunately, had not supported this initiative. He stressed the need to return to this issue.

"I am convinced that we must return to this initiative," Poroshenko said.
Former head of the presidential campaign headquarters of U.S. President Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, helped former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to conduct a media campaign in the West directed against Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko, the Guardian newspaper reported on Thursday with reference to its own data.

In 2011 Manafort approved a clandestine strategy to discredit Tymoshenko abroad. Alan Friedman, a former Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reporter, based in Italy, masterminded this project. Friedman has previously been accused of concealing his work as a paid lobbyist. Also involved were Rick Gates, Manafort's then deputy, and Konstantin Kilimnik, another senior Manafort associate who the FBI believes has links to Russian military intelligence.

In July 2011 Friedman sent Manafort a confidential six-page document entitled "Ukraine - the digital road map", which contained a plan for "destruction" of Tymoshenko, which the Guardian calls Viktor Yanukovych's "key opponent," using video, articles and social networks. The plan included creating a website, posting on the Internet, and sending out e-mails to "the target audience in Europe and the U.S." It was also proposed to edit the page of Yulia Tymoshenko in Wikipedia in order to emphasize the "corruption and legal proceedings" related to the politician.

Friedman himself told the Guardian that from the end of 2011 his company FBC Media had cooperated with Ukraine "on the project on public relations and the formation of the portrait of the country," and its goal was to promote Ukraine's policy of rapprochement with the EU. He stressed that "this was not a secret or concealed plan."

Manafort, as well as the former electoral campaign adviser Robert Gates, became the first accused in the investigation of the so-called "Russian case" of the special prosecutor Robert Mueller; they were charged in late October.

Gates and Manafort are accused of preparing false tax declarations, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering, non disclosure of income from foreign sources, collusion against U.S. interests and misrepresentation of U.S. authorities regarding their cooperation with Yanukovych and the Ukrainian Party of Regions.
The Charger Blog

New communication major Saiful Islam Mannu 21, who has hundreds of credits to his name, is a household name in Bangladesh. "Kind of like how we just say Scorsese or Spielberg," says Professor Tom Garrett. by Jackie Hennessey, Contributing Writer Saiful Islam Mannu 21 has been able to share his extensive expertise with students who are gaining real-world experience creating TV shows and films in the Universitys state-of-the-art communications students.

In the Advanced Screenwriting and the Fundamentals of Production classes this semester is an undergraduate student who knows a thing or two about directing and writing for television. Saiful Islam Mannu 21 has directed 600 TV episodes in Bangladesh, 60 telefilms, 28 one-hour dramas, two feature films and dozens of documentaries.

"In Bangladesh hes known just by Mannu," says Tom Garrett, associate professor and chair of the Department of Communication, Film, & Media Studies. "Kind of like how we just say Scorsese or Spielberg."

Despite his lofty credentials, there is Mannu, collaborating with classmates on an audio project and writing the first 30 pages of his screenplay for class. The Universitys career-focused education is something hes always wanted. "I love it," he says.

How Mannu, who grew up in a family of agricultural workers in a small village in Bangladesh, in a home without electricity, television or access to "any culture  no movies, no theater," went on to become a wildly successful director and then found his way to West Haven is quite a journey.

Mannu and his wife moved to the U.S. last year. Mannus uncle, a Yale professor whose good friend was a longtime mentor of Garretts, help connect the two. "We met and talked about working on a feature film or a project, involving our students, using our facilities," Garrett says.

The next day, as Mannu toured the University with Garrett, a new idea took shape.

"He fell in love with the University and decided to apply," Garrett says.

Now, Mannu is writing the script for his third feature film for his screenwriting class. The piece centers around a young woman born in the United States to immigrant parents and the challenges she faces being part of two worlds. Garrett sees many possibilities.

"Its a project that could have all kinds of crossover, a piece written by an immigrant, a Sundance kind of film that he would develop during his four years here as a thesis project." Tom Garrett

The extensive experience Mannu can share with his fellow students is invaluable, says Paul Falcone, director of studio operations and media production, who says 10 percent of making a film is the artistic and creative ability to tell a story.

Adds Garrett, "The other 90 percent is the hustle, the location scouting, the financing, and the marketing. Mannu knows all about this. We can help him, and he can help our students see the big picture and be involved in the whole experience writing, shooting, and marketing a film. Right now its an idea but you have to visualize something to actualize it."

Mannu first began to visualize a cultural life when as a child he happened upon a Hindu festival in a nearby village in Bangladesh and was drawn to the music and dance. His parents wanted him to become an engineer or to work, as his family did, in agriculture and fishing.

But, after high school, he went to the city of Dhaka, hoping to work for the government-run television station. Without experience, he was told hed have to wait three or four years for a chance to even get in the door. Undaunted, he returned later that night, got into a rehearsal, and offered to play drum rhythms when a drummer didnt show. Later, when they needed someone on the camera crew, he learned on the job  paid only in food  and took on every odd job on the production he could.

"Whatever it is that has to be done, this guy, he will find a way to do it." Saiful Islam Mannu's wife, Sadia Shabnam Shantu, who is the production and costume designer on all of his teleplays and films Garrett

His big break came when he wrote a script and a producer asked him to direct it, launching a successful career now in its second decade. "Thats when my life started," he said. "Now, it starts again."
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) have completed the pretrial investigation in the so-called backpack case.

"Detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, under the procedural management of prosecutors from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, have informed suspects in embezzlement of funds for the purchase of backpacks for the needs of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and their defense lawyers about the completion of the pretrial investigation. On April 4, 2018, criminal investigation materials were opened to them for familiarization," the NABU's press service reported on April 5.

After familiarizing with the materials of the case, an indictment will be drawn up and then sent to court.

According to the NABU, the suspects in a crime that caused UAH 14.5 million worth of damage to the state budget are a former deputy interior minister (Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - misappropriation, embezzlement or possession of property through abuse of office); a representative of the firm that won the tender, who, according to NABU detectives, using fake documents, ensured participation in the negotiation procurement procedure and the victory of a fictitious company and also organized the production of low-quality backpacks for delivery to the Interior Ministry (Part 5, Article 27, Part 5, Article 191 and Part, Article 358 - forgery of documents); as well as a private person who, in the opinion of the investigation, prompted the deputy interior minister to organize the negotiation procedure so that his associate's firm could be declared the winner of the tender (Part 4, Article 27, Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code).

According to investigators, in 2015, the suspects organized the purchase of backpacks for the Interior Ministry without any need, at a price much higher than the average market price. The goods were not delivered on time and did not meet the requirements established by the Interior Ministry, which was confirmed by the conclusions of a merchandising examination. NABU detectives established that the winning firm, which was supposed to deliver 5,000 rucksacks under the terms of purchase in the spring of 2015 and which conducted no economic activity in 2014, did not have either equipment or workers. In the future, the funds it received on its accounts from the Interior Ministry were converted into cash through a number of fictitious enterprises.

In October 2017, three of the abovenamed persons were detained, and they were informed of suspicion in embezzlement of budgetary funds.

The NABU said that in relation to four more persons convicted of organizing the corrupt scheme there were already final court decisions following the consideration of the cases on the merits and that episodes with their participation had been put into separate criminal proceedings, the investigation of which had been completed.

In particular, the investigation found that the director of the winning bidder, citizen K., agreed to become a formal head of the company for money and transferred all the documents related to this company to the organizers of the so-called "money laundering center" to cover up illegal activities. In the future, on behalf of the director of the winning company, an employee of the "money laundering center" forged documents that were used to participate in the tender for the purchase of backpacks.

Citizen K. and two others were informed of suspicion in a criminal offense under Part 1, Article 205 of the Criminal Code (fictitious entrepreneurship). In December 2016, the director of the winning firm and other persons were found guilty of committing the criminal offense under this article and were released from criminal liability in connection with the expiry of the limitation period.

Meanwhile, an employee of the "money laundering center," citizen I., who forged the documents, was notified of the suspicion in committing a criminal offense under Part 3, Article 358 of the Criminal Code (forgery of documents).

"Taking into account sincere repentance and active assistance in the disclosure of the crime, an agreement was concluded between a SAPO prosecutor and citizen I. In December 2017, the Moskovsky District Court of Kharkiv issued a ruling convicting citizen I. of the offense, he was sentenced to one year of imprisonment and, on the basis of Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, he was released from serving his sentence with a one-year suspended sentence," the NABU said.

As reported, the NABU is investigating the criminal proceeding about embezzling more than UAH 14 million for the purchase of backpacks for the needs of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in late 2014 - early 2015. Detectives find out the circumstances associated with the forgery of warehouse documents for the delivered backpacks.

Two individuals detained on October 31 as part of the investigation into the so-called 'backpack case' were notified on the same day of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation, embezzlement or taking possession of property through abuse of power). These two are former Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar and Oleksandr Avakov, the son of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

Later NABU detectives notified the third detainee of suspicion in committing a crime during the purchase of backpacks for the Interior Ministry in late 2014 and early 2015. Bloc of Petro Poroshenko MP Serhiy Leschenko said earlier, referring to his own sources, that NABU detectives had detained in Kharkiv head of IT firm Turboseo Volodymyr Lytvyn, who also runs a company that had to produce a batch of backpacks for the Interior Ministry.

On November 1, Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv chose for Oleksandr Avakov and two other defendants of the 'backpacks case' the measure of restraint in the form of a personal obligation.
The decoration of the Paschal candle for 2018 at Silverstream Monastery was the work of the communitys subprior, Dom Benedict Maria Andersen, whose typographical work we have featured before Dom Benedict took his inspiration from an authentic Irish penal crucifix in the possession of a friend of the monastery. The penal crucifix, which was loaned to the monastery for all to admire and venerate, dates from the 1700s.This is a splendid example of the kind of customized work that we need to see flourish once again in local communities, be they religious houses, parishes, or school chapels. It is refreshing and inspiring to see something that is made by hand, made for only one place, and offered up for only one year. Hand-decorated candles are returning slowly, following in the wake of better vestments and works of all sorts in recent years. May the renewal of fine arts in the service of the Church find more and more success.
Erika Van Pelt reflects on American Idol experience 10 years later

Theres no real way to prepare for it, and I remember when I went to do the show it was really on a whim."
First Beach: What Goes or Stays?

In the Executive Summary of the Eastons Beach 45-page report, it states DBVW Architects and Yoder + Tidwell, structural engineers, conducted inspecitons of the rotunda, carousel building and the snack...

Input Wanted for Stimulus Fund Use

Newport, RI is expecting to receive around $7.2 million and Middletown $4.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. As part of the $1.9 trillion legislation passed by Congress and...

Tall Ship Peacemaker Plans Newport Return

The Peacemaker, a magnificent 150-foot Tall Ship, was docked in Newport, RI throughout June, with visitors allowed to board for free. It is scheduled for a return visit to Newport...

Expert Says Rotunda Stays, Carousel / Snack Bar Razed

Newport, RI: The Eastons Beach rotunda should be saved, but the carousel and snack bar buildings should be demolished. Those were the conclusions in a structural report presentation by Martha...
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Mostly sunny skies. Very warm. High 89F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
On Thursday, April 12, at 10.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference titled "Price Wars in Residential Real Estate Market." The participants will include companies' representatives of: LUN.UA; City One Development; DIM Group; NEST; Globus Bank (8/5a Reitarska Street). Press registration and details by phone: (096) 885 6833, pr@ureclub.com (Yulia Liakh).
Vadym Iermolaiev and Stanislav Vilenskiy, Ukrainian shareholders of Versobank AS, have issued an open letter saying that allegations that the bank systematically breached the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations when its license was being revoked are wrong and must be retracted.

Their statement was published in the Zakon I Biznes newspaper on 30 March. (http://zib.com.ua/ua/132455-ukrainci_vimagayut_vid_estonskogo_centrobanku_sprostuvannya_.html)

On 26 March, the Estonian financial regulator Finantsinspektsioon published the decision of the European Central Bank (http://www.fi.ee/index.php?id=22610&year=2018) to strip Versobank AS of its banking license.

At the same time, Finantsinspektsioon published an article (http://www.fi.ee/index.php?id=22632), quoting the chairman of the Management Board of Finansinspektsioon, Mr. Kilvar Kessler, as saying: "As financial intermediaries are one of the first and most important lines of defence combating money laundering and terrorist financing, we cannot tolerate any breaches of the law by them. The withdrawal of the authorization of Versobank AS is a clear signal that Estonia will not tolerate breaches of anti-money laundering and combating of terrorism law".

The shareholders recalled that multiple allegations to this effect could be found in the European Central Bank's (ECB) decision signed by The Secretary of the Governing Council, Pedro Gustavo TEIXEIRA:

The ECB has taken into account the severity and duration of the Supervised Entitys breaches, in addition to the fact that the Supervised Entity has, on a number of occasions and by a number of means, been informed that its conduct was in breach of applicable law and given opportunities to bring itself into compliance with its legal obligations.

The ECB continued: According to the information provided by the FSA, since 2015 it has continuously found that the Supervised Entitys AML/CFT regime is not commensurate to its business model and the risks it is exposed to since 2012, when the Supervised Entitys controlling shareholders changed.

Iermolaiev and Vilenskiy described these statements as "unacceptable" and even "outrageous".

They presented arguments to counter the allegations and noted some critical inconsistencies in the reasoning behind the decision to revoke Versobank AS's license.

Over the six years of our ownership of Versobank AS, we have treated the decisions of the Financial Regulator with respect and understanding. We have respected the desire to clear the Estonian financial market of questionable and non-transparent operations. After the On Site Inspection (OSI) in 2015 showed our weaknesses in our AML control procedures, the Shareholders of the Bank took their best efforts to critically revise the banks business practices. We have changed the composition of the Supervisory Board, as well as the Management Board. We have changed the compositions of all AML controlling positions within the bank. We have improved our banking procedures and their implementation. We have made our client activity monitoring practices much more rigorous. We have consciously ended relationships with multiple clients, who were not ready for the new standards of monitoring," Versobank AS's shareholders said.

Instead, they added, the Estonian Financial Regulator, as well as the ECB, ignored any changes for the better and publicly accused the Bank and its Shareholders of systematic AML breaches.

As Mr. Kessler put it, another negative aspect was a large proportion of non-resident clients of the Bank. He said that Versobank had 5,600 clients, only 2,000 of whom were residents of Estonia. However, the Estonian financial regulator did not mention the fact that Versobank had over 11,000 clients in Estonia, who used Versobank credit cards issued in cooperation with Liisi. (https://www.liisi.ee/ru/chasto-zadavaemye-voprosy-po-kartochke/).

When the banking license was being revoked, Versobank had only 500 non-resident clients outside of the European Economic Zone. A vast majority of the non-resident clients were individual depositors attracted through cooperation with Savedo, a cross-European service for depositing funds. (https://www.savedo.de/corporate/our-partners)

Under Article 63 of the Lisbon Treaty, all restrictions on the movement of capital shall be prohibited. Thus, the ratio of Estonian to non-Estonian clients may not be used as a legal reason to revoke a EU banking license.

We would not want to believe that the liquidation of Versobank AS is an example of selective justice, based on the sole fact that the shareholders of an Estonian financial institution are Ukrainians, while other small European banks with a similar structure of assets and significantly weaker control continue to operate, Iermolaiev and Vilenskiy said in their open letter.

Iermolaiev and Vilenskiy called on Finansinspeksioon and the ECB to retract their statements on the systematic breaches of AML regulations by the bank. Similarly, they want any negative statements that discredit the shareholders of Versobank AS to be retracted too. Otherwise, the shareholders said they reserve the right to use all and any available legal means to protect their honour and dignity.
This is the fourth time that such an event has been held at the MGIMO, which also offers students of Vietnamese studies to learn more about traditional Vietnamese customs, as well as helping to strengthen the ties between Vietnamese and Russian students.

Activities include a contest on Vietnamese culture for foreign students, a photo exhibition, arts performances, and a souvenir and food fair, which were greatly enjoyed by both teachers and students.

Nguyen Huyen Trang, a Vietnamese student, said that this year the organisers tried to show the beauty and diversity of Vietnamese culture to the foreign students, while bringing youthfulness to the Vietnamese Day.

Svetlana Glazunova, a Vietnamese language lecturer at the MGIMO, said that she very much enjoyed the activities during Vietnamese Day.

She added that the day is an important opportunity for students of Vietnam and other countries to learn more about each other and thanks to such activities, Russian students will have a stronger interest in learning the Vietnamese language.

A fair of traditional Vietnamese craft products

A dance performance by Vietnamese students
Addressing the event, French Ambassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary highlighted the great significance of the opening ceremony in the context of the celebration of the International Francophonie Day.

French Ambassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary

He expressed his hope that the centre would contribute to promoting teaching and learning French in Vietnam in particular and in the world in general.

The opening of the branch is also a part of a bilateral co-operation agreement between Vietnam and France that was signed during Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs visit to France last March, he added.

The branch has been in operation for six months, attracting 213 students.

The branch plans to not only teach French but also become a place to meet and exchange, as well as introduce the French culture to Vietnamese people.

The winning students at the Francophone spelling contest

On the occasion, the French Cultural Centre L'Espace awarded a prize to the winning students at the Francophone spelling contest, which attracted 55 contestants.
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered Transport minister Jorum Gumbo to bring home Zimbabwe Airways (ZimAirways) planes secretly bought using public funds, while government investigates the dodgy deal that could collapse the debt-ridden flag carrier Air Zimbabwe (AirZim).



Following the Zimbabwe Independents dogged reportage on the deal  that reeks of non-disclosure and conflict of interest by government officials, abuse of public funds and potential asset-stripping of AirZim  Mnangagwa last week ordered Gumbo to bring the planes from Malaysia.



Official sources said, after reading the Independents story last week, and following the issue over months, Mnangagwa held a meeting with Gumbo, his ministry and central bank officials, where he demanded clarity on the deal.







When it became clear that the arrangement was murky, the president demanded that the planes  Boeing 777 aircraft  should now be flown to Zimbabwe and be parked under government control until the situation is clarified and settled.





ZimAirways, associated with Gumbo and former president Robert Mugabes son-in-law and ex-AirZim chief operations officer Simba Chikore, negotiated a consignment of four Boeing 777 long-haul passenger jets from Malaysia, but had paid only for two of the aircraft.





The company was also in the process of purchasing two Embraer ERJ145 planes from the United States.





About US$34 million was paid for through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for the two Boeing 777s using public funds.





The planes cost US$18 million and US$16 million each, a senior government official told the Independent. ED (Mnangagwa) was alarmed by the deal after repeatedly receiving conflicting briefings on it, prompting him to demand a full report and an investigation to ascertain the ownership structure, organisation and control of the airline as well as its relationship with AirZim.

This comes as several versions of the deal have been circulating in aviation circles and the corridors of power, as well as among the public.

ZimAirways versions:

Version 1:

Officially, ZimAirways is supposed to be a government project. According to the authorities, the new airline was going to buy and keep the planes for AirZim, while parliament steered through a process to assume the state airlines over US$300 million debt to clean its balance sheet to start on a new page. Gumbo has reportedly been peddling this version in government circles.

Government was last year said to be rolling out an ambitious plan to overhaul AirZim which would have seen Treasury taking over the airlines legacy debts by way of liquidation before acquiring new planes from Asia and rebranding to ZimAirways.

It is understood Auditor-General Mildred Chiri had been tasked with overseeing and auditing the airline with a view to winding up its operations before the proverbial rise of the phoenix.

At Independence in 1980, the airline had 18 planes in its fleet, but now it is now virtually a shell. Sources close to the deal say senior Ministry of Transport officials, including Angeline Karonga, in charge of legal affairs, were directors in ZimAirways. However, Karonga denied this, but said ZimAirways was a government project.





I am not on the board; you can speak to the permanent secretary for details on what ZimAirways is, she said. It is a government company.





Karongas comments were in line with what Gumbo had reportedly told Mnangagwa on Friday, but in sharp contrast to his other version that it was a private company which he has been consistently telling the Independent.





Version 2

The second version, which Gumbo has constantly said in public, is that ZimAirways is a private company owned by Diasporan Zimbabweans. He has told the Independent several times since last year that he was assisting the airline to establish itself, although it was a private entity.

He repeated this to the Independent last week. Gumbo said he had facilitated that ZimAirways purchase aircraft from Air Malaysia after AirZim failed to raise funds to buy the equipment.

This raised suspicion of possible conflict of interest for him  he has been contradicting himself depending on who he is talking to  and Chikore who started assisting ZimAirways while he was still at AirZim.





According to this version, ZimAirways was supposed to enter the market, but soon after that AirZim was expected to be closed and its staff and equipment transferred to ZimAirways.





Version 3

Investigations by this paper indicate ZimAirways is owned by a local firm, Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company (ZALC). An enquiry with the registrar of companies in Harare indicated ZALC was registered under file number 3015/12.

The file has, however, been missing from the office.





Locally-based German aviation expert Jerry Haas, who has been posting on microblogging website Twitter accounts on the ZimAirways project, initially tweeted last year that government would wind down AirZim before allowing ZimAirways, which is emblazoned with national colours, to take to the skies. According to this version, ZALC was going to be also registered in Mauritius and would then lease planes to AirZim from there. The state airline would pay ZimAirways for the services, and have the money siphoned offshore.

Version 4





ZimAirways will enter the Zimbabwean market as a private airline like Fastjet Zimbabwe and Fly Africa Zimbabwe to compete with these and AirZim as well. Instead of AirZim being closed as part of the deal, it will be forced to collapse on its own due to competition and then ZimAirways would take it over on its own terms, with asset stripping being the main agenda.





Haas recently posted on Twitter, saying the ZimAirways deal was on track and is now reaching finality. #ZimbabweAirways back on track. Documentation on the final stage. Should be cleared to take-off soon, Haas tweeted on March 21. His latest version was that ZimAirways is a private company which would compete with AirZim.





Version 5

The fifth version is that ZimAirways is owned by Chikore, although Gumbo has a vested interest in the deal. Chikore could not be reached for comment as his phone was not reachable. He did not respond to text messages.





Sources told the Independent this week that government will pay for fuel for ZimAirways planes, which were bought using taxpayers money, to be flown to Harare as part of investigations of the deal.





Mnangagwa wants the planes to flown home so that they are parked at the Robert Mugabe (Harare) International Airport, while an investigation is being carried out. Gumbo may, however, face problems in flying the planes because the Malaysians are insisting on payment for the other two planes before they are released, a source said.





ZimAirways received massive discounts because they negotiated for a package of four planes. The price would have been significantly higher if they had just purchased only two aircraft.

Gumbo last week insisted he would not allow AirZim to collapse, although he has been actively assisting its competitor ZimAirways to start flying.



AirZim has also been failing to get strategic partners.

AirZim, which at one time was reported in parliament to be seeking US$1 billion recapitalisation, immediately requires US$45 million to be operational, according to the airlines Strategic Turnaround Plan (2018-2020).





The airline requires US$26 million to settle its foreign debt; US$6 million to buy three Embraer ERJ145; US$4,6 million for International Air Transport Association clearing house joining fees, among other financial obligations. Official documents show that as at December 2017, AirZim had local debt totalling US$341 million. Zimbabwe Independent
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(Newser)  They have the makings for a great party, but thieves who stole $400,000 in beer and snacks from a Quebec warehouse apparently have other plans. On the night of March 12, Montreal police say "several" thieves broke into the warehouse in the Montreal suburb of Boucherville and disabled security cameras and an alarm. They then loaded 20,000 cases of Grolsch beer, dried beef, and Jack Link's pepperoni into three delivery trucks that were eventually found abandoned, report CBC and the Canadian Press. Police say the thieves have begun approaching unsuspecting merchants looking to sell the goods. "We just started receiving calls that this beer is being distributed," says one police official. (Read more Canada stories.)
(Newser)  Suge Knight, currently jailed while he awaits trial for murder after a fatal hit-and-run in 2015, has been hospitalized. The rap mogul was rushed from LA County jail to a Los Angeles hospital around 11am Tuesday, TMZ reports. The reason is not clear, but the gossip site notes he's had issues with blood clots in the past and also once lost consciousness during a court hearing. (Read more Suge Knight stories.)
Hang made the statement at the ministrys regular press conference in Hanoi on April 5, in response to reporters queries regarding some human rights organisations voicing their condemnation of the trial on April 5, 2018 for six defendants accused of trying to overthrow the peoples administration.

She said Vietnam rejected the inaccurate and subjective information provided by these organisations, affirming that in Vietnam, there are neither so-called prisoners of conscience nor arrests of people who have freely expressed their own opinions.

Like in other countries worldwide, in Vietnam, all violations of law will be strictly handled in line with legal regulations, the spokesperson said.

Hang emphasised that Vietnams efforts and achievements in ensuring and promoting human rights over the past years have been widely acknowledged by the international community.
(Newser)  "This is what a trade war looks like, and what we have warned against from the start," said National Retail Federation President Matthew Shay after President Trump threatened tariffs on another $100 billion in Chinese goods on Thursday. The White House says Trump has directed trade officials to identify products to be slapped with tariffs "in light of Chinas unfair retaliation" to his earlier round of proposed tariffs, the AP reports. "Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers," Trump said in a statement, referring to Beijing's proposed tariffs on $50 billion on US imports. Shay warned that we are on a "dangerous downward spiral" that will hurt American families and urged Trump "to stop playing a game of chicken with the US economy," reports Reuters.

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China warned that it would respond with more tariffs of its own, the Telegraph reports. China "will follow suit to the end, not hesitate to pay any price, resolutely counterattack, and take new comprehensive measures in response," the country's Commerce Ministry said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal notes that if China slaps tariffs on another $100 billion in US goods, it will bring an end to the tit-for-tat tariff threats: The tariffs would cover $150 billion in goods but US exports to China only totalled $130 billion last year, compared to more than $500 billion in Chinese exports to the US. In his statement, Trumpwho is being heavily criticized by some of his fellow Republicans over the confrontation with Beijingleft the door open to talks aimed at "achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade." (Read more tariffs stories.)
(Newser)  A year after speaking out about his struggle with drugs, the son of Sean Penn and Robin Wright has been arrested on drug possession charges in Nebraska, reports the AP. A Nebraska State Patrol spokesman says 24-year-old Hopper Penn, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Uma Von Wittkamp, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after a trooper stopped their vehicle for failing to signal on Interstate 80, per TMZ. Authorities say the trooper detected drug activity inside the vehicle and found 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of mushrooms.

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Von Wittkamp was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, a felony. Pennwho had an acting role in 2017's War Machinewas charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. Both were taken to the Hamilton County Jail. Last year, Penn discussed his struggle with meth with the Evening Standard, noting an ultimatum from his dad led him to rehab. "I woke up in hospital and my dad said, 'Rehab? Or bus bench?' I was like, 'I'll take the bed,'" he said. "Thank God I got out of that because that was the worst time in my life." (Read more Nebraska stories.)
(Newser)  Southern California was shaken by its strongest earthquake in years Thursday, and while there were no reports of major damage, plenty of residents were alarmedincluding a family of eagles on Santa Cruz Island, which was close to the offshore epicenter of the 5.3 quake. A camera on the island caught an adult eagle flying away as the tree its nest was in began to shake, NBC Los Angeles reports. It returned moments later to check on some recently hatched chicks. The quake, the strongest since a 5.4 quake in Imperial County in 2012, caused minor landslides on the island. It was felt across the Los Angeles area and as far away as Bakersfield.

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"A 5.3 could be damaging if it was right under our feet," John Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC, tells the Los Angeles Times. "It's right on the edge of being an earthquake that could be dangerous. It's a reminder that we need to be ready in the future." He says the quake was strong enough to activate California's early warning system, which is still being developed. The beeping went off 10 to 15 seconds before the quake could be felt at the Los Angeles Campus. "We all felt it pretty well. It was small and distinct," Vidale says. "We heard the warning go off and then we heard the shaking." (Researchers are also developing an earthquake warning system for smartphones.)

(Read more earthquake stories.)
(Newser)  "She is literally one of the worst DUI offenders we have ever dealt with." Such is the pronouncement of an Illinois police chief after Monday's arrest of Tasha Lynn Schleicher. Someone called 911 after allegedly seeing the 41-year-old Minnesota woman passed out in her car at a Riverside gas station. Police arrived to find her "in total disarray" and attempting to put kerosene into her car's tank. The Post Bulletin reports she told officers she "couldn't find" her 11 children, leading police to scour local hotels. It was only later that they'd learn the truth: That all but one of Schleicher's children were removed from her custody in the fall after a September DUI arrest in Rochester, Minn.; five of her kids were in the car as she hit a guard rail and kept on driving. Police arrived to find her nursing her youngest.

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Illinois and Minnesota aren't the only states where she has allegedly gotten behind the wheel while drunk: She's racked up 12 DUI-related arrests, per NBC Chicago, there and in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana, California, and Oregon. Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel described her as "kind of proud of her notoriety"eventually. He says Schleicher was "very uncooperative," so much so that it took a full day to complete her background check due to the lies she kept spinning. Once she was identified, he says the bragging began: "She told us to Google her." CBS Chicago reports she also allegedly told officers she was having a miscarriage; she was brought to a hospital and shown to be neither pregnant nor miscarrying. Weitzel's theory is that she was hoping to make a run for it from the hospital. (Read more DUI stories.)
(Newser)  Stephen Lanzo says he used Johnson & Johnson products for decades, including products with talcum powder (e.g., the company's famous baby powder), and that his aggressive form of lung cancer was brought about by that powder. On Thursday, a jury awarded the New Jersey banker and his wife a total of $37 million in compensatory damages in his suit$30 million for him, $7 million for his wife, Kendramaking J&J assume 70% of the liability for Lanzo's illness, per CNN. Imerys Talc, the supplier of the talc, a mineral that's been linked to cross-contamination with asbestos when being mined, was hit with the other 30% liability. Reuters notes it's J&J's first loss at trial regarding complaints about its talc products containing asbestos. There are thousands of other cases tying its talc products to ovarian cancer.

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In Lanzo's situation, he said he got deadly mesothelioma from inhaling baby powder dust during regular use since his 1972 birth. A seven-woman jury in Middlesex County found both J&J and Imerys concealed the asbestos in their products, which files from Lanzo's legal team indicate they may have worried about as early as 1969, per Bloomberg. J&J insists it has long tested its products for contamination, and Imerys claims any asbestos exposure Lanzo may have had came from somewhere other than its talc. "The evidence was clear that his asbestos exposure came from a different source such as the asbestos found in his childhood home or schools," a spokeswoman says, adding the firm will appeal. The Lanzos may still have punitive damages coming as well; that phase of the trial begins Tuesday. (Read more Johnson & Johnson stories.)
(Newser)  It looks like President Trump will skip the second White House Correspondents Dinner of his presidency, as he did with the first. In a radio interview Friday, Trump said he'd "probably" avoid the April 28 event because the press is "so bad and so fake," per the Hill. The White House Correspondents' Association confirmed Trump was unlikely to appear, but said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would represent him. Politico reports the dinner will honor CNN, a frequent Trump target, and NBC News' Lester Holt, who had Trump admit that an investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election influenced his decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey. (Read more President Trump stories.)
(Newser)  The United States hit seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions on Friday for what it called "malign activity" around the world, as the Trump administration tried to show the president is taking tough action to stand up to Moscow. A dozen Russian companies owned by the oligarchs were also targeted, along with a state-owned arms-dealing company and a subsidiary bank, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast the penalties as part of a concerted and ongoing effort by the US to push back Vladimir Putin's government, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the US has punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions, reports the AP.

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Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions are in response to "the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behavior, said the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The officials ticked through a list of activities they said had prompted the US to act, including Russia's actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, cyber-hacking, and attempts to subvert Western democracy. Many of the targets are individuals and businesses associated with Russia's energy sector, including those affiliated with state-owned Gazprom. Officials said the goal was to show that those who have benefited financially from Putin's position of power are fair game for US punishments, noting that many of those being sanctioned are closely tied to Putin himself.

(Read more sanctions stories.)
(Newser)  Lakieth Smith probably regrets his decision to turn down a 25-year plea deal offered to the Alabama teen in March. On Thursday, the 18-year-old was sentenced to 65 years in prison on charges of burglary, theft, and felony murder, reports the Montgomery Advertiser. It was actually a police officer, not Smith, who shot and killed 16-year-old A'Donte Washington when officers encountered Washington, Smith, and three others breaking into two homes in Millbrook on Feb. 25, 2015. Some of the suspects fired at police, and Washington was shot four times as he aimed a revolver at one officer, who was cleared of wrongdoing. Under Alabama's accomplice law, a person can be held responsible for a death if it occurs during the commission of a crime. The four remaining suspects were charged.

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Jadarien Hardy, 22; Jhavarske Jackson, 23; and La'Anthony Washington, 22, ultimately took plea deals, per the Advertiser. But Smith rejected the 25-year recommended sentence offered. Convicted in March, he smiled and laughed during his sentencing, per WSFA. "I don't think Mr. Smith will be smiling long when he gets to prison," says district attorney CJ Robinson. Noting Smith showed no remorse, Judge Sibley Reynolds handed down a 30-year sentence for felony murder, a 15-year sentence for burglary, and two 10-year sentences for theft, to be served consecutively. "It will be a long time before he comes up for even the possibility for parole, at least 20 to 25 years," Robinson says. His lawyer protested that Smith was 15 and "scared to death" at the time of the crime. He "never shot anybody." (Read more Alabama stories.)
(Newser)  First good news on Yulia Skripal; now an optimistic outlook for her dad. Doctors at the UK hospital where Sergei Skripal has been convalescing since his March 4 poisoning report the 66-year-old ex-Russian spy is "responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and is no longer in a critical condition," per Christine Blanshard, the medical director at Salisbury District Hospital. Skripal is said to be "conscious and talking," per the BBC. The Guardian reports that Blanshard also confirmed Yulia Skripal's improving health, noting Yulia "can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital."

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In one sad development, however, CNN does report three deaths: that of Skripal's two guinea pigs, which British authorities say apparently died of dehydration, and his cat, which had to be euthanized after being found in a "distressed state." The animals were found "some time after the attack," and some are wondering why it took so long to find themincluding the Russian Embassy in London. "Are they seriously saying that nobody had a look at the pets at alleged crime scene?," the embassy tweeted Friday. "Were the animals' remains tested for toxic substances? Or just disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence?" At a UN Security Council meeting Thursday, Russia's UN ambassador accused the UK of "playing with fire" in accusing Russia of being behind the poisonings, per CNN. (Read more Sergei Skripal stories.)
(Newser)  For 12 minutes, James Stephens ranted to his wife about his boss. Then he realized that while he was ranting, he had pocket-dialed the man, Georgia Subsequent Injury Trust Fund Director Mike Coan, who heard the whole conversation. According to Stephens, who lost his job, that means Coan broke the law. In a civil lawsuit highlighted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Stephens says Coan violated his privacy and Georgia's eavesdropping law by not hanging up when he realized the call from his employee was a mistake. "Rather than simply hang up, [Coan] proceeded to violate Georgia law by intentionally acting in a clandestined manner and listening in to a private conversation between Mr. Stephens and his wife Gina inside the Stephens' private residence," his complaint states.

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The state law is clear on cases where a person uses recording devices to eavesdrop on a private conversation. "It's an inadvertent pocket dial where it makes the question a little more gray," a civil rights attorney tells the Journal-Constitution. Stephens' attorney says the case could reshape Georgia law. But Coana former state lawmaker who oversees workers' compensation claims, per the APis adamant he wasn't in the wrong. He heard the call as a state employee "acting within the scope of his official duties," his lawyer says. He also explains why Stephens was told to resign or be fired: "Given Stephens' opinions and criticisms of Coan," it was clear the pair "could no longer have an effective working relationship and Coan could not trust Stephens as a subordinate." (Read more Georgia stories.)
On the evening of April 5, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese Government landed in Hanoi, successfully wrapping up their trip to attend the third MRC Summit in Siem Reap, Cambodia at the invitation of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Themed 'Enhancing Joint Efforts and Partnerships towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mekong River Basin, the summit reviewed cooperation within the commission and the implementation of commitments made at the second summit in Vietnams Ho Chi Minh City in 2014, while identifying priority areas in the next periods to use water resources and other resources in the Mekong River basin in a fair, appropriate and sustainable manner.

At the summit, PM Phuc pointed out that the Mekong River basin countries are dealing with visible, serious consequences of the exhausting water resources of the Mekong River and called for prompt and concrete actions to use the water resources and other related resources sustainably, properly and fairly.

He also called for parties to work together and take actions to ensure the Mekong River will be forever the river of peace, which provides long-lasting, sustainable and wealthy existence for countries and people in the region.

The summit adopted the Siem Rep Declaration which affirms the importance of Mekong cooperation as well as the acceleration of the implementation of the 1995 Mekong Agreement. The document also outlines priority activities of the commission for the next four years and long-term orientations for cooperation within the commission.

On the sidelines of the summit, PM Phuc had bilateral meetings with Cambodian and Lao counterparts Hun Sen and Thongloun Sisoulith and the head of the Chinese delegation to discuss measures and orientations for bilateral ties. He met with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Siem Reap.
(Newser)  They phrase it in scientist-speak: "It will therefore be prudent to further reduce the flow of anthropogenic nutrients to Walden Pond," researchers write in the journal PLOS One. The translation for non-scientists: Stop peeing in Thoreau's beloved pond. Scientists from Paul Smith College in New York assessed the health of the 64-acre pond in Concord, Massachusetts, and concluded that swimmers who decide not to hold it are playing a significant role in the pond's degradation, reports the Boston Globe. All those "anthropogenic nutrients" they're releasing encourage the growth of pond-choking algae. In fact, lead researcher Curt Stager says it's so bad he favors a ban on swimming altogether.

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That would be ideal for the sake of the lake," says Stager. "I think it would be a tough sell for the public," he adds, given that the pond is a big attraction for locals and tourists alike. By analyzing sediment cores at the pond's bottom, researchers were able to trace the rise of phytoplankton roughly to the 1920sabout the time tourists and swimmers began turning up in large numbers, reports Live Science. Urine isn't the only culprit. Researchers also pointed to warmer temperatures, noting that climate models expect that trend to continue for New England. And that poses a double-whammy: Not only do warmer temperatures foster the growth of algae, they drive more swimmers to the pond. (What would Thoreau think of this video game based on the pond?)
(Newser)  Former President Obama has largely refrained from criticizing his successor in public, but Michelle Obama got in a sly dig Friday while speaking at a leadership conference in Boston, reports the Hill. She first likened her husband's administration to the "good parent"that is, "the responsible parent, the one who told you to eat your carrots and go to bed on time." President Trump, however, is more like the "other parent," she says. We thought itd feel funmaybe it feels fun for now because we can eat candy all day and stay up late and not follow the rules.

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The former first lady hit on a few other notable topics:

Hillary Clinton: "She wasnt perfect, but she was way more perfect than many of the alternatives."

"She wasnt perfect, but she was way more perfect than many of the alternatives." On running: I dont want to be president, I dont think I should be president. I think I can do a lot of things, but thats not one of them, she said, per People. And we have to find women who understand their gifts and know where to put them to use. I know what Im good at.

I dont want to be president, I dont think I should be president. I think I can do a lot of things, but thats not one of them, she said, per People. And we have to find women who understand their gifts and know where to put them to use. I know what Im good at. Voting: "We've got to be willing, when we do find qualified people, to vote for them, and we didn't do that in this election," she said. "So I think people should be less ... disheartened that me and Oprah don't want to run, and more disheartened by the fact that Hillary Clinton, probably the most qualified person to ever seek the office of the presidency, lost. She lost."

(Read more Michelle Obama stories.)
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Addressing the seventh MCIS in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, General Lich talked about the multilateral mechanisms in Asia-Pacific and collective actions against emerging challenges and threats.

He said the region is facing potential risks to its stability, with global issues, including traditional and non-traditional security challenges such as the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula, territorial water sovereignty disputes, as well as weapons of mass destruction, racial and religious conflicts, terrorism, cyber security, natural disasters, diseases and adverse impacts of the fourth industrial revolution.

However, we are optimistic about the positive things brought about by the multi-class, multi-sector cooperation trend, both bilateral and multilateral, he said.

The officer cited the fruitful bilateral relations between Vietnam and Russia in the region, along with cooperation mechanisms led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), such as the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

Efforts made by a single country cannot address such challenges but it requires connectivity and the joint efforts of the entire region, with the army playing a key role, he stressed.

General Lich also applauded Russias contributions to regional peace and stability over recent years, particularly within the framework of the ADMM+, calling on the country to carry forward its role in Asia-Pacific, step up its cooperation and friendship with the ASEAN member countries, and work with the group to maintain the balance in the region, prevent conflicts and wars and reduce the arms race, contributing to maintaining regional peace, security and stability.

He affirmed that Vietnam persistently pursues the policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of international relations, as well as being a trust-worthy friend and partner of all countries, and a responsible member of the international community.

Vietnam advocates handling disputes, including the East Sea dispute, by peaceful measures on the basis of international law and regional commitments, he said.

The seventh MCIS took place from April 4-5 under the theme Middle East outlook after eradication of ISIS in Syria. More than 850 delegates from 95 countries attended the event.
New Delhi:

Mahindra XUV500 has come up again with another facelift which is expected to be launched soon. Some of the images of XUV500 facelift is making rounds over the internet.

The Indian automaker is a well-known brand in the Indian market and are popular for their powerful and durable line-up of SUVs. And, the new 2018 XUV500 is all set to be dispatched to the dealerships across India and the dealers have already started accepting bookings for the updated version.

The all-new XUV500 will see some cosmetic changes in the interior of the car. However, there are not much changes in the basic specifications of the SUV.

Mahindra XUV500 features. All you need to know

- New chrome front grille with new headlights

- LED Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs)

- Upgraded infotainment system with Android Auto

- Smartwatch App

- 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine with 140hp of power and 330Nm of torque.

- Black and grey interior with fabric upholstery

- Telescopic steering

- Reverse camera

- 6-speed transmission

Mahindra XUV500 will be arriving with two new color variants, the mystic copper and crimson red. The upgraded SUV will be in direct competition with TATA Hexa and will be available at a starting price of Rs 12.25 lakh(ex-showroom Delhi)
New Delhi:

BSE Sensex ended the day on high, what proved to be a see-saw trade on Friday. The dayas trade was helped by a late buying spell in Pharma, Energy and Banking stocks amid falling global cues.

Investors were not keen to expand their portfolios ahead of the corporate earnings season, brokers said.

The 30-share index, hit a low of 33,501.37 and a high of 33,697 and finished on 33,626.97 points, ending the day on 30.17 or a 0.09 per cent high.

ALSO READ:A Congress athrottlinga democracy, aabusinga peopleas mandate, says PM Modi

The NSE Nifty went north with 6.45 points or 0.06 per cent, to 10,331.60. During the day it moved between 10,290.85 and 10,350.45.

On weekly tally, BSE Sensex gained a smart 658.29 points or 1.99 per cent while the NSE Nifty gained 217.90 points, or 2.15 per cent.

Meanwhile, DILs bought equities of Rs 615.28 crore yesterday, while FPIs sold shares worth Rs 108.02 crore, as per provisional data.

Asian and European markets were flat as investors scanned the trade war situation after US President Donald Trump proposes more tariffs on China.

(with inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, starring Karan Patel and Divyanka Tripathi in the lead, is one of the most popular daily soaps on Star Plus which has managed to keep the audience intrigued with its interesting cast and storyline.

But as per the recent buzz, one of the important actors from the YHM cast is leaving the show.

We are talking about Sangram Singh who is seen playing the role of Ashok in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein.

Reportedly, Sangram has decided to quit the showbiz industry and is planning to shift to Norway with his wife.

"Three months ago, Sangram got married in Amritsar. It was an arranged marriage. His wife Gurkiran Kaur is a VAT consultant in Norway, so he has decided to move there.," a source reportedly told TOI.

Indeed, Sangram will be missed by his co-stars from the show with whom he has shared a great camaraderie.

Talking about the same actor Aly Goni told TOI, "I am going to really miss him. Sangram has many of his family members settled in Norway and he wants to join them in the family business. He is a very good friend and we have already made plans to visit him for New Years".

Reportedly, Sangram will stay in Punjab for a couple of months with his wife as of now before moving to Norway.
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday resumed hearing in Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case, the decades-old socio-religious debate between Hindus and Muslims. The apex court is hearing 13 appeals, which were filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad High Court.

In the landmark hearing, the Allahabad High Court in 2010 mandated a three-way division of the disputed site in Ayodhya.

Earlier on March 14, the SC had dismissed all 32 intervention petitions, including applications of Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen and Teesta Setalvad, in connection to the Ayodhya land dispute case.

The Supreme Court had also rejected a plea of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy, who sought to intervene in the ongoing matter.

The court also ordered the revival of Swamy's disposed plea. The plea sought enforcement of Swamy's fundamental right to worship at Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

However, in its last hearing, a special bench, headed by Chief Justice Deepak Misra directed the registry not to entertain any intervention application in the Ayodhya land dispute case.

The bench had also asked both the parties to file the English translation of documents exhibited by them.

Also Read | Construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya is 'our' resolve, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

The three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had on September 30, 2010, ordered that the land should be partitioned equally among three parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

However, the bench comprising CJI Dipak Misra, Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer would now deal with the instant matter as a "pure land dispute".

The Babri Masjid was built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya back in 1528. Later on December 6, 1992, Hindu Karsevaks destroyed the mosque during a political rally claiming that the Ram temple, situated in the land was actually demolished to construct the mosque.

Though there was no such evidence that the disputed structure was constructed after demolition of a temple, the court agreed that a temple or a temple structure predated the mosque at the same site. Moreover, the excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India also suggested that the predating structure was a massive Hindu religious building.

Also Read | Bring ordinance to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya: Subramanian Swamy to PM Modi

Since then the matter has been in the light and turned into a political riot in India.

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New Delhi:

The Defence Ministry's website  mod.gov.in  has been allegedly hacked by Chinese hackers on Friday morning.

The websites of the Defence Ministry, Home and Law ministries crashed hours after Defence Ministry website was hacked. Top cyber security official have denied any hacking and said that the problem is due to a hardware problem.



According to reports, Chinese characters were appearing on the ministry's website.

When newsnation.in team visited the url it showed the message, This site cant be reached. mod.gov.in took too long to respond.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Twitter said that the website was down, and divulged no information.

"Issue with the MoD website ( https://mod.nic.in ) has been taken note off. Appropriate action has been initiated," Sitharaman tweeted.

Reliable sources in the Defence Ministry told News Nation that the ministry is in regular touch with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

It would be too early to say who have hacked the website. The matter being displayed in the screen is not readable, the source said.

Meanwhile, the ministry is trying to restore it, a spokesperson in the ministry said.

"We are seized of the matter. The National Informatics Centre, which maintains the website, is trying to restore it," the spokesperson said.

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New Delhi:

Accusing the Congress party of taking parliamentary proceedings "to a new low", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced a fast by BJP MPs on to protest the impasse caused by the opposition party in Parliament. He said that the Congress was "throttling" democracy and "abusing" people's mandate.

The Parliament witnessed a complete washout of the second half of the Budget Session that ended on Friday.

Addressing BJP MPs on the party's 38th foundation day, Modi said parliamentary proceedings stooped to a new low owing to the conduct of the Congress. The opposition resorted to disrupting Parliament as it had no issue to raised, he said.

Calling upon party lawmakers and ministers expose such parties, he said such a disruption during a prime minister's speech was unprecedented. All BJP MPs will observe a day-long fast on to protest the opposition's conduct in Parliament, Modi said.

Modi had replied in both Houses during the session's first half. He said he continued with his speech for over 90 minutes for the sake of democracy amid relentless protests by opposition MPs, according to sources.

The prime minister then told his partys MPs to reach out to villages with substantial Dalit and tribal population through implementation of his government's seven key welfare schemes.

The BJP, Modi said, will observe the birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule, a social reformer who came from a backward caste, on as 'Samta Diwas' (equality day).

He also stressed on the need for all MPs to organise events to mark the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, a Dalit icon, on , asserting that it is mandatory for them to do so, sources said.

The BJP and its top brass have been underlining the party's commitment to the welfare of Dalits and works of the Modi government to highlight Ambedkar's legacy at a time when opposition parties have accused the ruling party of being anti-Dalit.

Noting that the party has announced 'Gram Swaraj Abhiyan' between and May 5, he asked BJP law-makers to ensure total implementation of seven welfare schemes of his government in villages, especially the ones with population of over a thousand, sources said.

With the BJP celebrating its 38th foundation day, Modi said it has become the largest party due to the people's blessings and tireless efforts of its workers and also paid tributes to many of its late leaders and workers.

The foundation day is dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives for the party's growth, the prime minister said. It has risen due to its work for the nation's development. The BJP did not focus on casteism or dynasty, he said.

The BJP had been treated as an "untouchable" party by others when it was founded in 1980 but it has become strong due to people's faith in it. "People have taken us to this level and now we have to live for them," he said.

Modi also asked party MPs to see a drama on Maratha king Shivaji being performed in Delhi, and noted that he had travelled to Pune from Gujarat almost 30 years ago to see it.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

A beheaded body of 24-year-old Kashmiri youth was recovered on Thursday from Jammu and Kashmirs Bandipora district, police said on Friday.

Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson confirmed the development and said, The youth was brutally murdered by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants. He was abducted on Tuesday, he added.

The deceased Manzoor Ahmed Bhat, was abducted by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in the early hours of April 5, the spokesperson added.

The police spokesperson further informed the media that terrorists led by Kashmiri militant Mohd Saleem Parrey barged into Bhats house and abducted him along with his father.

The victims father somehow managed to escape from the militants. He has suffered bullet injuries and being is medically treated at a hospital, the spokesperson added.

According to sources, the LeT claimed the deceased to be a police informer.

According to police records, this is the second incident in a weeks time, when militants have attacked civilians in Bandipora districts Hajin area.

Earlier, a private taxi driver Muntazir Ahmad Parrey was murdered by LeT terrorists after abducting him from his in-laws residence. Two women were also assaulted by the militants.

Parrey, a resident of Hajin, had joined the LeT ranks last year.

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New Delhi:

Nepal Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli on Friday arrived in India on his maiden three-day visit, after assuming office in February 2018. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Finance SP Shukla received Oli at the airport.

"Delhi: Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli arrives in India on a three-day state visit, received by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Finance SP Shukla," ANI reported.

Oli, accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind, and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.

During his visit, he will hold talks with the Indian leadership to boost ties between the two countries. His agenda also includes a business luncheon event and interactive session with the Nepalese community in Delhi.

Delhi: Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli arrives in India on a three day state visit, received by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and MoS Finance SP Shukla pic.twitter.com/o22c32P2RJ  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

On Saturday, he will meet PM Modi in the evening and a high-level conclave with the top Indian leaders will take place to strengthen the relations between India and Nepal. The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday.

Also Read | To get more leverage with India, Nepal to deepen ties with China: Nepalese PM KP Oli

Besides these, the inauguration of several development projects and press statements are also in the line followed by the conclave, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

On the second day, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Home Minister Rajnath Singh will also call on Nepal PM Oli.

"India and Nepal enjoy age-old special ties of friendship and cooperation. The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

Apart from these, he will visit the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project. Oli will also be conferred with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science at the university.

Also Read | No Aadhaar: Nepali students could miss UP madrasa board exams

Earlier, in February, Swaraj visited Nepal to congratulate Oli for his glorious victory of the Left Alliance in the Parliamentary and Provincial elections.

Congratulating Oli on his appointment to the top executive post, PM Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

However, Oli will leave for Kathmandu later on Sunday evening.

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New Delhi:

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Friday launched a scathing attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that he is playing with Andhra Pradeshs sentiments.

The Prime Minister is playing with the sentiments of Andhra Pradesh. If he continues doing so Andhra Pradesh will make him disappear from history soon, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Naidu said during a bicycle rally rally from Venkatayapalem village in Amaravati to the state legislative assembly at Velagapudi.

PM Modi is underestimating the power of Telugu people. The BJP is trying to weaken the state, which will never happen, the chief minister added.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi tried to topple the NTR government in 1984. Everybody knows what happened after that. If PM Modi plays with our sentiments. He will have to face the same, Naidu added.

On Friday, not only TDP but the Opposition also stepped up protest against BJP-led central government to demand special category status for Andhra Pradesh and implementation of the promises made in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014.

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New Delhi:

Hours after Chotey Lal Kharwar, a tribal BJP MP from Robertsganj constituency accused the Uttar Pradesh government of discrimination, another Dalit parliamentarian from the party has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had "scolded and thrown him out from his office".

In his letter to PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, Etawah MP Ashok Kumar Dohre had sought their intervention into surging cases of atrocities faced by Dalit community. The cases of cruelty against Dalits have been increasing at an alarming rate post April 2 protests against the Supreme Court order on SC/ST act.

During April 2 agitation, Dalits, particularly in Uttar Pradesh were targeted by the police and several cases were registered against them. Police pulled the community people out of their houses and beat them ferociously, according to Dohre.

"Casteist comments were also being hurled at them," Dohre added demanding action against the police officials.

Also Read | Our priority is to provide security and prosperity to the masses: Yogi Adityanath

Earlier in March, Chotey Lal also dashed a letter to Modi claiming that his brother Jawahar Kharwar was removed as block president of Naugarh in Chandauli by local BJP leaders with the help of SP-BSP members.

"I met the CM twice with my problems but failed to get any relief. Rather I was scolded and thrown out," the Robertsganj MP wrote in his letter.

Chhote Lal Kharwar, BJP MP from Robertsganj constituency, in a letter to the PM, has alleged that he met the UP Chief Minister twice regarding "corruption" in the district administration and forest department in Chandauli, but was instead "scolded and thrown out" pic.twitter.com/JSmbjCfYxb  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 6, 2018

Meanwhile, reacting to Kharwar's letter Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "We will look into all the issues and redress all his grievances."

According to Maurya, those misunderstandings took place due to official apathy at the district level. However, he has promised to look into the matter with seriousness.

Also Read | BR Ambedkar statue vandalised again, CM Yogi asks police to take stern action

In view of the foregoing, Ambedkar Mahasabha's decision to confer Yogi with 'Dalit Mitra' award is currently on a hold. Two senior founding members of the Dalit organisation - Harish Chandra and SR Darapuri called an annual general meeting to initiate disciplinary action against president Lalji Prasad Nirmal accusing him of going beyond his authority.

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Permanent vice Secretary Cang congratulated the Lao people on the national construction and development achievements that they have made over the past four decades under the leadership of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party.

He emphasised that Ho Chi Minh City always tries its best to boost its relations with Lao localities, particularly those it has twin ties with, thus contributing to fostering the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two nations.

For his part, Lao Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City Somxay Sanam-Oune expressed his gratitude to the municipal authorities for their active and effective support for his agency and the Lao community in the city, especially in the organisation of the recent Lao Goods Week.

Vietnam and Laos share a lot of similarities in addition to a special relationship and solidarity, he said, adding that in 2017, the two countries organised many meaningful activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Laos and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation

He expressed his belief that the special relationship between Laos and Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City and Lao localities, would be consolidated and deepened in a more practical and effective manner in all fields.
London:

The UK government has confirmed that two guinea pigs were found dead at the home of the former Russian double agent who was found poisoned along with his daughter here last month.

The UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) also said that a cat found in a distressed state at the house in Salisbury was put down by a vet.

The confirmation came on Thursday amid concerns raised by Russia over the welfare of Sergei Skripal's pets as Moscow continued to deny any involvement in the attack.

"The property in Wiltshire was sealed as part of the police investigation. When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died. A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare," a DEFRA spokesperson said.

The information on the animals was today followed by a withering attack by Russia on the UK inventing a "fake story" and "playing with fire" over the poisoning in Salisbury, which the British government maintains involved a Russian-made deadly nerve agent.

At a United Nations' Security Council meeting today, Moscow's Ambassador to UN Vasily Nebenzia said Britain's main goal had been "to discredit and even delegitimise" Russia with "unsubstantiated accusations".

He said Novichok ?- the group of nerve agent the UK says was used in the poisoning -? is "not copyrighted by Russia, in spite of the obviously Russian name" and has been developed in many countries.

"It's some sort of theatre of the absurd. Couldn't you come up with a better fake story," he questioned during his statement to the 15-member council.

Britain's UN representative Karen Pierce countered that the UK's actions "stand up to any scrutiny".

She said Russia came under suspicion for several reasons, saying it had "a record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations" and that it "views defectors as suitable targets for assassination".

Moscow had called the special meeting of the Security Council in New York to discuss the attack, saying Britain had "legitimate questions" to answer.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. Yesterday, Yulia Skripal issued a statement from hospital to say her "strength is growing daily". Her 66-year-old father remains in critical but stable condition in hospital at Salisbury.

The attack has led to an escalating diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West, with 60 expelled US diplomats leaving for Russia. More than 20 countries have expelled Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK, following Britain's initial expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

The UK government maintains that Russia is behind the attack, claiming there is "no other plausible explanation". The Kremlin denies any involvement.

Scotland Yard have said the Skripals first came into contact with the chemical at Skripal's home after forensic testing showed the highest concentration of the substance was found on the front door. The house was a focus of police activity in the aftermath of the attack and was sealed off as investigators combed the property for clues.

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Deputy PM Dam presented an Independence Order, second class to Chairwoman of the Lao Women's Union (LWU) Inlavanh Keobounphanh and Independence Orders, third class to three Vice Chairwomen of the LWU, in addition to granting Friendship Orders to a number of outstanding collectives and individuals from LWU branches in Lao provinces.

Meanwhile, the Lao side presented the Lao State's Freedom (Issara) Order, third class to the leader of the Vietnamese Women's Union (VWU) and Labour Orders, third class to several collectives and individuals from the VWU, and VWU branches in six provinces and cities in Vietnam.

Deputy PM Dam highlighted the considerable contributions that have been made by women from the two countries to the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos, which has been nurtured by generations of leaders and people from both countries.

"The noble awards presented at the ceremony not only demonstrate the recognition of specific individuals and collectives but also shows the respect of the Parties and States of Vietnam and Laos for the silent contributions of other individuals and collectives to the achievements of the two women's unions, as well as to the special friendship and solidarity between the two countries", said the Deputy PM.

The LWU and VWU have jointly worked on many cooperation agreements at both central and grassroots levels in various areas of poverty reduction, and health care for women and children, among others.
The Japan Sumo Association has apologized for an inappropriate request that women leave a sumo ring where they were providing emergency treatment.

The apology came after female medics entered the ring during a spring sumo event in Manazuru City of Kyoto Prefecture on Wednesday.

The women were among association staffers trying to give emergency treatment to the city's mayor, Ryozo Tatami, who had suddenly collapsed while making a speech in the ring.

A referee urged the women to leave, as professional sumo traditionally bans women from entering the ring.

The mayor was later taken to a hospital and underwent an operation for brain hemorrhage.

Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku issued an apology later in the day, calling the referee's response inappropriate.

Stablemaster Kasugano, who's in charge of sumo tours, also said the reaction was inappropriate even if the referee was upset during the emergency.

He added that the association will consider how to respond to emergencies.

The association had sparked controversy twice by barring female officials from entering the ring during award ceremonies.
Officials of the operator of the crippled Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant apologized Thursday to the family of a 102-year-old man who killed himself in the face of an evacuation order amid the 2011 nuclear crisis.

The apology was issued after a court recognized the causal relationship between the suicide and the nuclear disaster and ordered Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (Tepco) to pay damages to the family.

aWe are tormented by the fact that your father, who was doing really well for his age of over 100, was forced to make that painful decision,a Michitaka Kondo, a senior official at Tepcoas Fukushima main office said at the familyas residence.

Fumio Okubo was found to have hanged himself at his home in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 12, 2011, about a month after the quake and tsunami disaster triggered the nuclear accident, and a day after he learned the government was going to issue the evacuation order to the village.

Mieko Okubo, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and the 65-year-old wife of Okuboas second-eldest son, said the familyas awish was fulfilleda by the apology. She added that the family would now like to live peacefully.
An Australian woman who was raped by a U.S. military serviceman more than a decade ago renewed on Thursday her request to Japanas government to amend the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which critics claim allows both countries to evade responsibility for misconduct linked to U.S. bases.

a(Tomorrow) will mark 16 years that I have been trying to change one part of Article 16 of the SOFA a to change just one word,a said Catherine Jane Fisher, a human rights activist and long-term resident of Japan, during a news conference in Tokyo.

Fisher said she will meet with Foreign Ministry officials on Friday to ask them to work toward the revision.

Court records show that Fisher was raped by American serviceman Bloke Deans near the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 2002. In 2004, a Tokyo court ordered Deans to pay A3 million in damages as compensation. But he had already left Japan and has not returned.

Fisher later asked the Foreign Ministry to locate him, but she said her request was rejected based on Article 16 of the bilateral agreement.

Fisher said she was told by the ministry at the time that members of the U.S. military only have to arespect the laws of Japan, not obey them.a She believes the word arespecta in the article should have been interpreted to mean almost the same as aobeya when the pact came into force in 1960.

Without support from either government, Fisher located Deans on her own after 10 years of searching.
At the annual meeting, delegates shared a view that the ASEAN-India dialogue relationship plays an important role in ensuring peace, stability and cooperation in the region. They spoke highly of the success of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit held in January 2018, considering it a significant event that opened up a new chapter in bilateral ties.

They lauded the progress of the implementation of the Action Plan for 2016-2020 and a portfolio of priority fields for 2016-2018. As of March 2018, 75 out of 130 activities in the Action Plan have been completed, equivalent to 60 percent after two years.

Both sides agreed to push forward the practical and effective development of their strategic partnership, especially in priority fields of their strength.

The officials pledged to boost bilateral trade and investment ties by effectively realising free trade agreements in goods, services and investment, strengthening connectivity in the private sector and facilitating small and medium-sized enterprises access to technologies and capital sources.

The participants emphasised the importance of effectively realising projects and initiatives on road, navigation, aviation and digital connectivity.

The ASEAN officials hailed Indias sharing of experience in building smart cities, developing the sea-based economy, and helping ASEAN and India firms form regional value chains, effectively join global value chains and narrow development gap.

On regional and global issues, they said security challenges remain complicated, especially non-traditional security challenges and suggested boosting coordination in security, including cyber security, and the fight against terrorism, extreme violence, trans-national crimes and climate change.

The delegates at the meeting

They lauded proposals to deploy initiatives announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit such as opening a digital village in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, designating 2019 as the Year of ASEAN-India Tourism, offering doctorate scholarships to ASEAN member states, and holding training courses on electricity use and transmission, telecom and cyber technology.

Preeti Saran affirmed Indias policy of respecting ASEANs central role in regional processes and committed to assisting ASEAN in building its community.

On the occasion, she lauded Vietnams role as the coordinator of ASEAN  India relations over the recent past, adding that ASEANs close coordination will make active contributions to the enhancement of mutual understanding, towards a region of fairness, openness and inclusiveness based on rules.

Deputy FM Dung noted that the Act East Policy proposed by the Indian PM is an evidence of growing ASEAN-India ties, thus making practical contributions to peace, stability and development in the region.

He affirmed that developing the sea-based economy and improving inclusive connectivity, especially digital connectivity, are key to lifting the ASEAN  India partnership to a new height with a market of nearly 2 billion people and a gross domestic product of more than US$ 3.8 trillion per year.

Regarding the regional and international situation, the two sides applauded the resumed negotiations and hoped that an effective and legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea will be reached soon.
The PM said during the ambassadors tenure, two-way trade between both nations grew rapidly with the launch of a number of Thailands projects, including the southern oil refinery complex and shipbuilding, adding that both sides also offered mutual support at bilateral and multilateral forums.

He wished that Thailand would share experience in developing tourism, opening new tours to facilitate economic development and people-to-people exchange.

Vietnam always creates the best environment to attract Thai investors and tourists to the country, he said.

The host expressed his wish that in any position, the ambassador will further contribute to bilateral ties.

Ambassador Manopchai Vongphakdi, for his part, affirmed that Thailand wants to boost people-to-people exchange and investment cooperation between the two countries.

Thai government always asks firms to abide by Vietnams law, especially environment regulations, he said, adding that close and effective bilateral ties not only propel the development of the two countries forward but also the entire region.

He also vowed to foster bilateral ties in any future position.

As the traditional New Year festival of Thailand is coming, the PM sent a message of congratulations to his Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-ocha.
An Upstate New York woman has been charged with murder following the death of a 7-year-old boy in Monroe County.

Hanane Mouhib, 36, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder, 13WHAM reported. She is being held at the Monroe County Jail without bail.

Mouhib allegedly killed her son, Abraham Cardenas, in their home in Sweden, New York, on Thursday night, the Democrat & Chronicle reported. Mouhib used a large kitchen knife to stab Abraham in both the upper left area of his back and in his neck, and severed his head from his body, according to investigators.

Gruesome details in court papers. Woman charged with murder after allegedly decapitating young boy. https://t.co/5cYTAlAYlc  Sean Lahman (@seanlahman) April 6, 2018

Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter described the home as an an "extreme, horrific crime scene" in a press conference Friday, the D&C reported.

When deputies arrived Thursday night, Baxter said they had to use both pepper spray and a Taser to disarm Mouhib after she refused to drop a knife she was holding, the D&C said.

UPDATE: Hanane Mouhib identified as mother of Abraham Cardenas, boy killed in Sweden home pic.twitter.com/taPyJIg2eP  13WHAM (@13WHAM) April 6, 2018

Baxter also said on March 5 and March 8, calls were made from the home to request mental health assistance, News10NBC reported. From March 8-26, Mouhib was voluntarily staying in a mental health facility and had been released with a care plan.

Abraham Cardenas was a first-grader at an elementary school in Brockport, News10NBC said. Mouhib graduated from The College at Brockport, State University of New York in 2011 with a nursing degree, and had worked for Rochester Regional Health from January 2016 to January 2017.

#NEWINFO Suspect Hanane Mouhib was a nursing student at SUNY Brockport. We're told she graduated in May 2011. She worked as Nurse Practitioner at Genesee Mental Health from January 2016  January 2017. @13WHAM  Justin Carter (@JustinCarterTV) April 6, 2018

Grief counselors will be available over the weekend and at schools in the district on Monday for students and staff, the D&C said.

Follow Georgie Silvarole on Twitter @gsilvarole.
F1s future is speeding ahead in Bahrain.

Some are predicting Friday fireworks, when Liberty Media presents its potentially explosive financial and engine plans for 2021 to the teams and manufacturers.

But the next day, the FIA and Liberty will head another meeting, to urgently discuss the overtaking problem as was seen in Melbourne.

Auto Motor und Sport claims that one solution could be banning the cascade elements on the front wings, while expanding the DRS effect is another proposal.

Time is short before any changes for 2019 can be set in stone, but other rule tweaks for next year are close to being agreed.

Heavy drivers, for instance, will no longer be penalised as a new driver plus seat minimum weight of 80kg will be introduced.

Renaults upwards-pointing exhaust will be banned for 2019, but proposed aesthetic changes to the controversial Halo system have reportedly been scrapped.

World champion Lewis Hamilton, who is out of contract at the end of the year, said he is awaiting with interest the outcome of the meetings about the future.

"It (Libertys plans) will be great to know. Maybe it affects the driver market, maybe it doesnt. But it comes at a good time as I havent put pen to paper," he said.
Max Verstappen says he does not agree that Mercedes so-called party mode engine setting should be banned.

The Dutch drivers Red Bull team boss, Christian Horner, has proposed that parc ferme conditions apply to engine settings throughout qualifying.

It would effectively mean that Mercedes would not be able to use party mode to get a considerable short-term boost that rival engine manufacturers cannot match.

When asked about Horners concerns, Verstappen said in Bahrain: "I feel the same way.

"But at the same time, one must be honest and understand that Mercedes did the job better than everyone else. Why should they lose their advantage? That would not be fair.

"Otherwise, everyone should just use the same engine, and I dont think anyone wants that," he added.

But Verstappen said the FIA might consider a rule that, in future iterations of the engine regulations, makes party mode-like settings difficult to use.

"But it should not be banned now, just because Mercedes is so competitive," he said.
An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain has said Nigerians should exercise patience with President Muhammad Buhari as the administrat...

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain has said Nigerians should exercise patience with President Muhammad Buhari as the administration will soon include the names of former secretary to the federal government, Babachir David Lawal and the indicted Director General of National Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ayo Oke on the list of treasury looters.

Ali Saidu, an associate of Buhari, revealed this in Bauchi during an interview. He said, FG has not deliberately overlooked some of the APC supporters and members found guilty of financial crime under Buhari administration, but was only taking its time to include their names.





I think the exercise is reflecting on those who looted the treasury initially, not that APC supporters were spared by Buhari administration. You should know that it has to start from where it started before reaching the current APC administration, so Nigerians should wait and give Buhari benefit of the doubt, said Saidu.





It could be recalled that the FG under Buhari had recently released the names of opposition parties who allegedly looted the nations treasury.





The APC chieftain added that the party will not be distracted in its renewed commitment to fight corruption and its determination to correct the ills of the past.





According to Saidu, President Buharis decision to release looters list was not meant to witch hunt the opposition, neither was it meant to facilitate his 2019 second term presidential ambition, but to attract economic development in Nigeria.




The accolade was presented by Vice President and Secretary General of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Don Tuan Phong at a ceremony in Hanoi on April 5.

Congratulating the RoK Ambassador on receiving the honour, VUFO Vice President Don Tuan Phong hailed that, during his working tenure, the Ambassador was active in boosting the cooperation between the ministries, sectors and localities of the two countries, thus deepening the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership.

The ambassador has also paid due attention to the programmes launched by VUFO and the Vietnam  RoK Friendship Association, as well as people-to-people diplomacy activities.

The ambassador has visited and met many Vietnamese people, showing his deep understanding of the countrys land and people and established himself as a close friend of Vietnam.

For his part, Ambassador Lee Hyuk expressed his delight that his tenure in Vietnam witnessed robust development in the economic, social and people-to-people cooperation between the two countries.

His term in office in Vietnam will end on April 15 when he becomes the new Secretary General of the ASEAN-Korea Centre.

He pledged that, in his new post, he will continue to promote the relations between the RoK and ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular.
Bibles can no longer be purchased online in China despite the government publishing a new document claiming that it allows freedom of wors...

Bibles can no longer be purchased online in China despite the government publishing a new document claiming that it allows freedom of worship.

The disappearance of Bibles on internet retailers is the latest restriction the country had placed on its fast-growing Christian population.





Religious freedom campaigners have said freedom for Christians in China has been the worst its ever been.





The crackdown on Christians in China has meant that crosses have been removed from churches, churches have been demolished, and Christians suspected of worshiping at home have been detained.





A new Chinese government white paper on religious freedoms published this week asserted that all faiths must adapt themselves to the socialist society.





The paper listing official Communist Party policies added: Religious believers and non-believers respect each other, and live in harmony, committing themselves to reform and opening up and the socialist modernization, and contribute to the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.





William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said the Vatican should address the online Bible sale ban with Beijing.





Chinese Catholic bishops and the Vatican have not good relations for decades because Chinese Catholic bishops are not appointed by the Pope. However, both sides have shown some progress in reconciliation in recent weeks.





Nee said, The Vatican should probably take this issue into consideration in its discussions with their Chinese counterparts, since the banning of the sale of Bibles is obviously a worrying move, demonstrating the worsening state for freedom of religion in China.





There is a broader trend under President Xi Jinping to more tightly control religion, especially Christianity.




Former South African president Jacob Zuma told thousands of supporters outside court in Durban on Friday that his opponents were telling...

Former South African president Jacob Zuma told thousands of supporters outside court in Durban on Friday that his opponents were telling lies and he would be proven innocent in a corruption case against him.Speaking in Zulu in his home province, Zuma said that the judiciary and politicians believed that he did not have rights.The truth will come out. What have I done? Zuma told the cheering crowd.I am innocent until proven guilty.The Durban High Court adjourned until June 8 the case of corruption in a 2.5 billion arms deal dollars, filed against Zuma.Zumas legal team and lawyers for the state agreed to the postponement to give both sides time to prepare their submissions relating to charges against Zuma including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.The 75-year-old, whose scandal-plagued nine years in office were marked by economic stagnation and credit downgrades, faces 16 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.Zuma denies any wrongdoing and is challenging the decision to prosecute the case, a dramatic development on acontinent where political leaders are rarely held to account for their actions before the law.Wearing a dark suit, a smiling Zuma waved to crowds of supporters and reporters as he mounted the steps of theHigh Court in Durban shortly before 0700 GMT.The speed with which prosecutors have booked his day in court is a sign of the loss of control Zuma has suffered since his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, became head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December.However, Zuma still retains some popular support, especially in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, where the case is being heard.Heavily armed police in riot gear lined the square outside the court, as thousands of Zuma supporters gathered to express solidarity with a leader they say is the victim of a politically motivated witchhunt.Marchers, many clad in the distinctive yellow, green and black of the ANC, carried placards reading Hands off Zuma and performed the high-stepping toyi-toyi protest dance made popular in South Africas decades-long struggle against apartheid.Businessman Siya Khoza said he admired Zumas determination to bring in economic policies that he said were designed to spread the wealth in what remains one of the worlds most unequal societies.Whatever happens we will still support Zuma because we believe he brought us radical economic transformation and we still believe that him being in the ANC he will push for it, said Khoza, wearing a waistcoat emblazoned in ANC colors.Zuma son Edward told supporters at nearby park where several thousand people held an overnight vigil that hisfather was not worried.I would want to believe that as an innocent man, he is definitely not worried, the domestic News24 agency quoted Edward Zuma as saying.Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ANC last month, was at the center of a 1990s deal to buy billions of dollars of European military hardware to upgrade South Africas post-apartheid armed forces.The deal was mired in scandal and controversy from the start, with many inside and outside the ANC questioning the spending given the massive social issues, from health to education, Nelson Mandelas party had to address after coming to power in 1994.Fallout has cast a shadow over South African politics ever since.Zuma was deputy president at the time. Schabir Shaikh, his former financial adviser, was found guilty and jailed in 2005 for trying to solicit bribes for Zuma from a subsidiary of French arms company Thales.The company is facing charges in the same case.Charges against Zuma were filed but then set aside by the National Prosecuting Authority shortly before he successfully ran for president in 2009.The charges were re-instated in 2016.Since his election nine years ago, his opponents have fought a lengthy legal battle to have the charges reinstated.Zuma countered with his own legal challenges.
The presidential Media aide, Mr. Garba Shuhu and the Deputy National Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. Emmanuel Agbo on Friday argued over $1 billion approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for the procurement of security equipment in the country.Dr. Agbo who alleged at the Channel Programme Sunrise on Friday, that the approved $1 billion will be used by APC to fund the forthcoming 2019 election was faulted by Mr. Garba Shehu who argued that the money will be used judiciously to procure equipment for Nigeria security personnels to combat Boko Haram.Recall that Masur Dan-Ali, minister of defence, had said two days ago that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the sum of $1 billion for the purchase of military equipments that will be used to fight Boko Haram and other terror associated groups in the country.Buharis decision however generated allot of criticisms from various media quarters.In view of this therefore, Nigerians however are left to draw conclusion from their various logical points.See their statements below:Dr. Emmanuel AgboPDP rejected the approved fund because this is a government that for the last three years has not exhausted their budgetary provisions interms of any of the department inclusive of defence. Not in 2015, 2016, 2017 and neither will they exhaust the budgetary provisions this year.And so when you are talking about short medium and long term expenditure to gulf $1 billion in a country were food on the table of a common man is farfetched.The entire thing is awash with deception because they are looking for money for elections. 2019 is by the corner and that is why we are asking Nigerians to No to it,Buharis approval of $1bn for arms fund an abuse of process, he finally said.Reacting to his statement, Mr. Garba Shehu said, The process has begun, its not concluded, therefore, everyone will be involved. Mr President will not breach the constitution of this country. Approval at that level is granted, there is nothing controversial.The attorney-general will bring a draft bill to FEC, the president will approve and then say take it to the national assembly. The draft budget before it got to the national assembly, the FEC signed and approved it.People will say when youve defeated Boko Haram why do you need funds but if you check around, all over the world, the countries do most spending in peace time.There is police and there is also the military. Its going to touch on every aspect of security in the country. We are not talking about buying footwear or uniforms which is routine. Well re-equip the military that has depleted much of its stock fighting criminality, insurgency and terrorism across the country.We need this money to restock. The Nigerian army, the police, they ought to have arms that they can use in situations where they are needed. Its not as if we have no idea of what to do with this money, it is also true there is still some finishing jobs to be done to Boko Haram.
At least 24 persons have been reportedly killed in renewed attacks by suspected herdsmen in various communities in Benue state.

At least 24 persons have been reportedly killed in renewed attacks by suspected herdsmen in various communities in Benue state.





Members of the house of representatives from Benue disclosed this on Thursday.





The killings were said to have been perpetrated between April 2 and 4.





Addressing journalists in Abuja, the lawmakers alleged that killer herdsmen attacked seven communities in the state, and are also laying siege on some others.





Dickson Takighir, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said: These latest attacks have occurred in Ikyon and Agasha on April 3 and April 4; in Semaka, Asom, Babanruwa on April 3 and in Udei and Umenger on April 2.





They (the herdsmen) are right now stationed at Nzorov council ward, ready to attack Gbajimba in the Guma Local Government Area. There are others in Nasarawa, ready to attack Udei and Daudu with over 14 people killed in the last four days.





Similarly, Sengev, Mbakyondo and Mbapa areas of Gwer-West local government area are currently under siege by armed herdsmen.





In Tsegaase, two people have been killed; one person is missing in Zwatema, two killed in Tse Adeke, one killed in Tse Adudu with one missing in Tsekelefu.





So far, we have yet to confirm the casualty level in Enger. On April 3, four people were killed in Anyebe and one person at Mbavihi both in Tonbo ward of Logo local government.





While calling on the federal government to declare the herdsmen as terrorists, the caucus accused the police of refusing to implement the anti-open grazing law.





The lawmakers wondered why the military terminated Cat Race operation in the state despite ongoing killings.





They called on the federal government to immediately explain to Benue indigenes and the Nigerian people why the Operation Cat Race has already been terminated in Benue without a resolution of the issue.




A former President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi-Okogie, has lambasted both the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party on their accusations and counter-accusations over those who looted Nigerias treasury.The retired Lagos Archbishop of the Catholic Church described the back and forth accusations between the two major parties as a show of shame.Okogie stated this in a press statement, titled, We Are Watching and Waiting 2.He said, Nigerians are currently forced to watch a show of shame by the ruling party of today and the ruling party of yesterday. Such are accusations and counter-accusations of looting that Nigerians find it difficult to differentiate between the accuser and the accused.Huge sums of money belonging to the people of Nigeria obviously got into wrong hands and for the wrong reasons. There are good reasons to suspect that the looting that took place cut across party lines. Nigerians deserve to know how, for example, the two leading parties financed their campaigns in 2015.But instead of honest answers, we are treated by the two big parties to a theatrical display of politically-motivated compilation of lists of looters. We are forced to say what Jesus said to the accusers of the adulterous woman in the Gospel: whoever has not sinned let him cast the first stone.The vocal cleric pointed out that the political class and the ruling elite were a threat to the countrys security. He said whoever loved Nigeria should be concerned about the security of life and property within its borders.He noted that insecurity affects all, irrespective of party, ethnic, religious lines, social and economic status.Unfortunately, it can and it ought to be said that our political leaders constitute the greatest threat to security in this country, not armed robbers nor kidnappers, not Boko Haram nor herdsmen.Nigerians are impoverished by those who are put in charge of her enormous resources while our political leaders live in affluence. The standard of living continues to nosedive. And while politicians display ill-gotten wealth at birthday and wedding parties, there is widespread dilapidation of infrastructure.Our government got a friendly reminder recently. Counselled to invest resources in the people of Nigeria, its apologists, as usual, insulted the messenger. Has Bill Gates become a wailer and a looter as critics of this government are often labelled?The cleric added, Instead of indecently jostling for positions in 2019, the immoral electioneering propaganda that has replaced good governance, and the vicious fight over whose turn it is to capture the pot of honey that Nigerias wealth is, our politicians across party lines should stop and ponder: what type of Nigeria are we handing over to our children and to our childrens children?Whether our political leaders in all the parties will seek wise answers to that question is left to be seen. That is why we are still watching and waiting.Okogie pointed out that due to poverty, Nigerians, especially the nations youths, are easily recruited by all kinds of militia groups as another season of elections approaches. So, we move from one unending season of insecurity to another, he said.The cleric added, The fire of Boko Haram has yet to be extinguished. Government officials tell us Boko Haram is degraded or technically defeated. The same officials tell us they are discussing ceasefire terms with a defeated army. What a contradiction!This same degraded Boko Haram cruised in a convoy into Dapchi, abducted over 100 young schoolgirls without the Nigerian Army firing a shot; cruised back a few days later to return the girls; again, the Nigerian Army was nowhere to be found.
The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has explained that it is not changing its uniform but is only introducing another one to be worn by offi...

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has explained that it is not changing its uniform but is only introducing another one to be worn by officers who are working in an office or at the airport.

Making this clarification on Friday, Public Relations Officer of the Service, DC Joseph Attah stated that the uniform would not be worn by its operatives on petrol, adding that the additional uniform was introduced so that Customs operatives would not have to wear one uniform all through the month.





The Customs spokesman pointed out that while other military and para-military organisations have two or three different uniforms, Customs had one all along.





He stated that the plan for the NCS to have an additional uniform had been in the works for some time now with different samples considered until the management agreed with that which was recently made public.





Attah started with this question: Other uniform organisations, dont they have two or three different wears that they can use in different situations and on different assignments? before saying, We have introduced an additional new dress. Addition not a change of uniform.





It can be worn when youre working in an office, maybe in an airport or depending on the type of assignment. Of course, you know you cant wear this one to patrol.





If you look at Air force, you look at Navy, you look at the Police, youll discover that they have different colours of uniform. If you even look at the Immigration, there are different colours.





For some time now, Customs is just one and you keep wearing one thing from the first day of the month to the last day of the month.





This thing has been in the pipeline. We have been discussing it. We had sewn samples, management had gone through it for a very long time. And finally they said its okay we can go public now. And even while going public, we only used two people to wear it and go public and we released a press statement.





On whether all personnel of the Service would immediately start putting on the uniform, the Customs spokesman said, The additional uniform will still go round but for now we are saying that only commissioned officers will start wearing it.





We have declared it official as I speak with you, and many people are making efforts to get their materials.




The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has lambasted former President, Olusegun Obasanjo for his continuous attacks on President Muhamm...

The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has lambasted former President, Olusegun Obasanjo for his continuous attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari.





Obasanjo recently advised Nigerians not to re-elect Buhari in 2019.





But the group in a statement signed by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, on Friday, slammed the ex president for the comment.





For quite some time, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has turned himself into a self-appointed messiah in the efforts to define the political and democratic future of this country.





And the result of this meddlesomeness by the former president has been disastrous for the country, the group said.





AYCF said that it is disgusting that the former president is still bent on interfering with Nigerias leadership problems created by people like him.





The group said that it has noticed that the former president has made it a duty to lampoon President Buhari at every given opportunity, in a desperate bid to portray himself as Nigerias democratic superman.





Much as we are equally disappointed in the underperformance of President Buhari, we are not blinded by the fact that Obasanjo has no moral high ground for his repeated attacks on Buhari.





The current president may have his serious shortcomings but he is still morally a better leader than Obasanjo.





We challenge Obasanjo to tell us any of the current political and economic difficulties confronting the nation that are not connected to his meddlesomeness and manipulations. Let him exonerate himself from the current mess facing the country, if at all he can.





It will no longer be acceptable for any old cargo to decide the fate of over 160 million Nigerians. We have had enough of this domineering old men in the democratic space and we are now saying its over, it noted.





AYCF urged Nigerians of good conscience to ignore Obasanjos rantings and face the reality of this defining moment in the history of the nation.




Pandemonium in Morawa village, Batagarawa local government area of Katsina State when stray bullet by custom officers allegedly hit a primary six pupil, Bello Salisu of Morawa Primary school, a government owned school.The incident which occurred on Friday was said to have happened along Katsina  Kano road when the custom operatives were chasing smugglers conveying Rice and Second hand clothes in a J-5 and allegedly shooting sporadically.The pupil, little Bello Salisu was hit by the stray bullets and sustained injuries on his hand, around his shoulder and neck.Bello, who spoke to newsmen from his hospital bed in the Accident and Emergency area of General Hospital, Katsina said they were on break when they heard gunshots and ran to see what happened when he was hit by the bullets from the custom officers.An eyewitness, Abubakar Yusuf said the custom operatives were chasing smugglers when the incident happened.The custom officers were chasing a J5 Bus which was carrying smuggled rice and second new clothes and in the process they shot at the smugglers which hit the student. And so we had to rush the boy down to the hospital as they drove away, Yusuf said while also displaying the empty cover of the bullet allegedly shot by the custom officers.Another class teacher, Shawanatu Musa said the incident happened when the pupils were on break and suddenly they heard sound of gunshots and later were told that a pupil from the school was hit by the gunshot.We were seated when we heard loud sound of gunshots. We were preventing our pupils from going to the roadside when someone came to inform us that one of our students was shot.Parents of the victim, Salisu Yusuf (Father) and his mother could not talk as tears roll down their cheeks uncontrollably.It was gathered that Bello is the only male child in the family.Principal Personnel Officer, PPO of the Batagarawa Local Government Education Authority, LGEA, Aminu Bello expressed dismay over the incident which he said calls for urgent intervention by the government to avert future occurrence of such incidence.When our reporter visited the Katsina/Kaduna Command of the Nigeria Custom Service, NCS to get their own side of the story, the Custom Audit Officer, Ibrahim who is sitting in for the Commands Public Relations Officer, Theophilus Duniya said the Command is not aware of the incident.As at the time of filing in this report, information reaching our reporter has it that the little Bello was bleeding and vomiting blood just as he was said to be short of blood resulting from the injuries he sustained from the alleged gunshots.
Robbers bearing sophisticated weapons invaded Kwara State town of Offa yesterday, killing no fewer than 10 people including four policem...

Robbers bearing sophisticated weapons invaded Kwara State town of Offa yesterday, killing no fewer than 10 people including four policemen and raided five banks in a commando-like manner.Gaining access to the town from Ijagbo in the western end, the robbers shot sporadically, killing four policemen at a police station in the entrance to town, and six others, including passers-by. A commercial motorcyclist was among the dead, according to eyewitnesses.They reportedly used dynamite to break the vaults of the commercial houses made up of three new generation and two old generation banks.Eyewitnesses who recalled the deadly incident told our reporter on the telephone that The robbers carted away substantial amount of money from the banks vaults. They blew open the security of the banks with dynamite. Many passers-by were hit by stray bullets. A commercial motorcyclist was among those killed.It was gathered that the bandits, numbering about 15, came in about four vehicles. They blocked access to the town from Ilorin and Osogbo. They operated for about one hour from around 4:30pm.They reportedly escaped from the town with their loot through Igosun area.Bodies were seen in some parts of the town where the policemen operated after their departure.The injured were taken to the Offa Genera Hospital.Kwara State police Spokesman Ajayi Okasanmi who confirmed the raid, said victims included policeman and other individuals.He promised to make details available after full investigation.
Presidential media adviser, Femi Adesina says those opposing or criticizing President Muhammadu Buharis approval of one billion dollars ...

Presidential media adviser, Femi Adesina says those opposing or criticizing President Muhammadu Buharis approval of one billion dollars for security funding are only playing politics with the lives of Nigerians.The Minister of Defence, retired Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali had on Wednesday revealed that President Buhari had granted assent for the release of the one billion dollars fund for the procurement of security equipment to fight insecurity in the country.Dan-Ali disclosed this when he spoke to State House correspondents after a security meeting involving President Buhari, heads of security agencies and service chiefs which was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.The National Economic Council (NEC) had in 2017 approved the (one billion dollars) amount to be sourced from the countrys excess crude account for the fight against insurgency and other violent criminal activities across the country.However, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday condemned the presidential approval of the one billion dollars to procure military equipment to fight insurgency without recourse to the National Assembly.The party made the condemnation in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja.Mr Femi Adesina responded to the PDPs condemnation of the approval in a special interview on Channels Television on Thursday night, saying that proper procedures for the release of the fund were being followed.According to him, the president will soon communicate to the National Assembly through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters about the matter.He said: As we speak now the communication to the National Assembly is about ready. Those who have been flexing muscles over the matter should just have bothered to make inquiries from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters.If they had inquired they would have been told that the communication would soon be on the way to the National Assembly.Talking about the timing, there is no timing that is not good for security. Every time is security time. Those who are reading political meaning into it is just unfortunate they play politics with everything and they will play politics with the very lives of Nigerians, which is very bad.He dismissed the insinuation that the amount was too huge to be spent only on security matters, saying that no government could quantify the amount of funds being expended on security as no individual or government could quantify the value of human lives.It is not something that I think any government could begin to disclose. But we know that it is expensive. I remember that the Chief of Army Staff spoke about some trillions of naira recently  security is expensive but human life is much, much expensive, he added.
According to the Report Climbing the Ladder: Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Vietnam released by the WB at a workshop in Hanoi on April 5, improving income from highland agriculture can help Vietnam to further reduce poverty, which has fallen by almost 4 percentage points since 2014, to 9.8% in 2016.

Ethnic minorities  many of whom live in highland areas  account for 72% of Vietnams poor, and encouraging them to grow more profitable industrial crops may improve their earnings.

Addressing the workshop, WB Country Director for Vietnam Ousmane Dione said Vietnam has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for millions.

The decline in poverty amongst ethnic minorities is encouraging, and more focused efforts on improving their incomes can further broaden their opportunities and reduce persistent inequalities, he said.

Outlining the recent trends and patterns of poverty in Vietnam, the report proposes solutions for the untapped agriculture potential in highland areas where the poor are concentrated. Land use and crop decisions, for example, contribute more to agriculture income differences between households. Low-income families in highland areas use their land to grow basic crops such as rice or maize instead of raising more profitable crops such as coffee, black pepper, or rubber.

Improving access to credit may also help highland farmers make the necessary investments for higher-earning agricultural production. Strengthening earning capacity can help to narrow the inequalities between groups. The average per capita consumption of ethnic minorities, for example, remains less than 45% of the Kinh and Hoa. Moreover, the poor face a widening gap in terms of access to upper secondary education and improved water and sanitation.

Furthermore, the report recognises that 70% of Vietnams population is now classified as economically secure, including the 13% who are now part of the global middle-class. These income classes are growing rapidly, rising by over 20 percentage points between 2010 and 2017.

An average of 1.5 million Vietnamese people have joined the global middle class each year since 2014, confirming that households continue to climb the economic ladder after escaping poverty. The rise of the consumer class changes societys aspirations and the focus of the poverty and shared prosperity agenda shifts from combating extreme poverty to effecting broad improvements in the quality of life, while supporting the further expansion of the middle class. Rapid job creation and an ongoing transition to wage employment are driving gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

The report suggests several areas of strategic priorities to further reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity, including boosting labour productivity and investing in infrastructure to sustain job creation and wage growth without losing competitiveness; implementing education reforms designed to equalise opportunities and develop workforce skills; and spurring agriculture structural transformation through changing farmland use patterns, strengthening land user rights, and improving the skills of the poor farmers.
Some unions in the aviation sector have suspended their plan to shut down the industry over the delay by the Federal Government to pay the N45 billion entitlements of ex-workers of the defunct Nigerian Airways.Mr Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) confirmed the development to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.Newsmen report that NUATE, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) had on March 19 given the government a 14-day ultimatum.They had threatened to go on strike if the government fails to pay the not fewer than 6,000 workers, the N45 billion approved for them by the Federal Executive Council over ten months ago.However, Abioye told newsmen that the unions decided to suspend the strike after a recent meeting with the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.He said :Before the expiration of the ultimatum, the minister invited aviation stakeholders to a meeting in Abuja, to unveil the transaction advisers for the concession of airports and national carrier.At the meeting, we raised the issue of the outstanding payment of N45 billion to the former Nigerian Airways staffers and he responded by first of all pleading with the unions to sheath their swords.He asked us to give him two weeks to sort out the matter and that the N45 billion has already been secured, but it has to be pass through the National Assembly before payment can be implemented.According to him, the House of Representatives have already done their oversight and the Senate will follow suit after resumption form Easter break and payment will be effected.Abioye said based on the assurance given by the minister, the unions met and decided to suspend the proposed industrial action.So, we are optimistic that the money will be paid soon, so that we can put this issue behind us and focus on other key ways to improve the sector, he added.Newsmen report that the former national carrier was liquidated by President Olusegun Obasanjos regime in September 2004.
A former detective with the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison for her role in a $200,000 mortgage fraud scheme in which she ended up re-purchasing her house for $1.

Betsy Borges, 38, of the Mays Landing section of Hamilton, will also have to pay restitution of $206,405 and be subject to three years of supervised release after finishing her stay in federal prison.

Borges was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in federal court in Camden, the U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey said in a statement.

In 2002, Borges bought a property on Cardigan Court in Mays Landing and began renting it out, but didn't make her mortgage payments to Wells Fargo, authorities said.

Instead, Borges repeatedly told the bank she couldn't make the payments -- all while putting the rental income in a hidden account. Eventually she was forced to sell the house in a short sale in 2012.

Borges sold the house to Iraida Fuentes for well below its market value and didn't mention to the bank that the women were related or reveal that she gave Fuentes money to buy the house.

Four years later, B&B Properties - a company partially owned Borges - purchased the property from Fuentez for $25,000. B&B then turned around and sold home back to Borges for $1 in February 2017.

Borges pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud in November.

Fuentes, 35, of Pleasantville, received two years of probation in February after earlier pleading guilty to make a false declaration to a grand jury.

Borges worked for the prosecutor's office from 2005 to 2014, BreakingAC.com reported.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- A medical examiner testified today that a man police say was murdered by his brother had numerous potentially fatal health conditions when he died in 2016, but stuck by his conclusion that he was strangled.

The testimony from Forensic Pathologist Dr. A. Wayne Williams this afternoon at the trial of Gangaram Maharaj, 60, who is charged with strangling Rajendra Maharaj, 62, in Rajendra's Van Reipen Avenue apartment in Jersey City on Feb. 27, 2016 by responding EMTs.

Under cross examination by defense attorney Gerald Miller, Williams said Rajendra Maharaj suffered from cardiovascular disease, one of his heart arteries was significantly blocked, he had cirrhosis of the liver consistent with chronic alcohol abuse, and there was pooling of blood and mucus in his lungs, as well as early signs of pneumonia.

In each case, Miller asked if the condition could be a cause of death and Williams answered, "Yes." The doctor also noted that Rajendra Maharaj's blood alcohol level at the time he died was 0.209 percent. The legal limit for driving in New Jersey is 0.08 percent.

But when Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Najma Rana questioned Williams a second time after Miller's cross examination, she said, "All of these other problems we heard on cross examination, were the cause of his death?"

The doctor replied, "No."

What was the cause of death," Rana asked.

"Compression of his neck," Williams said, in his expert opinion and within a reasonable degree of medical certainty. He also noted that cartilage and a small bone in Rajendra Maharaj's neck were fractured.

Forensic Anthropologist Evan Bird also testified today, saying that Rajendra Maharaj's hyoid bone had been fractured within seven to 10 days because it did not show any signs of healing yet. He said hemorrhaging and the nature of the fracture show it happened when he was alive.

But under questioning from Miller, Bird agreed that numerous sources of trauma, such as car accidents or a fall, could cause a hyoid bone to fracture. He also said that seven to 10 days was as exacting as he could be regarding the time of the bone fracture.

Using autopsy pictures, Williams also explained that Rajendra Maharaj had a cut on the top of his head and abrasions on his neck, forehead and chin when found on the bathroom floor with a bloody towel under his head.

In opening statement yesterday, Rana noted that DNA found under Rajendra Maharaj's fingernails matched that of his brother.

In response, Miller said it is not uncommon for two people who live together to have each other's DNA on their person. He said it was even more likely in this case, because his client would often carry his brother after he passed out, apparently from drinking.

Testimony will continue on Monday at 10 a.m. before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Patrick Arre in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.
A memorial for Sebastian Aguilar, the man who died after being assaulted on a Guttenberg street last week, has been set up at the scene of the alleged attack.

Nearly 20 candles, a bouquet of flowers, and a photo of the 36-year-old Guttenberg resident have been left outside a building on 70th Street between Broadway and Hudson Avenue. He was found there, lying on the ground, on the night of March 28, authorities said.

Two teenagers have been arrested in connection to the assault. They are charged with one count each of aggravated assault and endangering an injured victim.

When Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced the charges against the 14- and 15-year-old suspects, she said additional charges are expected to be filed and other assailants are being pursued. This morning, however, a spokesman for the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said the investigation is ongoing and that no other arrests have been made.

A source with knowledge of the incident told The Jersey Journal this week that Aguilar was set upon by six to eight people in an apparent random attack. In response to heinous beating, Guttenberg Mayor Wayne Zitt promised to increase police foot and bicycle patrols.

Police found Aguilar on the ground shortly after 10:15 p.m. after receiving a report of a man down on 70th Street. He was taken to Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, where he died the following morning.

Authorities are still awaiting the results of an autopsy conducted by the state Regional Medical Examiner to determine the cause and manner of Aguilar's death.

The identities of the two teenagers have not been released because they are juveniles.

Anyone with information on the attack is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip on the HCPO website. All information will be kept confidential.
A New Jersey man who sued Johnson & Johnson and other companies after getting cancer he says was caused by asbestos in baby powder has been awarded $30 million by a jury.

A jury of seven women sitting in New Brunswick also decided Thursday that Kendra Lanzo, the wife of Stephen Lanzo III, must be paid an additional $7 million as a result of the mesothelioma contracted by her husband.

The jury will decide next week whether to also award punitive damages to the Lanzos.

"While we are disappointed with this decision, the jury has further deliberations to conduct in this trial and we will reserve additional comment until the case is fully completed," Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in a statement emailed to NJ Advance Media.

Bloomberg.com was the first to report on Thursday's verdict. The decision is the first to find that Johnson & Johnson's baby powder led to a person being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is cancer of the tissue that lines the lungs, stomach, heart, and other organs.

Johnson & Johnson is responsible for 70 percent of the damages, while Imerys Talc America must pick up the rest of the tab. Imerys supplied the talc used to manufacture the baby powder.

Attorneys for Lanzo, 46, of Verona, argued the investment banker contracted mesothelioma as a result of applying the company's products to his skin for more than 30 years.

Lanzo's suit claimed Johnson & Johnson knew its products contained asbestos, but didn't properly warn its consumers.

The company, represented by Drinker Biddle & Reath and Kirkland & Ellis, said during the more than two-month trial that its products never contained asbestos and that the plaintiffs used faulty test methods to prove otherwise.

Lawyers for Johsnon & Johnson said Lanzo grew up in a house in Montclair that received an abatement 16 years ago for basement pipes wrapped in asbestos. The schools in Montclair that Lanzo attended have also been treated for asbestos, the company's lawyers argued.

The trial began in late January, according to NJLawJournal.com.

Plainfiffs have won five of the six lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson in the past two years in which women claimed baby powder caused ovarian cancer. Two of the verdicts that ruled in favor of plaintiffs have been reversed, according to the New Jersey Law Journal.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: On Friday, health officials in Warren County said the Phillipsburg-based Panera Bread is part of a "regional investigation" into the E. coli outbreak, which may involve other chain restaurants.

New Jersey health officials have confirmed two more E. coli cases in the state amid a cluster of cases spanning four counties and possibly linked to a restaurant chain.

The Warren County Health Department on Thursday confirmed that it -- along with the state -- was investigating certain Panera Bread restaurants at the potential source of exposure.

"The Department is investigating a possible association with a chain restaurant, but the association may be broader than a single chain restaurant," the state health department's statement said.

At least eight E. coli cases have been reported so far in Hunterdon, Middlesex, Somerset and Warren counties, the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement on Friday.

The state Health Department said that all eight of the E. coli patients had been hospitalized but that five of the eight have been discharged.

In a statement Friday afternoon, the state noted that there may be other sources of the illnesses and that it is "still awaiting lab tests to determine if these cases are linked at all."

"It can be very difficult to determine where someone got sick ... They could have eaten at several restaurants, at home or eaten food purchased at a supermarket," the statement said.

Sarah Perramant, public health epidemiologist in Warren County, told NJ Advance Media on Thursday that health officials were looking into a Panera Bread in Phillipsburg one of the possible sources of E. coli exposure.

However, she noted that the matter remains under investigation.

Panera's corporate office, located in Sunset Hills, Missouri, did not return a request for comment on Friday.

There has only been a single E. coli case in Warren County so far, and some of the cases in the other counties were reported as far back as the third week of March, according to Perramant.

She stressed that people should not be overly concerned, saying that illness from E. coli is typically not that severe.

Most strains of E. coli are not harmful. However, the bacteria can still cause some awful symptoms, including diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and vomiting.

The state Department of Health reiterated on Friday that it plans to conduct many interviews with those who have gotten sick to gather food history data.

Once the source of the E. coli is pinned down, it will be tested in a lab. The state will then send its findings to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation, officials have said.

Nick Falsone for LehighValleyLive.com contributed to this report.

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Gov. Phil Murphy wants you to have better access to info about New Jersey's gun violence -- including where the firearms used in those crimes come from.

Murphy on Friday signed an executive order for the state to issue monthly reports online about gun crimes, showing where they occur, how many people were killed or injured, and the type of weapon involved.

And every three months, New Jersey will publish a report listing the states from which those guns originated.

"If it means naming and shaming other states, that's exactly what we're going do," Murphy, a Democrat, said during a news conference at Asbury Park Middle School.

The new governor called it a "new tool that will allow residents to see for the first time the direct impact of gun violence in our community."

"As painful as that may be, we're gonna shine a light on the data," Murphy said. "No one should be lulled into a false sense that gun crimes are some other town's problems or that illegal guns don't impact their communities."

People can already access much of this information by filing open records requests or through the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. But Murphy said this information will be easier for people to obtain.

The first reports will likely be available next month, officials said.

The move comes amid a national debate over the need for more gun control in the wake of the Parkland school shooting and other massacres.

New Jersey already has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, and Murphy said the state has one of the nation's lowest gun mortality rates.

But Murphy said of the 485 gun deaths in New Jersey in 2016, 80 percent of those involved a gun that came from out of state. Those statistics include murders, suicides, and accidents.

"We cannot be blind to the fact that our gun laws are only as good as those in the states around us," Murphy said.

State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said this order is "a call to action" and a "call to provoke change" in states were gun laws are not as strict.

State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan said the issue isn't truckloads of weapons being smuggled into New Jersey but a few weapons here and there that are trafficked in other states with more lenient laws.

Gov. Phil Murphy signs an executive order on gun safety Friday at Asbury Park Middle School.

Murphy -- who is in his third month in office -- has repeatedly called for the state's gun laws to be even tighter.

He repeated Friday he's ready to sign six gun bills the state Assembly passed last month -- including ones that would reduce the number of bullets a magazine can hold, as well as making it harder for people deemed a danger to themselves and others to get guns.

The measures still have to be passed by the state Senate before they head to Murphy's desk.

Joining Murphy on Friday was Jaione Murray, a 14-year-old student in Asbury Park who said she's worried about being safe from gunfire -- especially in the wake of the Parkland shooting in February.

"I want to be able to live the normal life of a 14-year-old," Murray said. "But in our world today, the definition of normal seems to have changed. So if being a normal 14-year-old means standing up against gun violence, count me in."

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
The entire system responsible for investigating sudden and suspicious deaths in New Jersey is primed for a major overhaul, as lawmakers continue to fast-track reform legislation that now stands only one step away from landing on Gov. Phil Murphy's desk.

In a rare move, two state Assembly committees heard a bill to change the long-trouble medical examiner system on the same day. Lawmakers on both panels advanced the effort, which now goes to the full Assembly for a vote. The bill already passed the Senate last month.

The effort comes in direct response to an NJ Advance Media investigation published in December that showed how decades of neglect and dysfunction had undermined death investigations and turned the state medical examiner system into a national disgrace.

Under the legislation, the state medical examiner office would be removed from the oversight of the state attorney general -- a setup widely derided for creating potential conflicts of interest -- and moved under the purview of the state Health Department.

In addition, the bill would give New Jersey's chief medical examiner more power over the policies, procedures and training at the state's patchwork of county medical examiner offices, which currently operate independently and without much oversight.

"It's long overdue, and our forensic investigatory apparatus would have the much needed independence from the judicial system it deserves," said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, one of the bill's main sponsors in the lower house.

But critics, particularly local and county government leaders, said the proposed changes amount to an unfunded mandate.

"County prosecutors and freeholders should be involved in developing regulations, rather than them being dictated by the new chief medical examiner," said John Donnadio, executive director of the state Association of Counties and the lone objector during Thursday's hearings.

Without any money attached to the bill calling for these sweeping changes to the medical examiner system, it will be up to county government to absorb the costs, Donnadio said.

"The state is not making the necessary investments," which including upgrading "antiquated" laboratory facilities, he said.

An assessment by the nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Services could not determine how much the overhaul would cost. Experts told NJ Advance Media an effective system could be run for about $31.5 million a year, as opposed to the estimated $26 million it currently costs.

The Office of Legislative Services said the taxpayer tab "will depend on operating and regulatory decisions" by the top medical examiner and officials in counties that maintain their own offices.

Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, said funding to carry out the reforms will be considered when the budget is negotiated in June.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Parents erupted in anger Thursday after state lawmakers advanced a bill that would make it harder for families in New Jersey to avoid getting their children shots based on religious grounds.

Moments after the state Assembly Health Committee at the Statehouse in Trenton approved the measure, dozens of people leapt to their feet shouting, "You are going to hell!" "Shame!" and "You Democrats destroy America!"

The outburst followed two hours of testimony from parents, grandparents and religious leaders, which ranged from indignant and pleading to tearful and angry.

It took 20 minutes for Chairman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, also the bill's sponsor, to read the names of opponents who declined to testify.

Under the bill, families who avoid getting their children shots based on religious grounds would have to submit a notarized letter explaining how vaccinations violates their faith.

The opponents called the proposal burdensome, intrusive and discriminatory, and sharply questioned why the government had the right to judge their beliefs.

Some said they would feel compelled to home-school their children, to protect them from the potentially harmful side effects of vaccines, which many said they had seen first-hand.

"My rights as a citizen are in jeopardy despite being protected by the constitution," Hilary Bilkis of Rockaway testified. "What will be the litmus test? Who will be the one to enforce it?"

Ashley Blackwell of Old Bridge said because vaccines are aborted fetal tissue, she "could not go against the word of God" by allowing that material to enter her child's body.

"A parent's choice is none of your business," she told the committee.

New Jersey's religious exemption requires only that parents send the school district a letter stating vaccines violate their family's religious beliefs.

Schools granted more than 10,000 students, or 2 percent of the student population, religious exemption during the 2016-17 academic year, according to the state Department of Education.

But public health experts have argued the religious exemption functions more like a philosophical protest, which puts children at risk of contracting mumps, measles, whooping cough and other preventable and potentially serious diseases that vaccines have all but wiped out.

Lawmakers have attempted to tighten the rules for six years with no success.

Michael Weinstein, director of the New Jersey Immunization Network -- one of two people who testified in support of the bill, said he saw it as a way to "enhance public health, and not as a restriction to on religious belief." The law would "rein-in what I like to call an exemption of convenience, to bypass the mandate."

The legislation (A3818) says parents who want to claim a religious exemption must submit a notarized statement to the school explaining how permitting their child to be vaccinated "would violate, contradict, or otherwise be inconsistent" with a tenet or practice.

The letter must show the parents' request is not solely based on "political, sociological, philosophical, or moral views, or concerns related to the safety or efficacy of the vaccination."

The parents also must include a statement that says they understand the risks and benefits of vaccines, and that the Health Commissioner may exclude their unvaccinated child from school in the event of a communicable disease threat.

Finally, a doctor or other medical professional designated by the state must verify in writing the parents have been counseled to the risks of declining vaccine for their child, according to the bill

The committee vote was 7-3, with two Republicans and Democratic Assemblyman Tim Eustace of Bergen County voting no. Eustace said his adopted children were born HIV positive. "I had to make a decision on what kinds of vaccination they would have. I had the luxury of making that decision for my children," he said.

After the hearing, Conaway said he thought the bill struck the proper balance between public health and religious expression.

"This will provide for a clear and consistent approach to vaccinations for students at any educational level in the state, and will do so in a way that protects the children of New Jersey and those with whom they come in contact against serious communicable diseases," said Conway, a physician.

"Meanwhile, we'd allow appropriate exceptions based only upon valid medical reasons and genuine religious objections. This is the right and moral thing to do, and in the end, it's just also common sense based on science."

The bill now advances to the full 80-member Assembly.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
WASHINGTON -- New Jersey won't be left behind in Saturday town halls that are second phase of the student movement by the organizers of last month's march for stronger gun laws.

Three New Jersey lawmakers plan to attend Saturday town halls as part of meetings being held across the nation.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-9th Dist., are scheduled to be at a town hall meeting organized by student groups beginning at noon at the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood.

Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-10th Dist., who held his own town hall meeting Thursday, also has agreed to attend a student-sponsored one scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday at Essex County Community College in Newark.

"The call to end gun violence seems to be reaching a critical mass across the country," Payne said. "Elected officials need to listen to the young people in their communities who have long demanded safety inside their schools and safe passage between school and home."

The student-led groups that led the March 24 demonstrations in Washington, New Jersey and elsewhere, scheduled Saturday as a day for town hall meetings across the country, with or without lawmakers.

It was the last weekend of the two-week congressional recess and the protesters wanted a chance to ask their representatives face to face about stronger gun laws in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting at a South Florida high school that killed 17 people.

While other New Jersey lawmakers are not holding town halls on Saturday, they have met with students and other constituents since the South Florida shootings.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who joined a 2016 Senate filibuster to demand votes on gun regulations, headlined Jordan Klepper's Comedy Central program, "The Opposition," which featured student activists in advance of the Washington demonstration.

He met March 16 with students at Central High School in Newark who had organized protests for stronger gun laws, and walked over to the Washington protest with students from his home state who first came to his Senate office.

And Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., met students in Toms River to discuss school safety, and held a community meeting in Stafford Township attended by local officials and members of advocacy groups on both sides of the gun issue.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
* Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) on April 5 warned the United States not to make any more move against the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, Press TV reported.

* At a joint press conference on April 5 in Amman between Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the two stressed their support for continued efforts to achieve a political solution to the crisis in Syria.

* United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will leave on April 6 for China and meet with Chinese leaders in Beijing, his spokesman said.

The UN chief will then travel to Boao, Hainan Province, to attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018.

* Venezuela said on April 5 it was halting commercial relations with Panamanian officials and companies, including regional airline Copa, for alleged involvement in money laundering, prompting Panama to recall its ambassador.

* Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on April 5 sharply rebuked Donald Trump over his plan to send National Guard troops to the border, joining with opponents to tell the US leader not to vent his domestic political "frustration" on Mexico.

* The US State Department said on April 5 that it has approved to sell about US$1.3 billion in artillery to Saudi Arabia. US lawmakers will have 30 days to act if they want to stop the latest sale.

* United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 5 called upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint in Gaza under the current situation.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom MacArthur, who has supported President Donald Trump more than any other member of the New Jersey congressional delegation, may find his road to re-election tougher.

The Cook Political Report, a Washington-based publication that tracks congressional races, now says MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., is only a slight favorite for re-election.

The ratings change came after Democratic challenger Andy Kim reported raising $1.1 million for his campaign, including $530,000 in the last three months. MacArthur has also accused Kim of getting a property tax break available only to District of Columbia residents even after moving to New Jersey.

MacArthur who was the only member of the state's congressional delegation to support the Republican tax bill that curtailed the federal deduction for state and local taxes.

Under the legislation, while more than 60 percent of New Jerseyans will pay less in taxes, more than 1 in 10 will see their taxes go up, the highest percentage in the country, according to the Tax Policy Center.

MacArthur also played a key role in House passage of a GOP health care bill that the Congressional Budget Office said would leave 23 million more Americans uninsured.

David Wasserman, who tracks House races for Cook, said MacArthur "should be a prime Democratic target" based on those votes and the fact that the district backed Democratic President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

There are 10,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the district, though the number of unaffiliated voters dwarfs members of both parties. In addition, the district went for Trump in 2016 and Republican gubernatorial nominee Kim Guadagno in 2017.

"We are harnessing not only the outrage New Jersey families have at MacArthur, but also the overwhelming support for Andy Kim," campaign manager Zack Carroll said.

MacArthur's campaign consultant, Chris Russell, said the important issue was Kim getting the property tax break in Washington when he was supposed to be living in New Jersey.

"Burlington and Ocean County voters will care a lot more about that in November than what D.C. pundits are saying in April," Russell said.

Kim returned to New Jersey last year and registered to vote in the state. At the same time, however, he continued to receive a tax break on his Washington condominium apartment only available to people who live in the District.

Carroll said the tax break automatically was renewed through the bank holding the mortgage, which handles the property tax payments.

Kim cancelled it and refunded $687 in homestead rebates he received for 2017 and 2018, documents show. The period covered by last year's tax bills include the time that he lived in Washington.

Kim was supposed to inform the District government that he no longer lived there within 30 days of moving. Carroll acknowledged it was an oversight and was corrected long before MacArthur raised the issue.

MacArthur said this was a major blot on his character.

"Andy Kim's dishonesty knows no bounds, and this is just the tip of the iceberg," MacArthur said in a statement.

Carroll said there was nothing to see here.

"Earlier this year, Andy took action, cancelled the homestead exemption and has already refunded the total amount," Carroll said.

Kim still trails MacArthur in fundraising. The incumbent Republican, the beneficiary of fundraisers hosted by Trump and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, brought in $1.5 million through Dec. 31, with the next fundraising reports due at the Federal Election Commission April 15.

MacArthur also has an unlimited supply of campaign cash, having spent $5 million of his own money in 2014 to win the House seat.

Cook also made Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., a safer bet for re-election, citing both his fundraising and the presence of former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan on the Republican side.

Gottheimer, who set a New Jersey fundraising record in 2016 when he brought in $4.8 million, is ahead of that pace this year, raising $3 million through Dec. 31. Only seven other House members nationally have raised more.

Lonegan, who formerly led the New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity, an advocacy group funded by billionaire energy executives Charles and David Koch, "is probably too far right to be competitive" in the district, Wasserman said.

He faces John McCann, general counsel to the New Jersey Sheriffs Association. in the June 5 Republican primary.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
There are more than 90 cameras mounted throughout New Jersey's only women's prison, but the sex assault trial of an officer accused of abusing five inmates will hinge on what happened in the places beyond the scope of a lens.

"You think, 'That's prison. The entire thing has to be under surveillance,' right?" Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Daniels told the jurors as the trial began Thursday. "Nope."

Entire housing units within the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women have no surveillance cameras at all, Daniels said, and the other hidden corners are known to staff: the "beauty room" where inmates can put on cosmetics, the "ice room" in the maximum security wing and the inmates' cells themselves, among others.

Those are the places prosecutors say Senior Corrections Officer Jason Mays preyed on inmates, some who welcomed his advances and others who suffered silently out of fear of reprisal from a man in uniform.

New Jersey law considers any sexual contact between a corrections officer and an inmate a crime, recognizing that a prisoner cannot legally consent.

Mays, who denies the charges entirely, is one of eight employees criminally charged with sexually abusing inmates over 18 months. Two previously pleaded guilty, but Mays is the first accused officer to go to trial.

His attorney, Leslie Sinemus, said authorities built a circumstantial case against the officer based only on the word of the inmates who came forward with claims of abuse.

"The only crime he committed was doing his job, enforcing the rules," she said. "These women didn't like it and he's the one who suffered the consequences."

The case lays bare the problems plaguing the prison, where the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office has been investigating sex abuse claims for more than a year, and the state Attorney General's Office has hired outside counsel to conduct another review.

The trial, held at Hunterdon County Superior Court in Flemington, comes as state Corrections Commissioner Gary Lanigan's re-appointment remains in limbo. Lanigan, who was appointed by former Gov. Chris Christie, was asked to stay on this year by Gov. Phil Murphy, but his confirmation hearing was stalled after lawmakers raised questions about conditions at Edna Mahan.

Corrections officials also declined to speak at a legislative hearing last month, where former inmates, including two of the women expected to testify against Mays, appeared in front of state lawmakers, calling on them to intervene.

Across two administrations, state officials have said little about what's gone on behind bars.

A corrections spokesperson, Alexandra Altman, said Thursday the department "has made a number changes and improvements to enhance inmate safety and security" at the women's prison, but was "unable to comment further while the trial is ongoing."

A 2016 audit of the prison performed under the Prison Rape Elimination Act found no "blind spots" at the facility, but experts have told NJ Advance Media that such checks are inadequate.

While the prosecutor's office has publicly said the corrections department was cooperating with its investigation, opening statements in the criminal trial painted a picture of a prison where abuse easily goes undetected.

"I'm sure it has crossed your mind: How could a corrections officer be alone in a prison with inmates?" Daniels said, telling the jurors that Mays was often the only officer on duty inside Cottage A, one of the prison's housing units.

Lacking DNA or physical evidence, the prosecutor said, authorities built a case by cross-referencing the accusations of the five women, some of whom even described identifying details of the officer's genitals.

Mays' attorney, Sinemus, disputed that claim and said state officials failed to perform basic forensic tests on the officer's locker and uniform that could corroborate or cast doubt on the allegations.

"You should hold the state responsible for failing to do the investigation that this case deserves," she said.

Mays, who was suspended by the department after his arrest, faces multiple counts of sexual assault, official misconduct and criminal sexual contact, among other charges. Five other officers still face trials.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Mays had been fired from the department. He has been suspended pending the criminal proceedings.
NEW YORK -- Some nights, the Yankees' musclebound lineup might put opposing pitchers on the disabled list with whiplash. Some nights, it'll lose nearly as many balls in the stands as it does in batting practice.

Thursday wasn't one of those nights.

On yet another brutally cold evening, the Yankees' bats were held mostly in check as they lost, 5-2, to the Orioles at Yankee Stadium.

With a first-pitch temperature of 42 degrees, neither team got on the board until the sixth inning. The Yankees high-powered offense was held to just four hits. It took a five-run seventh from Baltimore -- with Masahiro Tanaka at the end of his rope, and Chad Green unusually hittable -- to blow it open.

The Yankees fell to 4-3 and the Orioles improved to 2-5 in the first game of their four-game set.

TURNING POINT

Jones' two-run homer came right after Judge put the Yankees ahead. Jones tanked one of the few pitches Tanaka missed on Thursday night, ripping his hanging slider to left-center field and scoring Jonathan Schoop, who had singled up the gut in the previous at-bat. That made it 2-1, Orioles.

The Yankees wasted a prime chance to come back in the eighth. Neil Walker hit a soft grounder with the bases loaded back to reliever Darren O'Day to end the threat.

After Tanaka was pulled with a runner on first with one out in the , the typically reliable Chad Green gave up a single and then Anthony Santander's RBI double. Trey Mancini drubbed a two-out, two-run single off Green to put the Yankees down, 5-1.

Judge's blast, his second in as many days, landed a few rows into the right-center field seats. It came on Orioles starting pitcher Andrew Cashner's 2-1, 89-mph slider, and was the Yankees first hit since Tyler Wade stroked double to lead off the third inning. Wade didn't score because the Yankees went down in succession after him.

Masahiro Tanaka was outdueled by Cashner. He gave up three earned runs in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking none. He surrendered six hits and threw 93 pitches. Cashner went six innings, giving up only a run while striking out five and walking three. He gave up two hits and needed 100 pitches.

Tanaka got some help in the first inning, when Didi Gregorius, from shallow left field, threw Trey Mancini out at the plate to end the inning. Adam Jones had doubled to left field and Giancarlo Stanton got the ball in to Gregorius. At first, Mancini, trying to sneak his left hand onto the plate while letting his legs slide around it, was called safe. But a replay challenge overturned the call.

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Walker drove in Gregorius with a single in the seventh, cutting the Orioles' cushion to 5-2.

Miguel Andujar made his first big-league start at third base. MLB.com ranks Andujar the team's No. 4 overall prospect. The regular third baseman, Brandon Drury, was given a rest day, according to manager Aaron Boone.

Mancini had three hits. Every Orioles starter, except Manny Machado (0-for-4), got a hit.

Leadoff man Brett Gardner (0-for-3, walk), No. 3 hitter Stanton (0-for-3) and No. 5 hitter Gary Sanchez (0-for-3) combined to go hitless in 10 at-bats.

Judge just missed a two-run homer in the eighth, his low line drive landing just foul of the left-field pole. He lined out to second base.

Dellin Betances worked a scoreless ninth, striking out three and walking one.

NEXT

Friday: Yankees lefty CC Sabathia (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Orioles righty Kevin Gausman (0-1, 13.50 ERA)

Saturday: Yankees righty Sonny Gray (0-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Orioles righty Chris Tillman (0-1, 9.00 ERA)

Sunday: Yankees lefty Jordan Montgomery (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. Orioles righty Mike Wright Jr. (0-0, 5.40 ERA)

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.
A former LSU instructor's lawsuit regarding gender disparity in her pay and sexual harassment at the school was rejected Wednesday by a federal appellate court, according to a report from The Advocate.

Margaret "Margot" Herster was employed at the LSU School of Art and Design for three years until she was fired in 2012. Her lawsuit accused LSU and several people in the school of art and human resources department of unlawful retaliation, as well as state and federal labor law violations by discriminating against her based on her gender.

Herster's gender-based compensation claim and her whistleblower claim was thrown out in December 2016 by Senior U.S. District Judge James Brady, who died in December, the Advocate reported. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed Brady's dismissal.

The newspaper reported that 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."

According to the federal lawsuit obtained by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in 2015, she claimed the School of Art was rife with instances of sexual harassment. A faculty member in one instance ogled pictures of students while looking on their social media pages and remarked on their clothes, the lawsuit said. A faculty member also made casual references to sexual relationships between male faculty members and female students, including a reference to "funny business in the dark room." The lawsuit says a program director also "openly rated the attractiveness of female faculty members' breasts on a daily basis."

. . . . . . .

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
A juvenile was attempting to carjack a Louisiana State Trooper, leading the trooper to fire his gun late Thursday night (April 5) in Uptown New Orleans, state police said Friday morning as they released new details about the incident.

The juvenile was arrested and booked with attempted carjacking, police said. His name was not released.

The trooper was on-duty in an unmarked police car late Thursday night near the intersection of Green Street and Broadway Avenue. A dark-colored vehicle pulled up beside his and the juvenile got out, police said.

The juvenile "attempted to enter" the trooper's unit and the trooper fired his gun, the statement said. State Police did not say if the juvenile had a weapon. The juvenile then got back in the vehicle he arrived in, which was being driven by someone else, and they left.

State Police said they found the juvenile on foot "a short time later" and arrested him. Authorities were still looking for the driver and the dark-colored vehicle. Police did not release a description of the vehicle or the driver.

Neither the trooper nor the suspect were injured, police said.

The juvenile was booked into the New Orleans Juvenile Justice Center on the attempted carjacking accusation, as well as an outstanding Orleans Parish burglary warrant.
State police on Thursday night (April 5) issued a missing-child alert for a 4-year-old boy last seen in northwestern Louisiana.

The boy, Rondreiz Cortez "Junior" Phillips, was reported missing Thursday after he was last seen about 11:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Howard Road in the Lisbon area of Claiborne Parish.

Louisiana State Police issued a Level II Endangered/Missing Child Advisory for Phillips. A Level II advisory is used when a case does not meet the criteria for an AMBER alert. For details on the criteria, visit the Louisiana State Police website.

Phillips has black hair and brown eyes, stands about 3 feet tall and weighs about 45 pounds, according to state police. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and black-and-yellow rubber boots.

Anyone with any information as to the whereabouts of Rondreiz Cortez "Junior" Phillips should immediately call the Claiborne Parish Sheriff's Office at 318-927-2011, 800-810-2011 or 911, or call Sgt. Stacey Pearson of the Louisiana Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children/AMBER at 337-962-2605 or email her at stacey.pearson@la.gov.
DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho made the remarks during a ministerial-level meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Baku, Azerbaijan, on April 5 (local time).

"An atmosphere is emerging on the Korean Peninsula between two Koreas," Ri said. "Up until last year, the global community's anxiety and concerns directed over the Korean Peninsula ... has given way to applause of support and welcome."

Ri said the recent developments have proved that the two Koreas, if they cooperate, could improve inter-Korean relations, ease tensions and make a "breakthrough" for reunification free from outside intervention.

He gave credit for the current peace mood to DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, saying it is the result of the completion of the country's nuclear armament, according to reports.

His trip to Azerbaijan appears to be part of the DPRK's stepped-up diplomatic drive ahead of its respective summits with the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the United States in April and May. The two Koreas plan to hold what will be their third summit in history at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27.

Ri plans to travel to Russia next week to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on April 10. He earlier met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

On April 4, a separate group of DPRK officials met with their European Union counterparts in Brussels and discussed issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula, foreign media reported.

They later met with Bulgarian officials in charge of Asia affairs. Bulgaria currently holds the EU presidency.

RoK's foreign ministry said on April 5 that it is closely monitoring the recent diplomat activities by DPRK and called on Pyongyang to use such overseas trips as a chance to clarify its stance on the need for denuclearization and help establish lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Most everyone in New Orleans city government and the New Orleans Police Department has acknowledged the problem - not enough officers. So when the NOPD approached the New Orleans Civil Service Commission early last year for permission to create a new job, "Recruitment Director," the commission obliged.

The role has had some setbacks.

Before NOPD received approval to create the position, the person who had been tasked with managing recruitment, former NOPD deputy chief of staff Jonathan Wisbey, resigned in January 2017 an investigation into recruitment practices. Monitors tasked with overseeing the implementation of a 2013 federal consent decree revealed there had been red flags on some candidates' applications - like arrest histories or poor referrals -- that had been overlooked. The department said at the time that Wisbey's move from NOPD back to City Hall, where he previously worked, was unrelated to the critical report from federal monitors.

In May, Lt. Carlton Lewis, the commander of the Recruitment and Application Investigation Division, was transferred after an internal investigation was opened into allegations of "improper contacts with female applicants," WWL reported. His attorney Theodore Alpaugh told the station his client did nothing wrong. NOPD spokesman Beau Tidwell said on Thursday that Lewis was cleared by an internal investigation into the allegations. Lewis has been on extended sick leave, Tidwell said.

Then in July, NOPD hired Kia Stepter as its first recruitment director. The department fired her three days later after the Civil Service staff found she lacked minimum qualifications required for the position. The position was left vacant for several weeks.

In late August, NOPD hired Leatrice Latimore as its recruitment director. Latimore, who came to NOPD after working 17 years in admissions and recruitment at Southern University of New Orleans, remains on the job. With the aid of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, NOPD is on track to have more recruits in 2018 than in the last several years.

The New Orleans native talked with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune last fall about how she plans to help grow NOPD's ranks.

Where is NOPD looking for its recruits?

Needless to say, we're definitely doing local recruiting. I spent three hours yesterday sifting through resumes on Indeed.com, using the New Orleans area as a local parameter. There was a big push to recruit in Texas before I joined the team. The focus has been mostly local since I've been with the unit. We're doing some outreach with local colleges and universities and tapping military markets.

What amount of education is required to become an NOPD officer?

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We require a high school diploma. However, we welcome those who have bachelor's or master's degrees. We've reached out to some of the local graduate schools, community colleges and other schools with criminal justice programs.

How has your experience prepared you for the job?

As an administrator with over 11 years recruiting experience, I have developed recruitment plans, made presentations to prospects, conducted telephone outreach and coordinated orientation for new classes. The experience of tracking thousands of candidates will allow me to successfully recruit and manage applicants for the NOPD.

I also have the opportunity to reach out to former students or Southern University employees I know on a personal level. I've developed relationships across the state.

I earned a Master of Education in 2005 from the University of New Orleans. I graduated from McDonough 35 Senior High School in 1994.

Does retention of officers play any role in your job?

In my opinion, retention is everybody's business. It takes an effort from everyone to work on morale, send the right messages, handle recruits in the appropriate way.

What's the biggest obstacle?

I'm a civilian. I have very little experience with law enforcement, outside of my parents -- my dad worked in law enforcement in Mesquite, Texas. So I'm learning how things happen in the police world. I'm familiar with recruiting - with setting the goals and doing outreach. The challenge is learning how to do that within the New Orleans Police Department. It's quite exciting.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse University student, who had stockpiled ammunition and gun accessories in his downtown apartment, was stopped before carrying out threats of a mass shooting, city police revealed today.

Xiaoteng Zhan, 22, was deported back to China by federal agents March 20 as he returned to Syracuse from spring break in Mexico, Syracuse Deputy Police Chief Derek McGork said.

Zhan told a friend that the "dark side" had pushed him to buy a gun, bulletproof vest and other items, McGork said, reading from an English translation of their messages.

"I might use the gun to cause trouble," Zhan said, adding, "I have been preparing."

When his alarmed friend begged him not to shoot children or kill her, Zhan responded: "You're the only one I don't want to kill."

The deputy chief made public at a school safety task force meeting today an odyssey that led authorities from a gun shop in Madison County to a disturbed Syracuse University student to his alarmed friends in Mexico.

The result of lots of people working together -- from a gun store owner in Nelson to a maintenance worker at Zhan's apartment complex -- averted what could have been another mass shooting, McGork said.

There's no evidence Zhan ever obtained a gun, McGork said.

It all started with a tip March 12 from The Gun Store, in Nelson, which said Zhan wanted to buy an AR-15 assault rifle -- the weapon of choice in many recent mass shootings.

The owner called police, noting that Zhan was not a U.S. citizen but was here legally on a student visa. Zhan had a valid hunting license -- which he picked up the day before -- which allowed him to possess a gun as a non-citizen, McGork said. Zhan had taken gun safety courses in Verona.

Zhan also asked the gun store about high capacity shotguns, McGork said.

The store owner followed Zhan into the parking lot after refusing to sell him firearms. He copied down the license plate number.

Madison County authorities were quickly able to track the car to Zhan, an SU student, who lived at 324 W. Water St., the Creekwalk Commons. Syracuse police got involved.

But Zhan was nowhere to be found, McGork said.

Police didn't have enough for a search warrant -- acting suspicious and wanting to buy a rifle wasn't enough to suggest anything criminal, McGork said.

But authorities were able to find out that Zhan had sought psychiatric care at two different facilities recently. Those records showed he described drinking, suicidal thoughts, major depression, thoughts of driving a car into a tree, feelings like he might lose control and violence toward no one in particular, McGork said.

Mental health professionals agreed: Zhan wasn't someone who should have a gun, McGork said. That allowed authorities to put him on a list that prohibited stores from selling him a gun.

But police were still concerned he could find another way. And they still hadn't caught up to him.

Further investigation revealed that Zhan had also gone to Dick's Sporting Goods at Destiny USA and asked about a specific assault rifle.

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When told it couldn't be sold to him, Zhan left, McGork said.

On March 16, police were contacted by an employee of Creekwalk Commons. An alarm had gone off in Zhan's room. When no one was there, the employee used a master key to get in.

And inside, the worker found ammunition.

Fortunately, by then, authorities had discovered Zhan's whereabouts: he was still in Mexico on spring vacation.

Friends there had contacted SU on March 16 concerned about Zhan's behavior, McGork said.

Among the things Zhan had told others: "The reason I want to buy guns is not to go hunting... I might do something extreme in the future."

On March 19 -- six days after the initial tip from the gun store -- police felt they had enough for a search warrant. A judge approved it.

Inside Zhan's apartment, police found the gunsights, more ammunition of various kinds, a shotgun shoulder carrier, laser scope and light.

Still, Zhan had committed no crime, McGork said. But the evidence so far was enough to get an involuntary order to commit him in a psychiatric hospital.

SU revoked Zhan's status as a student. And because he was no longer enrolled in school, his visa was no longer valid.

So federal agents were waiting for Zhan when he flew back to Newark from Mexico, McGork said.

Zhan was immediately deported to China. Authorities contacted their Chinese counterparts to fill them in. It's not clear what Zhan's status is back home.

McGork noted that -- even with the luck of alert civilians, coordination between agencies and concerned friends -- it still took six days to get a warrant to search Zhan's apartment.

And authorities were lucky that Zhan left the country on spring vacation while they caught up to him, McGork said.

The next time, we might not be so lucky, he concluded.

Onondaga County DA William Fitzpatrick, as well as County Executive Joanie Mahoney and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh, put together a large group to coordinate school safety locally.

Today's meeting included doctors, academics, top law enforcement and community members.

Fitzpatrick, who chaired today's meeting, told the group he hopes they will be able to come to agreement on some recommendations by the end of the summer to help local and state authorities prepare for a school shooting.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that a gun was found during the investigation. In fact, gun accessories and ammunition were found, but no gun.
An Avondale man filed suit in federal court Wednesday (April 4) accusing two Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives of using excessive and unnecessary force when they shot him four times at a Terrytown service station a year ago during a drug investigation.

Ryan Jackson, 28, asked the court to award him $5 million for violations of his Constitutional rights, pain and suffering, lost wages and punitive damages. Jackson has lost the use of his left arm and has no feeling on the right side of his mouth and jaw due to the shooting, according to the complaint filed by Jackson's lead attorney, Edwin Shorty Jr.

The lawsuit names Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, former Sheriff Newell Normand, and Detectives George Kister and Derek Adams as defendants in the action. The Sheriff's Office declined to comment Friday.

Jackson was shot morning of April 4, 2017, while behind the wheel of a Honda Accord before leading Sheriff's Office deputies on a brief pursuit that ended when he crashed the vehicle into a drainage canal at Wright and Cedarwood avenues in Terrytown. Jackson's rear-seat passenger, Lance Stevens, suffered minor injuries in the crash.

"The named officers violated Mr. Jackson's civil rights by using deadly force to effectuate an arrest when no deadly force was required. It has been determined that over twenty rounds were fired at Mr. Jackson and Lance Stevens," the lawsuit says.

Jackson was taken to a local hospital and later charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer with a motor vehicle, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, aggravated assault of a police officer with a motor vehicle, possession of alprazolam, possession of tramadol and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.

According to the lawsuit, Jackson bought the Accord on the morning of the shooting and had handled the title work for the vehicle before picking up two friends, including Stevens. Jackson stopped a Shell station located at 101 West Bank Expressway, Terrytown, where the third friend went inside to buy food, leaving Jackson and Stevens in the car.

Jackson's lawsuit alleges that Kister and Adams were observing Stevens as part of the detective's surveillance operation at the gas station. The two detectives walked over to Jackson's vehicle, but Jackson didn't know them and "at no time did the officers identify themselves as law enforcement," the lawsuit says.

As Jackson put the car in drive to leave the parking space, Kister and Adams drew firearms, an assault-style rifle and a 9mm pistol, and began shooting. Jackson was hit four times but drove off. He crashed when he lost consciousness, according to the lawsuit.

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Jackson was in a coma for a week and remained hospitalized for another four weeks. He suffered a shattered left shoulder blade and almost lost his arm, the lawsuit says.

Jackson's attorney accused the detectives of using excessive force that wasn't necessary because they could not have reasonably feared for their lives. The Sheriff's Office failed to properly train, supervise and discipline the deputies regarding appropriate use of force.

At the time of the shooting, Sheriff's Office officials said that as the detectives approached Jackson's car, they noticed the occupants of the Accord had guns. The deputies "felt threatened" and opened fire, authorities said.

A Sheriff's Office investigator received a tip in April 2017 that Jackson was dealing drugs in Jefferson Parish, according to an incident report. There were other narcotics detectives already conducting surveillance of Jackson, the report said.

The incident report does not describe the actions that prompted the detectives to fire their guns, details of which were to be included in a supplemental report.

Deputies who joined the pursuit of Jackson's car reported seeing Stevens toss a gun into the canal waters. The Sheriff's Office later recovered semi-automatic pistol from the canal.

Authorities searched the Accord and found marijuana, prescription pills and cash, according to the incident report. Jackson and Stevens were arrested after they were released from the hospital.

Jackson's criminal case is scheduled to head to trial on May 7, according to court records.

The Sheriff's Office has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
St. Charles Parish President Larry Cochran remained hospitalized in an intensive care unit Thursday (April 5) after being injured in a motorcycle accident near his home in St. Rose on Tuesday night. Cochran, 56, sustained broken bones and had complained of difficulty breathing while being treated on scene by paramedics, according to a Sheriff's Office crash report.

The extent of Cochran's injuries hasn't been released but a parish spokesman said Thursday he was in an intensive care unit, but is conscious and in constant contact with his administrators.

Cochran, who was not wearing a helmet, told authorities that he was attempting to teach his 19-year-old daughter Madison Cochran how to drive when she lost control of his 2017 Victory motorcycle and the two were ejected after crashing on a nearby lawn.

Driver impairment was not suspected and responding sheriff's office deputies did not conduct an alcohol or drug test, according to the crash report.

Cochran, who is currently enrolled in a substance abuse diversion program in Jefferson Parish, was arrested last year in Kenner and booked with DUI. He enrolled in the Jefferson Parish district attorney's pre-trial diversion program to avoid criminal prosecution in that case.

Parish spokesman Tristan Babin said he doesn't know when Cochran will be released from the hospital or when he would return to work. The parish's chief administrative officer, Billy Raymond, has taken over the daily management duties, Babin said.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon Cochran thanked residents for their prayers and chided himself for not wearing a helmet.

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"My daughter and I are truly blessed beyond words. Something as innocent as teaching my daughter how to drive a motorcycle in front of my home can change from excitement to tragedy in an instance," Cochran's statement said.

"I am thankful that my daughter sustained only minor injuries in the accident. I have a few broken bones and some bruising that will heal in time. ... Regardless of how simple a short ride in front of my home may seem, it was my responsibility to insist helmets be worn, a lesson I am fortunate enough to talk about today."

Cochran was cited for not wearing a safety helmet. His daughter was cited for careless driving, not wearing a safety helmet, operating an uninsured vehicle and driving without a motorcycle license or endorsement.

Authorities say the motorcycle, owned by Larry Cochran, was towed after an insurance check indicated that it was not insured, according to the crash report, and Cochran couldn't produce proof that it was insured.

The crash was reported at 7:42 p.m. on Oaklawn Ridge Drive, a two-lane road near Cochran's house. According to the Sheriff's Office crash report, Madison Cochran told authorities that she lost control of the motorcycle after she mistakenly accelerated. The motorcycle left the roadway and crashed onto the front yard of a house in the 100 block of Oaklawn Ridge and the two where were thrown off.

The two were taken to St. Charles Parish Hospital in Luling. Madison Cochran was complaining of back pains.

Larry Cochran, who according to the crash report, "had visible swelling in his right leg from the knee down to his ankle," also complained of having a hard time breathing, and that his shoulder was hurting, the report states.
A Louisiana State Police trooper shot at a person authorities say tried to enter his unmarked police unit late Thursday night (April 5) in Uptown New Orleans. The person was not injured and State Police said he was later arrested.

The trooper was not injured either, authorities said.

The gunfire happened at 10:30 p.m. Thursday on Broadway Avenue at Green Street (map), which is in the University area. Louisiana State Police confirmed they were investigating an officer-involved shooting at 5:20 a.m. Friday.

According to a statement from State Police, the trooper was on-duty and was sitting in an unmarked police vehicle when a dark-colored vehicle pulled up beside his and a person - later described by police as a juvenile - got out.

The suspect "attempted to enter" the trooper's unit and the trooper fired his gun, the statement said. State Police did not say if the suspect had a weapon. The suspect then got back in the vehicle he arrived in, which was being driven by someone else, and they left.

State Police said they found the suspect on foot "a short time later" and arrested him. Authorities were still looking for the driver and the dark-colored vehicle. Police did not release a description of the vehicle or the driver.

State Police said charges were pending for the arrested suspect, but they did not say what they were. They also did not release the suspect's name or the trooper's name.

State Police spokesman Jared Sandifer on Friday morning declined to release or confirm any additional information, citing the ongoing investigation.

Late Thursday, police vehicles, both marked and unmarked, lined the riverbound side of Broadway Street from Green Street to Hickory Street.

At least a dozen investigators, including uniformed state troopers and plainclothes officers, congregated near the intersection of Broadway and Green streets, where the riverbound lanes of Broadway had been taped off. Within the cordoned-off area, a handful of officers gathered near a dark-colored pickup truck parked on Green Street, its headlights still on. Shards of shattered glass covered the roadway next to the truck's driver's side.

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Plainclothes officers walked up and down nearby Broadway Street, some talking with residents as others searched home exteriors with flashlights.

At Broadway and Green, a small group of college students huddled on a front stoop said they heard two or three gunshots just before 11 p.m. and then heard screeching tires.

One of the students, 19-year-old Sophia Roca, who attends Loyola University, said she was hanging out with friends on a nearby Broadway Street porch when she heard two gunshots and then saw a small, dark-colored car drive off.

"Of course, we just freaked out and went inside and turned the lights off," Roca said, describing her group as a "bunch of teenagers freaking out."

Roca said the group remained inside until they saw police arrive.

As Roca described what she saw and heard, a man and woman in Tulane University shirts approached the group and began ushering the students inside the home.

Nearby, several others, including a young woman in bright pink onesie pajamas, spoke with a university police officer and state troopers standing near the cordoned-off area.

Update: Police said later Friday morning that the suspect was a male juvenile. This story has been updated to reflect that.

--

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporter Carlie Kollath Wells contributed to this story.
Rafik Abohattab emigrated from Cairo 12 years ago. He arrived in America with $71 and not a word of English. After traveling and working in 33 states, he came to New Orleans nine years ago. Now he is married with a family. Earlier this month, he opened Torshi, a new stall at St. Roch Market selling Egyptian food.

"This is the new chapter," he said of his food stall.

The menu at Torshi will be familiar to anyone who has eaten Middle Eastern food. There is smoked chicken shawarma and hummus and falafels. He bakes his own pita bread. But Abohattab uses the recipes he learned in his native Cairo.

His falafels, for example, are made with fava beans instead of chickpeas and also include sesame seeds. That's how they do it in Egypt, where the dish likely originated.

"Egypt is the beginning of most things," he said.

His spices, like the fragrant cumin, are imported directly from Egypt.

"It's the spice, my friend," Abohattab said. "As you soon as you open a bag, everyone can smell it."

The cumin, he notes, is so important to Egypt that it was included among the treasures in King Tut's tomb.

Abohattab and his wife recently had twins. Part of his desire to open Torshi was to share his culture with his children. And he also wants to share it with New Orleans.

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"Food is a huge part of the culture," he said. "We've been around for 10,000 years, and yet our cuisine is not yet famous."

Opened: March 5

On the menu: Hummus; smoked baba ghanouj; gyro wrap; falafel platter; chicken shawarma platter; kushari mint tea; hibiscus rose water tea.

Need to know: In Arabic, Torshi means "pickles," which Abohattab makes along with olives.

Hours: Sunday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Torshi at St. Roch Market: 2381 St. Claude Ave., New Orleans, 504.609.3813

***

Got a tip? Know some restaurant news? Email Todd A. Price at TPrice@NOLA.com or call 504.826.3445. Follow him on Twitter (@TPrice504) or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/groups/wherenolaeats.
Board members of the Einstein Charter Schools network hired a bus company Friday (April 6) to provide transportation services to students in prekindergarten through 6th grade, according to the board's spokesperson.

Board members of Einstein Group Inc. voted to contract with the Scholar's 1st company during a meeting held Friday morning at Einstein's Village De L'Est campus. The board's resolution authorizes Einstein Board Chair Chris Bowman, acting CEO Daniel Davis and Adams and Reese attorney Lee Reid to review and execute" the bus contract.

The Einstein network does not provide yellow school bus transportation to students. Instead, it gives RTA bus vouchers to students who request them. Younger students, 2nd grade and under, can get tokens for their parents, too. Its lack of yellow bus transportation spurred a six-month-long dispute with the Orleans Parish School Board, which sued Einstein in Civil District Court last November over an alleged breach of contract related to Einstein's transportation obligations.

With this in mind, the Einstein board Friday also authorized Bowman to settle the network's lawsuit with OPSB. The resolution stated Bowman has been authorized to provide any documents necessary "to memorialize such settlement." An Einstein spokesperson stated Friday that the settlement has yet to be finalized with the district.

Einstein's latest financial audit from June 2017 said Einstein maintains more than $4 million in bank deposits within the context of $18.2 million in revenue last year. The network spent $34,389 for student transportation in the 2016-17 school year. By comparison, Choice Foundation executive director Mickey Landry told OPSB at a December board meeting that his organization, which operates Esperanza Charter School and Lafayette Academy Charter School, spends $50,000 per each of its 18 buses annually for its 1,521 students.

Einstein's hiring of a bus company comes days after former Einstein CEO Shawn Toranto submitted a letter of resignation and retirement to the Einstein board. The board has appointed Einstein chief strategy officer Daniel Davis as its interim CEO to complete the school year. The board also appointed board member Lauren Narcisse to lead a committee to search nationwide for Einstein's next CEO.

The bus contract also comes as OPSB threatens to revoke Einstein's authority to run the network's Village De L'Est and Sherwood Forest campuses. OPSB has stated the decision to revoke Einstein's charters follows Einstein's refusal to provide "appropriate transportation as required in its charter contract, despite OPSB's continual efforts to compel compliance."

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OPSB last month also announced it would be looking for new operators to manage the Einstein schools targeted for revocation. News of that search spurred the Einstein board March 21 to authorize Bowman and board member Durrel Laurent to resolve the network's lawsuit with OPSB in a manner that includes "yellow bus transportation."

The spate of board activity at Einstein comes two weeks before OPSB Superintendent Henderson Lewis is expected to recommend revocation at OPSB's April 19 meeting. In a released statement Friday, OPSB stated Einstein's settlement proposal will be considered at this month's board meetings.

"The district will continue to work in good faith with Einstein's leadership to resolve this issue in a transparent manner, ensuring a positive outcome for families and fairness to the charter management organization," according to OPSB.

The local Einstein Group Inc. serves 1,400 students in New Orleans East at four schools, where minorities make up 99 percent of Einstein's students, and 91 percent of them are economically disadvantaged. Einstein's Village De L'Est campus at 5100 Cannes Street opened in 2006, followed by Einstein Charter School at Sherwood Forest at 4801 Maid Marion Drive in 2013. Einstein Charter Middle and Einstein Charter High assumed operations in 2015 and 2016 in the former Sarah Towles Reed High School building on Michoud Boulevard.

. . . . . . .

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
A Plaquemine woman diagnosed with a degenerative neuromuscular disorder is getting help from a group of engineering seniors at Louisiana State University, who are creating a beach-accessible wheelchair for her summer vacation.

Cheslyn Simpson's family enjoys beach vacations in the Florida community of Perdido Key every summer, but it's not an easy activity, according to a news release. The 22-year-old has Friedreich's ataxia and uses a wheelchair for mobility. Simpson's mother told LSU the family puts Simpson in a recliner chair that is pulled by a wagon with big wheels on it to get her on the beach.

"She's light but by the time you get through the sand and everything, it's a workout," said Shannon Simpson.

With this in mind, Simpson's speech therapists at the LSU Speech, Language, Hearing Clinic, encouraged her to write an essay, asking for help from engineering students through their Senior Capstone Design program. Now the students are taking what they have learned to build a wheelchair that will let Simpson move freely on her own at the beach without anyone's aid, said Blaize Vansickel, an electrical engineering senior from Livingston Parish.

Vansickel told LSU they have to make sure Simpson likes it. He and other students have worked on the project since the school year started, and funding for the task came from sponsors and donations. The team even set up a GoFundMe for Simpson's chair that has almost reached the halfway mark of its $7,500 goal.

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The students told LSU that they hope Simpson will not be the only one to benefit from their work. Kyle Jordan, a mechanical engineering senior from Baton Rouge, said a company could possibly mass produce their project to help more people, but first they have to ensure their wheelchair works and is successful.

Read more about the project at LSU's website.

. . . . . . .

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
Louisiana's struggling efforts to build several major flood control and levee projects will get a huge shot in the arm with the expected delivery of $1.213 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant money within the next few months, Gov. John Bel Edwards and U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, announced Thursday (April 5).

Louisiana's access to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development money is allowed by a provision included in a February Congressional supplemental spending bill aimed at providing $28 billion for mitigation projects stemming from 2017 hurricanes. The clause also allows a small share of the money to be used for mitigation projects stemming from earlier hurricane and flood disasters, including the 2016 flood that affected parts of Louisiana.

The state already has received $300 million in CDBG money for mitigation projects in the aftermath of the 2016 flooding.

"This new investment from HUD is critically important to our rebuilding efforts," said Edwards in a news release. "It will allow us to make investments in flood risk reduction and infrastructure projects in areas of our state that were devastated by the 2016 floods, including partnering with the Army Corps of Engineers to make investments in large-scale projects such as the Comite River Diversion Canal.

"Once we have the full details from the federal government regarding how these funds can be spent, we will work with stakeholders and local governments to determine what projects to fund and outline our plan to HUD," Edwards said.

In an interview Friday, Graves said that HUD is likely to publish a notice in the Federal Register within a month explaining how states eligible for the grant money can apply and how projects will be chosen.

"The Administration is proud to be supporting the recovery of areas impacted by disasters and will be making an announcement on April 10th," said a HUD spokesman, who declined to give additional details about the grant until then.

However, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said one issue still to be worked out is whether the state could use the CDBG grant money as its required share of the cost of projects that also are paid for with corps money. When the corps funds a levee project, the local sponsor normally has to pay about 35 percent of its cost, and the state is hoping to use the CDBG money as its match in cases where the corps would pay a share of the construction costs.

In the joint news release, Graves said that four major projects will be eligible for part of the money.

"This is one of the largest flood protection, mitigation and resiliency disaster appropriations made to the state of Louisiana in history and brings the sum of federally recovery dollars in Louisiana to more than 10 billion dollars, enabling us to advance critical projects that have been stagnant for far too long - projects like Comite, West Shore, Upper Barataria Risk Reduction and Morganza to the Gulf," Graves said in the news release.

"These dollars will be used as part of an overall solution for Comite - a solution that will include US Army Corps of Engineers money - but will also give Louisiana flexibility to directly take the lead on implementing and completing projects instead of being held hostage by the bureaucracy of the corps," he said

The Comite River Diversion Project is being designed to carry floodwaters from the Comite River west across East Baton Rouge Parish to the Mississippi River, and reducing potential flood damage in both the Comite and Amite river watersheds in East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes.

State and local officials have repeatedly said that the failure of the Army Corps of Engineers to fully fund the $249 million diversion, first authorized 30 years ago, exacerbated flooding along the two rivers in 2016.

In an interview Friday, Graves said there's a good chance that between the HUD money and money that the Army Corps of Engineers might provide in coming months, the full cost of this project may be covered.

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The remainder of the large projects are included in the state's $50 billion, 50-year coastal restoration and hurricane storm surge protection plan. While the restoration half of that plan has been jumpstarted by the use funds coming to the state from a variety of settlements stemming from the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, state officials have been struggling to find sources of money for levee projects.

While the state received nearly $15 billion for levees and drainage projects in the New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Congress has been slow to deliver appropriations for other authorized projects since then, including the three mentioned by Graves.

The proposed $730.4 million West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee project, authorized by Congress in 2016, would be built along the northern edges of populated areas of St. John the Baptist Parish, with parts of east St. Charles and St. James parishes also being provided some benefits.

The project is especially aimed at the LaPlace area devastated by storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain during Hurricane Isaac in 2011.

The project would include 17 miles of earthen levee and about a mile of T-wall, built to an elevation of 16 to 19 feet above sea level. The project also includes five floodgates and four pumping stations.

Graves said in the interview that the CDBG money will help jump start construction.

"We're within reach of getting a first lift in place on that project," Graves said. "It may not get to the 100-year level, but it sure will take us to a 25-year level of protection."

The corps plan for the levee is to build it high enough to withstand surges caused by a hurricane with a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year, the so-called 100-year storm, which is the 16 to 19 feet height mentioned above. A 25-year storm level would be much lower to block surge and high water from a storm that has a 4 percent chance of occurring in any year.

And he said that state and local officials are considering building a small, specific segment of the levee that would provide even greater protection. Additional construction for the rest of the levee system would have to wait for future funding opportunities.

The proposed $940.9 million Upper Barataria Risk Reduction levee would start at the Mississippi River adjacent to Davis Pond in St. Charles Parish and travel south east of U.S. 90 to Raceland. It would include about 38 miles of earthen levee, almost two miles of concrete T-wall, a 250-foot barge gate, four 10-foot sliuce gates, two 40-foot swing gates and eight pump stations. It would provide protection to communities along U.S. 90 and to Raceland and Thibodaux.

The project also would require raising part of the new West Bank levee in Jefferson Parish to deal with higher surge levels on that levee that might result from water blocked by the new levee.

Money from the grant could be used for the start of planning for this project, which is listed in the state's coastal Master Plan as beginning construction sometime before 2047.

Some of the grant money also would go to fund the Morganza to the Gulf Levee, already under construction with a mix of state and local tax dollars, but needing another $8.3 billion for construction. The 98-mile levee protects a triangular area between Gibson and Larose in central Louisiana, including the Houma area.

Part of the money also can be used to clear debris in bayous, ditches and other drainage waterways in East Baton Rouge, Ascension and other areas.
The U.S. military has canceled a training exercise off the coast of Djibouti and paused air operations from the country after two separate air mishaps earlier this week, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

"U.S. air operations in Djibouti are on hold and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has canceled the remainder of exercise Alligator Dagger in response to two separate aviation incidents in Djibouti," the military said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a U.S. Marine Corps jet crashed in Djibouti. The pilot was in stable condition. In a separate incident, a CH-53 helicopter suffered "structural damage" during a landing at Arta Beach, Djibouti.

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An employee showing customers an iPad at the Slidell AT&T store didn't notice another man lurking nearby -- until he snatched the iPad from her hands and ran from the business.

Slidell police said the man walked into the store at 769 East I-10 Service Road on March 27, checked the business out for a few seconds and then snatched the Apple iPad. Police on Friday (April 6) distributed surveillance video from the store in the hope that someone will be able to identify the suspected thief.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Scott O'Shaughnessy at 985-646-4348 or soshaughnessy@slidellpd.com.

Tipsters can also contact Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 if they wish to remain anonymous, police said. Crimestoppers tipsters might be eligible for a cash award, police said.
A fresh round of talks in Khartoum between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the specification of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have not yielded significant results, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Friday.

Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel-Ati and the acting head of General Intelligence, Abbas Kamel, arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday along with Shoukry to discuss outstanding issues regarding the hydroelectric project with their Ethiopian and Sudanese counterparts.

This round of talks was aimed to resolve an impasse in negotiations over studies conducted to determine the impact of the dam on the downstream countries of Egypt and Sudan.

"All the issues that may have led to a deadlock in the past have been discussed leading us to a roadmap to address any obstacles in the future," Shoukry said, adding however that the current round of talks had not yielded any significant results that could be announced.

"We will continue to comply with the instructions of political leaders in our countries to break this deadlock, during the upcoming one-month period starting from 5 April to 5 May," he added, describing the talks as "comprehensive and transparent."

The current talks were 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.



On Friday, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour admitted that the talks had failed to achieve any significant results, adding that the ministries of irrigation in the three countries will hold further meetings to look into the technical disagreements.

We sat for long hours, discussing many issues, but we failed to reach a joint decision regarding our differences," Ghandour said.

The Ethiopian government began construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile near the border with Sudan in 2011, as part of a development plan aimed at eradicating poverty and generating electricity.

In the past seven years, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have held several rounds of talks on the dams anticipated impact on Nile water resources.

Egypt has expressed concern the dam could adversely affect its share of Nile water.



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Add another TV pilot to the current wealth of projects filing paperwork to shoot in New Orleans. ABC's "For Love," which recently wrapped its two-week local shoot, is a supernaturally tinged love story involving a Times-Picayune journalist and the "secret world of magic in modern-day New Orleans," according to Variety.

Lex Scott Davis (CBS's "Training Day") stars as Times-Pic scribe Hope Castille, who is described as a "headstrong, intelligent and emotionally giving" journalist five years removed from the death of her fiance. But just as she is beginning to restart her life, she receives a mysterious phone call from her deceased lover, which opens the door to the city's secret, magical side.

Co-stars for the show -- which has no official affiliation with NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune -- include Ethan Peck, Jon Ecker, Luke Arnold, Isabella Russo, Rachel Skarsten and Chloe Wepper. Michael Cooney is writing and Kim Moses is producing for ABC Studios.

According to the project's filing with the Louisiana film office, the pilot episode of "For Love" was shot on a budget of $7.5 million. Of that, $5.6 million was earmarked for in-state expenditures, including $2 million on Louisiana payroll.

There's been no announcement as to when, or if, it will air or if it has been tapped for a full-season order.
The health ministry has denied, according to Al-Ahram Arabic website, that three people were killed on Friday when a seven-storey building collapsed in eastern Alexandria, as MENA state news agency had earlier reported.

Rescue teams and the civil protection authority are still searching for injured or dead bodies, while local media reported two families were trapped in the rubble, MENA had reported.

Executive authorities in the governorate are still working on initial loss count report.

MENA described the building as old and said the accident occurred in the citys Mostafa Kamel district.

Rescue workers evacuated nearby buildings to ensure the safety of citizens, MENA reported, while rescue teams equipped with heavy machinery were deployed to remove the rubble.

The Alexandrian governor ordered the formation of an engineering committee to investigate the incident.





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The appointment of Abiy Ahmed Ali as Ethiopias new prime minister is a watershed for Ethiopia and possibly also for the wider region

Ethiopia has begun a new era of rule by the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which unlike in previous governments has also chosen an individual from the countrys majority Oromo ethnic group to hold the position in Abiy Ahmed Ali, now the countrys leader.

The Ethiopian parliament voted Abiy Ahmed into office in a special session on 27 March with a 478 majority out of 546 votes, all from the ruling EPRDF, in what was a significant handover of power in the largest-growing economy on the African continent.

Abiy Ahmed was born in 1976 to a Muslim father and Christian mother and joined the struggle against the rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam, the countrys former Marxist ruler, in 1991.

When the EPRDF came to power, he joined the army in 1993, reaching the rank of colonel and participating in UN peacekeeping missions in Rwanda where the latter countrys ethnic groups of Hutus and Tutsis were fighting each other, leading to the slaughter of some 800,000 people.

After his return from Rwanda in 1996, Abiy Ahmed participated in the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 2010, he took charge of Ethiopias cyber-intelligence agency, and from there moved into the political fray through the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organisation (OPDO), a component of the EPRDF coalition.

Ethiopia is a union of nine ethnicities, most notably the Oromo, Amhara, Tigray and Somalis. Abiy Ahmed was quickly promoted in the OPDO and was elected to represent it in parliament before being assigned the science and technology portfolio in 2016 in the government of prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

However, he soon returned to his native Oromia province and became the head of the OPDO Secretariat. He found himself in a serious dispute involving the Oromo after the central government decided to expand the countrys capital Addis Ababa according to a master plan that the Oromos believe is at the expense of their land.

Addis Ababa is located in Oromia, which gives this ethnic group more power as well as their majority in the country as a whole, estimated at one third of the population at around 34 per cent.

The Oromo protests over the Addis Ababa land grab left hundreds dead and thousands injured. Abiy Ahmed and the provinces governor, Lima Migraisa, became the symbols of the Oromo ethnicity by listening to local concerns.

Hani Raslan, an expert on African affairs at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said the EPRDF had originally wanted to pick a prime minister from a minority group in the south and repeat Desalegns unsuccessful tenure.

There are those who are worried about an Oromo becoming prime minister, Raslan said, because of the groups majority population and extensive land that includes the capital Addis Ababa.

Farag Abdel-Fattah, a professor of African economics at Cairo University, said that at present there was only embryonic political participation in Ethiopia because all the countrys ethnic groups have merged into the EPRDF.

Although the system in Ethiopia is not democratic, it has courageously faced up to its problems and chosen an Oromo to resolve the protests in the capital province, Abdel-Fattah said.

Addis Ababa does not want to see its economic successes fade away, as these were among the highest in the world between 2001 and 2006 and the strongest in Africa since then until today, he added.

Ethiopia has attracted large Asian and European investment in the textiles and food industries, fuelling development rates that have reached more than 12 per cent in some years. It has also relied on Chinese and Italian expertise to build several dams to generate electricity for these industries.

Ethiopias official news agency reported that Abiy Ahmed had urged Eritrea to settle its regional and other disputes through diplomacy.

In his first statements as prime minister, he said that regional complexities are a challenge because the region includes a variety of players with a variety of interests, but they are also a great opportunity to build cooperation among peoples connected through bloodlines, culture and languages.

He urged Eritrean leaders to come to the negotiating table because Addis Ababa wanted to build peaceful diplomatic relations with Asmara, adding that there was now a new era of peace and reconciliation, in a reference to previous regional and domestic disputes with the neighbouring country.

The new prime minister was elected amid celebrations commemorating the defeat of Italian invaders 122 years ago when the Ethiopians led by the emperor Menelik II (ruled 1889-1913) fought the victorious Battle of Adwa.

Ethiopia is also celebrating the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the River Nile, which has given rise to controversy with Egypt and Sudan, especially because of the filling of its reservoir with a capacity of 74 billion cubic metres of water.

The dam is costing $4.8 billion, according to the Website of Salini Impregilo, the Italian company in charge of the project. According to its Website, the company has completed 20 major projects in Ethiopia since 1958, including the Gibe I (1999-2004), Gibe II (2004-2009) and Gibe III (2006-2016) dams, as well as roads and power stations. However, none of these compare in size to the GERD and none are on the River Nile.

While 64 per cent of the dam, the largest on the African continent with a capacity of 6,000 Megawatts (three times Egypts Aswan High Dam), is now complete, the Ethiopian government is also preparing for a conference of national investors to promote the dam.

Ethiopias official news agency reported that bonds issued by the government had collected some 12 billion Ethiopian birr ($982.26 million), while the cost of construction is 80 billion birr.

The government has also collected two billion birr in donations and is expected to collect another 1.4 billion during this years celebrations.

The news agency reported that 400 investors had visited the dam, as well as 250,000 Ethiopian citizens and thousands of journalists and foreign visitors, with the aim of promoting it as a successful investment project.

This will be an opportunity for more negotiations between Ethiopia and the other Nile Basin countries, Abdel-Fattah said. Its a chance for cooperation among the Nile Basin countries.

Ethiopias decision is not in its hands alone, because it wants development, and this will only succeed through cooperation.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Israels bloody attack on the March for Return protesters is another attempt to impose a new, de facto reality on the ground, writes Haitham Ahmed from the beleaguered Gaza Strip

On Friday, 30 March, Ministry of Health officials in Gaza reported that 16 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,500 wounded when Israeli occupation forces moved to crush a Palestinian protest.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians had turned out to take part in the Great March for Return. When the Israeli army moved to suppress it young protesters set fire to tyres and pelted Israeli armoured vehicles with stones and empty bottles.

Occupation soldiers responded with a barrage of live fire and tear gas. Israeli tanks moved in and dozens of snipers took up stations on earthen barricades as a drone dropped tear gas canisters on the demonstrators.

The violent attack on a peaceful demonstration happened as Israel and the US are working to impose a new de facto reality, greasing the path for the so-called deal of the century with which they hope to bury the Palestinian right of return, recognised by the UN and all its agencies.

Every year, in both the occupied territories and the diaspora Palestinians hold marches on 30 March  Land Day  to reaffirm their right to return regardless of the violence the occupation authorities unleash against them in an attempt to force them to relinquish the right.

According to some analysts, there is a belief among many Palestinians that the marches, due to last until the commemoration of the Nakba on 15 May, will put paid to the supposed deal of the century, or at least force it to be deferred and modified.

Political analyst Tayseer Muheisan warns such thinking is optimistic.

We cannot expect the right of return marches will put an end to the deal of the century, he says. What they have done is focus international attention back on the Palestinian cause and exposed the excessive force used by the occupation authorities against peaceful demonstrators.

After noting the march in Gaza was held to commemorate Palestinian Land Day and one of its goals was to break the blockade of Gaza, he argues it delivered the message that Palestinians will never forget their right to this land, they will never accept an alternative homeland, and they are determined to remain on their land regardless of the price they are forced to pay.

The march also contained a message for Palestinian leaders, says Muheisan.

They must put an end to infighting, discord and rifts and confront the enemy together. It is a message that has been amplified now the Palestinian people have shown their solidarity on the ground. The young, the elderly, women, Hamas supporters, Fatah supporters, independents and members of all Palestinian factions came together. The mass gathering on the borders sent a message to Palestinian leaders in Ramallah and Gaza as much as it sent a message to the world.

In a joint statement Palestinian factions said the Palestinian peoples great march at the border of Gaza affirms our peoples dedication to their land and their right to return and condemned the occupations war crimes which resulted in huge numbers of dead and wounded.

Political analyst Riham Awad told Al-Ahram Weekly that the March for Return signalled to the world in general, and to Israel and the US in particular, that the right to return, enshrined in international laws, conventions and resolutions, is inalienable and unbound by any statute of limitations.

This march gave a voice to the Palestinian people, especially those in Gaza, and what they said is no matter how brutal the Israeli blockade and the human and economic suffering it causes we will not relinquish our legitimate rights, said Awad.

The so-called deal of the century will not be pushed through easily.

Awad is among those who believe the US may now put that deal on hold while it reassesses how it deals with the Palestinian people. But, she cautions, it is not the March for Return that will delay the deal of the century.

It will be held up by the crisis of confidence between the US administration and the Palestinian Authority. The delay will last until Washington feels that the climate is right and US-Palestinian relations improve.

Political scientist Adel Samara believes the occupation authorities were taken by surprise by the size of the turnout for the demonstration which led to them mobilising the army and committing a massacre against our people that left dozens dead and wounded.

In Samaras opinion the occupation authorities anxieties stem from the realisation that the Palestinian people still insist on their right to return to their land as defined by the 1948 UN partition agreement, and not just to territory occupied in 1967, something which threatens the very existence of the occupation entity.

The occupation will suppress all grassroots movements by force because it fears them, and fears the possibility of their expansion. It has no other means at its disposal but recourse to violence, murder and terrorism and now it has discovered that they dont work. The marches continued and as the violence against them escalated participation in them grew.

This is how the occupation always works, using violence, weapons and murder as tools. The only way to respond, to deter the occupiers from persisting with their crimes against our people, is through forceful resistance. The occupation fears a repetition of what happened in the previous intifadas. It knows how great a loss it sustained in the first intifada.

Samara warns Palestinian officials against trying to exploit the grassroots uprising as a bartering card in pursuit of an illusory negotiating process.

Like all of us they must channel the achievements of these popular actions along their proper course, especially given the Arabs abandonment of the Palestinian cause.

On Tuesday permanent representatives of the Cairo-based Arab League held an emergency session to discuss the recent Israeli violence along the border with Gaza.

We meet today as the Israeli occupation authorities use weapons against unarmed people which has led to the death of 17 and the injury of 1,500 others, Said Abu Ali, assistant Arab League secretary-general, said in his opening remarks. Abu Ali went on to hold Israel entirely responsible for the deaths and injuries.

Meanwhile, the Security Council convened an emergency session at the request of Kuwait to discuss demands for an independent investigation into Fridays violence.

The American delegation obstructed the adoption of a statement condemning Israels actions.

The UK joined Washington and rejected the statement on the grounds that it was unbalanced.

Walter Miller, a member of the US delegation to the UN, went several steps further. He complained of bad actors who use protests as a cover to incite violence and endanger innocent lives, parroting the propaganda Israel began to circulate on the eve of the demonstrations as it prepared the ground to blame its violent attack on the march on Hamas.

Yet this did not prevent Miller expressing extreme sorrow for the victims.His tears certainly seem to have blinded him to the Israeli tanks, armed snipers and security forces on alert along the border with Gaza and in the West Bank who clearly had orders to shoot first and ask questions later as Palestinian civilians poured out, as they do at this time every year, to take part in peaceful marches in support of their internationally recognised rights.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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The mood in the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is sombre. This old, frail and depressed Palestinian leader, according to a former Palestinian official, has been seeing things coming to an end, including the Palestinian cause as it has been not just from the 1940s to the 1980s, but also since the Madrid Peace Conference in the early 1990s and until the election of current US President Donald Trump.

The leader of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to visitors, knows that he has been weakened by Palestinian differences, the confused regional situation, and the international obsession with the issues of terror and migration.

Today, it would be hard for many Palestinian officials in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip or the Fatah-controlled Ramallah to contest Abbass fears for the traditional Palestinian cause.

It would be equally hard to find any Hamas or Fatah leader who has faith that the peace plan currently being cooked up by the Trump administration will do justice to Palestinian rights, even by the standards of former US president Bill Clinton, whose proposals were rejected by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Nobody can say exactly what the plan will be like, even if the Americans are saying that we could be pleasantly surprised. We know that we wont be, as there are some basic grievances entailed by the plan, obviously in relation to Jerusalem, acknowledged by the US as the capital of Israel, and the issue of the refugees, but also on the issues of territory, sovereignty and basic national rights, said one Palestinian source who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly.

The same source added that there was increasing Arab pressure on Abbas to look at things from a more realistic perspective. The Arabs are telling him to take what is being offered because it is better than nothing. They say that what the Palestinians are being offered today is much less than what they have been offered before, and it will likely keep on dwindling.

If Abbas had had any hopes that this pressure would subside in view of recent developments on the ground, with Israel killing 16 peaceful demonstrators in Gaza last week, he would have known by Sunday evening from the deliberations leading to an extraordinary Arab League meeting on developments in Gaza that the majority of the Arab countries are not anywhere near changing their positions.

They want Abbas to go into unconditional talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and agree on a deal that the Palestinian leader has said is extremely difficult to accept.

According to an Arab League source who spoke before the meeting opened at the Leagues Cairo headquarters on Tuesday morning, the maximum that the Arab countries will support is a statement from the UN secretary-general calling on Israel to refrain from using force.

In statements during the opening session of the meeting, the permanent representatives of the most influential Arab countries refrained from openly condemning the Israeli aggression, with some even calling on all parties to refrain from confrontation, the source said.

According to one Egyptian diplomat, our take is that we could go on and on as we have been going on during the past 20 years or so since Arafat rejected the Clinton deal and then end up with nothing. The focus now should be on the political path towards the establishment of a Palestinian state, even if it starts with limited legal status or on part of what should eventually be the full territory of a Palestinian state, he said.

This position is what Abbas will be asked to accept when he goes to the Arab Summit meeting that is scheduled to convene in ten days time in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The Saudis, according to the source in Abbass office, have already sent the Palestinian president a message promising strong financial support and political backing against Hamas if Abbas agrees to start talks that seem to be set to take place later this year.

We dont know exactly when Trump is planning to propose his plan, but reports suggest that the leading Arab capitals are urging the US president to announce it soon, the Palestinian source said.

It is an open secret that Riyadh and other Arab Gulf states wish to pursue closer cooperation with Israel on intelligence and security to quell what the Saudis fear is an Iranian plan to expand its presence from Lebanon, Iraq and Syria into the Arab Gulf, starting in Yemen.

In an interview with the US magazine the Atlantic on Monday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman said his country and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had many interests with Israel in terms of intelligence and security cooperation and also the economy, but for these to be pursued there would need to be Palestinian-Israeli peace.

The Arab capitals keep telling us that there has to be peace. We say we want peace, but for peace to come there also has to be the acknowledgement of a minimum of Palestinian rights. We will see what happens at the summit, but I am not sure that Abbas will change his position. He feels it is too late in the day for him to sign just any deal and go down in history as the man who agreed to what most Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza or the diaspora would see as the final abandonment of the Palestinian cause, the Palestinian source said.

He added that during his deliberations at the Arab Summit, Abbas would ask the Arab leaders to try to convince Trump to improve his plan. Otherwise, Abbas will have to bet on the fact that Netanyahu has no real interest in changing what for him is a convenient status quo, especially given Israels many internal issues, the source said.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been convicted and sentenced to more than two decades in prison for abuse of power, coercion and bribery, at the conclusion of her criminal trial related to the corruption scandal that forced her from office.

Chief Judge Kim Se-yoon announced the verdict and sentencing at the Seoul Central District Court Friday during the final session of the trial, which was broadcast live on television.

Park Geun-hye (L) with President Yoweri Museveni during her visit to Uganda in May 2016

It is the decision of the court that the defendant Park Guen-hye is sentenced to 24 years in prison and must pay a fine of 18 billion Korean won (approximately $17 million dollars,) chief judge Kim said.

The former president did not attend the proceedings, and the defense objected that the live broadcast would make it difficult for her to receive a fair appeal trial in the future. The judge said the peoples right to know in a democratic society outweighed the defendants objections.

The 24-year sentence is less than the 30-year jail term that prosecutors had called for.

Indirect coercion

Park became South Koreas first democratically elected leader to be forced from office last year after the Constitutional court endorsed the impeachment vote passed by the National Assembly with more than the two-thirds majority support required.

Both the impeachment and criminal charges stem from allegations that the former conservative leader colluded with her close friend, Choi Soon-sil, to force large Korean conglomerates like Samsung to contribute millions of dollars to two nonprofit organizations controlled by Choi.

Chief Judge Kim detailed how Park worked indirectly with Choi to use the power of the presidency to intimidate large corporations into making donations for their favoured projects, with the implied promise of favourable government treatment in the future, and the threat of retaliation if they did not cooperate.

Seen from this case, these people like the president or the chief economic secretary have enormous power, such as (granting) various approvals and (initiating) tax investigations that can have a profound impact on the companys existence and activities in general, Kim said.

In February, Choi was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 20 years in prison for her part in the scandal. The chairman of the Lotte Group, the countrys fifth-largest conglomerate, Shin Dong-bin, was jailed for two years and six months for bribery.

Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee was jailed for a similar term on charges of bribery and embezzlement, but in a surprise decision in February, an appeals court freed him after a year in detention.

Political persecution

Park apologized at her trial for seeking help from Choi, but claims she is innocent of all charges and never used the presidency for her own financial benefit.

The judge, however, said Park elicited bribes totalling more than $20 million. Even if she did not directly receive the money, the judge said, she still used her power and influence to benefit Choi and surrogates, and that much of the money raised for the nonprofit organizations were structured so that it could be liquidated at a later time.

Much of the indirect evidence against the former president was based on statements to the prosecution by corporate chairmen who met privately with the president, and on notes kept by former presidential secretary Ahn Jong-beom.

Legal experts question the strength of the prosecutions case, which they say failed to produce clear evidence linking Park to any political payoffs.

Some critics say Fridays verdict reflects a disturbing trend in South Koreas democracy, in which former political leaders increasingly face legal persecution when opposition parties gain power.

I think the rule of law lost its balance in Korean society. It is faltering. It seems to me that the justice of law has disappeared, and the atmosphere of political repression seems to fill the court, said Lee In-ho, a professor of law at Chung-Ang University in Seoul.

Parks conservative predecessor, former President Lee Myung-bak, is also being investigated for corruption.

Culture change

Before her impeachment, Parks public approval rating dropped to below 10 percent and she remains a divisive figure in the country.

The presidential influence peddling scandal triggered weeks of massive public protests across the country, with outraged liberal opposition leaders demanding more accountability and transparency from their elected leaders, and an end to the corrupting corporate influence on the political system.

Liberal leader Moon Jae-in easily won a special presidential election in May 2017, based in part on his promise to reform what he called the culture of the authoritarian president.

Moon has said he would end the use of presidential pardons for corrupt corporate executives, as was done in the past.

He is also proposing constitutional changes replacing the single five-year presidential term to allow a president to run for two consecutive four-year terms, and to distribute some presidential power to the prime minister selected by the National Assembly.

Kim Hyung-a, a Korean politics professor with The Australian National University, wrote in an East Asian Forum Blog that older Koreans in particular worry that Moons proposed constitutional amendment will make it more difficult for conservative opponents to regain power.

They suspect the bill may merely pretend to eliminate the authoritarian president culture and will actually inflate Moons own presidential power by expanding the power of the Blue House, Kim wrote.

President Moon has also enjoyed strong public support for his outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and efforts to facilitate denuclearization talks with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report.
The Iraqi governments triumph over the Islamic State group has been coming in for closer scrutiny

Four months after Iraqi government troops drove the last remnants of the Islamic State (IS) terror group from the country, the militants are waging a growing campaign of ambushes and hit and run attacks that has rendered that victory nearly futile.

Over the past few weeks insurgents have been attacking the Iraqi security forces in areas which the government had taken back from IS, nearly every day, showing a high level of organisation and probably having inside information on the deployment plans of the soldiers.

By all accounts, the deadly ambushes and raids, especially those on the main highway linking Baghdad with the northern autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, reveal the enduring security threat posed by IS remnants.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi declared victory over the terror group in December after Iraqi security forces backed by Shia paramilitary forces drove the militants out of the last pockets of territory under their control.

However, the new attacks, which have killed scores of Iraqi soldiers, underline that the IS terror threat is far from gone, and the Al-Abadi governments counter-insurgency policies continue to be troubled and troubling.

Since 2014, when Iraqi forces launched a counter-offensive to take out the so-called caliphate declared by IS, the jihadist group has lost significant territorial control, and it no longer holds any major cities.

The new attacks, some of them execution-style killings, deal a severe blow to Al-Abadis government and to the US-led International Coalition against IS at a time when Iraq is preparing for crucial elections in May.

News reports show that the militants are especially active in the rugged region of northern Iraq that juts into the country south of the troubled oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

In recent weeks, the militants have waged a series of surprise attacks on desolate positions of the security forces in the area, raising the possibility of the eruption of a new insurgency.

In one of the most widely reported incidents two weeks ago, eight federal police soldiers packed into a large SUV vehicle were kidnapped after the vehicle was stopped at a fake checkpoint on the long drive from Kirkuk to Baghdad.

Two days later, photographs circulated on jihadi Internet forums showed the eight policemen being forced to kneel before being shot dead by their captors and thrown onto a nearby pitch.

In mid-February, gunmen ambushed several members of the Shia-controlled Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) near Kirkuk, leaving 27 dead.

Diyala, the mostly Sunni province that borders both Baghdad and Kirkuk, has been plagued by violence since the end of the war on IS, and militants have tried to take control of some villages.

To the north, insurgents have carried out several attacks against army and police checkpoints in Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city which was taken back from IS in July.

In one attack, five soldiers were killed and injured in an attack launched by IS in Badush, west of Mosul, on 29 March.

Reports said the group had set up several ambushes in the province, which served as the seat of the self-declared caliphate after its seizure in 2014.

Isolated cells believed to be linked to IS also remain active in some parts of the western Anbar Province on the border with Syria. In recent weeks, suspected IS insurgents have carried out several attacks targeting security forces in the largely desert area.

Iraqi security officials say that between 150 and 200 members of the security forces have been killed in IS attacks across the country over the past few months.

Meanwhile, IS has claimed that its militants have killed or injured 103 government troops within a month in different Iraqi cities, including six attacks at fake checkpoints, among them one that destroyed oil tankers and another targeting Shia pilgrims.

Other attacks have included strikes on oil installations and patrols, with IS claiming to have captured weapons and vehicles.

In an online statement the militant group said that thirteen Iraqi troops were taken captive during the period from 19 February to 21 March.

The militant group further claimed that its insurgents had destroyed 12 armoured vehicles and an oil tanker during the aforementioned period.

The attacks have underscored the confusion within the government. Initially, Al-Abadi blasted the reports of the attacks as fake news and accused unnamed parties of trying to play down victories by government forces.

Later, however, Al-Abadi admitted that the country is engaged in a fight against IS sleeper cells. He even called on Iraqis to close ranks in order to stop what he termed a possible recurrence of the military and security collapse.

While Al-Abadi was referring to the rapid unravelling of the Iraqi military in summer 2014 when IS seized major cities and large chunks of land, his admission after the recent uptick in violence exposed the risk he had taken when he said the militants had effectively been defeated.

At any rate, the swift return of IS terrorists to wage a new campaign underlines the difficulties Iraq is facing in crafting a counter-insurgency strategy to confront the guerrilla raids the group is conducting at present.

The emphasis in the war against the IS strongholds was on fighting conventional city warfare and destroying the resistance of the IS militants in order to take back the cities from them.

That strategy worked out well because the militants were ill prepared to fight uniformed adversaries bolstered by tanks and powerful air fire supplied by a mighty International Coalition led by the US military.

But as Iraqi troops now face the difficult task of a war against a guerrilla movement, it appears that the governments security forces lack a clear strategy and probably even leadership.

Arguably, the Iraqi security forces are not well-adapted to confronting smaller and more mobile guerrillas who can move in quickly and keep their battles short.

As the events now unfolding indicate, there is also a complete absence of coordination between the military and the PMF, which is an umbrella organisation for the Shia militias that in theory are part of the governments security forces.

Underlining this gulf between the military and the militias, powerful Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr proposed this week that his Al-Salam Brigades paramilitary group should take responsibility for safeguarding the Baghdad-Kirkuk highway.

In addition, the US military role is increasingly becoming unclear or even contradictory. Although the US-led Coalition says it is continuing to support Iraqi operations to assist the country in the fight against IS, Washingtons entire anti-IS strategy looks a shambles.

US President Donald Trumps unexpected announcement last week that the US would be coming out of Syria likely very soon has raised serious questions about Washingtons commitments in Iraq.

One major flaw in Iraqs post-IS counter-terrorism strategy is that no adequate political efforts have been made for the stabilisation of Sunni-dominated areas in order to ensure that as IS is defeated its networks will not simply splinter off or re-emerge.

This shortcoming in the political and military strategy to stop IS from rebuilding and waging such guerrilla-style attacks will certainly continue to fuel insecurity in Iraq and help the group to reconstitute in some areas.

If nothing else, it will be a reminder of a futile victory and its cost in destruction and human blood.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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US President Donald Trumps announcement that the US is withdrawing its forces from Syria has spread consternation in Syria and the wider region, writes Bassel Oudat in Damascus

Just weeks after the regime led by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iranian militias, had taken control of the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, and within a few days of the Turks, thanks to an understanding with Russia, seizing control of the northern city of Afrin, US President Donald Trump declared that the US would withdraw its forces from Syria and let others deal with the situation.

His announcement on 28 March gave the impression that Washington has decided not only to abandon the Syrian opposition to the combined forces of the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran, but that it has also decided to abandon its own strategic interests in the Middle East.

Much of the US government seemed as confused as everyone else by the announcement.

The US State Department acknowledged that it had had no prior knowledge of what Trump had said. His remarks also came only a few weeks after former US secretary of State Rex Tillerson had unveiled the USs new strategy for Syria, in which US forces figured prominently for the foreseeable future.

The confusing and contradictory messages from Washington came a few hours after the Russian Defence Ministry had affirmed that the Pentagon had deployed heavy military hardware at the Al-Tanf military base in southeastern Syria.

Trumps announcement was also only days after the US had brought together representatives of key states in the region for an urgent meeting on Syria in Jordan.

There were also leaks that the US was planning a debilitating strike against the Syrian regime.

A few days before the Trump announcement, Syrian opposition fighters in Eastern Ghouta were compelled to surrender their last strongholds to the regime.

They had held out for over a month under intensive regime and Russian aerial bombardement that had claimed more than a thousand lives.

This was accompanied by the forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants from the area.

Not a single response came from Washington, still presumably the most influential friend of the Syrian opposition, as the area was handed over to the Russian and Iranian-backed regime that constitutes the main enemy to the US in Syria.

In northern Syria, Turkish forces and Turkish-supported militias occupied Afrin, the capital of the Afrin province, after the predominantly Kurdish forces of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Party withdrew from the city.

The Turkish military expansion into northern Syria was coordinated with Russia, again without objection from Washington, the most powerful ally of the Kurdish secessionist party.

The two developments have shifted the balance in favour of the tripartite Astana Alliance made up of Russia, Iran and Turkey and at the expense of the US-led International Coalition in Syria.

The latter is represented almost exclusively on the ground by the US, whose effective area of control has receded in tandem with the retreats of the Kurds and the militant Syrian opposition.

It is difficult to make sense of Washingtons actions, or inactions, which have made it possible for Turkey to occupy an important portion of northern Syria to the detriment of its Kurdish ally and for the regime Russia-Iran Alliance to gain almost complete control over the environs of Damascus.

It is equally hard to understand how the US now plans to combat Iranian influence in the region, while helping to clear the way for Iranian expansion in the de-escalation zones in southern Syria where Israel has also drawn a red line.

It is even harder to understand why the US wants to withdraw from a strategic and oil-rich area of Syria bordering Iraq and effectively hand it over to Iraqi militias loyal to Tehran.

When Trump said he planned to let others handle Syria, he presumably cannot have had Iran in mind or even the Syrian regime with its irregular militias from Russia.

However, if he cannot allow the regime, Iran and Russia to fill the void, who does he have in mind? The only candidate would seem to be Turkey and the militias it commands.

A week before the Trump announcement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was at pains to distinguish Trump, whom he praised, from the US deep state, which he held accountable for all the sins committed by Washington against Turkey and in favour of the Kurds.

Two days after Erdogans remarks, Trump urged French President Emmanuel Macron to work with him to strengthen Washingtons and Frances relations with Ankara, a fellow NATO member and a trusted ally of the US and the West as a whole.

The US could be contemplating a Turkish-US pact to block the path of the Iranian Crescent of influence in the region, freeze Kurdish secessionist projects and confront the Syrian regime.

If so, it could be contemplating a way to draw Turkey, either directly or via the Turkish-controlled militia brigades in Syria, into the areas the US currently controls.

In the process, the US could smooth out rough spots and sell out its Kurdish ally after having embroiled it in alarming animosity with Syrias Arabs.

Nothing could be better guaranteed to win Ankaras heart, wrap it in NATOs embrace and distance it from Moscow and the Astana Alliance than such a strategy.

The US could be thinking along such lines, but both the state department and even the Pentagon were taken by surprise by the presidents announcement. Is Syria now on the threshold of a snowball phenomenon set into motion by a wild declaration that will now evolve into official US policy in Syria?

A US troop withdrawal from Syria is laden with dangers. It invites a brutal clash between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds and a confrontation between Tehran and Tel Aviv.

It will hand Moscow leadership in the Middle East and position it as the sole international player in Syria. It will upset relations between Amman and Washington and destroy the Syrian oppositions confidence in the US.

A US troop withdrawal would also mark a reversal in Washingtons recently escalating stances towards Iran and leave the field open to Iran to further its designs.

These began on the ruins of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, extended to Lebanon, where its Hizbullah ally is now in control, and are being completed in Syria where the Al-Assad regime has handed Tehran the keys to further military, economic, social and religious expansion.

On the other hand, Washingtons withdrawal from the region may also sow more confusion among its adversaries than among its friends. Moscow and Tehran will be left to deal with the many thorny problems that Washington had been handling, and Russia will not be able to handle all these alone.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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The Turkish authorities have been trying to silence French criticisms of Ankaras military operations in the northern Syrian region of Afrin

Since Ankara launched its Olive Branch Operation against the town of Afrin in northern Syria more than two months ago, Paris has been an unrelenting critic of the Turkish stance.

It cautioned against the invasion before the operation began, stressing the need to respect Syrian national sovereignty, and it has continually expressed its deep reservations and concerns regarding the operations aims and its effects on the civilian population.

This has been especially the case since the Turkish army and its jihadist allies have entered what had once been one of the most peaceful regions of war-torn Syria.

While reaffirming Turkeys right to protect itself, Paris has urged Ankara to exercise self-restraint and to end its campaign as soon as possible, even if thus far such appeals have fallen on deaf ears.

Ankaras response has been to try to silence its critics, and not only at home. According to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a bid to contain French objections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went personally to the Elysee Palace in Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron.

Erdogans sole hope is to see his plans through to the end without encountering opposition, especially from a country as important and influential as France, Cavusoglu said.

Erdogan had probably expected a softer tone from Paris after having bowed to pressures to release an imprisoned French journalist in Turkey last year.

The journalist, Loup Bureau, was arrested in south-eastern Anatolia last summer on suspicion of colluding with terrorists  a reference to the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK)  and then spent two months in prison.

However, Erdogan has clearly failed to appreciate developments that have made Paris more sympathetic to Kurdish aspirations. France is the home to around 150,000 Kurds, and the assassination of three Kurdish activists in Paris five years ago also had a strong impact.

The three women activists, Fidan Dogan, Sakine Cansz and Leyla Saylemez, were found dead, shot in the head execution-style, shortly after a meeting with former French president Francois Hollande.

Suspicion immediately fell on the Turkish secret services, notorious for their targeted assassination operations, although the subsequent investigations failed to produce any concrete proof.

More recently, France, along with other countries, has voiced objections to Turkeys refusal to abide by UN Security Council Resolution 2401 calling for a month-long humanitarian ceasefire throughout the whole of Syria.

Macron held that the resolution applies to Afrin, but Erdogan thought otherwise and ordered his army to press on with the Turkish incursion into Syrian territory.

Against this backdrop of already existing tensions between Paris and Ankara over the Syrian and Kurdish questions, Macron held a long-overdue meeting with opposition Syrian Democratic Party (SPD) leaders in the Elysee Palace recently.

He also declared his intention to send forces to support the Syrian Kurds, which Ankara calls terrorists.

This angered the Turkish authorities, since even the idea of foreign mediation in the Turkish question is anathema to them.

This is despite the fact that Erdogan himself once initiated (though subsequently jettisoned) a negotiating process that promised to put an end to decades of bloodshed.

Turkish Prime Minister Benali Yildirim has proclaimed that Ankara will never negotiate with terrorists, referring to the SPD and the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Defence Units (YPG).

We are resolved to eliminate terrorism throughout the whole of the country [Syria], as we have done in Afrin and in the Euphrates Shield Operation area, he said.

He then went on to attack Paris, alluding to Frances colonial past in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Does France want the Syrian people to experience the same oppression suffered by the Algerians, Yildirim asked, a reference to French colonialism in Algeria.

Deputy Turkish Prime Minister and government Spokesman Bekir Bozdag added that France would become a target for his country if it sent forces into Syria.

Turkish officials have not uttered the same threat against Washington, even though US forces are already on the ground supporting the SPD/YPG, which no other government apart from Ankara has labelled as terrorists.

Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said that if France sent forces to northern Syria to support the Kurdish fighters there, this would be tantamount to an occupation of Syrian territory.

The Syrians have referred to Turkey as an occupying power since the Euphrates Shield Operation two years ago, however, and according to news reports, the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) has now appointed a governor for Afrin.

It has also linked the Syrian province administratively to the Turkish province of Hatay, according to Hasan Shindi, a spokesman for the Gaziantep-based Afrin Liberation Congress in an interview with German Radios Turkish-language service.

The Turkish government sponsored Congress, which brought together about 100 people in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, has announced that it has elected a 35-member parliamentary assembly for Afrin.

On the ground in Afrin, the Kurdish resistance is wreaking havoc on the Turkish forces and the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) that is helping them.

More than 30 members of the FSAs Sultan Murad Division were reported to have been killed last week in an attack by Kurdish fighters in the Shara district of the Afrin province.

Four Turkish soldiers were killed in an operation staged by the YPG and its womens counterpart, the YPJ, in the Bulbul district north of Afrin.

Erdogan is determined to forge ahead with his military campaign in northern Syria.

This is because it is linked to another campaign at home in his forthcoming bid for another term as Turkeys president, and there is a strong possibility that these elections, scheduled for November 2019, may be brought forward out of Erdogans eagerness to exploit his victories in Syria.

*This story was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Lebanon won pledges of grants and loans exceeding $10 billion on Friday at a Paris conference aimed at rallying international support for an investment programme to boost its economy, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters.

The pledges included $4 billion in World Bank loans, 1.1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) in loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the renewal of a previously pledged $1 billion credit line from Saudi Arabia, Lebanese officials said.

Lebanon has been battered by seven years of war in neighbouring Syria, and is hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees.

It is seeking the funds for investment to overhaul its infrastructure and to lift economic growth, which Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said has sunk to less than 1 percent from a previous average of 8 percent.

Donors in turn want to see Lebanon commit to long-stalled reforms. In a nod to those demands, Hariri pledged fiscal consolidation to reduce the budget deficit - more than 150 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2017 - by 5 percent during the next five years.

Lebanon needs international support for its investment plan and to carry out reforms to root out corruption and to improve fiscal governance, among other goals, he told the conference.

"In this effort, Lebanon can not succeed alone," Hariri said. "It needs the support of the international community, he said, calling for "a clear and concrete indication of this support in the form of grants and concessional loans."

The Lebanese parliament last week passed a 2018 budget that projects a narrower deficit than in 2017. Standard Chartered, in a research note, called the budget a "positive sign".

The Paris conference, convening 50 countries and organisations, including Saudi Arabia, United States, Russia and Qatar, is expected to set up a follow-up mechanism to track progress towards reform.

The International Monetary Fund said in February that Lebanon's fiscal policy needed a consolidation plan that stabilised debt and then began to reduce it.

Diplomats have said Lebanon's success in attracting international support from donors and the private sector will hinge on reforms.

"Lebanon needs significant investments to upgrade its basic infrastructure, which today no longer allows it to provide all these citizens with essential public services in good conditions," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

"On the other hand, Lebanon needs major reforms of its economy, structural and sectoral," he told the conference.

He said France would provide 400 million euros in concessionary loans and 150 million euros in donations.

Lebanon, which is still rebuilding from its 1975-90 civil war, is seeking investment in roads, power generation and public transport. Of the initial $10 billion it hopes to attract, it is seeking one third from private sector investment and the rest from grants and concessional funding.

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When you think Chinese Revolution, surely you think of Mao Zedong and the Peoples Republic coming to power in 1949, a history that overshadows an earlier seismic event that overthrew the last imperial dynasty and brought the short-lived Republic of China into being. If your sense of this history is somewhat vague, youre not aloneeven those who know the events and the principle actors well are hesitant to ascribe any definitive interpretations to the 1911, or Xinhai, Revolution. Significant thinkers and activists have remained hesitant in their final judgment on it, writes Oxford Universitys Rana Mitter: Its meaning continues to be highly contested separated from any one path of historical interpretation.

There is a general consensus, at least, among historians of the period and contemporary chroniclers alike that the Xinhai Revolution was foremost a struggle to modernize the country and get free of colonialist encroachments on Chinese self-determination. As in Russia around the same time, the concept of political modernization had many different meanings to the competing factions seeking to supplant the moribund imperial system.









Some hoped for a constitutional framework, i.e., parliamentary monarchy, notes University of Kansas professor Anna M. Cienciala, while others worked for a democratic republic. Most wanted the abolition of the feudal-Confucian system; all wanted the abolition of foreign privilege and the unification of their vast country.

This last hope would be dashed. The strongest faction succeeded in gaining support from wealthy Chinese living abroad, who funded the efforts of revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, a medical doctor raised in Hawaii who began in the late 19th century to devote himself to political work for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in order to create a strong, unified, modern, Chinese republic with a socialist economy. Despite support from the military, the Republic established in 1912 proved a miserable failure, Cienciala argues, and the country fragmented under the rule of various warlords, then suffered through several more upheavals and an attempted Qing restoration in the ensuing decades while the Communists consolidated power.

Looking back at the events at the time, historian Peter Zarrow has attempted to trace the moment when the Wuchang Uprising became the revolution that is when general opinion began to regard it as a movement that could overthrow the Qing and establish a new government. Opinions were largely shaped, he writes, by Shanghai newspapers covering what Britannica Blog calls a hastily and locally organized mutiny that first began in one of the three areas that make up the city of Wuhan. In creating the narrative of events, news agencies immediately printed illustrated sheets for a Chinese public avid for the latest news. So writes the Princeton University Digital Library, who house a collection of 30 such prints, likely based on upon artists imagination.

News agency reports of the Wuchang Uprising and subsequent battles in cities across China generally support the Revolution as a modernizing party, and hence some demonization of the enemy occurs in the prints, as was usual for propaganda prints of that and earlier periods. What is notable is the degree to which broad themes of modernity and nation show up, creating a triumphant sense of unity that seems to have been exaggerated.

But this is the way propaganda works, in 1911 and todaymanufacturing consent, to take Noam Chomskys phrase. Its fascinating to see it work in images that seem so quaint to us today, but which, at the time, pushed forward a revolutionary break with over two thousand years of dynastic rule.

See many more of these images at Princetons Digital Library.

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14,000 Free Images from the French Revolution Now Available Online

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The Worlds Oldest Multicolor Book, a 1633 Chinese Calligraphy & Painting Manual, Now Digitized and Put Online

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Josh Jones is a writer and musician based in Durham, NC. Follow him at @jdmagness
Thousands of Palestinians are expected to rally at Gaza's border Friday despite warnings from Israel that its open-fire rules will not change, raising fears of fresh violence after the the bloodiest day for Gazans in years.

The planned demonstration comes a week after Israeli troops killed 18 Palestinians during a protest at the heavily fortified Gaza border in what was the bloodiest day since a 2014 war.

The protests are in support of refugees, including those in the Palestinian enclave who want to return to their former homes.

Tens of thousands demonstrated peacefully last Friday. But small groups of Palestinians approached the border, threw stones and rolled burning tyres towards Israeli troops who responded with live fire and tear gas.

The Israeli response generated significant international anger, with critics accusing troops of using disproportionate force.

Ahead of Friday's planned protests, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman vowed that open-fire rules would not change.

"If there are provocations, there will be a reaction of the harshest kind like last week," Lieberman told public radio.

Israel received support from the White House late Thursday, which called for Palestinians to engage in peaceful protest and stay 500 meters from Gaza's border with Israel.

"The United States strongly urges protest leaders to communicate loudly and clearly that protestors should march peacefully; should abstain from all forms of violence," Donald Trump's envoy Jason Greenblatt said, putting the onus squarely on Palestinians.

The latest White House statement would appear to put Trump's claimed aim of reaching a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis even further out of reach.

Palestinians have already been infuriated by Trump's decision to upend decades of US policy and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The current protests at Gaza's border are slated to last six week, coinciding with the expected opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem in mid-May.

Others have been more critical of Israel, calling on security forces to avoid a repeat of last week's killings.

"I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. "Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully."

Questions have mounted over Israel's use of live fire, with Palestinians saying protesters were shot at while posing no threat to soldiers.

Rights groups have criticised the army's actions, while the European Union and Guterres have called for an independent investigation.

Human Rights Watch called the deaths "calculated" and illegal.

Protest organisers in Gaza said they were planning to try to stop smaller numbers of demonstrators approaching the fence and hurling stones or rolling burning tyres at Israeli troops.

Asaad abu Sharkh, a spokesman and member of the organising committee of the protests, dubbed the Great March of Return, said better attempts will be made on Friday to keep Gazans from approaching the fence.

"I think this was a mistake, a mistake of organisation from us because we shouldn't have let people (go to the border)," he said.

"But at the same time we were not expecting the Israelis to shoot to kill."

There have been widespread social media calls for protesters to bring tyres to burn. Young Palestinians have been gathering tyres and carting them near the border to burn and create a smokescreen to make it harder for Israeli snipers.

Some have been walking the streets collecting money to buy tyres.

Israel accuses Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip and with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

Israeli military spokesman Ronen Manelis warned again Thursday of a wider response if such alleged activity continued.

Hamas's armed wing has claimed only five of the dead were members of the Islamist group, saying they were participating "in popular events side-by-side with their people".

Militant group Islamic Jihad has claimed at least one of the dead as a member, but said he was not carrying a weapon when he was shot.

On Thursday in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, Abu Yassin, 28, was among those collecting tyres and hauling them in carts pulled by motorbikes.

He said they were planning to light a number of tyres a few yards away from each other along the border at the same time to make it impossible for Israeli soldiers to see and shoot them.

"This is a peaceful protest," he insisted.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Federal prosecutors on Thursday filed wire fraud charges against a Lake Oswego investment adviser, whom they accuse of bilking investors out of millions of dollars in a failed home-flipping scheme. The government claims Shayne Kniss helped himself to more than $500,000 of his investor's money.

Kniss, 42, who operated Iris Capital Management Group., raised about $4.3 million from 47 investors from 2011 to 2014. In the wake of a bitter recession and housing crash, Kniss told his clients that the money would be used to buy distressed residential properties, which they would fix up and flip, according to court documents. His investors, many of whom were retired and of modest means, were allegedly promised 8 to 12 percent returns.

But Iris, as first reported by The Oregonian-OregonLive in February 2016, was a disaster. Kniss was unable to make money in housing, even though the market was rapidly recovering. In midstream, without telling investors, he poured their money into marijuana companies he was part of.

Prosecutors claim Kniss commingled investor money that was supposed to go into separate funds; used new investor money to pay off early investors, a classic hallmark of a Ponzi scheme; and helped himself to his customers' money.

Kniss was unavailable for comment.

The U.S. Attorney's office alleges Kniss "converted to his personal use and benefit $529,486."

Investors have made significant headway recovering their losses, said Justin Leonard, attorney for court-appointed receiver Amy Mitchell. Iris clients have recovered just over half their losses, he said, gaining settlements from various parties that had some connection to Iris and Kniss.

NPI Holdings LLC, a company led by local technology impresario Nitin Khanna, has contributed $450,000. Khanna and Kniss had worked together to form a marijuana startup.

Mitchell filed a lawsuit against Portland law firms Bittner & Hahs and Dunn Carney, which assisted Kniss with several securities offerings. As of January, the firms had agreed to contribute $1.3 million to settle. But the law firms have yet to pay the settlement and won't do so until all Iris investors approve the deal, said Joe Arellano, a Portland lawyer representing Bittner & Hahs.

Arellano added that his client "disputes the accuracy of the allegations by the receiver" that the law firm violated securities laws.

Dunn Carney officials could not be reached.

--Jeff Manning
Oregon City can lay claim to a list of superlatives.

First incorporated city west of the Rockies.

Last stop on the Oregon Trail.

Home to the only municipal elevator in the United States.

And now: The first Oregon town to receive the Great American Main Street Award.

The Downtown Oregon City Association, in its ninth year, received the honor in March from Main Street America, the national nonprofit that supports revitalization of historic commercial districts.

"It's an honor to have our peers at the national level recognize our efforts," said Jonathan Stone, executive director of the Downtown Oregon City Association. "It's a rallying point for everyone who's invested in the district."

Over the past decade, Oregon City has had to redefine its Main Street. When the downtown association formed, Clackamas County was moving its government offices from downtown to its Red Soils Campus, and the Blue Heron paper mill, once towering over Main Street, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. From a peak of some 2,000 workers, just 175 employees remained when the mill closed in 2011.

Yet in the last few years, residents and business owners have seen a noticeable shift downtown. The city reports that a net 28 businesses have opened in the area since 2009.

Unique shops, high-end restaurants, two breweries and community events have led the downtown association to rebrand the city as "Oregon's Hometown."

"The vacancy rate when the (Main Street) program started was, I think, 34 percent," Stone said. "Now the vacancy rate is somewhere below 10 percent."

Today, there's new life across the street from the closed mill. Black Ink Coffee and White Rabbit Gifts opened about eight months ago in a building that used to house a dive bar. Inside the brightly colored, "Alice in Wonderland"-themed store, you can order a latte and browse the gift shop.

"I feel like I'm on (Portland's Northwest) 23rd," said Ali Kunstler, who was grabbing coffee with friends. "And it's right in my backyard."

Owners Rolland and Danielle Walsh bought the 2,000-square-foot, 99-year-old building and received more than $200,000 in grants for renovations, Stone said. Since 2003, the city's urban renewal storefront improvement program has given $830,000 in public funds to match $1.2 million in private investments.

"I grew up here, and 10 years ago I would not have recommended you come to this side of Main Street," said Rolland Walsh. Today, the area is flourishing.

A few doors down, Mari Chase said her store, The Vintage Nest, has done "exceptionally well" and is preparing to move into a larger space next door.

"It wasn't until the White Rabbit came to the corner that people came down to this end (of Main Street)," she said. "As soon as they moved in, everybody comes down here."

Cristy Rein, owner of Maizee Mae's Antiques and Treasures, estimated about 25 percent of her customers come from outside the Portland area.

"It surprised me what a tourist destination Oregon City is," she said. "I would have never thought, but I think if you're on a road trip and you Google the area - first incorporated city, Lewis and Clark - there's so many historical elements that bring people in."

During a day spent downtown, the only complaints I heard were about parking. I have yet to visit a downtown of any size, in any small town in America, where people don't complain about parking. On a recent Wednesday, I had no trouble finding a two-hour spot. If you can't find parking on Main, you can park on the hill and take the free municipal elevator down.

Oregon City's Main Street lies sandwiched between a river and a cliff. Since 1915, a public elevator has transported people from the homes above to the shops below.

The current Atomic Age-designed elevator opened in 1955, offering a panoramic view of downtown from its top floor deck. When I visited it was staffed by Don Fowler, who sat near the elevator buttons, offering Milk Bones to the dogs and friendly greetings to the humans. He held a tally counter to record riders. During this Wednesday lunch hour, 121 people took the elevator. Ridership has grown by 39 percent since 1992, the city reports.

I asked Fowler if he's noticed a change in downtown over the years.

"Oh heavens, yes," he said. "Since I was a little boy, things have all changed. All of the businesses have changed, for the better I believe."

The Depot Barber Shop, owned by barber Al Kelley for the last 24 years, is just below the elevator. Kelley attributes his shop's increased foot traffic to the downtown improvements.

"Normally we relied on people who were regulars and we'd get walk-ins, but not like now. Now it's really fabulous," he said. "I was one that thought it wasn't going to work when (the city) changed the street directions" in 2011. "I've definitely come around to their way of thinking."

Like most business owners I met, Kelley anticipates the project to open a public riverfront space at Willamette Falls. The 22-acre industrial site, once home to the paper mill, includes stunning views of the nation's second largest waterfall by volume. A consortium of government entities wants to redevelop the space into a waterfront center for commerce, tourism, business and housing.

"That may not be in my lifetime, but that will be something," Kelley said. "This town's got a lot of potential, even still."

Oregon City officials can provide statistics on the impact of downtown revitalization on jobs, property values and tax revenues. Less tangible are the impacts on quality of life. How connected do people feel to their neighbors? Can you quantify a growth in civic pride? Downtown is the heart of a community, and when it beats strong, all residents are healthier.

IF YOU GO:

The Downtown Oregon City Association will host an open house from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday. Downtown businesses will have happy hours, live music, special sales and tutorials. Shuttle stops are available from the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive & Visitor Information Center to 5th and Main streets.

-- Samantha Swindler is a columnist for The Oregonian/Oregonlive



@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com
Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive

According to Portland chef and restaurant owner Akkapong Earl Ninsom, Southern Thai-style fried chicken first appeared about 40 years ago at Gai Tod Decha, a Thai Muslim push-cart that sold tender fried chicken alongside crunchy shallots and sticky rice in the sea-bracketed city of Hat Yai. Like any viral food, copycats quickly emerged, replicating that simple recipe in open-air stalls and sit-down restaurants from Phuket to Bangkok and back.

For the past two years, Portland, Americas most unexpectedly great Thai food city, has had its own taste of gai tod courtesy of Hat Yai, a narrow, counter-service restaurant with blue-checked tablecloths named for the city 40 miles from the Malaysian border. The restaurant, co-owned by Ninsom and former bartender Alan Akwai, has been a smash hit. (How do we know? Besides the Por Que No-sized lines and nightly jockeying for each of the four coveted outdoor tables, the once svelte Akwai's recent Instagram posts have detailed his budding career in competitive arm wrestling.)



Despite opening in spring of 2016, I'm not sure we've completely reckoned with Hat Yai. So far, it's been the kind of place that appears in "Where the Critic Spends Her Own Money" listicles. It's also inexpensive enough to star in our annual Cheap Eats guide. But with Hat Yai set to open a second location in Southeast Portland this summer, it's past time to consider the restaurant a little more deeply.

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Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Hat Yai is more than a fried chicken joint, but that fried chicken is pretty amazing, each piece of Marys free-range chicken marinated in soy, white pepper, cumin and coriander both fine-ground and whole, then deep fried with a smattering of sliced shallots that perfume the oil. Though not as crunchy as the fried chicken from the American South, the dark brown skin has a tropical punch from those shallots and spices.

You can get that chicken on its own with sticky rice, or -- in a nod to the side-by-side vendors at Phukets Roti Chao Fah, a Ninsom favorite -- as a set meal with a shallow pool of Malaysian curry and a fold of pan-fried roti. Those same sets can come with beautifully braised beef cheek or chicken thigh. If you go enough, youll learn that one roti is never enough.

If fried chicken is the lure, curry is the hook. Rich from real coconut milk, Hat Yai's curries are thick and full-bodied where the versions at most American Thai restaurants seem watered down. Their house Malay curry alone is a small wonder, spiced like a mulled wine with cinnamon and clove, roughly the color of a Blade Runner sunset. And it's not the only one. Bone-in, soy-cured short ribs come with sliced shallots and cilantro in a viscous white curry. Its as mild as the menu gets, simple, subtly sweet and almost disturbingly thick, appealing in the same way I imagine Elmers glue appeals to some wayward schoolchildren.

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Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Thai spiciness is a surprisingly dense issue. As a teenager, I remember visiting a busy pad Thai window in my hometown where you had to specify your spice level, one to 10, with the number roughly relating to how many scoops of dried red chile they threw on just before snapping the plastic clamshell lid closed. We ordered the 10. It made us cry. In a 2009 story, The New Yorker mentioned a man who carried around a card with a Thai phrase written on it roughly translating to, "Yes, I know I'm not Thai, but please give me the food as spicy as I request." It was a spice adventurer's approach to Thai food that many Americans learned to share.



More recently, chefs such as Portland's Andy Ricker have attempted to debunk what he called "one of the biggest misconceptions about the cuisine."

The idea that Thai food must be spicy is completely false  it has no bearing on historical reality, he said in 2013. There's an ignorance of the fact that chili isn't there for heat, it's there for flavor.

Still, sweat-inducing heat is perhaps as central to Southern Thai cuisine as anything save plentiful seafood. And if you happen to be a card-carrying spice masochist, there are few places in Portland better suited to burn out your synapses. That might include the brisket green curry, a Scoville-wrecking special thats been on the board for as long as I can remember; the turmeric curry, a dark yellow-green curry filled with fat mussels and miniscule slivers of betel leaf, or the khua kling, a dry curry of ground pork with lemongrass and chilies. All practically emanate heat.

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Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive

There are other, less adventurous routes to take, like the super-tender, coconut milk-marinated "Golae-style" grilled chicken and skirt steak skewers will make you regret every bone-dry chicken breast satay skewer you've ever gnawed your way through. The spice-averse should start there, add some fried chicken and that short rib curry, and the muu hong, chunks of sweet, five-spiced pork belly under an oil-drowned fried egg served over jasmine rice. Unless you're in a group of six or more, Hat Yai has too many must-order dishes to order all at once.

Akwai knew a winner when he saw it. The former bartender, who once stirred up those cool Manhattans that come with little iced Manhattan sidecars at Northwest Portlands chic, Lyon-inspired St. Jack, was the original beverage director at Langbaan, Ninsoms impossible-to-get-into Thai tasting menu restaurant. He had his first taste of shallot-fried chicken during a tasting for a month-long Southern Thai menu in 2014.

Im sitting at the counter, doing a tasting with the staff and said, This is the best fried chicken that Ive ever had, Akwai said recently. Whether you have a conventional palate or eat more ethnic or exotic foods, anybody would love this.

Akwai emailed Ninsom and suggest they partner on a fast-casual restaurant. Ninsom said Ok, then got to work with former Langbaan chef Rassamee Ruaysuntia and now-Hat Yai chef de cuisine Taweesak Teesompong -- two Thai chefs with experience at Bangkoks lauded Nahm -- to develop the menu.

I mostly just wanted to have that chicken, Ninsom said. We only did it once at Langbaan, then we never did it again. It would be great to have it all the time.

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(Ninsoms brother Nattanop Ninsom actually beat the duo to the punch, opening Nakhon, a Southern Thai restaurant with Hat Yai-style fried chicken in a Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard house in 2015. That restaurant closed a year later. The space is now home to a second location of the colorful San Francisco restaurant Farmhouse Thai. And yes, they serve a Hat Yai-style fried chicken, only theres is boneless and comes with yellow curry and blue rice.)

When Hat Yai opened on a now-trendy stretch of Northeast Killingsworth Street in 2016, my initial hang-ups about the food were mostly textural: gummy jasmine rice, over-concentrated cocktails, or the occasionally stiff roti or fried chicken. Time has smoothed most of these things out. Ive grown to appreciate the firm chicken with its dark brown cloak, and the rice is usually fantastic. The super-efficient mason jar cocktails, including a rum-based coconut-mango horchata and a Thai iced tea with turmeric-infused vodka, have become more balanced, perhaps due to nothing more than an extra shake or two from the cashier-bartenders. Id still prefer a crisper, more pliable roti, but theres much to be said for Hat Yais, especially when dredged through some Malay curry.

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Desserts, from Langbaan pastry chef Maya Erickson, include a recently added black sesame ice cream and those same savory roti with an array of six spreads, one flavored like smooth hazelnut, another tart lime. Go with kids to appreciate the pleasures behind this simple combination of sweetness and chew. Speaking of, heres an insider tip: when the restaurant is full, Hat Yai will drop your food off at the beer bottle shop next door, where minors are allowed until roughly 9 p.m.

Hat Yais second restaurant is expected to open in late summer in a space shared with a chefs counter from Jolie Laides Vince Nguyen and a congee restaurant from Top Chef winner Mei Lin. According to Ninsom, the new restaurant will offer more seafood specials -- arguably the original locations biggest missing piece -- and a more central location at Southeast Belmont Street and Sixth Avenue, just off the Morrison Bridge. We can hardly wait.

-- Michael Russell

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Read about our star rating system here or see more photos below.

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Photos below courtesy of Hat Yai

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Don't miss our guide to Portland's 40 best restaurants, our top 10 newcomers of 2017 and our reigning Restaurant of the Year.
New Yorker Ariana Garay woke up early Thursday so she could read the news as soon as it hit her hometown of Portland, Oregon.

Back home, what she'd endured as a St. Mary's Academy student would soon send shockwaves through the all-girls Catholic school she'd attended. She'd given a full account to The Portland Tribune of what she said was a sexual relationship she'd had with her high school English teacher, Francesca Cronan.

Her nine-year-old secret would be secret no more.

That meant people in the school community she loved, a school community with many teachers who'd championed her, would know now what she believed: St. Mary's didn't heed red flags about her abusive relationship with a teacher, 11 years her senior, because Garay was a lesbian.

If the teacher had been male, she believed, the school would have responded differently. That's a new conclusion for Garay, 24, who had previously impeded multiple St. Mary's and state officials' efforts to investigate rumors about the relationship. When they had asked, Garay denied a relationship and meanwhile assured Cronan, 36, she would protect her, she told The Tribune. Text messages obtained by the Tribune appear to corroborate Garay's account that at Cronan's request she helped her keep the relationship secret from investigators.

But Garay hadn't known how many signs the school had about the abuse until the Tribune contacted her with the results of the state's teacher licensing investigation.

The state's investigation showed Cronan once tearfully admitted to St. Mary's Principal Nicole Foran, who was then a colleague in the English Department, that she'd had boundary issues with Garay.

Why, Garay wondered, didn't the admission of boundary issues register as a gigantic red flag?

Foran also told investigators she recalled Garay in Cronan's room every day at lunch and a few times she'd felt as if she'd interrupted something and walked out. This observation, Garay suspected, would have raised more alarm had these intimate lunches been with a male teacher.

Furthermore, when Foran's daughter, who attended the University of Oregon with Garay, told her Garay talked about a relationship with Cronan, Foran didn't report the rumors. Instead, she told her daughter to shut down such remarks, out of fear the rumors could cause trouble for Cronan, according to state investigation records.

Foran did report the abuse after a former student with knowledge of the relationship came to the school and asked Foran to investigate the matter out of fear for students' safety.

St. Mary's disagrees with Garay's assessment that her sexual orientation played a role in how Cronan's case was handled.

"We took this situation very seriously. The sexual orientation of a student has no bearing on the actions we take," spokeswoman Gina Rau told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a statement. "Anytime a student in our community suffers, we all share that grief and pain. We are very saddened about this and have deep compassion for our former student. We also appreciate the courage she had to speak out. What we have learned will guide our work to help ensure something like this never happens again."

Foran told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an email that she wanted, "to respect our former student and answer any questions she has of us directly not through the media."

"What I want to share is that I am so proud and thank our former student for speaking up. I also want to make clear that a student's sexual orientation in no way impacts how we care and support our students," Foran said. "My heart breaks over this incident and, as principal of St. Mary's Academy, it is my priority to ensure it never happens again"

Garay said she had been nervous to publicly tell her story, but she didn't want anyone to be able to suggest it wasn't true. So, she gave the Tribune permission to publish her name. Anxious, she took off work the day the news was set to run.

"I loved St. Mary's. I love the time I spent there," she told The Oregonian/OregonLive. " At the same time, reading the (teachers standards and practices) investigation and the Tribune article, it makes me sad that there were all these red flags they didn't take seriously or brushed off because of the fact that I was a lesbian."

Cronan's comments to the Tribune didn't surprise Garay. Cronan denied Garay's account and said she was concerned for Garay's "mental stability," a statement Garay considers "juvenile."

Cronan's lawyer, Richard Davis, told the Tribune Garay's version of a physical sexual relationship is a "fairy tale" that Garay used to blackmail Cronan.

Cronan has said her messages with Garay, which appear to reference sex and a need to hide their relationship, are just her "placating and playing along" with Garay, who she feared would reveal that they had an inappropriate friendship that wasn't sexual, according to the Tribune.

"When my client attempted to impose boundaries, Ariana impliedly threatened to reveal the emails and texts," reads a March 21 letter by the California attorney obtained by the Tribune.



The Tribune reported Davis and Cronan did not provide documents or witnesses to substantiate their version of events, despite repeated requests by the Tribune to do so.

St. Mary's got ahead of the story. Before the Tribune stories published, the school sent a note to families that a teacher resigned in spring 2017 after being on leave while under an investigation that caused her to lose her license. That notice caused other news outlets to publish stories about that notification.

In a private St. Mary's Facebook group, Garay said, former students began posting The Oregonian/OregonLive's Wednesday evening story about an unnamed female student who had an inappropriate relationship with a teacher.

Garay watched as people tried to figure out who the student was. So, Garay told them.

She crafted a post and directed them to Thursday's Tribune stories, which had her detailed account and name. That moment, she said, felt great.

"I feel relieved," she told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "I don't have anything to hide anymore and that's a really empowering feeling."



Read the Tribune stories HERE and HERE.

 Bethany Barnes
The large-scale search for the three missing Hart children was suspended Friday as a large storm lashed the Northern California coast, officials said.

The three kids  Hannah,16, Devonte, 15, and Sierra, 12  have been missing since March 26, when their family SUV was discovered at the base of a 100-foot cliff about 20 miles north of Fort Bragg, California. In and around the vehicle were their adopted parents, Jennifer and Sarah Hart, as well as their three siblings  Markis, 19, Abigail, 14, and Jeremiah, 14  all of them deceased.

Though initially investigated as an accident, officials have said in recent days they believe the crash was intentional.

The family left their home in Woodland, Washington, shortly after the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services opened a Child Protective Services investigation in which the Hart children were "identified as potential victims of alleged abuse or neglect" after neighbors contacted authorities.

The women have been accused of abuse or neglect in at least three states: Washington, where the most recent investigation was underway when they departed; Oregon, at the West Linn home where the family lived before moving to Washington; and Minnesota, where Sarah Hart pleaded guilty to abusing Abigail Hart and was sentenced to a year of probation for misdemeanor domestic assault.

On Thursday, The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office released a flier with pictures of the three missing children and asked anyone along the family's suspected route  from Washington through Newport, Oregon, and down to Fort Bragg  to contact the agency.

Anyone with information about the missing children was asked to call 707-234-2100.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048
SALEM  President Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the border with Mexico has drawn resistance from some governors, most of them Democrats, but they could be powerless to deny the commander in chief's request for soldiers.

Governors have some leeway to say no presidents, but if Trump uses a federal law to order the deployment, the matter could be out of the governors' hands.

The statute known as "Title 10 duty status" establishes that National Guard personnel operate under the president's control and receive federal pay and benefits. It also forbids them from performing tasks of civilian law enforcement unless explicitly authorized, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Trump said Thursday that he wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 Guard members to the border to help federal officials fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Twitter that she had a "productive conversation" about the deployment with governors of the Southwest border states.

On Friday, North Dakota's Republican governor joined leaders of some border states in saying he would send forces if asked.

The GOP governors of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas also back the plan. California's Democratic governor has been silent on the topic. It's unclear if Trump will ask for troops from states other than those along the border.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the deployment as "a good first step." If the administration determines that more troops are needed, "we'll make that decision at that time."

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said that if he's asked, he will contribute.

"We will answer the call," Burgum said. "From historic floods to more recent events, we North Dakotans know from experience how critical it is for states to support each other in times of need."

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, also a Republican, on Friday became one of the latest leaders to oppose the plan. His spokeswoman, Mary-Sarah Kinner, said in an email that Sandoval does not believe the mission would be "an appropriate use" of the Nevada Guard.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has said she would deny Trump's request.

"As commander of Oregon's Guard, I'm deeply troubled by Trump's plan to militarize our border," Brown tweeted.

Her spokesman, Bryan Hockaday, acknowledged she might not have a say if Trump uses the federal code.

Trump "can federalize the National Guard forces, and there's not much the governor can do to prevent that," Hockaday said.

However, another federal law called Title 32 says that command and control of National Guard personnel remain with their respective governors, even though the troops generally serve a federal purpose, the Congressional Research Service says.

While California Gov. Jerry Brown has not spoken publicly about Trump's plan, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Keegan said any request "will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners."

"We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state," Keegan said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said Friday that she will consult with the head of the Alabama Guard to see what resources are available.

If the deployment happens, it would not be the first time the National Guard has gone to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Almost every U.S. state and territory contributed Guard members to Operation Jump Start, announced by President George W. Bush in 2006. Around 30,000 Guard members eventually participated, according to a 2008 National Guard analysis, including more than 1,000 each from Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

During Operation Phalanx, ordered by President Barack Obama in 2010, 1,200 Guard members deployed to the border, most of them from Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

In the mid-1980s, National Guard troops were deployed even farther south, in Honduras, where they carried out military maneuvers. The missions happened as Sandinista forces in neighboring Nicaragua battled Contra rebels who were backed by Washington and had clandestine bases in Honduras.

--The Associated Press
Gov. Kate Brown wants legislators to return to Salem for a one-day special session in June to extend an existing state business tax break to some of Oregon's smallest businesses: sole proprietorships.

"I want Oregon to be a state that is friendly to our small businesses," Brown told reporters on Friday. "These are our entrepreneurs, our mavericks, our innovators. These are the businesses that grow jobs in Oregon, and I want to make sure that we are receptive to this entrepreneurial spirit."

Brown used the occasion to signal her intent to sign into law a tax plan that legislative Democrats passed during the regular session earlier this year. The governor, who is running for reelection in November, had invited supporters and opponents of the bill to lobby her on it over the last month. Friday was the deadline for the governor to announce whether she planned to veto any bills, although she has until April 13 actually use her veto pen.

Senate Bill 1528 would prevent certain businesses from receiving a new state tax cut worth a quarter-billion dollars that Oregon was on track to copy automatically from the federal tax overhaul that Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump pushed through in December. Now, the state budget will get a boost that Brown said is badly needed to fund schools and other services.

That might seem like a no-brainer for a Democratic governor who frequently assails Trump's policies and is widely expected to face a budget crisis next year, but Brown agonized over the decision for the last month.

Kate Brown remains undecided on whether Oregon should copy part of 'Trump tax plan'

During that time, Republican gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler called on Brown to veto SB 1528 and business groups campaigned for her to kill it. Business groups will likely be a major political force this year and one political nonprofit allied with business interests already launched an attack on the governor earlier this year.

Brown's attempt to thread the needle by denying pass-through businesses a new state tax deduction, while simultaneously calling a special session to expand an existing tax break, appeared to have taken Republicans by surprise on Friday.

Senate Republican spokeswoman Tayleranne Gillespie said caucus leaders needed to meet to decide how to respond, so they would not comment until at least Monday. "The first we heard about it was today," Gillespie said. Brown needs Republican support to achieve a one-day special session, because they would have to agree to waive procedural rules.

People who draw income from pass-through businesses such as S corporations, limited liability corporations and partnerships already pay lower state tax rates in Oregon, thanks to a 2013 state law that was supposed to help grow manufacturing and export businesses.

For example, the law allows someone earning as much as $250,000 from such a business to pay a 7 percent tax -- a rate otherwise only available to joint filers with a combined income in the $6,700 to $16,800 range. There's one catch: the business must have at least one employee other than the owner to qualify.

The pass-through tax break is controversial, and Democrats in the Oregon House attempted last year to pare it back by requiring businesses to have a minimum of 10 employees and restricting it to sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and wholesale trade. They noted that lawyers and doctors have used it to reduce their taxes.

Brown did not say Friday whether she wants to include any requirements for sole proprietors to have a certain number of employees. The governor's chief of staff Nik Blosser said they're still exploring options, for example whether it makes sense to count seasonal employees.

In pushing to expand Oregon's existing pass-through tax break, Brown is responding to Republicans' central criticism of the legislation. While Democratic lawmakers had argued the bill was necessary to prevent pass-through businesses from receiving a double helping of state tax benefits, Republicans pointed out that sole proprietors are currently excluded from the Oregon's lower pass-through rates.

That didn't prevent Republicans from criticizing Brown's decision to sign the measure on Friday. Rep. Julie Parrish, a West Linn Republican, said in a news release that the governor's decision to wait until the last moment to announce her support for the bill left opponents with too little time to gather the signatures necessary for a referendum campaign to overturn it.

"This is what Oregonians get when we have an elected leader who has never signed the front of a check and has no real-world experience of understanding the risk and capital investment needed to start or grow a business, or who have been materially responsible for the livelihoods of their employees," Parrish said.

-- Hillary Borrud

503-294-4034; @hborrud
An 80-year-old man was shot and killed by his son Friday in Beaverton, police said.

Officers responded to reports of the incident at 5:19 a.m. near the intersection of Southwest Denney Road and Hoodview Place, said Officer Bryan Dalton, a spokesman for Beaverton police.

Few details were immediately available, but Dalton said the older man was taken to a hospital, but died of his injuries. The man's son, Gregory Dennis Hall, 47, was taken into custody and there was no further threat to the public, according to police.

The Major Crimes Unit was investigating, Dalton said, and Hall was booked into the Washington County Jail on suspicion of murder.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048
Authorities have arrested a second man on suspicion of murder in the fatal shooting of a third man in downtown Portland, police said Thursday.

Avarihae K. Collins

Avarihae K. Collins, 18, was arrested Wednesday morning, police said. He and Aaron Drake Birt, 25, have pleaded not guilty to murder in the death of Ellante Davone Williams.

Williams, who was 30, died at a hospital after being shot in late January, according to police. Police said officers initially found him inside a car parked at Southwest Stark Street and Fourth Avenue

Birt was arrested on the night of the shooting, according to police. Collins was arrested Wednesday after members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force saw him in a car on Northeast Halsey Street, Portland police said in a news release. Officers stopped the car, according to police, and took him into custody without incident.

Collins pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and felon in possession of a firearm, records show. He was indicted last month.

Police said he was also jailed on a parole violation. He's being held without bail in Multnomah County's Inverness Jail.

Police urge anyone who has information about either suspect or the incident to contact Detective Vince Cui at 503-823-0449 or Vince.Cui@portlandoregon.gov or Detective Brad Clifton at 503-823-0696 or Brad.Clifton@portlandoregon.gov.

 Jim Ryan
Oregon will join a wave of states backing net neutrality Monday, with Gov. Kate Brown set to sign a bill designed to give companies an economic incentive to allow unfettered online access.

"In Oregon, we want to make sure that access to the internet is a level playing field, instead of exacerbating economic disparity," Brown said in a written statement.

House Bill 4155 requires the state and local governments to contract only with internet providers that abide by the principles of net neutrality. Net neutrality describes government rules that prevent internet companies from giving favored treatment or faster access to websites that pay a premium to reach their customers.

The Federal Communications Commission voted in December to repeal net neutrality protections adopted during the Obama administration, with the new rules taking effect in April. Trump administration appointees say regulation could stifle online innovation.

Advocates for an open internet say that without net neutrality, Comcast and other big internet service providers might charge certain sites extra for fast connections to their customers. Net neutrality proponents say that could make it prohibitively expensive to start new internet companies, and they say existing websites might pass along their higher costs to subscribers.

The governor's office said she will sign the bill Monday morning at Mount Tabor Middle School in Portland. Students from Mount Tabor were among those who testified in favor of Oregon's legislation.

The net neutrality fight generally splits along party lines, with Democrats favoring the rules and Republicans opposing it. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, is among the most visible proponents, nationally, of an open internet; U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, is a leading opponent of net neutrality.

Oregon and several other states are suing the FCC over the net neutrality repeal, arguing the commission didn't follow proper rulemaking procedures. Meanwhile, lawmakers across the country are trying to undo the FCC's action.

Washington lawmakers passed a bill last month that would require all internet providers operating in the state to retain net neutrality protections. It's an uncertain proposition, legally, because federal authority generally takes precedence with the internet.

Oregon and several other states are trying a different approach, using government contracts as an incentive for internet companies to retain net neutrality policies. (There are exceptions for cases where only a single internet provider is available.)

Even so, some legal experts have suggested Oregon's approach could be subject to legal challenge. Former Oregon Supreme Court justice Mick Gillette wrote in The Oregonian/OregonLive last month that a court fight is almost certain.

And it's not clear the efforts of Oregon and similar states will discourage all internet companies from flaunting net neutrality. They may conclude that prioritizing some internet traffic is more valuable than relatively small contracts with state and local governments.

Net neutrality advocates say they're not sure how much business telecom providers do with the state of Oregon. But Oregon's largest city reports the value of its vendor payments, and they provide some sense of the scale involved.

Comcast, for example, had contracts worth $1.25 million with the city of Portland last year. But the company reported nearly $85 billion in revenue altogether. CenturyLink's Portland contracts were worth $1.8 million, against $16.3 billion in total revenue.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the governor would sign the bill Friday. She will sign it Monday.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699
Saudi Arabia will grant the country a $1-billion development loan, a Lebanese government official told a donor conference in Paris Friday.

"It's a renewal of a line of credit that was there in the past and was not used," Nadim Mounla, an economic adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, said.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.



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Aparna Brielle says her own high school experiences in Beaverton were nothing like the wacky goings-on in "A.P. Bio," the high school-set comedy in which Brielle plays one of the brainy students.

"I can tell you my biology teacher loved biology," Brielle says. "So, we didn't have that problem."

Brielle is calling from Los Angeles, where she now lives, to talk about "A.P. Bio," a sitcom in its first season on NBC.

The show stars Glenn Howerton ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") as Jack Griffin, who left his position as a philosophy scholar at Harvard in disgrace. Now, Jack's reduced to teaching Advanced Placement Biology in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio.

Jack couldn't be less interested in teaching biology, so he tries to use his high school students to help him out in various schemes.

While Jack is in the running for the title of World's Worst Teacher, "A.P. Bio" has impressive credentials. The executive producers include Lorne Michaels, Seth Meyers and "Saturday Night Live" veteran Mike O'Brien, who created the series. Patton Oswalt costars, as Principal Durbin.

Jack's A.P. bio students are one of the show's prime assets, as funny as they are endearing. Brielle, in particular, is a bright spot as Sarika Sarkar, a preppy outfit-sporting smartypants who sees right through Jack and his foolishness.

When she auditioned for "A.P. Bio," Brielle already had a clear idea of who Sarika is.

"I remember reading the script," she says, "and it was kind of a blank canvas for Sarika."

Brielle thought Sarika should have something in common with Reese Witherspoon's ambitious, bossy, high school overachiever character in the movie, "Election."

After auditioning, Brielle recalls, "I got a call from my manager saying, 'You got another callback,'" adding the show's creative team wanted the character "to be kind of like Reese Witherspoon in 'Election.'"

Brielle won the role, and went to work.

"I think on the surface level, a lot of people might see Sarika as the Indian girl who wants to do well in school," Brielle says. "I feel like it has more to do the fact that she sees herself as a leader."

Sarika, Brielle says, "Wants to be on top, and she doesn't want to be an underdog, like so many of her classmates. She'll do anything to get ahead. Which makes her more than just a biology nerd."

Brielle, 24, was born in Clackamas, because, as she says, "they were out of hospital beds in St. Vincent (hospital, in Southwest Portland)".

She was raised in Portland, in the Cedar Mill area, and attended Valley Catholic High School, transferring to the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton for her junior and senior year.

From an early age, Brielle knew she wanted to perform. "My parents, being as wonderful as they are, had me do all kinds of classes," she says. "I actually started with dance and music."

"I wanted to be a character on TV, or in one of the Disney movies I watched," Brielle says, which led her to participate in theater, with Northwest Childrens Theater and others.

"It wasn't until I did 'Grimm' on NBC that I really started to work as a professional," Brielle says. She played a character named Jenny in the Portland-filmed "Grimm" episode, "My Fair Wesen," in Season 3.

Brielle also got experience playing a "flirty waitress" in the Portland-filmed TNT series, "The Librarians," in that show's Season 1 episode, "And the Fables of Doom."

After earning a marketing degree from Linfield College in 2015 - she graduated in three years - Brielle moved to Los Angeles.

Working on "A.P. Bio" has helped the actors playing classmates form a bond, Brielle says.

"We very quickly became family," she says, "and we have each others' backs."

Even the self-centered teacher, Jack, has his good side, Brielle says. "You can tell he actually does care about the students."

But it's easy to think the class would learn a lot more if Sarika were the teacher.

"I feel like she would probably love that," Brielle says.

"A.P. Bio" airs at 8:30 p.m. Thursday nights on NBC/8.

-- Kristi Turnquist
Washington County authorities are searching for a puppy that's been missing since its owner's car was stolen from a hospital parking garage Monday afternoon.

Jedi, a 5-month-old Yorkshire terrier, was inside the 1992 Honda Civic when it was stolen from a Providence St. Vincent Medical Center parking garage, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. A deputy found the car abandoned in a shopping center parking lot early Wednesday, the agency said, but Jedi was nowhere to be found.

The suspects' SUV is shown in a surveillance image provided by the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The car was canvassed for evidence and returned to its owner, deputies said.

Hospital security footage shows a light-colored SUV stopping next to the Civic, one person leaving the SUV and getting into the Civic and both of them driving away.

The sheriff's office asks anyone who has information about the suspects or Jedi's whereabouts to call 503- 629-0111.

-- Jim Ryan
Related Fears of fresh violence ahead of new Gaza protest

Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian protesters and wounded at least 150 along the Israel-Gaza border on Friday, Gaza medical officials said, raising the death toll to 22 in the week-long disturbances.

They said the men were killed at protest sites east of Gaza City and Khan Younis during a round of daily demonstrations that began on March 30 and are known as "The Great March of Return".

The protesters, including Palestinian refugees and their descendants seeking to regain homes in what is now Israel that were lost during the 1948-49 war, have set up tent encampments a few hundred metres (yards) inside Gaza.

Large groups of youths have ventured much closer to the no-go zone along the border, risking live fire from Israeli troops to roll burning tyres at the barrier and throw stones.

"Israel took everything from us, the homeland, freedom, our future," said Samer, a 27-year-old protester who would not give his full name, fearing Israeli reprisals. "I have two kids, a boy and a girl, and if I die, God will take care of them."

The number of protesters on Friday was larger than in recent days, but lower than the outset of the disturbances on March 30, when 17 Palestinians were fatally shot by Israeli forces.

The deaths drew international criticism of Israel's response, which human rights groups said involved live fire against demonstrators posing no immediate threat to life.

Israel stationed sharpshooters on its side of the frontier to deter Palestinians from trying to break through the fence. Many of those killed were militants, Israel claimed.

An Israeli military spokesman said on Friday that the army "will not allow any breach of the security infrastructure and fence, which protects Israeli civilians".

Refugees comprise most of the 2 million population of Israeli-blockaded Gaza, an enclave ruled by the Islamist militant movement Hamas.

The demonstrators have revived a longstanding demand for the right of return of Palestinian refugees to towns and villages which their families fled from, or were driven out of, when the state of Israel was created.

The Israeli government has ruled out any right of return.

BURNING FLAGS

Palestinian youths burned Israeli flags and planted Palestinian banners on dirt mounds beside tented encampments as others arrived on large trucks carrying piles of more tyres to burn. Others launched stones with slingshots.

With Israeli tear gas rising into the air, Palestinian youths used T-shirts, cheap medical masks and perfume to try and protect themselves. Israel tried to douse the burning rubber with jets of water directed over defensive dirt mounds on its side of the border.

A U.N. human rights spokeswoman urged Israel to exercise restraint against the Palestinian protesters. We are saying that Israel has obligations to ensure that excessive force is not employed. And that if there is unjustified and unlawful recourse to firearms, resulting in death, that may amount to a wilful killing, Elizabeth Throssell said in Geneva.

Israel claims it is doing what it must to defend its border and that its troops have been responding with riot dispersal means and fire "in accordance with the rules of engagement".

The United States has supported Israel, its main Middle East ally, and criticised the protest organisers.

"We condemn leaders and protesters who call for violence or who send protesters - including children - to the fence, knowing that they may be injured or killed," President Donald Trump's Middle East peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, said on Thursday.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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The United States imposed sanctions on Friday against Russian businessmen, companies and officials, striking at associates of President Vladimir Putin in one of Washington's most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for what it called a range of "malign activity," including alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

The action, taken under pressure from the U.S. Congress, freezes the U.S. assets of "oligarchs" such as aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose family controls Russia's largest gold producer, Polyus.

The Treasury Department sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, plus 17 senior Russian government officials, are likely to complicate U.S. President Donald Trump's hopes for good relations with Putin.

"The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement.

He said Moscow "engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities."

Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, said the sanctions were baseless and unfriendly, Interfax news agency reported.

The sanctions could potentially hurt the Russian economy, especially the financial and energy sectors, and are part of Washington's effort to hold Russia to account for allegedly interfering in the election, which Moscow denies.

Shares in aluminum producer Rusal were down 2.2 percent on Moscow's exchange after the company was named on the sanctions list.

Russian state companies under the U.S. sanctions will receive additional government support, Interfax cited Russia's Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov as saying.

U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia used hacking and propaganda in an effort eventually aimed at favoring Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, something that Trump denies. Mueller has indicted 13 Russians and three organizations in his probe.

SLOW ACTION ON RUSSIA

Trump has faced fierce criticism - including from fellow Republicans - for doing too little to punish Russia for the election meddling, aggression in Ukraine, and support of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

He angered many members of Congress by failing for months to implement sanctions on Russia that lawmakers passed nearly unanimously last year.

But pressure for Washington to take action against Russia has been mounting in a series of disputes reminiscent of Cold War tensions.

Putin's government has been blamed for the poisoning of a former Russian double agent living in Britain last month and the United States and several European states announced plans to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in response.

In February, the White House blamed Russia for the international "NotPetya" cyber attack, which has been called the most destructive and costly in history.

On March 15, the Trump administration said it would impose sanctions on 19 people and five entities, including Russian intelligence services, for cyber attacks stretching back at least two years.

Friday's sanctions were authorized by the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, known as CAATSA, which Trump reluctantly signed into law in August.

Under the law, the U.S. Treasury Department released a public list of 210 people, including 96 wealthy Russian businessmen close to Putin's government and network, who could be subject to future sanctions.

The oligarchs were not immediately sanctioned then but the existence of the list - and a more detailed classified annex - created uncertainty over international business dealings with some Russian sectors.

Chris Painter, the former top cyber diplomat at the U.S. State Department, said the latest sanctions are unlikely to deter the Kremlin unless Trump formally condemns Putin.

Painter, who left government last year, criticized Trump's rhetoric toward Putin  including a congratulatory call last month when Putin won another presidential term in a widely criticized election.

"We need the head of our country saying, 'This is not going to happen,'" Painter said. "Thats a critical piece."

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This is the Tibetan Mastiff, the World's Most Expensive Dog, But Are We Sure It Isn't Just a Bear?

By Petr Knava | Miscellaneous | April 6, 2018 |

I love animals. I love cute ones like the pacarana. I love the weird ones too, those aberrations like the coconut crab and the huntsman spider that blur the line between wonder and horror.

But more than anything I love dogs. If you made a list of Top 10 Things In The World, alongside things like music, sex, coffee, and trees, youd have dogs. In fact, lets be honest: Dogs would probably be at the top of the list. Big dogs are the best. I grew up with a few German Shepherds, and from an early age, I could tell that there was just something incredibly beguiling about big dogs. Maybe its because the bigger they get the more they start to resemble their ancestors, and there is a curious juxtaposition between our genetic memory and the reality we see before us now. Because deep down we remember those dark nights spent huddling in the pool of light cast by our fires in the woods, spears pointed outwards lest the twinkling lights out in the black resolve into snarling jaws. We knew what prowled out there. Then, somehow, over countless generations, we made those unknowable creatures our best friends. Where once they thirsted for our blood they now wanted nothing more than to please us, to love us unconditionally. So to see something like a German Shepherd, so reminiscent of its vicious forebear, give you a look so warm that it could thaw a glacierwell, its a helluva feeling. Yes indeed: Big dogs are the best. Near-wolves the best of them.

But you know what else is great?

Near-bears!

Say hello to the Tibetan Mastiff.

The Tibetan Mastiff, also commonly known as the Dok-Khyi, is a large dog breed originating in the nomadic tribes of Tibet, China, Mongolia, Nepal, and India, where it has been in use for thousands of years. Typically it lives to be between 9-15 years old, and can weigh up to 72kg. It is called a mastiff but it does not actually belong to that group of dog breeds. Like many things, the name originates from Europeans cocking things up: They, upon arriving in Tibet and seeing these large dogs just termed it so, simply because they were used to calling many of their bigger breeds mastiffs.

The Tibetan Mastiff is a working dog, utilised by its owners to protect their flocks of sheep. Protect against what? Foxes? Nah. Just wolves and leopards. Bears. Tigers. That kinda thing.

This is one of those times where you read a fact about an animal, and youre like: Yeah. Sure. But, really?

And then you see a picture of the animal again and it makes it that much more believable.

Tibetan Mastiffs are extremely loyal and territorial. Which, I mean, they gotta be, right? To do what they do. Aint nobody asking a flaky Cocker Spaniel to stare down a tiger. The breed also remains very healthy in older age, especially when compared to other large breeds, and their magnificent coat sheds only moderately, twiceonce in Spring, and once in Autumn. Naturally, being the size that they are, Tibetan Mastiffs require a lot of space. And exercise. If you plan on getting one, it might be a good idea to have at least a steppe or two of space for them to run around in, and maybe a bear or two for it to hunt. That sounds expensive, and Im not sure where one can buy a steppe, but the dogs themselves are pricey too. In the UK, purebred Tibetan Mastiffs go for around 900. Pretty dear, but not maddening. In China, however, where these big dogs are sometimes seen as status symbols, the numbers start to get a bit ridiculous. With a bit of questionable cross-breeding and dog show hyping, some members of the newly rich Chinese set have been dropping high-6/low-7 figures for these dogs.

These two gorgeous creatures, for example, were reportedly sold for a combined total of 1.75m a few years ago:

Some dispute the figure, as there seems to be a lack of concrete evidence for that exact amount changing hands. Nevertheless, in 2009, a Chinese coal baron did make a verified purchase of a Tibetan Mastiff called Big Splash, and the amount in question there (973,000) is formidable too.

Like most capitalist bubbles, however, the Chinese hunger for Tibetan Mastiffs has now apparently collapsed, and has led to the appalling state wherein many of these dogs, previously purchased as trophies, are now being abandoned. As per the Shanghai List:

The hayday of Chinas once booming Tibetian mastiff market has come to a close. Previously, this majestic breed was kept by wealthy families as a trendy, rather pricey pet and status symbol  one dog could even be sold for as much as a million yuan. But, recently, interest in the breed has declined dramatically, leading to the abandonment of a significant portion of the countrys overbred mastiff population.

The boom lasted no more than a few years, and the buzz of activitythe fevered buying, ludicrous price spikes, and an explosion in breedersall led to a sadly predictable end, with the poor, beautiful creatures unwitting cogs in the whole machine. Tibetan Mastiffs really are glorious beasts, and I absolutely want to go rescue all of those abandoned good boys and girls right now. I just gotta figure out how to buy a steppe or two first.

For those interested in learning more, here are two documentaries to watch at your leisure should you so wish:

Pictures courtesy of Getty Images

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Petr is a staff contributor. You can follow him on Twitter.
The Arab League chief spoke to Al-Ahram daily's editor-in-chief Alaa Thabet about his expectations for the upcoming Arab summit, tasks in confronting foreign interference in Arab affairs and Egypt's role in the region

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul-Gheit says that Arab countries need to make a concerted effort to counter outside meddling in their internal affairs, and that an Arab Summit in Riyadh scheduled for mid-April will help resolve crises and tensions in the region as well as discuss counterterrorism efforts and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In an interview with Al-Ahram daily newspapers editor-in-chief Alaa Thabet on Wednesday, the Arab League secretary-general and former Egyptian foreign minister said "I am optimistic the Riyadh summit will create a new momentum similar to the momentum we have seen towards the Palestinian issue, which was reflected in active Arab moves to support the Palestinian people vis-a-vis the pressures they have been facing from the recent stances of the American administration and the continued intransigence of the Israeli side.

Aboul-Gheit added that the Arab states will seek to prevent Israel from gaining a rotating seat on the UN Security Council during the summit.

Foreign interference in Arab affairs

Egypt and Arab allies have accused Turkey, Iran and its Lebanese Shia ally Hezbollah of interfering in their internal affairs.

Abul-Gheit says Iran's growing influence in the region is "very dangerous and involves clear threats to Arab national security," but explains that he understands Turkey's wish to combat what it sees as threats to its domestic security by Kurdish fighters on its southern border.

Nevertheless, he says, Arab states must combat Ankara's interventions in the region to avoid any "possible long-term repercussions on Arab countries."

He also urged Iran and Turkey to change their policy of meddling in the internal affairs of the Arab countries, saying this would lead the region to a "critical juncture."

"Egypt should not face such interference on its own. There must be a strong Arab coalition that backs Egypt's vision of achieving balance in the relationship between the Arab region and its neighbours."

Egypts regional role

Abul-Gheit said that he believes that after 2013, Egypt has returned to its active role in the Arab world, adding, however, that the country is not required to shoulder the task of facing the dangers in the area alone on behalf of Arabs.

Restoring Egypt's central role in the region will come through strengthening the country economically and activating its role in the area through its soft cultural and intellectual power and eradicating terrorism.

"In my opinion, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis vision and his qualitatively transformative policies in Egypt make him one of the greatest leaders who will contribute to Egyptian society for decades and maybe centuries, especially in the area of infrastructure."

Abu-Gheit added that he believes that in El-Sisis second term, Egypt needs a comprehensive and rigorous project to eradicate illiteracy and slums to improve the standard of living of Egyptians.

He said that to improve its economy and ensure security at home, Egypt needs to "step up production, bring stability and combat terrorism," adding that Cairo will need political backing from other Arab states who share the same vision.

Arab League's role and financial straits

Abul-Gheit, who has chaired the 22-member Arab League since March 2016, said that over the past two years, he has aimed to bolster the organisation's role, which he says has waned following the 2011 Arab Spring unrest.

During his tenure, the league has formed an international four-body group comprising the Arab League, the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union in an effort to ease a humanitarian disaster in Libya. The Arab League has also named a special representative for Libyan affairs and adopted new channels of communication with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

The league also continues to play an active role in monitoring elections in member states, addressing humanitarian issues, migration, refugees and safeguarding human rights and supporting Arab civil society organisations.

Abul-Gheit says the league's cash shortage has crippled it on many levels, making it difficult for the organisation to conduct humanitarian activities and at times even pay the salaries of its employees.

He partially attributes the crisis to the delay or failure by some members states to pay their share of the leagues almost $60 million annual budget. He says the league has been receiving only around 50 percent of the funds needed for the proposed budget in recent years.

He added that Iran and Turkeys questioning of the efficacy of the Arab League is aimed at "undermining the interests of the Arab states."

Abul-Gheit, who served as Egypts foreign minister during the last seven years of former president Hosni Mubaraks rule, says the biggest challenge facing Arab states is dealing with the considerable repercussions of the Arab Spring, which he said has cost the region's economies more than $600 billion and unleashed an influx of millions of refugees and migrants.

He urged concerted efforts between Arab countries to rebuild war-torn areas in the region and use the leagues expertise and its network of Arab governments, organisations and international allies to do so.

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Mohawk Fine Papers Acquires Crane Stationery

Mohawk's acquisition of Crane Stationary includes all three premium Crane brands: Crane & Co., William Arthur and Vera Wang.

April 6, 2018 - Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc., announced yesterday that it has purchased Crane Stationery Corporation of North Adams, Massachusetts for an undisclosed amount. This acquisition includes all three premium Crane brands: Crane & Co., William Arthur and Vera Wang.

Founded in 1801, Crane has been synonymous with luxurious cotton papers and the finest personalized stationery in the world.

The Crane name and reputation has withstood the test of time for more than 200 years and we are very excited to add this legendary paper and stationery brand to our family portfolio, said Tom O'Connor, Mohawk Chairman and CEO.

The combined companies will expand Mohawk's product offering to include Crane's extensive, iconic line of boxed stationery, wedding invitations, holiday cards and other personalized products, as well as Crane Crest, Crane Bond and Crane Lettra.

Mohawk and Crane will maintain their respective existing brand names and continue to offer their unique portfolios and offerings, while at the same time expanding products, offerings and channels.

Mohawk has assigned Paul Biesiadecki to oversee the Crane Business and facilitate the transition to Mohawk. Dean Daigle will be responsible for all Crane operations including Finance, HR, and IT, and Bart Robinson will lead the Sales and Marketing teams.

All Crane employees with the exception of the three owners will join the Mohawk team.

Mohawk is North America's largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers and envelopes for commercial and digital printing, photo specialties and high-end direct mail. To learn more, please visit: www.mohawkconnects.com .

SOURCE: Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc.
Designer Hedi Slimane has won a lawsuit against luxury group Kering SA, which owns brands like Gucci, Balenciaga and the label Slimane helmed, Saint Laurent, to the tune of $11.5 million after taxes.

Business of Fashion reports that the lawsuit alleged that in 2016, the designer had been paid 667,000 (roughly $815,000), even after sales at the brand had roughly tripled during the four years he was creative direction.

Slimane left the brand in 2016, but not before dropping "Yves" from its name, moving its headquarters from Paris to Los Angeles, revamping stores with a sleeker, monochromatic look, and shooting black and white campaign ads with a rock-and-roll youth culture vibe himself. Sales crossed the $1 billion mark in 2016, and the brand counted celebrities like Lady Gaga as fans under Slimane's tenure.

Earlier this year, luxury group LVMH said it had rehired Slimane, who did a stint at Dior Homme, as the creative director of Celine. Hopefully he won't face the same issues with being properly compensated there.

Head here to read Christopher Barnard's full unpacking of Slimane's move to Celine.

Image via Getty


North Korea will need Chinese support in its negotiations with the United States, with China taking an active role in finding solutions to the security challenges on the Korean Peninsula

In his first overseas trip since becoming North Korean leader in 2011, Kim Jong-un boarded an armoured train and crossed the Yalu River that separates North Korea and China to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping late last month.

This Chinese-North Korean Summit meeting was the first of its kind between the two leaders.

Relations between China and North Korea have been frosty of late, particularly after the American-Chinese Summit meeting in Florida in April 2017 where United States President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed to cooperate on the North Korean issue.

In the wake of this summit meeting, China voted for several United Nations Security Council Resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea, supporting an American strategy that has centred on applying maximum pressure on Pyongyang to stop its nuclear and ballistic programmes and testing.

Beijing has watched closely developments on the Korean Peninsula since then, and it has warned against escalation. In the meantime, it has made it clear to Washington that it opposes any military attack on the North, while also calling on the North Koreans to show restraint and agree to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis.

The breakthrough came in February in the context of the North Korean participation in the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. The sister of the North Korean leader headed the delegation of North Korea to these games, and she was received by South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a highly publicised political opening between the North and the South.

A few weeks later, a high level South Korean delegation met with Kim Yong-un in Pyongyang, and he agreed to confer with the American president.

The South Korean delegation then flew to Washington and had a meeting with Trump last month.

After the meeting, Trump tweeted that he had accepted the proposal advanced by Kim Jong-un for an American-North Korean Summit meeting to be held next month in a venue that has yet to be agreed upon.

Such a summit could not take place without prior Chinese-North Korean coordination and agreement on the broad outlines of the talks between the American and North Korean leaders.

Both China and North Korea have large stakes in the possible outcomes of a summit meeting between Trump and Kim Yong-un. North Korea would need full Chinese support in negotiations with the United States, and China will need to have its say in defining solutions to the security challenges on the Korean Peninsula.

In remarks made during the unprecedented meeting between Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un, the Chinese leader made clear that his country was sticking to the goal of the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and to the safeguarding of peace and stability thereon.

He stressed the importance of solving problems through dialogue and consultation, and he insisted that Beijing would continue to work with all the parties concerned towards a thaw in the overall situation on the Peninsula.

The Trump administration, and, in fact, all previous US administrations dating back to the presidency of former US president Bill Clinton, or four administrations in all, two Republican and two Democrat, have striven for the denuclearisation of North Korea, and that was also the objective behind the Six Power Talks that brought the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States to the negotiating table.

However, these talks foundered during the rule of Kims father, Kim Jong-il. The Americans, under the present administration, want to see a verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea. However, the North Koreans want to see the denuclearisation of the whole of the Korean Peninsula.

In his reply to Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un promised that he would follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, and work for the denuclearisation of the Peninsula as a whole, adding that he wanted to see assurances from the United States and South Korea.

He further stressed that his country was committed to friendship with China, which he called a strategic choice, as well as to transforming inter-Korean ties into a relationship of reconciliation and cooperation. He is scheduled to hold a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in on 27 April.

The gap is thus large, from a strategic point of view, as to the precise definition of the process of denuclearisation between Washington and Pyongyang. Denuclearising the Peninsula would mean finally ending the Korean War and transforming the Armistice Agreement of 1953 into a peace treaty, with whatever that would entail for the reunification of the two Koreas and the stationing of American troops in South Korea as well as the de-deployment of American nuclear weapons.

Needless to say, the strategic interests of China coincide with a definition of this sort. However, diplomacy and the need to remain engaged with the Trump administration demand that China adopt a long-term policy of strategic patience coupled with persistent pressure on the American administration and North Korea to negotiate a grand peace deal on the Korean Peninsula that goes beyond the narrow American definition of denuclearisation.

On 28 March, Trump tweeted that he had received a message from President Xi Jinping to the effect that the latters meeting with the leader of North Korea had gone very well and that Kim Jong-un looks forward to the meeting with me.

However, Trump stressed that unfortunately maximum sanctions and pressures must be maintained at all costs.

The Chinese will have to work behind closed doors to try to soften this American attitude before the expected meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un in case it proves to be the starting point for a long and arduous diplomatic negotiating process that will turn the 1953 Armistice Agreement into a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.

This will need to be a peace that will ensure the national interests of all the powers concerned, the same ones that had taken part in the earlier Six Power Talks.

It is to be hoped that the Trump administration will see things the same way, as if not the chances of a historic breakthrough on the Korean Peninsula may prove slim.

How the Chinese and North Koreans will interpret the joint military exercises between American and South Korean troops on 1 April that have brought together 12,000 American soldiers with 300,000 South Korean troops is difficult to gauge.

Ultimately, the two would prefer to see the American troops gone as a quid pro quo for complete denuclearisation.

The appointment of former US ambassador John Bolton as the new White House National Security adviser, effective 9 April, is also a complicating factor in the preparations leading to the American-North Korean Summit meeting and in the post-summit phase.

US Republican senator Lindsey Graham told the US network Fox News on 1 April that Bolton had told him a few days before that his biggest fear is that they [the North Koreans] are buying time. The North Koreans are just nine months to a year away from having a missile with a nuclear weapon that can hit America, Graham claimed.

According to Senator Graham, Bolton believes that the future negotiations are seen by Pyongyang as a way of buying time. Thats what they have done in the past. With such a mindset in Washington, Chinese weight is badly needed in supporting the North Koreans and in instilling a certain balance and realism in the American position.

The writer is former assistant foreign minister.

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Migration is as old as perhaps civilization itself. As the world stumbles toward globalization, the workers who travel miles and cross borders to send money back home feel the strain of a migrant economy model more than anyone. "Reportage illustrator" George Butler traveled to one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world, Tajikistan, to share the stories of the young people there who increasingly have to choose between being close to their families at home and making any kind of living wage abroad  typically in Russia, which is at least two borders away.

Following a civil war that ravaged the country from 1992-1997, Tajikistan's increasing economic depression has driven hundreds of thousands of its people to seek low paid work in Russia. While Tajikistan today represents one particular place and time, the story of migration is universal, and especially relevant today. Butler's ten-minute film follows Abdullo, a young Tajik on his fourth journey to Russia, traveling by rail from Dushanbe to Moscow on a 2,300-mile, four-day journey. We get a peek into the arduous journey and the challenges he and other migrants face  like the Russian police  along the way.

Watch the film and read an interview with the film's director, Tim Brown, below:





Why did you decide to investigate this topic and this region of the world?



We often hear about extreme cases of migration, families torn apart and communities caught up in war and politics. We 100% need to hear about these cases but as the world's population grows, I feel a more common pattern of migration will work its way into our societies. As people strive to make ends meet in changing landscapes, we will have to move for work, food and even water. In Tajikistan, this is very much the case, and has been for over a decade. I wanted to draw attention to this lesser-known case of migration in a way that felt different.

What are the main challenges facing young Tajik people?

The lack of work in the country is the main issue they face. Young people are forced to step back from continuing their education and look for any form of work they can. Russia has been the answer for many years but as the economy fluctuates there, this solution is becoming less and less appealing.

How did you find your subjects?

Joe Schottenfeld, a New York-based journalist and law student, had spent time in the region writing a paper for National Geographic. He was interested in capturing a more visual portrayal of what he had written out during his time in Tajikistan. He presented the opportunity of joining him on this four-day train journey to Moscow and we took him up on it.

Something you focus on in the film is the treatment of migrants by the Russian police. Why is it so important for people in vulnerable situations to know their rights?

Information is everything, and if you find yourself up against an authority like the Russian police or political regime it can be very overwhelming. Knowing your rights, or at least the very basics, can be the difference between a fine or ten-year ban from the country you're trying to make a living in.

As global migration increases and nationalist tensions rise, what do you wish people understood about the people trying to make a living wage by crossing borders?

For me, I wanted this film to try and depict the more common experience of migration. What is the backstory that causes people to leave their families and country of birth? For migrants like Abdullo, travel is about the destination, not the journey  but the journey is arduous. Filming and drawing along this journey helped reveal the subtleties of thought, moments of speculation about what was and what will come, and vulnerabilities captured in motion.

How does drawing help you connect with your subjects?

Drawing takes time. There is something so intriguing about seeing an illustration come to life and in some cases it was what attracted people to come talk to us. This gave us the chance to broaden the scope of who we spoke to. Culturally, it was very hard to interview the women there due to strict religious traditions. Drawing did get us closer in some situations but sadly not as much as we would have liked. The main thing drawing did help with was tackling the more emotional issues. The process allowed the interviewees to relax and tell us their encounters at their own pace.

What was your main takeaway from the experience?

My main takeaway from the shoot was a greater appreciation of the country I was born in. It seems a bit weird to say, but it's such a lottery and will dictate your whole existence. After coming home and going through all the footage with my editor Lucy Berry, I was pretty overwhelmed. There is no clear answer to the problems in this region of the world. Im sure an answer will arise, and no doubt it will be born from the pure determination and sweat of the Tajik people.




Dervish Protester Convicted Of Running Over And Killing Police Officers By Bus Sentenced To Death

04/05/18

Source: Radio Farda

A man accused of driving a bus into a group of security forces in Tehran and killing three of them has been sentenced to "death by retribution." Mohamad Salas, a dervish of the Gonabadi order, was convicted of driving a bus into a group of police and plainclothesmen in the heat of bloody clashes between security forces and Gonabadi dervishes February 19.

According to court officials, the victims' relatives called upon the Islamic Republic's judiciary officials to punish Salas on the basis of "qissas," Islamic retribution or "retaliating in kind," i.e. death.



During the hearings in March, Salas testified that he had lost control of his behavior after his head was fractured in seventeen places during clashes with the police. Furthermore, he repeatedly insisted that he had no intention of killing the policemen but was panicked and trying to flee the clashes.



"The security forces battered me so hard that I lost control. They made me angry. I was afraid that they might come back to the bus and beat me again," Salas said.



Speaking about his weak eyesight, Salas testified, "I got into the bus to drive it toward the police station. I was driving slowly so that the police could move aside. I flashed my headlights and honked the horn as I went forward. My foot was on the accelerator."



The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) also cited Salas as saying, "We [dervishes] are human beings, not animals. As I stand here, I ask God to grant patience to the victims' relatives and forgiveness for myself. I am sad. I'm not saying these things to escape execution. I would love to be executed. I just wanted to drive away from the disturbances. I didn't go over them [policemen] deliberately. My conscience is clear. It was God's will; even if fifty people had died... I don't want to go back to society. I don't want to live."



Three weeks before the trial even began, Tehran Police Chief and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) General Hossein Rahimi said March 1 that Salas would be executed for killing the policemen before the end of the [Iranian] year March 20.



The dervishes were protesting the arrest of members of their religious order, as well as rumors that their 91-year-old leader Nourali Tabandeh would soon be detained by police, despite assurances by the authorities that they had no such intention.



Two members of the paramilitary Basij force, which is linked to the hardline conservative IRGC, were also killed in the skirmishes, authorities said.













Funeral for the police officers run over by the bus

(photo by Mehr News Agency)



Some 300 dervishes were reportedly arrested following the violence.



The daughter of one of them told RFE/RL's Radio Farda March 4 that her father died while in custody. Tayebeh Raji said authorities had informed her family that her father, Mohammad Raji, died after falling into a coma caused by "bleeding and injuries."



More than 80 Iran-based political and rights activists said in a statement issued March 3 that they were concerned over "unpleasant reports" regarding conditions for the Gonabadi dervishes and their situation behind bars. The statement, published by opposition websites, called for fair legal processes concerning indictments filed against the detained dervishes, who practice a Sufi denomination of Islam.



"We expect the judiciary to respect the laws and the civil rights of [detainees] fully," the statement said.



Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, is not illegal in Iran, but rights groups accuse the Iranian government of harassment and discrimination against followers of Sufism, including the Gonabadi dervishes, one of the largest Sufi sects.



In March 2017, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights Situation in Iran expressed concern over the state targeting of members of Sufi groups, saying they "continue to face arbitrary arrest, harassment, and detention and are often accused of national security crimes."
There are six million potential individual taxpayers in Ghana, but just about 1.5 million are formally registered with the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).



Of this number, 1.36 million are employees, implying that most self-employed individuals are not registered with the GRA, Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, disclosed on Thursday in Accra.



Owing to this, Mr Ofori-Atta said government had put measures in place to enhance domestic resource mobilization.



These include review of tax laws, rationalization of taxes and introduction of an automated system (tripsTM) for domestic revenue.



He also said government has begun consultations with key stakeholders on ways to attract more revenue, adding that it has planned to present a package of tax policies to Parliament in the mid-year review of the budget to ensure sustained funding for Ghanas development projects.



So I charge all of us to give our taxes to Caesar; to rise up to our civic responsibilities, building nation and achieving our vision of moving Ghana beyond aid.



According to him, government depends on domestic taxes to support development supported by aid.



Developing countries, including Ghana, now have to find new ways of broadening their tax base, improving efficiency in revenue administration and blocking tax revenue leakages, harnessing technology to modernize and improving efficiency in tax administration and tax policy formulation and analysis, fighting illicit financial flows and restoring credibility between taxpayers and governments.



Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta added that government recognises that the ongoing paperless project, among others, would be a gradual and challenging process.



Founder and President of ACET, Kingsley Yaw Amoako, noted that revenue mobilisation is central to the success of the Compact with Africa (CWA) launched last year under the German governments G20 presidency.



As we all know, revenue mobilization in most developing countries is not keeping pace with development goals or increasing fiscal pressures. This issue is of paramount importance for Ghana and its long term development strategy, as well as for all other developing countries, he said.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Sierra Leones new president, Julius Maada Bio, on Thursday called on the rival he defeated in an election run-off to drop a legal challenge against the result, and hinted he might offer him a role in government.



Bio was declared winner late on Wednesday with 51.81 percent of votes and was sworn in hours later, but the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) candidate, Samura Kamara, who polled 48.19 percent, said the vote was marred by fraud and he would challenge the result.



Ill very much encourage him to move away from that path and come, Bio told Reuters in an interview.



He is a resource. He has the expertise and the experience. And I think we can put those to work in addition to all that we have to make sure that Sierra Leone is a better place.



Though he stopped short of saying so, Bios remarks suggested he sought to bring Kamara, a former foreign affairs minister, into his government in order to placate him.



While he won the presidential poll, in a parliamentary election held at the same time, Bios Sierra Leone Peoples Party won only 47 of the 132 seats. Kamaras APC got 67, a slim majority.



There are certain institutional restraints that are not just going to let me do things the way I want to do them, Bio said. This is not a military government and I do acknowledge that and accept the limitations.



Bio briefly ruled Sierra Leone as head of a military junta in 1996. He declined to comment on accusations of abuses by that junta, which was accused of executing soldiers from the previous regime, saying he had addressed this in the past.



Interviewed later by Reuters, Kamara also sounded conciliatory, though he declined to say whether he would work with Bio, and insisted the litigation would go ahead.



But he recalled when he had briefly worked with Bio, when the latter was head of the junta.



Julius Maada Bio and I have worked ... together, he said, adding: I have a passion to serve Sierra Leone at any time.



The vote to replace Ernest Bai Koroma, who could not run again for president due to term limits, was largely peaceful - a relief for a country of 7 million people which suffered a civil war in the 1990s that was fueled by the diamond trade and notorious for its mutilations and drugged-up child soldiers.



But Bio will have to work fast to reverse years of economic decline. Just as Sierra Leone was booming in the early part of this decade, the worlds deadliest Ebola epidemic and a global slump in commodity prices, particularly for its main export, iron ore, torpedoed the economic recovery.



Bio said he would seek to make Sierra Leone less reliant on natural resources, investing instead in human capital - in particular by introducing universal free primary education.



You ask a Sierra Leonean what do we have?, they talk about diamond, gold. Theyve never seen it, never benefited from it, he said.



We have to, as a state, be responsible to make sure that those who cant afford it at least can have the basic education.

Source: Reuters









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Botswanas newly appointed 30-year-old minister Bogolo Joy Kenewendo is being celebrated on social media by many Africans, who say her appointment despite her age is a rare feat that needs to be replicated across the continent.



Kenewendo was one of the ministers appointed by Botswanas new president Mokgweetsi Masisi, who in his inaugural address pledged to invest in the youth and create job opportunities for them.



Kenewendo, appointed the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister becomes Botswanas youngest ever minister, two years after she was appointed by the former president Ian Khama as a member of parliament.



While some social media users have cautioned against celebrating her appointment simply because of her age, Kenewendo is no stranger to the portfolio shes been tasked to manage.



She has previously worked as a trade economist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the Government of Ghana.



Who is Bogolo Joy Kenewendo?



The youthful minister is passionate about development, poverty eradication, reducing inequalities and empowering women and youth.



Kenewendo founded Molaya Kgosi, a women leadership and mentorship programme which was inspired by the young African women leaders forum which was hosted by Michelle Obama in 2011.



She was one of two youth delegates to represent Botswana at the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she presented a statement of African youth to the UN Secretary General.



Kenewendo holds an MSc in International Economics from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and was a recipient of a prestigious Chevening Scholarship in 2012.



When she is not making history as a young achiever, Kenewendo spends her time travelling, doing yoga, reading and has previously said a tall glass of wine with a friend always does the trick.

Source: africanews.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has affirmed, in no uncertain terms, that Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America.



According to President Akufo-Addo, the United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request.



In an address to the nation on Thursday, 5th April, 2018, the President stated that in consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America.



Full statement below





ADDRESS TO THE NATION, BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE US-GHANA MILITARY CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT, ON THURSDAY, 5TH APRIL, 2018.



Fellow Ghanaians, I have come into your homes this evening to talk about a matter that has generated a lot of heat in our country these past days.



Last week, at the height of the furore triggered by the US-Ghana Military Co-operation Agreement, a good friend of mine came to caution me on what he called the hazards of this democracy thing. He told me, just in case I needed reminding that my predecessor as President, who had also been democratically elected, had chosen to avoid any possible controversy by signing and keeping secret some agreements. So, why did I not follow this precedent, instead of exposing the nation to all the hazards of the past few days?



My friend, no doubt, had a point. Indeed, I acknowledge that there are many very well-meaning citizens who would have preferred the peaceful process of agreements reached behind closed doors, to the furore of the past few days. Yet, far from being daunted, I take what has happened not to be symptomatic of the hazards of democracy, but a show of the strength of democracy in action. We are seeing being displayed before our very eyes, not the triumph of disorder, but the value of openness in governance, and of the need, the crucial need, for the people to be fully and accurately informed.



You cannot claim to believe in democracy unless you have faith in the people, faith in their inherent goodness, faith in their capacity to make the right decisions, given the right information. It is this faith in the people that has shaped my entire political career, and it is this faith that propels me to lead an open and transparent government.



I was fully aware of how such agreements had been handled in earlier administrations, but I decided that, under my watch, any such agreements should be subject to the appropriate scrutiny of the peoples representatives in Parliament, in consonance with the requirements of accountable governance and the teachings of the Constitution. After all, you, the Ghanaian people, had voted massively for change; therefore, there was simply no way my government would ever keep hidden from you, the people, agreements of such a nature. I believe that the fall-out from this decision only shows the growing maturation of our democracy.



But for this decision to be open about this agreement, how else would we, the people of Ghana, have ever known that, for several decades, Ghana has had defence and security co-operation collaborations with the United States of America? How else would we have known that, in some instances, we have provided them with facilities for the movement of personnel and equipment to help some of our neighbours who were facing security and health challenges?



And how else would we have exposed the unspeakable hypocrisy of the fraternity of some frontline politicians, who make a habit of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, who secretly wallow in the largesse of the United States of America, whilst, at the same time, promote anti-American sentiments to a populist constituency? Submitting this Agreement to open scrutiny now allows us to clear the unhealthy fog that has clouded our relations with the United States of America.



The conduct of Ghanas foreign policy and its relations with the nations of the world has, happily, been, traditionally, above the passions of partisan politics. Allowing for the normal differences of approach, which will sometimes occur, our foreign policy has been consistently bi-partisan, and no successor government has found the need to tamper with any Agreement of a non-commercial nature, entered into by its predecessor. We respect the age-old norms of international diplomacy that, when a country has accorded concessions and privileges to another, these are not removed or altered by a successor government, unless, firstly, the conditions under which they were granted have been reversed; or, secondly, there is proven evidence of abuse.



My Government came to know that Ghana had entered into a Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America, in 1998, 2000, and under the government of my predecessor in 2015. We were satisfied that the conditions which necessitated the Agreement, namely the creeping threat to the peace of the region, had not disappeared. If anything, the threat had increased and, therefore, the need had arisen for continuing with our co-operation.



No suggestion had ever been made that the United States of America had abused any of the privileges or concessions granted under any of these agreements, and it would, thus, have been deemed an unfriendly act to attempt to deny them any concession granted them under those agreements.



Fellow Ghanaians, above everything else, the crux of the matter is this. Ghana has built a formidable reputation for its contribution to peace-keeping around the world. Although these peace-keeping operations have always been under the aegis of the United Nations, no one doubts the fact that they have been made possible by the contributions largely of the United States of America. The Co-operation Agreement, which has subsisted, which we have approved, can only enhance the global effort to preserve the peace in our region.



It is important also to state that the conditions of the Agreement mirror closely the conditions under which Ghana participates in peace-keeping operations under the United Nations. When our troops go on most peacekeeping duties, they do not carry their national passports, they carry their military identity.



Quite apart from how this Agreement involves the military as an institution, it is worth pointing out that, virtually since independence, Ghana has had very fruitful relations with a range of foreign embassies and major international institutions. These include the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, amongst others. All these agencies enjoy similar conditions as those which the Co-operation Agreement offers to the US military here.



No one has dared suggest that granting these foreign embassies and international institutions these concessions constitute an attack on the sovereignty of Ghana. Nor has anyone also felt that the concessions have in any way worked against the interests of Ghana. Indeed, I have no doubt that it would be the general consensus of all well-informed Ghanaians that this nation has benefitted significantly from the presence and activities of these institutions over the past decades.



It is clear to me that, if the people of Ghana knew the conditions under which foreign embassies and our friendly international institutions operate in Ghana, nobody would have been surprised that a Defence Cooperation Agreement would make such provisions. Such knowledge would have spared many citizens the genuine anxiety and concern they have felt about the Agreement. It is my firm belief that the case for openness and transparency in our governance has been clearly demonstrated, and the argument conclusively settled by these events.



But we have to take issue with the front-line politicians who have sought to mislead the people in this blatant manner, and those who, for mischievous purposes, leaked the document destined for the scrutiny of Parliament prematurely to a section of the media, who then went on to describe it as a secret document. How could a document intended for the consideration of Parliament be described as a secret document? How could anyone who has been in government and run the administration of this nation feign ignorance of the conditions under which Ghanaian troops undertake peace-keeping operations, or the conditions under which our country has collaborated with major international institutions? It is difficult to understand that such people, knowing what they do know, would set about so blatantly to confuse people, and go as far as calling for the overthrow of our democracy? A democracy that has become the beacon of good governance in Africa? A democracy that has survived for a quarter of a century and encompassed even the most irresponsible episodes of ill governance, in a state of unity and stability? A democracy that has provided the framework for systematic developments in our social and economic welfare, and assured us of the longest, uninterrupted period of stable constitutional governance in our history?



Surely, this is the kind of cynical manipulation by reckless self-seekers, which, in the fullness of time, the people of Ghana will acknowledge and condemn. And I am sure that as the facts become clear and widely available, and as the people come to terms with the evidence, they will reject the falsehood and deliberate attempts to destabilize our peaceful country. Truth is sacrosanct.



So let me state with the clearest affirmation that Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America. Indeed, the United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request. However, in consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America. It is our firm belief that the Agreement will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region.



Fellow Ghanaians, let me conclude by saying how outraged I am by the defamatory comments from my political opponents, some of whose patriotism can be so easily questioned, that the sovereignty of this country has been sold by my government and myself. I will never be the President that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom. I have stood with you, the Ghanaian people, all my adult life, fighting for our individual and collective rights. Everything I have done, since assuming the great honour and privilege of serving you as President of the Republic, demonstrates that I remain focused on building a self-reliant, free, prosperous Ghana, which will be able to make her own unique contribution to the growth and development of Africa and the world.



Let us concentrate and spend our energies on working together to achieve that goal of a happy and prosperous Ghana, and reject the hypocrisy of the naysayers who led our country into bankruptcy and the worse economic record of modern Ghanaian history. Let us rise above them, and build the Ghana of our destiny, the land of freedom, justice, progress and prosperity.



May God bless us all, and our homeland Ghana, and make her great and strong. I thank you for your attention. Good night.

















Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Former Chief of defense staff under the Erstwhile NDC administration Brigadier General Nunuoo Mensah has refuted the claims by president Nana Addo that there is no military base in Ghana.



He quizzed the president stating that, obviously when they come here they will not hang in the air they will definitely need a place to stay and keep their military equipment which makes it a military base.



Brigadier Nunuoo Mensah comments is based on the answers by president Nana Addo concerning the Ghana- USA military agreement which has generated into a lot controversy





Source: ghanacrusader









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Two goats escaped from a western Pennsylvania farm apparently sought shelter from the rain by climbing out on an 8-inch steel beam just underneath the platform a 50-foot-high bridge on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

That's where Pa. state police spotted the daring goats Tuesday, but they had no way of getting them down from the bridge beam high over the Mahoning River in Beaver County, TribLive.com reports.

So both Turnpike workers and PennDOT employees combined their engineering know-how to rescue the goats, with both agencies tweeting out descriptions and photos of the daring goat rescue.

In the end, it took a PennDOT crane extended from the top of the bridge to reach down and get the goats so precariously perched on the narrow steel beam underneath the bridge.

Both goats were safely rescue and presumably returned to their farm where everyone hopes they will stay put.

Their turnpike adventures are over.
Of the thousands of people wanted in Pennsylvania, here are some of the criminals sought across the Keystone State.

Randy Howard (Arrested)

A convicted felon wanted in connection to an assault of 62-year-old Columbia man was arrested Thursday evening.

Randy Cornell Howard jumped out of a second-floor window of a home on the 100 block of Locust Street in Columbia, trying to avoid arrest, police said. He was quickly apprehended by arresting officers during the warrant service at around 7 p.m.

Howard was wanted on several charges stemming from the attack Sept. 3, 3017, on the 600 block of Walnut Street in Columbia. He was part of a group of several men who "violently assaulted" the man and fled the scene, police said.

At the time of the attack, Howard was on probation for a robbery conviction in 2015. He was taken to Lancaster County central booking and is awaiting arraignment.

An accomplice in the September 2017 assault, Shakim McIlwain, was convicted for his role in the incident on March 6. McIlwain is awaiting sentencing in the case.

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Vincent Crockenberg (Arrested)

A convicted felon accused of committing a home invasion robbery in West Hanover Township after he failed to return to a privately-run work-release center in February was arrested wto weeks ago, state police confirm.

Vincent Crockenberg, 25, was arrested without incident in the Philadelphia area, according to state police spokesman Brent Miller.

He was transported to Dauphin County Prison on Tuesday.

Crockenberg, who has a history of burglary convictions, was allowed to leave Keystone Correctional Services facility on a pass and failed to return as scheduled by 7 p.m. on Feb. 18.

He is accused of then breaking into a home on the 7200 block of Linglestown Road and was caught in the act when the victim returned home, state police said. Crockenberg, who was dressed in all black and wearing a black mask, pointed a small handgun at the victim and demanded money.

After getting an undisclosed amount of cash, Crockenberg fled the scene on foot.

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Kristine Deitz

The Cumberland County sheriff's office is looking for a 36-year-old woman who failed to report to her work-release job and return to the county prison.

Kristine Lynn Deitz was last seen leaving the prison around 10 p.m. Monday March 20 for her job. She never showed up at work and didn't return to the prison after her scheduled shift.

Deitz is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall, 115 pounds, with blondish-brown hair and brown eyes. She is serving time for not paying child support.

Anyone with information can call the sheriff's office at 717-240-6396 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. After hours call the Cumberland County Communications Center at 717-243-4121 and ask for the on-call deputy sheriff.

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Haider Jamiel

Haider Abdul Jamiel is wanted for failure to appear at in court.

Jamiel is considered armed and dangerous. He has ties to Erie, Detroit and Iraq, officials said.

Anyone with information as to Jamiel's whereabouts is asked to contact U.S. Marshals at 814-464-9683, 412-422-4722 or 412-644-6628.

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Mark Kutnyak

Mark Kutnyak, among the state police's 10 most wanted suspects, is charged with absconding Megan's Law since 2013.

Kutnyak, whose last known address was in Pipersville, Bucks county, was convicted of aggravated indecent assault.

He is 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds and has gray hair and brown eyes. Kutnyak has a surgical scar on his chest and an eagle tattoo on his right arm.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the state police fugitive tip line at 1-888-292-1919 or email tips@pa.gov.

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Elihu Blackmon

Elihu R. Blackmon III is wanted after police found 30 to 40 pounds of marijuana in a Hertz rental van he and Christian Abell were stopped in on Dec. 22.

Newtown Township police were investigating a loitering and prowling incident in the area of Providence Court and Twining Bridge Road. Blackmon and Abell were pulled over and officers smelled marijuana. Authorities also found $19,000 in cash.

The vehicle was impounded and police later found the marijuana, more than 700 marijuana vaporizers and $80,000 in cash inside of wrapped Christmas presents and luggage.

Abell was arrested and is being held at Bucks County Prison on $500,000 bail.

Anyone with information as to Blackmon's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Hector Pittman

Fairview Township police are looking for the man they say provided a fatal dose of drugs that led to a woman's death earlier this year.

Hector Q. Pittman is charged with felony drug delivery resulting in death possession with intent to distribute and involuntary manslaughter. The woman died at a hotel on Limekiln Road in August, police said.

Autopsy results revealed opioid toxicity was the cause of death and she had morphine and fentanyl in her system. Police said Pittman delivered the drugs in question and then the woman died a short time later.

Anyone with information as to Pittman's whereabouts is asked to contact Fairview Township police at 717-901-5267.

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Anna Troitsky

Anna Troitsky is wanted on felony charges for interference with custody of children.

Troitsky is accused of taking her daughter to Russia against the orders of a Bucks County Judge.

Anyone with information as to Troitsky's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Anatoliy Venskyy

Anatoliy A. Venskyy is wanted after failing to appear in court in September 2016.

Venskyy was found guilty of aggravated indecent assault and other child abuse charges, but failed to appear in court for sentencing. He has ties to Millville and Buena, New Jersey, as well as New Cumberland Mechanicsburg, Boiling Springs, Harrisburg and Carlisle.

Anyone with information as to Venskyy's whereabouts is asked to contact Cumberland County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-628-8477.

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Brian Smith

Susquehanna Regional police are looking for a 31-year-old man accused of fraud and stealing credit cards.

Brian Allen Smith is accused of advertising services as a disc jockey for hire on Facebook and other social media sites, but never showing up to perform at the weddings or other events as promised. Police said Smith would get half of the money for the appearance up front.

Police said Smith also stole credit cards and used them at convenience stores in the area. The fraud and thefts occurred between May and October in the Marietta area, officials said.

Police ask anyone with information as to Smith's whereabouts to call 717-426-1164 or email Det. Michael Kimes at kimesm@police.co.lancaster.pa.us.

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Dean Barnes Jr.

Dean Allen Barnes Jr. is wanted for delivery of a controlled substance stemming from a 2015 incident where he sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant.

Anyone with information as to Barnes' whereabouts is asked to submit a tip to Dauphin County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-262-3080 or submit at tip through the Crimewatch website.

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Felix Arias-Cruz

Felix M. Arias-Cruz is wanted on a bench warrant for failure to appear in federal court on drug felony charges. U.S. Marshals say Arias-Cruz has ties to the Erie area. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information as to Arias-Cruz's whereabouts is asked to contact U.S. Marshals at 412-422-4722. A reward may be available.

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Michael Akerly

U.S. Marshals are looking for an Erie County man wanted in a 1998 rape.

Michael Edward "Pip" Akerly, 57, is accused of raping and beating a woman in his former home in an old warehouse in Erie on Feb. 4, 1998.

He was arrested and charged, but failed to appear in court, and is now also wanted on a charge of unlawful flight to avoid apprehension.

His last known address was in the 1900 block of Plum Street, Erie, but he is known to frequent Wattsburg, Erie County; Chautauqua, N.Y. (possibly hiding in the Amish community); and North Carolina. He may also frequent music stores and recording studios.

Akerly is described as 6 feet 4 inches tall, 190 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair, and a scar on his right leg.

Anyone with information is asked to call Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-472-8477. All callers remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.

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Gun shop burglars

Police have released surveillance photo of three people who broke into a Lancaster County gun shop and stole 17 handguns and rifles early Feb. 5.

The theft occurred just after 3 a.m. at the Trop Gun Shop along the 900 block of North Hanover Street in Mount Joy Township, according to the Northwest Regional Police Department.

Police said the burglars were inside the store for about two minutes and were gone before officers arrived at the scene.

The suspects, who had their faces covered by hooded coats, are described as:

 A light-skinned suspect, 5 feet 6 to 9 inches tall, wearing a red hooded jacket, black pants, gray underwear with red waistband, black gloves and face covering.

 A light-skinned suspect, 5 feet 8-11 inches tall, wearing a black jacket, pans and underwear; white belt, light green hooded sweatshirt and black gloves, using a dark-colored bag.

 A light-skinned suspect, 5 feet 8-11 inches tall, wearing a long camo-print hooded jacket, black gloves, using a dark bag.

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Tyron Mosley

Tyron Mosley is wanted for escape.

Mosley walked away from the Dauphin County Work Release Center May 26, 2016, and has not been seen since.

He may have been spotted July 26, 2017, at the Hall Manor complex.

Anyone with information as to Mosley's whereabouts is asked to contact Dauphin County dispatches at 717-558-6900.

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Hakim Mustafa

A suspect in a stabbing homicide in Philadelphia last month may have fled to Lancaster, according to police.

A criminal homicide warrant was issued for Hakim Mustafa, 34, of Philadelphia, after a 57-year-old woman was stabbed to death in early July, police said.

Mustafa has not been seen in Lancaster, but Philadelphia detectives think he may have fled to the area and want to get his name and face out to the public, according to Lancaster police Lt. Bill Hickey.

Mustafa may have injured his hands during the incident, police said.

Anyone with information about Mustafa can contact Philadelphia police at 212-686-3068 or on the Philly's most wanted website. Information can also be submitted to Lancaster Crime Stoppers at 800-322-1913 or by anonymously texting a tip to 847411.

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Bobbie Jo Freshwater

Bobbie Jo Freshwater is wanted for escape, resisting arrest and institutional vandalism stemming from an incident March 21, 2014.

Anyone with information as to Freshwater's whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS.

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Nathanael Whitlock

Nathanael Whitlock is wanted by Parkesburg police for forgery and related charges.

Whitlock is accused of forgery, writing bad checks, theft and related offenses stemming from an incident Jan. 3 in Parkesburg. Whitlock is also accused of forgery in Lancaster County on the same day in East Lampeter Township in two separate incidents.

Anyone with information as to Whitlock's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip through the Crimewatch website.

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Mandi Gindlesperger-Sitton

Mandi Lee Gindlesperger-Sitton is wanted for failure to return to the Renewal Community Corrections Center from her work release job.

Gindlesperger-Sitton,34, is serving time for a persons not possess firearm charge and has an extensive criminal history, state police in Pittsburg said. She is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 205 pounds.

Her last known address is on the 300 block of Park Avenue in Johnstown. She was also known to frequent Ryasko Road in Central City.

Anyone with information as to Gindlesperger-Sitton's whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS.

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Nicole Fritchlee

Authorities are still looking for a woman accused of sexually abusing a pre-teen, after she skipped several court proceedings in Lancaster County.

Nicole Fritchlee, 40, skipped her April 22, 2015 arraignment in Lancaster County Court on the sex abuse charges. She has been wanted since last fall, when authorities said she may have taken a train to the Scranton area on Sept. 26.

Fritchlee is accused of sexually abusing a girl beginning when the child was 7 years old. The abuse occurred between 2006 and 2008 at a home in West Hempfield Township, according to a news release from the Lancaster County district attorney's office.

Fritchlee is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault of a person less than 13, sexual contact with a minor and corruption of a minor. Fritchlee, also known as Nicole Padulese, last resided in Dallastown in York County, police said.

Officials believe Fritchlee is with her 5-year-old daughter. The girl is considered a missing person.

Fritchlee is 5 feet 4-inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. Police said she has been known to stay with friends in York County in Spring Garden Township and Landisville.

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Kristen Risko

Kristen Risko is wanted for armed robbery and a probation violation. U.S. Marshals say she has ties to the Pitcairn area.

Anyone with information as to Risko's whereabouts is asked to contact U.S. Marshals at 412-422-4722.

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Mark Diouf

Mark Diouf is wanted in connection to a Nov. 5, 2013 burglary on Circle Drive in New Britain Township.

Police said an investigation determined Diouf was the perpetrator in numerous burglaries in multiple jurisdictions. Diouf fled the country before being arrested and was last known to be in Portugal. His whereabouts are unknown.

Anyone with information as to Diouf's location is asked to contact New Britain Township police at 215-8221910 or submit a tip through the Crimewatch website.

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Julio Maldonado

Lancaster County Crime Stoppers released a photo of a man wanted for sexually assaulting a minor.

Julio Maldonado, 43, of Manor Township, is accused of sexually assaulting a child between September and December 2015 at a residence in Manor Township, according to a news release. Maldonado reportedly committed the assault against a 6-year-old girl, according to a LancasterOnline.com report.

Maldonado is charged with felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of a person less than 13, indecent assault of a person less than 13, unlawful sexual contact with a minor and corruption of minors. Manor Township police obtained the arrest warrant June 28, but have not apprehended Maldonado.

Anyone with information related to the case or as to Maldonado's whereabouts is asked to contact Manor Township police at 717-299-5231; call Lancaster City-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-322-1913; submit a tip button on the Lancaster police website; or text a tip to Crime Stoppers by texting LANCS plus your message to 847411.

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Tayvaughn Chandler-Hope

West Manchester Township Police are seeking Tayyaughn Chandler-Hope in connection to a road rage shooting in June.

Police further said Chandler-Hope is considered to be armed and dangerous. If seen, do not approach him and contact 911 immediately.

Police said Friday that Chandler-Hope has been charged with attempted homicide. Anyone with information of Chandler-Hope's whereabouts is asked to call the West Manchester Township Police Department at 717-792-9514.

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Lina Nilan

Lina Louise Nilan is wanted for failing to appear in court.

Nilan was to appear in court for a case in which she stole checks from her employer, writing several to her family members without permission in 2014, officials said. She has been charged with 13 counts of forgery, receiving stolen property and theft by unlawful taking.

Anyone with information as to Nilan's whereabouts is asked to contact West Chester police at 610-436-1337.

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Salvador Castillo-Tobar

Police in Chambersburg said an arrest warrant has been issued for Salvador Castillo-Tobar, no age or address given, on charges of rape, indecent assault, simple assault, sexual assault and unlawful restraint.

Castillo-Tobar is accused of attacking the 16-year-old victim on Aug. 13, 2008, police said.

Anyone with information about Castillo-Tobar is asked to contact police at 717-264-4131 or submit an anonymous tip here.

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Michelle Blackburn

Michelle Blackburn is wanted for escape and probation violations.

A warrant was issued for her arrest May 14, 2015, about a week after she was charged with escape.

Anyone with information as to Blackburn's whereabouts is asked to contact the Adams County sheriff's office at 717-337-9828 or submit a tip through the Crimewatch website.

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Noel Del Cid

The Philadelphia Police Department is seeking the public's assistance in locating the person(s) responsible for the murder of 54-year-old Thoung Nguyen on March 3, 2016.

Homicide investigators are seeking the male depicted in the attached photos for a homicide which happened at approximately 9:10 PM.

Officers were in the area of 500 Washington Avenue when the owners of Lee's Cafe & Bistro flagged them down concerning one of their employees. The officers were directed to the basement of the business, which is the food prep./kitchen area.

Upon entering the basement, officers found Nguyen lying on the floor, suffering from a large cut across her throat.

EMS responded to the scene and pronounced Nguyen, of the 2000 block of Emily Street, dead at 9:15 PM.

Nguyen was a cook at the restaurant and was in the basement preparing food with another employee, Noel Ortea Lemus Del Cid, who goes by "Noel," just before she was found dead, police said.

The owner of the business sent an order to the kitchen, and after 10 minutes he did not receive any food, police said. He went to the basement and found Nguyen alone lying on the floor with her throat slashed, police said.

A warrant was issued for Del Cid, who remains at large.

Del Cid is believed to be a 27-year-old Honduran national with the last known address of 1331 South 9th St.

He is 5 feet 6 inches tall with a thin-to-medium works as as a kitchen helper in restaurants. He may have had a cut to one of his hands drives a white SUV.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of "Noel" is asked to contact:

The Philadelphia Police Department's homicide unit at 215-686-3334, or call 911.

Information also can be shared via the Philadelphia Police Tip Line at 215-686-TIPS (8477), or email tips to tips@phillypolice.com

A $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in all homicide investigations.

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Isidro Valencia

Isidro Jose Valencia is wanted in connection to an incident on Nov. 18, 2015.

Valencia charged with misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors, defiant trespass and other counts. Anyone with information as to Valencia's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

Isidro Jose Valencia is wanted in connection to an incident on Nov. 18, 2015.

Valencia charged with misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors, defiant trespass and other counts. Anyone with information as to Valencia's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Juan Lopez

Juan Lopez is charged with felony counts of forgery and theft stemming from an incident Feb. 17, 2017 in Newtown.

Lopez is accused of trying to cash a check at Provident Bank in the borough, which had his name on it, but a different amount than what was denoted on the check. Police contacted the business that had issued the check and learned that the company never issued a check to Lopez.

Lopez was subsequently charged and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

Anyone with information as to Lopez's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Kione White

Police in Lancaster County have an arrest warrant out for a man whom they say fled a DUI checkpoint and almost struck an officer.

The Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department issued the warrant on Friday for 19-year-old Kione W. White, of Lititz.

Police say around 1:30 a.m. Aug. 26, police were conducting a DUI checkpoint in Lititz. That's when they say White fled from the checkpoint and almost struck one of the police officers.

He has been charged with aggravated assault, fleeing or attempting to elude police, and recklessly endangering another person.

Anyone with information about him is asked to call the police, 717-733-0965, or contact the department through its website.

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Lorrie Trites

The FBI is offering an award for information that will lead them to a former Franklin & Marshall College swim coach who has been on the run since 1998.

Lorrie John Trites, 53, is accused of secretly videotaping young women undressing in a locker room between December of 1997 and February of 1998 while he was the head swimming coach at the college. He was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List after he disappeared following the allegations.

Trites allegedly took video and voice recordings of several young women as they changed their clothing in the ladies locker room of the college's aquatic center.

An arrest warrant was issued on March 10, 1998 that charged Trites with six counts of violating the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act. He was then additionally charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in a federal arrest warrant, which was issued in April of 1999, the FBI said.

Officials warned that Trites should be considered armed and dangerous and may be using the names L. John Trites, John Trites, John Morgan or "Buddy."

Trites is an avid swimmer and may be involved in some way with the swimming community, according to the FBI. He is reported to have ties to New Mexico, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Canada, Trinidad and the Bahamas.

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Jonah Germany

Lower Paxton Township police are looking for a man accused of pinning a woman against a bed with a gun against her face, trying to rob her.

Jonah Germany, 26, of the 4800 block of Lancer Street, is accused in the July 5 incident the 4400 block of Augusta Drive, police said.

Germany was driven to the victim's residence by a mutual friend after saying he had left a phone charger there that he wanted to retrieve.

Once inside, he followed the upstairs, displayed a firearm and demanded money. A struggle ensued and the woman accused Germany of pinning her against a bed and placing a gun in her face.

The woman was able to free herself and locked herself in an adjacent bedroom, and Germany fled.

Anyone with information on Germany's whereabouts is asked to call Lower Paxton Township police at 717-657-5656 or submit a tip on the Dauphin County Crimewatch site.

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Richard Brown

Richard Owen Brown is wanted in connection to a 2011 home invasion robbery in Willistown Township.

Brown is wanted on 21 counts, including numerous felonies, stemming from the incident.

Anyone with information as to Brown's whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS.

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James Miller

James Aaron Miller is accused of stealing a large amount of cash from a Giant on the 900 block of Norland Avenue in Waynesboro in December 2015.

Miller was the night manager of the store when he took the cash from a safe, Chambersburg police said. He deactivated the alarm to the store's emergency door and fled.

Anyone with information regarding Miller's whereabouts is asked to contact Chambersburg Police Department at 717-264-4131 or Franklin County Crime Solvers at 717-263-3000.

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Sandy Rivera

Sandy Rivera is wanted on drug charges stemming from a search warrant executed on March 16, 2011.

Rivera is wanted on a felony count of possession with the intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Anyone with information as to River's whereabouts is asked to contact Chambersburg police through the Crimewatch website.

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Lenin Valentin

Authorities are looking for Lenin Valentin who has been wanted on drug charges since he failed to appear in court in 2004.

Valentin is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall and 185 pounds. He has ties to the Bronx, New York, Killeen and Fort Hood, Texas, and Lancaster Pennsylvania.

He remains one of the most wanted persons in the state. Anyone with information as to Valentin's whereabouts is asked to contact Lancaster police at 717-735-3400 or to call U.S. Marshals at 1-877-WANTED-2.

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Buddy Gilliland

Buddy Ryan Gilliland is wanted for theft, theft by deception and endangering the welfare of children. He is sought on multiple warrants, police said.

Anyone with information as to Gilliland's whereabouts is asked to contact Manheim Township police at 717-569-6401.

Buddy Ryan Gilliland is wanted for theft, theft by deception and endangering the welfare of children. He is sought on multiple warrants, police said.

Anyone with information as to Gilliland's whereabouts is asked to contact Manheim Township police at 717-569-6401.

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Freddys Dionicio-Gomez

Lancaster police are looking for a suspect in connection with a Jan. 26 shooting at outside a club.

Police are looking for Freddys Dionicio-Gomez, 33, formerly of the 400 block of East Strawberry Street, Lancaster, who is accused of shooting a security guard in the arm.

Another suspect has not yet been identified.

The victim told police he had removed several people from the club Jan. 26, and one threatened that he was going to come back to the club in the 400 block of Pershing Avenue to shoot him.

The man returned with a handgun and tried to shoot at another person at the club, police said. The victim intervened and the suspect attempted to shoot him in the head, police said.

The victim, who was shot in the arm, sustained powder burns on his face as a result of the gun being discharged so close to his head.

During the course of the struggle, the suspect fired 10-12 times, police were told. At least two gunshots struck the club and home in the 100 block of Locust Street.

Warrants were issued for the arrest of Dionicio-Gomez on charges of attempted homicide and two counts each of reckless endangerment and discharging a firearm into an occupied structure.

Anyone with information on this incident or the location of the suspect is asked to contact Det. Stan Roache at 717-735-3360 or roaches@lancasterpolice.com or Lancaster Crime Stoppers at 800-322-1913, or Text a Tip to Crime Stoppers by using your cell phone (text LANCS plus your message to 847411.)

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Criston Littlejohn

Criston Littlejohn is wanted on multiple charges related to drug dealing after police learned he was picking up packages containing controlled substances in Newtown Township.

Newtown Township police stopped Littlejohn in his black Dodge Charger on May 12, 2015 and found on the of the packages in the trunk containing 15 pounds of marijuana. Littlejohn gave police fraudulent temporary registration from Delaware and was unable to provide proof of insurance.

Littlejohn is wanted in Bucks County and in Philadelphia in separate cases.

Anyone with information as to Littlejohn's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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James Watts

James Garland Watts is wanted for a 2008 homicide and attempted homicide.

Watts is accused of shooting David and Shawnta Lee during what police described as a home invasion and burglary March 23, 2008. Police said Watts shot the couple, but David Lee survived the attack.

Watts has been on the run since. He is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 195 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information as to Watts' whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-472-8477 or submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Hit-and-run driver

Hanover police have released surveillance photos of a van believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run crash last year that killed a 4-year-old girl.



The van struck Dakota Wright as she was crossing the street at around 7:10 p.m. November 22 on the 200 block of Princess Street in Hanover. Dakota was taken to Hanover Hospital where she died of her injuries.

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Kevin Purnell

Kevin Jay Purnell is one of the 10 most wanted people by state police.

Purnell, also known as "Big Kev," is considered armed and dangerous. His last known address was in New Castle Delaware, but he is wanted on charges in Coatesville.

Purnell is charged with rape of a minor, indecent assault and corruption of minors.

Anyone with information as to Purnell's whereabouts is asked to submit at tip here.

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Erbert Jackson

Erbert Lee Jackson is wanted in connection an overdose death in May.

An 18-year-old man was found May 16 after he overdosed at a home on Old Forge Road in New Cumberland. The man died of fentanyl toxicity, police said.

An investigation determined that Jackson sold the man heroin prior to his death.

Jackson, also known as June, is facing felony counts of drug delivery resulting in death, delivery of a controlled substance, conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and involuntary manslaughter.

Fairview Township police said Jackson is known to travel between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Anyone with information as to his whereabouts is asked to contact police at 717-9015267 or call York County Crime Stoppers at 717-755-8477.

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Dareece Hairston

Harrisburg police are looking for a 26-year-old man who they say extorted money from a victim he had a sexual relationship with earlier this month.

Dareece Lamar Hairston and victim met through a Craigslist ad and engaged in consensual sexual interactions Jan. 31 in Harrisburg and Steelton. After the second encounter, Hairston told the victim he was a minor and demanded cash or he would report the fling.

The victim withdrew $290 from his account and gave the money to Hairston, police said. Hairston was unsatisfied and demanded the victim rent him a vehicle. The pair went to a local car rental business and rented a 2016 Chevrolet Cruze that was to be returned Feb. 2.

Hairston didn't return the vehicle at the scheduled time and the victim learned through an email that Hairston gave the vehicle to another person. Police said the vehicle was recovered Feb. 6 in Maryland. The victim was charged $1,500 by the rental car company for the rental and damages, bringing the victim's total loss to $1,790.

During the investigation, police identified Hairston as a suspect and verified he was not a minor.

Hairston is charged with a felony count of extortion and a misdemeanor count of theft of leased property. Anyone with information as to his whereabouts is asked to contact Harrisburg police though Dauphin County dispatches at 717-558-6900.

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Shatina Thompkins

Shatina Brittanie Thompkins is accused of stealing more than $100,000 through fraud and forgery.

Plymouth Township police say Thompkins cashed checks from one victim's Wells Fargo account totaling $16,000. She is charged with fraud, forgery and related charges as a result of that theft and several others, which total more than six figures.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Shantina Brittanie Thompkins is asked to contact the Plymouth Township Police Department, Detective Division at 610-279-1901.

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Eleuterio Urrutia Catalan

State police continue their search for Eleuterio Urrutia Catalan.

Catalan, 38, sexually assaulted two juveniles numerous times in West Nottingham Township, Chester County, between April and July of 2009, police said. Eleuterio Catalan, whose last known address was in Nottingham, fled the area, according to police.

Catalan, also known as "Tello," is known to frequent La Palma and Guerrero, Mexico, police said.

He is described as a Hispanic male who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 155 pounds. Catalan has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information on Catalan's whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. All callers remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.

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Angel Colon

State police are looking for a 58-year-old man in connection to reported rape and sexual assault more than 15 years ago.

Angel E. Colon is wanted on charges he raped and abused a 10-year-old girl between January 1, 2001, and August 19, 2002, in Hazelton. Colon has ties to New York City and the Dominican Republic.

Anyone with information as to Colon's whereabouts is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS or submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Ashley Davis

Lower Paxton Township police are looking for a man accused of pinning a woman against a bed with a gun against her face, trying to rob her.

Jonah Germany, 26, of the 4800 block of Lancer Street, is accused in the July 5 incident the 4400 block of Augusta Drive, police said.

Germany was driven to the victim's residence by a mutual friend after saying he had left a phone charger there that he wanted to retrieve.

Once inside, he followed the upstairs, displayed a firearm and demanded money. A struggle ensued and the woman accused Germany of pinning her against a bed and placing a gun in her face.

The woman was able to free herself and locked herself in an adjacent bedroom, and Germany fled.

Anyone with information on Germany's whereabouts is asked to call Lower Paxton Township police at 717-657-5656 or submit a tip on the Dauphin County Crimewatch site.

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Randall McFadden

The U.S. Marshals Service is searching for a convicted bomb maker who left his federal parole residence in Pittsburgh and didn't return.

Randall McFadden, 62, is charged with violating parole conditions by recently absconding from his residence at the Salvation Army, 44 S. Ninth St., Pittsburgh. He was charged March 3.

McFadden completed a 30-year federal prison sentence after he was convicted on charges of mailing a destructive device with the intent to kill or injure, possession of a firearm and damaging and destroying by explosive a building owned by the U.S. Post Office.

He also was charged with possession of an explosive device while in custody in federal prison.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of McFadden is asked to contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. All callers remain anonymous and could be eligible for a cash reward.

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Charles Jean-Pierre and Mackendry Felix

Charles Jean-Pierre, 31 and Mackendry Felix, 32, are wanted for making nearly $9,553.67 in fraudulent credit card purchases using stolen debit card information.

Manheim Township police said the men made purchases across the state, including in their jurisdiction.

Anyone with information as to Jean-Pierre and Felix's whereabouts is asked to call Manheim Township police at 717-569-6401 or the anonymous tip line at 717-569-2816.

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Elihu Blackmon

Elihu R. Blackmon III is wanted after police found 30 to 40 pounds of marijuana in a Hertz rental van he and Christian Abell were stopped in on Dec. 22.

Newtown Township police were investigating a loitering and prowling incident in the area of Providence Court and Twining Bridge Road. Blackmon and Abell were pulled over and officers smelled marijuana. Authorities also found $19,000 in cash.

The vehicle was impounded and police later found the marijuana, more than 700 marijuana vaporizers and $80,000 in cash inside of wrapped Christmas presents and luggage.

Abell was arrested and is being held at Bucks County Prison on $500,000 bail.

Anyone with information as to Blackmon's whereabouts is asked to submit a tip via the Crimewatch website.

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Taylor Wike

Taylor Mcoy Wike, 26, of Lancaster, was wanted on an aggravated assault charge.

Wike was arrested and is scheduled for a status conference related to the case Feb. 15.

He is accused of stabbing a 35-year-old man July 10 at East End Avenue and South Plum Street. The victim was stabbed on his right arm, now and behind his right ear, and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Police said they believe the stabbing stemmed from a dispute between the victim, his friend and another group of males at Prince of Subs bar on South Prince Street earlier that evening.

Police also said six shots had been fired in the area of South Plum and East Mifflin streets that evening. The victim ran from the scene, and his vehicle was found crashed into a parked car. The victim told police he believes someone from his group of attackers took it after he ran had had been shot at.

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Shakur Tennant

Shakur Aziz Tennant is wanted by the Cumberland County drug task force for delivery of controlled substances.

Tennant's last known address was on the 500 block of Geneva Drive in Mechanicsburg.

Anyone with information as to Tennant's whereabouts is asked to contact 911.

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Oneximo Mendez

Oneximo Mendez, 42, failed to appear in Lancaster County Court for his rape trial in 2014 and has not been seen since. He had been out on bail.

Anyone with information regarding Mendez's whereabouts are asked to contact Lancaster County Sheriff's department at (717) 735-299-8200 or the Lancaster City Police Department at (717) 735-3322.

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Ronald Warren

Ronald Warren is wanted on several warrants charging him with aggravated assault and rape.

Police said he violently beat someone with a baseball bat and, in a separate incident, raped a woman in the back of a laundromat.

If you see him submit a tip here.

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Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

Six dioceses under investigation: The story so far

As early as May, a state grand jury is expected to release the findings of its investigation into allegations of clergy sex abuse across six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania.

Since 2016, when the grand jury was empaneled, investigators have been hearing testimony and examining documents in connection to allegations that church officials, in some cases for decades, failed to protect children from predator priests.

Here is a primer of this developing story so far:

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The grand jury has been investigating allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic dioceses of Harrisburg, Allentown, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Erie and Scranton. It is not clear how many victims or church officials have been subpoenaed by the panel.

In a written statement to PennLive, Pennsylvania Catholic Conference spokesperson Amy Hill said:

"The Catholic Church has embraced the need to make this right for survivors. Pennsylvania's dioceses have fully cooperated with the grand jury's investigation. Every diocese in Pennsylvania has helped survivors and their families pay for counselors and treatment programs of their choice, and will continue to do so. We pray the victims and their families can recover as they continue through a difficult healing process."

Here's what we know about the dioceses being investigated:

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Diocese of Harrisburg: Serves more than a quarter-of-a-million parishioners and encompasses 15 counties, including Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union and York.

The diocese has one cathedral - St. Patrick - and two basilicas, Sacred Heart Basilica, Conewago (the oldest stone church in use in the United States) and the Basilica of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Danville.

Over the years,

have been identified in allegations of child sex abuse -

.

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Will Harrisburg release names?

Officials with the Harrisburg Diocese on Thursday told PennLive that they may revisit an earlier plan to release a list of priests who have been accused of child sex abuse. The diocese in 2016 tabled such a plan after the state attorney general's office advised the diocese not to release the list. Officials declined to say how many priests were on the list.

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The Associated Press

The Diocese of Allentown encompasses Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties and serves more than a quarter-of-a-million Catholics. Diocesan spokesman Matt Kerr this week told The Morning Call in Allentown that church officials in the diocese were subpoenaed in September 2016. Officials turned over to investigators all the records requested, he said.

The diocese has over the years faced multiple accusations against priests with lawsuits alleging that the diocese systematically covered up decades of sexual abuse by priests through secret files, code words and transfers, according to BishopAccountability.

Past lawsuits have claimed the diocese promoted accused priests, supported them and transferred them without revealing past allegations.

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Matt Rourke

Archdiocese of Philadelphia

The themes that came out of Boston and other large archdioceses across the U.S., including Los Angeles, reverberated in two stunning grand jury investigations into clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania - that out of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.

Investigators in Philadelphia in 2011 found widespread clergy sexual abuse and concealment by church officials. As a result, in addition to the removal of a number of priests deemed unsuitable for the priesthood, the Philadelphia report resulted in the conviction and sentencing of Monsignor William Lynn, the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic Church official convicted in a child sex abuse scandal. He served nearly three years of a three- to six-year sentence when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed his conviction over trial errors. He's currently a free man.

A judge in March 2017 allowed in a ruling for prosecutors to retry Lynn in connection with his handling of sex abuse complaints involving children and priests. Because of an unresolved defense defense appeal, that retrial for Lynn wasn't expected to take place until this year.

Lynn is pictured here in 2012 before a scheduled verdict reading in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

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AP

Costly scandal

A

found that more than 4,000 U.S. priests had faced sexual abuse allegations in the last 50 years. The cases involved more than 10,000 children - mostly boys.

Between 2004 and 2013, the Catholic Church spent more than $2 billion in a settlements, therapy for victims, support for offenders and attorneys' fees with regards to clergy sexual abuse.

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Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown investigation

In March 2016, a report from a grand jury investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of children in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown found widespread abuse involving at least 50 priests or religious leaders. The findings revealed a history of diocesan superiors concealing the child abuse as part of an effort to protect the church's image.

The

found the systemic abuse of thousands of children over decades by priests and church leaders in the diocese. It detailed - at times graphically -- accounts of sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests and church leaders, including the late Monsignor Francis B. McCaa, whom the report noted, was "a monster" who groped and fondled the genitals of at least 15 boys, many of them altar boys.

A poster from the 37th Statewide Investigative Grand Jury shows a timeline of child sexual abuse by over 50 priests in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese over the past 40 years. Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

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PAHAP Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com

Six months after the release of the findings in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, state investigators launched their latest probe into the six counties currently under investigation.

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PennLive File

Diocese of Pittsburgh encompasses Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties. Victims of abuse have for years alleged widespread clergy sex abuse across the diocese and deep cover-up by church officials.

In 2004, more than two dozen complaints were filed against the diocese, alleging that it covered up child sexual abuse accusations against five priests. The statute of limitations had expired on all the cases. Attorneys for the victims sued the diocese and not the priests, naming then-Bishop Donald Wuerl and the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

Like other dioceses under investigation, the state attorney general's office subpoenaed documents relating to sexual abuse by priests from the diocese in September of 2016. According to media reports, investigators requested files dating back to 1947.

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PennLive File

Diocese of Greensburg: encompasses Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana, and Westmoreland counties.

The diocese has been named in a number of lawsuits alleging clergy sex abuse of children over the years. In 2005 lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County court, a 52-year-old man accused the late Rev. Francis Lesniak of abusing him in the mid-1960s, when the man was a 12- or 13-year-old boy.

According to the lawsuit, the abuse happened when Lesniak worked at the St. Stanislaus Church in Calmut. The boy was a parishioner. Lesniak died in February 1991. The lawsuit named the diocese and retired Bishop Anthony Bosco as defendants.

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PennLive File

Diocese of Scranton: encompasses Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne and Wyoming counties.

More than 25 priests from the diocese have been accused of child sexual abuse allegations since 1950, according to The Pocono Record. In April, the diocese removed the Rev. Martin M. Boylan as pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in West Scranton and episcopal vicar for the Northern Pastoral Region, after an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor surfaced. The alleged abuse happened in Wayne County, according to the media outlet.

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Diocese of Erie: encompasses Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Venango, and Warren counties.

In late March, Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico announced the diocese would release the names of priests who had been removed from ministry, retired, or left the ministry after being accused of sexual assault. The announcement came two days after neighboring Buffalo Diocese released the names of priests who faced similar accusations.

According to

, the Erie Diocese previously had never disclosed the names of priests accused of or dismissed in the past over allegations of sexual abuse. The diocese in 2004 released information that showed 20 priests were credibly accused of sexually abusing 38 minors in the diocese from 1950 to 2002.

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Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Worldwide scandal

The ongoing grand jury investigation is the latest chapter of a clergy sex abuse scandal that has embattled the 1.2 billion strong Roman Catholic Church for decades. In 2002, The Boston Globe uncovered widespread sexual abuse of children by scores of priests in Boston and the systemic cover-up by church officials.

That investigation resulted in hundreds of priests, deacons, religious order clerics, nuns and other church officials been accused of child sex abuse.

Scores of individuals tied to the church faced criminal charges, lawsuits and convictions.

The archdiocese in 2011 published

of accused clergy, naming a total of 159 clerics. The

that the archdiocese list excluded the names of 70 religious order clerics who had been accused.

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AP

Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown investigation

Brian Gergely (right) was sexually abused by his priest for years. Gergely, 46, took his own life on Friday, July 1, 2016. He is pictured here with Kevin Hoover in 2003 in the wake of a lawsuit they filed against the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. (Associated Press)

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AP

Grand jury investigation

Sources close to the investigation suggest that investigators have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of victims who have come forth and testified and the volume of information and documents.

Carolyn Simpson, a spokesperson for the state Office of Attorney General, however, cautioned about any characterization of the investigation.

"Protecting the secrecy of Statewide Investigating Grand Juries is paramount," Simpson said in a written statement to PennLive. "Only those individuals directly involved with the Grand Jury are aware of its inner workings, and any speculation on current or former investigations from people outside of that small population should be dismissed."

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Anonymous

The human toll of abuse

Victims of clergy sex abuse have long demanded reform to the state's statute of limitations, which as currently written, bar the majority of adults who were abused decades ago as children from legal recourse to bring predators or church officials to justice. Many victims face lingering suffering from emotional pain, and many turn to substance abuse and even suicide.

Lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully for years to reform state law.

(AP Photo)
The head of one of Pennsylvania's largest Catholic dioceses on Friday explained to PennLive what compelled him to break rank from other dioceses and release the names of priests and laypeople who had been credibly accused of sexually molesting children over the years.

Bishop Lawrence Persico, head of the Diocese of Erie, said he had been considering the move - widely considered a reversal of church policy - for some time and had discussed it at length with diocesan staff, the review board and the priest council.

"This is a direction I wanted to go in," he said speaking by phone from Erie. "They were supportive and thought as I do that it was the right thing to do.

Persico, who arrived in Erie in October 2012 from the Diocese of Greensburg, on Friday morning released a list of 34 priests and 17 lay people - some dead, others living - who had over the past 70 years been identified in credible accusations of child sexual abuse.

Erie is one of six dioceses - including Harrisburg - currently under investigation by a state grand jury into allegations of child sexual abuse among church officials and priests and laypeople.

The grand jury is expected to release its findings as early as May.

Persico said he had turned over to investigators all church files - including the names - in connection to inappropriate behavior with children.

"There is no secret archive anymore," he said. "The grand jury has all our files."

Persico's move is rare among the embattled U.S. Catholic Church community - which like the global church - has for decades been rocked by accusations of the clergy sex abuse of children. In March, the Buffalo Diocese in New York seemed to take the lead when it released the names of 42 priests facing credible accusations of sexual abuse, some dating back to 1935.

Persico said he could not speak for other dioceses in Pennsylvania as to whether they identified accused priests or laypeople.

"I think it's a local decision that each bishop and diocese has to make," he said. "I'm basically responsible for Erie and I wanted to move in that direction."

Officials with the Harrisburg Diocese this week told PennLive that they had intended to release a list of accused priests in September 2016, but halted the decision per orders from the state attorney general's office.

Joseph Aponick, the Harrisburg Diocese spokesman, said the diocese may revisit that plan.

In addition to Erie and Harrisburg, the grand jury, which was impaneled in 2016, has been investigating allegations of child sexual abuse in the Catholic dioceses of Allentown, Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Scranton.

Aponick said the diocese "is and has been cooperating fully with the Office of Attorney General's investigation."

Catholic Diocese of Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico said he is confident his diocese is free of child predators. Persico turned over all files pertaining to credibly accused priests and staff to the grand jury panel investigating six Pennsylvania Catholic Dioceses.

This latest investigation comes several years after the release of finding of two other grand jury reports in Pennsylvania: that out of the state's largest diocese, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and the other out of the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.

The Diocese of Erie has about 220,000 parishioners and represents the largest diocese in the state with regards to physical size.

Persico acknowledged that in almost all cases, victims in his diocese have little recourse given that the statute of limitations has expired for most of them. Of the names released, 21 are deceased and 13 have been removed from ministry. He said he wanted to make the public aware and also put people on notice.

"There's not much more I can do with them," Persico said. " I know it's very difficult but my intent in doing this was try to bring about healing. There's many ways to bring about healing."

Persico said he was confident that his diocese did not have among its clergy ranks or staff any child predators.

"I'm confident that we don't," he said. He added that the diocese recently removed a priest who had been credibly accused; that individual is under investigation.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, is publishing a list of 34 priests and 17 lay people against whom credible accusations of sexual abuse or other inappropriate behavior have been leveled.

It's the first time the diocese has revealed the names of those accused of abuse.

Bishop Lawrence Persico began the news conference by addressing victims of abuse.

"I would like to express my sincere sorrow and apologies for the sexual abuse that has occurred within the church, particularly here, within the Diocese of Erie," he said, noting that he has spoken with some victims.

"It is appalling to learn what they went through," he said. "Abuse is traumatic enough but it is earth-shattering when it is perpetrated by someone in a position of trust."

The move comes as a grand jury run by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office investigates how the Erie diocese, the Diocese of Harrisburg and four others in Pennsylvania have handled misconduct allegations against priests.

"We don't know when the grand jury report will be forthcoming," Persico said, "but I am sure it will be a sobering moment for all of us.

The diocese began the process of examining its past in 2016, which was the year that a grand jury report into child sexual abuse by clergy in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown was made public. At that time, the diocese invited the district attorney to view its records.

The Erie Catholic Diocese is a hosting a press conference about two weeks after it said it would release the names of diocesan priests accused of sexually abusing minors. Watch live: Posted by GoErie.com | Erie Times-News on Friday, April 6, 2018

In September 2016, that investigation was halted when the records of the Erie diocese and five others were subpoenaed by the state Attorney General, said Bishop Lawrence Persico.

Since then, Persico said, the diocese has reviewed all the files it could find that had anything to do with inappropriate behavior by anyone associated with the diocese, going back about 70 years. It has shared all it found with the attorney general, he said.

The diocese Friday also unveiled its updated policy for protecting children and youth, along with the list of accused - a list that is unlike any released by other diocese in that it also includes lay people credibly accused of inappropriate behavior or abuse.

Twenty of the priests and two of they lay people on the Erie list are deceased. The list includes allegations dating as far back as 1944, Persico said.

The release comes just weeks after the diocese in Buffalo, New York, put out a similar list.

Persico said he is sure that there will be debate over the wisdom of releasing the names, but said the diocese first goal was the protection of children.

"It is not possible for us to monitor all the people on the list," he said. "This is an important step in helping the public become aware of info that is important for the community's well-being."

He said the diocese's updated policy and the names, would be offered on a website: www.eriercd.org/policyupdate.htm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Activists and survivors have spent years calling for Catholic Church dioceses to release the names of priests accused of sexually abusing children.

They argued the move would increase transparency, help victims heal and prevent abusers from living anonymously in neighborhoods amid unsuspecting families.

Most dioceses across the country have resisted releasing public lists, but some have obliged. Last month, the Buffalo Diocese in New York released a list of 42 names. Two days later, the Erie Diocese in Pennsylvania pledged to follow suit with its own list that could be released any day now.

The announcement came amid news that a two-year grand jury probe is coming to a close after examining how Erie and five other Pennsylvania dioceses handled accusations against priests.

Erie's announcement sent shockwaves through dioceses across Pennsylvania that are now grappling with whether they, too, should create a public list and, if so, who should make the cut?

Such lists can cover a wide range of possibilities including any priest ever accused by anyone to including only priests who have been criminally prosecuted.

In Buffalo, they released names of priests who retired, died or left the ministry after allegations surfaced. It's unclear what Erie's parameters will be.

Carolyn M. Simpson, deputy director of communications for Pennsylvania's Office of Attorney General, provided this statement late Thursday afternoon about the overall investigation:

"Protecting the secrecy of Statewide Investigating Grand Juries is paramount. Only those individuals directly involved with the Grand Jury are aware of its inner workings, and any speculation on current or former investigations from people outside of that small population should be dismissed.

"Our Office deeply respects all victims of sexual abuse and works every day to protect our children and put predators behind bars. Anyone with information related to sexual abuse by members of clergy is encouraged to call our hotline: 888-538-8541."

Here's what the five other Pennsylvania dioceses under grand jury investigation said Thursday when asked about their plans to publish lists:

Harrisburg

Officials with the Harrisburg Diocese told PennLive that they had fully intended to release a list of accused priests in September 2016, when word first leaked out that a grand jury was investigating six Pennsylvania dioceses, but they were waved off by the attorney general's office.

"The Office of Attorney General instructed us not to at that time, so as not to interfere in their ongoing investigation," Joseph Aponick, the Harrisburg Diocese spokesman said in a statement.

Based on the pledge from Erie, however, the Harrisburg diocese will now "revisit" the issue with the attorney general's office, Aponick said.

Aponick declined to say how many priests were on the list that they were prepared to divulge in 2016 or any further information on the subject.

Officials with the attorney general's office declined to comment specifically about Harrisburg's statement.

Greensburg

A Greensburg spokesman gave a similar statement to Harrisburg's when PennLive inquired about the diocese's stance on making priests' names public.

"In September of 2016, the Office of Attorney General advised the Diocese of Greensburg to withhold releasing names of any accused clergy or other diocesan personnel so as not to interfere with the Attorney General's ongoing investigation," the statement said. "In light of the Diocese of Erie's decision to publish names of accused priests, we will wait for further direction from the Attorney General."

Scranton

The diocese in Scranton, meanwhile, indicated it didn't plan to publish a list but instead would continue with its policy of reporting to "parishioners as well as civil authorities all instances where clerics were removed from or left ministry due to allegations of child sexual abuse," according to a statement.

"Notification is part of the Diocese's strict zero tolerance policy in relation to allegations of child sexual abuse," the statement continued. "That policy - grounded in vigilance, transparency, and healing - has evolved and been improved for more than twenty-five years."

Allentown

A spokesman from Allentown also indicated they had no plans to publish a list.

Instead, Allentown will stick with its policy dating back to 2002 to share names of suspected priests with law enforcement officials if accusations arise, spokesman Matt Kerr said.

When Kerr was asked why a public list wasn't being considered, he declined to say, but added that the church has long encouraged victims and survivors of abuse to come forward.

Allentown was the last of the six dioceses under grand jury investigation to admit they had been subpoenaed, waiting a week after other dioceses to confirm the probe.

The diocese also waited six weeks to tell parishioners at St. Ann's Church in Emmaus in 2016 that images of nude children were found on computers owned by the pastor, according to the Morning Call. Instead, parishioners were told to pray for his health for six weeks, then they learned about his arrest.

Kerr said it is Diocesan policy to inform parishioners and issue a news release when a priest is removed from ministry for allegations of sexual abuse. But in the case of the child pornography, he said the pastor left the parish to undergo treatment for serious medical issues before any crimes were known.

When the Diocese learned of possible crimes, he said, the matter was turned over to law enforcement and they did not want make an announcement because they didn't want to interfere with the ongoing investigation.

The Lehigh District Attorney later affirmed their handling of the matter, Kerr said.

Pittsburgh

A spokesman for the Pittsburgh Diocese initially did not provide a statement, but provided one April 6 from Father Nicholas Vaskov that indicated they have no plans to release a list of names.

"The Diocese of Pittsburgh has consistently released the names of those accused of sexual abuse of minors to the proper civil authorities and have also released them to the state Attorney General's office as part of the ongoing grand jury investigation. As this investigation is not yet complete, we do not intend to make a change to this practice."

--

Editor's note: Added around 8:20 p.m. a statement from the Pa. attorney general's office. Added at 9:45 a.m. April 6, additional information from Allentown and a statement that arrived from Pittsburgh.
SUNBURY -- A Northumberland County man serving 25 to 50 years in state prison for providing a fatal dosage of Oxycodone to a 9-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to weapons charge.

Victor W. Hare III

Thursday's plea by Victor W. Hare III, 63, came after Northumberland County Judge Charles Saylor denied a motion to dismiss the charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Hare was sentenced to 5 to 10 years in prison that will run concurrently with his present term. He also was fined $100.

He pleaded guilty in October 2015 but was allowed to withdraw the plea at sentencing because he was facing a longer jail term than he anticipated.

Hare represented himself at his subsequent trial because his court-appointed lawyer recused herself. He was found guilty in May 2016 and sentenced to 5 to 10 years consecutive to the other sentence.

The state Superior Court granted Hare a new trial because he had been forced to proceed without an attorney. His new trial was scheduled for next Wednesday.

The weapons count resulted from Point Twp. police discovering two rifles and a shotgun in Hare's Northumberland area home when they responded on Oct. 13, 2014, to a report of an unresponsive boy, Korbin Rager, who later died.

A forensic pathologist testified the fourth grader had 12 times the therapeutic level of oxycodone in his system.

There was testimony during Hare's trial that he snorted OxyContin while Rager and his brother watched television on Oct. 12, 2014.

Hare was convicted of charges of drug delivery resulting in death, involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering.
A central Pennsylvania psychologist who had sex with two female patients under the guise of therapy and billed their insurer for it deserves his 3- to 6-year jail term, a state appeals court panel ruled Friday.

The Superior Court judges also upheld a Centre County judge's order that Richard Lenhart, 56, of State College, must repay Highmark for $71,557 for nearly two decades worth of false billing.

Lenhart's argument that his prison term is too severe was dismissed by the state court in an opinion by President Judge Susan Peikes Gantman.

She rejected Lenhart's argument that he was over-punished because he had no prior record and "cannot abuse his position of authority as a psychologist anymore due to the revocation of his license."

Instead, she agreed with county Judge Jonathan Grine's assessment that Lenhart "abandoned all professional ethics when he engaged in sex acts with his highly vulnerable patients for 17 years."

Gantman added that she too considers the crimes to be "particularly heinous."

In an opinion contesting Lenhart's appeal, Grine noted both women had been victims of other sexual assaults. One victim said Lenhart developed her trust by claiming to be a pastor as well as a psychologist.

Lenhart, who was arrested in August 2014, told that victim "sexual contact with him was likely her last best hope and only bridge to healing and to have healthy relationships," Grine wrote.

He cited testimony by the other victim that Lenhart's "touching therapy" escalated to both of them being nude.

Gantman noted one of the factors Grine cited in imposing the jail term was his opinion that Lenhart "was unable to accept that his conduct was wrong."
There have been 15 crashes, including one fatality, in the construction zone on Route 283 since it was put in place the evening of March 26 - 11 days ago - according to PennDOT.

The person who died was a pedestrian struck by a vehicle, according to state police. Another seven crashes involved commercial vehicles; two crashes involved non-commercial vehicles that resulted in injuries; and one involved someone driving under the influence, police said.

A crash in the area Thursday morning ensnarled traffic and took hours to be cleared.

PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny said the crashes have all had a similar contributing factor - speed.

"The concern has been speeding through the work zone, and that has been the major contributing factor in the crashes that have occurred there in the last week and a half," he said, adding the crashes have been a hazard for construction workers.

Other issues Penny noted were traffic line visibility and potholes, compounded by the cold weather.

New traffic patterns are starting on Route 283 west the evening of March 26, 2018.

Here are the details for the Route 283 construction project:

The single lane of westbound traffic on the westbound roadway serves local traffic with access to and from the Vine Street, Union Street and airport connector interchanges. It's designated for "local traffic", but motorists using are still be able to continue to I-283 and Harrisburg area destinations. Drivers headed to I-283 are encouraged to use this lane for "local traffic."

The other westbound lane established on the eastbound roadway is designated as the "express lane" since this westbound traffic will have no access to the ramps for the Vine Street, Union Street and airport connector interchanges. Concrete barriers separate westbound motorists in the express lane from eastbound traffic on the eastbound roadway.

The speed limit in the area has also been reduced from 65 mph to 55 mph.

"The contractor would like us to restrict that even further," Penny said, adding that a further reduction is under consideration.

PennDOT officials have put a speed trailer in the area of the work zone as a reminder for motorists to slow down.

"We're always looking at the construction zone and looking at changes, enhancements to improve it," Penny said.

Some confusion and adjustment with any new traffic pattern is expected for the first week or so, Penny said. He added the area has plenty of signs, and that adding more could create more confusion.

PennDOT's intent was to provide two lanes of travel in each direction. A single lane of traffic was an alternative, but would likely make travel even more difficult during rush hours, Penny said.

Another option considered was to close a road and detour traffic elsewhere.

"We'd get the work done faster if we do that, but it has a more severe impact on commuters," he said.

State police will be increasing its presence in the construction zone to remind motorists to slow down.

"In the interest of the public and the construction workers' safety, troopers will have an increased presence in the 283 construction zone," according to a news release. "Troopers will be targeting aggressive drivers, distracted drivers, and drivers who speed through the zone.

Fines are doubled in a work zone.

Penny encouraged motorists to allow additional time during their travels, leave earlier, or take a different route.
To say the Catholic Church has suffered from something of a credibility and transparency gap when it comes to dealing with allegations of clergy sexual abuse is the mildest of understatements.

Still, activists and survivors of clerical abuse have been unremitting in their call for local dioceses to release the names of priests accused of sexually abusing children.

They correctly argue that such a move would increase transparency, help victims to heal, and prevent abusers from living anonymously among unsuspecting families.

Disappointingly, most Catholic dioceses have declined to release such lists, furthering an atmosphere of distrust.

On Friday, however, officials in the Erie Catholic dioceses threw open the church doors and let the sun shine in, publishing a list of 34 priests and 17 lay people who are facing credible accusations of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior.

It's the first time the diocese has revealed the names of those accused of abuse, The Associated Press reported.

The move comes as a grand jury run by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office investigates how the diocese and five others in Pennsylvania have handled misconduct allegations against priests, the AP reported.

Bishop Lawrence Persico told The Associated Press on Friday that the list is different from those released at other dioceses because it includes lay people also credibly accused of inappropriate behavior or abuse.

Twenty of the priests and two of they lay people on the Erie list are deceased.

The action by Erie also comes in the wake of a similar decision by officials in the Buffalo, N.Y. dioceses to publish their own list of priests accused of misconduct. That list included priests who retired, died or left the ministry after allegations surfaced.

As PennLive's Christine Vendel writes the move by Erie has prompted other Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania to grapple with whether they, too, should create a public list, and which priests would make the cut.

These lists can cover a wide range of possibilities including any priest ever accused by anyone to including only priests who have been criminally prosecuted.

The five other dioceses under grand jury investigation offered mixed responses when PennLive asked them whether they planned to release lists.

In Harrisburg, officials said they planned to revisit a 2016 pledge to release names that was initially waved off by the Attorney General's Office, which is running the grand jury probe.

Officials in Allentown told PennLive that had no plans to publish a list. But the diocese does notify parishioners, and issues a news release when a priest is removed from ministry for allegations of sexual abuse.

Diocesan officials in Pittsburgh said they had no plans to publish a list.

Officials in Scranton said they had no plans to publish a list, but did plan to hew to a policy of "parishioners as well as civil authorities all instances where clerics were removed from or left ministry due to allegations of child sexual abuse."

In light of the Erie news, diocesan officials in Greensburg said they'd await instruction from the Attorney General's office before deciding whether to publish a list.

There's really only one correct answer in this case. Parishioners and victims deserve full transparency. The remaining dioceses should decide on parameters and release the list of accused priests and lay people, where applicable.

Anything else is a half-measure.

Otherwise, the church, as an institution, will continue to deserve the distrust engendered by this ongoing scandal.
Four decades of doing business in the private sector and dealing with government regulations got Scott Wagner so fed up with state government that he decided the only way to fix it was to become part of it.

That's when the Penn Waste trash hauler and KBS trucking president and owner ran a historic write-in campaign for a state Senate seat in a special election in 2014 and got elected and then re-elected to a four-year term that same year. The Republican state senator from York County said he has found it to be educational.

"I knew Harrisburg was going to be bad in many ways before I got there," Wagner told the PennLive/Patriot-News editorial board on Thursday. "Well now that I'm there and had the opportunity to serve in the Senate for four years and I've seen government in action and I see how Harrisburg operates. It's completely dysfunctional."

He wants to replace incumbent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to set state government on a different course. Here are a few insights he shared during his visit, including why he believes he should be Pennsylvania's next governor.

Why he got into the race?

The endorsed Republican candidate in the three-way race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination is certain state government can do better and he firmly believes it is a lack of leadership from the governor's office that is a major contributor to why it isn't.

The nine-month budget impasse that starved school districts and nonprofits of money in 2015, the unaddressed blight in communities, and what he described as a "breathtaking" heroin and opioid crisis that is killing more than a dozen Pennsylvanians every day are all issues that got him thinking about running for governor.

"Harrisburg needs a leader who is going to attack these issues. We don't need more hearings," he said. "We need somebody who can lead the charge and solve problems ... I want to be that leader."

His answer to solving some of those knotty issues includes moving to a zero-based budget to ensure tax dollars are being spent wisely, ensuring people with addiction have quicker access to treatment and limiting prescriptions for painkillers, moving to a 401(k) pension system for public employees, and cutting back on the government over-regulation that made him want to come to Harrisburg four years ago.

Repeating the oft-heard phrase he has uttered throughout his more than a yearlong campaign, "Harrisburg doesn't have a revenue problem It has a spending and mismanagement problem."

As one of 50 senators who is not one of the elected caucus leaders, he said he is pretty powerless to do much about those problems. As governor, he said for example, he could sign executive orders to dispense with some of the burdensome and redundant regulations.

Should the rep resign?

Wagner shied away from answering that question about embattled Republican Delaware County state Rep. Nick Miccarelli who has been accused of sexual assault and domestic violence when asked a few weeks ago. He said he didn't have enough information to offer an opinion. Apparently, now he does.

"It would be appropriate that he should resign," Wagner said after the interview with the editorial board. That makes him the first of the GOP gubernatorial candidates to take that position.

Wagner said he reached that conclusion based on a judge siding with Toohil and issuing a three-year protection order abuse against Miccarelli.

"We need zero tolerance of sexual harassment and outright harassment. There's many different forms of harassment. There's the bullying type of harassment. We don't tolerate it in our companies. The private sector doesn't tolerate it. We shouldn't tolerate it over here," he said.

Gov. Tom Wolf called on Miccarelli to resign less than 24 hours after it came to light that two women, Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Luzerne County, and a Harrisburg political consultant, filed a complaint with the House against Miccarelli.

Will he take away public employees' pensions?

"The answer to that is no," Wagner said.

He said he wasn't in the Senate in 2001 when the pension law was changed to increase benefits, which along with some recessions, contributed to the near $75 billion combined unfunded liability according to the pension clock in the Capitol facing the State Employees' Retirement System and the Public School Employees' Retirement System.

"I wasn't part of the promises," he said. "I'm just the clean-up guy. We are constitutionally obligated to honor those pensions."

What he does want to go after is the money being paid to money managers who produced a subpar return on the pension systems' investments.

"In 2016, we allowed money managers to charge PSERS pension fund $416 million and they only returned 1.29 percent. We could have taken that money and gone to a bank in New York and put it in for 1.4 percent for 13 months but we allowed that under-performance."

He said union leaders are telling workers that he will take away their pensions but Wagner said, "I want to make it crystal clear to people. I'm not taking their pensions away. The union leaders are telling their people that story which is an outright lie."

While he does favor going to a straight 401(k)-style plan for future state government and school employees, he reiterated that trying to change the pension benefits on current employees is a fight he's not willing to take on.

"I have other fights. I'm more interested in the heroin problem. I'm interested in blight," he said. "Most likely if I attempt that, it's going to be overturned by the courts anyhow. You know the battles you can win and the battles you can't win. So trust me, I've got my hands full."

Access to birth control

After being criticized by Planned Parenthood Votes for his fumbled response to a question he was asked during a PCN call-in show about whether all women should have access to birth control, Wagner offered a clear answer to PennLive.

"Absolutely. Every woman who wants access to birth control should have access. Absolutely," Wagner said.

When asked that question by a female caller during the call-in show, Wagner said it took him by surprise. His response was: "I believe you probably should. If you want it -again, I'm a male and I - maybe I should talk to my wife about that question."

He said he has had that discussion with my wife.

Kevin Griffus, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood Votes, a political action committee for the organization that provides reproductive health care, criticized Wagner for his response on the call-in show. He said access to birth control is not something he should have to consult his wife about and that elected officials need to understand "birth control and family planning is not just a women's issue."

Griffus also pointed out Wagner co-sponsored a bill that would have de-funded Planned Parenthood and threatened access to birth control for tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians who rely on Planned Parenthood for their health care.

"Pennsylvanians got some insight into who Scott Wagner is -- and they probably didn't like what they saw," Griffus said. That bill, however, never went to a vote before the full Senate.

When asked about de-funding Planned Parenthood during the editorial board interview, Wagner said he voted no on the broader state budget bill that contained funding for Planned Parenthood because he felt it was fiscally irresponsible. But his no vote was not tied specifically to Planned Parenthood funding.

Getting out of the higher education business

Wagner said the unfunded pension and retiree health care liability that the 14 universities in the State System of Higher Education face exceeds $1 billion and is toppling those institutions.

"This system is cratering financially unless we do something dramatically," he said. That "something" potentially could be turning the public universities into private institutions if he is elected governor.

"I know there are some people in the Lancaster community who would have an interest in taking Millersville private, and maybe Shippensburg," he said.

"The [current] model is not working and I believe privatization is a good thing even if it went private, there's a possibility a lot of those professors that teach and staff, employees would be employed by that institution. But that's something that has to be worked out. Listen, we can't just keep doing what we're doing financially because people of Pennsylvania can't afford more taxes."

As for whether he felt that the state should cut off the nearly $600 million for the four state-related institutions namely Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln universities, Wagner said, "possibly."

However, because those institutions are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as the State System universities, he said he doesn't have access to their financials and needs more information to take a position on that.
Trevor John Zinck, 47, is seen in this undated handout photo. Halifax police have issued a request for public help to find a missing man who is a former member of the Nova Scotia legislature. Police said Trevor John Zinck, 47, was last seen about a month ago in the Parkstone Road area of the suburb of Dartmouth.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Halifax Police *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Emily Lutz, a councillor and deputy mayor of Kings County N.S., holds her new daughter Azie as she and her two-year-old son Everett pose for a photo in this undated handout image. THE CANADIAN-HO-Emily Lutz *MANDATORY CREDIT *
Edouard Maurice, centre, speaks to reporters outside court while holding his daughter Teal as his wife, Jessica, looks on in Okotoks, Alta., on March 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Researchers look over a map aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sets sail in the North Pacific Ocean toward the Bering Strait to traverse the Arctic's Northwest Passage on July 6, 2017. The Canadian government wants more study on the impacts of banning heavy fuel oil in the Arctic before it signs on to an international agreement to do so. It has been 16 months since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then U.S. President Barack Obama jointly committed to phase down the use of heavy fuel oils in the Arctic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, David Goldman
Fulton County chief medical examiner Dr. Jan Gorniak, tells reporters that a body found in Chattahoochee River, Tuesday has been identified as missing CDC employee Timothy Cunningham during a news conference Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Atlanta. Gorniak said the cause of death was drowning and she found no signs of foul play. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
A woman carries a flower to a crime scene in Link Street, Hackney, east London, Thursday April 5, 2018. This week, 18-year-old Israel Ogunsola became London's 53rd murder victim of 2018. The British capital is being shaken by a spike in deadly violence, much of it involving young people caught up in gang feuds. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
File - In this May 3, 1993 file photo, President Bill Clinton reaches for a pen as he hands another pen used in signing the Asian/Pacific American Heritage Awareness Proclamation to Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), during the signing ceremony at the White House, Washington, May 3, 1993. Looking on are, from left, Rep. Norman Mineta (D-Calif.), Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI), and Rep. Robert Matsui (D-California). Former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, the humble and gracious statesman who served in Washington with aloha for more than three and a half decades, died Thursday , April 5, 2018, at the age of 93, sources tell the Star-Advertiser. He had been hospitalized with an illness. (AP Photo/Marcy Nighswander, File)
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 
Oil drops Friday after U.S. President Trump threatens new China trade tariffs

By Jane Chung



SEOUL

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Oil prices fell on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of new tariffs on China reignited fears of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

President Trump said on Thursday he had ordered U.S. trade officials to consider tariffs on $100 billion more of imports from China, escalating tensions with Beijing.

Brent crude for June delivery was down 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $68.01 per barrel at 0410 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down 35 cents, or 0.6 percent, at 63.19 a barrel.

Shanghai September crude futures were untraded due to public holidays in China, after falling 0.8 percent on Wednesday. Shanghai trading will resume on Monday.

While oil market watchers were wary of the brewing trade war between the United States and China, they did not expect to see steep falls amid signs of tightening supplies.

As the escalating trade tensions continue to weigh on the commodity sector, we view the oil market as the best sector in which to wait out the volatility, analysts at ANZ bank said in a note. Supply-side issues amid a backdrop of falling inventories should override any concern over weaker economic growth.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 4.6 million-barrel draw in U.S. crude inventories last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 246,000 barrels. [EIA/S]

U.S. oil inventories remain a volatile gauge, but they still provide a good litmus test for the short-term, said Stephen Innes, head of trading for the Asia-Pacific region at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it would raise its official selling price for May crude for Asian customers.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers including Russia are committed to cutting output by around 1.8 million barrels per day through the end of 2018 in a bid to clear a global overhang and support prices.

Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the oil cartel, has said production cuts could be extended in one form or another.

OPEC and its allies should keep the cuts to ensure healthy price levels as a way to boost investment in the industry and avoid a supply and price shock in the long run, Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed al-Sada told Reuters.



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Guyana Govt. steams ahead with landing GLP natural gas pipeline



By Kaieter News



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018 Government has announced aggressive plans to pull out all stops to reduce the shutdowns of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) with a number of priority projects targeted to keep the lights on.



The disclosures were made Wednesday evening when GPL and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (MPI) introduced the newly hired Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jamaica-born, Albert Gordon.



Since taking office earlier this year, it would be the first time that the official, now in one of the hottest seats in Guyana, would be facing the press. The event took place at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston.



According to Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, who also addressed the media workers and GPL executives, the challenges are significant for the state-owned company.



Gordon, who has successfully worked in Jamaica's electricity and water companies, before playing a key role in the regulating the utilities in that Caribbean nation, was said to have managed to bring the companies out of the doldrums of the 1990's when that country was facing problems.



So far, Gordon, who was selected from a number of candidates, has lived up to expectations with the initial tasks he was handed, the Minister said.

Within two weeks, a new board for the power company is to be named, Patterson disclosed.



The new CEO comes at a time when there has been a number of shutdowns of the interconnected power system in the Berbice and Demerara area, with Essequibo coast, Region Two, and Bartica, Region Seven, also complaining bitterly.



Admitting that Gordon's hiring had sent tongues wagging as he would be the first non-Guyanese to that top post, the Minister made it clear that Guyana is in a global community now with the best person needed for the tough job ahead.



And indeed, it would be tough.



According to Gordon, his first few days on the job were greeted by total shutdowns.



One shutdown is worrying, much less the 25 that were recorded last year by GPL.



The realities for Guyana are deeply challenging, the new CEO said.



The current infrastructure of GPL has been built over time from smaller ones, which have severe chinks in the armour. To fix the myriad problems, a short-term investment of around US$110M would be needed to fix a number of priority areas.



Already, the Public Infrastructure Ministry has submitted proposals to the Ministry of Finance, asking for financing.



Finance Minister Winston Jordan was in Washington this week to explore a number of financing options with the multilateral agencies.



Gordon pointed out that the distribution system has no fail-safe, with the generators not shielded if there are problems.



Another major problem leaving GPL skating on thin ice is the lack of reserve power or redundancy, in case of generators going down. The first priority would be to keep the power on.



Action will also be taken to reduce GPL's massive technical and commercial losses (theft) which amount to almost 30 percent. This meant that fuel is being burned and consumers are being made to pay for the losses. It is the intention to bring this down by at least two percent within a year with a number of interventions.



According to Gordon, about 50 of the 130 megawatts being generated are from old engines that need to be replaced. GPL is also faced with very little reserves in case of generator failures.



The official made it clear that he has been given clear instructions for the future of GPL, which has to be in tandem with Guyana's sustainable development pathway.



With strict international standards to be adhered to, it is the intention to move GPL rapidly to a world-class facility, which also involves raising the bar on staff training and customer service.



Gordon was also convinced that Guyana has about 7,000 megawatts of

hydroelectric potential, with GPL endorsing and encouraging any renewable power, including wind and biomass.



Other initiatives in the short term will include tackling the replacement of old power poles and clearing of vegetation around them. NATURAL GAS



Meanwhile, Minister Patterson, also spoke on the issue of natural gas.



The discovery of oil in ExxonMobil's concessions offshore Guyana has brought the possibilities of natural gas being used for generating power in Guyana. However, the problem is getting the gas piped from the well areas located about 100 miles from the shore.



According to Patterson, a site has been identified, but the necessary technical studies will have to be conducted. Already talks are ongoing with ExxonMobil. The feasibility of using natural gas is very high with the cost of 10 cents. Already, GPL has advertised for Expressions of Interest for construction of a 50 megawatts natural gas plant to produce power.



The new CEO said that tender documents would be ready shortly which would fast track the process to actual construction. He also disclosed that GPL is ready to accommodate private producers and to bring a number of companies who are self-producing back to the power company.



The aggressive posture of GPL would be welcome, as the private sector had been piling the pressure on the company to reduce outages and maintain reliability.



Consecutive governments have been at a loss to stem the outages, despite huge sums being expended on smart meters and new transmission lines and sub-stations.



Government has been exploring the possibilities of using wind power, with a proposal made for the construction of one at Hope Beach, East Coast Demerara.



A major hydro project at Amaila Falls was placed on hold by the administration because of costs almost US$1B  that the country would have been saddled with.

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Natural gas-powered electricity generation feasible for Guyana; East Demerara site identified for pipeline







By Demeraraweaves



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

The use of natural gas for the state-owned Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) to generate electricity has been found to be feasible and a site has already been identified to land a pipeline to bring the fuel ashore, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson said.

It has been confirmed that it is feasible. It has been confirmed that it will be an absolute benefit to the country, has been confirmed-and I can say this and I will go out on a limb and say the numbers are all sub US 10 cents per megawatt hour, he said.

Patterson said that now a location has been identified to land the natural gas pipeline, government would begin talks on the model to be used to competitively procure the power generation plants, enter into gas power sales agreement with GPL. The main off-take of that natural gas in the initial stage will be for power generation, he said.

The question of the natural gas site, cabinet has pronounced on a site and which obviously triggers further technical studies which have commenced and are ongoing, he told a cocktail reception to introduce newly-appointed GPL Chief Executive Officer, Albert Gordon. Patterson said government has been discussing with ExxonMobil taking the gas pipeline onshore Guyana to deliver the fuel.

A usually reliable ExxonMobil official was not immediately aware that a decision has been taken.

The gas pipeline is expected to come ashore at an East Coast Demerara village. Liza 1, the first well with commercially viable oil reserves was located more than 120 miles off Clonbrook-Mahaica.

Initially, ExxonMobil had said that commercial extraction of associated natural gas from its wells offshore Guyana would not be feasible and would be used to sustain the required pressure to extract oil and then pumped back into the reservoir.

ExxonMobil's seventh oil discovery has since pushed up Guyana's projected estimated daily oil production at 500,000 barrels.



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Guyana wants ICJ to rule that Venezuela must withdraw from Ankoko Island; stop scaring investors







By Demeraraweaves



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Guyana has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule that Venezuela must withdraw from Ankoko Island and stop harassing investors onshore and offshore the Essequibo Region, that United Nations (UN) court said in statement.

In its case filed with The Hague-headquartered ICJ to settle the controversy over the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal boundary award, Guyana asked the court to adjudge and declare that Venezuela must withdraw from Ankoko Island that it has been occupying for the past 51 years.

Venezuela shall immediately withdraw from and cease its occupation of the eastern half of the Island of Ankoko, and each and every other territory which is recognized as Guyana's sovereign territory in accordance with the 1899 Award and 1905 Agreement, the ICJ said in the news release on Guyana's application that was filed with that court on March 29.

Venezuelan soldiers have been occupying the eastern half of Ankoko, a three-square-mile island at the junction of the Cuyuni and the Wenamu rivers, since 1966.

As part of Guyana's core request for the ICJ to find that the Tribunal Award is a full, perfect, and final settlement of the boundary that was identified, demarcated and permanently fixed by a joint Anglo-Venezuelan Boundary Commission between November 1900 and June 1904, it also wants the Court to order Venezuela to cease scaring away investors from the Essequibo Region. After that exercise, the United Kingdom, on behalf of then British Guiana, and Venezuela had signed a Joint Declaration in 1905 agreeing to the demarcated boundary.

Venezuela shall refrain from threatening or using force against any person and/or company licensed by Guyana or engage in economic or commercial activity in Guyanese territory as determined by the 1899 Award and 1905 Agreement, or in any maritime areas appurtenant to such territory over which Guyana has sovereignty or exercises sovereign rights, and shall not interfere with any Guyanese or Guyanese-authorised activities in those areas, states the ICJ.

If Guyana gets its way, that principal UN judicial organ will also have to adjudge and declare that Venezuela is internationally responsible for violations of Guyana's sovereignty and sovereign rights, and for all injuries suffered by Guyana as a consequence.

In the past, Venezuela has objected to the construction and development of the now closed Omai Gold Mines as well as Aurora Gold Mines and ExxonMobil's offshore exploration and development. In October, 2013 the Venezuelan Navy had also seized a Malaysian-owned seismic research vessel, Teknik Perdana, that had been gathering data at an offshore concession granted to the US oil company, Anadarko Petroleum. Days after ExxonMobil had announced its first huge oil-find offshore Guyana, Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro had unilaterally extended Venezuela's maritime boundary to take in virtually all of Guyana's sea space, but only backed off as a result of pressure from the 15-nation Caribbean Community.

The ICJ is also being asked to rule that Guyana enjoys full sovereignty over the territory between the Essequibo River and the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement, and Venezuela enjoys full sovereignty over the territory west of that boundary.

Further, the ICJ is also being asked to rule that the two neighbouring South American nations are under an obligation to fully respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement.

Guyana, in keeping with the 1966 Geneva Agreement, filed its application to the ICJ, two months after United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres referred the border controversy to that Court for settlement.

Guyana contends that, in 1962, for the first time, Venezuela contested the Award as arbitrary and null and void. This, according to Guyana, led to the signing of the Geneva Agreement. which provided for recourse to a series of dispute settlement mechanisms to finally resolve the controversy. Guyana submits that the Geneva Agreement authorized the United Nations Secretary-General to decide which appropriate dispute resolution mechanism to adopt for the peaceful settlement of the dispute, in accordance with Article 33 of the United Nations Charter.



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"No place for monopoly in energy' -Energy consultant Helena Inniss







By TT Guardian



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Energy consultant Helena Inniss has issued a warning to the government that it should learn from the failure of Trintomar before deciding to form a new company to produce small and stranded natural gas fields.

Inniss shared that view during the recent Spotlight on Energy when the Legal Affairs Minister Stewart Young revealed that the government had incorporated a company with the aim of partnering with upstream companies to produce small accumulation of natural gas.

Young said the logic was that there were small accumulations that the larger companies find uneconomic to produce and, as a result, the government would partner with smaller, nimble firms to produce the fields.

Inniss noted that the State owned the upstream assets and there are pools of gas which have already been discovered.

I would recommend that the State associates NGC with an upstream company whose competence is proven, the company would not be given ownership of the gas but would be paid for its services and operatorship out of a share of production (risk service contract). The NGC can then take title to the gas and make itself fairly independent of the other upstream suppliers and, hopefully, make a place for itself along the entire value chain.

Facilities and infrastructure have either been cost recovered or offset against taxes so the State has the right to ownership (the Petroleum Act allows for this), if not wholly at least partly, to a percentage necessary to claim capacity in all facilities in T&T waters. NGC can make use of this capacity, Inniss said in an article written for the Geological Society of T&T.

Trintomar was formed in 1988 to operate the Pelican Field offshore, east coast T&T to offset a projected natural gas shortfall in 1990. The South East Coast consortium block in which the Pelican Field is located was state owned. Resources had already been found in the block so it was considered a low-risk venture so the Trintomar operation was state funded and operated. It proved to be a failure after a spectacular blow out.

Inniss wrote that in spite of the interventions over the years to make it competitive, the upstream gas sector in T&T remains uncompetitive. There are four upstream companies supplying gas, two to Atlantic LNG and the domestic market (bpTT and Shell) and two to the domestic market only (EOG and BHP).

She said in terms of growth prospects, bpTTbecause of its dominant acreage position (it operates 904,000 acres (3,658 km2)is the entity with the best growth prospects.

Inniss noted that because of its purchase of proven gas assets, Shell is also likely to grow as there are plans to revisit the Starfish development (which experienced drilling problems) and to complete other work in Block 5(d) and others.

EOG Resources has limited prospects and will not be able to compete with either bpTT or Shell unless the company gets new acreage and/or its joint venture arrangements to develop smaller accumulation in bpTT's acreage continues.

BHP currently has limited amounts of cheaper gas but has the potential to bring on deepwater gas. This will have its challenges unless oil is also found in abundant quantities. This, in effect, means that both bpTT and Shell will continue to have a dominant position in the T&T upstream and would likely be in a strong negotiating position vis-a-vis the State, unless the State can inject a different dimension into its upstream, Inniss said.

Inniss is calling for competition laws to be enacted so that when companies, other than the incumbents, whose operations are successful, wish to sell their assets, laws exist which allow for an examination of the position/benefit which purchase of said company would grant the purchaser.

Simply said, we need to discourage any monopolistic tendencies in the industry if the country is to benefit from its ownership of the resource, Inniss wrote.

Recently, economist Gregory McGuire argued that the company would likely be a subsidiary of the National Gas Company. But economist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon warned that the government has to be extremely careful in risking taxpayers funds. He said the country has been down this road before and it has not been very successful.

There are too many lessons around bad decision making in the energy sector and other state enterprises as well, to cause us to be extremely cautious about getting government involved in the energy sector or for that part several other sectors.

We need much more details before one can really make that judgment, but the population must also understand what are the risks that the government will be taking because, at the end of the day, if the thing does not pan out as the government hopes, it must come back to the people and account for the loss of capital and that is not something that governments like to do, Ramkissoon said.

He said the country needs an assessment of where we are and a vision of where the government wants to take the energy sector and it must be commercially oriented decision. We have seen enough of state involvement that has only led to losses.

But McGuire argued that past failures must not deter the government from moving forward saying that the solution was simple and that is to get it right this time.

He noted that the NGC has $48 billion in unleveraged assets and once the company is set up as a subsidiary it will be able to leverage the assets while, at the same time, isolating the NGC's balance sheet so it does not necessarily impair the NGC's regular business.



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Operators to focus on smaller oil & gas projects, quick returns in 2018 -WoodMac

By Reuters



SINGAPORE

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

About 30 upstream oil and gas projects are expected to be approved around the world this year, similar to 2017, as operators stay focused on less capital-intensive projects with quicker returns, Wood Mackenzie analysts said on Thursday.

Six of the 30 projects WoodMac expects in 2018 have already been sanctioned, the consultancy said in an annual review of the upstream industry.

As well as projects in Britain, Norway, Israel and the Netherlands, the six include China's first wholly owned and operated deepwater gas project, Lingshui, and the $1 billion Pegaga gas project in Malaysia.

Oil and gas investment plunged more than 40 percent between 2014 and 2016, according to the International Energy Agency, as crude oil prices slumped from above $100 per barrel. That led many in the industry to argue new supplies will be scarce in the 2020s, triggering price spikes.

Operators have found ways to grow in tough business conditions, WoodMac research director Angus Rodger said in a statement accompanying the report. The big question is whether the industry is actually spending enough.

Projects approved in 2017 were double the number in 2016 as costs came down, oil prices rose and corporate finances improved, WoodMac said.

However, average capital expenditure in 2017 dropped to $2.7 billion - the lowest in a decade - as operators focused on smaller projects and expansions of producing fields, the consultancy said.

The average breakeven cost is expected to fall by 15 percent to $44 per barrel of oil equivalent, with the most competitive projects in shallow waters off Norway, Britain and Mexico.

We should continue to see operators favouring a leaner and meaner path in 2018. Investors and operators want to see faster cycle times and quicker returns, said Jessica Brewer, a principal analyst at WoodMac.

That notion was supported by a Reuters analysis this week, which showed big drillers stuck close to existing infrastructure in their bids for U.S. Gulf drilling leases.

Gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects are likely to take a bigger slice of overall investment, with big expansion projects in Norway, Iran and Oman, WoodMac said.

We cannot rely on smaller projects forever, and when we look at LNG in particular, we see a lot of big projects on the horizon, Rodger said.

Investments may pick up in 2019 with multi-billion projects such as Mozambique LNG, Canada LNG and expansions in Qatar and Papua New Guinea close to final investment decisions, the consultancy said.

It will be interesting to see if any of these LNG projects push for a late-2018 sanction, thereby locking-in lower costs and pipping the competition, Rodger said.



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Rosneft says Lukoil's proposal of swing oil output as part of OPEC cooperation "not senseless"

By Reuters



MOSCOW

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Kremlin-controlled energy producer Rosneft said a proposal by Russia's second-largest oil producer and competitor, Lukoil, to regulate oil output in line with the price swings was not quite senseless.

Vagit Alekperov, the head of Lukoil, in an interview with RIA news agency last week proposed that the participants of the global deal aimed at reducing oil output think about the possibility of raising production if oil prices were on the up and cutting it when prices were falling.

I would say that the opinion of Vagit Yusufovich Alekperov ... is not quite senseless, Rosneft's spokesman Mikhail Leontyev told Reuters.

He added Rosneft would not make any of its proposals public as it was for the Russian energy ministry to express the country's overall stance towards the global deal which expires at the end of this year.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters last month that Saudi Arabia and Russia are working on a historic long-term pact, possibly 10 to 20 years long, that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters.

This week, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Russia and Saudi Arabia were thinking about a format for cooperation which could be for the longer-term and which may include implementation of some joint actions if needed.



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Mexico's election front-runner Lopez Obrador won't end energy reform - adviser

By Reuters



MEXICO CITY

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Mexican presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will not scrap sweeping energy reforms that ended a decades-long state monopoly if he wins the election, one of his top advisers told daily newspaper El Universal

Olga Sanchez Cordero, the leftist candidate's pick to serve as interior minister, said in comments published on Thursday that if Lopez Obrador is elected he would review contracts - signed since Mexico passed legislation in 2013 ending Pemex's monopoly - to look for signs of corruption.

Andres will not cancel the energy reform, Sanchez Cordero, a former supreme court justice, told the paper.

Foreign investors and energy companies are paying close attention to what might happen.

Lopez Obrador holds a double-digit lead in most polls for the July 1 election. He has been a critic of the energy reform, variously threatening to dismantle it and to run checks on the oil and gas contracts issued under it.

A two-thirds super-majority in Congress would be needed to undo the constitutional reforms that ended state oil company Pemex's nearly 80-year monopoly over the industry. Most analysts regard that prospect as highly unlikely.

So far, the reform has yielded a series of competitive oil auctions that have resulted in more than 100 exploration and production contracts with foreign and private producers.



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Braskem eyes new plant construction at home and abroad -CEO By Reuters



SAO PAULO

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018 Brazilian petrochemical company Braskem is considering building new plants in Brazil and abroad, Chief Executive Fernando Musa said on Thursday. In a meeting with investors, Musa also said that recent import tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump create uncertainties for Braskem's long-term contracts with international clients.

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Reporting by Aluisio Alves; Editing by Richard Chang from Reuters.



reuters.com / 04 05 2018

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ENI eye dual operations mode with Qatar in Mexico's Amoca field in Campeche bay

ENI



Qatar may get 35 percent stake in two-billion-barrel discovery. Eni has sought to sell interests in prospects to raise funds.

By Amy Stillman and Chiara Albanese



NEXICO CITY/ROME

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Eni SpA is in talks to sell a stake in its giant oil discovery in Mexico to Qatar Petroleum International , according to people with knowledge of the plans.

The Italian oil major, which currently holds 100 percent of the offshore find in Campeche Bay and expects to start production in early 2019, would sell 20 to 35 percent to Qatar Petroleum, the people said, asking not to be named because the negotiation isn't public. Eni is also in talks with other potential suitors, the people said.

Eni declined to comment, and Qatar Petroleum didn't respond to calls and emails seeking comment after business hours.

Eni has sought to sell minority stakes in fields it operates to fund future development and support dividends, generating $9 billion in the last four years with the strategy it calls the dual exploration model. The Rome-based company, which has boasted record production and a string of discoveries including the giant Zohr gas field in Egypt, won the area in Mexico's second-ever oil auction in 2015.

The deal would mark the first Mexico farm-out, a joint-venture in which help in developing an oil area is exchanged for a stake, by companies other than Petroleos Mexicanos since the country opened its oil industry to competition in 2013, ending three-quarters of a century of state monopoly over exploration and production.

Government Change

Such agreements could become more common in Mexico. Presidential frontrunner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said that he will stop holding oil auctions if he wins the vote in Mexico's July 1 election, potentially leaving farm-outs among the only options to enter Mexican waters in future. China's Cnooc Ltd. has also said that it will seek to farm out blocks that it won in Mexico's first deep-water oil auction in 2016.

If negotiations are successful, Qatar Petroleum would hold an interest in an area comprising the Amoca, Mizton and Tecoalli shallow-water oil fields in the southern Gulf of Mexico, which Eni estimates may hold the equivalent of 2 billion barrels of oil.

The Italian driller has picked up blocks in subsequent tenders in Mexico, including a deep-water prospect in a partnership with Qatar Petroleum. For its part, Qatar Petroleum nabbed three other blocks in the same bidding round in January.

Eni is among a number of European drillers that have swarmed Mexico's newly opened oil territory. An auction Last month saw blocks awarded to the U.K.'s BP Plc, France's Total SA , Spain's Repsol SA , Lukoil PJSC and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG of Germany, among others. The next tenders, including one for onshore areas and another for shale, will be held in July and September, respectively -- prior to the end of President Enrique Pena Nieto's term.



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Colombia's Sinu-San Jacinto onshore oil & gas auction postpone until May 3 -ANH



The change was announced by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) late on Wednesday, marks the fifth time the auction for the 15 crude and gas areas in the country's northwest has been rescheduled.

By Julia Symmes Cobb and Marianna Parraga



BOGOTA/HOUSTON

Petroleumworld 04 06 2018

Colombia's oil regulator said it has postponed the deadline to receive offers for 15 onshore areas at its Sinu-San Jacinto auction until May 3 at the request of the bidding companies.

Colombia is the third Latin American country hosting an oil auction this year after Mexico and Brazil. Its bidding round comes after a four-year pause during which low oil prices stopped many countries in the region from offering their acreage for foreign investment.

The bids had been scheduled to be received on Thursday. The change, announced by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) late on Wednesday, marks the fifth time the auction for the 15 crude and gas areas in the country's northwest has been rescheduled.

Six companies have qualified for bidding: Canada-based Parex Resources Inc, Gran Tierra Energy Inc, Chinese CNOOC's unit Nexen Petroleum, Colombia's Hocol, Repsol's Talisman Energy, and U.S.-based Noble Energy Inc .

An ANH representative told Reuters on Thursday the companies requested the delay but did not provide further details.

Colombia has invested some $200 million to study the offered areas, ANH president Orlando Velandia said during a business trip to Houston last month.

Velandia has said the Andean country will begin routinely offering onshore and offshore areas for exploration and production in May.

Colombia needs to boost foreign investment to revive its stagnant crude and gas production. The Andean country plans to slightly increase output to 900,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year.

Colombia's last oilfield auction in 2014 secured investment from firms including ConocoPhillips and Parex for seven unconventional projects that are about to finish the exploration stage.

State-run company Ecopetrol plans to invest up to $4 billion in 2018, largely in exploration and production. Private firms in the country are expected to invest a further $4.5 billion to $4.9 billion.



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Stephen Zarrilli is stepping down as president and chief executive of Safeguard Scientifics, which laid off around half of its staff in early January. Read more

Safeguard Scientifics CEO Stephen Zarrilli and chief financial officer Jeffrey McGroarty are leaving their posts at the Radnor-based investment company, Zarrilli said in a letter Friday to tech firms Safeguard has invested in.

The moves by Zarrilli and McGroarty, who will be replaced by Safeguard colleagues, follow complaints by a group of hedge fund investors that Safeguard, which invests in small software firms, has been spending too much on its operations and borrowing too much without earning enough profit. The dissident investors had not been satisfied with Zarrilli's plans to lay off staff and cut back on new investments.

Nor were the dissidents fully satisfied by Zarrilli's departure, which leaves Safeguard's board intact. Decrying what he called "scorched-earth" tactics by a Safeguard board intent on staying in power, Darren Wallis, managing partner at Safeguard shareholder Maplewood Capital LLC, said he and allied investors "are deeply disturbed how Safeguard has conducted itself throughout this entire engagement."

Wallis is one of several investment fund managers who have called on fellow Safeguard investors to back a slate of insurgent candidates that may challenge Safeguard-backed incumbents if they run in this year's board elections, which have not yet been scheduled, as company officials continue talking with some of the dissidents.

Wallis called the company's CEO and CFO changes a "reactive" move by a board of directors that "needs new blood." He added that "the new CEO has zero investment management experience," and questioned whether the current board or newly promoted managers can run the company effectively. "We further wonder what the new CEO's pay package will be and what the severance packages for the outgoing executives look like. When will they be disclosed?"

In his letter to Safeguard-backed companies, Zarrilli wrote: "Today, we announced a series of management changes to further align the organization and cost structure with the company's newly announced strategy. I will be retiring from Safeguard, effective Sept. 30 of this year. Brian Sisko, who you already know, will assume the role of president and chief executive officer on July 1, and we will use the remaining three months of my tenure to help facilitate a seamless transition.

"In addition, senior vice president and chief financial officer Jeffrey McGroarty will depart from the company on June 30, and senior vice president of investor relations and corporate communications John Shave will depart thereafter at a specific date yet to be determined. David Kille, Safeguard's corporate controller, will assume the role of chief financial officer, effective June 1, 2018. Dr. Gary Kurtzman, senior vice president and managing director, health care will remain in his role and will work closely with Brian in providing oversight of the partner companies 

"I have enjoyed working closely with you. Safeguard and I have been driven by a strong belief in your innovative business, and the new senior team led by Brian, David, and Gary will continue to work closely with you as your business advances towards milestones and your ultimate goals."

In a separate statement sent to shareholders, Safeguard chairman Richard Rosenthal said the moves were part of a reorganization that should help shave $6 million from the company's yearly expenses.

Safeguard, founded in the 1950s by investor Warren "Pete" Musser, bought minority positions in a series of industries, including electronics, television (he was an early backer of QVC), and the 1990s dot.com boom. Musser and investment promoters he trained were instrumental in persuading the Pennsylvania public pension systems to invest in funds they supported, though some did not result in big client profits or create many large, long-lasting companies.

Safeguard currently owns stakes in more than two dozen companies, including Old City-based retailing-software pioneer Weblinc, digital ad tech developer MediaMath, financial tech developer Transactis, and health software developer Syapse.

Rosenthal added that Safeguard's plan for new top management "makes clear its commitment to executing on the company's new strategy and creating a leaner and more agile organization focused on maximizing the capital that is available for distribution to shareholders. We are also confident that Brian Sisko's mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and legal backgrounds, as well as his operating experience and extensive knowledge of and familiarity with Safeguard's partner companies, make him the ideal choice to lead the organization as it pursues this strategy."

Investors who called for Zarrilli to step down, arguing that staff cuts last winter didn't go far enough, include Ira Lubert, a former Safeguard official who now manages more than $15 billion in real estate and other private assets, for clients including Pennsylvania's major pension funds, SERS and PSERS.

Zarrilli is also chairman of the board at La Salle University.
Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc. says its South Philadelphia refinery could be impacted by a pipeline change that would shut it out of Pittsburgh retail markets. Read more

Buckeye Partners LP announced Friday that it would move forward to extend access on its Laurel pipeline from Midwestern refineries to central Pennsylvania, potentially cutting into markets of Philadelphia refiners.

Philadelphia refineries and Pittsburgh fuel retailers had opposed Buckeye's proposal to reverse the flow of its pipeline, which now delivers fuel from East Coast sources to central and western Pennsylvania. A Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission administrative law judge in March recommended the PUC reject Buckeye's proposal to abandon east-to-west service.

The refiners said the loss of access to Pittsburgh could imperil some of the 1,600 refinery jobs, and Pittsburgh retailers like Sheetz and Giant Eagle said it would reduce their choices of fuel supply, causing gas-price increases.

"Buckeye fully respects and remains committed to the ongoing PUC process," said Robert A. Malecky, the company's president of domestic pipelines and terminals. "We see the addition of eastbound service to the current westbound capability as providing an operational solution for all our customers."

Buckeye, which is based in Houston, said that east-to-west fuel deliveries have plunged in recent years, and that its proposal was in response to demand from Midwestern refiners to provide more fuel supplies.

The company said it would leave Laurel's existing PUC rates in place for intrastate service from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, while establishing new interstate rates for service into Altoona from Midwestern refiners in Ohio and the Great Lakes region.

According to submissions with the PUC, Laurel transported 76 million barrels of gasoline, diesel, and heating oil in 2016, including 11 million barrels from Philadelphia origin points, mostly the Monroe Energy refinery in Trainer and the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philadelphia.

PUC Administrative Law Judge Eranda Vero recommended in March that the PUC reject Laurel's request to abandon east-to-west service, saying Laurel had failed to show that Pittsburgh markets would not suffer from the loss of access to Philadelphia fuel supplies.

Philadelphia refiners, which produce more low-volatility fuel used in the summer, tend to be more cost-competitive during the summer months and Midwest products have the price edge during the winter, so the pipeline flows fluctuate seasonally.

Deny Buckeye, a coalition of affected firms ranging from Giant Eagle and Sheetz to Philadelphia Energy Solutions, issued a statement Friday on Buckeye's plan.

"We don't have details, but we're certainly suspicious of this decision," the statement said. "After over a year of telling the PUC, legislators, media, and the public that a reversal is best for Pennsylvania, Buckeye is now trying to take unilateral action that appears to be circumventing the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission process."
Connect #4 with Javier Castellano riding won the $1,250,000 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on Saturday September 24, 2016. Second was #7 Gun Runner with Florent Geroux riding. EQUI-PHOTO Read more

Pennsylvania dropped $239 million into the saddlebags of the state's struggling horse-racing industry last year, bringing the total amount given to the moribund Sport of Kings to $2.6 billion during the last decade.

The money did not come from people betting on horses. It came from hundreds of thousands of slot-machine players who lost it  sometimes a penny at a time  at the state's 12 operating casinos.

Last year, slot machines in Pennsylvania generated more than $2.34 billion in revenue. The horse-racing industry was handed a little more than 10 percent of that for the Race Horse Development Fund. The lion's share of the slots money was used to give homeowners a slight break  usually of a few hundred dollars  on their property taxes.

But don't call the racehorse fund a taxpayer-funded subsidy, the state's horse-racing industry says.

In a July letter to state legislators, the Pennsylvania Equine Coalition called the fund an "obligation" that casino operators voluntarily agreed to pay "to offset the negative impact that the legalization of slot machines would have on live racing and the state's agricultural industry."

Created to bolster racehorse breeding in the commonwealth, the Race Horse Development Fund was begun in 2006 as part of the deal brokered by then-State Sen. Vincent Fumo (D., Phila.) to legalize casino gambling in the state.

But racehorse breeding has not flourished. Though the number of standardbred horses born in Pennsylvania has remained stable, the number of thoroughbred foals born in the state has nose-dived. Births peaked at 1,365 thoroughbred foals in 2013. The number fell to 555 in 2016, says the 2017 Racetrack Casino Benchmark Report, published Monday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Despite a declining number of foals, and a sharp decline in the number of spectators at the tracks over the years, the money has kept flowing.

The primary beneficiaries of those dollars: wealthy horse owners and racehorse breeders. The fund pays for 90 percent of the lucrative purses, the cash prizes awarded to race winners. It also pays for health and pension benefits for members of the horsemen's organizations, improvements to the privately owned racetracks, and covers the costs of the Pennsylvania State Racing Fund, which regulates the industry. It also pays for dozens of lobbyists to protect the horsemen's interests.

The $239 million given to the horse industry last year was larger than the entire budgets of several state departments. The Department of Agriculture operated with a budget of $143 million; the state Department of Health spent $215 million.

The horse fund has been a tempting target for legislators looking to close gaping budget holes. But even ranking Republicans have rarely been able to shake the money loose.

"It's amazing. The biggest, largest fund we have that could be redirected is the horsemen's fund," Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) said in a video posted to Facebook last year. "It is amazing to me the political power they wield in the Capitol. Anytime we even bring it up it gets shot down in about half a second."

Indeed, the racing industry recently further improved its prospects.

Last year, the state passed a law expanding gaming. Within the new law was an Easter egg for the industry that further protected the money. The law now explicitly forbids the state from raiding it to spend on other programs.

The Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank based in Harrisburg, has long lambasted the fund as "emblematic of corporate welfare."

"It's a tax on slot machines. It's a subsidy," said Nathan Benefield, the foundation's vice president. "And if you have money to subsidize horse racing, you shouldn't be raising taxes on working families."

Though most of the money stays in state, a large share flows to owners and businesses outside Pennsylvania's borders, concluded an independent audit in 2017. Nearly 50 percent of the race purses (about $73.6 million) go to out-of-state owners and corporations. The largest of the purses  which can reach $1 million a race at the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx in Bensalem  are routinely scooped up by Arab princes, Hollywood moguls, and California businesspeople.

The industry last year continued its downward slump, according to the benchmark report.

"Wagering was down everywhere in Pennsylvania," said the report's author, Kevin Kile. "The only upside was wagering from out-of-state on Pennsylvania races." Kile attributed that gain to the resumption of winter racing last year at Parx.

Attendance at the state's six racetracks saw a decline last year. The tracks had about 681,000 admissions, down 7 percent from 2016. Attendance in the 1960s hovered around 1.5 million a year.

Pete Peterson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Equine Coalition, said there was preliminary evidence that horse racing might be on the rebound. He said there had been an 18 percent increase in thoroughbred mares bred in 2017, while the sales price of standardbred horses rose by 25 percent. With the fund protected under the provision in the new gaming law, the horsemen are less jittery and more likely to invest to expand the sport.

"The Pennsylvania Equine Coalition is optimistic that the industry is back on the right track," he said. "These changes will help restore the industry's full economic impact on our state's agriculture industry."

This story has been updated.
Cheryl Wardle, left, David Mano, center, and Bill Wardle, Cheryls husband, stand in front of a Sunoco Pipeline drilling site on Shoen Road in Exton that has been idle since private water wells went bad in July. Read more

David Mano and his neighbors on Valleyview Drive said there wasn't much of a mystery in July when the water from their kitchen taps suddenly turned smelly and cloudy. They immediately suspected the underground drilling that Sunoco Pipeline LP was conducting beneath their Chester County neighborhood.

"I walked down the street to find where they're drilling, and see there's water coming out of the drill hole," said Mano, who lives in an enclave of about three dozen 60-year-old Exton homes with private water wells. "That's our spring draining itself out."

Sunoco's construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline set off alarms in West Whiteland Township, where the company halted drilling beneath Valleyview Drive after the private wells went bad on Independence Day. As Mano learned more about Sunoco's massive project to deliver Marcellus Shale gas liquids such as propane across Pennsylvania to a terminal in Marcus Hook, he discovered his experience was not isolated.

"At the very beginning, the battle was all about our well," he said. "But once we started seeing how big this battle is across the state, we realized how many other people have been affected."

The latest landowners to experience a rude intrusion from the Mariner East system live less than two miles from Mano, on a quiet cul-de-sac called Lisa Drive. Last month sinkholes developed along Sunoco's pipeline easement, less than 10 feet from some Lisa Drive houses, exposing the original Mariner East 1 pipeline. The sinkholes are about 200 feet from the Amtrak line, also used by SEPTA's Regional Rail.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which is responsible for enforcing federal pipeline safety rules, said the subsidence could have "catastrophic results" and ordered Sunoco to halt pipeline flows until the company thoroughly studied and stabilized the sinkholes.

On March 30, Sunoco's parent company, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), offered to temporarily relocate five Lisa Drive households for six weeks while it conducts subsurface studies and comes up with a remediation plan. Residents declined to comment; some have sued and others say they have obtained lawyers.

Operation of the existing pipeline is on hold indefinitely, and much of the remaining construction of the $5 billion Mariner East 2 expansion is stalled. Sunoco says 95 percent of the project is completed.

Mariner East's critics suspect the common thread between the sinkholes and the fouled water wells is Sunoco's construction method. Sunoco is using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to bore an underground pathway for the pipeline in much of densely populated Delaware and Chester Counties. HDD allows it to pass under streams, roadways, and neighborhoods without causing surface disturbances associated with a conventional open-cut trench.

But Sunoco's effort to inflict less disturbance has backfired miserably in Chester County's Great Valley, which is underlain by several fault lines and a fragile geologic limestone formation called karst. Karst is characterized by cavities and sinkholes where the limestone rock has dissolved.

"This is an unstable area where they should never have put a pipeline in the first place," said State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D., Chester), who, along with State Sen. John Rafferty (R., Montgomery), has introduced legislation to increase pipeline oversight.

Horizontal drilling involves the use of a steerable drill bit that chews its way through the earth, aided by drilling fluid that carries back the rock cuttings from the drill bit. The drilling mud also seals the bore's interior.

But drilling fluid can leak through underground fractures and faults, causing "inadvertent returns," as it did when Sunoco began horizontal drilling in November near Lisa Drive. Though drilling mud is composed of water and nontoxic bentonite clay, it can harm aquatic life if enough of it leaks into a stream.

And horizontal drilling can disturb underground aquifers, as it did on Valleyview Drive.

Sunoco agreed to connect 34 households on Valleyview Drive and nearby Township Line Road to Aqua Pennsylvania's public water system, and gave each resident $60,000 to cover the costs of future water bills. Everybody accepted the offer except Mano, who feared that by accepting the money, he would release Sunoco of all future liability. He said his well water cleared up after Sunoco's drilling paused.

Sunoco said that inadvertent returns of drilling mud during horizontal drilling are "not unexpected" and that its permits from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) include contingency plans for responding to leaks and spills.

"We have experienced inadvertent returns on 37 percent of our HDDs  which is below the industry average of 50 percent," ETP spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger said in an email. "We have worked in coordination with the DEP to ensure that the environment is protected and will continue to do so."

Sunoco/ETP and state environmental regulators say horizontal drilling can be conducted safely in karst formations.

"Large portions of the commonwealth are underlain by karst geology like that found in the southeastern portion of the state, and Pa. DEP, local governments, and other regulatory agencies regularly permit activities in these areas and address the unique issues associated with such geologic formations," Neil Shader, DEP's spokesman, said in an email.

"Commercial, residential, and industrial structures, pipelines and other utilities are installed throughout such areas and have existed for many decades," Shader said.

Richard B. Kuprewicz, a respected engineer and pipeline expert from Redmond, Wash., agrees that horizontal directional drilling can be viable in a karst terrain, and said there is nothing to preclude the operation of a pipeline carrying highly volatile liquids such as propane through karst. "But you better know what the hell you're doing."

In reviewing Sunoco's applications for stream-crossing permits in 2016, DEP said that use of HDD in Exton within 1,500 feet of three public water-well sites operated by Aqua Pennsylvania presented "additional risks" of leaks during drilling. It asked Sunoco to provide details on how it would reduce the risk.

In its response, Sunoco said it had met with Aqua and prepared an HDD monitoring program. It also said it would reevaluate the pipeline's depth where it passes close to Aqua's Hillside wells on Swedesford Road, to address the utility's concerns about "potential turbidity increases" during drilling.

DEP approved Sunoco's permits in February 2017, including horizontal drilling across most of the Great Valley.

"This has been the area that has been the epicenter of problems with HDD drilling, and DEP identified it in advance," said Alex Bomstein, an attorney for the Clean Air Council, which has led a coalition of environmental groups that are challenging the Mariner East permits. "DEP identified it, but permitted it anyway."

Just a few days after Sunoco halted drilling when the Valleyview Drive water wells were fouled, Aqua's chief environmental officer, Christopher S. Crockett, asked Sunoco/ETP to evaluate alternative pipe installation techniques for Mariner East around the Hillside wells.

"Based on aquifer testing jointly performed by ETP and Aqua, it appears that HDD will have adverse impacts on our public water supply wells at this location, resulting in permanent loss of these wells," Crockett said in a July 17 email.

The email correspondence was included in an application ETP submitted in October to abandon HDD on Mariner East sections under North Pottstown Pike and under Swedesford Road, near the Exton Square Mall. ETP proposed to switch to open-trench construction and auger drilling, an underground drilling method that involves short, straight-shot boring under roadways and does not use drilling mud.

Aqua's request to abandon HDD near its wells had been in the works for many months, based upon tests done in February 2017, and was not a reaction to the Valleyview Drive mess, Aqua spokeswoman Donna Alston said in an email.

"Aqua took proactive measures to establish the need for alternative piping installation methods, such as open-cut pipe trenching, prior to the discovery of the contaminated private wells in the locations you reference," she said in an email. Crockett sent the July 17 email at ETP's request to support the pipeline company's application to switch to open-trench cutting, she said.

Pipeline opponents say ETP's abandonment of HDD plans near Aqua's wells is an acknowledgment that horizontal drilling is unsuitable in the area.

"They should have never done HDD in such a densely populated area," said Cheryl Wardle, a resident on Shoen Road, whose front yard faces a now-idled Sunoco site where it conducted the horizontal drilling that ran under Valleyview Drive. "We're the guinea pigs."

She and her husband, Bill, who accepted $8,000 from Sunoco in 2015 for a pipeline easement across their rear yard, fear that the project has diminished the value of their home. "We couldn't sell now," she said, pointing to the ugly 25-foot-high fabric barrier that shields the drill site from their house.

DEP's Shader said the agency will conduct a new hearing on Mariner's permits since the company's proposal to change construction methods in West Whiteland is a significant modification. "Those modifications are currently being reviewed by DEP, and information on the hearing will be made available once the details have been ironed out," he said in an email Wednesday.

A hearing may provide pipeline opponents with a new opportunity to express frustration with Sunoco, DEP, and Gov. Wolf, whose administration signed off on Mariner East as a major economic development project.

"I feel frightened," said Virginia Kerslake, who lives on Shoen Road across from the Sunoco drill site. "I feel powerless. I feel like our governor hasn't done anything for us. I feel like we are basically just collateral."

Kuprewicz, the pipeline expert whose work has been cited by Sunoco in the past, suggests a delay might help Sunoco to regroup and to heal from self-inflicted wounds, such as a $12.6 million fine it agreed to pay in January after DEP cited it for "egregious and willful violations."
Kelly Master at the Cherry Hill office of For Dignity, the nonprofit she founded to help women who are being sexually exploited. Since 2012, her focus has shifted from victims of sex trafficking to strippers and others involved in what she calls the sex industry. Read more

Kelly Master knows that women who dance naked for a living can see through phonies instantly.

"The new girls always stare at you. They can read you in a heartbeat. It's like, 'who are you, what are you doing here, and what do you want from me?' "

A committed Christian and mother of five who lives in Collingswood, where she grew up, Master wants nothing more than to befriend the dancers at South Jersey and Philly strip clubs.

She and members of a group of about 20 volunteers offer gift bags, hugs, and help  including connections to detox and treatment for an increasing number of young women hooked on heroin.

"We fully respect these girls where they are in their lives," Master said. "We get much further with them than we would if we came in saying, 'You're in sin, you're going to hell.' You get nowhere with that."

Master, who grew up Catholic, was never a stripper. "The club would have gone out of business," she said, her laugh as big and openhearted as the personality she accurately described as "exuberant."

In the '80s, however, Master was the coked-up hostess at wild pool parties, a "total daily pass-out, blackout drunk whose dream was to die in a pile of cocaine."

Instead, she got clean and sober in 1992. "My husband left me, I had two school-age kids, I was a shattered mess," she recalled. "My life kind of got put back together, and faith was instrumental to me. I started going to a charismatic Christian church."

Eventually, Master remarried, had three more children, and joined the Assemblies of God denomination. She attends Kingsway Church, where the pastor, Rev. Bryon White, is a major supporter of her work.

She credits a former sister-in-law named Darlene Anderson with inspiring her to believe in herself  and eventually, to establish a nonprofit organization now called For Dignity (fordignity1.org). She's also written and published a wise little book called Shine (Uplifting Words for Girls in Stilettos).

"I am just amazed by Kelly," said Anderson, who lives in Marlton. "She is inspiring to so many, and she's so passionate about her work."

Anderson also said she is humbled that Master credits her with playing an instrumental role: "It just makes me think how much impact we have on others without even realizing it."

That notion is central to Master's mission, which is not about sin, shame, or shutting down strip clubs.

"I'm a firm believer that it only takes one person in your corner, one person to believe in you, and your whole destiny can change," she said.

"If a girl chooses to dance, awesome. But if she believes she has no choice but to dance, that's not awesome.

"I want to give the girls choices they might not have known were available. I want them to know God loves them. I want to elevate them and empower them to fulfill their destiny. Just like Darlene did for me.

"These girls don't have someone in their corner," she added. "And if they do, it's someone who says, 'Show me your breasts.' "

The dancer and entertainer Saybriel Mickey met Master four years ago while working at Cheerleaders, a club on Route 130 where Gloucester City meets Haddon Township.

"One day Kelly and her friends just came in, and I said to the girls, 'What the hell is this?' They said, 'Oh, it's the church ladies,' " said Mickey.

"I'm not a Christian, so I was already irritated. But they were super nice and brought this great energy. They brought goodie bags and offered to pray for us if we wanted it," the 25-year-old Camden County resident said. "I always had a lot of building blocks in my life, but a lot of us [dancers] are lost souls."

The volunteers "made sure we had somewhere to go if we needed it," said Mickey. "They gave one girl a baby shower. Kelly showed up for my mom's funeral."

Volunteer and longtime Christian missionary Tammy Adams, of Medford, said she "feels comfortable" going into a strip club with Master.

"Never once have I been afraid," she said. "The girls love us, and we have such a good rapport with the managers, the security guys, the DJs.  We're just there to let these girls know they're valuable. They're precious."

In 2011, when Master founded the organization that is now For Dignity, her focus was on human trafficking. That's when I met and wrote a column about her and her work, which I deeply admire.

Sex trafficking is still a concern. But the challenges for women who work in the sex industry now command much of Master's attention. And in six years of doing outreach in clubs, she has never seen anything like the impact of the heroin epidemic.

"We're losing girls left and right," she said. "Every time I turn around I hear about another girl who has overdosed. Most of the girls I've met have a history of sexual abuse, like I do. They turn to drugs because of it.

"So we've been getting girls into detoxes and rehabs and safe homes," Master added. "Afterward we get them into counseling. Many need help finding jobs outside the clubs to support themselves and their kids. What do you put on your resume? That you've been dancing for eight years?"

Master also said the national furor about sexual harassment and exploitation of women has impacted the sex industry, where rape, as distinct from commercial or consensual sex, is not uncommon.

"There's a united voice that's rising, one that's very powerful and very necessary," she said. "There's going to have to be a voice that rises from the sex industry, too."

Master is well aware that some devout Christians would likely question why she so deeply empathizes with women who are making money by showing or selling their bodies. Or why she wrote an enthusiastic post about a Seattle LGBTQ celebrity she calls a "Drag Queen Evangelist" (and who calls himself "Mama T").

"Strippers, porn stars, prostitutes, and cross-dressers are now my friends. I invest in them with prayer, time, money, and energy. I love them, and I know God does too," Master wrote, adding that when she watched a video of "Mama T preaching love, I stood up and shouted out Amen."

Me, too.
In this Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017 file photo, Blackstone Group chairman and CEO Stephen Schwarzman speaks at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) Read more

Wall Street tycoon Stephen Schwarzman's $25 million gift to Abington High School was heralded in February as a historic and good-hearted gesture to his alma mater. But as details of its attached strings leaked out, it began to resemble a deal with disturbing implications for public education in America.

This arrangement would set a treacherous precedent for our nation's already neglected public schools. The fact that the district and Schwarzman hatched elements of the quid-pro-quo agreement with zero input from taxpayers only further erodes confidence that our embattled schools can thrive or survive without desperate, confidential maneuvers involving wealthy benefactors.

It was only through a published agenda of a school board meeting weeks after Schwarzman's gift was announced that the public found out that Abington High School would be renamed after the Blackstone Group investment firm cofounder.

Another detail: The school would tweak its curriculum after receiving the money, as Schwarzman asserted on his Blackstone bio page, where he is described as a man who "has always attempted to tackle big problems and find transformative solutions."

One can't help but wonder if also buried somewhere in the fine print was a proviso that a gilded hangar be constructed on school grounds for the emperor's gold chariot.

Although Schwarzman's gift to Abington was believed to be the first of its size and type to a single such school, he clearly imagines the public-school chase for donations from the super rich  what I'll christen Billionaire Bonanza  should continue.

Schwarzman told the Wall Street Journal he planned to give several thousand superintendents advice on how to raise money from people like him: "I'm going to talk to them about how you ask people to support something that's very worthy, how to organize themselves, what it's like to be rejected, how to have a conversation. It's a learned behavior. These private schools and universities are really good at doing this."

Abington residents rightly blew a fuse when they heard about the naming rights.

District officials jettisoned that plan and on Tuesday apologized for their handling of the matter. Superintendent Amy Sichel promised that the board would vote to rescind the Schwarzman agreement April 10 and unveil a new one that the public would be able to fully review before an approval vote by April 24.

That doesn't change the stark reality that this is no way to fund the public schools that helped make some of its tycoons the people they are today.

I reached out to Schwarzman on Wednesday but was told he was unavailable for an interview. A spokesman told me he supports public and private aid for public schools.

A Billionaire's Public Schools Gift  With Strings
Given the chaos in the White House  and President Trump's rush to abandon Syria to Iran and the next version of ISIS  it's easy to overlook two critical Mideast milestones.

The first was the announcement by Israeli officials that the number of Jews and Arabs living under Israeli control between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean was now equal, at 6.5 million each. That includes Palestinians who live in the occupied areas of West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Which brings us to the second milestone: In May, Trump will reportedly unveil his proposed "deal of the century" for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If leaked details prove correct, the plan basically endorses the status quo, with limited autonomy for Palestinians in around 40 percent of the West Bank, and Gaza.

Such a plan will only inflame local tensions.

The arrival of population parity provides a warning that the status quo can't hold (the current violence in Gaza is a preview of coming attractions). It confronts Israel with critical choices about whether to divide the land into two states or rule over one state with a (mostly) disenfranchised Arab population that will soon outnumber Jews.

Leading Israeli politicians have said publicly that a one-state solution will lead to a variant of apartheid, with Israelis soon ruling over a Palestinian majority that has no political rights or control over its economy.

Yet on a recent visit to Jerusalem, and in talks with Israeli politicians from left and right, and with Palestinian leaders, I found no one who could offer a formula that avoided the perils of one-state apartheid but resolved Israeli security fears about the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state.

It is much harder to envision a two-sovereign-states formula now than it would have been in the 1980s or 1990s when the Mideast was more stable.

On my recent trip, however, I found a remarkable complacency on the Israeli right based on two assumptions: first, that Trump will accept the annexation of large chunks of the West Bank, leaving Palestinians with limited control over a small, noncontiguous territory; and second, that such a plan will be acceptable to major Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt that now saw Israel as an ally against Iran.

That thinking is shortsighted. It leaves Israel unprepared for a surge in violence from frustrated Palestinian youths who see no decent economic or political future down the road.

So in the run-up to the Trump plan, I intend to present some of the ideas I heard in Israel and the West Bank in several columns, ending with my conclusions on a formula that might at least stabilize the current situation  until the Mideast quiets down.

The most frank thinking about keeping the status quo that I heard on the right came from Benny Begin, son of the late, former prime minister, Menachem Begin, and a maverick member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party known for his honesty and probity.

"Deal of the century," Begin said of the prospective Trump plan. "Ridiculous!"

Begin believes two sovereign states is an impossible option because it is impossible to bridge the gap between Israelis and Palestinians. In particular, he says the Palestinians can never, as a matter of principle, endorse the end of all claims to pre-1967 Israeli land, or give up the right of Palestinian refugees to return to that land, rather than to their new state. Without the end of such claims irredentism would never end.

Nor can he back the option offered by some on the left to unilaterally withdraw from West Bank territory other than Jewish settlement blocs along Israel's border. He points to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which led to control of that territory by the Hamas political group that rules out recognition of any Israeli state.

However, Begin also rejects the idea of one state with equal rights. "My father thought about it, talked about it," Begin says, "But I don't think it is feasible. You can't do it for the whole West Bank unless you have the option of Israeli citizenship for all citizens there. That would change the course of events; Israel would become a different country."

He means, of course, that Israel would cease to be a Jewish state.

So Begin argues for making life better for Palestinians under "the so-called sustainable status quo of the past five years." That would include enabling improvements to the Palestinian economy (which is heavily dependent on Israel) and eliminating more Israeli military roadblocks on the West Bank.

It would also mean making clear, he says, that this interim stage didn't preclude a permanent solution in the future "so neither side ever has to relinquish its hopes."

It is on this last point that Begin's concept falters. The current status quo has ceased to be "interim" because Israeli Jewish settlement activity on the West Bank has roared ahead under Netanyahu, including efforts to legalize lawbreaking settlements on seized Palestinian land. Settlements divide the West Bank into noncontiguous fragments. Moreover, the current interim phase has blockaded Gaza and turned it into an unbearable prison  however much the blame falls on Hamas.

The status quo won't hold. I will offer the thinking of other Israeli  and Palestinian  officials in future columns. Meantime, don't hold your breath that the "deal of the century" will turn the tide of history in May.
The Denver Post mistakenly printed a photo of Citizens Bank Park in its Friday edition, a slip-up that was quickly pointed out on social media. Read more

The Colorado Rockies will take on the Atlanta Braves Friday in their home opener at Coors Field. In anticipation, the Denver Post published a story about the stadium on the cover of its Life & Culture section, featuring everything from the bag policy to the grass-fed Colorado beef served at CHUBurger.

Unfortunately, the paper mistakenly ran a picture of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia in print, an obvious error that was quickly pointed out on social media.

The Phillies social media team got in on the fun.

"Due to a production error, an image of Citizens Bank Park ran in place of Coors Field on the cover of today's Life & Culture section," the Post wrote on Twitter Friday morning.

"When we make a production error, it's a big deal. And I am sorry," added Dana Coffield, an editor at the newspaper.

Last month, the Post went through another round of brutal cuts. Thirty staffers lost their jobs, roughly one-third of a newsroom that has been decimated over the past five years. The size of the cuts was dramatically illustrated by a photo showing the newsroom's staff in May 2013  and how many staffers no longer remained at the newspaper.

Denver Post parent company Digital First Media, which runs more than 70 newspapers nationwide (including six in southeastern Pennsylvania), is owned by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund based in New York City that has forced the company to cut employees at newspapers across the country.

Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan recently described Alden as "one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism," an opinion echoed by Jesse Aaron Paul, a political reporter at the Denver Post whose job was spared.

"I don't understand the business plan," Paul said. "How does cutting off a leg help you keep running?"
How certain would you be that you could identify your attacker? Read more

The face of an attacker should be seared into memory forever. How could you forget the person who raped, stabbed, or shot you?

Or so crime victims  and, often, jurors  believe.

But as scientists and criminologists have documented, memory is often an unreliable resource, especially when the attacker and the victim are of different races. And advances in DNA analysis in the last 30 years that have brought a harvest of exonerations have underscored the pitfalls of overreliance on eyewitness testimony.

Misidentifications can be reduced, and New Jersey led the way when it reformed police procedures 16 years ago. That was spurred by cases such as that of David Shephard, who spent more than a decade in prison after being convicted of rape and robbery.

But most states, including Pennsylvania, have been slow to follow New Jersey's lead. And accusations can cast a long shadow.

Just ask Shawn Yarbray, who was acquitted by a jury last week after being charged with the May 2017 attack on Philadelphia City Councilman David Oh. Even after the acquittal, Oh remains convinced that Yarbray was the man who stabbed him in the ribs and slashed one of his arms. Oh continues to publicly accuse Yarbray of the attack.

Or ask Robert Williams, who spent three years in jail waiting to be tried for a Germantown corner-store robbery and assault before being acquitted in February by a jury that deliberated for just 73 minutes. Paranoia stays with Williams, who has since found work with a food-delivery company and is making plans to go to divinity school.

"It's scary, because I never know when the police may be at my door," he said. "They took me from my family, it was traumatic." At the time of his arrest, Williams had a 2-year-old son and a pregnant wife. The family had bought a home in Strawberry Mansion. "There's always a chance the police are upset about the verdict, and they may come and try to pin something else on me."

Shephard expressed similar anxieties. DNA evidence eventually cleared him, but the time locked up disrupted his life, and the psychological and emotional toll persists.

"You never move past it," he said.

Besides the personality changes  Shephard is quicker to anger, less trusting  he fears being falsely accused again. He dislikes going out alone, wanting a witness with him at all times. It took him more than a year to stop collecting bus receipts every time he went out, adding them to the box under his bed in case he might have to verify an alibi.

In the cases of Shephard, Yarbray, and Williams, the victims identified them as the alleged attackers, and the victims and the accused were of different races. Police and prosecutors had little other evidence.

"There's a fundamental conflict in how law is made in the courts and what scientific research shows," said Karen A. Newirth, a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project who focuses on legal reform efforts around eyewitness identification and confessions.

Psychology 101

The science is well established. Gary Wells, a psychology professor at Iowa State University who has studied the issue for more than four decades, described misidentification as Psychology 101:

"A fearful stimulus, you don't stand there looking at it and trying to form a good memory of it. Those of our ancestors who upon seeing a bear or something stood there going, 'Look at that nose, look at those eyes, look at those paws. ' Our genes now have programmed us: Fight or flight."

But by not incorporating that science into the criminal justice system, innocent people sometimes are charged and convicted, families and lives are torn apart, real criminals go free.

And although no system is perfect, experts said, the reforms such as those instituted in New Jersey are valuable weapons against wrongful arrests and convictions. In New Jersey, which is considered a national model, landmark court decisions, most recently in 2011, moved the state to require changes such as showing photos of suspects one image at a time and recording a witness' exact words at the moment of identification. In instructing juries, judges address the potential pitfalls of memory. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office also has adopted those changes, and they are contained in a policy directive.

"What New Jersey is doing right now is leading the country," said J.C. Lore, a law professor at Rutgers-Camden, even if the rest of the nation has been slow to follow.

The result trickles down, Lore and others said: Prosecutors know they will face stiff tests in the courtroom, so they press police for more rigor in the process.

"What we can hope is that we'll have an impact on the front end, because ultimately it's the front end that matters," said Cathy Rosen, chair of the criminal justice department at Temple University. For "the vast majority of the people caught in the criminal justice system, the front end is all that exists."

The race factor

Consider Robert Williams, identified by a Mexican-born grandfather as the man who shot him and robbed him in the corner store where he worked. Police had no other evidence linking Williams to the crime, and video evidence placed another suspect at the store. The week before Williams went to trial  taking his chances with the jury that ultimately acquitted him  he was offered a plea deal, he said. It would have been for three to 10 years, but he rejected it because he believed he was innocent and didn't want that conviction on his record.

The store employee had identified Williams from a series of police photos of black men from the neighborhood. He also said the gunman sounded like a regular customer whose name he did not know.

"You have to understand that if you are [Hispanic] in a predominately black neighborhood, everybody may look alike to you, everybody definitely sounds alike to you," said Williams, 27, who is married with two children.

"I don't know if he truly believed it was me," Williams said. "I just hope he understands that he was wrong, and that he comes to the realization that he had the wrong person."

Cross-racial identifications have become increasingly recognized as problematic in courtrooms nationwide.

In some cases, police and prosecutors don't have much more to go on than those IDs. When Oh, the Philadelphia city councilman, picked out Yarbray from a stack of more than 300 police photos, investigators had no additional witnesses. Nor did they have any DNA evidence, the knife used in the attack, bloody clothing, video footage, or a known connection between Yarbray, who is black, and Oh, who is Asian.

Still, Yarbray was charged and brought to trial, then acquitted.

Shephard, who is black, was convicted in 1984 of the rape and robbery of a white woman. It took more than a decade for him to be freed when multiple rounds of DNA testing exonerated him.

N.J. in the forefront

When John J. Farmer began revising identification procedures as New Jersey's attorney general from 1999 to 2002, cases like Shephard's were on his mind.

At the time, Farmer said, DNA-based exonerations were calling the criminal justice system into question while scientific research was becoming increasingly conclusive about the fallibility of identifications.

"It became clear that the reliability of our criminal justice system was at stake, and steps needed to be taken to improve the reliability of the convictions," Farmer said.

In 1999, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that juries had to be informed of the science behind potential errors in cross-racial eyewitness identifications. It was an opportunity, Farmer said, to take a panoramic look at the issue.

He contacted Wells at Iowa State and requested a review of scientific research. Because the New Jersey attorney general wields more power than counterparts in other states, Farmer was able to mandate changes in every police department and prosecutor's office.

The best practices that Farmer ultimately embraced were aimed at ensuring that no suspect unduly stands out, minimizing the risk of misidentification. Changes included having lineups conducted by an officer who does not know the suspect's identity, lest the witness receive unconscious signals.

Police and prosecutors at first were wary of the new procedures, some saying the changes would make it impossible for them to do their jobs. No witness was perfect.

Ultimately, Wells and Farmer recalled, those concerns were put to rest after detectives understood how the rules help them, too, by making sure identifications are as strong as possible.

"It was not an assault on the way things had been done  it was a way of doing things better," Farmer said. "It isn't that police and prosecutors have any interest at all in seeing innocent people convicted. They don't."

Farmer and other experts said they believed the front-end changes have helped ensure that better identifications are made and that fewer innocent people are arrested and charged.

"The real guardians of our liberties are the police and the prosecutors," Farmer said. "They are the gatekeepers, and if they're doing their jobs properly, they should be as concerned about preserving our rights and making sure the results are as reliable as anyone else in the system."
District Attorney Larry Krasner has made a commitment to seek shorter sentences for people convicted of crimes in part by offering deals at or below the minimum sentencing guidelines. But it has not been clear whether Philadelphia judges will go along with his vision.

That's being tested in the cases of close to 180 juvenile lifers awaiting new sentences in Philadelphia under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found automatic life-without-parole for minors unconstitutional.

In a number of those cases, Krasner has offered new deals making the lifers immediately eligible for parole  but the judges handling those cases have begun rejecting some of the deals.

That's left some observers wondering about the fate not only of the juvenile lifers, but also of Krasner's progressive vision on sentencing reform.

"This court will not impose the negotiated sentence," Judge Kathryn Streeter-Lewis said in a status hearing in early March for Avery Talmadge. The District Attorney's Office and Talmadge had agreed on a 22-years-to-life deal, which Assistant District Attorney Chesley Lightsey said took into account Talmadge's excellent record in prison and the facts of the case, a fatal 1996 street fight that she said could have been classified as third-degree murder, which carries a 20- to 40-year sentence.

Streeter-Lewis also rejected a 21-years-to-life deal for Phillip Pratt, who shot and killed another 17-year-old boy in the street, and a 25-years-to-life agreement for German Cruz, who shot another teen in the head "execution-style." All three cases await resolution.

In all other proposed deals that came across her docket, she asked lawyers to submit briefs called "concise statements of the case," which typically are drawn up in advance of contested hearings but are not negotiated agreements.

So far, Judge Jeffrey Minehart has approved the negotiations that came across his docket, including one for Donnell Drinks, who in 1991 stabbed a man named Darryl Huntley to death in a robbery and burglary he planned in conjunction with a Philadelphia police officer.

Minehart also accepted a 28-years-to-life deal for Joseph Jones, who in 1990 shot and killed a 24-year-old man, Eric Kitchen. Three years earlier, when Jones was 12, he was kidnapped, forced to sell drugs and nearly killed, before he escaped and called for help. He has significant mental health and intellectual disabilities, according to the court proceedings, and spent nine years in solitary confinement. The hope is he will be released to a residential treatment facility.

However, Judge Barbara McDermott  who has in a handful of other cases accepted deals for juvenile lifers negotiated by Krasner's administration  has begun to reject some of the agreements she's reviewed.

One was for John Blount, who shot and killed two men as a teenager in 1989. The district attorney offered 29 years to life. On March 26, McDermott rejected that deal and imposed a sentence of 35 years to life, the minimum set by current sentencing law for a first-degree murder by a juvenile. The other was for Omar Dennis, who according to Daily News reports from 1994 shot and killed a man who'd beaten him in a "fair fight." McDermott rejected a 24-years-to-life deal and imposed a 28-year minimum instead.

Krasner's office declined to comment. Bradley Bridge, a lawyer with the Defender Association, found himself in the unfamiliar position of defending the district attorney's stance. "The sentences proposed by the District Attorney's Office manifest a thoughtful, careful reflection of their need to balance societal interests with appropriate punishment  and a recognition of the dangers caused by over-incarceration."

Still, it's not just judges dealing with juvenile lifer cases who don't see eye-to-eye with Krasner.

Last week, Amy Campbell, the sister of Ryan Kelly, a Port Richmond man who was robbed and murdered in 2015, posted a public plea on Facebook decrying a deal she said the district attorney offered to David Ramos, Kelly's shooter, for 22 to 44 years in prison. "Judge Steven Geroff dismissed this deal, because the proposed sentence was far too low for the crime committed," she wrote.

Despite the vast size of Philadelphia's criminal justice system, only about 2,500 cases per year go to trial. Four times that many are settled through negotiated pleas.

Each one of those requires judicial approval. Experts say it's extraordinarily rare for judges to reject such deals.

"It's probably less than 1 percent of cases," said David Rudovsky, a defense lawyer and University of Pennsylvania law professor. "The judge certainly has that power  which we may see more of. It's hard to predict."

It's not atypical for an incoming administration to face an unusual number of rejected deals, said Ron Wright, a professor of criminal law at Wake Forest University.

"It's pretty common for newcomers to the courthouse to have to work out their relationships with the veterans that are there," he said, but in many cases, the district attorney can outmaneuver reluctant judges. "The prosecutor has so many more options for getting things done, they can normally work their way around a judge's objection. The prosecutor completely controls the selection of charges."

When Ed Rendell took over the office in 1978 after campaigning for tougher sentences, he occasionally ran into the reverse problem. "The only issue was when the judge went ahead on his own and sentenced the defendant to something far too lenient," he said.

But given that Krasner recently ordered his staff to overhaul its practices for charging defendants  and to make plea offers "below the bottom end" of the sentencing guidelines for most nonviolent offenses  it could come up more often.

"If you strike a deal within the sentencing guidelines, it's very unusual for the judge to reject it at that point. If the deal is below the bottom of the sentencing guidelines, that's creating this possibility," Rendell said.

There's another reason this may be a particular issue for Krasner, said Douglas Berman, a law professor and sentencing expert at Ohio State University.

"I suspect that phenomenon will be coming up more and more," he said, "especially when, as seems to be the case in Krasner's situation, judges have reason to believe going in that the prosecutor is not being nearly as aggressive as most judges expect and have experienced a prosecutor being."

He said one reason rejected agreements are rare is that judges often assume the parties are more familiar with the case than they are, and trust they've weighed the facts. "I think the Krasner story, if this is a continuing problem, will be based in the level of trust in that adversarial process."
Michelle Obama address the crowd during a conversation with poet Elizabeth Alexander the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. She will speak at an event for high-school students in Philadelphia in May. Read more

Former first lady Michelle Obama will join thousands of students buckling down on their futures next month in Philadelphia.

Obama announced Thursday that she would visit for College Signing Day on May 2, a national event where students celebrate their post-high-school plans, whether they involve a college or university, professional training program, or the military. The event will be held at Temple University's Liacouras Center and is similar to the signing days held for student athletes.

"I'm so in awe of college-bound students all over the country  you inspire Barack Obama and me every day," Obama tweeted. "We know how hard you've worked to make your college dreams a reality. That's why #CollegeSigningDay is one of my favorite traditions. I can't wait to celebrate in Philly!"

In addition to the 8,000 students from public, private, charter and parochial schools expected to attend, celebrities including Bradley Cooper, Kelly Rowland, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Robert De Niro, Nick Cannon, and Philadelphia Eagles players will join in the festivities, according to a news release.

College Signing Day, now in its fifth year, is held by Obama's "Reach Higher" initiative, which strives to help students across the country continue their education.

Obama has visited New York City, Detroit, and San Antonio during past College Signing Day events.

Tickets for the event cost $55 and can be purchased online.
Millennials are usually on the receiving end of jokes about being forever tethered to their parents' basements and bank accounts.

But what about middle-aged politicians?

Lt. Gov. Mike Stack III, facing a slew of challengers in his reelection campaign, is getting help from his mother, retired Municipal Court Judge Felice R. Stack, on two fronts.

Mike Stack, you might recall, last month listed his mother's house in Northeast Philly as his residence on his nominating petitions, instead of the lieutenant governor's mansion near Harrisburg. (He and his wife, Tonya, sold their Philly house in 2016.)

A group of Democratic voters asked a Commonwealth Court judge to block Stack from listing Philadelphia as his county of residence on the May 15 primary ballot, a move that could have cost Stack crucial votes.

Stack insisted that his mother's home is his primary residence, and described it as the "family nerve center." He said he paid the wage tax in 2016 and 2017 and renewed his driver's license using his mother's address. A judge sided with Stack, writing: "It is the place where he votes, collects mail, pays taxes, stores personal effects, and spends occasional nights."

But Stack is also getting significant financial support from his mom. We previously reported that Felice Stack was one of her son's biggest contributors, lending his campaign $60,000 last year.

Campaign finance reports made available this week show Felice Stack lent $10,000 more through March and donated an additional $5,000. She also lent $100,000 to her son's first campaign for lieutenant governor in 2014.

To be sure, Stack isn't the only candidate for lieutenant governor who has received hefty financial help from a parent.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman received an allowance of $54,000 from his parents in 2014, according to financial disclosure forms he filed in 2015 while he was running for U.S. Senate.

Stack campaign spokesman Marty Marks said this is all mom ado about nothing.

"It would be a much bigger story if his mother didn't support him," Marks said. "The fact is, the Stack family values reflect three generations of public service going back to his grandfather, who served as a member of Congress during the New Deal era. Of course Judge Stack supports her son."

A slap or not a slap?

The race to replace retiring State Rep. Bill Keller in South Philly's 184th District is already plenty crowded, with four candidates  Nicholas DiDonato, Elizabeth Fiedler, Jonathan Rowan and Tom Wyatt  in the mix. But there's a hint of tension in the air, too.

DiDonato, a retired Philly cop, has been raising a stink about not receiving the backing of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. The powerful union endorsed Rowan, a former aide to State Sen. Larry Farnese, last week.

Clout thought this sounded a little like sour grapes.

"This isn't sour grapes," DiDonato said. "I'm a proud member of the FOP. I just don't like the ethical dealings of what the board did."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. What's this talk about ethical dealings?

DiDonato said he visited the FOP's Northeast Philly headquarters in early March and made his pitch to the union's endorsement board, just as other candidates did.

But when his presentation was over, DiDonato claimed, one of the board members asked him if he knew which candidate was favored by Electricians Local 98 boss John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty. The question struck him as a little odd.

"And then they came out on social media and endorsed Rowan, who incidentally is the guy Johnny Doc is backing," DiDonato said. "Kind of questionable, don't you think?"

Local 98 spokesman Frank Keel said the union has not yet officially decided which candidate it will support in the 184th District.

FOP president John McNesby wasn't there for DiDonato's presentation  he isn't part of the endorsement board  but he scoffed at the suggestion that the union was somehow in cahoots with Dougherty.

"Not a single person wanted to endorse him," McNesby said of DiDonato.

"Our issues are pensions, equipment and safety, and he's talking about the parking on Broad Street and the Mummers. It didn't make any sense. I don't know what Johnny Doc has to do with anything."

(DiDonato's early platform issues were indeed allowing illegal parking to remain unchecked on the South Broad Street median, and returning the New Year's Day parade to its original South Philly-centric route.)

DiDonato said an FOP board member recently asked to speak to him. "My response to that was, 'There's nothing to talk about. Thank you for the slap in the face,'" he said.

"We wish him well," McNesby said.

Oh, no, they didnt

Subtlety and state politics don't exactly go together like peanut butter and jelly these days. But even your seen-it-all friends at Clout tripped over what the Pennsylvania Republican Party seemed to imply in a fundraising email that made the rounds this week.

The missive started off by citing an Inquirer and Daily News story that explored lingering questions that surround U.S. Rep. Bob Brady and former Democratic congressional candidate Marjorie Margolies, both of whom were eyed in separate federal investigations that resulted in charges of conspiracy and facilitating illegal campaign contributions being filed against longtime political consultant Ken Smukler.

"Why have prosecutors decided to charge the consultant but not these high-profile Democratic Party candidates?" read a portion of the email. "Part of the problem is that southeastern Pennsylvania is a Democratic Party swampwhere candidates knowingly violate election laws and are not prosecuted."

Reading between the lines, the email  signed by state Republican Party executive director Mike Stoll  seemed to suggest that federal prosecutors were looking the other way on political corruption.

We wonder if former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, former State Sen. Vince Fumo, and former Philly District Attorney Seth Williams  Democrats whose political careers were all ended by federal investigators  would agree.

So, about that Chester County race

Last week, Clout reported on a bit of drama  one of our specialties  in Chester County, where Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello recently took a powder and decided at the last minute not to run for re-election, leaving political newbie and tax lawyer Greg McCauley Sr. as the sole Republican candidate on the ballot.

We heard that some Chester County GOP leaders were floating the idea of recruiting another Republican, Coatesville's Amber Little-Turner, to run a write-in campaign to oppose Democrat Chrissy Houlahan.

Chester County and Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Val DiGiorgio said last week that he hadn't enlisted Little-Turner to run, but added, "I'm just making sure the committee understands all their options."

Ah, yes. Options.

We checked back with DiGiorgio this week. He now says local Republican leaders have coalesced behind McCauley  no "buts," no "options."

"It was a consensus decision of the leaders in Chester County to get behind Greg enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. It was a group decision," DiGiorgio said, adding that the county committee wanted to make sure it properly vetted McCauley in the little time they had.

Now, the question becomes: How do they hang onto this seat?

"That's a tough race," DiGiorgio admitted. "But in Greg, I think we have a candidate who's viable and is going to create a lot of enthusiasm. We think we're in the race and certainly not giving up."

Staff writers Andrew Seidman, David Gambacorta, and William Bender contributed to this column.
Rachel Ascione, 36, next to her Gold Star Family license plate. Her brother, Cpl. Ron Payne Jr., was the first U.S. Marine killed in combat in Afghanistan, in 2004. Read more

I noticed the piece of paper as soon as I rushed by the car.

Even from a distance, the way it was tucked into the driver's side window caught my attention.

Was it a parking ticket? I wondered as I got closer to the blue Honda Civic parked near the corner of Willow Grove and Germantown Avenues. A note from someone who'd hit the car, an angry neighbor? I was betting on an angry neighbor.

Careful not to touch it, I leaned in to see.

On the back of a Center City garage ticket, someone had scribbled in black ink:

"Saw your Gold Star license plate. From the bottom of my Army wife heart, I offer all love + solidarity. So sorry for your loss. Katey."

I waited around, hoping I might catch the reaction of the driver when he or she discovered the message left by someone who knew Gold Star plates are for those who have lost loved ones during their service. After about half an hour, I had to leave, so I left my own note, hoping that whoever owned the car would be willing to share their story.

A few days later I was sitting at a coffee shop across from Rachel Ascione, a 36-year-old clinical therapist and doctoral student at Chestnut Hill College.

Her stepbrother, Cpl. Ron Payne, was killed in combat in Afghanistan on May 7, 2004, near the village of Sahmardun Ghar, Afghanistan in a firefight with Taliban insurgents.

According to official reports, he was shot while exposing himself to enemy fire so a wounded Marine could get to safety. Payne, 23, was the first Marine to die in combat in Afghanistan.

When Ascione returned to her car, she, too, figured she'd gotten a parking ticket. The message touched her, but she also took it as a divine sign that her brother knew in death, as he so often did in life, that she was thinking of him, especially as the anniversary of his death loomed.

"I see you brother," she said aloud that day in the car.

She later posted a picture of the note on Facebook and this message:

"Oh Sweet brother. Just when I'm feeling too tired. Just when I'm ready to throw in the towel. There you are. You've done it since I was 7 years old and now almost 30 years later you're still showing up for me  Even if it's through others. My God I miss you."

Ascione and Payne, who grew up in Lakeland, Fla., were so close that people assumed they were twins. They were in second grade when their parents married and their connection continued into adulthood, even after Payne enlisted, which was not a surprise to anyone in their military family  Payne used to dress up as a Marine as a kid.

Ascione worried for him during his first deployment in Iraq. They kept in touch through letters and the occasional call, including an unexpected one when she was out partying and he teased that he could just feel she was up to no good.

When Payne returned the family was relieved. When he reenlisted, Ascione was so furious she refused to talk to him for a full day.

"Now, of course, I realize it was just fear," she said. "I was so afraid for him."

Months later, after a restless night of sleep she couldn't understand, her phone went off while she was at work. It was a news alert about two Marines in Afghanistan: one dead, the other missing in action.

She called her stepfather, Ron, who was usually good about talking her down when she worried. This time, he was silent.

An hour later, her phone rang. It was her mom, screaming.

Ascione walked outside and dropped to her knees.

"How do we know it's Ron?" she cried.

Her mother answered: "Because there are two Marines at our door."

And then came the wave of grief and anger and heartache, blurry mental snapshots of white-gloved Marines, a flag-covered casket, a meeting with President George W. Bush, where Ascione, the lone Democrat in the family, was on high alert for any signs of an election-year show. That washed away when the president turned to Ascione and said,

"And you must be the sister  "

She couldn't stop crying as he put his hand on her head, which was something her towering brother used to do.

For years, Ascione used to have a memorial sticker on the back of a previous car that prompted people to stop and say thank you. Some left notes. When she got her new car, she decided to honor her brother in more personal ways, through research and work around issues faced by military families.

She thought about joining the military herself, until her stepfather, also a Marine, said something she'll never forget:

"We've already paid our price to this country, we don't need to pay it again."

As the anniversary of Payne's death nears, she'll be thinking a lot about sacrifices.

"Grief looks different every year," she said.

Some years she's gone to the cemetery where Payne is buried with her parents. Other times, it's just her, a sister remembering the brother she misses every day, a Marine who was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Sometimes, when she feels strong enough, she watches the video of her brother speaking at a Memorial Day event at the family's church, shortly after he'd returned from Iraq, and less than a year before he died.

He'd made Ascione drive around the church a few times, he was so nervous about speaking. His words from the podium would prove to be more prophetic than anyone could ever imagine.

"You know a lot of people were saying how much of a hero I am and stuff like that," he said. "I've never been one for fanfare, you know. Everyone over there gave something, but there's some people there who gave everything. Those are the heroes."
Bob Skiba, a past president of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides, tries to foster dialogue in fractured times as he leads tourists around Independence Mall. Read more

Tourist season is upon us in Philadelphia. You can barely get a seat in my favorite place to write: the cafeteria tables at the back of the Independence Hall Visitor Center. (I find the terrifying rictus of the fiberglass Rocky statue inspiring.) But it struck me as I elbowed my way through the crowds of tourists the other day, children snoozing on the storytellers' bench, parents eagerly waiting for the next tour guide to arrive: What's it like for those guides to tell the story of the birthplace of America when it feels like we're living in the final throes of this grand experiment?

I kid. Mostly. But we have been talking for a year now  amid the immigration debate and the Mueller investigation and the Parkland shooting  about what our founding fathers would have wanted for us. About the state of the democratic institutions founded right here in our little neighborhood. I wondered how that translates to the world of tour guides  and to the out-of-towners who spend the summer sweatily plodding around our great city. (We love you guys. Stay. Try a hoagie and see how many vowels you can fit into the word.)

So, as I do every time I think about Philadelphia's past, I called my buddy Bob Skiba, who trained me to be a tour guide and is a mentor and sage to hundreds like me.

Skiba, the curator at the William Way LGBT Community Center, has been charged over the last few years with whipping our tour guides into a nationally respected squad of crack historians. To him, troubled times offer an opportunity to foster dialogue. While the tours are nonpartisan, his narratives have changed  and so has his whole interpretation of Independence National Park. This year he's even adding a new section to the tour guide handbook: how to speak to people in such a fractured world.

"For me, it's about encouraging groups to see the connection with what they see in the park and what they see in the current situations," he said.

It's a tightrope, he conceded, but outside the Liberty Bell, he tells his tours about the importance of compromise. At the President's House, he talks of how George Washington worried that two political parties would spell the demise of the country, even though we all want the same thing at heart: a home, a meal, an unbothered life. Even if we have such different ideas about how to get there.

And though other tour guides say they notice eye rolls among liberal groups and chest puffing among the MAGA types when they bring up our current president, it's something else that strikes Skiba. After the Parkland shootings and the debate that has followed, he sees anxiety in the eyes of children on Independence Mall. They pass through the security gates and worry they haven't been checked enough.

While Skiba has tried to take a measured tack, Ed Mauger, who serves as president of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides, is taking a slightly more  apocalyptic approach to today's political climate. In keeping with Philly's tendency to take to the streets at the drop of a tricorn hat, he recently published a piece in the National Standard, the place to go for guiding news, called "Can Tour Guides Save the World?"

Philly's got some dogs in this fight. Consider the neighborhood, Mauger tells his groups. Philly guides lead people around an eight-block radius where Benjamin Franklin laid the foundations for an informed citizenry, Thomas Jefferson proclaimed its ideals, and Washington and John Adams proved it could actually work.

These are weird times for tour guides.

"It's an extraordinarily rich and disturbing irony that the person doing the most damage to our democracy is the president," Mauger said. In an effort to inform the citizenry like Franklin before him, he's working to save the world one pointed historical tidbit at a time. He notes that Philadelphia pioneered affordable health care at Pennsylvania Hospital on Eighth Street. That the city accepted boatloads of French Catholic immigrants at a time when anti-Catholic sentiment was high and no other colony would take them. (First, we made them wait on a boat, then an island for a few months. "We didn't do it with all that grace, but we did it, reluctantly," Mauger said. That should be the city motto.) And listen to him talk about Ben Franklin founding the city's first library.

"Leather apron workers, shopkeepers, are now walking around talking about important issues which would lead to them demanding freedom for themselves," he said. "What does Trump say? 'I'll be your voice.' That is how he sees populism. Franklin was saying, 'I'll empower you so you have your own voice.' That's real populism."

Tour guides can't save the world, Mauger concedes. But they do their part. Here, especially, in a time when dialogue is so broken, they can try to get people talking again.
Eugenia Stanton came to Philadelphia from Israel with an MBA, but U.S. employers don't value foreign degrees. Read more

When Jean Guillaume came to the United States from Haiti in 1999, he was a college-educated radio journalist with a can't-stop-me plan to burn up America's airwaves with his direct style and quirky intellect.

Instead, he worked as a dishwasher, then as a corrections officer. Guillaume is a U.S. citizen who came here after his father, who was already living here, sent for him.

"My dream of being in the Philadelphia media was shattered back then," said Guillaume, who was left with no choice but to turn to kitchens and convicts to make the money he needed to live here, and also to support his family in Haiti. Eventually, he became a community organizer and now hosts a small radio show heard among Haitian Americans.

"I had what it takes, but the piece of paper [his Haitian diploma] isn't what was wanted," he says. "It was a waste of talent."

Such is the consequence of arriving in America with a diploma from a school that no employer here has heard of. Maybe you're smart, maybe you even topped your class. But often, an immigrant with a bachelor's or master's degree from a foreign school will quickly find that a sheepskin not made in America fails to impress on these shores.

There's even a term for it: brain waste.

"It's actually quite common," said Nicole Pumphrey, deputy director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, the Center City nonprofit that helps integrate immigrants into American life, and mentors foreign-born professionals navigating the U.S. world of work.

"If I'm an American employer, I don't know about an immigrant's college or law school. So, I'll immediately discount their education and skills. It can be really isolating and lonely to have your entire identity stripped from you like that."

Immigrants often find work, but, as with Guillaume, it will frequently be in a lesser position  a high school labor-market job vs. a college labor-market job. That is, a bartender vs. a human resources worker, said economist Paul Harrington, director of the Center of Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University.

Working at a high school labor-market job with a college degree is called mal-employment, Harrington said. And that costs money. The salary difference for a college-educated person working in a college labor-market job vs. a high school labor-market job can be 45 percent to 80 percent, he added.

"Mal-employed people really struggle, many of them unable to get jobs in the college labor market, despite their college degrees," Harrington said.

Harrington analyzed census figures describing both the employment levels of immigrants who earned their college degrees in the U.S., and immigrants who came here with degrees from their home countries.

People with foreign degrees were twice as likely to be mal-employed  36 percent  as immigrants who were educated in U.S. colleges and universities  18 percent  according to Harrington.

Africans and Asians have the highest levels of mal-employment: 47 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

It's a little better for people from India (28.9 percent mal-employment) and China (23.6 percent) because U.S. employers are starting to recognize the good schools that certain engineering students graduate from in those countries, Harrington said.

But, he added, "if you just land here with a degree from a school in Nepal, it's really tough to get a job. No one knows what it really means, how to judge the school. And that's what employers do."

Potential employers didn't know what to think of Eugenia Stanton's bachelor's degree in economics and her M.B.A. from Ben Gurion University in Israel.

A former drill sergeant in the Israeli army, Stanton, 28, a permanent U.S. resident who has been here for a year, said simply, "Our diplomas are not translated in a good way."

Stanton said she was clearly over-qualified, but bosses "wanted to see a local degree, and they never tell you. To them, my M.B.A. is not worth anything."

Aside from her foreign degrees, Stanton said, she was initially stymied by her accent, and by cultural differences between Israel and here.

For example, she said, foreign applicants are usually serious and humble, never smiling in job interviews and always loath to speak well of themselves.

"My friends who are foreigners find it really hard to sell themselves," Stanton said. "In our countries, your references tell the interviewers that you're good, you're a specialist. You don't say it yourself."

Pumphrey agreed. "My colleague from the Netherlands told me that if she walked into an interview smiling like an American will do, the interviewer would think she was drunk or flirting."

Eventually, Stanton found a job as an accountant with Community College of Philadelphia. "I was very lucky," she said. "I'm over-qualified, but I understand it's a start."

Ultimately, American employers are risk-averse, which works against immigrants, said Stanton's friend Pierre-Olivier Lugez, 37, from France.

A lawyer with master's degrees in European business and international law, Lugez isn't permitted to practice law here, just as foreign doctors cannot practice without further study in American institutions, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"American employers feel comfortable with people from schools they know, and because they don't know what to expect, they aren't prepared to take a risk on a foreign degree," he said. "And they say, 'That guy pleaded to a European court. I don't know what that is.'"

Lugez, who came here last year and has a green card, landed a job with the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, helping to attract international businesses to the city.

It isn't like holding forth in a Paris courtroom, but Lugez, who wanted to move to the U.S. to be with his American husband, said he has accepted the fact that he won't practice law here.

Immigrants learn, Lugez said, that the privilege of coming to America often exacts a cost.

"Everyone coming here from a foreign country goes through this," he said. "One has to take a step backward, in one way or another."
An Atlantic City man is facing weapons and stolen property charges after intentionally shooting himself, police say. Read more

A 51-year-old Atlantic City man who has been hospitalized since suffering a self-inflicted gunshot wound six weeks ago has been charged with illegally possessing a weapon and receiving stolen goods  the handgun used in the shooting, police said.

On Feb. 23, police were called to the 1500 block of Reading Avenue for a report of a shooting.

Inside a house there, officers found Lawrence Trader, 51, suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso. Medics took him to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's City Division in serious condition, police said.

Investigators determined Trader had shot himself deliberately and recovered a handgun that had been reported stolen from Ohio, police said.

This week, Trader was charged with possession of a weapon by a person barred from having a weapon and receiving stolen property.

Trader was issued a summons and will appear in court after he recovers, police said.
Capt. Samuel A. Schultz, 28, of Huntingdon Valley, was one of four Marines killed in a helicopter crash Tuesday in California. Read more

A 28-year-old captain from Huntingdon Valley was identified Thursday as one of four Marines killed in a helicopter crash in Southern California during a training mission this week near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Samuel A. Schultz was a pilot assigned to the Third Marine Aircraft Wing's 465th Squadron out of Miramar Air Station. He joined the Marine Corps in May 2012.

Schultz had previous assignments in Florida, Texas, and North Carolina. He previously was deployed with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Also killed were 27-year-old First Lt. Samuel Phillips of Pinehurst, N.C., 33-year-old Gunnery Sgt. Richard Holley of Dayton, Ohio, and 24-year-old Lance Cpl. Taylor Conrad of Baton Rouge, La.

The Marines were practicing desert landings when their CH-53E Super Stallion crashed about 2:35 p.m. Tuesday in a remote area about 15 miles west of El Centro.

The heavy lift helicopter had departed the Marine training bases at Twentynine Palms to practice "aircraft landings in unimproved zones," the Marines said in a news release.

The cause of the crash was under investigation.

"The loss of our Marines weighs heavy on our hearts," said Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft Wing, in a statement. "Our priority is to provide support for our families and [Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465] during this critical time."

The CH-53E Super Stallion is the largest helicopter in the U.S. military and has been in service for more than 30 years. It is used for mine-sweeping and transport, and can carry dozens of troops and tons of cargo.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.
Belle Alvarez, a member of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, leads a song outside the Center City offices of ICE at a Feb. 13 protest that played a role in the dismissal of three staff organizers. Read more

Amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, one of Philadelphia's most dynamic resistance groups says it is "pausing" some of its work after the controversial firing of three immigrant organizers who had sought to oust the agency director.

The New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia will temporarily halt certain elements of its activism, taking time to reflect, develop new policies, and consult with immigrant communities. NSM, as it is known, expects it will be July before it fully resumes the justice campaigns and street demonstrations that made it a leader of local opposition to President Trump's policies.

"We will grow stronger out of this," said assistant director Blanca Pacheco, designated to speak for the organization. "Right now it's painful. It feels hard, it feels messy. But a lot of us are people who have crossed borders, who have gone through a lot. We know how to get back up."

Three weeks after the NSM board terminated the three organizers  half the staff  the aftershocks rumble:

 NSM has been dropped as the sponsor of an undocumented family engaged in a high-stakes church sanctuary struggle in North Philadelphia. Carmela Apolonio Hernandez, who with her four children took refuge in the Episcopal Church of the Advocate to avoid deportation to Mexico, has turned to a new group, the Sanctuary Advocate Coalition, for support and protection.

 An internet fund-raiser for the fired workers, Sheila Quintana, Jazmin Delgado, and Cynthia Oka, collected $10,000 in 10 days and continues to draw donations.

 The future of NSM cofounder and director Peter Pedemonti remains unclear. He has declined to comment since the Inquirer and Daily News reported the firings March 19.

Despite its diminished staff, Pacheco said NSM will continue to operate its accompaniment program, which sends advocates to court with immigrant clients to serve as witnesses and translators, as well as its leadership-development initiative and its campaign against what it calls discriminatory police towing of cars.

The agency expects to hire new workers, but how many, when, and for what jobs is yet to be determined, Pacheco said.

The dismissals have provoked wide concern in the city's close-knit immigrant-rights community, where Trump administration polices have left many feeling under attack, and generated an online outpouring of questions, support, and condemnation. Some wonder what NSM has done to itself.

"Imploded is not too strong a word," said one veteran activist, who asked not to be named because she has worked with NSM in the past.

Quintana, Delgado, and Oka were dismissed March 15, roughly two weeks after a Feb. 27 meeting at which they say the agency board promised them confidentiality, non-retaliation, and a response to their complaints about Pedemonti.

In a public letter, they called the director disconnected and incompetent, and said he exposed one of them to personal risk at a Feb. 13 protest outside the Center City offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At the loud, sign-waving demonstration, Pedemonti summoned one of the workers and introduced her to federal agents, despite knowing her citizenship status was unsettled.

"If he was careless enough to put one of us  whom he had regular contact with  in direct and ongoing danger," the three wrote, "then what would stop him from being careless with immigrants that he does not know personally?"

They described Pedemonti as a white male U.S. citizen, while they are "immigrant women, gender nonconforming and queer organizers."

In a written response, the NSM board criticized the three for refusing to accept any resolution other than the director's dismissal. While Pedemonti did call upon an organizer to speak to ICE agents at the February rally, the board wrote, he provided no information beyond what was already on the NSM website.

"This was a mistake, and it is the only time it has happened," the board wrote, promising it would "make sure it never happens again."

The board said it fired the three workers when it became clear during the complaint process that they "had begun to undermine the values and mission of the organization."

The statement said the three have been offered severance packages and legal representation if ICE should act against any of them. Quintana, Delgado, and Oka have called on the nine-member board to resign.

Pedemonti cofounded NSM a decade ago. Today, from offices in Kensington, it serves mostly Latino and Indonesian communities. Its financial backing has grown, with total revenue increasing 25 percent in one year, to $253,663 in 2016, according to the agency's most recent public tax filing. Almost all the money came from grants and contributions.

Pedemonti is paid $35,000 a year as director.

Since Trump's inauguration, the agency caseload has doubled to about 100 clients, and nine new congregations have joined its cause, bringing the total to 28.

NSM's public profile shone brightly in mid-December, when it undertook the demanding job of supporting Hernandez and her children as they claimed church sanctuary. The mother says deportation to Mexico could get them killed by the same gangsters who murdered her brother and two nephews.

Hernandez has challenged immigration authorities, asserting her children's right to an education by sending them out of the church each day to attend public school. None of the children has been detained. ICE guidelines dissuade agents from making arrests inside hospitals, schools, and churches, but immigrants have been detained just outside those places.

Two of the dismissed NSM organizers, Quintana and Delgado, remain close to the Hernandez family. After the three were fired, Hernandez dropped NSM and accepted support from the new Sanctuary Advocate Coalition, which includes Juntos, the Media Mobilizing Project, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and other groups. In nine days, the coalition raised $3,200 of the $4,500 it says is required for the family's immediate needs.

"Carmela and her family are doing well," said the Rev. Renee McKenzie, vicar of the Church of the Advocate. "The disruption of the relationship with NSM, it's hard, it was hard for everyone.  At the Advocate, we're here to support Carmela."
The newsroom of The Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. Read more

For the second year in a row, Philadelphia Media Network, publisher of the Inquirer, the Daily News, and Philly.com, has won the Sweepstakes Award as the most-honored news organization in the 2018 Keystone Press Awards, selected by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.

PMN earned a dozen first-place honors in the Division 1 category for multi-day publications with more than 75,000 circulation, the association announced Thursday.

Sweepstakes Awards are given to the news organizations in each divisional category that receive the most first- and second-place awards as well as honorable mentions.

"Winning the sweepstakes for a second consecutive year is testament to the talent of our staff," said Gabriel Escobar, editor and vice president of PMN. "Our newsroom continues to transform itself, but the one thing that does not change is our commitment to producing quality journalism."

Stan Wischnowski, executive editor and senior vice president of news operations at PMN, said the top honor "speaks volumes about the focus and dedication of our outstanding journalists" while they also face ongoing changes in the newsroom.

Winners will be honored at a banquet on June 2.

The PMN first-place winners in the following categories were:

Investigative: Wendy Ruderman, Barbara Laker, and Dylan Purcell for the series "Toxic City: Tainted Soil"

Column: Mike Newall

Niche Publication: Your Ultimate Shore Guide

Series: David Gambacorta and Amy Junod for "Undercover Gangster"

Sports Story: Mike Sielski for "The Mystery of Michael Brooks"

Sports Column: Mike Sielski

News Feature: Jason Nark for "Still a 'Miracle' "

Personality Profile: Kristen A. Graham for "Unwavering Will"

News Beat: health and science writer Rita Giordano

Features Beat: restaurant and drink critic Craig LaBan

Headlines: Joe Berkery for several, including "Prey at the Alter" and "Home, Street Home"

Distinguished Writing: David Gambacorta for several, including "Dead Bodies and Billions in Tax Dollars: The Secret,

Profitable World of Private Prisons"
President Trump walks from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 5, 2018, after returning from a trip to West Virginia. Read more

WASHINGTON  President Trump ordered his chief trade negotiator to consider imposing tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese products Thursday, in a dramatic escalation of his trade war with China.

The threat from Trump is the latest volley between the White House and Beijing in an exchange of trade attacks that continue to broaden in scope and severity.

Trump's latest move would impose tariffs on a significant share of imported Chinese goods that enter the United States  $505.6 billion last year.

It comes a day after China issued a list of tariffs against $50 billion in U.S. goods, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to recent actions from Trump.

"Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers," Trump said in a statement Thursday evening.

The president's latest salvo, moving the world's two largest economies closer to an open brawl, is certain to spook U.S. allies in Europe and Japan as well as American business leaders, who are desperate for a negotiated resolution of the dispute.

The stock market was closed when the White House released Trump's statement about the $100 billion in additional tariffs, but Dow futures tumbled more than 300 points, a sign that markets are likely to open down Friday and that Wall Street traders believe a trade war is growing increasingly likely.

Markets in mainland China were closed Friday for the start of a long weekend.

Many in the business community are urging Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to reach a settlement before the tariffs go into effect, and Republican lawmakers have been urging the U.S. president to back down.

The threat of tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods was "irresponsible and destabilizing," the Information Technology Industry Council said in a statement.

"We call on both sides to halt unproductive and escalatory rhetoric, recognizing that these words and actions have global consequences," Dean Garfield, chief executive of the council, said.

The National Retail Federation said the U.S. and China were on a "dangerous downward spiral" that could "spell disaster for the U.S. economy."

The lawmakers fear a deepening trade war will hurt jobs and businesses in their states, and they worry it could cost Republican votes in the 2018 midterm elections.

"Hopefully the president is just blowing off steam again, but if he's even half-serious, this is nuts," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement Thursday night. "The president has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire."

The announced level of tariffs almost certainly would lead to American and Chinese consumers facing higher prices at stores for many everyday items.

" If he's serious, this is going to start hitting consumer goods and more Americans will feel it," said Chad Bown, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "This could hit the Walmart shopper if it goes through."

Trump's threat of more tariffs comes amid broadening confusion about the White House approach to trade policy., as it is in the midst of a major personnel change, and Trump has taken to issuing statements and decrees on social media only to have them explained in different ways by aides.

Thursday night's statement was a prime example. The statement said Trump wanted U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider imposing "$100 billion of additional tariffs" against China. A spokeswoman for Lighthizer later clarified that they would consider tariffs against $100 billion in goods, not $100 billion in actual tariffs.

Financial markets have wobbled as investors are led by Trump to think that the trade tensions are escalating, and then they are assuaged by another White House official suggesting that things will be resolved peacefully.

One reason for the public confusion is a split between Trump's economic advisers. White House adviser Peter Navarro has cheered Trump's adversarial approach to China. Others, particularly National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow, have suggested that these moves are all part of a grand negotiation that could result with no tariffs taking effect.

But every time aides attempt to soften the edge of Trump's trade threats, the president takes direct aim at Beijing and declares that he won't back down until the gap between U.S. imports from China and its exports to that country is dramatically narrowed.

In several bellicose tweets Wednesday, Trump declared: "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."

Recent weeks have seen a dizzying exchange of tariff actions, which Patrick Chovanec, a China watcher and chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management, compared to the back and forth of "two dogs determined to see which has the loudest bark."

The tit-for-tat actions began in March withTrump initiating a process to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. He later exempted most major countries except for China.

In response, China on Monday said it would impose tariffs on 128 U.S. exports, including pork and a range of agricultural products that would have a disproportionate impact on American farmers.

On Tuesday, Trump unveiled a list of about $50 billion in Chinese electronics, aerospace and machinery products it plans to hit with steep tariffs.

And then Wednesday, China said it would pursue new import levies on U.S. soybeans, cars and airplanes, targets that would reach much deeper into the American economy and potentially affect hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Trump wanted much bigger tariffs on China initially. The , but the administration pulled back and crafted a list of more than 1,300 items from China to avoid hitting consumer goods like iPhones, shoes and clothing.

But economists say it will be almost impossible to avoid hurting U.S. consumers with the additional tariffs that Trump is pushing for now.

China exported more than $500 billion in goods to the United States last year, and China exported more than $500 billion of goods to the U.S. last year and imposing tariffs on $100 billion worth of goods will would have a major impact on the flow of a range of products. In threatening these penalties, Trump is seeking to enforce a 1974 law that gives him the power to direct investigations into what he believes is China's theft of U.S. intellectual property.

In his statement Thursday evening, Trump said the new tariffs under consideration would be a direct response to China's retaliation this week. He also said he has "instructed the Secretary of Agriculture, with the support of other members of my Cabinet, to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests."

It was unclear precisely what he wanted Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to do. But trade analysts warned that if Trump is considering additional subsidies to protect farmers from Chinese retaliatory tariffs that could expand the U.S.-China trade spat to other powerhouse agricultural countries like Australia, Brazil and Argentina.

"If Trump pays farmers with subsidies, other farmers around the world will object. Suddenly, big agricultural producers in the rest of the world will be drawn into this fight. This has the potential to escalate this way beyond the U.S.-China box," Bown said.

Trump still left open the possibility that this could be posturing in advance of some sort of trade deal with the Chinese government.

"Notwithstanding these actions, the United States is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people," he said. "Trade barriers must be taken down to enhance economic growth in America and around the world."

Trump says the U.S. government has allowed China for decades to flood U.S. consumers with cheap imports that hurt American jobs, leading to the closure of thousands of factories across the country. He won the 2016 election in part by promising to restore many of those jobs, particularly in the Midwest.

So far this year, Trump has threatened a range of countries, including Canada, Mexico, Germany, South Korea and Japan, over their trade practices, but he has reserved his most aggressive attacks for Beijing.

The Washington Post's Emily Rauhala contributed to this report from Beijing.
Sen. Bob Casey hosts a town hall at the University of Pennsylvania on March 12, 2017. Read more

WASHINGTON  Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) finished March with more than $10 million in his reelection fund, setting a new high for a Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, his campaign said.

The cash-on-hand total reflects one measure of political strength, and shows rivals how much Casey has to spend for the final seven months of campaigning. It's the most any Pennsylvania Senate candidate has had in the bank at the end of a quarterly reporting period, Casey's campaign said, citing past public disclosures in sharing the figure with the Inquirer and Daily News.

National Republicans have targeted Casey, hoping that after President Trump won Pennsylvania in 2016 they can oust the Democratic incumbent.

The cash-on-hand sum is not a measure of pure fundraising power, since it also factors in how much a candidate has spent or saved. Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), for example, had collected more money overall  $19 million  at a similar point in his 2016 reelection campaign. Casey has raised around $15 million this election cycle, including $2.2 million in the first three months of 2018.

Casey's total serves as a reminder of the fund-raising gap between the incumbent and his leading Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta.

Barletta had about $1.1 million on hand as of Dec. 31, the date of his latest filing. His campaign has not yet released its fundraising totals for the first quarter of 2018.

Casey's sum reflects his fund-raising and campaign spending through the end of March, the cutoff for public disclosures due later this month. His campaign manager, M.E. Smith, attributed the sum to "overwhelming grassroots enthusiasm."

Another Republican candidate, State Rep. Jim Christiana, had roughly $18,000 in his campaign fund at the end of last year.
Veronica Curry, front with hoop ear rings raises her fist with other Black Lives Matter supporters during a rally for Stephon Clark. Read more

While I was recently guest-hosting a radio program, phone lines lit up with listeners struggling to understand conditions at historically black Hampton University, where students are fighting with school leaders over basic quality-of-life issues, including improvements to campus facilities, food services, and addressing how sexual assault is handled by the administration.

As activists described intensifying scenes on campus, conversations on the general state of historically black colleges and universities took a jarring turn as some callers (audibly all African American) justified the gritty circumstances on predominantly black campuses. Not all felt that way. But there was a sizable and vocal minority who seemed to think the challenges added value. "It's supposed to be tough like that, whether it's being on [fraternity] line or dealing with schools that have fewer resources anyway," one caller shot back.

I've heard that sentiment before, but I still find it troubling. African Americans, especially younger ones, face monstrous, systemic oppression from birth. With HBCU enrollment soaring in recent years as fresh trends of racial polarization and hostility rise, black students should expect "safe havens"  so why would black-run institutions be any less that? (Hampton's not the only black university dealing with tough issues that impact young black people: A student uprising at Howard University pointed out similar issues, as well as allegations of embezzled financial aid funds.)

It's no secret that the black community is under assault, habitually absorbing direct and sometimes fatal blows to civil rights, voting rights, and quality of life. These days, the blows have re-accelerated in ways unseen since the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago this week.

One major difference between now and then: The black human condition is now the subject of much research, study, and chin-rubbing. We're seeing grim trends unfold before our eyes through streams of hard data, whether they're in the New York Times (where it was recently reported that even when children grow up next to each other with parents who earn similar incomes, black boys fare worse than white boys in 99 percent of America) or a Brookings report (that concluded that black men born to low-income parents are much more likely to end up with a low individual income than black women, white women, and  especially  white men).

It is useful to see these data because they objectively confirm what African Americans have known all along. But it's frustrating, because the black community is, increasingly, paralyzed by a sense of powerlessness.

Our outrage is loud and palpable  but how constructively is it channeled these days?

Many communities  including black Philadelphia  seem to grudgingly accept conditions as either given or unsolvable. Black Philly poverty and low wage growth remain staggeringly high, homicide rates rise, health indices stifling, and low-income Philly tenants, as an example, spend nearly 60 percent of their income on rent alone while facing eviction rates four times more than any demographic. This situation plays out all too frequently in metropolitan black communities nationwide.

The exact same indicators that left Dr. King deeply distressed in his last days, from housing and employment to crime and pollution, can be left to languish by the very communities stricken with them today.

We can't assume cosmetic achievement (the job, the house, and the car) is the height of community progress.

Nor can the extent of any resistance merely be fist-shaking and hashtag anger.

We should, instead, presume that our agency can only be controlled by the choices we are making, and that what we are taking is unified steps toward action.

Protest over Stephon Clark's death, for example, shouldn't just shut down a City Council meeting or two; Sacramento citizens should protest with their votes and oust that City Council  which has a primary election in June.

The plight of black men raised in poverty, 54 percent staying in it, shouldn't be accepted as social norm; organizations, churches, and neighborhoods should be unified in muscled "state of emergency" campaigns.

And when four lives are lost in a crumbling North Philly boarding house owned by a slumlord long known to evade city regulators and federal probes, the city's black political and advocacy class shouldn't just shrug; community leaders, in tandem with elected officials, should be immediately moved to relentless, creative action plans that can once and for all solve Philadelphia's affordable-living crisis.

The black experience should not be defined by conforming to routine, soul-crushing struggles. It should be a collective choice toward fresh ideas and creative community revitalization. Compared with 50 years before, we now have access to tangible resources that we did not have before, so all is not lost. Despite African Americans' seeing the loss of half of their net worth during the recession, we still have a middle class and we can tout more than 11,000 black elected officials on the local, state, and federal level since the inception of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

We can't wait for racism to draw back into the shadows. Since we are living these conditions, none of this should happen on our watch.

Charles D. Ellison is host of "Reality Check," a daily public affairs program on WURD radio (96.1FM/900AM in Philadelphia). He is also principal of Washington-based B|E Strategy, the Washington correspondent to the Philadelphia Tribune, and a contributor to Philadelphia Citizen. @ellisonreport.
After the Parkland shooting, Dicks Sporting Goods said it would no longer sell assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. Read more

Big businesses rarely take courageous stands on hot-button issues that could impact profits. That is why it is worth noting the changes implemented by several Fortune 500 companies following the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people and injured 17 others.

Citigroup, the giant Wall Street bank, said it would no longer do business with companies that sell bump stocks and high-capacity magazines or sell guns to anyone under 21. Dick's Sporting Goods said it would no longer sell assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. Walmart, the biggest gun seller in the country, took somewhat similar steps, including stopping the sale of toy and air guns.

A number of other companies  including Delta Air Lines, Hertz and MetLife  disassociated themselves from the National Rifle Association, which has played the leading role in keeping many state and federal lawmakers from passing common-sense gun laws that many of its members support.

More can and should be done.

After all, 20 first graders and six adults were massacred by a gunman with an assault rifle at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2002 and essentially nothing happened. Since then there have been at least 239 school shootings nationwide.

Yet, after previous shootings most lawmakers and big businesses offered nothing but thoughts, prayers, and lame excuses. But Parkland was a shock-the-conscience moment.

"We have to help solve the problem that is in front of us," said Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack, whose company sold the Parkland killer a gun last year.

Credit the Parkland teens who survived the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High for starting a movement that forced corporate America to finally take notice. Since the Valentine's Day mass murder at their school, the students have sparked a powerful grassroots movement that has caused big businesses and lawmakers to sit up and take notice.

Armed with little more than their smartphones, the teens organized marches nationwide and within weeks forced Florida lawmakers, who have long been the leading lackeys for the NRA, to pass the first notable gun reform measure there in decades. When Fox News host Laura Ingraham mocked Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, he showed her how adept the teens are at mobilizing.

Hogg tweeted out a list of Ingraham's biggest advertisers to his 600,000 followers urging them to call the companies and express their concern. Several companies quickly pulled their ads from Ingraham's show.

In the 1980s, college students helped lead the movement to end apartheid in South Africa through protests and by pressuring institutional investors to divest in companies doing business there. It was a long fight that helped lead to the dismantling of apartheid and Nelson Mandela getting elected president in 1994.

Similar pressure is being applied to large investors who own shares in companies that manufacture and sell guns. Lawmakers in several states, including New Jersey, are moving to restrict employee pension funds from investing in gun makers.

Sustaining the effort to implement common-sense gun measures will only come about through more pressure on corporate America and the voting booth.
David Lappin Shines on Day 1 of Cash Game Festival Bratislava

April 05, 2018 Jason Glatzer

The 2018 Cash Game Festival Bratislava at Banco Casino Bratislava was off to a great start with a fantastic and fun day both on and away from the poker felt.

The festival began in the late afternoon with a toast as the players enjoyed some early champagne to help break into the spirit. Shortly after, the first televised feature table, commentated by the British duo of Henry Kilbane and George Sandford, began with players battling it out in 1/2 no-limit hold'em.

Unibet Poker Ambassador and the co-host of The Chip Race podcast David Lappin, well-known for his prowess in tournaments and sit-and-go's, showed he isn't a one-trick pony by winning 651 or 325.5 big blinds. This was the most profit at the table and in terms of big blinds was the most profit at either of the two feature tables.

Lappin's big day was catapulted by a hand where he was able to win a four-digit pot with aces against kings with stacks in the middle before the flop. Lappin shared some of his insight into the hand in a live video on Facebook below.

Italy's Luca Sebastiani was the star of the show at the second 2/5 no-limit hold'em feature table by winning a table high of 1,688 or 317.6 big blinds. While Lappin did win slightly more big blinds than Sebastiani, the Italian does get the honors of winning the most cash at either feature table during the opening day of the festival.

As will be the case every day during the festival, live streaming is scheduled at lower stakes at 6:00 p.m. and higher stakes at 9:00 p.m. local time. You can watch all the action on the Cash Game Festival Twitch channel and under the Live Stream tab in our coverage.

Stay tuned to PokerNews as the Cash Game Festival has just begun and will continue to grow as the weekend approaches.

Luca Sebastiani
Embed from Getty Images

Gun control has been a hot topic since February when 17 people were killed by an evil man in an attack on a Florida high school. Ever since that attack, a group of students from the targeted school have been demonizing the weapon used by the attacker and the National Rifle Association more than the murderer himself. These students have become media darlings, and their movement to ban the sale of and even confiscate "assault weapons" and "high-capacity" magazines has been endorsed by some high-ranking law enforcement officials, including Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. But POLICE Magazine's research shows that few rank-and-file officers support such restrictions on the Second Amendment.

Last month POLICE Magazine conducted a survey of our readers and asked them a variety of questions about "assault weapons," magazine capacity, Second Amendment rights, their access to patrol rifles, and school shooting response training. You can read our full article in the April issue of POLICE or next week when it posts to PoliceMag.com. But given the amount of coverage about gun control in the mainstream media and the attempts to portray officers as proponents of gun control, we wanted to give you a sneak peek at our findings.

First, a couple of notes.

Note One: Here's our methodology. The survey was sent via e-mail to 42,682 POLICE readers. Of that total, 2,599 responded and 315 were disqualified because they indicated that they were not law enforcement officers. (The other respondents self-identified as LEOs.) That gives us a total respondent population of 2,284 officers for a calculated margin of error of plus or minus 2%.

Note Two: We are using the term "assault weapon" in the April issue article and in this blog. We know that's a term that gun control proponents often use to get the public to confuse civilian semi-automatic rifles with select-fire military weapons for the purpose of making them sound scary. So it's a loaded term. Which is why we use the term in quotes and are defining it in this article and did define it in our survey as a "magazine-fed semi-automatic rifle with a detachable magazine, pistol grips, and adjustable buttstocks."

According to our results, law enforcement officers overwhelmingly, at 91%, support the right of law-abiding Americans to "buy, own, and transfer" such rifles.

Support for restrictions on magazine size was a little more ambiguous. More than 31% of respondents said "yes" to magazine capacity limits. A follow-up question asked the officers what magazine capacity should be the maximum legal capacity for rifles and pistols. The most popular response was 30 rounds at 30%, followed by more than 50 rounds at 20%. About 16% of respondents to this question said there should be no limit to legal magazine capacity.

The legal age for buying firearms has become part of the gun control debate because the Florida high school shooter was able to legally buy an AR-15 variant rifle at 18. Slightly more than 50% of respondents in our survey said 18-year-olds should be legally permitted to buy firearms. About 42% of respondents would like to see 21 as the minimum age for firearm purchase.

Expanded background checks is another issue that has been raised in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting. This measure has strong support among the readers of POLICE. More than 76% of respondents said they were in favor of expanding background checks for purchasing firearms.

The surveyed officers were split on the need for waiting periods for firearms purchases. A little more than 56% of respondents support waiting periods, while about 44% of respondents said they don't support waiting periods. Of those who support waiting periods for firearms purchases, the most popular waiting periods were three days at 21% and seven days at 15%.

Related Article:
Baltimore Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa said Wednesday he is close to signing an agreement with a six-member panel  including two former Baltimore police detectives  to investigate the unsolved death last year of Det. Sean Suiter.

Photo: Baltimore PD/Facebook

De Sousa said he has a memorandum of understanding with the former detectives "sitting on my desk right now" to investigate the fatal shooting of Suiter  one of the few unsolved killings of a police officer in the Baltimore department's history, reports the Baltimore Sun.

"What I can say is it's going to be two former Baltimore City police detectives," De Sousa told reporters at City Hall on Wednesday. He said the detectives were "well respected" in the field. "When I share the names you'll understand what I'm saying."

The police chief said the two former detectives will be joined by "a few other outside police leaders."
The last of three major lawsuits over the surveillance of Muslims by the New York Police Department was settled on Thursday, ending years of litigation over a broad, decade-long spying program in which Intelligence Division detectives eavesdropped on conversations in cafes, asked people about their views on drone strikes and designated mosques as potential terrorist organizations.

As part of the settlement of Hassan v. City of New York, the police will use reasonable and diligent efforts to expunge certain information pertaining to Muslim communities in New Jersey that the Intelligence Division gathered. The Department will also give plaintiffs a chance to propose revisions to a policy guide on compliance with the Handschu Guidelines, which govern how the police may investigate political and religious activity, reports the New York Times.

Senior police officials will attend a public meeting with the plaintiffs, and the city will pay 10 businesses, mosques, student groups and individuals amounts ranging from $1,250 to $22,500 to satisfy their claims for damages. The settlement confirms that New York Police Department investigations involving political activity in New Jersey are subject to the Handschu Guidelines.

Neither the city nor the police admitted any misconduct or violation of the law.
YouTube shooter Nasim Aghdam in one of her videos. (Photo: Screen shot from YouTube video)

In the days after Nasim Aghdam opened fire outside YouTube's California headquarters, the woman's relatives have insisted they gave police a chance to stop her from carrying out the attack.

Aghdam's father said that when he filed a missing persons report with the San Diego Sheriff's Department earlier this week, he told law enforcement officials his daughter might be headed toward San Bruno because she "hated" YouTube. Another relative echoed that claim Wednesday, contending police flat out ignored the family's warnings.

Both the Sheriff's Department and the Mountain View Police Department, which made contact with Aghdam less than 12 hours before the shooting, have rebutted those claims. Both agencies said the family did not say Aghdam might be violent, armed or a danger to the YouTube campus when they spoke with officers.

Without that information, law enforcement experts told the Los Angeles Times, police officers would have had little reason to think of Aghdam as anything other than a routine missing persons call when they approached her Tuesday morning

"She's an adult, so when you talk about a missing persons case, she's an adult who has absented herself, which she has a perfect right to do," said Eugene O'Donnell, a former New York City police officer and criminology professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. "She has no obligation to stay in touch with her family."
Corporal Dale Hallman of the Saluda County (SC) Sheriff's Officer was killed Thursday in a single-vehicle crash. (Photo: Saluda County (SC) SO)

A Saluda County, SC, Sheriff's deputy was killed Thursday night while responding to a call. Corporal Dale Hallman died of injuries following a single vehicle crash.

According to deputies, officers had been chasing a suspect, and the pursuit took them from Saluda County into Edgefield County. When the chase ended, the suspect got out of his car with a rifle and a child. A few moments later, the suspect left the child, and that child was taken into protective custody.

Officers called for a bloodhound team to track the suspect. Hallman, who's a member of the Bloodhound Tracking Team, began responding to the scene with lights and sirens activated, but crashed along the way, WLTX reports.
Its Thursday, April 5. Today is niece Lisa and Matthews wedding reception in Berne, Ind. Lisa is brother Amos and Nancys daughter, the eighth of their 10 children.

Matthew and Lisa joined hands together as one on Jan. 20. They were going to wait to have their reception until it warmed up. Little did they realize Amos would be gone 11 short days later. It must be so hard for Nancy and her children to prepare for this meal without her husband there  my dear brother Amos  to help.

Amos was a hard worker and was always busy with something. This is Amos and Nancys seventh daughter to get married and Amos would always greet us when we arrived for the others. He always made us feel like we brightened his day.

I had a dream this week. In it, I was having a good talk with Amos. He was so happy in the dream, almost as if he was telling me "miss me but let me go."

My wish for Matthew and Lisa is to have a happy and long married life together. Matthew and Lisa have been living with Nancy since their marriage.

Daughter Verena is a table waiter at the reception today and I will be a cook. Verena will do the best she can while still wearing the air-cast boot on her foot.

We had a nice time with family at daughter Elizabeth and Timothys house on Good Friday. The afternoon was spent visiting and a few of us played Phase 10. The men and boys all went for a walk in the woods and back by the river that runs behind their property. It was a nice day. We went outside with granddaughter Abigail for awhile.

On Sunday evening we made supper here for all of our family, sister Emma and Jacob and family, and my sisters Verena and Susan.

On the menu was grilled pork steaks, potatoes and mushrooms (also on the grill), deviled eggs, homemade horseradish cheese, cheeseball and crackers, and desserts. The desserts were brought by everyone and ended up all being puddings  cinnamon pudding, dirt pudding, and peanut butter pudding.

Yesterday, daughters Elizabeth and Susan and their little girls came home for the day. It was blowing snow and quite cold again. Spring does not want to be here. Joe said our rhubarb is peeking through.
In 1966, Lyndon B. Johnson was president, color TV sets were all the rage (and showing the first episodes of "Star Trek"), and mini skirts were getting shorter. On the music scene, The Beatles and The Beach Boys ruled the airwaves, Simon & Garfunkel released "Sounds of Silence," andlocally45s came alive in Rochester.

And we do mean that. 1966 marks the year that locally cut rock n roll records started revolving on area turntables.

Rochester-area bands with names like The Rogues, The Mods, The Ferraris, and The Stingrays all had their own 7-inch discs.

Why this crescendo in local record production? We can thank the then-newly launched Welhaven Records label.

The Studio

John Welhaven is one of the current owners of Welhaven Music, a Rochester landmark thats sat at 15 North Broadway for more than six decades. He says the label started after his father, Earl, who opened the music store in 1954, purchased a record cutter.

{{tncms-inline alignment="right" content="<p>A search for The Rogues record on eBay today shows one copy going for $248.98.</p>" id="e0730922-795c-47f8-98b1-cfef33a4e642" style-type="quote" title=" " type="relcontent" width="half"}}

At the time, John was a teenager who worked at the music shop after school. He still has a flyer from this era, the late 60s, that proclaims, "Welhaven Music has recently purchased professional recording equipment and facilities for producing high-quality commercial records." The flyer also boasts that Welhaven Records has "the ultimate in professional recording equipment."

It goes on to list some of the studios special equipment: walls of 8-inch fiberglass, isolation booths, condenser-powered mikes, Ampex recorders, sensitive meters and mixers, reverberation units, Presto driver amps, and record cutters.

In addition to Ron Lynn, listed as the "audio-recording engineer," the flyer mentions three other studio personnel: Don Klassen (recording director), Bob Carlin (recording technician), and John Leone (copyright arranger). The 45s from Welhaven Records were actually recorded at Lynn Recording Studios in Ron Lynns basementnot at Welhaven Musicand most who recorded there remember Lynn as the musical mainstay.

The Music

In the summer of 1966, Dave Marsh, guitarist for The Rogues, was heading off to college. He thought it would be great to have a recording of the band, which led him to Welhaven Records and Lynns studio.

Marshs bandmate, bassist Greg Brown, says that Lynns studio was located in a basement west of the Olmsted fairgrounds.

"My memory keeps giving me a picture of a basement with lots and lots of Owens Corning pink insulation," says Marsh.

"We were 16 and 17 years old at the time," Brown says of he and his bandmates, Scott Mason (organ) and Dean Loftus (drums). "[Recording] took 60 to 90 minutes and went pretty smooth. We requested 500 records and picked them up at the studio when they were ready."

Brown sprayed several of the 45s gold and framed them with the bands business card. During their session, The Rogues covered the Rolling Stones version of "Talkin About You," and The Castaways "Sam."

A search for The Rogues record on eBay today shows one copy going for $248.98. Its a staggering price since, when the record was cut, the average cost "for the recording session and an acetate record  [was] about eight dollars per musician," according to the studio flyer.

After The Rogues broke up, Brown never lost his love for music. For the last 30 years, hes been organizing "Garage Band Jams" that reunite members from local 60s and 70s bands including The Pagans, The Prophets, The Mustangs, The Apostles, Therica, and the Downchilds.

James "Mudcat" Grant has been a working musician in the area for the last 54 years. In 1966, he played guitar with The Ferrariswhich also included Sam Nottleman (drums), Emil McAndrew (bass), and Bob Kuhlman (keys)when they recorded for Welhaven Records. "The studio was pretty basic with an isolation room for vocals," says Mudcat. "There were no over-dubs, just one take for each side of the 45."

Mudcat remembers singing a cover of The Yardbirds "Im Not Talkin." "I did the lead vocalbut made up the lyrics since I didnt know them. They were indistinguishable on the original recording, so I just ad-libbed," he says. "I sat in the isolation room and sang with a tambourine."

At 15, guitarist Gene Peters recorded two songs for Welhaven Records, including an original song called "Shaggy Dog" with The Stingrays. At the time, Peters says Welhaven Records was the only place in Rochester recording rock music. Peters describes recording engineer Lynn as a "technical type" who had a "pocket protector while recording."

{{tncms-inline alignment="left" content="<p>Rochester Original</p> <p>The Mods&rsquo; original song &ldquo;Lost Again&rdquo; was written by Sue Petit and Steve Kath. Telling a story of unrequited love, it was recorded for Welhaven Records in 1966.</p>" id="af416169-2370-4285-8091-2ee53d594005" style-type="quote" title=" " type="relcontent" width="half"}}

Peters, who still plays with The Reunion Band, recalls spending more than four hours trying to record the two songs. "By the end, we were all pretty hoarse from singing the same thing over and over, just trying to do a better job on each take," he says.

The Mods were another band that recorded for Welhaven Records around 1966. Pat Petit played guitar in the band along with his sister, Sue, Steve Kath (drums), and Bill White (bass). Pat and Sue sang an original song called "Lost Again" for the record. Pat, who still performs regularly on harmonica and guitar with bands like The Free Beer Band, describes his musical experiences back then as "a lot of fun for a guy right off the farm."

Its unclear when Welhaven Records officially dissolved. Based on the recordings it left behind, the label appears to have been most active between 1966 and 1968.

But the dates arent as important as the legacy it left behind.

The raw "garage-band" rock n roll the label recordedincluding original music like The Apostles pounding song, "Help Me Find a Way"has helped preserve a piece of Southern Minnesotas music that would otherwise now be silent.

Want to learn more about Southern Minnesotan rock n roll from the 60s? Check out Jim Oldsbergs book, The Flip Side: An Illustrated History of Southern Minnesota Rock & Roll Music from 1955-1970.

A search for The Rogues record on eBay today shows one copy going for $248.98.
Weve written several times about Amy Wax, the law professor who speaks truth to political correctness at the cost of considerable abuse. Im happy to report that the National Association of Scholars is holding an event at which it will present Professor Wax with an award for academic courage. Its good to know that while some groups are targeting Wax, others are honoring her courage.

In addition to receiving her award, Wax will speak. She has plenty to say.

The event will take place next Thursday, April 12, in Manhattan at First Things Office, 35 East 21st Street, 6th Floor. The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited so registration is required.

If youre in the New York City area, or can make it there without undue strain, this event is well worth attending. You can register via Eventbrite by going here.
I wrote here and here about Confucius Institutes, the vehicle through which China wages ideological warfare on Americas campuses and even at our high schools. I explained:

Since 2004, the Chinese government has planted Institutes that offer Chinese language and culture courses at colleges and universities around the world, including more than 100 in the United States. As the National Association of Scholars (NAS) documented in this report, the Confucius Institutes avoid Chinese political history and human rights abuses, portray Taiwan and Tibet as undisputed territories of China, and educate a generation of American students to know nothing more of China than the regimes official history.

So thorough is the whitewash that the Chinese director of one Institute admitted that if a student asked about Tiananmen Square, she would show a picture and point out the beautiful architecture.

Im happy to report that the Texas A&M system announced today that it will end its relationship with the Confucius Institute. A&M does not offer Chinese language courses through the Institute, but it does use the Institute to bring in visiting scholars to teach lessons about Chinese culture. Any lessons taught through the assistance of the Confucius Institute are likely to be propaganda, and best left untaught.

Texas A&M acted in response to a statement by two Texas congressmen  Republican Michael McCaul and Democrat Henry Cuellar  that urged several Texas universities to cut ties with Confucius Institutes. The University of Texas at Dallas says its reviewing the matter. UT-San Antonio defended its Institute, claiming that its under the universitys full control, but promised to do our due diligence in evaluating [the congressmens] concerns.

Pressure from politicians may be the most effective way to rid college campuses of Confucius Institutes. Without such pressure, the path of least resistance for colleges and universities is to take advantage of Chinese money and perks. Political pressure is apt to be particularly effective when its bipartisan, as it was when McCaul and Cuellar joined forces.

Texas A&M becomes the third school recently to ditch its Confucius Institute. The other two are the University of West Florida and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Expect more colleges to follow suit.

We may not be able to win a trade war with China (a subject I plan to write about soon), but surely we still have it in us to keep the Chinese government from waltzing into our institutions of education and waging ideological warfare.
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Bhavesh Shah of Matoshri Jayaben Himmatlal Shah Charitable Trust and Yogesh Lakhani of Bright Outdoor Media Pvt Ltd organized 37th free grocery distribution to 350 needy families from Mumbai.The event was organized at Chikuwadi Borivali West.Believing in the "giving culture", MJHS has been organizing the free distribution of grocery every month on the 1st of Sunday. Basic items usually get distributed to poor people of any cast and the trust has managed to help as many as 350 families with items like wheat, rice, pulses, edible oil, ghee, tea. The main motto of this distribution is nobody should feel the pain of hunger. The trust also gives Ann Ahaar every Saturday to more than 700 poor people at Shatabdi Hospital and Chikuwadi office, Borivali West.Talking about this initiative Yogesh Lakhani says, "The trust was registered in 2007 and its been a while I have been associated with it. Its my way of giving back to the society and the nation thats given me so much." Adding more on the charity, Lakhani shares, "We are trying to touch lives of the people in need through all facets of their lives. So not only are we trying to feed the hungry but also educate the illiterates to help them stand on their feet."MJHS not only has been supporting students by having given as many as 50,000 notebooks to 12,000 children but has also been helping with medical aid to them by giving free wheelchair, stool table, fouler bed, nebulizer, walkers on rent among many other things for the old age homes, senior citizens and cancer patients.Wow! Thats some compassionate charitable work that this trust it doing! For any query and donation please call Bhavesh Shah on 7666590727.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The governors of states bordering Mexico began to respond Thursday to President Donald Trumps call for them to send National Guard troops to help secure the southern border.



Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen said Wednesday her office had been in touch with each of the state governors about how to proceed with the presidents plan.



GOP governors responded positively, including Arizona's Republican governor, who tweeted his support even before Nielsens announcement.



Arizona welcomes the employment of the National Guard to the border, Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted Wednesday. Washington has ignored this issue for too long and help is needed. For Arizona, its all about public safety.



Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, also a Republican, echoed Duceys support in a statement released Wednesday evening saying Trump's move reinforces Texas longstanding commitment to secure our southern border and uphold the rule of law.



I welcome the support, Abbott said.



A statement issued by the office of New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, another Republican, said she appreciates the administrations efforts to bring states to the table.



In contrast, Democratic Gov. Jerry Browns office in California issued a statement saying it would review the request promptly as they waited for more details. Brown and several California cities have been in running immigration battles with the Trump administration.



John Cohen, an ABC News Consultant and former acting Homeland Security undersecretary, said for many governors funding is the biggest consideration.



When you see a state say we look forward to reviewing the details and understanding more the commitment that theyre looking for, what theyre basically saying is were not going to commit one way or another until you tell us how youre going to offset these costs.



Who foots the bill for the troops is largely determined by how the National Guard is ordered to the border.



Cohen said command of National Guard troops normally belongs to state governors. An agreement between the federal government and the state governors would mean that Guard troops remain under the command of the governors, with each consenting to assign specific troops to support border security. Under that arrangement, Cohen said, the federal government will likely help to offset the costs in some way.



According to federal law, the president does have the option of placing the troops under federal control, Cohen said, but only in situations where the nation is invaded or in danger of invasion, there is fear of rebellion or when regular forces are unable to enforce the law.



If the president were to federalize the Army National Guard, command of the troops would transfer from the governor of the respective states to the Pentagon, and the federal government would assume the total financial burden, Cohen said.



Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the president has yet signaled an intention to federalize troops. Cohen said that could be because theres not enough evidence to prove that the situation at the border is a severe threat.



While this may be impressive political theater intended to resonate with his political base it's really unclear what threat they are trying to address, Cohen said.



But a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security Thursday emphasized the threat. We need to close these dangerous loopholes that are being taken advantage of each and every day, gain operational control of the border, and fully fund the border wall system, the statement said. As the President has repeatedly said, all options are on the table.



Trump is not the first president to suggest the deployment of National Guard troops to the border. In fact, both President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush did the same during their presidencies. In both cases, troops were deployed through agreements with the state governors, not through federalization of the Guard.



While the border states have been responsive, not all state governors are on board. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, tweeted out against the call to send troops to the border on Wednesday.



If @realDonaldTrump asks me to deploy Oregon Guard troops to the Mexico border, Ill say no, Brown tweeted. As Commander of Oregons Guard, Im deeply troubled by Trumps plan to militarize our border.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
TORONTO, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO)(NYSE:BMO) announced that the nominees listed in the bank's management proxy circular dated February 12, 2018, have been elected as directors of BMO. The detailed results of the vote for the election of directors held at BMO's Annual Meeting of Shareholders earlier today in Toronto are set out below.

Each of the following 14 nominees proposed by management was elected as a director of Bank of Montreal:







Nominee Votes For Votes Withheld Janice M. Babiak 307,573,712 99.66% 1,042,601 0.34% Sophie Brochu 306,600,919 99.35% 2,014,893 0.65% George A. Cope 302,200,634 97.92% 6,415,676 2.08% Christine A. Edwards 306,305,310 99.25% 2,309,714 0.75% Martin S. Eichenbaum 307,416,266 99.61% 1,200,283 0.39% Ronald H. Farmer 301,150,828 97.58% 7,464,600 2.42% David Harquail 307,391,026 99.60% 1,225,524 0.40% Linda Huber 307,550,295 99.65% 1,065,235 0.35% Eric R. La Fleche 307,306,112 99.58% 1,309,347 0.42% Lorraine Mitchelmore 307,502,342 99.64% 1,114,128 0.36% Philip S. Orsino 298,437,100 96.70% 10,179,448 3.30% J. Robert S. Prichard 298,896,448 96.85% 9,720,101 3.15% Darryl White 307,163,800 99.53% 1,452,671 0.47% Don M. Wilson III 305,402,930 98.96% 3,214,148 1.04%

Final voting results on all matters voted on at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders held earlier today will be published shortly on www.bmo.com, and filed with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators.

About BMO Financial Group

Serving customers for 200 years and counting, BMO is a highly diversified financial services provider  the 8th largest bank, by assets, in North America. With total assets of $728 billion as of January 31, 2018, and a team of diverse and highly engaged employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, BMO Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.

For News Media Enquiries: Paul Gammal, Toronto, [email protected], (416) 867-3996; Francois Morin, Montreal, [email protected], (514) 877-1873; For Investor Relations Enquiries: Jill Homenuk, Toronto, [email protected], (416) 867-4770, Christine Viau, Toronto, [email protected], (416) 867-6956; Internet: www.bmo.com

SOURCE BMO Financial Group
PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Biosimilars Market by Product (Recombinant Non-Glycosylated Proteins (Insulin, rHGH, Interferon), Glycosylated (mAb, EPO), Peptides (Glucagon, Calcitonin)), Manufacturing Type (In-house, Contract), Disease (Oncology, Autoimmune) - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to reach USD 23.63 Billion by 2023 from USD 5.95 Billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 31.7%.

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Browse 176 market data Tables and 37 Figures spread through 181 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Biosimilars Market"

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The factors expected to drive the growth of this market include the increasing demand for biosimilar drugs due to their cost-effectiveness and the rising incidence of chronic diseases.

Recombinant glycosylated proteins are expected to be accounted for the largest market share in 2018

By product, the biosimilar market is classified into recombinant non-glycosylated proteins, recombinant glycosylated proteins, and recombinant peptides. Recombinant glycosylated proteins are expected to hold the largest share of the market during the forecast period. The key factors driving the market for glycosylated proteins are the broad therapeutic area of these proteins and presence of biosimilar versions of monoclonal antibodies at lower prices compared to reference products.

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The in-house manufacturing segment held the largest share of the market in 2017

By type of manufacturing, the market is segmented into in-house manufacturing and contract manufacturing. In-house manufacturing accounted for the largest share of the global Biosimilars Market in 2017. The growing demand for cost-effective biosimilar products owing to the rising incidence of various diseases is driving the growth of the in-house manufacturing segment

Europe accounted for the largest share of the global Biosimilars Market in 2017

Europe accounted for largest share of the global Biosimilars Market in 2017, followed by Asia. Growth in this regional market is expected to be driven by patent expiry of biologic products & the launch of new biosimilars, raising incidence of chronic disorders, and the emergence of new market participants

Key players in the Biosimilars Market include Pfizer (US), Sandoz International (Germany), Teva Pharmaceuticals (Israel), Amgen (US), Biocon (India), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (India), Celltrion (South Korea), and Samsung Biologics (South Korea).

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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.

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MarketsandMarkets INC.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
MUMBAI, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Datamatics Philippines, a step-down subsidiary of Datamatics Global Services Ltd. signed a definitive agreement to acquire RJGlobus Solutions Inc., a voice-based BPO company headquartered in Manila, Philippines. This acquisition will further strengthen Datamatics' BPO offerings to meet the growing demands of customers and increase its market presence through an expanded global delivery centre.

Established in 2012, RJGlobus Solutions has over 300 employees that offer customer service, back-office solutions and analytics to leading companies in the Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare, Aviation, Telecom and e-Commerce space spread across USA, UK, China and Australia.

Speaking on this development, Mr. Rahul Kanodia, Vice Chairman & CEO, Datamatics said, "The strategy behind this acquisition is to scale up our presence in Philippines and also enhance our capabilities in the BPO business through voice-based support. I am confident that this will give us an opportunity to deepen our existing customer relationships and also build new ones."

Commenting on the acquisition, Pradeep Kumar, CEO & President, RJGlobus Solutions said, "We are very excited to join hands with Datamatics. We are sure that with their global presence, strength and extensive offerings combined with our services, we will be able to provide a wide array of integrated services to our clients."

About Datamatics Global Services

Datamatics is a global technology company offering Information Technology, Data Management, Business Process Management and Consulting services to several Fortune 500 companies. The company caters to over 450 customers globally across Banking, Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Telecom and Logistics through a wide array of intelligent solutions and over 10 proprietary products and frameworks in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Mobility, Document & Workflow Management, Business Intelligence and Advanced Analytics.

Datamatics has adopted the highest standards of service quality and operational excellence through its customized offerings, enabling customers to improve productivity and accuracy, take intelligent decisions, speed up go-to-market and enhance customer experience to stay ahead in the connected world. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company has an employee base of over 10,000 with a presence in Americas, Australia, Asia, and Europe, with 8 delivery centres across 4 continents. Click here to know more - http://www.datamatics.com.

About RJGlobus

RJGlobus Solutions, Inc. is a Philippines-based Business Process Outsourcing company. Headquartered in Manila, the company offers best-in-class voice and non-voice as well as back-office support to global organizations. The company is currently investing in technology, tools and automation to lower the cost of ownership of its customers.

Safe Harbour

Some of the statements in this update that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include our financial and growth projections as well as statements concerning our plans, strategies, intentions and beliefs concerning our business and the markets in which we operate. These statements are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, the level of market demand for our services, the highly-competitive market for the types of services that we offer, market conditions that could cause our customers to reduce their spending for our services, our ability to create, acquire and build new businesses and to grow our existing businesses, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, currency fluctuations and market conditions in India and elsewhere around the world, and other risks not specifically mentioned herein but those that are common to industry.

For media queries, please contact:



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SOURCE Datamatics Global Services Ltd.
PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report on the "Educational Robot Market by Component (Hardware and Software), Type (Humanoid and Non-Humanoid), Education Level (Elementary and High School Education, Higher Education, and Special Education), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is valued at USD 778.6 Million in 2018 and is expected to reach USD 1,689.2 Million by 2023, at a CAGR of 16.8% between 2018 and 2023. The market is mainly driven by the factors such as the use of robots for educational purposes and technological advancements in the field of robotics.

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Browse 67 market data Tables and 31 Figures spread through 127 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Educational Robot Market - Global Forecast to 2023"

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Educational robot market for software to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period

The educational robot market for software is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period. As technological advancements will lead to growing complexity in terms of features such as inter device connectivity, AI, and autonomous operations, the value of the software part in the overall educational robot market will increase more than that of hardware. Also, the software will assist the complex functionalities to process efficiently and accurately.

Non-humanoid held a larger share of the educational robot market in 2017

The market for non-humanoid robots held a larger share of ~90.9% of the overall educational robot market in 2017. Although humanoid robots are the most suitable educational robots, cost is the major barrier restraining its growth in the market. The market for humanoids is expected to grow at a higher CAGR during the forecast period. The market for low-cost humanoids is likely to gain traction in the near future owing to the projected high growth of software. Humanoid robots have the ability to assist and even replace teachers in classrooms; hence, schools are looking forward to deploying humanoids in their classrooms to attract the attention of parents by modernizing the teaching pattern.

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The educational robot for special education to grow at a faster rate during the forecast period

The market for educational robots used in special education is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Though special educational robots are for children with autism and developmental issues, which makes educational robots occupy the lowest percent of market share, the growing demand for learning assistance robots across the world attributes to its high growth rate.

The Americas is the major consumer of educational robots

The Americas accounted for a major share of the overall educational robot market in 2017. The Americas is the early adopter of educational robots, which results in the maximum demand for robots from this region. The educational robot market players in APAC are the key inventors, as well as adopters of the technology; hence, the region accounted for the second-largest market share in 2017.

The report profiles the most promising players in the market. The competitive landscape of the market is highly dynamic because of the presence of a significant number of big and small players. Key players in the market are SoftBank (Japan), ROBOTIS (South Korea), PAL Robotics (Spain), Hanson Robotics (Hong Kong), QIHAN Technology Co. (China), DST Robot Co. (South Korea), Probotics America (US), Wonder Workshop (US), Aisoy Robotics (Spain), and BLUE FROG ROBOTICS (France).

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About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

Contact:

Mr. Salgarkar

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

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Email: [email protected]



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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
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ICON is a trustful partner for the Turkish feed industry having grown quickly due to its service oriented business model. ICON will keep focusing on further developing its current product line and established long term supplier relationships. EW Nutrition's commitment to the Turkish market combined with ICON's strength will reinforce customer service.

ZIYA PAZARBASILAR - Managing Director of ICON

"The strategic alliance between EW Nutrition and ICON comprises huge opportunities for the next level of growth. Sustainable success has been always one of our guidelines in this agile market. We are quite happy and optimistic that EW Nutrition's strong commitment into R&D and technical service will benefit our clients."

MICHAEL GERRITS - Managing Director EW Nutrition

"Turkey is one of our strategic markets. The partnership with ICON will accelerate our business, especially our activities assisting our clients in reducing the use of antibiotics. The ICON team is well established in the market and has shown its customer oriented results the last years. Its solid supplier portfolio constitutes a strong basis for continued growth."



About ICON

ICON is dynamic company established by Ziya Pazarbasilar, Ufuk Yilmaz, and Fatih Ates in 2013 in Ankara, Turkey. With a team of veterinarians and agricultural engineers ICON offers products and services for the Turkish livestock business. The focus sectors are poultry, ruminants and fish. ICON's success is based on acting as exclusive partner for well-known companies in the feed industry. It's product portfolio consists of toxin binders, organic acids, yeast products, sweeteners and coated products among others.

About EW Nutrition

EW Nutrition is a global feed additives player, with a strong science based product portfolio. EW Nutrition sells into more than 90 countries and has subsidiaries in all main markets. Headquartered in Visbek, Germany, EW Nutrition has R&D and production facilities in Brazil, Germany, Japan and the USA.

Press contacts

- ICON Agro : Ziya Pazarbasilar, [email protected]

- EW Nutrition: Christian Blocker, [email protected]nutrition.com

SOURCE EW Nutrition GmbH
PORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, AI in Healthcare Market by Offering, Technology, Application, and End User: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023," the global AI in healthcare market was valued at $1,441 million in 2016, and is estimated to reach at $22,790 million by 2023, registering a CAGR of 48.7% from 2017 to 2023. North America is the highest contributor in the AI in healthcare market in 2016; however, Asia-Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

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AI involves the science and engineering of intelligent computer programs. It uses various computer functions such reasoning, learning and problem solving based on human intelligence. AI systems can be used in various disciplines such as biology, computer science, mathematics, linguistics, psychology, and engineering to build an intelligent system. Some of the different applications that incorporate the AI systems in healthcare fields are medication management, treatment plans, and drug discovery.

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The global the AI market is driven by the ability of AI to improve patient outcomes, increase in need for coordination between healthcare workforce & patients, rise in adoption of precision medicine, and remarkable growth in venture capital investments. In addition, significant use of big data in the healthcare sector is expected to fuel the market growth. However, lack of standard regulations and guidelines and reluctance among healthcare professionals to adopt AI-based technologies are expected to impede the market growth. Possibility of using AI-based tools for elderly care and untapped potential of emerging markets, such as China and India, are expected to provide various opportunities for the market.

The natural language processing segment accounted for the highest share in 2016 and is expected to dominate the market from 2017 to 2023. The deep learning segment witnessed the highest growth rate in 2016 owing to increase in use of signal reduction, data mining, and image recognition.

Presently, the healthcare provider segment dominates and is expected to dominate the market from 2017 to 2023. Increase in usage & application of AI systems is expected to improve patient outcomes and maintain electronic health records (EHR) & patient records to boost the market growth.

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Among application, the robot-assisted surgery segment accounted for the highest share in 2016, growing at an estimated CAGR of 46.1%, owing to upsurge in demand for minimally invasive surgeries where AI-assisted technologies are being widely used.

Key Findings of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market:

Dosage error reduction is projected to grow at the highest rate during the analysis period.

North America dominated global AI in healthcare market in 2016, and is projected to continue its dominance in future.

dominated global AI in healthcare market in 2016, and is projected to continue its dominance in future. China is expected to grow highest in the Asia-Pacific region during the forecast period.

is expected to grow highest in the region during the forecast period. Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology Companies is the fastest growing segment among the end user in 2016.

Hardware segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period.

The report provides extensive competitive analysis and profiles of key market players, such as Welltok, Inc., Intel Corporation, Nvidia Corporation, Google Inc., IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, General Vision, Inc., Enlitic, Inc., Next IT Corporation, and iCarbonX.

The other players in the value chain include Shimadzu Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Siemens Healthineers, General Electric (GE) Company, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Cloudmedx, Inc., and Bay Labs, Inc.

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Knowledge tree is a cloud-based intelligence platform that offers more than 2,000 selective, off-the-shelf reports on niche markets to enable our clients gain deep insights on the latest trends, dynamic technologies, and emerging application areas.

About Us

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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Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com

SOURCE Allied Market Research
The company's solutions encompass fingerprint, facial and iris recognition best-in-class technologies for use across a broad range of applications and devices

SANTA CLARA, California, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the Biometric Authentication Solutions market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes IDEMIA with the 2017 Global Company of the Year Award for its array of innovative biometric solutions complemented by superior customer-centric support.

"IDEMIA is the first-to-market with biometric solutions that address identification needs across such a wide array of markets and applications, setting the pace of innovation in the industry," said Jean-Noel Georges, Global Program Director at Frost & Sullivan.

IDEMIA offers a variety of biometric authentication solutions, using customer-focused technology that meets all relevant standards and regulations. The company's intelligent designs and powerful algorithms prevent acceptance of fake fingerprints, two-dimensional (2-D) images, and other modality-spoofing techniques that imposters exploit to deceive second-rate technologies. In addition, IDEMIA's technologies work in a variety of lighting conditions, without the need to adjust the configuration.

Leveraging decades of experience IDEMIA is harnessing different biometric techniques to deliver frictionless access control solutions:

Fingerprint recognition with IDEMIA's patented touchless sensor technology which simultaneously evaluates four fingers multiple times during one pass through a reader in any direction, while using light sensors to detect the three-dimensional (3-D) space and obtain considerably more surface coverage and data than 2-D contact-based capture

with IDEMIA's patented touchless sensor technology which simultaneously evaluates four fingers multiple times during one pass through a reader in any direction, while using light sensors to detect the three-dimensional (3-D) space and obtain considerably more surface coverage and data than 2-D contact-based capture Facial recognition with face readers using real-time face acquisition and matching, which are capable to analyze over 40,000 facial structure markers to provide end-users with an accurate and seamless method of identity verification

with face readers using real-time face acquisition and matching, which are capable to analyze over 40,000 facial structure markers to provide end-users with an accurate and seamless method of identity verification Iris recognition with iris-at-a-distance technology that provides non-intrusive acquisition and effortless capture, processing more people thanks to wide height detection range (1 to 2 meters)

In addition, for companies that require biometric solutions for mobile devices, IDEMIA developed advanced iris recognition techniques, as well as highly secure facial recognition solutions via selfies, which ensure the user is a real, live person.

IDEMIA's solutions seamlessly integrate with other technologies, allowing customers to operate two-factor verification processes, either one biometric modality coupled with a proximity/smartcard or PIN, or two biometric processes, such as fingerprint with a face or iris scan. These solutions are applicable across an array of applications, from government security to membership-run organizations to financial institutions, telecom operators or Internet of Things players. IDEMIA provides customer support in choosing the right system, completing training, and conducting trial periods. IDEMIA and clients collaborate in customizing the product for a specific ecosystem, ensuring that the solutions work seamlessly from the first day of implementation.

"IDEMIA offers future-facing technology, customer-centric support, and industry-driving innovations, all of which set the company apart from other solution providers in the market," said Georges. "For this reason, Frost & Sullivan is proud to recognize IDEMIA as the 2017 Global Company of the Year in the biometric authentication market."

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.

About IDEMIA

OT-Morpho is now IDEMIA, the global leader in Augmented Identity for an increasingly digital world, with the ambition to empower citizens and consumers alike to interact, pay, connect, travel and vote in ways that are now possible in a connected environment.

Securing our identity has become mission critical in the world we live in today. By standing for Augmented Identity, we reinvent the way we think, produce, use and protect this asset, whether for individuals or for objects. We ensure privacy and trust as well as guarantee secure, authenticated and verifiable transactions for international clients from Financial, Telecom, Identity, Public Security and IoT sectors.

OT (Oberthur Technologies) and Safran Identity & Security (Morpho) have joined forces to form IDEMIA. With close to $3 billion in revenues and 14,000 employees around the world, IDEMIA serves clients in 180 countries.

For more information, head to www.idemia.com. And follow us @IdemiaGroup on Twitter

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion.

Contact:

Estefany Ariza

P: 210.477.8469

F: 210.348.1003

E: [email protected]

Related Links

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Microbial Lipase Market by Application (Cleaning Agents, Animal Feed, Dairy Products, Bakery Products, and Confectionery Products), Form (Powder and Liquid), Source (Fungi and Bacteria), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market in terms of value, is estimated to be USD 425.0 Million in 2018, and is projected to reach USD 590.2 Million by 2023, at a CAGR of 6.8%.

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Browse 113 market data Tables and 49 Figures spread through 162 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Microbial Lipase Market"

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The increase in awareness about animal health and quality of animal produce, growth in consumption of enzyme-modified cheese (EMC) and enzyme-modified dairy ingredients (EMDI), and advantages of microbial lipases over animal and plant lipases are expected to drive the demand for microbial lipases in various applications. Microbial lipases are highly diversified in their enzymatic properties and substrate specificity, which are useful for industrial applications. They play a vital role in the fermentation of cheese and yogurt. They are used in the bakery, dairy, laundry detergent, and animal feed industries. They are also used to convert vegetable oils into biofuel.

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The cleaning agents segment is expected to dominate the Microbial Lipase Market through 2023.

In 2017, the cleaning agents segment accounted for a larger share, by application, in the Microbial Lipase Market, in terms of value. The use of microbial lipase in cleaning agents is growing with their increasing use in industrial laundry, households, and household dishwashers. Due to its low substrate specificity and its ability to withstand relatively harsh washing conditions and damaging surfactant properties, microbial lipase is widely used in this segment. These enzymes possess powerful stain removing properties and help in cleaning stains that consist of compounds such as fats, and carbohydrates.

The powdered form is to dominate the Microbial Lipase Market through 2023.

The powder segment is projected to dominate the market throughout the studied period. The powdered form of microbial lipase is more widely used in a majority of applications, owing to its better handling, stability, and packaging. They are widely used in various application industries such as food & beverage, animal feed, cleaning, and biofuel.

Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing regional market for microbial lipases.

The Asia Pacific region is projected to be the fastest-growing market for microbial lipases over the next five years, owing to an increase in overall economic growth, with diversity in income levels, technology, and demands of end consumers for better quality feed for livestock, leading to enhanced scope for future growth. Increased consumption of dairy products by the population in the region, which has fueled the growth of the processed dairy product and nutritional dairy food industries in the region. These factors influence the use of microbial lipase in the food products segment.

In this region, countries such as China and India are estimated to account for a major share of more than 50% of the Asia Pacific Microbial Lipase Market. India is one of the fastest-growing markets for microbial lipases in the Asia Pacific region.

This report studies the marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies such as Novozymes (Denmark), DSM (Netherlands), Chr. Hansen (Denmark), Amano Enzymes (Japan), Associated British Foods (UK), and DowDuPont (US). Other significant players include Advanced Enzymes (India), Enzyme Development Corporation (US), Aumgene Biosciences (India), Biocatalysts (UK), Meito Sangyo Co., Ltd (Japan), and Creative Enzymes (US).

Know more about the Microbial Lipases Market:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/microbial-lipase-market-248464055.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:

Mr. Salgarkar

MarketsandMarkets INC.

630 Dundee Road

Suite 430

Northbrook, IL 60062

USA: +1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]com



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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
GURGAON, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon successfully perform TAVR - Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation), a latest complex and high-end cardiac intervention procedure that provides cardiac valve replacement without cardiac surgery.

Till now, only 25 to 30 such procedures have been done across the country, and only 1 hospital apart from Paras has performed it in Gurgaon region.

The path-breaking procedure was performed by Dr. Amit Bhushan , Unit Head and Associate Director - Interventional Cardiology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon, and an eminent cardiologist with over 1000 transradial angioplasties to his credit.

, Unit Head and Associate Director - Interventional Cardiology, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon, and an eminent cardiologist with over 1000 transradial angioplasties to his credit. In the TAVR procedure, the device is typically inserted via an artery in the leg and guided into a heart just like a stent, with benefits of almost instantaneous recovery, conscious sedation, almost negligible rate of infection, and is less painful and meant for people who are at intermediate or at high risk of open heart surgery.

Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon has successfully performed a complex and path breaking procedure - transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) recently. This procedure is performed in select highly specialized cardiac hospitals in India and in Gurgaon, Paras Hospitals is now a leading hospital specializing in the same.

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Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon and its team of cardiologists successfully performed the valve replacement on a 64-year-old man without the use of open arteriotomy. Such commendable medical feats has helped establish the Institute of Cardiac Sciences at Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon as a premier centre, providing specialized affordable, accessible, quality healthcare to the common man.

This leading procedure was performed by Dr. Amit Bhushan Sharma, Associate Director, Interventional Cardiology and Dr. Mahesh Wadhwani, Chief of CTVS successfully at Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon on 20th March, 2018 on a patient who had severe narrowing of the heart valve and was shifted from Jammu. The patient had gone into the repeated heart failure and was refused surgery in Jammu due to the high risk involved.

According to Dr. Amit Bhushan, "It gives us immense pleasure to share that Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon has now become one of the few centers in India, performing TAVR procedure. In India, only 25 to 30 such procedures have been conducted till date, with only some hospitals being equipped with the technology and trained medical staff to conduct surgeries using TAVR. This procedure is commonly used in West as a first-line therapy and in places in Western Europe like Germany and Netherlands, it has overtaken SAVR (Surgical aortic valve replacement). However in India, lack of awareness and skilled doctors along with adequate infrastructure and high cost has ensured it as a rarity. We have always believed in upgrading ourselves with advanced medical learning, knowledge, infrastructure, and technology to ensure that the best quality care is delivered to our patients."

Dr. Amit Bhushan, further adds, "In this case, TAVR procedure was performed on a 64-year-old patient, Ashok Sharma successfully. This highly symptomatic patient who was hardly able to walk even a few steps greatly benefited from this surgery and is miraculously now able to perform all normal activities, all within in a span of 36 hours. Moreover, the patient was able to regain consciousness within minutes after surgery."

Dr. Amit Bhushan, Associate Director, Interventional Cardiology, attributes the entire the success to the heart team comprising of interventional cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, ECHO team, Radiology team and supporting teams such as cardiac anaesthetists and intensivists.

"Today TAVR technique approach is performed via the biggest artery which passes near the groin (the same artery which is used for stenting). This is called as Trans-femoral approach and the valve is just delivered like a stent. Two most advanced technologies in the world - Self-expanding Valve and Balloon Expanding Valve are available in Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon. All these techniques are performed inside the heart within a space that is a fraction of a millimetre wide. This calls for precision, experience and a steady hand in addition to the rigorous battery of tests which the patient was subjected to before labelling him suitable for the procedure," shares Dr. Mahesh Wadhwani, Chief of CTVS, Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon.

Dr. Mahesh adds, "There are multiple benefits of the procedure being minimally invasive. It aids faster recovery, minimizes chances of infection, is less painful, involves shorter hospital stay for patients, less scarring or surgery marks, and decreases chances of injuries to nearby tissue. It is a fairly new US FDA-approved procedure for people with symptomatic aortic stenosis, which means obstruction of blood flow in the major valve of the heart, and is specially designed for those who may be at high life risk in case a standard valve replacement is done."

Paras Institute of Cardiac Sciences has in the past also performed various complex and path breaking procedures to become one of the leading institutes in Delhi NCR providing affordable, accessible, quality cardiology and cardiac surgery treatment. Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Day Care Angioplasty, Transradial Cardiac Catheterization and Heart Tumour Excision Surgery are few of the other medical feats accomplished by the Institute, which are routinely performed by the reputed team of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons.

About Paras Healthcare

Paras Healthcare was founded in 2006. The key specialties that are mainly focused in all units are - cancer care, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics & joint replacement, urology, nephrology, kidney transplant, cardiology, cardiac sciences, gastroenterology & GI surgery, general & lap surgery along with plastic surgery to list a few. Approximately each unit has at least 30 specialties and super specialties.

Media Contact:

Shweta Gopika Chopra

[email protected]

+91-8587077925

Manager Corporate Communications & Branding

Paras Healthcare Pvt. Ltd (Paras Hospitals)



SOURCE Paras Healthcare Pvt. Ltd (Paras Hospitals) Paras Group
PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Smart Electric Meter Market by Communication Technology Type (Radio Frequency, Power Line Communication, and Cellular), End-User (Residential, Commercial, and Industrial), Phase (Single Phase, and Three Phase), and Region - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market is projected to grow from an estimated USD 9.27 Billion in 2018 to USD 11.33 Billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 4.11%, from 2018 to 2023. The market is set to witness growth due to the increased need for efficient data monitoring systems coupled with favorable government policies for smart meter rollout, improved cost savings owing to the use of smart meters making it a definitive case for adoption and increasing emphasis on renewable energy sources globally.

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Browse 83 Tables and 39 Figures spread through 154 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Smart Electric Meter Market"

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The residential segment is expected to hold the largest share of the Smart Electric Meter Market, by end-user, during the forecast period.

The residential segment of the global Smart Electric Meter Market is expected to hold the largest market share and grow at the second-fastest pace during the forecast period. The installation of smart electric meters in residential places would help in reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, as the smart electric meters can assist the consumers to monitor, regularize, and reduce their consumptions from the grid, and generators, and further integrate their consumptions from renewable energy sources such as solar installations. The widespread use of sophisticated electrical, electronic, and data equipment is driven by the growing importance of power management solutions also driving the Smart Electric Meter Market.

The three-phase segment is expected to grow at the fastest pace in the Smart Electric Meter Market, by phase, during the forecast period.

The three-phase segment is the fastest-growing market during the forecast period and is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Three-phase meters are mostly used in industrial applications and in large commercial applications. The premium price for the three-phase meters over the single-phase meters and the growth in the number of industries and commercial facilities drive the installations of the three-phase smart electric meters.

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The Power Line Communication (PLC) segment is expected to hold the largest share of the Smart Electric Meter Market, by communication technology type, during the forecast period.

The PLC segment is the fastest-growing market during the forecast period and is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The PLC is the most commonly used communication technology due to its advantages such as the use of the existing utility infrastructure of poles & wires, improved cost-effectiveness for rural lines, and usability in a challenging terrain. The technology is mature with open standards and several vendors in the market.

Asia Pacific: Key market for the Smart Electric Meter Market during the forecast period

In this report, the Smart Electric Meter Market has been analyzed with respect to 6 regions, namely, Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest Smart Electric Meter Market, by region, during the forecast period. Asia Pacific is the most-populated region in the world and consequently witnesses a high demand for electricity. The rise in investments in smart grid technologies and smart cities, the increase in the number of data centers, and a surge in IT hubs and commercial institutions drive the Smart Electric Meter Market in the region. China accounts for the largest share owing to the large-scale rollout plans; the country accounted for the highest installed generation and distribution capacity in the Asia Pacific region, resulting in an increased demand for smart electric meters.

To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the key players in the Smart Electric Meter Market, such as Itron (US), Landis+Gyr (Toshiba Corporation) (Switzerland), Jiangsu Linyang (China), Wasion (China), Aclara Technologies (Hubbell Incorporated) (US), Schneider (France), Siemens (Germany), Honeywell (US), and Iskraemeco (Slovenia).

Know more about the Smart Electric Meter Market:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/smart-electric-meter-market-244481146.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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
Frost & Sullivan finds partnerships, mergers and acquisitions will remain critical in establishing a seamless value chain and successful growth

SANTA CLARA, California, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan's latest analysis, Growth Opportunities for Bio-based Chemicals and Materials in Europe and North America, forecasts the market to reach $25.90 billion by 2024, driven by government initiatives, proactive efforts from market participants to develop environmentally friendly products, and consumer preferences for adopting greener and safer products. The establishment of regulatory standards will be critical to ensure consistency and increase market transparency toward bio-degradability, recyclability, sustainability, and bio-based content of products. The analysis provides an assessment of disruptive trends, drivers and restraints, market share, unit shipment, revenue forecast, analysis by chemistry, competitive environment, and pricing trends for key bio-based segments such as paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, and plastics.

For further information on this analysis, please visit: http://frost.ly/2di

"Governments, especially in Europe and North America, are aiming to encourage sustainable products and processes across various industries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This has been driven by various initiatives that include incentives, tax credits, and subsidies," said Soundarya Gowrishankar, Visionary Science Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Europe is also making proactive efforts to move to sustainable material usage across various end markets that are extensively dependent on crude oil-based plastics, resulting in landfill issues."

To position products competitively in the marketplace and convince customers of the sustainability of the product, Gowrishankar recommends participants undertake a complete bio-based product lifecycle analysis. Proprietary lifecycle analysis tools and models will also help in carving out an edge for companies in the marketplace.

Key highlights for success and growth include:

Implementing optimization strategies for sourcing raw material, streamlining production processes, and managing logistics and transportation of materials to address higher average price challenges;

for sourcing raw material, streamlining production processes, and managing logistics and transportation of materials to address higher average price challenges; Strengthening technological competence to obtain stronger expertise in formulation and production activities that will help develop investor and consumer confidence;

competence to obtain stronger expertise in formulation and production activities that will help develop investor and consumer confidence; Bringing bio-based products on par with synthetic counterparts in terms of functionality, performance, price, and familiarity of production processes to accelerate adoption of bio-based materials; and

in terms of functionality, performance, price, and familiarity of production processes to accelerate adoption of bio-based materials; and Increasing scale of production to substantially reduce average prices of bio-based products, thereby boosting customer adoption rates.

"Integration in the industry through partnerships and mergers and acquisitions will remain critical in establishing a seamless value chain, material availability, and technical capability in the marketplace," noted Gowrishankar.

Growth Opportunities for Bio-based Chemicals and Materials in Europe and North America is part of Frost & Sullivan's Visionary Science 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

Growth Opportunities for Bio-based Chemicals and Materials in Europe and North America

MD58-39

Contact:

Jaylon Brinkley

Corporate Communications

P: 1.210.247.2481

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SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
New Accel-NGS Unique Dual Indexing Kits minimize read misassignments for higher quality results

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Swift Biosciences today announced the launch of its Accel-NGS Unique Dual Indexing Kits, which deliver the power and value of high-throughput multiplexed sequencing while improving the accuracy of low frequency variant calling, such as somatic mutations, in samples such as FFPE and cfDNA.

Multiplexed sequencing is a commonly used technique among clinical research, drug development and clinical services labs utilizing next-generation sequencing (NGS). The Accel-NGS Unique Dual Indexing Kits are an essential addition to NGS workflows, as current tools can suffer from demultiplexing problems caused by index read errors, PCR-induced chimerism associated with multiplexed hybridization capture workflows, and index hopping on patterned flow cells.

Swift's Accel-NGS Unique Dual Indexing Kits, developed in a set of 96 dual indices for both i7 and i5 positions, provide a more scalable and reliable workflow for a range of applications including:

Low-frequency somatic variant discovery

Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded analysis

Microbial detection in human samples

Cell-free DNA analysis

"By directly addressing read misassignments we are providing a more accurate solution which could open up new applications, such as tumor mutation burden profiling," said Candia Brown, Swift's Vice President of Global Marketing.

Key features and benefits of the Accel-NGS Unique Dual Indexing Kits include:

Optimized across all Illumina sequencing instruments

Improves misassignment rates to less than 0.1 percent

Enables multiple applications including whole genome sequencing, whole exome and methylation analysis

Compatibility with Swift library prep kits including Accel-NGS 1S, Accel-NGS 2S, and Accel-NGS Methyl-Seq

"Swift's unique dual indices provide higher confidence in calling low frequency variants and maintains data quality as sequencing throughput and multiplexing capability continue to increase," said Laurie Kurihara, PhD, Swift's Vice President of Product Development.

The new indexing kits are specifically designed and compatible for any Illumina platform and are now commercially available.

About Swift Biosciences

Swift Biosciences is the NGS Library Prep company. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the company develops novel library preparation solutions for emerging applications based on next-generation sequencing, including whole genome sequencing, targeted DNA sequencing, and epigenetic analysis. Swift Biosciences' products are designed to help customers analyze challenging biological samples faster, easier, and with greater sensitivity and accuracy, while being compatible with leading instrumentation. Swift Biosciences is the first company to offer library preparation solutions on all three major sequencing platforms, including Pacific Biosciences, Illumina and Ion Torrent.

The company opened its doors in February 2010, and its product development enables new applications in multiple industries, including agrigenomics, pharmaceutical, academic, biotechnology, and oncology research fields.

For more information, visit SwiftBioSci.com and follow Swift Biosciences on Twitter (@SwiftBioSci).

Related Links

https://swiftbiosci.com/



SOURCE Swift Biosciences
PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report on the "Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) Market by End Use (Agriculture, Logistic, Surveillance), Solution (Communication, Navigation, Surveillance), Component (Hardware, Software, Service), Type (Persistent, Non-Persistent), Region - Global Forecast to 2025", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is estimated to be USD 538.2 Million in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 1,960.6 Million by 2025, at a CAGR of 20.28% from 2018 to 2025. The increasing demand for Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, and ADS-B control & tracking of UAS are some of the key technologies driving the unmanned traffic management market.

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Browse 72 market data Tables and 43 Figures spread through 157 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) Market - Global Forecast to 2025"



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Based on end use, the surveillance & monitoring segment of the market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The surveillance & monitoring segment of the UTM market is projected to be the fastest-growing end-use segment during the forecast period. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the rise in the need for continuous surveillance and monitoring by small unmanned aerial vehicles in developed countries.

Based on component, the software segment of the unmanned traffic management market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on component, the software segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the increasing use of drones in a variety of tasks, such as search & rescue operations, infrastructure monitoring, and package delivery services.

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Based on solution, the surveillance infrastructure segment of the market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2018 to 2025.

Based on solution, the surveillance infrastructure segment of the market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Radar, Wide Area Multilateration (WAM), Multilateration (MLAT), ADS-B, mobile telecom networks, Internet of Things (IoT), Near Field Communication (NFC), and Long Range (LoRa) are some of the technologies that can be utilized in the construction of surveillance infrastructure.

Based on type, the persistent segment of the unmanned traffic management market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on type, the persistent segment of the unmanned traffic management market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the increasing adoption of drones by the e-commerce and medical industries along with the increasing use of drones in logistics and transportation applications to monitor wide geographic areas.

North America is expected to be the fastest-growing unmanned traffic management market during the forecast period.

North America is expected to be the fastest-growing market during the forecast period. The growth of the unmanned traffic management market in North America can be attributed to the increasing investments by governments to carry out UTM trails on various sites including airports and other urban sites.

Major companies in the unmanned traffic management market include Frequentis (Austria), Leonardo Finmeccania (Italy), AirMap (US), Altitude Angel (UK), Thales Group (France), Harris Corporation (US), Skyward IO (US), Lockheed Martin (US), Nova Systems (Australia), Unifly (Belgium), and PrecisionHawk (US). These players offer hardware and software solutions as well as services, such as flight information and security. New product development, partnerships, and contracts were the main strategies adopted by these players to retain their position in the market.

Know more about the Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) Market:

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About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.

Contact:

Mr. Salgarkar

MarketsandMarkets INC.

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Suite 430

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Email: [email protected]



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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
MUMBAI, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Web Werks continues to focus on developing a strong World-class Data Center Infrastructure to ensure higher availability and 99.995% uptime with most secure infrastructure.

Web Werks, the leader in IT services in India for past 20+ years, continues to enhance their data center infrastructure in order to provide secure IT environment to their web hosting and co-location clients. The infrastructure is highly secure with 6-layer physical security and built on a redundant network located in India and the United States.

The expansion is deployed to suit solid, persistent request from enterprises, content delivery, cloud services and IT services. Notwithstanding the recently deployed expansion, Unisecure also can expand power limit by an extra a few megawatts. The facility offers a wide assortment of energy and cooling densities running from 2kW to 40kW for each rack, addition to varied framework redundancies extending from N to N+1. Single locking cabinets, client confines, and private suites are accessible.

Presently having 5 data centers globally: Mumbai (Tier III Data Center Facility), Pune (Tier III Data Center Facility), Rabale, Navi Mumbai (Tier IVData Center Facility), Conshohocken, United States Data Center Facility, and Philadelphia, United States Data Center Facility - is the best choice for co-location and content delivery network services.

All their Data Center Infrastructure consists of following:

TIER III Certified

Carrier Neutral Facility

FM200 Fire Suspension

Redundant UPS Power

CISCO Powered Networking

Multi-Level Security

24x7 Rapid Action Support

99.995% Uptime Guarantee

"With respect to time, things have to evolve in order to compete with this digital era. We are thrilled to announce that we expanded our infrastructure to provide world-class data center services to our Indian customers. We have boosted up our power capacity to serve growing India's colocation demand. Moreover, few steps are taken in terms of security to keep data safe," Nikhil Rathi, Director, Web Werks India Pvt. Ltd.

About Web Werks

Web Werks Data Centers have been leaders in India for the past two decades and are located in 3 countries with more than six geographically located data centers. Offering reliable hosting services on Dedicated Servers, Cloud, Virtualization, Co-location and Disaster Recovery Services along with 24x7 Rapid Action Support and 99.995% Uptime Guarantee.

Web Werks Data Centers are validated with ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 20000-1 and Uptime Institute Certified. The data centers are Carbon Neutral contributing towards Global Go-Green concepts. Web Werks is also PCI-DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, TIA-942 and SSAE16, SSAE18 SOC 2 Type 1 compliant. This certification affirms how we treat security, confidentiality, integrity, and privacy of our customers' data. Web Werks in India is the first Asian data center to hold OIX-2 and host an OIX-1 IXP Mumbai-IX. In addition to this, fulfil all requirements for being a full OpenIX supporter. Web Werks is also Cloud empanelled by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (MeitY)

Awarded with 'Maharashtra IT Excellence Award 2018' by Government of Maharashtra, 'The Best Web Hosting Award 2017', 'Retailer of the Year for Best Cloud Data Centers and Internet Exchange', 'Great Indian Workplace Award (GIWA) 2017', 'HostReview's Readers' Choice Awards 2017', 'National Choice Award - Best Cloud Data Centers and Internet Exchange 2018'. We have collaborated with more than 1000+ organizations globally. Few of our prestigious clients are Microsoft, Canon, Google, Godrej, TATA, Facebook, Akamai, Netflix and many more. Our client list also incorporates Government sectors such as Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation, Nabard, SIDBI, NPCI and so on.

For more information, kindly visit, http://www.webwerks.in.

Media Contact:

Priti Shetti

[email protected]

+91-8828335555

Corporate Relations

Web Werks India Pvt. Ltd.



SOURCE Web Werks India Pvt. Ltd.
-- Survey finds trust in a product is important to ~75% (n=13,186) of consumers when considering an injectable toxin* treatment(1)--



-- 61% (n=360) of healthcare professionals believe having trust in a medical aesthetics brand allows them to consistently achieve the best results(2)--



-- Although the majority of consumers want to look good (59%, n=17,929), only 14% spend time researching facial skincare products (n=17,929)(1)--



MARLOW, England, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN) announced during the 16th Aesthetic & Anti-Aging Medicine World Congress (AMWC) in Monte Carlo, Monaco, results of its latest global survey, The Importance of Trust in Beauty, investigating the role of trust in medical aesthetics and what trust means to both patients and healthcare professionals.

Nadine Baggott, UK health and beauty journalist and television presenter, comments, "For many years I have been vocal about the importance of trust in your practitioner when considering or undergoing any medical aesthetics procedure. This survey from Allergan confirms that we need to continue to support consumers in researching their options so they identify the right practitioner for them, feel confident of the right questions to ask and can thereby overcome the fundamental fear and cultural taboo of questioning a health professional."

From a healthcare professionals' perspective, trust in brands and products is also important, with 61% (n=360) saying that having trust in a medical aesthetics brand makes them feel as though they will consistently achieve best results.2 Furthermore, 66% (n=360) of healthcare professionals believe a product manufactured by a well-known and trusted company is a key factor and 66% (n=360) state that clinical studies and long-term data of a product contribute to their trust of an injectable medical aesthetics brand.2

Dr Koenraad De Boulle, Dermatologist from Belgium, comments, "I often see patients who really lack confidence in their medical aesthetics decisions. They enter my consultation room and say, "I feel I look tired and my wrinkles bother me. I want to do something but I don't know what I should do. I don't want to look overdone, I want to look natural." People sometimes don't understand the treatments they are requesting with one patient saying "my friend had something injected into her wrinkles and lips and she looked great; could you do this for me?" Part of my role, if not the most important part, is instilling confidence through education in treatments and products. I encourage consumers to do their research and 'homework' and by ensuring they are better informed, we can hope to build trust in their eyes, to help them achieve their desired look."

In their last facial aesthetics consultation, only 34% (n=3,605) of consumers said they felt reassured by their healthcare professional that they would achieve the results they wanted from their medical aesthetics treatment, despite 45% (n=5,377) ranking reassurance in their top five most important factors for a consultation. In addition, only 38% (n=3,605) of consumers said their healthcare professional answered all their questions in their last facial aesthetics consultation.1

For those considering future facial aesthetics treatments, among the top five most important factors for a consultation with a healthcare professional included a knowledgeable doctor (53% n=5,377) and information provided about side effects and any complications (53% n=5,377)  further reiterating the need for increased knowledge and research in order to make the most informed decisions.1

"There is clearly an opportunity to accelerate education for both patients and healthcare professionals in the aesthetics industry. It is truly surprising to see that 70% of people research the options for phones before they buy one,3 yet only 14% (n=13,186) spend time researching facial skincare products1 that might be suitable for their specific needs. It is therefore not surprising that there is an opportunity to build trust in the aesthetics industry. We at Allergan are committed creating a world that makes the signs of aging a choice; a world where people can go beyond their DNA, no matter what challenges they are born with, whether cleft lip, or inverted chin, or something else. To enable the best outcomes, the building of confidence and trust in the decision-making process for healthcare professionals and patients, we are committed to delivering continuously improving, best in class, progressive levels of education, for both healthcare professionals and patients," comments Yana Ignatova, Senior Vice President, Head of International Strategic Marketing, International Commercial at Allergan.

Notes to Editors

About the survey

The consumer and healthcare professional (HCP) comparison survey was commissioned by Allergan and conducted by Kantar Health and Kantar Millward Brown in January  March 2018 via online interviews. For consumers, the report captures the attitudes of 17,929 male and female respondents aged 20  65 from twelve countries  UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Australia, Canada and China. These respondents form a sub-sample of a wider dataset of 22,652 members of the general public, and they were screened in to complete the study based on their attitudes towards their face and body (as well as age and occupational exclusion criteria). These figures provided a representative sample across each of the countries. These survey data are part of a wider ongoing piece of primary market research being conducted in a further five markets (India, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE).

For HCPs, the report captures the attitudes of 360 practitioners including plastic and cosmetic surgeons, dermatologists, and nurse practitioners in twelve countries: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Australia, Canada and China; 30 online interviews were conducted per country. HCPs who participated in the survey were regularly treating patients using botulinum toxin and/or dermal fillers; and none were affiliated with any pharmaceutical company.

Kantar Health and Kantar Millward Brown, part of the Kantar group, are accredited international market research agencies that specialise in conducting market research. As members of BHBIA, ESOMAR and Market Research Society, Kantar Health and Kantar Millward Brown stringently adhere to these professional codes when conducting international research.

A digital infographic of the survey data can be accessed here: http://view.ceros.com/msl/infographic-1/p/1

About Allergan plc

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a bold, global pharmaceutical company and a leader in a new industry model  Growth Pharma. Allergan is focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical and regenerative medicine products for patients around the world.

Allergan markets a portfolio of leading brands and best-in-class products for the central nervous system, eye care, medical aesthetics and dermatology, gastroenterology, women's health, urology and anti-infective therapeutic categories.

Allergan is an industry leader in Open Science, a model of research and development, which defines our approach to identifying and developing game-changing ideas and innovation for better patient care. With this approach, Allergan has built one of the broadest development pipelines in the pharmaceutical industry.

Allergan's success is powered by our global colleagues' commitment to being Bold for Life. Together, we build bridges, power ideas, act fast and drive results for our customers and patients around the world by always doing what is right.

With commercial operations in approximately 100 countries, Allergan is committed to working with physicians, healthcare providers and patients to deliver innovative and meaningful treatments that help people around the world live longer, healthier lives every day.

For more information, visit Allergan's website at www.Allergan.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Statements contained in this press release that refer to future events or other non-historical facts are forward-looking statements that reflect Allergan's current perspective on existing trends and information as of the date of this release. Actual results may differ materially from Allergan's current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting Allergan's business. These factors include, among others, the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of FDA approvals or actions, if any; the impact of competitive products and pricing; market acceptance of and continued demand for Allergan's products; the impact of uncertainty around timing of generic entry related to key products, including RESTASIS, on our financial results; uncertainty associated with financial projections, projected cost reductions, projected synergies, restructurings, increased costs, and adverse tax consequences; difficulties or delays in manufacturing; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Allergan's periodic public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to Allergan's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. Except as expressly required by law, Allergan disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

*Toxin refers to botulinum toxin approved for facial use

References

INT/0162/2018 Allergan Unpublished Data, The Importance of Trust in Beauty Survey  Consumer Data, March 2018

INT/0162/2018a Allergan Unpublished Data, The Importance of Trust in Beauty Survey  Healthcare Professional Data, March 2018

The Smartphone Purchase Experience. An Insight Report by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, 2014. Available at: file:///D:/Users/sarherbe/Downloads/ComTech_Report_-_The_Smartphone_Purchase_Experience.pdf . [Last accessed: March 2018 ]

CONTACTS:

Allergan: Nana Hilbourne

+44 (0) 1628 494 415

Media: Abigail Last

+44 (0) 7773 483 879

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Related Links

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SOURCE Allergan plc
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.
ISLAMABAD, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy to Pakistan on Wednesday donated a number of civil goods to the Pakistani army stationed in the northwest Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to improve their living and working conditions.

In a ceremony of handover held in the embassy, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing spoke highly of the Pakistani army's contribution to the maintenance of the country's security and appreciated the army's role in facilitating the development of China-Pakistan friendship and protecting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The Chinese ambassador said the bilateral military relations are an important content of the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and the Chinese side will further boost the friendly cooperation with the Pakistani army and the government, support the country's efforts in maintain its security and keep providing necessary supports to Pakistan.

According to the embassy, the civil goods included generators, electrical fans and tents.

Muhammad Ajmal Iqbal, director general of Engineers at the Pakistan army's general headquarters, thanked the support and aid from the Chinese Embassy, saying that bilateral relations are tested by many challenges and the ties between the two countries will be further enhanced.
Bitcoin Rate and US-China Trade War

The cryptocurrency market has been going down steadily for a while. According to CoinMarketCap, the Bitcoin exchange rate has been moving around 6800 USD/BTC. Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have been trading around 382, 0,49, 633, and 119 dollars per coin respectively.



Its interesting to note that the trading week started with a rapid recovery after a period of weakness. However, the recovery was followed by another retracement which has been underway since then. Whyhas thisbeenhappening?

Well, international experts say that the key reason why the cryptocurrency market cap has been going down is the trade war between the United States and China. By the way, they say that this reaction of cryptocurrencies to the trade war testifies to the fact that the cryptocurrency market has become more mature. Not so long ago, cryptocurrencies used to be treated as safe-haven assets for various kinds of investors. So, it seems that Bitcoin and other altcoins are now losing their status of being safe-haven assets. Digital currencies are getting more civilized and the buying craze seen in late 2017 has evolved into the pragmatic approach to investing money.

According to eToro analyst Mati Greenspan, cryptocurrencies are turning into risky assets like ordinary stocks. With that being said, its clear why some of those investors have been reducing their exposure to the crypto-market. The just want to avoid unnecessary risks .



Nevertheless, digital currencies are still fairly profitable assets to trade, which is why the expert believes that the investors will definitely go back to the market as soon as the relations between America and China improves.

You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investors
Stock and commodities markets

US-China Trade War Drops Oil Prices

The trade war between the United States and China is underway. Yet, it has already led to some consequences. For example, international experts say that this war has been the reason for the current weakness of the global market of cryptocurrencies. At the same times, Finanz experts claim that this trade war has dropped oil prices.



Once again, they say that the key reason for this market drop is the trade war between the worlds two biggest economies, the



Some experts claim that the trade war may seriously affect oil prices and therefore reduce to nothing all the efforts made by the OPEC+ participants to cut the global commercial inventories of crude oil and restore the market balance.



By the way, the OPEC+ deal got its status undermined seriously by the participants themselves. Firstly, Russian companies failed to comply with their obligations in March by cutting their daily production by 270K b/d instead of 300K b/d. Secondly, even though Saudi Arabia beat the target in March, the Saudis keep on dumping oil prices for Asian importers. At the same time, American oil companies keep on cutting down on their imports.



As a result, there is a big imbalance emerging in the market of oil futures today. The amount of long positions is 13 times as big as the one of short positions, which bring profit if oil prices go down. Others say that hedge funds may start selling out oil futures, which may bring Brent oil down to 60 dollars per barrel in Q2 2018. A couple of days ago, the price of Brent oil dropped down 6,69 dollars per barrel, which is the current 2-week low. In 24 hours, it has lost 1,8% and 4,1% since the start of the trading week. At the same time WTI oil has lost over 4,5% of its value. This is the second biggest daily price drop for the last 12 months.Once again, they say that the key reason for this market drop is the trade war between the worlds two biggest economies, the USA and China. The other day, the USA revealed the list of 1300 Chinese products with increased import duties (up to 25% for some of them). In response, China did the same thing for American products to the amount of 50 billion dollars, including agricultural, automotive and airspace products from the USA Some experts claim that the trade war may seriously affect oil prices and therefore reduce to nothing all the efforts made by the OPEC+ participants to cut the global commercial inventories of crude oil and restore the market balance.By the way, the OPEC+ deal got its status undermined seriously by the participants themselves. Firstly, Russian companies failed to comply with their obligations in March by cutting their daily production by 270K b/d instead of 300K b/d. Secondly, even though Saudi Arabia beat the target in March, the Saudis keep on dumping oil prices for Asian importers. At the same time, American oil companies keep on cutting down on their imports.As a result, there is a big imbalance emerging in the market of oil futures today. The amount of long positions is 13 times as big as the one of short positions, which bring profit if oil prices go down. Others say that hedge funds may start selling out oil futures, which may bring Brent oil down to 60 dollars per barrel in Q2 2018. You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investors 



Got a question?  Ask it here

Goldman Sachs is back in the game 20 years ago, Goldman Sachs used to be a Wall Street legend and a dream company to work for graduates with a financial degree. Over the last few years, the bank has been a loser with thousands of disappointed employees, managers, and investors. However, the other day Goldman Sachs made an attempt to get back in the game. Read more 

European ETFs - Decent Alternative to American ETFs The mentioned PRIIP rules are forcing the financial service providers and brokers to publish a specific set of info documents including the so-called KID with the key info on certain investment and insurance products. Since the funds coming from outside of Europe do not conform to these requirements, they cannot be offered to EU residents as investment products. Read more 

Warren Buffett Keeps Loading Up On Bank of America's Stock Berkshire Hathaway keeps loading up on Bank of America's stock. This time, during the period of July 31st - August 4th, they purchased over 13,6 million shares, which cost 337 million dollars. The average prices was 24,81 dollars per share. With that being said, Berkshire Hathaway now owns 1,03 billion shares of the stock, which is 26,15 billion dollars in dollar terms. As for the Federal Reserve, they agreed to increase the fund's share to 24,9%. Read more 

WTI Price Drops After US Oil Inventories Report Today, another crude oil inventories report has been released by the USA: Read more 

Is Gold Worth Investing Amid Crisis? Securing assets has always been number-one goal during crises. This is something that worries borth financial experts and plain folks who are far from the peculiarities of the financial world but who are still witnessing their savings vanish amid inflation and devaluation. Read more 

Remember the Key Rules of Investing in Stocks Without further ado, let's consider a bunch of principles of investing in stock, which will put the odds of succeeding in this business in your favor: Read more 

Apple Patents iPhone Without Ports And Holes, Device Expected In 2021 It seems that the release of the long-awaited iPhone without any ports or holes is getting more and more portable. Apple has always favored minimalistic designs, especially over the last 5 years. In 2015, almost all of the classic ports were deprecated in MacBooks in favor of a single one - USB-C Thunderbolt 3. In 2017, iPhone 7 got rid of the 3.5mm audio jack. Read more 

Gold Sets New Records The gold market is insane. The gold futures price set a new major high in New York. In particular, the dollar price of the precious metal set a new 7- year high. With that being said, maybe you should add gold to your investment portfolio along with BTC? Well,lat's ponder upon this question. Read more 

Brent Prices Drop Down To $61/b The concerns over the global demand for crude oil are getting back to the market again. The current trading week has been a week of discounts. Earlier today, Brent oil saw its price drop down to 61 dollars per barrel. The WTI price dropped all the way down to 56 dollars per barrel. The supply side has got an upper hand. Read more 
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
As APSP sharpens our focus on advancing the industry and its interest, we look forward to strengthening the commercial pool and spa industry segment, said APSP President & CEO, Lawrence Caniglia, JD, CAE. The creation of this council helps us keep moving the industry forward.

The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals announces the formation of its new Commercial Council, a group comprised of industry representatives eager to tackle key issues, risks and opportunities facing the design, construction, operation and servicing of commercial pools and spas.

The Council will provide a platform for pool and spa professionals who are dedicated to volunteering their time, talents and energy to advancing the needs of the commercial pool and spa segment.

As APSP sharpens our focus on advancing the industry and its interest, we look forward to strengthening the commercial pool and spa industry segment, said APSP President & CEO, Lawrence Caniglia, JD, CAE. The creation of this council helps us keep moving the industry forward.

The eight member Council is made up of representatives from a variety of pool and spa industry segments who will serve one year terms. Members of the Commercial Council include:

Derek Downey, Principal, Legal Pools, is an experienced pool contractor and acknowledged expert in the swimming pool design, construction and maintenance industry. He has been providing expert deposition and testimony since 1995. Derek has been highly active with APSP, formerly NSPI, for 20 years. He has served on the NSPI Board of Directors from 1998-2005, the APSP Builders Council from 2014-2015 and has been on three Standards Writing Committees. In addition to his council and committee service, he has been a presenter at the International Pool| Spa| Patio Expo and at other industry affiliated events.

Jason Schallock, CBP, CSP, is the general manager at Anderson Poolworks. He is highly active with APSP on both the national and local level. Jason was APSPs 2016 CBP Certified Building Professional of the Year and was a founding member of the APSP Northwest Pacific Chapter. He is highly active with the National Plasters Council and has worked on the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code Tech Support Committee on recirculation and filtration. Also, he participates on a Joint Task Force with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the International Code Council to align the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) and the International Spa and Pool Code (ISPSC) code. Recently, he worked with the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code (CMAHC) to develop an ad hoc committee for swimming pool ventilation and indoor air quality. In addition to his council and committee participation, Jason is a proponent and speaker for correcting aquatic air quality issues nationwide and works closely with the Oregon and Washington states environmental health authorities.

Steve Barnes, is the director of science and compliance at AquaStar Pool Products. Prior to AquaStar, he was the Safety and Compliance Manger at Pentair Aquatic Systems. For over 30 years, he has been involved with the aquatics and manufacturing industry. Since 2004, he has been the Chairman of APSPs Technical Committee.

Dennis Berkshire, is the president at Aquatic Design Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the aquatics industry, with field experience in swimming pool design, construction and operation, and training. As an expert on swimming pool operation, he has worked with several states on swimming pool environmental health codes. He recently worked with the Centers for Disease Control on the new National Model Aquatic Health Code. In addition, Dennis is an instructor for the Certified Pool Operator course and the Aquatic Facility Operator course and has trained nearly 1,000 swimming pool and aquatic facility operators. As President, Dennis is responsible for project management, project commissioning, facility assessments and studies.

Kris Bridges, is the Building Official for the City of Martinsville, VA. He is a Master Code Professional (MCP). For over 22 years, he has had several positions in the industry including Property Maintenance and Amusement Inspector and Combination Code Inspector for Danville, VA up through Building Official. He holds 22 ICC certifications. In addition, he was appointed to the Virginia Manufactured Housing Board by the governor, is on the Board of Directors for the International Code Council and has previously served on the ICC-ES Board of Managers, as Treasurer of ICC Region VII and is a Past President of the Virginia Building and Code Officials Association (VBCOA).

Kenneth Gregory, is the manager of compliance and safety at Pentair Aquatic Systems. For over 20 years, he has held several positions in the industry. Prior to Pentair Aquatic Systems, he was the president of Evolution Pool and Construction Services. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Stephen Neville, is the Director of Business Development and Aquatic Operations with Island Construction Corporation. After joining Island Construction Corporation, he co-founded Stainless Aquatics, a Division of Island Construction Corporation, which focuses on rooftop and podium deck pool, spa and water feature installations in stainless steel and shotcrete applications. For over 17 years, Stephen has been highly active with the industry primarily in the commercial segment and has served on the APSP Builders Council since 2014. He is currently certified as a CBP, CSP, PPSO, PPSO Instructor through APSP and also holds a B.S Degree in Criminal Justice as well as a CPO, AFO and NPC startup certification.

Doug Winkler, is the president of Winkler Pool Management. He has over 40 years of experience in the aquatics industry. Doug is high active with APSP and serves on many volunteer boards including the APSP National Board of Directors and on his local Mid-Atlantic APSP Chapter as Treasurer.

Im honored to be part of the founding leaders of this council, said Commercial Council Co-Chair, Jason Shallock, CBP, CSP. I look forward to working with this council to create a solid foundation for representing this industry segment. The individual and collective talents of this council will effectively advance its mission in our local, national and international markets.

The new Commercial Council plans to hold their first meeting May 1 in Denver. Open to APSP members and interested parties in the commercial and municipal pool and spa sector of the industry, this first meeting will lay the foundation for the group to identify important issues and create a plan of action and timeline.

APSP serves to protect and grow our members businesses through advocacy, codes and standards and professional development. Focusing our efforts on the commercial and municipal pool and spa sector of our industry, is extremely important and long overdue, said Vice President, Technical and Standards, Carvin DiGiovanni. Through identifying and addressing the issues of our commercial pool and spa stakeholders, APSP can effectively devote its resources towards finding solutions to help grow the commercial pool and spa segment.

The formation of APSPs Commercial Council will include forming several Task Forces to assist the Council on hot topic issues. Those interested in learning more about serving on an APSP Commercial Council Task Force, should email Commercial Council Co-Chair, Derek Downey.

For more information about APSPs Commercial Council, email Lawrence Caniglia at lcaniglia(at)apsp(dot)org.
Rabbi Judy leading services in India Rabbi Ginsburgh said, "One of the highlights of the trip was being asked to lead part of the Shacharit Service at Magen David-a 133 year old synagogue in Kolkata."

Rabbi Judy Ginsburgh of Louisiana traveled to India to participate in a 15 day "Explore Jewish India" tour. "This was truly a trip of a lifetime", she stated. Rabbi Ginsburgh explains that many American Jews do not realize that at one time there were over 40,000 Jews living in India with complete freedom of worship. Many Indian Jews made Aliyah to Israel in the years following 1948.

Rabbi Blane, founder of the Union of Jewish Universalist Communities, stated: "The UJUC is pleased to see the national and international reach of our member Rabbis. We are so proud of the groundbreaking work being done in our communities." Rabbi Ginsburgh was ordained by the Jewish Spiritual Leadership Institute ("JSLI") in 2014 and is a member of Union for Jewish Universalist Communities ("UJUC").

Today, there are only approximately 4,500 Jews still living in India. Sadly, many of the synagogues have become museums and tourist attractions; however, most have been beautifully restored by owners who take great pride in giving tours and preserving India's Jewish history. Rabbi Ginsburgh said, "It was spiritually enriching to visit so many synagogues and visit with so many Jews who are still living in India. There is so much energy and everyone is happy. People are content with what they have; no one is complaining. One of the highlights of the trip was being asked to lead part of the Shacharit Service at Magen David-an 133 year old synagogue in Kolkata."

Rabbi Ginsburgh is perhaps best known for her music and work as a cantorial soloist for over 30 years. She has produced a number of award-winning recordings of Jewish music for families and was commissioned by the URJ (Union for Reform Judaism) to write a preschool music curriculum titled "My Jewish World". She has sung and conducted Jewish worship services not only in India, but all over the world. Rabbi Ginsburgh currently serves B'nai Israel in Monroe, Louisiana as their part-time Rabbi.

The UJUC is a group of progressively minded rabbis and their communities who welcome participants from all walks of life. The Union seeks to nurture the greater good by emphasizing compassion and love for all humankind through the lens of Jewish history, liturgy, rituals, traditional texts, and holidays. More information about Rabbi Ginsburgh as well as her contact information can be found at the UJUC's website: http://ujuc.org/rabbi-judy-ginsburgh/

About Sim Shalom and UJUC

Sim Shalom is an interactive online Jewish Universalist synagogue, which is liberal in thought and traditional in liturgy. Sim Shalom provides accessible and short services every weeknight and Shabbat and additionally Sim Shalom provides online education programs, Jazz concerts, and conversion and life cycle ceremonies.

Rabbi Blane is also the founder and director of the Spiritual Leader's Institute, the online professional rabbinical program.

Sim Shalom and Rabbi Blane are one of the Founding communities of the Union of Jewish Universalist communities.
One Flesh is a heart-wrenching story about drugs, human trafficking, betrayal, obsession, greed, and tremendous tragedy overcome through enduring love. One Flesh is the creation of published author, Delores Glass. An intense interest in theology led Delores to start writing and illustrating both fiction and nonfiction works after her retirement from the hospitality industry. Her study of the Bible led to a subsequent interest in the nature of the physical universe and the search for why people exist. Her journey pushed her to better understand human behavior, which revealed the divisions that exist between Biblical admonitions and modern-day attitudes concerning the relationships of men and women. Because ignoring Biblical principles has led to the prevalence of infidelity, divorce, and the general breakdown of the family in todays world, friends encouraged Delores to write a story illustrating what the Scriptures say about romantic love between a man and a woman based on Genesis 2:2324, thus the story One Flesh was created. Delores Glass is vested in the visual arts as well. She does both fine arts and illustrating. She loves jazz, blues, and classical music, which have influenced her writing and drawing.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Delores Glasss new book is a story about enduring love. Graham gives up a lucrative career as an architect in New York City to avoid being stalked by his bosss daughter. In upstate, he soon finds himself in a utopian country lifestyle. His high standards kept him from pursuing serious relationships with the opposite sex during his youth, but he finds the perfect woman for him in the most unusual circumstances when he least expects it.

His past cannot, however, be denied. He is destined to confront his history. When he does, it plunges him into an international intrigue that costs him the love of his life while nearly killing him. One Flesh is a gripping tale about how drugs, human trafficking, betrayal, obsession, greed, and tremendous tragedy can be overcome through enduring love based on Biblical principles.

View a synopsis of One Flesh on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase One Flesh at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about One Flesh, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Everyone wants taxpayer money used wisely for our common defense, but we dont all agree on what that means." - Steve Roemerman

Lone Stars CEO, Steve Roemerman, was invited to speak on acquisition and innovation on a panel hosted by the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), and the Americas Future Series (AFS).

It was an honor to be asked, Steve said. Everyone wants taxpayer money used wisely for our common defense, but we dont all agree on what that means. Lone Stars rigorous analytics helps guide agencies doing contracting, contractor bidding, and for congressional policy.

Other distinguished round table participants included Congressman Pete Sessions, AUSA president General Carter Ham, and NDIAs Chief of Staff, Major General Jim Boozer.

We were pleased Steve could support the event, said Matthew Bowers, Lone Star co-founder. He works to raise the bar for federal acquisitions. We committed our company to pro bono work when we thought fact-based analytics could make a difference. We know our corporate and public-sector clients see a big Return on Analytics.

About Lone Star Analysis:

Lone Star Analysis enables customers to make insightful decisions faster than their competitors. We are a predictive guide bridging the gap between data and action. Prescient insights support confident decisions for customers in Oil & Gas, Transportation & Logistics, Industrial Products & Services, Aerospace & Defense, and the Public Sector.

Lone Star delivers fast time to value supporting customers planning and on-going management needs. Utilizing our TruNavigator software platform, Lone Star brings proven modeling tools and analysis that improve customers top line, by winning more business, and improve the bottom line, by quickly enabling operational efficiency, cost reduction, and performance improvement. Our trusted AnalyticsOS software solutions support our customers real-time predictive analytics needs when continuous operational performance optimization, cost minimization, safety improvement, and risk reduction are important.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Lone Star is found on the web at http://www.Lone-Star.com

Lone Star, Lone Star Analysis, TruNavigator, AnalyticsOS, TruPredict, TruNav, Eleven Questions and other marks are Trademarks, Service Marks of Lone Star.
National Trench Safety, LLC (NTS), a Houston-based company specializing in the rental and sales of trench and traffic safety equipment, trench and traffic safety engineering, and OSHA-compliant training classes, announced today the opening of a new branch operation in Seattle, Washington.

Were very pleased to be announcing the opening of our new Seattle operation, explained Ron Chilton, President of NTS. Seattle has demonstrated strong, robust growth over the last few years and will allow us to strengthen and increase our support along the West Coast. Weve been servicing this area for some time on larger projects and the opening is an extension of our need to better service our customer base.

The Seattle operation will be led by Gene Nowlan, a well-recognized industry veteran. Gene joined us almost two years ago and quickly demonstrated a proficiency to strengthen and lead branch operations. We are very excited about the prospects in the Seattle market given Genes experience and look forward to establishing NTS as the premier trench and traffic safety supplier in the market.

The Seattle operation is the 33rd branch location for National Trench Safety in the United States and England. This large footprint allows NTS to provide its national, regional and local market customers a fully integrated, national branch network delivering unique engineered solutions, the highest level of customer service and the most cost effective shoring solutions in the industry.

In maintaining its objective of building a nationwide network of trench and traffic safety branches, NTS plans to open several additional branch locations over the next 12 months. For more information about NTS, visit the National Trench Safety website at http://www.ntsafety.com.

About National Trench Safety:

National Trench Safety is dedicated to providing the construction industry with the most complete line of trench and traffic safety equipment, as well as cutting edge engineered solutions and OSHA-compliant training classes. With a proven track record of success, National Trench Safety expertly provides unique solutions to the most difficult and complex project needs. National Trench Safety is committed to providing customers with the highest quality products, most diverse and broad product/fleet offerings and the most comprehensive customer training in the industry. National Trench SafetyThe Trench and Traffic Safety Specialists.
Gray Wolves at Oakland Zoo "Our hope is Sequoia and Siskiyou will inspire people to respect and connect with the Gray Wolf, their species having been extricated from our state out of misunderstanding and fear"

A pair of gray wolves have joined the list of eight new native-Californian species at Oakland Zoos upcoming California Trail expansion, opening in June 2018. These two wolves, Sequoia and Siskiyou, arrived in late December and zookeepers have been conducting wolf acclimation training sessions with exposure to small groups of people to give them ample time to adjust to their new two-acre home. Born in captivity, these two wolves represent a much larger and inspiring story of wolf conservation in California. Wild wolves are now returning to California - after being extirpated during government-run antipredator campaigns a century ago.

Sequoia and Siskiyou, both five-years of age, relocated to Oakland Zoo as part of a multifaceted partnership with the Zoo and California Wolf Center (CSC). With the arrival of Sequoia and Siskiyou, the Zoo and CSC are working to engage the publics support for the safe return of their wild counterparts to our state. By sharing the whole story of wild wolf recovery, including that of ranchers living with this predator, opportunities are created for people in taking action for wolves  such as buying predator friendly beef.

California Wolf Center is honored to be working with Oakland Zoo to provide a dynamic new home for gray wolves, Sequoia and Siskiyou. We are excited for this pairs future in the Bay Area and have the utmost faith in Oakland Zoo staff to provide an extraordinary life for these animals, said Christina Souto, California Wolf Centers Director of Marketing and Communications.

The partnership with California Wolf Center goes beyond the Zoo - to direct involvement in the conservation of wild wolves. Oakland Zoo is sponsoring the Wolf Centers Range Steward program. Range Stewards are trained ranchers working to rekindle the herd instinct in cattle, thus reducing the chance of wolf-livestock conflict. These actions increase connection and tolerance of ranchers, ensuring livestock are safe and wolves achieve long term recovery.

"Our hope is Sequoia and Siskiyou will inspire people to respect and connect with the Gray Wolf, their species having been extricated from our state out of misunderstanding and fear, said Amy Gotliffe, Oakland Zoos Conservation Director. This pair will also represent the exciting return of the Gray Wolf to California, and how Oakland Zoo, California Wolf Center, and California ranchers are teaming up to protect and restore this important species."

Sequoia is a male wolf and was born at the California Wolf Center. He is described as very sweet with a dominant personality. Siskiyou (female) was born at McCleery Buffalo Wolf Foundation in Montana. According to staff, the five-year-old pair appears to be getting along very well. Wolves, unlike dogs, commonly mate for life; therefore, they take time to develop relationships. Oakland Zoo hopes Sequoia and Siskiyou will have a litter of pups next year. Creating a natural pack is important to the emotional health of wolves. Pups born to the pair will remain at Oakland Zoo, in the same habitat as their parents.

Siskiyou and Sequoia are making quite a home for themselves in their new two-acre habitat, said Darren E. Minier, Assistant Director, Animal Care, Conservation, and Research at Oakland Zoo. We're happy to care for these two special individuals, and excited for the family pack they'll create together. They're stunning ambassadors for their counterparts in the wild, and we're excited to share them and their stories when California Trail opens this June!

The wolf habitat at Oakland Zoos California Trail is 2-acres, complete with a pool, trees, dens, and plenty of cover for these elusive animals. Discussions began around the construction three years ago to ensure that wolves moving to Oakland Zoo would be housed in the most comfortable space possible. The California Trail at Oakland Zoo opens to the public in June 2018.

ABOUT OAKLAND ZOO AND THE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA:

Oakland Zoo, home to more than 700 native and exotic animals, is managed by the Conservation Society of California (CSC); a non-profit organization leading an informed and inspired community to take action for wildlife locally and globally. With over 25 conservation partners and projects worldwide, the CSC is committed to conservation-based education and saving species and their habitats in the wild. Oakland Zoo is dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare for zoos and aquariums. For more information, go to http://www.oaklandzoo.org.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA WOLF CENTER:

The California Wolf Center is dedicated to the recovery of wolves in the wildlands they once roamed. We envision a landscape where wolves thrive in healthy ecosystems and wolves and people successfully coexist. Our organization is at the forefront of creating a new model for long term wolf recovery through a scientifically based, socially acceptable approach that provides real and practical solutions to those sharing the landscape with wild wolves. We offer tours of our conservation center in Julian, CA with a reservation. Visit http://www.californiawolfcenter.org or call 760-765-0030 for more information.
KAMPONG CHAM, Cambodia, April 5 (Xinhua) -- As the annual Tomb-Sweeping Day comes, Cambodian and Chinese officials on Thursday jointly organized a ceremony, paying tribute to two Chinese United Nations peacekeeping soldiers who were killed in a blast here 25 years ago.

More than 100 Cambodian and Chinese embassy officials and citizens took part in the ceremony, which was held at a memorial monument in Skun town.

After laying wreaths at the monument, Li Ningya, military attache of the Chinese embassy in Cambodia, said nearly 800 Chinese U.N. soldiers were on a peacekeeping operation in Cambodia in 1992, and a mid-night explosion on May 21, 1993 killed two soldiers, Chen Zhiguo and Yu Shili.

"They lost their lives for the cause of peacekeeping in Cambodia," Li said in a speech during the ceremony. "We will remember their great sacrifices forever."

He said their sacrifices had inspired people to love and protect peace for development and prosperity.

Gen. Phuong Siphan, undersecretary of state of the Cambodian Defense Ministry, expressed his profound condolences to the Chinese government and the bereaved families for the deaths of the two soldiers in the engineering unit of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

"They sacrificed lives for the cause of peace in Cambodia," the official said in the speech during the ceremony. "We will never forget their courage and sacrifices for the cause of peacekeeping in Cambodia."

He added that the Chinese soldiers' great sacrifices had further enhanced the "fraternal" sentiment between the peoples of the two countries.
Case management is a complex task, said Johnson. We built a case management system that our workers used to enter in data about the child  name, birthdate, medical needs, family background, placement history, case plan goal and more.

Child abuse and neglect, family challenges, the need for foster care and more  these are issues that state governments are used to handling. Through their child welfare systems, state agencies handle complex tasks like case management, matching children with appropriate caregivers, and recording notes from therapy sessions, visitations and other meetings.

But developing technology that is capable of supporting this work has often been a challenge. Thats where KVC Health Systems, a nonprofit based in the greater Kansas City area, saw an opportunity nearly 20 years ago.

Lonnie Johnson, today the organizations first Chief Information Officer, began with KVC 18 years ago as a software developer. The state of Kansas was only a few years into its pioneering use of public-private partnerships to deliver child welfare services, and KVC saw that well-built software applications (apps) were a key aspect of providing the highest quality services to children and families.

Case management is a complex task, said Johnson. When a child comes into state custody, there are thousands of pieces of information to keep organized and at workers fingertips. We built a case management system that our workers used to enter in data about the child  name, birthdate, medical needs, family background, the childs photo, their placement history, their case plan goal and more.

As KVCs work with the Kansas Department for Children and Families continued and KVC expanded into four more states, the software it built grew with the organization. Today, KVC is about halfway into a multiyear effort to rebuild its legacy system into a modern, mobile-friendly, user-friendly suite of software called KVC Care.

Care is ahead of the curve in terms of child welfare software. Some of what makes KVCs technology approach so progressive:



Everything in Care is available on a mobile device.

All child welfare workers have smartphones with hotspots so they can access the Internet from any location, including the home of a family involved in the child welfare system, helping to connect them to resources in their area.

Electronic case planning, case logs, medication monitoring, family and team collaboration, and reporting

Medication monitoring system to track and safely reduce the use of psychotropic medication for youth in foster care

Child/caregiver matching system which matches a child in foster care with the best foster family, plus a new foster home database to support and retain foster families

Online assessments that can be done in the comfort of peoples home  assessing for trauma or safety risks

Mobile apps; for example, when a child runs away or goes missing, has an accident or interacts with law enforcement, the workers update in the critical incidents app is immediately sent to the state agency and other important partners.

Workforce apps for things like tracking mileage

Digital documentation which has replaced paper files, and

Piloting the use of mental health apps with children receiving therapy

KVC has a combined technology team of about 30 people supporting the organizations 1,600 staff nationwide. Of those, more than half are dedicated to developing Care and other software integrations. The team uses an agile development methodology, working in short sprints to accomplish goals. As new modules are built in Care, they replace the legacy system. Already, KVC workers submit over 20,000 forms through Care each month, showing the extent to which it is relied on to support child welfare services.

Katie Easley has been with KVC nearly as long as Lonnie Johnson. She leads the software development team, and her husband Brett leads the team that interfaces with third-party electronic health records. This work is much more than a job for the Easleys.

We have nine children, stated Katie. We were foster parents to our first eight children before it became clear, at various times over the years, that they needed to be adopted. First we had two kids, then two more, then a sibling set of four more. Our ninth child was a surprise - we became pregnant after years of thinking that wasnt in the cards for us. Children are the greatest blessing and we are so thankful for them.

Its that passion for family and the desire for every child to feel a sense of belonging that keeps KVC Health Systems moving forward in its journey to develop the very best technology for foster care and other purposes.

Safety and connection are our two biggest priorities for every person we serve, said Johnson. In fact, our child welfare practice model developed by Dr. Suzanne Lohrbach is called Safe & Connected. We see our software as a way to help that dream come true for every child we serve.

Right now, Care is used in Kansas and Nebraska and will soon expand to the other states where KVC operates  Missouri, Kentucky and West Virginia. But KVC sees that as just the beginning. Weve had 20 years to build, use and enhance our software. No other private organization has a 20-year track record of providing foster care case management services and creating their own software to support it. We want to help many more people, leveraging what weve done here in Kansas to strengthen the child welfare systems in other states.

Learn more about KVC's technology at http://www.kvc.org/tech.
Vladimir Minkov The book addresses the questions of how the Jewish and Christian intellectuals, for whom the religious rituals in the synagogue or church are not in the center of their spirituality, may tailor to themselves in the image and likeness of God

After conversations with many clergy members and the study of their spiritual discoveries, Vladimir Minkov found that they were not illuminating the spiritual issues the intellectual Jews and Christians in contemporary Judeo-Christian world were very interested in.

Within the pages of In Intellectual Search for Spiritual Torah-Based Union Between Jews and Christians ($26.49, hardcover, 9781545608760, $16.49, paperback, 9781545608753; $8.99, e-book, 9781545608777), Minkov reveals how Jews and Christians, while being religiously different, have a common spiritual Torah-based foundation for creating a better world for everybody.

The book addresses the questions of how the Jewish and Christian intellectuals, for whom the religious rituals in the synagogue or church are not in the center of their spirituality, may tailor to themselves in the image and likeness of God, the author states.

Born and raised in the autocratic Soviet Union, Vladimir Minkov, Ph.D., has published numerous papers on Judeo-Christian spirituality in application to contemporary life challenges.

Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 12,000 titles published to date. Retailers may order In Intellectual Search for Spiritual Torah-Based Union Between Jews and Christians through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. The book is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.
Ian Berry working on Perfect Stranger In his studio, amid mounds of blue, the uncountable shades and features of this common fabric are a palette in the hands of artist Ian Berry. ~Ann Hammel, American Quilter Magazine  September 2017

As an UNESCO Creative City, Paducah, Kentucky is known for connecting cultures, and the American Quilters Society (AQS) and Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) have joined forces to do just that. In anticipation of the upcoming AQS QuiltWeek  Spring 2018, AQS and PAA are pleased to host internationally acclaimed Master of Denim (Complex magazine) Ian Berry from the United Kingdom on April 8-22, 2018.

A resident of London, Berry, aka Denimu, was born in Huddersfield, a woolen textile community in West Yorkshire, England. He studied graphic design and advertising at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College before launching an illustrious creative career that caused him to be dubbed a Jean-ius by the UKs Daily Mail and named him one of the 2013 Top 30 Artists Under 30 in the World by Art Business News, the magazine of todays forward-thinking art professionals.

Berry uses ordinary denim to create extraordinary art. At first glance, his work appears to be blue-toned photographs or indigo-colored oil paintings. In reality, they are made of many layers and shades of denim jeans. Berrys work has been seen across the globe, with a number of sell-out solo shows in London and Sweden; museums and galleries in the United States; and American art fairs, including Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida, which showcases masters of Modern and contemporary art.

After a 1,132-mile road trip from New York to Kentuckyvia Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Richmond, Greensboro, Asheville, and NashvilleBerry will begin his two-week participation in PAAs Artist in Residence Program on Sunday, April 8. I love the feeling of Paducah as a real American town, said Berry. Ive been to a dozen coastal towns in the United States but Ive never been inland. While in Paducah, Berry will engage with other artists and experience the UNESCO Creative Citys historic and cultural attractions. I enjoy learning about how art regenerates places that industry has changed. Paducah is known for that. I would like to meet and photograph local people in the areas they love, their homes, and around the town centre. It would be interesting to then make a body of work based on this, that perhaps could be shown there again.

In addition to taking photos for portraits and scenes for upcoming work, Berry is slated to interact with art students at Paducah Tilghman High School (PTHS), McCracken County High School (MCHS), and the Paducah School of Art and Design (PSAD). Goodwill and Salvation Army have already donated more than 60 pairs of jeans for student projects, and Berry has arranged for Cone Denim, the historic denim mill in North Carolina, to send a shipment of selvedge denim scraps. The students enjoy working with denim jeanssomething that they are very familiar with as clothingand turning the denim into an artwork, said Berry. Under the direction of PTHS art teacher John Romang, students have studied Berrys process, and each class will share completed denim creations with him on Tuesday, April 10. As a young, male textile artist, Berry wants to attract and inspire young people and help them to open their imagination beyond any preconceived concepts they may have about textile art. He will present a talk at the Paducah School of Art & Design on Thursday, April 12 at 3:30 PM and will be the featured guest at MCHSs Fine Art Friday on April 13 at 11 AM and 1 PM.

Following his week of engaging with the arts community, Berry will take the stage as a featured artist at AQS QuiltWeek  Spring Paducah. Art in Denim by Ian Berry will be one of the special quilt exhibits on display April 18-21. AQS Executive Show Director, Bonnie Browning, first became aware of Berrys work through her international connections in the art and quilting community. When I saw Ians artwork online, I knew the quilters would love to see an exhibit of his denim artwork at our QuiltWeek in Paducah. It took us nearly two years to coordinate his schedule with ours, as he was working on a major commission piece that had to be completed before he could put us on his calendar. We cant wait to share the talent of Ian Berry with the quilt world!

As a young British male, Berry sees himself as not your typical quilt artist. However, he is excited to be in the arena with todays quiltmakers and to have his work seen in person by an audience that can appreciate how the tactile qualities of fabric are so much more impressive in real life than they are online. When I saw the amazing techniques and compositions of quilters, it made my jaw drop. I want my work to do the same for them. Berrys installation will be located on the first floor of the Convention Center and will be open with the purchase of show admission on Tuesday, April 17 for the Sneak Preview, 7-9 PM; Wednesday-Friday, April 18-20, 9 AM-6 PM; and Saturday, April 21, 9 AM-4 PM. He will also be presenting a lecture on his work to a sold out audience on Friday, 3 PM, in the Eisenhower Room.

To learn more about Ian Berry, visit his website at ianberry.org. For more information or to set up an interview with the artist, contact Rosemarie Steele, Paducah Arts Alliance, 270.331.5588 or Katherine Rupp, AQS Marketing Director, 270.898.7903 ext. 231.

About Paducah Arts Alliance

The Paducah Arts Alliance (PAA) was established in 2008 with the purpose of providing cross-cultural educational experiences between the Paducah-area arts community and visiting national/international visual/performing artists. PAA initiated an Artist-in-Residence Program with funds provided by the City of Paducah. Since January 2009, PAA has hosted more than 50 visiting American and international artists from 14 states and 7 countries. Over the past five years, resident artists have conducted nearly 60 events, which include workshops, lectures, exhibitions, performances and installations. The Paducah Arts Alliance is a 501c3 organization. For more information on the Paducah Arts Alliance, please visit paducahartsalliance.com.

About the American Quilters Society

The American Quilters Society is the largest quilting membership organization in the world. For close to 35 years, AQS has been the leading voice in quilting inspiration and advice. At AQS, we believe that with the proper resources, the creative individual can take their quilting projects beyond what they can imagine. For more information on the American Quilters Society, please visit http://www.americanquilter.com or call 1-270-898-7903.
Milmoe commented, Greenberg Traurig is a very comfortable fit from a cultural point of view  we share the walk through walls approach to client needs, and I am looking forward to working with such distinguished and collaborative colleagues.

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has added J. Gregory Milmoe to its Boston and New York offices as a shareholder in the firms Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice.

Milmoe has long been recognized as a senior statesman within the restructuring community and has helped devise and refine many innovative restructuring techniques, which have become standard operating procedure. He brings to Greenberg Traurig wide-ranging corporate experience, including in-court and out-of-court restructurings, hostile and negotiated mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and corporate financings. Milmoe draws on this experience to help clients fashion pragmatic, sometimes novel, approaches to complex problems that frequently blend and adapt techniques from various legal disciplines. He is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and has been named a Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer, among other honors. Milmoe retired from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher& Flom, LLP on Dec. 31, 2017, after a 47-year career during which he served, among other things, as co-chair of that firms Corporate Restructuring Group.

"We are delighted to welcome Greg to the firm," said Nancy A. Mitchell, co-chair of the firms Global Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice and a regional operating shareholder for the firms New York and Boston offices. His broad experience and reputation as one of the United States leading restructuring lawyers will enhance and complement our strong and growing presence in the restructuring community.

Terence P. McCourt, managing shareholder of the firms Boston office, added, With Gregs arrival, Greenberg Traurig further expands and strengthens its service offerings in Boston. His significant transactional and restructuring experience across a wide array of industries will benefit our clients and contribute to the growth of the office.

Milmoe commented, I am thrilled to join Greenberg Traurig to continue my career as a practicing lawyer. Greenberg Traurig is a very comfortable fit from a cultural point of view  we share the walk through walls approach to client needs, and I am looking forward to working with such distinguished and collaborative colleagues.

About Greenberg Traurigs Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice

Greenberg Traurigs internationally recognized Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice has broad advisory and litigation experience with the often-complex issues that arise in reorganizations, restructurings, workouts, liquidations, and distressed acquisitions and sales, in both domestic and cross-border situations and proceedings. With offices in commercial centers across the United States and throughout the world, the firm utilizes its invaluable business network to offer critical advice and counsel to multiple constituencies in insolvency situations.

About Greenberg Traurigs Boston Office

Established in 1999, Greenberg Traurigs Boston office is home to over 70 attorneys practicing in the areas of bankruptcy, corporate, emerging technology, energy, governmental affairs, intellectual property, labor and employment, life sciences and medical technology, litigation, public finance, and real estate. An important contributor to the firm's international platform, the Boston office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys with both public and private sector experience. The team offers clients the value of decades of legal experience and hands-on knowledge of the local business community, supported by the firm's vast network of global resources.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, was named the largest firm in the U.S. by Law360 in 2017, and is among the Top 20 on the 2017 Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
Whissel Realty announced today that they have joined eXp Realty, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage. Whissel Realty focuses on San Diego County and has been helping home buyers and sellers since the 1970s.

As the largest residential real estate brokerage by geography in North America, eXp Realty provides 24/7 access to collaborative tools, training and socialization for real estate brokers and agents through its fully-immersive, virtual campus environment.

Whissel Realty was recently ranked the No. 1 real estate team in San Diego County for both transaction sides and transaction volume by The Wall Street Journal, Trulia, Zillow and REAL Trends. They also ranked No. 5 in California for transaction sides. In 2017, Whissel Realty helped 374 home buyers and sellers with a transaction volume exceeding $205 million.

Whissel Realty has always had a strong presence within San Diego County. By joining eXp Realty and leveraging their expansive North American network and cutting-edge technology, it allows our team to expand its marketing reach beyond county lines, said Kyle Whissel, team leader of Whissel Realty.

As a public company subsidiary, eXp Realty uniquely offers real estate professionals within its ranks opportunities to earn company stock for production and contributions to overall company growth. eXp Realty is the largest residential real estate brokerage by geography in North America with more than 9,300 agents in 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the provinces of Ontario and Alberta, Canada.

About Whissel Realty

Whissel Realty is a family-owned and operated real estate team based out of San Diego County, CA. The team was formed in the 1970s by Robert Whissel and is now led by his son, Kyle Whissel. They have three offices across San Diego County including Santee, North Park and Carlsbad. For more info on Whissel Realty, visit http://www.WhisselRealty.com. Kyle Whissel and Whissel Realty are independent contractors of eXp Realty. This is not an official release of eXp Realty, its parent eXp World Holdings, Inc. or any related subsidiary.
In todays challenging times, reliable security monitoring is paramount and Christie technology is at the forefront when it comes to trusted control room solutions, having been installed in numerous security monitoring centers around the world

The power and trustworthiness of Christies networked control room technology will be featured at ISC West 2018, taking place April 11-13 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas. Industry experts will explain the value of using Christie technology to guard against security breaches in an increasingly complex and connected world.

In todays challenging times, reliable security monitoring is paramount and Christie technology is at the forefront when it comes to trusted control room solutions, having been installed in numerous security monitoring centers around the world, said John Hallman, director, Americas, technical sales and solutions, Christie. At ISC West 2018, attendees will experience the effectiveness and flexibility of our control room offerings and how they can improve operations whether its across the city or with teams working in multiple locations around the world.

Christie Aspect LCD panels, including the high performance Extreme Series, will also be on the booth. A versatile platform available in bezel sizes from 13mm down to 1.7mm, Christie Aspect LCD panels facilitate tiled or stand-alone displays. Christies high performance Extreme Series, with an extremely narrow 1.7mm combined bezel, creates impressive, near-seamless video walls. Operating with Christie Phoenix, Christie LCD panels provide a complete video wall solution that is perfect for critical viewing scenarios.

The booth will also show a 1.2-millimeter pixel pitch Christie Velvet Apex LED video wall. This premium LED video wall solution delivers 4K at 60Hz resolution, HDR10 compatibility, and low-brightness enhancements for optimum visuals - even in darker environments. Featuring the most efficient use of power, precision output control, advanced monitoring capability and design flexibility, with clear, detailed imagery, and 24/7 operation, Apex Series meets the demanding requirements for critical viewing environments where peak performance at all times is critical.

Powering all displays will be the Christie Phoenix as it demonstrates how to simplify project designs while eliminating the need for audiovisual distribution equipment. Christie Phoenix enables seamless access and control of audiovisual data from virtually anywhere, through a single, robust system. Its comprehensive tools allow security professionals to simultaneously view, listen to, and interact with any source of information found in a security operations room, regardless of location.

Backed by full service and support, Christies LED and LCD solutions offer long-term peace of mind and are designed for 24/7 critical viewing applications, perfect for security room operations.

About Christie

Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. is a global visual and audio technologies company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ushio Inc., Japan (JP:6925). Consistently setting the standards by being the first to market some of the worlds most advanced projectors, complete system displays, and cinema audio solutions; Christie is recognized as one of the most innovative visual technology companies in the world. From retail displays to Hollywood, mission critical command centers to classrooms and training simulators, Christie display solutions and projectors capture the attention of audiences around the world with dynamic and stunning images, accompanied by awe-inspiring sound. Visit http://www.christiedigital.com.
McKinstry promoted Brian Floyd and Chris Larocque to lead the companys national Energy & Technical Services organization. Floyd now serves as vice president and general manager while Larocque serves as vice president of operations.

Brian Floyd joined McKinstry in 2000 and has played instrumental roles in growing the companys energy, sustainability and facility service business lines. His deep industry expertise allows him to bridge the gap between construction and facility operations. Floyd has more than 20 years of industry experience.

Chris Larocque joined McKinstry in 2006. He is a 20-year industry veteran with a proven track record across construction, energy and facilities management. His forward-thinking innovation and energetic personality allow him to deliver world-class customer service that ensures satisfaction.

McKinstry further strengthened the national Energy & Technical Services leadership team through a series of regional and business unit promotions, including:



Leslie Larocque: Vice President, Energy & Technical Services for Mountain Regions

Since joining McKinstry in 2006, Leslie Larocque has built the companys extensive Energy & Technical Services business in the Mountain Regions from the ground up.



Dale Silha: Vice President, Energy & Technical Services for Pacific Northwest Regions

Dale Silha leads McKinstrys Pacific Northwest efforts to reduce costs and save energy in the built environment through customer-focused solutions. He joined McKinstry in 2010 and has been in the industry since 1990.



Justin Fallstrom: Regional Director, Energy for Western Washington & Oregon

Justin Fallstrom drives McKinstrys integrated design approach in Washington and Oregon to maximize building performance at the most reasonable cost. He joined McKinstry in 2008.



Steve Ruby: Regional Director, Energy for Rocky Mountain Region

Steve Ruby has more than 20 years of experience identifying client facility needs, and determining the best solutions to meet those needs. He joined McKinstry in 2009.



Phillip Saieg: Regional Director, Technical Services for Rocky Mountain Region

Phillip Saieg ensures Rocky Mountain Region client satisfaction through advanced technical and energy-related service delivery. He joined McKinstry in 2012.

"Energy & Technical Services is a growth area across McKinstrys national footprint, said Ash Awad, McKinstrys Chief Market Officer. McKinstry now has the ideal leadership team to drive that growth by aligning facility condition assessments, commissioning, active energy management, performance contracting and other services to help our clients enhance building performance while cutting waste and costs.

About McKinstry

McKinstry is a full-service, design-build-operate-and-maintain (DBOM) firm specializing in consulting, construction, energy and facility services. The firms innovative, integrated delivery methodology provides clients with a single point of accountability that drives waste and redundancy out of the design/build process. With over 1,600 professional staff and trades people throughout the United States and operations in more than 15 states, McKinstry advocates collaborative, sustainable solutions designed to ensure occupant comfort, improve systems efficiency, reduce facility operational costs, and optimize profitability For The Life of Your Building. For more information, visit http://www.mckinstry.com.
Bob Quinn, PhD, founder of Kamut International and a driving force behind furthering education on the beneficial effects of ancient grains, announces on World Health Day the launch of the 1st International Conference of Wheat Landraces for Healthy Food Systems. This global symposium will bring together leading scientists to discuss the topics of landraces, including modern populations, ancient and heritage wheat with a focus on health and nutrition, commented Quinn.

The event will take place on June 13-15, 2018 in Bologna, Italy. The conference is organized by IFOAM - Organics International, Kamut International, ltd. and Kamut Enterprises of Europe bvba, and Alma Mater Studiorum  University of Bologna.

Traditionally, wheat-breeding programs aimed to improve grain yield and protein content, as well as baking quality, but neglected nutritional and phytochemical characteristics. Little attention was paid to the potential impacts this would have on human health. Today, we are learning more about ancient wheat varieties and the role they play in improving health and nutrition. It was the right time to gather together the leading minds on the topic to gain a global perspective on how we can work together to use science to advance human health, said Quinn.

The health benefits of ancient wheat

Scientific studies have demonstrated ancient wheat varieties exhibit a higher nutraceutical value than modern varieties. This provides higher health benefits, including the prevention of chronic-degenerative diseases.

Furthermore, in several human clinical studies the substitution of modern wheat products with ancient wheat products improved metabolic, oxidative and inflammatory profiles of both healthy volunteers and patients suffering from non-infectious chronic diseases like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (Sofi, 2010; Sofi, 2013; Sofi 2014; Whittaker, 2015; Whittaker, 2017; Dinu, 2018 in press).

Increasing gluten sensitivity: a consequence of modern wheat?

Between 12% and 20% of people in the industrialized world can no longer eat modern wheat products without health or digestive problems. Modern wheat varieties show higher levels of gluten allergenic epitopes and other kinds of toxic proteins (van den Broeck HC, 2010; Zevallos, 2017), and some experts assert that the recent rise of gluten and wheat hypersensitivity syndromes is a consequences of modern wheat types (De Lorgeril, 2014).

In summary, the available scientific information raises interesting considerations on ancient wheat that needs further studies to better understand the mechanisms responsible for these beneficial effects (Dinu, 2017).

For more information, to attend as media or to interview Bob Quinn contact Laura Meditz, laura@adinnyc.com 212 693 2150 Ex 311

References:

Ciccoritti A. et al., Journal of Cereal Science, 57(2): 200-206

Dinelli G. et al., J Chromatogr A. 2009 Oct 23;1216(43): 7229-40

Dinelli G. et al., Journal of Chromatography A, 1218 (2011) 7670 7681

Dinu M. et al., The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 52 (2018) 19

Dinu M. et al., Journal of the American College of Nutrition, accepted for publication

Fan M.S. et al., J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2008;22(4):315-24.

De Lorgeril M. et al., Int J Food Sci Nutr, 2014; 65(5): 577581

Sofi F. et al., J Med Food 13 (3) 2010, 16

Sofi F. et al., European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2013 Feb;67(2): 190-5

Van den Broeck HC et al., Theor Appl Genet. 2010 Nov;121(8): 1527-39

Whittaker A. et al., Nutrients 2015, May 11;7(5): 3401

Whittaker A. et al., European Journal of Nutrition, 2017 Apr;56(3): 1191-1200

Zevallos et al., Gastroenterology 2017 Apr;152(5): 1100-1113

About Bob Quinn

Bob Quinn passionately promotes organic and sustainable agriculture, locally produced food and fuel as well as promoting the idea that food should be our medicine and medicine should be our food. He also promotes food production systems based on producing high nutrition and quality rather than high yields. For Bob Quinn, experimenting with crops has always been the most enjoyable part of farming. He earned a PhD from the University of California in 1976 and studied to be a plant scientist. Academically, his first love is growing plants and his whole farm is his laboratory. His love of the land continues to fuel his desire to change the agricultural landscape of Americaone grain at a time.
The Angel Capital Association (ACA), the world's largest professional organization for accredited investors, will host investors from around the world at its 2018 ACA Summit, April 18 - 20 at the Westin Copley Place, Boston. The 2018 ACA Summit, Charting a Course in a Changing Market, will focus on impact investing, disruptive technologies (artificial Intelligence, blockchain, Internet of Things, and cyber security), the changing face of angels, positive ways for investors to address unconscious bias and more.

American angel investors pump an estimated $25 Billion into more than 70,000 startups across the country every year. In turn, these innovative startups create the most net new jobs in our economy and distribute new products and services that make a difference in people's lives.

Angel investors enjoy sharing their expertise with other angels to grow the professionalism of our field and to develop the relationships and trust to invest together in great startups, said Marianne Hudson, executive director, Angel Capital Association. The ACA Summit is the ideal place for savvy investors to share ideas, get gold standard education, and keep up with important trends in early-stage investing.

Sponsored this year by deep tech investing platform Propel(x), the ACA Summit is the largest professional development event for angel investors. More than 700 ACA members, accredited investors, and startup ecosystem professionals from around the world are expected to attend to network, share smart practices in angel investing, and discuss top issues and trends.

Keynote speakers include:

 Joanne Wilson, angel investor, blogger and Gotham Gal Ventures;

 Terry Jones, Founder, Travelocity, and Founding Chairman, kayak.com;

 Tom Croswell, President and CEO, Tufts Health Plan on the power of diversity to grow profits and returns;

 Jeff Mortimer, Director of Investment Strategy, BNY Mellon;

 Dana Kanze, Columbia University author of studies on diversity, gender bias, and disruptive forces in the market, including Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs  and It Affects How Much Funding They Get.

Unique Investor Opportunities Added to Summit

New this year, premier sponsor Propel(x) is hosting Propel(Live) -- a weeklong investor program where angels can explore opportunities in three cutting-edge companies, meet founders, and invest without any transaction fees or carry. The investor program will run from April 13 - 20, ending on the last day of the Summit. During the Summit, participating startups will present live to angel investors. Additionally, the Summit will stream presentations live to members unable to attend in person.

About the Angel Capital Association (ACA)

ACA is the professional association of angel investors across North America and offers education, best practices, public policy advocacy, and significant benefits and resources to its membership of more than 13,000 accredited investors, who invest individually or through its 250 angel groups, accredited platforms, and family offices. For more information, visit: http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org or at @ACAAngelCapital; #ACAAngelSummit.

About Propel(x)

Propel(x) is an online investment platform capitalizing deep technology. Propel(x) connects investors to industry experts and deep tech startups. Startups featured on the platform are pioneering innovations such as new forms of clean energy, life-saving treatments, new methods of space exploration, and artificial intelligence, amongst others. As the premier platform for deep tech innovation, Propel(x) seeks to change the world by building the next generation of great companies.
Edward Buckingham, MD, a renowned facial plastic surgeon at Buckingham Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in Austin, TX, has developed an exciting new application for the popular hyaluronic acid filler, Juvederm Voluma XC, by using the product to fill in infraorbital hollows. Dr. Buckingham was interviewed about this new technique by Steven Dayan, MD, another renowned facial plastic surgeon from the University of Illinois at Chicago on Monday, March 12, 2018. Dr. Buckingham discussed his findings gained from more than a year of working with patients to develop this exciting new minimally invasive treatment.

Juvederm Voluma XC, a long-lasting hyaluronic acid filler, is typically used to rejuvenate and restore lost facial volume in the cheeks and midface. From February 2016 to March 2017, Dr. Buckingham and his associate Michael B. Hall, MD, worked with 101 patients to determine the effectiveness of Voluma specifically in filling infraorbital (under-eye) hollows, another common aesthetic concern. After treatment, follow-up assessment took place after approximately 12 months. Very few side effects were noted, and only 18% of patients needed a touchup procedure after one month. Dr. Buckinghams findings were very encouraging, obtaining high overall satisfaction rates from two different validated, patient centric surveys. Patients who underwent this treatment achieved a smoother, more youthful under-eye appearance. It is attributed to Volumas greater stability and longer in vivo duration relative to other Juvederm productions that makes it ideal for volumizing the infraorbital region.

Dr. Edward Buckingham is well-known in the Austin area for his expertise in facial plastic surgery and anti-aging treatments, with his standard for excellence dating back to his training and education. After completing his pre-med undergraduate coursework with a 4.0 GPA, Dr. Buckingham attended the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston to complete his medical degree in the top 2% of his class. During this time, he served as vice-president, and subsequently president, of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Since then, Dr. Buckingham has won several prestigious awards and scholarships, including the Donald Duncan Memorial Scholarship in Anatomy. He insists on maintaining these high standards for his patients to this day, and regularly shares his expertise in medical publications and through presentations at national meetings.

Buckingham Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in Austin, TX, is a leading facial plastic surgery clinic, offering a wide range of surgical and non-surgical treatments. The practice boasts experienced surgeons and staff, and patients can work toward their aesthetic goals with procedures like an endoscopic brow lift, limited incision facelift, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, hyaluronic acid fillers, Botox, laser skin resurfacing, and many other options.

For more information about Dr. Buckingham and Juvederm Voluma XC for infraorbital hollows, contact Buckingham Center for Facial Plastic Surgery in Austin, TX, at 512-401-2500. Prospective patients can also visit Dr. Buckinghams website at https://www.buckinghamfacialplastics.com to schedule a consultation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a press conference after their talks in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China advocates the Korean Peninsula should be denuclearized and a peace mechanism established, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Thursday.

All sides should work toward denuclearization on the peninsula as it is the key to all related problems and the path to long-term peace and stability, Wang told a news conference following his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is closely connected to the security threat facing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for a long time, said Wang, who is visiting Russia as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It is absolutely reasonable and obligatory to address the DPRK's security concerns during the process of denuclearization, Wang said.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should be dealt with stage by stage with concerted efforts from all parties to seek a package of solutions, the top Chinese diplomat said.

Against the backdrop that the DPRK and the United States lack basic mutual trust, relevant parties should promote the peace process step by step and meet each other half way with the precondition of denuclearization, he said.

At different stages, relevant parties should take responsibilities and obligations accordingly so that the peace process will proceed in a sustainable manner and negotiations will not be interrupted, Wang said.

Wang said peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula are in the interest of China and Russia, which have made unremitting efforts together in recent years for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue, including creating a feasible roadmap.

He said China and Russia welcome and support the notable improvement in the situation on the peninsula and appreciate the efforts made by relevant parties, including the DPRK and South Korea.

China and Russia hope that relevant parties could grasp the opportunities of the DPRK-South Korea summit and the DPRK-U.S. summit to completely defuse the tensions on the peninsula to avert a war or chaos, Wang said.

He said China and Russia will continue to strengthen coordination and keep in touch with other stakeholders in the issue to jointly cement the hard-won momentum of negotiations and secure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.
Michelmans functional coatings produce a multitude of barrier and functional properties that are critical to product protection and brand packaging.

Michelman will introduce PaperCon 2018 attendees to its proven line of waterborne and environmentally responsible functional coating solutions. Their variety of compostable, recyclable and renewable coatings help brand owners increase sustainable practices that reduce waste and utilize fewer raw materials.

Attendees to the exhibition can also discuss how Michelmans collaborative approach with the entire packaging value chain, including paper mills, converters and brand owners, accelerates the concept-to-commercialization cycle. Their innovations produce better and more sustainable packaging with improved product, print receptivity, digital printing, and heat seal protections.

Michelmans functional coatings produce a multitude of barrier and functional properties that are critical to product protection and brand packaging. Michelmans well-known brands, including Michem Coat 525, VaporCoat 2200R and Hydraban 430 will be featured at the show. These and other leading Michelman solutions are used as barriers to oxygen and oil migration, and for grease, oil, water, moisture and stain resistance.

Michem Coat 525 is used primarily for its robust grease and oil resistant properties, as well as its water resistance, release, cold and hot melt gluability, and compliance with specific food contact regulations.

VaporCoat 2200R provides water and grease resistance and excellent MVTR properties on kraft liner and other substrates. When properly applied over a base coat, this repulpable coating is recommended as a replacement for some curtain coating applications, poly-laminated board and plastic bags.

Hydraban 430 is a waterborne dilutable coating that provides good water beading and water repellence to paper substrates and is cold set gluable with most adhesives.

These and many other solutions can be discussed at Michelmans booth #924. The event is being held April 15-18, 2018 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Michelman

Michelman is a global developer and manufacturer of environmentally friendly advanced materials for industry, offering solutions for the coatings, printing & packaging and industrial manufacturing markets. The companys surface additives and polymeric binders are used by leading manufacturers around the world to enhance performance attributes and add value in applications including wood and floor care products, metal and industrial coatings, paints, varnishes, inks, fibers and composites. Michelman is also well-known as an innovator in the development of barrier and functional coatings, as well as digital printing press primers that are used in the production of consumer and industrial packaging and paper products, labels, and commercially printed materials. Michelman serves its customers with production facilities in North America, Europe and Asia, product development and technical service centers in several major global markets, and a worldwide team of highly trained business development personnel.
ODU, a worldwide leader in designing and manufacturing high-performance connector solutions and cable assemblies is promoting its rectangular lever-locking connectors.

The ODU-MAC Blue-Line is a modular rectangular connector featuring a lever locking option with the ability to house a wide variety of interchangeable modules. Available also with spindle locking option, the modular connector system with plastic housing is ideal for manual mating applications where its 10,000 mating cycles and high packing density are vital.

Wide variety of transmission modules include: signal, power, high current coax, compressed air, high-speed data transmission, fiber optic and PCB termination.

The ODU-MAC Blue-Line provides a flexible solution combining the most varied types of transmissions within a single connector.

Ideal for a wide range of applications requiring custom configurations including: medical, test & measurement, and industrial.

For more product information and 3D CAD models, visit http://www.odu-usa.com. For configuration support, contact us directly at (805) 484-0540.

ODU Group: Global Representation with Perfect Connections

The ODU Group is one of the worlds leading suppliers of connector systems, employing 1,900 people around the world. In addition to its company headquarters in Muhldorf am Inn (Germany), ODU also has an international distribution network and production sites in Sibiu/Romania, Camarillo/USA, Shanghai/China and Tijuana/Mexico. ODU combines all relevant areas of expertise and key technologies including design and development, machine tooling and special machine construction, injection, stamping, turning, surface technology, assembly and cable assembly. The ODU Group sells its products globally through its nine subsidiaries in Denmark, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the US, China and Japan, as well as through numerous international sales partners. ODU connectors ensure a reliable transmission of power, signals, data and media for a variety of demanding applications including medical technology, military and security, eMobility, energy, industrial electronics, and test and measurement.
HealthSearch Partners We have the unusual opportunity to access candidates who are off-limits to many large firms due to their wide range of clients and placements, enabling us to be even more selective when finding the right leader. Barry Cesafsky, Board Vice Chair, HealthSearch Partners

Leaders from three pioneering executive search firms have joined forces to launch a new search platform, HealthSearch Partners, specializing in identifying and placing transformational, mission-minded CEOs and senior leaders in healthcare systems. The team will capitalize on the benefits of its collective experience as well as its unique agility to bring focused attention to clients looking for leaders who embody their mission and can execute it well.

Health system boards now have an even better option than the customary Big Four search firms, says Keith Southerland, Board Chair, HealthSearch Partners. Our experience gives us the unique ability to consistently identify the transformational leader mission-minded healthcare organizations need.

We have the unusual opportunity to access candidates who are off-limits to many large firms due to their wide range of clients and placements, enabling us to be even more selective when finding the right leader, adds Barry Cesafsky, Board Vice Chair, HealthSearch Partners.

HealthSearch Partners combines the leadership of three successful search firmsOak Brook, Illinois-based CES Executive Search and Dallas-based firms FaithSearch Partners and Southerland Partnersincluding Southerland, Cesafsky, Ed Fry, Neill Marshall, Laura A. Conley, and Ivan Bartolome. Collectively, the principals have managed more than 500 healthcare CEO searches.

What sets us apart is that we have the level of experience and expertise of a large firm, but the speed, creativity and access of a small firm, says Ed Fry, President and CEO, HealthSearch Partners. Our clients arent passed on to a junior consultant after they sign. They work with senior consultants every step of the waypeople who have 20 to 30 years of experience, have seen it before and can lead a search confidently.

About HealthSearch Partners

HealthSearch Partners is a team of executive search veterans committed to serving healthcare system boards, CEOs and senior executives who challenge the status quo and put mission into action. We are dedicated to bringing our years of experience, coupled with fresh research and modern tools of the trade, to manage senior level executive search with the excellence our clients expect. We work hard to truly understand all of our clients' needs, walking with them each step of the way to deliver the leader who will transform their organization into an era defined by mission-come-to-life, leaving a legacy of a community impacted for the better. For more information, visit healthsearchpartners.com.

For media inquiries:

Ed Fry

edfry@healthsearchpartners.com
Grant Road Dental has partnered with the Smiles for Everyone Foundation to open its Mountain View, CA office to provide free dental implants on May 20 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for underinsured, low-income individuals.

Millions of people in the United States and around the world are unable to get the basic dental care they need. Receiving extensive care, such as dental implants, is an even harder service to obtain. Dr. Bob Rutner at Grant Road Dental recognized this need in his community and wanted to do something about it.

This is a great opportunity to give back to the people in my community, he says. Our goal for this event is to deliver as many Smiles as we can, and give people back the confidence they have been missing due to their dental concerns.

A limited number of appointments are available. Pre-screening to determine needs and eligibility is required. To schedule a pre-screening appointment, please call (650) 938-8127.

About Grant Road Dental

Owned by Bob Rutner, Grant Road Dental was established in 2001. Dr. Rutner grew up in Los Altos and has been practicing in the Bay Area since 1985. He has been a pioneer in dental marketing and group practice management. He assisted in the development of Invisalign including international training and expansion into Asia and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.grantroaddental.com. You can also follow Grant Road Dental on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube.

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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:

Grant Road Dental

Thomas Rutner

Thomas.Rutner@smilebrands.com

650.938.8127

Smiles for Everyone Foundation

Crystal Strait

crystal.strait@smilesforeveryone.org

714.824.5037
We strive every day to provide a workplace that our employees value and where they can be their best. - Amy French, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at OEC

OEConnection LLC (OEC), a leading technology employer in Northeast Ohio, was honored last night by Smart Business and Alliance Solutions Group as a recipient of the 2018 Smart Culture Award. OEC was nominated for the honor by Arthur J Gallagher Company, a company with which OEC has worked for employee benefits plans.

The 2018 Smart Culture Conference, held at the Intercontinental in Cleveland on April 5, recognized organizations that have developed a culture that bolsters productivity, enhances job satisfaction and creates a competitive advantage in the marketplace. OEC was among 20 companies chosen for this distinction.

In the past year, OEC created a culture committee comprised of employees who help to generate ideas and execute various activities throughout the year. Additional activities that OEC has offered for numerous years range from health and wellness challenges, to offering a shared urban farming plot on-site, to various opportunities to volunteer with area non-profits  including a dedicated afternoon known as Community Connection Day where the entire company donates their time to various local charities.

In addition, OEC recently completed a building expansion with space designed to enhance the overall employee experience, including an extensive workout facility, a comfortable lounge area known as the Break Pad which includes pool and foosball tables, and an on-site cafe, which already offers breakfast and lunch, expanded their offerings to include ice cream, milkshakes and smoothies.

We have worked quite purposely to develop and enhance OECs company culture so its a true honor to be recognized in this way by the community, said Amy French, Executive Vice President of Human Resources for OEC. A company culture that resonates with its employees is directly tied to strong overall employee engagement, which in turn helps drive business outcomes. We strive every day to provide a workplace that our employees value and where they can be their best.

OEC has demonstrated what it means to be a destination employer, said Michelle Babich, Senior Account Manager at Gallagher. They provide a well-rounded total rewards package that provides flexibility for its employees and their families. But its not just about the building or employee perks  its the way the people at OEC treat one another, the way they treat their customers, visitors, and the community.

OEC congratulates all Smart Culture Award recipients.

###

About OEC

OEConnection (OEC) is the leading automotive technology provider for OEM distribution networks, enabling automakers and dealerships around the world to deliver parts and service information quickly and accurately into the hands of repairers in collision, fleet, mechanical and retail segments, as well as their own service lanes, through a suite of parts cataloging, supply chain, pricing, ecommerce, service and business intelligence solutions. OEC serves nearly 50 international auto brands and fleet companies, and more than 150,000 dealership and repair customers worldwide. OEC is headquartered in the greater Cleveland area at 4205 Highlander Parkway, Richfield, Ohio, USA, 44286. Additional information is available at http://www.oeconnection.com or by emailing Kathy Jambor at Kathy.Jambor@oeconnection.com.
Representatives with Chicago-based Timely & Timeless announced today that it will attend High Point Market Trade Show in April.

The event, which will be held April 14-18, is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, attracts more than 75,000 people to High Point, North Carolina, every six months. Retail home furnishings buyers, interior designers, architects, and others in the home furnishings industry can be found in High Point twice a year because it is believed by industry experts that if you cant find it in High Point, it probably doesnt exist.

Were excited to be in attendance as a buyer, said Paulina Hubli, spokesperson for Timely & Timeless, an authorized dealer of Franz Hermle, maker of the world's most beautiful clocks. This is not only the largest home furnishing trade show, but it is one of the best to attend.

Hubli went on to note that Timely & Timeless has done exceptionally well in the high-end clock market with an established loyal, demanding, connoisseur clientele, including clock collectors.

Although we intend to keep our inventory small and exclusive, we are still going to be looking for suppliers of clocks and potentially other timeless home accents to satisfy our customer demand, Hubli said, before adding, During the event, Timely & Timeless will be trying to find another unique line of products so that collections we represent will complement each other.

Hubli added that the company, which is a recent recipient of the prestigious 5-star excellence award, is looking forward to attending this years event, which features 11.5 million square-feet of shows space with more than 2,000 exhibitors from 100 plus countries.

For more information, please visit https://timelyandtimeless.com/blog and https://timelyandtimeless.com/about-us

About Timely & Timeless Exquisite Clocks Emporium

As an authorized dealer of Hermle, maker of the world's most exquisite clocks, expectations are high that we will provide exceptional customer service, merchandise expertise, and an unwavering focus on customer satisfaction. We strive to continuously meet and exceed those expectations. We take great pride in our reputation for excellence. And we know that our reputation is on the line each and every time we talk to a customer or sell a new Franz Hermle clock. We are also privileged to share in so many special moments in our customers' lives, including milestone occasions like weddings, anniversaries and retirements.

Media Contact:

Paulina Hubli

Timely & Timeless Exquisite Clocks Emporium

6650 N. Northwest Hwy, Suite 213

Chicago, IL 60631 USA

Phone: 1-800-390-4067

Source: Timely & Timeless

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Cybereason, creators of the leading cybersecurity data analytics platform including endpoint detection and response, next-generation antivirus, and active monitoring services announced today that Lital Asher-Dotan, senior director of research and content, will join one of the only three all-women panel presentations at RSA 2018.

The panel, titled The Untold Story of 8200: A Launching Point for Women in Cybersecurity, will detail the experiences of women from the Israeli Armys Unit 8200, a unit many have called the foremost technical intelligence agency in the world. The women will shed light on their Army careers and how their training influenced their professional careers as both women and leaders.

In addition, five other Cybereason executives are taking the stage at the RSA 2018 and associated events. The experts will lead discussions on a variety of hot topics such as GDPR, cybersecurity innovation, machine learning and security strategy.

The full lineup, in order of appearance:

WHO: Israel Barak, Chief Information Security Officer

WHEN: April 16, 11:05 am - 11:20 am

WHAT: Panel Discussion: GDPR

WHERE: Four Seasons Hotel

https://www.cyberscoop.com/events/sf-cyberweek/schedule/#schedule

WHO: Mike Volpe, Chief Marketing Officer

WHEN: April 16, 10:30 am - 11:40 am

WHAT: Seminar Panel Discussion: How to Rise Above the Noise (Session Code: SEM-M05)

WHERE: Marriott Marquis Hotel, Golden Gate A

WHO: Lital Asher Dotan, Senior Director, Research and Content

WHEN: April 17, 1:00pm PST

WHAT: Panel Discussion: The Untold Story of 8200: A Launching Point for Women in Cybersecurity (Session Code: PROF-T07)

WHERE: Moscone Convention Center, West Hall, Room 2008

WHO: Mike Volpe, Chief Marketing Officer

WHEN: Wednesday, April 18, 7:00-7:45 am

WHAT: Session: Marketing in the Security Industry - An open discussion about the challenges and pitfalls of marketing in an industry over-crowded with vendors and where buyers are hard to reach and skeptical.

WHERE: Marriott Hotel, 780 Mission Street

WHO: Sam Curry, Chief Security Officer & David Berliner, Senior Manager, Research, Cybereason

WHEN: April 20, 11:30am PST

WHAT: Classroom Presentation: Mirror Chess: Why Mature, Predictable Security Is a Disaster (Session Code: MLN-F03)

Cybereason is also hosting a Happy Hour Tuesday, April 17, 4:30-7:30 pm at San Franciscos only organic brewery ThirstyBear. To register, visit: Cybereason RSA Happy Hour webpage.

Cybereason will be exhibiting at booth S1239. To schedule a media or industry analyst interview contact Bill Keeler at: bill.keeler(at)cybereason(dot)com or 929 259-3261

About Cybereason

Cybereason, creators of the leading cybersecurity data analytics platform, gives the advantage back to the defender through a completely new approach to cybersecurity. Cybereason offers endpoint detection and response (EDR), next-generation antivirus (NGAV), and active monitoring services, all powered by its proprietary data analytics platform. The Cybereason suite of products provides unmatched visibility, increases analyst efficiency and effectiveness, and reduces security risk. Cybereason is privately held, having raised $189 million from top-tier VCs, and is headquartered in Boston, with offices in London, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/

Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Media Contact

Bill Keeler

Director, Public Relations

Cybereason

bill.keeler(at)cybereason(dot)com

(929) 259-3261
Give Students a Hand We recognize the value of having entrepreneurs working alongside us to sustain and grow the MVCC and Upstate New York region.

Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) has formed a strategic partnership with The Affordable College Public Benefit Corporation (Affordable College) to help more students afford and attain a high-quality degree, certificate, or credential. The partnership brings the leadership team from MVCC into a network of leaders from other Upstate New York institutions to collaborate on the new community college success platform alongside the entrepreneurial team at Affordable College. At launch, the partnership will emphasize helping more students enroll more successfully at MVCC and helping more students transfer more successfully to 4-Year Colleges and Universities from MVCC.

4-Year Colleges and Universities throughout Upstate NY have been collaborating on the new platform to address the challenges community college students face in pursuit of a bachelors degree. MVCC joins the collaboration to further the improvement of the Transfer Marketplace to the benefit of current and future MVCC students. The Transfer Marketplace is a key feature in the Affordable College platform designed to help students find the transfer friendly 4-Year College or University with the right degree program.

Through the partnership, Mohawk Valley Community College President Randall VanWagoner, Ph.D., continues his support of entrepreneurial activity in the region. Collaborating with Affordable College adds entrepreneurial energy at MVCC helping us reach more prospective MVCC students and then helping more of those students succeed. We recognize the value of having entrepreneurs working alongside us to sustain and grow the MVCC and Upstate New York region.

Affordable College Founder, Sean OBrien, said, Students should expect outsized returns from their investment in higher education, the kind of returns Mohawk Valley Community College provides because of its quality and affordability. Were investing in MVCC because we believe in Dr. Wagoners commitment to entrepreneurial approaches to problem solving that benefit his students and community. We believe our collective efforts will support both the college completion and economic development goals for MVCC and the region over the next decade and beyond.

About The Affordable College Public Benefit Corporation

The Affordable College Public Benefit Corporation is a B Corp founded to help more students afford and attain a high-quality degree, certificate or credential through its community college success platform. Its Community College Success Fund provides financial support for community colleges to increase readiness, enrollment, retention, and transfer. For more information, visit http://affordablecollege.org.

About Mohawk Valley Community College

Established in 1946 to help train and educate veterans returning from World War II, Mohawk Valley Community College has evolved to become New York States first community college, the largest college between Syracuse and Albany, and the regions primary provider of college education and non-credit training. The College, which spans two campuses  one in Utica and another in Rome  offers more than 90 program options for its 7,000 students. MVCC also serves more than 6,000 people through its corporate and community education programs, and its campuses welcome more than 50,000 people annually for community events. Learn more about whats happening on campus at https://www.mvcc.edu/news-releases
Mike Stoner (Cruise America) and George Lutz (Run for the Fallen) Cruise America is honored to be part of such a powerful display of appreciation to our service men and women, said Cruise America Vice President Mike Stoner.

Cruise America, the nations largest RV rental firm, has partnered with Run for the Fallen, a relay event that will span more than 6,000 miles across the United States to honor military service men and women who have lost their lives in the War on Terror. The Arizona-based RV rental company donated the use of two RVs that will carry volunteers and staff across the country as they aid runners on the route for nearly four months. One RV has been wrapped in a custom design donated by Splinter Creative that features all 20,000 names of the fallen heroes that will be recognized throughout the run.

Cruise America is honored to be part of such a powerful display of appreciation to our service men and women, said Cruise America Vice President Mike Stoner. We have been a proud supporter of Run for the Fallen for the past few years and knew we wanted to contribute to their national tour this year.

The 6,100-mile trek kicks off on Saturday, April 7 at Fort Irwin in California and is scheduled to end August 5 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Run for the Fallen and will honor the service men and women from all branches of the U.S. military who have lost their lives in active duty or as a result of active duty since the War on Terror began. Every mile, the relay team will stop at a pre-staked Hero Marker with an American flag and read aloud a short tribute to those fallen men and women. The event will bring runners from all over the country together to cross 19 U.S. states in 120 days.

Words cannot adequately describe the appreciation we feel towards our generous supporters, said Run for the Fallen Founder and Executive Director George Lutz. Cruise America plays an instrumental role in making this years event possible and will touch the lives of tens of thousands of people across the nation as we pay tribute to our countrys fallen heroes.

Run for the Fallen is organized in partnership with Honor and Remember, a nonprofit group dedicated to honoring the men and women of the U.S. military who have lost their lives in service to their country. For more information about the Run for the Fallen, visit RunForTheFallen.org. For more information about Cruise America, visit CruiseAmerica.com.

About Cruise America

Founded in 1972, Cruise America RV Rentals & Sales has been delivering RV vacations to families and individuals for more than 45 years. Through the creation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 2014, Cruise America gave the wheel to its extended family and is now proud to be 100% employee owned. Today the Cruise America brand is one of the most recognized brands in the U.S. and with its subsidiary, Cruise Canada, operates 129 locations across North America. The recognized leader in RV vacation rentals, Cruise America attracts vacationers from around the world and over the years Cruise America vacationers have enjoyed millions of camping nights and billions of miles behind the wheel. For more information about Cruise America, visit http://www.CruiseAmerica.com or call 800-671-8042.

About Run for the Fallen

Jon Bellona, inspired after the death of his college roommate and friend 1LT Michael Cleary in Iraq, created a national run of remembrance. Beginning Flag Day, June 14, 2008, a dedicated team of runners ran across America from Fort Irwin, CA to Arlington National Cemetery, one mile for every member of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Each year since the run across America, runners from around the world have joined Run for the Fallen in remembering our fallen heroes. Over 180,000 miles have been collectively run in remembrance of those fallen in those recent operations. http://www.runforthefallen.org

About Honor and Remember

After the death of his eldest son Tony in Iraq, Gold Star father George Lutz recognized the need to educate the nation on the precious cost of freedom. His mission became raising awareness about the sacrifice made by military men and women who died for their country through the creation and establishment of a distinct and tangible symbol of remembrance. The Honor and Remember Flag was unveiled nationally on Memorial Day 2008 to perpetually recognize the sacrifice of our fallen military heroes and their families. The flag is now being embraced by veteran and service organizations, businesses and patriots and endorsed by legislation in cities and states as their official symbol. Additionally, it is being flown by thousands of Americans across our nation, becoming a nationally accepted symbol of remembrance. You can learn more and sign the petition to support this campaign by visiting http://www.honorandremember.org

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Media Contact | Brooke Benavides | bbenavides@bigyam.com | 480-410-6075
LOS ANGELES, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The United States Air Force (USAF) Thursday mourned Thunderbirds pilot Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, who was killed in a crash Wednesday in the state of Nevada.

"The Thunderbirds are more than the Air Force's demonstration team -- to us, they're family. As we mourn the loss of our Airman, our hearts are with the pilot's family, friends and Wingmen," the Air Force tweeted Thursday morning.

According to the USAF, Del Bagno, a first-year Thunderbird pilot, crashed with his F-16 Falcon during a "routine aerial demonstration training flight" at Nellis Air Force Base just outside of Las Vegas, 376 kilometers east of Los Angeles at approximately 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Nellis Air Force Base is Thunderbirds' headquarters. The team is investigating the fatal accident.

The accident came just a few days before the team was scheduled to perform at the March Field Air & Space Expo at March Air Reserve Base in California, which has been canceled in light of the tragedy.

Del Bagno grew in California before graduated from Utah Valley State University in 2005 and was commissioned as an officer two years later. He has logged more than 3,500 flight hours, with 1,400 of those as an Air Force pilot.

Thunderbirds, the air demonstration squadron of the USAF, have 12 members. The squadron was created in 1953 and assigned to the 57th Wing.
Norwich University has renewed its strategic partnership with The Affordable College Public Benefit Corporation to help more students afford and attain a high-quality degree, certificate, or credential. The renewal of the partnership advances the collaboration between the transfer-friendly leadership team from Norwich and the entrepreneurial talent from Affordable College alongside a network of other entrepreneurial higher education leaders. The partnership will continue to emphasize helping more students transfer with more credits, earning a degree in less time for less money.

The partnership between Affordable College and Norwich University has also expanded its reach into more community colleges in Upstate NY such as Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica. Student demand for access to the Affordable College Transfer Marketplace has driven the partners to invest further in community college success efforts.

Vice President and Dean of the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Norwich University, Dr. William Clements stated, Norwich Universitys College of Graduate and Continuing Studies is proud to work with Affordable College to shape the advancement of students academically, professionally and personally. Affordable College offers streamlined management of the inquiry to matriculation process on behalf of the student and institutions, which impact the transfer student and overall transfer market.

Affordable College Founder, Sean OBrien said, We are delighted that Norwich University has renewed its commitment to our cause. Like other transfer-friendly universities in our network, Norwich understands that community colleges are a strategic source of proven learners, and that simplified and successful transfer admissions leads to higher completion rates.

About The Affordable College Public Benefit Corporation

The Affordable College Public Benefit Corporation is a B Corp founded to help more students afford and attain a high-quality degree, certificate or credential through its community college success platform that brings together community colleges and universities in a transfer marketplace. The community college success platform also increases readiness, enrollment, retention and transfer at community colleges. The Public Benefit Corporation also provides financial support for community colleges through the Community College Success Fund. For more information, visit http://affordablecollege.org.

About Norwich University

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States. Norwich is one of our nations six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).

Norwich Universitys College of Graduate and Continuing Studies (CGCS) builds upon the institutions 198-year academic heritage with innovative online programs. CGCS offers masters degrees in a variety of areas; bachelors degree completion programs; graduate certificates and continuing education opportunities. The programs are recognized throughout the industry for their rigor, small class size, high student satisfaction and retention. online.norwich.edu
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President Donald Trump has notched three notable foreign policy successes amid the acrimony of his first year in office, according to Ian Bremmer, president of geopolitical-risk firm Eurasia Group.

The wins hit three major hotspots  South Korea, North Korea, and Syria  but, as Bremmer explains, each comes with its own risks.

Most recently, at the end of March, senior US officials detailed the agreement reached with South Korea in principle to revise a trade deal first implemented in 2012.

Trump had slammed the previous deal as "horrible" and a "job killer," and US officials heralded the revision as "visionary and innovative."

With the new arrangement, US automakers can send up to 50,000 cars that meet US safety standards to South Korea, up from 25,000. Any cars beyond the new threshold will have to meet South Korean safety standards, which US companies say put them at a disadvantage. (No US carmaker sold more than 11,000 vehicles in South Korea in 2017.)

The revised deal also limits South Korean steel exports to the US and includes a provision preventing either country from weakening its currency to make its exports cheaper, though the latter provision lacks an enforcement mechanism.

Even with those stipulations, Bremmer said, "t

Those talks are likely to happen in May, but before the sides even sit down, their prospects look dim.

Both sides have expressed interest in denuclearization. Trump has mused about it, criticizing the South Koreans for not paying the US to defend them and suggesting allies in the region develop their own nuclear deterrents. But Kim Jong Un has always mentioned denuclearization in the context of the whole peninsula, ridding it of US forces.

"To be clear, what the Americans say they want and what the North Koreans are prepared to deliver is unbridgeable," Bremmer wrote. The Trump administration's approach to proliferation elsewhere in Asia also looms over talks with Pyongyang.

"After all, if the Trump administration now rips up the terms of the Iran nuclear deal, right after it was negotiated and signed by the Obama administration  unilaterally deciding they don't like it so they're leaving  what would stop the Americans from doing the same to North Korea?" Bremmer added.

Similar peril exists in Trump's approach to Syria. Assad and his allies appear to have gained the advantage after seven years of brutal civil war. His removal looks unlikely, as Russia and Iran wield more influence, Bremmer said.
President Donald Trump on Thursday night threatened another escalation in a rapidly escalating trade battle with China, which then vowed to retaliate.

The developments jolted global markets. The Dow Jones industrial index dropped more than 700 points at one point Friday afternoon. It ended the day about 570 points down. Industrial stocks like Caterpillar and Boeing were among the Dow's hardest hit, with shares of both companies declining more than 3%.

The White House said in a statement Thursday night that Trump was considering new tariffs on $100 billion worth of annual imports from China. That follows the Office of the US Trade Representative's announcement earlier this week of plans for tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese products.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products under which to impose such tariffs," Trump's statement said.

Responding on Friday, China's ministry of commerce said it would immediately retaliate if the "arrogant" US imposed the sanctions. It said the country would not rule out any options.

On Tuesday, the US trade representative announced a list of roughly 1,300 Chinese goods worth $50 billion annually that would be subject to new US tariffs, which function as taxes on imports. The US also previously announced tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.

China responded to this week's plans by announcing tariffs on $50 billion worth of American goods, including soybeans, the largest agricultural export to China from the US.

The tariffs would have consequences for a wide swath of American consumers and businesses.

The USTR has said the measures are retaliation for Chinese intellectual property theft. But they could also have serious consequences for businesses that use the goods from China  as well as consumers who buy those goods.

Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, sought to calm markets Friday afternoon at the White House, to little apparent avail. He said the US was not in a trade war with China.

What is a tariff?

Hans Mikkelsen, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist, said the new taxes would shift the supply and demand for the various affected goods.

"International Trade 101 analyses the partial equilibrium effects of a tariff as driving a wedge between demand and supply curves, whereby the price goes up and the quantity down," he said in a note to clients.

What does it mean for businesses?
People navigating to the popular classified advertising website Backpage.com on Friday afternoon were stopped by a notice informing them that the site "and all affiliated websites" had been seized by federal authorities.

The site is known for facilitating adult sex ads, and has recently been involved in a number of lawsuits, including one in which a minor alleged that the company edited the contents of a sex ad that her trafficker posted, in order to make her sound like an adult.

Authorities  including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, five other federal agencies, and four state agencies  involved in the case have not shared the exact reason for the seizure. The Department of Justice declined to comment beyond the information in the notice.

The seizure comes a little over a month after Congress passed a law creating stronger rules and penalties to prevent websites from facilitating sex trafficking. On March 23, Craiglist preemptively removed its personals section in fear of violating the law, which penalizes wrongdoers with a fine, up to 10 years in prison, or both.

Previously, these sites have been protected under the Communications Decency Act, which says that sites can't be held responsible for what its users publish on a site.
The sentencing of ex-President Park Geun-hye on Friday will be broadcast live against her wishes, the Seoul Central District Court decided on Tuesday.

On Monday Park replied to the court's request for her opinion in a written statement that she does not consent to the broadcast.

But a court spokesman said that it is in the public interest.

In July last year, the Supreme Court revised rules to permit live broadcasts of sentencing trials in lower courts with the approval of the defendants.

In cases of great public interest, a judge can override the defendant's refusal. The court did not allow the sentencing of Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong and Park's confidante Choi Soon-sil to be broadcast when both refused.


He described men who spend on women that they are not married to as fools, saying it is wrong to do such a thing.

The counselor, however, encouraged women who find themselves in such situations to take advantage of the men who decide to spend on then.

Speaking in an interview with an Accra-based TV station, Counselor Lutterodt said only married men must endeavor to invest in their women.

It is foolishness to invest in a woman you are not married to. But I will encourage the women to benefit from the men, he boldly proclaimed.

He further advised women never to marry poor men, insisting marriage is meant to be enjoyable.

According to him, every lady must look out for a man who has already made it in life in order have a sweet marriage.

When it comes to marriage decisions, do not joke with it because marriage is not easy. If you are a woman never marry a poor man but marry a rich man who has already made it in life, he added.
He enjoyed a career spanning several decades, producing both films and work for the small screen and his latest production, "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya", earned him an Academy nomination for best animated feature.

An adaptation of a popular tale from the 10th century -- considered one of the founding texts of Japanese literature -- the film was also selected for a slot in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar to the main Cannes film competition in 2014.

It also won rave reviews, with the New York Times in 2014 describing it as "exquisitely drawn with both watercolour delicacy and a brisk sense of line."

However, most consider Takahata's 1988 film "Grave of the Fireflies", a moving tale of two orphans during World War II, to be his best work.

In 2000, famed reviewer Roger Ebert wrote that the movie "belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made."

Friends and rivals

Born in 1935 in Mie prefecture in central Japan, his early life was marked with violence when US forces bombed his hometown in June 1945 as World War II was coming to a close.

In an interview with the Japan Times, he described fleeing with his sister barefoot and still in his pyjamas.

On his way back to the family house, he recalled seeing piles of bodies in the street. "We were lucky to get out alive," he told the newspaper.

Takahata started his career in animation at the Toei studio in 1959, where he eventually met long-term collaborator and rival Miyazaki.

With Miyazaki, he co-founded in 1985 the Japanese animation Studio Ghibli, which went on to produce several blockbusters.

With more complex and occasionally more violent plots than depicted in the average Disney cartoon film, these films have at times confused audiences outside Japan, who largely consider animation to be primarily for young children.

However, this has not stopped the films being lucrative box-office smashes.

Takahata and Miyazaki were often described as friends and rivals at the same time.

"We would never criticise each other face-to-face because it would just cause a fight. However, I know he has criticised my work," Takahata told the Japan Times.

Over a long and distinguished career, Takahata produced around 20 films, including "Only Yesterday" (1991) and "Pom Poko" (1994).

He also produced the Miyazaki-directed 1984 film "Kaze no Tani no Naushika" ("The Valley of the Wind"), a science fantasy adventure that describes the relationship between nature and human beings.

He is also well-known for animation series "Alps no Shojo Heidi" ("Heidi, Girl of the Alps") and "Lupin Sansei" ("Lupin the Third").

Perhaps inspired by his early trauma, he was an avid anti-war campaigner and in 2013 co-signed with around 250 other film celebrities a petition against a controversial state secrets law.

According to a statement from Studio Ghibli, he died in the early hours of Thursday in a Tokyo hospital after a battle with lung cancer.

"We pray that he rests in peace," the studio said, adding that he would be buried in a private ceremony attended by close family.

After studying French literature at university, Takahata enjoyed a long relationship with France and was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters honour in recognition of his work in 2015.
Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja from Anora, Cordoba in Spain lost his mother when he was three years old and the father also died shortly after.

He was then in the custody of another woman and had to become a sheepherder of a herd of about 300 sheep in the forest at age seven, when the main sheepherder died in 1954.

Born in 1946, Marcos Rodriguez Pantoja was rescued from the forest by Civil Guard when he turned 19 years.

READ MORE: Husband fights wife for refusing to use vibrator

Having lived with wolves for 12 years, the man became comfortable in the forest and his verbal communication changed to spoken words with animal-like grunts, according to odditycentral.com.

Man raised by wolves says life among humans is disappointing

The news portal reported that the animals taught him how to survive in the wild, which berries and mushrooms were safe to eat, and which were poisonous. He remembers sleeping in caves, among bats, snakes and deer, and running barefoot on rough terrain without a care in the world.

Marcos Rodriguez is quoted as saying: I only wrapped my feet up when they hurt because of the snow. I had such big calluses on my feet that kicking a rock was like kicking a ball.

Man raised by wolves says life among humans is disappointing

Reports suggest that he attempted going back to the wolves in the forest, but the animals could not recognize him due to his transformation over the years.

He said You can tell that they are right there, you hear them panting, it gives you goosebumps  but its not that easy to see them. There are wolves and if I call out to them they are going to respond, but they are not going to approach me. I smell like people, I wear cologne.
The Styre Troops Carrier Military truck with registration number 72- GA- 70 fell into a ditch when it skid off the road.

Confirming the story, the the Regional Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Victor Oduro Abrokwa, said all occupants of the truck, including the driver, sustained various degrees of injury and were rushed to the Volta Regional Hospital where three of them died on arrival.

Victor Abrokwa also said seven others who were in critical condition were airlifted to the 37 Military Hospital for further treatment a day after the incident, whiles the remaining five, including the driver, were treated and discharged at the Volta Regional Hospital.
He said Nana Addo is following the precedent set by his predecessor John Mahama by insulating himself from national issues.

In his address, Nana said: "How else would we have exposed the unspeakable hypocrisy of a fraternity of some frontline politicians who make a habit of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds who secretly wallow in the largesse of the United States of America while at the same time promote anti-American sentiment to a populist constituency."

Nana also allayed the fears of Ghanaians by saying, "So, let me state with the clearest affirmation that Ghana has not offered a military base and will not offer a military base to the USA. Indeed the USA has not made any request for such consideration and consisted with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request."
Mannaseh contends that the speech failed to address the main concerns Ghanaians raised.

President Nana Akufo-Addo yesterday addressed Ghanaians in a 16-minute pre-recorded video explaining the rationale behind his government's agreement with the US.

He said, ""We have a democracy that has become the beacon for good governance in Africa, a democracy that has survived for a quarter of a century and has encompassed even the most irresponsible epistles of ill-governance in a state of unity and stability."

He initially gave his assessment in Twi and emphasised it English on how poor the speech was.
Abu Jinapor said the President just needed to expose the barrage of lies being espoused by the National Democratic Congress since Ghana signed the agreement.

Jinapor said, "He [the president] is only outraged by the calibre of [persons] who are out there for the height of political opportunism just because of immediate political gain There is absolutely no sincerity in any submission or claim made by honourable Okudzeto and or the NDC, and that is exactly what the president has sought to expose."

President Akufo-Addo yesterday addressed Ghanaians in a 16-minute video on governments decision to sign the military deal with the US.

Nana Addo said, "Let us concentrate and spend our energies on working together to achieve that goal of a happy and prosperous Ghana, and reject the hypocrisy of the naysayers who led our country into bankruptcy and the worse economic record of modern Ghanaian history.

The address, which has been criticized by members of the opposition as un-Presidential and harsh had the President calling out the NDC as hypocrites because they signed similar agreements in the past.
The President touched on a number of issues, including launching scathing attack the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), who he described as hypocrites.

Despite gross outrage from a section of the public on the 2018 Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the US, the President insists the deal is good for Ghana.

In his address, Akufo-Addo said: Ghana has built a formidable reputation for its contribution to peace-keeping around the world. Although these peace-keeping operations have always been under the aegis of the United Nations, no one doubts the fact that they have been made possible by the contributions largely of the United States of America. The Co-operation Agreement, which has subsisted, which we have approved, can only enhance the global effort to preserve the peace in our region.

Read the full speech by the President below:

ADDRESS TO THE NATION, BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE US-GHANA MILITARY CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT, ON THURSDAY, 5TH APRIL, 2018.

Fellow Ghanaians, I have come into your homes this evening to talk about a matter that has generated a lot of heat in our country these past days.

Last week, at the height of the furore triggered by the US-Ghana Military Co-operation Agreement, a good friend of mine came to caution me on what he called the hazards of this democracy thing. He told me, just in case I needed reminding that my predecessor as President, who had also been democratically elected, had chosen to avoid any possible controversy by signing and keeping secret some agreements. So, why did I not follow this precedent, instead of exposing the nation to all the hazards of the past few days?

My friend, no doubt, had a point. Indeed, I acknowledge that there are many very well-meaning citizens who would have preferred the peaceful process of agreements reached behind closed doors, to the furore of the past few days. Yet, far from being daunted, I take what has happened not to be symptomatic of the hazards of democracy, but a show of the strength of democracy in action. We are seeing being displayed before our very eyes, not the triumph of disorder, but the value of openness in governance, and of the need, the crucial need, for the people to be fully and accurately informed.

You cannot claim to believe in democracy unless you have faith in the people, faith in their inherent goodness, faith in their capacity to make the right decisions, given the right information. It is this faith in the people that has shaped my entire political career, and it is this faith that propels me to lead an open and transparent government.

I was fully aware of how such agreements had been handled in earlier administrations, but I decided that, under my watch, any such agreements should be subject to the appropriate scrutiny of the peoples representatives in Parliament, in consonance with the requirements of accountable governance and the teachings of the Constitution. After all, you, the Ghanaian people, had voted massively for change; therefore, there was simply no way my government would ever keep hidden from you, the people, agreements of such a nature.I believe that the fall-out from this decision only shows the growing maturation of our democracy.

But for this decision to be open about this agreement, how else would we, the people of Ghana, have ever known that,for several decades, Ghana has had defence and security co-operation collaborations with the United States of America? How else would we have known that,in some instances, we have provided them with facilities for the movement of personnel and equipment to help some of our neighbours who were facing security and health challenges?

And how else would we have exposed the unspeakable hypocrisy of the fraternity of some frontline politicians, who make a habit of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, who secretly wallow in the largesse of the United States of America, whilst, at the same time, promote anti-American sentiments to a populist constituency? Submitting this Agreement to open scrutiny now allows us to clear the unhealthy fog that has clouded our relations with the United States of America.

The conduct of Ghanas foreign policy and its relations with the nations of the world has, happily, been, traditionally, above the passions of partisan politics. Allowing for the normal differences of approach, which will sometimes occur, our foreign policy has been consistently bi-partisan, and no successor government has found the need to tamper with any Agreement of a non-commercial nature, entered into by its predecessor. We respect the age-old norms of international diplomacy that, when a country has accorded concessions and privileges to another, these are not removed or altered by a successor government, unless, firstly, the conditions under which they were granted have been reversed; or, secondly, there is proven evidence of abuse.

My Government came to know that Ghana had entered into a Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America, in 1998, 2000, and under the government of my predecessor in 2015.We were satisfied that the conditions which necessitated the Agreement, namely the creeping threat to the peace of the region, had not disappeared. If anything, the threat had increased and, therefore, the need had arisen for continuing with our co-operation.

No suggestion had ever been made that the United States of America had abused any of the privileges or concessions granted under any of these agreements, and it would, thus, have been deemed an unfriendly act to attempt to deny them any concession granted them under those agreements.

Fellow Ghanaians, above everything else, the crux of the matter is this. Ghana has built a formidable reputation for its contribution to peace-keeping around the world. Although these peace-keeping operations have always been under the aegis of the United Nations, no one doubts the fact that they have been made possible by the contributions largely of the United States of America. The Co-operation Agreement, which has subsisted, which we have approved, can only enhance the global effort to preserve the peace in our region.

It is important also to state that the conditions of the Agreement mirror closely the conditions under which Ghana participates in peace-keeping operations under the United Nations. When our troops go on most peacekeeping duties, they do not carry their national passports, they carry their military identity.

Quite apart from how this Agreement involves the military as an institution, it is worth pointing out that, virtually since independence, Ghana has had very fruitful relations with a range of foreign embassies and major international institutions. These include the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, amongst others. All these agencies enjoy similar conditions as those which the Co-operation Agreement offers to the US military here.

No one has dared suggest that granting these foreign embassies and international institutions these concessions constitute an attack on the sovereignty of Ghana. Nor has anyone also felt that the concessions have in any way worked against the interests of Ghana. Indeed, I have no doubt that it would be the general consensus of all well-informed Ghanaians that this nation has benefitted significantly from the presence and activities of these institutions over the past decades.

It is clear to me that,if the people of Ghana knew the conditions under which foreign embassies and our friendly international institutions operate in Ghana, nobody would have been surprised that a Defence Cooperation Agreement would make such provisions.Such knowledge would have spared many citizens the genuine anxiety and concern they have felt about the Agreement. It is my firm belief that the case for openness and transparency in our governance has been clearly demonstrated, and the argument conclusively settled by these events.

But we have to take issue with the front-line politicians who have sought to mislead the people in this blatant manner, and those who, for mischievous purposes, leaked the document destined for the scrutiny of Parliament prematurely to a section of the media, who then went on to describe it as a secret document. How could a document intended for the consideration of Parliament be described as a secret document?How could anyone who has been in government and run the administration of this nation feign ignorance of the conditions under which Ghanaian troops undertake peace-keeping operations or the conditions under which our country has collaborated with major international institutions? It is difficult to understand that such people, knowing what they do know, would set about so blatantly to confuse people, and go as far as calling for the overthrow of our democracy?A democracy that has become the beacon of good governance in Africa?A democracy that has survived for a quarter of a century and encompassed even the most irresponsible episodes of ill governance,in a state of unity and stability?A democracy that has provided the framework for systematic developments in our social and economic welfare, and assured us of the longest, uninterrupted period of stable constitutional governance in our history?

Surely, this is the kind of cynical manipulation by reckless self-seekers, which, in the fullness of time, the people of Ghana will acknowledge and condemn. And I am sure that as the facts become clear and widely available, and as the people come to terms with the evidence, they will reject the falsehood and deliberate attempts to destabilize our peaceful country. Truth is sacrosanct.

So let me state with the clearest affirmation that Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America. Indeed, the United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request. However, in consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America. It is our firm belief that the Agreement will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region.

Fellow Ghanaians, let me conclude by saying how outraged I am by the defamatory comments from my political opponents, some of whose patriotism can be so easily questioned, that the sovereignty of this country has been sold by my government and myself. I will never be the President that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom. I have stood with you, the Ghanaian people, all my adult life, fighting for our individual and collective rights.Everything I have done, since assuming the great honour and privilege of serving you as President of the Republic, demonstrates that I remain focused on building a self-reliant, free, prosperous Ghana, which will be able to make her own unique contribution to the growth and development of Africa and the world.

Let us concentrate and spend our energies on working together to achieve that goal of a happy and prosperous Ghana, and reject the hypocrisy of the naysayers who led our country into bankruptcy and the worse economic record of modern Ghanaian history. Let us rise above them, and build the Ghana of our destiny, the land of freedom, justice, progress and prosperity.
Britain claims the pair were attacked using a Soviet-made military-grade nerve agent.

The affair has sparked a crisis in ties between Russia and the West and a wave of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats.

On Thursday, The Times newspaper cited British security sources saying they believed the Novichok nerve agent was manufactured at a facility in the town of Shikhany southeast of Moscow.

Several Russian officials said Friday that no chemical weapons were ever stored at Shikhany, though they stopped short of specifically addressing the claim that Novichok was made there.

"This laboratory was never part of the scope of our work," Mikhail Babich, the Kremlin's envoy in the Volga region and former chairman of the state commission for chemical disarmament, told Interfax news agency.

"All the bases where chemical weapons were stored are well-known. Shikhany is not one of them," said Babich.

He added there used to be another such "facility" in the surrounding Saratov region but it was not located in Shikhany.

The Times report came after the British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent said that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia.

The closed town of Shikhany is the location of a branch of the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology (GNIIOKhT).

Several scientists have said that Novichok, a group of nerve agents, was invented by scientist Pyotr Kirpichev in Shikhany.

The scientists claiming this include Vil Mirzayanov, who first revealed the existence of Novichok and now lives in the United States.

-- Oath of silence --

One of the chemists who worked on the nerve agent, Vladimir Uglev, told independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta that components to produce the weapon could be bought in several countries so it was difficult to pinpoint the country of origin.

Uglev said he was not able to say the word "Novichok" because he had signed an oath not to disclose classified information.

Russian authorities have insisted the country never had any programmes to develop the chemical weapon.

Mirzayanov also said it was difficult to establish where the nerve agent came from but added he understood the reasons for Britain's claim.

"No country has as much experience in manufacturing Novichok as the USSR and then Russia," he told Novaya Gazeta.

Last month, Russian scientist Leonid Rink told state media he worked for 27 years at a state laboratory in Shikhany, where the development of Novichok formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation.

According to the website of GNIIOKhT, its branch in Shikhany is now involved in work related to "ensuring the security" of the country and destruction of chemical weapons.

In September 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had destroyed its last chemical weapons.

'You'll be sorry'

On Thursday, Skripal's daughter Yulia said she was recovering, in her first public statement since the poisoning.

"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.

The hospital where the pair are being treated said last week that Sergei Skripal remained in a critical condition.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, Russia deflected accusations of poisoning, with Moscow's envoy issuing a series of denials and insults.

"Couldn't you come up with a better fake story?" Vassily Nebenzia told the council. "We have told our British colleagues that 'you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry.'"
Several metres (around 10 feet) high, the mustard-yellow wall has only one entrance, which is secured by the army. It cost 1.8 million euros ($2.2 million), according to official figures.

"Before the construction of this wall, there was a lot of tanzanite being lost, about 40 percent of all production," Magufuli said during a ceremony transmitted on national television, referring to miners smuggling out the gems.

He highlighted a 2017 decision that from now on the wholesale of tanzanite must be carried out under the control of the Tanzanian Central Bank inside the new wall.

Prior to this decision, tanzanite was sold in Arusha and Nairobi.

The wall is the latest move by Magufuli -- who swept to power in 2015 on an anti-corruption platform -- to regulate the mining sector, which has faced allegations of fraud and underreporting of production and profits.

A commission of enquiry set up by Magufuli estimated in June that 75 billion euros ($90 billion) had been lost in tax evasion arising from mining operations since 1998.

A parliamentary report published in September found that corruption and unfavourable contracts meant that the craze for tanzanite was mainly benefitting smugglers and mining operators.

Magufuli has locked horns with foreign mining companies, accusing them of under-valuing their production of gold, diamonds and tanzanite, resulting in a loss of billions of dollars in taxes and royalties since 1998.

Tanzanite was first found in the foothills of Kilimanjaro in 1967, although the discoverer is a matter of some dispute.
The head of Japan's sumo association has apologized over an incident in which women first responders were asked to get out of the ring as they attempted to revive an official who collapsed.

In sumo's tradition, the ring is considered sacred and women are prohibited from entering. That posed a problem Wednesday when Ryozo Tatami, the 67-year-old mayor of Maizuru in northern Kyoto, collapsed during a ring-top speech. Two women, apparently medical experts, rushed in and started performing first aid as several male sumo officials surrounding the mayor looked on.

When two more women rose to the ring trying to join the first aid effort, announcements demanded the women get out of the ring. "Ladies, please get off the ring," a sumo referee said, determinedly. "Only gentlemen go up."

Footage posted on social media triggered outrage, with many criticizing sumo officials and saying they were choosing tradition over life.
The university management announced the over 100 percent increase in accommodation fee on the school website on Wednesday, April 4, 2018.

While protesting, the students reportedly locked the halls gates to express their displeasure over what they consider as inhumane development from the management.

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A student who spoke to newsmen under the condition of anonymity said the fees hike is an attack on poor students.

I believe this increment is a direct attack on all students in the university, especially the poor who cannot afford it. Over the years, the University management has been complaining of insufficient funding of the universities, but it has refused to be transparent on how much it takes to run the university, nor what direct impact these unbearable levies will have on our learning experience. They want us to pay more for less, he said.

Another student, who chose to be anonymous to avoid victimisation said, nothing has been done for students to see as the reason for the increment. We live in a nation where academics is now strictly for the rich. I doubt if this university is still a federal university.

Some of the protesting students carried placards with different messages such as: ''Say no to hike in fees'', Education is the hope of common man''

Apart from the accommodation fees, the university management has also reportedly introduced Health Professional Training Levy which according to SaharaReporters would cost the students over N50, 000.

The hike is necessary- VC

Meanwhile, the University Vice Chancellor, Prof Idowu Olayinka has said that the hike became necessary because of lack of funding from the government.

''It is also important to note that the Federal Government, many years back, had stopped providing funds for the running of the halls. As a result, the university spends about N100 million over what is collected as accommodation fees, for the running of the halls. The university is no longer in a position to continue to provide this subsidy''.

Earlier, before the announcement of the accommodation hike, the University management had expelled 328 students over what it called 'shameful academic performance'
The Vice-Chancellor in a telephone interview with Pulse on Friday, April 6, 2018, also explained the reasons for accommodation increment.

Pulse: Why did the medical students have to protest about accommodation and fee hike?

VC: Accommodation fee has increased, you know only 30 percent of the students can be accommodated, the remaining 70 percent who live off campus are not accommodated because they don't have accommodation in the university. So it is either they are staying in their parents' residences or they rent a room or a private apartment. It is only the 30 percent who live on campus that are affected by any increment in the accommodation fee.

The reality is what they pay is not enough to maintain the halls. It is will be nice to add some beauties to the halls because the toilets are in bad shape, their hostels have bedbugs, and it does not make any sense to pack 20 students in a space meant for five.

Some of the buildings have been there for over 70 years, we just felt we need to increase the amount they pay. We are not going to make any profit from it. The money they pay is what we have been using to upgrade the facilities on a gradual basis, starting with something as elementary as fumigating the halls.

So, the money for accommodation, since the university is not fully residential, will be paid by the 30 percent who are accommodated in the halls of residence. Those who are not accommodated are not going to be affected.

Apart from this, the medical students have to do some professional courses and they also have to do fieldwork, and the university is finding it unbearable to support them. And if they don't do these things, we will end up producing half-backed graduates. We won't get accredited either by the NUC or by any relevant professional bodies like a Nigerian Medical and Dental Council, the Council of Engineers in Nigeria and many other professional bodies.

For instance, the Nigeria Legal Council still comes to our school to accredit our law programs. So we need to make some requirement for these bodies and it can be quite stringent. Government alone can not do everything. At least individual student benefit from the university education. So we thought we should share the responsibilities.

Although the government is doing their best because they pay our salaries and they equip our laboratories and lecture rooms, but it is still not enough. We think the direct beneficiaries, the students should also contribute.

Pulse: But over 1500 students have signed a petition against the fee increment.

VC: It does not matter now, we have almost 30,000 students.

Pulse: The medical students who have signed the petitions are rejecting the N100,000 increment in the school fees.

VC: I am sure nobody wants us to be producing doctors that will be killing their patients. All of us are in this together.

Pulse: What if after reporting the case to the Senate president and the FG orders the management to reduce the school fees?

VC: First, they will come and look at before they make any decision.

Pulse: What if they choose to be on the side of the students and order that the accommodation fees and tuition fees be reduced?
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.
An autopsy result confirmed that the animal indeed mauled victims, a mother and her son, 52 and 27 respectively, to death. Both were challenged by mobility and good health according to the German Press Agency (DPA).

Their corpses were discovered at their apartment on Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

A neighbour had spotted a dead body through a window and shortly informed authorities. Efforts made by the daughter of the deceased mum also proved helpful to police.

The rate of dog attacks on humans in Germany has become a major concern. It has inspired the government to take measures aimed at curbing deaths.

ALSO READ: Mother and son killed by family dog turned enemy

Dog bites man's penis during sex at girlfriend's

A man who got arrested by the police has narrated an incident that saw him behind bars following a sex with girlfriend whose dog bit him on the penis.

His experience made him condemn an instance where family dogs are left to roam the width of a house when a visitor is being received.

That might have prevented the canine attack or not.

"See im tired First of all let me send out a warning. If you know you have a dog in your compound, please chain it if you are expecting a visitor. Thats how a friend of mine invited me over for knacks. She usually do come over to my place, but this time she said her parents travelled so i should come. I happily went.

On getting there i saw a big dog at the gate. I was like this una dog no sabi wear chain ? and she said the dog is friendly. Its thunder that will stike her and the dog, let me finish first. She managed to chase the dog away so i can enter the house.

When i got in, i saw another puppy and was like nawa o. You too like dogs and she said they are her best friends. Well, she did twerk dance for me then asked if i have porn in my phone that we should try crazy things. From porn i started fingering her, she too started moaning loud and my dick started getting hard.

The little puppy just stood on the floor looking. Jokes apart the looks were suspicious. She asked me to give her head, i pulled her panties and sucked her pu33y. Used my tongue to play her clit which got her vibrating. The whole foreplay got so intense that we just had to do it in the sitting room without minding if the door was open or not.

Although the gate was locked. Well, this girl is a very loud moaner and while we were f**king, she started moaning very loud and i was like should i stop she was like no baby please do not. I continued.

Her moaning increased and i asked again but she said she was enjoying it, i continued. We f**ked for a while and while she was about to cum she started shouting like a possesed human. Body Vibrating and lound moans to the point that the puppy started barking but we ignored him.

She started moaning and the dog started banging, we ignored it till we came and the moment she stopped moaning, the barking stopped. So now it got to the time i was about going, i saw the big dog outsiide and asked her to chase it inside his doghouse. The dog saw me and started barking at me. She went to take it in and the dog barked at her, she tried petting the dog but the dog rather tried to bite her.

She got scared and ran inside. If the owner of a dog could run away, who am i yo stay? I followed her inside and the dog ran after us. It was not funny mehn, stupid girl ran into the room and locked the dog leaving me and the dog in the sitting room, this stupid dog was barking and i started jumping chairs, dribbling the dog.

The puppy joined in an came for me from the other side while i was turning around. This time i had to run outside and jump fence into another compound. Didnt know i was jumping from frying pan to fire. I landed in a police officers compound. 2 bull dogs on chains saw me and started barking.

The owner of the house came outsid, saw me, made phone calls and some policement came to pick me, i was like my own don end. I slept in the cell that night till the next day, In the morning, the owner of the house came and thats when i found out he is a police officer. He said I came to rob him. I had to beg and explained what happened to him, We both went to the girls house with handcuff on me.
The clip, shared via Instagram on Friday, April 6, 2018, showed the congregants beat a bare ground with whips firmly held in between their palms, while a female pastor who appeared to be leading a prayer gave them instructions.

A drone-like view revealed the group as they fiercely engaged in the act.

Their commitment to the instruction draws attention to a Nigerian society with a high dependence on 'orders' given to them by their religious leaders who are obviously not immune to sin.

Born again native doctor exposes pastor who uses charm for healing

A native doctor has exposed some of the atrocities he has committed - one of which includes preparing a healing charm for a pastor.

The transformed soul who worships at the Lord's Chosen Church, revealed that his wife who was a strong Christian believer played a role in encouraging a new lifestyle.

It all began for the unnamed man following a conversation with his wife concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In a testimony, the former herbalist confirmed that a clergyman introduced to him by his partner requested for a charm aimed at enhancing his ability to perform miracles.

"Before I joined the Lords Chosen, I was of another religion and an herbalist for a long time. It was the Lord by his own design, that brought me to The Lords Chosen. However, my wife is a Christian.

"I used to prepare charms for people. One day, my wife woke me up and started preaching the gospel to me. Later, she took me to her priest in one of the Orthodox churches in Okene.

"When I met this priest, he told me that I had greater power than him. He wanted to know more about my power, which I told him and he requested that I give him the same power. I concurred , prepared and gave it to him later. The charm I gave to him was in form of a handkerchief.

"To prepare, that kind of charm for my clients, I would get an handkerchief, conjure an evil spirit inside it and then give it to them. They will tie it on their hands and cover it with their long sleeve shirts.

"During their ministration, if they touch or place the hand that has the handkerchief on anybody, such person would fall. Then, they would claim that the person had fallen under the anointing. That is how most of such ministers operate," the reformed revealed according to the Kemi Filani blog.

ALSO READ: Congo church heals members by a sip of beer

His experience touches on some of the debacle that has welcomed the practice of the Christian faith in Nigeria.
The gang reportedly entered the town around 4:45pm and operated till about 5:40pm blocking roads from Ilorin and Osogbo to boost smooth operation.

It was gathered that the robbers escaped with their loot through Igosun, a neighbouring community.

Reports said before the assailants robbed the banks, they first attacked the Offa divisional police station on entering the ancient town, killing policemen on duty among other people at the station.

A policeman identified as Pelemo, who was expected to retire in a few months, and a pregnant policewoman, were among the people killed at the station.

An eyewitness claimed that corpses of six policemen were taken away in his presence.

The armed robbers, reports said, were about 15 in number - they stormed the town in different vehicles and stationed themselves at strategic areas of Offa.

ALSO READ: Corp member's hand chopped off by armed robbers in Bayelsa

The general hospital in Offa, where the injured victims were taken, was overpopulated by those who secured varying degrees of injury and gun wounds, the report said.

The spokesman of the state police command, Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the bank raid.
He was apprehended for the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Madallavillage, Suleja.

The suspect, who has five children, reportedly snatched her into an uncompleted building where he sexually assaulted her.

A Northern City News report confirmed that Vincent was able to lay hands on the victim in January 2018. She was attempting a household task before the alleged abuser grabbed her.

It seems an uncontrollable behaviour for the suspect.

I dont have appetite to make love to grown up women; I prefer little girls to satisfy my sexual urge and enjoy doing that as long as I want it; each time I stopped, something would push me to do it again, Tunde Vincent told Punch News on Thursday, April 5, 2018.

Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar, confirmed that his men have concluded investigation and will soon arraign the rape suspect in court.

Imam who damaged 2-yr-old girl's private part says zipper opened by itself

In Mukono, Uganda, an Imam, Musa Mulo, who damaged the private part of a 2-year-old girl, has revealed that his trouser zipper opened by itself.

He mentioned this while giving a testimony at a High Court.

The accused committed the act in the year 2012, according to a police prosecutor, Ms. Janat Kitimbo, who mentioned that the cleric was able to abuse the toddler following a visit to his residence.

The latter reportedly snatched her into a room, sexually assaulted her before making to release the victim.

"I carried that child, put her on my laps and I just saw my zip opening by itself, says Mulo who was sentenced to a life in prison by Justice Margaret Mutonyi.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, a band of heavily armed bandits attacked Owode Police Station in the towns centre, killing policemen and some complainants.

From there, they launched a series of attacks on a total of 5 commercial banks, looting millions of naira. In their wake, they left a trail of blood and, at last count, estimated to be at 41 casualties at the time of writing this.

Among those killed include customers going about their business at the banks, bystanders and a pregnant police-woman.

According to eye-witnesses, the band was made up of a minimum of 15 robbers who came in different vehicles into the town at around 4:45 pm, positioned themselves at strategic points for the period of the operation and made their escape through Igosun, a neighbouring community.

Nigerians have poured their pain at the savagery of the armed robbers and the heartless, sporadic shooting of innocent civilians in a town that is more popular for its Polytechnic than anything else.

Senate President Bukola Saraki has reacted to the robbery by saying, as we all expected, that the perpetrators will be brought to book.

But its a bit too late, isnt it?

Power is Nigeria's most important currency

There is one simple fact that we are ignoring.

The extent of these attacks was only possible by way of the brute force, strength in numbers and weaponry that the robbers had at their disposal.

Its sad to admit this but in 2018, Nigerians are at the mercy of any one person or 15 people with a gun or two in their possession.

A friend of mine often says, Nigeria is a show of power.

Either by design or the implications of time and culture, Nigerians are always given to exerting power, in whichever form, and force in any situation where it seems slightly likely that it may be useful.

It reflects in how we treat our subordinates, the shouting matches we indulge in when we observe that someone else wants the same spot as us, the manner in which we shove and push to get from Point A to B and flex muscles or wealth when someone looks at us the wrong way.

In some ways, this is a human problem, which begs the question, why is it so bad in Nigeria?

Theres nothing to check you if you wish to flex your muscles.

ALSO READ: Onitsha will never forget the infamous Derico Nwamama

The Offa massacre was possible because of the inherent lack of security infrastructure and the ineptitude of security personnel at all levels in Nigeria.

One need only consider the fact that the robbers could have attracted less attention if they had simply robbed the banks.

But instead, they went on a gun-toting rampage, simply because there was nothing to dissuade them from doing so.

We can sugarcoat it all we want but the brutal truth is that theres very little to discourage anyone from using power however they wish within the borders of our country.

While we have myriad security agencies, Nigerians have learned that with the right variety of manoeuvring and planning, one can wriggle out of the reach of the supposedly-long arms of justice.

For robbers like the ones in Offa, for instance, a few transfers to the right account could assure their safety.

Their show of force at the police station was the singular infraction they had with any security agency until the robbery ended.

One should also note that, according to residents of the town, the robbers were largely unhindered. This was despite reports that Offa is a haven for officers of the much-maligned Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Police who have shown themselves to be more disposed to accosting suspected internet fraudsters than actual robbers.

Where were the Policemen?

That is a reality the residents of Offa understand, even as they continue to deal with bodies of their loved ones and hope that those on the brink do not give up.

Offa is not an isolated case.

While they may there on paper, security personnel and infrastructure are often missing when the safety of life and property is threatened.

This attitude explains the defiance with which Boko Haram operates in the North East, and armed militants have repeatedly attacked the oil-rich South-South.

We saw it more recently in Dapchi, where 114 girls were abducted, without any armed hindrance, in a near copycat attack that reminded the world of the Chibok incident where over 200 girls were abducted from a school in the same region.

That the security of life and persons is not guaranteed is a truth that we seem to have come to terms with, too easily.

It is why, while the gory photos of the bodies of innocent civilians from Offa continue to circulate on social media, we are acting surprised that robbers are killing people, not asking why robbers can kill 41 people in a Nigerian town that has security agencies on standby.

For all he knows, Senate President Bukola Saraki cannot assure anyone that the robbers will be brought to book.

What he can do is ensure that those who neglected their duties while a gang robbed 5 banks in one day get what they deserve.

Not many residents in Offa will have slept well last night; an entire town of 100,000 people still lives in fear.

You may be as far from them as can be but the events of are a stark reminder that power in whatever form is the single most important currency in Nigeria.

That, in a country where billions of dollars are set aside at regular intervals for security, every Nigerian still lives at the mercy of anyone with a gun.
A German court ruled Thursday that former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont can be released on bail pending a decision on his extradition to Spain, saying the most serious charge Puigdemont faces isn't punishable under German law.

The state court in Schleswig said the 55-year-old ex-president of Spain's Catalonia region could leave a prison in northern Germany with a 75,000-euro ($92,000) payment. It wasn't immediately clear when Puigdemont would be released.

Puigdemont was detained in Germany on a Spanish arrest warrant as he attempted to drive from Finland to Belgium on March 25. He fled to Belgium after Spain's prime minister removed him from office and a sedition investigation was launched against politicians who led Catalonia's declaration of independence in October.

Spanish authorities accuse Puigdemont of rebellion and misuse of public funds in organizing an unauthorized referendum last year on the region's secession.

German prosecutors argued earlier this week that the main charge of rebellion is equivalent to Germany's criminal offense of treason. German law calls for prison sentences for anyone who "undertakes, by force or through threat of force" to undermine the republic's existence or change its constitutional order.


Here are five ways he put it:

1. Amaechi says poor people dont ride on trains

Some of you have been asking why we increased the fare between Kaduna and Abuja.

For each locomotive, we spend N56 million, when we were charging you N600, we were getting N16 million so all you rich men, we were dashing you N40 million per month. Actually, very few poor men use those trains.

2. Actually, the train fare hike is called appropriate pricing

In Amaechis words: So, since its big men that use the railway, we jacked up the prices.

You know what its called  appropriate pricing. So we price according to your pocket but it does not affect our subsidy, we still subsidise the railway.

3. Amaechi says social media folks have been sending him videos of railways and trains

The funny thing about the social media is that anytime there is a problem with the railway, the first person to know is me.

I see all sorts of videos and I wonder if they realise that I am the minister for transport not the managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation so I cant run the railways.

4. Actually, Amaechi enjoys your social media shares

In the past, none of you can send a video to a minister but now you not only send, they direct me on what to do. I urge you to continue in that light and make us accountable to you, he said.

5. Amaechi wants rich folks to allow poor folks get the train rides they deserve

The actual intent to move poor people from Kaduna to Abuja.

If you go to Rigasa, you will see the big men park their cars and use the railway and chase away the poor people.
Ogbodo had written an article which turned out to be very critical of Osinbajo. It was all Akande needed to dust his laptop and shoot from the hip.

Interestingly, Akande used to be the US correspondent of The Guardian back in the day.

Here are five ways Akande sought to deconstruct Ogbodo:

1. Ogbodo has destroyed the Guardian's investigative reputation

Akande writes: "There is something incongruous about the Editor of the Guardian Newspapers, a paper once known for its strident advocacy against abuse of power and corruption, to excoriate a Vice President who repeatedly calls out perpetrators of grand corruption.

"Even more astonishing is the fact that the Editor, Mr. Abraham Ogbodo abdicates the investigative role of his newspaper when there are allegations of corruption, but works hard to disparage both the information supplied and the informer".

2. Akande says Guardian editor is a rabid PDP apologist

Here's how the presidency spokesperson put it: "While it is clear that the Editor is a rabid PDP apologist, and this is obvious from the direction that he has taken the newspaper since he assumed the role, one would have thought that, even if only to give an appearance of fairness in the great tradition of a newspaper celebrated for balance, (and "the best tradition and ideals of republican democracy") he would still not descend to the use of abusive language against the Vice President".

3. Did Akande just call Ogbodo 'ignorant'?

You decide for yourself: "Perhaps it might help to reiterate what the VP said at the Quarterly Business Forum held on the 19th of March, 2018. His basic premise was

"He said that, unlike any other country, it would be either ignorant or negligent of any economic planner in Nigeria not to fully appreciate the massive hemorrhaging that comes from corruption. He went on to point out that despite the fact that the nation earned between $100 to $114 a barrel of oil between 2011 and 2014, investment in capital was abysmal".

4. Ogbodo doesn't understand how much corruption has destroyed Nigeria

"How corruption can defeat our best hopes for the future!", Akande writes.

He adds that: "Nigerias recursive economic growth is not merely because we have for years ran a mono-product economy, it is more because the proceeds of that single product is hijacked by a few. So even when oil earnings were high, the number of the poor, sick, malnourished and child mortalities continued to rise".

5. Ogbodo is an example of corruption fighting back

In Akande's words: "For the editor of a major Nigerian Newspaper, like The Guardian, to attempt to trivialize all that, rather than hold the perpetrators to account, is the tragic paradox of corruption fighting back through the very forces established to fight it".
After Buhari presided over a meeting with the National Security Council at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali revealed that the president approved the release of the fund which was withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account by the Federal Government.

Controversy has trailed the approval as the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), especially Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, has kicked against the process that led to the withdrawal of the fund.

While speaking on Channels Television on Friday, April 6, 2018, Shehu said the Federal Government is in the process of sending a draft bill to the National Assembly for consideration and approval in accordance with the constitution.

He said, "The process has begun, it's not concluded, therefore, everyone will be involved. Mr President will not breach the constitution of this country. Approval at that level is granted, there is nothing controversial.

"The attorney-general will bring a draft bill to FEC, the president will approve and then say take it to the national assembly. The draft budget before it got to the national assembly, the FEC signed and approved it."

$1 billion will fight all issues of insecurity

The Buhari-led government has been accused of trying to loot the $1 billion to fund the president's re-election bid in next year's election as critics fail to see the reason in using the enormous amount to fight a terrorist group that the government has claimed several times has been defeated.

However, according to Shehu, the $1 billion is not just for combating Boko Haram, but other issues of insecurity in the country.

He said, "People will say when you've defeated Boko Haram why do you need funds but if you check around, all over the world, the countries do most spending in peace time.

"There is police and there is also the military. It's going to touch on every aspect of security in the country. We are not talking about buying footwear or uniforms which is routine. We'll re-equip the military that has depleted much of its stock fighting criminality, insurgency and terrorism across the country.
Munir was honoured as the first Fellow Awardee of 2018 Roll Call of Honours of the Institute.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the event was attended by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and the National Security Adviser, retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno.

Ikpada hailed Buhari administrations social investment programmes which he said had liberated many from poverty as well as the governments approval for payment of pensioners.

The APC led administration is totally committed to the rule of law and giving the Nigerian citizenry the dividends of democracy.

We have it on record that this government has just signed a N54 billion payment for pension arrears.

In fact, this government is a people-oriented government and like a concerned father of a nation, President Buhari has personally visited areas confronted by insurgency and restated his commitment to end it, he said.

Ikpada said since its inception, the Buhari administration brazenly took the bull by the horn to tackle twin malady of corruption and insecurity that had bedeviled the economic growth and development of Nigeria.

He said Buhari s achievements in fighting corruption paid off and was recognised on July 4, 2017, when African leaders at the 29th AU session unanimously endorsed him to champion the fight against corruption in the entire continent.

Furthermore, a Nigerian Judge, Justice Ebue Osuji recently became President of the International Criminal Court, an attestation to the leadership credibility and integrity of the administration.

On the awards, Ikpada said it was bestowed on selected African personalities who had excelled in their career and distinguished themselves as worthy elder statesmen.

The institute carry out ten years intensive research on the personality of the awardee, Alhaji Lawal Mohammed Munir.

We are giving him the honour for his unassailable statesmanship pedigree, versus managerial acumen and administrative excellence.

He is a worthy elder statesman who has made tremendous contributions to national development, peace progress and unity of Nigeria.

His vast growing conglomerate after retirement has over the years created employment opportunities for many Nigerians, he said.

Speaking in the same vein, the minister said the awardee was a proven example of so many silent achievers in the country.

We have so many Nigerians who are almost unheard of, but whose contributions to nation building, peace and unity are quite considerable.

The celebrant is a person who through hard work served the country in much capacity, as a teacher, educationist, diplomat, businessman and resource person.

The peak of his career was when he became ambassador and he served the nation in Venezuela, Burkina Faso and Turkey.

He had received awards in Venezuela, Turkey and other places he served and I think it is unique for an Ambassador being given an award by host countries.

That speaks volume as to his character and intelligence, he said.

Mohammed congratulated the institute for fishing the awardee out and enjoined the young ones to emulate Munirs patience, humility and hard work.

The celebrant thanked the management of the institute for the honour as well as the dignitaries for attending the event.

Born in 1946 in Zaria, Kaduna, Munir, trained as a teacher and educationist and was the Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Scholarship Board from 1974 to 1975.
Four members of the House: Dickson Takighir; Mark Terseer-Gbillah; Samuel Udende; and John Dyegh raised alarm over the fresh attacks while speaking for the Benue Caucus at the National Assembly on Thursday, April 5, 2018.

According to Takighir, the renewed attacks took place between April 2 and April 4 in communities such as Semaka, Udei and Umenger, with several people reported missing.

He also warned that the attackers are camped in Nzorov and ready to attack Guma Local Government Area.

Takighir said, "These latest attacks have occurred in Ikyon and Agasha on April 3 and April 4; in Semaka, Asom, Babanruwa on April 3 and in Udei and Umenger on April 2.

"They (killer herdsmen) are right now stationed at Nzorov council ward, ready to attack Gbajimba in the Guma Local Government Area. There are others in Nasarawa, ready to attack Udei and Daudu with over 14 people killed in the last four days.

"Similarly, Sengev, Mbakyondo and Mbapa areas of Gwer-West Local Government Area are currently under siege by armed herdsmen.

"In Tsegaase, two people have been killed; one person is missing in Zwatema, two killed in Tse Adeke, one killed in Tse Adudu with one missing in Tsekelefu.

"So far, we have yet to confirm the casualty level in Enger. On April 3, four people were killed in Anyebe and one person at Mbavihi both in Tonbo ward of Logo local government."

Takighir further called on the Federal Government deploy a proper military operation in the state and brand the herdsmen as terrorists in a bid to definitively put an end to the crisis.

He said, "We are calling on the Federal Government to immediately explain to Benue indigenes and the Nigerian people why the Operation Cat Race has already been terminated in Benue without a resolution of the issue.

"We also demand that the government should deploy a proper military operation in Benue State and to also station military units in restive communities in Benue until the herdsmen menace has been dealt with.

"We urge the Federal Government to immediately declare these deadly herdsmen as terrorists in view of their inhuman, volatile and destructive activities. The international community should pay more attention to this ongoing pogrom of Benue people; we appeal for their intervention in the provision of aid to the over 190,000 internally displaced persons at different camps in Benue State.

"We believe it is only when these criminal and vicious elements are properly designated and treated as terrorists that the spate of killings will be put to rest."

Benue's herdsmen crisis

Benue has been troubled by violent killings this year as a spate of attacks by suspected cattle herders have led to the death of over 200 victims.

At least 24 people were killed during an attack carried out on March 5 by herdsmen in Omusu Edimoga, a village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state.
A statement by Mrs Folashade Onanuga, the Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), said the money was released to pay 183 retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Ambode, represented by the Commissioner of Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr Akintola Oke at the presentation, said 8, 731 retirees had received Accrued Rights of over N35 billion.

The governor confirmed that the N35 billion Accrued Rights from inception of the administration till date had been paid into the Retired Savings Account (RSA) of the pensioners.

He said that despite the high funding obligations of the state, it had been consistent in paying retirees.

Our commitment stems from the understanding that the greatest asset a state has are the employees. Their well-being in and outside the job is our priority.
In a Facebook post, the Senate President described the Offa attack as a despicable act committed by cruel individuals.

Saraki stated that he and Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed had spoken, earlier on Thursday evening, and they both agree that no stone will be left unturned until those that carried out the attack and robberies are found and prosecuted.

His words: Yesterdays savage attack on unsuspecting citizens and establishments in Offa LGA, that led to significant loss of lives and injury is a despicable act committed by cruel individuals.

Make no mistake, there will never be any valid grounds or rationale behind such violence that has left many families without their loved ones  and one more community in grief and shock.

Last night, I spoke to Governor Ahmed to express my condolence on the lives that were lost in the attack, and we both agree that no stone will be left unturned until the perpetrators of this heinous act are caught and brought to justice.

"It is also important that we all work together to ensure that this does not reoccur. We all must co-operate at various levels to increase the security of our communities.

I pray that the souls of those that we lost yesterday are granted places amongst the righteous ones. My prayers and support will continue to be extended to all the affected families, and we will remain relentless until everyone who planned or carried out this attack faces the full wrath of the law, the Senate President said.

ALSO READ: Gov tasks Kwara monarchs on maintenance of peace

Offa robbery attack

Heavily armed hoodlums had attacked the Owode Police Station in the metropolis where they killed the policemen and some complainants before they raided the banks.

Sources said some customers who were transacting businesses in the banks were also killed in the incident which was said to have lasted one hour.
Ojabo said the SGF made call the while receiving the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr Ibrahim Magu and the management team in his office.

He quoted the SGF as urging the commission to use advocacy campaigns to change the mindset of some public servants who regarded corruption as a way of guaranteeing a secured post-service life.

Mustapha expressed hope that the completion of the commissions new head office in Abuja would ensure better management of its investigation, resources and personnel.

He added that it would also provide a more enabling environment for the personnel to carry out their daunting and challenging responsibilities.

The SGF, however, commended the officials for carrying out their duties with courage and patriotism even at great risk to their lives.

Corruption in the country has become a hydra-headed monster because it had become very pervasive and culturally entrenched.

Dealing with a problem that has become a culture requires a lot of resolve on the part of the officials of the economic and financial crimes commission.

I want to thank you, the officials, for wholeheartedly embracing President Muhammadu Buharis mandate to kill corruption before it kills the country.

I recall that dismantling corruption in the country was the repeated pledge of Mr. President during his electioneering campaign, The SGF said.
Senator Melayewho is battling his recall from the Senate was also recently declared wantedby the Kogi State Police Command for conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms.

The Ajeku Iya crooner narrowly escaped been arrested by personnel of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lokoja, Kogi state on Thursday, April 5, 2018.

Dino's failed arrest

Melaye had accompanied Senate President Bukola Saraki to the fidau prayers of for late deputy majority leader of the House of Representatives, Buba Jubril, at Kabawa Primary School, Lokoja, on Thursday, April 5, 2018, when SARS operatives stormed the venue.

Their aim? To arrest Senator Melaye at the event, haven been declared wanted.

But there was a problem.

The SARS operatives did not know that Senator Melaye had a Plan-B.

As they officers arrived, some local vigilante men encircled Melaye, making it impossible for the operatives to get close to the lawmaker.

After few minutes of failed, attempt, the officers retreated. But, laid siege for Melaye at the venue of the reception billed to take place at the residence of Chief Rasaq Kutepa.

The lawmaker raised two fingers in the air to acknowledge cheers from the crowd who greeted him with a loud ovation.

Typical Melaye.

After the prayer session, Melaye was escorted into the waiting vehicle of the Senate President by the local vigilantes.

The SARS operatives at the reception venue were disappointed to see Senator Melaye in the convoy of the Senate President to Late Bubas house for a condolence visit.

Thereafter, the convoy departed for Obajana airstrip for a flight to Katsina state.

Melaye wants to stop his recall

Meanwhile, Senator Melaye has approached the Supreme Court to stop his recall from the Senate.
The firms Chief Executive Officer, Mr John Irvine, told journalists in Ikeja that the company had entered a new agreement with Private Sector Participants (PSP) for effective waste collection and management.

Over the course of the next 18 months, you would find a cleaner, more transparent and a more beneficial waste infrastructure, he said.

The CEO said that months of negotiations had ended the clash that erupted among the stakeholders as a result of the introduction of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) by the state government.

The two key parties, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions and the PSP operators have reached an agreement, borne out of the need to give effective environmental services to the people of Lagos State.

Under the new arrangement, the PSP operators now referred to as Waste Collection Operators (WCO), have agreed to resume residential waste collection, where they will bill and service homes across the state, while Visionscapes primary concern would be infrastructure development.

This resolution also became urgent as government and other stakeholders are determined to avoid similar environmental disasters as the Olusosun Dumpsite fire outbreak that occurred a few weeks before, he said.

Irvine said a 10-year process was being fast tracked and compressed into a three-year period under a new arrangement.

The arrangement, he said, would help Visionscape focus on providing the needed infrastructure for the entire refuse management process to run on.

Irvine appealed to residents of Dopemu and other areas where refuse had accumulated to be patient.

He said the distribution of refuse bags and refuse collection would capture them from next week.

Irvine said that under the new partnership, Visionscape had paid some PSP operators upfront to aid the effective collection of residential waste.

According to him, the CWOs are being paid N250,000.00 upfront to aid their collection of refuse, while Visionscape focuses on solid waste management in its landfills, transfer loading stations and depots.

He said that the firm would continue to support all partners with equipment and capacity to upgrade refuse collection methods.

The CEO said that the firm was ready to purchase vehicles and other modern equipment that meet 21st century refuse management techniques for the CWOs.

If you have to look at New York City in the late 70s and 80s, there was more trash on the streets of New York than what you have here in Lagos. Reform takes time, he said.
On Wednesday, demonstrators in Washington participated in a silent march starting at the national King memorial and ending at the National Mall.

King's death in 1968, which followed the assassinations of U.S. President John Kennedy in 1963 and civil rights leader Malcolm X in 1965, sparked riots in major cities across the United States, including Washington, Baltimore, New York City, Detroit, Chicago and Kansas City.

"President Abraham Lincoln sought to eradicate the senseless divisions of racial hierarchies when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation," Trump continued in a video released Wednesday. "Just over 100 years later, Dr. King continued this effort and called upon Americans to reject ugly impulses and prejudices, and to recognize the beauty and the humanity of all people, regardless of the color of their skin."

"Though he was taken from this Earth unjustly, he left us with his legacy of justice and peace," U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated 50 years ago Wednesday at a public appearance in Memphis, Tennessee.

 Memphis Rally

The city of Memphis is holding a rally to remember King, with scheduled speakers including 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, several members of the Black Congressional Caucus, members of the clergy and union leaders. Activist Jesse Jackson, who was present the day King was assassinated, is expected to be there, along with King ally John Lewis, who attended the 1963 march on Washington at which King delivered his most famous speech.

"I have a dream," King said during that speech, "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."

"And if America is to be a great nation," he said later in the speech, "this must become true."

The site of the assassination, then the Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum, held an all-day gathering to mark King's passing. At the exact time of his death, 6:01 p.m. local time, a church bell tolled 39 times -- once for each year of King's life.

In King's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, members of King's family together pulled a rope to ring a bell 39 times at the crypt of King and his wife, Coretta Scott King. The crypt is at the center of a reflecting pool at the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, where the work of King's family continues.

 Workers' Rights, Poverty

King was not just an activist for race relations, he was in Memphis on behalf of workers rights, supporting a strike by Memphis sanitation workers calling for better pay and working conditions. He spoke out against poverty as well, calling for all people of all races, creeds and economic classes to be treated as equals. His work won him the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35.

Celebrities were among those remembering the activist Wednesday. Rapper Common tweeted tributes to King and a reminder of how young the Baptist minister had been when he died. Broadway star and producer Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical Hamilton, shared video of a song dedicated to King. Actor Samuel Jackson, who was attending King's alma mater, Morehouse College, when King died, wrote an essay in The Hollywood Reporter about being an usher at the funeral.

"Hard to believe it was 50 years ago!" Jackson said in a tweet. In a somber reference to the racial unrest in the United States, Jackson added, "Times change, attitudes don't."

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tweeted a quote from King himself: "Let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be."
The group had endorsed Buhari for presidency and presented him with a copy of the Holy Bible in 2015.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, national chairman of the group, Pastor Habu Aminchi said President Buhari has failed to deliver on his campaign promises to Nigerians.

Pastor Aminchi accused Buhari of tribalism and nepotism adding that the President had failed to adhere to the Federal Character principle in his appointments.

The cleric urged Nigerians to reject the Buhari-led APC government and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019.

APC as a party have also failed Nigeria as they have failed to fulfill the promises they make to Nigerians. Instead of a positive change, all we see is a negative change. All we see within the party is disunity, confusion, contention and everyone is after his or her selfish interest, he said.

The only thing they are good at is blaming the past administration which everyone already knows failed and we were voted out. They should stop hiding behind the mask of blaming PDP for their incompetence to bring solution to Nigerian problem.

It is also a shame that there is no state in Nigeria that the party is not fighting among themselves. If they cannot coordinate themselves, how can they coordinate Nigeria. I am saying that PDP and APC have failed Nigeria and we cant allow them to rule us again.

In 2015, Nigerians were looking for a savior to bring them out of hardship and APC promised us a bright future under the change mantra if elected. But after Nigerians trusted them enough to give them the mantle of leadership, they have turned things for the worse.

It is clear that they have nothing good and tangible to offer this country. They have turned the glory of our dear nation to shame. Instead of us to shine as the heart of this great continent, we have been relegated to the lowest rank.

Buhari has failed this country. APC has failed this country. The evidence of their failure can be seen on our economy, security system, roads, Labour market etc. all around us, there is evidence of their selfishness, greediness and oppression as they have become tyrants instead of leaders.

They have changed the true meaning of democracy and have injured our dear nation badly and if we dont collect this country from their hands come 2019, they will kill it completely.

We admonish each and everyone to actively participate in the political process so as to wrest power from the old brigade politicians who have ran out of ideas. They should not mortgage their future for peanuts they get from the old politicians who have taken this country several steps backwards.

So we advise every Nigerian to empower him or herself with the right weapon which is their pvc so that we can send these selfish, greedy failed and unproductive government packing.

We equally implore President Buhari to abandon his second term bid to continue as Nigerian President because he has failed Nigerians. He should not listen to those sycophants around him who will not tell him the truth that Nigerians, especially the masses are grossly disenchanted with his government that has exhibited high sense of incompetence, he added.

Trouble for Buharis critics

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Arewa Pastors Non-Denominational Initiative for Peace have expressed their readiness to expose religious leaders causing instability in the country.

The group stated this during a courtesy visit to President at the Aso Villa on Thursday, April 5, 2018.

Leader of the delegation, John Richard, condemned religious leaders who are fond of making careless utterances that are likely to worsen the already delicate situation in the country and lead to more violence and loss of lives.
In a press statement sent to Pulse Nigeria on Friday, April 6, 2018, the party said aspirants vying for public office across all levels for the 2019 general elections can now pick up their forms for affordable fees at the National Secretariat.

In the party's payment structure, presidential aspirants are required to pay the sum of N1 million for their nomination forms, while governorship aspirants will pay N500,000.

Aspirants vying for a seat in the Senate will be required to pay N400,000, while aspirants vying for a seat in the House of Representatives will pay N250,000, and aspirants vying for a seat in the State Assembly will be required to pay N150,000 to pick up a form.

Even though youth aspirants under the age of 35 are not required to pay for the forms, they'll need to present a required number of financial party members in their constituency who support their ambition and have fully paid their dues in 2018.

Youth aspirants vying for a seat in the Senate will have to present 200 financial members, while aspirants vying for a seat in the House of Representatives will be required to present 125 financial members, and aspirants vying for a seat in the State Assembly will present 100 financial members.

The party's statement read, "All members of the party who are interested in vying for public office in the forthcoming general elections in our party can now proceed to the National Secretariat to do so.

"For the last 3 years, we have engaged the incumbent administration on their lack of leadership, good governance, transparency, accountability and an overall lack of direction in taking our country to a better place.

"We want to implore all members to step out now into the ring to offer Nigerians a better alternative than the current administration can muster.

"Across the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria consisting the Senatorial Districts, Federal Constituencies and State Constituencies, our party will be fielding candidates where our members show up. Now is the time to offer Nigerians a difference from the status quo.

"In the spirit of the values we hold dear as a party one of which is inclusiveness, our nomination forms will go for affordable fees across all offices in the elections.

"The National Executive Committee of our party has also decided that because of our priority towards youth inclusiveness and our understanding of the role that young people have to play in the future of our nation, nomination forms for young people (under 35) contesting for the Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly will be FREE.

"Youth Aspirants however will be required to present a certain number of members of the party in their constituency who support their ambition and have fully paid their dues in 2018.

"As we march on to victory in the 2019 elections, we know that we are rightly positioned as a party to win the mandate of the people and we will do all in our power to present our party to the people in order to secure this mandate."

Presidential aspirants will write exam

Presidential aspirants vying for the primary ticket of KOWA Party for the 2019 presidential election will be subjected to a written examination before they can contest.

This was disclosed by the party's National Secretary, Mark Adebayo, while speaking at the party's Lagos State congress on February 3, 2018.

He also revealed that gubernatorial aspirants contesting for tickets under the party will be subjected to the same assessment so as to produce the best candidates for important political positions in 2019.

He said, "There will be a written examination for presidential candidates of KOWA Party, and governorship candidates. At least for those two categories. We need a candidate who can sell the party profitably to Nigeria."

According to Adebayo, the party is eager to choose its presidential flag bearer on August 18, 2018, the date the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has scheduled for primary elections to commence.

While speaking, he confirmed that KOWA already has four aspirants, including Professor Remi Sonaiya, vying for its presidential ticket.

Prof Sonaiya was the party's flag bearer in the 2015 presidential election and will be expected to be the favourite to win the ticket again for 2019.
This is believed to be in reaction to the loss of his faction at the party's March 25 congress in Osun State which heralded the victory of Soji Adagunodo as the substantive Chairman of the party in the state.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Diran Odeyemi, said Omisore was making a wrong decision.

He said, "It is unfortunate that Otunba (Omisore) is making a wrong political decision. He should have learnt from those who left PDP and came back. In politics, you don't win all the time.

"So, if he does not have his way this time around, it does not mean he cannot make his way some other time."

Omisore shopping for new party

Omisore is believed to be consulting widely on the new political party he could use to realise his gubernatorial ambition in the state's September 2018 election. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) is rumoured to be a possible destination for him.

While contesting on the platform of the PDP, he lost the 2014 gubernatorial race to incumbent, Rauf Aregbesola, who is approaching the end of his second term in office.
It has been long in coming.

Oyegun and his co-travelers in the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC have been told in clear terms that when their tenure elapses in June of 2018, they would have to make way for a new set of party officials.

Dashed Hopes

Up until the afternoon of March 27, 2018, Oyegun and his team thought they were going to get a one year extension and usher the APC into another election season.

But Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had other ideas. The Jagaban Borgu has been very critical of Oyegun since the Ondo governorship election of 2016. He has written two letters calling Oyegun a disaster and mercenary who should leave the party without delay.

Oyeguns transgressions are a warning. He is but the mercenary of forces that seek to return the nation to the old ways, Tinubu had written.

To rescue the party, Oyegun must go. He has shown that he and democratic fair play cannot exist in the same party at the same time, the Jagaban wrote.

After Buhari handed Tinubu the job of uniting a fractured APC back in February, Tinubu accused Oyegun of frustrating that presidential directive.

Disappointment greeted me when I discovered that you had swiftly acted in contravention of the spirit of our discussions. Instead of being a bulwark of support as promised, you positioned yourself in active opposition to the goal of resuscitating the progressive and democratic nature of the APC, Tinubu wrote to Oyegun this year.

The godfathers win

When Buhari told the APC National Executive Committee (NEC) on March 27 that the tenure xtension decision reached a month earlier would be illegal and open the party to litigation, he was taking sides with Tinubu.

Buhari said the tenure extension resolution 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.

APC Governors held a rowdy meeting with President Buhari this week but in the end, the presidents position prevailed.

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, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Gov Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara, told the press afterwards.

He added that; We are going to respect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So, we collectively agreed that we will have congresses at all levelslocal, State and national.

Most APC chieftains have told this writer time and again that Oyegun has only succeeded in polarizing the APC since he became Chairman on June 13, 2014. Everyone who matters in the APC has lost confidence in Oyegun's leadership and his ability to steer the party to pastures new.

The forces against Oyegun have been circling the man for a while now. And Tinubu, who worked so hard to install Oyegun as Chairman in 2014, has been plotting the man's downfall since 2016, one public attack at a time.
The company said it will use the new funding to deepen its product offering to compliance professionals, expand its African footprint and build out its technology to support scaling data collection, analysis and delivery.

Rob Withagen, Co-Founder & CEO said: Tackling Africas corporate data gap comes with unique challenges. Since Asokos launch four years ago, we have successfully bridged these by aggregating and enhancing corporate data sets, developing a tech-enabled collection and delivery platform and establishing strong brand recognition among core suppliers and clients. Our next step is guided by what our clients want: more coverage, in particular on ownership and network linkages."

In a statement released on Friday, April 6, 2018, Asoko Insight said the Series A funding round was oversubscribed by 20% as new participants such as LC Partners, Spice Fund and Zephyr Acorn joined early shareholders, including North Base Media, CRE Venture Capital, Singularity Investments and Lateral Capital.

"The fundraise follows a strong 2017 for the company in which both the number of companies and countries covered doubled and global players including Goldman Sachs, UBS, HB Fuller and Deloitte subscribed. Asoko also concluded a string of strategic partnerships, including one with London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), PwC and CDC Group to develop the 2018 edition of Companies To Inspire Africa."

Stuart Karle, a partner in North Base Media and member of the Asoko board while commenting on their participation at the Series A funding round said: "Asokos information services provide clients with critical insights into business segments and markets in Africa. We were excited to participate in this funding round, which will dramatically expand the scope of Asokos coverage and improve the transparency of markets in Africa for Asokos clients.

Julien Riant and Charles-Henri de Mortemart, partners at incoming investor LC Partners, added: We are proud to work with the Asoko team who has developed a unique corporate information offering for Africa. We strongly believe in Asokos product roadmap and its contribution to the global visibility of robust, African businesses in key African economies.

In 2017, Asoko Insights completed a $1.35 million fundraising round from North Base Media, an international media investment group specialising in growth markets and CRE Venture Capital, an investment firm focused on tech-enabled businesses across Africa.
Mr John Edokpolor, Lead Commercial Attorney, Microsoft MEA Emerging Markets, said in Lagos that May 25 would be the deadline for compiance with the regulation.

Edokpolor spoke at a media briefing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, in the GDPR (EU) 2016/679) the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission intend to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union.

The regulation will take effect from May 25. It replaces the Data Protection Directive which has been in effect since 1995.

NAN also reports that the new regulation became a law in April 2016, but given the significant changes some organisation will need to make to align with the regulation, a two-year transition period was included.

According to Edokpolor, failure to adhere to GDPR requirements can prevent trade and other dealings with EU businesses after the deadline.

The new legislation is a milestone on a journey into a new era, where data is the fuel powering companies of all shapes and sizes, from all sectors.

GDPR is a new European law designed to protect the privacy of citizens by setting new standards in terms of how personal data is handled.

As the law affects any organisation with ties to Europe, it is relevant to businesses around the world, he said.

Edokpolor said that as companies increasingly embraced the cloud, they had an unprecedented ability to capture and store massive amounts of data.

He said that advancement in business intelligence technology had given organisations the ability to pull insights from data prediclive in nature.

He advised that businesses should be a step ahead of customer expectations and needs, instead of merely reacting to them.

This is a significant step forward and truly marks the beginning of a new era, one in which data becomes the electricity powering companies.

An updated governance framework for data protection is a logical policy component of this new age.

Building on these rules, innovation coupled with trust among businesses and citizens will unlock productivity, help companies to keep their customers delighted and fuel a new generation of disruptors.

Ultimately, all of these translate into growth, he said.

He said that data which was the most important asset in a modern companys business portfolio needed the GDPR as a logical policy since it would guarantee the privacy and integrity of individuals data.

Edokpolor said that, with the compliance deadline approaching, many companies were thinking of steps to take to meet the new privacy and data protection requirements as efficiently and effectively as possible.

He said that achieving this would depend on how the companies would address three things  people, processes, and preparedness.

The attorney listed some principles that could help to achieve the compliance to include effective data management and creation of data confidence culture.

According to him, effective data governance demands a people-first approach.

Every business maintains strict processes for tracking revenue, costs, and all manner of financial flows.

They dont just do this because it is required, but because it makes business sense.

You cannot map your companys future if you do not know your current state of financial affairs to the bottom line.

Companies need to maintain the same birds-eye-view of their data assets, via a solid data governance strategy, he said.

`Edokpolor said that there was the need to place approach to data governance within the context of a broader digital transformation.

According to him, the May 25 deadline for GDPR compliance is not a final destination.

Rather, it is just one stepping-stone in an ongoing journey toward realising the full potential of digital transformation across economies and communities.
"China and the EU ... should take a clear stance against protectionism, jointly preserve the rules-based multilateral trade order, and keep the global economy on a sound and sustainable track," Zhang Ming, the head of the Chinese mission to the EU, said in a statement sent to AFP.

"This is a joint responsibility of China and the EU. We must act together to make that happen," Zhang said.

In his statement, Zhang firmly defended multilateralism and said "the United States turns its back on these globally recognised rules and its own commitment."

These "protectionist moves under the pretext of national security will undermine the credibility of the WTO-centred multilateral trade system, and the rules-based global trade order," he added.

The Chinese commerce ministry said Friday it is ready to pay "any cost" in the trade spat with Washington after already announcing plans to meet earlier US threats with levies on $50 billion worth of major US exports such as soybeans, cars and small aircraft.

The EU is caught in its own trade drama with the US, under a threat of crippling steel and aluminium tariffs by Washington.

Trump last month authorised the suspension of those fresh tariffs, but only gave the EU until May 1 to come up with a solution to unfair trade practices alleged by the US leader.

The EU has so far reacted cautiously to the US measures against China despite sharing many of the same grievances against Beijing as Washington.
Thousands also gathered in over a dozen other cities and towns to rally for Gaspar's departure, something that Interior Minister Tomas Drucker said he was considering.

President Andrej Kiska, a liberal who is at odds with the populist left-wing government, also called for Gaspar to leave, telling journalists earlier on Thursday that he "expects" the police chief "will be ousted in the coming days."

Kiska told Slovakia's TASR news agency that Gaspar's departure was a key part of "rebuilding people's trust in the police."

The EU member state of 5.4 million was plunged into political crisis after the February killing of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, who had been probing alleged ties between top politicians and the Italian mafia.

The killing and Kuciak's article, published after he and his fiancee were found shot dead, raised fresh concern about media freedom and corruption and sparked a wave of protests that forced the government to resign.

The new government appointed last month retains most of the same people from the previous administration of Robert Fico.

Analysts believe Fico will continue to call the shots from behind the scenes as he remains chairman of the governing Smer-SD party.

Bratislava-based political analyst Pavol Babos said the string of personnel changes are merely cosmetic.

"With regard to the overall state of the country, it is hard to expect significant changes as most of the areas will de facto still be governed by the same people in the same coalition," Babos told AFP.

Mass protests in late March had called for a snap election in a sign that the changes in government were not enough to quell public outrage triggered by the murder.

Police believe that Kuciak's death was "most likely" related to his investigation.
Lebanon's economy has been hard hit by repeated political crises, as well as the war in neighbouring Syria which has sent a million refugees fleeing across the border -- equivalent to a quarter of Lebanon's population before the conflict.

Western powers fear the turmoil could derail Lebanon, which has long served as a proxy battleground for bigger regional powers.

Concerns for the country's stability rose sharply in November, when Hariri announced his resignation from Saudi Arabia, in a shock move in which many observers saw the hidden hand of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Hariri later rescinded his resignation after mediation by France and Egypt.
The theory is fascinating as an artifact of our current political derangement, but more than that, its profoundly revealing about the lengths to which some Trump supporters will go to convince themselves that his presidency is going well.

As Paris Martineau explained in New York magazine, QAnon was born last October, when someone claiming to have Q level security clearance started a cryptic thread on 4chan, the online message board and troll playground. It was titled, The Calm Before the Storm, a phrase Trump had recently used. Q posted hints, some in the form of questions, ostensibly meant to help clued-in Trump supporters understand what was really going on in Washington beneath the facade of chaos and incompetence. (What is military intelligence? Why go around the 3 letter agencies?)

From these clues, a sprawling community on message boards, YouTube videos and Twitter accounts has elaborated an enormous, ever-mutating fantasy narrative about the Trump presidency. In the QAnon reality, Trump only pretended to collude with Russia in order to create a pretext for the hiring of Robert Mueller, the special counsel, who is actually working with Trump to take down an inconceivably evil and powerful network of coup-plotters and child sex traffickers that includes Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and George Soros.

QAnon points out that this is the beginning of the end for the Clintons, said Jerome Corsi  a prominent proponent of the lie that Obama was born in Kenya  on a YouTube broadcast in January. He warned that the world would be forced to contend with films of innocent children pleading for their lives while people are butchering them. Once that happens, presumably, Trump will be revealed as a master of 12-dimensional chess who successfully distracted smirking elites with his buffoonery while he was quietly saving the world.

Posts on other websites, as well as YouTube videos, Twitter accounts and even a book, have taken the theory in countless directions, encompassing characters from model Chrissy Teigen to disgraced politician Anthony Weiner. The creativity poured into QAnon is striking; its like something between a sprawling work of crowdsourced postmodern fiction and an immersive role-playing game.

But for many people, QAnon is very real. Barr has tried to make contact with Q on Twitter. InfoWars, the website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones  who has a close relationship with Trump confidant Roger Stone  has consistently promoted it. Last month, Cheryl Sullenger, senior vice president of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, posted an article on the groups website about an intel drop from Q revealing a White House plan to end Planned Parenthood. Sean Hannity retweeted a post with the #QAnon hashtag.

Some elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory  secret elites, kidnapped children  are classic, even archetypical. In all Western culture, you can argue that all conspiracy theories, no matter how diverse, come from the idea of the Jews abducting children, Chip Berlet, the co-author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort, told me. Stories about globalists stealing children for sex arent that far removed from stories about Jews stealing children to use their blood making matzo.

One twist, however, makes QAnon unusual. Conspiracy theories are usually about evil cabals manipulating world events. QAnon, by contrast, is a conspiracy theory in which the good guys  in this case, Trump and his allies  are in charge. Its a dream of power rather than a bitter alibi for victimhood. It seems designed to cope with the cognitive dissonance caused by the gap between Trump as his faithful followers like to imagine him and Trump as he is.

On Thursday, the usually even-keeled Mike Allen published a piece in Axios titled, The case for extreme worry, about how those close to Trump are panicked by his erraticism. The presidents whims and resentments have led to stock market convulsions and may soon result in painful tariffs that affect American farmers, an important part of his base. Muellers special counsel investigation continues to close in. Republicans have lost special election seats in red-leaning areas all over the country. But QAnon offers assurance that everything is under control.

Barr, for example, retweeted a QAnon post arguing that right-wing criticism of the omnibus spending bill, legislation many on the right deplored, was shortsighted. In releasing funds to the military, it said, the bill would set off a climatic series of events: Swamp drain begins, military seizes TRILLIONS in cabal assets, returning them to the people. An inspector general report would then reveal the establishments unspeakable crimes, after which the strings will be cut from the propaganda machine and people will stop falling for the garbage MSM, or mainstream media. Trump, and those who believe in him, would be vindicated.

You dont create a wild fantasy about your leader being a covert genius unless you understand that to most people, he looks like something quite different. You dont need an occult story about how your side is secretly winning if its actually winning. Publicly, many right-wing politicians and pundits disdain the Mueller investigation and pretend to believe that Trumps ties to Russia are negligible. But among part of the Trump base, the effort to explain them away appears to be creating psychic strain.

You cannot possibly imagine the size of this, said a Q dispatch last month. Trust the plan. Trust there are more good than bad. Q almost certainly doesnt know any state secrets, but he, she or they understand that some fervent Trump supporters require more reassurance than theyre willing to admit. Their desperate conviction that they will be proven right about Trump betrays a secret fear that they will be proven wrong.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
North Korea's relations with China seem to be improving rapidly since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sudden visit to Beijing at the end of March.

North Korean state media have resumed reports on Chinese President Xi Jinping's activities that they had stopped while ties soured over China joining international sanctions. They also belatedly published Xi's reply to Kim's message congratulating him on his re-election as president.

The reply was sent in on March 23 but only quoted on Thursday by the regime's official Korean Central News Agency as saying, "The traditional friendship between China and [North] Korea is a valuable joint asset."

Back on Sunday, Central Television aired "A Promise in Pyongyang," a North Korea-China joint-venture film that depicts the friendship between North Korean and Chinese dancers. Two days later it broadcast a documentary about regime founder Kim Il-sung's meetings with Chinese leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
The recording contradicted public statements by British authorities, who have described Sergei Skripals condition as critical but stable and said that only Yulia Skripal was conscious.

Within hours of the programs broadcast, British police released a statement on Yulia Skripals behalf, in which she said she woke up over a week ago now and that her strength is growing daily.

The two accounts underline a challenge Britain is facing as it endeavors to build and maintain an international coalition around the poisoning while keeping much of its evidence secret.

Authorities have released little information about the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, but they have expressed certainty that it was carried out on behalf of the Russian government. Officials have said Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy turned double agent who was living peacefully in southwestern England, was very likely targeted as an example to future defectors.

Moscow has denied the accusations and has seized on the ambiguities surrounding the investigation in an aggressive campaign to discredit British authorities.

At the United Nations on Thursday, the Russian ambassador, Vasily A. Nebenzya, called an emergency session of the Security Council where he accused British authorities of everything from planting false stories in the media to neglecting Sergei Skripals pet cats and guinea pigs. He gave an impromptu lecture about Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment and quoted at length from Alice in Wonderland.

This is some kind of theater of the absurd, he said. What, you were unable to find a more believable fake?

Britains public case against Russia has so far rested largely on the nerve agent, an unusual chemical weapon developed in the last years of the Soviet Union. But this week, the chief executive of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, Britains premier chemical weapons laboratory, said its scientists could not identify the precise source of the chemical, though it was almost certainly created by a state actor.

That conclusion undercut statements by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that Porton Down scientists had categorically traced the agent to Russia. Johnson swiftly came under criticism from Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, who said the foreign secretary had exceeded the information he had been given and had egg on his face.

Diane Abbott, another Labour leader, took aim at Johnson in an interview with the BBC, saying, so many people were willing to rush to the media and say it was unequivocally Putin.

We will, I hope, get some credit for taking a more thoughtful approach and asking the right questions, she said.

At the Security Council, Britains closest allies reiterated their support for the conclusion that Russia was behind the poisoning.

We share the U.K.'s assessment, namely that there is no other plausible explanation other than Russias responsibility, said Frances ambassador, Francois Delattre. His sentiments were echoed by the representatives from the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and others.

In her remarks to the Security Council, Britains ambassador, Karen Pierce, responded calmly to the barrage of Russian accusations, providing what she described as intellectual clarity.

About 250 police detectives are involved in the investigation, she said. They are reviewing 5,000 hours of surveillance video, examining 1,300 exhibits and interviewing 500 witnesses.

The U.K. has launched one of the most comprehensive and complex investigations into the use of a chemical weapon ever, Pierce said.

She also brought some of her own literary references. Responding to Nebenzya, who a few weeks ago compared British investigators on the case to the hapless Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes stories, Pierce compared Russia to Holmes nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

A new challenge could come within a few days if Viktoria Skripal, Sergei Skripals niece, follows through on plans to travel to Britain.

Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador in London, said at a news conference Thursday that he had offered Yulia Skripal assistance with transport, accommodation and Russian-English translation during her visit.

Viktoria Skripal has repeatedly expressed doubts about the British accusations, suggesting that her relatives could have been sickened by bad fish or attacked by the mother of Yulia Skripals boyfriend. She has made several appearances on Russias state-controlled television in recent days, in one case appearing alongside the two men accused of having poisoned Alexander Litvinenko, another former Russian spy, in London in 2006.

In the conversation broadcast Thursday on Russian television, Yulia Skripal tells her cousin that she will probably not get a British visa and that they probably would be unable to see each other.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Smack in the center of the controversy is the Kenya Police. They have been accused of terrorizing and brutalizing the local citizenry whenever there are riots or demonstrations.

Supreme court

In 2013, shootings occurred in the wake of demonstrations against the Kenyan Supreme Court ruling on March 30 upholding President Uhuru Kenyattas election victory on March 4.

Not only did the police open fire on protesters in Kisumu on March 30, but it seems they tried to conceal the evidence and intimidate the victims, said Leslie Lefkow, The Africa deputy director of Human Rights watch.

It looks like the Kisumu police tragically havent learned any lessons from the last time they opened fire on protesters.

Prosecution

During the violence that followed the 2007 presidential election, police used live ammunition unnecessarily against scores of protestors in Kisumu, killing 115 people. The killings were never adequately investigated or prosecuted.

Kisumus Kondele and the neighboring Nyawita settlement areas are usually the epicenters of unrest. Demonstrators barricade roads, burn tires, and loot shops.

Police also respond in kind by kicking, slapping, and whipping with sticks and batons anyone who crosses their path, irrespective of whether they are participating in violence.

Landmark

Most recently when the nation anxiously waited for the landmark Supreme Court ruling that overturned President Uhuru Kenyattas re-election on August 1, the lakeside city was packed with security personnel ready to unleash terror in case Jubilee won and spontaneous demonstrations against the regime erupted.

The heavily armed squads were culled by celebrations that greeted the unexpected NASA court victory. With ominous insensitivity prior to the historic ruling, Nyanza Regional Coordinator Wilson Njega called a press conference to warn that police would not hesitate to use force including live bullets if residents demonstrated against Uhurus expected win.

Mr Njega had dodged earlier reports that body bags had been ferried to Kisumu prior to the General Election.Baby Pendo who was shot dead during violent protests has become the face of the struggle by the Lakeside City against police brutality.

Governor
In an open letter published on the Nation, Kibaki called on all Africans, particularly those in leadership, to be more committed towards water conservation.

The retired President warned that water would continue to cause disruptions through droughts, floods, and other calamities unless the continent developed a strategic and insightful strategy for water management.

It is upon the current leadership to carry the burden of inspiring the change demanded in managing our deplorable water situation if history is to judge us kindly. That is our solemn duty to the future generations,the retired President.

The former President issued the statement in his capacity as Unescos Special Envoy for Water in Africa.
Many have questioned the Nasa leader whether the assembly is similar to the banned Peoples Assembly, especially after the infamous handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta early march.

Mr Odinga failed to divulge more details about the meeting but said it was successful as he engaged the youth on the current political situation in the country.

ALSO READ: 33 drunk high school students arrested with rolls of bhang

I had an interactive session with members of the Peoples Parliament whose membership is drawn from all the counties.

We exchanged views on the current events in our nation and they have pledged their full support for the next steps ahead as a nation, Mr Odinga said.

Outrightly, most tweeps gathered that the meeting might have been that of the peoples assembly which Economist and Nasa strategist David Ndii announce its suspension, nearly two days after the truce between Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Odinga at Harambee House.
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An F-15K fighter jet crashed into a mountain on Thursday, killing both pilots, according to the Air Force. The body of one of the pilots was found, and the other is also presumed dead.

The jet took off from an airbase in Daegu at 1:30 p.m. and was on its way back from a training mission when it crashed in nearby Chilgok, North Gyeongsang Province at around an hour later.

A military source said, "The body of the captain was found near the debris of the crashed aircraft. We are looking for the first lieutenant, but there are no signs that he escaped so he is also presumed to have died."
Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor seeks to block Telegram

 RIA Novosti, Kirill Kallinikov

10:59 06/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI)  The communications agency Roskomnadzor on Friday filed a lawsuit with the Tagansky District Court of Moscow demanding to restrict access to information resources of Telegram messenger in Russia, the watchdog announced on its website.

Telegram failed to fulfill the watchdogs order and did not submit user messages encryption keys to the Federal Security Service (FSB) in 15 days after the Supreme Court upheld the FSB demand. The messenger insists that it is technically impossible to transfer encryption keys.

In June 2017, the communications watchdog Roskomnadzor requested Telegram management to comply with the Russian legislation or face blocking of the messenger. Telegram founder Pavel Durov agreed to register the service in Russia. However, he refused to abide by laws incompatible with Telegram privacy policy, Durov wrote on his VKontakte (VK) page in late June.

In July, Durov received the FSB requests to provide information for decoding messages of six app users. In September, law enforcement authorities drew up administrative protocols against Telegram because of law violation, as Durov failed to reply for the request.

The Meshchansky District Court of Moscow has fined the company 800,000 rubles ($14,000) for refusal to provide FSB with information on message decoding concerning several users. Telegram has been found guilty of failure to store and (or) furnish information on users and their messages to law enforcement agencies. The ruling has become effective.

In December, Telegram Messenger LLP filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Russia seeking to cancel the Federal Security Services (FSB) decree establishing the procedure for provision of information on decoding of user data. On March 19, the lawsuit was dismissed. Telegram was obliged to comply with the FSB order within 15 days. The company filed an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the fine, lawyer Damir Gainutdinov told RAPSI on March 22.

In early April, the Presidential Council for Human Rights called Roskomnadzor to refrain from blocking Telegram messenger in Russia and asked FSB to find other ways of legal access to the messages of users endangering the national security.

According to the Federal Law On Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information, organizers of information distribution on the Internet must submit information about users and their messages to the authorized governmental bodies conducting investigative activities and ensuring the state security.
Ex-councilor of Murmansk Regions governor to go on trial over alleged embezzlement

 flickr.com/Joe Gratz

11:43 06/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI)  Investigation into Gennady Shubin, the former councilor of the Murmansk Regions governor, as well as his alleged accomplices charged with abuse of office and embezzlement of nearly one billion rubles ($17.3 million) has been completed, the press-service of the Investigative Committee has stated.

The criminal case is expected to be transferred to a court soon.

Other defendants in the case are ex-lawmaker of the Murmansk Regional Duma Maksim Nefedov and former top managers of housing and community services companies, Kirill Popov, Vitaly Poborchy, Yevgeny Morozov and Nikolay Yerashkin.

According to investigators, in 2010-2011, the defendants conspired to artificially increase debt owed to Kandalaksha Water Services company by refusing to pay the bills, expecting the company to go bankrupt and prepared for takeover. Investigators noted that the company experienced losses estimated at over 18 million rubles ($312,500).

Allegedly, in the same period officials have stolen 6,000 tons of fuel oil belonging to TD Resource Invest company and obtained 100 million rubles ($1.7 million) as a result. Shubin himself is also charged with embezzlement committed by an organized criminal group estimated at 820 million rubles ($14.2 million) provided by Sberbank in credits.
One more case opened against St. Petersburg Church of Scientology

12:22 06/04/2018

ST. PETERSBURG, April 6 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) - A criminal case on money laundering has been opened against one of the leaders of the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg, the press service of the Federal Security Services (FSB) regional directorate has told RAPSI.

According to investigators, a group of people including one of the religious organizations leaders laundered 17 million rubles ($294,000) out of 140 million rubles (about $2.5 million) received from illegal business activities.

In late March, searches were conducted at the premises of the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg. The raids were directed to identifying more items and documents confirming the criminality of the religious organization leaders actions, the FSB press-service said.

Currently, the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg leader Ivan Matsitsky and chief accountant of the religious group Sakhib Aliyev are in detention. The organizations executive director Galina Shurinova, chief of the official matters department Anastasia Terentyeva and her assistance Constance Yesaulkova are under house arrest. They stand charged with illegal business, inciting hatred and enmity, violation of human dignity.

According to investigators, from 2013 to 2016, the organization received over 276 million rubles (about $5 million) for rendering its services. However, the Church of Scientology of St. Petersburg has not been incorporated under the law, an FSB representative said in court earlier.

Dianetics and Scientology are a set of religious and philosophical ideas and practices that were put forth by L. Ron Hubbard in the US in the early 1950s.

The scientific community never recognized it as science.

A resolution passed in 1996 by the State Duma, the lower house of Russias parliament, classified the Church of Scientology as a destructive religious organization.

The Moscow Regional Court ruled in 2012 that some of Hubbards books be included on the Federal List of Extremist Literature and prohibited from distribution in Russia.
Russia expects ECHR to pass deliberate ruling on Georgias appeal  official

 RIA Novosti, Oleg Yefrosinin

17:43 06/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI)  Russia has presented the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with a huge number of evidence related to an appeal filed by Georgia and expects the court to pass a deliberate ruling in the case, the official representative of Russia Mikhail Galperin has said.

The Grand Chamber of the ECHR is expected to hold hearings concerning the appeal over the military conflict of 2008.

Galperin noted that the evidence provided to the ECHR requires rigorous analytical work needed for study of all documents. The official expressed belief that review of international disputes in the court requires special conditions including specific procedure of evidence analysis.
Bill on video interrogation of witnesses submitted to State Duma

 RIA Novosti, Vadim Zhernov

14:23 06/04/2018

MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI)  A bill on video interrogation of witnesses in criminal cases has been submitted to the State Duma, according to the database of the parliaments lower house.

The draft law stipulates the procedure and particularities of interrogation of witnesses in criminal cases through video link. Amendments are proposed to the Criminal Procedure Code.

Earlier, the government conceptually backed the use of video conference for interview in order to create necessary conditions for delivery of justice and its availability.

However, the Cabinet of Ministers had some remarks to the bill. In particular, the government noted that the bill limited the use of video conference interrogation for other parties to criminal proceedings including victims, experts, specialists, suspected and accused persons.
A court on Thursday once again rejected an arrest warrant for former South Chungcheong Province governor An Hee-jung, who is accused of repeatedly raping his secretary and another woman who worked for him. It was prosecutors' second attempt in as many weeks.

Seoul Western District Court Judge Park Seung-hye said, "The charges leave room for debate."

The rejection turned on a technicality. Instead of charging An (53) with rape, prosecutors indicted him on the lesser charge of sexual coercion by a person in authority. This gives more weight to the victim's position as in some way dependent on the perpetrator, thus making it hard for them to resist even if no actual violence is used.

On a rape charge they would have to prove violence and active resistance, which may be difficult in the case of the secretary, Kim Ji-eun, who continued to work for An and accompany him on business trips until she spoke out on TV last month.

A nationwide network of feminist and victim-support groups issued a statement condemning the court's decision.


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Home  Just In  Nepal PM Oli arrives in India on three-day state visit

Kathmandu, April 6

Nepals Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has landed in New Delhi in India on a three-day state visit on Friday morning.

Indian Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh received him at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Oli is leading a 54-member delegation to the southern neighbour.

(Updated at 11:30 am)



Nepal PM Oli leaves for India on three-day state visit

Kathmandu, April 6

Nepals Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has left for India on a three-day state visit.

It is the first foreign trip of the CPN-UML Chairman after being elected the Prime Minister in mid-February. Except nominal exceptions, all Nepali prime ministers first foreign trips have been to India, which surrounds the landlocked country on east, west and south.

The Prime Ministers delegation includes his spouse Radhika Shakya; ministers Raghubir Mahaseth and Matrika Yadav; chief political advisor Bishnu Rimal among others. A key member of the 54-member delegation, Ministers for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali is currently in Baku of Azerbaijan for the Non-Aligned Movement Conference and he will directly fly to Delhi later.

Oli took a flight of the national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation, from the Tribhuvan International Airport of Kathmandu to New Delhi-based Indira Gandhi International Airport at 9 am today. He will land in the Indian capital after around one hour.

Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Timalsina, senior ministers, security officials, bureaucrats and leaders of his CPN-UML party saw Oli off at the airport.

Oli, Shakya and ministers will stay at the Hyderabad House as state guests.

Oli will return home on Sunday.
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Over the course of 26-plus years of service, Ive witnessed a lot of changes to the main sighting system of the issued long-gun. The rifle has been the primary weapon for the military since the Pennsylvania Rifle (some say Kentucky, but I was born and raised in Pennsylvania and loyalty counts). The rifle then, and still today, is the modern sword and shield. Its the inseparable tool of the soldier on the battlefield, becoming almost ubiquitous in the armory of modern-day law enforcement (LE) and a self-defense implement for the law-abiding citizen.

Our optics nowadays are an integral part of that sword and shield, and, like other components such as rails and furniture, must evolve to keep pace with technology and ever-emerging threats. Change for some entails resistance and discomfort while embarking into the unknown, especially when it comes from a place of shooting an optic were already comfortable with.

Ive personally witnessed the various stages of transformation of our sighting systems, from iron sights, through adoption of the Aimpoint 5000, various other red dot optics, and fixed power optics such as the ACOG, to the evolution of the next combat optic  a low-power variable scope. Theyve been kicking around the special-operations force community for a few years, but it appears that the entire military is poised to adopt them. So at this juncture its worth considering where weve come from, and where were going.

Iron Sights

We cant have a discussion about sighting systems without discussing the granddaddy of all combat optics. Irons have been around since the dawn of shoulder-fired weapons, starting out as fixed and evolving into sturdy, adjustable designs as manufacturing capabilities grew. While theyre great combat sights and are still primary optics on some carbines today, I will say this: Youre behind the f*cking power curve if your job entails you to be in harms way and iron sights are all you have.

Yes, the U.S. military kicked a lot of adversary ass using them around the world, blasting bad guys in the face. Muskets were also a thing. Today, in the real world, if you have them at all, they should be referred to as backup iron sights (BUIS). Yes, backup. Companies still thrive today producing smaller, lighter, slimmer, easily adjustable sights that are intuitive and viable to todays gunslingers no matter what your job is.

But remember theyre BUIS  not primary sights. And if your SGM or police chief is an old-school, I will out-shoot you with iron sights, kinda guy, dont f*ckin listen to him.

Advantages

Theres one main advantage to iron sights, according to the gospel of Brokos  theyre outstanding tools for learning the fundamentals of marksmanship. Hell, special forces (SF) didnt take them out of our sniper course until 2010. We shot the old NRA positional shoot and actually required a grouping drill to even start the course  all using iron sights. Why? Because they drive the fundamentals of marksmanship home.

Disadvantages

Comparing iron sights to whats currently on the market and in the U.S. arsenal for military and LE agencies, there are a few notable disadvantages compared to optics we need to highlight. Target acquisition is significantly slower compared to any optic, due to the necessity of aligning three objects (target, front sight, and rear sight) at different focal lengths.

Iron sights are also hard to see in low-light conditions, even with tritium inserts. Today, optics typically have variable intensity, illuminated reticles, and at low power, allow us to shoot with both eyes open, increasing our field of view. Its very difficult to be accurate and shoot iron sights with both eyes open. In particular, this is a huge disadvantage when utilizing them in a close-quarters battle (CQB) environment.

Red Dot Sight/Optic

Companies have been toying with red dot sights longer than most think. Aimpoint AB marketed the first one in 1975; the military adopted its first red dot contract in 1997. That was the Aimpojnt Comp M2 (or M68), which was in the field by 2000. I was a somewhat young SF guy back in the mid 90s and remember when we got our Aimpoint 5000 and Trijicon reflex sights (SF adopted the Trij in 1996).

What a world of difference slapping those onto a carbine made. You know the first thing I noticed? Sight alignment and sight picture was pretty f*cking easy! Place dot on target, squeeze trigger, repeat until bad guy stopped moving. It was also a hell of a lot faster acquiring targets at close and far distances. The red dot segment of the optics universe has had its ups and downs, but continues to evolve and produce better products than introduced in the 1990s.

My previous community adopted the EOTech over the Aimpoint years ago, and despite their well-publicized failings, they continue to serve our warfighters. Sometimes the guys pulling triggers for real rather than hysterically posting about it on the internet accept the failings of a particular piece of kit, so long as they can work around it and can benefit from the advantages that it offers Otherwise wed still be shooting M14s. Red dots are great optics in certain roles, and Ive been privileged to be involved with testing and shooting just about every viable red dot optic out there. But they arent the be-all and end-all of combat optics.

Advantages

The red dot of a red dot sight is on the same focal plane as the target. When you look at the target or the dot you dont need to shift your focus as with iron sights, resulting in much faster target acquisition. The second biggest gain is reduced parallax (where the reticle appears to move in relation to the target). This happens when the shooters head position changes. Red dots make it very easy to shoot your carbine in awkward positions, compared to iron sights and fixed powered optics.

Disadvantages

Where red dots fall down is at distance. With no magnification and no way to effectively range that distance, red dots are effectively restricted to point blank range, unless you start SWAGing your holdovers. Granted, the EOTech has units of measurement in its reticle and some companies have multiple dots to allow some holdovers  all nice and well when youre on the same flat range over and over. The reality is that its hard to measure or find the time for a correct holdover, just using a dot. Red dot optics arent the best option in which to introduce stadia lines etched into a single, non-magnified piece of glass. Making out stadia lines with the naked eye is very difficult at range.

More on Red Dot Sights:

The Holosun 507c made the cut for our Red Dot Sighs buyers guide, check it out.

The Past, Present, and Future of the Reflex Sight, read more.

Fixed Power and Switchable Power Optics

Were including two types of combat optics in this category. Specifically, the ACOG and the ELCAN Specter DR. SF adopted the ACOG in 1995 to complement the Trijicon reflex. Theyre a good, rugged sight built for distance  a hard-as-nails fixed four-power optic.

I can say we missed the mark by mounting an RMR on top of these to try to adopt a single sight for the mountains of Afghanistan and streets of Iraq. Height over bore (HOB) for the RMR ends up being just too damn high, and its very hard to utilize it for CQB that way, let alone hit anything past 100 m.

So we adopted the Specter DR from Elcan around 2003 or 2004. The intent was the same as the ACOG  one optic to be utilized for distance, as well as up-close-and-personal CQB situations; the Elcan has one power with a dot and a four-power throw lever. Both are great sights. Neither are what we need for todays battlefield.

Advantages

Both optics have four-power magnification, units of measurement for ranging and engaging, sturdy construction, and soldier-proof design.

Disadvantages

Speed and acquisition of targets at close range suffers. For a combat optic, 4x power isnt enough to observe and report if needed. The RMR failed as a CQB optic due to HOB, though offset mounts wouldve taken care of this problem. The Elcans field of view is very hard to use for CQB, even in 1x mode. Both optics are quite heavy, because theyre trying to give you the optimal short- to long-range optic in one package.

Variable Power Optic

Now we get to the center of gravity of this article  the next-generation combat optic will be a low power variable (LPVO), offering 1x on the low end and around 6x on the high end. Some Tier 1 units have been running 16 optics for a while now. Personally, I started running a 1.1-8 power optic hard around 2006-2007, and technology has certainly improved since then.

Being the academically inclined, cerebral technician I am (cue my former team members laughter), I trained with this type of combat optic and compared times on the flat range with my EOTech. At close range, I wasnt quite as fast, but as the distance stretched out, overall accuracy was way better. Not that hard to figure out  8-power equals more hits at distance. Well, duh, Dan.

I wasnt as confident with this optic compared to my EOTech, especially when it came to CQB, which was, after all, our bread and butter at that point in time. It was like looking through a straw to find the dot when needed for fast target acquisition. The illuminated reticle wasnt always visible when shooting in awkward positions with the weapon canted 90 degrees, and in bright sunlight, it sometimes washed out. To overcome these shortcomings, I ended up running a mini red dot sight on a 45-degree offset mount  I just needed that up-close confidence I wasnt getting with the 1.1 power  yet it got me thinking.

Since then, LPVOs have come a long way. Ten years have passed since a variable optic first sat on my carbine, and the industry has developed some great scopes with yet more to come.

Advantages

If built right, whether its a first, second, or dual-focal plane reticle, an LPVO offers all the advantages of iron sights, red dots, and fixed power optics. And then some. Previous criticisms of their relative fragility have been addressed, and the ones were using on deployment are built like tanks.

Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage I see for the future of variable power optics is, believe it or not, one of training. In order to exploit their full capabilities, they require some time to train on, especially if youve been a red dot guy your whole life. Unless youre spun up on the reticle and the advantages it offers, youll sell the capabilities of the optic short and wont be able to make full use of it as a ranging and observation tool, which vastly increases the ability to make first round hits at extended distances. The bottom line is that you cant just zero your dot in a LPVO and treat it like an Aimpoint.

Lets Put it all Together

Arm yourself with the knowledge to make a decision on whats the best choice of combat optic for yourself, your department, or agency. Red dot, holographic sights, and fixed-power optics are still great sighting systems  there are thousands of different militaries and LE agencies utilizing them today around the globe. In a perfect world wed all be fortunate enough to own and utilize several combat optics, but some of us dont have the deep pockets for that. I was fortunate enough to have some insight and input on whats next for SF.

Not to outstep my boundaries, but some things in the SOPMOD Kit will be replaced with a 1-6x or greater LPVO as the next combat optic. The documentation to support this can be found on FedBizOpps.gov, where it outlines the specification to industry on building a badass variable power optic for the military: wide field of view, illuminated dot no greater than 1.5 MOA, visible under any lighting conditions, reticle is simple yet designed to observe and engage at distance, (wind, moving targets) etc.

This is asking a lot, but youll gain the ability to do everything with one optic if need be. A reticle with a daylight illuminated dot is a huge selling point for the SF community  up to now, most of the optics industry has failed at this when it comes to seeing it staring into the sun, a worst-case scenario. So far, the companies that have placed this dot in the second focal plane have had much better success.

Keep track of industry; surely therell be some greatly improved variable power optics with all the features the military is looking for.

Dans Two Cents

Arm yourself, investigate, and research LPVOs for your own blaster. Tier 1 units are running them, the three-gun World has been utilizing them for a long time, for the most part the bugs have been worked out, and theres a range of price points to fit most budgets. Find a wide FOV, an illuminated dot for close-range work, and an appropriate reticle for distance, with the ability to take care of ranging, wind, and movers. In Dans world, when Snake Plissken and I infil for Escape from Chicago, Im bringing an LPVO for my combat carbine.

About the Author

Dan Brokos is a retired sergeant major and former Special Forces Green Beret with 26 years of service. Hes currently the CEO of Lead Faucet Tactical. Questions about training? Contact him at [email protected]
RECOIL took to the Vermont Statehouse steps this past weekend to stand with Vermont's law-abiding gun owners and protest new gun control legislation that is all but certain to pass, making the possession of 30-round, standard capacity rifle magazines illegal, among other gun control measures.

I handed out 1198 30-round MAGPUL PMAG rifle magazines to a peaceful crowd of more than 1100 people over the course of about two hours. The event was originally conceived as a way to raise awareness and fuel local opposition to Vermont's new gun control measures, but it quickly turned into a full-blown rally for gun rights.

Until this winter, members of neither political party would have thought Vermont's legislature would pass a gun control bill. The state has one of the country's lowest crime rates and a heritage of outdoor pursuits that include all flavors of hunting. In fact, Vermont's Republican Governor Phil Scott responded to questions about the state's gun laws the day after 17 people were killed by Nicholas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, by saying Vermont needed no new gun laws.

Within days of making that statement, the Governor announced a change of heart and stood with legislators proposing gun control measures that included background checks on private party transfers, an assault weapons ban, a limit on rifle and pistol magazine capacity, a bumpstock ban, raising the minimum age to buy a rifle to 21, and an extreme risk confiscation measure, among others.

The most controversial measures ended up in a bill called S.55 which was originally meant to help the state get rid of firearms collected by the state, ergo its name, An act relating to the disposition of unlawful and abandoned firearms.

By Thursday of last week, the witches brew of gun control measures poured into S.55 in the weeks prior was pared back to four measures; background checks on all firearm transfers (excluding immediate family), raising the age to buy a rifle to 21, placing a 10-round limit on rifle magazines and a 15-round limit on pistol magazines, and outlawing bumpstock-like devices.

I was in my truck Thursday night, rolling on I-89 on my way to my eastern Vermont home. I was listening to a VPR reprt on the latest political wrangling surrounding S.55. I was racking my brain for a way I could help my fellow law-abiding Vermont gun-owners when I heard lawmakers were trying to put a carve-out in the bill to allow firearm manufacturers in the state to continue producing standard-capacity magazines; Vermont hosts one of Century Arms manufacturing plants and it employs a few hundred Vermonters. This, combined with the bill's grandfathering of all the standard-capacity mags in the state, the easy availability of mags in neighboring states, and the impossibility of tracking a non-serialized product, made me realize how toothless, unenforceable, and toxic the measure was to Vermont's population, and to a lesser extent, its economy. It got me thinking.

I knew a few people in the firearm industry and one, in particular, was positioned perfectly to help me rattle the cage here in Vermont. It was after hours Thursday when I called Duane Liptak of MAGPUL Industries and asked him how much it would cost me to get a bunch of mags here to give away as a show of opposition to the pending mag ban. I was hoping he'd authorize an Ethan Allen Emergency Discount and all I'd have to do is figure out how to split a couple thousand bucks worth rifle mags between my expense report and the charitable donation section of my 2018 tax return.

To my surprise, he said don't sweat it, then asked how many I wanted and where they needed to go. I told him the rub was that the law takes effect on passage, meaning the Governor could sign Monday, closing the window on me. He asked me to sit tight while he worked on the logistics.

Liptak got back within a few minutes and let me know it was too late to ship anything that night, but asked if I could accept a Saturday delivery. He'd pulled a dozen boxes of mags and set them to ship overnight for a Saturday delivery.

At this point, I decided to wait until the mags were on the way to begin rallying the locals. So, I sat on my hands and made a quick plan that included mobilizing local support through social media, raising awareness through media outreach. I also planned to reach out to the state firearm advocacy group, the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs and invite them to bring a donation box, as I'd encourage attendees to donate to the cause.

As soon as I saw the tracking number become active Friday morning, I called VTFSC President Chris Bradley Friday and told him what I planned to do. He was fully on board and offered to rally his troops and help spread the message. I was grateful because I really had no idea if 50 or 1000 people were going to come out to the Statehouse with less than 24 hours notice, and I didn't cherish explaining to my wife how long these huge boxes of mags were going to reside in our house.

I held off putting anything out publicly about the event until the tracking info on the boxes began to actually move for fear of a false start. Late Friday afternoon, around 4:40, the boxes began to move. The RECOIL team mobilized. We socialized the event, posted a press release and shared it with the local media and the VTFSC. And we watched the tracking info for the 1200 PMAGs making their way hastily from Cheyenne to Vermont.

At 9:30 Saturday morning, a FedEx truck arrived at RECOIL's Vermont offices and the driver, a RECOIL reader, unloaded the shipment from his truck and loaded it into ours. He expressed support for the Green Mountain Airlift and we thanked him for his help with a few copies of our current issue.

We continued to spread the word through the morning, then at 1 pm I headed to the Vermont Statehouse. As I pulled up, I saw the crowd. The hunter orange-tinged crowd was bigger than I'd hoped. (In Vermont, wearing safety orange is the polite way to show political support for gun rights.)

Chris Gibson, a friend I'd asked to help me out, met me at the corner of the Statehouse lawn. He had not only saved me a good parking spot but he'd linked up with another of my friends, Wes Rainy of Green Mountain Armory and the pair corralled a cadre to help move the mags into position and stand as a phalanx to keep things orderly once the handing-out began.

Our little giveaway morphed into a political rally, as Bradley had lined up a number of speakers to address the crowd. There were probably close to 1000 people on the Statehouse steps and lawn at this point and there were a few police uniforms mixed into the landscape. Before I carried anything up from the truck, I found the Vermont Capitol Police Chief Matthew Romei to find out if we were going to end up in jail over the event. He said as long as we didn't block traffic and nobody got out of hand, we were free to use the Statehouse lawn as a gathering place. He also thanked us for coming and asked if we'd set aside PMAGs for his officers on duty.

I said a few things about freedom and unity (Vermont's founding principles) and let the crowd know we'd be giving out the mags in a few minutes after the roster of speakers had their say. The speakers included Senator Joe Benning, Senator John Rodgers, Senator David Soucy, Representative Pat Brennan, Representative Jannsen Willhoit, Chris Bradley, and Ed Cutler.

We asked the crowd to line up on either side of the Statehouse steps for each person to get a mag. The double line extended all the way to State Street and I probably shook 900 hands and gave out more than 1100 mags to individuals over the course of the next 90 minutes. I took a couple of breaks, one to talk to the TV reporters, one to hand a guy in a wheelchair a mag, and one to tell someone asking for mags on behalf of the speakers that the politicians could stand in line like everyone else.

After handing everyone in the twin lines a mag, I had about half of one of the boxes remaining. I offered the remainder to the stragglers for further donations to the VTFSC.

At the end of the day, Bradley tells me the VTFSC donation box was stuffed with $10,843.07, the Governor saw more than 1000 law-abiding Vermonters come out in support of their gun rights with less than 24 hours notice.

We'd also like to thank Dave Pastry for sharing his photographs of the event with us.
This is a setback for the divestment process of Air India as no other Indian airline has the capability to fund the process

IndiGo, Indias largest airline, has pulled out of the race for Air India, dealing a blow to the governments disinvestment plans.

IndiGo was the only airline that had officially expressed an interest to buy the state-owned carrier.

IndiGo said it was pulling out as it was not interested in taking over Air Indias domestic operations.

Last year, IndiGo had made it clear it was primarily interested in Air Indias international business and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, which operates in West Asia.

Quite simply, we are interested in the airline operations of Air India. And more specifically, we are focused narrowly on Air Indias international operations and Air India Express, IndiGo founder Rahul Bhatia had said.

However, the government did not demerge Air Indias business and instead decided to sell the integrated airline along with Air India Express and its ground-handling joint venture AISATS.

From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air Indias international operations and Air India Express.

"However, that option is not available under the governments current divestiture plans for Air India, said Aditya Ghosh, president and whole-time director, IndiGo.

Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air Indias airline operations.

The move, analysts say, is a setback for the disinvestment process as no other Indian airline has the capability to fund the process.

In a research report SBI Caps pegged Air Indias value at around $2.5 billion (approximately Rs 16,200 crore).

While most Indian carriers are eligible to bid, arranging funds could be a challenge. Airlines with strong balance sheets, like IndiGo, or those with strong sponsor support, like Vistara, are better placed, SBI caps had said.

Some, however, welcomed the move. It is in interest of their shareholders. IndiGo needs to remain focused on executing its business plan which will see very aggressive expansion in domestic and international operations, said Kapil Kaul, CEO South Asia, at aviation consulting firm CAPA.

Air India, though a very good opportunity, would have been too complex and very risky for IndiGo. IndiGos decision was announced after market hours.

Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters
The next step is the charter, which aims to safeguard consumer rights and address criticism about the government not doing enough for passengers.

The civil aviation ministry has proposed an increase in compensation for loss of life and baggage in air accidents, strict caps on cancellation fees and monetary benefits to passengers for missed flight connections.

These have been recommended by the ministry in its proposed passenger charter.

A draft proposal is expected for public consultation in the next few days.

The ministry has already introduced a grievance redressal app and abolished the practice of stamping passenger bags during airport security checks.

The next step is the charter, which aims to safeguard consumer rights and address criticism about the government not doing enough for passengers.

We have had two rounds of preliminary discussion with airlines, airports and a few other industry participants.

"This has helped us develop a good first draft of the passenger charter that we can now place in the public domain for consultation, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha tweeted on Wednesday.

At present, benefits and facilities to be given to passengers in case of delays, cancellation and denied boarding are specified in regulations.

Compensation for damage or loss of baggage and for injuries or deaths in air accidents is given in line with global norms.

The ministry has recommended an increase in the liability for both domestic and international travel, with compensation of Rs 1,000-3,000 a kg for loss, delay and damage. Airlines are presently liable to pay upto Rs 20,000 and Rs 100,000 (rupee equivalent of SDR) for loss or damage to bags in domestic and international flights, respectively.

Further, the ministry has proposed that airlines compensate for a passenger missing a connecting flight due to the delay.

SDR refers to special drawing rights - a monetary unit created by the IMF, which is used to calculate compensation.

An airline is liable to pay upto Rs 10 million (rupee equivalent of SDR) for a passenger death in international travel and Rs 200,000 in domestic travel.

The ministry has recommended a similar liability for both international and domestic travel. If accepted, this will increase the insurance premium of carriers.

The ministry has also recommended amending the rules on delay and cancellation.

It has suggested airlines offer compensation of Rs 3,000-20,000 for missed flight connections - a move resisted by airlines.

In cases of denied boarding, the ministry has suggested on-the-spot auctions and minimum compensation of Rs 5,000.

To protect customers from stiff cancellation charges, the government wants airlines to not levy a fee for a change in name if a spelling error is pointed to by the passenger within 24 hours.

Also, airlines to print cancellation charges on the ticket. In no circumstance will an airline levy a cancellation charge which equals the basic plus fuel surcharge.

Government officials say consultation with airlines continue on this, with the latter opposing a steep hike in these.

The consultations are still on. A more refined version will be put out for public consultation, said a senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

According to the official, airlines have argued they should not be liable for a passenger missing a connecting flight if the two journeys are on a different PNR.

"They said the current level of penalties for airlines are already high and there is no reason to increase that."

When asked, AirAsia India said it had given its views to the ministry.

Vistara declined comment and other airlines did not respond to an e-mail query.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
But, majority might be left out, as only those investing in entities recognised by the government could qualify

The central government might exempt investments by individuals in certain start-ups from the so-called angel tax.

We are discussing retrospective exemption of Section 56 of the Income Tax Act for angel tax investments in start-ups, said a senior official from the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP).

The department oversees the regulatory framework for start-ups.

The said tax, under Section 56(2)(viib) of the I-T Act, is a levy of 30 per cent on the amount exceeding the fair market value of shares issued by unlisted companies, treated as income from other sources.

Concerns have been expressed over the possibility of investments into the start-up system being discouraged by this tax and also of harassment by I-T officials.

Exemption from this tax is now being considered but might only be given up to a certain quantity of angel investment in start-ups, the official added.

Only investors who have funded start-ups that have been certified by the government's inter-ministerial board (IMB) will be eligible for the exemption, the official added.

This would mean the majority of such investments get no relief.

IMB recognises start-ups for the purpose of providing tax benefits.

However, those incorporated before April 1, 2016, are not eligible for such breaks and will therefore also not be eligible for exemption from the angel tax.

From what I understand, the criteria they plan to set for clearance by the IMB for exemption from Section 56 is supposed to be more relaxed than that for companies to claim I-T exemption.

"If the criteria doesnt change, then it will not help, said Saurabh Srivastava, chairman of India Angel Network and ex-chairman of the software sectors apex body, Nasscom.

IMB was set up in 2016, to provide an impetus to start-ups. It has officials from DIPP, the department of biotechnology and the department of science and technology, among others.

Only 88 start-ups have been extended tax benefits till date, of 8,765 ventures that had applied for it. The body might also be revamped, another official said.

The angel tax issue has been pointed to as an example of the governments differing approaches to domestic and international investors.

Of the $10 billion (Rs 650 billion) of investment into the Indian start-up system last year, only 10 per cent came from domestic investors.

Domestic investors shouldnt be discriminated against and treated sub-par to foreign investors in terms of the legitimacy of their money, which is the current status quo under 56(2)(viib), according to software products think-tank iSPIRT.

The government might announce a decision on the issue after DIPP finishes its ongoing consultation with the Central Board for Direct Taxes.

Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
What matters is the culture and the atmosphere of the workplace, and whether employees get treated fairly.

'It is also important for the employee to feel s/he is part of a winning team,' Credit Suisse's Mickey Doshi tells Niraj Bhatt.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

The first question I ask Mihir 'Mickey' Doshi at our lunch meeting at By the Mekong, a Chinese restaurant in The St Regis, Mumbai, is what his clients are thinking as the stock markets have been falling in the past few weeks.

Foreign investors, he says, are optimistic about India and believe that the government is doing the right things.

There are some concerns about the general elections and some possible slowdown because of that.

"Otherwise, their perception of emerging markets and equity markets in general remains positive," says he.

India's consumption story has always existed, but much-needed investments will only come from infrastructure spending by government in the form of roads, metros, airports and railways.

"The investment cycle has to turn," he adds.

Moreover, capital raising on the debt side is happening, and the equity capital market calendar is robust on both the initial public offerings and qualified institutional placement fronts.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity is also healthy.

"My outlook for the capital markets for the next 12 to 24 months is very positive," he adds.

We place our order for starters -- wild mushroom and edamame truffle dumplings -- when Doshi explains what's on his mind. He talks about his coming trip to Japan where he worked for seven years.

"It is cherry blossom season and my wife and I are taking four friends, and we will show them around," says Doshi, who is heading there after a decade.

After finishing Class 10 at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Doshi moved to the US. His father, who had studied in the US, wanted his two sons too to go there for education.

"My father was at the top of his game as CEO of the western region in M N Dastur." When his father told his boss about moving to the US, the engineering consulting firm opened a branch in New York for him.

Doshi skipped Class 11 and 12 and joined college. He accelerated through his degree from New York University and completed it in three years instead of four.

In 1981, he joined Deloitte and became a CPA (certified public accountant). Three years later, he joined Morgan Stanley in accounting with the sole purpose of moving to the front office or going for an MBA.

"I never intended to practise as an accountant, it was a stopgap before going to business school," Doshi says.

The head of Morgan Stanley's foreign exchange trading gave Doshi recommendation letters to two schools -- Harvard and Stanford -- and told him that if he got in either school it was great; else he would give Doshi a job as a forex trader.

He didn't get admissions, and a few months later in 1985 he was trading forex in Morgan Stanley's Tokyo office.

After a three year stint, he moved to New York for two years and returned to Japan in 1991.

Four years later, Vikram Pandit, who was heading Morgan Stanley's global institutional securities business, asked him to join the firm's India business, which was being set up, and he returned to India where he headed the broking business.

Doshi stresses the role of relationships in the business, and being there for the client in his time of need.

And that's what helped him build Credit Suisse, which he joined as CEO in 2006, into a leading investment bank in the country.

"I may not understand the nuances of the product, but my team does. I understand clients," Doshi says.

He knows many top industrialists and CEOs on the corporate side and global investors as well, and spends many an evening attending dinner parties for networking.

Our lunch of edamame fried rice, hakka noodles, and braised eggplant in hot garlic sauce arrives as Doshi delves upon investment banking and how it is a people's business.

"I believe in hiring the right people who are young and ambitious, which has worked both at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse," Doshi says.

However, people also underestimate the importance of the institution -- a young, hungry person with the backing of an institution is the best combination.

How does he keep them motivated?

"You know money is always important in our industry, but employees should enjoy coming to work every day," he says.

What matters is the culture and the atmosphere of the workplace, and whether employees get treated fairly.

"It is also important for the employee to feel he or she is part of a winning team. In all our businesses we try to make sure that we are a top decile house or in the top three," he adds.

When Doshi came to Credit Suisse, the broking industry was highly competitive, and he quickly built a team of young research analysts.

"In equities from day one, our research was a differentiator. You'll see us ranked in the top three over the past decade," he says.

Investment banking took a lot longer to build though.

"The first six-seven years were tough as markets went for a toss after the Lehman Brothers crisis," he says.

In the last three years markets have picked up.

"We have also got more established, there are more products, and a great team of bankers."

Investment banking and broking are cyclical businesses and layoffs are a routine affair during bad times. Doshi is conscious of this, and runs a tight ship.

"We have always been fairly lean, and that has held us in good stead," he says.

He believes that employees should see the business as their own and be prudent on expenses, without being penny wise and pound foolish.

Credit Suisse offices are nice and functional, but not extravagant like some of its competitors.

"I enjoy meeting people and I give as much time to private banking clients as I give to investment banking clients," says Doshi.

Unlike most other Asian banks, the wealth management business helps Credit Suisse's investment banking business.

"If you can get to an investment banking client via the entrepreneur, it is ideal. We have that benefit."

At the time of hiring Doshi, Paul Calello, chairman and CEO of Credit Suisse Group's investment banking division, had told him that in five years, he would be able to say that he built an institution from scratch.

"He was spot on. It had its frustration in 2007, and then 2008 happened. India went through tough times in 2012 and 2013. But as I look back I can say I enjoyed it for sure. I have no regrets and it continues to be a great and enjoyable ride," Doshi says.

However, he wishes that he had gone on to do the MBA, though he says, he has reached the corner office without the degree.

Doshi says his elder brother Viral, an education consultant specialising in admissions to Ivy League colleges in the US, has been his mentor.

Viral nudged Mickey into losing 10 kilos in 1981 and gave him advice on joining Deloitte, Morgan Stanley and wearing Brooks Brothers.

I ask him what he likes about Japan and its culture.

"As a nation, they believe that what is good for the country is good for everyone, and they have worked towards a common goal over the past few decades to become a powerful global force," he says.

According to him, the Japanese work ethic and discipline are worth emulating despite the criticism.

"I can't wait to go," he says excitedly as our lunch comes to an end.
'When it comes to national politics, the Modi-Shah BJP has successfully redefined secularism.'

'If a party like the Congress has to have a future, it has to move closer to the secular centre from the far Left where its Left infatuation during the UPA years dragged it,' argues Shekhar Gupta.



IMAGE: Congress President Rahul Gandhi interacts with sadhus at the Anubhava Mantapa in Basavakalyan, Bidar, Karnataka, February 13, 2018. Photograph: PTI Photo

United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi spoke a line at the recent India Today Conclave -- that the Congress paid for being seen as a Muslim party -- and sparked a larger debate on the status of India's Muslims, their culture and politics, and how popular minds now responded to it.

Influential voices took this forward, notably Harsh Mander and Ramachandra Guha in response in The Indian Express. We need to also explore the political meaning.

It is inadequate to keep the argument confined to culture, lifestyle, symbols, in short 'Muslimness'. Muslims, or any other faith for that matter, can choose what symbols they prefer. The question is: Will it get them political empowerment?

Sonia's regret is that her party's actions as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign played into the Hindu majority's fears of appeasement, disempowerment, and, most of all, terrorism.

Real or misplaced, it was a reality by 2014.

Since the 1989 Mandal-Mandir phase, India has seen the rising paradox of the vast majority acquiring a minority complex.

You can again protest that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP fuelled it, but then you protest too much.

This is politics.

If one side can exploit the minorities' insecurities, the other can respond by persuading the majority to feel that way.

The Congress played one side of this game brilliantly until, let's say, 1985, when the Shah Bano blunder broke its momentum.

That gave the RSS/BJP an opening into vast sections of the Hindus, who voted by default for the Congress.

As a result, the Congress has never won a majority again.

More importantly, it has also struggled to win back power in states with a significant Muslim vote (10 per cent or above) since then.

Sonia knows what she is talking about. Her party paid severely for what was seen as unrelenting minorityism.

The sad truth is that it didn't do very much for the Muslims. They saw through the hypocrisy.

See it like a Muslim. A Congress government carries out the Batla House encounter, and gives the posthumous Ashok Chakra to the officer who led it.

Then its most audible general secretary calls it fake and claims it brought tears to Sonia's eyes.

When UPA-1 came to power, it repealed POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) because it was rightly seen to victimise Muslims.

Then, it quietly brought other provisions that made this repeal a sham.

It appointed the Sachar Committee but failed to act on its recommendations.

On top of all of this came that Manmohan Singh statement that minorities had the first right to national resources.

It was probably idealistic, but a political misstep. Politicians cannot act and speak like activists.

Again, even that was followed by no action. The Muslim obviously saw this as fake.

And the Hindu?

What a dangerously cynical gang of minority appeasers is this!

They kill terrorists and then hail them as victims in the same voice -- all for votes. So I've had enough.

The Congress ended up losing both, the Muslims, who moved decisively to strong state-level leaders, and the Hindus because, as Sonia rightly put it, hers was seen as a Muslim party.

The devastation of the Congress apart, the more significant fallout of this flawed politics is a disempowerment of Muslims, bordering on disenfranchisement.

There's never been a moment in India's political history like this: No Muslim MP in the majority party in the Lok Sabha, no key central ministry (the only Muslim in the Cabinet is the minister for minority affairs), no secretary-level officer in a key ministry, no heads in top defence and intelligence organisations, and no chief minister, except in Jammu and Kashmir's tricky coalition.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP won nearly 80 per cent seats without fielding a Muslim, never mind that 20 per cent of the voters are Muslim.

The Muslims didn't vote for this. Their paranoia now shows in the rising appeal of Muslim leaders such as Asaduddin Owaisi and Badruddin Ajmal.

It is in contrast with the trend since Partition.

After the departure of Jinnah, Indian Muslims never trusted a fellow Muslim as their leader, preferring a Hindu instead.

Post-2014 politics has exposed the limitations of the minority vote and the cynical imprudence of treating this as synonymous with the secular vote.

Congress stalwarts of the past knew that the Muslim vote by itself could not win them elections and built larger coalitions with key caste and social groups.

These were impregnable until the flip-flops began, alienating both. These coalitions broke.

The BJP took away the upper castes in the heartland and the western states, the Muslims shifted to OBC leaders with caste vote banks large enough to keep the BJP out.

In the past, BJP leaders used to bitterly complain that the Muslims had a veto on who ruled India because of their bloc votes.

The Modi-Shah BJP has reversed that. If they can consolidate enough Hindus, they can ignore the Muslims.

This cannot change until those with claims to secularism and minority votes reset their politics. They have no hope if they can't bring a critical mass of the majority back.

This debate, therefore, isn't about burqa, hijab, skull cap, beards, triple talaq, or Haj subsidy. It will serve no substantive purpose. It may enhance the Muslim sense of persecution and further deepen the 'secular' parties' confusion and self-pity.

Unless they bring about a fundamental shift in their own politics, they will not survive.

A few liberal campuses, the seminar circuit, and the opinion industry may hold out.

But when it comes to national politics, the Modi-Shah BJP has successfully redefined secularism.

Liberal intellectuals and those representing the so-called Left-secular forces either do not understand this change or won't accept it.

They set the bar for the test of secularism so high that nobody can pass it and survive in today's politics.

If a party like the Congress has to have a future, it has to move closer to the secular centre from the far Left where its Left infatuation during the UPA years dragged it.

Like it or not, that is the message in Rahul Gandhi's temple visits.

That's what Sonia meant when she lamented that the Congress was seen as a Muslim party.
'One provision in the Act -- immediate arrest (of those accused under the Act), made this Act different from all other sections of the IPC.'

'With that provision snatched, the Dalit Act has become toothless because caste criminals feared this provision of immediate arrest the most.'

IMAGE: Dalits display a portrait of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar during the Bharat Bandh in New Delhi. Photograph: Ravi Choudhary/PTI Photo

Why are the Dalits so angry?

What led hundreds of young Dalits to march on north India's roads to protest the Supreme Court's decision on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Monday, April 2?

Rediff.com's Archana Masih turned to Chandrabhan Prasad, the well-known commentator-thinker-entrepreneur and adviser to the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce, for answers.

How will the new provision in the SC/ST Act impact the life of a Dalit?

One provision in the Act -- immediate arrest (of those accused under the Act), made this Act different from all other sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code).

With that provision snatched, the Dalit Act has become toothless because caste criminals feared this provision of immediate arrest the most.

Dalits will find it harder to defend their dignity.

The April 2 protest saw various Dalit groups coming together. It was not headed by a leader, but was a spontaneous show of strength. What are the reasons for this anger?

Dalits -- in particular, those that are just freeing themselves from caste control -- face caste slurs in their day to day life.

They were jolted with this judgment and anger followed.

In your personal experiences, from your meetings with young Dalits -- can you give us a sense of how the life of a young Dalit in India has changed?

Post 1950, India has changed much. Dalits can now wear new clothes even in villages.

Dalit grooms can ride horses even only for few hours.

Dalits can now grow twirled moustaches.

Dalits can now refuse to work for caste landlords.

They can now enter universities.

Caste society was unprepared to see this kind of Dalit.

Dalit youth are unsettled by this open denial of their right to dignity.

You have highlighted successful Dalit entrepreneurs. How much harder is it for a Dalit to start a business than a non-Dalit or someone from a higher caste

Post economic reforms, outsourcing of work became a new business practice. New players got into business chains as vendors. Dalits also benefitted.

It is harder for Dalits to launch businesses, but hardest to turn bigger as it is here you are noticed, it is here you need bigger capital, bigger markets.

Market and credit are the biggest hurdles as Dalits are new in this field of enterprise.

Upper castes have it easier as they can spot their caste men both in the markets and the banking system.

Almost a decade ago the government mandated that 4 per cent of all its purchases should come from Dalit businesses. Did that help or is that just tokenism?

No government has followed it up. There is no serious directive yet to come to a Dalit beneficiary.

What difference has the Stand-Up India scheme of 2016 to provide easier loans for Dalits and women made?

Not much, the credit guarantee scheme is a complete failure.

How has the emergence of young Dalit leaders like Jignesh Mevani and the Bhim Army's Chandrashekhar changed the Dalit movement, especially for Dalit youth?

Mevani is a unguided missile. When the world has moved so much, he is tied to 'Land for Dalits. He speaks more than he knows.

He hasn't learnt that Dalits don't succeed in the countryside.

Yes, Chandrashekhar looks promising, but we have to hear more from him.

Are they the new faces of the movement? Are they taking away the battle for Dalit rights from veterans like Mayawati?

Space has been created for young players, the established Dalit leadership seems to be decaying. Who will fill the blanks is yet to be seen.

The farmers's march to Mumbai caught the nation's imagination and was praised for its dignified, non-violent, nature. The Dalit protest of April 2 resulted in violence, arson and 11 deaths.

Has violence marred the Dalit cry for justice? Why could it not have been a peaceful protest?

Why weren't the protests violent in Delhi, Punjab?

There is proof of upper caste firing guns, Dalit marchers being attacked according to the UP police. Non-Dalit criminals had infiltrated Dalit marchers in Meerut.

The media cameras saw only the smoke side of the protest, and not the roses that I could see at Mandi House, Connaught place, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and elsewhere.

The media is yet another caste republic, most anchors are upper caste supremacists.

class="rbig"How do Dalits view the Modi government?

A big disappointment.
While Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the protestors not to make the House a "clog in the wheel" of progress, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said they should keep in mind the larger interests of the nation.

Both Houses of Parliament were on Friday adjourned sine die, with unabated protests virtually washing out a tumultuous budget Session that saw a total of nearly 250 working hours wasted.

Merely five of 19 starred questions were replied to orally by ministers in the Rajya Sabha, while 17 of the 580 such questions were answered in the Lok Sabha during the 29 sittings.

The notices of no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against the government could not be taken up in the Lok Sabha that witnessed protests by various parties.

While Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the protestors not to make the Rajya Sabha a "clog in the wheel" of progress, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said they should keep in mind the larger interests of the nation.

The disruptions and adjournments were caused by protests over issues like special status to Andhra Pradesh, bank scams, demand for Cauvery water management board, vandalising of statues, review of the recent Supreme Court order on SC/ST Act and law and order situation in Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh.

The second leg of the session, that started on March 5, had 22 sittings that were mostly disrupted.

In her summary report, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the House functioned for a total of 34 hours and 5 minutes during the 29 sittings.

A total of 127 hours and 45 minutes were affected by "interruptions and forced adjournments". Around 9 hours and 47 minutes went in to transact urgent government business in the Lower House, Mahajan said.

Of the 580 starred questions, answers were given to only 17 of them in the floor of the House, which translates into 0.58 questions being answered on an average each day. Written replies for remaining starred questions and 6,670 unstarred questions were tabled in the House.

Just five bills, including the crucial Finance Bill 2018 for which the budget session is convened, were passed and five were introduced during the budget session in the Lok Sabha.

Besides, The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2017 were among those passed.

"This House is a sacred platform for members to raise issues related to public interest and public welfare," Mahajan said even as she emphasised that they need to keep in mind the larger interests of the country.

The last day of the session was also marred by protests by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress members over setting up of the Cauvery river management board as well as by Telugu Desam Party members demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

"Today is the last day. If you are not ready... I will adjourn the House sine die," a visibly peeved Mahajan told agitating members.

She also said she wanted to take up the notices for no-confidence motion.

"I am sorry... if you don't want to take up (notices for no-confidence motion)," she said and proceeded to read out a brief summary of the budget session and its second leg which began on March 5.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the House.

Members from both the AIADMK, the TDP and the Congress holding placards trooped into the well even before proceedings began for the day. While most of them left the well after the speaker's appeal, the TDP members remained in the Well when Mahajan was reading out the closing statement.

The Rajya Sabha witnessed similiar scenes with the chairman voicing anguish over missed opportunities.

"I am pained to note that it turned out to be an eminently forgettable one on account of utter disregard of the mandate of this important parliamentary institution and its responsibilities and missed opportunities," Naidu said in his concluding address to the 245th session of Rajya Sabha.

The House lost nearly three-fourths of its time to disruptions and adjournments.

During the second leg of the session, the Rajya Sabha had 30 sittings in all.

While it sat for 44 hours, the Upper House lost over 121 hours.

The Question Hour could not be taken up for 27 days "due to pandemonium and interruptions in the House over one or the other issue", Naidu said, noting that there was a "total breakdown" in communication among various sections of the House that was "at the root of the prolonged stalemate that ruined the session."

"This is not good for our parliamentary democracy of which our country has come to acquire a pride of place," he said, adding "we are all losers. This includes the opposition, the ruling party, the government and most importantly, the people and the nation".

Referring to the House not transacting any substantial business during the second part of the Session, Naidu wondered if the fears of those who doubted the need for a Second Chamber during Constituent Assembly debates were coming true.

He recalled that during these debates on the need for a Council of States, some members feared that it would prove to be "a clog (impediment) in the wheel of progress" involving expenses and not making much contribution.

Jawahar Lal Nehru, who headed the Union Constitution Committee for reporting on the structure and function of the future legislature of the country, had feared in 1936 that a Second Chamber will check any forward tendencies of the Lower House and will be reactionary, Naidu said.

"Are we making Nehru's worst fear come true? We should not, for the sake of our parliamentary democracy and the people," said Naidu.

He said: "Let us not be a party to this House becoming a 'clog in the wheel of progress'". Instead, the members "should dispel the fears" expressed by Nehru, who despite having reservations about the utility of the Upper House, had supported its coming into being.

"You need to rise to the expectations of those who strongly justified the need for this House in the Constituent Assembly," Naidu said.

Due to the disruptions, the House could not debate the important Finance Bill 2018, but passed the payment of gratuity law without debate.
There is ambiguity as some top leaders are not comfortable about moving the motion.

The Congress is seeking to build a larger consensus among opposition parties on moving an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and the issue has been pushed to the back burner for now following differences within the opposition camp, party sources said on Friday.

According to the sources, the Congress partys top leaders who are spearheading the move to bring an impeachment motion against the CJI are concerned over the retirement of some of the Rajya Sabha members, who had signed the notice, and are recalculating the numbers.

The reluctance on the part of some parties to sign on the motion and some even backing out after committing their support is also an area of concern and all these factors are being looked into, they said.

Meanwhile, top Congress leaders are continuing to hold talks with opposition leaders as some of them have reservations on the issue of moving the impeachment motion, which will be the first against any CJI.

Asked at the Congress briefing, Congress senior spokesperson Anand Sharma said, It is a matter of discussion among political parties and cannot be talked about in press conferences. Whenever a decision to this effect will be taken, you will be informed.

On statements of some senior leaders of the party that the matter stands closed, Sharma said the Congress had never said that the matter is open or closed.

Party spokesperson Raj Babbar, when asked on Thursday about the issue, had said, The entire opposition is in discussion on the issue.

I cannot give a reply and the way forward on the issue today as it can only be given by the leaders of various parties including the Congress, he had said.

Leaders of various opposition parties were on Thursday in active discussion over moving an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice of India and held hectic parleys over the issue.

Top legal hands and MPs of the Congress including some former ministers also held separate meetings on the issue.

In another meeting, top Congress leaders are learnt to have discussed the issue with TMC leaders, though both the parties avoided saying anything. Discussions with some other opposition parties were also held.

Sources say that though the numbers are not an issue, the differences within the opposition on political ramifications of the move are being discussed.

The sources said there is ambiguity on the issue within the Congress too as some top leaders are not comfortable about moving the motion against the CJI.

Though former Union minister Kapil Sibal is in favour of moving the motion, two former law ministers Ashwani Kumar and Veerappa Moily are not for it, the sources said.

Once the notice for impeachment is handed over to the Rajya Sabha chairman carrying signatures of at least 50 MPs of the Upper House, the chairman will examine its merits and may reject it if there is no merit found.

Otherwise, if the chairman, prima facie, finds merit in the motion, he can refer it to a three-member committee for further examination, an expert said.

If it does happen, it will be the first time an impeachment motion against the sitting Chief Justice of India will be moved in the countrys history.

The Chief Justice of India, who is likely to hand down some key judgements in the coming months including the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya, retires in October this year.
The Indian Air Force has 31 fighter squadrons as against authorised strength of 42.

India on Friday began a process to acquire a fleet of around 110 fighter jets in one of the biggest such procurement in recent years globally which could be worth over $15 billion.

A Request for Information or initial tender for the mega deal was issued by the Indian Air Force and the procurement will be in sync with the governments Make in India initiative in the defence sector, officials said.

It is the first mega procurement initiative for fighter jets after the government scrapped the process to acquire 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft for the IAF around five years ago.

Instead, the National Democratic Alliance government, in September 2016, signed an 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale twin-engine fighter jets.

Though the RFI said approximately 110 aircraft are being procured, defence ministry officials put the number at 114 jets.

According to the RFI, three-quarters of the total jets will be single seat aircraft while the rest will be twin-seat.

At least 85 per cent of the aircraft will have to be made in India while 15 per cent of them can be in flyaway condition.

Officials said the jets will be produced jointly by a foreign aircraft maker along with an Indian company under the recently-launched strategic partnership model which aims to bring in high-end defence technology to India.

Leading military aircraft producers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Saab, Dassault and Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG are among the competitors which are likely to vie for the mega deal.

An official said the deal could be worth over $15 billion.

According to the RFI, aircraft manufacturers interested in the deal will have to send their proposals by July 6.

The IAF has been pressing for expediting the process to acquire the aircraft citing declining strength of its fighter squadron as some of the ageing jets are being phased out. Currently, IAF has 31 fighter squadrons as against authorised strength of 42 squadrons.

The UPA government had floated a tender in 2007 for purchase of 126 MMRCA for the Air Force and, post negotiations, two of them--Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon -- remained in the reckoning. However, the deal could not be finalised by the United Progressive Alliance regime.

In September last year, Swedish defence giant Saab and Indian conglomerate Adani group had announced a collaboration, mainly eyeing the contract for the fighter jet deal. US aerospace major Lockheed Martin has joined hands with Indias Tata Advanced Systems to build the planes in India.
The Budget session of Parliament was the least productive since the year 2000.

IMAGE: According to PRS data, during the session, on an average, Lok Sabha worked for 21 per cent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha worked for 27 per cent. Photograph: PTI Photo

The Budget session of Parliament, which ended on Friday, was the least productive since the year 2000, a legislative research body has said.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have blamed each other for the impasse during the session which saw daily disruptions in both the Houses.

According to data provided by Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar, the productivity of the Lok Sabha was 134 per cent, and that of the Rajya Sabha around 96 per cent during the brief Part I of session. The Part I of the session had seven LS and eight RS sittings.

But Part II of the session which began from March 5 saw productivity taking a nose dive due to daily disruptions and adjournments. The productivity of the LS was four per cent and that of the RS eight per cent, the minister said.

The productivity of the complete Budget session was 23 per cent for the LS and 28 per cent for the RS, he said.

According to PRS Legislative Research, This was the least productive Budget session for both Houses since 2000.

According to PRS data, during the session, on an average, Lok Sabha worked for 21 per cent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha worked for 27 per cent.

So far in the 16th (the present) Lok Sabha, the average productivity of Lok Sabha is 85 per cent, and that of Rajya Sabha is 68 per cent.

Former Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Acharya said the productivity of the just-ended session reminds him of the Winter session of 2010 when the 2G scam led to its complete washout.

The protests by the BJP and other parties had rocked Parliament after the CAG reported on the alleged 2G scam.

The LS and the RS could utilise only six per cent and two per cent of their allotted time.

But the United Progressive Alliance government, in a bid to avoid another washout, agreed to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam in the 2011 Budget session.

Acharya said as the leader of the House, the prime minister has the authority to ensure that the House functions.

He was of the view that Parliament can function if the government wants.

Disruptions for a couple of days is alright, but legislations have to be passed... disruptions should not happen daily, he said.

He recalled that Indias first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru used to reach out to the opposition leaders and was present in the Lok Sabha every day.

Several MPs gave notices to move no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha against the government. However, due to disruptions caused by members raising various issues such as the Punjab National Bank scam, special status for Andhra Pradesh and Cauvery water dispute, it could not be admitted.

This was the first time a notice to move a no-confidence motion was given in the 16th Lok Sabha.

A no-confidence motion was also moved in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2013 but was not discussed. In the 14th Lok Sabha, a no-confidence motion was converted to a confidence vote, which the government had won, said PRS Legislative Research.
The Andhra Pradech CM asked party MPs to meet the President after Parliament is adjourned sine die.

Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu on Friday asked the party's MPs to intensify their protest for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

In a tele-conference with TDP MPs, Naidu said, "The BJP is running away by repeatedly adjourning the House for these many days. If Parliament is adjourned sine die, MPs must meet the President. The BJP is acting on the lines of divide and rule."

Friday was the last day of Parliament's second part of the budget session.

In Amaravati, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister led a cycle rally of his ministers and TDP legislators protesting the Centre's attitude towards the state, vis-a-vis the implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

"Already people of AP are not accepting the BJP. Soon, there will be a day when the BJP will not be accepted by the entire country," Naidu said in a statement issued by his media cell.

"We will not step back until assurances made in the Rajya Sabha including Special Category Status and provisions of AP Reorganisation Act are fulfilled," he said.

Responding to YSR Congress MPs not taking part in a protest held by his party MPs in the Parliament complex on Thursday, Naidu said it was an example of the party's collusion politics.

"In the past, some natives used to collude with Britishers. In the same way, YSRCP is now colluding with Centre," he said in the statements.

TDP MPs on Thursday protested in Rajya Sabha chamber and refused to leave even after the house was adjourned for the day at around 2.30pm.

The members were in the night around 8.15 pm marshalled out along with the party's Lok Sabha MPs who held protests in the Central Hall in solidarity.

The TDP parted ways with the NDA last month alleging failure in fulfilling the promises made in the State Reorganisation Act.
Lawyer Amit Ghag got up to tell the judge that Shrikant Shivade -- Salman Khan and Peter Mukherjea's lawyer -- would take a morning flight from Jodhpur to Mumbai and would be in court by 3 pm on Friday to cross-examine Sub-Inspector Dalvi.

For a moment, Judge Jagdale looks startled.

"But isn't he caught up with that case in Jodhpur?" the judge asked.

Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports from the Sheena Bora murder trial.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

There is one Mumbaikar who probably has a long and relaxing weekend coming up.

That would be Mumbai Police Sub-Inspector Ganesh Dalvi

Unless he is summoned for some sudden bandobast duty, which is often the peculiar fate of a Mumbai cop.

By 6 pm latest Friday, Dalvi's stint in the witness box at the Sheena Bora murder trial is likely to come to an end.

Dalvi's second last appearance, on the afternoon of April 5, in this high-profile homicide case started about 40 minutes late and lasted for not even an hour.

Thursday saw Niranjan Mundargi take over Dalvi's cross-examination in CBI Special Judge Jayendra Chandrasen Jagdale's oppressively hot Courtroom 51 at the sessions court, Kala Ghoda, south Mumbai.

He is the trial lawyer for the once Kolkata-based Sanjeev Khanna, Accused No 2 and Indrani Mukerjea's former husband.

Mundargi cuts a striking figure in court. Tall with boyish good looks and a sunny manner, there is a certain liveliness and cheer to this advocate's court technique.

His is a treble tone, higher-pitched, and thin. It is no baritone. But while talking to a witness he utilises his hands a lot and chirpily, enthusiastically almost acts out his questions.

He also attempts to engage with a witness on his level, more democratically. There is no talking down. While cross-examining Dalvi -- Prosecution Witness 1 (or PW1) -- he often addressed him in a friendly way as "Dada."

Dalvi's answers wobbled and waffled far less on Thursday.

Special Public Prosecutors Bharat Badami and Kavita Patil, who was wearing one of her tasteful black and white saris, had no objections and were mostly silent through the proceedings.

The lawyer made a point to ask Dalvi many of the questions he had asked Shyamvar Rai, the Mukerjeas's former driver, Accused No 3 and approver, in December.

The answers he got back from Dalvi were not that different from what Rai served up to him, but still more encouraging. They did seem to satisfy Mundargi's curiosity a little better, on certain issues.

Mundargi checked with Dalvi quite specifically about the layout of the area where Rai had lived pre-August 2015 before he was arrested -- Mosambi Tabela, Vakola, Santa Cruz East.

Mundargi, you realised on Thursday, and have realised earlier too, seems to put a lot of store in geography in a trial.

Mundargi: "Did you go to Shyamvar Rai's house on August 23, 2015?"

Dalvi: "Ho (Yes)."

Mundargi: "Is it located in a lane off Datta Mandir road?"

Dalvi starts off describing the location in Marathi. "It is a gully and a chawl off that road..."

Judge Jagdale: "Give a clearer answer."

Dalvi: "I cannot recall (exactly)."

Mundargi: "Is there a Patuck educational institute (the Parsi Patuck Educational Trust runs several schools there) at the start of Datta Mandir road near Shyamvar Rai's home?"

Dalvi: "No idea."

Mundargi: "Is there a dirty nullah at the corner of Datta Mandir road and the lane where Shyamvar Rai lives?"

Dalvi: "I have no idea."

Mundargi: "Two lanes away from Shyamvar Rai's home, towards Santa Cruz station begins the area of Vakola police station?"

Dalvi: "Yes."

Mundargi: "There is a staircase there leading up to Santa Cruz West Station. Near that staircase, isn't a police van (customarily) parked?"

Dalvi: "Mahit nahin (I don't know)."

The trial lawyer also bombarded, in quick succession, the policeman with a series of questions about Dalvi's trip to Pen, south of Mumbai on the Goa highway, with Shyamvar Rai.

Like: When they left for Pen? Which day? When they reached? How long it took in Pen to complete their work?

Dalvi said they left Mumbai on August 22, 2015 at 1.15 pm and reached Pen some four hours later.

Mundargi: "What time did you arrive in Pen?"

Dalvi: "1700 hours."

Mundargi: "Who did you meet at the police station there?"

Dalvi: "(Police Sub-Inspector) PSI Sarang."

Mundargi: "At what point of time did you make an application at the Pen police station?"

Dalvi: "Aathvath nahi (I cannot remember)."

Mundargi: "How long did the whole procedure take at that police station?"

Dalvi: "Two-and-a-half to three hours."

Mundargi: "Did the other police officers with you interrogate Shyamvar Rai further at Pen?"

Dalvi: "I cannot say."

Mundargi wondered if Dalvi and his colleagues attempted to verify the information on record at the Pen police station about the remains -- said to be of the unfortunate Sheena Bora -- found at Gagode Khurd, a village near Pen, Raigad district.

Dalvi said they had not.

Before departing Pen back for Mumbai another panchnama was drawn up.

Mundargi: "How long did the panchnama, dated August 22, 2015, take to draw up?"

Dalvi: "Five to ten minutes."

Incidentally, on the subject of Pen: On Wednesday Dalvi seemed to remember quite a different account by Rai of the journey to Pen with Sheena Bora's body.

When Sudeep Pasbola -- Indrani Mukherjea's lawyer -- queried him, Dalvi did not deny that the statement he first recorded from Rai said that "Dusra din Sheena Bora ka body bag mein daal kar Pen le gaya and burnt the body inside the bag."

But Rai told the court in 2017 that the body had not been taken in a bag to Pen and had been sat up on the seat (lipstick duly applied).

Back to Mundargi and Thursday's proceedings: The lawyer then moved his questioning to Dalvi's visits to Worli, south central Mumbai, to investigate the crime.

He first checked if Dalvi had ever been to Worli, in connection with this case and when.

Dalvi said he had been there on August 23, 2015 for 15 to 20 minutes.

An aside: Dalvi is very precise about specifying time, unlike his predecessor in the witness box, who had no concept of time.

If Dalvi offers a certain duration of time in reply to a lawyer and it is inaccurately noted, the policeman will correct the judge or the lawyer, even if the time is off by less than 5 minutes.

Mundargi wanted to know if Dalvi was familiar with the Marlow building, Worli, where the Mukerjeas stayed, and if he had been there.

Dalvi said he had not been there, but was aware of its connection with the case.

References to Marlow didn't seem to perk the interest of the folks in the accused enclosure that much more than usual, although they followed the proceedings quite closely on Thursday.

Accused 4 Peter Mukerjea, Indrani, clad in all white and sporting a large red bindi and red sindhoor, and Sanjeev stood for much of the hearing, listening attentively to the Dalvi-Mundargi mildly confrontational interactions.

Before the hearing, Sanjeev spent time with his photographer cousin, who was perhaps visiting the court after a long interval.

Peter also had a visitor who came to congratulate him about his handling of the Delhi CBI interrogation in the INX Media case ("You did well. Gave it back to them").

Two others, perhaps from his Marlow household or former office, brought him a fast food burger and a paper cup of tea/coffee.

Indrani's loyal advocate friend came to visit her. Indrani also spent time discussing legal matters with her lawyer Gunjan Mangla's young assistant Sia.

A highlight of Thursday's proceedings was a very confusing and long drawn out back and forth about Dalvi's investigations at Hiltop hotel, the three-star, 75-room Pochkanwala Road, Worli hotel, where Sanjeev stayed when he was in Mumbai that momentous April in 2012.

Like Pasbola, Mundargi wanted to know of Dalvi, "Do you have any documentation to show that Sanjeev Khanna was staying at the Hiltop hotel?"

Dalvi first said he did not and then he corrected himself to say he had for one of the days.

He said he had visited the hotel on August 24, 2015 to collect documentary evidence (earlier on Thursday he had said 23rd).

Mundargi: "Do you have the documentation today to show that Sanjeev Khanna had been staying there?"

Dalvi: "No."

Mundargi did not probe Dalvi's answer further for some reason.

Mundargi decisively progressed to his pet question: The time taken to travel from the five-storey, Rs 5,500-a-night Hiltop hotel in Worli to the Amarsons department store, Linking Road, Bandra, north west Mumbai, on a weekday.

This question has always been critical to Sanjeev's lawyers.

They say Sanjeev came to Bombay on April 24, 2012 not to murder Indrani's first born Sheena, in Bandra, but to visit his daughter Vidhie, Indrani's third born in Worli. Sanjeev has said this too,

His lawyers have repeatedly contended that Sanjeev -- who arrived in the late afternoon at his hotel on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, from the airport, after getting off a flight from Kolkata -- could not have made the distance to Bandra in the time plan outlined by the CBI, since he was still checking in and depositing his luggage at the Hiltop.

Hence, say his advocates, he was not at Linking Road that day and never met up with Indrani there.

The lawyer first delicately skirted around the question.

He collected background info -- asked how one would travel to Bandra, which route one would take. Enquired about the traffic exiting the Bandra Worli Sea Link at Bandra. Wondered about the traffic in front of Bandra's well-known biryani spot Lucky.

Judge Jagdale encouraged Mundargi to cut to the chase.

The judge suggested to Mundargi that instead of asking about the traffic and the time taken to reach Lucky, why not he ask about the time taken to reach the final destination Mundargi had in mind.

"Don't ask it in bits," Judge Jagdale said.

So Mundargi finally popped the question.

"Is there a lot of traffic between the Hiltop Hotel and Amarsons at Linking Road, Bandra (The spot where Rai said Sanjeev reached from Worli to meet Sheena and Indrani on the day of the murder)?"

Dalvi: "Yes."

When Rai, a driver with over a decade of experience, was asked the same question in December, he would not give a straight answer and preferred to hedge, never admitting to a time period and instead drew out his answers to make them non-answers.

Dalvi was, by contrast, forthright.

Mundargi: "Does it take 45 minutes to an hour to reach that spot during traffic time?"

Dalvi readily agreed: Yes, during traffic times. Except Ravivar (Sundays)."

Mundargi agreed: "Except Ravivar."

With the answer to his fave question in the bag, Mundargi was ready to wind up his cross examination of Dalvi.

He concluded with the charge to Dalvi: "You have filed a false FIR and a false case against my client on August 24, 2015. You have no proof of his involvement and did so, on the instructions of your seniors."

Dalvi's face registered no expression.

Mundargi went on to say that whatever Dalvi was saying in the witness box was also false.

Judge Jagdale said he could not take such a statement on record, perhaps because it violated the sanctity of the court.

Shrikant Shivade, Peter's lawyer, who is still away in Jodhpur caught up with representing actor Salman Khan -- who received a 5-year sentence on Thursday for killing two black bucks -- was represented by his assistants.

Lawyer Amit Ghag got up to tell the judge that Shivade would take a morning flight from Jodhpur to Mumbai and would be in court by 3 pm on Friday to cross-examine Dalvi.

Ghag said Shivade did not need much time with the cop, but that he had something specific he wanted to ask Dalvi and preferred to do it himself.

For a moment, Judge Jagdale looks startled.

"But isn't he caught up with that case in Jodhpur?" the judge asked.

Ghag said the verdict was already out and Shivade would be returning to the city.

The judge evidently had not heard the news of the Bollywood star's conviction while sitting in his chambers during lunch. But then the court building, which is under extensive repair, has poor cellular network.

Mundargi and Shreyansh Mithare -- Sanjeev's other lawyer -- approached the bench.

A mildly unshaven Sanjeev, wearing a green bush shirt and dark trousers, gingerly climbed into the witness stand.

He quietly requested permission to be allowed medical treatment. Sanjeev said he had skin rash issues that extended from his legs to his knees. He was also suffering retinal problems.

Sanjeev, who is Accused No 2, stated that the authorities at the Arthur Road jail had last allowed him to go to the J J Hospital, central Mumbai, close to the jail, six months ago for treatment and had not given permission since, nor was he being allowed his medication.

When Sanjeev rolled up his trousers, large dark discolourations were visible extending from his ankles and spreading across his shins to his knees.

Floaters were bothering him in his eyes.

Judge Jagdale, looking very grave and concerned, immediately asking if he was diabetic, which Sanjeev, said with a gentle smile, he was not.

The judge then enquired, "Which cell are you in?"

Sanjeev replied, "The Anda (an egg-shaped solitary confinement cell in a high security block of the jail)."

The judge looked taken aback. "But didn't I see you at..."

Sanjeev supplied, "Cell 12? That is Peter's cell. You have never seen me there." (Judges make rounds of jails from time to time.)

Judge Jagdale asked that Sanjeev's lawyers urgently give Sanjeev's request in writing to him.

Mundargi and Mithare had an application ready.

The judge asked instead for a letter that had better details of Sanjeev's ailments.

Judge Jagdale promised to action it immediately.
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.
Beijing, China -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/05/2018 --Smart Education is the concept of providing of high quality and innovative learning solutions for children.



On April 3, the SMART Education Research Center was announced the establishment in Beijing and a press conference was held at Renmin University of China.



It is reported that the SMART Education Research Center is affiliated to the SMART Academy of Arts . Its establishment will focus on the exploration of education for the children in China. The establishment ceremony of the research center was held, and the responsibilities of the research center were briefly introduced. It's stated that the research center will conduct data tracking research on children's core literacy education, and publish SMART Education White Paper every year, and strive to find the right educational pattern for children's comprehensive quality training, which will be promoted for popularization.



Afterwards, a round-table forum was organized to discuss the topic of "What kind of core qualities the children need in the future?". The honored guests included Huang Huasan, member of the Chinese Artists Association, and "intimate sister" Lu Qin, executive director of the China Institute of Family Education, and Wu Zhi, director of SMART Education Research Center. They have given different opinions on the core qualities and key capabilities required by modern civilization in the 21st century.



Interpretation of SMART Education White Paper



For the topic of this press conferenceSMART Education, the research center launched the SMART Education white paper, which was interpreted by Mr. Kong Xinmiao, member of the Education Committee of the Arts Education at Ministry of Education, chief professor at SMART Research Center. He pointed out that,"the concept of SMART Education is based on the reflection on China's educational practice. It is a reflection on the utilitarian values of education today. We strive to put education into the process of educating people. In such a process, we will cultivate children's core qualities and teach them to master the necessary characters and key abilities to meet their own lifelong development and social development needs."



Under this educational philosophy, the SMART Education pattern involves Subject, Morality, Art, Relationship, and Travel Education. These five basic aspects complement each other. SMART Education uses art as a means to develop the Morality Education and subject Education. In education practice, it focuses on Art Education and Travel Education. This complementary education pattern design can ensure the motivation of the SMART Education pattern and conform to the laws of children's life growth, and it also makes up for the current lack of school education in the arts education.



For the question of what kind of children will be cultivated by SMART Education, Wu Zhi, the founder of SMART ART Education group,who built practice base for the concept of SMART Education, said: "In the main control system of SMART curriculum model, there is specific curriculum planning. For the lesson design, the concept is launched through the five curriculum links of Sense, Morality, Appreciation, interactive Relationship and Think and create, so as to involve the children growing up healthily and happily. At the same time, children are allowed to "discover beauty" and "express beauty" from their lives. And they can become a SMART child who loves creativity, excels in communication and practice."



The Similarities and Differences between SMART and STEAM Education



According to the reporter, the establishment of SMART Education Group's curriculum system is based entirely on SMART's educational philosophy. SMART Education carries out corresponding teaching plan design based on the division of Chinese children's grades. In teaching and research, it also focuses on exploring the profound implications of Chinese culture and cultivating children's cultural self-confidence,which have also been carried out in SMART's course education.



At the meeting, Kong Xinmiao, chief professor of the SMART Research Center, said: The most attractive aspect of SMART Education is that it is not an education that is limited by practical desire for quick success and instant benefit, but an education that is oriented toward the future and focuses on people's quality. And it has a clear humanistic rationality and educational value.



The current popular STEAM Education is compared with SMART, and the similarities are pointed out: both of them focus on the education of the future society in terms of the quality of talents; both of them emphasize the realization of cross-domain learning in practice; both of them pay attention to the process of education developing student in the exploration of exchanges.



Since SMART Education is rooted in Chinese culture, while STEAM is derived from the West, so there are obvious differences between these two: STEAM Education is an education concept that promotes learning through practice, and focuses on science and technology, which is more about cultivating practical work. SMART Education pays more attention to a person's internal quality education, which is through the aesthetic education to realize the education of people's emotional growth, and it embodies the Chinese cultural tradition of 'moral character is more important than skills'.



SMART Education is shared between China and the world!



Such education was strongly supported by Xu Qingping, Dean of the Xu Beihong Academy of Arts, member of the National College Art Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, and honorary president of the SMART Academy of Arts, and he proposed that SMART Education is shared between China and the world. Xu Qingping gave great affirmation and high expectations for the teaching and research work of SMART Education Research Center. Xu Qingping believes that the contemporary Chinese nation is striding forward from "stand up" and "get rich" toward "get strong," and that China has the philosophical foundation and humanistic vision that embraces the diverse cultures of the world. SMART Education is a business process positioned in a global perspective, which has provided educational support for the next generation of Chinese people to go to the world. This educational philosophy is worthy of us to stick to and promote, and it is worth the understanding from the world.



About SMART Education

During the NPC&CPPCC in 2018, education received widespread attention, especially quality education. Today's mankind is entering the age of artificial intelligence, and Chinese education is also entering the modernization stage. The educational philosophy of SMART meets the needs of the times, and it is also integrates with the quality advocated by China, so it is undoubtedly a new advancement in the education in China.
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Joshua R. Ortiz-Fisher of Wakefield was arrested for DUI after running his vehicle into the side of Stedmans Bike Shop.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Hong Kongs retail sales of jewellery, watches, clocks and valuable gifts were up 21% in the first two months of 2018, according to data released by the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Combined sales across all retail categories for the first two months were up 15.7% in value and 13.9% in volume terms, the data showed. Much of the growth can be attributed to the combined impact of higher overseas and domestic consumer spending.







Government estimates that total tourist arrivals were up by 9.9% in Jan-Feb 2018, with the number of visitors from the mainland going up 13.6%. The economy has also returned to near full employment, and the jobless rate is at its lowest in almost twenty years.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Retail Management Association (HKRMA) said that retail sales performance in February 2018 exceeded its expectation registering double-digit increases of 29.8% in value terms and 28.2% in volume. The Association said that its member companies expect a high single-digit to low double-digit growth in first quarter of 2018. It is reported to have expressed the opinion that the recovery in retail sales is likely to continue over the rest of the year.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




LondonMetric Property Plc (LMP.L), a FTSE 250 REIT, announced Friday the acquisition of five urban logistics warehouses for 25.6 million pounds, and the disposal of a regional warehouse in Doncaster for 15.0 million pounds.

The five urban logistics warehouses have been assembled for a combined total of 25.6 million, reflecting a blended NIY of 5% which rises to 5.6% over the next five years. The assets have an average lease length of 16 years, with 67% of the income subject to contractual rental uplifts. They are well located in Leyton, Weybridge, Peterborough, Cheltenham and Haverhill with occupiers including Clipper Logistics, FedEx and Tesla.

Further, the company noted that in Doncaster, a 290,000 sq ft regional warehouse let to Superdrug has been sold for 15.0 million pounds reflecting a NIY of 6.2%. The building is let for a further 8 years with 3 years to break. It was acquired by LondonMetric in 2014 for 13 million pounds, at a NIY of 7.3%.

Andrew Jones, Chief Executive of LondonMetric, said, "The investment market for logistics assets continues to enjoy strong structural support. We have therefore decided to monetise one of our oldest and shortest let regional assets to allow us to focus on growing our urban logistics portfolio, which offers greater certainty of occupation, income and future valuation growth. These new investments meet our objective of owning long let assets in strong locations that offer excellent potential for income growth."

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Business News
Denmark's industrial production declined for the first time in five months in February, figures from Statistics Denmark showed Friday.

Industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent month-over-month in February, reversing a 1.3 percent rise in January.

Production in the metal industry fell the most by 7.5 percent over the month, followed by electronics industry with 6.3 percent decrease.

At the same time, production in the furniture and other industries registered a double-digit growth of 18.7 percent.

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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.
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which was hit by the largest-ever digital currency theft, has agreed to be acquired by Japanese online brokerage Monex Group for 3.6 billion yen or about $34 million. Monex's shares climbed around 20 percent in Japan following the announcement.

It was in late January that Coincheck was hacked of 523 million NEM coins worth 58 billion yen or $530 million at that time. The crypto exchange already began repaying its affected customers.

Following the hacking, Coincheck was under the scanner of Japanese Financial Services Agency, which ordered the exchange to improve its operations. The FSA also demanded a clarification of management responsibility.

In a statement, Monex said the acquisition goes with "MONEX's new beginning", which was announced last October. The company has set up Monex Cryptocurrency Lab aiming to enter the cryptocurrency exchange .

At the extraordinary general shareholders meeting of Coincheck scheduled on April 16, directors and auditors will be appointed. Coincheck's founding president Koichiro Wada and chief operating officer Yusuke Otsuka will resign from the board and will become the company's Executive Directors.

Toshihiko Katsuya, Monex's Managing Director and Senior Executive Officer of the Company, will be appointed as President and Executive Director.

Following the deal closure, Monex plans to make Coincheck a subsidiary from the consolidated financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.

In the fiscal year ending March 2017, Coincheck's business net income was 471 million yen, operating income 719 million yen, and sales 980 million yen.

In Japan, Monex shares were trading at 480 yen, up 20 percent.

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Business News
German stocks drifted lower on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he has instructed his trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on China, dashing hopes for a cooling of trade tensions.

Investors also waited for cues from the U.S. Labor Department's closely-watched monthly jobs report for March due out later in the day.

The benchmark DAX was down 0.66 percent at 12,224 in opening deals after climbing 2.9 percent in the previous session.

Deutsche Bank shares dropped 1.6 percent. The Bloomberg reported that Matt Zames, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive, is among candidates contacted by recruiters in recent weeks to replace the bank's Chief Executive Officer John Cryan.

Infineon Technologies fell over 1 percent on concerns that DRAM price growth is about to end.

On the data front, German industrial production declined unexpectedly in February, data from Destatis revealed. Output dropped 1.6 percent month-on-month in February, in contrast to a revised 0.1 percent rise seen in January.

On a yearly basis, industrial production grew 2.6 percent in February, much slower than January's 6.3 percent increase.

Separately, survey data from IHS Markit showed that Germany's construction sector contracted for the first time in more than three years in March due to colder-than-usual weather.

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ABB (ANN.L) announced the company will invest 100 million euros in Austria to build a state-of-the-art innovation and training campus in Eggelsberg, Upper Austria. It lays the foundation for around 1,000 new high-tech jobs in Austria.

The new campus is at the home of B&R. ABB acquired B&R, then the largest independent provider of product- and software-based open-architecture solutions for machine and factory automation worldwide, in July 2017.

The new innovation and training campus will develop technologies for the factory of the future, based on ABB Ability, in which production will be undertaken autonomously by smart and cloud-connected machines and robots.

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Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) said that its indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Qualcomm River Holdings B.V., has extended the offering period of its previously announced cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding common shares of NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI).

The tender offer is being made pursuant to the purchase agreement, dated as of October 27, 2016, by and between Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. and NXP, as amended.

The tender offer is now scheduled to expire on April 13, 2018, unless extended or earlier terminated, in either case pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement.

American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, the depositary for the tender offer, has advised Qualcomm River Holdings B.V. that as of April 5, 2018, the last day prior to the announcement of the extension of the offer, 55.24 million NXP common shares, representing about 16.1 percent of the outstanding NXP common shares, have been validly tendered pursuant to the tender offer and not properly withdrawn.

This excludes 21,239 shares tendered pursuant to guaranteed delivery procedures that have not yet been delivered in settlement or satisfaction of such guarantee.

Qualcomm advised shareholders who have already tendered their common shares of NXP to not re-tender their shares or take any other action as a result of the extension of the expiration date of the tender offer.

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Bitcoin failed to find support around $6,600 and now risks drifting lower to $6,000 as concerns over regulation and taxation weigh on market sentiment. A crypto exchange in Japan, which used to be one of the biggest until a massive hack in January, agreed to a takeover by an online brokerage. An online payment startup has inked a deal with South Korea's biggest credit card company, causing the related coin to trade higher.

Here is a wrap up of the main news from the cryptocurrency and blockchain space over the last 24 hours.

Japan's Hacked Coincheck To Be Bought By Monex For JPY 3.6 Bln

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which was hit by the largest-ever digital currency theft, has agreed to be acquired by Japanese online brokerage Monex Group for 3.6 billion yen or about $34 million. Monex's shares climbed around 20 percent in Japan following the announcement. It was in late January that Coincheck was hacked of 523 million NEM coins worth 58 billion yen or $530 million at that time. The crypto exchange already began repaying its affected customers.

OmiseGO In Deal With South Korea's ShinhanCard On Blockchain Development

Omise and OmiseGO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding or MoU with South Korea's biggest credit card company ShinhanCard, aiming to explore opportunities for fintech and blockchain initiatives. Following the news, OmiseGO's OMG coin traded higher, and is now at $9.06, up 2.04 percent over the last 24 hours, compared to negative trading for all major cryptocurrencies, according to Coinmarketcap.

Georgia Senate Fails To Pass Bill To Allow Tax Payments In Cryptocurrency

A bill that would allow residents in the U.S. state of Georgia to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency failed to pass through its Senate due to misunderstandings among lawmakers. Senate Bill 464, sponsored by Senators Michael Williams and Joshua McKoon, was introduced on February 21. "The commissioner shall accept as valid payment for taxes and license fees any cryptocurrency, including but not limited to bitcoin, that uses an electronic peer-to-peer system," the bill stated.

Indian Authorities Arrest Scamster For Running Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme

An Indian businessman accused of duping hundreds of investors in the country as well as abroad through a ponzi scheme that involved Bitcoin mining. Police arrested Bitcoin entrepreneur Amit Bharadwaj at the Delhi airport after a complaint was filed against him in the cybercrime cell of Pune Police. In a first, the Enforcement Directorate also registered an enforcement case investigation report against the businessman.

IBM Joins Sovrin Foundation To Build Decentralized Identity System On Blockchain

Tech giant IBM has partnered with the non-profit Sovrin Foundation to build a decentralized digital identity network on blockchain. The group announced IBM as a founding Steward of the Sovrin network. In this role, the company will dedicate hardware, security and network capacity to assist in the operation of this self-sovereign identity network. Blockchain is used to enable the secure exchange of cryptographically-signed credentials to prove the digital identity information in the identity owner's possession.

Current Prices

As of 8.10 am ET on Friday, Bitcoin was down 2.31 percent at $6,561.10 and Ethereum was lower by 3.35 percent at $366.77 on Coinbase.

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Business News
In the wake of rising popularity of crypto currencies such as bitcoin and the blockchain that supports it, India's Central Bank has set up a panel to explore the possibility of introducing official digital currency.

This was announced by B P Kanungo, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank Of India, or RBI, while addressing the media after the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

"While many central banks are still engaged in the debate, an inter-departmental group has been constituted by the Reserve Bank to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency," Kanungo told reporters.

The report will be submitted by the end of June.

RBI acknowledged the rapid changes in the landscape of the payments industry along with factors such as emergence of private digital tokens and the rising costs of managing fiat paper/metallic money. Many central banks around the world, including those of Ecuador, China, Russia, and Singapore, are exploring the option of introducing fiat digital currencies.

"As opposed to private digital tokens, these are issued by a central bank. They constitute liability of the central bank, and they will be in circulation in addition to the paper currency that we have," said the second top official of the Reserve Bank.

He further said that having such a currency will also reduce the cost of printing and circulating paper currency.

Kanungo said the blockchain or the distributed ledger technology, which is the backbone of the digital currencies like Bitcoins, has a potential benefit for financial inclusion and enhancing the efficiency of the financial system.

Across the world, there has been heightened concerns over Bitcoins and their safety as they are not regulated by any governments/central banks, leading to concerns over money laundering, and misuse by terrorists.

Governmental attitudes towards cryptocurrency is varying - some countries vouching for it, and some for banning it.

Only two countries in the world have adopted cryptocurrency officially.

The Pacific island nation of Marshall Islands became the first country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender when it passed a law to create the digital "Sovereign," or SOV.

Venezuela in February became the first country to launch its own cryptocurrency - Petro - backed by crude oil reserves.

If India follows suit, it will be the second important measure taken by the government that would have drastic impact on the country's monetary structure after the demonetization in late 2016.

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Claiming they benefit from the Russian government's destabilizing activities, President Donald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions on several Russian oligarchs.

The Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday it has designated seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they own or control, 17 senior Russian government officials, and a state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary, a Russian bank.

"The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Mnuchin accused the Russian government of engaging in a range of malign activity, including the occupation of Crimea, supplying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with material and weaponry, and attempting to subvert Western democracies.

"Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities," Mnuchin said.

The Treasury said the targets include individuals who benefit from Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime and play a key role in advancing Russia's malign activities.

The oligarchs targeted include Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire linked to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who has been charged with money laundering in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The Treasury also imposed sanctions on Kirill Shamalov, who is married to Putin's daughter, and Putin adviser Suleiman Kerimov.

Relations between the U.S. and Russia have become increasingly strained recently after Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack on a former spy.

Trump also ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle due to its proximity to a U.S. submarine base and Boeing (BA).

Russia responded by announcing it would expel 60 American diplomats and close the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.

Nonetheless, the White House confirmed Monday that Trump and Putin discussed potentially meeting at the White House in the "not-too-distant future" during a phone call last month.

(Photo: www.kremlin.ru)

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Business News
Bitcoin kept sliding throughout the week after experiencing the much feared "death cross" over the holiday weekend, which was less destabilizing due to the apparently oversold position in the market. The top cryptocurrency failed to find support around $6,600 towards the end of the week and now risks drifting lower to $6,000 as concerns over regulation and taxation weigh on market sentiment. Disappointing market data for the first quarter, increasing regulation, bans, scams, taxation worries -all served to dampen sentiment over the week.

Here is a collection of the main stories from the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain this week, thus far.

Crypto Markets See Heavy Losses In Q1, Bitcoin Logs Worst Q1 Ever

The combined cryptocurrency market capitalization dropped by 59 percent or by more than $300 billion since the start of January to below $300 billion by the end of the first quarter, Coinmarketcap data indicated. The world's most popular cryptocurrency recorded its worst first quarter ever since it started trading regularly in 2010 as it lost more than half its value since the beginning of this year - from $13,412 on January 1 to $6685 on April 1. The previous biggest decline was a 38 percent fall in the price in Q1 of 2014, according to data from CoinDesk. Adding to the dismal news was the results of a study by ETH Zurich that said Bitcoin remained overvalued and was likely to plunge before the year end. And in India, one of the booming crypto markets, Ethereum topped Bitcoin as the most searched crypto over the past five months, research from mobile internet provider Jana showed.

In altcoin news, VeChain soared nearly 30 percent after Bithumb, one of South Korea's largest crypto exchanges, listed the coin. The cryptocurrency was among the few altcoins to defy the crypto market sell-off in the first quarter of this year.

Japan To Fight Crypto Theft, Australia Brings Exchanges Under Regulation

The Japanese government reportedly decided to set up a security agency in Tokyo to fight crypto currency theft. Meanwhile, the Australian government brought all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country under its control after the new anti-money laundering or AML guidelines came into force early this week.



India's Central Bank Bans Banks From Crypto Dealings

The Reserve Bank of India slapped an immediate ban on banks providing services to investors and firms dealing in digital currencies. The central bank asked banks to stop their existing business with cryptocurrency investors within three months. Meanwhile, the RBI has formed an inter-departmental group "to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency." The group is expected to submit a report by the end of June.

South Korea, Thailand Plan Cryptocurrency Taxation

South Korea has set June 2018 as cut-off time to come out with a taxation framework for cryptocurrencies, a month ahead of the July 2018, the deadline recommended by the G20 for own regulations for the crypto industry. In Thailand, the finance minister Apisak Tantivorawong reportedly unveiled the tax framework under which, investors would be required to pay 7 percent in value-added tax on all crypto trades alongside a 15 percent capital gains tax on returns on cryptocurrency investments.

Google Bans Crypto Mining Extensions On Chrome

Google banned all cryptocurrency mining extensions on its Chrome Web Store, citing a rise in malicious extensions. However, extensions with blockchain-related purposes other than mining will continue to be permitted. In other bans targeting cryptocurrencies, e-mail marketing platform MailChimp started to block cryptocurrency and ICO related campaigns.

SEC Unearths Another Crypto Fraud, Alibaba Sues ICO For Trademark Violation

Two founders of a cryptocurrency firm Centra were charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for carrying out a fake initial coin offering that raised $32 million and was promoted by boxer Floyd Mayweather. Elsewhere, Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the Chinese retail and internet conglomerate, sued a Dubai-based cryptocurrency firm for trademark violation as the latter raised over $3.5 million through the initial coin offering of a token called "AlibabaCoins" or "ABBC Coins". The Chinese retailer had previously made it clear that it was not interested in entering the cryptocurrency space.

Japan's Hacked Coincheck To Be Bought By Monex For JPY 3.6 Bln

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which was hit by the largest-ever digital currency theft late January, has agreed to be acquired by Japanese online brokerage Monex Group for 3.6 billion yen or about $34 million. Monex's shares climbed around 20 percent in Japan following the announcement. In late January, Coincheck was hacked of 523 million NEM coins worth 58 billion yen or $530 million at that time.

AirAsia Creating Own Cryptocurrency 'BigCoin'

Budget airline AirAsia is creating its own cryptocurrency, embracing more digital tech as it expands into more markets, the Nikkei Asian Review reported, citing the company founder and CEO Tony Fernandes. The Malaysia-based budget airline, which is the largest in Asia by passenger volume, is planning to convert the frequent flyer points to cryptocurrency that it has named "BigCoin". Singapore Airlines already announced such a plan earlier this year.

Sirin Labs Teams With Foxconn To Make First Blockchain Smartphone

Sirin Labs' Finney, the world's first blockchain-based smartphone, reportedly will be manufactured by FIH Mobile Ltd., a unit of electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn. Finney, created by the Swiss-Israeli technology firm, is designed to securely store and use digital currencies in fee-less transactions.

Hollywood Hopes To End Piracy With Blockchain Movie Distribution

Hollywood is also on board the blockchain wagon with hopes of seeing an end to piracy and "No Postage Necessary", the first movie to be distributed using the technology is set for release in June. The movie has partnered with Vevue, which is a Qtum blockchain based incentivized peer-to-peer video sharing decentralized application, or DApp, network. The romantic comedy is about a computer hacker and a stash of stolen Bitcoins.

Current Prices

As of 9.52 am ET on Friday, Bitcoin was down 4.09 percent for the week at $6,607.01 and Ethereum was lower by 7.1 percent at $367.96 on Coinbase.

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Business News
Republican Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was highly critical of President Donald Trump's escalating trade dispute with China in a statement on Thursday, claiming the president does not have a plan to win a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Sasse said he was hopeful Trump was just blowing off steam when he threatened to impose $100 billion of additional tariffs on Chinese imports.

"If he's even half-serious, this is nuts," Sasse said. "China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire."

"Let's absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us," he added. "This is the dumbest possible way to do this."

Sasse has been a frequent critic of Trump but is not the only Republican Senator from an agriculture-dependent state to raise concerns about China's retaliatory tariffs on products such as soybeans.

In a statement on Wednesday, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the U.S. should take action to defend its interests but argued farmers and ranchers shouldn't be expected to bear the brunt of retaliation for the entire country.

"The Administration knew that if it imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, China would retaliate against U.S. agriculture," Grassley said. "I warned President Trump as much in a White House meeting in February. Today shows that's exactly what happened."

He added, "If the federal government takes action on trade that directly results in economic hardship for certain Americans, it has a responsibility to help those Americans and mitigate the damage it caused."

Senators Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., have also expressed concerns about the impact China's retaliatory tariffs could have on U.S. agriculture.

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

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Political News
Editors Pick

Espi's Sausage and Tocino Co. is recalling about 2,048 pounds of frozen ready-to-eat or RTE chicken and pork hot dog products that may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service or FSIS announced.

Apple has updated its Apple Maps with the release of iOS 15 to now provide new ways to explore major cities through a new 3D view. Maps users on the new iOS in London, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area can experience a three-dimensional city view of these major cities.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG has launched additional flights to the United States on short notice, aiming to tap the surging demand following the planned end of U.S. travel restrictions. The German flag carrier is also increasing domestic flights to its European hubs amid high demand. Starting in October, the company is increasing German domestic flights by 45 percent, compared with July.
A new leadership project set to build on advances in gender equality was officially launched at Taumeasina on Wednesday.

The Women in Leadership in Samoa (W.I.L.S.) project is a joint initiative between UN Women and U.N.D.P., in partnership with the Government of Samoa and the Government of Australia together with the support from local partner organisations.

The project seeks to improve gender equality and womens leadership in Samoa.

W.I.L.S. represents the second phase of the Increasing Political Participation of Women in Samoa (IPPWS) Project, which was in place from 2014 to 2016.

Building on the lessons learnt from the I.P.P.W.S. Project, W.I.L.S. aims to strengthen opportunities for more inclusive and effective participation of women in all forms of leadership and share knowledge of Samoas experience in promoting womens political participation.

The W.I.L.S. project will partner closely with the Government of Samoa to support culturally sensitive implementation that includes women at all levels, from community based organizations to high level female representation in public and private sectors.

The Government of Samoa welcomes this joint initiative as it is aligned to the National Policy for Gender Equality 2016  2020 being implemented by the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development.

This policy speaks to enhancing institutional mechanisms to bring about gender equality, improved health services, access to education, economic development, climate change responses and good governance.

W.I.L.S. aims to address challenges such as limited pathways into political leadership; perceptions about womens roles; financial constraints; gaps in civic education and awareness; and the need for broader support for inclusivity.

It will also support increased representation of women in all levels of leadership.
Samoa has left Gemma Butler-Cooper lost for words.

Thats how captivating Samoas natural scenery is.

Being an avid traveller, having travelled to most places around the world, Gemma has never seen anything like Samoa  simple yet beautiful.

She is from Australia and is here for a holiday. Her trip turned out to be more than just a holiday because she made new friends who share the same interests as her.

I put pictures on my social media as well from here, so that everyone can see how beautiful it is. This is one of the best places and I travel a lot, so I would want to come back, she said.

It is just about everything this country is offering. The resort is beautiful and when you go out, you feel absolutely safe and it is so peaceful you can go for a beach holiday.

It was through the simplicity of Samoa that has allowed her to really enjoy her short trip.

I did not really want to go to Fiji because I feel it is a little bit more commercialised, so I looked up the internet and saw hotels here and it looked really nice.

There are a lot of activities to do and the weather looked good and that is why we chose to come to Samoa.

I have been to Bali twice. A lot of people from Australia go to Bali. I was wondering why you should go there instead of coming here, it is shorter and has so much more to offer. I definitely will bring some friends next time.

She explained: We have tried different kinds of food, so we have been to some local restaurants in Apia. We have just been asking people where it is good to go for food.

Trip advisor is great but we like to ask the locals where it is actually good. So people were referring us to places.

I think there is saying that someone said that Samoans are the friendliest people of the Polynesia islands, which it is true.

After going to Lalomanu beach, the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum and exploring the many sites in Samoa, she feels more than just relaxed and happy.

One word is not enough to describe everything of Samoa. It still has that raw beauty of nature. It was absolutely stunning.

So I am in my 30s, single and dont have any kids. The benefit of that is you get your own income from your job, so we really have these opportunities to go wherever we want.

This Easter we wanted to go somewhere for a holiday. So we were looking at Thailand and other areas and then found Samoa.
Social News 6/4

Moc Chau Tea Festival opens





Farmers work on vast tea hills in Moc Chau, Son La.









The third edition of the Moc Chau Tea Festival began on April 6 at Vinatea Moc Chau, a member of the Vietnam National Tea Corporation (Vinatea), in northern Son La province, bringing together six local tea producers.

The festival will feature a wide variety of events, including art performances, a tea-leaf picking contest, a tea ceremony and exhibitions of tea products and photos of tea plantations in Moc Chau. The geographical indication for Snow Shan (Shan Tuyet) tea of Moc Chau in Thailand will be announced during the festival.

The organiser will also hold sight-seeing tours around Moc Chau vast tea hills and tea production for visitors and a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the national Moc Chau tea plantation which was founded on April 8, 1958.

The festival aims to promote Moc Chau tea products, provide a platform for tea producers and traders to meet and foster safe and clean tea-making, said Nguyen Thi Hoa, Vice Chairman of the Peoples Committee of Moc Chau district.

It is also an opportunity for the district to attract more visitors and draw investors attention. Tea businesses and cooperatives are expected to form partnerships during the event, she added.

Moc Chau is endowed with a cool climate and soil suitable for growing tea plants.

Formed in 1959, the Moc Chau tea area now stretches across some 1,800 hectares and produces more than 23,000 tonnes of tea leaves annually. Moc Chau tea products are exported to many international markets, including Japan, Taiwan (China) and Pakistan. In recent years, the production of tea in Moc Chau has also boosted local tourism.-

Vietnam Day promotes Vietnam-Russia culture exchange









Art performance at the event





The 4th Vietnam Day programme was held in the Moscow State Institute of International Relations University (MGIMO) on April 5, showcasing Vietnamese culture and food to Russian friends.

Speaking at the event, Egor Andreev from the MGIMO affirmed the event has become a useful playground for Russian students who are learning Vietnamese language and culture.

He said 327 Vietnamese students graduated from the MGIMO over the last six decades, and many of them became senior officials and diplomats in Vietnam.

Educational cooperation between Vietnam and Russia has contributed to helping the two countries improve the quality of human resources, thus fostering bilateral relations.

Nguyen Thi Kim Thu from the Vietnamese Embassy in Russia highlighted the significance of the events theme, The youth of the 21st century, saying that it helps promote friendship and cultural respect.

In the framework of the event, a seminar discussing the role played by young people in reinforcing Russia-Vietnam relations was held.

Participants also debated global challenges to Vietnamese youths and Russia-Vietnam cooperation, and the role of youths in the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the two countries.





Taste of Australia features various activities









Visitors enjoy beverages at the event









The Consulate General of Australia in Ho Chi Minh City hosted a programme called Taste of Australia on April 5 as part of activities to celebrate the 45th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The annual event aims to introduce and promote Australian food, beverages, cuisine, and culture, and the countrys world-class chef training field. For the first time Australian music would be a focus of the programme.

The musical events include music and wine pairing in HCM City, and the central cities of Da Nang and Hue with Australian artists and classical pianist Van Anh Nguyen, a performance by singer-songwriter Nick Barkerm, and an appearance by singer Deni Hines.

Mark Coulton, Assistant Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment of Australia, said the two nations have elevated the bilateral relationship to the level of strategic partnership, opening up great opportunities to further develop trade ties.

Meanwhile, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Craig Chittick said the event creates a unique chance for attendees to enjoy both Australian nice music and food.

Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Le Thanh Liem stressed Vietnam-Australia diplomatic ties have developed constantly and obtained remarkable achievements in different fields from politics, trade, investment, education, defence to development cooperation.

Taste of Australia offers a good chance for people in the city, and in Vietnam in general to have interesting experiences with Australian cultural identity, he said.

Preparations made for Vietnamese Catholics seventh national congress









At the meeting









The seventh national Congress of Vietnamese Catholics building and protecting the homeland for the 2018-2023 tenure is planned to take place in Hanoi on October 17-18.

Preparations for the event were discussed at a meeting between the Standing Board of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and the Standing Board of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics in Hanoi on April 5.

Catholics in 21 cities and provinces have organized their congresses while those in nine other provinces had conferences to review their five-year activities and 12 others will hold their congresses, as preparatory steps for their seventh national congress.

Priest Tran Xuan Manh, Acting Chairman and Secretary General of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics affirmed that the Committee is working hard to prepare for the event.

President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man asked the front units to provide maximal assistance for the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics to ensure the congress will be successful.

He said he believes that via the congress, the social role and prestige of the Committee will be heightened to bridge the State and the Church and enhance the Churchs companion with the nation.

Green public procurement benefits economy, society: workshop









Green public procurement will bring many benefits to not only buyers and sellers but also the environment and the whole economy and society (Illustrative photo: baodauthau.vn)

Green public procurement will bring many benefits to not only buyers and sellers but also the environment and the whole economy and society, said Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA) Hoang Van Thuc said.

He made the remark at a workshop on April 5 which discussed challenges and opportunities of green public procurement in Vietnam.

A 2015 report of the VEA under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shows that the State spends 20  30 percent of its budget on public procurement every year on average. This figure could reach 50 percent if it includes spending on the building work.

Amid economic restructuring towards sustainable development, sustainable procurement will considerably contribute to the attainment of the sustainable development goals, including improving production quality, effectively and sustainably using natural resources, and ensuring security and social equality.

Kim Yong Jin, Director of the Republic of Koreas Environmental Industry and Technology Institute, said Vietnam is a developing Asian-Pacific economy with a growth rate of 5  7 percent in the last 10 years.

Realising the problems of traditional modes of economic growth, Vietnam announced a green growth strategy and is building a road map for implementing green public procurement until 2020.

He added as public procurement could be equivalent to 12  30 percent of the countrys GDP, the procurement of environmentally friendly products will help reduce pollution and promote green production and sustainable consumption.

However, Deputy Director General Thuc also pointed to hindrances to green public procurement, including the inconsistency of legal documents which has led to State agencies lax coordination, the limited awareness and capacity of procurement officials, and the shortage of guidance on integrating sustainability criteria into the bidding process.

Notably, awareness of the positive impacts of sustainable public procurement among State agencies and procurement officials remains modest, he noted.

He underscored the importance of training courses for these officials, adding that it is a priority in the VEAs cooperation with the Korean institute. The countries sharing of information about and experience in this field will be helpful for carrying out green public procurement in Vietnam.

Acecook Vietnam becomes gold sponsor of Hue Festival 2018





















The Acecook Vietnam JSC will fund 3.3 billion VND (144,800 USD) for Hue Festival 2018, becoming a gold sponsor for the event scheduled for April 27  May 2.

The signing ceremony took place in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on April 4.

Speaking at the event, General Director of Acecook Vietnam Kajiwwara Junichi said the company is honour to support the event, adding that over the past 23 years, it has strived to maintain the value of traditional cuisine by combining Vietnamese flavour with Japanese technology.

Themed Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development: Hue - One Destination, Five World Heritages, the biennial event aims to promote art exchanges among cultures and introducing unique values of the culture of Vietnam and Hue, thus boosting service-tourism growth and strengthening socio-economic development of Thua Thien-Hue.

So far, the Hue Festival 2018 has attracted more than 20 international art troupes from various countries, including France, the Republic of Korea, Israel, Mongolia, Japan, Thailand, Russia, China and Spain.

The old capital city of Hue owns five UNESCO heritages, including Hue Complex of Monuments, Hue Royal Court Music, Woodblocks of Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), Nguyen Dynasty's royal documents and the royal literature on Hue royal architecture.

As Hue served as the imperial city under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), the festival will reenact royal celebrations and events such as Royal Night, Orient Legends and the Nam Giao ritual.

In addition, many side events will be held, such as the Hue Science Festival (organised by the Hue College of Medicine and Pharmacy), International Gastronomy Fair, beer carnival, International Trade Fair, Splendid Taste of Ancient Village in Phuoc Tich, traditional boat race on Huong (Perfume) River, kite festival, Tam Giang Lagoon Fantasy and Hue Poetry Festival.

Exhibitions taking different themes include the poetry on Hue royal architectural works inscribed on truc chi (bamboo pulp) paper, colours of Bat Trang pottery, orchids and bonsai, old car exhibition and cultural heritage with integration and development.

Various sight-seeing tours offer more fantastic journeys to discover local attractions such as Lang Co beach and Tam Giang Lagoon.

Hue Festival has taken place every two years starting from 2000, bringing together excellent arts companies with unique performances from across the world.

This year, the province hopes to welcome about 4.2 million visitors, up 10 percent year on year, and earn tourism revenue of 4.2 billion VND, a rise of 15 percent.

Tien Giang develops offshore fishing fleet





















The southern province of Tien Giang has developed a fleet of offshore fishing vessels in order to create jobs for workers at sea and affirm sea and island sovereignty.

With a coastline of 32km, Tien Giang is home to localities with long tradition in fishing such as Go Cong township, Go Cong Dong and Tan Phu Dong districts and My Tho city, attracting tens of thousands of skilled workers.

Other industries such as seafood processing, aquatic products and dried seafood also contributed to boosting local economic growth and ensuring social welfare.

In order to sustainably tap aquatic products, the province has encouraged building high-capacity vessels equipped with modern technology and capable of going fishing offshore.

Infrastructure for fishing logistics services such as ports and storm-proof wharves have also been upgraded. Two of its ports, My Tho and Vam Lang, are among national fishing ports.

Last year, the province dealt with more than 260 petitions asking for support from fishermen.

Traditional fishing grounds of local fishermen include the Truong Sa archipelago, DK1 platform, and west sea area.

This year, the province strives to tap more than 102,000 tonnes of fish and shrimps.

National blood centre set up to ensure supplies for patients









At the ceremony to announce the establishment of the national blood centre (Photo: dantri.com.vn)









The National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) on April 4 announced the Ministry of Healths decision to set up a national blood centre under the institute.

Director of the institute Bach Quoc Khanh said that the centre, equipped with modern technology and high profession will support the development of blood transfusion sector in the country.

It also creates a premise to set up a national blood centre under the Ministry of Health, he added.

Carrying out the World Banks Regional Blood Transfusion Centres Project, the institute built a modern transfusion blood centre with capacity of 90,000 blood units per year. Particularly, the institute received 303,462 blood units in 2017 and the number is expected to increase to 600,000 units by 2030.

The centre is established to organise blood transfusion and reserve blood for national security.

NIHBT Deputy Director Pham Tuan Duong is assigned as the director of the blood centre.

Quang Ngai tightens control of fishing activities to fight IUU











Fishermen of An Hai commune in Ly Son island district in the central province of Quang Ngai prepare for a fishing trip.









The central province of Quang Ngai has set up two offices to monitor and inspect activities of fishing vessels at sea as part of local efforts to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The two offices are based at Tinh Ky fishing port (Tinh Ky commune) and Tinh Hoa port (Tinh Hoa commune in Quang Ngai city). The offices staff will conduct inspection of fishing vessels coming in or leaving the ports. The staff will also inspect and certify the origin of catches.

According to Duong Van To, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the department will set up inspection offices at all fishing ports in the province with the aim of preventing local ships from involving in illegal fishing and facilitating the management and certification of seafood origin in line with regulations.

In September 2017, the EC issued a yellow card warning Vietnam for failing to progress in fighting IUU fishing. The EC also proposed nine recommendations that Vietnam should implement. The "yellow card" is followed by a "green card" if the problem is resolved or a "red card" if it isnt. A red card can lead to a trade ban on fishery products.

The EU will assess Vietnams efforts to fight IUU fishing in April.

On December 13, 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Directive 45/CT-TTg on some urgent tasks and solutions following the ECs warning.

The whole political system, from the central to local level, and fishermen of Vietnam have taken drastic actions to prevent and combat IUU fishing.

There have been an array of urgent solutions, including supplementing anti-IUU fishing regulations to legal documents, enforcing the issued regulations, disseminating the solutions to fishermen and relevant parties, enhancing cooperation with coastal and island countries to prevent IUU fishing, and holding dialogues to update the EU on Vietnams efforts to improve fisheries management.

As a result, illegal fishing in foreign waters by Vietnamese boats has declined considerably, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said at the ministrys regular press conference on March 2.

Foreign-funded projects help Quang Tri deal with unexploded ordnance









Sappers are searching for war-left bombs and mines









Several foreign-funded projects have been conducted in the central province of Quang Tri over the past two decades, helping the locality to clear bombs and mines left from war.

Quang Tri is one of localities most affected by the aftermath of war, with 81 percent of the provinces total area polluted with unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Statistics from the provincial centre for overcoming bomb and mine consequences show that by April 2018, bomb and mine accidents had killed 3,430 people and injured 5,100 others, including many children.

Demining projects in Quang Tri have been funded by many foreign agencies, including the foreign ministries of Germany, the US and Norway, the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, the UKs Department for International Development, Irelands development assistance fund, UNICEF and the US organisation Peace Trees.

The projects have helped clear 132 million sq.m of seriously polluted areas, and safely handle more than 650,000 bombs, mines and other UXO.

More than 350,000 people were provided with knowledge and skills to prevent UXO accidents via the Mine Risk Education (MRE) programme.

Local authorities have also paid attention to supporting local victims of war-era UXO, helping them improve their living conditions and re-integrate into the community.

Non-governmental organisations have financed the building of 332 humanitarian houses, and directly aided 215 UXO victims and their families.

Some 1,200 UXO victims who are living with disabilities were provided with medical examination and prosthetics and other orthopedic instruments, while 50 disabled people and medical workers were trained in community-based rehabilitation.

Nguyen Duc Thien from the provincial centre for overcoming bomb and mine consequences said demining projects have contributed to expanding safe land area for production in the locality.

To improve the work, the locality will set up a mine action centre, he said, adding that Quang Tri hopes to receive greater support and resources for the scheme.

VFF leader extends Chol Chnam Thmay greetings to Khmer people









A Chol Chnam Thmay celebration in KhemMapaPhia pagoda of Hau Giang province in 2017









President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Tran Thanh Man has extended his best wishes to Khmer people nationwide on the occasion of their New Year festival - Chol Chnam Thmay, which falls on April 14-16.

In his letter sent to Khmer monks and people, Man wrote that Vietnam gained many important achievements in the socio-economic, defence, security and diplomatic fields in 2017 thanks to the efforts of the Party, army and citizens.

The material and spiritual lives of people, including the Khmer community, have been improved.

He appreciated the communitys efforts to follow the Partys policies and the States laws, as well as their participation in movements launched by the VFF and their contributions to socio-economic development.

He expressed his hope that Khmer people will be happier and contribute more to national building and safeguarding.

Chol Chnam Thmay is one of the most important festivals for Khmer people. It usually lasts three days and is celebrated mostly in pagodas. The festival is a demonstration of Khmer peoples aspirations, like many other ethnic groups, to move on from the previous years misfortunes and look forward to a promising new year.

Cho Ray Hospital adopts advanced radiotherapy system











Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City yesterday (April 4) began using an advanced radiotherapy system Versa HD that improves treatment precision, productivity and efficiency.









Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City yesterday began using an advanced radiotherapy system called Versa HD to improve treatment precision, productivity and efficiency.

The system, the most advanced radiotherapy in use in Viet Nam, is being used in the delivery of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in a conventional time slot, according to Nguyen Truong Son, director of the hospital.

The system was funded with Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the Austrian government to support the upgrading of equipment and machines at the hospitals oncology centre.

The centre provides treatment for 800 to 1,000 patients every day, resulting in patient overloading and long waiting times, which will be reduced with the new system.

Every year, there are 75,000 cancer-related deaths and around 150,000 people are diagnosed with cancer. HCM City has 5,000-6,000 new cases of cancer every year.

Government reclaims bonds used for eo Ca tunnel project









The southern exit of the eo Ca tunnel on National Highway 1A linking the two central provinces of Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa









Government bonds used for the construction of the eo Ca tunnel project are to be reclaimed under a decision by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Under the decision, VN1.180 trillion (US$51.7 million) of the total VN4.958 trillion ($217.2 million) in Government bonds allocated during the period of 2014-2016 by the Transport Ministry for the eo Ca Tunnel Project, including those used to build the Co Ma Tunnel, will be collected by the Ministry of Finance.

The money claimed included VN716.4 billion ($31.3 million) allocated for 2016 only.

The reclaimed capital will be reserved for mid-term investment for the period of 2016-2020 under the authority of a resolution passed by the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The Ministry of Transport had to refund the money allocated in 2016 including the money which was not yet disbursed, as well as the amount paid for ground clearance and the resettlement of residents.

The Transport Ministry was asked to review toll collection stations for the new tunnel, as well as toll fees. They are also required to produce a report to the Prime Minister calculating the effectiveness of money invested in the eo Ca Project.

The eo Ca Tunnel Project runs through the Ca Pass on National Highway 1A linking the two central provinces of Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa. Construction began in 2012.

The 4.1-kilometre long eo Ca Tunnel is part of a 13.4-kilometre road project, which also includes another tunnel, Co Ma, which is 500m long and opened to traffic in 2015.

The tunnel, built with an investment of VN15.6 trillion (US$748 million), allows vehicles to travel at a maximum speed of 80km per hour from Phu Yen Provinces Hao Son Commune to Khanh Hoa Provinces Co Ma Commune.

Each side of the road inside the tunnel has two 3.5m lanes, helping reduce the distance between Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces by 9km, and cutting off around 50 minutes of travel time. The new tunnel has put an end to commuters reliance on the Ca Pass, which is dangerous during the rainy and typhoon seasons.

Toll fees for using the tunnel have been collected since September 2017, and range from VN60,000 (US$2.64) to VN288,000 (US$12.67), depending on the type of vehicle used.

The eo Ca Tunnel, which was put into operation in August last year, is the second longest mountain road tunnel in the country, after the Hai Van Tunnel, which is 6.28 kilometres long and runs between Thua Thien in Hue Province and a Nang City.

Urban design project on Belt Road No 3 publicised









The Manor Central Park developed by Bitexco Group along the Belt Road No 3.  Photo Vietnamnet.vn









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.

Landslides threaten lives of Cho Gao Canal residents









Hundreds of households living along Cho Gao Canal in Tien Giang Province are facing risk of landslides and worry their houses could be swept away.









Hundreds of families living along Cho Gao Canal in Mekong province of Tien Giang fear a landslide might destroy their homes any moment.

Cho Gao Canal is an important waterway for transporting goods through ships from HCM City to the Mekong Delta and vice versa. In the 2013-14 period, the Ministry of Transport implemented the first phase of a project to dredge and upgrade the canal.

However, the second phase which was approved to be carried out in the 2016-2017 period in the build, operate and transfer (BOT) format was suspended, as it could be transferred to other form of investment.

Costing VN1.3 trillion (US$57.7 million), the project is aimed at upgrading a 28.6-km section of the canal.

The slow implementation of the projects second phase has affected the lives of families living along the canal. The entire road system was completely eroded, affecting the business of the local people.

The areas most susceptible to erosion are concentrated in Binh Phuc Nhut, Binh Phan and Xuan ong communes.

Several sections of dykes along the 10-km canal were eroded.

The local people said the cause of the severe landslide was the large number of boats passing Cho Gao every day, while the embankment kept degrading and was not repaired on time.

Tran Thi Thanh Hien, a resident in Binh Phuc Nhut Commune, said the residents lived in anxiety because the main road was damaged by the landslide.

Hien, whose house was at least a dozen metres away from the canal long ago, now lives in fear of being swept away by the water, as erosion has brought the house perilously close to the edge of the canal.

To control the landslide, residents were using simple tools such as timber, sand bags and steel wires, but a few days later, the road suffered more damage through another landslide.

These households cannot be shifted because they are waiting for support from the Government to carry out the second phase of the project.

Le Van My, chairman of Peoples Committee of Cho Gao District, said more than 600 households had been affected by the poor implementation of the second phase of the project.

The local authorities have asked the Transport Ministry to conduct the second phase quickly to help households lead a better life.

The upgrade project will ease the traffic along the canal, preventing ships from getting stuck in landslides and shallow water.

Sacked health workers calling for justice









As many as 137 health workers in the northern province of Lai Chau got sacked this month after the province reviewed its employment policy.









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.

OVs in Germany offer support to Truong Sa

















On April 2, the Truong Sa (Spratly) Club in Germany held an exchange with people who have visited Truong Sa archipelago and those who are planning a trip to the archipelago in mid-April.

The exchange was attended by Vietnamese Ambassador Doan Xuan Hung and representatives of a selection of Vietnamese associations, unions, and businesses who have been steadfast in their support of the Clubs activities regarding Truong Sa over the past year.

In addition to raising funds for Truong Sa, the exchange offered a chance for Club members to brief the Vietnamese community on their recent work and future plans.

In its first year of operation, the Club has launched two fundraisers for the children of soldiers stationed on the islands, encouraged students to write letters to the islands soldiers, and organized arts performances and talks with Vietnamese students and German and international friends on the topic of Vietnams sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa archipelagos.

Addressing the event, Ambassador Doan Xuan Hung praised the Club members hard work over the year and expressed his belief that activities organised by the club in support of Truong Sa will attract the participation of more OVs in the future.

On the occasion, the Club encouraged OVs to help fund the planting of trees on the islands in an effort to restore the abundant flora that was destroyed by storms late last year.

Together with 6,750 Euros raised at the event, the Club will hand over 10,000 Euros to five people who are set to visit Truong Sa in mid-April, where they will present the funds to Truong Sa residents and soldiers.




This much we are sure of. Today is a gift and tomorrow is the unknown.

We only have to read the front-page story of yesterdays Samoa Observer to be reminded about this again and again. Under the headline Bizarre tragedies probed, the story talked about three deaths, which occurred on three separate occasions within the space of one day.

From what weve been told, these deaths should make us all sit down and think.

We should be asking the question of what is going on in Samoa today? What is wrong with some people in this country? Have common sense, decency and morals deserted some people that badly?

According to Police sources, the first is truly bizarre. It involves a man in his 40s who caught a taxi to Laulii.

When the taxi arrived in Laulii, the passenger took off running without paying his taxi fare, we were told.

Bystanders in the village went after him and brought him back to the taxi. The man was placed in the trunk of the taxi, and the taxi driver drove to the Police station to report the passenger for not paying his fare.

However upon arrival, the man was found dead in the trunk of the taxi.

Seriously? Why would people stuff a living human being in the boot of a car? What were they thinking?

If you thought that was tragic, then the next case is even worse. This one involves a 44-year-old man of Vaitele fou who had drinks with another man.

Around 2am, we were told, the 44-year-old man started to make unreasonable noises and its alleged the suspect got into his car and ran over the victim. He died due to the severity of the injuries he sustained.

Again, this killing absolutely boggles the mind. We accept that alcohol was involved and that alcohol does stupid things to certain people but to get in a car and drive over another living soul is beyond me. Its beyond comprehension.

And then there is the third death. This time a man in his 40s who was overly intoxicated causing self-harm.

The man from Lotofaga who was drunk, was apparently upset about something, he started smashing the louvers of his house and in doing so, sustained severe cuts on his hands.

He was then taken to the hospital and was later pronounced dead because he lost so much blood.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are stories of today. These things are happening in Samoa as we speak. They are tragic, bizarre and they dont reflect well on this country at all. These deaths are a waste of lives.

Think of all the people at the hospital who are fighting to live. Think of the doctors and nurses working hard to keep many people alive. And then think of the total disregard some people have for human lives  in these cases weve highlighted today. Its sad.

On the other hand, as we sit down this weekend, lets appreciate the fact we are safe, sound, alive and well. You see, despite all the money, the intelligence and the confidence in the world, no one knows what the next ten minutes of life might bring. We live in a world where we are here this minute and gone the next. Its instant. Thats how life can quickly change.

Which means we must never take a moment for granted.

We must learn to count our blessings, appreciate the gift of life, love the people near us and even the challenges that make us better people.

The thing about death is that it is unpredictable. While from the scriptures we are told that death is a divine appointment, the fact is we are not given a time so this should make us appreciate every day even more. For we never know. It could be tomorrow, next year or another 10 years from now, we just never know.

Which brings me back to the point of this piece. We must never take anything for granted. We must learn to appreciate everything in our lives  especially the people that matter the most. We dont know when they will be taken from us.

Have a restful weekend Samoa, God bless!
Dear Editor,

Re: Facebook ban

If you ban Facebook then people will turn to some other internet social application.

Or they will fall back on correspondence by post or email. Unless of course you want to seal Samoa off from the rest of the world - but then your own airline would go out of business along with your hotels and tourist attractions.

And Im uncertain that you could practically enforce a ban on Facebook.

Collin Law
The Samoa Police Service has issued a statement confirming the severity of the attack against Police officers when they were called to Luatuanuu to resolve a conflict there, last month.

According to a statement issued to the Weekend Observer, the Police estimate that $10,000 is the cost of damages to Police and private vehicles as result of the road block at the village.

The Police also claim they were shot at when they arrived, among other claims.

The Police statement is published verbatim below:

The Samoa Police Service (S.P.S.) is continuing its investigation into the incidents that occurred in the village of Luatuanuu during the weekend from Saturday, 17 March 2018 through Monday, 19 March 2018.

During this period, the S.P.S. received numerous calls from the members of the public reporting that Luatuanu'u youths, armed with sticks and stones and with their faces concealed with pieces of clothing, were blocking the main road, searching their vehicles, and threatening the occupants of these vehicles; further, there were reports of stones being thrown at passing vehicles.

Immediately, uniformed members of S.P.S. were dispatched to the village of Luatuanuu on Saturday evening, 17 March 2018, to investigate. Upon arrival, the police sought assistance from the pulenu'u (mayor) of Luatuanuu on Saturday night to assist with the investigation and to stop the illegal activities by the village youth.

The pulenu'u insisted that he will handle the issue.

Unfortunately, the next day, Sunday evening, 18 March 2018, members of the public, again, reported that their vehicles were being illegally stopped, searched, and the occupants harassed and threatened by unidentified persons on the main road in the village of Luatuanu'u.

Police, again, responded and met with the same pulenuu to assist in de-escalating the matter and, again, the pulenuu advised the police officers to leave the matter to their village council to handle and resolve.

However, early Monday morning, 19 March 2018, concerned members of the public reported to the police, again, that they were being stopped and harassed at a roadblock in the village of Luatuanuu and the situation was escalating.

Consequently, a contingent of uniformed officers in marked police vehicles were dispatched to the village of Luatuanuu to investigate to ensure public safety.

Immediately upon arrival, makeshift roadblocks were observed on the main roadway, and soon after stones were hurled at occupied police vehicles, occupied privately owned vehicles, and toward uniformed officers who were on foot on the main road dismantling the trees and rocks used to block the roadway. The police officers were unarmed and not on village land. Moreover, multiple sounds of gunfire were heard coming from the village during the melee.

By the grace of God, only a total of eight police officers sustained injuries worthy of hospital treatment.

The injured officers were subsequently transported and treated at the national hospital for their injuries sustained from the stone throwing. Further, multiple vehicles (private and police) sustained damages from the incident with an estimated cost of repair to police vehicles to be approximately $10,000.00 tala.

To date, 20 individuals have been arrested and charged; 15 of whom were members of the Luatuanuu village; and a possibility of more arrests to follow.

S.P.S. is continuing its investigation into this unwarranted incident, including the unlawful discharge of firearms on Monday.

We are appealing to the members of the public who were illegally stopped, searched, harassed, or injured from this incident to come forward. Please contact Senior Sergeant Eneliko Taeu or Superintendent Sale Salaa of Criminal Investigation Division on 22222, or in person at Police Headquarters for further information.

S.P.S. encourages everyone not to take criminal matters into their own hands. Please contact the police for assistance instead. Lastly, S.P.S. acknowledges the tremendous and invaluable community work and contributions of village councils throughout Samoa, particularly in assisting the police in keeping Samoa safe. Manuia soifua.
The Government of Japan has been providing funds to many local government schools under its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (G.G.P.) since 1991, which has benefitted many government schools.

Yesterday, Laumoliafi Primary School at Avao Savaii became the latest school to benefit from the project.

Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi, was among the officials who witnessed the opening of the newly reconstructed school building.

The grant of $283,760.62, was utilised to reconstruct the main school building to house eight classrooms, a staff room and a library.

The school caters for 229 students with seven teachers, and they can now work and learn in the newly reconstructed rooms.

Ambassador of Japan to Samoa, Maugaoleatuolo Shinya Aoki, expressed his congratulations to everyone who supported the project up to its completion.

He expressed the hope that everyone at Laumoliafi Primary School will treat the facilities with proper care for many generations to utilise.

He added that his hope is to continue to strengthen the ties between the government and the people of Japan and Samoa.

Japan will continue to provide support for development projects at the grassroots level through its G.G.P, aligned with the key outcomes that needs improvements in the Strategy for Development of Samoa (S.D.S.).
Lynne and Graham Kole arrived in Samoa from Sydney, Australia, yesterday morning.

They have been married for 51 years and are in Samoa for a holiday.

Their three children have all been to Samoa before, but this time Lynne and Graham, wanted time for themselves, all because of their childrens recommendations.

We drove through different villages on our way from the airport. It is amazing how many churches you can find here, Lynne said.

I like to stop in the middle of the street and talk to someone. When you go down the streets and the little villages, you get a feeling of how the life here really looks like.

I was asking for example a local what it is about these cemeteries everywhere and he explained to me about the village chiefs and that was interesting.

I really love tradition and learning more about it. Everywhere I go I like to find out more about the culture, this is an important part of visiting a country for me.

I had some lovely conversation with a young Samoan receptionist over there. She took us around and showed us some lovely places. She talked about the traditional tattoos, which the men and women have. That was fascinating.

We saw a deal on the internet with lucky escapes and one of them was a trip to Samoa. It is not Bali or Fiji, which we are avoiding. We do not like the fast and over commercialised places, Lynne shared with Dear Tourist.

The most advertised countries in Australia are Bali, Fiji and New Caledonia, which is one reason they are not attracted to these places.

For us to do a tour in Australia is more expensive than coming to Samoa, Graham said.

The people are what the couple enjoys the most about the islands.

They are lovely, friendly, they say hello even if they do not have to. They do more than the job expected of them and they go the next step, Lynne said.
Meet Robin Rudd and her fiance, Phillip Thomas.

The couple, from Waikato, New Zealand, has been courting for two years.

They shared with the Dear Tourist team that they would be tying the knot soon when they return home.

Phillip won a free trip to Samoa by getting his life insurance.

We never thought about travelling this much because we could not afford it, Robin said.

They are staying at the Taumeasina Island Resort.

We are absolutely happy with the service here, the people are very kind and passionate about their job, they shared.

Compared to their hometown in the North Island, the people in Samoa are very different.

Back home, the people are not this nice and they are always in a rush, Robin said.

The couple arrived last Sunday and left yesterday.

We are really sad to leave this beautiful place, Robin said.

In just a week, theyve got to appreciate the richness of Samoas nature, culture and its people.

We have been lucky to win this trip and getting an opportunity to do something else that we normally could not afford, Robin explained.

The couple visited Apia and enjoyed the pool and the beautiful beach around the resort.

For Robin, who was sick during their stay here, this is definitely an unforgettable experience.

We would love to come back as soon as we are able to afford it, the couple said.
Facebook has been under scrutiny recently over concerns about how the data of its users is shared with third parties, particularly political groups. Some users and businesses have decided to get off the site.

Question: Is Facebook still a good place for businesses to reach customers?

Phil Blair, Manpower

YES: There is a big difference between companies using Facebook to solicit new customers, proudly talking about all the attributes and opportunities at their company (recruiting) and very personal and private information that should never be available for scamming. As a company soliciting for sales there should be no concerns. However if any vendor or internet service is promising confidentiality but is not really able to protect its data then shame on them.

Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research

YES: Collecting and sorting massive amounts of data is ubiquitous in usage of target marketing. Facebook is merely the most recognizable face of data mining science springing up in recent years to gather information on nearly every industry. Data science and data mining are analytics taken to the extreme, serving to streamline industries, ironing out inefficiencies, and ensuring personalized custom marketing and solutions. On the other hand, privacy has essentially become a thing of the past.

David Ely, San Diego State University

YES: Following accusations that it mishandled user data, Facebook is taking steps to better protect user information. This will include limiting information brokers access to user data and giving Facebook users more control over their personal data. But advertisers, even after the changes, will still be able to target ads to specific audiences with significant precision. And even though some individuals will abandon it, Facebook will retain a huge base of active users.

Gina Champion-Cain, American National Investments

YES: Facebook's platform is simply a mechanism to "mine" data for sale to advertisers and others who deem the data to be of value. It's a very efficient vehicle for reaching targeted markets which is precisely why businesses are so attracted to Facebook. Data buyers have little interest in the means used to attain the market information they seek and are far more concerned that regulation may restrict access to the data they treasure.

Alan Gin, University of San Diego

YES: Facebook will continue to be a significant force in the social media arena, particularly among the younger people that businesses want to target. But it will not be as attractive to those businesses as it was before. Some users will give up Facebook due to security concerns, which will reduce the audience to potential advertisers. But more importantly, the targeting of individuals will not be as good as Facebook addresses privacy issues, which will make it less valuable to advertisers.

James Hamilton, UC San Diego

NO: Its certainly not a good way to reach me, because I dont pay any attention to it. The company recently reported that overall usage is falling by 50 million hours every day. I think the cynical efforts by businesses and some political operatives to try to manipulate and control what people see is backfiring. And as more people realize how the information they broadcast is being used by third parties, Facebooks popularity will sink further.

Gary London, London Group of Realty Advisors

YES: Caution: You are asking a baby boomer to react to a marketing approach which mostly favors Millennials. There remains an array of ways to reach your consumer. I think its a good bet that social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are enormously important to many businesses, and will remain so, particularly for businesses that reach directly to consumers. B2B marketing is not nearly as dependent on these platforms, profiting mainly from referrals, repeat business and well placed advertising. All are important and none will go away.

Norm Miller, University of San Diego

YES: Facebook is a clear legitimate way to reach some customers. FB is currently less effective for business-to-business marketing than LinkedIn, but good for direct marketing of many products, like music. With profiling and data mining of our search habits, the marketing can be targeted to things we might want, but at the same time, FB can be used to exploit our own prejudices and polarize society so there should be some regulation against patent lies as we have with TV ads.

Jamie Moraga, IntelliSolutions

YES: Facebook is closing in on 2 billion active users worldwide. Data analytics for that number of users is key to reaching targeted customers and Facebook offers the ability to get that data to businesses. The social media platform is facing a lot of scrutiny related to the data collected unbeknownst to Facebook users, that is then accessed by advertisers for targeted marketing. Facebook will only become irrelevant for businesses if we see a dramatic loss in users, but until then, its a captured market.

Austin Neudecker, Rev

YES: Our business spends a lot on Facebook every month because it works. The ability to target the specific audience you want is extremely powerful. Example: I can reach only working mothers in San Diego, in their 30s who have iPhones and watch a specific show on TV. Whereas Google ads can target the user's intent (what they are actively looking for - more powerful in most cases), Facebook can micro-target demographics & moods.

Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates

YES: Facebook is an excellent place to reach customers. While only a small percentage of overall digital marketing budgets are allocated toward advertising on Facebook, our Facebook re-marketing ads work. The increase in direct bookings supports our hypothesis that running Facebook ads in conjunction with search ads increases the overall effectiveness of our advertising strategy. Users who also received re-marketing ads on Facebook had increases in conversion rates as well as return on ad spend.

Lynn Reaser, Point Loma Nazarene University

YES: With over 2 billion users, Facebook is too important an advertising platform for businesses to ignore. Even with the loss of some users, most people are likely to keep their Facebook accounts to retain their social networks. Companies should use more than one platform, but Facebook provides targeted marketing, instant customer feedback, and rapid dissemination with the like button. Facebook will need, however, to tighten its control over third-party users and giver users more control over their personal data.

John Sarkisian, SKLZ

YES: Despite the security and privacy concerns Facebook is the dominant social media platform to access consumers. I expect there will be new regulations that will change how advertisers can access data inside Facebook. I also expect new emerging sites and apps will soon supplant and compete with Facebook as the go to source for advertising and promoting products and services.

Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health

Yes: While Facebooks management team and its stock price have taken a major hit from the Cambridge Analytica controversy, the platform by far remains the biggest social network, with more than 2 billion active users worldwide. And while some people undoubtedly deleted their accounts in recent weeks, Facebook remains, at least for the time being, a valuable marketing tool that lets advertisers of all sizes target large numbers of potential customers based on highly specific demographics and preferences.

Have an idea for an EconoMeter question? Email me at phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com
The operators of the recently opened Tule Wind Farm in San Diegos East County presented two checks of nearly $100,000 each Thursday to the Mountain Empire Unified School District and Mountain Health and Community Services.

The donations by Oregon-based Avangrid Renewables were part of a Good Neighbor Agreement negotiated with the community in the development of the wind energy project that consists of 57 turbines that loom over the landscape in the rugged McCain Valley.

Company officials say donations to various community and civic groups will be made during the life of the project that is expected to deliver more than $39 million in state and local tax benefits over 25 years.

Were proud of our work to bring clean renewable power to thousands of California homes, Avangrid Renewables CEO Laura Beane said in a statement.

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The Tule Wind Farm covers about 12,000 acres and launched operations Jan. 12 after 13 years of bureaucratic and legal battles. Some environmental groups say the project poses danger to the areas habitat, golden eagles in particular. The company says it has been careful to make sure wildlife and birds are protected.

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rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1251 Twitter: @robnikolewski

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Job growth slowed sharply in March from the pace of recent months as employers in most sectors took a breather in hiring.

Wage gains went up only slightly last month even though businesses are finding it increasingly harder to attract qualified workers and more people are leaving their jobs voluntarily.

The nations unemployment rate remained at a 17-year low of 4.1% for the sixth straight month, the Labor Department said Friday.

There was no indication that the Trump administrations brewing trade war with China, which has jolted stock markets in recent weeks, had taken a bite out of hiring.

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Although last months net job creation of 103,000 was well below analysts forecasts, economists instead attributed much of the slowdown to a payback for the unusually big burst of 326,000 new positions added in February. Milder than usual weather in February had bolstered construction payrolls, but in March that partially reversed.

American manufacturers, meanwhile, kept adding a healthy number of jobs last month.

Most experts took the overall disappointing job numbers in stride, given that they were just one months data. For the entire first quarter, job growth has averaged about 202,000 a month, enough to keep up with the growing workforce population  and then some.

The strong job market does appear to be drawing back some people who have been out of the labor force for a significant time, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday. Those people include workers who had previously reported a disability, he added. Anecdotal reports indicate that employers are increasingly willing to take on and train workers they would not have considered in the past.

Speaking in Chicago after the release of the jobs report, Powell said that the Fed expects the employment situation to remain strong, suggesting that the central bank will carry out its telegraphed plan to keep raising interest rates gradually, two or perhaps three more times this year.

Powell said that he and his colleagues discussed the trade situation when they met about two weeks ago, but indicated that it was too early to speak of implications for the economic outlook. So far, Trump has threatened to slap tariffs on as much as $150 billion in Chinese goods, and Beijing has said it would respond commensurately if that happened.

Beijing responds forcefully to Trumps escalating threats, raising risks of all-out trade war 

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Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust in Chicago, agreed with Powell that it is too early to know what the impact of announced tariffs will be on economic activity and inflation. But he added: In my view, if we get into a tariff tussle, it would be the worst scenario for the Fed: It could diminish growth and increase inflation. Those environments make it tough to set policy.

Although the tariffs would not take effect until June at the earliest, Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group, saw in the disappointing March jobs growth an early sign of an economy that is struggling with uncertainty of what lies ahead.

The question that looms large now is how trade talks will impact hiring in the second quarter, he said in a note warning of the economy now entering a treacherous phase.

It has had a nice marathon run since June of 2009, Baumohl said of the beginning of the current economic expansion. But economic and political headwinds are increasing. The [Republican] tax cuts many believed would add fresh firepower to business may yield little if CEOs and consumers become increasingly alarmed about the path of U.S. trade policy and the potential impact that could have on an aging expansion.

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Fridays jobs report showed continued healthy gains in manufacturing and mining, two industries that Trump has sought to bolster and are also getting a boost from a stronger global economy and recovery in the oil and gas business.

Construction payrolls fell last month after a surge of hiring in February, and other business categories including leisure, information, financial services and temporary-help were all flat last month.

The labor participation rate edged down last month, while the share of working-age population that is employed held steady.

Average hourly pay for all private-sector workers went up a notch, increasing at a moderate annual rate of 2.7%, which is close to the trend of recent years. Many economists, and of course workers, are looking for earnings to accelerate in the near future.

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UPDATES:

12:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Powell and others.

6:40 a.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting.

This article was originally published at 5:35 a.m.
A beloved pet rescue and doggie daycare in East County that has been instrumental in finding homes for thousands of animals is closing its doors.

Rebecca Stevens, who for more than a decade has run Four Paws Flying Pet Resort and Four Paws Rescue in Blossom Valley, is moving to Cody, Wyo., next week to take care of her elderly parents.

Stevens mom, 92, recently went into a rest home and her dad, 89, needs her help transitioning into independence.

Its time to go, though somewhat reluctantly, Stevens said. I think Im still kind of in shock and I will still be in shock when I pull out of here on April 13.

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It is a bittersweet departure for the 1979 graduate of Granite Hills High, a breast cancer survivor who left the hotel management business after nearly 20 years and traded it for dog management. She said she knew it was time for a career shift once she realized how much she herself depended on someone caring for her dogs while she was away at work.

I said to myself, Hey, I love working with animals, why cant I do this?  recalled Stevens, 57.

Thousands of dogs have come into Stevens world since she opened a doggie daycare business at her home in La Mesa in 2000. Since moving to Blossom Valley in 2003, she has either worked with, rescued, given medical attention to, kenneled or driven nearly 200,000 dogs up and back from her daycare center.

The business had 13 employees, was open seven days a week and boasted two large outdoor grassy yards, each of them 9,000-plus square feet. It had four specialized yards for senior dogs, small dogs or dogs that enjoyed alone time. It also had a 10-foot diameter pool that was equipped with an overhead awning to keep the water cool and the dogs in the shade.

Four Paws daycare had a specially equipped van that safely harnessed its four-legged customers into seats in air-conditioned comfort and chauffeured them to and from the center. Dogs were picked up and dropped off daily, coming in from nearby East County digs, Tierrasanta and La Jolla.

On the business side, Jessica Garcia, the resort and daycare manager for the past three years, said Four Paws Flying Resort averaged 10-25 dogs on any given day for overnight boarding, with up to 50 during peak time around holidays. Daycare brought in 5-10 dogs a day.

She said when word got out last month that Stevens was leaving, panic set in for many of Four Paws customers. Garcia said she has been busy referring pet parents to other businesses that either do boarding or daycare or both. None, she says, has the personal touch that Stevens gave.

Shes had customers for 10-plus years, Garcia said. The customer base is very loyal. Folks will ask me, Is there anybody like you? And I have to say No. 

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On the rescue side, Four Paws rescue efforts saved, through transportation and facilitation with other individuals and groups, the lives of nearly 4,500 dogs and cats, Stevens estimates. Those numbers include finding private homes for unwanted puppy mill dogs and beagles used in research labs.

Rebecca Stevens, the owner of Four Paws Flying Pet Resort, hugged a dog named Callie that she rescued eight years ago in dire condition. The two recently reunited. (John Gibbins/U-T )

We have specialized in shy, fearful, apprehensive dogs, and also dogs that were plain,  she said. We took the plain, those with medical needs. We took the dogs that never stood a chance, that were hit by a car, that would defecate and urinate when you got near them, the plain little dogs who were deaf, who had cataracts. We took dogs who never would have made it out of the shelter, and found them homes.

Stevens move will leave a big hole in the animal rescue world, according to others who do similar work.

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Rebecca is a pillar of the rescue community, said Ann Pollock of Chihuahua Rescue of San Diego. (More recently) she and another wonderful lady in Colorado have been working to help National Mill Dog Rescue, traveling all over the United States picking up throwaways. It is so heartwarming the passion Rebecca has. Her whole brain is filled with good advice and good suggestions.

Stevens and her team of about a dozen Four Paws volunteers donated hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to countless other rescues across the country.

Rescuing is in my heart and is what carried me through during my fight with breast cancer, Stevens said. Once I started, well, there was no stopping me.

Her friend, dog trainer, Jennifer Davies, who lives near Four Paws in El Cajon, said that Stevens has probably saved a million homes, families and pets.

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Families that needed a dog, dogs that needed a family, Davies said. She would put the right animals in contact with the right people and the right homes. So many of those animals would have been put down, but they found forever homes because of her and her bleeding heart.

Stevens said the timing is right for her to help her parents in Wyoming, where she has a boyfriend who is (of course) a veterinarian. She said California laws raising minimum wage and high taxes have made it increasingly difficult for her as a small business owner to make ends meet.

Were kind of a family here in East County, Stevens said. I feel like, at least I hope I have, made a difference in the community. We saved dogs, placed dogs in homes with people who have had their hearts broken and have been able to heal because of (our help). We have a senior-to-senior program that will continue even after I leave.

Rescues across the U.S. are doing amazing work and I am proud and honored to be involved in it for 14 years. I see new and upcoming rescues with fresh 30-somethings running them. And theyre dynamic, technically savvy, and go balls to the walls like I used to.

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Stevens said a new rescue will be established on the property, but she couldnt disclose who it is.

She said the group that is coming in is very philanthropic and will be taking their rescue to the next level.

I sincerely hope the rescue community will embrace them and support them in their future endeavors, she said.

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karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
Mayor Ginger Marshall resigned Thursday from the Solana Beach City Council, effective immediately, becoming the second person to step down unexpectedly from the council in the past month.

Marshalls two-sentence letter to City Manager Greg Wade states, It has been an honor to serve the community, and offers no reason for her decision.

She was unopposed in 2014 when she ran for her first four-year term on the council and was appointed to the seat. She was appointed mayor in December in the councils tradition of rotating that position.

Its a very unusual circumstance, Councilman David Zito said by phone Thursday afternoon. I dont know whats happening with Ginger. Ive tried calling her, but didnt get through.

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On a variety of issues, including the councils recent decision to be the first city in San Diego County to offer community choice energy, Marshall often cast the dissenting vote. She said she opposed the alternative energy program because the plan was complicated and she worried about the financial risks.

She did not return a phone message left Thursday afternoon by The San Diego Union-Tribune asking for comment on her resignation.

As mayor, Marshall announced the sudden resignation of Councilman Mike Nichols at the councils March 14 meeting. In a resignation letter Nichols submitted March 11 and effective March 12, he said he needed to address pressing family matters.

Nichols also has been unavailable to comment on his decision. He was absent at the prior two council meetings before his resignation, although he participated by telephone.

The City Council agreed last month to accept applications for an appointment to Nichols vacant seat, and six names had been submitted as of Thursday afternoon. They are Paul Basore, Lesa Heebner, Shannon Kearns, Craig Nelson, David Powell, and Robert Secrest.

One other person, Ed Siegel, submitted an application March 30 but later withdrew it. Also, one applicant, Secrest, lists an Oceanside address, which would make him ineligible.

Heebner served 12 years on the council before choosing not to seek re-election in 2016, and is probably the most experienced applicant.

Zito said the council probably will seek a second round of applications for an appointment to fill Marshalls seat.

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One of the conditions for the eight-month appointment is that the person selected not be a candidate for election in November.

Candidates also are required to be residents and registered voters in Solana Beach.

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philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
Willi and Margarete Kleemeier have spent nearly two-thirds of their lives in North County, but the Escondido retirees say it was the hardships they endured in Germany in the World War II era that shaped their characters.

Willi, 97, and Margarete, 93, came of age as Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in the mid-1930s, sowing fear and suspicion in their native country.

During the war, Willi was drafted into the Germany army and spent three years in prison camps, while Margarete slept virtually every night in a bomb shelter. Then things got worse. In post-war Germany, food and material goods were so scarce that people dropped dead in the streets from hunger.

By comparison, the Kleemeiers say, America has been a paradise of opportunity where they were able to start a business, build their own home and freely express their opinions against war and prejudice.

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But they say theyve watched with concern the rising tide of anti-Semitism and neo-Nazi thought in this country. The couple say, however, they dont believe Americans will ever surrender their democracy to a dictatorship.

Americans have a revolutionary spirit. They dont like to be told what to do, he said. The people saying these things are a small group. The majority of Americans are liberal, and thats a good thing.

The Kleemeiers married 62 years ago in Montreal, Canada, where both had immigrated from Germany in 1952. To escape the Northern cold, they picked the furthest spot south on the California map and moved to San Diego in 1960.

They settled in Solana Beach, where they opened and ran a Jolly Kone restaurant on Highway 101 for 20 years. In 1999, they moved to Escondidos Redwood Terrace retirement community, where they live today.

Their sunny condominium is filled with paintings, etchings and photographs of their German hometowns and relatives. But they havent had the urge to go back and visit in 50 years. They dont belong there anymore.

Willi and Margarete Kleemeiers wedding portrait from 1952. They met through her brother, who worked with Willi at a factory in Montreal. (Courtesy )

Willi Kleemeier was born in 1921 in the northern German city of Herford, where his father worked in a furniture factory. Margarete Muckenfuss, whose nickname is Gretl, was born four years later in the southern German town of Bretten, where her dad ran a stove and washing machine factory.

Both say they remember how their parents generation initially liked Hitler for his building campaign that brought jobs, prosperity and pride back to Germany. But as the Nazi Party imposed increasingly strict laws on freedom of speech, assembly, race and religion, the public was gradually frightened into silence.

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Margarete remembers seeing Jewish neighbors closing their shops and moving away and one Jehovahs Witness family disappeared overnight without a trace.

Willis mother was also a Jehovahs Witness, a religious sect persecuted by the Nazis. One day, the Gestapo arrived at their home and took her to prison, where she was held for six months.

At 13, he said he tried to defy his schools mandatory Heil Hitler morning salute and was forced into compliance. Four years later, he remembers emerging from a movie theater one November evening to see a rampage of vandalism under way against Jewish-owned businesses, a pogrom known as kristallnacht (the night of broken glass).

Work was scarce and menial for young people like Willi and Margarete who didnt join the Hitler Youth organization. She couldnt find a job in Bretten, so she ended up out in the country, working 12-hour days as a maid for a Nazi party doctor.

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When she finally returned to her village, she faced near-nightly bombing raids. As the war dragged on, the military draft took more and more men until even the grandfathers were pressed into service. By 1946, there were virtually no men left in Bretten, she said.

Willi Kleemeier while he was in the German army in Tobruk, Libya, in 1941. He was 20 years old. (Courtesy )

Willi was drafted at age 19 into the German army infantry corps. After boot camp, he was sent to fight in Libya. Hes still haunted by the memory of seeing an Army buddy emerge screaming from his foxhole with his internal organs spilling out of his chest and abdomen.

By the time his company surrendered in Tobruk to advancing British troops in 1943, hed seen enough carnage for a lifetime.

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War is no good, he said. Theres no point to it. It never solves the problem. It just makes it worse.

He would spend two years in a Canadian prison camp and another year in an English camp before returning to Germany in 1946. He was shocked by the devastation he found. Until the Marshall Plan was enacted in 1948, Germanys cities were rubble, there was no infrastructure, no jobs, no food and the German currency was worthless.

I had a 1,000 (marks) bill in my pocket and it wouldnt buy a pack of cigarettes, he said. People were so hungry that farmers stood shotgun over their potato fields every night to keep people from stealing what they had.

Once a month, German families were given ration cards for supplies that lasted only a few days. One day, Margarete got permission from occupying forces to walk three miles to a farm to pick up her familys ration of 2 pints of milk. But she missed curfew by a few minutes and the soldiers poured her milk out in the street.

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The Kleemeiers said they were both surprised to learn after the war about the German concentration camps, but by that time theyd seen so much cruelty toward Jews and other atrocities that they were virtually numbed to the sight of suffering.

You have no idea what the human body is able to survive, he said, and thats something you cannot explain to anyone unless theyve experienced it for themselves.

By the time Willi and Margarete married in Canada in 1955, they were in their 30s and owned little more than they could carry in a suitcase. They felt they were too old and too poor to start a family. Instead, they found solace in each other and their adopted countries of Canada and especially the United States.

America has treated us very well, Margarete said. I get so mad when I hear people complaining about this country. Everyday I say people who dont like it should go live somewhere else. Every place has its drawbacks, but this place has given us a good life.

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Portrait of Willi and Margarete Kleemeier at their home in the Redwood Terrace retirement community in Escondido. (Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune )

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pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
Nearly a dozen schools in North County school districts have been honored as California Distinguished Schools by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

In San Diego County, 33 elementary schools are among 287 across the state being honored. The Distinguished Schools program returns after a three-year break, replacing the California Gold Ribbon Schools Program.

These schools implement outstanding educational programs and practices that help California students realize their potential, and put them on the path to achieve their dreams, Torlakson said in a statement. Every day at these schools, teachers, administrators and classified employees, working with parents, apply their dedication, creativity, and talents toward providing a great education for all their students.

The 2018 California Distinguished Schools Program recognizes elementary schools that have made exceptional gains in implementing state academic and performance standards. Indicators include test scores, suspension rates, and English learner progress.

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The San Diego County schools are:

Cajon Valley Union: Bostonia Language Academy

Chula Vista Elementary: Cook (Hazel Goes) Elementary, Loma Verde Elementary, Veterans Elementary

Cardiff: Ada W. Harris Elementary

Carlsbad Unified: Aviara Oaks Elementary, Pacific Rim Elementary

Fallbrook Union Elementary: San Onofre Elementary

San Diego Unified: Barnard Elementary, Benchley/Weinberger Elementary, Chesterton Elementary, Edison Elementary, Elevate Elementary, Gage Elementary, Garfield Elementary, Green Elementary, Hancock Elementary, Holmes Elementary, Jerabek Elementary, La Jolla Elementary, Miller Elementary, Miramar Ranch Elementary, Nye Elementary, Sessions Elementary, Toler Elementary

Poway Unified: Monterey Ridge Elementary, Park Ridge Elementary, Grove Elementary

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San Marcos Unified: San Elijo Elementary

San Ysidro: Ocean View Hills

Solana Beach: Skyline Elementary, Solana Pacific Elementary

Vista Unified: Empresa Elementary

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For a complete list of schools, visit https://bit.ly/2JdmV6J.

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laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
Vote classy, San Diego.

Ron Burgundy is dusting off his suit as part of a non-partisan campaign to encourage young people to vote in the November 2018 midterm elections.

His first stop? Oceanside.

On Thursday, April 12, Will Ferrell  aka San Diego newsman Burgundy in the Anchorman movies  will join comedian Billy Eichner as part of Funny Or Dies Glam Up The Midterms national campaign, which kicks off in Californias 49th congressional district, a crucial seat being vacated by longtime incumbent Darrell Issa, R-Vista.

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Issa announced in January that he will not seek re-election this year after nearly two decades in office.

I could not be more excited for our first official Glam Up the Midterms live event in CA-49 next week, especially since Ill be joined by a real San Diego legend in the one and only Ron Burgundy, Eichner said. Best of all, well be registering a lot of people to vote in advance of the upcoming primary in CA-49 and the midterms in November. Although I am a proud member of the Television Academy, itll be a nice change of pace to talk about voting for something other than Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.

To be eligible to attend the evening event  location unknown at this time  attendees must register to vote or sign up for election alerts here.

HeadCount  the non-partisan, nonprofit organization behind the voter-registation effort  registered more than 5,000 voters last month at March For Our Lives events across the nation. Since 2004, it has registered nearly half a million voters at music festivals, concerts and hundreds of live events.

I had a dream last night that several small town Americans called me and were begging me to have more TV and film personalities lecture them about politics, said Eichner, known for his irreverent but enlightening Billy on the Street series on Funny Or Die. So Im here to answer their prayers!

In all seriousness, I have certainly skipped more than a few midterm elections in my day  and now I deeply regret it. So, after years of shouting at people on Billy on the Street, Ive decided its time to use my voice to do some good and to encourage young people all across the country not to make the same mistakes I did. Say what you will about me, I have a lot of energy and I cant wait to use it to help get out the vote  .

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Twitter: @outdoorlivingsd

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michael.rocha@sduniontribune.com
Helicopter crew members who died together in a Tuesday crash in Imperial County mirrored both the Marine Corps and the country that they served.

Following notifications to their relatives on Thursday, the Pentagon released the names of the four Marines killed while crewing the CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter that went down around 2:35 p.m. Tuesday about 15 miles west of El Centro, near the desert community of Plaster City and the international border with Mexico.

Piloting the aircraft was Capt. Samuel Abraham Schultz, 28, of Warhorse, the Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, native joined the Corps in mid-2012 and previously served at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, Marine Corps Air Station New River in North Carolina, plus an overseas deployment with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

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First Lt. Samuel D. Phillips, 27, of Pinehurst, North Carolina, co-piloted the helicopter. After joining the Corps in 2013, he also served in Pensacola, Corpus Christi and New River but had yet to deploy overseas.

Like Phillips, Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, 24, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, had yet to deploy overseas. He enlisted in the Corps in mid-2016.

His chief, Gunnery Sgt. Derik Holley, 33, of Dayton, Ohio, however, was a highly-decorated Marine.

With nearly 15 years in the Corps, he had served at Miramar and Marine Corps Base Quantico, plus deployments with the Camp Pendleton-based 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, to Japan under the Unit Deployment Program and two combat tours to Iraq.

His awards included the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, nine Air Medals, including Strike/Flight designations for sustained operations, plus four Navy and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals.

The loss of our Marines weighs heavy on our hearts, said Maj. Gen. Mark Notso Wise, the commander of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Miramar, in a statement sent by email. Our priority is to provide support for our families and HMH-465 during this critical time.

The hardest part of being a Marine is the tragic loss of life of a fellow brother-in-arms, added Col. Craig Leflore, commanding officer of Miramar-based Marine Aircraft Group 16.

These Warhorse Marines brought joy and laughter to so many around them. They each served honorably, wore the uniform proudly and were a perfect example of what makes our Marine Corps great  its people! They will forever be in our hearts and minds, Leflore said.

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Navy and Marine Corps officials continued to probe the lethal crash. Theyve only said that it happened after the helicopter departed the Strategic Expeditionary Landing Field at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County to practice aircraft landings in unimproved zones.

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 465 routinely trains away from Miramar at locations such as Naval Air Facility El Centro, which doubles as the winter home of the the Navys aerial acrobatic team, the Blue Angels.

In February, Warhorse crews helped reconnaissance Marines practice airborne operations over Camp Pendleton.

Tuesdays crash occurred in the midst of a rash of accidents involving military aircraft.

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On the same day, a Marine AV-8B II jet wrecked in the East African nation of Djibouti. The pilot was listed in stable condition after being treated for injuries incurred after ejecting from the plane.

On Wednesday, a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot from Valencia in Santa Clarita County died during a training flight inside the Nevada Test and Training Range north of Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.

Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, 34, was flying Thunderbird 4  as his F-16 Fighting Falcon is called  in his rookie season with the famed aerial acrobatic unit.

Air Force officials described his flight as a routine demonstration training mission.

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March was a deadly month for military aviation, too, with 11 crew members killed during separate crashes involving an Air Force HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter in Western Iraq and a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter off the Florida coast near Key West.

Those tragedies never blur together for mourning families.

Reached by phone at her Pennsylvania home, Julie Rosoff Schultz remembered her Marine son Sam as a kind young man who was born to fly.

Flying was in his blood, she said, pointing to his father, Mitchell, also a career pilot. He became a private pilot when he was 18 years old, before he ever joined the military.

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He loved adventure. He sailed. He fished. He was a motorcycle rider. He jumped out of an airplane once. He enjoyed life and people loved to be around him.

She saw him last during the New Years holiday, when he traveled home on leave to march alongside older brother Eric in Philadelphias famous Mummers Parade.

Although he dreamed of graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he went to his second choice, Penn State University, and earned a commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps, always intending to fly.

Hed spent three years volunteering for THON, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, to raise money to fight pediatric cancer. He also helped to run the Penn State Aviation Club.

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When he had a mission  whatever it was  he was determined. Driven, recalled his mom. Remember him for that.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

The first name of one of the victims, Gunnery Sgt. Derik Holley, was incorrect in the original posting of this story. The error, contained in a military news release, has been corrected.
The Navy is investigating allegations that sailors in Okinawa attempted to unlawfully convert Japan citizens to Christianity through a public display inside a military hospital.

On Friday, Rear Adm. Paul D. Pearigen, commander of San Diego-based Navy Medicine West, ordered an investigation into U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, the Navys largest overseas hospital.

Pearigen is responding to a seven-page complaint filed with his command Thursday by the nonprofit Military Religious Freedom Foundation on behalf of 26 service members or Department of Defense civilian employees and their families in Okinawa.

They allege that military leaders on March 26 placed a Christian Bible on a Prisoner of War/ Missing in Action display inside the hospitals public gallery.

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A placard on the Missing Man display told visitors in English and Japanese that the religious book represents the strength gained through faith to sustain those lost from our country, founded one nation under God.

The statement on the exhibits placard is nothing more than an illegal, unconstitutional proselytization from an extremist, fundamentalist Christian sect. It ignores all followers of other religions and totally ignores all those who subscribe to no religion  all in blatant violation of (Department of Defense) and (Department of the Navy) regulations, wrote Donald G. Rehkopf Jr., the Rochester, N.Y., attorney representing the New Mexico-based foundation, in the formal complaint.

The U.S. Constitution bars religious tests for public offices such as those in the military, and Pentagon regulations forbid a command from endorsing any faith over others.

Serving more than 675,000 beneficiaries, Pearigens Navy Medicine West is the largest Navy health care system in the Western Pacific region. Headquartered at Naval Base San Diego, it controls medical and dental clinics along Americas west coast, plus Hawaii, Japan and Guam.

In a Friday message emailed to Rehkopf, Navy Medicine West paralegal David Ostrander indicated that we are investigating the matter now and would have more information to follow.

Messages left with Cdr. Edward OBrien, Pearigens staff judge advocate, were not returned and the admirals spokesman, Mike Alvarez, said that hes trying to determine the status of the probe now.

We reached out initially to the hospital at the beginning of the week but they didnt take care of this, said Michael Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and the foundations founder, during a telephone interview on Friday. This shouldve been simple. Weve engaged many times on this issue everywhere, and its taken care of quickly. Here, they translated a phrase into Japanese in order to proselytize the Japanese. This mightve violated our treaty with Japan.

Weinstein said that 16 of the 26 petitioners identify as Christians  including Roman Catholics and several Protestants  with the rest a mix of Jews, Native American, Shintoists, Buddhists, atheists and agnostics.

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According to the written complaint, Weinstein was told by a Navy officer in Okinawa that the hospital could not resolve the issue for at least another month because the commander was temporarily away on other duties.

He called on the Navy to remove the Bible from the display, discard the language about one nation under God and launch an independent investigation into the matter and assign appropriate disciplinary measures to those responsible.

Weinstein said that since Easter his organization had taken on 117 new clients, including the troops in Okinawa, who are disgruntled about a wide range of alleged religious violations by military units.

Naval Hospital Okinawa is located inside Camp Foster, which falls under Marine Corps command.

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In November, Weinstein and his legal team from the American Civil Liberties Union forced officials at San Diegos Marine Corps Recruit Depot to bar future displays of a Christian nativity scene on public grounds.

Earlier in the year, 27 active-duty, retired and veteran Marines had called on depot commander Brig. Gen. William Jurney for a new policy allowing troops of other faiths to erect similar religious displays where the nativity scene was.

Twenty of the petitioners were Jews who wanted a Hanukkah menorah on the grounds each December, with the rest Christians or others who worshipped no deity but wanted to take a stand on religious fairness, according to the foundation.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com
Two weeks ago, I tossed out a betting line on the realistic contenders for Rep. Darrell Issas well-worn seat.

Seven candidates in the 49th Congressional District, four Democrats and three Republicans, made my early cut.

Today, Im adding an OC Republican to the field of conceivable double-digit finishers in the June jungle primary.

On my updated tip sheet, Brian Maryott, a first-term San Juan Capistrano councilman, has a punchers chance, a 20 percent likelihood of winning a ticket to the general election in November.

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Maryott, Ive learned, has a clear-eyed strategy to shine in a primary where the two top performers of any (or no) party advance.

Maryott, 55, recently retired from an evidently lucrative career as a financial planner. When Issa threw in the towel, Maryotts second career opened up in front of him.The twist of Maryotts longshot candidacy is that President Trump, a damning association for Issa, is the trump card Maryott hopes to play against the circumspect Republican candidates -- Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, Board of Equalization member Diane Harkey and Supervisor Kristin Gaspar.

For obvious reasons, GOP candidates in swing districts keep a wary distance from the president.

Maryott, on the other hand, pumps up Trump without apology.

I dont intend to be bashful about our president, Maryott told me.

To win or place in June, Maryott is looking to appeal to Trump loyalists as well as nervous conservatives who want to like Trump and want to get comfortable. Theyre struggling to feel good about him.

Maryotts goal is to put these voters from Dana Point to Del Mar into the Trumpian comfort zone as they enter the polling station.

Maryott, a married father of three, concedes Trumps crass edges. (Not my cup of tea, he says.) But the picture that matters, he says, is the big one, not what you see in the media.

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Ive never seen a president have to battle daily with the propaganda-driven press, he says.

That Foxy analysis is sure to elicit groans among Democrats and independents, but Maryott is grilling red meat, not processed messages for the mass of voters.

There will be seven more years for President Trump, Maryott predicts. I dont think hell be impeached. I believe well continue to see good results, both economically and in foreign relations.

As for mothers milk, Maryott has invested $300,000 to jump-start his campaign. He has two offices, one in San Juan Cap, the other in Carlsbad. Radio ads have run on KOGO and KFMB; TV spots on -- where else? -- Fox stations. He tells me hes prepared to spend 300 grand in addition to individual contributions. Other candidates will burn through more, but Maryott, who got his political feet wet in the Massachusetts Legislature as a young man, promises he wont be outworked on the stump.

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I contacted the campaigns of the three GOP favorites -- Chavez, Harkey and Gaspar -- and asked them to summarize their views of Trump.

Chavez relayed that he would support the president when he agreed with him, oppose him when he didnt. Harkeys campaign spokesman dodged, saying the candidate would focus on her constituents, not the president. Gaspar did not respond to requests for comment on the ticklish subject.

No surprise there. California is at war with the Trump administration over sanctuary, the wall, tax reform, the census, climate change.

To careful Republicans, aligning with Trump, especially as he faces multiple legal assaults and the possibility of impeachment (or worse), poses long-term risks.

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To Maryott, thats the risk he relishes, the daring that sets him apart.

Of course, if he were to make the general election, Maryott would have to pivot to the center where, as it happens, hes staked out some ground.

He says, for example, that he favors an improved private health-care system alongside a government-run single-payer system.

For the next two months, however, Maryotts big-picture message is that, thanks to the president, America, and by extension California, is getting really great again.

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Hes riding Trumps flaming coattails as far as theyll take him.

Logan Jenkins is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at lbjenkins5437@gmail.com.
He fits the district.

Thats the moral of Pennsylvanias election in which conservative Democrat Conor Lamb appears to have flipped a GOP congressional district that Trump won by 20 points.

In our 49th Congressional District, a traditional Republican stronghold leaning blue in the Age of Trump, the question is the same: Who fits now?

To my eye, weathered by 30 years covering North County elections, seven filed candidates have a realistic chance to win or place in June and go on to compete in November for the honor of representing Darrell Issas congressional district, stretching from Dana Point to Del Mar.

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Three pro politicians -- Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, Board of Equalization chair Diane Harkey and Supervisor Kristin Gaspar -- are Republican contenders.

Notably, none of the Democrats -- Doug Applegate, Michael Levin, Sara Jacobs and Paul Kerr -- has held office.

Skeptical of early polling, heres how I handicap the chances of individual candidates finishing in the money in June. (Yes, campaigns matter. The betting line could change as strokes get shorter.)

Rocky Chavez (55%): The retired Marine colonels Assembly district roughly traces the 49th in San Diego County. Huge advantage. A former Oceanside councilman, Chavez is a champion of veterans in a vet-rich district. Hes a moderate Republican on many scores, including immigration and climate change. Possibly a better candidate in the general election than in a red-meat primary, he checks key boxes.

Mike Levin (45%): An O.C. environmental lawyer and Democratic activist, Levin is the apparent party favorite. He comes off as an energetic, well-prepped, tough-talking partisan. At a League of Women Voters forum, he shouted: Are you with California or are you with Trump? Because I say there is no middle ground! With that hard edge, however, Levin could be a more effective candidate in the primary than the general.

Kristin Gaspar (45%): The first-term supervisor is running from a safe seat. (Subtext: Nothing to lose if she loses and name ID to gain.) A thirtysomething political star without rough edges, shell have to work to get better known north of Encinitas, where she was the citys first elected mayor. Shell have to answer the question of why shes running for Congress after barely one year as a supe. (Is there any good answer?) Still, shes capable, personable and a youthful contrast to the other Republican contenders.

Diane Harkey (40%): A former Dana Point mayor and assemblywoman, Harkey has Issas blessing, which is a mixed blessing in the general but helpful in a primary. Remember, scoring, say, 19 percent of the vote could get you into the general election. A fixture in Orange County, Harkeys an expert in banking and tax law. A financial scandal involving her husband could haunt her, particularly in a rough one-on-one general election.

Doug Applegate (35%): The retired Marine colonel lost a squeaker to Issa but, since then, he hasnt raised a lot of money. He could strike Democrats and independents as yesterdays news. Nevertheless, many voted for him once. They might again.

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Sara Jacobs (25%): When Issa was running, the granddaughter of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs had a lane to become the youngest congresswoman in history. With Issas retreat, her path is harder. She can appeal to millennials and women sick of men dominating Congress. (Fortunately for Jacobs, Democrat Christina Prejean, a young attorney and Air Force vet dropped out of the crowded race.) If Jacobs knocks on thousands of doors and listens, if she doesnt rely on TV ads, she could fit the district in a fresh way.

Paul Kerr (20%): A Rancho Santa Fe businessman, Kerr has run TV ads sharing his lifes story. He entered the Navy when he was 17, worked minimum-wage jobs, made a success of his life. He believes hes uniquely capable of understanding the travails of working-class families. Its a long, but passionate, shot at glory,

So there it is, an early betting line for the regions most compelling primary, which is saying something in light of Rep. Duncan Hunters precarious re-election in the deep-red 50th Congressional District.

The regions three Democratic districts look like snoozers, but the two GOP districts will be among a hundred or more contested races that will determine if the 116th Congress is fit to represent the United States in the turbulent Age of Trump.

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Logan Jenkins is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at lbjenkins5437@gmail.com
Im in my back alley in Bird Rock, screwing up my courage to mount a Bird electric scooter.

Push off with three steps, put your left foot on the scooter, and then accelerate, says the surfer Id met by chance minutes before.

Id told the sunny young woman I was working on a column on dockless vehicles. Shed insisted that I road-test the Bird shed rented a few minutes before on La Jolla Boulevard.

Apprehensive, I do as instructed, weaving ahead about 20 feet, applying the brakes and dismounting with a sense of having cheated death or, worse, a broken hip. A couple of onlooking kids suppress their mirth at my shaky scoot.

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Like a metal butterfly invasion, brightly colored bikes have materialized on streets and sidewalks.

The swarms of vehicles for dirt-cheap hire, both pedal- and electric-powered, have not been universally welcomed as liberators.

One hears that some bikes are operated and parked with the care of a runaway toddler, impeding (and endangering) pedestrians while frustrating merchants for whom free-flowing sidewalks are lifelines.

Maybe thats so, but I have a less beetle-browed view.

The other day, in front of PBs Trader Joes, I was examining a parked yellow Ofo bike with its slogan: Share More Consume Less.

I flashed back to Gov. Jerry Brown in his Moonbeam salad days when small and simple was touted as the ideal lifestyle.

Charmed by the throwback Ofo bike, it occurred to me that, even if I did want to take it for a spin, the company would have to pay me to download the app, type in my Mastercard numbers, and join a digitally exposed herd that can be tracked down to the square foot.

Maybe its a length of the tooth thing, but Id rather walk a mile or two than take the time to install a new app and yield my data, which in the aggregate may be more valuable to Ofo than the rental itself, a dark suspicion thats miles away from the movements altruistic genesis.

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Im old enough to have been conscious when Provo, an avant-garde group of Dutch anarchists, proclaimed in 1965 that the asphalt terror of the motorised bourgeoisie has lasted long enough. Provo agitators painted black bicycles white, parked them around Amsterdam and declared the first free communal transport.

Id just graduated from high school in arch-conservative Coronado, a far anti-socialist cry from the Netherlands, when I heard about the Dutch provocateurs, irreverent role models for the American counter-culture.

Of course, the declaration of free two-wheeled love blew a tire before it got started.

The Dutch police impounded the white rides on the risible grounds that they were unlocked (which, of course, was the point).

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But the arty stunt was the inspiration for a global movement that has evolved over a half-century into a sophisticated GPS-based system.

San Diego, hampered by an uneven (the charitable word) bike infrastructure, is relatively late to the dockless rave. (Ofo claims to run more than 10 million cycles in 200 cities; rival Mobike (orange and silver), 7 million; LimeBike is squeezing its share of the market.)

As fate would have it, the Island where I was born has distinguished itself for its stern rejection of this outbreak of free-wheeling capitalism, impounding dockless bikes rented in nearby cities and left on Orange Avenue.

Over time, I suspect, tighter rules of the road/sidewalk will be imposed. De facto docking stations will be required. Safety, access and liability will be watchwords for taming the ride-share business model.

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As long as it lasts in its random form, however, this spike in bikes can be appreciated as the most provocative piece of public art San Diego has seen in a long time.

For Christos sake, shiny bikes are bright attention getters -- colorful as sherbert, randomly encountered, practical and environmentally inspired.

Sure, bikes and scooters can be disruptive. Tempers can flare, especially among the madding crowd far from their youth.

But for harbingers of a spring of the human spirit, I cant remember anything much cooler than 2018s great bike bloom.

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Logan Jenkins is a freelance columnist. He can be reached at lbjenkins5437@gmail.com
California is always the familiar Democratic blue in those political maps on TV, but the state still has notable swaths of red, particularly in the south.

And red California is making itself known through a local government rebellion against the sanctuary state.

On Wednesday night, Escondido joined President Donald Trumps effort to dismantle Californias sanctuary laws, which, among other things, prohibit local law enforcement from telling federal officials when unauthorized immigrants are being released from custody unless theyve been convicted of one of 800 specific crimes.

Orange County, Los Alamitos, Yorba Linda, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Aliso Viejo and now Escondido have all taken action to support the Trump suit to overturn the state laws.

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The West Covina City Council declined to join the movement Tuesday night, even though the city had taken an official position against the key sanctuary law a year ago. Unlike the others, West Covina has a plurality of Democratic voters.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors are scheduled to discuss taking action against the sanctuary laws in closed session on April 17.

Amid some loud, ugly words and mind-numbingly repetitive rhetoric Wednesday night, one quiet revelation surfaced before the Escondido City Council voted 4-1 to file a friend of the court brief supporting the administrations lawsuit.

City Attorney Michael McGuinness said Friday is the courts deadline to file an amicus curiae brief. That limits the options available to the supervisors.

They could direct the county to file its own lawsuit like Huntington Beach, which is a much, much larger undertaking than filing a supporting brief. They could pass an ordinance like Los Alamitos to opt out of the sanctuary laws, though thats a legally questionable move. They could do something else, or do nothing.

Board Chair Kristin Gaspar, who is running for Congress, called the meeting to discuss opposing the sanctuary laws.

I have been vocal in my support of upholding the law and protecting the 3.5 million people who call San Diego home, she said in a statement Thursday. This issue was already decided in 2012 when the Obama-led Department of Justice and Supreme Court determined that local laws cant override Federal law. I have asked our Counsel to prepare to discuss all of our options . . .

Its far from clear what the board will do. Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Gaspar want to support the Trump suit, while Greg Cox and Ron Roberts have indicated they dont think the board should get involved. Supervisor Bill Horn said through a spokeswoman that he wants to wait until the board discusses the matter before commenting publicly.

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There has been little communication between Gaspar and the other supervisors on this, and some where caught off guard when she announced the meeting.

If the county joins the movement, it would be the first jurisdiction with a Democratic plurality, slight as it may be, to do so. In contrast to the countys political demographics, all five board members are Republican.

The politics on immigration crackdowns often seem to divide along partisan lines, but its more complex than that. Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump all have had versions of get-tough border and immigration policies, though none of the previous three matched Trumps heated rhetoric on the issue.

Clinton launched the hotly disputed Operation Gatekeeper in San Diego in 1994 and deportations ramped up so much under Obama that some immigration advocates called him deporter in chief.

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San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore last week told the Union-Tribune he would advise county supervisors against taking action on the Trump lawsuit.

Id tell them stay out of it...that would be my recommendation, he said.

He since has suggested he was speaking hypothetically and would not make such a recommendation.

I dont want to be in the position of telling the board what they should or shouldnt do, he said Thursday.

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RELATED: Gore shifts on sanctuary law recommendation

Regardless, Gore has said his department is adhering to state law in how it communicates with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has long expressed opposition to his deputies taking on immigration enforcement duties, contending even the perception of that would make unauthorized immigrants reluctant to report crimes and serve as witnesses.

For domestic violence, they wont report it to the cops if theyre in the country illegally, Gore said.

Not everybody buys that argument.

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Im pretty sure anybody can call police, said Escondido Councilman John Masson, who, along with Mayor Sam Abed, put the question of supporting the lawsuit on the agenda. Councilwoman Olga Diaz was the lone dissenting vote.

Supporters of the lawsuit contend SB 54 makes the public less safe, hamstrings law enforcement and that, in general, people want law enforcement agencies cooperating.

That was backed up by Escondido Police Chief Craig Carter, who said when his officers previously coordinated with ICE, they were able to help direct federal agents toward unauthorized immigrants accused of committing serious crimes. He and some council members said recent broader ICE actions in the city that swept up some unauthorized immigrants who hadnt committed other crimes wouldnt have happened under the earlier arrangement.

Abed has said by opposing the sanctuary state, we are protecting the immigrant community the most.

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That sounded Orwellian to critics of the council action who believe doing away with limits on local law enforcement will result in the deportation of immigrants convicted of low-level crimes or none at all.

Those are the two main competing arguments in this. There was another one put forth Wednesday night.

At least a couple of Escondido council members said their action wasnt about immigration, but about protecting the Constitution and public safety.

Thats kind of like saying the debate over the Second Amendment isnt about guns, only the Constitution and public safety.

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Not even the NRA tries to make that argument.
A San Diego Navy veteran has joined with two other Southern Californians to file a class-action lawsuit against Facebook and others in the wake of revelations that the profile information of an estimated 87 million users was obtained without their authorization by a political consultancy firm with ties to President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court Wednesday, joins several others that have been filed around the country by users and shareholders of the social media giant, which is reckoning with its biggest privacy scandal to date.

The lawsuit accuses Facebook of failing to protect the personal information of its users, despite assurances on its site that users own all of the content and information they post on Facebook, and that users can control how it is shared by using the platforms privacy settings.

This is false and misleading, the lawsuit argues.

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The scandal involving the data breach has been steadily unfolding in the international media over the past few weeks, bringing the social media pioneer under scrutiny and prompting a wave of new privacy measures to ease users concerns.

The lawsuit also names Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining company that specializes in targeted political ads, as well as former Trump aide and right-wing media baron Stephen Bannon, who had part ownership in the firm.

In 2014, Cambridge Analytica contracted with researcher Aleksandr Kogan  also named in the suit  and his company, Global Science Research, to obtain Facebook user information.

GSR created a personality test app that asked users to agree to release their information  and that of all their Facebook friends  for academic research.

The information was then sold to Cambridge Analytica, without the users knowledge or permission, the lawsuit contends. The lawsuit claims the data was used to create profiles and target audiences for political ads in the 2016 presidential election  a claim the company has denied.

In a public statement released Wednesday, the company said it obtained data for no more than 30 million people. Further: We did not use any GSR data in the work we did in the 2016 US presidential election, the company said.

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.

The company said it took steps to delete the user data from its servers.

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A representative of Cambridge Analytica did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

San Diegan Jordan OHara is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. He said hes been using Facebook and Instagram  owned by Facebook  for several years and around the 2016 election noticed increasingly right-wing propaganda in his search feed, including memes mocking candidate Hillary Clinton. OHara said that he is a registered Democrat and did not seek out such content, but thought that his military background might have targeted him as a conservative, the lawsuit states.

He is joined by two others  Brent Collins of Newport Beach and Olivia Johnston of Culver City.

Two San Diego law firms are involved in representing the plaintiffs: Coast Law Group and Blood Hurst & OReardon.

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The trio is suing on several federal claims, including the Stored Communications Act, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Breach of Written Contract, as well as Californias Unfair Competition Law and the California Consumer Records Act.

The lawsuit identifies a potential national class as any Facebook user whose data was obtained by Cambridge Analytica without authorization. Californians would also be a separate class under state claims.

The lawsuit further claims Facebook knew about the breach early on, in 2015, but was lackadaisical about doing anything about it, including letting users know.

Facebooks security practices are negligent, if not actually reckless, said San Diego attorney Tim Blood, who is helping represent the plaintiffs. The company knew about its security vulnerabilities for years and made little or no effort to substantively address them. Its indifference contributed to this breach and its actions show no concern about the privacy expectations and concerns of its users, which is why todays action is both appropriate and essential to prevent other companies and individuals from undertaking similar illegal activities as this nation approaches the June primaries and the November midterm election.

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In a statement, Paul Grewal, a Facebook vice president and deputy general counsel, said: We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect peoples information. We will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens.

A Facebook spokeswoman said Thursday the company was looking into the lawsuits claims and pointed to CEO Mark Zuckerbergs lengthy public apology and explanation posted March 21: While this specific issue involving Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today, that doesnt change what happened in the past, he wrote. We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward.

In 2009, Facebook lifted a provision in its terms of use that had users agree to settle legal disputes out of court  a common arbitration clause used by most large corporations  a move that opens the company up to lawsuits such as these.

More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed in the matter so far, from Northern California, where Facebook is headquartered, to Maryland and Alabama. Illinois Cook County has also filed on state claims. The cases with very similar claims could possibly be consolidated at a later date.

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Bob Fellmeth, Price professor of Public Interest Law at University of San Diego School of Law, said Californians are in a unique position with such litigation, because the state constitution gives citizens a right to privacy that does not exist in federal law. The states unfair competition law is also more powerful when wielded by government prosecutors, such as the state attorney general or a county district attorney, than by private citizens in such cases, he said.

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kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @kristinadavis
Apprehensions of people illegally crossing the border spiked last month across the southwest, including in San Diego, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security, adding fuel to the presidents weeklong condemnation of U.S. immigration law.

Border Patrol agents in San Diego caught 4,103 people crossing illegally into the U.S. in March, according to agency data.

Thats up 32 percent from February and a 203 percent increase from last March.

The last time San Diego Border Patrol apprehended that many people in one month was in early 2011.

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Apprehensions in the San Diego area mirror national trends. The 37,363 people caught in March along the southwest border is a 40 percent increase from February and a 207 percent increase from March 2017.

The last time apprehensions reached that high nationwide was more recent  December 2016.

Part of the reason Thursdays numbers compare so starkly with a year ago is that the number of people apprehended last March was the lowest the southwest border had seen in 17 years.

At the time, the Trump administration hailed the low number as a sign that his rhetoric and nascent policy changes were already having an effect.

After decreasing a little more last April, the number has generally increased since then.

Continuing President Donald Trumps heightened criticism this week of current U.S. immigration law, the Department of Homeland Security called the number of people caught crossing the border illegally in March a crisis.

Illegal aliens continue to exploit our immigration laws, said Tyler Houlton, press secretary for DHS. We need to close these dangerous loopholes that are being taken advantage of each and every day, gain operational control of the border, and fully fund the border wall system. As the President has repeatedly said, all options are on the table.

The data release comes days after Trump called for 2,000 to 4,000 members of the National Guard to be stationed along the border in response to an annual caravan of migrants marching through Mexico to promote the right to ask for asylum.

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When asked about the loopholes, an official with the department pointed to a fact sheet calling for Congress to allow immigration officials to keep unaccompanied children in detention for longer than 20 days. A decades-old court settlement requires DHS to release them to the care of Health and Human Services.

The sheet explains that minors getting out of detention, and their parent getting released with them if they arrived together, is what the administration means by catch-and-release policies that must change.

It also calls for legislation to add the same restrictions to minors asylum claims that adults face  a one year filing deadline and requiring a ruling from an immigration judge rather than an asylum officer.

The Trump administration called on Congress to make these changes as part of an immigration package that would provide permanent status to unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

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The heads of three agencies responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws similarly voiced concern over the number of families and unaccompanied children arriving at the southern border when they announced year-end data in December.

In Thursdays DHS announcement, officials were concerned by both categories of unauthorized immigrants who are caught by Border Patrol when crossing illegally into the U.S., as well as people who come to a port of entry without the documents necessary for entry, who the department calls inadmissibles.

Inadmissibles who are from countries besides Mexico cant just be turned around and walked back to Mexico if they arrive at a port of entry on the southwest border. They must be returned to their home countries, which often means they are held in U.S. immigration detention for some period of time.

Asylum seekers, under immigration law, are included as inadmissibles. DHS was not able to respond in time for publication whether asylum seekers were included in the departments most recent counts.

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San Diego ports of entry received 3,786 inadmissibles in March, up 27 percent from February and 188 percent from March 2017.

Across the southwest border, ports received 12,915 inadmissibles in March, up 29 percent from February and 192 percent from last March.

Everard Meade, director of the Trans Border Institute at the University of San Diego, said the increase is part of normal fluctuation, not a crisis.

The recent uptick in apprehensions follows a long-standing seasonal pattern and does not undermine the long-term downward trend, Meade said.

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He said the administration had made conflicting claims.

On the one hand they have asserted that Trumps tough talk dramatically reduced unauthorized migration when he first took office, and on the other hand they are trying to claim that minor seasonable uptick amounts to a crisis, Meade said. Neither is true. Unauthorized migration has dropped precipitously since 2000, due to macroeconomic conditions, the end of a massive cycle of migration from Mexico (1970-2005), and a dramatic toughening of U.S. immigration laws and border enforcement since 1996.

An official with DHS disagreed with Meade, saying that both the drop last March and the increase this March are out of the ordinary.

Joshua Wilson, vice president of the local chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, said he wasnt surprised by the numbers.

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I know were really busy at work right now, said Wilson, a Border Patrol agent who works out of the Boulevard station. At my particular station, we have agents detailed from other stations across San Diego to help us out.

The increase hasnt required agents to work more hours than usual, he said, but they stay busy the entire time theyre at work.

He hadnt noticed a trend of people coming from any particular country in recent months, he said.

He worried that the federal government doesnt have enough bed space in its immigration detention facilities to house all of the arrivals.

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He blamed Californias recent law limiting what local police can do to assist federal immigration officers for the uptick.

Since California declared itself a sanctuary state, they basically invited illegal aliens to flock to the state and along with that, theyre creating a safe haven for criminals and people who are coming here to do bad things because they know their odds of getting caught and deported are even less because the state is aiding and abetting them hiding in the shadows and preying upon Californians, Wilson said.

Father Patrick Murphy, director of Tijuanas Casa del Migrante, said his shelter hasnt received an influx of migrants.

We are not full, and we are a bit less than last year, Murphy said. I do not see any big boom happening.

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He added that most who are staying at Casa del Migrante are deportees rather than migrants heading north.

So far this year, hes housed a constant stream of Hondurans and Salvadorans, who have generally gotten humanitarian visas from Mexico and stay in Tijuana to work, he said.

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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

Follow me on Facebook for live updates about immigration news

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter
A 26-year-old woman suspected of causing well over $1,000 in damage to a Logan Heights church has been arrested, police said Thursday.

The incident happened at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church about 1 p.m. Monday.

The woman is accused of throwing a wooden kneeler at a plexiglass window that was protecting a religious shrine at the Kearny Avenue church, San Diego police Capt. Mike Holden said.

Both the kneeler and the window broke. Several flower vases near the shrine were also destroyed.

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The womans actions were captured by a surveillance camera and pictures of her were given to officers in the neighborhood, Holden said.

Then, on Wednesday, two women flagged down police in Barrio Logan. The officers noticed one of the women looked like the suspect, and she was later arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism.

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
Editors note: The San Diego Union-Tribune asked candidates for the North County seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors seeking to replace termed-out Supervisor Bill Horn their views on key issues. Heres what they said.

Read responses from the other three candidates:

County Board of Supervisors candidate Jerry Kern

County Board of Supervisors candidate Michelle Gomez

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County Board of Supervisors candidate Jim Desmond

Q: What is the single most important issue that led you to run for county supervisor?

One of the most important issues we face as a county is sprawl, traffic congestion and the dangers of haphazard overdevelopment, all of which impact public safety and San Diegos unique quality of life.

The county spent 13 years and $18 million of your money to develop a thoughtful roadmap (the county General Plan) that encourages much needed new and affordable housing close to existing infrastructure and away from wildfire hazards. Ive spent the last decade as a local elected official and advocate for smart growth working to preserve that vision.

Our current Board of Supervisors is poised to set aside this roadmap and common vision on behalf of a number of (often out-of-state) speculators who have lobbied the board intensively in order to change the general plan to suit their needs. These General Plan Amendments (GPAs) often waive crucial fire code (such as secondary escape routes), even where homes were recently lost to wildfire. This endangers residents, and also requires that we foot the bill for infrastructure costs that the developers only pay a small fraction of. In addition, these GPAs would irreparably destroy habitat for the myriads of species who make San Diego County the most bio-diverse county in the nation.

Q: Under new state laws such as Senate Bill 35 and proposals like Senate Bill 827, San Diego County faces significant pressure to build more housing stock. What should the countys approach to housing be?

First, the county should make it easier, cheaper and faster for builders to build the 52,000 housing units allowed by the General Plan, plenty to accommodate expected growth. These are infill developments close to existing roads, schools, fire and public safety infrastructure. We can lighten regulations in these areas to encourage developers to focus on infill development rather than on sprawl.

Second, we need a moratorium on large GPAs whose only public benefit  a criteria for approval of GPAs  is simply providing more unaffordable housing while burdening taxpayers with the infrastructure cost. A ballot initiative (Save our San Diego Countryside) asking county voters to weigh in on GPAs is currently being pursued and should be enacted as a backstop.

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As long as developers can option cheap land zoned for agriculture or low-density housing, and bet they can get three votes on the Board of Supervisors to obtain density increases yielding tens of millions of dollars in profit before a shovel hits the ground, San Diegans will not get the housing they need and can afford.

Finally, the county should build affordable housing on county properties, and adopt an inclusionary program ordinance similar to other cities, mandating a certain affordable housing component ideally onsite and in perpetuity for all new projects.

Q: The county has a reputation of being stingy on social services spending. Do you agree and if so what programs would you beef up?

Certainly with 48 percent of the budget held in reserves vs. 8 percent to 15 percent elsewhere, the county could afford to spend more to improve the lives of all San Diegans, without jeopardizing the AAA credit rating the current board has earned. As a successful business owner, I have learned to establish priorities, set budgets and stick to them.

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I will focus on senior services and dementia care  as one in three San Diegans are likely to get dementia. With a large demographic wave of elderly citizens coming in the next decades, the county needs to focus more resources on a variety of care options from providing quality home care to let the elderly stay at home as long as possible, to monitoring and ensuring quality of senior care centers, to preventing any senior on limited income from losing their home and becoming homeless.

With income disparity a growing problem nationwide, the county should support legislation to increase minimum wage, ensuring that its employees wages keep up with increased cost of living, and manage the safety net in a compassionate manner to facilitate access to services such as food insecurity programs, instead of limiting staff resources to recipients.

The hepatitis outbreak among the homeless has been a real wake-up call. The county can play a more aggressive role in the housing first strategy to increase capacity, build/purchase dedicated housing and provide transitional help so the homeless can reintegrate society as productive individuals with dignity.

Q: Does the countys current approach to mass transit and transportation strike the right balance, need to focus more on roads or need to focus more on transit?

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Our current approach to transportation planning is not sustainable, leading to clogged freeways and billions of hours spent in stop-and-go traffic, fouling the air we breathe and reducing quality of life for San Diegans. Most of our residents have very little ability to use mass transit that is convenient, affordable and practical, unlike other residents of world-class cities. Instead of focusing our transportation dollars mostly on freeway widening, we need to be serious about planning and investment in modern mass transit systems to prepare San Diego for the rest of the century. We all agree we need more housing, which makes new thought leadership about transit more essential.

San Diego has some very interesting opportunities to move to the forefront of smart transit planning through locally developed state-of-the-art transportation technology, which can free up thousands of acres of parking and reduce congestion and greenhouse gases. We need bold vision and strong leadership to break the paradigm of a single driver inching along on a crowded highway. We can create a better quality of life and a more sustainable San Diego that we can all be proud of calling home, for generations to come.
Editors note: The San Diego Union-Tribune asked candidates for the North County seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors seeking to replace termed-out Supervisor Bill Horn their views on key issues. Heres what they said.

Read responses from the other three candidates:

County Board of Supervisors candidate Jerry Kern

County Board of Supervisors candidate Michelle Gomez

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County Board of Supervisors candidate Jacqueline Arsivaud

Q: What is the single most important issue that led you to run for county supervisor?

I believe strongly San Diego County must maintain the fiscally responsible budgets the Board of Supervisors adopted in recent years. My goal as supervisor is to protect taxpayer dollars while making sure that county agencies are held accountable for providing excellent services to residents.

As mayor of San Marcos, I delivered balanced budgets with strong reserves, pension reform, a major reduction in crime and improved infrastructure. We accomplished all of these while delivering a high level of municipal services to residents. By prudent management and contracting out services where appropriate we kept taxes low and attracted employers, young families and jobs to San Marcos.

I will be dedicated to the important projects that enhance the quality of life in North County and improve our economy. Examples of these projects are street improvements, traffic control devices to reduce congestion, bridges, fire control projects, restored park facilities and libraries. For example, San Marcos is converting all our street lights to LED lights reducing energy consumption while reducing city costs.

Prudent management of public monies ensures resources to maintain those services that taxpayers in North County, and the most vulnerable among us, deserve from their government.

Q: Under new state laws such as Senate Bill 35 and proposals like Senate Bill 827 San Diego County faces significant pressure to build more housing stock. What should the countys approach to housing be?

The cost of housing, and the lack of housing, is a crushing burden to San Diego Countys working families. Currently, we have a housing shortage that is, quite literally, driving our workforce further and further from jobs and increasing drive times and traffic congestion. Local employers find it hard to import talent due to high housing costs. Money earned in San Diego County is being exported to Riverside County. Local police and firefighters cant afford to live in San Diego County. Children raised locally cannot afford to live where they grew up.

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The county must streamline the housing permitting process, reduce government costs on housing and agree to build housing for the next generation as our predecessors did for us. The first approach toward additional housing is to encourage infill housing projects near transit and transportation opportunities. In the unincorporated areas, housing should be provided where infrastructure exists or where increased densities makes sense.

My priorities for approving housing projects are that they fit within the character of the community, that the project mitigates impacts to the environment and the existing residents, and the project provides the necessary infrastructure.

If San Diego County continues to shun new housing, our legislators in Sacramento will not only penalize the region, they will also strip us from local control over height limits, parking limits and infrastructure requirements. The choice is ours to do it right, in a way consistent with the values of North County, or have it forced upon us, regardless of local restrictions or zoning.

Q: The county has a reputation of being stingy on social services spending. Do you agree and if so what programs would you beef up?

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The county of San Diego spends one-third of its annual budget on social service programs. Given the other responsibilities of the county government, such as law enforcement, emergency services, fire protection and more, the current overall level seems appropriate. I am particularly concerned about maintaining the countys reserve fund at its current level. Emergency reserves are called that because they are critically necessary in an emergency. The countys social service programs by definition serve the most needy in our community. And they are precisely the population most vulnerable during emergency situations. The funding must be there for sensitive services like home-health care or child protective services in the midst of a natural disaster. Thus, a prudent rainy day fund is absolutely essential.

I do believe, though, that virtually all government programs can be run more effectively. Accordingly, there are some specific county services that I believe need to be strengthened. For example, the foster care system can be improved and needs additional funding. Additionally, our mental health care services are under great strain due to the explosion of homelessness in the county. Accomplishing these improvements will surely require reordering of budget priorities. Reviewing and improving programs is appropriate during every budget approval.

Q: Does the countys current approach to mass transit and transportation strike the right balance, need to focus more on roads or need to focus more on transit?

My primary focus as supervisor will be on improving transportation and reducing congestion in North County. To achieve those goals the immediate task is to improve the highways, streets and roads in the region. In North County, the two most pressing problems are Highway 78 and the I-5 and I-15 interchanges. Funding for the major upgrade needed comes through the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the regional agency tasked with administering transportation improvement funds. There have been some improvements to the 78, but traffic congestion remains a significant problem. The same congestion problem on the I-5 must also be addressed. The congestion impact on Carlsbad, Oceanside and San Marcos harms our local economy.

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Additionally, we need more funding devoted to maintaining and improving the roads in the unincorporated areas of San Diego County. As supervisor, I am committed to supporting the unincorporated communities by making their roads and highways safer for emergencies and everyday use.

SANDAG has traditionally focused transit funding on the urban core of the city of San Diego and adjacent cities. Underway is a $2 billion midcoast trolley line extension from Old Town to UCSD. While not opposed to transit regionally, I believe more highway dollars are needed for North County.
What is the single most important issue that led you to run for county supervisor?

The status quo in county government isnt working for our neighborhoods. Im running for county supervisor to take on the business as usual and tackle San Diegos most urgent needs  starting right now.

For too long the county has operated with little oversight, no accountability and an all-Republican board that doesnt reflect San Diegos values or diversity. Instead of investing in our communities, county supervisors voted themselves 19 percent pay raises and committed $150 million to a Chargers stadium few San Diegans wanted. I have a track record of taking on difficult issues and delivering results. Ill bring the change we need.

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Ive put out a comprehensive plan to get the homeless off the streets and into treatment and housing. Im committed to expanding public health services so we arent threatened by a hepatitis outbreak ever again.

Ill fight to protect our most vulnerable residents. Ill expand healthcare programs for seniors and kids. Ill defend immigrants and refugees being targeted by President Trump. Ill push to increase job training, expand vocational education and support two years of community college tuition-free to help working people get ahead and stay ahead.

This election isnt about changing supervisors. Its about changing county government. For years, the county governments measure of success has been how much of your tax money it could stash away in their reserves. My measure of success will be how many lives we are able to improve and how many of San Diegos challenges were able to solve.

Under new state laws such as Senate Bill 35 and proposals like Senate Bill 827, San Diego County faces significant pressure to build more housing stock. What should the countys approach to housing be?

San Diegos skyrocketing cost of living is squeezing all families to a breaking point and out-of-control housing costs are exhibit A. It isnt just the homeless, the problem is affecting us all. The county needs to stop ignoring the problem and execute an all of the above approach to build more affordable and midpriced housing units that working families can actually afford.

Earlier this year, I brought together a coalition of leaders from all over San Diego to demand the county take action. We made a simple case: If county politicians could commit $150 million to a Chargers stadium, then they can certainly invest that same amount in real solutions to the affordable housing crisis.

Ive released a detailed plan to reduce the affordable housing shortage by deferring permitting fees for affordable homes, helping affordable housing projects qualify for more state matching funds and incentivizing individual homeowners to add accessory dwelling units  a win-win for tenants looking for affordable housing and homeowners who can add value to their properties. You can read our plan on housing and other important issues at www.nathanfletcher.com.

The county has a reputation of being stingy on social services spending. Do you agree and if so what programs would you beef up?

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County governments refusal to invest in San Diegos neighborhoods is unacceptable.

Earlier this year, as the hepatitis A outbreak raged, the county was being investigated for violating safe staffing levels for public health nursing positions.

Despite an epidemic of veteran suicide, the county has sat on over $166 million in unspent mental health services funds. There are an estimated 63,000 San Diegans who qualify for health care assistance who the county has never even bothered to sign up. This has to change.

Now, more than ever, we need to strengthen protections for the most vulnerable, step up the response to the homeless crisis and support San Diegans who are struggling. I served in the Marine Corps for a decade and will not rest until every veteran is given the dignity and respect their service has earned.

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As Washington cuts access to health care, Ill push to make San Diego County a leader in protecting every residents access to health care. As Trump cuts funding to support at-risk kids like HeadStart and CalFresh, Ill point San Diego in a progressive direction and step up efforts to make sure every child has a great start at a bright future.

In the California Assembly, I fought successfully to address many of these challenges. I wrote the law protecting health care benefits for workers laid off during the great recession and passed the Adoption Family Law to help unite children with loving families. Ill put my proven record to work standing up for whats right.

Does the countys current approach to mass transit and transportation strike the right balance, need to focus more on roads or need to focus more on transit?

Every San Diegan is frustrated by decades of neglect to San Diegos transportation infrastructure and rightly so. San Diego drivers are stuck in traffic nearly 40 hours of every year. As the father of four, I know that is precious time they arent spending with their families. Additionally, many of San Diegos urban communities are exposed to air pollution from idling cars and trucks on highways and major thoroughfares. I dont know a single San Diegan who doesnt have to drive through potholes on their daily commute.

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As supervisor, Ill push for sustainable solutions to reduce traffic, repair aging infrastructure and invest in public transit San Diegans can actually use to get to and from work. And we will push livable, walkable, bikeable communities to embrace the future and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Ill insist that we make the investments in public transit that Republican county leaders have ideologically opposed for years. Thats critical for seniors, students and the disabled who rely on transit. But expanding transit also creates thousands of good blue-collar jobs to grow the local economy and will help reduce traffic by getting cars off the road and cut pollution to protect San Diegos environment, which we all cherish.

If county politicians could commit $150 million to a Chargers stadium, then they can certainly invest that same amount in real solutions to the affordable housing crisis.
Editors note: The San Diego Union-Tribune asked candidates for the North County seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors seeking to replace termed-out Supervisor Bill Horn their views on key issues. Heres what they said.

Read responses from the other three candidates:

County Board of Supervisors candidate Michelle Gomez

County Board of Supervisors candidate Jim Desmond

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County Board of Supervisors candidate Jacqueline Arsivaud

Q: What is the single most important issue that led you to run for county supervisor?

As an elected official who has been serving North County for more than a decade, Ive grown frustrated by the fact that our region is often deprived of the resources and services that residents deserve. Far too often, the city of San Diego is able to harness a disproportionate amount of funds and services to the detriment of North County.

As a supervisor, I will work toward ensuring District 5 finally receives our fair share of transportation dollars, infrastructure upgrades, social services, environmental funding, and public safety staffing.

I also dont think its fair that people living in Fallbrook have to drive all the way to the city of San Diego for a simple task like filing a permit application to make a minor renovation to their home. I believe the county can do more to be accessible to everyone, not just those who live close to Kearny Mesa.

Ultimately, North County is a unique region with specific needs and challenges. We are the backbone of the countys agricultural economy. We are home to Camp Pendleton and a significant veterans population. We are home to a number of important industries such as life sciences, aerospace, craft beer and tourism. North County plays an integral part in our countys economy and quality of life, and its important we receive the resources we need to continue playing a vital role in our region.

Q: Under new state laws such as Senate Bill 35 and proposals like Senate Bill 827, San Diego County faces significant pressure to build more housing stock. What should the countys approach to housing be?

We need to be building more homes, and we need to be building them thoughtfully. Im only interested in supporting projects that make our region and communities better off, not worse. That means we have to factor in traffic impacts, existing infrastructure, environmental concerns, community character, wildfire risks and protecting our overall quality of life.

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We need to keep all options on the table when it comes to what we build. Some communities can accommodate increased density near existing housing, while others have capacity to expand their supply of single-family homes.

Q: The county has a reputation of being stingy on social service spending. Do you agree and if so what programs would you beef up?

When I was first elected to the Oceanside City Council, we had essentially a non-existent reserve fund. I immediately worked with my colleagues to bring our reserves from virtually $0 to more than $66 million. I understand and value the importance of having healthy reserves.

That being said, I also believe government should be in the business of providing services. Thats why we have taxes. I think its unfair to ask taxpayers to give up part of their hard-earned money and not provide ample services in return.

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Our region is currently going through a homeless crisis. We have an opioid crisis. We have a mental health crisis. These problems impact all of us, either directly or indirectly. Taxpayers expect county government to address these types of issues.

We need to ensure we have adequate reserves. But we also need to ensure communities are receiving services in exchange for their tax dollars, whether its in the form of road funding, basic government services or social services that can address the issues we face as a region.

Q: Does the countys current approach to mass transit and transportation strike the right balance, need to focus more on roads or need to focus more on transit?

When it comes to the regional approach to transportation in general, my primary concern is that transportation dollars tend to fund San Diego transit projects at the expense of North County roads.

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When SANDAG put forward Measure A in 2016, my reason for opposing it was the lack of adequate funding for North County projects. If I supported it, I would have been asking North County residents to pay more but receive less relative to San Diego, both in terms of roads and transit.

For years, North County has had a number of major road infrastructure projects that have been ignored, delayed, underfunded or neglected. Many residents live far from where they work, and theyre reliant upon a road system that isnt gridlocked or full of potholes.

We have roads all throughout the back country that are in desperate need of repair. We have intersections that need stoplights. We have freeways that are frustratingly congested during rush hour. North County residents pay tax dollars and they deserve to see these problems get fixed.

We absolutely need to fund transit, as many of our residents utilize it every day. But even more use our roads. The basic fact is that there are many areas throughout our region where transit is impractical. We have to ensure our roads are adequately funded, because for many residents its their only option.
What is the single most important issue that led you to run for county supervisor?

The San Diego region has many ongoing and future challenges the county of Board of Supervisors must address immediately, however, better access to health and human services, is a life-and-death issue that led me to run for county supervisor.

As a native San Diegan and a first responder for 31 years, I have professionally and personally engaged with struggling residents who could have benefited from access to our county health and human services. The hard-working county employees are doing an amazing job. My goal is to support their efforts and provide them with increased staffing, training and improved outreach to the public. The county of San Diego must take the lead in direct and preventative health and human services to ensure San Diegans are never again victims of deadly outbreaks.

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Under new state laws such as Senate Bill 35 and proposals like Senate Bill 827, San Diego County faces significant pressure to build more housing stock. What should the countys approach to housing be?

San Diegos housing has been long in the making and has no simple solution. There are many areas ripe for much-needed and wanted housing development. Too many stakeholders, including elected officials, have failed to address all the components to these ever-growing challenges. Even some of the changes made at the state level such as the 15 bills that attempt to address some of the longstanding problems will not succeed if we do not act locally at the county level.

As county supervisor, I will push real reforms to make our housing development process more efficient, faster and much more affordable. One more career politician will not have the freedom or experience to put every possible solution on the table and engage with all stakeholders and partners regardless of party or business affiliations. I will be a pragmatic county supervisor and will bring these reforms to the Board of Supervisors.

The county has a reputation of being stingy on social services spending. Do you agree and if so what programs would you beef up?

Better and more efficient spending on social services is a worthwhile investment. Currently, the county is not spending or allocating funds they do have in reducing problems such as homelessness and public health. Its unacceptable that so many of our veterans and families are relegated to the streets.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors should develop real and comprehensive solutions supported with the right amount of funding to address both immediate and long-term goals. We can invest more to provide our homeless neighbors with better wrap-around services that support their transition into stable housing.

Does the countys current approach to mass transit and transportation strike the right balance, need to focus more on roads or need to focus more on transit?

Spurring development along transportation corridors, as called for by SANDAG, environmental leaders and others, offers huge opportunities. I will also work for better land use throughout the county, an area that has gotten little attention over many administrations.

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I believe we can meet our current and future challenges using the resources we have. In my experience I have found that showing benefits to increasing all forms of safe active transportation through solid outreach can assist in all stakeholders reaching a consensus. In my time as a deputy fire chief, I have experience in large-scale strategic planning executing effective community outreach.
The fatal March 18 shooting of an unarmed 22-year-old African-American man in the backyard of his grandparents home in Sacramento raised anew painful questions about U.S. law enforcements troubling history of disproportionate use of lethal force against black men. Stephon Clarks death and the issues it evokes demand thoughtful debate.

That is why Assembly members Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, and Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, deserve credit for introducing Assembly Bill 931. Presently, fatal shootings are considered justified if an officer had a reasonable fear for his or her safety, a standard that has been interpreted so loosely that police killings rarely lead to criminal prosecutions. The Police Accountability and Community Protection Act would raise the standard under which officers could use deadly force, only allowing it when nonlethal approaches  such as using verbal warnings or persuasion  appear insufficient to prevent imminent death or bodily injury.

Existing use-of-force laws have made an encounter with law enforcement  no matter how ordinary and no matter whether an individual is unarmed or even cooperative  into one that ends in the death of a civilian, Weber said in a statement.

Unfortunately, this is an issue that like gun control itself quickly boils down to binary either-or arguments. The largest law enforcement organization in the state  the Peace Officers Research Association of California  immediately denounced the bill as a dangerous rush to judgment. Meanwhile, a nurse fired after suggesting on Facebook that Clark deserved to die for his alleged suspicious behavior has raised $25,000 for her trying time.

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Californians deserve a smarter discussion. The starting point shouldnt be the inflammatory argument that this issue pivots on whether the public supports police. It should be public safety. Some state lawmakers and the ACLU cite a 2016 study of 91 U.S. law enforcement departments that showed that those which had a higher standard for allowing the use of lethal force killed fewer suspects and had fewer officers killed while on duty. Theres also evidence that better training can reduce fatal police shootings. The Seattle Police Department, for example, saw a dramatic drop in such incidents after it began using crisis intervention training that emphasized de-escalating dangerous situations.

Reform measures like Webers that might foster greater accountability and fairer treatment face an uphill battle unless the unions of police and sheriffs deputies  which wield a lot of power in local and state politics  are willing to accept change. These unions are right to talk about how difficult it will always be to make split-second life-or-death decisions. But too often, this can mean that any criticism of such decisions is considered out of bounds.

Weber has battled entrenched interests before. Her years-long fight with teachers unions over education reform is another example of the daughter of African-American sharecroppers from Hope, Arkansas, taking on the establishment. She may be short on policy victories, but when it comes to expecting accountability from teachers, schools, police officers and law enforcement agencies, the arc of the moral universe is long and bends toward justice.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
Gun advocates may not know 2nd Amendment

Re Retired justice urges repeal of 2nd Amendment (March 28): Justice John Paul Stevens wants to repeal the Second Amendment. I dont. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the Second Amendment wont be repealed. I dont agree.

Noah Feldman says the Supreme Court got it wrong in D.C. v. Heller and should fix it. Maybe, but none of those is the point.

I want to know if gun advocates have read the Second Amendment; or if they have read it but dont understand it; or if they have read and understand it, they dont understand the restrictive qualities of the introductory clause; or if they have read and understand it, and do understand the restrictions in the introductory clause, they just dont agree with it.

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Leif Fearn

San Diego

Many misinterpret the Second Amendment

Leif Fearn (Gun advocates may not know 2nd Amendment, April 2) knows what hes talking about, but not how to express it in language his target audience understands.

Better he just quote, A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.

That amendment is one of 10 in a document known as the Bill of Rights, which was created by leaders of the several states existing at the time. It was intended to protect the states from the federal government.

It gives the right to bear arms to the people as part of a state militia, not to guys who fancy themselves prepared to thwart a home invasion attempt. If their gun is safely stored, it will be useless in such an event.

Charles Farrell

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Pacific Beach

Second Amendment: Many see it differently

If Leif Fearn (Gun advocates may not know 2nd Amendment, April 2) wants to know whos misinterpreting the first clause of the Second Amendment, I suggest he look in the mirror.

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The phrase well-regulated had a completely different meaning back in 1791. It simply meant functioning properly.

Victor Chabala

Oceanside

Letter writers Charles Farrell (April 3) and Leif Fearn (April 2) both misinterpret the Second Amendment. At the time it was written, our nation had no army and few places had any kind of civil police. Responsibility for security and safety of people and their homes belonged to the people themselves.

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Today our military is forbidden from enforcing law by the Posse Comitatus Act, and courts have consistently ruled that police have no legal obligation to protect anyone from harm. They serve to react after something bad has happened. We the people are still responsible for our own safety and security.

The militia clause explains why preserving a long-recognized natural right of armed self-defense is in the interests of the states. But any legitimate definition of state includes its people and their homes.

If we arent able to defend ourselves, then the state is not secure.

David R. Voth

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San Diego

Regarding the militia notation in the Second Amendment, it means precisely the opposite of what Second Amendment detractors attempt to infer. It is simply a discussion of one reason why the individual right is needed. This is clear in the Federalist Papers, as well as Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

There was perpetual fear of invasions and insurrections, as that described world history to that point. It was a clear expectation that the government could call upon the citizenry to repel such incursions. There was also fear of what may come from maintaining a standing army, though the final decision on this was left to the legislature(s).

So, whether for protection against foreign invasion or domestic coup, the citizenry must be allowed to arm at a level that could provide formidable response. That invasion has not happened requiring citizen armies is not relevant, or perhaps it is testament to Americas armed nature.

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The individual right was always the intention.

Darin Hunzeker

Rancho Penasquitos

Three letters this morning gave different opinions regarding the Second Amendment. Opinions all. One even sites the Federalist Papers as supporting personal gun rights.

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If you want to cite the Federalist Papers you had better know them. In Federalist Paper #29, Alexander Hamilton clearly explains the founders intention.

They so strongly agreed that regulation was needed it is stated verbatim in the amendment.

Note that the word State in the 2nd Amendment has a capital S. Hamilton explains that the founders were concerned that a national government might someday force itself on one, or all, of the States. A well regulated State militia would insure each states existence. They were talking abut State militias, or the National Guard in todays world. Want a gun, join the National Guard. That is what the founding fathers intended.

Douglas Evenson

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San Diego

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#childbirth S. Korea's childbirths at fresh low in July The number of babies born in South Korea dropped to a record low in July, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that underscores the country's gloomy demographic situation with...

#Afghan evacuees Assimilation programs begin for Afghan evacuees in S. Korea The government on Wednesday started assimilation programs for Afghan evacuees who settled in South Korea in August upon fleeing their country after it was taken over by the Taliban...
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/05/2018 -- Glass Mat market top players including are Owens Corning, Jushi Group, CPIC, Taiwan Glass, Binani Industries.



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Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/05/2018 -- Global Network Storage Devices Market 2018-2023 Industry News, Market Position, Size, Share, Rate of Growth, Strategis, Trends Across The Globe



Global Network Storage Devices Market 2018 report covers a detailed study of the Global Network Storage Devices Market which highlights the latest technological improvements and new launches, current industrial affairs and developments, upcoming policy alterations, and knocking opportunities in the Network Storage Devices market.



Get Free Sample Copy of Report @ http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/report/106617#request-sample



The report covered by MRS Research Group provides information that is gathered from different essential and optional assets. The information gathered was approved from the business investigator which makes the record a valuable for supervisors, examiners, industry specialists and other to get access and self-analyzed the study which helps to understand market challenges, applications, specifications and changing structure of the Global Network Storage Devices Market.



What all important aspects concerning the market will be encompassed in this report?



- The report has information of Global Network Storage Devices Market that comprises of a large number of reputed organizations, firms, vendors, manufacturer and can deliver detail summary of the overall key players who hold major count in terms of revenue, sales, end-user demands, variable market changes, restraining elements, regulatory compliance through their reliable services, products, and post-sale processes.



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- Many trends such as globalization, technology advancement, over-capacity in developed markets, market fragmentation regulation & environmental concerns, and product proliferation are covered in Global Network Storage Devices Market report.



- Various aspects such as production capacity, demand, product price, material parameters and specifications, supply chain and logistics, profit and loss, and the growth factor are broadly discussed in the Global Network Storage Devices Market report.



- The analytical tools such as investment return analysis, SWOT analysis and feasibility study are used to analyze the key global market player's growth in the Global Network Storage Devices Market industry.



Read complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrsresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/global-network-storage-devices-market-2017-production-sales.html



This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, including



HP , Synology , Lenovo , QNAP , IBM , H3C , WesternDigital , NetGear , Thecus , Seagate , EMC Iomege , Buffalo , HikVision ,



Market Segmented By Regions: United States, EU, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Taiwan



The report is well-crafted with graphs, diagrams, and realistic figures which indicate the status of the specific Network Storage Devices industry on the global and regional platform. The performance and characteristic of the market are evaluated based on the quantitative and qualitative method to provide a clear picture of the current and future forecast trend.



The Global Network Storage Devices Market report provides a thorough assessment of the market entailing market drivers, challenges, deployment models, standardization, opportunities, regulatory landscape, operator case studies, future roadmap, value chain, and ecosystem player profiles. Additionally, Reports help to identify the reliable potential of the suppliers and vendors. The report is also useful for the governments, commercials, manufacturers, residential & industrial consumers and other stakeholders to propose their market-centric strategies in proportion to the estimated and enduring trends in the market.



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Miami, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2018 -- EYES OF POSEIDON, available on Amazon and at your favorite bookseller (and as an eBook) is a follow-up to the award-winning "Storm Crashers," also inspired by unique South Florida crimes.



In Richard Wickliffe's new novel, Eyes of Poseidon, a successful Miami doctor leaps from a cruise ship in the dead of night. His devastated wife, along with an FBI agent who works organized crime, unravel his fate. He'd been lured by a tempting new organization who promised wealth and success.



But after threats and extortion, he knew there was no way out. His family would never be safe. What the wife and Russian Bratva discover next changes everything.



The concept was inspired by real crimes outlined in Richard's published article, The Russian Mafia: A Rising Threat of Fraud and Violence," including actual details from FBI arrests involving bogus medical clinics and alluring girls who'd drugged and robbed tourists along South Beach.



Florida residents may enjoy the novel's many local references, including South Beach, Little Havana, Coral Gables' Biltmore, Fort Lauderdale's Mai Kai, Joe's Stone Crab, Key Biscayne's Rusty Pelican and numerous Bahamas (spoiler alert!)



Since Richard's last book was optioned by Twentieth Century Fox, he's already written the screenplay for Poseidon just in case.



Video trailer of the book on YouTube. See more at http://www.RichWickliffe.com.



Early Reviews:



FIVE-STARS  "A spectacular thriller with compelling characters and an intriguing storyline that will delight readers who love suspenseful stories told inside out. The book opens with a cliffhanger, impossible for the reader to put down until its breathtaking conclusion."  Susan Sewell, Reader's Favorite



"The Firm meets Gone Girl with Russian mob in Miami."  New Books Playground



This is Richard Wickliffe's fourth novel, inspired by actual crimes. He's a winner of Best Popular Fiction at the Florida Book Awards for his last thriller, which had been optioned by a major film studio. Rich enjoys speaking about creative crimes, including at the FBI's InfraGard Counterterrorism conferences. His writing typically borrows from the unique (scandalous, criminal or satirical) environments of South Florida where he resides with his family.



Press Contact:



Rich Wickliffe is available for interviews. For booking presentations, media appearances, interviews, and/or book-signings contact MiamiNovelWriter@yahoo.com.



For additional information please visit: www.RichWickliffe.com



Books Name: Storm Crashers

Publisher: Harrow McFarland, LLC.

Email Address: MiamiNovelWriter@yahoo.com.



Media Contact:

Contact: Richard Wickliffe

Book's Name: "EYES OF POSEIDON"

Contact: 954-204-2461

Email: MiamiNovelWriter@yahoo.com

Rich Wickliffe Author Page on Facebook
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2018 -- The synthetic version of progesterone, 17?-hydroxy-6?-methylprogesterone acetate is also known by the name Medroxyprogesterone Acetate. Medroxyprogesterone acetate is a more potent derivative of medroxyprogesterone and what is normally injected is its acetate derivative. Medroxyprogesterone acetate is administered every 3 months which in turn prevents ovulation and follicular maturation in endometrial thinning producing a contraceptive effect.



The medroxyprogesterone acetate market is driven by the increasing need for birth control measure and government initiatives to generate more awareness related to the different contraceptive methods. There are various forecasting initiatives undertaken to understand the demand of Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) as a birth control measure. In January 2015, the Concept Foundation contracted William Davidson Institute (WDI), to understand the demand of DMPA in low income and middle-income countries.



Manufacturers are now trying to develop low-dose injectable of medroxyprogesterone acetate through subcutaneous route so as to lower some of the side effects related to weight gain and metabolic effects.



Request for Table of Contents @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/15688



Sayana Press a three-month, progestin-only injectable contraceptive was approved by the UK authorities in 2015. PATH along with ministries of health in Uganda and Senegal are researching on self-injection of Sayana Press and ways that it could be effective in women. Through the PATH initiatives since 2014, this contraceptive is available in remote locations in Uganda, Senegal, Niger and Burkina Faso. Sayana Press has regulatory approval in Europe and 25 other countries. In 2014, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Pfizer Inc. decided to offer Sanaya Press to purchasers from 69 countries for US$1 per dose.



The public and the private partners announced in the London Summit to reach poorest countries by 2020 with around 12 million doses of Sayana Press. Injctables has always been a popular contraceptive method in Sub-Saharan Africa and hence the presentation of Sayana Press inj the Uniject device is expected to increase the demand. The all-in-one prefiled injection system improves safety and enhances access through non-clinical channels.



In terms of geography, medroxyprogesterone acetate market has been divided into five regions including North- America, Asia- Pacific, Middle-East & Africa, Latin America and Europe. The presence of major market players, technology advancements and research investments has made North America the dominating region for the cardiac biomarkers market. Moreover, there are many startups who are trying to enter the medroxyprogesterone acetate market with new technologies and more efficacy.



Developing countries are focusing on bringing down the infact and maternal death rates by legalizing the use of injectable contraceptives. One such initiative was taken by Haryana, which became the first state in the country to implement the use of injectable contraceptives. The project would be initiated in nine blocks of the state where the injectable would be available free of costs in all district hospitals, primary health centers and community health centers.



Request a Sample Brochure of the Report @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/15688



Some of the medroxyprogesterone acetate market participants are Pfizer Inc., Fangtong Pharma.Co.Ltd, Gador S.A., Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Greenstone LLC, Serum Internation Ltd., West-Coast Pharmaceutical, Arrow Pharma Group, and Zuche Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd..
Shenzhen, China -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/05/2018 -- Tourists visiting Japan this March did not just have the romantic cherry blossoms of Japan to entice them. They also had the opportunity to be part of one of the biggest vape exhibition in the world - The Japan International VAPE Exhibition. The exhibition which was held at the Osaka International Exhibition Center attracted so many exhibitors from dozens of countries and regions around the world including Japan, China, Europe and the United States.



For the Organizers of the Japan International VAPE Exhibition, the main aim is to provide a professional ground for vape exhibitors and buyers to meet, negotiate, sell, and expand the VAPE market. Unlike the previous e-cigarette show, the Japan International Vape Exhibition only allowed sales and use of zero-nicotine products to be displayed! Therefore, AOKEY IX, the world's first global OLED low-temperature non-combustion electronic cigarette was invited to participate. And it instantly became the new focus of the exhibition, the new sensation in the vape market.



AOKEY IX shone like a million stars at the show with its compact body and fashionable appearance. ABS + PC material, the surface of the use of baked rubber paint processing, exquisite workmanship, a more comfortable grip, so watch the vapors put it down.



The characteristics of AOKEY IX's innovative introduction of OLED screens were even more praised by the audience. OLED display, intuitive display interface, timely monitoring vape status. Long press the key for more than 3 seconds, the screen alternates with H (high-temperature output) / L (low-temperature output), release the button, select the gear. It is such a technology that combines technology and performance perfectly, making AOKEY one of the products sought after by buyers.



As Japan's first-ever VAPE exhibition, Japan's international VAPE exhibition has not only received the support of exhibitors, consumers, and media platforms at home and abroad but also has the official support of the Japanese government. It has also gone ahead to obtain the approval of the Japanese Fire Agency and has opened up a large-scale public. The precedent of smoking VAPE in the venue!



At the International Electronic Cigarette Show in Japan, the "high-standard, professional, and authoritative" standard has enabled Japanese e-cigarette products to go global and allow the world to understand the Japanese e-cigarette market. The AOKEY IX has become a leader in the Japanese electronic cigarette market by virtue of its innovation, fashion, and performance, which has attracted the world's vapor.



For more information, please visit www.aokeycig.com or www.skeycig.com.



Media contact:

Candice

service@aokeycig.com

www.aokeycig.com

www.skeycig.com

Address: 5010 Baoan Avenue, Bao'an District, Shenzhen
Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!
Taranaki's tourism sector is getting the bulk of a $20 million injection from Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones's provincial growth fund to help wean the region off its reliance on the dairy and energy industries.

Jones announced funding for 11 projects today, with the biggest a $13.3 million commitment to investigating and supporting the $23 million Mounga ki Moana Taranaki Crossing project. Central government's $20 million investment will sit alongside $16 million of local investment in the Taranaki action plan to diversify the local economy away from its bedrock oil, gas, and agriculture sectors. The action plan was also released today.

"Investment will be made into an ambitious proposal to enable more people to enjoy the beauty of Mt Taranaki and initiatives aimed at transitioning the region to meet global market trends, such as those in the energy sector," Jones said in a statement. It will also create more opportunities to attract people to the region."

Since the fund's launch in February, Jones has announced $94.2 million of funding for various projects out of the planned $3 billion spend over the next three years on reinvigorating regional economies.

Government data show Taranaki's economy peaked in 2014 when it accounted for 4 percent of the national gross domestic product. In the March 2017 year, the region accounted for 3.1 percent of GDP compared to 3.4 percent in 2000. However, per capita Taranaki is the country's most productive region at $70,863 in the March 2017 year compared to the national average of $57,002 and a position it's held since 2006 when it was eclipsed by Wellington.

Jones also announced $5 million to help turn the Taranaki cathedral into a tourist drawcard and up to $400,000 to assess the value of State Highway 43, known as the Forgotten World Highway, as a tourist attraction.

Some $125,000 of the provincial growth fund will be drawn on to identify major food opportunities and another $50,000 to help develop the business case of establishing a Taranaki food network. Another $250,000 will help develop a digital tool to assess planting trees on Taranaki hill country farms.

The fund will also invest $100,000 to investigate establishing the region as a clean energy leader and $50,000 to support take-up of hydrogen technologies. Some $100,000 is also being set aside for a feasibility study into creating an innovation precinct in the region and another $100,000 for a stocktake of local Maori enterprise and education.

(BusinessDesk)

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ERoad's annual sales of contracted units rose 62 percent, meeting guidance, as the logistics and fleet management firm's North American expansion continues to accelerate.

Total contracted units rose to 77,600 in the year ended March 31 from 48,041, of which units in North America surged 191 percent to 17,757 and Australia/New Zealand units climbed 43 percent to 59,843. The Auckland-based company had expected contracted units to reach 77,000 at the year-end. Quarterly sales rose 12 percent.

"Total contracted units growth in the quarter of 8,209 units represents the second biggest growth in units for a quarter in ERoads history, and completes a record year for unit sales of 29,559, an increase of 61.5 percent for the year," chief executive Steven Newman said in a statement. "The unit sales results represent a record in the ANZ market and the fourth consecutive quarter of growth. It also represented the second-best quarter of unit sales in North America."

ERoad's sales gained traction in the US after the introduction of compliance regime requiring logistics firms to use electronic logging devices from December last year. That deadline had been delayed as North American buyers lobbied to push out the introduction of the regime, holding up sales of ERoad's systems.

The company raised $21.5 million in a placement and share purchase plan to support the expansion of its US business, upgrading customer support, repaying debt, and developing new products to capture and analyse transport data.

ERoad didn't comment on whether it met revenue guidance of between $46.9 million and $47.6 million or forecast earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation of between $12.8 million and $13.3 million.

The shares last traded at $3.78 and have gained 5.6 percent so far this year, while the S&P/NZX All Index fell 1.5 percent over the same period.

(BusinessDesk)

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Ongoing trade ructions between China and the US could create some short-term opportunities for New Zealand exporters but will be outweighed by the longer-term damage to global trade, analysts say.

"It is a real concern that this tit-for-tat trade war seems to be escalating and the comments of the (US) President (Donald Trump) on measures to protect USA farmers and agricultural interests will be of concern to our agri-exporters," ExportNZ executive director Catherine Beard told BusinessDesk.

Earlier today Trump reiterated Chinas "illicit trade practices - ignored for years by Washington - have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs," in a White House statement published by MarketWatch. Rather than "remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers," said Trump. As a result, he instructed the US Trade Representative to consider whether US$100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate.

In the same statement, Trump also instructed the Secretary of Agriculture "to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests".

Rabobank analyst Blake Holgate said "short-term there is potentially some initial upside if NZ producers replace some of the US product in China," in particular for products like beef and wine.

China is New Zealand's largest export market according to the latest data from Statistics New Zealand while the United States is third, behind Australia.

Holgate added, however, the benefit will depend to what extent China lets US product flow in through Hong Kong, which is so far exempt from the tariffs. He also said any benefit could be partly offset if US product is redirected into other markets to compete with New Zealand exports and notes there will be other suppliers looking to take advantage of available opportunities.

"Longer term, the damage to an open global trading environment is likely to outweigh any short-term gains," he said.

Regarding exports to the US, Beard warned New Zealand could face additional hurdles as there may be "increased tariffs on agricultural imports from other countries to give local USA growers an advantage on the domestic market."

Moody's Investors Service said in a note the "rising uncertainty and political risk accompanying these tit-for-tat measures will likely have economic and financial impact beyond that which is transmitted through direct trade channels."

Any escalation will weigh on investor sentiment and lead to more financial market volatility. The result could be reduced business investment over the medium term and lower production efficiency, it said.

(BusinessDesk)

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Shepherds diversity and multicultural week featured many events and speakers, including a talk on Islam by Dr. Syed Haque of Fredrick, Maryland. Haque is a doctor of adult medicine and has written a column for the Fredrick News-Post for 17 years.

Haque said hes not an expert on Islam, but is a devout Muslim and an active member of the Frederick County Muslim Council. He explained the history of Islam, saying, Islam is a continuation of Christianity and Judaism.

Haque told the audience that God is the almighty and Muslims must believe in him to return to him, that after God is the Prophet and then the Mother.

Muslims believe strongly in respecting and putting first the Mother, said Haque.

He then took questions from the audience.

Sarah Florek, a sophomore at Shepherd University who recently converted to Islam, explained her experience to Haque and the audience.

I converted to Islam in October of 2017 after being raised Christian for most of my life, said Florek. I remember hearing a lot of anti-Islamic rhetoric from Trump and his supporters, that it sparked my interest into Islam, and that lead to me converting.

According to Haque, there are a lot of misconceptions about Islam.

Islam is not about hate in the heart, but love, said Haque. If we are more accepting and tolerant, then there would be less extremists.

In closing, Haque told the audience one thing he wanted them to remember about life: Learn about history, but make sure you know who is writing history; do your homework, Haque said. Learn about others and their countries. If you do all of this, you will be a well-rounded person.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A New Jersey mother and her son are the latest defendants to be charged for their alleged roles in a ring authorities say ran drugs out of Clifton's Park Hill section.

New Brunswick residents Tracy Freeman, 41, and Joshua Freeman, 22, have been indicted on felony charges of conspiracy and criminal sale and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

According to an indictment, the Freemans and a co-defendant Clint "Trap" Callender, 27, conspired to distribute and sell buprenorphine, a painkiller also used to treat opioid addiction.

Tracy Freeman and Callender spoke to each other in "coded and cryptic" phone conversations, and the mother arranged for her son to give Callender buprenorphine on Rockland Avenue in Egbertville on Dec. 16, said the indictment

Callender then sold the drug to another person in Grymes Hill, the indictment said.

The Freemans pleaded not guilty at their arraignments Wednesday in state Supreme Court, St. George.

Besides the Freemans, another defendant, Ibrahima Diane, 23 of the 300 block of Vanderbilt Avenue, Clifton, also was arraigned and pleaded not guilty this week.

Diane is accused of selling cocaine to an undercover officer on June 13 and heroin to another cop on Oct. 11 of last year.

Diane is also charged in an unrelated indictment with multiple counts of criminal weapon possession stemming from a Nov. 2 arrest.

The Freemans and Diane were among 12 defendants busted in the takedown which authorities announced last week.

The 15-month, joint Staten Island Gang Squad-D.A.'s office probe, dubbed "Operation Sugar Hill," began in December 2016 amid what authorities say was a spike in violence in the area.

As of March 27, the NYPD had seized about 19 grams of heroin and 185 grams of crack cocaine through undercover buys, authorities said.

District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said defendants were connected to at least one fatal overdose, and sold heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and suboxone across the North Shore.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On a chilly Thursday afternoon, the first-ever Beeping Egg Hunt -- hosted by City Access New York (CANY) -- took over the Commons Cafe in Bloomfield.

The event -- built on the message of "acceptance for all" -- attracted over 100 participants. Pastel-colored Easter eggs sprawled across the lawn-area near the cafe as those of all ages collected racked up as many as they can fit in their baskets.

"What a great thing to see all these kids having a great time today, who normally wouldn't be able to participate in an Easter egg hunt. We're very proud to be a part of this," said Richard Nicotra, co-owner Commons Cafe with his wife, Lois Nicotra.

Holly Bonner, of CANY and founder of BlindMotherhood.com, curated the event and found a way to make sure the visually impaired and wheelchair users can participate in a fun spring rite of passage.

"It's been amazing to see the reactions of the parents to those visually impaired," Bonner said. "Because they really feel so included and that was the main purpose of this event."

MORE ON THE 'BEEPING' EGGS

The "beeping eggs" have a small battery mechanism inside, allowing them to chirp or vibrate so the blind and visually impaired can actively participate. Those in wheelchairs had their pick of baskets lining the field area.

Once the hunt began, children ran in every direction, hoping to score the prize the "golden egg" holds. (Those who snatched the burnished orb had their choice of a prize basket!)

The smiles of children, who clutched on to their guardian's hands as they ran through the field, was the most heart-warming part of this event.

But it wasn't just for kids.

"They didn't have egg hunts for folks like me back in my day," a visually impaired participant in the adult egg hunt said. "We were lucky if we could hold an egg. This is a really nice opportunity to do what I couldn't before."

BTW: This event was built on the backs of many a dedicated volunteer.

Members of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) guided the visually impaired through the field of easter eggs to help them find the audible ones safely.

Katherine Garlisi, a Girl Scout Cadette from Troop 5278 and a seventh-grader at Myra S. Barnes Intermediate School, had a hand in planning this event as she re-assembled the beeping eggs after every hunt.

An added bonus: The Nicotra's Commons Cafe motto is "Do good, eat good." All the proceeds of food and drinks sold at at the event went to charity.

Bonner said the reaction between the visually impaired and sighted community is the most rewarding part of curating this event.

"We all have to embrace people's differences and learn how to function as independent adults in the community. When you're blind or visually impaired, it's limitless. You could do anything, just in a different way."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's official: Blowouts and poofs are back and better than ever.

The highly anticipated "Jersey Shore" reunion season, aka the "Family Vacation", taking place in Miami, premiered on MTV Thursday night.

They describe themselves as a "dysfunctional family" but to Staten Islanders (fans and haters!) the "Jersey Shore" castmates are household names.

Those names are Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and S.I. natives Vinny Guadagnino and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino.

Tonight's episode was as high-spirited and borderline belligerent as "JS" fans thought it would be. Keep scrolling to see our full recap of the "Family Vacation" premiere.

Longtime fans who remember the days of fist bumps, Snooki meltdowns and Situation shenanigans are looking forward to the reboot. And for the unfamiliar, they're about to get a full dose of GTL, whether they asked for it or not.

Did the comeback live up to your expectations? Leave a comment, whether you love or hate it.

LONG LIVE THE SHORE DAYS

Before heading on their 'Vacation,' the cast mates embrace their nostalgic side as they talk about life "after the Shore" and what they've been doing now. Snooki and JWoww talk about their married lives with husbands, children and how much they need a vacay.

The loss of her father is weighing on Deena's experience back in the "JS" limelight but regardless, she's returning to Miami.

Pauly D's party lifestyle is thriving. Yep, this Rhode Island guy is the only solo housemate so, naturally, he claims the smush room. Ron is a soon-to-be father who is "trying to make it work" with his girlfriend, Jen Harley. Nevertheless, he is given a "look, don't touch" rule.

Guadagnino is staying true to his S.I. roots, buying a home in the borough. No shame: Vinny's mom still does his laundry and lives around the corner. Once a Staten Islander, always a Staten Islander, right?

A big topic of "The Situation's" life after the Shore conversation is his pending legal issues. He was indicted on $8.9M in tax fraud charges in 2014.

He calls it: The United States vs. The Situation.

"My freedom is jeopardized and theres nothing I need more than to see my roommates and have this vacation," Sorrentino says.

MOVING IN DOESN'T MEAN MOVING ON

While the "JS" roommates settled in their new home for this comeback season -- a stylish penthouse in Miami -- there seems to be two OG cast members missing: Sammie "Sweetheart" Giancola and The Situation."

"The Situation" is handling a big court date in his ongoing case, enabling him from getting to the house. As for Sam. she seems to have no intention of returning to the "JS" scene.

"I don't think she wants to re-live the Ron and Sam stuff," Deena says.

Sam might've taken the high road about her and Ron's five-year relationship turned sour but he wasn't so courteous.

It was all fun and games until the trash bag came out. The guys brought in a large garbage bag -- that Snooki mistakes as Angelina Pivarnick, because of her choice of luggage in Season One -- that contained a life-size sex-doll of Sammi.

While most of the housemates found this hysterical --making it a running joke throughout the episode -- it could be seen as offensive to have a sex-doll inspired by a woman who left a possibly abusive relationship.

It's becoming more and more apparent why she wants nothing to do with certain cast mates. Just sayin'.

FIRST NIGHT OUT

A lot has changed about the "JS" cast, but their "all or nothing" party habits are stronger than ever this episode. Here's the recap: Snooki peed in the pool (fully clothed, BTW.), Vinny was the best wingman of all time by holding up the girl Pauly was grinding on to keep her balanced and Ron talked trash about Sam.

Yep, sounds like a typical "JS" night out.

RON VS. DEENA

Back at the house, things got intense with Ron and Deena when she confronted him on why he didn't reach out to her after he father's death. Ron says his reasoning for not showing sympathy for Deena's father's passing was because she was close with Sammi.

After a blow out argument, the two decided to move on and "let the past be the past."

**WRITERS NOTE: Why are the men of the house filling this episode with negative comments on the women they live with? And why is it that Sam's sex-doll keeps getting brought up? They've joked about bringing her out to the club with them and having her sleep in Ron's bed.

There's a line between a joke and public humiliation. This doll skit is WAY over the line. Unacceptable, "JS."

MAWMI TEARS

After hearing her son's favorite song play in a restaurant the "JS" cast ate at, Snooki had an emotional moment which triggered JWoww to burst into tears too. "I just have to shut it off," JWoww said. The mom guilt was real but soon after, the ladies were sipping on mix drinks and dancing.

"I will fist pump until I die," Snooki says.

'IT'S A GOOD SITUATION'

Mike "The Situation" made his Miami comeback in style. Pauly and Vinny picked him up from the airport and brought him to the day-club where Ron, Snooki, JWoww and Deena were partying.

Maybe not the ideal setting for a man two years sober, but he carried his own.

"He's such a different Mike, he's such a nice person and so positive," Snooki said.

"You're an inspiration to all of us by being down here during the hardest time of your life," Vinny says, hosting a toast to 'The Situation.'

Ron is stuck in 2011. I'm convinced. I hope Sammi is getting some cash from MTV because they say her name as

During a "full-fam" dinner, the "JS" cast all made a heart-felt toast to "The Situation," where the talked about how far he's come since his early MTV days.

Except for Ron. He used this air time to prove how petty he could be by citing every time "The Situation" has done him dirty. He ended his mini-rant with blanket "I'm proud of how far you've come" statement. Which "The Situation" let slide. You can't please everyone, right?

SNOOKS MAKES A SPASH

The girls -- and viewers, if I could speak for the majority -- are tired of hearing about the Sam sex-doll. Deena and Snooki take matters into their own hands and throw the doll in their house pool.

In this process, Snooki lost her wedding ring and went into full breakdown mode. The episode ends with a shot of the roommates combing through the bar trying to find the missing ring and Snooki calling her family, crying about how much she wants to go home.

"Karma is not just a club," 'The Situation' says after Snooki realizes her rock is missing.

"Jersey Shore: Family Reunion" airs on MTV Thursday's at 8 p.m.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Islanders will see another snow-white April day this weekend.

With a storm approaching south of the borough, we will receive the outer banks of the system on Saturday, said Frank Straight, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.

"We will see snow during the day," Straight said. "That's when it will be at its heaviest and taper off in the afternoon."

Snow is expected to start during late Friday night or early Saturday morning, dropping close to one to three inches across the Island.

"There will be times where we see a sleet and rain mixture, causing the roads to be difficult to drive on," Straight said. "The snow won't stick on the streets, but we'll definitely see it on the grass.

Don't Edit

According to the National Weather Service forecast, snow accumulations will be less than a half inch, with a 60-percent chance of precipitation.

The snow has a chance of turning into rain later in the day.

On Sunday, the temperatures will reach the mid-40s.

Straight says this may not be the last of snow Staten Island will see. There is a potential for more snow Monday night or Tuesday.

"Right now it's all about the timing. It could come earlier than expected, later, or not come at all," Straight said of a second potential storm. "We still don't know the accumulations for that right now. That storm system is a 'stay tuned' situation right now.

Don't Edit

We will see a peek of spring weather when warmer temperatures come in later next week, the NWS says.

Tuesday we could see a high of 48 with a 30-percent chance of rain.

The mild temperature will carry into Wednesday, when it will be mostly sunny during the day with a high of 49.

As of right now, next Thursday will be the warmest, with a high near 53, and partly sunny.

"It could be a full week to 10 days that we start actually seeing spring weather and put behind winter for good," Straight said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After a Staten Islander notified Rep. Daniel Donovan that the St. George Post Office has displayed portraits of former presidents during their administrations, but has refused to hang a portrait of President Donald Trump, the congressman is taking action.

"I've been going to the post office in St. George for about 15 years and about a month ago I went and I noticed that the presidential portrait was not hanging on the wall," said Monica Paquette, who claims her local post office displayed portraits of both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama during their administrations.

But in fact, the post office is following a federal regulation, which Donovan (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) wants to reverse through legislation he plans to introduce next week.

"Photographs of an incumbent or former President or Postmaster General are not to be displayed in post office lobbies or in common use public service areas such as elevator lobbies and corridors in facilities owned by or leased to the Postal Service. Further, such photographs are not to be requisitioned or purchased by postal installations at Postal Service expense," according to the Code of Federal Regulations (39 CFR 243.2).

According to Donovan, the rule has been in place for decades, but had not been enforced up to this point.

"When people go to the post office or any federal building, they expect to see pictures of their government leaders on display," said Donovan.

The proposed bill would require all United States Post Offices to display the official portrait of the incumbent president and vice president.

The congressman is facing a primary from former Rep. Michael Grimm, who spent eight months in federal prison beginning in 2015.

The primary is set for June 26.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Pete Weinman was ticketed by an NYPD officer in April 2017 for riding his motorcycle in the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane of the Staten Island Expressway.

The Grymes Hill resident, who works as a real estate lawyer, believed that HOV lanes permitted motorcycles, so he decided to do some research.

On the city Department of Transportation (DOT) website, Weinman found its HOV lanes policy.

It states that motorcycles are permitted in city HOV lanes except for a list of several exceptions, which does not include the expressway.

"New York City's high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes provide a faster option for drivers with passengers," the site reads. "Buses and motorcycles may also use these lanes."

That's in accordance with state and federal law, which allows motorcycles in the lanes because of their low emission levels.

"Motorcycles and bicycles shall be allowed to use the HOV facility unless the public authority certifies that such use would create a safety hazard and the Secretary of Transportation accepts the certification after publishing notice of the certification and providing an opportunity for public comment," a federal DOT page reads.

The police officer, according to Weinman, apparently felt otherwise.

Several spokespeople from the city DOT did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

A spokesperson for the NYPD referred the Advance to the city DOT website.

Weinman decided to write to the state DOT's regional director for the city, Sonia Pichardo, to make sure he understood the rules correctly.

He claims she referred him to city rules, which state motorcycles are allowed in HOV lanes, if they have valid registration and insurance.

In a letter Weinman provided to the Advance, Pichardo specifically wrote that the Staten Island Expressway is included under those rules.

He decided to fight the ticket at the borough's Traffic Violations Bureau (TVB), thinking the officer made a mistake. His lawyer, James Birch, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

On March 15, -- his designated day in court -- Weinman brought six pieces of evidence, including the letter from the state DOT.

"I thought I had a slam dunk," Weinman said.

He was wrong.

Judge Cheng ruled against him without explaining the decision, according to Weinman, and he was required to pay a $50 fine.

The judge's first name isn't listed anywhere on the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website, Weinman doesn't know it, and a spokesman for the DMV declined to provide the Advance with a list of names of judges at the borough's TVB.

He said we would need to file a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. We have, but those can take weeks to answer.

One possibility over the confusion may be related to signage on the expressway.

Traffic attorney Seth Katz pointed out that signs near Slosson Avenue, where Weinman got his ticket, indicate that only vehicles with three or more people are allowed in the HOV lane.

However, the city DOT website specifies other highways that have "three or more" restrictions, including the Gowanus Expressway.

The state DMV didn't return a request for comment about the judge's decision.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- "I will not let you or anyone take my life from me."

In a near-empty St. George courtroom on Friday, the victim of a harrowing hit-and-run in Sunnyside last summer told the young driver who fled the scene he remains undaunted and determined to press on despite his terrible injuries.

"I hope one day you can feel the severity of what you have done," Frank Morse Jr., 49, told Ana Angulo, 21, at Angulo's sentencing for leaving an incident scene without reporting. "Since Aug. 6, I have been fighting for my life."

Angulo, a dark-haired College of Staten Island student, stood silently at the defense table beside her lawyer Ralph J. Porzio.

She was sentenced to five years' probation, a $1,000 fine and a one-year license revocation.

Police said Morse, of Westerleigh, was stopped at a light on his Honda motorcycle on Victory Boulevard at Little Clove Road, when a sedan crashed into him from the rear around 8:24 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2017.

The driver didn't exit the four-door auto, and it continued eastbound along Victory, toward Tompkinsville, police said.

In a telephone interview from his hospital bed about a week later, Morse said he remembered hearing a loud motor noise coming from behind him while he was stopped at the red light. He looked down at the mirror on his motorcycle, and the next thing he knew the car was on top of him, he said.

Morse said he was flung 30 feet in the air and 50 feet away upon impact.

"I hit the ground hard and when I landed, I couldn't straighten out my body," he recalled. "I was shaped like a U."

Morse, a city Sanitation worker who appeared in the department's 2016 calendar, suffered a shattered pelvis. He snapped, sprained, and tore ligaments in his pelvic area and also sustained a dislocated shoulder.

The critically injured Morse underwent a nine-hour emergency surgery to insert screws and plates at St. Joseph's Hospital in New Jersey.

His sister told the Advance then he faced a long rehabilitation, which may include learning to walk again. Morse walked slowly but unaided at Friday's proceeding.

Westerleigh man badly injured in hit-and-run 3 Gallery: Westerleigh man badly injured in hit-and-run

On Aug. 16, police released a video of the crash and asked for the public's help in identifying the car's driver.

Angulo was arrested almost three months later on Nov. 6.

She pleaded in February in state Supreme Court, St. George, to a felony count of leaving an incident scene without reporting. It was the top charge against her.

Morse addressed the court very briefly on Friday.

He told Justice Stephen J. Rooney he had discussed the plea agreement with prosecutors and consented to it.

Assistant District Attorney Frank Prospero said Angulo's lack of a prior criminal conviction factored into the agreement.

Porzio, the defense lawyer, said he has known the defendant for nearly her entire life, and the episode was "an aberration."

"My client does express her remorse," he said.

Angulo declined to make a statement to the court.

Later, when the proceeding ended, she hugged Porzio in the gallery.

Porzio then turned to Morse seated in the back row and said, "Good luck to you, sir."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- State Senator Diane Savino says she had nothing to do with stipends worth thousands of dollars that the New York State comptroller's office rejected for her and several other state senators.

Her comments were in response to reports that the state Comptroller's office has rejected tens of thousands of dollars in stipends for five state senators after an investigation revealed that the lawmakers had been assigned false titles as chairs of committees they did not lead.

But Savino contends she has no connection to the requests for the stipend.

"I don't submit requests, I have nothing to do with it, and any effort to try to paint me as trying to take something that I'm not entitled to, I will really be furious about," Savino told the Advance.

Savino is one of eight members of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which caucused with Republicans to give that party a majority. She is also vice chairwoman of the Codes Committee, led by Sen. Andrew Lanza as chairman.

Although Lanza was entitled to the $18,000 chairman stipend, he passed it up in favor of a $19,500 stipend to be assistant majority whip. While senators can hold more than one leadership position, they can only collect one stipend.

According to a roster submitted in early March and obtained by the Advance through a Freedom of Information request, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan listed Savino and four other senators as committee chairs even though they actually served as vice chairs.

Using false titles in requests for stipends, also known as "lulus" in Albany, was first reported last year by The New York Times.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A subcontractor at the Lighthouse Point Project in St. George has admitted to not paying workers more than $15,000 in prevailing wages, according to a spokesman for the district attorney's office.

Construction Directions LLC pleaded guilty to petit larceny after failing to compensate several workers at the Bay Street construction site in May and June of last year, said the criminal complaint.

The investigation found that approximately $15,600 was not paid to the laborers, and the corporation has repaid the wages plus a penalty, said the spokesman.

The Richmond County district attorney's office participates in the Manhattan DA's Construction Task Force, which includes a wage theft initiative with the Department of Labor, to bring prosecutions across boroughs and counties for wage theft on construction sites.

The Lighthouse Point Project -- a $250 million, 115-unit luxury apartment complex adjacent to the ferry terminal in St. George -- will include retail, office space, a Westin Hotel and a fresh food market.

A spokesperson for Lighthouse Point was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An Eltingville medical office is open the day after a car careened into an examination room while a doctor was seeing a patient.

At least five people were medically evaluated after the crash, which occurred shortly before 8 p.m. Thursday at Amboy Medical Practice, located at 4434 Amboy Road, according to authorities.

A physician who was in the exam room at the time of the crash was transported by private car to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton for evaluation and minor injuries, but was not admitted, said William Smith, a spokesman for both the hospital and Amboy Medical.

A patient and the patient's mother were in the exam room at the time of the incident; the mother was treated at the scene for cuts, Smith said.

The FDNY said that three people were transported to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze -- two with minor injuries, and one with serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Those three people were all occupants of the 2015 Toyota Camry that crashed into the building, according to multiple sources.

"The practice is open today for normal business," Smith said of Amboy Medical. "One exam room is not in service due to damage from the crash."

A hole in the brick exterior was covered by plywood Friday morning. The punched-in exterior wall faces a parking lot.

The Buildings Department is inspecting the property Friday, according to a source.

FDNY officials pulled the car out of the wall upon arrival and the vehicle suffered heavy front-end damage.

No arrests have been made at this time in the crash, said an NYPD spokeswoman.
US-China trade war fears escalate as threats ramp up



Washington, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



The escalating trade confrontation between Washington and Beijing threatened to boil over Friday after President Donald Trump lashed out again and China called on the EU to join the battle, sending global stocks into the red.

Trump remained defiant and argued the pain of the dispute will pay off in the end, while China said that his administration would only "shoot itself in the foot" if it didn't back down from the "extremely wrong" threats.

Global stock markets were unhappy with the turn of events, as Wall Street followed European and Asian markets lower.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin acknowledged there was a risk of a trade war, but said the intention is to defend US interests and the administration remains willing to negotiate.

In the wake of the decision to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the United States on Tuesday published a list of $50 billion in Chinese goods to be hit by tariffs over what Washington says is widespread theft of intellectual property and technology.

China retaliated by unveiling planned levies on $50 billion worth of major US exports including soybeans, cars and small aircraft.

Trump hit back again late Thursday by instructing trade officials to consider tariffs on an additional $100 billion in imports.

"Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers," Trump said, calling Beijing's reaction "unfair."

So far, only the tariffs on steel and aluminum have taken effect, but the latest threats from Trump take the dispute to a new level: China cannot retaliate in kind since it only imports $130 billion in US products, meaning it would have to find another way to respond.

Amid widespread concern, and calls for restraint from US businesses and farm states most vulnerable to Chinese retaliation, Trump said Friday the outcome would be worth the short-term risk.

"I'm not saying there's not going to be any pain," he told WABC radio in New York, but "we're going to be much stronger for it."



- Risk of trade war -



Speaking on CNBC, Mnuchin said Trump is not aiming to provoke a conflict with China, but he is determined to defend US interests and "there is the potential of a trade war."

However, he said the White House is willing to negotiate and is in regular contact with Chinese officials. He argued that the situation could be a "win-win" for China and the US if Beijing opens up its economy.

"I'm cautiously optimistic to work this out," Mnuchin said, adding that "I think that we can manage this without significant difficulty to the overall economy."

China would "fight back immediately and without hesitation," state media said.

"It is a battle between unilateralism and multilateralism, and between protectionism and free trade as well," Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said, according to official news agency Xinhua.

He warned that any threat to multilateralism would severely imperil the global economic recovery.

China also urged the European Union to join it in taking a "clear stance" against US protectionism, calling for Brussels and Beijing to "jointly preserve the rules-based multilateral trade order," said Zhang Ming, the head of the Chinese mission to the EU.

The Chinese appeal came after it filed two complaints at the World Trade Organization saying the US has violated global trading rules, a claim the White House dismissed.

In his statement, Zhang warned "protectionist moves under the pretext of national security will undermine the credibility of the WTO-centered multilateral trade system, and the rules-based global trade order."

Trump responded by once more dismissing the WTO as "unfair" to the United States.

He complained that the WTO considers China "a developing nation" when it is actually "a great economic power."

"They therefore get tremendous perks and advantages, especially over the U.S," Trump tweeted. "The WTO is unfair to U.S."



- A happy end? -



Mnuchin noted that the US tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods represent about 10 percent of imports from that country, while China's retaliation amounts to 38 percent of US exports.

"We're going to protect our farmers," he said.

Oxford Economics analysts estimate the threatened US tariffs cumulatively represent 30 percent of total US imports from China and, if imposed, the loss of Gross Domestic Product over 2018-2019 could reach 0.3 percent in each economy.

The latest actions risk putting the countries "on a slippery slope towards a trade war," they said.

But Trump's newly-installed economic adviser Larry Kudlow tried to downplay those concerns, saying the US is "not running a trade war."

"This is a just a proposed idea which will be vetted by" the US Trade Representative, Kudlow told reporters at the White House. "Nothing has been executed"

"We'll see. Hopefully this will have a very happy end," he added, noting China is to blame for the confrontation.
In US-China trade dispute, what is intellectual property?



Washington, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



At the heart of the escalation of US-China trade tensions is President Donald Trump's assertion of rampant "theft" of US intellectual property by China.

But what constitutes "intellectual property" in today's global economy?



- Joint ventures -



In order to sell goods in China, foreign companies must form joint ventures with local companies, which are usually state-owned in China.

That's the path General Motors took when it set up shop in China, where it now sells more automobiles than in the United States.

GM, the biggest US automaker, builds most of the cars sold in China in China itself and must share its know-how, or "intellectual property," with its local partner.

The situation is the same in other sectors, whether the aerospace, electronics or industrial machinery.

China has managed its interactions with foreign companies in this manner since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, even though such arrangements are not permitted.



- Costs and benefits -



A 2013 report by the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property said the prime goal of the independent panel was "changing the cost-benefit calculus for foreign entities that steal. American intellectual property."

The commission, led by former director of national intelligence Dennis Blair and former Intel chief executive Craig Barrett, updated its findings in March, labeling China "the world's largest source of intellectual property theft."

The commission's findings have formed the basis for Trump's threat to impose tariffs on $150 billion on Chinese goods.

The commission has estimated that theft of intellectual property costs the US economy between $225 billion and $600 billion annually.



- Blocking Chinese takeovers -



Questions about intellectual property are not isolated to US investments in China, but also pertain to Chinese ventures in the United States.

Chinese investments in the United States hit $29 billion in 2017, according to the US China Business Council, down 35 percent compared with 2016 due to limits set by Beijing on foreign investment, especially in housing and hospitality.

The US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency review committee, has taken an increasingly skeptical approach to attempted Chinese acquisitions of US companies.

In January, CFIUS blocked a $1.2 billion takeover of the money transfer company Moneygram by China's Ant Financial, which is owned by Alibaba.

The committee in September also stopped the acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor by Canyon Bridge Capital Partners, a group funded in part by the Chinese government.

More recently, CFIUS raised worries about the proposed hostile takeover of Qualcomm by rival semiconductor company Broadcom, which is based in Singapore but relies heavily on China for sales.

Some US lawmakers want to beef up CFIUS' role further. A proposal introduced in Congress in November would strengthen the committee's ability to block not just mergers, but also investment stakes by Chinese interests in US companies.
HARBOR VIEW:--- On Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018 the Secretary-General (SG) of the Social Economic Council (SER) Curacao, Mr. Raul Henriquez M.A., paid a courtesy visit to SER Sint Maarten.

SG Henriquez met with the Chairman of SER Sint Maarten, Mr. Ir. Damien Richardson, the SG of SER Sint Maarten, Mr. Gerard Richardson and with the staff members of the secretariat.

It was the first time since the inception of the SER Sint Maarten that the SER Curacao had a formal meeting between the Secretaries-General. SG Henriquez expressed his desire to reinforce and maintain a good working relationship between the SERs within the Kingdom of The Netherlands, mainly with those advisory councils in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.

SG Richardson thanked his colleague for the continued support mainly after the passing of hurricane Irma.

During a work visit of Mr. Henriquez to The Netherlands in September 2017, the SER Netherlands endorsed the need for closer cooperation between the Caribbean SERs and expressed its continued commitment to SER Sint Maarten.

With Mr. Henriquez visit, a first step was taken to further strengthen the working relationship between the secretariats of the SER Curacao and that of the SER Sint Maarten.

The SGs of SER Curacao and SER Sint Maarten have expressed the need:

- to jointly work on the institutional reinforcement of the advisory role that they fulfill;

- to continue and improve the working relationship with SER Netherlands

- to promote best practices, cooperation and exchange of data in order to learn from each other and strengthen each other.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The leaders of the United Democrats (UD) and St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) signed the agreement to form the next government of St. Maarten.

The agreement was signed close to midnight on Thursday at the SMCP headquarters on Back Street where parties met from early afternoon discussing the final agreement.

Despite talks with the other political parties such as the National Alliance and the United St. Maarten Party, the United Democrats could not come to an agreement to form the National Government as requested by Governor Eugene Holiday.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On March 9th, 2018 the Court in First Instance handled the injunction petition filed by 9 dismissed airport security workers. These workers were dismissed by the airport for the alleged looting of items from the Penha Store in October last year.

The workers through their Union demanded reinstatement but the airport maintained the dismissals even despite efforts through the Labor Department to have the matter settled. The workers were of the opinion that there was permission given and in any event, most of them still didn't take anything. There was no proof of their involvement even though the airport claimed to have proof from video footage. The airport has been discriminatory in its decision to maintain their dismissal as others who were involved were not dismissed or allowed back to work.

The workers were thus forced to engage the legal services of their Attorney

Shaira Bommel (Sulvaran and Peterson law firm) who together with Attorney Cindy Marica - Henderson (Mariflex Attorneys) filed an injunction against the airport based on the unlawfulness of the dismissals.

The salaries from the date of their dismissal of the workers were claimed.

The airport on the other hand through its lawyer Femke Jansen (Lexwell) submitted a so-called conditional request for dissolution of the Labor contracts of the workers in as far as the Court might declare the dismissals unlawful. The basis for those conditional dissolution requests is that the airport no longer trusted the workers.

The Attorneys of the workers successfully refuted these grounds as this again showed the discrimination at the airport, how could the airport lose trust in these workers and the others that were allowed not? Most of the dismissed workers have a clean slate and have been loyal workers for over 15 years. Some even have over 25 years of loyal and dedicated service.

There was absolutely no proof of the looting by the workers. The video footage didn't show anything. Even the ones shown during the handling of the cases didn't show anything. Moreover, the airport has withdrawn one of the dismissals after they reviewed the video footage and concluded that the worker involved was not in the video. Why did the airport not review all the other allegedly available footage the attorneys claimed?

Another fact showing the inappropriate manner in which the airport acted, is the fact that workers were not allowed to record the questioning by the head of security. There were no reports of the questioning of the workers and this no proof of what they stated, which remains for the airport's account.

The Court in its rulings of this morning agreed with the arguments of the workers' s lawyers and agreed that the dismissals could be deemed unlawful and justifiably nullified. The judge also questioned and disapproved the manner in which the so-called investigation took place into the accusations against the workers. It was evident that somewhere there was permission given to take the remaining damaged goods out of the store. This rumored and that's why a big group of workers went ahead and got items. The fact that the workers returned items and/or offered to return the items when they learned that there might not have been permission to take the items out of the store clearly shows that there was no intention to loot but merely some miscommunication.

The judge agreed with the workers that the airport acted at will and didn't treat The involved workers equally. The workers have a very long work relationship and have dedicated their years to the airport and as such have a justified interest in maintaining their jobs.

The Court awarded the workers their salaries from November 2017 increased with legal interests and late payment increase of 10%. The salaries must be paid until the date the labor agreement is legally dissolved.

The conditional dissolution requests of the airport were denied. The Court condemned the manner in which the airport handled their investigation. There is no urgent reason for a dissolution nor has the airport successfully proven that they had justified reasons for losing trust in the workers. The Court also took into account the long duration of the Labor agreements of the workers.

The airport must pay the legal fees of the Attorneys of the workers up to the tune of Nafl 1000 in each of the cases.

The workers are extremely happy that justice has been served and are looking forward to returning back to work.

Click here to view the Court's verdict.
POND ISLAND:--- Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Cornelius de Weever, says for those seeking employment opportunities during these challenging times, should visit the Divi Little Bay Beach Resort Job Fair on Saturday, April 7.

Hosts of positions are open: Accounting Clerk, Guest Service/Front Desk Agents, Front Desk Supervisors, General maintenance, Servers, F&B Supervisors, Barista, Hostess, Housekeeping Coordinator, Room attendants, Laundry attendants and supervisors, and Houseman/Driver.

The Job Fair will take place at Divi Little Bay Reception Area from 9.00am to 12.00pm on Saturday.

Divi Little Bay Beach Resort is planning to partially reopen the property on May 1st.

The re-opening of yet another resort in the country is great news for our economy. It sends a strong message to industry stakeholders such as airlines and travelers that we are open for business. Additional hotel rooms mean more airlift for the country, more stay-over visitors, and cheaper airfares.

We are slowly getting there, but it will take some time before our country is back to pre-Irma economic levels. I take this opportunity to commend Divi Little Bay Beach Resort owners and management for being steadfast and committed in their redevelopment and re-opening of the property.

This opportunity at the same time creates employment opportunities for the many who are jobless. Providing quality hospitality services to our visitors is essential and is what makes destination Sint Maarten standout from among the rest. We must live up to the Friendly Island expectation and continue to provide that memorable destination experience.

I would like to use this opportunity to call on the other resorts that are closed, to fast-track their planning where rebuilding is concerned so our country can be back on track quicker, better and stronger.

The rebuilding, renovations and renewal process of hotel properties will benefit the overall image of the country as a tourists destination in the long-run. Some properties within our hotel stock needed to be renovated and now is the time to do so.

At the same time, the most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean/Caribbean last September also proved that we need to have infrastructure that can now withstand what is now the new normal, Category 5+.

Building back our infrastructure better and stronger are the buzz words for the foreseeable future, Minister Cornelius de Weever said on Thursday.
Twenty-one prisoners have had their applications for parole granted.

The decision was made last week.

This was confirmed by the C.E.O. of the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Papalii John Taimalelagi.

A total of 42 parole applications were entertained by the Parole Board, 21 prisoners have been granted parole, 20 applications were deferred and one eligible prisoner opted to serve out the remainder of his jail term.

Those released comprised 18 men and 3 women.

He said those who were paroled included people who were convicted of manslaughter, rape, robbery, burglary, sexual connection, assault, carnal knowledge, theft as a servant, attempted murder causing serious injuries and possession of narcotics and robbery.

Papalii confirmed that convicted murderer prisoner Tagaloasa Filipaina was also supposed to have been paroled.

However his application was removed pending an investigation by the Police.

His application has been deferred for August 2018.

Papalii told the Samoa Observer that Mohammad Saifal, 24, of Bangladesh and Nicolas Gianno, 37, of Greece have been granted parole and they will be deported.

This is in accordance with immigration laws, they must be granted parole in order for immigration to work on deporting them back to their country, said Papalii.

Last week, C.E.O. of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Agafili Shem Leo, was asked for an explanation after the Samoa Observer obtained a letter he wrote to the Parole Board. In his letter he highlighted concerns about the immigration status of one Mohammad Saifal, 24, of Bangladesh and Nicolas Gianno, 37, of Greece.

Saifal entered Samoa on a resident permit for employment issued on January 1, 2015, to work in Samoa as a sewing machine operator for Landlord Appeals (Samoa-Bangladesh) Ltd, the letter reads.

The work permit expired on May 8, 2016. He committed an indecent act on a 14-year-old girl and was sentenced on January 25, 2016 and to date he remains in jail without a valid permit.

Regarding Gianno, he came to Samoa as a visitor and stayed with his fiancee at Leulumoega. He was supposed to depart Samoa; however he was refused departure because of an order issued by the Court. To date he is in Samoa without a valid permit.

Agafili explained there is an immigration process in place regarding the two individuals who have been convicted and are currently serving term in prison.

In these cases, the Samoa Immigration work collaboratively with the Prisons Parole Board when considering granting of deportation orders as required under the Immigration Act.

This is to make sure that the authority of the Court that imposed the sentence is respectfully upheld.

What that means is that if the Parole Board decides to grant these individuals parole, we will immediately issue them deportation orders.

The C.E.O. told the Samoa Observer they have worked closely with organisational partners to facilitate deportation of these foreign nationals.

In terms of overstayers, those who are captured on our Border Management System (B.M.S.) are dual citizens who have foreign passports but were born in Samoa.

We have been tracking them on the B.M.S. and follow up on their locations and remove them from the system when they leave the country.

Many of them have overstayed the 60 days (now 90 days) required for entry permit.

For foreign nationals who have been issued permits to reside and work in Samoa, the Samoa Immigration continues to follow up with their sponsors on the conditions of their permits particularly when the permits are about to expire.

There are also spot checks that the Ministry conducts from time to time on the individuals' residences and work places as required under the Immigration Act.

The sponsors and the foreign nationals are informed by the immigration by letter on the conditions of their permits, and many have reapplied for extension.

Those found to have breached the conditions of their permits have been issued deportation orders and removed from the country.

The sponsors are required to pay for their return tickets. We have been doing that until to date.
Prince Charles backs 'blue economy' to save Barrier Reef



Sydney, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



Prince Charles has called for a "blue economy" to promote the sustainable use of ocean resources and save Australia's Great Barrier Reef, as he visits the World Heritage-listed ecosystem Friday.

The 2,300-kilometre (1,429-mile) long biodiverse site off the Queensland state coast is reeling from significant coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

The world's largest living structure is also under pressure from farming runoff, development and predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, with experts warning it could be suffering irreparable damage.

Britain's heir to the throne, who is passionate about the environment and promoting sustainability, said society was "truly at a crossroads" in its ability to protect the world's reefs.

"This will need to be a central aspect of the rapidly emerging concept of a sustainable 'blue economy', through which sustainable economic development is achieved via the wise use of ocean resources," he told the Australian Financial Review in a rare interview.

"Within the blue economy it would be helpful to think of coral reef ecosystems as natural capital assets, assets that require the kind of prudent and wise management that will yield dividends long into the future."

The prince said investment in projects promoting coral reef health and their resilience against global and ocean warming were needed.

But he admitted it was "no simple matter" and would require widespread support including from the private sector.

Prince Charles is visiting Lady Elliot Island, a coral cay at the southern tip of the Barrier Reef, for a roundtable discussion with business leaders on the role they can play in conservation.

His visit has prompted Aus$10 million (US$7.7 million) in donations for conservation efforts, with Australian property giant Lendlease donating Aus$5 million and Canberra matching the amount.

Other companies involved in the roundtable include mining giant BHP, airline Qantas, aerospace titan Boeing and the Walt Disney Company.

Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish.

Prince Charles added in the interview that it was crucially important that world transitions to a low-carbon economy "which more closely mirrors nature's own economy where nothing is wasted".

"Whatever the case, we must act before it is to late," he said.

grk/mp/ceb

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US to update Saudi artillery for $1.31 billion



Washington, April 5 (AFP) Apr 05, 2018



The United States on Thursday approved a contract to sell Saudi Arabia 180 self-propelled artillery systems for $1.31 billion, in the latest stage of perhaps the world's biggest arms deal.

When US President Donald Trump visited Riyadh last year he boasted that the desert kingdom would spend $110 billion on US equipment and the howitzer contract is one more step towards that goal.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is coming to the end of a three-week US tour that has been dotted with similar signs of his close ties with Trump's Washington.

Saudi Arabia has led a large-scale but so far unsuccessful Arab intervention in Yemen's civil war and has imposed a diplomatic and trade embargo on a fellow US ally in the Gulf, Qatar.

Recently, the crown prince detained Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri and tried to force him to resign.

Nevertheless, in announcing the weapons package, the US State Department described the kingdom as "a leading contributor of political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."

According to the statement, the latest deal will see Saudi Arabia buy 180 M109A5/A6 medium self-propelled howitzers and equipment to convert these into the M109A6 Paladin artillery system.

Separately, the US also approved a $2.5 billion deal to sell NATO ally Germany four MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drones.
Ghana will not offer military base to US: president



Accra, April 5 (AFP) Apr 05, 2018



Ghana will not sign an agreement with Washington to set up a military base, President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Thursday.

The president confirmed in a television address that the two countries would ink a defence cooperation agreement, but was emphatic that "Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States of America".

His comments come after hundreds of people took to the streets of Accra, Ghana's capital, last Wednesday to protest against a controversial military deal with Washington which was passed by parliament last week.

The protesters have served notice they will take the demonstration to other parts of the country if the president signs the deal.

Critics say the agreement undermines the country's sovereignty.

Ghana and the US are working to forge closer ties between their armed forces but both have denied rumours that Washington is planning to set up military bases in the West African nation.

"The United States of America has not made any request for such consideration and, consistent with our established foreign policy, we will not consider any such request," he said.

"I will never be the president that will compromise or sell the sovereignty of our country. I respect deeply the memory of the great patriots whose sacrifice and toil brought about our independence and freedom," Akufo-Addo assured Ghanaians.

According to the president, who said he was outraged by the position of the main opposition National Democratic Congress, the agreement will benefit not only Ghana, but the West African sub-region.

"In consideration of the realities of our circumstances and the challenges to peace in our region in our time, we have deemed it prudent to continue the Co-operation Agreement with the United States of America.

"It will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region," Akufo-Addo added.

In the past decade, the United States has expanded its military presence in Africa, ostensibly to stop the spread of Islamist extremism by groups such as Islamic State, Boko Haram and Al Shabab on the continent.

Ghana, a major producer of gold and cocoa, prides itself as being a beacon of stability in a region blighted by coups, dictators and corruption.
'Threats, disrespect' unjustified, Mexican president tells Trump



Mexico City, April 5 (AFP) Apr 05, 2018



Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto lashed out at his US counterpart Donald Trump on Thursday amid growing tensions over migration and border security, saying "threatening or disrespectful attitudes" were unjustified.

Speaking after Trump ordered National Guard troops to secure the US-Mexican border, Pena Nieto vowed Mexico would stand up for itself and suggested the American president was jeopardizing the two countries' relationship for domestic political gain.

"If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn, not to Mexicans. We will not allow negative rhetoric to define our actions," he said in a national address.

US-Mexican ties have been strained since Trump won office on the back of a campaign heavy on anti-Mexican rhetoric.

Pena Nieto has twice canceled plans to visit Washington after tense phone calls with Trump in which the Republican president refused to back down from his insistence that Mexico pay for his planned border wall.

Trump's latest attacks on Mexico were triggered by news reports on a caravan of Central American migrants crossing the country toward the United States.

The caravan, which numbered more than 1,000 Hondurans, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans, began breaking up Thursday, after the activists organizing it said it had abandoned its goal of reaching the US border and would end its activities with a rally in Mexico City.

The decision came after four straight days of Twitter diatribes from Trump.

The US president ordered thousands of National Guardsmen to secure the border and threatened to ax what he called Mexico's "cash cow," the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), if the Mexican authorities did not stop the migrants.

The ongoing talks on modernizing NAFTA have also strained ties between the two countries, as well as Canada, the third member of the agreement -- though the three countries have recently indicated they are close to reaching a new deal.

"We are convinced that, by coming to agreements as friends, partners and good neighbors, both countries will fare better than if we confront each other," Pena Nieto said.

"We stand ready to negotiate, certainly, but always based on mutual respect."
Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003



Baghdad, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



US-led forces invaded Saddam Hussein's Iraq 15 years ago after claims it was harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

While his regime fell in just three weeks on April 9, 2003, the country was plunged into a grave crisis that included the emergence of the Islamic State group.

Here is a timeline of major events since the invasion.



- 2003: fall of Saddam -



The US-led invasion is launched with dawn air strikes on March 20 and announced to the world soon afterwards by US president George W. Bush in a televised address.

As international forces race across the desert of southern Iraq towards the capital, Saddam flees.

By April 9 US forces have taken control of Baghdad, where a large statue of Saddam is symbolically toppled.

Bush announces the end of major combat operations on May 1 aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier returning from the Gulf, a banner that reads "Mission Accomplished" behind him.

By October Washington admits, however, that it has found no weapons of mass destruction.

Saddam is captured in December after nine months on the run. He is dragged bearded and dishevelled out of a small underground hideout and hanged three years later.



- 2004-2011: transfer of power -



The US-led administration officially hands political power back to Iraq in June 2004 and in January the following year, it votes in its first multi-party election in half a century, a poll boycotted by Sunni Muslims.

A 2005 constitution enshrines autonomy for the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region in the north.

The broadcast in April 2004 of images of torture and other abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib US military prison shocks the world.

In February 2006 Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists blow up one of the country's main Shiite shrines, in Samarra, sparking a wave of sectarian killings which leaves tens of thousands dead and lasts until 2008.

International forces start scaling down with the last US troops departing on December 18, 2011, ending a nine-year occupation and leaving behind a country mired in political crisis.

More than 100,000 civilians were killed between 2003 and 2011, according to Iraq Body Count database. The United States lost nearly 4,500 troops.



- 2014: Islamic State emerges -



The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launches a lightning offensive, benefitting from the support of Saddam loyalists and the weakness of the new Iraqi security forces.

In January 2014 ISIL and its allies capture the city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi. In June they seize second city Mosul and Sunni Arab areas bordering the Kurdistan region. Tens of thousands of Christians and Yazidis flee.

The group declares a caliphate across the territory it has seized in Iraq and Syria, and rebrands itself the Islamic State (IS).

By the end of 2014, it holds one-third of oil-rich Iraq.



- The fightback -



Following an appeal for help from the Iraqi government, US warplanes strike IS positions in northern Iraq in August 2014 and then form an international anti-IS coalition.

In March 2015 Iraq announces the "liberation" of Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, after nearly 10 months under IS rule. Ramadi and Fallujah are freed in 2016.

After a nine-month battle backed by US air power, Mosul is retaken in ruins in July 2017.

In December Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declares the "end of the war" against the IS group.



- 2017: Kurdistan, a new crisis -



A referendum on independence is held in Iraqi Kurdistan in September 2017 in defiance of a furious Baghdad, even more put out when 93 percent of voters back independence.

The non-binding vote is ruled unconstitutional by Iraq's top court and in mid-October Baghdad sends in troops to seize disputed oil-rich regions that Iraqi Kurdistan had controlled.
Symbolic destruction: bringing down the statues



Paris, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



Pulling down statues of political leaders, such as that of Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi capital 15 years ago, is a symbolic act with many precedents around the world.

When the giant effigy of Saddam was wrenched off its plinth on April 9, 2003 with the help of US Marines, it was confirmation for the jubilant onlookers thar his nearly 24-year rule had also come crashing down.

Here are some emblematic examples of the toppling of statues of other strongmen and figures around the world.



- Napoleon felled -



In 1871, the revolutionary Paris Commune movement brought down a huge bronze of Napoleon I statue that stood atop a column more than 40 metres (130 feet) high in the central Place Vendome.

The "Communards" were leading an uprising following Napoleon III's humiliating defeat against Prussia the previous year.

Celebrated painter Gustave Courbet was jailed for six months for organising the venture and made to pay for a new statue, erected in 1873.



- Soviet icons toppled -



The dismantling of the Soviet bloc, the USSR, saw many of its leaders knocked from their pedestals.

In November 1989, youths in Warsaw applauded when a statue of Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky was taken down. As a crane lifted the piece, the lower part fell and shattered, the chunks carried off as souvenirs of the fall of communism.

Another of Dzerzhinsky, whose service was the precursor of the feared KGB, was brought down in Moscow in August 1991 after a failed coup against president Mikhail Gorbachev and his democratisation policy.

Thousands cheered and chanted "Down with the KGB" as heavy-duty cranes got to work.

It took workers nearly three days in March 1990 to fell a 12-tonne bronze of revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in a Bucharest square, as Romanians sought the removal of symbols of Soviet domination.

Dozens of masked protesters tore down another representation of Lenin in the Ukraine capital in December 2013 at the start of a massive uprising that eventually toppled the Moscow-backed government of president Viktor Yanukovych.

They put a noose round the neck and some screamed "Hang the Commie!".

Georgia however waited nearly 20 years after its secession from the Soviet Union to dismantle a statue of Joseph Stalin in the dictator's birth town of Gori. The 2010 removal was carried out in a clandestine night-time operation. But it was re-installed three years later.



- Syria's Arab Spring -



Anti-regime protests gathered momentum in March 2011 in the Syrian city of Daraa, where a statue of President Bashar al-Assad's father was toppled, marking the launch of the uprising that turned into full-out conflict.

About 300 young people climbed over the effigy of former strongman Hafez al-Assad, chanting anti-regime slogans.

In March 2018, also in Syria, Turkey-backed fighters who captured Afrin from the Kurds stamped their authority by toppling a statue of a lesser-known symbol, Kawa the blacksmith, a Kurdish hero and symbol of resistance.



- Symbols of slavery -



In the United States, demonstrators took matters into their own hands in August 2017 and toppled a statue of a Confederate soldier -- symbol of the defence of slavery during the Civil War of 1861-1865 -- in Durham, North Carolina.

This was in response to the killing two days earlier of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia, by a neo-Nazi during a protest over the planned removal of a statue of top Civil War general for the south, Robert E. Lee.
Five ways Iraq has changed since fall of Saddam



Baghdad, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



On April 9, 2003, the US-led coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein. Fifteen years after the invasion, life in Iraq has been transformed.

Here is an overview of what has changed in Iraq's economy, politics, diplomacy, demographics and the Kurdish question.



- Embargo over -



The fall of Saddam's regime effectively ended a 12-year embargo imposed by the United Nations on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Iraq's 34 million people are back in the international trade arena, although nearly eight million residents still live on less than $2.2 (1.8 euro) a day, according to the UN.

With 153 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, Iraq is the second largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

And with a barrel of oil now valued at triple its price in 2003, Iraq's GDP has increased from $29 billion in 2001 to $171 billion in 2016.

But the country has failed to diversify its economy, and the government still draws 99 percent of its revenue from the oil sector.

Since 2003, the oil sector has generated more than $800 billion in revenue, but corruption has cost the country $312 billion, according to the Injah Centre for Economic Development.



- Baath Party gone -



The Baath Party -- single, omnipresent and all-powerful -- has disappeared.

In elections over the past 15 years, Saddam's secular party has given way to a myriad of political forces, many dominated by religious or tribal leaders.

A tacit system of proportional representation reserves top government posts for Iraq's different communities, with Shiites -- two thirds of the population -- previously overshadowed by Saddam's Sunni minority, now dominating political and military institutions.



- Between Saudi and Iran -



Saddam fought Iran for eight years. But today, Iraq's powerful neighbour to the east is allied with many of Iraq's political parties and supports a host of armed factions.

Saudi Arabia, a majority Sunni country and Iran's biggest rival, is attempting to return to Iraq after a decades-old quarrel that began with Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.

Relations between Baghdad and Riyadh have warmed recently with several official visits.

Caught between Saudi and Iran, and neighbours with Turkey and war-torn Syria, Iraq has regularly pleaded not to be used as a battleground in any proxy war.

Relations with the United States have also evolved over the past 15 years. The Americans have alternately been seen as liberators, occupiers, enemies or allies.

Anti-jihadist coalition troops led by the US have worked in cooperation with Iraqi forces against the Islamic State (IS) group since 2014.



- Rise of Shiites -



Once estimated at one million people, including 600,000 in Baghdad, Iraq's Christian community -- which includes Chaldeans, Assyrians, Armenians and Syriacs (Catholics and Orthodox) -- now has only 350,000 members.

Long denied freedom of movement at their holy sites, Shiites -- from Iraq and around the world -- now converge every year for massive holiday gatherings at shrines in Karbala, Najaf, Samarra and Baghdad.

The opinions of the country's highest Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, carry great weight.

It was Sistani who mobilised tens of thousands of men to join paramilitary units of the Hashed al-Shaabi, which played a crucial role in defeating IS.



- The Kurdish question -



Heavily repressed during Saddam's rule, the Kurds ensured that the constitution drafted in the wake of the US invasion expanded their autonomy in the country's north.

They have since gained territory and prerogatives.

But the 2005 constitution left many questions unanswered and negotiations that followed never came to fruition.

In September 2017, Arbil, the autonomous region's capital, held an independence referendum, despite strong objections from the central government.

The "yes" vote overwhelmingly won, but the fallout split the Kurdish camp and triggered a stern response from Baghdad, which deployed troops and retook disputed areas.

Baghdad nipped the autonomous region's project of a viable economic state in the bud, retaking oil fields that had been seized by Kurdish fighters in battles against IS.
One dead in Italian navy helicopter crash



Rome, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



An Italian Navy helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean during a night-time training exercise, killing one, the navy said on Friday.

Andrea Fazio, an experienced flight operator based in Catania, Sicily, died after the helicopter crashed into the sea and flipped onto its side as it prepared to land on a patrol boat, the navy said in a statement.

Divers rushed to pull Fazio from the chopper but were unable to revive him. The four other crew members aboard the helicopter escaped without major injuries.

The patrol boat was part of the "Mare Sicuro" (Secure Sea) navy operation in the central Mediterranean.

It was launched in March 2015 to protect oil rigs and fishing boats from ruthless Libyan militias, as well as to combat people trafficking.

The navy has also rescued thousands of migrants during its operations, either by taking them on board or by assisting other rescue ships.

Their onboard helicopters often carry out emergency medical evacuation operations.
Spanish king hosts Saudi crown prince next week



Madrid, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



Saudi Arabia's crown prince meets the Spanish king in Madrid on Thursday, the royal palace said, as he continues his global diplomatic charm offensive in a bid to project a new liberal image of his conservative kingdom.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman's trip to Spain will come hot on the heels of a two-day official visit to France and after a tour lasting several weeks of the United States, Britain and Egypt, where the self-styled moderniser signed multimillion-dollar deals.

According to Spain's El Pais daily, he is due to sign a contract to buy five warships from Spain for two billion euros ($2.4 billion), as well as other bilateral agreements.

Rights groups have denounced the planned sale -- which has been under negotiation for two years -- saying the corvettes could be used in Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians.

Spain and Saudi Arabia's royal families are very close due to King Felipe VI's father Juan Carlos, who was a close friend of the kingdom's late King Fahd, who reigned from 1982 to 2005, and is close to his brother King Salman.

Juan Carlos was credited with playing a decisive role in 2011 in helping a Spanish consortium win a contract worth 6.7 billion euros ($8.2 billion) to build a high-speed railway linking the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

According to El Pais, Juan Carlos spent "a few days of rest" in Saudi Arabia just before Easter.

Felipe VI, meanwhile, paid an official visit there in January 2017.

Spain is currently the seventh largest arms exporter in the world.
India defence website 'hacked', 3 other govt websites down



New Delhi, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



India's defence minister said the department website was hacked on Friday, with the web portals of at least three other government departments including the interior, law and labour ministries also appearing to be down.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed the attack, but India's cybersecurity czar denied hacking had taken place, saying a "hardware problem" was to blame.

"Action is initiated after the hacking of the MoD (ministry of defence) website. The website shall be restored shortly," Sitharaman said on Twitter.

"Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken," she added.

The defence ministry website was the first to be affected, with its homepage replaced by a screen showing a chinese character that means "zen".

Soon, other major departments' websites were either "unreachable" or "not found".

The Ministry of Home Affairs website's main page said that the site was offline "due to technical problems".

Gulshan Rai, the national cybersecurity coordinator, contradicted Sitharaman.

"There is no hacking of any nature anywhere in the Defence Ministry website. There is a hardware problem due to which the website is down. It will be up shortly," Rai told the local NDTV news network.

"Due to malfunctioning of storage network system, websites of few ministries (are) down and will be up soon," he added.
Air strikes return to Syria's Ghouta killing 32 as talks sputter



Beirut, April 6 (AFP) Apr 06, 2018



Air strikes killed 32 civilians in the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta on Friday and the army launched a ground offensive on its outskirts after talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal.

Backed by Russia, Syrian troops had captured nearly all of the one-time opposition stronghold of Ghouta with a combination of ferocious bombing raids and negotiated withdrawals.

All that remained was its largest town of Douma, held by the Jaish al-Islam Islamist faction and home to tens of thousands of people.

Moscow announced a deal with Jaish al-Islam last Sunday, ushering in three consecutive days of evacuations from Douma that saw nearly 3,000 fighters and civilians bussed to northern Syria.

But the evacuations stalled this week amid reports Jaish al-Islam remained divided over a withdrawal, and heavy bombing hit Douma on Friday afternoon for the first time in around 10 days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of air strikes hit various parts of Douma, including some suspected to have been carried out by Russian warplanes.

"At least 32 civilians died, including seven children," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, adding that around 50 people were wounded.

On Douma's outskirts, Syria's army entered fields surrounding the town, state news agency SANA said.

Regime forces were locked in violent clashes with Jaish al-Islam rebels in agricultural areas to the southwest and east of the town, the Observatory said.



- Dentists operating -



A medic inside Douma described to AFP chaos at the local hospital as wounded and dead were brought in.

"The hospital is in a state of panic," the medic said.

"Dentists are carrying out emergency surgeries. Dead bodies are being brought in pieces and are unrecognisable."

A doctor inside the town said state television was broadcasting the bombardment live.

"It feels like we're back in the days of the Gaza war" when Israel was bombing the Palestinian enclave and people around the world watched, he said, giving his name only as Mohammed.

State news agency SANA said Syrian air strikes hit the town on Friday in response to deadly rebel mortar fire from Douma.

It said mortar shells hit several suburbs of the capital and killed at four people and wounded more than a dozen.

But Jaish al-Islam spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar in a statement late Friday denied that the group had targeted any Damascus neighbourhood.

The regime and its ally Russia launched a blistering air and ground offensive on Eastern Ghouta in mid-February, killing more than 1,600 civilians and causing an international outcry.

The enclave on the eastern edge of Damascus had escaped government control since 2012 and, although it had shrunk over the years, it still covered sizeable territory two months ago.

The daily air raids kept residents cowering in basements for weeks and a ground assault soon sliced the area into three isolated pockets, each held by different rebel factions.



- Deal dead? -



The first two were evacuated under Russian-brokered deals last month that saw more than 46,000 rebels and civilians bussed to the northwestern province of Idlib, which the regime does not control.

Tens of thousands of people also fled through humanitarian corridors opened by Russia and Syrian troops.

Some have already returned to their devastated neighbourhoods, while others are staying in crowded shelters.

As talks over the third and final pocket of Douma dragged on, Russia and Syria's regime threatened Jaish al-Islam with a renewed military assault if they did not agree to withdraw.

Those still trapped in Douma had been nervous that any attempt to renege on an evacuation would only prompt Russia and regime warplanes to resume deadly strikes.

The nature of the ongoing discussions over Douma is unclear and Jaish al-Islam itself has not stated its position since this week's first evacuation.

It remains unclear exactly why the talks between Moscow and Jaish al-Islam have faltered.

SANA reported that they fell apart when rebels refused to release detainees they were holding in Douma, and said Friday that "military operations against Jaish al-Islam will not stop until the hostages are released."

Jaish al-Islam had been angling for a reconciliation deal that would allow them to stay in Douma as a police force.

The group appears to have little leverage, however, to face the regime's recovered might, and the latest strikes raised fears of a brutal end to the five-year-old siege of Eastern Ghouta.
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Opinion German Court Made Right Decision in Releasing Puigdemont

A German court ruled Thursday to temporarily release Catalonian separatist leader Carles Puigdemont. The case is still under review, but the judges have lifted the most serious charge the former leader faced. It was the correct decision.
Algiers, April 06, 2018 (SPS) - Algeria expressed "satisfaction" with the willingness of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, renewed in his report to the Security Council to prelaunch the talks process and facilitate direct negotiations, in " in good faith, and without preconditions" between the conflicting parties, Morocco and Frente POLISARIO, in order to reach just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution, which guarantees self-determination of the Sahrawi people, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdelaziz Benali Cherif said in a statement to APS.

"It (Algeria) also expressed concern over the serious violations of human rights, including the use of torture against Sahrawis in occupied Western Sahara, as well as the restrictions imposed on the access of foreign journalists and human rights defenders to Western Sahara territory, as reported by the UN Secretary-General in the same report, "said Benali Cherif.

In this regard, "Algeria shares the UN Chief opinion that the independent, impartial, comprehensive and lasting monitoring of Human Rights is a necessity in order to protection the Sahrawis," he said.

In the same regard, added the Spokesman, Algeria expresses "concern over Moroccos refusal, also mentioned in the Secretary-General report, to allow the African Union Mission (AU) to return to Aaiun and resume its collaboration with Minurso. The 30th Ordinary Session of the AU Heads of State and Government, held on 28 and 29 January 2018 in Addis Ababa, had urged Morocco to allow this Mission to return to Aaiun."

Moreover, Algeria regrets "the persistence of restrictions and other obstacles imposed by Morocco to the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) which, as reported by UN Secretary-General, undermine Minurso impartiality and are contrary to the Agreement of principle concluded with the Moroccan Government in 2015," he added.

"Algeria will continue to support resolutely and to accompany in good faith the efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy Horst Kohler, aimed at achieving a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, based on the exercise by Western Sahara people of their inalienable right to self-determination, in accordance with the UN doctrine and practice on decolonization and international legality, "he concluded.SPS

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Paris, April 06, 2018 (SPS) - The lives of the five Sahrawi prisoners, on the 27th day of unlimited hunger strike in Moroccan prisons, "are in danger," warned the Association of Friends of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (AA-RASD), urging Morocco to abide by the international humanitarian law.

"Five Sahrawi political prisoners are on unlimited hunger strike in Moroccan jails since 27 days to demand the respect for their human rights; It is urgent to support them," said the French association.

These hunger strikers are demanding, among others, their transfer to prisons near their families in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and denounced ill-treatments and lack of medical care in Moroccan prisons, added the association.

On 12 February, two of Gdeim Izik prisoners' lawyers, Ingrid Metton and Olfa Ouled, were expelled from Morocco and prevented from visiting the Sahrawi prisoners, who are scattered in the prisons of Kenitra, Tiflet, Aarjate, Casablanca, Ait Melloul and Bouizakarne, often over 1,000 kilometres away from their places of residence, recalled the association.SPS

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According to Hugh Taylor, chief executive of independent power consultant Roadnight Taylor, each year National Grid holds an auction to award long-term contracts for the provision of reliable capacity. And to qualify for that auction, developers must submit sites for prequalification by a certain date  usually late August or September. It is yet to be announced exactly when the 2018 deadline will be, but as the competition is only annual, developers are keen to get any new projects included, says Mr Taylor.

However, to apply developers must have secured exclusive rights with the landowner and have accepted a connection offer from the network operator. It takes up to 65 working days  or three months  for network operators to produce an offer for grid connection, explains Mr Taylor. It then usually takes another month for landowners to reach heads of terms with a developer, so anyone with a suitable site should be looking to have their application submitted to the network operator as soon as possible  April or May at the very latest.

To identify whether their site is suitable, its vital to take professional advice, he warns. Its not just down to planning credentials or proximity to overhead lines. And with network operators now bringing in up-front fees, its vital to get your application right to maximise your chances of success at minimal cost.
After last years wet autumn, farmers were unable to reseed leys, and many acres of grassland have been badly damaged by poaching and the poor weather since, explains David Rhodes, technical manager at DLF. This could create a serious shortage of forage acres during 2018.

With the continued wet spring, many farmers are now using more of their forage stocks or buying in extra fodder to make up the shortfall. And turnout is likely to be particularly late, he adds. According to AHDBs weekly update, grass was growing at an average rate of 13.9kg dry matter per hectare/day at the end of March  that compares to 41.2kg at the same time last year.

The weather damaged leys will not provide the yield or quantity of silage needed in the coming season, warns John Harris, south west adviser at Oliver Seeds. The prolonged winter housing period coupled with the late spring - and the resulting lower yield potential from late sown spring crops - will put pressure on this years ability to fill the clamp. In addition, extra nitrogen wont help these damaged swards yield.

Several strategies can be employed to ensure both successful establishment and production in the year of sowing and help farmers get back to good productive swards.

Under-sowing a whole-crop cereal or arable silage with grass is one choice, which provides a potentially high yield of protein and starch in as little as 14 weeks with the established grass to use thereafter, says Mr Rhodes. However, it does usually involve two passes with the drill.

For those who prefer to stick with grass, Westerwolds ryegrass is a straightforward and highly effective way of producing bulk in the year of sowing. Its also the only grass to form a stem in year one; all other species remain leafy in their maiden season, so that may help those making hay or haylage.
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
As we have since July 2006, each Friday well post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 573rd in the series.

1) On the heels of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announcing its intent to seek comments about reconsidering existing regulations of premium cigars, the cigar industry is now seeking to eliminate FDA warning label requirements, which are scheduled to go in effect on August 10. The Cigar Association of America, Cigar Rights of America, and International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association have asked U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta (pictured at right) to delay the new warning label rules while the FDA reconsiders its position. The trade groups are hopeful Judge Mehta will be consistent with his statement from December hearings in this case when he said, I guess I just have a real problem, it seems to me, with a government agency telling an entire industry [to] spend millions of dollars to satisfy a regulation that were not sure is going to be on the books a year from now or two years from now. At issue are larger warning labels on cigar boxes, and rules about where these labels would need to be placed. As we wrote last week, simply considering a premium cigar exemption, of course, doesnt guarantee that the FDA will ultimately adopt one. The FDA notably considered and rejected such an exemption in its original regulation of cigars. However, the willingness of the new FDA leadership to spend time and resources considering rolling back its regulations is a good sign for those who make, sell, and enjoy cigars.

2) Cigar consumers and retailers in New York can breathe a sigh of relief. The final version of Gov. Andrew Cuomos 2019 budget does not include a proposed cigar tax hike. While the original version of the budget did not raise the tax percentage of cigars, which is currently 75 percent of the wholesale price, it removed an industry standard adjustment ratio clause that allows retailers to charge a much lower rate of 28.5 percent, reports Cigar Aficionado. The section of the original 20182019 Executive Budget proposal that pertained to wholesale tobacco prices was intentionally omitted from a subsequent version published on March 13 and did not reappear in what would become the final version

3) Kentucky recently passed HB400, a law which, for the first time, and in certain circumstances, allows the states famous bourbon distilleries, along with state wineries, to ship bourbon directly to consumers outside the state. The law allows those who visit the states distilleries in person to ship whiskey to their home state, depending on their local laws.

4) Inside the Industry: RoMa Craft is restarting production of Neanderthal following a shortage of adequately aged Mexican San Andres Ligero Capa. According to RoMa Crafts Skip Martin, current back-orders of the line will begin being filled in late 2018.

5) From the Archives: Rarely are there new types of cigar tobacco, but Fuma Em Corda is one. As Ernest Gocaj of General Cigar explained in an interview last year: Once the tobacco turns brown, the natives make it into a rope and twist it regularly to expel the juices of the tobacco. At this time, ammonia is released and the flavor is softened. In other words, the harshness is removed from the leaf. Everything is done in sunlight. The tobacco becomes very pure and refined through this method.

6) Deal of the Week: Here are over 80 deals, including cigars from Ashton, Oliva, Tatuaje, Rocky Patel, Padron, Drew Estate, Davidoff, Cohiba, Crowned Heads, RoMa Craft, and more. Free shipping is included on any purchase. If you really want to stock up, add promo code GBP20D at checkout to knock $20 off an order of $150 or more.

The Stogie Guys

photo credit: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Tue., Sept. 28, 8 p.m.

UIS Performing Arts Center One University Plaza, Springfield Lake Springfield Area

Theater & Comedy

Welcome to Margaritaville, where people come to get away from it alland stay to find something they never expected. With a book by Emmy Award winner Greg Garcia (My Name is Earl, Raising Hope) and Emmy Award nominee Mike OMalley (Survivors Remorse, Shameless) Escape to Margaritaville is the musical comedy featuring both original songs and your most-loved Jimmy Buffett classics, including Fins, Volcano, Cheeseburger in Paradise and many more. USA Today calls it "A little slice of paradise!" and Entertainment Weekly raves, "It will knock your flip-flops off!" So don't let the party start without you. 217-206-6160
April is Autism Awareness month and that is being marked in Gibraltar in a number of ways. The aim is not only to raise awareness but also to provide support to families of people who are on the autism spectrum.

Firstly, from last Friday, 30 March, to World Autism Day on Monday 2 April, Gibraltar's iconic Moorish Castle was lit with the colourful puzzle piece which is the international symbol for autism.

The Ministry of Equality, which works on strategies to assist people with autism and other learning disabilities throughout the year, has also organised a series of Understanding Autism lectures to help parents with autistic children, beginning with an information seminar on managing behaviour.

As part of the Ministry's 'Equality Means Business' strategy, it has been developing closer collaboration with Leisure Cinemas, who already provide inclusive equipment for the hearing and visually impaired. They have now launched a programme of sensory screenings to accommodate people on the autism spectrum.

Gibraltar's Minister for Equality, Samantha Sacramento, said this week that she was delighted with progress regarding equality for disabled people, including those with autism.

I am very fortunate to work closely with a team of professionals who are committed to developing policies and strategies to promote inclusion of people with disabilities. In addition, and in large measure as a result of our awareness-raising campaigns and the range of information training that we are providing, these developments are being embraced by the private sector. A number of local organisations and businesses already stand out for their commitment to being progressive and being inclusive towards people with disabilities, whether learning disabilities or physical, she said.
The university of Gibraltar has announced that Caroline Moss-Gibbons has been appointed as its Parasol Librarian, a post which is funded completely by the Parasol Foundation Trust.

Caroline currently works as part of the Research Development team at the University of Sussex, supporting the research strategy and applications for external funding for the Brighton & Sussex Medical School (BSMS) in the UK.

She is looking forward to taking up her new post in Gibraltar in May.
American retail and distribution giant Amazon has its sights set on southern Spain, according to business sources contacted by SUR in response to a story run by ABC claiming that the company were looking at sites around Malaga, Seville and Jaen to locate a new large logistics centre.

It is understood that the preferred location is Malaga due to its proximity to the major towns on the Costa del Sol, as well as the Guadalhorce valley area.

They are actively looking in Malaga, said Jose Felix Perez-Pena, director at the Aguirre Newman consultancy firm in Malaga. They need to be close to the biggest towns and cities so that they deliver within 24 hours - a major challenge in the world of logistics. While he recognises that there is plenty of industrial land available in the Antequera area, he says the large companies want to be close to the coast.

One of the issues this raises is the lack of land available earmarked for industrial use on the Costa del Sol. If Amazon intends to build a centre at least as big as the one recently built in Seville, which occupies 10,000 square metres and employs 80 people, costs would be very high, bearing in mind much of the available land is on flood plains.
The state spending plan that the government announced this week in parliament shows a slight increase in the budget assigned to the province of Malaga. The 2017 General State Budget (PGE) saw the lowest sums spent in the province since the beginning of the 21st century, with just 137 million euros (40% less than in 2016 which was also a bad year). This year's figure, 142 million euros, is 3.7% higher, still a long way behind the record set in 2008, when the central government invested 1.2 billion euros in the province's infrastructure.

Now, ten years on, the budget includes funds for a number of key projects. Among them is the much-debated scheme to extend the train service to Marbella, which is mentioned in two categories. Six million euros has been set aside in the accounts for the government's rail infrastructure administrator, Adif, under the heading High Speed and labelled Costa del Sol train studies and projects. The second sum designated for the Costa railway is 420,000 euros in the accounts of the Ministry of Public Works.

The impact of the PGE -which started its journey through parliament this week and is still a long way from being passed- on the province of Malaga can also be measured through the spending planned in other parts of Andalucia, especially in the context of rail infrastructure.

Six million euros have been set aside for a new road into Malaga airport from the outer ring road north of the terminals

This is the case for the line between Bobadilla (near Antequera) and Algeciras, where most of the improvement work is due to take place in the province of Cadiz. Meanwhile funds set aside for the high-speed line that will shorten the journey between Malaga and Seville are included in the budget for the province of Cordoba where the work will be taking place. These projects would take the figure for Malaga up to almost 200 million.

Rail

Train to Marbella, Algeciras line and bypass to Seville

The lion's share of the budget as far as infrastructure is concerned goes to improving rail travel. The bypass on the AVE line between Malaga and Seville in Almodovar del Rio, which will cut the corner at Cordoba, is already on the drawing board and now has 12.4 million euros to get the works under way.

The Antequera-Granada high-speed AVE service gets another 58.3 million. The so-called Plan de Cercanias includes funds to improve access to the local line station in Plaza de La Nogalera, Torremolinos.

The construction of a railway line to Marbella still has a long administrative process to go before any work can actually take place. The Partido Popular MP for Malaga province, Carolina Espana, said on Tuesday that, given the paperwork ahead, the funds reserved in this budget -six million euros- may well not be spent this year. The initial studies into the future line are expected to be put on public display in the summer and then an environment impact report will have to be sought. The figure, however, does show that the central government is backing the rail project as well as the PP in Malaga, said Espana.

The rail investment that has sparked the most complaints is the announced spending for the renovation of the Bobadilla-Algeciras line. The sum of 31.8 million euros has been described as insufficient by the Andalusian business leader Javier Gonzalez de Lara. The upgrade of the line, which will form part of what is known as Spain's central corridor for freight transport, is considered essential for both the ports of Algeciras and Malaga, as well as for the dry dock project in Antequera and essential for the economic development of Andalucia, said Gonzalez de Lara.

The president of the Junta de Andalucia, Susana Diaz, said that the 31 million to be spent on the Algeciras line was a joke considering that the project needs 1.3 billion. These are disgraceful figures for infrastructure that is vital for the development of Andalucia, she said.

Roads

North airport access and Alhaurin de la Torre road

The main road infrastructure to be included in this year's budget is the northern access to Malaga Airport from the outer ring road (Hiperronda). The contract has just been awarded to the group formed by Acciona and Jimenez y Carmona and the works have been designated 6.5 million euros. This scheme includes the long-awaited project to improve the road into Alhaurin de la Torre from the Hiperronda.

A sum of 3.2 million euros has been earmarked for the new Arroyo de la Miel exit on the A-7; 2.7 million will be spent on the Velez-Malaga exit and one million for Fuengirola.

Water

No money to expand La Concepcion reservoir

The area has not fared so well in terms of funds for water supply infrastructure. Despite the urgent need to expand La Concepcion reservoir to guarantee the Costa del Sol's water supply in drought periods and avoid wasting resources, the government has not provided for the work in its budget. The PP justifies the absence with the fact that the environmental impact report has not been finished.

The government's water supply infrastructure administrator, Acuamed, has a budget of 8.8 million euros for Malaga province to be divided between improvements to energy efficiency at the Marbella desalination plant, and the reuse of wastewater from the treatment plants at Cerro del Aguila, La Vibora and Arroyo de la Miel.

Airport and port

T2 facelift and cruise port improvements

A sum of 26.7 million euros has been designated in the PGE for Malaga Airport. Out of that figure, three million will go towards the renovation work in Terminal 2; and another three for improved urbanisation, roads and car parks.

In the Port of Malaga, 1.6 million of a total of 4.5 million euros has been designated to upgrade cruise ship facilities on the Levante quay.

Another small sum goes towards the studies required for the freight railway line into the port to be taken underground.

Other sums

Prison and promenade

The largest single sum reserved in the proposed state budget for 2018 is - for the second year running - is for the new prison in Archidona with 22.4 million euros.

In the case of beach infrastructure, the extension of Malaga city's Poniente promenade gets 563,000 euros; however work to recover the beach at the city's historical Banos del Carmen will have to wait, with spending of no more than 100,000 euros.

The city's future Oceanographic Centre continues in the government's plans and gets nearly three million euros.

Discrimination

Speaking on Wednesday, the president of Andalucia, Susana Diaz, of the Socialist party, accused the conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy of discriminating against Andalucia. The budget spending per inhabitant in Andalucia is 42 euros lower than the national average, she said; that is, 176.20 instead of 217.60 euros.
Spanish and Irish police officers in Fuengirola have arrested Dean Evans, 28, a member of the IRA terror group who is accused of a murder committed in the Irish town of Gormanston in 2013, as well as taking part in at least one other similar crime.

The arrest was carried out by the Costa del Sol's drugs and organised crime squad, UDYCO, with members of the Spanish Police's fugitive localisation team and officers from the Irish Garda.

Evans had been charged, along with two others for the murder of Peter Butterly, who was shot dead in a car park on 6 March 2013.

Days before the start of the trial in January last year, Evans disappeared along with his partner. The other two men received life sentences.

A Euro arrest warrant (OEDE) had been issued in March 2017 in connection with the Gormanston killing; this followed a first order issued previously in connection with another killing.

Spain's Interior minister announced the arrest on Friday morning on his Twitter account.

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In a major setback for Spanish authorities on Thursday afternoon, a regional court in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein agreed to free the former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont. Judges there ruled out extraditing him on the Spanish offence of rebellion.

It had been hoped by the Spanish Supreme Court that Germany would compare its own offence of high treason to that of rebellion, and so agree to return Puigdemont to Spain on a more serious charge. The Catalan leader has been held in Germany since last month.

Puigdemont was ordered pay 75,000 euros bail while German judges decide whether still to extradite him on the less-serious charge of embezzlement.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, three Catalan leaders living in Belgium and also wanted on rebellion in Spain handed themselves in to the authorities there so a judge could decide whether to release them on bail or not while Spain's extradition request is being considered.

Former police chief charged

To add to the former and current political leaders charged with offences for their part in the banned referendum and declaration of independence in Catalonia last autumn, on Thursday the investigating judge at Madrid's Supreme Court charged the former head of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the regional police force, with rebellion and organised crime.

Josep Lluis Trapero was summoned to appear in court on 16 April. Some other policing heads in the former Catalan government were also charged with similar offences.

Catalan MPs consider options

With the clock ticking towards a fresh regional election in around six weeks if a new Catalan president isn't chosen by regional MPs, the Speaker of the parliament has been considering allowing Puigdemont to give a proxy MP's vote from Germany to help MPs' voting numbers in favour of the main separatist parties' candidates. However lawyers have warned that the move could be ruled as illegal

On Thursday, earlier candidate for president, Jordi Sanchez, currently in Madrid in jail, announced he was willing to try to stand again in an effort to achieve a consensus candidacy among separatist MPs.

World Race yachting is off

Meanwhile, the committee organising the Barcelona World Race, a major yachting competition due in the city again in 2019, said that it was cancelling the event as the ongoing political uncertainty had made it difficult to find companies interested in sponsoring it. It plans to hold it in 2023.
EU-mad Romano Escolano, Spain's incoming economy minister, is already showing where his priorities lie. Even though his predecessor, Luis de Guindos, does not officially take up his position as vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB) until June, Escolano has already started work, telling a conference in Madrid this week that the EU needs a shared banking deposit scheme. This would be a way, he said, of bolstering the bloc's (and Spain's) banking sector as well as assuring savers that their money is safe, regardless of where it's held.

What about reducing unemployment, especially youth unemployment? What about the pensions problem, which recently sparked nationwide protests? What about shrinking Spain's public debt, which currently stands at 100% of GDP? What about passing an already absurdly delayed 2018 budget? All that can wait, it seems. Escolano, outgoing vice president of the European Investment Bank, is more concerned that Spain and his beloved EU become even closer than they are at present.

This shouldn't be a surprise. Spain has been campaigning for increased financial homogeny within the EU and the Eurozone for some time. In this respect, Escolano is picking up from exactly where his predecessor left off - or will leave off in June, when he leaves front-line politics to take up a cushy EU job in Frankfurt.

Last February, the Spanish economy ministry sent a document to Brussels in which it argued for a common banking union for all Eurozone members, a shared unemployment scheme and mutualised debt. The proposals were greeted with raised eyebrows by more powerful EU players; indeed, France and Germany have said repeatedly that they want the bloc's weaker economics and banking sectors to become stronger before any such moves are considered.

A few months after the Spanish government called for greater fiscal integration in the EU, its economy minister reinforced the message in an interview with the UK's Financial Times. De Guindos told the newspaper that the EU's survival depended on greater financial unity and its executive bodies being given more control over member states' economies. All the while, you imagine, with an eye on the powerful EU job he has since secured.

Escolano, a committed member of the EU elite, is clearly reading from the same script as his predecessor. He said this week that the possibility of a common bank deposit scheme should be top of the agenda at an upcoming EU summit in June. By which point, of course, De Guindos will be installed as ECB vice president and eager to push Spain's proposals for greater fiscal integration within the EU. He'll also be well placed to respond to the country's request that EU bosses are handed greater power over member states' economies. Convenient, that, as the request came from none other than De Guindos himself.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has spent much of his time in office touting his administration's support for the state's alcohol industry, routinely sending out news releases on reduced regulations, growth in alcohol manufacturing and more.

On Thursday, the governor's office pushed out a news release celebrating a new beer, from Ithaca Beer Co., that is made with New York-grown ingredients and which will be distributed statewide and year-round.

So it's probably not a surprise that Cuomo's re-election campaign is hosting a "craft beverage tasting" fundraiser in Manhattan next month.

As with any big-time fundraising event, the cost is high: The basic guest ticket is $1,000 (although there is a "Young Professional" ticket for $150). while reserving tables and earning VIP status can cost up to $10,000. The event is May 10 at the Midtown Loft & Terrace on Fifth Avenue.

It's not clear which beverage companies will be supplying beer, or whether they are donating or selling their products to the campaign, according to a report at the Gotham Gazette. But, the report said, "representatives of the state's brewing industry are expected to attend and donate."

Cuomo's first big splash with the state's beverage industry came in 2012. That year he pushed the state's Farm Brewery Law, modeled on a similar 1976 law for wineries, that reduced fees and and regulations for brewers who promised to use an escalating amount of New York-grown ingredients in their beer.

Later in 2012, Cuomo hosted a "Craft Beer, Wine & Spirits Summit" in Albany. That event featured industry representatives asking for tax and regulatory cuts, many of which the governor has agreed to.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, talks to visitors to the Executive Mansion as part of a "Wine, Beer and Spirits Summit" on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, in Albany.

Since then, the state's alcohol actions have included the creation of farm licenses for hard cider and mead makers, approval of a law to allow Sunday morning alcohol sales at bars and restaurants, allowing craft brewers to sell products by the glass in their tasting rooms and more.

Since 2012, there has been surge in the number of craft alcohol businesses, now standing at about 1,000. The number of breweries alone has doubled, to more than 400.

But it hasn't been just craft manufacturers receiving state attention. In 2015, Cuomo toured the state's largest brewery, the big Anheuser-Busch Inbev plant outside Baldwinsville, calling attention to $2 million in state business tax credits the company received. That year, A-B Inbev had announced a $4.5 million investment in the Baldwinsville plant.

Anheuser-Busch has contributed $150,000 to Cuomo's campaign accounts since 2010, the largest sum of any beer maker, the Gotham Gazette reported.

Cuomo won his first term in 2010 and his second in 2014. He faces opposition from both Democrats, like actress Cynthia Nixon, and Republicans, like State Sen. John DeFrancisco and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
NELSON, N.Y. - John Laubscher is in business to sell guns.

But when a 22-year-old Syracuse University student walked into his Nelson shop in Madison County last month, Laubscher just felt like something was wrong.

"He had a desire to buy a certain thing," said Laubscher, the owner of The Gun Shop and AJ's Archery. "As we got into the conversation, nothing was lining up. All of his answers to questions were different than the guns he was looking at."

Xiaoteng Zhan, 22, wanted to buy an AR-15, but the shop owner told him he could not buy such a weapon in New York state. So the student asked about buying a high-capacity shotgun.

Zhan said he wanted the shotgun for hunting.

The warning signs started piling up for Laubscher:

A high-capacity shotgun isn't needed for hunting.

Zhan had just got his hunting license, which as a non-U.S. citizen he need to buy a gun in New York state.

Zhan didn't know how to use the gun.

Zhan said Syracuse University offered a class on how to use the weapon. Laubscher, who earned his master's degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, knew SU didn't offer such a class.

"Later on, when we asked him where his training was going to occur, it probably wasn't realistic that he was gonna learn to shoot a gun at college, and in the classroom," Laubscher said. "That just made no sense and set off all the alarms."

The shop owner copied down Zhan's license plate number and contacted the Madison County Sheriff's Office after the man left.

"We're a little cautious; you just don't know."

Laubscher discusses in the video above what happened when the SU student tried to buy a gun at his shop in early March.
WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- Jerome F. Cuyler, a doctor working at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Watertown, sexually abused seven adult male patients during "prolonged and inappropriate" prostate and genital examinations, according to court records.

Cuyler, 74, was charged Thursday with fourth-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a felony; six counts of forcible touching, a misdemeanor; and five counts of third-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor, according to state police.

Cuyler, of Sackets Harbor, was fired from the Veterans Affairs clinic after an investigation into the allegations.

Cuyler was employed as a doctor at the clinic in the CANI Building, 19472 Route 11, town of Watertown.

He gave medical examinations to several adult male patients as part of the patient's separation from active duty military service, according to court records.

Seven men accused Cuyler of performing unnecessary and inappropriate rectal and genital exams between April 6, 2016 and May 10, 2016, according to court records. The records include statements by each patient describing what happened during the exams.

The examinations deviated from appropriate medical care and, based on the veterans statements to investigators, the doctor did sexually assault some patients, Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City Medical Examiner and expert who reviewed the case for the state police, said in a letter in the court files.

Cuyler is accused of forcibly touching several of the patients. In two cases, Cuyler is accused of "sexually rubbing" a patient's genitals. In another, Cuyler refused to let a patient get dressed, according to records.

In other cases, Cuyler performed rectal and genital exams that were not medically necessary. Cuyler medical charts also do not accurately reflect his medical examinations, according to records.

One soldier reported that the doctor asked if he wanted a hug; the patient said he declined the offer, according to records. Another patient reported being kept naked for more than two hours of the three hour examination, records show.

During examinations, Cuyler failed to follow guidelines, State Police Investigator Kevin Rose said in court records.

Here's how Cuyler failed to follow guidelines, according to the investigator:

Gowns are available to clothe a patient. Cuyler did not offer any of the patients a gown.

Chaperones are available to be an observer in the exam room. Cuyler did not offer a chaperone in the room.

A patient can refuse or decline any examination. Cuyler did not tell patients that they had this option.

Cuyler was arraigned Thursday in Watertown Town Court and released on his own recognizance. His case has been referred to grand jury proceedings, state police said.
Nelson, NY -- When a Syracuse University student came into his Madison County gun shop four weeks ago, John Laubscher didn't think much of it.

It didn't faze him that Xiaoteng Zhan, 22, was an international student or that he wanted a gun, Laubscher said. Foreign SU students were regular customers for Laubscher's archery business. And he knew a non-citizen could get a gun with a valid hunting permit.

But in talking to Zhan, Laubscher said the hair began to stand up on the back of his neck.

"This guy's on the edge," Laubscher thought.

After refusing to sell Zhan a gun, Laubscher copied down his license plate number and called the sheriff's office. That set in motion a weeklong investigation that led to Zhan being deported to China March 20, authorities said.

Laubscher, who has run a gun shop since 1980, said Zhan's interests in a gun didn't make any sense for hunting.

Zhan wanted an AR-style rifle -- the weapon of choice in recent mass shootings nationwide. When told that the type of AR rifle he was looking for wasn't available in New York, Zhan immediately turned his interest to high-capacity shotguns.

Laubscher knew that it was illegal for a non-citizen to own a gun, unless he had a valid hunting license.

"I've got one of those," Zhan told him, immediately pulling a hunting license out of his pocket.

Still, it wasn't hunting season. Turkey season was coming up, but the high-capacity shotguns that Zhan wanted wouldn't be the best choice for hunting, anyway, Laubscher said.

Couple that with the fact that Zhan had just gotten the license, which required completing a hard-to-reserve gun safety course, and Laubscher was becoming concerned.

It's what happened after that, though, that Laubscher said set off warnings "like fireworks on the Fourth of July."

Zhan said that he didn't know how to use the gun he wanted to buy. But, Zhan said, he was going to learn through a class at SU.

"I'm going to buy the gun now, then there's a class at school where I'm going to learn how to use it," Zhan told the shop owner.

Laubscher, who got a master's degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said there's no way SU had a class to teach firing high-capacity shotguns.

"When was the last time you heard of a tactical shotgun class at SU?" Laubscher said he thought to himself.

That's when the gun store owner knew: Zhan shouldn't be getting a gun.

Laubscher thought that if he called the FBI to proceed with Zhan's background check, the purchase would probably be delayed by three business days. But Zhan could always come back or try somewhere else.

So Laubsher decided to refuse the sale instead, telling Zhan he had to do "further background work."

Zhan's demeanor did not appear overly suspicious, Laubscher said, though he appeared to be withdrawn and darted his eyes around, not looking at Laubscher directly.

Zhan told the shopkeeper that he'd found the store on the internet. That wasn't odd, Laubscher said. But the fact Zhan knew so little about guns stuck out in a shop where customers are routinely looking for a very specific item or want to chat up an employee.

"It's not like a grocery store where you pick a few things up and leave," Laubscher said. "We're a pro shop -- we're more of an experience."

After being rejected, Zhan sat in his car in the parking lot for awhile longer. Laubscher kept an eye on him: not knowing what someone denied a gun might do, he said. Zhan then left without incident.

It's only the second time he's denied a gun sale out of concern for public safety, he said. In the other case, a year ago, a local man wanted a gun repair and seemed suspicious, Laubscher said.

But Laubscher said he really thought Zhan might carry out a mass shooting.

"This guy was ready, very close to it," he said.

Within hours, sheriff's deputies had begun an investigation. While police were looking for him, Zhan went to Mexico on spring vacation.

Authorities got a search warrant and recovered gun parts and ammunition from Zhan's apartment in downtown Syracuse. They also were contacted by Zhan's friends in Mexico, concerned about his mental state.

On March 20, as he was coming back to Syracuse, federal authorities intercepted him and deported him back to China.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- There were no working smoke detectors in the Fitch Street home where a baby died and three other people were critically injured, according to Syracuse Fire Investigator Lt. Brian Sheerin.

Syracuse firefighters rushed to the home at 253 Fitch St. around 3:15 a.m. Thursday after a caller reported a fire. When firefighters arrived, they found fire engulfing the two-story home.

Charles Dubois, who knew his family was sleeping, started two fires inside the home on the city's Near West Side, the Syracuse Police Department said in a criminal complaint filed in Syracuse City Court. He walked out, leaving five people -- including his mother, sister, brother and baby nephew -- asleep inside the burning home, police said.

Dubois is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree arson, police said. He's being held at the county jail.

The suspect's 1-year-old nephew, Hunter Dubois, died hours after the fire.

The suspect's mother, Susan Wagner, 45, and his siblings, Michael Dubois, 16, and Korrina Dubois, 18, remain in critical condition Friday afternoon, according to Upstate University Hospital.

The American Red Cross is helping three uninjured residents who were displaced by the fire. Red Cross assistance typically includes funding for temporary housing, food and clothing as needed.

Reporter Samantha House contributed to this report.
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A 23-year-old Ithaca man was charged Thursday with robbing a 71-year-old woman as she walked to church on Easter morning, Ithaca police said.

Police said Darryl Bradshaw forced the woman to the ground and stole her purse, which contained her rosary beads. The rosary was returned to the woman, police said.

Bradsaw was charged with third-degree robbery, a felony, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor, police said.

Officers served a search warrant Thursday at an apartment in the 150 West Village Place apartment complex, police said.

During the search, proceeds from the robbery, including the rosary beads, were recovered. Bradshaw was located inside the apartment and taken into police custody without incident, police said.

Bradshaw was arraigned in Ithaca City Court and remanded to the Tompkins County Jail on $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond.



"Good old fashioned police work lead to this arrest and recovery of the stolen rosary beads," Deputy Police Chief Vince Monticello said in a news release. "Our community and police officers can certainly relate to something as personal as rosary beads being stolen as they hold deep personal meaning, especially on Easter Sunday, and it gives us great satisfaction that we were able to recover them."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wrote a letter Friday to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, asking for answers after a VA doctor was allowed to continue working despite being accused of sexually abusing patients.

The doctor, Jerome F. Cuyler, 74, of Sacketts Harbor, was prevented from seeing patients but was still allowed to work at the VA for six weeks after he was first accused of sexual abuse, according to a release sent by Gillibrand.

Cuyler was charged with one count of fourth-degree sexual abuse, six counts of forcible touching and five counts of third-degree sexual abuse, according to New York State Police. He is accused of abusing service members during medical examinations at a VA clinic in Watertown, which is governed by the Syracuse VA Medical Center, Gillibrand said in a statement.

Service members were sexually abused while undergoing Integrated Disability Evaluation System exams, Gillibrand said in the statement. IDES exams are given when service members have a condition preventing them from performing their duties.

After Cuyler was fired in July of 2016, the VA Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Attorney's Office asked the Syracuse VA to hold off on reporting Cuyler to the New York State Licensing Board, Gillibrand said in her statement.

Here are a list of demands and questions Gillibrand outlined in her statement and letter Robert Wilkie, the acting secretary of Veterans Affairs, and Dr. Judy Hayman, the Syracuse VA medical center director:

Details and a timeline of the VA's internal decision-making process

Why Cuyler was allowed to work at the VA's Watertown clinic for six weeks after the first allegation of abuse

Which non-clinical responsibilities did Cuyler perform while he was investigated?

Did Cuyler interact with patients or VA personnel during the six weeks?

Why did Syracuse VAMC leadership wait to bar Cuyler from the facility and notify the Inspector General's office until a second allegation was filed?

Did Cuyler see non-IDES patients while working for the VA?

Were any non-IDES patients interviewed by investgators or notified of the allegations against Cuyler?

Did Cuyler see non-VA patients during the investigation and is he still licensed with the New York State Licensing Board to practice medicine?

What procedures are in place for patients to notify the clinic of sexual misconduct?

Were servicemembers aware of proper procedures by the VA to file a complaint?

Has the Syracuse VA put new measures in place to ensure future servicemembers' safety?

Gillibrand gave the VA and the Syracuse VA Medical Center a deadline of April 27 for a written response to address the questions she laid out.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 20-year-old man has been charged with murder and arson in connection with an early morning fire on Syracuse's Near West Side, according to Onondaga County jail records and authorities.

The man, Charles A. Dubois, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson, records show.

The arrests are in connection with an early morning fatal fire on Fitch Street, according to Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.

Syracuse police and fire department officials have declined to release details on the fire victims or investigation.

Police and fire officials will hold a news conference at 8:45 p.m. tonight to provide more details.

Dubois is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center.

Neighbor and close friend Judy Bennett said Dubois is the son of Sue Wagner and brother of Karinna Dubois and Michael Dubois, three of the victims badly injured in the fire that also killed a 1-year-old boy.

Bennett said the suspect lived at the home, but it's been a long time since she last saw him.
A war of the mind

Mervyn Edwin Roberts III grew up in Central New York, graduating from Liverpool High School before going on to earn a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Hawaii. After graduating, Roberts enlisted in the Army and serving in Germany, Iraq, Somalia, Korea. Once he was no longer serving in active duty, he joined the reserves in a psychological operations unit serving in remote areas of Afghanistan. Now, Roberts is a history professor at Central Texas College and a reserve instructor at the Joint Special Operations University at MacDill AFB in Tampa.

This past February Roberts used his own experiences with combat in conjunction with research he conducted while earning his PhD to publish a book that offers some new information about the Vietnam War.

From the publisher's description:

The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960-1968, for the first time fully explores the most sustained, intensive use of psychological operations (PSYOP) in American history. In PSYOP, US military personnel use a variety of tactics--mostly audio and visual messages--to influence individuals and groups to behave in ways that favor US objectives. Informed by the author's firsthand experience of such operations elsewhere, this account of the battle for "hearts and minds" in Vietnam offers rare insight into the art and science of propaganda as a military tool in the twentieth century.

Published by University Press of Kansas, the book includes 33 illustrations and 17 maps, and has been hailed by many reviewers in the field as incredibly well-researched.

"The Psychological War for Vietnam, 1960-1968" is available through the publisher and through most ebook retailers.

A unified understanding



Joe Masterleo is a lifelong Central New York resident with over 50 years of experience serving in the local mental health care field, which the new author says has afforded him "a longitudinal view of evolving trends and patterns." These new trends and patterns include a movement towards integrating multiple fields and practices in order to provide more effective healthcare as well as what Masterleo calls an "integration of knowledge in all fields toward a singularity, a unified (ecological) understanding of the cosmos and all things in it."

Masterleo says he wrote "The Golden Spiral: On the electric origin of the Universe and everything in it" in order to "introduce a novel integrative perspective on the traditionally disparate viewpoints of science, religion and psychology, and to do so by offering a simple paradigm..."

As Masterleo explains in a section of the book description, there are elements of self-care and inclusivity to the book: "The value of whole-making, self-care, soul-craft, holistic health and the importance of the unseen is regaining its centrality in the life and consciousness of many. The abundance of psychologies, the variety of global religions, the legion of gurus and the proliferation of non-traditional spiritualities in the modern era beg for a universal paradigm that captures their essence and is inclusive of them all -- a visible representation of the laws of life as they relate to harmony and form, health and wholeness, and the principles of mathematics, science, spirituality, and psychology."

The author says that the ideal reader of his book "is one who appreciates mystery, penetrating thought and reconciling apparent opposites, and is willing to undertake the futuristic challenge of thinking in wholes along multi-variant lines, a requisite skill set necessary to adapt to a rapidly changing world."

You can learn more about Masterleo and his work by visiting his website. "The Golden Spiral: On the electric origin of the Universe and everything in it" is available through Amazon.

Events

The Ulysses Philomathic Library in Trumansburg is hosting an event for author David Nelson Wren on Thursday, April 12 at 6pm. Wren will be discussing his book, "Ardrossan: The Last Great Estate on the Philadelphia Main Line," which explores the history of the Ardrossan estate and the family who built it.

Fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy learning about The Montgomerys, who like an American version of the Granthams, took pride in hosting fox hunts and dinner dances and offering high-profile guests splendid accommodations. Theatre and film fans may be especially interested to explore the lifestyle of the real life family that inspired "The Philadelphia Story." The book includes architectural drawings, and photographs of the estate and family.

The YMCA's Downtown Writers Center's original release party for issue 12 of Stone Canoe was canceled due to weather, but now the event has been rescheduled for Friday, April 20 at 6:00 pm at the Point of Contact Gallery at the SU Warehouse Building.

The Stone Canoe is the only literary journal focused on the work of authors and artists from Upstate New York. The event will include readings from contributors to the issue and refreshments will be served.

Submissions are currently open for the 2019 issue. To learn more about the publication, additional events, and all that the YMCA's Downtown Writers Center has to offer, visit their website.

Have a book to share?

Are you a local author or have you come across a book set in Central New York? Tell us about it. Send a brief description of the book and the author and we'll add it as a candidate for coverage. Write us at features@syracuse.com.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Meet Jon Godfrey: He has more than a dozen guns at his Parish home, including an AR-15. He's retired from the military and law enforcement. He uses the guns to hunt and would use them to fend off an intruder at his rural home, if he needed.

Now meet his new friend: Peter Lotto. He has no guns in his house in Fayetteville. He's a retired IT guy who now teaches everything from history to business at several colleges. He's not sure anyone needs to have an AR-15.

The two men are on opposite sides of one of the biggest shouting matches in our nation. But it turns out they agree on a lot. And they like each other so much they chat daily over email and texts since meeting a few weeks back.

Their friendship is story of what happens when people who disagree, emphatically and sometimes angrily, get out of the echo chambers of social media and talk to each other face-to-face.

The two men were selected by Advance Local Media, the parent company of Syracuse.com, to be part "Guns: An American Conversation." The project began by bringing 21 people from around the country to the Newseum in Washington, D.C., last month. The project is being done in partnership with Spaceship Media and Essential Partners. As marchers filled Pennsylvania Avenue, Lotto, Godfrey and the others were inside, trying to understand each other.

The friendship built by Godfrey and Lotto was not unique. Many of the people who came to the weekend expecting to be enemies left as friends. While the topic was gun control, much of the time was spent being trained by professional conflict negotiators on how to have difficult conversations. The group learned to look beyond each others' viewpoints and at the life experiences that shaped those views.

Godfrey sought out Lotto, because where ever they stood on guns, they were the "guys from Syracuse" in a room full of people from across the nation. They talked about the weather. They talked about their families. They talked about the nation's other problems.

"We looked at each other said, 'Ah. There's the other guy from Syracuse'," Godfrey said. "And we noticed that we had more in common than not."

They are both semi-retired. They are both fathers and grandfathers and who worry about the world they are leaving to their grandchildren.

And because they have those things in common and they knew each other as people, not as one opinion, they were able to discuss the major thing they don't agree on without yelling. The trick is listening and asking questions in a way that is curious, not accusing.

And when they did that, they found they had many of the same concerns and fears about guns.

"We all agree on some very fundamental things: We all agree that our schools need to be safer. We all agree that it's crazy for our kindergartners to be practicing hiding under their desks. We all agree that there are people in this world who should not have access to firearms," Godfrey said. "It's just a matter of how we get there."

Both men said they had "aha" moments where they saw that the other side wasn't as far away as they thought.

Lotto's came when he, Godfrey and another gun rights advocate in the group talked together about "open carry," the ability to carry guns out in plain view.

"They don't like it any more than I do, and that's a piece of common ground we can build upon," Lotto said. They all feared a gun in the wrong hands in a public place could have a devastating impact.

Godfrey's "aha" moment came when a woman who supported gun control told him she would be fine with him having an AR-15, because she felt he knew how to use it and would use it properly to protect people.

"They just want to be safe. That's the other side of the argument," Godfrey said. "And I can relate to that because I want that, too. A light came on when I realized that."

When they left Washington, D.C., Godfrey and Lotto were on the same flight, across the aisle from each other. They had a drink together and they made plans to meet up, soon.

And they did. They met the next week at the Panera in Fayetteville for lunch. They talked about the emails they'd been sending around to each other and another friend about the Second Amendment. They don't agree, but they listened. They talked about the snow. But they also talked about their wives, their kids and their grandkids.

"We talked about our family and concern for them," Godfrey said. "Like most Americans, I think, we want our families to have a better future."

And these two friends will keep talking, to each other and now to more people, too.

The next phase of "Guns: An American Conversation" puts their group of 21 people together with 130 more in a private Facebook discussion.

Godfrey and Lotto are worried what will happen when more people join the conversation. But they've made a pledge to each other that stretches wider than how they feel about gun control. If the new people attack their friends on the other side of the issue, they'll protect them.

"You have conservatives saying they'll protect liberals, and liberals saying they'll protect conservatives," Godfrey said. "That means you've bridged a gap."

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246
Those interested in visiting "Letchwroth" State Park are no longer in luck -- the New York State Department of Transportation corrected a misspelled sign this week after a contractor had installed an incorrect sign on a Western New York highway.

An exit sign for Letchworth State Park and the town of Mount Morris on I-390 South in Livingston County had swapped the "o" and "r" in "Letchworth," the Livingston County News reported.

Jordan Guerrein, a DOT public information officer, explained in a statement that the sign had been fixed Thursday morning, the News said.

"This week a contractor installed a highway exit sign along I-390 in Mount Morris, Livingston County, which included a spelling error," Guerrein said, according to the News. "An overlay has since been applied to the sign, at the contractor's expense, with the correction."

The sign drew criticism on social media this week when people shared photos of it online, the Democrat & Chronicle reported.

Thank you ... Letchwroth Park sign on I-390 fixed https://t.co/TzyMIVGKF3 via @DandC  Marilyn Ajavananda (@MAjavananda) April 5, 2018

This isn't the only time a typo has been made: In 2016, the DOT had to replace a sign that misspelled Syracuse as "Sryacuse" on an I-481 on-ramp.

Gene Cilento, a spokesman for the state DOT, said in 2016 the spelling was clearly a mistake.

"It was obviously an error," Cilento said. "It was immediately addressed. How it happened is under review."

Follow Georgie Silvarole on Twitter @gsilvarole.
Wetumpka, Ala. -- A judge sentenced a teenager in Alabama to 65 years in prison for murder on Thursday, but the teen wasn't the one who killed the victim in the case.



A police officer did.



Lakeith Smith, 18, was convicted under Alabama's accomplice liability law, according to USA Today. He was found guilty in March of felony murder, burglary and theft for helping three years ago in break-ins of two homes about 10 miles north of Montgomery, Alabama.



The incident took place in February 2015. Police responded to a burglary call and encountered Smith and four others.



A'Donte Washington, who was 16 at the time, was shot and killed by a police officer when he rushed at the officer pointing a revolver. The officer fired four times, killing Washington.



Smith was accused of being criminally responsible for the acts that led to Washington's death, which is allowed under Alabama's accomplice law, USA Today said. A grand jury cleared the officer who fired the fatal shots of any wrongdoing.



The accomplice law allows co-defendants to be convicted of murder if a death occurs when they are committing a crime, even if the accomplice is not the person who directly caused the death, according to USA Today.



Smith laughed in court as he was sentenced, according to WSFA in Montgomery.



"He hasn't said I'm sorry yet," Judge Sibley Reynolds said in court, according to the station. "He hasn't acknowledged to this court that he shouldn't have done, shouldn't have come around, in fact, his attitude toward this court and life, in general, has been sour."



Prosecutors earlier offered a plea deal that would have carried a sentence of 25 years in prison, according to USA Today. Smith turned it down.



The other defendants in the case all pleaded guilty to murder, burglary and theft. They are awaiting sentencing.



"The officer shot A'Donte, not Lakeith Smith," said Jennifer Holton, Smith's attorney, according to USA Today. "Lakeith was a 15-year-old child, scared to death. He did not participate in the act that caused the death of A'Donte. He never shot anybody."

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112
St. Petersburg, Fla. -- A construction crane collapsed in Florida on Thursday, nearly hitting workers as it fell over.



St. Petersburg police said no one was injured, according to NBC 6 in Florida. The construction site, a new police headquarters, didn't suffer major damage.



The incident was captured on video.

The crane can be seen tipping over, sending workers fleeing as it crashed to the ground. At least eight people appeared to be in the area when the crane fell, NBC 6 said.



The tip of the crane landed just feet from where one man ran, according to the Tampa Bay Times.



The crane appeared to be about 10 stories high, according to ABC News. It can be seen swaying before tumbling to the ground.



The cause of the collapse is under investigation. Officials also notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ABC said.

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112
Phillipsburg, N.J. -- A New Jersey Panera is under investigation for being the possible source of an outbreak of E. coli in the state.



Several cases of the illness have been reported in four New Jersey counties, according to nj.com. Health officials are investigating a Panera in Phillipsburg as the possible source.



Phillipsburg is in western New Jersey on the Pennsylvania border.



Health officials have not determined for sure that Panera was the source of the outbreak, nj.com said. A manager at the Phillipsburg Panera declined to comment and the company's corporate headquarters in Missouri did not return a request for comment.



State officials are collecting food histories from patients and doing tests, according to News 12 New Jersey. E. coli causes symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea.



The illness can arise from undercooked meat or bad vegetables.



The E. coli cases began to emerge in the last few days, News 12 said.



"They could have eaten at several restaurants, at home or eaten food purchased at a supermarket," Dr. Tina Tan, an epidemiologist, told the station. "Sometimes the source of the food that made people sick is never determined."

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was formally convicted of an array of corruption charges and sentenced to 24 years in prison on Friday, a year after she was driven from office and arrested over a scandal that saw months of massive street rallies calling for her ouster.

The conviction, which she can appeal, is the latest indignity for South Korea's first female president, who grew up in the presidential palace as the daughter of a former dictator and even served as first lady after her mother's assassination. The harshness of the sentence is likely to deepen divisions in a country still wrestling with the aftermath of the most serious political turmoil in years.

Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, Park earned the nickname "Queen of Elections" for her record leading her party to victory in tight races, culminating in her own election as president in 2012. Yet that was all undone by the scandal involving a close confidant and bribery, extortion and other allegations.

Park, 66, maintains she's a victim of "political revenge" and has been refusing to attend court sessions since October. She didn't attend Friday's verdict, citing a sickness that wasn't specified publicly.

In a nationally televised verdict, the Seoul Central District Court convicted Park of bribery, extortion, abuse of power and other charges.

"It's inevitable that the defendant should be held strictly responsible for her crimes, if only to prevent the unfortunate event of a president abusing the power granted by the people and throwing state affairs into chaos from happening again," chief judge Kim Se-yun said.

Kim said Park has shown no remorse for her wrongdoing and continued to pass responsibility to others with "unconvincing excuses."

Along with the prison sentence, Kim said Park was also fined 18 billion won ($16.8 million).

Both Park and prosecutors -- who had demanded a 30-year sentence -- have one week to appeal.

Park's lawyer, Kang Cheol-gu, called the 24-year prison term "very bad" and said the legal team will decide whether to appeal after confirming her willingness.

The court convicted Park of colluding with longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil to pressure 18 business groups to donate a total of 77.4 billion won ($72.3 million) for the launch of two foundations controlled by Choi.

The two women were also convicted of taking bribes from some of those companies, including more than 7 billion won ($6.5 million) alone from Samsung. Prosecutors previously alleged that Samsung's bribe was aimed at getting government support for a smooth company leadership transition, but the court said there was not enough evidence to prove that Samsung sought such favor from the government.

The court said Park colluded with senior government officials to blacklist artists critical of her government to deny them state assistance programs. Park was also convicted of passing on presidential documents with sensitive information to Choi via one of her presidential aides.

The scandal has already led to the arrests, indictments and convictions of dozens of high-profile government officials and business leaders. Choi is serving a 20-year prison term; Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong was initially sentenced to five years in prison before his sentence was suspended on appeal; and Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin was given 21/2 years in prison.

Park has a small group of fierce supporters -- most of them middle aged and older -- who regularly stage rallies calling for her release and after the verdict was broadcast, thousands of them marched near the Seoul court to protest the ruling. They waved South Korean and U.S. flags and held signs that read, among other things, "Stop murderous political revenge!"

"Release (President Park) immediately!" the marchers chanted as they walked between thick lines of police officers. There were no immediate reports of major clashes or injuries.

The gatherings of Park's supporters have been much smaller than the earlier ones calling for her ouster, which began in October 2016, eventually drawing millions every Saturday to a Seoul plaza and elsewhere around the country. She was impeached by lawmakers that December and removed from office by a Constitutional Court ruling in March 2017.

The protests show how deeply South Koreans are split along ideological and generational lines, the result of decades-long tension with rival North Korea and the lingering fallout from the conservative military dictatorships that ran the country until the late 1980s.

Park is the daughter of deeply divisive dictator Park Chung-hee, who is revered by supporters as a hero who spearheaded South Korea's rapid economic rise in the 1960-70s. But he's also remembered for imprisoning and torturing dissidents.

During her father's 18-year rule, Park Geun-hye served as first lady after her mother was killed in an assassination attempt targeting her father in 1974. She left the presidential mansion in 1979 after her father was gunned down by his own intelligence chief during a late-night drinking party.

After years of seclusion, Park returned to politics by winning a parliamentary seat in the late 1990s, during a burst of nostalgia for her father after South Korea's economy was devastated by a foreign exchange crisis.

In 2012, she won the presidential election by defeating her liberal rival and current President Moon Jae-in, riding a wave of support by conservatives who wanted to see her repeat her father's charismatic economic revival.

Park's friendships with Choi, 61, began in the mid-1970s when Choi's late father served as Park's mentor after her mother's assassination. Park once described Choi as someone who helped her when she had difficulties. But her relations with the Choi family have long haunted her political career.

Media reports say that Choi's father was a cult leader and allegedly used his ties with Park to take bribes from government officials and businessmen.

Park has previously insisted that she only got help from Choi on public relations and to edit some presidential speeches.

Park's four years in office were marred by rising animosity with rival North Korea over its advancing nuclear program, a 2014 ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly teenagers on a school trip, and criticism that she curbed free speech and didn't manage things transparently.

In a presidential by-election triggered by Park's early exit, Moon won an easy victory against wounded conservatives.

Park's saga is only the latest addition to a long line of scandals involving the country's leaders.

Her conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, who governed from 2008-2013, was arrested and jailed last month over a separate corruption scandal. Lee's liberal successor Roh Moo-hyun jumped to his death in 2009 amid a corruption investigation of his family.

Park Chung-hee's successors, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, both ex-army generals, spent time in jail for bribery, treason, munity and other charges after leaving office. Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, both former opposition leaders who fought against the dictatorships of Park Chung-hee and Chun, left office in disgrace after their sons and close associates were arrested or embroiled in scandals.
Two brothers who killed their parents nearly 30 years ago have been reunited in a California prison this week.

Erik Menendez, 47, was transferred this week to the same housing unit as his brother Lyle Menendez, 50, at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, Fox News reported. About 3,900 male inmates are imprisoned at Donovan.

Parent-killing Menendez brothers reunited in California prison after 'cruel and heartless' separation https://t.co/51zt3RojDu  Fox News (@FoxNews) April 6, 2018

Lyle Menendez expressed interest in relocating to be with his brother, and was moved to Donovan in February from Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California, the New York Daily News reported. Erik Menendez, who was already a prisoner at Donovan, was moved this week from his unit to the one his brother is in.

The brothers were convicted in 1996 of fatally shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their family's Beverly Hills home in 1989, the NY Daily News reported. Both are serving life sentences without parole.

Erik Menendez moved to the same unit as his brother Wednesday night, the NY Daily News said. A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed the two will have the ability to interact in person for the first time in more than 20 years.

"Just because they're in the same unit doesn't mean they've had contact yet, but it's a programming facility, meaning the inmates participate in rehabilitation programs and have the ability to interact with one another," spokeswoman Terry Thornton said, according to the NY Daily News.

Then 18 and 21, Erik and Lyle Menendez shot their parents and testified to years of sexual abuse from their father, CBS News reported. Prosecutors in the Menendez brothers' trial claimed there was no evidence of molestation and that the brothers had killed their parents to inherit their multimillion-dollar estate.

Lyle Menendez spoke about killing his parents in an interview in prison last year, CBS News said.

"I love my mother, and I still cry over my mother, and I don't forgive her,'' CBS said he told the "Today" show in September. "Her life ended and our lives essentially ended all because of this fateful decision. There had to be a series of decisions she made of not to tell what was happening. What kind of mother lets it happen?"

Follow Georgie Silvarole on Twitter @gsilvarole.
When police responded to a call about a woman passed out behind the wheel of her car at a Riverside, Illinois, gas station, they came upon a disorderly scene.

Tasha Lynn Schleicher, a 41-year-old mother, was alert and sitting in her car - but it seemed she had tried to fill the tank with kerosene instead of gasoline. An open bottle of Crown Royal whiskey sat in the passenger seat, police said, and her eyes were glassy and bloodshot.

Schleicher wasn't wearing shoes, and when she stepped out of the vehicle her clothes were "literally falling off," police said in a news release. She told the officers that she had 11 kids and couldn't find them. She refused to take a sobriety test, and so the officers arrested her, police said.

Schleicher, of New Hope, Minnesota, is charged with two counts of felony aggravated drunken driving, two counts of misdemeanor drunken driving, driving without vehicle insurance, and driving with a license revoked for drunken driving, police said. She is also charged with transporting open alcohol while driving.

Her arrest in Riverside - located 14 miles west of Chicago - is the latest addition to a long list of drunken driving arrests and convictions. She has had six prior drunken driving arrests in six states: Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana, California, Oregon and Minnesota. The earliest arrest was in Kentucky in 2007, police said.

She is also wanted on three out-of-state warrants in Nebraska, Idaho and Oregon, according to police.

On Monday, Riverside police searched for the 11 children that Schleicher allegedly claimed she was looking for. Witnesses, including the gas station attendant, told police that Schleicher was the only person in the car. Still, Schleicher insisted she had her children with her, police said.

Schleicher does have 11 children, according to the Rochester Post-Bulletin, which reported that most of the children had at different points been taken away from her through various child custody actions across several states because of her drunken driving offenses. They were all returned to her in August 2017.

Then, last October, Schleicher was arrested after driving drunk with five of the children in her car at highway speeds before veering into a median cable barrier near Rochester, Minnesota, according to the Post-Bulletin. Police said that Schleicher was found at the scene breast-feeding her baby.

Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel called Monday's arrest "one of the worst impaired driving arrests our agency has ever made."

"Her clothes were literally falling off" -- Mom of 11 Tasha Schleicher, called one of Americas worst drunk drivers by police, has been arrested as many times as she has kids. DETAILS: https://t.co/brvnVzGTMX pic.twitter.com/FMYValpi3T  Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) April 5, 2018

"[Schleicher's] history of six prior DUI's in six states, with three outstanding warrants from various states speaks to her transient nature," Weitzel said in a statement. "Due to her criminal background of intoxication, I instructed officers to contact Child Protective Services in Minnesota . . . and to contact our Illinois DCFS."

Schleicher on Monday could not explain to police why she was in Illinois and continued to insist that she was with her children, police said. Officers contacted authorities in New Hope to try to verify that the children were not in Illinois. Minnesota Child Protective Services confirmed to Riverside police that Schleicher's children had been taken away from her after the October drunken driving arrest, police said.

While in custody, Schleicher told officers that she was pregnant, bleeding and having a miscarriage, according to police. She was escorted to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Illinois. Hospital staff administered a pregnancy test and found that her claim was untrue and that she was not suffering from any medical condition, police said.
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. ...
aqua-tools gains Saudi testing kit approval

The Saudi Government will include aqua-tools B-QUA ballast water analysis kit in the list of recommended equipment for use by ballast water testing providers affiliated to Saudi Aramco contracted shipping agents.

B-QUA is an indicative test capable of analysing all three ballast water factions  bacteria, 10-50m, and >50m  onboard ship in less than 40 mins. As a first step, prior to a detailed analysis for compliance, an indicative analysis of ballast water discharge may be undertaken to establish whether a ship is potentially in compliance with the IMO BWM Convention. The Saudi administration has decided to widen the scope of ballast water sampling to all of its commercial ports. Previously, ballast water sampling was only undertaken in ports operated by Saudi Aramco, the national energy company. Saudi Aramcos Environmental Protection Department (EPD) is to collect as much sample data as possible with regard to the effectiveness of ships ballast water management systems (BWMS). EPD said that data collection will continue until at least September, 2019, while the industry is going through an experience building phase with regard to BWMS. aqua-tools CEO, Marc Raymond, said: The EPD states that the B-QUA approval includes the associated luminometer provided by aqua-tools. We will provide all users in Saudi Arabia with simple instructions about how to use the Lumicloud app on a mobile phone or tablet and how to print the report direct from the app with a suitable portable printer. The Saudi Government is currently developing national legislation on BWMS, which will include indicative sampling approval processes. When this legislation is finalised, it may be necessary for sampling systems to enter a further approval phase, depending on the data collected during EPDs evaluation process and whether additional criteria need to be added. Carine Magdo, aqua-tools business development manager, claimed that the B-QUA test kit has certain advantages compared to other systems on the market. She said; Most current sampling methods look only for phytoplankton in the >10 to <50m band. However, the IMO process used to validate BWMS efficiency requires analysis of three factions: bacteria, 10-50m, and >50m. If only one group is analysed, it merely proves that the treatment is effective on that one faction, and not the others, meaning that the system may be non-compliant on one or two factions. This gives no overall guarantee of treatment efficiency, and neither can it guarantee compliance with the detailed analysis on each group. Non-compliance of the >50m fraction can indicate problems with the BWMS filtration unit, such as blocked filters or the need for replacement parts. Non-compliance in the 10-50m and bacteria groups can indicate problems with the disinfection unit, for example incorrect chemical dosage, a dirty of fused UV lamp, or blocked valves. A fully working BWMS will demonstrate low levels of micro-organisms in all factions, Magdo said. Furthermore, depending the location and season, it is possible for zero presence of phytoplankton in the sea water, which is why some testing labs may have trouble in performing the type approval protocol. B-QUA is the only kit on the market capable of measuring all the viable and living organisms in each group, with the same technology, and in less than one hour, to establish ship compliance or non-compliance, Magdo claimed.




Ecoslops narrows loss

Slops and sludge converter Ecoslops has reported strong sales growth and cash position, plus a positive net profit for its Sines operation for 2017.

Vincent Favier, chairman and CEO, said:"The Sines unit generated a turnover of 6.1 mill in growth of + 40% (of which + 80% on refined products), which generated 1.4 mill in EBITDA, a positive net result and cash flow close to 1 mill from the Portuguese subsidiary. These operating results are very promising as it is only the second year of operation. Commercial contracts are all in place and notably those with SOPREMA and GALP. Central resources (development of new projects, engineering and project management, development of the mini-P2R refinery technology) have been optimised despite increased business volume, which combined together means that we have achieved a balanced EBITDA (- 330,000) and demonstrates that with two units in operation (Sines and Marseilles), the Ecoslops group can generate a positive return. The net loss amounts to 1.35 mill, a very strong reduction compared to 2016s loss of 3.4 mill. 2017 was the year of the filing of building and operating permits for our second unit in Marseilles in association with TOTAL. The project is progressing according to our plans both from the point of view of timing and budget. The detailed studies have been launched and the first equipment purchases are underway for the start of construction in mid-2018 and opening scheduled for early 2019. At the end of 2017, more than 65% of the capacity of this unit (20,000 tonnes on a total of 30,000 tonnes) is already contracted over seven years with local suppliers. Antwerp is the next project, and continues with ATPC, following 12 months after Marseilles. The site plan is largely finalised. The filing of building and operating permits is targeted for the second half of the year. The capacity will be 60,000 tonnes given the market of the ARA zone (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp). The first three plants will generate around 40 mill in consolidated sales and self-finance the following projects (Suez Canal, mini-P2R), with the current market conditions. The financial situation is solid with 8.3 mill of available cash in 2017 and the renewed confidence of Ecoslops shareholders,he concluded. Ecoslops recently announced that it has signed an agreement to carry out a detailed feasibility study with the Suez Canal and the French Government. The first quarter of this year was devoted to improvements on the Sines P2R in order to be able to produce more from more ground-based low flashpoint residues, with full operations scheduled to restart in April. These improvements should allow an optimisation of Sines operation from 2018 (first import from Mediterranean zone of low flashpoint for 5,000 tonnes this summer and those from Marseilles with about 50% of low flashpoint). The production objective is 25,000 tonnes made possible by the growing diversification of the sources of slops both geographically (Northern Europe, Mediterranean) and by nature (maritime, land, high and low flashpoint). The construction of the Marseilles unit and the Antwerp and Suez Canal projects are the development priorities for this year, as is the industrial validation of the mini-P2R before considering first sales in 2019, the company said.




Prevention at Sea gains another flag state nod

Maritime technology and risk minimisation company, Prevention at Sea, has gained recognition from the Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) for its e-ORB (oil record book) software developed in conjunction with the Liberian Ship Registry.

I am really pleased that the BMA is ready to provide the required approval to ship operators using our -ORB software as per its guidelines provided by the Electronic Record Keeping Systems Bulletin #173, said Petros Achtypis, Prevention at Sea CEO. This is further proof that ship registries understand the value of this software as it is helps seafarers record accurate ORB entries ensuring transparency, credibility, and traceability. Shipmanagement is very competitive with slim margins so any period of inactivity for a vessel, due to compliance issues, accidents or poor maintenance, can be extremely costly for a company. Our inspectors are trained to spot things before they become serious issues, ensuring masters are aware and the actions required to rectify them. In this way, we can help keep vessels on-hire making money for the manager, charterer and owner, he said.




Saudi VLCC attacked off Hodeidah

On Tuesday of this week, the laden 2002-built Bahri-controlled VLCC Abqaiq was attacked by Houthi rebels near the strategic Strait of Bab al-Mandeb at the entrance to the Red Sea.

Minor damage was sustained but no injuries to the crew or pollution were reported and the vessel continued on her voyage. Her destination was believed to be Ain Sukhna, having loaded at Ras Tanura. In a statement, EU NAVFOR said, Both Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and EU NAVFOR advised the shipping industry of the incident and threat assessment through the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA), which is part of EU NAVFOR. This is in keeping with standard practice of sharing threat information to the shipping industry through long established channels of threat dissemination. In this case, CMF and EU NAVFOR have a number maritime and aviation assets currently in the region and will continue to maintain presence in the area. Both are continuing to work with allies and regional partners in the Southern Red Sea and beyond. The requirement for vigilance when transiting this area, together with the timely reporting of all suspicious incidents, remains crucial. Military organisations often request imagery to be taken during any incident and when safe to do so. This should then be sent to MSCHOA and/or UKMTO. A detailed description of vessels, objects, and behaviours observed are vital contributors to the analysis and assessment of the threat environment. Reports should endeavour to provide as much factual detail as possible and avoid speculating when only limited information is available, the organisation said. According to a White House spokesperson, Houthi forces claimed that the attack was a missile strike. "Yesterdays (Tuesdays) attack coincides with the UNs high-level pledging event in Geneva, where the Saudi-led coalition has contributed $930 mill," the spokesperson said. "In contrast, the Iranian regime continues to perpetuate the conflict and provide destabilising weapons to the Houthis. We call on the Houthis to cease further escalation and demonstrate their commitment to a peace process by engaging in constructive dialogue." Houthi forces said in a statement that the attack on the Saudi tanker was in retaliation for a Saudi air strike on the port city of Hodeidah earlier this week, which killed at least seven children and five adults, which was confirmed by Unicef. Saudi Arabia has urged the United Nations Security Council to condemn the latest Houthi attack. In a letter sent to UN head, Antonio Guterres and the president of the Security Council, Saudi Arabias permanent mission to the UN called upon the 15-member body to condemn the latest Houthi terrorist attack. It also urged it to hold the Houthi militias and their patron Iran accountable for their innumerable crimes against international law. The letter reiterated the need for placing Hodeidah port under international supervision to prevent the smuggling of weapons to the Houthis in violation of the arms embargo established under Security Council Resolution 2216. Furthermore, the mission called on the UN to take the necessary measures to implement Resolutions 2216 and 2231, stressing that the Arab Coalition will continue to secure international navigation in the strait and the Red Sea. Dryad Maritime commented that the precise nature of targeting and the weapon system used, was thus far still unknown. The company said that the targeting by Houthi rebels was was almost exclusively as a result of vessels being identified as being in support of the Saudi led coalition in Yemen, or due to the proximity of Saudi naval vessels, one of which was reported to be escorting the VLCC. Houthi rebels were assessed by the company as highly unlikely to use limited and valuable weapons systems against targets that were not positively identifiable as being of Saudi origin, or in direct control of Saudi coalition forces.




Team Tankers completes company purchases

Team Tankers has confirmed that the acquisitions of Laurin Shipping and Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Co have been completed.

The preliminary purchase prices payable at closing for the shares in Laurin Shipping and Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Company were estimated at $10.4 mill and $55.3 mill, respectively, while the preliminary subscription price for the shares in the company was estimated at $2 per share and a total of 21,096,099 new shares in Team Tankers were issued to the former owner of Anglo-Atlantic Steamship Company, Thunder Bay. They represented 10.07% of the issued shares and votes of Team Tankers. These prices were subject to customary post-closing adjustments, the company explained. The new shares will be traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange and are tradeable on Oslo Brs, following registration of the new shares in the Norwegian Central Securities Depository. A separate announcement will be made when the registration of the shares is completed, Team Tanker concluded in its statement. In another move, Team Tankers CEO Hans Feringa has resigned from the board of NORDEN, as the purchase means that Team Tankers becomes a potential competitor to NORDEN. NORDENs chairman, Klaus Nyborg, explained: To avoid any conflicts of interest, Hans Feringa has decided to resign from the board at NORDEN. We thank Hans for his valuable contribution to the board work at NORDEN during the past year.




The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced that the network they have set up to identify the "nightmare bacteria" is working. It is asking for participation from more hospitals and doctors for the network to be more effective.

The CDC's report shows that the "nightmare bacteria" is antibiotic resistant.

Nightmare Bacteria

The CDC says that it has detected more than 220 cases of the nightmare bacteria in 2017. In its new study, the CDC focuses on germs that live in the gut called Enterobacteriaceae. Half of the people that are infected with these germs die from infection. Enterobacteriaceae cannot be killed with antibiotics.

In its findings, the CDC identified more than 1,400 people who tested positive for these kinds of germs, and 221 of those people had a rare variety of the germs. People who are more likely to have contracted these germs include those who have spent time in nursing homes and hospitals.

These bacteria are particularly deadly for elderly people and people with chronic illnesses.

Enterobacteriaceae cannot be killed with what the CDC calls antibiotics of last resorts called carbapenems. Enterobacteriaceae includes E. coli, Klebsiella, and Enterobacter. These bacteria can cause urinary tract infections and sepsis.

The CDC set-up the network to identify the nightmare bacteria in January 2017. It says that it has been able to identify these bacteria, but that they identified more of those types of bacteria than they thought that they would find.

Enterobacteriaceae have their own unusual genes that make them so antibiotic resistant.

CDC's Network

During the first nine months of the network tasked with identifying the nightmare bacteria, more than 5,770 bacteria samples were tested to see if they were antibiotic resistant. It found that 25 percent of those samples had genes that made the bacteria harder to treat.

The CDC found that those patterns of resistance were widespread and that the person's age, sex, or race didn't matter.

To avoid the spread of the nightmare bacteria, the CDC along with state and local health authorities take necessary measures. Control measures are taken in nursing homes and hospitals.

People who have been in contact with the infected person such as medical personnel and family members are tested for the bacteria. The CDC's report says that the measures to keep the bacteria from spreading have been working so far.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been a rising problem the past few years. Recently, a strain of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea was also reported in the UK.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A woman from Washington state files a lawsuit against an OB-gynecologist and an Idaho obstetrics clinic after learning from a DNA test that her biological father is her mother's fertility doctor.

Kelli Rowlette, 36, took a DNA test sponsored by Ancestry.com, a genealogy website, in the hopes to retrace her family's lineage. She learned that Dr. Gerald Mortimer, who once worked with her parents, impregnated her mother with his own sperm without prior consent.

Rowlette, a former eastern Idaho woman is now suing Mortimer, his wife Linda McKinnon Mortimer, and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates of Idaho Falls for $10 million worth of damages on the grounds of medical negligence, fraud, and battery among other charges.

Victims Of Circumstance

In her complaint, Rowlette detailed that her parents were having difficulty conceiving years prior to her birth. Sally Ashby and Howard Fowler sought the professional help of Mortimer who diagnosed Ashby with a retroverted uterus and Fowler with low sperm count and sperm motility.

The documents filed at the Idaho District Court showed that Mortimer advised the couple to undergo artificial insemination, which was supposed to contain 85 percent of Fowler's specimen and 15 percent from a donor.

Ashby specifically requested that the donor should be a college student who looks like her husband. Rowlette argued that had her parents known that the donor was Mortimer, they would not have pursued the procedure.

Later in August 1980, Ashby became pregnant with their daughter and gave birth in May 1981. Meanwhile, Mortimer remained Ashby's OB-GYNE for a couple more years before the family moved to Washington.

The lawsuit reported that Mortimer was emotional upon hearing the news of Ashby transferring to a new residence.

Confusing Results

The results of Rowlette's ancestry test became all the more confusing because she did not know the facts about her parents' fertility struggles. She then contacted her mother and expressed disappointment about the "unreliability of the service." However, Ashby recognized the name of the doctor.

"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 reads as relayed by Washington Post.

Reports also indicated that the parents had a hard time deliberating whether they should tell Rowlette about their past or not.

Meanwhile, Ancestry.com recognized that there are unprecedented pieces of information that can come out of their clients' DNA tests. However, the website maintains accuracy, integrity, and safety of their members' data.

"You may discover unanticipated facts about yourself or your family when using our services. While we strive to give you control as you use the Services, once discoveries are made, we can't undo it," Ancestry.com states on its website.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A large part of a Chromebook's appeal involves its decidedly dumbed-down parts. Dumb here doesn't mean "weak" or "inefficient." It means stripped-down, bared to the essentials.

A Chromebook runs Chrome OS  essentially a glorified Chrome browser  and it used to be that these devices did not have top-of-the-line chips, RAM, or even discrete graphics cards. Third parties outfitted it with average to below-average internals, and they were still good to go. That meant companies could sell them at very low costs, which in turn meant they appealed to a huge portion of the education sector. In fact, Chromebooks own 50 percent of the educational tech market in the United States  and that's from a report in 2015.

Premium Chromebooks

Oddly enough, Google then started making Chromebooks fancier, expanding the portfolio to include models with top-tier specs, which also meant top-tier prices. That's why when the Google Pixelbook came out last year, critics almost unanimously said it was too pricey for what it offers.

Even still, Google apparently isn't giving up on the premium category of Chromebooks. As XDA Developers reports, the Chromium OS source code just got updated with a reference to a device called "Atlas," whose display apparently boasts a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160  or 4K.

Other details remain vague. There's this bit about the 4K Atlas Chromebook not having an SD card slot, but that's about it. Reddit user -nbsp-, who spotted Atlas, says that there are mentions of a keyboard, touchpad, and touchscreen. If the code turns out to be accurate, we might be looking at Google's very first Chromebook with a 4K display.

Does It Even Need 4K?

The bigger question here is if a Chromebook even needs 4K display. Sure, 4K is a great upgrade over the Pixebook's 3:2 2,400 x 1,600 display, but that will mostly benefit gamers and graphics professionals  the types of folks who probably don't use a Chromebook in their workflow. That doesn't mean a 4K screen is useless on a Chromebook, however. At best, a display like that would really bring out the best in watching movies, web browsing, and reading.

Other than the above, there's very little information about Atlas right now. Perhaps Google has something more to show during its forthcoming I/O developer conference, or perhaps another manufacturer, not Google, intends to make a 4K Chromebook.

Would you buy a Chromebook with a 4K display? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In response to the ongoing opioid epidemic, the U.S. Surgeon General recommends members of the community to carry an opioid-overdose antidote with them. The recommendation is another effort being made to combat the opioid epidemic that needs further long-term action.

Be Prepared. Get Naloxone. Save A Life.

In recent years, first responders such as police officers and EMTs already carry the drug with them in case of opioid overdose cases, but it may not be enough seeing as the rates of opioid overdose deaths continue to rise. In fact, the said death rates have doubled just between the years of 2010 and 2016 from over 21,000 death to over 42,000 deaths. According to Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, 115 Americans die from an opioid overdose every day, which is about one death every 12.5 minutes.

As such, the Surgeon General's recent advisory calls for more members of the public to carry with them the known opioid overdose-reversing drug, naloxone, to potentially save lives. With members of the public armed with the overdose-antidote and the knowledge to properly administer it, such deaths can be prevented.

"Knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it within reach can save a life," said Dr. Adams, also stating that there are people overdosing on opioids everywhere, whether people realize it or not.

So far, all states have passed laws to make naloxone easier to access, and most states have the Good Samaritan law or similar laws that protect people from criminal liabilities as a result of administering naloxone, and health care providers for prescribing it.

This is the first Surgeon General Advisory in 13 years, the last having dealt with alcohol use during pregnancy. Such advisories from the Surgeon General are issued when there are major public health problem and an urgent need to take action.

Increased Naloxone Access Not Enough?

Evidently, increased access to naloxone, as much as it could reduce opioid overdose deaths, could also lead to higher death rates, as per the findings of a recent study. Though the adverse effect of wider access to naloxone is unintentional, it also shows that there is a need to address the addiction itself and not just to prevent deaths, something that the Surgeon General agrees with.

"Addiction's a chronic disease. It's not a moral failing and there's not going to be a magic fix. It's important that we use naloxone as a bridge to definitive treatment and long-term recovery," said Dr. Adams.

Naturally, a major public health crisis will not be easily solved by a single advisory, but perhaps such a move could urge the public to take on a more pro-active part in saving the lives of those involved.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A second man was arrested Tuesday in the armed robbery last week on Southern University's campus.
Two women from New Orleans on Thursday morning dressed up as crawfish and chained themselves inside

Two women from New Orleans on Thursday morning dressed up as crawfish and chained themselves inside barrels parked in front of an industrial yard about 200 miles from their homes.

By the end of the day, Renate Heurich, a retired teacher, and her friend, Sue Prevost, an active teacher, said they were facing counts along with two others who joined them in protesting construction of the 163-mile Bayou Bridge Pipeline across south Louisiana.

The industrial yard in Iowa, which is outside Lake Charles, is stocked with railroad ties that trucks use to access muddy construction sites along the pipeline route, said Anne Rolfes, founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which organized the protest.

About 20 protesters blocked access to the industrial yard for more than three hours starting at 6 a.m., Rolfes said.

About five trucks were trapped inside, she said, until the Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office arrived about 9 a.m. All but two  Heurich and Prevost, the crawfish-festooned teachers in the barrels  complied with an order to disperse, Rolfes said. The protesters remained at the site but moved a distance away.

Sheriffs deputies eventually pushed aside the barrel containing Heurich, who willingly left the barrel.

The five trapped truck drivers managed to leave once deputies removed the first barrel, Rolfes said, but she figured the lack of other trucks attempting to enter signified a wider disruption. Rolfes said her group regularly monitors pipeline supply sites such as the one in Iowa.

This is a busy yard on a usual day, Rolfes said. They are usually in and out of this yard every 10 minutes.

The disruption in activity at the yard did not last, however, when two trucks arrived about noon or shortly thereafter.

Heurich, who said she felt conflicted about leaving Prevost, still in a barrel, on her own, said the first truck passed dangerously close to Prevost, prompting another protester to try to stand in the way of the second truck.

He had to jump away because the truck had no intention to stop, Heurich said, speaking by telephone later in the afternoon. That truck sped by also very closely.

At that point, Heurich said, Prevost followed the advice of a lawyer in the group and decided to call it quits.

Activists reported four arrests with criminal charges, but it was unclear what counts they may be facing. A Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office press officer did not return calls Thursday.

Heurich, who said she retired in 2006 after a 25-year public teaching career in the New Orleans area, said she was protesting the fossil fuel industrys role in climate change, as well as what she sees as the risk the pipeline will pose to those who live near it. Climate change is personal for Heurich, she said, in part because her adult daughter is debating whether she wants to have kids.

She is really thinking it could be irresponsible to have any children and expose them to the kind of world they will inherit, Heurich said.

Energy Transfer Partners said in a statement Thursday the company understands there are varying opinions about critical infrastructure projects like the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, and we respect the rights of all to peacefully protest.

The company says the pipeline, which is an extension of one that runs from Nederland, Texas, to Lake Charles, is the safest, most environmentally sensitive and least expensive way to transport domestically produced energy.

In a March 27 statement, the company said one of its contractors equipment had been vandalized along the pipeline route in Assumption Parish, with potentially harmful environmental impacts.

A pending Louisiana House bill sponsored by Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads, would create the crime of criminal damage to critical infrastructure, while adding pipelines to a list of critical infrastructure categories in state law and expanding the definition to include related property and equipment.

The law also would create a conspiracy crime related to unauthorized entry and criminal damage of critical infrastructure. The new crimes would come with prison sentences ranging from one to 20 years, with heavier penalties for damage that is life-threatening.

Thibaut said on Thursday he has no qualms with peaceful protest, but that he wants to stiffen penalties for those who endanger others by damaging infrastructure, including the nearly 50,000 miles of pipelines crisscrossing Louisiana.

We cant have people (protesting) the wrong way, damaging those pipelines, and putting our people and workers at risk, Thibaut said.

Heurich and her fellow protesters say they too want to protect Louisianans, albeit from powerful industry forces who are unconcerned with effects on public health. Heurich said she is particularly concerned about her friends in St. James Parish, which is in the thick of the petrochemical corridor along the Mississippi River west of New Orleans.

I know people who are getting sick and dying, Heurich said. I see how they are suffering from the existing infrastructure there already.

barrels that were parked in front of an industrial yard about 200 miles from their homes.

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By the end of the day, Renate Heurich, a retired teacher, and her friend, Sue Prevost, an active teacher, had been arrested along with two others who joined them in protesting construction of the 163-mile Bayou Bridge Pipeline across south Louisiana.

The industrial yard in Iowa, which is outside Lake Charles, is stocked with railroad ties that trucks use to access muddy construction sites along the pipeline route, said Anne Rolfes, founding director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which organized the protest.

About 20 protesters blocked access to the industrial yard for more than three hours starting at 6 a.m., Rolfes said.

About five trucks were trapped inside, she said, until the Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office arrived around 9 a.m. All but two  Heurich and Prevost, the crawfish-festooned teachers in barrels  complied with an order to disperse, moving back a distance, Rolfes said.

Sheriffs deputies eventually pushed aside the barrel containing Heurich, who then willingly got out of the barrel around 9 a.m.

+3 Federal appeals court lifts stay blocking pipeline construction through Atchafalaya Basin A divided federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline can go forward, overturning a lower court's 

The five trapped truck drivers managed to leave once deputies removed the first barrel, Rolfes said, but she figured the lack of other trucks attempting to enter signified a wider disruption. Rolfes said her group regularly monitors pipeline supply sites such as the one in Iowa.

This is a busy yard on a usual day, Rolfes said. They are usually in and out of this yard every 10 minutes.

The disruption in activity at the yard did not last, however, when two trucks arrived around noon or shortly thereafter.

Heurich, who said she felt conflicted about leaving Prevost on her own, said the first truck at noon passed dangerously close to Prevost, prompting another protester to try to stand in the way of the second truck.

He had to jump away because the truck had no intention to stop, Heurich said, speaking by telephone later in the afternoon. That truck sped by also very closely.

At that point, Heurich said, Prevost followed the advice of a lawyer in the group and decided to call it quits.

A Calcasieu Parish Sheriffs Office press officer did not return calls Thursday.

Heurich, who said she retired in 2006 after a 25-year public teaching career in the New Orleans area, said she was protesting the fossil fuel industrys role in climate change, as well as what she sees as the risk the pipeline will pose to those who live near it. Climate change is personal for Heurich, she said, in part because her adult daughter is debating whether she wants to have kids.

She is really thinking it could be irresponsible to have any children and expose them to the kind of world they will inherit, Heurich said.

Energy Transfer Partners said in a statement Thursday the company understands there are varying opinions about critical infrastructure projects like the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, and we respect the rights of all to peacefully protest.

The company says the pipeline, which is an extension of one that runs from Nederland, Texas to Lake Charles, is the safest, most environmentally sensitive and least expensive way to transport domestically produced energy.

In a March 27 statement, the company said one of its contractors equipment had been vandalized along the pipeline route in Assumption Parish, with potentially harmful environmental impacts.

Bayou Bridge Pipeline equipment reported vandalized; company offers reward for tips Bayou Bridge construction equipment has been vandalized in Assumption Parish according to the sheriff's office, and on Thursday the pipeline c

A pending Louisiana House bill sponsored by Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads, would create the crime of criminal damage to critical infrastructure, while adding pipelines to a list of critical infrastructure categories in state law and expanding the definition to include related property and equipment.

The law also would create a conspiracy crime related unauthorized entry and criminal damage of critical infrastructure. The new crimes would come with prison sentences ranging from one to 20 years, with heavier penalties for damage that is life threatening.

Environmentalists see proposed Louisiana law to protect pipelines and penalize protesters as overreach Fearful of large-scale protests like those that surrounded the Dakota Access pipeline, Louisiana legislators have joined their counterparts in

Thibaut said on Thursday he has no qualms with peaceful protest, but that he wants to stiffen penalties for those who endanger others by damaging infrastructure, including the nearly 50,000 miles of pipelines crisscrossing Louisiana.

We cant have people (protesting) the wrong way, damaging those pipelines, and putting our people and workers at risk, Thibaut said.

Heurich and her fellow protesters say they too want to protect Louisianans, albeit from powerful industry forces who are unconcerned with effects on public health. Heurich said she is particularly concerned about her friends in St. James Parish, which is in the thick of the petrochemical corridor along the Mississippi River west of New Orleans.

I know people who are getting sick and dying, Heurich said. I see how they are suffering from the existing infrastructure there already.
Homer Plessy, who challenged a segregationist law in Louisiana in the late 19th century, will have five blocks of Press Street named in his honor.

The New Orleans City Council voted 6-0 Thursday to rename the section of Press Street between Chartres Street and St. Claude Avenue as Homer Plessy Way.

That stretch contains the site of Plessy's 1892 attempt to overturn a law that required black and white passengers to sit in separate train cars. The effort was ultimately unsuccessful but is seen as a key moment in the early civil rights movement.

Councilwoman Nadine Ramsey, who represents the area and sponsored the ordinance, said Plessy and his fellow activists were "courageous and righteous men who fought to make this nation live up to its creed, that all men are created equal."

Plessy was a member of the Comite des Citoyens, a local multiracial civil rights group that was active in the late 19th century, as segregation laws were being hardened throughout the South.

On behalf of the group, he boarded a whites-only rail car at a station near Press Street with the intention of challenging a recently passed law designating separate cars for white and black residents.

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Plessy was arrested and took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ironically, the case would end up with the court's infamous 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, which enshrined the doctrine of "separate but equal."

That doctrine would be used to entrench segregation throughout the South and beyond until the school desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education in the 1950s, in which a later court said separate public facilities were inherently unequal.

"History ultimately sifts the heroes from the villains, though the process takes longer than one man or one womans lifetime," said Keith Plessy, president of the Plessy & Ferguson Foundation. That group includes members, like Keith Plessy, who are descended from the civil rights activist and also members descended from Judge John Howard Ferguson, the white New Orleans judge who initially ruled against him in the case.

While a historical marker now stands on Press Street, many advocates have argued that renaming the street for Plessy would be a more visible and appropriate tribute.

That section of Press Street has few buildings. It is primarily a railroad corridor.
Louisiana State Police are investigating an incident in New Orleans after a state trooper opened fire on a man who had attempted to carjack his patrol vehicle.

No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred about 10:30 p.m. Thursday evening near the intersection of Broadway Avenue and Green Street, according to a release.

The state trooper was sitting in an unmarked State Police unit, according to the release, when a dark colored vehicle stopped next to it. A man then exited that vehicle, then allegedly approached the State Police unit and attempted to enter it.

The state trooper, who has not been identified, fired at the man who then returned to his vehicle, the release said. The man fled the scene before being apprehended on foot by additional state troopers a short while later.

Charges for the man are pending. Check back for updates.
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines new 156-guest river ship, Brabant, has commenced its inaugural cruise season

The first cruise is from Amsterdam, on a five-night Springtime Dutch Discovery itinerary, calling at Amsterdam, Hoorn, Kampen, Deventer, Arnhem and Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and ending in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Peter Deer, Commercial Director for Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, said:

Today, our new river vessel, Brabant, sets sails from Amsterdam for the first time under a Fred. Olsen flag. These are exciting times, as Brabant will be visiting the wonderful rivers of Europe  the Rhine, Danube, Moselle and Main  as well as pretty towns and big name cities, such as Vienna and Strasbourg, for shopping, music and culture.

Guests can rest assured that Fred. Olsens new river cruises will be underpinned by all the usual high standards, award-winning customer service and understated elegance that they have come to expect of our ocean-going offer.

Brabant may be small, but we are proud to have developed a great product for our first year, helping to create new memories for our guests across the spectacular waterways of Europe.

Fred. Olsen is operating its inaugural European River Cruising programme between 5th April and 3rd November 2018. Guests can choose from a total of 30 departures on Brabant in 2018, on durations ranging from five to 25 nights, complemented by a selection of high-quality chargeable shore excursions, designed to enhance guests experience of the destination.

Fred. Olsens river cruise itineraries on board Brabant for 2018 include: Dusseldorf, Germany to Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dusseldorf to Nuremberg, Germany; Nuremberg to Budapest, Hungary; Budapest to Hirsova (Bucharest), Romania; Dusseldorf to Basel, Switzerland; and Hirsova (Bucharest) to Dusseldorf.

Importantly, Fred. Olsen has also incorporated a large amount of scenic cruising in daylight hours into its new river cruise itineraries, so that guests can make the most of the spectacular scenery on offer at the best time of the day.

Fred. Olsen guests  who are predominantly British  will also feel at home on board Brabant, with English spoken throughout and all transactions conducted in Pounds Sterling. The British taste will also be reflected in the cuisine, customer service and shore tours on offer.

Built in 2006, 110-metre-long Brabant is a stylish and comfortable river cruise boat, and has everything that guests will need to make their holiday a memorable one: from bright and spacious public areas, to well-equipped bedrooms and ample deck space, from which to enjoy the superb views. With just four decks  Haydn Deck 1, Strauss Deck 2, Mozart Deck 3 and Sun Deck 4  and fewer than 80 rooms and suites, staffed by 40 crew members, Brabant has the intimate and friendly feel that Fred. Olsens guests know and love.

Brabants classic design is smaller than many river boats, so guests will enjoy the usual hallmarks of Fred. Olsens closer approach to cruising. In keeping with Fred. Olsens ocean-going fleet, this smaller-scaled vessel has the style, atmosphere and elegance of a country house hotel. Cherry wood interiors and contemporary colours combine to make guests feel relaxed from the moment that they step on board. Juliette balconies with panoramic windows are a feature of many of the rooms, so that guests can enjoy expansive views of Europes most impressive waterways.

Fred. Olsen will be building upon the success of Brabants first river cruise season with an expanded programme of 33 departures in 2019, from April to November, with durations between five and 25 nights. Once again, guests can discover the attractions of the Danube, Rhine, Main and Moselle rivers with Fred. Olsens warm, welcoming style of cruising, taking in charming cities, small towns and sumptuous landscapes.

For further information on Fred. Olsens European River Cruising programme, visit the website at www.fredolsencruises.com/river-cruises Book online, call Reservations on 0800 0355 242 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm; Saturday, 9am to 5pm; Sunday, 10am to 4pm), or visit an ABTA travel agent.
Look at that little peace sign North West is doing!

With the photo, Kim mentions that it's hard to take a good family pic, mentioning that she thinks she cried as well as the kids! On Twitter, Kim said that Saint was trying to run away during the shoot, lol!

'One hand holding the baby and the other hand grabbing the back of Saints shirt because he kept running away lol.'

This photo is iconic.
Given the events of the past several years and the current geopolitical rivalries within Iraq, it is easy to imagine Christians, Yazidis, and others being caught once again in the crosshairs of malevolent powers

Several months after the defeat of ISIS in northern Iraq, the ethnic and religious minorities who were driven from their homes hesitate to return. They fear further outbreaks of violence and they do not have the confidence or the wherewithal to restart their livelihoods. If these groups are to surviveand their survival is a critical buffer to the growth of extremism in the region devastated by ISISthey need security and jobs. Neither of those needs is being met.

Christians are continuing to leave Iraq in alarming numbers, with some on the ground estimating that as few as 130,000 remain in Iraq (down from 1,600,000 in 2003). One of us, Dr. Hollingshead, just returned from two and a half weeks there. During one particularly poignant dinner table conversation with a Christian family who had fled their home in Bartella, the couple expressed their desire to return home to rebuild their lives. They were clearly worried, however, about the Iranian-backed militias whose presence throughout much of northern Iraq they deem to be threatening. They do not trust Shiite militias. The mother turned to Stephen and asked, Dr. Stephen, do you think we will we be safe with the Muslims in Bartella? Her anxiety poses a difficult obstacle to be overcome. Given the events of the past several years and the current geopolitical rivalries within Iraq, it is easy to imagine Christians, Yazidis, and others being caught once again in the crosshairs of malevolent powers. But it is also possible to create conditions in which those minorities have a reasonable expectation of security and the ability to thrive economically.

The Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian presence in general needs to be addressed, and here Americas national interests intersect solidly with our humanitarian concerns. Irans strategic vision of creating a land bridge from Iran through northern Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the Mediterranean Sea is not only eliciting pushback from Arabs and Israelis, but is also proving a major concern and complicating factor for Iraqs embattled Christians and Yazidis. The Hashd Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), while nominally under the control of Baghdad, are nevertheless funded and equipped by Tehran and serve its geopolitical goals. The Trump Administration has been communicating clearly to Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Abadi its determination that Irans influence does not remain unchecked, as well as its commitment to the protection of the minorities within Iraq. Given the hold that Tehran has over much of the countrys political and geographical terrain, it will be difficult to dislodge Iran. If northern Iraq is to be stable and secure, however, Tehrans influence must be curtailed, including its efforts to change the demographics of the North. This means the regional security role played by the PMU must be changed.

Another problem is the fractured nature of the Christian community in Iraq. A recent article in Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy, authored by MIT professor Roger Peterson and doctoral student Matthew Cancian, notes how the proliferation of armed Christian groups has inevitably increased hitherto latent rivalries within the Christian community. There have already been conflicts between some of these armed Christian groups. Last July, the NPU (Nineveh Plains Protection Units, an Assyrian group linked to the Assyrian Democratic Movement) and the Babylon Brigades (a Christian group that has been fighting under the Iraqi government-sponsored, Shia dominated Popular Mobilization Forces) clashed in the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdeda), formerly the largest Christian city on the Nineveh Plain. According to Assyrian media, the NPU forced the Babylon Brigades to withdraw from the town, accusing it of looting a museum and private homes.

The region needs, in our view, a US-led coalition training force as a confidence-building measure to sustain security, unify the various armed groups under a single banner, and thus reduce the risk of clashes between them. We also agree with Peterson and Cancian that the Christians of northern Iraq, as well as the many other minority groups on the Nineveh Plain, need to find a way to work together to a much greater degree if they are to survive. Indigenous security is vital, but it must be cooperative. The most workable model for an indigenous force that can provide security on the Nineveh Plain is to include as many of the minority armed groups as possible under a single umbrella. This will require compromise on all sides, and the putting aside of various historic and recent grievances. We realize that it easier said than done, but it is a necessary step for recovery to succeed. A cooperative security arrangement is the only path forward. Using the current NPGF (Nineveh Plain Guard Force) as the core of that force appears to make the most sense, due to the facts that it alone makes up the majority of Christians under arms, and to the fact that it is already being effectively funded by US taxpayer dollars through the KRG, which gives the US government leverage over it.

The NPGF, which is linked to the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council, is by far the largest and most competent and well-supported force of Christians under arms, with approximately 2,500 men. It accounts for approximately two-thirds of the manpower of armed Christian Iraqis, and receives funding from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The NPGF has received training from the US and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Several other armed Christian groups exist, including Assyrian groups such as the NPU (Nineveh Plains Protection Units), a competent but much smaller force linked to the Assyrian Democratic Movement. There is also Dwekh Nawsha (which means self-sacrifice in Syriac), which is linked to the Assyrian Patriotic Party, The Nineveh Plains Forces (NPF) associated with the Bet-Nahrain Party, and the Babylon Brigades, which comes under the PMU.

Each of the smaller forces have only a couple of hundred to a few hundred men, at the most. Each have differing levels of cooperation with the Kurds, Baghdad, and with each other. Various grievances, both historical and recent, have resulted in much distrust between the various minority groups. While this makes a bid for unity difficult, that unity is essential for the minority groups to rebuild their communities.

We believe the KRG should be encouraged to pull the Peshmerga from the northern part of the Nineveh Plain it currently controls and allow the NPGF to control the area as the primary protection force there, and also to encourage local Yazidis to join that force. This would add to the forces prestige and the confidence of Yazidis that it is there to protect them. The Kurds have shown themselves willing to compromise and have suggested to us that they would be open to an agreement to pull their forces back northwards from the forward positions they have occupied south of traditional Kurdish territory, yielding responsibility for security in this region to its traditional primary occupants, Christians and Yazidis. This is a good sign. The Kurdistan Regional Government has also expressed tentative support for our plan to jumpstart the economy of the northern Nineveh Plain through the creation of a Secured Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) provided it has a seat at the table with Baghdad in negotiating the Regulatory Framework Agreement required to attract investors.

The security and economic success of northern Iraq is possible to achieve, but to do so will require international support, the limitation of Iranian influence, and compromise and cooperative behaviors on the part of indigenous groups. We do not want to have history record, as it has regarding the Iraqi Jews whose presence began in Iraq six centuries before Christ and who are now completely gone, that the Christians, Yazidis and other Iraqi minorities were similarly allowed to disappear.

Republished with gracious permission from Iraq Haven (April 2018).

The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politicswe approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now.

Dr. Paul Coyer is Security Advisor for Iraq Haven, as well as Associate Professor at lEcole Speciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (the French equivalent of West Point) and a Research Professor at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C.
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Linkedin EDITORIAL (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 08:07 1272 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd2a108 4 Editorial umrah,#Editorial,Fraud,umrah-business,Islam,Religious-Affairs-Ministry Free

Less than a year since a huge scandal involving the deposited money of would-be umrah (minor haj) pilgrims shocked the nation, we have recently witnessed a similar scam  with much higher sums of money embezzled. Last August, Rp 1 trillion (US$72,650,000) from aspiring pilgrims was found to have been misappropriated by First Travel, a Jakarta-based haj and umrah travel agency. While the trials of First Travels co-owners and partners are ongoing, the police are now investigating another huge alleged scam implicating Makassar-based Abu Tours, in which aspiring umrah pilgrims lost Rp 1.8 trillion.

Investigations into both First Travel and Abu Tours have led to preliminary conclusions that both agencies had been offering cheap umrah fares of Rp 13-15 million per person, much lower than the market price of over Rp 20 million per person. Expecting prospective pilgrims in large numbers, they appear to have adopted the simple economic principle that profits would automatically follow high sales volume.

The lucrative umrah trade has attracted many new players to jump into the business, which made it more difficult not only for First Travel and Abu Tours, but also new players, to garner potential customers. These conditions apparently drove such agencies to invest the would-be pilgrims money in a number of investment ventures, confident that the returns would be available when the pilgrims were about to depart for their scheduled umrah.

However, they invested the money in unregistered companies that had offered them unreasonable financial gains in return. These companies did deliver the gains for a few months before they broke their promises and disappeared, thus leaving the agencies in limbo and eventually unable to dispatch the pilgrims to Mecca.

In response, the Religious Affairs Ministry and the National Police have set up a task force to prosecute unscrupulous travel agencies. However, such a task force will very likely be a mere firefighter, taking action only after violations happen. The task force is not designed for taking pre-emptive action to prevent such embezzlement.

It would be better for the ministry to reform its Directorate General for Haj and Umrah Management by also involving the directorate general in supervising the haj, and particularly umrah, travel agencies. Currently, the directorate general is only responsible for the design of policies on haj and umrah management and ensuring their implementation.

Given chronic problems with fraud through various schemes, to the despair of aspiring pilgrims, many of whom would have long saved for the journey, it is high time for the ministry to set clear regulations and standards as well as to tighten the screening of any travel agencies involved in haj and umrah organization. A new regulation has set the minimum reasonable umrah costs that travel agencies must charge.

But most importantly the government must prevent them from investing the would-be pilgrims money in venture companies, not only because of the high risks, but also because such practices could violate Islamic law, while aspiring pilgrims strive to be better Muslims.
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Linkedin Devina Heriyanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, April 7, 2018 06:00 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd53a2e 2 Opinion health,#health,universal-healthcare,JKN,#BPJSKesehatan,BPJS-Kesehatan,BPJS,WHO,#WHO,#PostScript Free

Universal health coverage (UHC) remains a challenge for many countries worldwide and is thus the theme for World Health Day 2018. Achieving UHC is also one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs), which stipulates for good health and well-being. Currently, half of the worlds population lacks access to essential health services, according to the World Bank.

Indonesias health coverage program, the National Health Insurance (JKN) program, is administered by the BPJS Kesehatan (Healthcare and Social Security Agency). With a membership comprising 195.2 million people, the program is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. Furthermore, there is the Indonesian Health Card (KIS), an additional program that provides wider coverage and has been distributed to 92.4 million JKN holders.

Although the JKN is the health coverage program and BPJS is the agency, the term BPJS is loosely used to refer to the program.

Given its wide coverage, mostly among the lower middle class, BPJS has faced several hiccups in its operation. From continual deficits to discrimination faced by patients under the BPJS scheme, Indonesia still struggles to provide health care for all. The government has targeted that all Indonesians will have BPJS membership by 2019.

What is the state of the BPJS?

As of April 1, the number of JKN-KIS participants reached 195,170,283. Almost 60 percent of the members are recipients of a subsidy from the government.

Who pays for the BPJS?

Low-income members are subsidy beneficiaries whose premium is paid in full by the government. For privately employed workers, the premium is split by the employer and the employee. Independent workers and non-workers must pay the premium themselves.

Since its establishment in 2014, BPJS Kesehatan has suffered from serious deficits: Rp 3.3 trillion in 2014, Rp 6 trillion in 2015, Rp 9.7 trillion in 2016 and Rp 9 trillion in 2017. The deficit is mainly caused by trouble with collecting premium payments, both from the government and members.

For instance, the premium paid by the government for 92.4 million low-income participants is Rp 25,500 each. Independent workers pay RP 25,500 for third class facilities, Rp 51,000 for second class facilities and Rp 80,000 for first class facilities in hospitals. Meanwhile, people often neglect their responsibility to pay the premium, only paying when they need to use the health service.

The BPJS's deficit has always been covered by state funding, given that Law No. 24/2011 stipulates that the agency's income must come from insurance premiums and government assistance. The government has disbursed Rp 18.84 trillion between 2013 and 2016 to support the agency.

There has been talk of using the tobacco tax to support the BPJS. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has expressed hope that regional administrations will put aside funds to help ease the BPJSs deficit. BPJS Kesehatan president director Fahmi Idris mentioned another method in which to address the deficit, which was to cooperate with the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan).

In the 2017 state budget, the government allocated Rp 106.7 trillion to health, the equivalent of 5 percent of the total state budget. In the regional provinces, as much as 10 percent of the total regional budget is allocated to health, or Rp 105.3 trillion out of Rp 1.05 quadrillion. However, these funds are prone to corruption due to poor supervision, according to a Corruption Eradication Commission study.

What is the history of the BPJS?

The BPJS largely owes its existence to the labor movement. Before the BPJS, workers were protected by Jamsostek, which was often criticized as it only covered workers in the private sector and only a small fraction at that. Civil servants and the military were protected under their own healthcare scheme, state-owned health insurance company Askes, while pensions for civil servants were covered by Taspen and military personnel were covered by Asabri.

Workers rally to demand for social security and universal health coverage in this photo taken in 2010. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

Following political reform after 1998, an idea to merge these agencies emerged, despite facing opposition. The bill was reportedly revised 56 times before a draft was submitted to the House of Representatives in January 2004. The existence of the BPJS is stipulated in Law No. 40/2004 law on national social security reform (SJSN).

Law No. 24/2011 on the BPJS, stipulates that BPJS Kesehatan should implement the health care insurance program from Jan. 1, 2014 and BPJS Ketenagakerjaan should implement the workers social security program from July 1, 2015.

In the years between the SJSN Law and the BPJS Law, it was the labor unions who kept the pressure on the government. The law on the BPJS was supposed to be passed on Dec. 30, 2010 but was delayed because of a rumor that the transformation of Jamsostek to BPJS would create a financial crisis. One prominent group who pushed the BPJS Law was the Action Committee for Social Security, a coalition of 66 labor unions, student associations and NGOs.

What sets the BPJS apart from other insurance programs?

The BPJS emphasizes a cross-subsidy system, where the rich help pay for the poor. In other insurance programs, every man is for himself.

Another difference is philosophical, as the BPJS aims at preventive health care rather than curative. Each member is assigned to a primary health care facility, which can be a community health center (Puskesmas) or family doctor. These facilities are expected to promote a healthy lifestyle to prevent sickness in the first place.

Where can patients get treatment under the scheme?

There are 26,938 health facilities where patients can get treatment under the BPJS. The number includes 9,863 community health centers (Puskesmas and private clinics), 2,139 hospitals, 1,194 dentists and 1,058 opticians.

According to Health Ministerial Regulation No. 28/2014 on the JKN, the insurance also covers emergency treatment at a health center that is not registered as a provider. However, many hospitals are not aware of this policy. Last year, a four-month-old baby died after a hospital refused to treat her because her parents could not pay the fees, despite the patient being a JKN member.

A father shows a copy of his infant son's universal health care card in this photo taken in August 2017. (Antara/-)

Is the BPJS cooperating with private hospitals?

Yes, but private hospitals have a precarious relationship with the BPJS. From the registered 160 private hospitals in Jakarta, only 64 cooperate with the BPJS. There is no definitive data on the national scale.

Private hospitals are reluctant to join the BPJS scheme for mainly financial reasons. The claims for reimbursement might take months and the rates set by the government are sometimes below the hospitals real operational cost, as reported by tempo.co. BPJS claims that the long process is because of a strict auditing procedure, as fraudulent claims were rife at the beginning of the program.

Another reason is the inadequate facilities. When joining the BPJS, a private hospital must cater to more patients and thus provide more facilities. A case in point is the temporary closure of RS Siloam in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara for BPJS patients for three months. The hospital was asked to upgrade its facilities to cater to more low-income patients, as BPJS patients must pay more for VIP rooms because of the lack of first and second class rooms, as reported by Antara.

Has the BPJS cooperated with other insurance companies?

The BPJS has exchanged a coordination of benefits (COB) agreement with private-insurance associations. Under the COB scheme, the BPJS members who pay more for additional insurance coverage can enjoy more benefits otherwise not covered, including access to private hospitals that do not have a direct partnership with the BPJS.

Who supervises the BPJS?

Besides non-government watchdogs like BPJS Watch, BPJS Kesehatan provides several channels for public complaints, namely the BPJS Kesehatan Care Center on 1500400, the LAPOR! application on the BPJS Kesehatan website, branch offices, regency and town offices as well as BPJS Kesehatan officials stationed at health facilities.
Online fashion platform Zalora has announced its collaboration with designer Jason Wu and Sometime by Asian Designers, a bag specialist company from Malaysia.

With products ranging from classic tote bags to mini crossbody tote bags using vegan leather, the collection will be available exclusively in June 2018 on the Zalora website and application in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Macau.

The inspiration for this collection is said to have come from artist Josef Albers and Wus modern collection of GREY.

Read also: Top 10 trends at NY Fashion Week

The collaboration marked the expansion of Sometime to new areas. It is also the collaboration debut of Wu with a Southeast Asian retailer and a Malaysian label.

Saskia Dejongh, chief commercial officer of Zalora Group, said that the collaboration celebrates Asias creativity and innovations.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Vancouver, Wu is based in New York. He has dressed former United States first lady Michelle Obama, Oscar-winner Julianne Moore and Scandal actress Kerry Washington, among many others.

In 2008, he was named a finalist in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. He became the artistic director of Hugo Boss womenswear and accessories collection in June 2013. (wng)
Italian fashion icons Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said Thursday that their famed Dolce & Gabbana label would die with them.

"Once we're dead, we're dead. I don't want a Japanese designer to start designing Dolce & Gabbana," Gabbana, 55, said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The veteran fashionistas launched their brand in 1985 and continue to work together despite breaking up as a couple in 2004.

"When we split up, we said to ourselves that it was better to divide up everything, because if I took a blow to the head the next day he (Dolce) would have found himself dealing with someone not involved in the industry, like for example my cousin, who could ruin the business," Gabbana said.

"We have created a trust neither of us can touch."

Dolce, 59, added that the pair had refused "every offer to buy the brand".

Read also: Dolce & Gabbana fires back at sneaker critics

"You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not free, what do you do? You don't go to the grave with a coffin stuffed with money," he said.

After decades building up their fashion house, which is famed for its sultry womenswear, Gabbana admits he "doesn't have time" to spend their fortune.

"I'm too busy working. I don't care about becoming richer, my goal is to be successful," he said.

The two men said they still share an exceptional bond, even though they are no longer romantically linked.

"Even today, what is mine is his, and what is his is mine... our new partners know that's how it is, whether they like it or not," Dolce said.

"If a love is born when you are young -- for me it was the first experience, for him the first love story -- it is pure, total," he said.

The pair will head to New York for an extravaganza of haute couture events from 6-10 April.
In collaboration with the National Library of Indonesia, the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) and the National Book Committee, Gramedia will hold the 2018 Gramedia Writers and Readers Forum.

Intended to be a place of meeting, discussion and sharing among writers and readers, the event will be held on April 7 and 8 in the National Library of Indonesia building at Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta.

Online tickets were sold out one week after the forum was officially announced, with more than 3,000 people ready to attend the event.

The majority of attendees said they expected the forum to be inspiring, as they would have the opportunity to meet with Indonesian best-seller authors. Attendees can also consult with editors on Editor Clinic.

Read also: Book Review: Home Fire, thought-provoking read that questions morality

Renowned writers such as Eka Kurniawan, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Leila S. Chudori, Joko Pinurbo, Maman Suherman, among others, are set to attend the forum.

Attendees are also welcome to visit discussions, covering themes such as Intellectual Property Development, Creative Illustration for Children's Books and Writing for Millennial Readers.

This will be the first edition of the forum and will be held alongside Gramedia Exhibitions, which sells products at special prices, and Experience Zone, which is organized by Kaskus, Bobo and Bank DKI.

Attendees who wish to donate used books can do so at the literasinusantara.com booth. (wng)
An oil portrait believed to have been painted by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler of a little-known former lover will go under the hammer next week with an asking price of 60,000 euros ($74,000), a German auction house said on Thursday.

The 63 x 48 cm painting, signed A. Hitler, 1916, depicts Charlotte Lobjoie, a Frenchwoman whom Hitler met while serving in France during World War One, according to Werner Maser, a leading Hitler scholar who died in 2007.

Portrait of a Girl - a damaged work painted on hessian - was purchased by Flemish industrialists around 1967, auction house Weidler in Nuremberg said in a statement.

It said it had documents showing it had been exhibited at art galleries in Japan.

The painting in what appears to be a rural setting depicts a young woman with a red scarf loosely on her head that casts a heavy shadow over her face, and holding a pitchfork.

Read also: Chinese tourists detained in Berlin for Hitler salute

She is wearing a light-colored shirt, open from the neck down, exposing part of her breasts.

Maser, who was referred to by Weidler in its statement, wrote several books about Hitler, providing insight into the mind of the Nazi leader through a close look at his drawings, letters and notes.

Hitler painted for a living in the 1920s before rising to power and leading Germany into World War Two. With Soviet troops closing in on his headquarters in Berlin, he committed suicide in April 1945, along with his mistress Eva Braun whom he married shortly before.

In 2015 Weidler sold a watercolor of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria that was also signed A. Hitler and believed to be the work of the former Nazi leader at an auction that fetched 100,000 euros.
Hey more good news everyone!Oh wait, you guys hate the economy now.Canada adds 32,300 jobs in March as unemployment rate stays at record lowOTTAWAThe economy delivered 32,300 net new jobs last month as Canada generated a rush of full-time work that helped keep the national unemployment rate at its record low.Statistics Canada said Friday the jobless rate stayed at 5.8 per cent in March for a second-consecutive month  and for the third time since December  to match its lowest mark since the agency started measuring the indicator in 1976. The only other time the rate slipped to this level was 2007.The March gains were driven by a surge in full-time work. The labour-market survey showed the workforce added 68,300 full-time positions, while the number of part-time jobs decreased by 35,900.The Bank of Canada has repeatedly highlighted wage growth as a key indicator.Average hourly wage growth strengthened in March to 3.3 per cent, up from 3.1 per cent the previous month, Statistics Canada survey said Friday. Wage growth has been moving upwards since it bottomed out at 0.5 per cent in April 2017.At Steam Whistle Brewery, Economic Development Minister Steven Del Duca hailed the fantastic news in last months job numbers.Full-time jobs in Ontario were up by 16,300 positions in March while part-time jobs were down 5,600 for a net gain of 10,600 new posts.Since this time last year weve created 129,000 new jobs in Ontario and more than 800,000 jobs since the worst of the recession a decade ago, said Del Duca, noting Ontarios unemployment rate stayed at 5.5 per cent, leading the country and as low as its been since 2001.Unfortunately for Doug Ford and the Doug Ford Conservatives, they will find these facts uncomfortable and troublesome, he said, blasting the Tories false partisan narrative that Ontarios economy is sputtering.They cant  or they wont admit  that our province is pretty awesome, said the minister, revving up the rhetoric against the backdrop of a June 7 election.
Asias longstanding food and wine festival the World Gourmet Summit has returned for its 22nd year, running from April 2-29 in Singapore. As part of the event, the regional Awards of Excellence night was held on Tuesday at One Farrer Hotel & Spa, to honor 30 outstanding individuals from the food & beverage (F&B) and hospitality industry in Asia.

Winners of the World Gourmet Summit 2018's Awards of Excellence take the stage. (www.worldgourmetsummit.com/File)

Indonesia garnered six nominations in the final round of the awards, with two nominees taking out the top honors.

Mozaic Restaurant in Ubud, Bali, the brainchild of chef Chris Salans, won Best Restaurant of the Year, while chef Ragil Imam Wibowo of Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy in Kemang, Jakarta, was awarded Asian Cuisine Chef of the Year.

We at Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy are delighted, as this victory proves that Indonesian food is already well accepted by the worlds culinary scene, Ragil told KompasTravel on Thursday.

Ragil Imam Wibowo of Nusa Indonesian Gastronomy receives the award of excellence at the World Gourmet Summit 2018. (www.worldgourmetsummit.com/File)

He added that many Indonesians still did not believe in Indonesian food, and that his achievement was the result of his teams hard work to promote Indonesian cuisine to the world.

Ragil said he had gained added confidence to expose Indonesian food on the international culinary scene, given that he had won the award thanks to the votes given by guests of his restaurant.

Meanwhile, for Chris Salans Mozaic, it was the third time they had received the award. The chef said in a statement that he was proud to see more Indonesian restaurants and chefs reach the final of the award and expressed hope it would inspire other Indonesian chefs to choose the path of fine dining, and to promote Indonesian food and ingredients as the star.

Indonesian chefs and restaurants competed with counterparts from Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, India, Philippines and Cambodia in the Awards of Excellence. Hong Kong was represented by the renowned 8  Otto e Mezzo Bombana and Amber, while Thailand was represented by Le Normandie at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and Bo.Lan.

Read also: Juice pairing for special dining experiences

In addition to chef Ragil and Mozaic restaurant, Indonesia was also represented by Locavore restaurant in Bali, chef Agung Gede of Kayuputi restaurant in St. Regis Bali, Kayuputi restaurant, and chef Pasquo King of Sundara at Four Seasons Resort, Bali. (mut)
Twenty-seven Indonesian furniture designers are set to bring a taste of signature local elements to the Salone del Mobile Milano (Milan Furniture Fair), slated for Apr. 17-22.

The Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) along with the Indonesian Furniture Designers Association (HDMI) together curated the works of local designers in line with the theme of "IDentities", a play on Indonesias abbreviation and a reflection of its diverse identity.

"It is important to highlight designers and brands that carry a unique Indonesian element in their work, whether it is reflected through their techniques or materials," Joshua Simanjuntak, Bekraf's marketing deputy, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Last year, Indonesian furniture designers for the first time exhibited in Milan. As many as 28 people participated at the Tortona Design Week, a space just outside the central fair grounds.

Locally inspired handicrafts, such as those made of wicker and rattan were especially noticed abroad, Joshua said, adding that this had inspired this year's theme, which emphasizes Indonesias roots.

Unlike in 2017, the upcoming exhibition will be included in the exclusive Milan Fairgrounds in Rho.

Read also: 27 candidates pass curatorial process for Salone del Mobile 2018

Achmad Kurnia, designer for Siji Lifestyle, will be among those participating at the upcoming event. With experience in designing furniture for luxury hotels, Achmad said he would continue to incorporate natural materials in Siji's signature designs, such as those using banana stems and enceng gondok (water hyachinth).

"The local materials have the potential to be developed into luxury goods," Achmad said.

"Enceng, for example, is generally used for anyam [wicker], but it could actually be developed into furniture paneling, for example headboard paneling for hotel projects, and that's what we do," Achmad added.

Bekraf's curation process divided participants into two categories, namely creative talent and industry. The creative talent category consists of 14 individual candidates. The remaining 13 fall into the industry category, which consist of brands that work closely with a designer to create a strong profile and signature products.

Among other participants are Abie Abdillah, Budi Pradono and Cosmas D. Gozali.

Established in 1961, the Milan furniture fair has grown to become the largest furniture trade fair in the world. The annual event showcases furniture and accessories by designers and brands from around the world. (mut)
The Uber app, which was due to be deactivated on April 8, will now stay on till April 15 as the competition watchdog decides on its next move.

In a statement released on Friday, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) said Uber and Grab have proposes a set of "alternative interim measures" ahead of the commission's decision to impose its own set of interim measures.

These proposed measures are understood to help preserve part of the status quo prior to Grab's acquisition of Uber's South-east Asian business.

"To facilitate CCCS's deliberation on their written representations and the proposed alternative interim measures, the parties have agreed to extend the initial shutdown date of the Uber ride-hailing app in Singapore from April 8 to April 15, 2018," the commission said in a statement.

The commission on March 30 said it had grounds to suspect that Grab and Uber have infringed the Competition Act, but would not go into the reasons for its suspicion.

The authority proposed interim measures to preserve competition while it investigates the deal.

These measures, which have not been imposed, included making Grab and its American ride-hailing rival Uber maintain independent pricing, pricing policies and product options as they were before the deal.

The commission also said then that if interim measures were to be imposed, both companies must not take any action that will lead to the integration of their businesses in Singapore, and affect the viability and saleability of the businesses.

Read also: Grabs acquisition of Uber: How it will affect Indonesian users

They also should not take actions that could prejudice the commission's ability, power and options to subsequently direct the divestment of business operations in the affected markets.

National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng said a consolidation of the ride-hailing market was inevitable.

"It is undeniable that commuters and drivers alike have benefited from the intense competition between Grab and Uber for the past years. But with both companies burning furiously through venture capital funds and are still not profitable, it is a no-brainer that such a situation is not sustainable," he said.

"It is unrealistic for commuters, drivers and the government to expect this situation to continue in perpetuity."

When contacted, a Grab spokesman said: "Grab continues to engage closely with the CCCS. We've had productive discussions on our alternative proposals, which more appropriately address the CCCS' objectives during this interim period, and which takes into account our role in Singapore's vibrant point-to-point transport industry and how Grab serves commuters and drivers.

"We hope the CCCS will complete its review in an expeditious manner, so that we can continue competing with incumbent transport companies and with new entrants."

In the meantime, she said the Grab app is operating normally; and that the extension gives Uber drivers "more time to sign up on alternative platforms".
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 08:30 1272 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd2aafc 1 City South-Tangerang,toll-road,protest Free

Several environmental activists grouped under the name OKP Ganespa from South Tangerang sealed the construction site of a toll road connecting Serpong and Cinere on Thursday, claiming it is damaging a lake area nearby.

Through a banner hung from scaffolding at the project at Sasak Tinggi lakeside in Pamulang, they demanded PT Cinere Serpong Jaya (CSJ) stop its construction work there. The activists accused the company of damaging the environment around the lake area.

OKP Ganespa coordinator Hafids Fidon said the action was taken as a follow-up to a similar protest they held on March 22 in front of South Tangerang City Hall in Ciputat.

This is our fifth protest. On behalf of the residents around the lake, were demanding PT CSJ stop its project, he said as reported by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Thursday.

Meanwhile, PT CSJ executive M. Irsan Setiabudi claimed that the company had all the requirements for the project. Weve got the environmental impact analysis [Amdal] as well as being in line with South Tangerangs spatial master plan [RTRW], he said.

Irsan has yet to decide whether to halt or continue the construction project. Well let [the activists] calm down first, we cant decide on it right away, he added. (vla)
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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu and Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Medan  Fri, April 6, 2018 08:25 1272 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd2a9c7 2 National #PalmOil,#PalmOilPlantation,palm-oil,sustainability Free

Some 25 years ago, Tugimin, 57, made one of the most important decisions of his life.



Tugimin, was a corn farmer in 1993 when one of his friends urged him to turn to a more profitable commodity: palm oil.



"I had no experience when I started [growing oil palm]," Tugimin said on Wednesday. "So I learned how to cultivate oil palm from my friend and, thank God, the results have satisfied me."



But now Tugimin faces a serious problem that could threaten his business, a 2-hectare plantation located in Maligas Tonga village, Simalungun, North Sumatra. His oil palm plantation has experienced a decline in productivity and needs to be replantedone of several methods advocated by the government to ensure sustainability. However, he does not have the funds to do so.



"Replanting requires a lot of money," said Tugimin, a father of four who also lives in Simalungun. The lion's share of his profit goes to covering his family's daily needs and his children's education. "I've been saving money for the past six years, but it is still only a small amount."

Tugimin (right) poses with his friends at his palm oil plantation in Simalungun regency, North Sumatra. (Courtesy of Tugimin/-)

Replanting will involve at least cutting the old trees, buying new seeds and rehabilitating the soil, all of which requires a lot of money. After replanting, farmers need to wait years to reap the profits from the plants. Abandoning old fields and clearing new ones is cheaper.

Encouraging smallholders to replant is key to sustainability in Indonesia, because they manage around 40 percent all oil palm plantations in Indonesia or about 4.5 million ha of the total 11.26 million ha based on a government estimate. Some 2.5 million ha of those 4.5 million ha are managed by independent smallholders, the rest is managed by so-called plasma smallholders, or farmers tied to companies.





In a study published this week by the World Resource Institute Indonesia (WRI Indonesia), researchers argued that smallholders, especially the independent ones, "have few resources at their disposal" to start producing palm oil sustainably.



Most people point fingers at large corporations when it comes to problems within the palm oil industry, WRI researchers said, referring to the environmental and social issues NGOs have long blamed on the industry, such as deforestation, forced labor and the diminishing populations of threatened species like orangutans.



"But that's overlooking a key actor in palm oil production: small-scale farmers," the research report says.



Petani kecil swadaya (independent smallholders) face constraints like limited support from the government, companies and banks, as well as their vulnerability to exploitation.

Thanks to the increasing global demand for palm oil, smallholders of both the independent and plasma type  are set to manage 60 percent of Indonesia's oil palm plantations by 2030, according to the Palm Oil Agribusiness Strategic Policy Initiative (PASPI).



Sustainability in the palm oil industry

Researchers, environmental activists and industry players have realized that the way forward in the palm oil industry is to achieve sustainability.

The main principle of sustainable oil palm plantation is quite simple: Dont neglect the negative impacts on the environment, such as forest and land fires, said Fitrian Andriansyah of the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), a foundation that promotes market transformation through sustainable supply chains.

The more productive an oil palm plantation is, the smaller the environmental impact, Fitrian said.

However, palm cultivation has a cycle of 20 to 30 years. Once the peak productivity passes, it declines.

Fitrian said parties like banks and the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDP-KS)a government-sanctioned agency that collects palm oil product export levies to finance sustainability initiativesneeded to pay more attention to smallholders to help finance replanting activities.

According to various estimates, replanting oil palm can cost smallholders between Rp 60 million (US$4,200) and Rp 92 million per ha.

(JP/Budhi Button)

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodos administration has proclaimed a target of carrying out replanting on 185,000 ha belonging to smallholders this year. Government estimates show that of the 4.5 million ha under smallholders, 2.4 million ha need to be replanted.

Bambang, the director general for plantation, said the realistic target for replanting was 100,000 ha, pointing to the need to ensure tenure certainty, commitment from seedling producers and the Finance Ministry, which manages the replanting fund, to disburse the money.

The government had secured commitments from 17 seedling producers to support the replanting effort, which would start in September this year, at the beginning of the rainy season, said Bambang.

The government, using the money managed by the BPDP-KS, will disburse Rp 25 million per ha to each small farmer. But many smallholders find that inadequate to finance the measure, forcing them to resort to banks to borrow money.

"Yet banks have always considered the risk of lending money to farmers high," Fitrian said.

A lack of support, such as when it comes to training and information on good agricultural practices and supervision, has affected productivity and is a concern for sustainability. Given the lack of support, independent small farmers, for instance, often purchase cheap, low-yield seedlings and burn land to make way for crops, the WRI researchers said.

Aware of the need to seek support, Tugimin, the oil palm farmer in Simalungun, recently joined a farmers' group, hoping he could at least gather information about government assistance for small-scale farmers.

"By joining a farmers' group, I hope to get assistance with replanting and the land certificate from the government."
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 11:28 1272 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd319fe 1 City skimming,Bulgarian,shooting Free

The Jakarta Police general crimes unit shot to death a man of Bulgarian nationality who was allegedly involved in an ATM skimming case.

The shooting happened two weeks after two other Bulgarians were arrested, along with one Chilean and one Taiwanese national in relation to a string of ATM skimming incidents.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said the suspect attempted to attack officers using a sharp weapon during his arrest in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday.

[The suspect] took his belt buckle knife and tried to attack our personnel, Argo said, as quoted by tempo.co.

He explained that the case had come to light when the Yogyakarta Police were investigating skimming incidents in Yogyakarta, which led to the suspect, who was staying in Tangerang. The Yogyakarta Police then coordinated with the Jakarta Police to arrest the suspect.

The police seized evidence, namely 940 cloning cards, three laptops, two encoders, nine spy cams, a skimmer card and a set of deep skimmers.

[The suspect] had installed skimmers in a number of ATMs in Tangerang, Batam, Yogyakarta, Solo, Bali and Bandung, Argo said, adding that the suspect was helped by two others, who are still at large.

One of them, a Bulgarian national, allegedly provided skimming tools and cards to the suspect.

ATM skimming came to the publics attention on March 13 when dozens of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) customers in Kediri, East Java, reported loses ranging from Rp 500,000 (US$35) to Rp 10 million per person. (vny)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 20:00 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd4f1e1 1 City Pari-island,land-dispute,Ombudsman Free

The Save Pari Island Coalition has urged the Ombudsman to issue a recommendation saying that the North Jakarta Land Agency has committed maladministration in issuing 120 land certificates used by private enterprises PT Bumi Pari Indah to claim ownership over 90 percent of the island, which lies in Jakartas Thousand Islands regency.

The Ombudsman is set to report on its final investigation next Monday. The pressure group had reported the North Jakarta Land Agency for alleged maladministration in March last year.

We hope the Ombudsman report will take the side of Pari Island residents, Sulaiman, a member of the coalition, said on Friday.

Fatilda Hasibuan of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi), also a member of the coalition, said the land certification process in Pari Island was a legal defect.

The certificates were issued without prior land measurement by the land agency, thus violating Article 14 of Government Regulation No. 24/1997 on land registration, she said.

Fatilda also said the 120 land certificates were registered to people who were not residents of the island.

Tigor Hutapea of the People's Coalition for Fisheries Justice, said the coalition would pressure the National Land Agency (BPN) to review the land certificates or even file a civil lawsuit if the Ombudsmans final report on Monday was unsatisfactory.

(customary land appointment) certificates, land and building tax (PBB) payment receipts and a document regarding the sale and purchase of land (AJB) as evidence of land ownership.girikLand disputes in Thousand Islands have occurred frequently, as most of the residents only hold

Pari Island residents also reported the case to Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on Oct. 31 last year, but the latter has not provided a solution to the dispute. (ami)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6 2018

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has assured that the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway project would start next month, after years of delay.



President Joko Jokowi Widodo led the groundbreaking ceremony for the project in Cikalong Wetan, West Java, on Jan. 21, 2016.



Rinis statement was made in Beijing after she met with representatives of the China Railway Corporation (CRC)  the parent company of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC)  the company in charge of developing the project.



Rini, however, still hoped that the project construction could be accelerated to April, particularly, starting at 21 critical locations. She also expressed hope that the land acquisition could be completed in late May.



The construction is expected to be accelerated to April so that we can see significant process, said Rini...
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Linkedin Bambang Nurbianto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 18:58 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd4d2af 1 Business Grab,Uber,acquisition,business-expansion Free

Ride-hailing company Grabs acquisition of competitor Uber will allow the latter to expand its Indonesian operation and serve 120 cities across the nation, Grab Indonesia managing director Ridzki Kramadibrata said on Friday.

We believe that the acquisition will have a positive impact on Indonesia. [] We will always cooperate with the government to further push the country forward, Ridzki said in a statement received by The Jakarta Post.

After the acquisition was announced on March 26, about 70 percent of Uber drivers joined the Grab platform.

With more drivers joining the company, Ridzki added, the ride-hailing service would be able to cut costs and work more efficiently in serving customers, which would benefit all parties involved.

In the long run, we will become the number one online-to-offline [O2O] mobile platform that will help solve various problems, including traffic, as well as develop financial inclusion and help households increase their income, he said.

Under Grab Indonesias master plan, the company will create more business opportunities through its planned expansions, not only in the transportation sector, but also through the expansion of other business, like GrabFood, GrabExpress, GrabPay and GrabFinancial.

Ridzki claimed that 3 million Indonesians have enjoyed Grabs digital economy through several partnerships with Kudo, PayTren and Madhang.

Grab projects to create 100 million micro entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia by 2020, he added. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 12:59 1272 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd38632 1 Business Mercedes-Benz,electric-car,iims,jakarta Free

Mercedes-Benz will participate in the upcoming Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) 2018 on April 19-29 at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, where it will introduce its new electric car, Concept EQ.

The new concept car, whose initials stand for "electric intelligence", offers a comprehensive electric mobility ecosystem of products, services, technologies and innovations, according to a press release The Jakarta Post received on Thursday.

EQ Power is a technology implemented in the E 350e Plug-in Hybrid model, a sedan in the German carmaker's mid-range E-Class line that combines the 9G-TRONIC plug-in hybrid transmission and the latest generation of electric motors.

The new power electronics have allowed further increases in the electric motor's output and torque to 65 kW (88 hp) and 440 Nm, respectively, the press release said.

Mercedes-Benz will showcase 11 models consisting of luxury sedans, SUVs and vans in Jakarta International Expo Hall D 5A of the during the auto show. It will also make available two E 350e cars for potential customers to test-drive. (bbn)
By Sue Bailey - CP









It appears that the Newfoundland government is going to try and bring back some of the people who left the Rock for improved economic stability.Are there any ex-patriot NFLDers here? You might be interested in this.---Bill Hodder says he would leave Calgary to move back to Newfoundland and Labrador in a heartbeat.He loved growing up in Churchill Falls, the small company town of about 650 people that runs the Labrador hydroelectric plant on the upper Churchill River.His father, sister and many of his cousins now live in St. Johns.Hodder, a project co-ordinator who has worked in the B.C. mining sector and Albertas oilsands, is part of the easternmost provinces ever-growing diaspora of residents who leave for all kinds of reasons, most of them economic.The governing Liberals want to bring them back.New come-home efforts announced include four expatriate outreach events in Canada and the United Kingdom, along with an online survey conducted by management consulting firm Goss Gilroy Inc.It will ask respondents why they left and identify the conditions necessary to facilitate their return, Al Hawkins, the minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour, said in a statement.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 20:23 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd505b7 4 National KPK,anti-graft-body,National-Police Free

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Agus Rahardjo has inaugurated Brig. Gen. Firli as the agencys new law enforcement chief.

Firli filled the post left vacant by Comr. Gen. Heru Winarko, who was appointed as the head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) on March 1. Like Heru, Firli comes from the National Police force; previously he served as the West Nusa Tenggara Police chief.

At the inauguration on Friday, Agus said Firli had been one of 10 candidates for the post, seven from the Attorney Generals Office and three from the police. Firli passed all assessment stages, ranging from a medical examination to a competence test and an interview.

A background with the police or the AGO was not a requirement for the post, Agus said, but having someone from either of the two institutions would help, as both the AGO and the police had wide networks across the country.

The KPKs law enforcement chief must be able to coordinate with all law enforcement personnel across Indonesia. Members of the police and AGO usually have good networks for that, Agus said, as repoted by kompas.com.

Agus expressed hope that Firli would handle his new task well and adapt to the workplace culture of the antigraft agency. He said in the police force with its more hierarchical culture, Firli could easily issue orders to subordinates. However, the situation could be different in the KPK, as the agency applied bottom-up monitoring and a system of checks and balances.

Firli, 55, graduated from the Police Academy in 1990. Before serving with the West Nusa Tenggara Police, he served as Banten deputy police chief, Central Java deputy police chief and adjutant of former vice president Boediono. (dpk/rin)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 15:50 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd42961 1 City crime,fatal-robbery,Navy,Veteran Free

An 83-year-old Navy veteran, identified as Hunaedi, died of stab wounds after being attacked at his house in a Navy residential complex in Pondok Labu, South Jakarta.

We found three stab wounds, South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Indra Jafar said on Thursday night.

Indra said that Hunaedis wife was in her bedroom at the time of the attack.

When she opened the bedroom door, the wife saw Hunaedi struggling against the killers, Indra said.

The attackers entered the house and began to fight with Hunaedi at around 6 p.m., according to witness accounts.

The fight started on the porch, the murder occurred in the living room, Indra said.

Hunaedis neighbor, Evi, said there were two attackers who immediately fled the scene after the murder.

Quoting the victim's wife, Evi said that a day before the murder, Hunaedi had posted on Facebook that his house was robbed and the perpetrators might have read the post.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hunaedis house were robbed. His pension money, amounting to as much as Rp 3.2 million [US$232.3], was taken by the robbers. Hunaedi later posted a report of the robbery on Facebook, Indra said as reported by wartakota.tribunnews.com.

Indra said the victims wife was still in shock following the incident and could not give a statement.

The police have sealed the house and are using a tracker dog in their investigation. (ami)
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Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6 2018

A gem found deep in a globally overlooked Asian independent music scene, Taiwanese band Sunset Rollercoaster has managed to slowly conquer this futuristic world by devoting itself to the sounds of retro America and various different, current sounds.

Playing a culturally unfamiliar sound of a land far, far away so effectively, Taiwanese band Sunset Rollercoaster managed to capture many Asian fans hearts with its unexpectedly heartfelt take on old American adult contemporary soul sounds. In Indonesia, the response to its unique music has reached fever pitch.



The band recently visited Jakarta as part of its ongoing tour, which has taken it to countries such ...
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Linkedin Riza Roidila Mufti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 16:36 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd48180 1 Business pertamina,subsidiary,insurance,ATPI,profit,2017 Free

Insurance company Asuransi Tugu Pratama Indonesia (ATPI), a subsidiary of state-owned energy giant Pertamina, has reported 71.65 percent growth in net profit to Rp 258.4 billion (US$19.9 million) in 2017, from Rp 166.3 billion the previous year.

It represented a rebound from its slow performance in the past five years with annual growth averaging 8 percent.

ATPI president director Indra Baruna said in Jakarta on Thursday that the increase in net profit was strongly supported by its main insurance products in the energy sector by providing insurance to big corporations offshore.

From the premium's income, Tugu Pratama has generated Rp 702.7 billion in revenue, up from Rp 654 billion in 2016, while the returns from the companys investment contributed Rp 193.7 billion, an increase of 16.07 percent from the previous year's return.

In trying to improve its performance, Indra added, his company plans to introduce new insurance products outside of its core market this year.

We will introduce new insurance products targeting medium-sized companies, Indra told journalists at a press conference, adding that the company was focusing on the automotive industry.

In addition to insurance in the energy sector, Tugu Pratama has insurance products for cargo and shipping, life, sharia and health, among others. (roi/bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, April 6, 2018 17:20 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd4a107 1 City Sukmawati-Soekarnoputri,poem,blasphemy Free

The people who reported Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of the country's first president Sukarno, told the Jakarta Police during questioning that the use of the words sharia, full-face veil and adzan in the latters controversial poem were blasphemous against Islam.

Lawyer Denny Andrian Kusdayat and Hanura Party member Amron Asyhari, as well as the East Java chapter of Indonesias largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), filed a report against Sukmawati on Tuesday, claiming the latter had blasphemed against Islam by reading the poem, which compared sharia to konde (traditional hair bun), mocked cadar (full-face veil) and insulted adzan (Muslim call to prayer).

The investigators asked which verses were blasphemous or problematic [within the poem]. We told them. Just those three [sharia, full-face veil and adzan], Denny said after the questioning at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Thursday night, as reported by kompas.com.

Sukmawati read the poem during a fashion event held to celebrate designer Anne Avanties 29th career anniversary during Indonesia Fashion Week (IFW) in Jakarta on March 29.

Denny said the investigators also inquired about the witnesses present when the poem was read.

We saw there were [artist] Titiek Puspa, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, and several other celebrities [in attendance at the event].

Denny said the evidence of the crime was a viral video recording of Sukmawati reading the poem, which the anniversary committee uploaded to the internet.

On Friday afternoon, hundreds of protesters staged a rally against Sukmawati in Central Jakarta. Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Commander Argo Yuwono said that a combined force of up to 6,500 military personnel and police officers had been stationed at Istiqlal mosque to ensure security during the demonstration.
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Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru, Riau  Fri, April 6, 2018 17:05 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd49960 1 National saracen,Pekanbaru,hate-speech,social-media Free

A panel of judges at Pekanbaru District Court has sentenced Jasriadi, the leader of hate-speech propagator network Saracen, to 10 months in prison for illegally hacking into social media accounts.

Presiding judge Asep Koswara said 32-year-old Jasriadi was found guilty of illegally accessing computers and electronic systems belonging to other people. Judges argued that Jasriadi had accessed several Facebook accounts, including one owned by Sri Rahayu Ningsih, an alleged coordinator of Saracen in West Java, with her permission.

The defendant has been proven guilty of violating the 2016 Law on electronic information and transactions. We sentence the defendant to 10 months in prison, Asep said in a sentence hearing on Friday.

The sentence was lighter than the two years imprisonment sought by the prosecutors. Asep and other judges Martin Ginting and Riska also declared in their verdict that no evidence had been found during the trial that Jasriadi was involved in the spread of hate speech containing sectarian sentiments such as had been committed by other Saracen members.

No evidence was found that the defendant manipulated, created, altered or destroyed electronic information and documents with the intention to make those documents authentic. Thus, we free him from the primary indictment, Asep added.

Responding to the verdict, Jasriadi said he would file an appeal against the verdict.

I didnt illegally access accounts, I only helped renew the accounts at the owners' request and with their permission. I also acquired the password from the owners, he said.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Erik Kusnandar said his team would also file an appeal against the verdict handed down by the judges. (dpk/rin)
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Linkedin Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post) Banyumas  Fri, April 6, 2018 11:40 1272 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd32742 1 National porn-case,pornography,Banyumas,porn-videos,cilok Free

Banyumas Police have arrested Hasanudin, 30, a resident of Ciamis in West Java who works as a cilok vendor, for allegedly showing pornographic videos on his mobile phone to local children as a "lure".

An officer at the Banyumas Police said Hasanudin lured children to buy cilok he sold at higher prices by offering them to watch porn videos from his mobile phone.

The suspect sold the cilok far above the usual price by promising the children a 'bonus'  watching porn on his mobile phone," a Banyumas Police officer that requested anonymity said on Thursday.

Cilok, an acronym for aci-colok, is a traditional snack made from tapioca shaped into balls and served with peanut sauce. Hasanudin usually sold the snack to elementary school children in Karanglewas district of Banyumas, Central Java.

"Usually, each cilok is sold at Rp 500 [5 US cents], but he sold them for Rp 2,000 each, along with the 'bonus', the police officer said.

The officer added that Hasanudin had apparently succeeded in his tactic, as within three days, many children came to buy his overpriced cilok simply because they wanted to watch the porn videos. The alleged crime came to light after several parents became suspicious when their children began asking for a higher daily allowance than the Rp 2,000 they were usually given.

When their parents asked why, some of the children admitted that they wanted to buy cilok with the 'bonus' of watching bokep, the officer said, using the slang for "porn".

The parents reported the matter to village officials, who then reported Hasanudin to the police. (ebf)
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Banda Aceh  Fri, April 6, 2018 17:50 1271 2c798a31c212039f000dc5df9cd4b64d 2 National aceh,Rohingya-Muslims,refugee Free

Five Rohingya stranded at sea for almost three weeks have been rescued by Indonesian fishermen but several others died during the harrowing ordeal, officials said Friday, with the UN refugee agency saying it was "alarmed" at the deaths.

News of the rescue comes several days after the arrival in Malaysia of another boat carrying dozens of members of the persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar.

The group of two men, aged 28 and 33, a 20-year-old woman, a 15-year-old girl and an eight-year old boy were spotted Monday in a small boat off the coast of southern Thailand and Myanmar, some 325 kilometres (176 miles) from Aceh province in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

The fishermen took them back to Aceh on Sumatra island and the group arrived early Friday.

"They were immediately brought to a local hospital for treatment as they were weak," Abdul Musafir, head of the East Aceh search and rescue team, told AFP.

They were released Friday afternoon into the custody of immigration officials for questioning, Musafir said.

The group said they had been travelling with some two dozen other Rohingya but got separated, according to authorities.

East Aceh police said the rescued five were stranded at sea for about 20 days while five others had starved to death and their bodies were thrown overboard.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said it was sending staff to Aceh to provide assistance to the refugees and Indonesian authorities.

"UNHCR is alarmed at reports that five or more Rohingya refugees may have died at sea before their vessel, carrying five survivors, was rescued," it said in a statement.

The agency said it was trying to make contact with the dozens of Rohingya who came ashore in Malaysia this week, and pointed to "unconfirmed reports" that suggested other small vessels carrying refugees from Myanmar may be at sea.

"We are concerned for their safety and hope they will be rescued and allowed to disembark to the nearest place of safety," UNHCR added.

It has been rare for Rohingya migrants to attempt the sea routes south since Thai authorities clamped down on regional trafficking networks in 2015, sparking a crisis across Southeast Asia as large numbers were abandoned at sea.
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Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, April 7 2018

While the high-level officials are busy pointing fingers, 27-year-old Erna, not her real name, has been receiving a 550 ringgit (US$141) salary per month in Kuala Lumpur since she left her hometown in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, five years ago.



That is a far cry from the expectations raised by the agent who brought her to Malaysia, who convinced her family she would be paid up to 1,500 ringgit, which was more than three times the minimum wage in her hometown.



Erna had stayed in one of the shelters in Kuala Lumpur run by Tenaganita, a Ma...
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, April 7 2018

The recent death of Indonesian migrant worker Adelina Sau, previously reported by Malaysian authorities as Adelina Lisao, serves as a stark reminder of how a broken labor system can have a detrimental effect on the wellbeing of low-skilled laborers, particularly those seeking opportunities overseas. The Jakarta Posts Dian Septiari and to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content

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State-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) is applying promotional rates for group bookings on limited dates throughout April and May, as it aims to increase train occupancy rates on weekdays.

"During weekdays, train occupancy headed east is between 70 and 90 percent, while westward it is 90 percent on average. We want to target 100 percent occupancy," Joni Martinus, spokesperson for KAI's Operation Area (Daop) II Bandung in West Java, told tempo.co on Thursday.

Joni said the company was applying a 15 percent discount for group bookings of at least 20 people over the next two months.

Read also: State railway company promotes mid-week travel in March, April

He said the deal was available on routes to Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang in Central Java and Banyuwangi and Surabaya in East Java. Trains in this discount program include the Lodaya, Argo Wilis, Mutiara Selatan, Malabar, Harina and Ciremai.

"The public can take advantage of this for holidays," Joni said.

The discounts will apply on April 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25 and 26, and May 2, 3, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 30.

Joni further said the special group booking prices could only be obtained at the Daop II, at the office of the Passenger Transportation Manager.

Passengers must sign an agreement and pay an advance of 25 percent of the total order. "The names on the printed tickets cannot be replaced but tickets can be canceled, should there be any change of schedule," he said. (liz/wng)
The SuperStar Libra cruise ship carrying 700 foreign tourists docked at Kuala Tanjung international hub port in Batubara regency in North Sumatra on Thursday morning.

The ship was the first to dock at the port, which will soon be inaugurated by the government.

Malay dances greeted the passengers, who were also given ulos (traditional Batak cloth) as a souvenir.

Arriving at 5:55 a.m., the ship stayed at the port for 11 hours. Most of the visitors explored Medan on shopping and culinary excursions.

Read also: Genting Dream cruise ship to dock in Tanjung Priok in April

North Sumatra Deputy Governor Nurhajizah Marpaung, who was at the welcoming event, told The Jakarta Post that the SuperStar Libra's arrival opens opportunities for other cruise ships to dock at the port, as well as increase the number of foreign tourists visiting North Sumatra, especially Lake Toba.

State-owned port operator PT Pelindo I president director Bambang Eka Cahyana said the port was projected to help increase international interactions in West Indonesia.

"We have made the necessary preparations to welcome cruise ships at this port. Hopefully there will be more to come," said Bambang. (kes)
A supernatural thriller from renowned Norwegian director Joachim Trier, Thelma tell the story of the eponymous character (Eili Harboe) moving away from her conservative Christian family to attend university in Oslo.

It is a bleakly atmospheric film throughout, and the audience is subjected to disjointed visions and revealing flashbacks scattered amongst the surrealist plot. Thelma struggles to make friends until she develops a connection with classmate Anja (Kaya Wilkins), which soon progresses into love.

Parallel to these growing feelings, Thelma starts to experience seizures that seem to correlate with the confusion and repression of her feelings. Flashbacks reveal mysterious powers manifesting in Thelma as a child, to devastating effect.

The key allegory throughout condemns the effect that oppressive belief systems have on, in this case, LGB+ youth. Rather than presenting Thelma as a passive victim, however, the film takes us along on Thelmas power trip that is as emotionally draining and complex for the audience as it is for her. Ultimately, triumph comes with loss, growing up comes with losing something in your relationship with your parents, and finding yourself often comes with a few growing pains (to put it mildly).

Unfortunately, though the message seems sound, its somehow both overstated and lost in translation at various points in the film. A terse conversation over dinner sets Thelma, who studies Biology, at odds with her religious father (Henrik Rafaelsen), following the well-trodden path of a science v.s religion debate with a very particular agenda.

Thelmas gay awakening comes with a slew of horror movie tropes  snakes where snakes have no business being, flickering lights, vivid hallucinations, and worst of all medical trauma. As doctors try to ascertain the cause of her seizures, they must try to induce one by strapping her to a gurney, flashing lights in her face, and forcing her to relive painful memories.

While by the end of the film the morality of this is affirmed by giving Thelma a happy ending and other people decidedly less happy ones, watching the terrorisation of a young girl due to her sexuality isnt the fun kind of horror-movie horror at all. The cinematography and pacing throughout is somewhat questionable, but particularly drags in these moments where brevity could have been more powerful.

A generally quiet and contemplative film, the moments of violence are stark and all the more affecting because of it. Ellen Dorrit Peterson plays Thelmas cold and distant mother with almost disconcerting ease, but again her character arc is confused. The conclusion lets her off the hook by painting her as another victim of Thelmas father, despite the flashbacks proving that she had as much of an impact on Thelmas traumatic childhood as he did.

Harboe gives an understated but powerful performance as Thelma, carrying the weight of shame as convincingly as the shyness and the hunger of new love. The most convincing part of the whole film, and the emotional heart of it, is the relationship between Thelma and Anja. Wilkins is casually alluring, and the two of them have a chemistry which lends credence to a film in dire need of it.

If you're looking for a feel good film where gay people don't have to suffer, try Love, Simon instead.

Thelma is available on DVD and Blu-Ray now.
The Republic of Ireland is set to vote in a historic referendum on whether to leaglise abortion the country's government has announced.

On Friday 25th of May the Irish electorate will vote on whether to repeal the Eigth Amendment of the country's constitution which restricts women's access to abortion in the majority Catholic country.

The amendment was signed into law in 1983 and states that unborn foetuses and pregnant women have an equal right to life. This is why pregnant women in Ireland are currently prohibted from having an abortion in almost all cases including rape.

With the exception of Malta, this gives Ireland the strictest abortion laws in the EU.

As things stand, women are only able to undergo an abortion if there is an imminent and substantial risk to the pregnant woman's life, an exception that was only made legal in 2013.

It is estimated that 12 women travel abroad from Ireland every day to access an abortion, so while abortions are illegal in Ireland, the constitution does not stop Irish women from obtaining access to abortion by travelling to other countries, like the U.K. This was not always the case however, as travelling to another country for an abortion was only legalised in Ireland following a referendum in 1992.

It is currently unclear which way the referendum will swing but campaigners on both sides have been very vocal.

A Sunday Times 2017 opinion poll, which surveyed a sample of eligible Irish voters from across the country, asked voters about their support for the introduction of abortion and provided some interesting results.

The poll results showed there to be majority support for legalising abortion in cases of rape and abuse, serious risk to the life of the mother, serious risk to the mental health of the mother and fetal abnormality that will likely lead to infant death. However, according to the results, the majority of voters surveyed indicated their support does not extend to abortion on demand or in cases where the abortion is requested due to the families inability to support a child financially.

Citizens who have left the country within the last 18 months are able to return to vote in the referendum where every vote will count in what may be a very close outcome. Whatever the result, this referendum is set to go down in Irish history.
Lucy Winrow, University of Salford

A student-led campaign to end sexual violence at universities  Revolt Sexual Assault (RSA)  published the results of a national student survey last month. It shows that 70% of female students and 26% of male students have experienced sexual violence  and almost one in ten female students have been raped at university.

The 2016 report, Changing the Culture , provided new guidance to help universities tackle this issue, but recent findings suggest little has changed  at least for students. And the higher education sector has been criticised for being complacent  only 27 universities provide mandatory sexual misconduct training for staff.

Students often live, work, study and socialise together, making it difficult for some to speak out about sexual violence, and seek help without feeling judged. For example, when I was working with colleagues to develop ProtectED  a national accreditation scheme for student safety, security and wellbeing  we spoke to students who kept quiet about their experiences to avoid falling out with flatmates.

In this way, the student bubble creates problems for victims and survivors who must share lectures, halls and social spaces with their attacker. And the RSA survey found that, of those who had experienced sexual violence at university, 25% skipped lectures and 16% suspended or dropped out of their degree.

Hot spots for sexual violence

If students are to have a positive student experience and reach their potential, universities must do more to prevent sexual violence on campus. The RSA survey identifies a key area where universities need to target their efforts and resources  as a significant proportion of incidents take place on social occasions and in social spaces such as university bars and shops.

Research suggests alcohol plays a part in many incidents that happen in these spaces. Drinkaware found that 72% of 18-to-24 year-old women have been sexually harassed on a night out. The majority of university students fall into this age range , and the NUS Hidden Marks report also found that, in cases of serious sexual assault, 50% of respondents believed that the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol.

Drinkawares campaign,  You wouldnt sober, you shouldnt drunk , highlights how behaviour such as groping is normalised for many young people on a night out. As a student we surveyed explains:

Even though I know the sexual assault was wrong, it happened at the campus nightclub. I felt like if I had reported it, I would have been making a big deal out of nothing.

A duty of care

Universities need to send a clear message that this behaviour will never be tolerated, wherever it takes place. And, while the traditional model of campus security focuses on protecting property, more enlightened universities are beginning to adopt a more student-centred approach. For these institutions, their duty of care to students does not end at the campus boundary, or outside normal working hours.

Helping to keep students safe in social spaces, the University of Sheffields Ask For Angela campaign provides a way for students to discreetly seek help from bar and door staff if someone is making them feel uncomfortable. At UCL , students can access the Departure Lounge, a safe space at UCLU club nights. This is run by sabbatical officers who can offer support and help students get home safely. Students Union bar staff and members of the security team at the University of Bath have received Good Night Out training, helping them to intervene and appropriately respond to incidents of sexual violence. And Good Night Out posters are displayed in the venue, sending a clear zero-tolerance message.

Some universities also work in partnership with the wider community to help students feel safe and supported. The University of Bradford is part of the Student Safe Spot scheme where local businesses offer refuge to students who feel distressed or threatened. Participating businesses display a sticker to let students know that they are welcome. Staff are trained to direct students to the appropriate support and can contact emergency services or university security, if needed.

At the University of York , the NightSafe scheme is run by student volunteers who are connected, via radio, to the police and door staff in the Citys bars and clubs. Volunteers are trained in first aid and conflict management, and can be directed towards vulnerable individuals.

Students also need safe, reliable and affordable ways to get home after a night out. The University of Manchester Safe Taxi scheme lets students book secure vehicles with GPS tracking, and they can use their student ID card as payment if they have lost their wallet  this is collected from the Students Union in exchange for the taxi fare on the following day.

Work to be done

But despite all of this great work being done at universities up and down the country, our research found these initiatives are not widely practised.

In a national survey, we asked students if their university had a safe zone initiative, safe taxi scheme, or student community wardens, 84%, 75% and 72% respectively said no, or that they didnt know. This is why we have developed measures to mitigate the risks that students face on a night out as part of our university accreditation scheme
Since Perth is not as well known as Sydney or Melbourne, but it is just as wonderful, here's a little guide for those of you who want to venture into this corner of the Australian continent.Perth is a place where nature and city life merge into one.

It seems incredible but you can see kangaroos without getting out of the city. In the middle of Swan River, there is a small island, Heirisson Island, which can be visited and where you'll find plenty of kangaroos.

specialty

If you want to see more typical Australian animals, like wombats and koalas, the place for you is Caversham Wildlife Park, a family owned farm that is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Perth.Perth is quite a big city, so it has many attractions for city lovers as well.It offers a wide range of shopping opportunities, including great indoor markets, towering malls anddepartment stores. As well as grabbing yourself some bargains, you can see some very nice city monuments. Check out the Bell Tower overlooking the Swan River, which is rung every day by a dedicated group of volunteers. Another option is to go all the way to East Perth to visit the Claisebrook Cove Bridge. Make sure to head out at night when it is lit up in a very beautiful way.And, of course, being in Australia, one cannot help but go to the beach.Perth, as the rest of the continent, has many beautiful beaches, many of them dog-friendly. Perhaps the most popular is Cottesloe Beach, a wonderful place to go have a very relaxing day. Besides, Perth has a privileged location, as from its beaches it is possible to see the sunset while sitting on the seashore of the Indian Ocean. It is definitely a sight that you won't want to miss! If you're more of an adrenaline junky, why not try out surfing lessons, paddleboarding or even wakeboarding through the bubbling water's edge? It will be nigh on impossible not to run into some sort of activity taking place on Perth's many beaches.
How much do you really know about tornadoes?

As the state prepares to take part in a simultaneous tornado drill at 1 p.m. April 11, Michigan State Police and the Michigan Committee for Severe Weather Awareness is looking to educate the public on the dangers of tornadoes.

RELATED: Statewide tornado drill set for 1 p.m. March 11

The following is information that will be used as a teaching tool during Severe Weather Awareness Week April 8 through 14. Did you know:

? NOAA Weather Radios provide 24-hour service of weather forecasts, watches, warnings and other emergency information and they can be purchased online from $25 to $100.

? A supercell is a system producing severe thunderstorms, featuring rotating winds sustained by a prolonged updraft that might result in hail or tornadoes.

? A tornado watch means tornadoes are possible in the area. Watch the sky and stay tuned to the radio or television for reports.

? A tornado warning means a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar in the area. Take shelter immediately.

An enhanced Fujita (EF) scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States and Canada. There are six categories for the scale and the range in order of intensity.

EF0  Estimated wind speed of 65-85 mph and leads to light damage

EF1  Estimated wind speed of 86-110 mph with the potential of moderate damage

EF2  Estimated wind speeds of 111-135 mph with significant damage potential

EF3  Estimated wind speeds of 136-165 mph with severe damage potential

EF4  Estimated wind speeds of 166-200 mph with devastating damage potential

EF5  Estimated wind speeds of over 200 mph with incredible damage potential

? If in a building with no basement, go to the center of a smaller interior room, such as a closet or hallway, that is away from corners, windows, doors and outside walls.

? If in a mobile home, exit the home and immediately go to a designated storm shelter. Even when mobile homes are tied down, they offer very little protection from a tornado.

? Do not seek shelter under an overpass or bridge. These are some of the most dangerous locations and you will be exposed to flying debris.

? If you are outside during a tornado, the only safe location is a sturdy permanent building.

? If outside and cannot get to a shelter, get to your vehicle.

? If flying debris occurs while driving, pull over and park. Stay in the vehicle with your seat belt on, covering your head and lying below the windows.
Pastor Terry Banks has ignited some controversy after saying he believes the Lincoln Park Fire Department allowed his house to burn longer than it should have because he is black.

The News-Herald was unable to reach Banks, but he spoke with The Detroit News about the incident at his house in the 26500 block of Outer Drive.

Banks said the firefighters appeared to be moving slower than typical, and that at one point, he heard one of them use a racial slur. He was unable to identify which firefighter issued the alleged comment.

I believe if I was a Caucasian pastor standing up there, they would have put that fire out immediately, Banks told The Detroit News.

The call came in about 3:14 p.m. Feb. 21 and the Fire Department was at the house within seven minutes, according to documents provided by the city. Upon arrival, they called for mutual aid assistance from Ecorse and Wyandotte to help douse the blaze.

Additional resources from other communities were sought under the mutual aid agreement, City Attorney Edward Zelenak said. The neighboring agencies fighting the fire have corroborated the firefighting efforts therein. Everyone acted professionally and properly under established protocols.

In a statement, Lincoln Park Fire Chief Steve Martin called the allegations false, and said Banks made no complaints the day of the fire or for several weeks after.

Seconds can feel like minutes and minutes can feel hours, Martin said. In this case, however, the audio evidence refutes the statements that there was any delay in suppression.

Martin said that Banks was pleasant and complimentary to the department on the day of the fire.

After an internal investigation, Zelenak said there is no evidence of the racial slur that Banks alleged either. All recorded conversations were reviewed, but not all communication at the fire is recorded.

Its difficult for the man who lost his house, Zelenak said. The man was in the house when the fire started, but he didnt call it in. We responded to an alarm call.

According to Martin, his department acted quickly despite an initial momentary setback. The first hydrant they tried to hook up to wasnt working, but they hooked up to a second one farther down the street and pumped more than 500 gallons of water within minutes of arriving at the property. The blaze was strong enough that the roof partially collapsed, but firefighters remained inside the structure to attempt to save what they could.

Between knocking the fire down, and the clean up afterward, firefighters were at the house for about five hours.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples Western Wayne chapter, located in Inkster, has been acting on Banks behalf to look into the incident.

This is racism and discrimination at its best, the Rev. W.J. Rideout III told The Detroit News. We want justice for that entire family. This is not a person who is committing a crime. Hes a well-respected person in the community and for them to allow this to happen  its an injustice.

Other than the public complaints, there have been no formal complaints against the city filed.

SEE ALSO: Porsche Cayman stolen from Lincoln Park Foreign Cars

Lincoln Park fire supporting documents by David Herndon on Scribd
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Special counsel Robert Mueller has obtained evidence that calls into question Congressional testimony given by Trump supporter and Blackwater founder Erik Prince last year, when he described a meeting in Seychelles with a Russian financier close to Vladimir Putin as a casual chance encounter over a beer, sources told ABC News.



Well-connected Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, a key witness given limited immunity by Mueller, has been interviewed seven times by prosecutors on a wide range of subjects. He told investigators that he set up a meeting in the Seychelles between Prince and Russian sovereign wealth fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev, mere days before Trump was inaugurated, sources familiar with the investigation said this week.



Nader has submitted to three interviews with special counsel investigators and four appearances before a federal grand jury in Washington since agents stopped him at Dulles International Airport in January; served him with a grand jury subpoena; and seized his electronic devices, including his cellphone. Documents obtained by Mueller suggest that before and after Prince met Nader in New York a week before the trip to the Seychelles, Nader shared information with Prince about Dmitriev, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News, which appears to be inconsistent with Princes sworn testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives investigative panel.



"I didn't fly there to meet any Russian guy," Prince told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in November. He testified that he traveled to the Seychelles for a meeting with United Arab Emirates officials about possible business opportunities, and they introduced him -- unexpectedly -- to Dmitriev.



As of late March, Muellers team has not asked Prince -- whose sister Betsy DeVos serves as Trumps Secretary of Education -- to appear before the grand jury being used to investigate whether Trump campaign officials or transition aides colluded with Russian government operatives, according to one of Princes friends.



Prince told the House Intelligence Committee that his meeting with Dmitriev was a chance encounter down in the bar at the suggestion of "one of the brothers" of the United Arab Emirates' leader Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nayhan.



"At the end, one of the entourage says, 'Hey, by the way, theres this Russian guy that weve dealt with in the past. Hes here also to see someone from the Emirati delegation. And you should meet him. He'd be an interesting guy for you to know, since youre doing a lot in the oil and gas and mineral space, Prince told lawmakers under oath in his sworn testimony. So, as I recall, I met him, this same guy I talked about, Kirill Dmitriev. Met him down in the bar after dinner, and we talked for 30 minutes over a beer, and that was it.



Sources said Nader -- who worked at the time for the Emirati leader, known as "MBZ -- tells a different story. According to multiple sources, the U.A.E., an important U.S. ally increasingly eager to be seen as a global powerbroker, wanted to bring a Russian close to the Kremlin together with someone Nader believed was a trusted confidant of members of the incoming administration.



Sources told ABC News Nader met with Prince at New York's Pierre Hotel a week before the Jan. 11, 2017, meeting in the Seychelles, and later sent Prince biographical information about Dmitriev, which, according to those sources, noted that Dmitriev had been appointed by Putin to oversee the state-run sovereign wealth fund.



Nader said he then facilitated and personally attended the meetings, including one between Prince and Dmitriev, at a resort owned by MBZ off the coast of East Africa, the sources told ABC News. One of the primary goals of the meeting, Nader told investigators, was to discuss foreign policy and to establish a line of communication between the Russian government and the incoming Trump administration, sources told ABC News.



Nader -- who Prince said in a 2010 lawsuit deposition had once represented his military contractor business in Iraq -- was not mentioned in Prince's congressional testimony despite Prince being asked by lawmakers who was present. Prince said only that Dmitriev's wife was there but she left after a few minutes while they discussed terrorism and oil prices.



A spokesperson for Prince told ABC News on Thursday that "Erik has said all there is to say to the committee and has nothing further to add." Prince has said that the Seychelles meeting was leaked to the news media last year in an illegal unmasking of his identity in U.S. signals intelligence intercepts.



Nader, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is an enigma in the nearly yearlong probe of the Trump presidential campaign's dealings with Russians linked to the Kremlin.



His background and credibility have come under attack as his name appeared in recent headlines. He has been arrested twice in the U.S., first in 1984 and again in 1991, and convicted once, according to court records unsealed in March, for possession of pornographic videos featuring underage boys. He also reportedly served prison time in the Czech Republic in 2003 for similar crimes.



Nader's lawyers at powerhouse firm Latham & Watkins, which includes former Obama White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, have said unnamed individuals are dredging up the old criminal cases to discredit him as an important witness for Mueller. They declined to comment to ABC News on Nader's interactions with the special counsel, and Nader himself has refused to speak about the Russia probe.



Few in Washington remember George Nader, whose colorful biography reads like a spy thriller: His career has spanned the globe, and along the way he has been a hostage negotiator, arms broker, security operative and, now, an important witness for the former director of the FBI.



Hes even negotiated with the Kremlin. According to Al-Monitor, a news website covering the Middle East, Nader helped broker a $4.2 billion arms deal between Iraq and Russia in 2012.



Naders associates said he has embarked on countless sensitive diplomatic missions overseas and was once a special adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. He had easy access to the White House under President Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton, according to former officials, and he visited the Trump White House last year despite his criminal record.



Nader posed with Trump for a picture and even helped arrange the new American president's first major foreign trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last year, two top Trump advisers told ABC News.



"He has worked for the Israelis, the Syrians, the Iranians, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Shiites in southern Iraq," said Mouafac Harb, a Lebanese former journalist who has known Nader for decades. "Hes typical of the kind of shady operatives you often see in the Middle East.



His 1991 federal conviction in Alexandria, Virginia, for being caught returning from Germany with videotapes in his luggage "depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct" highlights the conflicting chapters in his life.



Prominent foreign policy figures sent testimonials to the federal trial court judge in Virginia, including one friend who said Nader, a Lebanese Christian, "is risking his life" to help free a dozen American, British and other hostages held in Beirut in 1991, by leveraging his close ties to the Shi'a terrorist group Hezbollah. The letters to the judge were provided to ABC News last week by Nader's legal team.



The judge in 1991 sentenced Nader to six months in a halfway house -- well below mandatory sentencing guidelines at that time -- and allowed him to travel to both Moscow and Beirut during his criminal proceedings, later citing Nader's "extraordinary cooperation with the government in certain areas."



The 1991 criminal case was ordered sealed for six months. Instead, it remained under seal for 26 years, until a judge opened the case file last month amid news reports about Nader cooperating with Mueller. Sources told ABC News the U.S. government did not want Nader's secrets easily unearthed while he operated as a backchannel on sensitive matters.



"We used him because we needed all the channels we could get into the Syrian security establishment," said a former top career American diplomat in Damascus, who was aware of Nader's activities in the years following his 1991 conviction. "Nobody was looking for his child porn case. Nobody cared about that stuff at all back then. He was providing too invaluable a service to us."



Nader, according to one former diplomat, has a rare and valuable skill.



"His stock in trade is access and influence, the former diplomat said. He finds a way to be valuable to people.



But Nader had dropped off the radar of many former associates two decades ago, including those who worked in Washington for his Middle East Insight magazine, which held many foreign policy discussions hosted by Nader and televised on C-SPAN until it folded around the time of his criminal conviction.



"Until his name appeared recently, I had no idea that Mr. Nader was even alive," said one former writer at the magazine, who, like most of Nader's associates, declined to be identified by name.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
An initiated measure will be on the ballot this year proposing to move the state minimum wage in three steps from $7.25 to $15 by 2021. Needless to say, the proposal will stir election politics.

Controversial? Michael Saltsman of the Employment Policies Institute is already writing against the proposal with op-ed pieces for North Dakota newspapers.

The Employment Policies Institute has spent its 25 years of existence fighting all and any wage increases across the country with the hackneyed argument that raising the minimum wage will eliminate jobs.

In the North Dakota piece, he argued that a $15 minimum wage is unnecessary because we have jobs that already exceed that minimum. If that were true across the state, no one would be hurt by a wage hike so why is he fighting it?

A flat $15 minimum wage in North Dakota is going to be seen by many as a bridge too far. It may be appropriate in the urban areas but it will run into trouble in the smaller communities where working folks are happy with $7.25, accepting the fact that small town businesses cant handle $15.

What this means is that one statewide minimum wage doesnt fit all. (It never does.)

Jonathan Cowan and Jim Kessler of Third Way, a centrist policy institute, argue against a uniform national minimum wage because the range of living costs varies widely across the country. The same is true about minimum wages at the state level.

Saltsmans argument about jobs sounds more logical than it is. In fact, some studies suggest that the states that have raised their minimum wages have actually generated more employment.

Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, reports that real pay grew more than twice as fast in states that raised minimum wages and that gains for women were larger because they tend to be underpaid.

More jobs with routine functions are now being lost by conversion to technology, even in the fast food restaurants. This is being done in businesses now paying only the federal minimum wage of $7.25. And it will continue regardless of the minimum wage.

We are telling employees that they can have jobs that pay only poverty wages and if we raise them out of poverty the jobs will disappear. So the only choice is poverty. Doesnt sound like the land of opportunity.

At the federal minimum wage of $7.25, the monthly income is $58 per day, $280 per week and $1,305 a month. This is not a living wage it is supplementary income.

While the federal minimum wage has been a puny $7.25 since 2010, states have been taking the initiative, either by legislation or by a vote of the people. The ballot box has forced higher minimum wages in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine and Washington. Going to the people will become more common as long as we stonewall negotiation of wage levels.

The business community has forced this issue into Washington by their destruction of labor unions. Union negotiations would lead to minimum wages suitable for individual classes of businesses rather than having government impose one standard on all businesses.

Management and employees both would be better off if they could sit down and consider what the different North Dakota businesses can afford. Without unions to negotiate, the government will set the wages.

In his op-ed piece, Saltsman proposed the North Dakota citizens not sign the petitions to put the $15 wage proposal on the ballot. As the mouthpiece for some distance organization, it is really none of his business. So North Dakotans should sign the petitions and force a robust public discussion of the issue.

Omdahl is a former lieutenant governor and former political science professor at UND.
The majority of veterans I have met, and I as well, feel our training and experiences in the military helped make us better citizens when we got out. The military taught traits and skills such as commitment, teamwork, leadership, responsibility, and a sense of duty. These qualities and skills, no doubt, helped mold many of our presidents as well.

Did you know that of the 44 presidents who have served our nation, all but 12 served in the military? They either served at the federal level as active duty or Reserve members, or in their state National Guard or militia. We, of course, first think about the great generals who became President like George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. But when we look at all our presidents who are veterans, we find they served at all ranks from Private to General. All but one of these 32 Presidents served as an officer. Even Abraham Lincoln served as a Captain in the Illinois State Militia (for three months) during the Black Hawk War. James Buchanan was the only president to serve in the enlisted ranks. He served as a Private in the Pennsylvania State Militia during the War of 1812.

Several of our presidents were wounded during their time in service. James Monroe was wounded at the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War. Franklin Pierce received a leg injury during a battle in the Mexican-American War. Rutherford B. Hayes was wounded at the Battle of South Mountain during the Civil War. John Kennedy served in combat during WWII and received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, and the Purple Heart for his injuries. George H.W. Bush was a Navy aviator, shot down, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross during WWII. Theodore Roosevelt is the only president to receive the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for his heroic action during the Spanish-American War.

History has rated which of our presidents have been great leaders, which have been average, and which have been not so good. I would like to think no matter what their rating is, the time they spent in the military made them better at what they did as president.

I would also like to believe this applies not only to our presidents but to the majority of veterans as well. Their contributions, to the military and the civilian world, have made our country a better nation. If we think about it in this way, it should help motivate us to find ways to honor all our veterans and support them by seeing they receive the benefits they have earned and deserve. That is my commitment to them as a Veteran Service Officer.
 Vincent J. Belgarde, of Rolette, pleaded guilty to B misdemeanor driving while license privilege is suspended. He was ordered to pay $475 in fees. He was sentenced to 30 days confinement at the Heart of America Correctional & Treatment Center with 20 days suspended and 10 days credit for time served; and 360 days unsupervised probation.

 Austin James Bercier, of Minot, pleaded guilty to B misdemeanor possession/consumption of alcohol by a person under 21. He was ordered to complete a chemical dependency evaluation and recommended treatment, and pay $450 in fees. He was sentenced to 30 days confinement at HACTC with 25 days suspended and five days credit for time served; and 360 days unsupervised probation.

 Jason Allen Demery, of Dunseith, pleaded guilty to B misdemeanor charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. He was ordered to complete a chemical dependency evaluation and recommended treatment, and pay $250 in fees. He was placed on 360 days unsupervised probation.

 A charge of driving while license privilege is suspended against Kenneth Eugene Graham (Minot Air Force Base) was dismissed.

 Giovonni Lennon Jeanotte, of Rolla, pleaded guilty to A misdemeanor unlawful delivery to certain persons. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service, and pay $425 in fees. He was sentenced to 30 days confinement at HACTC with 30 days suspended and eight days credit for time served; and 360 days unsupervised probation.

 Zebulin Michael Ziesemer, of Williston, pleaded guilty to A misdemeanor charges of driving while license privilege is suspended and false reports to law enforcement or other security officials. He was ordered to pay $325 in fees. He was sentenced to 360 days confinement at HACTC, first serve 30 days, with eight days credit for time served; and 360 days unsupervised probation.

 Kirk Monte Wilkie, of Rugby, pleaded guilty to B misdemeanor theft of property. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service, and pay $1,792 in fees-however a $1,500 fine would be suspended on the condition that he complete a successful probation. He was sentenced to 30 days confinement at HACTC with 30 days suspended; and 360 days unsupervised probation.
By Ahon Gooptu

gooptuah@grinnell.edu

Andrea Conner, associate vice president for student affairs (AVP), will conclude her nine-year tenure at Grinnell College at the end of this semester. The College announced in a special campus memo on Thursday, April 5 that Conner will be replaced by Sarah Moschenross, who is currently dean of students.

Prior to serving as AVP for four years, Conner held a position that has now been broken down into two jobs.

I was assistant dean of students that worked with residence life and orientation. So I supervised RLCs and planned orientation, she said.

Conner has enjoyed her time in Grinnell for nearly a decade. However, with a six-year-old child in the picture, Conner and her partner began to talk about raising their child in an urban area.

We both love it here, alas. I love my job and the people that I work with here are fantastic and are among the best in the country in what they do, she said.

As luck would have it, the first job that Conner applied to appeared to be her next calling. Conner will be leaving Grinnell to join Lake Forest College, located in the northern Chicago suburbs, as Vice President and Dean of Students, a combination of a couple of positions here.

I fell in love with them and they fell in love with me, she said.

Although she has never lived in the Chicagoland area, Lake Forest feels very familiar to Conner, as it is a part of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM). Having attended Coe College as a music and theatre major in Iowa and previously worked at Macalester College in Minnesota and Knox College in Illinois, Lake Forest will be the fifth college under the ACM that she will have attended or worked for.

My career in student affairs was inspired in a small, private, residential liberal arts college. Those are the environments that work best for me. The students and often the faculty and staff, live and work right here in the community. Theres something really vibrant about that, something really dynamic about the energy. I dont think I would be a good fit for a big university, frankly, she said.

Conners job in Grinnell requires her to work closely with the presidents cabinet and the vice president for academic affairs. But primarily, she supervises all the departments in student affairs, including campus safety, SHACS, religious life, international student life, intercultural affairs, student activities and residence life.

I feel like Ive contributed a lot to the division of student affairs, mostly by hiring really great people who know what theyre doing so that I could support them and make some fantastic improvements for the benefit of our students, she said.

Stabilizing the turnover of employees in SHACS, making the decision to include intercultural life as a part of student affairs, which was able to serve the underserved people in the institution such as students of color and LGBT students, and investing in campus safety constitute only some of the major changes that student affairs has seen under Conners time as AVP.

I think whoever leads the division of student affairs next will reap the benefits of a very strong staff, who are so good at their jobs and eager for change and improvement. They are hard workers, dedicated professionals who are focused on the well being of our students, she said.

Continuing in positions similar to her current one seems to be Conners trajectory. The only other thing on her bucket list is acquiring a doctorate degree, while working part-time.

This has been my entire career. I fell in love with higher education in the liberal arts when I was an undergraduate. So my Masters degree is in higher education administration, which is not a thing that I knew you could study!

As a farewell to the students and her colleagues here at Grinnell, she wanted everyone to know how much Ive appreciated my time here and Im excited to go but reluctant to leave.

Announced in a Campus Memo Thursday afternoon, Sarah Moschenross, current Dean of Students, will fill Andrea Conners position as AVP.
By Mayo Sueta

suetamay@grinnell.edu

Andrew Jennings, professor of violin and chamber music at the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at the University of Michigan, came to campus on April 2 and 3 to perform violin and teach a master class on string instruments.

According to his profile on the University of Michigan website, Jennings was a founding member of the Concord String Quartet, a quartet that went on to receive three nominations for the Grammy Awards.

His visit to campus was funded by the Donald S. Noyce 44 Master Class Project Endowed Fund, which was founded in the honor of Robert Noyces brother and Grinnell alumnus who started playing the cello at age 47. The fund was established to offer annual master classes in a stringed instrument to provide Grinnell College students the opportunity to improve their musical skill, according to the Grinnell College website.

For participant Joe Reck 20, Jenningss master class was enjoyable and made him look at music from a different point of view.

I enjoyed it. It was good to have a new perspective on music.  Its a real gift that were able to have that at Grinnell. Hes a good teacher and he really made me justify everything, every phrase musically, Reck said. He really emphasized the level of concentration and shaping a phrase really intentionally.

Reck had the opportunity to work with Jennings for both his solo piece and his chamber group piece.

I got to play solo repertoire for him for 30 minutes and then 45 minutes of work with my chamber group, so I got to work with him twice at two different settings, Reck said.

Erin Kim 21 also worked with Jennings both individually and as part of a group, and took away different lessons from each session.

In the chamber music, he definitely focused on some ensemble stuff, keeping the tempo and staying together, being consistent the entire time, while with the solo you can be more free, she said.

Kim felt that the master class challenged her outside of the technical aspects of playing music.

He asked us to imagine a lot of things, so we could have an image in our mind in order to portray something. He asked me to think of something sad and  Im not exactly very good at  imagining things to connect it to the music so that was kind of challenging, she said. He was extremely energetic and very enthusiastic and he definitely had an idea of what he wanted the music to sound like and he tried to use imagination to cue us to get the sound.

She also noticed that some of Jennings suggestions about her piece differed from what her instructors at Grinnell had given, giving her a possible different interpretation for her piece.

Some of the suggestions that he had were really different from what Professor [Nancy] Gaub, [music], offered.  Some notes he preferred separated, while Professor Gaub told us that she liked it more connected so  it was interesting to hear someone elses opinion on the pieces because theres just a million different ways you can play it, Kim said. Every musician has their own taste, I guess.
By Chloe Wray

wraychlo@grinnell.edu

The Poweshiek County Democratic Party held its convention on March 17 in Malcom, Iowa. Sayles Kasten 19 was among a group of 14 Grinnell College students representing Grinnells First Ward at the Convention.

Specifically, for me, the convention was really important because it showed that student power is a growing force in Iowa, probably a determining factor in the next couple of election cycles, Kasten said. Id like to see Iowa students changing politics in a major way, for the better.

Kasten and other students played a major role in the Feb. 5 Democratic Caucus, and have been involved with Iowa Student Action in organizing students to attend the caucus and subsequently the convention in support of gubernatorial candidate Cathy Glasson.

The official date for Iowas Democratic County Conventions was March 24. However, Poweshiek County held its convention a week early to accommodate Grinnell College student delegates who would otherwise have been on spring break. Poweshiek Countys Republican Party held its convention on March 10.

The delegates representing each precinct at the conventions were chosen at preliminary caucuses held on Feb. 5. Poweshiek County is a part of District 1, which covers the northeastern corner of the state, and on April 28, the Republican and Democratic Parties will meet for district conventions. The district conventions precede a state convention for each party on June 16, following state-wide primaries on June 5.

According to Chris Varney, chair of Poweshiek Countys Republican Party, the main objectives of any county convention are to select delegates to go on to represent the county at the district and state level, debate platform planks submitted on caucus night or propose new ones and to hear any candidates running for office.

At Poweshiek Countys Democratic Convention, of the 89 delegates in attendance, six were chosen to continue to the district and state conventions. Three of those were Grinnell College students: Abby Frerick 21, Arish Vale 21 and Kate Menner 18. The state convention will draw around 1,000 Democratic delegates.

Given that there are multiple candidates running for governor as Democrats, the delegates chosen to represent the county at the district and state conventions voted to split into preference groups by gubernatorial candidates, wrote John Grennan, Poweshiek County Democrats co-chair, in an email to The S&B. This means that delegates were chosen to represent certain candidates for governor (though these commitments are nonbinding). Our groups picked two delegates for Cathy Glasson, one for Nate Boulton, one for Fred Hubbell, one for John Norris and one for uncommitted (delegates who have not made a choice of who they are supporting for governor). Across the state, Nate Boulton won the most committed delegates, followed by Cathy Glasson and Fred Hubbell. But the largest group of delegates statewide are uncommitted.

The choice of delegates plays an important part in the selection of candidates.

If no candidate for governor wins 35 percent or more of the vote in the June primary, the state convention will choose the candidate that will represent the Democratic Party, Grennan wrote. Thats one of the reasons the elections for these delegates are important.

Kasten and other students pushed for the preferential voting because the large number of Democratic candidates leads to a relatively high likelihood that no candidate will win the requisite 35 percent in the primary election and the choice will fall to the delegates at the state convention. Additionally, Kasten felt that by bringing people out to the caucuses and conventions in support of a candidate, momentum would be built, proving the strength of the candidates support base and the power of a grassroots movement.

As incumbent Gov. Kim Reynolds is unopposed, the Republican Party did not enter preferential voting. Of the 35 delegates chosen at the February caucuses to represent their respective wards, 20 attended the Republican County Convention. 12 delegates and 12 alternates were chosen for the district and state conventions, and those chosen need not have attended the convention to be appointed as a delegate.

We want to re-elect Gov. Reynolds, thats probably our biggest priority from a state-wide perspective, Varney said. Ron Corbett, the mayor of Cedar Rapids, had previously been slated to oppose Reynolds, but did not collect enough valid signatures on his petition to run to earn a spot on the ballot. Because Reynolds will be unopposed in the primaries, the party is focusing on supporting those running for other offices in the primaries and drawing continued support for the general elections.

The delegates in attendance at Poweshieks Republican County Convention decided to support the Heartbeat Bill, which will be added as an addendum to the Partys platform. The bill is an anti-abortion measure that prevents abortions, with the exception of saving a womans life, after the first detection of a fetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

By passing this as a county, it means we support this piece of legislature that is before the Iowa State Legislature, and we hope that they would listen to our opinions on the matter, Varney said. Poweshiek Countys Republican Party did not choose to add any other addendums to their platform.

In addition to the issues of CAFOs and the minimum wage, the function of caucuses was called into question at the Democratic convention.

Caucuses are really undemocratic. They really favor people who can be at a certain place at a certain time, who have a certain means, Kasten said. However, the issue was not discussed at length, and the proposed Democratic Party county platform was approved by a voice vote.

The Republican convention heard from Dave Maxwell, a current Iowa State Representative up for re-election; Trevor White, a Poweshiek County supervisor up for re-election; Merle Doty, who is running for Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors and Craig Lang, who is from Poweshiek County and running for Iowa State Secretary of Agriculture in the primaries. At the Democratic County Convention, gubernatorial candidates John Norris, Andy McGuire, Nate Boulton and Fred Hubbell presented to delegates. Representatives and individuals in support of candidates who were unable to attend were welcome to speak at the conventions on their behalf.

Iowans have a lot of pride in their first-of-the-year caucus; Iowans have a lot of pride in the political process, and the process continues even though youre not electing a president, Varney said. Were just going to the district convention to listen to new ideas, maybe give some new ideas, to have a voice in the system. Its important for every county to have a voice.

Varney acknowledged the difficulties associated with an off-year election, but was hopeful in the high level of participation he sees amongst the party.

Our goal as a party is to support the candidates that the largest percentage of Iowan Democrats trust to promote the health, economic well-being, and civil rights of all Iowans, as well the states long-term commitments to the environment and public education, Grennan wrote. We plan to accomplish these goals through a robust volunteer effort to reach voters before the November election.

Primaries for both parties will be held on June 5, while the general election is slated to take place on Nov. 6.
By Seth Taylor

taylorse@grinnell.edu

On Wednesday, April 5, the Grinnell League of Women Voters hosted an event to discuss the state of mental healthcare in Iowa at Drake Community Library. The event was held in response to recently-passed legislation meant to upgrade the states dismal mental health services.

The Iowa House and Senate both voted unanimously in favor of the Complex Needs Bill in a rare show of bipartisan agreement on a major issue, likely prompted by near-universal public opinion. A February Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, for instance, showed that 73 percent of Iowans believe the mental health system in Iowa is in crisis or is a big problem.

The Complex Needs Bill provides for the creation of access centers designed to offer short-term care to those suffering from less severe mental health afflictions, freeing up long-term care resources. The bill will also create Assertive Community Treatment teams, which will interact with community members suffering from mental illness and hopefully reduce the need for hospitalization.

Alongside the Complex Needs Bill, the House and Senate also passed a bill meant to reduce teen suicide by mandating that all Iowa teachers receive suicide prevention training.

In the wake of the new legislation, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced her intention to issue an executive order to establish a system for childrens mental healthcare, based on recommendations by the Childrens Advisory Committee. However, it remains unclear how that executive order would be carried out.

A press release from the Governors office hailed this legislation as representing Iowas commitment to treating Iowans facing mental health challenges with compassion and dignity.

Others identified the legislation as a necessary but far from complete framework for mental healthcare reform in Iowa.

Discussing this wave of recent actions was among the main goals of the League of Women Voters event. The League invited Professor Tammy Nyden, philosophy and Jody Eaton, CEO of Central Iowa Community Services, to speak. They discussed the new legislation and the broader state of Iowas mental healthcare.

In addition to her role at Central Iowa Community Services, Eaton is a member of the Complex Services Needs Workgroup, the group responsible for the basis of the Complex Needs Bill. She is also a member of the Iowa Mental Health and Disability Services (MHDS) committee, which will be tasked with transforming the bill into workable policy.

During the event, Eaton described the range of services the CICS provides for those mentally ill Iowans suffering from a lack of resources, specifically a lack of in-patient beds. She is excited for the opportunities this legislation creates, but cautioned that funding is yet to be solidified. Some point to Republican legislation slashing state revenue that has already passed the Senate as cause for concern, though the House has yet to pass a version of the bill.

Nyden, a philosophy professor at Grinnell College and the mother of a child with mental illness, is primarily an advocate for childrens mental healthcare. Iowa has no statewide childrens mental healthcare system, which, according to Nyden, is a grievous mistake.

Nyden argued that the establishment of a childrens mental healthcare system is vital to long-term mental health success in Iowa.

We know that up until the mid-twenties is the best, most effective time to treat the brain, because thats when its developing, when you can do the most good in treatment, she said. We are paying, right now for not having a childs mental health system.

Nyden accused state legislators of shying away from serious action whenever substantial amounts of money were requested and intentionally limiting the voices of reform committees, putting the health and wellbeing of Iowa children at risk.

Despite the newly-minted legislation, most of those in attendance seemed to reflect that opinion, expressing frustration with politicians they saw as shirking their responsibility to provide services to those most at risk, contradicting the narrative state legislators have spun of the Complex Needs Bill as a historic success in reforming Iowa mental healthcare.
By Vera Kahn

kahnvera@grinnell.edu

Since 2002, parks departments across the United States have been engaged in a battle against an elusive foe: the emerald ash borer. The insect, whose native range extends across temperate forests in east Asia, was unintentionally introduced to the U.S. state of Michigan 16 years ago. The borer resides in and consumes ash trees, progressively doing enough damage to topple the trees. The bug most likely came to North America on wooden shipping materials like pallets, and, since the species has no natural predators in the United States, emerald ash borers have spread to more than 29 states. Their rapid expansion in the U.S. has been helped along by humans, who unwittingly aid their migration by transporting firewood contaminated with the bugs, their eggs or their larvae. Iowa is officially a quarantine state when it comes to the emerald ash borer, and it is against the law to move firewood across the state border, although it can be moved within the state.

The ban, though, is as much to keep the bugs in as to keep them out. According to Kory Kinnick, a park ranger at Rock Creek State Park, the emerald ash borer has been physically discovered in roughly fifty counties out of ninety-nine in the state of Iowa.

Even if bugs have not been physically discovered in a given county, a threat may still exist.

Poweshiek County is not immune to the spread of this invasive insect. At Rock Creek State Park, located just seven miles west of Grinnell College, no specimens of the beetle have been found. However, the signatures of the bugs presence, such as the holes left by woodpeckers hunting for larvae have be seen.

In light of these signature markings, the park has been forced to remove all ash trees. Kinnick said that this step was mandated by state policy: Any tree that is in an area where people are going to recreate must come down.

The emerald ash borer eats away at the inside of ash trees, eventually rendering them brittle and liable to snap off during stormy, windy weather. This creates a risk to human life, as trees can fall on trails, in campgrounds or in electrical areas.

To make matters worse, ash trees are common in Rock Creek State Park. Kinnick explained that Rock Creek was established after an epidemic of Dutch Elm disease wiped out other species, and that ash trees became that go-to bulletproof tree, and they planted a lot of them.

By Kinnicks count, there are less than 50 ash trees still standing. This summer will see a thinning of those trees, and the rest of them should be down by next winter.

Its disheartening, Kinnick said. We see a lot of magnificently beautiful ash trees out at the Rock Creek State Park campgrounds, but we cant risk a life versus a tree.

The trees that are felled will not go to waste. They can be salvaged for firewood  provided it does not leave Iowa.
The Iowa Rural Development Summit took place on April 5 and 6 at Hotel Grinnell. The two-day event was attended by groups of three individuals from rural communities across Iowa, who discussed strategies for rural development and what has and has not been successful in the past. The Summit is a new strategy to better connect rural communities to foster collaboration and ideas for development.

The first Summit took place in November of 2016 in Jefferson, Iowa. This years Summit was only the second Summit to ever take place, but the Rural Development Council has been around since the 1990s and the Summit is an extension of the roles of the Council.

[The Rural Development Council] had traditionally been a forum for partners to get together once a quarter to talk about the work they were doing in small towns, said Bill Menner, Executive Director of the Iowa Rural Development Council. It was lots of information sharing, and it was [in] 2016 that the group said, we get together once a quarter, we have all these really powerful partners, we could do a lot more. We started talking about the need for capacity building in rural communities. In addition to his role in the organization, the Rural Development Council is also a client of Menners consulting firm.

The 2016 Summit was created to start a dialogue about development between rural communities. Over 300 people attended the Summit to discuss which development strategies did and did not work in their communities. Menner described these collaborations as the source of progress, and noted that that there is strength in numbers.

How do you make projects happen in a small town? Part of its from learning through other towns and how theyre doing it, he said.

The theme of this years Summit was housing in the rural setting. The two-day length of the gathering creates more opportunities for networking and connections between different communities.

[A community] may think that [they are] operating in a vacuum, but in fact theres probably a hundred other towns that are doing the same thing, Menner said. If you get them in the same room at the same time, and they start talking about this stuff, theres this great flow of ideas.

The only requirement for participating in the Summit is that towns must send teams of three. Any person could be on the team, but the members are typically involved in development. The rationale behind the number is that teams will go back to their towns with momentum built, making it more likely that change will take place than if only one voice was heard.

Multiple activities took place during the Summit. Various keynote speakers were in attendance, including Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg. Break-out sessions allowed a more narrow focus on specific aspects of rural communities. There were numerous chances for discussion among people from different communities, including the lunch served during group discussions. Additionally, there was a Rural Recognition Reception that honored local leadership. Even a YouTube star, Scott Siepker, creator of the hit series Iowa Nice, attended the event.

Ultimately, the goal of the Summit was to provide communities with resources and opportunities for development that they may not have the ability to access.

Part of it is introducing ideas, part of it is sharing best practices and part of it, we hope, is getting [communities] to think strategically about what their community is going to look like, Menner said. The status quo is not an option. They have to be thinking ahead, because if they think they can leave things as they are, or go back to 1950, thats not an answer.

Menner intends to continue the Iowa Rural Development Summit and expand the program. For next year, Menner plans to focus the Summit on the social determinants of health, providing an opportunity to consider the factors in a community that directly impact individual health.
By Ahon Gooptu

gooptuah@grinnell.edu



Over spring break, five professors and 38 students traveled overseas as part of three different courses.

Professors Shannon Hinsa-Leasure and Susan Ferguson, biology and sociology respectively, accompanied 15 first-year students in the Global Learning Program to Cuba and Costa Rica. The course, which investigates the structure of health care systems in United States as compared to the ones in Costa Rica, Cuba and Denmark, attracted applicants interested in a range of issues associated with the topic.

Coming here, one of my biggest academic interests was public health  and obviously, travel, when its covered by the school, is very appealing.  To be able to learn outside a classroom, to see the real situations, that was one of the main reasons I applied, said participant Jasper Yang 21.

The students visited several hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, traveling every step of the way with respected and experienced doctors. Yang really appreciated the magnitude of access that they had to these individuals, who were only too happy to share their stories.

The preparation for the trip (which included both readings and Skype-in conference calls with guests) had been intense in the first half of the semester, leaving most of the lecturers in Cuba and Costa Rica really surprised by the amount that the students already knew. But culturally, there were many things that took the students by surprise. Yang, who had a preconceived notion of Cuba thanks to its disreputable representation in American media, was quite taken aback by some of the liberal paintings and loud expressions in an art museum, such as a clown in the military or people portrayed kissing with a barrier of condoms between their lips.

Sammie Stagg 21, who was more interested in the nutrition side of global health, reminisced about the bond that the students shared by the end of the trip.

Going into the trip, even though we had spent half the semester together, we didnt really know each other that well outside of class, besides a friendly hello every so often.  Halfway through the trip, the program coordinator in Cuba looked at us and said, Im surprised you guys didnt know each other, you act like brothers and sisters! Stagg said.

The class will be traveling to Denmark at the end of the semester for an additional half credit to explore the health care systems there.

Students taking Art, Media and the Built Environment Within the Revolution in Cuba also traveled to Cuba with Professor Fredo Rivera, art and art history.

Nicole Rosengurt 20, who has a special interest in the Soviet influence in Cuban art as well as the intersection of politics and art, recalls reading about the different political scenarios that Cuba witnessed prior to the 1959 revolution as primary preparation for the trip.

One of the stops on the trip, the National Art School in Cuba, symbolizes both the highest and lowest points of the revolution for Rosengurt. This is because of the historical and cultural significance of the Art School right after the revolution, as well as its failure after being militarized. She also appreciated the fact that they did not stay in one part of the island for too long and instead got to see the metropolitan side, the rural side and the commercial hubs of Cuba.

For the second half of the semester, the students have been divided into groups in order to focus on specific parts of Havana, from museums to their version of Broadway. The goal is to create distributable media packets, similar to the ones in Cuba, and a final presentation scheduled in early May highlighting each of the segments being explored.

Just For You, a class comprised of four studio art majors and four theatre majors, culminated in a series of collaborative performances-for-one in Taipei, Taiwans Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). They traveled across the Pacific to Taipei with Professors Andrew Kaufman and Craig Quintero, art and art history and theatre and dance respectively.

Preparation for the course involved exploration of what sense, intimacy, the subconscious and ventriloquism meant to the performers. From basement installations with cloths and mirrors creating disjointed images, to a divide made with string in the curved corridor behind Sebring-Lewis, the students created their own performances-for-one in Grinnell before traveling. But many ideas during the course of the class were not even used in the final performance or the space that they created themselves.

How do you build the performance if you dont know what the space is like and how do you build the space if you dont know what the performance is going to be? said Judith Chong 20.

The team managed to decide on their final performance two days prior to the first show, which left many in tears. A lot of the performance was less about the content and more about the experience of connecting.

There was a lady who was terrified by what was happening in there. She was shivering and it seemed like she was going through some personal stuff, said Sooji Son 18.

For Yi-Chia Wang 20, who is from Taiwan, this trip marked the second time she traveled to Taiwan as part of a course. Although she spent most of her time painting and joint compounding before joining her classmates in 63 performances over five days, she did make time to go home this time around.
A

statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as

relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated

into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include,

at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.)

and your current fellowship or place of worship.
The Government of Ugandareceived credit from the World Bank towards implementation of the UgandaCompetitive Fund for employer-led short-term training (Uganda SkillsDevelopment Fund -USDF). The Uganda competitive fund for employer-ledshort-term training is part of the Skilling Uganda Project addressingprevailing skills imbalances and shortages in Uganda. An important element ofthe initiative is to facilitate collaboration between training providers andindustry to promote demand driven skills development with special attention toinnovative modes of training. The USD 18 Million matching grant facility  SDFis managed by the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU). The Projectcomponent has a total budget of 21.8 Million USD including operational costs.
Greenlight Planet is a social,for-profit business that designs, distributes, and finances solar-powered homeenergy products, with an underserved population in mind: the 1.3 billion globalconsumers for whom the old-fashioned electrical grid is either unavailable ortoo expensive.Over a decade in business,the company is now a leading global brand in emerging markets across Asia andSub-Saharan Africa.Greenlights SunKing products provide modern light and energy to 30 million people in morethan 60 countries.
Organisation: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR)

Duty Station: Uganda

Post Grade: P3

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.



Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Prepare project proposals; draw up plan of

operation for implementation, including institutional arrangements for

budgets.

Assess refugee needs in the various fields

of assistance and make recommendations for the establishment of projects,

adjustment or discontinuation of existing projects and advise the Head of

Office accordingly.

Closely monitor the implementation of

projects under the geographical area of responsibility and ensure the

provisions under the agreements signed with the implementing partners are

being adhered to.

Regularly prepare written reports on the

implementation of projects and the situation in the sites.

Build and maintain good working relations

with local government officials, implementing partners and other agencies

in the area.

Report immediately on any security

problems that may occur affecting programme, beneficiaries and the smooth

running of the operation.

Provide assistance to UNHCR Technical

advisers and consultants as well as visitors visiting project sites.

Perform any other relevant duties as

required.

Key Performance Indicators:

UNHCRs operations in the area of

responsibility (AoR) are designed to meet the needs of persons of concern.

An effective monitoring system of the

field operations is in place resulting in better service to the persons of

concern.

The protection needs of populations of

concern are met through the application of International and National Law,

relevant UN/UNHCR protection standards and IASC principles governing

humanitarian coordination.

Protection incidents and gaps in

assistance are immediately identified and addressed.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate for the United Nations

UNHCR Field Officer job opportunity should hold an undergraduate degree

(equivalent of a BA/BS) in Law, Political Sciences or related fields plus

minimum 6 years of previous work experience relevant to the function.

Graduate degree (equivalent of a Masters) plus 5 years or Doctorate

degree (equivalent of a PhD) plus 4 years of previous relevant work experience

may also be accepted.

Prior field experience.

Excellent knowledge of English and working

knowledge of another UN language.

Good computer skills.

Knowledge of refugee law.

Good knowledge of UNHCRs programmes.

UNHCR Protection Learning Programme.

UNHCR Operations Management Learning

Programme.

Personal Competencies: Accountability, Teamwork & Collaboration,

Communication, Commitment to Continuous Learning, Client & Result

Orientation, Organizational Awareness, Empowering and Building Trust, Managing

Performance, Judgement and Decision Making, Analytical Thinking, Political

Awareness, Stakeholder Management

How to Apply:

All interested candidates 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: 11th April 2018
MBABANE  First National Bank (FNB) Swaziland has taken Prince Thumbumuzi to court over a debt of over E5.6 million.



The bank is demanding payment of the sum of E5 617 253.17 from the prince, which is in respect of an alleged overdraft of E5 million.

FNB also wants the court to order that the property which was mortgaged by Prince Thumbumuzi when he concluded the agreement with the bank, be executable.



According to the banks combined summons, the prince and FNB entered into an agreement in Mbabane on September 8, 2014 in terms of which he was allegedly granted a short-term direct facility (overdraft) in the sum of E5 million for a period of 12 months.



The bank was represented by its Chief Operating Officer - Commercial Banking, Nicholas Anadyr. The prince allegedly represented himself.

The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court and the prince is yet to file his responding papers.



Prince Thumbumuzi, according to FNB, provided collateral security in the form of a continuing covering bond in the amount of E5million, which was to be registered in favour of the bank over his immovable property.

The immovable property was described as the remainder of Portion 99 (a Portion of Portion 64) of Farm No. 50 situated in the Hhohho region.



The property measures 5.0117 hectares and it is held by Prince Thumbumuzi under Deed of Transfer No. 245/1980 dated September 30, 1980.

The overdraft amount, according to the terms of the agreement, was to be repaid on or before September 30, 2015, charged at the banks prime lending rate, including one per cent interest per annum.

The bank submitted in the summons that the parties agreed that should the prince breach any term and/or condition of the credit facility granted, FNB would demand that he placed on deposit an amount equal to any existing, contingent or pre-settlement liability.



The bank, which is represented by C.J. Littler and Company, informed the court that following the registration and execution of the mortgage bond, FNB duly advanced the prince the amount of E5 million.

Prince Thumbumuzi, according to FNB, failed to pay the overdraft within the stipulated period of 12 months.

The bank allegedly issued a letter of demand to the prince for the payment of the amount due.



Notwithstanding the demand to pay, the defendant (prince) has failed and /or refused or neglected to pay or comply, alleged the bank.

It was further submitted by the bank that as of December 19, 2017, the prince allegedly owed a sum of E5 617 253.67.
EZULWINI  Stalkers, scammers and fraudsters, your time is up. As of yesterday, every SIM card holder is expected to register their personal details or face being deregistered from their telecommunications gadget, particularly cellphones.



This was revealed yesterday by the Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini, during the launch of the National Subscriber (SIM-Card) Registration Project held at the Sibane Hotel yesterday morning.

The project is called VELA which means appear in siSwati.



Dlamini said the process of the subscriber registration was new to the countrys electronic sector and would appear unfamiliar to many.

But it is an established measure in the business environment, and perhaps most easily comparable to the Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure in the banking sector, which requires personal details to support a customers bank account, said Dlamini.



Process



He said the subscriber registration process for the SIM card was similar in nature and amounted to putting the face to the subscribers number.

Chief Executive at the Swaziland Communications Commission (SCCOM) Mvilawempi Dlamini said every subscriber to electronic communications services had to be registered and the operators had to ensure that all subscribers on their networks were registered.



Dlamini said the commission had determined that the national subscriber registration process should be completed within a period of 12 months as from yesterday and therefore the process should be concluded on or before April 4, 2019.

Meanwhile, SCCOMs General Manager and Compliance Ozzie Thakatha revealed that Swazi nationals with either pre or post paid accounts, during the registration process, had to have national IDs or passports, and proof of physical address.



He said the address could come in the form of a lease agreement, rates certificate, utility bill or letter from owner of premises.

Local residents from the rural areas are also expected to have a letter from either Inkhundla or a chief should they not have any other form or evidence of proof of residence.

The SCCOM CEO also said they hoped that the registration process would be smooth and that the citizens would embrace it as the national initiative that it was.



We ask Your Excellency and the entire government to encourage the nation to ensure that they are registered with their service providers to avoid de-activation from the network when the registration period lapses, said the CEO.
MBABANE  A sound of a crying two-year-old baby led to the discovery of a woman who died while allegedly terminating a pregnancy inside her house.



The incident happened at Makhekhe in Mpuluzi, an area situated under Mhlambanyatsi Constituency. The shocking discovery was made at around 10am yesterday.

Information gathered from concerned residents of the area was to the effect that upon inspection of the corpse inside the house, *Nomsas family and the neighbours discovered some abortion pills.

They also managed to get hold of her cellphone.



According to the residents, the corpse was found with blood oozing from her nostrils.

To their surprise, Nomsas cellphone was flooded with text messages from an unknown sender who was constantly begging her to terminate the pregnancy.

According to one of the residents, the sender was allegedly forcing Nomsa to terminate the pregnancy because he would be in trouble should it transpire that he was responsible for it.

The residents alleged that the sender clearly stated in his messages that he had sent more abortion pills since the first ones failed to abort the foetus.



He insisted that he would be in trouble should people hear he was the one who impregnated Nomsa. This has left us with the impression that there was something amiss about the incident, said the residents. Ugcizelele kulomlayeto kutsi Nomsa akakhiphe lesisu ngoba utaba senkingeni lenkhulu nje kwevakala kutsi ukhuleliswe nguye, said the resident in vernacular.

Another concerned resident said it was their wish that the man be exposed since there were suspicions that he was a local resident.



We cannot allow a man to force people to terminate a pregnancy in the area. The man has achieved his wish but the deceaseds children have been left to suffer. We cannot rest until we catch the culprit, said a resident. The resident said if police were to get proper assistance during their investigations, they could make a breakthrough before the burial of the woman since rumours were already circulating. He said people were willing to break their silence since the sender was known to some residents.
LOBAMBA  The bad blood between the prime minister and Nkwene MP Sikhumbuzo Dlamini has escalated to levels of accusations of assassination.



The Prime Minister, Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, yesterday issued a press statement stating that when the Nkwene MP made his statements in Parliament on December 11, 2017 he insinuated that he, the PM, be assassinated.

I consider my life to be more important than the Parliament Privileges Act, said the PM.



The premiers response follows a proposed motion by MP Sikhumbuzo where he wants the former to show cause why he should not be charged with contempt of Parliament for making utterances outside Parliament over an issue that was discussed in the House.



The PM, in his statement, said he considered his life to be more important than the Parliamentary Privileges Act.

If my life is threatened with assassination, I will discuss it in and outside Parliament, said the PM.



He added that he did not believe that the Nkwene Constituency wanted him assassinated.

It is believed that the assassination insinuations stem from the fact that during the December 11 debate, MP Sikhumbuzo had stated that it was a pity that the PMs security was that from the Royal Swaziland Police who were the same people who had to arrest him.



He said the PM should be guarded by a private security company.

The tension between the two started last year when the PM, during the official opening of the Sigwe Post Office, advised the elderly to register to be paid their grants and not listen to some people, particularly MPs who had by that time boycotted House business until the issue of the grants was sorted.



At that point, Cabinet also resolved to keep away from Parliament as they stated that there was no money as yet to pay the elderly who had turned 60 last year.



In response to the proposed motion by MP Sikhumbuzo, the PM said following attempts by the Nkwene MP to move a motion of contempt of Parliament against him he wished to state that the Member has discussed the matter outside Parliament structures and this therefore renders his wishful motion already still-born (iphuntile).



He said the executive powers vested on the PM by the Constitution meant that he was not limited by the Parliament Privileges Act to discuss politics, social and economic development issues with the nation in and outside Parliament, especially at Inkhundla level.



The MP, in his proposed motion, stated that he wanted the House to debate and resolve on directing the PM to within seven days of passing of the motion respond and show cause why he should not be charged with contempt of Parliament.

He said this was allegedly for infringing on the Privileges and Immunities of Parliament as enshrined under Section 130 (1) and (2) of the Constitution Act read together with Sections 3 and 9 of the Parliamentary Privileges Act, 1967.

According to the motion, this was because the PM allegedly attacked MP Sikhumbuzo outside Parliament through a letter dated February 5, 2018 after having threatened the very MP on a matter debated in the Chamber on December 11.

The PM challenged the MP (Nkwene) to repeat the statements outside Parliament in the letter that was from his attorneys.

During the now infamous December 11 sitting, the Nkwene MP wondered if the PM was now taking over the Kings powers.

He said the PM should have been arrested at Sigwe had he not been escorted by the same police officers whom he controlled instead of a force that diligently served His Majesty.

He said the only thing that the PM did was to use the Kings name instead of engaging in his wayward acts on his own.

He said the PM was taking over Parliament and the powers of the King.
Luxembourg, 6 April 2018 - ArcelorMittal has published a convening notice for its Annual General Meeting of shareholders, which will be held on 9 May 2018 at 11.30 a.m. CET at the company's registered office, 24-26, Boulevard d'Avranches, L-1160 in Luxembourg.

The ArcelorMittal shareholders entitled to vote at the Annual General Meeting will be those who are shareholders on the record date of 25 April 2018 at midnight (24:00 hours) CET.

The convening notice, the Annual Report 2017, the Form 20F 2017, the voting forms and all other meeting documentation will be available on ArcelorMittal's website http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/ under "Investors - Equity investors - Shareholders' meetings - Annual General Meeting 9 May 2018" from 6 April 2018. Shareholders may obtain, free of charge, a copy of the Annual Report 2017 (in English) at ArcelorMittal's registered office, by calling +352 4792 3198, or by emailing privateinvestors@arcelormittal.com

ENDS

ArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and an industrial footprint in 18 countries. Guided by a philosophy to produce safe, sustainable steel, we are the leading supplier of quality steel in the major global steel markets including automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging, with world-class research and development and outstanding distribution networks.

Through our core values of sustainability, quality and leadership, we operate responsibly with respect to the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and the communities in which we operate.

For us, steel is the fabric of life, as it is at the heart of the modern world from railways to cars and washing machines. We are actively researching and producing steel-based technologies and solutions that make many of the products and components people use in their everyday lives more energy efficient.

We are one of the world's five largest producers of iron ore and metallurgical coal. With a geographically diversified portfolio of iron ore and coal assets, we are strategically positioned to serve our network of steel plants and the external global market. While our steel operations are important customers, our supply to the external market is increasing as we grow.

In 2017, ArcelorMittal had revenues of $68.7 billion and crude steel production of 93.1 million metric tonnes, while own iron ore production reached 57.4 million metric tonnes.

ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT) and on the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia (MTS).



For more information about ArcelorMittal please visit: http://corporate.arcelormittal.com/
English French

Luxembourg April 6, 2018 - Aperam announces the publication of the convening notice for its Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders ("the General Meetings"), which will be held on Wednesday 9 May 2018 at 14:00 hours Luxembourg time at 24-26, boulevard d'Avranches, L-1160 Luxembourg, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.

The Aperam shareholders entitled to vote at the General Meetings will be those who are shareholders on the record date of 25 April 2018 at midnight (24:00 hours) Central European Time.

The convening notice, the annual report 2017, the voting forms and all other meeting documentation will be available on Aperam's website www.aperam.com under "Investors & shareholders" - "Equity Investors" - "Shareholders' Meetings" - "9 May 2018 - General Meetings of Shareholders".

About Aperam

Aperam is a global player in stainless, electrical and specialty steel, with customers in over 40 countries. The business is organised in three primary operating segments: Stainless & Electrical Steel, Services & Solutions and Alloys & Specialties.

Aperam has 2.5 million tonnes of flat Stainless and Electrical steel capacity in Brazil and Europe and is a leader in high value specialty products. Aperam has a highly integrated distribution, processing and services network and a unique capability to produce stainless and specialty from low cost biomass (charcoal). Its industrial network is concentrated in six production facilities located in Brazil, Belgium and France.

In 2017, Aperam had sales of USD 5.1 billion and steel shipments of 1.94 million tonnes.

For further information, please refer to our website at www.aperam.com

Contacts

Corporate Communications / Investor Relations / Laurent Beauloye: +352 27 36 27 103




VANCOUVER, British Columbia and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (TSX:PTM) (NYSE American:PLG) (Platinum Group PTM or the Company) reports that Maseve Investments 11 (Pty) Limited (Maseve) has now completed the sale of the Maseve concentrator plant and certain surface rights (Step One) to Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd. (RBPlat). The Company and RBPlat executed definitive agreements for a two-step transaction valued at approximately US$74 million on November 23, 2017 (the Maseve Sale Transaction)1. Conditions precedent to Step One were fulfilled on February 14, 2018. A deposit amount in escrow of Rand 41.37 million (approximately US$3.5 million) (the Deposit) was released to the Company on March 14, 2018. The final Step One cash payment of Rand 646.72 million (approximately US$54.5 million) (the Final Payment) was received by the Company in South Africa coincident with the registration of the applicable surface rights to a wholly owned subsidiary of RBPlat.



RBPlat is next (Step Two) to acquire 100% of the shares in Maseve, the holding company of the Maseve Mine, and all shareholder loans owed by Maseve, for an aggregate consideration valued at approximately US$16 million on November 23, 2017, of which approximately US$855,000 is payable to a minority shareholder of Maseve. The parties continue to work together in fulfilment of the remaining conditions precedent to the completion of Step Two, which includes the Department of Mineral Resources approval to the transaction under section 11 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which is expected in the weeks ahead.

An amount of Rand 40.94 million (approximately US$3.47 million) from the release of the Deposit was used to settle outstanding contractor claims and pay an amount of US$107,755 to reduce outstanding indebtedness to the Sprott Resource Lending Partnership (Sprott) pursuant to their first secured loan facility (the Sprott Facility).

The Company is to use approximately US$46.98 million from the Final Payment to repay all remaining indebtedness under the Sprott Facility, consisting of the outstanding principal amount of US$40.0 million, a bridge loan of US$5.0 million and all accrued and unpaid interest and fees due of approximately US$1.98 million.

The Company is also in the process of paying US$7.52 million from the Final Payment to reduce outstanding indebtedness and to pay fees due under a second secured loan facility (the LMM Facility) with Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC (LMM). Following this payment approximately US$44.45 million in principal, accrued interest and accrued production payments will remain due to LMM. The Company is also required to pay LMM a production payment termination fee (PPTF) of US$15 million before May 11, 2018, or if later US$25 million. The LMM Facility matures on September 30, 2018. All payments to LMM are first applied to the PPTF.

As previously reported, and as agreed with Sprott and LMM, the Company must raise US$20 million in subordinated debt and/or equity within 30 days of the Sprott Facility being repaid. In addition, the Company must also complete a second required raise of US$20 million in subordinated debt and/or equity before July 31, 2018. Proceeds from these required raises will first be applied to remaining amounts payable for the PPTF and then to repay remaining amounts due pursuant to the LMM Facility. Voluntary repayments to LMM in excess of the first required US$20 million repayment will be applicable to reduce the second required US$20 million repayment (the Second Required Repayment). The Companys share of proceeds receivable for Step Two of the Maseve Sale Transaction are to be applied towards repayment of amounts owing to LMM.

In order to provide a financing alternative for a majority of the Second Required Payment to LMM, on March 8, 2018 the Company entered into a non-binding Term Sheet (the Sprott Term Sheet) with Sprott Private Resource Lending (Collector), LP (Sprott PRL) for a US$15.0 million term loan facility (the Sprott PRL Facility) on industry standard costs, terms and conditions for a loan of this nature. If the Sprott PRL Facility is completed, the Sprott PRL Facility may be drawn upon by the Company until July 30, 2018, or such other date as mutually agreed by the Company and Sprott PRL and would have a maturity date of 12 months after the closing date.

About Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

Platinum Group is focused on, and is the operator of, the Waterberg Project, a bulk mineable underground deposit in northern South Africa. Waterberg was discovered by the Company. Waterberg has potential to be a low cost dominantly palladium mine and Impala Platinum Holdings Limited, a smelter and refiner of platinum group metals, recently made a strategic investment in the Waterberg Project.

On behalf of the Board of

Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

R. Michael Jones

President, CEO and Director

For further information contact:

R. Michael Jones, President

or Kris Begic, VP, Corporate Development

Platinum Group Metals Ltd., Vancouver

Tel: (604) 899-5450 / Toll Free: (866) 899-5450

www.platinumgroupmetals.net

Disclosure

The Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE American LLC have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws (collectively forward-looking statements). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the timing and completion of Step Two of the Maseve Sale Transaction; receipt and timing of required government approvals, satisfaction of other conditions precedent and consummation of Step Two to the Maseve Sale Transaction as described herein; the Companys realization and intended use of proceeds derived from the Maseve Sale Transaction; future sales of debt or equity; repayment of, and compliance with the terms of, indebtedness; completion of the Sprott PRL Facility, including on industry standard costs, terms and conditions, the drawing upon the Sprott PRL Facility and any subsequent repayment; and the Waterberg Projects potential to be a bulk mineable, low-cost dominantly palladium mine. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including delays in, or the inability to complete, Step Two of the Maseve Sale Transaction component of the planned sale of the Maseve Mine or to realize on the proceeds thereof; additional financing requirements; the Companys history of losses; the Companys inability to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient additional capital to make payment on its indebtedness, and to comply with the terms of such indebtedness; the LMM Facility is, and any new indebtedness may be, secured and the Company has pledged its shares of PTM RSA, and PTM RSA has pledged its shares of Waterberg JV Resources (Pty) Limited (Waterberg JV Co.) to Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of LMM, under the LMM Facility, which potentially could result in the loss of the Companys interest in PTM RSA and the Waterberg Project in the event of a default under the LMM Facility or any new secured indebtedness; the Companys negative cash flow; the Companys ability to continue as a going concern; completion of the definitive feasibility study for the Waterberg Project, which is subject to resource upgrade and economic analysis requirements; uncertainty of estimated production, development plans and cost estimates for the Waterberg Project; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, between actual and estimated development and operating costs, between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries and between estimated and actual production; risks related to the nature of the Maseve Sale Transaction and the uncertainty as to whether the Company can successfully obtain all required government approvals, satisfy other closing conditions and consummate Step Two of the Maseve Sale Transaction; potential delays in the foregoing; fluctuations in the relative values of the U.S. Dollar, the Rand and the Canadian Dollar; volatility in metals prices; the failure of the Company or the other shareholders to fund their pro rata share of funding obligations for the Waterberg Project; any disputes or disagreements with the other shareholders of Waterberg JV Co., Mnombo Wethu Consultants (Pty) Ltd. or Maseve; the ability of the Company to retain its key management employees and skilled and experienced personnel; contractor performance and delivery of services, changes in contractors or their scope of work or any disputes with contractors; conflicts of interest; capital requirements may exceed its current expectations; the uncertainty of cost, operational and economic projections; the ability of the Company to negotiate and complete future funding transactions and either settle or restructure its debt as required; litigation or other administrative proceedings brought against the Company; actual or alleged breaches of governance processes or instances of fraud, bribery or corruption; exploration, development and mining risks and the inherently dangerous nature of the mining industry, and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks and other risks and uncertainties; property and mineral title risks including defective title to mineral claims or property; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and South Africa; equipment shortages and the ability of the Company to acquire necessary access rights and infrastructure for its mineral properties; environmental regulations and the ability to obtain and maintain necessary permits, including environmental authorizations and water use licences; extreme competition in the mineral exploration industry; delays in obtaining, or a failure to obtain, permits necessary for current or future operations or failures to comply with the terms of such permits; risks of doing business in South Africa, including but not limited to, labour, economic and political instability and potential changes to and failures to comply with legislation; and other risk factors described in the Companys most recent Form 20-F annual report, annual information form and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively. Proposed changes in the mineral law in South Africa if implemented as proposed would have a material adverse effect on the Companys business and potential interest in projects. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward- looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

___________________

1 For more details please refer to the Financial Statements and Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended November 30, 2017, the Companys Annual Report on Form 20-F and the Companys Annual Information Form for the year ended August 31, 2017.
TASD Superintendent Karen Jez said the historic Scheide House is in the process of being donated to the Titusville Historical Society, which will in turn transfer it to the Oil Region Alliance.
[April 06, 2018] Truckstop.com Announces Integration of Freight Matching Products With Banyan Technology

NEW PLYMOUTH, Idaho, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Truckstop.com, leader in transportation technology and load board solutions, has announced a direct integration with Banyan Technology, leading provider of live carrier and API connectivity for transportation management. "We are thrilled to announce Truckstop.com's partnership with Banyan Technology," said Paris Cole, CEO of Truckstop.com. "Banyan is a long-time industry leader in transportation technology and the integration enables Banyan's 3PL, Broker and Shipper customers to seamlessly use Truckstop.com's freight matching products to find more capacity and leverage data to grow their bottom lines." The integration will expand the capabilities of Banyan's connectivity platform to empower a deeper functionality for its full truckload solutions and will be available in June 2018. Banyan's customers will have direct access to freight matching solutions provided on Truckstop.com's platform. The partnership draws on the core strengths of both industry leaders. "Banyan Technology is excited to partner with Truckstop.com and offer logistic services to further enable their leading shipping solutions," said Brian Smith, CEO of Banyan. "By partnering with Truckstop.com, Banyan continues to provide world-class innovative solutions, assisting their users with freight execution and visibility. Our partnership will yield unrivaled results and continue to further Banyan's powerful connectivity.">



About Truckstop.com Truckstop.com is the world's most trusted load board and freight marketplace for drivers to find loads at the best rates, brokers to increase capacity, and shippers to manage freight. With Truckstop.com, brokers can post loads, carriers can search for available loads in real-time, and shippers can match their freight with the right person. For over 20 years, Truckstop.com has helped carriers, brokers, and shippers successfully run their businesses and find a better way to move freight. For more information, visit www.truckstop.com

Media Contact :

Jamie Boyer

192948@email4pr.com

(208) 674-6052 Industry Relations :

Brent Hutto

192948@email4pr.com

(205) 886-5565 About Banyan Technology Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Banyan Technology is North America's leading provider of live carrier and API connectivity for transportation management. With more than 1,400 parcel, LTL, volume LTL, and full truckload carrier connections and 33,000 client locations accessing the application, Banyan Technology provides commercial shippers, brokers, and 3PLs with unparalleled access to carrier data. These connections boost efficiency, improve visibility, and deliver permanent reductions in shipping costs. For more information on Banyan Technology, visit www.banyantechnology.com. Banyan Technology Media Contact :

Kelly Waite

192948@email4pr.com

(216) 392-6213 Industry Relations :

Lance Healy

192948@email4pr.com

(216)387-1734 View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/truckstopcom-announces-integration-of-freight-matching-products-with-banyan-technology-300625706.html SOURCE Truckstop.com

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[April 05, 2018] Food Robotics Company Launches Its First Product For On-The-Go Meals

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 6d bytes is launching Blendid, the world's first fully autonomous robotic station, to help food service companies meet the needs of consumers who want healthy and delicious blends to fit with their busy lifestyles. The first Blendid station was unveiled this afternoon on the first floor of Plug and Play, the world's largest startup innovation platform in Sunnyvale. The blended drinks, featuring fresh ingredients such as mango, spinach, blueberry, coconut water, kefir, banana and ginger, are prepared by a robot without any human intervention. Customers use mobile apps or tablets at the robotic station to browse through the menu, pick and customize an option to their taste and allergies, make payment, and the robot prepares and serves the blend with all natural ingredients in under two minutes. Marketed to food service operators and retail franchises, Blendid requires no staff and can be accessible 24 hours a day, making it perfect for busy cafeterias, supermarkets, gyms, airports, stadiums and offices. "People want healthy and delicious meals on the go," said Vipin Jain, 6d bytes co-founder and CEO. "Blended drinks are only the beginning. We'll be adding more cuisines and formats in the near future." <>Jain and co-founder & Chief Technology Officer Venki Ayalur conceived the Blendid concept more than three years ago to lead the robotics and AI revolution that will fundamentally disrupt food and beverage industry. A recent report from McKinsey predicted that food service is among the top three industries to be impacted, with 73% of its activities automated by 2030.



"We welcome passionate entrepreneurs into our ecosystem and are excited to showcase 6d bytes' latest autonomous food technology here at Plug and Play," said Saeed Amidi, CEO and founder of Plug and Play. "Vipin was the third tenant in our building when we opened our doors in 2006. As Plug and Play grew, so did his startup, which was acquired by Barnes & Noble a few years ago and we're excited to witness the success of his newest venture." "Blendid concept is at the forefront of two major changes impacting the food and beverage industry," said Eric Benhamou, founder and general partner at Benhamou Global Ventures, an investor in 6d bytes. "Food service operators want expanded, cost-effective service hours and customers want healthy, delicious meals. Blendid is a breakthrough solution to achieve both."

Blendid is owned by 6d bytes of Sunnyvale, California and is housed at Plug and Play. About 6d bytes

6d bytes is at the forefront of the robotics and artificial intelligence revolution that is disrupting the food and beverage industry. The company builds robotic systems such as Blendid to prepare and serve healthy and delicious meals, affordable and accessible to everyone. Blendid is a trademark of 6d bytes. For more information, visit www.myblendid.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Colleen Robar, 313.207.5960, crobar@robarpr.com View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/food-robotics-company-launches-its-first-product-for-on-the-go-meals-300625442.html SOURCE 6d bytes

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[April 06, 2018] EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC Represents Steve Spangler Science and Spangler Science Club on Its Recent Sale to Really Good Stuff LLC, a Division of Excelligence Learning Corporation

DENVER, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC ("EKSHCA") advised Steve Spangler Science and Spangler Science Club (collectively "Spangler") on its recent sale to Really Good Stuff LLC, a subsidiary of Excelligence Learning Corporation, the Monterey, California-based leading provider of educational tools and solutions to early childhood and elementary teachers and parents. Steve Spangler, CEO of Steve Spangler Science and Spangler Science Club, said, "EKS&H Capital Advisors was the strategic partner we needed to successfully achieve our company's goals. EKS&H Capital Advisors' ability to circle a team of experts around us from the investment banking, accounting, tax and due diligence disciplines made our process feel very focused and brilliantly executed. Renee and I built our businesses around the motto  Make it big, Do it right, Give it class  and that's exactly what EKS&H Capital Advisors did for us." Dipak Golechha, Excelligence Learning Corp. president, said, "Steve Spangler is the creative force behind innovative STEM products that engage young learners by injecting fun into the educational experience. Spangler is an Emmy award-winning television personality and YouTube celebrity who first taught millions how to turn a roll of Mentos and a ottle of soda into an erupting soda geyser. We're delighted to welcome Steve and Renee to the Excelligence family and are confident that Steve's demonstrated passion and drive to make science fun will continue to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers." (https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/about-us/)



Steve Spangler added, "Renee and I are excited about the opportunity to partner with Really Good Stuff, combining our innovative portfolio of STEM products and powerful media presence with Really Good Stuff's established presence in elementary schools to drive the awareness and growth of Steve Spangler Science." This partnership will give Spangler an even greater opportunity to create large-scale science experiences and continue his work as a leading STEM influencer online and on television. Tim Kochuba, Really Good Stuff general manager, noted, "We're thrilled to partner with one of the top thought leaders in STEM education, enabling Really Good Stuff to catapult over the competition in one of the fastest-growing educational categories with a leading brand that is positioned at the intersection of STEM education and play."

About EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC is an investment banking firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado, that is strategically aligned with EKS&H LLLP to provide full-service M&A corporate finance advisory to the middle market. For more information, please contact EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC President Adams Price at 303-846-1342 or visit https://ekshca.com/. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eksh-capital-advisors-llc-represents-steve-spangler-science-and-spangler-science-club-on-its-recent-sale-to-really-good-stuff-llc-a-division-of-excelligence-learning-corporation-300625471.html SOURCE EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC

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[April 06, 2018] Web Werks Continues Expansion of World-class Data Center Infrastructure in India

MUMBAI, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Web Werks continues to focus on developing a strong World-class Data Center Infrastructure to ensure higher availability and 99.995% uptime with most secure infrastructure. Web Werks, the leader in IT services in India for past 20+ years, continues to enhance their data center infrastructure in order to provide secure IT environment to their web hosting and co-location clients. The infrastructure is highly secure with 6-layer physical security and built on a redundant network located in India and the United States. The expansion is deployed to suit solid, persistent request from enterprises, content delivery, cloud services and IT services. Notwithstanding the recently deployed expansion, Unisecure also can expand power limit by an extra a few megawatts. The facility offers a wide assortment of energy and cooling densities running from 2kW to 40kW for each rack, addition to varied framework redundancies extending from N to N+1. Single locking cabinets, client confines, and private suites are accessible. Presently having 5 data centers globally: Mumbai (Tier III Data Center Facility), Pune (Tier III Data Center Facility), Rabale, Navi Mumbai (Tier IVData Center Facility), Conshohocken, United States Data Center Facility, and Philadelphia, United States Data Center Facility - is the best choice for co-location and content delivery network sevices.



All their Data Center Infrastructure consists of following: TIER III Certified

Carrier Neutral Facility

FM200 Fire Suspension

Redundant UPS Power

CISCO Powered Networking

Multi-Level Security

24x7 Rapid Action Support

99.995% Uptime Guarantee "With respect to time, things have to evolve in order to compete with this digital era. We are thrilled to announce that we expanded our infrastructure to provide world-class data center services to our Indian customers. We have boosted up our power capacity to serve growing India's colocation demand. Moreover, few steps are taken in terms of security to keep data safe," Nikhil Rathi, Director, Web Werks India Pvt. Ltd.

About Web Werks Web Werks Data Centers have been leaders in India for the past two decades and are located in 3 countries with more than six geographically located data centers. Offering reliable hosting services on Dedicated Servers, Cloud, Virtualization, Co-location and Disaster Recovery Services along with 24x7 Rapid Action Support and 99.995% Uptime Guarantee. Web Werks Data Centers are validated with ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 20000-1 and Uptime Institute Certified. The data centers are Carbon Neutral contributing towards Global Go-Green concepts. Web Werks is also PCI-DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, TIA-942 and SSAE16, SSAE18 SOC 2 Type 1 compliant. This certification affirms how we treat security, confidentiality, integrity, and privacy of our customers' data. Web Werks in India is the first Asian data center to hold OIX-2 and host an OIX-1 IXP Mumbai-IX. In addition to this, fulfil all requirements for being a full OpenIX supporter. Web Werks is also Cloud empanelled by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India (MeitY) Awarded with 'Maharashtra IT Excellence Award 2018' by Government of Maharashtra, 'The Best Web Hosting Award 2017', 'Retailer of the Year for Best Cloud Data Centers and Internet Exchange', 'Great Indian Workplace Award (GIWA) 2017', 'HostReview's Readers' Choice Awards 2017', 'National Choice Award - Best Cloud Data Centers and Internet Exchange 2018'. We have collaborated with more than 1000+ organizations globally. Few of our prestigious clients are Microsoft, Canon, Google, Godrej, TATA, Facebook, Akamai, Netflix and many more. Our client list also incorporates Government sectors such as Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation, Nabard, SIDBI, NPCI and so on. For more information, kindly visit, http://www.webwerks.in. Media Contact:

Priti Shetti

priti.shetti@webwerks.in

+91-8828335555

Corporate Relations

Web Werks India Pvt. Ltd.



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[April 06, 2018] BATIC 2018 Generates New Business Initiatives

BALI, Indonesia, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International ("Telin"), a subsidiary of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk ("Telkom") has successfully hosted Bali Annual Telkom International Conference ("BATIC") 2018, a 3 days platform for telecom carriers and wholesale providers from across the related segments, region and the world to collaborate, share ideas and business opportunities. It took place in Westin Hotel, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia from 4 to 6 April 2018. A theme for this year is Unlocking Opportunities in the Borderless Digital World, a rationale set by seeing a vast growing of digital ecosystem with no limitation in terms of telecommunications. Representing Telkom as Telin's parent, Abdus Somad Arief, Director of Wholesale and International Services of Telkom delivered his welcome remark followed by these respective speakers: Christophe Meunier, partner from Delta Partners who shared his presentation regarding "Next Generation Enterprise Network: Trend and Opportunities", Dudy Effendi, VP Enterprise Business Development Telkom who shared "Leveraging Partnerships to Build an IoT Ecosystem", and Jaikishan Rajaraman, Global Head of Technology GSMA who shared "5G as an Enabler for Next Generation Networks". A panel discussion was conducted led by all speakers on day 1 to discuss the topic Beyond Connectivity -- Opportunities to Build and Monetize Next Generation Networks and Applications before all participants headed to lunch and series of bilateral meetings. A synergy with Telkom Infra was conducted that remarks by a signing of Letter of Intention (LoI) for a submarine cable system development to connect Atambua, Larantuka, and Dili. Representatives of each party signed the agreement are Faizal R. Djoemadi, CEO of Telin and Natigor Sitorus, CEO of Telkom Infra. To follow, another initiative was conducted between Telin and Datacomm, where both parties did an agreement to build a system for providing security in digital utilization This agreement was signed by Faizal and Tan Wie Tjin, CEO of Datacomm. Next, a breathtaking view in Sky at Ayana Resort Bali, where all participants enjoyed a gala dinner, completed Batic's day 1.



Since a healthy body leads to a healthy mind, all participants joined a 5K run around Nusa Dua to start day 2 prior all conferences started. Opening the conference is Kiran Karunakaran, a partner from Delta Partners brought a topic "Transforming the Wholesale Business" followed by Budi Satria Dharma Purba, CMO of Telin who presented "Winning Strategies for Operators Expanding Wholesale Services Beyond Pure Connectivity" and Naveen Menon, President (Southeast Asia) of Cisco System who brought "The Importance of Partnership". Joining all speakers on day 2, Andreuw Th AF, CEO Telin Singapore joined as panelists in a Panel Discussion session to discuss Operator Role in Cloud Enablement -- Evolving Value Proposition, Infrastructure and Monetization Models. As Batic is heading to an end, a farewell dinner was conducted in Westin's beachside where Budi bid his farewell to all delegates during a farewell dinner at Westin Beachside Nusa Dua. "Our aim in Batic is to celebrate the existence of telecommunication players and hoping that the fruits of this three-days event will benefit your business as well as strengthen the bond that we have already had," said Budi. On Day 3 all delegates enjoy a compliment social activities such as sport or city tour based on their wish.

BATIC 2018 converges delegates from all areas of the global telecommunications community to meet and together explore alternative business insight from experts in OTT and telecommunication industry. This will also facilitate C-Level executives in strategy, marketing, and technology functions in order to extend the business sustainability. BATIC was firstly begun in 2010 and annually conducted until 2012. The same format is exhibited in 2018 with the same unique interactive using an Indonesian authenticity approach. Bali is selected because it holds strong culture, globally known as an exotic island and one the most desired destination from tourist around the world. The paradise island was chosen to create an environment that allow participants to feel relax and light while their doing the business relationship. 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

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[April 06, 2018] Oradian: Rural Banking in PH Seen to Benefit Immensely from Cloud Technology

MANILA, Philippines, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's technological advances are bringing new business opportunities for financial institutions that are working in remote, hard-to-reach communities in the Philippines. Oradian's recent strategic workshop for rural banks titled "The Cloud: Benefits and Challenges in the Banking System" showcased expertise and insights from leaders in the financial inclusion industry. The workshop featured Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' Melchor Plabasan, Asian Development Bank's Jovilyn Cotio, Financial and Economic Consultant Sandy Gilles, Economic Consultant Rafael Rivera and Turfsite Web Services' Chief Technology Officer Robert Reyes. It also featured Antonio Separovic, the CEO and Co-founder of Oradian, a global financial inclusion company that provides a cloud-based toolset, including its cloud banking platform Instafin for visionary financial institutions. Separovic stated that Oradian's cloud technology is built to allow financial institutons to grow and reach more clients -- without incremental costs per branch. With the cloud, financial institutions can access tools including cloud-based Instafin with just an Internet connection -- from any device, at any time. This eliminates the need for financial entities to invest in expensive on-premise IT systems and software licenses for each of their branches to have appropriate technology for managing operations.



With Oradian's cloud technology, financial institutions have access to real-time data and automatic reporting about their portfolios and operations. Digitized reporting processes reduce the time spent on administration and cuts operating costs, resulting in lower costs and fees for their clients. The workshop also supported moves of regulatory bodies to move core operations of rural banks to the cloud as it allows financial institutions to securely store their data in world-class security data centres, mitigating the risks of geohazards common to the Philippines.

Oradian Philippines' General Manager Jonathan Engalla says that with specialized cloud technology, rural banks have the opportunity to follow the lead of big banks and become more efficient, grow and reach more clients using digital financial services. About Oradian Oradian is a financial inclusion company serving financial institutions in remote, hard-to-reach communities. Using insights from our community of customers, we build a cloud-based toolset that smart financial institutions plug into to access best practice and efficiency. Oradian's global community is made up of over 50 financial institutions in seven countries with a concentration in the Philippines and Nigeria. Collectively, Oradian's partnering financial institutions provide access to financial services for over one million end-clients. SOURCE Oradian

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English Lithuanian

Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of AB Linas (company code 147689083, address S. Kerbedzio str.23, Panevezys) will be held on April 30, 2018 acc. to the decision and initiative of the Board.



Date of the meeting  April 30, 2018, Monday.

Time of the meeting  12:00 a.m. Registration of participants from 11:00 a.m. till 11:45 a.m.

Place of the meeting  AB Linas premises, S. Kerbedzio str. 23, Panevezys.

Agenda of the meeting:

1. The conclusion of the auditor about consolidated and Companys annual financial reports set of year 2017 and annual report.

2. Confirmation of consolidated and Companys annual financial reports set of year 2017 and presentation of consolidated annual report.

3. Companys allotment of profit (loss).

4. Election of the member of Audit committee.



The accounting date of General Meeting of Shareholders is April 23, 2018. In the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders have the right to participate and vote persons who were companys shareholders at the end of accounting date (April 23, 2018), personally or their authorized persons, or persons with whom voting right transferring contract is signed.

The Company doesnt form the right to participate and to vote in the meeting with the help of electronic communication equipment.

Decision projects on the agenda, documents which will be presented for General meeting of Shareholders are announced in companys web page http://www.linas.lt . The shareholders of the company have the right to acquaint with this information on working days from 9:00 a.m till 16:00 a.m. at companys premises S.Kerbedzio str.23, Panevezys.

Shareholders the shares of whom provide not less than 1/20 of all votes, can offer new decision projects for the questions which are included or will be included into the agenda of the meeting. Offers can be presented in written form or by e-mail. The offers in written form can be taken till April 30, 2018, 10:00 a.m. (on working days) to the companys premises or sent by registered letter to address S. Kerbedzio str. 23, LT-35114, Panevezys. Offers by e-mail are sent to address office@linas.lt . During the meeting there will be discussed only offers received in the company till April 30, 2018, 10:00 a.m.

Shareholders have the right to provide questions in relation with agenda of the meeting in advance. Shareholders can provide questions by e-mail office@linas.lt not later than 3 working days till the meeting. The company will present answers by e-mail till the meeting. The company has the right not to give answers to shareholders questions if they are in relation with companys commercial (production) or confidential information.

All the persons who are participating in General Meeting of Shareholders and have the right to vote have to present the document certifying person identification. Representative of the shareholder for the meeting has to present the original of authorization acc. to law indicated form and content. The company doesnt indicate special form of authorization. The shareholder has the right with the help of electronic communication equipment to authorize other natural or legal person to participate and to vote in the meeting in the name of shareholder. The shareholder has to inform the company about the issued authorization by e-mail office@linas.lt not later than till the last working day 16:00 p.m. to the meeting. In the report the shareholder has to indicate web page from which the shareholders electronic signature checking program could be sent for free.

It would be able to vote on the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders questions completing the general voting bulletin in written form in advance. Printed general voting bulletin is available at companys premises, address S. Kerbedzio str.23, Panevezys. If the shareholder requires in written form, then the company is sending general voting bulletin by registered letter or handle with written confirmation not later than 10 days till the meeting. Shareholder or his authorized person has to sign the filled in general voting bulletin. If the general voting bulletin is signed by the representative, then the document confirming his right for voting has to be added to the bulletin. Properly completed voting bulletins with the attached documents should be presented to the company personally, by the authorized person or by registered letter to the address S. Kerbedzio str. 23, LT-35114, Panevezys, not later than the last working day to up to the meeting.

Information is available by phone +370 45 506100

AB Linas director

Daiva Minkeviciene

+370 45 506100
[April 06, 2018] 3-Day Islamabad International Counter Terrorism Forum 2018 (IICTF-2018) Concluded

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Government of Pakistan, organized a three-day conference titled Islamabad International Counter Terrorism Forum (IICTF-2018), envisaged on the theme Pakistan's Endeavours and Achievements in Countering Extremism/Terrorism (PEACE). The theme for 2018 symbolizes Pakistan's long struggle in bringing peace back to its nation after facing a multitude of challenges on national and international fronts. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/663543/IICTF_2018.jpg )

The IICTF-2018 was held during April 3rd to 5th, 2018 here at Islamabad. Experts from all across the world were invited to attend the conference, including representatives from China, Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Scholars, experts, policy makers and politicians from Pakistan also partook in the IICTF-2018; making it a two-way communication and learning experience for scholars from within Pakistan, and beyond. The concluding session was devoted to Pakistan's journey from a victim to a victor, as held today on April 5th April, 2018. The IICTF-2018 was concluded with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as Chief Guest. He delved into the issue of how terrorism invaded the borders of Pakistan, recalling a time when Pakistan was safe from terrorists and the infiltration of drugs. He said that the Afghan invasion brought major changes in the region, particularly impacting Pakistan. He then discussed the journey Pakistan has had in overcoming said challenges that penetrated Pakistan's borders in the decades that followed the Afghan war. The Prime Minister further observed that no country wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan, countering all claims to the contrary. Pakistan suffers the most, he articulated, fro instability in its bordering regions.



On the issue of terrorism in the South Asian region, the Prime Minister called special attention to the terrorism permeating the Indian occupied Kashmir. He called upon the international community to accept the reality prevailing in Indian occupied Kashmir, whereby 17 young innocent lives were claimed in cold blood last Sunday. Mr. Abbasi stressed that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved through the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution calling for a plebiscite in the area. Noting that terrorism has now become a global challenge, the Prime Minister took pride in the fact that Pakistan has been victorious in defeating a monster, where the rest of the world has failed. Cities like Karachi that were once declared as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, have recovered from the catastrophe with courage and grace. Finally, The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to all the participants for their invaluable contributions, and to NACTA for taking such a brave and essential initiative.

Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, who also graced the occasion, noted that although Pakistan has suffered from terrorism for a considerable time, it has also fought against the same with great valour and spirit. Remembering notable sacrifice of Aitzaz Ahsan Bangash, he paid a tribute to the unsung heroes of Pakistan who laid their lives in the cause of countering terrorism and extremism. Referring to the National Action Plan, the National Internal Security Policy 2014-2018, and the National Counter Extremism Policy Guidelines, he said that Pakistan has been engaging all factions of state in its devotion to countering terrorism and violent extremism. Looking forward, Mr. Iqbal noted that Pakistan is now looking towards stabilizing its future, relying on economic opportunities such as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), enabling development not just in Pakistan, but in the whole region. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Khawaja Asif discussed Pakistan's vision for a democratic Pakistan, remarking that Pakistan was built upon the values of democracy, justice and fair play, as envisioned by Qauid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Referring to the nation's fight against terrorism, Mr. Asif stressed on the need for a regional strategy to overcome the scourge of terrorism that is impacting the south Asian region of the world. He called for cooperation with neighbouring countries, particularly in the field of countering terrorism to ensure long term peace and development on a regional and global level. Ms. Sherry Rehman, Leader of the Opposition, Senate of Pakistan, gave valuable insights on the need for inclusion of women in all settings of society for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan; presenting the remarkable notion that it's not just a few good men that are needed to undo the effects of terrorism, but a lot of women involved in the process as well. Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Member National Assembly and former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, discussing Pakistan's march towards stability, shed light on the internal and external challenges faced by Pakistan. Despite such challenges however, he noted, Pakistan remains a resilient nation willing to fight back and reverse the effects left by terrorism and extremism. The National Coordinator NACTA, Mr. Ihsan Ghani, who led this monumental effort for calling an international conference on the momentous subject of counter terrorism, thanked the participants and the speakers for honouring the occasion. He recalled some of the highlights of IICTF-2018 over the preceding two days, observing that the discussions were holistic and had far-reaching implications. Albeit, he regretted, that each point could not be addressed in more detail due to constraints of time. Mr. Ghani further noted that the IICTF would be a recurring annual event with fresh themes allocated for each year, hoping that the process of learning, sharing and cooperating would only continue on a regional and global level. -Sd- (Ihsan Ghani) National Coordinator / Official Spokesperson NACTA



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[April 06, 2018] Modavate Opens New Headquarters Facility in Buford, Georgia

BUFORD, Ga., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Modavate Inc., a fast-growing human and technology solutions firm founded in 2007, celebrated the grand opening of its new Buford headquarters location on April 4. 7th District Congressman Rob Woodall attended the festivities, at 4486 Commerce Drive, to tour the facility and offer congratulations to Modavate President and CEO Bukie Opanuga. Opanuga, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Nigeria, commemorated her 11th year in business by expanding her operation into a new office space. Modavate, a supplier to both governmental entities and private sector corporations, is the rare technology firm that is owned by a minority woman. Congressman Woodall dropped by to welcome the Modavate team to the area and offer his support to the kind of diverse firm that represents the future of the tech world. "Modavate is a great example of how hard work and dedication can help a small business owner to achieve the American dream," says Woodall. "It is exciting to see the diversity of companies that are setting up shop in the 7th District. I am proud of what Bukie and her team have accomplished thus far and look forward to great things from her in the future." Modavate  a certified 8(a) and EDWOSB supplier, as well as a certified Minority Business Enterprise with the NMSDC  is considered a top-performing contractor at the US Department of Defense. The company, whose new headquarters is located within a federally designated istorically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone), has recently been awarded a prime contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide management consulting services.



Congressman Woodall engaged Opanuga in a wide-ranging discussion on minority business access to opportunities with federal agencies, collaborative federal/local workforce development partnerships to increase the capacity of the technology labor pool and job creation strategies that lead to economic impact and positive outcomes. Opanuga appreciates the opportunities she has been afforded and is grateful to Woodall for his commitment to the community. "It was quite an honor to have my U.S. Representative stop by to see what we are up to," she says. "He clearly is committed to making sure that small and diverse companies have an opportunity to compete, which is all one can ask for. I was blessed by his visit and look forward to further collaboration with him going forward." Modavate has recently expanded its full-time team to five employees and is looking to continue to grow, including the addition of an internship program for students with an interest in digital marketing and information technology. The firm was recently recognized as the Business Member of the Month by the Government Contractors Association. Modavate, whose revenues exceeded $1 million in 2017, specializes in IT support, communications and marketing, cybersecurity, management consulting and training. For more information, visit modavate.com.

PRESS CONTACT:

Bukie Opanuga

Modavate Inc.

hello@modavate.com

(770) 573-2838 Related Images modavate.png

MODAVATE

Modavate Inc bukie-opanuga-and-congressman-rob.jpg

Bukie Opanuga and Congressman Rob Woodall

Grand Opening New Headquarters Modavate Related Links Modavate Inc. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/modavate-opens-new-headquarters-facility-in-buford-georgia-300625477.html SOURCE Modavate Inc.

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[April 06, 2018] Mars, Incorporated Highlights Sustainability and Innovation at 5th Annual USA Science & Engineering Festival

MCLEAN, Va., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mars, Incorporated will educate and inspire the next generation of leaders in STEM at the fifth annual USA Science & Engineering Festival (USASEF) in Washington, DC. The Festival is the largest celebration of STEM in the US, drawing more than 350,000 students, teachers and families, and Mars' presence reinforces the company's focus on making a positive impact for our lives, our pets and our planet for generations to come. "Science and innovation are key to our ability to solve today's social, environmental and technological issues, and unlocking STEM careers is an important way to get us there," said Richard Ware, global vice president of supply, research and development, and procurement at Mars. "USASEF is a great place to cultivate the next generation of scientists, researchers and innovators, and to promote diversity in this field so that we can all benefit from the varied perspectives and approaches." Experts across Mars' diverse brand portfolio will be on site at the Festival to discuss their work and career paths available in STEM. From veterinarians who improve animal health and nutrition, to food scientists who create nutritious and delicious products and flavors for pets and people; plant scientists working to improve crop yield and conserve water, and engineers building supply chains that reduce environmental impact, the career opportunities within STEM at Mars are vast. The Festival wll showcase something for everyone interested in learning how the family-owned business is using STEM to advance better lives, better food and a better planet for people and pets.



Some of the innovative work Mars will be showcasing at USASEF includes: Mars Petcare (BANFIELD Pet Hospital, Wisdom Health and The WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition): From simulated pet x-rays to canine genetics quizzes and measuring dental plaque in pets, veterinary experts will show how they are creating a better world for pets through access to quality nutrition and healthcare.

From simulated pet x-rays to canine genetics quizzes and measuring dental plaque in pets, veterinary experts will show how they are creating a better world for pets through access to quality nutrition and healthcare. Mars Wrigley Confectionery Flavor Science: Mars flavor scientists will provide a behind-the-scenes look into the more than 1,200 flavor ingredients in Mars chewing gum, mints, chocolate and candy.

Mars flavor scientists will provide a behind-the-scenes look into the more than 1,200 flavor ingredients in Mars chewing gum, mints, chocolate and candy. Mars Wrigley Confectionery Cocoa & Plant Science: Attendees will experience (and taste!) chocolate science by trying coarse and fine chocolate nibs and taking a peek under a microscope to see what exactly they are tasting.

Attendees will experience (and taste!) chocolate science by trying coarse and fine chocolate nibs and taking a peek under a microscope to see what exactly they are tasting. Mars Food: A rice farmer will connect STEM to food by showcasing Mars' innovative approach to sustainable farming practices and the journey of rice from field to fork. Mars has long believed its business will thrive and endure for generations to come, only if the people it works with  from the farmers who produce its raw materials to Associates, customers and consumers  thrive, too. Mars launched its Sustainable in a Generation (SiG) plan in 2017 to help achieve this, setting ambitious goals for the company around three key areas: healthy planet, thriving people and nourishing wellbeing.

For more information, visit www.mars.com. About Mars, Incorporated

Mars, Incorporated is a private, family-owned business with more than a century of history, $35 billion in sales, and six diverse business segments producing some of the world's best-loved brands: PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, IAMS, BANFIELD CESAR (Petcare); M&M'S, SNICKERS, DOVE, GALAXY, MARS, MILKY WAY, TWIX (Chocolate); DOUBLEMINT, EXTRA, ORBIT, 5, SKITTLES (Wrigley); UNCLE BEN'S, DOLMIO, MASTERFOODS, SEEDS OF CHANGE (Food); ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY, KLIX FLAVIA (Drinks); and COCOAVIA (Symbioscience). Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in 421 facilities across 78 countries, where our more than 80,000 Associates  all united by the company's Five Principles of Quality, Efficiency, Responsibility, Mutuality and Freedom  strive every day to create relationships with our stakeholders that deliver growth we are proud of. For more information about Mars, Incorporated, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mars-incorporated-highlights-sustainability-and-innovation-at-5th-annual-usa-science--engineering-festival-300625469.html SOURCE Mars, Incorporated

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[April 06, 2018] Socure CEO to Discuss Online Identity Verification Challenges at LendIt FinTech Conference

Socure, a leading provider of predictive analytics for digital identity verification, today announced its CEO Sunil Madhu has been invited to present at LendIt Fintech USA 2018 in San Francisco next week. Sunil will join an expert panel to discuss how to fight financial crimes now that online and mobile have become primary transaction channels for consumers and businesses.







WHO: Sunil Madhu, founder and CEO of Socure, is a data science, identity, and financial services expert. He has more than 20 years of experience developing technology innovations in analytics, machine learning, and identity/access management. Sunil has helped create interoperability standards for online identity and transactions including SAML and XACML. Moderator: Andrew Dix, Co-Founder and CEO, Crowdfund Insider Other Panelists: Sarah Clark, Senior Vice President, Global Product Management, Mitek Systems Charles Delingpole, Founder and CEO, ComplyAdvantage WHAT: Verifying the identity of online users for new account openings is a major obstacle to fighting financial crime. Depending on the approach used, it can lead to high fraud rates, low acceptance rates, and too many manual reviews. In this session, Sunil will discuss how advances in data science, analytics and machine learning can be applied to static offline and dynamic online data sources to reach unprecedented levels of accuracy and reliability for online identity verification. WHEN: Monday, April 9, 2018, 4:10pm - 4:50 PM PDT WHERE: Using ID Verification to Fight Financial Crime LendIt Fintech USA 2018, Moscone Center West, 800 Howard St., San Francisco http://www.lendit.com/usa/2018/agenda HOW: To schedule a conversation with Sunil Madhu in San Francisco or by phone, contact Marc Gendron at marc@mgpr.net or +1 781.237.0341.

About LendIt

LendIt is the world's largest event series dedicated to connecting the fintech and lending community. Our conferences bring together the fintech firms, investors, and service providers in our industry for unparalleled educational, networking, and business development opportunities. LendIt hosts three conferences annually: our flagship conference LendIt USA as well as LendIt Europe in London and LendIt China in Shanghai. Learn more at http://www.lendit.com/. About Socure

Socure is the leader in high-assurance digital identity verification. The company's predictive analytics platform applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to trusted online/offline sources including email, phone, address, IP address, social media and traditional GLBA/DPPA data to authenticate identities in real-time. The Socure ID+ platform reduces fraud by up to 90 percent, lowers manual review/knowledge-based authentication (KBA) rates by as much as 80 percent, and automates Customer Identification Program (CIP), Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance initiatives. For more information visit www.socure.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005086/en/

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[April 06, 2018] The Hamamatsu Photonics family mourns the passing of our honorary chairman and past President, Mr. Teruo Hiruma

BRIDGEWATER, N.J., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- It is with great sadness that the Hamamatsu Photonics family announces the passing of our honorary chairman and past President, Mr. Teruo Hiruma, on March 29th. He was 91 years old. Affectionately known as "TH," he led our company from a small local Japanese TV tube producer to a one billion dollar global photonics company. TH had a passion for photonics and was constantly challenging our engineers to build the perfect detector, but he also had a passion for humanity and using light to improve the human condition. He will be deeply missed by the Hamamatsu Photonics family and indeed the photonics community, but we are certain that his vision wil continue to inspire Hamamatsu Photonics to use light to make the world a better place.



For more information, visit the company's website, http://www.hamamatsu.com. About Hamamatsu Corporation

Hamamatsu Corporation is the North American subsidiary of Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (Japan), a leading manufacturer of devices for the generation and measurement of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. These devices include photodiodes, silicon photomultipliers, photomultiplier tubes, scientific light sources, infrared detectors, photoconductive detectors, and image sensors. The parent company is dedicated to the advancement of photonics through extensive research. This corporate philosophy results in state-of-the-art products which are used throughout the world in scientific, industrial, and commercial applications.

Information furnished by Hamamatsu Corporation is believed to be reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed for possible inaccuracies or omissions. Specifications are subject to change without notice. View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-hamamatsu-photonics-family-mourns-the-passing-of-our-honorary-chairman-and-past-president-mr-teruo-hiruma-300625341.html SOURCE Hamamatsu Corporation

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[April 06, 2018] New government funding now available for transit infrastructure in Fort Saskatchewan

FORT SASKATCHEWAN, AB, April 6, 2018 /CNW/ - The governments of Canada and Alberta are making long-term infrastructure investments that will create economic growth and middle-class jobs while supporting inclusive communities and a low-carbon green economyleading to a higher quality of life for all Canadians. On April 3, 2018, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable Sandra Jansen, Alberta Minister of Infrastructure, announced the signing of a bilateral agreement that will provide more than $3.3 billion in federal funding over the next decade through the Investing in Canada plan for infrastructure projects. The projects supported through this agreement will be cost-shared with the Alberta government, municipalities and other partners. This new funding will see the governments of Canada and Alberta make unprecedented investments in public transit, green infrastructure, recreational, cultural, and community infrastructure, as well as rural and northern communities. Under the public transit stream, the City of Fort Saskatchewan will receive up to $278,991 in federal funding for significant improvements to its transit infrastructure. Altogether, these investments will make a positive difference in communities, resulting in the better movement of people and goods, cleaner air and water, and smarter more efficient cities. Quotes "Modern efficient public transit infrastructure plays a key role in building strong communities where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. I am very pleased that Fort Saskatchewan will be able to improve its transit services thanks to this new funding agreement with Alberta. We are working clsely with our provincial, municipal and Indigenous partners to deliver real support through transformative projects that will benefit residents across the province for years to come."



The Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities "With this historic infrastructure agreement, we're giving all communities the chance to partner with their provincial and federal governments to invest in projects that are most important to them. I look forward to hearing some innovative ideas for these transit dollars that will support local jobs, stimulate the regional economy and benefit Alberta businesses and families for years to come."

The Honourable Sandra Jansen, Minister of Alberta Infrastructure Quick facts  Under the Investing in Canada plan, the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities. Under the first phase of the plan, Infrastructure Canada has approved nearly 3,500 projects across Canada worth a combined investment of more than $8.4 billion , including projects worth more than $1.1 billion in Alberta .

worth a combined investment of more than , including projects worth more than in . As part of the Plan, Infrastructure Canada will deliver $33 billion over the next decade through new bilateral agreements with provinces and territories under four funding streams:

over the next decade through new bilateral agreements with provinces and territories under four funding streams: $20.1 billion for public transit;

for public transit;

$9.2 billion for green infrastructure;

for green infrastructure;

$1.3 billion for community, cultural and recreational infrastructure; and

for community, cultural and recreational infrastructure; and

$2 billion for wide-ranging infrastructure needs in rural and northern communities.

for wide-ranging infrastructure needs in rural and northern communities.

The federal cost-share under the rural and northern infrastructure stream was increased from 50% to 60% on February 16, 2018 . With this increase, provincial communities with fewer than 5000 residents will be eligible to receive a higher proportion of federal funding to address their unique infrastructure needs. Indigenous communities in the provinces will be eligible for a federal cost share of up to 75%.

. With this increase, provincial communities with fewer than 5000 residents will be eligible to receive a higher proportion of federal funding to address their unique infrastructure needs. Indigenous communities in the provinces will be eligible for a federal cost share of up to 75%. Six new long-term infrastructure agreements have now been signed between the Government of Canada and provincial and territorial partners. Associated links Government of Canada's $180-billion+ Investing in Canada plan: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/about-invest-apropos-eng.html Investing in Canada plan project map: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gmap-gcarte/index-eng.html Federal infrastructure investments in Alberta: http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/map-carte/ab-eng.html Government of Alberta's ICIP Portal: http://www.alberta.ca/ICIP Twitter: @INFC_eng Web: Infrastructure Canada SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

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[April 06, 2018] Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid wins 2018 Canadian Green Car Award at Toronto's Green Living Show

MARKHAM, ON, April 6, 2018 /CNW/ - The world's first vehicle offering three electrified powertrains in a single platform, the Hyundai Ioniq, has won the 2018 Canadian Green Car Award in the Traditional Hybrid Electric category. It's the second time the Ioniq Hybrid has won this award. The Ioniq in all three powertrain flavours, including the award-winning Ioniq Hybrid, will be joined by the company's Sonata Plug-In Hybrid on display at the 2018 Green Living Show in Toronto April 6-8. Further, show attendees will be able to test drive the Ioniq Electric version directly at the show. The award is the result of judging by a panel of 14 journalists spread across the country. The Ioniq Hybrid rose above the other category finalists, Kia Niro Hybrid and Ford Fusion Hybrid, as judges evaluated entries on a series of objective ad subjective factors that included efficiency, emissions performance, consumer appeal, safety, value, comfort, and quality. The Canadian Green Car Award was launched in 2013 and a Hyundai vehicle has been an award recipient for three consecutive years.



The Hyundai Ioniq is an advanced, stylish vehicle packed with innovative technology that makes it equal parts eco-friendly and fun to drive. Unlike other eco vehicles currently on the market, the Ioniq is the first in the world to offer three electrified powertrains in one platform: hybrid, rechargeable plug-in hybrid, and battery electric. "The Ioniq offers an engaging driving experience, has an incredibly advanced powertrain, and is undoubtedly one of the most attractive vehicles in the Hyundai line-up," says Lawrence Hamilton, Director of Marketing with Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. "In fact, the Ioniq Hybrid is rated as the most fuel efficient vehicle in Canada, so it stands to reason the car would perform extremely well in the Canadian Green Car Award competition. On behalf of my colleagues at Hyundai, and especially those in our R&D facilities that worked tirelessly to develop the car, I would like to thank the jury panel for recognizing the Ioniq Hybrid as a stand-out competitor."

The Green Living Show can be found at the North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and Hyundai's display is located at Booth 1627 in the south-east end of the building on the main convention floor. Test drives of the Ioniq EV are held from the Internal Street accessed from the ground floor of the centre. More information on the Canadian Green Car Award can be found at http://canadiangreencaraward.ca/. Information about the Green Living Show can be found at https://www.greenlivingshow.ca/. About Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

Hyundai Auto Canada, established in 1983 and headquartered in Markham, Ontario, is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea. Hyundai vehicles are distributed throughout Canada by Hyundai Auto Canada and are sold and serviced through more than 210 dealerships nationwide. Hyundai is also the first to offer its zero-emissions Tucson Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle to Canadian customers. More information about Hyundai and its vehicles can be found at www.HyundaiCanada.com. SOURCE Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

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[April 06, 2018] Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Visits Lockheed Martin's Silicon Valley Site

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin's top executive hosted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, at the company's Sunnyvale, California site on April 5. Sunnyvale is home to many of the company's satellite programs as well as technologies for missile defense, solar array production and advanced research and development. The Crown Prince and Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, toured advanced technologies for both air and missile defense and satellite communications. The visit included key elements of the THAAD system and a tour of the satellite assembly and test facility where Lockheed Martin is building two communications satellites for Arabsat and the King Abdulaziz City for Scienceand Technology (KACST).



"For more than 50 years, we have been proud to partner for the national security and economic growth of Saudi Arabia," Hewson said. "That's why it was a special honor to host His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman at our Space facility here in Silicon Valley. During the visit, he saw firsthand the powerful and innovative satellites being built for Arabsat, which will enhance the Kingdom's technological capabilities. He also met the Saudi engineers who have worked side-by-side with our Lockheed Martin engineers to learn satellite assembly, integration, and test skills. And, together, we celebrated what these efforts will mean for building Saudi Arabia's future space industry and for increasing economic opportunity and job creation throughout the Kingdom." In 2015 Arabsat and KACST awarded Lockheed Martin a contract for two LM 2100-based satellites: Arabsat-6A and Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1. The two satellites will provide advanced telecommunications capabilities, including television, internet, telephone and secure communications, to important government users and commercial customers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Both satellites are slated for delivery in 2018.

Lockheed Martin has had a presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1965 with the first delivery of the C-130 Hercules. Since then, the company has continued to work to expand its footprint in the Kingdom in integrated air and missile defense systems, tactical and rotary wing technologies, maritime systems and satellite communications. The company's presence is supported by training initiatives that encourage and train the next generation of Saudi talent ensuring the sustainability of the aerospace and defense industry and to support the Kingdom's Vision 2030 objectives. For additional information, visit our website: www.lockheedmartin.com . 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/saudi-arabias-crown-prince-visits-lockheed-martins-silicon-valley-site-300625701.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin

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[April 06, 2018] TVU Networks Removes Barriers to Video Production and Distribution With Story-Centric Workflow

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- TVU Networks, the global technology and innovation leader in live IP video solutions, will demonstrate its answer to Media 4.0, the new TVU MediaMind platform, during the NAB Show next week from April 9-12 in Booth C1707. With developments such as AI, big data, IoT, and cloud computing, all businesses are undergoing rapid changes to their business models that also hold the possibility of a significant upside inefficiency. Industry 4.0* is a term coined to describe how these technologies can combine to produce a 'smart factory,' capable of making decisions and performing autonomously. This follows on the back of earlier breakthroughs, including: 1) mechanization powered by steam and water 2) mass production powered by electricity and 3) computerized automation. Currently, the video industry is experiencing its own sea change in the way video content is produced, distributed and consumed. Referred to as Media 4.0 or as 'Enabled Media' by TVU Networks, this evolution enables the customization of video per the specific requirements and tastes of individual consumers and its distribution through an automated process. AI engines recognize video content and automate its creation and distribution to cell phones, streaming to the Internet, television and social media channels. "Media 4.0 is about enabling the mass production of content for individual audiences through the automation of video production and distribution," said Paul Shen, CEO, TVU Networks. "This helps media companies looking to produce more content without increasing their expenditures. Instead of creating content manually, technology can enable the tailoring of that raw video to viewers on specific social media platforms, cell phones, streaming channels, and TV. Archived footage can be repurposed as an asset complete with searchable metadata. Media companies can't earn revenue from material that's never broadcasted." TVU MediaMind consists of TVU Contributin Automation, TVU AI Engine, TVU Real-Time Search Engine, TVU Workflow Engine and TVU Producer Pro. From the start of the video production process, all video is immediately indexed based on its metadata by TVU MediaMind's AI real-time search engine. Using an entirely cloud-based model complete with voice and object recognition, live and pre-produced video clips are located and indexed down to the exact frame and can be shared instantly. MediaMind automates the ability for different production groups to find the content. With cloud-based TVU Producer Pro, different content can be cost-effectively created for different platforms or even audience groups.



Existing TVU customers can quickly utilize the benefits of TVU MediaMind, such as a real-time search engine for all of their media assets. The TVU AI Engine can be enabled with tens of thousands of TVU Transceivers deployed around the world. "TVU MediaMind creates a new story-centric workflow, as opposed to a program-centric one, that removes the barriers involved in video production and how the video is shared with different production groups," explained Shen. "It opens the floodgates for how programs are produced and distributed, removing barriers from the social media, digital and broadcast programming departments and creating one centralized search engine for all raw materials, live or recorded, that feeds all channels. And it helps media companies better target their audiences with appropriate programs."

TVU Networks has over 2,500 customers in more than 85 countries. The TVU Networks family of IP transmission and live production solutions gives broadcasters and organizations a powerful and reliable workflow to distribute live video content to broadcast online and mobile platforms. TVU has become a critical part of the operations of many major media companies. The TVU Networks suite of solutions has been used to acquire, transmit, produce, manage and distribute professional-quality live IP HD footage as an integral part of the news, sports, and major global events. For more information about TVU Networks solutions, please visit www.tvunetworks.com. *Industry 4.0 refers to the automation, digitalization, and networking of design, production, information, communication and management processes. Social Media Links: TVU Networks on Twitter TVU Networks on Facebook About TVU Networks TVU Networks is the global technology and innovation leader in live IP video solutions. TVU's solutions help transform broadcasters' SDI-based operations  which include acquisition, transmission, routing, distribution, and management  to an IP-based infrastructure. TVU serves customers of all sizes in more than 85 countries from industries that include news broadcast, web streaming, law enforcement, sports, corporate and government. In broadcast markets around the world including the USA, China, and other major economic powers, TVU is the dominant market leader with a large majority of all news broadcast stations using its IP video solutions. Using its proprietary IS+ technology, TVU's uplink solutions use any combination of cellular, satellite, microwave, Wi-Fi and Ethernet IP connections to deliver live HD video from practically any location. TVU Contact: Robin Hoffman

Pipeline Communications

(917) 763-8069

robinhoffman@pipecomm.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tvu-networks-removes-barriers-to-video-production-and-distribution-with-story-centric-workflow-300625731.html SOURCE TVU Networks

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[April 06, 2018] Working & Living on Mars: Students Win National Competition to Design Orbiting Science Lab, Living Space for Astronauts on Mars Mission

BETHESDA, Md., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin is working on technologies that will make deep-space travel possible, such as building the spacecraft that will go to Mars. As part of its Generation Beyond K-12 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education initiative, the company today announced the winners of a nationwide contest asking students to design a Mars-orbiting science lab and living space (or Mars Base Camp Habitation Module) that will dock with NASA's Orion deep space spacecraft. A roundtrip to Mars will take up to three years. In addition to basic necessities such as food, water, oxygen and power, astronauts will need a habitat in which they can live comfortably and safely. The contest asked middle schoolers to submit their best design ideas for a Habitation Module that will provide all of the systems and living spaces that a crew needs for a long mission. The individual winner is from East Prairie Elementary School in Skokie, Illinois and the team winners are from Stoller Middle School in Portland, Oregon. Their winning entries are available at: https://www.generationbeyondinschool.com/competition/video/archives. Illinois Student Winner B-Roll: https://vimeo.com/263553244

Portland Student Winner B-Roll: https://vimeo.com/263556005





https://lockheedmartin.smugmug.com/Generation-Beyond-Challenge-Winners-Event/ "Lockheed Martin is already developing design concepts for a Mars Habitat, and the 2017 Generation Beyond Video Challenge Contest was a great opportunity to hear innovative new ideas from the next generation of engineers, builders and explorers who will help us get there," said Tony Antonelli, a former NASA space shuttle pilot who heads advanced civil space programs for Lockheed Martin. "The goal of Generation Beyond is to spark student interest in STEM, and this contest is one of many ways we're using exciting topics, like space travel, to engage students in learning."

The Habitation Module is a component of Mars Base Camp, which is Lockheed Martin's vision for the spacecraft that could one day take astronauts to the red planet. The Mars Base Camp concept would transport astronauts from Earth, via an orbiting gateway at the Moon, to a Mars-orbiting science laboratory where they can perform real-time scientific exploration, analyze Martian rock and soil samples, and confirm the ideal place to land humans on the surface in the 2030s. Along with hosting video challenge contests in 2016 and 2017, the Generation Beyond program includes a curriculum, created in partnership with Discovery Education, that has been used in thousands of classrooms around the country and incorporates lesson plans and interactive content. Lockheed Martin also created an app called Mars Walk that simulates what it's like to explore the surface of Mars. Classroom resources are available at generationbeyondinschool.com and the Mars Walk app is available for download on iPhone or Android. 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/working--living-on-mars-students-win-national-competition-to-design-orbiting-science-lab-living-space-for-astronauts-on-mars-mission-300625791.html SOURCE Lockheed Martin

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FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Investec Wealth & Investment (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named.



N/A (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree



James Halstead plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:



N/A (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure



5th April 2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A"



No

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:







Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 5,026,788 2.42% (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL: 5,026,788 2.42%

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit



Ordinary Shares



N/A - Opening Position Disclosure





(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit





(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



N/A





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



N/A





(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO





Date of disclosure: 6th April 2018



Contact name: Phil Beardwell Chartered FCSI Telephone number: 020 7597 1356

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
6 April 2018 - The annual general meeting of Akastor ASA was held on Friday 6 April 2018 at the company's premises at Oksenyveien 10, Lysaker, Norway.

All matters on the agenda were approved, cf. the notice of the annual general meeting attached to the stock exchange release published by the company on 16 March 2018.

The complete minutes are attached to this release and are also available at www.akastor.com.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Leif Borge

Chief Financial Officer

Mobile: +47 917 86 291

E-mail: leif.borge@akastor.com
French English

COMMUNIQUE





Boulogne, April 6, 2018

Renault announces that the 2017 Registration Document is filed with the French Financial Markets Authority.

The 2017 Registration Document (French version) is available on Renault website www.group.renault.com, tab Finance, in the 'Regulated information'.

The English version will follow soon.
"Mike Shanin talks to KC Water Director Terry Leeds about rising water rates and sewer infrastructure. Ron Freeman, Mary O'Halloran, Steve Mirakian and Patrick McInerney discuss efforts to pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. by renaming The Paseo, Kevin Yoder's chances for reelection in the 3rd District race in Kansas and recent suggestions that the 2nd Amendment should be repealed."

Talk of the town this week from theof community discourse.Description:You decide . . .
Additional security in place after student reports possible camera in Avila women's restroom KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Officials at Avila University are investigating after a student reported possibly seeing a camera in a women's bathroom. A campus spokesperson said the incident happened last week at Ridgway Hall, a co-ed student residence hall.

A local reality check and news report reveals the dangers that women confront throughout the metro. Read more:
JACKSON COUNTY INSIDERS REVEAL FORMER LEGISLATOR AND CURRENT CONSULTANT THERESA GARZA WILL SUPPORT CHALLENGER JOHN BURNETT IN HIS DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY OPPOSITION AGAINST CRYSTAL WILLIAMS!!!

Ms. Garza going with Burnett reveals that the Hillary Clinton style "girl power" argument that Crystal Williams has espoused throughout her career is spurious at best. In fact, Legislator Williams created quite a few lady enemies during tenure at the GKCWPC as her militant brand of political discourse chased away members in droves.

Friendship doesn't last long in local politics and on this freaky weather Kansas City Friday we're witnessing a "girl power" player performing an important about-face against a former colleague.To wit . . .Here's why this is a big deal . . .To be fair, Ms. Garza has been a supporter of John Burnett in his previous election attempts and their alliance dates back more than a decade.Nevertheless . . .Theresa Garza isn't going to be the last local power player to jump ship over to Team Burnett as Jackson County voters are given an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with human rights abuses at the jail, drastically rising property taxes and constant drama betwixt the Legislature and the Exec.Developing . . .
KEEPING HIS WORD TO FOCUS RESOURCES ON LOCAL STREETS: KCPD CHIEF SMITH TOUTS MORE 'COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OFFICERS' THROUGHOUT KANSAS CITY!!!

Chief Smith Blog: KCPD doubles officers dedicated to working with neighborhoods

The Kansas City Missouri Police Department now has twice as many police officers dedicated to working directly with neighborhoods. As promised, two Community Interaction Officers now are assigned to each of our six patrol divisions. The second set started March 26. That makes for a dozen officers who are dedicated to working proactively to empower neighborhoods, resolve ongoing issues and prevent crime.





Historically, Community Interaction Officers (CIOs) at KCPD have helped facilitate communication between the Police Department and the residents of Kansas City. They encourage residents to be actively involved in anti-crime efforts and promote community support for the police department through positive interaction and partnerships with the community. CIOs meet with members of the community on a regular basis to address specific community problems and plausible solutions.

Will it work???

Right nowwhich is exactly where it was last year at this time amid a historic homicide uptick that ended with 150 residents brutally killed.Accordingly . . .Check the deets and links to more info . . .Deets:You decide . . .
TORONTO, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Torex Gold Resources Inc. (the Company or Torex) (TSX:TXG) reports that negotiations between community leaders have resulted in an end to the illegal blockades of the Companys ELG Mine Complex, supporting infrastructure, and the Media Luna Project, all of which are in southwest Mexico. Processing operations have continued uninterrupted since the restart in mid January. Mining in the El Limon Pit is expected to resume today.



Fred Stanford, President & CEO of Torex stated: We are more than pleased that we can now get back to unimpeded operations and value creation for the Companys shareholders and all stakeholders. During the first quarter, the quality of the team, and the asset, were clearly evident as they pulled together under very challenging operating conditions and produced 67,000 ounces of gold in Dore. They also shipped 8000 gold ounces in carbon fines. Looking forward, the operations are well positioned to complete the ramp-up in 2018 and to move forward with optimization and development initiatives. He added; A special thanks goes out to the employees, community members, community leaders, and so many others who have provided the support that was necessary to facilitate production during this difficult period, and to peacefully resolve this dispute over union representation.

The official government-regulated process for selecting between the two competing unions, continues. Since mid-March, there have been two public hearings at the Federal Labour Board, regarding the timing of a union selection vote. It is Torexs understanding that the public hearing stage of the process is now complete, and that the next stage is a decision as to when and where the vote will occur. As Torex has said since the beginning, the Company will work with whichever union the workers democratically select.

Operations Update:

The processing plant has operated continuously since it restarted on January 16th except for planned maintenance activities. In the first quarter, 67,000 ounces of gold were produced in Dore, and an additional 8000 ounces of gold were shipped in carbon fines. The Sub-Sill was re-started one month ahead of schedule, with drifts and ramps advancing 179 meters in March. The underground diamond drilling program also restarted ahead of schedule. Mining in the El Limon Sur Pit progressed on schedule, as did the Guajes East Pit, which is now effectively mined-out. The Guajes West Pit is in a waste stripping phase in 2018, which is the reason the operation will source most of its ore in 2018 from the El Limon Pit, with some contribution from the El Limon Sur Pit and the Sub-Sill. The SART plant construction is substantially complete and commissioning is ongoing. The placement of filtered tailings has been well managed in preparation for the rainy season. Water containment ponds are being drawn down in preparation for the rainy season. Cash reserves at the end of the first quarter were US$124 million, including US$14 million set aside for reclamation obligations. In the first quarter, a US$9.3 million principal repayment was made to reduce the term loan under the debt facility to US$290.7 million.



About Torex

Torex is an intermediate gold producer based in Canada, engaged in the exploration, development and operation of its 100% owned Morelos Gold Property, an area of 29,000 hectares in the highly prospective Guerrero Gold Belt located 180 kilometers southwest of Mexico City. Within this property, Torex has the ELG Open Pits, the ELG Underground Mine, and the Media Luna Project, which is an early stage development project, and for which the Company issued a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2015. The property remains 75% unexplored.

For further information, please contact:

TOREX GOLD RESOURCES INC.

Fred Stanford

President and CEO

Tel. (647) 260-1502

Email: fred.stanford@torexgold.com

Gabriela Sanchez

Vice President Investor Relations

Tel. (647) 260-1503

Email: gabriela.sanchez@torexgold.com



CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Notwithstanding the Companys efforts, there can be no guarantee that the Company will not face unforeseen delays or disruptions, including delays and disruptions that may be connected to other illegal blockades in the future. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding resuming normal operations, continued unimpeded operations, completing the ramp-up of the operations, creating value for shareholders and stakeholders, resolution of the community tensions, mining of the Guajes East pit, the primary ore source for the remainder of the year, the phase of the Guajes West Pit for the remainder of the year, completing optimization activities, completing development activities including but not limited to the advancement of the Sub-Sill, completing construction and commissioning of the SART plant and expected completion of ramp-up, preparedness for the rainy season, and the union selection vote, including the next step in the process. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects, estimates, intends, anticipates or believes or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might, will or will be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made at the date that such statements are made. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including those risk factors identified in the Companys annual information form and managements discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.




Embark on a unique journey identifying some of the most important monuments of architecture in the country

Apart from the fact of having the best weather and climate conditions, wonderful beaches and rich culture, Greece is a country of great architectural significance. So, lets start a unique journey identifying some of the most important monuments of architecture in the country, in order to explore this aspect of Greece. See the 5 most popular ones below:

1) The villages on the Aegean Islands:

The villages (Chores) on the Aegean Islands is the perfect example of less is more. The whitewashed villages and alleys are the main feature of the simplistic Cycladic architecture, which is well-known worldwide for its plasticity. Some excellent examples can be seen on Santorini, Syros, Naxos, Serifos, Amorgos, in Little Venice on Mykonos, in Molyvos on Lesvos and in Gialos on Symi.

2) The Medieval Town of Rhodes:

It is considered to be one of the most well-preserved castles in the world, which travels visitors back in time, in the Knights Era. It has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1988. Undoubtedly, this majestic castle that separates the old city from the new one, is a must-visit for every tourist of the beautiful island.

3) The Old Town of Corfu:

The old town is the one that attracts the main tourist interest in Corfu. The Venetian characteristics as well as the English and French influences are obvious in this picturesque old town. It displays an impressive combination of massive fortresses, palaces, narrow alleys, arches and tall western-style buildings. In June 2007, the entire historical center of Corfu was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

4) The Old Town of Rethymnon:

The old town of Rethymnon is one of the most well-preserved Renaissance cities. It is located in the heart of todays Rethymnon and combines the oriental details of the Ottoman architecture along with Venetian Renaissance architecture.

5) Mani:

The villages in Mani hold on to their traditional lifestyle and architecture. Nestled between the rugged mountain ranges, beautiful and imposing, they are waiting to tell you their story.

Source: Eleni Aravani/visitgreece

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: Norbert Nagel, Morfelden-Walldorf, Germany License: CC-BY-SA

Source: blog.visitgreece.gr
Even the most remote churches honor the tradition of the Epitaphios (Bier of Christ), creating a pious atmosphere

Good Friday is an acutely mournful day in Greece that commemorates the Passion of Christ. A nationwide affair, it recalls the moments leading up to and including the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as told in the New Testament of the Bible.

Even the most remote churches across the country honor the tradition of the Epitaphios (Bier of Christ), creating a pious atmosphere full of tradition.

On Good Friday morning, the Epitaphios is adorned with spring flowers  mostly white, red, and purple  until it is entirely covered.

The Tomb is often sprinkled with flower petals and rosewater, decorated with candles and ceremonially censed as a sign of respect.

Then the priest and the faithful venerate the Epitaphios as the choir chants hymns, the Epitaphic Lamentation.

The epitaph procession goes around the streets, with bells ringing the funeral toll, commemorating the burial procession of Christ and people chanting the Lamentations.

At the end of the procession, the Epitaphios is returned to the church. Sometimes, after the clergy carry the Epitaphios in, they will stop just inside the entrance to the church, and hold the Epitaphios above the door, so that all who enter the church will pass under it.

The flock continues to visit the tomb and venerate the Epitaphios throughout Great Saturday.

Source: Tasos Kokkinidis/greekreporter

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: Jean Housen License: CC-BY-SA
Saudi Arabia's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has provided more than $10 billion in assistance to Yemeni people over the last three years, a report said.

The centre has implemented 367 programmes in 40 countries since its establishment in May 2015, with Yemen enjoying the largest share of 217 projects, revealed Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of KSrelief.

''The overall assistance provided for Yemeni people amounted to more than $10 billion over the last three years, consisting of humanitarian, developmental and foodstuffs assistance as well as supporting Yemeni refugees, Yemen central bank, cholera combating and mother and child care etc," Al-Rabeeiah said in Geneva.

He said that Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as the rest of the Coalition countries have launched early this year a comprehensive humanitarian operation plan in Yemen to alleviate the sufferings of Yemeni people throughout the country.
QUICK TAKE: PDQs Don Ross Says NYSE/CHX Deal Aids System Gamers

Thursday, ICE  parent operator of the New York Stock Exchange - announced it was going to purchase the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) for an undisclosed amount of money. Some sources have said the CHX could fetch upwards of $50 to $70 million.

The deal is expected to close in 2018, after which CHX will continue to operate as a registered national securities exchange based in Chicago, the company said on Thursday.

Don Ross, CEO of PDQ Enterprises, commented that the deal equals zero benefit to investors but more opportunity for gaming by predatory traders.

"The reported NYSE acquisition of CHX is just another example of how exchanges focus resources on their own success, versus focusing on the investors they are meant to serve, Ross shared with Traders Magazine. The CHX acquisition will do nothing for investors. It's purely about buying order flow and generating more data to sell.

Furthermore, Ross added that while the CHX has a long history and the market should recognize and honor the positive role it played decades ago, there is not a single investor who will be in any way impacted by its becoming a part of the ICE conglomerate. The only benefit is to the exchanges themselves, and to and to those participants who aim to game the system in new ways."

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:
Quant Insight Augments Quantitative Macro Analysis with Predata Geopolitical Predictive Risk Signals

Quant Insight, the London-based macro analytics firm, and Predata, the New York-based predictive analytics platform, announced a new strategic partnership whereby Predata will add its global geopolitical risk signals to Quant Insights quantitative macro analyses framework and processes to give institutional investors and traders anticipatory insight to help optimize investments and quantify trades on assets that incorporate political risk.

Together, Quant Insight and Predata will give investors, hedge fund portfolio managers and wealth managers a more complete framework for trading todays complex financial markets. The joint solution will help investors to better grasp the political, financial and economic factors driving asset prices via two complementary and now integrated analytic platforms.

Having the expertise to know which data is relevant, how to interpret that data and translate it into actionable investment ideas is crucial in todays trading environment. We are delighted to partner with Predata to ensure all financial market participants have access to our combined analytics capabilities and evaluate both economic and geopolitical factors when choosing a trade expression that best suits their macro view, said Mahmood Noorani, Founder and CEO at Quant Insight.

Collaborating with Quant Insight provides a perfect application for our predictive intelligence, risk and geopolitical signals to create an anticipatory view into popular risk topics and events that investors can then translate into actionable ideas. Together, were delivering a powerful source of analysis to financial professionals looking for alpha strategies using alternative data, machine learning and innovative quantitative techniques, says Hazem Dawani, CEO of Predata.

Quant Insight is a macro research firm that provides actionable quantitative analysis to hedge funds, asset managers, pension funds and wealth managers. Whether a macro money manager needs to understand what drives their FX trade or duration position, or an equity long-short fund whose bottom-up investment process needs greater insight on potential exogenous shocks, QI can help provide clear insight into the most important macro issues in global markets at any point in time.

Predata builds models of human behavior online using alternative data and machine learning techniques to identify and map patterns that precede major market and political events. The data and models are then transformed into risk signals, market indicators, and political and economic event predictions. Predatas global risk intelligence has helped hedge fund portfolio managers and global macro strategists discover and quantify risk around geopolitical and market events such as attacks on UN Peacekeepers in Mali, PKK violence in Turkey, and flare-ups in tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Also, in February Predata used its platform to predict a move in Japanese Yen one week in advance of the actual USD/JPY increase.

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Kames Capital Plc (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Informa plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 05/04/2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" YES

If YES, specify which:

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



Ordinary Share



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: 8,709,970 1.057 0 0.00 (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



216,142 0.0262 0 0.00 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: 0 0.00 0 0.00



TOTAL: 8,926,112 1.0832 0 0.00

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit Cash-settled derivative CFD reducing a long position 89,966 7.1220 GBP

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit

(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)

4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



None





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"









(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached?





Date of disclosure: 06/04/2018 Contact name: Stephen Adams Telephone number: For any issues relating to this disclosure please contact 0131 549 3288 or kamestradeoperationsmb@kamescapital.com

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
MANALAPAN, N.J, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sun Pacific Holding Corp. (OTCQB:SNPW) (the Company) a green energy company specializing in solar and waste to energy technologies, would like to update its shareholders on commercial projects, strategic relationships and enhancements to capital structure. Sun Pacific Holding is building a Next Generation green energy company by offering competitively priced solar panel and lighting products. We own and operate several subsidiaries including Sun Pacific Power Corp., Street Smart Outdoor Corp. and Sun Pacific Security Corp and National Mechanical Group



Recent Company Highlights

Elimination of Convertible Debt: All prior convertible debt was eliminated and converted to equity. As of March 30, 2018 Sun Pacific Holding Corp. has 60,958,373 shares outstanding.

Key Contracts: We signed contracts with both Star Metro Transportation Authority in Tallahassee, FL and the State of Rhode Island Transportation Authority.

Renewable Energy: Contracted to build the first plant in New England capable of treating medical waste that also creates clean energy.

Recent Solar Tariffs: We expect to benefit from recent legislation placing tariffs of 30 percent on imported solar panel technology.

With the recent contracts we have signed and our expansion efforts underway, now is the ideal time to provide an in-depth update to the investment community, stated Nicholas B. Campanella, Chairman and CEO of Sun Pacific Holding Corp. Mr. Campanella continued, In addition to several key contracts, we have strengthened both our balance sheet and industry relationships. We are confident in our future, as is evidenced in our recent 10-K filing showing management and directors own 55.71 percent of the shares outstanding. I am confident that the strides we have made over the last several months will allow us to remain focused on our principal objective, increasing shareholder value.

Street Smart Outdoor

Street Smart Outdoor is our street furniture outdoor advertising subsidiary currently maintaining advertising space on more than 1000 bus shelter faces, bus benches, smart solar digital shelters and solar trash bins. We are projecting $63 million in revenue over 10-years from our contract with the various Transit Authorities. The contract calls for Street Smart Outdoor to manage advertising space on more than 1000 bus shelters and benches. Street Smart Outdoor has also formally signed a ten year contract with the state of Rhode Island Transportation Authority to manage and sell advertising space on over 730 bus shelter faces.

Sun Pacific Power Corp.

Sun Pacific Power provides solar powered bus shelters, solar powered LED trash bins, solar products and lighting products. In January 2018 the U. S. Government imposed tariffs of 30 percent on imported solar panel technology to protect domestic manufacturers. In the past, the $28 billion solar industry has sourced about 80 percent of its solar panel products from imports. As we plan to build our U. S. based manufacturing operations, Sun Pacific Power is in an excellent position to benefit from these tariffs.

Sun Pacific Security Corp.

Sun Pacific Security has not begun operations in the security sector, but is reviewing plans to provide customers the latest in security automation systems. Sun Pacific Security will utilize your computer, smartphone or tablet to view secure live or recorded video, control the thermostat and control the lighting. We also offer fire alarm installation and card access granting entry to buildings and secure areas at the point of entry.

About Sun Pacific Holding Corp.

Sun Pacific Holding Corp. is building a Next Generation green energy company offering competitively priced solar panel and lighting products. We work closely with the finest design, engineering, integration and installation firms in order to deliver turnkey solar and other energy efficient solutions. Through our subsidiaries, Sun Pacific Holding Corp. provides solar bus stops, solar trashcans and street kiosks utilizing our unique advertising offerings that provide State and local municipalities with costs efficient solutions. As part of our effort to expand our green energy marketplace, we have recently started the process to develop and build out a Waste to Energy plant in the State of Rhode Island. Additionally, Sun Pacific Holding Corp signed a Letter of Intent to build and operate our New England Renewable Energy Solutions project in Johnston, Rhode Island. This medical waste to energy project could process as much as 70 tons of waste per day and generate up to 7 megawatts of electricity. Plans call for waste to be reduced in volume by 93% without harmful air emissions, while generating electricity that will be tied into the local utility grid, which could potentially create a multi-million dollar recurring revenue stream for our company. Sun Pacific Holding Corp. has also signed a Letter of Intent to purchase 60 acres of land to build a solar and wind farm.

Safe Harbor and Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future expansion or financial results) and other factors discussed from time to time in the Company's OTC Markets filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, so actual results may vary materially. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan" and other similar expressions. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors not within the control of the company. The company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

IR Contact

Sun Pacific Holding Corp

215 Gordons Corner Road

Manalapan, NJ 07726

Phone: +1 (888) 845-0242

Gabe Rodriguez

Email: ir@sunpacificholding.com

Website:www.sunpacificholding.com
WEST JORDAN, Utah, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The members, employees and board of directors of Dugway Federal Credit Union have voted to merge with Mountain America Federal Credit Union. Located at Dugway Proving Grounds, Dugway Federal Credit Union is a $2.9 million institution with 637 members, primarily serving military and civilian employees.



All Dugway Federal Credit Union accounts were transferred to Mountain America Credit Union on April 1, 2018. The merger will provide Dugway Federal Credit Union members with access to 89 branches and a variety of new services, including rewards checking, mobile banking, bill pay, business services, real estate and business lending, and a full range of mortgage loans.

We are happy to welcome the Dugway Federal Credit Union family as the newest members to Mountain America Credit Union and look forward to continuing the Dugway Federal Credit Union tradition of providing quality service, says Sterling Nielsen, CEO for Mountain America Credit Union. This merger gives Dugway Federal Credit Union members access to a vast branch network and a multitude of additional products and services.
editorial@tribune.com

Amritsar: MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla conducted a meeting with Demetrios A Theophylactou, High Commissioner of Cyprus to India, regarding investment, tourism and cultural exchange on Friday. Aujla invited the official to visit Amritsar to explore more on the proposal of bilateral interests. Aujla said he had a fruitful talk with the high commissioner. TNS

Head constable ends life

A head constable, identified as Nirmal Singh (40), has committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in Dhulka village. The Khilchian police have booked two persons  Varinder Singh, alias Mithu, and his brother Gurpartap Singh  of the same village for abetment of suicide on the complaint of the victims wife Gurjit Kaur. No arrest has been made so far. The complainant stated to the police that Nirmal Singh was posted with the traffic wing of the city police. On March 28, when he was returning home, the accused intercepted and thrashed him. Later, they lodged a false compliant with the police following which a case was registered. We got him released on bail, she alleged. She said Nirmal was perturbed as he had been insulted by the accused. He consumed poison on Wednesday. He was rushed to a private hospital at Baba Bakala where he succumbed, she added. Randhir Singh, investigating officer, said the accused were absconding and raids were on to arrest them. Sections 306 and 34 of the IPC have been slapped. TNS
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 6

A woman convict, on bail, reached the District Courts here on Friday to file an appeal in her case. However, she was taken into custody by the police. While the woman raised a hue and cry, she was told that she had failed to follow the correct legal procedure and, thus, had to surrender.

Ranjana, a resident of EWS Colony, Sector 49, was convicted of assaulting a policeman 11 years ago. Her case was decided by a trial court here on January 8 this year and she was sentenced to one-year imprisonment. However, she was granted bail on the spot as she had sought permission to file an appeal.

As per the procedure, she had 90 days to do so. However, she came on Friday. She was told to go to the court, which convicted her and surrender there. When she reached there and her file was checked, she was told that she would be taken into custody.

As Ranjana protested and asked for her family and lawyer to be called, she was told that she had to follow the procedure. She called her family members and informed them of the development and was taken into custody thereafter. I could not come earlier as a family member was ill. I did not know the legal procedure and have come as soon as I could, said Ranjana, who had just got off a bus with only a bag of clothes.

On October 23, 2007, the Sector 61 police post in-charge, along with a team, visited Pandit Colony as he had received information that sale and purchase of drugs and illicit liquor was going on in the area. At about 6.30 pm, they reached a tea stall on receiving specific information that ganja was being sold there.

However, Ranjana, who was at the tea stall, started abusing the police party and did not allow a woman constable to check her stall. She then manhandled the woman constable and attacked her with a knife. Another sub-inspector tried to intervene, but was attacked with the knife and received injuries. A case was registered against Ranjana.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 6

PCR vehicles in the city will have more accountability and these will be evaluated on the basis of key performance indicators, said UT DGP TS Luthra during an interaction with the media here on Friday. Here are the excerpts:

What are the key performance indicators for a PCR vehicle?

Now onwards, the PCR staff wont be sitting idle when there is no complaint to attend to. In view of the snatching incidents, the PCR staff will also check two-wheeler riders by stopping them and confirm that the vehicle is not stolen, which will be done with the help of an application, named Vahan. The PCR will also patrol the area to keep vigil in the city. Another performance indicator that is very important is generating alerts of suspicious vehicles moving around the city. The PCR will have to alert the control room, which will further pass the message to the staff concerned so that the vehicle in question can be intercepted for investigation.

The third performance indicator will be the spots attended to by the PCR vehicle each day and their response time. Based on all these parameters, a PCR vehicles performance will be evaluated.

Is there need to add more PCR vehicles to the fleet in the city to intensify patrolling?

Firstly, we will analyse the workload of the PCR vehicles as per their performance. The PCR vehicles that are less burdened will be shifted to some other area where these can be better utilised. And after an evaluation, if a need arises, we will take a decision whether to add more PCR vehicles.

What steps are being taken to check the rising snatching incidents in the city?

A snatcher once arrested gets bail after around six days. We are keeping a watch on the activities of snatchers who are out on bail. Intelligence about their activities is analysed to ensure they are not involved in snatching incidents in the city. We also generate a report from the local court through our police staff about undertrials in snatching cases who repeatedly miss court hearings following which police units are alerted to trace them and ensure they do not indulge in snatchings again.

In comparison to the corresponding period last year, has the crime graph in the city gone up in the past three months?

I dont believe in statistics or numbers. I believe in truthful registration of FIRs, which may give an impression that the crime has increased. My aim is that no one visiting a police station with a complaint should leave without getting an FIR registered. An FIR is the first step to justice.
shalender@tribune.com

Punjab has told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it does not intend to withdraw the power subsidy from farmers of any size. Instead, it has appealed to rich farmers that they surrender the subsidy voluntarily. This is very much in line with the larger campaign of the NDA government at the Centre that is urging the well-off to avoid taking various subsidies, starting with LPG. Even though the success of that appeal is yet to be detremined, there is no gainsaying it does raise a fundamental question of the morality of precious public resources going to those who dont really need them when all needy have not yet been served.

India has had a tradition of giving in the name of God, a significant part of which does reach the poor. However, the spirit has not been evident when it comes to scientific philanthropy, in which specific areas of need, such as education or health, may be identified to enable high-net-worth individuals to make contributions. There is need for charity to move beyond personal or spiritual satisfaction, where the giver wants to personally see the exact beneficiary and end use to draw a certain fulfilment. To be fair to the rich, there is a trust gap when it comes to charitable organisations. It is only natural for a person to demand that his money be put to good use. That is where the give it up initiatives of governments can fill the gap by providing planned and organised channels of charity.

The power subsidy situation in Punjab, however, may be slightly different. That is because the definition of a rich farmer is debatable. The number of those rich purely on farm income would be very small as there exists a limit on the amount of land a person can hold. Then there are those, including politicians, who have income from land as well as other sources. Sadly, their preparedness to give up may be gauged from the fact that thus far in Punjab only Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Leader of the Opposition Sukhpal Khaira have taken the step.
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, April 6

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed the petition filed by a hospitality firm linked to Robert Vadra challenging an Income Tax (I-T) Department notice to it for re-assessment of its profits from land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan for 2010-11.

The Delhi-based firm, Sky Light Hospitality LLP, had filed an appeal against the February order of the Delhi High Court which had rejected its petition against the I-T notice.

After a brief hearing, an apex court Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan refused to interfere with the High Courts order by which the firm associated with Vadra was directed to join proceedings before the assessing officer.

The I-T Department, in a tax evasion report tabled in the High Court, had said it had reasons to believe that over Rs 35 crore, earned by the firm in 2010-11, had escaped from assessment.

The High Court had said, After going through the reasons, we are satisfied that the reasons to believe show and establish a live link and connect with the inference drawn that income had escaped assessment, which is required for issuance of notice. In the high court, the firm had challenged the I-T Departments notice, contending that the reasons to believe were mere reasons to suspect and do not establish that income had escaped assessment.

Disagreeing with the firms contention, the High Court had said, Absolute certainty is not required at the time of issue of notice and at the same time, reasons to believe must not be based on mere suspicion, gossip or rumour. The said test and criteria, we have no hesitation in holding, is satisfied in the present case. There is evidence and material on record to justify issue of notice, it said.

The High Court also said as long as there was a honest and reasonable opinion formed by the assessing officer and the reasons to believe are not mere reasons to suspect, courts should not interject to stop the adjudication process and scrutiny on merit.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, April 6

Several quintal mustard crop lying in the open at the purchase centre in Sector-9 got soaked in rain which lashed the town on Friday evening. The district authorities have set up a makeshift purchase centre here to procure the mustard. But, no arrangement has been made to protect the crop from rain.

My mustard crop got wet because there is no arrangement to protect it from rain. I brought mustard here early in the morning, but HAFED did not procure it on Friday, rued Rahul of Gijhadaud village.

Nepal Singh, a farmer from Badli, said proper arrangements should have been made to protect the crop in view of the rain forecast.

Another farmer Kanwar Pal said his crop, loaded in two tractor-trailers, got soaked in the rain due to non-procurement on Friday.

Who is responsible for the loss faced by the farmers due to the rain? We will have to wait for the crop to get dry as they will not procure rain-soaked mustard due to high moisture content, said Ram Singh, another farmer.

The crop was not purchased by HAFED on Friday due to inclement weather. Also, tardy lifting of mustard in the past few days has led to shortage of space with bags of mustard waiting to be transported to the warehouse.

Surender Choudhry, District Manager, HAFED, said mustard would not be procured on Saturday and Sunday. The mustard crop purchased already will be transported first in the next two days, he said.

Sadhu Ram, an accountant at Jhajjar Cooperative Marketing-cum-Processing Society Limited, said 40,000 quintal mustard had so far been purchased at minimum support price of Rs 4,000 per quintal.
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, April 6

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the response of a businessman on a plea by the ED challenging the bail granted to him in connection with a multi-crore money laundering case involving former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Justice Anu Malhotra asked the EDs counsel what was wrong with the trial courts bail order and what was the evidence against the accused and listed the matter for further hearing on May 31.

Vakamulla Chandrasekhar, director/promoter, Tarini Group of Companies, was granted bail by a trial court on March 9, noting that no purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody. During the hearing, advocate Nitesh Rana appearing for the ED, argued that it was a case of economic offence which had to be kept at a higher pedestal and the allegation against the accused was of serious nature.

He contended that Chandrasekhar had helped Virbhadra in laundering crores of rupees and that the probe agencys investigation was still in progress.

Chandrasekhar was arrested on February 15 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was in judicial custody before getting bail. The ED had alleged that Chandrasekhar had provided an amount of Rs 5.9 crore to Virbhadra and his family members through his three personal bank accounts.

It had claimed that when the source of funds was inquired into, it came to light that the amount was received through a web of firms indulging in accommodation entry operations.

The court had on February 12 summoned Virbhadra, his wife and three others as accused in the case, after taking cognisance of the ED chargesheet against them and others, saying there was prima facie enough evidence against the accused persons.

The ED, in its chargesheet, had named 83-year-old Virbhadra, accusing him of projecting around Rs 7 crore proceeds of crime as agricultural income in connivance with his wife and others and invested them in purchasing LIC policies.

Besides him and his 62-year-old wife Pratibha Singh, the court had summoned Universal Apple Associate owner Chunni Lal Chauhan and two other co-accused, Prem Raj and Lawan Kumar Roach.

The final report also named as accused Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) agent Anand Chauhan, against whom a chargesheet was earlier filed by the agency.

All six have been named in the chargesheet under relevant provisions of the PMLA. A disproportionate assets case, lodged by the CBI, is also going on against Virbhadra and others.  PTI
San Antonio, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GenCure, a subsidiary of BioBridge Global, helped facilitate the meeting of an Amazon shopper and an Amazon employee who had a rather strange introduction. A random addition to an Amazon package led to the pair meeting and also led to a first-of-its-kind event at the online companys facility in San Marcos  a marrow donor registry drive.

The drive by the GenCure Marrow Donor Program was organized by Amazon employee Kenneth Delerme, who accidentally dropped his keys and his Amazon ID card in a shipment to Nicole Shen in Houston earlier this year. Once Shen discovered the keys, she used her extensive social media network to find Delerme and return his keys and badge.

Shen uses the online ordering system extensively, since her 3-year-old son Roman has a rare condition called Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome. Among the many problems associated with the condition is a weak immune system, which means Shen doesnt take Roman out when she goes shopping to avoid exposure to illness.

Once Nicole returned Kennys keys, the newly formed bond didnt end.

Within minutes of us connecting, and me telling him, I have your keys, he said, How can I help your son? Nicole said. Every single day for two months hes advocated for us. Hes had hundreds, and hundreds and hundreds of people around the world swab for my son, and other people like my son that need bone marrow matches.

After Kenny and Nicole connected, he read all the messages generated on social media and thought, What does swab mean? After reading more about Roman, he sent Nicole a message stating, You know, Im going to do it  Im going to swab, Kenny said.

Part of the treatment for the condition is a bone marrow transplant from a matching donor. So in thanks for Shens efforts, Delerme signed up for the bone marrow donor registry  and then helped organize the first-ever marrow donor registration event at Amazon.

As a surprise thank-you for his efforts, the Shen family traveled to San Marcos to personally thank him during the three-day marrow registration event. Signing up as many potential donors as possible is critical, since matches for the process are genetic. Mixed-race patients like Roman have a difficult time finding a match, which is why the need for new registrations is critical.

Getting the surprise meeting coordinated took a lot of hard work and coordination between the Shens, Kennys schedule, GenCure and Amazon. Nicole worked with all entities and thanks the extra efforts by Amazon management, human resources and public relations. In addition, Nicole said, My son sees 12 doctors so were very busy with his schedule, but I had to meet Kenny. Two months have gone by and I said, enough, we need to come up here. This was a perfect opportunity to surprise him because I knew he wouldnt be expecting us, Nicole said.

For anyone still thinking about joining the registry, Nicole said, Do it. Finally, do it, do it  it takes ten minutes. You can help save my sons life, or anyone like him. We all say, oh, I wish I could cure leukemia, or I wish I could cure cancer  you can. You can help, the medicine is in you, its so easy, Nicole said.

Joining the registry is simply a matter of taking two cheek swabs and filling out a form.



More information is available at the GenCure website.

About GenCure: GenCure, a subsidiary of BioBridge Global, is a not-for-profit organization focused on enabling the development of cell- and tissue-based therapies by providing access to source materials, cGMP manufacturing experience and clinical research support. GenCure focuses on regenerative medicine, oncology, orthopedics and dental support through a cord blood bank, a National Marrow Donor Program apheresis center and a posthumous donor tissue bank. Learn more at GenCure.org.

Attachments
editorial@tribune.com

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, April 6

Post offices in the Shillai area of Sirmaur district are suddenly doing roaring business as hundreds of registered letters are being sent daily to the Ministry of Women and Child Development by women in the age group of 8 to 32 years.

Inquires revealed that fake forms stating grant of monetary benefits to women under the Centrally sponsored Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao are being bought by women from locals shops. The form, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, requires an applicant to fill her name along with other details like names of both the parents, date of birth, educational qualification, Aadhar number, etc. Religion, caste and bank account details are also being sought and gullible villagers have been queuing up outside post offices to send the forms to the ministry.

According to an estimate, 800 registered letters have been sent to the ministry in the last six days from Shillai alone. Since the form mentions that funds worth Rs 200 crore have been earmarked under this scheme, villagers do not want to be left out. The issue came to light when the panchayat pradhan concerned started receiving hundreds of such forms for his signatures.

Ramesh Chauhan, local pradhan and president of the Pradhan Parishad, said though no confirmation of such a scheme had been received from the local administration, he was signing all such forms sent to him.

The ministrys website was found carrying a notification stating that fake forms about this scheme in thousands were being received from several states since the beginning of this year. The said scheme does not have the provision of individual cash incentive direct transfer component and it was neither a direct benefit scheme.

These forms were initially received from UP and later spread to northern states like Punjab, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana and Himachal. The ministry has urged people not to fall prey to such false forms.
editorial@tribune.com

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 6

The Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission has got a police case registered against miscreants who were using the name and logo of Manav Bharti University in the hill state for issuing fake PhD and other degrees.

The Secretary of the commission got an FIR registered on Thursday following revelation that three teachers working in a Pune institute had got jobs on fake PhD degrees. The matter had been highlighted by Udayan Raje Bhonsle, member of Parliament, Pune, through a letter written to the Himachal Government on January 11, 2018.

The FIR mentions the name of three teachers  Noble Prasad Pilli, R Jeyam and Chacko M Paul working in Spicer Adventist University in Pune, who had obtained jobs and high positions on the basis of PhD degrees from Manav Bharti University in Himachal. Upon verification, the Registrar of Manav Bharti University found that the degrees were fake. The Secretary of the commission also informed the Pune MP about the degrees being fake. The Secretary in the FIR has sought action against such miscreants who are using the name and fake logo of Manav Bharti University for preparing fake degrees. He has also pointed out that the university has received 145 letters from the Department of Higher Education and in all these cases too, the degrees were found to be fake.

The university, when asked to verify the authenticity of these doctorate degrees, informed that these were not issued by them. The Manav Bharti University said that the degrees were not genuine as they have not issued PhD degrees to anyone either in India or abroad till date. The university claimed that it had already issued a public notice in newspapers about closure of the PhD course.

The FIR also mentions that the Manav Bharti University has received such complaints earlier also and they had got an FIR registered in Dharampur Police Station in Solan on April 26, 2015.
editorial@tribune.com

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Manali, April 6

Following the assurance of Mandi MP Ramswaroop Sharma, the 11-day stalemate between Rohtang tunnel workers and company officials ended on Friday.

As many as 700 construction workers had stalled work, accusing the company of violationg the labour rights. They alleged that they were being forced to work overtime, that too on a fixed amount. Hygiene eluded the place where they lived, they lamented.

Since the first day of the strike, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the nodal agency of the Rohtang tunnel project, and construction company AFCONS officials have been pacifying the protesting workers, but the latter did not relent.

The work was awarded to AFCONS Infrastructure Limited in September 2009. The BRO is the overall in-charge of the project. President of the construction workers union Dharmendar said following the intervention of MP Ramswaroop Sharma and the BRO, the protest had been called off. He said: They have assured us to consider our demands and we will resume work on Saturday.

NM Chander Rana, Chief Engineer, Rohtang tunnel, said: We hope the workers will be back on Saturday and the work will pick up. The MP visited Manali to resolve the issue. I have spoken to the Ministry of Defence and the BRO in Chandigarh to solve the problem of the workers, who have been protesting against the indifferent attitude of the company officials, he said.

Sharma said he would urge the Ministry of Defence to initiate inquiry in to the matter, adding that for such trivial issues, the construction work was halted for 11 days and the authorities could not pacify the workers. This project was conceived in 1983, while the drilling of the tunnel began in June 2010. The BRO is keen on completing the project in 2019, which will provide an all-weather connectivity to residents of Lahaul-Spiti.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 6

On its 38th foundation day on Friday, the J&K BJP had a tough time convincing its workers that it was committed to its core ideology despite sharing power with the PDP.

The eroding base in areas, which were once considered as the citadels of the saffron party, is also a matter of concern for the BJP.

A majority of BJP ministers were conspicuously absent from the event.

The BJP leadership has reasons to be worried because party workers are facing wrath of the masses, especially in Jammu province, for its meek surrender before the PDP in taking policy decisions.

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Kavinder Gupta was blunt in cautioning the leadership against ignoring the wishes and aspirations of the people in general and workers in particular.

Without naming any political party, Gupta warned that some forces were indulging in creating disturbance in the areas considered as the stronghold of the party since the days of Praja Parishad and Jan Sangh. He mentioned the Rasana murder case and the Nowshera stir to substantiate his allegations.

Earlier, Sat Sharma, state president of the BJP, said the party had decided to hold foundation day programmes at every booth level.

Ashok Khajuria, veteran leader, slammed the opposition, and particularly the Congress, for its misdeeds in the past.

Party veterans and senior leaders were also felicitated on the occasion for their contribution to the party and society.

Congress flays CMs tweet

Srinagar, April 6

J&K Pradesh Congress Committee president GA Mir on Friday expressed surprise over Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's tweet saying that she hoped Prime Minister Narendra Modi would truly exhibit moral leadership to win hearts of the people of the state.

In a statement, Mir said the tweet was indicative of helplessness of the Chief Minister, who had tried to invite Modi's attention towards Kashmir, which is burning due to the wrong policies of the BJP at the Centre.

He made the comment while referring to Mehbooba's tweet where she said: Hearty congratulations to @BJP4India on its Foundation Day. I sincerely hope that India under @narendramodi ji can truly exhibit the moral leadership in the region by winning the trust, hearts and minds of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Asserting that the saffron party was responsible for the imbroglio and Modi had never been concerned about the bloodshed in Kashmir, Mir said: People are well aware about the communal agenda of the BJP.

Mir advised the Chief Minister to stop appeasing the PM as her statements or tweets would not change his mindset.

It is the BJP, which is responsible for atrocities on minorities, as a result they are feeling unsafe. Cow vigilantism, mandir-masjid politics, polarisation for electoral gains are the hallmark of the BJP, which is exploiting people of the country on sensitive issues for power, he said while adding it would have been advisable on the part of the Chief Minister to urge the Prime Minister to change his Kashmir policy and reach out to people to address their concerns. TNS
editorial@tribune.com

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 6

The police on Friday recovered the headless body of the youth who was abducted by militants from Hajin in Bandipora district of north Kashmir on Wednesday night.

Manzoor Ahmad Bhat, 25, along with his father, Abdul Gaffar Bhat, was abducted on Wednesday night by militants and his body was recovered on Friday morning from the outskirts of the village, the police said. This is the second such civilian killing this week.

Terrorists have exhibited the highest level of bruteness as they have left the body of the innocent person headless, said senior superintendent of police, Bandipora, Sheikh Zulfikar. Manzoors father, who was also abducted, had managed to escape but suffered injuries as a militant had fired at him. He is under treatment at a hospital.

A police official said militants, believed to be affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Toiba, had abducted Abdul Bhat and Manzoor from their house on Wednesday night. Two or three militants had barged into the house and abducted Bhat and his father, while two or three militants were outside, the official said.

It is rare, though not unprecedented, in Kashmir that a civilian is beheaded and most of the killings attributed to militants have been previously caused by gunshot wounds.

The official said that the militants involved in the beheading included a local Lashkar-e-Toiba militant, Saleem Parray, whose name had also figured in a similar abduction and killing of another civilian, Naseer Ahmad Parray, who was shot dead earlier this week.

Saleem, a resident of Hajin, had joined the Lashkar last year and is believed to be a part of a group that has five foreign militants. The five foreign militants, involved in Naseers killing, have been identified as Abu Muslim, Hubaib, Khalid, Abu Hamza and Haider.

Lashkar base in village

Hajin emerged on the militant landscape in recent years. The village had remained the headquarters of a counter-insurgency militia, which killed militants and their sympathisers. The village, however, became a stronghold of militants during the last two years as the Lashkar established a strong base in Hajin. Last year, six militants and a commando from the Air Forces elite Garud unit were killed in a swift counter-insurgency operation in Hajin. Two Garud commandos were also killed in Hajin in a separate gunfight last year.

A BSF soldier, who was on vacation at home in Hajin, was also killed by militants last year and a counter-insurgency militia commander, Rashid Billa, was also shot dead as militants strengthened their presence in Hajin.
editorial@tribune.com

Jammu, April 6

Governor NN Vohra released Information War-Disinformation Will Decide Future Wars, a book written by veteran journalist Ramesh Bhan, at Raj Bhawan on Friday.

The book expounds the manner in which information is being manipulated the world over to serve vested interests. Based on his journalistic experience in J&K, Afghanistan and Crimea, the author has reflected on how terrorism and insurgency can be fought effectively by using media.

Complimenting Bhan, the Governor hoped that his writing would generate interest among the readers about the non-combat modes of warfare. He wished Bhan success in his future literary endeavours. TNS
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Srinagar, April 6

A youth abducted by militants this week was found beheaded on Friday in Jammu and Kashmirs Bandipora district, drawing widespread condemnation.

The torso of 25-year-old Manzoor Ahmad Bhat was found in Hajin in the Kashmir Valley.

Police sources said the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had abducted the youth and his father, Abdul Gafar Bhat, from Hajin on Wednesday.

The father managed to escape from the clutches of his abductors although he sustained a bullet injury. He is now being treated, a source said.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah denounced the inhuman act.

Abdullah said he was not surprised over separatists neither condemning nor calling for protests over the brutal murder.

Abdullah said: Any shutdown call or call for peaceful protests for Manzoor Ahmed whose decapitated body was found after hed been abducted and killed by militants? No? Im not surprised. Mehbooba Mufti said: The brutal killing of young Manzoor Ahmad is highly condemnable but should also serve as a reminder of where society is headed. The scourge of terror has hit a new low as the brutality of this act has left us all in shock.  IANS
gspannu7@gmail.com

Mumbai, April 6

Salman Khan on Friday spent a second consecutive day at the Jodhpur Central Jail but few of his Twitter happy colleagues ventured online to voice their support for the Sultan of Bollywood, arguably the industrys most saleable star.

Yesterday, director Subhash Ghai, actor-politicians Jaya Bachchan and Raj Babbar and actor Varun Dhawan were among the few people backing Salman, who was convicted for killing two blackbucks in October 1998 and sentenced to five years in jail.

Today, there was online silence from the biggies of the industry.

However, some of his friends and colleagues did visit the actors family at their home in Galaxy Apartments here.

Saif Ali Khan, who was acquitted in the case and Shatrughan Sinha with wife Poonam and daughter Sonakshi called on the family. Ramesh Taurani, producer of Race 3, which is still under production, and ex sister-in-law Malaika also visited the family.

Filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala, a close friend of Salman, cancelled the success party of his latest release Baaghi 2 and left for Jodhpur soon after the verdict.

But most big stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, known for articulating their views and active on social media, stayed mum.

This is Salmans fifth stint in jail, on charges varying from poaching and killing a pedestrian in a hit and run in 2002 in Mumbai.

A sessions court on Friday reserved its decision on Salmans bail plea till tomorrow.

The actor is said to have shot and killed two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998 during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

The trial court acquitted his Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the benefit of doubt.

None of the actors, who flew down to Jodhpur for the hearing, have commented on Salmans conviction till now.

Neelams husband Samir Soni told PTI after the verdict yesterday, I am happy for Neelam and the rest. I dont know why Salman was singled out. It seems his celebrity status has come in the way. Others from the industry did sympathise with the 52-year-old star, but were cautious.

I hope he gets justice in the coming times. I am sure, he is a strong man and peoples good wishes are with him which will help him overcome the difficult times.

It is my personal experience that Salman Khan is a good human being and has done a lot of philanthropic work for the welfare of people, irrespective of caste or community, Babbar had said.

I am extremely shocked, film director Ghai said, adding that he had full trust in the Indian judiciary which has many other doors for an appeal for final justice.

Jaya Bachchan said the punishment was harsh, and added that Khan had done a lot of humanitarian work.

Actor Varun Dhawan, who was in Delhi to promote his upcoming film October, tweeted, I know for a fact that Salman bhai and his family have the utmost respect and faith in our judiciary system. Salman Khan is one of the strongest and most genuine people I know and Im sure he will come out of this stronger.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 6

Compared to other Asian countries, the food production in India is only 7 per cent. Food production in several other Asian countries, such as Malaysia (73 per cent), Thailand (72 per cent), Philippines (78 per cent), is growing at 5 per cent per year. This was stated by Upkar Singh, president, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU).

To increase the production, food cluster of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) has tied up with Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), he said.

In Punjab, Food Processing Industry has not developed due to various reasons such as poor packaging, old manufacturing equipment and poor manufacturing techniques. He said the next meeting of the CICU food cluster will be held at the PAU for interaction with food scientists.

Pankaj Sharma, General Secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking, said the food processing industry needs to implement new technologies and good packaging ideas. It will boost the production and generate employment opportunities.

Sandeep Kapoor, Comptroller, Department of Food Science and Technology, Punjab Agriculture University, with his team, prepared a presentation on the Food Industries Business of Industry Center (FIBIC).

He said: The objective of the FIBIC is to promote entrepreneurship in the food industry, to provide technology solutions for the development of new products and processes, small batch product development facilities for custom hiring for upcoming entrepreneurs.

DPS Kharbanda, Director of Industries and Commerce, said there were various schemes for youths such as Prime Ministers Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).

He further mentioned that the land for food processing industries will be given at very low rates. Kharbanda also said he would try to provide land in Mega Food Park at Ladhowal on low costs.

He said the PAU would work for the industry as consultant. The Centre will provide Rs 15 crore financial assistance to the cluster.
Ready to make any sacrifice but will stick to principles, says Navjot Sidhu

Posts a video on Twitter a day after resigning as PPCC chief
English Lithuanian

On the initiative and decision of the Board of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL (identification code 121304349, the registered address Gyneju str. 14 Vilnius, Lithuania) is to be held on 30 April 2018 at 9:00 a.m. in the premises located in Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius).

Registration of the shareholders will start at 8:30 a.m.

The total number of shares of the Company amounts to 11,865,993 and the number of shares granting voting rights during the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting amounts to 11,563,533. ISIN code of the shares of the Company is LT0000102279.

Persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of the General Shareholders Meeting accounting day, i.e. 23 April 2018, will have a right to participate and vote at the General Shareholders Meeting personally or by proxy, or to be represented by the person with whom an agreement on the transfer of voting rights is concluded.

The day of accounting of rights is 15 May 2018.

The agenda of the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL includes:

Presentation of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL consolidated annual report for 2017. Presentation of the independent auditor's report on the financial statements and consolidated annual report of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL. Approval of the consolidated and stand-alone financial statements for 2017 of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL. Regarding profit distribution of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL. Withdrawal of members of the Board of Invalda INVL and the election of new Board members. Approval of the new wording of the Articles of Associations of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL. Regarding purchase of own shares of the public joint-stock company Invalda INVL. Approval of Rules for Granting Equity Incentives. Regarding the specific number of ordinary registered shares of the public joint-stock company Invalda INVL for which during year 2018 employees shall be offered stock options contracts and regarding the price of the shares.

The draft resolutions of the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL:

1. Presentation of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL consolidated annual report for 2017.

Shareholders of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL are presented with the consolidated annual report of the Company for 2017 (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).

2. Presentation of the independent auditor's report on the financial statements and consolidated annual report of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL.

Shareholders of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL are presented with the independent auditor's report on the financial statements and consolidated annual report of the Company (there is no voting on this issue of agenda).



3. Approval of the consolidated and stand-alone financial statements for 2017 of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL.

To approve the consolidated and stand-alone financial statements for 2017 of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL.

4. Regarding profit distribution of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL.

To distribute profit of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL as follows (thousand EUR):

1) Retained earnings (loss) at the beginning of the financial year of the reporting period; 33,412 2) Net profit (loss) for the financial year; 11,307 3) Profit (loss) not recognized in the income statement of the reporting financial year; - 4) Transfers from reserves; 460 from the reserve for the acquisition of own shares - from the mandatory reserve - from share premium - from share based payments reserve 460 5) Shareholders contribution to cover loss (if all or part of loss is covered by the shareholders) - 6) Distributable profit (loss) in total; 45,179 7) Profit transfers to the legal reserves; - 8) Profit transfers to the reserves for own shares acquisition - 9) Profit transfers to the reserve for granting equity incentives 900 10) Profit to be paid as dividends; - 11) Profit to be paid as annual payments (bonus) and for other purposes; - 12) Retained earnings (loss) at the end of the financial year. 44,719

5. Withdrawal of members of the Board of Invalda INVL and the election of new Board members.

To withdraw the Board of Invalda INVL in corpore. To elect Alvydas Banys, Indre Miseikyte and Darius Sulnis to the Board of Invalda INVL for the new 4 (four) years term of office. Newly elected members of the Board shall start their activities from the date of adoption of this decision.

6. Approval of new wording of Articles of Association of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL.

In accordance with the current Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania, to approve the new wording of the Articles of Association of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL (attached), changing the entire text of the Articles of Association (without further amendment of the separate Clauses of the Articles of Association).

To authorize Darius Sulnis, the president of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL, to sign the new wording of the Articles of Association of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL.

7. Regarding purchase of own shares of the public joint-stock company Invalda INVL.

Until the day of the General Shareholders meeting the reserve for the purchase of own shares which is equal to EUR 9 907 thousand is not used.

To use the reserve (a part of it) for the purchase of own shares and to purchase shares in Invalda INVL under these conditions:

1) The goal for the purchase of own shares - to ensure shareholders a possibility to sell companys shares.

2) The maximum number of shares to be acquired - the nominal value of own shares may not exceed 1/10 of the share capital.

3) The period during which the company may purchase its own shares - 18 months from the day of this resolution.

4) The maximum and minimal one share acquisition price: the maximum one share acquisition price - value of consolidated equity per one share calculated according to the last publicly announced data of the consolidated equity of Invalda INVL before the decision of the Board; minimum one share acquisition price - EUR 1.

5) The conditions of the selling of the purchased shares and minimal purchase price: Purchased own shares (including the shares acquired before the adoption of this decision) may be cancelled by the decision of the General Shareholders Meeting or by the decision of the Board granted the right to acquire the shares for the employees upon conditions of the Rules for Granting Equity Incentives, or sold by the decision of the Board upon the condition that minimum sale price for one share isnt lower than value of consolidated equity per one share calculated according to the publicly announced data of the consolidated equity of Invalda INVL before the decision of the Board, and the sale procedure will ensure equal possibilities for all shareholders to purchase these shares.

The Board of Invalda INVL is delegated on the basis of this resolution and the Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania to organise purchase and sale of own shares, to organise purchase and selling procedure of own shares and to determine an order and timing for purchase and sale of own shares as well as the amount of shares and shares price, and to complete all other actions related with purchase and sale procedure of own shares.

From the date of this resolution the resolution of the General Shareholders Meeting on 28 April 2017 on the acquisition of own shares expires.

8. Approval of Rules for Granting Equity Incentives.

In accordance with the current Law on Companies of the Republic of Lithuania, to approve the Rules for Granting Equity Incentives of the public joint stock company Invalda INVL (attached).

To authorize the Board of Invalda INVL to ensure the proper implementation of the Rules on Granting Equity Incentives.

9. Regarding the specific number of ordinary registered shares of the public joint-stock company Invalda INVL for which during year 2018 employees shall be offered stock options contracts and regarding the price of the shares.

It is offered for the employees of Invalda INVL and of the companies, in which Invalda INVL owns 50 per cent or more of shares, during the year 2018 to make stock options contracts, on the basis of which, according to the procedures and terms established in stock options contracts, in year 2021 employees will be able to exercise the right to acquire up to 60,000 ordinary registered shares of Invalda INVL of EUR 0.29 nominal value, by paying for every acquired share 1 (one) euro. The acquisition price of shares is fixed; it does not change depending on performance results of the company and / or other companies of the group or on ordinary registered share price of Invalda INVL on a regulated market.

The documents related to the agenda, draft resolutions on every item of agenda, documents what have to be submitted to the General Shareholders Meeting and other information related to realization of shareholders rights are published on the Companys website www.invaldainvl.com section For investors, also available in the office of Invalda INVL (Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius) during working hours. Phone for information +370 5 279 0601.

The shareholders are entitled: (i) to propose to supplement the agenda of the General Shareholders Meeting submitting draft resolution on every additional item of agenda or, then there is no need to make a decision - explanation of the shareholder (this right is granted to shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes). Proposal to supplement the agenda is submitted in writing sending the proposal by registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius, Lithuania, or delivered in person to the representative of the Company or by sending proposal to the Company by email info@invaldainvl.com. The agenda is supplemented if the proposal is received no later than 14 days before the General Shareholders Meeting; (ii) to propose draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the General Shareholders Meeting at any time prior to the date of the General Shareholders meeting (in writing, sending the proposal by registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius, Lithuania, or delivered in person to the representative of the Company or by sending proposal to the Company by email info@invaldainvl.com) or in writing during the General Shareholders Meeting (this right is granted to shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes); (iii) to submit questions to the Company related to the issues of agenda of the General Shareholders Meeting in advance but no later than 3 business days prior to the General Shareholders Meeting in writing sending the proposal by registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius, Lithuania, or delivered in person to the representative of the Company or by sending proposal to the Company by email info@invaldainvl.com. The company reserves the right to answer to those shareholders of the Company who can be identified and whose questions are not related to the company's confidential information or commercial secrets.

Shareholder participating at the General Shareholders Meeting and having the right to vote, must submit documents confirming personal identity. Each shareholder may authorize either a natural or a legal person to participate and to vote on the shareholder's behalf at the General Shareholders Meeting. A power of attorney issued by a natural person must be certified by a notary. The representative has the same rights as his represented shareholder at the General Shareholders Meeting. The authorized persons must have documents confirming their personal identity and power of attorney approved in the manner specified by law which must be submitted to the Company no later than before the commencement of registration for the General Shareholders Meeting. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalised in the manner established by law. The Company does not establish special form of power of attorney.

Shareholder is entitled to issue power of attorney by means of electronic communications for legal or natural persons to participate and to vote on its behalf at the General Shareholders Meeting. No notarisation of such authorization is required.

The power of attorney issued through electronic communication means must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder shall inform the Company on the power of attorney issued through the means of electronic communication by e-mail info@invaldainvl.com not later than on the last business day before the General Shareholders Meeting. The power of attorney and notification must be issued in writing and could be sent to the Company by electronic communication means, if the transmitted information is secured and the shareholder's identity can be identified.

The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the General Shareholders Meeting through electronic means of communication.

Shareholder or its representative may vote in writing by filling general voting bulletin, in such a case the requirement to deliver a personal identity document does not apply. The form of general voting bulletin is presented at the Company's webpage www.invaldainvl.com section For Investors. If shareholder requests, the Company shall send the general voting bulletin to the requesting shareholder by registered mail or shall deliver it in person against signature no later than 10 days prior to the General Shareholders Meeting free of charge. The filled general voting bulletin must be signed by the shareholder or its authorized representative. Document confirming the right to vote must be added to the general voting bulletin if an authorized person is voting. The filled general voting bulletin must be sent by the registered mail to the Company at Gyneju str. 14, Vilnius, Lithuania, or delivered in person to the representative of the Company no later than the day before of the General Shareholders Meeting.

The person authorized to provide additional information is:

Darius Sulnis, President of Invalda INVL

E-mail Darius.Sulnis@invl.com

Attachments
Rajiv Bakshi

Rajiv Bakshi

It was the best of time then. It is not the worst time now. The old order changes. And I am no exception. In the 70s I embarked on a journey leaving my parents and siblings to take up my first job in a bank at Dibrugarh. Travelling in a third class compartment was not easy, especially when the journey was over 80 hours long. Equally difficult was staying alone in a place where no one knew Punjabi.

It was difficult to please customers then. Its more difficult to please customers now, when all have access to mobile phones and Internet. A customer with a deposit of Rs 1 lakh was a privileged customer, with access to the managers cabin. Tea and biscuits followed. If he was a more privileged customer, with many FDs in his family name, he was treated with bread pakoras and gulab jamun.

In the first month of the New Year, bank calendars were dispatched in a limited quantity. The branch manager was the king. He could give the calendar to anyone. Being a junior officer then, I was given the task of checking the accounts of privileged customers. The lists were prepared in consultation with other staff members who we used to oblige. Three-four of my Jalandhar-based friends were added to the list.

The customers felt highly obliged to the manager and also the front-desk staff. They made it a point to invite us to any function at their home, be it a birthday party or a wedding.

After retirement, my visit to even my pension-paying branch nearly stopped. All transactions were done through Internet banking and cash was withdrawn from the ATM. I had gone abroad for some time, when I landed in Delhi for a few days, I thought of visiting one of my banks branches in Gurgaon.

I reluctantly entered the managers cabin without giving an introduction. The seat was occupied by a smart young lady. She greeted me with a broad smile and asked how she could help me, and if I had an account with their branch. My answer was in the negative. She asked me whether I wanted to open an account. Again, I answered in the negative. I was familiar with all the rules and regulations after working with a bank for about 35 years.

When I asked her if I could get a calendar, she gave a typical branch managers smile and replied: Sorry, but all the calendars have been given to the privileged customers, having substantial deposit with us, and to some school/college management. I felt bad. As I got up from my chair to leave, I casually told her that I had retired as a senior manager from the same bank.

What followed next was a hot cup of coffee, a pizza slice from a nearby eatery and some calendars wrapped in an old newspaper!
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, April 6

The trajectory of the India-US defence ties in the fighter jet segment depends on New Delhis decision on the F-16 and F-18 warplanes being offered by the US, a top Defence Department official has said.

A positive decision by India could be a precursor to advanced fighter technologythe fifth generation, Joe Felter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia said on Thursday, adding that the Trump administration would like a closer co-operation with India on fighter jets.

So, starting down the path of fighter cooperation beginning with the (F-16) Block 70 or F-18, I think would be a great signal that India (is) serious about the level of cooperation that we think would be in Indias interest and could potentially, if we stay on this trajectory, lead to even closer cooperation, and even more advanced technology being offered, Felter told PTI in an exclusive interview.

..I think it would be a natural progression to discuss at a later date sharing even more advanced fighter technology (maybe even fifth-generation fighters), he said.

The US is also considering New Delhis interest in armed drones for its air force, the official said, noting that neither they had received any offer nor had they made any decision on this count.

It would be natural for India to want them. We would have to consider this request but it hasnt been offered on our side yet. We are aware of their interest and we are considering that. But we havent made any decisions, he said.

Last year, during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US, Trump had agreed to sell unarmed drones to India so as to enhance Indias surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean.

Asked about the fifth generation F-35 fighter jets, the official said there was no move from either side as was being reported in the media.

The F-18 deal, however, was very much on the table, the official said.

Our F-18 is the twin-engine fighter that India may consider for future purchases. It serves the US very well and has a cutting-edge technology, Felter said, adding that India adopting the F-18 would be one potential example of India-US closer cooperation in naval aviation.

There would be better interoperability if were flying similar platforms. We appreciate India is going to review its options and make a choice at some point in the time of their choosing, he said.

Noting that the US had offered the Block 70 version of the F-16, he said it was technologically very advanced fighter.

Its superior to the platform that Israel flies for example. It is referred to as having generation 4.5 level of technology given it shares some of the same components as the F35 Joint Strike Fighter, he said.

..this is a very, very advanced a platform--it shares some of the very same components that our most advanced fifth generation fighter does for example, he said.

Furthermore, Felter said choosing the Block 70 fighter would mean that its entire production line would move to India which was consistent with New Delhis Make in India priority.

..the fact that it will be made in India would make it possible for India to potentially supply other partners in the region with this advanced fighter platform, Felter said.

But, the official said the US had not made any other offers right now.

We are not in a position to make any offers right now, but given the trajectory of the relationship, we think identifying opportunities for even closer cooperation on fighters to include some of our most advanced fighters, maybe even fifth generation fighters, is a natural discussion to have at some point down the road, Felter said.

Adopting the Block 70 version of the F-16 would be a very positive step down that path (towards fifth generation), he said.

Responding to a specific question on the sale of F-35 to India, he said the US had made no such offer as of now.

I have read that in the press. We have not made any offer, nor has it been formally requested. I think its aspirational, he said. PTI
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

Former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking clarification on powers of the Chief Justice of India as the master of roster on the administrative side. He also demanded that the court should lay down procedure for allocation of cases by the CJI to fellow judges.

In the PIL filed through his son and noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Bhushan senior contended that the master of roster cant be unguided and unbridled discretionary power, exercised arbitrarily by the CJI by hand-picking Benches of select judges or by assigning cases to particular judges.

He has named CJI Dipak Misra as one of the respondents in his petition.

Prashant Bhushan wrote to the top courts secretary general that the matter should not be listed before a Bench headed by CJI Misra and that it would be appropriate to place it before three senior-most judges of the top court for allocating it before an appropriate Bench.

The petition comes three months after the January 12 press conference by four senior-most judges  Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph  who had raised the issue of allocation of important and sensitive PILs before junior judges of the top court. The situation in the top court was not in order and many less than desirable things have taken place, they had said.

The senior advocate contended that the CJIs authority as the master of roster is not an absolute, arbitrary, singular power that is vested in the CJI alone and which may be exercised with his sole discretion. Such an authority should be exercised by him in consultation with senior judges of the Supreme Court in keeping with the various pronouncement of this court, he contended.
shalender@tribune.com

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, April 6

BJPs Dalit MPs are virtually up in arms against CM Yogi Adityanath. Now, BJPs Etawah MP Ashok Dohre has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, charging the Yogi government of targeting Dalits after the April 2 Bharat Bandh. Dohres letter comes a day after Robertsganj Dalit MP Chhotelal Kharwar had complained to the Prime Minister about the CM misbehaving with him.

Claiming that atrocities against Dalits had increased after the April 2 bandh, especially in UP, Dohre charged the state police with terrorising Dalits by implicating them in false cases.

The UP police are entering Dalit homes, using abusive language and beating them up. Complaints by Dalits are not being entertained. Anger is building up among Dalits who had so far backed the BJP, he told the media here.

A 28-year-old BSP worker in Meerut, Gopi Pariya, was killed in cold blood after the Bharat Bandh. He was among 83 Dalits of Shobhapur village on a hit list that was circulated on the social media. Gopi was hunted down and shot five times. Two of the accused killers have been arrested. Terrified, other Dalit youths on the hit list have fled the village.

The Dalit revolt spreading in its own ranks ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections has had the BJP worried. On April 1, Dalit MP from Bahraich Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phoole had held a Hunkaar rally to launch a campaign to defend the Indian Constitution and uphold reservation for SCs/STs.

Murmurs of discontent

LUCKNOW: Cabinet minister and president of ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday warned of a revolt against the BJP on issues related to Dalits and OBCs even as two founder members of Ambedkar Mahasabha protested against the decision to confer Dalit Mitra upon CM Adityanath Yogi on Ambedkar Jayanti. Retired IPS officer SR Darapuri and retired IAS officer Harish Chandra accused its president Lalji Prasad Nirmal of playing into the BJP hands. TNS
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Our Correspondent

Jodhpur, April 6

After hearing prosecution and defence arguments on the suspension of five years sentence to actor Salman Khan granted by the lower court, the District Sessions Court on Friday deferred the case till Saturday.

Read: Salman wakes up late, has daliya in breakfast

District and Sessions Judge Ravindra Joshi also sought the file of the case from the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Jodhpur, to review it, Salmans counsel Hastimal Saraswat said.

Salmans case was listed for late in the afternoon, but the judge entertained the case first by hearing the arguments of defence and prosecution lawyer Pokar Ram Vishnoi.

First, the petition for suspension of the sentence would be decided by the court. If it is approved, the defence would move Salmans bail application and argue on it, Saraswat said.

Salman is lodged in the Jodhpur Central Jail after CJM Dev Kumar Khatri on Thursday convicted him of killing two blackbucks in October 1998.
shalender@tribune.com

New Delhi, April 6

Parliament was adjourned sine die on Friday after unprecedented disruptions in the second half earned this Budget session the disrepute of being the least productive in 18 years. Officially, 250 hours were wasted in pandemonium in both Houses.

The session spent the least amount of time debating the Budget since 2000 and witnessed the poorest performance in Question Hour since 2014. According to a study, during the session (which had two parts) the Lok Sabha on an average worked 21 per cent of its scheduled time and Rajya Sabha for 27 per cent.

In the first part, which commenced on January 31 and had seven sittings, the LS worked for 89% of its scheduled time and the RS 96%. But in the second part that saw 22 sittings starting March 5, the LS productivity fell to 4 per cent and pf the RS to 9 per cent. In all, the session had 29 sittings  seven in the first and 22 in the second half.

The second half was practically washed out by various protests  special status for Andhra Pradesh, Cauvery waters, bank fraud, failure of the government to protect 39 Indians held captive in Iraq since 2014, dilution of the SC/ST Act and the CBSE and SSC paper leaks.

The session witnessed the TDP, YSRCP and Congress moving notices of no-confidence which Speaker Sumitra Mahajan declined, citing disorder. This was the first such notice in the 16th Lok Sabha. A similar one in 15th LS in 2013 wasnt discussed.

As ruckus dominated the proceedings, the Opposition failed to hold the government accountable with only 17 starred questions of the 580 answered orally by ministers. The Speaker reported the LS worked for 34 hours and 5 minutes during the 29 sittings.

RS Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu invoked the fears Indias first PM Jawaharlal Nehru had expressed on the Upper House when debating its desirability in the Constituent Assembly. Are we making Nehrus worst fear come true? We should not, for the sake of our parliamentary democracy and people.

Fast politics

As the Budget session concluded amid washout, the BJP and the Congress sought to pin the blame on one another as both parties pledged to hold a fast to expose the other. Hours after the BJPs dharna at the Gandhi statue blaming the Congress for ruckus, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi ordered his state unit chiefs to organise a fast on April 9 to preserve national harmony and fight back BJP and RSS divisive agenda. Earlier, the BJP announced a similar fast on April 12 across the country to expose the Congress. TNS
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, April 6

The Budget session of Parliament, which ended on Friday, was the least productive since the year 2000, a legislative research body has said.

The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have blamed each other for the impasse during the session which saw daily disruptions in both the Houses.

According to data provided by Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar, the productivity of the Lok Sabha (LS) was 134 per cent, and that of the Rajya Sabha (RS) around 96 per cent during the brief Part I of the session. The Part I of the session had seven LS and eight RS sittings.

But Part II of the session, which began from March 5, saw productivity taking a nose dive due to daily disruptions and adjournments. The productivity of the LS was 4 per cent and that of the RS 8 per cent, the minister said.

The productivity of the complete Budget session was 23 per cent for the LS and 28 per cent for the RS, he said.

According to PRS Legislative Research, this was the least productive Budget session for both Houses since 2000.

According to PRS data, during the session, on an average, Lok Sabha worked for 21 per cent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha worked for 27 per cent.

So far in the 16th (the present) Lok Sabha, the average productivity of Lok Sabha is 85 per cent, and that of Rajya Sabha is 68 per cent.

Former Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Acharya said the productivity of the just-ended session reminds him of the winter session of 2010 when the 2G scam led to its complete washout.

The protests by the BJP and other parties had rocked Parliament after the CAG reported on the alleged 2G scam.

The LS and the RS could utilise only 6 per cent and 2 per cent of their allotted time.

But the UPA government, in a bid to avoid another washout, agreed to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam in the 2011 Budget session.

Acharya said as the leader of the House, the prime minister has the authority to ensure that the House functions.

He was of the view that Parliament can function if the government wants.

DisruptionS for a couple of days is alright, but legislations have to be passed...disruptions should not happen daily, he said.

He recalled that Indias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru used to reach out to Opposition leaders and was present in the Lok Sabha every day.

Several MPs gave notices to move no-confidence motion in the LS against the government. However, due to disruptions caused by members raising various issues such as PNB scam, special status for Andhra Pradesh and Cauvery water dispute, it could not be admitted.

This was the first time a notice to move a no-confidence motion was given in the 16th Lok Sabha.

A no-confidence motion was also moved in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2013 but was not discussed. In the 14th Lok Sabha, a no-confidence motion was converted to a confidence vote, which the government had won, said PRS Legislative Research. PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, April 6

The Defence Ministrys official website was "hacked" on Friday while nine other government sites, including that of the Home Ministry, also crashed in no time. But the government said it was all due to a process of technical upgradation.

The trouble began with the Defence Ministry website where a Chinese character appeared on top of its home page when www.mod.gov.in was opened. Later, the words the site cannot be reached and please try again appeared.

Minutes later, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter to say: Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website.

The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken, she said.

The National Information Centre (NIC), however, refuted the Defence Ministry website had been "hacked".

https://mod.gov.in is not hacked. There is some technical issue since 2.30 p.m. today (Friday). Drupal theme https://www.drupal.org/project/zen framework. The site displayed the default logo, NIC tweeted.

Soon after the Defence Ministry website episode, other government sitesincluding those of the Union Home Ministry, Water Resources Ministry, Labour Ministry and Law Ministrycrashed on Friday.

When opened, the home pages of all these sites displayed error messages the requested service is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for Inconvenience. It would be available soon.

A Home Ministry spokesperson said its departmental website was not hacked and that it was a process of technical upgradation as security features were being upgraded.

Gulshan Rai, head of the Computer Emergency Response Team or CERT, said there had been no cyber attack on any government website or any sabotage.

It is a hardware failure, affecting around 10 government websites. Drupal is a content management software used by the affected websites. The websites will be restored soon, Rai said.

CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents when they occur.  IANS
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Mumbai, April 6

Following the conviction of Salman Khan in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur court, a host of industry friends dropped at the superstars residence to meet his family.

Family members--brothers Sohail and Arbaaz and brother-in-law Aayush Sharma--were at Salmans Galaxy Apartment in suburban Bandra.

Soon after the judgment was announced Congress leader Baba Siddiqui rushed to the actors house.

Arbaazs ex-wife Malaika and her sister Amrita Arora, Race 3 producer Ramesh Taurani, Sonakshi Sinha, along with her parents Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha, Sneha Ullal and Daisy Shah were seen visiting his residence.

Sonakshi, Sneha and Daisy were launched in Bollywood as actors by Salman.

Filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala, who is a close friend of the 52-year-old actor, cancelled the success party of his latest release, Baaghi 2, and left for Jodhpur.

After the verdict, fans had gathered outside the Sultan actors house. Police constables were also stationed outside the building.

Actor Varun Dhawan, who was in Delhi to promote his upcoming film October, tweeted, I know for a fact that Salman bhai and his family have the utmost respect and faith in our judiciary system. Salman Khan is one of the strongest and most genuine people I know and Im sure he will come out of this stronger. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Hyderabad, April 6

A woman from Hyderabad, who was allegedly trafficked to Dubai and later to Oman, has been rescued.

The woman was hoodwinked by agents and taken to Dubai, then to Oman on the pretext of providing a job. She was also allegedly tortured and harassed by her employers and agents.

An agent offered me a job as a salesgirl in a supermarket in Dubai. On March 18, they first sent me to Dubai, where I was confined in an office. Later, a Sheikh bought me and took me to Bahrain. From there I was taken to Oman and kept as a maid. The workload was heavy. I was tortured and not given adequate food, the victim told ANI.

Later, when she informed her mother about her ordeal, her family complained the matter to the Indian embassy in Muscat and she was rescued.

I was finally rescued and I would like to thank External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Indian Embassy, the victim said. ANI
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced today that Latitia D. McCane has been named director of education for The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding.



McCane is responsible for the overall leadership, vision and strategic direction of craft training, academic delivery, student services, accreditation and recruitment for the school that provides high quality, comprehensive four-to eight-year apprentice programs for approximately 800 students. Since 1919, The Apprentice School has produced more than 10,000 graduates. It will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.

McCane will report to Ray Bagley, Newport News vice president of trades operations.

Latitia comes to us at an important time in our companys history when we are focused on people and technologytransforming the way we do business, Bagley said. Given Latitias wealth of experience, Im confident that she will play an integral role in helping prepare our shipbuilders for the future. We are fortunate to have Latitia on our team.

Since 2007, McCane has held several leadership positions at Bishop State Community College, a two-year public institution with an enrollment of 3,400 students in Mobile, Alabama. She most recently served as dean of instructional services and was responsible for all academic programs across the four campuses. She also was associate dean of instruction at Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton, Alabama.

McCane earned doctoral degrees in urban higher education administration and education administration from Jackson State University and Lacrosse University, respectively. She also holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in organic chemistry and chemistry from the University of Alabama, Texas Southern University and Alabama State University.

A photo of McCane is available at: http://newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/file?fid=5ac65b922cfac27573578635.

The Apprentice School accepts about 225 apprentices per year. The school offers four- to eight-year, tuition-free apprenticeships in 19 trades and eight optional advanced programs. Apprentices work a 40-hour week and are paid for all work, including time spent in academic classes. Through partnerships with Thomas Nelson Community College, Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University, The Apprentice Schools academic program provides the opportunity to earn associate degrees in business administration, engineering and engineering technology and bachelors degrees in mechanical or electrical engineering.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is Americas largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HIIs Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HIIs Technical Solutions division provides a wide range of professional services through its Fleet Support, Integrated Missions Solutions, Nuclear & Environmental, and Oil & Gas groups. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs nearly 38,000 people operating both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit:

HII on the web: www.huntingtoningalls.com

HII on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HuntingtonIngallsIndustries

HII on Twitter: twitter.com/hiindustries

Duane Bourne

Duane.A.Bourne@HII-co.com

(757) 380-3581
gspannu7@gmail.com

Ananya Panda

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

In what has further embittered the ties between the two sides, an agitated Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday came down heavily on Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal accusing him of paralysing his government in a bid to save his chair.

Kejriwal demanded that the five powers, including officers transfer/ postings, service matters (recruitment) and vigilance probe, enjoyed by the Sheila Dikshit-led government be restored to the AAP dispensation.

The Delhi Chief Minister, who wound up the discussion on Outcome Report on L-Gs office in the Delhi Assembly, kept Baijal at the centre of his bitter speech.

Noting that often the AAP government is compared with its predecessors, especially the Sheila Dikshits 15 years regime, Kejriwal added what is not highlighted is the fact that the Sheila Dikshit government had five powers, including deciding on issues of transfer and posting of officers, vigilance probe against officers and sending the guilty later to jail, recruitment on vacant posts, and anti-corruption branch that have been snatched away from the AAP government by the Centre.

The Delhi Chief Minister was referring to Baijals remarks that the L-G office had shared a harmonious relationship with the previous governments of Delhi unlike the current government which the latter, in response to the AAP governments criticism in the Outcome Report, claimed has persistently failed to adhere to laid down constitutional norms.

However, the services department of the government counter stated that the data related to services matters is misleading and distorted reflecting an incorrect picture.

It said between February 2015-August 2016 (18 months) services, which deals with among other subjects filling up vacancies, was dealt through the elected government.

Kejriwal said the Sheila Dikshit-led government did not have to send every file to the L-G office unlike now when the L-G asks for every file and raises frivolous objections causing unnecessarily delays.

The AAP chief claimed the Delhi L-G being a political appointee is accountable to the BJP while alleging Baijal is intentionally stalling the execution of his governments works.

The elected government of Delhi has been made powerless whereas the L-G enjoys complete power without responsibility and accountability, he claimed.

Earlier, the opposition BJP boycotted the discussion over L-Gs role and functioning in Delhi affairs after Speaker Ram Niwas Goel turned down its objection to criticism of the L-G in the House.

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta opposed the discussion bringing on it a point of order citing constitutional provisions of Government of NCT of Delhi (Allocation of Business) Rules 1993.

Speaker Goel accused the BJP of politicising the report.

Further, in the wake of the CAG flagging serious irregularities in PDS, the Delhi CM also alleged the L-G refused to act against food commissioner in connection with large scale complaints of irregularities and corruption in ration distribution despite the governments repeated requests.

Let the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha and the CBI examine the ration distribution irregularities threadbare, he said while hitting out at Baijal over the pending doorstep delivery of ration proposal.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Amritsar, April 6

A Pakistani intruder was shot dead and another arrested with 4 kg heroin at the Ramkot Border Out Post area here, a BSF official said.

Confirming the killing and arrest of the Pakistani nationals from the Amritsar sector, he said a BSF night patrolling team observed some suspicious movement on the Indian side of the international border.

BSF troops rushed to the spot and noticed two Pakistanis carrying something with them, the official said.

They were warned to stop, but they did not pay heed and kept coming towards the BSF troops in an aggressive manner, he said.

The Pakistani intruders did not stop even after repeated warnings, forcing BSF troops to open fire in self-defence, the official said.

One Pakistani was nabbed with 4 kg of heroin and another was shot dead on the spot, he said. Interrogation of the arrested Pakistani national is in progress to ascertain who he was going to deliver the narcotics to. PTI
shalender@tribune.com

New Delhi, April 6

With the dilution of the SC/ST Act becoming a key issue ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked party leaders and MPs to spend a night in Dalit-dominated villages to spread awareness on measures initiated by the Centre for their welfare.

With the Budget session coming to an end on Friday, the PM announced that the BJP MPs would go on fast on April 12 to protest the Parliament impasse for which he held the Opposition, primarily the Congress, responsible.

While we are doing inclusive politics, the Opposition is indulging in divisive politics owing to the saffron partys rising strength, Union Minister Ananth Kumar quoted the PM as having told the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting here. He said the PM had asked the BJP leaders to reach out to 20,844 villages with more than 50 per cent of their population comprising SCs and STs (between April 14 and May 5) and inform them about the Centres welfare measures.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP held its allies in high esteem. On Amit Shahs likening the Opposition to animals, he said the BJP respected the Opposition too. He (Shah) spoke in a light-hearted manner. No need for anyone to feel sensitive about it.  TNS
shalender@tribune.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 6

The drugs matter pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court has turned into a DGP versus DGPs case with IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyay on Friday placing in the dock his colleagues Suresh Arora and Dinkar Gupta before obtaining a stay in a case he was being falsely implicated in.

Chattopadhyay claimed that investigations carried out by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by him against an SSP in the drug case were leading him to Punjabs top cops. He, along with two other senior officers, were directed by the High Court to look into the complicity between dismissed Inspector Inderjit Singh and Moga SSP Raj Jit Singh to break the nexus between the law enforcement agency and drug traffickers.

In his 10-page application, Chattopadhyay not only alleged harassment, but also claimed that the role of Punjab DGP Suresh Arora and DGP (Intelligence) Dinkar Gupta had come to light during the course of investigation carried out by him under the High Court directions.

Several significant facts and pointers, including the benami house of a DGP, are being investigated to confirm their involvement in the case with Inspector Inderjit Singh and Moga SSP Raj Jit Singh, Chattopadhyay said, placing before the Bench six annexures in a sealed cover.

He said both seniormost officers Arora and Gupta were also supervisory officers of SIT members probing the case he was being implicated in. The promotion, posting as well as career progression of the SIT members are in the hands of these senior officers, he pointed out.

Chattopadhyay said he was being targeted at the behest of senior police officers whose role was under investigation for being closely associated with Raj Jit Singh and Inderjit Singh in a case registered on January 3 in Amritsar after Inderpreet Singh Chadha, son of the former Chief Khalsa Diwan president CS Chadha, committed suicide.He alleged that the SIT under IGP (Crime) LK Yadav was harassing him even though he had had no connection with Chadha and was just a member of the NRI commission which had passed orders in a dispute concerning him.

He said his apprehensions regarding an unfair investigation were strengthened when his name was dragged after he had presented the first status report before the HC. The investigation in the suicide case was to pressure him to change the course of the probe, he claimed.

After hearing him and amicus curiae Anupam Gupta, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Shekher Dhawan stayed the investigation in the suicide case related to Chattopadhyay and directed the submission of the investigation report against the other accused before the Bench.
editorial@tribune.com

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 6

In an effort to check spiralling prices of sand and gravel, the state government is planning to bring a mechanism in the amended mining policy to regulate operations of stone crushers and prices of minerals for end-users.

The Cabinet sub-committee on mining, which met here for the first time on Friday to frame the policy aimed at boosting revenue by plugging loopholes in the existing one, hinted at regulating the sand prices.

On the pattern of the stone crusher policy of Himachal Pradesh, a proposal was mooted to give priority to the owners of stone crushers to bid for mines to extract the raw material. The royalty to be charged from a crusher will be on the basis of power consumption.

It has been seen that the raw material is brought on tampered slips issued by mining contractors. In some cases, it is shown that the raw material is being brought from Himachal Pradesh or Jammu and Kashmir, but is instead illegally sourced from within the state, said an officer who attended the meeting.

In the meeting chaired by Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and attended by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar and other officials, the committee met various stakeholders sand mining contractors and stone crusher owners. It will submit its report to the government by month-end.

The sub-committee also discussed introducing e-transport permit and bar-coded permit, which will not only result in regulating the online portal, but will also provide handy information on volume, origin point, destination and timing. The weighing slips issued in the present policy are easy to tamper with. Overloaded trucks causing damages to roads were also discussed.

It was suggested that instead of two types of bidding  reverse and progressive  it should be of uniform type. Besides, the amount of quantity present in the mining quarries auctioned earlier should be ascertained scientifically.

Telangana model

Citing the mining policies of various states, it was pointed out that Telangana, when it came into existence in 2014, had Rs 10 crore income from mining in the first year. The government formed a corporation on mining, thanks to which the income rose to Rs 374 crore in 2015-16, Rs 419 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 1,200 crore in 2017-18. Haryana is earning Rs 900 crore from mining every year.
editorial@tribune.com

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, April 6

The Punjab Government may not release salaries to its 3 lakh employees for another 10 days as it has not uploaded data pertaining to their service book records on the Central government website  Electronic Human Resources Management System (eHRMS).

The process, which includes uploading the service records like employees name, date of birth, basic qualifications, caste, increments received, leave and promotion records, has been going on for the last five years.

However, the Central Government, which provides funds of various nature to the state government, has tightened the screws from this fiscal year asking the state government to immediately upload details and has stopped grants till the records get on to the website.

Director (Treasury) Dr Abhinav Trikha admitted that there could be some delay. He, however, said those employees whose records had already been uploaded were being paid their dues.

Salaries are normally disbursed between the first and sixth of every month. Sources claim that wages may not be released for another 10-15 days as the uploading processes is not only cumbersome, but also there are not many trained hands to do it.

Following this development, various unions, including the Democratic Mulazim Federation (DMF) and the Sanjha Adhiyapak Morcha, have threatened to hold a protest in front of the Moti Bagh residence of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in Patiala on April 15.

Gurdaspur District Treasury Officer Harbans Singh confirmed that the Treasury Department had put on hold the release of salaries. Even I am affected as my service book records have not been uploaded, he said. The condition of Gurdaspur is symptomatic of all the districts across the state.

Amarjit Shastri, state vice-president of the DMF, said bill clerks and Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) of their respective departments were not trained to upload the service book records.

The uploading process has been going on for the last five years. However, it is agonisingly slow because there is no trained staff to do so. It is admission session this month and employees have no money to pay for their childrens school fees. Moreover, thousands of salaried class will be defaulting on their bank loan payments, he said.
editorial@tribune.com

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 6

A Pakistani smuggler was shot dead while another apprehended by the Border Security Force (BSF) at the India-Pakistan border on Friday.

The deceased has been identified as Rashid and the arrested Sabir Hussain. Both were residents of Thata Dhilwan village in Lahore.

Four packets of heroin weighing 1 kg each, one mobile phone with two Pakistan SIM cards were recovered from their possession.

Mukul Goel, IG, BSF, Punjab Frontier, said during the wee hours both were spotted near the Ramkot Border Outpost (BoP) in the Amritsar sector.

The BSF personnel spotted the two around 2.20 am close to the International Border. Both were stealthily approaching towards the fence to throw packets towards this side. When they ignored the warning, the BSF squad opened fire, in which a Pakistani smuggler got killed and another arrested, he added.

He hoped that with the arrest of a Pakistani smuggler they would be able to extract vital information which could help unmask the cross-border narcotic smugglers network. It is suspected that someone from adjoining Chak Allah Baksh village is involved in this activity.

The matter was brought to the notice of the Pakistani counterparts, but they denied any acquaintance.

The meeting at the company commander level was held between the two sides, but as usual they simply denied admitting that they were Pakistanis. It was during the preliminary investigation that Shabir Hussain revealed their antecedents. Shabir also admitted to be involved in drug smuggling earlier too, he added.

Goel says as per sources there is rich cultivation of heroin in Afghanistan and this encourages smuggling activities across the border.

Since January, the BSF has seized 104.7 kg of heroin, 17 Pakistani SIM cards and six Pakistani mobiles and arrested four Pak smugglers.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Chandigarh, April 6

The Punjab Government on Friday said it would come out with a new mining policy aimed at plugging revenue leakage.

The main objective of the new mining policy will be to plug the revenue loss caused to the state exchequer, Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said.

He presided over a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on mining which was also attended by private stakeholders.

The other members of the committee are Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, who were also present.

Sidhu, after giving a hearing to all the concerned stakeholders, said that while framing the new policy, all the suggestions put forward by them would be given due consideration.

He further elaborated that this new policy would be in accordance with the sand mining framework issued by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India in March 2018.

The minister also added that before giving final touches to the policy, he would personally meet the officers of the Ministry of Mines on Monday and the Cabinet sub-committee would again meet on Tuesday.

Sidhu further said that the Chief Minister had sought a report within one month from the sub-committee. He also made it clear that the government would have the right to fix the prices of sand.

While quoting the mining policies of various states, Sidhu said Telangana came into existence in 2014 and at that time it had a meagre Rs 10 crore income from mining but the state government formed a mining corporation which saw the income increasing to Rs 374 crore in 2015-16, Rs 419 crore in 2016-17 and now in 2017-18 to Rs 1,200 crore.

Similarly, Haryana, which is smaller than Punjab in size, is minting Rs 900 crore from mining.

Sidhu instructed the officials of the department to brace up for the effective implementation of the proposed mining policy.

He said there would be provision of e-transport permit and by scanning the bar-coded permit, information like volume, origin point, destination would be displayed.

The minister reiterated that it would be ensured in the new policy that no overloaded truck/tipper crosses the roads which would put a stop to the damage being caused to the roads.

After the meeting, the sub-committee held another meeting with the contractors and crusher owners associated with mining and ascertained their views as well as suggestions. PTI
shalender@tribune.com

An unusual case of sale of recruits was decided by the Judicial Commissioner of Upper Burma on the 30th March, which throws some light on the methods adopted by recruiting agents. The accused took a recruit to a village head man who paid Rs. 150 to the recruit to join the Army. Out of this amount the recruit paid Rs. 15 to the accused. In another case, the accused claimed a payment of Rs 100 from another accepted recruit, who likewise received Rs 150 from the headman. The District Magistrate has sentenced the accused to two months rigorous imprisonment for the "sale" of recruits, but the Judicial Commissioner acquitted the man, remarking that no inference could be drawn from the facts of the case that a person who persuaded another enlist, did so with the object of dissuading others.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 6

As many as 1.5 lakh saplings will be planted along banks of Rispana river in a single day in capital Dehradun during monsoon.

This was disclosed at a high level Rispana river rejuvenation meeting held in Dehradun on Friday.

Presiding over the meeting, Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh held that Forest Department, Eco-Task Force, Irrigation Department along with the residents would be part of the plantation drive, which will be carried out in a single day in the month of July.

He apprised that digging of pits for planting saplings would start from May 5.

This digging work will be started from Shikhar Fall, the source of Rispana river in Dehradun and will be done all along the banks of the river.

Among the saplings to be planted, 50,000 will be of fruit trees.

Dehradun District Magistrate SA Murugeshan, Conservator of Forest PK Patro and other senior officials were present on the occasion.
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uttara@tribuneindia.com

Neumunster (Germany), April 6

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called for immediate "political dialogue" to end the row with Madrid as he left a German jail on bail on Friday after judges rejected his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge.

"The time for dialogue has arrived," Puigdemont told reporters outside the Neumuenster prison, after he walked free on a 75,000-euro ($92,000-) bail while judges mull whether to extradite him on a lesser charge of corruption.

"We have demanded dialogue for several years and we have only received violence and repression," Puigdemont said.

There is "no excuse" for the Spanish authorities not to start "a political dialogue with the Catalan political leaders", he added.

The 55-year-old also called for "the immediate release" of all Catalan separatists detained in the spat with Madrid over the wealthy northeastern regions failed breakaway bid.

In a major victory for Puigdemont, the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday dismissed Spains request to extradite Puigdemont on a rebellion charge over last Octobers independence referendum, deemed illegal by Madrid.

The judges ruled that the charge was "inadmissible" because rebellionwhich carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in Spainwas not punishable under German law.

The closest German equivalent, the criminal offence of high treason, did not apply because Puigdemonts actions were not accompanied by violence, the judges found.

But they said the former Catalan president could still be sent to Spain to face trial for the alleged misuse of public funds in organising the disputed referendum.

The German judges said they needed to gather more information before making a decision on the embezzlement charge in the coming weeks, but ruled that Puigdemont could be released in the meantime.

Madrid has estimated that some 1.6 million euros in public money was improperly used to hold the referendum. If convicted, Puigdemont faces up to eight years in jail.

As part of his bail conditions, Puigdemont must remain in Germany and report to police weekly.

German police detained Puigdemont on March 25 as he was travelling from Finland back to Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile for the past six months.

The arrest came two days after Spains Supreme Court ordered international warrants for Puigdemont and other fugitive Catalan leaders on charges linked to holding the banned referendum.

The German courts refusal to accept the rebellion charge is a blow to Madrid, as under European law it means Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted for the offence even if he is returned to Spain.

Despite the setback, the Spanish government said it "respected" the German judges decision.

Berlin, which has long expressed support for Madrids actions in the Catalan row, declined to comment on the latest judicial developments.

"The process lies in the hands of the justice system, as is right," said German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer.

One of Puigdemonts German lawyers, Wolfgang Schomburg, welcomed that the rebellion issue was "finally off the table", but warned that the legal battle continued.

"It would be best for all those involved in Europe if Spain took a different path and did not try to solve internal conflicts through the courts," he told reporters.

Catalonia has been mired in political crisis ever since the region unilaterally declared independence on October 27 in the wake of the controversial referendum.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys conservative government responded by sacking the Catalan government, taking direct control of the region and calling early elections.

The December vote was won by a block of separatist parties. But they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as their chosen candidates are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution.

Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22.

Puigdemont was one of a number of Catalan figureheads who fled abroad to escape prosecution, dragging other European countries into the row.

A Belgian judge on Thursday bailed three former Catalan ministers who fled to Belgium with Puigdemont after they handed themselves in to police there.

They face charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state.

Another former Catalan minister, Clara Ponsati, was bailed in Scotland last week.

Nine other pro-independence figures are currently in custody in Spain, including six members of Puigdemonts Catalan government and the former president of the regional parliament.

A major demonstration calling for imprisoned separatist leaders to be freed is planned for April 15 in Barcelona.  AFP
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Neumunster (Germany): Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called for immediate political dialogue to end the row with Madrid as he left a German jail on bail on Friday after judges rejected his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge. The time for dialogue has arrived, Puigdemont told reporters outside the Neumuenster prison, after he walked free on a 75,000-euro bail while judges mull whether to extradite him on a lesser charge of corruption. PTI

Sugar tax comes into force in UK

London: Britons may have to shell out more for soft drinks, as a so-called sin tax or sugar tax came into force as part of the governments plan to combat obesity and sugar- related diseases. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy is based on the levels of sugar, with the most sugary drinks paying the highest tax. The levy will be applied to manufacturers. PTI

UK: Poisoned ex-spy improving rapidly

London: Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition, hospital officials said on Friday. Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital since they were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4 after a deadly nerve agent attack. He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition, said Dr Christine Blanshard. PTI

US sanctions on Russian oligarchs

Washington: The US imposed major sanctions on Friday against 24 Russians, striking at allies of President Vladimir Putin in one of Washingtons most aggressive moves to punish Moscow for what it called a range of malign activity, including alleged meddling in the 2016 poll. The action freezes the US assets of oligarchs such as aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of Putin, and lawmaker Suleiman Kerimov, whose family controls Russias largest gold producer, Polyus. Reuters
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

DURBAN, April 6

Former South African president Jacob Zuma appeared in court on Friday to face corruption charges relating to a $2.5 billion arms deal, later telling a crowd he would be proven innocent in the long-running case that resurfaced after his fall from power.

Zumas transition from Mr. President to Accused Number One in less than two months is a significant setback for the 75-year-old, whose nine years in office were marked by economic stagnation and credit downgrades. He faces 16 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

In a procedural appearance that lasted less than 15 minutes, state prosecutors and Zumas lawyers asked the Durban High Court to adjourn the case until June 8 so both sides could prepare submissions. Judge Themba Sishi approved the request. A potential trial would take several more months to prepare.

Zuma later made a rousing speech from a podium outside the Durban court, telling thousands of supporters that his opponents were telling lies and the judiciary and politicians believed that he did not have rights.

He said he was hated for championing policies to improve the lives of the countrys black majority.

It amazes me when people treat me as if Ive given up. They want me to be treated as a prisoner, Zuma told the cheering crowd, flanked by family members and religious leaders who offered blessings before he spoke.

I cant believe all the lies that are said about me. I am innocent until proven guilty, he added, speaking in Zulu in his home KwaZulu-Natal province.  Reuters
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

London, April 6

The UK government has confirmed that two guinea pigs were found dead at the home of the former Russian double agent who was found poisoned along with his daughter here last month.

The UKs Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) also said that a cat found in a distressed state at the house in Salisbury was put down by a vet.

The confirmation came on Thursday amid concerns raised by Russia over the welfare of Sergei Skripals pets as Moscow continued to deny any involvement in the attack.

The property in Wiltshire was sealed as part of the police investigation. When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died. A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare, a DEFRA spokesperson said.

The information on the animals was today followed by a withering attack by Russia on the UK inventing a fake story and playing with fire over the poisoning in Salisbury, which the British government maintains involved a Russian-made deadly nerve agent.

At a United Nations Security Council meeting today, Moscows Ambassador to UN Vasily Nebenzia said Britains main goal had been to discredit and even delegitimise Russia with unsubstantiated accusations.

He said Novichokthe group of nerve agent the UK says was used in the poisoningis not copyrighted by Russia, in spite of the obviously Russian name and has been developed in many countries.

Its some sort of theatre of the absurd. Couldnt you come up with a better fake story, he questioned during his statement to the 15-member council.

Britains UN representative Karen Pierce countered that the UKs actions stand up to any scrutiny.

She said Russia came under suspicion for several reasons, saying it had a record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations and that it views defectors as suitable targets for assassination.

Moscow had called the special meeting of the Security Council in New York to discuss the attack, saying Britain had legitimate questions to answer.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. Yesterday, Yulia Skripal issued a statement from hospital to say her strength is growing daily. Her 66-year-old father remains in critical but stable condition in hospital at Salisbury.

The attack has led to an escalating diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the West, with 60 expelled US diplomats leaving for Russia. More than 20 countries have expelled Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK, following Britains initial expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

The UK government maintains that Russia is behind the attack, claiming there is no other plausible explanation. The Kremlin denies any involvement.

Scotland Yard have said the Skripals first came into contact with the chemical at Skripals home after forensic testing showed the highest concentration of the substance was found on the front door. The house was a focus of police activity in the aftermath of the attack and was sealed off as investigators combed the property for clues. PTI
The American Center for Mobility provides a myriad of real-world environments with the ability to test under a range of driving environments. Photo: ACM

Michigan has been working steadily to establish itself as a leader in emerging transportation technology. And this week, Gov. Rick Snyder, along with business, government, and academia leaders from throughout Michigan, celebrated a new partnership with Microsoft with the grand opening of the American Center for Mobility.

Microsoft is the exclusive data and cloud provider for the mobility center at the historic Willow Run bomber plant site in Ypsilanti Township.

John Maddox, ACM president and CEO, announced that Microsoft will provide the Center with cloud resources and data infrastructure to advance the testing and development of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) as well as mobility technologies.

"We are excited to collaborate with Microsoft in our efforts to lead the world in the safe development of CAV technologies and to enable the safe deployment of these vehicles onto the nation's roads," Maddox said.

"By adding big data to our diverse and growing group of stakeholders and world-class partners, ACM is staking its claim as the preeminent global hub for mobility companies to develop and test their connected technologies and vehicles in a safe and controlled environment," he added.

Gov. Snyder said the Center's grand opening combined with the announcement that Microsoft is the exclusive data and cloud provider, represents a pinnacle moment for the state in the mobility revolution.

"Intelligent vehicle technology is evolving rapidly and Michigan is the world leader in making sure the mobility technologies driving the future are safely developed, tested and eventually deployed," Snyder said. "This important partnership with Microsoft will provide the American Center for Mobility with the proper digital capabilities to help translate testing data into technology innovations that will make transportation safer for all and fuel further economic growth across the state."

ACM will collaborate with Microsoft to design a cloud-based Data Management & Analytics Platform solution to collect, store and analyze data from tests conducted at the Center. The solution will be based on the trusted Microsoft Azure cloud platform, which offers extensive capabilities for quickly developing and deploying new use cases. Using Azure and the DMAP solution will enable ACM and its partners to accelerate the development of CAV technologies, apps, and industry standards, to create a safe environment for testing, validating, and enabling collaboration across all members.

"Vehicles are quickly becoming data centers on wheels, and the opportunity to use the vast amounts of information generated to fuel innovation is unprecedented," said Kevin Dallas, corporate vice president, artificial intelligence & intelligent cloud business development, Microsoft. "We're proud ACM has selected Microsoft Azure as its exclusive cloud provider for its intelligent capabilities and the enterprise-grade security and compliance required to develop comprehensive solutions that help drive the future of mobility."

Microsoft joins a long list of companies supporting ACM, including its founders AT&T, Visteon Corporation, Toyota, Ford and Hyundai America Technical Center Inc., and sponsors Subaru of America, Inc., and Adient. In addition to serving as the Center's exclusive data and cloud provider, Microsoft will also hold a position on ACM's Industry Advisory Board.

Located on 500 acres that once was the site of Ford Motor Co.'s fabled Willow Run Bomber Plant, the American Center for Mobility opened its doors for testing in December.

One of 10 federally designated proving grounds for developing and testing self-driving vehicles, the Center provides a myriad of real-world environments with the ability to test under a range of driving environments and infrastructure that includes a 2.5-mile highway loop, a 700-foot curved tunnel, two double overpasses, intersections, and roundabouts.

Gov. Snyders announcement and the grand opening celebration coincides with the start of ACM's next phase of construction, which will add an urban intersection by this summer, followed by a series of building facades and additional urbanized infrastructure expected by the end of the year. The expansion project also includes a headquarters and lab with demonstration space.

The Center is a joint initiative with the State of Michigan via a partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the University of Michigan, Business Leaders for Michigan, Ann Arbor SPARK and Ypsilanti Township.

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet
Phillips Industries will be the exclusive sponsor for Heavy Duty Truckings 2018 Truck Fleet Innovators Award.

Phillips Industries will once again be the exclusive sponsor for Heavy Duty Truckings 2018 Truck Fleet Innovators Award.

The award was founded in 2006 to honor fleet executives and leaders for their leadership and forward thinking in many diverse areas, such as new technology adoption, driver recruiting and retention, fuel economy, and maintenance.

The 2018 Truck Fleet Innovators will be announced in April and profiled in the May issue of Heavy Duty Trucking magazine. Winners will also be honored at the Heavy Duty Trucking Exchange networking and education event, being held May 9-11 at the Scottsdale resort at McCormick Ranch outside Phoenix, Arizona, and will participate in a panel discussion led by HDT's editors.

Phillips Industries has built its brand on creating innovative solutions that solve our fleet customers challenges," commented Rob Phillips, president and COO. And now, with all the attention and traction were getting from Phillips Connect Technologies TrailerNet system, its more fitting than ever to sponsor HDTs Truck Fleet Innovators Award.

Last years Truck Fleet Innovators were:

Kirk Altrichter, vice president of fleet services, Kenan Advantage Group, North Canton, Ohio

Ralph LoPriore, director of fleet assets and processes, Stoneway Concrete/Gary Merlino Construction, Seattle, Washington

Randy Obermeyer, terminal manager, Batesville Logistics, Batesville, Indiana

Randy Swart, chief operating officer, A. Duie Pyle, West Chester, Pennsylvania

We are pleased to be associated with Heavy Duty Truckings Truck Fleet Innovators Award and look forward to meeting this years honorees, said Phillips.
Heavy Duty Trucking magazine editors have received two 2018 Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Awards  one for Best Subject-Related Package and the other for Best Commentary/Blog. The awards were presented at a luncheon held in New York City on April 5.

Written by HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge, Executive Editor David Cullen, and Equipment Editor Jim Park, the Alt-Fuels Update that ran in the September 2017 print edition garnered the Neal Award for Best Subject-Related Package. The articles within the alternative fuels update package delved deeply into such topics as the state of electric trucks, why some fleets still embrace natural gas, how to tap solar power onboard, and smart trucks.

Deborah Lockridge was honored individually with the Neal Award for Best Commentary/Blog for three of her monthly print magazine editorials:

HDT editors were also named finalists in two other categories. The 10-part series Trucking in the 21st Century was named a finalist for Best Series. The series of articles explored the technologies that are impacting the trucking industry and what it means for the success of our readers businesses. The series consisted of features written by Deborah Lockridge, David Cullen, Jim Park, Senior Editor Jack Roberts, and Technology Contributing Editor Jim Beach, as well as additional online content.

HDT Executive Editor David Cullen was on hand to receive the magazine's Neal Award for its Alt-Fuels Update 2017 package of related articles.

HDT was also named a finalist in the Best Instructional Content category for three articles offering how-to advice. The recognized articles were:

To date, HDT editors have collectively won 29 Neal Awards and received 37 Certificates of Merit/Finalist honors. In additon, HDT editors have twice been named the recipient of the annual Grand Neal Award.

The Jesse H. Neal Awards were created by the American Business Media trade association (now known as Connectiv) in 1955 to recognize and reward editorial excellence in business-to-business journalism.

All Neal entries are put through a two-tiered screening process to reach the final judging. Entries are scored in three areas: journalistic enterprise, extent of service to the field, and editorial craftsmanship. A board of 12 to 18 journalism professionals goes through each of the finalists to make the final determinations.
English French

Press release on regulated information

April 6, 2018

Availability and consultation of information concerning the ordinary and extraordinary general shareholders' meeting of April 27, 2018

Altran Technologies will hold its combined ordinary and extraordinary general shareholders' meeting on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 3 p.m. at its headquarters located at 96 Avenue Charles de Gaulle, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine.

The preliminary notice of meeting (Avis de reunion) - including the agenda, draft resolutions and instructions on how to take part and vote at the general shareholders' meeting - was published in the BALO (Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires) on March 23, 2018. The Notice of Meeting amending the preliminary notice of meeting was published in the BALO and in "Les Petites Affiches" (official publication for legal announcements) on April 6, 2018. These notifications are available on the Altran Technologies website www.altran.com under Finance / General Meetings.

The Board of Directors' report on the resolutions put before the shareholders, the Notice of Meeting brochure, the 2017 Registration Document as well as all other documents and information referred to in Article R. 225-73-1 of the French Commercial Code are all available on the Altran Technologies website www.altran.com under Finance / General Meetings.

The documents referred to in Article R. 225-83 of the French Commercial Code are at shareholders' disposal as required by applicable regulatory provisions.

All other documents and information concerning the general shareholders' meeting are at shareholders' disposal at the Company's headquarters, in pursuance of regulatory requirements.
English Dutch

The Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) has provisionally awarded the A1 Apeldoorn - Azelo (phase 1) contract to Heijmans. The contract includes the widening of the A1 between Twello and Deventer and between Deventer-Oost and Rijssen. The contract (design and construct) is valued at 127 million euros.

About Heijmans

Heijmans is a listed company that combines activities related to property development, residential building, non-residential building, roads and civil engineering in the areas living, working and connecting. Our constant focus on quality improvements, innovation and integrated solutions enables us to generate added value for our clients. Heijmans realises projects for private consumers, companies and the public sector and, in partnership with its clients, is building the spatial contours of tomorrow. You will find additional information on www.heijmans.nl.



For additional information / not for publication:



Media

Toinja van Daal

Communications

+ 31 73 543 52 17

tdaal@heijmans.nl

Analysts

Guido Peters

Investor Relations

+ 31 73 543 52 17

gpeters@heijmans.nl
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Isodiol International Inc. (CSE:ISOL) (OTC:ISOLF) (FSE:LB6A.F) (the Company or Isodiol), a global Bioactive CBD innovator specializing in the development of pharmaceutical and wellness products, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Agrima Botanicals Corp. (Agrima), a Canadian Licensed Producer, to import 99.5%+ pure, bioactive pharma-grade cannabidiol ('CBD') isolate into Canada from Isodiols GMP-certified production facility in the United Kingdom.



Agrima intends to import up to 5,000 g of CBD isolate per month for the purposes of R&D, product formulation and production of pharma-grade derivative products.

Marcos Agramont, CEO of Isodiol, stated, Isodiol will continue to focus on providing the highest quality, pharma grade, raw material to its select partners who are formulating market leading cannabidiol products. The team at Agrima Botanicals is known for their focus on R&D and we are looking forward to our work together in additional product development opportunities, as well as potential clinical trials.

We are pleased to establish this new relationship with one of the leading CBD companies in the industry, explained Reid Parr, COO of Agrima. This agreement will provide us with mutual opportunities to advance our respective research and development initiatives, as well as pave the way for additional collaboration to develop highest quality products based on a rigorous scientific approach.

Upon successful initial import and product testing, Agrima and Isodiol intend to execute a Definitive Supply Agreement, which expects to expand the scope of the collaboration to additional products, in addition to the supply of raw isolate.

About Isodiol International Inc.

Isodiol International Inc. is the market leader in pharmaceutical grade phytochemical compounds and the industry leader in the manufacturing and development of CBD consumer products.

Isodiol is the pioneer of many firsts for the cannabis industry including commercialization of 99%+ pure, bioactive pharmaceutical grade cannabinoids, micro-encapsulations, and nanotechnology for the highest quality consumable and topical skin care products.

Isodiols growth strategy includes the development of over-the-counter and pharmaceutical drugs, expanding its phytoceutical portfolio and will aggressively continue international expansion into Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Join Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isodiol/

Twitter: @isodiol

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Marcos Agramont, CEO & Director

INVESTOR RELATIONS:

Ir@isodiol.com

www.isodiol.com

Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Company's business, products and future the Companys business, its product offerings and plans for sales and marketing. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Company's products and plan will vary from those stated in this news release and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation, and does not intend, to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and makes no reference to profitability based on sales reported. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release.
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TORONTO, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P. (CCP) announces that FBC Holdings S.a r.l. (FBC), an investment fund managed by CCP, received 344,959 common shares (Common Shares) of Sphere 3D Corporation (Sphere 3D) in lieu of an interest payment due on the 8% senior secured convertible debenture in the principal amount $24,500,000 issued by Sphere 3D to FBC (the Debenture). On March 29, 2018, 344,959 Common Shares were issued to FBC to satisfy an interest payment of $623,151.12, implying a value of $1.81 per Common Share. The 344,959 represent 3.67% of the 9,396,367 issued and outstanding Common Shares of Sphere 3D (the 9,396,367 is comprised of the 9,051,408 issued and outstanding shares as at March 16, 2018 as disclosed in Sphere 3Ds Form 10-K filed on March 21, 2018, plus the 344,959 Common Shares issued on March 29, 2018 in lieu of the interest payment due on the Debenture).



Immediately before the March 29, 2018 transaction, CCP, through the FBC had indirect control over 409,981 Common Shares. CCP also had indirect control over 40,000 Warrants held by FBC and the Debenture that is convertible into 326,667 Common Shares. If FBC were to have converted the Debenture and the Warrants, FBC would have held and CCP would have indirectly controlled, on a partially diluted basis, an aggregate of 776,648 Common Shares, or approximately 8.25% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. This is calculated on the basis that there would have been 9,418,075 Common Shares of Sphere 3D issued and outstanding (comprised of the then issued 9,051,408 Common Shares, plus the 326,667 Common Shares issuable on the conversion of the Debenture and the 40,000 Common Shares issuable on the conversion of the Warrants).

After the March 29, 2018 transaction, CCP, through FBC has indirect control over 754,940 Common Shares. CCP also has indirect control over 40,000 Warrants held by FBC and the Debenture that is convertible into 326,667 Common Shares. If FBC converts the Debenture and the Warrants, FBC and the Funds would hold and CCP would have indirect control over, on a partially diluted basis, an aggregate of 1,121,607 Common Shares, or approximately 11.49% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. This is calculated on the basis that there would be 9,763,034 Common Shares of Sphere 3D issued and outstanding (comprised of the currently issued 9,051,408 Common Shares, plus the 326,667 Common Shares issuable on the conversion of the Debenture, the 40,000 Common Shares issuable on the conversion of the Warrants and the 344,959 Common Shares issued on March 29, 2018 in lieu of the interest payment due on the Debenture).

FBC is a joint actor in connection with the disclosure required by this press release.

Other Information

CCP acquired indirect control over, and FBC and the Funds acquired ownership of, the Common Shares that are the subject of this report for investment purposes.

None of CCP or FBC has any current plans or future intentions which relate to or would result in any of the events, transactions or circumstances enumerated in paragraphs (a) - (k) above. Notwithstanding this, in connection with the investment by FBC in the Common Shares, CCP may engage in communications with members of management and the board of directors of Sphere 3D, other current or prospective shareholders, industry analysts, existing or potential strategic partners or competitors, investment and financing professionals, sources of credit and other investors with respect to Sphere 3D. CCP intends to review FBCs investment in Sphere 3D on a continuing basis. Depending on various factors including, without limitation, Sphere 3Ds financial position, the price levels of the Common Shares, conditions in the securities markets and general economic and industry conditions, CCPs or FBCs business or financial condition and other factors and conditions CCP deems appropriate, FBC may in the future take such actions with respect to their investment in Sphere 3D as CCP deems appropriate including, without limitation, seeking additional board representation, making proposals to Sphere 3D concerning changes to the capitalization, ownership structure or operations of Sphere 3D, acquiring additional Common Shares, and/or selling or otherwise disposing of some or all of their Common Shares. In addition, CCP may formulate other purposes, plans or proposals regarding Sphere 3D or any of its securities to the extent deemed advisable in light of general investment and trading policies, market conditions or other factors or may change its intention with respect to any and all matters referred to in Item 5 of the report on Form 62-103F1 being filed connection with the matters disclosed in this release.

FBC is a joint actors in connection with the disclosure required by this press release. Except as specifically indicated in this press release, neither the issuance of this press release in connection with the matters disclosed herein nor the anticipated filing by CCP of the corresponding early warning report required to be filed in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws is an admission that an entity named or otherwise referred to in this press release owns or controls any described securities or is a joint actor with another entity named or otherwise referred to in this press release.

CCPs address and other contact information is set forth below. For further information, including to obtain a copy, once filed, of the early warning report required to be filed in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, contact CCP at the address specified below. CCP was formed under the laws of Delaware and is an SEC registered investment adviser.

Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P.

65 East 55th Street, 35th Floor

New York, NY 10022

United States of America

Attn: Thomas Stamatelos, Chief Operating Officer

Tel: (212) 380-5800
| By Mary T. Phelan

Mentor. Friend. Colleague. Lifesaver.

The late Angela H. Brodie, PhD, professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), filled all four roles, said a panel of women who were fortunate enough to be the beneficiaries of Brodies intelligence, humor, inspiration, and friendship.

Brodie, who died in June 2017 at the age of 82, was honored at a Womens History Month luncheon celebrating her life and legacy March 28 at Westminster Hall. She pioneered the development of aromatase inhibitors, which block the production of breast cancer-fueling estrogen. It is considered to be one of the greatest advances in treating breast cancer in the last 150 years.

From left, Laure Aurelian, Carolyn Choate, Margaret M. McCarthy, Jay A. Perman, Ann Robbins, and Yun Qiu.

The event featured a panel discussion moderated by Margaret M. McCarthy, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology. Panelists included Laure Aurelian, PhD, and Yun Qiu, PhD, both UMSOM professors who worked with Brodie; Carolyn Choate, a breast cancer survivor in long-term remission, thanks to the drug developed by Brodie; and Ann Robbins, PhD, MS, president of Ann Robbins, LLC, a firm offering regulatory affairs consulting services to pharmaceutical companies, startups, and nonprofits. The UMB Roundtable on Empowerment in Leadership and Leveraging Aspirations, also known as the UMBrella Group, hosted the luncheon.

I do indeed call her a friend and it was a privilege to be able to have that relationship with her, McCarthy said. I always just have to point out as well, everybody emphasizes so much that she did for breast cancer, but her drug actually was revolutionary in the study of neuroscience was well. Her impact cannot be underestimated.

University of Maryland, Baltimore President Jay A. Perman, MD, described Brodies career as one marked by discoveries that would fundamentally change the way we treat breast cancer and that would ultimately save the lives of hundreds of thousands of women around the world.

Brodies contributions encompassed more than those she made in the scientific community, Perman said. She helped shatter the glass ceiling in science; led in a male-dominated lab; insisted that her work be free to stand on its own merits; and made it her mission to ensure that more women are recruited and supported in science, Perman said.

Well talk about the hard work we must still undertake to ensure that women in research have the same opportunities as men, he said. Regrettably, we have to do this because academic science isnt immune to the Me Too movement or the Times Up movement. Far from it. They simply remind us that we do have so much more to do, to keep harassment and discrimination out of the workplace and to level the playing field for wage equality and gender parity in positions of leadership.

In these conversations, as well, we owe a great debt to Dr. Brodie, Perman said.

Initially working with her husband, Harry Brodie, PhD, a chemist, Angela Brodies research in aromatase inhibitors began in the 1970s, when she was one of very few women in academic science and had to fight to find an audience for her research. Early on, she and Aurelian were the only two women in the lab at UMSOM and they formed a close bond, Aurelian said.

Thank you for this opportunity to see that smile again. It was such a special smile, Aurelian said after attendees watched a video highlighting Brodies career. Im supposed to talk about myself and I will in a minute but that smile reminded me of many wonderful afternoons that we got together and complained so it made us feel better. I was blessed to have a friend like Angela in my life for which Im grateful and Im glad that we are here to remember her.

Aurelian said the two especially bonded because they both wanted to have careers in academia while raising a family. To have children in those days and want to have a career in academia was an absolute no-no. But Angela did it and I did it, she said.

Choate, a breast cancer survivor and advocate, said Brodie was the embodiment of this years national Womens History Month theme, Nevertheless She Persisted.

In an industry, academia, that was ruled basically by men, in an industry, pharmaceuticals, that was by and large ruled by men, it took her almost two decades to get that drug to market for a drug she believed in, that she knew would work for women like me, said Choate.

Last summer, as a tribute to Brodie, Choate and her daughter, Sydney, completed a 300-mile kayaking journey, which raised more than $400,00 for breast cancer research.

Brodie recruited Qiu from the University of Minnesota to UMSOM in 2002. Qiu collaborated with Brodie to study molecular mechanisms underlying therapeutic resistance in prostate cancer, mainly focused on androgen receptor and protein kinases signaling.

As a woman scientist, especially when you have little kids in the family, its very difficult to balance the career and personal life, Qiu said. Angela taught me a lot of her experience, how to handle the personal life and the career. I am glad I learned a great deal from her and I survived a very competitive environment during my early academic life. I am very grateful for Angelas encouragement.

While the two never met, Robbins, a neuroscientist, said Brodie still shaped her life professionally and personally.

In 1990, I knew about aromatase inhibitors, she said. I started looking at what drugs were currently in the pipeline being developed for women, and that is where I learned about the research of both Dr. Brodies.

That same year, Robbins mother was diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Today, her mom is an 84-year-old cancer survivor.

I have now continued to work with big companies, small companies and I am continually inspired by the work of women, entrepreneurs, like Dr. Brodie and others, women before her and after her, that have and will continue to help pursue products that are important for womens health, Robbins said.
Paris, April 6  One month before Lebanon holds its first parliamentary elections in nearly a decade, the United Nations called for continued international support for Lebanons political and economic stability, citing it as a bulwark for stability in the region.

Supporting Lebanese unity and stability will support stability in the entire region, and it will diminish the threats to peace that we are facing today in the world, said United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steiner today in Paris. But we can only achieve this by working together.

Mr. Steiner was speaking on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General at a global conference hosted by President Emmanuel Macron on Lebanons economic development called the Conference Economique pour le Developpement et les Reformes Economiques, or CEDRE. The conference resulted in pledges of $10.2 billion to support Lebanon.

More than 50 delegations, including financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank, participated in the conference. Lebanons Prime Minister Saad Hariri presented an ambitious Capital Investment Plan and a structural reform program to support Lebanon's economic stability with a focus on economic growth and job creation.

The Capital Investment Plan, along with the economic vision of Lebanon, presents an ambitious agenda to put the country firmly back on the path of economic growth and create employment opportunities  for Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees alike, Steiner continued. The objective of todays conference is part of one of the most remarkable global commitments of our time: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Achieving economic growth is not an end in itself, but it is part of a broader national vision for the sustainable development of Lebanon  its people, institutions and economy. A vision, where no one is left behind.

Lebanons hosting of nearly 1.5 million Syrian refugees displaced by the war in Syria, has put strain on basic services in the areas where they are being hosted. The international community is supporting basic services like sending children to school and accessing health services. At the end of April, the EU and UN will co-chair the Brussel II conference to promote regional stability and mobilise support for Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities.

Todays conference is taking place at a critical juncture for Lebanon. Exactly one month from now, the Lebanese will go to the polls for the first time in nearly a decade, Steiner said. I encourage the incoming government to sustain this momentum of reform and progress that brought us together today and to make todays plans an integral part of the key priorities that will guide its work.
Votre Excellence Monsieur Saad Hariri, Premier Ministre du Liban,

Votre Excellence Monsieur Jean-Yves Le Drian, Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres de la France

Excellences,

Mesdames et Messieurs

Il me fait grand plaisir detre ici parmi vous aujourdhui comme representant personnel du Secretaire General de lONU. Comme vous le savez, Monsieur Guterres est un grand ami du Liban, pour lequel il a toujours oeuvre pour le maintien de sa stabilite.

It has only been four brief months since we last convened in Paris to express our collective support to the security, stability and territorial integrity of Lebanon. At that time, the International Support Group underscored its commitment to Lebanons political and economic stability, its security and sovereignty, as well as to the strengthening of its state institutions. The International Support Group laid out an ambitious roadmap to galvanize international assistance to support the stability of Lebanon. Just a few weeks ago, the Rome II conference confirmed support from the international community for Lebanons security forces and supported conducive conditions for todays CEDRE conference.

Please allow me to set out three key points:

1. Todays conference is taking place at a critical juncture for Lebanon. Exactly one month from now, the Lebanese will go to the polls for the first time in nearly a decade. Lebanons 6 May parliamentary elections mark a critical step towards stronger governance and a stronger functioning of state institutions. I encourage the incoming government to sustain this momentum of reform and progress that brought us together today and to make todays plans an integral part of the key priorities that will guide its work. Todays meeting is not the culmination. It is the starting point of a process and partnership between Lebanon and the international community to revitalize Lebanons economy. The success of this process will depend on the incoming Governments continued commitment to implement this economic reform agenda.

2. The Capital Investment Plan, along with the economic vision of Lebanon, presents an ambitious agenda to put the country firmly back on the path of economic growth and create employment opportunities  for Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees alike. For this aspirational plan to succeed, investment and reforms must go hand-in-hand. And timely implementation will be critical for the investments to have their desired impact on the economy.

To ensure timely implementation  and as part of a partnership - a strong and transparent follow-up mechanism will be crucial. A mechanism that will allow for transparency and serve as a type of compact where donor and government partners hold each other mutually accountable. At the Senior Official Meeting, the UN presented an initial concept for such a mechanism. We stand ready to continue working with the Government and international partners in defining and implementing it.

In addition, civil society must be given a meaningful platform to contribute towards the process and to strengthen the dialogue between the government and its population. Civil society can help in serving as a check to ensure this mutual accountability.

3. Finally, the objective of todays conference is part of one of the most remarkable global commitments of our time: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Indeed, achieving economic growth is not an end in itself, but it is part of a broader national vision for the sustainable development of Lebanon  its institutions and economy. A vision, where no one is left behind. A vision where the population is at the core, where the most vulnerable, children and youth can see and achieve a prosperous future. A vision that will help deliver trust of the people in their Government. To achieve this, it will be crucial that the Government fights corruption, ensures transparency and strengthens its accountability to the people.



Excellencies,

In a few weeks, the EU and UN will co-chair the Brussel II conference. Whereas todays conference is an important first step towards promoting economic stability, the Brussels II conference will aim at promoting regional stability. In addition, it will also be crucial to mobilise continued international support to address the needs of the most vulnerable, Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities alike. The two conferences thus are complementary and mutually reinforcing. I personally saw the importance of reaching these visions during my recent visit to Lebanon.

Allow me to conclude by echoing Secretary General Guterres words: To support the Lebanese unity and stability is to support the stability in the whole region and to contribute to diminish the dramatic stress in relation to peace that we are facing today in the world.

That, we can only achieve by working together. Only together can we preserve the stability of Lebanon in a region of instability and at times of great uncertainty.

I thank France and President Macron for hosting this important conference  and I want to ensure Prime Minister Hariri that United Nations and Secretary-General Guterres stands with Lebanon.

Thank you
Back in October 2014, Razan Alsous was looking for halloumi cheese in the fridge of her local grocery store in West Yorkshire. But she could not find the salty delicacy so evocative for her.

Halloumi is a staple food in Syria, Alsous, a 33 year-old refugee from Damascus, told UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. We mainly have it for breakfast, with bread and olives."

After failing to find the cheese, usually imported from Cyprus, Alsous had her lightbulb moment. It was then that the click happened, Alsous said. "We are in Yorkshire where the milk is wonderful. Why not make halloumi here?

Today, Alsous heads the Yorkshire Dama Cheese Company, a successful business producing halloumi in the heart of Yorkshire. Her dairy treats are now sold around the country.

When we came here, it was a matter of thriving. We had to prove ourselves, said Alsous, who sought asylum with her husband and three children in the UK at the end of 2012. They had lost their family business in an explosion in Damascus. We lost a lot in Syria, so there was no time to sit back and regret the past. As soon as I got my asylum accepted, I had to do something.

Finding paid employment is crucial for refugees, offering them dignity and a path to independence. It also allows them to integrate swiftly into their new society and start making a contribution.

"We are in Yorkshire where the milk is wonderful. Why not make halloumi here?

Many refugees face significant hurdles in finding work. First, they must master the language which without targeted, dedicated support, takes time. Then they need their qualifications to be recognised or to have access to new training opportunities.

Any employers keen to hire refugees must be able to find them, understand their backgrounds and training needs, and be assured that hiring them is in line with regulations. In all of these areas, there are gaps to be filled by a combination of government support and targeted assistance from non-government organizations and private companies.

Alsous project was brought to life thanks to a GBP2,500 (US$3,500) government-backed loan given to her by the West Yorkshire Enterprise Agency, an initiative supporting start-up businesses in the area.

She started producing halloumi in a small, rented shop in Halifax, West Yorkshire. I had never produced cheese before, I was a pharmacist in Syria, Alsous said. I used an online recipe and bought second-hand catering equipment.

There were a lot of challenges operating in a foreign environment. But the local community showed real support. When people knew I was coming from another country and establishing a business, they encouraged me more and more, she said. They were happy that I was bringing in something new, something different.

Alsous business grew steadily; she started producing five types of halloumi including new flavors like chili, rosemary and smoked. She could not call her cheese Halloumi as the cheese is protected as a designated Cypriot product. I thought, why not give it a British name and call it 'Squeaky as most people in the UK know Halloumi as 'squeaky cheese', she said.

By 2016, Yorkshire Damas Squeaky Cheese was distributed around Yorkshire and recognised for its taste.

She was bringing great cheese and showing us that you can start with nothing and make something out of it, said Helen Bradley, Alsous assistant manager. Shes a real inspiration.

Princess Anne visits the Yorkshire Dama Cheese company to open the new factory in January 2017.  Yorkshire Dama Cheese Ltd

Bradley joined Alsous in January 2017 after she moved her production operation to a bigger facility employing seven workers, including some refugees. Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, inaugurated the new factory last year in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire. Alsous proudly hangs a picture from that day in her office.

It felt good to be recognised for the hard work I had put into this.

It felt good to be recognised for the hard work I had put into this, she said.

Squeaky Cheese has won 17 food awards in less than three years, including best cheese in Yorkshire two years in succession.

Alsous has also started producing spreadable yoghourt, known in the Middle East as "labneh." Her products are sold in farmers markets and deli shops in Yorkshire, Scotland and Cornwall. She plans to expand her UK distribution and start exporting to other countries.

Alsous stressed that the support she had received in Yorkshire helped her to succeed. The UK has given her a lifeline and a home, and shes grateful for both.

In my companys name, I included my homeland  that is Dama, for Damascus  but I now count this as my home. So when people ask me where I am from, I say, I am from Yorkshire'."
Azerbaijan seeks Indian help to set up phrama JVs

Baku, Apr 6 (UNI) The Central Asian republic of Azerbaijan has invited experts from India to set up joint ventures for production of pharmaceuticals and medical products in its Special Economic Zones and is seeking cooperation in the field of agriculture and education.

"India is interested in the development of infrastructure, business and education. Azerbaijan has invited experts from India to create joint enterprises and produce medicines, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said after talks with Azeri leaders.

She added that every year 20 Azerbaijani students receive technical internship in India.
CALGARY, Alberta, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Snow Eagle Resources Ltd. (Snow Eagle) (NEX:SEG.H) and CannaTest Photonics Ltd. (CannaTest) (collectively the Companies) previously announced their intentions to amalgamate and be called FluroTech Ltd. (FluroTech), which will constitute Snow Eagles qualifying transaction. Upon completion of the qualifying transaction, the shares of the resulting issuer will trade under the symbol "TSX-V.TEST".



The companies are pleased to announce they have received the third installment of the comment letters from the TSX-V on April 4th, leading them to expect the approval process will be completed in late May, with shares trading shortly thereafter.

The timing of the listing of FluroTechs shares will now likely coincide with the roll out of the marketing and branding of FluroTech, commencing with the launch of the website containing FluroTech corporate information and introducing the CompleTest brand.

Described below are the product categories and their development status:

Testing Devices

Portable Testing Device  Development of the device is complete and prototypes are being manufactured for use in field trials with Licensed Producers (LP). Field trials are expected to begin the week of April 16th.

Desktop Testing Device  Hardware in the desktop testing device which is similar to the portable device and has been completed. The mold for the device shell is currently being tested, with delivery of the first production shells expected in May. These first production devices will be utilized in field trials thereafter.

Roadside Testing Device  Preliminary design of the roadside testing device is underway with development scheduled to commence mid-April expecting completion this summer.

Testing Kits

Heavy metal test kits  The final version of the heavy metals test kits, which includes testing for cadmium, lead and mercury, are ready for the first round of external field trials with LPs and is scheduled to commence the week of April 16th.

THC & CBD test kits  Third party validation of the CBD reagents is complete, with validation of the THC reagent in progress. THC and CBD potency field testing is expected to commence in June, once final selection of the antibodies required for detection has been made.

Pesticides/Chemicals  Six of the Companys ten targeted pesticide tests are at various stages in the development cycle. All ten of the pesticide tests are expected to be launched in the fall of 2018.

Extraction Kits

The bill of materials for the extraction kits has been completed and transitioned to operations. The extraction process for potency and heavy metals testing will be finalized upon completing of the field trials. Our operations team in preparation of sales ramping up this summer is engaged in supplier negotiations as well as determining the final packaging of our branded test kits.

It is expected the Company will launch its marketing program to LPs with respect to direct sales of the portable and desktop testing devices for heavy metal and potency tests this summer.

CannaTest has filed its first Canadian patent and will be engaged in filing additional patents as required to ensure its proprietary technology is properly protected. This is an ongoing process that will continue for several years. CannaTest is excited to continue to expand its patent portfolio.

Danny Dalla-Longa, CEO of CannaTest, would like to take this opportunity to thank all shareholders of both CannaTest and Snow Eagle for their continued support and look forward to an exciting year as the merged Company operating as FluroTech brings the first of its CompleTest products to market this summer.

About CannaTest/FluroTech

CannaTest is a technology and marketing Company whose core business is focused on the commercialization of a new spectroscopy-based technology in the cannabis and hemp industries. CannaTest has exclusive ownership of the technology for the purpose of testing and identifying organic and inorganic compounds contained within biological samples derived from cannabis or hemp plants. Using the technology, CannaTest has developed a two-part solution comprising an instrument called CompleTest and consumable testing kits. CompleTest is a portable and customizable device that, upon the completion of its development, will assist producers in the cannabis and hemp industries in optimizing and tracking the quality and safety of their products.

Contact Information

CannaTest Photonics Ltd.

7 - 3535 Research Park Road NW

Calgary, AB T2L 2K8

Snow Eagle Resources Ltd.

436 Lands End Road

North Saanich, British Columbia V8L 5L9

Danny Dalla-Longa

403.680.0644

danny@dalcocap.com

David Tonken

778.426.3329

tonken@icrossroads.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to information about an issuers business, capital, or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuers prospective financial performance or financial position. The forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosure about the future performance of the Company.

The Company made certain material assumptions, including but not limited to prevailing market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties to develop the forward-looking information in this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, adverse market conditions and regulatory and other risks associated with the medical cannabis industry in general. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material risk factors and assumptions is not exhaustive.

The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this news release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation.
United Nations, Apr 6 (UNI) Expressing deep concern over the slow pace of the inter-Burundian dialogue and the lack of engagement by the Government, the United Nations Security Council has called on all stakeholders, in particular the authorities to commit to the dialogue and reach an agreement ahead of the 2020 elections.

Dialogue is the only viable process for a sustainable political settlement in Burundi, underscored the Security Council in a statement read-out by its President at a formal meeting Thursday afternoon.

In the statement, the Council also strongly condemned human rights violations committed in the country, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced disappearance, torture and harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and journalists.
In the early hours of March 23, 20 assailants rammed a truck into the main gate of a Coca-Cola Femsa distribution center in Mexico, hoping to breach the entrance and burn the center to the ground. Forces from Mexicos National Gendarmerie intervened in time to prevent the facility, located in Ciudad Altamirano, from being destroyed, but 19 of the attackers still managed to escape. The attack was the second in three days against the distribution center, which had only just reopened on March 21 after a two-month closure due to extortion threats. Coca-Cola Femsa subsequently announced it would shut down its operations in Ciudad Altamirano indefinitely because of what it described as the absence of law and order. Geographic Hurdles Ciudad Altamirano is a small town on the border between Guerrero and Michoacan, two of Mexicos most violent states. In 2017, Guerrero had one of the highest murder rates in Mexico. A mayor of a small town in the state was assassinated last December, and a candidate for mayor in another small town was gunned down a few days later. In November, Mexican soldiers were deployed in Guerrero to guarantee the safety of students and teachers at school, and in May, a vigilante force made up of 150 civilians was formed to protect homes from the same type of attacks Coca-Cola Femsa experienced last week. As for Michoacan, 1,200 Mexican soldiers deployed there a week ago to combat the Los Viagras cartel.

Some of the lawlessness in the region can be attributed to the fact that Guerrero state is outside of Mexicos core. Ciudad Altamirano sits in a valley in the Sierra Madre del Sur, a mountain range between Mexico City and the Pacific coast. In fact, most of Guerrero state is mountainous. It takes roughly five hours to drive from Mexico City to Ciudad Altamirano, even though they are only 175 miles (280 kilometers) apart. The center of Mexico is a plateau, and anywhere outside that core region is hard to control, even a state like Guerrero, which borders Mexico City.

(click to enlarge) But even considering the areas problems with violence, underdevelopment and poverty (Guerrero has one of the lowest incomes per household in all of Mexico), the attack against the Coca-Cola Femsa distribution center is a disturbing omen. In the past, the border region between Guerrero and Michoacan was fought over by two cartels: Guerreros Unidos (a splinter group of the Beltran Leyva Organization) and La Familia Michoacana. But recently, two more cartels have joined the fight: the upstart Jalisco New Generation cartel and the remnants of the Knights Templar cartel, of which the Los Viagras cartel is a splinter.

These groups are battling over Ciudad Altamirano because controlling the town is a key part of controlling Guerrero and Michoacan. Ciudad Altamirano is on the Guerrero side of the border and stands on the Cutzamala River, which feeds into the 479-mile Rio Balsas, south-central Mexicos dominant river. The town is also located at the intersection of two major highways, Federal Highway 51 and Federal Highway 134, making it an attractive location for companies like Coca-Cola Femsa. From Ciudad Altamirano, roads fan out in all directions. If one controls this intersection, it is a clear shot to Mexico City, the Pacific, or farther into Guerrero or Michoacan.

(click to enlarge) Many businesses that operate in the parts of Mexico that are largely outside of government control have to make certain compromises to ensure their continued safety and prosperity. Coca-Cola Femsas decision to withdraw from Ciudad Altamirano demonstrates that the company no longer sees these compromises as cost effective  and its unlikely to be the last to make that decision. As for the cartels, this marks a change in behavior. The presence of large, profitable companies in their areas of control is generally beneficial. Just as a national government can tax citizens and businesses, cartels can and do levy taxes of their own to boost their revenue and assert their authority over the areas they control. Pushing a business out of the territory, as happened in Ciudad Altamirano, could therefore mean one of three things, none of which bodes well for the future: the cartels may be rich enough that bribes offered by companies arent attractive anymore; the company may have refused to pay up and therefore had to be made an example of; or the cartels have more ambitious plans, and the presence of a multinational company complicates those plans. The Deeper Question It is unclear at this point exactly who attacked Coca-Cola Femsa and why. But what is clear is that Coca-Cola Femsa believed its operations were so threatened that it could no longer safely (or profitably) do business in the region, despite the fact that Mexican police were able to thwart the most recent attack before much damage could be done. Ciudad Altamirano is a strategic spot for anyone seeking to dominate regional transportation routes, and multiple cartels are not only disrupting the already variable rule of law in this part of Mexico but are also battling each other in a conflict that appears to be getting bloodier every week. Some may say this is making a mountain out of a molehill  we are, after all, talking about just two small attacks in a region rife with violence  but the increasing violence throughout this region is getting harder to dismiss as business as usual.

The deeper question is why this is happening at all. We could blame it on geography : Guerrero is a mountainous region thats poorly connected to the rest of the country. But this explanation is insufficient. The core territory of the United States is the Mississippi River, and if geography were perfectly determinative, Washington should have had (and should still have) great trouble asserting its writ past the Rocky Mountains. Say what you will about the differences between California and the East Coast, but the rule of law is consistent in both. Why, then, was the U.S. able to overcome its geographic challenges, while Mexico is still trapped by its?

(click to enlarge) To be honest, I dont yet have the answer, only the question. That is as good a place to start as any. In the meantime, a large multinational company is pulling out of south-central Mexico because competing cartels want to control that distribution network for their own purposes. And that means the next Mexican president, to be elected in July, will face a major test early in his or her presidency.
Estimados amigos,

Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia.

Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro.

Gonzalo Raffo de Lavalle

Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras.

Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada.

Helenio Herrera

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

Karl Marx

If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

Sun Tzu









We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.



Paulo Coelho
Reserve Marines Test Their Limits In Exercise Nordic Frost 18 by U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Samantha Schwoch April 5, 2018 In the mountainous terrain of northern Vermont, where temperatures drop below freezing and the snow covers the landscape, Marines were pushed to their limits as they battled against the extreme winter weather.



Marines with 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, pushed through frigid conditions as they participated in the two-week exercise Nordic Frost on Camp Ethan Allen during January 2018.

January 19, 2018 - Marines with Company E, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, breach and clear a building during exercise Nordic Frost at Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Jericho, VT. The exercise allowed Marines to demonstrate their ability to operate in a cold weather mountainous environment, conducting land navigation, marksmanship training, demolitions, call for fire training and other core competencies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Samantha Schwoch) The goal was to improve the units environmental capabilities by testing their squad and fire team level of defensive tactics in a winter environment.



These Marines were in the deserts of Morocco last year, said Capt. John A. Faucette, the weapons company commander of 1st Bn., 24th Marines, 4th MarDiv. This year, up here in northern Vermont, in very mountainous, snow covered terrain, they have done very well. We exposed the Marines to the cold weather by conducting live fire ranges, and various other exercises to include small unit leadership. They took the training that was given to them, wore gear properly, stayed warm, and were able to fight.



This cold environment adds additional training to the operations the Marines would otherwise not see in warmer weather conditions. Leadership at all levels must ensure that all training was conducted in a safe manner. The Marines conducted exercises such as land navigation, marksmanship training, demolitions, call-for-fire training and other core competencies.



Ultimately, our success was defined by safety, said Maj. Husein N. Yaghnam, the battalion operations officer with 1st Bn., 24th Marines, 4th MarDiv. Marines are only effective if they are safe and capable, and we have the health in the field to complete the mission. So my guidance, down to the company commanders, was to be taking care of the Marines.

January 19, 2018 - Marines with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, conduct medical evacuation techniques during the final exercise of Nordic Frost on Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Jericho, VT. The goal of Nordic Frost was to improve the units environmental capabilities by giving them an introduction to cold weather training and testing their squad and fire team level defensive proficiency in an austere environment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. Samantha Schwoch) Safety is accomplished by knowing how to properly operate in the weather. The Marines were able to safely train and stay warm after instruction on how to properly employ their cold weather gear.



Its was down in the negatives some nights, and the Marines had to stay out in the field, said Faucette. Utilizing the gear and the training that was given to them shows that we can still function and fight as a battalion, no matter what the conditions are. My company spent a couple nights out in the field without issue. The Marines continued to perform like they would if they were in a warm environment, or something that may have been a little more comfortable than the extreme cold.



Experiencing the cold weather training gave the Marines the confidence to trust that no matter what the conditions are, their equipment and gear, from weapons to warming layers, are effective in any clime and place. by U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Samantha Schwoch

Provided through DVIDS

Copyright 2018 The U.S. Marines | Comment on this article
MARTIN, Tenn.  The University of Tennessee at Martin departments of music and visual and theatre arts will host a spring fling event from 2-4:30 p.m., April 7, in the Fine Arts Building on the UT Martin main campus. All spring fling activities are free of charge and open to the public.Community members of all ages are invited to view a sampling of UT Martins visual and musical arts through a rotating schedule of performances. The days activities include musical selections from a variety of student ensembles, art exhibits, and both dance and theatrical performances. The UT Martin Improv Alliance will perform throughout the afternoon, and fine arts students and faculty will host workshops and demonstrations in pottery, weaving, painting and graphic design.Children are welcome and can participate in specially-designed childrens theatre activities. The UT Martin Vanguard Theatre will sponsor a childrens theatre this summer, and area residents can preview related activities during the spring fling event.For more information, contact Doug Cook, professor of theatre, at dcook@utm.edu or contact the UT Martin Department of Visual and Theatre Arts at 731-881-7400.###PHOTO ID: The collection of photos above shows David McBeth, professor of art, working in the campus pottery studio. Pottery will be one of several art forms on display during the department's Spring Fling event April 7.

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UTSA students Edgar Guajardo and Nestor De Hoyos along with OIT Assistant Vice Provost Vanessa Hammler Kenon are interviewed virtually by Ellucian.



(April 6, 2018)  Students from UTSA will join the Office of Information Technology (OIT) in California this weekend to show off technology that is used at UTSA to help students succeed.

Assistant Vice Provost Vanessa Hammler Kenon will be presenting the technology along with students Edgar Guajardo from the College of Business and Nestor De Hoyos from the College of Engineering at the Ellucian Live 2018 Degree Works Forum. The forum is scheduled on Sunday, April 8 in San Diego, Calif.

UTSA received the opportunity to participate in the forum with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS) grant. UTSAs presentation titled, If you build it, they will comeor will they? will explore the importance of marketing student success tools for adoption.

During the session, attendees will learn best practices for communication in technology implementation. The UTSA team will share how the university utilized marketing, focus groups and strategies for student and advisor buy-in to help increase the awareness and usage of student success technology tools.

Student success is key to UTSAs vision as San Antonios university of the future, and partnering with students to gain their perspectives is transforming the decision-making process. The iPASS grant has supported the implementation of several initiatives for technology tools directly aligned with UTSA President Taylor Eighmys Initiative on Student Success. These initiatives include Degree Works, the Education Advisory Boards Student Success Collaborative Campus, UTSA Guide, the UTSA Mobile App, the recent Academic Advising website redesign, and the upcoming CIVITAS College Scheduler.

Students collaborating on projects and giving our feedback is most important at the university because students get to share their thoughts on all tools that the university has to offer, said De Hoyos. The university will know what the students like and do not like, work from there and be able to provide a better service.

UTSA's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation iPASS grant project, a student success initiative, built a marketing plan to help advisors relaunch Degree Works, the degree-auditing tool. As a result of the project, adoption rates increased by approximately 70 percent within 12 months of the relaunch.

Collaboration between students, faculty and staff has been a key component of the success at UTSA. Guajardo has served on the iPASS committee and been involved in providing feedback on core student technology tools before rollout.

I believe student collaboration on projects is important because students can tell you what they want and need from a new project that will directly affect them, Guajardo said. They can give feedback immediately or before the new project launches so the university knows if it is heading in the right direction as the project develops.

The Ellucian live event will also showcase videos produced by OIT to support the relaunch of Degree Works at UTSA.

I hope that my personal experience shared at the Degree Works forum is helpful for people and that the information that they walk away with can be applied to their field of work, De Hoyos said. I am very happy, excited and thankful for this opportunity, and I hope to represent UTSA the best way I can."
Retired UW Researcher Contributes to States 100 Most Significant Sites, Buildings Website

The Wyoming Territorial Prison is among five Laramie sites listed in Wyomings 100 most significant historical buildings and sites. Mary Humstone, a retired UW research scientist in American studies, compiled the list for Archipedia, a website created by the Society of Architectural Historians. (Mary Humstone Photo)

When she was a research scientist in American studies at the University of Wyoming, Mary Humstone says she spent a lot of time at Sunrise Mine, leading field research at the iron ore mine and company town operated from 1898-1980.

So, it is no surprise that the Platte County site is her favorite of the 100 most significant state historical buildings and sites included on a new website called SAH Archipedia, a scholarly project of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH). The website includes histories, photographs and maps for more than 3,600 structures in 1,490 cities in all 50 states.

Humstone, who retired from UW in 2014, was the editor for the Wyoming section of the website, which includes UW, the Wyoming Territorial Prison, Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park and the Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow.

It is a place I have visited often, Humstone says of Sunrise Mine. It had one of the early YMCAs, which was built in the early 1900s. At its peak, Sunrise Mine had 500-600 people. Now, its a ghost town.

She chose the 100 and organized all of the contributors who wrote the individual entries, and she wrote many of them herself, says Anthony Denzer, chair of the UW Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering.

Humstone says the first 50 Wyoming sites have been on the website for a couple of years, but that it could be better publicized and used as a great travel tool.

Each entry has a written history, which includes when the building or site was constructed; the name of the architect(s); architectural style; and materials used. Additionally, each entry includes photos and Google map location. Structures built in the 1920s head the list with 25, followed by 22 in the 1910s and 21 during the 1900s. Humstone says she had 14 contributing writers help compile the information.

I love to research and write. It was really fun to delve into the history of these places, Humstone says. I had been to a lot of them, but I didnt know who built them; how they were built; and their significance. I feel like I learned a lot.

While at UW, Humstone taught architectural history and historic preservation courses, and field classes around the state. She had worked on the Archipedia website for Wyomings section since 2014, and it took SAH nearly a year to load all of the historical site information onto its website.

However, her work on the project dates back to the 1980s, when SAH originally planned a similar project in book form. Humstone successfully applied for and was chosen to compile the Wyoming entries. During the process, SAH ran out of funding and had to put the book project on hold. When the project was revived in 2014, SAH decided to publish the information online.

Humstone again applied for the Wyoming work and was selected because she had compiled so much previous information on the states historic sites for the book project.

Yellowstone National Parks Old Faithful Inn is among historic hotels listed in Wyomings 100 most significant historical buildings and sites. (Richard Collier, Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources Photo)

Paring the list down to 100 historical buildings and sites was not easy, she says, admitting she started with nearly 600 places when working on the book.

A big factor was visibility, she explains, regarding how the list was eventually cut to 100. Ideally, these would be buildings people could visit or view from the public right-of-way.

Iconic Yellowstone National Park leads the list with the most buildings or sites, with eight. Casper, Cheyenne and F.E. Warren Air Force Base follow with seven each. Jackson, Jay Em and Laramie each have five.

In addition to UW and the territorial prison, other Laramie buildings listed include the Centennial Complex on the UW campus; Laramies west side neighborhood; and Ivinson Mansion. Ames Monument, located approximately 20 miles east of Laramie, also made the cut.

Some peculiar oddities include Fossil Cabin in Medicine Bow and the Piedmont charcoal kilns in southwestern Wyoming.

There are a lot of historic hotels in Wyoming. I feel these are really interesting, Humstone says. People can actually stay in these places.

In addition to Old Faithful Inn and the Virginian, she names the Sheridan Inn, Hotel Wolf in Saratoga and Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

I think its a great tool for anyone researching historic buildings in Wyoming, Humstone says.

The full list of Wyoming buildings and sites is here.
Commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Jeju Massacre in Seoul, S. Korea, on April 3, 2018. (ANSA)

Pope Francis hopes that the 70th anniversary of the massacre will be an occasion to promote healing and reconciliation.

By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis has sent a message of healing and reconciliation to Koreans commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Jeju Uprising and the massacres that followed that resulted in the deaths of more than 10,000 civilians.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, sent a message on behalf of Pope Francis to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Korea (CBCK), saying that the Holy Father hopes the commemoration will be an occasion to promote healing and reconciliation.

Hundreds of people gathered on April 3 in the South Korean capital of Seoul to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the rebellion in the island of Jeju.

In the message posted on the CBCK website, Card. Parolin said the Pope also hopes that through this event, all men and women will be willing to invest in building a world based on brotherly solidarity and peace.

While entrusting the Korean people to the intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace, the Pope assured them of his prayers that they may persevere in hope.

The massacre

After the U.S. and Soviet had divided the Korea peninsula at the 38th parallel in the wake of the Japanese surrender in 1945, a United Nations ruling in 1947 called for a general election on the entire peninsula. The Soviet refused to comply, but the U.S.-led South went ahead with elections.

Fearing a permanent partition of the Korean peninsula, protesting communist guerrilla fighters in Jeju attacked local police and rightist paramilitary groups. The insurgency and the brutal suppression by the U.S.-backed South Korean security forces from April 3, 1948 to May 1949 killed between 14,000 and 30,000 people.

For decades, the South Korean government covered up the mass killings by security forces, until the 1990s.

Korean Church commemorates

A CBCK official said it was extraordinary for Pope Francis to send a message for an issue that the local Church was commemorating.

A Special Committee for the Jeju April 3 Uprising by Cheju Diocese and CBCK committees for justice and peace and reconciliation of Korean peoples jointly announced the 'Jeju April 3 Uprising Special Commemoration Week' from April 1 to 7.

As part of the week, the CBCK conducted a commemoration Mass at Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral celebrated by CBCK president Archbishop Hyginus Kim Hee-joong of Kwangju.

Bishops' Easter message recalls Jeju

Earlier, in an Easter message the south Korean bishops denounced the brutality of security forces on Jeju residents, saying covering up and hiding the truth about the massacre is to tolerate and sympathize with injustice and violence.

They said what happened in Jeju was not a local event but a national catastrophe. The suffering of the residents of Jeju was also the suffering and pain of the whole nation.

However, pointing to Easter, the bishops drew hope for all. They said that God's death and despair are transformed by God into life and hope. They hoped that the 70th anniversary of Jeju Uprising no longer be a symbol of despair and suffering but rather a symbol of healing, life, and hope.

Pope eying Korea

Pope Francis has been closely following developments in the Korean peninsula. He visited South Korea, 13-18 August 2014, on the occasion of the 6th Asian Youth Day. On the final day, he dedicated his Mass in Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral to reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. He urged all Koreans to reject a "mindset of suspici Mass ion and confrontation" and find new paths to build peace.

More recently, his appointment of Archbishop Alfred Xuereb on February 26 as apostolic nuncio to Korea, is seen as an encouragement to reconcilitation and warming relations between the two Koreas.


Gosh time flies! It's hard to believe that the thought of starting a blog 5 years ago has brought me to where I am today. This month Vino Travels celebrates its 5 year anniversary. I started this blog as an idea to encourage myself to learn more about Italian wine weekly by doing researching and sharing the gained knowledge with my readers. I never thought it would have taken me on the long journey it has.





I've met so many great folks in the industry mostly online, but also in person via events that I have attended. My greatest accomplishment was becoming certified as an Italian Wine Specialist with the North American Sommelier Association. I've made blogger friends all around the world having the ability to be able to meet some of them in person. I've been fortunate to have visited Italy by invitation on a couple of occasions to dig into the wine regions, meet winemakers and tour the facilities with more offerings recently, but unfortunately my 2 little bundles of joy that I've had over the past couple years have kept me from doing so. It's only a moment in time and I know I'll be able to get back over there soon and be able to share some of those personal explorations with you soon enough.

My reasons for the recent slow down on blog, but all worth it, dont you think?! I wanted to thank all my readers for the support in following my journey as I further explore my passion for Italian wine. There is always more to learn, especially in the world of wine. I highly encourage you to reach out to me as I love to hear from readers whether it's to share your thoughts on my blogs, what you'd like to see more of or just tell me a little about yourself as I love to hear all about everyone's passion for all things Italian or wine related. I wish I heard from my readers more.





Here's to tasting many more great Italian wines, sharing more stores and another great 5+ years. Cin cin!





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Chaplin's family attend his funeral. His death at 88 on Christmas Day, 1977 led to a service at home with the burial in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey, near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. (Photo: Central Press/Getty Images)

Charlie Chaplin's body was stolen from a cemetery in Switzerland in 1978 and his widow held to ransom for its return.

Charlie Chaplin's stolen coffin which was found after being missing for 11 weeks following the arrest of two car mechanics in Lausanne in 1978. The pair were charged with attempted extortion and disturbing the dead. (Photo: Central Press/Getty Images)

Police at the desecrated grave of Charlie Chaplin in the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, March 1978. (Photo: Getty Images)

A farmer was surprised by the 'illustrious' invasion on his land. (Photo: Getty Images)

A man pointing to the spot where Chaplin's coffin was found. (Photo: Getty Images)

In one of historys most famous cases of body-snatching, two men steal the corpse of the revered film actor Sir Charles Chaplin from a cemetery in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey, located in the hills above Lake Geneva, near Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 2, 1978.A comic actor who was perhaps most famous for his alter ego, the Little Tramp, Chaplin was also a respected filmmaker whose career spanned Hollywoods silent film era and the momentous transition to talkies in the late 1920s. Chaplin died on Christmas Day in 1977, at the age of 88. Two months later, his body was stolen from the Swiss cemetery, sparking a police investigation and a hunt for the culprits.After Chaplins widow, Oona, received a ransom demand of some $600,000, police began monitoring her phone and watching 200 phone kiosks in the region. Oona had refused to pay the ransom, saying that her husband would have thought the demand ridiculous. The callers later made threats against her two youngest children. Oona Chaplin was Charlies fourth wife (after Mildred Harris, Lita Grey and Paulette Goddard) and the daughter of the playwright Eugene ONeill. She and Chaplin were married in 1943, when she was 18 and he was 54; they had eight children together. The family had settled in Switzerland in 1952 after the controversial Chaplinwhom his enemies accused of being a Communist sympathizerlearned he would be denied a reentry visa to the United States en route to the London premiere of his film Limelight.After a five-week investigation, police arrested two auto mechanicsRoman Wardas, of Poland, and Gantscho Ganev, of Bulgariawho on May 17 led them to Chaplins body, which they had buried in a cornfield about one mile from the Chaplin familys home in Corsier. That December, Wardas and Ganev were convicted of grave robbing and attempted extortion. Political refugees from Eastern Europe, Wardas and Ganev apparently stole Chaplins body in an attempt to solve their financial difficulties. Wardas, identified as the mastermind of the plot, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years of hard labor. As he told it, he was inspired by a similar crime that he had read about in an Italian newspaper. Ganev was given an 18-month suspended sentence, as he was believed to have limited responsibility for the crime. As for Chaplin, his family reburied his body in a concrete grave to prevent future theft attempts.(via history.com
Illegal migrants at a naval base in Tripoli on Mar 31, 2018, after they were rescued off Libya's coast. (AFP/MAHMUD TURKIA)

Leonard Doyle, director of media and communication at the UN International Organisation for Migration, said that Facebook and WhatsApp have become the media of choice for people smugglers in the Middle East and Africa to advertise their services and make arrangements with migrants.

But many of those groups abuse migrants, taking travellers hostage and beating them to demand ransoms from their families, he said.

As it now blocks violent militant groups like Islamic State from promoting itself on Facebook pages, Facebook should police people smugglers doing the same thing, Doyle said in an online discussion hosted by Refugees Deeply, a migration-focused media group.

"They have turbocharged the access to smugglers," he said. "Big tech companies have a huge responsibility that they are not living up to."

Smugglers use all kinds of social media and messaging applications to communicate, but Facebook's pages, private groups and the Facebook Live video app, as well as WhatsApp, are by far the most popular, according to experts.

Leonard noted that people searching for child pornography on social media can get warnings that what they are doing is illegal.

Facebook and others need to do the same to help stem migration abuses, Doyle said.

Facebook especially needs to help crack down on the extortion taking place, with West Africans the leading targets. Smugglers kidnap migrants, torture them and use social media to send pictures and video to families to demand money.

"We cannot continue to allow people to be tortured, Doyle said.

He said that Facebook has largely ignored his overtures, putting him in contact with low-level officials who do little to help.

"They say its hard, but they don't really try," he said. "The motivation of the big tech companies is to get customers ... There's a kind of race for market domination in the developing world."
A view of the central city of Danang. Hanoi and the central coastal city of Danang are among the top three charming cities for young Japanese visitors in recent years. Photo: tinmoitruong.vn

Nearly 600,000 Japanese visited Vietnam last year, 7.8 per cent more than in 2016.

The 1,000-year-old capital welcomed 290,000 of them while Danang, home to the UNESCO-recognised world heritage site of Hoi An, received 177,000, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

The Japanese ambassador to Vietnam, Umeda Kunio, said an online survey of Japanese youngsters travel preferences found them saying Hanoi and Da Nang have piqued their curiosity with their old culture, centuries-old heritages and world-renowned landmarks.

Japan is the third largest market for Vietnams tourism sector behind China and South Korea, and the country is hopeful of receiving one million Japanese visitors this year.
LG halted production for 14 hours after the fire. Source: Yonhapnews

A fire broke out at the wastewater treatment facility of LG Display's complex located in Paju, Gyeonggi on Wednesday. No one was seriously injured, but nine workers were hospitalised. The fire broke out at 2:54 PM and was completely extinguished some four and a half hours later.

LG Display Co. said that on Thursday its production line located north of Seoul was partially shut down for 14 hours due to the fire. The company said the production line of OLED and LCD panels was partially shut down as of 6:30 PM (local time) and was resumed at 9:00 AM on Thursday.

The display maker said the production line initially operated normally as the fire broke out at a separate part of the plant, but it later decided to stop operations for safety reasons as the fire was not extinguished immediately. The company said it has yet to determine the damage caused by the halt.

LG Display has nine assembly facilities in Gyeonggi, Gyeongsang (South Korea), and seven manufacturing facilities in China, Poland, and Mexico.

Last December, an LG Display factory was inaugurated in Haiphong city with the total investment of $1.59 billion on an area of 52.5-hectares. The facility produces OLED displays for mobile devices with the capacity of eight million products and 100,000 OLED TVs a month.

LG Display employs about 50,000 people over the world.
A store of Lotte in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

Hotel Lotte Co., a hotel and duty-free operator of Lotte, said the operating profit of its duty-free unit plummeted to a record low in 2017 amid a diplomatic row between the Republic of Korea (RoK) and China over a US missile defence system.

Lotte Duty Free's operating income was 2.5 billion won (2.4 million USD) in 2017, with sales reaching 5.45 trillion won. The weak bottom line was widely forecast as the retailer has been suffering from China's apparent retaliation over the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery here.

The company said its profitability is expected to improve as it moves to stabilise its businesses at home and abroad, adding that it will focus on strengthening the competitiveness of its duty-free stores in Seoul after it recently began the process to end its concession deal at Incheon International Airport  a main gateway to the RoK.

The retailer aims to expand its global reaches and diversify its customer portfolio, which had been heavily reliant on Chinese tourists. Sales from its overseas outlets came to 140 billion won in 2017, up 45 percent annually.
The overload at Tan Son Nhat Airport remains a concern for local authorities

Overloaded airports become a major concern

According to a representative of Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM), north-south routes in Vietnam remains one of the worlds most crowded airlines. This route is being exploited by three domestic airline companies, including Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, and Jetstar Pacific.

There are 700 flights onthe north-south route every day. In Tan Son Nhat Airport, Vietnams largest international destination, the number of passengers exceeds the airport's capacity by 32 million visitors.

The overload at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City remains a concern for the airport management board, especially during the Lunar New Year.

According to Tran Doan Mau, director of Southern Airport Authority, in the latest Lunar New Year, the number of passenger arrivals exceeded 4.14 million, up 25 per cent on-year, while take-offs and landings reached 26,288, up 20 per cent year-on-year.

In 2016, the overload at the countrys airports, especially at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, forced Vietnam Airlines to add 1,392 hours of flight, leading to an additional cost of VND188 billion ($8.3 million) for the airline.

Besides, the Hanoi Peoples Committee has also grown concerned about the overload at Noi Bai International Airport.

Hoang Trung Hai, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, affirmed, We need to develop more terminals to meet the capacity of 50-70 million visits. The number of arrivals at Noi Bai Airport has been increasing by 30-40 per cent year-on-year,

Private sector stepping up

The model of Phu Quoc International Airport

Over the past three years, various groups have been investing in aviation infrastructure, responding to the overwhelming unmet demand.

There are at least five aviation infrastructure projects running on private sector investment, including: Sun Groups Van Don International Airport;

Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV)s Danang International Airport;

The upgrading of Tan Son Nhat International Airport;

Cam Ranh International Terminal JSC (CRTC)s Cam Ranh International Airport and International Terminal;

Rang Dong JSCs Phan Thiet International Airport.

In late 2017, ACV proposed the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to invest VND1.91 trillion ($84.1 million) and VND2.3 trillion ($101.3 million) to upgrade Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports.

Accordingly, ACV will implement the VND680-billion ($30-million) first phase of upgrading Tan Son Nhat Airports runways and the VND1.23-trillion ($54.18-million) second phases escape lane.

At Noi Bai Airport, ACV will upgrade runways and skidways during a 16-month project.

Recently, Imex Pan Pacific Group (IPP) has proposed the Ministry of Transport to develop a runway, the international terminal T2, and an international airport in Kien Giang provinces Phu Quoc Island.

Specifically, IPP proposed building the 3,000-metre runway from VND2 trillion ($88.1 million). Additionally, IPP will co-operate with ACV to develop the VND7-trillion ($308.37-million) international terminal T2 with the capacity of 10 million visitors annually.

IPP will co-operate with international tourism companies to add 5-7 million arrivals per annum to Phu Quoc, said Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, chairman of IPP.

IPP also remains the largest investor in the VND3.73-trillion ($164.3-million) Cam Ranh Airport with the capacity of eight million arrivals per annum.
Giving first aid to victims in the fire. (Source: the Nation / VNA)

Hang said the fire occurred at about 2:30 on April 3 at Ratchethewri apartment building in Bangkok, Thailand, killing three people and injuring 60 others.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand immediately worked with local authorities to ask for verification and search for Vietnamese citizens, she stressed.

The three dead victims were identified as not Vietnamese, Hang said, adding that among the wounded were 13 Vietnamese citizens.

Right in the afternoon of April 3, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Nguyen Hai Bang visited and gave support to the Vietnamese injured victims who were being treated at local hospitals.

A number of victims had been discharged from hospitals by April 5 while the remainders are still undergoing treatment.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the embassy to keep a close watch on the case, get regular updates from local authorities and hospitals, and take necessary steps to protect Vietnamese citizens, she said.
Tran Phuong Binh and Phan Van Anh Vu worked together to cause a loss of $8.8 million to Dong A Bank

The investigation agency under the Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) has just announced the conclusions to transfer the case of intentionally violating regulations on lending at Dong A Bank (DAB) to the Supreme Peoples Procuracy of Vietnam to prosecute Tran Phuong Binh (former general director of Dong A Bank) and 20 others.

The agency also confirmed that Binhs violations involved Phan Van Anh Vu (also known as Vu Nhom), who will be persecuted for deliberately disclosing state secrets, tax avoidance, and abusing his position and authority.

Using DABs money to purchasing DAB stocks

Newswire Tuoitre cited the investigation conclusion, which identifies numerous violations committed by Tran Phuong Binh. Accordingly, he forged documents over a payment of VND200 billion ($8.8 million) for Phan Van Anh Vu (former chairman of Bac Nam 79 Construction JSC) to buy DAB shares five years ago.

At the time, while Dong A Bank was in the red, Binh proposed to rise the banks charter capital from VND5 trillion ($220.3 million) to VND6 trillion ($264.3 million). At the end of 2013, Binh and Vu Nhom agreed that Vu would buy 60 million DAB shares with the total value of VND600 billion ($26.4 million).

Vu Nhom mortgaged his land holding in Danang city to collect VND400 billion ($17.6 million) from Dong A Bank, then used this amount to purchase DAB stocks. The remaining amount was paid by the bank as per Binhs instructions, after which Vu signed fake documents showing that he had already paid the VND200 billion ($8.8 million) to Dong A Bank.

Due to the unsuccessful raising of charter capital, in April 2014, Binh directed the bank to return the VND600 billion ($26.4 million) to Vu Nhom. Vu said that he would pay back the VND200 billion ($8.8 million) acquired by falsified documents to Dong A Bank when he sold the land in Danang.

Then Vu Nhom bought 50 million DAB shares from four shareholders at the price of VND500 billion ($220 million). In August 2015, Vu continued to purchase an additional 13 million DAB shares at the price of VND136 billion ($6 million) but he only paid VND46 billion ($2 million) of this.

The investigation conclusions stated that Binh caused the loss of VND200 billion ($8.8 million) for DAB, and Phan Van Anh Vu was complicit to his crimes. Thereby, Vu Nhom has to return VND200 billion ($8.8 million) to DAB, and relevant agencies will investigate and prosecute him later.

Vu Nhom got $13.4 million from Binh

According to newswire Tuoitre, Vu has changed his declaration. He said Binh used Vus name to buy DAB shares. He signed the false documents and purchased VND500 billion worth of shares in accordance with the directions of DABs former general.

Binh claimed that from October 2012 to March 2015, he exchanged Dong A Bank's money into $13.9 million, including $13.4 million of Vu Nhom, equivalent to VND284 billion, while the remaining $500,000 was spent to find partners.

Vu Nhom also confirmed to ask Binh to exchange $3.2 million. Additionally, Vu borrowed a total of $10.2 million from Binh, but he has yet to return it. The investigation agency said that Vu Nhom received $13.4 million from Binh, which he will need to pay back.

On January 4, MoPS took defendant Phan Van Anh Vu into custody after he was deported from Singapore. On January 2, 2018, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore announced that Phan Van Anh Vu was arrested on December 28, 2017 for committing offences under the Immigration Act.

Earlier on December 21, 2017, MoPS issued an arrest warrant because Vu was absent from his house at 82 Tran Quoc Toan Street, Hai Chau 1 Ward, Hai Chau district, Danang since December 20, 2017. He was accused of "deliberately disclosing state secrets; appropriating, trading in and/or destroying state secret documents," according to Article 263 of the Penal Code (1999).
The St. Clair Inn may have solved some of its parking issues.

Planet Clair LLC, which owns the inn, and its managing partner Jeff Katofsky have struck a deal with the city of St. Clair to lease lots 14 and 15 on the southeast corner of the citys empty 110-acre industrial park on Range Road, north of Yankee Road.

Under the agreement, the inn will pave the parcels and create 320 parking places for employees and possibly guests.

The only problem is the parking area is 2 1/2 miles away from the inn, which is currently being renovated.

Mayor Bill Cedar said the parking will be for employees. A shuttle will take them back and forth from the inn.

The 12-page lease agreement states the lot will provide parking for employees and patrons as part of the St. Clair Inn redevelopment project.

The lease runs 50 years.

The arrangement will accomplish two things: One, it addresses the parking issue that has been pointed out by the planning commission in their preliminary site plan approval, City Attorney Jim Downey said. Secondly, weve been approached by Planet Clair LLC since the March 19 meeting, where Planet Clair indicated they were having some issues with their financing arm. Theres some trepidation they have about continuing to finance a project where they dont have certainty in the parking.

Those two issues would be resolved by the proposed lease.

Council member Butch Kindsvater asked if the parcels were 10 or 5 acres per lot.

I looked at those earlier, and theyre a little over an acre apiece, said City Superintendent Mike Booth.

Council member Steve Ellery asked if using the property as a parking lot would change the usage from light industrial to something else.

Im not aware of a prohibition on that, council member Ellery, said Downey.

Mayor Bill Cedar wondered about the transferability of the lease.

The lease may not be changed except by approval of both parties in writing, said Downey, who proposed buttressing the non-transferability of the lease by specifically adding it to the section prohibiting subleasing.

The council concurred.

The lease will begin March 1, 2019.

How much is the city going to collect a year? asked council member Bill Klieman.

Sixteen mills, said Booth.

They would also be charged road and pension millages, officials said.

The city pays St. Clair Township 2 mills per year for the property, which was within township limits prior to the land transfer. Officials said the 2 mills would come out of the 16 mills, totaling about $1,600 per year.

The council approved the language in the lease agreement, 6-1, with Klieman voting against the motion.

Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
Colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are so happy to have this opportunity to once again address the Moscow Conference on International Security organised by the Russian Defence Ministry. We would like to welcome all of you taking part in this conference, including the high-ranking representatives from many countries, the heads of international organisations, members of the legislative authorities and civil society, as well as respected scientists and experts.

Over the past years, this conference has become an attractive venue for the professional exchange of opinions on key military and political topics. This open and constructive dialogue offers an opportunity to find mutually acceptable formulas based on a balance of interests of all the parties involved.

My Russian colleagues spoke about this yesterday. They provided a detailed presentation of our positions on the key questions concerning the global and regional agenda. For my part, I would like to share with you our views on the current problems in international affairs, because the global situation continued to deteriorate since our meeting last year, despite our efforts to prevent this.

The main reason for this, and this has become obvious to very many people, is the continued unilateral actions of the US-led Western countries. Many of these actions are openly destructive and can dangerously unbalance the global governance mechanisms.

Washington, London and other Western capitals have not drawn proper conclusions from the tragedies of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine. The latest US National Security Strategy and National Defence Strategy openly look at the world through the prism of military-political rivalry and the friend-foe or with-us-or-against-us logic.

We see increasing disregard for international law and multilateral organisations such as the UN. The US ability to honour its commitments is raising questions, especially in light of the attempts to dismantle major international agreements such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Irans nuclear program, the UN decisions on the Middle East settlement, the Paris declaration on climate change, as well as basic WTO principles. Taken together, this amounts to attempts to revise the system of international affairs.

Attempts have also been made to revise the Minsk Agreements on a settlement of the internal Ukrainian crisis the implementation of which Kiev is sabotaging. The Kiev governments patrons in the US and Europe prefer to turn a blind eye to these developments while encouraging Kievs party of war, which wants to resolve the problem of Donbass militarily.

Questionable zero sum games, which are actually negative sum games, are being enacted around the world. They continue to flirt with the terrorists and to divide them into bad and not very bad ones, which Russian speakers pointed out at this conference yesterday, providing examples of the situation in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. The impression is that the Americans are trying to maintain a situation of controlled chaos in this huge geopolitical region, hoping to use it to justify the open-ended US military presence in the region within the framework of their unilateral agenda.

Washingtons policy in the sphere of strategic stability is focused on undermining parity to ensure the US military superiority. Continued efforts are taken to deploy the US BMD system around the world. NATO capability and military activity near the Russian border are growing. We are particularly concerned over the US policy of lowering the nuclear threshold. It has been proposed to deal with the problems in cyberspace in keeping with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed in Washington. At the same time, our calls for launching a professional discussion on confidence-building measures and on combating threats in cyberspace have not evoked a positive response in Washington or Brussels.

Crude political provocations are staged to fuel confrontation and demonise Russia. The so-called Skripal case has been used as a contrived or orchestrated pretext to expel large groups of Russian diplomats not just from the US and Britain but also from many other states, which were pressured to do so. It has been a long time since we last saw such open mockery of international law, diplomatic ethics and elementary decency. I would like to say that, although we will continue to provide appropriate responses to these unfriendly actions, what we do want is to establish the truth. We demand that a substantive and responsible investigation be held in keeping with the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The legitimate questions we have asked on the basis of CWC will have to be answered, as the special session of the OPCWs Executive Council on April 4, which was initiated by Russia, has shown.

It is unacceptable when unsubstantiated accusations are presented without the provision of hard facts or the results of an honest investigation, as it happened with regard to the Salisbury case and in many other cases, from the US presidential election to the chemical weapons attacks in Syria and the referendum in Catalonia. It is only in the famous book by Lewis Carroll that the Queen could demand, Sentence first  verdict afterwards. But Lewis Carrolls book only looks like a fairy-tale for children while in fact it is a political satire. The discussion held in The Hague yesterday has shown that adult and self-respecting people do not believe in fairy-tales. We again urge our colleagues to deal with any problems within the framework of international law, honestly, and with hard facts. We are ready for this collective work, as President Vladimir Putin has reaffirmed at a news conference in Ankara.

Colleagues,

Growing confrontational trends and mutual mistrust are compounding strategic uncertainty, provoking an arms race and, most alarming, contributing to the militarisation of public mentality. Ultimately, they are eroding the post-WWII security architecture that is based on the primacy of the UN Charter.

This is greatly limiting our possibilities for cooperation, which we badly need if we want to effectively react to the common challenges and threats facing humankind, such as international terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking, WMD proliferation, as well as global climate change.

I hardly need to tell this representative audience about how much the global landscape has changed over the past 25 years or that it continues to change. New centres of economic and financial power and the related political influence are growing ever stronger and pursuing a foreign policy in their own national interests. Nobody can deny them this legitimate right. The developing countries have raised their voice to demand a fair implementation of their desires and aspirations.

It is in our common interests to add a constructive element to the objective but so far chaotic polycentric world order, so that it will facilitate the development of mutually beneficial cooperation and fruitful partnership among the key states. To attain this goal, we must abandon phobias and stereotypes, set aside our differences together with imperial and neo-colonial aspirations that are based on short-term considerations. We must learn to respect each others interests and find the strength to work together towards a safe and prosperous future of the humankind. In other words, we must make international relations more democratic. So far, our Western colleagues, who claim to be promoting democracy in all other countries, have avoided signing any multilateral documents that would stipulate stronger democracy in the global system of interstate relations.

In this context, Russia as an independent centre of political power will continue to promote a positive international agenda in the interests of global stability. We are not forcing anything on anyone, we are not claiming national exceptionalism, or, worse still, the right to act as we please. Our relations with our partners are based on international law, the central role of the UN, as well as on respect for the interests, traditions and distinctive character of all nations.

We have no need for confrontation or the arms race. However, Russia will protect its own interests, sovereignty and independence consistently and efficiently, using the instruments at its disposal. President Vladimir Putin spoke about this many times, including in the March 1 Address to the Federal Assembly. The West must at long last accept the fact, that developing a one-sided relationship with us does not pay, that they will not gain unilateral advantages at our expense, and that security in the Euro-Atlantic and Asia Pacific regions and across the rest of the world must be equal and indivisible.

We have been consistently advocating a broad dialogue on the priority questions, including the maintenance of all elements of strategic stability with due regard for the factors affecting it in the current conditions. The presidents of Russia and the US spoke about this during a telephone conversation on March 20. We hope that our leaders awareness of the importance of this topic will not be dampened by bureaucratic red tape or fall victim to domestic political intrigues.

Russia stands for working consistently to strengthen arms control and WMD non-proliferation regimes based on the principles of openness and predictability. Russia has completed the destruction of its chemical weapons, implemented its obligations under the New START treaty and is encouraging the US to work together to settle the problem of conversion of part of the US strategic delivery vehicles, as this is stipulated in the treaty. We have submitted to the Geneva Conference on Disarmament our proposals for drafting a convention for the suppression of chemical and biological terrorism, as well as a Russian-Chinese initiative on preventing the placement of weapons in outer space.

Russia will continue to contribute to a political and diplomatic settlement of many conflicts, in particular, in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the situation with the Korean Peninsula. We will continue to promote the sustainable development of partnership within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) through deeper Eurasian integration and we will help settle problems arising between our neighbours.

As President Putin said in his Address to the Federal Assembly, let us sit down at the negotiating table and devise together a new and relevant system of international security and sustainable development for human civilisation. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Collective Security Organisation (CSTO) and BRICS are contributing to our common movement towards this goal. The G20, where both the G7 and BRICS countries are represented, has solid potential in this sphere as well. Russia is ready for honest, open and equal cooperation based on and mutual respect with everyone who is sincerely interested in a common peaceful future and prosperity for the humankind.
Minister of Equality Visits Israel

The Minister for Equality, Samantha Sacramento MP, last week visited Israel with an all female delegation of business professionals from Gibraltar. The delegation was organised by Gibrael, the Gibraltar Israel Chamber of Commerce, with the aim of promoting business connections between Israel and Gibraltar.

Minister Sacramento was accompanied by Sabina Guillem, Head of the Department of Equality.

The delegation had an intense programme of events over a three day period in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa which included meetings, lectures, site visits and networking events with women who hold positions of leadership in different organisations.

The visit also included meetings with members of Parliament at the Knesset and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The delegation also had the opportunity to meet with the Deputy Mayor of Haifa, who had arranged to fly the Gibraltar flag from the City Hall. During this visit, the delegation also met with Gibraltarian Fleur Hassan Nahoum, City Council Leader of the Yerushamim Party.

Ayelet Mamo Shay, Chairwoman of Gibrael, commented: "The delegation was impressed by the technological innovations they saw in Israel and were inspired by the leading women entrepreneurs that they have met with, and no doubt these meetings will now form the basis for business cooperation between Gibraltar and Israel. This has been the 3rd business delegation we have taken to Israel in the space of one year and were honoured to have Minister Sacramento with us, who, together with leading business women from Gibraltar, will no doubt develop these new contacts into business opportunities.

The Minister for Equality, the Hon Minister Samantha Sacramento MP, said The trip has proved to be very informative and insightful on commercial innovations in Israel. The delegation, made up of professional businesswomen who work in Gibraltar found it very useful to meet with successful women who have reached high positions in different business sectors and politics. Raising the profile of successful women is important as is establishing professional networks.
Benny Hope, folks. Photo: FX

Spoilers for Atlantas Teddy Perkins ahead.

Teddy Perkins will likely go down as one of the wildest episodes of Atlanta  and television, in general  to ever air, leaving viewers with several unanswered questions. For starters: Who was that playing the titular character, a creepy rich recluse who lures Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) to his mansion under the pretenses of acquiring a piano? Vulture can confirm that the man underneath the chalky prosthetics, wig, drawn-on eyebrows, and fake teeth was none other than Donald Glover, in whiteface. We spoke to actor Derrick Haywood, who played Teddys wheelchair-bound (and equally disfigured) supposed brother, Benny Hope, about how the episode came together and his theories on Bennys true identity. Haywood also revealed that Glover went full method, remaining frighteningly in character on set.

How did you get this part?

It still blows my mind. I actually worked on season one, I had one line as a bartender. I got an email from my agent asking me if I was available to do this role. Believe it or not, a week later, they told me to come in for a fitting. The next day, we were shooting the scene.

Wow. Did you get a script or was it just a brief description of the role?

I got the sides for the role at 1.a.m the day before I filmed the first scene! It was a very difficult role. After watching the episode last night, if I had known the entire script, my approach to the character wouldve changed drastically. It was so challenging to the point that, in between setup and breakdown on set, I had to practice in the wheelchair because I had never been in one before. It was an amazing experience. How it even came about still astonishes me to this day.

You filmed all your scenes not knowing the full context of the episode?

Yup, I only knew my scenes. I think the idea was they were trying to keep certain aspects of the episode on hush. Initially, I had no idea that Teddy Perkins was actually played by Donald Glover. I was on set, and the director [Hiro Murai] called Teddy to come over and said, Lets see what Teddy thinks. Im like, Okay, who is this Teddy guy and why is his opinion so important? Because I had never heard of the guy before. Later, going through and watching, when I say this guy was in character the whole time on set  it was just amazing the commitment he brought to the character.

They called him Teddy on set?!

Yes! They were calling him Teddy, he acted as Teddy. There was no Donald on set whatsoever. I kid you not. Our engagement on season one compared to our engagement on this episode was drastically different. He was really Teddy Perkins on set.

Did the way he normally interacts with Lakeith change?

It was night and day. It was exactly what youd expect it to be if you saw a young African-American man and an older white male on set. The first time I filmed on Atlanta, [Donald] was in the room chatting with us. Just normal conversations between normal people. But this time, he was consistently walking around as Teddy, not Donald. He had security and everything! I remember when I Googled Teddy Perkins, a wrestler came up, but I didnt think it was this guy. Lakeith and Donald have some interaction, though, it was just minimal. It was nothing like season one.

I imagine it mustve creeped out the whole cast and crew to have him lurking around like that. Who would want to interact with him?

Before I even found out it was him, one of the assistants on set told me to go and talk to Teddy and ask him for some direction about Bennys mannerisms. So hes sitting on the couch and Im like, Uh, Teddy, how you doing? That conversation was quite weird. Again, I didnt know the guy. I was introduced to him the night before at the fitting, but I didnt know it was Donald. And obviously, he didnt want you to know.

He even spoke with that chilling, high-pitched voice?

Yes! The whole time! There was not an inkling of Donald Glover on that set. It was inspiring.

How was it acting opposite him in that final scene with the shooting?

By the time we shot that final scene, I kind of knew everything that was taking place. It was a number of takes. I would say we spent half the day on that one scene. It was a very early call time. We actually shot that scene before the scene in the basement. That other scene probably took an hour because we were pushing for time. But we spent the entire day doing different shots of that murder-suicide. Between all three characters, it was hundreds, probably. We spent a total of two or three days at this mansion in a suburb of Atlanta. We didnt have a lot of rehearsals, but in the down time, I had a conversation with Teddy about trying to grasp an older character and to also bring some of Teddys mannerisms into Bennys actions. I also really had to learn how to use that wheelchair, which I was struggling with.

You said Benny is supposed to be older. Were you told anything specific about who his character is?

I had no idea who Benny was whatsoever. Once I got the sides, I even did some research and couldnt find anything. But after watching last nights episode, I had a revelation: Wow, the entire episode is really about Benny. And its the first role where I didnt say anything [laughs]. The lines I had, I wrote down on a chalkboard. But my approach to the character wouldve been totally different had I known the depth of the episode.

What would you have done differently?

My process from a character development perspective wouldve been different. The backstory is most important, especially with a role like this where there is nothing to be said. The good thing is, [Hiro] was amazing. He told me that Benny was the brother of Teddy that had this disease and he was a musician just really trying to survive. Because there were some things that Teddy was doing that were unfair from a life perspective; Teddy was somewhat jealous of Benny and his talent and success. So [Hiro] gave direction based on that. Even working with Lakeith and Teddy, watching them interact in a scene before they put the camera on me inspired me to want to do a better job with that episode. Again, I didnt know it was going to be commercial-free. I didnt know it was going to be about Benny. Im amazed.

Do you still think Benny is just Teddys brother, or is there a deeper layer to his character were meant to read into?

Honestly, after seeing the episode, Im like: Is Teddy even a real person? Or he is a figment of Bennys imagination? I didnt know what was going on as I watched it. I thought they were brothers, like I was told. But as I watched it and saw the story about fathers that pushed their sons to be great even if they do it at the expense of the childs livelihood  honestly, its hard to explain. There was no doubt in my mind that this story came from somewhere deep. Im wowed by Donalds creativity. Obviously, he knows what the people want. And I was a little skeptical of how people would respond to it. Even when we were filming it, I wasnt sure how these scenes I was in were gonna play out.

Theres a theory that Benny is Teddys father whos been locked in the basement this whole time and there is no Benny. Teddy is Benny.

That makes a lot of sense. But what confuses me is when they show the footage of Benny playing the piano with his father standing there giving him direction. If thats Benny and thats his dad, I wouldnt have thought that Benny is actually the dad. And maybe thats because they sent me a T-shirt with a picture of the younger Benny on it.

Have you spoken with Donald for clarification?

Not yet. I want to. Itll be interesting to see Donald interviewed about it and pick his brain about why he decided to do this and what is the true story behind it.

What was the makeup and costuming process like for this role? Youre unrecognizable. It even looks like your lips were bleached or powdered.

They were. That was the worst makeup and costuming Ive ever experienced. I was so hot. Even under the mask of bandages that I had on, I had on this thick plastic to make my face look fuller. Then I had a wig on. So I had plastic sticking to my face because I was sweating. Donalds makeup was done before I even got to set, and I saw him coming out of the trailer assuming they had just touched him up like they would do me, thinking that was a real person that underwent surgery or something. The makeup team was so wonderful. In between takes, they had to take all this stuff off, put a fan on me, then put it all back on.

Did they explain why they wanted to lighten your lips?

They wanted me to look more like Teddy  more white  even my wrists. Any skin that showed, they wanted it to look similar to Teddys tone to symbolize that were brothers.

Lakeith shared a since-deleted Instagram photo of you between takes, saying that you never moved a muscle and it creeped him out. Were you stuck because of the amount of material on you?

The real issue is I had all of these blankets across my laps, and during the first take, the blanket got caught under the wheelchair. The tires were moving in rotation but the chair wasnt moving. When youre on set, you just keep going until the director says cut. I couldnt move. But I committed to Benny!

This interview has been edited and condensed.
Photo: FX

Presented without commercials, clocking in at 35 minutes, and packing in as much raw emotion and as many twists and turns as a feature-length thriller, Teddy Perkins is a gothic funhouse of an Atlanta episode, filled with warped mirrors reflecting different aspects of American and African-American experience, as well the preoccupations of the shows creator, Donald Glover. Its certainly the only episode of an American comedy series to end with a murder-suicide, and throughout the rest of its running time, it scrupulously observes (and one-ups) the now-established Atlanta stylistic MO, skating right along the edge of dreamlike or figurative action without quite crossing the line. By turns evoking What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Sunset Boulevard, Get Out, and the real-life stories of the Jacksons and Marvin Gaye, Teddy Perkins glides lightly over the possibility of being interpreted in any one way, and thats the source of its eeriness. The episode itself is like the mansion that serves as its principal set, a chamber of secrets and horrors with many rooms, doors, and passageways, but only one way in and out.

Lakeith Stanfields Darius, in some ways the gentlest and most reflective of the shows male leads, claims the spotlight here, driving to a mansion in a U-Haul truck to pick up a piano with kaleidoscopic keys. Dariuss odyssey introduces him to reclusive pop-star brothers, Teddy Perkins and Benny Hope. Teddy is played by Donald Glover in prosthetic whiteface, while Benny wears an elaborate mask disguise that evokes both the swathing of a Hollywood diva and the Invisible Mans false face. Stevie Wonder provides the episodes opening and closing soundtrack; near the end, his real-life blindness becomes a subject of conversation, treated as both physical fact and metaphor.

Darkness and illumination, blindness and seeing are woven throughout, befitting a story whose central character, Teddy, seems to view everything in binary, either/or terms, usually coming down on the side of an interpretation thats laughably, horribly wrong.

At one point he leads Darius into a room that he describes as a kind of museum of fatherhood, describing his own, terrifyingly controlling and abusive father (glimpsed briefly in an old 16mm home movie) as ultimately operating from a place of love, desiring only to produce excellence. Youre saying your father used to beat you so youd be good at piano, Darius says, politely but with an incredulous edge. To be good at life, Teddy corrects him, then elaborates: Great things come from great pain.

Theres a showbiz story being told here, and its personal. Teddy is an abused child all grown up, and he has internalized his fathers cruelty to the point where it has become a lens through which he views himself. Dariuss initial meeting with Teddy has, as its centerpiece, an enormous ostrich egg that Teddy says is also called an owls casket. Ostriches are native to Africa; the owl is a symbol of prophecy, learning, and higher wisdom in many cultures, and the pairing of that bird with the word casket implies a death of those values, a condition that Teddy, in his high-voiced, grinning obliviousness, seems to exemplify. The egg, of course, is fertility, but theres something singularly unnerving about making its emblem so gigantic here. The ostrich egg is cartoonishly oversized in a way that simultaneously confirms Teddy and Bennys immense artistic potential and turns it into something grotesque. (Darius nearly vomits at the sight and sound of the fluids gurgling out of the egg as Teddy sloshes around in it with his bare hand.) The perversion of this symbol of life connects with the stories Teddy tells about he and his brother having excellence beaten into them by their father (to be good at life), a character explicitly likened to Joe Jackson, who once told little Michael right before a concert that there were snipers up in the rafters who would shoot him dead if he missed a single step.

Theres another layer here, though, and its racial-political  or at least it could be; as I said up top, Glover traffics in analogies and symbols, but hes very open-ended in how he deploys them, going for plausible deniability so that he can just say, Oh, that egg is just an egg, etc. I dont think its an accident that the mansion where these two black men live resembles a plantation (as the house in Get Out did), or that Darius begins the story by ironically purchasing a cap with a confederate flag symbol and Southern Made and then defacing it with a red Sharpie so that it reads U Mad, or that Teddys face is whitened like Michael Jackson (a reaction that Jackson said was a result of vitiligo, while armchair psychologists attributed it to both racial self-loathing and an abused childs wish to obliterate any trace of his old self). I dont think its random, either, that when Teddy leads Darius into his shrine room, the father is white and looms over the two black men, one of whom (Teddy) is out of his mind with pretzel-logic adoration while the other (Darius) looks on with appalled amazement.

Theres an equation here of the abusive black father (who only wanted his children to succeed in the white mans country, and in a white-run industry) and the Great White Father of Uncle Sam, insisting that everything the country does, no matter how depraved, is ultimately for the good of its citizens, in the name of apple pie, motherhood, and self-improvement. The Invisible Man referenced in this episode is the title of a book by H.G. Wells, but its also one by Ralph Ellison. The former is science fiction, the latter a novel about a black man whose color renders him invisible to white culture. In Teddy Perkins, the black man whose face has become white gets shot by the brother whose face remains hidden  a character who is literally crippled and locked away in a basement, the place where (according to various colloquial expressions) we keep our crazy relatives. In the end, were left with a feeling of relief at having escaped this madhouse, if only for a moment, as well as a deep feeling of sadness that Darius was unable to save either man, and had to be content only with saving himself.
Greys Anatomy Hold Back the River Season 14 Episode 18 Editors Rating 2 stars * *  Previous Next Photo: Mitch Haaseth/ABC

Dang, Grey Sloan Memorial is a busy place! Thats not really news, but after One Day Like This slowed things down and focused on three doctors by using lengthy two-person scenes (come back to us, Scott Speedman!), the hectic pace and sheer number of story lines introduced in Hold Back the River is jarring. But so is life, I guess. Jarring and unpredictable.

How, for instance, is Webber to know that his sponsor Ollie (played by Mary Kay Place, who hasnt been back for a visit since season twos Superstition) would be brought in to the hospital after collapsing at an AA meeting? Or that she is in liver failure and has cardiomyopathy and is dying? Or that Ollie signed a DNR eight months ago? He only talks to the woman three times a week. Sheesh.

So, yes, Webber is upset. Ollie tries to explain that she wasnt sure how to sponsor Richard while she was dying and she didnt want to put that stress on him. Shes come to terms with everything  everything except leaving him. She wants to make sure hell be okay without her. Webber doesnt hear her at all, and instead enlists Maggie and Meredith to figure out any and all options she has. Ollie knows it is useless, Maggie and Meredith know it is useless. But Ollie warns them that losing your sponsor after being sober for so long can be really hard. They need to keep an eye on Richard. He needs to get a sponsor after she dies.

The girls are obviously worried about Richards sobriety, and with Catherine unable to get to Seattle, they feel the pressure of figuring out how to get him to come to terms with everything in a healthy way. Maggie has a heart-to-heart with her biological dad. Thanks to Jackson, she realizes that when her mother was dying, she acted the exact same way Richard is acting now. She wasnt thinking rationally, and she wasnt doing everything she could to save her mom for her mom  she was doing it for herself. Her mom just wanted to live out the end of her days in peace. Just like Ollie. Whew, boy, we need more Webber-Maggie one-on-ones. This is a lovely scene and it helps get Richard to where he needs to be to say good-bye to his friend.

He finds Amelia and together they join Ollie and have an AA meeting. Richard is scared to lose Ollie, the person hes spoken with most in his life, the keeper of his secrets. But by starting off their meeting by reciting the Serenity Prayer, Richard is signaling to Ollie that he finally knows this is a thing he cannot change. Her death is something he has to accept.

Its a story line that really works  plus, I needed some quality time with Richard Webber. But hey, want to talk about a story line that doesnt work at all?

Owen. Freaking Owen. We get it, dude. Youre angry that things in Germany did not work out the way you planned them. But give Teddy some time! She just found out that the man shes been in love with for most of her life arrived on her doorstep, declared his love, and had sex with her a mere 24 hours after he had sex with his ex-wife, who told him to go to Teddys doorstep and declare his love. That is a thing that needs some processing. But Owen doesnt process. Owen gets angry. Its all Hulk Smash up in this place.

He takes most of his anger out on interns (lets be real, Glasses always deserves it), until he gets involved in a case that proves to be a good outlet. Peggy and Dana, the couple who had a baby during the cyber attack, arrive in the ER after a car accident. Dana had gotten sick after her chemo treatment. Yes, she has breast cancer, but she swears her doctor is a miracle worker. She cant say enough good things about Dr. Hanson! Owen and Arizona should really look him up.

There is one small problem (well, a good problem, to a certain extent): When Owen and Arizona look at Danas scans, they see she doesnt have cancer at all  she probably never did. This leads Owen and Arizona  excuse me, Arizona and Otis Hunt  to go undercover at Dr. Hansons practice and get to the bottom of things. Okay, the undercover stuff is hilarious. I would watch The Adventures of Arizona and Otis Hunt any day.

After a very harrowing few minutes in which Arizona thinks she might actually have breast cancer because the scans that Dr. Hanson show AZ and her husband indicate as much, they do their own scans back at Grey Sloan. Its what we all suspected over the commercial break: Dr. Hanson is using fake scans to trick women into thinking they have breast cancer. He treats them for a sickness they do not have and makes money while looking like a miracle worker when they suddenly recover.

Now, here is where it lost me: Owen heads over to Dr. Hansons office to destroy the guy. Its dark and theres lots of shoving and Owen acts like hes going to inject Dr. Hanson with the chemo he put into so many healthy women. Is anyone buying this Owen Is Suddenly a Tough Guy thing? Yes, Owen is hunky and brave, but Ive never thought of him as a scary tough guy. If you want to intimidate, someone send in Meredith. Or Alex. Ooooh, or Bailey. Literally anyone else but Owen Hunt. Eventually, the police show up to arrest Dr. Hanson, as they should since what hes been doing is horrible. But, like, go home Owen, youre drunk.

Meanwhile, theres other major drama going on at the hospital: Amelia and Koracick finally perform their ultrasound-wave surgery on Noah with the laughing seizures. It is so difficult and scary  they say a lot of things about melting Noahs brain stem or turning his brain into stew, which, you know, isnt great  that Amelia is beside herself with worry. Not even a power-pose sesh with DeLuca (and Koracick) can help.

Noah wakes up after the surgery and it works perfectly. Unfortunately, since Noahs surgery was much more difficult than anticipated and Amelia and Koracick arent entirely sure how it worked, Amelia and Koracick arent going to perform the surgery on that Broadway-lovin, angel-voiced Kimmie. You see, Kimmies tumor is much more complicated than Noahs. They need more time to improve their method first.

This does not go over well with Alex, who, as we know, is extremely attached to Kimmie and promised her that shed get this surgery soon and be totally fine. He grabs Koracick and pushes him into the wall. Oh boy, this story line is headed in a very bad (read: sad) direction.

Can you handle a little more drama? Great! April is on her apology tour now that shes right with the Big Guy again. The tour contains a lovely scene between April and Jackson in which she informs her ex that shes okay, but things got really bad. She thanks him because even when she felt like God wasnt there, Jackson always was. Ah yes, another reminder of the wonderful chemistry between these two that will be NO MORE. Why, Greys, why?

Jackson isnt Aprils last stop though. Next, she finds Maggie and apologizes for how horrible she acted at game night. The two share some friendly jokes about sleeping with such shameful people: Maggie with a married guy, April with the intern  and Koracick  and that whole jumping her ex-husband in a closet thing the other day. On that note, April cheerily walks off, not realizing that Maggie and Jackson are dating. From the look on Maggies face, Jackson has a lot of explaining to do.

Laughter Is the Best Medicine, Except for Real Medicine

 Jokes on all of us: Thanks to Mouse David Bowie, Meredith and Jo discover that they dont need any polymer to create mini-livers. Suck on that, Cerone! The day is Mers!

 Praise be that Bailey and Ben finally get some sexiness in their story line. Bailey is over Ben treating her like she could die at any minute (gifting her a pillbox certainly isnt helping), so she calls Ben home for an emergency  an emergency in the bedroom. They are celebrating being alive by getting it on.

 Wait, am I the only one seriously into an April and Koracick pairing? Yes, hes supremely arrogant, but April was privy to his vulnerable side. And wasnt he a little charming with his, April, please, we had sex, call me Dr. Koracick thing?

 Oh, and DeLuca and Bello are moving in together because, okay, why not?

Sob Scale: 2/10

I wasnt kidding when I said I want more Webber-Maggie scenes. Watching them talk about Maggies mom got me a little misty-eyed.
Hayley Atwell in Howards End. Photo: Laurie Sparham/Starz Entertainment, LLC

My darling sister, it isnt going to be at all what was expected.

So writes a character in the new Howards End, a BBC mini-series adapted from E.M. Forsters novel by screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) and director Hettie Macdonald (Doctor Who), and airing over the next four Sundays on Starz. This is a subtly audacious way to kick off a fresh version of a beloved story, and in the end, the production mostly delivers.

The letter in question is written by Helen Schlegel (Philippa Coulthard) to her older sister Margaret (Hayley Atwell), letting her know that shes decided to break off her impulsive engagement to Paul Wilcox (Jonah Hauer-King), son of industrialist Henry Wilcox (Matthew Macfadyen). The Schlegels and the Wilcoxes met while vacationing in Germany, and while it seems as though the families trajectories will diverge after that, they remain intertwined thanks to Margaret becoming friends with Henrys ailing wife, Ruth (Julia Ormond), after the Wilcoxes take a flat in London not far from the Schlegels. Ruth impulsively wills the titular family estate to Margaret, believing that she will appreciate and care for it more diligently than her blood family.

The Basts enter the picture when young Leonard Bast (Joseph Quinn), a 20-year-old insurance clerk, attends a performance of Beethovens Fifth Symphony in the same row with Margaret, Helen, and their kid brother Tibby (Alex Lawther). Helen is overcome with emotion and bolts the instant the performance concludes, accidentally swiping Leonards umbrella, which of course necessitates Margaret contriving the circumstances of its return. Leonard lives in a tiny apartment with his girlfriend Jacky (Rosalind Eleazar). He feels responsibility toward her, yet also plainly resents her as uncouth, a drag on him generally, and beyond the kind of evolution he seeks for himself. (Forster seemed to treat Jacky mainly as a casualty of Edwardian-era colonial capitalism.) Leonards social aspirations and the Schegels do-gooder streak combine to produce a number of troublesome plot developments. The Wilcoxes provide further plot complications when Ruth dies (this is not really a spoiler, as Ormond plays the character as if shes on her last legs from frame one). Then Henry becomes smitten with Margaret, and she with him, and he has to decide whether he wants to welcome a half-German with revolutionary sympathies into his grieving moneybags family, and reveal that Ruth willed her the house and he never told her.

Like so much Forster, Howards End is hugely involving even though 90 percent of it consists of people talking in rooms and reading letters. Lonergan and Macdonald keep things moving along at an unhurried but steady clip, and make some of the necessary exposition more dynamic via that filmmakers trick of cutting between letters being read to others, those same letters being written, and present-tense visualizations of the events being described by the letter writer. Merchant Ivorys Forster adaptations are clear stylistic touchstones here, as is Martin Scorseses 1993 adaptation of Edith Whartons The Age of Innocence, which this mini-series quotes in a slow-motion sequence of Leonard Bast walking to work down gray London streets, just one black-suited, bowler-hatted drone among many. The actors are true to the characters but never duplicate anything that was done before. Quinn is particularly intriguing: His anxious, slightly resentful face indicates how much of Leonards desire for upward mobility is motivated by resentment. Atwell and Coulthard make the Schlegels inquisitive, smart, and socially engaged but also a bit tone-deaf in ways that didnt register quite as strongly in Merchant Ivorys classic 1992 film. Macfadyens Henry Wilcox is considerably more unlikable than Anthony Hopkinss version, so much so that he borders on insufferable in certain scenes. Hes altogether much more of an arrogant lecturer type, interrupting and talking over women, and treating his money as a sort of de facto royal cloak shielding him from censure or even argument. Only his sad eyes make him sympathetic.

Incredibly, rather than render the Henry-Margaret love story unbelievable or unsympathetic, these changes complicate it in ways that are enhanced by small but striking embellishments to the script. Issues of social class run throughout Forsters novel  theres much discussion of social mobility, the responsibility of the fortunate toward the less fortunate, the morality of the redistribution of wealth, and the need for culture to be democratically accessible, and at various points in the story, accusations of condescension, exploitation, indifference, and cruelty get tossed around when one character mistreats or runs afoul of another  but there are no characters of color in the novel, which means that class gets examined without the complication of race. This is not a knock on Forster, nor should it be considered a failing. Its merely characteristic of how white English novelists, even sensitive ones, told their stories at that time, and the Merchant Ivory adaptation imported that lens to their film version. The latest edition takes two minor characters whose race was assumed to be white in Forsterss novel and makes them black: Jacky Bast (who represents herself to the Schlegels as Leonards wife) and one of the Schlegels maids.

This is not a huge difference in the greater scheme, but it makes all the mini-series casual references to African rubber plantations, international shipping, and capital pop more. (Speaking of a silver vinaigrette given to Margaret by Henry, Helen sarcastically says, Im sure the silver didnt come from an African silver mine, and Tibby adds, Im sure somebody died making it.) It also recontextualizes the many conversations between the Schlegels and the Basts about money, so that we think about the colonialism and racism that the characters would rather not discuss. Even the poorest white character in this Howards End is better off than the unseen black Africans toiling on the Wilcoxes rubber plantations. This realization doesnt detract from our feelings for the Basts, but it does make us think about things that Leonard probably doesnt.

You dont have to ask yourself why somebody like Margaret, who believes in womens suffrage and has a touch of the social workers mentality, would fall for a rich reactionary like Henry, despite him casually telling her that if all the income in the world were suddenly equitably redistributed, it would ultimately end up in the hands of whoever originally had it. We see that the two characters are more similar to each other than either is to Leonard, and that all three have it better than Jacky. In the second episode, Jacky finds Margarets calling card in one of Leonards books and storms over to the Schlegels home, intending to chastise Margaret for the affair she worries that Leonard is having, only to discover that she gave him the card after the umbrella incident. An inconsiderate joke about the Schlegels being worried that Leonard would steal the silver flips Jackys sympathies, so that she identifies with the white lover that, mere moments ago, she suspected of being unfaithful. (Surely shes no stranger to being wrongly accused of stealing.) Changing that single detail of Jackys race takes a moment thats all about class and transforms it into a moment about how class alone doesnt tell us the whole story of Edwardian England, or about any society. In an earlier scene where Jacky presses Leonard about why he hasnt married her yet, Leonard protests that he doesnt feel hes old enough or established enough yet; if Jacky were white, wed take him at his word, but here, we wonder if there isnt something else going on. Purists may balk that such touches amount to an inappropriate superimposition of modern intersectional sensibilities on an almost century-old text. But if Gothic fiction can plausibly be described as a coded response to suppressed moral panic over Englands colonial fortunes, then it doesnt strike me as terribly out of bounds to think that such ideas could be comfortably considered in Howards End, too  especially when you realize that Forster was more than halfway there, anyway.

The comparatively extended length of the enterprise  four hours, versus two hours and 22 minutes for the 92 film  allows for a detailed and unhurried experience, and the storytellers take advantage of the lengthened timeline, even if they sometimes fail to put emphasis in the right spots. (A narratively crucial love story blossoms instantly in both the film and the mini-series, but I was more accepting of it in the film because every element is compacted; here it feels rushed because its juxtaposed with scenes where people spend full minutes contemplating lockets or discussing socialism.) All in all, the new Howards End is a fresh take on an old source, and the longer it goes on, the more different, even special, it gets.
Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

Lynne Ramsay is a bad ass. The Scottish writer-director of modern classics such as Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar is also a brilliant writer and visual poet and one of the most important living filmmakers we have, but at the end of the day, please do not forget: Lynne Ramsay is a bad ass. Her films, which often deal with some configuration of decay, grief, and youth, are tough as nails without sacrificing an almost terrifying beauty, and her career has had the kind of trials and tribulations that would flatten less assured artists. In the process, shes gained a reputation as a bit of a fighter.

But You Were Never Really Here, her fourth feature film in almost two decades (again, trials and tribulations) is her first brush with real rough-and-tumble action filmmaking. And of course, she approaches it in a startling, completely unexpected way. The film, based on a novella by Jonathan Ames, stars Joaquin Phoenix as Joe, a self-destructive ex-Marine turned hired gun who is assigned to rescue a senators daughter from a sex-trafficking ring. The lean, pulpy source material is as efficient and brutal as the hammer that is Joes weapon of choice. But in Ramsays hands, the violence is turned inside out, seen through surveillance cameras and mirrors, and no less impactful for it.

When I spoke to Ramsay at a Vulture Insiders screening of this film this week, I learned how truly appropriate the word lean was as a descriptor: The film was shot in a mere 29 days, and the unconventional fight scenes were as much an artistic, character-driven flourish as they were built out of necessity. (Side note: Please give Lynne Ramsay more than 28 days to shoot a feature.) Ramsay turns economy into high art, and anyone who gets a chance to see You Were Never Really Here will walk out wondering if theres anything she cant do as a director.



The last time I saw this film was during the premiere at Cannes, and it was brand-new  there werent even credits on the cut. I think I read that you had locked it, what, a few hours before the screening?

Well, we were about five months into the edit, and Cannes had asked to see it. But we really thought we were going to Venice or something; there were no credits, we hadnt mixed it yet. And I got this phone call, and they said, We want it. And it was a real honor, but I was like, My god, this film isnt even ready! I think I must be one of the only people to hear your films in Cannes, and to be like, oh, no! [Laughs.] So I had to shoot some stuff just before Cannes, and I had to do the sound mix in five days. And you heard all the gunshots in the film  I felt like I had post-traumatic stress before [the festival.] It was like boom, boom, boom  five days, over and over again.

So, yeah, the film had no credits [when it premiered,] some of the music changed. And I was like, Im still cutting the film. But of course, after Cannes, [Amazon] was like, Well, everyone likes it! You dont need any more time! And I was like, No, I do. Thats a promise. So I spent more time with the sound, and I spent more time honing the things that were shot a couple weeks before Cannes. So you saw a slightly different version, but it hasnt changed dramatically. But the sound has.

This is your third adaptation. At this point I think youve established yourself as a pretty atypical adapter or interpreter of books, you have a very intuitive, nonliteral approach. And Jonathan Amess novella is a very lean, pulpy work.

Its a pulpy, B-noir book. A good one, a page-turner. But it is that, and thats what he intended it to be.

But you really tap into something instinctive or more internal about this character, which makes one able to appreciate the film as almost an entirely independent work. How did the adaptation process work for you this time around?

Its funny, Jonathan Ames is at a screening right now, too, and its the fifth time hes seen it. So he must like it. He said we made it quite operatic, which is a nice compliment.

I think I thought I was making an action, pulpy, B-noir movie, but I actually did what I always do, which is make a character study. Weve got this guy coming apart at the seams, and hes a ghost in his own life. And he somehow has to come back to life. And I think I said to Jon right up front, Ill never make a straightforward thing out of this, but if you like my work, then well start from there. I didnt know if I could do something like this  Ive never done anything like it, or any action sequences, ever. And I was quite terrified of that, but also quite exhilarated.

So I just started writing the thing on spec. We didnt have the rights, but a friend of mine whos in development knew Jon. And four weeks later, I had a script. I was on a Greek island, and there was absolutely jack shit to do, and the internet didnt work that well. And I just started writing this thing, and it started evolving and coming out. And I started speaking to Jonathan about how I was going to do it. I really wanted to retain what I liked about [the book,] which was the bones of that character, and also the page-turner quality it had. Its really like you read it in one go. But it had no ending yet, he was still writing it. So it was kind of like running with the ball, finding our own end. And a lot of the things, like the mother relationship, is [emphasized] much more in the film.



The book has a lot of descriptions of the violence, and everything Joe does with a hammer (or any other weapon) is written about pretty frankly and graphically. One of the remarkable things about your action sequences is how little of the violence we actually see. You see all the aftershocks, all the immediate results of the violence, but many of the actual hits are offscreen or obscured. And yet, you still feel them.

I mean, I like cool, balletic sequences as much as the next person. But, to start with, we only had 29 days to shoot the film. And we would have needed four days for some of those sequences, wed need that kind of time. [The scenes we ended up shooting] were a half a day, maybe a day at most. And that was good because it forced me to think about [Joes] character, which is always connected  the mise-en-scene always kind of comes from the characters. It has to do with where this guy is at that time in the story.

And that led to this surveillance sequence. I felt [Joe] was super mechanical at that point, and its just this kind of in-and-out thing. But it was really risky, because Ive never had a reshoot in my life, Ive never had the luxury of that. When directors talk about doing reshoots, Im always super jealous. [Laughs.] So it was risky to do that, but it also felt really appropriate. I thought that the violent parts should be more personal, like him losing a tooth, or the emotional violence with his mom  And were so used to explicit violence and cartoon violence and that kind of thing. People will go, Oh, [your] film is so violent! but you see so many more films where 150 people are taken out in the first scene. But thats more of a movie thing. I guess its quite surprising, in a way: By omitting stuff, its more shocking to some people.



How did you get the idea for how that surveillance-camera scene was going to work? The way the camera angles and the sound worked together is incredible, its one of the most memorable things I saw in a theater in the past year.

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Well, it was partly due to the limitations of time. At first I thought, oh yeah, Im going to do this huge balletic sequence, and then realized that there was no way on earth that I could do it like that. And it wasnt really appropriate, either, you know? The thing was evolving. And so I did a test, using a stunt guy, during our prep. And that was the other thing  we use a great guy called Christopher Colombo, but he wanted to show me all his great moves, and all these great things with a hammer that he could do. And I was like, well, if you hit someone with a hammer, they just kind of fall down, very quickly. And so we just had to get him into the vibe that I wasnt looking for that, I was looking for something else.

So we started walking through the whole sequence, and the DP shot it, and I started thinking about how I was going to use the sound. And I started to think, you know, this feels right for that moment in the film. Its a risky thing to do, but it was kind of a light-bulb moment, when our backs were against the wall in many ways. But it was also something where I felt, once the idea was set, that, Okay, this might not work, and it was a little scary, but it was very exciting as well.

And then for the sound stuff, with the skipping music, we tried a lot of different things; we tried using just room tone. But Angel Baby was the first track I tried, and I thought, maybe its just an interior track. And we were playing with it, and it kind of messes with your brain a little bit; it comes out of different speakers. And then the idea of the time slice, where you take little pieces of the song out, so the cuts jump even more. It sets up sort of a startling tone. So once we kind of hit on that, I was like, were kind of using the music in a different way  you dont exactly know what or why, but it does something to you.

Theres also that sense of lost time  youre not even sure youre seeing events in linear time, and its disorienting and stressful in a really effective way. Its another way in which you withhold that sense of a classic, cathartic action sequence.

At the same time, I also wanted to make a film that people would be excited to watch, where you didnt know what was going to happen next. Certainly, Joaquin Phoenix brought that to it. We played some things for humor, other things were terrifying. I mean, I didnt know what he was going to do next sometimes, and it was quite a sight to watch. That bit with the drug dealer, where he pushes him into the door? He just kind of did that, and I was like, Wow, were really going to go there.

But it was like watching this amazing thing where every take, he would give you something different for the edit. So it wasnt just one tone, it wasnt just like, This is a heavy movie, its so dark. We wanted some humor in there as well. We wanted a bit of psychosis in it. He cracks up, in many ways, in the last reel. So I was helped immensely by [Joaquin]. And what we were speaking about, in the very short prep I had, was ideas like that.

So that scene came up, the tooth came up  because in the book, he gets shot in the leg, and we thought, would he have to limp for the whole movie? And then the idea came up of [something happening to] his face, which would feel really personal. Or the hotel sequence, with the mirror, where we pan up  I thought about the space, and I thought, [the camera] will stay on him the whole time. And that whole sequence is probably shot in half a day as well. So, you know, I had to be really economical about my shots, and really know them. And the mirror idea came quite early, I think in the script. A lot of the stuff is in the script, but a lot of it evolved. And we had to kill a few darlings in prep, because we didnt have a lot of time to shoot, even for a short script.

Youve had a lot of heartbreaks in-between films, as far as projects going awry or not panning out the way youd hoped. Youre releasing You Were Never Here with Amazon at a time when theres a lot of hand-wringing about indie film and the theater experience and tech giants like Amazon and Netflix. After all youve been through, what do you think is the most welcoming or promising space for filmmakers to take their projects?

I dont know! Its a strange time, a lot of people who go to the cinema now are just seeing big spectacle movies  big superhero movies with Atmos sound and stuff. But to me, this is a spectacle movie in a different kind of way. Its a film about sound, in many ways, and I hope that people see it in a cinema. At the same time, I appreciate that a lot of people dont. Its just hard for me, because I think my work is such a visual-aural experience. But I still believe that the people who want that experience want to have it together. Its really interesting, when youre in a screening, to feel an audience go a certain way. And every screenings different. Its definitely a collective experience.

So I dont know, but I think it means that the films that are out there cant just be a straightforward story anymore. Well, they can, but we have such great TV today as well, and the plus side of that is [storytelling] keeps getting pushed up a level and up a level.

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At each others throats: Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh in Killing Eve. Photo: BBC AMERICA

Like the audacious and seductive contract killer at its center, Killing Eve immediately grabs your attention and pulls out all the stops to make sure it doesnt lose it. The new BBC America series serves up creatively executed murders, international globe-trotting, Mindhunter-size fonts that announce each new setting (my favorite: the cheeky all-caps declaration that were now in BLETCHAM, a tiny English village), a dry sense of humor that creeps in at surprising moments, and two multifaceted female protagonists whose tug-of-war gives the series its unerring sense of oomph.

Based on the Villanelle series of novellas by Luke Jennings, Killing Eve, debuting Sunday, is a cat-and-mouse spy story that, at first glance, looks like something weve seen before. But giving the feline/rodent roles to Sandra Oh, an MI5 officer finally getting to do some real detective work, and Jodie Comer (My Mad Fat Diary, The White Princess), a murderer who can smile winsomely right before she drives a hairpin dagger into a mans throat, gives it a distinctively feminine pulse. The fact that Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge acts as an executive producer and writer of several episodes adds additional intelligence, dark wit, and idiosyncratic touches that raises the quality level even higher. This is delicious, instantly addictive television, so much so that BBC America has already renewed it for a second season even though it hasnt even debuted yet. Its immediately obvious why; Killing Eve has the potential to be BBC Americas new Orphan Black.

Determined to waste no time, the first episode  written by Waller-Bridge and directed by Harry Bradbeer, who also directed five of the six Fleabag episodes  opens by introducing us to Villanelle (Comer). When we meet her, she is sitting in an ice-cream parlor in Berlin  pardon me: BERLIN  enjoying some dessert while staring at a young girl whos doing the same. She catches the childs eye, smiles, and then exits the restaurant, flipping the entire dish of the girls frozen treat right into her lap as she walks out the door. Villanelle, whom we later learn is a cunning Russian assassin, hasnt killed anyone yet. But the show has already told us that her lack of morality will be exercised playfully and with no limitations.

Cut from that moment to a close-up of Eve Polastri (Oh), sleeping and screaming in terror as if she is already having nightmares about Villanelle. Her husband, Niko (Owen McDonnell), shakes her, petrified by her shrieks. Once awake, its clear that shes not dreaming of murderesses at all, at least not yet. I fell asleep on both my arms  Im sorry, it was scary, she calmly explains. Right away, we know that Eve is prone to panic and can instantly switch from that to a disconcerting sense of calm. A couple of scenes later, we also learn that, even though shes working as an MI5 officer helping her boss, Bill (David Haig), she has a great criminologists instincts and a hunger to apply it more directly.

In a hastily called meeting led by Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw), head of the spy agencys Russia desk, Eve learns that a Russian politician known for his involvement in sex trafficking was assassinated in Vienna the night before, after his femoral artery was severed in public without anyone noticing. Its unclear who the perpetrator was because security cameras didnt capture the persons image, but Eve has already reached her own conclusion. It was probably a woman, she blurts out. That comment marks the first step on a path that will eventually bring Eve and Villanelle to the same intersection.

Even though its easy to see the outline of the road ahead, there are more than enough swerves to keep this season unpredictable and full of suspense. Its accurate to describe Killing Eve as plot-driven, but its equally correct to call it a character study of two women who are, in different contexts, bright, sneaky, and abnormally fascinated with the brutal chess work involved in getting away with homicide.

Back in a regular starring role on TV for the first time since she left Greys Anatomy, Oh slides effortlessly into the skin of Eve, who is by no means a carbon copy of Dr. Cristina Yang, but certainly shares some things in common with her. Eve is ambitious, obsessive, and wretched at maintaining a healthy personal life. She cant hold her tongue, is disorganized at times, and has a brain that wont shut off. The part demands an actor with a flair for sarcasm and the capacity to shift from aggressive to vulnerable and back again within a matter of seconds. Oh meets those demands and nearly always exceeds them.

Comer, less familiar to a wide audience than Oh, will likely become a bigger name thanks to her revelatory performance in this. Villanelle, who looks a bit like Ivanka Trump but with ten times more light (and, also, death) in her eyes, is charming, flirtatious, efficient, and also completely terrifying. Shes the kind of assassin who tells a victim beforehand: Im going to kill you nicely. But then Im going to make a mess of your body afterward so it looks worse than it is. Just letting you know, okay?

Comer can giggle like a young girl while making the coldest of threats, but she never seems cartoonish. As Russian pop-cultural killers go, shes much more of a force to be reckoned with than Jennifer Lawrence was in Red Sparrow. ( Im pretty sure that if Villanelle went to see Red Sparrow, shed spend the entire experience cackling and smoking a cigar like Max Cady in Cape Fear.) In fact, shes more formidable than most murderous men in film and TV. After five minutes with Hannibal Lecter, Im pretty sure Villanelle would have had him tying on an apron and serving her fava beans with a nice Chianti.

Since we know that Villanelle is a perpetrator from the get-go, Killing Eve is less a whodunit and more a Why is she doing this? Eves mission is not just to catch Villanelle but to figure out who shes working for and what their mission is, a process that involves unraveling a tremendous amount of interconnected strands. On a broader level, though, the series serves another mission: to take a genre usually steeped in the masculine and feminize it.

One of Villanelles signature moves is to share some of her own perfume, a scent that sometimes smells lovely and sometimes knocks a person out for good. (Best as I recall, no one ever tried that in any of the Bourne movies.) When she wants to taunt and terrorize Eve, Villanelle doesnt do something gross, like sending a severed body part in the mail. She ships her a package filled with alluringly wrapped luxury clothing, each item in exactly Eves size.

The relationships between men and women in this show subvert familiar tropes, too. Instead of the wife being the meal-cooking homebody worried about her dangerous spy-husbands safety, its Nico who frets about Eve while leaving leftover shepherds pie in the fridge. Both Eve and Villanelle have refreshingly complicated relationships with their male superiors as well, ones based on perceived mutual respect even though both women ignore orders and advice from them on a regular basis.

As audacious as Killing Eve is, its particular brand of feminism is never something that smacks the viewer over the head. The show barrels forward, presenting a world in which the most significant shots are called or fired by women, but it doesnt make a big deal of it. That approach sends a low-key message, which is, Of course a great cat-and-mouse spy game can play out like this. Why the hell wouldnt it?
Michelle Pfeiffer in Where Is Kyra? Photo: Great Point Media/Paladin Film

In Where Is Kyra?, Michelle Pfeiffer is stunning as a desperate, near-destitute woman whose life is shrouded in darkness. And not just metaphorical darkness. The Nigerian-born director Andrew Dosunmu seems to have a philosophical aversion to light. Either that or  as Pauline Kael once speculated about Clint Eastwood  he forgot to pay his Con Ed bill. See this on the big screen if you want to see it all. And do see it.

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Somewhere in the pools of black is Pfeiffer as Kyra Johnson, who has moved into her elderly mothers dim Brooklyn apartment, where she bathes and ministers to the frail old woman (Suzanne Shepherd), and walks her through the sunless city to the bank to deposit pension and disability checks. Its clear this is a deeply loving relationship, despite the fact that they speak in monosyllables and the apartment appears to have only one light bulb. One day, after Kyra visits a succession of (also dim) offices looking for work that never comes, she returns to find her mother has died, leaving her with no support, emotional or financial. The emotional part is eventually taken care of by Kiefer Sutherland as a soft-spoken old-age-home worker whom she meets in a dark bar. Her solution to the financial problem, meanwhile, is novel, stirring, and  in keeping with movies visual palette  none too bright.

Nearly everything in Where Is Kyra? is indirect, off the nose. Early on, there are so few close-ups that its a while before we can even make out Pfeiffers features. But when those close-ups finally come, they register. Dosunmu and his accomplished cinematographer Bradford Young (Arrival) arent averse to color. They find pockets of it. When characters connect, the reds and greens glow. But their Brooklyn is otherwise a gray, dying city in which individual lives are lost amid a sea of tilted poles and street signs and overhead train tracks. The South African composer Philip Miller creates a soundscape of squeals and dissonant plinks, of horns that sound like groans of metal  or are they groans of metal transmuted into horns? Theres a bizarre industrial wail as the camera follows a bent-over old woman tapping her cane along the sidewalk towards a bank. Is that  ? Would she  ? Oh, yes, she would.

Pfeiffers performances tend to be high-strung, her dry, unmusical voice in striking contrast to her ethereal features. I didnt think she could embody someone like Kyra, an outcast flailing to hold onto the social safety net and slowly, agonizingly, slipping through. But she has always been full of surprises. Here, the tension in her face and body is infectious  it puts us on edge. The boundlessly empathetic playwright Darci Picoult  who collaborated with Dosunmu on Mother of George  has pared the dialogue to its essentials. Kyra is too scared of losing what little she has to have the energy to muse on the politics of her situation. She needs to keep her phone turned on. She needs to pay the rent.

Once or twice, Where Is Kyra? crosses the border into the world of classic farce, of absurd disguises and babbled lies. But its slow-motion farce, with a clear view of the abyss. Although the movie causes eyestrain and has too many arty longueurs, Dosunmu pulls off something few directors dare: He makes the darkness visible.
Some governors responded enthusiastically to President Donald Trump's plan to send the National Guard to the southern border, while others criticized it and suggested they would not comply if directed to send troops from their states.

The governors of the border states of New Mexico, Texas and Arizona -- all Republicans -- expressed their support. But the office of the California governor, a Democrat, did not indicate to CNN whether the governor would back deploying Guard troops.

In announcing the plan Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the administration intended to work "in conjunction with" border state governors. The Trump administration has not approached the plan as a national effort, and said it has reached out only to governors from Southwest border states about deployment.

Mike Lonergan, a spokesman for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, told CNN the governor "-appreciates the administration's efforts to bring states to the table as they go about taking steps to better secure our border." Lonergan added that the governor "fully" supports the men and women of the New Mexico National Guard "in any mission -- state or federal at home or abroad."

In a news release Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the Trump administration directive "reinforces Texas' longstanding commitment to secure our southern border and uphold the Rule of Law, and I welcome the support."

Lt. Col. Travis Walters, Texas Military Department state public affairs officer, told CNN the state is "awaiting additional guidance from the Department of Defense and President regarding the border."

"At this point we are in the very early planning stages," he said.

Nielsen said via Twitter on Thursday that she had "a productive conversation with the southwest border governors."

Arizona's Gov. Doug Ducey responded on Twitter that his state "welcomes this enhanced security," and that he appreciated the opportunity to discuss the plan with Nielsen as well as Abbott, Martinez and California's Gov. Jerry Brown.

Brown's office confirmed to CNN that the governor participated in Thursday's call with the Department of Homeland Security but said it had nothing to add beyond a statement from Lt. Col. Tom Keegan, a spokesman for the California Army National Guard, released Wednesday.

"This request -- as with others we've received from the Department of Homeland Security, including those for additional staffing in 2006 and 2010 -- will be promptly reviewed to determine how best we can assist our federal partners," Keegan said in the statement. "We look forward to more detail, including funding, duration and end state."

Some governors from other states indicated they would resist any attempt to send National Guard troops from their states, if asked by the administration.

Mary-Sarah Kinner, the communications director for Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, said in a statement to CNN that the governor "does not think this would be an appropriate use of the Nevada National Guard," adding that the Trump administration has "not been in touch with" the governor's office about the deployment plan.

Oregon Democratic Gov. Kate Brown tweeted Wednesday that if the President asked her to deploy guard troops to the border she would reject the request. "As Commander of Oregon's Guard, I'm deeply troubled by Trump's plan to militarize our border," she said.

The offices of other governors indicated their support.

Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchison tweeted: "I just spoke with @SecNielsen of @DHSgov. I informed the Trump Administration that the Arkansas National Guard will support @POTUS's effort to increase border security."

"We have done this before, and the technical support of the @arkansasguard will add to our nation's security at an important time. I appreciate General Berry and ANG soldiers for their service."

Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis told CNN there have been no formal requests to deploy.

The office of Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement to CNN that if the President asks for the state's help, the governor "will work with Adjutant General of the Alabama National Guard to see what resources are available without impeding missions here at home, and then make a determination."

Representatives for some governors indicated that they had not heard from the administration with respect to the plan.

A spokesperson for Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott said "the Florida National Guard has not received any requests from the federal government."

Shelby Wieman, spokeswoman for Colorado Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, said, "We have not been contacted. We've not been asked to deploy."

CNN reported Wednesday that key aspects of the plan had not yet been finalized, including how many troops would be sent and the cost of the deployment.

Trump said Thursday that he hopes to send "anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000" troops to the border.

The memorandum that Trump signed late Wednesday says that "the security of the United States is imperiled by a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border" and "the situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis."

In a tweet Thursday morning, the President claimed that thanks to the actions of his administration, border crossings have fallen to a 46-year low but said the level was still unacceptable.

In December 2017, the acting deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Ronald Vitiello, touted "historic low numbers this year" in an announcement of end-of-year immigration enforcement statistics, including "an almost 30 percent decline in apprehensions" for that fiscal year.

More recently, however, there has been a rise in the number of attempted illegal border crossings into the US from Mexico.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan yesterday attended the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Sovereign Order of Malta).

The document was signed by ArmenianForeign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, H.E. Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager.

The Cooperation Agreement seeks to formulate a common framework for cooperation and set out guidelines for the promotion of patient care, social and healthcare activities carried out by the Sovereign Order of Malta in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

Armenia and the Sovereign Order will cooperate in healthcare, food safety, volunteerism, disaster risk reduction, social programs, and other spheres subject to mutual agreement.



Following the signing of the Cooperation Agreement, President Serzh Sargsyan and Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta Fra Giacomo Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto made statements for the mass media.
Police Minister Lisa Neville speaks for the first time about allegations of police brutality. Credit:AAP

Its simple really. When police interact with citizens, they are not permitted to use any more force than is reasonable in the circumstances. Thats the law and it has been the law forever and a day.

So however Police Minister Lisa Neville and the Police Association like to spin it, there was no justification for what happened to "John", a man with mental illness, handcuffed and lying on his stomach, who was beaten by police with a baton six times, pepper-sprayed and verbally abused by officers.

Nor is it to the point, as The Herald Sun seems to be suggesting, that because a man has an extensive criminal record involving violence against police, we should simply shrug our shoulders at the video footage published by The Age showing him being hit on the back of the head and stomped on by police after he is restrained during an incident at a pharmacy.
A new plum Labor electorate set to be carved out in Melbournes working-class western suburbs will be named after former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

Victorias electoral boundaries are being redrawn by the Australian Electoral Commission, with the state set to gain a new federal seat on account of its rapid population growth.

Former prime ministers Malcolm Fraser and Gough Whitlam

The draft overhaul, released on Friday, will have political implications for both sides of politics, given it will create one more notionally safe Labor seat.

The Liberal Party could lose several electorates  threatening the federal governments one-seat majority in the Parliament.
China said on Wednesday it would levy a 25 per cent tariff on about $US50 billion of US imports including soybeans, automobiles, chemicals and aircraft. That was in response to the release by the US of a list of proposed tariffs a day earlier, covering $US50 billion in Chinese products. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer quickly followed up on Trump's new declaration on Thursday evening, with a statement of his own stressing that none of the tariffs would take immediate effect. The administration hasn't said when any of the proposed tariffs would go into force. He said that any additional tariffs first would be subject to a 60-day public comment period, as would the penalties announced earlier in the week. "No tariffs will go into effect until the respective process is complete," Lighthizer said. Trump chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow and other administration officials have spent the past two days trying to tamp down fears of a trade war.

"I think we're going to come to agreements," Kudlow said on Wednesday on Fox News. "I believe that the Chinese will back down and will play ball." Yet Trump signaled a harder line in a speech earlier on Thursday, saying it is time to stop China from "taking advantage" of America. 'Fantastic relationship' "You have to go after the people who aren't treating you right," Trump said in West Virginia. "We're going to have a fantastic relationship long term with China but we have to get this straightened out, we have to have some balance." Kudlow, his newly installed economic adviser, has spent days trying to calm investors who are concerned the spat will spark a trade war, saying on Thursday the administration was involved in "delicate negotiations" that might forestall the need for tariffs. He said the US could still hammer out a deal with Beijing, in part by persuading other major economies to call out the Asian nation for unfair trading practices.

Bloomberg's Chief Asia Economist Tom Orlik wrote in a note that Trump's order "raises the possibility of an alarming escalation in the trade conflict between the world's two biggest economies." "It's difficult to tell the difference between a rhetorical flourish from a president known for bombastic remarks and a meaningful shift in policy," Orlik added. David Loevinger, a former senior Treasury official who is now managing director of emerging markets at TCW Group Inc., said the move casts doubt on the direction of U.S. policy "It's just not clear what the connection is right now between what the president says and what will actually become policy," Loevinger said. "Markets increasingly have to discount White House statements on trade issues." China's counterstrike

China countered Trump's plan to slap tariffs on 1333 of the country's products - such as semiconductors and lithium batteries - by announcing duties on a variety of agriculture products, including soybeans, the second-most-valuable US crop. The US shipped $US14.6 billion of soybeans to China, its biggest buyer, in the last marketing year - more than a third of the entire crop. Agriculture is one of the few sectors of the American economy that runs a trade surplus. That would hit US farmers hard at a time they are already dealing with depressed crop prices and stagnant values for their land. Trump said in his statement that he's directing Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to use his authority to put a plan in place to protect agricultural interests. Concern about a potential trade war already had been rippling through farm states, which are a crucial part of Trump's political base and a powerful voting bloc. Trump won eight of the 10 states that are the biggest producers of soybeans.
The attorney for Artour Vardanyan, the alleged ringleader of a group arrested in 2015 on charges of illegal arms possession and conspiracy to overthrow the government of Armenia, told the court today that his client was experiencing chest and stomach pain and couldnt attend the trial session.

An ambulance was called, delaying the trial for forty minutes. The previous trial session was delayed as well for the same reason  Vardanyans bad health.

Siroush Aghvanyan, Vardanyans other lawyer, told reporters that her clients health started to deteriorate last summer and that he constantly has high fevers.

The defense lawyers for Vardanyan, accused by the National Security Service for setting up a criminal organization that obtained large amounts of guns and ammunition and hid the cache at a private house rented in Yerevans Nork district, again petitioned the court to have the defendant transferred to a civilian hospital.

Judge Armen Bektashyan said he didnt have the power to make such a ruling and would send the request to the penitentiary holding Vardanyan.

The nine individuals now on trial in Yerevan have denied all the charges brought by the state prosecutors.
Gyumri, Armenias second largest city, used to be a major center of manufacturing during the Soviet era.

Before the 1988 Spitak Earthquake hit, fifty enterprises once operated in Leninakan, the towns former name, employing some 40,000 and producing 700 various items.

The town was Armenias largest textile manufacturer and an important center in the entire Soviet Union.

For many years, the challenges faced by a newly independent Armenia dashed any hopes to resurrect even one-half of Gyumris former manufacturing base.

While steps have recently been taken to spur light industry in Armenia, notably in Lori, Shirak and Gegharkounik, Armenian Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Varazdat Karapetyan says that much more needs to be done.

Karapetyan spoke at a meeting yesterday in Gyumri to publicly launch a new program, which will offer business advice and financing for light industry in Armenia. The meeting was organized by the trade and manufacturing chambers of the Shirak, Lori and Gegharkounik provinces.

Light manufacture is a sector with great potential. But there are problems. Wages are relatively lower than in other sectors, said Karapetyan adding that light industry can nevertheless guarantee more jobs.

We must work to develop capability and activity, and to present our brands to world markets. This will lead to a rise in wages, Karapetyan said.

Varazdat Karapetyan

LenTex, regarded as the leading textile manufacturer in Gyumri, is one of the few businesses that has been able to market its wares overseas.

Karapetyan noted that while manufacturers in Vanadzor have provided hundreds of jobs and stable production levels, they arent known in overseas markets.

Textile companies in Armenia mainly produce for other brands. They produce items, but other brand names are sewn on. Only a small percentage of the profit remains in Armenia. Most of the profit goes to those companies that can organize the selling, said Karapetyan.

The low wages, coupled with a lack of skills to work with modern technologies, also prevents existing businesses to grow.

Things will change when an educational center opens in Gyumri to train and retrain specialists in the contemporary textile sector.

This is what the new program, financed by the European Union and the German government intends to do.

It also seeks to raise the competitiveness of existing businesses and ensure that their final product is of the highest quality possible.

Many new textile jobs are now being created in the provinces. If we look at the yearly work reports of the provincial governors, 500-1,000 jobs will be created in each province this year just in the textile sector alone, Karapetyan told the audience.
Fort Polk, LA (71446)

Today

Thunderstorms. High 79F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous during the evening. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Community members at the Kimball Senior Friendship Center invited Scott Mallory, of Carr Spirits, to present the local business' story and product.

Mallory joined the group on Wednesday, March 28, to introduce them to Adelaide's, a tasty liqueur distributed by the company.

During the presentation, Mallory discussed the history of Carr Spirits, as well as Tom Carr, founder and CEO of the company, and the long road he traveled before finding his home in Kimball and with Carr Spirits.

Mallory introduced the newest flavors to the Adelaide's Cream Liqueurs line, including Dragon Fruit and Mint Chocolate Chip and he presented the three existing flavors, Dreamsicle, Caramel Mocha Mojo Liqueur, and Coconut Liqueur.

Those at the Kimball Senior Friendship Center enjoyed the presentation and look forward to the unveiling of new products from Carr Spirits.
Laurie Ann Shaw, 57 of Potter was called home to the Lord on March 29, 2018 after a long battle with cancer.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M., Tuesday, April 3rd in the St. John's Lutheran Church in Kimball with Pastor Kenneth Mars officiating. Burial will follow in the Dix Cemetery. Friends may stop at the Gehrig-Stitt Chapel on Monday from 2-7:00 P.M. Memorial contributions may be made in Laurie's name to The Night of Hope, POB 700, Sidney, NE 69162. You may view Laurie's Book of Memories, leave condolences, photos and stories at http://www.gehrigstittchapel.com.

Gehrig-Stitt Chapel & Cremation Service, LLC is in charge of Laurie's care and funeral arrangements.

Laurie was born August 23, 1960 to Wesley and Sharon (Teare) Brothers of Dix, Nebraska. She grew up the 4th of 7 children on the family farm. Laurie graduated from Dix High School in 1978. She went to Kearney State College. Laurie married Terrell Shaw of Dix on December 29, 1979. In 1981, the couple moved from Kearney to a farm outside of Potter with their oldest son. Terrell began working on the family farm and Laurie worked as a seamstress in Kimball. Following their return home to the Dix area, three more children were born.

She later began a career at Cabela's supervising the embroidery department at the DC, until becoming a graphic designer. Despite working off the farm, her love and passion was always at home on the farm with her family where she was for the last eleven years. She was an integral part of the development of the Tercel Trucking and Harvesting Company; celebrating its 10th year.

Her most loved job was that of a mother and grandmother; a job in which she shined. Her passion for her children increased when Laurie and Terrell adopted two more children, Caleb and Savannah. Her unrelenting love was noted through everything she did for her children and grandchildren, making every dream come true.

Laurie was a very passionate, creative and generous person throughout her life. She enjoyed creating works of art with fabric, paint, or flowers. She spent most of her life giving her created gifts to others and donating her time to those in need.

Most importantly, despite life's tribulations, her faith in God and love for others only grew.

Laurie is survived by her husband Terrell, her children Preston (Zorica) Shaw, Whitney (Andrew) Hurt, Avery (Jack) Sides, Zachary Shaw, Caleb Shaw, and Savannah Shaw. Her mother, Sharon Brothers, siblings; Mark (Tracy) Brothers, Greg (Christie) Brothers, Wendy (Mark) Milenski, Becky Brothers, and Roxanne Brothers. Her grandchildren, Ethan, Eviana, and Elijah Shaw, Conner and Austin Hurt, Gaige, Ryker, and Braxton Sides, Aden and Bryson Shaw.

She was preceded in death by her father, Wesley Brothers, and brother Gene.
Paducah Man Arrested on Burglary, Other Charges

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 05, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 05, 2018 | 04:36 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A McCracken County man was arrested on multiple charges after a reported burglary.



On Tuesday a resident told the McCracken County Sheriff's Department that his house had been broken into. When they responded they did not find anyone inside.



The victim showed deputies a video from inside his home that had been sent to him by text message. The video reportedly showed 36-year-old Justin Stamper of Paducah in the victim's bathroom, taunting him by performing a distasteful act with his toothbrush, then returning it to its proper place.



Deputies determined that the video had been taken several days before the victim received it.



On Thursday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Stamper, and he was taken into custody without incident.



Stamper was charged with burglary 2nd degree and wanton endangerment 1st degree, and lodged in the McCracken County Jail. Deputies say Stamper is currently out on bond for several drug offenses, as well as a stolen firearm offense.
Two Deputy Jailers Resign, One Placed on Leave

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Apr. 06, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 06, 2018 | 06:54 AM | PADUCAH, KY

The two highest ranking deputy jailers in the McCracken County jail have resigned, and another charged with 33 counts of prescription fraud has been placed on unpaid leave.



McCracken County Commissioner Bill Bartleman says the Fiscal Court was notified by email from Jailer Tonya Ray that Melinda Keown and David Walls have resigned.



Bartleman says when the Fiscal Court asked Ray to resign, one commissioner wanted to ask these two to resign as well, but it was decided such a request was not in their purview.



Bartleman says putting another deputy jailer, Lisa Kaylor, who was recently arrested for prescription fraud, on unpaid leave was the right decision.



"I think people are innocent until they're proven guilty, but I think working in a jail situation it's good for her to either be temporarily removed or moved to another position where she doesn't have contact with the inmates. You have inmates in there who are charged with crimes, and you have somebody supervising who is charged with crimes, and that can cause difficulty." Bartleman said.



Ray is also facing a felony perjury charge stemming from testimony she gave during a hearing in October regarding former Deputy Jailer Ben Green, saying the facility did not have a procedure manual that outlined proper inmate classification procedures, a claim that prosecutors say was false.
Bevin Vetoes Pension System Exit Loophole

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By The Associated Press

Apr. 05, 2018 | LEXINGTON, KY

By The Associated Press Apr. 05, 2018 | 03:20 PM | LEXINGTON, KY

Alarmed at the potential cost to taxpayers, Kentuckys Republican governor vetoed legislation Thursday that would make it easier for agencies like rape crisis centers and mental health facilities to leave the states troubled public pension system.



But the veto, the first of the 2018 legislative session, comes with a cost to local governments. The bill would have given city and county governments more time to pay massive increases in retirement contributions for their employees. Without that cushion, local government leaders say it would likely cause widespread layoffs and cuts in services.



Gov. Matt Bevin said he likes the idea of giving cities and counties more time to make their payments. But he said he could not sign the bill because of the other provision, which he said could cost taxpayers up to $2 billion. It would require the state to finance the agencies cost of exiting the system with no interest, something Bevin said would be very problematic.



These provisions, as currently written, will lead to cash flow issues and shift even more of the pension burden to future taxpayers, Bevin said in his veto message.



Lawmakers are on a 10-day recess for Bevin to sign or veto legislation. They are scheduled to return to work for two days next week, where they could override Bevins veto. But Bevin urged them not to, instead asking them to pass a new law that would address his concerns.



Republican Sen. Chris McDaniel, who sponsored the bill, said Bevins concerns are valid. But he noted the legislature wrote the bill because the agencies that want to exit the system cant afford to stay in it and they cant afford to leave it.



The bill is an attempt to allow them an orderly method out while still being able to provide critical services that we expect of mental health agencies and rape crisis centers, McDaniel said.



Bryanna Carroll, director of governmental affairs for the Kentucky League of Cities, said the group is hoping to see some type of action from the legislature next week so local governments can avoid increases of more than 50 percent in their pension contributions. The increases are because the Kentucky Retirement System Board of Trustees updated its assumptions last year, predicting the state will make a lot less from its investments. Local governments asked the board to phase-in those increases, but the board refused.



Cities are looking to the legislature to once again intervene and ensure local governments do not suffer from last years inaction of the KRS Board of Trustees, Carroll said.



McDaniel said there is a potential for lawmakers to override the veto, adding lawmakers will have a robust conversation about it over the next week.
By The Associated Press Apr. 06, 2018 | 05:26 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Citing a rushed process through the legislature, Kentucky's budget director said Friday that a recently approved tax hike will lead to a $50 million shortfall over the next two years.

John Chilton wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Matt Bevin saying revenue projections for House Bill 366 are not accurate. The Legislative Research Commission estimates the new taxes will generate $478 million over the next two years. Lawmakers crafted a two-year operating budget to spend all of that money. But Chilton says an analysis by his office shows revenues will be at least $50 million less than the LRC projected.

"This, of course, is a great concern," Chilton wrote.

Bevin has not yet taken action on the bill. He has until April 13 to either sign it into law or veto it. Last week, he posted a message on his Twitter account saying he was concerned the bill may not meet "basic standards of fiscal responsibility."

House Bill 366 would impose a 6 percent sales tax on a variety of services, including auto and home repairs. It would also cut income taxes for most individuals and corporations. Lawmakers used the projected new revenue to pay for record classroom spending and to give up to 10 percent raises to social workers.

Representatives for House and Senate leadership did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon. But in recent days, House Republican leaders have touted the tax plan as a "widespread improvement across the board."

Chilton says it is difficult to predict how changes in the state's tax code will affect revenue, "especially when some taxes are being increased, and other taxes are being decreased." Normally, he says, the Legislative Research Commission would work with the Office of the State Budget Director and the Department of Revenue to make sure everyone agreed how much money the new taxes would generate.

"HB 366 did not follow this process," Chilton wrote, adding that his office began analyzing the changes for the first time on the same day the legislature passed the bill. "As we continue our analysis and discussions with the LRC staff, we may become aware of other concerns about the scoring and implementation of HB 366."

Lawmakers plan to adjourn for the year on April 14, giving them time to override any potential veto. The House of Representatives voted 51 to 44 to approve the tax changes. Shortly after that vote, acting House Speaker David Osborne told reporters he was confident lawmakers would override a veto.

"We had 51 votes to pass it; we'll have 51 votes if we need it," he said.
By: Paige Cline The hills are still green for the most part, but a little[Read More]
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A crash on an area interstate Tuesday left one man badly injured and snarled traffic for hours.

On Thursday, friends of the injured man were back at the scene looking for one prized possession that was lost in the confusion.

A black shaggy mutt named Angus is missing after he was involved in that wreck on Interstate 80 in the Poconos.

Jeremy Schaum was driving in his van with his dog Angus Tuesday night when he was involved in that wreck near Lake Harmony. Little Angus ran off into the woods and is still missing.

"He's like 9,10 years old and just a good little dude, you know? And Jeremy's love of his dog is actually what brought me into being friends with him, so it's just really important that we find him," Patty Sedlak said.

After the wreck, Schaum was flown to Hershey Medical Center. Now Patty Sedlak and other friends of the pair who travel to music festivals around the country, are searching for the furry fan of the Grateful Dead

"I've been blanketing all the exits, businesses, gas stations, fast food between (exits) 274, 277, 284 so we can get our little buddy home," said Sedlak.

"There's quite a few of us putting in a good effort in trying to find the dog, you know he's very special to us," Lisa Davie added.

Angus was last spotted on Interstate 80 at mile marker 277 a mile and a half from where the accident took place.

Pet recovery experts told the search party not to chase the dog or yell out his name. Instead, they were told to create warming stations with familiar scents and food and a live animal trap if needed.

If they see Angus, they are encouraged to get low to the ground and speak softly, so he doesn't think he's in trouble.

Schaum's friends hope these tactics will help reunite Angus with his travel buddy, so they can keep on truckin.'

"He's just a really heartwarming, loving person and you know we're just trying to find his right-hand man here, Angus, and we're just trying to do our best to get him back home," Davie said.

According to his friends, Schaum is out of surgery and doing well at Hershey Medical Center.

If you have any information about Angus or his whereabouts, you can call or text Patty Sedlak at 908-220-4053 to help get Angus back with his owner.
President Donald Trump jetted to West Virginia on Thursday to tout his tax-cut plan. But, as he often does, he went off script in a major way, at one point throwing his page of prepared remarks in the air and proclaiming them "boring."

Seriously, this happened.

I went through the Trump tax transcript line by line. It was rife with exaggerations, asides and lots and lots of "huh?" moments. The 43 lines that stood out most to me are below.

1. "That's good music, isn't it?"

And away we go!

2. "We're on television nationwide talking about that, Jim. That's pretty good."

Trump has just finished touting Republican Gov. Jim Justice and how well the state of West Virginia is doing here. And yes he is always aware that he is on TV. And, double yes, he believes that if something isn't on TV, it doesn't really exist.

3. "He's definitely the biggest governor, too. Right?"

Justice is a very big dude (6'7"). And Trump likes that for some reason.

4. "It was a very special place during the election for me. It was not even close. Was it?"

Trump won West Virginia by 43 points in 2016. Relatedly: The election ended 514 days ago.

5. "A lot of things have happened with your coal and a lot of other things that you're doing in West Virginia."

So, you're saying that a lot of things have happened with coal and with a lot of other things eh?

6. "You're one of the most successful, now -- percentage-wise, you're one of the most successful in the nation."

I started to try to fact check this statement. But then I realized it was impossible. Successful at what? I did a quick check on lowest unemployment rate by state -- that wasn't it. West Virginia is near the bottom of that list with the unemployment rates still at 4.9%.

7. "Thank you. Nice hat. Look at that beautiful hat."

MAGA!

8. "We're being talked about all over the world."

This is an important insight into Trump's worldview. What really matters is being relevant, is being talked about. The worst thing you can be in the world is not mentioned. Mattering is the key.

9. "I always tell the Republican politicians, because the Democrats have a problem. I mean, if you look at your senator, he voted against -- Joe -- he voted against."

Look, I know what Trump means here -- that all Senate Democrats including West Virginia's Joe Manchin voted against the tax cut. But the way he says it makes it very, very hard to get that point across.

10. "I thought he would be helpful because he talks. Grabs me; I grab him."

Well, that happened.

11. "And we also got ANWR -- energy. Big energy. We're -- I'm into the world of energy, as you know."

There's no energy like big energy. It's the best one.

12. "We have our intellectual property, and a lot of people don't understand what that means."

Go on....

13. "And it doesn't matter if you understand it or not."

Oh, OK. [returns to blissful unawareness]

14. "We're going to come out with numbers on Friday that, hopefully, are going to be fantastic numbers."

[narrator voice] They weren't.

15. "We get it done right or we'll terminate. You know, if we don't have it done right, we're going to terminate."

This is a very minor thing. But why does Trump always say "we'll terminate" or "we're going to terminate" when talking about NAFTA. Wouldn't it make more grammatical sense to say; "If NAFTA can't be worked out to our satisfaction, we will terminate that relationship"?

16. "Joe Manchin is just -- he's really not helped us on this stuff."

You can be certain that this line will appear in ads this fall for the eventual Republican nominee against Manchin. Remember that Trump remains quite popular in Republican circles -- especially in West Virginia.

17. "We have the worst laws."

An actual quote by the president of the United States.

18. "Mexico has very tough policies. They can do whatever they want, which is the way it should be, to be honest."

So, the best policies are when the government can do whatever it wants? It feels like that might be a bit of a slippery slope?

19. "Women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. They don't want to mention that."

"They" probably don't mention it because there's no available evidence to suggest it's true.

20. "And we're going to get it very strongly."

The wall is the subject here. But this is really a Trump quote that could apply to absolutely anything (and everything) in his life.

21. "I mean, to me that's obstruction of justice, and something should happen there. And it hasn't, and I don't know why it hasn't. But something should happen there."

Trump is a) referring to California's sanctuary cities and b) seemingly entirely unaware of the irony of him talking about obstruction while special counsel Robert Mueller continues to probe whether the firing of FBI Director James Comey amounted to obstruction of justice.

22. "You know, we've gone into towns in Long Island where we've taken MS-13 and we've actually liberated towns. This is our country, right?"

This is central to understanding the appeal of Trump's message: "They" are trying to take over America. And, I won't let them.

23. "These ICE guys are so much tougher than them, and they're grabbing them by the necks and throwing them into the paddy wagons."

Trump revels in the rough treatment of people by police -- and has advocated for even tougher treatment. "When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just them them thrown in rough," Trump said last July. "I said, 'Please don't be too nice.'

24. "So this guy, because he's here, now can get the mother and the father and the grandmother and the cousins and the brothers and the sisters and the aunts and the uncles. This is what the Democrats are doing to you. And they like it because they think they're going to vote Democrat."

This got overlooked among ALL of the things Trump said yesterday. It shouldn't. He is saying that Democrats are totally fine with letting whoever wants into the county to come in solely because it improves their political chances.

25. "A lot of times it doesn't matter, because in many places, like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that. They always like to say, "Oh, that's a conspiracy theory." Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people."

Repeat after me: There is NO evidence that any sort of widespread voter fraud occurred in California or anywhere else during the election. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

26. "So we have a lot of things going on, but a lot of things are being straightened out."

"This is a very complicated case, Maude. You know, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-you's. And, uh, lotta strands to keep in my head, man." -- Jeffrey Lebowski

27. "Do you remember, at that beautiful arena -- where's the arena? Where was the arena, Shelley? At that beautiful -- it probably held 7,000 people, and we had 20,000, 25,000 people that couldn't get in."

The election ended 514 days ago.

28. "I think we won here by 42 points or something. Some incredible number. Forty-two points."

See No. 27, Also, No. 4.

29. "Because I was seeing these polls and we were so far ahead. I said, 'Do you think it would be OK if I went to Pennsylvania?' Which, by the way, we won."

Ibid

30. "I'm very proud of you, and your numbers are incredible."

What numbers is Trump talking about here? I have no idea. But I do know those numbers are incredible.

31. "You're among the -- percentage-wise, you're among the greatest gainers in this country, and I think it's great and it just wasn't that way."

Gainers in what??? Actually, doesn't even matter. Congrats, West Virginia! Let's go Mountaineers!

32. "I always say 'clean, beautiful coal.'"

He never says "dirty, ugly coal."

33. "The miners are happy. And we'll be looking at that 202. You know what a 202 is, right?"

Is this a "Daily 202" reference? If so, congrats James Hohmann!

34. "You know, this was going to be my remarks. It would have taken about two minutes but what the hell. "

What the hell indeed.

35. "That would have been a little boring. Little boring. No, I'm reading off the first paragraph and I said, 'This is boring. Come on.'"

Cut to Trump speechwriter weeping.

36. "So not only will you save a lot of money, because it's a lot of money for a lot of people, but you're also -- and not to even mention the companies where they're employing because now they have all this incentive."

What a "sentence."

37. "This, whatever you call it, it starts and you get hooked so fast."

The President of the United States on the opioid crisis.

38. "We don't need -- it's not even -- we don't -- it's not like we have a choice."

[scratches head]

39. "I know Indonesia very well. Great people and great -- you have some great representatives that I've gotten to know very well in Indonesia."

Donald Trump: Indonesia expert.

40. "They were being regulated right out of business and we took care of that. And we did it in a very nasty fashion. You would have been very proud of us."

A) We did in in "very nasty fashion."

B) You would have been proud.

Got it?

41. "So that pretty much wraps it up. We're very proud of the tax cut."

Aside from touting that he told Republicans members of Congress to change the name of the bill from "tax reform" to "tax cuts" and attacking Manchin for voting against the legislation, Trump barely talked about the tax cuts. At an event specifically organized to talk about the tax cuts.

42. "It's -- a lot of people are being helped so much, and so many things in there that we don't even talk about, when you're talking about tooling and trucking and all of the elements of investment that you have to make and now you have one-year expensing."

You know, tooling and trucking and the like.

43. "We got a lot of people out there that I don't think are very good people, but that's okay."

USA! USA!
A Delray Beach doctor is credited with saving a 9-year-old girl who was unresponsive after she had a seizure on a Delta Airlines flight to Mexico.

According to a news release from Tenet Florida Cardiovascular Care, Dr. Joseph Ricotta was on a Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta to Mexico on Easter Sunday.

While at 30,000 feet, the airline pilot asked on the loudspeaker if there was a doctor on-board.

Ricotta, a Boca Raton resident, was the only doctor on-board and rushed to help the child.

"She was on the floor in the aisle. I resuscitated her and we got her back. She ended up doing well. I ended up having to get on a headset and communicate with ground control and a doctor on the ground with the airline to make the decision to either abort the flight and make an emergency landing or keep going forward. Thankfully she ended up doing well and made a full recovery," said Ricotta in a written statement.

Ricotta is a vascular surgeon and endovascular therapy specialist at Tenet Florida Cardiovascular Care and Regional Medical Director for Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy.
Boulder is moving forward with plans to enact an ordinance that would ban so-called "assault" weapons, bump stocks and high-capacity magazines in the city.

The city council voted unanimously in favor of the ban during its first reading Thursday night. The council will continue to discuss the issue and is likely to vote on it at least one more time before the ordinance is enacted.

More than 150 people signed up to speak at Thursday night's council meeting, voicing opinions in favor and opposed to the ban.

"I feel that banning assault rifles entirely is taking it too far, particularly I'm bothered by the registration aspect of it," one speaker said, referencing a proposal that people who already own assault weapons would have to register them with Boulder police.

A young woman who was in favor of the ban spoke about how students and teachers often live in fear of gun violence.

"My class time is eaten up by the fact that there's a very real fear a person with a firearm will enter my school to harm myself and my peers," she said.

The measure was proposed by Boulder City Councilwoman Jill Grano just days after the Marjory Stone Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida.

Another speaker brought up homicide statistics to support his argument that guns aren't the real problem.

"[There are] 19 times more handgun homicides than rifles," he said. "There are four times as many homicides by knives than by rifles. This is FBI statistics."

Currently, there are two businesses in Boulder that sell the products that the council is considering for a ban, according to a city council agenda on the ordinance.

While Boulder begins the discussion on an assault weapons ban, Denver has had one in place since 1989. Grano said they will use Denver as a starting point, but she hopes to create a stricter policy.

But while the City of Denver recently enacted a ban on bump stocks, Denver police say zero have actually been turned in.

Boulder Police Chief Greg Testa said last month he would support a ban on assault rifles.

The University of Colorado Police Department, the other police department that operates within city limits, did not take a stance on the issue.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there's a "potential for a trade war" with China, but expressed hope that the world's two largest economies can work out their differences.

"There is a level of risk that we could get into a trade war," Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC on Friday. "I'm cautiously optimistic we'll be able to work it out."

President Trump ratcheted up the rhetoric with China late Thursday evening, saying he was considering another wave of steep tariffs on the country's exports to the United States.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the [United States Trade Representative] to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate," the president said in a statement.

The secretary tried to assure investors that Trump's willingness to fight for US interests would be a "long-term positive" for American companies. But those remarks failed to offer relief. The Dow was down 700 points late in the day.

Related: Dow drops 700 points as trade war fears return

"We want to sell more goods around the world," said Mnuchin, who repeatedly pointed to the disparity in the US-China trade relationship. "This is a terrific opportunity for US companies if they are treated fairly."

Earlier this week, the United States announced new tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, claiming that China is stealing US intellectual property. China responded within hours by announcing $50 billion worth of tariffs on US goods. Those tariffs have yet to go into effect.

The moves follow US tariffs that were imposed earlier this year on Chinese steel and aluminum, which also prompted retaliatory measures from China.

In the CNBC interview, Mnuchin avoided directly answering whether the United States and China were in active negotiations to avert a trade war.

Instead, he said the Trump administration was still willing to negotiate with China, while sending a direct message it would defend US interests.

"We absolutely are willing to negotiate and not get into a trade war. On the other hand the president is perfectly willing to defend our interests," Mnuchin said. "Our strategy is very clear."

Questions over whether the world's two largest economies were engaged in discussions swirled on Friday after a spokesperson for China's Commerce Ministry told reporters that Beijing and Washington were not currently in talks.

That was backed up by Trump's chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, who said tariff negotiations with China had not started.

"They have not really begun yet," he told Bloomberg Television. "China's response to our complaints ... has been unsatisfactory."

Mnuchin declined to clarify the status of talks despite being asked repeatedly. "We're not going to do this and lay out out our negotiations in the public domain," Mnuchin said.
ROME  Four Romans have been arrested after police say they found items used to make meth.

Rome Police say on Wednesday morning their Special Investigations Unit was dispatched to 307 West Thomas Street to help out the State Division of Parole, who was at the home to check in on a parolee. Parole officers say while they were in the home they found items associated with the manufacturing of methamphetamine, and reached out to Rome Police for assistance. Detectives obtained a search warrant and the State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team entered the home to execute the warrant.

Police say as a result of their investigation they have arrested the following individuals on a felony charge of unlawful manufacturing of methamphetamine:

- 47-year-old Daniel G. Bragg of 307 W. Thomas St., Rome

- 26-year-old Vincent L. Bragg of 307 W. Thomas St., Rome



- 45-year-old Billie J. Bragg of 307 W. Thomas St., Rome

- 19-year-old Harry T. Thurston of 719 N. Jay St., Rome

Daniel Bragg has also been charged with a parole violation. Daniel, Vincent, and Billie Bragg are being held in the Oneida County Jail on $20,000 bail. Harry Thurston is being held on $5,000 bail.
DEERFIELD - The Oneida County Health Department is warning the public about a possible rabies exposure.

The department says on Monday a dog came into contact with a skunk in the Town of Deerfield, and the skunk later tested positive for rabies.

Officials say the rabies virus is fatal when left untreated. Officials say no humans were exposed in this particular incident.

The health department offered tips to protect yourself against possible exposure to rabies. They include:

 Report any sick or strange acting wildlife

 Vaccinate pets and livestock. New York State law requires that all dogs, cats and ferrets be vaccinated against rabies by 4 months of age. Vaccinating your domestic animal not only provides protection for the animal, but vaccinated pets act as a barrier to keep the rabies virus from spreading between wild animals and people.

 Vaccination is also recommended for livestock with frequent human contact.

 Do not feed wildlife or stray animals and discourage them from seeking food near your home.

 Do not feed strays.

 Do not approach an unknown animal, either wild or domestic, especially if it is acting in a strange or unusual manner.

 Report all animal bites and any contact with bats to the Health Department in your county. Human rabies can be prevented after exposure by administering a series of shots.

 Keep garbage cans tightly covered and avoid storing any food outside.

 Children should be instructed to tell an adult immediately if they were bitten or scratched by any animal.

 If an unvaccinated pet comes in contact with rabid or suspected rabies the pet must be quarantined for six months.

 Vaccinated pets that come in contact with rabid or suspected rabies animal must be given a booster rabies vaccination within five days of the contact.

The county is scheduled to host its next rabies clinic on April 9 at the Camden Fire Department from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
UTICA  Two Utica police officers were honored Thursday, during the annual 'Police Officer of the Year' awards.

For nearly 50 years, the American Legion Post 229 in Utica holds a dinner, and ceremony, to recognize local police officers for their hard work and bravery.

Taking illegal guns off the street, and saving a shooting victim's life, are two actions that garnered the officers recognition.

Officer Aaron Llewellyn responded to a shots fired call when he spotted a man bleeding profusely from his leg. The officer applied first aid and a tourniquet that doctors later said saved the victim's life.

Up to this point in my career it's got to be a pinnacle, Llewellyn said. Anything that's happened so far for me, it's amazing to get recognized. 160 other members of our department, just to say the thousands of calls that we take care of, something around 60,000. I would take a year that this is one of the recognized in this individual incident, seemed important enough to get this kind of award. Its amazing.

Investigator Aaron Donaldson helped to recover 99 guns and 92 firearm arrests, as a part of gun involved violence elimination program.

It means a lot to me to be selected from the entire Utica police department, Donaldson said. There's a lot of well deserving officers, investigators in command, staff that deserve it as well. But it means a lot to be selected by this group of individuals.

Both officers were also given proclamations from the city to recognize their work.
LAFAYETTE, IND. (WLFI)-- Some protestors say Congressman Todd Rokita isn't fighting for Hoosier workers.

Union Members of United Steelworkers lined up at Rokita's Lafayette office today. They said their main concern is Rokita's voting history when it comes to outsourcing jobs.

Union workers involved in the protest said they want voters to be aware of their concerns.

Mike Wheeler works in the steel industry and worries there are more products shipping out than back into Indiana.

"I don't believe there is a steel mill in the United States that makes steel for defense anymore we import it all," Wheeler said. "God forbid something would happen or there would be a war or something and we would have to make tanks and ships, and components for airplanes and stuff, we're going to have to import all this stuff."

Rokita is running for the US Senate in the Republican Primary if he wins the primary, he will go up against US Senator Joe Donelly in the fall.

According to Rokita's press team, "Todd Rokita continues to stand with Hoosier workers in support of Trump's America first trade policies."




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Toshiba sells Westinghouse-related assets in USA

06 April 2018

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Japan's Toshiba announced today that it has completed the sale to Brookfield of its shareholding in Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (US) Inc - the indirect holding company of Westinghouse Electric Company. The sale is independent of Brookfield's acquisition of Westinghouse and some of its affiliates.

Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with US courts in March 2017 to enable it to undergo strategic restructuring. The filing affected only its US operations, which included projects to construct four AP1000 reactors at two sites, Vogtle in Georgia, and VC Summer in South Carolina.

On 4 January, it was announced that Brookfield Business Partners, together with institutional partners - collectively known as Brookfield - had agreed to acquire 100% of Westinghouse from Toshiba for about USD4.6 billion.

Toshiba announced on 18 January it had signed a share purchase agreement under which it would sell to Brookfield all shares it holds in Westinghouse-related assets - Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (US) and Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (UK) Limited - for USD1. Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (UK) is the indirect holding company for Westinghouse Group operating companies outside the USA.

While the sale of its shareholding in Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (US) has now been completed with the receipt of regulatory approvals, Toshiba said it "will continue working to receive regulatory approvals for the sale of Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (UK)'s shares, and targets early completion of the sale".

In late-March, Westinghouse announced its reorganisation plan had been approved by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Toshiba said that once all the requirements specified in the reorganisation plan had been met, Westinghouse-related shares held by subsidiaries of Toshiba Nuclear Energy Holdings (US) will be cancelled and new shares will be issued to Brookfield.

Westinghouse expects the transactions to close in the third quarter, "subject to customary closing conditions including, among others, regulatory approvals".

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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UAE and South Korea expand cooperation

06 April 2018

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The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) and its joint venture subsidiaries, Nawah Energy Company (Nawah) and Barakah One Company (BOC), have signed three agreements with Korean companies. Enec and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) in October 2016 signed a joint venture agreement that made Kepco a minority shareholder in Nawah and BOC.

Sang Bong Jeong, CEO of Kepco Nuclear Fuel, and Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of Enec, signed the MoU in the presence of Woon-Gyu Baek, minister of South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Mohamed Bin Jarsh, Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi's Department of Energy (Image: Kepco NF)

Kepco is building four APR-1400s at Barakah, in the Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi. All four units are scheduled for completion by 2020.

On 26 March, Enec and Kepco Nuclear Fuel signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in the field of nuclear fuel and in overseas business development; Nawah and Kepco Engineering and Construction signed an engineering support contract for the Barakah nuclear power plant to 2030; and Kepco agreed a charter for joint business cooperation with BOC to enhance cooperation throughout the nuclear business cycle, from planning and construction to operation.

"The two joint venture partners and their subsidiary companies continue to establish new ways for cooperation, forming a unique international partnership for the nuclear energy industry," Enec said on 4 April.

Kepco said in a separate statement that it will be able to enhance the competitiveness of its APR-1400 reactor design "by leveraging the UAE's abundant financial resources in the overseas nuclear power plant market".

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on 26 March attended a ceremony to celebrate the completion of construction at the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power reactor.

The first phase of pre-operational tests have been completed at Barakah 1. The next phases of pre-operational tests require fuel to be loaded in the reactor and can only begin after Nawah receives an operating licence.

Unit 2 is now more than 92% complete, with unit 3 more than 81% complete and unit 4 more than 67% complete.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Regulator approves licences for new Florida units

06 April 2018

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The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved the issuance of combined construction and operating licences (COLs) for the two proposed AP1000 reactors at Florida Power and Light's (FPL's) Turkey Point plant in Florida. The utility has yet to make a final decision on whether to proceed with building the units.

How Turkey Point 6 and 7 could appear adjacent to the existing plant (Image: FPL)

FPL has been officially planning to expand nuclear generation at Turkey Point since 2006, when it informed the NRC that it intended to file COL applications for new units. It submitted the application in June 2009, and in 2011 the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) allowed FPL to add a small charge to its customers' bills to fund the nuclear investment.

The NRC issued its final environmental impact statement for Turkey Point units 6 and 7 in October 2016. Its final safety evaluation report was issued the following month.

The NRC announced yesterday that it has authorised its Office of New Reactors to issue the COLs for Turkey Point units 6 and 7 to FPL. The decision follows a hearing last December. The Commission found the staff's review of FPL's application adequate to make the necessary regulatory safety and environmental findings. The NRC said it expects to issue the licences in the next few days.

In a June 2017 filing to the Florida PSC, FPL said that upon receipt of the COLs it "intends to pause the project to observe and understand the challenges faced by the first wave of AP1000 projects currently under way". This pause is estimated to be at least four years, the company said, which will push the commissioning and start-up dates for Turkey Point 6 and 7 from 2027 and 2028 to at least 2031 and 2032, respectively.

FPL said, "During this pause period, FPL will be engaging in activities necessary to defend and maintain COL-associated permits, licences, certifications, and approvals. FPL's staff of licensing engineers will oversee the incorporation of licence amendments approved for other AP1000 projects."

According to FPL, maintenance activities also include continuing compliance with the Conditions of Certification or other permit conditions and collecting lessons learned from the first wave of AP1000 projects.

"Additionally, FPL will be assessing execution structure, contract price, terms and conditions, and schedule of the first wave projects to assess improvements to costs and schedules. FPL also plans to monitor economic factors that could affect the decision to proceed with construction," it said.

Two AP1000 units are under construction at both the Sanmen and Haiyang sites in China. Sanmen 1 is expected to be the first Westinghouse AP1000 to begin operating later this year. Haiyang 1 and Sanmen 2 are also expected to begin operating by year-end, with Haiyang 2 expected to start up in 2019. Four AP1000 reactors were also being built in the USA - two each at Vogtle and Summer. However, construction of the two Summer units was suspended in August. Vogtle unit 3 is scheduled to enter commercial operation in November 2021, with unit 4 following in November 2022.

The Turkey Point site, about 40km south of Miami, already features two operating 800 MWe reactors built in the 1970s. Unit 3 is currently licensed to operate until July 2032 and unit 4 until April 2033. The site also includes three gas-fired units.

FPL submitted an application in January seeking to renew for an additional 20 years the operating licences of Turkey Point 3 and 4, which have already been renewed once. The application is the NRC's first "subsequent licence renewal" application and if granted would enable the reactors to achieve operating lives of 80 years.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Primary school set to close despite opposition from local residents

This article is old - Published: Friday, Apr 6th, 2018

A primary school in the Glyn Ceiriog is set to close next year despite opposition and criticism from local residents.

Members of the executive board will next week discuss plans to press ahead with the closure of Ysgol Pontfadog due to it being unsustainable.

If the plans are approved by councillors the last intake for nursery / reception pupils at the school will by in September 2018, with the school closing on 22nd July 2019.

Currently there are three schools within the Federation, one Welsh medium in Ysgol Llanarmon, one English medium in Ysgol Pontfadog and one dual stream in Ysgol Cynddelw.

However Wrexham Council say there has been a drop in pupil numbers at both Ysgol Pontfadog and Ysgol Cynddelw schools due to a growing Welsh medium demand in the valley.

To help identify the the future education provision of the Federation schools, in July 2017 Wrexham Council agreed to launch a public consultation on the following three options:

 Retain the status quo with all three schools remaining as they are currently.

 Change language designation at Ysgol Cynddelw to Welsh medium.

 Propose closure of Ysgol Pontfadog and re-locate pupils to the Cynddelw dual stream site.

In a report due before councillors next week it explained that there are 18 pupils accessing Ysgol Pontfadog, which is not seen as a sustainable model.

Wrexham Council say that there is a requirement to make teaching and learning as effective and

as efficient as possible whilst enhancing the learning experiences of the pupils in larger social groups.

However the proposed closure of the school has been met with fierce opposition by local residents, with some accusing Wrexham Council of showing systematic direct discrimination against those selecting the English medium.

A total of 253 responses were made to the consultation process, with comments ranging from segregation of children and discrimination through language.

But next weeks report states that Wrexham Council disagrees with the statements, noting: The proposal does not discriminate against any individual with protected characteristics.

An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was been undertaken at the start of the consultation.

Other concerns include the impact on local shops and residents wanting a school that belongs to the village.

However other responses argued that closing Ysgol Pontfadog will be better for community integration.

A decision over the future of Ysgol Pontfadog will be made by executive board members at 10am on Tuesday 10th April.

If the report is approved, statutory notices will be published in May (where is not specified) and the school will close at the end of the summer term in July 2019.
Student receives award for outstanding contribution to domestic abuse charity

This article is old - Published: Friday, Apr 6th, 2018

A student from Wrexham Glyndwr University has received an outstanding contribution award for her voluntary work with a domestic violence charity.

Jenni Louise Fowler, a third year student on the universitys BSc Psychology course, was given the award by Flintshire charity DASU (Domestic Abuse Safety Unit) at a recent awards ceremony

She has volunteered as a mentor with the Deeside based charity for the past two years, while also studying for her degree at Wrexham Glyndwr University.

As part of her role Jenni speaks one on one and works with both male and female survivors of domestic abuse.

The role involves crisis intervention and outreach, explained Jenni.

When you are working in crisis intervention, you are the first port of call  we speak to people as they get in touch and make sure they are speaking to the right departments, provide help with things like benefits and housing advice and generally just give them the help they need.

Being a survivor of domestic violence myself, DASU inspired me so much to come to university. I felt I wanted to give something back  this was taking my past and turning it into a pathway to do something positive.

The charity runs two refuges in North East Wales, one for women and one for men.

Jennie added that her degree has proved useful in her work with DASU: My psychology course helps to explain peoples behaviour  for instance, why people might stay with their current partner.

Theres a lot to take from the course, and being able to understand the underpinning of things with psychology is useful.

The staff in the Psychology department are made up for me- they were absolutely delighted to hear I had won an award. Mandy has been so supportive and encouraging with my work and volunteering and has been very understanding about integrating it with my studies. Everyone has been very helpful.

A DASU spokesperson said: Jenni really deserves the award. She has given many hours of her time to support the work of DASU and is a valuable member of the team.

We are delighted that she has chosen to use her personal experiences in such a positive way.

Professor Mandy Robbins, Associate Head, School of Social and Life Sciences, added: There is a real sense of community at Wrexham Glyndwr University  so when someone like Jenni gets an award it is something for us all to celebrate.

We believe that psychology is about real life and it is good to see students like Jenni applying their studies  and having their work recognised.

More information about Wrexham Glyndwr Universitys BSc Psychology degree can be found here.
Autoworkers across the United States are taking inspiration and courage from the ongoing struggles by teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and other states.

As teachers in Oklahoma, who are engaged in their first statewide walkout since 1990, enter their fifth day of struggle, workers throughout the country feel moved by their willingness to fight and their defiance of attempts to wind up the strike by the official teacher unions.

Autoworkers, who have been saddled with decades of concessions imposed through the collaboration of the United Auto Workers and management, readily identify with the teachers. As a result of the 2015 sellout deal imposed by the UAW over fierce opposition from rank-and-file workers, the auto companies are hiring more and more temporary part-time workers who earn substandard pay and benefits and who have few rights.

Workers leaving Fiat Chrysler Warren Stamping Plant at shift change

The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter spoke to autoworkers in greater Detroit and Chicago to learn their views on the unfolding teacher struggles. Workers contacted by the WSWS backed the fight by the teachers and offered their support and encouragement.

Gerald, a young tier-two worker at the Fiat Chrysler Warren Stamping plant in suburban Detroit, addressed the teachers: Hold your ground. Stay firm and diligent. We have to support the fight to bring economic equality to teachers. We have to break down the divisions.

He explained why he was extending his support: It shows you there is a deep economic divide in the US, extreme rich to extreme poor. Teachers deserve everything they get. Some of them make less than we do as autoworkers, even though they have to earn college degrees.

What they have been offered is an insult. They deserve much more because they are so important. Most teachers do it for the love of children, but at the end of the day they still have families to support. It is sad because teachers are the ones that educate the doctors and lawyers, yet they get paid much less.

The same politicians who vote for teacher pay cuts are also voting themselves raises. They work maybe nine months of a year, and part-time at that, but they receive full time pay and leave multi-millionaires. Yet many people with so called middle class incomes dont make enough to buy good health insurance. But the politicians say, privatize Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance.

Democrats and Republicans are basically no different. In the end they are all for the millionaires.

When the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter explained the necessity of teachers and workers breaking with the unions and forming rank-and-file workplace committees and fight to unite workers internationally, Gerald said, We have to unite, they are trying to manipulate and coerce us, like this is all for the greater good.

Asked if he thought that the unfolding struggles could culminate in a general strike, he said, A general strike would be unprecedented. It would greatly impact the stock markets--autoworkers, teachers, firefighters coming together. It would come down to a contest, but I think we (the workers) would win.

Michelle, a veteran Fiat Chrysler worker from Detroit, said of the teachers strikes, I think it is phenomenal. The teachers are walking out and the students are backing them. They need all the support and encouragement they can get. Together we stand, divided we fall.

I am definitely feeling encouragement from this. They are coming together as a united front to make a statement--support public education for children. I think it is wonderful, they are saying that we will take whatever course we have to take to make sure millennials get an education.

She compared the situation facing teachers in Oklahoma to that facing Detroit teachers, who carried out a sickout over abysmal conditions in the schools combined with attempts by the district to dock their pay in 2016.

Some of the students are not getting the education they need because of overcrowded classrooms, both in Detroit and in Oklahoma. To get things done you have to come together as a whole.

Asked who should pay for improvements to public education, she added, I think there is money there. They should tax the billionaires like Dan Gilbert (founder of Quicken Loans in Detroit) to help fund the schools.

The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter also spoke to several workers at Ford who spoke in support of the teachers.

You can tell a lot from a country based on how much they spend on education, said a worker from Fords Chicago Assembly Plant. What is happening now in states like West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma pretty much tells you how absolutely ridiculous it is. Our teachers must suffer with wages that let them survive but not live. This can only have one outcome, and that is a negative effect on the students.

We must support our teachers. We must help them obtain better wages and more resources for their classrooms. This will only benefit our kids, our future and our country in the long run.

He concluded, Teachers, Fight! Fight long and fight fiercely, for you hold our future in your classrooms. You certainly deserve better!

DJ, a worker at the Ford Dearborn Assembly Plant outside of Detroit also spoke to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter.

Bless these teachers. They have got to stand up. They need to do it here also in Detroit. Our educational system is only structured to teach students how to work in a factory. They have been robbing and pillaging the village as much as they can.

We need to take inspiration from their courage, he continued. Remarking on the rebellion by teachers against their own unions, he added, Right there with the teachers, the majority is ruling. The rank-and-file is coming together.

The teachers are superheroes at this point for their willingness to stand up and be willing to sacrifice for their cause, he continued.

Darren, a worker at heavy equipment maker Caterpillar in Illinois, gave his advice to the teachers in Oklahoma and elsewhere: I would encourage you to stand strong. The fact that there is such unity among you across the state is a credit to your profession and your determination.

I would further encourage you, in the face of your unions attempts to pull the plug on this strike, to pull the plug on the union instead. It doesnt represent you. Thats not its purpose. It plays the good cop in a shake down. Its all just a racket.

Organize local committees to negotiate at a district level and coordinate between committees regarding mutual action and demands. I truly believe that this is the only viable option. As a UAW member I can say unequivocally there is no help to be had from the unions. I wish you success. You are an inspiration to workers across professions worldwide.
This is the eighth and final part in a series of articles on the recent Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale, held February 15-25, 2018. The first part was posted March 14, the second on March 16, the third on March 20, the fourth on March 22, the fifth on March 26, the sixth on March 29 and the seventh on April 3.

The retrospective program at this years Berlin International Film Festival, Weimar Cinema Revisited, presented numerous films that have fallen into oblivion in recent decades.

Addressing the German labor movement of the 1920s inevitably means coming to grips with the political paralysis and betrayals that ultimately enabled fascism to seize power. Two feature films screened in Berlin this year reflect the angry, militant mood among German workers in the late 1920s. Their determination, and in particular the striving for a common struggle and international solidarity, stood in stark contrast to the policies of the two major workers parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).

One of the most interesting discoveries of the Weimar retrospective was the silent film Brothers (Bruder, 1929) directed by Werner Hochbaum (1899-1946). The filmmaker was politically close to the SPD and he shot two election spots for the party during the Reichstag [parliamentary] elections in 1930. Both the SPD and the German Transport Workers union backed the production of Brothers, and the opening credits name the Film and Photo Service of the SPD as film distributor.

The work is Hochbaums conscious attempt to create a German proletarian film based on the model of Soviet revolutionary cinema. His film looks back to the fierce strike of Hamburg dockworkers in 1896-97, which ended in defeat after 11 weeks, in place of the suppressed sailors uprising in Sergei Eisensteins Battleship Potemkin (1925).

Brothers (Bruder, 1929)

In Brothers, a dockworker, weighed down by a heavy sack, becomes the catalyst of the mass movement in Hamburg. When the workers demands for higher wages are rejected, they walk out. The strike committee reluctantly accepts the will of the workforce. Its members are of the opinion that the chance of success is small, the organisation is too limited and there is too little support to wage a struggle. Winter is just around the corner. When the strike breaks out, the police protect the scabs hired by the company and search for the strike leaders. Ultimately, hardship forces the workers to yield. The militant initiator of the strike lands in jail. Despite the defeat, he insists, the strike was necessary.

The subject matter of Brothers, made with a non-professional cast, was highly topical in Germany in 1929. Employers in a number of industries went on the offensive immediately prior to the economic crash that autumn. A 14-week-long shipyard workers strike, demanding a cut in hours from 52 to 48 per week, had just ended with a defeat for the workers. SPD Minister of Labour and trade union leader Rudolf Wissel ended the strike, much to the consternation of the workers.

The SPD and trade unions had a legitimacy problem in 1929, the Weimar film retrospective catalogue understatedly notes.

The SPD-organised strike settlement stipulated a 50-hour week, although in 1918, when revolution loomed in Germany, the provisional SPD government led by Friedrich Ebert introduced the eight-hour day and a 40-hour week. Ebert had made the concession because he fearedalong with the rest of the German bourgeoisiethe establishment of a Soviet-type republic in Germany. Widespread public anger in 1929 was also fuelled by the fact that the SPD, which fought the 1928 Reichstag elections on the basis of opposing German rearmament, voted during the subsequent grand coalition national government under Hermann Muller (SPD) to finance a new battleship.

The opening of Brothers cites the famous passage in the Communist Manifesto, The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles, and clearly intends to place the strike in a revolutionary tradition. The film affirms on a number of occasions the need to keep going and concludes with the defiant appeal by German revolutionary Karl Liebknecht: Despite everything! The film clearly speaks to the outrage and bitterness felt by workers regarding the shift to the right by the SPD up to 1929.

Brothers (Bruder, 1929)

There is also, however, an attempt to transform the Hamburg defeat into some sort of moral victory and place a victorious revolution in the indefinite future. Images of the brutal state intervention against the workers recall the fact that there was no right to strike in 1897.

The two-brother back-story is also unconvincing and rather cliched: one brother is a militant striker, the other a policeman. After the killing of a worker by a police bullet, the latter comes to his senses and aids his brother. Thoughtfully, he places the insignia of state power, his helmet and sabre, down on a desk. The reality of police conduct was entirely different.

When Communist workers defended their right to demonstrate on May Day 1929, a number of workers were shot dead in a large police operation ordered by the Berlin SPD police chief Karl Zorgiebel. This happened only a few weeks after the premiere of Brothers.

G.W. Pabsts Comradeship

The German-French feature film Comradeship (Kameradschaft, 1931, also known in French as La Tragedie de la mineThe Tragedy of the Mine) represents a high point in the career of renowned Austrian filmmaker G.W. Pabst (Pandoras Box, 1929; Diary of a Lost Girl, 1929; Westfront 1918, 1930; The Threepenny Opera, 1931).

The inspiration for the film was the Courrieres mine accident in 1906. With 1,099 fatalities, it remains Europes worst mining catastrophe. The accident became known worldwide, partly becausedespite the tense relations between the German and French ruling classesa team of rescue volunteers from the German Ruhr region rushed to assist the trapped French miners.

Pabst shifts the action in his film to 1919. In so doing, he consciously contrasted the international solidarity of workers with the Versailles Treaty agreed by the victorious powers after World War I, which was dictated by predatory nationalist interests.

The war is still very much alive in the minds of the population. After German miners enter a bar on the French border, old hatreds flare up briefly when the French girl Francoise refuses to dance with a young German, although for personal reasons. A nightmarish scene takes place during the mine disaster itself, when one of the trapped French miners, gasping for air, imagines he is at war again. He fights against his supposed enemy, who in reality belongs to the German rescue team.

Comradeship (Kameradschaft, 1931)

Pabsts film differs favourably from certain earlier films about the working class milieu, such as the Weimar retrospective film Children of No Importance (1926), directed by Gerhard Lamprecht. The latter portrays child poverty in Berlin, but depicts the working class merely as an oppressed, suffering class. There are realistic images of tenements, impossible living conditions, illness, hunger and brutality, which caused a sensation and aroused pity at the time, but Lamprechts film essentially ends up appealing to the generosity of the wealthy.

In Comradeship, on the other hand, workers take the initiative without asking questions. They roar across the border to France in a lorry without a pass, and tear down the barrier in the tunnel that separates French from German miners.

The power reflected in this demonstration of internationalism is not only due to the authenticity of the scenes, in which Soviet cinematic influences are unmistakable. Above all, Comradeship shows the strength that lies in a common struggle of workers across borders. This helps give the film its power and relevance today.

Equally authentic (and painful), however, is Comradeships conclusion. After the rescue operation, the old order is carefully and bureaucratically restored underground. The customs officials repair the torn-down barrier. The film goes beyond the pacifist dream of brotherhood found in Pabsts film Westfront 1918.

The Berlinales Weimar Cinema Revisited provided a fascinating glimpse at the social and cultural contradictions of a historically critical period.

Concluded
At least three homeless charities and a number of local authorities in the UK have colluded with the Home Office in the deportation of people who are sleeping rough and whom they deem to be in the country illegally.

This was first established last year by the Corporate Watch group through freedom of information (FOI) requests to London councils.

Among these is St. Mungos, which has one of the largest homeless outreach services in the UK with more than 15 teams across the south of the England. Its web site explains, We work to prevent homelessness and support people at every step of their recovery from homelessness.

This seems not to apply if you are deemed to be an illegal immigrant.

Last month, the charity admitted cooperating with the Home Offices compliance and enforcement teams (ICE) when the latter goes searching for rough sleepers deemed to be in the UK illegally.

The latest revelations came to light in a September 2016 Home Office training document obtained by the Guardian last month. The St. Mungos logo was featured on the document, which read: This teamwork which sees both the charity referring eligible people to immigration enforcement [IE] for help with voluntary returns and IE referring people to St. Mungos has already proved beneficial for both bodies.

Questioned about its work with the Home Office, St. Mungos said some of its contracts with local authorities specified that it should work with ICE teams. I get why that can be seen as strange and unpopular for some people, said Petra Salva, the charitys director of rough sleeping services. Its a difficult climate were operating in.

If this werent enough to demonstrate the pernicious role played by the charity, Salva confirmed that Home Office enforcement teams are go[ing] up to individuals sleeping in sleeping bags and interviewing them [and] end up arresting them.

Despite Salvas claim, We dont believe our outreach staff have accompanied ICE teams this year, the Guardian reported, It continues to work with the Home Office by passing on details of people from other countries who wish to return home.

In 2017, the rough sleeping rate in London (per 1,000 households) showed an 18 percent rise since 2016, with 59 percent of rough sleepers in the capital being non-UK nationals.

Corporate Watch found that the practice of homeless charities collaborating with the Home Office is rife. Its devastating March 2017 exposure established that Outreach teams from charities, Thames Reach, and Change, Grow, Live (CGL) conduct regular joint visits with Immigration Enforcement officers, as often as fortnightly in central [London] boroughs.

It found that the charities were persuading non-UK rough sleepers to leave voluntarily. However, the figures uncovered showed that detention and enforced deportation is more common and that in any case, so-called voluntary departures are carried out under the threat of force.

Corporate Watch found a routine practice of Outreach teams pass[ing] on locations of non-UK rough sleepers to ICE, including through the London-wide CHAIN database, and through local co-operation agreements. This also had the approval of Conservative-run Westminster council, which consistently lobbied for a tougher policy on migrant rough sleepers, with the policy encouraged by the Mayors Rough Sleeping Group, which included senior charity managers from St Mungos, Thames Reach, and Homeless Link.

Its research found that the rights of people from the European Economic Area (EEA) have been eroded by loopholes in the law since 2016. People from EEA countries should be allowed to stay for three months without condition as part of exercising their treaty rights, which includes being, employed or self-employed, seeking work, studying or being self-sufficient. However, since 2016, the Home Office has changed the guidance and classified rough sleepers as abusing their treaty rights, even if they were working or have been in the country for less than three months.

ICE has the power to deport people immediately. Although the wording has since been changed to include the word proportionality, it means that a member of ICE can decide if removing a rough sleeper is correct due to circumstances. This is where the outreach charities pass their information on to ensure the process goes smoothly.

The callous nature of the work being carried out by the charities was revealed in an FOI request from Hammersmith and Fulham council. Corporate Watch noted that the council disclosed a local protocol produced by St. Mungos for its homeless outreach teams. Its report notes: According to this documentSt. Mungos outreach workers should assess the nationality of all rough sleepers they encounter and, if they are European citizens, also assess whether they are exercising their treaty rights: for example, seeking employment or education. The St. Mungos document states in bold type the procedure to be followed if a rough sleeper is judged to not exercise their treaty rights over a period of time.

The document continues: These individuals details will be passed on to the ICE by the outreach team. Following this a joint shift will be agreed with outreach, ICE, Parks Police to target/tackle these individuals.

Corporate Watch noted the scale of persecution of the homeless in these operations. Outreach teams from charities St. Mungos, Thames Reach, and Change, Grow, Live (CGL) conduct regular joint visits with Immigration Enforcement officers, as often as fortnightly in central boroughs. Freedom of Information (FOI) responses show 141 such patrols organised by the GLA and 12 London boroughs last year. This figure does not include Westminster, the biggest concentration of London homelessness, where patrols are likely to be even more frequent.

Joint visits in just eight of these areas led to 133 rough sleepers being detained, while 127 people were deported in under a year in Westminster alone.

Collaboration between homeless charities and the state has increased over the past four years with the creation of the London Homelessness Social Impact Bond (SIB), where providers are paid on a payment-by-results basis for their effectiveness in assisting rough sleepers. In February 2017, Labour Party London Mayor Sadiq Khan approved the decision to continue with 4.2 million in SIB funding.

He was forced to suspend ICE patrols in response to the revelations that have emerged. Despite these temporary changes, the scheme continues and there is no indication that the Khan will end the SIB. The main beneficiaries are St. Mungos and Thames Reach, which were both contracted with delivering services to half of a cohort of 831 entrenched rough sleepers.

In November 2017, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government released a report: London homelessness social impact bond evaluation. It hailed the success of the payment-by-results approach and the profiting from the removing of rough sleepers, saying it had stimulated providers to develop an innovative and effective delivery model.

Charities tailoring their work to the requirements of the capitalist state are the result of the drive by successive governments to hand over responsibility for public health and safety provision to the so-called Third Sector. This outsourcing of responsibilities to charities and voluntary organisations has been an integral part of the privatisation of vital services.

The revealing of the intimate relationship between St. Mungos and the repressive apparatus of the state follows the exposure last year that the Shelter housing charity had trustees that were connected to corporations involved in the Grenfell fire.

One of Shelters board, Tony Rice, was forced to resign when it was revealed that he wasand remainsthe chairman of Xerxes Equity, a construction industry investment group that is the sole shareholder in Omnis Exteriors. This is the company that sold the flammable cladding to contractors hired by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisationwho managed Grenfell Tower on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea councilfor the refurbishment of the tower.

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Resignations at UK Shelter housing charity, after Grenfell exposes role of Third Sector

[10 July 2017]
 This attempted murder using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town was not just a crime against the Skripals. It was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk. 

This was one of the many statements by UK Prime Minister Theresa May accusing Russia, without any credible evidence being made available, of committing crimes on British soil with the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The mendacity of May and the British ruling elitewho have universally backed her claimsknows no bounds. The accusations against Russia were made as it was finally admitted that MI5 (Military Intelligence section fiveBritains domestic intelligence agency) is permitted to carry out criminal activity.

Earlier this month, after a seven-month legal battle by human rights groups Reprieve and Privacy International, the May government revealed that, under a previously secret order, MI5 is entitled to break the law and to commit crimes in pursuit of its aims.

In a written statement to Parliament on March 1, May said she had instructed Lord Justice Fulford, the investigatory powers commissioner (IPC), to keep under review the application of the security service guidelines on the use of agents who participate in criminality and the authorisations issued in accordance with them.

The direction to the IPC is entitled security service participation in criminality. The one-page text instructs the IPC to oversee the participation of MI5 officers in criminal activity under a previously secret order known as the third direction.

Had the legal case not been mounted by Reprieve and Privacy International, it is likely that the ministerial order would never have seen the light of dayas it has remained secret since it was first written into law in 2014.

After the announcement, a solicitor for Privacy International, Millie Graham Wood, asserted, Had we not sought to challenge the government over the failure to publish this direction, together with Reprieve, it is questionable whether it would have ever been brought to light. It is wrong in principle for there to be entire areas of intelligence oversight and potentially of intelligence activity, about which the public knows nothing at all.

The government directive covers the operations of what they call Covert Human Intelligence Sources [CHIS], who are trained to provide intelligence on British citizens deemed a threat to national security and worthy of attention by the state.

The government attempted to keep even the few paragraphs released under lock and key, arguing that publication would damage national security. The guidance itself, concerning when British spies can commit crimes, and how far they are able to go, remains confidential.

In 2016, a report published by Intelligence Services Commissioner Sir Mark Waller clearly hinted at the fact that M15 is authorised to commit criminal activity. Headed Agent Participation in the Commission of an Offence, it stated, Agents are one of the most significant information gathering assets we have.

It continued, There may be occasions where a CHIS participates in a criminal offence in order to gather the required intelligence, for example, membership of a proscribed organisation or handling stolen goods.

Reprieve and Privacy International are demanding that the full security service guidelines be published.

After the note was released, Reprieves Maya Foa said, After a seven-month legal battle the prime minister has finally been forced to publish her secret order but we are a long way from having transparency. The public and parliament are still being denied the guidance that says when British spies can commit criminal offences and how far they can go. Authorised criminality is the most intrusive power a state can wield. Theresa May must publish this guidance without delay.

May will do no such thing. The British state has zero intention of revealing their modus operandi of dirty state operations.

Even the minute amount released reveals that there is one rule book for working people and another for MI5 and the intelligence agencies. While workers and young people are being incarcerated at an accelerated rate for even petty crimes, the forces of the state have carte blanche for their lawless operations.

The acknowledgement of an official sanction for state operatives to behave criminally in pursuit of their nefarious aims received only cursory attention in the media, which merely noted that the document was now in the public domain.

MI5 has been involved in subverting democracy by spying, criminal collusion, conspiracy, infiltration and political provocation. Its main target has been the working class, especially the socialist movement.

Former MI5 operative and dyed-in-the-wool anti-communist Peter Wright detailed some of its activities, but by no means all of them, in his 1987 book Spycatcher. In the book, Wright described how he and his colleagues in MI5 bugged and burgled their way across London and the UK.

He detailed black bag operations carried out by the agency against the Labour government of Harold Wilson in the 1960s and 1970s. It is now well documented that MI5 had its dirty digits all over a plot during the early 1970s to organise secret fascistic paramilitary forces and private armies to overthrow Wilson and install Lord Mountbatten as the head of an extreme right-wing military dictatorship.

Spycatcher, whose publication the Tory government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher attempted to suppress at the time, revealed that the British state spied upon and infiltrated agents into the forerunners of the Socialist Equality Party in the UKthe Socialist Labour League (SLL) and the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP).

Wright revealed that MI5 boasted of effectively running the Communist Party of Great Britainsuch was the depth of their agents penetration into the party. Subsequently, MI5 turned more of their resources to what Wright described as the far and wide lefti.e., Trotskyism.

Former MI5 agent David Shayler has subsequently revealed that the British state had a high-level informer within the SLL/WRP in a leading party position in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a period of enormous revolutionary potential in Britain and internationally.

Even the recent authorised official history of MI5 by Christopher Andrew, published in 2009 to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of what was initially known as the Secret Service Bureau, acknowledges that the WRP was under surveillance by MI5s F Branch, which was responsible for counter-subversion.

There is ample evidence that MI5 was heavily involved in the Thatcher government efforts to defeat the miners during the 1984/1985 strike. Among their anti-democratic strikebreaking activities was the infiltration of agent Roger Windsor into the National Union of Mineworkers leadership.

There is no doubt that, under conditions in which social and political antagonisms are reaching the breaking point, the state security apparatus has accelerated its anti-working class and anti-socialist activities. That is the real reason Mays acknowledgement received virtually no comment in the media.
Recent events show that workers and peasants face grave dangers as the ruling elite on both sides of Hispaniola resurrect figures from their violent pasts.

Haitian President Jovenel Moise announced on March 13 the appointment of six general staff members for the reconstituted Forces Armees dHaiti. All six held senior posts in the FAdH before it was disbanded by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995. Three have blood on their hands from the period of the Raoul Cedras military dictatorship in the early 1990s.

Colonel Jean-Robert Gabriel, a new assistant chief of staff, was convicted in absentia for his role in the April 1994 Raboteau Massacre under Cedras. After his appointment to the new general staff was announced, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, which had secured his conviction in connection with Raboteau in 2000, issued a press release noting that not only was he complicit in the massacre, but he also was a torturer under Cedras.

A Haitian court overturned Gabriels conviction in 2006, using a technicality it had dredged up from a 1928 law passed during the American occupation.

Brigade General Sadrac Saintil, the new army chief of staff, was a Lieutenant Colonel during the Cedras regime and participated in the official whitewash of the Raboteau Massacre.

Another assistant chief of staff in the resurrected army, Derby Guerrier, had his assets frozen by the US Treasury in 1993 because of his role in the Cedras dictatorship. The current acting commander in chief of the FAdH, Jodel Lesage, served in the military of Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier and was trained by the US military as a member of the Leopard Corps.

In announcing the appointments, Moise claimed that the army will be used to manage responses to natural disasters and as a coast guard. He undoubtedly views it as a replacement for the United Nations hated forces and the US military, which deployed far fewer marines after Hurricane Matthew than after the 2010 earthquake.

The US, France, and the UN view the Haitian National Police, which they helped build up to 15,000 members, as a more effective means of suppressing domestic unrest than military troops. US Senator Marco Rubio had this tactic in mind when he pretended last month to oppose Moises military appointments, telling the Miami Herald, I continue to question why, with so many other needs, Haiti would pursue creating an army.

While the reconstituted army has fewer than 200 troops at present, Haitian Defense Minister Herve Denis plans to recruit 5,000.

Despite his protestations about human rights, Moise also sees the army as a means of addressing tensions along the border with the Dominican Republic. There is currently no criminal extradition treaty between the two countries, but in March the Dominican military demanded the extradition of a Haitian suspected in the murder of a Dominican husband and wife in Pedernales.

In response, Haitian judge Francoise Morailles told Le Nouvelliste that more than ever it is time for the FAdHto get to work on the violent situation with which Haitians find themselves confronted at the border.

Ramfis Dominguez Trujillo, the grandson of murderous dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, has announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in the Dominican Republic. According to a Gallup poll last month, 42 percent of Dominicans support his candidacy while 51 percent are opposed. In order to give his campaign a populist air, Trujillo is promising to institute anti-corruption measures that would include 30-year jail terms for guilty officials.

More ominously, he is proposing to build a border wall between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is already monitoring parts of the border with drones and cameras.

On Sunday, according to the Providence Journal, Trujillo told a group of Dominican emigrants in Rhode Island that we need to hold a tough and firm stance before the peaceful Haitian invasion. We need to remove all Haitians who are in the country illegally.

In the Pedernales case, a Haitian named Edner Noel is accused of murdering a couple on whose Dominican ranch he had worked. He was captured and jailed in Haiti after crossing the border.

After the murders, vigilantes drove through Pedernales in a pickup truck with a loud speaker on March 13 and demanded that all Haitians leave within 24 hours. At least 250 families fled across the border to Anse-a-Pitres. Dominican President Danilo Medina ordered the deployment of 60 soldiers to Pedernales, along with 30 anti-riot police.

There are conflicting reports of whether Haitians had been killed in retaliation, with the mayor of Anse-a-Pitres on the Haitian side of the border telling Le Nouvelliste that he had heard reports of deaths. Tensions continued to be high two weeks after the murders, with the international market still closed by Dominican authorities.

In a second incident, a Dominican was murdered on March 19 in Barahona province, with a Haitian co-worker named Jacques Estimphil accused of the crime. The Haitian refugee support group GARR told Alterpresse that approximately 100 people had fled across the border to Haiti to avoid reprisals. Dominican soldiers stopped people who were trying to flee and demanded bribes of 150 pesos.
This is the second part of a two-part article. Part one was published on April 5.

The Equality of Opportunity study itself points to several trends that undercut the notion that race and gender are the fundamental dividing lines in society.

First, the study shows that across race and gender, the most important determinant of a childs income quintile position is the income quintile of the parent. The Times neglects this obvious fact in its conclusion that race determines socioeconomic position.

Second, according to the identity narrative, mobility should be consistently higher for all white people and consistently lower for all minorities, regardless of parental income or gender. Also, mobility should be higher for all subgroups of men and lower for women. As the Times writes in its article recapping the study, Another way to think about this data is that white men earn more than almost anyone else. They earn more than black men and they earn more than white women. Both gender and race contribute to inequality, and white men hold advantages in both ways.

The study shows that this is not a correct appraisal of the data. The following examples from the study explode the lie that white privilege and male privilege determine social position.

Case 1: Black women compared with white women [1]

The study shows that black women have a higher economic mobility than both black men and white women. The study takes the income of black and white women born of parents in the bottom quintile.

This shows that very few children born to the poorest parents of either race make it to the top 20 percent, and even far fewer will make it to the top 5 percent. But white women born to Q5 parents are nearly a third more likely than their black counterparts to stay in the bottom quintile.

Among those born with parents in Q3, both white and black women are still equally likely to reach the top quintile while white women are a third more likely to fall into the 5th quintile. Among those with parents in the top quintile, though white girls are slightly more likely to stay in the top quintile, they are also more likely to fall from the top into the poorest quintile (15 percent vs. 11 percent for black girls).

Case 2: Black women compared with white men

According to the study, black women are less likely than white men to stay in the lowest quintile. Though white men born to Q5 parents are still far more likely than black girls to make it to the first and second quintiles, 26 percent of white men will stay in Q5 compared with 21 percent for black women.

The study notes: high school completion and college attendance rates are uniformly higher for black women than for white men across the parental income distribution. (pp. 22-23) (emphasis in the original).

Case 3: White men and women compared with Hispanic men

Hispanic men born to parents in the poorest quintile tend to have a higher upward mobility than white men (by a slim margin) and a higher upward mobility than white women by a larger margin. This tends to indicate that race is not the determinative factor.

One conclusion to draw from this is that the mobility handicap women have from their gender outweighs the handicap Hispanics have from their race. But this is contradicted in cases 2, 3, and 5, where women have higher mobility than men.

Case 4: Household income of white women compared with white men

When individual income is measured, white men have higher mobility than white women. But when the household income of white women and white men is measured, white women born to Q5 parents have higher mobility than white men born to Q5 parents because they have a higher rate of marriage than white men (and a substantially higher rate than black men and women) and are more likely to benefit from having a second wage-earner in their family.

Case 5: Black women compared with black men

According to the study, poor black women have significantly higher upward social mobility than poor black men.

This holds up for black children with parents born in the middle quintile:

The data shows that black men are much more likely to fall into deep poverty than women. Male privilege cannot explain this.

The data confirms what all socialists acknowledge: there are substantial racial gaps on the whole in terms of upward mobility and average wealth, especially between whites and black men. But it also proves that white privilege and male privilege are not the main determinants of income, and that in certain cases whites and men are less able to climb the economic ladder than blacks or women. There are broader, more fundamental social processes playing out beneath this data.

The roots of the social catastrophe confronting black men

The study and the census data show black men are the most deeply impoverished of any segment of the population. The study notes, The black-white intergenerational gap in individual incomes is driven almost entirely by men. While finding that black men lagged white men by 11 percentage points, compared to their respective parents, the study found that black women have 1 percent higher individual income than white women relative to parental income.

The outlier among all races and genders is black men. Aside from Native Americans (long ignored by the identity politics crowd), black mens upward mobility is substantially more limited than any other racial/gender combination.

The study points to why this is the case. It cites the fact that 21 percent of the black men in the bottom 1 percent in terms of income were incarcerated on census day 2010, when the data for the children born between 1978 and 1983 was drawn. The study notes that as parental income rises, the incarceration rates decline for both white and black males but that among children with parents in the top 1%, only 0.2% of white males were incarcerated, whereas 2.2% of black males were incarceratedthe same rate as for white boys who grew up in families at the 34th percentile of the parental income distribution.

The study also notes that while black and white women work the same hours for the same wages, The gaps in employment rates for men are particularly stark, especially for children growing up in low-income families. Black men with parents at the 25th percentile are 18.9 percent less likely to work in a given year than white men.  The employment rates of black men with parents at the 75th percentile are comparable to those of white men with parents at the 9th percentile.

Further, Black children have substantially lower marriage rates across the parental income distribution, with a gap of 32 percentage points for children with parents at the 25th percentile and 34 percent at the 75th percentile.

The study shows that among the most important factors in reducing the intergenerational white-black gap is the presence of black fathers in low-income areas. The study also found that black boys employment rates are significantly higher in tracts with higher levels of black father presence. According to the study, 66.3 percent of black children grow up in neighborhoods with high poverty rates and low rates of black father presence.

Other factors that reduce the black-white gap (controlling for income and other variables) are: parental marriage rate, parental education, and, interestingly, the presence of a higher number of white fathers in low-income neighborhoods.

Indeed, the study finds that racism among whites (measured somewhat arbitrarily by Internet search engine results) is only minimally responsible for a wider racial income gap. The lack of upward mobility facing black men is therefore not the product of racism among poor whites. If backwardness among sections of white people was eliminated, black men would still face the same levels of poverty and inequality.

The powerful social and economic barriers for black menlack of jobs, high incarceration rates, racist police and prosecutors, family ties that break under conditions of immense economic stressare the product of the brutality of capitalist class rule in America.

Consider the social and political conditions in which the studys second generation was born. The years 1978 to 1983 marked a turning point in American and world history. In the US and internationally, reactionary governments began to roll back the social gains of the mass movements of the earlier 20th century, spearheaded by Ronald Reagan in the US, Margaret Thatcher in the UK, and Helmut Kohl in Germany.

From 1978 to 1983, the trade unions in the US isolated and sold out a number of important strikes and workers protests, paving the way for 30 years of unchained corporate exploitation, including the PATCO (1981), Greyhound (1983), and Phelps-Dodge (1983) strikes. In 1983, the United Auto Workers officially adopted the position of corporatismi.e., integration of the union apparatus into the structure of corporate management, through the proliferation of union-management committees, training centers and the like. The decline in strike activity is responsible for a decline in labors share of income and the growth of inequality.

During the same period, a number of African-American participants of the civil rights movement transformed themselves more nakedly into corrupt and right-wing Democratic Party politicians. In 1981, Andrew Young was elected mayor of Atlanta and John Lewis to the Atlanta city council. In the early 1980s, United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez made a corrupt deal with a millionaire slum real estate developer to use workers dues money to purchase and flip foreclosed houses. A relative handful of affluent members of oppressed racial groups were promoted while the horrific social conditions and police violence that sparked the urban rebellions of the 1960s in Watts, Detroit, and Newark only worsened.

Throughout this period, the globalization of the world economy set in motion the elimination of millions of jobs in coal and manufacturing, leading to the economic destruction of broad swaths of Appalachia and the industrial Midwest. Both the Democratic and Republican parties slashed social programs and lowered taxes on the wealthy. Bill Clintons administration in particular passed a set of reactionary tough on crime laws that drastically expanded the black prison population and set mandatory minimum sentences under which millions remain locked up.

The study includes a series of maps measuring mobility by geographic region (commuting zones, or CZs). Black men with parents at the 75th percentile, representing a somewhat more stable section of the working class that would have benefited from higher manufacturing wages of the mid-century, have lower average income ranks in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Eastern Missouri, Upstate New Yorkall former manufacturing centers.

Among white women with parents at the 25th percentile, for example, the worst areas are the former coalfields of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, as well as the Ozarks area of Southern Missouri and Arkansas, and the industrial regions of Ohio and Indiana.

The studys authors conclude by calling for policies that benefit specific racial subgroups across class lines. But under conditions where the wealthiest 5-10 percent of each racial group possesses the vast majority of wealth and income, enacting policies that benefit specific racial subgroups across class lines means enacting policies that benefit the affluent only.

The degree of inequality within races is the material basis for identity politics. The Times study is explicitly aimed at covering up the fact that the bottom 90 percent of each racial group has far more in common with one anotherin terms of income, culture, employment, the problems they confrontthan they do with the affluent of their own race. In fact, the increasing material homogenization of different races of workers shows that the objective basis for racial politics among the broad masses of people is declining.

Improving the actual social conditions of workersminority and white alikerequires the building of a mass movement of the working class aimed not at establishing racial privileges at the top but at expropriating the wealth of the rich and affluent and redistributing it to meet the urgent social needs of workers of all races.

Note:

[1] Using individual income unless otherwise indicated

Concluded
After a reportedly heated meeting of the US National Security Council on Wednesday, the Trump White House announced that there was no change in US policy toward Syria, despite a volley of comments and tweets by President Trump demanding an immediate pullout of the 2,000 US troops now deployed in the country.

The meeting with the National Security Council was essentially a conference between Trump and his generals, since he has no current top-level civilian foreign policy advisers.

Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last month, and his successor, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, has not yet been confirmed. National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, an Army general, is a lame duck, and his replacement, former Bush administration UN Ambassador John Bolton, does not begin work until next week.

As a consequence, the meeting Wednesday involved Trump and Secretary of Defense James Mattis (a retired Marine Corps general); the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunsford; and the head of the Pentagons Central Command, General Joseph Votel, to discuss Syria policy.

The White House issued a brief statement after the meeting, declaring, The military mission to eradicate ISIS in Syria is coming to a rapid end, but adding that it would continue. At the same time, Washington appealed to countries in the region and beyond, plus the United Nations, to work toward peace and ensure that ISIS never re-emerges.

Press reports suggested that Trump had told the military brass that he wanted a complete pullout within six months, an indication that the wrangling over Syria is largely motivated by domestic political considerations. Trump wants to have the option of announcing a supposedly triumphant end to the Syrian intervention on the eve of the November 6 congressional election, now seven months away.

The Republican Party is trailing badly in the polls and has suffered a series of recent reverses in key industrial states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Significantly, Trump made his initial announcement about withdrawing all US troops from Syria at a campaign-style rally in Ohio, another key industrial state in the Midwest. He is acutely awareand the audience response at the rally demonstrated itthat the American public is deeply hostile to military interventions in the Middle East.

There is an enormous gulf between this popular antiwar sentiment and the demands of the military-intelligence apparatus, the Democratic and Republican parties, and the corporate media, where there has been near-universal denunciation of Trumps suggestion of a pullout from Syria.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who plays a major role on national security policy in the Republican caucus, warned on Fox News Sunday that a withdrawal from Syria was the worst decision Trump could make.

On Tuesday, there was a revealing split-screen moment, when Trump was declaring his support for withdrawal from Syria at a White House press briefing, at the very time that two top US officials, General Votel of Central Command, and Brett McGurk, the State Department coordinator of the campaign against ISIS, were a few blocks away addressing the US Institute for Peace, a think tank devoted, of course, to imperialist war, about the necessity to stay the course.

We are in Syria to fight ISIS. That is our mission, and our mission isnt over, McGurk told the audience, citing two large pockets of ISIS fighters numbering several thousand men, and including ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. We have to work through some very difficult issues as we speak, he said. We are going to complete that mission.

General Votel was even more categorical, saying, 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. He added, There is a military role in this, certainly in the stabilization phase.

Wednesdays NSC meeting was only the latest demonstration of the sway that the generals exercise in all Trump administration policy matters. Besides the generals on the other side of the table, briefing Trump, his own chief of staff, John Kelly, is a retired Marine Corps general implacably opposed to any premature withdrawal of US forces from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan.

The NSC meeting coincided with the meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the political situation in Syria in the wake of the destruction of ISIS and the military advances of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The three presidents agreed on maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria, an implicit rejection of Kurdish aspirations in the region.

At the same time, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that United States troops were building new positions near the front line close to the Syrian-Turkish border, with outposts flying the American flag. According to this report, The structures look much like the fighting positions once seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, which projected a clear message: Were here for a while.

A top US general Thursday emphasized that Trump had not set a deadline for withdrawing US troops from Syria, despite his statement to that effect at a campaign rally last week, several tweets, and his comments to the press Tuesday during an appearance with visiting leaders of the three Baltic states.

Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, told a Pentagon press briefing, One of the things that we havent been given is a timeline, and he went on to praise Trump, saying, The President has actually been very good in not giving us a specific timeline.

In a transparent effort to flatter Trump, General McKenzie contrasted the current posture in Syria with timelines like those set by the Obama administration in Afghanistan, where, he said, US forces operated against a timeline that was known to the enemy.

The real attitude towards Trumps vacillations about Syria was spelled out in a scathing editorial published Thursday night by the Washington Post, which has been aligned with the Democratic Party efforts to push Trump towards a more confrontational policy against Russia.

Under the headline, Trumps mind-boggling gift to Americas enemies, the Post took note of Trumps belated climb-down before the demands of his national security team, and then warned of the devastating consequences that a pullout from Syria would have for the interests of US imperialism.

Brushing aside the question of ISIS, which has always been a pretext, calling it only one of the major US interests at stake, the Post spelled out the main US war aims: preventing Iran and Russia from entrenching in the country at the expense of U.S. allies including Israel and Jordan; as well as preserving Turkeys place as a NATO ally and preventing destabilizing waves of refugees headed for Europe.

The editorial continued, making a sinister connection between US policy in Syria and the ongoing anti-Russian campaign by the Democrats and their media mouthpieces like the Post and the New York Times: That Mr. Trumps intended retreat is a gift to Vladimir Putin perhaps should not be surprising, given Mr. Trumps curious eagerness to accommodate the Russian ruler.
On Tuesday night, University of Chicago campus police shot 21-year-old student Charles Thomas as he displayed signs of a severe mental breakdown. The shooting takes place amid a growing mental health crisis among college students and the violent response of the campus police exposes the increasing brutality of life in the United States.

The shooting took place late Tuesday night after the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) received reports of a burglary in an affluent section of the Hyde Park neighborhood, where the University of Chicago campus is located. According to the university police, Thomas was seen carrying a long metal bar and breaking car and apartment windows.

The campus police vehicle dashboard camera footage as well as the body camera footage of the officer show a clearly disturbed young man. The campus officer pulls up to him and yells mental and exits the car.

The body camera shows Thomas walking towards the officer while yelling at him. The officer yells back, Dont come at me, and then fires a shot at Thomas, who falls to the ground screaming. According to the Chicago Police Department (CPD) report, Thomas was struck in his shoulder and then taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

While Thomas has survived the incident, he is now charged by the CPD for aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property.

Speaking to the student newspaper the Chicago Maroon, Thomas mother Kathleen Thomas said that she believes her son was having a major psychiatric episode. While her son has not had a history of mental illness, the family has had a history of bipolar disorders. According to his mother, such disorders can manifest themselves at the young mans age.

She told the Maroon, That was not the Charles I know. All through him growing up and his teenage years, Ive only seen him get slightly angry a couple times. He never had to go to the principals office ever, never had any run-ins with the law.

Thomas was studying political science in his fourth year at the elite research institution in Chicagos South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park. Thomas mother suspects that he had a breakdown under the immense stress of trying to complete a bachelors thesis for his major. She added, Hes always put a lot of pressure on himself to be successful. According to her, something must have made him snap, noting that he did not get much sleep.

Thomas mother, while grateful her son was not killed, asked if there were other means of de-escalating the situation. I realize it was a very tense situation, she told the Maroon. I do sort of wonder: Were there alternative methods that could have been used other than using bullets to handle the situation? Im not sure exactly what the policy is, or what the training is, but in the video they used the word mental; so they realized that he was having a mental health episode. If they realized that, was there a different way to handle it so he didnt get shot?

The official response of the University has largely been to defend the actions of the campus police. Maintaining our communitys safety, security and well-being is of paramount importance, said President Robert J. Zimmer in an official press release.

The response among faculty, students and much of the population has been one of horror. Thomas professor, Guy Emerson Mount, tweeted, Charles Thomas was shot Tuesday night by the University of Chicagos police force. He is a student in my class. I know him as thoughtful and gentle. Today I have to face his classmates and explain why I work at an institution that shot their friend for having a mental health crisis. Protests by students took place Thursday night on campus.

The University of Chicago, one of the most expensive schools in the country, is guarded tightly by the campus police and surrounded by a sea of poverty and social breakdown. The surrounding neighborhoods of Woodlawn and Englewood have high rates of poverty, unemployment and violence as a result of decades of deindustrialization, job losses and a social counterrevolution carried out by the ruling class against the working class across the country.

The UCPD is one of the largest private security forces in the worldsomething which the University brags aboutwith nearly 100 or so officers. Ominously, according to a 2014 Vice.com report, this private security force has jurisdiction over 65,000 people, 50,000 of whom are not campus residents. With the passing of the Illinois Private Campus Police Act of 1992, the UCPD has been given full policing powers, including the ability to search, ticket, arrest or detain anyone within their jurisdiction.

The UCPD has a history of racial profiling of African-American working-class youth who enter the neighborhood, as well as students on campus. The UCPD is entirely non-transparent about its profiling activities, including the number of times officers engage in anti-democratic stop-and-frisk practices that terrorize the population. As a private security force, the UCPD is not beholden to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Detectives in the UCPD have previously spied on student protests, with one officer posing as a protester in 2013.

Since 2005, there have been 160 complaints against the UCPD, according to a 2018 report produced by the Independent Review Committee, an organization composed of faculty, students and community members. While the committee is capable of reviewing complaints, it is largely powerless to enforce any changes. Many complaints have also been dismissed as unfounded without much of an investigation.

The shooting of Charles Thomas takes place amid a reign of police violence across the country, with thousands of workers and youth targeted by the police. With unprecedented levels of social inequality and social tension building up in the United States, thousands of people have been killed in the past two decades by the police. College campuses have also become increasingly militarized, with the intelligence agencies and Pentagon forming partnerships with higher education institutions.

More and more, young people face enormous debts just to attend college, with total student loan debt skyrocketing to nearly $1.4 trillion. Young people, including many of the non-tenured faculty at institutions like the University of Chicago, face bleak job prospects and meager living conditions. Millennial students, even well-off middle-class students, face intense pressures to finish college, leaving them with crippling student loan debts and no guarantee of a decent job or a future.

Under the weight of these social and economic pressures, undergraduate and graduate students as well as working class youth are experiencing increasing rates of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders and other forms of mental illnesses. A 2016 UCLA report found that nearly 12 percent of freshmen are frequently depressed. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 33 percent of students have considered suicide.
Why is President Trump suddenly in a rush to get out of Syria?

Could the answer to Trump's abrupt announcement that, "We'll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon," -- which left even White House aides scrambling to figure out what the President had in mind -- lead us back to Russian President Vladimir Putin?

Pushback from security experts has apparently irritated the President but persuaded him for now to delay the withdrawal for the time being. At least that's the most recent decision, subject to change by the mercurial President. But it's worth exploring why Trump blindsided his advisers and America's allies with a sudden push to withdraw.

It was never a secret that Trump wanted the US involvement in Syria to be limited to defeating ISIS, but the urgency --- "Very soon -- very soon we're coming out," he said in Ohio -- was unexpected.

Recall that a couple of weeks ago, Trump made a controversial call to the Russian President, congratulating Putin on his re-election victory in Russia's patently-undemocratic election, ignoring the all-caps "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" guidance in his briefing materials, and failing to mention the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK despite the massive diplomatic crisis it triggered.

Well, the two leaders discussed another topic that day, but, as far as the White House was concerned, you wouldn't have known it.

Curiously, the White House readout of the conversation did not mention Syria. But the Kremlin had its own summary of the chat. It noted that, "The problem of Syria was discussed," and "There was recognition on both sides of the need to make rapid strides toward achieving settlements."

The following week, during a speech in Ohio, Trump dropped the bombshell that it is time for America's small but crucial 2,000-troop force to leave Syria. Since then, he has reasserted several times his intention to pull out of Syria quickly, despite a barrage of warnings and criticism from friends and foes, along with reports from unnamed administration officials who say the move would be damaging to US interests, dangerous for US allies -- and beneficial to Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Republican Sen Lindsey Graham said pulling out of Syria would be "the single worst decision the president could make," calling the idea "a disaster in the making." Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono called Trump's Syria policy "incoherent."

Critics said a withdrawal now would allow ISIS to reemerge. More to the point, it would create a vacuum that would be quickly filled by Russia, Iran and Turkey. It would prove devastating to America's friends, the Kurds and Arabs fighting under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and it would put Israel and Saudi Arabia on a collision course with Iran.

Perhaps it was a coincidence that Trump announced his intention to withdraw just in time for the summit meeting of the three countries that today control that future of Syria. This week, Putin met in Ankara with the presidents of Iran and Turkey to plan for Syria's future. The world's sole superpower (the US, in case you were wondering) was not represented. (Neither was Syria.)

The impulse to get out too quickly is particularly intriguing because it risks replicating some of the moves over which Trump as a candidate ridiculed President Obama, and it would run counter to Trump's own stated policy on Iran.

During the campaign, Trump repeatedly called Obama the "founder of ISIS." The statement was red meat to Obama haters. He perversely refused to explain what he meant, but at last, under pressure, he explained that Obama got out of Iraq too soon, and "that was the founding of ISIS, OK?"

Strategists now warn that withdrawing from Syria would allow a not-completely-destroyed ISIS to reconstitute.

Trump also mocked Obama for announcing when US troops would wrap up their missions. "I don't want to broadcast to the enemy exactly what my plan is," he said, "This is what Obama does." Trump has talked in a White House meeting about a deadline of six months for withdrawal from Syria, although according to a senior US general, Trump has not laid out a specific timeline for the military to do so. An administration official told CNN, "The President blasted Obama for a timeline in Iraq, but that is in essence what we have been given."

Whether or not it was Putin who prompted Trump to accelerate America's withdrawal, Syria presents a unique dilemma for the President. From the days of the campaign, he decried previous presidents' costly engagements in the Middle East. But his foreign policy has other key elements. Trump has vowed to reverse Obama's policies on Iran, vowing to curb Tehran's power. Moving out of Syria would strengthen Tehran in a way that is in stark conflict with his stated objectives.

Trump declared that the US has "neglected Iran's steady expansion of proxy forces...in hopes of dominating the greater Middle East," noting that Tehran wants "to establish a bridge from Iran to Lebanon and Syria."

If the US withdraws before its Syrian allies are strong enough, Iran will immediately establish that Tehran-Damascus land bridge that Trump himself warned about. Iran would cement its power in Syria and Lebanon. That would make the Middle East even more unstable, with Iran at Israel's doorstep and Saudi Arabia's tension with Iran greatly magnified.

So, Trump has a dilemma. There's his "America First" instinct to step back from the Middle East and bring the troops home (an instinct that, incidentally, is not unlike Obama's.) And then, there is his commitment to deter Iran from escalating its strength in the region.

He can bring the troops home or he can deter Iran. Which will it be?

The answer to Trump's dilemma may be found in Moscow. That's because a quick US withdrawal aligns with Putin's objectives. The Kremlin's foreign policy in recent years has consisted in large part of moving in where the US moves out. Russia has become the great power broker in Syria. The sooner Trump pulls out the troops, the easier it is for Putin to flex his muscle in shaping the region to his liking.

The question remains, how much is Putin shaping US foreign policy?
In 2014, a 23-year-old woman with cerebral palsy was allegedly gang-raped and thrown from the rooftop in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

"The suspects, who are from an upper-class family, have not only managed to evade prosecution, but they continue to threaten the survivor's family," said Nidhi Goyal, a disability rights activist and consultant to the disability rights division at Human Rights Watch, a global nonprofit human rights organization.

India saw legal reforms after a 2012 gang rape that shocked the country Few police or courts are trained to help people with disabilities report a crime

"The first community response to this case was, 'why should we support this unproductive woman and ruin the life of this productive man?' " she said.

In a Human Rights Watch report published Monday, the 2014 gang rape is cited as just one example highlighting the additional challenges women and girls with disabilities face in India. If they survive sexual violence, they face barriers when trying to pursue justice, according to the report.

"She's mental. Why should I pay attention to her?" This was the response Susmita, 26, also from West Bengal, got from the police when she wanted to report her sedation and rape by four male neighbors in February 2014. Susmita, whose name was changed for the report, has a form of schizophrenia, according to Human Rights Watch.

After the 2012 gang rape of Jyoti Singh Pandey in the capital, New Delhi, reforms were introduced in India to strengthen laws on sexual violence. These included increasing the length of prison sentences, the introduction of the death penalty for some sex crimes and setting up a dedicated fund for safety initiatives.

Amendments made to criminal law in 2013 also included provisions to safeguard the rights of women and girls with disabilities and facilitate their participation in proceedings.

But the latest report finds that gaps in the implementation of these reforms are exacerbated for women with disabilities who face multiple issues, such as a lack of mobility or an inability to communicate.

An 'invisible' group

Women with disabilities are made invisible by society, activists like Amba Salelkar believe, preventing larger reforms on sexual violence from reaching this community. Salelkar is the director of programs at Equals, Centre for Promotion of Social Justice.

The process of "invisibilization" starts early. It is fostered by a lack of inclusive education in schools and restricted access to public spaces due to inaccessible infrastructure, Salelkar said. The stigma of having a child with disability also keeps people with disabilities segregated, she added.

When it comes to reporting incidents of sexual violence, women with disabilities are not seen as sexual beings, and assaults on them are more likely to get buried, Goyal believes.

"She is considered asexual, unattractive or on the other extreme: desperate and only wanting sex." said Goyal, who has a visual impairment herself. "If you invisibilize them and their sexuality, why would you acknowledge the sexual violence that happens to them?"

When the stories are reported to the police, the response is very often, "How will she know?" questioning the accounts of survivors, Salelka said.

Maneka, 15, whose name was also changed for the report, has intellectual disabilities and reported being raped by two men in October 2015. In the police report, her age was inaccurately recorded as over 18, and her disability was omitted altogether, the report states. This resulted in her being excluded from child protection laws as well as the 2013 amendments that protect the rights of women with disabilities.

Gaps in implementation

More than five years after Pandey's rape, legal reforms aimed at helping victims of sexual assault have been slow to materialize on the ground.

Activists like Jayshree Bajoria, a consultant with Human Rights Watch, say survivors continue to encounter hostile police personnel unwilling to register complaints and still experience use of "two-finger" tests -- a practice done to note the presence or absence of the hymen and the size and apparent laxity of the vagina -- by medical professionals during examinations for evidence collection, despite critiques of its medical validity.

Monday's report records how the situation is significantly worse for disabled women.

The comprehensive report notes that justice is difficult at every stage of the judicial process, from reporting incidents of violence to the police to getting medical care and navigating the court system. For instance, the report finds that even in cases of "extreme violence," survivors with disabilities had difficulties in securing compensation with no set standards for the amount.

The 23-year old woman with cerebral palsy, gang-raped by three neighbors in the 2014 case, had applied for compensation to cover her medical expenses after the incident. However, the report found that she has still not received any amount from the state, said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

'Reasonable accommodations'

Disability rights activists stress the need for "reasonable accommodations" outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These accommodations require that justice systems make the appropriate changes to ensure that a person with a disability is able to "enjoy or exercise on an equal basis with others of all human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Yet few police officers or courts in India have the training required to handle cases involving people with disabilities. Such training would cover ensuring that information regarding the disability of the survivor is recorded in the police report. As a result of the lack of this type of training, there are many instances of inaccurate or incomplete information on police reports, and survivors are unable to claim certain benefits or compensation to which they are entitled.

Furthermore, police rarely provide the victims with information on legal aid or services.

Sanjay Gunjyal, inspector general of police from the northern state of Uttarakhand, believes that while training is a first step, it is not enough.

"Officers should be sensitized to the emotional and psychological needs of the victim and how to work with women and girls with disabilities," he told Human Rights Watch.

"You don't want people to be denied access to justice, because what they needed was unreasonable or too expensive," Salelkar said. "If somebody was raped in Ooty (in southern India) and if the nearest sign language interpreter is in Coimbatore (more than 85 kilometers away), it doesn't matter if it's going to cost you to have to get that."

One of the solutions suggested in the report is more training for the officials who handle cases of sexual assault, such as ensuring access to "special educators" who can identify disability accurately and facilitate communication.

An example given in the report is the case of Razia, a 13-year-old girl from Uttarakhand with an intellectual disability, who found it hard to talk about her rape by her brother's tutor. Her social worker came up with the idea of using a doll, which Razia then used to give police a clear account of what had happened.

Whether these changes will materialize and how long they will take are questions that activists will continue to ask.

"Far more women are coming out despite the victim blaming, despite the stigma that is associated with it. And that is no small change. That is significant," Bajoria said. "But the state must ensure that the survivors have access to their rights and entitlements. And that's a challenge, because the monitoring and evaluation needs to happen systemically. How long will it take?"
A Valley mother says a local charter school discriminated and retaliated against her kids all because of a dress code dispute.

Tanisha Reid, who's two sons attended Peoria's Paramount Academy, is angry over what she describes as a nearly year-long nightmare.

"I would like the recognition that this is what this charter school did to my children," Reid said.

Reid told ABC15 it all started in April, 2017, when her son Cornelius, 9, told her the teacher had an issue with his afro.

"Cornelius came in the car and told me his teacher told him he...couldn't come to school with his head looking like that," Reid said.

Reid says that sparked a dispute over the dress code with school administrators.

"Basically, he couldn't wear his afro to school," Reid said. "It was more than three inches high...If I didn't cut it, he would be suspended."

Reid filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights, part of the U.S. Department of Education. That office issued a resolution in December, noting in their findings the "School discriminated as alleged."

According to related documents, the Office for Civil Rights notes the school either 'could not or would not' provide a defense for the harassment allegation, and thus proceeded with only information provided by the mother.

The Office for Civil Rights notes the school "voluntarily agreed to enter into a resolution." The resolution stipulated the school would provide an apology letter, modify the dress code and begin collecting data to track dress code violations.

As part of the complaint, the Office for Civil Rights noted "We reasonably concluded that the Student was the only student, in at least the last two school years, who was disciplined for having natural hair bigger than three inches."

"I just thought, ok, you have the findings, you're supposed to do what the OCR tells you to do and that would be it," Reid said. "Nope. They kept doing things to my children after the findings."

That resolution came in December. In January, the Office for Civil Rights resolved another complaint filed by Tanisha against Paramount Academy involving an alleged incident between her kids and other students.

In February, Tanisha says she received a letter from Paramount Academy threatening to "terminate the enrollment" of her children, citing 8 handbook violations, such as missed days at school and the lack of participation in parent-teacher conferences.

Reid disputes the violations.

"I believe they were just tired of looking at my kids," Reid said. "They were upset about the (OCR) findings and didn't want to be bothered with them anymore."

Reid told ABC15 she withdrew her children and enrolled them at another school. She plans to share her story at the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools meeting this upcoming Monday.

"I'm not trying to gain anything, I think the public should know if you decide to put your children in this school, they might be open to these types of things," Reid said.

ABC15 reached out multiple times, to multiple administrators, on Thursday seeking comment. Thus far, no one from Paramount Academy has responded.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - There's a new report out on a deadly plane crash in northern Terre Haute.

News 10 has been following this story since the crash happened in August of 2016. A plane crashed into a house near the Sky King Airport. Investigation documents state the plane hit a tree, flipped, and crashed through the roof of a nearby house.

Dr. John Trump died, and Dr. William Patrick O'Neill was seriously hurt. According to the investigation documents, Trump was considering buying the plane from O'Neill.

The National Transportation Safety Board recently posted its Factual Report. It gives a more complete picture of what the NTSB learned during its investigation. The report includes witness statements, weather reports, and Dr. O'Neill's account of what happened. The report states O'Neill flew to Edgar County, Illinois. On the flight back to Sky King Airport, O'Neill allowed Trump to test fly the plane. In a document, O'Neill said he told Trump the plane was too low and slow. He said to add power for altitude and lower the nose for speed. He said that's the last thing he remembers.

The report states Dr. Trump's cause of death was "attributed to an anoxic brain injury due to multiple blunt-force injuries."

The full report can be found here, through the NTSB database.

A final report is still expected.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WTHI) - Holocaust survivor Eva Kor endured unimaginable pain at the hands of the Nazis but she continues to show the world it is possible to forgive.

Thursday night was the world premiere of "Eva" in Indianapolis. Eva Kor walked her own blue carpet for the event.



The WFYI documentary was written, produced and directed by Ted Green. It took two years to create.

While her story has been told before, Kor and Green agree this is a more complete depiction of her life.

Kor says, "There is a lot of stuff in between like being arrested, like being ruffed up, like nobody wanting to talk to me, being treated like a pariah in the United States, being shunned by survivors. These are all very ugly, painful stories."

Green says, "We talk about her time in Auschwitz and they talk about her forgiveness but there is 50 years in the middle of that that Eva doesn't talk about and I do believe that is the character development. That's the most revelatory stuff."

Kor and her twin sister survived horrific medical experiments. She says, if her sister were still alive, she would be by her side on the blue carpet.

"Miriam was a very smart woman. I think if she were alive and I forgave she would have embraced the idea."

Kor says she hopes people see the film and come to learn they have the power to forgive and they have the right to be happy.

"By each one learning to forgive, we are not going to want to kill each other and, in a strange way, I believe it is the secret to world peace."

The Terre Haute premiere is April 14th.

For more information about the film and screenings, click here.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County School Corporation may consider legal action against former employees involved in a kickback scheme.

According to a meeting agenda from the Vigo County School Corporation News 10 received late Thursday afternoon, school corporation legal counsel, Jonathan Mayes has recommended the school corporation seek legal recourse. It states that recourse includes, but is not limited to "Filing a civil lawsuit against Frank Shahadey, Paula Shahadey, Franklin Fennell, Michael Pick, and M & P Properties Group, LLC to recover damages caused by the conspiracy that was outlined in the federal indictments against Frank Shahadey and Franklin Fennell." That potential action will be disscused Monday at the regular school board meeting.

Fennell and Shahadey were part in a kickback scheme involving the school corporation, in which they took tens of thousands of dollars from the school corporation. That scheme involved overestimated invoices from a local tree trimming business.

Shahadey, a former Vigo County Deputy Sheriff and Vigo County School Corporation Liaison Officer, pleaded guilty to his charges in June of 2017. Those charges included wire fraud and theft of government funds.

In October of 2017 a federal judge sentenced Shahadey to 16 months in prison and two years of supervised released. At the time of sentencing, he had already served 11 months. In court, Shahadey stated the kickback scheme was Fennell's idea.

In December of 2017, federal jury found Fennell, former Facilities Director of the Vigo County School Corporation, guilty on 12 charges he was facing. Those charges break down to nine counts of wire fraud, two counts of lying to federal investigators, and one count of stealing government funds.

A judge is set to sentence Fennell on April 19th in Indianapolis. He faces 33 to 37 months in prison.

News 10 will be at Monday's meeting of the Vigo County School Board. We will bring you updates at that time.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Walmart is ending its controversial anti-shoplifting program following a formal opinion from state attorney general Curtis Hill.

The opinion was requested by Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington who questioned the program's legality from the beginning.

The program would have allowed anyone caught shoplifting in a Walmart to pay $400 dollars and complete an anti-theft educational course. In return, the store would not call the police.

Harrington said not getting the police involved could be seen as lawless. Hill agreed the program posed legal problems. Hill also gave this reasoning:

"The laws of Indiana grant to any retailer the unusual authority to detain and hold a private citizen.

This modest grant of authority is made to make the individual wait for police to arrive.

When one deviates from these limited goals, one is undermining the public policy basis for allowing the detention to take place."

Before this decision, Walmart had been running the program at 36 Indiana locations.
A local man who defaced an iconic natural arch in southern Utah is apologizing for his actions while promising to protect public lands in the future.

Pictures of Ryan Andersen, his wife Jennifer and their three children posing in front of graffiti scratched into the Corona Arch began circulating last week on social media. Andersen owns Andersen Hitches in Idaho Falls.

The photos show the number "18" scratched into the base of the arch with the initials "R" and "J" and a heart drawn between them. The Canyon Country District of the Bureau of Land Management confirmed the agency is investigating the vandalism and further details were not released.

In a letter posted online Thursday, Andersen admitted to defacing the arch and says he will accept full responsibility for his actions.

Here is the statement:

DEAR FRIENDS AND CONCERNED CITIZENS,

I am very sorry and embarrassed for my recent actions when visiting Corona Arch in southern Utah. While hiking in the Moab area with my family, I drew with a sandstone shard, a heart with my and my wife's initials and the year above it.

At that moment, I foolishly thought I was conveying my love for my wife when, in fact, I was tarnishing the experience for others who also want to enjoy magnificent scenery. My actions were wrong. I am extremely sorry for my conduct. I acted in the spur of the moment and did not stop to think about what I was doing.

Sometimes, our biggest mistakes can lead us to become better people. From now on, I will endeavor to leave no trace and help to protect our public lands. As part of that commitment, I have pledged to pay for the BLM's work to restore the damage I caused. I have also pledged to work with the government to speak out on this issue so others do not make the same mistake that I made. I truly believe that all of us have the responsibility to help ensure that our public lands remain pristine.

I accept full responsibility for my actions. Neither Andersen Hitches nor its hard working employees, who are committed to supporting our loyal customers and their own families, had any involvement in my wrongdoing. To those dedicated employees, I offer my sincere apology. Going forward, I will do everything I can to show my employees, my community, and the public at large that this conduct is not what I stand for.

Sincerely,

Ryan Andersen

Please understand that my wife and I have wanted to come forward and make a statement but were advised not to do so while the BLM continued their investigation. We have been cooperating with the BLM and await their decision.

Andersen also offers a place for readers to submit comments or messages "with any suggestions you have for additional work I can do with the BLM or other similar groups."

Federal law makes it a misdemeanor to "willfully deface, disturb, remove or destroy any personal property, or structures, or any scientific, cultural, archaeological or historic resource, natural object or area" on public lands.
You may not see nipples on Instagram, but you could find Fentanyl.

A quick search can turn up plenty of accounts filled with pictures of various pills. They typically list contact details -- email addresses, phone numbers, and usernames for chat apps and encrypted messenger services like Kik and Wickr -- to connect off of Instagram. Put two and two together, and these are likely drug dealers, illicit online pharmacies, or scammers.

Earlier this week, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, quietly took some action to crack down on drug-related posts. A search for #Oxycontin on the app on Friday morning turned up zero posts.

On Monday, it turned up more than 30,000 posts. The hashtags #Fentanyl, #ketamine, #opiates are now similarly sparse, with notes like "recent posts from #Fentanyl are currently hidden because the community has reported some content that may not meet Instagram's community guidelines."

In a statement, an Instagram spokesperson told CNN its community guidelines "make it clear that buying or selling prescription drugs isn't allowed on Instagram, and we have zero tolerance when it comes to content that puts the safety of our community at risk."

Related: Opioid addiction treatments are costing employers billions

Critics are wondering what took Instagram so long. After all, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said himself five months ago that the "biggest surprise" during his so-called "year of travel" around the US was seeing the "extent of opioid issues."

Overdose deaths from prescription and illicit opioids have doubled over the past six years alone -- from 21,089 deaths across the nation in 2010 to 42,249 in 2016.

The Instagram takedowns came after a tech entrepreneur flagged several accounts and common hashtags to a Facebook executive on Twitter.

Glassbreakers CEO Eileen Carey said she has been following the issue for years. Flagging posts within the app didn't seem to create any tangible change, she told CNN. "Instagram has allowed this to happen to a point where no one is hiding it," said Carey, who previously worked on pharmaceutical intellectual property abuse.

The Facebook executive told Carey that the company is working to make it easier to report these problems within the app. But in the meantime, various accounts and hashtags Carey flagged were taken down.

"In this case, we are grateful to those who reported the content. We took swift action to remove the content and put in place additional measures to ensure the safety of our platform," the spokesperson added.

This issue isn't new: A 2014 article from tech website Venture Beat highlighted the use of hashtags like #XanaxForSale to peddle drugs on Instagram. At the time, Facebook issued a generic statement which largely shirked its responsibility. "...If your photos or videos are promoting the sale of regulated goods or services, including firearms, alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, or adult products, we expect you to make sure you're following the law and to encourage others to do the same," the statement said.

Posts that appear to be from drug sellers have become a bigger issue on Instagram in the past year or two, according to Carmen Catizone, executive director at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. "I think the companies are struggling to decide what to do and what not to do ... [But] extra due diligence would save a life."

Related: Amid opioid crisis, some patients turn to tech alternatives

Internet companies can usually avoid liability for user-generated content thanks to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives them a broad layer of immunity. But companies are supposed to act in good faith to protect users.

Critics have said that Instagram generally responds to flagged content rather than proactively cleaning house. It has, however, banned some hashtags and images, like, for instance, nipples.

Tech companies are tight-lipped about the content moderation process, which is usually a combination of technology and humans. During a call with media on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said the company has 15,000 people working on content review and security, a number that will grow to 20,000 by the end of the year.

Facebook has more than two billion users.

Takedowns can be a game of whack-a-mole: While #Xanax posts were removed, accounts tagging #Xanaxplease that appear to be selling pills are still viewable. #Oxy also turns up a number of pill posts.

Expect to see more pressure on internet companies. This week, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb called out specific tech outfits -- including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google -- for enabling opioid sales.

"We find offers to purchase opioids all over social media and the Internet," he said in a speech on Wednesday at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta. "Internet firms simply aren't taking practical steps to find and remove these illegal opioid listings."

Libby Baney, founder and executive director of Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, told CNN that while tech companies shouldn't be blamed for the opioid epidemic, they are essential to crackdown efforts. "This epidemic has not been caused by the Internet -- but it's the next wave," she said.

Baney said that tech companies haven't done enough to crack down on illicit posts the way that they did with advertisements for illegal drugs.

In 2011, Google agreed to pay $500 million to the Department of Justice for showing prescription drug ads from Canadian online pharmacies to U.S. consumers. It stopped the practice in 2009, once it became aware of the U.S. Attorney's Office's investigation.
UPDATE 4/5/18 10:50 p.m. - Family members identify the victim of Wednesday night's deputy-involved shooting as Randal Reil, 27. They said he is bipolar and had too much to drink that night. They also tell WTVA Reil is in critical condition.

TISHOMINGO COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) - More information has been released after a deputy-involved shooting in Tishomingo County.

Randal Reil, 27 Randal Reil, 27

According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation says Tishomingo County deputies responded Wednesday night to a domestic call on County Road 294 in Burnsville.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Deputy-involved shooting in Tishomingo County

MBI Spokesman Warren Strain says deputies were confronted by a man who was armed with a long gun. Deputies order the man to drop the weapon. Strain says the man refused the commands and pointed the gun in the direction of deputies.

Deputies fired their weapons, wounding the man.

The man was taken to NMMC in Tupelo, then airlifted to a Memphis hospital for treatment. The man's name has not been released.

MBI continues to investigate the incident.
TEN SLEEP  Ten Sleep School social studies teacher Dane Weaver, who was recently hired for the 2018-2019 principal position, has decided to not accept the job due to medical issues. Weaver instead will continue to be the middle/ high school social studies teacher.

I have had some health problems come up that would impair me from taking the position especially in August. My wife and I talked about it and we felt that it would be in the best interest of the school, the community and the amazing students and faculty, Weaver said.

Weaver went on to explain that that the principal position requires strong leadership and while he was ecstatic to have been hired for the position, he felt that he couldnt be the strong leader the school expected and deserves.

Ten Sleep School superintendent Jimmy Phelps said that he felt Weaver would have made an exceptional principal and hes sorry that Weaver will be unable to fill the position. Hes an exceptional person and we are very glad hes here and very glad he is going to continue to be here, Phelps said.

The district has begun a search for a new principal to replace Russell Budmayr whose resignation for personal reasons was accepted by the Ten Sleep School Board March 12.
Yang Xue, Li Huihui, Chen Xuan, Chen Yingying and Rong Rong (L-R), who are members of the high-speed train maintenance staff at Hefei South Railway Station, are pictured at a service depot in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, March 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Guo Chen)

NEW YORK, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Section 301 investigation of China's intellectual property rights practices is "preconceived" as the United States "never did have a durable case to make in the first place" that China was in violation of its treaty-based commitments, said a U.S. expert.

With regard to the Section 301 investigation of its IPR practices, China has been accused of "all sorts of economic crimes," including "aggression, long-standing theft, coercive practices, etc.," said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington, D.C., in an interview with Xinhua, "These accusations have been repeated so frequently over the past half-decade that they have even become received wisdom."

"But the critical question one must ask is this: Are any of China's IPR practices in violation of its international law commitments, specifically its commitments under the WTO's TRIPS (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement?" he said.

The scholar noted for as long as one can remember, U.S. Trade Representative's office has annually released a "Special 301" report on global IPR practices, "naming and shaming countries along the way" and China's practices have been "scanned in great depth and detail."

"If there were significant legal shortcomings, USTR would not have been shy to slap a WTO case against China's IPR policies and practices. It never did come around to doing so because of one important reason: the U.S. never did have a durable case to make in the first place that China was in violation of its treaty-based IPR commitments," said Gupta, adding in the last 12 years, U.S. has filed 22 cases against China at the WTO.

"That is until today, where a reckless U.S. Administration with a preconceived mindset about trading with China is determined to force its thoroughly rash and unwise political objectives down the throat of the multilateral trading system," he said.

The United States has "quietly let it be known" at the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body meeting on March 27th that most of China's practices involving technology or intellectual property transfer "do not implicate any specific WTO obligation," Gupta noted.

This means, he said, aside from two small technical aspects (ability of foreign patent holders to enforce patent rights after a technology transfer contract ends; certain mandatory adverse contract terms that seem to discriminate against foreign right-holders), "almost all of China's IPR related policies and practices are perfectly legal."

"Of course, the U.S. doesn't present it that way. Rather the U.S. says that China's IPR policies overall are deeply trade-distorting policies that undermine fairness and balance in the international trading system," Gupta said.

"Maybe so or Maybe not. But critically, the U.S. can barely come around to finding any of these policies to be a direct violation of China's WTO TRIPS commitments. And as I mentioned, China is legally bound to adhere to nothing beyond its express international legal commitments in this area," he said.

"The U.S. is now planning to impose 25 percent tariffs on 50 billion U.S. dollars of Chinese exports on the basis of its allegedly abusive IPR practices, except that the U.S. cannot show that aside from a few narrow regulations, any of these practices are illegal per se.," he said.

"And the U.S. itself has voluntarily noted that almost all these policies and practices are, from a legal standpoint, not a violation of China's TRIPS obligations. And so we may soon be on the verge of the most significant trade war since the 1930s even though practically no illegality has been committed by the supposedly offending party. This is an insult to basic norms of law and justice!" Gupta said.

In both his 2017 and 2018 Trade Policy Agenda reports, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has emphasized that the United States is bound by its treaty rights and obligation to which it has signed up at the WTO, and "to no more than that," Gupta said, Additional rights or obligations cannot be added to these existing rights and obligations and "any such system must not force Americans to live under new obligations to which the United States and its elected officials never agreed."

"Indeed so. And it is high time that he reciprocates this same standard when evaluating China IPR policies and practices," he said. "China's IPR policies and practices too cannot be bound to any additional rights or obligations beyond the TRIPS agreement to which it committed itself at the time of its WTO accession in 2001. And in America's own view, China continues to remain by-and-large in compliance with its TRIPS commitments."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 04:00:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese Presidential Guard concluded Thursday a six-week intermediate program organized by the Italian Bilateral Military Mission in Lebanon (MIBIL) with a closing ceremony at the Lebanese Army barracks in Hammana, some 26 km east of capital Beirut.

In a speech at the closing ceremony, Italian Ambassador to Lebanon Massimo Marotti said "By supporting the Lebanese security institutions, we support at the same time the freedom and pluralism that make Lebanon a model and a beacon throughout the whole region and an indispensable partner."

MIBIL is part of the UN International Support Group for Lebanon and was installed in order to coordinate and develop training activities for the Lebanese Army in Lebanon and Italy.

In 2018, the Italian Armed Forces are set to conduct 53 training programs in total within the framework of MIBIL, the Daily Star reported on its website.

The Presidential Guard Brigade aims to provide effective protection to the president and his family, as well as to official guests to Lebanon. The brigade had already taken part in previous MIBIL training programs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China advocates the Korean Peninsula should be denuclearized and a peace mechanism established, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Thursday.

All sides should work toward denuclearization on the peninsula as it is the key to all related problems and the path to long-term peace and stability, Wang told a news conference following his talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is closely connected to the security threat facing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for a long time, said Wang, who is visiting Russia as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It is absolutely reasonable and obligatory to address the DPRK's security concerns during the process of denuclearization, Wang said.

The Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should be dealt with stage by stage with concerted efforts from all parties to seek a package of solutions, the top Chinese diplomat said.

Against the backdrop that the DPRK and the United States lack basic mutual trust, relevant parties should promote the peace process step by step and meet each other half way with the precondition of denuclearization, he said.

At different stages, relevant parties should take responsibilities and obligations accordingly so that the peace process will proceed in a sustainable manner and negotiations will not be interrupted, Wang said.

Wang said peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula are in the interest of China and Russia, which have made unremitting efforts together in recent years for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue, including creating a feasible roadmap.

He said China and Russia welcome and support the notable improvement in the situation on the peninsula and appreciate the efforts made by relevant parties, including the DPRK and South Korea.

China and Russia hope that relevant parties could grasp the opportunities of the DPRK-South Korea summit and the DPRK-U.S. summit to completely defuse the tensions on the peninsula to avert a war or chaos, Wang said.

He said China and Russia will continue to strengthen coordination and keep in touch with other stakeholders in the issue to jointly cement the hard-won momentum of negotiations and secure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.
PARIS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said unions' strikes and protests were "legitimate" but would not dictate on the government the policy it should take.

"Today there are issues which the government had announced that reactions (and) protests that are completely legitimate, which suggest (more) work, continuous explanations," Macron said during a visit in northwestern city of Rouen.

However, the social movement "should not prevent the government to govern, to continue making decisions and to do important things for millions of our fellow citizens", he added.

On Monday evening, the country's unions started a series of month-rolling nationwide rail strikes with a wave of two successive days out of every five days.

They planned 36 days of action for April-June period, a move that may paralyze the eurozone's second power and world's top tourism destination.

They want to prove enough force to make French president reconsider his reform of the railway sector that targets to liberalize rail passenger services and impose new rules of recruitment for "a more efficient and unified" rail operator.

Besides, it proposed to scrap preferential terms of rail workers, including retirement on full pension at 52, a decade earlier than other French employees.

On May 2017, Macron was elected on a reformist project to modernize eurozone's second leading power. Then, France's rising political star vowed to serve the country well and bring change.

Months later, he saw his approval rating tumbling and was dogged by public discontent that triggered street protests and strikes.

Locking horns with trade unions over state rail company's reform would be a risky challenge for the 40-year-old former investment bank, according to Luc Rouban, political scientist at Sciences Po's Political Research Center (CEVIPOF).

"Macron begins an important battle that will be a keystone of his five-year term. He plays his credibility as a reformer," Rouban told Xinhua.

"If he retreated and was forced to announce a reform over several years, he would create the feeling that he would no longer benefit from the election's dynamism and his room for maneuver would be much narrower," he said.

"His Jupiterian side would be much less asserted and it would be for him a very bad political coup," he added.
TUNIS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Altogether 2,074 candidate lists will run for municipal elections on May 6, including 1,055 party lists, 860 independent lists and 159 coalition lists, Independent Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced at a press conference Thursday.

This is the first local election in Tunisia after the 2011 popular uprising against the former regime of Ben Ali. These elections will take place on May 6 after being postponed twice.

"Among these candidate lists, there were 18 lists chaired by people with special needs (disability), including 13 men and 5 women," said President of the ISIE, Mohamed Tlili Mansri.

Of the 2,074 candidate lists, 30.33 percent are chaired by women. Only 3.49 percent of the independent list heads are women, while the figure is 48.43 percent for the coalition list and 49.48 percent for the party lists.

Referring to the age of the candidates, Mansri noted that 52.10 percent of the candidates have not yet passed 35 years old, and 4.41 percent are over 60 years old.

In a commentary entitled "Risk or Opportunity?", the Carnegie Middle Eastern Independent Policy Research Center based in Beirut explained that "these elections represent both an opportunity and a risk for Tunisia's democracy. If successful, the transition will be consolidated to extend democracy at the local level."

"However, a low participation rate or a generalized protest vote could weaken the legitimacy of the current governance structure. In both cases, the result will certainly influence 2019 legislative and presidential elections," said the Research Center.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 05:56:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BRASILIA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The president of the Workers' Party (PT), Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, reiterated Thursday that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains the PT's presidential candidate, despite the fact that he may be jailed in the coming days.

After the Supreme Federal Court rejected a habeas corpus plea by Lula on Wednesday night, Hoffmann said that Lula was a political prisoner and that his arrest would make Brazil a "banana republic."

The senator met with Lula on Thursday morning in Sao Paulo, along with former President Dilma Rousseff.

After the meeting, she blasted the six justices who voted against Lula, saying that they had prevented the Supreme Court from "fulfilling its duty as guardian of the Constitution" and removed Lula's right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The rejection of the habeas corpus plea means that Lula may be arrested and jailed to begin his 12-year prison sentence for corruption, despite not having exhausted his appeals process.

This decision now rests with Sergio Moro, the judge who oversees Operation Lava Jato (Car wash) into the sprawling corruption ring within Petrobras.

"We do not accept this incarceration as being a done deal, we will consider any violence done against the former president to be a political imprisonment ... which will turn us into a banana republic," Hoffmann told the press.

Asked about the PT's candidate for the presidential elections in October, Hoffmann said Lula remained the party's choice.

"Lula continues as our candidate, because he is innocent. He is innocent, he has the right to run and I have no doubt about that ... he has everything to be elected, as the polls indicate. He will be the candidate as his candidacy represents a part of the Brazilian people," she continued.
WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department said Thursday that it has approved to sell about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in artillery to Saudi Arabia.

The sale package contained about 180 Paladin medium self-propelled howitzer systems, according to a statement released by the State Department. The artillery-firing vehicles launch 155mm shells.

The move came as visiting Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was wrapping up his weeks-long trip in the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump, during his meeting with Salman at the White House on March 20, touted multi-billion-U.S.-dollar defense sale to Saudi Arabia.

On March 22, the Trump administration approved an arms sale of 1 billion U.S. dollars to Saudi Arabia, including about 6,700 U.S.-built anti-tank missiles.

U.S. lawmakers will have 30 days to act if they want to stop the latest sale.
MAPUTO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambique Electric Company (EDM) said at a workshop in Maputo on Thursday that one of the strategies to improve the country's energy supply is to encourage private investment in the sector of renewable energies.

"We believe that renewable energies play an important role to help us reach the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 agenda. Currently, it's not possible to supply electric power to the entire country using the national grid, we need to use several isolated systems," said Miserio Banze, head of the department for energy efficiency at EDM.

Mozambique is a signatory for the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), aiming to secure access to a reliable, sustainable, modern and affordable energy to all.

The workshop held in Maputo aims to go through different possibilities available to involve the private sector and get funds to improve energy access throughout the country.

"It's clear that government's actions alone will not be able to double the number of people with access to energy by 2030. So, we want to explore the role the private sector would play in the promotion of energy efficiency in Mozambique," said Banze.

Academic institutions attending the workshop also call for rational and responsible use of available resources in the electric power domain.

The country has been investing in the generation of renewable energy through solar power particularly for health unities, schools and other institutions in rural areas.
Illinois already has some of the toughest gun laws in the U.S., Rauner said. Yet we have ample proof that current law doesnt do enough to prevent people from obtaining illegal guns and committing acts of gun violence. The purpose of this group is to widen the lens on the problem and deliberate on measures to make Illinoisans in schools, churches  everywhere  safer.

With the title of "Legislative Public Safety Working Group meets on gun violence, school safety measures," Governor Rauner's office sent out a press release Friday. In it, Governor Rauner emphasized that current law just isn't enough.

SPRINGFIELD (April 6, 2018)  The newly-formed bipartisan bicameral Legislative Public Safety Working Group met late yesterday to begin discussions on a wide range of issues that impact the safety and security of Illinois citizens.

The meeting was the first in what Governor Bruce Rauner and legislators expect to be a series of discussions this session on a comprehensive approach to public safety. Rauner is working to engage with legislators to collaborate on critical issues of gun trafficking, school safety, mental health and crime prevention.

Yesterdays meeting centered on gun issues and school safety. On the latter, the administration shared recommendations developed by a panel of school administrators, police and fire officials who are members of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force. Potential action items include behavioral threat assessments, information sharing among schools, student safety tip lines, active shooter drills, and enhanced fire alarm protocols.

The Working Group agreed to discuss the school recommendations at its next meeting.

In the aftermath of the tragic mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on Valentines Day, the Governor asked the four legislative leaders of the Illinois General Assembly to appoint members to serve on a legislative public safety working group. House Democrats and House and Senate Republicans attended yesterday. The Senate Democrat caucus has not appointed members.

Illinois already has some of the toughest gun laws in the U.S., Rauner said. Yet we have ample proof that current law doesnt do enough to prevent people from obtaining illegal guns and committing acts of gun violence. The purpose of this group is to widen the lens on the problem and deliberate on measures to make Illinoisans in schools, churches  everywhere  safer.

Now, more than ever, public safety is on the minds of people across the state and nation, said State Sen. Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles). Recent acts of mass violence have really caused us to think about what we can be doing better to keep our children safe. The difficulty with discussing this topic is finding that balance between keeping people safe and protecting our constitutional rights. I am convinced that we can find common ground on solutions that make our state a safer place to live. I look forward to our future meetings and hope that we can advance the conversationfinding a balance that works for all.

Public Safety continues to be of high concern for every school and community across Illinois, said Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (D-Chicago). Governor Rauners bi-partisan work group will be a fair process allowing members of the General Assembly and the Governor to examine best practices and find common ground for meaningful policies to help eliminate preventable violence.

I hope to see the working group foster bipartisan cooperation that leads to consensus for the creation of good public safety policy removed from the political wrangling that so often gets in the way, said Rep. Barb Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake). Several of my colleagues and I have already begun to work together with this mindset, so I am optimistic this group can be the final piece of puzzle to get things done.

Im very honored to be a part of the Public Safety working group, said Rep. Jonathan Carroll (D-Buffalo Grove). Our mission is to keep the citizens of Illinois safe. Im hopeful that the Governor and other members of the legislature can work together on a bi-partisan basis to address issues that affect everyone equally. Yesterday was the first step in this process.

"This working group gives us a chance to move forward together on solutions that address the full scope of the issues that we face," said Senator Chuck Weaver (R-Peoria). "I'm pleased that we were able to focus on school safety at the first meeting and I look forward to the opportunity to continue working on these ideas and recommendations."

This was a good, productive meeting that touched on a lot of important issues that are going to be central to our efforts to improve public safety in Illinois, said state Rep. Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City). I hope our future discussions will continue to move us toward that goal.

"I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in the Senate and the House as part of this Public Safety Working Group. As legislators, we need to develop sound policies and pass the kinds of laws that advance public safety and provide help to those citizens who need it," Senator Chris Nybo (R-Elmhurst) said. "Our common goal should be the safety and security of our citizens."

The meeting yesterday was chaired by former U.S. Attorney from the Central District of Illinois Rodger A. Heaton, who serves as Governor Rauners Chief of staff. Rauner was out of state for the birth of his first grandchild.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 07:51:49|Editor: Lifang

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UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Thursday expressed concern over the political situation in Burundi and the slow progress of the inter-Burundian dialogue, as well as the lack of engagement by the government in that regard.

In a presidential statement, the Security Council called for all Burundian stakeholders to participate actively and unconditionally in the dialogue led by the East African Community (EAC).

"It is crucial that all parties, most especially the government, commit to the EAC-led process and reach an agreement ahead of the 2020 elections," said the statement. "The Security Council further stresses that the dialogue is the only viable process for a sustainable political settlement in Burundi."

The Security Council expected the 2020 elections in Burundi to be free, fair, transparent, peaceful, and fully inclusive, with the participation of all political parties, and with the full and equal participation of women, said the statement.

The council underlined that considerable improvements to the political and human rights situation, in particular regarding fundamental freedoms, and progress on reconciliation are necessary to enable credible elections.

The Security Council voiced its deep concern over the continued worsening of the humanitarian situation, marked by nearly 180,000 internally displaced persons, 3.6 million people in need of assistance and more than 429,000 Burundians seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

The council strongly condemned all violations and abuses of human rights in the country, including those involving extra-judicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and urged the government of Burundi to bring to justice all those responsible for such crimes.

The Security Council reiterated its regret at the decision by the Burundian government to suspend all cooperation and collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR). It called for a swift solution through dialogue between the OHCHR and the government in order to enable the OHCHR to fully resume its activities and fulfill its mandate.

The Security Council also expressed concern over the significant delays in the deployment of the African Union human rights observers and military experts in Burundi.

Burundi has been in political strife since 2015 over President Pierre Nkurunziza's controversial third term.
By Alex Osei-Boateng

ACCRA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said Thursday night that Ghana has not offered a military base to the United States.

Thee Untied States has not made any request for such consideration and in consistent with the country's established foreign policy, Ghana will not consider any such request, he said.

The Ghana-U.S. defence cooperation agreement which was ratified by the Ghanaian parliament on March 23, 2018 gives American soldiers unimpeded access to certain key installations in Ghana. And in return, Ghana will earn 20 million U.S. dollars by way of equipment and training of its soldiers.

The agreement generated a lot of heat in the West African country over the past two weeks.

Last week, thousands of Ghanaians protested against the military cooperation pact, calling for its withdrawal or revision to safeguard Ghana's sovereignty.

In an address to the nation, Akufo-Addo said his government came to know that Ghana has entered into a cooperation agreement with the United States, in 1998, 2000 and 2015.

According to him, his administration is aware that the conditions which necessitate the agreement have not disappeared but rather increased, and therefore the need has arisen for continuing with the cooperation.

He said no suggestion has ever been made that the United States has abused any of the privileges or concessions granted under any of these agreements.

He said in consideration of the realities of Ghana's circumstances, and the challenges to peace in the region, his government has deemed it prudent to continue the cooperation agreement.

"It is our firm belief that the agreement will help enhance our defence capability, and offer an important layer of support in our common effort to protect the peace in our region," Akufo-Addo said.

Meanwhile, the United States has denied that it intends to build a military base in Ghana.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 08:26:57|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a joint interview with the Chinese media at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said here on Thursday that "the answer to today's problems is not protectionism, is not isolationism."

"I am a strong believer in multilateralism to address global problems. There is no way global problems can be addressed on a country by country basis. Global problems need to have global answers and global answers can only be implemented through multilateral frameworks." the UN chief made the remarks when he was asked to comment on the trade conflict between China and the United States.

In an interviews with Chinese reporters before his trip to China for the annual Boao Forum, Guterres said "the international framework that governs global trade is of extreme important with the World Trade Organization at its center."

"I am a true believer in free trade," he said, adding that free trade is a very important contributor to global prosperity.

Globalization has brought enormous benefits. For example, economic growth and trade have been increased, poverty has been reduced, life expectancy of people has been increased and there are much broader middle-class families. However, there are also losers in globalisation.

Inequalities have increased, and many people are left behind. So we need to make efforts to improve things, not to reject globalization but to improve it, the UN chief said.

Improve things, not to reject globalization is the objective of Agenda 2030, and the objective of the WTO, Guterres said.

"So the answer to today's problems is not protectionism, is not isolationism," he said, and the answer to today's problems is international cooperation and the Agenda 2030 can be a very important instrument for that.

"I am very happy that China has been totally committed to the Agenda 2030, not only at the Chinese level but also in cooperation with other countries, especially the developing world," Guterres said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 09:47:08|Editor: Lifang

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- A Brazilian judge on Thursday ordered the arrest of former president and presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Federal judge Sergio Moro ordered the arrest just hours after the Federal Supreme Court rejected a habeas corpus to save Lula from beginning a 12-year prison sentence until he had exhausted the appeal process.

Moro ordered Lula to turn himself in to the authorities in Curitiba, capital of southern Parana State, before 5 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Friday, and start his sentence.

"Regarding the convict and ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, I grant him, in consideration of the dignity of the post he occupied, the opportunity to voluntarily turn himself in to federal police in Curitiba by 5 p.m. on 6/4/2018, when his prison sentence must be fulfilled," Moro said in a statement.

The judge added that a special area has been readied at the federal police headquarters for Lula to begin his sentence. "The ex-president will remain apart from other inmates, and run no risk of moral or physical harm," Moro said.

Parana is where Moro has been leading Brazil's wide-reaching investigation into corruption involving state oil giant Petrobras. The investigation, codenamed Operation Car Wash, has led to numerous high-level arrests.

Last year, Moro convicted Lula for accepting perks from a major construction firm that won lucrative government contracts from Petrobras, including the use of a luxury beachside apartment.

Lula's lawyer Cristiano Zanin protested the deadline, saying his client can legally file more appeals to the Federal Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of Justice before April 10.

Lula, who has been leading the presidential polls despite his legal battles, denies any wrongdoing, saying he is being persecuted to prevent him from running for re-election.

His original nine-year-plus sentence was extended to 12 years by an appeals court in January.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 09:52:09|Editor: Liangyu

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WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday said he has asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to consider slapping 100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs on China, ratcheting up trade tensions and plunging economic growth into uncertainty.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," he said in a statement issued by the White House.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives the U.S. Government rule-making authority, enabling it to enforce trade agreements and resolve trade disputes.

Thursday's gesture is the latest protectionist trade action threat against China. Earlier this week, the USTR proposed to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars of imports from China, which has been strongly opposed by various business groups.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth of 50 billion dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs.

Any additional tariffs proposed will be subject to a public comment process like in the case of the proposed tariffs announced on April 3, a USTR statement on Thursday said.
Photo taken on March 31, 2018 in Colombo, Sri Lanka shows a crayon sketch of the Colombo Lotus Tower, drawn by project manager Cai Xiaofeng's daughter, is treasured in his mobile phone.

by Zhu Ruiqing, Tang Lu

COLOMBO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- In Cai Xiaofeng's mobile phone, there is one picture that he treasures the most.

It is a crayon sketch of the Colombo Lotus Tower. The tower stands erect, boasting a glass curtain wall, its apex is in the shape of a blossoming red lotus.

Cai is the project manager of the Colombo Lotus Tower Project from China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC), and the picture on Cai's phone was drawn by his eight-year-old daughter when she visited Sri Lanka to meet her father during the winter holiday.

"Sometimes I feel I owe a lot to my daughter and family, as I have been working overseas for too long. But when I heard recently my daughter telling her classmates that 'my father is a TV tower builder' while showing them this picture of the Lotus Tower, I felt so proud. It was all worth it," Cai told Xinhua from his makeshift office at the project site.

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Sri Lanka and China signed the Lotus Tower agreement in 2012 to build the highest TV tower in South Asia, with CEIEC being the general contractor.

With the construction work scheduled to finish this July, the Lotus Tower has become an iconic landmark in Colombo, which stands at the heart area of the capital and greets everyone coming to Colombo from other parts of the island country.

To make the tower a success, both Chinese and Sri Lankan workers have put in years of hard work and dedication.

The workers of the Colombo Lotus Tower Project is working at the project site on March 31, 2018 in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka.

Cai said, owing to the difficulties in construction and the differences in technical standards, almost all TV towers in the world were built by domestic constructors.

"There is basically no precedent of one country helping another to build a TV tower in the world. Therefore, there is nothing we can use for reference," Cai added.

While looking back on the shared cooperation with the Sri Lankan side in constructing the Lotus Tower, Cai admitted that at first there were some setbacks due to the differences in technical standards.

"I clearly remember that at first, when we built a wall in the basement of the Tower, it took three days for the Sri Lankan supervision team to check it, which truly worried me based on the schedule. Fortunately, after many days and nights of run-ins, the Sri Lankan supervisors now only need two hours to check a wall on the top floor of the Tower," Cai said proudly.

The project manager Cai Xiaofeng checks the project's progress on the observation deck of the Tower's top floor on March 31, 2018 in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka.

Extraordinary hard work can lead to extraordinary scenery. Today, the roof floor of the Lotus Tower is also the best observation deck to view the city of Colombo.

Standing on the roof floor, with birds flying around, the tower apex offers an unrivaled panorama of the beauty of Colombo, while a steady flow of vehicles on the main Gall Road and the large cargo vessels docked at the Colombo Port serve as a reminder of the bustle and hustle of Sri Lanka's commercial capital.

After its launch, the Lotus Tower will not only function as a TV tower, but also a hotel, a shopping mall and a conference center.

Speaking about the upcoming completion of the project, Cai said, "I look forward to the completion of the project so that people can really enjoy the Tower."

"My father was also a TV tower builder who once participated in the construction of China's Central Radio and Television Tower in Beijing. For me, I just want to be as capable a TV tower builder as my father," Cai said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 10:47:20|Editor: Liangyu

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia agreed to promote bilateral ties as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Thursday and accepted the Chinese invitation for a state visit in June.

Wang, who is also a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, conveyed Xi's congratulations to Putin on his re-election as Russian president.

China and Russia, which enjoy a unique comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, share mutual political trust of the highest level and have seen their relations continuously develop, Wang said.

This is not only due to the wise political decisions made by the two leaders in view of the general trends in the world, but also based on the long-term internal needs of their national development, Wang said.

With the two countries having successfully concluded their important domestic political agenda, Wang said Xi welcomes Putin to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao and to pay a state visit in June.

The two sides should step up preparations to ensure that the visit and a series of other important meetings between the two heads of state this year yield fruitful results, as well as open up new prospects for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and a new era of bilateral relations, he said.

Wang said the two sides should develop a closer and deeper level of communication and coordination to better safeguard their national security and interests as well as maintain regional and world peace and stability.

Putin asked Wang to convey his congratulations to Xi on his election as Chinese president by a unanimous vote and on the success of the annual sessions of China's top legislative and political advisory bodies.

The results achieved at the two sessions will exert profound influences on China's future development, ensuring its greater stability and prosperity, he said.

Praising the very good relations between Russia and China, Putin said as neighboring countries and natural partners, the two countries have established their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination as a result of careful consideration and not expedient measures.

Putin said he looks forward to his visit to China in June and will continue close exchanges with Xi on multilateral and bilateral occasions.

He hoped Russia-China relations would achieve greater progress to benefit both countries and the world at large.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 10:52:22|Editor: Liangyu

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WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday said he has asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to consider slapping 100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs on China, ratcheting up trade tensions and plunging economic growth into uncertainty.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," he said in a statement issued by the White House.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives the U.S. Government rule-making authority, enabling it to enforce trade agreements and resolve trade disputes.

Thursday's gesture is the latest protectionist trade action threat against China. Earlier this week, the USTR proposed to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars of imports from China, which has been strongly opposed by various business groups.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth of 50 billion dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs.

Any additional tariffs proposed will be subject to a public comment process like in the case of the proposed tariffs announced on April 3, a USTR statement on Thursday said.

"No tariffs will go into effect until the respective process is complete," the USTR said.

Trump also said that the United States is still ready to have discussions with China.

Despite Washington's continuous protectionist moves, White House officials in recent days have been trying to tamp down any potential escalation of trade tensions with China.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told local media on Thursday that he expected the United States and China to work out their trade differences over time and that trade barriers are likely to come down on both sides.

U.S. business groups have warned the Trump administration not to move forward with its tariff plan on Chinese imports as it would raise costs for American consumers and companies as well as negatively affect the financial markets.

"A 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America," John Heisdorffer, president of the American Soybean Association, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"But there is still time to reverse this damage, and the administration can still deliver for farmers by withdrawing the tariffs that caused this retaliation," he added.

Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai on Wednesday urged Washington to abandon its "unilateral and protectionist practices" and terminate the Section 301 investigation as early as possible.
Aerial photo taken on March 22, 2018 shows the permanent site of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in Boao Town, south China's Hainan Province.

by Abu Hanifah

JAKARTA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- "It's a good effort and good initiative," a senior Indonesian scholar gives positive comments on the upcoming 2018 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), saying that it would increase understanding among countries in Asia and lead to effective cooperation and integration to achieve collective prosperity.

Besides serving as an event to seek common ground for building stronger economic cooperation, the BFA is also highly expected to give more access for transfer of technologies, said Prof. Adi Zakaria Afiff, deputy rector of University of Indonesia (UI).

BFA will be held in China's Hainan province, a strategic site related to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that remodeled the ancient Silk Road trading route.

"By putting a modern touch on it, it would not only build cooperation. More importantly it would make us understand and revisit our history, learning that we have a long history of cooperation since hundreds of years ago and it is something that we should strive for a better future," he told Xinhua in Jakarta.

The BFA, scheduled from 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."

Adi said that the BFA annual conference would be a moment to respond to the increasing trade protectionism.

"Economic cooperation should be fair for all countries. Trade issues can be discussed and negotiated. Discussion has played a pivotal role in global communities. BFA has a mission to develop mutual understanding. Fair global trade would benefit everyone," said the expert.

By promoting inclusive, open, mutually-beneficial and win-win solution in global economic cooperation, China's behavior is hailed by the renowned Indonesian scholar.

China is Indonesia's largest trading partner, with improving relations in the socio-cultural sector.

"I hope in the future we can build a stronger relationship through this kind of cooperation," said Adi.

"China would bring even more positive development in Asia. It would be good for the future of Asia," he said.
A Qing dynasty enameled pink-ground "falangcai" bowl was on the auction block at Sotheby's Hong Kong Chinese Works of Art Spring Sale on April 3, 2018.

HONG KONG, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Sotheby's Spring 2018 Hong Kong auction series has concluded, netting a total sales volume of 3.64 billion HK dollars (466.5 million U.S. dollars) in sales, the second highest in the company's history.

Tad Smith, Sotheby's CEO, said Thursday that outstanding prices across different categories indicate that clients throughout Asia are engaged at every level and the past week of auctions, exhibitions and art fairs has left no doubt of Asia's central position in the art market.

"With an overall total that is second only to our 40th anniversary celebrations back in 2013, this is an historic result for both Sotheby's and the art market in Asia," said Kevin Ching, CEO of Sotheby's Asia.

Sales of modern and contemporary art totaled 1.28 billion HK dollars.

Modern art auction was robust, with Zao Wouki's work 26.04.62 being the top lot of the evening sales. Southeast Asian art works were all sold in the evening sales.

Sales of Chinese works of art totaled 1.08 billion HK dollars.

Photo taken on March 29, 2018 shows a Qing dynasty enameled pink-ground "falangcai" bowl, the focus of a preview exhibition of Sotheby's spring auction in Hong Kong.

Two sets of Ming dynasty imperial sutras were sold for 239 million HK dollars, an auction record for a buddhist manuscript.

The auction series run between March 30 and April 3. (1 U.S. dollars equals 7.85 Hong Kong dollars)
The suit was filed In the Circuit Court of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Lake County, Illinois, Chancery Division.

"This legal action is a challenge to the Defendants Ordinance O-18-06, passed on April 2, 2018, which bans assault weapons (used specifically as that term is defined in O-18-06) within the Defendants municipal limits," he wrote in the ISRA's weekly website report.

The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed a lawsuit against the Village of Deerfield Thursday morning, April 5, 2018, executive director Richard Pearson announced .

The group Guns Save Life - with the help of the National Rifle Association - is also suing Deerfield, WGN reported.

"Every law-abiding villager of Deerfield has the right to protect themselves, their homes, and their loved ones with the firearm that best suits their needs, said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA-ILA, in a statement. The National Rifle Association is pleased to assist Guns Save Life in defense of this freedom.

In addition to the news about the lawsuit, the ISRA called on members to call their lawmakers on five gun bills the Illinois General Assembly may be addressing in the next few weeks.

"The first thing we must do is not let the Illinois House and Senate override the Governors veto of HB1657. Please contact you legislators immediately. This is a gun ban movement, pure and simple. All of the following bills deserve a NO vote," the site says.

In addition to the GA attempting to override the governor's veto, ISRA point to these gun rights threats:

* HB1467 Bans bump stocks and rolls back municipal pre-emption on banning long guns

* HB1469 Bans all magazines over 10 rounds and makes it a felony for sale, purchase or possession of

of high capacity magazines and body armor

* HB1465 Increases age to 21 to possess or purchase a rifle

* HB1664 Establishes an anonymous snitch line to declare gun owners a clear and present danger

without any real cause.

"The hysterical attacks on gun owners and the Second Amendment have predictably manifested itself in an increase of firearm sales. March 2018 set a new record of 2,767,699 NICS checks," This is up more than 330,000 NICS checks than what occurred in March 2017. Buying a firearm is only a small part of securing the Second Amendment.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 11:57:34|Editor: Liangyu

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TUNIS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group Thursday announced that it has set up a 500-million-U.S.-dollar innovation fund to support science and technology initiatives in its member countries.

The Transform Fund will provide innovators in developing countries with market opportunities and funding.

"The IDB understands that people living in the developing world need more than just grant funding. They need sustainable solutions to help them build their own way out of poverty," the group's President Bandar Hajjar said while addressing the 43rd IDB annual meeting in capital Tunis.

The IDB also announced the establishment of two high-level boards to guide the bank's strategy and help review applications for funding.

It invited its 57 member countries to identify more resources to meet their development needs.
9 killed after tractor falls into canal in India Source: Xinhua 2018-04-06 12:02:35 NEW DELHI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed Friday after a tractor carrying farmworkers skidded off the road and fell into canal in India's southern state of Telangana, officials said. Editor: Liangyu
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 12:02:37|Editor: Liangyu

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TRIPOLI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Libya's civil affairs department on Friday denied reports about refusing to grant late leader Muammar Gaddafi's family members national numbers, an electronic identification number for citizens.

"The department denies some media allegations about refusing to grant family members of Muammar Gaddafi national numbers," Mohammed Baltamer, head of the department, said in a statement.

Baltamer said the department had received a letter from the attorney-general, instructing to issue national numbers to Gaddafi's family members, and it was going through the procedures.

He attributed the delay to shortcomings in the procedures.

A national number is a unique reference number issued by the Libyan authorities for citizens to use to complete civil procedures, such as applying for passports, drivers' licenses and national identification documents.

Media reports said the lawyer of the Gaddafi family, Khalid al-Zaidi, had said that the civil affairs department did not issue national numbers to them.

After the fall of the Gaddafi government in 2011, some of his family members fled to nearby countries and now face difficulties getting official national documents as many of them are wanted by the Libyan authorities.
BERLIN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- To ease trade tensions between the United States and China, a German business leader is calling for talks among all parties involved.

Martin Wansleben, chief executive of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, is suggesting direct talks among China, the United States as well as the European Union (EU) to work on common trade rules within the World Trade Organization for maintaining a good and fair world trade.

"It's important to get all the involved parties to the table," he told the media Thursday, adding that the goal should be to strengthen trust through new trade agreements.

Imposing new tariffs is "an economic dead end", he said. Growth and welfare are based on cooperation.

"The economies of China and the United States have been intertwined heavily for a long time, so it's impossible to introduce any protective trade measures without hurting the two economies or the world economy," Wansleben pointed out.

He added that new tariffs and trade barriers not only inflict additional costs on companies and consumers but also hurt innovation. The United States, China, as well as Germany need global know-how to develop and new products to emerge. No country can afford to reject innovative products from other countries, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has asked the U.S. Trade Representative to consider slapping 100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs on China, ratcheting up trade tensions and plunging economic growth into uncertainty.
MEXICO CITY, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday said his country is willing to negotiate on the border deployment of the U.S. National Guard.

He made the remark in response to a proclamation signed Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump that authorizes the deployment of the U.S. National Guard to the 3,200-km-long U.S.-Mexico border in order to stop the flow of drugs and criminals as well as control illegal immigration.

The U.S. side has said the National Guard will act only in a support role. But the Mexican Government sees the move as a militarization of the border.

Mexico is willing to negotiate, Pena Nieto said in a televised address, adding, "We will have no fear to negotiate, but we will never negotiate out of fear."

"The Mexican government has worked to build an institutional relationship, based on mutual respect, that is beneficial to both nations," he said, citing previous joint efforts to fight organized crime.

"We have never withheld our cooperation because we are aware of the shared responsibility that this important task applies," he added, demanding that Trump protect the rights of ethnic Mexicans in the United States.

The president also said Trump should avoid lashing out at Mexico out "of frustration due to internal political matters."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 12:17:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a joint interview with the Chinese media at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday praised China's role as key in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue.

"I think China has an absolutely key role in this," which is highlighted by the recent visit to Beijing by Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), he told Chinese reporters ahead of his trip to China to attend the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) conference.

Guterres also said he sent an envoy to Pyongyang with a very clear message: to improve the relations between the two Koreas, especially to avoid any escalation of tensions that could be a disaster on the peninsula.

There is a lot of distrust between the United States and the DPRK, so the presence of China can be an absolutely decisive factor for a peaceful denuclearization of the peninsula, he said.

It is also important for the DPRK to have an open dialogue with the United States, as China has always recommended, so that a denuclearization could occur in a peaceful environment and to the benefit of all, Guterres said.

It is the first time the UN chief would attend the BFA conference. The 2018 BFA conference will be held in Boao, a coastal town in south China's island province of Hainan, from April 8-11. Its theme is "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."
SINGAPORE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- ASEAN Finance Track, a composite of ASEAN foreign ministries and central banks, will focus on sustaining growth, boosting resilience and fostering innovation during Singapore's ASEAN chairmanship, said Singaporean Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Friday.

Heng said in his opening remarks at the 22nd ASEAN Finance Ministers' Meeting that the ministers meet at a time of optimism for the regional economies.

He quoted International Monetary Fund as saying that, collectively, ASEAN economy grew by 5.1 percent in 2017 and is expected to outstrip most of other regions in 2018.

However, the minister warned that the region is still facing challenges, including rising protectionism and trade tensions, technological disruption, and demographic trends, which can dramatically affect ASEAN's growth trajectories if not managed well.

Therefore, He called on ASEAN member states to work together in the days ahead and make the ASEAN Economic Community a reality.

According to Heng, to sustain ASEAN's growth, infrastructure development is a key priority, because it can strengthen regional connectivity, enhance the region's growth potential, and improve lives. Thus, he said ASEAN member states will need to work to better mobilize private capital in this area.

Heng also said ASEAN needs to support the development of sustainable or green finance, and seek to enhance financial integration by promoting greater trade and investment flows through customs and tax cooperation, as well as providing better support for enterprise financing.

Besides, the minister said ASEAN member states need to safeguard the region's continued growth and prosperity by boosting resilience. He also called on ASEAN member states to support digital innovations like FinTech, and improve regional fast payments linkages, which is a useful addition to ASEAN integration.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 12:27:46|Editor: Lifang

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Photo taken on April 5, 2018 shows the Prime Minister's Department Complex (C) in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on April 6 that the parliament will be dissolved on April 7, paving way for the next general election to be held within 60 days in which he is seeking another mandate after holding the position for nine years. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday that the parliament will be dissolved on Saturday, paving way for the next general election to be held within 60 days in which he is seeking another mandate after holding the position for nine years.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 12:37:47|Editor: Liangyu

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LONDON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming on Thursday defended China's trade practices and stances, and rebuked the U.S. allegation that China was infringing intellectual property rights (IPRs).

Liu rejected the White House's allegations that China was "stealing" intellectual property from the United States and "forcing" U.S. firms to transfer technology.

China stands ready to work with the world to protect IPRs, Liu said.

The Chinese ambassador made the remarks in an online article published by British daily The Telegraph, in response to the recent U.S. decision to slap tariffs on Chinese goods in a unilateral and protectionist move going against World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

According to a recent report issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China was the second largest source of international patent applications filed in 2017 under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty. It is expected to overtake the United States, the largest source, within three years, Liu pointed out.

The WIPO report listed two Chinese technology companies, Huawei and ZTE, as the top filers of international patent applications in 2017.

Within China, the State Intellectual Property Office received nearly 1.4 million applications for invention patents in 2017, outnumbering the United States, Japan, South Korea and Europe combined, Liu said.

"These facts and figures speak loud and clear: China is becoming a world leader in scientific and technological innovation," the envoy remarked. "Such a level of innovative outcomes could not have been possible without stringent and robust efforts in IP protection."

He also pointed out that China underwent complete and systematic legal revisions around the time of its accession to the WTO in 2001. It established a full-fledged system of domestic IPR laws and regulations that conform to both international practice and China's national conditions.

The U.S. allegation of "forced technology transfer" is a clear excuse to suppress scientific innovation in China and protect its domestic industries, he said.

Calling the allegation "totally wrong," Liu said, "The fact is, China has taken firm actions against IPR infringements and never tolerated 'forced' technology transfers."

"The deals between Chinese and American companies are commercial actions and independent decisions of the companies involved after consultations on an equal basis."

Liu added that they are completely in line with business and market principles, and have created huge job opportunities for the United States.

"America is good at innovation but America does not hold the exclusive 'patent' on innovation," he said.

While pursuing an innovation-driven development strategy, which naturally leads to better IP protection, China is open to cooperation with like-minded partners including Britain and the European Union (EU).

"There is a high-degree of complementarity and broad prospect for cooperation between China and the UK, and between China and the EU on creative industry, and current cooperation on IP protection has produced notable results in terms of legislation, policies, data exchanges, IT (information technology) tools and personnel training," the ambassador said.

"China stands ready to work with the world to uphold open cooperation and protect IPR, with a view to delivering the benefits of scientific and technological innovation to everyone," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 13:02:51|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a press conference after their talks in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China-Russia relations will see steady and sustainable development and will contribute better to global strategic stability and world peace in the current volatile international situation, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.

China and Russia are comprehensive strategic partners of coordination and the bilateral relationship has been each other's diplomatic priority, Wang said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, adding that their strategic coordination is a strategic choice of the two countries.

China and Russia have successfully concluded their important domestic political agenda recently, entering a new era of national development, said Wang, who visited Russia from April 4-5 as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China held the annual sessions of its top legislature and top political advisory body in March while Russian President Vladimir Putin was re-elected last month.

Wang said China is ready to work with Russia to prepare for a series of events between the two presidents this year, implement agreements reached by them, promote cooperation in major projects, and jointly maintain the global free trade mechanism.

Both countries should continue to strengthen communication and coordination in the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the BRICS mechanism, Wang said.

The SCO summit will be held in China's Qingdao city in June and Putin has said he would attend it.

Lavrov said that under the guidance of the two leaders, the two countries enjoy high-level mutual trust. Russia-China ties serve as a model of cooperation between major countries, promoting global stability in international affairs, he added.

Russia prioritizes strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination with China and will work with China to improve communication and practical cooperation in various fields and within different multilateral frameworks, the Russian foreign minister said.

Wang and Lavrov also exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula, Syria and Afghanistan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 13:12:53|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a joint interview with the Chinese media at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said here Thursday that China has been very active in global governance of all forms and a pillar of the multilateral system, ahead of his trip to China to attend the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) conference.

As China has undergone great economic development, its participation in the global governance system has never been more relevant to the economy and development in a global backdrop, Guterres said. The UN welcomes China's positive contribution as it brings the world equilibrium and harmony, he said.

A major contributor to peacekeeping operations, China is making a very strong commitment, with about 2,400 Chinese engaged in UN missions in 14 countries, Guterres said.

"We see the role of China not only in the direct contribution of peacekeepers, but also in the contribution to the discussions we will have this year on how to improve peacekeeping," the UN chief said.

Referring to the latest developments in the Korean Peninsula issue, Guterres said China "has an absolute key role" in defusing the crisis. The presence of China can be an absolutely decisive factor for the peaceful denuclearization of the peninsula, since there is a lot of distrust between the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), he said.

It is also important for the DPRK to have an open dialogue with the United States, as China has always recommended, for the denuclearization to occur in a peaceful environment, he said.

About the escalating U.S.-China trade conflict, Guterres said trade wars are always bad for those involved and for the international economy as a whole. "We need to have international cooperation," he emphasized.

He said wherever there is a problem, there must be dialogue and serious discussion to overcome the problem. "I am a strong believer in multilateralism ... to address global problems... Global problems need to have global answers, and global answers can only be implemented through multilateral frameworks," he said.

The international framework that governs global trade is of extreme importance with the World Trade Organization at its center, he said.

"Free trade is a very important contributor to global prosperity," he said.

Globalization has brought enormous benefits -- increasing economic growth and trade, reducing absolute poverty and realizing a broader middle class everywhere. But it has also seen inequalities.

"We need to make an effort to improve things, not denying globalization but improving it," the UN chief said.

"I am very happy that China has been totally committed to ... Agenda 2030 not only at the Chinese level but also in cooperation with other countries, especially the developing world," he said.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Agenda 2030, are a collection of 17 targets aimed at addressing human rights, climate change and environmental issues.

China plays a very important role in the Agenda 2030 and in South-South cooperation, Guterres said. He called the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative a very good example of South-South cooperation.

Concerning China's 40 years of opening-up and reform, Guterres, whose first visit to China was in the 1980s, said he has seen a big change. The reforms have allowed China to play an international role, which it could not have played as a closed economy.

The BFA, he said, has been expanding in scale and influence since its establishment 17 years ago. It has played a unique role in building consensus, deepening regional cooperation, boosting common development, and resolving Asian and global problems.

The BFA conference will be held in Boao in China's southern island province of Hainan from April 8 to 11. The theme is "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."
KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday that the parliament will be dissolved on Saturday, paving way for the next general election to be held within 60 days in which he is seeking another mandate after holding the position for nine years.

In a televised speech delivered after a special cabinet meeting, Najib said he has already acquired the consent of King Sultan Muhammad V to dissolve the parliament.

The date of polling day is yet to be announced by the Election Commission of Malaysia. Normally, a general election should be held no later than two months after the dissolution of the parliament. Voters will elect the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, or House of Representatives.

For the past six decades after Malaysia's independence, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the party which Najib serves as president, has won every election together with the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has the Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress as its two major component parties.

This time, Najib is facing the challenge of 92-year-old former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who quit UMNO in 2016 and later joined the opposition alliance as the chairman of a new party called Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia. Mahathir has said he hoped that the Malay voters, traditionally the supporters of the ruling coalition, could turn to the opposition and change regime this time.

Najib has been recently on a campaign trail to many places nationwide. At an event in the eastern state of Sarawak on Wednesday, Najib appealed to the local people to support BN to hold their ruling position.

In the last general election held in 2013, BN managed to win 133 out of the 222 seats, though it obtained less than half of the popular votes.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 13:27:57|Editor: Liangyu

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CANBERRA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The new owners of Australia's biggest wine company hopes to capitalize on the growing demand for wine in China.

U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group on Thursday agreed to buy South Australia's Accolade Wines from Australia's CHAMP Private Equity for 1 billion Australian dollars (767 million U.S. dollars).

Accolade is the biggest wine company by volume in both Australia and Britain with its portfolio covering 20 of Australia's "premium wine regions."

The sale came at a time of rapid growth in demand for Australian wine by the Chinese market with Carlyle keen to tap into that market.

"This is a company with great brands and strong market positions, with multiple growth opportunities, particularly in Asian markets," a spokesperson for the firm told the Guardian Australia on Friday.

Exports of Australian wines to China have been growing since the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) took effect in December 2015.

Under ChAFTA, tariffs on Australian wine imported to China were reduced from 20 percent to 3 percent.

Australian wine exports to China increased 63 percent in 2017 to 848 million Australian dollars (650 million U.S. dollars), making it the second biggest exporter of wine to China behind France.

CHAMP bought its 80 percent share in Accolade in 2011 for 290 million Australian dollars (222 million U.S. dollars).
NEW DELHI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and several others injured Friday after a tractor carrying farm workers in its trolley skidded off the road and fell into a canal in southern Indian state of Telangana, police said.

The tractor fell into Alimineti Madhava Reddy Project canal near Waddipatla village of Nalgonda district, 128 km southeast of Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana.

"This morning in a tragic accident, a tractor carrying over 30 farm workers, mostly women, fell into canal," Ramna Reddy, a police officer told Xinhua via telephone.

"So far nine bodies have been fished out and all of them are women. Several others have been rescued and admitted in nearest hospital."

According to officials, the farm workers were going to Pulicherla village for daily work.

Police have registered a case and ordered investigations.

Preliminary reports suggest the tractor driver lost control over his vehicle and plunged into canal.

Deadly road accidents are common in India often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 13:53:00|Editor: Lifang

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Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour speaks to media in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 6, 2018. Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on Friday announced suspension of the tripartite talks between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia without reaching a consensual solution regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir)

KHARTOUM, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on Friday announced suspension of the tripartite talks between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia without reaching a consensual solution regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

"The will was present and we could have reached solutions, but this is the nature of issues of difference. We need longer time," Ghandour told reporters early Friday following a closed-door meeting in Khartoum that lasted for about 16 hours.

"We left the file in the hands of the irrigation ministers of the three countries, and whenever they see it ...fit for us to meet, we are ready," he added.

The minister declined to disclose the differences which caused the talks to be suspended.

A new round of talks on GERD had kicked off in capital Khartoum Thursday. Besides senior officials from Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia, the foreign ministers, ministers of water resources and intelligence chiefs from the three countries also attended the meeting meant to foster collaboration and resolve differences on the dam's construction.

The meeting was held after a summit brought together the leaders of the three countries in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in January.

The last round of tripartite talks on GERD had ended in November without reaching an agreement on the technical report prepared by French firms about the potential impact of the dam.

In December 2017, Egypt proposed to Ethiopia to have the World Bank act as a neutral party in the activities of the tripartite technical committee, but Ethiopia refused.

GERD, which will cost 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, is now 64 percent complete. Ethiopia hopes the project will provide a constant supply of clean and affordable power in the future, and accelerate its shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial powerhouse.

But Egypt, as a Nile downstream country, fears the dam would affect its share of the Nile's waters and lead to a water shortage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China and Russia agreed to promote bilateral ties as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on Thursday and accepted the Chinese invitation for a state visit in June.

Wang, who is also a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, conveyed Xi's congratulations to Putin on his re-election as Russian president.

China and Russia, which enjoy a unique comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, share mutual political trust of the highest level and have seen their relations continuously develop, Wang said.

This is not only due to the wise political decisions made by the two leaders in view of the general trends in the world, but also based on the long-term internal needs of their national development, Wang said.

With the two countries having successfully concluded their important domestic political agenda, Wang said Xi welcomes Putin to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao and to pay a state visit in June.

The two sides should step up preparations to ensure that the visit and a series of other important meetings between the two heads of state this year yield fruitful results, as well as open up new prospects for pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and a new era of bilateral relations, he said.

Wang said the two sides should develop a closer and deeper level of communication and coordination to better safeguard their national security and interests as well as maintain regional and world peace and stability.

Putin asked Wang to convey his congratulations to Xi on his election as Chinese president by a unanimous vote and on the success of the annual sessions of China's top legislative and political advisory bodies.

The results achieved at the two sessions will exert profound influences on China's future development, ensuring its greater stability and prosperity, he said.

Praising the very good relations between Russia and China, Putin said as neighboring countries and natural partners, the two countries have established their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination as a result of careful consideration and not expedient measures.

Putin said he looks forward to his visit to China in June and will continue close exchanges with Xi on multilateral and bilateral occasions.

He hoped Russia-China relations would achieve greater progress to benefit both countries and the world at large.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 14:48:13|Editor: Lifang

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UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned Thursday's mortar attack against peacekeepers in Mali, which left two dead and at least 10 others injured.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for Guterres, said the secretary-general condemned the attack against the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) camp that killed two Chadian peacekeepers and injured at least 10 others in Aguelhok, Kidal region.

"The secretary-general recalls that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. These acts only reinforce the commitment of the United Nations to support the people and the Government of Mali in their quest for peace," the spokesperson added.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali has been one of the most dangerous, with more than 150 peacekeepers killed since 2013. Last month, four UN peacekeepers were killed when a mine exploded under their vehicle in central Mali.
KABUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi arrived here on Friday and was warmly received at the Presidential Palace by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

The Afghan national television reported that during his day-long visit, Abbasi would meet Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah to exchange views on matters of mutual interests, including enhancing bilateral relations between Kabul and Islamabad.

This is Abbasi's first visit to Afghanistan since he assumed office months ago.

Afghanistan, according to officials, is hopeful that Islamabad could play a proactive role in encouraging the Taliban to join the Afghan government-backed peace process and hold dialogue with the Afghan government to find negotiated settlement to Afghanistan's lingering crisis.
WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he did not know about the 130,000-U.S.-dollar hush money payment that his lawyer made to an adult film actress.

"No," he replied when asked aboard Air Force One whether he knew about the payment his personal lawyer Michael Cohen made to Stormy Daniels to secure her silence over their alleged affair.

"You'll have to ask Michael," Trump said.

This was his first public response to his alleged affair with Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. She has claimed having "consensual" sex with Trump in July 2006.

The White House has said that Trump denies there was a relationship.

Daniels received a 130,000-dollar payment weeks before the 2016 presidential election and signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Trump did not sign it himself.

Cohen, who signed the agreement, said he paid the hush money out of his own pocket and was not reimbursed.

Daniels was trying to have the agreement voided, while Trump and Cohen were seeking to have the case heard by an arbitrator instead of a jury.

Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti said Thursday that Trump's statement could create legal problems.

"If the president didn't know anything about the payment, then he obviously didn't know anything about the agreement, in which case you can't have an an agreement," Avenatti told MSNBC. "And then there is no such thing as an NDA."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 14:53:14|Editor: Lifang

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RIO DE JANEIRO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of citizens, including several left-wing leaders, rallied behind former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on late Thursday.

Federal judge Sergio Moro had earlier in the day ordered Lula to surrender to the authorities and start serving his 12-year -prison sentence. He gave the former president a Friday deadline to turn himself in.

Lula was convicted of bribe-taking and money laundering. An appeals court also upheld the verdict.

According to Brazilian law, defendants can start serving their sentence before all appeals are judged. Lula's defense requested a habeas corpus for him to remain free until the last appeal was heard, but the request was rejected.

Thousands of people expressed their disagreement in a large political protest in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Sao Paulo State, where Lula started his political career. It is also the region where his Workers' Party has a strong base.

Supporters arrived at the headquarters of the Metallurgy Workers' Union building early evening. Several political leaders also showed up to express their support, including former President Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded Lula in office, and presidential candidates Guilherme Boulos and Manuela D'Avila.

Reports said the crowd prevented the police from getting access to Lula.

Rousseff, who was impeached in 2016, criticized the courts for depriving "the greatest president of this country's history of a right the Brazilian Constitution grants to all of us, which is freedom."

"They want to erase everything we have done for Brazil in 13 years," she said.

It remains unclear whether Lula will surrender on Friday since his defense has protested Moro's ruling, saying the former president could be arrested only after the deadline for all appeals in the Sao Paulo Federal Court, which will be next week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, on April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Wu Zhuang)

MOSCOW, April 5 (Xinhua) -- China-Russia relations will see steady and sustainable development and will contribute better to global strategic stability and world peace in the current volatile international situation, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday.

China and Russia are comprehensive strategic partners of coordination and the bilateral relationship has been each other's diplomatic priority, Wang said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, adding that their strategic coordination is a strategic choice of the two countries.

China and Russia have successfully concluded their important domestic political agenda recently, entering a new era of national development, said Wang, who visited Russia from April 4-5 as the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China held the annual sessions of its top legislature and top political advisory body in March while Russian President Vladimir Putin was re-elected last month.

Wang said China is ready to work with Russia to prepare for a series of events between the two presidents this year, implement agreements reached by them, promote cooperation in major projects, and jointly maintain the global free trade mechanism.

Both countries should continue to strengthen communication and coordination in the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the BRICS mechanism, Wang said.

The SCO summit will be held in China's Qingdao city in June and Putin has said he would attend it.

Lavrov said that under the guidance of the two leaders, the two countries enjoy high-level mutual trust. Russia-China ties serve as a model of cooperation between major countries, promoting global stability in international affairs, he added.

Russia prioritizes strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination with China and will work with China to improve communication and practical cooperation in various fields and within different multilateral frameworks, the Russian foreign minister said.

Wang and Lavrov also exchanged views on the Korean Peninsula, Syria and Afghanistan.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Oregon State Governor Kate Brown said Thursday that she would defy President Donald Trump's plan to send U.S. National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexican border.

"I do not want our Oregon National Guardsmen and women to be used as political pawns," Brown told local media on Thursday.

Oregon TV outlet KATU2 reported that Trump "has not asked for National Guardsmen and women from Oregon, but she's promising to say 'no' if he does."

Trump signed a memorandum on Wednesday to deploy the National Guard to the southwest border, after days of calling for more border security.

The defense secretary "shall request use of National Guard personnel" to secure the border and the homeland security secretary will work with him to train and direct the troops in that mission, he said in the memo.

"The security of the United States is imperiled by a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border," Trump said.

Brown criticized the president for his poor handling of state affairs, saying, "This administration is governing via chaos and incompetence. It must stop."

"This is just something that the president reeled off to distract from the problems he's having in Washington, D.C.," she added.
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to slap tariffs on 100 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China, drawing strong opposition from China and threatening America's own economic growth.

China will fight "at any cost" and take "comprehensive countermeasures" if the United States continues its unilateral, protectionist practices, a spokesperson with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

"On China-U.S. trade, China has made its position very clear. We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of such a war," the spokesperson said.

If the United States continues its protectionism regardless of opposition from China and the international community, China will fight to the end at any cost to "protect the interests of the country and the people," according to the spokesperson.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) proposed to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars of imports from China, which has drawn strong opposition from business groups.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether 100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Trump said in a White House statement on Thursday.

In response to the Trump administration's series of provocative actions, China has said it would defend its national interests against U.S. trade actions and protectionism.

Trump's actions also stirred up opposition from the American business community, which warns that the United States is heading in the wrong direction by starting a trade war.

"This is what a trade war looks like, and what we have warned against from the start," said Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, in a statement on Thursday.

"We are on a dangerous downward spiral and American families will be on the losing end," he added.

Shay also said in the statement that these tit-for-tat trade actions could spell disaster for the U.S. economy and make it harder for Americans across the country to afford everyday products and basic necessities.

The American Soybean Association also denounced the Trump administration's tariff plans, saying that it was extremely frustrated about the potential trade war with China, the largest customer of U.S. soybeans.

Following the U.S. tariff proposal on Tuesday, China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs, which included soybean imports.

China purchases 61 percent of the total U.S. soybean exports, or more than 30 percent of overall U.S. soybean production.

"A 25-percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America," John Heisdorffer, president of the American Soybean Association, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The association has called on the White House to withdraw the tariffs that had led to the retaliation.

The 100 billion dollars represent about 20 percent of U.S. imports from China last year, some analysts have pointed out. Additional tariffs on these imports would definitely hurt the U.S. economy.

According to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, tariffs on steel and aluminum imports would probably reduce the U.S. gross domestic product by 0.25 percentage point over the long run.

Mark Zandi, chief economist with the Moody's Analytics, estimated that the Trump administration's recent tariff plans would reduce U.S. economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage point over the next 12 months.

If tensions escalate, the drag on the U.S. growth will grow, Zandi warned.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 15:28:25|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China recalled about 3.2 million cars in the first quarter of the year, with more than half of them being Japanese brands, official data showed.

About 2.5 million recalls were made in February alone, up 360.8 percent year on year.

Japanese brands were involved in about 51.2 percent of the total.

Among them, the joint venture between Japanese automaker Nissan and China's Dongfeng Group reported the most recalls mainly due to faulty brakes.

Airbag inflators provided by Japanese firm Takata also led to major recalls.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 15:53:33|Editor: Lifang

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Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia addresses a Security Council meeting on the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018.(Xinhua/Li Muzi)

by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The nerve-agent attack against a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain's southwestern city of Salisbury sparked heated discussions between Russian and British envoys Thursday at the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

HEATED VERBAL EXCHANGE

The Security Council met Thursday afternoon for the second time in less than a month to discuss the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, with Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia saying that Britain was engaged in "a theater of the absurd" by seeking to put responsibility on his country.

Raising a series of questions, Nebenzia said that Russia was not responsible and that Moscow expected both answers and full cooperation from the British side, as well as consular access to the Skripals.

Furthermore, the origin of the substance used in Salisbury had not been confirmed, yet people were demanding that Russia acknowledged its guilt, he added.

A crime had been committed on British soil, and perhaps also a terrorist act on a Russian citizen, Nebenzia said, adding that a draft statement from his delegation for the Security Council's consideration would be a litmus test as to whether Britain and its allies were "true to their words."

In response, British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce reaffirmed her government's position that it was "highly likely" that Russia had carried out the attack.

She said that on March 21, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had deployed a team to Salisbury and collected samples, which were sent to several designated laboratories for testing.

Britain would share those findings once a report was made available, Pierce said, accusing Russia of attempting to undermine the international institution responsible for the investigation.

BRITAIN GETS SUPPORT FROM U.S., FRANCE

Kelly Currie, U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, voiced support for Britain's position, saying that the meeting was an attempt by Russia "to use the Council for political gains."

Either Russia had used a chemical weapon in the Salisbury attack or it had failed to declare its stocks of nerve agents, said Currie.

In the same vein, French delegate to the United Nations Francois Delattre said France would never allow impunity for those who used chemical weapons, adding that Russia must be part of the solution and immediately act responsibly.

CHINA CALLS FOR COOPERATION

Several speakers appealed for cooperation, including China's delegate, who said relevant issues should be addressed within the framework of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Emphasizing that the truth must be determined as soon as possible, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, urged the countries concerned to engage in consultations, "avoid politicization and actions that would aggravate the situation, and handle the issue through dialogue."

At a time when the international community faces a plethora of issues, countries must "avoid a cold war mentality and devote their efforts to building mutual respect and win-win cooperation," he added.

Bolivia's representative, rejecting the use of chemical agents as weapons, likewise reiterated the need for a depoliticized investigation, adding that cooperation between relevant parties through diplomatic channels was essential to resolve the matter.

Also speaking at the meeting were representatives of Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Poland, Kuwait, Equatorial Guinea, the Netherlands, Cote d'Ivoire and Peru.

The meeting came a day after the Executive Council of the OPCW had met in The Hague, failing to agree on a proposed joint Russia-Britain investigation into the incident.

Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury on March 4. Britain has claimed they were exposed to a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok and held Russia responsible. Moscow has denied any involvement and called British accusations "completely unacceptable."

Earlier Thursday, Yulia said in a statement released by British police that her health has improved. "I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence," she said.
NEW DELHI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Both Houses of the Indian parliament were Friday adjourned sine die, officials said.

According to officials, no sooner the lower House of the parliament (Lok Sabha) met for the day, lawmakers from southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu raised slogans to disrupt the House.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said around 128 hours were wasted during the just concluded session due to disruptions.

Likewise, the Chairman of Upper House of Indian parliament (Rajya Sabha) M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House sine die after making a brief observation about its functioning.

The disruptions wasted 120 hours of House, Naidu said.

The second half of the Budget session, which began on March 5 was marred due to frequent adjournments without any business having being transacted.

The lawmakers from main opposition Congress party were protesting against fraudulent transactions worth about 1.77 billion U.S. dollars case at India's state-owned multinational banking and financial services company - Punjab National Bank (PNB).

Lawmakers from southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh were demanding special status, while as lawmakers from adjoining Tamil Nadu were demanding fair share of water from river Cauvery.

The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party lawmakers Friday also staged protest in Parliament premises against Congress party accusing them of wasting entire session.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 16:03:36|Editor: Lifang

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People walk past a giant screen broadcasting the sentence to the impeached President Park Geun-hye in Seoul, South Korea, April 6, 2018. A South Korean court on Friday sentenced the impeached President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in jail with a fine of 18 billion won (17 million U.S. dollars) for corruption. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)

SEOUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean court on Friday sentenced the impeached President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in jail and fined her 18 billion won (17 million U.S. dollars) over a series of corruption counts.

Park, who was removed out of office in March last year over an influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, was convicted of 16 corruption counts that include bribery, abuse of power and coercion.

Prosecutors had charged Park with 18 counts, seeking a 30-year jail sentence with a fine of 118.5 billion won (111.4 million U.S. dollars).

The Seoul Central District Court delivered a verdict of guilty, which was broadcast live nationwide. Park objected to the decision citing the violation of the innocence presumption, but the court said it allowed the live broadcasting for the trial's significance, historical meaning and people's right to know.

Park did not appear in the courtroom in protest against the live broadcasting. The ousted president has not shown up in any court hearing since October last year to protest against her extended detention for six more months.

Three weeks after her impeachment last March, Park was taken into custody at a detention center outside of Seoul.

The country's first female leader, who was also the first president to be impeached while in office, is required to request a retrial within a week if she disagrees with the ruling.

Choi, who was at the center of the corruption scandal, was sentenced in February to 20 years in prison.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the heir apparent and the only son to Chairman Lee Kun-hee, was set free by the appeals court in February with a sentence of two and a half years in prison suspended for four years.

The court found guilty of Park's collusion with Choi to abuse her presidential power and coerce local conglomerates, including Samsung and retail giant Lotte, to donate tens of millions of U.S. dollars to nonprofit foundations which the court said Choi actually controlled.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin was put under court custody in February with a sentence of two and a half years in jail for bribery.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 16:13:38|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- As U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats ratchet up trade tensions with China, academics and officials say the protectionist move, which seeks to bypass the World Trade Organization (WTO), is a "big mistake".

"These tariffs that have targeted China confirm that the Trump administration intends to bypass the WTO's dispute settlement body and unilaterally rely on U.S. law alone regarding the ongoing trade dispute with China. That is a big mistake," Jon R. Taylor, a political science professor at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, said.

WTO rules and regulations were established to provide a global mechanism to resolve trade disputes, he said.

"If the U.S. follows through on these tariffs, so will China," he warned. "The ball is in the U.S. court."

Trump on Thursday threatened to slap tariffs on 100 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China.

It was the latest protectionist trade action against China. Earlier this week, the U.S. Trade Representative proposed to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars of imports from China, which has drawn strong opposition from business groups.

China on Wednesday unveiled a list of products worth 50 billion dollars imported from the United States that will be subject to higher tariffs and plans to take relevant U.S. practices to the WTO trade dispute settlement system.

Canadian international business expert Ian Lee called the trade tensions between the United States and China more than bilateral -- part of a broader issue involving Trump challenging the international trading system.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called China a pillar of the multilateral system, said trade wars are always bad for those involved and for the international economy as a whole. "We need to have international cooperation," he emphasized.

The international framework that governs global trade is of extreme importance with the WTO at its center, he said, adding, "Free trade is a very important contributor to global prosperity."

Guterres said wherever there is a problem, there must be dialogue and serious discussions to address it.

"I am a strong believer in multilateralism ... to address global problems... Global problems need to have global answers, and global answers can only be implemented through multilateral frameworks," he said.

Martin Wansleben, chief executive of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, suggested direct talks among the parties involved to work on common trade rules within the WTO for maintaining a good and fair world trade.

Imposing new tariffs is "an economic dead end," he said. Growth and welfare are based on cooperation.

"The economies of China and the United States have been intertwined heavily for a long time, so it's impossible to introduce any protective trade measures without hurting the two economies or the world economy," Wansleben said.
CANBERRA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Investment in Australia's renewable energy sector increased 147 percent in 2017, according to a United Nations (UN) report.

The "Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018" report, released on Friday, found that investment in renewable energy sources in 2017 was double that in coal, gas and nuclear sources combined.

In Australia alone investment in renewables was 11.07 billion Australian dollars (8.5 billion U.S. dollars), a figure that Martin Rice, acting CEO of Australia's Climate Council, said proved that the transition away from fossil fuels was inevitable.

"Australia is one of the sunniest and windiest countries in the world, so we shouldn't be surprised that investment in renewables, such as wind and solar, is thriving and continues to topple new records around the world," Rice said on Friday.

"If Australia maintains this momentum then we could see the phasing out of coal within the next two decades, transitioning the nation to an energy grid fit for the 21st century and one that slashes our rising greenhouse gas pollution levels."

Under the Australian government's signature energy policy, the National Energy Guarantee, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has not committed to a renewable energy but did commit to reducing emissions by 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris Agreement.

"The Federal Government's proposed National Energy Guarantee threatens to strangle Australia's renewables boom," Rice said.

"States and territories are leading the charge when it comes to the uptake of renewables and tackling climate change. We must continue our wind and solar surge, and move away from ageing, polluting and inefficient fossil fuels that have no place in our energy future."

Rice highlighted China's leadership on renewable investment with the country accounting for 45 percent of the global total in 2017.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- An armed suspect was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police Thursday evening in Fremont city in the U.S. state of California, police said.

The Fremont Police Department said in a statement that "undercover Fremont Police officers located a wanted male suspect traveling as a passenger in a vehicle."

The male suspect was found running toward a gas station, where he pointed at the police officers with a firearm and then shots were fired, said the statement.

"During the shooting, the suspect was struck and fell to the ground. A revolver was located at the suspect's side with expended casings," said the police.

Witnesses said the shootout was like a "war zone" and at least 10 gunshots were fired.

Fremont police said the suspect "had an active felony warrant for illegal possession of a firearm and had an additional felony warrant for a probation violation."

According to police, no law enforcement officers were wounded in the shootout, and there were no other injuries arising from it.

This is the second gun shooting incident in less than three days in the San Francisco Bay area after a woman shot and injured three people at the YouTube headquarters on Thursday.

The woman, identified as a 38-year-old YouTube user, was said to have committed the crime because she "hated" YouTube for failing to pay her for the content she posted to the site.
NEW DELHI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli arrived in New Delhi on Friday for a three-day visit.

This is his first visit to India after he assumed office for the second time in February.

During his stay in the Indian capital, Oli is scheduled to meet President of India Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Besides, he will also hold interactions with the Indian business community and the Nepali community here. A ceremonial welcome will be accorded to the visiting premier Saturday at the President's House, after which he will hold delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart.

On Sunday, Oli is scheduled to visit Pantnagar in northern state of Uttarakhand, where he will visit an agriculture university and also interact with agriculture scientists.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 16:28:48|Editor: Lifang

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YINCHUAN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Goji berries are found all over China, from flasks of tea in offices through breakfast gruel to braised meat broths in Chinese kitchens.

Also known as the wolfberry, the goji berry and products are increasingly sought after overseas.

Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region grows vast quantities of goji berries, over 60,000 hectares of them. And annual production tops 180,000 tonnes.

Last year, exports reached 7,300 tonnes, according to the regional forestry administration.

"Exports of goji berries and products are growing by about 20 percent each year," said Chen Jianhua, deputy head of the administration.

Chinese people like to eat them raw, in tea or soups. Overseas fans make smoothies, salads and cakes. The berries can also be ingredients for facial masks, vitamin tablets and beer.

"A kilogram of goji berries sells for only 100 yuan (about 16 U.S. dollars). The berries themselves do not bring much profit, but downstream products can be very profitable," said Qiao Changsheng, executive chairman of Ningxia Qiyuantang goji industrial innovation institute.

China's goji berry history dates back thousands of years. In ancient herbal medicine, its functions included protecting the liver, improving eyesight and conserving strength.

China has 133,000 hectares of goji berries, mainly in the northwestern provinces. Ningxia has established standard farming techniques to control the use of pesticides, improve the qualities of the berries and develop new products, said Chen.

Goji products from Ningxia are exported to 30 countries and regions including United States, European Union, Japan and Australia.

The list of exporters is growing. Ningxia Wolfberry Goji Industry Co, Ltd is one of the big exporters. They export dried berries, juice, oil and freeze-dried powder to the United States.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 16:48:51|Editor: Lifang

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by Chris Dalby

BRASILIA, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Supreme Federal Court on Thursday rejected a habeas corpus motion by former president and presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which sharply changed the outlook for Brazil's general elections in October.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, who oversaw Brazil's sprawling corruption investigation "Operation Car Wash," on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for Lula and ordered the former president to turn himself in to the authorities in Curitiba, capital of southern Parana State, by 5 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Friday to begin a 12 year and one month prison sentence for passive corruption and money laundering.

Moro said in a statement that Lula would be kept apart from other prisoners, with a separate cell reserved for him, "without any risk to his moral or physical integrity."

ELECTORAL LANDSCAPE SHARPLY CHANGED

Earlier in the day, the Workers' Party (PT) said that Lula remained as its presidential candidate although Brazilian media reported Lula had told his close circle that he was essentially out of the presidential race.

"We do not accept this incarceration as a done deal," Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, PT president, told the press.

Under Brazilian law, any politician with a prison sentence is barred from running for political office.

With six months remaining until the October elections, Lula has led opinion polls with about 35 percent of support, which showed clear margins of victory for him among other competitors.

The PT had a clear strategy to support Lula at all costs but now has to consider another representative. It is still unclear which party member will be selected, with former Mayor of Sao Paulo Fernando Haddad and former Bahia Governor Jaques Wagner being choices.

Meanwhile, Lula's imprisonment is an election game-changer, potentially benefitting several candidates who have so far not gained any major advantages.

With Lula out of the race, far-right Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party could lead the polls with a support rate of around 20 percent.

However, it would be difficult for Bolsonaro, an advocate of far-right and populist political views, to court Lula's base of rural, working-class families.

Lula's former environment minister, Marina Silva, who currently enjoys a 14 percent support rate, might have a chance to court ballots from the PT, given her track record on social and environmental issues.

As the ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement party has not yet announced its candidate, its decision may be another factor influencing the outcome of the election.

There has been speculation that Henrique Meirelles, current finance minister renowned for pushing the Brazilian economy out of recession, is considering running for president in October.

Meanwhile, President Michel Temer has recently hinted he might seek re-election despite his abysmal approval ratings.

Ciro Gomes, another left-wing politician from the Democratic Labor Party, who served as the minister for national integration under Lula's administration, could also seek PT support, with his campaign issues focusing on defending national sovereignty and Brazil's independence on the world stage.

Finally, the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, another major political force in the country, has nominated Sao Paulo mayor Geraldo Alckmin as its campaign candidate, although he has not become an overwhelming favorite.

POSSIBLE VIOLENCE ON THE HORIZON

One worrying factor is the violence possibly triggered by the elections, which the Supreme Federal Court has warned against.

Analysts also warned that there may be more demonstrations on the way to show support for or protest against Lula, considering there have been some in some major municipalities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

On Thursday, the situation escalated as the head of the army, General Eduardo Villas Boas, warned that the army would put an "end to impunity."

This was seen as a thinly veiled message to the Supreme Federal Court concerning Lula and has been sharply criticized by judges, politicians and the media, who see it as overstepping the army's constitutionally mandated role.

The hope that the October election would resolve Brazil's long-running political crisis seems to be diminishing.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 16:58:53|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- More than 180,000 police officers were on duty nationwide to ensure road safety Thursday, this year's Tomb-Sweeping Day, according to the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.

As of 7:00 pm Thursday, no road accident with more than five deaths was reported, and major highways and main routes did not see any major traffic jams.

On Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival, people visit their ancestors' graves and tombs of their deceased loved ones, which often causes long road trips.

As Friday and Saturday are also public holidays, the bureau has asked the public to keep an eye on the weather and traffic conditions, avoid rush hours, and keep their activities safe and green.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 17:39:04|Editor: Liangyu

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Cargo containers transported by trains of the China Railway Express (CRE) are stacked at Intermodal Terminal DIT in Duisburg, Germany's biggest inland port, on April 11, 2017. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

by Xinhua writer Tian Dongdong

BRUSSELS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he had asked the U.S. Trade Representative to consider slapping 100 billion U.S. dollars worth of additional tariffs on China, a dramatic move that threatens to undermine the global trade system.

As staunch supporters of free trade and multilateralism, China and European countries would bear the consequences of U.S. trade protectionism if Trump topples the global order, experts have said.

DIVIDE-AND-RULE TACTICS

Resorting to protectionist moves the likes of which haven't been seen in decades, Washington announced last month that it would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum.

The White House then decided to grant the European Union (EU) and six other economies a temporary exemption from the tariffs before Trump signed a memorandum that imposes tariffs on Chinese imports worth up to 50 billion dollars.

The concurrence was "interesting," said Andre Sapir, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank specializing in economy and finance.

"In a sense the message that was given to the European countries is that, you know you are exempted from the severe measures, I'm taking tough measures against China on steel and other products ... I want to know on which side (you are)," said Sapir.

After signing the memorandum, Trump called the leaders of France and Germany to discuss cooperation on trade policy toward China.

During their conversation, Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed "joining forces to counter" China's economic practices and alleged "intellectual property theft," said the White House.

But a German government statement said Merkel called for a dialogue between the EU and the United States on trade policy, taking into account the rules-based international trade system.

Meanwhile, in his phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump also discussed with Macron trade practices between the United States and the EU and the "next steps" in addressing China's trade practices, while reaffirming the cooperative relationship between the United States and its two important allies, according to the White House.

"You know we are not going to be a player (in Trump's game). The only way we can be a player is by leading the coalition of countries to say that the world trading system, the rules-based system is our primary objective," Sapir said.

Trump was obviously trying to get Germany and France to side with him. In fact, he was using "divide-and-rule tactics," said Wang Yiwei, an expert on European studies at Renmin University in Beijing.

SELLING SNAKE OIL

However, due to Trump's increasingly isolationist policy, the United States is no longer Europe's go-to guy. What's more, his trying to sell his European partners on the so-called "China trade threat" is nothing short of "selling snake oil," according to some European media.

"Trump questioned the global trading order after the Second World War. And he wants to go back to nineteenth-century nationalist protectionism," said DPA, a leading press agency in Germany, in an analytical report published after Trump's phone conversation with Merkel.

"If they (European countries) play games with the Americans at the expense of free trade with China, then Europe would have practically taken over Trump's protectionism," DPA said.

The DPA said that for the EU, taking sides in the trade dispute can be likened to a tightrope act. The agency also said that on the one hand, Merkel wants to engage in dialogue to prevent an escalation and a trade war. On the other hand, it said, she emphasizes that Europe will not let itself be blackmailed by Trump and will fight for a continuation of the internationally agreed rules.

A bilateral agreement between the EU and the United States would "enable Trump to drive a wedge between the EU and the other WTO (World Trade Organization) members," said Gabriel Felbermayr, director of the Center for International Economics at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, a Munich-based institution.

It would be better to tackle the existing problems with negotiations rather than unilateral measures, and "small and poorer countries would be isolated and left behind by such an agreement, and would stand hardly any chance of fighting the USA's illegal tariffs," Felbermayr said.

IRRATIONAL MOVE

The Trump administration earlier this week proposed a 25 percent tariff on 1,300 Chinese industrial and other products. In response, China released a list of similar proposed duties on U.S. imports worth 50 billion dollars.

Experts fear that the fresh escalation could put the shaky recovery of the global economy at stake, if no one halts Washington's irrational move.

"It is no longer the United States, but China that has become Europe's most important trading partner," said Felbermayr.

As of 2016, the EU had been China's largest trading partner in a row for 12 years, while China was ranked as the EU's second-largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years.

"In a world of great uncertainties, a stable China-EU relationship is an invaluable asset," said Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU.

"China and the EU, as major members of the WTO and comprehensive strategic partners, should take a clear stance against protectionism, jointly preserve the rules-based multilateral trade order and keep the global economy on a sound and sustainable track," Zhang said in a signed article published on the Politico website Wednesday.

"This is a joint responsibility. China and the EU must act together to make that happen," Zhang said.

(Xinhua reporters Zhu Sheng in Berlin, Wang Zichen and Shuai Rong in Brussels, and Ying Qiang and Han Bing in Paris also contributed to the story.)

(Video editor: Zhu Cong)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 17:49:06|Editor: Lifang

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The evacuation of the Islam Army rebels and their families from the Douma district in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside has been suspended amid ongoing negotiations, a monitor group reported on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had information that the suspension of the evacuation process in Douma comes amid ongoing negotiations between the Islam Army and the Russian side.

The negotiations aim to reach a new understanding after a previous recent one has seen the evacuation of three batches of rebels and their families from Douma to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

According to the observatory, the Islam Army put forward new suggestions to the Russians, mainly calling for remaining in Douma with their weapons.

The new proposition also touches upon the situation of the Islam Army in Douma, the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta countryside and in other pockets they still have a presence in such as the Eastern Qalamoun region and southern Damascus.

In case of the collapse of the negotiations, a military operation is expected to be launched on Douma, said the observatory.

Meanwhile, state news agency SANA blamed the suspension of the evacuation on the inner conflict among the Islam Army rebels.

A day earlier, the fourth batch, which was supposed to leave, was suspended and buses left Douma for the nearby highway to wait for a decision to be made regarding the evacuation process.

Activists said the Islam Army rebels are having difficulties when crossing to areas under the Turkish control in northern Syria in their way to Jarablus, a city in northern Syria near the Turkish border, which is the designated destination of the Islam Army.

A total of 2,963 militants and their families evacuated Douma in three batches over the past few days under a deal concluded between the Islam Army and the Syrian government forces under a Russian mediation.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in that sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of 43,000 rebels and their families toward Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian army launched a massive operation 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.
ISTANBUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish coast guard has apprehended 203 illegal migrants in the last 24 hours along the Aegean shore, as they were attempting to sneak into Greek islands, the force said on Friday.

Thirty-nine migrants, including children and babies, were seized on a small inflatable boat off the Bodrum district in Turkey's southwestern province of Mugla, while 53 Syrians were detained off the provinces of Aydin and Canakkale.

On land, 111 illegal migrants preparing to head for Greek islands via sea routes were caught in three locations in Izmir, the coast guard said in a statement posted on its website.

During the operations, five human traffickers were detained as well, the force said.

A total of 4,451 migrants have attempted to reach the Greek islands via Turkey this year, up from 3,781 over the same period in 2017, according to figures released by the Turkish coast guard.

A deal was signed between Turkey and the European Union in March 2016 to curb the flow of illegal migration through the Aegean Sea, a favored route for migrants trying to reach Europe.
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)

by Xinhua writer Tian Dongdong

BRUSSELS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he had asked the U.S. Trade Representative to consider slapping 100 billion U.S. dollars worth of additional tariffs on China, a dramatic move that threatens to undermine the global trade system.

As staunch supporters of free trade and multilateralism, China and European countries would bear the consequences of U.S. trade protectionism if Trump topples the global order, experts have said.





DIVIDE-AND-RULE TACTICS

Resorting to protectionist moves the likes of which haven't been seen in decades, Washington announced last month that it would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum.

The White House then decided to grant the European Union (EU) and six other economies a temporary exemption from the tariffs before Trump signed a memorandum that imposes tariffs on Chinese imports worth up to 50 billion dollars.





A trader has a rest after market closing at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, March 22, 2018. U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, with the Dow plunging over 700 points, after the U.S. President Donald Trump announced to impose tariff on imported products from China. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

The concurrence was "interesting," said Andre Sapir, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank specializing in economy and finance.

"In a sense the message that was given to the European countries is that, you know you are exempted from the severe measures, I'm taking tough measures against China on steel and other products ... I want to know on which side (you are)," said Sapir.

After signing the memorandum, Trump called the leaders of France and Germany to discuss cooperation on trade policy toward China.

During their conversation, Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed "joining forces to counter" China's economic practices and alleged "intellectual property theft," said the White House.

But a German government statement said Merkel called for a dialogue between the EU and the United States on trade policy, taking into account the rules-based international trade system.

Meanwhile, in his phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump also discussed with Macron trade practices between the United States and the EU and the "next steps" in addressing China's trade practices, while reaffirming the cooperative relationship between the United States and its two important allies, according to the White House.

"You know we are not going to be a player (in Trump's game). The only way we can be a player is by leading the coalition of countries to say that the world trading system, the rules-based system is our primary objective," Sapir said.

Trump was obviously trying to get Germany and France to side with him. In fact, he was using "divide-and-rule tactics," said Wang Yiwei, an expert on European studies at Renmin University in Beijing.





SELLING SNAKE OIL

However, due to Trump's increasingly isolationist policy, the United States is no longer Europe's go-to guy. What's more, his trying to sell his European partners on the so-called "China trade threat" is nothing short of "selling snake oil," according to some European media.

U.S. President Donald Trump waves his hand as he leaves the European Council headquarters after EU-USA Leaders' Meeting, in Brussels, Belgium, May 25, 2017. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

"Trump questioned the global trading order after the Second World War. And he wants to go back to nineteenth-century nationalist protectionism," said DPA, a leading press agency in Germany, in an analytical report published after Trump's phone conversation with Merkel.

"If they (European countries) play games with the Americans at the expense of free trade with China, then Europe would have practically taken over Trump's protectionism," DPA said.

The DPA said that for the EU, taking sides in the trade dispute can be likened to a tightrope act. The agency also said that on the one hand, Merkel wants to engage in dialogue to prevent an escalation and a trade war. On the other hand, it said, she emphasizes that Europe will not let itself be blackmailed by Trump and will fight for a continuation of the internationally agreed rules.

A bilateral agreement between the EU and the United States would "enable Trump to drive a wedge between the EU and the other WTO (World Trade Organization) members," said Gabriel Felbermayr, director of the Center for International Economics at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, a Munich-based institution.

It would be better to tackle the existing problems with negotiations rather than unilateral measures, and "small and poorer countries would be isolated and left behind by such an agreement, and would stand hardly any chance of fighting the USA's illegal tariffs," Felbermayr said.





IRRATIONAL MOVE

The Trump administration earlier this week proposed a 25 percent tariff on 1,300 Chinese industrial and other products. In response, China released a list of similar proposed duties on U.S. imports worth 50 billion dollars.

This file photo taken on March 2, 2006 shows the United States 10-dollar bill. With the United States retreating to the stronghold of protectionism and nationalism, concerns about a trade war are rising around the globe. (Xinhua/Lyu Mingxiang)

Experts fear that the fresh escalation could put the shaky recovery of the global economy at stake, if no one halts Washington's irrational move.

"It is no longer the United States, but China that has become Europe's most important trading partner," said Felbermayr.

As of 2016, the EU had been China's largest trading partner in a row for 12 years, while China was ranked as the EU's second-largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years.

"In a world of great uncertainties, a stable China-EU relationship is an invaluable asset," said Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese Mission to the EU.

"China and the EU, as major members of the WTO and comprehensive strategic partners, should take a clear stance against protectionism, jointly preserve the rules-based multilateral trade order and keep the global economy on a sound and sustainable track," Zhang said in a signed article published on the Politico website Wednesday.

"This is a joint responsibility. China and the EU must act together to make that happen," Zhang said.

(Xinhua reporters Zhu Sheng in Berlin, Wang Zichen and Shuai Rong in Brussels, and Ying Qiang and Han Bing in Paris also contributed to the story.)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 18:39:20|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Supporters of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye gather outside Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea, on April 6, 2018. Impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Friday over a corruption scandal that exposed the deep-rooted collusive ties between politicians and businessmen viewed as being hard to root out. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho)

by Yoo Seungki

SEOUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Friday over a corruption scandal that exposed the deep-rooted collusive ties between politicians and businessmen viewed as being hard to root out.

Park was sentenced to 24 years in jail with a fine of 18 billion won (17 million U.S. dollars). She was found guilty of 16 corruption charges that include bribery, abuse of power and coercion.

Prosecutors had charged Park with 18 counts, seeking a 30-year jail sentence with a fine of 118.5 billion won (111.4 million U.S. dollars). Park denied all the charges against her.

Park was removed out of office in March last year over an influence-peddling scandal involving her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil who was jailed for 20 years in February.

The Seoul Central District Court said Park colluded with Choi to abuse presidential power and coerce large business conglomerates, including Samsung and Lotte, to donate tens of millions of U.S. dollars to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi.

Park was convicted of taking bribes, in collusion with Choi, from Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the heir apparent and only son to Chairman Lee Kun-hee, to fund the equestrian training of Choi's daughter.

However, the court rejected the allegation that Samsung made any clear or implied request in return for its donation to Choi's non-profit organizations.

The Samsung heir was set free by the appeals court in February with a two-and-a-half-year jail term suspended for four years. It was a commutation from a five-year imprisonment in the first trial.

Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, the country's fifth-biggest conglomerate, was put under court custody in February with a sentence of two and a half years in jail for bribery.

The court said Park solicited 7 billion won (6.6 million U.S. dollars) in kickback from the Lotte chairman in return for providing business favors. The money was returned back to Lotte later.

Meanwhile, the Seoul court allowed the verdict hearing to be broadcast live. Park objected it citing the violation of the innocence presumption, but the court said it allowed the live broadcating due to the trial's significance, historical meaning and people's right to know.

Park did not appear in the courtroom in protest against the live broadcasting. The ousted president has not shown up in any court hearing since October last year to protest against her extended detention for six more months.

Three weeks after her impeachment last March, Park was taken into custody at a detention center outside of Seoul.

The country's first female leader, who was also the first president to be impeached while in office, could appeal against the ruling within a week.

Park's corruption scandal dealt a big blow to the conservative bloc, but she still has followers especially the elderly. Hundreds of Park's loyalists criticized the sentence outside the court, calling for her immediate release.
PARIS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- France had a trade gap at 5.2 billion euros (6.37 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of February, slightly down from 5.4 billion euros (6.61 billion dollars) recorded a month earlier mainly due to falling imports, according to customs data released Friday.

Due to a "sharp contraction in aeronautical supplies," the country's total imports were down by 1.4 percent over the period after they had increased by 1 percent in January, totalling 44.9 billion euros (54.97 billion dollars).

French exports were worth 39.7 billion euros (48.60 billion dollars), down by 0.9 percent, France's customs authorities said, adding that "The decline in exports, which remains limited, is essentially due to a few cyclical downturns."

Over the past 12 months, the cumulated trade deficits stood at 60.2 billion euros (73.70 billion dollars) in total compared to 62.5 billion euros (76.51 billion dollars) in 2017.
SUVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Fiji said on Friday that it is ready to host the 34th Session of the Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC), which is to be held on the Denarau Island near Nadi, Fiji's third largest city on April 9-13, this year.

According to a press release by Fiji's Department of Information on Friday, the conference, which will be attended by members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will discuss important issues such as the effects of climate change on food production, safer food and nutrition.

Fiji's Minister for Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development and National Disaster Management and Meteorological Services Inia Seruiratu said on Friday that preparations are rightly underway to host this regional meeting that will see the participation of government ministers and delegates from 46 members across the Asia-Pacific region.

"This is the first time in more than two decades that a country in the Pacific has hosted the APRC and it will provide an ideal opportunity, particularly for Pacific island countries, to advocate and present issues specifically related to aspects regarding their food and nutrition security," he said.

FAO Regional Conferences are official forums where agriculture ministers and high-level officials of members from the same geographic region meet to discuss the challenges and priority matters related to food and agriculture, with a view of promoting regional coherence on global policies and political issues.

Established in 1945, the Rome-based FAO is the specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Its goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 members, FAO works in over 130 countries and regions.
ULAN BATOR, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's State Great Khural, or the parliament, said Friday that it had passed a draft resolution to expand its consulate general into an embassy in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Since Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan forged diplomatic ties in 1992, bilateral ties have been continually developing in the political sphere with reciprocal visits growing increasingly frequent.

There are 18 agreements effectively regulating the two countries' cooperation at present, and more are on the agenda, the Kyrgyz news agency AKIpress said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 18:49:23|Editor: Lifang

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MADRID, April 6 (Xinhua) -- One of nine German cyclists injured in a road accident on the Spanish island of Mallorca on Thursday has died, Spanish General Traffic Director Gregorio Serrano said Friday.

The cyclist died late Thursday night, about 14 hours after being evacuated to a hospital in the town of Manacor.

A group of 15 cyclists collided with a four-wheel drive vehicle on the MA-15 road close to the town of Capdepera on Thursday. The vehicle was driven by a 28-year-old local woman.

Two other cyclists were "seriously" injured and six others suffered "slight" injuries, the official said.

The injured were all Germans aged between 30 to 40, who had been on holiday in Mallorca before planning to return to Germany on Saturday.

The accident happened on a "straight stretch of road and with good visibility," said the official.

The woman has been charged with causing injuries due to "gross negligence" and with crimes against public safety, the Spanish Civil Guard said.

In 2017, over 40 cyclists were killed in road accidents in Spain, showed official statistics released in January.
SARI PUL, Afghanistan, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A 45-member group of Taliban militants have given up fighting and handed over their weapons to authorities in Afghanistan's northern Sari Pul province, security officials said Friday.

According to local officials, the former fighters under commander Khuda Dad laid down arms and vowed to support the government against militants elsewhere in Afghanistan.

"With surrender of Khuda Dad and his men to local authorities, 11 villages have been liberated from Taliban clutch in Shiram area," army commander in Sari Pul province Rahimullah Azimi told Xinhua.

Government forces launched major offensive against militants in Shiram area on Monday and so far dozens of militants, according to officials, have been killed or injured.

Taliban militants are yet to make comment on the situation.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 18:54:24|Editor: Yamei

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Gao Feng, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, is interviewed in Beijing, capital of China, April 6, 2018. China will fight "at any cost" and take "comprehensive countermeasures" if the United States continues its unilateral, protectionist practices, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said Friday. The remarks came after the U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had asked the U.S. Trade Representative to consider 100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs on Chinese products. (Xinhua/Zhang Qiao)

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China will fight "at any cost" and take "comprehensive countermeasures" if the United States continues its unilateral, protectionist practices, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

"On Sino-U.S. trade, China has made its position very clear. We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of such a war," the spokesperson said.

The remarks came after the U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had asked the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to consider "100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs" on Chinese products.

"Concerning the U.S. statement, we will not only listen to the words but also watch the deeds," the spokesperson said.

If the United States continues its protectionism regardless of opposition from China and the international community, China will fight to the end at any cost to "protect the interests of the country and the people," according to the spokesperson.

"The conflict was initiated by the United States as provocation," the spokesperson said.

"Essentially, it's about the U.S. unilateralism challenging the global multilateralism and the U.S. protectionism challenging the global free trade."

China will continue reform and opening up, safeguard multilateral trade, and promote global trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, the spokesperson added.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang expressed a similar sentiment when asked to comment on Trump's direction, according to a document on the ministry's website.

Earlier this week, the USTR office proposed imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars worth of imports from China, which drew strong opposition from business groups.

Hours after the release of the proposed tariff list, China struck back with a tariff plan of equal scale, with a list of U.S. products including soybeans, automobiles, aircraft and chemical products.

The date of implementation will depend on when the U.S. government imposes the tariffs on Chinese products, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Related:

Trump threatens additional 100-bln-USD China tariffs

China launches dispute settlement procedure over U.S. Section 232 measures

China plans additional tariffs on 50-bln-dollar U.S. products

U.S. releases proposed China tariff list amid strong opposition
CAPE TOWN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The corruption case against former South African President Jacob Zuma has been postponed to June 8, the Durban High Court announced on Friday.

The lawyers for the South African state and those for the defendant agreed to request a postponement of the justice proceedings to June 8, which came a few minutes after Zuma appeared briefly in court to face 16 charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering.

Zuma later addressed thousands of his supporters gathered outside the court, saying that the charges against him could never be proven.

Last month, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) reinstated corruption charges against Zuma, which had been dropped in the early 2000s and paved the way for Zuma to become president in 2009.

The charges are related to a multi-billion-rand (with the exchange rate between the South African rand and the U.S. dollar being 100 to 8.29) arms deal with European countries in the late 1990s, which Zuma has completely denied.

The prosecution alleges that Zuma took advantage of his position in the government to help businessman Schabir Shaik in his commercial dealings.

Shaik was convicted in 2008 to 15 years in prison for his involvement in facilitating a bribe for Zuma from French arms manufacturer Thint in exchange for political protection during the investigation into the arms deal.

Zuma's supporters argued that the initial decision to scrap the charges against Zuma was correct and should have been upheld.

However, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has refrained from supporting Zuma, saying that people can support Zuma in a personal capacity but not as party members.

The South African Communist Party (SACP), a coalition partner of the ANC, also distanced itself from Zuma.

"We are of the view that as the SACP we really do need to respect the courts. The courts have come around to establish that this case must go ahead. We must abide by that and we won't be outside the courts this time," SACP Secretary General Blade Nzimande said before Zuma's trial.
GABORONE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to provide medical assistance to Botswana by sending medical teams to treat diseases, Chinese ambassador to Botswana Zhao Yanbo said Thursday.

At a reception welcoming the 15th Chinese medical team to Botswana held at the Chinese Embassy, Zhao said medical teams in recent years have not only brought advanced medical technology and expertise, but also trained a large number of local medical staff through clinical teaching and academic lectures.

The envoy said China's fruitful contribution to the country's medical services has helped Botswana to better achieve the goal of poverty eradication, as diseases contribute to poverty.

He also said that Chinese medical teams have become a good example of the long-standing friendship and tangible cooperation between the two countries, adding that they currently work in 43 African countries.

The 15th medical team consists of 46 members from top hospitals in east China's Fujian Province, 24 of whom are assigned to work in Princess Marina Hospital, while the other 22 will work in Nyangabwe Hospital in Francistown for two years.

Chen Lieping, leader of the medical team, said the new arrivals are a highly skilled team specialized in the treatment of various diseases, and are expected to deliver the best medical care in the two major hospitals.

Alfred Madigele, Botswana's minister of health and wellness, said that over the years, the number of medical teams has increased in line with the growing demand for health services and other specialized services.
KABUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Fighting between security forces and the anti-government militants have claimed the lives of seven insurgents and injured three others in Afghanistan's eastern Laghman and Nuristan provinces, army spokesman in the eastern region, Shirin Aqa Faqiri said Friday.

The security forces, according to the official, came in contact with Taliban militants in Alishing district of the eastern Laghman province on Thursday and the militants after leaving five bodies behind fled the area.

Faqiri also asserted that the security forces attacked the militants' hideouts in Norgaram district of Nuristan province on Thursday, killing two insurgents and injuring three others.

Without providing information on possible casualties of security personnel, the official said that the operations against militants would continue elsewhere in the eastern region.

Taliban militatns who are active in both the restive Laghman and Nuristan provinces haven't commented.
KAMPALA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Anthrax has broken out at a refugee camp in the northwestern Ugandan district of Arua, killing one person and leaving two others hospitalized, a local official said Friday.

Willy Nguma, the veterinary officer in Arua district, told Xinhua that blood samples taken from three people at a refugee settlement camp in Arua have tested positive for anthrax.

"Two other victims are still undergoing treatment as more people are at the risk of contracting this deadly disease because many of them are sharing houses with animals," Nguma said.

South Sudanese refugees who fled the fighting at home live in the camp.

"The challenge is that when these refugees cross to Uganda, the humanitarian agencies only screen human beings and ignore animals, which is very dangerous," Nguma said.

He advised farmers in the area to report any suspected death of animals where there are signs of blood oozing from the nostrils and anus.

More than 15 animals have died as a result of anthrax, Nguma said.

An Anthrax outbreak was last reported in Uganda in 2016. The authorities in the western district of Ntungamo were forced to close all livestock markets in the area to prevent the spread of the disease.

Anthrax is a bacterial disease caused by Bacillus anthracis. According to the World Health Organization, the disease primarily affects herbivorous mammals, although other mammals and some birds have been known to contract it. Humans generally acquire the disease from infected animals or as a result of exposure to contaminated animal products.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 19:39:35|Editor: Lifang

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A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli troops during clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City on April 6, 2018. Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators began Friday to set fire to dozens of car tires near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel in a bid to make a shield of black smoke to protect themselves from Israeli soldiers' gunfire. (Xinhua/Stringer)

GAZA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators began Friday to set fire to dozens of car tires near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel in a bid to make a shield of black smoke to protect themselves from Israeli soldiers' gunfire.

A Xinhua cameraman said he saw large black smoke after tires were burned in the borderline area. The demonstrators wanted to disturb Israeli army snipers from targeting the demonstrators, he added.

At the Israeli side of the border, the Israeli army brought more soldiers, armored vehicles, drones filled with tear gas canisters, firemen and fire vehicles to prevent smoke from being pushed by the wind into Israel.

On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians began to arrive in five different locations from south to north of the Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, bringing tires and onions to protect themselves from inhaling tear gas.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader who reached the area where the rallies are taking place in eastern Gaza City, told reporters "the arms (guns) are in our hands that can be activated in a proper moment."

"We are sending a message that our struggle is without arms and guns, and we will wait and see if the world receives the message and pressure Israel to stop its crimes against our people, and if the world fails, we then will be obliged to use our arms," he said.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out after Friday prayers between dozens of demonstrators and the Israeli soldiers. Paramedics said about seven demonstrators were shot and wounded by Israeli troops' gunfire.
JUBA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's governing party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), seeks to strengthen cooperation with the Communist Party of China (CPC) in a bid to share experience on peace and development, a senior SPLM official has said.

Bol Makueng Yol, SPLM Secretary for External Relations, told Xinhua in an interview on Friday that the SPLM has admired how the Chinese party has spearheaded economic development and political stability since it came to power more than six decades ago.

Yol said improved cooperation between the two parties would help bring sustainable peace and development to South Sudan.

Yol said that the SPLM will be sending 20 senior party members to China next month to attend a capacity building training, adding that the seminar would offer the South Sudanese politicians opportunities to share experience with their Chinese counterparts in the areas of development and economic transformation.

"This is a very good development and sustainable partnership, because we have a lot of commonality to share between the CPC and SPLM," he said.
MANILA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A senior Philippine official said on Friday that the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) is an important dialogue platform because it focuses on the challenges facing Asia and how Asia can contribute to world prosperity.

"It's very important to dialogue at this moment wherein the international economy is indeed facing certain challenges," Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Manuel Teehankee told a press conference at the Malacanang presidential palace.

Teehankee told Xinhua that the BFA ensures "that Asia is at the forefront of economic growth and assures to the Asian peoples a unified approach to economic development, addressing the fact that the target is indeed inclusive growth and zero poverty for all of Asia."

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Boao, a town in China's southern island province of Hainan on April 9-10 and will give a speech at the BFA, an international dialogue platform for Asia Pacific countries and other partner nations and organizations from all over the globe.

"The president sees the goals of the forum as parallel and complementary to his own vision of a developed Philippines and a more prosperous Filipino nation, as well as a more prosperous ASEAN economic region," Teehankee, said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

He said Duterte looks forward to actively engaging his counterparts to create positive outcomes that will benefit the Filipino people and the Asia-Pacific in general.

When addressing the forum, Duterte will bring up the topic of "inclusive growth for all," Teehankee said.

The theme of this year's BFA is "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."

Proposed in 1998 by Fidel V. Ramos, former President of the Philippines, Bob Hawke, former Prime Minister of Australia, and Morihiro Hosokawa, former Prime Minister of Japan, BFA was formally inaugurated on Feb. 27, 2001.

China serves as the permanent site of BFA headquarters. Since 2002, BFA has been holding its annual conference in Boao.

After 17 years of development, BFA has become a high-end dialogue platform for governments, enterprises, experts, scholars and business leaders to jointly discuss the economy, society, environment, new high-tech, innovation, financial reforms, investment, trade and other issues essential to the future of Asia.

Duterte's attendance at the BFA will be his third visit to China since he assumed the presidency in 2016.

He first visited China in October 2016. In May 2017, Duterte made his second visit to China to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
NAIROBI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Friday again denied lending support to rebels fighting to overthrow President Omar al-Bashir's regime in Sudan.

President Salva Kiir's spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny, said the Thursday remarks by the Sudanese leader were unfortunate and called them "nightmare" because South Sudan is struggling to fix its security as it gains upper hand on rebels fighting it.

"That is a nightmare. South Sudan has no reason completely to harbor (Sudanese) rebels. We are looking forward to return security to our country," Ateny said in Juba.

President Bashir in a public address in Kosti town in the White Nile State alleged that the South Sudan government was still not living up to the promises to stop backing and offering save haven to the Sudanese rebels.

He also accused Juba of chasing away the northerners from South Sudan. The two countries are at unease after they both deployed heavy troops on their common border.

Ateny said the insecurity across the common border has aided Sudanese insurgents to cross illegally into South Sudan.

"Insecurity has given (Sudanese) insurgents chance to cross into South Sudan at their own will. We are gaining momentum as our forces are moving to address the issue," Ateny said.

Both countries have in the past accused each other of supporting insurgents.

South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011 after two decades of civil war, but descended into violence after President Kiir sacked his former deputy Riek Machar leading to death of thousands, displacement of millions in the ongoing more than four years of conflict.
YANGON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Yangon regional government is planning to expand the city by establishing a new firm, while inviting local and foreign investment in its efforts to transform the country's largest city into the next Southeast Asian economic hub.

According to the Yangon regional government, the project of the New Yangon Development Company (NYDC) on an 80-square-km plot of land on the west bank of the Yangon River includes a power plant, an industrial park and residential areas.

The expansion project will cover around 15 percent of the Yangon region and is designed to create massive job opportunities for some 2 million people.

The NYDC was launched on March 31 to invite investment to facilitate infrastructure development through public-private partnership.

With a capital of 10 billion kyats (7.53 million U.S. dollars), the NYDC will carry out the project with the first phase expected to be completed by 2020.

In the first phase, some 1,500 square km on the west side of Yangon river will be developed to build five townships, two bridges, a 26-km arterial road, a 10-sq-km industrial zone, power plant, transmission and distribution facilities as well as fresh water supply and waste water treatment plants, officials said.

The project, which cost 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, will see the development of world-class sustainable and reliable infrastructure and provide integrated, affordable housing for the community, officials said.

Under the project, infrastructure works including the upgrading of five villages to townships, two bridges, 26 km of artery roads, 10 square km of industrial estate, power plant, transmission and distributions facilities as well as fresh water supply and waste water treatment plants will be implemented.

Serge Pun, a business tycoon who heads local conglomerate Serge Pun and Associates, has been named the firm's CEO and is supported by four other board members, including former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, according to NYDC.

The Yangon development project is based on recommendations from urban development plan drawn up by international and foreign entities such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein.

The project began during the tenure of the previous government but was re-assessed under the incumbent government of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Yangon region currently has about 7.4 million population, which is projected to reach 10 million in the next 10 years.

The region accounts for 26 percent of the country's GDP in 2016 as estimated by the NYDC.
JAKARTA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian police has captured two traders who have illegally sold protected animals to buyers in foreign countries, a police officer said on Friday.

Police nabbed the two people in Siduarjo district of East Java province and seized scores of evidences, senior police officer in the province Senior Commissioner Agus Santoso said.

Among the evidences are 26 yellow-cressed cockatoos, 11 white cockatoos, 11 black parrots, 3 king kasturi and other protected birds.

"The evidences will be shipped overseas, such as Thailand," he said.

The officer said that police have also found notes containing transaction details in the sales of the endangered animals and certificates for shipments of the species overseas and others.

The two perpetrators have been selling the birds through Facebook under the account of Gusti Slankers Funkyunkies Wine Wine, according to the officer.

They have been carrying out the illegal trade business since three years ago and all the species were supplied from the eastern parts of Indonesia.

Indonesian authorities have seriously enforced law for those illegally trading and slaying species which are on the brink of extinction.
NAIROBI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya plans to empower small scale miners in order to boost job creation, a government official said on Friday.

John Omenge, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, told journalists in Nairobi that there are approximately 100,000 small scale miners operating in the country mostly in the gold and gemstones sectors.

"The government will therefore put in place measures to ensure that artisanal miners operate in a conducive business environment," Omenge said when he took over from the outgoing Principal Secretary Ibrahim Mohamed.

He said that the government will avail modern mining equipment to small scale farmers at subsidized rates, noting that despite the huge role of artisanal miners in the country, most use crude equipment to search for minerals.

Omenge added that the artisanal miners also use dangerous chemicals to refine their minerals which are not properly disposed leading to serious environmental degradation.

In 2016, Kenya enacted a mining law that legalized small scale miners. Omenge noted that regulations will soon be completed that will fully operationalize the law that repealed the 1940 mining Act.

Kenya's major minerals include titanium, soda ash and gold. Omenge said that in order to boost the mining sector even further, it will discourage export of raw minerals by establishing value addition centers throughout the country.

He added that Kenya will soon begin conducting an aerial mineral survey in order to identify the exact mineral wealth of the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 20:20:03|Editor: Liangyu

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Tourists pose for photos at Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River, which is located on the border area between north China's Shanxi and northwest China's Shaanxi provinces, April 6, 2018. Warmer temperature and melting ice in upper reaches lead to the annual spring flood of the waterfall. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)
SUVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China donated on Friday 40,000 Fiji dollars (about 20,000 U.S. dollars) worth of disaster relief equipment to Fiji to help the South Pacific Island state speed up the recovery work after tropical cyclone Josie hit Fiji last weekend and caused six deaths and property damages.

During a hand-over ceremony of the equipment, which was also attended by Fiji's Minister for Agriculture and National Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu, Chinese Ambassador to Fiji Qian Bo assured Fiji of China's unwavering and reliable support whenever needed by the Fijian people.

"China has always been a steadfast and reliable development partner of Fiji. This has been proved in the past and will continue to be proved true in the future," he said.

The ambassador said that the Chinese Embassy has been keeping in close contact with Fiji's National Disaster Management Office and learnt that chainsaws and portable water pumps are much needed equipment for cleaning up the disaster affected areas.

Therefore, the embassy decided to donate to the Fijian government a batch of disaster relief equipment including chainsaws, portable water pumps, hoses and rescue ropes with a total value of 40,000 Fijian dollars (about 20,000 U.S. dollars).

"We hope the equipment can help to speed up the recovering work, life in those areas can return to normal and children can return to school at an early date," he said.

For his part, Seruiratu thanked the Chinese government and the Chinese people for their steadfast support towards Fiji in difficult times.

Reiterating that natural disasters such as tropical cyclones were the new norm, Seruiratu said that this is how climate change has been affecting Fiji and other Pacific Island Countries.

Fiji is developing its Disaster Risk Reduction Policy and hopes it would help the country prepare better for the future with more resilience, he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 20:19:46|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Timothy Tian, CEO of SF Technology, recently made a trip to the United States to recruit talent for his company.

"While working here, I felt that mostly I was enjoying the benefits of technology. But in China, I feel that I am using technology to make a difference to people around me, and that is amazing." said Tian, who returned to China six years ago after two decades in the United States.

Tian repeatedly referred to the strong sense of accomplishment of working in China, which struck a chord with many audience like Leo Zhang, a data engineer with a robotics start-up in Silicon Valley.

"Many friends briefed me about rapid changes in the tech sector, when I went home for Chinese New Year a few months ago. I was really impressed. Returning to China for a new career and life is worth a try," Zhang said.

SF Technology is one of five Chinese companies involved in LinkedIn's recruitment campaign for artificial intelligence professionals, with over 800 members registered for the event.

"This is the seventh joint overseas recruitment campaign for China-based firms. We see growing interests in overseas-trained professionals and for Chinese working overseas to return to China," said Linda Wang with LinkedIn China.

LinkedIn China has helped about one hundred Chinese firms find staff from overseas, especially those with expertise in AI, data analysis and cloud computing.

The clients used to be mainly big fish like Baidu and NetEase, but now start-ups and traditional sectors are also interested, Wang added.

China's growing appetite for overseas professionals has helped the raft of "sea turtles" -- Chinese returning to the country after studying or working overseas -- who are in even higher demand.

The returnees picked up significantly in 2012. Over 2.3 million Chinese who graduated overseas returned to China in the past five years.

A report from the center for China and globalization showed that China is facing the biggest wave of returnees since 1949. The bright prospects for the domestic economy and stable society were the top reasons for returning alongside family and culture factors.

"China is developing so fast and that is the biggest draw for them," Wang said.

Local governments also want overseas professionals. Emerging cities like Chongqing, Wuhan and Chengdu have partnered with LinkedIn to bring more professionals from abroad.

"It is a rather good time to return now. Come back to China and visit Shenzhen or our company. See for yourself what is happening and what is driving things there," Tian said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 20:29:49|Editor: Lifang

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and six others wounded on Friday when an explosive device ripped through a car in the capital Damascus, state news agency SANA reported.

The bomb went off behind the Khansa Mosque in the Barzeh neighborhood north of Damascus, said the report.

The incident is a reminder of the early years of Syrian crisis when the bombings started to hit the country right after mass protests, which started seven years ago.

This incident comes as the capital Damascus is largely safe after the majority of the rebel groups had evacuated the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus, except for the district of Douma.

Rebels in Douma are currently negotiating with the Syrian army over their evacuation from that area.

Barzeh neighborhood in northern Damascus had been under the rebels' control before the government forces recaptured it in 2017 after the evacuation of rebels to northern Syria.
STOCKHOLM, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Exports to China from the Stockholm region have, for the first time, surpassed exports to the United States, according to a new report published on Friday by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

The study, based on figures from Statistics Sweden, shows that companies based in the Swedish capital are trading more and more with China while U.S. export rates are going down.

Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, chief economist at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, attributed the historical shift to China's strong growth and explained that China is now Stockholm's most important export market and could soon be the whole country's primary export market outside of Europe.

"Paradoxically, (U.S. President) Donald Trump's tariffs can lead to the United States weakening even more as these tariffs will make China more interesting," said Hatzigeorgiou, "While it is a good thing that Stockholm is trading with China, we would also benefit from deepening trans-Atlantic relations. Therefore, Trump should cancel his tariffs and Sweden should push for the EU to continue talks about a free-trade agreement with the United States."

In 2007, the total value of Stockholm's exports to China was around 4 billion SEK (0.48 billion U.S. dollars) while the value of U.S. exports was 26 billion SEK. A decade later, those figures are around 16 billion SEK and 15 billion SEK respectively.

In a press release, Hatzigeorgiou referred to the shift as "exceptional" and said it could be an indication for the future since Stockholm is usually a trendsetter when it comes to trade patterns.

If President Trump's tariffs lead to an escalating trade war, Hatzigeorgiou said, China might surpass the United States as Sweden's most important export market outside of Europe.

"Trump has exempted Swedish and European companies from his tariffs. That means our competitive status in the United States can marginally improve," he said.

"Moreover, it means that China's counter-measures against the United States will hit at U.S. companies, which in turn can benefit Swedish companies' efforts to secure contracts in China. The world needs more free trade but if the global superpowers want to introduce tariffs, then Sweden must use the situation to its advantage," said Hatzigeorgiou.
MOGADISHU, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States military said Friday its special forces conducted an airstrike against al-Shabab terrorists in southern Somalia, killing three terrorists.

The U.S. Africa Command (Africom) said the Thursday afternoon airstrike which was conducted in cooperation with Somali government near Jilib in southern Somalia also destroyed a vehicle with a mounted heavy machine gun.

"We assess no civilians were killed in this airstrike," Africom said in a statement released following the latest strike in the Horn of Africa nation.

The latest U.S. strike comes amid heightened vigilance by Somalia's stabilization security unit forces who have launched operation targeting several parts of the Horn of Africa nation, in response to the increasing terror attacks in the country.

The extremists have recently increased their attacks against African Union and Somali forces especially in Mogadishu targeting their bases, hotels and other public places.

Africom said American forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect U.S. citizens and to disable terrorist threats.

"This includes partnering with AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) in combined counterterrorism operations and targeting terrorists, their training camps, and their safe havens throughout Somalia and the region," it added.
TIRANA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The number of tourists visiting Albania increased by 12.5 percent during the first three months of 2018, Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Blendi Klosi said on Friday during the opening ceremony of the second edition of the Mediterranean Tourism Fair in Tirana.

The visit of 65,000 more tourists to Albanian only in the first three months of 2018 is good news for the country because it directly influences the life of citizens and their well-being, said Klosi.

The increasing number of tourists, according to Klosi, means more money and employment for the Albanian people.

Moreover, he expressed the engagement of the ministry to manage the ever-higher interest of foreign tourists to Albania.

"The major goal of the Albanian government is to build a long-term tourist industry that generates income, prosperity, and employment for citizens in the long run. And we will have set up this industry when we do not talk about tourism holidays anymore, but about 12-month tourism," emphasized Klosi.

In March 2018 Albanian National Statistics Institute (INSTAT) declared that the number of foreign citizen arrivals to the territory of Albania during the first two months of 2018, is 422,869 persons, increasing by 18.0 percent compared with the same period of 2017.

According to INSTAT in February 2018, among the countries with the highest incomes of citizens in Albania, Poland had the highest growth by 19.2 percent, whereas the largest decrease was from Macedonia by 14.3 percent.
KAMPALA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Ugandan government has resolved to pay traders who made losses arising from the insurgency in neighboring South Sudan.

David Bahati, minister of state for planning, said late on Thursday that government will pay out a total of 41 million U.S. dollars to the traders after a tight verification process.

"We are working on the framework which will be used to pay the traders. Parliament directed that we should first verify the numbers before we can start paying them," Bahati said.

He said the money will be paid to companies and individuals who supplied the government of South Sudan but were not paid.

Bahati said the money would later be reimbursed to Uganda by the South Sudan government under a bilateral agreement.

Fighting broke out between troops loyal to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar in late 2013.

Business was interrupted between Uganda and South Sudan with many traders registering losses. Traders have since been petitioning the Ugandan government to have their money paid.
LILONGWE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Malawi president Peter Mutharika has asked for an honest national dialogue on implementation of death penalty following the resurfacing of brutal killings of people with albinism.

Mutharika's request came barely a day after the United Nations strongly condemned the resurfacing killing of people with albinism in the southern African developing country following the recent brutal killing of a 22 year old man with albinism in eastern district of Machinga.

In a statement released Wednesday, UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Maria Jose Torres, described the trend as retrogressive and urged partners to redouble their efforts in increasing awareness to the people.

But reacting to the same through a press statement signed by his Press Secretary and Spokesperson, Mgeme Kalilani, Mutharika expressed shock and sadness and called for dialogue on implementation of death penalty.

"This depressing development is happening at a time government has made tremendous progress in efforts to stop such barbarous acts and the latest of these hideous attacks is the abduction and subsequent murder of Mr. McDonald Masambuka," reads the statement.

"...the President is asking for an honest national dialogue on whether the country should start implementing the death penalty or not on individuals sentenced to death for murder," continues the statement.

The statement further said the Malawi leader was aware that there were some stakeholders who passionately felt that implementing the death penalty on individuals sentenced to death could prevent others from attacking persons with albinism.

Mutharika has assured the public that the government will dig deep into the abduction and murder of Masambuka to ensure that all suspects are brought to book regardless of their social status.

The 22-year-old Masambuka went missing mid-March 2018 and his body was found on April 2 buried in a shallow grave with some parts missing.

Malawi Police Service have since arrested seven suspects including a police officer and a health worker at the district's hospital.

Over 120 cases of attacks on people with albinism have been recorded in Malawi since 2014 and out of these cases over 20 people were brutally murdered.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 21:20:03|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- As Donald Trump threatens to impose additional tariffs on imports from China, industrial insiders believe the U.S.-initiated tensions will hurt American consumers and companies.

Fujian RnJ Group is a food business founded by some American Chinese in 2012 in the eastern province of Fujian. William Ke, vice president of the company, said they import about 1.6 million U.S. dollars of products from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. every month.

"There is no winner in a trade war, and the victims will be all the parties involved in the whole industrial chain," he said.

"If the cost of the American products rises, we will shift our imports to other countries which will be a blow to American manufacturers and farms," he said.

He noted that the U.S. trade deficits with China will be reduced as China opens up its markets.

"For example, the Boston lobsters are popular in China with the price now almost three times what it was 2012," he said. The Chinese market for American agricultural products is full of potential.

Li Jianguo, general manager of Datong Reciprocity Group, a valve producer also in Fujian, said about 20 percent of its products go to the United States.

"If the tariffs are put into practice, our business in the United States will definitely be affected," he said. "U.S. companies will also be harmed as some of our parts are imported from the U.S."

Shunmei Group, a Fujian porcelain producer in Fujian. works with companies such as Walmart, Disney and Coca-Cola.

Zheng Pengfei, general manager of Shunmei, said the interests of the American consumers will be inevitably damaged if the price of his products rise.

Guo Yunpei, chairman of Chinese Pharmaceutical Enterprises Association, said the proposed tariffs on pharmaceuticals will not affect the Chinese industry since it enjoys a huge domestic market.

"Some Chinese medicines are quite popular in the American market, and American buyers will have to pay more if the prices rise," he added.

Steven Carpenter, president of AmCham China's Central China Chapter, said he is disappointed in Trump and the U.S. government.

"I believe President Trump should follow the rules of the WTO and, if he believes that China is practicing unfair trade with the U.S. then let the WTO review the charges," he said.

"China has already agreed to follow WTO judgments. President Trump and the U.S. Government should follow China's lead and agree to accept the authority of the WTO judgments as well."

Trump's actions will not help generate any goodwill for American companies trying to do business in China, he added.
SKOPJE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Friday urged for increased public awareness of the needs of the Roma community, during an event marking International Romani Day.

In his remarks, Zaev said in Macedonia the Roma community has been equal to all other communities since constitution changes made in 2001.

Macedonia has made improvements in most relevant issues regarding the Roma community such as housing, possession of identification documents, underage marriages, access to employment and health insurance, as well as in inclusion of the community in culture and education, he added.

"Another important thing is the political participation of Roma in decisions related to the enhancement of their position in the country, and Macedonia is a regional example in this regard," highlighted Zaev.

The Macedonian prime minister mentioned the example of Suto Orizari, the second smallest municipality in the capital city Skopje, as the only municipality in the world with a majority of Roma citizens and where Romani language is official alongside with Macedonian language.

Suto Orizari has 17,357 inhabitants with a Romani majority and in 2002 they represented almost 80 percent of the population.
A Palestinian protester holds national flag during clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, on April. 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

GAZA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- One Palestinian was killed and at least 40 others wounded on Friday afternoon during clashes between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers at the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Osama Qudieh, 29-year-old, was shot dead during clashes in the east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, said Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Qedra told reporters that the death toll since last Friday grew to 21 people, adding that Israeli snipers are using live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators.

Early Friday, hundreds of Palestinians set fire to dozens of tires near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel in a bid to make a shield of black smoke to protect themselves from Israeli soldiers' gunfire.

A Xinhua cameraman said he saw large black smoke after tires were burned in the borderline area. The demonstrators wanted to disturb Israeli army snipers from targeting the demonstrators, he added.

At the Israeli side of the border, the Israeli army brought more soldiers, armored vehicles, drones filled with tear gas canisters, firemen and fire vehicles to prevent smoke from being pushed by the wind into Israel.

On Friday, hundreds of Palestinians began to arrive in five different locations from south to north of the Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, bringing tires and onions to protect themselves from inhaling tear gas.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader who reached the area where the rallies are taking place in eastern Gaza City, told reporters "the arms (guns) are in our hands that can be activated in a proper moment."

"We are sending a message that our struggle is without arms and guns, and we will wait and see if the world receives the message and pressure Israel to stop its crimes against our people, and if the world fails, we then will be obliged to use our arms," he said.
Adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, poses for pictures at the end of her striptease show in Gossip Gentleman club in Long Island, New York, U.S., Feb. 23, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he did not know about the 130,000-U.S.-dollar hush money payment that his lawyer made to an adult film actress.

"No," he replied when asked aboard Air Force One whether he knew about the payment his personal lawyer Michael Cohen made to Stormy Daniels to secure her silence over their alleged affair.

"You'll have to ask Michael," Trump said.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and first lady Melania Trump depart the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 19, 2018. (Xinhua/Ting Shen)

This was his first public response to his alleged affair with Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. She has claimed having "consensual" sex with Trump in July 2006.

The White House has said that Trump denies there was a relationship.

Daniels received a 130,000-dollar payment weeks before the 2016 presidential election and signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Trump did not sign it himself.

Cohen, who signed the agreement, said he paid the hush money out of his own pocket and was not reimbursed.

Daniels was trying to have the agreement voided, while Trump and Cohen were seeking to have the case heard by an arbitrator instead of a jury.

Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti said Thursday that Trump's statement could create legal problems.
BUJUMBURA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Burundian citizens on Friday remembered the death of former Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, killed along with former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana in a plane crash on April 6, 1994.

The tragedy swiftly triggered the months-long Rwandan genocide that claimed about one million lives, mostly ethnic Tutsis.

Burundian country leaders including Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza as well as the family of Ntaryamira attended a church service in the capital city of Bujumbura to commemorate the late president, who died at the age of 39.

Ntaryamira was a farming engineer and ruled Burundi for only two months after being sworn in as the president of the transition government.

They then went to Bujumbura's Democracy Martyrs' Palace where Nkurunziza and his wife, the family of the late Ntaryamira, representatives of diplomatic corps and representatives of political parties laid wreaths of flowers on Ntaryamira's tomb.
HANOI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese border guards have detained two Lao young men who transported five cakes of heroin and nearly 27,000 pills of lab-made drugs for sale in Vietnam.

The duo aged 19 and 25 were detained on Thursday when they were transporting the drugs, one handgun and five bullets, the border guard force of Vietnam's northern Thanh Hoa province said on Friday.

The detainees confessed that they transported the drugs from Laos to Vietnam for sale.

According to Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces death penalty.
ABUJA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Ten bodies have so far been found following an attack by suspected bandits in central Nigeria, local police said on Friday.

At least 24 people were reportedly killed in the attack on two villages in the central state of Benue on Thursday.

The police said the 10 corpses were recovered by security personnel deployed to restore law and order in Tse-Audu and Enger villages where the attack occurred.

Police spokesman Moses Yamu told Xinhua most of the bodies were found in surrounding bushes.

More bodies are likely to be found as security operatives continue to comb the bushes and the general area for victims of the attack, a local source said.

The Nigerian parliament on Thursday said it confirmed 24 people were killed in the attack, while several others went missing.

Killings had increased since the start of the year in Benue, where relations between herdsmen and farmers remained tense.

Benue is one of the middle-belt states in Nigeria predominantly inhabited by three tribes.

Barely a month ago, at least 24 people were killed in a similar attack in another area of the state.

Last month, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state to seek an end to the attacks.
KABUL, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who paid a day-long visit to Afghan capital Kabul on Friday assured Islamabad's support for the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process to make the national reconciliation efforts succeed in the insurgency-plagued country.

"Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in meeting with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani welcomed the president's recent offer for talks with the Taliban and assured Pakistan's support for the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process to achieve lasting peace in Afghanistan," said a statement of the Presidential Palace released here.

Abbasi's visit to Kabul is taking place in the backdrop of President Ghani's unconditional offer for talks with the Taliban group on Feb. 28 wherein the president said to recognize the armed outfit as a political party and expressed readiness to open office for the Taliban in Kabul or any other city in Afghanistan to facilitate the talks for peace.

The hardliner group has yet to respond to the offer.

According to the statement of Presidential Palace, the two leaders also exchanged views on bilateral relations, the war on terror, repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, linking the two countries through railway and enhancing trade and economic cooperation between the two nations.

Abbasi also invited President Ghani to visit Pakistan.
ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia restored mobile internet on Friday five months after the service was terminated across the country.

The Ethiopian government didn't explain the reason for the blackout at the time nor has it given reason for the mobile internet restoration.

However, the mobile internet blackout occurred in November, in a period of heightened tension within the ruling coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and reports of sporadic ethnic clashes.

In recent months, internal political wrangling among four coalition partners of EPRDF, including Tigray People's Liberation Front, Amhara National Democratic Movement, South Ethiopia People's Democratic Movement and Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), has cast fears about the stability of the nation of about 100 million people.

Ethiopia is also reeling from persistent deadly protests since 2016 especially in the two most populous regional states of Amhara and Oromia over alleged political and economic marginalization.

The five-month mobile internet blackout however didn't affect Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa which is home to more than 140 diplomatic missions and hosts the AU and UNECA headquarters.

It's thought the great majority of Ethiopia's 57.4 million or so mobile phone subscribers use their handsets to access and send information through the internet.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 22:15:33|Editor: Lifang

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BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- After proposing a tariff hike of 25 percent on Chinese products worth 50 billion U.S. dollars, the U.S. administration has repeated its folly.

Messages from the office of the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. President Donald Trump both refer to additional tariffs on Chinese products, possibly worth as much as 100 billion dollars.

In response to the first tariff proposal, China was forced to take countermeasures on Wednesday. On Friday, China quickly responded to the intention of addtitional tarrifs on more Chinese products.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China will immediately fight back fiercely without hesitation if a new list of additional tariffs is announced.

What exactly are the Trump administration's problems? Supposed intellectual property (IP) theft, allegedly illicit technology transfer and the tumescent trade deficit?

It's not hard to see that these allegations are fanciful, biased and swimming against the tide of world opinion.

China's development has come as a result of China's hard work, not "intellectual property theft."

IP protection is a top priority for China. In 2017, China paid 28.6 billion U.S. dollars in royalties to foreign rights owners, up from 1.9 billion dollars in 2001 when the country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

IP is a tool for cooperation, not an excuse for punitive, unilateral bluster.

Instead of reflecting on its own failed export policies, the United States blames China for its trade deficit. Absurd, since the Unites States is actually the beneficiary of trade with China.

As of 2016, Chinese companies had invested more than 20 billion dollars in the midwest of the U.S. alone, creating over 45,000 jobs there. In that year, Chinese companies invested a record 45 billion U.S. dollars in the United States, tripling the amount that was poured into the U.S. economy in 2015. Some may even call this "foreign aid."

China's trade policies are market-oriented, with private companies and joint ventures playing a key role. Growth of foreign trade is a natural result of free market competition, once the backbone of the mighty U.S. economy.

Joint ventures benefit from China's trade policies, given a level of tariffs well below other emerging economies.

Despite Trump's bravado and bombast, China remains undaunted as it completely opens up its general manufacturing sector and expands access to many others.

Economic globalization is happening and will continue to happen, whether the United States likes it or not. Trade liberalization and an open economy are the right choice for China and for every other economy. The United States is more than welcome to plunge its head into the sand and pretend to know otherwise, but no one is convinced.

China hopes that common sense and long-term considerations will come to bear on Trump and his advisors.

China will fight "at any cost" and take "comprehensive countermeasures" if the United States continues along its unilateral, protectionist path, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce said Friday.

China will resolutely continue to protect the WTO-rule based multilateral trading system.

U.S. protectionism is doomed.
MOSCOW, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Friday it had filed a lawsuit in a Moscow court demanding the blocking of instant messaging service Telegram for its refusal to provide encryption keys.

Roskomnadzor issued a warning to Telegram on March 20, threatening to block the popular messenger within 15 days in accordance with Russian legislation if it did not hand over encryption keys which give access to users' data.

Telegram's lawyer Pavel Chikov said the defense was planning to present objections to the court.

The Kremlin considers Telegram as a convenient messenger and uses it, including in communications with journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily briefing.

"But the law is the law. If it is not respected, we will look for an alternative that will best meet our needs," Peskov said.

The disputes between Telegram and the government arose after the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) issued an order in 2016, demanding all Internet service providers send to it the encryption keys of their users for the purpose of counter-terrorism.

In June 2017, Roskomnadzor threatened to block Telegram, registered in Britain, if it refused to register in Russia in accordance with Russian legislation.

Telegram agreed to do so, but it refused to provide encryption keys, which could disclose users' private data.

At that time Roskomnadzor decided not to block Telegram, but in October 2017, a Moscow court fined Telegram 800,000 rubles (about 13,800 U.S. dollars). Telegram appealed the ruling in a superior court, but lost.

Last month, the Russian Supreme Court dismissed Telegram's plea to invalidate the FSB order.

Founded by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, Telegram said it has 200 million users around the world.
RIGA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has issued an appeal to Latvian entrepreneurs urging them to use China's new Belt and Road initiative to launch exports to China.

Representatives of the entrepreneurs' organization informed that convenient pathways have been provided for shipping goods between Europe and China and significant cooperation agreements concluded on taxes, investment and other matters.

According to the LCCI, Latvia is currently one of the most active participants of China's Belt and Road Initiative, with the chamber helping promote this cooperation as well.

Latvia and China have signed agreements on free trade, investment protection, avoidance of double taxation, technological cooperation and provision of air transportation services, among others, the LCCI said.

Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, Latvian exports to China have grown by 77 percent, making China Latvia's second largest trade partner outside the European Union.

LCCI chairman Aigars Rostovskis indicated that Chinese-Latvian relations are being steadily developed as part of the Belt and Road project, providing real benefits to both sides. "This is the moment when all trade routes to China are wide open," Rostovskis said, praising the convenient transport connections and a number of other factors ensured by a positive dialogue between the two countries.

The Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a voluntary, politically independent organization uniting micro, small, medium and large-sized companies from all regions and economic sectors of Latvia.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 22:25:36|Editor: Lifang

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Syrian warplanes struck positions of the Islam Army rebels in the Douma district, the last rebel-held area in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside, on Friday after the militants hurdled an agreement for their evacuation from that area, according to the state news agency SANA.

SANA said the Islam Army militants have undermined an agreement reached recently for their evacuation from Douma and the release of kidnapped people in their prisons.

Moreover, the militants fired mortar shells on the Assad suburb and the Wafideen area, which is adjacent to Douma and has a crossing point from which three batches of Islam Army militants evacuated over the past few days before the faltering agreement.

Meanwhile, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported that the Syrian warplanes carried out 10 airstrikes on Douma on Friday.
BRUSSELS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Business leaders in the European Union (EU) are against recent unilateral moves taken by the United States which threaten the global supply chain and would eventually harm European interests, a senior Chinese diplomat told Xinhua Friday.

Xia Xiang, minister-counsellor for economic and commercial affairs in the Chinese mission to the EU, said that European businesses are worried that the U.S. moves would throw international trade into disarray.

China, as a manufacturing powerhouse, relies on a value chain that spans all continents and many foreign manufacturers and joint ventures including those from Europe, Xia said.

Based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the U.S. administration launched an investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices in August 2017.

That led to proposed 25 percent tariffs on Chinese exports of over 1,300 items worth 50 billion U.S. dollars earlier this week.

After China responded with proportionate tariff proposals, the U.S. side threatened to consider "100 billion U.S. dollars of additional tariffs" on Chinese products.

Xia pointed out that numerous countries and regions, including the EU, had fallen victim to U.S. investigations based on Section 301.

Section 301 was the subject of an EU complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) two decades ago. In its 1999 ruling on that dispute, a WTO panel said the United States had "explicitly, officially, repeatedly and unconditionally" confirmed it would only employ Section 301 tariffs based on the settlement of a WTO dispute, Xia said.

Recent developments showed the U.S. side has renegaded on its promises and broken the rules of the WTO, Xia said.

Political and business leaders in the EU have described the U.S. moves as unilateral and protectionist in nature and compared them to "big sticks" meant to intimidate China, Xia said.

China has long insisted that dialogue and consultation conducted with mutual respect and in line with WTO rules are the proper way to seek solutions to disagreements in trade, Xia said.

The year 2018 marks the 40th year since China's adoption of the reform and open-up policies, and China will carry forward the policies more boldly, Xia said.

In recent months, China has been taking steps to further open up, such as lowering tariffs on many consumer goods and easing limits on foreign stakes in its financial sector.

"Leaders with a vision in politics and businesses could tell that China is going to be more open, and will bring further real benefits to Europe and other parts of the world," Xia said.

Despite minor disagreements, the theme of cooperation dominates the ties between China and the EU, he said.

China is the EU's second-biggest trading partner, while the EU is China's biggest trading partner.

Bilateral trade rose from 4 billion dollars in 1978 to 616.9 billion dollars in 2017.
BERLIN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- German manufacturing production in February experienced the steepest monthly decline in two years, figures by the Federal Statistical Office showed on Friday.

According to the Wiesbaden-based government statisticians, manufacturing output in the Eurozone's largest economy was down by 1.6 percent compared to the previous month.

Broken down by subsectors, the biggest decrease in production was measured for capital goods (minus 3.1 percent), followed by construction (minus 2.0 percent), industrial manufacturing (minus 2 percent) and consumption (minus 1.5 percent) and intermediate goods (minus 0.7 percent).

The Federal Statistical Office highlighted that industrial production, traditionally a key driver of German growth, had lost some of its earlier momentum in February. Nevertheless, relatively high levels of outstanding orders and strong business confidence suggested that the sector would still experience further growth in the course of the year.

The figures were far below most economists' expectation of a growth of around 0.3 percent.

Speaking to Xinhua on Friday, Thiess Petersen, senior economics expert at the Guetersloh-based Bertelsmann Foundation, noted that it was not unusual for production to fall temporarily, in particular during the winter months. However, the current extent of the decline was "surprisingly large."

"It remains to be seen whether this is just a short dip, but it is worrying that other economic indicators have deteriorated as well", Petersen told Xinhua.

Earlier, the closely-watched Ifo business climate index for March fell slightly by 0.7 percentage points to 114.7 points. The index for new orders in the manufacturing fell by 3 percent in period from December to January and the six-month Ifo business climate outlook dropped from 111 points in November 2017 to 104.4 points in March 2018.

The Bertelsmann Foundation economic expert said that growing pessimism among German firms could mainly be attributed to a risk of protectionist policies. "This danger is making companies in the German exporting nation to feel uneasy", Petersen said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 22:35:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of the ongoing confrontation between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers has risen to three along the Gaza-Israel borders, medical sources said Friday.

At least 250 others were injured in the clashes, added the sources.

Spokesman for Health Ministry in Gaza Ashraf al-Qedra told Xinhua that one Palestinian had died Friday of wounds he sustained last Friday.

He added some of the injured are in critical conditions as they we were shot by live bullets.

Compared with last Friday, this week's rally has so far witnessed fewer casualties among the Palestinians, as the protesters had burned a large number of car tires that blocked the sight of Israeli soldiers along the border area.

Since early morning, hundreds of Palestinians arrived in the Gaza-Israel border area to join the "Great March of Return" for the second week.

The organizers insisted that the events should last for six weeks until May 15, the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba Day.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 22:40:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Xinhua writer Liu Chang

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- It seems Washington is betting that Beijing might eventually back down in a trade tit-for-tat if it continues to serve up tariff threats against Beijing. Not so.

The Trump administration threatened on Thursday to slap tariffs on 100 billion U.S. dollars' worth of imports from China. The move came only days after the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) proposed to levy an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion dollars' worth of China imports.

The United States is not short of intelligent economists, yet it appears that Washington is losing common sense on global trade, and trade relations with China, its largest trading partner for merchandise.

The biggest modern myth about China-U.S. trade transactions is that China has a strategy to maintain a surplus with the United States, and that the United States has, as President Donald Trump called it, been taken advantage of because of these trade gaps.

First, China is not the only country that runs a trade surplus with the United States. Germany and Japan do so as well. Second, the root cause for the trade imbalance between the world's top two economies has a lot to do with the spending-saving ratio inside the United States. What's more, none of the other reasons for the deficits, including China's position as a "grand assembler" in the global chain of production, could suggest China is an intentional surplus seeker.

What should be stressed is that these trade deficits have not headed off America's economic recovery in recent years. It fact, in a country such as the United States where people consume more than the country can manufacture, Chinese exports to the U.S. market have offered American consumers quality goods at lower prices.

The USTR's Section 301 investigation, based on an obsolete Cold War weapon for trade disputes, lacks nothing but evidence to prove that China has been forcing technology transfers in international economic cooperation. The probe is severely biased against the "Made In China 2025" plan. But the plan is neither exclusive nor unilateral, and could produce opportunities for China's partners.

Some politicians in Washington may think they can crash the Chinese economy just like what they did in the 1980s to Japan. If so, they are greatly mistaken.

Beijing does not want a trade war with anyone. Yet if there were a conflict, China's economy is resilient enough to manage it.

After years of painful adjustment, the Chinese economy today is less dependent on foreign trade, and as the economy continues to expand while the country's debt growth slows, Beijing has a broader macro-economic policy space.

In the meantime, by deepening domestic reforms, promoting industry restructuring and diversifying its export markets, China is capable of turning a crisis into an opportunity for further economic progress.

By ratcheting up its rhetoric and threatening trade levies, Washington seems to gamble China would budge first.

However, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said Friday that there have been no talks or contacts over economic and trade matters between Chinese and U.S. officials since Trump signed the memorandum on its plan to slap tariffs on Chinese imports in late March. The fact shows China's strong determination that it will not give in to any threats when its key national interests are at stake.

To face down these threats, Beijing is going to reciprocate, and more importantly, show its determination to defend its legitimate economic interests.
MANILA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of the Chinese and Filipino firms will build the "new" Marawi, the former main battle area in a five-month war against Islamist militants in the southern Philippines, authorities said on Friday.

Eduardo del Rosario, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, said the members of the new Marawi consortium are composed of five Chinese and three local firms and led by China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd.

The three local firms are H.S Pow Construction and Development, SDW Realty & Development Inc., and Future homes Philippines, Inc.

Del Rosario said the proposal of the consortium was already selected and negotiation for the terms of reference, costing and project details will start this month.

He added that the Swiss challenge will be undertaken in the first week of May.

A Swiss challenge is a form of public procurement operated in some jurisdictions, which requires a public authority, usually an agency of the government, which has received an unsolicited bid for a public project, or for services to be provided to the government, to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or better it.

He said the Swiss challenge is a hybrid model of public bidding. "But this is faster because we must select initially the one that we will negotiate with the developer," he added.

"We expect the Swiss challenge to be completed by May 25, and if successful again, we will award on May 31 whoever will be the winner in the Swiss challenge," Del Rosario said.

Once awarded on May 31, he said the groundbreaking will be on June 7 of 2018 and completion will be in the last quarter of 2021.

The project includes building village multi-purpose halls, madrasas and health centers, according to Del Rosario.

He said 22 two-storey buildings will be built to replace the destroyed classrooms and facilities.

"We will be constructing a convention center that can accommodate three to five thousand people. A 2-hectare memorial site preserves some facilities as historical sites and port facilities," Del Rosario said.

Extremists and terrorists attacked Marawi City in May last year, triggering five-month heavy fighting that ruined a big part of the city. At least 1,200 people were killed in the war to retake the city and thousands of its residents were also displaced.
BERLIN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was released in Germany on Friday after posting 75,000 euros bail.

The 55-year-old separatist leader was set free from the prison Neumunster in Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Facing the waiting media, he thanked the prison personnel for their "help and solidarity" in German, then in English demanded Spanish authorities to "immediately release" his separatist colleagues and hold a talk on Catalonia's future.

"There are no excuse to avoid a political dialogue with the Catalan political leaders in order to find a solution of our demands, not by using criminal law." Puigdemont said.

Puigdemont was caught on the entry of Germany from Denmark on March 25 en route to his residence in Belgium.

He has been a fugitive since Catalonia's failed bid to become independent from Spain last October. The Spanish Supreme Court earlier in March issued fresh arrest warrants against Puigdemont and some other individuals behind the independence bid.

However, the German court in Schleswig on Thursday ruled that they will not extradite him on the basis of his rebellion charge, while pending the decision to extradite him on his embezzlement charge.

According to Deutsche Presse Agentur(DPA), Puigdemont can now move freely on German soil, but he must report to police once a week and inform prosecutors of any change in residence.
LOME, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Togolese police have extradited 13 Benin citizens, among whom were three females alleged to be engaged in activities connected with organized crime, police said in the capital Lome Friday.

Escaping an ongoing lightning operation in Benin, they have settled in Togo as a sanctuary before being arrested in two successive operations over the last month in the host country.

Togolese police handed them over to Benin police authorities on Thursday, as part of the cooperation between the two countries to combat trans-border criminality.

They are considered to be a new breed of criminals commonly called "gay-men" in Benin.

Both in Benin and Togo, "gay-men" are accused of practicing ritual murder to deities for protection and magic money making.

In these countries, "gay-men" are blamed for the disappearance of girls and children, whose dead bodies are found days later, emptied of their blood and without some organs.
OTTAWA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Canadians will start to receive emergency alerts on compatible wireless devices such mobile phones on Friday.

Canada's Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale Friday applauded the collaborative work of federal, provincial and territorial governments, wireless services providers, as well as other industry partners to expand the National Public Alerting System (NPAS) to include wireless emergency alerts.

NPAS, publicly branded as Alert Ready, is a collaborative initiative between federal-provincial-territorial governments and industry partners in the country. The emergency alerts provide rapid warnings to the public of imminent or unfolding hazards to life.

Situations that could prompt an alert include forest fires, terrorist threats or an Amber Alert for a missing child.

Canadians do not need to sign up or pay to receive emergency alerts on their smartphones. Alerts will be delivered automatically to compatible wireless devices.

Wireless public alerting is geo-targeted and can be very specific to a limited area of coverage, unlike radio and television broadcasting, which often have broad areas of coverage.

Wireless emergency alerts begin with a distinct sound and vibration cadence. The sound and vibration convey a sense of urgency to reinforce alert messages.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 23:00:46|Editor: Yurou

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People attend an unveiling ceremony of a monument commemorating the late Polish President Lech Kaczinski and the Smolensk tragedy in Budapest, Hungary, on April 6, 2018. Polish leaders along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban took part in an unveiling ceremony here Friday of a monument commemorating the late Polish President Lech Kaczinski and the Smolensk tragedy in which he died. In 2010, a military plane travelling from Warsaw carrying the late president and other Polish officials crashed in Smolensk, Russia killing 96 Polish people. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)

BUDAPEST, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Polish leaders along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban took part in an unveiling ceremony here Friday of a monument commemorating the late Polish President Lech Kaczinski and the Smolensk tragedy in which he died.

In 2010, a military plane travelling from Warsaw carrying the late president and other Polish officials crashed in Smolensk, Russia killing 96 Polish people.

The Polish air force was bringing a delegation to a commemoration of Polish victims of the Katyn executions.

The twin brother of Lech Kaczinski, Jaroslaw, was at the unveiling ceremony. He is the leader of the ruling Polish Law and Justice party and Orban's close ally.

"Friendship between people cannot exist without common remembrance, and in such times, I think of the future of our people, which is closely linked to Viktor Orban and the Fidesz (Orban's party)," Kaczinski said at the ceremony.

He gave his support to Orban ahead of this Sunday's elections.

"At Sunday's elections, you decide not only about Hungary, but also about the freedom of the whole world, I wish that this decision might lead to the freedom of Europe, Poland and Hungary," he added, highlighting that the monument of Lech Kaczinski reinforced the friendship between the two countries.

Orban said he wanted a Central Europe that did not allow itself to be intimidated, or taught a lesson, and where the nations could naturally decide for themselves who they wanted to allow entering their territory.

"When they attack Poland, they attack Central Europe and they attack us as well," he explained. He added: "When we stand by Poland, we do this for the Hungarian-Polish friendship and also because we stand for ourselves."

Orban referred to the recent infringement procedure launched by the European Commission against Poland regarding a reform of Poland's judiciary. Sanctions connected to the infringement procedure require a unanimous decision of all of European Union (EU) member states. However, Orban has vowed on several occasions to veto any sanctions made against Poland.

Orban referred to the migrant relocation scheme of the European Union (EU), strongly rejected by both the Hungarian and the Polish governments.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also took part in the event, referring to the monument as a "bridge to understanding Polish history."

The event falls on the last days of the Hungarian electoral campaign that positions Orban as the absolute favorite candidate.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 23:05:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Syrian warplanes struck positions of the Islam Army rebels in the Douma district, the last rebel-held area in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside, on Friday after the militants hurdled an agreement for their evacuation from that area, according to the state news agency SANA.

SANA said the Islam Army militants have undermined an agreement reached recently for their evacuation from Douma and the release of kidnapped people in their prisons.

Moreover, the militants fired mortar shells on the Assad suburb and the Wafideen area, which is adjacent to Douma and has a crossing point from which three batches of Islam Army militants evacuated over the past few days before the faltering agreement.

Meanwhile, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported that the Syrian warplanes carried out 10 airstrikes on Douma on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the evacuation of the Islam Army rebels and their families from the Douma district has been suspended amid ongoing negotiations.

The observatory said it had information that the suspension of the evacuation process in Douma comes amid ongoing negotiations between the Islam Army and the Russian side.

The negotiations aim to reach a new understanding after a previous recent one has seen the evacuation of three batches of rebels and their families from Douma to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

According to the watchdog group, the Islam Army put forward a new proposal to the Russians, mainly calling for their stay in Douma with their weapons.

The new proposal also touches upon the situation of the Islam Army in Douma, the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta countryside and in other pockets they still have a presence in such as the Eastern Qalamoun region and southern Damascus.

If the negotiations collapse, a military operation is expected to be launched on Douma, said the Observatory.

Meanwhile, SANA blamed the suspension of the evacuation on the inner conflict among the Islam Army rebels.

A day earlier, the fourth batch, which was supposed to leave, was suspended and buses left Douma for the nearby highway to wait for a decision to be made regarding the evacuation process.

Activists said the Islam Army rebels are having difficulties when crossing to areas under the Turkish control in northern Syria in their way to Jarablus, a city in northern Syria near the Turkish border, which is the designated destination of the Islam Army.

A total of 2,963 militants and their families evacuated Douma in three batches over the past few days under a deal concluded between the Islam Army and the Syrian government forces under a Russian mediation.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in that sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of 43,000 rebels and their families toward Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian army launched a massive operation 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.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 23:05:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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Gao Feng, spokesperson with China's Ministry of Commerce, speaks at a press conference in Beijing, capital of China, April 6, 2018. There have been no talks over economic and trade issues between Chinese and U.S. economic officials recently, the spokesperson said Friday. China responded firmly to the U.S. 301 Section investigation report and its proposed tariff list and gave stronger response to its proposal for additional tariffs. Under such circumstances, it's getting impossible for any bilateral talks over this issue, Gao added. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China is fully prepared and will not hesitate to strike back fiercely if the United States unveils the list of 100-billion-U.S. dollar Chinese products subject to additional tariff hikes, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said.

"We are not taking any options off the table," Gao Feng, spokesperson with the MOC, said at a press briefing Friday.

The remarks came after the U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to slap tariffs on 100 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China.

Calling the move "unreasonable" and "extremely wrong," Gao said the U.S. side has misjudged the situation and will only "shoot itself in its foot."

China is ready for further escalation by the U.S. side and has prepared detailed countermeasures, he said.

"It is a battle between unilateralism and multilateralism, and between protectionism and free trade as well," Gao said.

If multilateralism and free trade are threatened, the economic globalization process will be disrupted, and the global economic recovery will be severely imperilled.

"This is detrimental to the vital interests of China and even more detrimental to the common interests of the world," he said.

"Facing such a major issue, we must fight resolutely," Gao said.
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Treasury announced Friday that it has imposed new sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and entities, including seven business leaders and 17 senior officials, for their alleged "malign activity" around the world.

The designated entities include 12 companies owned or controlled by the Russian business elites, who were called "oligarchs" by Washington, one state-owned Russian weapons trading company and its subsidiary -- a Russian bank, according to a statement released by the Treasury.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin accused the Russian government in the statement of engaging in "a range of malign activity" around the world, including its involvement in the Ukrainian and Syrian issues, and "attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities."

As a result of the punishment, all assets of the designated persons and entities that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from dealing with them.

The relationship between Washington and Moscow has plunged to a new low in recent weeks after the Trump administration rolled out a series of actions, including several economic and diplomatic measures, to increase pressure on the Russian government.

The United States published a long-awaited list of Russian officials and business leaders eligible for sanctions for alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential elections at the end of January, includes 114 senior Russian political personages, as well as 96 "oligarchs" as designated by the Treasury Department.

In March, 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 a poisoning case involving a former Russian spy.

Washington's actions have been met with countermeasures from Russia, which categorically denies these allegations and demands solid evidence.
Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia addresses a Security Council meeting on the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018.(Xinhua/Li Muzi)

by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The nerve-agent attack against a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain's southwestern city of Salisbury sparked heated discussions between Russian and British envoys Thursday at the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

HEATED VERBAL EXCHANGE

The Security Council met Thursday afternoon for the second time in less than a month to discuss the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, with Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia saying that Britain was engaged in "a theater of the absurd" by seeking to put responsibility on his country.

Raising a series of questions, Nebenzia said that Russia was not responsible and that Moscow expected both answers and full cooperation from the British side, as well as consular access to the Skripals.

Furthermore, the origin of the substance used in Salisbury had not been confirmed, yet people were demanding that Russia acknowledged its guilt, he added.

A crime had been committed on British soil, and perhaps also a terrorist act on a Russian citizen, Nebenzia said, adding that a draft statement from his delegation for the Security Council's consideration would be a litmus test as to whether Britain and its allies were "true to their words."

In response, British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce reaffirmed her government's position that it was "highly likely" that Russia had carried out the attack.

British Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce addresses a Security Council meeting on the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

She said that on March 21, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had deployed a team to Salisbury and collected samples, which were sent to several designated laboratories for testing.

Britain would share those findings once a report was made available, Pierce said, accusing Russia of attempting to undermine the international institution responsible for the investigation.

BRITAIN GETS SUPPORT FROM U.S., FRANCE

Kelly Currie, U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, voiced support for Britain's position, saying that the meeting was an attempt by Russia "to use the Council for political gains."

Either Russia had used a chemical weapon in the Salisbury attack or it had failed to declare its stocks of nerve agents, said Currie.

In the same vein, French delegate to the United Nations Francois Delattre said France would never allow impunity for those who used chemical weapons, adding that Russia must be part of the solution and immediately act responsibly.

CHINA CALLS FOR COOPERATION

Several speakers appealed for cooperation, including China's delegate, who said relevant issues should be addressed within the framework of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Wu Haitao (front), China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, addresses a Security Council meeting on the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal, at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

Emphasizing that the truth must be determined as soon as possible, Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, urged the countries concerned to engage in consultations, "avoid politicization and actions that would aggravate the situation, and handle the issue through dialogue."

At a time when the international community faces a plethora of issues, countries must "avoid a cold war mentality and devote their efforts to building mutual respect and win-win cooperation," he added.

Bolivia's representative, rejecting the use of chemical agents as weapons, likewise reiterated the need for a depoliticized investigation, adding that cooperation between relevant parties through diplomatic channels was essential to resolve the matter.

Also speaking at the meeting were representatives of Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Poland, Kuwait, Equatorial Guinea, the Netherlands, Cote d'Ivoire and Peru.

The meeting came a day after the Executive Council of the OPCW had met in The Hague, failing to agree on a proposed joint Russia-Britain investigation into the incident.

In this file photo taken on March 8, 2018, members of the emergency services in green biohazard encapsulated suits work to afix the tent over the bench where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found on March 4 in critical condition at The Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury, southern England, after the tent became detached. (Xinhua/AFP)

Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury on March 4. Britain has claimed they were exposed to a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok and held Russia responsible. Moscow has denied any involvement and called British accusations "completely unacceptable."

Earlier Thursday, Yulia said in a statement released by British police that her health has improved. "I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that you'll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence," she said.
MOSCOW, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia is examining the possibility of settlements in national currencies for oil supplies, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday.

"There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in the settlements," TASS news agency quoted Novak as saying.

"This applies to Turkey and Iran," he added, without disclosing when such settlements could begin.

Generally, oil is priced and traded in U.S. dollars.

In February, Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that Tehran had signed a contract with Moscow to export three million barrels of crude oil to Russia every month and the settlements would be made in euros.

Russia is one of the main suppliers of crude oil to Turkey.

Novak was part of the delegation, which accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin on his visit to Ankara earlier this week, where Putin met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 23:46:00|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement leadership stressed Friday that the current rallies and marches in Gaza must go on until it achieves its goals.

Head of Hamas in Gaza Yehya Sinwar told demonstrators in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip that the Great March of Return is "national" and that the Palestinians should carry on with it and protect it as much as possible.

He went on saying that "Gaza will not starve and we won't abandon our national goal."

"We are all here to tell the world that Gaza is free," said the Hamas leader. "We will carry on in the coming days and will surprise our people who are waiting for our advancement."

On Friday, Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Health Ministry in Gaza told reporters that a Palestinian had died of his wounds on Friday morning, adding that two more demonstrators were shot dead by Israeli troops' gunfire during the clashes with the Israeli soldiers in the second week.

He added that the Israeli army had used live ammunitions, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas, adding that there are more than 300 fresh injuries on Friday, around half of them were shot with live ammunitions and runner bullets.

Qedra unveiled that the Israeli army is using a kind of tear gas that will make the injured people suffer from pain all over the bodies.

Qedra said that since last Friday, 22 Palestinians were killed and around 2,000 were injured. He accused Israel of using excessive power against the demonstrators and called on the international community for protection of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Last Friday, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip organized a rally that is expected to last for six weeks, known as "the Great March of Return."

The organizers called on the coastal enclave's populations, most of whom are refugees, to head to the borderline area between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel and carry out peaceful rallies.

The rallies and marches will continue until May 15, when Palestinians mark the Nakba Day, the day of their catastrophe, which coincides with Israel's 70th Independence Day.

The organizers and the participants stressed that their protests will not be military but will remain popular and peaceful.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas leader who arrived at where the rallies took place, told reporters "this is a (popular and peaceful) stage that is one of the several stages, and the arms (guns) will remain in our hands that can be activated in a proper moment."

"Today we are sending a message that our struggle against the occupation is without arms and guns, and we will wait and see if the world receives the message and pressure on Israel to stop its crimes against our people, and if the world fails to do so, we then will be obliged to use our arms," he said.

This Friday, the number of participants who joined the rallies was fewer than last Friday.

Hundreds of Palestinian protesters began early Friday to set fire to dozens of car tires near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel in a bid to make a shield of black smoke to protect themselves from Israeli soldiers' gunfire.

A Xinhua cameraman said he saw large black smoke after tires were burned at the borderline area between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel. The demonstrators wanted to disturb Israeli army snipers from targeting the demonstrators, he added.

At the Israeli side of the border, the Israeli army brought more soldiers, armoured vehicles, drones filled with tear gas canisters, firemen and fire vehicles to prevent smoke from being pushed by the winds into Israel.

On Friday, hundreds began to arrive at five different locations from south to north of the Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, bringing with them tires and onions to protect themselves from inhaling tear gas.

"I came here to join the marches and rallies to tell the world that we have legitimate rights and need to gain these rights back, mainly the right of return," said Mohamed al-Hosari, a 21-year-old student and a Palestinian refugee from Gaza.

"I know that we cannot do it because we are not army and we cannot defy Israel, therefore, we are joining popular peaceful rallies hoping to convey our message to the world," he added.
SINGAPORE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) finance ministers and central Bank governors on Friday reaffirmed their commitment to the bloc's economic community blueprint 2025.

The blueprint 2015 includes strategic objectives of financial integration, financial stability and financial inclusion.

According to a joint statement of the fourth ASEAN Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' Meeting, the ministers and governors welcomed the Singapore Chair's focus on resilience and innovation, and initiatives to sustain growth, boost resilience, and foster innovation.

The joint statement said the finance ministers and central bank governors are encouraged by ASEAN's strong economic growth of 5.2 percent in 2017, and expected the growth momentum would be sustained into 2018 on the back of broad-based global economic recovery, expansion in global trade, sustained private consumption and growing infrastructure investment.

Remaining vigilant against risks, they reaffirmed their commitment to international trade and investment which are important engines of growth and development, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, they committed to implementing appropriate monetary, fiscal, macro-prudential and supervisory policies to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability.

Concluded on Friday evening, the meeting also focused , among others, on discussion topics including ASEAN's financial integration and liberalization, facilitation of trade and investment, infrastructure financing, financial technology and innovation, and capacity building and implementation.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-06 23:56:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Republican Guard of the Syrian army started entering the farmlands of the Douma district in the Syrian capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta on Friday, after talks with the Islam Army rebels collapsed, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Syrian forces have entered the farmlands on the outskirts of Douma, after the Islam Army hurdled a deal for the evacuation of Douma and launched several mortar shells on the capital, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the state-run al-Ekhbariah TV said the Syrian Air Force and artillery started pounding the defense lines of the Islam Army as well as the mortar launchers before entering Douma farmlands from several directions.
MINSK, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei on Friday called for an objective investigation into the poisoning case of a former Russian double agent.

Belarus opposed the hanging of any labels before an objective assessment of what happened, Vladimir Makei told reporters, calling all relevant parties to work together for an investigation.

Former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a bench in a shopping center in the southern British city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain has claimed they were exposed to a military-grade nerve agent called Novichok and held Russia responsible. Moscow has denied any involvement in it and called British accusations "completely unacceptable."
A participant uses the new smart phone called "Tecno Spark" during its launch in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sept. 16, 2017. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia restored mobile internet on Friday five months after the service was terminated across the country.

The Ethiopian government didn't explain the reason for the blackout at the time nor has it given reason for the mobile internet restoration.

However, the mobile internet blackout occurred in November, in a period of heightened tension within the ruling coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and reports of sporadic ethnic clashes.

In recent months, internal political wrangling among four coalition partners of EPRDF, including Tigray People's Liberation Front, Amhara National Democratic Movement, South Ethiopia People's Democratic Movement and Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), has cast fears about the stability of the nation of about 100 million people.

Ethiopia is also reeling from persistent deadly protests since 2016 especially in the two most populous regional states of Amhara and Oromia over alleged political and economic marginalization.

The five-month mobile internet blackout however didn't affect Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa which is home to more than 140 diplomatic missions and hosts the AU and UNECA headquarters.

It's thought the great majority of Ethiopia's 57.4 million or so mobile phone subscribers use their handsets to access and send information through the internet.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 00:26:15|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HANGZHOU, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A man has been sentenced for two years in prison for illegally dealing in nitrous oxide,or "laughing gas," a court in east China's Zhejiang Province said on Friday.

The Yunhe County people's court said the dealer, Yin, had no permit to deal in dangerous chemicals. He purchased "laughing gas" from Taobao and WeChat stores from May to October in 2017 and then sit on.

The nitrous oxide is used in surgery for anaesthetic and pain reducing effects. It is also used as food addictive.

Police seized 828 boxes of the gas in Yin's home. Investigation showed he had sold 12,000 boxes for 300,000 yuan (about 47,000 U.S. dollars), and made profit of 30,000 yuan.

The court also imposed 50,000 yuan of fines.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a joint interview with the Chinese media at the UN headquarters in New York, April 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday praised China's role as key in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue.

"I think China has an absolutely key role in this," which is highlighted by the recent visit to Beijing by Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), he told Chinese reporters ahead of his trip to China to attend the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) conference.

Guterres also said he sent an envoy to Pyongyang with a very clear message: to improve the relations between the two Koreas, especially to avoid any escalation of tensions that could be a disaster on the peninsula.

There is a lot of distrust between the United States and the DPRK, so the presence of China can be an absolutely decisive factor for a peaceful denuclearization of the peninsula, he said.

This picture provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Feb. 9, 2018 shows the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un attending the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Korean People's Army in Pyongyang, capital of the DPRK. (Xinhua/KCNA)

It is also important for the DPRK to have an open dialogue with the United States, as China has always recommended, so that a denuclearization could occur in a peaceful environment and to the benefit of all, Guterres said.

It is the first time the UN chief would attend the BFA conference. The 2018 BFA conference will be held in Boao, a coastal town in south China's island province of Hainan, from April 8-11. Its theme is "An Open and Innovative Asia for a World of Greater Prosperity."
BERLIN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Plans supported by several Western European states including Germany to cut European Union (EU) funding to poorer regions in the east of the bloc could backfire, a report published on Friday by the magazine SPIEGEL warns.

According to SPIEGEL, a reduction or more selective distribution of so-called EU structure or cohesion funds could harm German exports to poorer neighbouring countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.

The EU Commission and the national governments such as Germany, Italy and France have all expressed a desire to introduce greater conditionality into existing system of regional subsidies.

Resulting savings in the transfer of cohesion funds could help make up for a forecasted annual budgetary shortfall of circa 12 billion euros (14.7 billion U.S dollars) from 2021 onwards which will be caused by Britain's decision to leave the bloc.

Additionally, several Western members hope to pressure members of the "Visegrad" group, including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to refrain from right-wing populist policies, uphold the national rule of law, and comply with EU directives by curtailing their access to EU budgets.

The EU currently spends around 50 billion euros each year, a third of its total budget, to promote the economic development of poorer member states and regions. Visegrad countries receive the lion's share of the money and have attracted growing criticism from major net contributors to the cohesion funds in Western Europe who accuse the likes of Warsaw, Prague and Budapest for refusing to accept their legally-binding share of refugees under the European asylum system.

"SPIEGEL" noted on Friday, however, that there was little clarity over how the transfers could actually be made more conditional on legal standards. "One cannot punish a population for the behaviour of its government", Corina Cretu, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy told the magazine.

Furthermore, halting the flow of EU cohesion funds to Eastern Europe could have a boomerang effect on growth in Western Europe. The EU Commission estimates that a quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in net contributor countries between 2007 and 2013 was attributable to indirect positive effects of the controversial subsidies.

"Of every Euro that Berlin sends to Brussels, up to 70 percent are returned to German industries in the shape of new international orders", a statement by Guenther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, read. A recent study by the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research found that German incomes rose by nearly 120 billion euros since 2014 due to the existence of the European single market, making Germany the by far biggest beneficiary of internal trade.

"SPIEGEL" cited an unnamed EU official who warned that Berlin should "be more honest" about the fact that it could end up shooting itself in the foot with a punitive reduction of cohesion funds for Visegrad governments. Any attempt to raise the threshold under which cohesion funds can be applied for would have to hold throughout the entire EU and could therefore mean that poorer regions of Eastern Germany would be left worse off as well as a consequence.

In spite of these risks, it is widely anticipated that the EU Commission will at least propose to make regional transfers contingent on the fulfilment of rule-of-law criteria in the near future. Brussels fears that a failure to do so would further embolden Visegrad states to act in contradiction of EU principles and laws, as well as contributing to Eurosceptic sentiment in the countries which are already net contributors to the bloc's budget.

Commissioner Cretu emphasized on Friday that a loss of access to subsidies could also be interpreted as a sign of "economic progress." She pointed out that Polish GDP per capita was measured at less than 50 percent of the EU average when it first joined the EU in 2004 and has since risen to 75 percent of the average.

If the EU decided to raise the threshold which determined access to cohesion funds accordingly, Poland would no longer have a "right to subsidies, statistically and economically-speaking" and could hence not claim to be a victim of "punishment." Nevertheless, Cretu admitted that such a move might still contribute to a further alienation between Eastern and Western European populations.
ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have agreed on realizing a tripartite infrastructure fund based on the decision made by leaders of the three countries, according to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ministers of the three countries, during their meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), agreed to establish the tripartite infrastructure fund, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday.

Leaders of the three countries, during their meeting in Ethiopia on the sidelines of the African Union (AU) summit in January, had agreed to establish a tripartite infrastructure fund, which was said to serve to strengthen economic integration and the people-to-people relations among the three countries.

Water resources ministers, foreign ministers, and intelligence chiefs of the three countries met in Khartoum upon the agreement made by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopia's former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, officials of the three countries have arrived into mutual consensus on some issues regarding the disputed mega dam.

The meeting mainly aimed to foster collaboration and resolve differences among the three countries regarding the construction of Ethiopia's dam.

The diplomatic relations among the three countries is largely intertwined with the Blue Nile River that originates from Ethiopia and shared with Sudan and Egypt.

The GERD, under construction at a cost of 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, is now 64 percent complete, which Ethiopia hopes will provide a constant supply of affordable electricity to aid the country's modernization drive.

But Egypt, as a Nile downstream country, fears that the construction of the GERD would affect its share of the Nile water and lead to a water shortage.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 00:51:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Republican Guard of the Syrian army started entering the farmlands of the Douma district in the Syrian capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta on Friday, after talks with the Islam Army rebels collapsed, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Syrian forces have entered the farmlands on the outskirts of Douma, after the Islam Army hurdled a deal for the evacuation of Douma and launched several mortar shells on the capital, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the state-run al-Ekhbariah TV said the Syrian Air Force and artillery started pounding the defense lines of the Islam Army as well as the mortar launchers before entering Douma farmlands from several directions.

In an earlier report, SANA said the Syrian warplanes struck positions of the Islam Army rebels in Douma, the last rebel-held area in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside after the militants hurdled an agreement for their evacuation from that area.

SANA said the Islam Army militants have undermined an agreement reached recently for their evacuation from Douma and the release of kidnapped people in their prisons.

Moreover, the militants fired mortar shells on the Assad suburb and the Wafideen area, which is adjacent to Douma and has a crossing point from which three batches of Islam Army militants evacuated over the past few days before the faltering agreement.

The mortar shells also struck several areas inside the capital Damascus, some of which reached the central part of the city.

Medical reports said at least two people were killed and 20 others wounded by the renewed mortar attacks on Friday.

Meanwhile, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported that the Syrian warplanes carried out 10 airstrikes on Douma on Friday.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the evacuation of the Islam Army rebels and their families from the Douma district has been suspended amid ongoing negotiations.

The Observatory said it had information that the suspension of the evacuation process in Douma comes amid ongoing negotiations between the Islam Army and the Russian side.

The negotiations aim to reach a new understanding after a previous recent one has seen the evacuation of three batches of rebels and their families from Douma to rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

According to the observatory, the Islam Army put forward new suggestions to the Russians, mainly calling for remaining in Douma with their weapons.

The new proposition also touches upon the situation of the Islam Army in Douma, the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta countryside and in other pockets where they still have a presence such as the Eastern Qalamoun region and southern Damascus.

In case of the collapse of the negotiations, a military operation is expected to be launched on Douma, said the observatory.

Meanwhile, SANA blamed the suspension of the evacuation on the inner conflict among the Islam Army rebels.

A day earlier, the fourth batch, which was supposed to leave, was suspended and buses left Douma for the nearby highway to wait for a decision to be made regarding the evacuation process.

Activists said the Islam Army rebels are having difficulties when crossing to areas under the Turkish control in northern Syria in their way to Jarablus, a city in northern Syria near the Turkish border, which is the designated destination of the Islam Army.

A total of 2,963 militants and their families evacuated Douma in three batches over the past few days under a deal concluded between the Islam Army and the Syrian government forces under a Russian mediation.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in that sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of 43,000 rebels and their families toward Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian army launched a massive operation 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.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 01:01:26|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GENEVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The UN human rights office on Friday deplored the killing of at least 16 people and the reported injuring of more than 1,000 others during Gaza protests last week where Israeli soldiers were reported to have used "excessive force."

"We are gravely concerned that further violence could occur during demonstrations today and in the coming weeks," said Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Liz Throssell at a UN media briefing here.

OHCHR said the 16 people in Gaza were killed by live fire during protests, with reports indicating that of the more than 1,000 others injured, and hundreds were also hit by live ammunition.

"Given the large number of injuries and deaths, the ominous statements made by Israeli authorities in the days leading up to the protest, as well as indications that the individuals killed or wounded were unarmed or did not pose a serious threat to well-protected security forces -- and in some cases were actually running away from the fence -- there are strong indications that security forces used excessive force," said Throssell.

The UN office noted that Israeli security forces are required by international human rights law to respect the rights to peaceful assembly and expression and to use, to the extent possible, non-violent means to discharge their duties.

"While a minority of protesters reportedly used means that could be dangerous, the use of protective gear and defensive positions by law enforcement officials would have mitigated the risk and should not have led to recourse to lethal force," said Throssell.

She said an attempt to approach or cross the "green-line" fence between Israel and Gaza itself certainly does not amount to a threat to life or serious injury that would justify the use of live ammunition.
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Friday that it has imposed sanctions on two individuals, accusing them of facilitating Mexican drug cartels for money laundering and prostitution ring.

The department said in a statement that it designated two persons, a Mexican music promoter and a Venezuelan-Italian fashion photographer, "for their roles facilitating money laundering and an international prostitution ring" on behalf of Mexican drug cartels.

"Treasury is targeting individuals who work on behalf of violent Mexican drug kingpins, and support their opulent lifestyles by trafficking deadly drugs into the United States," said Treasury Under Secretary Sigal Mandelker in the statement.

The sanctions would freeze any assets that a blacklisted person holds under U.S. jurisdiction and ban any U.S. individuals or companies from making business deals with them.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 01:21:30|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHICAGO, April. 6 (Xinhua) -- American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM), a leading auto parts manufacturer, has announced to launch a joint venture in southern China to make driveline systems despite protectionist rhetoric out of Washington.

AAM confirmed that it entered into a joint venture agreement earlier this week with China's Liuzhou Wuling Automobile Industry Co. Ltd. to set up Liuzhou AAM Automotive Driveline System Co. Ltd., which will begin production later this year in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility located in an economic development zone of Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province.

"Liuzhou AAM will be our latest manufacturing facility in China that further expands and diversifies our global footprint," David C. Dauch, AAM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement released on Thursday.

"AAM is committed to strategically growing with new customers in new markets," he said, adding that Liuzhou AAM will continue to enhance their ability to provide both conventional and electric drive axles in the world's largest automotive market.

According to AAM's Chinese partner, the joint venture is expected to achieve a yearly revenue of 300 million Chinese Yuan (about 48 million U.S. dollars) by 2020.

The rear axles and driveheads the joint venture will manufacture are to meet the needs of the fast-growing segments of multi-purpose vehicles and crossovers including vans, mini vans and sport utility vehicles in fast-growing Chinese automotive market.

The partnership came as U.S. automakers and related suppliers urged Washington to resolve trade disputes with China through negotiations, not punitive tariffs.

General Motors Co. underlined in a statement "the interdependence between the world's two largest automotive markets," adding they believe "both countries value a vibrant auto industry."
BERLIN, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Internal critics of German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Angela Merkel have drafted an alternative "conservative manifesto," newspaper Rheinische Post reported on Friday.

According to the report, the authors of the "conservative manifesto" hope to steer the CDU away from the moderate-centrist stance which it has increasingly adopted under Merkel.

During her more than 11-year reign, the chancellor has co-opted many social democratic policies in an attempt to transform the CDU into a "catch-all" party which defies a simple right-wing/left-wing categorization.

Despite being met with repeated electoral success in Germany, however, Merkel's ideological pragmatism has offended hard-line conservatives in her party. Amongst others, the group behind the alternative manifesto criticized the recent legislative introduction of same-sex marriage equality and urged the CDU to declare its firm support for a traditional family structure comprised of a "father, mother and child."

The "conservative manifesto" further calls for an abolition of dual citizenship, a reintroduction of mandatory national military service, lower taxes, and a greater focus on combating right, left and Islamic extremism. The document will reportedly be formally passed at the federal assembly of the "value union" founded by CDU politicians on the party's conservative wing a year ago.

Alexander Mitsch, president of the value union, demanded that Merkel refrain from seeking another term as party leader in the autumn. Mitsch argued that the CDU could only begin to renew itself when Merkel had stepped down.

Senior regional CDU politician Gregor Golland warned that many individuals in the CDU shared the views expressed in the "conservative manifesto", but had so far not dared to speak out. Merkel's refugee policies in particular had led party members to feel like the CDU was "no longer their home."

Merkel has faced growing resistance within some parts of the CDU since the conclusion of "grand coalition" negotiations in which she was attacked for offering significant policy concessions to the German Social Democrats (SPD) on health care, labor market policies and Europe.

Paul Ziemiak, leader of the CDU youth organization, has since publicly demanded the promotion of a younger generation of politicians in key party positions in order to signal to voters that the CDU still took their concerns seriously.
KIEV, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing-based China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) on Friday signed an agreement to implement a dredging project at Ukraine's southern Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.

The deal was inked at the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry by Lin Tao, the head of the representative office of the CHEC in Ukraine, and Maksym Shyrokov, the head of the Yuzhny port administration, which carried out the tender for the dredging project.

The CHEC won the tender on March 14, beating four companies from Ukraine and Europe with a bid price of 404 million hryvnyas (about 15.6 million U.S. dollars).

"This tender was conducted transparently and effectively, excluding the possibility of any corruption manifestations. As a result of this tender, we saved 40 million hryvnyas (about 1.5 million U.S. dollars). That's really big savings," Volodymyr Omelyan, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister, said at the signing ceremony.

Chornomorsk, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea, is one of the largest seaports in Ukraine, handling between 15 and 20 million tons of cargo annually.

Under the dredging project, the Chinese company has to deepen the port's approach channel to 16 meters and deepen one of the port's operational areas to 15 meters, boosting the handling capacity of the port.

The project is set to be completed by the end of the current year.

The CHEC is already implementing a separate dredging project at the Black Sea port of Yuzhny in southern Ukraine.

Rayvis Veckagans, the head of Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, said that the Ukrainian side is very pleased by the quality and the timeliness of the project implementation and is willing to continue cooperation with the CHEC.

"Based on the results of works in the Yuzhny port, we are glad to entrust the dredging of the Chornomorsk port to such a reliable partner," Veckagans said.

Meanwhile, Lin Tao said that the Chinese company is honored to contribute to the development of Ukraine's infrastructure.

"I promise that China Harbor will continue to contribute our knowledge and professionalism to build more beautiful and prosperous Ukraine," Lin said.
by Francis Tandoh

ACCRA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A Ghanaian civil group said Friday it will organize series of demonstrations against the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) between Ghana and the United States.

Convener for the Ghana First Patriotic Front (GFPF), Edem Agbana, told an Accra-based radio station its members were getting ready for another massive demonstration.

The protest, he said, is intended to compel the Ghana government to withdraw the agreement it has entered into with the U.S. government.

The deal has raised fears that it would allow the United States access to Ghana's radio spectrum and that it contained other terms that could encroach upon Ghana's sovereignty.

"We will continue to let Ghanaians understand the agreement and how dangerous it is to the interest of Ghana," he said.

Agbana observed the country's president, Nana Akufo-Addo failed to address the concerns raised by the group before they organized their first protest.

Akufo-Addo in an address on Thursday night following public fury against the DCA debunked assertions that the United States wants to establish a military base in Ghana, saying the government approved the agreement as it posed no threat to the sovereignty of the West African country.

Meanwhile, leading members of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have described the address as empty, saying it did not address the concerns of Ghanaians.
LJUBLJANA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian judicial authorities has extradited suspected drug lord Stjepan Prnjat, dubbed the Croatian Escobar, to Croatia on Friday, local media reported.

Prnjat was arrested by the Slovenian police in Ljubljana on March 8 as part of an international operation targetting at a drug trafficking ring.

The extradition was made by the Ljubljana District Court, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

The alleged drug lord has spent the past month in detention in Ljubljana and objected extradition. The decision of the Ljubljana District Court to extradite him became final last week after his appeal was rejected.

Prnjat was arrested on a European warrant to arrest and extradite on charges of racketeering and drug trafficking under the Croatian criminal code, said the STA report citing the court.

The report also said that six Croatian citizens, two Dutch and one Spanish citizen were arrested in Croatia and Slovenia as part of an operation codenamed Nana. Moreover, a 100 kilo shipment of cocaine was seized at the Rijeka airport in western Croatia close to Slovenia.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 03:11:51|Editor: Yurou

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Palestinian protesters carry an injured man during clashes with Israeli troops on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City, on April 6, 2018. Eight Palestinians were killed and 1,070 others injured on Friday during a daylong of bloody confrontations between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, medics said. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

GAZA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Eight Palestinians were killed and 1,070 others injured on Friday during a daylong of bloody confrontations between hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, medics said.

Spokesman for Health Ministry in Gaza Ashraf al-Qedra told Xinhua that one Palestinian had died Friday of wounds he sustained last Friday.

Al-Qedra added that seven more were killed during the fresh large clashes that broke out Friday in eastern Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel by Israeli snipers.

The Israeli army forces used live ammunition, rubber-coated metal gunshots, tear gas and firefighters against hundreds of demonstrators who threw stones at the soldiers close to the fence between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators began early Friday to set fire to dozens of used car tires near the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel in a bid to make a shield of black smoke to protect themselves from Israeli soldiers' gunfire.

A Xinhua cameraman said he saw large black clouds after tires were burned at the borderline area between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel. The demonstrators wanted to prevent Israeli army snipers from targeting them, he added.

On the Israeli side of the border, the Israeli army brought more forces of soldiers, armoured vehicles, drones filled with tear gas canisters, firemen and fire vehicles to prevent smoke from being pushed by the winds into Israel.

Early on Friday morning, hundreds began to arrive to five different geographical areas from south to north of the Gaza Strip close to the border with Israel, bringing with them tires and onions to protect themselves from inhaling tear gas.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority Presidency said in an official statement that it condemns "the action of killing and repression. The Israeli army is committed to confront Palestinians, who are peacefully demonstrating in eastern Gaza."

The statement said that the Palestinian leadership is to ask its Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Reyad Mansour, as well as the Arab League and the European Union "to immediately move with all international parties to act on preventing the Israeli brutality and the deliberate killing of innocent people."
[Provisional Translation]



On April 5, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted a summit meeting and other events with H.E. Dr. Haider Al-Abadi, Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, at the Prime Ministers Office.



The two leaders attended a salute and guard of honor ceremony, followed by a summit meeting. Thereafter, the leaders held a joint press announcement.
MOGADISHU, April 6 (Xinhua) -- At least six people including two soldiers were killed and several others injured in two separate explosions in Somalia capital Mogadishu on Friday.

The police and witnesses said the first explosion occurred at a checkpoint along the road near the airport in Mogadishu after the vehicle had been intercepted by the security officers manning the checkpoint. The blast injured three soldiers while a bomber died.

"The second blast occurred an hour later at another checkpoint in Sei piano in Hodan district (West of Mogadishu) a few minutes after Friday prayers," said a police officer who declined to be named.

He said two soldiers were killed after the security forces killed three militants who had passed through the checkpoint with vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED).

Internal Security spokesman Abdiaziz Ali Ibrahim said security forces managed to thwart the deadly attack by the extremists.

Ibrahim said the security officers managed to stop the suicide bomber but noted that the vehicle exploded after the security forces barred it from entering the road to the airport.

Extremists have recently increased their attacks against the African Union and Somali forces especially in Mogadishu targeting their bases, hotels and other public places.
ADDIS ABABA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopians residing outside the capital Addis Ababa woke up to find mobile internet back working as the service restored on Friday after five months of blackout.

The East African country on Friday restored mobile internet service after it was terminated across the country for the past five months, leaving majority of the country's population to search rare wi-fi and broadband internet services.

Ashenafi Yenew, a young Ethiopian in Bahir Dar city, told Xinhua that the reopening of mobile internet service on Friday morning "was a great surprise" for him and residents of the city.

"Even though the move to terminate mobile internet service was not acceptable in anyway, we have not expected the reopening during this period of time," said Yenew.

Yenew said he had expected the recently institutionalized state of emergency rule "would rule out the restoration of the mobile internet service in its effort to bring order in the country."

The East African country is currently under a 6-month state of emergency rule that came into effect as of February 16, a day after the resignation of the former prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Solomon Dinku, a young university student in Adama city some 100 km south of Addis Ababa, also stressed the importance of mobile internet service for his studies.

"Since it is very difficult to have access to wi-fi or broadband internet service especially during night times, we mostly depend on hard copies for our study," said Dinku.

The mobile internet blackout that was occurred in November last year was not the first as Ethiopia has faced recurrent unrest in different parts of the country since the second half of 2016.

Ethiopia had also previously blocked some social networking sites amid an increased unrest in some parts of the country.

The Ethiopian government has frequently expressed its concern that "anti-peace forces" often use social networking platforms to disseminate false information that targets the country's youth population.

The block on mobile internet service was a major concern since the majority of Ethiopians use their mobile handsets to access the internet.

Ethiopia's state-owned EthioTelecom recently announced that it has more than 57 million mobile subscribers, accounting to more than half of the country's total population.

Maereg Sahlu, a tourist guide in Lalibe town, also told Xinhua that the block on mobile internet was a major inconvenience for many tourists.

"Tourists need mobile internet for various purposes mainly to check maps and also communicate with their relatives back home," Sahlu said.

"Most of the time they were not happy when we tell them to use other options instead of mobile internet service," Sahlu added.

According to Sahlu, the restoration of mobile internet service is "a great news for us and also tourists who come from different parts of the world."

The five-month mobile internet blackout, however, did not affect Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa that is home to more than 140 diplomatic missions and the headquarters of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The capital has not experienced anti-government demonstrations or unrest in recent years.

Ethiopia has been reeling from persistent deadly protests since 2016 especially in the two most populous regional states of Amhara and Oromia over alleged political and economic marginalization.
LISBON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The suspected leader of a 6.5 million-euro tobacco contraband ring has been arrested, Portugal's National Republican Guard (GNR) announced on Friday.

The Excise Activities Unit (UAF) of the Porto branch of the GNR had been tracking the gang since late 2016.

On Thursday, they swooped on six properties, four of them residential, two commercial in Porto and the surrounding area. This resulted in the arrest of a 44-year-old man, the presumed leader of the gang.

The searches also led to the apprehension of 130,000 cigarettes and 226 kilos of tobacco leaves.

"Most of the tobacco was hidden in false compartments that seemed to have been made especially for the purpose, in a commercial property belonging to the main suspect," a spokesman for the UAF told the Lusa Portuguese News Agency.

Besides the ringleader, a further 10 gang members face charges. They are accused of criminal activity and sophisticated contraband operations in the cities of Porto and Aveiro, in Portugal's north.

Over the course of the investigation, 1,282,000 cigarettes have been confiscated. Five vehicles and two properties have also been seized and 141 bank accounts frozen.

"The estimated value of fraud and tax evasion related to this inquiry, in terms of unpaid customs duty and VAT, tops 6.5 million euros," the spokesman concluded.
by Justice Lee Adoboe and Seth Tei Gafah

ACCRA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government will from this year begin financing of a major fishing landing site at the James Town Beach in Ghana's capital, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Sun Baohong said Friday.

Sun and Ghana's Minister for Finance Kenneth Ofori-Atta signed and exchanged notes to this effect at a brief ceremony.

The Chinese ambassador said both the James Town fishing port project and the phase two of the University of Health and Allied Sciences will be funded by the Chinese government.

"At the request of Ghana government we are providing development assistance within our capacity. The project providing satellite TV for 300 villages in Ghana will be implemented in May. And the James Town Fishing Port Complex will kick off within this year," Sun said.

There is also an ongoing feasibility studies on the phase two of the university as well as feasibility for a cocoa processing project in Sefwi Wiawso in Ghana's Western Region, while China has also begun the donation of police vehicles and equipments.

"We do not attach any political strings to our aid to Ghana, and the nature of aid is for development and we fully support Ghana Beyond Aid initiative of the government and we wish that this aspiration will be realized with the help of international partners," the ambassador said.

The Chinese government, according to Sun, hopes that the projects will improve the infrastructure of Ghana and increase the driving force of Ghana's economy.

Last year, economic and trade cooperation between the two countries grew strongly as bilateral trade reached 6.67 billion U.S. dollars, representing an increase of 11.7 percent. China is Ghana's largest trading partner and Ghana's export to China surpassed 1.85 billion dollars last year.

China's financial investment in Ghana last year reached 123 million dollars, covering 25 projects, and the number of projects ranked top among all the foreign investment countries in the West African country.

Ofori-Atta expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for its continued support for Ghana, with the expectation that the project will ensure job creation in the fisheries sector.

"Today's signing ceremony marks yet another important milestone in the bilateral economic relations between Ghana and the People's Republic of China as it affirms our commitments and determination to broaden and deepen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries," the minister said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 04:27:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday asked for courage and resolve to act on the occasion of the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda.

"We remember all those who were murdered and reflect on the suffering of the survivors, who have shown that reconciliation is possible, even after a tragedy of such monumental proportions," Guterres was quoted as saying by his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"To save people at risk, we must go beyond words. We must nurture the courage to care and the resolve to act. Only by meeting these challenges can we honor the victims," Guterres was quoted as saying.

A commemoration event will be held at the UN headquarters in New York next Friday, said the spokesman.

April 7 was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2003 as the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda to commemorate the 1994 genocide committed by members of the Hutu majority government.

An estimated 500,000 to 1 million Rwandans were brutally murdered during 100 days from April 7 to mid-July, the overwhelming majority of the victims being Tutsis.
By Evan Duggan

VANCOUVER, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Knee-jerk reaction in the simmering trade dispute between China and the U.S. will only serve to escalate the confrontation, say Canadian trade experts.

"The problem with that is these types of punitive import duties don't work in trying to curb the behavior that both the U.S. and China are trying to establish," said Mike Manjuris, a trade expert at Ryerson University in Toronto.

U.S. President Donald Trump's playbook seems to be pursuing punishment instead of parley, Manjuris told Xinhua in an interview. "Call it the knee jerk reaction of the (U.S.) administration, and specifically the President."

He said both parties should pursue a diplomatic course in the short-term and create legislation over the long term to handle specific bilateral trade grievances without harming the overall flow of products between the world's two largest economies.

On Friday, China said it would fight back at any cost if the U.S. continues down a path of import duties against Chinese products.

That came shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap an additional 100 billion U.S. dollars in tariffs on Chinese goods, escalating the rhetoric from an earlier threat of 50-billion U.S. dollars in various tariffs.

On Wednesday, China responded to Trump's initial threat by announcing a list of 106 U.S. goods that would be targeted by retaliatory tariffs, including soybeans, whisky, beef and aircraft.

"The U.S. is trying to hurt China in... the technology sector," Manjuris said. "It's an area where China is trying to further develop and that's what they took aim at first."

Manjuris said punitive import duties would only lead to a "tit for tat" trade war. "When that starts to happen, that's not good for anybody."

He said if these "knee jerk" reactions continue, the entire global economy could suffer.

James Brander, a trade expert at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, said it's premature to label this a trade war, as the tariffs have yet to take effect - and may not.

"I think it's just actually typical Donald Trump," he said. "He's posturing and making threats, and then pulls back from the threats. It's clearly all part of the negotiating strategy that has used in his private sector activities, which he has taken with him to the White House."

Brander said he remains optimistic that this dispute gets settled without any tariffs taking hold.

"If there really was a major trade war between the U.S. and China, that would have an aggregate effect on global economic growth," he said. "It would certainly be bad for both China and the United States. But I just don't see that happening."
Palestinian young man, Bashar al-Daya, was painting during an anti-Israeli protest along the Gaza-Israel border on April 6, 2018. (Xinhua photo)

GAZA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Amid the heavy black smokes of burnt car tires and the buzzing sounds of of bullets, Bashar al-Daya, a Palestinian young man, was busy painting a map of Palestine during an anti-Israeli protest along the Gaza-Israel border.

The 18-year-old painted the Palestinian map on a black piece of cloth framed on a two-meter-long wooden stand.

"The painting also includes the return key which is a symbol of Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes," al-Daya told Xinhua while drawing.

Since early Friday morning, hundreds of Palestinians arrived in the Gaza-Israel border area to join the "Great March of Return" for the second week.

Eight Palestinians were killed and 1,070 others injured during the daylong of bloody confrontations between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers.

In a very emotional scene, dozens of protesters surrounded al-Daya as he drew the painting, showing appreciation of his art which he believes can be used as a way to show Palestine's resistance to the Israeli occupation.

"I'm here to deliver a message that we can resist Israel with our creativity and art, not only with stones and clashes," al-Daya told Xinhua as he put the final touches on his painting.

As crowds around him shouted slogans calling for freedom and the return of refugees, al-Daya said peaceful protestors gathered at the rally to tell the whole world that the Israeli occupation must end and the refugees must return to their homes.

Palestinian young man, Bashar al-Daya, was painting during an anti-Israeli protest along the Gaza-Israel border on April 6, 2018. (Xinhua photo)

The Palestinian refugees' struggle to return home has been one of the key and thorniest issues in the final status negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.

The rally, known as the "Great March of Return," is considered Gaza's largest mass protest in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as tens of thousands of Palestinians gather near the Gaza-Israel border on a daily basis.

The march is expected to peak on May 15, when Palestinians mark the Nakba Day, the day of their catastrophe, which coincides Israel's 70th Independence Day.

Palestinians believe that the mass protest is a strong message to the world that the issue of the Palestinian refugees has not been resolved yet.

"I will keep coming to the protest and do my paintings here...I hope all artists and people with talents would come here and do what I'm doing," al-Daya said.
ARUSHA, Tanzania, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday pledged to issue 100 million Tanzanian shillings (about 44,000 U.S. dollars) to reward Jumanne Ngoma who discovered tanzanite gemstone.

Magufuli made the pledge when speaking at the official launch of the perimeter wall built around tanzanite mines in Mererani area in northern Tanzania's region of Manyara.

Magufuli described the tanzanite discoverer as one of Tanzania's unsung heroes.

He said the money would help him in different ways, including meeting treatment expenses of Ngoma who is now half paralyzed.

"Ngoma is a veritable Tanzanian hero. But what did he get after discovering Tanzanite about 50 years ago? Nothing. Nothing at all. In fact it is people from other countries who have benefited more from this unique gemstone," he said.

According to Magufuli, the first Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere signed the certificate of recognition for Ngoma in 1980, but there was no financial reward for his efforts.

"He was later, in 1984 given another certificate of recognition by the government for scientific discovery. But he has been struggling financially for all this time," Magufuli noted.

"We must stop this wrong habit of neglecting people who do great things for this country," he said.

The gemstone was discovered by Ngoma in the Mererani Hills of Manyara Region in northern Tanzania in 1967, near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tanzanite is only found in Tanzania, in a very small mining area (approximately 7 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide) near the Mirerani Hills.

In September 20, 2017, Magufuli ordered the military to build walls around its tanzanite mines and directed the central bank to buy the precious stone to boost reserves, following a spat with mining firms over alleged tax evasion.

Magufuli's government accuses mining firms of cheating Tanzania out of its fair share of mineral wealth through tax dodging and smuggling, allegations that they have denied.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 04:57:17|Editor: Yurou

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Rear) delivers a speech at the last rally of the Fidesz party ahead of the general elections in Szekesfehervar, central Hungary, on April 6, 2018. Hungarian political parties held their last rallies on Friday, ahead of Sunday's general elections, where the Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is seeking a third consecutive term, is considered the absolute favorite. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)

BUDAPEST, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian political parties held their last rallies on Friday, ahead of Sunday's general elections, where the Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is seeking a third consecutive term, is considered the absolute favorite.

Orban, who put the issue of mass migration and the defense of Hungary at the center of his campaign, told that those who wanted to preserve "Hungary a Hungarian country should cast their vote for Fidesz", which is his ruling party.

"A historic election is to come. We have only one country, no other. They want to take our country. They want us to support the migrants," he said in front of several thousands of people gathered before the City Hall in Szekesfehervar, central Hungary.

"We have to decide from two futures: one offered by the candidates of George Soros, the other by those of the Fidesz and the KDNP (the junior Christian-democrat coalition partner of Fidesz)," he added.

Since the mass migration crisis of 2015, Orban accuses the Hungarian-born American billionaire Soros of organizing mass migration.

Orban also said that it was "hazardous" to vote for anyone else but Fidesz, and that the voters would not only elect deputies for the Parliament, but would also chose a path for Hungary's safety and future.

The largest formation of the left, the MSZP-Parbeszed (Hungarian Socialist Party-Dialogue), held its final rally in Budapest. The Prime Minister candidate Gergely Karacsony said that Orban was afraid of only one single person: "the citizen wanting change."

Karacsony called upon people to vote for his party-list, as his was the only formation that set up a shadow-government and gave the voters a detailed election program.

"There is no other man with such power and who has abused of this power to such an extent, every value has been crushed, but I did not give up hope," he said.

Former Socialist prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, president of the left-liberal DK party (Democratic coalition), set up his campaign-closing event in Budapest.

"I hate the fact that Orban wants to make Hungary a monochrome country," he said. "For those who want to change, I say that we all have to go (to vote)."

He criticized the Orban government mainly for the lack of funds in the fields of healthcare and education, and also recalled that many people, mainly elderly could not live on their meager pensions.

Bernadett Szel, the only female candidate for Prime Minister, leader of the green-eco LMP party declared that the campaign had been gone under "no longer democratic conditions".

She also called for higher wages, and accused Fidesz of implementing a system of "slaves of salaries", and promised higher wages for workers.

The former radical Jobbik party that took a moderate turn a few years ago did not have a single closing event but its President Gabor Vona traveled to several cities in the course of the day.

In the city of Hajdunanas (East), Vona put the access of young people to home a top priority of his party.

"Our home-creation package is based on three pillars: a rental housing program, a scheme of state-subsidies to young families with children and the compensation of people indebted in foreign currency loans," he declared.

According to all polls, the only question of the election is the size of Orban's victory. If his party Fidesz and KDNP get at least 133 seats in the 199-seat Parliament, he would obtain a so-called qualified majority that would enable him to alter the Constitution. The majority of the polls nonetheless point to an absolute majority falling short of that.
TRIPOLI, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Libyan coast guards rescued more than 200 illegal immigrants on two rubber boats off the coasts of the western cities of Sabratha and Zuwara, navy spokesman said.

"A coast guard patrol rescued 202 illegal immigrants aboard two rubber boats after their engines broke down," Libyan navy spokesman, Ayob Qassem, told Xinhua.

Qassem said the migrants were rescued in two separate operations, the first of which took place 29 miles north-east of Sabratha, where the coast guards rescued 92 migrants and took them to Tripoli naval base at 13:00 (11:00 GMT).

The second operation rescued 110 illegal immigrants 25 miles north of Zuwara. The immigrants were taken to the naval base at 16:25 (14:25 GMT).

"As soon as they arrived at the Tripoli naval base, the migrants were transferred to the anti-illegal immigration department in Tajura in eastern Tripoli," Qassem added.

Libya has become a preferred departure point for illegal immigrants hoping to cross the Mediterranean into Europe, because of insecurity and chaos in the North African country following the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Improved weather conditions have increased the flow of migrant boats from Libya towards Europe, particularly off the country's western coast.
About Me William Kelly I am a freelance writer, journalist and historian whose major interests are music and history, with a special emphasis on the assassination of President Kennedy. View my complete profile

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MADRID, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Spanish police confirmed on Friday that they have arrested in southern Spain Dean Evans, a Dublin man wanted for the murder of dissident republican Peter Butterfly five years ago.

Evans, at 28, had a European detention order issued in his name for his role in the murder of Butterfly, considered to have been one of the leaders of the Real IRA, a splinter group from the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in March 2013.

Evans was arrested for his role in the killing, which was carried out with the help of two other people. But he and his partner disappeared two days before his trial was due to start in Dublin. He is also suspected of having carried out at least one other killing.

The arrest was carried out by members of the Spanish International Relations and Drugs Group (UDYCO) with the help of members of the Fugitive Localization Group from the Office of Judicial Police, and members of the Irish police who traveled to Spain to take part in the detention.

The south coast of Spain is home to many British and Irish residents and many other European nationals, as well as an important tourist destination which has long been used as a hideout by wanted criminals.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 05:37:25|Editor: Yurou

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Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) leaves the headquarters of the Metal Workers' Union in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 5, 2018. Brazilian Federal judge Sergio Moro, who oversaw Brazil's sprawling corruption investigation "Operation Car Wash," on Thursday issued the arrest warrant for Lula and ordered the former president to turn himself in by 5 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Friday to begin a 12 year and one month prison sentence for passive corruption and money laundering. (Xinhua/AGENCIA ESTADO/Felipe Rau)

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Supporters of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacted to the news that he will be jailed by blocking off highways in at least 13 of Brazil's 27 states on Friday.

The Movement of the Landless Workers reported that at least 85 highways across the country had been cut off by protesters furious at an arrest warrant against Lula.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, who oversaw Brazil's sprawling corruption investigation "Operation Car Wash," on Thursday issued the arrest warrant for Lula and ordered the former president to turn himself in by 5 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) on Friday to begin a 12 year and one month prison sentence for passive corruption and money laundering.

It was reported that Lula ignored the deadline to surrender and remained inside the headquarters of the Metal Workers' Union in Sao Bernardo do Campo, near Sao Paulo, with the building surrounded by thousands of supporters.

Rui Falcao, who has served as the president of Lula's Workers' Party (PT), told reporters on Friday at the union headquarters that Lula would not surrender to police.

Also on Friday, Lula's defense team filed an injunction on the United Nations Human Rights Committee to prevent the arrest of the former president, local news site G1 said.

This week, the Supreme Court denied a habeas corpus motion by Lula's lawyers, meaning he could be arrested despite not having exhausted all possible appeals.

However, lawyer Cristiano Zanin said the deadline for appeals in the Federal Court of Sao Paulo, which convicted Lula for a second time, had not expired yet, making Moro's order illegal.

In addition, that the Supreme Court voted to deny the habeas corpus by such a narrow margin of six votes against five "demonstrates the necessity of an independent court to examine whether the principle of presumption of innocence was violated in Lula's case, and also the examine the allegations about Judge Sergio Moro's and the Supreme Court's partiality," Zanin told the press.

Lula is accused of accepting a luxury beachfront apartment from construction firm OAS in exchange for lucrative contracts with state oil giant Petrobras.

Lula denies the accusation. His lawyers claim he was convicted without evidence and the apartment is registered as belonging to the firm.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 05:47:29|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Friday circulated among Security Council members yet another press statement on the Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Gaza, as a similar statement was blocked last week by the United States.

Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations Mansour Al-Otaibi, whose country is a member of the Security Council, told reporters that his delegation has just circulated another press statement among council members.

The text of the second statement is "almost identical" to the one circulated last week and does not contain condemnation of Israel, said the ambassador.

"Kuwait's position is clear. This is a matter that the council should address and (should) have a unified position toward," said Otaibi. "What is happening is a clear violation of international law."

Bloody clashes resumed on Friday between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces along the Israel-Gaza border. The permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, who appeared in a press encounter with Otaibli, said nine Palestinians, including one child, was killed on Friday and 1,000 others were injured. Since May 30, almost 30 Palestinians have been killed and 2,500 others injured in two rounds of clashes with Israeli security forces, he said.

The figures cannot be independently confirmed.

Mansour said the Security Council has the responsibility to send a message to Palestinians that the council is not abandoning them, that it is with them and defending their rights.

"There is only one country that is refusing to allow the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility. This is unacceptable and we have to find a way in order to make is not the case any more," he said.

Ambassador Otaibi expressed the hope that the new statement will be adopted by the Security Council to show unity and to voice concern over what is happening in Gaza, and to demand Israel stop killing unarmed civilians.
KIEV, April 6 (Xinhua) -- China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) on Friday signed a contract with Ukraine's largest private energy holding Donbas Fuel and Energy Company (DTEK) on building a solar power plant in Ukraine.

The agreement was signed in Kiev by Zhang Chun, chairman of the CMEC, and Maksym Timchenko, chairman of the DTEK, in the presence of Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Kistion and Ukrainian Energy and Coal Minister Igor Nasalyk.

Under the deal, the CMEC will build a solar power plant with a total capacity of generating 200 megawatts of electricity in Nikopol city in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Located on the 400 hectares of land, the Nikopol plant will be one of the largest solar power plants in Europe, providing electricity to more than 100,000 people.

While commenting on the project, Maksym Timchenko, chairman of the DTEK, said it will contribute to Ukraine's economic prosperity and green development.

"This project will provide an opportunity to create new jobs and increase tax payments. It will also reduce CO2 emissions by more than 300,000 tons of CO2 annually," Timchenko said.

The estimated cost of the Nikopol solar power plant is 230 million euro (about 282 million U.S. dollars). The project will be funded by the DTEK's own funds and by a loan from the CMEC.

Zhang Chun, chairman of the CMEC, said that Ukraine is a promising market for renewable energy development, which holds a valuable place in the CMEC's growth strategy.

"For us, the Ukrainian market is one of the most important among the ex-Soviet countries. It has a great capacity and favorable energy structure. It is a large market for new and renewable energy sources. In addition, the companies of the two countries can mutually complement each other," Zhang said.

The solar power plant is set to be built by the end of this year and put into operation in March 2019.

Currently, the DTEK is operating in 11 Ukrainian regions, supplying electricity to 3.3 million households and over 82,500 industrial companies.
A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones at Israeli troops during clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, east of Gaza City on April 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

UNITED NATIONS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Friday circulated among Security Council members yet another press statement on the Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Gaza, as a similar statement was blocked last week by the United States.

Kuwaiti ambassador to the United Nations Mansour Al-Otaibi, whose country is a member of the Security Council, told reporters that his delegation has just circulated another press statement among council members.

Palestinian protestors pile up tyres for burning them during a clash with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza Strip-Israel border, east of the south Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, April 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)

The text of the second statement is "almost identical" to the one circulated last week and does not contain condemnation of Israel, said the ambassador.

"Kuwait's position is clear. This is a matter that the council should address and (should) have a unified position toward," said Otaibi. "What is happening is a clear violation of international law."

Palestinian protesters carry an injured man during clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, east of GazaCity on April 6, 2018. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

Bloody clashes resumed on Friday between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces along the Israel-Gaza border. The permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, who appeared in a press encounter with Otaibli, said nine Palestinians, including one child, was killed on Friday and 1,000 others were injured. Since May 30, almost 30 Palestinians have been killed and 2,500 others injured in two rounds of clashes with Israeli security forces, he said.

The figures cannot be independently confirmed.

Israeli soldiers take positions during a clash with Palestinian protesters in the West Bank city of Hebron, on March 31, 2018. (Xinhua/Mamoun Wazwaz)

Mansour said the Security Council has the responsibility to send a message to Palestinians that the council is not abandoning them, that it is with them and defending their rights.

"There is only one country that is refusing to allow the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility. This is unacceptable and we have to find a way in order to make is not the case any more," he said.

Ambassador Otaibi expressed the hope that the new statement will be adopted by the Security Council to show unity and to voice concern over what is happening in Gaza, and to demand Israel stop killing unarmed civilians.
RABAT, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's king Mohammed VI on Friday congratulated Abiy Ahmed Ali on the occasion of his inauguration as prime minister of Ethiopia.

In a message of congratulations, the Moroccan king extended to Ahmed Ali his heartfelt congratulations and sincere wishes of full success in conducting his mission to achieve the aspirations of the Ethiopian people for further progress and prosperity.

The king also voiced his satisfaction with the continued development of cooperation relations between the two countries.

He reaffirmed his strong determination to work together with the prime minister of Ethiopia to foster bilateral ties to serve the shared interests of the two peoples and contribute to reinforcing the process of development in Africa.

Ethiopia's parliament has confirmed Abiy Ahmed, 41, as the country's prime minister.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 06:17:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government forces launched a ground offensive on the district of Douma in the capital Damascus' Eastern Ghouta countryside on Friday, after the breakdown of talks on the evacuation of the militants and their families toward northern Syria.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, unleashed a ground offensive on the Islam Army in the Douma district from two directions.

A total of 300 airstrikes and aerial bombardment targeted Douma on Friday, a day after the fourth batch of the Islam Army rebels and their families refused to leave Douma as planned in the agreement reached recently between the rebel group and the Russian and Syrian sides.

The pro-rebel watchdog group said intense battles are raging between the Islam Army and the Syrian government forces, with heavy shelling from the Syrian forces and the Russians on Douma.

The Syrian forces launched their offensives on Douma from the Rehan farmland area east of Douma and the town of Mesraba southwest of Douma, it added.

It placed the death toll of the airstrikes and shelling in Douma at 32.

Meanwhile, state news agency SANA said the Republican Guard of the Syrian army started entering the farmlands of Douma on Friday, accusing the rebels of undermining the agreement by not evacuating the district, firing mortar shells on the capital and refusing to release kidnapped people.

The Syrian forces have entered the farmlands on the outskirts of Douma, said SANA, adding that four people were killed by rebels' mortar attack on Damascus on Friday.

Meanwhile, the state-run al-Ekhbariah TV said the Syrian Air Force and artillery started pounding the defense lines of the Islam Army as well as the mortar launchers before entering Douma's farmlands from several directions.

In an earlier report, the Observatory said the Islam Army was discussing a new deal with Russians and the Syrian side after suspending evacuation and release of kidnapped people.

According to the report, the Islam Army put forward new suggestions to the Russians, mainly about remaining in Douma with their weapons.

The new proposition also touches upon the situation of the Islam Army in Douma and other pockets where they still have a presence such as the Eastern Qalamoun region and southern Damascus.

Afterward, the Observatory released what it called was the Russian response to the Islam Army's demands.

The Russians urged the militants to surrender their heavy weaponry in a three-day timeframe.

Those who lay down their arms will have his record cleared and will be enlisted in the local police force the Russians will form in Douma.

After clearing the records of the militants, a police battalion will be formed in Douma from the fighters of the Islam Army, which will receive Russian-made weapons and take part in the battles against the al-Qaida-linked militants as well as the Islam State (IS) south of Damascus.

But the negotiations apparently didn't reach a good end, which explains the renewed attacks.

A day earlier, the fourth batch, which was supposed to leave, was suspended, and buses left Douma for the nearby highway to wait for a decision to be made regarding the evacuation process.

Activists said the Islam Army rebels are having difficulties when crossing to areas under the Turkish control in northern Syria on their way to Jarablus, a city in northern Syria near the Turkish border, which is the designated destination of the Islam Army.

SANA blamed the suspension of the evacuation on the inner conflict among Islam Army rebels.

A total of 2,963 militants and their families evacuated Douma in three batches over the past few days under a deal concluded between the Islam Army and the Syrian government forces under a Russian mediation.

Douma is the last rebel-held area in Eastern Ghouta, after other towns in the sprawling countryside have seen the evacuation of 43,000 rebels and their families toward Idlib Province in northwestern Syria.

The Syrian army launched a massive operation 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.

SANA said on Friday that 50,000 of the people of Eastern Ghouta returned to their homes.
CHICAGO, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Agricultural leaders in the U.S. state of Iowa warned on Friday that rashly imposed tariffs on Chinese products will make American farmers the first casualties.

"We're in limbo. This is a very bad time for agriculture," Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Hill told Iowa Public Television.

Iowa Farm Bureau is a grassroots farm organization with a mission of creating a vibrant future for agriculture and farm families in Iowa.

"I'm a little bit taken aback by this attitude that's come from the White House," said Hill, referring to what he described as "cavalier comments" from Wilbur Ross, the U.S. secretary of commerce, who was quoted as saying that "even shooting wars end in negotiations."

"Shooting wars end in casualties and collateral damage," Hill responded. "It's a very serious matter and Iowa is going to be the first casualty."

Both soybeans and pork are on the list of American products subject to China's higher tariffs as countermeasures.

John Weber, a hog farmer from Iowa who serves as vice president of U.S. National Pork Producers Council, told Iowa Public Television that it will take farmers "a long time to recover from the tariffs that are already implemented or already talked about."

According to the National Pork Producers Council, about 26 percent of total U.S. pork production is sold in export markets and China is a major buyer.

"The growth of our industry is entirely dependent on future export markets...we need to have access to this country," said Weber.

Although farmers in the Midwest state have supported President Donald Trump, however, Hill warned "some minds may be changed" if the trade sanctions get "completely out of control."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-04-07 06:52:45|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HOUSTON, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The world stability needs good relationship between the United States and China, U.S. congressman Al Green said here on Friday.

Green made the remarks when giving a speech at 2018 America-China Real Estate Forum held in Houston. Green said that the relationship between U.S. and China is vitally important,

"This relationship is the one that will not only develop great business opportunities for the citizens of both of these great nations, but I think there is something that is even more important. It is the opportunity to develop the stability that we need in the world," he said.

Talking about the Chinese delegation coming for the forum, Green said this kind of communication and exchange can help both nations create business opportunities that benefit the world.

"You have the extraordinary opportunity to help us make sure that these two great nations continue to work together so that we can not only benefit the United States, not only benefit China, but also benefit the world because the world needs a good relationship between China and the U.S," he said.

Commenting the on-going trade tension, Green said he is not in favor of tariffs. "I don't favor trade wars. I favor an opportunity for us to do business."

Co-organized by Asian Real Estate Association of America and China Real Estate Association, the 2018 forum focuses on city planning and livability for aging population.

After Houston, two sub-forums will be hosted in Seattle, the U.S. and Vancouver, Canada, respectively.
By IAN MINIELLY

[email protected]

Ironwood  Outgoing Gogebic Community College President James Lorenson discussed his retirement Thursday, saying, This was an unplanned career. I came to GCC as an opportunity to get back home and stayed 31 years.

The Lorenson family roots run deep in the area and Lorenson said he has no intention of leaving Ironwood.

His parents and his wifes family are here, they have children here and grandkids, only now he will have the time to spend with his family that he has not had as college president.

Lorenson said he has a date on April 15 to pick up one of his grandkids from school. It is marked on the calendar and it is something they are both looking forward to.

I found myself getting tired and distracted over other issues and the job was less fun over time, Lorenson said. His retirement begins in June, but he has an extensive amount of vacation time and plans on using it before being away. While decision-making is now in the three deans hands, Lorenson will be available on campus to lend a hand and finish tidying up loose ends.

According to Lorenson, Three of the last four presidents left in decisive ways. Only one stayed around and it seemed hard for him. I think there should be a decisive point so people do not get confused about who to see when they have a question or issue. The institution needs to move forward.

The three college deans will manage the school as the executive committee. Lorenson described it as a great opportunity for the deans to experience other facets of the school than their own narrow stovepipes. In this way, the deans will grow and gain a greater appreciation and knowledge of the full realm (of the school).

The college board will consider how far it wants to cast the net in its search for a new president. Lorenson said this is a good time to begin looking, as this is historically when the applicant pool is the greatest, but the search will take as long as necessary.

John Lupino, chairman of the college board, said one tool many community colleges are going to is the use of professional search agencies. The board will make a decision on whether to use a search firm at its next meeting, so he plans on gathering information to present to the board and the deans at the next meeting.

Lorenson said the board recognizes the new president will be coming to a rural institution and a location with four distinct seasons.

For the good of the school, you cannot be a hanger-on, Lorenson said. Then he described a book by Jim Collins, titled, Good to Great. Collins point in the book is that leaders begin to lose their effectiveness either because of complacency or just the difficulty in continuing to be stimulated by the same position for an extended period of time. It becomes harder for an institution to change after those seven to eight years. Lorenson said, Maybe I stayed too long. Ive had a great run.

There are no certain future plans as far as employment. Lorenson said he might do some consulting work as opportunities arise, but he really wants to spend more time with his family and fishing. He has been able to fish very little and it is something he has always really enjoyed. He and his son started inventorying the fishing gear and its something they had not done in years.

One thing most casual observers of the school for the last decade probably have no idea about Lorenson is he is a train enthusiast. Now there will be time for impromptu drives and train rides and visiting the train museum in Duluth, which Lorenson said most people do not even know exists. He was offered a job working for a train company in Minnesota by his friend already, but he declined the offer.

Lorenson said he was advised by a retired colleague that he will need to learn to say no. He is on the Aspirus Ironwood Hospital board and other committees and plans to stay involved with them.

Commencement is one facet of working at the college he will miss. It is the culmination of a years work or more and the students are there with their families who have supported them. Faculty are there who worked day in and day out with those students.

This is an institution that will literally stop at nothing to help students succeed. I have been through 29 commencements, I will miss these a lot, he said.

Lupino said, Jim had a very distinguished career. He left the school in a better position than when he arrived.

Jim leaves with many positive achievements, he added.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
Border News

Washington, DC - President Donald J. Trump is authorizing the deployment of the National Guard to support the Border Patrol in its mission to protect our country and stop the stream of illegal immigration.

To give our Border Patrol agents the support they deserve, President Trump is authorizing the deployment of National Guard units to the southern border to aid their mission.

Americas Border Patrol agents work incredibly hard to do their jobs of enforcing our Nations immigration laws and protecting our national security. These law enforcement personnel are tasked with securing thousands of miles of border, however, and often do not have the manpower or resources necessary to stem the tide of illegal immigration into the United States.

Given the importance of secure borders to our national security, the National Guard, in coordination with governors, will remain in a support role until Congress takes the action necessary to close the loopholes undermining our border security efforts, including ending the practice of Catch and Release.

This is not the first time in recent history that the National Guard has been deployed to the southern border. In 2012, President Barack Obama authorized the deployment of guardsmen to the border. President George W. Bush also authorized deployment of 6,000 guardsmen to the border as a part of Operation Jump Start, assisting in operations which resulted in the arrest of more than 173,000 illegal aliens, the rescue of 100 persons, and the seizure of more than 300,000 pounds of drugs.

The President is taking action to protect Americas national security because congressional Democrats have obstructed efforts to secure our border.

Throughout his campaign and Administration, President Trump has called for greater resources and legal authorities to end the national security threat posed by our porous borders. The President has repeatedly outlined a series of steps that are crucial to fixing this problem, including funding to build a wall securing our southern border; greater resources for manpower and security technology; and the closure of legal loopholes that allow illegal immigration to flourish.

More than a thousand people a day and more than 300,000 a year violate our sovereignty by illegally crossing the border. With our current laws and resources, we cannot stop illegal aliens from crossing the border or remove all of the illegal aliens we catch. Of the over 75,000 family units apprehended in FY 2017, only 2,605 were removed.

Stonewalling by Members of Congress, however, has prevented our dedicated Border Patrol agents from getting the resources they so desperately need. Inaction has left glaring loopholes open and crucial legal authorities unauthorized, so the President is taking action and using his existing powers to fill these gaps.
Latest News

Washington, DC - In West Virginia today, President Trump is meeting with workers and businesses who are seeing the benefits of tax reform, just a few of the millions of Americans who are benefiting from new investment, bonuses, and hiring across the Nation.

THE INTER-MOUNTAIN (ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA): Citizens Bank Gives Bonuses to Employees

Citizens Bank of West Virginia issued a bonus of $1,000 to each of its 66 employees recently, joining a number of U.S. companies to pass along savings from the federal tax reform to its staff. One of the best investments we can make is in our employees who are dedicated to making sure our customers have great banking experiences at Citizens, said Nathaniel S. Bonnell, president and CEO. This $66,000 investment demonstrates our thanks and appreciation to our team for their tireless efforts and commitment to the bank.

WEST VIRGINIA METRONEWS: Pence Talks Tax Reform, Applauds Worldwide Equipment Announcement in White Sulphur Springs

Before Pence took the stage, Worldwide Equipment CEO Terry Dotson made a highly anticipated announcement. The companys roughly 1,100 employees across their 20 locations have received bonuses, a dealership will be constructed in Charleston, SC and upgrades are coming to their existing facilities. Dotson is confident these accomplishments are a result of the recently-passed tax reform plan.

WV NEWS: W.Va. State Auditor: Tax Cuts to Save State Employees Collective $50 Million per Year

State employees in West Virginia are collectively expected to keep an additional $50 million annually, according to State Auditor John B. JB McCuskey. McCuskey attributed this savings to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which will provide state employees with a reduction in their tax withholding.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: GOP Tax Overhaul Will Cut Taxes for Two-Thirds of Households this Year: Analysis

The new tax law will directly cut the taxes of nearly two-thirds of households this year, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by the nonprofit Tax Policy Center. The think tank found the individual provisions of the law signed by President Trump in December will reduce taxes for 65 percent of households in 2018

MARKETWATCH: Crumbs? Bonuses Tied to Trump Tax Cuts Said to Boost U.S. Incomes by $30 Billion

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said ordinary Americans would only get crumbs from the Trump cuts. The federal agency that does the math says those crumbs amounted to as much as $30 billion in January. The Bureau of Economic Analysis raised its estimate of how much U.S. incomes rose in the first month of the year in response to widespread reports of businesses handing out onetime bonuses after the tax cuts became law.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: McCormick Offers Employee Bonuses on Tax Cut Benefit

McCormick & Co. is the latest company to offer employees bonuses, citing sweeping tax reforms that slashed corporate tax rates. The spice-maker is offering $1,000 bonuses to eligible hourly employees and says it plans to accelerate wage increases, though it did not provide details. The Sparks, Maryland company will also [use] the tax cut to make investments, pay debt and benefit shareholders.

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL: Lower Corporate Tax Rate Projected To Save Wisconsin Utility Customers More Than $275 Million

Customers of Wisconsin utilities are projected to save more than $275 million from the new lower rate for federal corporate taxes, based on estimates compiled by the Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group. Projected taxes are included as an expense when setting utility rates and the cost is passed onto customers.

ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE: Southwire to Pay Workers $9 Million in Bonuses, Benefits Thanks to Tax Reform

Electrical wire giant Southwire said Monday it will pay out $9 million in bonuses and benefits to employees thanks to tax reform. Carrollton, Ga.-based Southwire Co. said full-time employees in the United States, not including executives and upper management, will each receive a $1,000 bonus and full-time employees outside of the U.S. will receive an equivalent supplement. Part-time employees will get $250 bonuses or an international equivalent. The majority of Southwires nearly 7,500 employees will receive payments, the company said.

KENT COUNTY NEWS (CHESTERTOWN, MARYLAND): Tax Cuts Lead Dixon to Give Employee Bonuses

Dixon Valve and Coupling Co. has announced that it is giving employees $1,000 bonuses thanks to the federal tax reform. On March 14, Dixon announced a $1,000 bonus for each full-time American employee who had been with the company for a year as a direct result of the new tax law and reduced regulations

WICHITA BUSINESS JOURNAL: Wichita Companies Reinvesting In Employees through Tax Cut Bonuses

Aldrich, president and CEO of Wichita Railway Services, provided his employees bonuses of $3,000 to $6,000 using funds that would have otherwise gone toward corporate income tax. The federal governments Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law in December, lowered tax rates for businesses and individuals.

SPRINGFIELD NEWS-LEADER (MISSOURI): Springfield Solar Company Hiring More Workers, Credits Trumps Tax Cut

A Springfield solar company announced Monday its adding 30 new jobs thanks to a corporate tax rate cut championed by President Donald Trump. According to a press release, Sun Solar employed about 100 people at the start of 2018, 17 percent of whom are U.S. military veterans. 
Latest News

Little Rock, Arkansas - The Justice Department today announced that former White River Juvenile Detention Center officer Jason Benton, 43, pleaded guilty today in federal court to using pepper spray to assault a fifteen-year-old boy, and for obstructing justice by falsifying an incident report about that assault.

According to the guilty plea, Benton instructed the juvenile, who was locked in his cell, to be quiet. Benton then had the juveniles cell door opened and ordered the juvenile to come out of his cell with his mattress. The juvenile picked up his mattress as instructed. As the juvenile turned to face the cell door, holding the mattress in both arms, Benton pepper sprayed the juvenile in the face from a distance of a few inches. Benton continued spraying the juvenile as he tried to turn his head away from the spray. Benton then took the juvenile to the ground. Benton covered up the assault when he falsified an incident report, saying that the juvenile had attempted to lunge at him with his fists clenched, when in fact the juvenile had posed no physical threat.

Benton is the third former officer to plead guilty to charges stemming from assaults on juvenile detainees at the White River Juvenile Detention Center. On April 26, 2017, former White River supervisors Captain Peggy Kendrick, 44, and Lieutenant Dennis Fuller, 40, pleaded guilty to conspiring to assault juvenile detainees. Kendrick also pleaded guilty to assaulting a sixteen-year-old girl using pepper spray and for obstructing justice. Kendrick and Fuller await sentencing. Two other former White River Juvenile Detention Center officers, Will Ray, 26, and Thomas Farris, 48, are scheduled to begin trial on Aug. 28, before Senior United States District Judge Billy Roy Wilson in Little Rock on related charges of conspiring to assault and assaulting juveniles.

Federal law protects all individuals  including those who are incarcerated  from the use of excessive force by those acting under color of law, said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. We will vigorously investigate and prosecute officers who break the public trust in this way.

When law enforcement officers violate the law and the public trust, they will be prosecuted and held accountable, said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Cody Hiland. There will be no exception. This officer broke his oath to uphold the Constitution, injured a juvenile in the process, and then tried to cover it up. That is a crime, and those who commit crimes will be punished accordingly.

Benton faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

This case is being investigated by the FBIs Little Rock Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Peters of the Eastern District of Arkansas and Trial Attorney Samantha Trepel of the Civil Rights Division.
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...
Members of peacekeeping troops attend a sent-forth event in Monrovia, Liberia, on Feb. 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhao Xiaoxin)

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that "China is today a very important pillar in our peace-keeping operations."

China is now the second largest financial contributor to peace-keeping and one of the countries with a very meaningful number of peace-keepers on the ground, Guterres said.

There are 2,400 Chinese police and peace-keepers on missions in 14 countries, he said, adding that there is a very strong commitment to peace-keeping from China.

Speaking at an interview with Chinese reporters before his trip to China for the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, he said, "We see the role of China not only in the direct contribution of peace-keepers, but also in the contribution to the discussions we will have this year on how to improve peace-keeping, to make peace-keeping more focused and safer for the peace-keepers."

BFA, a non-governmental and non-profit international organization, was formally inaugurated on Feb. 27, 2001. Boao in China's southern province of Hainan serves as the permanent site of BFA headquarters.

Chinese United Nations (UN) peacekeepers take part in an event to mark the International Day of UN peacekeepers in Juba, capital of South Sudan, on May 29, 2017. (Xinhua/Gale Julius)

The world is facing tremendous challenges, in Mali, Central African Republic and South Sudan where Chinese peace-keeping troops are present and where lots of armed groups of any kind, even terrorist organizations, are operating in the absence of a solid political agreement, he said.

"We live in very difficult times for peace-keeping and we are involved in a very important process of reform called Action for Peace-keeping," the UN chief said.
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu led a cycle rally on Friday morning to demand for special status for his state. Attempting to ramp up pressure on Centre with each passing day, Naidu led a fairly large group on cycles to the Secretariate here.

Recent weeks have seen an increased demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh - an assurance Telugu Desam Party says it was given when Telangana was formed. While TPD-BJP alliance has taken a big hit, Naidu has made several visits to Delhi and has also held talks with opposition leaders. On Friday, he used his cycle as a form of protest to highlight the demand for special status.

Once he and his fellow cyclists reached the Secretariate, Naidu held a teleconference with party MPs and accused BJP of avoiding his demand. "BJP is running away by repeatedly adjourning Parliament for last many days," he said. "If Parliament is adjourned sine die today, our MPs must meet the President."

Part two of the Budget Session ends on Friday and it is unlikely that a tumultuous few weeks will have a constructive end.

(With inputs from ANI)
VIJAYWADA: The Jana Sena and Left parties on Friday held a joint padyatra across Andhra Pradesh seeking a Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh. Announcing the plan for the yatra, Jana Sena president and film star Pawan Kalyan, CPI(M) state secretary P Madhu and CPI secretary K Ramakrishna had said that the padyatra will be held on all national and important highways across the state.

After the foot march, meetings would be organised by Jana Sena and the Left in Anantapuramu, Ongole and Vizianagaram with intellectuals on the special category status issue. "We will take our agitation forward in a phased manner and announce the plan in due course," the leaders said.

Kalyan had said that 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.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu also led a cycle rally with his ministers and TDP legislators on Friday to protest against the Centre's attitude towards the state with regard to the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. He also held a teleconference with party MPs and accused BJP of avoiding his demand. "BJP is running away by repeatedly adjourning Parliament for last many days," he said. "If Parliament is adjourned sine die today, our MPs must meet the President."

There has been an increased demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh which Telugu Desam Party claims that the state was assured of when Telangana was formed. The alliance with the BJP had also taken a hit over the issue when the TDP walked out of the NDA. Naidu has made several visits to Delhi and has also held talks with opposition leaders.
Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is nearing the end of his shooting schedule for "Thugs of Hindostan", which has been a strenuous project for him.

Big B wrote about it on his blog. "The work pressure increased. Some issues arose and that did not allow me the liberty of getting out of 'Russia'. Something that can easily come off and on because of the intricate prosthetic make-up for 'Thugs of Hindostan' and the time it takes. So, look a bit Russian too with that woolly cap.

"But work on the 'Thugs of Hindostan' reaches an end soon like for me perhaps tomorrow then there are the promotions to do. Invent and write to execute them... it's work and more work... and it should never stop," he wrote.

The cine icon, 75, was geared up for "another rough day", maybe the last for him on the film.

It was during the shoot of "Thugs of Hindostan" in Jodhpur when a team of doctors had to be flown in to check on Bachchan, who had been involved in some action scenes for the movie and was required to wear heavy costumes.

The film also stars Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Katrina Kaif. It is scheduled for a Diwali 2018 release.

The Yash Raj Films production is being helmed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, who directed Katrina and Aamir in "Dhoom: 3". It is an adaptation of the 1839 novel "Confessions of a Thug".

Amitabh has another film in his kitty -- "102 Not Out", which also stars veteran star Rishi Kapoor.
That face is the map of the human heart. No one does it like Tabu. Not when she sets her heart to it. After seeing her misfit's act in 'Golmaal Returns', what a blessed relief to see Tabu back in form in 'Missing'.

This time, she plays a distraught mother who on a visit to Mauritius ends up with her little daughter kidnapped.

Nothing in 'Missing' is as it seems. In pursuit of an ever-renewable suspense, Mukul Abhyankar's writing lapses into the ludicrous.

The twists and turns in the plot are meant to startle in a very 'boo' kind of way. And some of Manoj Bajpai's efforts to do the 'How A Good Actor Plays A Bad Actor To Con The Law' is just not up to the mark.

You see Manoj playing a sleazeball with a roving eye, for a large part of the film has to play a man trying to convince the cop (Annu Kapoor, playing the Mauritian law enforcer with a remarkably researched rigour) that his lies are the truth. In other words, a good actor doing a bad job of bad acting...Complicated? But just the way writer-director Mukul Abhyankar wants the set-up.

On every step he plants a red-herring so red, you feel you are walking through a blood-soaked minefield. Except that there is never an explosion. In fact, the feeble writing and the unconvincing situations would have done the strained suspense in were it not for Tabu's magnificent performance.

Playing a grieving mother whose emotions can't be trusted, she brings a persuasive candour and an everlasting splendour to her role. That incandescent face of hers is lit up like a languorous lantern by cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee.

The cinematographer brings more emotion to Tabu's face than to all the aqueous shots of sun-soaked Mauritius which never convince us the island is worth a visit.

The film is. And only because of Tabu. Whether responding to the cop's grilling questions or crumbling under the gaze of masculine censure, the actress proves she is among finest talents of our times. Any times.

If you are a Tabu fan, you'd find it easier to handle the incongruities that surface throughout the film. If not, then the going might get tough for you.
New Delhi: Amit Bhardwaj, the master mind behind bitcon scam, who was on Thursday arrested by Delhi police has been remanded to police custody for 13 days.

He allegedly duped investors to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore with Ponzi marketing schemes through the GainBitcoin website.

Bhardwaj fled the country couple of months ago and was hiding in Dubai. He later slipped to Bangkok. A lookout notice was issued for him. He was arrested at the Delhi Airport by the Pune police after the police arrested seven persons associated with Bhardwaj.

Confirming the arrest, Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla, said, "We received information that Bhardwaj was coming to Delhi. We apprehended him on Monday morning and brought him to the city."

Bhardwaj and his associates allegedly duped investors in Mumbai, Pune, Nanded, Kolhapur and other places in the state. Bharadwaj allegedly lured people from Nanded and other areas to invest in Bitcoins, while promising higher returns. He had formed the company GainBitcoin and invited investments in Bitcoins.

A case was also filed at a police station in Nanded on January 24, 2018 in connection with the scam.

Last month the Maharashtra government said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) would probe the alleged scam involving the GainBitcoin website.

Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is not regulated in the country and its circulation has been a cause for concern among central bankers the world over for quite a while now

The Reserve Bank of India has cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins several times.

The government has also said that it does not recognise crypto currency as legal tender in India as of now. Bitcoins or such crypto-currencies are not legal tender and those indulging in such transactions are doing it at their own risk, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in January. Jaitley emphasised that the Centre's consistent position was that such currencies were not legal tender.

Bitcoin has fallen heavily in recent sessions as worries about a regulatory clampdown on the nascent market and panicked investors push prices lower. The virtual currency hit a peak of almost $20,000 in December.
It's a new day, a new beginning. Its all about starting life afresh. So as you begin a new journey, check out what the stars have in store for you today. There are twelve zodiac signs and each has its distinct feature. Be it, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces - each of the signs has something unique to tell what will your day be like. Taurus, its a good day for you. Know why.

Take a look at the detailed reading by Sundeep Kochar below:

Aries

You use creativity to express your love and your partner will be surprised with your creativity. Your partner will want your commitment and it is appropriate time to take the plunge. One area you will be intrigued is understanding of spiritual self and that is an area you may need to seek guidance and help from your teacher or father.

Taurus

Today you will be feeling good and at the top of the world. You will feel like starting a new initiative or complete an ambitious project that you have undertaken before. Your partner, loved ones and all your family members will be supportive of you. Overall a good day for you.

Gemini

You will feel lucky today as lot of your initiatives will get attention. Some key people will check at your initiatives and will support your ideas. You should use your intellect and demonstrate your passionate energy to make your case strong further.

Cancer

You will feel dull and not motivated. You may feel you are not able to achieve anything, but this is just phase. You will be surprised that in dull mood of mind you will find many things that you many things that you have thought are happening and happening for your benefits.

Leo

You will feel you are being looked up by everyone. You want to express your ideas and you will be surprised that everyone accepts your ideas. You partner will be supportive of your initiatives. Just dont be obsessed on material gains and they are bigger things than material gains in life.

Virgo

Be careful with your friends and family and try not to be critical of them especially when they are dealing with financial matters. You may want to invest in some investment deal and be careful as you may find it risky. Your partner will need your attention and it is enjoyable time to spend some time with your partner.

Libra

Your siblings need your time and you should focus on their well-being. You will find yourself taking some risky initiative or project and you will be surprised that you are not afraid of taking risk. Today you may feel like travelling for a short trip and pack your bag and go for a spin. Always great to unwind.

Scorpio

You will feel moody and emotional which is so unlike to you but then these hidden emotions of yours are just surfacing. Try not to be peevish as loved ones and dear ones surrounding you will find tough to keep up with your moods.

Sagittarius

You may try to avoid speculative and risky investments. You want to focus on your loved ones especially for those having children. You should be firm in your commitments to your loved ones as they may feel shaken or losing confidence in themselves and they will feel strong if youre with them and give them your time.

Capricorn

If you are in a profession dealing with words, ideas, or communication, this is a very productive time for you. Ideas flow and you express your thoughts well. There is much activity; you move rapidly from one thing to another and a hectic, somewhat stressful pace is likely. Many errands, phone calls, letters which require a response, and other "busy work" is on the agenda today.

Aquarius

Today, it is advisable for you to express yourself boldly and confidently. You seem to care less about outside approval and this frees you to act on your own behalf or to do something you have not had the courage to attempt before. Your health and vitality are quite good, and you need physical outlets for your energies now.

Pisces

The atmosphere at the workplace of someone special may have to be given a serious hearing. Keep your patience and the more compassionate you are, sweeter will be your love life. Your ego and self-esteem will swell as you see the tension flowing away from your special persons mind.
NEW DELHI: Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute is more important than the issue of polygamy among Muslims, the Supreme Court was told on Friday afternoon as the hearing on the Ayodhya dispute resumed.

Responding to a plea to refer the case to a larger Constitutional bench, the Supreme Court's three-judge bench - headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra - said it will decide whether to send Ayodhya land dispute case to a five-judge bench. However, the decision will be taken after hearing from all stakeholders.

"The Ayodhya land dispute is far more important than polygamy among Muslims and the whole nation wants an answer," senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing on behalf of Muslim party, told the bench, as reported by news agency PTI.

The plea was made by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who was appearing for a Muslim party, before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which said it will take a decision on referring the case to a larger bench after hearing all parties to the litigation.

Arguing that the Ayodhya issue should be referred to a larger constitutional bench, Dhawan reportedly said that hearing any other issues before the current bench is a complete waste of time.

Later, a heated exchange ensued amongst lawyers of both parties about which issue should be argued first.

The next hearing in the case will be on April 27

The special bench of the top court is seized of a total of 14 appeals filed against the high court judgement delivered in four civil suits.

Earlier, the top court had dashed the hopes of activists like Shyam Benegal and Teesta Setalvad to intervene in the sensitive Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute case, making it clear that only the parties to the original lawsuits would be allowed to put forth their arguments.

A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had in 2010 ordered that the land is partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

With agency inputs
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with BJP workers of five Lok Sabha seats and with the presidents of the party's 734 district units on Friday on the occasion of its 38th foundation day.

While PM Modi will interact with them via video conference through his app, party president Amit Shah will address a public meeting in Mumbai to mark its foundation day.

The five Lok Sabha constituencies chosen are New Delhi, North East Delhi, Hamirpur in in Himachal Pradesh, North Central Mumbai and Saran in Bihar. Their MPs are Meenakshi Lekhi, Manoj Tiwari, Anurag Thakur, Poonam Mahajan and Rajiv Pratap Rudy respectively.

The statement said PM Modi will speak to thousands of party workers in these five seats besides the district presidents and their team members on a host of issues, and will also answer their queries.

The interaction comes amid an acrimonious slugfest involving the BJP and the opposition, especially the Congress, over a variety of issues, including the ongoing deadlock in Parliament and Dalit protests.

PM Modi will hear the ideas of party leaders and also share details of his government's welfare schemes, the statement said. He will also answer their questions, the statement said.

PM Modi has often used modern communication technology to get in touch with party leaders and workers.
MUMBAI: Hitting out at the opposition parties for coming together to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Friday said: "Cats, goose, dogs and mongoose are in a huddle to fight PM Narendra Modi." Shah made the statement while addressing the party's 38th Foundation Day rally in Mumbai.

He also blamed the opposition parties for not letting Parliament function. "PM Modi ensured that the Parliament functions smoothly but the opposition did not let that happen. Today, Parliament adjourned sine die," the BJP president said. Both Houses of Parliament were on Friday adjourned sine die, with unabated protests virtually washing out the Budget Session. A total of nearly 250 working hours were wasted in this session due to adjournments.

Hitting out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, he questioned what their party had done in the last 40 years when they were in power. "Rahul Gandhi asks us for a report card for 4 years. I want to tell him that the country is asking you what your party has done in the last 40 years," he said.



Shah also made the party's stand on reservations clear by stating that they will not abolish quota and will never let anyone do so as well.

Applauding the party workers, he said that the BJP members have made many sacrifices for the country over the years. "The party began with just 10 members and today we have 11 crore people associated with the party. In the history of India, BJP workers have made the maximum sacrifice for the country," he said.

The BJP on Friday kickstarted its campaign for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections with a massive show of strength on its 38th Foundation Day in Mumbai. party workers from across the country had gathered to attend the event in the city.
NEW DELHI: India is seeking to buy around 110 fighter jets, the air force said in a request for information issued on Friday, marking the first step towards a long-delayed deal that could be worth more than $15 billion.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Saab and Dassault Aviation are among the manufacturers expected to compete.

The planes must be built largely in India as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s drive to build a domestic industrial base.

The air force said in a notice that "85 percent will have to be made in India by a Strategic Partner/Indian Production Agency".

The tender will be open for makers of both single engine and twin-engined combat jets, in a widening of the field. The Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian aircraft are also potential contenders under the new requirements.

A spokesman for Dassault Aviation which makes the twin-engine Rafale declined to comment.

Earlier, the defence ministry had sought expressions of interest from single-engine manufacturers which effectively restricted the contest to Lockheed`s F-16 and Saab`s Gripen fighter jets.

But in February the government asked the air force to open up the competition to twin-engined aircraft, in the latest flip-flop in policy that has delayed the acquisition process for years and left the air force short of hundreds of planes.

India began its search for new planes for the Indian air force in 2003 to replace its Soviet-era MiG fighters.

Lockheed has teamed with India`s Tata Advanced Systems to build the planes locally while Sweden`s Saab has entered into a partnership with the Adani Group, a resources conglomerate. The other contenders have not announced their local partners.

The request for information is open until July, the air force said.

A request for proposal will then be issued followed by bid evaluations and contract negotiations. The process could take years, officials say.
Here are the top news updates of the day:

Home Ministry website taken down after MoD site hack; Law Ministry site also down

The move is a precautionary step, officials have said. Read More



Gold Coast CWG 2018, Day 2: India at third spot with four medals, more expected

Here is the current medal count on the Day 2 of the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Australia's Gold Coast on Friday. Read more



Indian decision on F-16, F-18 could lead to 5th gen fighter jets: US official

"Our F-18, is the twin-engine fighter that India may consider for future purchases. It serves the US very well and has a cutting-edge technology." Read more



12th pass Tej Pratap Yadav's bride-to-be Aishwarya Rai is an MBA

Aishwarya and Tej Pratap Yadav's engagement will take place on April 18 at Maurya Hotel in Patna. Their wedding on May 12 is expected to be an extravagant affair. Read more



Ayodhya dispute is more important than polygamy issue, Muslim side's lawyer tells SC

A heated exchange ensued amongst lawyers of both parties about which issue should be argued first. Read more

Railway catering services in trains, stations to attract 5% GST

This would bring about uniformity in the rate of GST applicable to supply of food and drinks made available in trains, platforms or stations. Read more

Kapil Sharma posts abusive tweets after Salman Khan's convictionDetails inside

Kapil made a comeback to small screens recently with 'Family Time With Kapil Sharma'. Read more



Former 'Bigg Boss' contestant Sofia Hayat 'happy' that Salman Khan is in jail

Calls it 'Karma'Details inside. Read more
NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force is preparing to test out all its air power assets and its operational preparedness and doctrines in the Gagan Shakti 2018 exercise. The IAF will play out real-time scenarios across the country, and will also test out its working relationship with the Indian Army and Indian Navy as part of the exercises.

The 2018 edition of the biennial Gagan Shakti exercise will take place from April 8 to 22. The exercises are not only meant to test the operational preparedness of the various arms of the IAF, but also to refine standard operating procedures (SOPs) and improve the integration of new infrastructure into the force. This will also be the first exercise that the recently-inducted HAL Tejas single-engine supersonic multi-role fighter will take part in.

"Pan India Exercise from 08-22 Apr 18, to hone the skills of Airwarriors, to strike Adversaries' Targets, Practice Air Support & Joint Ops with the sister services by Day & Night. Missions would be conducted in a near Real time scenario," read a tweet from the Air Force, which also carried a video.

#GAGANSHAKTI2018 : Pan India Exercise from 08-22 Apr 18, to hone the skills of Airwarriors, to strike Adversaries' Targets, Practice Air Support & Joint Ops with the sister services by Day & Night. Missions would be conducted in a near Real time scenario.https://t.co/wrvnvhGLCp pic.twitter.com/VRAiZMl37o  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 6, 2018

The exercises will see the entire IAF machinery move into top gear to simulate war scenarios in real-time. So, apart from its own sorties, bombing and air superiority missions, the Air Force will also provide close air support for ground operations and carry out marine support with the Indian Navy. All relevant missions will feature live fire drills.

"Some of the key elements of the exercise are: Accelerated 24x7 Operations, Network Centric Ops & Live Weapon Firing Missions, Long range Maritime Ops, Joint Ops with the Indian Army & Indian Navy, Combat Search & Rescue, GARUD Ops, Mass Casualty Evacuation from highways, ALG Ops to name a few," read a post by the Air Force.

IAF is also likely to put its procedures with nuclear weapons to the test, in conjunction with the Strategic Forces Command.
India has been looking to bolster its defence forces with the latest weapons systems and is in all likelihood going to finalise a deal with Russia to buy the medium and long-range anti-aircraft missile S-400 Triumf. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was in Russia for a three-day tour, had met the country's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on April 4 and reviewed the Military Technical Cooperation between the two countries. She also met Russias Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and discussed strategies to strengthen defence production cooperation between the two countries.

But the almost Rs 39,000 crore ($5.5 billion) deal to buy S-400 Triumf missile system, which is called SA-21 Growler by NATO, would also violate USA's sanctions against Russia. USA has been aggressive in expanding its defence related ties in recent times while India too is looking at other nations other than Russia for the latest weapons.

According to The New York Times, the deal is being finalised at a time when US President Donald Trump "is both weighing more extensive sanctions against Russia and trying to forge a military alliance with India". A report by The New York Times quoted geopolitical risk consulting firm Eurasia Group Asia director Shailesh Kumar as saying, "In the past few years youve seen a massive transition where more equipment is being bought from the US. Thats because the US wants a closer relationship with India, and defense deals are essentially diplomatic deals. My suspicion is that America will not deem the S-400 purchase as sanctions-worthy. Theres too much at stake for bilateral relations. If the US goes for sanctions, it will undermine the goodwill the US has been trying to build up with India over the last two decades."

India is planning to buy five S-400 Triumf systems. The missile system can track and target fighter jets, including stealth aircraft, and missiles too. It is capable of engaging up to 80 targets simultaneously at a distance of up to 400 km and an altitude of 30 km.

Russia has also signed deals with China and Turkey to supply the S-400 Triumf system. India may become the third country to receive the missile system.

Till the late 1990s India hardly bought any military hardware from the USA and was overwhelmingly dependent on the erstwhile USSR and later Russia for the latest weapons. India also bought fighter jets like Mirage 2000 from France and some arms from England even as USA remained an outsider. But in the last couple of decades, the USA and India have forged a close strategic partnership. Today, USA is India's second largest arms supplier behind Russia.
The website of the Ministry of Defence was hacked on Friday evening. The mod.gov.in website displayed an error message and carried what seemed to be some Chinese characters on top, sparking speculation of a cyberattack from the northern neighbour.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman confirmed that the site had been hacked, and said steps would be taken to prevent such an instance in the future.

"Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken," she said in a tweet.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

However, the usual markers of a hit by a group of hackers was missing. Hacked government websites usually end up displaying some embarassing political message, along with the hackers' group claiming responsibility. The MoD website hack featured none of these.

Efforts to visit the MoD website around 3:30 pm showed a message that read, "The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later." The purportedly Chinese characters seem to mean 'home', and this ties in with the fact that it functioned as a button that linked back to the MoD website homepage itself.

This has sparked speculation on social media sites that the website was hacked by Chinese hackers. Cyberattacks by hackers backed by the Chinese government are considered fairly common by the international community. However, the Chinese government usually denies any links to hackers.
New Delhi: In a request to disassociate Jawaharlal Nehru's name from Children's Day celebrations in the country, as many as 100 BJP parliamentarians have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that December 26 should instead be celebrated as Children's Day.

Citing that November 14 is a day more about Nehru's love for children than to raise awareness about welfare of children, the parliamentarians write that celebrations should be held on a day when minor sons of Guru Gobind Singh - Shahibzada Ajit Singh (18), Jujhar Singh (14), Jorawar Singh (9) and Fateh Singh (7) - gave supreme sacrifice against Mughals. "14 November can be celebrated attributed as "Uncle Day" or "Chacha Diwas" instead of Children Day as Shri Jawahar Lal Nehru was fondly called "Chacha Nehru," the letter addressed to PM Modi read. "26 December, when Chhote Sahibzades were martyred, should be celebrated as Children's Day in India. It will be a reminder to the children about having faith in one's own courage and the drive to fight for what is right."

The letter has been signed by 100 BJP parliamentarians.
JODHPUR: Just before the bail hearing for actor Salman Khan began on Friday, his lawyer has claimed that he has been getting threat messages asking him to drop the case. "Yesterday I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in bail hearing today," Salman's lawyer Mahesh Bora said on Friday.

He claimed in the messages that he received, it was written that if he does not drop the case, he will be shot at. "Salman Khan ka case ko chodh dijiye, warna goli maarenge (Drop the case or we will shoot you)," Salman's lawyer claimed outside the Jodhpur Sessions court.

The bail order for Salman Khan has been reserved till Saturday and the actor have to spend another night in the Jodhpur Central jail. Matter related to Salman's bail was listed at number 24th in the Jodhpur court. Salman's counsels argued in court on the ground that the witness in the case is not reliable. The actor was brought to court from the Jodhpur Central jail just before the hearing began. Along with Salman, his sisters Alvira and Arpita and brother Arbaaz and Sohail were also present for the hearing.

A Jodhpur court had on Thursday found Salman guilty under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act while acquitted all other accused actors - Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre in the case. The Bollywood superstar was sentenced to five years in jail and fined Rs 10,000.

Salman was visibly emotional after the verdict was announced and was seen hugging his two sisters. Scenes outside the Jodhpur court though showed mixed emotions with fans reiterating their support for him while close to a hundred members of Bishnoi community - who rever blackbucks - celebrated.

Salman and the other Bollywood stars had been accused of poaching two blackbucks - an endangered animal - in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 2, 1998, during the shooting of the movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati had said that all of them were in a Gypsy car that night, with Salman in the driving seat. He also said that when Salman spotted a herd of black bucks, he shot at and killed two of them.
Jodhpur: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan received a five-year sentence in the blackbuck poaching case on Thursday. He also received four blankets to sleep on in the Central Jail here. The change from a Taj bed to the prison's hard wooden bed in prison in 24 hours must have been tough but with the hope that he gets bail - and therefore some relief - on Friday.

Salman was pronounced guilty in the infamous blackbuck poaching case dating back to 1998. While all the other accused - including actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre - were given benefit of doubt and acquitted, Salman was put in an official police car after the sentencing instead of a chartered flight that was to fly him back to Mumbai in case he was set free. Fans cried, wildlife activists rejoiced, a nation wondered how one of Indian film's biggest star would manage the rigours of prison. Some reports claimed that Salman's manager had brought clothes, packed food items from the Hotel Taj along with a plate for the actor. Jail superintendent Vikram Singh though said that no special treatment was given. He also said Salman had high blood pressure when he arrived first but it soon returned to normal. The actor was served daal and roti for dinner - which he refused - in his solitary cell next to where rape-accused Asaram is at.

And it may well turn out to be only a night's ordeal as Salman's legal team is ready to seek his bail. He has been charged under Section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 for having shot dead two blackbucks - an endangered animal - in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 2, 1998, during the shooting of the movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. While he has denied the charges made against him, the judge found evidence against him to be credible. Of course, Salman can now appeal the verdict in the High Court but legal experts believe getting bail would be of paramount importance on Friday.
NEW DELHI: The Centre's response to reports of the websites of some ministries being down has been comprehensive. Top officials have given all three possible explanations for why the websites are not working - hacked, intentionally taken down, and down because of technical issues.

The breakdown of governmental cohesion began around 3:30 pm when news started doing the rounds on social media that the website of the Defence Ministry seemed to be hacked. Why was it assumed to be hacked? Because there was some text on the error page that seemed to be Chinese.

Soon afterwards, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted in language that was categorical to confirm that her ministry's website had been hacked. "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken," she said.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

Not long after this, a Home Ministry official told news agency PTI that his department's website had been intentionally taken down as a precaution. At the same time, the Law Ministry's website was also non-functional. The Home Ministry official explained that the site had been taken down so that the National Informatics Centre could install a security upgrade.

National Informatics Centre (NIC), the agency that hosts most government websites, is the nic.in that's there in most of their web addresses. With its soundness and competence on the line, NIC came out and told news agency ANI that the Defence Ministry had not been hacked, and that it has been facing technical issues since 2:30 pm.

Ministry of Defence website is not hacked. There is some technical issue since 2:30 PM today: National Informatics Centre (NIC)  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

NIC however volunteered no information on how or why the apparently Chinese characters ended up on the Defence Ministry website's error page. This is a developing story, which we will update if we receive any more explanations on why the websites didn't work.
NEW DELHI: Do not make the Rajya Sabha a "clog in the wheel" of progress, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday cautioned MPs before adjourning the proceedings of the Budget Session sine die, as the House lost nearly three- fourths of its time to disruptions and adjournments.

During the second leg of the session which commenced on January 29, had 30 sittings in all. While it sat for 44 hours, the Upper House lost over 121 hours. Of the 419 starred questions listed, only five were replied to orally by the concerned ministers in the House. The Question Hour could not be taken up for 27 days "due to pandemonium and interruptions in the House over one or the other issue", Naidu said.

The disruptions and adjournments were caused by protests over issues like special status to Andhra Pradesh, bank scams, demand for Cauvery water management board, vandalising of statues, review of the recent Supreme Court order on SC/ST Act and law and order situation in Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh. The proceedings were literally washed out in the post-recess session which started on March 5.

"I am pained to note that it turned out to be an eminently forgettable one on account of utter disregard of the mandate of this important parliamentary institution and its responsibilities and missed opportunities," Naidu said in his concluding address to the 245th session of Rajya Sabha.

He noted that there was a "total breakdown" in communication among various sections of the House that was "at the root of the prolonged stalemate that ruined the session."

"This is not good for our parliamentary democracy of which our country has come to acquire a pride of place," he said, adding "we are all losers. This includes the opposition, the ruling party, the government and most importantly, the people and the nation".

Referring to the House not transacting any substantial business during the second part of the Session, Naidu wondered if the fears of those who doubted the need for a Second Chamber during the debates in the Constituent Assembly were coming true.

Naidu recalled that during the Constituent Assembly debates on the need for a Council of States, some Members feared that it would prove to be "a clog (impediment) in the wheel of progress" involving expenses and not making much contribution.

Jawahar Lal Nehru, who headed the Union Constitution Committee for reporting on the structure and function of the future legislature of the country, had feared in 1936 that a Second Chamber will check any forward tendencies of the Lower House and will be reactionary, Naidu said.

"Are we making Nehru's worst fear come true? We should not, for the sake of our parliamentary democracy and the people," said Naidu. Again talking about the disruptions, the Chairman said: "Let us not be a party to this House becoming a 'clog in the wheel of progress'".

Instead, the members "should dispel the fears" expressed by Nehru, who despite having reservations about the utility of the Upper House, had supported its coming into being. "You need to rise to the expectations of those who strongly justified the need for this House in the Constituent Assembly," Naidu said.

Due to the disruptions, the House could not debate the important Finance Bill 2018, but passed the payment of gratuity law without debate.

The House also bade farewell to 60 retiring members while new and some re-elected members were administered oath. The Rajya Sabha also had a debate on the 'Motion of Thanks' on the President's address for about 14 hours and devoted 10 hours to discuss the Budget.


One terrorist has been killed in an encounter with security forces in South Kashmir's Pulwama. Official sources said the terrorist is believed to be a local.

The encounter happened in Kangan village of Pulwama district in South Kashmir on Friday afternoon. The gunbattle has ended, and security forces are sweeping the area to ensure there are no other terrorists.

Early reports had indicated that two or three terrorists may be holed up together. An official said police are in the process of identifying the terrorist killed in the operation, and believe he could be a local.

The encounter began after terrorists opened fire on security personnel who were conducting a cordon-and-search operation in the area. The combing measure had been carried out by a joint team of the Army's 55 RR, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police, on the basis of inputs that some terrorists were holed up in the region.
BENGALURU: Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani has once again landed himself in a political row. This time for his statement addressed to the youth of Karnataka, which is headed for polls on May 12.

Biggest role of Karnataka's youth should be to enter PM's campaign program in Bengaluru on 15th, hurl chairs in the air and disrupt it. Then ask him what happened to 2 crore jobs, Mevani said while addressing a gathering at Chitradurgas Vartha Bhavan on Wednesday.

He went on to say, that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi can't answer the questions, then he should go to the Himalayas.

#WATCH: Jignesh Mevani says, 'Biggest role of Karnataka's youth should be to enter PM's campaign program in Bengaluru on 15th, hurl chairs in the air & disrupt it, then ask him what happened to 2 cr jobs? If he can't answer ask him to go to Himalayas' #Chitradurga #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/3rykIfOFsp  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

On Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) over Mevani's speech for allegedly inciting violence.

In January this year, Mevani has announced that he will campaign along with the 'like-minded' parties against the BJP in April.

I will urge 20% of Dalits in the state that not even their 20 votes should go to them (BJP),'' Mevani had said, adding, An alliance of all mainstream political parties and concrete peoples alliance should come together to defeat chaddidharis in the state.

He had claimed the BJP and PM Modi had not kept their promises of providing two crore jobs every year, made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"The government hasn't paid much attention to jobs or farmer suicides but only focused on issues like love jihad," he said.

With just a month to go for Karnataka Assembly Elections, both ruling Congress and opposition BJP have entered a high-pitched battle on the ground and on social media.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Narendra Modi government and the BJP at an election rally, accusing the former of benefitting from the rich people. Its a war of ideology between the BJP and the Congress, said Gandhi.
LUCKNOW: A massive row sparked within Ambedkar Mahasabha, two days after the organisation's chief announced the Dalit Mitra award for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Ambedkar Mahasabha President Lalji Prasad Nirmal had announced that the award will be conferred to Adityanath d on Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14.

This has not gone down well with members of the association, who claim that the award should have gone to a deserving member of the community and not Adityanath who has been accused of 'pursuing anti-Dalit policies'.

The organisation's President reportedly announced the award without discussing it with the executive committee or with other members of the Mahasabha or calling the Annual General Body (AGM).

Demanding resignation of the Lalji Prasad, the agitating members held an emergency meeting of the AGM.

Two of the committee's founding member  retired IPS officer SR Darapuri and retired IAS officer Harish Chandra  sought disciplinary action against Prasad.

Atrocities against Dalits have increased manifold under the present regime -- be it Bhim Sena in Saharanpur or innocent Dalit youth during Bharat Bandh on April 2. How could one justify giving an award to a person who ordered for slapping NSA against Chandrasekhar and scores of Dalit youth after Bharat Bandh? questioned Darapuri, as reported by DNA.

Mahasabha had never instituted any such award. Who has constituted this award without discussing it in the AGM or with founding members? questioned Chandra.

Several states in the country, including Uttar Pradesh, witnessed violence during Bharat bandh called by Dalit outfits. At least 10 people were killed and over 65, including policemen, injured in the country-wide protests. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to stay its recent order on the SC/ST Act.
New Delhi: Shares of Mandhana Retail Ventures the brand that manufactures and sells Salman Khan's Being Human brand of apparel lost nearly over 15 percent on Thursday after the actor was handed down 5 years of imprisonment in the blackbucks poaching case dating back to 1998.

Salman and the other Bollywood stars had been accused of poaching two blackbucks - an endangered animal - in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 2, 1998, during the shooting of the movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. While Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre were acquitted, Salman was found guilty.

The Mandhana stock fell by 15 percent from day's high of Rs. 132.25 to settle at Rs 114.90 on the BSE. During the day, it lost 3.93 per cent to Rs 254.10.

At 11:06 am on Thursday the company's shares were trading at Rs 115 a piece, down 0.15 points or 0.13 percent.

(Chart Courtesy: www.bseindia.com)

Salman Khan's Being Human Clothing, which was operating as a retail division of Mandhana Industries, demerged from the company to form Mandhana Retail Ventures (MRVL) in 2016.

Being Human was operating as a retail division of Mandhana Industries from 2012 to 2016. Being Human brand brand currently has over 600 point-of-sale globally with stores in Europe, Middle East, Nepal and Mauritius. Launched in the year 2012, the Bollywood actor's Being Human brand forayed into the jewelery segment last year. The collection includes fashion and fine diamond jeweleries, designed by Style Quotient Jewelery, which is exclusive licensee to manufacture, distribute and retail the brand.

Meanwhile, the District and Sessions Court Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi on Friday adjourned Khan`s bail hearing in the blackbuck poaching case to Saturday. Salman will now have to stay another night at the Jodhpur Central Jail, where he was lodged in barrack Number 1, on Thursday following his conviction.
Los Angeles: Actress Anne Hathaway slammed body shamers on her social media account, prepping them up for the weight she will soon gain for a movie role.

The 'Dark Knight Rises' actress posted a video showing an intense workout regimen on Instagram with the message: "I am gaining weight for a movie role and it is going well. To all the people who are going to fat shame me in the upcoming months, it's not me, it's you. Peace."

Hathaway added as a post-script on Thursday: "I wanted to set this to Queen's 'Fat Bottomed Girls' but copyright said no. Continued peace."

Throughout the video, she is seen lifting weights, stretching, plie-ing and performing other strength-training exercises for what appears to be a long time.

One social media user suggested, however, that by explaining why she is gaining weight in a post that exhibits a still-very-slim Hathaway working out intensely, the actress was legitimising an impossible societal body ideal herself.

"What is wrong with our society that someone who is healthy and fit has to post something like this to defend herself? Makes me so upset. And I'm glad I'm not famous/don't have to put up with this stuff. In the south if I looked "too skinny" people would start to feed me biscuits and such," the user wrote.

It is unclear which film Hathaway is referring to, but she is reportedly attached to star in the upcoming sci-fi thriller "O2", the Dee Rees-directed adaptation of the Joan Didion novel "The Last Thing He Wanted" and a remake of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" alongside Rebel Wilson.
New Delhi: Superstar Salman Khan was convicted in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case and sentenced to a 5-year jail term by a sessions court in Jodhpur on April 5, 2018. The actor, who was lodged in the Central Jail after the judgement came out has an ocean of fan following praying for his release.

His bail application will be heard today in the court, deciding the future course of action. Meanwhile, the solid fan base he enjoys has already gathered outside his residence at Galaxy Apartments, Mumbai as well as outside the court premises in Jodhpur, reportedly.

Praying for his immediate release, some fans were even seen singing outside the actor's residence in Mumbai. As per reports, Salman's family members including sisters Alvira, Arpita and brother Sohail and Arbaaz have reached the court for hearing already. Also, filmmaker friend Sajid Nadiadwala cancelled the success bash of his film 'Baaghi 2' after the superstar was sentenced. The director too has rushed to Jodhpur, to be by his friend's side.

The actor was held guilty in the 20-year-old case of killing two blackbucks during the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain' in 1998. Other actors including Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari were acquitted of all charges by the court.

Salman was awarded a five-year sentence and fined Rs 10,000 for the crime.
New Delhi: A day after superstar Salman Khan was held guilty in the blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur court and was sentenced to a 5-year jail term, ace comedian Kapil Sharma expressed his anger but in an unexpected way.

Kapil, who is quite active on Twitter posted a series of abusive tweets slamming the judgement and backing the actor and his good deeds. Soon after posting it, the actor deleted his tweets. In a fresh tweet, the actor later clarified that his account was hacked.

Check a screenshot of it:

The tweets are not available on his timeline now and have been deleted. But we do have a screenshot of what he tweeted.

Check it out:

Kapil made a comeback to small screens recently with 'Family Time With Kapil Sharma' but it has failed to garner a positive response. Rumours are rife that soon the show will go off air. He hogged the limelight last year for his infamous mid-night brawl with fellow actor Sunil Grover. Followed by which Grover left his show along with other actors.

Meanwhile, several celebrities have extended their support to the Khan family after the sentence was pronounced.

Salman was held guilty in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case by a Jodhpur court and sentenced to 5-year jail term with a fine of Rs 10, 000 on April 5, 2018. The actor, who is lodged in Central Jail, Jodhpur will now have to spend another night inside as the Jodhpur Session's Court has reserved bail order till Saturday.

The 20-year-old case dates back to the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain' in 1998. Other actors including Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari were acquitted of all charges by the court.
New Delhi: Superstar Salman Khan has been convicted in the 20-year-old blackbuck poaching case. The actor was sentenced to 5-year jail term by the Jodhpur sessions court on April 5, 2018. After the verdict came out, the superstar was taken directly to the Central Jail where he spent the night.

Meanwhile, as soon as the verdict was announced, social media was flooded with mixed reactions on Salman getting a 5-year-long jail term. Several celebrities too thronged Twitter and Instagram to extend their support to the film star. Not just from Bollywood but even in Pakistan, Salman's conviction shocked the celebrities.

Pakistani actress Mawra Hocane took to the micro-blogging site and backed the superstar and called him a 'good human being'. She wrote: In a world with no NO human rights, a great human being is being punished for killing an animal umpteen years ago under animal rights. Bash me all you want, but theres something completely wrong about it.. mind you such human beings are our saving grace! #SalmanKhanVerdict

In a world with no NO human rights, a great human being is being punished for killing an animal umpteen years ago under animal rights. Bash me all you want, but theres something completely wrong about it.. mind you such human beings are our saving grace! #SalmanKhanVerdict  MAWRA HOCANE (@MawraHocane) April 5, 2018

The actress's tweet garnered mixed reactions as some called her gesture a publicity stunt to gain a project while others backed her.

Check out some reactions here:

Picture chahiye to kuch to krna padega?   SRKIAN (@iamraghav_) April 5, 2018

Thanks for being a sensible voice, Ushna

And we all agree, each and every individual/animal/creature counts. Nothing and no one is insignificant and no act of injustice done, even if eons ago, can go unpunished.  Zeeshan Fatima Rizvi (@Shanzzify246) April 5, 2018

You also Supported Salman Back in May 2015 on Your official Instagram account @mawrellous and Personal FB ACCOUNT Mawra Hussain . Looks like you are a die hard fan of #salmankhan mawiee pic.twitter.com/AnGLEsxYGa  RkAkGlobalfan (@DanishA25310538) April 5, 2018

poor Celman Khan  Jinx! (@PakCricFanatik) April 5, 2018

Don't be emotional you loves him i also loves salman khan but save tree save water save wind life and wind animals these are very important to us even if i cut a green tree in india then I will also punished as per as law no one is above the law  vikas gaurav (@vikasgaurav12) April 5, 2018

Well Said  RkAkGlobalfan (@DanishA25310538) April 5, 2018

Mawra made her big screen debut in Bollywood with 'Sanam Teri Kasam' opposite Harshvardhan Rane in 2016.
New Delhi: Superstar Salman Khan was convicted on Thursday in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case and is sentenced to a 5-year jail term by a Jodhpur court. However, the other actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam Kothari involved in the case were acquitted.As soon as the news of Salman's conviction broke, celebrities from both the television and film industry took to Twitter to extend their support to the actor and express 'shock' over the jail term.

Such outdated archaic laws in India that really need to be changed! Parts of our legal system needs a revisit! Any1 can file a case on anyone! One court says not guilty other says guilty! People thrown from court to court! @BeingSalmanKhan doesnt deserve this at all! Ridiculous  Raj Kundra (@TheRajKundra) April 5, 2018

Punishing a good human being is not acceptable.

Animal poaching is ever increasing, jungles are cut in the name of urban development, isn't it leading to wildlife killing, who will be punished for that?#SalmanKhan@BeingSalmanKhan#BlackBuckPoachingCase  Shilpa Shinde (@ShindeShilpaS) April 5, 2018

... @BeingSalmanKhan surely paying the price for being celebrity...  Annup Sonii (@Anupsonicp) April 5, 2018

Samir Soni on blackbuck poaching case verdict "We are happy for us but we are disappointed for #SalmanKhan. Justice has not been given properly in this case. I am feeling bad for him," Samir Soni, actor and husband of actress Neelam, told ANI. #WeSupportSalmankhan always and forever  @BeingSalmanKhan @tweetbeinghuman

 Bandgi Kalra (@BandgiK) April 5, 2018

The law takes its course. Cant argue it. But at this point in time I just feel helpless and my heart goes out to @BeingSalmanKhan and his family. Reason, cause the last thing @BeingSalmanKhan is, is a criminal.I feel this is too harsh. I do hope he gets the relief he deserves.

 arjun rampal (@rampalarjun) April 5, 2018

Veteran actress Jaya Bachchan too expressed her shock on blackbuck poaching case verdict "I feel bad. He should be given relief. He has done a lot of humanitarian work," Jaya Bachchan told ANI. I am extremely shocked to hear @BeingSalmanKhan being convicted by session court but also having full trust in indian judiciary which has many other doors to appeal for final justice whatsoever. Since He is most loved person by industry N people for his human reasons too.

 Subhash Ghai (@SubhashGhai1) April 5, 2018

  ! Rape  Murder  Victims         Insaaf    @BeingSalmanKhan   Charity  Proper     20   Incident     ! #IStandWithSalmanKhan #BlackBuckPoachingCase  Manveer Gurjar (@imanveergurjar) April 5, 2018
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan on Thursday expressed disappointment with the Jodhpur court verdict against actor Salman Khan in a 19-years-old Blackbuck poaching case, saying that the actor should have been given relief for his humanitarian work.

"I feel bad. He should be given relief. He has done a lot of humanitarian work," Bachchan said.

Earlier in the day, a Jodhpur court convicted Salman for five years in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. A penalty of Rs 10,000 has also been levied on him.Other accused in the case - Tabu, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam - were acquitted, while the `Sultan` actor was held in the court.

In October 1998, total three cases in connection with poaching and one under the Arms Act were registered against Salman. The 52-year-old actor allegedly shot two blackbucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur during the shooting of `Hum Saath Saath Hain`.

Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were also present in the vehicle Salman allegedly used for hunting the endangered species protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act.

Salman was charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and others under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.On July 25, 2016, the Rajasthan High Court acquitted Salman of all charges in the blackbuck poaching case and said there was no evidence to prove that the endangered animals were shot by the actor`s licensed gun.

The Supreme Court on November 11, 2016, issued a notice to Salman on an appeal by the Rajasthan government challenging his acquittal in blackbuck poaching case.

The apex court had agreed to fast-track the case.In January 2017, Salman Khan was acquitted by a Jodhpur court in the Arms Act case.
Salman Khan will have to wait till Saturday to have the court hear his plea for bail, but he seems to have found some love in Jodhpur Central Prison as well. The Bollywood star signed an autograph for the kid of one of the staff members at the prison.

The star wrote, "Love, Salman Khan," reported DNA.

Salman is spending his second night in the Jodhpur Central Prison as he awaits his bail hearing. He had been convicted in the blackbuck poaching case, and sentenced to five years in prison by a Jodhpur-based court.

Since he was sentenced to jail for more than 3 years, the 53-year-old actor will have to appeal before the High Court for bail.

Salman has been placed in the VIP barrack of the Jodhpur jail, next to where rape convicted former godman Asaram is lodged. This is his fourth stint in the Jodhpur jail. He has spent a total of 18 days there - in 1998, 2006 and 2007 - all for cases of poaching.

The court had on Thursday found him guilty under Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which outlaws hunting any animal given protection by the law. The blackbucks that Salman shot and killed are given the highest protection that Indian law provides.

The actor faced charges of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998. He had been shooting the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain' when the crime happened. The court acquitted actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre.
Kabul: Afghanistan on Thursday accused Pakistan of air strikes causing "huge financial damages" in its province of Kunar bordering Pakistan, highlighting long-standing mistrust between the neighbours, even as both seek ways to improve security.

The incident came ahead of a visit to Kabul on Friday by Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on cooperation to halt militant attacks.

Pakistani jets dropped four bombs on Wednesday evening in Kunar`s Dangam district, Afghanistan`s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement, without elaborating on the damage or making any mention of casualties.

"Afghanistan warns that continuing violations of international norms ... will have further consequences on the relations between the two countries," the ministry added.

Pakistan rejected as "baseless" the allegation that it violated Afghan airspace, however.

In a statement, its foreign affairs ministry said Pakistan`s security forces were countering militant groups based in Afghanistan that launch attacks across the border.

Military officials of the two countries met on Thursday in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan shared details of the operations with Afghanistan, it added. The operations took place on the Pakistani side of the border, Pakistan said.

Afghanistan should focus on plugging gaps on its side of the border and refrain from the "blame game", the ministry said.

Afghanistan`s Western-backed government has long accused Pakistan of harbouring Afghan Taliban insurgents, a charge that Islamabad denies.

Islamabad, in turn, accuses Afghanistan of not doing enough to eradicate Pakistani Taliban militants, many of whom are based in Afghanistan and mostly carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
Recent months may have seen China and Pakistan closely working in diplomatic circles and on development projects. All though is not well for Chinese workers in Pakistan who - apart from facing a threat to their lives - recently clashed with cops for allegedly being barred from red light areas.

Pakistan-based Dawn has reported that several Chinese workers thrashed local cops - deployed for their own safety - for stopping them from venturing into red light districts. The incident occurred around in a project area for the construction of a highway between Bahawalpur and Faisalabad. Local media said cops refused to give permission to Chinese engineers and other workers from leaving their camps minus a security cover. When the workers refused protection, they were barred from leaving. And all hell broke loose.

The local administration has alleged several Chinese workers threatened and then attempted to thrash security personnel. Several even reportedly stood on police cars and eventually cut power supply to the area where their own Pakistani guards were being housed. ARY News reported that one of the workers even flung a chair at the security head.

The incident took place on Tuesday and while the situation was somehow brought under control, it was not the end of it. A day later, Chinese workers halted work on the construction site, abandoned heavy machinery on surrounding roads and then wrote a letter to government officials alleging that it is they who had been attacked by security personnel.

While the incident has been heavily criticised in Pakistan - a country increasingly looking for China's help in almost every field, there has been no official statement from the Chinese company or from Beijing regarding the incident, yet.
Open source

Donald Trumps former campaign manager Paul Manafort authorised a secret media operation on behalf of Ukraines former president featuring black ops, placed articles in the Wall Street Journal and US websites and anonymous briefings against Hillary Clinton.

The project was designed to boost the reputation of Ukraines then leader, Viktor Yanukovych. It was part of a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort carried out by Manafort on behalf of Yanukovychs embattled government, emails and documents reveal.

The strategies included:

 Proposing to rewrite Wikipedia entries to smear a key opponent of the then Ukrainian president.

 Setting up a fake thinktank in Vienna to disseminate viewpoints supporting Yanukovych.

 A social media blitz aimed at targeted audiences in Europe and the US.

 Briefing journalists from the rightwing website Breitbart to attack Clinton when she was US secretary of state.

Manaforts Ukraine strategy anticipated later efforts by the Kremlin and its troll factory to use Twitter and Facebook to discredit Clinton and to help Trump win the 2016 US election. The material seen by the Guardian dates from 2011 to 2013.

Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, has indicted Manafort on multiple counts. Manafort is accused of laundering profits from his lobbying work in Ukraine, carried out over a period of a decade for Yanukovych and his political party.

Mueller also accuses Manafort of hiring retired European politicians to lobby on behalf of Yanukovych, and paying them more than 2m (1.74m, $2.45m) via offshore accounts.

The documents reveal another surreptitious operation to influence international opinion. In 2010 Yanukovych defeated his rival Yulia Tymoshenko in presidential elections. The following summer Ukrainian prosecutors arrested Tymoshenko and put her on trial. This provoked severe criticism from the Obama administration and the EU, which accused Yanukovych of locking up Tymoshenko for political reasons.

In 2011 Manafort approved a clandestine strategy to discredit Tymoshenko abroad. Alan Friedman, a former Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reporter, based in Italy, masterminded this project. Friedman has previously been accused of concealing his work as a paid lobbyist.

Also involved were Rick Gates, Manaforts then deputy, and Konstantin Kilimnik, another senior Manafort associate who the FBI believes has links to Russian military intelligence.

In July 2011 Friedman sent Manafort a confidential six-page document titled Ukraine - A Digital Roadmap. It laid out a plan to deconstruct Tymoshenko via videos, articles and social media. Yanukovych deferred to Manafort, who gave the project the go-ahead, sources in Ukraines former government say.

Friedmans proposed operation was ambitious. It included producing anonymous videos attacking Tymoshenko and comparing the opposition leader to a drunk Boris Yeltsin. The social media space offers great opportunities for guilt by association, Friedman wrote in the document.

He continued: We know that video exists of Tymoshenko uttering some of her outrageous claims in court  The video can be floated into the social space to reinforce the impression that she is at best reckless and unstatesmanlike and at worst malicious, defamatory and antisemitic.

Twitters users, including those known to us, could retweet hostile content. The roadmap included a website, blogposts and blast emails, sent out to a targeted audience in Europe and the US. One section was called Black Ops. It said: This could include Wikipedia page modification to highlight [Tymoshenko] corruption and trial and modify the tone of the language being used.

Friedman worked with Eckart Sager, a one-time CNN producer. Emails show they liaised closely with Paul, who in turn briefed Yanukovychs chief of staff, Serhiy Lyovochkin. Lyovochkin declined to comment. He appears in correspondence as SL.

He was under the radar, one source said of Friedman. Alan kept a low profile. Without Pauls authorisation Alan would never have got a contract with the [Yanukovych] government.

Friedmans company FBC Media was retained on a rolling contract. It was paid around 150,000 every three months, sources in Kiev suggest. The money was deposited in an offshore account in Seychelles, they allege. Often the payments were late, prompting Friedman to complain, they add.

Contacted by the Guardian, Friedman said these earnings were declared. He confirmed his company worked for Ukraine from late summer 2011 on what he called a public relations and country profiling project. He said: It was not a secret or covert plan. We had PR people proposing interviews and features to newspapers very openly.

He said its goal was to promote the Ukraine governments then policy of moving closer to a partnership agreement with the EU. Our aim was to keep a steady communication going in favour of dialogue between Brussels and Kiev. That was our message.

We never supported a pro-Moscow stance and had already ended our relationship when the Ukrainian president abandoned closer ties with Europe.

Asked whether he had registered with the US Department of Justice, Friedman said he had never worked as a lobbyist for Ukraine. He added: I never registered as a foreign agent because I never was one.

I was a communications guy, doing PR media strategy work in Europe for a client, like dozens of London PR companies that work for a variety of governments.

The documents show Friedman reported directly to Kiev. In spring 2012 he told the foreign minister, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, he had generated dozens of positive op-eds/interviews/articles for print and TV and disseminated positive news stories to nearly 2,000 publications.

Key to this strategy was a fake thinktank, the Center for the Studyof Former Soviet Socialist Republics (CXSSR), set up with Manaforts backing. Friedman used it to publish dozens of positive stories about Yanukovych, many of them authored by a Matthew Lina.

Linas comment pieces criticising Tymoshenko and Obamas state department ran on the conservative US website RedState. Friedman told Manafort his editorial team ghostwrote an article by Yanukovych published by the Wall Street Journal.

He claimed credit for a Tymoshenko profile written by the Journals Matthew Kaminski. Kaminski said Friedman was never a source, or even someone that as far as I can remember I had any contact whatsoever with.

In April 2012 Friedman sent another highly confidential two-page document to Manafort. It set out plans to launch a special website entitled The Tymoshenko Files. The site would purport to belong to Inna Bohoslovska, a Ukrainian deputy and Tymoshenko critic.

In fact, Friedman would discreetly prepare, implement and maintain the site, the document said. It would include ghost-penned blogs and a quasi-novella serialisation. Asked about the website, Friedman said he had never written any content.

Emails seen by the Guardian show a regular pattern of interaction between Manafort, Friedman, Gates, Kilimnik and Ukrainian officials. Gates, who went on to work with Manafort on the 2016 Trump campaign, wrote several messages. In February Gates admitted conspiracy and lying to the FBI, and agreed to cooperate with Mueller.

At the time Kilimnik was the Russian manager of Manaforts Kiev office. Kilminik is understood to be Person A in Muellers latest indictment, filed last week. It says the FBI believes Kilimnik has ties to Moscows GRU spy agency, and adds that Gates was aware of this. Kilimnik denies a connection. Friedman confirmed he had met Manafort and Gates but said he had done so because the client asked me to.

Manaforts media operation included attacks on Clinton. In October 2012 Gates emailed Manafort and Friedman, flagging a piece written by the journalist Ben Shapiro. The Breitbart article criticised Clinton for her public support of Tymoshenko, who had recently made an electoral pact with the far-right Svoboda party.

The article cited a Jewish leader who accused Clinton anonymously of creating a neo-Nazi Frankenstein. Gates wrote: Gentlemen  Here is the first part of a series of articles that will be coming as we continue to build this effort. Alan, you get full credit for the Frankenstein comment.

The alleged use of offshore accounts is likely to interest the FBI. Manafort is accused of concealing more than $75m earned from his work in Ukraine.

Yanukovychs attempts to woo western leaders ended in October 2013 when he accepted a bailout from Moscow. He fled to Russia after anti-government protests. In 2015 Friedman wrote an authorised biography of Silvio Berlusconi. Manafort continued to work for Yanukovychs party up until he joined Trumps campaign. Manafort denies wrongdoing and has said he will fight Muellers charges.
More than 270 pages and profiles of the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA), more known as the "Internet trolls factory", were blocked in the Facebook. Why? We will try to explain

Open source

Loud political scandals in which Facebook has figurated recently seem to have played a role - the social network is changing, and these changes are not limited to the announcements of its leadership about the strengthening of personal data protection and fight against fakes and manipulation in the network.

The day before, the company discovered and blocked another 273 pages and the profiles of the Russian Internet Research Agency, better known as the "Internet troll factory".

All of them, as Facebook's security service found out, were not used based on content, but for political influence on Russian-speaking users of Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes that the decision will be a step towards the complete removal from the network of the organization that "repeatedly tried to manipulate people in the US, Europe and Russia acting by deception" and in this way interfered with the course of foreign elections.

What exactly was deleted?

As the company website specifies, 75 Facebook and 65 Instagram accounts were blocked, as well as 138 pages.

Some of them belonged to the Russian media (Federal News Agency, Neva News, Journalist Truth, Economy Today, Politics Today, etc.), however, as Facebook's security service found, they were also controlled by the Internet Research Agency (IRA).

The content they were spreading did not correspond to what was announced initially, it was mostly in Russian (95%) and targeted both people living in Russia and Russian-speakers in other countries of the world, including neighbouring Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.

In particular, the trolls factory through the fake pages has posted messages which touched inner and international political questions, propagated Russian culture and tourism and some of them were about routine events.

On its website, Facebook posted some examples of advertisement spread by IRA staff for money.

There were some pictures of the amazing leisure time of Surgut residents at -37C. Judging from the post from the Open Russia page, they run naked in the snow and sunbathe in the sun while sipping juice.

We could also read the praises to Russian borsch, education and soldiers.

In addition, there were direct political agitations for Putin and, of course, jokes about the Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada and the president Poroshenko.

In total, according to Facebook estimates, IRA has spent 167 thousand dollars on them (starting from January 1, 2015).

The majority of subscribers of the blocked pages were from Russia (488 thousand), Ukraine (170 thousand), Brazil (42 thousand), Georgia (40 thousand) and Kyrgyzstan (35 thousand).

In total, over a million people in Facebook and around 500 thousand in Instagram were subscribed for these pages

Facebook promises in the near future to launch a tool that will allow users to check independently whether they are signed up for the fake pages of the Russian "troll factory".

"We know that the IRA  and other bad actors seeking to abuse Facebook  are always changing their tactics to hide from our security team. We expect we will find more, and if we do we will take them down too. But well keep fighting and were investing heavily in more people and better technology to constantly improve safety on Facebook," the Facebook summarizes.

What is a troll factory?

Russian Internet Research Agency became widely known and discussed at the beginning of 2015. At the time, a number of the local media has published journalist investigations about Internet Researches Ltd.

They were revealing that the company is hiring people so that they comment posts in social networks and internet websites from fake accounts. The main idea of their commentaries is protection and promotions of the Kremlin interests in internal an d international politics (for example, the armed conflict in the east of Ukraine, civil war in Syria).

As they usually do the trolling, the workers of the agency are called (including different newspapers) trolls from Olgino, Olgino trolls or Kremlin bots and the agency itself  troll factory.

It is noteworthy that the name Olgino trolls comes from the name of a historical region of Saint-Petersburg, in which IRA had the office.

The organization is connected to the structures of Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Putins cook.

The suspicious activity of the platform in Facebook was noted as early as 2016. Then, the troll factory was trying to influence the U.S. elections through the social network.

Open source

As the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg noted, in 2016 the first part of the fake pages of the platform was deleted and American authorities were informed of the incident. The company itself started to check the activity of the troll factory to prevent this happening in other countries.

In February of this year, the United States accused IRA of interference with the US presidential elections in 2016 and in March 13 Russians linked to the troll factory were added to the sanction list. According to the indictment, they were spreading negative information about the presidential candidate from Democratic Party Hillary Clinton since 2014.

Russia is adamantly denying all the accusations of the elections meddling.
If Moscow is genuinely innocent in all the misdeeds attributed to it, why does it always seem to get the blame?



The Kremlin attributes every new allegation to Russophobia. This excuse has proven ideally suited to the varied terrain of hybrid warfare, serving as a one-size-fits-all explanation for virtually any charge. Whether the claims relate to Russian soldiers in Ukraine, Russian trolls on social media, or Russian chemical weapons in England, Moscow dismisses it all as the work of desperate and irrational Russophobes whose obvious prejudice renders their conclusions null and void.



The term itself is nothing new and first appeared in the nineteenth century, but references to Russophobia have skyrocketed since 2014. It has become one of the buzzwords of the fake news era and a significant information warfare weapon in its own right. Accusations of Russophobia are most common in the Russian media and official Kremlin parlance. According to the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab, Russian Foreign Ministry statements mentioned Russophobia just three times in 2013. By 2017, the figure had climbed to 56.



What has happened over the past four years to make Russia the villain de jour of international opinion? Some see it as Cold War nostalgia for the good old days of mutually assured destruction. Others claim the Wests military-industrial complex requires a plausible enemy and Russia uniquely fits the bill. Meanwhile, the Kremlin and its media tend to favor the notion of an implacably hostile Western world intent on preventing Russia rising from its knees. This conspiratorial thinking has proven persuasive for domestic Russian audiences and popular among some Western skeptics, but it fails to explain the sheer scope of the multifarious charges leveled at Moscow. Put simply, no conspiracy involving so many actors could hope to succeed on such a global scale.



In reality, the current international backlash against Putins hybrid warfare has been a long time coming. Russias offensive against the West has been slowly gaining momentum for over a decade, but few cared to acknowledge this awkward and seemingly inexplicable reality until it became too brazen to ignore. With Russian billions flooding Western capitals, everyone was far too busy getting rich to question the true intentions of the Putin regime or ponder the implications of the anti-Western poison flourishing inside Russia itself. Nobody really questioned the assumption that modern Russia broadly subscribed to the post-1991 settlement, or considered the possibility that policymakers in Moscow might still approach relations with the West from the zero-sum perspective of instinctive adversaries. Indeed, the idea that the newly capitalist Kremlin would enter into hostilities with the West seemed so outlandish that when Mitt Romney called Russia Americas number one geopolitical foe during the 2012 US presidential debates, he became an object of instant ridicule.



Instead, the West preferred to regard each new act of Russian aggression as an isolated incident attributable to the aftershocks of the Soviet collapse. Despite being the largest country on earth and an autocratic empire in all but name, Putins Russia found itself cast in the unlikely role of plucky underdog defying the swaggering victors of the Cold War. When Russia crushed Chechnya at the turn of the millennium, most saw it as a regrettable domestic affair. When Putin reinstated the Soviet national anthem and called the collapse of the USSR the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century, the West gave a collective shrug. The 2004 poisoning of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and the 2006 polonium attack on Alexander Litvinenko in London went largely unheeded. The Russian cyberattack on Estonia in 2007 was a major wakeup call that hinted at hybrid hostilities to come, but Western leaders preferred to hit the snooze button. Likewise, when Russian tanks rolled into Georgia in 2008, the Kremlin incurred minimal costs. Even the annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014 failed to produce a decisive Western response.



Predictably, this collective failure to confront Russia has spawned ever-more audacious actions. Since the start of the Kremlin campaign in Ukraine, Russia has buzzed US warships, hacked the Bundestag, fanned the flames of separatism in Catalonia, and plotted coups in the Balkansall the while protesting its innocence and accusing its victims of rampant Russophobia.



We may have finally reached a tipping point. Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 US presidential election appear to have goaded a critical mass of the American establishment into action, while the recent chemical weapon attack on British soil has forced the West into an unprecedented collective response. The expulsion of over 150 Russian diplomats from more than 20 countries is an important symbolic step. It sends a strong signal to the Kremlin that further Russian aggression in any given country could produce a similarly united front.



Nevertheless, significant questions remain over the Wests collective resolve to deal with the Russian threat. Numerous EU member states refused to expel Russian diplomats over Salisbury. US President Donald Trump continues to maintain his ominous silence on Putins aggressive actions. Many European governments face huge domestic pressure for a return to business as usual with Russia, while Moscows geopolitically loaded economic projects such as the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline have the potential to divide the continent further. A consensus certainly appears to be forming that Russia is waging a coordinated offensive against the democratic world, but the unity required to counter the Kremlin remains alarmingly fragile.



With Putin now secure in power for another six years, Russia will work to exploit signs of division and prevent further collective action as the confrontation enters a new phase. Crucially, while the Kremlins hybrid war is still far from being defeated, it is no longer a covert campaign operating below the radar. As a result, Putin may find that the elements of surprise and secrecy so crucial to his earlier successes are suddenly in short supply. Instead, Russia will have to get used to greater scrutiny and a dramatic loss in credibility. Moscow will try to portray this increasingly open international opposition to Kremlin aggression as Russophobia, but it is actually anything but irrational. Russia has given the Western world little choice but to treat it as a hostile nation, and the West has reluctantly agreed.
Western pressure on Ukraine to fight corruption has never been greater. But the pressure has been one-sided and focused on Ukraine, which isnt fair. The West bears some culpability, too. Ukrainians flee criminal prosecution and receive political asylum in the West, and they use Western banks to launder capital from Ukraine. It is time to close down these two avenues for corruption facilitated by the West and make the fight against corruption a two-way process.



Europe has been willing to grant asylum to Ukrainian officials and oligarchs fleeing justice, which nullifies the investigative work of Ukraines anticorruption bodies and makes it pointless to establish an anti-corruption court.



Take gas tycoon Dmytro Firtash who has been under opulent house arrest at the Ritz Hotel in Vienna, Austria, since 2014, seeking to prevent his extradition to the United States on corruption charges and Spain on charges of collusion with organized crime. Austriannot Ukrainiancourts are preventing the Ukrainian authorities from administering justice.



Firtash is a well-known oligarch who has headed a number of opaque gas intermediaries bringing gas from Central Asia and Russia into Europe. Although these gas intermediaries were heavily criticized by the United States, the European Union was silent as it prioritized the supply of energy to European homes and made money from the trade. RosUkrEnergo, the longest running of these gas intermediaries, was registered in Austria and Switzerland. And yet, as well-known commentator Edward Lucas writes, Russias biggest export has always been corruption, not gas, and Firtash is a major part of it.



In Switzerland, Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky lives in a palace on Lake Geneva. Kolomoisky and his associates are wanted for defrauding Privat Bank of $5.5 billion during a ten-year period from 2005-2016, according to an exhaustive investigation by Kroll Associates on behalf of the National Bank of Ukraine.



A London court froze $2.5 billion in assets owned by Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, which was a good first step, but more could be done by his host country.



Oleksandr Onyshchenko fled Ukraine in 2016 after the General Prosecutors Office opened criminal charges against him. Although wanted by Ukraine for corruption in the gas sector, he is living in one of his many palatial homes in Europe. Spanish and German courts have refused extradition requests on two occasions, and Interpol rejected Ukrainian requests to publish a red notice for Onyshchenkos detention. It is likely, however, that Interpol has issued a diffusion notice for Onyshchenko, which has considerably limited his ability to travel, including to the United States.



Serhiy Bondarchuk, the former head of Ukraines arms export agency UkrSpetsExport is wanted in Ukraine for corruption but received asylum in the United Kingdom last year.



This has to end.



A second way that the West could enhance the fight against corruption would be to end the ability of its banks to launder money from opaque sources in Ukraine, Russia, and Eurasia. Most of the countries whose banks participate have weak laws on the sources of funds. Banks in Cyprus, Monaco, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, Luxemburg, and London have long turned a blind eye to the opaque sources of capital. The US Department of Treasury pressured Latvia to change its banking laws recently, which will require most account holders to possess a Latvian passport and end account servicing for shell companies. Such an initiative is needed elsewhere to limit criminal money from being laundered.



The Washington-based Global Financial Integrity has calculated that $12 billion is sent abroad from Ukraine each year, which means that $120 billion was laundered between 2004-2013. (Other experts estimate that the figure is closer to $5 billion annually.)



Western courts, Interpol (Europol), and experts working on behalf of lawyers providing asylum and preventing extraditions are making the work of the anti-corruption court redundant before it is even established in Ukraine. Western banks are making it profitable to steal because the capital can be cleaned and used to purchase real estate and influence in western and southern Europe.



Until the West closes these loopholes and stops these double standards, most European governments have no moral grounds to demand that Ukraine be tough on corruption. It takes two to tango and fight corruption.
Open source

On April 5, Russian mercenaries attacked positions of Ukrainian government forces ten times.

According to the HQ of the counter-terrorism operation, militants used 82 mm mortars to shell positions near Troitske. Small arms and heavy machinegun fire was observed near Novozvanivka (both in Luhansk region).

In Donetsk region, the enemy used small arms during the skirmishes in Vodyane, Novotroitske, Avdiivka and Butivka coal mine. The enemy sniper opened fire near Vodyane, Donetsk region.

More news from Ukraine at 112.international
The militants drove to the mission that was going to launch a drone

The armed militants of the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) threated the OSCE SMM observers with AK-47 and did not allow them to launch the drone near Kremenets, Donetsk region uncontrolled by Ukraine on April 5 as the mission reported.

The patrol of the mission consisted of six observers on two armored vehicles was at H15 road in two kilometers from the checkpoint of the armed formations of the militants.

The observers prepared for the planned launch of the medium range drone. Before they finished the preparations, blue Lada (with table AA237 and marks police in the Russian language) turned toward the observers.

Three men went out the car: one in the camouflage and two in some kind of the police uniform. Each of them had AK-47 rifles. One of them came to the SMM patrol and introduced himself as commander of special forces. He claimed that it is a no-fly zone and they were not reported on the launch of the drone by the mission.

Later one more car with two armed men in camouflage drove to the SMM. The driver was armed with an AK-47 rifle. They got out from the car and aggressively appealed to the members of the missions patrol.

The SMM workers heard that one of them said to another in Russian Get ready!. Then the second man placed the bullet in the chamber and pointed the gun to the ground with his finger on the trigger.

SMM gathered the equipment and left this region. The SMM informed the armed formation in Donetsk about this incident.

As we reported the OSCE extended the mandate of the Special Monitoring Mission in Donbas until March 31, 2019.

On March 5 at 12:55, when an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission patrol consisting of six members and two armoured vehicles was heading from west to east on a road in Kozatske, it saw a man in military-type attire armed with an assault rifle (AK-74) standing at a checkpoint of the armed formations on the eastern edge of the village. The SMM also saw him pointing the assault rifle directly at the first SMM vehicle, which was then about 120m west of the checkpoint.
Crimean youth are to be enlisted for filling the Internet with correct information about life in Russian-occupied Crimea, with the occupiers determining just what content is correct, and what is to be dubbed fake. According to the Kremlin-loyal New Day report, this is considered one of the main tasks before the so-called Crimean ministry of education, science and youth. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reported this.

Deputy minister Konstantin Alikin says that they have already created a base for engaging youth in combatting what he calls the huge amount of fake news and lack of positive content, which they plan to develop further.

Not only the authorities should post information. It is important that young people themselves post on the Internet that information which we consider positive and correct about the achievements and successes of Crimea, the country and our leaders. We see this direction to be the most important. We are forming, so to speak, a Media Guard.

Russia is currently blocking at least 30 Ukrainian Internet sites, including most of the main websites which regularly report on human rights abuse in occupied Crimea. It is not, however, able to prevent such negative information being spread through social media, not to mention the large number of UN, EU and international resolutions and reports outlining and condemning the systematic deterioration in fundamental rights under Russian occupation.

Russia has long understood that Russian state-controlled media or Russian officials are not viewed as reliable sources, and therefore cultivates a whole stream of foreign experts and journalists who can be relied upon to take a pro-Kremlin stance. The same principle is involved here: overt propaganda from the mouths of Russian-controlled officials can be made that much more convincing if innocently posted and circulated by young Crimeans.

Human rights groups have long warned of the rampant militarization of Crimean society, especially that directed at young people. A campaign is now underway to enlist Crimean children into the Russian Defence Ministrys Youth Army [Yunarmia], a formation which has been likened to Hitlerjugend and other formations in which young people became tools of totalitarian regimes in Europe. Russias Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu has quite openly stated that a major goal of the Yunarmia movement is to popularize military ideology and foster a special bond between young Russians and the army.

Russias inculcation of such formations, as well as its conscription of Crimean youth into the Russian army, are not just alarming. International conventions to which Russia is a party clearly stipulate that any such practice is prohibited on occupied territory.

There has been mounting focus on so-called military  patriotic education in Russian since Vladimir Putin came to power, with Russia now aggressively and illegally trying to foist this on occupied Crimea.

The so-called military-patriotic education involves wearing military uniform and learning how to use firearms. The idea is inculcated of victory in war with the help of armed conflict. Iryna Sedova from the Crimean Human Rights Group stresses that all of this is aimed at trying to legitimize Russias occupation of Crimea and the actions of the armed paramilitaries who worked together with Russian soldiers to secure control of the peninsula. It is those so-called self-defence paramilitaries who were involved in the abduction and horrific murder of Reshat Ametov and the torture of other pro-Ukrainian activists, and who are believed to have been behind many of the disappearances since Russias invasion.

In June 2016, a campaign to recruit people as contract soldiers had an image of a soldier with the words Politeness is your choice. After it became impossible to maintain the lie that the Russian soldiers without insignia who invaded Crimea were not theirs, Russia began assiduously pushing the term polite people to supposedly describe the soldiers. On the third anniversary of annexation, one of the choreographed performances had children dancing up to the monument to this polite person invading soldier, and saying thank you in unison. Another such performance had young teenagers dancing about with machine guns.

Krym.Realii reports that the management of the Artek Childrens Centre has signed an agreement of partnership with Russias Investigative Committee. During 2018, the Investigative Committee plans to hold a program entitled young investigator at the camp in order to arouse interest among young Crimeans in such a profession.

One can perhaps expect a Crimean remake of the performance in St. Petersburg on September 1, 2017, at a ceremony for future investigators when a very small children solemnly promised Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee that she would shop her mother if that were required by her work.

All of this propaganda should be viewed against a background in which expressing pro-Ukrainian views, showing support for the Crimean Tatar Mejlis or exiled Crimean Tatar leaders, or solidarity with political prisoners can get a person into serious trouble. Three Crimeans  journalist Mykola Semena, Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader Ilmi Umerov and Suleyman Kadyrov  have already received real or suspended sentences. Each did no more than articulate the position taken by the UN and all international bodies, namely that Crimea is Ukraine and Russia illegally occupying it. Rustem Memmanov was fined in June 2017 for a Facebook birthday greeting to veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, in which he mentioned the Crimean Tatar Mejlis. There have been a large number of armed searches, arrests and even jail terms over entirely innocuous social media posts, some of them far predating Russias annexation. Several members of Crimea Solidarity, the initiative for political prisoners and their families, have themselves been arrested and are now facing huge sentences.

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Our position is clear and we think that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 will not further the diversification of the gas supplied to the EU

Open source

The European Council discusses the possibility to extend the action of the gas directive for the pipelines of third countries within the measures of the countering the construction of Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine. Dominique Ristori, the Director General of Directorate General for Energy of European Commission claimed this as 112.ua reported.

Our position is clear and we think that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 will not further the diversification of the gas supplied to the EU. We have to solutions of the issue: the first one is the provision of the mandate to hold the negotiations with Russia on Nord Stream 2. The second is the making of the amendments in the EU gas directive to extend its action for the transport networks, pipelines of the third countries, Ristori claimed.

According to him, the offer was already voted in the European Parliament and not it is discussed in the European Council.

Ristori emphasized that if Nord Stream 2 is constructed, it will violate the principles of the European legislation, particularly, such as transparency, non-discriminatory and admission for the energy networks of the third countries.

Ihor Nasalik, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry noted that Ukraine finds Nord Stream 2 as a project that has nothing to do with the diversification of the gas supplied to the EU.

It is just a political project that aims against Ukraine, Nasalik noted.

As we reported the government of Finland approved the construction Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline on April 5, 2018.

Earlier Germany approved the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline section on its territory.

Russias leading energy enterprise Gazprom and its partners intend to start implementing the Nord Stream-2 project worth almost 10 billion euros in April 2018. The 1,200-kilometers-long pipeline is to be laid through the Baltic Sea, linking Russia and Germany  bypassing Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic States. The capacity will be twice larger than that of Nord Stream-1. The construction is to be complete by late 2019.

The construction of gas pipeline Nord Stream-2 doesnt imply terminating the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, but the transit can be preserved only through competitive tariffs and canceling the Ukrainian lawsuits against Gazprom.
Ukrainian prosecutors charge the detained Euromaidan activist Ivan Bubenchyk with an attempt on the lives of law enforcers and the illegal storage of a weapon. Meanwhile, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (HPG) offered an insight into his case, focusing on many details of his previous statements about the murder of two Berkut fighters during the Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv in February 2014.

The article that may be found on the KHPG website quotes Bubenchyk who insisted that in his February 2016 interview with reporter Ivan Siyak, he said that he allegedly shot the deceased Berkut officers in the back of the head. As a matter of fact, Bubenchyk sought Siyak, demanding to retract that part of the released interview.

'Siyak was aware of Bubenchyks objections but did not change the text. Instead, he posted a YouTube video of an interview Bubenchyk gave back in November 2014 as alleged proof of the account given in his text. Although the two accounts do coincide to a large extent, there is a critical difference between them, since in the videoed interview Bubenchyk says only that he shot at the Berkut officers legs to scare them away. If Siyak had a video of the interview, he has thus far not shared it, so it should be borne in mind that the following account of what Bubenchyk said cannot be verified. The article begins by explaining that the first deaths on 20 February 2014, the bloodiest day of Maidan, were of Berkut officers, and asserts that Bubenchyk said that he had killed them. The Lviv activist was not well-known, but had been one of the heroes of the film Captives by Volodymyr Tykhy, and it was the producers of that film who seem to have arranged for this interview where Bubenchyk spoke of his experiences on Maidan as part of a Samooborona [Self-Defence] unit Although Bubenchyk denied having made the direct claims about killings attributed to him in the article, he does talk about how he fired at the Berkut during the film', the story reads as posted.

Siyak's interview, inter alia, features one particular section, which became of interest to Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine.

'The critical part of the text is where he says that he shot from out of a window on the second floor, from where he could clearly see the police officers with their shields at the Independence Monument. There were about two hundred of them there behind the sandbags, there was no room for more. Assault groups with pump-action shotguns were advancing from there. They shot point-blank at the barricades, without any shame.I was aiming at those who were in charge. I could not hear them, but I could see the gestures. The distance was very short, so for two commanders I only needed two shots. <> They say I shot them in the back of the head, and its true. It happened that they were standing with their backs to me. I had no time to wait until they turned around. There was no need to kill the others, only shoot them in the legs,' KHPG quoted the interview.

'If the investigators have firm grounds for suspecting that Bubenchyk was responsible for two killings, then what Siyak wrote may not matter. It is clear at present only that they certainly wish to question him, but have not formally charged him', KHPG story concludes.

On Thursday afternoon, Bubenchyk walked free, as the prosecutors dismissed the petition to choose the pre-trial restriction measure. The judge granted the motion. The prosecutors, however, intend to file the new petition on Thursday evening, with different charges this time. Previously, Bubenchyk was charged with the intentional murder and the attempt on the lives of law enforcers, but Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko claimed that the case needs to be examined very carefully, and it may be even redefined, if necessary. Earlier, Bubenchyk himself claimed to have shot two fighters of Berkut riot police during the violent street opposition in Kyiv on February 2014.

The detainee had previously claimed that he used a machinegun to fire at the law enforcers at Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square in Kyiv on February 20, 2014. Bubenchyk said he killed two of the fighters during the violent street clashes. Later, he was detained, when Prosecutor General's Office announced that several persons are suspects in the case of the murders of Berkut fighters during the Euromaidan events in Kyiv. Then, Bubenchyk called off his evidence.

February 20, 2014, earmarks the climax of the street violence during the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine. That day, government-hired shooters gunned down dozens of unarmed civilians; about a dozen of law enforcers deceased as well. Prosecutor General's Office continues to look into the crimes related to the Euromaidan movement and the Revolution of Dignity, including these murders.
Robert Portman (Reps.) visited the combat area in Donbas and found out that the Ukrainian military suffers heavy casualties due to sniper fire

EPA / UPG

Apart from Javelin anti-tank weapons, Ukraine's Armed Forces will get the sniper weapon systems from the United States. Robert Portman, the senator from the Republican Party said that at a press conference in Kyiv on April 5.

According to Voice of America, the official found that the Ukrainian government troops suffer serious casualties from sniper fire. 'Last month, most of the casualties were, most likely, caused by the enemy sniper fire. One of the recent decisions by the U.S. lawmakers is to provide the Ukrainian Army with sniper systems - so that there's an opportunity to respond to the sniper attacks that kill Ukrainian troops,' he said.

Portman called the decision one of the particular examples proving that the U.S. stands with Ukraine.

The U.S. senator arrived in Kyiv on April 4 and met with President Petro Poroshenko and Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak.

Since the beginning of the armed conflict in Donbas in spring 2014, Ukraine has been negotiating with the U.S. on lethal weapon supplies. Currently, that assistance includes Humvee armored cars, RQ-11B Raven drones, and counter-artillery radars, all of which are non-lethal defensive weaponry. Besides, U.S. instructors train Ukrainian servicemen and hold joint international drills with them.

On March 1, the U.S. Department of the State decided to sell Ukraine Javelin anti-tank weapons.
The country's GDP has not changed much despite numerous waves of trade and economic restrictions, and Vladimir Putin's power in Russa itself has only grown

In spite of the numerous sanctions imposed on the Kremlin since 2014, such practice does not seem to be effective in terms of the influence on Russia's foreign policy - at least the way some media put it.

Deutsche Welle released the article on the issue.

'While the Russian economy contracted in 2015 and 2016, it has shown growth in 2017, and most of the previous slump was caused by a drop in oil prices. Moreover, many Russians judge the country's relatively stable economic performance against the memories of the disastrous crisis in the 1990s, before Vladimir Putin took power. By imposing sanctions, the EU and the US aim to punish Moscow and score a change in its policy over the annexation of Crimea, the fighting in eastern Ukraine, the alleged election meddling, and  most recently  the poisoning of Sergei Skripal. There, too, they appear to be ineffective. Not only has the Kremlin held its political course since 2014, but the sanctions have actually helped Putin strengthen his grip on power, experts say', the article says.

DW confirms that the pressure of big business is 'clearly felt'. According to to Moscow-based German-Russian Foreign Trade Chamber, 94 percent of surveyed firms with interests in Russia would like to see the sanctions lifted.

Find the full story here.
According to Interior Ministry, the most numerous Easter events will take place in Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odesa regions

21, 600 law enforcers will keep order in Ukraine on the night of Easter as the press service of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine reported this citing Serhu Yarovy, the Deputy Interior Minister.

It is expected that nine million of the Ukrainians will participate in the holiday events.

All detachments of the Interior Ministry, particularly, the National Police, the National Guard, the Emergency Service and the Border Guard Service are fully prepared to ensure the rule of law in the cities and villages during the Easter. On the holiday night, 21, 600 law enforcers will keep order and security of the citizens. 1, 000 of them are the officers of the National Guard, Yarovy reported.

According to him, the police has already searched almost 6, 000 places of worship (most likely churches and temples). According to Interior Ministry, the most numerous Easter events will take place in Lviv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odesa regions.

Moreover, 14, 000 rescuers and 3, 900 units of the special vehicles will work from April 7 until April 9 to respond to the emergency.

Yarovy noted that they prepare for the providing of the security on the memorial days on April 15-17. More than 14, 000 law enforcers and 1, 000 officers of the National Guard will be on duty. About four million of people will take part in the events of the memorial days.

We recall that this year the Easter is celebrated on April 8.
Also, it is possible to provide a bail for him in the sum of $1, 354

Kherson Court chose the restrictive measure for Volodymyr Horbenko, the captain of Nord ship detaining him. The press service of the Prosecutors Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea reported this to 112.ua.

Horbenko will be arrested until May 31, 2018. At the same time, the court provided a possibility to bail him out for $1, 354.

As 112 Ukraine reported, the advocated claimed that Horbenko was detained illegally and insisted on the impossibility of his further detention. A prosecutor claimed that the captain prevented the holding of the pretrial investigation and connected the representatives of Russias FSB during a stay at the ship. Horbenko denies all accusations.

The representative of the company-owner of the ship reported on the intention to provide a bail to Interfax-Ukraine.

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).
Ukraine intends to submit the offer on the sending of its consuls to Rostov-on-Don to the Russian side. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the Vice-Prime-Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration claimed this as Interfax-Ukraine reported.

We will submit our offers to send our consuls to Rostov-on-Don. We understand that we need to have our consuls there. Due to the fact, that five of them were expelled from Russia, it is important for us today to protect the citizens who are in Russia or Russian prisons. So, it is necessary for us to submit our offers, Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

She also commented the possibility that Russia can ask to return the same number of the Russian diplomats to Ukraine in the respond: It is the simplest scenario that we can predict. Also, she said that it is important to estimate such possibility. Will the exchange be? I do not percept the possibility of the replacement of those or these diplomats in the number of the expelled.

The politician claimed that Ukraine will cooperate with western partners in expulsion and admission of the Russian diplomats.

We will act in the cooperation with the partners. It will not be the separate step for Ukraine that will solve these issues in the bilateral regime with Russia. We joined the united actions of the West on the expulsion of so-called Russias diplomats, and spies in reality, and it is not a step separated from the international context  we will continue to act in the international context, she added.

As for today, more than 20 countries of the world announced the expulsion of more than 150 workers of the Russian diplomatic missions in the response to the chemical attack in Salisbury. Ukraine also joined the sanctions and claimed the expulsion of 13 diplomats.

Russian Foreign Ministry presented protest notes to 23 ambassadors of states, which expelled Russian diplomats due to the poisoning of Skripal, ex-GRU officer. The Ministry presented protest notes to the Heads of the diplomatic mission in Australia, Albany, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia.
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!)
Meet and greet these beautiful women honoring the memory of Frida Kahlo with strength, passion, daring, creativity, love and intelligence.

Join us for an early evening with the fabulous 505 Fridas! Come meet and greet these beautiful, creative women, as we present: First Friday Floral Fascinations with the 505 Fridas, part of the 1st Friday Downtown ABQ ArtWalk, at the OT Circus, Friday April 6 from 5:30-7:30pm.

The 505 Fridas are a group of Albuquerque artists inspired by the life and art of Frida Kahlo, whose mission is "to celebrate culture with irreverent passion and lift up creative expression by highlighting the joy and mystery of the arts specific to our region, we honor the memory of Frida Kahlo, both butterfly and tiger, Mistress and Madame. With strength, passion, daring, creativity, love and intelligence, she raised the respect of her home through art. She boldly challenged social norms and normal thought in all she projected. She explored and revealed her imperfection to reframe it as perfect human beauty. As kindred Soul Sisters, we aspire to metaphorically conjure the spirit of Frida Kahlo to honor the unique art, artists, culture, history and pride of our beloved city, Albuquerque, New Mexico."

Showing and selling their creations will be:

- Madeline Mariposa

- Sean Wells

- Paula Steinberg

- E Christina Herr

-Jenny Haag

-Barbara Gorham
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I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
The Mississippi State Port Authority has signed a letter of intent to evaluate a private-public partnership with terminal operator Yilport Holding that it says could lead to substantial investment in facility and equipment upgrades.



The Mississippi State Port Authority has signed a letter of intent to discuss future port expansion and an exclusive lease with Yilport Holding A.S., a subsidiary of Yildirim Group of Companies.

With the Port of Gulfport nearing completion of the $570 million restoration project, Yilport Holding would commit to investing in additional facility and equipment upgrades, the port and the Turkey-based terminal operator said in a joint announcement.

Gulfport handled more than 2.5 million tons of cargo, including 216,683 TEUs, in 2017. Yilport said its terminals handled 4.3 million TEUs last year.

Yilport recorded 9.5 million tons of general cargo volume, 364,100 CEU of roll-on/roll-off operations and 3.67 million cubic meters of liquid cargo volume in 2017. The firm also owns a 50 percent share in Malta Freeport, which handled 3.15 million containers last year.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in November released a record of decision for a Port of Gulfport expansion project that is expected to include a 282-acre dredge-and-fill program for further expansion of the west pier, north harbor and east pier, as well as the construction of a 4,000-linear-foot breakwater system.

As we continue discussions with Yilport, the Port of Gulfport has a unique opportunity to evaluate a private-public partnership that could lead to a significant investment in additional infrastructure and provide both parties with increased global coverage, said Port Executive Director and CEO Jonathan Daniels. Our central location will allow Yilport to further expand international trade lanes from Gulfport and increase cargo throughput.

Some analysts believe that port authorities increasingly will turn to private-public partnerships and foreign investors to fund needed infrastructure.

In late March the State of Delaware struck a preliminary agreement with United Arab Emirates-based terminal operator Gulftainer Group. If the agreement is finalized, Gulftainer would lease the Port of Wilmington for 50 years, and invest $580 million, including $410 million for a new container terminal on the Delaware River. Gulftainer already operates a container terminal in Port Canaveral, Fla.

On Friday, the board of directors of the Diamond State Port Corporation, which oversees Wilmington, voted to approve the deal with Gulftainer.The Delaware General Assembly must also okay the deal

The Gulfport facility would be Yilports first terminal in North America, although it does operate a ferroalloys production and refining facility in Butler, Pa. Yilport has full or partial ownership of 19 terminals in Turkey, Malta, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Ecuador and Peru. The company was ranked as the 15th-largest terminal operator in a Drewry survey from 2016, the same year Yilport acquired the Portuguese terminal operator Tertir. Parent company Yildrim also has a 24 percent stake in CMA CGM Group, the third-largest container shipping company in the world.

Since we believe that we have very good know-how and the expertise in multipurpose port operations globally and we see lack of investments in many U.S. ports, we are committed to Gulfport Port Authority to upgrade, improve terminal productivity and services by applying state-of-the-art port technologies at Gulfport in order to make the port the most competitive port in that region, said Robert Yuksel Yildirim, chairman of Yilport Holding.

We see a great potential to feed volume, particularly refrigerated goods to Gulfport from Yilport terminals in Ecuador and Peru and Latin America to reach Midwest USA, he said. There is further potential in leveraging the companys trading subsidiary to handle containerized liquid and bulk products out of the U.S. Gulf Coast region for small and medium-sized shippers.

The Port of Gulfport would not be the first public-private investment for Yilport. In August 2016, the company committed to invest $750 million for the development and modernization of the Puerto Bolivar port in Machala, Ecuador. According to Yilport, Puerto Bolivar is one of the largest shipment points for fruits and seafood, and upon completion of five investment phases, the port will have an annual container-handling capacity of 2.5 million TEUs.

The Yildirim Group has operations in 49 countries on four continents. In addition to ports and logistics, its businesses include metals and mining, energy production, fertilizer and chemical production, international trade, industrial construction, real estate development and shipbuilding.
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian-Italian trade relations have a positive dynamics of development in the recent years.

Although the ties suffered a setback due to economic crises, they still recorded growth tendency.

Current bilateral trade turnover volumes prove continuous development.

2012-2014 turnover was 180 million dollars.

In the first 4 months of 2017 exports comprised 8,239,200 dollars, while imports amounted to more than 39 million dollars  a growth of roughly 2 and 4 million dollars respectively against the previous year.

The first session of the Armenian-Italian intergovernmental commission tool place June 7, 2017 in Rome, followed by a business forum.

Armenia mostly exports textile products to Italy, while imports comprise machinery, textiles, chemical materials, furniture and pharmaceuticals.

Products imported from Italy to Armenia mostly include clothing, equipment, footwear, food and furniture.

Armenia mostly exports raw leather, fur, precious and semi-precious stones.

Sectors of mutual commercial cooperation interest include construction, agriculture, tourism, textile and chemical industry.

Major investments from Italy were carried out in Armenia by RENCO, a construction company, and LOVABLE ITALIANA, a fashion retailer.

Military cooperation

The defense ministries of Armenia and Italy signed a cooperation agreement back in 2012 during then-minister of defense of Italy Giampaolo Di Paolas visit to Yerevan.

During the visit the minister spoke about the involvement of Armenian peacekeepers in UNIFIL. The Armenian side debated the issue and gave a positive response.

A 32-man contingent was later deployed to Lebanon in 2014 to serve in UNIFIL under the Italian command.

During a 2015 visit to Italy, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting with Italian defense minister Roberta Pinotti.

During the visit an agreement was reached on increasing the number of Armenian peacekeepers to 60.

In March of 2017, the first military political Armenian-Italian consultations were held in Yerevan  focusing on international, regional security and bilateral cooperation.

Decentralized cooperation.

Cooperation with Italian regions is also promising in terms of developing commercial ties, because the regions of Italy has a rather autonomous trade-economic policy.

Yerevan and Carrara have been proclaimed sister cities in 1967.

Direct contacts have been established between various Armenian and Italian cities (Yerevan-Toscana, Gavar  Priverno, Gyumri  Nardo etc).

On the sidelines of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyans 2011 visit to Italy, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan and Venice Mayor Giorgio Orsoni signed an agreement on launching the process of proclaiming the cities to be sister cities.

In 2012, the Venice Mayor, and president of the province of Milan Guido Podesta visited Yerevan to participate in the World Book Capital event.

Italian officials including Carrara Mayor Angelo Zubbani, visited Yerevan for the Erebuni-Yerevan celebrations in 2013.

In 2013, Nardo and Ashtarak began cooperating after a document was signed during the visit of Nardo Mayor to Armenia. On the sidelines of the same visit, a cooperation and friendship memorandum was signed between Gyumri and Nardo.

President Serzh Sargsyan is currently in Italy and is expected to meet President Sergio Mattarella on April 6.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. US President Donald Trump tossed his prepared remarks in the air at a tax reform roundtable in West Virginia on Thursday, saying the comments were boring, The Hill reported.

"You know, this was going to be my remarks. They would have taken about two minutes, but to hell with it," he said, throwing his paper into the air.

"That would have been a little boring," he added. "Little boring. Right?"

Trump addressed a myriad of topics at the event, including immigration, voter fraud and tax reform.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Two Turkish-American men, arrested for the 2017 attacks on peaceful protests of Armenians, Greeks and Kurds on the occasion of President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Washington visit, have been sentenced to a year and a day in prison, The Washigton Times reports.

Sinan Narin, 45 of McLean, Virginia, and Eyup Yildirim, 50, of Manchester, New Jersey, have been in custody since being arrested in June. To quickly resolve the issue, their lawyers and the U.S. attorney agreed to the one-year-and-a-day sentence for assault and conspiracy, with credit for time already served.

Narin and Yildrim also were sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $100 to a crime victims fund.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) condemned a Washington D.C. Superior Court ruling which gave light sentences to two of the Turkish American attackers. This decision should worry every American, said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. Todays light sentences  on top of the Administration dropping most charges and failing to seek any extraditions of Erdogans bodyguards  threatens to chill the free exercise of the First Amendment rights of Americans of Armenian or any other heritage to protest the actions of a foreign government.

As Americans, its our right to raise our voices on any issue  foreign or domestic  free from fear of violent attack, and confident that those who violate our rights will be brought to justice. Sadly, that has not been the case in response to Erdogans open export of his regimes violence to the streets of Washington, D.C., he said.

Its worth mentioning that just moments after the hearing, supporters of the two convicted felons openly (on video) flashed the "Grey Wolves" sign in front of the victims and their friends/families.

Supporters of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan have attacked peaceful protesters in Washington D.C. The demonstration, which began at Lafayette Square at noon, was organized by a coalition of organizations, including the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and the American Hellenic Council. Several different groups, which included representatives from the Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, and Assyrian communities, participated in the protest, while President Erdogan met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Later it was reported that Recep Tayyip Erdogans security detail were the attackers of the peaceful protest.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of transportation, communication and information technologies Vahan Martirosyan held a meeting April 5 with Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director (Armenia) Shane Rosenthal.

The minister thanked the ADB official for productive cooperation and highlighted the jointly implemented projects.

The ADB executives presented their studies over the North South Road Corridor investment project and the (M6) Vanadzor-Alaverdi-Georgian border road construction, praising the paces and quality of work.

The sides also discussed the issues of extending works in some parts of the North-South corridor due to archaeological excavations.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Former President of South Korea Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 24 years in jail after she was found guilty of abuse of power and coercion, BBC reports.

The verdict was broadcast live, but the ex-leader refused to attend the final trial.

She was found to have colluded with her close friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure conglomerates for bribes in return for political favours.

Choi, who rose to power as an influential confidante of Ms Park, was convicted of corruption in February.

After a prolonged series of hearings and months of street protests calling for her resignation Park Geun-hye was finally removed from office in March 2017. She was arrested shortly afterwards, and has been in detention ever since.

She faced 18 charges including bribery and coercion, and was found guilty for most of them.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. A waste collector has been killed and another one was injured when a Sanitek garbage truck flipped over in Yerevans Davit Bek Street.

The ministry of emergency situations told ARMENPRESS that the driver of the SCANIA truck, operated by Sanitek, lost control and turned over.

First responders rushed the injured worker to the hospital.

Special equipment was brought in to put the truck in a normal position, only after which rescuers were able to recover the body of the second worker.

The injured waste collector is under intensive care.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. From Friday UK manufacturers have to pay a levy on the high-sugar drinks they sell, BBC reports.

Ministers and campaigners believe it has already proved to be a success with many firms reducing sugar content ahead of the change. But others say it is still too early to judge the impact.

Leading brands such as Fanta, Ribena and Lucozade have cut the sugar content of drinks, but Coca-Cola has not.

The introduction of the levy means the UK joins a small handful of nations, including Mexico, France and Norway, which have introduced similar taxes.

The levy is being applied to manufacturers - whether they pass it on to consumers or not is up to them.

Nutrition expert Dr Daniel Bailey said that while the levy is a "positive step" in tackling obesity and had led to a "notable" reaction by the industry, the response by consumers is uncertain.

"The increase in tax placed on soft drinks will make products more expensive, but will this actually discourage people from buying them?

"We could just end up with consumers buying the same amount but paying more."

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. There is general consensus in our society about our foreign policy, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview for a special edition of Gulf News newspaper and Global FDI Reports about Armenia.

Asked about the most significant foreign policy priorities, the President said: First, I have to say, that Armenias foreign policy has been based on four main dictums: being proactive, being engaged, being consistent and ensuring a firm presence where our interests require it. In the past 10 years we have continued our efforts aimed at finding a peaceful resolution in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and ensuring a sustainable peace between Armenia, the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan.

Despite all our efforts and goodwill, supported by the United States, France and Russia, which form the co-Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group  the main mediation format here  we have a long way to go. Our efforts have been further jeopardized by continuous ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan up to now, the flare-up in August 2014, and the Four Day War of April 2016. Its unfortunate that the Azerbaijani leadership has long been misled by its oil money and still holds maximalist views on the resolution.

Sargsyan mentioned that he aspired to open a new chapter in relations with neighboring Turkey during his presidency.

At my initiative, supported by the international community as a whole and under Swiss mediation, we negotiated and signed two protocols in Zurich in October 2009, aimed at opening the common borders and normalising our relations. Its unfortunate that the Turkish leadership backtracked from the spirit of signed documents and good neighbourly relations and put forward unrelated preconditions for the ratification and implementation. It was due to this position that I had to declare in September 2017 in the UN General Assembly and reiterate at the recent Munich Security Conference that in that unfriendly environment we have no choice but to shelve the documents in the archives of history. On March 1 the National Security Council further deliberated the matter and I signed a decree to terminate the procedures of conclusion of the Zurich protocols. Of course, we may pursue other opportunities in the future when the Turkish leadership matures. 

In the present volatile international environment, we have remained faithful to our longstanding and principled position of seeking to benefit the common interests of our partners. We firmly believe that its our duty to bridge, where possible, the differences of our partners and allies, and not create additional tensions. That would be irresponsible. To that end, I must say, there is general consensus in our society about our foreign policy. Its a dictum of this patient and principled policy that we chose to participate in both the Eurasian Economic Union  where in fact we became a co-founder  and sign the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the EU in November 2017. It is dear to our hearts to see our partners cooperating, while we all benefit from such cooperation. We have seen enough contradictions and wars in our history, President Sargsyan said.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. One of the major directions of Armenia's foreign policy has been cooperation with Arab countries, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview for a special edition of Gulf News newspaper and Global FDI Reports about Armenia, reports Armenpress.

We have been able to establish good, mutually beneficial cooperation with the UAE, as well as with other countries in the region. These good relations that we enjoy should be taken advantage of and transferred into economic cooperation, the President said.

He recalled the business forum held in Abu Dhabi in 2017, stating that it was a continuation of the discussions held during his official visit to the UAE back in 2016. President Sargsyan said Armenia established a visa-free regime for UAE citizens and for legal residence there.

We also concluded a new agreement to encourage and protect investments. Meanwhile, many entrepreneurs made reciprocal visits: Emiratis to Armenia and Armenians to the UAE. The result in 2017 was that our trade turnover exceeded $200m. I believe this is just a small volume of the huge untapped potential that exists for economic cooperation  only about 15%-20%. Therefore, we will continue to draw closer and spare no effort in further fostering our relations with the UAE in all possible areas, the Armenian President said.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has all the qualities to be an attractive destination for tourists from the Gulf region or elsewhere, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview for a special edition of Gulf News newspaper and Global FDI Reports about Armenia, reports Armenpress.

He highlighted that Armenia eliminated visa requirement for UAE nationals, and the language issue is easily addressed and resolved. The country has a rich historical and cultural heritage and fascinating nature, as well as mild weather all year round. We have already established the necessary infrastructure and there are numerous ways for tourists to enjoy themselves  everything is available. Both Yerevan and Armenia in general are extremely safe, the President said.

Addressing potential investors, the Armenian President said as a small country, Armenia has the advantage on working individually with every single large investor who arrives in the country. We furnish investors with privileges and tax breaks when their new enterprises produce goods that have not been produced here before. Any investment in Armenia is safe and protected, President Sargsyan noted.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Investments in the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey, which is under development by Russias Rosatom, have reached nearly 3 billion dollars, Russias energy minister Alexander Novak said, TASS reported.

It is definitely sufficient for construction to proceed, he said when asked if the absence of foreign investors can impact on the development.

The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is under development at Akkuyu, in Buyukeceli, Mersin Province, Turkey.

In May 2010, Russia and Turkey signed an agreement that a subsidiary of Rosatom  Akkuyu NGS Elektrik Uretim Corp. would build, own, and operate a power plant at Akkuyu comprising four 1,200 MW VVER units. The agreement was ratified by the Turkish Parliament in July 2010. Engineering and survey work started at the site in 2011.

The official launch ceremony took place in April 2015.Major construction started in March 2018, and the first unit is expected to become operational in 2023. The other three units are expected to be complete by 2025.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke about his recent meetings on Syria with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the Kremlin press service said in a statement, TASS reports.



"Putin informed Macron about the decisions made at the April 4 Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit in Ankara, which concern further cooperation aimed at ensuring long-term stability in Syria, strengthening the countrys sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity," the statement reads.

"It was noted that there was a need to advance the political settlement process through implementing the decisions made at the Syrian national Dialogue Congress, as well as to promptly establish a United Nations sponsored Constitutional Committee," the Kremlin press service added.

"The situation in Eastern Ghouta was also discussed, the focus was on the unprecedented large-scale operation to save civilians and withdraw militants not willing to lay down their arms," the statement says.

"Russia emphasized the importance of consolidating the global communitys efforts to provide humanitarian aid to people in need across Syria in compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2401," the Kremlin press service pointed out.

The two presidents expressed "readiness to continue Russian-French consultations on key aspects of the Syria settlement."

The Kremlin press service added that the telephone call had been initiated by Paris.

The sides also discussed Macrons upcoming visit to Russia in May.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Foreign minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, who arrived in Minsk, the capital of Belarus on a working visit, participated in the session of the Council of foreign ministers of the CIS participating states on April 6, the ministry told Armenpress.

The session launched in a narrow format, than continued in an extended format with the participation of delegations.

The session agenda included more than dozen draft decisions aimed at increasing the efficiency of the organizations activity, developing the mutual partnership of the CIS participating states in political, security, cultural and educational spheres. All draft decisions were approved by the foreign ministers.

The FMs exchanged views on urgent international issues, touched upon issues on holding consultations between the foreign ministries of the CIS participating states.

The ministers approved the draft Agreement on Cooperation in Fight Against Crimes in IT sphere, as well as the draft 2019-2023 interstate project on joint fight against crime.

The session participants also discussed 100 Ideas for CIS project which aims at engaging youth in solution of issues facing the CIS participating states.

A decision was made to convene the next session of the Council in September 2018.

The foreign ministers of the CIS participating states met with the President of Belarus.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The trial of the gunmen, dubbed the Nork Marash armed group, continued April 6 in a Yerevan court.

At todays trial session, the court released a phone recording of Arthur Vardanyan, the ringleader of the syndicate.

In the recording the ringleader is discussing acquisition of firearms with Hakob Hakobyan, a member of the group who has been sentenced to over three years imprisonment for other charges.

On the tape, the two discuss the prices of TT and Makarov handguns and Kalashnikov machine guns and ammo.

Hakobyan was allegedly unaware about Vardanyans intentions to use the weapons for an attempted coup.

The syndicate led by Arthur Vardanyan had planned to overthrow the government.

Armenian intelligence agencies said the syndicate planned to down the presidential aircraft, attack the presidential residence, the governmental HQ, the Parliament Seat, the Constitutional Court building and other state buildings.

Intelligence agencies gathered the information and apprehended all members of the syndicate in November 2015, when national security agents stormed the compound of the syndicate in Yerevans Nork Marash district. The location of the compound was the reason why the media dubbed the syndicate  Nork Marash Armed Group.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting today with Roberto Fico, President of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of parliament) of Italy in Rome.

In the beginning of the meeting Mr. Fico asked the Armenian president about the process of his visit to Italy and Vatican, the presidents office said.

The president presented the busy agenda and results of the visit, the meeting and agreements which were reached.

President Sargsyan congratulated Roberto Fico on his election as President of the Chamber of Deputies, wished productive work and expressed hope that Mr. Fico will have important contribution in the further development of Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary cooperation.

The Armenian president attached great importance to the role of parliamentary ties in expanding the agenda of interstate relations, and notified Roberto Fico that the Armenian parliament has formed a good tradition of friendly ties with parliaments of numerous European countries.

President Sargsyan stressed  it is time to also elevate the Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary partnership to a newer level  especially when all required prerequisite are in place.

In this context Sargsyan emphasized that simply the fact that the previous Italian parliamentary friendship circle with Armenia was one of the two largest groups in the worlds parliaments speaks volumes.

After Armenias transitioning to a parliamentary administration system, there are greater cooperation opportunities and potential, which must be fully used, the president said.

The president expressed hope that the next friendship group with Armenia in the Italian parliament will be formed as soon as possible after the March elections, and that partnership with the Italian parliament will continue to deepen.

Sargsyan warmly recalled being hosted in Naples, the hometown of Mr. Fico, during his previous visit to Italy. Sargsyan mentioned that Naples is more than dear for Armenians.

Mr. Fico said he knows that the St. Gregory Armenian Church is located in Naples, where the relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator are kept.

The meeting also touched upon the relations of Armenia with the EU and the recently signed CEPA.

The sides also exchanged ideas over the negotiations process of the NK conflict settlement.

The Armenian president presented to Mr. Fico the latest developments and the approach of the Armenian side, which are in line with principles and approaches of the OSCE MG.

On the sidelines of the visit to Italy, the Armenian President also gave an interview to La Stampa, a prestigious Italian newspaper.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
CYBERSPACEThe controversial classified advertising site Backpage.com was taken offline and seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, according to media reports. The FBI also raided the Sedona, Arizona, home of the sites founder, Michael Lacey, Arizona Center for Investigative Reportings Evan Wyloge reported.

When an AVN.com reporter attempted to verify the seizure by accessing the site on Friday, the banner depicted above was briefly displayed. The banner says that the United States Justice Department will provide more information about the apparent seizure at 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, April 6.

But even when the banner disappeared from the sites main page, links off that page appeared to lead nowhere, producing only messages saying that the sites pages were not reachable.

The site was popular with sex workers advertising their various services, and on Friday, some of them took to Twitter to complain that their ads had disappeared without any noticeor any refunds of money being issued.

According to Wyloge, the FBIs Phoenix office confirmed the raid on Laceys home. Lacey was the founder of the New Times chain of alternative weekly newspapers, and with business partner Jim Larkin later bought Village Voice Media, making Lacey the co-owner of weekly newspapers in New York City, Los Angeles and many other major cities.

But in 2012, Lacey and Larkin split from Village Voice Media, retaining ownership of Backpage. The site came under fire and is currently the target of lawsuits alleging that its classified ad services promote sex trafficking. The allegation was a major impetus for Congress to pass the recent FOSTA bill, which weakens legal protections for internet sites, in the supposed interest of curtailing online sex trafficking.

In 2016, Lacey and Larkin were jailed in California on charges of profiting from prostitution due to the Backpage classified ads.

According to Wyloge, the raid on Laceys home consisted of about 20 undercover cops climbing over his property in Oak Creek this morning.

Journalist Melissa Gira Grant reported that while the domain name Backpage.com had been seized, the server housing the sites data had not, as of Friday.
One day after Donald Trump made his first public statements about Stormy Daniels, denying that he knew anything about the $130,000 hush money payment sent to Daniels by his attorney Michael Cohen, a group of Christian evangelical leaders say that they want a face-to-face meeting with Trump to talk about his involvement with Daniels.

Daniels says that she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006, and that just days before the 2016 presidential election, Cohen paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about it. Trump has not yet commented publicly on the alleged affair itself, but White House spokespersons have said that he denies it took place.

Until now, Christian evangelicalsspecifically, white Christian evangelicalshave supported Trump in unwavering fashion, with 81 percent of white evangelicals having voted for Trump in 2016. Despite describing themselves as values voters, white evangelicals as a group have shown indifference to the scandals and misconduct allegations emerging from Trumps personal life.

In fact, shortly after the Daniels hush money story broke in the Wall Street Journal in January, one top conservative Christian leader, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, said that he would give Trump a mulligan and a do-over when it comes to the alleged affair with Daniels, because despite his personal foibles, Trump is willing to punch liberals.

Fully 70 percent of white evangelicals said that they approve of Trumps performance in the Oval Office as recently as early Marchalmost two months after news of the Daniels affair and payoff became publicaccording to a CBS News poll. A Pew Research Center poll conducted around the same time found 80 percent of that group continuing to back Trump.

But now, according to sources who spoke to National Public Radio for a report broadcast today, white evangelical leaders are very concerned about the Daniels scandal, and are demanding a face-to-face meeting with Trump in Washington D.C. sometime in June.

However, according to Fridays report, the evangelical leaders are concerned not as much with Trumps behavior, as with how the Stormy Daniels scandal might impact Republican candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, to be held on November 6.

Confronting the evangelicals was not the only Daniels-related headache that arose for Trump on Friday, following his public denial that he was aware of Cohen's payoff to Daniels. Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing Daniels in the case, said that with Trumps public statement, Christmas has arrived for him and his client. The "hush" agreement with Daniels cannot be valid, Avenatti said, if one of the parties to the agreement, Trump, had no knowldege that it existed.

Avenatti also said on Thursday that he would now refile his motion with the court to put Trump under oath in a deposition, subjecting him to cross-examination. Avenattis original motion to depose Trump was denied by a judge as premature because Trump had to be given the chance to file for an arbitration hearing regarding the non-disclosure agreement. With that agreement now apparently having been shown to be invalid, Daniels' lawsuit should proceed, and depositions scheduled.

Public domain photo by Ali Shaker/Voice of America
Greg Lanskys beautifully shot interracial series returns with four girls eager for black dick from dark, sexy, sculpted studs. The opening romp between Nicole Aniston and Jason Luv is a stunner. This passionate and excellently acted scene culminates in Aniston begging for his cum inside her, and he delivers a great cream pie. The other three scenes do not slouch, a further highlight being Makenna Blue in her first interracial scene with Jason Brown. Great fare for interracial fans.
Tesco bakery chief Gordon Gafa and Bread Ahead founder Matthew Jones will key speakers for the British Society of Bakings Spring Conference 2018.

The event takes place at the worlds oldest bakery school  the National Bakery School, London South Bank University  on Wednesday 25 April.

Cutting-edge developments in the craft of chocolate, current thinking on emulsifiers and the lowdown on government policies to support UK bakers are all on the events agenda.

Headline speaker Gordon Gafa, Tesco UKs category director for bakery, dairy & local, will be giving a presentation entitled Winning together in bakery: Tescos perspective. This is Gafas second appearance at a BSB conference. Since his debut at the BSBs Autumn Conference 2016, he has rolled out a new in-store bakery concept across Tescos portfolio, winning Supermarket Bakery Business of the Year 2017 at last Septembers Baking Industry Awards in the process.

His latest presentation will show how changes implemented over the past two years have improved Tescos customer offerings and rebuilt trust in its brand.

Bread Ahead founder Matthew Jones, meanwhile, will discuss how he fulfilled his goals by creating the London-based bakery while making a place to teach baking to a new generation of enthusiasts.

Its great to be hosting such a strong speaker line-up at the worlds oldest bakery school, said BSB chairman Paul Turner. I would particularly encourage bakers based in and around the capital to join us. We seek to be the place where the whole of the British baking industry comes together and the agenda for this conference is a perfect example of the depth of knowledge thats on offer at our events.

David Phoenix, vice chancellor and chief executive of London South Bank University, will also give a short presentation while Professor Paul Berryman, food & drink investment specialist at the Department for International Trade, will discuss advances in innovation and research within bakery.

Kerry Groups Martin Mullally and Alireza Jawad will make a technical presentation on choosing functional ingredients and picking the right emulsifiers for baked goods. And Beverley Dunkley from ruby chocolate pioneer Barry Callebaut will talk about sugar reduction.

The Spring Conference will be chaired by BSB member Peter Baker, of Finsbury Food Group.
In the lead-up to the royal nuptials, Iceland is to roll out a handmade elderflower and lemon cake modelled on Prince Harry and Meghan Markles choice of wedding cake.

Iceland has unveiled its own version of the royal cake, originally conceived by Claire Ptak, owner and founder of Hackneys Violet Bakery.

The elderflower and lemon cake will cost 8  which Iceland said was a fraction of the proposed 50,000 bill Buckingham Palace will receive for the original  and will be available in store from 14 May for one week only. There will be a limited number of cakes per store.

The cake has two tiers, and is comprised of three layers: a lemon sponge encased in white elderflower buttercream, filled with Sicilian lemon curd. Crowning the top are chocolate pearls covered in gold shimmer.

We want our customers to enjoy the royal wedding celebrations in style, and what better way to do that than raising a glass of champagne to the newlyweds and having a slice of their actual wedding cake  well, kind of, said Neil Nugent, head chef at Iceland.

Unlike the upcoming original, the copycat cake is not decorated with seasonal flowers. Nugent recommended consumers add some wild flowers decorations to keep the royal theme.

Ptak has kept quiet about details of the flowers. Some believe she may opt to use peonies, which will be in season as the nuptials commence.

Additionally, the white elderflower buttercream has been applied to the Iceland cake with a smooth and thick finish, different to the rustic style showcased on Ptaks Violet Bakery Cafes Instagram.

Buttercream is rarely used by Ptak  elderflower or otherwise.

There has also been no official word on how big the royal wedding cake will be, although Prince Williams celebration cake was a huge eight-tiered affair  with four three-tiered cakes at its base, and a five-tiered cake crowning the top,.

Inspired by the bright flavours of spring, Ptaks creation appears popular with consumers worldwide; a swathe of royal cake copycat recipes have sprung up online from both sides of Atlantic.

The May wedding is believed to the first time a Royal couple has eschewed a multi-tiered fruitcake for their wedding celebration, bucking centuries of tradition and tapping a rising trend for natural flavours and seasonal produce.

Harry, fifth in line to the throne, will wed Markle on 19 May at Windsor Castle. The pair have extended the wedding invitation to more than 1,000 members of the public, who will watch their arrival and departure on the grounds of Windsor Castle.
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.
The Joint Legislative Study Committee on the Division of Local School Administrative Units took a detour from talking about district size to explore innovative programs across the state.The study committee is looking at the impact of a school district's size on its performance, and whether it would be beneficial to split up large districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools or Wake County schools. Both CMS and Wake County schools serve more than 100,000 students. The average number of students in districts statewide is about 12,000.During the last committee meeting , co-chairman Rep. Bill Brawley, R-Mecklenburg, expressed a desire to look at what other counties are doing to improve academic performance.Only a handful of legislators attended the Wednesday, April 4 meeting, which featured speakers from CMS and school districts in Buncombe, Lenoir, Surry, and Vance counties.Vance County Superintendent Anthony Jackson highlighted the improvements in his district, which he attributed to Advance Academy , an alternative high school for at-risk students.Jackson said.Over the past three years, graduation rates have risen while dropout rates and long-term suspensions have decreased. Jackson credited these outcomes to Advance Academy's flexible calendar, social and emotional support, credit-recovery programs, and personalized pathways to graduation.Jackson said.CMS Superintendent Clayton Wilcox spoke of how ProjectLIFT , a public-private partnership, helps students in his district.Wilcox said the program focuses on four areas: talent, time management, technology, and parent and community involvement. But Wilcox noted the participants haven't seen the gains in student achievement they expected.Wilcox said.Although funding is a necessary component of school performance, Wilcox said dollars alone aren't enough to push great schools to even higher levels of achievement.Richard Vinroot, former Charlotte mayor and co-founder of Sugar Creek Charter School, showcased the success of the charter school in CMS despite high levels of poverty. Sugar Creek is a K-12 school with more than 1,600 students. The school serves mostly African-American students and 94 percent of the students qualify for the federal free- or reduced-price lunch program. Despite the poverty-related challenges, Sugar Creek is performing better than its neighbors. The school earned a C from the N.C. school report cards for 2016-17 while meeting growth benchmarks.Vinroot said the goal of Sugar Creek is to end generational poverty by providing a comprehensive education plan and personalized learning structure.Vinroot said.Several of the programs faced similar challenges including tight budgets and full capacity. Speakers said these programs would need additional money to expand.Surry County Superintendent Travis Reeves said.Brawley emphasized that no draft legislation will come from the study committee, only a report explaining the committee's findings. The next meeting is tentatively set for April 11.
The Department of Education's method for awarding college students financial aid has many perverse effects. It contributes to rising tuition, keeps students in the dark about their aid eligibility for too long, gives some colleges unfair special treatment, and does not incentivize colleges to improve.But a small tweak would address those problems: replacing the Cost of Attendance (CoA) with the Median Cost of College (MCoC). The Cost of Attendance is determined by each college based on its estimate of the total cost of attending that particular college.Currently, the government uses the CoA to calculate how much aid a student will receive. The government subtracts how much it thinks the student can afford to pay (the student's Expected Family Contribution) from the CoA. This calculation yields the student's financial need.Schools use aid programs (such as Pell grants, federal student loans, and university scholarships) to try to meet each student's financial need, subject to aid program caps. In general, the larger the CoA, the larger the need, and the larger the financial aid packages for students. This means that students at colleges with a higher Cost of Attendance are generally offered more aid than other students, which gives colleges a reason to set their CoA higher than otherwise.To prevent such gamesmanship, the Median Cost of College should be used for determining aid eligibility instead of the Cost of Attendance. The Median Cost of College for an institution is just the Cost of Attendance for the median student. To illustrate how this change would work, suppose there are three colleges that each have one student, and their CoA is $90, $100, and $110 respectively. Under the current method, the students' aid eligibility would be based on the CoA of the college they are attending, which means that the student at the college with a CoA of $110 will be eligible for more aid than the student at the college with a CoA of $90. But if we switched to the MCoC, the CoA for the median student (in this case, $100) would be used for determining aid for all three students.The advantages of replacing the Cost of Attendance with the Median Cost of College are numerous:The first benefit of switching to the MCoC from the CoA is that it would finally defeat the Bennett Hypothesis. The Bennett Hypothesis holds that more aid to colleges pushes prices higher because colleges tend to raise tuition when aid is increased, allowing them to harvest more of the aid. When this happens, increases in financial aid do not make college more affordable. Instead, the aid drives college prices higher while keeping the cost to aid recipients constant.The literature on the Bennett Hypothesis is quite mixed. However, earlier studies that found that the Bennett Hypothesis was not a danger tended to use unreliable methodologies or test simplistic versions of the theory . More recent studies tend to have more convincing statistical methodologies, and usually find evidence in support of the hypothesis (see for example, here and here ).But while we should be worried about the Bennett Hypothesis, it is not an immutable law of nature, and indeed we do not worry that subsidizing say, bread would drive up the price of bread. We only worry about this bizarre result for higher education because of the peculiar market for higher education and how financial aid eligibility shapes it. The CoA fuels the Bennett Hypothesis because it provides a direct link between increasing tuition and an increase in aid. Under the Median Cost of College method, this link is severed because aid eligibility is determined independently of an individual college's tuition (unless it happens to be the college with the median cost).A second advantage of the MCoC is that college students could know their federal aid packages much sooner. Currently, students apply for federal financial aid by filling out the FAFSA. But the government does not tell students how much financial aid they are eligible for. Instead, the government sends student information to individual colleges, and the colleges then tell the student how much aid they can get at that specific school. This delayed third-party reporting is necessary because of the Cost of Attendance metric, which means the financial aid the government will provide to each student varies by college.One drawback is that some students never apply to college because they do not realize how much aid they would qualify for. But if the government used the Median Cost of College instead, it could provide students with their financial aid eligibility immediately upon completion of the FAFSA, helping these students escape this catch-22The third main benefit of adopting the Median Cost of College is that it will stop the special treatment given to some colleges. Right now, the government routinely gives some colleges special treatment: The prime example is campus-based aid programs targeted at needy students. Those programs nevertheless end up funneling most of the aid money disproportionately to wealthy colleges with relatively few needy students.The CoA also contributes to unfair treatment by giving students at higher-cost colleges access to more aid. Furthermore, without any evidence that colleges with higher costs deliver a better education, there is no justification for the government to provide more aid to their students. Fairness and the rule of law dictate that unless there is a compelling reason to treat colleges differently, the government should treat them the same. In this case, that means giving their students equal access to federal financial aid.Some might object that the MCoC is an inappropriate "one-size-fits-all" approach, especially in light of evidence that the cost of delivering an education varies by both level (B.A., M.A., Ph.D.) and degree . But there is no reason why the Department of Education could not calculate MCoCs for each degree and level based on the degree classifications the department already uses (the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) , which classifies programs based on two, four, or six-digit codes). In other words, all students getting a bachelor's degree in say, Developmental and Child Psychology (CIP code 42.2703) would have the same MCoC used for determining their aid eligibility.The MCoC will work well when differences in costs are due to the inefficiency of high-cost programs (e.g., a high-cost chemistry program compared to a low-cost chemistry program). In these cases, high-cost programs will have an incentive to adopt the best practices of their lower-cost competitors since their students will not qualify for more aid to compensate for inefficiency.But what about cases where higher costs are due to higher quality-should not the government provide more aid to students at higher-quality programs? I agree that students in higher-quality programs should be eligible for more aid if it costs more to provide the higher quality. What I disagree with is the notion that having a higher CoA is sufficient proof of superiority. The MCoC, by changing the default to equal treatment of programs, gives a strong incentive for high-quality programs to get serious about measuring educational outcomes because only by doing so will they be able to convince society that their students should have access to more aid. This will benefit us all by identifying the most effective educational practices and incentivizing their adoption.In sum, we should replace the Cost of Attendance with the Median Cost of College when determining student aid eligibility. The MCoC will finally defeat the Bennett Hypothesis, will provide students with more timely information about their aid packages, will stop the unfair special treatment of elite colleges, and will encourage colleges to improve. Although the Ivy League and other expensive schools may scream, it will go a long way toward setting federal financial aid back on a sensible course.
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Well, this is creepy: According to Bloomberg Law, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is currently shopping for a contractor that can help it compile a list of editors, journalists, and online "media influencers." Additionally, they're looking for goons to help them identify all social media coverage that relates to the agency or events that the agency may be involved in.

From Bloomberg:

"Services shall provide media comparison tools, design and rebranding tools, communication tools, and the ability to identify top media influencers," according to the statement. DHS agencies have "a critical need to incorporate these functions into their programs in order to better reach federal, state, local, tribal, and private partners," it said. The plan, according to DHS, is to set up a database of influential journalists, publications and online influencers. Those with access to the databaseyou can go ahead and read that as Big Brotherwill be able to browse "present contact details and any other information that could be relevant, including publications this influencer writes for, and an overview of the previous coverage published by the media influencer."

So, kind of like Mudrack, but for spooks.

The proposed database could be searchable by factors such as what beat a writer covers, where they're located, what publications they work for, and whether they rely on local or international sources in their work. Now, here's where it gets ugly. One of the other points that DHS wants to be able to search is the "sentiment" of a story. Was a writer's take on events pro-America or not? Did a columnist write an op-ed that looked on President Trump's latest policy trainwreck unfavorably?

Yeah.

You could look at this measure and say that it comes as a response to the threat of "fake news": being able to keep track of who's writing what could help to curb the dissemination of false information. Fine. But at a time when lawmakers are proposing that journalists and news outlets be licensed and our rights to digital privacy are being eroded, DHS' searching for a vendor to undertake such a monitoring project feels pretty fucking sinister.

Freedom House, an organization that monitors incidents of media suppression, attacks on journalists and freedom of the press around the world, has been tracking an uptick in attacks on press freedoms over the past few years. Right now, if you visit their site, you'll find that they're not too concerned about what's going on with press freedoms in North America. Should The Department of Homeland Security's project be used to track, question, intimidate, or suppress journalists and the outlets that they work for, what they have to report about North America could look a whole lot different in a real short amount of time.

Image: Eric J. Hebert, USCGAUX  USCGAUX Public Affairs, Public Domain, Link
The Management & Training Corporation operates two federal prisons and 20 more state/local prisons around America; previously, it has been censured by Arizona for its role in deadly prison riots; now, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center are suing the state of Mississippi over the violence, neglect, and rampant human rights abuses at Management & Training's East Mississippi Correctional Facility, near Meridian in Lauderdale County.



The trial has heard from a seemingly endless queue of shackled men, brought from the prison to testify about the conditions under Management & Training Corporation's policies: they describe a prison where the prisoners routinely break out of their cells to visit terrible violence on other prisoners, without any intervention from guards; where guards turned and ran when the shackled, helpless man they were dragging to his cell was set upon by an armed gang; where guards are paid less than $12/hour and received three weeks' training; where facilities devoted to people with mental illness have virtually no trained psychiatric staff; where prisoners whose bones have been broken during assaults are thrown in their cells for days before they receive any medical attention.





The Mississippi prison system is a model of red state austerity, where the for-profit contractors like Management & Training receive just $9500/year ($26/day) per prisoner  compared with $73,000/year per prisoner spent in New York.

To turn a profit under those conditions, Management & Training badly understaffs its prisons, creating a workplace few will tolerate  as a result, even the most incompetent and sadistic employees get to keep their jobs. That's why Frank Shaw was made warden of the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, even after overseeing the catastrophic riots in Management & Training's Arizona facilities.





Shaw told the court he hadn't heard of any of the abuses that the prisoners testified about. He also revealed that he is given bonuses when he contains costs, but faces no sanctions if prisoners are injured or killed on his watch. Four prisoners died in Shaw's facility in the first quarter of this year.





Meanwhile, prisoners who testify about being assaulted are being moved into cells adjacent to their attackers by Management & Training, which is seemingly intent to have them join the ranks of the dead as a message to any other prisoner who might speak out.

Donald Trump has vowed to increase the use of for-profit private prisons in the federal system.



Pelicia E. Hall, the commissioner of the state prison system, testified that she may have been unaware of many problems at the facility because she did not read weekly performance reports from the state's own monitor. In the courtroom, the reports were delivered in person: An inmate testified in tears that a female guard had mocked him when he tried to report being raped in a cell in January. The guard never informed her superiors about the rape. In an unrelated assault, surveillance video showed an inmate being beaten by other prisoners for 14 minutes before guards arrived. Neither the state nor the private prison company has contested the accuracy of the prisoners' accounts heard in court, although lawyers for the state say the stories should be treated with skepticism. An inmate described another attack that occurred this year. He said a prisoner armed with a knife and a 4-foot section of pipe charged at him while he was being escorted to his cell by two guards. Instead of helping him, he said, the two guards ran away.



Inside a Private Prison: Blood, Suicide and Poorly Paid Guards

[Timothy Williams/New York Times]
In a paper published by the International Association for Cryptologic Research, a group of Harvard and MIT cryptographers demonstrate that even if the government were to backdoor encryption and lock up anyone who used non-backdoored systems, people could still hide undetectable, secure, private messages within the messages sent over the compromised systems.



The authors describe a steganographic system  a system that hides the existence of a message  that can run undetectably in any cryptographic protocol that is designed to keep rival governments' spy agencies out.





I don't have the math chops to follow this paper, though the non-math parts are pretty clear to anyone with a lay understanding of crypto. I know that many cryptographers of my acquaintance are skeptical of steganography in general, since the introduction of scrambled messages into imperceptible or invisible channels in widely trafficked file-types might be hard for humans to foil, but this has historically been easy for computers to detect. For example, many have tried to hide messages in images by toggling the last bit for the color value in each pixel; this least-significant bit can be twiddled without creating any visible degradation in a message, but images containing cryptographic messages in their pixels' least-significant digits have markedly different properties to normal images, because under normal circumstances, compression systems would smooth out any seeming randomness in those least-significant digits, and this smoothness is mathematically very different to an encrypted message, which is meant to be indistinguishable from random noise.





I think the authors here are arguing that since they're hiding encrypted messages in other encrypted messages, the "container" files are already very random-noise-seeming, and adding the additional seemingly random bits to them will not arouse suspicion, even under close statistical analysis.

The authors are at pains to point out that their attack on backdoored crypto and authoritarian states rests on two bedrock assumptions: first, that governments will want their domestic users to have cryptographic protection against rival spies, so they will try to design a system that is secure to anyone who isn't in possession of some secret known only to the state; and second, that this state will not be able to spy on the programs running on the computers in its borders, so that attackers will be able to run programs to encrypt, hide, detect and decrypt the steganographic messages without tipping off the state.





It's not inconceivable that a state might demand backdoors and also do something that wouldn't satisfy these conditions: for example, they may insist that all computers in their borders be designed to function like Apple's Ios devices, only capable of running programs that have been certified by some remote party, and then arrogate that certifying power to themselves, banning programs that could perform the steganography attack.





But that's OK: the point of this paper  as I see it  is to point out to policymakers that an attempt to ban working crypto would also require total surveillance of all computers and/or a willingness to let enemy spies conduct surveillance of your population, government and businesses. As clueless lawmakers at the highest levels of government in self-styled democratic states moot bans on working cryptography as a means of ensuring that cops and spies can break into their domestic adversaries' communications, these reality checks are a welcome addition to the debate about whether any of this can possibly work.



In this work, we examine the feasibility of secure and undetectable point-to-point communication in a world where governments can read all the encrypted communications of their citizens. We consider a world where the only permitted method of communication is via a government-mandated encryption scheme, instantiated with government-mandated keys. Parties cannot simply encrypt ciphertexts of some other encryption scheme, because citizens caught trying to communicate outside the government's knowledge (e.g., by encrypting strings which do not appear to be natural language plaintexts) will be arrested. The one guarantee we suppose is that the government mandates an encryption scheme which is semantically secure against outsiders: a perhaps reasonable supposition when a government might consider it advantageous to secure its people's communication against foreign entities. But then, what good is semantic security against an adversary that holds all the keys and has the power to decrypt? We show that even in the pessimistic scenario described, citizens can communicate securely and undetectably. In our terminology, this translates to a positive statement: all semantically secure encryption schemes support subliminal communication. Informally, this means that there is a two-party protocol between Alice and Bob where the parties exchange ciphertexts of what appears to be a normal conversation even to someone who knows the secret keys and thus can read the corresponding plaintexts. And yet, at the end of the protocol, Alice will have transmitted her secret message to Bob. Our security definition requires that the adversary not be able to tell whether Alice and Bob are just having a normal conversation using the mandated encryption scheme, or they are using the mandated encryption scheme for subliminal communication. Our topics may be thought to fall broadly within the realm of steganography: the science of hiding secret communication within innocent-looking messages, or cover objects. However, we deal with the non-standard setting of an adversarially chosen distribution of cover objects (i.e., a stronger-than-usual adversary), and we take advantage of the fact that our cover objects are ciphertexts of a semantically secure encryption scheme to bypass impossibility results which we show for broader classes of steganographic schemes. We give several constructions of subliminal communication schemes under the assumption that key exchange protocols with pseudorandom messages exist (such as Diffie-Hellman, which in fact has truly random messages). Each construction leverages the assumed semantic security of the adversarially chosen encryption scheme, in order to achieve subliminal communication.

How to Subvert Backdoored Encryption: [Thibaut Horel and Sunoo Park and Silas Richelson and Vinod Vaikuntanathan]

(via Schneier)

(Image: Corey Burger, CC-BY-SA)


A new Florida law redefines the reach of beachfront property owners' claims to "the land above the mean high-tide level." This seemingly innocuous change means that private property owners  and their patrolling rent-a-cops  will have vastly expanded powers to kick members of the public off of public beaches.

The law also bans cities from creating their own rules to ensure public access to public lands.





In this oligarchic moment, every public resource is under assault: Trump's Park Service wants to exclude 71% of working class Americans from national parks; evil billionaires conspire to fence off public beaches, while evil millionaires resort to committing smaller-scale frauds to steal the public's beaches.

Governor Rick Scott, who signed the law, insists that everything will be fine, because rich people are unlikely to abuse their new powers.





If you want to distinguish the left from the right, here's an easy litmus test. Ask, "What is more important, property rights or human rights?" If your subject says "Property rights are human rights," they are on the political right.(Many thanks to Steven Brust for this important formulation.)

"I think this bill is ridiculous," says Philip Levine, the former Miami Beach mayor now running for the Democratic bid for governor. "Why would we want to take away one of the most basic rights of our residents and do something that could hurt our tourism economy? People visit Florida to be able to walk the beach freely and without being accosted whether they are on dry sand or wet sand."

HB 631 deals with "customary use," the de facto legal doctrine that allows the public to use privately owned parts of the sand if they can show that it's been used for years by the general public. The new law blocks cities and counties from passing new ordinances guaranteeing that customary-use access. Instead, local governments would have to go straight to a judge to argue whether the public should be blocked from the sand.

Rick Scott Just Signed a Bill That Could Make Many of Florida's Beaches Private [Travis Cohen/Miami New Times]
Decorating eggs is an ancient tradition, still alive in many countries, from Iran to Greece, but in Ukraine it becomes an art formand a national obsession. Pysanka, as the decorated egg is called, from the word pysaty, to write, is one of the most important traditional arts in Ukraine. Today pysanka (plural is pysanky) is prepared around Easter, although decorated eggs were also used to be given as birthday gifts and wedding presents. Each region has its own set of symbols, colors and patterns, while each master adds their own signature touch.

Its not surprising then that Ukraine should have a museum dedicated to the pysanky. The Pysanka Museum in the western Ukrainian city of Kolomyia is one of the most fascinating museums Ive visited. The museum was a labor of love of the local community that collected the best examples of its pysanka masters and preserved them in the Kolomyia church of the Annunciation. In 2000, the museum was formally opened, allowing for preservation of the fragile masterpieces, as well as for hosting workshops and lectures. Walking through its halls filled with more than 1000 pysanky is a mind-blowing experience. Its hard to believe that such intricate designs are made by human hands.

In order to prepare the egg for decoration, it has to be emptied and washed to remove any trace of the albumen. Then the designs are painted over the egg with hot wax. The finer the details, the more prized the final result, but also important is the story, because pysanka is not simply a pretty object. It might include a wish, a tale, or a dream. Waving lines usually signify water, while squares mean the same thing as the Chinese character , a field.

Once the egg is painted, its colored. In the past, all dyes were naturalsonion skins for dark red, birch buds for mustard yellow, walnut shells for black, and mallow flowers for blue and pink. The first dye completed, the egg is painted with wax again, to add another layer of designs, and its dyed again. The master starts with the palest hue and proceeds to the darkest. The more colors the design has, the more complex is the process.

Once the pysanka is finished, it needs to be broken. I had to stop the guide and ask her again, worried that I misunderstood. But no, to preserve pysanka, the inner membrane that covers the shell needs to be removed, otherwise it will cause the shell to crumble. Then the egg is filled with paper and the whole is reconstituted. All of the eggs in the museum are conserved this way, but you have to look very closely to see the break.

The museum has pysanky that are over a century old, but their colors are still vivid as are their stories.

The pysanky differ from region to region. The elaborate tableau of pysanka below is done in the Lemko tradition. Lemko is one of many ethnic groups in the Carpathians, and they are known for their music and decorative arts. Andy Warhol was of Lemko origin, to give you an idea.

The museum also holds a collection of decorated eggs from other countries, like Poland and Hungary, explaining their techniques and symbols. The egg below, for example, was created by scratching the design onto the surface.



The Ukrainian diaspora in the United States and Europe also offers pysanka workshops before Easter. The Ukrainian Museum in the New York City has a beautiful permanent collection and classes. But if you have a chance to visit Ukraine, dont miss Kolomyia, an ancient town with the many layers of history and its unique Pysanka Museum.

Pysanka Museum

Address: Vyacheslav Chornovil Ave, 43, Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivska oblast, Ukraine, 78200

Phone: +380 3433 27891

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

Extra: not all of us are endowed with the skill to make pysanky, but krashanka, a colored Ukrainian Easter egg, is very easy to make. They are usually prepared for the Easter spread, and in my column, Easter Eggs Colored With Onion Skins, I explain how to use onion skins to dye eggs naturally.
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About Censored News Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell. Since 2006, Censored News has received more than 20 million pageviews. As a collective of writers, photographers and broadcasters, we publish news of Indigenous Peoples and human rights. Contact publisher Brenda Norrell: brendanorrell@gmail.com

From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 39 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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Entertainment / Music

by Staff reporter

He seems ready for the world but is the world ready for him?Hailing from Bulawayo, unheralded teenager Donel Mangena (16), seems to have a bright future in the music industry.While most 16-year-olds are busy slaying on street corners, Mangena is touching hearts and rocking music lovers in the United Kingdom.Earning himself a performance in front of the Royal family on Queen Elizabeth's 92nd birthday might have just sealed the deal in the process making him carve a name for himself.As if that was not enough, the young Zimbabwean muso will tomorrow head for The Voice UK finals and the anticipation is already high.Being the first Zimbabwean artiste to grace the Queen's event has naturally endorsed Mangena as the next big artiste and winning The Voice UK contest will seal the deal for this young blossoming artiste.On the Queen's bash Mangena will share the stage with South African Imbube Grammy award winners Lady Smith Black Mambazo, a development that further confirms that Mangena is set to scale dizzy heights.Mangena's electric and phenomenal performances fused with his native language Ndebele has led him to win a plethora of voters on shrugging off his competitors and even sparking a wild fight on social media on whether he is singing IsiZulu or IsiNdebele.But who cares?So far his song choice remains a mystery but with celebrated musician Will.I.am on his corner, it is a no brainer that he will steal the show.The question is will he go for a straight IsiNdebele song or will he fuse his mother tongue with English as he usually does on his performances?It is however, certain that his grandmother will dance in pride on the day.Zimbabweans all over the world have expressed joy with many rating him as a legend before his time as his remix of Pharrel William's song Happy has been regarded as a production from the top drawer.Good luck messages have been pouring in ahead of the competitions' finals as he goes head to head with Ruti Olajugbagbe, Lauren Bannon, and opera duo Belle Voci.One of his fans Tasha Sibanda wrote on facebook, "so far you are my favourite and I know you won't disappoint us in winning the 2018 Voice UK."Will he manage to bring his granny and the rest of Zimbabwe on their feet on Saturday ahead of his much anticipated performance for the Queen?
News / National

by Staff reporter

SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda has said Parliament would ensure the Electoral Act was aligned with the constitution in order to ensure that the forthcoming elections are free and fair.Speaking during a meeting with a visiting Swedish delegation, Mudenda said Parliament was there to protect the constitution to ensure that the State and its organs act constitutionally, especially during the forthcoming elections."Parliament will be playing a big role in ensuring free and fair elections," he said.The delegation headed by the president of United Nations Association of Sweden Aleksander Gabelic was seeking to learn how the Zimbabwean Parliament works and the role it plays particularly in the forthcoming elections.Mudenda said foreign observers were welcome during the forthcoming elections as Zimbabwe wanted the international to have confidence in the country again."Our elections were closed for the international community but our President (Emmerson Mnangagwa) has opened them to the international community so that we restore back the trust that was lost. The president is inviting everyone from the United Nations to individual countries to come and be observers." Mudenda said."Another important section in our Constitution is section 149 which allows citizens and permanent residents of Zimbabwe to petition parliament on issues of national interests. They can come up with amendments to the law, to repeal a law or propose new legislation. This shows that Zimbabwe is making big strides in becoming a democratic country."Mudenda also said every political party would have the right to media but should refrain from using abusive language.Garbelic was hopeful that this was a new start for Zimbabwe to show that the country can be trusted by the international committee."It was positive to see the high level of democracy and transparency that Zimbabwe is undertaking to ensure free and fair elections. We hope that it will be a free elections and transparent. As a country which had a long term relationship with Zimbabwe we really hope for the best and that it will be a starting point and a new era for the country. Garbelic said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has ordered Transport minister Jorum Gumbo to bring home Zimbabwe Airways (ZimAirways) planes secretly bought using public funds, while government investigates the dodgy deal that could collapse the debt-ridden flag carrier Air Zimbabwe (AirZim).Following the Zimbabwe Independent's dogged reportage on the deal - that reeks of non-disclosure and conflict of interest by government officials, abuse of public funds and potential asset-stripping of AirZim - Mnangagwa last week ordered Gumbo to bring the planes from Malaysia.Official sources said, after reading the Independent's story last week, and following the issue over months, Mnangagwa held a meeting with Gumbo, his ministry and central bank officials, where he demanded clarity on the deal.When it became clear that the arrangement was murky, the president demanded that the planes - Boeing 777 aircraft - should now be flown to Zimbabwe and be parked under government control until the situation is clarified and settled.ZimAirways, associated with Gumbo and former president Robert Mugabe's son-in-law and ex-AirZim chief operations officer Simba Chikore, negotiated a consignment of four Boeing 777 long-haul passenger jets from Malaysia, but had paid only for two of the aircraft.The company was also in the process of purchasing two Embraer ERJ145 planes from the United States."About US$34 million was paid for through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for the two Boeing 777s using public funds."The planes cost US$18 million and US$16 million each," a senior government official told the Independent. "ED (Mnangagwa) was alarmed by the deal after repeatedly receiving conflicting briefings on it, prompting him to demand a full report and an investigation to ascertain the ownership structure, organisation and control of the airline as well as its relationship with AirZim."This comes as several versions of the deal have been circulating in aviation circles and the corridors of power, as well as among the public.ZimAirways versions:Version 1:Officially, ZimAirways is supposed to be a government project. According to the authorities, the new airline was going to buy and keep the planes for AirZim, while parliament steered through a process to assume the state airline's over US$300 million debt to clean its balance sheet to start on a new page. Gumbo has reportedly been peddling this version in government circles.Government was last year said to be rolling out an ambitious plan to overhaul AirZim which would have seen Treasury taking over the airline's legacy debts by way of liquidation before acquiring new planes from Asia and rebranding to ZimAirways.It is understood Auditor-General Mildred Chiri had been tasked with overseeing and auditing the airline with a view to winding up its operations before the proverbial rise of the phoenix.At Independence in 1980, the airline had 18 planes in its fleet, but now it is now virtually a shell. Sources close to the deal say senior Ministry of Transport officials, including Angeline Karonga, in charge of legal affairs, were directors in ZimAirways. However, Karonga denied this, but said ZimAirways was a government project."I am not on the board; you can speak to the permanent secretary for details on what ZimAirways is," she said. "It is a government company."Karonga's comments were in line with what Gumbo had reportedly told Mnangagwa on Friday, but in sharp contrast to his other version that it was a private company which he has been consistently telling the Independent.Version 2The second version, which Gumbo has constantly said in public, is that ZimAirways is a private company owned by Diasporan Zimbabweans. He has told the Independent several times since last year that he was assisting the airline to establish itself, although it was a private entity.He repeated this to the Independent last week. Gumbo said he had facilitated that ZimAirways purchase aircraft from Air Malaysia after AirZim failed to raise funds to buy the equipment.This raised suspicion of possible conflict of interest for him - he has been contradicting himself depending on who he is talking to - and Chikore who started assisting ZimAirways while he was still at AirZim.According to this version, ZimAirways was supposed to enter the market, but soon after that AirZim was expected to be closed and its staff and equipment transferred to ZimAirways.Version 3Investigations by this paper indicate ZimAirways is owned by a local firm, Zimbabwe Aviation Leasing Company (ZALC). An enquiry with the registrar of companies in Harare indicated ZALC was registered under file number 3015/12.The file has, however, been missing from the office.Locally-based German aviation expert Jerry Haas, who has been posting on microblogging website Twitter accounts on the ZimAirways project, initially tweeted last year that government would wind down AirZim before allowing ZimAirways, which is emblazoned with national colours, to take to the skies. According to this version, ZALC was going to be also registered in Mauritius and would then lease planes to AirZim from there. The state airline would pay ZimAirways for the services, and have the money siphoned offshore.Version 4ZimAirways will enter the Zimbabwean market as a private airline like Fastjet Zimbabwe and Fly Africa Zimbabwe to compete with these and AirZim as well. Instead of AirZim being closed as part of the deal, it will be forced to collapse on its own due to competition and then ZimAirways would take it over on its own terms, with asset stripping being the main agenda.Haas recently posted on Twitter, saying the ZimAirways deal was on track and is now reaching finality. " #ZimbabweAirways back on track. Documentation on the final stage. Should be cleared to take-off soon," Haas tweeted on March 21. His latest version was that ZimAirways is a private company which would compete with AirZim.Version 5The fifth version is that ZimAirways is owned by Chikore, although Gumbo has a vested interest in the deal. Chikore could not be reached for comment as his phone was not reachable. He did not respond to text messages.Sources told the Independent this week that government will pay for fuel for ZimAirways planes, which were bought using taxpayers' money, to be flown to Harare as part of investigations of the deal."Mnangagwa wants the planes to flown home so that they are parked at the Robert Mugabe (Harare) International Airport, while an investigation is being carried out. Gumbo may, however, face problems in flying the planes because the Malaysians are insisting on payment for the other two planes before they are released," a source said."ZimAirways received massive discounts because they negotiated for a package of four planes. The price would have been significantly higher if they had just purchased only two aircraft."Gumbo last week insisted he would not allow AirZim to collapse, although he has been actively assisting its competitor ZimAirways to start flying.AirZim has also been failing to get strategic partners.AirZim, which at one time was reported in parliament to be seeking US$1 billion recapitalisation, immediately requires US$45 million to be operational, according to the airline's Strategic Turnaround Plan (2018-2020).The airline requires US$26 million to settle its foreign debt; US$6 million to buy three Embraer ERJ145; US$4,6 million for International Air Transport Association clearing house joining fees, among other financial obligations. Official documents show that as at December 2017, AirZim had local debt totalling US$341 million.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Insiders say the new National Patriotic Front (NPF) - which has the blessings of ousted former president Robert Mugabe - could suffer a stillbirth, amid damaging internal accusations that the fledgling party's leader Rtd brigadier Ambrose Mutunhiri is incompetent.Well-placed sources yesterday said there were already serious ructions within the political outfit, with Mugabe's wife Grace and a few of the former Zanu-PF bigwigs who are linked to the new party apparently now saying Mutinhiri lacked both the capacity and the energy to go toe to toe with the ruling party and the MDC Alliance in this year's national elections.However, sympathizers of the former securocrat and Mashonaland East provincial minister leapt to his defence yesterday saying he had been 'set up to fail' when he was surprisingly catapulted to the leadership of the party.
News / National

by Collins Chirinda

HARARE - MEDIA Centre has dismissed claims that it is a hub of fake news after negative comments erupted on social media that the organisation was lying about a press conference involving United Movement for Democracy (UMD) Party which is alleged to be Strive Masiyiwa and Mutumwa Mawere's upcoming political party.Media Centre has demanded official apology for its resources wasted and degrading consequences suffered from Aaron Muzungu and his associates who are said to have approached the organisation on Wednesday 4 April 2018, seeking to utilize the organisation's facilities for a press conference that was to be held on Friday 6 April which they said was going to be addressed by Mutumwa Mawere.It has been established that one Elia Muchape who identified himself as the party spokesperson and Aaron Muzungu cancelled the scheduled Press Conference at the last minute after Media Centre had already sent out invitations to the media, stating that the press conference was going to be held in South Africa instead.The agenda of the press conference was to announce the entrance of Strive Masiyiwa into the Presidential election race in the oncoming watershed elections.Mr Stanford Nyatsanza who is the Programmes Officer at Media Centre said he was approached by an individual identified as Aaron Muzungu together with four men and made a booking for a venue to hold a press conference today (6 April 2018).Nyatsanza also said Media Centre is not affiliated with any political party and its mandate is to give publicity to any organisation or individual who requires it."As Media Centre we do not tolerate or paddle fake news." he said."We offer venues for press conferences by any organisation. We are not associated with anyone holding press conferences including political parties." continued Nyatsanza.Nyatsanza also added that he was approached by the men on the pretext that they were seeking a venue to hold a press conference to address the nation and to launch their political party."I asked them the question, what are going to be talking about as a new political party and they said notifying the nation of the coming in of Strive Masiyiwa into politics as the president of the party." he said.Mawere has distanced himself from the political party with a tweet on his official Twitter handle @mmawere saying it was "Fake News".In a telephone interview with The Zimbabwe Sentinel reporter, Machape declined to give reason as to why they had canceled the press conference and move it to South Africa as communicated to Media Centre.He also declined to issue an apology in accordance with Media Centre's demand saying the reasons were confidential.Political analyst Mr Bekezela Gumbo said this was a designed move meant to discolor the image of independent media."These are calculated efforts to tarnish the image of Media Centre ahead of the 2018 elections." said Gumbo.Gumbo also lambasted the move saying it was an act of coward banditry."If unidentified persons come and book a hoax press conference and chickens out thereafter without even giving a public statement it means their ultimate goal remains to tainting the name of Media Centre into becoming peddlers of fake news." he said.
News / Press Release

by MRP Security Department

Bulawayo Central Police continues to be a tribal battleground as Mthwakazi vendors and activists went through a horrific experience during their detention at Bulawayo Central Police Station. Such is becoming a daily predicament for Mthwakazi activists.They went through a lot of torture, with all males being severely kicked by one Constable Mudzingwa who uttered obscene tribal utterances. They went on to pronounce that MaNdebere arikuzwitisa (Ndebeles are getting silly). Mudzingwa and other shona police officers threatened the suspects with the return of Gukurahundi. From the physical assault by Constable Mudzingwa, Mxolisi Mhlanga can barely walk without a support stick after being kicked hard on the knee.One female police officer, picture attached, refused to speak in iSiNdebele and insisted to arrogantly speak in Shona, claiming that this country is for Shonas.The suspects were charged with assault when they tried to effect a citizens arrest on Magumise who conned a lot of people of their monies in the pretex of securing them, vending stands.In the unfolding of events at Bulawayo Police Station, Constable Mudzingwa kept addressing Magumise as 'Comrade', proving that the two had a political relationship. Since 2009 Magumise has corruptly milked out money from unsuspecting vendors before joining the notorious Magura Charumbira in terrorising our people. Magumise is surely a staunch Zanu PF hooligan.The environment at Central Police Station clearly indicated that tribalism is now institutionalized in Matabeleland police stations. We feel for Ndebele officers who find themselves cornered in such hegemony. We pledge to work tirelessly to make sure that we attain freedom for them as well.Meanwhile five of the six suspects appeared before magistrate at Tredgold and were remanded out of custody to the 13th of April 2018. The sixth suspect is yet to appear in court tomorrow after his charge was separated from the rest. Those remanded are Mxolisi Mhlanga, Thembani Moyo, Stanley Moyo, Sukoluhle Ncube and Ntombizodwa Sibanda and their two children.We thank the people of Mthwakazi for packing the courtroom in solidarity with the suspects. We are expectant of the same support when Methembe Mhlanga appears in court tomorrow.Mxolisi, Stanley and Tembani have been taken to Galen House for treatment of injuries sustained from Constable Mudzingwa's physical assaults.Our appreciation to the the defense counsel of Thomas and Blessing Dube of Abameli Lawyers for Human Rights who have sacrificed their time to defend the people of Mthwakazi without pay.Bantu bakoMthwakazi isikhathi sesifikile sokukhulula uMthwakazi.Sisonke Sibambene SinguMthwakazi SizokulungisaFor Peace and Justice in Our LifetimeMRP Security Department
Opinion / Columnist

In recent years, President Emmerson Mnangagwa seem to have discovered that Britain and the West are good.For example, when newly-appointed as vice-president in 2013, Mnangagwa was not ashamed to demonstrate his new obsession: "We cannot do without the West," was his early mantra. And, since replacing former president Robert Mugabe via the November 2017 coup, his obsession has deepened. These days he is deploying a catchy phrase to please any white man who happens show interest: "Zimbabwe is Open for Business."For a man notorious for being secretive, discerning the President's motives has not been easy. What I call the "ED school of thought" contends that pivoting towards the West is part of the new administration's attempts to encourage foreign direct investment. To achieve this, according to this argument, Mnangagwa's strategy is to move his government's foreign policy position from that of an extreme uncompromising hostility that characterised his predecessor, to the other extreme: exuberant friendliness towards the West. Business, rather than emphasis on ideological differences with London, Brussels and Washington, is to be the centre-stage of Mnangagwa's international relations.A speculation that I find more educated upon the promptings for improved relations with the West is that the president must have seen errors in his predecessor's ways.In other words, when he was in Mugabe's cabinet, he learnt that rulership with a lot of noise from London and Washington was unpleasant. Thus, the logic is that improving relations with the West is likely to gain his administration some legitimacy or, in the event of the 2018 election deemed unsatisfactory, perhaps earn the international community's silence.Blundering alongSupposedly, to win the hearts of the West, one of the strategies that Mnangagwa's team appear to have chosen from a range of diplomatic armamentarium that is available to them, has been an aggressive selling, to the international media - both television and print - of the president's person as an open-minded reformist champion who was being held by Mugabe. His performance at Davos, and his interview with The Economist, deserve special attention.At this year's World Economic Forum - an annual gathering of mostly Western global elites, in Switzerland's resort town of Davos, the president's team of state bureaucrats and hired part time non-state aides successfully lobbied for a live interview before a live audience and television.His aides chose to portray him as a versatile Bill Clinton or Tony Blair type of a leader, which sounds sensible since men and women who frequent Davos tend to gravitate towards those who are like these two - exquisite in mannerisms, suave in style and witty. But, despite some gruelling homework - clearly evidenced by rehearsed responses - the live interview gambit was a disaster. Instead of his story and that of Zimbabwe, what turned out to be the main highlight was the president's reaction when Zimbabwe's ultimate post-colonial crime, Gukurahundi, was brought up. Visibly distressed, the president attempted to handle BBC's Mishal Husain's insistence on discussing the atrocities by being angry at the reporter, a very awkward and embarrassing moment for the nation. Even those who are impervious to liking him, could not escape a piercing pang of pity for the president.Through this microscopic encounter with Husain, what the president advertised to Davos elite and the world was not the idea of him as a business-like stateman, but several unattractive things that will an investor think twice: first, that any talk of Gukurahundi can spoil his day, which probably explains his mantras on this matter, "let bygones be bygones" or "we cannot live in the past"; second, that he is easily incited to anger. Probably guilty anger?Psychologists tell us that a man saddled with guilt cannot, with tranquillity, talk about something he is accused of for he is the only one who knows the truth about what others suspect of; third, not only is he easily incited to rage, but he is capable of intimidation - which he misguidedly attempted against an international reporter in full view of the world - anger and intimidation, his aides should have warned him, is a currency that a military backed ruler can only use against minions ZBC, or The Herald. And last, he is not and cannot be a Clinton or Blair type. The Davos elite must have concluded that, naturally, Mnangagwa struggles with qualities needed to schmooze with them. Following such a suppurating performance, his team had to scramble for another interview. This time, having discovered that the president is not quick on his feet when confronted with aggressive questions, they organised a pre-recorded interview with print media, The Economist.But, again, Mnangagwa's aha moment failed to materialise. Rather, the interview documented a man whose struggling with telling the truth seemed innate.Or maybe, he was doing what leaders do. Vladimir Nabokov, the Russian scribe tells us that people who are humourless rarely make it to leadership positions. Thus, if we follow Nabokov's logic, besides the military's aid, it could be that Mnangagwa is President because he is not deficient when it comes to humour; in the run-up to the second round of the presidential elections in 2008, there was political violence aired on the BBC, CNN and Aljazeera, among several media channels. This evidence must have been at the journalist's mind when he posed a question about these regrettable events.One struggles to understand why the President was being evasive with the truth, for even the dullest soul can attest to 2008 violence. I guess, here, only Nabokov's logic makes sense; Mnangagwa was attempting at being amusing. "It was fair, very fair (2008 election). Where is the evidence for the violence? Not a single case was taken to the police," the President must have thought he was being at his best.But, it was the title of The Economist's article; "open for business, closed for remorse," which tells us that Britain's foremost establishment paper did not find the President's utterances amusing. Indeed, the piece went on to query the value Mnangagwa places on honesty regarding his past, the upcoming elections and his promises to investors. In other words, The Economist's piece should be read as a devastating verdict on the President's nascent foreign policy enterprise.West's attitudeOne cannot get a better understanding of the British establishment's thoughts on Mnangagwa other than from Tom, a fellow alumnus of St Anne's College in the United Kingdom. Tom is typical of the global men that one finds at WEF. He is aristocratic, is very wealthy (the family runs a centuries old London and Zurich based private bank, exclusively for the elite. They also have extensive prime real estate across major capitals). Because of such background, naturally, Tom is connected to Britain's economic and political establishment. Tom has an insatiable interest in Zimbabwe's organic tobacco. I guess, he and his kind are the type of Westerners that Mnangagwa's "Zimbabwe is Open for Business" mantra is aimed at.It did happen that last week, casually, we chatted about Zimbabwe's politics. Unavoidably, our discussion strayed into Mnangagwa's interview with The Economist."What a lying bore!"I was a little uncomfortable with his uncouth language and contemptuousness of his barking laughter. Indeed, though I differ with Mnangagwa's worldview, he is still the President of my beloved country. And, because I cannot escape that he is Zimbabwe's President, I have my own way of dealing with it. I call it ironic acceptance: maintaining my sense of agency by keeping humour about him to the maximum."It's perfectly wrong to waste perfect jokes like the ones in The Economist interview," was Tom condescendingly sanitising Mnangagwa's denial using Nabokov's logic?"There are a number of changes that have happened." I played the devil's advocate. I went on to list Mnangagwa's claims to be his achievements in the first 100 days as President. But, Tom's laughter returned. This time with a vengeance. "I find it difficult to believe that an ancestor from Mugabe's regime can actually reform. He (Mnangagwa) is constitutionally incapable of any reform whatsoever."It appeared that there was nothing I could say in support of the President in order bring Tom to expel, from his mind, the thinking that Mnangagwa was an unchanged man.To him Mnangagwa's utterances in The Economist are not an anomalous activity, but a connected strand of which an old cloth about other bad Zanu-PF activities could be woven; baroque corruption, liberticide and rigging of elections.I cannot think of any of my Westerner friends who have ridiculed the President's efforts more than my English friend. However, Tom maintains that it is an established thinking in London, and probably in most Western capitals that Mnangagwa will not reform. He explained further that though paradoxically the British's political elites, and other global leaders alike, are superficially devoted to a post-Mugabe regime, the reality is that they are full of contempt and resentment for what they see as Mnangagwa's pretentious attempts at reforms.There is also something anachronistic about his sort of lying in 2023. Such lying made sense in the 1950s and 1960s diplomatic world. Which world has he been living?" rhetorically asked Max, a former work mate and colleague who is now a director at leading political consulting firm in London."In Kwekwe with Mudha'! We were both forced into barks of mirth when I explained to him a little background about Mudha, or Owen Ncube, the gangsterish Midlands Province's new resident minister."That's why he is hardboiled," he tried make further sense of why Mnangagwa would appoint such a person to his cabinet. According to his theory, pervasive in his appointments was a sense of that awful trap by loyalty - for example, Mudha's appointments -, by old Zanu-PF elites' interests and by the military that gave him power. All this, according to Max, made it nearly impossible for him to make any meaningful reforms.Max also told me that while it might have been the norm sixty or seventy years ago, such recklessness has little place in 2018."Investors and political elites don't need to be told by Mnangagwa that there was no violence in 2008," he continued "or that soldiers will not be part of 2018 electioneering process. Today they make decisions (on investments) based on intelligence reports . . . And, there are hundreds of due diligence and political consultancy firms in Washington and London that can, at the press of a button, provide them with thousands and thousands of pages of information on the finest details of what happened during 2008 elections, profiles of his cabinet members, the exact state of his health, or his precise role in the coup. Political consulting and due diligence firms, are like the CIA. The only difference is that they are independent and more effective," he laughed."And Zanu-PF will rule forever?" Max had just commissioned a local Zimbabwean student to interpret a Youtube of Mnangagwa's speech at last week's sparsely attended rally in Kariba. In other words, investors and political elites in the West have, at their fingertips Mnangagwa's minutest local, and even international business and political activities, which are worlds apart from his "Zimbabwe is Open for Business" mantra.Waste of time?The soon to be departing British ambassador, Catriona Laing might have been all in, endorsing Mnangagwa.Downing Street's illusionary friendly foreign policy position, which is the child of her activist agenda, is very much at odds with much of Britain's political establishment (both government and opposition parties). Once she is gone, a dynamic less characterised by unstinting support of Mnangagwa will take shape as those anti- Mnangagwa political elites assert themselves, especially if the election 2018 election is rigged.In other words, instead of getting too excited about the West's chorus of diplomatic applauding and visits, Mnangagwa should understand that these symbolic manoeuvres usually characterise the West's gestures towards any new regime that talks of reform. As my all-time favourite English Playwright Alan Bennet warns, diplomats might smile, but Mnangagwa's administration should look beyond those smiles."The British's greatest gift is that they are adept at saying one thing, and then doing the other," Bennet quips.What he is simply saying is that sometimes when the English say I love you, what they actually might mean is that they don't!Tinhu is a political analyst based in Harare.
Opinion / Columnist

Preamble

Electoral Integrity



Traditional leadership authority

Demilitarization of the electoral process

Political violence and intimidation

Media reforms

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission

Diaspora vote

Voters roll

Election materials

Independent election material audit

Election observation ad monitoring

Independent electoral courts

Independent mechanism for receiving complaints

Election stakeholders

Electoral roadmap

Conclusion

People's Rainbow Coalition (PRC) led by Dr J. R. Mujuru notes with serious concern that despite writing to Mr E. D. Mnangagwa a plea for political and electoral reforms on the 23rd of February 2018, and which correspondence was also copied to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on the same day; PRC's plea has neither been responded to or acknowledged by Mr E. D. Mnangagwa's office. Further, there is nothing on the horizon of Zimbabwe's political landscape to demonstrate that the current military regime has the will power to ensure that electoral reforms are done besides globe trotting and misrepresenting to the world that Zimbabweans are now in a new era. Yes the regime could be given the benefit of doubt that Zimbabweans are now in a new era of worse of dictatorship. PRC, as the government in waiting, insists that electoral and political reforms are a must; should the country hope for a free, fair and credible elections.To that end, PRC now puts the regime on notice that should key reforms be ignored for the holding of free, fair and credible elections, then PRC as the government in waiting is going to take every constitutional means available in order to protect the Zimbabwean democratic vote. PRC hereunder reminds the military regime of its unwavering demand for reforms as follows;The People's Rainbow Coalition (PRC) consisting of the Democratic Assembly for Restoration and Empowerment (DARE), National People's Party (PDP) and Zimbabweans United for Democracy (ZUNDE).Concerned with the military activities of 13, 14 and 15 November 2017 which reproduced a crisis of legitimacy through an unconstitutional change of Government of ZimbabweBelieving that any election that takes place in a context that is poisoned by military diffusion into the political arena can neither be free, fair or credible;Noting that elections should be held within the next six months;Concerned with political violence against members of the opposition including the brutal attack on the PRC Presidential Candidate Dr Joice Mujuru on the 1st of February in Glen View Harare; andDesiring to restore constitutional order and legitimacy of Government in Zimbabwe.Hereby demand that the following key Political and Electoral Reforms be urgently implemented ahead of the forthcoming Elections in Zimbabwe.PRC calls upon SADC, AU Commission and UN to assist Zimbabwe with maintenance of purity and transparency of the 2018 election process. We implore these supranational bodies to ensure that the forthcoming elections are conducted in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines governing elections as well as the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance among other regional and international instruments which guarantee the integrity of elections.PRC calls for the immediate depoliticisation of the fetishised institution of the traditional leadership authority. Section 281 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe stipulates that traditional leaders including chiefs, headmen/women and village heads must remain apolitical, impartial, fair and inclusive in their communities. Like the colonial regime before it, ZANU PF has usurped the institution of the traditional leadership authority and made it an extension of itself and this must be stopped immediately to allow rural voters to freely exercise their right to elect a government of their choice without fear and intimidation.PRC calls for the demilitarization of the electoral process. All members of the security forces, in adherence to the Constitution must first and foremost protect the Zimbabwean citizens despite their political affiliation. ZANU PF Commissariat and government have deployed an estimated 3000 military officials in civilian clothes into both urban and rural communities to campaign for ZANU PF ahead of the elections. These and other security personnel deployed in various institutions including Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) should be weeded out urgently. They have no role in an election except maintaining peace and security for all. Above everything else; PRC demands the military should make a public declaration of non-interference with electoral processes before the elections of 2018 are held.One of the defining epithets of elections in Zimbabwe is political violence. Widespread intimidation of voter persists and organized ZANU PF thugs spread fear across communities in the build up to the 2018 elections as witnesses on the 1st of February 2018 against the PRC Presidential Candidate Dr Joice Mujuru and her supporters. ZANU PF party officials are also going around the communities recording serial numbers of Voters Registration Slips as an election intimidation tactic. PRC therefore demands an end to the recording of serial numbers of potential voters. PRC also demand that the electoral environment must be free from political violence, selective prosecution and suppression of political campaigns, repressive laws and practices and protection of electoral criminals.PRC believes that the media plays a pivotal role in elections and therefore reiterates its call for substantial and urgent equal access to the State Media both print and electronic. All political parties have the right to have their content aired on State Television and Radio Stations. PRC further demands that State Newspapers and Reporters report news in a professional and impartial manner. Further, the public must not be used to promote hate speech against sections and views of those opposed to the ruling party.PRC demands the immediate dissolution of Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the creation of New Electoral Management Body that should be negotiated by all political parties in an inclusive platform. The current ZEC in not independent, and has been at the centre of all the flawed electoral process in Zimbabwe.Despite the clear directions of the Constitution on the rights of all Zimbabwean citizens to vote, ZEC is yet to make arrangements to enable the Diaspora to exercise this right. Section 67 of the Constitution provides that every Zimbabwean citizen has the right to vote in all elections and referenda. We demand that Zimbabwean Diaspora should be allowed to vote in the next general elections wherever they are. Arrangements should be made for the Diaspora population to register to vote wherever they are and cast their votes in the 2018 elections.PRC demands that the voters roll must be published on website and be advertised electronically and be given to any Zimbabwean upon request.PRC demands that all electoral stakeholders, including Political parties, be part of the decision making of the procurement, storage, counting, dispatch and use of all election material which include, ballot papers, ballot boxes, indelible ink, voting pens and al polling station material, at any and all stages of the election.PRC demands that there be independent election material auditors at each stage that involves election material, procurement, storage, counting, dispatch and use, right up to after the announcement of the election results to ensure that every piece of material particularly the ballot papers, are counted for and their use verified by an independent body.PRC demands that all the processes of the forthcoming elections be observed by accredited observers and monitors from civic society and regional and international community. The Regional and International bodies are urged to urgently deploy their teams in all parts of the country and particularly in remote areas.PRC calls for the creation of wholly independent, impartial accountable and fair electoral courts with at least one such court in each and every province in the country. Their scope, independence and impartiality must be enshrined in the Electoral Act.PRC calls for the establishment of an independent mechanism for receiving and investigating complains from the members of the public about the misconduct on the part of members of security services and for remedying and harm caused by such misconduct as defines by Section 210 of the Constitution.PRC demands that all interested political parties must be consulted on all issues pertaining to the forthcoming elections as opposed to the current situation where only parties that are represented in Parliament are consulted. The 2018 election will be a new election with new players whose input is crucial if Zimbabwe is to ensure electoral integrity. The guarantee of independence of ZEC depends a great deal on the trust nd credibility it enjoys with all political parties, media and ivil society.The issue of when the elections are due and how they will be administered must be outlined as a matter of urgency. The roadmap should include the critical elements such as the reforms outlined above, printing of ballot papers, nominations, campaigning and regulations that will guide these elections.In conclusion, PRC believes that only a firm political will and commitment to reform, with support from citizens, media, SADC, AU, and UN can enable the country to put in place the political and electoral reforms that can truly provide a level playing field to all and fulfill the criteria of free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe.# Mother Zimbabwe for President 2018# My Joice My choice My vote My voice #Dr JTR Mujuru has my vote 2018Adv Gift NyandoroPRC Spokesperson
Opinion / Columnist

This is just gutter politics of the highest order! Gutter politics that is below the belt in the sense of the word. We cannot be told to vote for women just because they are women. We vote for people who have a credible track record of service delivery. We vote for men and women who have concerns about the plight of our citizens at heart. We vote for people who sell credible national policies and credible clear manifestos. All citizens are able to relate to those manifestos and deem them credible enough to vote for them. We cannot be told to stoop so low and vote for a woman just because she is a woman that is absolute stupid.MPs Thokozani Khuphe and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga are taking feminism too far. This politics of panties and female genitals is not real politics you can offer us women in Zimbabwe but third rate politics. This is the kind of politics that has destroyed this country by women themselves. This is the calibre of women we have in our political landscape. We need new names, said NoViolet Bulawayo. It makes us believe that if you constantly talk about women without pants, it will make them hard core feminists: our questions will be. Did you use bottom power to enter politics? Why panties and female genital politics the time you start talking? Are you now trying to use bottom power again to re-invent yourselves yet again? No dear Khuphe and Mishihairabwi, we are going to use our brains to vote, we are going to use our upper part of the pale to vote the best candidates. We are going to vote for any credible politicians: men and women who have credible track record of public service delivery and not gender to determine our vote. That kind of politics is very cheap indeed and we are not buying it.Nkosana was right when he said we have third rate politicians in our Zimbabwean politics and it is for this reason this country has gone to the dogs. In yesterday's video Nkosana was articulating policies he is going to implement if he was chosen to be the top civil servant. So far he is the only person who has shown by word of mouth how he is going to tackle and turn around the economic situation in his country. Can Thokozani please do the same? You are both worlds apart with the policies Nkosana promises to implement when he gets to the office. I am coming home to vote, will not waste my vote to vote for a woman just because she is a woman, sorry. So far we do not know what Thokozani Khuphe economic blue print looks likes. She is busy fighting Chamisa without end but is not yes in the election mood at all. Can she tell us what she will do if she was elected as President of Zimbabwe apart from being a woman? Can she articulate her economic policies in the way Nkosana is doing to villagers in remote areas?Khuphe should not hide behind the fact that she got outsmarted by little Chamisa. That should never be our problem at all. When she outsmarted Gibson Sibanda we never wept so loud because we thought that was politics at play. Curiously both Khuphe and Chamisa think that they can ride behind Tsvangirai's popularity and win a landslide majority of 2008. The times have changed. She should use this time not to talk gutter campaigns but should match Nkosana and other credible aspiring leaders in the political playground. To cry so loud using gender and tribal affiliation will not assist much because in Bulawayo and Mathebeleland alone, Khuphe is no longer a preferred candidate, she was once upon a time one but not of resent times: she never delivered, times have changed.This is the time Khuphe should have shown us how capable she is as a leader under such adversaries. A true leader worth of salt comes out brilliantly in such political challenges and rise above all gender and tribal inclinations. We do not buy her female fate alone to vote for her. However, we deeply sympathize with her humiliating experience she was subjected to during the funeral events of Tsvangirai's passing on.It is Khuphe's abilities and capabilities to serve this country that will make us vote for her. We shall want to know how does her political blue print, her political manifesto that she is selling to the electorate look like. What we know is that MP Thokozani Khuphe has no track record of service delivery in those constituencies she was once supposed to serve. She tries to use gender and tribe and perhaps her doctorate degree as her own legitimacy to be the leader of MDC. What did she do tangibly for her region Mathebeleland that will still make us opt to vote for her than other capable leaders in the region? Her impressive face-look, her doeks, her beautiful wardrobe is not enough, but her abilities and capabilities of a politician who knows how to lead a political party and the potential to deliver public service.To vote just for any woman because she is a woman is politics below the belt. What about those women who will be seeing their menstruation time: are they going to be denied to vote? You are risking 50% of women voters that day alone because you say that day women are supposed never to wear under panties according to your campaign tricks? How are they going to walk in the public during their menstrual days without proper dressing? Did she ever think about that as a woman? This kind of "panty" or "dirty pants" politics is a right off the mature thinking of any credible politician. It sounds more like a comedy than reality. Even feminists in mature developed democracies will laugh this as kindergarten politics not worthy of note: when they say Africans are stupid we cringe! But they are right. This "panty" politics is stupidity of the highest order.We vote for people who will take this country forward. It is leadership qualities, ability, capacity, professionalism that puts bread and butter on the table of all Zimbabweans and not female genitals. This is stooping very low. This should never be supported by any right-thinking women of Zimbabwe. It could be that these women who tell us to vote without pants, and again lift up our dresses to check if indeed we have female genitals have nothing to lose anymore: morally and otherwise: some of them are just game-over in politics. I really think that these women who talk such rubbish must have entered politics using their female genitals: and it is for this reason that they use femaleness again to reinvent themselves. I am sorry about the "unaccepted" language upfront!It could be that Thokozani Khuphe and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga have given up their political careers. But for goodness-sake do not sink below the pale in trying to attract voters from women. Women in Zimbabwe do not think with their genitals but with their brains. Women who have gone for girl-initiation ceremonies should know what a female panty means. A female pant is very private. A female pant is the entire dignity of a woman that must not be spoken willy nilly at political rallies. That graphic demonstration of Mishihairabwi at a Trade-Union prayer meeting was unfortunate: A demonstration how women should enter the ballot box, and if she thinks she should vote for the man, she should lift up her skirt to check if she is male of female: Sure, Sure. It is as if to say we think with our female organs: when I see it once more, it will assist me to vote rightly: below the belt in the sense of the word. Did I not know that I am a woman ever since I was born? A prayer meeting should not turn into shebeen night clubs where they show their clients their vaginal faces as proof that they are indeed women!!!!
Sometimes the best investments turn out to be the same ones youve completely forgotten about.

Case in point: Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY)(NYSE:RY), which often flies under many investors radars simply because it is such a laissez-faire type of company.

Year in, year out, Royal Bank brings in new clients, offering them checking and savings accounts and loans for Canadians to go out and purchase their first automobile or home. In some cases, it takes a clients assets under the banks wealth management umbrella to save those funds and grow them for a rainy day.

Its kind of a boring business to invest in because there isnt really much to put you on edge.

Unlike its U.S. counterpart that drew so much attention 10 years ago, the Canadian financial system is one of the most heavily regulated in the world.

Sometimes that can be a bit of a drag as it means greater restrictions on things like taking out a line of credit or getting a second mortgage on your property.

But when times get tough those regulations and restrictions can sometimes save borrowers and lenders alike from suffering a worst-case scenario.

Many have spoken ad nauseam for years about the inherent dangers in the Canadian economy and financial system.

For several years now, Canadian household debt has been at or above levels previously seen in the U.S. before that countrys housing crisis and the levels experienced in the U.K. prior to that countrys housing setback.

Yet the Bank of Canada and housing regulators have been more than prudent about taking proactive action and cooling off a heated real estate market.

That means that the performance of Royal Bank and other lenders, such as Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD)(TD:NYSE) and Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS)(NYSE:BNS) have perhaps been a little less than overwhelming as housing prices have soared in recent years. However, it also means that there is a greater chance that any forthcoming cooling off period will be less than calamitous.

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But thats not to say that Royal Bank has been delivering anything but stellar results  far from it, in fact.

2017 was another year of strong performance for Canadas largest lender

Royal Bank, Canadas largest financial institution as measured by market capitalization, assets and virtually every other metric, put in another strong showing in 2017.

The bank reported net earnings of $11.5 billion, or $7.56 per share in 2017, a 9.5% improvement over 2016.

Meanwhile, Royal Bank maintains a firm financial position, ending the year with a common equity tier 1 ratio (CET1) of 10.9%, well above the required thresholds.

Return-on-equity, or ROE, a critical measure for financial institutions, came in at 17.0% another improvement over the 16.3% ROE recorded in 2016 and helping to drive a dividend increase of 4.6% and a current forward yield of 3.69%.

Bottom line

Companies like Royal Bank are the perfect type of investment to include in your Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP) or even a child or grandchilds Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) because you dont need to worry about monitoring their activity on a daily, weekly or even a monthly basis.

Now in the ninth year of the current bull market cycle, you can also expect the market to start placing a premium on higher quality names, which only serves to make Royal Bank an even more attractive investment today.

More reading

Fool contributor Jason Phillips has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
As Vancouver Island's rabbit population continues to be ravaged by a serious virus, the Vancouver Island Rabbit Breeders Association is taking special measures to contain the outbreak.

The association's 100th anniversary rabbit show, originally scheduled for June, has been cancelled due to an outbreak of the rabbit haemorrhagic disease, which can kill a rabbit within 36 hours.

The Victoria-based association bills itself as one of the oldest continuous rabbit clubs in North America, and its vice-president, Lois Fernyhough, says the virus is a serious concern.

"This is a very lethal, very contagious disease," said Fernyhough. "There isn't really much we can do."

Fernyhough said that while the virus is not known to affect native North American rabbits, her association raises the European variety, which is the susceptible type.

"Even though it's just affecting, at this point, the feral rabbit population, these rabbits are the same species as what we raise," she said.

Self-imposed quarantine

Beyond cancelling the rabbit show, which sees breeders showcase their finest furry critters, the association is enforcing a self-imposed quarantine.

Currently, the association is not selling any rabbits, isn't allowing guests onto their premises and has locked down it's "rabbit barns" and "rabbitries."

"We're practising good bio-security measures," said Fernyhough.

The association hopes to reschedule the 100th anniversary show to a time when the virus is no longer prevalent.

Fernyhough's association joins the Greater Vancouver Zoo on the list of organizations taking extra security measures  the zoo has ended its rabbit petting for the time being.

So far the disease has claimed the lives of hundreds of British Columbia's rabbits, and B.C.'s chief veterinary officer says vaccines are on the way from France to help curb the outbreak.

With files from On the Island
Jonathan Pitre, whose determination in the face of a rare and painful skin disease served as an inspiration as he raised awareness about epidermolysis bullosa (EB), has died at age 17.

Jonathan and his mother, Tina Boileau, from Russell, Ont., just east of Ottawa, had been in Minnesota so he could get treatment for the disease, which causes severe skin blistering.

"Jonny's story has been made very public over the last few years as he invited you into his life and his daily struggles with EB as he tirelessly fought to raise awareness for this horrific disease," Boileau wrote in a Facebook post.

"I am proud to say you did it Jonny boy!"

Kids with EB are often referred to as "butterfly children," because their skin is as fragile as a butterfly's wings.

DEBRA Canada, an organization that supports families dealing with EB and raises awareness about the disease, confirmed Jonathan's death to CBC News.

"All of us here at DEBRA Canada are extremely saddened at the loss of our beloved ambassador Jonathan," said a statement emailed Friday from the organization.

"Jonathan fought long and hard, and was extraordinary at raising awareness for all those affected by EB."

'Part of our family'

Russell Mayor Pierre Leroux also paid tribute to Jonathan.

"He was part of our family," said Leroux.

"To have somebody so inspiring in the community and to hear of his passing, just makes your heart sink."

A huge fan of the NHL's Ottawa Senators, Pitre became close with the team after he started sharing his story and spreading awareness about his disease.

The entire team came to visit him in Minnesota last March when they were in the area to play the Wild.

Politicians from across the country added their condolences, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Jonathan Pitre was a hero in every sense of the word  a courageous and determined fighter who persisted in the face of every challenge, and who inspired so many," Trudeau tweeted.
The Blue line extension cometh  Quebec will make it official Monday

The Quebec government is expected to officially announce the extension of the Montreal Metro's Blue line on Monday, Radio-Canada has learned.

In its recent budget, the Quebec government set aside $365 million to help plan the project.

The estimated total cost is $3.9 billion. The province is depending on the federal government to cover part of that amount.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to be at the announcement but isn't expected to reveal how much money Ottawa will contribute to the project.

Asked about the plan on Friday, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard didn't provide many details.

"Everybody knows we've been in talks with the federal government on this," he told reporters.

"There will be good news."

5 new stops

The extension would see five stops added to the Blue line to reach Anjou in the city's east end.

Time had been running out for the province to make the announcement  Quebec has several properties on reserve for expropriation along Jean-Talon Street, between Pie-IX and des Galeries d'Anjou boulevards, but that reserve expires this month and cannot be renewed.

The last of the Metro's four lines to be built, when it first opened in 1986 the Blue line consisted only of five stations  Saint-Michel, Fabre, d'Iberville, Jean-Talon and de Castelnau.

The other seven stations were up and running by 1988.
By David Ljunggren and Veronica Gomez OTTAWA/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 the outlines of a settlement that would likely tackle the key issue of autos content while leaving other contentious chapters to be dealt with later, say sources familiar with the matter. "We're making good progress on NAFTA ... having said that, we're not there yet," Freeland told business executives in Winnipeg. The meeting was televised. One of the biggest chapters to be resolved is a U.S. demand that the North American content of vehicles made in NAFTA nations be increased to 85 percent from 62.5 percent. A Mexican source said U.S. negotiators had shown "some flexibility" on the issue, adding that the three nations were now looking at alternatives. Only six of the roughly 30 chapters have been closed and wide differences remain on topics such as dispute resolution and government procurement. Canadian officials do not see how the three nations can close the remaining chapters in the next two weeks, a source familiar with Canada's negotiating position said on Wednesday. "There's a possibility they could come up with a symbolic agreement in principle that signaled they had reached a consensus on five or six key issues," said the source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. Chief negotiators will meet in Washington next week and there are no current plans for an eighth round of talks, which officials had earlier suggested would start on April 8, the source added. U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ditch NAFTA if it cannot be reworked to his satisfaction, and talks to modernize the 24-year-old treaty have dragged on since August. Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, predicted on Wednesday that there would be "some positive news on NAFTA ... and I think the stock market is going to love that." Moises Kalach, a senior member of the CCE business lobby, which represents Mexico's private sector in the NAFTA talks, said he expects signs of progress even if ministers do not reach a formal agreement. The United States "is in more of a rush than before ... the window of opportunity is now open, it's a couple of weeks," Kalach said on Mexican television. Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray held talks on Wednesday with Lighthizer and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and close adviser, the Mexican government said in a statement. Guajardo and Videgaray "agreed to continue the dialogue to advance on shared positions in the pending chapters," the Mexican government said. "These discussions will be maintained at the technical level with both the U.S. government and the Canadian government." NAFTA negotiating teams have been meeting for weeks to try to narrow their differences, Guajardo said on Monday, sounding a positive note for making further advances at a regional summit of leaders in Peru that begins on April 13. If an initial NAFTA deal is reached, a longer period will be needed to finalize technical details, Guajardo said. (Additional reporting by Anthony Esposito, Daina Beth Solomon and Julia Love in Mexico City and Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sandra Maler)
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.

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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.

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Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington has been charged with securities fraud in California for allegedly defrauding investors in his medical-device company and misappropriating investor funds.

The complaint from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed Thursday in federal court in California, alleges Pocklington misled investors by failing to fully disclose his role as founder of The Eye Machine, a company ostensibly aimed at creating a device to treat macular degeneration.

The SEC complaint alleges that in order to "prevent investors from learning that he is in control of The Eye Machine, Pocklington had his lawyer, Lantson Eldred, serve as the "visual front" of the company while Pocklington secretly controlled it "from behind the scenes." The Eye Machine eventually raised more than $14 million from 260 investors.

In a news release, the SEC said Pocklington, Eldred, and The Eye Machine "allegedly failed to disclose Pocklington's checkered history and involvement, and misrepresented how investor funds would be spent.

"Pocklington allegedly misappropriated over $600,000 of investor funds for personal use, including funding his gold mining companies and paying personal legal and credit card bills," the news release states.

The SEC also alleges The Eye Machine, now called Nova Oculus Partners, paid millions of dollars in undisclosed and excessive sales commissions to several people who allegedly operated a "boiler room" operation in Florida to bring in investors.

None of the accusations against Pocklington, Eldred, or the other defendants has been proven in court.

'Checkered history'

Pocklington's history includes a sentence of house arrest and two years' probation in 2010 after he pleaded guilty to lying to the court about his income and assets after he filed for bankruptcy.

In May 2013, Pocklington and an associate were ordered to pay more than $5 million restitution to settle a securities fraud case in Arizona. The Arizona Corporation Commission, the equivalent of the Alberta Securities Commission, alleged Pocklington and his partner told at least 120 investors they owned mineral rights to a mine in Arizona that would soon be producing gold.

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The commission said Pocklington and his partner also claimed in newsletters that the investment represented "one of the most lucrative dividends in the mining business" and claimed hedge funds and banks were interested in the project,

"The commission found, however, that the estimates of gold resources on the respondents' website were not supportable with the methods currently available in the industry." Pocklington and his partner agreed to pay the restitution without admitting or denying the commission's findings.

Pocklington is still being pursued by the Alberta government in an attempt to collect more than $13 million the former Edmonton businessman owes the province from an unpaid 1988 loan to his former Gainers meatpacking plant.

Los Angeles lawyer David Casselman has been acting for Alberta for years and has been trying, unsuccessfully, to trace what he believes are offshore accounts used by Pocklington to hide money from creditors.

Casselman told CBC News that he views this latest SEC action as positive because "the SEC have the power to do bank searches that we don't."

Pocklington came to be known as "Peter Puck" when he bought part ownership of the Edmonton Oilers in 1976. Under his ownership, the Oilers won five Stanley Cups in the 1980s.

He created enemies among thousands of Oilers fans when he traded superstar Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles in 1988. He sold the team in 1998 and moved to California four years later.

@jennierussell_

@charlesrusnell
(In this April 4 story, corrects name of country in headline from Eritrea to Rwanda, no changes to text.) By Amir Cohen SAHARONIM DETENTION CENTRE, Israel (Reuters) - Israel on Wednesday released from detention a small group of African migrants who had been awaiting deportation after the collapse of an international deal to send them to Rwanda. Some 200 additional migrants are still being held at the Saharonim detention center in southern Israel awaiting possible deportation to Uganda but their fate depends on whether an Israeli envoy who visited the east African state on Wednesday had managed to secure a deal for them to be taken in. In the event agreement is not reached, they too will be freed, probably on Thursday. The long-term fate of the freed migrants was unclear but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was seeking a new relocation deal, although he gave no details. Netanyahu said on Tuesday he was cancelling an agreement with the U.N. refugee agency to relocate thousands of African migrants, bowing to right-wing at home pressure to scrap the deal. Netanyahu's critics seized on his backtracking on the arrangement - under which thousands of other migrants would have won the right to remain in Israel - as a sign of political weakness. For the estimated 37,000 migrants in Israel, most of them from Eritrea and Sudan, the whirlwind of announcements over the past three days about their future has swept their status even deeper into limbo. On Monday, Netanyahu announced the arrangement with the UNHCR that would have relocated about 16,250 migrants to Western countries. But the fact that thousands more would be allowed to stay raised an outcry from right-wing politicians and on social media from Netanyahu's nationalist voter base, which wants the migrants expelled. He then announced he was putting the agreement's implementation on hold and by Tuesday, he killed it. The 58 migrants set free from Saharonim in the south of the country boarded buses to Tel Aviv. They were freed because the state could not give assurances to the Supreme Court that it had found a safe haven for them abroad. "I have been detained for six months and at lunch time today the police came and told me I was being released, I don't know where I'll go yet," Musia Bara from Eritrea told Israel's Channel 1. Several hundred migrants held a demonstration in central Jerusalem later on Wednesday demanding to be allowed to stay and for the forced deportations to be stopped. Eritrean Muluebrhan Ghebrihiwet, 27, one of the demonstrators who has been in Israel for almost seven years and who was released from detention last month, said Israel's government was playing mind games with the migrants. "We are grateful to the Israeli public for their support but the government has waged a psychological war against us and they have done so because of politics but we are refugees, human beings and we demand that they stop," he said. (Additional reporting by Ronen Zvulun in Jerusalem; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams)
At some point over the past six months, provincial bureaucrats prepared six pages of briefing materials for Land Resources Minister Gerry Byrne on the issue of milk quality.

But if you want to know what they told him, you're out of luck  the Newfoundland and Labrador government has classified every word of that briefing as a secret.

It's the same thing for eight pages of correspondence between the province's Farm Industry Review Board and registered producers or dairy farmers on the same topic. Those records, involving the board that oversees the industry, are also off-limits to the public.

CBC News has no indication that there are problems with milk quality in Newfoundland and Labrador, but asked for those records through access to information, after receiving an anonymous tip.

The province says releasing any of that information about milk quality would harm the government's financial interests, and also harm the business interests of a third party.

It's not clear why that's the case. The department declined comment.

N.L. standards same as rest of country

Meanwhile, the Dairy Farmers of Newfoundland and Labrador said it doesn't know the reasoning behind the government's decision.

"We wouldn't be privy to this type of information," general manager John Moores said in an email to CBC News.

Moores said the milk quality standards in Newfoundland and Labrador are the same as those in place throughout the country.

"All producers in our province are in compliance with this program as outlined in the Newfoundland and Labrador Milk Regulations," Moores noted.

"In addition to this, every producer in Newfoundland and Labrador is compliant with the Canadian Quality Milk program, an on-farm food safety program."

He said each and every load of milk arriving at a processing plant is tested for antibiotics, adding that if a load is positive, the milk is destroyed and is never processed into finished products.

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"Dairy producers in Newfoundland and Labrador are proud of the product they produce," he said.

"We take pride in being able to supply Newfoundland and Labrador consumers with high quality, fresh milk, each and every day."

Appeal of decision in the works

CBC News is in the process of filing an appeal with the information and privacy commissioner about the department's decision to withhold milk quality records.

The first exemption  related to the province's financial interests  is discretionary, which means it doesn't apply if government officials decide not to use it. In this case, they did.

The second exemption  related to business interests  is mandatory, but a tough three-part test must be met for it to be properly applied. And it can be waived if the third party consents.

According to the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources website, there are 39 registered producers in the province's dairy industry.

The department notes that dairy farmers produced over 48.5 million litres of milk in 2006, valued at $37.8 million.
When the IWK Health Centre's new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) opens its doors next week in Halifax, it will be the first time all four members of Thomas White's family will sleep in the same room.

"I find it sort of feels like a hotel for babies," the new father said during a sneak peek of the facility. "It's a community."

White and Lori Robinson welcomed twin boys on Jan. 20. They were born at 28 weeks, and both Sullivan and Duncan were admitted in the NICU.

For 75 nights, their parents have had to say good night, leaving them in the care of the team at the hospital and finding their own accommodations.

"Leaving here, at the end of the day, we're wondering, 'Are we going to get a call tonight? What will we walk into in the morning?'" said Robinson.

White and Robinson, who are from Clyde River, P.E.I., stayed in a hotel initially, but they said they couldn't afford it long-term. They're now staying with cousins in the Halifax area.

"It's almost heartbreaking having to leave at night and you're laying there in bed, wondering, 'How is my baby doing?'" said White.

Their family is one of the reasons why NICUs around the world are changing the way babies are treated.

Instead of separating the young patients from their parents, rooms are being built to allow families to stay together.

On Wednesday, the IWK will open its doors on NICU North, an ambitious overhaul of its site that has been 12 years in the making.

New rooms are much larger

Currently, each baby is being treated in about a 30-square-foot portion of a shared room. The new suites aren't just private; they're 10 times the size.

"We're welcoming families in a way that no one else probably is," said Tanya Bishop, NICU's operations manager.

Bishop and her team have spent years assessing the options in Canada, but they decided to take NICU North one step further and studied a model in Drammen, Norway.

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Inside each room, there is a full setup to care for a baby, as well as a suite for the family to stay. They're given a double bed, a closet with a safe, and their own washroom with a shower.

The IWK says these are the first NICU suites in Canada to include private washrooms, basically creating a hotel setting.

"We need to promote togetherness, nurturing, family," said Bishop.

New rooms should lead to healthier babies, says doctor

Dr. David Simpson, a neonatologist and the medical director of NICU, said research shows that the more involved the parents are in the treatment of a newborn, the better the family does as a whole.

"That leads to babies having more human milk, babies getting more skin-to-skin care, babies having better growth," he said.

Simpson said this will lead to healthier babies and shorter stays in the unit.

The average stay currently is two weeks, but some families are there for months.

"Probably the two most common questions that I hear when I'm seeing a family before birth is, 'How long will my child be in hospital and where am I going to stay while they're in hospital?' It's always been very difficult in our current model because we often aren't able to answer that question," he said.

"So to actually be able to, when we meet with people now, to be able to tell them your baby will have a place to stay and you will have a place to stay with your baby is just so powerful."

Rooms incorporate smart technology

One of the challenges of new rooms is offering privacy. With family members present it's harder for staff in the unit to monitor their patients, Simpson said, so they spent a lot of time figuring out logistics.

"We need to be monitoring the performance of their heart and their lungs very closely and so they're typically on continuous monitoring for at least a portion of their stay," he said.

If an alarm is triggered, it sends a signal to a nurses' smartphone, which Simpson said will lead to faster response times.

What the rooms have in them

The rooms are also equipped with everything from milk fridges to special sinks with bum-cheek holders that help families bathe their babies.

Rooms without windows have special skylights to mimic clouds in the sky, and every room has artwork.

NICU North has 16 single rooms, two twin rooms and one triplet room, but even that is adaptable.

Now that NICU North is ready to launch, work will begin on the second half of the project. NICU South will also be transformed, and is expected to be completed by spring 2019.

Expected price tag is $34M

The entire project is being funded through donations to the IWK Foundation. The redevelopment is expected to cost $34 million.

For Thomas White, it means the stress of logistics will be gone, and he can focus on helping his newborn sons.

"New families coming in, that are coming straight to here, it's going to make their lives so much easier," he said.

"Especially for families away, such as ourselves, it's a huge financial burden trying to find a place to stay in Halifax. And we're lucky to have family here to open our doors for us, but if you don't have any family here, what are you going to do?"

While Duncan has been discharged, his twin Sullivan will have to stay in the NICU a while longer to help his lungs develop.

"Being here is going to be great, we're really excited," said White.




Its a controversial move some experts say is aimed at preventing more controversy.

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford is known for having a sometimes rocky relationship with reporters, but the decision to not bring them with him on the campaign trail has been met with concern.

This should not be blown off as insignificant, Queens University political science teaching fellow Tim Abray told The Canadian Press. He is attempting to bypass the accountability function of the free press by limiting access to his campaign.

The Ford team doesnt necessarily see it that way.

Most media outlets have shifted to covering events from their office and relying on live feeds. It is in our interest to have as much media coverage as possible and will do everything we can to ensure our events are streamed online to assist in that, Ford spokeswoman Melissa Lantsman said Wednesday via email.

Doug Ford is seen here speaking to the media in Toronto in February. The Ontario PC leaders campaign team says they wont have a media bus for the upcoming provincial election campaign. Photo from Getty Images.

On Thursday, CBC News reported Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne referred to the move as unusual while adding that her Liberal party will continue providing one for journalists.

I think its an important part of the democratic process, Wynne told reporters, according to CBC News. The premier added that it will be up to Ford to explain why it looks like theres some hiding going on, CBC News reported.

Traditionally, political parties provide buses for members of the media to cover their candidates during the election campaign. News organizations pay to reserve a seat on the bus and cover the costs of sending a reporter to attend events.

All media are welcome at every event with @fordnation . This only means less access if media choose not to come and cover campaign events. #onpoli  Melissa Lantsman (@MelissaLantsman) April 5, 2018

The media bus tradition has become less common in some parts of Canada in recent years. During the last federal election campaign, reporters complained Stephen Harpers Conservatives were placing restrictions imposed on them, including a self-imposed rule that Harper would only answer five questions from the media per day.

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Bus or no bus, the media will be following Fords campaign in the coming months. Polls suggest the former Toronto city councillor is a serious contender ahead of the June 7 provincial election. This means he could soon be premier.

But by restricting access to journalists, experts say the candidate is able to better control the message being put out to potential voters.

For example, instead of an off-the-cuff quote, a filtered statement might be preferred by the candidates team. Rather than the photo that catches the candidate in an awkward position, perhaps the campaign team can provide one the candidate prefers.

Political science professors told The Canadian Press the move is a warning sign for members of the media, but its also a way to protect Ford against potentially self-imploding by saying something that may turn voters away from him. But will voters really care about what kind of access the media gets to Ford during the campaign?

What do you think about the Ford teams decision to not have a media bus for the upcoming provincial election campaign? Do you think it matters that reporters may have limited access to the Tory leader? Let us know what you think by voting in the poll above and be sure to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

With files from The Canadian Press
Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at the Protocol Probable Cause Robusto by Cubariqueno Cigar Company. We have assessed the Protocol Probable Cause before, but in different sizes -most recently in the Lancero size back in June 2017.

Wrapper: San Andres Maduro

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (La Zona SA)

Robusto: 5 x 52

The Protocol Probable Cause is the sophomore release by Cubariqueno Cigar Company, the company founded by cigar enthusiasts Juan Cancel and Bill Ives. The companys first release, Protocol, was very well received both critically and commercially and Cubariqueno became one of the revelations in the cigar industry. In 2016, Cancel and Ives decided to add a maduro as its second line, and thus the Protocol Probable Cause was born. While we have assessed the Churchill and Lancero sizes, today we take a look at the Protocol Probable Cause in the 5 x 52 Robusto size.

The name Protocol Probable Cause pays homage to law enforcement. Both Cancel and Ives serve as law enforcement officers in New York. Like all cigars by Cubariqueno Cigar Company, the Probable Cause is made at Erik Espinosas La Zona factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The Probable Cause consists of a San Andres Mexican maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. The cigar comes in three sizes. While the Churchill and Lancero sizes are box-pressed, the Robusto is a rounded parejo. The Protocol Probable Cause Robustos used for this assessment have about 21 months of age on them.

Flavor-wise, the Protocol Probable Cause Robusto delivers notes of mocha, earth, malt, and black pepper. Early on the mocha and malt notes took control. As the cigar experienced progressed, the earth notes took control. While the malt flavor diminished, there was still a nice amount of sweetness from the mocha and spices from the black pepper. Toward the end of the cigar, there was more in the way of pepper, but it never overpowered the cigar. The flavors were medium to full-bodied complemented by medium strength.

Overall the Protocol Probable Cause Robusto delivers an excellent smoking experience. There are three things I can conclude about the Protocol Probable Cause: 1) Its a blend that works well pressed or rounded in a variety of shapes and sizes; 2) Its a blend that responds very well to aging; 3) The Protocol Probable Cause Robusto delivers in the flavor department. This is a cigar I would recommend to an experienced cigar enthusiast or a novice looking for something in the medium to medium plus range. As for myself, this is a cigar I would smoke again  and its one that garners box worthy consideration.

Summary

Key Flavors: Mocha, Malt, Earth, Pepper

Burn: Very Good

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium

Strength: Medium

Body: Medium to Full

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Box Worthy Consideration

Score: 91

References

Previous Assessment: Protocol Probable Cause Lancero by Cubariqueno Cigar Company

News: Cubariqueno Cigar Company Introducing Protocol Probable Cause

Price: $9.69

Source: Cubariqueno Cigar Company

Brand Reference Cubariqueno Cigar Company

Photo Credit: Cigar Coop
The Texas market is important to most brands in the cigar industry, and Marrero Cigars is targeting it. This the company announced it has named Tony Gomez as its Regional Sales Representative for the Dallas market.

I am honored to embark on an exciting new chapter in my career in the cigar industry. Many of you know me as Big Tony Gomez. I have been in Cigar Retail Management for quite some time now but with the wonderful opportunity from Joel Marrero I have been chosen as the Texas Cigar Representative for Marrero Cigars. I will still be in the Dallas area serving Jay Davis and his great clientele at Blue Smoke of Dallas. I will just have a little more on my plate these days. I would like to thank all of my friends throughout the industry at all the wonderful shops throughout the DFW area and I look forward to meeting with all of you to let you know more about the great cigars made by Marrero Cigars.

Marrero Cigars was founded by Joel Vazquez Marrero in 2014. The company produces its cigars in Costa Rica at Tabacos de Costa Rica.



Photo Credit: Marrero Cigars
FRIDAY, April 6, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- COPD may seem like an adult disease, often tied to smoking. But two new studies suggest it could have roots in life's earliest years.

Kids with issues such as asthma or those exposed to secondhand smoke may be more susceptible to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) decades later -- especially if they grow up to become smokers, researchers found.

COPD is a chronic, debilitating and largely incurable form of progressive lung disease affecting more than 11 milllion Americans, according to the American Lung Association. A combination of bronchitis and emphysema, COPD is the third biggest killer in the United States.

The new research "shows that childhood factors likely play an important role in our risk for [this] lung disease as adults," said Dr. Ann Tilley, a pulmonogist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

She wasn't involved in the studies, but said they show that, "keeping kids free of smoke, and making sure that childhood asthma is optimally treated, are two steps parents can take to improve their kids' lung health in the long run."

Both of the studies were published April 5 in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.

One study included nearly 2,500 people in Australia who at ages 7, 13, 18, 45, 50 and 53 underwent lung-function tests and were assessed for lung function risk factors.

Researchers led by Shyamali Dharmage of the University of Melbourne found that three-quarters of COPD cases that developed in participants by age 53 originated in poor lung function that began in childhood. That meant childhood issues such as asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, allergic rhinitis ("hay fever"), eczema and exposure to secondhand smoke. Often, these conditions worsened in adulthood, the team noted.

Picking up the smoking habit is the main risk factor for COPD, but these findings show that childhood risk factors can also raise a person's odds for the illness.

"These findings highlight the importance of preventing both early life adverse exposures that could lead to poorer lung growth," Dharmage said in a journal news release.

In a second study, John Henderson and colleagues at the University of Bristol in England tracked the lung function of more than 2,600 people from birth to age 24.

They found that about three-quarters of babies born with impaired lung function made great improvements throughout childhood -- showing that there's a "window of opportunity" to overcome these early respiratory deficits.

Tilley stressed that there's much parents can do to make sure their child avoids COPD and other respiratory issues later in life.

"One interesting finding from this study was that childhood cigarette smoke exposure seemed to predispose kids to even worse lung disease later if they smoked; in other words, being exposed to your mom's smoke heightens your own negative response to smoking later," she said.

Dr. Alan Mensch is a pulmonologist who helps direct medical affairs at Plainview and Syosset in Hospitals in Long Island, N.Y.

He noted that, "as children grow bigger and stronger from infancy to their mid-20s, their organs, including their lungs, reach top performance. After reaching their peak functioning in the mid-20s, respiratory performance undergoes a steady decline throughout one's lifetime."

Mensch called the new studies "extremely important," because they help explain why some people develop COPD and others -- even if they smoke -- do not.

"Not all people that smoke cigarettes get COPD, but those who experience limited lung function growth in their childhood and teen years are prone to a higher incidence of COPD," he theorized.

"Our bodies are marvels of physiology," Mensch said, "which must be cared for beginning in early life to ensure that they will continue to function well into our later years."

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on COPD.
FRIDAY, April 6, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Imagine a world in black and white.

That's the plight of people with an extremely rare condition called blue cone monochromacy, an inherited eye disease that renders people unable to see color.

But there's a glimmer of hope for the one in every 100,000 people with the condition: Scientists report that gene therapy improved color vision in mice with the disease.

Blue cone monochromacy also makes the world appear blurry and uncomfortably bright, the University of Florida researchers said. They explained that defective genes affect red and green cone photoreceptors in the retina, leaving patients with only blue color receptors.

"The children who have this disorder are born with very poor visual acuity. They cannot see color. This is a very devastating disease," Wen-Tao Deng, assistant scientist in ophthalmology research, said in a university news release.

But in the new research, Deng's team used a harmless virus to transport human genes into mouse retinas with defective cones and no color vision.

Once there, the genes jumpstarted the production of certain proteins that helped regenerate cone cells responsible for cone function and the perception of color.

Within six weeks of the treatment, cone function appeared to be restored in up to 70 percent of the mice, and the benefit has continued for at least seven months, Deng's team reported.

"We functionally and structurally restored normal vision in the mice by restoring their cones," Deng said.

Further research is needed, but the findings showed that the gene therapy works and should be considered for human clinical trials, the researchers said.

Hurdles remain, however. Because people with blue cone monochromacy have never experienced full-color vision before, it's not clear how their brain's visual cortex would process the new stimuli. However, prior studies in monkeys born with an inability to "see" the color red suggest that the brain can adapt to new color, Deng's group said.

The study was published April 3 in the journal Molecular Vision.

More information

For more on this eye disease, go to BCM Families Foundation.
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Taipei, April 6, 2018Chinese authorities should immediately release from custody journalist Zou Guangxiang and stop harassing the media for doing its job, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Police from Inner Mongolias Hohhot city on March 28 arrested Zou, who publishes his own financial news blog Guangxiang Caijing, at his home in Beijing for spreading rumors, according to news reports and the Weibo social media account of government-run news outlet Hohhot News. Zou has not been charged, according to Hohhot News.

CPJ was unable to determine where Zou is being held.

Zous arrest came two days after he published an article on his blog about tense relations between Chinese authorities and Pan Gang, chairperson of Yili Group, Chinas largest dairy producer. In the article, Zou wrote that Pan was secretly running his business remotely from the United States for nearly six months and was taken away by authorities right after his recent return to China.

Yili Groups board of directors on March 27 issued a statement saying that the company is operating normally and denied that Pan was under investigation.

Reporting the news should not be a crime  in China or anywhere, said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler from Washington D.C. Zou Gangxiang should be freed from jail immediately.

CPJs call to the Hohhot Public Security Bureau for comment went unanswered.

In a separate case, Hohhot police arrested Liu Chengkun, who runs the financial news microblog Tianlu Caijing and previously worked for government-owned publication Time Weekly, in Beijing on April 2 on charges of spreading rumors, according to news reports.

Lius arrest came after he wrote two short stories about a fictional Mr. Pan who bore striking resemblances to Pan from Yili Group. Both stories were originally posted on Tianlu Caijing, but were deleted and later reposted to Sina Finance, a Chinese microblog service providers financial news website, according news reports and CPJ research.

According to CPJ research, China is consistently one of the worlds worst jailers of journalists.
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Washington, D.C., April 6, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Egyptian authorities to immediately release three journalists who have been taken into police custody or disclose their whereabouts and accusations against them.

Adel Eissa, a freelance photojournalist, Ahmed Abdel Gawad, a photographer with the pro-government daily al-Shorouk, and blogger Mohamed Ibrahim were detained after reporting on government opposition figures and irregularities in Egypts recent presidential election, according to news reports citing witnesses, colleagues, and lawyers.

Censoring journalists shows the fragility of the Egyptian authorities, rather than strength, CPJs Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Sherif Mansour said. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisis government has fostered a climate of fear in which journalists do not know if, or when, they will face arrest or other forms of harassment. We call on Egyptian authorities to make public the location of these journalists and any charges against them, and stop arbitrarily arresting members of the media.

CPJs requests for comment sent via email to Egyptian media regulators and the prosecutor generals office were not immediately answered.

Eissa and Abdel Gawad were arrested late last night at a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Cairo, according to the local independent news website Mada Masr.

Hader Saleh, a photojournalist with the news website Mobtada and Eissas fiancee, reported his arrest on her Facebook page.

Abdel Gawads family told Mada Masr that they sent a message to the public prosecutor and the Interior Ministry requesting information, but have not heard back. Saleh today wrote in a Facebook post that she does not know Eissas whereabouts.

Police at 3 a.m. today arrested Mohamed Ibrahim, also known as Mohamed Oxygen, at his home in Cairos Maadi neighborhood, according to his social media accounts and a YouTube post from his colleague Mona Ahmed. CPJ was unable to determine who has been posting to Ibrahims accounts.

Ibrahim runs a blog, Oxygen Egypt, which featured critical reports on the presidential election and alleged police abuse. Ibrahim also manages a YouTube channel that shows street interviews with Egyptians of a wide range of opinions.

According to Ahmed and posts on Ibrahims social media accounts, the journalists whereabouts are unknown.

In a separate case, a local photojournalist for the weekly al-Masriya, Wagdy Khaled, went missing several weeks ago and turned up yesterday in a Cairo police station, according to Mada Masr and a Facebook post from former Journalists Syndicate board member Khaled al-Balshy.

Egyptian authorities stepped up censorship during last months presidential campaign, arresting journalists on fake news and national security charges, enforcing fines, and raiding and shutting down and blocking news websites, according to CPJ research.
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When it comes to silencing critics, Azerbaijani authorities have been industrious and methodical. Ahead of snap presidential elections scheduled for April 11, potential opposition candidates have been either jailed or barred from running, and the political landscape has been cleansed of virtually all formal avenues of expressing dissent.

Throwing journalists in jail, abducting them from abroad, accusing them of financial misdeeds, blocking websites, hacking social media accounts, imposing travel bans: this is not an exhaustive list of the tactics Ilham Aliyevs government has used to try to ensure the independent media are muzzled and critical voices silenced.

Azerbaijan ranks among the worst jailers of journalists in the world, with at least 10 behind bars on December 1, 2017, when CPJ conducted its annual prison census. But international pressure on Baku has had some impact.

Mehman Aliyev, who heads Turan, the last independent news agency in Azerbaijan, told CPJ he thinks that pressure from the U.S. and international outcry over his arrest in August on tax evasion charges played a key role in his release.

Senator Richard Durbin introduced an amendment to the FY2018 State Department and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill which instructed the State Department to bar Azerbaijani officials from entering the U.S. if they were involved in Aliyevs wrongful imprisonment.

Speaking to CPJ from Baku, Aliyev (no relation to the countrys president) said, Senator Durbins amendment as well as pressure from other senators, including Marco Rubio, John McCain and Patrick Leahy, were directly responsible for my release.

Aliyev added, The amendment was passed on September 7. I had a court hearing the following day. When the authorities heard of the amendment, the security services told me President Aliyev had just heard about my case and was concerned.

His early release on September 11and that of Kanal 13 manager Aziz Orujov, who according to reports was freed on April 5 after the Supreme Court handed down a suspended sentenceare the first releases since May 2016 when prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and several others were set free after international advocacy efforts, including by CPJ.

Although Turan continues to operate, Aliyev said that its staff of 15, including seven Baku-based reporters, are too few to cover the country of nearly 10 million.

The situation is very difficult, Aliyev said. We are the only ones left. They havent destroyed us yet because the amendment is still there.

Many of the countrys journalists choose to live and broadcast from abroad to avoid arrest or harassment, but Azerbaijan authorities have tried to silence independent voices beyond its borders.

In May 2017, prominent investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli disappeared in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he was living in exile with his family. He emerged two days later in a border detention center in Azerbaijan. On January 12, a Balakan district court sentenced Mukhtarli to six years in prison on charges of illegally crossing the border, bringing contraband with him, and resisting authorities, according to CPJ research. Reports in early April said the journalists health is deteriorating. Mukhtarlis appeal against the sentence has been postponed repeatedly in a move that some activists said they believe is to ensure the hearing is not held until after the election.

Previously a safe haven for many of Azerbaijans opposition members and independent journalists, neighboring Georgia had started to feel dangerous as rumors spread about Georgian law enforcement allegedly collaborating with their Azerbaijani counterparts in Mukhtarlis case. Officials in Tbilisi said they would investigate the journalists case, but as of early April no further updates have been made public. Mukhtarlis wife, Leyla Mustafayeva, also a freelance journalist, said in an interview with the Rory Peck Trust in February that press freedom in our country steps backwards and further backwards each year. Fearing for her safety, Mustafayeva said she had to seek refuge in Germany.

No place feels safe anymore, said Fikret Huseynli, head of the Amsterdam bureau of opposition-leaning online television channel Turan TV (a separate organization from the Turan news agency). Huseynli, who has lived in the Netherlands since 2008 and has citizenship there, covers the activities of the Azerbaijani opposition in exile and suspected corruption in the Azerbaijani government. He has also been critical of the president.

Huseynli told CPJ that his perception of safety beyond Azerbaijans borders changed after he visited Ukraine in October 2017 to explore opportunities for opening a Turan TV bureau in Kiev. Huseynli was about to board a plane when Ukrainian border service detained him while Azeri-speaking men were watching, he said. He was released on bail on October 27 but Ukraines prosecutor generals office confiscated his passport. Then, on March 5two hours after Huseynli spoke with CPJunknown men attacked the journalist in the Kiev apartment he was renting.

On April 2, a judge ruled against extraditing the journalist and said he should be allowed to move freely. However, earlier that day a Kiev prosecutor took Huseynlis passport from a court secretary and has refused to hand it back, according to reports. Huseynli is due to appear before a Kiev court again on April 12one day after Azerbaijans election.

The Azerbaijani government also tried to file a criminal defamation complaint against two French journalists after one of them called Azerbaijan a dictatorship in a broadcast. A French court rejected the defamation complaint in November, according to reports.

Critical journalists who remain active inside the country face daily restrictions. Since her release from prison nearly two years ago, Ismayilova has had her bank accounts frozen and her electricity and internet connections cut when she tries to participate in international conferences or accept prizes via Skype, according to media reports and her social media posts. Ismayilovas appeals to lift her travel ban were denied, and authorities prevented her from traveling to Turkey to see her mother before she died in early March.

When contacted by CPJ for comment about conditions for the press Mushfig Aleskerli, deputy chairman of Azerbaijans Press Council, asked for questions to be sent via email, but as of April 5 the self-regulatory media authority known for its pro-government stance, had not responded to the emailed questions.

The government sometimes offers a carrot approach to the press, including a program the president launched in 2013 to give free apartments to journalists. The program has been criticized by observers and journalists as an attempt to buy loyalty.

Aliyev from the Turan news agency, told CPJ he has been approached to nominate reporters for free apartments but repeatedly refuses to do so. He said being given an apartment is the equivalent to being handed a bribe and goes against professional ethics. Aliyev added that there are no economic incentives for new independent media outlets to spring up in Azerbaijan.

The authorities created an environment in which no media outlet can survive without government subsidies. If there is any media start-up that hopes to float without government funding, solely on advertising, it will either die out on its own or the government will strangle it, he said.

With the election just a few days away, Alex Raufoglu, a Washington, D.C.-based Azerbaijani journalist who contributes to Turan, told CPJ more pressure should be put on Baku.

The international community should not only continue putting strong pressure on Aliyevs regime but step it up ahead of the elections, because once re-elected for another seven-year termand I see no obstacles to that Aliyev will listen to his foreign partners even less, Raufoglu said.
A man in Oklahoma has been sentenced to death for beating his ex-girlfriend's two-year-old son to death while babysitting in 2015.





Dustin Melvin Davison, 25, was sentenced Thursday in the killing of Kreedin Paul Brooks. The death sentence decision was decided on the grounds that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.





The jury also decided that Davison would be a continued threat to society, according to NewsOk.





Davison agreed to babysit his ex girlfriend, Jennifer Young's baby despite their breakup. Prosecutors argued he beat the baby to death in a rage over his ex moving on and dating again.





The beating happened May 18, 2015 inside the Bethany apartment Davison shared with Young.





The injuries to little Brooks were extensive. He had a skull fracture, brain bleeding, a broken jawbone and 49 bruises below the neck.





Davison's story as to how the child died varied after his arrest. He gave dozens of accounts as to how the boy became injured.





In one of his explanations he told police the boy was injured in a pillow fight. In another he said the boy fell off a second story balcony.





Finally at one point, he confessed to slamming the toddler's head on a floor.





Defense attorneys contended Davison's actions were 'out of the blue.' During the trial, defense attorneys also requested Davison's competency be reviewed. They argued that the death penalty was "inappropriate" for the case, saying Davison wasn't in the right state of mind.





They even argued that 'Mr. Davison asserts that he has had discussions with God and deceased family members recently.' The judge denied the requests for a review of his competency.





The boy's mother was unable to attend Davison's sentencing.





Appeals are automatic, so he likely won't have his sentence carried out for years to come.

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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
Hundreds of people were executed in Iran last year, including some who were minors at the time of their alleged crimes, and the grizzly practice of public executions continues, according to a report from the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC).





During the Persian calendar year between March 2017 and March 2018, 520 people, including six individuals who were juveniles when they allegedly committed their crimes, were executed in the Islamic Republic, according to official figures, though the IHRDC notes that some state-sanctioned executions are carried out in secret, making the real number is difficult to know.





According to IHRDC findings, Kabir Dehqan Zai, Javad Mir, Alireza Tajiki, Amir Hossein Pourjafar, Ali Kazemi, and Mahboubeh Mofidi were under 18 when they allegedly committed their crimes, and were executed last year.





Most of those executed during the period in question were sentenced to death for smuggling, narcotics, and murder. However, human rights groups say capital punishment is not limited to violent crimes. Adultery, non-violent drug offenses, sodomy (consensual or otherwise), apostasy (conversion to another religion from Islam) , insulting the Prophet Muhammad, and vague national security crimes like  sowing corruption on Earth  are all punishable by death.





International human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned Iran for its high rate of executions.





With an average of more than one execution every day and more than one execution per 167,000 inhabitants in 2017, Iran remained the country with the highest number of executions per capita, wrote the NGO Iran Human Rights in its tenth annual report.





Based on the United Nations annual report , 213 people were hanged in the Islamic Republic for smuggling narcotics in 2017, 202 for murder, 24 for rape and sexual related crimes, sixteen for burglary and armed robbery, and two for political offenses.





These reports show that the number of executions in Iran is down compared with previous years, mainly thanks to a new law that has replaced the death sentence with long prison terms or fines for many drug offenses. The new law is expected to change the fate of 5,300 people currently on death row.





Despite the reduction in capital punishment sentences for drug offenders, human rights groups still criticize Irans judiciary for the continued execution of those who were minors at the time of their alleged crimes.





Iran is a signatory to two international treaties that prohibit capital punishment for offenses committed by minors. But that has not stopped the country from being the worst international offender when it comes to executing such juveniles, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said February 16 in a statement.





Furthermore, UN Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville reaffirmed at a press conference, "The execution of juvenile offenders is unequivocally prohibited under international law."





According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), only Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, have executed child offenders since 2013.





Civil society activists in Iran also denounce the continued practice of public hangings organized to attract as much attention as possible. According to HRW, Iranian authorities executed 31 people in public spaces in 15 provinces in 2017.





The majority of those executed in public were convicted of murder and were sentenced to qisas (retribution in kind), followed by rape or sexual assault and Moharebeh (waging war against God), IHR reported.













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LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi President Peter Mutharika has called for a honest national dialogue if the country should resume capital punishment in response to murder rate so that people found guilty of killing especially persons with albinism be slapped with death penalty.





President Mutharika said in a statement issued by Presidential Press Secretary Mgeme Kalilani and made available to The Maravi Post on Thursday.





There have been fevered calls for country to lift the moratorium on executions following the resurfacing of gruesome attacks on persons with albinism.





Kalilani said the Malawi leader is asking for an honest national dialogue on whether the country should start implementing the death penalty or not on individuals sentenced to death for murder.





President Mutharika is aware that there are some stakeholders who feel passionately that implementing the death penalty on individuals sentenced to death could go a long way as a deterrent to would-be offenders from attacking persons with albinism, said Kalilani in a statement.





He added, On the other hand, the President is also aware of the international communitys stand against the death penalty.





These two view points are on opposite extreme end of each other; hence the need for dialogue and a national consensus.





Malawis law allow the death penalty for people convicted of murder. However, despite the law providing for a death sentence, it has not been applicable since 2004 when Bakili Muluzi was in power after dictatorship of Malawi Congress Party (MCP).





Other presidents after Muluzi including the incumbent has not assented to execution because of human rights concerns with the United Nations campaigning for removal of such laws from the books.





The hangmans job has been vacant in Malawi since 1994 but applications could be invited if death sentence could be meted to perpetrators of crimes against people with albinism or murderers.





Mutharikas call for dialogue on death penalty follows the recent killing of Macdonald Masambuka, a young man with albinism in Machinga District, whose body was found on April 1, 2018 weeks after he was reported missing in early March.





The abduction and killing of Masambuka brings to four the number of attacks against persons with albinism in 2018.





State House said Mutharika is assuring all Malawians that the abduction and murder of Masambuka and similar unresolved cases will be thoroughly investigated with the speed they deserve and that all those implicated will be prosecuted vigorously.





The President has expressed great shock and sadness about the news of re-emergence of attacks on persons with albinism in some parts of the country.





This depressing development is happening at a time government had made tremendous progress in efforts to stop such barbarous acts, reads the statement from State House.





The body of Masambuka, 22, who came from Nakawa Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Nkoola in Machinga, was found last Sunday buried within the district.





Police traced his body following confessions from suspects who had been arrested in connection with the crime.





Seven suspects, reportedly including a police officer and six civilians, have been arrested for the killing.





The President has commended the professional Police officers that have this far worked day and night to establish what had befallen the late Masambuka since his disappearance.





Mutharika further encourages law enforcers to dig deep in investigating the killing of Masambuka and bring the alleged perpetrators to justice, saying no one implicated should be spared regardless of their social status.





The President will not allow criminals in our communities to reverse the gains made in the efforts to protect persons with albinism. President Mutharikas Government remains seriously committed to protecting the human rights for all its citizens with special emphasis on vulnerable groups such as persons with albinism, reads the statement.





State House said Malawi government appreciates the support it has thus far been receiving from the international development partners, traditional leaders, the Judiciary and the clergy in protecting the lives and rights of people with albinism and holding rights violators accountable.





The Malawi leader is therefore calling for concerted effort from all stakeholders to understand what weaknesses in the earlier interventions have led to the re-emergence of the attacks on person with albinism, get to the root of the problem and collectively defeat it.

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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
KARACHI: A Pakistani woman infamously put on death row for killing her family in 1998 has been acquitted and walked free after 20 years in prison, her lawyer said Friday (Apr 6).





Asma Nawab was just 16 when her parents and brother were murdered in 1998, apparently during an attempted robbery in the southern port megacity Karachi.





The familial nature of the murders sent a chill through the city, setting them apart from the political, ethnic and sectarian violence that gripped Karachi for many years.





"Not sufficient evidences"



Nawab, her then-fiance Farhan Ahmed and two others were arrested and sentenced to death, accused of killing the family as they had not given permission for the couple to marry.





Appeals moved slowly through Pakistan's creaky justice system. It was not until 2015 that her lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court, which - after a three-year hearing - ordered Nawab and the others to be released.





"The Supreme Court ruled that there was not sufficient evidences against my client and thus she was set free," Javed Chatari, who was been Nawab's lawyer since 1998, told AFP.





She left prison on Thursday.



Financial compensation





With no family left, Chatari said, he took her to Karachi's famous waterfront hoping that the breeze and the sight of the Arabian Sea buffeting the sands would help her understand that her 20-year ordeal was over.





"We made her ride on the horse on the Clifton Beach and later had a dinner, and then she started realising she was free," Chatari said.





Nawab - who is expected to visit her family home on Saturday for the first time since the murders - could legally file a case against the state, he said.





But, describing her as a poor and lonely woman, he thought it unlikely she would.





"That would be a tough call for her," he told AFP.

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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

Agence France-Presse, April 6, 2018
Ukraine boosts sugar exports by 15% in March

A total of 50% of all March supplies were bound for Uzbekistan.

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Ukraine boosts petroleum products imports by 13.8%, to almost US$1 bln in Jan-March 2018

The major suppliers of petroleum products to Ukraine are Belarus and Russia.

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Ukraine's Cabinet wants to reduce state debt to 60% of GDP by 2020  finance minister

The country's state debt dropped from 81% of GDP in 2016 to 71.8% in 2017.

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Russia trying to hook Europe up on "gas needle" via Nord Stream 2  Groysman

Groysman also said Ukraine should do everything to stop the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project.

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EC to support Ukraine in ensuring Russia's implementation of Stockholm Arbitration awards

The European Commission would support the holding of trilateral talks between Ukraine, the EU and Russia.

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Nord Stream 2 might provoke full-scale Russian offensive on Ukraine  Parl't Speaker

According to Parubiy, today the energy threat on the part of Russia is no less dangerous than the military one.

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Ukraine sees record low steel output in 2017

There is a threat of a blocking of imports of sulfuric acid that could create a monopoly on this type of raw materials.

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It will be ready before the end of this year.

Ukraine's largest private power producer DTEK and China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC) said on Friday they had agreed a joint project to build one of Europe's largest solar energy generators at a cost of 230 million euros ($282 million).

The solar power station will be built in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk with a planned capacity of 200 megawatts (MW), making it the third largest in Europe in terms of potential output, Reuters said.

Read alsoEBRD lends almost EUR 26 mln for construction of three solar power plants in Vinnytsia region

"It'll be completed in a very short space of time  before the end of this year," DTEK Chief Executive Maksim Timchenko said at a signing ceremony in Kyiv with CMEC Chairman Zhang Chun.

The project will be financed with a combination of DTEK funds and a loan from CMEC. The size of the loan was not announced.

DTEK is a relative newcomer to solar power, having launched its first solar project  Tryfonivska Solar Power Plant with 10 MW capacity  last August.

Ukraine's energy sector remains heavily dependent on traditional fossil fuels and nuclear power. Last year renewable sources accounted for around 1 percent of total generation.

DTEK plans to increase its renewable capacity to 1,000 MW in 2019, Timchenko said.

Chinese solar power led a record 157 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy capacity added worldwide last year, more than double the amount of new generation capacity from fossil fuels, a U.N.-backed report showed on Thursday.
European Commission not to support Nord Stream 2  EC energy official

The implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project will violate the principles of transparency.

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On the eve of the third anniversary of the war in Yemen, Houthi rebels fired a barrage of missiles into Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabias airports were targeted. An Egyptian national in Riyadh was reportedly killed and at least two other civilians were injured.

The United States strongly condemned the attacks.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement that the United States supports the rights of our Saudi partners to defend their borders against these threats. She again called on all parties, including the Houthis, to return to political negotiations and move toward ending the war in Yemen.

A Pentagon spokesperson pointed to Irans role in the conflict: This follows Irans pattern of providing advanced weapons to the Houthis, Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Rebarich said in a statement. Iran has enabled the conflict in Yemen to spill into neighboring countries and undermines international efforts to resolve the conflict, exacerbating the suffering of the Yemeni people.

Earlier this year, United Nations experts found that missile debris recovered in Saudi Arabia was of Iranian origin, and that Iran had failed to comply with the Yemen arms embargo established by Security Council Resolution 2216. U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Nikki Haley made a similar charge a month earlier.

In February, U.S. Representative to the U.N. for Economic and Social Affairs Ambassador Kelley Currie warned of the potential for further suffering in Yemen and the possibility of a wider war in the region:

But this is far from the end of the road to accountability for Iran. Across the region, Iran is entrenching itself and it is making the world a more dangerous place.

The United States, she said, will not hesitate to continue to make the world aware of Irans misdeeds and we will not stop until Tehran is stopped and peace is once more possible for the people of the Middle East.
Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Within the last four weeks, Special Counsel Robert Muellers team informed lawyers for Paul Manafort that they obtained a search warrant for five telephone numbers controlled by AT&T.



The special counsel, which is investigating whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russians in the 2016 election, revealed in court filings late Thursday that a search warrant was issued on March 9 in the Manafort case. This most recent warrant suggests that the Mueller investigation is still very active as they continue to seek new information in their probe of both the former Trump campaign chairman and beyond.



The filing states that the March 9 affidavit contains redactionsalbeit more substantial onesrelating to ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort.



It's unclear if that refers to a broader, as-yet-unknown investigation of Manafort or someone else entirely.



The new search warrant was revealed as part of a filing opposing a request by Manaforts lawyers to produce unredacted search warrant affidavits to the defense.



Muellers team did not reveal precisely what it was seeking with the warrant, but according to ABC News Consultant and former FBI Special Agent in Charge Steve Gomez, From a warrant like this, prosecutors could possibly obtain subscriber information, toll records, geo-location information and potentially content, including text messages and emails.



Altogether, the government outlined in the new court document seven search warrants against Manafort. Investigators searched three bank accounts, his Virginia residence, a storage locker, three e-mail accounts, and a hard drive.



It's unclear if the new information could lead to new charges against Manafort, who was indicted for conspiracy, money-laundering, tax evasion, and other charges - but the actions by the investigators are likely to ratchet up pressure against the former Trump campaign chairman.



Manafort has tried to get the charges against him thrown out, challenging the broad scope of the Mueller investigation as amounting to a "blank check." But the special counsel, in its reply to the court this week, defended its authority, and in doing so disclosed a memo written last summer by Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein affirming that Muellers jurisdiction covers Manaforts activity in connection with Ukraine, for which he is now under indictment.



The memo empowered Mueller to investigate allegations that 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.



The new search warrant against Manafort came just two weeks after former longtime Manafort business partner Rick Gates - Trump's deputy campaign manager  pleaded guilty and is now cooperating in the Mueller probe.



In addition, government prosecutors recently revealed - in a pre-sentencing filing for another case in their purview - that a business associate of Manafort and Gates was assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence.



Prosecutors allege that this associate was talking to Gates in the run-up to the 2016 election, though the subject of the alleged conversations was not revealed. The court filing also stated that the conversations were "pertinent" to the government's investigation, though nothing more specific was added.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Britain has opened its first permanent military base in the Middle East in more than four decades  a facility in Bahrain that gives the United Kingdom a stronger presence along key international shipping routes.

The HMS Juffair naval facility in Bahrains Mina Salman Port can house about 500 Royal Navy personnel, including sailors, soldiers and airmen.

British military officials say it will make it easier for the Royal Navy to conduct longer-term deployments in the Persian Gulf. It also will offer engineering and logistical support for ships.

Commodore Steve Dainton, U.K. Maritime Component Commander said the Royal Navy's aim is to "enhance and ensure the maritime security in the region."

He said its tasks will include ensuring "law and order on the high seas, countering piracy, countering terrorism, making sure that the high seas are all safe for the free-flow of commerce" and trade.

Construction for the permanent British facility was inaugurated in 2015.

Bahrain, which is located off the coast of Saudi Arabia and just west of its rival Iran, also hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Based on reporting by AP and BBC


Hundreds of people were executed in Iran last year, including some who were minors at the time of their alleged crimes, and the grizzly practice of public executions continues, according to a report from the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC).

During the Persian calendar year between March 2017 and March 2018, 520 people, including six individuals who were juveniles when they allegedly committed their crimes, were executed in the Islamic Republic, according to official figures, though the IHRDC notes that some state-sanctioned executions are carried out in secret, making the real number difficult to know.

According to IHRDC findings, Kabir Dehqan Zai, Javad Mir, Alireza Tajiki, Amir Hossein Pourjafar, Ali Kazemi, and Mahboubeh Mofidi were under 18 when they allegedly committed their crimes, and were executed last year.

Most of those executed during the period in question were sentenced to death for smuggling, narcotics, and murder. However, human rights groups say capital punishment is not limited to violent crimes. Adultery, non-violent drug offenses, sodomy (consensual or otherwise), apostasy (conversion to another religion from Islam), insulting the Prophet Muhammad, and vague national security crimes like sowing corruption on Earth are all punishable by death.

International human rights organizations have repeatedly condemned Iran for its high rate of executions.

With an average of more than one execution every day and more than one execution per 167,000 inhabitants in 2017, Iran remained the country with the highest number of executions per capita, wrote the NGO Iran Human Rights in its tenth annual report.

Based on the United Nations annual report, 213 people were hanged in the Islamic Republic for smuggling narcotics in 2017, 202 for murder, 24 for rape and sexual related crimes, sixteen for burglary and armed robbery, and two for political offenses.

These reports show that the number of executions in Iran is down compared with previous years, mainly thanks to a new law that has replaced the death sentence with long prison terms or fines for many drug offenses. The new law is expected to change the fate of 5,300 people currently on death row.

Despite the reduction in capital punishment sentences for drug offenders, human rights groups still criticize Irans judiciary for the continued execution of those who were minors at the time of their alleged crimes.

Iran is a signatory to two international treaties that prohibit capital punishment for offenses committed by minors. But that has not stopped the country from being the worst international offender when it comes to executing such juveniles, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said February 16 in a statement.

Furthermore, UN Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville reaffirmed at a press conference, "The execution of juvenile offenders is unequivocally prohibited under international law."

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), only Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, have executed child offenders since 2013.

Civil society activists in Iran also denounce the continued practice of public hangings organized to attract as much attention as possible. According to HRW, Iranian authorities executed 31 people in public spaces in 15 provinces in 2017. The majority of those executed in public were convicted of murder and were sentenced to qisas (retribution in kind), followed by rape or sexual assault and Moharebeh (waging war against God), IHR reported.

Video: Irans Child Offenders on Death Row
Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appears to have come under attack from both ends of Irans political spectrum: The far right and the far left.

Abolfazl Qadiani, a senior member of the Islamic Revolutions Mojahedeen Organization (IRMO), a leftist Islamic group, and 300 ultraconservative supporters of former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad harshly criticized Khamenei in open letters that reached the press on April 4.

A statement by liberal Freedom Movement, from left of the center, that has warned about possible widespread violence in case of renewed protest demonstrations, completes the bigger picture in which Khamenei appears to have been left with a tiny sector of grassroot support.

In a letter published on the opposition website Kalemeh, Qadiani likened Khamenei to Joseph Goebbels, a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, and accused Khamenei of telling big lies about freedom of speech in Iran in his new year speech on March 22.

Qadiani further criticized Khamenei for the large number of political prisoners in Iran, depriving the nation of the right to choose their own candidates in elections, ruling without being accountable, and thus creating a despotic religious regime.

He charged that the Iranian regime cannot be reformed, and opined that the kind of reformism that succumbs to the regimes excesses cannot bear any fruit.

Qadiani also accused Irans reformists of having an inadvertent part in spreading the shadow of a war on the country by succumbing to Khameneis ambitions. A despot would make life harder for political and cultural activists in the face of political forces passivity, said Qadiani in the letter.

Qadiani further called on Khamenei to put his legitimacy to test by allowing the people to vote for him.

He also called on Khamenei to stop the economic activities of IRGC and his circle of insiders, and to allow inspection of economic institutions that are affiliated to him.

Meanwhile 300 Ahmadinejad supporters in a letter to Khamenei published on Dolat-e Bahar website expressed their dissatisfaction of the countrys situation, and demanded revolution-like reforms.

Those who wrote the letter introduced themselves as academics, seminary activists and a group of individuals in charge of revolutionary organizations, but generally labelled themselves as Hezbollah activists.

The letter questioned the performance of the government, the President, the Parliament, the Judiciary, Guardian Council, State TV, the foreign diplomacy apparatus, Friday prayers leaders, the Assembly of Experts and the Intelligence organizations, saying that they made the regime lifeless and fragile from within and in need of fundamental reforms.

The letter said that The supreme leader is responsible for introducing those reforms, as no other official can or is entitled to do so.

Those who wrote the letter, described the Judiciary as the center of oppression and imposition, and characterized Guardian Council as an apparatus that prevents the election of qualified individuals supported by the people.

They also characterized Irans intelligence organizations particularly the IRGC intelligence organization as an apparatus that instead of making the country secure, protect the rulers and power gangs, and impose pressures and limitations on political and media activists.

The letter by hardliners warned Khamenei against the widening divide between the people and the government, doubting the ideals of the revolution and current political structure, adding that concern about the countrys future has reached a record high after four decades of Islamic Republic.

The letter further warned that the future generation might remember the Islamic Republic as an unsuccessful experience.

Referring to the unrest that overwhelmed Iran in the winter, the letter warned against social collapse in Iran, a concern shared by the liberal Freedom Movement.

It appears that the wave of protest against political and social injustice and discrimination that swept across nearly 100 Iranian cities, and escalation of further protests by women, work force and ethnic groups in Khouzestan, farmers in Isfahan, and the general sense of dissent and frustration in recent months have emboldened and encouraged political activists to come forward and voice their dissatisfaction of the countrys situation.

Read More: Khamenei Lashes Out After Saudi Prince Signals Thaw With Israel

Read More:As Iranians Start The New Year, Society Teeters on the Verge of Revolt
The U.S. Embassy in Baku and the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan held the first ever SelectUSA seminar on investing in the United States, educating local businesspeople on the opportunities available to Azerbaijani investors looking to enter the U.S. market.

Foreign Commercial Service Officer Neil Pickett discussed target sectors, geographic areas, and state and local programs open to foreign investors.

The seminar is part of the U.S. Embassys efforts to build business ties between the United States and Azerbaijan through SelectUSA, a U.S. government program led by the U.S. Department of Commerce. SelectUSA works one-on-one with foreign business investors to help them better understand federal rules and regulations, provide data and other information, and link companies with partners and resources to help them succeed.

Registration has now opened for Azerbaijani companies looking to participate in the 2018 SelectUSA Summit on June 20-22 near Washington, D.C.

The Summit is a high profile event connecting global companies and U.S. economic development organizations (EDOs) to facilitate business investment in the United States.

The previous four Summits attracted thousands of international investors, with the 2017 Summit alone attracting more than 3,000 total attendees, including investors from 64 markets, EDOs from 51 U.S. states and territories, and 14 Chiefs of Mission. Past Summit participants announced more than $71 billion of new investment projects in the United States from 2014 to 2017. Learn more about the Investment Summit and how to apply for registration here: http://www.selectusasummit.us/.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Azerbaijan and Israel can further expand cooperation in the areas of healthcare, information technology, education, as well as in the field of renewable energy, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Dan Stav told STMEGI.

The ambassador said that more and more Israeli companies are eagerly studying the opportunities for doing business in Azerbaijan.

Tourism development is encouraged in Azerbaijan. I am glad that the number of Azerbaijani tourists visiting Israel is growing. In addition, I believe that both countries can further expand cooperation in the areas of healthcare, information technology, education, as well as in the field of renewable energy and other areas. Next month, Israel will host the first meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission, which will bring the bilateral relations to a higher level, Stav said.

Stav noted that the relations between Azerbaijan and Israel are of the strategic partnership character.

Both countries support multiculturalism and serve as an anchor of stability. Israel and Azerbaijan have expanded relations in many spheres; the Jewish and Azerbaijani peoples have strong ties, which were laid many centuries ago. Today, these relations play an important role in further strengthening the Azerbaijani-Israeli relations, he said.

Stav noted that since the establishment of diplomatic relations, both countries consider these relations very useful to each other.

Today, new opportunities have opened between Azerbaijan and Israel for mutually beneficial cooperation in the agricultural sector. It is important to develop this direction, he said.

According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, trade turnover with Israel in 2017 amounted to $671.6 million, of which about $32.6 million accounted for the import of Israeli products.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 7

Trend:

Kazakhstans "NC"Food Contract Corporation" JSC exported three thousand tons of wheat to Azerbaijan for the first quarter of 2018, said in a report of the JSC on the results of activity for the first quarter of this year, Kazinform reports.

About 80 thousand tons of grain and oil crops to the near and far abroad countries among which: over 58 thousand tons of barley to Iran, 10 thousand tons of wheat and over 0,4 thousand tons vegetable oil to China, about 7 thousand tons of wheat to Uzbekistan, 3 thousand tons of wheat to Azerbaijan", said in the report of the company.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenias armed forces have 93 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said April 6.

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 6

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Italy supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and is not going to discuss another format of negotiations, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said.

He made the remarks at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart in Rome, Armenian media reported.

Mattarella voiced hope that the Minsk Group together with the conflict sides will find the right way of resolution, and the conflict will be resolved as soon as possible.

The president stressed that one of the priorities of Italy's chairmanship at the OSCE is the resolution of protracted conflicts.

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 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

High-level strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey should be further deepened for the regional security, the deputy chairman of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party, Mehdi Eker, told Trend.

Eker, who is responsible for external relations of the party, said that undoubtedly, the Turkish-Azerbaijani relations are aimed at ensuring peace and development.

"Both Turkey and Azerbaijan know that they are "one nation, two states" , and, on this basis, always support each other in regional and international issues," he said.

He stressed that Azerbaijan always supports Turkey.

"I would like to recall the case, which occurred in 2016 and is another example of the support that Azerbaijan rendered to Turkey. On Feb.18, 2016, the Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council was due to meet, and the day before, on Feb. 17, Ankara was attacked. The meeting was postponed to March 15. However, due to another terrorist attack, this time President Erdogan's visit to Azerbaijan was postponed. Despite this, after the terrorist attack in Ankara, with a view to support Turkey, the Azerbaijani president proposed to hold the Council meeting in Ankara," he said.

Eker said that President Ilham Aliyev's this proposal means that Azerbaijan stands by Turkey during difficult days.

"This support of President Ilham Aliyev and Azerbaijan as a whole is based on the principle of "one nation, two states," he said.

He said that along with the strengthening of the strategic partnership, the two fraternal states should expand cooperation to preserve and further develop the existing common cultural heritage and cultural ties.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met with Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Togo on the sidelines of the Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Baku, says a message of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Togos foreign minister expressed his satisfaction for being in Azerbaijan and especially noted the high level organization of NAM Ministerial Conference in Baku.

The ministers exchanged views on the development of relations between the two countries.

In this regard, the ways to enhance economic and trade relations between Azerbaijan and Togo were discussed.

The sides expressed confidence that the holding of business forums will contribute to the growth of trade turnover.

Minister Mammadyarov mentioned that Azerbaijan has allocated a special education scholarship for students from the NAM countries and especially noted that students of Togo can also benefit from it.

Mammadyarov informed his colleague that Azerbaijan applied to hold EXPO-2025 in Baku.

At the meeting, the sides also discussed the cooperation with the African Union. Furthermore, other issues of mutual interest were discussed during the meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is deploying a mission of observers to Azerbaijan next week for the presidential election on 11 April, said a message on OSCE website.

Nilza de Sena (MP, Portugal) will serve as Special Co-ordinator and leader of the 300-plus short-term OSCE observer mission, while Margret Kiener Nellen (MP, Switzerland) will serve as head of the OSCE PA delegation of some 40 members of parliament from more than 20 countries.

Our OSCE observation mission is a joint undertaking of hundreds of people. As international observers, it is our task to report on the election process to the best of our capacity and knowledge. The short-term observer reports, together with the briefings, the findings of the long-term observers, and input from the parliamentarians with personal experience in elections and politics, will help us reach an objective, impartial and accurate assessment of the conduct of this election based on solid facts, de Sena said today.

Nilza de Sena is Chair of the OSCE PAs General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment, a position she has held since 2016. Previously, she served three years as Vice-Chair of the committee. Margret Kiener Nellen is the Head of Switzerlands Delegation to the OSCE PA.

Im honored to lead the OSCE PAs mission of observers to this important election, to show our solidarity with the people of Azerbaijan. As elected members of parliament, our observers can personally attest to the importance of holding democratic elections. The Assembly attaches great importance to each mission we undertake, and assesses all elections based on the same commitments agreed to in the OSCEs 1990 Copenhagen Document, said Kiener Nellen.

For the 11 April election, the PA will be working closely with the mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), led by Ambassador Corien Jonker, and with colleagues from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The joint findings of the observers will be delivered at a press conference in Baku on 12 April.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met with Noel Nelson Messone, Foreign Minister of the Gabonese Republic, on the sidelines of Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Baku April 6, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message.

Gabonese minister expressed satisfaction for being in Azerbaijan and expressed gratitude for the high level organization of the NAM Ministerial Meeting in Baku.

The two ministers mentioned the importance of high-level official visits and political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in order to enhance the relations between the two countries.

Mammadyarov informed his colleague about capital Bakus application to host EXPO-2025.

The cooperation in the fields of science, education and culture were discussed during the meeting.

The two ministers also reviewed relations within the African Union and other organizations, as well as the cooperation opportunities in the oil and gas, agriculture and other spheres.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The next meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) kicked off in Minsk, Belarus, on April 6.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend that the country is represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov in the meeting.

Representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Moldova and Armenia are also participating in the meeting, the Belarusian media reported citing the countrys Foreign Ministry.

The meetings agenda includes 12 issues related to cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and educational spheres, and interaction between the foreign ministries of the CIS countries.

Heads of delegations, in particular, will consider draft agreements on cooperation in combating crimes in the field of information technologies, the interstate program of joint measures to combat crimes for 2019-2023, and the provisions on the congress of teachers and educators of the CIS countries.

It is also planned to consider a draft agreement on the international youth project of CIS countries, 100 ideas for the CIS.

Priority will be given to security issues, fight against crime and countering international terrorism, as well as coordinating the activities of law enforcement agencies of the CIS member states.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov met with Mahamat Zene Cherif, Foreign and African integration Minister of Chad on the sidelines of the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku April 6.

Foreign Minister of Chad expressed satisfaction for being in Azerbaijan and appreciated the high level organization of the NAM Ministerial in Baku, according to a message from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The sides recalled humanitarian projects implemented by Azerbaijan International Development Agency in Chad.

The sides also noted the necessity of expanding legal base for development of bilateral relations.

The two ministers also reviewed the cooperation perspectives in the fields of education and science, as well as within the international organizations.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) Ri Yong Ho as part of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Mid-term Ministerial Conference in Baku, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend April 6.

Ri Yong Ho thanked the government of Azerbaijan for the high level organization of the conference and noted that starting from 2019, Azerbaijans chairmanship in the organization is the indication of trust to Azerbaijan by the member-states of NAM.

He also added that DPRK is interested in closer cooperation with member states during the presidency of Azerbaijan.

Mammadyarov welcomed Ri Yong Ho in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani foreign minister pointed out that the goals and principles of the NAM, particularly support of territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence are topical in current international relations, and the commitment to Bandung Principles is essential.

Highlighting his visit as historic, Ri Yong Ho stressed the importance of exchange of visits, which would serve as a landmark for enhancing bilateral relations.

Ri Yong Ho noted that DPRK is interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of energy as Azerbaijan has long history in production and processing of oil.

He also noted the possibility of the DPRK architects visit to Baku in order to explore the architecture of the city.

The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko touched upon election campaigns in the CIS countries, including in Azerbaijan, during a meeting with heads of delegations participating in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Minsk, Belarus media reported April 6.

I am sure the Azerbaijani people will make the right choice, like the Russian people, in favor of strengthening and prosperity of their state. We believe in further development of relations with the country, both in bilateral and multilateral formats, Lukashenko said.

Speaking about the role of the CIS observer missions, the president noted that Belarus always stood for objectivity in evaluation of electoral process and pointed to the high politicization of the work of European colleagues.

The election monitoring through the Commonwealth allows to form an alternative opinion and fight against the monopoly of Western experts, who often make their judgments before the voting. So, we see the positive role of the CIS observer missions and support their active work. This is one of the most important and indisputable activities of the CIS, useful for everyone, Lukashenko said.

Eight candidates were registered to participate in the April 11 presidential election in Azerbaijan.

The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) kicked off in Minsk, Belarus, on April 6.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend that the country is represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov in the meeting.

Representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Moldova and Armenia are also participating in the meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on the sidelines of the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message April 6.

The Venezuelan minister thanked the Azerbaijani government for organizing the ministerial conference at a high level.

The ministers discussed the current state of bilateral relations and prospects of cooperation and noted the importance of diplomatic representation in expanding cooperation. Arreaza added that Venezuela attaches great importance to relations with Azerbaijan and the opening of the Venezuelan embassy in Azerbaijan proves that.

Mammadyarov thanked his counterpart for the successful chairmanship in the Ministerial Conference and underlined the successful bilateral relations between Venezuela and Azerbaijan based on the cooperation on multilateral platforms, including the NAM and the UN.

He also highlighted the importance of establishing a mechanism for political consultation for advancement of relations.

The sides further exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Details added (first version posted on 12:55)

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

The monitoring conducted by the election headquarters of the Association for Civil Society Development in Azerbaijan (ACSDA) show that the socio-political situation on the eve of the April 11 presidential election, the voters activity, the current legislation and other factors fully allow Azerbaijan to hold a democratic and transparent election.

The monitoring results are reflected in an interim report of the ACSDA election headquarters.

Head of the election headquarters Maharram Zulfugarli noted that the report covers the period from February 5 to April 6, 2018.

According to him, the report reflects the results of monitoring on socio-political atmosphere, freedom of speech and press, freedom of assembly, nomination and registration of candidates, voter lists, the activities of the electoral administration, and agitation campaign.

Zulfugarli emphasized that during the period, news about election in independent newspapers accounted for 13.27 percent of the total news, news published by independent telegraph agencies  13.65 percent, news published by state newspapers  17.62 percent, and news published by opposition newspapers accounted for 9.84 percent.

According to him, among independent newspapers  51.67 percent of news of the Baki Khabari newspaper, among opposition newspapers  50 percent of news of the Yeni Musavat newspaper, and among state newspapers  50.82 percent of news of the Azerbaijan newspaper accounted for news related to the presidential election.

Indicators of TREND and APA news agencies are the same, and stood at 50 percent in this regard.

The report says that the activities of the Central Election Commission (CEC) on the preparation and conduct of election can be assessed as satisfactory.

All the work done by the CEC was carried out in a timely manner and within the timeframes indicated in the Program of Activities.

The CEC held a number of events on informing about the upcoming election, issued and distributed various materials and posters.

The campaign to nominate candidates to be elected as president of Azerbaijan and collecting signatures was carried out in line with the requirements of the Election Commission, and there were no interventions from outside.

During the pre-election period, there were no problems in the spheres of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and the press.

No facts were reported about any interference or pressure on the work of the media and journalists.

There have also been no interventions or obstacles to electoral enlightenment, monitoring and preparation for observing, meetings with voters in the capital and districts, and the organization of events.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Azerbaijan feels proud that namely Azerbaijani people were the pioneers of democracy in the Muslim world, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with TASS news agency.

"The 2018 has been declared the Year of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) in the country - we celebrate its 100th anniversary, and this is the main event of this year," said the president.

"You know, looking back, it's not by chance that the first democratic republic in the Muslim world was established by Azerbaijanis. This originates from the past of our people, from its freedom loving, proud character. If we read the classics of Azerbaijani literature, there are a lot of philosophical topics, connected to issues that are relevant today," he said.

The president noted that the creation of Azerbaijani Democratic Republic 100 years ago was a historic event for Azerbaijani people.

"The traditions of the democratic republic are alive today, and modern Azerbaijan is its successor. A lot has been done for political reforms, in a short time. It's enough to note that women were granted the right to vote much earlier than in many European countries," he said.

"Today, by looking back, we of course with gratitude recall the founders of the first republic. But we must also learn the lessons from what happened to it. It existed for less than two years, and we shouldn't forget these lessons. Thus, today we are doing everything to strengthen the independence, sovereignty, economic potential, international authority of Azerbaijan - so that the country would always be independent," Ilham Aliyev said.

"I think that if the founders of the first democratic republic could see today's Azerbaijan, they would've been proud," he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Today, from an economic point of view, Azerbaijan is a fully self-sufficient country and has no economic difficulties, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with TASS news agency.

The head of state noted that one of the main activities of the government was to ensure full economic independence, which is the basis for political independence.

If a country is economically dependent, it may experience  and it often does  great difficulty in implementing its independent policy," said the president, adding that Azerbaijan has no such problems.

"I can provide some figures. Over the past 15 years, the economy has grown by 3.2 times in Azerbaijan, which, I think, is a world record. Meanwhile, despite huge investment projects, we have been working to stabilize the external debt, which today makes about 20 percent of GDP. And I gave instructions to significantly reduce it in the coming years, President Aliyev said.

He added that the currency reserves of Azerbaijan make up the same volume as the gross domestic product.

In other words, if needed, we can pay off all debts within a few days or months. The financial position of Azerbaijan is quite stable, and the investment projects that we are implementing will naturally bring additional profits. I should also note that over the past 15 years, more than $230 billion have been invested in the Azerbaijani economy, President Aliyev added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Azerbaijan is perceived as a very serious partner, as a friendly country by the world community, the countrys President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with TASS news agency.

The president added that Azerbaijan is a country that not only declares something, but also takes concrete steps regarding regional and global cooperation, he added.

He said that the decision to pick Baku as the place for holding the meeting of chiefs of general staffs of armies of Russia and the United States was regarded as a sign of respect and trust.

We also regard this as another element of the properly structured foreign policy of Azerbaijan. We are a country that has already organized a big number of major international events, including sports: the First European Games, the fourth Islamic Solidarity Games  with an interval of two years, President Aliyev said.

This is a demonstration of our capabilities, as well as a demonstration of the world's attitude towards us. Because the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Council of Europe unite more than 100 countries  more than half of the world community. We achieved this with our work, our policy and the fact that Baku became a very recognizable city on the world map. I must also say that a lot of tourists have been visiting us recently, the head of state added.

President Aliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan is a stable country.

Azerbaijani people are famous for their hospitality. Our country has all the conditions for both work and and rest. For our part, we always strive to ensure that the countries, with which we have close cooperation, also have good working relations among themselves. We live in this region. Everything happening in the region has a certain impact on us. Therefore, we must strive to minimize risks for ourselves through international cooperation. If we are able to make some small contribution to reducing tensions among the worlds leading countries, we will, of course, continue doing this in the future, added the Azerbaijani president.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Undoubtedly, personal contact of leaders always plays an important role in any interstate relations, especially in relations between neighboring countries, between countries that are connected by a centuries-old history, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with TASS new agency.

Our personal relations with President Vladimir Putin are one of the important factors in the successful development of our bilateral relations. Our frequent meetings, contacts in bilateral format, multilateral format contribute to the strengthening of mutual understanding, said the president.

We have very trusting relations. If there are any issues that require our participation, we call up or meet and regulate them, the head of state noted.

The Azerbaijani president said that this is the most important factor of bilateral relations that have played and plays an important role in interstate cooperation.

Largely thanks to our personal, confidential relations and common understanding of the importance of our countries for each other, we managed to bring our cooperation to the level of strategic partnership. We cooperate very closely on many issues. We have a growing trade turnover in the economic sphere, we implement joint projects in the transport and energy sectors, President Aliyev said.

He went on to say that humanitarian cooperation is also very important.

There are more than 300 schools with education in Russian in Azerbaijan, and there is a faculty in Russian in all higher state educational institutions, added President Aliyev.

Meanwhile, two branches of leading Russian universities were recently opened: these are the Moscow State University and the Sechenov Medical University, which is also an important factor of our humanitarian cooperation. In other words, the relations are full-fledged. They are how they should be between neighbors and friends, added Ilham Aliyev.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

There is a high level of relations between Azerbaijan and Iraq, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Iraq Said Shorsh Khalid told reporters in Baku on April 6.

He noted the possibility of further improving the relations between the two countries.

"I think we have to boost our relations in the energy sector. Iraq and Azerbaijan have a huge potential for it," he added.

Said Shorsh Khalid noted that the number of Iraqi tourists coming to Azerbaijan has increased over the past two-three years.

"If 2,000-3,000 tourists from Iraq traveled to Azerbaijan four-five years ago, now this number is about 65,000," he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

A final document was adopted at the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku on April 6.

The final document reads that according to the UN Charter, participants of the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement will continue to objectively resist all attempts aimed at partial or total disintegration of the countries' territorial integrity and national unity.

Thus, we will continue to avoid threats to sovereignty of states, peaceful settlement of conflicts, use of force, and further pursue policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of the countries. We value the Baku Process initiated by Azerbaijan in 2008 as a key platform for the development of intercultural dialogue in order to build an effective dialogue among civilizations.

The Baku Declaration, as well as the Final Declaration on Palestine, approved at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers on Palestine, held the day before, were also adopted on the second day of the conference.

The Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), titled Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development, kicked off in Baku April 5.

The Non-Aligned Movement participating states, representatives of the observer states and international organizations, as well as countries and institutions, invited as special guests, took part in the two-day event.

NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM.

In 2019, the Republic of Azerbaijan will host the 18th Summit of the NAM and will be chairing NAM in 2019-2022.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

The Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), titled Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development, in Baku was very effective, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said.

Arreaza made the remarks at a press conference on April 6, adding that important discussions were held at the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference.

He noted that NAM calls for ensuring peace and stability in the world, respect for the principles of international law, non-interference in the internal affairs of countries, and cessation of conflicts.

Our goal is this, and therefore we are here and discuss these issues, Arreaza noted.

The minister expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan for hosting the event. Arreaza noted that Azerbaijan makes a significant contribution to the maintenance of peace and stability in the world.

NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM.

In 2019, the Republic of Azerbaijan will host the 18th Summit of NAM and will be chairing NAM in 2019-2022.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

BP, together with its partners developing the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of fields and the Shah Deniz field, invested more than $2 million in the School of Project Management (SPM), designed to train professional project managers from 2011 to 2018, BP Azerbaijan Vice President for Communications and External Affairs, Strategy in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli said.

Aslanbayli made the remarks at the fifth graduation ceremony at SPM in Baku April 6.

SPM is a joint project implemented by the Baku Higher Oil School in cooperation with the UK TwentyEighty Strategy Execution Ltd based on the Master's program of the George Washington University with the organizational support of BP and partners. Fifty-two graduates received master's certificates at the ceremony.

SPM was established in January 2011 and since then 377 people have graduated it.

Delivering speech at the event, rector of the Baku Higher Oil School Elmar Gasimov said that 24 employees of the Baku Higher Oil School attended this program.

The project is being implemented in stages. One of its main goals was to train local specialists. This goal was achieved within the fourth phase. To date, the training staff entirely consists of local specialists.

The school was established to help improve the existing level of project management, as well as develop the project management skills in the long term, Gasimov said. One of the main achievements of the project was its nationalization.

SPM consists of several modules, namely, project management, management and communication, risk management, budget planning and control, application of management tools and preparation for the examination of a project management specialist.

SPM operates in cooperation with Baku Higher Oil School and Strategy Execution Company.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

Iraqi government is ready to negotiate and discuss the issue of Azerbaijani children and women in Iraq, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Iraq Said Shorsh Khalid told reporters in Baku on April 6.

He noted that Iraq have assisted many countries in returning children.

For example, we helped Russia in returning 27 children who were in Iraq. And we are ready for discussions with Azerbaijan and we can make a decision on their return, he said.

Sayavush Heydarov, deputy chairman of Azerbaijans State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, said previously that 19 Azerbaijani children, who are in Iraq and Syria, will be brought home to Azerbaijan.

Earlier, the head of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, Lieutenant-General Madat Guliyev said over the past five years about 900 Azerbaijani citizens joined the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

High-speed electric trains manufactured by the Swiss Stadler Rail Group will be used in the future to transport passengers from Baku to Russia, including Dagestan, Javid Gurbanov, chairman of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, said.

He said this at a meeting with a delegation headed by Dagestan's Minister of Tourism and Folk Art Crafts Rabiyat Zakavova, the Azerbaijan Railways said in a message April 6.

Gurbanov pointed to the radical innovations introduced on the railways of Azerbaijan, including participation of the Azerbaijan Railways in international transport projects, emphasized the great importance of these projects for the regional countries.

He noted that a number of international events are held to develop the tourism sector in Azerbaijan.

The sides further discussed the issues of simplification of customs procedures for freight and passenger transportation via railways, and influx of Russian tourists to Azerbaijan using the opportunities of railways.

It was stressed that a decision has been made to build a railway to the Shahdag Mountain Resort, which will help develop tourism between the two countries.

The Dagestani guests highly appreciated the radical changes in the country and on the railways, further stressing that this would play an important role in strengthening mutual ties.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

Issues of holding a regular Tajikistan-France business forum was discussed in Paris, the Tajik agency Avesta reported on April 6, referring to the Information Department of the Tajik Foreign Ministry.

According to the information, the discussion was held within the framework of a meeting between Tajik Ambassador to France Jamoliddin Ubaydullo and Director of the network of entrepreneurs of France MEDEF International Geraldine Lemble.

The sides discussed wide range of issues during the meeting, including cooperation within the framework of the 2030 National Development Strategy of Tajikistan.

Cooperation in trade and economy, water energy, agriculture and tourism spheres was discussed as well.

The counterparts also touched upon issues of holding a regular Tajikistan-France business forum in Dushanbe in 2018.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Regular feeder shipments are starting on the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) in the Caspian Sea, the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC said in a message April 6.

Baku hosted an extraordinary meeting of the TITR International Association, according to the message.

At the meeting, tariffs were approved for cargo transportation by feeder ships in the Caspian Sea in 2018, said the message. In addition to the export of goods from Kazakhstan via feeder ships, container shipments from China to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Europe are also planned.

The use of feeder ships in the Caspian Sea in the future will contribute to an increase in the volume of goods transported by the TITR and in the region, the message noted.

Feeder shipments involve maritime transportation of cargoes by small vessels, usually for short distances for further consolidation, loading and transportation of cargoes by big vessels.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

In 2018 Kazakhstan plans to start the implementation of 67 projects worth $7.1 billion with participation of foreign investments and the creation of more than 13,500 jobs, said Saparbek Tuyakbaev, Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Invest at a press conference of the Kazakh government, the press service of Kazakh Invest said in a message.

The projects will be implemented with the support of Kazakh Invest, jointly with foreign investors.

"In the first quarter of 2018, we started the implementation of 6 projects worth $539 million, involving foreign investments. The implementation of these projects will create more than 600 jobs. One of the key projects is the production of extruded mixed fodders by the Phoenix Commodities (UAE) transnational company worth $15 million in the "Khorgos - Eastern Gate" special economic zone," Tuyakbaev said.

In the second quarter of 2018 we will start the implementation of 12 projects involving foreign investments and the creation of 1,500 jobs.

Presently, Kazakh Invest works on attraction of investments for 50 specific projects developed by Deloitte, with determination of ready-made business plans, marketing research and conditions for implementation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan adopted a resolution on additional measures for the construction of a modern business aviation complex on the basis of the Tashkent-Vostochny airfield, Uzbek media outlets reported.

The territory of Tashkent-Vostochny airport and the Tashkent Mechanical Plant were transferred to Uzbekistan railways JSC, according to the document.

Previously, the airfield was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan.

The construction of the aviation complex has already started, and all the projects of new buildings, constructions and the design area are determined.

The territory of the airfield and military towns, which are not included in the project, are transferred to the municipality of the Tashkent.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

In January-February 2018, 10 leading companies and individuals of Azerbaijan carried out a non-oil export for $127.9 million, according to the Export Review, published by the countrys Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication.

Trend presents the ranking of 10 leading companies and individuals in terms of non-oil exports in January-February 2018:

Company/ physical entity Sector Volume of exports (in $ million) SOCAR Department of Marketing and Economic Operations State 34 Azerenerji State 20.3 Representative office of Azerbaijan International Mining Company Private 18.5 Det-al Aluminium LTD State 17.6 Aqrodoctor Private 9.2 MKT IK Private 8.4 AzerGold CJSC State 6.7 Baku Steel Company Private 4.9 Gulf Drilling Private 4.5 CTS Agro Private 3.8

In January-February 2018, Azerbaijani companies exported non-oil products for $241.7 million, which more than in the same period last year by 37.4 percent.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.6

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR has confirmed its intention to invest in the development of Bulgarias gas distribution network, said a message from Bulgarias Energy Ministry.

Reportedly, SOCAR representatives are on a working visit to Sofia to hold discussions with Bulgarian authorities on the details of possible participation in the development of Bulgarias gas sector.

"SOCARs interest in gasification of Bulgarian cities was expressed during a meeting of Bulgarias Prime Minister Boyko Borissov with Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev in January. SOCAR has already successfully invested in this sector in Georgia and can use this experience in Bulgaria as well," said the message.

SOCAR representatives set before the Bulgarian experts from the Energy Ministry a number of issues related to legislation on gas distribution, subsidies for households, the choice of natural gas as a source of energy, competitive advantages of gas over other sources. The meeting in the Commission for Regulation of Energy and Water Supply will discuss details of the regulatory framework and licensing of gas distribution companies.

During the meeting, Bulgarias Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova informed SOCAR representatives about the progress in the implementation of Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) project.

She assured that public procurement under the project is being implemented on time. Ten companies have submitted applications to participate in the procedure for selecting a pipe supplier for the IGB.

"We are working hard to put IGB into operation by the end of 2020," said Petkova.

Murad Heydarov, advisor to SOCAR president, informed the Bulgarian energy minister about the implementation of the TAP and TANAP projects, stressing that they are being implemented according to the approved schedules.

"After the construction of the IGB we expect the first deliveries of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe in 2020," he said.

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.



The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The hunger strike of Batumi port workers of KazTransOil JSC was stopped thanks for negotiations of the board members with the workers, the press service of KazTransOil said in a message.

"Daniyar Muhamed-Rahim, Director General of Batumi Seaport LLC, has filed an application for termination of his powers, taking into account the risks of worsening of the health of the hunger strikers. In this regard, the hunger strike was stopped at 21.00 Astana time," the message said.

Two participants of the hunger strike were discharged from the hospital, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection of Adjara.

The Batumi seaport is operating in regular mode.

Previously, 8 employees of the port announced a hunger strike. The demands of the protesters related 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, an increase of the salaries, as well as dismissal of the director general of Batumi Seaport LLC.

The 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.
BP and its co-venturers in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG), Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), Shah Deniz, and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) projects  SOCAR, TPAO, PETRONAS, Chevron, LUKOIL, NICO, Statoil, INPEX, ExxonMobil, SGC, ITOCHU, ONGC, TOTAL, Eni  today celebrated the fifth graduation of the School of Project Management (SPM).

In an event hosted today by SOCARs Baku Higher Oil School, some 52 graduates received the globally-recognized certification of Masters Certificate in Project Management, awarded by the George Washington University.

The SPM was established by the co-venturers in the BP-operated ACG, BTC, Shah Deniz and SCP projects, in January 2011 as part of their commitment to supporting the countrys capacity-building efforts.

The project has been implemented in phases. One of the objectives set at the start of the project was to hand over the delivery of the training programme to national instructors. The SPM achieved this goal during Phase 4 with the full transition of the training programme to the local staff. The entire training staff of the SPM are now nationals.

Phase 4, which started in 2017, was implemented by Twenty Eighty Strategy Execution in partnership with SOCARs Baku Higher Oil School. The SPM has now entered its next self-sustaining phase and is managed by Baku Higher Oil School in collaboration with Twenty Eighty Strategy Execution  an international project management training and solutions company.

The SPM is designed to develop the project management capability of individuals in both private and public sectors, by providing globally-recognized, comprehensive project management training. It focuses on the simultaneous goals of improving immediate project management performance and establishing long-term project management capability in the country. This years graduates represent organisations from a wide range of public and private sectors including the government, oil and gas, insurance, construction and education.

The curriculum consists of seven modules - Managing Projects, Project Leadership, Management and Communication, Risk Management, Scheduling and Cost Control, Quality for Project Managers, Project Management Applications, and Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam Preparation.

SPM key facts since the start:

Total spent to date (2011-2018): over $2 million (by the co-venturers in the BP-operated ACG, BTC, Shah Deniz and SCP projects)

Total participants: 377

Total Associates certificates awarded: 357

Total Masters certificates awarded: 334

Organizations represented: 141

Notes to Editors

Over the past 25 years BP and its co-venturers in the ACG, BTC, Shah Deniz and SCP projects have supported a large number of major social investment projects. These have included educational programmes, building skills and capabilities in local communities, improving access to social infrastructure in communities, supporting local enterprises through provision of access to finance and training, support for cultural legacy and sport, as well as technical assistance to public institutions.

In 2017, the co-venturers in the BP-operated ACG, BTC, Shah Deniz and SCP projects spent around $2.4 million in Azerbaijan on social investment projects.

Further information: Tamam Bayatly at BPs Press Office in Baku. Telephone: (+994 12) 599 45 57

About SOCARs Baku Higher Oil School:

It has been established according to the call of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, We should turn the oil capital into human capital. For more than six years, it has been carrying out successful activities in training highly qualified English speaking engineers. The Higher School has taken a number of steps in order to train specialists not only for the oil and gas industry, but also for economic and business sectors. One of these initiatives is the School of Project Management, which has been effectively implemented at a high level with organizational support from Baku Higher Oil School. In addition, Baku Higher Oil School has developed and started implementation of a new project entitled Business Education for Engineers, jointly with BP and its partner companies. This new study course opens new great opportunities for the Higher School students.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Maksim Tsurkov  Trend:

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR expects to receive the first output from a number of new oil and gas fields in 2020-2021, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said in an interview to the website of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party.

He said that the company is determined to maintain stable production of oil and increase gas production through developing new promising deposits such as Karabakh, Umid-Babek, Absheron and others.

"Many important decisions were made regarding the development of new fields. A joint work was launched together with the French company Total on the Absheron field and development of the Umid field," Abdullayev said.

He noted that the main designing stage of the development plans for the Karabakh oil and gas field started.

"SOCAR is already successfully using its own capabilities to drill wells at a depth of more than 6,000 meters under abnormally high pressure and temperature. I believe that we will get the first production from new fields in 2020-2021," Abdullayev said.

In 2016 Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Total signed a framework agreement on the main contractual and commercial principles regulating the program of the first phase development of the Absheron field.

The first phase of the fields development envisages drilling of one well at a sea depth of 470 meters. The production will stand at 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year and these volumes will be used in Azerbaijans domestic market. It is planned to produce up to 4 billion cubic meters of gas as the second stage.

Absherons reserves are estimated at 326 billion cubic meters of gas and 108 million tons of condensate, according to the estimations of Total specialists.

The Absheron project will be operated by JOCAP (Joint Operating Company Absheron Petroleum) (50 percent SOCAR, 50 percent Total).

The Karabakh oil and gas field, opened in 2000, is located 130 kilometers east of Baku. The depth of the sea varies in the range of 250-450 meters at the field. The initial oil reserves of the field are estimated at 100 million tons.

SOCAR is the operator of the fields development. The company expects to obtain the first production from the field in 2021.

SOCAR announced the opening of Umid field in 2010.

The risk service contract (a contract with a minimum guarantee of compensation) for exploration and development of an offshore block including the Umid gas field and the promising Babek structure in the Caspian Sea was signed between SOCAR and SOCAR Umid Oil and Gas Ltd on January 12, 2017.

According to the results of drilling of the first exploration well, the volume of the field reserves reach over 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 40 million tons of condensate. Umid field is located 75 kilometers from Baku.

The reserve of Babek structure may stand at 400 billion cubic meters of gas and 80 million tons of condensate, according to preliminary data.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ilkin Shafiyev  Trend:

SOCAR Trading, the trading house of Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR, sold 108 million tons of oil and oil products on the international market in 2017, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said in an interview to the website of the ruling party of Azerbaijan.

He said that the volume of operations has more than doubled last year compared to 2016.

Abdullayev further noted that over the past three years the sales volume of oil and oil products of third parties increased fourfold up to 86 million tons.

"At the initial stage of activity, SOCAR Trading glorified the Azeri Light oil grade in the world market. Thanks to this, Azerbaijan received additional revenue worth $1.8 billion in 2008-2013. Today SOCAR Trading also sells oil and petroleum products purchased from third parties," Abdullayev said.

SOCAR Trading, headquartered in Geneva, was established in late 2007 by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.

The company sells bulk of SOCAR crude oil exports from Ceyhan port (Mediterranean Sea, Turkey), trades oil and oil products of other countries, and also assists the parent company over international investments. The scope of SOCAR Trading covers the countries of Europe, Asia and America.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Huseyn Valiyev  Trend:

The High Tech Park LLC of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan will launch the new From Idea to Business project on April 20, the company told Trend April 6.

Events will be held in Baku, Sumgait, Mingachevir, Lankaran, Guba, Sheki, Ganja and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

The [projects] first part will involve information sessions and the second part will involve team competitions, the company noted. Following the contests, winners will be selected, who will take part in the finals in Baku for the Startup of Azerbaijan title in November. The most successful projects will be presented at the BakuTel 2018 exhibition.

The new From Idea to Business initiative brings regional startups to Baku and gives them the opportunity to develop in the incubation center of the High Tech Park LLC, and this in turn will facilitate the emergence of competition among the capital and regional startups, the company added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Municipality in Turkeys Hatay Province has announced an open tender for the construction of a bridge within 150 days after the announcement of the tender results.

Local and foreign companies can take part in the tender.

The tender will be held at 10:30 (GMT+3) on April 24, 2018.

Applications and bids of interested parties are accepted at: Adnan Menderes Cd. Cumhuriyet Alan No:2 31040 Hatay Merkez/Hatay.

For additional information please call: (+90 326) 214 91 90, Fax: (+90 326) 215 76 55.

E-mail: [email protected]

The tender participation fee is 100 Turkish liras.

(1 USD = 4.0342 TRY on April 6)
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

Specialized parks in various sectors of industry operate in Azerbaijan and there are opportunities for creating such a park in the tourism sector, Azerbaijans Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said at a meeting with Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary general of the World Tourism Organization, Azerbaijans Economy Ministry said in a message April 6.

Mustafayev informed the guest about the rapid development of tourism in Azerbaijan in recent years, a number of international events held in the country, the growth in tourist visits to Azerbaijan, the creation of modern infrastructure for development of tourism in Baku and Azerbaijans districts, and the plans for development of this sector.

At the meeting, the sides noted that the development of tourism is one of the priority directions of the Azerbaijani economy and Azerbaijan has great tourism potential.

The sides also noted that Azerbaijan has a specialized university for tourism - the Azerbaijan Tourism and Management University.

The parties added that simplification of the visa regime is an important indicator for the development of tourism, and presently tourists, regardless of non-working days and holidays, are issued visas through the ASAN Visa system of Azerbaijan, and this gives an impetus to the growth of tourist flow.

It was noted at the meeting that joint presentations on the tourism potential of Azerbaijan can be organized and cooperation with the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) is expedient.

Noting Azerbaijans great potential in the tourism sector, Pololikashvili expressed his views on development of tourism in the country, cooperation with the structure he represents, put forward proposals related to establishment of the International Education Center in Azerbaijan, training of specialized personnel, development of regional tourism, investment projects, etc.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijan plans to open direct flights to Indonesia and prepare special offers for Indonesian tourists coming to Azerbaijan to visit holy places.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of Azerbaijans Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev and Indonesian Deputy Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohammad Fachir, Azerbaijans Culture and Tourism Ministry said in a message April 6.

At the meeting, the sides discussed issues of cooperation in culture and tourism between Azerbaijan and Indonesia, including the corresponding legal framework, mutual participation of the two countries in holding events, tourism exchange, and joint projects.

It was also noted that positive contribution is made by expansion of ties in culture and tourism, cooperation as part of international organizations, cultural events held in Azerbaijan to promote Indonesian culture, including the Indonesian Cultural Festival, organized for the second time in Baku.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

The Council of CIS Heads of State will be held in Dushanbe in late September, Chairman of Executive Committee and Executive Secretary of CIS Sergey Lebedev said following a meeting of the Foreign Ministers' Council in Minsk April 6, BelTA reports.

It was decided to hold a regular meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers on Sept. 27 in Dushanbe on the eve of a meeting of the Council of CIS Heads of State, added Lebedev.

Today, the heads of the foreign ministries of the Commonwealth countries exchanged views on topical issues of the international agenda and interaction in the CIS format, according to him.

The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) kicked off in Minsk, Belarus, on April 6.

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend that the country is represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov in the meeting.

Representatives of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Moldova and Armenia attended the meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The Foreign Ministries of Kazakhstan and Russia held political consultations in Astana, where they discussed issues of strengthening regional security, the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a message.

The Kazakh delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Galymzhan Koishybayev, Russian delelgation - by Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

"The parties discussed current state and prospects for the development of bilateral cooperation, the situation in Central Asia, cooperation in multilateral associations, as well as the strengthening of regional security," the message said.

The sides stressed the high level of interaction between Kazakhstan and Russia in all spheres of interstate relations and the importance of work coordinated by the foreign ministries of the two countries for the expansion and deepening of bilateral cooperation, as well as, strengthening of integration ties, regional stability and security.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

Tajikistan denies having any ties with the Taliban movement, the spokesman for the border troops of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan, Mukhammad Ulughodzhaev, said, Tajik media reported.

Previously, the Council of Elders of Afghanistan accused Tajikistan of supporting the Taliban movement. Specifically, a representative of the Council Louis Jirga said that wounded Taliban terrorists receive treatment in Tajikistan, speaking on Afghan TV.

Meanwhile, Mukhammad Ulughodzhaev called the statement of the Afghan council baseless and provocative."

"The statement of the representative of the Council of Elders of Afghanistan Louis Jirga, accusing us of alleged support of Taliban is an insolent lie and provocation," Ulugkhodzhaev said.

He added that the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border is stable and that the border is under the control of Tajik border guards.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, April 6

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

An agreement on the development of cooperation in education was signed with US John Deere International GmbH in Ashgabat, Turkmenistans Altyn Asyr TV channel reported April 6.

The document, covering 2018-2021, implies such areas as training for teachers, students of the Turkmen Agricultural University and specialists of the ministry, organization of field seminars, testing and evaluation of new technologies.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Head of John Deeres Agriculture & Turf Division Mark Von Pentz, who made a number of proposals to expand cooperation through new supplies of grain harvesters and cotton harvesters that fully correspond to the countrys soil and climatic conditions.

John Deere is one of the long-standing partners of Turkmenistan in agro-industry. Cotton and wheat are strategic crops of agriculture.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

Uzbekistan is planning to create fruit and vegetable goods export labs in all regions of the country until 2021, a decree of the Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, published on the website of the national legislation base of the republic on April 6, said.

According to the decree, a 2018-2020 measures program on improving activity of the state service on plant quarantine was approved.

There are still no special labs in regions of the country to carry out quarantine check of the exported and imported seeds, plants and other vegetable production, the document said.

The quarantine labs will be built in all 13 regions of the country and will be equipped with the most advanced technologies. A special disinfectant (fumigation) rooms will be created in seven regions of the country near the border checkpoints.

The program provides for development of concrete measures to accede Uzbekistan to international treaties in the plant quarantine sphere, including the International Convention on Plant Protection and Quarantine (Rome, 1951). It is also planned to work out the issue of concluding agreements with the quarantine services of the EU, CIS and South-East Asian countries on cooperation in the plant quarantine sphere.

In January 2017, Uzbekistan and Russia signed a protocol on compliance with phytosanitary requirements when importing Uzbek vegetables and fruits to the Russian Federation. In addition, the parties are completing the work on creating a green corridor for phytosanitary control.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed the readiness of his country to export medical services to Azerbaijans autonomous republic of Nakhchivan.

Proper grounds exist for expansion of cooperation in the fields of industrial livestock production, medical treatment, and creation of pharmaceutical enterprises as well as dispatching physicians, tourism, transportation, and joint production, the visiting foreign minister told Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Vasif Talibov.

Speaking about existing cooperation between Iran and Nakhkchivan, he said the sides have already launched joint projects in power generation and dam construction.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic as part of his two-day visit to Azerbaijan this morning.

Zarif on Thursday attended the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), titled Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development in Baku.
Indian state companies are planning to double oil imports from Iran in 2018, Reuters reported.

Iran is pushing to retain its oil customers in Asia, offering better terms than other Middle Eastern suppliers including Saudi Arabia, even as the threat looms of potential further U.S. sanctions on the OPEC member, according to Reuters.

Tehran recently deepened freight discount to firms in India, its second-biggest oil client after China, in return for higher volumes.

In the current fiscal year to March 2019, state refiners Indian Oil Corp, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum plan to import 396,000 barrels per day (bpd) Iranian oil, Reuters quoted two sources familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying.

All four refiners imported about 205,600 bpd Iranian oil in the previous fiscal year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has arrived in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic as part of his two-day visit to Azerbaijan.

The visit takes place at the official invitation of the authorities of the Nakhchivan Republic.

Zarif on Thursday attended the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), titled Promoting international peace and security for sustainable development in Baku.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

Caspian flotilla will be relocated from Astrakhan to the town of Kaspiysk, Dagestan, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said earlier this week.

He said that vast construction work will be conducted in Kaspiysk, including building of quays, logistic facilities and housing. As well, the number of the flotillas personnel will be increased.

So, why move?

The Russian Caspian flotilla is the largest and most powerful naval unit in the Caspian Sea. None of the Caspian littoral states has such a number of warships with modern on-board weaponry as Russia does. All of the states have good relations with Russia, so Russias rivalry with coastal countries is not the reason.

The Caspian Sea is an enclosed body of water, so a possible clash with warships of third parties may also be excluded. Also, the transfer of the naval base from Astrakhan to Kaspiysk is quite costly.

Then why has the decision been made? Let's take a look at some possible reasons.

Climate factor

According to Russian sources, in recent years, the Volga River is growing shallower in its course, which makes it complicated for warships with deep draught and heavy-weight weapons to maneuver in the Astrakhan water area.

Also, in winter the Volga Delta and the Northern part of the Caspian Sea often freeze over. The flotilla warships are of not reinforced ice class, and in a severe frost they risk to be icebound on the base.

Strike task factor

Growing tensions in the Middle East can one day lead to armed clashes or full-scale war, which is harmful for Russia's national interests. So Russia is taking preventive measures, if it happens.

The flotilla will be relocated closer to the Middle East theater of operation strengthening Russias striking capacity from the North and winning time for deployment.

Suppose that the flotilla is tasked to move from its permanent location to the Iranian territorial waters to launch the Kalibr missile complex, with which its warships are equipped, for eliminating assigned targets somewhere in the Middle East, precisely as it was done in October 2015 against the IS strongholds in Syria.

Astrakhan is about 100 km from the Caspian Sea and ships need to pass the Volga Delta to enter the open sea.

"Astrakhan is 100 km away from the Caspian Sea. What kind of a naval base it is, if takes six hours to go down the river?," Admiral Igor Kasatonov, the advisor to the Chief of General Staff recently told RBC.

The frigate-type guard ship Dagestan  the flagship of the Caspian flotilla  can reach a speed up to 28 knots, which is about 52 km per hour.

The distance from Astrakhan to the town of Kaspiysk is about 400 km. The remaining 300 km to Kaspiysk vessels, going at maximum speed, will cut for another 6 hours at best.

Thus, relocation to the new naval base can save valuable 12 hours for the flotilla to reach the designated area and be operational.

Internal security factor

Stability in the North Caucasus is of critical importance to Russia. The painful and implacable process of fighting corruption has recently begun in Dagestan, which has almost degraded the region's economy in recent years. The process is accompanied by detention of many high-level officials charged with corruption schemes and embezzlement of budget allocations.

Given the strong clan ties and the fact that the region is home to more than 30 nationalities, Dagestan, like the entire North Caucasus, is likely the most sensitive region of Russia. This is well known not only to the Russian leadership, but also to its political foes. Any serious incident there on any ground can turn into a big problem.

Therefore, the presence of the naval base will be an additional stabilizing factor, not only with regards to the ongoing developments in Dagestan, but in general.

Some military experts consider this reason to be totally groundless, where some others say it makes sense.
The United Kingdom opened a permanent military base in Bahrain on Thursday, Reuters reported citing Bahrains state news agency BNA.

The ceremony formally opening the UK Naval Support Facility was attended by Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Britains Prince Andrew.

Britain announced in 2014 it had sealed a deal to expand and reinforce its naval presence in Bahrain, allowing it to operate more and bigger ships in the Gulf.

The U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet is also based in Bahrain.

The Gulf is a major trade route for oil tankers, its waters shared by Sunni Muslim Arab states and their Shiite rival Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia support opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Bahrain is a close ally of Britain, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Last year, U.S. Navy commanders accused Iran of jeopardizing international navigation by harassing warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and said future incidents could result in miscalculation and lead to an armed clash. Iran denied the accusations.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private sector (ICD) and Afriland First Group, Banque Islamique du Senegal, EBID, BSIC Mali and Coris Bank Mali signed a Line of financing agreements for a Euro 45 million, Euro 50 Million, Euro 25 Million, Euro 9 Million and Euro 6 Million respectively.

The Euro 135 Million Line of financing facility will be extended by the above Banks to the SMEs covering various sectors such as industrial, communication, technology, health, manufacturing, agricultural sectors, etc. in Cameroon, Cote dIvoire, Guinea, Senegal and other ICD member countries in Africa.

In this occasion ICD Management commented: The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have a crucial role to play in a countrys growth and development, and ICD has big plans for them. This is an important niche in all the member countries, especially in Africa. ICD is now focusing on increasing access to funding to the private sector by channeling the funds to established financial institutions in its member countries.

Previously ICD extended several Line of Financing facility for the development of Small and Medium Enterprises in Africa which demonstrates ICDs firm commitment to develop the private sector in its member countries.

Note to Editors

About ICD

ICD is a multilateral organization and a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. The mandate of ICD is to support economic development and promote the development of the private sector in its member countries through providing financing facilities and/or investments which are in accordance with the principles of Shariah. ICD also provides advice to governments and private organizations to encourage the establishment, expansion and modernization of private enterprises. ICD is rated AA/F1+ by Fitch and Aa3/P1 by Moodys. For more information visit www.icd-ps.org

About Afriland First Group

Created in Switzerland on 19 March 2008, Afriland First Group pools the investments of a group of Africans in Afriland First Bank units across the world since 1987, when the first unit opened. The holding company meets the need of an identical general policy in all the banking units of its network and creates the framework for a more proactive development policy. Since 2008, other acquisitions have been achieved in Liberia, Zambia, Guinea, South Sudan and Ivory Coast. This drive is sustained by a team of Africans, motivated by the quest for outstanding economic results that are consistent with corporate social and environmental responsibilities through which it satisfies the countries and communities where it is located. AFG equally relies on the support of development partners in the implementation of its expansion strategy.

AFG is aiming at establishing an Islamic window in every subsidiary, replicating the Cameroon experience, with the ultimate objective to convert into full fledge Islamic banks in the future.

Afriland Cameroon and Afriland Equatorial Guinea are systemic leading banks in their respective countries with largest assets and deposit base. For more information, visit www.afrilandfirstgroup.com

About Banque Islamique du Senegal

Banque Islamique du Senegal (BIS) was established in 1982 in Dakar, Senegal by Dar Al Maal Group (DMI) under the name of Massraf Faisal Al Islami Senegal. Following a restructuring intervened in February 1996, it became the Islamic Bank of Senegal (BIS) and in same year it was recapitalized with the entry into the capital of the IDB (33%), the State of Senegal (22%) alongside DMI (43%) and some small private investors. In 2009 there was a redemption of DMIs shares in BIS by ICD followed by Tamweel Africa Holding's entry into the shareholding of the BIS and acquisition of 68% stake in 2010.

BIS began to expand its network in 2006 with the opening of 3 new branches among which 2 in the city of Dakar and one in Touba. As of December 31, 2017, BIS had a total Total Assets of BIS was EUR 435.5 million, Total deposits was EUR 371.7 million and Net Financing Portfolio stood at EUR 265.8 million. For more information, visit https://www.ta-holding.com/fr/intl/senegal/

About EBID

The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), is the financial institution established by the 15 Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising Benin, Burkina Faso, Capo Verde, Cote dIvoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The Banks headquarters is in Lome, Togolese Republic.

The Bank has two funding windows namely, the promotion of the private sector and development of the public sector.

Overall, EBID aims at contributing to the economic development of West Africa through the financing of projects and programmes in particular, those related to transport, energy, telecommunications, industry, poverty alleviation, the environment and natural resources. The vision of EBID is to become the leading regional investment and development Bank in West Africa, an effective tool for poverty alleviation, wealth creation and job promotion for the well-being of people in the region. For more information, visit http://www.bidc-ebid.org

About BSIC Mali

BSIC Mali is an affiliate of BSIC Group (Banque Sahelo - Saharienne pour lInvestissement et le Commerce), a regional financial institution in the Community of Sahel-Saharan States with a share capital of 750 million euros. The group is present in 14 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Chad and Togo). BSIC MALI was established in January 2004. It is owned by BSIC Group (99.9%). The capital of the Group is shared between its member countries. The Group is headquartered in Tripoli, Libya. The Bank finances all vital sectors in the country ranging from commerce (52%), industrial activities (15%), agriculture (2%) and others. For more information, visit http://www.bsicbank.com/mali/

About Coris Bank Mali

Coris Bank International Mali was established on August 2014 with currently 7 branches with the core Coris shareholding among the following affiliates (Coris Holding, Coris Bank International Burkina Faso, Coris Bank International Ivory Coast, Coris Assurances and Coris Bourse) at 90%. The Group holding is headquartered in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where its affiliates Coris Bank Burkina Faso is a leading bank in the country.

During the 2017 Annual Meeting of IsDB Group, Coris Bank International Group received an award as Best Client of ICD. The Banking group has built a good partnership with ICD. Indeed, aside from the line of financing extended in 2016 to CBI Burkina, ICD has provided advisory services to establish an Islamic window in the all banking affiliates of the Group. For more information, visit http://www.corisbank.ml/
The United Nations is beefing up its inspections of ships bringing humanitarian aid to Yemen to ensure that no military items are being smuggled and to speed up delivery of desperately-needed relief supplies, UN and Saudi officials say.



The move comes as the armed Houthi movement controlling much of northern Yemen steps up attacks on the kingdom, hitting a Saudi oil tanker on Tuesday.

The Arab coalition said overnight that Riyadh's air defense had intercepted a missile aimed at Jazan city.



Under an arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council, monitors from the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) are based in ports in Djibouti, Dubai, Jeddah and Salalah to observe screening of cargo destined for Yemen.



"We met with the UNVIM director and his team in Riyadh and we agreed on improved and enhanced capability," Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed S. al-Jabir told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.



He said UNVIM would increase its inspectors to 10 from four and its monitors to 16 from six and would also improve its technology to inspect ships.



The team supporting Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, confirmed to Reuters on Thursday the steps taken to increase the number of monitors and inspectors and the use of scanning equipment.



A major UN conference on Yemen was held this week, drawing pledges of more than $2 billion toward a $3 billion UN humanitarian appeal.



Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have contributed $930 million.



"We are cooperating with the UNVIM and other UN organizations to facilitate and to increase the number of ships that arrive at Hodeidah port," Jabir said, referring to Yemen's main port for humanitarian and commercial goods, under Houthi control.



UNVIM only checks commercial and aid ships going to northern ports under Houthi control - Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Isa - and not to Aden, which is under government control.



Yemen, the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, is reeling from the world's worst humanitarian crisis where 22 million people need vital assistance.



When the Houthis fired missiles at Riyadh last November, the Western-backed coalition shut Yemen's airports and ports.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

Trend:

The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private sector (ICD) signed a commitment letter with Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC), Tunisia, as well as seven memoranda of understanding, namely with CDC, Wifak Bank, Zitouna Tamkeen, Intilaq Fund, BFPME and UGFS.

The signing ceremony was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Tunisia during the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group. It is a clear sign that business in Tunisia is at the heart of ICDs strategy to help the Tunisian private sector in the most effective ways.

On this occasion, ICD Management commented: Private sector development and empowering entrepreneurship remain essential themes on the global development agenda and it is acknowledged to be a central power in transforming the lives of people and communities through generating new opportunities. Today, the private sector is the main actor not only in producing economic progress, but also bringing efficient and effective solutions to many social and environmental issues of the globe.

About ICD

ICD is a multilateral organization and a member of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group. The mandate of ICD is to support economic development and promote the development of the private sector in its member countries through providing financing facilities and/or investments which are in accordance with the principles of Shariah. ICD also provides advice to governments and private organizations to encourage the establishment, expansion and modernization of private enterprises. ICD is rated AA/F1+ by Fitch, Aa3/P1 by Moodys and A+ by S&P Ratings. For more information, please visit www.icd-ps.org.
Descendants from Belarus make a substantial contribution to the advancement of the Belarusian-Israeli interstate dialogue. The relevant statement was made by Ambassador of Belarus to Israel Vladimir Skvortsov at a meeting of descendants from Belarus in a forest near the town of Ben Shemen on 5 April, representatives of the Belarusian diplomatic mission told BelTA.

The meeting gathered about 2,000 people from various parts of Israel. For 63 years ex-Belarusians have been gathering for such events during Easter vacations. The meetups are known unofficially as Belarusian Forest.

In his speech Vladimir Skvortsov described the bilateral relations with Israel as a complicated yet slender mosaic of history, politics, economy, culture, and science. According to the ambassador, like a living bridge former Belarusians connect the two countries with multiple ties. Vladimir Skvortsov invited his fellow countrymen to visit native places in Belarus in the Year of Native Land. He also congratulated those present on the 70th anniversary since the State of Israel was created. The date is celebrated in April. The ambassador reminded that famous sons of Belarus helped found the State of Israel.

President of the Israeli Association of Descendants from Belarus Mikhail Alshansky read out an address by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. In particular, the Ben Shemen Forest was described as Israel's Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The Belarusian community was named one of the best consolidated communities in the country.

Mayor of Ashdod (a city twinned with Belarusian Brest) Boris Giterman, heads of the Russian and Ukrainian communities in Israel also addressed participants of the meeting.

Following the established tradition, an ambassador's nook was set up and embellished with national symbols. The ambassador and embassy personnel talked to descendants from Belarus, told them about near-future plans of the embassy, about the public life in modern Belarus and its foreign policy. Consultations about consular matters were arranged.

Visitors of the ambassador's nook could also relish Belarusian cuisine. A presentation of Belarus' tourism capabilities was arranged with assistance of representatives of the Belarusian air carrier Belavia and Israeli travel agencies.

The warm and friendly atmosphere of face-to-face communication was complemented by performances of music groups and dancing companies, who performed works by Belarusian and Israeli authors.
Panama's Foreign ministry announced on Thursday the withdrawal of its ambassador from Venezuela and asked Caracas to remove its envoy to Panama, Sputnik reported.

Earlier, media reported that Venezuela on Thursday banned dozens of Panamas officials and companies in retaliation for blacklisting its president and other high-ranking officials on suspicion of money laundering.

The 90-day ban concerns 22 Panamanian individuals and 46 Panama-based legal entities, Venezuelas national AVN news agency reported, citing a joint decision by the ministries of interior, finance and international trade.

Last week, Panama put President Nicolas Maduro on a watch list. It is comprised of 55 Venezuelans suspected of such offences as terrorism financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The interior minister, the chief prosecutor and the supreme justice were among those targeted.
Two peacekeepers were killed and a dozen injured Thursday in a mortar attack on the UN missions camp in northeastern Mali, it said in a communique, Sputnik reported.

"According to preliminary estimates, two blue helmets were killed and ten others injured, some of them seriously, in an attack," the statement read. The communique says that the attack had been carried out on the MINUSMA base at Aguelhok in the Kidal region.

The assault was reported at 18:45 GMT. The mission said it had immediately organized medical evacuations and boosted the camp's security.

The mission's chief, Koen Davidse, condemned the deadly attack and stressed that it constituted a war crime. He said the effort to bring peace back to this West African country will continue.

The UN sent a mission to Mali in 2013 after an offensive by Islamic radicals led to the capture of many cities in the country's north. Five years on, Mali remains one of the worlds two most dangerous places where UN peacekeepers are deployed.
The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan promised to work together on regional security in a face-to-face meeting on Friday, one day after Kabul accused the Pakistani military of carrying out a rare air strike on its side of the border Reuters reported

Afghanistan on Thursday accused Pakistan of strikes causing huge financial damages in a province bordering Pakistan. Pakistan responded that its security forces were countering Afghan-based militant groups on its own side of the border.

The row highlighted long-standing mistrust between the neighbors that centers on mutual accusations that the other country does not adequately prevent cross-border militant attacks.

But Fridays previously scheduled visit by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul included cordial and friendly talks, Abbasis office said in a statement.

It said the leaders agreed on a common aim of regional security.

Ghani, in a statement, said he raised the issue of border violations with Abbasi and stressed that the situation was not helpful to either side.

A day earlier, Afghanistan alleged that Pakistan jets had dropped four bombs in the Afghan border province of Kunar, and warned that such strikes could damage relations.

Such an incident is a rare departure from the norm of cross-border shelling, said Thomas Ruttig, co-director of Afghanistan Analysts Network. But Ruttig said it did not appear to damage relations greatly, since Ghani did not cancel the meeting.

The strikes did not cause any deaths or injuries, said Faridullah Dehqan, spokesman for Kunar police.

Afghanistans Western-backed government has long accused Pakistan of harboring Afghan Taliban insurgents, a charge that Islamabad denies.

Islamabad, in turn, accuses Afghanistan of not doing enough to eradicate Pakistani Taliban militants, many of whom are based in Afghanistan and mostly carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
An agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico on a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is within reach, a senior official with Mexicos economy ministry said on Friday, according Reuters.

Im very convinced and have a good expectation that we will reach an agreement on the free trade agreement very, very soon, said Rogelio Garza, Mexicos deputy minister for industry and commerce.

Top U.S., Mexican and Canadian trade officials are meeting on Friday in Washington to discuss prospects for a deal to update NAFTA, under pressure from the United States to reach a quick agreement despite several unresolved issues.
Four Russian diplomats expelled by the Canadian government from the country over the Skripal case, have left Canada, an embassy source told TASS on Thursday.

"As requested by the Canadian side the diplomats declared personae non gratae in Canada have left the country," the source said.

On March 4, Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a so-called Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident.

Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdoms accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia. Without presenting any evidence, the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced other restrictive measures against Moscow. In retaliation to the UKs steps, 23 British diplomats were expelled from Russia, the British Consulate General in the city of St. Petersburg was closed and the British Council had to shut down its operations in Russia.

Some European countries, including France, Germany and Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, Moldova, along with the US, Canada and Australia, decided to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats in solidarity with the UK over the Skripal episode. Ottawa announced expelling four Russian diplomats from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the capital and Consulate General in Montreal, as well as rejected an application of the Russian government to accredit extra diplomatic staff in the country.
Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will participate in the regular meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on Friday, which will particularly focus on cooperation in law enforcement area. All in all, the agenda contains 13 issues covering a wide range of cooperation areas within the integration, Russias Foreign Ministry said, TASS reports.

"Ministers will share views on pressing global and regional problems, dwell upon issues of fortification of external political coordination, discuss prospects of deepening cooperation in the law enforcement, cultural, humanitarian and military fields," the ministry stated.

The Russian side also plans to present "a draft joint statement of CIS foreign ministers on efforts to prevent dilution of the principle of non-intervention in the affairs of sovereign states," the statement said.

"The agenda also contains the issues of cooperation in the military area, including amendments to provisions on activities of the Council of defense ministers of the CIS member-states and its secretariat," the ministry added.
Russian media watchdog, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), has filed a lawsuit against Telegram messenger for failure to provide a response on the keys to decrypt user messages within the prescribed time limit, the watchdogs press service reported on Friday, TASS reports.

"Based on Article 15.4 of the Federal Law on Information, Information Technologies and Protection of Information, on Friday, April 6, Roskomnadzor filed a lawsuit with Moscows Tagansky District Court seeking restricted access to the information resources of Telegram Messenger Limited Liability Partnership," the press service said.

Roskomnadzor noted that the lawsuit had been filed due to failure by Telegram Messenger Limited Liability Partnership to comply with its duties as information dissemination organizer established by law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke about his recent meetings on Syria with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the Kremlin press service said in a statement, TASS reports.

"Putin informed Macron about the decisions made at the April 4 Russian-Turkish-Iranian summit in Ankara, which concern further cooperation aimed at ensuring long-term stability in Syria, strengthening the countrys sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity," the statement reads. "It was noted that there was a need to advance the political settlement process through implementing the decisions made at the Syrian national Dialogue Congress, as well as to promptly establish a United Nations sponsored Constitutional Committee," the Kremlin press service added.

"The situation in Eastern Ghouta was also discussed, the focus was on the unprecedented large-scale operation to save civilians and withdraw militants not willing to lay down their arms," the statement says. "Russia emphasized the importance of consolidating the global communitys efforts to provide humanitarian aid to people in need across Syria in compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2401," the Kremlin press service pointed out.

The two presidents expressed "readiness to continue Russian-French consultations on key aspects of the Syria settlement."

The Kremlin press service added that the telephone call had been initiated by Paris.
The resumption of charter flights to Egypts resorts of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada will be discussed only after Russian and Egyptian aviation security specialists strike an agreement on an interaction scheme at Cairo Airport, Alexander Neradko, Head of Russias Federal Air Transport Agency, said at the First National Congress of Travelers and Air Passengers, TASS reports.

"Everything related to resuming flights to Egypt, especially to resort areas, is a matter of profound concern to us," Neradko explained. "To ensure our air passengers safety, a special group of [Russian] aviation security specialists will be in Cairo, who will assist their Egyptian counterparts in maintaining security at Cairo airport. We need to polish [our] interaction skills, and only then will we consider the resumption of flights to resort areas, namely, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada."

On March 7, Sheremetyevo Security, Aeroflot and EgyptAir companies inked an accord on providing services to maintain security at Cairo International Airport. Russias Sheremetyevo International Airport said that Sheremetyevo Securitys employees would oversee the inspection of hand luggage, baggage and cargo onboard Aeroflot and EgyptAir flights.

EgyptAir CEO Safwat Musallam earlier said the airline planned to commence flights from Cairo to Moscow in April, which is due to the traditional switchover to the summer schedule. He added that Russian security service officers would be present at Cairos airport.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The US offered Turkey joint production of Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the Turkish media reported April 6 citing a diplomatic source.

Reportedly, Washington also sent Ankara a document confirming this intention of the United States.

Earlier, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, Tina Kaidanow, during her visit to Ankara, said that Washington has an attractive offer for Ankara.

Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said previously that Turkey didnt agree with the US on the transfer of technology for the supply of Patriot missile system and therefore, signed an agreement with the Russia on the S-400.

He added that Turkey has no objections with regard to the Patriot, if the conditions of Ankara are accepted positively.
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Turkish Air Force killed 14 terrorists in northern Iraq as part of the operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Turkish General Staff said in a message April 6.

According to the message, the operation was conducted in Iraqs Hakurk region.

More than 13 strongholds of terrorists were destroyed.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for more than 30 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The UN and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Nine Iranian citizens were detained by police in Istanbul, the Turkish media reported April 6.

Reportedly, the criminal group was led by Iranian citizen Naji Sharifi Zindashti.

The detainees were engaged in drug trafficking and reportedly, kidnapping.

Other details of the operation have not been reported.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Turkish Armed Forces in Syria are fighting against terrorists, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said during a visit to Mongolia, Turkish media reported on April 6.

Yildirim said that Turkey's goal in Syria is to ensure the security of Syrian people.

Unfortunately, for some countries, the Middle East is only a source of oil and income, according to him.

"The US and the UN have not rendered any assistance in solving the Syrian crisis," Yildirim said.

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
The U.S. State Department said Thursday that it has approved to sell about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in artillery to Saudi Arabia, Xinhua reported.

The sale package contained about 180 Paladin medium self-propelled howitzer systems, according to a statement released by the State Department. The artillery-firing vehicles launch 155mm shells.

The move came as visiting Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was wrapping up his weeks-long trip in the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump, during his meeting with Salman at the White House on March 20, touted multi-billion-U.S.-dollar defense sale to Saudi Arabia.

On March 22, the Trump administration approved an arms sale of 1 billion U.S. dollars to Saudi Arabia, including about 6,700 U.S.-built anti-tank missiles.

U.S. lawmakers will have 30 days to act if they want to stop the latest sale.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 6, 2018 - 08:40 | Sports, All, Feature

World media on Thursday devoted considerable coverage to the controversy surrounding a sumo referee's decision to order female medics out of a competition ring -- a male-only space -- while they were performing first aid on a local mayor who had suffered a stroke.

In an article headlined "Women barred from sumo ring, even to save a man's life," the New York Times said, "Sumo's discriminatory practices came under new scrutiny."

During an exhibition match Wednesday in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, a nurse rushed onto the ring to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation to a city mayor who collapsed while delivering a speech. Several other women came up to help.

(Supplied photo)

A ring, known as dohyo, is regarded as sacred and women, considered "ritually unclean" in the male-only sport of sumo, are forbidden from entering.

"In a country that consistently ranks low among developed countries on gender equality in health, education, the economy and politics, the episode was seen as a metaphor for how women are regarded in Japan," the Times said in a dispatch from Tokyo.

The Washington Post said the incident is "the latest case clearly illustrating the challenges that women face in achieving equality in Japan."

"Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been promoting 'womenomics' -- encouraging greater participation of women in the Japanese economy -- but they face discrimination and logistical hurdles every step of the way," a staffer in Tokyo wrote.

Sumo boss sorry for request that female medics leave ring, sick mayor

The BBC ran a similar report and said it was not the first time women entering a sumo ring has sparked controversy.

In 1990, the Japan Sumo Association banned Mayumi Moriyama, the first female chief Cabinet secretary, from awarding a trophy at a Tokyo tournament.

In 2000, Fusae Ota, the first female governor of Osaka, was banned from presenting a trophy at a tournament in the western Japan city.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 6, 2018 - 19:40 | World, All

Former South Korean President Park Geun Hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Friday over her role in a high-profile corruption scandal that saw her ousted from office last year.

The Seoul Central District Court found the 66-year-old guilty of charges involving bribery, abuse of power, coercion and leaking state secrets, and also slapped her with a fine of 18 billion won ($16.9 million).

Prosecutors had demanded 30 years in prison with a fine of 118.5 billion won.

"The defendant abused the presidential authority delegated from the people of this country and it resulted in a large amount of chaos in terms of public order and state management," Judge Kim Se Yun said in the televised trial.

"The responsibility lies with the defendant who has abandoned her constitutional duties."

Park, South Korea's first female president, became its first democratically elected leader to be dismissed from office when the Constitutional Court in March 2017 upheld a parliamentary impeachment vote against her.

She has been in detention since her arrest in March last year.

Having denied all charges against her and boycotted her trial since the fall of last year, she did not appear for Friday's sentencing at the Seoul court.

Park was indicted in April last year for allegedly colluding with her longtime confidante Choi Soon Sil to solicit and take a total of 77.4 billion won in bribes from business conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Co. Other charges included abuse of power, coercion and leaking confidential information.

On Feb. 13, the same court sentenced Choi to 20 years in prison.

In reading out the verdict, Kim said Park had shown "no sign of repentance" but had instead tried to shift the blame to Choi and her secretaries.

"We cannot help but sternly hold her accountable," the judge said.

She has a week to appeal to a higher court for leniency.

Park, the daughter of assassinated military ruler Park Chung Hee, became South Korea's 18th president in February 2013, after defeating rival candidate Moon Jae In in a presidential election.

In April 2014, following a ferry sinking that left over 300 people dead or missing, her government's poor handling of the disaster attracted heavy criticism.

In October 2016, a local television network reported that Choi, as a private citizen, had accessed classified presidential office documents, including drafts of Park's speeches that had yet to be delivered and Cabinet meeting documents.

As the scandal unfolded, large demonstrations broke out across the nation, demanding Park's impeachment and ouster. The peaceful protests were referred to as the "candlelight revolution" as many participants staged candlelight vigils.

Parliament passed an impeachment motion against Park in December that year over corruption and abuse of power. She was ousted from office on March 10, 2017, around a year short of her full five-year tenure.

With the former president stripped of her immunity from indictment, prosecutors arrested her later that month.

In May, Park's onetime rival candidate Moon was elected as president. Her trial began the same month.

The ruling Democratic Party, in a statement, welcomed the ruling and criticized Park for being unrepentant, saying there is no reason to be saddened about the fate of such people and no future for them.

"This sentence is the court's stern judgment on the act of using the presidential position to undermine the constitutional order, damage the rule of law and secure personal interests from conglomerates," Kim Hyun, the liberal party's spokeswoman said, according to Yonhap News Agency.

She called Park's refusal to appear at the sentencing "a very inappropriate and an arrogant act that ignores citizens."

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party said the court's judgments "were already foreseen." In its short statement, the conservative party to which Park once belonged also criticized the live broadcast of the trial "as if it were a sports program."

Many of Park's loyal supporters outside the courtroom reacted with anger at the news of her conviction and sentencing, but some 4,000 police were on hand to keep the peace.

Park's immediate predecessor, Lee Myun Bak, was arrested late last month over corruption, making him the country's fourth former president to be arrested on criminal charges.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 6, 2018 - 14:45 | Feature, All

An elementary school in Tokyo's Ginza district on Friday welcomed its latest batch of first graders with a heavy security contingent after a controversy over the students' new Armani-designed uniforms led to recent public ridicule.

The Taimei Elementary School uniforms, priced at over 80,000 yen ($745) each, including a hat and a bag, have been criticized by parents and outsiders for being unnecessarily expensive, with the issue such a big deal that it was discussed in a session of Japan's parliament.

Fifty-five new students attended an entrance ceremony wearing the uniforms designed by the Italian luxury brand.

"I am relieved to be able to hold the entrance ceremony," said Principal Toshitsugu Wada in a statement, adding he hopes people will "warmly watch over the children so they can attend school in peace."

A local education board received some 8,000 comments about the uniforms, and some students have been subject to harassment including people even grabbing at their clothes, according to the Chuo Ward office in Tokyo.

The school posted security guards along streets around the school and closed the road in front, while local police also beefed their presence in the area.

(Photo supplied by Chuo Ward education board)

The uniform, which the education board said is school-selected attire which students are under no obligation to wear, was introduced after the principal made it known last summer that the design would be changed. Some parents complained they received insufficient explanation about the change.

Following the controversy, the education ministry issued a notice to education boards nationwide in March requiring that school uniform and other study material costs not put parents under undue financial pressure. The memo also required that any proposed change must face a thorough consultation process.
The woman health worker, a nursing assistant, was attacked by two bike-borne assailants, while she was returning home late at night, with the intention of robbery, but they then tried to abduct her as she did not have any valuables on her.
Emerging Tech

On AI and the military, researchers look to draw a line

Researchers with Google and academics across the world are petitioning organizations on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence research to steer their efforts away from military AI applications, particularly autonomous lethal weapons.

Concerns about the ethical implications of AI are nothing new, but as governments and industry continue to invest in a number of technologies that fall under the artificial intelligence umbrella, the question of where -- and how -- researchers and industry should draw ethical lines around military applications has become increasingly relevant.

In an open letter first published by the New York Times on April 4, Google employees urged CEO Sundar Pichai to end the company's participation in Project Maven, a Pentagon program designed to apply big data analytics and machine learning to aerial imagery captured by drones and improve military decision-making. Those employees who signed -- more than 3,000, according to the Times -- argued the company should not be in the business of war.

Building this technology to assist the US Government in military surveillance -- and potentially lethal outcomes -- is not acceptable, the letter read.

A collection of nearly 60 AI experts and academics from around the world recently put out a similar letter, calling for a boycott of South Korean-based KAIST University over its decision to partner with Hanwha Systems, a leading South Korean defense contractor, to open a new research center dedicated to AI and military convergence.

Marie DesJardins, a professor of computer science at University of Maryland Baltimore County and one of the signatories of the KAIST letter, told FCW she is not being pollyannish when it comes to AI. DesJardins said she doesnt believe in Terminator scenarios where sentient machines turn on their human masters, and recognizes that even if the U.S. eschews the use of AI in military operations, other countries wont necessarily follow suit.

She has concerns about other implications on the technology, but she draws a bright red line at autonomous weapons systems, arguing that if left unchecked, they could one day facilitate killing on a scale that would make such systems as dangerous as nuclear weapons. DesJardins said she signed the letter because KAIST was not clear about whether the center would draw any ethical boundaries around its research, while the partnership with Hanwha Systems, which traffics in missile systems, tanks and other weapons of war, indicated the potential for work on autonomous weapons.

We need to be working globally to think about this issue, just as we thought a lot as a species about nuclear proliferation, said DesJardins. Theres the same potential here, you can develop essentially weapons of mass destruction very easily if you have autonomous weapons.

The letter spurred a response from KAIST University President Sung-Chul Shin. In a letter obtained by FCW, Shin assured the signatories that the research center aims to develop algorithms on efficient logistical systems, unmanned navigation [and] aviation training systems, but it will steer clear of autonomous weapon lacking meaningful human control.

I would like to reaffirm that KAIST does not have any intention to engage in development of lethal autonomous weapons systems, wrote Shin. KAIST is significantly aware of ethical concerns in the application of all technologies including artificial intelligence.

Another signatory, University of Michigan computer science and engineering professor Benjamin Kuipers, told FCW via email that his interpretation of Shins comments indicates that the center will stay within acceptable bounds of military-based AI research.

From my individual point of view, as a person not accustomed to parsing diplomatic statements, this sounds like a satisfactory response, Kuipers wrote -- though he noted the intentions of an individual or an organization can change at any time.

Theres little in the way of formally recognized standards to guide researchers, and the oncoming AI arms race means military officials and policymakers could exert pressure to push the limits.

In an April 5 post reacting to the Google letter, the Electronic Frontier Foundation advised companies who develop AI technologies for government to start by recognizing that there are no settled public standards for safety and ethics in this sector yet. [A company] cannot just assume that the contracting military agency has fully assessed the risks or that it doesn't have a responsibility to do so independently.

DesJardins echoed those thoughts, saying society lacks agreed-upon rules about which forms of AI military work raise unique ethical concerns and which are like any other weapon of war. Partnership between the research community, government officials and technology manufacturers will be necessary to set such standards, and she said she believes an international treaty might be needed in the end.

Were deploying these things way faster than were developing our understanding of what the limitations are, DesJardins said.

Not everyone is quite so concerned. Anton Chuvakin, a research vice president for technology consulting firm Gartner, said he does not understand the outrage, particularly in the case of the Google letter. He said current AI technologies are childs play compared to the versions that regularly scare moviegoers and are more akin to advanced software systems computing mathematical formulas.

To me, a lot of the current AI is mathematics and statistics. Theres no consciousness, theres no intelligence, he said. It isnt like they built a killer robot for the Pentagon.

Chuvakin and DesJardins both agree that such killer-robot technology, if it is even possible, would not rear its head for decades. As for modern applications, Chuvakin said that other countries will move forward with AI research that pushes the boundaries regardless of how the U.S. chooses to proceed. Eschewing military AI applications, he warned, could put the U.S. at a fatal long-term strategic disadvantage.

Still, even Chuvakin acknowledged that one particular form of attainable AI does give him pause and warrants a larger ethical debate.

Anything that leads to automated decision-making to kill people is probably the line I would draw, he said.
Oftentimes the debate over whether or not were alone in the universe boils down to a simple question: How could we be? I mean, with the incredible vastness of the universe and the countless galaxies, stars, planets, and moons out there, it seems like assuming were the only ones here would be pretty naive, right? Unfortunately for those who would use this point to debate in favor of extraterrestrial life, not all worlds are created equal, and new research suggests that one of the elements crucial to life as we know it might be incredibly rare.

The element in question is phosphorus (P). Its a vital part of a compound that allows cells to manage energy, and without it we simply wouldnt exist. Now, astronomers from Cardiff University are suggesting that a lack of phosphorus might be what ultimately hinders our hopes of finding alien life, leaving even the most ideal planet candidates without the necessary ingredients for life to exist.

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Astronomers have just started to pay attention to the cosmic origins of phosphorus and found quite a few surprises, Cardiff Universitys Dr Jane Greaves explains. In particular, P is created in supernovae  the explosions of massive stars  but the amounts seen so far dont 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 astronomers studied the Crab Nebula, which is what remains of a supernova explosion, to determine how much phosphorus and iron was present there. Unfortunately, the amount of phosphorus detected was a lot less than in previous observations of another supernova remnant, meaning that the amount of the crucial element produced by a supernova could vary widely. For a planet to gather enough phosphorus to support life might require even more luck than scientists had already assumed.

Story continues

The research is still in a preliminary stage, and the scientist caution that their first round of results are only a couple of weeks old. Going forward, the researchers will need to survey more and more supernova material to build an accurate model of just how much phosphorus is out there in the cosmos.

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In the event that a trade war between U.S. and China flares, how will American restaurant chains in China, like Yum China Holdings Inc (NYSE: YUMC), fare? Bernstein has a theory.

The Analyst

Bernstein's Sara Senatore maintains a Market-Perform rating on Yum China's stock with an unchanged $43 price target.

The Thesis

Yum China has fallen victim to broader geopolitical tension between the U.S. and China in the past, Senatore said in a Friday note. For example, anti-U.S. protests in 2016 stemming from a judgment against China by an international tribunal resulted in sales weakness for Yum's properties in the country. Similarly, a 2014 food safety scandal prompted a double-digit decline in Yum's business, the analyst said.

Yum China's growth story has been historically correlated to economic growth in the country, Senatore said. Prior to 2012, Yum Brands' earnings in the country were growing at a "remarkably consistent" pace, as the Chinese business "was relatively insulated from country risk," she said. Needless to say, any "exogenous driver of a comp slowdown," such as a trade war, would have a notable impact on margins, the analyst said.

Even without any sales volatility from a trade war, Yum's China business is unlikely to see any margin expansion in light of its ongoing investments in value and technology, Senatore said.

"To date, in initiatives like digital payments and delivery, YUMC is growing with the market but not substantially ahead."

Price Action

Shares of Yum China Holdings were trading lower by about 1.5 percent at the time of publication Friday.

Related Links:

Trump Threatens Additional 0B In Tariffs In 'Clear Extension Of His Brinkmanship Negotiating Style'

China ETFs Dealing With Trade Tensions

Latest Ratings for YUMC

Mar 2018 Morgan Stanley Maintains Overweight Overweight Oct 2017 Morgan Stanley Maintains Overweight Oct 2017 Nomura Initiates Coverage On Buy

View More Analyst Ratings for YUMC

View the Latest Analyst Ratings

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 2018 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Heres a look at some of the companies the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you.

BlackRock (BLK) tops our list. The asset manager is cutting gun sellers including Walmart (WMT) and Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS) from two new ETFs. The new funds exclude stocks of gun makers and large gun retailers following the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting in February in which 17 people were killed. Other brands that wont be included are Kroger (KR), American Outdoor Brands (AOBC) and Vista Outdoor (VSTO).

Target (TGT) has reached a $3.7M settlement in a racial discrimination case. The retailer will overhaul job-screening guidelines and give priority hiring to African Americans and Latinos who applied for those jobs. This comes after a complaint alleged its background checks were too broad and discriminatory. According to the proposed settlement, more than 41,000 African-American and Latino applicants were denied jobs from 2008 to 2016.

Snapchat (SNAP) is launching its most realistic face lenses to date. The company has built three new masks made specifically for Apples (AAPL) iPhone X owners. The new update uses the phones TrueDepth feature to superimpose a wrestler mask, a tiara, or jewels onto users faces. The lenses can also integrate the Xs ambient lighting and Portrait background into photos.

Amazon (AMZN) shares are trending lower after President Donald Trump said hell be taking a serious look at policy action against the e-commerce giant. Trump also said Amazons sales tax situation is headed to the Supreme Court. South Dakota is asking the court to overturn an old ruling that only required companies with a physical presence in a state to collect sales tax.
The world's largest asset manager has created two new exchange-traded funds and a series of new index-tracking products for pensions and employee retirement plans that exclude stocks of gun makers and large gun retailers.

The moves come amid a renewed national debate over the role Wall Street can play in promoting greater gun safety.

BlackRock BLK is rolling out new products that specifically avoid investing in companies that make or sell firearms for civilian use, in response to customer interest as pressure on the nation's gun industry intensifies.

The world's largest asset manager has created two new exchange-traded funds and a series of new index-tracking products for pensions and employee retirement plans that exclude stocks of gun makers and large gun retailers. It also has shifted the index underlying existing ETFs aimed at socially responsible investments.

That means the funds will not invest in Walmart WMT , Dick's Sporting Goods, Kroger, Sturm Ruger RGR , American Outdoor Brands and Vista Outdoor, a spokesman confirmed.

In a note to clients Thursday, BlackRock said it is making the changes "to provide more choice for clients seeking to exclude firearms companies from their portfolios."

It is also lowering the expenses for funds tracking a socially responsible investing index that already excludes these stocks.

The moves come amid a renewed national debate over the role Wall Street can play in promoting greater gun safety, specifically by pressuring gun makers and sellers to change their sales policies and enhance product safety.

Several companies have already taken action. Walmart and Dicks limit sales to those 21 and older, and Citigroup said it would bar companies it does business with from selling guns to those under 21.

Last month, BlackRock told clients it was time to take action in this debate, saying it could use its position as one of the largest owners of publicly traded gun makers to vote against directors and go against management to support shareholder initiatives. The company oversees more than $5 trillion of assets for pensions and endowments as well as retail investors.

Story continues

The fund company has been talking to gun makers in advance of this year's shareholder meetings. BlackRock is the biggest institutional owner of Sturm Ruger, with 16 percent, and American Outdoor Brands, with 10.5 percent.

The new ETFs include one focused on small stocks and one focused on investment-grade bonds. The new index-tracking products for retirement accounts track five major stock indexes screened to exclude gun maker and retailer stocks.





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Markets tumbled on Friday as concerns over a possible trade war between the U.S. and China escalated once again. This now nearly constant turmoil has left many investors desperate to find stability anywhere they can.

The Trump administration recently threatened to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, only to see the Chinese responded in kind. Trump then doubled down on Thursday when he announced that the U.S. would consider tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of imports from China.

The most recent back-and-forth between the U.S. and China has dragged down markets, adding to a nearly three-month long bearish turn that has seen the S&P 500 sink 5%.

With that said, investors should turn their attention to stocks that have proven to be less volatile compared to the market as a whole. One metric that is particularly useful in this situation is a stocks beta rating, which is a representation of how the stock responds to swings in the market. Historically, stocks and securities with betas below 1.0 are less volatile than the market.

Now lets look at three low-beta stocks that investors should consider as economic tensions between the worlds two largest economies ramp up.

1. Toyota TM

This Japanese auto giant is currently a Zacks Rank #1(Strong Buy) and rocks an A grade for Value in our Style Scores system. Toyotas value could come in handy during the current market downturn when outsized growth becomes much harder to come by.

Toyota has also reported a strong streak of solid earnings beats, which might prove useful as we head into first quarter earnings season. Furthermore, Toyotas beta of 0.75 theoretically means the stock has been 25% less volatile compared to the market.

2. Macy's M

Macys stock has climbed 17% over the last 12 weeks amid the overall market downturn, as investors regain confidence in the industry bellwether. Looking ahead, Macys Q1 earnings estimates have been trending upward in a big way, with our consensus mark jumping from $0.23 to $0.36 within the last 60 days.

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Macys also looks like a strong value play at the moment. The company is trading with a Forward P/E of 8.7, which is far below the Retail - Regional Department Stores industrys average P/E of 11. Better still, Macys is currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) with a beta of 0.75.

3. Guess' GES

Within the last 30 days, Guess has earned three earnings estimate revisions for its current full-year, with 100% agree to the upside. The clothing company has also seen its stock price skyrocket 52% in the last four weeks alone, bucking the major market downturn. Guess is also currently a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Whats more, Guess rocks a beta of 0.35. This means Guess stock is, in theory, 65% less volatile than the market, which means now might be a great time to buy.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.



With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.



It's not the one you think.



See This Ticker Free >>



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The duration of the global semiconductor shortage just keeps getting shorter -- and with it, investor confidence in semiconductor stocks like Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), which closed down 6.1% Tuesday. If you recall, market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC) predicted last week that the dearth of semiconductors, which has hamstrung markets for everything from PCs to automobiles over the past year, will begin easing later this year. Speaking at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, California, reports CNBC, Su pointed to a number of new semiconductor manufacturing plants coming online over the next few months as evidence that, while supplies will remain "likely tight" through the first half of next year, the chip shortage may end sooner than some investors expect.
The United States imports roughly $500 billion in goods and services from China each year. So if President Trump imposes tariffs on $150 billion worth of those importsas he has threatened to dothered still be room to up the ante.

China only imports about $130 billion worth of US goods and services each year. So if China wanted to match all of Trumps tariffsas it has vowed to doit would run out of imports to tax.

That would seem to give the United States an advantage in a trade showdown with China, which may be why Trump is bucking most mainstream advice and courting this trade war. But China can harm American interests in a variety of ways Trump may not be taking into account. There are lots of different ways China can retaliate, says Scott Kennedy, director of the project on Chinese business and political economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In the short term, China is certainly able to put a lot of pain on its targets.

If Trump goes through with his tariffs, here are some of the things China might do in response, beyond matching tariffs:

Harass US companies operating in China. American firms have invested $256 billion in China since 1990, with companies such as Apple, Nike, General Motors, Ford, Starbucks and many others earning profits there that benefit shareholders back home. China can shut down foreign business at will, on pretexts such as safety violations or licensing snafus. As part of an ongoing dispute with South Korea last year, China shut down dozens of outlets of a Korean retailer operating in China. A few years ago, China punished Daimler, BMW and Audi for antitrust violations in what was really a campaign to get them to lower prices. American firms could find themselves subject to similar tactics.

Cause geopolitical trouble. The United States butts heads with China on a number of issues that arent commercial in nature, including the independence of Taiwan (which China views as part of China), a military buildup in the South China Sea and, of course, sanctions against North Korea. China could flex its muscles on any of those issues and take a harder line against American interests.

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Impose bigger tariffs. Trumps tariffs would generally be in the range of 25%. China could put higher tariffs on US imports to compensate for the smaller amount of imports. Trump could raise US tariffs in return, but if he did that, hed be intensifying the pain for American firms and consumers purchasing those products, whod be paying increasingly more for them.

Drive a wedge between the United States and other trade partners. China could sweeten its trade arrangements with European nations or others, as its relationship with the United States deteriorates. Many trade experts point out that the United States increasingly acts on its own under Trump, by withdrawing from the Paris climate accord and the Trans Pacific Partnership, for instance, and pursuing trade protections without consulting allies. Going it alone leaves other nations freer to act without concern for American interests.

Pull out of US business deals. China has about $140 billion worth of investments in the United States, which include partnerships and investments with US firms, along with Chinese-owned businesses operating here. The Chinese government has more sway over home-grown business interests than the US government does and could compel some of those businesses to pull out of deals in the United States.

Sell off US debt. China holds about $1.2 trillion in US government debt, which sounds like a lot, but its only 5.5% of all outstanding US debt. Some people worry that China could dump all that debt into markets, which would push interest rates up and cause other problems. But that could harm China more than anybody, which is why economists doubt it would ever happen. Chinas currency, the yuan, would probably rise in value, harming Chinese exports. China would also become an economic pariah, shut out of parts of the global financial system. Meanwhile, other buyers of US debt would almost certainly materialize, even if it took a while for the dust to settle.

Exploit Trumps political challenges. A tariff war would hurt businesses and consumers in China, just as it would in the United States. But Chinese President Xi Jinping may be in a better position to withstand the political pressure likely to mount in a genuine trade war. Xi has no internal opposition, and you wont see Chinese automakers or food growers on television complaining about a trade war, says Kennedy. Trumps political position is more precarious. There have been and will be plenty of stories of farmers, auto workers, steelworkers, consumers and others who will potentially suffer in a trade war.

Trumps argument, of course, is that China is already harming American interests, which is why dramatic remedies are needed. What Trump hasnt done is explain why the gain is worth the pain. And the pain is likely to come first.

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Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman

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Most analysts writing about McDonalds Corporation (NYSE:MCD) are talking about the wrong thing. They talk about banning plastic straws or flipping the arches into a giant W for International Womans Day. They talk about tuition help for the high school kids in its crews. They may talk about the McDonalds stock momentum, or recent lack of it.

What they dont talk about and should, are the strategic changes CEO Steve Easterbrook initiated after becoming CEO in March 2015. Specifically, his decision to move away from company-owned stores, back to a franchise model, but with a twist.

Instead of seeking mom-and-pop operators, as founder Ray Kroc did, Easterbrook has sought out corporate owners who would take over whole territories, like Taiwan.

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Corporate Overlords

The result is that McDonalds gets the benefits of corporate ownership without the hassles of dealing with complaints from people owning one or two stores, complaints that also bedeviled his predecessors.

Small franchisees take corporate issues personally. They question corporate directives and often look only to their short-term bottom lines. Corporate franchisees will see the larger picture and, when they have problems, negotiate them with the main company in private. They wont talk to reporters or fill out surveys.

The difference can be seen in McDonalds results. Under Easterbrook, the top line has been steadily shrinking, from $25.4 billion in 2015 to $22.8 billion last year. But the net income line has been steadily growing, from $4.5 billion in 2015 to almost $5.2 billion last year.

This is the secret sauce for McDonalds stock not the Thousand Island dressing on some of its sandwiches, or even its all-day breakfast, which Easterbrook initiated. Being a franchisor is more profitable than being a franchisee, even though more of the cash goes into final sales at the store.

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Having corporate franchisees who understand that the key to their success is scale, rather than margin, and that a successful business has one head, at corporate, has allowed Easterbrook to do more strategic thinking and worry less about tactics.

It means issues that might have been big problems before, like whether corporate or the franchisee is responsible for labor law violations, become less important because however the government rules, its a publicity-shy corporation that will follow-up.

The Next Steps for McDonalds Stock

It means McDonalds can announce it will cut pollution and mean it, because the details will be negotiated in boardrooms and implemented.

It means McDonalds can implement technologies like kiosk ordering, digital menus that change as the days tastes do, and data analytics knowing that franchisees will take their share of the investment, because theyre looking strategically just as Easterbrook is.

It means that when corporate decides to switch to fresh beef in the burgers the decision can be implemented quickly, as it doesnt take many franchisees to represent as many as 3,500 restaurants. A faster response to corporate innovation improves every franchises reputation.

The Bottom Line for McDonalds Stock

It can be confusing to analyze McDonalds because so much of the news surrounding it is irrelevant to the investment case. Things happen in stores seen as the center of their communities, the go-to place for inexpensive meals.

Investors should ignore that. Focus instead on the growth in the dividend, $1.01 per share, and on the long-term health of the stock, up 60% in Easterbrooks term despite recent broad market downdrafts that have sent it from $178 per share to its present price of $161 per share.

When you think like a corporate owner, you will see those downdrafts as buying opportunities.

Dana Blankenhorn is a financial and technology journalist. He is the author of the historical mystery romance The Reluctant Detective Travels in Time, available now at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned no shares in companies mentioned in this story.

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Earnings Estimates Moving Higher for Vanda (VNDA): Time to Buy? Vanda (VNDA) shares have started gaining and might continue moving higher in the near term, as indicated by solid earnings estimate revisions.

The Dow rebounded strongly this week after trade war fears receded and tech stocks staged a recovery. Markets declined on Monday after uncertainty over a prospective trade war weighed on investor sentiment. However, the Dow registered strong gains over the next three trading days, registering its first three-session stretch of gains since Feb 26.

Last Weeks Performance

The Dow increased 1.1% last Thursday, driven by a rebound in tech majors. Intel Inc. INTC gained the most, increasing 5%. Shares of Facebook Inc. FB, Apple Inc. AAPL, Netflix Inc. NFLX, Alphabet Inc. GOOGL and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN gained 4.4%, 0.8%, 3.4%, 3.2% and 1.1%, respectively.

Microsoft Corp. MSFT also gained 2.1% after the company established two separate engineering teams, one for experiences and devices and another for cloud and AI platforms.

The index gained 2.7% over last week. Markets staged a powerful rebound on last Monday as tensions of an ensuing trade war between the United States and China appeared to ease. However, on last Tuesday markets declined sharply due to the tech tumble.

Additionally, the index decreased 3.5% during the month of March. The decline was primarily attributable to President Trumps decision to impose $60 billion of tariffs Chinese imports, giving rise to fears of an ensuing trade war. The Dow also lost 2.3% in the first quarter of 2018.

The Dow This Week

The index declined 1.9% on Monday due to uncertainty about a global trade war. Technology and Internet stocks continue to suffer following President Trumps renewed attack on Amazon. Mondays broad-based market selloff was the worst start to April since the Great Depression of 1929.

All 30 components of the blue-chip index closed below their 50-day moving average. The major loser for the blue-chip index was Intel which plunged 6.1% following a Bloomberg report that Apple would use its own chips for Mac computers instead of Intels chips.

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The index gained 1.7% on Tuesday led by a partial turnaround in technology stocks. Amazon gained 1.5% following a Bloomberg report, citing sources that the government is not planning to impose any regulations on the company.

Although the recovery was broad-based, investors anxiety over an impending trade war and imposition of new regulations on technology and Internet stocks persisted.

The index gained 1% on Wednesday with 27 of its 30 components closing in the green. Markets opened sharply lower yesterday on trade war related concerns. However, they recovered subsequently to a great extent after the White House gave indication that the U.S. government doesnt want to enter into a trade war with China.

The blue-chip index rebounded from 510 points or 2.1% plunge to finish the session up about 231 points. Consequently, Dow registered its best single-session comeback since, Feb 6, when the blue-chip slipped 2.3% to end up 2.3%.

The index gained 1% on Thursday, finishing in the green on the third consecutive day for the first time since Feb 26. Fears of an impending trade war seemed to ebb. A semblance of stability seemed to have returned to proceedings since Wednesdays notable turnaround.

The Dow added more than 200 stocks with The Boeing Company BA and DowDuPont Inc. DWDP emerging as its best performers, adding 2.7% and 2.8%, respectively. Overall, tech stocks were the leading gainers for the day with Facebook, Netflix and Amazon increasing 2.7%, 1.7% and 2.9%, respectively.

Components Moving the Index

Boeing recently entered into an agreement with the second largest Indian-based airline  Jet Airways  for delivering 75 737 MAX narrow body aircrafts, per Reuters. The deal is in line with Indian airlines latest rush to expand their fleets to meet the rising demand in the country for both domestic and international flights.

The deal value amounts to approximately $8.8 billion at current list prices which might get lower once the deal finalizes, as airlines typically receive a significant discount on big orders from manufacturers.

However, it is still unknown whether the agreement was a formal order or a non-binding memorandum of understanding. The stock has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

ExxonMobil Corporation XOM won eight additional exploration blocks during Brazils 15th bid round. The oil major will operate six of the newly-awarded blocks.

Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) ExxonMobil has won rights to two blocks in the Santos area. The company will operate the blocks with partner Qatar Petroleum. ExxonMobil has been awarded another four blocks in the Campos area. Of which, two will be operated by ExxonMobil along with partners Petrobras PBR and Qatar Petroleum.

The other two blocks will be operated by Petrobras along with partners ExxonMobil and Statoil ASA STO. The remaining two blocks are located in the Sergipe-Alagoas area. These blocks will be operated by ExxonMobil along with partners Queiroz Galvao Exploracao e Producao (QGEP) and Murphy Oil Corporation MUR. These awards are likely to boost the value of the already held adjacent blocks. (Read: ExxonMobil Wins 8 New Blocks, Fortifies Presence in Brazil)

General Electric Company GE has inked an agreement to sell a trio of its health-care information technology businesses to private equity firm Veritas Capital for $1.05 billion in cash.

The transaction includes Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) GEs Enterprise Financial Management, Ambulatory Care Management and Workforce Management software assets. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.

The healthcare division  GEs third-largest with sales of $19 billion in 2017  is a solid cash-generator and includes high-growth markets such as life sciences. (Read: GE Revamp Underway, Sells Health IT to Veritas for $1.05B)

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS is likely to face yet another suit over its discriminatory pay practices. Per Reuters, allegations for practicing pay discrimination against the banks female workforce will be filed as a group in a class-action lawsuit.

The plaintiffs, including around 2,300 female employees of Zacks Rank #3 Goldman, got the U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres permission in Manhattan for filing the suit. Plaintiffs accused Goldman of restricting their career path through discrimination.

Female employees and vice presidents, who have worked in Goldman's investment banking, investment management and securities divisions since September 2004, as well as workers in New York City since July 2002, alleged that the bank paid them less as compared with men, as well as misrepresented their performance reviews and promotion options. (Read: Goldman to be Sued Over Discrimination Against Women)

Intel is divesting its software firm Wind River Systems Inc. to alternative asset fund manager TPG. The financial term of the deal were kept under wraps. Intel has a Zacks Rank #3.

Notably, the worlds largest chip maker had bought Wind River Systems for $884 million in 2009 with the aim of stepping out of the traditional semiconductor market and expanding into the consumer electronics space.

Wind River is the global leader in Device Software Optimization (DSO). The buyout enabled Intel to possess Wind Rivers expertise in running device software with greater reliability, at faster speed and lower cost. (Read: Intel to Trim Business, Divests Wind River Unit to TPG)

Pfizer Inc. PFE announced that a phase III study evaluating its pipeline candidate tafamidis for the treatment of transthyretin cardiomyopathy (TTR-CM) met its primary endpoint. Pfizer has a Zacks Rank #3.

Top line data from the ATTR-ACT study showed that treatment with tafamidis led to a statistically significant reduction in the combination of all-cause mortality and frequency of cardiovascular-related hospitalizations  the primary endpoint - compared with the placebo at 30 months. The safety data also demonstrated that tafamidis was generally well tolerated by patients. (Read: Pfizer's Rare Disease Candidate Meets Endpoint in Phase III)

Performance of the Top 10 Dow Companies

The table given below shows the price movements of the 10 largest components of the Dow, which is a price weighted index, over the last five days and during the last six months. Over the last five trading days, the Dow has gained 1.9%.

Next Weeks Outlook

Fears of an impending trade war receded over three successive trading days, leading to substantial gains for stocks. However, Trumps announcement of an additional $100 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports are likely to heighten trade war related concerns. Given such a backdrop, investors will once again look to key economic releases to provide much needed optimism in the week ahead.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.

With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

It's not the one you think.

See This Ticker Free >>



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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Pfizer Inc. (PFE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Has Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) Outpaced Other Utilities Stocks This Year? Is (TDS) Outperforming Other Utilities Stocks This Year?

Eni SpA E is planning to offload part of its stake in Mexican oilfield to cash in on other opportunities, said Bloomberg.

The integrated energy player is reportedly discussing the sale of 20% to 35% stake in the Campeche Bay oil prospect with prospective buyers, including Qatar Petroleum. Eni presently has full ownership in the massive crude discovery and anticipates to produce first oil by early next year.

The stake divestment plan is in line with the companys dual exploration model. The model reflects Enis intention to gain liquid assets from a potential prospect much before the field starts production. This will also help the company return cash to shareholders through dividend payments. Over the last four years, the dual exploration model has fetched Eni $9 billion, per Bloomberg.

Eni won rights to conduct operations in the two-billion barrels of oil prospect in 2015, when Mexico conducted its second crude auction. The sale of the minority oilfield stake reflects the companies participation in active farm out agreement in Mexico. The country has put an end to state monopoly in its upstream operations by opening up the business for other players during 2013.

Headquartered in Rome, Italy, Eni has rallied 12.8% over the past year, outperforming the industrys 8% gain.

Eni carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked players in the energy space are W&T Offshore, Inc. WTI, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. PXD and Concho Resources Inc. CXO. All the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

W&T Offshore is expected to see year-over-year earnings growth of 3.6% in 2018.

Pioneer Natural Resources has an average positive earnings surprise of 66.9% for the last four quarters.

Concho will likely see a year-over-year rise of 73.2% in 2018 earnings.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.

Story continues

With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

It's not the one you think.

See This Ticker Free >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Eni SpA (E) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Pioneer Natural Resources Company (PXD) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Concho Resources Inc. (CXO) : Free Stock Analysis Report



W&T Offshore, Inc. (WTI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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WASHINGTONAs questions swirl around President Trumps relationship with the Kremlin, the president of Estonia, a country on Russias border, dismissed concerns about American foreign policy. In a meeting with reporters Wednesday, a day after meeting with Trump and the leaders of the two other Baltic states, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid said Trumps posture toward the Kremlin has been clear and in line with prior administrations.

The three Baltic nations  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania  are located just to Russias west and are part of the NATO alliance. They were occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II and regained independence as the USSR was dissolved. Due to their history and location, the Baltic nations are uniquely concerned with potential Russian aggression.

Kaljulaid spent much of her conversation with reporters on Wednesday pushing back against the perception that Trump has been unusually soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin and tepid in his commitment to NATO.

Weve seen solid foreign policy. As we hoped it could be, it is, Kaljulaid said of the Trump administration.

Questions about Trumps foreign policy began when he seemed reluctant to commit to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which stipulates that an attack on one member of the alliance will be treated as an attack on them all. Trump finally announced his support for Article 5 last June after generating speculation with speeches criticizing other NATO nations for not meeting the alliances guideline of contributing 2 percent of their economic output to defense spending.

President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press conference with President Raimonds Vejonis of Latvia, President Kersti Kaljulaid of Estonia and President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania in the East Room of the White House on April 3, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)

When asked if she is concerned about Trumps position on NATO, Kaljulaid cited Trumps engagement with the Baltic nations as clear evidence hes committed to supporting Western allies against potential threats from Russia.

We have seen a foreign policy which looks like its value-based, because otherwise why would you pay attention to our region? Kaljulaid said. It looks very much sincere in its attempt to involve us in the security debate in Europe.  If this is not value-based foreign policy I dont know what it is.

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Along with his comments about NATO, concerns about Trumps stance toward Russia have come from what the president has not said about Putin. Many foreign policy experts view Trump as reluctant to criticize Putin in public, even as Russia increasingly launches digital attacks and even physical assaults in Western countries. But Kaljulaid rejected this view. She pointed to comments Trump made in his appearances with the Baltic leaders on Wednesday, where he touted his toughness toward Putin and cited Americas expulsion of Russian diplomats last month after the Kremlin was accused of orchestrating a chemical attack on an ex-spy in Britain.

The United States expelled a high number of diplomats and he mentioned this yesterday several times as him being tough with Russia and being tough with Putin  so he has done it, Kaljulaid said of Trump.

The intrigue surrounding Trumps posture toward Putin has also been amplified by the U.S. intelligence communitys conclusion that the Kremlins intervention in the 2016 presidential election was aimed at aiding Trump. But Kaljulaid told Yahoo News shes not following the ongoing special counsel investigation into whether Trumps campaign cooperated with these Russian efforts. She said she would wait until the special counsel issues a report.

President Donald Trump winks during a joint news conference with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis and Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in the East Room of the White House April 3, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Not all foreign leaders seem as certain of Trump as the Estonian president. Kaljulaids conversation with the press came less than a month after her foreign minister, Sven Mikser, described Trump as unorthodox and unpredictable in his own conversation with American reporters when he was in Washington to meet with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Since then, Tillerson and a number of other top administration officials have left the White House. And on Wednesday, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite also used the word unpredictable to describe Trump in a joint appearance with the American president and the three Baltic leaders.

But Kaljulaid insisted that Trumps foreign policy has not been a departure from that of prior administrations. She said her country always communicates sincerely and honestly with American officials in order to synchronize their thinking. Kaljulaid also suggested she was heartened by visits to Estonia from Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan. She told Yahoo News that Pence and Trump were on the same page in their communications.

If I look at the whole administration, then we have been very happy with the relations we have developed, Kaljulaid said.

Of course, with Estonias position as a smaller country on Russias border, Kaljulaid has strong incentive not to criticize the United States, a key NATO ally. However, she suggested the outside world is more concerned about the possibility Russia could send troops across the border than Estonia is.

This kind of feeling that something might happen was definitely external to our country, not internal, said Kaljulaid.

Kaljulaid presented an analogy to describe her view of the potential for Russian military aggression in Estonia.

Its a little bit like  in Japan, you dont ask [the] Japanese, Are you terribly afraid of earthquakes? Theyre prepared for that. They build houses which are resilient, Kaljulaid said.

Kaljulaid was also clearly heartened by the Trump administrations decision to expel the Russian diplomats, a move some see as evidence he is adopting a stronger stance toward Putin. She returned to this when a reporter asked her about the notion Trump has offered the Russian president constant praise. Kaljulaid acknowledged Trump expressed hope that he could have a good relationship with Putin, but pointed out this was paired with the concerted action in response to the chemical attack in Britain.

Of course, with Estonias position as a smaller country on Russias border, Kaljulaid has strong incentive not to criticize the United States, a key NATO ally. (Yahoo News)

What President Trump said was that he doesnt know President Putin and he doesnt know whether he would get on with him  or [if] he cannot reason with him. I dont call this praise in any way, said Kaljulaid.

Kaljulaid said she was satisfied with the expulsion of diplomats as an initial answer to the chemical attack. She also expressed confidence further steps would be taken.

Last month, Trump discussed a possible meeting with Putin in Washington, raising additional questions from foreign-policy observers. Kaljulaid said she didnt discuss this meeting with Trump, but isnt alarmed by the possibility.

I trust the judgment of this administration, she said.

Overall, Kaljulaid is not necessarily opposed to increased engagement with Russia.

Our own prime minister was supposed to go and visit Russia  but engagement doesnt mean that we are not firm, Kaljulaid explained.

Among the many inquiries Kaljulaid faced from reporters about Trump was the most basic question of them all. Does she like the American president? Kaljulaid responded with a decidedly diplomatic dodge.

My job is to love my colleagues, and like my colleagues, and work with my colleagues, Kaljulaid said, adding, Thats simply how you have to see the world if you are in this job. So, I definitely dont think in those terms. It would be weird.

Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid joins a news conference with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House April 3, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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(Cover Photo credit: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption]
BancorpSouth (BXS) Up 0.6% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue? BancorpSouth (BXS) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

General Electric Companys GE Energy Financial Services unit recently received $150 million project financing for refinancing and expansion of the Los Guindos open-cycle thermoelectric power plant, based in central Chile. Notably, GE Energy Financial Services holds a 75% stake in the power plant, with the remaining being owned by The Ingelec Group.

While Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) led the latest transaction in alliance with MUFG and Natixis, Banco BICE provided a VAT facility, denominated in peso. Currently, the financing is being utilized for the expansion of the power plant as well as optimization of the capital structure.

Under the expansion plan, installation of a second GE 9E.03 turbine  powered by dual gas-liquid fuel combustion system, A39 generator and DLN emissions control  will help in doubling the overall capacity of the power plant to around 275 megawatts.

General Electric has increased its investments in key industrial businesses through restructuring, state-of-the-art technology and R&D initiatives to focus more on its core business activities. Moving ahead, the company intends to focus on three core segments  power, aviation and healthcare equipment. These segments are anticipated to generate higher margins and contribute to long-term growth.

However, in the past six months, shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have lost 42.7%, wider than the industrys decline of 11.8%.

General Electrics margins are being hurt by headwinds in the Power and Transportation segments. However, the companys stringent cost-cutting and simplification initiatives are likely to improve profitability moving ahead. Also, the companys solid free cash flow allows it to invest in product innovations, acquisitions as well as business development, thus extending the opportunity to increase its market share.

The company recently signed an agreement with private equity firm, Veritas Capital, to sell a trio of its health-care information technology business for $1.05 billion in cash. This divestment is a part of General Electrics initiatives to streamline the companys operations and sharpen its focus on smart diagnostics and connected devices.

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Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the same space are Leucadia National Corporation LUK, Raven Industries, Inc. RAVN and Federal Signal Corporation FSS. Each of the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Leucadia National surpassed estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters, with an average positive earnings surprise of 6.6%.

Raven Industries outpaced estimates thrice in the preceding four quarters, with an average earnings surprise of 20.2%.

Federal Signal surpassed estimates in the trailing four quarters, with an average positive earnings surprise of 16.5%.

Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?

Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.

With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.

It's not the one you think.

See This Ticker Free >>



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Leucadia National Corporation (LUK) : Free Stock Analysis Report



General Electric Company (GE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Raven Industries, Inc. (RAVN) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Nearly half of institutional investors, such as pension funds, wealth management offices, sovereign wealth funds, etc. arent sold on cryptocurrency funds, at least not yet. This according to a report by alternative investment firm Context Capital Partners LP in which hundreds of investment officers were polled at a Miami conference over a three-day period leading up to Feb. 2.

Investment professionals have a fiduciary responsibility to vet any changes to asset allocation based on features such as fees, expected returns and risks. They need more time to make a call on the role of cryptocurrency funds, if any, in their members investment portfolios.

A little more than one-quarter of those polled said cryptocurrencies are a legitimate asset class, while just about the same amount find any association with the category to be fraudulent. Forty-seven percent of those polled arent sure.

If bitcoin and other altcoins are to comprise more than a single-digit percentage of global GDP, institutional investors like pensions will likely have to begin directing greater percentages of their investment portfolios to the category, something thats not expected to occur any time soon, according to the survey.

Where they intend to generate their returns is unclear, as more than two-thirds of those in charge of investments expect stocks and bonds in 2018 will trail 2017s performance; approximately one-fifth of them expect returns to be flat year-over-year. The report suggests that investors looking for greater diversification are looking to cryptocurrencies as well as ESG strategies more and more, but only 11.2% of allocators will take the plunge into cryptocurrencies this year.

Meanwhile, the number of investment funds dedicated to cryptocurrencies skyrocketed last year versus 2016, rising more than eightfold to 160 funds, as per Autonomous Research cited in Bloomberg. But investment managers may be sidelined until policymakers make it clear what the regulatory framework surrounding cryptocurrencies and the exchanges on which they trade will be. Wall Street regulators have been cracking down on ICOs, funds and trading platforms, as evidenced by probes into digital token issuers and alternative investment funds like hedge funds, for instance.

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Anecdotal Evidence

Meanwhile, at year-end 2017, even before the bitcoin price peaked at record levels, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System pointed to bitcoins unique diversification benefits for traditional investment portfolios, which they characterized as stable despite the price volatility. They concluded that institutional investors are under-allocated to BTC and recommend a 1.3% allocation.

On the other side of the spectrum, the chief of a Russian sovereign wealth fund told CNBC they while the fund would explore gaining exposure to the blockchain, they wouldnt touch bitcoin because its a bubble.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Institutional Investors Remain Sidelined on Crypto Funds  Report appeared first on CCN.


Itron, Inc. ITRI recently joined forces with the City of Fort Smith to modernize the water infrastructure of the latter with Itrons OpenWay Riva smart water solution. The two-year water meter replacement program will help upgrade the citys aging water infrastructure.



Situated at northwest Arkansas, the City of Fort Smith services nearly 36,589 meters. The city has been striving to boost the safety and reliability of its water-distribution network, as roughly 16,800 meters have exceeded normal life expectancy. Among these, nearly 9,500 meters have exceeded 20 years in operation, 7,300 meters have outlived the recommended 10 years of operation, while a few have become completely dysfunctional.



Per the deal, the city will install Itrons advanced water communication modules and new meters to improve meter-reading efficiency and slash operational costs. The modules also offer the flexibility to automate meter reading and ability to expand the system to include a multi-purpose network for smart water and smart-city applications afterward.

Itron, Inc. Price

Itron, Inc. Price | Itron, Inc. Quote

Recently, Itron inked a deal with Romanian water utility  SC CUP Dunarea Braila SA  to help reduce water losses by replacing the latters lower precision meters with its Flodis/Flostar M water meters. A Jordan Water Company  Miyahuna  will also use an Itron system, including static metering technology, and take advantage of Itrons analytic services for three years to reduce water losses.



In January 2018, Itron signed a contract with the Rwandan water company, WASAC, to modernize its water-metering system. Furthermore, Itron and Cairns Regional Council (CRC) in Australia entered into a contract last year to modernize CRCs water distribution system with Itrons OpenWay Riva IoT solution.



These contracts are expected to improve Itrons backlog performance in the near term. Moreover, Itron will likely benefit from its backlog strength, backed by a solid base of OpenWay Riva platform, including smart metering, smart grid or smart cities, and the Internet of Things.



Share Price Performance



In the past year, Itron has underperformed the industry it belongs to, partly due to elevated expenses. The companys shares have gained around 17% compared with 30% growth recorded by the industry.

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Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider



Itron carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



Some better-ranked stocks in the same sector are Agilent Technologies, Inc. A, Fortive Corporation FTV and Badger Meter, Inc. BMI. All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.



Agilent Technologies has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 11.2%. The companys shares have moved up 24% in the past year.



Fortive has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 9.6%. The stock has gained 28% in a years time.



Badger Meter has a long-term earnings growth rate of 15.3%. The companys shares have rallied 29% during the same time frame.



Will You Make a Fortune on the Shift to Electric Cars?



Here's another stock idea to consider. Much like petroleum 150 years ago, lithium power may soon shake the world, creating millionaires and reshaping geo-politics. Soon electric vehicles (EVs) may be cheaper than gas guzzlers. Some are already reaching 265 miles on a single charge.



With battery prices plummeting and charging stations set to multiply, one company stands out as the #1 stock to buy according to Zacks research.



It's not the one you think.



See This Ticker Free >>



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Badger Meter, Inc. (BMI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Agilent Technologies, Inc. (A) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Itron, Inc. (ITRI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Fortive Corporation (FTV) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
[caption id="attachment_1937" align="aligncenter" width="620"]

Lord & Taylor flagship department store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan

Lord & Taylor flagship department store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Photo Credit: Credit: wdstock/iStockphoto.com.[/caption] The plaintiff in a proposed class action on Thursday accused high-end retailer Lord & Taylor of negligence in failing to protect its customers' private information, just days after the Hudson's Bay Co. subsidiary announced that it had been the target of a massive data breach in its North American stores. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleges that Lord & Taylor failed to protect its payment system in the wake of a series of high-profile breaches to hit major retailers in recent years. According to the complaint, a criminal syndicate known as JokerStash accessed more than 5 million stolen credit cards used at Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue stores between March 2017 and late March 2018, with plans to sell customers' sensitive information on the dark web. Hudson's Bay said it had "become aware" of the breach on Sunday, after the cybersecurity firm Gemini Advisory reported it on its blog. "HBC has identified the issue, and has taken steps to contain it," Hudson's Bay said in a statement. "Once the company has more clarity around the facts, it will notify customers quickly and will offer those impacted free identity protection services, including credit and web monitoring." Bernadette Beekman filed the proposed class action on behalf of all customers who used credit or debit cards at Lord & Taylor stores while the payment system was compromised. Beekman's attorneys said the proposed class had overpaid Lord & Taylor for privacy protection services that weren't provided and were now forced to spend time and energy monitoring their accounts for fraudulent activity. Lord & Taylor's failure to protect confidential data, they said, had exposed its customers to increased risk of identity theft and fraud in the future. "The security breach was caused and enabled by Lord & Taylors knowing violation of its obligations to abide by best practices and industry standards concerning the security of payment systems," the attorneys said in a 22-page complaint. "Lord & Taylor failed to comply with security standards and allowed its customers financial information and other private information to be compromised by cutting corners on security measures that could have prevented or mitigated the security breach that occurred." Saks, which is also owned by Hudson's Bay, was not named in the lawsuit. A representative from the Hudson's Bay press office did not return a call Friday afternoon seeking comment. The firm has said that its customers would not be liable for fraudulent charges resulting from the breach. The four-count complaint for negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and negligence per se is seeking actual and punitive damages, as well as attorney fees and litigation costs. An online docket-tracking service did not list attorneys for Lord & Taylor on Friday. Beekman and the proposed class are represented by Janine Pollack and Daniel Tepper of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz in New York, Ben Barnow and Erich Schork of Barnow and Associates in Chicago and Ralph N. Sianni in Wilmington. A judge has not yet been assigned to the case. The case is captioned Beekman v. Lord & Taylor.
By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Over 50 top Artificial Intelligence researchers on Wednesday announced a boycott of KAIST, South Korea's top university, after it opened what they called an AI weapons lab with one of South Korea's largest companies. The researchers, based in 30 countries, said they would refrain from visiting KAIST, hosting visitors from the university, or cooperating with its research programs until it pledged to refrain from developing AI weapons without "meaningful human control". KAIST, which opened the center in February with Hanwha Systems, one of two South Korean makers of cluster munitions, responded within hours, saying it had "no intention to engage in development of lethal autonomous weapons systems and killer robots." University President Sung-Chul Shin said the university was "significantly aware" of ethical concerns regarding Artificial Intelligence, adding, "I reaffirm once again that KAIST will not conduct any research activities counter to human dignity including autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control." The university said the new Research Centre for the Convergence of National Defence and Artificial Intelligence would focus on using AI for command and control systems, navigation for large unmanned undersea vehicles, smart aircraft training and tracking and recognition of objects. Toby Walsh, the professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney who organized the boycott, said the university's quick response was a success, but he needed to speak with all those who signed the letter before calling off the boycott. "KAIST has made two significant concessions: not to develop autonomous weapons and to ensure meaningful human control," he said, adding that the university's response would add weight to U.N. discussions taking place next week on the overall issue. Walsh said it remained unclear how one could establish meaningful human control of an unmanned submarine - one of the launch projects - when it was under the sea and unable to communicate. In an open letter announcing the boycott, the researchers had warned: "If developed, autonomous weapons will ... permit war to be fought faster and at a scale great than ever before. They will have the potential to be weapons of terror." They cited effective bans on previous arms technologies and urged KAIST ban any work on lethal autonomous weapons, and to refrain from AI uses that would harm human lives. AI is the field in computer science that aims to create machines able to perceive the environment and make decisions. The letter, also signed by top experts on deep learning and robotics, was released ahead of next Monday's meeting in Geneva by 123 U.N. member countries on the challenges posed by lethal autonomous weapons, which critics describe as "killer robots". Walsh told Reuters there were many potential good uses of robotics and Artificial Intelligence in the military, including removing humans from dangerous task such as clearing minefields. "But we should not hand over the decision of who lives or dies to a machine. This crosses a clear moral line," he said. "We should not let robots decide who lives and who dies." (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Alison Williams and Diane Craft)
retiring in costa rica

No matter your age, youve probably dreamed of retiring on a sandy beach somewhere at some point. Perhaps youve started planning your retirement in Florida or San Diego. But have you ever thought about retiring abroad to Costa Rica? We bet you are now! Retiring to Costa Rica has proven to be incredibly affordable for Americans. Lets take a closer look at the costs of retiring in Costa Rica.

Average Cost to Retire in Costa Rica

The average cost to retire in Costa Rica totals around $1,500 per month or $18,000 a year for an individual retiree. The cost is typically given in a range from $1,300 to $1,700. If you and your spouse want to retire together, you can easily do so for about $2,500 a month. This includes housing, transportation, medical care and food

To be sure, the lifestyle you plan to live will determine how much a Costa Rican retirement will actually cost you. For example, if you choose to run your air conditioning 24/7 or eat out at restaurants every night, your retirement will cost more. Luckily, the countrys lower cost of living (compared to the U.S.), means your savings can go a lot further especially if you choose to live modestly. So if youre buying your groceries at local markets to cook at home, youll find you can easily spend under $200 a month on food.

Retiring in Costa Rica  Emigration Programs

retiring in costa rica

For Americans, Costa Rica is just a short plane ride away, making the journey there easy enough. But once youre there, youll need to have the proper paperwork in order to stay and enjoy your retirement.

Your first resident option is enrolling in the Pensionado Program, which is made for retirees. To qualify, youll need a monthly income of at least $1,000 from a pension or retirement fund. Youll then have to transfer those funds into a Costa Rican bank account and exchange it into local currency. Then you can withdraw and spend it during your stay.

Your second emigration option is the Rentista Program. This may work better for those who dont have enough fixed retirement income. You can qualify if you provide proof of a current cash balance of at least $60,000 or a monthly income of at least $2,500 for two years. Again, you must transfer the qualifying funds into a Costa Rican bank account to be able to withdraw and spend.

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The third and last option is the Inversionista Program. This requires you to immediately invest at least $200,000 in an approved Costa Rican business or property.

Each of these programs charges a $250 application fee in addition to their income requirements. Plus, the consulate will charge $40 per document for authentication along with fees for document translation, notarization and obtaining official documents. You will also have to renew your program status every two years, which costs $100 for each renewal. You must provide the same income information and documents for each renewal. After three consecutive renewals, you can apply for permanent resident status.

Retiring in Costa Rica  Housing

Most American retirees in Costa Rica choose to rent instead of buying a home or apartment. For a small home or condo in a city, you can expect to pay between $300 and $850 per month in rent. If youre looking for something bigger or if you have more funds in your housing budget, you can find larger homes from $1,200 to $2,000 per month. On the other hand, you can find dwellings up to 20% cheaper outside of a city center.

While more uncommon than renting, buying a home in Costa Rica is also an option. A reasonably sized home can cost around $75,000, while a larger home with more rooms and amenities can reach up to $300,000. Utilities, like water, electricity and garbage collection, typically total an extra $75 per month. Costa Rica also boasts solid Internet service, with unlimited coverage costs reaching about $50.

How to Save for Your Retirement

retiring in costa rica

No matter where you want to retire, saving for retirement throughout your life is a crucial part of your financial health. The average retirement account balance in the U.S. was around $201,300 in 2013, according to the Federal Reserve. In addition, retired Americans receive about $1,300 a month in Social Security benefits (as of October 2016). Due to the lower cost of living in Costa Rica, meeting these amounts can cover the average annual cost of $18,000 to retire there. Again, living more modestly in retirement will help your money last longer. You can also choose to save more towards your retirement so you can afford a bigger house or more fun excursions.

Unlike the U.S., Costa Rica offers universal healthcare. The government-run system, known as Caja, charges residents a low monthly fee based on your income. This fee covers doctors visits, medicines, surgeries and more. This means you wont need to worry about saving extra tens of thousands of dollars to cover the medical expenses that arise later in life. You may choose to visit private clinics or hospitals, which you can pay for in cash, and sign up for a private health insurance plan.

To get your retirement savings started, you should take advantage of your employer-sponsored 401(k) if you can. You should also contribute as much of your paycheck as you reasonably can to maximize your savings. If you dont have a 401(k), or to even supplement those savings, consider opening an IRA, or individual retirement account. Again, it helps to contribute as much as you can to these accounts. Not only will it boost your savings, but it can decrease your tax burden for the year, as well. If you find yourself needing help to maximize your savings, it can help to find a certified financial planner, or CFP, an advisor who can help you plan for retirement.

The Takeaway

Retiring in a foreign country like Costa Rica (or Mexico) offers Americans an opportunity for the good life at a cheaper price. Rents, food and healthcare are much cheaper than in the U.S. This helps you stretch your savings much further once youre relying on your fixed monthly income in retirement.

Tips on Saving for Retirement

If you ever find yourself needing financial help, a financial advisor could really come in handy. An advisor can help you maximize your retirement savings and investments. Advisors also take into account your present financial situation and other financial goals to better tailor your retirement plan.

No worries if you want to take a more DIY approach to your savings, though. A retirement calculator like ours can give you a specific goal to start saving toward.

Photo credit: iStock.com/JoseAndres 22 CR, iStock.com/DavorLovincic, iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages

The post How to Retire in Costa Rica appeared first on SmartAsset Blog.

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Switching to OLED displays on the iPhone X was a huge change for Apple. The company has been famously prissy about the screens in its devices, and it took Apple years longer than the rest of the industry to make the leap from LCD to OLED for its flagship smartphones screen. But although Apple still has some work to do integrating OLED into the rest of its iPhone lineup, new rumors out of Taiwan suggest the company is already looking to the future.

According to Digitimes, Apple is in preliminary talks with Taiwanese firm PlayNitride over cooperation in the micro LED segment. PlayNitride has just had an application approved to invest $17.1 million in a production facility for MicroLED displays, and it seems as though Apple is particularly interested in what the company has to offer.

Don't Miss: This box is basically a miracle for cord cutters, and its never been cheaper on Amazon

The report says that PlayNitride will produce micro LEDs, display modules and panels [at the facility]. Micro LEDs feature low power consumption, high brightness, ultra-high resolution and color saturation, quick response time and long service life. Micro LED displays can be used in smartphones, smartwatches, VR devices and large-size TVs.

Given the current high cost of MicroLED displays, there are only two applications that Apple is rumored to be looking into right now, and neither of them involve smartphones. The first, and likeliest to happen in the near future, is a next-generation Apple Watch with a MicroLED display, which could make the device last longer and possibly be thinner.

The second, and far juicier, is the possibility of a MicroLED display-powered augmented reality headset. Apple has long stated its interest in AR, and if the company is projecting a two or three year delay until launch of AR glasses, thats enough time to get MicroLED production going.

This new report lines up with one we saw earlier this week, which said that Apple has already partnered with longtime manufacturing partner TSMC to produce MicroLED displays for future AR glasses. Apples interest in PlayNitrides facility could simply be a matter of hedging its bets, or it could be an indication that Apple will need to ramp up production in the near future.

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Were one step closer to faster, quieter flights.

NASA has awarded a nearly quarter-billion dollar contract to for the development of a supersonic jet plane that can break the sound barrier without causing an ear-splitting boom.

The contract, valued at $247.5 million, dictates that Lockheeds Palmdale, Calif.-based Skunk Works division will build an experimental aircraft, known within the aeronautics industry as an X-plane, that produces sound only as loud as a car door closinginstead of a sonic boom, NASA said in a Tuesday news release. The specifications call for a plane that cruises as high as 55,000 feet and reaches a speed of about 940 miles per hour. (For reference, the speed of sound is about 767.3 miles per hour.)

NASA and Lockheed said the plane, a so-called low-boom flight demonstrator, will aim to provide regulators with useful data to inform their decision-making as they consider implementing new rules regarding supersonic flights. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned supersonic flights over land by commercial and private aircraft since 1973.

Lockheed said in a Tuesday news release that the project will help NASA establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations. The company is set to deliver a prototype of the jet for testing to NASA by the end of 2021.

NASA said in a Tuesday blog post that it plans to fly the aircraft over four to six yet-to-be-selected U.S. cities, collect data, and deliver findings to the FAA as well as the International Civil Aviation Organization, a standards-setting United Nations agency, by 2025.

The to-be-realized plane, whose designs build on an earlier 2016 contract between NASA and Lockheed, is intended to fit a single pilot in its cockpit.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Statoil ASA STO, on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partnership, signed letters of intent (LOI) with Aibel and a joint venture of Aker Solutions and Kvaerner, relating to awards for Phase 2 of the Johan Sverdrup development. The awards are estimated at more than NOK11 billion.



A LOI relating to the construction of the processing platform topside for phase 2 of the project has been issued to Aibel. This comprises engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the topside for the second Johan Sverdrup processing platform (P2). On commissioning of this, which is scheduled for 2022, production capacity on the field will increase to 660,000 from 440,000 barrels of oil per day. The contract is valued at about NOK8 billion.



The LOI with a joint venture of Aker Solutions and Kvaerner is related to field centre modifications. The scope of the contract includes EPC of a utility module for the riser platform, field centre modifications and installation as well as hook-up activities associated with the phase 2 development. The contract value is projected at NOK3.4 billion.



By 2022, an area-wide solution for power from shore to the Utsira High area has been incorporated as part of phase 2 development. Installation of another power converter on the new processing platform will has been scheduled.



The plan for development and operation for Johan Sverdrup phase 2 is expected to be submitted in the second half of 2018. These contracts are subject to the Norwegian governments approval for development and operation.



Benefits of Phase 2 Johan Sverdrup Development



The contracts for phase 2 are projected to boost activity at numerous yards along the Norwegian coast  in Haugesund, Egersund and Stord. Engineering activity will commence in Asker (Aibel) and Stavanger (Aker Solutions).



The Johan Sverdrup phase 2 development is expected to provide employment to more than 3000 people in Norway.



To ensure that the entire field of Johan Sverdrup is developed in a manner to gain from synergies, the partnership has started issuing LOI for the development of phase 2 of the project. The contracts will be awarded later in 2018. Production is likely to begin in 2022.



About Johan Sverdrup



To date, the Johan Sverdrup development has issued contracts worth more than NOK60 billion. Of this, more than 70% have been awarded to suppliers in Norway.



The field has held considerable value for owners and society for more than five decades. Phase 1 of the Johan Sverdrup development is in progress and is scheduled to commence in late 2019.



Price Performance



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Donald Trump, the president, summoned Donald Trump, the candidate, in a series of remarks about immigration policy on Thursday, invoking rape again in his attacks on U.S. ally Mexico.

At a roundtable discussion on tax reform in West Virginia, Trump turned to the issue of immigration, recalling remarks he made on the campaign trail. "Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower, when I opened. Everybody said, 'Oh, he was so tough,'" Trump said, referring to his 2015 presidential announcement, during which he called the Mexicans entering the U.S. "rapists."

"I used the word rape. And yesterday it came out where this journey is coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody's seen before. They don't want to mention that. So we have to change our laws," he continued.

While Trump did not clarify exactly what he was referring to, his comments appear to reference a caravan of Central American migrants making their way through Mexico toward the U.S., a subject Trump has mentioned several times in recent days.

The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border. Because of the Trump Administrations actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2018

This most recent invocation of the rate of rape in Central America is presumably part of Trump's argument for strengthening immigration laws. In another tweet on Wednesday, Trump promised "strong action today" on border laws.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders echoed Trump's sentiments, telling Fox News that she is "not sure why the media is acting like this isn't a well-established fact--women and young girls are brutally victimized on the journey north. Strikes me as quite bizarre that reporters would try to cover up the gross atrocities perpetrated by smugglers and coyotes."

Story continues

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
Afghanistan accused Pakistan of launching air strikes that caused "huge financial damages" in its Kunar border province one day ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's scheduled visit to Kabul on April 6.

Abassi is scheduled to hold talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on ongoing peace efforts and joint efforts to combat militants during a daylong visit.

Afghanistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry on April 5 charged that Pakistani jets dropped four bombs in Kunar's Dangam district but made no mention of casualties.

"Afghanistan warns that continuing violations of international norms ... will have further consequences on the relations between the two countries," the ministry said.

Pakistan early on April 6 rejected as "baseless" the allegation that it violated Afghan airspace, however.

In a statement, Islamabad's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Pakistan's security forces were countering militant groups based in Afghanistan that launched attacks across the border.

Military officials of the two countries met on April 5 in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan shared details of the operations with Afghanistan, the ministry said. The operations took place on the Pakistani side of the border, it said.

Afghanistan should focus on securing on its side of the border and refrain from the "blame game," the Pakistani ministry said.

Abbasis visit to Kabul will be his his first since becoming prime minister last year.

Ahead of his planned trip, Abbasi said that "nobody wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan because we are the most affected" by terrorism.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Radio Mashaal
Members of Pakistans tiny Hazara minority are staging a sit-in protest to demand protection from the government.

On April 6, hundreds of Hazara men and women continued their protest for the sixth day in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan Province.

We are being murdered in cold blood, said Jalila Haider, a Hazara lawyer and activist. We are now protesting to end this carnage.

Haider said the protest was launched by taxi drivers from among Quettas estimated Hazara population of half a million. Members of our community, including women and children, are participating in this sit-in to highlight the issue of [our protection], she said.

Activists say more than 2,000 Hazaras have been killed in the past two decades as insecurity has forced more than 70,000 community members to flee their homes. Hard-line Sunni extremist groups such as Lashkar-e Jhangvi and the Islamic State militants frequently claim credit for attacks on the Shiite Hazaras in Quetta.

We have been facing a systematic genocide for the past 20 years as we are frequently targeted [in assassinations and bomb attacks], a young Hazara activist, Nisar Ali, told Radio Mashaal. We now want the state to protect us to grant us the right to life.

Another protester, Ali Khan, said they are posing a simple question to the authorities. Why it is so simple to target us everywhere [in Quetta]? he asked. During the past week, two people were killed and eight more injured in attacks on Hazaras in Quetta.

Balochistans authorities have not yet reacted to the ongoing protest, but senior military and civilian officials frequently give the Hazaras pledges of protection. In January 2013, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf sacked Balochistans provincial government days after a bomb attack killed more than 90 Hazaras.

The ancestors of Quettas Hazaras fled persecution and poverty in central Afghanistan in the 19th century to seek shelter in what was then a fortified British garrison town.

While the community prospered for more than a century, they became a target for radical Sunnis nearly two decades ago.
FEMA seeks help integrating IT systems

The Federal Emergency Management Agency wants the private sector to help it coordinate disaster response in states and local communities and help it modernize its siloed, legacy IT, said one of the agency's top managers.

The problems integrating the 200-odd IT systems that FEMA uses 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.While a key part of FEMA's disaster response help to state and local governments is delivered through its grants programs, the agency has 10 systems supporting those grant programs, Kaniewski said.

"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.

To find help solving some of its thorny IT problems, Kaniewski 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.

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.

This article was first posted to FCW, a sibling site to GCN.
IRVINE, Calif., April 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American:IMH) (the Company or Impac) announced today that Libby Cooper has been hired as SVP Corporate Strategy, and Tiffany Entsminger has been hired as SVP Chief Risk Officer



Ms. Cooper previously served as Head of Mortgage Operations for Clara Lending, a FinTech consumer-direct mortgage platform, since its founding in 2015. Headquartered in San Francisco, she led sales, operations, secondary marketing and oversaw strategy enabling an end-to-end digital mortgage experience. Prior to Clara, Ms. Cooper held leadership positions at Discover Financial Services, LendingTree, and SurePoint Lending. Her career in consumer direct lending includes a breadth of experience across enterprise strategy and development, marketing, production, and technology. She is relocating to Orange County, CA for her role with Impac.

I couldnt be more excited to join the talented team at Impac and use my experience to support the continued growth of our direct lending, wholesale, and correspondent platforms, said Ms. Cooper, commenting on her new role.

Ms. Entsminger joins Impac with more than 18 years of experience in financial services, specializing in operational and credit risk. Most recently, she led operations for the consumer direct channel at loanDepot.com, LLC overseeing underwriting, closing and funding, and collateral valuations. Ms. Entsminger previously held a number of operational and risk management leadership roles, including risk management for Nationstar Mortgage. In addition to her mortgage expertise, Ms. Entsminger is a licensed attorney in California, where she at one time enjoyed representing clients in a variety of matters, with particular emphasis on commercial and residential real estate, mortgage fraud, and general corporate strategy.

Commenting on her new role, Ms. Entsminger stated, To be welcomed into a company with such an expansive history in the market as well as a positive energy for the companys trajectory is very exciting. I look forward to contributing to its impending growth.

Mr. George Mangiaracina, President of Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. commented, We continue to demonstrate an ability to attract top level talent from across the mortgage industry. Libby and Tiffany add a diverse skill set to our senior management team, which will enable us to capitalize on opportunities within the evolving mortgage landscape. We are pleased to welcome both individuals to the Impac family and anticipate them significantly contributing to the Companys forward momentum.

About the Company

Impac Mortgage Holdings, Inc. (IMH or Impac) provides innovative mortgage lending and warehouse lending solutions, as well as real estate solutions that address the challenges of todays economic environment. Impacs operations include mortgage and warehouse lending, servicing, portfolio loss mitigation and real estate services as well as the management of the securitized long-term mortgage portfolio, which includes the residual interests in securitizations.

For additional information, questions or comments, please call Justin Moisio, SVP Business Development & Investor Relations at (949) 475-3988 or email Justin.Moisio@ImpacMail.com. Web site: http://ir.impaccompanies.com or www.impaccompanies.com
English French Dutch

Brussels, April 6, 2018, 7h30 --- All the documents relating to the Ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting to be held on Tuesday May 8, 2018 are available enclosed and on www.solvay.com, Investors section.

Only shareholders of Solvay SA as of the record date April 24, 2018 at midnight CEST, will have the right to participate and vote in the Shareholders' meeting on May 8, 2018 irrespective of the number of shares held by the shareholders on the day of the meeting.

Shareholders wishing to participate in the meeting should declare their intentions no later than May 2, 2018. These shareholders should follow the instructions indicated in the Notice of Meeting available enclosed and on www.solvay.com, Investors section.

The meeting will take place at 10:30 CEST, at Solvay's headquarter located at rue de Ransbeek, 310 - 1120 Brussels, Belgium.

Any questions relating to this Meeting? Please email ag.solvay@solvay.com

Follow us on twitter @SolvayGroup
English Lithuanian

On 30 April 2018 the ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of Snaige AB, the address of head office Pramones str. 6, Alytus, the company code 249664610 (hereinafter, the Company) is convened the ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (hereinafter, the Meeting).

The place of the meeting at AB Snaige office, at the address Kareiviu str. 6, Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Meeting commences  at 10 a.m. (registration starts at 9.45 a.m.).

The Meetings accounting day  23 April 2018 (the persons who are shareholders of the Company at the end of accounting day of the General Meeting of Shareholders or authorized persons by them, or the persons with whom shareholders concluded the agreements on the disposal of voting right, shall have the right to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders).

The Board of directors of the Company initiates and convenes the meeting.

Agenda of the Meeting:

1. Consolidated annual report of Snaige AB on the companys activity for 2017 with information about the Company strategy and its implementation.

2. Auditors conclusion on the companys financial statements for 2017.

3.Approval of the set of financial statements of the company for 2017.

4.Approval of distribution of profit (loss) of Snaige AB for 2017.

The Company shall not provide the possibility to participate and vote in the Meeting through electronic communication channels.

Draft resolutions on agenda issues, documents be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders and other information related with the exercising of the shareholders rights are available on the website of the Company www.snaige.lt on menu item For investors. This information will be also available for the shareholders at the head office of the Company (Pramones street 6, Alytus) on business days from 9:00 am. till 16:00 pm. (on Fridays till 14:00), tel. +370 315 56206, +370 5 2361970.

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 by providing the Meeting draft resolution on each additionally proposed issue or in case no resolution is required - the explanation. The proposals to supplement the agenda shall be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals shall be presented in writing to the Company on business days or by sending it by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175 Alytus, Lithuania. The proposals submitted via the e-mail shall be sent on snaige@snaige.lt . The proposals to supplement the agenda with the additional issues shall be submitted till the13 April 2018, 4:00 p.m. In case the agenda of the Meeting is supplemented the Company will report on it no later than 10 days before the Meeting in the same ways as on convening of the Meeting.

Shareholders holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing new draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the Meeting, audit firms for auditing purposes of financial statements. The proposals shall be submitted in writing or by e-mail. The proposals shall be presented in writing to the Company on business days till 27 April 2018, 2 p.m. or by sending it by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175 Alytus, Lithuania. During the Meeting the proposals shall be submitted to the Chairman of the Meeting after he announces the Meeting agenda and no later than the Meeting starts working on the issues of agenda. The proposals submitted via the electronic mail shall be sent on snaige@snaige.lt . The proposals submitted on this e-mail till 27 April 2018, 2:00 p.m. will be discussed during the Meeting.

The shareholders shall have the right to present questions related to the General Meeting of Shareholders' agenda issues to the Company in advance in writing. The shareholders shall present the questions not later than 3 business days before the Meeting via the electronic mail on snaige@snaige.lt . The Company undertakes to respond to the submitted questions via the electronic mail till the Meeting day, except the questions related to the Companys commercial secret and confidential information.

During the registration to attend the Meeting the shareholders or the persons authorized by them shall submit a document which is a proof of his identity. The shareholders' authorized persons shall submit the power of attorney confirmed by the established order. The power of attorney issued by the natural person shall be notarized. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalized in the manner prescribed by law. Representative can be authorized by more than one shareholder and shall have a right to vote differently under the orders of each shareholder. The shareholder holding shares of the Bank, where the shares have been acquired on his own behalf, but for the benefit of other persons, must disclose before voting at the General Meeting of Shareholders to the Company the identity of the final customer, the number of shares that are put to the vote and the content of the voting instructions submitted to him or any other explanation regarding the participation agreed upon with the customer and voting at the General Meeting of Shareholders.

Shareholder shall also have the right to authorize through electronic communication channels another person (natural or legal) to participate and vote in the Meeting on shareholder's behalf. Such authorization shall not be confirmed by the notary officer. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder shall inform the Company on the power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels by e-mail snaige@snaige.lt no later than the last business day before the meeting at 2:00 p.m. The power of attorney and notification shall be issued in writing. The power of attorney and notification to the Company shall be signed with the Electronic Signature but not the letters sent via the e-mail. By submitting the notification to the Company the shareholder shall include the Internet address from which it would be possible to download free of charge software to verify an Electronic Signature of the shareholder.

Each shareholder or representative thereof shall have the right to cast his/her vote in advance in writing by filling in a general ballot paper. The general ballot paper form is on the Company's website www.snaige.lt on menu item For Investors. Upon the written shareholders request, the Company no later than 10 days before the Meeting shall send a general ballot paper by registered mail or hand it in person against signature. The general ballot paper filled shall be signed by the shareholder or his/her representative. In case the ballot paper is signed by the shareholder's authorized representative, such person along with the filled ballot paper shall submit the document to confirm the voting right. The ballot paper filled and the document confirming the voting right (if required) shall be submitted in a written form to the Company by registered mail at the address Snaige AB, Pramones street 6, LT-62175, Alytus, Lithuania, or by submitting it to the Company. Validated will be dully filled-in ballot papers, received until the meeting.

The following information and documents are available on the website of the Company www.snaige.lt on menu item For Investors:

- report on the convening of the Meeting;

- the total number of the Companys shares and the number of shares with voting rights on the convening day of the Meeting;

- draft resolutions on each agenda issue (in general ballot paper) and other documents to be submitted to the Meeting;

- general ballot paper form.

Additional information on the stock event is provided by telephone: +370 5 2361970.

Finance Director

Mindaugas Sologubas

+370 315 56206

Attachments
Lithuanian English

On 6 April 2018 the Board of Vilkyskiu pienine AB (hereinafter Vilkyskiu pienine AB or the Company) decided:

- To approve the Companys consolidated annual report for the year 2017, prepared by the Company and assessed by the auditors, and to propose to the Companys Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to approve Companys consolidated annual report.

- To approve the draft of the audited separated and consolidated financial statements of the Company for the year 2017 and to propose to the Companys Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to approve the draft of the Companys separate and consolidated financial statements for the year 2017.

In 2017, Vilkyskiu pienine AB Group sales revenue amounted to mEUR 113.9, up by 26 percent from mEUR 90.5 in 2016. In 2017, net profit reached mEUR 6.7, a rise from mEUR 4.5 the year before, showing an increase of 49 percent.

- Taking into consideration the successful financial results of the Company in 2017, the dividend policy approved by the Company proposes for the Annual Shareholder Meeting to approve dividends in the amount of mEur 1,672 for the year 2017 (0,14 euro per ordinary registered share). The dividend offer is formed considering that the dividend payment must be not less than 25% of the consolidated net profit of the Company previous year, but not bigger than the consolidated net profit of the Company for the year 2017.

To approve the allocation project of the Companys audited net profit under IAS for the year 2017 and to propose it to the Companys Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to approve.

Resolution: To approve the audited net profit allocation under IAS for the year 2017 as follows:

thousand EUR 1) Non-appropriated profit (loss) at the end of the year 2016 16,822 2) Approved by shareholders dividends of the year 2016 (1,433) 3) Transfers from other reserves 136 4) Non-appropriated profit (loss) at the beginning of the current financial year after dividends payout and transfer to reserves 15,525 5) Net profit (loss) of the reporting period 6,202 6) Net profit to be appropriated at the end of the current financial year 21,727 7) Transfers from reserves 2,508 8) Total profit (loss) to be appropriated: 24,235 portion of the profit allocated to the legal reserve - portion of the profit allocated to the reserve for the purchase of own shares - portion of the profit allocated for payment of the dividends (1,672) portion of the profit allocated to the other reserves - 9) Non-appropriated profit (loss) at the end of the current financial year carried forward to next financial year 22,563

-To approve the decision to revoke an unused reserve for the purchase of own shares and to propose to the Companys Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to approve.

-The Companys Board offers to elect six Board members for the 4 years period and to propose to the Companys Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to approve. Candidates to the Board: Gintaras Bertasius, Sigitas Trijonis, Rimantas Jancevicius, Vilija Milaseviciute, Linas Strelis and Andrej Cyba.

- To convoke the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders at the office of Vilkyskiu pienine AB (P.Lukosaicio g. 14, Vilkyskiai, LT-99254 Pagegiu sav., Lithuania), at 13.00 on 27 April 2018, and to propose to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders the following draft agenda:

1) Approval of the Company's consolidated annual report for the year 2017.

2) The Company's auditor's report of separated and consolidated financial statements of the Company for the year 2017

3) Approval of Company's separate and consolidated financial statements for the year 2017.

4) Net Profit appropriation of the year 2017.

5) Due to the unused reserve for the purchase of own shares.

6) Election of the Companys Board members for the 4 years period.

Vilija Milaseviciute

Economics and Finance Director

phone +370 441 55102

Attachments
Houston, TX, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Associa Houston Community Management Services (HCMS) hosted an educational seminar to provide information to residents and current and potential board members on several topics including community association law, changes in the Texas legislature, annual audits and taxes.



The event hosted guest speakers from Daughtry & Farine, P.C. as well as Todd Hinz, CPA, presenting information covering all new legal and tax updates.



Houston Community Management Services strives to provide the most up-to-date information to our board members and residents, stated David Orr, Houston Community Management Services president. This informational seminar gives our boards and homeowners unparalleled training opportunities and educational resources to better serve their communities. We will continue to update them on new material to help guide them on making the best decisions they can for their associations.



With more than 180 branch offices across North America, Associa delivers unsurpassed management and lifestyle services to nearly five million residents worldwide. Our 10,000+ team members lead the industry with unrivaled education, expertise and trailblazing innovation. For more than 40 years, Associa has provided solutions designed to help communities achieve their vision. To learn more, visit www.associaonline.com.



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Islamabad, April 06: Kashmir Solidarity Day was observed, today, across the Pakistan to condemn the recent killings in occupied Kashmir and to express support to the Kashmiris in their just struggle for securing their inalienable right to self-determination.

The decision to observe the Solidarity Day was taken by the Federal Cabinet at its meeting held in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi following the killing of innocent 18 people by the Indian troops in occupied Kashmir on Sunday.

Different programmes including rallies, demonstrations and walks were held across the country and in different parts of the world by Pakistanis and Kashmiris to draw the attention of the international community towards the Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir and to highlight the need for peaceful resolution of the lingering Kashmir dispute.

The Pakistans Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif in a statement on Kashmir Solidarity Day said that India is trying to resolve the Kashmir dispute through the barrel of the gun.

The recent killings of 20 unarmed civilians in occupied Kashmir are again a manifestation of the Indian policy of trying to resolve the dispute through the barrel of the gun, he said.

Indian forces forces on Sunday gunned down 13 militants in three anti-rebel operations that also claimed the lives of four civilians in Anantnag and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The massacre carried out by the Indian occupation forces is totally unacceptable and should be unequivocally condemned by the international community and human rights community around the world, he said.

Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Faisal during his media briefing said that the ongoing Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir show Indian belligerent mindset and frustration.

He said that India wrongly thought that the continued slaughter in Kashmir would crush the indigenous movement. He said in complete solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir, Friday observed as Kashmir Solidarity Day in Islamabad and Pakistan Missions abroad. He said Pakistan has never been reluctant to go for dialogue with India; it is Indian attitude that has halted the dialogue process.

Replying to a question he said, Kashmiris around the world are expecting justice from the United Nations and other international human rights bodies.

During last week, our Kashmiri brothers and sisters have been subjected to extreme brutality and human rights violations by Indian occupation forces where they have martyred more than twenty people, he added.

He informed that over 300 defenseless Kashmiris, including young people were injured by bullets and pellets guns, while 41 persons face vision loss with partial or complete blindness, due to pellets fired on them by Indian occupation forces.

He said Pakistan has always raised Kashmir dispute on every diplomatic and international forum. It has always reaffirmed its commitment and unconditional support to its Kashmir brethren, Dr Faisal said.

In Azad Kashmir, rallies and programs were also held to condemn the killing of 17 people in south Kashmir by Indian forces.

Inputs from agencies/web
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Srinagar, April 06: Massive protests rocked all major towns of the Kashmir, today, over the recent killing of 18 youth by the Indian troops while several people were injured due to the use of brute force by the troops on the protesters.

People took to the streets in Srinagar, Badgam, Charar-e-Sharif, Ganderbal, Kangan, Shopian, Islamabad, Pulwama, Kupwara, Trehgam, Palhalan, Pattan, Baramulla and other areas raising high-pitched pro-Pakistan, pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Indian troops and police personnel fired pellets and teargas shells to disperse the protesters at various places, injuring many of them. People also offered funeral prayers in absentia in Budgam and other areas for the martyrs.

The MBBS students of government Medical College, Srinagar, held a sit-in protest in Shaheed Afzal Guru Park in the campus lawns against the killings. A resolution framed by the Joint Resistance Leadership was also adopted at various mosques during congregational prayers. The resolution condemned the killings, expressed sympathy with the families of the victims and appreciated Pakistan for observing the Kashmir Solidarity Day, today. Indian police arrested several Hurriyat leaders and activists after they try to take rallies.

The authorities had imposed strict restrictions in Srinagar and curfew in Kangan area of Ganderbal to prevent people from staging demonstrations. Following widespread protests by students, yesterday, the authorities had ordered closure of all educational institutions and suspended train service in the Kashmir Valley. The Jamia Masjid of Srinagar was sealed and people were not allowed to offer Juma prayers at the historic mosque.

The administration continued to put Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Muhammad Yasin Malik and other Hurriyat leaders under house arrest or in custody. Indian police arrested Hurriyat leader.

Meanwhile, Indian troops in their anti-rebel operation killed one youth during in a gunfight in Kangan area of Pulwama district.
Acting PM Pokharel inspects Nepal Armys arsenal

Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Ishwor Pokharel inspected Nepal Armys arsenal in Sundarijal, Kathmandu on Friday.
New York, Apr 6 (IBNS): Researchers from Hebrew SeniorLifes Institute for Aging Research (IFAR), Wageningen University, Tilburg University, University of Reading, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have discovered that higher intake of dairy foods, such as milk, yogurt, and cheese, is associated with higher volumetric bone mineral density and vertebral strength at the spine in men. Dairy intake seems to be most beneficial for men over age 50, and continued to have positive associations irrespective of serum vitamin D status.

In women, researchers found no significant results except for a positive association of cream intake in the cross sectional area of the bone.

Study participants included 1,522 men and 1,104 women from the Framingham Study, aged 32-81 years. Researchers examined quantitative computed tomography (QCT) measures of bone to determine associations with dairy intake.

Shivani Sahni, Ph.D., Director Nutrition Program and Associate Scientist at IFAR and senior author of the study said, This study related dairy intake with QCT- derived bone measures, which are unique because they provide information on bone geometry and compartment-specific bone density that are key determinants of bone strength. The results of this study highlight the beneficial role of a combination of dairy foods upon bone health and these beneficial associations remain irrespective of serum vitamin D status in a person.

The results of this study were published recently in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Density.




UN Photo/Violaine Martin (file)

New York, Apr 6 (JEN): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took note of the announcement by the National Electoral Commission on 4 April of the final results of the presidential run-off election in Sierra Leone, the UN Spokesman said Thursday.

He congratulates Julius Maada Bio on his election as the next President of the Republic of Sierra Leone and all the candidates for their contributions to the successful outcome of the electoral process, said Stephane Dujarric.

He also applauds the people of Sierra Leone for the sense of responsibility that they have demonstrated in successfully completing the elections in a peaceful manner, added the spokesperson.

The UN Spokesman said that Guterres commended the efforts of the national, regional and international electoral observation teams as well as those of his Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohammed Ibn Chambas.

According to media reports, the election went to a second round after neither of the candidates achieved the required 55 per cent of the ballot in the first round.

As some African outlets have reported alleged electoral malpractices, the Secretary-General appeals for continued calm and stresses the need for all stakeholders to seek redress of any grievances that could arise through established legal means.

The Secretary-General reiterates the support of the United Nations to the new Government in consolidating peace and pursuing sustainable development, the Spokesman concluded.




New York, Apr 6 (JEN): Expressing deep concern over the slow pace of the inter-Burundian dialogue and the lack of engagement by the Government, the United Nations Security Council called on all stakeholders, in particular the authorities to commit to the dialogue and reach an agreement ahead of the 2020 elections.

Dialogue is the only viable process for a sustainable political settlement in Burundi, underscored the Security Council in a statement read-out by its President at a formal meeting Thursday afternoon.

In the statement, the Council also strongly condemned human rights violations committed in the country, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced disappearance, torture and harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and journalists.

The Security Council also reiterated its regret at the Governments decision to suspend all cooperation and collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) and called for a swift solution through dialogue between the UN human rights arm and Burundi in order to enable OHCHR to fully resume its mandated activities, including its monitoring and reporting functions.

Also in the statement, the 15-member Council voiced concerns over the continued worsening of the humanitarian situation in the country and, in the context of Burundians seeking refuge in neighbouring countries, called on those Governments to ensure that the return of the refugees is voluntary, based on informed decisions and in safety and dignity.

According to estimates, some 180,000 people remain displaced within Burundi and more than 429,000 have sought refuge across its borders.

Following the July 2015 election in which Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza won a disputed third term, violence broke out among state forces, suspected opposition members, and civilians.

Phil Moore/IRIN
Ottawa, Apr 6 (IBNS): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has met the Afghan girl who was shot by her husband in Afghanistan and accepted by Canada, media reports said.

Shakila Zareen was shot by her husband, with whom she was married to at an age of 17.

The torture upon her started from the very first night by her husband since their marriage.

Though Zareen went to police,she received no support.

When Zareen's husband came to know that she had reached the authority, he shot at her wife.

Zareen, who had survived the shooting, flew to India for treatment.

Though she was accepted by the US, later the acceptance was rescinded citing security reasons.

Canada then accepted Zareen along with her family members and handed over visa in a very short time.

Trudeau, who met Zareen as she returned to Vancouver two months ago, hugged her.

Reacting to her meet with the Canadian PM, Zareen told Global News, " I knew that he was a good guy, but when I met him in person, I realized that hes amazing."

"I fought for my rights, for my sisters rights, for other womens rights" she added.

She has also thanked Trudeau for lending support to her.

Zareen now hopes to meet the PM again to tell her entire story.



Image: Facebook page of Justin Trudeau
If Congress and the European signatories to the JCPOA do not agree upon a plan of action before that deadline, Trump is expected to refuse the sanctions waivers that are scheduled to then be renewed. This would effectively end American participation in the deal, but The Hill indicates that there are still open questions about how the change will be managed.

Previous analyses have analyzed the administrations options in terms of differing levels of aggression. The quiet re-imposition of sanctions would presumably have a different global impact than re-imposition accompanied by a formal declaration of withdrawal. Additionally, the re-imposed sanctions could be limited to those which target Iran directly, or they could target all entities doing business with Iran, thus putting much greater pressure on the Europeans. White House aides have also reportedly indicated that they are considering delaying the sanctions in order to give other countries time to respond, or even allowing the UK, Germany, and France to remain parties to the JCPOA over the long term.

Even if the administration opts for this latter, softer alternative, it is by no means clear that the JCPOA would actually be able to survive in the mist of stepped-up economic pressure from the US. Since soon after the deal was implemented in January 2016, Iranian officials have been complaining about supposed American violations of the spirit of that agreement, via the maintenance of non-nuclear sanctions and the alleged discouragement of Western investment in the Islamic Republic. At various times, these complaints have risen to the level of Tehran threatening to pull out of the deal unless greater benefits accrue.

On Thursday, at an international security conference in Moscow, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami reiterated his governments complaints in the context of the imminent threat posed to the JCPOA by the Trump administration. Press TV, the English-language Iranian propaganda network, quoted Hatami as saying, Under baseless pretexts and due to its lack of commitment to international accords, the US is making efforts to prevent our country from [collecting] the dividends of this deal.

The defense ministers remarks did not, however, include any explicit threats of unilateral retaliation. But they did call upon the other five signatories to the JCPOA, along with the international community as a whole, to put pressure on the White House over its commitments. In talks with his Pakistani counterpart during the same meeting, Hatami also urged the expansion of a united front against Western influence in the region.

The non-European signatories to the JCPOA, Russia and China, are widely viewed as potential anchor points in an eastern bloc that could seriously challenge Western interests across the globe, with participation from Iran.

But while Russia and China can be expected to defend Irans position on the JCPOA in the face of the Trump administrations threats, it remains unlikely that Hatamis outreach to the international community will find a receptive audience among close European allies of the US. The prospect of large-scale European pressure on the US is made more remote by the fact that influential measures like sanctions can only be adopted by the European Union in the wake of unanimous agreement.

The other side of this issue, as The Tower pointed out on Tuesday, is that the demand for unanimity makes it all the more unlikely that Trumps demands for fixing the JCPOA will be satisfied by the May deadline. That report noted that while the UK, Germany, and France have already advocated for new sanctions on Irans ballistic missile program, the leadership of the EU has pushed back against this.

Restraints on ballistic missile activities are one of the benchmarks for improvement of the JCPOA set by President Trump. Presently, the agreement does not address the issue of nuclear-capable missiles, although the United Nations Security Council resolution governing the deals implementation did call upon Iran to avoid work on such weapons. This provision has, however, been ignored by Tehran, and the Washington Free Beacon pointed out on Thursday that Iran has tested 23 ballistic missiles since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, 14 of which were capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

These figures were highlighted in the context of the Free Beacons synopsis of a report prepared by Jacob Nagel of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies regarding the flaws in the JCPOA. That report underscores each of the points highlighted by the Trump administration. Apart from the ballistic missile issue, these include the limited scope of international inspectors access to Iranian sites and sunset provisions that allow Iran to greatly expand its nuclear enrichment activities after the deal has been in effect for 10 years.

According to Nagel, the threat posed by those sunset provisions is made much greater by loopholes in the JCPOA which allow Iran to continue working on advanced enrichment centrifuge technology. Taken together, these two aspects of the agreement mean that Iran may be able to install equipment several years from now which allows the country to sprint toward a nuclear weapon by enriching uranium at least 15 times faster than it previously could.

Indeed, Iranian officials have themselves teased this potential capability, counterintuitively using it as a means of pressuring the US to remain in the deal as it is written. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, appeared to repeat the relevant threat once again on Thursday, in response to the latest threats to the future of the JCPOA.

Press TV quoted Salehi as saying, The enemies should know that in case of a JCPOA rollback and when the high ranking officials decide, there will be a special surprise for those who scuttle the agreement. While his phrasing in this case is vague, Salehi and others have previously declared that Iran would retaliate against the deals collapse by immediately unveiling nuclear enrichment capabilities that far outpace the countrys capabilities just prior to implementation.

But the lack of an explicit threat in Salehis latest message may be meaningful, as may be the fact that Amir Hatami called for international pressure in his remarks, instead of boasting of a potential unilateral response. The potential significance was highlighted by the Washington Institute on Thursday in its analysis of the speech delivered by Supreme Leader Khamenei in Mashhad on the occasion of the Iranian New Year holiday, Nowruz, on March 21.

The analysis described that annual speech as the most important gauge of the regimes policies, preoccupations, and anxieties. And to the likely surprise of everyone, the latest such speech did not mention the nuclear agreement at all, despite the fact that it is under imminent threat. The Washington Institute suggested that Khameneis awareness of that threat has made him wary of issuing threats that his regime might soon be challenged to back up with action. That wariness may also be amplified by the regimes domestic crises, which raise the stakes for opening up new forms of conflict with powerful foreign adversaries.

At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, anti-government protests spread across every major city and town in Iran, giving rise of chants of death to the dictator, in reference to Khamenei. In an interview with Bloomberg published on Thursday, the renowned Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi suggested that such unrest was evidence that the Iranian people had reached the point and realized this system is not reformable.

The Washington Institute argued in its analysis that instead of addressing the nuclear deal or focusing on confrontation of Western arrogance, Khamenei attempted to emphasize the supposed domestic merits of the theocratic system, precisely because he had come to recognize that more and more Iranians reject the regimes political legitimacy and are accordingly threatening its hold on power.
People across Khuzestan, from Ahwaz to Mahshahr to Sheyban, are now protesting a programme aired by the Regimes state-run TV (read: propaganda network), which many see as racist.

The Regime cracked down violently on protesters, as they always do. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported that protesters in Ahwaz were savagely attacked by the surprise Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on March 30.

The NCRI statement read: Police mercenaries and anti-riot guards threw tear gas and attacked demonstrators in the city of Kut Abdullah [southern suburbs of Ahwaz] with batons and opened fire at the crowd. Clashes between people and repressive forces continued for hours.

Additional Khuzestan protests

Khuzestan is also facing a huge number of protests from workers who have not been paid salaries or received benefits for months. Many of those businesses are headed by former commanders of the IRGC, in an attempt to skirt international sanctions, or those close to high-ranking government members.

The majority of the businesses have gone bankrupt and now the workers are paying the price. Given the business owners close ties to Iranian government, many protesters are arrested and jailed, which leaves their family unable to buy food.

One such protest involves thousands of workers at the Haft-Tapeh sugarcane Company, while another involves farmers, who were once strong supporters of the Regime. The farmers even called on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to resign.

Environment

Another challenge for Iran is environmental disasters to have turned into public health crises due to inaction, mismanagement, and corruption by the Regime. They dried natural water resources in order to make the land combat ready during the Iran-Iraq war and the people are suffering drought and increased dust storms now.

Reza Shafiee, wrote on Al Arabiya: In his New Year message, Khamenei tried to reduce the countrys problems to some minor difficulties in the economy. But he intentionally overlooked other problems. Khamenei has problems with his neighbours, has proliferated ballistic missiles, and has unleashed IRGC and Quds Force in countries such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen. In the process he has destroyed his own country.

He continued: The world should have realized by now that the Iran has neither any intentions nor the ability to coexist with others. The EU bloc countries will be much better off not flocking Tehrans dead horse.
Ali Khamenei has come under fierce criticism in open letters, which reached the press on April 4, from leftists, ultraconservatives, and many centrists, which begs the question: who is still supporting him?

Abolfazl Qadiani, a senior member of the Islamic Revolutions Mojahedeen Organization (IRMO), likened Khamenei to Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in his letter and criticised him for rigged elections, large numbers of political prisoners, and creating a religious dictatorship.

He wrote that the Iranian regime cannot be reformed, which is what the Iranian people have been saying for months in their ongoing uprising. The self-described reformists in the Regime are actually helping to keep the Regime going as is.

He challenged Khamenei to run for office to test his legitimacy, knowing that the Iranian people would not vote in this despot. He also told Khamenei to end the illegal economic activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and those close to the Regime, as well as allowing international oversight.

At the other end of the scale, 300 supporters of former President Ahmadinejad demanded reforms in Iran and questioned the performance of the entire Regime from Khamenei to the media empire to the leaders of Friday prayers.

The signatories, who described themselves as Hezbollah activists, wrote that Khamenei must introduce these reforms. The terrorist cell Hezbollah is backed by the Iranian Regime to the tune of billions of USD per year.

These reforms supposedly include reforms to the Guardian Council, whom they described as an apparatus that prevents the election of qualified individuals supported by the people and the Judiciary, which they cited as the centre of oppression and imposition.

While both claims are true, it is worth noting that Ahmadinejad and some of his closest followers are currently facing, or serving time on, corruption charges and that the Guardian Council stopped Ahmadinejad running for a third term as President in 2017. This is why his followers are complaining.

These people want to keep the Iranian Regime going by offering reforms that only suit those in power. This is not what the people want, nor is it the safe option for the world.

Regime change in Iran is the only way to bring peace and prosperity to Iran. It must be done by and for the Iranian people and their organised democratic resistance. The Regime is shaky and the protests will cause it to fall.
Concrete materials to be removed from Ranipokhari

The authorities have decided to remove the concrete materials used in the re-construction of Ranipokhari from the site and carry out rebuilding works as per the archaeological requirement.
Shirin Ebadi, who has spent many years representing Iranian dissidents in the countrys so-called justice system, once advocated for reform in the Regime, which she now admits is not reformable.

Ebadi said: Reform is useless in Iran.

Her comments, perhaps prompted by the nationwide peoples protests in Iran that are still sweeping the country, will shock those in the West who are still operating under the mistaken impression that President Hassan Rouhani is a moderate. For everyone else though, who have seen Rouhani break his promises on reform since 2013, they will support Ebadi and the Iranian people in their calls for Regime change.

How should regime change be achieved?

In February, Ebadi and 13 other Iranian dissidents and human rights advocates called for an UN-monitored referendum on the constitution, which proposes the elimination of the position of supreme leader (an unelected role).

Of course, while this would have great support among the Iranian people, there is basically no chance that the Regime would allow such a referendum to take place. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has unchecked power in Iran; he would veto this suggestion and likely call for the execution of anyone who suggested it.

Ebadi wants to see the protests succeed and bring about the end of the Regime and the start of a democratic Iran. She told Bloomberg that the US and the international community could help with this in many ways, but that a military invasion or US-led regime change was not necessary.

She said: The regime change in Iran should take place inside Iran and by the people of Iran.

She advised that the West place further sanctions on Irans vast media empire (read: propaganda network), that Western businesses stop striking deals with Iran, and that the US establish a relationship with the legitimate Iranian opposition.

Of course, this would also mean cutting off contact with organisations that purport to be independent but are really just Regime shills, like the National Iranian American Council (NIAC); a group she once collaborates with on a one-time basis.

Of the NIAC, Ebadi said: When I analyzed what they say and do. I realize what they say is closer to what the government says than what the people want.

While many Western liberals still hope for reform, Ebadi has no such hope for that.

She said: People spontaneously came out onto the streets in [142] cities and called for a referendum. As a human rights defender, I have the duty of helping our people reach these goals.
Furthermore, it seems very unlikely that the European parties to the deal  the United Kingdom, France and Germany  will be able to guarantee and address the changes that Trump requested.

For one, the three European countries submitted a proposal to sanction Iran for its ballistic missile activities and its belligerence and interference in Syria. However, the proposal must get unanimous approval and there are already several countries that have expressed opposition, including Spain, Austria and Italy. Italy said that it was very concerned about its interests worth millions of dollars being put into jeopardy.

Of course no-one can predict how Iran will react if Trump did announce that he was no longer going to waiver sanctions, however it can be safely presumed that the news will not go down well. Some have even said that Iran will immediately start carrying out illicit nuclear activities. The Iranian regime has previously tried to provoke Trump with acts of defiance.

The regime could reinstall some of its centrifuges that have been out of use for months and it could continue to fine-tune other ones. It could also start to stockpile uranium instead of shipping it abroad or it could enrich it to 20 per cent.

Some believe that there will be a race to the nuclear bomb. Others say that this is not possible  no matter how much the Iranian regime wants to.

According to Reuel Gerecht, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, the main obstacle is the unfinished work on advanced centrifuges.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), is an Iranian diplomat and academic who is probably behind Irans large-scale illicit dual-use import network. He has the support of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and, when President Hassan Rouhani became the president in 2013, he was able to make great progress on the countrys atomic infrastructure.

Gerecht and Takeyh say that it would take years for the Iranian regime to reinstall the high-yield centrifuges. Furthermore, they are currently under surveillance by the nuclear watchdog that is in charge of monitoring Irans compliance with the nuclear deal  the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). If Iran were to reinstall the centrifuges, it would not go unnoticed and there is a high likelihood that military strikes from the US would shortly follow.

It has also been posited that the Iranian regime will not be quick to take any overly-drastic action if Trump announces a US pull-out of the agreement because it is nervous of the US administration. Especially now that new appointments have been made and the deal-sympathisers have gone.

The United States is making it very clear that the golden years of appeasement are over and one can only hope that one day soon, the Europeans will follow.
Essential selection criteria

To be eligible for consideration, applicants must have:

- Thai nationality

- A completed PhD (before the hiring date) in Cultural Studies, Global Studies, International Studies or a related discipline.

- Demonstrated teaching experience at the university level  in such areas as global studies, transnational cultures, or international affairs.

- Excellent English-language communication skills.

- An ability to teach subjects in the Global Cultures concentration of BALAC program  such as Culture and Globalization, Modern Frontiers, Global Europe.

- A willingness to commence duties by 1 August, 2018.

- A willingness and ability to do administrative work for the BALAC Program.

Desirable selection criteria

Preference will be given to applicants who have:

- A proven record of peer-reviewed research publication.

- Experience in university administration and curriculum development.

Application process: Interested applicants are invited to lodge an application to the BALAC Program on or before 30 April, 2018. Applications should consist of:

- A covering letter that supports the application with reference to the selection criteria.

- A curriculum vitae detailing qualifications and experience.

- The names, positions, and contact details of two (2) academic referees.

- Documentary evidence to support academic qualifications.

Applications should be addressed to the Program Director, Associate Professor Dr. Kingkarn Thepkanjana, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and lodged either via postal delivery or email:

Postal address: BALAC, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, BKK 10330

Email address:

Closing Date: 30 April, 2018 (16:00 pm Bangkok time)

Candidates short-listed for interview will be contacted by the University. If you do not receive a communication from the University within 1 week after the closing date, please assume that your application has been unsuccessful.

The BALAC Program in the Faculty of Arts of Chulalongkorn University is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion/belief and sexual orientation.
DoS officials urge PM to prioritise border issue

Officials at the Department of Survey (DoS) said border disputes have become complex due to breach of the agreement on land tilling by the Indian side.
Martin Luther King Jr.s work still resonates across Africa

Streets. Schools. A bridge in Burkina Faso. The name of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. can be found across Africa, 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 Ugandas capital, Kampala, took as its motto, Have a Dream, borrowing a line from one of Kings 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 schools founder.

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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.

Africas push for independence from colonialism, which mirrored Kings own movement for racial equality in America, attracted the civil rights leaders attention and support.

King first set foot on the continent in March 1957 to attend celebrations marking the West African nation of Ghanas independence from Britain.

After he returned to Africa in November 1960 to attend the inauguration of Nigerias 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 Kings 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 Africas White rulers as spectacular savages and brutes and called on the U.S. 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.

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American sculptor Zenos Frudakis said the U.S. 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 Africas government from being displayed in a public space, the sculpture was dedicated in 1989 at the U.S. Embassy, visible to people outside the embassy fence.

People who were part of the struggle against apartheid spoke at the sculptures dedication, and Frudakis said he was impressed as they were risking their lives to bring equality and freedom to everyone in South Africa.

Today, the bust of King remains on display in a vastly different South Africa, which was transformed after anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was freed from prison in 1990 and elected the countrys first Black president four years later.

Mandela was keenly aware of Kings contribution to equal rights and mentioned him when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize along with South Africas last apartheid-era president, F.W. de Klerk, in 1993.

Let the strivings of us all prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war, Mandela said. The Nelson Mandela Foundation plans to mark the anniversary of Kings assassination.

Kings inspirational speeches on love and justice, as well as his insistence on non-violent resistance, continue to resonate among some intellectuals and political activists in Africa, where many countries are now ruled by strongmen or democracy is in decline.

The civil rights leader was frequently cited by Ugandan activists last year as lawmakers moved to pass a bill that could keep the longtime president in power for many years more.

We as a nation must recognize what Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as the `the fierce urgency of now, one opposition activist, Mugisha Muntu, said at the time. We too must make our voices heard.
The United States has acknowledged that it suspects that cellphone spying devices exist in Washington. It says the devices could be permitting foreign spies and criminals to follow an individuals movements, secretly listen to calls, and read text messages.

The devices are called cellphone-site simulators. American intelligence and law enforcement agencies use the equipment themselves. However, they have been quiet about the issue of such equipment being used against the U.S.

Ron Wyden is a Democratic Party lawmaker from Oregon. Last year he requested information about simulators in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security. Last week, the DHS answered Senator Wyden by letter. It said the DHS had identified suspected illegal cellphone-site simulators in the nation's capital. The letter said the agency did not know the kind of devices in use or who might have been operating them. It did not give more details.

The Associated Press got the agencys answer from Wydens office. It suggests little has been done about such equipment, called Stingrays by U.S. police departments. The Federal Communications Commission formed a committee to deal with the subject four years ago. However, it has never produced a report and no longer meets on a usual basis.

Stingrays trick cellphones into connecting through them instead of through legal cell systems. Other devices force cellphones to connect through lower level technology that does not prevent access by others. Some of these devices can attach malware to a system.

The devices can cost from $1,000 to about $200,000. They are commonly the size of a briefcase, but some are as small as a cellphone.

Thousands of members of the military, intelligence and federal law enforcement services live and work in the Washington area. Many have special security measures on their cell phones. But average citizens could become victims of stingray users.

DHS official Christopher Krebs signed the letter to Wyden. It said that the agency had seen "anomalous activity" possibly from Stingrays in the Washington area.

A DHS official added that the devices were found in a 90-day trial that began in January 2017 with equipment from a Las Vegas-based DHS contractor, ESD America.

Krebs is the top official in the department's National Protection and Programs Directorate. He wrote that the agency lacks the equipment and money to detect Stingrays. And he called the use of such devices against the U.S., a real and growing risk.

Legislators have been worried about the use of Stingrays in the capital since at least 2014 when suspected illegal devices were found near the White House, the Supreme Court, the Commerce Department and the Pentagon.

Wyden said in a statement Tuesday that "leaving security to the phone companies has proven to be disastrous." He added that the FCC has refused to force phone companies to act.

After the 2014 news reports about Stingrays in Washington, Representative Alan Grayson of Florida wrote to the FCC about the report. Then-FCC chairman Tom Wheeler answered that the agency had created a committee to fight illegal use of the devices.

That committee appears to have done little. A former adviser to Wheeler, Gigi Sohn, said there was no political desire to stop Stingrays because the intelligence agencies and local police forces were using them so often.

The FCC is not doing its job," said Laura Moy of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University. The agency, she said, should be enforcing its rules and demanding companies protect their network.

FCC spokesman Neil Grace, however, said the agency does not have that power.

Im Susan Shand.

Susan Shand adapted this Associated Press story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

acknowledge --v. to admit, to say

simulator  n. an object that gives a false location for a cellphone

malware  n. Software that harms a computer

briefcase - n. a flat, rectangular container, typically made of leather, for carrying books and papers.

countermeasure- n. an action or device that is intended to stop or prevent something bad or dangerous

anomalous  adj. not expected or usual

detect - v. to notice or to find

anonymous  adj. not named or identified
This is Whats Trending Today

Bollywood star Salman Khan was found guilty Thursday of illegally killing rare deer in a wildlife refuge in 1998. An Indian court sentenced the actor to five years in prison.

Salman Khan denies he shot two blackbuck deer 20 years ago in a western India nature preserve.

The blackbuck is an endangered animal protected under the Indian Wildlife Act.

On Thursday, Khan heard the ruling in court in the western city of Jodhpur.

News of the sentencing made the actor a popular topic on social media. The hashtag #BlackBuckPoachingCase trended worldwide Thursday on Twitter. In India, the hashtag #WeLoveYouSalmanKhan was another top trend.

Some Bollywood performers expressed their support for Khan. Actor Arjun Rampal said on Twitter, My heart goes out.I feel this is too harsh.

Khan, who is 52 years old, has starred in more than 90 Hindi-language films. They include Sultan, Ek Tha Tiger, and Tiger Zinda Hai, which was released last year.



The court ruled that four other Bollywood stars also accused in the case were innocent. They were in the car that Khan was said to be driving during the hunt.

The actor had been sentenced to prison in other poaching cases in the past. However, each time he has been acquitted by appeals courts for lack of evidence. He was also acquitted in 2014 in a drunken-driving case.

Salman Khan spent a total of 18 days in prison in 1998, 2006 and 2007 in the poaching cases.

And thats Whats Trending Today.

Im Susan Shand.

The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted the report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

topic - n. someone or something that people talk or write about

harsh - adj. severe or cruel : not kind

poach - v. to hunt or fish illegally : to catch or kill an animal illegally

acquit - v. to decide that someone is not guilty of a crime
Some humanitarian groups in South Korea are using unusual ways to send food aid and information to people in North Korea.

Their efforts come as officials from the North and the South prepare for talks between the leaders of the two countries. South Korean President Moon Jae-in is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Panmunjom on April 27.

Recently, activists gathered on Ganghwa island in the Yellow Sea, close to the border dividing North and South Korea. The group included volunteers, humanitarian activists and North Korean defectors. They launched packages containing aid into the sea.

The packages look like plastic bottles. They are filled with rice, medicine and American money. The group is also sending information on digital memory devices, which contain movies as well as foreign news reports, which are banned in North Korea.

The activists say the ocean current will carry the sealed containers to cities and towns on North Koreas west coast.

Park Jung-oh told VOA, If we set the date and time right, it will get there 100 percent. Park is with the Kuen Saem Education Center in Seoul. The center helps North Korean defectors deal with life after they move to South Korea.

Bottles versus balloons

Park said using the ocean current is a safer and better way to send things to the North than using balloons. Humanitarian groups have used balloons in the past with mixed results.

Balloons were used to send packages containing South Korean movies, television shows and news -- materials that are banned in North Korea.

In 2014, North and South Korean forces exchanged gunfire when an activist group launched balloons full of leaflets toward the North Korean border. The incident almost interfered with plans at the time to hold a reunion of families that were separated by the Korean War.

As diplomatic efforts increase before the meeting of the North and South Korean leaders, there has been less attention to the groups activities.

This week, the group also sent more than 500 kilograms of rice in addition to digital information. They have done so repeatedly over the past three years.

The United Nations reports that more than 40 percent of North Koreas population does not get enough to eat. Conditions in the North have improved since the 1990s, when the communist agriculture system failed. Widespread starvation followed.

But food shortages remain common. Some observers are concerned about the international campaign of pressure and economic sanctions against North Korea. The sanctions are aimed at persuading the North to give up its nuclear weapons program. But observers are worried such measures will increase hunger and poverty in the country.

Defectors bring attention to conditions in the North

Many aid activists are defectors from North Korea. They escaped poverty and repression, and now want to bring international attention to human rights abuses in the North.

Jung Kwang-il is a defector who recently met with United States President Donald Trump during a visit to Washington. He included a copy of Trumps speech to the United Nations as part of the information package the group sent to North Korea. In the speech, the president threatens to destroy the North if it continues to threaten the world with its nuclear weapons program.

Jung said, So the message that we are sending to them is that the U.S. president knows that you are living in these harsh conditions.

The North Korean defectors involved in the effort have raised money and donated their time.

Kim Yong-hwa is with the North Korean Refugees Human Rights Association of Korea in Seoul. He said it was a difficult thing to do, but is pleased he sent the materials.

Some of the humanitarian support comes from Christian religious groups. Religious teaching in North Korea is highly restricted.

Im Mario Ritter.

Brian Padden reported this story for VOA News with contributions form Hyung Jin Kim and Lee Yoon-jee. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

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Words in This Story

defector n. a person who leaves a group or country and go to another one that is a competitor or enemy

digital  adj. of or related to computer technology

leaflets  n. small pieces of paper that hold messages usually urging people to take some kind of action

sanction  n. measures taken by countries to force other nations to obey international law, usually by limiting trade or finance
The capture and trafficking of endangered Asiatic black bears continues to be a problem in Laos, although the government is trying to reduce it.

The bears often are sold so their parts can be used in traditional medicine.

Protection in action

In early March, officials in northern Laos took three endangered Asiatic Black Bears from villagers who captured the animals. Government officials said the bears were caught when they were cubs. They are now thought to be between five and seven years old.

The officials gave the animals to the Free the Bears Fund. The Australian wildlife-protection organization operates in Laos and other Southeast Asian countries.

This is not the first time Lao officials have stopped trade in endangered animals.

In January, Lao customs officers found five red pandas in containers during a vehicle inspection at the border with China.

Three of the five pandas died while being taken to the Free the Bears Fund rescue center in Luang Prabang province.

And in July 2017, two Asiatic black bears, only a few weeks old, were put up for sale for $1,800 each in a market in Luang Prabang city. Officials took the animals and donated them to the Free the Bears Fund.

Police said a villager in northern Laos caught the bears in a forest after their mother was killed by illegal hunters.

Used for traditional medicine

Asiatic black bears are called moon bears because of the white-colored markings on their chests. The animals are found across Asia from Iran to Japan. But, their numbers are decreasing because of hunting and the loss of forests where they live.

Traffickers can demand large amounts of money for the bears gallbladder and bile. These are used in traditional medicines believed to cure many illnesses.

The bile helps protect bears from illness during hibernation. It is taken through a painful process in which the animals are drugged and stabbed in the stomach with needles to get at their gallbladders.

During the past several years, many rescued bears have been sent to the Free the Bears Fund center in Tat Kuangxi.

In August, a British volunteer from the center told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the center has too many bears and needs to expand.

To control the centers population, the centers leaders decided to sterilize the bears and requested permission from provincial officials to expand the center. The officials denied the request at first, but later agreed to let the group build in a new place for the bears to live.

Sengaloune Vongxay is manager of the centers Lao Bear Conservation Project. He told RFA that the center is now separating males from female after they reach reproductive age. They are also building a new center that will hold up to 150 rescued bears.

This center will be larger  more than 26 hectares, he said, adding that the center would be completed later this year or in early 2019.

Political efforts

Forest rangers believe there are still many wild bears in the countrys 24 national protected forests although illegal trafficking continues.

One ranger told RFA that more than 200 domesticated bears are currently held in captivity.

In March of 2017, the nonprofit group World Animal Protection released a report. It said 25,000 bears are held in captivity in centers that collect bear bile across Asia.

Bear farming for bile or gallbladder removal is legal in South Korea and China, the report said. Vietnam banned bile removal 13 years ago. But, more than 1,000 bears are still held captive there.

Asiatic black bears are considered at high risk of endangerment by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Known as CITES, the treaty aims at protecting endangered plants and animals. Laos became a member of CITES in May 2004.

However, Laos remains a place where wildlife trafficking of exotic animals is common.

On March 30, Lao and Chinese officials met with Chinese visitors and businesspeople. They warned the group that buying or selling wildlife and ivory is illegal in Laos.

Im Phil Dierking.

This story was originally reported by Radio Free Asia. Phil Dierking adapted this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.

How do you think countries should protect endangered animals?? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

bile - n. a yellow or greenish liquid that is made by the liver and that helps the body to digest fats

cubs - n. a young animal that eats meat

exotic - adj. very different, strange, or unusual

gallbladder - n. the organ in the body in which bile from the liver is stored 

hibernation - n. to spend the winter sleeping or resting

ivory - n. a hard white substance that forms the tusks of elephants and other animals

needles - n. the unpleasant tingling feeling in a part of your body (such as your arm or leg) as it becomes numb or recovers from being numb

sterilize - v. to make (someone or something) unable to produce children, young animals, etc.
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.

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Ever since Microsoft launched its Windows Insider Preview program, its been pretty easy to get an idea of whats coming in future versions of Windows 10 because Microsoft pretty much tells you about them in blog posts and pushes those features out to beta testers a bit early.

So we arent expecting any big surprises in the next major Windows 10 release but there is one thing Microsoft hasnt shared: the actual release date for the upcoming Windows 10 spring update.

It looks like its happening pretty soon though. The company has just started rolling out Windows 10 build 17133 to the Release Preview ring, which effectively confirms that this is the build thats considered the RTM (Release to Manufacturing) version of Windows 10 spring update.

Members of the Insider Preview program may already be running this release. But the next steps are for Microsoft to release the update to folks who arent part of the beta program. Itll be available as a free update for all Windows 10 users.

Microsoft will also ship the new software to PC makers so that its the version of Windows 10 that will ship on new computers.

Among other things, the spring update will bring:

A Timeline feature that shows what you were working on previously (on the device youre currently using or a different machine)

feature that shows what you were working on previously (on the device youre currently using or a different machine) Edge browser updates including form autofill, mute tab, and EPUB and PDF improvements

updates including form autofill, mute tab, and EPUB and PDF improvements Near Share feature that lets you detect nearby devices and send files to them via Bluetooth

feature that lets you detect nearby devices and send files to them via Bluetooth Quick Pairing for Bluetooth devices

for Bluetooth devices Progressive Web Apps, Language Packs, and Fonts will be available from the Microsoft Store

will be available from the Microsoft Store Organizer feature in Cortana lets you see lists and reminders at a glance

lets you see lists and reminders at a glance Fluent design updates

updates New Linux and command line tools

New privacy settings layout

Support for Ultimate Performance power plan (workstations only)

via Neowin

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Karna to draft RJP-N statute

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Sasol Ltd. is a holding company. The firm engages in the provision of liquid fuels, chemicals, and low-carbon electricity. It operates through following segments: Mining, Exploration and Production International, Energy, Base Chemicals, Performance Chemicals, and Group Functions. The Mining segment secures coal feedstock for the Southern African value chain, mainly for gasification, but also to generate electricity and steam. The Exploration and Production International segment develops and manages oil and gas exploration and production in Mozambique, South Africa, Canada, and Gabon. The Base Chemicals segment involves the marketing of commodity chemicals based on the group's upstream Fischer-Tropsch, ethylene, propylene and ammonia value chains. The Performance Chemicals segment markets commodity and differentiated performance chemicals. The Energy segment sells and markets liquid fuels, pipeline gas, and electricity. The Group Functions segment includes the head office and centralised treasury operations. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Altiplano Metals Inc., a junior resource company, focuses on evaluating and acquiring exploration projects. The company explores for copper and gold deposits. Its flagship property is the Farellon project located near the town of La Serena, Chile. The company also owns interest in the Maria Luisa project located near the town of La Serena, Chile. The company was formerly known as Altiplano Minerals Ltd. Altiplano Metals Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.

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April 6, 2018 20:20

A Finnish woman who underwent hormonal therapy has become the nation's first transgender man to give birth, local media said on Wednesday (Apr 4), triggering controversy as laws require infertility to change gender.

"The baby weighed nearly four kilogrammes and was 53 centimetres in length (at birth)," the transgender man, whose name was not revealed to protect the family's privacy, told Finnish news outlet Lannen Media a fortnight after the birth.

As channelnewsasia.com reports, the man, who is 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 their 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, who live in the Helsinki region, decided to suspend hormonal treatment and after a year 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 said in an earlier interview with Finland's Helsingin Sanomat newspaper while still pregnant.

CALL HIM 'DADDY'

Finland is the only remaining Nordic country to require infertility from citizens who want to change their legal gender, prompting sharp criticism from human rights organisations in recent years.

Authorities have, however, taken a flexible attitude towards the first male pregnancy, granting the transgender man a full-length paternity leave.

Doctors were uncertain how the previous hormonal treatment would affect the pregnancy, but everything went normally, with the birth just overdue.

"The last couple of weeks were quite painful and I began to run out of patience. But the birth itself went really well," the man told Lannen Media.

He said he wants the baby, whose gender was not revealed, to call him "daddy".

The man's husband was born a male but says he doesn't want to identify himself with either of the sexes.

The couple said they plan to raise the child in a gender-neutral manner.

The birth is not the first of its kind in the world, but transgender pregnancies are still rare.

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There is, as yet, no cure for Alzheimer's disease. It is often argued that progress in drug research has been hampered by the fact that the disease can only be diagnosed when it is too late for an effective intervention. Alzheimer's disease is thought to begin long before patients show typical symptoms like memory loss. Scientists have now developed a blood test for Alzheimer's disease and found that it can detect early indicators of the disease long before the first symptoms appear in patients. The blood test would thus offer an opportunity to identify those at risk and may thereby open the door to new avenues in drug discovery. The research is published today in EMBO Molecular Medicine.

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease is the accumulation of amyloid- plaques in the patient's brain. The blood test, developed by Klaus Gerwert and his team at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, works by measuring the relative amounts of a pathological and a healthy form of amyloid- in the blood. The pathological form is a misfolded version of this molecule and known to initiate the formation of toxic plaques in the brain. Toxic amyloid- molecules start accumulating in the patients' body 15-20 years before disease onset. In the present study, Gerwert and colleagues from Germany and Sweden addressed whether the blood test would be able to pick up indications of pathological amyloid- in very early phases of the disease.

The researchers first focused on patients in the early, so called prodromal stages of the disease from the Swedish BioFINDER cohort conducted by Oskar Hanson. They found that the test reliably detected amyloid- alterations in the blood of participants with mild cognitive impairment that also showed abnormal amyloid deposits in brain scans.

In a next step, Gerwert and colleagues investigated if their assay was able to detect blood changes well ahead of disease onset. They used data from the ESTHER cohort study, which Hermann Brenner started in 2000 at DKFZ, comparing blood samples of 65 participants that were later in the follow-up studies diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease with 809 controls. The assay was able to detect signs of the disease on average eight years before diagnosis in individuals without clinical symptoms. It correctly identified those with the disease in almost 70 percent of the cases, while about 9 percent of true negative subjects would wrongly be detected as positive. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 86 percent.

Currently available diagnostic tools for Alzheimer's disease either involve expensive positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans, or analyze samples of cerebrospinal fluid that are extracted via lumbar puncture. The researchers suggest that their blood test serves as a cheap and simple option to pre-select individuals from the general population for further testing by these more invasive and costly methods to exclude the falsely positive subjects.

The blood test developed by Gerwert and colleagues uses a technology called immuno-infrared sensor to measure distribution of pathological and healthy structures of amyloid-. The pathological amyloid- structure is rich in a sticky, sheet-like folding pattern that makes it prone to aggregation, while the healthy structure is not. The two structures absorb infrared light at a different frequency, allowing the blood test to determine the ratio of healthy to pathological amyloid- in the sample.

The blood test will be extended to Parkinson disease by measuring another disease biomarker  -synuclein  instead of amyloid-.

More information: Andreas Nabers et al. Amyloid blood biomarker detects Alzheimer's disease, EMBO Molecular Medicine (2018). Journal information: EMBO Molecular Medicine Andreas Nabers et al. Amyloid blood biomarker detects Alzheimer's disease,(2018). DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201708763
Nepal, India to sign at least three agreements

Aiming to reset ties with the southern neighbour, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is embarking on Friday on a three-day state visit to India, where he is expected to sign at least three agreements.
(HealthDay)Growing up in a disadvantaged neighborhood may mean more visits to the emergency room, a new study suggests.

When children came from areas of "low opportunity," they were about one-third more likely to have been treated at an urgent care center or an emergency room than kids from areas with more opportunity.

They were also twice as likely to receive care for an assault-related injury compared to kids in the "highest opportunity" areas.

"Health care studies often look at income for a neighborhood, but we thought more broadly about what in a child's neighborhood could affect their health care," explained study author Ellen Kersten, a research specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

An area of low opportunity isn't just one where people are living in poverty. Instead, the investigators looked at a number of factors, such as:

Percentage of school students receiving free lunch,

Kids' proficiency in reading and math,

Access to early childhood education and participation in these programs,

Percentage of adults who attend college,

Access to health facilities,

Access to healthy food,

Proximity to toxic waste,

Parks and open spaces,

Unemployment and public assistance rates.

For the study, the researchers looked at areas across San Francisco. The study included more than 47,000 youths under 18 who visited an emergency department or urgent care center between 2007 and 2011.

Almost 40 percent of the kids seen in ERs or urgent care centers were seen for respiratory conditions. Fifteen percent of those were diagnosed with asthma. More than a third of the children were seen for conditions that could usually be handled during a doctor visit. About one-third of the visits were due to injury or trauma.

The researchers then looked to see what type of neighborhoods these children were growing up in. They also compared low opportunity neighborhoods to those traditionally defined as low income, based on U.S. Census data. While these areas often overlapped, areas of low opportunity covered more area.

Kersten said this shows that when studies only look at an area's income, they may miss people who need health care assistance.

Race and ethnicity played big roles in areas with low opportunity.

"More than 3 out of every 4 African-American or Latino patients in our sample lived in a low opportunity neighborhood compared with just 1 out of every 4 white patients," Kersten noted.

"And 82 percent of publicly insured patients lived in low opportunity neighborhoods, compared with 27 percent of privately insured patients. These disparities in neighborhood child opportunity translate into disparities in child health," she added.

Because each low opportunity neighborhood has different challenges, the reasons behind the increased ER and urgent care visits vary, Kersten said.

And that means the solution to this problem will need to be individualized by community, "but could include investments in public schools and day cares, improving access to healthy food and parks, and expanding local hiring and housing assistance programs," she added.

Dr. Peter Richel, chief of pediatrics at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y., reviewed the findings.

"Emergency departments are overutilized by those in the lower income brackets. It's sad to me that not all children have a relationship with a primary care provider," he said.

"While ER doctors are great and well-trained, they're not ideal for routine care for children," Richel explained. "They don't know the patient's history. They don't follow them from newborn to 21, and ERs can be intimidating.

"It's also not ideal from the health care side. It's taxing to the facilities and it's expensive to spend money on highly qualified ER talent to sometimes treat a cold," he noted.

The study was published online April 6 in the journal Pediatrics.

More information: Ellen Kersten, Ph.D., research specialist, University of California, San Francisco; Peter Richel, M.D., chief, pediatrics, Northern Westchester Hospital, Mount Kisco, N.Y.; April 6, 2018, Pediatrics, online Ellen Kersten, Ph.D., research specialist, University of California, San Francisco; Peter Richel, M.D., chief, pediatrics, Northern Westchester Hospital, Mount Kisco, N.Y.; April 6, 2018,, online Learn about choosing a pediatrician from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Journal information: Pediatrics

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: University of South Australia

With at least two in three Australians diagnosed with skin cancer before the age of 70, monitoring moles and skin is vital in detecting skin cancer early for a generation of people who spent much of their upbringing in the sun (often with little to no protection).

To meet the massive unmet need in this area, Research Professor at UniSA's Future Industries Institute, Professor Tarl Prow led the team that has created a new needle device that will revolutionise how doctors test patients for rashes and diseases.

The microbiopsy device is a small needle that can take 100 to 200 cells to test for skin cancer and other diseases avoiding the need to take a 2cm to 3cm piece of tissue which results in some scarring.

Dr. Prow says the device can take skin samples much more easily than a traditional biopsy and is easy and painless to use on children.

"The innovation for this device comes from the idea of a diabetic test. We can easily take small skin samples which makes it much easier to use on children and allows us to take multiple samples over time to monitor a patient's situation," Prof Prow says.

"Given a standard biopsy is a significant procedure, we wanted to help make that process easier."

The device has already proved a possible game changer in underprivileged countries with doctors from Jerusalem's Hebrew University already taking 502 units to Africa to use in the field.

"With many parasitic diseases in Africa, where people don't have access to a hospital, researchers at Hebrew University undertook a study in northern Ethiopia testing hundreds of children and adults using the device," he says.

With skin cancer a more prevalent problem in Australia, doctors can spend up a significant amount of time checking a patient's skin (including moles and pink spots) and Dr. Prow and his team are working on developing cancer biomarkers, so the device can take samples and evaluate (and reveal) the results instantly.

With clinical trials (unrelated to skin cancer) in the final stages, the team is monitoring feedback with thousands of devices already sold worldwide and is patented in the US, Australia and Europe.

"We are planning to test the efficacy and safety for microbiopsy in skin cancer diagnosis that will start in early 2019 so some patients may be asked to be a part of this study. We hope to launch the approved diagnostic test in 2023," Dr. Prow says.

Explore further Task force issues stronger skin cancer prevention guidelines
Accurately detecting a rare, but devastating cause of blindness in premature babies can be done as effectively with telemedicine as with traditional, in-person eye exams, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology suggests. This is believed to be the first study to directly compare the two approaches.

The finding could enable more blindness-preventing treatment for infants born in rural and other areas where there are few ophthalmologists trained to detect the condition, called retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP. Musician Stevie Wonder went blind due to this condition.

"A lack of access to trained ophthalmologists with experience diagnosing ROP sadly prevents many premature infants from receiving much-needed screening, both in developed and developing countries," said the study's lead researcher, Michael F. Chiang, M.D., a professor of ophthalmology and medical informatics & clinical epidemiology in the OHSU School of Medicine and a pediatric ophthalmologist at OHSU's Elks Children's Eye Clinic.

The study's first authors are Hilal Biten, M.D., and Travis Redd, M.D., M.P.H. Redd is an OHSU ophthalmology resident and Biten was a visiting OHSU scholar who now works at Ankara Numun Training and Research Hospital in Turkey.

Retinopathy of prematurity is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth near the retina, the light-sensitive portion in the back of an eye. The National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health reports that while up to 16,000 U.S. babies experience the condition to some degree, only 400 to 600 become legally blind each year as a result.

Some U.S. medical associations recommend an in-person exam, which involves a special magnifying device that shines light into a baby's dilated eye, to diagnose the condition. But trained professionals aren't always easy to find in rural areas and developing countries.

The research team compared the accuracy of in-person exams with digital eye images that were remotely evaluated by professionals. They partnered with seven medical institutions to examine the eyes of 281 infants who were at risk for the condition. Each eye was evaluated both in-person and remotely with a wide-angle telemedicine image.

The researchers found there was no difference in the overall accuracy between the two evaluation methods. In-person examiners were found to be slightly better at accurately diagnosing the condition's later-stage development, but the research team concluded telemedicine could be used to diagnose clinically significant cases of retinopathy of prematurity.

Explore further Remote photo screening effective in detecting eye damage in premature babies

More information: Hilal Biten, Travis K Redd, Chace Moleta, J Peter Campbell, Susan Ostmo, Karyn Jonas, RV Paul Chan, Michael F Chiang, "Diagnostic accuracy of ophthalmoscopy vs telemedicine in examinations for retinopathy of prematurity," JAMA Ophthalmology, April 5, 2018, Journal information: JAMA Ophthalmology Hilal Biten, Travis K Redd, Chace Moleta, J Peter Campbell, Susan Ostmo, Karyn Jonas, RV Paul Chan, Michael F Chiang, "Diagnostic accuracy of ophthalmoscopy vs telemedicine in examinations for retinopathy of prematurity,", April 5, 2018, DOI: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2018.0649
MyBroadband has released its Q1 2018 speed test statistics, which reveal the average speeds of South Africas top Internet service providers.

The statistics used are based on over 1 million speed tests which were performed on MyBroadbands HTML5 web-based speed test platform between 1 January and 31 March 2018.

MyBroadbands speed test servers are hosted in Teracos vendor-neutral data centres to ensure a neutral testing environment.

Through NAPAfrica, all network operators present at its peering points are provided with a free 10Gbps connection to the MyBroadband Speed Test platform.

The speed tests include fixed-line, wireless, and mobile connections from ISPs, which means the results are representative of multiple technologies.

Test your broadband speed here

Average speeds on top ISPs

The results show that the average download speed in South Africa is 14.1Mbps, while the average upload speed is 9.4Mbps.

From the results, the average speed per ISP was calculated  which differed significantly between business and consumer ISPs.

When looking at the average speeds of local ISPs, it must be noted that different ISPs have very different clients.

Telkom Internet, for example, has a large ADSL user base where the average speed is far lower than an ISP with mostly fibre clients, like Seacom.

The table below provides an overview of the average download speeds, upload speeds, and latency of South Africas prominent ISPs.
Effective Measure has released its website traffic statistics for March 2018, which show that News24 is the most popular website in South Africa.

Effective Measure is the official traffic measurement partner of the IAB South Africa and provides accurate traffic and demographics statistics for SAs top websites.

News24 attracted 6.2 million unique South African browsers last month, with Gumtree notching up 5.6 million browsers, and TimesLive 3.9 million.

Effective Measure also provides category statistics, which provide rankings for websites in different market segments.

The tables below show the website rankings, based on South African unique browsers.

Only IAB-affiliated websites running Effective Measures tracking code are included in the table.
Licensing centres in Tshwane have started using an online booking system for driving licence card renewals.

The system, provided by The Online Company South Africa, is in use at the Akasia, Waltloo, Centurion, and Bronkhorstspruit licensing centres.

The online system lets users make an appointment to renew their driving licence and offers a delivery service to courier your new card to you using MDS Collivery.

Fees for delivery are R96.45 within the majority of Gauteng, and R141.41 if you need delivery to Hartbeespoort Dam, Brits, Vereeniging, and Vanderbijlpark. Delivery to Rustenburg is R204.34.

No fees are charged for making a booking, and you can also choose to collect your licence card.

It is not possible to pay for your licence renewal through the online system, however, and motorists are advised to take enough cash to their appointment to pay for the renewal and any penalties.

Renewing a driving licence is currently R228, and a temporary licence is R72. Both fees are subject to an annual increase.

Online booking system

Anton van der Merwe, owner of The Online Company, told MyBroadband the online booking system is a pilot being tested across Tshwanes licensing centres.

He confirmed that no fees are currently charged for making a booking and that the system isnt profitable for them at the moment.

The purpose of the booking service is to prove the concept, said Van der Merwe.

The system does not cover Professional Driving Permits, and The Online Company does not have plans to offer any additional services on the platform or expand it.

This system follows Nelson Mandela Bay rolling out a booking system for licence renewals earlier this year. It lets motorists make appointments by telephone or through machines installed at its Uitenhage and Korsten centres.

The system for Nelson Mandela Bay is a stopgap until it can launch an online booking system and smartphone application, said officials.

Testing centres struggling

The rollout of an online booking system for driving licence renewals comes after break-ins at Tshwane testing centres caused severe disruptions.

Thieves broke into the licensing service centres at Centurion and Waltloo in 2017, taking cameras, computers, and live capture systems.

In a separate incident, thieves stole an undisclosed sum of money at Waltloo after assaulting security personnel and officials.

An attempted burglary at Akasia was thwarted by the SAPS and Metro Police, however, leading to the arrest of two people.

As a result of the thefts, no licence renewals were possible at Centurion or Waltloo for a period.

According to reports, Centurions licensing centre never returned to its previous service levels following the break-in.

Motorists often queue from early in the morning to get their licence renewed, and those who arrive later in the day are frequently turned away.
Samsung Pay will launch in South Africa around June 2018, the CEO of Samsung Electronics Africa, Sung Yoon, has announced.

Speaking on the Expresso Show, Yoon said Samsung Pay will be available this winter, but then firmed up his statement to around June.

That means, if you use the Samsung Galaxy S9, you can just tap on the [point of sale] machine. You dont need to swipe or insert your card, said Yoon.

He said you will not have to bring your credit card on shopping trips anymore, and therefore wont have to worry about losing it.

If you lose a credit card, somebody can still use it, said Yoon.

On the Galaxy S9, you have the option to secure your details and authorise payments with three different biometric technologies: iris scan, fingerprint, and facial recognition.

A PIN is also supported.

Samsung Pay

This is not the first time Samsung has announced a launch window for its tap-and-go payment system in South Africa.

In 2017, it stated that Samsung Pay was in testing and was planned for launch in South Africa before the end of that year.

When it launches in South Africa, it will go up against QR-code based mobile payment services like Zapper and SnapScan, as well as the tap cards being rolled out by major banks.

Yoon did not reveal on which other devices Samsung Pay will be supported in South Africa, or where the system will be offered.

Samsung South Africa said it is currently working with various financial institutions on partnerships.

Now read: Samsung exceeds expectations due to memory chip demand
896 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Sergei Parajanov's son, director Suren Parajanov, dies aged 63

Russia peacekeepers in Artsakh conduct comprehensive exercise to prevent possible violations

Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander compares Azerbaijan president to small child

Man, 61, jumps from Yerevan bridge

World oil prices dropping

Georgia PM hopes to contribute to normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations

Newspaper: Armenia PM terrified again

Newspaper: Armenia new ambassador to US cannot find common ground with local Armenian community

WHO chief expects China collaboration in 2nd phase of studies into coronavirus origins

Aliyev rules out possibility of granting any autonomy to Armenians of Karabakh

TRT Haber: Erdogan and Biden to meet on sidelines of G20 Summit in Rome

France and Greece announce signing of nearly 3 billion-euro defense deal

Armenian opposition MP to UK Ambassador: Azerbaijan's encroachments on Armenia's territory are inadmissible

Armenia justice minister meets with students of Yerevan State University, discusses justice reforms

Armenia Ombudsman: Azerbaijan bears liability for injuring Armenian serviceman in Kut village today

Deputies of opposition "Armenia" faction meet with UK Ambassador

Karabakh emergency situations service: Azerbaijan transfers remains of 3 servicemen to Armenian side in Shushi

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

Uzbek soldier dies on border with Afghanistan

Legislature opposition factions petition to Armenia President

Armenia MOD: Soldier wounded by shot fired by Azerbaijan army

Brazilian president says idea of creating nuclear weapon is utopian

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

9-year-old Victoria - youngest victim of 44-day Karabakh war

Armenia ex-deputy PM, current opposition MP Armen Gevorgyan has 2 new advocates

Person killed in front of Yerevan park was daughter of well-known businessman in Armenia

Russias Putin, Turkeys Erdogan to discuss situation in South Caucasus

Armenia soldier wounded after Azerbaijan provocation

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

World copper price slows increase

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

Protest staged outside Armenia health ministry, police apprehend doctor

Earthquake shakes Greece island

1 dead, 1 wounded after shooting occurs in Yerevan

Newspaper: No holding of office without joining Armenia ruling party

Newspaper: Armenia files only 2 lawsuits against Azerbaijan with international courts

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

Joe Biden receives third dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Armenia Ombudsman receives delegation of Swedish National Courts Administration

Guterres hopes for continued dialogue between Yerevan and Baku

Karabakh President: Principle of self-determination is on agenda, we will still fight for territorial integrity

Armenia Deputy PM's Office on Aliyev's statement on trilateral meeting in October

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

UN Office in Armenia to continue to provide assistance to those who were displaced from Artsakh

Bidens advisor travels to Riyadh to discuss Yemen

Pfizer CEO predictes when to return to normal life after pandemic

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

Armenia Ombudsman's message devoted to war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in 2020
The British authorities have conveyed to Yulia Skripal, a Russian woman who was poisoned a month ago in England, the Russian embassys offer of consular assistance but she has not taken it up, the Foreign Office in London said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Skripal, 33, and her father Sergei, 66, a former Russian double agent who was living in England, were found unconscious in the southern city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain has said they were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent and Russia was responsible. Russia denies any involvement.

The Foreign Office statement about consular assistance came shortly after a news conference by Russias ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, during which he repeatedly said Russia had asked for consular access to Yulia Skripal and had received no response from the British authorities.

We have conveyed to Ms Skripal the Russian Embassys offer of consular assistance. Ms Skripal is now able to choose if and when to take up this offer, but to date she has not done so, the Foreign Office said.
PM Oli calls on Indian businessmen to invest in Nepal

Prime Minister Sharma Oli, who is on a three-day state visit to India, has called on Indian businessmen to invest in Nepal, saying that all the sectors in Nepal are open for investment.
PM Oli interacts with India's business community

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, who is on a three-day state visit to India, interacted with business community in the Indian Capital, New Delhi on Friday.
One of the major directions of Armenias foreign policy has been cooperation with Arab countries, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Gulf Daily News.

Drawing from a rich historical foundation for our relations, we have been able to establish good, mutually beneficial cooperation with the UAE, as well as with other countries in the region. These good relations that we enjoy should be taken advantage of and transferred into economic cooperation, President Sargsyan said.

The business forum we had last year in Abu Dhabi was a continuation of the discussions we held during my official visit back in 2016 and the discussions I had in person with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, he added.

President noted that last year Armenia established a visa-free regime for UAE citizens and for legal residence there.

We also concluded a new agreement to encourage and protect investments. Meanwhile, many entrepreneurs made reciprocal visits: Emiratis to Armenia and Armenians to the UAE. The result in 2017 was that our trade turnover exceeded $200m. I believe this is just a small volume of the huge untapped potential that exists for economic cooperation  only about 15%-20%. Therefore, we will continue to draw closer and spare no effort in further fostering our relations with the UAE in all possible areas.
YEREVAN.  The U.S. Embassy in Armenia commented on the regular accusations by pro-Azerbaijani experts of creating a bacteriological weapon.

Azerbaijani media has recently published an interview by senior expert of the American-Azerbaijan Progress Support Fund Alexey Sinitsin where he accuses the US of creating a network of laboratories on the territory of Armenia and hints at their potential danger.

Armenian News-NEWS.am addressed the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan with a request to comment on the statement, not the first in its kind.

The labs in question were renovated with funds from the United States but are fully staffed and operated by Armenian government experts from the Ministries of Health and Agriculture. Armenian scientists, researchers, and experts work in these fully modernized labs to track, monitor, and evaluate the threats of diseases and pathogens that could damage Armenias agricultural sector or harm the Armenian people. The labs were not only completely modernized with the latest equipment, but were also built to withstand Armenias seismic activity. Though more costly to build earthquake-resistant buildings, these new labs offer more protection to the people of Armenia than Armenias pre-existing labs which were not earthquake-resistant.

Media covered the official openings of the labs, and the labs remain open to journalists to this day. As we have no role in running the facilities, we refer you to the Armenian government for more information and encourage you to tour the facilities yourself, to see the quality of the equipment and buildings and to talk to the Armenian scientists working there. This will give you an accurate picture of how these labs are helping Armenians, rather than relying on consistently debunked rumors circulated by so-called experts, the statement by the embassy reads.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met on Friday with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella during his to Italy, the Armenian Presidential Office reported.

The Italian President welcomed his Armenian counterpart and considered a great honor to again host President Sargsyan in Rome after the last meeting three years ago. Sergio Mattarella considered symbolic that Serzh Sargsyans last visit as President is taking place in Italy. Sergio Mattarella expressed gratitude to President Sargsyan for development and strengthening of Armenian-Italian relations in all spheres  political, economic and cultural.

The Italian President said Armenia and South Caucasus in general have a strategic significance for his country. He informed President Sargsyan about his plans to visit Armenia this year, probably in summer and to once again reaffirm the Armenian-Italian friendship. According to the Presidents, this will give new impetus to deepening the bilateral relations.

Both Presidents praised the Armenian-Italian economic ties which intensified recently, as well as highlighted the growth of trade turnover volumes. In this context importance was attached to the formation and activity of the Armenian-Italian Inter-governmental Commission which convened its first session just several months before. The Italian President said he is happy that the Italian investments in Armenias economy gradually increase, at this moment comprising nearly 200 million USD. The representativeness of Italian companies in the Armenian market, according to him, also rises.

Among the major investments the Armenian President highlighted the investment project of the Italian Renco and the German Siemens companies in Yerevan within the frames of which a heat power plant which will be distinguished by its great effectiveness in the region will be constructed. The President of Italy considered this as an excellent example of mutual partnership in the economic field.

Sergio Mattarella also highlighted the deepening of the cultural cooperation and the growing interests towards the Italian culture and language in Armenia.

The sides also touched upon the Armenia-EU relations and the signing of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. The Italian President congratulated Armenia on the signing of this Agreement.

The meeting also touched upon the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. President Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia supports the Italian 2018 chairmanship priorities in the OSCE and attached importance to Italys balanced approach in line with the OSCE principles in regards to the conflict settlement, as well as the support to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs efforts and approaches.

Italys President noted that his country supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at peacefully settling the conflict and is not going to discuss other format of negotiations, expressing hope that the organization together with the conflicting sides will find a right solution way, and the conflict will be solved through mutual concessions as soon as possible. He said one of the priorities of the Italian chairmanship in the OSCE is the solution of prolonged conflicts.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had a meeting on Friday with President of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of parliament) of Italy in Rome, Roberto Fico, the presidential press service reported.

During the meeting Mr. Fico asked the Armenian president about the process of his visit to Italy and Vatican. The president presented the busy agenda and results of the visit, the meeting and agreements which were reached.

Serzh Sargsyan congratulated Roberto Fico on his election as President of the Chamber of Deputies, wished productive work and expressed hope that Mr. Fico will have important contribution in the further development of Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary cooperation.

The Armenian president attached great importance to the role of parliamentary ties in expanding the agenda of interstate relations, and notified Roberto Fico that the Armenian parliament has formed a good tradition of friendly ties with parliaments of numerous European countries. President Sargsyan stressed  it is time to also elevate the Armenian-Italian inter-parliamentary partnership to a newer level  especially when all required prerequisite are in place.

In this context Sargsyan emphasized that simply the fact that the previous Italian parliamentary friendship circle with Armenia was one of the two largest groups in the worlds parliaments speaks volumes. After Armenias transitioning to a parliamentary administration system, there are greater cooperation opportunities and potential, which must be fully used, the president said.

The president expressed hope that the next friendship group with Armenia in the Italian parliament will be formed as soon as possible after the March elections, and that partnership with the Italian parliament will continue to deepen.

The meeting also touched upon the relations of Armenia with the EU and the recently signed CEPA. The sides also exchanged ideas over the negotiations process of the Karabakh conflict settlement.

The Armenian president presented to Mr. Fico the latest developments and the approach of the Armenian side, which are in line with principles and approaches of the OSCE MG. On the sidelines of the visit to Italy, the Armenian President also gave an interview to La Stampa, a prestigious Italian newspaper.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh welcomes PM Oli in Delhi

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who is on a three-day state visit to India, arrived here in New Delhi on Friday.
Sergei Skripal, the 66-year-old former Russian double agent who was poisoned with a nerve agent in Britain last month, is no longer in critical condition, the medical director of Salisbury District Hospital said Friday. He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition, Christine Blanshard was quoted by Britains Press Association as saying.

In response to a news outlets tweet on the development, the Russian Embassy in Britain tweeted: Good news!

Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4 following exposure to Novichok, a nerve agent. Police have said the highest concentration of the nerve agent was found on the door of the Skripal home, which was sealed off.

Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence, was convicted of selling Russian state secrets to Britain in 2006. He was traded to Britain in a high-profile spy swap four years later.

Britain has maintained that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack  something Russia has denied.

Blanshard also offered an update on the condition of Skripals daughter, who on Thursday issued a statement that her strength is growing daily as she recovers from the poisoning.

She can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital, Blanshard said. Any speculation on when that date will be is just that  speculation.

Earlier Friday, media attention focused on three other lives affected by the nerve agent attack: two dead guinea pigs and a cat found in Skripals home in south-western England. The residence had been sealed off for investigations.

The cat was found in a distressed state and was euthanized to alleviate its suffering, a spokeswoman from Britains Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said, according to PA.

When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died, PA quoted a government spokeswoman as saying, adding that the decision to euthanize the cat was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare.

The Russian embassy in London responded with incredulity: Are they seriously saying that nobody had a look at the pets at alleged crime scene?

Posting its message with a headline from the Sun tabloid that read, Atrocity Killed The Cat, the embassy tweeted: Were the animals remains tested for toxic substances? Or just disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence?

The Russian Foreign Ministry noted the animals could have been an important piece of evidence, according to state news agency TASS.

Is this Britains usual way of treating house pets? Is it quite common? ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted on Facebook, about the cat, according to TASS.

They were really crucial pieces of evidence, if it is true a poisonous substance, according to some versions, might have been used inside Skripals house.

Zakharova cited Russian sources in saying that the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC) knew that the pets were kept in Skripals house.

We would like to hear explanations, she added.

Friday also saw Russia and Britain exchange accusations over the source of the nerve agent used in the attack on the Skripals.

According to a Friday report from the Times of London, the agent came from a Russian military research base in Shikhany, around 800 kilometres south-east of Moscow in Russias Saratov region.

Chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told the newspaper that intelligence information he had seen clearly pointed to the Shikhany facility. The quantities of the Novichok chemical weapon stored there are sufficient for attacks, but too small for military operations, according to Bretton-Gordon.

Bretton-Gordon added there was no evidence that the nerve agent came from other laboratories in the former Soviet Union, such as Ukraine or Uzbekistan.

Britain has maintained that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack  something Russia has denied.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected the reports suggestion of Russian culpability.

If they learned about some enterprise in the Saratov region last month or just yesterday, that shows once again that they are desperately trying every day to find some new confirmation of their totally hopeless stance, Lavrov said, according to TASS.

Nikolai Pankov, a national lawmaker from the Saratov region, told TASS that no nerve agents had been stored in Shikhany.

Shikhany  is my election district, Pankov said. Chemical weapons have never been kept in my district.

 dpa [06 April 2018]
Home | News | General | It is time to shut up, your interference is becoming disastrous - Shettima warns Obasanjo

- Yerima Shettima alleges that Olusegun Obasanjo created the same problems for which is assuming a self-appointed messiah

- Shettima says even though the administration of Muhammadu Buhari has not performed up to expectation, the president is morally better than Obasanjo

- He warned the former president against continued meddlesome in governmental affairs

The national president of the Arewa Youth consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima, has lashed out at Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's former president, for allegedly meddling in the affairs of the country, saying the latters interference is now disastrous.

In a personally signed statement received by NAIJ.com, Shettima warned Obasanjo to stop turning himself into a self-appointed messiah and trying to define Nigeria's future.

"For quite some time, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has turned himself into a self-appointed messiah in the efforts to define the political and democratic future of this country.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation: APC has resolved its issues - Oyegun

"And the result of this meddlesomeness by the former president has been disastrous for the country," the AYCF president said in the statement on Thursday, April 5.

According to him, is has become disgusting to note that the former president is still bent on interfering with Nigeria's new dimension of addressing leadership problems.

He recalled that these problems were created by the likes of Obasanjo.

Let him know that this time it would be unacceptable.

We noticed that the former president has made it a duty to lampoon president Buhari at every given opportunity, in a desperate bid to portray himself as Nigeria's democratic superman.

Much as we are equally disappointed in the underperformance of President Buhari, we are not blinded by the fact that Obasanjo has no moral high ground for his repeated attacks on Buhari.

The current president may have his serious shortcomings but he is still morally a better leader than Obasanjo.

We challenge Obasanjo to tell us any of the current political and economic difficulties confronting the nation that are not connected to his meddlesomeness and manipulations. Let him exonerate himself from the current mess facing the country, if at all he can, he said.

Shettima said his organisation would like to tell the former president that Nigeria has already come a long way from the era of manipulative and so-called former leaders.

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It will no longer be acceptable for any old cargo to decide the fate of over 160 million Nigerians. We have had enough of this domineering old men in the democratic space and we are now saying its over.

We urge Nigerians of good conscience to ignore Obasanjo's rantings and face the reality of this defining moment in the history of this nation, he added.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) dismissed a statement from chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, suggesting that the northern region had endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari as sole candidate for the 2019 presidency.

Should President Buhari seek reelection in 2019? (Nigerian Street Interview) - on NAIJ.com TV

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Home | News | General | Update: Police personnel, others reportedly killed as armed robbers attack 5 banks in Kwara

There was confusion in Offa, a town housing a federal polytechnic in Kwara state, on Thursday, April 5, as heavily armed robbers reportedly raided some banks and shot sporadically leading chaos among residents and customers.

The Nigerian Tribune reports that some of those who were killed in the incident included policemen, complainants, bank customers and market people. The robbers also reportedly carted away huge amounts of money.

According to the report, the bandits, entered the town around 4:45 pm and operated till about 5:40 pm after blocking roads from both Ilorin and Osogbo ends. They were said to have escape through Igosun area of the town.

Before launching their attacks on the banks, the robbers were said to have invaded the Offa divisional police station on entering the ancient town. There, they killed some policemen including a female personnel.

Numbering about 15, the robbers reportedly arrived the town in different vehicles and also snatched motorcycles to carry out their escape.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation: APC has resolved its issues - Oyegun

The police public relations officer in the state, Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the incident, saying victims included policemen and other persons.

He said details of the incident would be made public on completion of investigation.

NAIJ.com earlier reported the successes being recorded by the Nigerian Army in a bid to ensure security of lives and properties of the citizens of the country.

For example, troops deployed in Exercise Ayem Akpatuma on Monday, April 3, intercepted large number of armed herdsmen in Asom village, Guma local government area of Benue state following a tip off.

According to a statement sent to NAIJ.com by the director army public relations, Brigadier-General Texas Chukwu, on Wednesday, April 4, the bandits on sighting the troops at Ukaa and Babban Ruwa area opened fire on them.

One herdsman was said to have been killed during the encounter.

Also, the Nigerian Army announced that Exercise Ayem Akpatuma will be extended for two months in Taraba state.

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This was disclosed in a statement sent to NAIJ.com by the director army public relations, Brigadier-General Texas Chukwu, on Monday, April 2.

Herdsmen attacks: Benue's Attorney-General explains anti-grazing law | NAIJ.com TV

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Home | News | General | Most popular manufacturing companies in Nigeria!

The manufacturing company works by converting raw material into finished goods. This is a profitable business, that is why there is a huge amount of manufacturing companies in Nigeria. We will tell you about the most popular and respectable ones.

Manufacturing industry: top companies in Nigeria

Nigerias economy is fully dependent on its manufacturing industry. In Nigeria, the manufacturing sector brings about 10% of each years GDP. Millions of Nigerians are involved in this industry and they help to improve the countrys economy. In the article, we will list the top manufacturing companies in Nigeria and their business and features.

1. Dangote Group

If you are a Nigerian, you have clearly heard of the huge manufacturing industry giant called Dangote Group. Moreover, it has already become a household name. This company is one of the leading manufacturers in Nigeria. Its headquarters is situated in Lagos State. Founded in 1981 by Aliko Dangote, nowadays the company has not only a lot of factories and offices in Nigeria but also a few subsidiaries in the other African countries, including Benin, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, and Cameroon.

Dangote Group has a reputation as the largest conglomerate company in Western Africa. It is also one of the largest companies in entire Africa. This group focuses on the food and beverage production. Lately, the company has started producing rice, fertilizers, oil, and gas to expand their horizons.

2. Unilever Nigeria Plc

This company is one of the best-known manufacturing companies in the country. The history of Unilever traces back to 1923, when it was known as Lever Brothers West Africa Ltd. Since then, it became a famous brand in the manufacturing industry of Nigeria. The headquarters of the company is situated in Lagos state. Unilever Nigeria Plc is a Nigerian subsidiary of the international company Unilever Plc, which produces consumer goods.

Unilever Nigeria Plc specializes in the food production and personal care goods. The most popular food products by Unilever include Lipton, Knorr, Royco, and Blue Band. Some of the most known personal care products by Unilever are Lux, Close Up, Lifebuoy, and Vaseline. As for the home care, their widely used products are key soap and detergents like Omo and Sunlight.

3. Nestle Nigeria Plc

Nestle is a manufacturing firm which has its headquarters in Ikeja. This brand is one of the leaders in the industry of food and beverage. The company was officially established in Nigeria in 1959, even though Nestle started trading their products in Africa since 1957. Nestle Nigeria Plc is a subsidiary of Nestle S.A., which is a Swiss company that specializes in drinks and food. Nestle Nigeria mostly produces the goods like confectionery and cereals, as well as water products.

4. Nigerian Breweries Plc

This is a huge manufacturing company, the main specialization of which is various kinds of beers. Founded in 1946, this company is the largest brewery in Nigeria. The headquarters of this company is situated in Lagos State, and from there the large firm can control all the related businesses in West Africa. Nigerian Breweries Plc produces a wide range of beer and energy drinks for every persons taste.

5. PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc

This manufacturer is a huge name in the food, nutrition, home care, personal care, and electrical production. The companys establishment year is 1948, and originally it was called PB Nicolas & Company Limited. Now, this company is a Nigerian subsidiary of PZ Cusson Plc, which is a firm in Manchester, the United Kingdom. The PZ Cussons head office is situated in Lagos. They produce a wide amount of personal care production (Cussons Baby, Carex, Premier, Venus, Robb, Joy, and Imperial Leather), home care goods (Morning Fresh and Zip detergent), and nutritional foods (Nunu, Yo!, Coast, Devon Kings, Mamador, and Olympic).

6. Flour Mills of Nigeria

The list of top manufacturing companies in Nigeria would be incomplete without the Flour Mills of Nigeria, which is one of the biggest agro-allied companies in Africa. It is a Plc, which was founded in Lagos in 1962. Flour Mills is an extremely popular brand in the country. They produce Golden Penny Products, which are divided into three categories  food (confectionery, flour, pasta, sugar and other products), animal food (Premier Feed Mills), and Bagco (bags, threads, ropes and the other related goods).

READ ALSO: History of entrepreneurship in Nigeria

7. DUFIL Prima Foods Limited

DUFIL stands for De United Foods Industrial Limited. This company has consequently grown into one of the most popular and known manufacturing companies in Nigeria. This group is a joint venture between two companies  Tolaram Group in Singapore and Salim Group in Indonesia.

The head office of DUFIL is situated in Lagos, and it has two factories in Ogun State (established in 1995), and Port Harcourt (2001). There is also a third factory called Northern Noodles Limited, which is a DUFIL subsidiary in Kaduna. The most famous products by this company are Indomie instant noodles, but it also produces other kinds of nutritional food.

8. United Africa Company of Nigeria

UACN is one of the top manufacturers in Nigeria. It has been functioning since 1931, and in 1973 it rebranded, taking its current name. This company runs different businesses and operates them from its headquarters in Lagos.

There are multiple food and beverage products that are produced by UACN Company. Some of the popular foods they produce are Funtime coconut chip and Funtime cake, Gala Sausage rolls, Snaps, and Supreme ice cream. As for the beverages, there are Gossy warm spring water, Swan water, and various flavored drinks with orange, apple, and pineapple. They also produce Grand oil and Grand cereal, as well as Vital feed production.

9. Guinness Nigeria Plc

Guinness Nigeria is one of the most recognizable companies in Nigeria, according to the Forbes Magazine. This firm is a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, the company located in the United Kingdom. In 1962, this company started out when the brewery was built in Ikeja. Later, two more breweries were opened in Benin City and Ogba. Some of the products patented by them include Malta Guinness and Malta Guinness low sugar, Harp Lager Beer, Foreign Extra Stout, Satzenbrau, Guinness Extra Smooth, and many others.

10. Lafarge Cement

This cement company is one of the market giants in Nigeria that specialize in building materials. In 2010, they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Elephant Portland Cement production, which is the flagship product of this firm. The company is a subsidiary of the French firm  as for now, there are two cement factories in Nigeria operated by them. They are situated in Ogun State (Sagamu Plant) and Abeokuta (Ewekoro Plant). As for the head office of the Lafarge Cement Company, it is situated in Lagos.

You have found out what the top manufacturing companies in Nigeria are. They all produce different content, but every one of them is dedicated and determined  otherwise, they would not have been so successful all through the years.

READ ALSO: Cement distributorship business in Nigeria

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Home | News | General | Senator Iyiola Omisore reportedly dumps PDP

- Supporters of Senator Iyiola Omisore burn PDP flags

- The chairman of the party in Osun state, Soji Adagunodo, describes the action of the senator as hasty and needless

- The deputy national publicity secretary of the PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi, faults the decision of the former deputy governor

A former deputy governor of Osun state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has reportedly dumped Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Though, Omisore is yet to officially make public his decision to leave the party, Daily Trust reports that his supporters were on Thursday, April 5, seen burning flags of the PDP.

NAIJ.com learnt that his decision to leave the PDP was prompted by his governorship ambition in the September 22 gubernatorial election in the state.

READ ALSO: Breaking: Many reported dead as heavily armed robbers raid 5 banks in Kwara

Omisore was said to have held a meeting with his supporters who were eager to know the new party he would take them to.

However, the chairman of PDP in the state, Soji Adagunodo, described the action of Omisore as hasty and needless.

Similarly, the deputy national publicity secretary of the PDP, Prince Diran Odeyemi said Omisores action was unfortunate.

It is unfortunate that Otunba (Omisore) is making a wrong political decision. He should have learned from those who left PDP and came back.

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"In politics, you dont win all the time. So, if he does not have his way this time around, it does not mean he cannot make his way some other time. Its his decision anyway," Vanguard newspaper quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, the Movement For New Nigeria (MNN), has blasted Senator Ademola Adeleke, representing Osun west senatorial district, over his incessant display of dancing skills wherever he goes.

The socio political group, in a statement by Comrade Sunday Kelani, its national coordinator, noted that the senator has taken it as a tradition to dance at any event he attends instead of contributing meaningfully to national issues as a lawmaker of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Kelani criticized the Osun state senator for taking the dignity of legislature for granted, adding that he is no more a private person, but a public office holder of high echelon in Nigeria.

Nigerians want PDP back in 2019 - Goodluck Jonathan declares at PDP Caucus Meeting on NAIJ.com TV

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Home | News | General | Uganda hosts 7th DStv Eutelsat Star Awards Apr 12

MULTICHOICE Africa and its partner, Eutelsat, will host the 7th edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards in Kampala, Uganda on April 12 where it will announce continental winners.

DSTV

Uganda, popularly called the Pearl of Africa, has produced the most winners since the competition began and is hoping to achieve a similar feat by dominating the competition on home soil.

MultiChoice and Eutelsat have once collaborated with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli to lead the continental awards assessment process, which will take place in Kampala on April 11. Nespoli has an illustrious career spanning stints at the European Astronaut Centre (ESA/EAC) and NASAs Johnson Space Centre in Houston before being selected as an astronaut by the Italian Space Agency to fly as an ESA astronaut.

Nespoli will be assisted by a panel of industry experts that consisting of Professor Funso Falade, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos; Mr. Michael Niyitegeka, Country Manager, ICDL Africa; Mr. Patrice Paquot, Deputy Regional Vice-President for Sub-Saharan Africa, Eutelsat; as well as Ms. Patricia Kichoncho, Operations Manager, MultiChoice Uganda.

The overall winner of the essay award will be rewarded with a trip, along with a parent/legal guardian to Eutelsat in France and attend a live rocket launch in French Guiana.

The overall winner of the poster award will similarly be entitled to a trip, along with a parent or legal guardian, to the MultiChoice offices and the South African Space Agency at Hartbeesthoek.

The schools attended by the overall award winners will be rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, television, state-of-the-art PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Package.

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Home | News | General | Ibori: Ijaw leader salute monarchs for honoring former gov

COORDINATOR of Ijaw Monitoring Group, Mr Joseph Evah, has expressed appreciation to two leading traditional rulers in Ijaw land that honoured the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori with chieftaincy titles.

Comrade Joseph Evah

In a statement, Evah thanked the Pere of Kanbowei Kingdom and Pere of Akugbene-mein for showing to the world that Ijaw people have appreciative spirit by honouring the former governor.

According to Evah: The honour for Chief Ibori by our Kings was endorsed by Ijaw all over the world and not just Ijaw of Delta State because the vision Ibori had by giving us the Bomadi Bridge and making the former old western Ijaw area a place of pride is legendary.

The two major institutions in Bomadi town, St. Bernard College and Esenaebe College light-up education in western Ijaw area by producing Supreme Court justices, Chief of Army Staff, National Security Adviser, Chief of Defense Staff, Ministers, governors, ADC to presidents, diplomats, professors, business gurus but was so backward until Chief Ibori like a star, appeared in Niger Delta and saved us from embarrassment.

The bridge which was completed on record time because of the determination to make it happen, has activated the transformation of old Western Ijaw economy including human and physical development.

I wish to appeal to the current state governor to officially name the Bridge that will be connecting over 500 communities to the outside world after the former governor as JAMES IBORI BRIDGE like the Ibrahim Babangida Bridge in Lagos with sign-post at the bridge head.

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Amish Raj Mulmi is a columnist for the Post, and the author of All Roads Lead North: Nepals Turn to China.
Home | News | General | Nigerian Army recruitment 2018: NA releases date for state screening, instructions

The Nigerian Army has released Joining Instruction for Screening of 77 Regular Recruit Intake shortlisted for the State Recruitment Exercise.

It said the State Recruitment Screening exercise commences on 9 April 18 by 0700 hours.



The instructions below:

STATE SCREENING

Selected Candidates to report to their various states screening centres with the following items:

White vests.

Blue short.

White canvas.

White socks.

Original and photocopies of their credentials.

Relevant scratch cards for online verification of result (WASSEC/GCE/NECO/NABTEB).

Writing materials (Biro and Pencil)

File Jacket

National Identity card/slip

Passports and full size 5 x 7 photographs.

Applicant Eligibility

Applicants shall be of Nigerian origin by birth and possess National Identity card.

Applicants must possess a minimum of 4 credits in not more than 2 sittings in WASSCE/GCE/NECO/NABTEB. One of the credits must be in English language.

In addition, Tradesmen & Women Applicants must also possess OND/Trade Test/City and Guild certificate

Non-Tradesmen & Women Applicants must be aged between 18  22 years by March 1, 2018.

Tradesmen & Women Applicants must be aged between 18  26 years by March 1, 2018.

Applicants must be medically, physically, and psychologically fit and must not be less than 1.68 meters tall for male and 1.62 meters tall for female.

Applicants must print their completed online forms, attest it and submit it at the examination recruitment centres during the screening exercise period.

Knowledge of additional Nigerian Languages other than mother tongue is an added advantage

Support Details

Email: [email protected]

Headquarters, Nigerian Army

Plot 1092, Mohammadu Buhari Way,

Area 7, Garki

Abuja, Nigeria

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Home | News | General | Port security officers propose regional forum for maritime security

By Godwin Oritse

THE Lagos Maritime Security zone of the Port Facility Security Officers (PFSO) Forum has proposed the establishment of a regional maritime security forum in the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS with a view to tackling security from a common front.

port

Speaking at its monthly meeting, Chairman of the Forum, Dr. Ignatius Uche, said that since the sub-region has a common maritime security challenge, the move to tackle such issue through a regional front is expedient.

Uche said the Forum has communicated its plans to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, being the Designated Authority (DA) to implement the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) Code, a maritime convention by the International Maritime Organization, IMO.

He stated: The PFSO Forum is evolving, we started with the Lagos Maritime Security zone of the PFSO and grew to have the National Maritime Security zone comprising of both the Lagos and Niger Delta maritime security zones which gave birth to the PFSO Forum of Nigeria.

We now looked at how we can synergize with other countries in the sub-region with a view to combating piracy and sea-robbery from a common security front since we have a common maritime security challenge. More so, this is in line with the objective of regional integration in the area of maritime security.

Uche also told Vanguard that members of the Forum are expected to buy into this initiative, adding that NIMASA, being the DA, is also expected to buy into the move and push it to the appropriate authorities as much as possible.

He disclosed that NIMASA has been intimated of the matter even as the Forum is also awaiting the approval of the proposal from government.

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Home | News | General | To kill 29 birds with two stones

By Azu Ishiekwene

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has no one but itself to blame for the back-and-forth with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the lists of looters it released last week.

After the bazaar of the Jonathan era, that theres any argument at all about who was named or omitted in the lists of who-stole-what, is a sign of how badly President Muhammadu Buharis government has performed; its sign of deep, self-inflicted injury. And to imagine that the government of Buhari had to release the list drip-drip at gunpoint!

In July last year, Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari, ruled, in a suit by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), that Buharis government should tell Nigerians the circumstances under which looted funds had been recovered since it assumed office, from whom, and exactly how much had been recovered.

Nothing happened.

On another occasion, a court had also ruled that the government should publish the list of treasury looters since 1999 and disclose to the public the amounts recovered.

If the government had immediately complied with the rulings of the court or agreed to the common sense advice to publish periodic records of the status of the account and the account names, it wont be fighting back at a time of low public confidence. But it simply ignored advice and decided to hug the list on the excuse that full disclosure was not in the public interest.

The other list

Not a few suspected that public interest could also have meant the interest of members of the ruling party who might have been implicated by full disclosure  the PDP wolves in APC clothing.

Months after, Buharis government continued to sit on the court rulings, using what was left to wrap its numerous excuses for sleepwalking. After much pressure, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said Buhari had directed all relevant agencies to compile the names of suspected looters and to enforce the judgment of the courts.

As day was turning into night and still nothing was happening, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the government was delaying because it didnt want to jeopardise recoveries by publishing the names. That was the governments way of ignoring the orders of the court by hiding in plain sight.

Many months later and after the recent repeated accusations by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo that Jonathan shelled out N100 billion and $295 million from the treasury days before the 2015 election, the government came under fresh pressure to show proof.

For nearly two weeks now, the country has been riveted on claims and counter-claims of looters lists, the first two containing 29 names released by force by the government, followed by a response from the opposition that it said was aimed at unveiling the corrupt sacred cows in Buharis government.

Promise betrayed

How a government whose single greatest promise was to fight corruption has been enmeshed in a fruitless argument over whether or not it is more corrupt than its predecessor is one of the most embarrassing legacies of the Buhari administration.

Jonathans government did not claim, or even pretend, that it was fighting corruption. The former president was clear that there was a difference between stealing and corruption and that sticker was conspicuously displayed at the executive floors of the NNPC Towers, Abuja, where the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke, shared the PIN numbers of the countrys treasury with members of the ruling party.

Those who couldnt get oil blocks or sweetheart swap deals helped themselves by plugging into the countrys oil pipelines and diverting thousands of barrels of crude oil, estimated by The Financial Times at the time to be worth $1 billion monthly.

Yet, if in spite of the horrific corruption of that era, Transparency International is saying that perception of corruption has barely changed three years after Buhari took office, then the government needs to do more than wave a half-done looters list in self-defence.

In 2015, Buhari said he had ordered a complete audit of NNPC among other revenue generating agencies, for better service delivery to the nation.

Except if rodents have eaten the audit report, Im not aware that the words have left the page since the President made them three years ago.

If anything, the NNPC under Buhari has not only become more opaque, claiming immunity from the FOI law. It is under executive instruction to retain an unknown and unknowable percentage of its revenue in an account known only to a few, including the Chief of Staff.

Paper tiger

That is not fighting corruption; and even a list twice as long as Lais Roll Call does not justify running the NNPC in a manner less transparent than it was run under Jonathan. And yet the names of those doing the damage will never appear on any long or short list  at least not under Buhari.

Why has it has taken Buharis government forever to publish a list of 29 alleged looters, a number of whom the government has reportedly made recoveries from but none of whom has, so far, been convicted?

The government may argue that it has put its best foot forward but has been sabotaged almost at every stage by the judiciary and suspects fighting back with their dirty money. That may be true; but a few of the deep, potentially fatal injuries have been self-inflicted.

Where the Ministry of Justice under Abubakar Malami has not bungled a number of cases outright, the Minister has been locked in a needless turf war with the EFCC, leaving suspects to exploit the loopholes and sometimes putting prosecutors and even the governments own external counsel in difficult positions.

Its also a sad commentary on the APC governments promise to the fight corruption that over two years after the Acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, was called to the job he still does not have a letter of appointment. He is, in fact, despised and often double-crossed by influential persons in government who have their own personal agenda.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has not fared any better. Even though one of Nigerias best and brightest, Bolaji Owasanoye, has been appointed to retool the agency, he is unable to assume office  eight months after his appointment  because the Senate, where the ruling party has a majority, has refused to confirm his appointment.

If after nearly three years of fighting corruption all that Buhari has to show for it are two provisional scrap lists of corrupt suspects  all from one side of the aisle  his government has to take a long, hard look at the mirror, and reality.

Ishiekwene is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview and member of the board of the Global Editors Network.

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Home | News | General | GOV POLL: We wont rig primary, Ekiti APC tells aspirants

By Rotimi Ojomoyela & Adeola Badru

ADO-EKITITHE All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ekiti State, yesterday, assured all governorship aspirants within the party of free, fair and credible primary vowing not to wont rig the primary for any of the aspirants.

APC

This came as Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan has formally declared his ambition to contest the 2019 governorship election vowing not to allow the state retrogress.

APCs Deputy Chairman, Mrs. Kemi Olaleye, gave the assurance, in Ado-Ekiti, when an aspirant, Engineer Kayode Ojo visited the party secretariat to unveil his interest in the governorship race.

Olaleye said: We want to say without equivocation that every eligible aspirant will be given a level playing ground. We wont rig our party primary for any aspirant, please go and sell manifestoes at your wards.

Chief John Odigie Oyegun gave this assurance during his visit to Ekiti on March 9 and I am reemphasizing that there is no cause for alarm.

I want all the aspirants to go to the grassroots and meet the delegates because it is your work that will work for you.

Olaleye, who described Ojo as a responsible party man, said: Some aspirants are waiting for the time they will be governor before taking care of the party and members, but Engineer Ojo is different. He has helped in giving empowerment to our members and financial support to our party.

In his remarks, Ojo said: If I become the governor, I will treat this party with respect. I will work with the State Working Committee to ensure that the manifesto of the party is executed to bring dividends of democracy to our people.

I wont use my position as a governor to oppress the party, because I believe in party supremacy being the vehicle that brought me into governance.

I am determined to offer myself for service. I want to bring selfless service to Ekiti because I am passionate to make Ekiti great in all spheres, Ojo said.

Ajimobis aide declares intention to contest

Similarly, the Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan made his declaration, yesterday in Ibadan, during his visit to the APC state secretariat to express his interest to join the governorship race.

The Havard-trained Cardiovascular Surgeon, who was received by APC executives, led by its chairman, Chief Akin Oke, disclosed that the need for continuity, stability, and progress of the state compelled him to join the race.

He said: When you look at those people aspiring for the position, there are contenders and pretenders. I am a contender and by the grace of God, I am the next governor of Oyo State.

I have done my best to uplift Oyo State in the last 19 months as a Commissioner. I thank my brother, Ajimobi, for giving me the opportunity to serve the state.

If I have managed a ministry, that was almost at the state of the precipice, to the best Ministry of Health in Nigeria, you can imagine what I would do with the state government.

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Prime Minister Oli off to India for state visit

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Friday left for New Delhi for a three-day state visit to India. This is Olis first foreign tour after taking office.
Home | News | General | Reflections on the President

By Donu Kogbara

I AM very unhappy about the Buhari administrations many shortcomings and missteps. The absence of inspirational and even-handed leadership is distressing for anyone who values high standards; and if, in addition to valuing high standards, you also happen to have voted for Buhari, as I did, you will definitely be more disappointed than those who never believed in him in the first place.

President Buhari and Gen. T.Y Danjuma(rtd.) before herdsmen threw spanner in the works

I can fill countless pages of this newspaper with bitter complaints about the mishandling of several key challenges such as the Fulani Herdsmen and Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, crises. And I certainly will, in the coming months, robustly express my disapproval whenever this government messes up.

The now retired Major-General Buhari first became Head of State (December 1983 to August 1985) when he was still a serving army officer.

This initial stint in the hot seat lasted less than two years; and his desperation to regain the glittering crown he had lost (prematurely, as far as he and his fans were concerned), led him to present himself as a civilian presidential candidate in 2002 (failed), 2007 (failed), 2011 (failed) and 2015 (success at last!).

One would have thought that a man who struggled so hard to persuade the electorate to give him a second shot at leading a country as complex, vast and influential as Nigeria  the Giant of Africa and the Black Diaspora!  would have learned a lot from his first tenure and rigorously prepared himself (during his years in the political wilderness) to be an above-average returnee President.

I expected his closest advisers to be impressive. I expected him to dynamically hit the ground running from Day One. I expected him to be super-strict but scrupulously fairand to sort out the mess that Nigeria had become.

I expected him to start achieving big wins immediately, especially on the security front. I thought that by now  Year Three  hed have done so well that those who didnt choose him in 2015 would be planning to vote for him in 2019.

But, sadly, Buharis performance has been lacklustre at best and often so downright disastrous that normally restrained establishmentarians like former Chief of Army Staff and former Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen (retired) T.Y. Danjuma, have lashed out at the authorities, using surprisingly radical language.

Speaking recently in Jalingo, the capital of his North-Central home state, Taraba, at the maiden convocation ceremony of Taraba State University (to which he had donated N100 million), Danjuma (a Christian) angrily accused the military of shattering the peace in Taraba, of complicity in the killing of local farmers by Muslim herdsmenand of causing mayhem all over Nigeria.

There is, according to Danjuma, an attempt at ethnic cleansing[and] we must resist it. We must stop it. Every one of us must rise up. Our Armed Forces are not neutral. They collude with armed bandits to kill Nigerians. The Armed Forces guide their movements. They cover them. If you are depending on the Armed Forces to stop the killings, you will all die one by one

This ethnic cleansing must stop in Taraba State and other states of Nigeria, otherwise Somalia will be a childs play. I ask every one of you to be alert and defend your country, defend your territory and defend your state. Defend yourselves because you have no other place to goGod bless our country!

Some local government chairmen in Taraba have firmly backed up Danjumas claims and expressed alarm about the armys alleged brutality, extortion and collusion (with herdsmen who allegedly want to steal farmlands from indigenes).

Meanwhile, some gun-toting so-called herdsmen are strongly suspected of being Boko Haram members who have been released by the army.

Meanwhile, other Nigerian dignitaries  famous constitutional lawyer and former Minister of Education, Professor Ben Nwabueze, for example  are echoing Danjumas concerns and warning that Nigeria is on the verge of collapse.

Nwabueze says that the herdsmen have two main objectives: to re-establish political hegemony and religious supremacy based on the religion of Islam.

Nwabueze has also pointed out that The Google Failed State Index ranked Nigeria the 15th worst failed state in the world.

President Buhari is being blamed for not responding to the dangerous, destructive ethno-religious tension and the multiple murders that are associated with it.

Meanwhile, Buharis kitchen cabinet is always attracting criticisms, even from members of the Presidents own party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

And, sure, his extremely capable and charismatic Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo impresses almost everyone who meets him, abroad as well as at home; but Osinbajo does not appear to be playing a sufficiently significant role.

If I were in Buharis shoes and was lucky enough to have such a high-calibre deputy, Id carry him on my head and turn him into a FULL governance partner.

I dont know Osinbajo  Ive only met him once briefly; and Im not aware that he is dissatisfied with the status quo. But I think that he is Buharis greatest asset and should be encouraged to help his Boss get out of this unholy mess!

Having said all of the above, people are sometimes very unfair to the President. For example, he was recently condemned for attending the wedding of Fatima, daughter of Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano State, and Idris, son of Abiola Ajimobi, Oyo State governor.

Pastors and Imams alike snarkily wondered why Buhari showed up to the extravagant celebration.

But I dont see whats wrong with ensuring that you are present when the children of friends and important work associates tie the knot.

If the parents of the bride and groom decided to spend a fortune on the ceremony, how is that Buharis business or problem or error of judgement?!

Responses to: donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk or to 0802 747 6458 OR 0811 675 9752 (texts only). PLEASE KINDLY NOTE THAT UNLESS YOU REQUEST ANONYMITY, YOUR COMMENTS MAY BE PUBLISHED, WITH YOUR NAMES AND CONTACT DETAILS ATTACHED.

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Home | News | General | Recall process: Melaye begs S-Court to stop INEC

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA Determined to save his seat, Senator Dino Melaye, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, yesterday, prayed the Supreme Court to stop Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from going ahead with the process for his recall.

The embattled lawmaker, through his lead counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, raised seven grounds of appeal he urged the apex court to consider and abort plans to recall him from the Senate.

He applied for an order of perpetual injunction restraining INEC, whether by itself, staff, employees, agents, servants and or privies, howsoever, called, from commencing or further continuing with the process of acting on the purported petition presented to it by his constituents.

Sen. Dino Melaye

Melaye further filed a motion for an order staying the execution of the March 16 judgement of the Court of Appeal in Abuja that gave INEC the nod to resume process for his recall.

He begged the court to order parties to maintain the status quo that existed before the judgement was delivered in the appeal marked CA/A/299/M/2018, pending the hearing and final determination of the appeal he lodged before the Supreme Court.

According to him, unless the execution of the judgement is stayed and/or suspended, the appellants/applicants appeal already filed would be defeated, rendered nugatory and a situation of complete helplessness foisted on the Supreme Court.

It will be recalled that INEC had sequel to the verdict of the appellate court, published timetable for Melayes recall which is scheduled to commence on April 27.

However, the embattled lawmaker, in his appeal, insisted that irreparable damage would be done to him if INEC goes ahead to recall him from the Senate while his appeal is pending before the apex court.

In the circumstance, the justice of this case requires that the judgement of this court be stayed/suspended and time within which the respondents can conduct the recall process paused, as the respondents can comfortably continue with the process if eventually the appellant/applicants appeal at the Supreme Court fails, he argued.

Specifically, he is praying the apex court set aside the Court of Appeal judgment and to declare the petition purportedly presented to INEC for his recall, as illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional, invalid, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.

He also prayed the Supreme Court to declare the recall process INEC initiated against him as illegal and unconstitutional, same having been commenced and conducted on the basis of an invalid petition.

He equally urged the apex court to declare that the 90 days period as provided for in section 69(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as altered, having elapsed by effluxion of time on the 23rd of September, 2017, the 1st Respondent can no longer validly proceed on the basis of the purported petition for the recall of the Appellant presented to it on the 23rd of June, 2017.

Melaye maintained that Justices of the Court of Appeal erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice against him.

He argued that in line with the principles of fair hearing, his constituents ought to have informed and availed him with copies of their grouse against him before proceeding with the submission of the petition to INEC.

The Appellant further contended that INEC should have upon receipt of the petition, furnished him with a copy to enable him to ascertain the veracity or authenticity of same having purportedly been submitted by his alleged constituents.

Clearly, the Appellant established through uncontroverted averments in his affidavit in support of the Originating Summons, that there was no basis constitutionally and/or otherwise for his alleged recall apart from political malice, vendatta and bad faith.

Having clearly established to the satisfaction of the court that the alleged recall was done in bad faith, in breach of the twin pillars of natural justice, the Court of Appeal had the jurisdiction to set the entire process of the recall aside or nullify same.

Aside INEC, other Respondents in the appeal are the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief Olowo Cornelius, John D.Anjorin, Mallam Yuzuf Adamu, Mrs Iyabose Owolabi, Afolabi Lydia Olufunke, Sanya Grace Folake, Salihu Abubakar Abdullahi and Micheal Olowolaiyemo (sued for themselves and on behalf of Kogi West Senatorial District Registered Voters).

The appellate court had in a unanimous judgement by three-man panel of Justices, dismissed as grossly lacking in merit, an appeal Melaye lodged to challenge his planned recall.Justice Tunde Awotoye who delivered the lead verdict, resolved all the issues Melaye raised in his appeal, in favour of INEC, saying the suit did not disclose any cause of action.

Melaye had gone before the appellate court to set-aside the September 11, 2017, judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which not only declined to stop the recall process, but okayed INEC to verify signatures of 188,588 registered voters from Kogi West that purportedly signed the petition against him.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the high court had in his verdict, held that Melayes legal moves to stop his recall was hasty, premature and presumptuous.

The lower court however ordered INEC to furnish the lawmaker with a copy of the petition against him and other relevant documents involved in the recall process.

Nevertheless, frustrated by its inability to reach the lawmaker to serve him the petition, INEC, on September 15, filed an ex-parte motion for leave to dump the documents in front of Melayes office at the National Assembly.

Before the ex-parte could be heard, Melaye, through his lawyer, Mr. Nkem Okoro, notified the court that he has lodged the appeal that was dismissed on Thursday.

Consequently, Justice Dimgba handed-off the case, saying he could no longer exercise jurisdiction on the ex-parte motion since his court had already given judgment on the matter.

He asked the parties to take their case before the appellate court.

Meanwhile, in its judgment, the Court of Appeal held that the lower court ought to have struck out Melayes suit in its entirety.

The appellate court dismissed the issue of lack of fair hearing that Melaye raised against INEC, stressing that the electoral body was neither a tribunal or a court of law.

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Home | News | General | Security expert faults Governor Fayoses criticisms of $1bn military fund

- A security expert, Colonel Hassan Stan-Labo retired, says the $1bn for the purchase of military equipment would enhance the procurement deficit that existed in the military

- He says the military has always been short-changed at the point of statutory appropriation

- Presidency defends Buharis approval of $1bn security fund

A security expert, Colonel Hassan Stan-Labo retired, has said Governor Ayodele Fayoses ignorance informed his criticism of President Muhammadu Buharis approval of the sum of $1 billion for the purchase of military equipment.

The retired military officer made the statement on Thursday, April 5, when speaking during his appearance on a Channels TV programme, Politics Today.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo must stop carrying himself as Nigerias messiah - Shettima

Stan-Labo said the $1bn approved by the president would enhance the procurement deficit that had existed in the military.

I just listened to His Excellency, Governor Ayo Fayose and with due respect, I want to say His Excellency is speaking from a position of ignorance," he said.

How do I mean? This money, to start with, is going to help in enhancing the procurement deficit we have presently (which has existed) for quite some while now because weve never taken the pain to allot adequately to the military.

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The military has always been short-changed at the point of statutory appropriation  that is to say in the Congress (National Assembly)  such that at the end of the day, there is no single pin that you buy in the military that is produced in this country, we import nearly everything.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina says those opposing or criticising President Muhammadu Buharis approval of one billion dollars for security funding are only playing politics with the lives of Nigerians.

The minister of defence, retired Brigadier General Mansur Dan-Ali, had on Wednesday revealed that President Buhari had granted assent for the release of the one billion dollars fund for the procurement of security equipment to fight insecurity in the country.

Dan-Ali disclosed this when he spoke to State House correspondents after a security meeting involving President Buhari, heads of security agencies and service chiefs which was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians on NAIJ.com TV

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Source: Naija.ng

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Rape culture

Our society and our law enforcement must accomodate victims, not shield perpetrators
Home | News | General | Police arrest 28-year-old soldier in Delta over stolen jeep

- Police have arrested a serving soldier in Delta state over a stolen jeep

- The Lagos CP, Imohimi Edgal, said the suspect was arrested based on the complaint from one Ajayi Adedotun, who claimed to be the owner of the stolen car

- Suspect admitted that he and one Marshal now at large conspired and stole the vehicle from where it was parked

The Lagos state police command has arrested a serving soldier, Salami Joseph, who allegedly abandoned his duty post for robbery.

Daily Trust reports that the 28-year-old man attached to Seven Division of the Nigerian Army in Borno state was arrested for his alleged involvement in the theft of a Lexus 330 jeep parked in front of a hotel in Lekki area of Ajah in Lagos.

READ ALSO: Local vigilantes allegedly prevent SARS operatives from arresting Melaye

NAIJ.com gathered that his arrest was sequel to a complaint from one Ajayi Adedotun, who claimed to be the owner of the stolen car.

The victim had alleged that he parked his car but it was stolen from where it was parked in front of a hotel.

The Lagos state commissioner of police, Imohimi Edgal, who confirmed the incident, said that based on the complaint, operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), acting on a tip-off traced the suspect to his hideout in Ekpan area of Delta where he was arrested.

In his statement to the police, the soldier who said he abandoned his duty post in Borno state because of the fighting power of suspected members of Boko Haram, admitted that he and one Marshal now at large conspired and stole the vehicle from where it was parked.

The suspect said: I was recruited into the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps in 2014. Shortly after I joined I was posted to Maiduguri, Borno state to join in the fight against Boko Haram.

As a young man the heat of the battle became too hot for me, so a waited for an opportunity. The opportunity came in September 2017 when I took four days pass from my unit commander to visit my parents in Lagos. Having spent six days instead of the four I was given, the army authority declared me a deserter.

With this I went underground knowing that the army might come looking for me.

I went into crime when I met one Marshal Tai, who happens to be half Nigerian and half Liberian. Marshal told me that, with my wealth of experience in the theatre of war we can make good money if we go into car snatching.

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So sometime in January 2018, we trailed the owner of the Lexus jeep to one hotel in Lekki. The owner of the car is known to Marshal. Immediately we removed the car from where it was parked we headed to Abuja where the car was sold for N800,000. Marshal was the one who contacted the buyer, he said.

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had previously reported that the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), Ogun state chapter, arrested the General Overseer of the Gods Favour Ministry, Iba, Lagos state, Daniel Onwugbufor, and an accomplice, Israel Animashaun, for alleged car snatching.

Lagos Police Commissioner parades suspected criminals (Nigeria News) | - on NAIJ.com TV

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Source: Naija.ng

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Home | News | General | Corruption case: 'I am innocent' - South Africa's Zuma tells cheering crowd

- Jacob Zuma, ex-president of South Africa, is facing corruption charges

- Zuma is appearing at the high court in Durban today, Friday, April 6

- However, the ex-president denies wrongdoing telling his cheering supporters that he is innocent

The immediate past president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, is appearing in court today, April 6 to face corruption charges related to a 1990s arms deal.

BBC reports that the charges which dogged Zumas presidency were reinstated in 2016.

NAIJ.com gathered that he is facing 16 counts of corruption, racketeering, fraud and money laundering at the high court in Durban.

READ ALSO: NAFDAC passes important information to Nigerians concerning plastic fish

Zuma was deputy president at the time of the decades-old arms deal. He is accused of accepting bribes from French arms firm Thales via his financial adviser at the time.

The adviser, Schabir Shaikh, was found guilty of trying to solicit the bribes and was jailed in 2005.

The case against Zuma was, however, dropped shortly before he ran for president in 2009.

Zuma, who was forced out of office in February, however denies any wrongdoing. He insists the charges are trumped up and politically motivated.

The former presidents supporters have reportedly descended on the city to rally for him.

The 75-year-old arrived at the court in his home province on Friday morning, smiling and giving a thumbs up to the crowd.

Zuma told thousands of supporters outside court in Durban that his opponents were telling lies and he would be proven innocent.

He alleged that the judiciary and politicians believed that he did not have rights.

"The truth will come out. What have I done?" Zuma told the cheering crowd. "I am innocent until proven guilty," he said.

It can be recalled that the last time Zuma was in court for a trial was more than 10 years ago on rape charges.

He denied the allegations and the case was later dropped. Back then, thousands came to support him including members of his own ANC party.

However, this time around the party led by the new president Cyril Ramaphosa has reportedly distanced itself from the controversy as the party prepares to contest the national elections in a year's time.

According to BBC, Zumas appearance at the hearing is likely to be brief.

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However, the former president appearing in a dock on corruption charges is "hugely symbolic" for South Africa's young democracy as many will reportedly see it as an era of impunity coming to an end.

NAIJ.com previously reported that Jacob Zuma resigned as the president of South Africa amidst numerous controversies surrounding his administration.

Zuma announced his resignation in a televised address to the people on Wednesday, February 14.

The ruling ANC party had asked the president to resign or face a possible vote of no confidence at the parliament on Thursday, February 15.

He said in his address: "I have served the people of South Africa to the best of my ability."

The ex-president also insisted that he did not agree with the way the party has treated him.

Zuma said he decided to resign in order to prevent bloodshed as no life should be lost because of him.

Who is Nigeria's greatest president ever? - on NAIJ.com TV:

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Source: Naija.ng

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Home | News | General | $2.5bn Arms Deal: I am innocent says Zuma

Former South African president Jacob Zuma told thousands of supporters outside court in Durban on Friday that his opponents were telling lies and he would be proven innocent in a corruption case against him.

Jacob Zuma in Court

Speaking in Zulu in his home province, Zuma said that the judiciary and politicians believed that he did not have rights.

The truth will come out. What have I done? Zuma told the cheering crowd.

I am innocent until proven guilty.

The Durban High Court adjourned until June 8 the case of corruption in a 2.5 billion arms deal dollars, filed against Zuma.

Zumas legal team and lawyers for the state agreed to the postponement to give both sides time to prepare their submissions relating to charges against Zuma including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

The 75-year-old, whose scandal-plagued nine years in office were marked by economic stagnation and credit downgrades, faces 16 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

Zuma denies any wrongdoing and is challenging the decision to prosecute the case, a dramatic development on a continent where political leaders are rarely held to account for their actions before the law.

Wearing a dark suit, a smiling Zuma waved to crowds of supporters and reporters as he mounted the steps of the High Court in Durban shortly before 0700 GMT.

The speed with which prosecutors have booked his day in court is a sign of the loss of control Zuma has suffered since his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, became head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in December.

However, Zuma still retains some popular support, especially in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, where the case is being heard.

Heavily armed police in riot gear lined the square outside the court, as thousands of Zuma supporters gathered to express solidarity with a leader they say is the victim of a politically motivated witchhunt.

Marchers, many clad in the distinctive yellow, green and black of the ANC, carried placards reading Hands off Zuma and performed the high-stepping toyi-toyi protest dance made popular in South Africas decades-long struggle against apartheid.

Businessman Siya Khoza said he admired Zumas determination to bring in economic policies that he said were designed to spread the wealth in what remains one of the worlds most unequal societies.

Whatever happens we will still support Zuma because we believe he brought us radical economic transformation and we still believe that him being in the ANC he will push for it, said Khoza, wearing a waistcoat emblazoned in ANC colors.

Zuma son Edward told supporters at nearby park where several thousand people held an overnight vigil that his father was not worried.

I would want to believe that as an innocent man, he is definitely not worried, the domestic News24 agency quoted Edward Zuma as saying.

Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ANC last month, was at the center of a 1990s deal to buy billions of dollars of European military hardware to upgrade South Africas post-apartheid armed forces.

The deal was mired in scandal and controversy from the start, with many inside and outside the ANC questioning the spending given the massive social issues, from health to education, Nelson Mandelas party had to address after coming to power in 1994.

Fallout has cast a shadow over South African politics ever since.

Zuma was deputy president at the time. Schabir Shaikh, his former financial adviser, was found guilty and jailed in 2005 for trying to solicit bribes for Zuma from a subsidiary of French arms company Thales.

The company is facing charges in the same case.

Charges against Zuma were filed but then set aside by the National Prosecuting Authority shortly before he successfully ran for president in 2009. The charges were re-instated in 2016.

Since his election nine years ago, his opponents have fought a lengthy legal battle to have the charges reinstated.

Zuma countered with his own legal challenges.

NAN

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Home | News | General | Just in: Benue police confirms recovery of 10 corpses after bandits attack

- No fewer than 10 corpses have been recovered by the Benue state police

- They were suspected to have been killed by armed bandits

- The police assured that it will continue to work to protect the people

The Benue police command says it has recovered 10 corpses of villagers killed by suspected armed bandits in Tse-Audu and Enger villages in Gwer West local government area of the state.

In a statement on Friday, April 6, in Makurdi, the commands public relations officer, ASP Moses Yamu, said the corpses were victims of the Thursday attacks on the villages.

He said they had been found by the mobile police contingent deployed to Naka, the capital of the local government council. He attributed the deaths to armed bandits, claiming that the police had in their routine surveillance, also encountered the bandits.

READ ALSO: Local vigilantes allegedly prevent SARS operatives from arresting Melaye

"Eight dead bodies were found in the bush around Tse-Audu and Enger villages in Gwer West local government. This is in addition to the two bodies that were removed from the same area on the same day," he said.

The police spokesman, however, assured residents of the communities of the safety of their lives, pointing out that a detachment of police team on counter insurgency had been deployed to the area.

He also advised members of the public to promptly report any suspicious movements to security agencies for immediate action.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gwer West local government had in 2012 and 2014 witnessed several conflicts involving farmers and herders.

NAIJ.com had reported that members of the House of Representatives from Benue state called on the federal government to declare herdsmen as terrorists.

The lawmakers made the statement on Thursday, April 5, when raising alarm over alleged killings of 24 persons in renewed attacks in the state between April 2 and 4.

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Four members, Dickson Takighir; Mark Terseer-Gbillah; Samuel Udende; and John Dyegh, who spoke for the Benue caucus, faulted the military for terminating Operation Cat Race in the state, while it was extended by more weeks in neighbouring states, including Taraba.

Victims of herdsmen killing buried in Benue state - on NAIJ.com TV

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Roads Dept seeks Rs2b loan to build 14 bridges

The Department of Roads has asked the World Bank for financial assistance to build 14 bridges on the Muglin-Narayanghat road, which is the Kathmandu Valleys key supply line and one of the busiest routes in the country.
Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media, says the approval of $1 billion by his principal for the purchase of weapons to combat the Boko Haram insurgency is not final.

On Wednesday, Masur Dan-Ali, minister of defence, said President Muhammadu Buhari approved the sum of $1 billion for the purchase of equipment for the military.

The announcement sparked outrage and criticisms from the public.

Thereafter, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused the president of approving the funds for selfish reasons.

But speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme on Friday, Shehu said a draft bill will be sent to the national assembly for consideration and approval.

The spokesman said Buhari will not breach the constitution.

The process has begun, its not concluded, therefore, everyone will be involved. Mr President will not breach the constitution of this country. Approval at that level is granted, there is nothing controversial, Shehu said.

The attorney-general will bring a draft bill to FEC, the president will approve and then say take it to the national assembly. The draft budget before it got to the national assembly, the FEC signed and approved it.

People will say when youve defeated Boko Haram why do you need funds but if you check around, all over the world, the countries do most spending in peace time.

There is police and there is also the military. Its going to touch on every aspect of security in the country. We are not talking about buying footwear or uniforms which is routine. Well re-equip the military that has depleted much of its stock fighting criminality, insurgency and terrorism across the country.

We need this money to restock. The Nigerian army, the police, they ought to have arms that they can use in situations where they are needed. Its not as if we have no idea of what to do with this money, it is also true there is still some finishing jobs to be done to Boko Haram.
Some unions in the aviation sector have suspended their plan to shut down the industry over the delay by the Federal Government to pay the N45 billion entitlements of ex-workers of the defunct Nigerian Airways.

Mr Olayinka Abioye, General Secretary, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) confirmed the development to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.

Newsmen report that NUATE, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) had on March 19 given the government a 14-day ultimatum.

They had threatened to go on strike if the government fails to pay the not fewer than 6,000 workers, the N45 billion approved for them by the Federal Executive Council over ten months ago.

However, Abioye told newsmen that the unions decided to suspend the strike after a recent meeting with the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.

He said :Before the expiration of the ultimatum, the minister invited aviation stakeholders to a meeting in Abuja, to unveil the transaction advisers for the concession of airports and national carrier.

At the meeting, we raised the issue of the outstanding payment of N45 billion to the former Nigerian Airways staffers and he responded by first of all pleading with the unions to sheath their swords.

He asked us to give him two weeks to sort out the matter and that the N45 billion has already been secured, but it has to be pass through the National Assembly before payment can be implemented.

According to him, the House of Representatives have already done their oversight and the Senate will follow suit after resumption form Easter break and payment will be effected.

Abioye said based on the assurance given by the minister, the unions met and decided to suspend the proposed industrial action.

So, we are optimistic that the money will be paid soon, so that we can put this issue behind us and focus on other key ways to improve the sector, he added.

Newsmen report that the former national carrier was liquidated by President Olusegun Obasanjos regime in September 2004.
Home | News | General | How Abba Kyari led IRT tracked gang linked to Senator Melaye

- The suspects linked to Senator Dino Melaye were re-arrested by the police Intelligence Response Team

- The team was led by a deputy commissioner of police Abba Kyari

- One of the gang members Kabiru Seudi popularly known as Osama was arrested in Baucj by the police IRT

Details have emerged on the re-arrest of a suspected jail breaker Kabiru Seudi popularly known as Osama and five of his gang members who escaped from a police cell in Kogi state.

PM News reports that Osama, Nuhu Salihu and other suspects were re-arrested by a team led by deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Abba Kyari.

Kyari who led the police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) were ordered by the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, to locate and arrest the suspects after they had escaped from the cells on Kogi.

It was gathered that the IGP was furious and weighed on the embarrassment of the jail break when he received the information of the suspects escape.

Kyari and his men were moved to Kogi state on the orders of Idris and commenced work which led to the re-arrest of the suspects within three days of their escape.

Sources within the police said Kyari and his team through a hi-tech intelligence tracked and apprehended Osama and Salihu who had confessed to the police that the Senator representing Kogi West district, Dino Melaye engaged and armed them to cause terror in the state.

It was also gathered that Osama was arrested in his hideout somewhere in Bauchi state and flown to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

The sources said after the jail break and escape of the suspects it was believed that it was an arrangement by the police to allow the suspects to escape to cover their tracks.

NAIJ.com earlier reported that there was drama at the 8th fidau prayers for the late Hon Buba Jubril on Thursday, April 5, when some operatives of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) tried to arrest Melaye.

Melaye had earlier been declared wanted by the police for his alleged involvement in handing over illegal weapons to some kidnappers who claimed to be his thugs.

The Senator was gathered to have been protected from arrest by local vigilante men who encircled him, making it impossible for the SARS operatives to get close to him.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate - on NAIJ.com TV

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Home | News | General | I will continue to fight until right thing is done in PDP - Senator Olujimi

Senator Biodun Olujimi who is a former deputy governor of Ekiti has expressed concern over the resignation and defection of top politicians from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

According to Nigerian Tribune, the deputy minority whip warned that this problem could hurt the party politically.

READ ALSO: PDP ex-vice chairman Ishola Filani dies at 71.

She spoke on Thursday, April, 5 after inaugurating some constituency projects. She said: It is worrisome that we are losing our prominent members. Former Deputy Governors Lawal and Omoyeni are major stakeholders in our party. They worked hard in the last election of 2014 for the enthronement of Governor Ayodele Fayoses government.

But I am a fighter. I will fight on until the right things are done in the PDP. The Senator David Mark-led reconciliation committee set up to look into Ekiti issue has given us its words that the primary will be free and fair. The leadership itself didnt want their names soiled over Ekiti issue.

Our national leaders promised to be up and doing. They should note that five aspirants are fighting for a ticket and a situation where you will tie the hands of four of them backwards and leave one untied and expect us to fight on, this is injustice and it is against the spirit of our partys constitution.

All the governorship aspirants in the party are working together to ensure that we rescue our party. To allay the fears that no one can rig the primary, the statutory delegate list has been given to us from Abuja. It is available because it is our property.

PDP leaders wont want to go through pains and throes of litigations witnessed in the past. So let them come back and I want to allay their fears that the primary will be free, fair and credible."

She said would make personal moves to woo back defectors to the party.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti on Wednesday, April 4, said that 218,000 Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) were yet to be collected in the state.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

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, Alhaji Taiwo Gbadegesin, disclosed this at a public enlightenment forum in Ado Ekiti.

Governor Fayose warns Nigerian youths ahead of 2019, tells them what to do on NAIJ.com TV

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RPP chief calls for review of treaty

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Kamal Thapa has suggested Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli hold discussion on review of 1950 Nepal-India Peace and Friendship Treaty with Indian leaders during his India visit.
Savings and credit cooperatives face possible crisis as stocks fall

Savings and credit cooperatives that have made massive investments in stocks are at risk of facing a financial crisis following a plunge in share prices, experts said.
After the Prius was launched in 1997, Team ACP was presented with the opportunity to drive the Prius on expeditions in 5 different continents from North America to Africa over a 10-year period. This allowed them to test the feasibility of driving hybrid electrified vehicles in different parts of the world under varying conditions. At the same time, the team leveraged the publicity from their expeditions to cast a light on efforts made in different regions toward green energy and other sustainability projects.

This time, Team ACP retraced the Paris-Dakar route that they first took almost 40 years ago, and set off from Paris for Dakar in March 2018. All they drove on their expedition across the vast Sahara Desert were a Prius PHV (plug-in hybrid vehicle) as the main vehicle and a Land Cruiser for support.

We are pleased to share their 7,000-kilometer adventure on this page.
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak chaired a cabinet meeting Friday, official media reported, as speculation mounted he was due to dissolve parliament later in the day for a tough election battle.

Najib and other members of the cabinet arrived at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, state-run news agency Bernama reported.

He is expected to announce the dissolution of parliament later Friday, paving the way for a general election that poses one of the sternest tests of his ruling coalition for 60 years, due to a massive financial scandal and a challenge from his one-time mentor and former leader Mahathir Mohamad.

After parliament is dissolved, the election commission will hold a meeting within days to set the date for the poll, which must take place within weeks.

The ruling coalition headed by Najib has seen its support drop in recent years, and a scandal surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB that captured global headlines has added to their unpopularity.

Billions of dollars were allegedly looted from the fund that Najib set up, in a seemingly audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering which is being investigated in several countries.

The leader and fund deny any wrongdoing.

Najib has so far weathered the 1MDB scandal by lurching sharply to the right with a crackdown that has seen numerous critics arrested, and analysts believe he is on course to win a third term.

He stoked further controversy last week by pushing a law through parliament to redraw the electoral map that critics say greatly tilts the election in favour of his ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Victory is however less certain due to the return of Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia at the head of BN for 22 years but has now joined the opposition, and enjoys much support among the country's Muslim Malay majority.
SSP Lohani under probe in gold smuggling case

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday directed Nepal Police Headquarters to recall Senior Superintendent of Police Dibesh Lohani from the Metropolitan Police Crime Division to allow for further probe into a gold smuggling case.
A cat and two guinea pigs owned by the former double agent poisoned in the UK are dead, the British government confirmed late Thursday after questions were raised by Russia.

Nearly a month after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, prompting a global diplomatic crisis, the fate of the ex-spy's pets was made public.

"When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," a spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told AFP.

Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in early March. Source: AAP

"A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare," she added.

British counter-terror police have said the Skripals first came into contact with a nerve agent at the house, with the highest concentration found on the front door.

Global attention since the March 4 attack has focused on the political fallout  after Britain blamed Russia for the attack  and the condition of the human victims.

Skripals' daughter, Yulia. Source: AAP

It was not until this week that Moscow raised concerns over the welfare of the pets.

"Where are the animals, what state are they in? Why has the British side... not mentioned this fact? We are talking about living organisms, and if toxic agents were used then living organisms must have suffered," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

The Sun tabloid said Skripal's cat was named Nash Van Drake and was taken to the nearby British defence laboratory at Porton Down where the pet was put down.

The family's two guinea pigs were found dead inside their Salisbury home (pictured). Source: AAP

The remains of the cat and the guinea pigs were incinerated, the newspaper said citing unnamed government sources.

Russia's embassy to London earlier referred to a second missing cat, which was not mentioned by the British government.

Moscow has vehemently denied being involved in the nerve agent attack and has reacted to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Britain and its allies with equal measures.
hes so effing unattractive and has that cocky walk ugh such an inflated ego, I hope he does get arrested

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lmao hes such an aggressive douchebag. i assume hes all butthurt his title is getting stripped because he hasnt fought in the ufc for a fucking year and a half.

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How did he not get his ass kicked by the other fighters? jeezus what a hot sad pathetic mess.



i hope he's arrested.





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Well, Dana, if you didn't treat him like the golden calf, he wouldn't be walking around the way he does around the UFC. That's not the whole reason, I'm aware, but Dana has favorites and it shows with guys like McGregor.

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i mean he brings in the most money for dana so it makes sense and dana probably didnt care about his antics and racist bullshit until conor fucked with something that was important to dana today & stopped fighting mma for a year and a half which resulted in dana losing money lbr that's why hes pissed





Edited at 2018-04-06 12:34 am (UTC)

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Man who have to constantly show how aggressive they can be are the worst, I hope he actually faces consequences for injuring other people.



But help me ONTD: what's "a dolly"?

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WHAT THE FUCK. This is ridiculous, he could have seriously injured someone. I'm not sure what I was thinking a dolly was, but I was expecting something a lot smaller. I hope his ass rots in jail.

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Dolly was a prostitution place here..



The first guess I made was a blow-up sex doll,

the second was a sheep. XD

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yoooooo... first time seeing this one. Conor has legit lost his mind. pic.twitter.com/XcLFd2FIMo  caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) April 5, 2018



what in the fuck

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dude what the actual fuck?!



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jfc lock him up

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Jesus Christ. Reminds me of when Chris Brown threw a chair through the window at GMA years ago.

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Disgusting

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I saw a vid this morning that showed him trying to throw a metal barrier at some kind of vehicle but people stopped him

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What the fuck??

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I'm sorry, but this whole situation seems contrived by Dana White to get extra media attention.

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I mean, I could see that because why tf did no one stop him???

But Dana White has already issued a statement essentially say he's fucked.

He just destroyed his career tbh.

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Maybe it's because I watch a lot of WWE, but I don't buy any of that. McGregor draws money, Dana isn't going to throw that away, especially since it ginned up publicity away from WrestleMania, which is on Sunday. Plus, he lied about a warrant being out for McGregor and the cops looking for him. McGregor turned himself in.

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He could still get it. I would make him leave after tho.

Ugh my life choices.

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UMM

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I would make him leave after tho.



well at least you have some standards.

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why admit this outloud

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leave or stay and cuddle??? what would ty think

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Skip arrest, just line him up for death row.

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There's nothing worse than when a trashy shitebag becomes a rich trashy shitebag.



He could have seriously injured someone...prick!

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There's nothing worse than when a trashy shitebag becomes a rich trashy shitebag.



Mmmmmmmmmmhm.

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He did. When he threw the dolly at the van, it smashed the window and cut up Michael Chiesa's face so badly he had to pull out of the fight on Saturday.

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why did he do this ? like I'm googling but all the articles say is that he just showed up ?! like what was he mad



doesn't he have a baby



esta pendejo

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Was what Conor McGregor did professional? Nope.



Loyal? Hell yes.



Khabib corners his friend with his boys and runs his mouth, saying wheres Conor?



Conor flies from Ireland to NY with his crew to answer that.



We all wish we had those kinds of friends.  Dan Hevia (@DanHevia) April 5, 2018 Apparently the guy he was trying to fight had pressed his friend or something asking for Connor so Connor flew in from Ireland to fight him? this is what twitter is saying

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He had some sort of run-in with the buddy of another fighter the night before at the hotel or something, but not sure if that guy was on the bus. With his temper and attitude, wouldn't be surprised if he's just a piece of shit who makes problems with everyone.

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Yousll strip me of nothing yous do nothing cunts.  Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 5, 2018 All the of the above about having his friend cornered (drastic overreaction), but he was also told 2 days ago that he was going to be stripped of the titles due to inactivity. The male ego is very fragile.

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all mma/ufc/boxers are fucking garbage until proven otherwise.

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I follow a relatively unsuccessful boxer on instagram (he won a title once), and 90% of what he posts is recipes and nutritional tips bc he has a MS degree in nutrition or something like that.



I lowkey think hes gay, but one time I saw him like a Victorias Secret model photo so idk 

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This got me cackling

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Basically. I extend this to most professional (male) athletes tbh 

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toxic fucking masculinity

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It took me way too long to realize that "dolly" didn't mean a baby doll. Like, I know what a dolly is but it didn't compute.

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What an odd bit of timing.



Edited at 2018-04-05 11:57 pm (UTC)

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My first thought as well.

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she'll be having some "legal drama" soon



bad dum tsss

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thank you for always supporting my lame jokes. you are a gem.

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So what about that cult she's associated with.

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It's her burden.

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She isnt associated with it

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She better hope they don't make her do press for this.

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Lol

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I think shell be fine given theres enough proof she left before all the weird DOS stuff happened

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Well, that's timely.



Most of her career has been with WB/The CW, although at least it's been for three different projects.

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whoa i forgot cw was wb

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So in this show she's supposed to be helping a bunch of girls? How ironic.

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given the victims and women who have been trying to take that organization down have said she wasnt involved and only outlets like Breitbart, NY Daily Post and Page six have skipped the details, not really



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Lmao, I forgot her number one fan was here, keep on believing what you want to

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this just finished airing in canada this week. it was enjoyable enough, but starts slow

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It was so slow

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it was. i got more into it as it continued, but i cannot imagine this being a good fit at the cw at all. other than there's some teenage girls in it

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I really enjoyed it but was annoyed that it was constantly interrupted or at least that's how it seemed. I liked the Joanna and Luna sister storyline.

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I didn't think I'd ever see a CBC/CW collaboration. They don't feel like similar brands.

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why would she be arrested when the very women who have been trying to take the cult down say she wasnt involved?

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Kinkstin still looks amazing!

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It's a mediocre CBC flop, why does the CW even want this. I got through half an episode before switching to watch cooking shows on Gusto and you know those are awful

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Well written female led show and actually treats its lesbian characters well

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Is the CW the only network she can work on?

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Oh well, not sure what to say. Good luck I guess.

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The women who have come forward to expose this thing have vouched her non involvement and being on the outside attending the self help program.

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I was talking about the CW move.

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this... really doesn't sound like a cw show, but whatever, i'm glad for any show that doesn't involve superheroes.

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Well written female leads not revolves around the men, lesbian characters treated well, acknowledgment of marginalized native cultures



Its decidedly not a CW show but does have the aspects of being focused on young people and women

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i wonder if they'll put her in an Arrowverse show

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she doesn't seem to want to do any superhero/supernatural roles anymore

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people HATED Lana so much lol I don't blame her. The Smallville fandom was wild.

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- The "19-years in development" movie got a international trailer despise not having a release date yet.- Starringandwas supposed to be release on May 2018, but a court dispute between Terry Gilliam and producer Paulo Branco has postponed it's release indefinitely and removed it from the Cannes Film Festival line-up.- Paulo Branco production company Alfama Films owns the rights for the movie and had agreed to fund the project giving creative freedom to Terry Gilliam, but after several production problems and disagreements between both parties Gilliam went to produce the movie last year with the Spanish production company Tornasol.- Branco argues that the movie cannot be released without his permission, but Gilliam feels like the contract was null since Branco did not provide the funding.- Terry Gilliam was recently in the news after claiming that the #metoo movement has created a "mob rule" and a "world of victims", prompting actress Elle Barkin to comments that Gilliam is "the last man to admonish a movement that is trying to protect women from abusive men." You can read more about this on the following ONTD posts ( here and here ).
Two staffers of education office held with bribe

Two staffers of District Education Office, Kaski, have been arrested on charges of taking bribe in Pokhara.
I am flying to New Orleans for Mania tomorrow and I'm so excited!!!!

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Exciting!!! Have fun!!!

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Have fun bb! Are you going to TakeOver as well?

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I am! I don't know which I'm looking forward to more!

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Have fun!



I just bought white chocolate and green tea popcorn for Takeover/Mania

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so jealous! have fun!

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Roman Reigns isnt selling seats lmaooo.





I dont care for Brock. Though this may be his last match with the WWE to back to fighting in UFC. Which, well see how that goes after he eventually gets caught juicing again.



Im excited to see Brauns match. Im marking out for him hard so I hope he alone gets the tag teams but knowing Vince, hell probably give him someone stupid like Big Cass if hes ready to come back. Dont know. Dont care. Cass can stay gone.



Im more excited for the ROH show. Cody and Kenny are going to tear the house down.



Codys career peak is happening and Im loving every second. Bullet Club is fine.

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So agree about ROH show. I saw Cody at a local indy show a few months ago and have been in love ever since.



I kinda think Brock is going to stay with WWE and all of this is a red herring or whatever. IDK but I think Brock knows he has the sweetest deal doing the bare minimum here.



I'm so stressed Big Cass is going to come back as Brock's tag team partner. I wish Vince would let him goooo he's so boring and I've read here (maybe you posted this haha?!?!) that he's really hated in the locker room!

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I think the locker room hated Enzo.

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But Dwayne Johnson has time to dine with the Saudi crown prince at Rupert Murdoch's estate.

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5 hours? Omg. Even though I dont watch WWE anymore Id still love to go to a Wrestlemania.



Also I neeeeeed to seee a PWG show at least once in my life. I wish I lived in America 

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Same! Can you believe I lived literally 5 minutes away from the ALP in Reseda? Ive been to a ton of parties there but never a show because I didnt care about wrestling until AFTER I moved 2000 miles away from there 

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if I were you I would legit move back so I could go every month lmao

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I went to WM 24 in Orlando. Had a blast. Although I haven't bothered keeping up with WWE recently I'd still love to go to another Mania. It's an amazing show to experience to see live.

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LMAO The Rock remembered what happened the last time he went out there with Roman.



The go-home shows for RAW/SD were pretty dull so that means that WM is actually going to be enjoyable!



The IC match might be the MOTN and I'm really looking towards the Cruiser Weight match, 205 is so slept on it's not even funny. (Also hyped for Asuka and Charlotte)

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aren't they related

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this show has gone to the dogs

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he's not wrong tbh. wrestling, and especially the E, has always had a hard time letting old dudes go



I mean are they really gonna drag out Undertaker's decrepit ass again? he was too old like 17 years ago

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This whole one sided Cena/Taker feud is a pile of horse shit. This is a "dream match" that should have happened YEARS ago and now we're stuck with a geriatric Taker taking on a past his prime, part-time Cena (Cena can still put on a decent match but since he hasn't been making consistent appearances the past couple of years, he sometimes feels...out of place imo).



Years ago I would have killed to see this match but now? Can't even muster a single fuck to give. UGH.

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Yeah, I can't understand how so many people want the match to happen when its obvious Undertaker has been done for years now and Cena is basically going 'I want my 'Mania moment', when the dude has had many, many moments. He doesn't need another one.

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Taker should have either retired after his match with HBK, or after he lost to Brock. It's gotten to the point where the novelty of seeing him can't make up for how little he can do in the ring.

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The only matches I really care about are Nakamura/Styles, Asuka/Charlotte (Hoping Asuka wrecks Charlotte, rumor is they plan on having Asuka win until next year's 'Mania) and Daniel Bryan returning.

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They want Ronda to break the streak but the only person who deserves to end her streak is Ember Moon because Paul didnt pull the trigger at NXT because of stupid ass Vince.

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Or never end the streak and have her retire undefeated, I like that idea more.

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They have to let Asuka get the title before they even think of ending her streak. To have all that build up for nothing would be insane.

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those are the only matches worth a damn, imo

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I feel bad for the other women in that Battlw Royal because clearly the last four or five people standing will be 3 of the four horse women, Naomi and Ruby Riott. Either Naomi or Becky is winning while Sasha/Bayley is the real main attraction and will screw each other.

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It's time for them to just give up and turn Roman heel. Just let him have a good run and see what he can do when he's not having to fight an uphill battle all the time.







I'm honestly more excited for Kenny Omega vs. Cody than anything at WrestleMania, save for maybe AJ/Nakamura and Charlotte/Askua.

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I was discussing with a coworker how much I do not care about the Brock/Roman shit. Brock is too part time for me to care and Roman doesn't have the charisma for me to buy into him so I literally do not care for the hype. This has been dragging on so long I feel like I'm reluctantly eating my peas to get to dessert aka for the love of God end this storyline. Also, they shouldn't have had Asuka in the Mixed Match Challenge because you knew right away her and Miz were winning.

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The last Lesnar match I was cracking jokes about how he would disappear from sight to change his peach lego head for the red lego head then later on, the purple lego head. And as much as technically I'm on Roman's side re: the stuff about him being a proper company man, I just want the belt off Lesnar already.



I ended up really souring on the MMC because they made all this fuss about the pairings then had a knockout tournament. I wish there had been more of a round robin approach because I would liked to have seen more of pairings like Carmella/Big E and Goldust/Mandy Rose. Also, I really wanted Nia/Braun. And yeah, Asuka was a foregone conclusion but if that was always the plan then they should have given her a non-weasel partner (which may have been the point but it would have been nicer to see say, Goldust or Zack Ryder or similar get something for once.)

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my dad's bff is named dwayne johnson but i only ever call him the rock behind his back

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I havent seen Khaleesi on here in a while. I feel like she was scamming us.

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UK Company Fined for Vibration Exposures

"No one's health should be made worse by the work they do. In this case, if Tai Calon had understood why health surveillance was necessary, it would have ensured that it had the right systems in place to monitor its workers' health," said HSE Inspector Paul Newton.

An English community housing association has been fined about $42,400 at sentencing for failing to effectively manage employees' exposure to Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) over a prolonged period of time, the Health and Safety Executive reported March 29.

Newport Magistrates' Court heard how, between July 2010 and May 2015, employees of Tai Calon Community Housing Limited were routinely exposed to vibration at work; after the company introduced health surveillance in May 2015, a number of employees were diagnosed with HAVS, according to HSE, which launched an investigation that found Tai Calon failed to adequately assess the risk to employees from the use of vibratory tools, failed to implement adequate measures to reduce workers' vibration exposure, failed to place employees under suitable health surveillance, and failed to provide employees with suitable information, instruction, and training.

Tai Calon Community Housing of The Rising Sun Industrial Estate, Blaina, was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 and was fined 30,000 -- about $42,400 in U.S. dollars -- and ordered to pay 2,789.25 in costs.

"No one's health should be made worse by the work they do. In this case, if Tai Calon had understood why health surveillance was necessary, it would have ensured that it had the right systems in place to monitor its workers' health," said HSE Inspector Paul Newton. "This prosecution highlights the health risks from using vibratory tools and the importance of employers having a health surveillance program in place. Where vibratory tools are used, employers should monitor the health of employees using them and ensure appropriate systems are in place to manage and control the risk from vibration."
HELP Committee Sets April 11 Hearing on Opioids Bill

"The opioid crisis is currently our most serious public health epidemic and despite efforts in every state, it's getting worse," Sen. Lamar Alexander said. "We've been listening to the experts for the last six months on how the federal government can help states and communities bring an end to the opioid crisis, and the bipartisan proposals in this draft reflect what we've learned."

The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee has set an April 11 hearing on a draft bill to address the opioids crisis. Committee leaders, both Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash., released the draft on April 4, saying it resulted from six hearings the committee held on the crisis with FDA, NIH, CDC, SAMHSA, governors, experts, and families.

Called the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, the bill is intended to improve the ability of the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services -- including FDA, NIH, CDC, the Health Resources and Service Administration, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration -- address the epidemic.

Highlights of the bill listed in Alexander's news release include that it will:
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak chaired a cabinet meeting Friday, official media reported, as speculation mounted he was due to dissolve parliament later in the day for a tough election battle. Najib and other members of the cabinet arrived at his office in the administrative capital Putrajaya, state-run news agency Bernama reported. He is expected to announce the dissolution of parliament later Friday, paving the way for a general election that poses one of the sternest tests of his ruling coalition for 60 years, due to a massive financial scandal and a challenge from his one-time mentor and former leader Mahathir Mohamad. After parliament is dissolved, the election commission will hold a meeting within days to set the date for the poll, which must take place within weeks. The ruling coalition headed by Najib has seen its support drop in recent years, and a scandal surrounding sovereign wealth fund 1MDB that captured global headlines has added to their unpopularity. Billions of dollars were allegedly looted from the fund that Najib set up, in a seemingly audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering which is being investigated in several countries. The leader and fund deny any wrongdoing. Najib has so far weathered the 1MDB scandal by lurching sharply to the right with a crackdown that has seen numerous critics arrested, and analysts believe he is on course to win a third term. He stoked further controversy last week by pushing a law through parliament to redraw the electoral map that critics say greatly tilts the election in favour of his ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Victory is however less certain due to the return of Mahathir, who ruled Malaysia at the head of BN for 22 years but has now joined the opposition, and enjoys much support among the country's Muslim Malay majority.
Formula One teams gave a mixed welcome to new owner Libertys five-point blueprint for the future following its revelation in Bahrain on Friday. Champions Mercedes said it was a "good starting point, but more details are needed" while Williams boss Claire Williams declared she felt it was "time to crack open the champagne." The long-awaited plan was feared as the possible cause for a breakaway series led by Ferrari and Mercedes, but Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff said he felt satisfied. I think I am taking a positive view of the day because now we know what Libertys vision for the future is - and it is a good starting point. I think there is room for compromise The headline key point was a planned budget cap, expected to be $150 million to be introduced as part of the new package in 2021. That is not really achievable, said Wolff. But I think we can work with Liberty on that now. The mooted budget cap did not include costs of drivers and team marketing, a factor that may allow the big-spending top teams to restructure their budgets to operate below the cap. Wolff said Mercedes budget was more around 250 million and a compromise was needed. There was no early reaction from Ferrari after the days two free practice sessions which ended with the Italian teams Kimi Raikkonen on top ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Both Ferrari and Mercedes have been reluctant to embrace radical changes to the sport, knowing that with the support of ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA), the new owners can introduce their plan without the backing of all 10 teams. The five key areas covered were control of budgets and revenues, a new structure for governance, sporting and technical rules, cheaper and louder engines and overall costs. - 'Good day for Williams' - Wolff accepted the direction of Libertys planned future for the sport, but stopped short of accepting it. He told reporters: There is no such thing as a fait accompli because you can always decide if you like it or you don't. I think this is the starting point of a dialogue. Chase used a sentence that is intelligent that says 'we have no exclusivity to good ideas'. We will be starting discussions. There are many ideas and proposals that have been either overdue or necessary or good, and then there are some that are very challenging and need details to really understand." Asked if Mercedes would continue beyond 2020, when the sports current 'Concorde Agreement' ends, if the blueprint remained unchanged, Wolff said: This is a set of ideas and concepts for 2021 that need refinement and understanding of the detail -- and only then is it right for the teams to decide if this is something they like and wish to participate in. Or not." Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said he hoped to see the plan finalised within a couple of months. Theres some big topics to deal with there: engines, budget caps and redistribution of prize fund. Its ambitious, but theyve got to go for it. At least theyve put a target down to say we want this nailed within a couple of months," he said. The bottom line is this is going to have a much bigger effect on three or four teams running at the front of the grid. The guys from P4 downwards are potentially going to get a lot of upside. So you should see some fairly happy faces down that end of the paddock. Williams was one of the happiest. She said: I came back thinking lets crack open some champagne Personally, Im delighted at the proposals they laid down. "We hoped for change under our new management and theyve presented change. It was an extremely good day for a team like ours. Im sure some people arent going to be very happy. Theres always going to be winners and losers in this situation. Sometimes its about compromise if were to protect the future health of this sport. If we can get these new regulations then I know that Williams future is safe."
MANILA, Philippines The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has summoned the two transport network companies (TNC), Uber and Grab, to hear their stance on the acquisition deal.

The PCC wants to recommend interim measures to maintain good competition among the two TNCs.

One of the interim measures is to suspend the acquisition deal and let Uber operate beyond their deadline of April 8.

If our review does indicate that this transaction is going to harm, substantially harm, the riding public, then we will do our, mandated of us to do, PCC chairman Arsenio Balisacan said.

But Uber opposed the idea saying all their employees have already left their jobs in the company.

Uber also decided to exit from the Southeast Asia market and sell part of their assets to Grab.

But Grab explained that there is still competition even if Uber has left the market.

They said there are still more options to choose from aside from the service of ride-sharing applications.

The interim measure, depending on what they are, would mildly affect, possibly, the acquisition of drivers or the moving of drivers to Grab if they are still operating on Uber platform, said Grab PH country head, Brian Cu.

Meanwhile, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) assured that there will be three new TNCs that may operate in the country soon.

The TNCs applying for registration are Hype, I-para and Go Lag.

The LTFRB said the firms are just completing the requirements for operation.

Kung ma-submit nila ngayon, next week lalabas yung certificate of accreditation, said LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra.

(If they can submit these now, next week the certificate of accreditation may be released.)

The LTFRB said they are not imposing limitations on the number of TNCs that seek to operate in the country.

It said they will accept as many as possible to boost the demand for ride-sharing applications like Uber.

Consumer groups are in favor of allowing more TNCs to operate.

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However, the government should give the public enough time to adjust before it decides on the acquisition by Grab of Uber.

Wala na tayong choice. Isa na lang maiiwan; walang competition. At yung sinasabi na dadating pa, dadating pa lang yun. Wala pa yung track record, said Laban Konsyumer Inc. chairman Vic Dimagiba.

(We have no choice. Only one is left; theres no competition. And the ones they said are coming, theyre not here yet. They dont have a track record yet.)

Meanwhile, the LTFRB assured that the fares of Grab will not immediately increase since their application for fare hike needs to undergo a process.  Mon Jocson | UNTV News & Rescue

The post PCC recommends cancellation of Grab-Uber acquisition deal appeared first on UNTV News.
FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte speaks with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on the sidelines of the 120th founding anniversary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City on September 26, 2017. (RICHARD MADELO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines  President Rodrigo Duterte has accepted the resignation of Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.

During the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the secretary was seen being cheerful with President Duterte.

Malacanang at first said they have not received any resignation letter from the secretary when the issue on Cabinet revamp resurfaced.

I [will] just also tell you now that I conferred with the officials. I accepted the resignation of Vitaliano Aguirre. [My] fraternity brother, as Secretary of Justice, said Duterte.

The resignation of the secretary comes amid controversies faced by the justice department.

These include the 50 million bribery scandal of Bureau of Immigration (BI), the submission of alleged mastermind Janet Lim Napoles under witness protection program and dismissal of charges against self-confessed drug dealer Kerwin Espinosa and alleged druglord Peter Lim.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced that President Duterte has appointed Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra to replace Aguirre in DOJ.

The president also said during the Gawad Saka in Malcanang that he has chosen National Capital Region chief Oscar Albayalde as the next Philippine National Police (PNP) chief.

Albayalde will replace PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa who will retire on April 21 after two consecutive term extensions.

Albayalde expressed gratitude for the presidents trust.

Rest assured that I will not betray their trust and confidence na ibinigay nila sa akin (they have given me). Yun ang maipapangako ko sa kanila (Thats what I can promise them), said Albayalde.

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Meanwhile, the president has threatened smugglers and assured stiffer penalties and accountability against violators.

Im going to categorize importation of about P50 million as economic sabotage, said Duterte.  Nel Maribojoc | UNTV News & Rescue

The post Pres. Duterte accepts Aguirres resignation appeared first on UNTV News.
40 young sea turtles were released into the tranquil waters of the Andaman Sea to begin their lifetime ocean odysseys at Laguna Phukets 24th annual sea turtle release in the morning of Sunday, 1 April on Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) beachfront in Phuket, Thailand.

Led by Mr. Norraphat Plodthong, Phuket Governor, the beach ceremony was part of Laguna Phukets on-going environmental partnership with Phuket Marine Biological Centre and the 3rd Area Naval Command, Royal Thai Navy to help the plight of endangered sea turtles.

Proceeds from sea turtle release tickets and other activities including merchandise sales at the event will be put towards the Centres sea turtles conservation programmes. To date, 2,105 sea turtles have been released by Laguna Phuket and 7 million Baht raised since 1994.

Over the course of 24 years, more than 4,500 people have participated in the initiative. The half-day activities include a visit to sea turtles nursery ponds, rescue ponds and sea turtle conservation trail where participants, mostly families with young children, were being briefed on the importance of wildlife conservation.

Our ultimate goal is to actively engage, educate and inspire our guests, associates, community members and the general public that we all play a vital role in sea turtles and eco-system protection, said Mr. Anthony Loh, SAVP of Laguna Phuket,

We hope that this experience will encourage the young generations to be lifelong advocates of wildlife conservation and environmental preservation. he concluded.

Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) can live for up to 60 years and spend their lives roaming the worlds oceans. Only the females ever come ashore again to nest. For more information, visit www.lagunaphuket.com/CSR
Will create environment for your home return, PM assures Nepali diaspora

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has urged the Nepali community based in India to return home to support his campaign to build Nepal.
Grand Mercure Phuket Patong Resort & Villas are delighted to invite you to celebrate our traditional Thai New Year. Enjoy a unique cultural experience, seasonal cuisine and water splashing festivities in a Thai Temple Fair atmosphere on Friday, 13 April 2018 at Bubbles Restaurant from 18:00  23:00 for only THB 1,399 per person.

Authentic dining is an essential part of the Songkran Festival and the fragrant flavours of Thai New Year are served with our signature Khao Chae  Jasmine rice soaked in cool water accompanied by traditional side dishes. Delve into the lavish buffet with an endless selection of fresh seafood, local Thai cuisine, traditional Phuket recipes, BBQ and live cooking stations.

For more information or reservation, please call +66 76 231 999 or email h8109@accor.com.
The arrival of Lidl and Amazon's massive purchase of Whole Foods last summer appear to have put pressure on the area's top grocers last year, costing them market share and pushing them to roll out creative ways to win over customers.

Amid these changes, Matthews-based Harris Teeter, however, remains Charlotte's top grocery chain with 19.8 percent of the area's market share, according to a new report on 2017 grocery revenue. Not far behind are two lower-cost grocers, Walmart and Food Lion.

Over the last year, several grocers, including Harris Teeter and its competitor Publix, lost market share amid growing competition, especially from Amazon/Whole Foods. Harris Teeter, which dropped from 20.1 percent a year earlier, also closed a few stores last year, including its location on Johnston Road in Ballantyne and its 201central beer/wine store in Huntersville.

Publix, a Florida company that entered the Charlotte market with its first store in Ballantyne in 2014, is once again Charlotte's No. 4 grocer, with 7.1 percent of the area's market share, down slightly from 7.2 percent a year before., according to an annual report sent to the Observer from sales-tracking firm Chain Store Guide.

Meanwhile, Walmart came in at No. 2 with 18.6 percent of the region's market share, unchanged from the year before. No. 3 was Food Lion with 18.1 percent, also flat year-over-year.

For their part, Harris Teeter and Publix say they're fighting for market share by adding new stores with fancy amenities meant to woo customers and create a unique shopping experience.

A major disruptor throughout the country's increasingly intense grocery competition last year was Lidl, the low-cost German chain that opened its first stores in the Carolinas last fall. Although the discount supermarket chain has slowed its pace of growth since then, it still looks to have taken at least some market share from existing stores here. According to Chain Store Guide, the "other operations" category that includes Lidl grew to 3.6 percent last year, up from 1.7 percent.

In a changing marketplace that has seen new stores arrive and some close up shop in the past year, the next year should bring even more churn in Charlotte's cutthroat grocery industry. More grocery options in Charlotte means some stores are forced to lower their prices to stay competitive, putting more pressure on already-thin profit margins.

"Between Whole Foods/Amazon and Lidl, I think next year is going to be significant," national supermarket analyst Phil Lempert said of Charlotte's growing grocery competition.

What's next

When Amazon acquired Whole Foods last summer for $13.7 billion, the e-commerce giant started lowering prices on dozens of popular staples, including bread, milk and produce. Whole Foods opened its store in Waverly last May, bringing its total number of area stores to three.

At No. 14 on the Chain Store Guide report, Whole Foods isn't one of Charlotte's top grocers, but it still saw its market share increase to 1.5 percent last year from 1 percent the year before.

Amazon is likely to keep snatching customers from existing grocers here (like Harris Teeter and Publix) as it lowers prices at Whole Foods, making it more "mainstream," Lempert said. Furthermore, Whole Foods will open its uptown location later this year, adding a convenient new option for office workers and uptown dwellers, especially as hundreds of new luxury apartments open along the booming Stonewall Street corridor. As another perk for customers, Amazon started offering delivery of Whole Foods products to its Prime members this year in several markets.

Intense price competition and pressure to offer online ordering following Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods is pressuring supermarket chains, analysts from Fitch Ratings wrote in a March report.

"There is a heightened sense of urgency to maintain market share due to aggressive expansion by German hard discount chains Aldi and Lidl and a loss of dollar share to the restaurant industry, which has captured a greater portion of total U.S. food expenditures since 2015," the Fitch report said.

On the other side of the price spectrum, Bi-Lo announced in March that as part of a planned bankruptcy filing it would close 94 stores this spring, including six in the Charlotte region. That will likely have a sizable impact on other local grocers, as Bi-Lo was the area's No. 6 grocer, with 4.9 percent market share.

Charlotte has seen a number of other prominent and long-standing grocers close over the last year, including the homegrown organic chain, Healthy Home Market.

Filling in the gap for the Bi-Lo closures could be dollar chains such as Family Dollar (owned by Dollar Tree) and Dollar General, both chains that sell food at prices that are lower than traditional grocery chains, Lempert said. Another company to fill in is Lidl, which has several more stores planned in the area.

Aldi, a close competitor with Lidl, saw its market share decline last year, falling to 2 percent from 2.2 percent.

Lempert said he expects Lidl to continue with its aggressive pace of growth this year. "I think Lidl is waiting a bit to see what Aldi does," he said of Aldi, which has been renovating its stores across the country. "(Lidl) is learning a lot, then they're going to hit it hard."

The total amount Charlotte shoppers spent on groceries over the last year declined slightly, according to the Chain Store Guide report, even as the area added new residents at a fast pace. This could be because of increased spending on Amazon Fresh and other e-commerce options, which are not tracked by the report because they do not have retail locations in the area.

Grocers respond to competition

Longstanding grocers are not taking the increased competition lightly.

To stand out amid growing competition, hometown grocer Harris Teeter, started in the Great Depression and later acquired in 2014 by the grocery giant Kroger, has been adding perks you wouldn't find at a traditional supermarket, including wine bars, beer growlers and even gas stations, the company said.

"Our stores with amenities such as beer/wine bars and sit-down eating areas are creating a space where our customers visit, not only to do their shopping, but also to come together in a social capacity. It's exciting to see a grocery store become a social hub within the thriving neighborhoods of our hometown," Harris Teeter spokeswoman Danna Robinson said in an email.

Publix continues its aggressive expansion throughout Charlotte, even adding stores across the street from Harris Teeter locations. That's the case in Cotswold, where Publix is expected to open its latest area store some time in the second quarter. In March, the chain also opened a Lake Norman location, as well as its second Cabarrus County store in Harrisburg.

Walmart and other stores will also continue to forge ahead with their e-commerce initiatives as shoppers turn more to online shopping, Lempert said, citing the retailer's purchase of online retailer Jet.com.

"Over the last year, we have continued to invest in serving our Charlotte-area customers through the launch of innovations like our pick-up towers and scan-and-go app," said Kate Mora, regional vice president for Walmart stores in North Carolina.

As Whole Foods becomes more "mainstream," other organic grocers will fill the void left in the "upscale" category that Whole Foods leaves behind, Lempert said. The organic grocer Sprouts opens its first location in Charlotte this week in Ballantyne, for instance.

"You're doing to see more 'Whole Foods wannabes,' if you will, as Whole Foods moves out of that space," Lempert said.

Explore further Kale to go: Amazon to roll out delivery at Whole Foods

2018 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Books that are fiction, thrillers or mysteries, have high initial sales numbers and are released around Christmas are more likely to be bestsellers, according to a study published in the open access journal EPJ Data Science.

A team of researchers from Northeastern University, Boston, used a big data approach to investigate what makes a book successful. By evaluating data from the New York Times Bestseller Lists from 2008 to 2016, they developed a formula to predict if a book would be a bestseller. They found that general fiction and biographies were more likely to make the bestseller list more often than other genres and that those with a higher initial place on the list were more likely to stay on it for a longer amount of time.

Professor Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, lead author of the study, commented: "The most surprising result was that we found a universal pattern to book sales: all hardcover bestsellers, regardless of genre, follow a sales trajectory governed by the same factors. This allowed us to create a statistical model to predict sales of a book based on its early sales numbers."

The researchers found that although fiction books sold more copies than non-fiction books, non-fiction titles were more likely to retain their bestseller status once achieved. An example of this was 'Unbroken' by Laura Hillenbrand, a non-fiction title that stayed on the bestseller list for 203 weeks, longer than any other book in the study. The fiction title that stayed on the list the longest was 'The Help', which stayed for 131 weeks; this may have been due to a popular film adaption.

The authors also found that fiction writers had more repeat success with getting on the list than non-fiction writers. Books in the romance category were more likely to be written by female authors and male authors were more likely to be authors of non-fiction books. The researchers found no gender disparity among bestselling fiction authors but most non-fiction bestsellers were written by men.

The author's evaluated sales numbers and patterns from 2,468 fiction titles and 2,025 non-fiction titles from the New York Times Bestseller Lists 2008-2016 to create their formula for predicting how well a book would sell and whether it would be a bestseller. Three key parameters were found to be important to the formula: the audience, sales numbers from the author to date and time after publication.

Professor Barabasi explained: "The analysis of bestseller characteristics and the discovery of the universal nature of sales patterns with its driving forces are crucial for our understanding of the book industry, and more generally, of how we as a society interact with cultural products."

The authors caution that the formula cannot account for events like awards a book may receive movie adaptations and celebrity endorsements. Although these factors may influence book success, they are relatively rare occurrences.

More information: Burcu Yucesoy et al, Success in books: a big data approach to bestsellers, EPJ Data Science (2018). Journal information: European Physical Journal Data Science Burcu Yucesoy et al, Success in books: a big data approach to bestsellers,(2018). DOI: 10.1140/epjds/s13688-018-0135-y
Hanne Lvlie, associate professor, Linkoping University, and friend. Credit: Anna Nilsen/LiU

Chickens that grow up in an environment that they perceive as more diverse and manageable, retain an optimistic view of life and cope with stress better than individuals that grow up in more sterile surroundings, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. A team of researchers lead by researchers from Linkoping University, Sweden, measured how optimism in chickens is affected by stress.

With people, you can measure optimism by asking a person whether they see a glass as half-empty or half-full. Most people answer that the glass is half-full, unless they are suffering from depression. But how can you measure optimism in chickens? The method that the researchers used to determine whether an animal had a more or less optimistic attitude corresponds to asking whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. Young chicks were taught to distinguish between black and white, where one of the colours contained a reward, through a process known as associative learning. The chickens were then given a new challenge, and presented with grey symbols intermediate between the rewarded and the unrewarded colours. The researchers measured the response of the birds toward the grey colour where chickens that reacted to grey in the same manner as they had reacted to the rewarded colour were considered to be optimistic. Chickens that reacted to grey similarly to their response to the unrewarded colour were considered to be less optimistic.

The researchers also measured levels of dopamine, an important signal substance, in the brain of these chickens. In humans, dopamine is linked to well-being and optimism. The results showed that chickens assessed to be optimistic had higher levels of dopamine.

"In this study we wanted to investigate how stress influences optimism, and whether a more complex environment during development can buffer and counteract negative effects of stress," says Hanne Lvlie, associate professor in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linkoping University, who has led the study.

In the study, the researchers compared chickens that grew up in rather sterile surroundings, to those that had grown up in a more complex and stimulating environment.

"One interesting result was that chickens in both types of environments were equally optimistic before being exposed to stress," says Hanne Lvlie.

In order to expose the chickens to stress, the researchers created an unpredictable environment for them by moving things around in the animals' pens, and expose them to irregular light and noise intervals. The animals were exposed to such stressors for a limited period. It was only when the chickens were exposed to stress that differences appeared: individuals that had lived in a simpler environment lost their optimistic attitude after being exposed to stress, while chickens in a more complex environment retained their optimistic attitude and thus seemed to be better able to cope with stress.

"If a chicken can hide under something or fly up and perch somewhere, it can manage a stressful situation better. We believe that the possibility of controlling the situation better resulted in these individuals being able to maintain optimism, even after a period with increased stress," says Josefina Zidar, who holds a doctorate in ethology from Linkoping University.

Since the difference between the groups arose only after the animals had been exposed to additional stress, it suggests that repeated stress can reduce optimism.

"It has previously been shown that additive stress can have unfortunate consequences, and this should be considered in animal husbandry to provide better welfare," says Josefina Zidar.

More information: Josefina Zidar et al. Environmental complexity buffers against stress-induced negative judgement bias in female chickens, Scientific Reports (2018). Journal information: Scientific Reports Josefina Zidar et al. Environmental complexity buffers against stress-induced negative judgement bias in female chickens,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23545-6
Bluefin tuna. Credit: Tom Horton

Atlantic bluefin tuna are known for being amongst the biggest, fastest and most valuable fish in the sea.

They were once a common sight in UK waters, ranging throughout the Celtic and North Sea.

However, they largely disappeared from British waters in the 1990s, possibly due to overfishing, and are now recognised as an endangered species.

In recent years they have been observed more frequently in UK coastal waters, particularly during the late summer, autumn and winter as they move into coastal areas to feed on energy rich fish such as sprats and herring.

Atlantic bluefin tuna can migrate over huge distances, moving over the entire Atlantic Ocean to North America and back again in a single year, crossing both coastal waters and the deep offshore.

They are top predators of the seas and are fast, energetic and powerful fish with considerable commercial and conservation interest.

However, despite historic evidence, we know little about their movements, for example how long they stay in British waters and where they go once they leave our coastal environment.

Improving knowledge on the species is an important first step for securing a positive future for Atlantic bluefin tuna around the UK.

The University of Exeter and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) have embarked upon a two-year scientific study, supported by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, to deploy state-of-the-art animal tracking devices to find out where Atlantic bluefin tuna in UK waters go.

Scientists will work with stakeholders including commercial fishers, recreational anglers, wildlife watchers and NGOs, to share knowledge, and to deploy around 40 satellite tracking devices.

The work will help scientists to understand:

where and when Atlantic bluefin tuna are found in British waters

long-distance migrations, and where Atlantic bluefin tuna go when they are not in UK coastal waters

where Atlantic bluefin tuna found in UK waters go to breed

interactions between Atlantic bluefin tuna and both commercial and recreational fisheries

The information will improve knowledge on Atlantic bluefin tuna, ultimately aiding in the conservation of these remarkable animals into the future.

The project was officially launched at the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the Penryn Campus of the University of Exeter.

More than 40 stakeholders attended to meet with the project team, to hear about the biology and ecology of bluefin tuna and how the THUNNUS UK project will help to provide more information, and to ask questions and offer information in both formal sessions, and during informal discussions.

The workshop, the first of four in the project, was well received by the stakeholders and the project team were delighted with the outcome.

Dr David Righton, lead scientist on the project for Cefas, said: "This exciting collaboration will enable us to gather and share knowledge of this incredible species, and uncover the role they play in UK waters.

"Cefas has a long history of investigating the behaviours and migrations of many species of fish, and we're looking forward to using our expertise to address some of the fundamentally important questions that need answering about bluefin tuna.

"The enthusiasm of the people that came along to the project launch was terrific, and it give us all great hope that the scientific data that the tagging programme will bring can combine with the observations and information of fishers, sailors, observers and anyone else who spends their time close to the sea."

Dr Matthew Witt, lead scientist on the project for the University of Exeter, said: "This a ground-breaking project for the UK and another important step towards the use of evidence-based approaches for marine conservation.

"These are huge, exciting top predators, yet with an uncertain future. We are incredibly excited to be able to work on these fish, which I suspect to many conjure thoughts of tropical warm waters, yet they are here in our coastal sea.

"The next few years will be challenging, exciting, yet hugely revealing regards their movements and biology."

Explore further Hungry bluefin tuna in a sea of plenty
Credit: Universidad de San Martin de Porres

A multinational South American team from Peru, Brasil and Bolivia led by the Universidad de San Martin de Porres at Lima, Peru, published the first genetic study on the modern descendants of the imperial Inca lineages in the journal Molecular Genetics and Genomics.

The Inca people arrived in the Cusco valley, and in a few centuries, had established the Tawantinsuyu, the largest empire in the Americas. The Tawantinsuyu was the cultural climax of 6,000 years of Central Andes civilizations overlapping modern countries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, the South of Colombia and the North of Argentina and Chile. In contrast with the richness of archaeological and cultural evidence, pre-Columbian history vanishes in time as it intermingles with myths due to the lack of writing systems before the arrival of the European chroniclers.

Very little is known about Inca origins, and genetic information could help reconstruct part of their history. Unfortunately, the mummies and bodily remains of the Inca emperors, worshiped as gods, were burnt and buried in unknown locations due to religious and political persecution by the Christian conquistadors and inquisitors, so there exists no direct material for DNA analysis. "Thus, for now, only the genetic analysis of modern families of Inca descent could provide some clues about their ancestors," says geneticist Jose Sandoval, first author, working at Universidad de San Martin de Porres at Lima, Peru.

There were two foundational myths for the origin of the Incas before they settled in Cusco valley to build their capital city. One is that Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, considered children of the Sun God and founder parents of the civilization, came from Lake Titicaca about 500 km southwards from the border of North Bolivia and South Peru, more or less the same region where the Tiwanaku empire existed a few centuries before. The second myth says that four Ayar brothers with divine powers came out from the caves inside of a hill in the area of Paccarictambo, 50 km south of Cusco, and only one of them, Manco, arrived to the Cusco valley. Concerning the succession of the rulers, most chroniclers mention only one patrilineal heritage; however, other authors think that succession was based on a complex selection of military and administrative skills, not necessarily by electing the son of a previous Inca.

"A unique patrilineal cluster would be expected in the first case. In the second case, two or more patrilineal patterns will be evident," says geneticist Ricardo Fujita, senior author, also at Universidad de San Martin de Porres. The research team included historian Ronald Elward, who studied documentation of 12 Inca noble families and followed up from the conquista times to their contemporary descendants. "Most of them still living in the towns of San Sebastian and San Jeronimo, Cusco, Peru, at present, are probably the most homogeneous group of Inca lineage," says Elward.

Markers for Y chromosomes and mtDNA were used for the genetic analysis of these families and compared with a database for 2400 native individuals from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil. "The results show distinctive patrilineal origins to two founder individuals who lived between 1000 to 1500 AD, a period between the decline of former Tiwanaku (south) and Wari (north) contemporary empires, and the rise of the Inca empire a few centuries later," says geneticist Fabricio Santos from the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais at Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The first patrilineal haplotype named AWKI-1 ("awki" means "crown prince" in the Quechua language) is found in the putative families descending from two earlier Inca, Yahuar Huacac and Viracocha. The same pattern of the Inca descendants was also found in individuals living south to Cusco, mainly in Aymaras of Peru and Bolivia. The second patrilineal haplotype, named AWKI-2, was found in one descendant of a more recent Inca, Huayna Capac, father of the two brothers (Huascar and Atahualpa) who were fighting a fraternal war over the empire at the arrival of the conquistadors. "AWKI-2 is also found in dozens of individuals from different locations in the Andes and occasionally in the Amazon, suggesting a populational expansion," says Dr. Santos.

"In addition to San Sebastian and San Jeronimo, most locations of AWKI-1, AWKI-2 were southwards to Cusco including the basin of lake Titicaca and neighboring Paccarictambo, in agreement with the two foundational myths of the Inca, probably two pictures at different times of the same journey with final destination Cusco," says Ricardo Fujita.

"It is also remarkable that in these contemporary Inca nobility families, there is a continuity since pre-Columbian times," says Ronald Elward. The analysis of their mtDNA suggested a highly varied matrilineal marker whose counterparts are found all over the Andes, reflecting a high genetic flow. "This probably reflects the political alliances by arranged marriages between Cusco nobility and daughters of lords of kingdoms and chiefdoms all over the empire," says Jose Sandoval.

This work is the continuation of several studies performed by the team to reconstruct South American history via genetics. Two published works included the unique ancient roots of the Uros, people from the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca and the Quechwa-Lamistas in Peruvian Amazon. Modern Uros are Aymara speaking-people believed to be of the Aymara ethnia who profited from tourism on the floating islands. However, the team showed that they were genetically isolated people who had lost their original Uro language, shifting to the widely used Aymara language. On the other hand the Kechwa-Lamista are Amazonian people who speak the Andean Quechua language, presumed descendants of Andeans Chancas, former enemies of the Incas, and were chased by them toward the Amazon. DNA showed that they are actually descendants of linguistically different Amazonian people who were gathered by Catholic missions and were taught the Quechua language for a better evangelization.

"In some cases, genetics shows us something different than the official history. What is not written or badly written in historical records can be revealed by what is written in our DNA," says Ricardo Fujita. "This study is just the tip of the iceberg in trying to solve part of several enigmas of one of the most remarkable civilizations. The DNA of one Inca monarch's bodily remains or one direct descendant who lived at the beginning of the Spanish colonization could give more certainty about the Inca lineage, and our team is looking forward to it," says Jose Sandoval.

Explore further Genetics preserves traces of ancient resistance to Inca rule

More information: Jose R. Sandoval et al, Genetic ancestry of families of putative Inka descent, Molecular Genetics and Genomics (2018). Jose R. Sandoval et al, Genetic ancestry of families of putative Inka descent,(2018). DOI: 10.1007/s00438-018-1427-4

Provided by Universidad de San Martin de Porres
An employee conducting a final inspection on a Mercedes-Benz C-Class at the Mercedes-Benz US International factory in Vance, Alabama, last year. The firm, like its fellow German rival BMW, sends lots of cars assembled in the United States to China and could thus feel the brunt of tariffs that Beijing has threatened to impose in response to US measures

German carmakers with big US operations like BMW and Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler would be worse hit by proposed Chinese import tariffs than American auto firms, a study has found.

"The Germans stand to lose the most in absolute terms if the tariffs are enforced," a study by asset managers AllianceBernstein (AB) showed.

Business information company IHS estimated BMW would export 89,000 vehicles from America to China in 2018, while Mercedes would ship 65,000, making them by far the biggest US-China exporters.

US-made cars accounted for around 280,000 imports into China last year, behind top importer Japan but ahead of Germany.

But aside from electric-car pioneer Teslawhere China is projected to account for more than 15 percent of shipments of its Model S and X lines this yearother US-based manufacturers should send less than 10,000 cars each to China, limiting the impact.

Most of the American-built BMWs and Mercedes sent to China were costly SUVs, which could increase in price by up to 20 percent if Beijing implements its threatened tariff increases, according to AB.

Cars are just one sensitive US export on China's $50-billion hit-list, which also includes politically charged products like soybeans and aircraft.

Beijing suggested the levies as a possible response if US President Donald Trump imposes threatened tariffs on a $50 billion tally of Chinese imports.

But in the latest step in an escalating trans-Pacific war of words, Trump said he would slap a further $100 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing retaliated.

If the two sides do not climb down and go ahead with the border taxes, it could "nudge" the German manufacturers towards producing cars for China locally rather than shipping them from the United States, AB suggested.

Nevertheless, it's "probably too soon to start talking about strategic change" from the firms in response to the trade sabre-rattling, the analysts added.

Explore further German automakers biggest spenders on electric cars: study

 2018 AFP
UC graduate student Samuel Garvey stands in front of a cast of a mosasaur skull that UC's Department of Biological Sciences acquired this year.

Takuya Konishi held up a fossil of a mosasaur, a ferocious marine reptile that lived alongside dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago.

The wishbone-shaped lower jawbone didn't look like much, but to Konishi it was a fantastic clue.

"Here is what I think is a new kind of mosasaur," said Konishi, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Cincinnati. "I can say that from 'only' this much bone. But only is in quotation marks. This is a very good specimen."

With 18 peer-reviewed journal articles on the subject, Konishi is an internationally renowned expert on mosasaurs, the aquatic predator and unlikely hero of the 2015 blockbuster movie "Jurassic World."

The paleontologist in UC's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences has spent much of his career piecing together the lives of these predators that lived alongside Tyrannosaurus rex.

While visitors to museums see complete fossil skeletons of mosasaurs suspended in dramatic hunting postures, paleontologists more typically find a dull-colored fragment like the one Konishi held. Piece together enough of these fragments and the fossils begin to tell a story, he said.

"We're not dealing with 'Jurassic World,'" Konishi said. "It's a lot of detective work. That is the great appeal of paleontology. We're so limited with the evidence so it's our points of view we should sharpen and hone so we can shed new light on the discoveries."

A fossilized mosasaur found in Kansas in 1991 is suspended from the ceiling of UC's Geology-Physics Building where it is on public display. Credit: University of Cincinnati

Mosasaurs are more closely related to snakes and lizards than dinosaurs. While mosasaurs went extinct 65 million years ago, other marine reptiles from that time, such as sea turtles, persisted. By learning more about mosasaurs, we can understand evolutionary processes such as extinction that influence species today, Konishi said.

"Superficially, mosasaurs look like the T. rex of the sea," he said. "They were apex predators, like killer whales today. They were bigger than the sharks of their time. They occupied every niche available to them."

Mosasaurs have a lot in common with today's monitor lizards, except they were true marine reptiles that never left the water and gave birth to live young. They were found off the coasts of every continent and dominated their marine habitats for about 30 million years. Scientists have identified about 70 species ranging in size from a bottlenose dolphin to a Greyhound bus.

And most of what is known about mosasaurs was pieced together from small bits of fossil collected and examined by paleontologists over the past 200 years.

"Every now and then you strike a gold mine and find something like this," Konishi said, holding up the intact jawbone. "You always have to be working on these less-optimal specimens so you can maximize the scientific value of the more complete specimens when they are discovered."

One recently discovered fossil, in particular, has captured the attention of Konishi and UC graduate student Samuel Garvey. It is one of the larger of known kinds of mosasaur called a tylosaur and was unearthed around Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, in what used to be a vast inland sea.

"In the time of Tyrannosaurus and his geologically older cousin Albertosaurus, the Western Interior Seaway stretched from what is now the Arctic Ocean all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico through the heart of North America," Konishi said.

About 70 species of mosasaur have been identified so far. Some were as small as dolphins while others were bigger than Greyhound buses. Credit: University of Cincinnati

Garvey is working on a quantitative model for interpreting both the preferred prey and the function of predator teeth based on their shape and variety. Mosasaurs are good models for this analysis since different species have unique dentition.

"They were apex predators. They were the big bads of the Cretaceous sea," Garvey said. "There are unique things about my specimen. So are there other high-latitude specimens that might show similar characteristics? Or is it anomalous?"

What is most striking about Garvey's 20-foot-long tylosaur, Konishi said, is its sharp but slender teeth.

Scientists think mosasaurs were opportunistic predators, hunting and eating most anything they could catch based on the fossilized stomach contents found in some specimens. Most had ferocious jaws and teeth that would have made them effective hunters of everything from sea turtles and hard-shelled squid to smaller mosasaurs, Konishi said.

"It's not that surprising, knowing how robust their teeth are," Konishi said. "They could eat almost anything. They didn't have to be choosy."

These conical teeth were durable, capable of crushing shell or digging into bone. The teeth of many specimens were worn, suggesting they got plenty of use biting into hard prey. And like sharks, they grew new teeth to replace older ones throughout their lives.

But the sharp, slender teeth in the mosasaur Garvey is studying probably wouldn't have been able to tackle such hard prey, Konishi said.

UC researchers study mosasaur teeth, among other clues, to learn more about their likely prey. Credit: University of Cincinnati

"That suggests that it was eating something differentmost likely fish," he said.

If these mosasaurs primarily survived on fish, it's possible they could have lived alongside the generalist mosasaurs without the pressure of competition.

"How would you have two big predators in the same ecosystem without losing one from competition or natural selection? They probably relied on different prey," Konishi said.

Like snakes, mosasaurs also had a second row of dentition on the roof of their mouths called pterygoid teeth. Konishi said these would have helped mosasaurs grip and swallow slippery prey such as fish without also swallowing seawater.

Marine reptiles have novel ways of processing salt from the food and water they consume. While mammals can process and eliminate salt through their urine, reptiles typically have glands that help them expel it. Sea turtles have glands behind their tear ducts so they 'cry' to expel salt. Sea snakes have glands in their mouth, he said. "Every time they flick their tongue, they remove salt. And marine iguanas sneeze out the salt," Konishi said.

Konishi said mosasaurs likely had salt glands as well to survive in their marine environment. These adaptations enabled lizards to colonize virtually every warm habitat on Earth.

"There are still many things from basic taxonomy to physiology to paleobiological questions we have about mosasaurs," Konishi said.

UC paleontologist Takuya Konishi poses with an ammonite fossil he discovered in Alberta, Canada, in 2011. Credit: Darren Tanke/Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology

Paleontologists have found a treasure trove of mosasaur fossils in parts of Kansas and Alberta, Canada, that were underwater more than 80 million years ago.

One of these hotbeds is Hays, Kansas, home to Fort Hays State University's Sternberg Museum of Natural History. It was named for the Sternberg family, including George F. Sternberg, one of the first settlers to discover mosasaur fossils in Kansas after the Civil War, and his son Charles Sternberg, one of the museum's first curators.

Konishi spends a fair amount of his time fossil hunting as well in Alberta and the Canadian arctic.

"You just walk and use your eyes. Sometimes, you're literally on your knees. The closer you are to the ground, the better. Nobody ever looks for fossils on horseback," he said.

"Fieldwork is a fun part of the job. It's also very rewarding. It's hard work. It can be hot and sweaty," he said.

The prairie provinces of Canada are his favorite places for fieldwork.

"If you go out in the field there, you will find something. You always find something," he said. "And with that comes new discoveries."

UC professor Takuya Konishi in 2011 discovered the largest fossilized ammonite shell ever found in Alberta, Canada, while working at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. Credit: University of Cincinnati

The mosasaur is a perennial favorite of dinosaur lovers because of their immense size and menacing appearance. Konishi understands why mosasaurs are a pop-culture staple.

While the 2015 film "Jurassic World" spotlighted Konishi's research subject for a global audience, the moviemakers weren't sticklers for scientific accuracy, he said.

For starters, mosasaurs had mouths more like Komodo dragons than crocodiles. And the mosasaur featured in the movie's aquarium was far bigger than any known specimen.

Likewise, the monster portrayed on screen had knobby plates like a crocodile, which would have been a hindrance for truly aquatic reptiles. Andspoiler alerta mosasaur probably couldn't have beached itself to grab a genetically engineered dinosaur by the tail.

"Being an expert makes me savvy about that pop-culture aspect of a charismatic prehistoric, toothy predator. And they are," he said. "So I enjoyed the movie."

Explore further Prehistoric sea lizard pulled from skeletons in closet
Pathogenic gram-positive bacteria, such as S. gordonii, export a serine-rich adhesin to facilitate their attachment to host cells. Adhesin uses a dedicated secretion pathway, with several steps occurring in the cytosol before its translocation across the membrane. The adhesin GspB (shown in red) is first modified by N-acetylglucosamine (orange hexagon) and glucose (wheat hexagon) in a strictly sequential order. It is then targeted to the membrane by a complex of three accessory secretion proteins (Asp 1-3; shown in green, blue, and pink), two of which resemble carbohydrate-binding proteins (crystals structures are shown ribbon diagrams imbedded in space-filling presentation). Finally, GspB adhesin is moved through the membrane by a dedicated ATPase (SecA2) and membrane channel (SecY2) (both shown in cyan). Credit: Yu Chen, Harvard Medical School

Researchers at Harvard Medical School, the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Georgia have described how the protein that allows strep and staph bacteria to stick to human cells is prepared and packaged. The research, which could facilitate the development of new antibiotics, will appear in the April 6 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

All bacteria have a standard secretion system that allows them to export different types of proteins outside of their cells. An important class of extracellular molecules produced by pathogenic bacteria are adhesins, proteins that enable bacteria to adhere to host cells. For unknown reasons, the SRR (serine-rich-repeat) adhesins of Staphylococcus and Streptococcus bacteria - pathogens that can be involved in serious infections such as bacterial meningitis, bacterial pneumonia and pericarditis - are transported through a secretion pathway that is similar to the standard system, but dedicated solely to adhesin.

It would be as if a warehouse that processes many types of goods were to have a separate set of doors and forklifts for just one of its wares. Tom Rapoport, a professor at Harvard Medical School who oversaw the new study, wanted to understand what exactly these dedicated molecular supply chains were doing.

"I was intrigued by the fact that there is a second secretion system in some bacteria that is separate from the canonical secretion system and is just dedicated to the secretion of one protein," Rapoport said. "There is a whole machinery, and it's only doing one thing."

Yu Chen, at the time a postdoctoral research associate in Rapoport's lab, led the investigation. She found that, in order to be transported, the adhesin protein needed to be modified with specific sugars by three enzymes acting in a specific sequence. These sugar modifications stabilize the protein and enhance its stickiness to target cells. Furthermore, the experiments showed that two proteins in the adhesin-specific pathway, whose function had previously been mysterious, seemed to be able to bind to these sugars, presumably enabling them to carry the adhesin to the cell membrane where adhesin's dedicated exit channel is located.

The complexity of the adhesin transport system necessitated collaboration with research teams at UCSF, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Georgia. Members of Paul Sullam's lab at UCSF provided the clinical perspective, members of Maofu Liao's lab at Harvard characterized the targeting complex by electron microscopy, and members of Parastoo Azadi's lab at Georgia analyzed the sugar modifications.

"It's a complicated system because it involves protein modification, chaperone activity and membrane targeting, so we encountered a lot of challenges," Chen said. "This (study) is a great example of how collaboration across labs in the scientific community advances human knowledge."

The reason that these bacteria use this separate export pathway for adhesins remains elusive. But because this pathway is unique to strep and staph bacteria, the new understanding of its components could help researchers develop highly targeted antibiotics to treat infections caused by these bacteria in the future.

"You could imagine that you could develop novel antibiotics that could target this pathway," Rapoport said. "(They) would be very specific for pathogenic bacteria."

Explore further Molecular characterization of the autotransport process of Yersinia adhesin A (YadA)

More information: Yu Chen et al, Unraveling the sequence of cytosolic reactions in the export of GspB adhesin fromStreptococcus gordonii, Journal of Biological Chemistry (2018). Journal information: Journal of Biological Chemistry Yu Chen et al, Unraveling the sequence of cytosolic reactions in the export of GspB adhesin fromStreptococcus gordonii,(2018). DOI: 10.1074/jbc.RA117.000963
A new study by leading UChicago presidential scholar William G. Howell concludes that the rituals of public performances enhance the president's standing in the American public. Citizens who watch presidents participating in these performances are more likely to view them as fulfilling the obligations of office, enjoying the respect of key constituencies, and embodying the values and aspirations of a nation.

Most analysis of presidential speeches focuses on the text of the speech, the policies that a president presents and the way that the president makes his argument. But in a new working paper, Howell and his coauthors focused on the visual aspects of presidential performance and found that "when presidents perform public rituals, pictures matter far more than what is actually said."

"The public expects much more of a president than the Constitution actually allows the president to do," said Howell, the Sydney Stein Professor of American Politics at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. "Much more than just the text of a speech, a president uses the symbolism and ritual of grand public performances to show the country that he is indeed at the center of the political universe and worthy of their trustand it works."

The new study shows that individuals who watch events such as a presidential inauguration or State of the Union address have a more favorable impression of a president's ability to govern than those who do not, even among those who disagree with the president's policy goals.

"While some look for policy prescriptions at the State of the Union Address, most Americans instead see the president flanked by governmental elites, with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Supreme Court surrounding him," Howell said. "They see a commanding presence that is, at least for the moment, completely in control of the political world."

Howell and his coauthors directed a random sample of individuals to watch the 2017 inauguration if President Donald Trump and the president's speech to a joint session of Congress. As a control, they also directed a group of individuals to watch an unrelated event on television.

The research shows that:

Members of the public who watched the two events were more likely to say that Trump "fulfills the obligations, expectations and norms of his office."

The most educated and well-informed viewers were the most likely to be affected by the imagery.

Of those who viewed Trump more favorably after watching these addresses, those who initially reported low ratings for Trump had the largest positive change.

The visual elements of political performance leave larger impressions than the content of the speech.

Howell and his coauthors conclude that the visual trappings of the presidency allow the president to convince the public that they are indeed "presidential." While public appeals on policy topics have little impact on American's policy views, they can alter the public's view of the president himself as more fitting for the office he holds.

Howell, chair of the Department of Political Science, is the author of many books on the presidency, including most recently Relic: How Our Constitution Undermines Effective Governmentand Why We Need a More Powerful Presidency (2016).

Explore further People rationalize policies as soon as they take effect
On the morning of March 21, a white Austin police bomb squad truck pulled out of an obscure city facility near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and rolled north, toward Pflugerville.

The truck had been used a handful times in the previous weeks as a serial package bomber spread fear through Central Texas, with five bombs that killed two people while injuring others, and a sixth bomb that was intercepted by officials.

Inside the truck was one of the bomb squad's most high-tech weapons: a squat, steel robot. Its mission: to search the Pflugerville home of the bomber, 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, who hours earlier had blown himself up in Round Rock as law enforcement officials closed in on him. After Conditt's death, the robot was used to explore his house to make sure it was safe for investigators to enter.

"I don't know that we could have gained entry into (Conditt's) home safely without putting the robot in there first," said Austin police Lt. Courtney Renfro of the bomb squad. "I would be hesitant to send my officers into one of these situations without the robot. I probably wouldn't have in this situation."

As of last week, Austin police had received about 2,500 calls concerning suspicious packages since the bombings began March 2, Renfro said. The bomb squad was dispatched on more than 300 of those callsand on seven of those calls, the robots were deployed.

Even with that small number of deployments, the robots were a crucial resource during the bombings, Austin police officials say. The robots are only used when officers believe the highest risk exists, such as when searching Conditt's home for explosives, said Jeff Joseph, one of the police bomb technicians.

The Austin police bomb squad has four robots, though only its two newer models were used during the recent bombings.

The robots are Andros HD-2 models from the Remotec division of tech company Northrop Grumman. They are roughly 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. Moving around on four tracked wheels, they can travel about 3.5 miles per hour. The robots are equipped with an extension arm that has a clamp for grabbing and searching items, a rotating surveillance camera and front and rear articulators, or short legs, that allow it to climb stairs. The HD-2 models are lighter260 poundsthan their older counterparts.

The bomb squad received its first robot, which was a fraction of the size of its current models, about two decades ago. The squad is in the process of acquiring two new robots from Remotec. The new devices are Andros FX models, which cost roughly $300,000 each. One of those new models is expected to be delivered this week, Joseph said. The Andros FX has a number of upgrades, including eight tracked wheels that allow it to be more agile, along with a more versatile arm and camera.

More than robots

Founded in the 1970s, the Austin police bomb squad consists of seven bomb technicians. The squad has three options when responding to a call about a suspicious item, Joseph said. The team can investigate using one of its technicians, who wear formidable protective gear suit when handling suspicious items, it can deploy a rope device or it can dispatch a robot, Joseph said.

"For every incident we respond to, the first question we roll out is, 'Do we need to do it remotely?'" Joseph said. "It could just be because we did the last two or three incidents a different way, I want to change my response time, or just in case somebody were monitoring how we are doing it. And it helps eliminate some complacency."

But the robots aren't the department's only important technology. As calls of suspicious packages flooded in, many of the items were examined using mobile X-ray devices from tech firm Nex-Ray. The devices include a roughly foot-long X-ray machine that takes an image of whatever is inside a package and mirrors it on a tablet.

"These were invaluable," Renfro said. "They were used in just about every single one of the (suspicious package) calls. They saved hours and hours of these (officers) going out to calls where they would have waited for a response from one of these big trucks."

'A larger question'

While law enforcement officials point to the benefits of using robots in a variety of scenarios, some in the community have questioned how the devices are used, said Luis Sentis, a University of Texas robotics professor who has worked as a NASA contractor.

One of the main worries, Sentis said, is that advances in automation will one day make the robots police use too powerful. A highly publicized example of this concern came after Dallas police in July 2016 used a robot to deliver and detonate a bomb next to a shooter who had killed five police officers. While a grand jury ultimately ruled that the decision was justified, it raised questions about police use of technology.

"This is part of a larger question about should we eventually let robots (operate) without the supervision of a person," Sentis said. "We are engineers. We develop the technology with the hope that behavioral scientists, policymakers, etc. - they are going to create tunnels and decisions that will drive the engineering community the right way. Communities decide what is ethical or not. Regulators decide that."

Police robots shouldn't ever be used without a human controlling their moves, Joseph said. But he disputed the notion that the devices are too powerful.

"Our robots are pretty much remote-control cars. They don't do anything automatically," Joseph said. "I would have been really unhappy to approach one of those packages myself without a remote capability.

"Every single time we roll that thing out of the door, we're thankful we have it."

Even with Conditt dead, the threat of bombs is not over.

Last Thursday, more than a week after the serial bombings came to an end, three additional suspicious packages were reported to police.

The bomb squad was on guard again, with the robots ready to roll if needed.

Explore further Killer robot used by Dallas police opens ethical debate

2018 Austin American-Statesman, Texas

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Telegram's Russian founder has vowed to reject any attempt by the security's services to gain backdoor access to the app

Russia's telecoms watchdog on Friday asked a Moscow court to block the popular messaging app Telegram after the expiry of a deadline for it to give the state security services access to private conversations.

The lawsuit is the latest move in an ongoing battle between authorities and Telegram, which has a reputation for secure communications, as Moscow pushes to increase surveillance of internet activities.

Roskomnadzor said in a statement it had filed a suit "demanding the limiting of access on Russian territory" to the service.

But a lawyer representing Telegram said any ban would be unconstitutional and in any case impossible to enforce.

"The position of Telegram remains the samethe demands of the FSB (security service) to provide access to private conversations of users are unconstitutional, not based on the law, and cannot be fulfilled technically and legally," said Pavel Chikov, who leads a human rights group representing the app.

Telegram's self-exiled Russian founder Pavel Durov has long said he would reject any attempt by the country's security services to gain backdoor access.

The free application, which lets people exchange messages, photos and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people, has attracted some 200 million users since its launch in 2013.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday said the service was a convenient tool to communicate with journalists and it would be a "shame" if an agreement between the app and authorities could not be reached.

"But the law is the law," he added during a regular briefing, quoted by Interfax news agency.

Telegram is popular among political activists of all stripes, but has also been used by jihadists.

"In Russia we have many problemsfrom poverty to awful state of the roads, from crime to poor medical care," opposition leader Alexei Navalny said via Twitter.

"But the state is engaged in blocking Telegram in our name ...in what way is Telegram making life in Russia any worse? Whom is it bothering?" he said.

In September 2017 the FSB demanded the encryption keys, Durov said, prompting a formal complaint when the request was rejected.

The Roskomnadzor had threatened to ban the app in June last year for failing to provide its registration documents. Although Telegram later registered, it stopped short of agreeing to the regulator's data storage demands.

Companies on the register must provide the FSB with information on user interactions.

From this year they must also store all the data of Russian users inside the country, according to controversial anti-terror legislation passed in 2016 which was decried by internet companies and the opposition.

Explore further Telegram must give FSB encryption keys: Russian court

 2018 AFP
Globalisation and increased movement between countries and continents means movement of agricultural pests is becoming more common. Global trade means global pests. Credit: CSIRO

CSIRO scientists have confirmed the hybridisation of two of the world's major pest species, into a new and improved mega-pest.

One of the pests, the cotton bollworm, is widespread in Africa, Asia and Europe and causes damage to over 100 crops, including corn, cotton, tomato and soybean.

The damage and controlling the pest costs billions of dollars a year.

It is extremely mobile and has developed resistance to all pesticides used against it.

The other pest, the corn earworm, is a native of the Americas and has comparatively limited resistance and host range.

However, the combination of the two, in a novel hybrid with unlimited geographical boundaries is cause for major concern.

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) researchers in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides clear evidence of the hybridisation of the two moths in Brazil.

"A hybrid such as this could go completely undetected should it invade another country," Research Director leading CSIRO's Biosecurity Risk Evaluation and Preparedness Program Dr Paul De Barro said.

"It is critical that we look beyond our own backyard to help fortify Australia's defense and response to biosecurity threats.

"As Australia's national science agency, we are constantly looking for new ways to protect the nation and technology like genome sequencing, is helping to tip the scales in our favour."

While a combination of insecticides currently controls these pests well in Australia, it is important to study the pests themselves for sustainable long-term management world-wide.

The scientists confirmed that among the group of caterpillars studied, every individual was a hybrid.

"No two hybrids were the same suggesting a 'hybrid swarm' where multiple versions of different hybrids can be present within one population," fellow CSIRO Scientist Dr Tom Walsh said.

The bollworm, commonly found in Australia, attacks more crops and develops much more resistance to pesticides than the earworm.

A concerning finding among the Brazilian hybrids was that one was 51 per cent earworm but included a known resistance gene from the bollworm.

Lead author of the paper Dr Craig Anderson, a former CSIRO scientist now based at The University of Edinburgh, believes the hybrid study has wide-ranging implications for the agricultural community across the Americas.

"On top of the impact already felt in South America, recent estimates that 65 per cent of the USA's agricultural output is at risk of being affected by the bollworm demonstrates that this work has the potential to instigate changes to research priorities that will have direct ramifications for the people of America, through the food on their tables and the clothes on their backs," Dr Anderson said.

Explore further For the first time, researchers have mapped the complete genome of two closely related megapests

More information: Craig J. Anderson et al. Hybridization and gene flow in the mega-pest lineage of moth,Helicoverpa, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Craig J. Anderson et al. Hybridization and gene flow in the mega-pest lineage of moth,Helicoverpa,(2018). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1718831115
Credit: istockphoto.com/chombosan

"Although smartphones and tablets are ubiquitous, many of the companies that make our everyday consumer products still rely on paper trails and manually updated spreadsheets to keep track of their production processes and delivery schedules," says Leyuan Shi, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

That's what she hopes to change with a research idea she first published almost two decades ago.

During the past 16 years, Shi has visited more than 400 manufacturing companies in the United States, China, Europe, and Japan to personally observe their production processes. "And I have used that insight to develop tools that can make these processes run much more smoothly," she says.

These tools are based on the notion of a "digital twin," or a computer representation of physical assets (machines and people) and processes that helps managers better operate the systems that connect them.

Take, for example, a car manufacturing company with 15 different suppliers, each of which delivers a specific car part. As these parts arrive at the company, they are assembled by people who work in different departments, such as sheet metal cutting, heat treatment, welding, painting and so forth. The overall goal of this manufacturing system is to fill a set number of vehicle sales orders.

That's a classic example of a supply chain: a set of processes that link raw source materials to final consumer products.

A company's goal for making supply chain manufacturing more efficient might include decreasing production downtime due to delivery delays for required parts, and better adjusting to unpredictable events, such as rush orders, machine breakdowns, or defective parts.

The technology Shi has developed helps managers meet these goals. With a database system, user software and equipment sensors, it creates a digital twin of what is physically happening at the supply facilities and shop floors. Managers can use that digital representation to visually track the global production progress in real time and adjust workflows as needed. The tool provides continuously updated start times for each assembly stage and constantly refined delivery times for the customers who ordered the cars.

"That's what we mean by smart manufacturing," Shi says.

The technology is helpful for all industries, but is especially important in custom manufacturing. Unlike mass production companies, custom manufacturers typically receive a lower number of highly customized (and more expensive) sales orders and may also experience wilder market swings. This high variability in demand makes planning challenging, and the ability to respond quickly and efficiently to individual orders becomes a critical part of the business model.

At the heart of Shi's technology is a mathematical algorithm she originally published as a research paper in 2000, followed by a book on the subject eight years later. Although the methodology, known as nested partitioning, is not new, its implementation is only now becoming feasible. It relies on ultra-fast computers and wireless technology that connects machines, devices, and people to the internet and to each other: the Internet of Things.

To help translate her research into practical applications, Shi formed a spinoff company, LS Optimal, in 1995. Initially conceived for consulting purposes only, it now has several full-time employees in the United States who help industry clients develop and implement smart manufacturing processes.

"It was a long time coming, but we're finally seeing a real paradigm shift in the industry," Shi says. "By giving manufacturing companies the ability to track the progress of their sales orders in real time and manage their shop floors proactively, they can deliver high-quality products to their customers much faster than before."

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Truffles, the oldest Santa Cruz Island stallion at El Campeon Farms, just after breakfast. Credit: Karin Higgins

It's hot at El Campeon Farms, even for early August. A hard wind accompanies the heat, blowing through the Conejo Valley, where this horse ranch sits in Southern California. Abby Followwill is saddled on a horse named Vince. His golden-brown coat and blond mane stand out against the saturated blue sky and dusty corral where Followwill is training with him.

She is tall and lithe, with matching blond hair tucked into her helmet. Vince looks small under her, and though he is young, Santa Cruz Island horses tend to run small. They're also known to be easy-going and carry a hardiness, all formed by generations of living on the rugged island, one of the Channel Islands off the California coast.

In one hand, Followwill cradles a lariat and whips the loop above her head, aiming for a cow-skinned sawhorse. Vince looks, but he doesn't flinch as the rope hooks the plastic horns attached to the wooden legs.

"That was exactly what I was looking for with Vince, for him to just be totally comfortable with me doing a job," Followwill said. "It's just about finding that harmony between myself and Vince."

Harmony is what Santa Cruz Island horses have been looking for since being removed from the Channel Islands in the early 2000s. The horses had been there for more than a century, living relics from the time of the conquistadors, evolving to become as unique as the island itself. But after years of surviving in isolation on the island, the breed is teetering on the brink of extinction here on the mainland.

Santa Cruz Island is part of the Channel Islands, sitting 20 miles off the coast of Ventura, Calif. Until the early 2000s, horses and sheep lived on the island, which is operated by The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. National Park Service. Credit: Joe Proudman

Their unique history and characteristics have led to an effort to save the breed. Amy McLean, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, is working with Lou Gonda of El Campeon Farms to find the right way to do that.

"It's truly a piece of California history we're trying to preserve," McLean said. "If we lose these genetics, we lose these horses, we lose that history and a part of our heritage."

Fifteen horses came off the island, leaving the breed with an incredibly small gene pool. Estimates have the breed at 60 horses now, but they're spread across the country with herds in Florida, Northern California and at El Campeon Farms in Thousand Oaks, California, where 20 now live.

McLean is working not only to save the breed, but also improve it. Island isolation proved to be a double-edged sword: While Santa Cruz Island horses have developed desirable traits such as a docile nature and small stature, they also carry with them the repercussions of inbreeding in their long pasterns and loinsareas that should be short and strong.

Hayley Pelton, a trainer at El Campeon Farms, plants a quick kiss on Catalina. The Santa Cruz Island horse breed is known for its affection and trusting nature. Credit: Karin Higgins

"When we find groups of horses, or any types of animals, living on an island, there's a lot of restrictions," McLean said.

They also have trouble reproducing, a result of generations of inbreedingan obvious hurdle to saving the breed. Stuart Meyers, a veterinarian and professor of anatomy, physiology and cell biology in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, said that Santa Cruz Island stallions produce more abnormal than normal sperm. For every 100 fertilized eggs, only 10 to 20 live foals are born. The average rate of embryo viability in horses, overall, is 50 percent.

"In the laboratory, we're trying to figure out what is wrong with those embryos by looking at early cell divisionor mitosiswhich is critical in embryonic development," Meyers said.

The researchers' job is made more difficult because the oocytes, or eggs, of the horse are optically very dark, making it impossible to peer into them with a regular microscope. With the help of new equipment purchased with a generous gift from Gonda and other donors, Meyers and colleagues are using infrared and fluorescent light to image the eggs. But the remaining Santa Cruz Island horses won't be able to increase the breed's ability to reproduce, at least not on their own.

Cochise and Abby Followwill prepare for a morning ride at El Campeon Farms. The duo are part of the farms marketing effort, traveling to horse shows to promote the breed. Credit: Joe Proudman

"We have nowhere else to go," McLean said. "We have to go outside of this breed if we want to save them."

When it comes to defining a breed of horse, it's the phenotypethe way a horse looks and actsthat categorizes it, and not specific genes. McLean is working to find a breed of horse that not only looks but also acts like the Santa Cruz Island horse.

Jim Murray, geneticist and chair of the UC Davis animal science department, said that Lusitanos and Andalusians are likely the most appropriate horses to outcross, or breed, with Santa Cruz Island horses to introduce new genetic material to their breeding line.

To establish a genetically diverse and viable breed, Murray says 100 to 500 breeding animals are needed.

Credit: UC Davis

"We need to spread their genetics around while maintaining their phenotypeand you can't do that with a small number of horses," he said.

According to Meyer, after one generation of offspring from an outcross, researchers will be able to improve the reproductive health of the Santa Cruz Island horses.

The fate of the Santa Cruz Island horse will depend on more than its ability to broaden its gene pool. Ultimately, there needs to be a reason why people would want this horse.

"I don't think this is rocket science; these animals simply lack genetic diversity," Murray said. "The biggest challenge is probably going to be in establishing the economic value of this horse."

Back in the corral at El Campeon Farms, Followwill and Vince retrieve the lasso from the sawhorse. They're surrounded by barrels, vinyl signs and other obstacles that make up a trail course, which is full of stuff designed to spook a horse. It's not a stretch to call this scene a metaphor for the breed, as it navigates genetic obstacles while trying to rope itself a following on the mainland.

Followwill has participated in horse shows throughout Southern California, riding a horse named Cochise, showing off the breed's natural fit as a ranch or trail horse for those wanting a less intimidating ride.

"Every single show we've gone to we've had a handful of people who come up and want to take pictures with him or they just want to hear his story, and you know, they think he's absolutely just adorable," Followwill said. "It's been a really good reaction so far."

"The whole point of all of this is that we have to build a reputation for them and for our farm," said Christine Reich, a driving force at El Campeon Farms, where she manages the ranch and markets the horses. "And when the young horses kind of come online and they're ready to be sold, people already know 'Oh, these guys they're such good horses: They're quiet, they're sturdy, they have good minds, they're cute movers.' To me that means we've done our job, like we're absolutely successful, and really have built a market for them."

Credit: UC Davis

This Spring, two foals crossed from Santa Cruz Island mares and Lusitano stallions will be born at El Campeon Farms. They will nicker to their mothers and rise wobbly on their thin legs, searching for firm footing in the world with the weight of preservation saddled to them.

Saving this breed will be a long ride, dependent on many more advocates and breeding strategiesmaybe even cloning. But for now, McLean is focused on two baby horses who will hopefully carry all the good the Santa Cruz Island horse is known for, leaving behind the bad that came with island isolation.

"I would like for us to produce healthy horses that live a long time," McLean said. "And I just hope they find their purpose and their way."

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Former South African president Jacob Zuma came out fighting on Friday after appearing in court to face corruption charges over a suspect multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal. Zuma was composed in the dock wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie as about 1,000 cheering supporters rallied outside to protest against the prosecution that has deepened political divisions. The ex-president, who was forced to resign just seven weeks ago, has been charged with 16 counts of graft stemming from an arms contract dating back to before he became president. After just 15 minutes of legal discussions in the packed courtroom A of the Durban High Court, the case was adjourned until June 8 by judge Themba Sishi. Zuma, surrounded by a large entourage, left the courtroom to address his supporters, telling them that the charges were "politically motivated". "I am innocent until proven guilty, but there are people who want to treat me like I am guilty," Zuma told the crowd from a concert-style stage to wild cheers. In the case, which is officially known as "the State v Zuma", he is referred to as "accused number one". His lawyers confirmed to the court on Friday that he would appeal against the decision to prosecute him. The appeal is likely to prolong his epic legal battle to head off the charges and avoid a trial could send him to jail. - Loyal supporters - "What we are saying, what the former president is saying, is true -- we don't think we are going to get a fair trial," said a supporter, Bishop Timothy Ngcobo who appeared on stage alongside Zuma. "Zuma came with ideas that are going to boost the black people." In the courtroom, supporters chanted Zuma's name, while outside, the crowds sang, "Tell us what he has done wrong" and "Hands off Zuma". "He might have made his own mistakes, but we say allow the old man to retire in peace. It is a conspiracy," pro-Zuma business manager Sphelele Ngwane, 29, told AFP. Police equiped with shields, water cannon and armoured vehicles mounted a major security operation outside the court, but the hearing and speeches were peaceful. A young traditional dancer in full warrior costume and clutching a shield took to the stage following Zuma to entertain the crowd after he addressed them in his native Zulu language. He sang and danced along enthusiastically to a rendition of "Umshini Wam", a struggle-era song that means "Bring me my machine gun". - Accused of taking bribes - Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms maker Thales over a contract worth several billion dollars during his time as a provincial economy minister and later as deputy ANC president. Thales, which supplied naval vessels as part of the deal, also faces charges of corruption and a company representative from France appeared in court alongside Zuma. Thales' lawyer, Robert Driman, declined to comment to AFP on the case. Zuma is accused of illicitly pocketing 4,072,499.85 rand -- 280,000 euros, $340,000 at today's rates -- from 783 payments handled by Schabir Shaik, a businessman who acted as his financial adviser. Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2005 based on the same accusations, but a much-criticised 2016 inquiry absolved Zuma of any blame. Zuma has claimed the inquiry proved there was "not a single iota" of evidence for wrongdoing. Last month, prosecutions chief Shaun Abrahams -- dubbed "Shaun the Sheep" for his loyalty to Zuma during his presidency -- ordered that Zuma be charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering. Thuman Mkhize, 43 and unemployed, from Durban said Zuma "was the perfect leader" because he "opened free education and land". "The prosecution is because they don't want to give our land back. He's innocent," Mkhize said. The ANC forced Zuma from office in February largely due to his mounting legal challenges and multiple corruption scandals, and the party has distanced itself from its former leader. Zuma's successor as president Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to crack down on government corruption, which he has admitted is a serious problem. Campaign groups are hoping that the case could set a benchmark for allegedly corrupt leaders to face prosecutions, which are a rarity on the African continent.
Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont called for immediate "political dialogue" with Madrid to resolve the row over the region's independence bid as he left a German jail on Friday. The 55-year-old smiled and waved at supporters as he walked out of Neumuenster prison in northern Germany after posting a 75,000-euro ($92,000) bail, a day after judges rejected Spain's request to extradite him on a rebellion charge. The German judges are still mulling however whether to extradite him on a lesser charge of corruption. "The time for dialogue has arrived," Puigdemont told reporters outside the prison, saying that Catalonian demands for talks had for years "only received a violent and repressive response". There is "no excuse" for the Spanish authorities not to start "a political dialogue with the Catalan political leaders", he added. He also called for "the immediate release" of fellow Catalan separatists detained in the clash with Madrid over the wealthy northeastern region's failed breakaway attempt. "It's a shame for Europe to have political prisoners," he said. In a major victory for Puigdemont, the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein on Thursday dismissed the rebellion charge against him over his role in last October's independence referendum, deemed illegal by the Spanish government. Rebellion -- which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in Spain -- was not punishable under German law, they ruled. The closest German equivalent, the criminal offence of high treason, did not apply because Puigdemont's actions were not accompanied by violence, the judges found. But they said the former Catalan president could still be sent to Spain to face trial for the alleged misuse of public funds in organising the disputed referendum. The German judges said they needed to gather more information before making a decision on the embezzlement charge in the coming weeks, but ruled that Puigdemont be released in the meantime. - Blow to Madrid - Madrid has estimated that some 1.6 million euros in public money was improperly used to hold the referendum. If convicted, Puigdemont faces up to eight years in jail. As part of his bail conditions, Puigdemont must remain in Germany and report to police weekly. On Twitter he said he will now to travel to Berlin, where a press conference is being planned. German police detained Puigdemont on March 25 as he was travelling from Finland back to Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile for the past six months. The arrest came two days after Spain's Supreme Court ordered international warrants for Puigdemont and other fugitive Catalan leaders on charges linked to holding the banned referendum. The German court's refusal to accept the rebellion charge is a blow to Madrid, as under European law it means Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted for the offence even if he is returned to Spain. Despite the setback, the Spanish government said it respected the German judges' decision. "It's a matter between judges, not a matter between governments," said government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo. Berlin, which has long expressed support for Madrid's actions in the Catalan row, declined to comment on the latest judicial developments. "The process lies in the hands of the justice system, as is right," said German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer. The United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression, David Kaye, said rebellion prosecutions "raise serious risks of deterring wholly legitimate speech, even if it is controversial and discomfiting." - Flights to Europe - Catalonia has been mired in political crisis ever since the region unilaterally declared independence on October 27 in the wake of the controversial referendum. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative government responded by sacking the Catalan government, taking direct control of the region and calling early elections. The December vote was won by a block of separatist parties. But they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as their chosen candidates are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution. Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22. Puigdemont was one of a number of Catalan figureheads who fled abroad to escape prosecution, dragging other European countries into the spat. A Belgian judge on Thursday bailed three former Catalan ministers after they handed themselves in to police there. Another former Catalan minister, Clara Ponsati, was bailed in Scotland last week. They face charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state. Nine other pro-independence figures are currently in custody in Spain, including six members of Puigdemont's Catalan government and the former president of the regional parliament. A major demonstration calling for imprisoned separatist leaders to be freed is planned for April 15 in Barcelona.
By Julia Love and Heather Somerville MEXICO CITY/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has publicly launched in Mexico with a website advertising its service to drivers and passengers, setting the stage for a potentially expensive showdown with rival Uber. A spokesman for Didi Chuxing Technology Co told Reuters that the company will launch first in Toluca, an urban hub located around 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the country's capital. Didi has an operations hub in the trendy Juarez neighborhood in Mexico City. Didi settled on Toluca, the capital of the central state of Mexico, because it is a "robust regional commercial and cultural" center, said the spokesman, who declined to be named. Its priority will be to learn from local communities about their transportation needs, the spokesman said. The app will go live later this month, according to a source familiar with the plans. The Didi spokesman declined to comment on the timeline. Didi's Mexico website says the company will begin operations "very soon," without providing a date. Meanwhile, Didi is working to quickly recruit drivers with the promise of higher earnings than competitors are offering. The new Didi website says the company will take no cut of fares until June 17, and is offering bonuses to drivers who recruit other drivers and passengers, a common tactic for ride-hailing companies vying to gain market share. After mid-June, Didi is planning to take a 20 percent cut of fares, below the 25 percent commission on rides in Mexico charged by its biggest rival, Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL]. Late last year, Didi started laying plans for Mexico, Reuters reported, in what will be the company's first launch outside Asia. Mexico's clogged streets, underdeveloped public transit system and growing base of smartphone users make the country ripe for app-based ride services. UBER RIVALRY In Mexico, Didi will for the first time put its own service up against Uber, its chief international rival. Uber is the ride-hailing leader in Mexico, where it has seven million users in more than three dozen cities. Uber held 87 percent of the market in Mexico in August, its highest share in Latin America, according to Dalia Research, a Berlin-based consumer research firm. A spokesman for Uber declined to comment. Didi says it aims to attract drivers and passengers by promoting a safe service. The company has created a security button on its app that will connect drivers and passengers with police and other emergency contacts if they find themselves in danger, its website said. The company is also staffing a safety task force to respond to issues around-the-clock. Didi will start off with a car service, although two sources said the company was also considering other modes of transportation such as scooters, motorcycles and bike-sharing. While Mexico City and certain Mexican states have taken a strict approach to ride-hailing rules, the state of Mexico offers a friendly regulatory landscape, said Carlos Martinez, head of the Center for Citizens and Consumers. "One of the principal reasons (to launch in Toluca) is the regulation in the state of Mexico, which is more or less lax, and the other is that Toluca has lots of economic activity," he said. A new train between Toluca and Mexico City set to open soon will also provide opportunities for Didi to shuttle commuters from their homes to the station, Martinez said. (Reporting by Julia Love and Heather Somerville; editing by Jason Neely and Rosalba O'Brien)
Honour for Chinese spy killed for tipping off Taiwan during missile crisis

War could have erupted across the Taiwan Strait during the 1996 missile crisis if not for a leak from a top military spy on the Chinese mainland, according to recently released intelligence records in Taipei.

As Beijing conducted a series of missile tests near the island, Peoples Liberation Army major general Liu Liankun told his Taiwanese handlers that the missiles did not have warheads and Beijing had no plan to attack Taiwan.

Taiwan and mainland China's spy swap a sign of how far cross-strait ties have improved under Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou's rule

The PLA officer was executed on the mainland as a traitor in August 1999 after his leak was indirectly exposed by then Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui.

But Liu has been honoured by Taiwans Military Intelligence Bureau with a memorial tablet at a renovated hall built in 1991 to commemorate the Kuomintangs late spy chief Dai Li.

The tribute to Liu  and his role in averting the crisis  was revealed when Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and a media contingent visited the hall late last month.

Spy probe targets PLA senior ranks

The Dai Li Memorial Hall in Yangmingshan, Taipei, is closed to the public but Tsai was invited to inspect the bureau and the renovations, Taiwans United Daily News reported on Thursday.

Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, spent one hour at the hall, reading about the 75 spies who died in the islands cause, the report said.

Among them was a tribute to late PLA brigadier general Shao Zhengzhong, who was executed on the same day as Liu for gathering intelligence for Taiwan.

Liu and Shao are regarded as the two most seniors PLA officers ever recruited by the island.

They might have escaped execution were it not for Lee who, in a bid to calm the public at the height of the crisis, revealed that the missiles were launched without warheads.

The disclosure raised speculation of a mole inside the PLA, resulting in Liu and Shaos execution three years later.

Story continues

The missile tests were designed to intimidate Taiwan after Lee made a high-profile visit to the United States in 1995, an act seen as challenging the mainlands one China principle.

Beijing must prepare for military clash over Taiwan, state-run tabloid says

Beijing sees the island as a wayward province subject to eventual union, if necessary by force.

Although the crisis eased, cross-strait espionage continued unabated, even after Ma Ying-jeou of the mainland-friendly KMT became president in 2008 and adopted a policy to engage Beijing throughout his eight years in office.

In 2011, Taiwan arrested an intelligence network started by Taiwanese major general Lo Hsien-che, whom Beijing claimed was the most senior Taiwanese officer to work for the mainland.

This article Honour for Chinese spy killed for tipping off Taiwan during missile crisis first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
International donors pledged $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for Lebanon at a conference in Paris on Friday to try to avert an economic crisis in a country hard hit by the fallout from the Syrian war. Lebanon's growth has plummeted due to political instability, with the effect compounded by the Syrian conflict which has sent a million refugees across the border -- equivalent to a quarter of the Lebanese population before the conflict. Some 40 countries sent representatives to the CEDRE conference in Paris along with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where an aid package, made up 90 percent of low-interest loans, was agreed. Praising the "exceptional generosity of the Lebanese people" with regard to Syrian refugees French President Emmanuel Macron said the world needed to show "full solidarity" with Lebanon. The support was all the more critical given that the continued fighting in Syria "makes the imminent return of Syrian refugees impossible," he added. Among the biggest donors was the World Bank which pledged more than $4 billion over five years, while France opened the conference with a promise of 550 million euros. Saudi Arabia, which vies with arch-rival Iran for influence in Lebanon, said it would renew a $1-billion line of credit to Beirut which had been agreed in the past but never used, Lebanese officials said. Iran, which backs Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah Shiite militia, was not invited to the meeting. - 'Model of pluralism' - "In a Middle East shaken by crises, wounded by civil wars, Lebanon remains a model of pluralism, tolerance and openness which we need," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. "But Lebanon is not an island. It's borne the full force of regional tensions and the Syria crisis," he said, adding that it was also grappling with the threat of terrorism. An economic adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was at the conference, estimated the total amount pledged in loans and grants at $2.6 billion by midday. The figure did not include the World Bank's offer as well as that of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (1.1 billion euros), the European Investment Bank (800,000 euros) and Kuwait ($700,000). The EU promised 150 million euros, the Netherlands 300 million euros and Italy pledged 120 million euros. Economic growth in Lebanon has plunged from eight percent since the start of the Syrian war to around one percent. "Lebanon cannot succeed alone," Hariri said, adding: "It's not just a matter of Lebanon's security, it's about the security of the region and the whole world." France, which had mandate power over Lebanon for the first half of the 20th century, has been leading efforts to try stabilise the country. When Hariri announced his resignation in November, a shock move in which many observers saw the hand of Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, President Emmanuel Macron intervened, inviting Hariri to Paris for talks before his return to Lebanon, where he withdrew his resignation. - Cash for reforms - The Paris conference was aimed at giving Lebanon a boost as it prepares for its first general elections in almost a decade in May. While the small country has managed to avoid a major spillover of the fighting in Syria, it has long been wracked by domestic power struggles, inefficiency and corruption stemming from its own 1975-1990 civil war. With the government forecasting a deficit of $4.8 billion for 2018 -- more than double that in 2011, when Syria's war started -- economists say the state urgently needs to reduce its spending. But public services such as water supplies, electricity and waste management have suffered rampant underinvestment, compounding problems that date back decades. "The political idea behind (the investment plan) is that the Lebanese state could be able to provide services and infrastructure to the public, rather than others," an aide to Le Drian said, referring to the social role also played by the controversial Hezbollah. Lebanon will for its part sign up to a string of reforms including tougher measures to fight corruption.
By John Irish and Marine Pennetier

PARIS (Reuters) - Lebanon won aid pledges exceeding $11 billion on Friday at a Paris conference aimed at rallying international support for an investment programme to boost its economy, French President Emmanuel Macron said.

The pledges include $10.2 billion in loans and $860 million in grants, France's ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher said on Twitter.

Lebanon, which has been battered by seven years of war in neighbouring Syria and is hosting more than a million Syrian refugees, wants the funds for investment to overhaul its infrastructure and lift dwindling economic growth.

Donors in turn want to see Lebanon commit to long-stalled reforms. In a nod to those demands, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri pledged to reduce the deficit of the budget as a percentage of GDP by 5 percent in the coming five years.

Macron told Hariri in a news conference the aid aimed to give Lebanon a fresh start, adding that it put "an unprecedented responsibility" on authorities there to carry out reforms and preserve peace in the country.

"It is important to continue reforms in the coming months," Macron said, adding: "We'll be by your side."

Lebanese officials said the aid included $4 billion in World Bank loans, 1.1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) in loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the renewal of a previously pledged $1 billion credit line from Saudi Arabia.

"It's a start of a new process to modernise our economy, renovate our infrastructure and free up the private sector's potential," Hariri said. Growth in Lebanon has sunk to less than 1 percent from a previous average of 8 percent, he said.

The Lebanese parliament last week passed a 2018 budget that projects a narrower deficit than in 2017. Standard Chartered, in a research note, called the budget a "positive sign".

The Paris conference, convening 50 countries and organisations, including Saudi Arabia, United States, Russia and Qatar, decided to set up a follow-up mechanism to track progress towards reform.

Story continues

The International Monetary Fund said in February that Lebanon's fiscal policy needed a consolidation plan that stabilised debt and then began to reduce it.

Diplomats have said Lebanon's success in attracting international support from donors and the private sector will hinge on reforms.

"Lebanon needs significant investments to upgrade its basic infrastructure, which today no longer allows it to provide all these citizens with essential public services in good conditions," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the conference.

"On the other hand, Lebanon needs major reforms of its economy, structural and sectoral."

He said France would provide 400 million euros in concessionary loans and 150 million euros in donations for Lebanon, which is still rebuilding from its 1975-90 civil war.

($1 = 0.8174 euros)

(Reporting by John Irish in Paris and Laila Bassam in Beirut; Writing by Tom Perry and Ingrid Melander; editing by Andrew Roche)
Malaysian authorities on Thursday deregistered the party of veteran former leader Mahathir Mohamad, who is trying to unseat scandal-hit Prime Minister Najib Razak at upcoming elections. The 92-year-old Mahathir, who was premier for 22 years, came out of political retirement last year to spearhead the opposition challege to his former protege Najib. Local media reported the Registry of Societies has ordered his new Bersatu party to disband for 30 days for not fulfilling a notice requesting party details. The party runs the risk of being permanently disbanded if it does not comply. However, Bersatu officials said the move would not stop them from taking part in the polls which are expected in weeks. Najib is fighting to win a third term at the head of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition which has governed Malaysia since independence in 1957. He has been battling allegations that billions of dollars were looted from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund he founded. Both Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing. He faces a tough challenge from a reinvigorated opposition led by his former boss Mahathir, who returned to the fray as anger mounted over the allegations. University of Tasmania's Asia Institute director James Chin criticised the disbanding move as helping to aid Najib's election chances. "They are so blatant to issue this on the eve of the elections," he told AFP. "It's very clear that this is a targeted move." Bersatu supreme council member Rais Hussin condemned the move, but did not appear worried about the party's chances in the polls. "This will not impact us in terms of the ability to contest or the ability to form a government," he told AFP. "We expected this. It's not a surprise. It's not something shocking." He said the four parties of the main opposition alliance Pact of Hope planned to contest under a single banner, though he declined to say which one. Local media reports have speculated that the coalition will use the flag of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's People's Justice Party. The most remarkable aspect of Mahathir's return to frontline politics has been a rapprochement with his former heir-apparent-turned nemesis Anwar.
Former prime minister Najib Razak has for years been dogged by controversy surrounding 1MDB

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration was rocked by claims he was involved in a campaign to plunder state investment fund 1MDB, slammed by the US as "kleptocracy at its worst".

But for voters saddled with rising living costs, there may have been economic reasons closer to home for the shock electoral result that wrenched 64-year-old from power.

The polls Wednesday delivered a decisive defeat to Najib, in a major political upheaval likely to reverberate deeply across the country's political landscape.

Malaysia's outgoing leader has not been seen since official results showed he had been defeated by the country's opposition, led by his 92-year-old former mentor Mahathir Mohamad.

And as the scale of the drubbing started to become clear reporters who had flocked to the headquarters of Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) were told to leave.

Najib, the son of a Malaysian founding father, presented himself as a reformer when he came to power in 2009.

He made limited changes such as replacing security laws widely criticised as stifling dissent, offering a glimmer of hope for the end to repressive tactics by the UMNO-dominated coalition which has led Malaysia for six decades.

But soon after winning a second term in 2013, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a fund launched by Najib to promote economic development, slid into a massive debt hole and allegations surfaced that money was missing.

The story exploded in 2015 when The Wall Street Journal published documents allegedly showing that the premier received $681 million in payments to his personal bank accounts.

Najib and 1MDB have consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Since then, there has been a steady drip of allegations. The US Department of Justice launched civil lawsuits seeking to seize $1.7 billion in assets allegedly bought with money looted from 1MDB, from real estate to artworks.

In a speech last year, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions criticised those allegedly involved in the scandal, adding: "This is kleptocracy at its worst."

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- Losing the Malay vote -

As the controversy escalated, Najib lurched sharply to the right.

Opponents were arrested on various charges and critics were purged from government, while domestic investigations cleared him of wrongdoing.

His government lost the popular vote for the first time at the last elections in 2013.

But it was the return of veteran ex-premier Mahathir into frontline politics at the head the opposition, that finally signalled the end to Najib's rule.

Mahathir raised the stakes in the electoral battle against his former protege Najib, vowing to bring him to justice over 1MDB.

Analysts had widely predicted that Najib's Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition -- which led Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957 -- would retain power.

That was partly thanks to claims that Najib's coalition had been manipulating the electoral system for years to tilt polls in their favour.

The 1MDB scandal may have grabbed international headlines, but in the rural heartlands of the Muslim Malays -- who make up some 60 percent of the multi-ethnic country's population -- it is not the most important issue.

While the overall economic picture is improving, many voters in the countryside have struggled with inflated living costs.

Mahathir has succeeded in luring away Malays from Najib, chipping away at a support base that his government had nurtured with an official affirmative action programme and racially-charged rhetoric.

That saw the opposition make strong gains in long-time BN strongholds in the polls, including Sarawak state on Borneo island, and the state of Johor, the birthplace of UMNO.

Related video:
A resident from the main battle area in Marawi City salvages what is left of their belongings.

MANILA, Philippines  The residents who visited the main battle area of Marawi on Thursday underwent strict inspection by the Joint Task Force Ranao (JTFR).

The military inspected the vehicles and names of the passengers to ensure that no criminal can enter.

Sanya Macondanar couldnt help shedding tears after seeing the current state of her home.

She and her husbands main source of income before the battle was selling rice and dried fish. They are now hoping to have even a small capital to start another business.

Nainis ako syempre sa may gawa diyan. Galit ako sa kanila wala kami trabaho. Wala kami tinda, said Macondanar.

(Im mad of course. Im mad at them. We no longer have work and income.)

Jomilaida Abbubakar was both angry and regretful to see their new home burnt down.

They were supposed to transfer to the said house on May 22 last year, a day before the siege.

Jomilaida said they lost almost P5-million worth of properties.

Ranao deputy commander Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said they want to give the residents a chance to see their homes, thats why they allowed them to enter the main battle area although its not yet 100-percent safe from improvised explosive devices (IED).

Gusto nila irecover yung mga pwede nilang kunin katulad ng documents naimportante, land titles, said the deputy commander.

(They want to recover whatever they can recover, like documents, land titles.)

Despite this, the residents still hope the same thing  to return to their homes and start new lives.  Victor Cosare | UNTV News & Rescue

The post Marawi victims visiting main battle area express sadness, anger appeared first on UNTV News.
The violin that Mozart used as a child left Friday for a state visit by Austrian government members to China, where a seven-year-old girl will play it for President Xi Jinping. The girl, Anna Caecilia Pfoess, "will accompany us... as a musical ambassador and represent Austria as a land of culture," President Alexander Van der Bellen said. "She will do it quite brilliantly, I am sure," Van der Bellen told reporters before the 200-strong delegation of politicians, business people and others departed. "#Music is a common language understood and appreciated the world over," he added on Twitter alongside a photo of the grinning seven-year-old clutching the instrument and wearing traditional Austrian garb. The violin is believed to have been made in the 1740s and until 1820 belonged to Mozart's sister Maria Anna, nicknamed Nannerl, also a child prodigy. Since 1896 it has been in the collection of the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, and is normally on display at the museum in the house where the composer was born. Pfoess will perform at Sunday's state banquet attended by Xi and Van der Bellen, playing pieces by, unsurprisingly, Mozart but also other Austrian and Chinese composers.
(Yahoo News Singapore file photo)

In a bid to tackle air pollution, owners of motorcycles registered before 1 July 2003 will get a cash incentive of up to $3,500 if they de-register them over the next five years.

Owners are eligible for the two-part incentive if their motorcycles have a valid 10-year Certificate of Entitlement (COE) as of Friday (6 April), said the National Environment Agency (NEA) at a press briefing.

Owners of motorcycles which are on a five-year non-renewable COE or the Classic, Vintage (Restricted), and Revised Vintage Vehicle Schemes as of Friday are not eligible.

To qualify for an incentive of $2,000, eligible owners must de-register their motorcycles on or before 5 April 2023. They will receive an additional $1,500 if they do not renew their motorcycles COE after Friday, as well as a prorated rebate for their unused COE.

Following de-registration, the motorcycles will either be scrapped or exported to other countries.

Motorcycle owners will receive a letter from the NEA by end-April informing them of their eligibility for the incentive.

While motorcycles make up only 15 per cent of the local vehicle population, they contribute around 53 per cent of carbon monoxide emitted from vehicles, said the NEA.

In addition, older motorcycles registered before 1 July, 2003, emit up to 10 times more carbon monoxide  and 30 times more hydrocarbons  than a Euro IV motorcycle, and account for about 40 per cent of carbon monoxide emitted by the motorcycle fleet in Singapore. These pollutants are known to impair respiratory functions.

Some 27,000 motorcycles  about 21 per cent of the motorcycle fleet in Singapore  that are eligible for the incentive average about 20 years old.

In comparison, only one per cent of over 612,000 cars in Singapore are 15 years old and above. As such, there will not be a similar incentive scheme for older cars.

The NEA added that it is also looking into measures to reduce pollution from foreign motorcycles. Currently, all foreign vehicles are checked for excessive smoke emissions at Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints. About 48,000 foreign motorcycles  out of 62,000 foreign vehicles  entered Singapore daily last year.

Story continues

Norman Lee, General Secretary of the Singapore Motor Cycle Trade Association, told Yahoo News Singapore that the incentive will be a hit or miss, given the current price of motorcycles and the high COE, which hovers at around $8,000.

Until the NEA will put stricter requirements for in-use motorcycles in time to come and owners get penalised for that, then will they consider whether the $3,500 rebate is worthy, Lee said.

He added that Singapores traffic model should be taken into consideration without assuming that all vehicles clock the same amount of time.

A four-wheeler will have to spend five minutes (each on) parking a car and exiting the car park, said Lee. Thats 10 minutes of static pollution. Given the traffic context in peak-hour Singaporea two-wheeler will only need one minute to park.

From 6 April 2023, the NEA will also be tightening in-use emission standards for motorcycles registered before 1 July 2003, with more details to be released in due course. These motorcycles will be banned from roads in Singapore after 30 June 2028.

Motorcycles from the Classic, Vintage (Restricted), and Revised Vintage Vehicle Schemes are exempted from the new emission standards.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli speaking to reporters about the new initiatives on 6 April, 2018. (PHOTO: Wong Casandra/Yahoo News Singapore)

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli told reporters on the sidelines of the briefing on Friday that the NEA initiatives are part of the governments long-term plan to ensure healthy air quality in Singapore.

Over the years, we have been trying to reduce the number of older vehicles (from lorries to other heavy vehicles) on the road to ensure that our air quality is healthy, said Masagos. These and all the other initiatives  including tightening of industrial emissions  are all tied up to meet our WHO (World Health Organisation) standards for 2020.

(SOURCE: NEA)

(SOURCE: NEA)

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Chinese store owners in Qingdao ordered to switch to government-verified routers for Wi-fi service

Stores offering Wi-fi to customers in eastern Chinas Qingdao city have received an order from the local police asking them to replace their routers with government-verified ones.

Businesses refusing to replace their routers will face fines of up to 100,000 yuan (US$18,589), according to a statement issued by a district police station under the Qingdao Public Security Bureau. The government will provide the store owners with the new routers, which are powered by Qualcomm chips, with the cost of the router and its installation fully covered.

The merchants will, however, pay a deposit of 100 yuan that will be refunded when the business moves or ceases operation.

Hong Kong faces second-highest risk of cybersecurity breaches in Asia, report finds

Store owners will also get paid to use the new Wi-fi routers, earning 8 cents through a smartphone app for each device connected to the router.

Qingdao joins a list of Chinese cities, which includes Chifeng in northern Chinas Inner Mongolia province, with a router replacement plan, according to Abacus. The replacement plan will help the government monitor internet activities.

The Qingdao police said in a statement that the switch to government-approved routers was based on Chinese laws and regulations on cybersecurity and counterterrorism, which require all premises offering internet services to install a security management system.

A cheat sheet to tech-related developments at China's legislature meeting

According to the Provisions on the Technical Measures for the Protection of the Security of the Internet effective from 2006, all premises with Wi-fi services should install the security management system to record and store data about registrations, logins and page visits as well as other activities by internet users.

The replacement routers will be supplied by BHU, a Beijing-based router maker with a long-term close collaboration with Chinas Public Security Department, as reported by Abacus.

Story continues

The BHU routers have multiple critical vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to access sensitive information, according to analysis by IOActive, a US information technology service company.

This article Chinese store owners in Qingdao ordered to switch to government-verified routers for Wi-fi service first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

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Delectable chicken rendang. (PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images)

Companies and government agencies in Singapore have capitalised on the rendang-gate fray this week, with their own humorous takes on the controversy that rippled across Southeast Asia after a judge on a British cooking show complained that a contestants chicken was not crispy enough.

The comments about rendang on MasterChef UK have ignited outrage among the people of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, who know very well that the dish is cooked in curry sauce and is not fried or crispy.

Recognising the opportunity for publicity, organisations in Singapore have poked fun at the issue in social media posts on Facebook.

Weve compiled some of the best responses so far:

1. IKEA

Swedish furniture store IKEA took the chance to promote its Tolerant frying pan, posting a picture of the kitchen utensil with the words, Tolerates everything. Except crispy rendang, and boasting that it could cook meals to perfection, crispy or not.

2. Singapore Civil Defence Force

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) reported on its fire-fighting efforts while making a dig about the delicacy, posting a warning against leaving cooking unattended.

An accompanying illustration shows a smoking frying pan on a stove, whose contents are labelled le crispy rendang.

Last year, SCDF attended to 402 fires caused by unattended cooking. Dont leave your cooking unattended. #CrispyRendang, says the post.



3. Tiger Beer

Homegrown brand Tiger Beer burnished its culinary credentials, saying, Not everyone gets authentic Asian dishes. But we do.

The beer maker posted a picture of a bottle of its product and a plate of nasi lemak with rendang, expressing its wishes for beer thats cold and rendang thats not crispy.

(Photo: Tiger Beer/Facebook)

4. Jollibee

Fast food chain Jollibee attempted to cash in by highlighting that it, in fact, sells crispy chicken for whoever craves it.

We dont sell rendang. But we do crispy rather well, said the company on its Facebook page.

Story continues

5. Ministry of Defence

Even the Ministry of Defence waded into the fray, using the opportunity to raise awareness of the history and wholesomeness of military field rations.

Unfortunately, weve yet to figure out how to make crispy chicken rendang field rations, lamented the ministry in its post.

Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook.



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A man attends a protest rally in reaction to the murder of Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, in Bratislava A man attends a protest rally in reaction to the murder of Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, in Bratislava, Slovakia April 5, 2018. The placard shows portraits of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova and reads "Not enough". REUTERS/Radovan Stoklasa

By Tatiana Jancarikova

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovaks returned to the streets in their tens of thousands on Thursday, in one of the biggest demonstrations over the murder of an investigative journalist since protests that forced the prime minister to resign last month.

The gunning-down of Jan Kuciak, 27, who investigated corruption among politically-connected business people, and his fiancee at their home in February increased widespread anger about persistent corruption allegations.

Long-serving prime minister Robert Fico stepped down to save his three-party government, and picked his deputy, Peter Pellegrini, to lead a reshuffled cabinet.

Thursday's protesters - estimated to number up to 45,000 by News website Dennik N, close to the 50,000 who marched at the height of protests last month - demanded more tangible change and called for the police chief to resign. Police did not provide any crowd figures.

"The new government hasn't done anything to convince me it will be different than the old government," 38-year-old protester Jan Filip said.

"Almost all of the cases Kuciak covered could already have been investigated, yet none of them made it to court."

Protester's said police chief Tibor Gaspar must go, and called for the law to be changed to prevent the interior minister naming his successor, something they said might ensure an impartial investigation of Kuciak's murder.

President Andrej Kiska repeated his calls for Gaspar to resign to help rebuild public trust.

Interior Minister Tomas Drucker said he may need weeks to assess Gaspar's performance.

Kuciak, who police believe was murdered in a contract killing related to his journalism, used to report on suspected tax fraud, sometimes by people with links to the ruling Smer party.

He also reported on deals between the government and the country's biggest privately-owned security firm, whose owner is related to Gaspar. The police chief has denied any wrongdoing.

Story continues

Gaspar was appointed in 2012 by Robert Kalinak, who resigned as interior minister last month. Kuciak had published stories about Kalinak, who has denied wrongdoing.

Before his death, Kuciak was investigating Italian businessmen in Slovakia with suspected mafia links, one of whom had had business dealings with two people who later worked in Fico's office before resigning in the wake of the murder.

The two have denied any links to the killing.

According to Transparency International, no senior Slovak politician has been sent to prison for corruption in the past six years, while six regional politicians have been given suspended sentences. About 48 percent of bribe cases dealt with by courts involved amounts of less than 100 euros.

(Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Andrew Bolton and Robin Pomeroy)
Slovakia's police chief refused to quit on Friday, a day after tens of thousands of protesters demanded his ouster, as he questioned the president's motives for backing calls for his departure. Protests against national police commander Tibor Gaspar have mounted in the wake of the February murder of a journalist probing corruption, with critics alleging that political connections prevent him from guaranteeing a fair and thorough investigation. Gaspar has flatly denied having any bias. "No-one in the government has asked me to step down. The issue of my future, as well as the future of the police corps, will be decided soon," Gaspar told local media Dennik N, echoing Interior Minister Tomas Drucker who said Friday make a decision "within a couple of days". The police commander is due to step down by the autumn under reforms adopted before Kuciak's murder. The EU member state of 5.4 million was plunged into political crisis after the February killing of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, who had been probing alleged ties between top politicians and the Italian mafia. The killing and Kuciak's article, published after he and his fiancee were found shot dead, raised fresh concern about media freedom and corruption and sparked a wave of protests that forced the government to resign. Tens of thousands of Slovakians rallied across the country on Thursday calling for Gaspar to go too, with around 30,000 protestors turning out turned out in the capital Bratislava. President Andrej Kiska, a liberal who is at odds with the populist left-wing government, has backed protestors' demands. But Gaspar shot back on Friday, accusing Kiska of a possible conflict of interest as he revealed that Slovakia's NAKA elite police unit was investigating an alleged tax offence by a company allegedly associated with the millionaire president. "NAKA is looking into about five different allegations concerning this company and criminal prosecution has been launched in two of the cases," Gaspar told the commercial Radio Aktual broadcaster. Kiskas spokesman Roman Krpelan told AFP on Friday that "the police led by Tibor Gaspar has become part of a political struggle and, on the other hand, it failed to protect the life of journalist Jan Kuciak, who had asked to investigate threats against his person."
Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV

MANILA, Philippines Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is proposing for the implementation of localized peace talks instead of the national government doing the negotiation with the communists.

The lawmaker said the government is always on the losing side in its dialogue attempts with the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Democratic Front (CPP-NDF).

He noted, the rebels are just using the peace talks as a way to get funds as they continue to carry out their abuses.

Talagang pinagsasamantalahan nila simula nang naupo si Duterte sa pwesto bilang president. Nilagay niya yung mga komunista sa key Cabinet positions na pinakikinabangan ngayon ng communist movement, said the senator.

(They have been taking advantage since Duterte took office as president. He placed the communists in key Cabinet positions which are now being exploited by the communist movement.)  UNTV News & Rescue

The post Trillanes pushes for localized peace talks with rebel groups appeared first on UNTV News.
The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump would host Qatar's Emir at the White House later this month, hoping to end a spat that has riven America's Gulf allies. In a statement, the White House said the meeting with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani would take place on April 10. "The President looks forward to discussing ways to strengthen ties between the United States and Qatar and to advance our common security and economic priorities." Trump had hoped to host a summit of Gulf leaders, hoping to ease a crisis that has seen Qatar put under virtual blockade by neighbors in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. That plan now appears to have been delayed in favor of a bilateral meeting between the US and Qatari leaders. Trump had taken a hard line against Qatar, saying the country needed to scale back ties with Iran and stop funding extremism. Aides -- mindful of the pivotal role that the Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha plays in US Middle East operations -- have since convinced him to take a more moderate approach.
US keeps close watch as Chinese navy puts on show of force in live-fire South China Sea drills

The Chinese navy launched an unprecedented week-long series of live-fire drills in the South China Sea on Thursday, as three US aircraft carrier battle groups prepare for their own exercises in the Asia-Pacific region.

The drills overlap with this weekends Boao Forum for Asia which starts on Sunday in the southern island of Hainan, not far from the site of the Chinese naval exercises.

Military analysts said the drills, which involve the Liaoning aircraft carrier and more than 40 vessels from the North, East and South Sea fleets, were a show of Chinas military muscle.

China wants to show the outside world its determination to defend the fruits of its economic reforms over the past 40 years, Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said.

Chinas 40-vessel drill to boost war capabilities posed no threat in disputed South China Sea

Like the US, Chinas military might is one of the governments political tools to protect the countrys national interests.

Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said it was the first time the Liaoning had taken part in live-fire drills.

This will test the Liaonings real combat strength as well as joint-operations skills between the aircraft carrier and warships from other fleets, Li said.

The exercises come as a trade war brews between China and the United States, with the two countries announcing tit-for-tat tariffs on each others products earlier this week.

The Pentagon has also sent three aircraft carrier battle groups to the Asia-Pacific region, with the USS Theodore Roosevelt flotilla arriving in Singapore on Monday for a regular port call after a deployment in the Middle East, according to earlier reports.

China claims a large part of the South China Sea as its own territory, but the waters are also contested by several neighbouring countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Satellite images showed the Liaoning flanked last week by at least 40 ships and submarines just off Hainan.

Story continues

Whats behind Beijings South China Sea moves  and why US patrols are making things worse

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang confirmed the aircraft carrier would lead large-scale naval drills, but added that they were routine exercises in line with Chinas defensive military policy and that its South China Sea activities posed no threat to other countries.

Military analysts said Beijing had stepped up naval deployment in the South China Sea in response to the US growing military cooperation with rival claimants, including Vietnam and the Philippines.

The USS Carl Vinson and its fleet have just paid a first visit to the Vietnamese coastal city of Da Nang since the end of the Vietnam war, a move Chinese military experts said was aimed at countering Beijings influence in the region.

The US increasing military presence in the South China Sea indicates that Washington sees Beijing as a serious competitor, not only economically, but also militarily, Zhou said.

Beijing and Hanoi promise to keep the peace in South China Sea, where Vietnam has emerged as most vocal claimant

But China realises that the military gap with the US is still very big, and all its military deployments in the South China Sea are basically defensive, including its DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile.

China is believed to have deployed the DF-21D, dubbed the carrier killer, in the East and South China seas to fend off any possible US aircraft carrier battle group attacks on coastal cities, the countrys economic heartland.

This article US keeps close watch as Chinese navy puts on show of force in live-fire South China Sea drills first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
In Season 6 of The Americans, Russian spy Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell), maintains an operational disguise as Stephanie, a home care nurse to Erica Haskard (Miriam Shor), a dying artist. (Ericas husband has a role in an upcoming arms-control summit.) Ericas art, which is on display all over the Haskard home, was made by artist Alyssa Monks. I visited her studio in Brooklyn, New York, to talk about her experience creating art for the show.

NOTE: This partial transcript of the interview, which appeared on Episode 602 of The Americans podcast, contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Season 6 of the show.

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June Thomas: Tell me how you came to be the artistic voice of Erica Haskard. Was there an audition process?

Alyssa Monks: No, they found me. The story that I heard was that [showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields] had a friend who is a gallerist, and when they spoke to him about this project, the gallerist was familiar with my work and recommended me. Thats how it all started, and from there, they just came over.

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Joe and Joel have tone meetings, in which they talk with the actors and all the other people involved. They indicate the tone that theyre looking for, the character beats that theyre trying to bring out. Did they do something similar with you?

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Absolutely. At first, we started with words and language to try to get there, but I took out my catalog, and I just said, Lets look through what Ive done, and tell me what resonates with you. Thats how I can understand what theyre actually looking for. There were a few paintings from the past that resonated with them, and specifically the painting of my mom, which is on the set. That was here in the studio. That painting was never supposed to leave the back of my eyelids, let alone the studio. It was just such a personal piece, and I thought no one would ever, ever want this, but I felt compelled to make it, and so theres a lot of vulnerability in it, and theres a lot of raw energy and a lot of grief and passion.

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A few others that we looked at in the catalog also resonatednot just the look, but the feel of what they wanted to convey. From that conversation, we started to pick work that Id already made to dress the bedroom with. Not just what work looks like Ericasthough that was a big part of itbut also what an artists studio would kind of feel like.

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When they were here, there were a bunch of paintings on this wall over here, which were just kind of works in progress, little small studies, ideas, and I had this habit of just putting small things up, like you can see all around, that are not quite going anywhere but maybe they will. Its just a process. They were attracted to the idea of this collage kind of thing on the wall, so that was a fun project. Kind of a tricky one to re-create, you know, because it happens organically. You just hang one thing, and then theres three things, and then theres 10, so to kind of back out of that and re-create this very organic-looking collage wall was really fun. And it wasnt just me in the room doing it. Theres like 100 people there, putting things up and moving things around. That was kind of thrilling.

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Im surprised to hear how much of the art that was used is stuff youd already created.

Only a few drawings were created on the set or here for the drawing process, like when Ericas actually drawing. Those were done specifically for the show, and theres a painting that I re-created that I had done in the past, and I put a little edge on it.

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Erica and I are kind of kindred spirits in a lot of ways. She loves making art. Shes truly an artist, and shes struggling with this huge loss of her own, her own life. For me, that was the loss of my mother. There are so many things that align with us in terms of what we care about and how we feel so strongly about things. I feel like Erica is saying things that I couldnt say. Shes so much more direct than I am, but some of the lines she says, Im like, Yeah, thats so true.

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But I have to say, it was a really surreal experience to walk into the set the first time and see this room of a dying person. There were so many little details, like theres a toothbrush in a cup near the bed. It just reminded me so much of what my family and I went through.

When youre taking care of somebody whos very ill, you end up with all of these weird things around the room, just out of convenience, and theyre not things you would think of unless youve been there. There was something so specific. Only a person whos been through it would know. Theres a toothbrush by the bed, because youre brushing the persons teeth in bed, and thats just where it goes now. Its something you totally forget about when its overuntil you see it again.

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Lets just pause for a moment to say that you have a very famous TED Talk, in which you talked about the loss of your mother, and her diagnosis, and how knowing that she was going to die, preparing and coping with that, changed your art.

Changed my mind. It just changed my personality, I think. Theres a complete shift of understanding that we cant control so many things.

To bring that back to Erica, this is a woman who knows that the end is near, who is trying to hold on because she wants to do more work. Did you conceive of her art changing as she came to terms with the diagnosis?

Yeah. I think her work gets a lot looser and a lot more immediate and less fussy, and theres less of a need for it to be good. It just has to be real. The way I think of her and her need to keep drawing and making art so furiously, even at these dying momentswhen you make art, you get to leave your body, almost, and it feels like youre alive. You really are just alive in a way that youre in direct presence with the moment that youre in, and you dont have to think about anything in front of you.

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Its energizing. Its life-affirming to be creating something. Thats why I think shes doing it, and thats why I think shes teaching Elizabeth, because this is a way for her to keep connecting in the way shes always done and not think about whats coming.

I was wondering about that. Given that she knows her time is limited, shes spending time and really pushing Elizabeth. That surprised me, but its interesting to hear that that feels real to you.

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Absolutely. Shes like, I want to have real conversations. I want to have some kind of finger on the pulse of life. So instead of just sitting there in a sick room, shes bringing everything that she cares about into that room and making Elizabeth be part of it. It makes total sense to me that shed be doing this.

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We also know, though, that her art kind of shakes Elizabeth. It really freaks her out. Obviously, its always hard to read Elizabeth, but as an artist, whats your interpretation of why that would affect Elizabeth, a woman who can rise above many, many things?

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I think its not just the work; its Erica. Its being next to someone who cares this much about something and whos so determined to do it. Theres just this abundance of it everywhere.

Elizabeth recognizes a fellow true believer, somebody whos got a real commitment to something bigger than herself?

Yeah. Its not frivolous. Its not a joke. Its not a hobby. This is a dead serious woman who, even in her dying moments, is still determined to keep going. I think its the seriousness of it, the commitment.
Isao Takahata was a visionary, but he wasnt a brand. The best films of his long career, which include 1988s Grave of the Fireflies and 2013s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, are every bit the equal of his Studio Ghibli co-founder and friendly rival Hayao Miyazakis masterworks. But where Miyazaki circled around the same set of obsessionsflight, ecological catastrophe, childhoodTakahatas films were each singular, so visually and thematically distinct they might have been created by a different person.

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Takahata, who died of lung cancer Thursday of the age of 82, created at a leisurely pace, completing just five animated features during his more than 30 years at Studio Ghibli. In Ghiblis offices, he was known as Paku-san, or Mr. Munch, for his habit of ambling around the offices with a snack in hand. But taking his time allowed Takahata to start each film from scratchand the fact that, unlike most animation directors, he rarely drew meant that they all had a distinct look. My Neighbors the Yamadas, inspired by a Japanese comic strip, had a spare, squiggly feel, while Princess Kaguya, drawn from folk tales, looked like watercolor paintings come to life.

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Takahatas most acclaimed film is also his hardest to watch. Grave of the Fireflies is based on a short story by Akiyuki Nosaka, but the story of a Japanese teenager shepherding his younger sister through the aftermath of a 1945 U.S. bombing was heavily inspired by Takahatas own childhood memories. His hometown of Okayama was bombed by the U.S., and 9-year-old Takahata wandered the streets in his pajamas, carving a path through piles of corpses. The movie opens with its protagonist dying of starvation and gets bleaker from there, and it serves as a reminder that in addition to creating flights of fancy, animation can present truths that would be intolerable to face when rendered in a more realistic style.

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Takahata also directed Pom Poko, whose fantastical subject and ecological themes bring it closest to Miyazakis work, except instead of My Neighbor Totoros gentle forest spirit, its central figures are tanuki, shape-shifting raccoon dogs with enormous testiclesfinessed by the English-language dub as poucheswho set out to sabotage an encroaching real-estate development. 1991s Only Yesterday is a heart-tugging melodrama about a young Tokyo womans return to her native small town, driven by memories of her past that are not always pleasant, and it was a huge box-office hit in Japan. But Disney, which held the U.S. rights to most of Ghiblis catalog for decades, had no interest in marketing animated films that couldnt be aimed at children, so it wasnt until GKids acquired the rights and commissioned a new dub track that it was released in 2016.

Like all of Ghiblis movies, Takahatas are not available for streaming, but Pom Poko and Grave of the Fireflies will screen in theaters in June and August as part of the ongoing Ghibli Fest series. (Theyre also available on Blu-ray and DVD.) Theyre two of the greatest movies by an underappreciated master, and well worth making summer plans around.
Marco Rubio wants you to know one thing about him: He reads his Bible. Every couple of days, Rubios Twitter account sends out a Bible verse that seems to pertain to the current politics of the day. Often, Rubios quoted Bible verses are not-so-veiled subtweets of whatever liberal political idea hes arguing against that week.

Unfortunately, like many in his GOP cohort, Rubio frequently doesnt seem to know what hes saying. In late March, Rubio tweeted Isaiah 3:45, as a rebuke of the young leaders who have arisen in light of Congress inaction on gun control in the face of the increased pace and ferocity of mass shootings.

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I will place boys as their princes; the fickle will govern them & the people will oppress one another, yes, each one the neighbor. The child will be insolent toward the elder & the base toward the honorable. Isaiah 3:4-5  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 19, 2018

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Rubios point, essentially, was that young people make bad leaders. But in attempting to throw shade at Stoneman Douglas High School students, Rubio ended up exposing his own ignorance. Those verses from Isaiah are from a chapter rebuking the people of Israel for failing to leadto the point where young people had to step up and take their place. It is not an indictment of the young; it is an indictment of the leaders, for failing them.

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Rubio is not the only politician whose biblically informed reflections reveal his ignorance.

The inability to exegete properly is symptomatic of the politicized national religion that evangelical Christianity has become.

Ted Cruz, while running for the Republican nomination, repeatedly cited 2 Chronicles 7:14: If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. In the context of a stump speech, Im sure it sounded like a call to save America with prayer and piety. But the context is a very specific blessing of a royal lineagea renewal of Gods promise to David that You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel. A quotation from 2 Chronicles is wildly out of place in the politics of a democracy founded on the rejection of the doctrine of the divine right of kings.

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More broadly, as Jack Jenkins at ThinkProgress has noted, many Republican members of Congress likewise misrepresent Scripture in their efforts to present biblical support for their attacks on the welfare state. And while President Trump is less likely to cite Bible verses (I dont want to get into specifics), he did once name as his favorite the famous line from Exodus 21, an eye for an eye. He has never mentioned Jesus gloss on that verse in the Gospel of Matthew:

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You have heard that it was said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

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This inability to correctly read Scripture is both a political and theological problemand one thats intrinsic to modern American Christianity.

One of first things any theology student learns is the importance of reading the Bible for context. Verses that seemingly speak directly to a political issue can be misunderstood if not read within the bounds of the time and culture from which they emerged. In the heavily politicized theology of evangelical Christianity, however, this decontextualization seems to be a deliberate feature. White evangelical Christianity is first and foremost an individualized faith, exemplified by the imperative to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and asking forgiveness for individual sins. Whats important is how you read a Bible verse and how it speaks to your lifenot the fact that the verse is actually about something completely different.

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This inability to exegete properlyto place verses in their contexts and understand the whole instead of just the partis symptomatic of the politicized national religion that evangelical Christianity has become. White evangelical Christianity is built to cherry-pick, and the politicians of the religious right are particularly adept at doing it.

The context-free tweeting of verses as political digs, the use of a promise to King Solomon as a promise to America, the ham-fisted quoting of Jesus commentary on the poor to justify denying them health careall of these are part of the larger problem of the Republican establishment in America: that it is more concerned with bending America to a specific brand of conservatism than with understanding phenomena in their proper contexts, or learning from those with expertise, or reading even its own sacred texts carefully. The result is a movement that looks to the world, and to the Word, only for confirmation of its own ideology.

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For many followers in the history of Christianity, the Bible has been a source of wonder, a holy book for understanding God throughout time, and a way of connecting with the larger community. But as with any sacred text, the Bible has also been bent to the will of the powerful in their pursuit of furthering that power. Nothing sums up that pursuit of power like Rubio quoting the Bible to condemn youthful leaders like David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez. Lest we forget, this is the same Bible in which the Apostle Paul instructs his protege, Timothy, to not let anyone look down upon you because you are young. Perhaps, like his president, Rubio didnt get to the New Testament part of his Bible yet.
The Atlantic recently announced a roster of four columnists for its new Ideas section, intended to gather a diverse range of voices who will shape the public conversation. One of those new hires, anti-Trump conservative Kevin Williamson, immediately attracted a fierce backlash. Williamson has spent the last 10 years at the National Review, where he called trans actress Laverne Cox an effigy of a woman, said struggling towns populated by poor whites deserve to die, and referred to a black child as a primate. But the past statement that attracted the most ire from critics was a comment he made on Twitter in 2014: that women who undergo abortion should be hanged.

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I believe abortion should be treated like any other premeditated homicide, Williamson elaborated. Im torn on capital punishment generally; but treating abortion as homicide means what it means. The comments made the outrage rounds at the timeSalon produced a quiz asking if readers could tell the difference between Williamson and a 4chan trolland were resurrected with Williamsons elevation to the august Atlantic. New York Times columnist Bret Stephens defended Williamson by writing, for heavens sake, it was a tweet. It turns out it was a series of tweets, and also a fairly in-depth audio conversation: On Wednesday, Media Matters unearthed a clip in which Williamson made the same argument on his National Review podcast in 2014. By Thursday, the Atlantic announced it would not hire Williamson after all. The language he used in this podcastand in my conversations with him in recent daysmade it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views, editor Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in an email to his staff.

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Williamsons breezy case for hanging nearly one-quarter of American women had drawn the strongest rebukes from pro-choice advocates. But theres a case to be made that pro-choice readers should have welcomed this kind of rhetoric getting aired in public. It would have been clarifying to see a pro-life writer follow his movements rhetoric to its logical endpoint: If abortion is murder, tens of millions of American women are murderers.

Williamsons punitive instinct is a distinct break from contemporary anti-abortion orthodoxy, which maintains that women are victims of a duplicitous abortion industry. Activists promote post-abortion counseling, recovery retreats, and diagnoses of post-abortion syndrome. Most demonstrators outside abortion clinics now emphasize sidewalk counseling over gory posters. In this framework, women do not deserve judgment but sympathy; banning abortion, in turn, gets framed as an act of support, even feminism.

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Pro-life activists also argue that many abortions are coerced; they estimate that anywhere from more than one in three to perhaps as much as 64 percent of women are forced to get abortions they do not want. While decision-making is complex, and plenty of women pursue abortions from within unhealthy relationships, the overwhelming majority of women who have recently had abortions say it was the right decision. As Williamson might put it, they are remorseless.

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The mainstream pro-life movement speaks nearly in unison on the idea that women should not be prosecuted. When then-candidate Donald Trump mused to Chris Matthews in 2016 that women who have abortions should receive some form of punishment, the reaction from pro-life activists was swift. No pro-lifer would ever want to punish a woman who has chosen abortion, the president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund told the New York Times. We invite a woman who has gone down this route to consider paths to healing, not punishment. Penny Nance, the president of Concerned Women for America, said Trumps comment proved He doesnt understand pro-life people or the life issue.

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But Trump may have understood life better than many of its advocates do. To claim that women who procure abortions are merely victims is infantilizing, to put it bluntly. Women know exactly what they are doing when they procure an abortion: They are ending a pregnancy because they do not want to have a baby. To pretend they are somehow duped into it by predatory clinics or deceitful doctors is disingenuous. It is naturally more comfortable for pro-life activists to treat women with compassion than blame. It makes the movement more appealing to outsiders, and its an easier public stance for individual activists, many of whom are women themselves. The idea that millions of mothers have murdered their own children would be profoundly disruptive to activist strategies, to the legal system, and to pro-lifers ideas about nurturing femininity.

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Perverse credit to Williams, then, for confronting the implications of abortion-as-murder forthrightly. I do indeed know women who have had abortions, Williamson replied to a feminist writer who challenged him in 2014. If I didnt think they were people, theyd have no moral culpability. Its of a piece with his defense for hanging as the means of execution. If the state is going to do violence, lets make it violence, he said on his podcast in 2014. Lets not pretend like were doing something else.

Its useful for pro-choice readers to see the anti-choice argument presented in such grim, unvarnished terms. At least this way they can engage more honestly with their ideological opponents; its harder to do this when the pro-life movement is dressed up in the language of empathy and feminism. The question of whether arguments like Williamsons ought to be printed in the pages of a publication like the Atlantic is quite a different matter, of course. Atlantic writers have had no trouble discussing Williamsons ideas in the past, without the magazine paying him to produce those ideas. Formally welcoming Williamson into the fold implied that his arguments fall within a certain spectrum of reasonableness, which can be expected to give those arguments greater currency in the wider world. Just this week, a candidate for lieutenant governor in Idaho said that because abortion is murder, the state should punish women who procure them. For now, at least, those arguments remain beyond the pale of mainstream discourse.
Scott Lloyd has devoted a significant chunk of his yearlong tenure in the federal government to a single crusade: attempting to prevent undocumented minors from terminating their unwanted pregnancies. Lloyd, the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, issued a new policy in March 2017 prohibiting all federally funded shelters from taking any action that facilitates abortion for unaccompanied minors without his direction and approval. At least five teenagers have since requested abortions; Lloyd has denied all five requests. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued successfully to protect these minors constitutional right to abortion access. In March, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan blocked the ORR from interfering with any undocumented minors reproductive health care in any capacity. (The Justice Department plans to appeal.)

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As part of this ongoing litigation, ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri has deposed Lloyd several times. In the first deposition, taken in December, Lloyd admitted he had considered forcing a minor who had taken the first pill in a medication abortion to attempt an abortion reversal, which experts call unproven and unethical. During the most recent deposition, taken in February and filed with Chutkan on Wednesday, Lloyd acknowledged more alarming details of his quest to block abortion accessand revealed how little he cares about the well-being of the minors themselves. Here are the most disturbing takeaways.

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1. Lloyd Forced Shelter Staff to Provide Minors With Anti-Abortion Propaganda

ORR has already disclosed that Lloyd coerced minors to attend crisis pregnancy centers in an effort to counsel them out of receiving abortions. It turns out he required a staffer at one of these shelters to provide a graphic description of the abortion procedure to at least one teenager. (The description came from Justice Anthony Kennedys infamous opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart.) Lloyd said he did so to ensure that she had informed consent. At that point in the deposition, the following exchange took place between Lloyd and the ACLUs Amiri:

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Amiri: Are there other circumstances outside of the abortion context where you have instructed your staff to provide medical informed consent to a minor undergoing a medical procedure? Lloyd: Not that I recall.

A few minutes later, Lloyd conceded he did not instruct staff to describe the process of childbirth or C-sections to pregnant minors.

Lloyd also compelled the minor to read Texas notorious anti-abortion booklet, which asserts, falsely, that abortion often leads to breast cancer, infertility, and depression. Amiri pointed out that the minor in question was not in Texas and asked Lloyd why she would be asked to read a publication from the state of Texas. Lloyd told her that we found it to be a good resource.

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2. Lloyd Conflates His Religious Beliefs With Science

At one point, Amiri asked Lloyd, Do you think that abortion is less safe than childbirth? (It isnt.) Lloyd said he didnt know. Heres the exchange that followed:

Amiri: So this particular minor  had your attention about the type of procedure that she was going to undergo because in your mind, it was a procedure that would involve the destruction of human life? Lloyd: Well, its not just in my mind. Thats objective.  I think the objective facts are that it involves the destruction of a human life. How people internalize every element is a different question. Amiri: Is your belief that abortion is the destruction of human life informed by your [religious] faith? Lloyd: Its informed by the reality of the situation and the scientific facts. Amiri: You also believe that abortion is a sin? Lloyd: What does that have to do with anything?

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After Amiri reminded Lloyd that the ACLU was suing him for unconstitutionally imposing his own religious views on women in his care, Lloyd responded that yes, he does believe abortion is a sin.

Later, Amiri asked Lloyd why he wrote in a memo that women who have abortions frequently experience it as a devastating trauma.

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Have you done a literature review of the science literature about whether abortion causes trauma? Amiri asked. Lloyd said he had not.

Have you read any summaries about the scientific literature about whether abortion causes trauma? she continued. Lloyd said he had, reading information provided by his staff as well as stuff he found on the internet, indicating an increased likelihood of self-harm, suicide, that sort of thing.

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In fact, regret after abortion is extremely rare, as are psychological complications resulting from the procedure. (Many women are depressed, however, when they are denied access to abortion.) Here and elsewhere, Lloyd appeared to be confusing propaganda with reality.

3. Lloyd Is Not Convinced That a Rape Survivor Told the Truth About Her Assault

In one instance, Lloyd refused to let a minor known as Jane Poe obtain an abortion even though she was pregnant via rape. (Young female migrants face high rates of sexual assault.) He explained in a memo that compelling the minor to carry her pregnancy to term was in her best interesteven though she threatened to harm herself if she could not get an abortion. When Amiri brought up Poe, Lloyd seemed to question whether she was being honest about her assault:

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Amiri: This minor had been raped; correct? Lloyd: Well, she claimed to have been raped, yes.

Amiri then asked Lloyd whether he had any reason to disbelieve Poe. He admitted he did not.

4. Lloyd Believes He Knows Whats Best for Pregnant Minors

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Amiri brought up the memo in which Lloyd elaborated upon his reasoning for blocking Poes abortion. She then asked him, [Have you] supplanted your decision for hers based on your determination that the abortion is not in her best interest? Lloyd said no. This strange colloquy followed:

Amiri: So please correct me and explain why. Lloyd: Whatever she feels about whats in her best interest is one matter, and then what we do as a program serving her is a different matter. Amiri: How then do you reconcile your determination about what is in her best interest with what you just said in terms of the program? I dont quite understand. Lloyd: We are charged with acting in the best interest of the children in our care.  And thats what we did in this case. Amiri: So you think that denying her access to abortion was in her best interest? Lloyd: In this case, it was.

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5. Lloyd Wont Concede That He Has Imposed a Blanket Abortion Ban

Youre never going to approve an abortion request, right? Amiri asked Lloyd, after he defended his decision to block Poes abortion. Lloyd demurred: Im going to look at each case and make a determination on a case-by-case basis. She pressed him further:

Amiri: If you were to approve an abortion request, wouldnt you be complicit in sin? Lloyd: I could be. It depends. Its a case-by-case determination. Amiri: Depends on what? Lloyd: A number of factors.

Then the two discussed a hypothetical:

Amiri: Lets say theres a minor whos pregnant as a result of rape. Shes eight weeks pregnant. Shes requested an abortion. She has threatened self-harm if shes not allowed to have the abortion. Shes voluntarily told her parents and her sponsor, all of whom are supportive of her abortion decision and would like her to have the abortion. She has obtained a judicial bypass. Would you in that case still deny the request? Lloyd: I dont know. Amiri: What do you mean you dont know?  What facts would you need that I have not laid out that would help you with your decision? Lloyd: It would have to be a real case.

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For the time being, Lloyd and the ORR are legally obligated to let all undocumented minors obtain abortions if they so choose. But the fight is far from over. The Supreme Court is currently mulling a request by the Department of Justice to sanction Amiri and the ACLU for helping one minor terminate her pregnancy. (A court had already ruled that the ORR could not prevent her from getting the abortion.) Its clear that Lloyd will not abandon his abortion ban until the DOJ has run out of options for appeal. But thanks to Amiri and her colleagues, the agency can no longer seriously argue that Lloyds policy is rooted in anything other than his personal, often fictitious, beliefs.
On Thursday, Donald Trump made his first public comments on an agreement his lawyer Michael Cohen tried to make with adult film performer Stormy Daniels to silence an alleged affair. Trump basically repeated what Cohen and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders have already said: Trump had no idea about Cohens attempted $130,000 hush contract with Daniels.

Here are the relevant comments, which Trump made on Air Force One while returning to Washington from a trip to West Virginia:

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Q: Mr. President, did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels? THE PRESIDENT: No. No. What else? Q: Then why did Michael Cohen make those if there was no truth to her allegations? THE PRESIDENT: Well, youll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. And youll have to ask Michael Cohen. Q: Do you know where he got the money to make that payment? THE PRESIDENT: No, I dont know. No. Q: Did you ever set up a fund of money that he could draw from?

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At this point, the president changed the subject.

Why is it relevant that Trump is denying awareness of a payment made at the height of the campaign that was meant to keep an alleged Shark Week sex affair with an adult film performer secret? Well, Daniels has sued Trumpalong with the front company Cohen established to try to set up the agreementin order to nullify the contract. Whether Trump is a party to the contract is the critical, material question of the suit. Daniels attorney has argued that, because Trump never signed it, hes not a party to it. This would seem to obviously mean that it was never formed.

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Now Trump is saying himself for the first time publicly that he did not know about it. Which begs the question: How could he be a party to obligations committed to on his behalf that he didnt know about?

As Ive reported before, this is the critical question of the case. The contract is full of language and obligations that only David Dennison, the contracts pseudonym for Trump, could agree to. If DD, i.e., Trump, never agreed to those material provisions that are the essential components of the contract, then how could the contract have been formed? And why would Daniels be bound to keep silent about her story?

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The answer seems to be, it would be impossible.

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Meanwhile, though, the lawyer for Cohens front company requested earlier this week that the case be moved to arbitration and seemed to argue in a court filing something entirely different from what Trump just said.

This motion seeks to enforce the arbitration provision in the Settlement Agreement, which was negotiated at arms length by the parties respective counsel, attorney Brent Blakely wrote in a motion to the court that is hearing the case. This would seem to argue that DD, i.e., Trump, was a party to the agreementas the contract language states throughoutnegotiated by his lawyer Cohen, and thus he was aware of it. For his part, another of Cohens attorneys, David Schwartz, told CBS the opposite last week: that Cohen wasnt acting as Trumps attorney in this matter.

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Basically, Trump and his apparent representatives are arguing both sides. In public, Trump and his representatives are denying that he knew anything about the agreement. The implication of this argument would be that he is not liable for any potential campaign finance reporting questions around it, or any political or marital fallout. But in court, his lawyers shell companys lawyer is apparently arguing that Trump was a party to it, and so it is a consummated contract, and so the case should still go to arbitration.

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Its either he chooses to arbitrate, or he says Im not one of the parties and they lose that arbitration agreement and that arbitration settlement, Georgetown Law professor J. Maria Glover, an expert in arbitration law, told me last week.

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Theyre trying to have it both ways, Glover added. I dont in the end think they can.

Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti, meanwhile, has argued that the contract was never consummated and that the judge must rule on this question before sending the entire case to arbitration.

If U.S. District Court Judge James Otero rules that the case indeed should be headed for arbitration, though, then he would be essentially sending it into a black hole hidden from public view.

As Avenatti noted on Twitter on Monday:

We will vigorously oppose the just-filed motion by DJT and MC to have this case decided in a private arbitration, in a private conf room, hidden from the American public. This is a democracy and this matter should be decided in an open court of law owned by the people. #sunlight  Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) April 2, 2018

From that private conference room, the presidents representatives could confidentially argue whatever side they wanted, no matter what position Trump takes in public. If Judge Otero rules this way, he will be gifting Trump the opportunity to have his cake and eat it too.
Scott Pruitt had one job. Hes done it well. As administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Pruitt was tasked with dismantling every environmental regulation imposed by the Obama administration. Alas, hes also done so much more. Pruitt hasnt been able to resist exploiting the perks of his power, allegedly renting a room from an energy lobbyist under market value, spending an exorbitant amount of public money on lavish travel, improperly giving big raises to political appointees, replacing security guards who would not indulge his whims, and demoting officials who questioned his waste of public funds. And the list goes on, and gets longer by the day.

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Pruitts apologists are not disturbed by these eye-popping ethics scandals. Instead, theyve settled on a rather extraordinary narrative: that the journalists whove uncovered his misdeeds did so because they oppose his agenda. The Federalists Mollie Hemingway tweeted that the media & other resistance leaders targeted Pruitt because he is easily the most effective Trump functionary. She then wrote an article attacking the Washington Post for its coordinated hit on Pruitt. The Wall Street Journal editorial board also published a piece asserting that bureaucrats, interest groups and the press are creating smoke about [Pruitts] spending and ethics to get him fired. Hemingway, the Post, and Pruitts few defenders in Congress urged President Donald Trump to ignore the scandals and keep the EPA administrator in office so he can continue deregulating the environment.

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This narrative is bizarre not because it suggests that Trump should ignore Pruitts corruption to own the libsthat sentiment is to be expected from the increasingly trollish anti-anti-Trump right. Rather, its strange because its so obviously counterproductive to these conservatives own priorities. Pruitts effectiveness has been vastly overstated, and his work at the EPA is entirely unexceptional. Any Republican apparatchik can and would do precisely what Pruitt has done, which does not require much effort or expertise. If Pruitt manages to cling to his office, hell serve out his tenure politically weakened and mired in controversy. Trump would do better to cut bait and install a less flagrantly unscrupulous bureaucrat in Pruitts place. The press will move on, and whoever gets picked to run the EPA will get to deregulate whatever the administration wants to deregulate.

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Why have Republicans convinced themselves that Pruitt is something special? The cult around him arose during his six-year tenure as Oklahoma attorney general. Pruitt coasted to victory on campaign contributions from Koch Industries and ConocoPhillips, an oil and gas company. Once in office, he promptly did the bidding of the energy lobbyists who helped to install him, abolishing the Environmental Protection Unit and creating a Federalism Unit. The chief purpose of this new bureau was to sue the Obama administration to block new regulations. Its name is something of a misnomer, because Pruitt took an inconsistent view on states rights: While he argued for Oklahomas ability to pollute without federal interference, he also sued California to block its animal welfare policies and filed suit against Colorado to block its legalization of marijuana.

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Pruitt is, in short, a very weird guy, one whose idiosyncrasies present obvious political liabilities.

Pruitt mostly focused his efforts on the Affordable Care Act and the EPA. He filed 14 lawsuits to block the administrations protections for air, wildlife, and water; industry players that might suffer from the new rules were parties to all but one of these cases. Pruitt was entirely shameless about doing the energy industrys bidding and using state resources to help the lobbyists who put him in office. Most of his suits ultimately failed, but he did persuade the Supreme Court to block the Clean Power Plan, a policy he now plans to formally revoke.

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While that might sound impressive, the truth is that if Pruitt werent doing this work, somebody else would be. In fact, they already were: Pruitts suits were regularly joined by a large coalition of Republican state attorneys general, who were happy to contribute to the deregulatory cause. Former Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and his successor Ken Paxton were actually much more effective at strategically litigating against Obamas proposals. Their offices had more time, money, and personnel to devote to these fights than Pruitts. And in any event, oil and gas lawyers wound up doing most of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. Pruitt was the face of the legal fight, but energy lawyers and lobbyists were the driving force behind it.

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As soon as he arrived at the EPA, Pruitt began revoking as many Obama-era policies as he could. He overturned rules banning harmful pesticides and the dumping of mining debris into local streams, repealed a ban on offshore drilling, suspended regulations limiting methane emissions on public lands, and gutted regulations to reduce haze in national parks and increase forest-restoration projects. He has repealed, suspended, or rewritten multiple limitations on carbon emissions and plans to scrap fuel standards that made cars more energy efficient. And he is reconsidering a rule that restricts power plants ability to dump lead, arsenic, and mercury in public waterways.

Not a single one of these reversals was especially difficult to enact. Pruitt simply examined each of the Obama administrations environmental initiatives and jettisoned them under some flimsy pretext. Unlike Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Pruitt cant really strike out with his own proactive agenda; his job is merely to repeal, not replace. Environmental groups and progressive Democrats have occasionally cried foul, but Pruitt has faced no serious impediments. Congressional Republicans have, until very recently, almost universally supported him and helped out where they could. Pruitt didnt need any special knowledge or experience or connections to scrap Obamas environmental legacy. All that was required was a pen and a phone.

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Pruitt only began to face significant pushback after his extracurricular activities came to light. We now know that he is deeply paranoid, demanding 24/7 protection from 30 bodyguards while requesting a soundproof security booth and a bulletproof desk. Hes arrogant, too, and vindictive: He reportedly violated protocol by using lights and sirens to get to dinner faster, then reassigned agents who questioned his decision.

Pruitt is, in short, a very weird guy, one whose idiosyncrasies present obvious political liabilities. Democrats have thus far been largely unsuccessful in rallying their base to challenge Pruitts policy views. Now that his bad behavior has come to light, it will be much easier to sell the idea that the EPA administrator must be thwarted.

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Deregulation thrives in obscurity, and Pruitts quiet attack on environmental rules flourished because so few people were paying attention. They sure are now. While thats unfortunate for Republicans, this problem has an obvious resolution: Trump should sack Pruitt and replace him with literally any uncontroversial Republican administrator who hews to the party line on regulations. Pruitts replacement can pick up right where he left off, safely out of the spotlight. But until the GOP realizes how little value Pruitt really adds, theyre stuck with a functionary whose ethical breaches will drag down the partys entire agenda.
This post is part of Outward, Slates home for coverage of LGBTQ life, thought, and culture. Read more here.

Following the acquittal of Noor Salman, the wife of Pulse gunman Omar Mateen, theres been a flurry of coverage revisiting Mateens 2016 massacre of 49 people at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The key takeaways: that Salman, who had been charged with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting Mateen, had not helped him plan the attack; and that the FBIs handling of her case was embarrassingly shoddya shoddiness that kept her unjustly imprisoned and away from her children for 14 months. Though jurors indicated after the verdict that they felt Salman probably knew Mateen was planning something, they agreed there was not enough evidence to convict her on the specific charges in question.

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Its incredibly upsetting to learn that Salmanwho one reporter described as both a victim of sustained domestic abuse and cognitively challengedsuffered so terribly at the hands of the justice system. Whats not helpful is framing that story in terms like these: Everyone Got The Pulse Massacre Story Completely Wrong.

Thats the headline of an article by Mellssa Jeltsen, published Wednesday in HuffPost, which attempts to connect the view that the Pulse attack was a homophobic hate crime to the separate question of Salmans subjection to prosecutorial overreach and FBI malpractice. Jeltsens reporting on the trial appears solid, and her concern over the public and medias lack of concern for Salman is well-taken. Its her theory regarding that lack of concern that rings so false: But the narrative that was repeated and turned into factthat Mateen had picked Pulse because of who its patrons were and what they representedhad the effect of obscuring another, smaller injustice: the prosecution of Mateens wife.

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Uncertainty is part of what made the Pulse massacre so horrifying.

In paragraphs that sometimes feel like theyve been intercalated from another piece, she argues that basically everyone believed Mateens attack was a pre-meditated hate crime against LGBTQ people; that homophobia was clearly not the killers motive; and that progressive sensitivity around the wound Pulse represented for the queer community served to preoccupy those who might have otherwise advocated on Salmans behalf. Where were the sort of liberal pressure groups, Jeltsen asks, that normally could be counted on to bang the drum about domestic violence, Islamophobia, overzealous terror prosecutions? Kept home by the misapplied label hate crime, is her answer.

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There are a few problems with this logic. For starters, its just not true that a narrative of clear-cut homophobia on Mateens part was taken as gospel. I reported on the ground in Orlando in the week after the attack, and even then, gay people were ambivalent about (or even indifferent to) Mateens motivations. Some folks believed the stories that Mateen was a closeted gay man and even a Pulse regular (and thus acting out of self-hatred), while others viewed him as mentally ill or a terrorist or some combination thereof. Media coverage in the weeks after the massacre echoed this mix of viewsif anything, I recall reading more pieces skeptical of the secret male lovers and Grindr messages than stories that presented those rumors as facts. Surely a segment of the population believed that Mateen set out that night to kill some gays, but a range of theories and interpretations were (and still are!) in circulation. I dont think its fair to say that we got anything wrong because I dont buy that we believed any one theory about why Mateen did what he did. Indeed, that uncertainty is part of what made the Pulse massacre so horrifying.

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Jeltsen seems to have latched on to the fact that many queer people used the term hate crime in the aftermath of the attack. She is correct to point out that the Pulse killing did not meet federal or state standards for that designation due to a lack of direct evidence regarding Mateens motivationsit seems more likely than not that he chose the nightclub as a target at random, and investigators apparently found no hard evidence of anti-LGBTQ sentiment on Mateens part. But writers like the Daily Beasts Tim Teeman, who Jeltsen cites as advancing the wrong interpretation, were largely using hate crime in a functional sense, and specifically in response to a galling trend among some politicians and media organizations to ignore or willfully erase the fact that Pulse was a gay bar, and that it was queer (and Latino) people, specifically, who were dead. Its fair to argue that precision around this term and its implication of intent would be ideal, but in this case Im comfortable with community impact outweighing technicalities.

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Its also worth noting that we cant say for sure that homophobia wasnt in the mix of what motivated Mateen. Jeltsen herself acknowledges he might have been bigoted, referencing his love of gay-murdering ISIS and his fathers infamous comment about Mateens being angered by seeing two men kissing. But she demotes this possibility in favor of his own ISIS-focused statements, and accepts investigator testimony that Mateen wasnt a closet case and didnt know what sort of place Pulse was.

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But even if Jeltsen is totally right about Mateens psychology, there is more than one way of reading a detail like this: A security guard recalled Mateen asking where all the women were, apparently in earnest, in the minutes before he began his slaughter. Jeltsen sees this as evidence of Mateens ignorance about where he was; I believe its possible he was making a nervous joke and may have realized hed hit the jackpot before continuing apace. Both views involve a certain amount of speculation.

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I have never much cared about why Mateen attacked Pulse, and I made a point of not centering that question in my own coverage. He didnt deserve the attention. It was always clear enough to me that, for one reason or another, he hated the kind of people I lovepeople who, at the very least, dance and celebrate and go to nightclubs. Even if he didnt plan it that way, I am sure he would not regret that his 49 victims were largely queer.

What we should regret is that Salman seems to have been unfairly prosecuted. But the obscuring of her case, as Jeltsen puts it, is not the fault of those who view Mateen as a bigot. Indeed, most of us, in the same rallies and articles condemning the murderer, insisted on warning against the Islamophobia that Jeltsen suggests may have inflected the case. What happened here seems sadly banal: Authorities acted badly, the news cycle lost interest, activists moved on to more pressing concerns, and the justice system took too long to produce a just outcome. Its uncomfortable and unsatisfying to realize theres no single explanation for the harm inflicted on Noor Salman. For those of us still mourning what happened at Pulse, thats a familiar feeling.
When Congress returns from its two-week recess on Monday, it wont have a whole lot to  do. Most of the meaningful legislation that was going to get done before the midterms was buried in the 2,232-page omnibus that passed a couple of weeks ago. There will still be some work over the summera farm bill, for example, thats already a predictably hot mess over proposed cuts to food stamps. But otherwise, the 115th Congress is just about ready to spend the little remaining time its not on recess doing the important work of voting on messaging bills and pretending they matter in any way.

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And what better way to kick off messaging season than voting on a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution?

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The House has teed up a vote next week on such an amendment, introduced last year by Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Last year, House Speaker Paul Ryan promised North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, a vote on the measure in exchange for Walkers support for the budget resolution that set up tax reform. (Unrelated historical note: The House Freedom Caucus, the most conservative caucus, was formed because far-right legislators grew tired of the Republican Study Committees habit of folding in exchange for agreements to hold useless messaging votes.)

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The amendment that will be considered is the less severe of the two that Goodlatte has introduced. Instead of requiring a three-fifths supermajority to raise taxes, as the unconsidered amendment does, the one on which theyll vote only requires a majority. The amendment would nevertheless require that spending not exceed revenues in any given fiscal year, that spending not exceed 20 percent of gross domestic product, and that three-fifths majorities would be required to raise the debt limit.

All in all, a great way to collapse an economy through the unimpeachable logic of, If families have to tighten their belts when things are tough, so too should the federal government.

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The Treasury Department will need to borrow about 1 trillion bucks each of the next few fiscal yearsin good economic times. Deficits during the next recession are going to be hilarious, and the austerity required to bring them into balance during recession would do the trick of landing the country in a depression. Even though the amendment wouldnt go into effect until five years after its ratification, thats still a dangerously quick wind-down. On the plus side, that five-year waiting period would give us plenty of time to reserve our spots in a nationwide bread line.

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The only good thing about this amendment is its escape clause to prevent any of it from happening. Just after requiring that total outlays for any fiscal year shall not exceed total receipts for that year, we get a provision allowing Congress to override that unless three-fifths of the whole number of each House of Congress shall provide by law for a specific excess of outlays over receipts by a rollcall vote. A waiver for whatever excess spending they feel like would be linked to every spending bill, after Democrats and Republicans fail to agree on the appropriate mix of spending cuts and tax increases to lower the deficit.

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But what am I even doing here, giving this messaging bill a close read and gaming out how it would work? This thing isnt getting two-thirds support in the House, its not doing anything in the Senate, and three-quarters of states, which happen to enjoy the federal governments unlimited printing press given the restraints of their own balanced-budget requirements, would never ratify it. Slapping this amendment onto the Constitution is not the practical goal here.

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The goal of the vote this week is to allow Republicans running for office, when confronted by constituents about their remarkable ability to create boom-time trillion-dollar deficits, to say, I voted for a balanced-budget amendment.

Consider Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta, a Republican running for the Senate who voted for both Trumps tax cuts and the omnibus spending bill, who delighted the Keystone State on Friday morning with a column touting his support for the balanced-budget amendment. (The best part of the column is certainly the stock-art graphic showing a calculator that says BUDGET.) It includes not one but two formulations of how the federal government should manage its accounting like a family does.

Only seven more months until Election Day.
The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting seven Russian oligarchs and 17 top government officials, part of an escalating series of responses to Russias meddling in the 2016 election as well as what one official called the totality of the Russian governments ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity around the world. The oligarchs in question include Oleg Deripaska, who had close ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

This latest move comes less than two weeks after the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats by the U.S.part of a coordinated international response to the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Britain on March 4.

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On the other hand, it also comes less than three weeks after President Trump had a phone call with Vladimir Putin during whichagainst the explicit instructions of his advisershe congratulated the Russian president on his controversial election victory, is not believed to have brought up what was arguably a chemical weapons attack against a key U.S. ally, and even suggested holding a meeting between the two leaders at the White House for what would be Putins first visit in more than a decade.

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Its been clear for a while now that the Trump administration and Trump himself have very different approaches to Russia. In fact, Trump may be the only pro-Russian figure in his administration. Even as he has continued to publicly defend his overtures to Putin and has been reluctant to criticize or even acknowledge the evidence of Russian interference in 2016, his administration has taken a number of steps that are arguably more aggressive toward Moscow than its predecessors actions.

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The sanctions imposed by Obama have not been lifted, and more have been added, for election-related issues as well as human rights violations. Russia has been publicly called out by the U.S. for helping Syria carry out chemical weapons attacks and helping North Korea evade sanctions. The administration has begun providing lethal aid to the government of Ukrainea step the Obama administration was not willing to take and an issue that has caused some controversy in the context of the election investigation. A U.S. airstrike may even have killed dozens of Russian fighters in Syria in Februarya story thats been bizarrely forgotten.

H.R. McMaster took a parting shot at Russias aggression in his last remarks as Trumps national security adviser, as did former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on his way out the door. Trumps new team is unlikely to be much more accommodating: John Bolton is a longtime Russia hawk.

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The Russians themselves reportedly view Trump as either hemmed in by Muellers investigation and prevented from executing the foreign policy hed like, or even running a sort of good cop, bad cop routine.

I dont think thats quite right. The presidents habit of choosing advisers based on their manner and presentation rather than their views, in addition to his tendency to defer to his advisers on national security matters, has created a situation where he often seems not to agree with things his own administration is doing. Getting along with Russia is not the only example. The president blindsided the Pentagon last week and again on Tuesday by announcing the imminent withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria even as preparations were being made to keep them there for the long term and fortify their positions. As the Washington Post reported Friday, in national security meetings, Trump and his generals hold frequently opposing ideas about priorities in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Even more than a year into his presidency, Trump sometimes acts as if hes on the outside lobbing criticism rather than the one directing policy. These days, the most prominent critic of Trumps foreign policy may be Trump himself.
Amazon has been working on its voice-enabled virtual assistant, Alexa, for years. Its how the companys Fire TV, its Echo smart speakers, and other Amazon devices are able to answer our questionsand know what we want.

While we know Alexa is always listening, how does she think? And how much of what she hears does she remember? In this weeks episode of Slates tech podcast If Then, I chatted with Al Lindsay, vice president of Alexa Engine Software at Amazon. Hes been at Amazon since 2004 and has led the Alexa team since 2011. In other words, hes the guy in charge of building Amazons version of the all-knowing Star Trek computer. In our interview, we discussed how Alexa understands our commands, what he makes of users growing concerns over privacy, and why Alexa was laughing so creepily for some users recently.

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You can read an abridged version of our conversation below, or stream or download the full discussion and episode via iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, the Google Play store, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Oremus: Lets start with the basics. Pretend I know almost nothing about technology. You probably wont be too far from the truth. Explain to me, in the simplest possible terms, what happens when I ask my Amazon Echo, Alexa, whats the weather today?

Al Lindsay: Sure. The first thing that happens is the local software running on your device, which is able to recognize the wake word Alexa, detects that you said the word Alexa, wakes up, alerts you that its now listening by lighting up the ring in blue, opens a connection to the cloud, and streams the rest of your request to Alexa in the cloud. Thats the first stage, which is understanding, Hey, youre talking to me. I need to do something with this, get it over to the cloud, so that Alexa can process it.

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The next part is understanding the words that you said, so speech recognition, or what we call ASRit stands for Automatic Speech Recognition. Thats understanding the words, so based off the language, trying to understand what the strings of potential words are you might have said, and then we get those on over to a system we call, natural language understanding, which then tries to make sense of the meaning of those words. It might be able to understand that you said, Whats the weather? Those wordsthe fact that translates to a request that needs to be routed to a piece of software that understands about weather, and location, and those types of things is the understanding layer.

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Then, I think about weather, as an application, we call them skills. Skills are like applications and they handle your request. You get that request over to the weather skill and its able to figure out and speak back to you, using the text-to-speech engine, the answer to your query.

What about the question of whether Alexa is always listening? You hear that sometimes. You have this device in your living room, its listening to you all the time. If nothing else, its listening to make sure youre not saying the word Alexa, right?

Whats happening is the software runs locally on the device itself, and its listening locally for the word Alexa. Theres no connectivity or streaming, at that time. The sound is passing through the microphones. The engine is simply looking for that one pattern. Do I see the pattern Alexa? If not, its just passing through. Its only when we detect the phrase Alexa, locally, that we then wake up and say, Hey, this was meant for me. Now I need to take further action and actually start to listen and stream to the cloud.

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What about this fear that, over time, this device that you have in your living room, that is listening to you and analyzing what you say, that it will just get to know so much about you that you should really be concerned about privacy. Ive actually heard people say, I would never get an Amazon Echo, or I would never get a Google Home because Im just concerned about the privacy. I dont like the idea of inviting something into my living room thats going to be learning all this stuff about me.

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Right. Well, we take privacy really seriously at Amazon. Its something that we thought deeply about right from the beginning. The whole product and the whole Alexa experience is designed around being thoughtful about privacy and customers concerns about that. A lot of the decisions that weve made to date, and will continue to make, are centered around being transparent in what we do. Right from the experience Ive described, where you say the wake-word, and then the blue ring lights up. The blue ring is there to reassure you, by letting you know, like, Hey, I think I heard my name. Ive just opened a connection to the cloud, so that I can try and follow-up on what I heard after and, hopefully, help you.

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All the way through to the transparent way in which you can go into the app, see your entire history of utterances, delete them, or see how Alexa interpreted them. You said something and Alexa thought you said, Play music. She got it wrong. You can see that right in your utterance history. That was all about being transparent and showing people, Hey look, heres what Alexa is doing, and give you some control over it. Now, go ahead and delete it, make it go away.

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OK, got it. I think what you said is that when you havent said the wake word, Alexa, when youre just in your kitchen, or in your living room, with the device and its listening for the word, Alexa, it is, in a sense, listening to everything you say, but that stuff is not going to some remote server. That stuff is all staying on the device. Is there a way that we know that the device then disposes of it, so it cant get hacked, or somebody can get into your Echo and see all the stuff that it recorded when you werent trying to talk to it?

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Sure. I think I used the phrase passes through, because without getting too deep into the technology, it literally is inspecting the acoustic pattern. So it has no notion, or sense, of words or meaning. All of thats in the cloud, right? Its looking for a pattern that matches Alexa. Everything else is just sound waves passing through and theyre not recording, theyre literally, passing through a buffer and disappearing as they flow through without recognizing that pattern.

Its not until you snap onto that pattern, youre like, Theres that pattern. Thats Alexa. Now, it opens a channel and take everything from this point forward and stream it to the cloud.

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Could there be a positive side to better understanding though some of the stuff that Alexa, in theory, could pick up? I mean, I know, for instance, if you do certain search terms in Google that, that suggests you might be considering an act of terrorism, or that you might be considering suicide. Google would take certain steps that it wouldnt normally take to try to protect you and/or others. Is that something that your team has had to think about?

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Not my team specifically, but I do believe weve done work with the national crisis center. Where we do get those utterances, where someones expressed that theyre struggling with something in their life. Weve carefully crafted responses to try to be helpful, direct them to places they can get help. There definitely are instances of that in our experience.

Whats a privacy concern about voice A.I. software, and about Alexa, that you think is valid and that its something that worries you too and you actually are trying to tackle it, or its a challenge for your team?

I dont really have one for a response for that. I feel there isnt really anything that falls into that category, that Im aware of, or focused on.

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A lot of people, recently, became familiar with the creepy laugh that emanated from some Alexa devices, where it just seemed to start laughing randomly and peoples living rooms. Obviously, people were freaked out by that. I think we came to learn that maybe it wasnt as creepy as people might have thought. I think, people were saying, it thought it heard the word laugh, or the command, Alexa laugh, but it didnt actually hear that. Is that what was happening?

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Yeah, the shorter the utterance, the harder it is to get accurate ASR. I mean, if you say, Play supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, thats probably one of the most easiest words to snap to, because nothing else sounds like it. But short, one syllable, commands, so laugh being one of them, are easily confusable with other things. I think the combination of either an intended wake up, but then a misunderstanding of the command, or an unintended wake up and a misunderstanding of whatever noise came after it, can result in a misrecognition, and in this case, it just happened to misrecognize to be laugh.

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The editorial that we had, had Alexa just laugh when you asked her to laugh. I think that, that second part may have been jarring to people and so, now, shell say something along the lines of, Sure, I can laugh, and then laugh. At least you have a little bit of context for what just happened.

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But its a hard job that youve set for yourself. Ive heard you describe the vision, again, as building a Star Trek computer, something that can answer any question that you might have, or help you out with whatever you might need. That would seem to suggest that youd need something like what is sometimes called in the industry, general A.I., or hard A.I.an artificial intelligence that understands a lot about the world and is not just smart about one particular thing, like telling you the weather, or ordering you a Dominos pizza.

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That said, you guys, your team, seems to have taken a little bit of a piecemeal approach, where youre not trying to build an artificial intelligence genius from the ground up, youre trying to work on one problem at a time and maybe if you figure out how to solve enough little problems, over time, then eventually they could add up to something that can answer almost anything youd ask. Is that a fair description of the approach youre taking to this problem?

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Let me turn it around the other way, because when I think about invention and these large changes in technology, the mental model, I think, lay people tend to have is that theres the genius in the corner that has an epiphany, or falls in the bathtub and bumps her head and has a vision for the flux capacitor thats making time-travel possible. But often the way it works is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration. Its just a lot of hard work.

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I dont know that its necessarily incremental, I feel, where Echo came into the market, with solutions to far-field speech recognition and highly accurate wake word technology and really good natural language understanding, all of those were really large leaps. I dont think of them as incremental. Some of those were just accepted in the science community to be intractable unsolvable problems.

I do feel we try to point ourselves at the hardest problems first and go after those.

[Alexa] really is a magical experience, that first time you get an Echo in your home and you ask it a question and it just answers you. I mean, its amazing, or you ask it to do something, and it just does it. In the long run, if Alexa becomes as successful as your team hopes, and becomes this entry point toward buying things, toward taking all sorts of online actions, toward learning about the world, what about the concern that this gives Amazon a lot of control over the flow of information? A lot of control over who buys what? I mean, if I ask to order a pizza through my Alexa, Amazon, in some sense, is getting to choose. Whos the default pizza vendor for Alexa? Which companies get to partner with Amazon? What are the terms of that?

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Is there any concern? Is there any validity to the concern that Amazon is inserting itself as a very powerful middleman in all kinds of transactions between people and the online world?

Well, I think, when I think about Alexa, I think about user-interface paradigm. I think about technology growing up from command line interfaces through the 70s, to the invention of the graphical user interfacethe mouse, the keyboard. Then you had the onset of the internet, and browsers, and search engines. Then touch screens, iPhones, and tablets.

I think about the voice interface as a natural evolution of those technology interfaces. And only as a way to interact with technology, your platform, or a service that underlies it. More so than, I think the way youve presented it. I mean, Amazon today is an awesome retailing platform that allows other third-party merchants to sell, just as we sell products to our customers directly on our own platform.

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I think adding a voice capability to something like shopping just removes friction and it makes things easier for customers. Its a much more natural way to interface with technology. In that way, I view it as a positive advancement in the way that we interface with technology.

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One way of looking at it, as youve pointed out, is that in the past people have had to learn to speak computer and now youre teaching the computer to speak our language, so that it can relate to us on our own terms.

Thats a good way to look at it.

Whats the single biggest technical challenge to making Alexa as smart, and as capable, as you want it to be? You mentioned a couple of big advances that made the Amazon Echo possible. One of them was just the ability to hear somebody from across the room and isolate that sound above all the other ambient noise. Another was the natural language understanding, the baseline ability to parse your words and figure out what it is youre saying. What, in the next five years, or 10 years, constrains a device like Alexa, because as wonderful and powerful as it is, you still  I mean, anybody who buys one, you quickly learn that you cant just ask it anything and have it answer.

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I mean a lot of stuff its going to say, Sorry, I dont understand your question, or that sort of thing. Why is that and what might change that in the future?

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I think context is an important challenge. When we converse with other humans, theres all kinds of nonverbal clues that you pick up on, or you have a history with the other individual, things youve done over your lives. Theres where you are, what youre doing at that moment. When you say something to a friend, like, I wonder whats up with that guy? As words, its hard to parse that and make sense of it, from a natural language understanding perspective, but you, as a human, have no problem at all understanding the inferences that are hidden in that question.

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Computers cant do this today. They struggle to bring to bear all of the context and nonverbal clues, environmental clues, whats going on in the world clues, to be able to sort through those shortcuts and be able to really get at the heart of what you meant. Its more hear what I mean, not what I say. I think thats the biggest challenge facing all of the A.I. providers in the next, as you said, five years. How do we become more contextually aware?

In Alexa, we do it in the small. If youve got multiple devices nearby, and you say, Stop. The one that heard you, theres nothing going on, on that device, but elsewhere in the room theres another device thats playing some music, that context is useful and we can figure out, Hey, we should stop the music on the other device, or the video thats playing on your Fire TV. These are nice smaller examples, but in the large, I think, having context over multiple interactions, and understanding your environment, and whose present, and whos not present, and where you are geographically, or physically, or things that youve had affinity to in the past will allow a more natural conversational interface for you with your artificial agent. Where you wont feel like its limited in what you can ask. Maybe you can ask anything. Maybe you can have a hypothetical conversation about current events in the world, like, Hey, what do you think about whats going on in the Middle East? I think thats the meat of the challenge to get to the next level.

If Then is the technology podcast from Slate. Subscribe to the show via iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, the Google Play store, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We know who they are long before they do it. Before people kill, they espouse hatred and blame others for their problems. They are verbally abusive and threatening. They look for the confrontation in every interaction. They deflect kindness. They curse at strangers. They threaten to hurt animals, girlfriends, rivalsand may even do so. We are repelled by their hostility, but at the same time they infuriate us, and we want to strike back. They are offensive and ostracized. Even in the field of mental health, where we strive to suspend judgement to treat the troubled, you might hear: Ill tell you his diagnosishes an asshole.

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There is an identifiable population that is extremely dangerous, volatile, and likely to commit violent crimes, but is not diagnosable as mentally ill. The pattern we see time and again is that people who act out in violent ways are men who already have an established pattern of being threatening, cruel, and violent. They often have been perpetrators of domestic violenceindeed, felony domestic violence is the best predictor of murder. They have a chronic pattern of failure to modulate their aggressive feelings. Violent crimes are committed by violent people, almost always men who are lonely, isolated, blame others for their problems, and lack the skills to manage their anger.

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The Parkland, Florida, killer had years of violent, erratic outbursts. He had made threats to numerous people and carried out physical assaults. Multiple people had called the FBI before the shooting to report that they thought he was dangerous, including his mother, who said he had anger issues. The Pulse nightclub killer in Orlando, Florida, was involved in violent altercations as a teen and had a history of violent spousal abuse. His first wife said that leaving him saved her life. The Columbine killers created a website where they posted death threats against specific individuals, wrote of their desire to kill teachers and students at the school, wrote about making pipe bombs and explosives, and like the Parkland killer, were known to the police. The Virginia Tech killer was known by staff to be cruel and menacing. At least one student had a no-contact order against him.

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Violent crimes are committed by violent people, almost always men, who are lonely, isolated, blame others for their problems, and who lack the skills to manage their anger.

The question is what we do with these people. Its a difficult question, because we are put off by them. Their bristling hostility makes it easy to dislike being around them. In response to criticisms that students did not reach out to the Parkland killer, one survivor exclaimed You didnt know this kid! Students at Stoneman Douglas said if the school ever had a mass killer it would be him. The poet Nikki Giovanni, who taught the Virginia Tech killer, said the idea that he was mentally ill was craphe was mean. He was so mean that other students and faculty feared him. They wondered, based on his writing, if he might become a killer. We know who these men are.

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As we have tried to understand, as a society, what would cause someone to commit this kind of violence, we have considered the notion that these people are mentally ill. It has been suggested that we can ensure our safety by taking guns away from the mentally ill. The message works because of a general lack of understanding of mental illness. In reality, the vast majority of people with mental health diagnoses are sad and anxious rather than violent. The most frequently used mental health diagnoses are for variants of anxiety, depressive disorders, and trauma. When we talk about mental illness, we are talking about the stressed working mom you see on the bus, the grieving widower down the street, the anxious child. Twenty percent of all US adults have some form of mental illness, but very few of them have mental illness that will increase their likelihood of violence. Even in the smaller group of people with a serious mental illness, violence is extremely rare. It can happen: Paranoid schizophrenics can occasionally be violent when they are having an episode of psychosis. But paranoid schizophrenia is very rare, and paranoid schizophrenics have been involved in only two of the 49 mass shootings since 2011.

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This troubling stereotype is not just wrong, it gets in the way of finding a real solution to our violence problem. The people who commit violence are emotionally disturbedanger is a normal and an important emotion, but their ability to manage their angry impulses is severely compromised. And yet, people who are violently angry are not mentally ill by our current standards. Instead of treating them, we call them assholes and we avoid them. Can we do better than that? I think that we not only can, but that we must.

These people have spent their lives emotionally out of control. When we acknowledge that this is a pattern, we can begin to address the underlying issues feeding violence in this country. And it extends beyond mass shootings. This is also the problem of the police officer who becomes predator rather than protector of the peace, prison guards who torture prisoners, and the people at political rallies that promote or act out violence against perceived political enemies. We are a culture with serious anger issues. We can begin to address the issue by understanding what anger is, how it can be healthy, and how it can get out of control.

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Recent advances in neuroscience provide us with a picture of anger at the physiological level, and an understanding of how it can go awry. Our brains have a sophisticated system that allows us to quickly assess our environment, determine whether there is danger, and respondthe fight-or-flight mechanism. When we perceive a threat in our environment, we rapidly shift into a state of hyperalertness. Blood shifts to our extremities, we breathe faster, and the heart pumps faster. The physiological changes get us ready to fight or flee. If we recognize the situation to not be a threat after all, our bodies return to their resting state. Long ago, evolution determined that this system helps keep us alive in the wild.

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But how we judge things to be safe or threatening is a nuanced, individual process. Neuroscientists like to say that brain cells that fire together, wire together. Brain cells establish habits. In other words, experience has a profound effect on how readily we move in and out of fight or flight. The individual who exhibits dangerous anger dysfunction and is violence-prone is stuck biologically in a never-ending cycle in which the fight-or-flight response takes charge and everything is perceived as a threat. This is a brain that has never effectively learned to calm itself. It is not functioning optimally, and its owner suffers significantly from near constant emotional distress. This is why violence predicts future violence. When this happens, the self-protective survival mechanism has become a malfunctioning system.

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When we acknowledge that this is a pattern, we can begin to address the underlying issues feeding violence in this country.

Research in the field of neuroscience over the past decade has also demonstrated the remarkable plasticity of the brain: its ability to grow and strengthen new connections throughout the lifespan. That means it can change emotional habits. The brain can be taught to change its anger response by quieting the brain circuits that support fight or flight. The process involves tools such as mindfulness, tai chi, and yoga, all of which use repeated practice to strengthen the brains ability to focus and cope with emotions. New developments in trauma treatment have shown us that the body is also a powerful part of our system of learned responses. Becoming aware of emotions as they are felt in the body can sometimes be easier than recognizing them in our minds. Excellent resources on this include Bessel van der Kolks The Body Keeps Score and Peter Levines Healing Trauma. There are very effective treatments available for those trapped in fight or flight.

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The tools are there to help dangerously angry men before they act on their rage with AR-15s. What we lack is an effective system for getting individuals who are angry, isolated, and dangerous to those who could help them.

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One of the most challenging reasons that we lack such a system is the nature of the problem. The individual who has anger dysfunction and is violence-prone, unlike almost any other physical or emotional dysfunction, is uniquely, powerfully unappealing. This emotional disorder evokes no empathy in the rest of us. We think Hes an asshole! Expel him from school! Lock him up! Let him live on the street! Teach him a lesson! Or, simply, Its not my problem. Anger in others is a threat that triggers our own fight or flight response. It often triggers a counterattack in others. Mass killers are frequently, perhaps universally, the victims of chronic, sometimes tortuous bullying. Many, if not all, grew up in homes where there was domestic violence, emotional and physical abuse. They are emotionally fragile. Theyre threatened by hostility from others, and they also engender it. The dislike and hostility they raise in others leaves them isolated, and the bullying feeds a vicious cycle where kids with minimal emotional self-control are baited into greater and greater levels of hostile defensiveness.

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Violent angry people also do not go looking for help on their own. Because they live in a state of perpetually feeling under threat, they trust no one and do not seek out support.

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So, the first problem in treating them is to find them. Schools are on the front line for identifying these individuals as kids. In the school environment, isolation and hostility can pretty readily be observed, often by teachers and administrators, and certainly by fellow students. And in fact, some schools seem to be on the cutting edge of dealing with the crisis, far ahead of the field of mental health. Peace of Mind in D.C. and Mindful Schools in California, which each offer a curriculum for mindfulness; PassageWorks, a Colorado program for teachers and staff to integrate mindfulness into their work; Mindful Teachers, a website of resources for teachers; and Peace In Schools, which provides programs for teens and training for teachers, are burgeoning all around the country. JusTme is a rapper who writes music about mindfulness and visits elementary schools to work with kids. These programs provide much needed skills for emotional coping and stress reduction for all kids, and also serve to identify kids who struggle the most with these skills.

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Schools need criteria to identify these kids and get appropriate intervention. They also are at the front lines for providing protection from bullying and a supportive environment for all students, including those with anger dysfunction. Schools should be supported for the work they are already doing to teach staff and students the skill of being able to center, calm, and focus themselves.

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The next step is for the field of mental health to provide treatment for those students whose needs exceed the schools available resources. This treatment should integrate the evidence-based, cutting edge findings of neuroscience research to directly address the underlying issues in rage-filled, violent individuals. Too often, hostile kids identified as a problem get a mental health referral, but are quickly dumped because they fit no diagnosis and are difficult to work with. Mental health professionals need to take a good look at this problem. These kids have some of the most emotionally devastating problems and most deficient coping skills, and are some of the most dangerous people in the world.

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It is also important that this constellation of symptoms becomes recognized by the police and the court system. Many mass killers have had multiple earlier interactions with the law, but the pattern and potential for violence went unrecognized. Repeated violence, threats against someones life, webpages devoted to hatred, and reports of violence from family and school are all indications of someone in imminent need of intervention. We need to reassess our standards for imminent risk to self or others and probable cause for search, taking into account the profile of the violence-prone, anger-dysfunctional individual.

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Too often, hostile kids identified as a problem get a mental health referral, but are quickly dumped because they fit no diagnosis and they are difficult to work with.

This must be done cautiously and deliberately. Criminalizing emotional distress is not the goal. We should be seeking to heal the individual while protecting the public. This requires a response of compassion to those who frighten or anger us, and that is no small thing. There will always be kids who are exposed to devastating circumstances and who move toward defensive hostility and revenge, but it is a rare situation that there is not an adult who could identify such a child, and see that they get help. The responsibility is on all of us not to turn our backs on the lonely, ostracized and angry, even when we find them off-putting and offensive. The fact that they raise such negative emotions in others should be recognized as evidence of the degree to which they need help. This does not mean that we must take them in, or put our lives at risk, and absolutely does not require that we give them a pass for socially unacceptable behavior. It does not even require that we like themonly that we get professional help for them, and that we do not allow our defensive reaction to them to feed into a vicious cycle of escalating anger.

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Well-meaning people have suggested kids walk up and be nice to troubled loners. We need to be careful about putting too much responsibility on the peers of deeply troubled kids. Yes, kindness and compassion for everyone is important, but the idea that walking up will solve the problem is overly simplistic. These are deeply troubled and potentially dangerous individuals. We dont want to suggest to children that, by offering friendship to a viciously angry person, any single person can fix them. This is an error often made by abused women. These individuals need help that is structured, intensive, and comprehensive. If this is the standard offered by society, kids will be learning how to cope effectively with anger, their own as well as that of others.

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And here is one more important truth: We need to calm our minds as well. Anger feeds anger. The rage of mass killers is fed by the hostility around them. They are not alone in their inability to manage anger. You may be able to easily think of someone in your lifemaybe yourselfwho cant have a political discussion without exploding, or a child who bullies others, or someone who emotionally abuses a spouse, or someone who flips out when they get cut off in traffic. Anger self-awareness and modulation is on a spectrum, and our genetic inheritance and our life experiences combine to dictate where we fall on the continuum. But we are all on it, and we could all benefit from increased focus on how we harness and react to our feelings of anger. We cannot expect those with the most tenuous hold on their emotions to heal until those around them stop feeding their fear and rage.

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Americas problem of violence needs to be addressed on many levels. We can begin by recognizing anger-dysfunctional, violence-prone individuals as suffering from a debilitating and potentially dangerous condition. The mental health field needs to take a lead role in educating the public about dysregulated anger and its treatment as well as working closely with schools and law enforcement to build a system of early identification and treatment for what is, without exception, the most dangerous emotional dysfunction one can have. The NRA could also play a valuable role in this. Rather than perpetuating false narratives about mental illness and violence, the organization could acknowledge how dangerous it is for violently angry people to have to guns, and could be a powerful voice in moving us toward an effective system to restrict their access.

Perhaps this all comes down to this truly American dilemma: Are we going to focus exclusively on our personal rights, or do we recognize the need to also turn our attention to the needs of the community as a whole and the importance of each individual within it? It turns out that this should not be an either-or question. At the end of the day, our personal peace and well-being depends upon the peace and wellbeing of every individual, too.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is headed to Congress next week to testify about the social networks privacy practices amid ongoing revelations about the information it shared with political data firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebooks entire business model relies on people to trust it with a wealth of personal information. Until the recent revelations, Facebook had its sights set on gaining access to even more information about some of its users. Until last month, the company was in talks with several hospitals and medical groups over a deal to share anonymized patient data with the social network, CNBC reports.

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Facebook had reached out to Stanford Medical School, the American College of Cardiology, and others about a proposed data-sharing agreement that would give Facebook researchers access to data about patients illnesses, prescriptions, age, and the frequency they visited the hospital. Patients names and other identifiable information would be withheld from both parties. Facebook planned to use a hashing technique, however, to find matching individuals in both its data set and in the hospitals. The proposed benefit of the project was better, more customized care from linking a patients health and social media information. For example, with a tie to Facebooks information, the hospital could learn that a postoperative individual recovering at home doesnt have many nearby friends or family and send a caretaker to check on them. The issue of patient consent did not come up in the early discussions, one person close to the matter told CNBC.

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According to statements from both Facebook and the American College of Cardiology, the project never went past the planning phase. Facebook has since decided to shelve the project amid the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica and growing consumer distrust of the company.

Facebooks decision to get involved with the health care space is in line with a broader Silicon Valley trend. Health care is a $3 trillion industry, and startups, established tech giants, and venture capitalists alike have realized theres profit to be mined from the field. A number of startups have developed mobile health products to give people more control over their health: AliveCor, for example, makes EKG monitors you can attach to a phone or wear on your wrist; Abbott makes a relatively inexpensive flash glucose-monitoring system for diabetics; and Qardio makes a wireless scale, blood pressure monitor, and medical-grade ECG machine for comprehensive health and weight management.

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Both Apple and Google have expansive health studies under their respective umbrellas. Apples focuses on heart health using data voluntarily gleaned from Apple Watch wearers, and Googles is a broader study using the daily habits of millions to establish a baseline of what leads to a long and healthy life. The end goal of many of these endeavors is preventative carethat by empowering people with data about their health they can better manage chronic conditions and identify the signs of developing illness before it becomes serious. However, in selling products, data, and care, theres money to be made, too.

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Speaking at a panel at the 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos, SAP CEO Bill McDermott said that the future of health care is all about the precision of personalizationand thats where Facebook saw itself tying into the health industry. Facebook has a wealth of extremely detailed information about its usersthats why its advertising platform is so effective and valuable, and the questions raised about user permissions after the Cambridge Analytica scandal are so important. Facebook could offer that data to health care providers to help deliver more personalized care to patients. However, to avoid a snafu like Cambridge Analytica or its poorly received 2014 psychological study, Facebook would need explicit consent from participants in such a program in order to protect patients data and offer transparency about how patient treatment could differ from the norm.

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With the vast amount of information Facebook has on its users and the overarching trends of the technology sector, its not surprising that the company was looking to embark on a research partnership in the health care industry. Given the right security measures and privacy policies in place, it could be on par with Apples Heart Study or Googles Project Baseline. While its current swath of policy changes and increased transparency is a potentially good first step, Facebook needs to rebuild trust with its users, continue to rethink its data-sharing policies andbefore it even thinks of embarking in a program using such sensitive information as health dataensure that even stricter consent and security policies are in place.
The Netizen Report offers an international snapshot of challenges, victories, and emerging trends in internet rights around the world. It originally appears each week on Global Voices Advocacy. Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Rohith Jyothish, Weiping Li, Leila Nachawati, Karolle Rabarison, Juke Carolina Rumuat, and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

With elections fast approaching, Malaysias Parliament approved the Anti-Fake News Law on April 3, despite public concern that it will undermine media freedom.

On April 6, Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved the Parliament, in another move seen as part of a strategy for securing his own re-election.

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The law covers text, graphic and multimedia content, and define fake news as news, information, data and reports which is or are wholly or partly false.

Violators who are found guilty of distributing such content would be subject to fines of up to $123,000 and a maximum sentence of six years in prison. The law also would place additional obligations on internet platforms, requiring them to take down false information in accordance with content removal orders, or face steep fines.

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Meanwhile in Singapore, a parliamentary committee is considering legislation that would criminalize the spread of deliberate online falsehoods on the internet and social media.

The committee has conducted eight days of public hearings on the matter, which included testimony from academic and cybersecurity experts from a wide range of countries, local civil society advocates, and staff of major Silicon Valley companies.

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Facebook and WhatsApp are blocked in Chad

Facebook and WhatsApp have been inaccessible for four days in the Chadian capital, NDjamena. Journal du Cameroun reported that authorities have given no official reason for the block, but citizens suspect that it was triggered by clashes between young people in two neighboring cities, one of which generally supports the ruling party, while the other opposes it. Shortly before the block, a series of angry videos aimed at the ruling party were posted on Facebook.

Will Iran block Telegram?

In a recent radio interview, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of Irans Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said top officials had agreed on plans to block Telegram, a popular mobile messaging app. Founded in Russia, but now registered in the U.S. and the U.K., Telegram does not have offices or servers in Iran.

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Boroujerdi said the decision was based on national security concerns, and that a local version of the app would be launched and promoted in its place. However, President Hassan Rouhani has publicly opposed the move, arguing in an interview with Tasnim News that the goal of creating and enhancing Iranian software and messaging apps should not be blocking access [to other apps], but [the goal] should be the elimination of monopolies.

With more than 40 million users in Iranout of a total internet user population of 50 millionTelegram is far and away the most commonly used messaging app in the country. The app was blocked in Iran during protests that began in the final days of 2017 and lasted until mid-January 2018. On the heels of this controversy, Russias telecom regulator has asked a court to block Telegram in Russia, on the grounds that the company refused to hand its encryption keys to state authorities.

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Thai magazine may face criminal charges over pollution protest image

The governor of Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand, filed a criminal complaint against English-language magazine Citylife Chiang Mai over an image posted on the magazines Facebook page. Created by a local teenager, the image depicts a famous local statue of three ancient Thai kings with gas masks superimposed on their faces. It was intended to support the Right to Breathe protest in Chiang Mai, where pollution levels have risen dramatically in recent years. The governor claims the magazine is in violation of Thailands Computer Crime Act.

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Uganda wants to tax social media users

Ugandan President Yoweri Musveni is promoting a controversial plan to charge social media users a daily fee for their use of platforms such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, and Twitter. The proposed tax scheme makes ample reference to the fact that these applications provide over-the-top communication services that allow users to make calls over the internet, rather than paying local telecommunication service fees to make calls. Multiple members of parliament, companies including MTN, Ugandas largest telecom company, and civil society groups oppose the legislation.

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In Zimbabwe, Big Brother is about to get bigger

Senior officials in Zimbabwes Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security have announced the impending launch of a new national communications surveillance infrastructure that they are comparing to the likes of the National Security Agency in the United States. Although details of how the system works and the extent of its deployment have not been released, Spotlight Zimbabwe reported that security experts from the Chinese, Russian, and Iranian governments assisted in its development.

Myanmar civil society advocates tell the other side of Mark Zuckerbergs success story

During a recent interview with Vox, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted Facebooks efforts to curb mass messaging efforts intended to incite violence between Buddhists and Muslims, at the peak of the conflict in Myanmars Rakhine state in late 2017. In response, a coalition of civil society and digital rights groups in Myanmar wrote an open letter to Zuckerberg, telling their side of the story and demonstrating how the incident showed flawsnot efficienciesin Facebooks system. They wrote:

From where we stand, this case exemplifies the very opposite of effective moderation: it reveals an over-reliance on third parties, a lack of a proper mechanism for emergency escalation, a reticence to engage local stakeholders around systemic solutions and a lack of transparency.

New Research

Common Sense Wanted: Resilience to Post-Truth and Its Predictors Martin Lessenski, Open Society Institute Media Literacy Index 2018

#Palestine2017: Palestinian Digital Activism Report7amleh
This article is part of Watching YouTube, a Slate series about YouTube.

On Tuesday, a San Diego woman named Nasim Aghdam entered YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, and shot three people before killing herself. For years, Aghdam had maintained several channels on YouTube, featuring homemade videos in which she danced, exercised, and extolled the virtues of veganism, among other things. Over the past year, Aghdams earnings from her vlogs had apparently dwindled, an outcome she ascribed in some of her videos to deliberate interference and censorship by YouTube. We dont yet have the full picture of what led Aghdam to commit so horrible an act. But the setting and known circumstances of the shooting certainly resonated with some creators on YouTube, who quickly began posting videos expressing their feelings about what Aghdam had done.

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As they reacted on their channels, I watched, hoping to process the aftermath of the YouTube shooting through their eyes. A few weeks ago, my editors and I had come up with an idea: Watch YouTube obsessively for a couple of weeks, as I did last fall with Fox News, and attempt to come up with a novel theory or two about the content on it. The vloggers collective reaction to the shooting turned out to be its own kind of education into what its like to live on YouTube in 2018. They ran the gamut from smart to sorrowful to smarmy to stupid, just as YouTube itself spans all those modes and more. But one constant in these videosand I dont necessarily see this as a bad thingwas that almost all the creators found a way to make the news of the shooting somehow about themselves.

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Although YouTube hosts content in every genre you can imagineplants listening to heavy metal, old people playing video games, cooking in costumesthe humble, direct-to-camera vlog might be the online video platforms iconic format. The vlog puts the you in YouTube, because literally anyone can be a vlogger. All you need is a camera, a measure of narcissism, and a willingness to record yourself on a regular basis, even and perhaps especially if you have nothing to say. Its democratizing, with all the possibility as well as the baseness that term can imply.

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One thing it almost has to be, however, is everyday, broas vlogger and noted dipshit Jake Paul put it in a usefully stupid joke-rap track last year in which he bragged about how he vlogs literally every day. (The song has 188 million views and counting.) To Paul, its everyday bro is both a catchphrase and a mission statement, suggesting that YouTube stardom is a function of production capacity moreso than quality or novelty. The rest of the song, in case you somehow missed it, features Paul and his friends talking about how rich and successful they are thanks to vlogging. This boasting is well and proper. If you want to make it big as a vlogger, you need to make it about yourself.

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Paul is an expert at making things about himself, and his brief video about Tuesdays shootings did not buck this trend. While Paul seemed sincere in his sorrow and confusionMy heart hurts, like, Im devastated, Im pissed off, Im angry, Im confused. I wanna help. I, and, like  no one should have to go through these things. It is so surreal to me  this could happen to the people that Ive met with, the people that allow me to be able to be a YouTube creatorits also notable that he chose to emphasize the ways in which the shootings affected him, in that he had visited YouTube headquarters before and knew people there.

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Popular YouTuber Casey Neistat also spent much of his shooting-reaction video reminiscing about the times he had visited YouTube headquarters and the people he had met there. But he also prefaced his Wednesday video by saying that while he had originally planned to release a video announcing his plans for future videosI dont know, apparently there is an audience for that sort of thingthose plans were scratched when Neistat learned of what happened yesterday in San Bruno, at YouTube headquarters. He went on: And it certainly affected me in such a way that I couldnt have, I couldnt post a video the next day that was about celebrating and fun and all the things that I want to do here without first acknowledging the events. This is a double-dose of narcisissm, and also a subtle teaser for the content that will soon be posted on Neistats channel.

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Some vloggers made the incident about themselves in classic cable-news fashion, by using it as an opportunity to make political points while still promoting their own personal brands. The YouTube user who goes by American Gun Chic stuck to her usual shtick in a video that looked to be hastily filmed in someones backyard: I just got news that there is an active shooter at the YouTube headquarters in California. Thats all I know, I dont know any other information, but I just wanted to say real quick how this is a reminder of why we should always have our guns and always carry them and always have self-protection. Because, also, the YouTube headquarters? That is the epitome of no guns. Usually, American Gun Chic films herself shooting guns, holding guns, and destroying watermelons painted with the logos of biased television networks, so in some ways this gun-free vlog was a model of restraint. But when your name is American Gun Chic, you are basically locked into making everything about guns and their merits, even and perhaps especially when commenting on a shooting at YouTube headquarters.

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Many vloggers like to meander to their points. Their work reminds me of the old movie reviews at Aint It Cool News, in which the reviewers spent 2,000 words describing their drive to the theater and how good the popcorn tasted before finally getting around to discussing the movie itself. This throat-clearing is annoying enough under normal circumstances, but it seemed particularly weird to watch some vloggers stall for no good reason before finally deigning to talk about a shooting that sent three people to the hospital.

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The peak example of this was when the vlogger Justin Bravo spent the first four minutes and 45 seconds of a video titled THE YOUTUBE HEADQUARTERS SHOOTING explaining how his MacBookPro was running out of storage and subsequently visiting Best Buy to purchase an external hard drive. Eventually, he got around to the news that there was an incident at YouTube headquarters. Wow, he said, exhaling. Man. I wasnt expecting this to go this way today. I guess nobody does  Makes me super sad, especially, you know, being that Im a YouTuber. And to see it happening at, you know, YouTube headquartersman, thats awful. I dont know any details. I  it literally is probably still going on right now. (To be clear, this video was edited before it was posted.)

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The best vlogsI do not count Bravos video among themcan get away with this sort of aimless rambling, because among YouTube personalities, persona is a lot more important than wisdom, observation, novelty, narrative, humor, or concision. User DCIGS, who is known for posting as a character he calls Angry Black Man, made the shooting about himselfor at least his YouTube personabut he did so in a way that was at least sort of clever: Guys, I am not the YouTube headquarters shooter. Everybody hitting me up on Twitter, on Facebook, on all these social media network sites, making jokes, taking about DCIGS finally got his revenge on YouTube: No.

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I also enjoyed the simple video uploaded by the user AsKaGangsta, who discussed the shooting while wearing his trademark red bandanna over his face: I have some more updates about the YouTube shooting that happened yesterday. My heart goes out to everybody involved. Its just crazy. It was unexpected. And really sad. He then went silent as he watched a news report about the shooting. Crazy, man! he finally blurted. It doesnt mean you gotta go  He trails off and clasps his hand to his head. Wowwww. Here was a case of someone realizing that he didnt have anything to say, and then choosing to not say anything, to just sit and take in the news instead. Watching someone else watch and react to the news can be inherently interesting, even if that persons face is entirely covered with a red bandanna.

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The strangest and saddest response vlog I watched came from a user called Its Becky Boop, who, in a video titled YOUTUBE SHOOTING  The shooter wasnt wrong, went so far as to mount a provocative defense of Aghdams motivations. The crazy part isnt that this happened. The crazy part is that it didnt happen sooner, she said.

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YouTubers have been talking for months about the negative changes that YouTube has made to their platform. I mean, Im one of them. I stopped YouTubing full-time last year, because it impacted the viability of me making a full-time living. And we now know that the YouTube shooter did this because of the changes made in February that demonetized small creators and made it infinitely more difficult for them to make money on the platform.

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To be clear, we do not definitively know why Aghdam shot up YouTube headquarters; we know that she was upset with YouTube, but other issues may have affected her judgment. But, as Its Becky Boop noted, other YouTubers have also seen dips in their earnings, thanks in part to recent changes in the YouTube Partner Program, which allows video-makers who reach certain traffic thresholds to earn money from the ads YouTube serves on their videos. At the beginning of the year, YouTube adjusted those thresholds in such a manner that made it harder for small-scale creators to monetize their content. Since then, many of these creators have been focused on trying to reach these new thresholdsat least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 cumulative hours watched over the past 12 monthsand sustain the sort of viewership necessary to earn meaningful cash. Some of these changes have come as the platform has sought to clean up or disincentivize all manner of unsavory behavior on the platform, from fake news to conspiracy theories to videos designed to traumatize children. Some of these changes were in response to an insensitive video posted by Jake Pauls brother, noted dipshit Logan Paul, involving a visit to a Japanese suicide forest. But YouTube is a vast ecosystem, and these changes have impacted a great variety of creators who had become used to earning money through their vlogs.

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Whatever their particular gimmicks, YouTubes dedicated video-makers are unified by one common goal: successfully monetizing their content. Profit is not the primary goal for every creator and every video, of course, but the profit incentive at least lives somewhere in the back of every hardcore YouTubers mind. This is perhaps one key to understanding YouTubes infinity theater of narcissismand it will certainly help orient my thinking as I write this series.

To an extent, I identify with the vloggers of YouTube. I, too, produce online content for money, and often find myself generating personalized and opinionated takes in response to news eventsalthough, importantly, I get paid the same for my wan takes as for my spicy ones, and Im edited to hopefully ensure those takes meet editorial standards and contribute to a broader conversation. For the most successful vloggerssome of whom do have teams of professionals working with themall of those ideals are secondary to exhibiting a distinct persona, one that is consistently engaging enough for people to watch their videos because they enjoy their company, regardless of what they saying or do at any given moment. And sometimes what theyre doing is reflecting on a mortifying event through the only prism that might matter on YouTube: their own.
The cheapest way to advertise is social media ads and classified ads, generally speaking. These kinds of ads can be placed starting as little as $20.

But in the realm of cheap advertising ideas, if you shop around for media outlets in smaller markets you maybe able to advertise inexpensively on radio, trade magazines, websites, local coupon books and even cable TV  starting at a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

You may also be able to do Every Door Direct Mail campaigns through the U.S. postal service for a few thousand dollars. Pay-per-click ads can be cost effective if you know what youre doing and target carefully; otherwise, you can burn through your budget fast. These cheap advertising methods are important but there are other options.

The cheapest way to advertise your small business depends on a number of factors. Factors include the kind of audience you are trying to reach, where you choose to reach them, the size of the audience, the design skills needed to create the ad  and what you get for your money.

Ad rates vary widely. Even the way rates are calculated varies by the type of media outlet or format. So always shop around

Cheapest Way to Advertise

Now lets look at benchmark costs and advertising cost ranges for a variety of types of advertising. These benchmarks are generalities  you can find less expensive prices through careful shopping. You may also encounter more expensive prices.

Newspaper Display Ads

Basis for Charging

Newspapers traditionally have charged per column inch (PCI) for display ads. That means the bigger your ad, the more you will pay. For example, a half page horizontal ad might measure 6 columns by 10.5 inches  a total of 63 column inches.

Newspapers today are trying many different types of ad rates, including flat fees and combined deals for both print and online ads. To advertise you will need to contact your local newspaper and ask for their rate card.

Typical Budget Range

For example, the Cleveland Plain Dealer may charge $596.00 per column inch. If your ad requires 10 column inches, the price would be $5,960.00. If you wanted a half page ad using our example, it would be $37,548 for a half page ad (63 x $596.00).

Dont be put off by a hefty example. Smaller papers and weekly papers charge substantially less. Dont assume advertising will be too expensive  always inquire about rates.

See Also: 4 Ways You Can Advertise Your Business

Newspaper Classified Ads

Basis for Charging

A relatively cheap advertising idea is newspaper classifieds. Newspapers typically charge for classifieds based on the size of the classified (in some cases the number of words), the number of days the ad runs, and the type of classified. Classifieds sections with more competition may cost more. Many newspapers today have self-serve online dashboards where you can compose your classified ad and pay with a credit card.

Typical Budget Range

Depending on the kind of business and the size of the newspaper readership, you might be able to place a classified ad starting for only a bit more than $5 a day.

Or a classified can run $200 to $300 if it runs for 30 days in a popular section of the classifieds, such as autos, or in a midsize to larger newspaper.

Radio Ads

Basis for Charging

Radio advertising can be considered one of the cheap ways to advertise, but you have to shop carefully.

Radio advertising is often sold based on a 4-week total rate. You pay based on the size of the audience reached. Obviously that means youll pay more to have your ad spot run in a popular drive-time show than at 3 a.m. when fewer people are listening.

This kind of billing is referred to as CPP which stands for cost per point or cost per rating point.

CPP determines the ratings or popularity of the radio show where your ad appears.

Typical Budget Range

To reach a market with 1 million people, a typical radio show ad budget range might be $12,000. In a larger market of 5 million people, a 4-week total rate budget might be $60,000.

The rate card from iHeartCommunications, formerly Clear Channel Communications, owner of 855 radio stations in the United States, gives a good overview.

Television Ads

Basis for Charging

As with radio, advertising spots on television depend on the popularity of the time slot in which they appear, the market size, the length of the commercial and other factors.

In local TV, figure to pay starting at around $5 for every 1,000 viewers in a medium-sized market, for a 30-second ad slot. According to Skyworks Marketing, thats a low-end rate. It could be higher.

Typical Budget Range

Television ads tend to be expensive. For a 30-second TV ad spot, a typical budget for a small business might be $5,000 to $20,000 to reach an audience of between 1,000,000 and 4,000,000 viewers  as a low estimate.

National TV ads cost much more and would be completely out of the reach of small businesses. For example, according to Ad Age, advertisers would have paid $400,000 for an ad on the AMC hit show The Walking Dead.

With TV ads, also budget for the production cost. Producing a television ad for a small business might run you anywhere from $2,000 to $25,000, depending on how sophisticated the ad.

Pay Per Click Ads

Basis for Charging

Pay per click ads (or PPC ads) are what they suggest  you pay only when someone clicks the ad. Two common pay per click options are Google AdWords and Microsoft Bing Ads. Your ad is seen in Google or Bing searches and on other websites in their networks. You can also buy ads on a per-click basis on some social media and other sites.

Typically you buy PPC ads on an auction basis, meaning you bid a certain amount you are willing to pay per click. You bid based on keywords or other factors. As a general rule, the more you bid, the better position on the page your ad gets.

You set up a budget using the self-serve, online dashboard provided by the ad system. The technology will automatically keep your bids within your pre-set budget.

Typical Budget Range

For example, a keyword phrase like ways to promote a small business with an average of 10 to 100 searches a month might cost just $1.90 per click. Meanwhile a keyword phrase like advertise local business with an average of 100 to 1,000 searches per week might cost $12.78 per click.

You can set a budget of say $3 a day and a total of $10 a week if you wish. However, if your budget is too low you may be disappointed with the results. Some experts suggest allocating at least $1,000 per month toward PPC ads to get an impact.

According to Robert Brady, a Certified Google AdWords partner with Righteous Marketing, the trick to spending wisely in pay-per-click is conversion tracking. Set up conversion tracking before you spend any money on PPC. It takes some time and effort, but if you want the accountability, customer insights and persistence mentioned above you have to lay the foundation with correctly installed conversion tracking. And after its installed, make sure to test it. Then, and only then, do you turn on your ads.

Not always a cheap advertising idea, but pay per click ads can drive good ROI if done right.

Banner Ads Online

Basis for Charging

Banner ads or display ads are graphical ads that run on websites. These typically are charged on a cost per thousand impressions basis, or CPM. On smaller websites, display ads are sometimes charged on a flat fee basis, such as $X per week or month. Usually the larger the ad, the higher the rate. Also, ads above the fold (higher up on the website) usually cost more.

Typical Budge Range

Its quite possible to spend as little as $100 up to many thousands depending on how many times your banner ad is shown. A rate today might be $10 CPM, meaning youd pay $10 per every thousand impressions (i.e., number of times your ad is displayed). For example, if you purchase 500,000 impressions at a rate of $10 CPM, you would pay $5,000, calculated as follows:

Divide 500,000 by 1,000 = 500.

Then multiply 500 x 10 = $5,000.

You also must factor in the cost of creating the banner ads. Simple banner ads can be created in common sizes for under $50 per ad, at Design Pax. Advanced ad formats, such as rich media ads or video ads, cost more to create. If you are using Google Adwords for display ads, theres also a built-in tool you can use to create simple ads with images.

Retargeting Ads

For many online ads, theres a powerful technique to consider. Thats called retargeting. On Google Adwords the term used for this technique is remarketing.

With retargeting, you are able to have your ad shown to someone who has visited your site or browsed your product online  even after they leave your site. Its a powerful way to turn an abandoned shopping cart into a sale, if the shopper sees the product several times again. But it can be used for other purposes too. You can set retargeted ads to show to those who visited your site and encourage them to come back and register or sign up for your newsletter.

Retargeting dramatically increases the likelihood of getting more clicks on your ads  and a click converting into action. According to Wordstream, previous site visitors are 2 to 3 times more likely to click on your ad.

Retargeting or remarketing typically requires you to insert a small piece of software code into your website. Usually inserting this code takes just a few minutes for you or your webmaster.

Social Media Ads

Basis for Charging

Social media ads are considered a cheap advertising idea. Social sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, offer affordable options, depending upon the audience you hope to reach.

You can boost a social post or video youve created, by paying a few cents per view, for instance. Or you can create a true advertisement and run that.

Social media ads are placed by going online to a self-serve advertising platform provided by the social site.

Typical Budget Range

For a budget as small as $30 you can reach an audience of several thousand depending on the specifics of gender, age, geographic location and interest you select when defining your audience.

Social media ads can be very affordable. But be sure to have a clear plan of what you want to achieve with them and why. Are you looking to boost your channel engagement? Get traffic back to your website? Sell a product? Get newsletter subscribers? Something else? Boosting a post simply because Facebook suggests it has gotten more engagement than your other posts, doesnt make sense. Have a goal.

Social media sites offer a new ability to understand your audience beyond simple demographics like age, gender and geography. Advertisers can now target based on factors like job title, purchase behavior and interests. As you track those clicks based on their targeting you can know how these highly focused groups are interacting with your content, how often they visit your site and how often they buy, says advertising expert Robert Brady of Righteous Marketing.

Yellow Pages

Basis for Charging

A decade ago printed yellow pages books were a staple for local small businesses. Today, the majority of yellow page activity has moved online. Printed books are being drastically scaled down and phased out completely in some markets.

With the move online, yellow pages ad solutions have evolved into online visibility packages. Packages may include business listings in places that consumers search, along with a website. You can also opt for search engine optimization services and related marketing services.

Typical Budget Range

Packages on YP.com, for example, start around $79 per month for a 5-page mobile-friendly web presence. At $79 per month you are looking at just under $1,000 a year. Additional services and add-on features would cost more.

Keep in mind that if you stop paying, you lose your web presence. Youd have to rebuild on a different platform from scratch.

Local Deals

Basis for Charging

Local deal sites like Groupon offer the ability to set up special discounts and deals for shoppers.

Also, remember that you must also offer a discount. That means youll be getting less for your product or service offering, in the first place.

Typical Budget Range

There is no upfront cost to create a Groupon local deal. However, Groupon will take 50% of the sale once a consumer purchases (redeems) your Groupon offer.

The thing to focus on with Groupon is not the upfront cost but the amount you end up with at the end.

For example, your product normally costs $48. You create a Groupon local deal for $19.00 (offering roughly a 60 percent discount). Groupon takes $9.50 (50 percent of what you would otherwise receive on the discounted price). That leaves you with $9.50  on a product you typically charge $48.00 for!

Native Ads

Native ads are meant to resemble content rather than a traditional style of advertisement.

Often these native ads promote informational content such as blog posts or videos, instead of products directly. Native ads are one of the most effective kinds of advertising because they captivate attention through intriguing the reader. They come across as less commercial

Native Ads are a good complement to a content marketing campaign, because you can promote your content to give it wider reach. Theyre not as good for driving direct response sales.

Basis for Charging

The cost of native ads varies widely depending on the sites traffic, placement on the page and other variables. Native ads can be purchased on a cost per click basis, or a CPM basis like banner ads, or flat fee.

You can purchase them directly on the website you want to appear. Or there are networks like Taboola and Outbrain  even Google AdWords accommodates them. However, keep in mind that some networks have gotten a reputation for low-quality native ads. Your ad may appear next to an ad displaying the latest Kardashian wardrobe malfunction or another sensationalized image.

Typical Budget Range

For native ads sold on a cost per click basis, you set a maximum youre willing to pay per click  say 75 cents per click. So $100 would get you 133 clicks to your content if you bid $0.75 per click.

Magazine Ads

Basis for Charging

Magazine ads are typically charged based on the size and placement of your ad on a magazine page. Common sizes are full page, half page, third page and quarter page ads. There are also two-page spreads which cover two full pages. Some magazines sell the back cover, or inside the covers, as ad space. And there can be special advertorial pull outs, card inserts and other options. Usually magazine ads are sold on a flat fee per ad.

Some magazines have a digital version and a print version, and ads typically apply to both.

Typical Budget Range

Ads in a national magazine like People can cost $375,000 for a full-page, 4-color ad for nearly 3.5 million subscribers.

However, ads in a local city magazine or a trade magazine are considerably less. You might pay $3,000  $4,000 for a full-page color ad in a publication with 30,000 subscribers.

Contact the magazine and ask to see its advertising rate card.

Outdoor Advertising and Billboards

Basis for Charging

Outdoor advertising is no longer limited to billboards along roadsides. Today you also have digital sign options (the electronic signs you see on buildings, at conventions and sporting events).

Outdoor billboard advertising is generally charged based on the size  and by the amount of time your message remains up.

Typical Budget Range

Billboard ads by companies like Blue Line Media, which can offer bulletin board placement in 300 cities estimates ads will cost from $30,000 per location over a four week period for its largest placement to just $300 per location for four weeks for its smallest.

Digital or LED bulletin boards are charged at a different rate and can cost businesses anywhere from $3,500 to $25,000 per location per four week period. However in this case, your message would be run in rotation as an 8 second spot during a 64 second loop.

Direct Mail

With the explosion of the internet, the volume direct mail has declined. However, its far from dead.

Direct mail can take a number of forms, including mailing samples, letters, uniquely shaped mailers and catalogs.

Basis for Charging

For direct mail pieces, there are several cost components:

designing the mailer

printing mailers

purchasing a mailing list

postage costs

The most common form of direct mail used by small businesses is postcards.

Lets say you decide on 46 postcards, a cost effective size that qualifies for First Class postage rates.

Typical Budget Range

Its possible for a shoestring budget to do a direct mailing of 5,000 postcards for around $1,500.

A custom design can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. One way to keep costs down is to go to work with a do-it-yourself free template to avoid incurring a large design cost. Or work with a print service that offers cost effective design services for a small fee.

Printing costs vary based on the size, quantity and any special effects such as gloss coatings or double sided printing desired. Its possible to get 5,000 basic postcards printed for under $300 at an online print outlet. At a local print place like Staples the cost might be closer to $500 for 5,000 postcards  or 10 cents apiece. However, at a place like Staples you might be able to get one day turn around.

First class postage for a 46 postcard is currently 34 cents each. Mailing 5,000 pieces via first class mail will cost $1,700 if sent by first class mail to a list you have. Plus you may need to purchase a postage permit or use a vendor with one.

Keep in mind, the post office has a number of different postage rates. The rules around rates, mailer sizes and other conditions can be complex.

Some small businesses choose to go with a direct mail service in order to not have to deal with all the complexities. If you choose to go with a direct mail service provider, just be sure to compare prices and the services offered, to make an informed decision. Some services can charge hefty design fees, mailing list fees, and printing fees.

Every Door Direct Mail

An affordable direct mail option is the USPSs Every Door Direct program. This program allows you to avoid purchasing a mailing list. Every Door Direct has a mapping tool allowing you to map out and target mailings by neighborhood. You can even see demographic data for each neighborhood.

In addition, Every Door Direct Mail offers much lower postage costs, with no permit required.

Basis for Charging

You incur the costs of designing and printing postcards  which could be in the $300 to $500 range for 5,000 postcards typically. You can avoid a design fee by using a free template provided by some printers.

You also pay for postage. Postage is roughly half the cost of the First Class rate, at $0.177 cents for a postcard. And you can send larger sized postcards compared with First Class.

Typical budget range

Mailing 5,000 postcards under Every Door Direct would run you $885 in postage at the rate of $0.177 each. No postage permit is required. Also, by using the mapping tool you would have no mailing list costs.

Along with a few hundred dollars for printing the postcards, it is very possible to do an Every Door Direct campaign of 5,000 postcards for under $1,500.

Negotiating Discounts when Advertising Your Business

No guide to small business advertising would be complete without discussing the topic of discounts. The secret to the cheapest way to advertise is to negotiate for discounts.

Many traditional media such as print newspapers and magazines are struggling for ad dollars today. This increases the chances of you being able to negotiate a discount. On the other hand, if you place ads through a self-serve online method such as AdWords, your ability to negotiate discounts is nil.

So remember, anytime you are dealing with a human being who is selling ads, rates are open for negotiation. Advertisers that advertise throughout the year should ask for frequency discounts.

Or sometimes media run seasonal specials or other reasons for discounts. For example, in the wake of Hurricane Irma, at least one media outlet in Florida offered small businesses a hurricane discount on advertising. Always ask about discounts to get the cheapest way to advertise your small business.

Read the complete Small Business Advertising Guide:
An octopus is plaguing Slovak health care

THE PIESTANY CT scanner opened a year of Smer scandals in Slovak health care, leading to a number unprecedented in the history of this field. The year also saw a Kosice group of businesspeople close to the ruling party exposed, which shed light on the a sort of octopus that reached far beyond that eastern-Slovak metropolis, the daily Sme writes in an extensive report published November 2.

Though a fair amount of Smer nominees were recalled from managerial positions during the last year, they have been replaced by new ones from the power network of the ruling party, Sme writes.

A textbook example of this is the post of the head of University Hospital in Kosice which is controlled by the Smer-dominated Health Ministry. After Health Minister Viliam Cislak (nominated by Smer) at the end of last year after several scandals recalled its head  his neighbour - Ladislav Rosocha, Milan Madar became the new executive manager. Similar to Rosocha, he too is a colleague of Jana Paskova, from the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the Slovak Medical University.

Besides Rosocha and Madar, also Marcel Forai (until recently the head of the state-owned Vseobecna zdravotna poistovna (VsZP) health insurer) graduated on the same day. In September, he had to resign due to contracts and addendums of the state health insurer worth 14 million with companies in which his aunt Anna Suckova was a representative.

5. Nov 2015 at 14:41 | Jan Krempasky
Pavol Paska: the philosopher who controlled health care

Win the election, and you can do anything, Pavol Paska famously said a few days before he was forced to resign as parliamentary speaker.

During the Velvet Revolution (which toppled the communist regime in 1989), Pavol Paska was tiling his bathroom. Little did he know that he would later become one of the most influential men of Slovak healthcare, the head of the eastern-Slovak wing of the ruling Smer party, and the crown prince of this party who ultimately lost the fight for the good grace of (former) prime minister Robert Fico to the head of Bratislava branch of Smer, (ex-interior minister) Robert Kalinak.

His ambitions to succeed Fico  who ran for president in 2014  were marred by the scandal of the planned purchase of the CT scanner for Piestany hospital, which he in fact had nothing to do with. However, Fico used information on the scandal, opines columnist of the Trend weekly, Marian Lesko, in an interview for the Sme daily in 2016, to retaliate against Paskas hostile words for Kalinak during the presidential campaign.

Read also:

Read also: Pavol Paska dies Read more

Paska, considered the protege of the tycoon and alleged Smer shareholder, Juraj Siroky, lost first the chair of parliamentary speaker (by the end of 2014) and two years later, the post of Smer vice-chair. He died on Friday, April 6, 2018 of a heart attack at the age of 60.

From philosopher to the king of health care

During communism, Paska studied Marxism-Leninism and Aesthetics. He seemed to be truly close to communist ideology, as he was the head of Slovak Union of Youth, an organisation from which future communists were recruited. He graduated in 1985.

Until the Velvet revolution, he worked at the Kosice regional education centre, and district national committee (i.e. municipal office). Usually, only those aligned with national ideology were allowed to work in these positions. Just like Fico, Paska failed to take notice of the 1989 Revolution.

I was tiling my bathroom, he said in an interview when asked about what he was doing during the change of regime.

Pavol Paska (60) - graduated in 1985 after studying Marxism-Leninism and Aesthetics, - in 1992 started to do business in health care, - in December 1999 co-founded Smer, - an MP since 2002, - was speaker of parliament during first and second cabinet of Robert Fico, - ended post at the end of 2014, - ended as Smer vice-chair two years later.

Despite Paskas pro-communist orientation, he obtained notable positions after the revolution. In 1992, he started working in the health care business. He soon became active in 15 companies, the most famous being the Medical Group. In 2014, this company tried unsuccessfully to sell an overpriced CT scanner for almost 1.6 million to the Piestany hospital. Paska had left the company long beforehand, however.

After he ceased to be the parliamentary speaker, he no longer had a position in any medical company. Previously, Paska managed to build himself a reputation as the king of Slovak health care. He started his true career in this field in 1999 when he joined Smer. After the party made it to parliament in 2002, Fico met the then-health minister Rudolf Zajac (now extinct ANO party) and told him that if he needed anything in this sector, Mr. Paska was the contact person.

He has a great influence, Jaroslav Hascak of Penta told Sme back in 2008 about Paskas career in health care. He negotiated with him repeatedly; as early as 2004, Paska was already the shadow health minister. Negotiations with him were matter-of-fact; he said clearly what the company was thinking, described the Penta partner.

6. Apr 2018 at 18:26 | By Jan Krempasky
Sony Malaysia being the number one camera brand here in Malaysia has finally brought in their recently released "Basic" Full-frame Mirrorless Sony Alpha A7 III. Although Sony introduced it as a "Basic Entry Level" full frame camera, it's not as "Basic" as you think as everyone in the industry won't call this a Basic model at all. In fact, it does so much more than the competitors on the market at a much lower price. It will be available here in Malaysia in April for RM8999 (Body Only). So what could this beast of an Entry-Level full frame camera do?

Sony A7 III tech specs & key features:

Newly Developed Full-frame 24.2MP Back-Illuminated Exmor R CMOS Image Sensor with Evolved Image Processing

Wide ISO range of 100 - 51200 (expandable to ISO 50 - 204800 for still images) and 15 Stop Dynamic Range at low sensitivities

World Class AF system featuring 693 phase-detection AF points covering 93% of the image area, 425 contrast AF points and fast and reliable Eye AF

Continuous Shooting at up to 10 fps with either Mechanical Shutter or Silent Shooting and full Auto Focus/Auto Exposure tracking

5-axis optical in-body image stabilization with a 5.0 step shutter speed advantage

High-Resolution 4K Movie shooting with full pixel readout and no pixel binning across full-width of the full-frame sensor

The longest rated battery life of any Mirrorless camera at 710 shots per charge

Upgraded operability and functionally including the addition of joystick for adjusting focus points, Dual SD Card Slots, SuperSpeed USD (USB 3.1 Gen 1) USB Type-C Terminal and more

Much more Improved Ergonomics

The build and design make the A7 III feels great in the hand compared to its predecessor. Sony has finally moved their movie recording button to a much more easy to reach position. It accepts dual media slots but with only one slot supporting UHS-II type SD memory SD cards. One of the biggest complains from previous Sony camera is their battery life. Sony has listened to their customer and give us a new Z Series battery, NP-FZ100. With CIPA measurement, it can now shoot up to 710 shots per charge. Sony also compensates their confusing menu system by adding "My Menu" for users to set up their own menu items up 30 of them.

Improved Full-frame sensor

The newly developed 24.2MP back-illuminated Exmore R CMOS image sensor is paired with a front-end LSI that doubles the readout speed of the image sensor. With new updated BIONZ X processing engine, the processing speed has been boosted by approximately 1.8 times compared to its predecessor A7 II. With all the components work together, it allows the camera to shoot at faster speeds while enabling a wide range of ISO from 100 - 51200 (expandable to ISO - 204800 for still images) and an overall 1.5 stop improvement in image quality. Hence, the camera is capable to capture up to 15-stop of dynamic range making it the perfect camera for filmmakers that always chase for more DR value to achieve that sweet cinematic look. The wide DR also gives more versatility in post-processing to photographers that often shoot landscape or back-lit portraiture. The A7 III can also output 14-bit RAW format even in silent and continuous shooting modes. As part of most Sony High-End camera, it is also equipped with a 5-axis IBIS that Sony claimed to get 5.0 step of shutter speed advantage.

Baby A9 with Tremendous AF Performance

The Sony Alpha A7 III, otherwise known as Baby A9 features the same AF system that includes 425 contrast AF points that work with a 693-point focal-phase detection. With the AF system covers approximately 93% of the frame, it allows the camera to tracks moving a subject accurately even at the most difficult moment. The Eye AF feature, even in AF-C mode works extremely well for situations where the subject is turning around, looking down or otherwise obstructed. Check out a couple test shots below:



After testing out the AF system pairing up with the 10 fps continuous shooting, the camera performs really well when it comes to tracking the subject. With much-improved blackout time from using the EVF, tracking a subject is actually pretty easy with this camera. As you can see from the images above, it sticks on the subject even when there's a foreground subject being introduced to the shot.

Full-frame 4K: Filmmaker's Dream

Getting a full fame camera that supports 4k used to be super expensive but it stops here. Sony has definitely brought the "Entry Level" standard up a bar. On the A7 III, we're getting full 4K video recording with no crops at all on most video setting. The camera uses full sensor readout to collect 2.4x the amount of data and oversamples it to a 4K footage.

The A7 III now supports S-Log 2 and S-Log 3 as well as An HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) picture profile for instant HDR workflow. It can also record up to 120fps slow-mo video at 1080p.

Final Verdict

As a filmmaker/photographer myself, I could see a huge potential that many will jump ship to the Sony Alpha A7 III. It offers everything that we need while keeping it at a rather low price. But could it be the only camera that we need for the next couple years? We'll need to find it out, perhaps I could tell you guys the answer when we get ourselves a review unit. So make sure to stay tune on TechNave for more upcoming Sony Alpha news.
Google Cloud and information technology services provider CSRA recently extended their partnership with a view to meeting the needs of clients in the government. This is expected to increase the exposure of Google Cloud with regards to the government market. According to a Markets and Markets report, the compounded annual growth rate of the government cloud market will be about 13.4% in the next five years and by 2023 will be worth approximately $49.2 billion.

The partnership between CSRA and Google Cloud will also help the firm strengthen its position against rivals such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Having been unveiled six years ago, Google Cloud has been gaining traction of late in the cloud computing market. In the last quarter Alphabet disclosed that revenues from Google Cloud had hit the $1 billion mark.

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Focus on innovation

Currently G Suite boasts of around four million paying customers. Google Cloud has placed a strong emphasis on innovation and access to AutoML tool was recently provided to cloud customers assisting them to build solutions that are more complex.

Part of the reason for the recent growth includes the strategic partnerships that Google Cloud has formed. Last month Google Cloud inked a partnership deal with HubSpot. This came on the back of Google Cloud partnering with Box and Nutanix last year.

The partnership between Google Cloud and CSRA comes in the wake of the latter scoring a win when Shopify picked it over Amazon Web Services. This will see the online stores of Shopify hosted by Google Cloud. This is not the first time that a retail-related firm is choosing Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure over Amazon Web Services.

Cloud infrastructure

Other retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and Home Depot have done the same due to the fact that Amazon is a competitor. In the case of Shopify though some of its cloud infrastructure needs will be met by Amazon though most of the business will go to Google Cloud.

Earlier in the year Google Cloud inked a deal with online music streaming service Spotify worth $447 million. Now Spotify has indicated that it will spend nearly $0.5 billion on Google Cloud in the course of the coming three years. Prior to turning to Google Cloud Spotify was a customer of Amazon Web Services. Other big clients that Google Cloud has bagged in the recent past include Snap which committed to spending $2 billion on Google Cloud in a five-year period.
"We are very sorry for all the people who have been subjected to crime and who may be affected by mental or financial disadvantages. Unfortunately, we are not yet able to know exactly how many people are and what information this information breaks. We have filed an offense report, and the parties do not need to report to the police separately," says Jarmo Hyokyvaara, Chairman of the Board of the New Business Center of Helsinki.

"The maintenance and security of our service was the responsibility of our subcontractor, our long-term partner. Unfortunately, the security of the service has not been enough to prevent this kind of attack. This is, in part, our mistake, and as a subscriber and owner of the service we are responsible for this."

Over 130,000 Finnish citizens have had their credentials compromised in what appears to be third largest data breach ever faced by the country, local media reports Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) is warning users of a large-scale data breach in a website maintained by the New Business Center in Helsinki ("Helsingin Uusyrityskeskus"), a company that provides business advice to entrepreneurs and help them create right business plans.Unknown attackers managed to hack the website () and stole over 130,000 users' login usernames and passwords, which were stored on the site in plain-text without using any cryptographic hash.Right after knowing of the breach on 3rd April, the company took down the affected website, which is currently showing "under maintenance" notice with a press release about the incident on its homepage.The company also ensures that the detailed information of its customers was stored on a different system, which was not affected by the data breach.The incident has been reported to the Helsinki police, who is currently investigating the case as a gross fraud.As soon as the website returns, users who have an account with the affected website are strongly recommended to change their passwords.Since the plain-text passwords have been exposed to hackers, it would be a great idea for users to change their passwords for any other website, in case they are using identical to the one used on this website.
"A little fill here and there may seem to be nothing to become excited about. But one fill, though comparatively inconsequential, may lead to another, and another, and before long a great body may be eaten away until it may no longer exist.

Our navigable waters are a precious natural heritage, once gone, they disappear forever," wrote the Wisconsin Supreme Court in its 1960 opinion resolving Hixon v. PSC and buttressing The Public Trust Doctrine, Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday it had determined that tool chests and cabinets made in China and Vietnam were being dumped in the U.S. market, and announced prospective import duties on the products ranging up to 327 percent.

The action puts the ball in the court of the U.S. International Trade Commission.

If it makes a final determination that U.S. producers have been injured by the imports, the duties would be imposed for an initial five-year period.

In a related case, the ITC found in January that U.S. manufacturers were being harmed by imports of tool chests from China that the Commerce Department had found were subsidized, locking in place countervailing duties.

In its announcement on Thursday, the department said tool chests manufactured by the Tongrun Single Entity in China would face antidumping duties of 97 percent, while imports from other Chinese producers would be hit with duties of 244 percent, if the ITC makes a final finding of harm.

Imports from Vietnam would face a duty of 327 percent, it said.

The case was brought by Waterloo Industries Inc of Sedalia, Missouri, a subsidiary of Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc, which says it accounts for more than half of domestic production of tool chests and cabinets.

In 2016, the value of imports of tool chests and cabinets from China totaled $230 million, while imports from Vietnam were valued at $77 million, Commerce Department data shows.
An elementary school teacher in northern Vietnam has been fired for coercing a disruptive student to consume dirty water in class in earlier this year, which caused shock amongst many people.

Education officials in Hai Phong City, where the teacher worked, decided on Thursday to terminate the contract they signed with the teacher for the inappropriate punishment she gave.

Ph. Ph. A., a third grader at An Dong Elementary School, had to drink water wringed from a board-cleaning cloth in February as a punitive requirement by her teacher, Nguyen Thi Minh Huong, who has worked there for a short time.

The student noisily talked during a class session, a classmate said.

My granddaughter was so scared that she didnt tell the family what had happened at all, said Pham Khac Thao, the childs grandfather.

The incident came to light on April 3, when one of her classmates told him, he added.

Huong visited the students house after receiving a phone call from the grandfather demanding an apology.

The high-profile case caused the Ministry of Education and Training to issue an order to the school, pressing for a strict penalty for the serious violation of the teaching profession code of conduct.

The school management plans to organize extracurricular activities and figure out ways to assuage the childs worry, in an effort to integrate her back with peers, according to Dang Tang Thong, an education official in Hai Phong.

Weve still felt baffled and irate at Huongs way of teaching. As an urgent remedy, well correct the ways of teaching in the entire school and bring the educational climate here to normal as soon as possible, said Pham Thi Bich Lien, the schools principal.

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An official report from the World Bank (WB) stated that 1.8 million ethnic minority members in Vietnam have risen from poverty over the past six years, between 2010 and 2016.

The report, however, underlined that this success is only a small step in a much larger process.

The announcement was issued at the dissemination workshop for the report Climbing the Ladder, Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Vietnam in Hanoi on Thursday.

World Bank representatives used the workshop to illustrate the steady decline of poverty rates in urban and rural areas of Vietnam, particularly over the past few years.

Between 2014 and 2016 the poverty elimination rate hit 1.85 percent, exceeding the expectations set forth by Vietnams National Target Program.

The overall poverty rate in Vietnam dropped more than 3.5 percent, to a standpoint of nearly 10 percent, in the same period.

Those numbers can be broken down to a five percent decrease in rural areas and a 2.2 percent fall in urban locales.

Vietnamese ethnic minorities are currently ranked as Vietnams poorest demographics, accounting for 6.6 million  or 72 percent  of the countrys 9.1 million living in destitution, according to the WB.

Northern mountainous and Central Highlands regions are the primary areas of concern for groups looking to ease those numbers.

Together, these areas are home to approximately 56 percent of the nations poorest citizens.

Dr. Obert Pimhidzai (left) delivered his speech at the workshop in Hanoi on April 5, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Though the numbers have gradually improved in recent years, the WB was transparent regarding the ongoing challenges and difficulties facing Vietnams lowest classes, particularly with health and education.

Only 45 percent of ethnic minority households have access to proper toilets compared to 89 percent of Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese with modern plumbing.

Meanwhile, merely 32 percent ethnic minority members between the ages of 20 and 24 pursue post-general education.

Dr. Obert Pimhidzai, an advanced economy specialist for the WB, also commended on the steady reduction of poverty rates in Vietnam.

However, he warned that the aim was not to simply escape the poverty trap, but to develop a better economy and social welfare net.

To solve the dilemma, the WB advised that farmers in impoverished areas focus on growing high-value cash crops to spur quicker economic growth.

According to the UN, any individual whose earnings are less than US$2 a day is considered poor.

Vietnam has a total of 54 ethnic groups, 53 of which are considered minorities.

Its National Target Programs set out the agenda of which social economy phenomena it hopes to tackle and resolve over the course of various nationwide stages.

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Deforestation has been going rife on islands within a bay in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa.

Forests are being cleared against the law at Van Phong Bay in Van Thanh Commune, Van Ninh District, which is about 60 kilometers north of the famous beach city of Nha Trang.

The situation has been discovered after local authorities announced the establishment of the Bac Van Phong special economic zone.

According to the observations of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters, tens of hectares of forests has been wiped out in Vinh Phuong Village, Van Thanh Commune.

Several hectares of trees has also been chopped down on Ngang Islet and Tri Islet, as well as some other islands within the bay.

Competent agencies have yet to calculate the exact area of forest to have been destroyed.

Loggers were hired by someone and came in groups of 20 to 30 people, driving motorcycles and carrying along chainsaws, Le Thanh Nguyen, a resident in Vinh Phuong Village.

They arrived in the designated area of forest, set up camps, and left after two to three days once the job was finished, Nguyen elaborated.

Following the deforestation, someone would start selling the piece of land, he added.

A two-hectare land plot on Tri Islet was previously sold for VND61 billion (US$2.68 million), the villager said.

According to Truong, a land broker in Van Gia Town, the people who hire these loggers never show up.

After a forest is cleared, the remaining land is divided into multiple plots, which are sold to buyers via brokers, Truong explained.

Some residents reported that the situation has been going on for nearly a year before becoming highly noticeable over the past week.

Nhon Islet in Van Phong Bay. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Authorities powerless

Le Hoang Vuong, vice-chairman of the Peoples Committee in Van Thanh Commune, considered that the illegal logging on islands in Van Phong Bay is particularly complicated and difficult to handle.

Local authorities managed to arrest some loggers on Tuesday, who claimed to have been hired to do it, Vuong stated.

They did not know who their real employers were, however, he continued.

The loggers were fined VND5-7 million (US$219-307) and required to make a commitment that they would not repeat such violations.

Capturing these illicit loggers is itself a challenge as they often flee to the mountains as soon as officers arrive, the vice-chairman noted.

According to Tran Ngoc Khiem, vice-chairman of Van Ninh District, officials have put together a team tasked with protecting the forest and preventing deforestation in Van Phong Bay.

It is hard to manage the situation as loggers are often sneaky while the number of forest protection officers is limited, Khiem remarked.

Forest land on these islands belongs to the state  the officer asserted.

It is against the law to sell it.

Authorities inspect a forest on Nhon Islet. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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An employee in charge of transporting luggage from aircraft to the baggage claim area has been caught plundering valuables from arriving passengers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tran Quang Du was among the employees tasked with putting checked baggage from a Hong Kong Airline flight touching down at Tan Son Nhat onto the carousel after midnight on Tuesday, when he saw one suitcase with a small opening, exposing a Samsung smartphone inside.

The 20-year-old stole the phone and snatched a Blackberry after rummaging through an unlocked valise.

At 2:00 am, when his shift ended, Du hid the two devices inside his jacket and attempted to leave.

However, airport security officers detected the hidden phones and arrested Du, handing him to police.

Du, hailing from the north-central province of Nghe An, works for Vigas Tan Son Nhat, a private contractor for ground services at Tan Son Nhat.

The dishonest employee has confessed to his theft and is being held by the airports police unit.
A former chief of Vietnams Police General Department has been investigated as legal proceedings were commenced to clarify his role in a giant police-backed online gambling ring smashed last year.

Phan Van Vinh, who retired as director general of the Ministry of Public Securitys police general department, was probed for taking advantage of positions or powers while performing duties," police said on Friday.

Vinh, a former lieutenant general, is believed to play a role in the online gambling ring that involves more than 70 other defendants, including Major General Nguyen Thanh Hoa, former head of the hi-tech crime prevention division under the Ministry of Public Security.

Vinh, born in 1955 in the northern province of Nam Dinh, was the provincial police chief before being appointed to lead the Police General Department.

He was known for overseeing several high-profile crime cases.

These include the investigation to find an underage culprit that killed all members of a family in a gold shop robbery in the northern province of Bac Giang in 2011, and the arrest of Nguyen Duc Kien, a banking mogul who was in 2014 handed a 30-year jail term for fraud, tax evasion and illegal trade.

A source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said that the ring had been organizing online gambling across nations before being busted by police in the northern province of Phu Tho in September 2017.

Competent agencies have so far confiscated more than VND1.3 trillion (US$57.2 million), while the amount of foreign currency which was sent overseas via the gambling activities was estimated at $3.6 million.

Those involved in the ring are being investigated for organizing gambling, online gambling, and money-laundering.

The ring was led by Nguyen Van Duong, former chairman of CNC, a hi-tech security company, and Phan Sao Nam, former chairman of the VTC Online firm.

According to police investigation, Nam has provided software and copyrighted gambling games for Duong to use on Rikvip and Tip.club, two major gambling sites under his management.
Mondays Australian Story profiles former military commando Mick Bainbridge who, after struggling with PTSD, is now helping other veterans.

When the War Is Over is introduced by Archibald prize-winning artist Ben Quilty.

The fact that Mick had been in second commando unit meant that he was someone, he was really someone. And when I met him he was a broken no-one. Ben Quilty

Its easy to call someone crazy to discredit them, but I knew what my rights were, and I dug my heels in I was fighting for my rights. I was fighting as hard as I could . Former commando, Mick Bainbridge

After five overseas deployments, former commando Mick Bainbridge was left battling a crippling case of PTSD.

When Mick sought support from his command to move to a training role he says was told to go back to Afghanistan or leave the Army altogether.

Former Senator Jacqui Lambie, who has followed Micks case, is incensed by his treatment.

I have had many veterans come to me because they have been done over not just by Defence but by the Department of Veterans Affairs. What happened to Mick was even more outrageous. He had been completely done over. Former Senator Jacqui Lambie

A bitter battle for entitlements ensued which Mick says culminated in a malicious report to police that triggered a terrifying raid on his home.

Already enrolled in a law degree, Mick decided that instead of getting mad he would get even, employing his new-found knowledge to take on the system.

Now as the NSW RSLs youngest councillor ever, hes using his legal skills to help other veterans fight for their rights.

We desperately want to curb and stop the suicide rate. Im not going to stop until I do, Mick Bainbridge says.

8pm Monday on ABC.
Former TEN news presenter Ron Wilson has delivered a serve to The Projects managing editor Tom Whitty, who yesterday criticised a Sunrise panel discussion on a Greens welfare proposal.

After Whitty labelled it Commercial Television at its worst, Wilson, who was on the panel, sent a pointed reply via Facebook.

Thanks for watching Hot Topics on SEVEN Mr Whitty. I assume you are getting a few tips on how to make a program that rates.

Ouch.

Last night Waleed Aly in an editorial said the Universal Basic Income proposal, which is being trialled in Finland, was a more interesting idea than people credited it with.
Upcoming SBS drama Dead Lucky has been sold to Sundance TV to screen on their subscription streaming service Sundance Now.

The four part drama, starring Rachel Griffiths, Yoson An and Mojean Aria is a fast-paced thriller about two feuding detectives hunting down a cop killer who is leaving a trail of broken lives across Sydneyincluding their own.

SBS Director of TV and Online Content Marshall Heald said, SBS is incredibly excited at this early success for our upcoming drama series Dead Lucky, and congratulates the team at Subtext Pictures on the international sale to Sundance Now. Dead Lucky is an Australian story with universal appeal that gets to the heart of important social themes in the entertaining way SBS is renowned for. We cant wait to premiere the series to Australian audiences first in July.

Creators Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt, Subtext Pictures, said: We are thrilled that Sundance has acquired Dead Lucky for its premium SVOD service. This is a brilliant start to Dead Luckys international roll-out.
As hundreds of writers from all parts of the country and beyond gathered at the sold-out 10th Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, the University of Dayton paid tribute to the late Bill Bombeck  and his generosity.

The Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop has received the largest gift in its history  $230,000 bequeathed from Bombeck, who died at the age of 90 on Jan. 12. The Bombeck Family Learning Center, which underwent a major expansion in 2000 after receiving a $1 million gift from Bombeck, also received $230,000.

"The wonderful thing about the workshop is that our dad continued the legacy of our mom, not with an award or a plaque, but with a living, breathing conference of writers, storytellers and funny people, willing to take the risk of putting pen to paper," said son Matt Bombeck, a screenwriter from Los Angeles. "He saw first hand what a little inspiration and some confidence boosting can do for a writer. That's what this workshop is all about."

The Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop, which Bill Bombeck helped launch in 2000, is held biennially on the campus where Bill and Erma graduated. It is immensely popular: this year's workshop sold out in less than five hours. It honors one of America's most celebrated storytellers and humorists and has attracted over the years such household names for keynoters as Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Phil Donahue, Nancy Cartwright, Mike Peters and Gail Collins. New Yorker magazine and CBS News cartoonist Liza Donnelly kicked off this year's workshop.

The gift will bring the workshop's endowment fund to more than $500,000, which will be used to enhance the quality and maintain the affordability of the workshop. The endowment was started in 2004 when University of Dayton alumnus Ralph Hamberg and his wife, Cindy, gave a $100,000 gift in memory of her cousin, Brother Tom Price, S.M. This University of Dayton English professor first told Erma three little words of encouragement: You can write.

Beyond the workshop, Bill Bombeck's spirit lives in the classrooms and play areas of the Bombeck Family Learning Center, an early childhood education demonstration school that is nationally accredited and recognized by the state of Ohio for exceeding quality benchmarks.

"It's impossible not to be impressed by nurturing environment of the Learning Center. The gift was a perfect fit for my dad; our parents' love for children, their closeness to the University of Dayton, and of course, my dad's love of learning and education," said Matt Bombeck, who toured the center last month before his father's graveside service in nearby Woodland Cemetery.

Kevin Kelly, dean of the School of Education and Health Sciences, said, "This gift from Mr. Bombeck will enable the Bombeck Center to continue to develop and disseminate best practices in early childhood education. His generosity enriches our entire community."

Bill Bombeck, a 1950 University of Dayton alumnus, spent 26 years as an educator before taking on the Bombeck family's business affairs and several high-profile volunteer roles.

As longtime national chairman for disaster services for the Red Cross, he helped those struggling to rebuild their lives after earthquakes, typhoons and other natural disasters. When his wife Erma died in 1996, he started the Erma Bombeck Organ Donor Awareness Project as a resource for the 100,000 Americans today waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant. He also served as the co-chair of the University of Dayton's $150 million Call to Lead fundraising and image-building campaign in the 1990s.

"We're touched by Bills generous spirit," said Teri Rizvi, founder and director of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop. "Over the years, he gently and consistently encouraged writers to find their own voice, not try to be the next Erma Bombeck.

"At his core, he was a teacher. The Bombeck Family Learning Center reflects Bill's calling as an educator and Erma's vocation as a chronicler of family life."
A trade war between the United States and China has been erupting over the past few days and its escalating rapidly as each day passes and more and more tariffs are proposed. US President Donald Trump introduced a $50 billion tariff on Chinese goods the other day, so then, in response, the Chinese government introduced a $50 billion tariff on US goods.

Trump saw that as an unfair retaliation on Chinas part, so yesterday, he proposed an addition tariff of $100 billion. China is furious about that, as its commerce chief has called the proposal ridiculous and called it a prime example of the deep arrogance that America shows towards their country, which is essentially the cause of this whole trade war.

Last month, the US President was quoted as saying, Trade wars are good, and easy to win. So, lets see him win this one.

Trade wars are good, says Trump

Trumps attitude towards the trade war with the Chinese government is basically that the US already has a massive $500 billion Trade Deficit, so it doesnt matter. He tweeted, When youre already $500 billion DOWN, you cant lose! This is a great way of running things. Hes basically saying that the US is already massively in debt, so screw it.
The trade standoff between the US and China is escalating. Following the US administration's imposition of tariffs on aluminium and steel last month, the president ramped up the pressure by adding 25 percent tariffs to a list of 1'333 Chinese imports earlier this week. Eleven hours later, China responded by imposing $50 bn in tariffs on 106 American products. These products include foods, including grains, wines, textiles, whiskey, and, perhaps most significantly, soya beans. In response, the American president has asked the Office of United States Trade Representative to examine imposing a further $100bn in tariffs on other Chinese products.

Although it is not certain, whether Donald Trump will actually slap on further tariffs, the Chinese administration has made it clear that it is not afraid of a Trade War. Moreover, it has vowed to match any new US tariffs.

China doesn't want a trade war but is ready to fight

On more than one occasion, the Chinese administration has stressed that it doesn't wish to engage in an all-out trade war and would prefer a more negotiation-focused approach. Bejing has condemned Donald Trump's latest tariffs threats but warned that the US had more to lose than China, especially politically. According to the Financial Times, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce reiterated that China was willing to implement "comprehensive countermeasures" even though "China doesn't want a trade war, but we're not afraid to fight a trade war." This is likely to mean that if Donald Trump forges ahead with additional tariffs, China will hit back without hesitation.

Speaking to the Financial Times, professor of international strategy, Chu Shulong, said the dispute wouldn't necessarily escalate into a trade war: "This is a strategy, not the start of a trade war. As with previous China-US disputes, the initial threats are very high but will be lowered when both sides start talking."

Donald Trump tones down his language on Twitter

Last month, the American president tweeted:"Trade wars are good, and easy to win." Earlier this week, he seemed to attempt to ease the tension a little with the following Tweet:

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

Members of the Republican party alongside industry leaders have been urging the president to take a more measured approach.

Who will pay the price for a potential US-China trade war?

The inclusion of soya beans on China's list of tariff-hit products is seen by many as a bold move. Tariffs on soya hit the American agricultural sector hard, however, Chinese pork farmers are also likely to suffer the consequences because they import soya beans as fodder for their pigs.

Businesses producing, selling, and importing tariff-hit products are likely to see a decline in revenue, while consumers will also be in the pocket.

It seems that China will match whatever move the US administration makes and is unlikely to buckle under any pressure.
US President Donald Trump has told the told the top economic and trade brass of the United States to consider whacking a $100 billion tariff on top of the existing tariffs on Chinese goods. This is an erratic move by a wild card in a rapidly escalating Trade War between the two nations. While it is just a move that is in consideration and nothing is concrete on paper yet, this will raise the stakes and the tensions between the US and China on the trade front.

In a statement released yesterday, Trump said that he decide to propose a huge hike in the tariffs on Chinese goods in light of Chinas unfair retaliation towards previous moves on trade enforced on them by the US government.

He added that the guys in charge of US trade laws and tariffs have noticed that the Chinese government have repeatedly taken part in activities and practices that seek to unfairly obtain Americas intellectual property.

Trump has told the leading officials at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the guys who are in charge of any government policies relating to trade, to mull over this potential new $100 billion tariff. $100 billion is a lot of money, even to a leading world superpower, so the US trade representatives job is to look into the bylaws and subsections of Section 301 and decide whether or not these new tariffs would be appropriate. If they are, then they need to decide which Chinese products exactly they should be enforced upon.

US Secretary of Agriculture has been roped into the economic conflict

The US Secretary of Agriculture has now been involved in this trade war, as he has been tasked by Trump will putting in place a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests. The President said that the Chinese governments response to previous trade moves and US punitive measures were to harm [American] farmers and manufacturers, instead of fixing the situation.

This is all a matter of opinion and perception, of course, but thats how Trump sees it and hes not too happy about it.

Trump blames Chinas own trade policies and US deals for the shutting down of factories across America, which have resulted in the loss of millions of jobs for US citizens. One of the biggest promises that Trump was riding on throughout his ultimately successful campaign was the promise of bringing back industry and reopening all the factories and coal mines that had closed in the US and been outsourced to foreign countries, so this would be a bold move in that direction.

The President has already tried to push through tariffs on foreign imports of various metals.

China will fight US trade policies at any cost

The commerce chief of the Chinese government has released a furious statement today in response to the proposed tariff, calling it ridiculous and saying that they will fight with the US leadership on their trade policies and tariff proposals at any cost, although it seems very likely that this cost will end up being $100 billion. This Chinese trade boss said in the same statement that the threat of this tariff shows the deep arrogance shown towards the Chinese government by some American elites.

The arrogance that he is referring to is pretty plainly written on the wall.

Trump has only decided to propose a $100 billion tariff on Chinese goods after China proposed a $50 billion tariff on US goods. So, without thinking it through completely, Trump has told his trade people to do the same, but double it! And China only did that, in a move that Trump called unfair retaliation, because the US had announced a $50 billion tariff of its own 11 hours prior.
The mass of people in the sub-continent is infatuated with Babas, Pirs, and Tantrilks (Godmen). Two of the more famous ones who had millions of followers like Asa Ram Bapu and Ram Rahim Singh is in jail for various crimes against women, including rape. Now another incident from Vrindavan in Mathura district of Utter Pradesh in North India is reported. NDTV has reported that a Godman (a colloquial term used in India for a type of charismatic guru) named Dwarkanath of an Ashram close to Vrindavan twice had forced liaison with a Woman on the pretext of curing her chronic stomach ailment.

The incident

The woman along with her four-year-old son and husband visited the ashram and met the Baba. She complained that she was having a stomach problem. The Bab promised to cure her with his superpower and requested that she spend the night at the ashram. The woman and her husband were allotted an apartment in the ashram.

The Baba came to the room at night and brought a diva (earthen lamp). He told the husband to go down and light the flame of the diva and stay with the diva till the flame was extinguished. The husband duly obliged and went away with the earthen lamp. In the absence of the husband, the baba forced the woman to cohabit with him promising her that in if she did it with him her entire troubles would be cured.

The Baba forced himself on the woman twice and asked her to acquiescence otherwise he would kill her near and dear ones by his power. This frightened the lady and allowed the Baba to have his way.

Action and jail

The husband on learning of the incident and reported the matter to the police. In the light of new rulings by the UP chief minister Swami Adityanand, the police carried out an investigation and arrested the Baba.

His case was tried in a fast-track court. At the trial, the woman denied that the baba had sex with her and claimed it was "someone else". Her evidence was disregarded as false and the fast track court has convicted the Baba and sentenced him to 25 Years in jail.

Incidents galore

The incident has hurt the sentiments of thousands of followers of the baba as the ashram has been sealed off by the police.

Many feel that as the Baba Dwarkanath was a man of God, he could not have done such a heinous act. This shows the blind faith that runs in the subcontinent among the people. In Lahore, a Muslim Pir impregnated over 300 women on a "Noor bed" on the plea that he had the power to make barren women conceive and other women have a son. The Pir was arrested but no charges could be proved as nobody came forward to accuse the Pir (holy man).
BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government is considering setting up a joint fund with carmakers to pay for advanced exhaust systems that make diesel cars cleaner, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and some of her ministers will discuss at a cabinet retreat next week ways to avert driving bans in major cities after Germany's top administrative court in February allowed local authorities to bar heavily polluting diesel cars.

The German government may ask carmakers to contribute 5 billion euros ($6.13 billion) to the fund which would also include government payments, Der Spiegel reported, without being more specific.

A spokeswoman for Germany's VDA auto industry lobby, representing major carmakers Volkswagen , Daimler and BMW, said it had no knowledge of such a government proposal.

Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer declined to comment on the report. In an emailed statement he said one of the items on the agenda at the cabinet retreat is to "work hard with goal of making air quality in our cities even better".

There has been a global backlash against diesel-engine cars since Volkswagen (VW) admitted in September 2015 to cheating U.S. exhaust tests. The scandal has spread across the industry and boosted investment in electric vehicles.

Der Spiegel said the "comprehensive" exhaust refit plan would affect a large part of the 15 million diesel cars in Germany, of which only 2.7 million are equipped with the latest Euro-6 emissions technology.

The magazine said cars in big cities such as Munich and Stuttgart where air quality is particularly poor should be fitted with so-called selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems that require AdBlue injection technology.

(Reporting by Gernot Heller; Additional reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Andreas Cremer and Catherine Evans)

See Also:
The extent of an oil spill seen at Balikpapan Bay, East Kalimantan, Indonesia in this still image taken from an April 4, 2018 drone video obtained from social media. Imeida Tandrin/via REUTERS

Thomson Reuters

By Wilda Asmarini and Bernadette Christina Munthe

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A coal ship that dropped anchor off the coast of the Indonesian port city of Balikpapan on Borneo island was likely to blame for an oil spill, after dragging a pipeline more than 100 meters and causing it to crack, an energy ministry official said.

Indonesia declared a state of emergency this week after the spill and fire killed five fishermen. The environment ministry said the oil covered an area of nearly 13,000 hectares and had polluted 60 km of coastal ecosystems, including mangrove wetlands and marine mammal habitats.

"We suspect the pipe was dragged by the ship that caught fire," Oil and Gas Director General Djoko Siswanto told reporters on Thursday.

"At the time it was bad weather, so they had to drop anchor," Siswanto said, noting it was an area where ships were not supposed to anchor.

Siswanto did not identify the vessel, but said it was a coal ship with a Panama flag.

Balikpapan is a bustling mining and energy hub, sitting on a shipping lane serving one of Indonesia's biggest thermal coal mining regions.

Pertamina had at first said initial tests showed the oil was marine oil used in boats, but on Wednesday said a cracked 20-year-old underwater pipeline linked to its refinery in Balikpapan was the source.

By Tuesday night, around 70 cubic meters of spilled oil had been contained by a team from several oil companies operating in the area and government agencies, the environment ministry said.

Thick clumps of oil were still visible in some areas on Thursday, but "much less than the several days prior," Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya said in a statement.

The ministry, which is responsible for supervising the cleanup and compensation claims, had asked Pertamina to contain the remaining oil and help affected members of the community, Nurbaya said.

Oil and Gas Director General Siswanto said the spill had been stopped and "the remains of the oil spill are still being cleaned up". He did not estimate how much oil had spilled.

Story continues

The spill had reduced the operational capacity of the Balikpapan oil refinery, a Pertamina official said.

A second smaller undamaged pipeline running next to the broken pipe was being used to deliver crude to the refinery, with additional oil supplied via tankers, Siswanto said.

Some green groups have criticized Pertamina for not taking responsibility for the spill.

Siswanto said Pertamina had been late in announcing the source of the oil, but said the government was investigating the company that owned the vessel suspected of breaking the state company's pipeline.

The vessel owners would be questioned and could be charged over the deaths resulting from the spill, he said.

"It depends on who was to blame. It depends on the investigation," he said.

(Reporting by Wilda Asmarini and Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fergus Jensen, editing by David Evans)

See Also:
By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, engaged in an escalating confrontation with Beijing over trade, will urge Latin American leaders next week to work with the United States - not China - on trade, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

Trump's trip to Lima, Peru for the Summit of the Americas has been prefaced by aggressive moves on trade and immigration.

In a telephone briefing with reporters ahead of the trip, the U.S. official, who declined to be named, said China's trade policies had "not been productive for the hemisphere and that the United States should remain the partner of choice" for Latin American countries.

Just 11 hours after the Trump administration proposed 25 percent tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese industrial, technology, transport and medical products, China shot back with a list of similar duties on U.S. imports, including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals.

The dispute has roiled financial markets and angered U.S. lawmakers in agricultural states who worry about the economic impact of retaliatory tariffs on crops.

Trump has also been sparring with Mexico and Canada on an overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In addition, his administration is arguing with Argentina over biodiesel and had threatened tariffs on imports of steel from top supplier Brazil.

But in his address to the Summit of the Americas, Trump will suggest that the United States is a better trade partner than China, which is the top trade partner for Latin American countries ranging from Brazil, the region's largest economy, to Uruguay.

Substantive discussions on NAFTA are not expected at the summit, the official said.

It was also unclear how much emphasis Trump would place on stopping illegal immigration from the region into the United States, a major pledge of his presidential election campaign.

Leading up to the summit, Trump has announced he wants to post National Guard troops along the southern border with Mexico, and has ramped up tough rhetoric against illegal immigration from Honduras and other parts of Central America.

Story continues

Trump also plans to address the crisis in Venezuela with regional leaders, the official said, adding that the U.S. government was still examining next steps on sanctions, with new announcements not expected for several months.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has in recent weeks said he would attend the summit, despite being told not to by Peru's government.

But on Thursday he played down plans over his possible attendance.

"We're evaluating it, for me it's not a priority," Maduro said in a televised news conference, in response to a reporter's question. "You know that those Summits of the Americas are a terrible waste of time."

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Lisa Lambert in Washington, additional reporting by Vivian Sequera in Caracas; editing by Caren Bohan, David Gregorio and Rosalba O'Brien)
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan on Thursday accused Pakistan of air strikes causing "huge financial damages" in its province of Kunar bordering Pakistan, highlighting long-standing mistrust between the neighbours, even as both seek ways to improve security.

The incident came ahead of a visit to Kabul on Friday by Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on cooperation to halt militant attacks.

Pakistani jets dropped four bombs on Wednesday evening in Kunar's Dangam district, Afghanistan's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement, without elaborating on the damage or making any mention of casualties.

"Afghanistan warns that continuing violations of international norms ... will have further consequences on the relations between the two countries," the ministry added.

Pakistan rejected as "baseless" the allegation that it violated Afghan airspace, however.

In a statement, its foreign affairs ministry said Pakistan's security forces were countering militant groups based in Afghanistan that launch attacks across the border.

Military officials of the two countries met on Thursday in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan shared details of the operations with Afghanistan, it added. The operations took place on the Pakistani side of the border, Pakistan said.

Afghanistan should focus on plugging gaps on its side of the border and refrain from the "blame game", the ministry said.

Afghanistan's Western-backed government has long accused Pakistan of harbouring Afghan Taliban insurgents, a charge that Islamabad denies.

Islamabad, in turn, accuses Afghanistan of not doing enough to eradicate Pakistani Taliban militants, many of whom are based in Afghanistan and mostly carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Kabul and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Editing by Andrew Bolton and Clarence Fernandez)
A number of ancient settlement sites were recently discovered in the Amazons Upper Tapajos Basin. This is no El Dorado  although youd be forgiven for thinking so. The press coverage demonstrates a fixation on the idea that the tropical New World may once have been the site of monumental societies, such as those in Egypt or Mesopotamia. The recent discoveries were heralded by Newsweek as rewriting the history of the Americas before Columbus: not a modest claim. The Guardian proclaimed: Lost Amazon villages uncovered by archaeologists.

Meanwhile, the National Geographic (partly responsible for the funding of the project) announced that the Amazon jungle was once home to millions more than previously thought. This is far from the idea of a pristine landscape that conservationists have been alluding to for years. As one of the Exeter researchers noted to the Washington Post: It seems that it was a mosaic of cultures.

University of Exeter

News from the Amazon has long been concerned with lost tribes or uncontacted peoples. One 1970 documentary portrays the key element of the genre: native peoples resisting assimilation. In this century, the emphasis has shifted somewhat. Increasingly, native Amazonian peoples are portrayed not only as lost, but also occupying a natural realm that is in danger of being lost itself to oil exploration, mining and timber extraction.

Lost Indians

This was strikingly illustrated in 2008, when Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior, a FUNAI official (Brazils national Indian agency) published dramatic and still widely reproduced images of exotically-dyed Indians trying to bring down aircraft with bows and arrows. Meirelles described the threats to such tribes and their land as a monumental crime against the natural world.

Meirelles acknowledged that efforts to forestall destructive timber exploitation were more effective if borne on the shoulders of uncontacted Indians, in part because the exotic Indian is a potent symbol to a metropolitan public.

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Yet as noted in a review of a 2016 documentary that chronicled some of Meirelles efforts to draw attention to the Indians plight, there is a useful ambiguity in the term uncontacted. To the naive observer, the term implies autonomy and isolation. But, in fact, it is a term used by FUNAI officials to identify groups that simply have no official relationship with those agents of the state empowered to act on their behalf. As Meirelles himself said when queried by The Guardian about the term:

All the peoples described as isolated have had some kind of contact with us. Usually violent. What they dont have is regular contact. But theyve been using axes, machetes and iron pots for at least 100 years.

The lost Indian of the present depicted as a living version of the Indian of the past (as opposed to what many regard as the composite, ersatz, mestico derivative  that is, most Amazonians) continues to be a formidable icon of Amazonia, and is bolstered now by the notion of the discovery of a historical tropical civilisation. Journalistic accounts, after all, are still driven by a fascination with lost cities, lost tribes and the exotica of neo-tropicalism.

And so these findings may seem to revolutionise our understanding of the Amazon. But beyond the numbers in this particular region (the authors of the recent study estimate that between 500,000 and a million people lived in the Upper Tapajos Basin), there is really very little new here. A very substantial literature has challenged the prevailing views about the pristine character of pre-Conquest Amazonia for decades (or longer).

A counterfeit paradise

Ironically, in the same month that these discoveries were announced, two major contributors to the revised view of Amazonian history, Alfred Crosby and Denise Schann, died.

They are among a very large set of scholars whose work has challenged orthodox views centred around the claim that Amazonia is a counterfeit paradise intrinsically unsuited to any but the most marginal social existence. Evidence of social complexity in chiefdoms and proto-states, such as is further evidenced by the recent discovery, counters these claims.

University of Exeter

But the challenge to the image of Amazonian green hell has considerable historical depth. Indeed, the chronicler of the first European descent of the Amazon river, Gaspar de Carvajal, reported a density of riverbank populations in 1542 that stands in striking contrast to subsequent characterisations of Amazonia as a land of isolated, small-scale, forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers. Since then, many others have, in various ways, contributed to a reconfiguration of pre-modern Amazonia that refuses to succumb to the prevailing stereotypes.

In fact, few historical Indian groups maintained lives anywhere near as isolated or pacific as prevailing picture postcard representations suggest. The same is true today. Indians are beleaguered by the state and resource hungry interlopers. They therefore generally maintain an existence characterised by high levels of social conflict (as they seek to defend territorial boundaries, for example), despair (notoriously high levels of suicide) and cultural disintegration.

Cliche reigning

The repeated invocation of the Amazonia of myth  of lost tribes or lost cities  is easy to challenge on a factual basis, though such objections appear rather feeble in the face of the power of cliche. The cliches are far more comestible than the banality of profitable exploitation of Amazonian cheap nature, minerals, hydroelectric power, timber, and agricultural land available at minimal cost to enterprises able to extract at scale. But the typical portrayal of lost peoples beleaguered by capitalist industry hardly captures the long-term, implanted, and globalist character of resource exploitation in the region.

That the cliches prevail is not surprising. But it is disheartening that the relationship between the past and the present has been so regularly rendered opaque. We speak repeatedly of lost worlds, lost peoples, lost civilisations, as if this has occurred through some kind of natural process, rather than as a result of the persistent and systematic destruction of those societies (as well as their natural environments).

Being lost, misplaced or requiring re-discovery is not an intrinsic condition. Realistic assessment of what is happening in the course of Amazonian development is hardly encapsulated in postcard images and El Dorado fantasies.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Stephen Nugent has received funding from the University of London; Leverhulme Trust.
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Friday the dissolution of parliament, paving the way for a general election in which he faces an unprecedented challenge from his former mentor turned opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad.

Najib is under pressure to deliver a convincing victory for his undefeated Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, as he grapples with financial scandals at a state-owned fund and a government palm oil agency, and with public anger over rising prices.

Najib's coalition is still widely expected to win the election despite the scandals, but a significant loss of seats to the opposition could leave the prime minister open to a leadership challenge within his United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) party.

Below is a summary of the electoral process and key facts about Malaysia:

POLLING DATE

The Election Commission (EC) is expected to meet in the next few days to decide on the dates for the nomination of candidates and for polling across the country's 13 states.

Polling must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of parliament, with a minimum of 11 days of campaigning.

There are about 14 million registered voters. Polls are completed in one day with the result announced the following day.

POLLING SYSTEM

Malaysia adopted a Westminster parliamentary model after gaining independence from Britain in 1957. The government is elected through a first-past-the-post or simple majority system.

The UMNO-led coalition has been undefeated since independence. The coalition contains parties representing the country's three main ethnic groups: majority Malays, most of whom are Muslim, ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians.

The opposition has accused the government of gerrymandering, rigging and propaganda through state-controlled media to secure a victory in every election. The government has denied those accusations.

Critics have also said the Election Commission favours the ruling party. The commission has repeatedly denied that.

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CAMPAIGNING

Campaigning is usually restricted to about two weeks. It begins immediately after the process of nominating candidates is completed, and ends 24 hours before polling day.

There are no publicly telecast debates between candidates. Campaigning is mostly through public gatherings, rallies and visits by candidates to towns and villages.

NUMBERS GAME

The general election is for all 222 seats of parliament's lower house, known as the Dewan Rakyat.

Najib's ruling coalition won 133 seats to win the last general election, in 2013, despite losing the popular vote.

The opposition coalition is hoping it can whittle down BN's seat count to gain at least 112 seats - which would give it the right to form a government.

The 70 members of parliament's upper house, known as the Dewan Negara, are appointed, not elected.

GEOPOLITICAL HOT SPOT

Malaysia is a major exporter, its economy driven by oil and gas, palm oil and electronics.

Part of the South China Sea lies between east and west Malaysia, a maritime region that falls within an area claimed by China, and delineated by a "nine-dash-line" on its maps.

Malaysia - and several other countries in the region - have disputed China's claim over the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion (3.5 trillion) in trade passes annually.

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Robert Birsel)
A model poses with two white diamonds, each over 50 carats, at Sotheby's auction house in London A model poses with two white diamonds, each over 50 carats, at Sotheby's auction house in London, Britain, April 6, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - Two flawless white diamonds each weighing in at more than 50 carats are expected to fetch more than $15 million (10.65 million pounds) when they are auctioned in May, auctioneers Sotheby's Diamonds said on Friday.

The diamonds, a 51.71 carat round brilliant-cut gemstone and a 50.39 carat oval, are the second-largest of their respective kinds ever to come to auction, Sotheby's said.

The sale of the gemstones, discovered and purchased at tender in Botswana, comes after a 102 carat white diamond sold to an undisclosed buyer in February far exceeded the price paid per carat for any colourless diamond at auction, according to auctioneers, who did not reveal the price paid.

The record price previously paid was for a 118 carat diamond sold in Hong Kong in 2013, which fetched $260,000 a carat.

Sotheby's also said it was auctioning "The Farnese Blue," a roughly 6 carat blue diamond given to the Queen of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese, in 1715, which auctioneers said had been passed down through four European royal families since then.

All three of the diamonds are scheduled to be auctioned in Geneva in May.

(Writing by Mark Hanrahan in London; Editing by David Holmes)
Two guinea pigs and a cat belonging to former spy Sergei Skripal died following the nerve agent attack on him and his daughter Yulia, it has been revealed.

More than a month after the Skripals were poisoned in Salisbury, a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs disclosed the fate of the ex-Russian double agent's three animals.

Both guinea pigs were found dead at his home in the Wiltshire city, while the cat needed to be put down.

:: Analysis: Four factors that led UK to blame Russia

"When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," the spokeswoman said.

"A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering.

"This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare."

:: Russian envoy denies they have ever produced novichok

Moscow - which continues to deny responsibility for the attack - raised concerns about the welfare of the pets earlier this week.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned why the UK Government had not revealed any information about their fate, expressing concern that they "must have suffered" as a result of exposure to the poison.

:: Russia TV airs Skripal niece's 'call with Yulia'

According to The Sun, the cat - which was extremely malnourished by the time it was found - was examined at Porton Down before being put down.

Its remains - along with those of the guinea pigs, who had died due to a lack of water while the house was sealed off - were then incinerated in case they had been contaminated with the novichok substance.

Russia's London embassy has made reference to a second missing cat, which has not yet been addressed by the UK Government.

:: Boris Johnson accuses Jeremy Corbyn of 'playing Russia's game'

News of the pets' death came after Britain and Russia's UN ambassadors clashed during an emergency Security Council meeting in New York.

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Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said the UK was "playing with fire and will be sorry"over its response to the attack on the Skripals.

His address included praise for the chief executive at Porton Down, who told Sky News earlier this week that scientists had not yet discovered the "precise source" of the novichok used.

Meanwhile, Ms Skripal has issued her first statement on the attack, saying her "strength is growing daily".
Whether or not adults make new brain cells has been a constant topic of debate. A new study published today offers hope for our aging brains with the discovery that adults continue to make neurons even in old age. Neurons help us perform daily functions by sending message from our brains to the body.

GettyImages-920561110

Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)

Until the 1960s, scientists believed that humans stopped making neurons not long after birth, Scientific American reported in March 2018. But as research grew, scientists found more evidence to indicate that our brains continued to evolve. Last month, research published in the journal Nature challenged this belief with a study that determined adult brains had no traces of new neurons.

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Now, a study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell indicates that our brains continue to make neurons in the hippocampus as we age. This has been shown to help in making memories and managing emotions during stressful times, according to study co-author Dr. Maura Boldrini of Columbia University.

Learning more about how our brains change with age also could provide new Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease treatments.

"We found that older people have similar ability to make thousands of hippocampal new neurons from progenitor cells as younger people do," Boldrini said in a statement.

Don't miss: Louisiana School District Says Transgender Student's Yearbook Pictures Protected Under First Amendment

GettyImages-933891294

Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images

For this study, researchers studied hippocampi from 28 people between 14 and 79 years old, looking for neurons that had been recently formed as well as blood vessels in that region of the brain. They found that even older people produced new brain cells as evidenced by thousands of immature neurons found in the brain. But older people do form fewer blood vessels, which help keep blood flowing and our brains healthy, according to the Alzheimers Association.

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Although, we naturally lose brain cells as we age, some researchers hope to stimulate the growth of new ones, which may protect against Alzheimers disease or treat depression, reported Harvard Health Publications in September 2016.

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However, this new study indicates that we do have some control over maintaining brain health.

"This also means that through healthy lifestyle, enriched environment, social interactions, and exercise, we can maintain these neurons healthy and functioning, and sustain healthy aging," Boldrini told Newsweek.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
A transgender Louisiana high school student who claimed her yearbook photos were pulled for being too feminine was granted permission by the school district to have the pictures published.

Southwood High School senior Kami Pham, 19, told The Shreveport Times Monday that Principal Jeff Roberts informed her in a private meeting that her senior photos would be withheld from the yearbook and banned from her graduation ceremony. Pham claimed she was told by Roberts the wig and high heels outfit violated the school dress code. But the Caddo Parish School District in Shreveport, Louisiana, issued a Tuesday statement saying students First Amendment right to express themselves in what they wear will not be impeded.

Pham said she was given no notice to redo the photos in time to be featured in the senior picture section of the yearbook. Phams friend, Tatjana Cotton, told KTBS-TV the issue boils down to what her birth certificate says about her gender.

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"He's very relaxed with dress code," Cotton said of Principal Roberts. "The chance for someone to get in trouble for dress code is the chance for someone to get struck by lightning."

"I got highly upset," Pham told The Shreveport Times. "What killed me was when my principal had told me that I should not dress after hours. I don't dress inappropriately. When he said that, I felt like I was a prostitute. That was very, very rude."

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But after the Caddo Parish School district appeared to trump Principal Roberts alleged rejection of the photos, he issued a Wednesday statement to KTBS-TV saying the conversation between he and Pham never occurred.

"In my eight years at Southwood High School, it has been my desire to create an environment in which students felt safe and could excel academically. Over the course of recent days, the positive momentum we have built has been torn down by the false accusations of a student regarding conversations which never took place. I can speak for myself and my staff in stating we never denied this student the ability to have their photo in the yearbook or on the senior wall nor denied the student the ability to walk at graduation. While I have remained silent out of respect for the student, I also must defend myself and my school against claims which have led to threats. I adamantly defend the rights of my students to express themselves and have consistently stated that fact. We at Southwood will continue to conduct ourselves with the utmost integrity and that remains unchanged regardless of the falsehoods leveled against us."

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Pham's mother, Deborah Allen, told The Shreveport Times the school's reversal regarding the photos came following a Tuesday meeting attended by Principal Roberts, Pham, a Shreveport LGBTQ community leader, a Southwood counselor, and the student body president.

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Caddo Parish Schools spokeswoman Mary Nash-Wood told Newsweek Thursday that federal and state law prohibits the district from commenting on specific student cases. But she confirmed the district "stands by the First Amendment right of students to express themselves and that belief is supported within the Caddo Parish School Boards approved dress code policy. This expression is without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability."

Calls to Southwood High School were not immediately returned Thursday.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Governor Kate Brown said she will refuse any order from President Donald Trump to send Oregon's guard troops down south to the US-Mexico border.

Trump wants National Guard troops sent to the Mexican border as his effort to build an impenetrable wall stalls because his administration is struggling to secure enough funds from Congress or other sources. He originally said Mexico would pay for the wall, but it has refused.

In a presidential memorandum authorizing the request of deployment of Guards to the border, Trump says U.S. security is "imperiled by a drastic surge of illegal activity", in particular drug trafficking by gangs and unlawful immigration.

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He said it is a "crisis" of "lawlessness" at the southern border.

"If @realDonaldTrump asks me to deploy Oregon Guard troops to the Mexico border, Ill say no," tweeted Democratic Gov Brown. "As Commander of Oregons Guard, Im deeply troubled by Trumps plan to militarize our border."

She added: "Theres been no outreach by the President or federal officials, and I have no intention of allowing Oregons guard troops to be used to distract from his troubles in Washington."

Kate Brown Oregon

Natalie Behring/Getty Images

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The National Guard is a reserve force of the U.S. Army. Each state has its own unit of guard troops, which falls under the authority of the governor.

Other governors welcomed President Trump's decision, including in Texas, which shares a border with Mexico.

"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," Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, a Republican, said.

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"In my time as governor, Texas has maintained a continuous presence of National Guard members along the border, and we've added hundreds of permanent Department of Public Safety troopers to the region.

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"Today's action by the Trump Administration reinforces Texas' longstanding commitment to secure our southern border and uphold the Rule of Law, and I welcome that support."

The governor also pointed to previous decisions by the Obama and Bush administrations, in 2010 and 2006 respectively, to use National Guard troops to secure the southern border.

If @realDonaldTrump asks me to deploy Oregon Guard troops to the Mexico border, Ill say no. As Commander of Oregons Guard, Im deeply troubled by Trumps plan to militarize our border.  Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) April 4, 2018

Theres been no outreach by the President or federal officials, and I have no intention of allowing Oregons guard troops to be used to distract from his troubles in Washington.  Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) April 4, 2018

Presidential Memorandum to Authorize the Deployment of the National Guard to the Southern Border: pic.twitter.com/DAWSZfIAJ2  Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) April 5, 2018

This article was first written by Newsweek

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By Katya Golubkova and Gleb Stolyarov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The U.S. government's decision to include Russian magnate Oleg Deripaska on its sanctions blacklist on Friday will reverberate around the world because his business empire has a global footprint and counts major multinationals as partners.

Washington imposed sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs, 12 companies they own or control, as well as 17 senior Russian government officials because, it said, they were profiting from a Russian state engaged in "malign activities" around the world.

Deripaska, estimated by Forbes magazine to have a net worth of $6.7 billion, is the main owner of the conglomerate EN+, which in turn is the co-owner of some of the world's biggest metals producers, Rusal and Nornickel.

Deripaska's inclusion on the U.S. sanctions list could potentially create complications too for companies with which he does business; they include German car giant Volkswagen <VOWG_p.DE> and commodities trader Glencore <GLEN.L>.

Deripaska called the U.S. decision "very unfortunate but not unexpected."

"Certainly the grounds for putting my name on the list of SDNs as provided by U.S. officials are groundless, ridiculous and absurd," he said, in a statement sent to Reuters by Basic Element, one of his businesses. SDN stands for "Specially Designated National."

Hong Kong-listed Rusal is one of the world's biggest aluminium producers. It says exports to the United States account for over 10 percent of its output.

Rusal owns assets in Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Nigeria, Guyana, Guinea. It owns a stake in Australian QAL, the worlds top alumina refinery.

Nornickel has assets in Finland, in Australia, where it holds a licence to develop the Honeymoon Well Project, and in South Africa, where it has a 50 percent stake in the country's only nickel concentrate producer, Norilsk Nickel Nkomati.

A Nornickel representative declined to comment on the risks resulting from the sanctions on their shareholder.

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FOREIGN PARTNERS

In its statement announcing the sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department said U.S. entities will be "generally prohibited from dealings with" the people and firms on the sanctions list.

In addition, it said, companies outside the United States "could face sanctions for knowingly facilitating significant transactions for or on behalf of" sanctioned entities.

Volkswagen has a joint plant with GAZ, a Russian carmaker which is a subsidiary of Basic Element, which was also sanctioned on Friday. Under a contract that runs until 2025, the plant assembles vehicles from the Volkswagen stable.

The German automaker has been in talks to buy a stake in GAZ, five sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters in December last year.

Swiss-headquartered Glencore is a shareholder in Rusal, and his said it plans to switch those shares to Deripaska's newly-created holding company, EN+.

According to a Rusal prospectus, its major customers include Glencore, Toyota <7203.T>, and Rio Tinto Alcan.

Other foreign firms with ties to Deripaska's empire include Austrian construction company Strabag, in which the Russian's firm Rasperia has a blocking stake, and Singapore's Changi Airports International, which is a partner with a Deripaska-owned airports firm.

KREMLIN CONNECTIONS

In his life and career, Deripaska has frequently intersected with the Kremlin and Russian officialdom.

He holds regular meetings with President Vladimir Putin, he invested heavily in building infrastructure for Russia's 2014 Sochi winter Olympics, and has said his own interests are indivisible from the state's interests.

The mother of Deripaska's children, Polina, is the daughter of Valentin Yumashev, who was presidential chief of staff under former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Yumashev later married Yeltsins daughter, Tatyana Dyachenko. Yeltsin and his entourage were instrumental in elevating Vladimir Putin to power as the anointed successor to the ailing president.

In February, the website of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny published a report alleging that Deripaska met Sergei Prikhodko, Russias deputy prime minister, on a yacht belonging to the businessman off the coast of Norway in 2016.

Deripaska accused Navalny and others of spreading lies that he had committed unlawful actions and obtained an injunction from a court requiring media outlets stop disseminating the disputed content. The Russian state telecoms watchdog blocked Navalnys website.

TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER

Deripaska did business in the 2000s with Paul Manafort, who later became campaign manager for Donald Trump when he was running for president.

At the time he was doing business with Deripaska, Manafort, a Republican operative, was providing campaign advice to Viktor Yanukovich, a pro-Moscow challenger for the presidency of Ukraine. Yanukovich was elected president in 2010.

A Cyprus-based company tied to Deripaska, Surf Horizon Limited, sued Manafort and his aide Rick Gates, in a New York state court in January, accusing them of misappropriating more than $18.9 million earmarked for deals in Ukraine in 2008.

That lawsuit emanated from a business partnership that dates to 2006 when Manafort and Gates convinced Deripaska to invest in a private equity fund that would make investments primarily in Russia and Ukraine, according to an offering memorandum referenced in the lawsuit.

Jeffrey Eilender, who is representing Manafort in the lawsuit, told Reuters last month he planned to argue for dismissal based in part on the assertion that Surf Horizons claims are past the statute of limitations.

On Friday, Eilender said he believed the sanctions would make the pursuit of the lawsuit meaningless. As a practical matter, he cant take money or assets out of the United States, Eilender said, referring to Deripaska. Gates currently does not have counsel in the Surf Horizon case.

Despite the lawsuit, Manafort sought to stay in contact with the oligarch. Last year the Washington Post reported that Manafort sent an email in July 2016 through an intermediary offering Deripaska private briefings about Donald Trumps presidential campaign. Manafort was chairman of the campaign at the time.

Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni has said the email exchanges were innocuous and aimed at collecting money owed by past clients.

(Additional reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova in MOSCOW, and Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld in NEW YORK; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Tom Brown)
Hopper Penns mug shot from his April 4, 2018, arrest in Aurora, Neb. (Photo: Hamilton Co. Sheriffs Dept.)

Sean Penn recently said that he and ex-wife Robin Wright did not share the same ethical views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children. It makes us wonder how theyll handle the latest challenge, which is the arrest of their son, Hopper, on drug possession charges.

The 24-year-old actor and model was arrested, along with his girlfriend Uma von Wittkamp, on Wednesday after a routine traffic stop for failing to signal in Nebraska, according to multiple reports. A search of the 1992 Volvo turned up 14 grams of marijuana, 4 amphetamine pills, and 3 grams of psychedelic mushrooms, Page Six and TMZ confirmed. Hopper was booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin, which is in the mushrooms) and possession of marijuana (one ounce or less). Von Wittkamp, with whom Hopper has been stepping out publicly since 2015, was booked for two counts of possession of controlled substances for the mushrooms and amphetamines. Possession of a controlled substance is a felony in Nebraska.

Uma Von Wittkamps mug shot. (Photo: Hamilton Co. Sheriffs Dept.)

The Hamilton County Sheriffs Department provided Yahoo with Hoppers and von Wittkamps mug shots.

Hopper Jack Penn, who is named after the late Dennis Hopper (as well as Jack Nicholson), has been candid about his drug troubles. In an interview with Londons ES Magazine last year, he revealed that he had a crystal meth addiction. It was his dads tough love that helped him beat it, he said.

Hopper Penn and his girlfriend, Uma von Wittkamp, at a Paris Fashion Week show on June 25, 2016. (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

I was pretty bad, said the War Machine actor. I just got caught a lot doing stuff, you know? Whether it was my parents or the cops. Hopper said he went from being a pothead to taking crystal meth. I was doing a lot of stuff, he says, but meth was the main one that brought me down. He got help after an ultimatum from his dad. I went to rehab because I woke up in a hospital and my dad was like: Rehab? Or bus bench? I was like, Ill take the bed, he recalled.

Hopper has made headlines for his troubles before. In 2013, he used racial and gay slurs during a dispute with a photographer. In 2009, he was arrested for illegal drug possession of the painkiller Vicodin at Malibu High School, People magazine reported.

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Sean Penn with his children, Dylan and Hopper, at the Sean Penn & Friends Haiti Rising Gala on Jan. 7, 2017. (Photo: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief Organization )

On his recent book tour, Sean made it clear that he and his House of Cards star ex-wife, who ended their marriage for good in 2010, dont see eye to eye on parenting.

Um, we dont not get along, he said on Marc Marons WTF Podcast last month. We have very separate relationships with our kids at this point, and it seems to work out better that way. They are making their own decisions, and as it turned out, she and I did not share the same ethical thoughts or views on parenting, including the continuing parenting of adult children.

Robin Wright and Hopper Penn at the Valentino show during Paris Fashion Week in October 2017. (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Penn continued, It was better for her to be entirely whatever she is and available to them  and they love their mother and they have that relationship  and for me to be entirely available but also  were always going to have conflicting ethics. When asked for clarification about that, he refused to answer. That would be getting too much into my kids personal life.

Reps for Sean Penn and Wright have not yet replied to Yahoos request for comment.





Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
The escalating violence has been especially acute in the capital and has sparked widespread concern. (PA)

The police have lost control of Londons streets, a former senior officer claimed as six more stabbings blighted the capital in one day.

Victor Olisa, the Met Polices former head of diversity and head of policing in Tottenham, told the Guardian: It appears to people I have spoken to as though the police have lost control of public spaces and the streets. The silence from senior officers in the Met is deafening.

His comments come as a 30-year-old man was arrested over the murder of Tanesha Melbourne-Blake.

Concerns are growing over escalating violence that is especially acute in the capital.

More than 50 people have been killed in the city since the start of the year  more than 35 of whom were fatally stabbed.

The attacks have added to the UKs soaring rate of knife crime, with fatal stabbings in England and Wales at their highest levels since 2010/11.

Violence  there were six more stabbings in London on Thursday as its violent crime wave continued (Picture: PA)

The pressure on murder detectives is now so great that Scotland Yard has enlisted the support of City of London police to help cope with the caseload.

The latest stabbings came as protesters rallied in Hackney to call for an end to gang violence.

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The protests took place close to where 18-year-old Israel Ogunsola was stabbed to death on Wednesday evening.

A pair of 17-year-olds were arrested late on Wednesday evening on suspicion of murder.

Protests  protestors rallied in Hackney, near to where 18-year-old Israel Ogunsola was stabbed to death on Wednesday evening, to call for an end to gang violence (Picture: PA)

The incidents

In the latest spate, six youths were attacked within 90 minutes on Thursday.

In the first, at around 12.50pm, a man believed to be in his 20s was stabbed in Billet Road, Walthamstow.

At around 5.30pm, a 15-year-old boy was found stabbed in East India Dock Road, Poplar, east London.

Shortly after, at around 6pm, two 15-year-olds were seriously hurt after being stabbed in Grove Road, Mile End, east London.

Spate  six more stabbings took place on Thursday (Picture: PA)

Shortly before 7pm, a 13-year-old boy was seriously wounded in Newham, east London.

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And across the city, a youth in his late teens was stabbed in Ealing Broadway, west London, at around 7pm.

Police have made five arrests over the stabbings of the two 15-year-old boys and the 13-year-old boy.

A male whose age is not known is being held over attempted murder and a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of conspiracy to commit GBH in connection with the stabbing of the two 15-year-olds.

And police said three juvenile males have been arrested on suspicion of GBH after the 13-year-old boy was stabbed.

It also emerged that Mile End Park in east London, where three of teenagers were stabbed, was branded a no go area for police as residents said they were not surprised by the bloodshed.

A 52-year-old man, who has lived in the area for 40 years but did not give his name, said: You dont go over there at night  not even the police go over there at night.

If the police go over there they start a riot. Its a no go, its got that way.

Father Brian Ralph, from the Parish Church of St Barnabus, which overlooks the scene, said: These things around London and east London have been happening for years and its only now people are starting to address it.

We have got good youth workers but unfortunately they have had cuts over the years.

Meanwhile, a man was arrested over the murder of a 53-year-old who died outside a bookmakers in Hackney on Wednesday afternoon. He was due to be interviewed by detectives from City of London Police.

Click the image below to see many of Londons victims this year.

The victims

Israel Ogunsola, 18, was found stabbed to death in Link Street, Hackney, by officers on patrol at around 8pm on Wednesday and was pronounced dead 25 minutes later.

Two 17-year-olds were arrested late on Wednesday evening on suspicion of murder, the Metropolitan Police said.

His father Dele Ogunsola, who lives on the nearby Jack Dunning Estate, confirmed on Thursday afternoon that his teenage son was the victim.

Israels death followed that of Tanesha Melbourne, 17, who was gunned down in Tottenham, north London, on Monday.

A 30-year-old man has been arrested over the murder of Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, 17, on Monday.

Scotland Yard said the man was arrested on Friday morning at an address in the E9 area of London on suspicion of murder.

Eyewitnesses have described the moment 17-year-old Tanesha died in her mothers arms after the shooting in Chalgrove Road, Tottenham, north London just before 9.30pm on Monday.

Her brother Hakeem Blake has since paid tribute to the teenager, telling the BBC she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Tanesha and Israel were friends on Facebook.

On Tuesday, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor became the youngest murder victim in London so far this year after he was also shot on Monday in Walthamstow, east London  just 30 minutes after Tanesha was killed.

The worst violence Ive ever seen

As concerns rose over the spate of violent crime in London, it emerged that police in the capital investigated more murders than their New York counterparts did over the last two months.

There were 15 murders in London in February against 14 in New York, according to Londons Metropolitan Police Service and the New York Police Department.

And in March, police in London investigated 22 murders, compared to 21 reports in New York.

Violence  David Lammy said violence on Londons streets is the worst Ive ever seen it (Picture: PA)

Labour former minister David Lammy, who has been MP for Tottenham for 18 years, described violence on the streets of London as the worst Ive ever seen it.

Mr Lammy told the BBC there was absolutely no sign of any reduction in violence and voiced concerns that drugs are causing turf wars between gangs.

He said: Ive been an MP now for 18 years and Im afraid what were seeing today is the worst Ive ever seen it.

Ive had four deaths in the London Borough of Haringey since January, Ive had as many knife attacks as there have been weeks in the year.

There are parents, friends, families, schools, traumatised and grieving, and there is absolutely no sign, Ive got to tell you at the moment, of reduction in the violence.

He added: Drugs are prolific  its like Deliveroo, theyre as prolific as ordering a pizza.

You can get them on Snapchat, WhatsApp  that, in the end, is driving the turf war and its driving the culture of violence  that is obviously ramped up by social media  but the culture of violence that I think is now becoming endemic in parts of London.

Mr Lammy called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the Government to have a clear consensus on reducing violence.

Communities have to step up and people have to take responsibility, parents have to take responsibility and Im not one to shirk that, but communities need support and resources if they are to do this, and the Government and the Mayor need to be clear with a consensus that their ambition is to reduce violence across this city.

Heartbreaking  Mayor of London Sadiq Khan criticised the government for cuts to the policing budget (Picture: PA)

Mr Khan said the rising number of murders on the capitals streets was heartbreaking and criticised the government for cuts to the policing budget.

Saying that one murder is one too many, he said: Since 2014 we have seen an increase in violent crime in London and across the country.

Already in the last seven years we have lost 700 million from the policing budget. Over the next three years the Government plans to cut another 300 million. Thats a billion pounds worth of cuts.

So my message to the Government is please work with us to solve this national problem.

How are police tackling the problem?

The pressure on murder detectives is now so great that Scotland Yard has enlisted the support of City of London police to help cope with the caseload.

The Metropolitan Police is working with social media firms to identify violent posts that provoke retaliation attacks from rival gangs, a senior officer has said.

It comes after ABritains most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, warned that trivial disputes online can escalate within minutes.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty said police would be working with social media platforms to try to identify material that glamorises violence and is often deliberately posted to provoke a response from another gang in a bid to prevent crimes happening in the first place.

Taskforce  a senior police officer has revealed a taskforce is being set up to deal with soaring violent crime in London (Picture: PA)

He also revealed details of a taskforce being introduced to deal with the increase in violent crimes in London.

He said 120 officers will focus on boroughs where knife crime has gone up and where there has been an increase in murders, to try to deal with the individuals or gangs committing those crimes, as well as looking for evidence in social media posts.

He emphasised that the focus would be on targeting individuals who are violent.

Asked why this was not already being done, he added: I think we do do some of this stuff anyway.

But what this new group allows us to do is dedicate and ring-fence resources, so it gives us a real opportunity so that they are not distracted with other crime types or other issues, and they can really focus on getting their expertise up in tackling these individuals and focusing in removing them from public environments where they can cause harm to communities.

On Wednesday the Home Office said Home Secretary Amber Rudd would press social media platforms to step up their response in the wake of the recent crime wave in London.

A spokesman said: The instant nature of social media also means that plans develop rapidly and disputes can escalate very quickly.

The Government, voluntary sector and other partners are working with social media companies to ensure measures deliver real results and raise the level of online safety for users.

(Top picture: Getty)
Thousands of protesters in Bratislava rally in reaction to the murder of Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova. The banner reads Resign. Photograph: Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters

First came the double murder of a journalist and his fiancee, shot dead at their home in a crime that shocked Slovakia.

Then came something equally surprising: a movement triggered by the murder brought tens of thousands on to the streets for the biggest protests seen in the country since the Velvet Revolution. This led to the resignation of the prime minister, Robert Fico, who had dominated Slovakias political scene for over a decade, as well as the countrys interior minister.

Now, five weeks after the killing of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, many worry that the new leaders will return to business as usual and sweep corruption scandals under the carpet.

Thousands of mainly young protesters rallied on a central Bratislava square again on Thursday afternoon in an effort to ensure this does not happen. The newspaper Dennik N put the crowd at 45,000 people. From the stage, the main demand of the movement was aired: for the new interior minister to fire the chief of police, something he has so far refused to do.

Juraj Seliga, a 27-year-old PhD student who is taking time away from writing his dissertation on constitutional law to help organise the protests, said the movement had two basic demands: an independent investigation into the murder of Kuciak and his girlfriend, and a new trustworthy government.



Slovakia, which was part of the eastern bloc state of Czechoslovakia, became independent in 1993 and joined the EU in 2004. Fico, who had been prime minister for 10 of the past 12 years, portrayed himself as a more reasonable figure than populist and nationalist forces in neighbouring Hungary and Poland, although at times he used populist and anti-immigrant rhetoric, and once referred to journalists as dirty anti-Slovak prostitutes.



Over the years, the government weathered a number of corruption scandals, partly due to public apathy. Corruption has penetrated all levels of the state administration, said Beata Balogova, editor-in-chief of the liberal newspaper SME.

Story continues

The murder of Kuciak triggered public anger. The 27-year-old journalist had been investigating links between Italian mafia figures and Slovak officials, including revelations that one of the prime ministers closest aides was the business partner of an alleged Italian mafia clan member.

People attend the rally in Bratislava on Thursday. Photograph: Michal Svitok/AP

In time, the protest movement broadened, under the banner of For a Decent Slovakia. As the protests gathered momentum last month, Fico took a leaf out of the playbook of Viktor Orban in neighbouring Hungary, suggesting the demonstrations had been financed by the American philanthropist and financier George Soros, the favoured target of nativist and righwing governments across the world.

It was an act of despair. Instead of shouldering some of the responsibility for running a country where the mafia had got so close to the top offices of government, he began spreading conspiracy theories, said Balogova.

Fico severely underestimated the strength of feeling, and in mid-March, was forced to resign, although he was replaced by longstanding ally Peter Pellegrini, from his own Smer party.

Two weeks ago, the organisers called off their planned protest. Even if Pellegrini was seen as Ficos man, coming from the same party, it was time to let the battlefield move to parliament, said Seliga.



However, the protest organisers called a fresh rally on Thursday due to the refusal of the new interior minister to fire the controversial chief of police.

I trust the police but I dont trust their bosses, said Peter Bardy, the editor-in-chief of news website Aktuality, where Kuciak worked. At the newsroom, one wall of the conference area is plastered with a spiders web of connections between Slovak politicians and the mafia, and burly security guards keep watch outside, a new addition since the murders.



The protests have drawn inevitable comparisons to the Velvet Revolution, the non-violent movement that heralded the end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. But while that revolution moved from one demand to the next with seeming inevitability, the next steps for the current movement are less clear, particularly given the potential alternatives.

The political opposition is fragmented and made up of various groups polling around the 10% mark, ranging from a neo-Nazi grouping to a supposedly pro-family party whose leader has 10 children with nine different women.

The organisers have been careful to insist that the movement is about civic engagement, not party politics, and politicians are banned from addressing the crowd at the rallies.

In 1989, we had a series of demands that were fulfilled one after the other, said Martin Butora, one of the founding members of Public Against Violence, a Slovak political movement founded during the Velvet Revolution. With these girls and boys its more complicated. Its not so easy to have clear-cut understandable demands.



There are some signs of a new public engagement with politics. Balogova said that in the weeks since Kuciaks murder, her newspaper had seen a huge number of people getting in touch with leaks, tip-offs and documents relating to corruption.

The focus for the protest movement now is on pushing young Slovaks to become socially and politically engaged, and perhaps to register for municipal elections in November, where candidates can run as independents, free of party affiliation.

We are not happy with the new government, but this is not Maidan in Ukraine, said Seliga. We will protest only within the scope of the constitution. Weve already achieved a lot. A month ago nobody would think it was possible that Fico would go. But decent people, who want to live in a decent country, have pushed him out.


MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it had killed three militants after launching an air strike in Somalia against al Shabaab, a militant Islamist group allied with al Qaeda.

The military's Africa Command (Africom) said they carried out the strike on April 5 near the town of Jilib, about 230 miles (370 km) southwest of Mogadishu.

"In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Forces conducted an air strike against Al-Shabaab militants near Jilib ... killing three terrorists and destroying one vehicle with a mounted heavy machine gun," it said in a statement.

Washington has expanded its operations in the Horn of Africa country after President Donald Trump eased combat rules last year.

Since withdrawing from the capital Mogadishu in 2011, al Shabaab lost control of most of Somalia's cities and towns. But they retain a strong presence in regions outside the capital.

On Friday, one soldier was killed by a militant who attacked a checkpoint in Mogadishu. A car bomb in the same place injured two other soldiers.

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
By Pavel Polityuk and Alessandra Prentice

KIEV (Reuters) - Corruption investigators in Ukraine are looking into allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gave a multi-million euro donation to the presidential campaign of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2010, Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Ariev said.

Tymoshenko denies the claims, but reports of past illicit campaign financing could damage the Ukrainian opposition leader, who is currently beating President Petro Poroshenko in opinion polls ahead of next year's presidential vote.

Ariev, who is a member of Poroshenko's ruling BPP faction, said he and other MPs had formally asked the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) look into the allegations published by pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in February.

According to Asharq al-Awsat, a Gaddafi representative flew by private jet to Kiev to deliver a briefcase with 4 million euros (3.48 million pounds) in cash to help finance Tymoshenko's ultimately unsuccessful 2010 presidential bid.

"As soon as this information appeared in the newspaper, three MPs sent a request to NABU with a request to verify this information," Ariev told Reuters after he posted a photo on Facebook of NABU's alleged written acceptance of the request.

Under Ukrainian law, state bodies must investigate any claims if requested by members of parliament. No criminal case has been launched.

Asked to comment on the allegations, the press service of Tymoshenko's Fatherland party said: "It is nonsense. The information is not correct."

NABU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case threatens to draw Tymoshenko into a broader scandal surrounding Gaddafi's alleged bankrolling of foreign elections.

France is investigating whether former President Nicolas Sarkozy received 5 million euros of Libyan cash to finance his 2007 election campaign.

Tymoshenko has been prime minister twice and was imprisoned by former president Viktor Yanukovich in a case condemned by Western leaders as selective justice.

Story continues

Known for her trademark braided hairstyle, Tymoshenko lost the 2014 presidential race, but the latest poll by Rating shows her ahead of Poroshenko with 18.7 percent support versus 15.6 percent for the incumbent president.

The next presidential election is slated for March 2019.

While Tymoshenko served as prime minister in 2007-2010, Kiev and Tripoli agreed a number of commercial deals including a plan for Libya to grow wheat on 100,000 hectares of Ukrainian land.

Gaddafi visited Kiev during a tour of ex-Soviet states in 2008, three years before he was overthrown and killed by rebels. He hosted Tymoshenko in a Bedouin-style tent that he had pitched in central Kiev as was his habit on official trips.

(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Matthias Williams and Catherine Evans)
WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military has cancelled the remainder of a training exercise in the Horn of Africa, and the government of Djibouti has halted U.S. military air operations there, following two U.S. Marine aircraft crashes this week in Djibouti.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie says the decision to cancel the remainder of an exercise called Alligator Dagger was "a reasonable precaution" in light of the aviation accidents, which happened separately but within a few hours of each other on Tuesday.

McKenzie said the U.S. and the government of Djibouti jointly decided to suspend all U.S. military flights there. He said he had no other details.

The U.S. conducts sensitive surveillance and counterterrorism air missions out of Djibouti.

The accidents are under investigation.

See Also:
A man walks with his bicycle at a damaged site in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government launched a fierce air and ground assault on the last rebel-held town in eastern Ghouta on Friday, killing at least 32 people in a bid to seal President Bashar al-Assad's biggest victory since 2016, a war monitor said.

State TV showed thick clouds of smoke rising from the targeted area, the town of Douma, where the Jaish al-Islam rebel group is holding out after insurgents in other parts of eastern Ghouta accepted safe passage to other rebel areas.

State TV said Republican Guard forces were pushing in.

Jaish al-Islam said its rocket and artillery brigade were responding to what it described as a massacre by "the Assad militias and their ally the Russian warplanes". Jaish al-Islam's political official called for talks to spare civilian bloodshed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said the 32 dead in Douma included five children and the air strikes were likely carried out by Russian war planes. State media said rebel shelling of Damascus had killed four people.

Jaish al-Islam denied targeting residential areas.

A commander in the regional military alliance that backs Assad said Jaish al-Islam's only option was to accept safe passage to rebel-held areas northeast of Aleppo as talks overseen by Russia had collapsed.

"The negotiations have ended with failure. As far as Douma is concerned, resolving it militarily is the solution," the commander told Reuters.

State TV accused Jaish al-Islam of shelling a crossing out of eastern Ghouta and a residential area, saying this led to the air strikes. State TV reporters also said the rebels must release abducted soldiers and civilians they said the group was holding as one of the conditions for halting the assault.

Defeated rebel groups in other parts of eastern Ghouta have accepted safe passage to opposition areas near the Turkish border. While several thousand wounded fighters and civilians from Douma have taken that option in recent days, the Jaish al-Islam official denied any of its fighters had left.

Story continues

Mohammad Alloush, the Jaish al-Islam political official, said the group wanted to continue negotiations. "We do not want to close a door that could lead to sparing the blood of civilians," he said in an interview with al-Hadath TV.

But Alloush, who is based outside Syria, indicated Jaish al-Islam was sticking by the demand to stay in Douma - a demand the government has rejected.

"We are negotiating to remain, for our people to remain ... and for that which protects them to remain," he said. Otherwise they would be at risk from pro-Assad "sectarian militias", a reference to Iran-backed Shi'ite groups such as Hezbollah.

Tens of thousands of people are estimated to be sheltering in Douma.

Russian-backed government forces launched their offensive against eastern Ghouta in February. The Observatory says the attack has killed more than 1,600 civilians.

The conquest of Douma would underline Assad's unassailable position in the conflict that mushroomed out of protests against his rule seven years ago.

(Reporting by Tom Perry and Laila Bassam in Beirut, Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Angus MacSwan)
Dominik Nitsche Analyzes Heads-Up River Value Bet From WSOPE One Drop

April 06 2018 Dominik Nitsche PokerNews Staff

888Poker Ambassador Dominik Nitsche is on a nice roll of late, especially in the Czech Republic where over recent months he's made multiple final tables and earned a couple of titles.

Highlighting the run was Nitsche's victory last November in the 111,111 buy-in 2018 World Series of Poker Europe High Roller for One Drop in Rozvadov. Nitsche topped a 132-entry field to win 3,487,463 and his fourth career WSOP bracelet.

During heads-up play, Nitsche had a tough opponent in fellow German Andreas Eiler. Eiler was ahead to begin their duel, but Nitsche grabbed the advantage early on and after about two dozen hands had opened up a chip lead on Eiler.

That's when the following hand took place, an interesting one that saw Nitsche win a nice-sized pot, made even bigger after a creative thin river value bet earned a call. Take a look:

To recap the action, Eiler min-raised the button with and Nitsche called with . The flop gave both players a pair, and Nitsche check-called a continuation bet of 4.5 million from Eiler.

Then after the turn, Nitsche led for 10.5M and Eiler called, making the pot 34 million. The came on the river and Nitsche bet small  just 6M  and after Eiler called once more, Nitsche won the pot.

Nitsche recently took the time to analyze the hand in detail for us, explaining his thinking on each street. Watch his discussion below and find out...

why Nitsche just called Eiler's initial c-bet after flopping top pair,

how the turn (bringing a flush draw) changed his plan from checking to betting,

turn (bringing a flush draw) changed his plan from checking to betting, why the on the river wasn't as bad for him as it might seem at first glance,

on the river wasn't as bad for him as it might seem at first glance, how he arrived at that small bet size on the river, and

how the players' stack sizes additionally influenced his decisions.

888poker Ambassador Dominik Nitsche has amassed over $11.4 million in lifetime tournament earnings to date, earning multiple titles on various tours. Among those wins are four in World Series of Poker bracelet events, including one in the 111,111 buy-in 2017 World Series of Poker Europe High Roller for One Drop.
China stands ready to retaliate to any new measures from Washington on trade, a spokesman for Beijing said on Friday, adding that finance officials from his country and the US had not held trade talks recently.

According to Bloomberg, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng also said China would retaliate "immediately, intensively and without any hesitation" if the US released a list with an additional $100bn-worth of Chinese goods that it was looking to place tariffs on.

Friday's press conference was both short and somewhat unexpected, due to Beijing's standard practice of not holding media briefings on public holidays.

Feng also framed the debate in terms of a "battle" between protectionism and free trade, saying that Washington had misjudged the situation.

In the current climate it was not possible to hold talks, Gao said.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced on Friday that it is not afraid of fighting a trade war and it will "follow through to the end without hesitating, fighting back at any cost" after being threatened by the US administration with further tariffs.

Overnight, President Donald Trump appeared to open the door to 'upping the ante' on his initial gambit of levying tariffs on $50bn-worth of Chinese goods, with the apparent aim of forcing Beijing to clam down on its alleged theft of foreign intellectual property rights.

That was after China responded to his initial proposal to implement tariffs with its own list of $50bn-worth of American goods, mainly agricultural ones.

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the [United States Trade Representative] to consider whether $100bn of additional tariffs would be appropriate," the president said in a statement.

Nevertheless, the initial reaction in global capital markets was restrained, with S&P 500 futures pointing to a fall of less than one per cent at the opening bell on Wall Street, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index ended the Friday session just 0.18% lower at 3,131.11.

Similarly, the yen - towards which investors tend to flock at the least sign of trouble - was little changed versus its US counterpart, trading at 107.407.

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse said that the threats are the "dumbest possible way to do this" and he hopes the president is just blowing off steam.

"China is guilty of many things, but the President has no actual plan to win right now. He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire," Sasse added.

The Chinese foreign minister said: "China and the US as two world powers should treat each other on a basis of equality and with respect. By waving a big stick of trade sanctions against China, the US has picked a wrong target."
London stocks finished a little weaker on Friday, weighed down by the ongoing global trade tensions and strength in the pound after the latest US jobs report fell well short of economists' forecasts.

Overnight, US President Donald Trump instructed the country's Trade Representative to consider whether tariffs on another $100bn-worth of Chinese imports were in order following Beijing "unfair" retaliation against the White House's already firm proposal for levies on $50bn-worth of goods from the Asian nation announced on Wednesday.

In reaction, according to Bloomberg on Friday afternoon Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said Beijing would retaliate "immediately, intensively and without any hesitation" if Washington published a new list of tariffs.

That was followed by fresh remarks from Trump, who reportedly told a radio programme that Americans may need to endure a "little pain" if the current dispute morphed into a trade war.

Against that backdrop, the FTSE 100 was down 0.22% by the closing bell at 7,183.64, while the pound was up 0.62% against the US dollar to 1.40902.

Miners and Oilfield Services stocks fared worst on the back of those trade frictions.

Commenting on the situation, after the close of markets in London, economists at Barclays Research would tell clients: "Market discomfort is set to continue, in our view, as a result of the return of volatility and with no end in sight of the anti-trade tit-for-tat. Barclays' global manufacturing confidence index eased for the third consecutive month in March, posing risks to our positive view on global growth.

"At this juncture, we think it is wise for market participants to take a break from risk and wait to see if this is just a pause that refreshes."

Weighing on sentiment as well, but in a boost for Sterling, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that non-farm payrolls in the US grew by just 93,000 last month, well short of the 189,000 increase economists on Wall Street had penciled-in.

Average hourly earnings meanwhile increased by 0.3% month-on-month, pushing the year-on-year rate of gain from 2.6% in February to 2.7% for March (consensus: 2.8%).

Nonetheless, for Pooja Sriram at Barclays Research: "The earnings side of the report was strong, with average hourly earnings recording a healthy monthly increase. In all, we choose not to read too much into the March slowdown, and instead take a positive signal from the earnings side of the report.

"We continue to expect the Fed to raise rates three more times this year."

Investors look for more liquid options

In corporate news, shares of Drax and United Utilities both registered sharps gains, with the latter helped by supportive comments out of Deutsche Bank.

The German broker pointed out how UK utilities had surrendered nearly a quarter of their value over the past year, due to a mix of regulatory, competitive and political risks, water utilities now looked "increasingly attractive".

EasyJet edged higher as it said passenger numbers continued to grow in line with the board's forecasts in March, with a total of 6.56 million people choosing to fly with the airline during the month - an increase of 3.4% year-on-year.

AO World shares jumped after the online electrical goods retailer said that its full-year results should fall within the range of current market forecasts.

LondonMetric Property reversed early losses, having said it was selling one of its oldest regional warehouses and snapping up five 'urban' logistics warehouses for 25.6m.

Big Yellow Group was in the red after confirming it has been granted planning consent for a new 72,000 square foot store in Camberwell, London.

Retailers were in focus amid notes on the sector by Citi and Berenberg. Tesco and Morrison were upgraded by Berenberg, while Halfords was upgraded at Citi.

On the downside, Next, Marks and Spencer and Pets at Home all had their ratings dropped by Citi.

Market Movers

FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,183.64 -0.22%

FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,530.17 -0.23%

techMARK (TASX) 3,315.28 0.21%

FTSE 100 - Risers

Micro Focus International (MCRO) 1,128.50p 3.15%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 724.80p 2.32%

WPP (WPP) 1,162.50p 2.11%

DCC (DCC) 6,645.00p 1.92%

Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,209.00p 1.84%

Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,704.00p 1.69%

SSE (SSE) 1,296.50p 1.69%

TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,560.50p 1.63%

London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 4,218.00p 1.59%

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,658.00p 1.54%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,560.00p -2.35%

Glencore (GLEN) 351.25p -2.12%

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 269.00p -1.82%

Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,676.50p -1.64%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 915.60p -1.63%

Anglo American (AAL) 1,618.40p -1.61%

BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,388.80p -1.50%

Schroders (SDR) 3,156.00p -1.47%

CRH (CRH) 2,402.00p -1.39%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 664.80p -1.32%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Drax Group (DRX) 290.80p 4.98%

Inmarsat (ISAT) 355.90p 4.55%

Galliford Try (GFRD) 888.50p 4.47%

FirstGroup (FGP) 93.90p 4.45%

TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 123.20p 4.41%

TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,896.00p 3.61%

IP Group (IPO) 125.00p 3.48%

Charter Court Financial Services Group (CCFS) 308.00p 2.67%

BTG (BTG) 606.00p 2.53%

Halfords Group (HFD) 342.40p 2.27%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Ferrexpo (FXPO) 220.50p -7.47%

Games Workshop Group (GAW) 2,260.00p -5.83%

Hunting (HTG) 657.50p -5.26%

Dunelm Group (DNLM) 525.00p -3.85%

Rank Group (RNK) 174.00p -3.67%

Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,280.00p -3.18%

Clarkson (CKN) 3,025.00p -3.05%

Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 877.00p -2.65%

Metro Bank (MTRO) 3,418.00p -2.62%

Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 2,385.00p -2.46%
Challenger bank Metro reported its results for the first half of 2017 after the close on Tuesday, swinging to a profit for the first time since its stock market debut in March of last year.

Metro Bank's underlying profits between January and June came in at 6m, in comparison with a 13m loss during the first two quarters of last year.

Pre-tax profit for the second quarter came in at 4m, up from 2m in the first quarter. The strong performance was based on strong organic lending, with its loan to deposit ratio increasing to 79%.

Having debuted on the London Stock Exchange just last March and only been in existence for the last seven years, the bank has also now surpassed one million customer accounts.

Metro also announced it was planning to open as many as 10 new branches before the end of the year in order to expand its coverage.

"Almost seven years in and the Metro Bank story just gets better and better, said chairman and founder of Metro Bank, Vernon Hill.

Our ability to meet the banking needs of business, commercial and retail customers in and outside London is proving to be an attractive proposition for British consumers and businesses alike. In the last six months alone we have opened a further 130,000 accounts.

Metro also announced the placing of new ordinary shares with the aim of raising 278m in capital, with more than 8m shares being introduced to market at Tuesdays closing price of 3465p.

Despite the banks swing to profit, analysts at Goldman Sachs still rate the company as sell, with a 12-month target price of 2580p, well below its current level.

At 0947 BST, the shares were up 2.1% to 3,568.65p.
One of the biggest news stories of the week has been the recent lawsuit filed by adult film star Stormy Daniels against Donald Trump. After Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed the issue with the media, the president was reportedly not pleased.

From @Acosta: A source close to White House says Trump is upset with @PressSec Sarah Sanders over her handling of Stormy Daniels questions yesterday. POTUS is very unhappy, the source said. Sarah gave the Stormy Daniels storyline steroids yesterday, the source added.  David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) March 8, 2018

Trump on Sanders

It's been well-documented that Donald Trump has had a controversial history with women.

From his questionable remarks, to the release of the now infamous "Access Hollywood" tape, to the list of women accusing him of various forms of sexual misconduct, the former host of "The Apprentice" has been forced to deal with the allegations. The latest issue stems from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who has been linked to an extramarital affair with the president dating back to 2006, just a year after the start of Trump's marriage to First Lady Melania Trump.

Trump Reportedly Angry With Sarah Sanders: She Gave the Stormy Daniels Storyline Steroids (VIDEO) https://t.co/KfaSU8daPX pic.twitter.com/leCevRaxZy  Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 8, 2018

The president's personal lawyer Michael Cohen reportedly paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 election, but she is now suing the president over the nondisclosure agreement that allegedly didn't include Trump's signature.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did her best to deflect from the news, but her effort didn't go over well with Trump. According to CNN's Jim Acosta on March 8, Trump is "very unhappy" with how Sanders handled her response, adding that CNN's source noted that the president believes "Sarah gave the Stormy Daniels story-line steroids yesterday."

Legal rebuttal

Sarah Sanders told the press that Donald Trump had not only denied the allegations against him, but that the matter was already settled in arbitration.

During an interview on MSNBC later in the day, Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti pushed back against Sanders' remarks. "Im confident she (Sanders) didnt know it was nonsense when she effectively told that to the world," Avenatti said, before referring to Sanders' comments as "absolutely bogus" and "nonsense."

Next up

Despite the latest revelations about the Stormy Daniels scandal, Donald Trump has yet to make a public statement of his own.

Additional reporting notes that the issue has caused problems in the relationship with the first couple, which was highlighted when Melania Trump canceled her scheduled appearance with the president during a recent overseas trip. The two also failed to publicly acknowledge each other on their wedding anniversary last month, as well as on Valentine's Day.
In his latest attempt to appeal to the Hispanic community, Donald Trump addressed the Latino Coalition Legislative Summit. During his speech, the president made sure to get political and target the Democratic Party.

Pres. Trump says Democrats don't want to vote for his infrastructure plan because "they don't want to give us a victory. They think we've had too many victories." https://t.co/NkJuIoh4fP pic.twitter.com/VuO6kWa6ey  ABC News (@ABC) March 7, 2018

Trump on Latinos

While Donald Trump was able to pull off the upset and defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the last presidential election, he did so without much help from various minority voting blocs.

From the start of his political career, Trump has come under fire due to his controversial rhetoric and policy proposals, including his plans on immigration and comments about illegal immigrants from Mexico being "rapists" and "murderers."

.@POTUS: "We're trying to have a DACA victory for everybody, by the way, and @TheDemocrats are nowhere to be found." pic.twitter.com/5gFedacT7G  Fox News (@FoxNews) March 7, 2018

With his poll numbers down with Hispanics, Donald Trump arrived at the Latino Coalition Legislative Summit on March 7 and decided to pander, while also taking shots at his Democratic rivals. After praising the Latino and Hispanic community as "good people," Trump brought up the issue of DACA and put the blame on democrats.

"We're trying to have a DACA victory for everybody, by the way, and the Democrats are nowhere to be found," Trump said. "The Democrats don't want to approve (infrastructure plan)" because they don't want to give us a victory,: he added, while saying, "They think we've had too many victories." "We've had a lot of victories," Trump claimed.

Instant reaction

Following Donald Trump's speech at the Latino Coalition Legislative Summit, those who oppose the president wasted no time giving the president a fact-checking session over his actions towards Hispanics and other minority communities. "Why did they even allow him to speak there? The Latino community could have made a statement by not inviting Trump.

By allowing him to speak, after all he has said and done to Latinos, it's almost like they are condoning Trump's behavior," one tweet read.

Why did they even allow him to speak there? The Latino community could have made a statement by not inviting Trump. By allowing him to speak, after all he has said and done to Latinos, it's almost like they are condoning Trump's behavior.  Sameritech (@sameritech) March 7, 2018

The President is once again misinforming the people. We wouldn't be demonstrating daily to vote down his legislature in every major city in America if this were the case.  Tim Kosiba (@KosibaTim) March 7, 2018

100s of felonies, 19 indicted, 5 guilty so far.... winning, maga @realDonaldTrump is delusional  TTOWN TIM (@RogueCitizen420) March 7, 2018

"Says the guy who, aside from the election, has had one victory, a crappy tax bill," a Twitter user added.

"The President is once again misinforming the people. We wouldn't be demonstrating daily to vote down his legislature in every major city in America if this were the case," yet another tweet noted. "You say the dumbest things, Mr. Bone Spurs!!!" a tweet stated.

I think they're waiting for you to give the go ahead on Russia. THAT would be an actual victory. Making your head look like it has hair isn't a victory.  Lisa R. (@Lisa0livmyluv4u) March 7, 2018

Jesus, this is where this guy's head is.....we are so screwed.  Gus the Terror (@GusTheTerror) March 7, 2018

@POTUS who talks like this? You are an embarrassment to the USA.  Trumps water glass (@frankandfrooder) March 7, 2018

"Who writes this stuff!?

So good! Did he bring his writers from The Apprentice to The White House!?" a social media user commented. "I think they're waiting for you to give the go ahead on Russia. THAT would be an actual victory. Making your head look like it has hair isn't a victory," a tweet noted.
Today's Google Doodle (April 4) commemorates what would have been Dr. Maya Angelou's 90th birthday.

The beautiful cartoon depicts images accompanying the powerful words of Angelou's famous poem ' And Still I Rise', recited by a series of well-spoken voices. This is a deserved tribute to a woman who overcame much adversity and still managed to significantly contribute to the Civil Rights movement. Dr. Maya Angelou used words to craft the most wonderful, gripping poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Once again we are reminded of the gentle power of the word to encourage, inspire, and fight for justice.

Throughout her life, Dr. Maya Angelou touched many hearts through music, dance, poetry, and teaching. Today is a celebration of her bright light, a light that will continue to shine.

Today's #GoogleDoodle celebrates Dr. Maya Angelou's 90th birthday! Set to her poem #StillIRise, the video Doodle includes her own voice along with the voices of other individuals whose lives she has inspired. View the full experience here: https://t.co/5yNw2jNomx pic.twitter.com/5BYItwm4xl  Maya Angelou (@DrMayaAngelou) April 4, 2018

But let's begin by watching Dr. Angelou recite this wonderful poem.

This and countless other poems have earned Dr. Angelou numerous accolades while highlighting just how powerful poetry can be.

Maya Angelou - her life and work

Born on the 4 April 1928 in Missouri, Maya Angelou joined her brother to go and live in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas when her parents divorced shortly after her third birthday. There, she experienced a life marred by the racial discrimination which underpinned everyday life in the American South.

In later life, she credited her grandmother and extended family with inspiring her opinions and views on life. While on a visit to her mother, Maya was sexually abused by her mother's partner. As she was too ashamed to tell any adults, she confided in her brother Bailey instead. After finding out that her uncle had killed her attacker, she believed that her words had murdered a man and fell silent.

Maya did not speak until she was 13-years-old. At that time, Maya and Bailey moved to San Francisco to live with their mother.

Even though she was awarded a scholarship to study Music And Dance, Maya dropped out of high school and began to work as the first female cab conductor. Later, she returned to high school but dropped out when she became pregnant. After the birth of her child, Maya struggled as a single mom, working as a waitress and cook. During her time at high school, she was exposed to progressive ideas that would later shape her thoughts and political views. Despite struggling to make ends meet, Dr. Angelou didn't give up on her love of poetry, music, and dance.

In 1952, Dr. Maya Angelou married a Greek sailor and began singing professionally at nightclubs.

Her marriage ended, and she went on to study dance, working on TV and recording her first album.

Having written song lyrics for many years, Maya started developing her writing skills and became one of the black writers linked to the civil rights movement. After falling in love with a South African civil rights activist, Maya moved to Egypt with her son and her new partner. There, she became editor of The Arab Observer. Subsequently, Maya and her son moved to Ghana and joined a vibrant American African expat community.

Dr. Maya Angelou returned to the US in 1964 to join Malcolm X in his fight for civil rights. After his assassination, Maya continued her involvement in the civil rights movement and went on to work alongside Martin Luther King Jr.

Devastated by his death, Dr. Angelou found solace in writing and penned the highly acclaimed autobiography of her early years, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'. This autobiography and her subsequent works earned her international recognition and numerous awards.

Maya Angelou's quotes continue to inspire

Renowned for crafting many powerful quotes, Dr. Angelou keeps instilling hope and her words will no doubt inspire people for years to come. Here is one of her gems:

"Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."
The White House Correspondents' Dinner has been an annual tradition for years as the media and the White House get together to roast one another and have a few laughs. However, due to Donald Trump's feud with the press, the president will once again be skipping the event.

Trump on media

It started the day Donald Trump announced his plan to run for president back in June 2015. After insulting illegal immigrants from Mexico by labeling them "rapists" and "murderers," Trump found himself in a constant clash with the majority of the mainstream media.

With the exception of the conservative-leaning Fox News, the former host of "The Apprentice" has made it a routine to bash the press, often lashing out on his Twitter feed. With the White House Correspondents' Dinner taking place later this month, many wondered if Trump would show up after skipping last year's event.

Sarah Sanders will represent Trump at White House Correspondents' Dinner https://t.co/522UWxxAmU pic.twitter.com/6vxOZnXgMN  The Hill (@thehill) April 6, 2018

According to the Washington Examiner, Donald Trump said that he would not be in attendance after doing an interview on the April 6 broadcast of the "Bernie & Sid in the Morning" radio show. "I probably wont do it," Trump said, referring to the press and the dinner as "so bad" and "so fake." "In many cases they literally make up sources," he added, before comparing reporters to "novelists" who create their own stories.

Sanders filling in

The White House Correspondents' Association confirmed the news in a statement by their president Margaret Talev. "The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner," the statement read. "In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will represent the administration at the head table," Talev noted.

While the news doesn't come as a major surprise, it only highlights the wide political divide in the country, as well as between the press and the president.

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2018

Trump's media attack

Not long after the news broke about the dinner, Donald Trump returned to Twitter to double down on his attack on the media.

"Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege?" Trump tweeted, before adding, "Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!" Trump's anger and frustration at the media has only increased in the year that he's been president and doesn't look to be coming to an end anytime soon.
Picasso is in the news. Isn't he always? This time, it's about how trendy he is. Consider this: In 1980, close to a million people packed the Museum of Modern Art in New York to see a retrospective of his work. Every gallery was jammed with visitors peering at 970 exhibit examples. And now, in the 21st century, there are signs that he's more popular than ever, except at Fox News. More about that in a moment.

The most expensive painting on earth

Art economist Roman Krauss told Art News magazine that it doesn't matter if the art market is up or down, the Spanish master's art sells high: Picasso seems to be a strong blue-chip investment, he said.

No kidding! Three years ago, his painting Les femmes d'Alger (Women Of Algiers - four prostitutes in a brothel sharing a hookah pipe filled with hashish) - broke all records when it sold for $179.3 million after being on the auction block for only eleven minutes. To give you an idea of how stupendous the was, mull this over: the painting is one of a 15-work series that sold with the group in 1956 for $212,500. The record-breaking version sold sky-high all by itself.

Fox News offends

Of course, there's more to Women of Algiers than being the priciest painting ever. I'll get to the more as soon as I finish with Fox News' part in this story. In reporting the sale, the company's New York affiliate station chose to edit the news by making part of the painting indistinct (the breasts) fearing that nudity would offend.

But the alteration offended anyway and the station was compelled by public demand to air the painting again  un-edited.

Is 'Women of Algiers' an anti-war painting?

As I see it, Picasso's big seller is more about politics than prurience. The main figure doesn't seem seductive, she looks like a sentry, a lookout for her countrymen fighting French colonialism.

It was a fight waged while Picasso made the painting. Algeria was a colony of France battling for its freedom. The conflict raged for eight years and reports ran constantly in the French press. Picasso, sensitive to oppression since Germany bombed Guernica in his native land to smithereens, likely sympathized with the Algerians.

Shades of 'Lady Liberty'

My view is not an accepted view. Women of Algiers has long been deemed a modern version of Delacroix' Women of Algiers in their apartment. But I see a connection between the Picasso work and another painting by Delacroix - Lady Liberty Leading the People, which describes a bare-breasted woman raising the tricolors of the French flag with the inherent message that Lady Liberty is the mother of her people. Opinion in the art world remains divided on how much the war held sway over Picasso as he painted this work. But I'm persuaded that the war had to have influenced him and the featured females in the painting look the part of a warrior. Should the painting be the most expensive in the world? I don't know. How much is freedom worth?
scheana marie and Robert Parks-Valletta haven't been involved in committed romance since last August but still, the SUR Restaurant waitress and "Vanderpump Rules" cast member believes they will one day marry. In addition, she has reportedly continued to tell the actor that she loves him.

As her friends continue to label her as delusional, a Radar Online insider has spoken out, revealing that the longtime reality star still thinks that she and Parks-Valletta are getting married. "[Scheana] is listening to no one, the source said. She still tells [Rob] I love you even now. As the outlet revealed, Parks-Valletta refused to say "I love you" on "Vanderpump Rules" and during a conversation with Jax Taylor and Tom Sandoval, he explained that "love" wasn't something he was willing to throw around.

Robert Parks-Valletta doesn't want to date Scheana, but he does want to walk the red carpet with her

Despite what viewers have seen on the show, Scheana Marie hasn't questioned Robert Parks-Valletta's intentions with her, even though he continues to attend red carpet events with her -- all while refusing to commit himself to her. As the insider explained, the reality star's friends think Parks-Valletta is using her for his own benefits -- and to remain friends-with-benefits with her. The insider explained, Everyone around her is unsure of his intentions now.

Earlier this week, Scheana spoke of how naive and delusional she has appeared to be on recent episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" but explained to her guest co-host Ariana Madix that she was madly in love with Parks-Valletta.

The reality star then said that watching her romance with Parks-Valletta was harder than watching the end of her relationship with the actor play out on the show because she was convinced that he was her soulmate. I know I look really stupid," she admitted.

Is Scheana Marie currently single?

Scheana Marie and Robby Hayes have been in one another's lives for the past several months and recently, they sparked rumors of a romance with a couple of Instagram posts.

In one of the posts, which featured Hayes wearing a tight white shirt, the reality star complimented Hayes, telling him he looked "handsome."

To see more of Scheana Marie, Robert Parks-Valletta, and their co-stars, including Kristen Doute and Lisa Vanderpump, don't miss new episodes of "Vanderpump Rules" on Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.
Episode 3 starts and it's clear no one misses Davey or Brett, not even Tara (who was good friends with Brett before they entered the villa). Well, maybe Flo misses Davey, but only because it's clear she made the wrong choice giving her rose to Jake in episode 2, because she spends every waking moment complaining about the fact that she hasn't seen him since.

When Megan Marx enters the villa, she is set up on a blind date with Jake. Megan asks Jake if there's anyone in the villa he's interested in or with, to which Jake replies 'no'. He then kisses Megan moments before they enter the villa and Megan is introduced to everyone.

Flo eventually finds out that Jake has lied to Megan about their relationship as well as the kiss he shared with Megan and throws a glass of champagne at Jake. Because the champagne throwing was behind the scenes but caught in mic, there's speculation as to whether Flo only threw the champagne or the glass, as you can definitely hear the sound of glass breaking.

Another love triangle?

Early during episode 3, Keira is presented with a date card and promptly chooses to take Michael, despite the fact that Michael has been getting quite close with Tara. It's also surprising considering her reaction when, before entering the villa, Osher asked whether she would be interested in Michael ... and her answer was that she couldn't date anyone with veneers because they freaked her out.

Without so much as a sideways glance, the two head off on their date, leaving Tara to fend off persistent questions from the others as to whether she's ok with the situation. Whether or not she is fine or not at this particular time is difficult to say, but by the time Keira and Michael get back from their date, it's clear she is most definitely not fine, despite this admirable effort.

That face says it all.

While Keira and Michael's date was a bit of a flop because basically, Michael was still keen on Tara, while they were away from the villa, Tara and Sam became very flirty.

#newcouplealert

All the boys are hot for Ali

The next day, Jarrod enters the house, with a date card in tow. Once Keira is back from her date with Michael and learns of his arrival, she makes a bee-line for Jarrod and there is instant flirtiness. That's all well and good until Ali enters the house.

Jarrod is smitten and claims Ali's smile is like "God's gift" (yeah ok, buddy). He asks Ali to go on a date with him, which she agrees to, despite having just been telling the girls that she wasn't interested in Jarrod.

Jarrod at the start of the episode: I have thicker skin now, Im not going to blindly fall for someone

Jarrod 10 minutes later: I will literally die for Ali if she wants. Does she? What did you hear???? #BachelorInParadiseAU  mat whitehead (@matwhi) April 2, 2018

Obviously, Keira is upset about getting rejected and actually shows a sweet and vulnerable side by demonstrating that she isn't always "the villain" as she was portrayed in her season of "The Bachelor".

Keira is so many girls, all wondering what's wrong with them and why they are unlovable. YOU'RE NOT UNLOVABLE, they're just wrong for you. You're perfect on your own, don't settle for second best when you can be fabulous alone. #BachelorInParadiseAU  georgia leaker (@georgetweets2u) April 3, 2018

It actually makes me feel a little bit happy that Jarrod is this sunburnt.

The date between Jarrod and Ali seems to go well, although Ali still isn't convinced there's anything between her and Jarrod. During the cocktail party, Jarrod tells the boys he will give his rose to Ali. The only problem with this is that at least two other guys have stated their interest in Ali: Michael and Mack.

Putting in the early bid now, Ali will be the next Bachelorette #BachelorInParadiseAU  Georgia Love (@GeorgieALove) April 2, 2018

But during the rose ceremony, Mack goes first and throws a spanner in Jarrod's plans by choosing to give his rose to Ali. Jarrod is visibly annoyed, but it does mean he can now give his rose to Keira, which makes Australia happy because we're all warming to her. Especially after this legend move:

Ah Kiera, I dig you more and more. #BachelorInParadiseAU pic.twitter.com/UCczvWH7jh  Osher Gunsberg (@oshergunsberg) April 3, 2018

Jake reveals how selfish and 'snake' like he really is

After getting to know Megan better during their blind date and the champagne incident and constant berating from Flo, Jake is adamant he wants to give his rose to Megan.

During the rose ceremony, Jake is last, and Michael is second last. The girls remaining are Flo, Leah, and Megan. Jake begins visibly, audibly and repeatedly begging Michael to give his rose to Flo, because he "just can't". In a move that shocks the nation, and makes him grow infinitely in my estimation, Michael does not.

jake: please pick flo

michael: leah

the whole of australia: #BachelorInParadiseAU pic.twitter.com/t1YJSERGpA  rhi (@midgardsloki) April 3, 2018

And so Flo is sent home, and nobody is particularly sad, because they are tired of her constant whining and complaining.

Blake 'does a Ross from 'Friends"

One of the most memorable moments of the entire show so far was this drunken (one can only assume this was caused by alcohol!) blunder by Blake, when he called Laurina, the woman he's been getting to know during the past couple of episodes, Lenora.

My favorite part is that he looks so damn smug and happy before this mistake. Like, "I got this". This is another great part though: the look of disdain on Laurina's face, and Tara, unable to hold back a smirk. TV gold!

Next week, there will be four episodes per week rather than two, and we see the arrival of American "The Bachelorette" contestants enter the villa and throw their hats in the ring.
"Days Of Our Lives" spoilers reveal that Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering) will soon get some bad news about his marriage to Hope Brady, and that he'll be forced to figure out what his next move will be.

Did Sami ruin everything?

According to the latest "Days of our Lives" spoilers from Soaps.com, Rafe will be "rocked" when he finds out that Hope wants to end their marriage. While "DOOL" fans know that Rafe made a huge mistake when he slept with his ex-wife, Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney), he did believe that he could persuade Hope into understanding his point of view.

Rafe and Hope (Kristian Alfonso) had a huge fight and even seemingly called off their wedding the night that he ended up in the arms of Sami. Although Rafe wanted to tell Hope about the encounter, Sami asked him to keep it a secret.

Secrets always come out in Salem

However, nothing ever stays buried in Salem, and "Days of our Lives" fans watched people start to find out about the affair a little at a time. Rafe confided in his co-worked Eli Grant, and Hope's daughter Ciara found out and told her friend Tripp Dalton. Hope's granddaughter, Claire Brady, eventually found out the secret and told Hope in front of everyone at her wedding ceremony. Hope was so upset that she left Salem and headed to Hong Kong to spend time with her son Shawn and daughter-in-law Belle.

Rafe wants to save his marriage

While in Hong Kong, Hope hired Belle as her lawyer and decided that she wanted to end her marriage to Rafe. "Days of our Lives" fans will now see Rafe find out the devastating news. However, Buzzworthy Radio spoilers reveal that Rafe will vow to fight for his marriage. Rafe doesn't want to believe his relationship with Hope is over and he'll do whatever it takes to make her realize that they belong together.

Perhaps Rafe will head to Hong Kong to see Hope in person, or he'll wait until she arrives back in Salem in hopes of winning her back. Either way, it seems clear that Hope and Rafe need to have a serious discussion about their future.

Is the relationship doomed?

If the couple do end up back together there could be another storm brewing for them.

"Days of our Lives" has announced that Alison Sweeney will return to reprise her role as Sami Brady this summer, and speculation is circulating that Sami may return to Salem with a shocking secret, such as a pregnancy or Rafe's newborn child.

Only time will tell what happens with Hope and Rafe. "Days of our Lives" airs weekday afternoons on NBC.
The 55th of Gaetano Donizettis 70+ operas, Lucia di Lammermoor, is back at Metropolitan Opera for a 12-performance run. Director Mary Zimmermans updating to an imprecise 19th-century setting, unveiled in 2007, looks as fresh as ever. Three sopranos share the coveted title role. For the Companys 603rd performance, seen Tuesday, April 3, the Russian Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti sang the fourth of her five performances opposite Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo as her beloved but politically on-the-outs Edgardo of Ravenswood. Other cast members were baritone Massimo Cavalletti, also from Italy, as Lucias cruel brother Enrico Ashton, and Ukrainian bass Vitalij Kowaljow as the chaplain Raimondo Bidebent.

Conductor Gareth Morrell stepped in for the scheduled Roberto Abbado.

Sibling rivalry

Talk about siblings who just dont get along: Enrico, in Act II, is emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive to Lucia, gradually breaking her spirit and destroying the will to live. Massimo Cavalletti acquitted himself dramatically while deploying a glowing, booming baritone. At times he looks tormented after cruelly mistreating his sister but soon recovers to dish out even more abuse. Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti was more convincing vocally and histrionically in conflict with him than during the happier times of her earlier love duet with Edgardo.

The second acts pinnacle, the superb sextet, here is cleverly staged as the setup for a group photograph to memorialize the saddest wedding in all opera.

Leading men

Bass Vitalij Kowaljow as Raimondo unsympathetically pontificates on Lucias supposed duty to her late mother with a solid, clear instrument that resonates even on the lowest notes.

His Act III aria and cabaletta are elegant refinement itself. As for the volcanic Vittorio Grigolo, well, he erupts with fury during the wedding, cursing and upbraiding Lucia for her seeming infidelity, overturning chairs throughout the ballroom, even struggling in bodily conflict with Enrico and his guardsall without diminishing in the slightest the beauty and power of his ringing, pinging voice.

Baritone Massimo Cavallettis riveting performance seals the deal on this tight trio of talent.

Solid support

In smaller roles, as Lucias companion Alisa, Deborah Nansteels rich mezzo-soprano is a perfect earthy counterweight to Lucias stratospheric vocal flights. Tenor Mario Chang sings the brief role of Lord Arturo Bucklaw, the would-be financial rescue to the crumbling fortunes of Lammermoor Castles denizens. His voice is lightweight, yet pleasing nonetheless. He shows promise of greater things than the poor man who doesnt survive his wedding night. Deft instrumental support comes from Mariko Anraku, whose two-minute solo harp prelude to Lucias opening scena is gorgeous. In Act IIIs deservedly famous mad scene, Friedrich Heinrich Kern plays a spooky glass harmonica, lending richer otherworldly tones than the more commonly-used flute.

During curtain calls, the grateful soprano stretched from the stage to shake his hand in the orchestra pit for his spot-on timing.

Stellar standouts

Tall, slender, and handsome Olga Peretyatko-Mariottis heartily applauded mad scene, sung with beautiful tone, stresses more the elegant vocal line than the musics intrinsic drama. Such expansiveness dissipates much of the dramatic tension. Act III belongs to tenor Vittorio Grigolo. Edgardos troubles bookend Lucias matchless central mad scene. The duet with Enrico, who challenges Edgardo to a duel, is electrifying, and the final scenes double aria augmented by male chorus is a masterpiece. Mr. Grigolo knows how to put tears and sobs into his beautiful singing, to convey pathos and desperation, without breaking his resonance.

Hes definitely worth the price of a ticket.

At the helm

Maestro Gareth Morrell led Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in a rich and spirited reading of the score. Act Is balance problems between stage and pitresolved after the first intermissionrendered all soloists to some degree difficult to hear, except Vittorio Grigolo, easily heard even in his softest, whispered passages. Before Act III, conductor and orchestra received a rousing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd. Metropolitan Opera Chorus is a marvel in this work, especially impressive in the wedding scene and Act IIIs party/mad scene, which includes some elegant dancing for 20 or so chorus members.

"Lucia di Lammermoor," by Gaetano Donizetti, till May 10, Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, New York, New York.
Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola may not have appeared on last night's premiere episode of "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," but she made her thoughts clear about the episode's events on Twitter. According to a new report by Us Weekly magazine on April 6, Giancola was seen reacting to the shocking comments made by her former boyfriend, Ronnie Magro, by liking a series of tweets from the audience.

During Thursday night's show, the cast of the reboot was seen discussing Giancola's decision to opt out of the reunion between her co-stars and her ex-boyfriend seemed noticeably annoyed.

Days after Giancola took to her Instagram page to confirm that she would not be a part of the show due to her desire to focus on business and relationship, Magro suggested she simply didn't care about her former co-stars.

Sammi Giancola wanted to avoid 'toxic situations'

In Giancola's post, she also told her fans and followers that she preferred to avoid potentially toxic situations. Unfortunately, she was confronted with toxicity on Thursday when Magro blasted her to her co-star and friend, Deena Nicole Cortese, claiming that Giancola attempted to pressure him into marriage after "Jersey Shore" came to an end years ago.

As Magro blasted his ex on the show, Giancola didn't share any comments of her own, but she did "like" a number of very telling tweets from the audience.

One of those tweets read, Why were they so shady tonight? They miss you. I know you got to be so unbothered. Ronnie feeling some type of way I guess. That what happens when you do a good person wrong." Another post said, [Ronnie Magro] is literally the last man I would ever associate with on planet earth!

[Sammi Giancola] is a genius for not getting herself mixed up with that dude again!

Sammi and Ronnie have both moved on

In the years since their on-again, off-again romance came to an end, both Giancola and Magro have moved on with new relationships. As Us Weekly magazine revealed, Giancola has been dating boyfriend Christian Biscardi for the past several months while Magro is currently dating Jen Harley.

As some may have heard, Magro and Harley welcomed their first child together earlier this week.

To see more of Sammi "Sweetheart" Giancola's former co-stars, including Ronnie Magro, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Paul "DJ Pauly D" Delvecchio, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, and Deena Nicole Cortese, tune in to new episodes of "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation" on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. on MTV.
Since the election of Donald Trump, many have wondered what other celebrities might try their hand at running for president in the future. In a recent interview, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson opened up about his potential political future, while taking a shot at Trump in the process.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: Trump proves that "not everybody should run for president" https://t.co/dvoYOma5yr pic.twitter.com/vpJIzXMu2I  The Hill (@thehill) April 5, 2018

The Rock on Trump

When Donald Trump first announced his plan to run for president in the summer of 2015, many laughed off his candidacy as nothing more than a stunt to gain ratings for his reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice." Despite this, Trump started to gain momentum which he carried through the primary election and all the way to his upset general election win over Hillary Clinton.

In response, the majority of the American people have been speaking out, including the overwhelming majority of celebrities out in Hollywood.

Very selective when it comes to big profiles being done on me because it requires my personal space & time to be given up - Im not keen on that. Very happy I did this with writer Josh Eells and @RollingStone.

Captured my real DNA. Hope you enjoy. https://t.co/L3Biu8BRT5  Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 4, 2018

For the man known as "The Rock," Dwayne Johnson has taken over Hollywood, coming a long way since his days as a professional wrestler in the WWE. Due to the Rock's popularity, Johnson has gotten buzz about whether or not he would entertain the idea of running for president, which he elaborated on during an April 5 interview with Rolling Stone.

"What I'm sensing now is that we have to pivot back to people who have a deep-rooted knowledge of American history and politics and experience in policy and how laws get made," Johnson said, in reference to Trump's lack of knowledge in the area.

The Rock on 2020

Dwyane Johnson went on to note that Donald Trump supporters might have been happy with his election, but added "In a lot of people's minds, what (Trump's) also proved is that not everybody should run for president." The former WWE champion elaborated further, saying that being the president requires a certain "skill set" that takes years to build up, but didn't rule out finding those skills to run himself, saying the buzz about his potential candidacy in 2020 was "flattering." When asked if he thinks he is capable of doing the job, "The Rock" replied, "if Trump can do it, I can do it."

Next up

While Hollywood and Donald Trump continue to clash, the commander in chief has many other issues to deal with.

On Wednesday, Trump announced that he would sign an executive order to send military troops to the border as way to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country, though the details and cost of the plan remain a mystery. In addition, Trump is facing daily questions about the ongoing Russian investigation, while also dealing with the uncomfortable headline of his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Hungarian Religion, Romanian Blood

A Minority's Struggle for National Belonging, 19201945

R. Chris Davis

Winner of the ASEEES 2020 Barbara Jelavich Book Prize Historical lessons pertinent to today's resurgent nationalisms Amid the rising nationalism and racial politics that culminated in World War II, European countries wishing to "purify" their nations often forced unwanted populations to migrate. The targeted minorities had few options, but as R. Chris Davis shows, they sometimes used creative tactics to fight back, redefining their identities to serve their own interests.



Davis's highly illuminating example is the case of the little-known Moldavian Csangos, a Hungarian- and Romanian-speaking community of Roman Catholics in eastern Romania. During World War II, some in the Romanian government wanted to expel them. The Hungarian government saw them as Hungarians and wanted to settle them on lands confiscated from other groups. Resisting deportation, the clergy of the Csangos enlisted Romania's leading racial anthropologist, collected blood samples, and rewrote a millennium of history to claim Romanian origins and national belongingthus escaping the discrimination and violence that devastated so many of Europe's Jews, Roma, Slavs, and other minorities. In telling their story, Davis offers fresh insight to debates about ethnic allegiances, the roles of science and religion in shaping identity, and minority politics past and present. R. Chris Davis is an associate professor of history at Lone Star CollegeKingwood.



Praise Davis contributes effectively to issues about ethnic and religious enclaves elsewhere that touch ethnic identity, nationalism, and state building. This is a fine example of showing the larger significance of a tightly focused analysis. A biological survey of individuals who shaped the developments, a glossary of terminology, geography, and institutions, and well-chosen illustrations enhance this book.

Choice An authoritative examination of nation building and minority politics during some of Europe's most difficult years. Davis brings together so many significant historical themes that the story of these few villages makes us rethink modern European history.

Roland Clark, author of Holy Legionary Youth: Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania This transnational case study makes larger, comprehensive arguments about Central and Eastern European nation building. It powerfully employs theory from history, anthropology, political science, and sociology to disentangle the conundrum of identity.

Calin Cotoi, University of Bucharest A remarkable combination of microhistorical richness and interpretive acumen, this is a beautifully written study of one of the 'little peoples lost to history,' caught between more powerful states' self-interested attempts to dictate their identity. It prises open the deceptively simple question 'who do you think you are?' to reveal startling contests over the meaning of identity in politics, language, and lived reality.

Jane Caplan, University of Oxford Introduces fundamental questions of identity and belonging, asking us to consider the importance of language, religion, territoryand, no less, tradition and biasas both building blocks and obstacles to ethnic community. An indispensable contribution to the investigation of modern nationhood.

Keith Hitchins, University of Illinois A major contribution to debate on the meaning of collective identity and its deployment for political ends. Eloquent, original, sophisticated, and persuasive.

Dennis Deletant, Georgetown University Resources Download Cover: color | b/w Download Author Photo: color | b/w Request Review Copy Request Exam Copy Of Related Interest The Invisible Jewish Budapest

Metropolitan Culture at the Fin de Siecle

Mary Gluck Amending the Past

Europe's Holocaust Commissions and the Right to History

Alexander Karn
 Courtesy of Pink Badger - Fotolia.com





The Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum is dedicated to the Beaumont native of the same name. The record-setting female athlete made her claim to fame by dominating numerous sports. During the 1932 Olympic tryouts, Babe won the national womens tryouts by herself with second place going to the 22 contestants of the Illinois Womens Athletic Club. An All-American basketball player, Olympic track and field gold and silver medal winner, and three-time Western Womens Open golf champion, it seemed there was no sport she couldnt dominate. The Associated Press voted her the Worlds Greatest Woman Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century. Visitors will learn all about her storied life at this museum.

1750 IH-10 E, Beaumont, TX, Phone: 409-833-4622

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GSA

Back office testing moves forward for EIS vendors

NOTE: This article first appeared on FCW.com.

Testing of the complex back-office systems that vendors will use to support the federal government's massive telecommunications service contract is moving along, according to the latest report from the General Services Administration.

An April 4 update on Business Support Systems Testing (BSST) for GSA's $50 billion, 15-year Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract showed most contractors, including non-traditional carriers, making at least some progress.

According to the report, AT&T has completed 54 percent of testing. Verizon Federal has completed 42.5 percent, while MetTel and Level 3 have completed 28.5 percent and 13 percent, respectively. All were significant increases from the previous BSST report, which GSA issued in early February.

CenturyLinks testing remained unchanged from the previous report at 7 percent.

The non-traditional carriers on the EIS contract had registered zero percent completion across the board in the February report; all but one showed some level of progress in the latest statement.

Core Technologies registered 26 percent completion, while BT Federal reported 4.5 percent and Harris Corp. showed 3 percent. Granite Telecommunications registered 2.5 percent completion, while MicroTech remained at zero.

Although all the EIS contractors all have until next fall to complete their testing, some have bridled at the completion schedule. CenturyLink and MetTel have called for an extension of the EIS transition, because contractors cant cut contracts with agencies without an authority to operate. ATOs are awarded only after BSS testing is complete.
In the race for control of the House, there is clearly a lot of energy on the left in 2018. Historical trends, number of Republican retirements and challengers in almost every seat held by the GOP all point to Democratic gains in Congress after this year's midterm elections.

Despite all these tailwinds, a Democratic takeover of the house is by no means assured. To that end, the party will certainly want to avoid any 'unforced errors' in their efforts to reach that goal. And that brings us to California.

In California, this heightened level of interest may actually work to send more Republicans to Congress. As the Wall Street Journal reports, "Californias quirky primary system sends only the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, to a general-election runoff. In a year when Democrats are lining up in droves to challenge Republicans in the midterm elections, there is mounting concern among California Democrats that too many candidates are running in key races, potentially ruining their electoral opportunity."

The Journal identified eight districts where this might happen. Of those eight, four look to be pretty safely Republican, even if a Democrat makes the top two. However, the other four are highly competitive, with three rated toss-up and one actually leaning Democratic, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball. All four of these Republican-held districts were won by Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump on the presidential side. Two of the four Republican incumbents are retiring.

It is quite possible that by the time the state's primary takes place on June 5th, Democrats will coalesce behind their strongest candidate in some or all of these districts, but that remains to be seen. Of the state's 53 districts, 39 are currently held by Democrats.
The story unfolds in a non-tabloid fashion, deftly sketching the people gathered for that fateful party, a reunion of Robert Kennedy loyalists about a year after his death. Ted hoped that some of the boiler room girls, six incredibly smart and ambitious young women who worked on RFKs campaign, would lend their impressive expertise to his upcoming campaign. Several of the women, all under 29, became eminent attorneys or lobbyists, and one, Esther Newberg, is among the greatest literary agents of our time. Newberg has bitterly attacked the films veracity but declines to say what is erroneous. Mary Jo (Kate Mara), who typed RFKs presidential campaign announcement and helped write his important speech on Vietnam, would almost certainly be known for her lifes work if shed lived to be 77 today.

Instead, she wound up a 1969 tabloid headline: TEDDY ESCAPES, BLONDE DROWNS. Actually, it appears that she died of asphyxiation, according to this film and other testimony. After the car crashed upside down in the water, the diver who eventually retrieved her body said she was trapped in an air bubble, estimating that she was alive for hours. After Ted wriggled free of the car, he said he repeatedly dove into the water to save her, but failed. He said he had no memory of how he escaped.

Incredibly, Ted then failed to notify rescuers or police, avoided the several homes with phones near the bridge, and spent the next 10 or so hours devising strategies with his appalling advisers, including his cousin and fixer Joe Gargan (Ed Helms, 44, who proves himself more than a funnyman). When police got belatedly involved, they sympathized with Ted.

If this were a fictional film, critics would lambaste it for its unlikely finale: Ted gets a tiny suspended sentence for leaving the scene of an accident and becomes the fourth-longest-serving senator in history, the Lion of the Senate. But thats what happened. Chappaquiddick doesnt solve the mystery, and some of its scenes are invented. But it gives a vivid sense of the people to whom history happened.
Richard Danielson/AP Photo

A game changer?

Another positive development for owners was a change made in January to the International Residential Code (IRC) to establish, for the first time, specific guidelines for tiny houses. States use the IRC as a model for their own codes.

Its a game changer, says Buccino, because tiny homes, whether theyre on wheels or foundations, have a new set of codes that your local building department can now follow. Its not changing the electrical or plumbing systems. All it does is say that if a house is under 400 square feet, you can build it to tighter standards, like the width of a staircase. Instead of being random, everyone can be under the same set of rules.

A few communities have already become more welcoming to tiny houses. Back in 2014 the small community of Spur, Texas (not far from Lubbock), proclaimed itself Americas First Tiny House Friendly Town, eliminating the minimum size requirement for homes on foundations. Its rules have tightened a bit since then. House designs now must be submitted for approval, and tiny homes must be connected to the towns electrical, water and sewer systems.

Two years ago the city of Fresno, Calif., took the revolutionary step of allowing tiny houses on wheels to be considered permanent residences if theyre parked on property that already has a larger home on it. Only one second house of 100 to 400 square feet is permitted on the property, but the resident doesnt have to be a caregiver, which is what is required in numerous communities. Instead, the house can be rented to anyone.

And just last fall, in Lake Dallas, Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas, the City Council approved a tiny-home village within city limits. Owners of the houses will be able to move onto a lot that is roughly 800 to 1,000 square feet. Theyll pay a rental fee of $500 to $550 a month, which includes hookups for water, sewer service and electricity.

It takes persistence

Getting public officials to warm up to the prospect of tiny houses in their communities takes persistence. The legal issues can be complicated, regulations vary from place to place, and theres often a reluctance to embrace new and different types of housing, especially if they prompt negative feedback from other residents.

Its critical to keep pushing the envelope, notes Buccino. In Steamboat Springs he has proposed that a parcel of real estate already zoned for residential development be adapted for tiny houses. It would be a variation of a conventional planned unit development.

The hardest part in getting this done is having the first example, he says. If they would let me put in six tiny houses on foundations where its only zoned for two houses ... people can see what this looks like. At a certain point, you cant talk hypotheticals; you need a real project to test.

Every municipality can make a decision on its own. Every municipality has the ability to allow tiny homes in a way that works for them.

Or, as Turnbull puts it: The goal is to get more affordable housing by design  and to get them legal.
South Dakota AG reviewing Gov. Noem's meeting with daughter

The attorney general is tasked under state law with issuing legal opinions to lawmakers.
Durans might be the only place in Albuquerque one can go to refill a prescription, buy a watch and then eat a stuffed sopaipilla.

This city is known for unique dining in quirky atmospheres, but Duran Central Pharmacy is either a relic from the past or a portent from the future: instead of a big-box store like Target, Durans is a design-centric small-box store with a focus on quality, not quantity.

On a recent visit, I enjoyed some of the best traditional New Mexican cuisine in town, no prescription needed, served in a tiny kitchen alongside aisles of expertly curated wares.

For the full experience, I ordered the Durans combination plate ($11.95) and was treated to a huge serving of homemade and handmade classics: a delicious ground-beef taco, housed in a shell that was fried in-house (no prefabricated ingredients here), a giant, plump pork tamale smothered in red chile, a hand-rolled corn tortilla enchilada stuffed with Mexican cheeses and smothered in red chile, and a side of freshly made refried beans and Spanish rice.

The taco meat wasnt packed with flavor, but a side of dark-red salsa added a powerful punch to it. The shell was excellent, as was the tamale; neither the pork filling nor the red chile on top was too hot to affect the meal, but the spicy salsa could easily get out of hand if too much were applied.

The enchilada was fantastic, probably one of the best in town, and the beans and rice were both top-notch, comparable to those of any budget Mexican eatery in town. The special of the day (Friday) was a stuffed sopaipilla ($5 a la carte), though, and I have a strict policy against passing up stuffed sopaipillas.

Durans was less stuffed and more smothered: instead of cutting open the sopaipilla, this place just piles it high with chicken (or beef), beans, cheese and red chile. The taste was phenomenal, almost too indulgent, like eating dessert for breakfast, but the small serving size made it somewhat guilt-free.

Durans red chile is simply fantastic. Its not too hot, but its not weak, either, and the freshness is obvious: a label on the side of the chile containers proclaims that the stuff was made that day.

The atmosphere is unique, but in a good way: The place is small, to be sure, with outdoor covered seating and enough room for a few dozen diners. The adjacent shopping opportunities provide a nice diversion while youre waiting for your meal, and its a multitaskers dream come true. You can refill a prescription, grab a bite to eat, and then pick up a birthday gift, all under one roof.

Service is great, and even during the lunch rush, seating didnt seem to be in shortage.

The location is even better, just a few minutes from Downtown or a brief stroll from Old Town. Parking is plentiful, too, with a private lot for Durans patrons.

With convenience, novelty and versatility, Durans could probably command double the prices, but a hearty meal and a drink costs less than $14 here. And the food is fresh, not pre-made or squeezed out of plastic bags, so youll leave feeling satisfied but not overly stuffed, and you will undoubtedly return soon.

Affordable, local cuisine, a convenient concept and location, and excellent service at Durans Central Pharmacy are just what the doctor ordered.
Brandon T. Gass has always been interested in film.

But it isnt his only love.

The New Mexico State University student is currently studying philosophy in Las Cruces.

Im not in the Creative Media Institute department at NMSU for a number of reasons, but the best way to summarize all the reasons, I think, to state it is as follows: I thought it better to, concerning academia, study philosophy at college, he says.

And recently, his short film Good Night was accepted into the Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner/Cannes Court Metrage. The festival is one of the most prestigious in the world.

It felt liberating he says of Good Night getting accepted into the festival. We shot the film over winter break all around Las Cruces.

Good Night is about friendship, Gass says.

Its the story of two female friends who spend the night together before one of them has to leave the next morning for unknown reasons.

Its insinuated that shes leaving for good, he says. Its about this night they spend together. The film runs just over six minutes. Its minimal, and the majority of the film is in silence. Theres not a lot of dialog.

He was inspired by working the previous semester with his academic adviser and mentor Jean-Paul Vessel on modality  the sub-branch of philosophy about the nature of possibility and necessity.

To top it all off, Gass and crew made the film for the price of gas it cost to travel to each location  which included his parents house in Las Cruces.

My sister, Jordan Gass, let us shoot a scene in her room, he says. I own all the gear we used to make the film.

Gass pulled together a cast and crew that is made up of Jessica Jimenez as the lead actress; Nick Check, an actor and close collaborator, and Taylor Rodriguez, another actor and close collaborator.

Gass was at the helm of the production, wearing the hats of writer, director, producer, cinematographer and editor.

I got into film during high school, and I became intrigued by it all, he says. I began to study in the film program at NMSU, then decided to pursue philosophy after my first semester.

Currently, Gass is running a GoFundMe campaign to help with money to make it to the festival, which runs May 8-19.

After the festival, we will be traveling to Ireland for one week, he says. We plan on shooting several short film projects while in Cannes and Ireland. We think this would be a great opportunity for production value and experience.

SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email film@ABQjournal.com. Follow me on Twitter @agomezART.
Oscar-nominated Wes Anderson has always shown what can happen when an unbridled mind meets a creative heart. Whether it be the unique examination of family in The Royal Tenenbaums to the redefining of animated storytelling with Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson has taken what in the hands of a lesser creative soul would be merely a passable story and made it memorable.

Until his latest work, Isle of Dogs, it looked like Anderson had found the most unorthodox and creative personification of his visions with The Grand Budapest Hotel. That whimsical and wonderful feature now pales in comparison to the genius Anderson shows with Isle of Dogs. Hes already set the bar so high for this years contenders for the feature film animation Oscar that the rest of the year will be filled with descriptions like its a great animated movie, but nowhere near as phenomenal as Isle of Dogs.'

In a career already filled with unforgettable work, Anderson has found his animation masterpiece.

Describing the film does it no justice, because the only way to fully appreciate the production is to experience it all on multiple levels. At the heart is the story of 12-year-old Atari Kobayashi (voiced by Koyu Rankin), the ward of the massively corrupt Mayor Kobayashi (Kunichi Nomura). Taking advantage of an overpopulation of sick dogs, the mayor decrees that all the canine pets of Megasaki City are to be exiled to a vast garbage dump. The action seems to be in regards to public safety but is the end result of centuries of bad blood.

Atari flies to Trash Island in search of his bodyguard dog, Spots (Liev Schreiber), the first canine sent into the Trash Island exile. With the assistance of a pack of newly found mongrel friends, Atari begins a journey through the junkyard of failed adventures and misguided endeavors that will decide the fate and future of the entire prefecture.

What keeps this from being just another boy and his dog tale are both the stunning visuals used to present the story and the beautifully written script that touches on issues both great and small. Along with directing Isle of Dogs, Anderson wrote the script with Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Kunichi Nomura.

Visually, Anderson blends a variety of styles ranging from pure simple cartoon to complicated Japanese paintings. The use of these styles can vary from scene to scene, and because of its variety its as if every second were designed to surprise the eyes. He goes for a more kinetic style once on the island, but the action never stays there too long, and quickly the film returns to the blend of styles and designs that should not go together but come through in great harmony.

Even the pack of dogs is an odd mix of punk design with the kind of look that made Davey and Goliath a hit. There are no more contrasting styles, but they balance each other in this offering.

Equally impressive is the writing. Anderson never balks at having much of the dialogue be delivered in Japanese without translation for the audience. He does just enough with the English parts (including all the barks being translated) that theres never any doubt what is going on with the players.

At its most simplistic, Isle of Dogs is the story of loyalty and friendship. But this is a much more complicated tale in which even the dogs represent various layers of society. They range from the leaders to those who are more content to stand on the sidelines and cheer. It is how these very different personalities find a unity that gives the production so much depth and meaning.

Isle of Dogs can be enjoyed as a simple story or as a complicated metaphor for life. Being able to pull off such diverse story elements coupled with the dazzling look of the film is a reminder that while we may think Anderson has shown us his best work, he continues to produce work that takes all elements of filmmaking to an even higher level.
The president of a Texas company pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of defrauding a U.S. Army program based at Kirtland Air Force Base by hiding payments to a Washington lobbyist who prosecutors allege was illegally hired to get funding from the program.

Jose Diaz, president and CEO of MIRATEK Corp., received a $1.3 million federal contract to provide technical and support services to the Big Crow Program Office.

In his guilty plea, Diaz, 58, admitted diverting money from the contract to pay a lobbyist who was securing funding for the Big Crow program  originally intended to use two aircraft in electronic warfare testing.

Diaz also admitted to participating in creating phony invoices to continue the scheme through a second company.

In a series of admissions, Diaz detailed how the company created and submitted phony invoices to cover up the payments to the lobbyist, George Lowe, 55, of Fort Washington, Md., who has pleaded not guilty to charges of participating in the scheme.

More than $500,000 of the contract was allegedly used to pay Lowe, a lobbyist, and his firm, Broadcreek Associates, even though lobbying was not within the scope of MIRATEKs contract.

Milton Boutte, 72, who headed the Big Crow Program Office, and Arturo Vargas, 54, of El Paso are also charged in the indictment with conspiracy to defraud the government, among other charges, and have pleaded not guilty.

Diaz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the federal government and two counts of fraud, with each count carrying a potential 10-year prison sentence.

Sentencing for Diaz has not been scheduled.
Jurors on Thursday convicted an Albuquerque man in the February 2017 attempted carjacking that led to a police shooting that left the suspect and victim injured.

Lee Brandenburg was found guilty of two counts of attempted robbery, two counts of auto burglary, resisting arrest and assault on a police officer.

Officers were chasing Brandenburg near San Antonio and Interstate 25 and hoping to arrest him on a warrant when he attempted to take two cars, while holding an air soft gun. He later pointed the gun at police, and officers opened fire, according to a spokesman for the District Attorneys Office.

Police said three officers fired, hitting both Brandenburg and the woman whose car he was trying to take.

Brandenburgs attorney Jon Ibarra said his client was struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues at the time of the crime.

His sentencing hearing is set for June 11.
The city of Albuquerque is learning just how costly failing to follow the state Inspection of Public Records Act can be.

A state district judge ruled last month the city deliberately refused to follow the state public records law, which means it may have to pay more than $100,000 in penalties.

Indeed, state District Judge Beatrice Brickhouse said during a hearing last month the current public records custodian admitted he occasionally would be ordered by city officials to withhold documents that had been requested through the public records law. She also said a former assistant city attorney misrepresented aspects of the case in court.

The public has paid for and has a right to these records.

Albuquerque residents should be outraged by the explosive findings that city officials were playing games when it comes to public records. And other public agencies should take note of the expensive consequences of ignoring IPRA.

The states public records act was enacted to ensure New Mexicans have the widest access possible to what their government is doing. Its an acknowledgment that city, county and state officials work for the people of New Mexico and that the records they produce are the property of the people they represent.

Yes, there are exceptions spelled out in state law, but those are few and far between.

So, when a judge determines officials are purposefully failing to adhere to the law requiring them to produce public records when requested, there should be serious consequences.

The lawsuit was brought by Reynaldo Chavez, the former records custodian for the city police department. His attorney estimates the city owes him about $102,500 in fines and another $30,000 in attorney fees, although those were preliminary numbers.

To be sure, most of the documents were withheld during former Mayor Richard Berrys administration, but Chavezs attorney says the current city and police administration still havent provided all the records requested and have fought against paying all fines and fees. Mayor Tim Kellers administration says it is reviewing policies and procedures to ensure APD is transparent and making public records available and easy to access.

APD and the city need to get their acts together on this issue because ignoring the states open records law is just too costly  financially and in eroding the publics confidence.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
As California goes, so goes the country?

Santa Fe progressives take notice. The Department of Justice has indicated that the current lawsuit filed against California is just the first of other suits that may be filed against states and cities that obstruct immigration enforcement. That could also involve sanctuary cities in New Mexico.

The suit has brought several interesting comments from progressive politicians in California. Among them is a comment from junior U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, who succeeded Barbara Boxer. In a recent MSNBC interview, she said, Californias going to fight because the state represents the future.

The nationwide RESIST movement is opposing U.S. immigration law, which is clearly defined in our Constitution as belonging to federal jurisdiction. The sanctuary declarations passed by cities and states are an attempt to supersede or nullify federal law, and are rightly seen as unconstitutional.

Santa Fe officials have adamantly reinforced its sanctuary city policy, which may cause the city fathers some heartburn, if not money. Albuquerque and the state have wisely ended their sanctuary position.

The progressives sanctuary agenda is not over human or immigrant rights; it is an incremental attempt to eventually register noncitizen voters. And California is the model state where globalists and progressives are attempting to nullify federal voting requirements by first claiming immigration law is a states rights issue.

Sure to follow will be an effort to secure voting rights for non-U.S. citizens by claiming discrimination under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and granting all state residents the right to vote in elections, without discrimination.

Progressives often advance the thought, If you live here and pay taxes here, you should be able to vote here. While that may sound reasonable to some, it is not even close to the real-world experience. If you are a noncitizen of Mexico or Canada, try voting there. Or try slipping into Mexico and find out what happens to you. How about applying for welfare in other countries or enrolling in a Mexican high school or university as an illegal immigrant. You cant.

Merit-based immigration with quotas is a Trump agenda opposed by progressives because it cuts the numbers of possible future voters.

If California is allowed to set the precedent of nullifying federal immigration law, it becomes a short hop to nullifying federal voting law. Should Californias progressives decide residency, not citizenship, is the only qualifier to being a registered voter, then a legitimate vote count of American citizens in federal elections will become impossible to tally. If other progressive-led states follow California, then election outcomes could become a noncitizen takeover of this country.

In 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Californias motor voter act, which requires no federal documentation, like Social Security numbers, for residents to obtain a drivers license and become registered voters. The True the Vote organization, which monitors voter fraud, said this law only worsens voter fraud in California and could give noncitizens an opportunity to vote fraudulently in federal elections.

These incremental moves by progressives in California are intended to make way for the issuance of voter registrations to immigrant residents for local elections; but there will be no real way to determine if the citizenship requirement is met should they vote in federal elections.

In 2017, New Mexico did pass a new motor voter law requiring verification of social security and citizenship status, placing it in the hands of the Secretary of State, who then notifies the county clerks of a persons eligibility to receive voter registration.

Progressive values like sanctuary cities may sound appealing, but before we ask what is fair to illegal immigrants, we must ask what is fair to American families, students, taxpayers, jobseekers and, yes, American voters.

Tom Wright is a political commentator and columnist in Santa Fe
Last Sept. 8, a group of people gathered to protest the celebration of the subjugation and colonization of the Pueblo people. We gathered to protest the genocide parade that is known as the Entrada, a fake news story concocted by white men in the 1800s to draw tourism to Santa Fe.

Due to an unannounced time change, many of us arrived just as the purveyors of this great lie were leaving the stage. But we gathered nonetheless. And we made our voices heard above the celebratory music and dancing.

By the end of the day, eight people had been arrested for refusing to allow their civil rights to be violated. One brave young indigenous woman, Jennifer Marley, was further brutalized by the police as she was paraded down the streets like a prisoner of war. Six extraordinary people, Nicole Ullerich, Jennifer Haley, Carmen Stone, Sierra Logan, Chad Browneagle and Trent Ward, were arrested for refusing to vacate public space. One lovely man, Julian Rodriguez, was arrested for simply walking across the Plaza while indigenous. Remember their names.

Most of the local newspapers condemned the actions of the authorities last year. The archbishop has called for change. Meetings have been held. Proclamations have been made. And yet nothing has changed. Next month, judging will be held to determine who will be the next lead actor in the conquest theater that is the Entrada. And who will be the queen of the genocide parade.

And so, again, we will gather. Peacefully, prayerfully and with good intentions. We will gather not only to protest Santa Fes celebration of genocide, but also to call attention to the missing and murdered indigenous women across Turtle Island in Canada. We will march in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter against the epidemic murder of young black men by police. We stand with the Dreamers and immigrants, LGBTQ people, the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and all other innocent victims of violence. We will rise to protect Chaco Canyon, Bears Ears and all other sacred sites. We will speak for water protection and seed sovereignty. We will stand for the vulnerable, the voiceless and the invisible.

And so, this year will not only be about the Entrada. It will also be about last year, when the police arrested eight warriors for rising against lies and injustice, for daring to stand up to militarism and state-sanctioned violence. Eight people were arrested and EVERY SINGLE ONE of the charges was later dismissed or dropped. EVERY LAST ONE. The police said one thing. The courts saw something else. Lies upon lies upon lies.

This year will be about a new administration in City Hall. And whether or not they will choose to stand up for what is right.

In a city dependent on tourism for its livelihood, will we continue to allow a celebration of conquest and colonization to take center stage on the Plaza? Conquest and colonization of the very people who draw tourists to this city? Or will it finally be banished to the theater setting it deserves, to the thunderous applause of many, many people in northern New Mexico?

This year will be about standing up for truth and acknowledgment. We stand for our children so they will not have to hear lies told about their ancestors ever again. We stand for our ancestors, because they stood for us. They fought so that we could live peacefully in our homelands. We acknowledge our relatives; the four-legged, winged and crawling relatives. The water and the earth. And we acknowledge that we no longer have to try and speak truth to power. We are the Power.

Ortiz, a member of Ohkay Owingheh, lives in Santa Fe.
The Los Alamos History Museum is a small gem among northern New Mexicos many cultural offerings, especially since it underwent remodeling that was completed in late 2016.

It tells the story of New Mexicos Atomic City from a human point of view.

Theres another museum in town, the Bradbury Science Museum, about technical stuff and the national lab. The History Museum instead shows what it was like to live in Los Alamos, dating from the time of the Ancestral Puebloans to when Elsie McMillan and Lois Bradbury looked through the window of a house (now part of the museum) to see the flash of an early-morning atomic explosion more than 200 miles away, on July 16, 1945.

Artwork by Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto uses flashing lights and beeps on a world map to illustrate the number and location of atomic/nuclear bombs exploded from 1945 to 1998. They total 2,053 and the artwork takes more than 14 minutes to represent them all.

And in a contemplative space that shows images from the Trinity Test explosion and taped recollections of people who witnessed it, clipboards on the wall ask visitors to give their thoughts on issues such as a scientists moral responsibility in developing weapons of mass destruction.

So it was particularly disappointing to learn this week that the museums board had passed on hosting the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition, which has toured the world over the past 20 years or so. It uses photos, paintings, kids drawings, recorded interviews and artifacts from the two bombed cities in Japan to make the case for abolishing nuclear weapons.

Its not an amateurish production  the Washington Post lavished praise on the exhibits artwork when it was shown at American University in 2015.

Like the Los Alamos History Museum, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition talks about people.

A Medill News Service write-up in 2016 starts Three colorful origami cranes made by schoolgirl Sadako Sasaki, a survivor of the U.S. strike on Hiroshima, sit on display for the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition in Chicago. She folded nearly 1,000 cranes as a traditional prayer for healing before she died of leukemia 10 years after the bomb strike. She was 12 years old.

The undergarments of a two-year-old and a girls simple cloth satchel are part of the exhibit, alongside pictures of children associated with the personal items and who perished in blasts from the two bombs developed at Los Alamos that brought an end to World War II.

The Los Alamos museums director says her board of directors was concerned about the exhibits lack of context  not about why the U.S. used atomic bombs on Japan, but about how the abolishment of nuclear weapons might actually take place. She said there needed to be information on topics such as how world leaders would stop rogue nations and dictators from acquiring and using nuclear bombs.

These arguments are overwrought. The Japanese exhibit shows what nuclear weapons can do to humanity and posits the idea that we would be better off without them.

The Los Alamos museum seems to be demanding a detailed plan for nuclear disarmament. Its as if someone at church or on the street said Peace be with you and you responded, How the hell is that supposed to happen?

The Los Alamos museums board apparently was rushed and had only a brief time to decide whether to accept the Hiroshima-Nagasaki exhibit and apply for grant funding.

Given time to reconsider, the Los Alamos museum needs to do the right thing and put the Japanese exhibit on display at the next opportunity. The Los Alamos community is surely strong enough and confident enough about its role in both history and the U.S. nuclear weapons complex to withstand this dose of exposure from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  In a rather blunt opinion, a federal judge on Thursday outlined a lack of accountability in the state agency that provides food and medical help to the neediest New Mexicans.

And he said he was troubled by the woefully inadequate testimony by a key manager in the department at a court hearing last month.

Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales held off on ordering the removal of five administrators in the state Human Services Department, as recommended by a court-appointed special master.

Instead, Gonzales imposed a series of deadlines for tasks aimed at improving the departments work, including the appointment of three experts in immigration, food assistance and Medicaid.

The 28-page opinion is part of a class-action lawsuit, filed in 1988, that accuses New Mexico of violating peoples rights by imposing inconsistent and excessive requirements on applicants seeking benefits, delaying eligibility decisions and failing to provide emergency food assistance in time.

Gonzales made it clear that hes encouraged that the Human Services Department has made some progress, and he acknowledged that the current management team undoubtedly inherited problems.

But he starkly described shortcomings in some of the departments recent work, particularly its handling of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Gonzales said the department had failed to discipline two managers who had instructed staff to fraudulently change income information on SNAP applications in order to deny benefits. One person was actually promoted, he said. Both were moved to different divisions, in any case.

And as of April last year, Gonzales said, managers had a policy of lying to food applicants about when interviews could be scheduled.

He was especially blunt in assessing the director of the Income Support Division, Mary Brogdon, a key manager in the department.

Aside from these instances that show a lack of accountability, Gonzales wrote, the Court is troubled by the woefully inadequate testimony given by the ISD Director.

Gonzales didnt identify her by name, but Brogdon took the stand at last months court hearing as director of the Income Support Division.

Her testimony showed that she hadnt read the entire 1998 consent decree that applies to the work of her division, Gonzales said, and she had visited only a fraction of county-level offices. She began work in June.

The judge, nonetheless, said he wouldnt order a management shake-up for now. He said Brent Earnest, secretary of the Human Services Department, has enough information to make appropriate personnel decisions.

The judge said Earnest has a proficient grasp of the case and the technical details involved.

But Gonzales also said there are reasons for the Court to lack total confidence in the current middle-tier management.

He imposed a series of deadlines for training of employees, the appointment of experts and a series of other tasks.

Mary Elizabeth Robertson, a spokeswoman for the Human Services Department, said the state provides timely services to more than 1 million New Mexicans in need each year. Monthly statistics tracking the departments performance are improving, she said, and SNAP benefits are being processed timely at a rate of 98 percent.

While we disagree with some of the Courts statements, ultimately, we are pleased the Court modified and adopted recommendations that are in line with our efforts to bring this 30-year-old litigation to a close, Robertson said. The facts are HSD provides benefits timely to eligible individuals in need of assistance.

Sovereign Hager, an attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said the appointment of experts is a critical step for sustained improvement and that she hopes the judges ruling will result in needed changes to the departments leadership.

No family or child in New Mexico should ever have to go without food or medical care, Hager said. Unfortunately, too many New Mexicans still dont have enough to eat or cant see the doctor because HSD still fails to process benefit applications in a timely manner.
New Mexicos federal representatives gathered for their annual lunch with business and community leaders Thursday, discussing, among other issues, the states economy, the future of the federal labs here and the current state of Congress, which they agreed is strained, particularly when it comes to immigration.

The annual panel hosted by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce this year took a slightly different tone as U.S. Reps. Steve Pearce, the lone Republican delegate, and Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, are also opponents in the race for governor.

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat also on the panel, said New Mexico is in a state of emergency with child wellbeing and poverty.

Pearce called New Mexico a truck stuck in the ditch. Once it gets pulled out, it will run great, he said.

But getting the economy functioning requires stability and predictability, Lujan Grisham said, and that is far off as long as Congress continues its dysfunction and the White House is not negotiating in good faith on issues.

We cant move the needle, Lujan Grisham said of the intensely negotiated immigration issue.

Pearce said immigration reform is stalling because of filibusters and other political games in the Senate. Lujan pinned the blame on the unwillingness of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to put bills up for debate.

The panel mostly agreed on issues facing New Mexico, with the starkest difference arising between Lujan Grisham and Pearce regarding the future of the federal science and military installations in the state, including Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos Laboratory.

We need to be a good host, not always compliant, but a good host, Pearce said, adding that state leaders need to acknowledge the real possibility that other states could successfully woo the labs and functions.

Lujan Grisham dismissed that idea, saying those labs are not going anywhere.
LAS CRUCES  Democratic lawmakers from border communities called on Gov. Susana Martinez to stop the militarizationof New Mexicos border region by reconsidering her decision to go along with President Trumps plan to deploy National Guard troops.

Reps. Doreen Gallegos, Bill McCamley, Angelica Rubio, Nathan Small, Rudy Martinez, Bill Gomez and Joanne Ferrary held a joint news conference in Las Cruces and questioned the need for sending troops to the New Mexico border.

People are not just running across the border. There is a wall. There is security, said Rep. Gallegos of Las Cruces. Were not seeing theres a spike in the problem. Theres a spike in the rhetoric.

Rep. McCamley of Mesilla Park and several other state lawmakers said they are concerned the National Guard might be needed elsewhere in New Mexico.

Were going into forest fire season. A big percentage of the state is in drought right now, and if National Guard folks are continuously rotated down to the border for a problem that doesnt exist, are they going to be available for a real problem when it happens? McCamley asked.

Rep. Ferrary of Las Cruces said she is worried about the National Guards men and women being deployed to the border where we dont have a crisis. My nephew is with the National Guard and he would have to leave his job and his family for who knows how long.

Rep. Gomezs district includes the thriving border region that benefits from trade with Mexico. He said deploying troops portrays the border as a dangerous region.

This is the kind of stuff that keeps business from coming to New Mexico, and weve got to fight that. Economic development down there is huge, said Gomez, of La Mesa.

He and other lawmakers urged New Mexicans to call the Governors Office and speak out against President Trumps deployment plan.

Gov. Martinez supports using the National Guard to help Border Patrol agents stop illegal crossings and drug trafficking. The Republican governor was on a call Thursday with other border governors and federal officials to discuss efforts to bolster border security and determine how many troops can be deployed.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Rosendo Flores Angulo, 40, a Mexican national, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Fe to more than 18 years in federal prison for selling heroin that led to the overdose death of a heroin user.

At a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez ordered Angulo to be deported after he completes his prison sentence.

Prosecuting drug dealers for overdose deaths of heroin users is fairly unusual, but under the U.S. Attorneys HOPE Initiative drug agents and prosecutors have sought to put together what are considered difficult cases.

Although Angulo entered a guilty plea to supplying heroin to a lower level dealer that resulted in the overdose death of a young man only identified as DJJ in court records in March 2017, the sentencing phase of the case stalled.

There was a change of attorneys after Angulos guilty plea and Vazquez ordered a psychiatric examination because of his long history of drug abuse and a potential for mental illness.

Undercover drug buy

The case originated in the summer of 2015 when undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents made a series of heroin purchases from a low-level heroin dealer, Curtis Hutchinson, 32.

Hutchinson, of Edgewood, arranged for the agents to meet his supplier, Angulo, who then sold the agents more heroin.

Angulo and Hutchinson were charged with selling heroin to the agents.

The charge of selling heroin that resulted in death of a user came after their initial indictments.

Court records show a medical toxicologist concluded that the heroin was the cause of the young mans death; the young man would not have died if he had not used the heroin.

Federal prosecutors and drug agents have tried to bring such cases because of the longer prison terms the charges carry.

In his plea agreement, Angulo admitted supplying heroin to Hutchinson on April 29, 2015, and acknowledged learning that Hutchinson sold some of the heroin to a young man who collapsed and died after using the heroin. The two men were charged with committing the crime in Bernalillo County.

Hutchinson has also pleaded guilty in the case and is awaiting sentencing. He admitted selling DJJ a quarter gram of heroin for $20, leading to DJJs death.

The criminal charges against Hutchinson and Angulo for the overdose death of a user was the second such case brought by the U.S. Attorneys Office under the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.

The other case, against Raymond Moya, a convicted heroin dealer, is on appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Moya faced charges that he sold heroin that led to the death of 18-year-old Cameron Weiss from a heroin overdose in August 2011.

His trial was scheduled to begin in March 2017 when prosecutors appealed a judges decision to exclude expert witnesses who were expected to introduce a toxicology report that was used by the Office of the Medical Investigator to determine that Weiss died of heroin toxicity.

U.S. District Court Judge Judith Herrera excluded the witnesses after prosecutors failed to put the chemist who certified the report on their witness list. That violated federal court rules, according to Herreras order, which was issued this week.

Prosecutors alleged that Weiss, a student at La Cueva High School, used heroin that was provided to him by a friend who had purchased it from Moya.

Moya is serving a seven-year federal prison sentence that was handed down in 2014 after a separate heroin trafficking case.

Federal prosecutors said in court that they still have enough evidence to prosecute Moya for heroin distribution based on eyewitness statements and cellphone records.

The HOPE Initiative was launched in January 2015 by the UNM Health Sciences Center and the U.S. Attorneys Office in response to the national opioid epidemic, which officials say has had a disproportionately devastating impact on New Mexico.
SPOKANE, Wash.  Gary Bailey is certain China is trying to rattle Donald Trump voters with its threat to slap tariffs on soybeans and other agriculture staples grown in rural America. The wheat farmer in eastern Washington, a state that exports $4 billion a year in farm products, is also certain of the result.

Its a strategy thats working, he said.

If farmers are worried, so are Republican politicians, who depended on small-town America to hand them control of Congress and know how quickly those voters could take it away. Just seven months before the 2018 midterm elections, Trumps faceoff with China over trade has exposed an unexpected political vulnerability in what was supposed to be the Republican Partys strongest region: rural America.

The clash with China poses a direct threat to the economies in both red and blue states, from Californias central valley to eastern Washington through Minnesotas plains and across Missouri and Indiana and into Ohio.

They are regions in which the GOPs quest to retain its House and Senate majorities this fall is tied directly to Republican voters views about their pocketbooks and Trumps job performance. The signs of fear and frustration about both are easy to find.

In southwestern Minnesota, soybean farmer Bill Gordon says the volatility in the markets makes it harder for farmers like him to market their crop and lock in profitability. The state is the countrys fourth-largest exporting state, and the states top farm export market is China.

A Trump voter, Gordon said right now hes disappointed, not angry, over whats happening. But the trade tensions could affect his vote in the open race for the regions congressional seat, where the farm vote is significant.

I vote for the people who represent rural America, he said. Its not a party line.

Trump says hes simply fighting against unfair business practices with a geopolitical rival.

After the Trump administration announced plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports Tuesday, China lashed back within hours, matching the American tariffs with plans to tax $50 billion of U.S. products, including soybeans, corn and wheat.

Trump escalated the standoff further on Thursday by asking the U.S. trade representative to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China, which had previously released plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on frozen pork, nuts and wine in response to Trumps intent to apply duties to imported aluminum and steel.

The soybean industry, perhaps more than any other, illustrates the potential harm to Republican candidates in the fall.

Soy production is concentrated in the Midwest. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana and Missouri account for over half of all soy produced in the United States. And more than 60 percent of U.S. soy exports have been sent to mainland China in recent years.

Trump won 89 percent of Americas counties that produce soy, according to an Associated Press analysis of Agriculture Department and election data. In those counties, on average, two out of three voters supported Trump in 2016.

Many Republican candidates who represent rural areas Trump won in 2016 are being forced to choose between his trade policies and community interests. Vulnerable Republicans are walking a tightrope.

In eastern Washington, seven-term Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers had already found herself in an unexpectedly tight race. She has urged the White House to reverse course on the Chinese tariffs in recent days.

Jared Powell, a spokesman for McMorris Rodgers, said her office had asked the Trump administration for clarification on the effects of the tariffs.

She is doing what she can to speak out publicly, Powell said.

Overall, an estimated 2.1 million jobs could be affected by the trade dispute nationally, with a majority coming from counties that Trump won, according to an analysis by Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution.

Were in kind of a farm crisis, said Bob Worth, who grows soybeans, corn and spring wheat with his son on 2,200 acres (3.4 square miles) near Lake Benton in southwestern Minnesota. He wouldnt say how he voted in 2016, but he offered kind, if measured, words for Trump.

Im going to believe in the man, added Worth, whos also on the board of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. Hes doing this for business reasons only. I dont know if he knows how much hes hurting agriculture.

Matt Aultman, a grain salesman and feed nutritionist in Greenville, Ohio, west of Columbus, said farmers there are keeping a close watch on the talk in Washington. Farmers pay attention to two things: prices and weather. And a trade fight that affects prices wont go unnoticed.

It directly affects our pocketbooks and the way we plan for the following years, he said. Are we going to pay all the bills this year? Are we going to buy a new piece of equipment? Do you get your kids a couple new pair of shoes?

In Californias central valley, Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has avoided the issue altogether in recent days. His opponent, Democrat and longtime family farmer Michael Eggman, said Trumps trade policies would shatter his community.

The district is home to Blue Diamond Almonds, among smaller nut producers, who send much of their product to China and suddenly face the prospect of 15 percent tariffs.

We all know how hard it is to make ends meet as a small family farmer, and Trump is not making it easier, Eggman said. Jeff Denham, who claims to be a local farmer, hasnt said one word about it. Wheres the outrage?

Denham, through a spokeswoman, did not address the presidents moves directly but said the congressman supports free and fair trade and a plan thats carefully thought out.

___

Peoples reported from New York. Karnowski reported in Minneapolis. AP data journalist Larry Fenn in Seattle contributed to this report.
SEATTLE  Eight unknown Democrats are fighting for a spot to challenge a high-profile Republican in Washington states reliably red 8th District.

Its a familiar battle in the 8th, where voters have chosen the Republican for almost four decades since the U.S. House districts 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.

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, theyll 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.

Were not giving much thought to the opinions of political horse race handicappers, said Andrew Bell, Rossis campaign manager. Theres 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 Trumps low approval ratings and momentum from Conor Lambs 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 Washingtons 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 cant 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.

Rossis name recognition and centrist appeal put him in a much better position than Republicans running in other competitive districts, Schaefer said.

District 8 includes Seattles 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 administrations imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. On DACA, he told The Seattle Times in March that it wouldnt be logical to deport beneficiaries.

Kim Schrier, a pediatrician whos 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 shouldnt be tied to partisan issues, she said.

Washington State Democratic Chairman Tina Podlodowski said Lambs surprise win puts her party in a position to flip the 8th District and a lot of other districts around the country.

Its 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.

Were dealing with a majority thats vulnerable, David Wasserman, a House analyst at Cook, said of Republicans. Democrats have had a tough time breaking strongholds like Washingtons 8th, but this is shaping up to be a really good year for them nationally.
New Mexican farms were devastated by drought conditions spreading across the state and the American southwest in recent decades.

The destruction led the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to identify Eddy County farmers and ranchers as qualified for federal assistance to recoup some of the loss.

Fifteen counties, including Eddy, were listed as contiguous counties sharing a border to 12 other counties, including Lea, designated as natural disaster areas.

The designations qualifies impacted farm and ranch operators for Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans to help repair the damages from lost crops, fires and other drought-induced problems.

Eligible farmers have eight months from the date of declaration, March 30, to apply for the loans, read a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The FSA considers each application individually, read the release, accounting for the extent of losses, and the applicants ability to repay the funds.

Agriculture-related disasters and disaster designations are quite common, read a USDA fact sheet. Many counties in the United States have been designated as disaster areas in the past several years, even in years of record crop production.

The USDAs disaster assistance program allows the agency to release federal emergency (EM) loans to counties affected by a natural disaster, read the release.

Other emergency programs have also used the disaster designation to determine funding eligibility.

Eligible natural disasters are incidents when weather conditions, or other natural events that substantially affect farmers by causing crop or livestock losses, read the release.

Disasters can include conditions such as excessive rain or drought, high heat or below normal temperatures, and events such as mudslides, tornadoes and tropical storms.

An expedited program was instituted in 2012, records show, to provide increased assistance to victims of drought.

The program automatically designates any area as a disaster if identified for severe drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor for at least eight consecutive weeks, read the release.

For other drought designations that do not qualify for expedience, the county must have at least a 30 percent production loss for at least one crop.

Jessica Smith, FSA farm loans specialist said the program is essential to mitigate problems agricultural producers face throughout the year.

A similar disaster designation was issued in 2015 after Winter Storm Goliath collided with the southwest, freezing crops in the desert region and damaging acres of ranch land in New Mexico and Texas.

Farming is a risky business, Smith said. When mother nature deals you a blow that you cant recover from, (EM loans) come in.

The program allows the FSA to issue loans up to $500,000 to farmers and ranchers affected by the disaster, able to cover home expenses, even groceries, if applicants can prove the event left them unable to pay for basic needs, and can put up proper collateral for the money.

The disaster designation is what triggers all of these things, Smith said. Every producer is going to be different. Theyre all affected, but in different ways. They just have to show their loss.

She urged any farmers in the impacted areas to visit their nearest USDA farm loan office in either Clovis, Roswell, Las Cruces or Estancia.

There are deadlines, said Maurice Portillo, the FSAs New Mexico outreach coordinator. Thats the most important part. Let us get you started in the process. This is an effort to ensure our producers can sustain their operations.

Farmers can also apply for assistance, without needing a disaster designation, through several other FSA programs, read the release, at fsa.usda.gov.

New Mexican counties designated as primary disaster areas

Catron

Lea

Rio Arriba

San Miguel

Guadalupe

McKinley

Sandoval

Santa Fe

Harding

Mora

San Juan

Taos

Contiguous counties also eligible for aid

Bernalillo

Eddy

Roosevelt

Chaves

Grant

Sierra

Cibola

Lincoln

Socorro

Colfax

Los Alamos

Torrance

De Baca

Quay

Union

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.



2018 the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.)

Visit the Carlsbad Current-Argus (Carlsbad, N.M.) at www.currentargus.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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FARMINGTON  An Arizona women accused of the second-degree murder of a Bloomfield man has been arrested by federal authorities.

Kehadja Keams, 23, of Window Rock, Arizona, was charged March 13 with second-degree murder, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and larceny.

She is accused of battering 76-year-old Gilbert Benavidez, of Bloomfield, on April 4 and stealing his Buick sedan and cell phone, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Benavidez died on Aug. 4 from an infection stemming from his head injuries.

Keams was arrested Tuesday in Arizona by members of the U.S. Marshals Service, according to a San Juan County Sheriffs Office Facebook post.

Detective Lt. Kyle Lincoln of the Sheriffs Office said Keams was transported to the San Juan County Adult Detention Center on Tuesday. She was being held Wednesday without bond.

A motion has been filed by the San Juan County District Attorneys Office to hold Keams without bond pending trial, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin OBrien.

A hearing regarding the motion in Aztec District Court has not been scheduled.

Keams made her first appearance in Aztec Magistrate Court Wednesday and did not have legal representation.

Her preliminary hearing is set for 10 a.m. on April 12 in Aztec Magistrate Court.



2018 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)

Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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FORT COLLINS, Colo.  A judge has sentenced a 25-year-old man to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the death of a northern Colorado infant.

The Coloradoan reports that Eighth Judicial District Judge Stephen Howard imposed the sentence Thursday on Juan Canales-Hernandez, who was convicted earlier this week by a jury of first-degree murder, child abuse and two other charges.

Prosecutors said Canales-Hernandez caused the death of 11-month-old RaeLynn Martinez in 2016 when he threw a chair at the child. Martinez was the daughter of Canales-Hernandezs then-girlfriend.

Canales-Hernandez was on parole at the time for seriously injuring a 2-year-old boy in 2013.

Canales-Hernandez declined to address the court during the proceedings.

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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, http://www.coloradoan.com
WASHINGTON  When President Donald Trump made a congratulatory phone call to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, White House chief of staff John Kelly wasnt on the line.

When Trump tapped John Bolton to be his next national security adviser, Kelly wasnt in the room.

And when Trump spent a Mar-a-Lago weekend stewing over immigration and trade, Kelly wasnt in sight.

Kelly, once empowered to bring order to a turbulent West Wing, has receded from view, his clout diminished, his word less trusted by staff and his guidance less tolerated by an increasingly go-it-alone president.

Emboldened in his job, Trump has rebelled against Kellys restrictions and mused about doing away with the chief of staff post entirely. Its all leading White House staffers and Trump allies to believe that Kelly is working on borrowed time.

In recent weeks, Trump has governed at breakneck pace, ousting aides and issuing surprise policy announcements on Twitter, recreating the helter-skelter feel of his first months in office. Kellys allies maintain that his retreat is strategic. They suggest that the belief that Kelly was Trumps savior was an overstated idea all along and that the chief of staff is now content to loosen the reins and allow an increasingly comfortable president to govern from his gut.

But those close to the president say that Trump has increasingly expressed fatigue at Kellys attempts to shackle him and that while Trump is not ready to fire Kelly, he has begun gradually freezing out his top aide.

Trump recently told one confidant that he was tired of being told no by Kelly and has instead chosen to simply not tell Kelly things at all, according to a person who was not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In Trumps West Wing, once the rumors begin that an aides exit is forthcoming, the stink on that staffer never leaves, according to one of the nearly dozen White House aides, former administration officials and outside advisers who spoke to The Associated Press under the same conditions.

As Kellys public profile and behind-the-scenes influence has faded, speculation has risen that chaos could return.

Its not tenable for Kelly to remain in this position so weakened, said Chris Whipple, author of Gatekeepers, a history of modern White House chiefs of staff. More than any of his predecessors, Donald Trump needs an empowered chief of staff to tell him what he does not want to hear. Trump wants to run the White House like the 26th floor of Trump Tower, and its simply not going to work.

Kelly was once a fixture at the presidents side, but Trump has now cut him out of a number of important decisions.

For months, Kelly made it a practice to listen in to many of the presidents calls, particularly with world leaders. While he is still on the line for some of those conversations, Kelly was not part of the call Trump made to Putin last month from the White House residence during which Trump ignored advisers advice against congratulating the Russian president on his re-election.

Although Kelly had agitated for the removal of outgoing national security adviser H.R. McMaster, he counseled Trump against hiring Bolton, a neo-conservative media commentator. Trump did it anyway, offering the job to Bolton in a one-on-one meeting in the Oval Office and telling his chief of staff about it later.

As Trump spent the Easter weekend at his Florida resort and tweeted about his tariffs plan, Kelly was out of state, though the men did consult by phone. While Kelly has fumed about the ethics questions swirling around Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, Trump was at least initially more supportive of Pruitt, telling him, Weve got your back.

The president also has cast aside the constraints the retired four-star Marine general tried to place on Trump about whom he could see and speak to. Those restrictions led shunned advisers to try to undermine the chief of staff in the press and with Trump. For months, former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was barred from the White House, only to return when Kelly was overruled by Trump, according to four White House aides and outside advisers.

Many in the West Wing believed that Kellys attempts to curtail Trumps interactions with Lewandowski, as well as Trump allies such as David Bossie and Anthony Scaramucci, were always destined to fail and alienate the president, who has privately contemplated recreating the freewheeling nature of his campaign and Trump Tower office. Kelly also has clashed with Trumps son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who had his security clearance downgraded after a policy change written by the chief of staff.

Some White House aides contend that Kelly has been intentionally giving Trump more leeway to be himself and that Kelly recognizes thats what Trump wants. But allies acknowledged Kellys receding power and said hes trying to keep his head down and focus on policy, such as the plan to mobilize the National Guard along the U.S. border with Mexico.

The White House declined to make Kelly available for an interview. In public, Trump praises his chief of staff, telling Marines in California last month that Kelly probably likes what you do better than what he does, but hes doing a great job.

The speculation surrounding Kelly echoes the treatment of his predecessor, Reince Priebus, who was the subject of months of questions about how long he would last on the job. Priebus eventually resigned under pressure.

Kelly also no longer commands the same respect among some quarters of the staff. His role came under harsh scrutiny this year over his handling of the controversy surrounding ousted White House aide Rob Porter, who was accused of domestic abuse.

Kellys shifting version of events elicited frustration from former communications director Hope Hicks, who had been dating Porter, and dismayed a number of West Wing staffers. That episode frustrated Trump, who still remains agitated about an interview that Kelly gave to Fox News months ago in which he suggested that Trump had evolved in his thinking about the need for a wall on the Mexican border.

Kelly, who took the job last July, had previously told confidants he hoped to be on the job for a year. One person familiar with his thinking said the chief of staff recently voiced doubt he would make it that far.

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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

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Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com///twitter.com/@catherine_lucey
TOKYO  A woman who says she was raped by a U.S. sailor in Japan is demanding Tokyo do more to protect crime victims of U.S. military personnel stationed here.

Catherine Fisher met for an hour Friday with foreign and defense ministry officials in the Japanese parliament.

Fisher, an Australian and longtime Japan resident, was raped in 2002, and awarded damages by a Japanese civil court. Japanese prosecutors however refused to pursue criminal charges.

She tracked the sailor she accused of assaulting her on her own because he had already left for the U.S.

Fisher sued Bloke Deans in Wisconsin Circuit Court in 2012 to claim the damages awarded in Japan. She won in 2013, but demanded only $1  to make a point, she says.

Deans denied he assaulted Fisher but acknowledged in the U.S. settlement the evidence may prove otherwise, according to documents provided by his attorney, Alex Flynn. Mr. Deans has paid that dollar and the matter is now concluded, Flynn said.

Fisher is now demanding compensation for the family of a Japanese woman in whose death a former Marine was convicted last year, as well as for other victims.

Such crimes by U.S. military personnel have set off anger although their immunity from Japanese prosecution has gradually decreased.

You must and you can do something. Everybody else is doing something except for the Japanese government, she said.

Takahiro Suzuki, a deputy director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Fisher negotiations were underway with the U.S. to win compensation for the family of the murdered Japanese woman.

A sticking point has been that, at the time of the murder, Kenneth Shinzato was working as a U.S. military contractor and was no longer a Marine.

Fisher demanded the Japanese government give compensation immediately, and not wait for a U.S. decision.

She has been a rare proponent and counsel for women in Japan, where rape victims tend to stay silent.

Although opinion may be divided about the presence of U.S. troops in Japan under a bilateral treaty, there was no disagreement that murder and rape were wrong, she said.

You couldnt stop that, she told the officials of the crime. You have to take responsibility.

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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama
WASHINGTON  The United States punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials on Friday with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putins inner circle, as President Donald Trumps administration tried to show hes not afraid to take tough action against Moscow.

Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russia-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of bad behavior, said the officials, who werent authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russias actions beyond its borders, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and cyber-hacking.

Above all else, Russias attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the U.S. sanctions, officials said, in a direct nod to concerns that the U.S. president has failed to challenge Putin for alleged interference in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Deripaska, whose business conglomerate controls assets from agriculture to machinery, has been a prominent figure in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Treasury Department said Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretaps, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and even death threats against business rivals.

On the London Stock Exchange, global depositary receipts of En+, an energy company majority-owned by Deripaska, dropped by 19 percent on news of the sanctions. Deripaskas conglomerate, Basic Element, said it regretted the sanctions and was analyzing them with its lawyers.

Putins government dismissed the sanctions as absurdity, arguing that the U.S. was punishing companies that have longstanding business ties to the U.S. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. was striking at ordinary Americans by jeopardizing thousands of jobs.

American democracy is clearly degrading, the ministry said. Of course, we will not leave the current and any new anti-Russian attack without a tough response.

To the dismay of Trumps critics and of Russia hawks, the president has continued to avoid directly criticizing Putin himself and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House. Yet in recent weeks Trumps administration has rolled out a series of actions  including several economic and diplomatic steps  to increase pressure on Putin and those presumed to benefit from his power.

Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have, Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Yet even as it rolled out the new penalties, Trumps administration left open the possibility of a good relationship with Russia in the future. And at the White House, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said discussions with Moscow about a Trump-Putin summit would not be called off.

Not at all, Sanders said. Well continue.

Those being punished arent necessarily involved in the Russian actions in Syria, Ukraine or elsewhere that have drawn consternation from the West. But officials said the goal was to put pressure on Putin by showing that those who have benefited financially from his position of power are fair game.

The target list includes some who are closely tied to Putin himself, including top-tier officials involved in Kremlin decision-making and heads of the top state-controlled business entities. Yet others on the list are far from the Kremlins orbit, including some who long have fallen out of favor or hold technical positions.

Targets include:

Kirill Shamalov, who is reportedly Putins son-in-law, married to his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, although neither Putin nor the Kremlin have acknowledged that she is his daughter.

Igor Rotenberg, the son of Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putins since they were teenagers.

Andrey Kostin, named among government officials, heads the nations second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state.

Alexei Miller, the longtime head of Gazprom, the state-controlled natural gas giant. Both Miller and Kostin are longtime key members of Putins team.

A state-owned arms-dealing company, accused by the U.S. of selling to Assad, was also targeted, along with a subsidiary bank. Many other targets were associated with Russias energy sector, including parts of Gazprom.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions. Some, but not all, of the individuals sanctioned will also be prohibited from entering the United States.

It was not clear whether any of those hit have significant holdings in the U.S. that could be seized, and if they did previously, they may have already moved their money elsewhere in anticipation of the sanctions. In January, lists of Russian officials and oligarchs were published by the State Department and Treasury. The lists, required under a law passed last year, were informally seen as lists of potential future sanctions targets, even though the public version of the oligarchs list was merely a reprint of Forbes list of billionaires in Russia.

The U.S. also has punished Russia for other troubling activity, including its alleged involvement in the poisoning an ex-spy with a military-grade nerve agent in Britain. In tandem with European allies, the Trump administration expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle. And last month, the U.S. targeted 19 Russians and five Russian entities with sanctions in the first use of the new sanctions powers Congress passed last year in response to the election meddling.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Catherine Lucey in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed.
A New Mexico GOP state lawmaker and congressional candidate failed to disclose that her real estate company earned nearly a half-million dollars in contracts with two state agencies over five years, according to an analysis of campaign finance disclosure records by The Associated Press.

The review of documents by the AP found that Rep. Yvette Herrells company, Herrell Properties, took in $440,000 by renting property to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department and New Mexico Environment Department since 2013.

However, Herrell, R-Alamogordo, did not disclose that income on ethics disclosure statements, but listed herself as the companys owner, according to public documents AP reviewed.

Those nondisclosures could put Herrell at odds with state ethics officials, just as she is seeking the Republican nomination for an open U.S. Congressional seat in southern New Mexico. The race is one of many expected to draw national attention in the 2018 midterms.

State law requires that lawmakers who provide goods and services in excess of $5,000 from state agencies report the income annually to the state secretary of states office. Anyone who knowingly and willfully violates the states financial disclosure act faces a $1,000 fine or a year in jail.

The secretary of states office can also impose fines up to $5,000 and send the case to an independent arbitrator to resolve disclosure disputes.

In a statement, Herrell said she has always diligently submitted the necessary paperwork required by the secretary of states office and other entities since becoming an elected lawmaker in 2011.

While I am a partner in a company that has owned real estate in which the state leased, I have never personally been paid by or collected any monies from the state of New Mexico, Herrell said.

Herrell said the secretary of states office has never brought up any irregularities about her disclosures since shes been a lawmaker.

But Joey Keefe, a spokesman for the secretary of states office, said state ethics officials were unaware of the nondisclosure of state contracts by Herrell until the AP made inquiries.

Now that it has been brought to our attention, we are going to review Rep. Herrells paperwork to ensure that she is complying with all disclosure requirements, Keefe said.

James Hallinan, a spokesman for New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, said the office couldnt confirm or deny if it was investigating Herrell over the financial disclosures.

Herrell said news of the nondisclosures were an attack on my moral character, orchestrated by a political consultant of Hobbs businessman Monty Newman, one of her opponents in the Republican primary for the open 2nd Congressional District seat.

Joseph Cueto, Newmans campaign manager, brushed off Herrells charge and said the nondisclosures raised serious concerns.

Sweetheart deals for politicians shake the confidence of voters and is why so many feel so strongly about draining the swamp, Cueto said.

Gavin Clarkson, another Republican seeking the GOP nomination, said he was also disturbed by the lack of disclosure.

As the deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development in the Trump administration, I completed numerous background checks and financial disclosures, Clarkson said. I do not see how this level of insider dealing and conflict of interest could have been omitted accidentally.
SAO BERNARDO DO CAMPO, Brazil  With a looming deadline to turn himself into authorities, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday hunkered down with supporters at a metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his rise to power.

The once wildly popular leader, who rose from poverty to lead Latin Americas largest nation, had until 5 p.m. local time to present himself to police in Curitiba, about 260 miles (417 kilometers) southwest of the Sao Paulo suburb of Sao Bernardo do Campo.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against endemic graft, on Thursday issued an order for da Silvas arrest so he would begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

Three hours before the deadline, it remained to be seen whether da Silva would comply, or instead wait for authorities to pick him up. The latter would be a logistical nightmare given the thousands of supporters outside and heavy Friday traffic in Sao Paulo, South Americas largest city.

Two sources close to da Silva told The Associated Press that the former leader would not go to Curitiba, but instead was considering either waiting for police at the union or presenting himself in Sao Paulo. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share internal deliberations being discussed.

I dont see why he should turn himself in just because judge Moro had an anxiety crisis, Sen. Lindbergh Farias, from the Workers Party, told journalists at the union. I think they should have to go through the embarrassment of coming here and taking him in front of all these people.

That footage will be seen around the world and it will be historic, he added.

Moros warrant came after Brazils top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by the former president to stay out of prison while he appealed a conviction that he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot in Octobers election. He is the front-running presidential candidate despite his conviction.

In a statement, Moro said he was giving da Silva the opportunity to come in of his own accord because he had been Brazils president. He also said a special cell away from other inmates had been prepared for da Silva at the jail in Curitiba, where Moro ordered da Silva to present himself.

Last year, Moro convicted da Silva of trading favors with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January.

The speed with which Moro issued the warrant surprised many, as legal observers said there were technicalities from da Silvas upheld appeal that would not be sorted out until next week.

Such technicalities were simply a pathology that should be eliminated from the judicial world, Moro said in his statement.

Late Thursday, thousands gathered outside the metallurgical union in Sao Bernardo do Campo where the ex-president universally known as Lula got his start as a union organizer. Hundreds spent the night sleeping on the street. Early Friday, da Silva waved to supporters from a window at the union but did not speak.

Why are they in a rush to arrest him? said former President Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded da Silva and in 2016 was impeached and ousted from office. They fear that Lula would get a favorable decision in (a higher appeals) court. That is part of the coup that removed me from the presidency.

However it happens, the jailing of da Silva will mark a colossal fall from grace for a man who rose to power against steep odds in one of the worlds most unequal countries.

Born in the hardscrabble northeast, da Silva rose through the ranks of the union in the countrys industrial south. In 1980, during the military dictatorship, da Silva was arrested in Sao Bernardo do Campo for organizing strikes. He would spend more than a month in jail.

After running for president several times, in 2002 da Silva finally won. He governed from 2003 to 2010, leaving office a world celebrity and with approval ratings in the high 80s.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama once called da Silva the most popular politician on Earth.

Since leaving office, things have steadily gotten worse for the leader, who has been charged in several corruption cases. He has always maintained his innocence while continuing to campaign across the country the past year. Despite his legal troubles, he leads preference polls to return to office  if by some chance he is allowed to run.

Like so much in a nation that has become deeply polarized, the fact that da Silva would soon be behind bars was being interpreted differently by supporters and detractors.

Brazil scored a goal against impunity and corruption, said Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a right-leaning former army captain who is second in the polls after da Silva.

Lula is one of us. He knows what it is like to have a tough life and loves the poor more than the rich, said Antonio Ferreira dos Santos, a 43-year-old bricklayer who was keeping vigil outside the union.

Workers Party leaders insist that da Silva, 72, would still be the partys candidate in October.

Technically, beginning to serve his sentence would not keep da Silva off the ballot. In August, the countrys top electoral court makes final decisions about candidacies. It was expected to deny da Silvas candidacy under Brazils clean slate law, which disqualifies people who have had criminal convictions upheld. However, da Silva could appeal such a decision, though doing so from jail would be more complicated.

Da Silva is the latest of many high-profile people to be ensnared in possibly the largest corruption scandal in Latin American history. Over the last four years, Brazilians have experienced near weekly police operations and arrests of the elite, from top politicians to businessmen like former Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht.

Investigators uncovered a major scheme in which construction companies essentially formed a cartel that doled out inflated contracts from state oil company Petrobras, paying billions in kickbacks to politicians and businessmen.

While Moro, who oversees many cases in the so-Called Operation Car Wash, is hailed as a hero by many, others see him as a partisan hit man out to get da Silva and the Workers Party.

Da Silva was convicted in July of helping a construction company get sweetheart contracts in exchange for the promise of the apartment. He denies any wrongdoing in that case or in several other corruption cases that have yet to be tried. An appeals court upheld the conviction in January and even lengthened the sentence to 12 years and one month.

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Peter Prengaman reported from Rio de Janeiro.

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Mauricio Savarese on Twitter: twitter.com/MSavarese

Peter Prengaman on Twitter: twitter.com/peterprengaman
PHOENIX  A Phoenix man who decapitated his wife and their two dogs while high on drugs tearfully expressed remorse Friday, as a judge sentenced him to nearly three decades in prison.

Shaking and crying in his orange jail uniform, Kenneth Dale Wakefield, 46, issued an apology in Maricopa County Superior Court.

I just wanted to say Im sorry. I deeply apologize for what I did, Wakefield said, who described his deceased wife as his best friend. I cant change it. I suffer also.

Judge Ronda Fisk said she believed Wakefield was sincerely remorseful but considering the heinous, cruel manner of the case, she would follow the recommendation of his plea agreement for a 29-year sentence. Wakefield pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder and two animal cruelty charges.

Wakefield must immediately begin serving 25 years for the July 2015 death of 49-year-old Trina Heisch and consecutive two-year sentences for each dogs death.

Heischs mother, Peggy Stowe, also spoke during the hearing. She described how her daughter used to love gymnastics, playing the saxophone, writing poetry and painting. Though she had her share of problems, she was always there for others, Stowe said.

Theres a hole in my heart. Its never going to go away, Stowe said. I still have a hard time when I tell people how many kids I have.

Wakefield and Heisch met while they were each serving 10-year sentences in a state mental hospital for stabbing relatives. Both were found to be guilty, except insane on attempted murder charges.

He told investigators he stabbed Heisch during a fight that erupted in their central Phoenix apartment after he decapitated one of the couples two dogs. He later killed the second dog. Police were alerted to the killings after a neighbor went over to check on the couple.

Wakefield was high on synthetic marijuana and methamphetamine on the day of the attack and told police he was doing it for God and the end of the world to be peaceful, according to police reports.

Wakefield also mutilated himself during the attack, pulling out one of his eyes and cutting off his left forearm.

At the time of the attack, Wakefield had been recently released from the state mental hospital after a psychiatric review board said it believed his mental health problems were in remission and he wasnt dangerous if he lived in a residential treatment program.

The board later asked prosecutors to keep him committed at the hospital, but prosecutors say they were unsuccessful in trying to extend his stay, so Wakefield was released.

Wakefields attorney pursued an insanity defense in the case stemming from Heischs death, but its unclear what became of the strategy. A judge ordered most of the court records on the strategy to be sealed off from public view.

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Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud contributed to this report.
SANTA FE  A former Santa Fe Public Schools teaching assistant was indicted this week for sexually assaulting a girl at the school he was working at.

Sergio Muterperl, 31, was indicted on three counts of criminal sexual penetration, three counts of criminal sexual contact and one count of enticement of a child for crimes that allegedly occurred between July 2014 and October 2015.

Muterperl was previously charged with eight total counts of criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact of a minor for assaulting two female students at Atalaya Elementary in June 2016. The charges were dismissed in Magistrate Court a about four months later, but could still be refiled.

Muterperl was only indicted for crimes committed against one victim. Santa Fe District Marco Serna said Friday that he couldnt comment on the other victim at this time. The new charges are in state District Court.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in June 2016, a now 9-year-old girl told her mother that Muterperl had touched her private areas both underneath and outside her clothes while at school. As the Santa Fe Police Department detective was writing a report, Atalaya Principal Kate Diaz told police that another student, identified only as E.C., had come forward with allegations that Muterperl sexually assaulted her. Muterperl was immediately placed on leave once the investigation began and was later fired.

E.C.s mother filed a suit against the Santa Fe Public School Board, Atalaya Elementary and Muterperl in September. A notice filed in Santa Fe District Court Monday, a day before Muterperls case went before a grand jury, says the mother is in talks with the defendants about reaching a settlement.

SFPS Superintendent Veronica Garcia referred all settlement questions to the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority. The NMPSIAs executive director, Sammy Quintana, could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

Muterperl was arrested in November 2016 in downtown Santa Fe after leading an anti-Trump rally and allegedly causing an officer who was pursuing him to fall down some steps. Charges in that case were dismissed but can also be refiled.
The 13th edition of Goafest, Indias biggest advertising festival, got underway yesterday (April 5, 2018) on a Make in India note. Hosted by The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) in association with the Advertising Club, Goafest 2018 has registered over 2,000 attendees.

MK Anand, Vikram Tanna, Nakul Chopra, Vikram Sakhuja, Ashish Bhasin, Ajay Kakkar and Jaipdeep Gandhi lit the ceremonial light and declared the festivities on. Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO - South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, commenced the festival by welcoming the guests to the 50th year of the Abbys and 13th year of Goafest.

In his welcome address, Bhasin said, We want to set a benchmark, where I want people to talk about Goafest as a truly world class festival. Last year, we initiated digital in a big way, this year we already have over 2 million interactions across platforms. Im really glad to see such great responses, where the room was fully jam-packed and Im sure we are well on our way to becoming the worlds best advertising conclave.

He paved way for two brilliant speakers with awe-inspiring stories, exiting the stage with the promise of leaving Goa greener than it is and inviting everyone to a tree plantation event being held today (April 6, 2018).

Happy Furniture To You!

The 3-day festival kick-started with a power-packed session at the Discovery India Industry Conclave 2018, by Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO and Head of New Business, Pepperfry, who spoke about the brands own growth story. Tracing Pepperfrys growth story, Vadapalli said, Six years ago, e-commerce in India was nascent and Pepperfry started because of 3 reasons: 1) To promote Indian artisans and craftsmen; 2) To build honesty and transperancy as part of our DNA; and 3) To have fun, because we knew it would be a dusty road.

They blended the three reasons and came up with a name that signified Indian and honest (Hence Pepper), and fun (Hence Fry, because anything becomes fun when you fry). After 2,000 work days and 20 million+ work hours, Pepperfry today has streamlined its business, and taken supply, mixed with technology, to the Indian consuming class. We worked towards standardising the entire category. Since we were very close to manufacturers, it helped us bring value to the Indian consumer, he added.

Vadapalli left the audience with some thoughts to mull over as he said that in order to evolve, one must constantly listen.

The Yogi who took the MNC world by storm

Yog Rishi Baba Ramdev and the phenomenal growth of the Patanjali empire have been the subject of many a case study. After starting in classic style with Gayatri Mantra, he dived deep, full Hindi, into how everything  from knowledge, emotions, actions, expertise, experience, skills, innovation, research, resource, and even waste  converts to wealth.

I only had one question: What can I do about this country? From farming to retailing, I havent studied anything, but the world is enough to teach me lessons. When you come face to face with reality, it teaches you lessons no conventional course can teach, Baba Ramdev said. Peppered with laughter, yoga, life lessons, jokes and harsh doses of reality, he shared the essence of his being: Jo karo, usko pura karo. 100% daalo apna. Usko beech me mat choro. (Whatever you do, do it whole-heartedly. Give your 100% and dont leave anything mid-way).

He stressed that it was all hard work and goodness that has made Patanjali the brand that it is today. Patanjali is a non-profit charitable organisation. Our intent isnt profit. Aasan karwate karwate, bado bado ko sheersasan karwana hai, he jokingly added amid much cheer from the crowd.

Not shy of taking on the MNCs by their horns, Baba Ramdev affirmed that with Patanjali, he would not allow other marketers to mislead the consumers. He maintained that one could advertise in a normal way without adding any glamour and false commitment to it. There is nothing like getting a celebrity face or glamour to your brand and increase sales. But I save a huge chunk of my advertising budget because instead of having any brand ambassador or glamour element I connect to my consumers through the ads, where I talk to them, which saves a lot of money, he added.

Baba Ramdev claimed that Patanjali today had taken over 25-50 per cent share of the toothpaste market  all without using any glamour element, and instead talking about the benefits offered by Patanjalis toothpaste. By next year, we hope to be the biggest FMCG company  not only in terms of trust, but also in terms of turnover, he affirmed.

While he spoke about expanding the brand to other countries, he publicly made a promise that he would never loot from poor countries. We will never bring money from a poorer country to India. But we will become a global brand. Their profit will be their profits, he announced with full conviction.

He further said that he was asked by a lot of people as to when Patanjali will be launching its jeans brand. He announced, We will foray into kids, womens and mens wear, Yoga wear and accessories in 3-5 years time with heavy investment.

How could a session with Baba Ramdev end without some tips on Yoga and Baba didnt disappoint the crowd as he gave some practical advice on how to lead a healthy life  as he said, If you are not healthy, you cannot be wealthy.

For more related stories visit here.
Set up six years ago in 2012 by Ashish Shah and Ambareesh Murty, online furniture portal Pepperfry disrupted the way people bought furniture and home decor items, by presenting them an e-commerce option. The company saw a growth surge in FY2017-18 with the introduction of several innovative initiatives, a brand revamp as well as receiving more fundings.

Opening the 3-day Goafest 2018 with a power-packed session at the Discovery India Industry Conclave 2018, Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO and Head of New Business, Pepperfry, traced the brands growth story. Addressing the gathering at the advertising festival yesterday (April 5, 2018), Vadapalli said, Six years ago, e-commerce in India was nascent. Pepperfry started because of 3 reasons:

To promote Indian artisans and craftsmen

To build honesty and transperancy as part of our DNA

To have fun, because we knew it would be a dusty road.

They blended the three reasons and came up with a name that signified Indian and honest (Hence Pepper), and fun (Hence Fry, because anything becomes fun when you fry).

After 2,000 work days and 20 million+ work hours, Pepperfry today has streamlined its business, and taken supply, mixed with technology, to the Indian consuming class. We worked towards standardising the entire category. Since we were very close to manufacturers, it helped us bring value to the Indian consumer, Vadapalli added.

The company delved deeper into services, logistics and cataloguing, and now, after 6 years, has launched 10 house brands that contribute to 50 per cent of Pepperfrys business, 27 studios across 15 cities in the country, with plans to launch 12 more studios in the coming months.

There are three key lessons that Vadapalli shared with the audience:

When you are setting out to build an organisation, you have to be ready to face challenges that you werent even prepared for. Things will get uncomfortable. If you want to become a trendsetter, you need to be ready to get your hands dirty. We sought to build on Indias inherent strengths; capitalised on the Indian artisans; worked towards building a differentiated market. You need to understand consumers better. It is important to focus on customers pain points.

Adgully caught up with Kashyap Vadapalli at Goafest 2018 to know more about the growth of Pepperfry, expansion plans, key focus areas and more. Excerpts:

Pepperfry recently raised Rs 250 crore in funds. How is it going to be utilised?

Its going to be utilised in 2 large properties as we are going to expand our capabilities in AR and VR, We are going to invest in technology. Our idea is to enhance the AR capabilities on the mobile phone. Since the consumer is on the mobile, with this enhancement their decision making will be smarter as they will be able to look at things and take decisions based on that. We have the concept of Podcast studios  we have 27 such studios at present  and VR will give us the opportunity to open 100 kiosks, where the consumers can experience our products in virtual reality. Besides these, we will be investing in marketing of our non-furniture line of Pepperfry business. We have a rich portfolio of non-furniture goods which we had kept on the backburner consciously as we wanted to build our furniture credentials very strongly first. Now is the right time for us to launch the other products.

How did Pepperfry go through 2017, especially with 2 big disruptions  demonetisation and GST?

Actually demonetisation didnt affect us much as we as an online site dont deal in cash. However, GST did create some kind of disruption in the beginning with 28 per cent tax, but when it was rolled back to 18 per cent, we saw consumer interest and buying bounce back. The period between August and November was a little slow because of GST, but once the rollback happened we have been seeing steady growth.

In 2018, with GST settled, are you looking at a robust year?

Given the early signs of the last 4 months, we are looking at growth picking up.

You revamped and repositioned Pepperfry last year. What was the reason behind it and how has it helped the brand?

It was actually a catch-up. Our old logo came before our tagline Happy Furniture to You. Our old logo had existed since 2013 and our tagline came up in 2014. The brand actually evolved every 6 months to one year. We were learning new things, developing new muscles and the logo launch that we did in November was to catch up to what Pepperfry had become  bolder, delivering a lot more smiles  and the new logo captures these aspects.

On a personal note, I dont know what to attribute our growth to  we launched our new logo in November, when the GST rollback also happened. Following this, our sales improved. Post November, we saw a lot of traction on social media, which had to do with the logo change. And as we relaunched, we also did a lot of content pieces with celebrities, etc. I now see that consumers are engaging with us a lot more.

How do plan to fine tune the logistics expansion?

Our logistics infrastructure is very large and we are very proud of it. It is very robust and the only thing is to expand it and have everything in place. The systems are in place for long haul movement from Bangalore and local movement in Bangalore. Systems like consumer interaction and feedback are all in place. We are today available in 500 cities across India, so there is not much expansion left but for some areas in Odisha, Bihar, etc., which we will fill in the next 6 months.

What is the kind of response that you are getting from consumers in Tier 2 and 3 markets?

For us, these two segments are the markets of the future. Currently, the top 8 cities give us 70 per cent of our business and the next 15 cities give us 15-20 per cent of the business. I believe that we have a lot of headroom to grow in the metros and the Tier 1 markets; Tier 3 and 4 will come later.

Indians have traditionally been hiring carpenters to make household furniture, what convinced Pepperfry to start an online furniture marketplace?

The consumer mindset has changed, we define our target audience as the 30-50 age group. Today, if you look at somebody who is in their 50s, their behaviour has changed, the mobile is the most important thing in their lives and they probably spend more time on it, they are also doing more important tasks on it. Lifestyles have changed, people today dont have time and are seeking convenience a lot more, and add to it the fact that people tend to optimise their time and get everything through their mobile phones. This is a trend that is here to stay, and it is happening across age groups. So, such a venture works for us.

Our biggest market is Bangalore, followed by Pune and Gurugram, which is much bigger than Chennai and Delhi. As far as use of carpenters is concerned, today a lot of such workforce is comprised of migrant population, who are not familiar with the local amenities or language. The other options available are a few high-end furniture shops who tend to overcharge the customers. Thus, Pepperfry becomes the perfect solution as one can view the furniture online, pick one that fits their budget and taste, and place the order from the comfort of their homes.

How much pressure do you foresee from e-commerce players like Amazon and Flipkart and now with IKEA entering the Indian market?

Amazon and Flipkart have been selling furniture for the past 3 years; this is a specialised market, the things that make large horizontals what they are. The scale, the traffic and the delivery system does not necessarily convert into spends in the furniture market. You need to have in place specialisation, design thinking, assembly, strong delivery service and large item logistics. All of these are not in their DNA and they need to develop it afresh. But we have all of these as we have focussed on it and we innovate on it very fast. I really think this is a game for the vertical specialist; the horizontals can dabble in it, but I dont know if they will be able to develop the capabilities that are specifically suited for this business.

Would you be expanding your soft furnishings this year?

We are planning to expand it. Its one of our key growth focus this year; globally, if you look at the home category, typically furniture constitutes 60 per cent, while the rest comprises soft furnishings. For us, the skew is a little steep and the rest contributes around 20-odd per cent. There is big headroom for growth and we will be developing the supplies, the suppliers and also marketing it more aggressively during this year.

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Back in January, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that American objectives in Syria were to suppress any Islamic State (IS) resurgence, oust Bashar al-Assad from power, reduce Iranian influence, continue to back a Kurdish-dominated enclave and reassure our Turkish allies. This speech has now disappeared from the State Department website, along with all the former secretary of state's other pronouncements. And this week, President Donald Trump announced that American forces will soon be withdrawn from Syria, while the State Department put a hold on further stabilization assistance to areas liberated from IS.

Tillersons announced objectives were mutually incompatible and largely unachievable, even were the United States to sustain its modest level of military and economic engagement in Syria. Trumps announcement, therefore, makes some sense, but only if conditioned on a more modest set of conditions for withdrawal.

The absolute minimum condition compatible with Americas honor and credibility is to help its Kurdish allies negotiate an arrangement with the Damascus regime (and with Turkey) that affords them some degree of political autonomy and allows them to continue to secure their population in the east of the country. Simply walking away and allowing these former partners to be crushed between two hostile forces would be the worst debacle for America since the fall of South Vietnam. What future partner would want to risk blood to support shared interests if their fate is to be discarded as soon as convenient?

The second condition for leaving would significantly improve the chances of not having to return. The United States could offer to fully withdraw its forces from Syria and normalize relations with the government in Damascus once all foreign militias have also left the country. Assad has won the civil war. If he wants to keep Russian and Iranian advisers, there is little to stop him. But Hezbollah fighters should return to Lebanon, and the thousands of other Shiite militias should return to Afghanistan and the other lands from whence they came. If they do not and instead they remain and bring their families, the ethnic makeup of the country will be permanently altered and Israel will permanently face an Iranian proxy on a second front.

Fortunately, Assad has several reasons to want the militias to leave once his position is secured. First, their presence constrains the states sovereignty since Assad needs to account for these fighters interests in return for their contribution to the war effort. Second, the presence of foreign militias increases the risk that Israel would employ greater military force in Syria, one of the few things that truly threatens Assads fate at this point in the conflict. And finally, the withdrawal of foreign militias would also apply to many of the Sunni extremists that the regime is currently pushing into Idlib to kill or expel.

The apparent administration move to withhold stabilization assistance to those Syrians the United States has helped liberate from IS, destroying many of their communities in the process, would be both heartless and counterproductive. The United States and its international partners should offer stabilization and reconstruction assistance to any community in Syria that forms a representative local council that is ready to work with donors, even in regime-held areas, but particularly in regions where much of the damage has been the result of American-supported military operations.

The Syrian civil war has been a source of instability and radicalization extending throughout the Middle East. The quicker it is brought to a conclusion, the better it will be for Syrians and their neighbors. The Syrian state has been closely aligned with Russia and Iran for decades. Six or seven years ago, when the civil war began, there might have been a chance to force a change, but that opportunity has passed. The best that can be hoped for at this late stage is that post-war Syria is no worse than pre-war Syria. That means coming to terms with the regime on the condition that all the foreign militias leave. Assad himself will want these foreign fighters to leave once he no longer needs them. The sooner that day comes, the better.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  As Gazans continue to participate in mass protests amid heightened frustrations at their dire humanitarian situation, Qatari aid and infrastructure projects in the besieged strip have been dying out following the blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt since June 2017.

An Israeli study by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University found that the blockading quartet is working to stop the Qatari aid that enters through Israel from reaching the civilian population in Gaza. The researchers argue that Israel believes the Qatari support will help delay the inevitable confrontation between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The study stresses the difficulty and complexity of transferring the aid to Gaza since the blockade. Egypt has halted the movement of goods and raw materials from Qatar through the Rafah crossing and is pressuring Israel to do the same. The study suggests that increasing Qatari influence in Gaza would escalate tension between Israel and the Egyptian regime.

On March 17, the New Arab reported the formation of a US-Egyptian-Israeli committee to carry out humanitarian and relief tasks in Gaza, disregarding the Palestinian Authority and directly coordinating with US institutions linked to nongovernmental organizations in the Gaza Strip in order to maintain calm and avoid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The newspaper pointed out that the committee is basically working to reduce Qatars humanitarian role in the Strip, with which Egypt has become concerned as it struggles to regain control of the Palestinian dossier.

The chairman of Qatars Gaza Reconstruction Committee (QGRC), Ambassador Mohammed Al-Emadi, said in a press conference in Gaza Feb. 24 that there is great pressure on Qatar to abandon its humanitarian work in the Strip. Emadi noted in another press conference on Feb. 19 that his country will carry on providing assistance.

The QGRC was founded after the Israeli-Gaza war in 2012 with a grant from Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani amounting to $407 million. Its main task was to implement housing, agricultural and health projects, in addition to paving roads and fixing infrastructure.

A source from the QGRC, speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, said that while the committee has carried out 90% of its planned projects, the money is running out, and we are yet to find out whether or not the grant will be renewed." The source noted that Emadi had stressed during his recent visit that Qatar will focus on relief and humanitarian aid and not development projects and infrastructure, projects currently stalled due to the difficult economic situation in the Strip. The Qatari funds announced during the International Conference on Palestine and Reconstructing Gaza in Cairo in 2014 only amount to a few million dollars out of the pledged billion in funds.

Political analyst and writer Hani Habib told Al-Monitor that Egypt sees the Gaza Strip as critical to Egyptian national security given the geopolitical situation linking the two regions. Cairo believes that Qatars role in providing humanitarian support to Gaza and its support of the Palestinian cause in general come at the expense of Egypt and squeeze it out of the picture. He stressed that the state of polarization resulting from the blockade on Qatar has directly affected Egyptian-Qatari relations.

Israel seems to be two-timing both Qatar and Egypt. It is trying to please Qatar by allowing it to bring in its aid to the Gaza Strip, all the while winning Egypt over by claiming it is allowing the entry of the Qatari aid to Gaza to ward off a possible confrontation between Tel Aviv and Gaza, Habib said. Israel is counting on the US in the coming period to ease Egypts anger toward Qatars support to Gaza."

He continued, The Gaza Strip is a consumer and vital market for Egyptian goods. Stopping Qatari aid serves Egypts economic and political interests. He pointed out that excluding Qatar from the Palestinian scene was predictable since it was not an honest sponsor of the Palestinian reconciliation given its bias to Hamas, saying that Egypt has proven its efficiency in ending the division.

The head of the political science department at Al-Azhar University, Mukhaimer Abu Saada, told Al-Monitor that Egypt thinks of the Gaza Strip as its own backyard, and thus does not want any foreign intervention, particularly by Qatar, which supports political Islam groups strongly opposed by Cairo.

He explained that any interference would mean competing with Egypt, noting that Israel does not want to prevent Qatari aid from entering through its crossings for fear the security situation in the Gaza Strip will escalate. Qatar is the only Arab country that has influenced Hamas' political decisions since Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal moved from Damascus to Doha. This why Israel does not want to exclude Qatar, he said.

Abu Saada pointed out that Hamas will not accept the funding that the UAE may send through dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan to the Gaza Strip to avoid alienating Qatar. Hamas is well-aware that this would only aim to marginalize it and force it out of the political Islam circle, which includes Qatar, Turkey and Iran, he added.

Political analyst Mustafa al-Sawaf said Israel will not respond to Egyptian pressure. A recent Qatari grant in February had amounted to $9 million and aimed to ease the situation in the Strip and prevent it from imploding, Sawaf told Al-Monitor.

Economic analyst Amen Abu Aisha told Al-Monitor that the Qatari aid and projects have failed to effect overall economic growth, noting that politically linked financing is conditional and seeks only to achieve a certain agenda.
A group of 300 conservative figures in Iran wrote an open letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asking for structural reforms for the country. The letter, which was published on various Telegram channels, was billed as an open letter from officials of revolutionary organizations and student activists  about existing concerns regarding the state of the Islamic Republic and the need for fundamental reforms. The letter is rare given that calls for reform addressed directly to the supreme leader typically do not come from the right but from Reformist figures or groups.

The letter stated that while these groups of activists have written about the state of the country regarding their concerns, they have never written to Khamenei directly. However, in accordance with their view, day by day the government is resembling a lifeless body and breaking from within  and in consideration that the country needs structural and fundamental reforms  and no other official has the discretion, they decided it was time to address Khamenei directly.

The letter addressed the problems with the institutions of the government, meaning the entire Islamic Republic and those institutions that operate under the supreme leader and not just the institutions under the Hassan Rouhani administration. The letter said that the problems with these institutions are neither small nor big, but that they essentially operate contrary to the purposes for which they exist.

The letter then criticized the different branches of government. Regarding the presidents powers, the letter said that they have been decreased and  given the situation of engineered elections (a criticism of the Guardian Council that vets candidates for the elections) and people having to choose between bad and worse during the elections  people do not see the administration as a part of them but rather standing against them. On Irans parliament, the letter said that parliamentarians are elected by spending vast amounts of money and lobbying and through conducting transactions with other government officials, and they are no longer the peoples house  as it is often referred to.

The letter referred to Irans judiciary as an organization that, instead of people seeking it out when their rights have been violated, has been turned into an abusive and oppressive institution. The letter said that the Assembly of Experts and Friday prayer leaders across the country have an important function to guide society, but these individuals themselves are guided by others. The letter also attacked big economic groups that were set up by the government to help out the poor but have failed in their duties.

One of the more startling aspects of the letter is that it directly criticized the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for its influence in political, economic, judicial and cultural matters. It criticized the organization's unaccountable budget that has increased in the last several years. The Intelligence Organization of the IRGC operates under the supreme leader and has become in the last decade one of the most powerful and oppressive bodies under the Islamic Republic.

The letter was short on recommendations on how to address the problems. A more open environment for elections was one of the major recommendations. The letters were signed by those close to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been writing his own letters to the supreme leader and has been battling the judiciary over the imprisonment of his vice president over corruption charges.
Following the sudden resignation of Tehran Mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi last month, speculation has been growing that Mohsen Hashemi, the eldest son of the late former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, could become his successor. However, it seems as if the Reformists are not in favor of such a move and could thus prevent him from obtaining the post. Yet after two failed attempts, the younger Hashemi seems to be closer than ever to becoming Tehrans mayor.

Sept. 8, 2013, was in all likelihood a memorable but bitter day for Hashemi as the Tehran City Council re-elected his rival, then-Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, for a third term in office. Although Mohsen came close to winning and had the same number of votes as his rival in the first round of voting, Ghalibaf succeeded in winning over the council members in the runoff. Four years later, in May 2017, the Reformists released a 21-member list of candidates for the Tehran City Council elections later that month. This list, which was drawn up with the supervision and emphasis of former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami, succeeded in winning all the seats on the Tehran City Council. Hashemi, who was the lead candidate on the ticket, has been at the center of speculation about his becoming mayor ever since. This is particularly the case since he refused a pre-vote agreement with the Reformists, which obliged successful City Council candidates to refrain from running for mayor.

The Reformists, particularly those close to the Union of Islamic Iran Peoples Party, were not too keen on the idea of Hashemi becoming mayor. They argued that their coalition victory would be endangered if Hashemi decided to run for mayor and would thus leave the door open for the 22nd council seat to go to former council chairman Mehdi Chamran, thus opening the door for a Principlist in the Reformist-controlled body.

Meanwhile, another major pro-reform group, the Executives of Construction Party, supported Hashemi as mayor. In the end, he was not considered for the post, and another Executives of Construction Party member, Mohammad Ali Najafi, was elected as mayor amid strong Principlist opposition.

On March 14, barely seven months after taking office, Najafi resigned from his post, citing illness. The Tehran City Council has not officially accepted his resignation yet, although Najafi on several occasions has announced that he is serious about his decision to step down. While the former education minister has attributed the resignation to being a consequence of a recommendation from his doctors, there are reports that he in fact was under political pressure to resign.

Given the situation at hand, Hashemi may be the most likely candidate to replace him. Unlike Najafi, he has drawn fewer reactions from the Principlists and conservatives. Indeed, while Hashemi is a member of the Executives of Construction Party, he has never been a true Reformist. Instead, he has continuously been operating within the ideational framework of his late father, who was a moderate. Najafi, on the other hand, is a full-fledged Reformist. Indeed, ahead of the disputed 2009 presidential elections, he was a senior member of defeated candidate and later opposition leader Mehdi Karroubis campaign.

Hashemi is still facing opposition from the more radical Reformists who insist that his departure from the city council to become mayor will pave the way for Chamrans return. However, although this is never openly stated, these politicians have their doubts about the extent of Hashemis devotion to the Reform movement.

Prominent Iranian political analyst Saeed Laylaz told Al-Monitor, Mohsen Hashemi may be an option for the Tehran mayorship, but he is certainly not the only one. Given the current atmosphere in the Tehran City Council, with different Reform parties and movements each having a different share, there are other possible options. Laylaz added, An individual such as Habibollah Bitaraf, who was nominated as energy minister for President Hassan Rouhanis second administration but failed to win a vote of confidence, could also be a potential replacement for Najafi.

Of note, while all 21 members of the Tehran City Council were on the same winning Reformist ticket, they belong to a variety of pro-reform groups and movements.

In an interview March 15, Mohammad Naeemipour, a member of the Union of Islamic Iran Peoples Party, said, The Executives of Construction Party members have insisted that Najafi resign in their private meetings. This claim sparked great controversy and was quickly denied by the Executives of Construction Party. The groups secretary-general, Gholamhossein Karbaschi, rejected the claim in a March 19 interview, but added, I always considered Mohsen Hashemi to be the better choice for mayor due to his experience in the [Tehran] municipality.

Not all City Council members have entered the debate on Najafis successor and are instead trying to convince him to rescind his resignation. On March 17, Mohammad Alikhani, the head of the City Council's transportation commission, said, Mohsen Hashemi becoming mayor is the publics request, but he has no desire for it.

Meanwhile, Hashemi has made no comments on the issue so far.

In the first Tehran City Council meeting in the new Iranian year, held April 3, Najafi was reported to have quickly left the session while maintaining his wish to resign. If council members accept his resignation, the Reformists will probably launch a new round of campaigning in the media to introduce and support their candidate of choice. This time, Mohsen Hashemi seems to be closer than ever to securing the post.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in Baghdad on March 31 to take a look at the state of military operations to secure Iraq's borders. Iraqi security forces are primarily concerned about the 372-mile border between Iraq and Syria. Iraqi border guards regularly fend off Islamic State (IS) attacks, which have recently involved arms smuggling operations into and out of Syria across the shared border.

On March 18, the Directorate of Military Intelligence foiled an operation transporting weapons from Syria to Ninevah. The directorate said in a statement, accompanied by photos, that it had confiscated a vehicle loaded with light weapons, rifles, blasting detonators, anti-tank launchers, machine guns and other weapons in Badush, a village northwest of Mosul. On March 8, security forces interrupted another gun run, this one headed to Afrin from Mosul. Afrin was the site of battles at the time between the Turkish army and its Free Syrian Army allies against US-backed Kurdish forces.

In mid-2012, arms smuggling between Syria and Iraq soared, and the prices for light and medium weapons on the Iraqi black market rose due to increased demand when protests in Syria descended into civil war. The Iraqi government acknowledged that it was aware of the influx of weapons and Iraqi jihadis into Syria to fight regime forces there. The current situation is different from that phase, during which large segments of the Iraq-Syria border were essentially under IS control, one of the factors that led to one-third of Iraqi territory falling into the hands of IS, in June 2014.

Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on terrorist groups who works as a security adviser to several security departments in Iraq, told Al-Monitor, The situation has changed, and the borders are now in the hands of the security forces.

Mohammad Ibrahim, head of the Ninevah provincial council's security committee, told Al-Monitor, There are some [security] gaps on the border between Iraq and Syria, and IS is using them to smuggle weapons. But the security forces are heavily present on the borders and are working on filling these gaps.

Ibrahim further said, Arms are smuggled several times a month into Mosul due to the [porous security] situation in the city and sleeper IS cells. The security forces are conducting raids and searches and are making intelligence efforts to halt the operations. He also stated firmly, The only party benefiting from arms smuggling is IS, nobody else. According to Ibrahim, IS is also transferring weapons into Syria to its fighters who remain there after being defeated and forced out of Raqqa, the group's former stronghold in that country.

Hashimi seems more optimistic than in the past about the state of security and arms smuggling and denied that smuggling operations are steadily ongoing between Syria and Iraq.

The borders are now in the hands of the pro-Iraqi government security forces from the Iraqi side, Hashimi said. On the Syrian side, the terrorist groups are now far from the  border, and the Syrian borders are under the watch of forces that the US and the international alliance trust.

At an April 2 press conference, Iraqi Interior Minister Qasim al-Araji emphasized that better border control is needed in the post-IS era, including use of intelligence, and to this end Iraq is coordinating with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan to secure common borders. Although border control could easily be established with these relatively stable neighbors, Syria is trickier, as no central government force controls the country's land borders. Rough desert conditions and high elevations further complicate patrolling along the Iraqi-Syrian demarcation.

Hashimi noted that Iraq had dug several border trenches to hinder illegal passage using vehicles. Border control patrols have also been increased to foil IS attacks on security forces stationed along the border and arms smuggling.

It seems accurate to assume that controlling Iraq's border with Syria will remain a difficult undertaking as long as Syrian security remains unstable.
RABAT, Morocco  Moroccos Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit accused the Justice and Charity Party (Al Adl Wal Ihsane), Democratic Way Party (Annahj) and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights of standing behind the ongoing protests in the northeastern city of Jerada near the border with Algeria. The protests broke out following the death of two brothers in one of the unlicensed coal mines in the city at the end of December.

Speaking April 2 at the meeting of the parliamentary Committee of the Interior and Local Authorities, Laftit said that the legally banned Islamic radical group, the radical left-wing party and the rights association known for its anti-government positions have never acknowledged any of the governments positive steps in the past years.

During the meeting that was held to discuss the situation in Jerada, the interior minister accused these parties of seeking to spread protests across the country and said that what is happening in Jerada is organized and planned.

Jeradas mass protests broke out following the death of two brothers who died under the rubble in a mine. Coal mines in Jerada were the main source of income for the citys 40,000 residents until the government decided to shut them down at the end of the 1990s, leaving no suitable economic alternatives. Residents continued mining coal with cruder and unsafe methods that have caused the deaths of dozens since then.

The Jerada demonstrations are part of the wave of protests that has been sweeping Morocco for years now, the latest being the demonstrations in Al Hoceima, where residents have been complaining of neglect and marginalization.

Meanwhile, Jeradas protesters have been calling upon the government to hold officials accountable, provide economic alternatives for residents, reduce water and electricity bills and release activists who were arrested, according to activist Karim al-Saidi.

The government announced Feb. 10 the outline of a plan to respond to the demands of the demonstrators during the prime minister's visit with a ministerial delegation to the eastern part of the country .

Saidi told Al-Monitor that this plan is all false promises, and that nothing has been achieved so far, which is why the protests have been ongoing.

On March 13, the Interior Ministry circulated an official communique to the media, accusing some parties of inciting protests. The communique stated that the ministry has the right to enforce law and order in the city of Jerada by preventing illegal demonstrations and dealing firmly with irresponsible behaviors.

Following a video that went viral on social media showing security vehicles running over demonstrators, the Ministry of Interior informed the judicial authorities March 15 of the need to investigate the charges against activists accused of disseminating what it called fabricated photographs and videos, suggesting that the Moroccan security is cracking down on demonstrators.

The government denied the claims, responding that there were casualties among the police. Several activists were apprehended shortly after, including some affiliated with Al Adl Wal Ihsane, namely the groups leader Al-Bashir Abed.

On its website, Al Adl Wal Ihsane said the arrests were merely a way for the government to evade responding to the demands of demonstrators. The party did not deny that many of its members took part in the protests that have been sweeping the country for years.

According to Driss Ganbouri, a Moroccan writer and researcher of Islamic movements, the partys statement was confusing. Ganbouri told Al-Monitor that the party first denied its involvement in Al Hoceima's protests only to confirm it later.

The party is taking advantage of the situation, joining hands with radical left-wing movements, with which it shares only one goal: antagonizing the state. It does not seek reform or political participation, Ganbouri told Al-Monitor.

Al-Monitor also spoke to sources on the ground who said that members from Al Adl Wal Ihsane and Annahj are pushing demonstrators to keep the protests going and to organize more.

These protests should be a red flag to the state to lend an ear to the communities that are remote from the center, as they are a ticking bomb that might explode any moment, Omar Iharchan, a member of the partys General Secretariat, told Al-Monitor. He considers the party a safety valve for the community and only playing its normal role in society.

He added, Some people are trying to accuse Al Adl Wal Ihsane of stirring up problems instead of focusing on the governments failure to respond to the peoples demands."

Jeradas protests continue against the background of mutual accusations between the government and the protesters. The latter are accusing the former of stalling in meeting their demands, while the government claims that these protests are staged and pushing subversive agendas.

The jury is still out on whether the implementation of the project of the Advanced Regionalization will be resolve the stalemate, coupled with a boost in the economy as a result of Moroccos efforts in Africa.
The leaders of Iran, Turkey and Russia met this week in Ankara to discuss potential political solutions to the Syrian civil war, while solidifying their positions as decision-makers, working to settle their own differences and agreeing to counter external "challengers" in the Syrian peace process: the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The presidents  Russia's Vladimir Putin, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani  don't seek to encroach on the legitimacy of the Geneva peace talks. Yet given the developments of recent months in and around Syria, the leaders have come to believe the real shots regarding Syria are being called in the meetings among themselves. And while Geneva is stalled, if not comatose, conditions on the ground are fast-changing. These three stakeholders in the Syria conflict feel theyd be better positioned to drive change themselves rather than waiting until it starts.

They consider their process as complementary to the Geneva talks. Their talks have also become an opportunity for each president to enlist support from the other two for what his country is most concerned with.

Hence, Erdogan spoke of Turkeys significant role in defeating the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and its efforts against the People's Protection Units. According to Erdogan, the Kurdish group poses a threat to Syria's "territorial integrity."

During a news conference about the April 4 meeting, Rouhani praised the defeat of IS and stressed, Some superpowers, including the United States, would like to use the terrorist groups of [IS] and Jabhat al-Nusra [also called Jabhat Fatah al-Sham] as an instrument of controlling this region.

All three leaders, however, tried to make it clear they are consolidated on key matters and will withstand outside efforts to sow discord within the troika alliance and foil its work to solve Syria's problems.

There are certain circles that have divided this territory among themselves, but this will not do for us. We are not taking it seriously, Erdogan said. While the Turkish president didn't mention what circles he was alluding to, his Iranian counterpart didnt mince words.

The Americans [and] the Israelis were unsuccessfully trying to get in our way.  They wanted to help terrorists so that they could govern the region, and they wanted to make it so that the threat would linger on until the present, as this would be in [their interests]. They create a lot of problems for us.  This is exactly what we have agreed on today. The adversaries of our region planned to ruin Syria, but they are failing, Rouhani stated at the news conference.

Putin described his concern in more general terms, talking about "the growing number of attempts to deepen ethnic and religious differences in Syrian society in order to break up the country and to preserve the conflict potential of the Middle East for years to come.

The parties reiterated their commitment to past decisions and outlined an action plan for the next few months. Putin noted they intend to keep the focus  on the political settlement of the Syrian crisis or, more precisely, promote an inclusive intra-Syrian dialogue  as soon as possible. In his view, this should include forming a constitutional committee under the aegis of the UN in Geneva, where the Syrians can independently determine the main parameters of state structure for a new Syria. Earlier, Damascus rejected the idea of such a committee.

Another practical area of cooperation for the three states will be joint efforts within the working group established March 15 in Astana, Kazakhstan. The group will be dealing with liberating hostages, transferring the dead and searching for the missing. Russia and Turkey will also build a hospital in Syrias city of Tell Abyad to treat refugees escaping eastern Ghouta.

The three presidents also agreed to step up trilateral coordination in all aspects of anti-terrorist activity and increase information exchange, which implies constant cooperation of the militaries and intelligence services. They also declared they will focus on humanitarian efforts. Their joint statement emphasized they are determined to speed up efforts to ensure calm on the ground and expedite the return of refugees.

The current humanitarian situation in Syria is terrible," Rouhani said. Erdogan added, We are carrying out the rebuilding process, all the three guarantor states.  [We] will move forward together confidently.

Putin said, Everybody is talking about the need to join the humanitarian relief effort for starters, but no one is doing anything practical except Iran, Turkey and Russia. We see minor supplies from the United Nations, but this is clearly not enough. And definitely there needs to be joint work to restore Syrias economy, restore the infrastructure."

Recovery efforts, as critical as they are to restoring the Syrian state and ending humanitarian tragedy, could become an unspoken race for influence in post-war Syria. This is just one of many issues the three must settle.

Russian companies are already taking an active part [in constructing social and infrastructure facilities]. Indicatively, they have begun some projects in areas that were only recently run by militants, Putin said at the press conference. Earlier, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak noted that Moscow is cooperating with Syria's energy and oil ministries on some projects, and Russian companies are studying possible geological probes with Syria.

The trio also discussed the issue of exerting political control over a government in Damascus. A primary question for Moscow, once balance is restored, is whether embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be able to maintain stability in the country without direct Russian military support, including the air force. Beyond that, however, Russian interests could arguably be secured through means that don't necessarily imply territorial control. Given the geography and regional geopolitics, land disputes appear to be a bigger issue between Turkey and Iran.

In this regard, shifting Syrian demographics  including forced displacement of one ethnic group for others  and the future of Idlib, which increasingly looks like a dumping ground for radical groups, raise security concerns in Tehran and Damascus. Some in Russia suggest Turkey is working these factors to ensure leverage over Assad and to have a louder voice in the future political transition.

If that's the case, Rouhanis reported call for Turkish forces to hand over the Syrian region of Afrin to the Syrian army signals that Iran wants to further empower Assad. This should be seen as disguised concern about a potential rise in Turkeys role in northern Syria and in determining the country's political future.

While these don't all appear to be immediate concerns, Russia, Turkey and Iran have formed a circle of friendship in Syria to keep others out, even though the three have varying degrees of interaction with these outsiders.

A Russian diplomat privy to the summit discussions told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the trio's members believe they are stronger together.

Iran, Russia and Turkey are countries with different political cultures, different foreign policy practices and different interests. Although these differences remain and sometimes are bitter, we are trying to settle them with dialogue. At least [we're] offering solutions that could end the seven years of war. We have a vision of how to manage these things. Those who criticize our actions or our partnership do not have such vision. Their agenda hasnt changed throughout these years; they're in the 'game of denial.' So what we are doing now is fairly unique, he said.
The unprecedented, six-week peaceful protests that began with Land Day on March 30 in Gaza and are supposed to reach a climax on Nakba Day on May 15 have been largely confined to the Gaza Strip.

While the large, nonviolent protests have been led by an independent committee in Gaza, they were supported by all Palestinian nationalist PLO factions as well as Islamic ones.

PLO and Islamic factions have their leaders and followers in the West Bank also, so why didnt they coordinate with each other and hold simultaneous protest activities?

Anees Sweidan, the director of the PLOs international relations department, told Al-Monitor that in fact Palestinians in the West Bank have been constantly protesting for some time at near every flashpoint with the Israelis. The situation in Gaza is different from that in the West Bank, and therefore they require a different set of responses to the Israelis.

One of the major differences between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is that Gaza has been under a crippling economic siege and severe travel ban. Even medical cases have to receive permits from Israel, although a considerable number are regularly turned down.

The percentage of Palestinians who lost their homes and land in 1948 (in what is now referred to as the Nakba, or catastrophe) is much bigger in Gaza. According to the records of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), 1.3 million registered refugees live in the Gaza Strip compared to 800,000 in the West Bank. The numbers appear much greater when compared to the overall population.

The 2017 Global Report on Food Crisis indicated that 27% of people living in the West Bank and 70% living in Gaza are registered refugees.

While the number and percentage of refugees is larger, the number of refugee camps in Gaza (eight), according to UNRWA, is much smaller than the 19 refugee camps spread throughout the West Bank. With fewer camps and a denser population, it is easier to organize large groups of people to protest.

The economic differences are also very stark. Sami Awad, the executive director of the Bethlehem-based Holy Land Trust, told Al-Monitor that many Gazans have little to lose. The underlying trigger that erupted the Gaza nonviolent protest movement at this time is the living conditions. The question is, What do we have to lose? In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian population has reached the point where there is nothing more to lose. Gazans are on the brink of one of the worst humanitarian disasters. In the West Bank, protesting [even nonviolently] comes with a greater loss than in Gaza.

Although the demographics and economics might answer the question, one main difference between Gaza and the West Bank is the reaction of the security forces in charge. Whereas in Gaza Hamas security forces have made it easy for protesters and have provided them with what they need, in the West Bank the Palestinian security forces that are still coordinating their efforts with the Israeli army will not allow mass protests.

Awad, whose organization trains leaders in nonviolence tactics, told Al-Monitor that the security situation is also a major obstacle. The Israeli military and political establishment knows and understands fully the power of nonviolent resistance and has in the past. This establishment will do anything in the future to stop, discourage or undermine Palestinians who engage in nonviolence. Awad concedes that the Palestinian security coordination shifts the effort to crush protests to the Palestinian security, while in Gaza the Israelis are forced to deal with it directly.

The violent deadly response of the Israeli army, as painful as it is, only shows the threat to Israel that nonviolence brings, he said.

Mubarak Awad, the founder of Washington DC-based NonViolence International, suggests that the people of Jerusalem should take the lead in the West Bank protests. Despite the overwhelming Palestinian security restriction on large protests, if 20 protests are organized at the same time in the West Bank, the PLO security will be outnumbered. Also, the people in Jerusalem can protest, and they will be able to do so because they will be out of the reach of the Palestinian security forces, Awad, who was deported by Israel in 1988, told Al-Monitor.

While the two major Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, are publicly on the record as supporting peaceful protests, it appears from what has been happening in Gaza that the chances for the success of large numbers of Palestinians protesting in Gaza is much higher than in the West Bank for a variety of reasons  not the least because of the absence of national unity.

Palestinians in Gaza have shown that nonviolent protests can do more to shake up Israel and the world community than more violent means of protests. Leaders in the West Bank are too engrossed in the post-Mahmoud Abbas succession process to pay serious attention to this useful form of protest.
The Palestinian reconciliation between Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Hamas has officially failed after Abbas accused the Islamist movement, in a speech at a Palestinian leadership gathering last month, of perpetrating the attack that targeted the motorcade of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on March 13. The attack left seven security guards wounded, but Hamdallah escaped unharmed.

In the speech, Abbas addressed the reconciliation and said there had been zero progress in reconciliation due to Hamas, and he vowed to impose a fresh set of sanctions and end all aid payments to the Gaza Strip.

However, Abbas seems to be reluctant to impose fresh sanctions on the Gaza Strip in the midst of the Israeli attack on Gaza protesters that killed at least 17 and injured over 1,000. Egypt is trying to persuade him not to impose the new sanctions. So far, nothing is confirmed.

Hamas denied any involvement in the explosion that targeted Hamdallah. Hamas condemned in a press release what it termed the Palestinian president's baseless accusations, which it said burns bridges and aggravates the division, and called for general elections so that the Palestinian people can choose their leadership.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum responded in a Facebook post, accusing PA officials of complicity in the attack against the prime minister.

An investigation by Hamas Interior Ministry found that a man named Anas Abu Khoussa was the prime orchestrator of the bombing. In an attempt to arrest the man, who was in hiding, a shootout broke out between Abu Khoussa, two accomplices and Hamas security forces that left Abu Khoussa killed along with one accomplice. Two Hamas security officers also died.

A Gaza Interior Ministry press conference March 28 said the investigation found that the perpetrators were a part of a Salafi cell. The investigation included video confessions of accomplices in the attack. PA officials, though, rejected the findings and said the whole investigation was a circus.

According to analysts, the reconciliation was already crumbling before this latest incident, but the incident officially terminated it and possibly terminated any hope for a future reconciliation. This comes as a disappointment to all the Palestinians who were hopeful, at least compared with previous rounds, that this round of talks would be the one to bear fruit.

This round of talks commenced on Sept. 17, when Hamas acquiesced to conditions set by Abbas to lift his sanctions and revive the reconciliation process: Hamas dissolved the administrative committee, a body in Gaza that was deemed by Abbas to be a parallel government; invited the consensus government to come to Gaza to assume its responsibilities and duties; and agreed to hold general elections in the near future. Abbas welcomed the decision by Hamas.

The reasons that led Hamas to comply with Abbas conditions at the time were believed to be a combination of three factors.

First was Egyptians arbitration efforts  which induced Hamas to take the abovementioned initiative.

The second was the new, more open-minded Hamas leadership led by Yahya Sinwar, who was upfront about Hamas' being a part of the problem and reportedly apologized on a number of occasions to Gazas young people for Hamas role in the division. Since the commencement of the new reconciliation round, Sinwar  Hamas' new head in Gaza  started cracking down on the self-interested and division-opposed Hamas members and was highly devoted to ensuring the success of the reconciliation to the point where he threatened to break the necks of those in Hamas who hamper the success of the reconciliation.

The third reason was the critically tough position that Abbas-imposed sanctions on Gaza put Hamas in. The PA president imposed those sanctions in June 2017 to force the Islamist movement to give up its control of the Gaza Strip. Those sanctions reportedly crippled the economy in just months, creating a sense of unique urgency within Hamas to comply to Abbas conditions.

Troubles emerged right after the Hamdallah government arrived in Gaza to assume its responsibilities after Hamas acquiescence. PA officials led by Azzam Al-Ahmad started to complain about the absence of a full enablement of the government in Gaza, allegations that Hamas denied.

According to three analysts Al-Monitor spoke with, after Hamas was successfully pressured to acquiesce to Abbas conditions, Abbas insatiably wanted more and wanted to twist Hamas arm more to the point where he asked Hamas to turn over its arms, which is deemed by Hamas as a red line.

At that time, Sinwar said at a gathering of Gazan youth on Dec. 20 that the national reconciliation was falling apart because the concept of the reconciliation to some means terminating the resistance and turning over the arms and the tunnels.

Sinwar added, Hamas gave up control over all of the ministries and the crossings in Gaza, and we took tough and decisive measures to achieve the reconciliation  to which Azzam Al-Ahmad responded in an interview with Baladna channel, The percentage of the government enablement in Gaza is zero, and Hamas does not want the reconciliation."

Members of Hamas also complained in the midst of the talks that Abbas hasnt lifted the sanctions as he promised if Hamas agreed to his conditions, to which PA officials said that they will be lifted after the "full enablement" of the government."

Both sides started throwing daily accusations at each other of being adamant for division and opposed to reconciliation. That led the public to begin seeing that this round of talks was no different that those in the past.

An anonymous source close to Hamas inner circle told Al-Monitor that the failure of the unity talks led to the following: The new, open-minded Hamas leadership started to lose confidence among Hamas ranks, and Sinwar has been labeled in the movement as the naive one who put too much trust in the PA. The source said this new Hamas leadership has seen its hold on power to start to slip, with hard-liners such as Mahmoud Al-Zahar and Fathi Hammad beginning to pick up the slack.

The reconciliation talks had practically failed before the prime minister incident, but whatever scattered remnants of hopes there were for a reconciliation have been possibly irreversibly destroyed by the recent clash over the assassination attempt of the Palestinian prime minister. Now Hamas is going to be desperately seeking any alternative, and Abbas will strangulate Hamas and Gaza to the detonation point, political analyst Muhammed Shehada told Al-Monitor.

On the point of Hamas seeking alternatives, Hamas is currently providing its full support to the Great Return March movement  the peaceful movement that calls for the right of return for Palestinian refugees and that mobilized on March 30 tens of thousands of refugees who participated in mass sit-ins near the borders and who were attacked by the Israeli army. The clashes resulted in the killing of at least 17 Palestinians and injury of over 1,400. Palestinians are expected to participate in more demonstrations April 6.

Shehada said that while the original organizers behind the demonstrations have been explicitly seeking the right of return for Palestinian refugees, Hamas leaders more practically want these popular protests to put pressure on Israel and Egypt to change the status quo in Gaza.

The reconciliation process has always been a baffling and a chaotic one, and the Palestinians generally do not know whom to blame. But the latest poll, which was conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research after the explosion that targeted the Palestinian prime minister's motorcade, showed 45% of people blaming the PA and Abbas for the failure of the reconciliation; 15% blame Hamas; and 27% do not know whom to blame.
Londoner of Somali origin cares about more than just fashion and is not afraid to speak out against racism.

I aint no kendall jenner but Im a black muslim girl from east london thats about to finesse the modelling industry.

Those are the words of a tweet penned in November last year by Shahira Yusuf, known in the fashion world only as Shahira, that has been shared almost 60,000 times.

At 20 years old and standing tall at 511, the Londoner is one of a handful of Muslim models who proudly wears the hijab as she sashays down the runway.

In recent years, model agencies have recruited a few young, visibly Muslim women in a bid to both capitalise on the Muslim market and to increase diversity on the catwalk.

Shahira Yusuf was discovered on the streets of London by a prominent talent scout [Courtesy: Felicity Ingram]





Shahiras turn came when she was 17; she was approached on the streets of London by Sarah Doukas, founder of Storm Model Management, an agency that represents some of the worlds most recognisable faces.

Al Jazeera spoke to Shahira, who has Somali origins, about the moment she was discovered, her concerns about the world and why she doesnt resent labels.

On the meaning behind that viral tweet 

I get asked this very frequently, and I understand it can be interpreted in different ways.

But the tweet simply meant, I am not a model that comes from a tremendously successful, nor privileged background, but I am a Black Muslim that is going to take the industry by storm.

On representation in the fashion industry 

I do feel that the fashion industry has made some changes, but I dont think itd be right to conclude Yes! The fashion industry is representative! just because improvements have been made.

I do believe that an effort is being made, especially in recent times, though theres a lot more that can be done.

Equal representation of models of different ethnic and religious backgrounds is about being completely inclusive. You shouldn't pick and choose when to be inclusive.

In my personal opinion, I feel like theres more representation within mainstream fashion than high-end fashion. And you often see the drastic differences in campaigns or runway shows.

For me, equal representation of models of different ethnic and religious backgrounds is about being completely inclusive. You shouldnt pick and choose when to be inclusive; it should be something thats a no-brainer and always done. Unfortunately, something thats so easy to do isnt practised to the degree that it should be. It should be a norm, not a trend.

On being discovered 

I was scouted at the age of 17 by the founder of Storm Model Management, Sarah Doukas. I was with a friend just casually strolling down the streets of central London, and Sarah must have tapped me on the shoulder and asked me some questions, such as if I modelled, ever considered modelling, and if I wanted to.

I was very confused, it all happened so fast but I remember at the time saying I wasnt really interested.

Shahira Yusuf says she will continue to use her platform to campaign about the issues that concern her [Courtesy: Ronan Mckenzie]





I was only 17, and for some reason, I was scouted frequently. To this day I still am, so I didnt really think too much of it. I was given a scout card but did not take the opportunity up until late 2017, at age 20.

I remember approaching Storm with my sister and it felt so surreal at first. But the agents made me feel welcome immediately, and I pretty much became a Storm model that day.

On whether labels should be resented or celebrated 

I guess its dependent upon the label Im given. Of course, if its Muslim, hijabi and black, for instance, I cannot resent it. It makes me who I am, and Im very proud of who I am. So why would I resent it?

However, I understand that for some people they dont agree with being categorised under labels, but labels such as those are what makes up ones identity.

On concerns about the world 

Honestly, what am I not concerned about should be the question. As sad as it is, there are way more things many of us are concerned about than not concerned about.

If we truly scrutinise the state of the world today, would it be wrong to feel futile?

I couldn't label the entire nation racist, but heck, no one can deny that the West has been built upon imperialism, colonisation and slavery.

Tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower, the enslavement of black Africans in places like Libya, the bombings in Ghouta, Syria, the mistreatment of Rohingya Muslims, my home country Somalia and many more.

On racism in Britain 

I couldnt label the entire nation racist, but heck, no one can deny that the West has been built upon imperialism, colonisation and slavery.

I feel its important to use social media to raise awareness of social issues such as racism. It exists, and I could never turn a blind eye to something I feel so strongly against.

On whether models should be role models 

My personal stance on this is, models dont choose to be role models. Neither does anyone really. Its kind of inevitable, especially in creative fields.

As for young children looking up to people as role models, I believe the parents should perhaps have that conversation with their child.

No ones perfect. When it comes to labelling people good and bad role models  its just important children understand that role models are human, and are able to distinguish morally good actions from bad.

On the future 

I genuinely just want to continue to find my feet in this big, opportunistic world. I, of course, am excited to see my modelling career further, perhaps land myself some covers in the future, and simply continue to build myself as a model. I also look forward to doing some more travelling, and definitely see myself further immersing myself in charity or organisational work.

This interview was edited for clarity and length.
On 22 June 2017, 15-year-old Junaid, a Muslim boy, boarded a train at the Sadar Bazar railway station in North Delhi. Junaid, his brother Hashim, and two others had gone to Delhi to shop for the Eid festival and were returning home to Haryana, just a few stops away. This would be his last journey. He was stabbed to death on the train by a mob when an alleged argument over a seat turned into an attack based on religious identity. Religious slurs were hurled at Junaid and his companions, they were derided for eating beef, their skullcaps thrown away, their beards pulled, and they were slapped and kicked. Junaid, Hashim and their brother Sakir, who boarded the train to rescue his brothers, were repeatedly stabbed. Junaids body and his two injured brothers were then thrown on to the railway station platform.

Nine months after Junaid was killed, two of the six accused who had been arrested are still in custody. Fifteen witnesses have been examined. The Supreme Court is reexamining a plea for a CBI investigation into the murder. Jalaluddin, Junaids father, maintains that deep-rooted communal hatred against the community was behind the murder of his son. A suspicion that might be true in the face of growing evidence of hate crimes  criminal acts against people based on their real or perceived membership of a particular group, such as caste, religion or ethnicity  across India.

Two months after Junaids murder, Indias two-term Vice President Hamid Ansari, in his outgoing interview to Indias state broadcaster, stated that there is a feeling of unease and a sense of insecurity is creeping in among Muslims in India. Ansaris concerns are applicable not just to Muslims, but also to many other Indians who are being attacked for who they are.

Hate crimes against marginalised communities are not uncommon in India, with the highest number of reported crimes being against Dalits and Muslims. However, it is especially concerning when children or minors are the victims of hate crimes. During Amnesty International Indias research on hate crimes in India, we find a range of incidents being reported in the media that relate to violence inflicted on minors from marginalised communities.

In incidents across India, children from marginalised communities have been targeted because of their Dalit, Adivasi or Muslim identity. In some instances, they have been blinded, tortured, beaten publicly and electrocuted on absurd pretexts. This includes a range of allegations including stealing a pigeon, stealing corn, touching utensils, absenteeism from school or even answering natures call.

Impact of violence on children

Exposure to violence can have a lasting impact on a childs physical growth, self-esteem, and emotional and psychological well-being. A 2006 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) report (PDF) by the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children states Violence may result in greater susceptibility to lifelong social, emotional, and cognitive impairments and to health-risk behaviours, such as substance abuse and early initiation of sexual behaviour. Related mental health and social problems include anxiety and depressive disorders as well as aggressive behaviour. A report (PDF) by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs entitled Mental Health Matters, highlighted that some of the most common types of trauma reported among children include physical assault, emotional abuse, community violence, witnessing someone being hurt or killed, and loss of a loved one. Children develop coping mechanisms that range from internalisation to externalisation of trauma

In July 2016, a 15-year-old Dalit boy, shocked and traumatised by an alleged hate crime against him, had to move away from his family because he could not bring himself to continue living in the same area where he was attacked. Harsh Parmar was assaulted after his father refused to dispose of cattle carcasses from a village in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat. His father had pledged not to dispose of the carcasses in solidarity with a protest by Dalit leaders against the Una flogging incident where four Dalit youth were publicly flogged for skinning dead cattle, which was their profession. The attackers beat the boy for refusing to do the traditional work of Dalits, which was disposing of the carcasses.

Risk of engaging in criminal behaviour

The impact of exposure to violence is not restricted to the physical and psychological harm suffered by children who are victims or witnesses. In certain cases, children exposed to violence are at a higher risk of engaging in antisocial or criminal behaviour later in life and becoming part of a cycle of violence. The UNICEF International Child Development Centre has detailed in a report (PDF), There is no doubt that the direct experience of violence in childhood substantially increases the risk of subsequent violent behaviour.

When children are exposed to violence that is motivated by discrimination against people with a certain identity or members of a particular group, it is conceivable that they will internalise the discrimination and violence, and model their subsequent behaviour towards such people based on what they have learned from their environment.

Through our research on hate crimes documented in the interactive website, Halt the Hate, we discovered that children have also played a role in violence perpetrated against people from marginalised communities. In October 2016, a 16-year-old Dalit boy in Bihar was brutally beaten for scoring better grades than his classmates who belonged to higher castes. This attack was perpetrated by two children and filmed by another child, who uploaded and shared the video online. In December 2017, when a migrant worker named Afrazul was hacked to death for being Muslim, the attack was filmed by a 14-year-old boy, a relative of the attackers. These examples indicate that deep-seated prejudice against certain people and communities can have an impact on children.

Implementation of international human rights safeguards

The impact of hate crimes on children can only be addressed through the effective implementation of national and international mechanisms to protect the rights of the child. As per the UNGA report on violence against children, No violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable.

The primary responsibility for safeguarding the rights of children rests with the state. Hence, national planning processes must integrate measures to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children. India must develop a systematic and integrated framework to respond to violence against children including the impact of hate crimes. The framework should be in line with its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights standards.

The UNGA report recommends that the state must ensure justice and accountability by improving data collection and information systems in order to identify vulnerable subgroups, inform policy and programming at all levels, and track progress towards the goal of preventing violence against children. India must take special measures to prevent and respond to hate crimes and minimise its impact on children.The time has come for us to protect future generations by bringing an end to hate crimes and the cycle of violence they perpetuate.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Nothing is more satisfying than the conviction that your enemy lacks the ability to think critically. What could be more gratifying than the idea that the person you are fighting is trapped in an airlock of unreflection? It blesses your struggle, redeems your cruelty, legitimises your violence. If a definition of humanity is the ability to think for oneself, then what could be wrong with fighting the unfree?

The modern pairing of Islam with the incapacity for critical thought is a fairly old gesture  the Enlightenment philosopher Leibniz said Muslims were so fatalistic they wouldnt even jump out of the way of carts. Over the past fifteen years, however, the internet has enabled and amplified a panoply of voices with this view.

From the digital rooftops, a thousand voices are shouting down Islam as a space inimical to any form of rational reflection: millionaire right-wingers masquerading as free-thinkers such as Bill Maher, Eton-educated voices of the people such as Douglas Murray, sophisticated hate-distillers such as Ann Coulter and her not-so-bright British version, Katie Hopkins  even Greek classics professors-turned-Islam experts such as Tom Holland have joined the fray.

Some of the historical acrobatics involved in this gesture are awe-inspiring. Any academic would be laughed out of the room if they suggested St Augustine was somehow complicit in the bombing of abortion clinics, or that the medieval Hohenstaufen culminated in the Third Reich, or that the Renaissance never happened. Almost on a daily basis, however, confident, context-defying lines of continuity are drawn for Islam across centuries and continents, monocausally linking the Ottomans to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), or seventh century theology to attacks on shopping malls. In these re-writings of history, contrary or problematic episodes (such as the vast contribution of the Islamic world to geometry, astronomy and the vocabulary of science in general) are not just left out  anyone even trying to mention them is mocked as a naive, idiot liberal. Its a wonderful age to be alive.

I often wonder what can be done against this collective dumbing-down of an entire faith. Patiently repeating points and examples from history  in the manner of explaining something difficult but obvious to an eight-year old child  does not seem to go very far in combatting a million views on Youtube. Raising consciousness is not enough  there almost seems to be a will not to know here, a decision to remain in the foetal warmth of a particular narrative. When a Western, best-selling public intellectual openly laughs at the idea of Islamic inventions, and garners online 10,000 likes in doing so, it is difficult to see what benefit the provision of empirical facts can provide. Large sections of our society seem to be locked into certain fantasies about Islam and the West  and how we are going to unlock those fantasies remains as unclear as ever.

Not that scholars have given up. Irfan Ahmads latest book, Religion As Critique: Islamic Critical Thinking from Mecca to the Marketplace (2017), offers an interesting opposition to the West-and-the-rest narratives of an European Enlightenment radiating outwards from Greece and Germany into the backward corners of a darker world. Positing the Prophet Mohammed as a critic of the Meccan social order, Ahmad constructs an alternative genealogy of the verb to critique (tanqid/naqd), one which is not by any means dismissive of Greek/pre-Islamic/Western traditions, but which at the same time cant be subsumed within them. It is a welcome move that intelligently and articulately condenses the work of previous scholars (Talal Asad, Gayatri Spivak, J G A Pocock) on two important points.

First of all, it demonstrates the extent to which the Enlightenment was an ethnic project  an ethnic project, moreover, which was in constant need of an enemy. When Kant spoke about the space of philosophy to be defined, he often alluded to the space of Europe, whose boundaries needed to be patrolled. Secondly, the tired linking of the critical with the secular  and uncritical with the religious  is something Ahmads book goes on to rigorously deconstruct. Perhaps a touch controversially for some, he declares: Against the reigning doxa, which views Islam and critique as mutually exclusive domains  I propose we begin to think of Islam as critique; indeed, Islam as permanent critique.

To be Muslim, in other words, is not to be politically asleep, or passively receptive to a divine will, but rather to be in a permanent state of critique. Not everyone will be politically comfortable with some of the choices Ahmad has as examples of this critical tradition (Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of Pakistans Jamaat-e-Islami, is given a central chapter), but the gesture he makes  developing an alternative genealogy of critical thought in the Urdu Islamicate traditions of South Asia  is a valuable one.

To be fair, there is another aspect to this issue we have not yet touched upon. The critical tradition of Islam might well be compared with a city which is under attack on two fronts  from without, and from within. In addition to a certain relentless Western reduction of Islam to an unreflective cult, there are those within the Muslim world would wholly reject some of its most famous philosophers and critical thinkers as un-Islamic. The late Shahab Ahmeds monograph What Is Islam?: The Importance of Being Islamic (2015), in this respect, stands interestingly alongside Irfan Ahmads book as a parallel attempt to re-define the parameters of the Islamic world  and, implicitly, its relationship to both the Western and the secular. Although Shahab Ahmeds focus on activities such as wine drinking lends it a different tone from Religion As Critique, both books share a frustration with narrow definitions of the Islamic tradition. In Shahab Ahmeds case, this is a desire to expand the idea of being Islamic well beyond the putative centrality of jurisprudence which most convention seems to define the religion by; in Irfan Ahmads book, a similar belief in the value of everyday experience  the practice  of the nonscholarly and commoners as Ahmad puts it  is given as much weight as the pronouncements of the ulema in deciding what an Islamic critical tradition might be.

These debates will go on. In closing, it might be worth ending with the words an Arab philosopher wrote in the city of Damascus, just over 800 years ago. Words which demonstrate (if youll forgive my anachronism) a remarkable pre-psychological awareness of the extent to which we personally construct the God we worship:

 you will see no one who worships an unmade God, since man creates in himself that which he worships and judges. When a person sees something of the [divine] Real, he never sees anything but himself.

The writer is Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), and the extracts are two lines taken from his Futuhat, written at some point during the 1220s. Of course I am ripping these words out of context, and yet the sentiment they express  the God we pray to always reflects us, even comes out of us, in some way or another  is a suspicion to be found across Jewish and Christian traditions too (Maimonides, Meister Eckhart). Eight hundred years ago, a keen epistemological querying of religious experience was already at work. Admittedly, the goal of this querying was not a secular demolition of God, but a purer experience of the divine; not the exposure of God as a psychological illusion, but a clearer demarcation between what we imagine God to be, and the thing that lies beyond it. Some might call this a deferred critical thinking: critical thought put to the ultimate service of the uncritical. Its a fair charge  people are entitled to their opinion. But there must be something valuable in trying to remember that lines like these were being written in Damascus, and Cairo, and Cordoba, centuries before Gramsci, Marx and Descartes. And certainly 800 years before Youtube.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Popular ex-president defies court order to surrender to authorities and start a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazils former president and frontrunner in the countrys October elections, has ignored a deadline to turn himself into police and start a 12-year prison sentence for corruption.

Local media reported on Friday that he remained holed up in the metal workers union building in his hometown of Sao Bernardo do Campo, a Sao Paulo suburb where he got his start as a union organiser.

Hundreds of his supporters gathered outside to express their solidarity for Lula, who was president from 2003-2011 and left office with high approval ratings.

Federal Judge Sergio Moro on Thursday ordered Lula to report at a police station in the southern city of Curitiba by Friday 5pm local time (20:00 GMT) to begin serving his sentence.

The warrant came after the countrys top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by Lula to stay out of prison until he has exhausted all appeals against his conviction.

The former trade union leader contends his sentencing was intended to keep him from running in the presidential elections. He leads opinion polls by a wide margin.

The courts decision was met by protests both in for and against Lula, representing a deep divide within the country.









In a statement, Moro said he was giving Lula the opportunity to come in of his own accord because he had been Brazils president.

He also said a special cell away from other inmates had been prepared for him in Curitiba.

Last year, Moro convicted Lula of trading favours with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January.

Lula has described the conviction as a political witch-hunt, and his defence team maintains he was convicted without any material evidence.

The speed with which Moro issued the warrant surprised many, as legal observers said there were technicalities from Lulas upheld appeal that would not be sorted out until next week.

Such technicalities were simply a pathology that should be eliminated from the judicial world, Moro said in his statement.
Court rules he could be released on bail pending a decision on his extradition to Spain on Thursday.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has left jail in Germany after a court said he could be released on bail pending a decision on whether he will be extradited to Spain.

Puigdemont walked out of the Neumuenster prison on Friday, nearly two weeks after he was arrested while travelling from Finland back to Belgium where he was living in self-imposed exile since Catalonias independence referendum last October.

German prosecutors asked a court in Germany to permit the extradition of the former Catalan separatist leader to Spain on Wednesday.

Prosecutors in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein applied for the extradition after extensive examination of the European arrest warrant issued by Spain against him and five other fugitive separatist leaders.

Spain had sought 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 that Madrid deemed illegal.

On Thursday, a state court ruled that Puigdemont, 55, could not be extradited for rebellion and denied a request by prosecutors to keep him in jail until a decision on the extradition under charges of misuse of public funds had been reached.

Puigdemonts lawyers said they would 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.
Some celebrated, while others denounced decision to deny Lulas request to avoid jail while appealing his conviction.

Following Brazils Supreme Court decision to reject former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas plea to avoid jail time while he exhausts all appeals over his corruption conviction, Brazilians are divided on what the ruling means for the country.

Lula da Silva, who had high approval ratings during his presidency, was convicted last year of taking bribes in return for helping an engineering company gain contracts with the state-run oil company.

He has described the conviction as a political witch-hunt and his defence team maintains he was convicted without any material evidence.

Thursdays Supreme Court decision was met by protests both in favour of and against the former president, representing a deep divide within the country.

I see on Facebook and Twitter that people are totally insane, Celso Dossi, a 39-year-old Brazilian writer, told Al Jazeera.

Half is celebrating, the other half is mad, he said. Im just trying to stay away to keep my sanity.

Supporters of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva protest against Thursdays Supreme Court decision [Paulo Whitaker/Reuters]

Carlos Henrique de Oliverira Ramos, a student in Sao Paulo, said the decision is an ongoing attempt by the current government to keep Lula from power.

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[Lulas] arrest without overwhelming evidence, however, its another chapter of an ongoing coup in Brazil since 2016, with the powerful deposing of Dilma for a crime of responsibility that was legalised a few days after it is stopped, Carlos Henrique de Oliverira Ramos, a student in Sao Paulo, told Al Jazeera, referring to the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff, which she and her supporters have repeatedly called a coup.

Eduardo Jose Alfonso, a professor at Sao Paulo University, agreed, saying: The current government is doing everything possible to ensure that Lula cannot be re-elected.

For Rafeal Longo, a 28-year-old kinesiologist from Sao Paulo, however, the ruling represents a start of a new cycle of Brazilian democracy where politicians like ex-presidents arent above the law.

It means the people have awoken and can fight for their rights, Longo told Al Jazeera.

We are without hope

A judge issued an arrest warrant for Lula da Silva late on Thursday, giving him 24 hours to turn himself in and begin serving his 12-year prison sentence.

The former leader had hoped to run for president in Octobers elections, but Thursdays ruling may had dashed any hopes of continuing his political career.

Despite the uncertainty, Lula da Silva currently leads the polls by a wide margin, and his Workers Party has vowed to put him forward as its candidate.

Lula continues to be our candidate, because he is innocent, and because he is the leading candidate to become the next president of Brazil, Senator Gleisi Hoffmann, the leader of Workers Party, said on Thursday, according to Reuters news agency.

Brazils former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is embraced during his presidential campaign rally with members of his Workers Party [Leo Correa/AP Photo]

According to Brazilian law, a person cannot run for office for eight years after being found guilty of a crime. Some exceptions are allowed, however, and the decision on Lula da Silvas candidacy will ultimately be made by the top electoral court if he officially files to run.

For many, such uncertainty represents a wider issue of lack of political options in Brazil.

This years elections candidates are not good, and we are without hope, said Clarice Barbosa, a 48-year-old civil servant from Sao Paulo.

While the car wash investigation shook the structures of power, nothing will be the same as before, Barbosa told Al Jazeera.

We are waiting for what will be the next president, but the prospects are not good.
Israel attempting to drag unarmed protests near Gaza Strips eastern border into military escalation, Palestinians say.

Palestinians have staged protests along the Gaza Strips eastern borders for the second Friday in a row, despite Israels warning that it will not change its open-fire policy.

The first protests on March 30, dubbed the Great March of Return, saw tens of thousands of Palestinians demonstrating near the border for their right of return as enshrined in UN Resolution 194.

Israeli forces responded with live ammunition and rubber-coated bullets against the protesters, resulting in the killing of 17 Palestinians and the wounding of more than 1,600, in the bloodiest day since the 2014 Israeli offensive on the besieged coastal enclave.

A number of Palestinian protesters demonstrating throughout the week were also killed by Israeli forces. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the death toll since last Friday has gone up to 21.

The peaceful character of the protests has Israel confused Abu Ramadan, a political analyst

Mohsen Abu Ramadan, a political analyst, said that targeting Palestinian civilians is a new-old policy pursued by Israel, especially under the far-right government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

I expect that Israel will continue targeting as many Palestinians as possible in order to discourage them from participating in the event, as part of its intimidation policy, Abu Ramadan told Al Jazeera.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that there was no intention for the army to change their rules of engagement against Palestinian protesters.

If there are provocations, there will be a reaction of the harshest kind like last week, he told Israeli public radio on Thursday.

Hamas not interested in confrontation

Israeli officials have accused Hamas of being behind the protests, saying the movement exploits Palestinian men, women and children and deliberately exposes them to danger near the border fence.

The organisers behind the Great March of Return have rejected these claims.

The march is organised by refugees, doctors, lawyers, university students, Palestinian intellectuals, academics, civil society organisations and Palestinian families, Asad Abu Sharekh, the spokesperson of the march said.

These claims of Hamas being behind the protests is Israels way to sabotage the idea of the march in order to justify its escalation against protesters.

Abu Ramadan said Israel is attempting to drag the protests into a military escalation.

The peaceful character of the protests has Israel confused, he said. Recently, Israel exaggerated the presence and discovery of explosive devices on the border with Gaza.

They also continuously talk about the presence of gunmen among the demonstrators. All this is aimed at dragging the Palestinians into the battlefield, where Israel reigns superior.

Abdellatif al-Qanou, Hamas spokesperson, said that his movement is not interested in any escalation with Israel.

We back the peaceful movement of our people, he told Al Jazeera. Israeli occupation bears the full responsibility of targeting protesters, and we will not be dragged to any confrontation.

The march is supported by Palestinian factions and is the peoples choice, he said, adding that Hamas, along with other political parties, will fully take part in the protests.

The upcoming days will witness a greater gathering of people protesting for their rights, he said. Our people cannot tolerate more conspiracies, pressure and suffocation.

Big stick policy

For his part, Abu Amer, head of the department of political sciences at Gazas Ummah University, said that Israel would not back down and allow people to protest freely.

Israel will resort to break up these protests with military force and economic strangulation, he said. It has always used the big stick policy against protesters. It regards letting these protests take place unhindered as a surrender to Palestinians.

Abu Ramadan shared the same thoughts. What Israel fears most is peaceful popular movement, he said. Israel thinks that the protests will result in the Palestinians entering the borders.

Throughout the week, there were a number of events and activities that took place as part of the movement, with participating Palestinians gathered in makeshift tents set up 700 metres away from the Israeli fence.

As declared by Palestinian civil organisations and unions backing the demonstration, the planned protests will continue until the Nakba anniversary on May 15, which will mark 70 years since 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their villages and towns by Israeli forces in 1948.

Kayed al-Ghoul, an official with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said that the statements by Israeli officials last week regarding the armys aggressive policy only affirms Israeli intention to target Palestinians.

Israel wants to block the road to peaceful activities that holds the right of return at its focal point, al-Ghoul said.
Since protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 214 Palestinians and wounded more than 18,000.

For more than six months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have protested along the fence with Israel demanding their right to return to the homes and land their families were expelled from 70 years ago.

The Great March of Return rallies culminated on May 15 to mark what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or Catastrophe  a reference to the forced removal of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages to clear the way for Israels establishment in 1948.

The mass Friday demonstrations have continued since.

Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 210 Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave and wounded more than 18,000 people, according to health officials in Gaza.

Sunday, November 12

Israeli special forces infiltrated an area near the southern city of Khan Younis late on Sunday in a covert raid to assassinate Hamas members.

Among those reported killed in the attack was Nour Baraka, a prominent commander of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

We heard that a special Israeli unit went inside Khan Younis and assassinated Nour Baraka and another [commander], Ghazi Hamad, senior Hamas official, told Al Jazeera.

After [that], the car which carried this special unit or some collaborators, they tried to escape  but they were followed by Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades and after that Israel tried to cover this car through striking here in Gaza, he added.

Monday, October 29

Palestinian killed by Israeli forces

A Palestinian has been killed by Israeli fire during ongoing protests along the Israeli separation fence east of Gaza, according to the enclaves health ministry.

The health ministrys spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, identified the man as 27-year-old Mohammed Abd al-Hay Abu Abada from al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Sunday, October 28

Israeli air raid kills three Palestinian boys

Three Palestinian boys aged between 13 and 14 were killed in an Israeli air strike in the southeastern Gaza Strip near the fence with Israel, according to health officials.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in the besieged enclave, identified the children as Khaled Bassam Mahmoud Abu Saeed, 14; Abdul Hameed Mohammed Abdul Aziz Abu Zaher, 13; and Mohammed Ibrahim Abdullah al-Sutari, 13.

He said ambulances brought their bodies to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

Friday, October 26

Israeli forces have fired live bullets and rubber-coated steel rounds at Palestinians protesting along the fence of Israel, killing at least five of them and wounding a further 170, according to medical officials.

The death and injury toll was provided by Ashraf al-Qifra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza.

The five people killed were identified as Ayesh Shath, 23, Saeed Abu Lebdeh, 22, Nassar Abu Taym, 23 and Mohammad Abdul-Nabi, 27 and Jabir Abu Hameesa, 27.

Some of those wounded were taken to hospital for treatment, while others got medical assistance in the field clinics along the border.

A demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a protest calling for lifting the blockade on Gaza [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

Friday, October 19

At least 130 Palestinians wounded, no fatalities reported

Israeli soldiers have wounded at least 130 Palestinians including 25 children, according to the spokesman for the Palestinian health ministry, Ashraf al-Qidra.

The official said protesters had been targeted with live ammunition and that there had not been any Palestinian fatality thus far during Fridays protest.

It was the 30th consecutive Friday that Palestinian demonstrators converged on the Gaza-Israel buffer zone to protest Israels decades-long occupation.

Friday, October 12

Seven killed, dozens more injured

Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinians, including two teenage boys, during ongoing protests along the Israeli separation fence east of Gaza, according to the enclaves health ministry.

Four Palestinians were killed along the fence east of Al-Bureij in the centre of the Gaza Strip, while one died east of Gaza City, Dr Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the health ministry, said.

The seven victims were identified as: Mohammad Issam Mohammad Abbas (21), Ahmed Ibrahim Zaki al-Taweel (27), Mohammed Abdulhafid Youssef Ismail (29), Ahmed Ahmed Abdallah Abu Naeem (17), Abdallah Barham Ibrahim Suleiman al-Daghma (25) and Afifi Mahmoud Atta Afifi (18) and Tamer Iyad Mahmoud Abu Armanah.

It was not immediately clear where Abbas was killed.

Al-Qidra said 252 others were wounded, 154 of whom were targeted with live ammunition.

Friday, October 5

Three Palestinians, including minor, killed by Israeli fire

The Gaza health ministry has confirmed that 12-year-old Faris al-Sirsawi has been killed near the fence east of the coastal enclave by Israeli sniper fire.

Mahmoud Akram Abu Samaan, 24, was also shot and killed while Hussein al-Raqab, 28, succumbed to his wounds in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis after being shot at earlier.

According to the ministrys spokesperson Ashra al-Qidra, 192 others have been wounded, including a parademic and a journalist, with seven in serious condition.

Wednesday, October 3

Palestinian teenager killed, 24 others injured

A Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli forces during demonstrations along Gazas northern border with Israel.

Ahmed Abu Habel, 15, succumbed to a head wound after being hit with a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers near a checkpoint between Israel and the besieged enclave.

Twenty-four others were injured, the spokesperson for Gazas health ministry, Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Israels military did not comment on the specific incident but a spokeswoman told AFP that soldiers had fired live rounds in accordance with the rules of engagement as protesters massed along the border.

Friday, September 28

Six Palestinians killed, including two children

Wounded Palestinian boy Youssef Abu Zarifa receives treatment at a hospital in Khan Younis [AFP]

The spokesperson for Gazas health ministry confirmed the killing of six protesters and the wounding of 506 others on the 27th Friday of protests.

Mohammed Nayef al-Houm, 14, was shot in the chest by Israeli sniper fire east of al-Bureij in Gazas middle district.

Iyad Khalil al-Shaaer, 18, was also killed during the protests, the ministrys spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said.

A 12-year-old boy, Nasser Mosabih, also succumbed to his wounds after being shot in the head east of Khan Younis in Gazas south.

Mohammed Ali Mohammed Anshasi, 18, was also killed in Khan Younis.

Two other Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire have not yet been identified.

Friday, September 21

Israel forces open fire on Palestinians

A Palestinian was killed by an Israeli sniper and dozens of others were wounded during ongoing protests at the border fence.

Karim Mohammed Kallab, 25, died after being shot in the stomach during protests east of Gaza City. More than 300 other people were wounded, including 54 shot with live ammunition, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

The demonstrations were the strongest in recent weeks.

The Israeli army said more than 10,000 people gathered at multiple locations along the border fence.

The rioters are hurling grenades and explosive devices, burning tyres and hurling rocks at [Israeli] troops and the security fence, it said. Soldiers responded with live fire in accordance with standard operating procedures.

An Israeli aircraft also carried out attacks in Gaza. A position belonging to Hamas was hit, according to witnesses.

Abbas tells Israel Palestinians are ready for talks

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he is ready to resume peace negotiations with Israel.

Israel and the US suggested recently that Palestinian leaders were to blame for the stalling of peace talks. Palestinians say Israels continued construction of settlements, among other issues, is to blame.

Were ready for negotiations with Israel  either in public or behind closed doors  with the [Middle East] Quartet as sponsor, said Abbas.

The so-called Middle East Quartet is comprised of the US, Russia, the UN and the EU.

The Palestinians havent rejected negotiations, Abbas said during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is the one who has derailed the peace process.

Thursday, September 20

Teenager killed in southern Gaza

The Gaza health ministry has confirmed the death of a Palestinian teen after he was shot in the head by Israeli sniper fire east of Rafah in the southern strip.

Ashraf al-Qidra, the ministrys spokesperson, said Momen Abu Ayadeh, 15, was killed early Thursday morning while he was in one of the main right of return encampments set up along the fence with Israel.

Tuesday, September 18

Two Palestinians killed overnight by Israeli air attack in Khan Younis

The bodies of two Palestinians were recovered by Red Crescent medics on the fence in the southern Gaza Strip, after an Israeli warplane targeted them late Monday night.

Gazas health ministry later identified the men as 18-year-old Naji Abuasi and 21-year-old Alaa Abuasi.

In a statement, the Israeli army said they targeted a group of terrorists who were seen near the fence acting in a suspicious way.

An [Israeli] aircraft attacked terrorists who approached the fence in the southern Gaza Strip in a suspicious manner and planted a suspicious object along it, the Israeli military said.

Saturday, September 15

Teenager succumbs to wounds and dies

Suheib Abu Kashif, 16, has died from his injuries sustained in a protest on August 3, Gazas healthy ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Abu Kashif has been in the European Hospital, in Khan Younis since he was first wounded.

Friday, September 14

Three Palestinians killed, including one child

The spokesperson for Gazas ministry confirmed the killing of three protesters and the wounding of 248 others on the 25th Friday of protests.

Mohammed Shaqoura, 21, was shot in the chest by Israeli sniper fire east of of al-Bureij in Gazas middle district.

A child whose body was taken to the Indonesian Hospital was later identified as Shadi Abdelaziz Abdulal, 12 who was shot east of Jabalia in northern Gaza.

In the southern district, Hani Ramzi Afaneh, 21, was shot and killed.

Saturday, September 8

Gaza teen dies as a result of wounds

A Palestinian teen has died of his wounds a day after he was shot by Israeli troops during a protest on the fence with Israel according to health officials in the Gaza Strip.

Ahmad Abu Tayoor, 17, was shot late on Friday close to the southern city of Rafah, the health ministry said.

Another 17-year-old Palestinian, Belal Khafaja, was shot dead on Friday. At least 210 other protesters, including 15 children, suffered injuries.

The Israeli army said in a statement on Saturday that it was opening an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the two young protesters.

Friday, September 7

Palestinian teen killed, more than 200 wounded in the eastern Gaza Strip

One Palestinian has been killed by Israeli forces in the eastern Gaza Strip, according to health officials in Gaza.

Belal Mustafa Khafaja, 17, died on Friday after being shot in the chest by an Israeli sniper.

Health officials said 210 protesters were also wounded, including 15 children.

According to health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra, 70 people were treated in hospitals across the Gaza Strip.

Friday, August 31

At least 240 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli forces in Fridays protest, according to Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesperson for the ministry of health in Gaza.

Two cases  a female medic and a 10-year-old child  were in serious condition.

Qidra also said that an ambulance belonging to the Red Crescent was targeted by Israeli forces north of the Strip, resulting in broken windows and injuring one medic.

Mueen al-Masry, who was hit in the chest with a tear gas canister inside the vehicle, was taken to the nearest hospital for treatment.

Friday, August 24

50 Palestinians wounded by live bullets

Israeli forces fired live bullets and tear gas at protesters near the fence with Israel, wounding at least 189 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.

Of those injured, 50 were hit by live bullets, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Weve seen a lot of tear gas fired  [and] what sounds like live ammunition as well, said Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from the protests.

Approximately, 5,000 people attended Fridays demonstration, the 22nd Friday of rallies.

There are fewer people here this week that weve seen in recent weeks, said Stratford.

Some  think that one of the reasons why the protests are being [attended by fewer people] this week is because we are expecting the resumptions of the talks being mediated by the Egyptians in Cairo, between Hamas and Israel.

Israel denies that there is any direct conversation going  but we do know the Egyptians are being very keen and are working very hard to get both parties to agree to some sort of lasting ceasefire, he added.

A Palestinian woman runs as Israeli troops fire tear gas during a protest on Friday, August 24 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Friday, August 17

Palestinian killed in Rafah

Ashraf al-Qidra, the spokesperson for Gazas ministry of health, said a second Palestinian had been shot dead by Israeli forces on Friday.

Sadi Akram Muammar, 26, was killed east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The number of wounded protesters has risen to 270.

One killed, scores wounded

One Palestinian has been killed by Israeli forces, according to health officials in Gaza.

Karim Abu Fatayer, 30, died after being shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.

Health officials said 154 other protesters were wounded, including four medics who suffocated from tear gas.

Abu Fatayers death brings the number of Palestinian protesters killed since March 30 to 165.

Israeli forces fire tear gas towards Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

Quiet build-up to this weeks protest

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 10 Palestinians have been injured near the Israeli fence.

Speaking from Gaza, Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford said that the protests have been quiet so far.

So far today weve seen far less of the incendiary balloons and kites that Israel says have caused so much damage across the border, he said.

It has been quiet in the build-up to this weeks protest, and we saw that Israel has allowed the opening of Gazas only commercial crossing Karem Abu Salem earlier this week, and expand the restricted area which the fishermen can operate, he continued.

Its vital if this calm is going to be maintained between Israel and Hamas that neither side commits what either side perceive as being a provocation.

There have also been reports circulating in Israeli media of an Egypt-UN mediated agreement between Hamas and Israel being reached, which includes an extended ceasefire.

Theres also been talk of potentially the rebuilding of some of Gazas infrastructure using foreign funding, and a lot of emphasis on a prisoner exchange as well, Stratford said.

But Hamas has not confirmed these reports, and there hasnt been an official statement regarding these talks from the Israeli side.

Saturday, August 11

Gaza flotilla to protest against Israeli blockade

Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip are set to stage a protest against Israels nearly 12-year land, air and sea blockade of the enclave.





Protest organisers told Al Jazeera that around 40 to 50 boats are expected to leave the Gaza port on Saturday and sail north towards Israel.

The protesting fishermen are highlighting their suffering and the restrictions they are under because of the Israeli blockade, said Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from the Gaza port. Fifty thousand families are in some way dependent on the fishing industry here.

Last month, Israels defence minister restricted Gazas fishing boundaries from six to three nautical miles off the coast.

The Israeli navy intercept ships attempting to breach the naval blockade, and often fire on fishermen who cross into restricted areas.

Also enforced by Egypt, the blockade has been in place since Hamas began administering the Strip in 2007.

Two Israeli drone strikes, two injured

Israeli drone strikes in Gaza targeting Palestinian protesters trying to launch incendiary balloons and kites across the fence with Israel have wounded at least two people, sources have told Al Jazeera.

In the last hour or so, there was one [strike] in Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza  no casualties reported there, Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from Gaza, said on Saturday afternoon

The second strike in the east of the central region injured at least two people, he added.

UN delegation to meet Hamas officials

A UN delegation representing the special coordinator for the peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, has arrived in Gaza for meetings with Hamas officials.

The visit is part of an ongoing effort to lower tensions between Hamas and Israel. The talks are expected to focus on the details of a ceasefire proposal.

Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from Gaza, said that no lines have come out of the meetings so far.

These meetings with Hamas are pretty much always behind closed doors, but what they do suggest is this incredible urgency that is needed in order to try and establish some sort of lasting truce between Hamas and Israel after the escalations in recent weeks, he said.

Thousands pay last respects to three Palestinians killed

Thousands of Palestinians on Saturday attended funerals for three Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire a day earlier.

Mourners laid volunteer paramedic Abdullah al-Qutiti, 22, to rest in the southern city of Rafah. Saeed Aloul, 55, and Ahmed Abu Louli, 40, were also buried in Rafah amid angry chants against Israel by mourners.





Palestinian dies after being shot at protest

A 40-year-old Palestinian hit by Israeli fire during protests on the Gaza border died of his wounds on Saturday, taking the previous days death toll to three, the territorys health ministry said.

He was among at least 131 Palestinians wounded by Israeli bullets during Fridays protests, even as an informal truce agreed after a deadly flare-up between Gazas rulers Hamas and the Israeli army largely held.

The health ministry identified the dead man as Ahmed Abu Louli and said he was shot in a section of the border east of the southern city of Rafah, where two other Palestinians were also killed.

Friday, August 10

Two Palestinians killed, hundreds wounded by Israeli forces

Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinians, including one volunteer paramedic, according to health officials in the Gaza Strip, as protesters gathered along the Israeli border fence for the 20th week.





Abdullah al-Qatiti, a 26-year-old paramedic, and Saeed Aloul, 55, were shot and killed in southern Gaza on Friday, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Hundreds of others were injured, with 176 being treated on the field and 131 taken to hospital, added al-Qidra

There is a lot of tear gas being fired by the Israeli military using drones, said Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from the protests in Gaza.

The coming hours will be critical, he added. It is tense here and there are fears that if there is any serious provocation by either side, we could yet again see another escalation in violence.

Colleagues of slain Palestinian medic react at a hospital in southern Gaza Strip [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

This weeks protests, which follow deadly Israeli air attacks and artillery shelling on the besieged enclave, began at around 14:00 GMT.

The demonstrations come a day after Hamas and Israel reached an Egypt-brokered deal to end the flare-up in violence. But the Israeli government has not officially confirmed the agreement.

EU sounds alarm over Gaza violence

The European Union says a recent escalation of violence has brought Gaza and Israel dangerously close to yet more conflict, adding that an urgent de-escalation was needed to keep civilians from further risk.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed at least three people in Gaza, including a 23-year-old woman, who was almost nine months pregnant, and her 18-month-old daughter.

The Israeli military launched more than 140 attacks after about 150 rockets were fired from the coastal enclave.

A statement by Hamas military force said it was responsible for the rockets. It said the Palestinian resistance had fired a large number of projectiles at enemy positions in the Gaza envelope.

The rocket fire from Gaza towards communities in southern Israel as well as other violent actions and provocations against Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian militants are totally unacceptable, an EU foreign affairs spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

While having the right to defend itself, Israel is expected to continue to exercise restraint and do everything to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. The death of a pregnant Palestinian mother and her child in this latest escalation is a tragic loss.

Saturday, August 4

A Palestinian teenager has died from his wounds after being shot in the abdomen by Israeli forces during a protest on Friday.

Muaz al-Suri, 15, was demonstrating near Gazas fence with Israel when he was shot east of the Bureij refugee camp. He died early Saturday, the health ministry said.

Friday, August 3

Palestinian killed by Israeli army sniper

A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli soldiers and at least 220 others were wounded during protests near the fence with Israel in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian health officials.

Ahmed Yaghi, 25, was killed by a sniper east of Gaza city, health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said.

Of the 220 injured, 90 suffered wounds as a result of live fire, he added.

Hamas leaders to discuss ceasefire deal

Several exiled Hamas leaders have entered Gaza to discuss a ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and the UN.

Prominent leader Saleh al-Arouri, who is wanted by Israel, returned from Lebanon for the first time since 2010 to attend the talks scheduled for Friday.

He crossed the border from Egypt on Thursday, after Egyptian and UN assurances over his safety, with eight other Hamas leaders based outside the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also delayed a visit to Colombia and called a special cabinet meeting on Sunday to monitor developments.

We are seeing these intensive efforts and there is more international spotlight on the situation because the life for people here has become increasingly difficult over the years under the siege by Israel, Egypts blockade and also the sanctions from the Palestinian Authority, said Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza.

Saturday, July 28

Gaza teen dies of wounds from Israeli border fire

A Gaza teenager died of his wounds on Saturday after being shot by Israeli troops during protests along the border.





The health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory in a statement identified him as Mohmen al-Hams, 17. He was shot in the chest during protests near the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Friday.

Troops shot dead two other Palestinians during Fridays protests.

Friday, July 27

Israeli forces kill Palestinian, 12

Majdi Ramzi Kamal al-Satra, a 12-year-old Palestinian, was killed by Israeli army fire, according to health officials in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for the health ministry in Gaza, said the boy was killed east of Khan Younis.

His killing raises the number of Palestinians shot dead on Friday to two. Earlier in the day Ghazi Mohammad Abu Mustafa, 43, succumbed to his wounds after being shot in the head.

A Palestinian nurse reacts upon seeing the body of her husband who was killed by Israeli troops during Fridays protest. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the protest site in Gaza, said the Israeli military was also using drones to drop tear gas on demonstrators.

Israel has been using these drones to drop tear gas further back into the crowd. Closer to the fence, Israeli snipers keep watch and sporadically open fire.

A female protester told Al Jazeera that the poor living conditions in the besieged enclave were pushing people to go out and demand their rights.

We are suffering, there is no electricity, no water  people are going hungry. Its painful, we will keep standing, we will come here to show the whole world we want our rights.

At least 184 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli forces on Friday, 117 of whom needed hospital treatment, said al-Qidra. Seventy cases involved live bullets. Among the wounded were 14 children and 10 women, as well as four paramedics and one journalist.

A total of 151 Palestinians have been killed since the Great March of Return protests started on March 30.

Gaza situation very tense amid standoff

Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from the protests in the Gaza Strip, said that apart of the killing of Ghazi Mohammad Abu Mustafa by Israeli forces, 11 other Palestinians were believed to have been wounded.

Stratford said that Israeli soldiers also used a lot of tear gas against protesters, with much of it fired from drones.

The situation is very tense, added our correspondent, adding there were growing fears of a further escalation following the recent wave of attacks that hit the besieged enclave.

A medic tends to a wounded Palestinian during Fridays protest. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

What were seeing here is a standoff between Hamas and the various armed factions in Gaza and the Israelis. Hamas says that these people have every right to continue demonstrating and describe this form of protest using incendiary balloons and kites as being peaceful and they say they have every right to defend the people of Gaza using their weapons.

Israeli forces kill Palestinian

Israeli soldiers have shot dead Ghazi Mohammad Abu Mustafa, a 43-year-old Palestinian, near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Three ambulance volunteers also were injured in the shooting near the fence with Israel.

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, Mustafa was shot in the head and subsequently taken to a hospital, where he died of his wounds.

The total number of Palestinians killed so far in the ongoing protests since late March is now 150. More than 16,000 others have been wounded.

Half of those suffering wounds were hit by live gunfire, and at least 60 of them have had a limb amputated.

Wednesday, July 25

An Israeli air raid in the Gaza Strip killed three Palestinians on Wednesday.

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Ahmed al-Bsous, 28, Ubadah Farawneh, 29 and Mohamed al-Aareer, 27, died of their wounds shortly upon arriving at the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

The attack came days after a United Nations-brokered ceasefire helped halt an earlier wave of assaults against the Gaza Strip last week.

Saturday, July 21

Ceasefire appears to hold

The return to calm announced by Hamas in Gaza appears to be holding.

Israeli officials have yet to comment on the ceasefire announced by Hamas earlier in the morning.

Hamas and Israel agree on Gaza ceasefire: group spokesman

Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire early on Saturday, according to a spokesman for the Palestinian group governing the besieged Gaza Strip.

With international and UN efforts, we reached (an agreement) to return to the previous state of calm between the (Israeli) occupation and the Palestinian factions, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement.

Israeli forces kill fourth Palestinian; Israeli soldier shot dead

Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian during the protests in the Gaza Strip near the fence with Israel, raising the number of Palestinians killed on Friday to four.

Israeli soldiers fired live bullets and teargas canisters towards the protesters along the fence, killing Mohammad Sharif Badwan and wounding 120 others, according to health officials in Gaza.

The killing of Badwan, 27, came after Hamas said three of its members were killed earlier in the day in air strikes in the southern part of the Strip.





Later on Friday, the Israeli military said gunfire at the Gaza fence killed an Israeli soldier.

The military said a terrorist squad fired at troops and one soldier was severely injured and later died of his wounds. He was the first Israeli military fatality in months of violence along the Gaza fence.

The violence raised fears of a new conflict.

We understand that the Israeli security cabinet has been meeting this afternoon in order to assess whether a large-scale military operation is needed on Gaza, said Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford, reporting from the besieged enclave.

The people of Gaza this evening are very afraid after todays protests and certainly these air strikes that have happened, he added.

Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City [Ahmed Zakot/Reuters]

Israel launches large-scale air attacks in Gaza

The Israeli air force has launched a series of air strikes on several places in the Gaza Strip.

The targets, allegedly belonging to Hamas, were attacked as a result of Fridays shooting incidents in which at least one Israeli soldier was wounded.

IAF jets recently conducted a wide-scale attack against Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip following a severe shooting attack against IDF soldiers this afternoon. The IDF is currently conducting the attack in various locations  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 20, 2018

Israeli soldiers have been put on high alert, the spokesperson for the Israeli army added.

Tense day of protests

Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the protests in Gaza, said tensions were on the rise despite the relatively small crowd that showed up.

We havent seen huge numbers of people turn out  yes, theres been a presence, yes the protest took shape the way we have seen over the past 17 weeks but the crowds were smaller, Dekker said.

What makes it more tense is there has been an exchange  of fire between Israel and Hamas, and Israel attacked various Hamas posts, she added.

This all comes amid a very tense political situation. Israel has made it very clear that if Hamas doesnt stop the incendiary balloons and kites across the fence that it will clamp down heavily militarily.

We havent seen any incendiary balloons or kites across the fence where we are, but certainly there is a feeling of unease here  there might be behind-the-scenes negotiations going on, but everyone you speak to will tell you that the situation remains very hard to read, whether there is going to be an escalation between the two sides or not, Dekker said.

Three Palestinians killed on tense day of protests

As protests along the fence with Israel entered the 17th straight week, Israel on Friday attacked Hamas positions in the Strip, killing at least three people, according to health officials in Gaza.

Three Palestinians were martyred by Israeli occupation forces, including two in the northern Gaza Strip and a third in the southern city of Rafah, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.

He did not provide the names or ages of the individuals.

However, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, said three of its members had been killed by Israeli air raids and tank fire in Khan Younis and Rafah.

In a statement, the group identified the men as Shaaban Abu Khater, Mohamed Abu Farhana and Mahmoud Qeshta.

The Israeli army said the attacks were in response to shots being fired at their troops along the Gaza fence.

Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the protests in Gaza, said tensions were on the rise.

Weve had a couple of incidents today. Weve had Israel target three Hamas watchtowers. In the south of Gaza, two Palestinians were killed and one Israeli soldier was injured in what we understand was an exchange of fire in the southern Gaza Strip, Dekker said.

The shooting across the border, the gunfire, the tank shelling  it shows that this is politically not resolved and it could still go any way really.

Earlier on Friday, Israels Defence Minister Avigdor Liebermann said that there is a risk of military escalation if incendiary kites and balloons continue to be sent over the fence by protesters.

Those devices have led to the burning of thousands of acres of Israeli land.

We tried to be sensible and responsible but the heads of Hamas are leading us to a defensive situation, a situation where we would have to go for a wide painful military operation, Liebermann said.

Thursday, July 19

Israeli air attack kills one Palestinian

An air raid by the Israeli air force killed one Palestinian and wounded three others, in an attack east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the health ministry said.

A family member said on Thursday that the man killed was working as a border policeman in the Hamas-run enclave. Al Jazeeras Charles Stratford said the 22-year-old was a member of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Israel said one of its aircraft targeted a group launching balloons carrying firebombs over the border fence to burn Israeli farmland.

Israels fire service says hundreds of fires have burned about 3,000 hectares, causing damage amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Wednesday, July 18

No more gas and fuel deliveries, fishing zone restricted even more

On Wednesday, Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip, preventing gas and fuel deliveries through its only commercial crossing with the Palestinian besieged enclave a week after Israeli authorities announced the closure of the crossing.

The Kerem Shalom crossing, known to Palestinians as Karem Abu Salem, was shut down on July 9.

Initially, only items deemed as humanitarian were to be allowed to enter Gaza, such as food, hygiene and medical supplies, fuel, animal feed and livestock.

However, the defence ministry announced late on Monday that fuel and gas deliveries would also be suspended, and that the crossing would remain open only for food and medicine on a case-by-case basis.

Furthermore, the fishing zone, enforced by Israel, in the waters off the Gaza Strip would also be reduced from six nautical miles to three  after it was already reduced last week from 12 nautical miles.

The UN and Gisha, the Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement, called Israels latest measure an act of collective punishment.

Saturday, July 14

Air raids by Israeli air force kill two teenage Palestinians

Two teenagers in the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli air raids on Saturday, according to Palestinian health officials, as Israel carried out the largest daylight attack on the besieged enclave since the 2014 war.

Amir al-Nimra, 15, and Luay Kaheel, 16, died of their wounds on Saturday shortly after an air strike targeted al-Kateeba, an area in western Gaza, the health ministry said.

Twelve others were wounded by the attack.

The al-Kateeba square is adjacent to a park frequently visited by families over the weekend, especially during the summer months

Monday, July 9

Hamas condemns Israels plan to close border crossing

Hamas has condemned an Israeli decision to seal off the Karam Abu Salem commercial border crossing, the primary passageway that transfers necessities to residents of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The group, which governs the enclave, described Mondays measure as a crime against the people of Gaza, blaming the international communitys prolonged silence that encourages Israels blockade on Gaza.

Earlier on Monday, Israel said it will be closing off the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, saying it was in retaliation over Palestinians setting fire to Israeli land.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision to shut down the border was taken in coordination with the countrys defence minister.

The move, which will come into effect on Tuesday, will only allow for the transfer of humanitarian needs such as cooking gas as well as wheat and flour into Gaza, an official responsible for coordinating the movement of cargo through the border confirmed to Al Jazeera from Gaza.

Saturday, July 7

Two Palestinians killed

Health officials in Gaza said two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during demonstrations. Hundreds of other protesters were also wounded.

The victims included 11-year-old Yasser Abu al-Naja who died after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head east of Khan Younis, Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gazas health ministry, said.

Mohammad Fawzi Hamaydeh, 24, was also pronounced dead shortly after being shot by Israeli live fire in the abdomen and foot, east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Among the 415 wounded at Fridays demonstration, 11 were children. Three of the injured cases were severe.

Friday, June 29

One Palestinian killed, nearly 400 injured

Hundreds of mourners marched in Gaza on Saturday at the funeral of a Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces on the 15th consecutive Friday of the Great March of Return.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gazas health ministry, said that 22-year-old Mohammad Jamal Abu Halima was killed after being shot in the chest.

He added that 396 others were wounded.

Among them, 13 were children. Fifty-seven were injured from live ammunition.

Friday, June 14

Palestinian man succumbs to wounds

Ahmed Ziad al-Assi, 21, died on Thursday morning east of the Gaza Strip as a result of wounds inflicted by Israeli forces on June 8, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israeli forces shot al-Assi in the head during the 11th Friday of the Great March of Return protests.

His death takes the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the protests began to at least 129.

Friday, June 8

UN to hold emergency meeting

The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to vote on an Arab-backed resolution on Gaza, the bodys president Miroslav Lajcak has announced.

The resolution will condemn Israel, and will be similar to one vetoed by the United States in the Security Council last week, which called for protecting Palestinians from Israeli aggression, according to diplomats.

There are no vetoes in the 193-member world body, but while Security Council resolutions are legally binding, General Assembly resolutions are not.

Four Palestinians killed by Israeli forces

Health officials in the Gaza Strip say the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during protests near the fence with Israel has risen to four.

Yousef al-Fasih, 29, was shot dead while demonstrating in the eastern Gaza Strip, Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

More than 600 people were wounded by Israeli forces, including photographer Mohammed Abed al-Baba, who was shot in the leg.

Today my brilliant photographer colleague Mohammed Abed al-Baba was shot in the leg by Israeli fire in northern Gaza. He was around 200 metres from the border fence, wearing a press vest, he says.https://t.co/GrTylfrFXF pic.twitter.com/a3IDLtm9Qf  Joe (@joedyke) June 8, 2018

Al-Baba, who has worked for AFP news agency in the Gaza Strip since 2000, was shot while clearly identified in a press vest and helmet, around 200 metres from the fence east of Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Our medical team has been working @ Shifa Hospital in #Gaza today helping to treat the wounded. pic.twitter.com/UpQAX0C4mV  ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) June 8, 2018

Teargas drones

Al Jazeeras Imran Khan, reporting from the protests in the Gaza Strip, says Israeli forces are firing teargas at protesters.

They are using this in two ways, firstly coming in from jeeps  to try and disperse the [crowd], [and] they are also using teargas drones, he said.

However, the Palestinians have figured out a way of dealing with these drones  theyve figured out that they can entangle a drone into kites, and they have managed to bring down an Israeli drone, he added.

Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces

Health officials in the Gaza Strip say Israeli forces have killed at least three Palestinians and injured more than 500 during protests near the fence with Israel.

Israeli troops shot and killed 15-year-old Haitham al-Jamal east of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian news agency Wafa said, citing the health ministry.

Ziad Jadallah Bureim was also shot dead while participating in protests in the southern Gaza Strip, while Imad Nabil Abu Darabi, 26, was killed east of Jabalia town in northern Gaza Strip, Wafa added.

Of those injured, 92 protesters sustained live fire wounds, including seven who are critically wounded. Twenty-six children and 14 women are among the wounded.

The remaining injuries were caused by teargas inhalation.

3 Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by Israeli fire during weekly #GreatMarchOfReturn protests in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/lkHCYMLXzh  AJ+ (@ajplus) June 8, 2018

Hundreds injured in Gaza

Gazas health ministry says at least 386 Palestinian protesters near the fence with Israel have been wounded by Israeli forces.

The ministry says five of the wounded were in serious condition.

In pictures: burning kites, teargas near border

Teargas fired by Israeli troops at Palestinian demonstrators during a protest marking Jerusalem Day [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

A Palestinian demonstrator uses a sling to hurl stones at Israeli troops at the Israel-Gaza border [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

A fire burns in scrubland in Israel near the Gaza Strip; Palestinians have been flying kites and balloons loaded with flammable material across the border between Israel and Gaza [Amir Cohen/Reuters]

A wounded Palestinian demonstrator being evacuated [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Crowds gathering near border

People are gathering near the border with Israel, defying warnings from the Israeli army.

Reporting from the border, Al Jazeeras Imran Khan said: today is Jerusalem day, created by Iranians after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and thats why people are arriving earlier than they normally would on a Friday to protest at the border.

Protest organisers have urged people to stay away from the buffer zone to avoid casualties, Khan said.

If youre a member of Islamic Jihad or Hamas, youre probably likely to listen to the protest organisers and not go towards the buffer zone.

However if youre just one of these little kids who are flying kites, throwing rocks, you dont have to listen to anybody.

Thats a real fear for many people here, that they wont listen to those instructions not to go near the border, and thats why there may well be casualties, Khan said.

Israel warns people in Gaza to avoid border

The Israeli army has warned people in Gaza not to come close to the border with Israel during Fridays protests, a day when a big turnout is expected.

In a series of tweets issued on Thursday, the Israeli army said they had dropped leaflets in Gaza warning people from approaching the security fence.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the leaflets urged people in Gaza not to let Hamas turn you into a tool to serve its narrow interests.

We urge you not to take part in demonstrations and anarch and not to put yourself in danger, the leaflets reportedly said.

The IDF is again warning the people Gaza not to serve as Hamas tool  as they have been in the violent riots of recent months. The IDF is prepared for a multitude of scenarios & is determined to protect Israeli civilians & sovereignty  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 7, 2018

June 3

Palestinian man succumbs to wounds

Mohammed Naaim Hamada, 30, died on Sunday morning east of the Gaza Strip as a result of wounds inflicted by Israeli forces on May 14, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israeli forces shot Hamada during the Great March of Return protests that coincided with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, and a day before Palestinians marked 70 years since the Nakba, or Catastrophe.

Hamadas death takes the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the protests began to at least 121.

Friday, June 1

Palestinian paramedic killed

Razan al-Najjar was killed by Israeli live fire during the protests east of Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.

The 21-year-old volunteer paramedic died of a gunshot wound to the chest, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A witness said she was shot while running towards the fortified fence to help a casualty.

Wearing a white uniform, she raised her hands high in a clear way, but Israeli soldiers fired, and she was hit in the chest, the witness told Reuters news agency.

Palestinian medical sources say more than 100 other protesters were wounded, 40 of them with live fire.

Read more about the struggle of medical workers to provide healthcare amid shootings by Israeli forces here.

Razan al-Najjar (R) reacting to tear gas during an April 1 rally in the southern Gaza Strip [File: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Protesters met with live fire, tear gas

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from the rally in Gaza, said the demonstrations showed no signs of ending.

These protesters have once again been met with live fire from Israeli forces and repeated, very heavy use of tear gas as well, he said.

But how long this is sustainable? It is still seen by many Palestinians here in Gaza as a way of venting their continued desperation with the worsening humanitarian situation.

The real question though is when the political decision from Hamas will come to end these protests, if it does, added Fawcett.

A senior adviser to the Hamas leadership told Al Jazeera that it is a question of Israel lifting the siege and the blockade. At that point, this strategy of peaceful protests could perhaps change.

US vows to veto UN resolution for protection of Palestinians

The US will unquestionably veto a UN draft resolution which calls for the consideration of measures to guarantee the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the Kuwait-sponsored resolution grossly one-sided and morally bankrupt.

The resolution calls on Israel to immediately cease its actions in self-defense, but makes no mention of Hamas aggressive actions against Israeli security forces and civilians, she said in a statement.

The draft resolution deplores and calls for a halt to the use of any excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force by the Israeli military. It also deplores the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli civilian areas.

It asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a report on a potential international protection mechanism.

A vote on the draft resolution is expected to take place on Friday.

Saturday, May 19

Two Palestinians succumb to wounds

Mouin Abdelhamid al-Saai, a 58-year-old man, died in Gazas al-Shifa hospital on Saturday, according to Gazas Ministry of Health.

Israeli forces shot al-Saai on Monday as they fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at protesters during demonstrations that coincided with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

The protests also came a day before Palestinians marked 70 years since the Nakba, or Catastrophe, the day on which the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, in a violent ethnic cleansing campaign.

Mohammed Mazin Alian, a 20-year-old man, also succumbed to his wounds on Saturday after he was shot by Israeli forces on Monday east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

This brings the total number of Palestinians killed since Monday in Gaza to 64.

Thursday, May 17

Israel targets Hamas positions in overnight air raids

The Israeli army has said it launched overnight air raids on Hamas infrastructure in military compounds and weapons production facilities in the north of the besieged enclave of Gaza.

The army alleged the strikes were conducted in response to the heavy machine gun fire that targeted the city of Sderot in the south.

While Hamas has not officially responded to the attacks, a security official from the movement told Anadolu Agency that several of its positions had been targeted.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said no one had been injured in the attacks.

Palestinians withdraw envoy to US

The Palestinian envoy to Washington has been recalled to Ramallah in protest over the US relocating its embassy to Jerusalem.

Husam Zomlot was instructed to return by President Mahmoud Abbas, the foreign ministry announced in a statement.

It did not say how long Zomlot would be at headquarters.

Riad al-Malki, the foreign minister, said: When they [the US] opened their embassy in Jerusalem there was a need for a decision from our side and this was our decision.

Clashes and arrests near Jerusalems Damascus Gate

Israeli border police forces and Palestinian protesters clashed near Jerusalems Damascus Gate.

Many protesters were removed from the plaza, and others were arrested in the nearby area.

Demonstrators had gathered at the square outside the gate as part of Nakba Day protests.

The Palestinians have been living here, I was born here, my father, my grandfather, my great great grandfather, I have no other place to go, I dont even have a passport to go anywhere else, said Mujid Keluti, a Jerusalem resident.

Protesters gathered outside the Damascus Gate as part of Nakba day protests [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

Netanyahu, Erdogan in Twitter spat as Israel, Turkey expel envoys

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged heated words on Twitter over Israels killing of Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu, in a Twitter post, said Erdogan well understands terrorism and slaughter because of his support for Hamas, a day after the Turkish leader accused Israel of state terror and genocide.

Erdogan is among Hamas's biggest supporters and there is no doubt that he well understands terrorism and slaughter. I suggest that he not preach morality to us  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 15, 2018

Erdogan tweeted back that Netanyahu was the leader of an apartheid state that has occupied a defenseless peoples lands for 60 years in violation of UN resolutions, adding that he was criticising Turkey to deflect attention.

Want a lesson in humanity? Read the 10 commandments.

Netanyahu is the PM of an apartheid state that has occupied a defenseless people's lands for 60+ yrs in violation of UN resolutions. He has the blood of Palestinians on his hands and can't cover up crimes by attacking Turkey. Want a lesson in humanity? Read the 10 commandments.  Recep Tayyip Erdogan (@RTErdogan) May 15, 2018

The row came as the two countries expelled each others senior diplomats.

Earlier in the day, Turkey told Israels ambassador to temporarily leave the country, prompting Israel to order the Turkish consul in Jerusalem to leave for an unspecified period, according to the Israeli foreign ministry.

The dispute appears to mark the worst diplomatic crisis between the two regional powers since Israeli marines stormed an aid ship to enforce a naval blockade of Gaza in 2010, killing 10 Turkish activists and prompting a downgrade in diplomatic ties that lasted until 2016.

Hamas leader vows to keep demanding right of return

Marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or the Catastrophe, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya visited protesters east of Gaza City, vowing to continue weeks of protests along Israels border.

Our message today is the Return March and siege-breaking is going on and that the massacre the Israeli occupation committed against our revolting and returning youths will only increase our steadfastness, determination and sticking to the right of return, said Haniyeh.

We are coming to tell the whole world: no to the deal of the century and no to the moving of the embassy to Jerusalem and Jerusalem is our eternal capital, the capital of the Palestinian state and Jerusalems identity will not be changed by a resolution from Trump nor Netanyahu.

Second Palestinian killed by Israeli fire

A second Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced, a day after the Israeli army killed 60 people  the highest death toll in years.

The ministry said the man, who was not named, was killed east of Bureij in central Gaza.

Tuesdays protests were far smaller than the previous days.

A second Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire on Tuesday [Adel Hana/AP]

Palestinian right of return means Israels destruction

Danny Danon, Israels ambassador to the UN, has described the longstanding Palestinian demand for the right of return of refugees who fled their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war as a call to destroy Israel.

Let me be very clear, Danon told an emergency session of the UN Security Council. When the Palestinians say right of return, they mean destruction of Israel.

He also accused Hamas of using a strategy of orchestrated riots and planned casualties to seek international sympathy.

Hamas activists were using civilians as human shields in the ongoing protests along Gazas border with Israel, in an attempt to breach the fence and stage attacks on Israel, he added.

Palestinian envoy lambasts UN failure to act over Gaza unrest

Riyad Mansour, Palestines envoy to the United Nations, accused Israel of committing war crimes against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip and slammed what he said was the UN Security Councils failure to hold Israel accountable.

For the past eight weeks, we have begged you to prevent another massacre by Israel, the occupier, he told an emergency session of the UN Security Council.

Is it possible that you did not hear our calls? Is it possible that you did not take our warnings seriously?

Calling for a transparent and investigation into the killings along the Israel-Gaza border, he said: Let us investigate what is happening on the ground. We will accept the outcome of such an investigation.

Arab League calls on ICC to investigate Israeli crimes

The Arab Leagues Permanent Committee on Human Rights called on the International Criminal Court prosecutor to urgently investigate the crimes of the Israeli occupation against Palestinians.

Israel is an oppressive and murderous entity, and its politicians and officers must be taken to the International Criminal Court, Amjad Shamout, the committees chairman, said in a statement.

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit condemned the massacres of Palestinians, which he said resemble war crimes.

In a statement, he called on the international community to protect the Palestinian people, who have chosen the path of peaceful struggle and have been confronted with brutality, violence and murder.

ICC prosecutor vows to take any action warranted over Gaza unrest

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said she was watching closely the unrest in Gaza, and would take any action warranted to prosecute crimes.

My staff is vigilantly following developments on the ground and recording any alleged crime that could fall within the tribunals jurisdiction, she warned in a statement to AFP news agency.

The violence must stop, she added.

US ambassador says Israel acted with restraint

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley tells the Security Council, no country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.

She said Hamas had been documented by news media as inciting Palestinians to storm the Gaza border.

The Hamas terrorist organisation has been inciting violence for years, long before the United States decided to move our embassy, says Haley.

This is how determined they are to make the lives of the Palestinian people miserable  Make no mistake. Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday.

UN Middle East Envoy urges quick action to prevent war

Nikolay Mladenov, UNs special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, has called on the international community to act quickly and effectively to end the senseless violence in the Gaza Strip.

For it to end, it needs every one of us to put in their best effort into preventing an explosion that can drag the whole region into another deadly confrontation, he told an emergency session of the UN Security Council.

The international community must step in and prevent war, he said.

He called on Israel and Hamas to exercise restraint and to avoid any further escalation, while also urging Israel to investigate any incident that led to the loss of lives.

Belgium summons Israeli envoy, calls for Gaza inquiry

Belgium demanded a UN inquiry into the violence in Gaza and summoned Israels ambassador to the foreign ministry after she described all the Palestinian victims as terrorists.

Belgiums foreign ministry said it summoned ambassador Simona Frankel over her remarks while Prime Minister Charles Michel said: We call for an international inquiry led by the United Nations.

France says Middle East is explosive, war could loom

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the situation in the Middle East as explosive and criticised the United States for unilateral acts in the region.

The situation in the Middle East is explosive, violence is doing the talking, war could loom, he told lawmakers in parliament.

Israeli troops kill Palestinian near Gaza border

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian near the Gaza border on Tuesday, local health officials said.

The 51-year-old man was fatally shot along the frontier in the central Gaza Strip after thousands of Palestinians took part in funerals for Mondays dead.

Palestinian protesters turned out in smaller numbers than on Monday, when dozens were killed by Israeli gunfire.

UN Security Council debates Israels Gaza killings

The UN Security Council is holding an emergency session in New York to discuss violence along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

The meeting began with a minute of silence for the more than 60 people who were killed in Mondays protests.

Speaking before the meeting, Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the UN, accused Hamas of attempting to breach the border fence by organising violent protests along the Israel-Gaza border and defended Israels right to security.

He also accused Hamas of committing war crimes against Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

Turkey expels Israeli ambassador for some time

Turkeys official news agency says the country has asked Israels ambassador to temporarily leave Turkey.

Anadolu news agency said Tuesday the Turkish foreign ministry notified Eitan Naeh, the Israeli ambassador that it would be appropriate for him to return to his country for some time.

The ministry summoned the ambassador to protest Israels use of deadly force on Palestinians and the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy there to contested Jerusalem.

Turkey has also called home its ambassadors to Washington and Tel Aviv for consultations.

National mourning

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on residents across the occupied West Bank to hold a general strike on Tuesday in honour of those killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday.

Schools, universities, banks, and private and public businesses are closed as part of the strike, which comes as Palestinians commemorate 70 years since the Nakba  or the catastrophe  when the state of Israel was created, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their towns and villages.

Baby dies of tear gas inhalation east of the Gaza Strip

Laila Anwar al-Ghandour, an eight-month-old baby, died of tear gas inhalation at dawn on Tuesday, according to Gazas ministry of health.

On Tuesday morning, 30-year-old Omar Jumaa Abu Foul succumbed to his wounds from Mondays protests, raising the death toll to 60.

[Photo courtesy of Mahmoud Hamda]

Britain, Germany, back independent probe into Gaza killings

The United Kingdom on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into the violence at the Gaza border with Israel after the United States blocked a United Nations Security Council statement calling for a probe.

Germany also announced its support for an independent inquiry into the deadly violence.

It is our view that an independent investigation commission can clarify the violent incidents and the bloody violations at the border area, said government spokesman Steffan Seibert.

Monday, May 14:

At least 58 Palestinians were killed on Monday in Gaza and more than 2,700 others wounded as the Israeli army fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at protesters assembled along several points near the fence with Israel.

The demonstrations coincided with protests against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Erdogan accuses Israel of genocide over Gaza deaths

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israel of state terror and genocide, according to state-run Anadolu agency, as Ankara announced three days of national mourning over the killing of scores of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel is wreaking state terror. Israel is a terror state, Erdogan told Turkish students during a visit in Britains capital, London.

What Israel has done is a genocide. I condemn this humanitarian drama, the genocide, from whichever side it comes, Israel or America, he added.

Thousands had earlier marched through central Istanbul to denounce the bloodshed as the US moved its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in defiance of widespread outrage in the Islamic world.

Thousands of Turks march through central Istanbul to denounce the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]





US blames Hamas for Gaza violence

White House spokesman Raj Shah has accused Hamas leaders of making a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt after the killing of at least 55 Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces.

Speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, Shah also declined to join with other countries  including France and Britain  in calling for Israel to exercise restraint in its response to the demonstrations.

The White House instead reiterated the Trump administrations refrain that Israel had a right to defend itself.

The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas, Shah said. Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response.

Turkey recalls ambassadors to Tel Aviv, Washington

Ankara has recalled its ambassadors to Tel Aviv and Washington for consultations, according to Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Bekir Bozdag.

Turkey also called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) this week, said Bozdag, hoping it will be held on Friday.

Ankara: US shares blame for Gaza massacre

Turkey has accused the United States of sharing responsibility with Israel for a vile massacre along the Gaza border.

The United States, unfortunately, took its place without complaint alongside the Israeli government in this massacre of civilians and became a party to this crime against humanity, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara.

This is a vile massacre, and we condemn it strongly, he added.

Yildirim said the events were incompatible with the US acting as a mediator or protector of world peace.

UN HR High Commissioner: Israeli live fire in Gaza must stop

Zeid Raad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, says Israeli live fire killing dozens and wounding hundreds in Gaza must stop immediately.

He also calls on the international community to bring those responsible to justice.

Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now. The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims  #Zeid. pic.twitter.com/hBb7825Sp8  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) May 14, 2018

Death toll reaches 55

Palestinian health officials say 55 people have been killed and more than 2,770 others have been wounded so far.

This brings the total death toll since the beginning of the weeks-long protests to 104.

Palestinian mourners gather around the body of a man who was killed by Israeli forces on the Gaza border [AFP].

An incredible amount of live fire

Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaza City, describes witnessing extraordinary scenes at the protests along the fence with Israel.

There was an incredible amount of live fire; it explains the high death toll and the more than 2,000 injured.

There was tear gas raining down on people and people being shot at, people who were peacefully protesting at the border.

At least 55 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 2770 have been injured [AFP].

Dekker says hospitals in the Gaza Strip have now reached breaking point as medical staff struggle to treat the thousands wounded during the demonstrations.

Yes the boys, the young men, will tell you that they throw Molotov cocktails and rocks [at the Israeli forces], but they say that is their legitimate right in terms of a resistance to the Israeli occupation.

The factions here have all come together to issue a statement saying they all hold Israel responsible for the high death toll, she added.

France condemns violence in Gaza

The French presidency has condemned the violence in Gaza after the killing of 52 Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces.

President Emmanuel Macron will speak to all the actors in the region in the coming days, his office said in a statement.

Kuwait requests emergency Security Council meeting

Kuwait has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, according to the countrys mission to the world body.

We condemned what has happened, Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi told journalists.

Kuwait is a non-permanent council member.

Netanyahu responds to criticisms over Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded on Twitter to criticism over the Israeli armys conduct in Gaza, saying it acted in self-defence by firing at protesters.

The Hamas terrorist organisation declares it intends to destroy Israel and send thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal, Netanyahu wrote.

We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens.

South Africa recalls ambassador to Israel

The South African government has condemned the actions of the Israeli armed forces near the fortified fence in Gaza.

In a statement released on Monday, the Department of International Relations (Dirco) says: The latest attack has resulted in scores of other Palestinian citizens reported injured, and the wanton destruction of property.

Given the indiscriminate and gravity of the latest Israeli attack, the South African government has taken a decision to recall Ambassador Sisa Ngombane with immediate effect until further notice.

Israeli drone targets journalists

An Israeli drone with a tear gas canister has targeted a group of journalists in Gaza , including an Al Jazeera TV crew.

Al Jazeera correspondent Hoda Abdel-Hamid was standing in a media row with several other reporters when she was hit by the tear gas canister.

Abdel-Hamid has been sent to hospital to be treated for the after-effects of the tear gas.





Palestinian President Abbas condemns Israeli actions

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has described the events in Gaza as one of the most ferocious days during a press conference.

He also told a press conference that the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem was an assault on the sovereignty of the Palestinian people.

On this day, the Israeli massacres against our people continue in the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank. Today is one of the most ferocious days that our people have witnessed, said Abbas.

As we speak, about 52 Palestinians have been killed, a number which is likely to increase. This is an indication of the level of Israeli brutality.

Abbas addresses the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah [AFP]

Today Israel is celebrating the opening of the US embassy. They allege that the occupied land of Jerusalem is the land of their forefathers. That is a falsification of history.

Palestinians have been living continuously on this land. Our people will not give up their peaceful demonstrations until we reach victory with Jerusalem as our capital.

By this move [of the embassy] the US has excluded itself from the peace process in the Middle East. It can no longer act as mediator, and its role will no longer be valid.

Call for emergency Security Council meeting

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Authoritys UN ambassador, has condemned Israeli strikes on unarmed Palestinians in Gaza.

Speaking at a press conference in New York, Mansour described Washingtons decision to open its embassy in Jerusalem as very tragic.

We will use all of our available rights in the security council to see it shouldering its responsibility to condemn this massacre and bring those responsible to justice, said Mansour.

Very tragic that they (America) are celebrating illegal action while Israel is injuring and killing thousands of Palestinians.

Tragic day for Palestinians and shame on those who ignore the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people.

Appeal for blood donations

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has put out a call on Twitter for people in Gaza to head to donation centres to donate their blood.

There has been an increasing need for blood as 52 Palestinians have been killed and 2,400 others injured by Israeli forces across Gaza so far.

Death toll reaches 52

Palestinian health officials say 52 people have been killed and 2,400 others have been wounded so far.

Of those killed, the Ministry of Health says at least six are below 18, including one female. Of those wounded, at least 200 are below the age of 18; seventy-eight are women, and 11 are journalists, including Al Jazeeras Gaza correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh.

Palestinians wave their national flag as they demonstrate near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, east of Jabalia [AFP]

Names of those killed

Here is the list of some of the Palestinians killed as of Monday afternoon according to the Gaza Ministry of Health:

1. Ezz el-din Musa Mohamed Alsamaak, 14 years old

2.Wisaal Fadl Ezzat Alsheikh Khalil, 15 years old

3.Ahmed Adel Musa Alshaer, 16 years old

4. Saeed Mohamed Abu Alkheir, 16 years old

5. Ibrahim Ahmed Alzarqa, 18 years old

6. Eman Ali Sadiq Alsheikh, 19 years old

7. Zayid Mohamed Hasan Omar, 19 years old

8. Motassem Fawzy Abu Louley, 20 years old

9. Anas Hamdan Salim Qadeeh, 21 years old

10. Mohamed Abd Alsalam Harz, 21 years old

11. Yehia Ismail Rajab Aldaqoor, 22 years old

12. Mustafa Mohamed Samir Mahmoud Almasry, 22 years old

13. Ezz Eldeen Nahid Aloyutey, 23 years old

14. Mahmoud Mustafa Ahmed Assaf, 23 years old

15. Ahmed Fayez Harb Shahadah, 23 years old

16. Ahmed Awad Allah, 24 years old

17. Khalil Ismail Khalil Mansor, 25 years old

18. Mohamed Ashraf Abu Sitta, 26 years old

19. Bilal Ahmed Abu Diqah, 26 years old

20. Ahmed Majed Qaasim Ata Allah, 27 years old

21. Mahmoud Rabah Abu Maamar, 28 years old

22.Musab Yousef Abu Leilah, 28 years old

23. Ahmed Fawzy Altetr, 28 years old

24. Mohamed Abdelrahman Meqdad, 28 years old

25. Obaidah Salim Farhan, 30 years old

26. Jihad Mufid Al-Farra, 30 years old

27. Fadi Hassan Abu Salmi, 30 years old

28. Motaz Bassam Kamil Al-Nunu, 31 years old

29. Mohammed Riyad Abdulrahman Alamudi, 31 years old

30. Jihad Mohammed Othman Mousa, 31 years old

31. Shahir Mahmoud Mohammed Almadhoon, 32 years old

32. Mousa Jabr Abdulsalam Abu Hasnayn, 35 years old

33. Mohammed Mahmoud Abdulmoti Abdalal, 39 years old

34. Ahmed Mohammed Ibrahim Hamdan, 27 years old

35. Ismail Khalil Ramadhan Aldaahuk, 30 years old

36. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohammed Alrantisi, 27 years old

37. Alaa Alnoor Ahmed Alkhatib, 28 years old

38. Mahmoud Yahya Abdawahab Hussain, 24 years old

39. Ahmed Abdullah Aladini, 30 years old

40. Saadi Said Fahmi Abu Salah, 16 years old

41. Ahmed Zahir Hamid Alshawa, 24 years old

42. Mohammed Hani Hosni Alnajjar, 33 years old

43. Fadl Mohamed Ata Habshy, 34 years old

Palestinian mourners carry the body of a man killed during clashes with Israeli forces, on May 14, 2018, in Gaza City [AFP]

Britain urges calm and restraint in Gaza

British Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman urged calm and restraint in the Gaza Strip ahead of the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt also expressed concern that peaceful protests were being exploited by extremist elements while adding: (I) urge restraint in use of live fire.

The prime ministers spokesman said: We are concerned by the reports of violence and loss of life in Gaza. We urge calm and restraint to avoid actions destructive to peace efforts.

The prime minister had made her views clear in December that we disagreed with the decision (to move the US embassy). We believe its unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region.

The spokesman also reiterated Britains commitment to a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians with Jerusalem as the shared capital.

Death toll reaches 43

Palestinian health officials say 43 people have been killed and 1,960 others have been wounded so far.

Of those killed, the Ministry of Health says at least six are below 18, including one female. Of those wounded, at least 200 are below the age of 18; seventy-eight are women, and 11 are journalists.

According to the ministry, some 918 people were shot at with live ammunition.

At least 39 are in critical condition, and there are fears that the death toll could rise.

The hospital smells like blood, there is blood everywhere, local journalist Maram Humaid told Al Jazeera from the Indonesia Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

Those wounded are lying on the floor  there are no more beds to accommodate them. The hospitals are overflowing, Humaid added.

There is a state of anxiety in the hospitals. Ambulances have not stopped arriving. The refrigerators are filling up with bodies and hundreds of people are crowded near them, distressed by the news of the killing of their loved ones.

Egypt and Jordan condemn Israeli action

Egypt and Jordan have condemned Israeli action in the Gaza Strip, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire at the border.

Jordans government spokesman, Mohammed al-Momani, condemned Israels use of excessive force against the defenceless Palestinian people and described the violence as a crime.

Egypt meanwhile expressed its strong condemnation for the targeting of unarmed Palestinian civilians by the Israeli occupation forces, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab states with formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Cairo signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and Jordan followed in 1994.

Palestinians in Gaza prepare to cross fence with Israel

Organisers of the Great March of Return say they are expecting as many as one million people to join the demonstration and attempt to cross the fence with Israel at various points along the border.

A leaflet circulated by the organisers reads: The national committee for the Great March of Return invites you to participate in the peaceful popular protest, the Million Man March of Return and Breaking the Siege.

A spokesperson for the Great March of Return, Ahmad Abu Artema, told Al Jazeera that the goal of trying to cross the fence is to send a message the Palestinian people have not and will not adapt to 70 years of being refugees, estrangement and difficult conditions.

We are adamant to return, no matter what happens. This is what the people of Gaza want  its about popular will. And this is their right.

The Right of Return is enshrined in United Nations Resolution 194.

Israeli officials have accused Hamas of being behind the protests, saying the movement exploits Palestinians and deliberately exposes them to danger near the border fence.

The organisers behind the Great March of Return have rejected these claims.

Early on Monday, the Israeli military, which has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to stay away from the border.

Saturday, May 12

Palestinian teen succumbs to wounds

Jamal Afanah, a 15-year-old boy, died on Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip as a result of wounds inflicted by Israeli security forces the day before, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israeli forces shot Afanah on Friday during protests which took place for the seventh Friday in a row as part of the Great March of Return movement.

Afanahs death takes the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the protests began to at least 49.

Egypt to open Rafah border crossing

The Palestinian embassy in Cairo announced that Egypt would open the Rafah border crossing for four days and would allow movement in both directions.

The opening is meant to attend to humanitarian cases, as well as to those whose names are registered waiting to leave the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds mourn death of Jaber Salem Abu Mustafa

Hundreds of Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip attended the funeral of 40-year-old Jaber Salem Abu Mustafa, who was shot by Israeli forces.

Mustafa was shot in the chest near the Israeli border, east of Khan Younis, on Friday, May 11.

Friday, May 11

Palestinian killed, more than 100 wounded

Israeli forces have shot dead a 40-year-old man, Jaber Salem Abu Mustafa, east of Khan Younis, according to Palestinian health officials.

Abu Mustafa died when he was shot in the chest with live ammunition.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gazas health ministry, said 167 other people had been wounded by live ammunition, tear gas, and rubber-coated steel bullets.

One journalist was among those injured. He sustained an injury in his foot east of Khan Younis.

Al-Qidra said medical staff are conducting therapeutic treatment for dozens wounded by Israeli forces, including women and children.

Preparations under way for Nakba protest

Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the Gaza-Israel border, said young people have been arriving at the protests with tyres to be burned to reduce their visibility to Israeli forces positioned with snipers on the other side of the fence.

Weve already seen one youth injured this morning, hit by live fire. He was very close to the fence, taken away in an ambulance, Dekker said.

What people here will tell you is that there is a lot of pressure. It has resulted in a lot of pressure on Israel.

Were understanding from sources that there are talks under the table to prevent the Nakba protest from happening. Why? Because hundreds of thousands of people are expected to show up  not just at this point but all along the border with Israel.

Dekker explained that there might be fewer demonstrators attending this Fridays protests compared with previous weeks because Palestinians are preparing for far bigger protests in the days to come.

Israelis march in support of Palestinians in Gaza

Around noon, some 50 Israelis began marching towards the Gaza border protesting against the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and the Israeli armys use of lethal force against unarmed Palestinian protesters.

Friday, May 4

Dozens of Palestinians wounded in Gaza border protest

Israeli forces have fired tear gas and live rounds at Palestinian protesters on the Gaza-Israel border, wounding at least 40 people.

At least 13 people were wounded by live fire, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from the Gaza-Israel border, said there were no reports of deaths and that the number of people injured on Friday marked a substantial decrease as compared to previous weeks.

But that figure could rise, he said, adding: We have heard live fire being used on several occasions today. There has been a lot of tear gas, a lot of warnings coming from the Israeli side.

Protesters burned tyres at the site sending black smoke billowing into the air.

Palestinians with their faces painted like characters from the movie Avatar pose for a picture at the Israel-Gaza border [Said Khatib/AFP]





Naming the dead

These are the 56 Palestinians that have been killed by Israel since the start of the protests:

Mohammed Naeem Abu Amr, 27, died on March 30 Amin Mansour Abu Muammar, 22, died on March 30 Mohammed Najjar 25, died on March 30 Ahmed Odeh, 19, died on March 30 Mahmoud Saadi Rahmi, 33, died on March 30 Abdelfattah Abdelnabi, 19, died on March 30 Jihad Freneh, 33, died on March 30 Sari Abu Odeh, 30, died on March 30 Ibrahim Abu Shaar, 22, died on March 30 Abdelqader Al-Hawajri, 42, died on March 30 Jihad Abu Jamous, 30, died on March 30 Bader al-Sabbagh, 22, died on March 30 Naji Abu Hujeir, 25, died on March 30 Hamdan Abu Amsha, 26, died on March 30 Ahmed Omar Arafeh, 25, died on March 30 Omar Wahid Samour, 28, died on March 30 Mosab al-Saloul, 22, died on March 30 Fares al-Raqab, 29, succumbed to his wounds on April 2 from injuries sustained on March 30 Shadi Hamdan al-Kashif, 34, Rafah, succumbed to his wounds on April 5 from injuries sustained on March 30 Thaer Mohammed Rabea, 30, succumbed to his wounds on April 6 from injuries sustained on March 30 Ahmed Nizar Muhareb, 29, died on April 6 Usama Khamis Qudeih, 38, died on April 6 Majdi Ramadan Shabat, 38, died on April 6 Hussein Mohammed Madi, 16, died on April 6 Ibrahim Al-Err, 20, died on April 6 Mohammed Saeed Saleh, 33, died on April 6 Alaa Zamli, 17, died on April 6 Sedqi Faraj Abu Atewi, 45, died on April 6 Alaa Eddine Yahya Al-Zamli, 15, died on April 6 Hamza Abdel Al-Aal, died on April 6 Yaser Murtaja, 30, succumbed to his wounds on April 7 from injuries sustained on April 6 Marwan Awdeh Qadeih, 45, died on April 9 Mohammed Abu Hajeela, 31, died on April 12 Abdallah Al-Shahri, 28, died on April 14 Ahmed Abu Aqil, 25, died on April 20 Ahmed Rashad, 24, died on April 20 Mohammed Ibrahim Ayyoub, 15, died on April 20 Saad Abdul Majid Abdul-Aal Abu Taha, 29, died on April 20 Ahmad Abu Hussein, 24, succumbed to his wounds on April 25 from injuries sustained on April 13 Khalil Atallah, 22, died on April 27 Muhammad Amin al-Muqid, 21, died on April 27 Abd al-Salam Eid Zuhdi Baker, 33, died on April 27 Azzam Oweida, 15, died on April 27 Anas Abu Asser, 19 years old, succumbed to his wounds on May 3 from injuries sustained on April 27 Yousif Abu Jazar, 16, died on April 29 Attiyah Muhammad al-Amawi, 23, died on April 29 Yousif Ahmad al-Amawi, 23, died on April 29 Jaber Salem Abu Mustafa, 40, died on May 11 Jamal Afanah, 15, died on May 12 Anas Hamdan Qdeih, 21, died on May 14 Musab Abu Laila, 29, died on May 14 Bilal Abu Daqqa, 26, died on May 14 Ezz al-Din al-Owaiti, 22, died on May 14 Ezz al-Din al-Sammak, 14, died on May 14 Obaida Salem Farhan, died on May 14 Mohammad Abu Sitta, 26, died on May 14

Sunday, April 29

3 Palestinians killed at Gaza border



In two separate incidents, Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians at the Gaza-Israel border fence late Sunday evening. The spokesperson for the Israeli army confirmed the deaths on Twitter and added that another Palestinian had been detained.

Saturday, April 28



Hundreds mourn death of Palestinian teenager shot on Friday

Azzam Oweida, a 15-year old boy, who was shot in the head by Israeli military on Friday has died of his wounds on Saturday.

Hundreds in Khan Younis gathered to pay their last respects for Hillal on Saturday.

Three other Palestinians were shot dead during Fridays peaceful protests.

Friday, April 27

Four Palestinians killed, 955 wounded

Four Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 955 injured by Israeli forces during the protests on Friday.

The health ministry identified the three men and child as Khalil Atallah, 22, Muhammad Amin al-Muqid, 21, Abd al-Salam Eid Zuhdi Baker, 33, and Azzam Oweida, 15.

Thousands of people stood right at the border, then we heard Israeli forces opening live fire. Theyre still doing that sporadically as we speak, Al Jazeeras Stefanie Dekker reported from the Israel-Gaza border.

Ambulances are rushing towards that area The scenes that we have witnessed here over the past half hour or so are the most dramatic.

Eighteen medical personnel and journalists were among the wounded.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gazas health ministry, said Israeli forces targeted medical service points twice with an unidentified gas east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

A number of victims experienced convulsions as a result of their exposure, he said.

A female demonstrator is evacuated after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops at the Israel-Gaza border [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Palestinian protesters run from tear gas launched by Israeli forces during the Great March of Return in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency] Palestinians shout slogans as they protested on Friday [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency] Palestinian protesters run from tear gas launched by Israeli forces during the Great March of Return in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency] Palestinians shout slogans as they protested on Friday [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency] Palestinians shout slogans as they protested on Friday [Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency]

Dozens hurt in latest Gaza protest

At least 25 Palestinian protesters have reportedly been injured by live Israeli gunfire or have suffocated from tear gas inhalation, as demonstrations erupted for the fifth Friday in a row in Gaza, according to reports.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that at least six Palestinians were injured when Israeli forces fired live ammunition at protesters, while the rest were hurt because of teargas inhalation.

Hundreds of protesters have been gathering at the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip on what they called the Friday of Rebellious Youth.

UN rights chief decries Israels excessive use of force in Gaza

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein has condemned Israels use of excessive force against Palestinian protesters, saying its security forces must be held to account for the many deaths and injuries sustained by Palestinians in the past month.

The loss of life is deplorable, and the staggering number of injuries caused by live ammunition only confirms the sense that excessive force has been used against demonstrators  not once, not twice, but repeatedly, Zeid said.

In the past four weeks, 42 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,500 injured along the fence in Gaza, with no reports of Israeli casualties.

Friday, April 20

Four Palestinians killed by Israeli forces

Palestinian officials say the death toll on Friday has risen to four, with Mohammed Ibrahim Ayyoub, a 15-year-old from Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, joining the growing list of fatalities.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gazas health ministry, added that at least 729 Palestinians, including 45 children, had been wounded by Israeli forces.

The other three victims were identified as Ahmed Rashad, 24, Ahmed Abu Aqil, 25, and Saad Abdul Majid Abdul-Aal Abu Taha, 29.

Yahya Sinwar makes rare public appearance at protest site

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has made a rare public appearance at a protest near Gaza City.

Freed in a 2011 prisoner swap with Israel after more than 20 years in jail, Sinwar told the crowd of protesters that they would march on Jerusalem.

Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, made another rare public appearance on Friday at a protest near Gaza city [Bernard Smith/Al Jazeera]

Palestinians raise their flag in front of burning tyres they lit near the border with Israel, east of Gaza City [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Great March of Return spokesman: South Africa is our model

Asaad Abu Shariek, a spokesman for the Great March of Return protest movement, said demonstrators were following a path laid down by South Africa during its struggle against apartheid.

People are very enthusiastic to come and take part in the protests because they know without participating in this non-violent form of resistance they cant achieve their objective, Abu Shariek told Al Jazeera.

When asked whether the protests would lead to any tangible concessions by the Israelis, Abu Shariek said: We are implanting an idea in the minds of people across the world that Palestinians have rights and they hope for the right of return.

We want the world to impose a military embargo on Israel and the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] strategy. South Africa used this method, and they emerged victorious, and I think we will be no exception.

A man has his eyes cleaned after he was exposed to tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Barrage of tear gas

Reporting from the protest site, Al Jazeeras Bernard Smith said the thousands of Palestinians in attendance were being subjected to a barrage of tear gas from Israeli soldiers.

Thick black smoke has now filled the air as they try to obscure the view for Israeli soldiers, Smith said.

This is a peaceful protest as it has been over the last few weeks.

There will be more protests like this until May 15, the day the Palestinians call the Nakba that marked the founding of the state of Israel.

Death toll reaches 37 Palestinians killed

Ahmed Rashad, 24, was pronounced dead by the Palestinian Ministry of Health after being hit by a live bullet fired by Israeli forces. This brings the death toll to 37 Palestinians since protests began on March 30.

Ahmed Abu Akil, 25, died in the hospital after being shot with a live bullet, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Palestinians fly kites over fence into Israel

Palestinian protesters along the Gaza border have sent kites over the fence into Israel, including some carrying notes telling Israelis: There is no place for you in Palestine.

Palestinians fly a kite with the words: We will return despite the betrayers [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

40 Palestinian protesters wounded

At least 40 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli use of live fire and tear gas during protests along the Gaza-Israeli border, reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Among the wounded is Ahmed Abu Akil from Jabaliya. He has been moved to the intensive care unit after being injured in the head by live bullets fired by the Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Another two Palestinians have also been reported injured in the Gaza Strip after Israeli forces fired live bullets at protesters.

Israel drops leaflets in Gaza: Stay away from border fence



Israel dropped leaflets in the Gaza Strip warning Palestinians not to approach its border fence as the military braced for fresh Palestinian protests along the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip.

It was the first time leaflets have been dropped in the recent round of demonstrations.

The Israeli army is prepared for all scenarios. Stay away from the fence and do not attempt to harm it, read the leaflets, which were scattered by Israeli aircraft along the border in the early morning.

Friday, April 13

Number of injured approaches 1,000: health ministry

The Palestinian Ministry of Health is reporting that a total of 969 people have been injured by Israeli forces

Palestinian killed in Gaza

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that Islam Herzallah, 28, died after being shot by Israeli snipers in his stomach, east of Gaza.

The number of injuries has surpassed 701, it added.

Palestinian Ministry of Health: 528 wounded

Health officials in Gaza say at least 528 protesters have been wounded, including 16 journalists and medical professionals.

According to the ministry, at least 122 Palestinians were wounded by live ammunition.

Palestinian Ministry of Health says 363 protesters wounded so far

Journalists are among the injured, with Ahmad Abu Hussein shot in the chest while covering the protests in Jabaliya, northern Gaza.

A bullet also grazed the arm of Middle East Eyes photographer Mohammed al-Hajjar at the same location.

More than 100 protesters wounded, say health officials

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that 112 protesters have been wounded by live bullets and tear gas along the Gaza Strip border.

Mobile clinic targeted near Khan Younis

Medics carry a wounded protester on a stretcher in Khuzaa, Khan Younis, on the third consecutive Friday protest near the Gaza Strip border [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

The spokesperson for Gazas health ministry Ashraf al-Qidra had condemned Israeli forces targeting a mobile clinic east of Khan Younis with tear gas, resulting in the suffocation of 10 medical staff.

Despite the direct targeting of our medical points, we are determined to continue providing treatment to our people under all circumstances, he said.

The Ministry of Health also said that 30 protesters have been injured so far.

Three protesters injured

Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett said that three protesters east of Gaza City have already been wounded by Israeli forces.

What we have seen over the past two Fridays is a great number of people shot by Israeli snipers, he said, speaking near the encampment near Gaza City.

According to Gazas Ministry of Health, more than 1,600 Palestinians were wounded last Friday.

Journalists undeterred by Israeli targeting

Last Friday, nine journalists who were covering the protests were hospitalised with serious leg injuries after Israeli forces shot at them.

One them, Izz Abu Shanab, is a freelance photographer and told Al Jazeera he was wearing a flak jacket marked with PRESS and a helmet.

As I was working about 400 metres away from the border fence, the Israelis shot me with a live bullet in the leg, Abu Shanab said. It broke the bone because it was an explosive bullet.

Another journalist, Jameel Dahlan, said that despite concern from family members, he will continue to cover the protests.

We as journalists send a message, he told Al Jazeera. No matter what my wife or mother says, we love our work. Because of that well keep coming here.

Burn the Israeli flag

Palestinians in Gaza burn the Israeli flag as part of the protests theme on the third consecutive Friday [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Amer Shreiteh, member of the Coordinating Committee for the Return March, told local Palestinian media that Fridays protest theme has been dubbed as Burn the Israeli flag and raise the Palestinian one.

A 25-metre flag mast has been built for each of the five encampments along the border, he said.

In a statement, the Committee confirmed its commitment to a peaceful, popular protest.

Friday, April 6

For a second week, thousands of Palestinians protested along the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip, as part of the Great March of Return movement.

Israeli forces have killed 29 Palestinians during the past week, including 21 during and after the March 30 protests, which wounded more than 1,600 others.

Eight Palestinians died last Friday, including one who succumbed to his wounds after being shot last week.

Two more died from their wounds the following day, including journalist Yaser Murtaja.

Local media: Eight killed by Israeli forces

The Palestinian Shehab News Agency is reporting that the death toll in Fridays protests has risen to nine, after Alaa Yahya al-Zamali, 17, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Rafah.





Yahya Sinwar: Gaza will stand tall in the face of the occupation

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has made a rare public appearance at a protest near the city of Khan Younis.

Freed in a 2011 prisoner swap with Israel after more than 20 years in jail, Sinwar told the crowd that Gaza would stand tall in the face of Israeli occupation.

The plot of starvation and siege have failed to incite the Palestinian people against the resistance [Hamas].

Gaza will not starve and will not abandon its national objective.

Our people came out to tell the world that Gaza is free and that we will stand tall and resist the Israeli occupation.

A Palestinian protester wears a tyre on his head with an onion (to protect himself from tear gas) dangling from it [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Local media: Six killed by Israeli forces

The Palestinian Safa Press Agency is reporting that the death toll has risen to eight, with Sidqi Abu Outewi, a 45-year-old from Nuseirat, and Mohammed Hajj Saleh, a 33-year-old from Rafah, joining the growing list of fatalities.

Fifth Palestinian killed, health ministry says

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says the death toll has risen to six, with 20-year-old Ibrahim Al-Ourr killed.

Palestinian Ministry of Health: 780 wounded

Health officials in Gaza said that at least 780 protesters have been wounded, including seven women and 31 children.

Fourth Palestinian killed, health ministry says

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a 16-year-old boy has been killed by Israeli forces.

The teenager, Hussein Madi, was dead on arrival after he was taken to Gaza Citys Shifa Hospital, the ministry added.

Journalist: 28 wounded protesters in intensive care unit

Hosam Salem, a photographer at the scene in the southern Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera that there are currently 8 protesters in the intensive care unit at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Salem witnessed his colleague Yaser Murtaja, a 30-year-old journalist with a local media outlet, drop to the ground after he was shot by Israeli forces in the stomach.

Yaser was filming with his camera next to me when we heard the sound of gunfire, Salem said. He just fell on the ground and said, Ive been shot, Ive been shot.

He needed eight units of blood, Salem continued. The hospital moved him from the operations room to the ICU where his situation remains critical.

Another journalist, Ibrahim Zanoun, was shot in the arm while covering the protests in Jabaliya, northern Gaza.

Half an hour ago the occupation army shot my brother, journalist, Ibrahim Zanoun in the arm!  Ezz zanoon (@EzzZanoon) April 6, 2018

Health officials: Two killed, 250 injured

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says protester Majdi Ramadan Shbat has been killed east of Gaza City by Israeli forces.

The number of those wounded has risen to at least 250, according to the ministry.

Shbats death brings the total number of protesters killed on Friday to three, after Thaer Raba, who was shot by Israeli forces during the March 30 demonstrations, succumbed to his wounds earlier in the day.

Protesters defiant amid growing tension

A Palestinian woman and man stand behind burning tyres in Khuzaa near the border in southern Gaza Strip [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Gaza, says Palestinian protesters have remained defiant despite Israel saying it will not change its rule of engagement.

Some young boys 
Amid rising populism and anti-migrant sentiment, Hungarians will head to the ballot box on Sunday.

With Hungarians slated to head to the polls on Sunday, the countrys parliamentary elections have been billed as another test for Europe in the face of rising anti-migrant populism.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who heads the increasingly far-right Fidesz party, has spearheaded his campaign for re-election by taking aim at NGOs, refugees, migrants and George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist.

Opposition parties have shown little promise of uniting in time to defeat the 54-year-old incumbent prime minister.

March elections in Italy were interpreted as a successful showing for populist and far-right parties in that country, and in December, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria became a junior coalition partner after striking a deal with the right-wing Austrian Peoples Party.

In Hungary, Orbans campaign is likely to be successful, according to polls and analysts.

Bulcsu Hunyadi, a senior analyst at Political Capital Institute, said Orbans re-election could further energise far-right parties across the continent, particularly in the so-called Visegrad countries.

Hungary has played a leading role, along with Poland, in the illiberal turn of the Visegrad countries, he told Al Jazeera.

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Orban is currently a kind of hero for far-right parties in Western Europe, he said, explaining that far-right groups in France, the Netherlands and elsewhere have expressed support for Orbans approach to migration.

If the Hungarian government remains, it might also strengthen the populist radical right.

Dark clouds

Recently erected anti-migrant billboards depict Soros, whose Open Society Foundations has campaigned against corruption and xenophobia in the region, embracing opposition politicians as they use wire-cutters to open the countrys border fence.

Orbens government, which has also targeted NGOs working with refugees, has been widely decried by critics who allege that the prime minister has manufactured a mythical threat posed by migration.

While hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants passed through the Central European country in 2015, during the height of the crisis, that number has trickled to a near standstill. Last year, a mere 3,115 asylum requests were submitted, according to Eurostat, and only 1,219 were approved.

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Others accuse Orban and his party of employing propaganda with Islamphobic and anti-Semitic undertones, pointing to his ongoing campaign against Soros and heated comments about migrants.

During his annual state of the union in February, Orban claimed that dark clouds are gathering over Europe and only his party could defend the continent from Islamisation.

Painting a picture of an Armageddon-like scenario, he proclaimed: We are those who think that Europes last hope is Christianity.

Orban added: If hundreds of millions of young people are allowed to move north, there will be enormous pressure on Europe. If all this continues, in the big cities of Europe there will be a Muslim majority.

Soros dispute

The prime minister went on to allege an anti-Hungarian conspiracy was under way and being carried out by Soros, the European Union and malignant international actors.

Viktor Orban delivers the annual state of nation address [File: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters]

These themes arent new, and Orban has echoed them time and again on the campaign trail. Last month in Miskolc, a town situated in the countrys northeast, he warned of potential ghettoes and no-go zones if he did not win.

We will either have a national government, in which case we will not become an immigrant country, or the people of George Soros form a government and Hungary will become an immigrant country, Orban declared, as reported by The Guardian.

Daniel Makonnen, a spokesperson for OSF, dismissed Orbans claims that Soros and the OSF have attempted to undermine Hungary.

George Soros and the OSF have never supported members of the political opposition in Hungary or any political party, he told Al Jazeera, arguing that the anti-Soros campaign is rooted in lies and conspiracy theories.

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It seems the Hungarian government is willing to go very far to silence NGOs and critical voices, Makonnen said. This is extremely problematic because open debate is the core of democracy.

He added: In a member state of the EU, this is a very worrying phenomenon. And this is even more worrying when you consider the potential risk of contagion in the region.

Why does it matter?

Critics say the Hungarian elections could indicate another sweeping victory for populist forces across the continent.

The consequences, they say, could include a greater crackdown on civil society, freedom of press and migration.

With the tunnel-vision focus on migration and Soros, however, serious debate about issues plaguing the country has been eclipsed.

The election campaign has also witnessed an uptick in attacks on NGOs and civil society groups, as reported by Politico.

Orban-controlled media outlets have leaked recordings allegedly obtained by foreign spies to demonise civil society groups, that report noted.

Magyar Idok, a government-controlled daily, published recordings that it alleged proved that Migration Aid, an NGO not backed by Soros, admitted that NGOs were knowingly breaching the law.

Similar attempted stings targeted a swath of NGOs.

Opponents of Orban say operations like these are part of a carefully-crafted programme to deflect criticism of the ruling partys policies.

A March poll conducted by the Republikon Institute concluded that roughly 20 percent of young Hungarians want to leave the country.

When a report published the European Commission (EC) found that economic growth in Hungary was largely driven by European funding, the government replied by accusing the EC off interfering in the elections.

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Against this backdrop, Marta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog that has repeatedly found itself the target of the governments ire, said Orbans presentation of migrants as a threat is artificially manufactured.

This hysteria has been driven to an extremely worrying level, even if people dont ever meet refugees themselves, she told Al Jazeera, arguing that the propaganda campaign is designed to divert attention from other issues that Hungarians experience in their everyday reality.

Fragmented opposition

Among the opposition parties are the centre-left Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the environment-focused Politics Can Be Different (LMP) party and Jobbik, a far-right party with neo-Nazi roots that has attempted to rebrand itself as a traditional European right outfit in recent months.

Both Jobbik and MSZP are expected to garner under 20 percent of the vote each. LMP commanded around six percent support during a February poll. That same poll predicted that Fidesz would clench 51 percent of the vote. The Democratic Coalition, a liberal party, was polling at eight percent at the time.

Although Political Capital Institutes Bulcsu Hunyadi declined to rule out an upset, he noted that opposition parties have suffered from fragmentation and division.

Explaining that the outcome of the elections will largely come down to how voters cast their ballots on the local level, he explained that an opposition electoral alliance was unlikely.

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It looks like there will be low cooperation on the big scale [among opposition parties], however there may be some coordination in some of the districts, Hunyadi said.

The opposition parties are rather split and fractured, and there no real chance for a genuine cooperation.
Tens of thousands attend second mass protest in as many weeks calling for return of Palestinian refugees to their lands.

Israeli forces have shot dead seven Palestinians and wounded more than 1,000 as tens of thousands participated in a mass demonstration demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Friday that 293 people were injured by live ammunition after Israeli forces fired on protesters who had gathered near the Israeli border in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of protesters suffered other injuries, including tear gas inhalation.

Palestinian officials identified those killed as Osama Qdeih, 38, Majdi Ramadan Shbat, Hussein Madi, 16, Ibrahim Al-Ourr, 20, Sidqi Abu Outewi, Mohammed Hajj Saleh, 33, and Alaa al-Zamali, 17.

Earlier on Friday, Thaer Rabaa succumbed to his wounds after being shot at last weeks March 30 protest.

Fridays demonstration was the second in as many weeks of a planned, weeks-long sit-in dubbed the Great March of Return.

Its main message is to call for the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were driven from their homes in the territories taken over by Israel during the 1948 war, known to Arabs as the Nakba.

Around 70 percent of Gazas two million population were forced from their homes and now live in a territory the size of the US city of Detroit  about 360sq km  which has been described as the worlds largest open-air prison.

Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border, including its warnings that those approaching or trying to damage the fence would be targeted.

At least 21 Palestinians were killed at last weeks March 30 protests, or succumbed to their wounds in the following days, after Israeli forces fired live ammunition, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at protesting Palestinians. More than 1,600 others were wounded.

There were indications that Israel used excessive force against protesters last week.

There are indications that individuals killed or wounded were unarmed or did not pose a serious threat, and in some cases were actually running away from the Green Line fence, Elizabeth Throssell, a spokesperson for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said of last weeks events.

This indicates that security forces used excessive force.

Yariv Oppenheimer, a member of Peace Now, a non-government organisation in Israel, lamented the deaths and urged the Israeli army to exercise restraint.

The Israeli army cannot shoot live ammunition at civilians, especially when they are not armed.

The Gaza Strip is but one of the focal points in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although it is part of the Israeli-occupied territories, the Strip was severed from the West Bank and East Jerusalem when Israel was created. A range of Israeli restrictions has since been created that further compartmentalise the Palestinian territories.

Gazas economy has been devastated by years of Israeli military attacks and a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Israel controls Gazas airspace and territorial waters, as well as two of the three border crossing points; the third is controlled by Egypt.

Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from the protests, said anger was boiling at the protest over Israels debilitating blockade on the Gaza Strip and its deteriorating conditions.

There is a deep frustration and anger directed towards Egypt and Israel, but also at the Palestinian political leadership  because nothing seems to get better.

One young boy told me he was 16 and dropped out of school because he saw no prospects after he would finish his studies, she said.

Many of these youth at the protest have only known war; all they have seen is pain and hardship, and they see no end in sight.

Gaza will stand tall

In a visit to Khuzaa camp on Friday, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas Gaza chief, told the gathered crowd that the Israeli plan of starvation and siege had failed to incite the Palestinian people against the resistance.

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Gaza will not starve and will not abandon its original national objective, he said, surrounded by hundreds of supporters.

Our people have told the world that Gaza is free and will stand tall and resist the Israeli occupation.

The Great March of Return is due to continue until May 15, the day Palestinians call the Nakba or Catastrophe, marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the conflict surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

Palestinians have long demanded that as many as five million direct descendants of the original Palestinian refugees be given the right to return to their ancestral homes.

Israel has ruled out the demand, arguing that the return of Palestinians to what is now Israel would outnumber its Jewish majority.
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Al Jazeera met migrants from the so-called caravan heading to the US border reflecting on why they had to leave their countries.
Al Jazeeras senior political analyst says Palestinians will continue to resist until they attain freedom and justice.

The Great March of Return, a six-week protest near Gazas border with Israel, is a defiant act of non-violent resistance deeply rooted in the Palestinian struggle, says Al Jazeeras senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have gathered near the Israeli border for a second week to demand they be allowed back to the lands they were forced from when Western powers created Israel in 1948.

The Palestinians have seen a number of protests over the decades, some were armed, some were violent, and some were acts of terror, Bishara said.

But most were acts of civil disobedience, peaceful protests, like what weve seen today.

He said Fridays protests showed the Palestinians had matured politically, while the Israelis were busy stifling democracy by preventing Palestinians from the West Bank and other areas from joining their brothers in Gaza.

It shows a maturity on behalf of the Palestinians to be embracing such peaceful, creative means, because last Friday, they were almost picnicking on the Israeli border. Erecting tents, chanting and singing songs.

If that annoys Israel and brings this issue to the fore of the international community  thats brilliant.





Bishara then attacked Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli justice minister, who appeared on the network minutes earlier.

Beilin was asking almost torturously again and again: What do they want from us? After several decades of occupations, for a former Israeli politician, a peacenik, to ask such a question is amazing.

Ill answer Beilin. I think the Palestinians want justice. The Palestinians want freedom.

The people in Gaza want freedom from drones.

They want freedom from shelling. They want freedom from bombardment. They want freedom from the blockade.

They dont want crumbs from the Israeli table. They want to be able to share their historical land  Palestine  with the Israelis on an equal footing.

The Great March of Return is planned to continue until May 15, the day Palestinians call the Nakba or Catastrophe, marking the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the conflict surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.

Palestinians have long demanded that as many as five million direct descendants of the original Palestinian refugees be given the right to return to their ancestral homes.

Israel rules this out, arguing that the return of Palestinians to what is now Israel would outnumber its Jewish majority.
Refugees held in Indonesia hope to be freed soon

More than a thousand refugees, including children, are being held in detention centres in Indonesia.
1. Yes. The district should offer a virtual learning option, even in a modified format.

2. Yes. The bill limits the number of students who use it, but it does provide state funds.

3. No. Its too late in the year for the district to try to rework its teaching platforms.

4. No. The bill only allows 10% of students to access it, and also has other restrictions.

5. Unsure. It seems like a half-measure, but it may be worth pursuing.

Vote

View Results
Rohingya refugees seek shelter in Malaysia

Al Jazeera spoke to Rohingya refugees in Malaysia to find out about their hopes for a better life.
Park Geun-hye was found guilty of bribery and abuse of power in a verdict issued on Friday.

A South Korean court has sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison after she was found guilty of corruption.

The disgraced former president was found guilty of several corruption charges, abuse of power and coercion in a verdict issued on Friday. She was also fined $16m.





It was alleged in the trial that Park, 66, colluded with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, and a former presidential aide, in pressuring big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

She was also charged for soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favours.

Park was acquitted on at least two of the charges, including abuse of power relating to forcing the Hyundai car company to run ads for the company owned by Choi.

The sentencing phase of the trial is under way.

South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported that Park did not appear in the sentencing trial.

She has been in prison for more than a year, but has refused to appear in court for most of her hearings.

Impeached and removed from office

Park is the third former South Korean leader to stand trial for corruption.

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In December 2016, South Korean legislators overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park, but she refused to resign offering instead an apology while denying any legal wrongdoing.

Three months later, the eight-member Constitutional Court then voted unanimously to remove her from office.

She was charged and arrested soon after her dismissal from office.

She is the daughter of another president, Park Chung-hee, who seized power in 1961 and was assasinated eight years later.
Dozens of people are reported dead as air raids pound opposition-controlled town in Eastern Ghouta.

Pro-government forces in Syria have launched a ground offensive under the cover of air raids on Douma, the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta.

The push on Friday signalled the collapse of a 10-day ceasefire over a potential deal to evacuate opposition fighters from the besieged enclave on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.

According to the Syrian Civil Defence, a group of rescuers operating in opposition-held areas in Syria, the air raids killed at least 30 civilians, including women and children.

Live TV footage showed thick smoke billowing from different parts of Douma.

Amid massive destruction, @SyriaCivilDefe teams work to evacuate the injured civilians after the renewed bombardment on their residential neighbourhoods of #Douma City #EasternGhouta. So far more than 30 civilians have been killed in the barbaric attack. Rescue efforts continue. pic.twitter.com/tCmptDlJI1  The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) April 6, 2018

Syrian government forces said they retaliated after a faction within Jaish al-Islam, the rebel group controlling Douma, shelled a government-held area, killing four people.





Jaish al-Islam, the last remaining rebel group in Eastern Ghouta, denies the accusation.

The group had been in Russian-brokered negotiations with the Syrian government for the past several days.

Tens of thousands are estimated to be remaining in Douma.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the renewed outbreak of fighting in Douma is of great concern to us.

There are still a number of people who are besieged and trapped in the area, he told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

He added that is a violation of international law to target civilian infrastructure and civilians.

Last week, two rebel groups reached evacuation deals with the Russian army, which resulted in about 19,000 people leaving for the northern province of Idlib.

They included fighters from the Faylaq al-Rahman and Ahrar al-Sham rebel groups, their families and other residents.

Rebel groups argued that the evacuation amounts to forced displacement, but gave in after weeks of intense bombardment.

The evacuation agreements followed a Russia-backed government offensive in February and March that killed hundreds of people in Eastern Ghouta.

To date, an estimated 150,000 residents of Eastern Ghouta have evacuated to northern Syria.
Treasury department says new sanctions target officials and businesses for their alleged roles in malign activity.

The US Department of the Treasury has announced new sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs, as well as several top government officials and business entities for their alleged roles in what the United States called worldwide malign activity.

Included in the list of individuals being targeted were Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire businessman and friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the presidents son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov.

Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their governments destabilising activities, a statement from the treasury department said on Friday.

The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies and malicious cyber activities, it added.

The US government said Deripaska had been investigated for alleged money laundering activities, as well as accusations of threatening the lives of business rivals.





Meanwhile, Putins son-in-law, Shamalov, is accused of acquiring a large number of shares of a Russia-based company involved in oil and gas exploration. Shamalov is married to Putins daughter, Katerina Tikhonova.

Also included were 17 government officials, the Russian Financial Corporation Bank and the state-owned Russian weapons trading company, Rosoboroneksport.

Rosoboronesksport is accused of assisting and providing financial, material, or technological support to the Syrian government.

Washingtons move means the assets of those sanctioned will be frozen in the US, while Americans will be blocked from doing business with them.

Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Russias capital, Moscow, said it is unclear whether the sanctions were going to affect Russian foreign policy.

There is a wider debate that goes on in Western circles when it comes to how you can actually put pressure on the Kremlin. A lot of people have been arguing for some time that the only way you can squeeze the Kremlin is by going after those closest to it, he said.

But there are others who say this would actually benefit the Kremlin; that if you sanction these individuals they will be forced to bring their assets  which at the moment are spread around the world, often in countries like the UK  back to Russia, which has experienced horrendous capital flights in the last few years.

That actually benefits the Kremlin, which has been trying to get all of this money [back].

The following is a list of some of the individuals and entities targeted on Friday as described by the US Treasury Department:

OLIGARCHS:

Igor Rotenberg, who acquired 79 percent of Russian oil and gas drilling company Gazprom Burenie from his father.

Kirill Shamalov, who married Putins daughter in February 2013 following which his fortunes drastically improved. He acquired a large portion of shares in oil and gas exploration company Sibur.

Oleg Deripaska, who has been investigated for money laundering and accused of extortion.

Suleiman Kerimov, a member of the Russian Federation Council, who was detained in France in November, allegedly carrying 20m euro ($24.5m) in suitcases. He is accused of laundering money by buying villas.

Apart from the seven oligarchs punished, 12 companies that they own or control were also sanctioned, including B-Finance based in the British Virgin Islands, Basic Element, EN+ Group, EuroSibEnergo (all linked to Deripaska), Gazprom Burenie, and Renova Group.

RUSSIAN STATE-OWNED FIRMS:

Rosoboroneksport, a state-owned weapons trading company, which the US says has long-standing ties with the Syrian government. The US said that Moscow contributed to instability in Syria through the sales and transfer of Russian-origin military equipment in support of [President Bashar al-] Assads regime, enabling Assad to continue carrying out attacks against Syrian citizens. These attacks have included chemical weapons attacks, which claimed the lives of hundreds of Syrian citizens.

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:
US teachers strike continues amid calls for better resources

Schools in the US state of Oklahoma have been closed for a fourth consecutive day, as protesting teachers continue to call for better salaries and more resources.
Aayah Khalaf, 31, has not had any contact with her parents in more than nine months.

Her mother, Ola al-Qaradawi, 56, and her father, Hosam Khalaf, 58, were arrested in June 2017 by security officials while on holiday in northern Egypt.

They have been in detention ever since, even though neither has been officially charged with a crime.

Earlier this week, both al-Qaradawi  daughter of prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi  and Khalaf had their detentions extended by another 45 days.

Aayah, a US citizen who lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and two daughters, said that no family members have been able to visit the couple at the prisons they are held in.

No one has spoken to them since their detention, Aayah told Al Jazeera in a telephone interview.

Before their detention, Aayah said she was preparing to welcome her parents to live with her family in the United States, where they both hold permanent resident status.





She said she is especially concerned for her mother, who has been held in solitary confinement in a small cell with poor ventilation and lighting at al-Qanater womens prison in Egypts capital, Cairo, since her arrest on June 30, 2017.

Her father is also being held in solitary confinement, at Cairos Tora maximum security prison.

They both say they have not been able to regularly see their lawyer, according to their daughter.

Were going onto almost a year  and shes been in solitary confinement for that long, Aayah said about her mother.

Every time the lawyer [in Egypt] sees her [in court], he says she looks weaker and weaker, and when she tried to talk to the judge, her voice is not even coming out. Shes lost consciousness two times before, and we dont really know how bad the situation is.

Accused of Muslim Brotherhood ties

While they have not been formally charged, al-Qaradawi, a Qatari citizen of Egyptian origin, and Khalaf, an Egyptian national, have been accused by the Egyptian authorities of belonging and providing assistance to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in Egypt.

That is an allegation both al-Qaradawi and Khalaf vigorously deny, said Jared Genser, the couples US-based lawyer.

Neither of them belongs to or supports the Muslim Brotherhood, Genser told Al Jazeera; al-Qaradawi is not political, while Khalaf previously belonged to a rival Islamic party called Al Wasat, which is legally registered in Egypt.

Egypts President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi came to power in 2013 following a coup that overthrew his democratically elected predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A year later, el-Sisi was elected president with 97 percent of the vote, and a series of measures curtailing the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and its members  including a wide-reaching anti-terrorism law  were enacted.

Before this period of detention, Khalaf had been held for two years on allegations of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood but was released in March 2016 without charges.

The Egyptian government, with no evidence, often will charge, try and convict people of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood or financing it, Genser said. They dont need a reason to do that; they can just do that arbitrarily.

Held hostage amid Qatar-Egypt rift?

Genser said the timing of al-Qaradawi and Khalafs arrests must also be considered.

They were detained less than a month after a group of Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia and including Egypt, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the country.

They accused the Qatari government of interfering in their internal affairs and supporting terrorism, accusations that Doha denied.





Ola al-Qaradawis father, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is an Egyptian who lives in exile in Qatar. He is the head of the Doha-based International Union of Muslim Scholars.

The Egyptian government added him to a terrorist list in June 2017, Amnesty International said. Human Rights Watch (HRW) also reported that the Egyptian authorities froze the scholars assets in Egypt for allegedly having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

I believe that both she and her husband are being held hostage by the government of Egypt in an attempt to try to put pressure on Qatar to extradite [Youssef al-Qaradawi], Genser said.

Ultimately, in my view, this is very, very clear and straight-forward, he continued.

The way in which Ola and Hossam are being treated  both in terms of the conditions of detention, as well as the lack of due process theyve been provided  unequivocally demonstrate[s] that they are political prisoners and that their detention is arbitrary and contrary to Egypts obligations under international law.

Tens of thousands jailed

Late last month, el-Sisi secured a second, four-year term as Egypts president after winning a widely discredited election with 92 percent support.

But the army-chief-turned-presidents victory at the polls was never much in doubt, as el-Sisi was criticised for pushing potential political challengers out of the race.

The Egyptian government maintains what HRW describes as a zero-tolerance policy towards dissent.





Since taking power, el-Sisi has passed a series of laws restricting freedom of expression, public protests and the work of non-governmental organisations, media outlets and anyone critical of his government.

As many as 60,000 people have been arrested or charged since the 2013 coup, HRW reported, and Egyptian authorities have forcibly disappeared hundreds for months at a time, handed down preliminary death sentences to hundreds more [and] tried thousands of civilians in military courts.

Aayah Khalaf told Al Jazeera her parents case must be seen within this larger context.

There are thousands of people who are detained without any fair trial or investigation, she said.

But on a personal level, Aayah said her parents detention has been toughest on her children. They were finally ready for them to move in [when they were detained] and so it was a huge shock for them, she said.

Aayah said she wants the US, which provides Egypt with billions of dollars of military aid, to apply pressure on Cairo to release her parents and all the other political prisoners.

It really hurts me to know that my tax dollars are going to pay for aid for the military in Egypt, for them to abuse people and put them in prisons, she said.

My parents are held for no reason, they [committed] no crime, there are no charges What really needs to happen is for them to be released right now.








Do those of us who drive cars and trucks owe the roads we use to bicyclists? Read this FreightWaves Classics
"You can tell a Benchmark kid. They love their country  they know why it's special." I asked Carole Challoner, one of the founders of this public charter school in Phoenix, how she teaches patriotism to her elementary students. The teachers do it by inspiring the kids with opportunities for gratitude, service, and patriotism. Carole explained how Benchmark does it in ten easy steps.

1. August. The school year begins with teaching the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. Many students coming in from other schools do not know them. Each morning, we play the national anthem over the P.A. system. A couple of students from kindergarten, then rotating up the grades through the year, go to the office and lead the Pledge over the P.A. system. The kids love being picked.

Lesson plans: Each grade learns the meaning of each stanza, what pledging means. They know what they are saying. "If I promise if I'm going to donate $2 of my allowance, that's a pledge." Allegiance is standing for something that is right. "To the flag" means you believe in what the flag stands for. They learn how the flag came about, part of beginning a new country.

2. September. We hold a school assembly outdoors and raise two new flags on 9/11 in remembrance. In preparation, each class learns patriotic songs, appropriate to the grade  "We Love America," "Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue" and so on, different for each grade level.

Reinforcement: At the end of the year, two students are recognized as "good citizens" and are given the flags to take home. It is a great honor. The teachers keep their eyes out for good citizenship  respect to teachers and fellow students, holding a door open for a teacher, cleaning up a mess in the playground without being asked, being kind to a fellow student.

3. October. The kids collect jars of peanut butter and jelly for the troops serving our country. Students help with the delivery to Packages from Home. They collect nearly 3,000 jars in total.

4. One year, Benchmark had two teachers become new citizens and held their naturalization ceremony at the school. This is now a yearly tradition. The students sing their patriotic songs, and the new citizen takes their Oath of Allegiance. After the ceremony, a new citizen visits each classroom to answer questions and explain why he wanted to become an American.

The lesson: It's an eye-opener for kids, why people want to live here. They realize how lucky we are to be born here. The two things they all mention are, "I came here for freedom and to live the American dream." To work as hard as they want at what they want in order to become successful. Kids love it; they are very excited. They want to know why they left, why they came here. We've had people from Venezuela, Bosnia, African countries.

5. November. On Veterans Day we invite a veteran to each classroom. It is great. They explain why they served in the military. How important it is to serve your country. The students write personal notes of appreciation and give them to the vet  expressing appreciation for keeping them free.

They learn what kind of sacrifice is made for them.We've had vets without limbs, we've had family members talk about not having Dad at home for 18 months  that's 2 school years. There is also an all school assembly attended by the veterans in their honor. Students share their poetry and letters to the vets along with singing beautiful patriotic music.

We keep a bulletin board in the school office to honor staff members and family members who have served -they all have their photos up with captions explaining who they are and where they served.Grandpa Joe served in Vietnam.

6. November  Thanksgiving. The last two weeks of the month are a segment on the Pilgrims, with age-appropriate lessons for each grade. They realize how brave the pilgrims were. Kindergarteners tape out on the carpet the size of the ship the Pilgrims traveled on. It is always a shock to see how cramped they were in the long journey over the sea.

7. December is Wreaths across America. Kids and their families volunteer to buy wreaths and go to the National Memorial Cemetery. Families and veterans show up to put wreaths on graves, but some graves have no one to honor them. We have been able to purchase and place 400-500 wreaths yearly. The Benchmark choir performs. Kids hand out notes saying thank you to the visiting vets. About 150 families do it each year.

8. December is also Christmas. Every two classrooms adopt a military family, through the chaplain at Luke Air Force Base. The kids buy Christmas presents and food for the military kids and their family.

9. Writing is an area where patriotism is regularly taught. They write essays for Veterans' Day and Memorial Day. Ten students are chosen to present their essays at an assembly. This is a big deal, and the kids are thrilled to be recognized for their achievement. They compete in history essay contests held by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constituting America, the VFW, and the Elks Club. They have to do the research. Benchmark has had a number of contest-winners.

10. On Washington's birthday, Nancy Arnold, a retired Benchmark teacher who is very patriotic, dresses as Martha Washington and comes to school to teach. She's the author of Patriotic Pups, a children's book on the American Revolution.

The classroom environment reinforces these lessons every day. There's an Uncle Sam poster in the classroom, asking, "What Are You Doing to Protect the Constitution?" The kids learn that each of us has the responsibility as citizens to protect our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Classrooms have pictures of the current president; the Founding Fathers; the Declaration of Independence; and, in upper grades, the Preamble of the Constitution.

Benchmark is a public school. Students are not handpicked  they get in by lottery. Tuition is paid for by taxes, but as a charter, Benchmark has independence from the public school system. Benchmark achieves academic excellence. The school scores are almost twice the state average  96% scores in science, for example  but equally important is teaching character. "Everyone can tell a Benchmark student. Our students are kind, they are respectful, they are caring, and they love their country."

The two teachers who founded the school, Carole Challoner and Barbara Darroch, invested their own money for land and buildings, putting in sweat equity and years of hard work, because they had a clear idea of what they wanted to do differently. As children, they lived in third-world countries, Carole because her very patriotic father served over 20 years in the Air Force, and Barbara because her father worked in the oil industry.

Carole explains, "We know how lucky our students are to have been born in this wonderful country, and it is our responsibility to make sure they never forget that."

As news junkies, American Thinker readers learn weekly about the terrible things being taught to our kids in the public schools. It is important to know our opponents and do everything in our power to stop what they are doing to the next generation. It is equally important to know and celebrate the everyday heroes on our side.

Gratitude is the beginning of wisdom. We have a lot of smart, dedicated, and capable people working for what is right and good. As Carole Challoner teaches her students, we have many people to thank for their hard work and sacrifices. Never forget the teachers out there who love our country, buck the system, and teach our children to love the national treasure that is America. The Benchmark example can be spread far and wide.
The national press is outraged after a video surfaced revealing Sinclair Broadcast Group's decision to have its local news anchors read a scripted announcement about accuracy in journalism.

So what's the big deal?

Sure, there's something unnerving about seeing local TV anchors across the country reciting a scripted message in unison. But that's more of a testament to the power of effective video editing than anything else. Any group chant can be painted as creepy (like when these celebrities pledged to "be a servant to" President Obama), as can any video.

Nor am I concerned with reporters saying something with which they personally disagree. Most journalists in their career, at one point or another, have received instructions from higher-ups on what to cover and how  maybe even instructions they didn't like.

What's more, Sinclair's message is nearly identical to messages put out by Trump's most ardent critics. A few examples: In December 2017, the Brookings Institution published an article that explained "how to combat fake news and disinformation." Readers were advised to be "skeptical of news sources" online and warned of outlets that "resort to misleading or sensationalized headlines." Fake news, according to Brookings, is "especially problematic in democratic systems." Former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, recommended in a New York Times op-ed that social media platforms adopt various transparency measures to combat fake news and "protect our democracy." Dan Rather, shortly after dismissing Sinclair's message as "propaganda," appeared on The Young Turks to recommend that citizens "challenge [their] news" and to "understand that trusting a news outlet doesn't mean they're perfect." If an outlet focuses on "personal, salacious and speculative stories," said Rather, "find a new outlet."

(It's worth noting, by the way, that none of these folks needed evidence or examples of fake news to make their case, as demanded of Sinclair by the Washington Post's Erik Wemple.)

Some would probably say the Sinclair broadcast wasn't addressing that kind of fake news, but instead was a rallying cry for Trump's ongoing attack on our nation's distinguished Fourth Estate.

Assuming that's true, how any average American could distill this message from the scripted announcement  and thus join Trump's "brainwashed cult"  I am unsure. Rewatch the clip sans creepy super-cut. Not only is there no mention of Trump, but there is no mention of any specific media outlet or political figure whatsoever. The message is so neutral that it even invites viewers to scrutinize Sinclair-run stations as well.

Moreover, viewers couldn't have even guessed an ideological slant from the local TV station's network affiliation  affiliates of Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC all aired the announcement. Context clues didn't seem to help, either. "Sinclair Broadcast Group" is not a household name, and it's doubtful Americans know Sinclair's political preferences.

A facially neutral message coupled with such a broad ignorance of Sinclair Broadcast Group means there's virtually no chance a person watching the 90-second spot saw it as a pro-Trump advertisement. Instead, viewers likely understood it to be a quick plug to make their local station seem more trustworthy (something CNN does every day when it calls itself "The Most Trusted Name in News").

Yet for many in the media, the announcement was nonetheless "insidious." Perhaps that belief has less to do with the message and more to do with messenger  specifically, the messenger's support for Trump.

If so, Sinclair's message shouldn't be condemned, but celebrated for its perceptiveness. Disagreeing with an idea one would otherwise normally agree with simply because of the speaker's political alignment is the very definition of bias, which in this case makes Sinclair correct to say "some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda[.]"

It's not such a crazy notion, given the story's origins. According to the New York Times, the video at issue was created by Deadspin video director Timothy Burke and published on Deadspin's left-wing political blog, The Concourse. Then a similarly edited video was released by ThinkProgress, a notoriously far-left outlet that has been caught on multiple occasions boosting false or misleading news stories and is characterized by Media Bias/Fact Check as an outlet that tends to "utilize strong, loaded words" and "publish misleading reports [that] omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes."

The media's left-most members want us to believe that a media corporation instructing its anchors to educate viewers on the existence of reckless and false journalism threatens the very foundation of our democracy, simply because the corporation's leaders support Trump. That's nonsense wrapped in partisan delusion.

The verdict here is clear: the so-called Sinclair "scandal" is a double-bacon nothingburger. With cheese.

Thomas Wheatley is an attorney living in Arlington, Virginia and a regular contributor to the Washington Post's "All Opinions Are Local" blog. You can email him at tnwheatley@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @TNWheatley. Check out all of his writings at www.thomasnwheatley.com.
While the political correctness assault on free speech, especially by the media and on college campuses, has received widespread attention, the Democratic Party objective to obliterate First Amendment protections, from assault by the full power of the Deep State, is largely unknown.

College campus anti-speech thuggery and media bias are bad enough. But these are private acts that can be countered by courageous private individuals. However, the war against free speech rises to a new level when the full power of government is deployed against freedom. Private leftists do not possess government's distinguishing feature: power  to destroy financially, to imprison, and to kill.

Democrat vs. Republican Pretense

Three days before betraying his base, President Trump claimed: "Pelosi's party in Congress is full of people who tell their voters one thing during the election and then go to Washington and vote" the opposite. That also applies to Republicans. But unlike Republicans, Democrats are not only corrupt liars, but also dangerous.

Ten Democrat senators face difficult 2018 re-election contests: Baldwin, Brown, Casey, Donnelly, Heitkamp, Kaine, Manchin, McCaskill, Nelson, Tester. However much these senators try to trick voters into believing they are not wolves in sheep's clothing, last year, only three voted to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch. The Gorsuch yeas surely resulted from fear of fast approaching re-election challenges. The seven leftist nays were Baldwin, Brown, Casey, Kaine, McCaskill, Nelson, and Tester.

Political Dynamite

The votes against Gorsuch signified what today's leftist Democratic Party seeks: dictatorial judicial imposition of unpopular and unwanted policies upon unwilling majorities. Justice Scalia often said: "If you want a policy not mandated by the Constitution, persuade your fellow citizens." This was his response to leftists unable to convince fellow citizens of their nostrums' merits but who, instead, run to liberal activist justices to lawlessly ram these nostrums down the throats of the unpersuaded. The leftist playbook counsels intimidation and dictatorship, not honest, reasoned persuasion.

Few conservatives realize that the Supreme Court is now only one vote short of a majority eager to ratify legislative denial of their freedom of speech. Justice Clarence Thomas has pointed out the obvious: "[p]olitical speech is the primary object of First Amendment protection." He felt the need to state the obvious when fellow justices, "rather than going out of [their] way to protect political speech, [went out of their] way to avoid protecting it" (Thomas's emphasis). The greatest significance of the Gorsuch confirmation is that he will likely protect the heart of free democratic elections that Make America Great.

In 2014, the ten named Democrat senators did not face imminent election challenges. All ten voted to abolish First Amendment protection for conservatives. See the official roll call vote and official Democrat amendment to mutilate the First Amendment. Fifty-four U.S. senators  all Democrats  supported government regulation of speech critical of the government, or, as they put it, the power to "reasonably limit" money spent to "influence elections." Tellingly, these anti-democratic Democrats voted to specially protect the press, an arm of their party.

The Democrat Amendment seems merely to limit money. However, money is central to free speech because nowadays, television ads are required to reach voters. If such ads were not persuasive, Justice Scalia pointed out, "sophisticated politicians of all parties" would not use them. Television consumed $2.8 billion in the previous midterm election.

From time immemorial, suppression of criticism has been essential to tyranny. What today's Democrats seek, destruction of self-government's core freedom, is as old as book-burning. Yet, eleven days before Trump shocked his base, Montana Democrat Senator Jon Tester, pursuing re-election, released an ad claiming he's a Trump ally. But, as noted, Tester opposed Justice Gorsuch and the freedom of speech that makes our country free and great. This is political dynamite that can explode Tester's campaign  if used!

Extreme leftists are, in Justice Douglas's words, "miserable merchants of unwanted ideas"; unable to withstand scrutiny, leftists abhor free speech. The left tries to bully its critics into silence, even seeking to eviscerate the Constitution's most sacred words. Despite leftist claims, there is little evidence of the right (especially officeholders) trying to silence the left. The left has a monopoly on calling their opponents fascist, while most on the right recoil from exposing the truth that the fascism charge applies to the left rather than the right. A conspicuous exception is David Horowitz, whose reward is to need strong security protection to speak in public.

Dennis Prager contends that "the left-right battle [is] an existential battle for preserving our nation." Nothing could better destroy our nation than ceding power to the Deep State to determine the "reasonableness" of messages intended to persuade voters. Well financed anti-freedom hypocrites allege that something is wrong with spending money to influence elections. What do they think is the purpose of political campaigns? Campaigns to influence election outcomes are at the core of democratic representative self-government. The Democratic Party is a threat to the very heart of representative democracy. If this is not publicized soon, America will cease to be free.

Republicans cannot rely on conservative media, which (a) largely preach to the choir and (b) have ignored or forgotten that in 2014, all Democrat senators went on record as opposed to free speech for conservatives. To win, Republican candidates in contested elections should run political ads informing undecided voters of this explosive fact.

Other Political Dynamite

There are two reasons to focus on Democrat enmity toward free speech. First, it is the heart of every political issue. Citizens cannot seek policy change without a chance to explain or hear why. Second, it is disturbing and shocking that Republicans have done absolutely nothing to publicize the forgotten and ignored unanimous 2014 vote of all Senate Democrats to limit debate on an amendment to limit debate on all political issues. In a recent political speech, President Trump discussed every Democrat sin, except hatred of free speech.

Democrats must be exposed as enemies of the fundamental freedom essential to democracy. This should be sufficient to avoid Democrat congressional control. But there is other political dynamite.

It is a hallmark of leftist Democrat hypocrites to smear the right as guilty of everything of which the left is guilty: racism, sexism, hate, Russian collusion, corruption, lawlessness, etc. Space limits preclude extensive detail. But one item should be emphasized again and again in 2018 Senate campaigns.

Racism. Not long after trotting out a favorite Democrat smear, calling President Trump a "racist," would-be Senate majority leader Charles Schumer openly declared his vote against a judicial nominee because the latter is a white male. Anyone familiar with judicial nominations knows that opposition or support is based on likely nominee rulings rather than ethnicity or sex. Who can forget the vicious Democrat slander of Clarence Thomas, despite his race? Less well known is that extreme ACLU leftist Democrat Ruth Bader Ginsburg faced no Democrat opposition to her confirmation as a Supreme Court justice, despite the fact that she did not employ a single black out of 57 people she hired in 13 years as a federal appellate judge.

Republicans who want to win should stress Democrat racism. Dinesh D'Souza has described past and present Democrat racism. Justice Thomas has noted the racist origins of the Democrat obsession with suppression of free speech. After the Civil War, because blacks then supported Republicans, rabid segregationist Democrat Senator Pitchfork Ben Tillman initiated restrictions on corporate contributions to the Republican Party. Finally, combining racism and sexism, the most recent Democrat presidential candidate openly expressed disdain for white women and the white males in their lives.

Conclusion

I have made no secret of my revulsion for faithless elected Republican senators and representatives, who repeatedly lied to gain control of Congress. Now Democrats will to lie to regain control.

Five weeks before he died, Justice Scalia quoted Charles de Gaulle: "God takes care of little children, drunkards, and the United States of America." So it is no surprise that the American political system rarely provides a choice of the greater good; the choice is nearly always who is the lesser evil? Those dissatisfied with "lesser evil" Republicans should defeat them in primaries. They should not substitute a vastly greater evil for a lesser evil in order to punish the lesser. The consequences will be irreversible.

Although, on March 23, the president forced many of his supporters to conclude that the Democrats already control Congress, actual leftist Democrat control of even one house of Congress can result in true Bernie Sanders socialism, greater protection for law-breaking and violence against the defenseless, increased racism and sexism, and fascism.

As faithless as Republicans are, they should stress  and easily document  what today's Democrats represent: An End to America. If Republican candidates fail to do so, they will deserve exactly what happens to them.

Tragically, freedom-loving, law-abiding Americans, under relentless Deep State attack, will not deserve it!

Lester Jackson is author of numerous articles about capital punishment, the Supreme Court, and American politics. His recent book is Equal Justice for Victims: A Blueprint for the Rightful Restoration of Capital Punishment.
In a story that can be labeled "soooo Chicago," we learn that a 60-year-old Chicago woman, paid by the Chicago Public Schools to protect children on their way between home and school, has been arrested for felony possession of heroin after being caught on a surveillance camera "manipulat[ing] an item consistent with narcotics packaging." Betty Brown was arrested and taken into custody by police dispatched to the scene by officers monitoring the surveillance camera feed.

CWB Chicago reports:

Around 8 a.m., cops in the 11th (Harrison) District were monitoring a pod camera feed from the corner of Gladys and Pulaski in Garfield Park. The area is "known for a high volume of narcotics trafficking," police would later write in the Safe Passage worker's arrest report. Police said they watched as Betty Brown walked a few feet from her post and hid behind a fence to "manipulate an item consistent with narcotics packaging," according to court records. A patrol car was sent to investigate. As officers approached Brown on the corner, they allegedly saw her holding two red zip bags containing suspected heroin in her right hand. She was taken into custody. Prosecutors charged her with felony possession of heroin and Judge Stephanie Miller released her on a recognizance bond. A police department source said prosecutors approved the possession charge because cops "didn't have enough (evidence) to charge her with dealing."



Brown (inset) was assigned to a post near this Safe Passage sign in the 4200 block of West Gladys. Photo credit: CWB Chicago.

That's correct: someone caught possessing heroin packaged in a manner consistent for sale on a route used by children she is supposed to protect is back in the streets without having to post any bail. Parents in the vicinity of Genevieve Melody Elementary School, which Ms. Brown was hired to protect, know that their precious children may be lured into heroin addiction should Brown decide to distribute the substance she was caught possessing. It's the infamous "catch and release" bail policy now in effect in Illinois. That is the system that Chicago Police superintendent Eddie Johnson says criminals think is a "joke."

The background story gets even more Chicago: the streets in certain neighborhoods of the Windy City are considered so unsafe that the Chicago Public Schools hire adults to serve as guardians along selected routes used by students going to school. The so-called Safe Passage Program enables the boon of a paying government job to be distributed to residents of neighborhoods labeled gang-infested. This is Chicago, so the distribution of these jobs is placed in the hands of "vendors," who set up the routes to be protected and methods to be employed. According to the CPS website, the vendor serving Genevieve Melody Elementary School is "Saving Our Sons Ministries, Inc." which switched in 2015 from being 100% dependent on contributions to being 96.4% dependent on "program services," presumably activities including Safe Passage guardians.

So life goes on in Chicago's ghettos, the canaries in our urban coal mine.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is going after Sinclair Broadcast Group, because, Heaven forbid, the company is having local broadcasters recite a message saying they want their news to be truthful and not based on opinion.

"This most recent incident continues the troubling history of Sinclair dictating content to its stations, including mandating they run Sinclair-produced segments," Durbin wrote. "This practice not only compromises the ability of local reporters to serve the unique interests of their viewers, but it undercuts the journalistic integrity of local news anchors who are required to deliver corporate-scripted messages, at times without providing a disclaimer of their source."

I wonder why Durbin isn't troubled by the repetitious content at CNN, NBC, MSNBC, the Washington Post, PBS, NPR, etc.

There are great examples of fake news stories that news outlets repeat continuously. Instead of Durbin being concerned about the fake news, he is concerned about Sinclair saying it strives not to report fake news.

The first is the Russian collusion with Trump story. There was never any basis in fact for this story. It was started by a fake Russian dossier funded by Hillary and the DNC and was used as an excuse for the Obama administration to spy on Trump and his people. Not once have I heard Durbin care about the clear targeting of a politician based on pure garbage. I also have never heard Durbin ask why the DNC wouldn't allow the government to examine its computers for that, since the DNC blamed Russians for committing a crime.

The other is how news outlets worldwide just keep repeating the fake news that man, fossil fuels, and CO2 cause global warming. It is clear that there have been significant periods of time (from 1945 to 1976) where the temperature was falling while CO2 was rising, which shows that there is actually zero correlation between the two, yet we are told the science is settled and people who disagree should not be listened to. It amounts to indoctrination for a false cause, and the press has no small role.

Durbin even votes for this stuff.

NPR and PBS receive significant government funding, have tax-free status, and have an obvious left-wing bias, and Durbin never questioned the tax-free status or government funding.

It was so much easier for government and people like Dick Durbin to control the news when there were few outlets.

Besides having a double standard on what's fake news, Durbin has a partisan agenda.

Durbin may be all full of phony concern about Sinclair's statement, but we should remember that Durbin has a hypocritical record on the matter of private business and civil society groups and how they should be run. As Durbin yells about Sinclair, recall the letter Durbin sent to the IRS to urge it to investigate a conservative group. Somehow, no liberal groups were also named in his letter.

Here is an excerpt from Durbin's letter:

I write to urge the Internal Revenue Service to examine the purpose and primary activities of several 501 (c)(4) organizations that appear to be in violation of the law[.] ... [Crossroads GPS] has spent nearly $20 million on television advertising specific to Senate campaigns this year. If this political activity is indeed the primary activity of the organization, it raises serious questions about the organization's compliance with the Internal Revenue Code.

What it goes to show is that it is much more dangerous for democracy and our freedom for a senator and the IRS to stifle the free speech of a group they disagree with than when Sinclair Broadcast Group personalities read a message that says they strive to report the truth.

The targeting of Sinclair by Durbin and news outlets like the Washington Post is telling.
Welcome to the brave new world, or whatever else you want to call it, that the left has built. Let me give you some examples:

1) Down in Texas, a white guy named Robert O'Rourke wants you to call him "Beto" because he needs to connect with South Texas voters.

2) Up in Massachusetts, a white woman wants you to believe she has Cherokee, or whatever, blood, because she needed to promote her minority status.

3) On nighttime TV, a comedian named Jimmy Kimmel cannot speak two sentences without taking a shot at President Trump, and now even his wife.

For some time, Jimmy Kimmel's show is all about attacking President Trump. In my mind, it's okay for a comedian to attack the president of the U.S. I don't have to watch it if I don't like it. So I don't watch Kimmel.

It's another story to take a cheap shot at the first lady.

This is from Jimmy Kimmel's show:

On Monday, the White House held its 140th annual Easter Egg Roll. The event, hosted by Melania Trump, featured children adorably pushing eggs along the White House lawn. In a bizarre response, late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel launched an attack on Melania Trump over the event. First he derided Melania as being uninvolved in the set-up of the event. "Not a chance she did one thing to help set that up. There's no  she didn't dye eggs, she didn't fill baskets." Did Michelle Obama dye eggs or fill baskets? Where was Kimmel to question her efforts during the eight years of the Obama administration? Next, Kimmel mocked Melania Trump's accent. This type of anti-immigrant attack is only OK for leftists to make on people like Melania.

Really, Kimmel? Is that the best that your comedy writers can do?

We are watching what Trump Derangement Syndrome has done to people like Jimmy Kimmel.

Once upon a time, we stayed up to watch the Johnny Carson monologue. It was funny because we didn't know what politician was going to get it tonight. We also knew that Carson would give it to both sides!

Last, but not least, Kimmel and the liberals are violating their own principles. It wasn't long ago that they'd crucify anyone who made fun of an immigrant's accent. Can you imagine what a liberal like Kimmel would have said if one of us had mocked Secretary Madeleine Albright's accent?

Where are the people defending the immigrant mocked on TV? Well, it does not count because she is married to Trump!

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
It's said that everyone has a doppelganger. Well, in a weird twist to the saga of the high school shooting survivor-turned-gun control activist, David Hogg, it might just be true.

David Hogg of North Carolina has the same name as the David Hogg of Parkland, Florida; resembles the other teen; and is nearly the same age  he's actually slightly younger, and he's already studying engineering at the University of North Carolina.

He's different from the Parkland David Hogg in two noticeable ways, though: he's mature, and he favors gun rights.

He's written a brilliant readable essay in the Wall Street Journal (paywall, unfortunately) on his own experience of being mistaken for the Parkland David Hogg. He wrote of the bad harassment and abuse a lot of trolls have thrown his way (which makes one wonder with a certain sympathy what the other David Hogg must be dealing with,) and how, actually, he's in favor of gun rights, as well as gun education in schools. He tweets at @David_Hogg16

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel has a good summary of the piece here, noting:

Although he empathizes with the Parkland students and appreciates their use of their First Amendment right, he said gun rights are important, too. This Hogg's solution is not gun control, but instead mandatory gun education and armed security officers in schools.

Hogg's op-ed in the Journal is a real gem. He states his views and comes off as kind and empathetic to all sides in the debate, injecting civility into a debate that has long lacked it on multiple sides. Take a look at this passage to his entirely worth reading op-ed:

The other David Hogg and I have similar goals but disagree on the means for accomplishing them. He puts more blame on the gun and the National Rifle Association than on the criminal. Still, I applaud him and his fellow activists for exercising their First Amendment right to speak out, without which nothing would ever get accomplished. In order for America to do something about a problem, people must discuss the issue and find the best solution for it. I am no political scientist, activist or journalist, but I have a viewpoint too. I urge Florida's Mr. Hogg to listen to people with differing views, because he would want them to listen to him. I recommend he be less demanding and more open to other ideas. People who are not willing to budge from their goal make it harder for change to occur. Also, some of his recent actions  like calling sponsors to stop advertising on a commentator's program because she was rude to him  come across as bullying, as he claims the NRA is doing to Congress. I would like to see him soften his tone and be more respectful in delivering his message. Teenagers are smart, but we certainly don't have all the answers. Both the Florida David and I have a long way to go in life and a lot to learn.

This is what is meant when we say "being the adult in the room." The 16-year-old David Hogg from North Carolina obviously is. Let's hope we hear more from him.



Doppelganger: How they met themselves by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Fitzwilliam Museum public domain image.
When President Trump said he was deploying the military to our southern border, I thought, "Finally!" Congress has blocked Trump's attempts to build a border wall and hire more border guards, but President Trump has found a unilateral action he can take to finally secure the border!

If only.

It turns out that President Trump is talking about deploying only between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guardsmen to the border. That's a tiny token force. How do we know this?

Consider that there are about 18,000 Border Patrol agents at our southern border. In light of that, an increase of only about 3,000 is tiny.

Furthermore, it's been tried before.

Past presidents, including George W. Bush and even Barack Obama, have sent guardsmen to the border. In "Operation Jump Start," President Bush sent 6,000 troops to the border  twice as many as our great presidente is proposing right now!

But even Bush's 6,000 troops were unable to secure the border:

The Administration calls their deployment a success, citing a 24% reduction in illegal entrant arrests during the course of the mission. But what does that 24% reduction really say? Of course no one knows for sure, but up to a million illegal aliens are estimated to infiltrate the U.S. each year across the southern border. So with 6,000 Guardsmen in place, only 760,000 illegal aliens successfully infiltrated the United States. Let's review. We deployed the National Guard to secure the southern border against illegal entry. As many as three-quarters of a million unidentified foreign nationals  five times our military deployment in Iraq  got through anyway. That's not a success. That's a colossal failure, unless you count photo ops of the National Guard on the border as the real mission.

So Bush's 6,000 troops couldn't secure the border; but Trump expects to the same with half that number.

Why doesn't Trump draw on the necessary numbers to secure the border? The troops are there to be drawn on; the president is not limited to calling up troops from border states to guard the southern border. And President Trump certainly has the power to call up 36,000 national guardsmen.

But for some reason, President Trump is calling up a fraction of the number President Bush called up.

The only explanation I can think of is that Trump is not serious about securing the border and is taking this action to shore up his political standing with his core supporters.

President Trump is embarrassed that conservative supporters like Anne Coulter have called him out for signing a spending bill that, although funding abortion, Obamacare, and other Democratic priorities, offered him only 33 miles of new fencing, no border wall money, and virtually no money for additional border guards.

This gesture is meant to placate President Trump's supporters, who will see the headlines showing that President Trump is sending the military to the border but won't be curious enough to find out exactly how many soldiers he is sending.

For me, this is the final proof I need to be convinced that President Trump is not serious about dealing with illegal immigration or securing our southern border.

o The president agreed to end DACA but called on Congress to reinstate it legislatively.

o The president called for amnesty for at least 1.8 million illegal aliens, putting him to the left of Barack Obama.

o The Obama-era holdover running ICE is arresting illegals at a somewhat faster pace but also conducting "show raids" where businesses are warned in advance and arrests are few to none.

o The president signed legislation outlawing his border wall and providing money for only 33 miles of fencing for a 2,000-mile border.

And by the way, these guardsmen Trump is calling up? They will be totally unarmed and unable to detain a single illegal without the help of the border patrol. If drug-smugglers fire at them, they will be helpless to defend themselves. Good thinking, President Trump!

Actions have consequences. So do elections. Republicans will be demoralized from turning out for the 2018 elections because Congress hasn't moved to secure our borders and the president hasn't fought for it (remember the veto, anyone?). President Trump is positioning himself to be a one-term president by his failure to act in any significant way to secure the border or deal with illegal immigration.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.\

Image: Michael Vadon via Wikimedia Commons.
Donald Trump indicated on Thursday that he would ask the U.S. trade representative to look into imposing another $100 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods. The move is in response to Chinese retaliation for the $50 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods announced by the administration earlier this week.

Trump is responding to Chinese retaliation for tariffs that were imposed by the U.S. in retaliation for Chinese tariffs on American goods, which were imposed by China in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel.

If there's another definition of a trade war, I haven't seen it.

CNNMoney:

"In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the [United States Trade Representative] to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate," the president said in a statement. ... Trump's announcement late Thursday that his administration could target another $100 billion of Chinese goods rattled markets and drew criticism from businesses and from within his own party. The Chinese government responded by reiterating that it doesn't want "to fight a trade war, but we are not afraid of fighting it." "If the United States disregards the opposition of China and the international community, and insists on unilateralist and protectionist trade practices, the Chinese side will follow through to the end and will not hesitate to fight back at any cost," the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement Friday. "We will take new comprehensive measures to respond and resolutely defend the interests of the country and the people." Dow futures fell after Trump's announcement on Thursday and were down nearly 200 points, or 0.8%, early Friday. That followed a day of stock market gains in the United States as investors appeared to warm to the idea that the barbs between Washington and Beijing were all talk.

It's important to note that, at the moment, the threat to impose tariffs on $100 billion in Chinese products is just that: a threat. If it happens, it will be a huge escalation in the trade war and force China to respond with equal seriousness.

The Chinese have already targeted soybean exports by the U.S., which would hurt Iowa and other Midwestern states. And it could get a lot worse.

Axios:

This is exactly what the free traders who formerly worked in the White House feared, Trump in a macho pissing match against Chinese President Xi. Trump has a blunt understanding of leverage and believes the worst thing he can show is weakness. He also believes, as he tweeted, that the U.S. already is so far down on the scorecard with China that he's got nothing to lose. Trump's new economic adviser Larry Kudlow made the rounds on television yesterday to say the first round of tariffs were a prelude to negotiations and that "backchannel talks" were already going on. Tonight's statement says the U.S. "is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade."

If it is a "pissing match," the U.S. will have a hard time winning.

Will chinas reaction to the next round of threatened tariffs include disrupting mainland business of marquee us firms like GM and Apple, even if that hurts Chinese workers? They seem to have been hinting at that, seems hard to see where they can match another $100b of tariffs  Bill Bishop (@niubi) April 5, 2018

According to information I received, China's massive plan in retaliation of US tariffs will be released this afternoon Beijing time.  Hu Xijin  (@HuXijin_GT) April 4, 2018

Trump has picked a fight he may not be able to win. China has a mostly command economy and no political freedom. If a Chinese company is hurt by U.S. tariffs, its members will keep their mouths shut and do as they're told. There will be zero pressure on President Xi to stop a trade war with the U.S., given the oppressive nature of Chinese society.

On the other hand, Trump will be hearing it from businesses large and small hurt by the Chinese tariffs, and that includes politically important groups like farmers. They will put pressure on Congress, who will then pressure the president.

Not saying Trump can't stand the political gaff here at home, but it must figure in his calculations going forward. It sounds as though there are intense back-channel negotiations going on even as I write this. But on a basic level, China will never reform its economy to welcome importers simply because the Chinese would then lose control, and that cannot happen in a communist country.

This could get very ugly very quickly.
U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley told an audience at Duke University that changes in U.S. policies toward Israel and Cuba signal an end to "the era of the United States leading from behind."

The Obama administration created policies that refused to acknowledge and use American military, economic, and moral superiority in international relations. It was famously described as "leading from behind."

Washington Free Beacon:

She criticized previous administrations for being too deferential to international opinion, saying she is not hesitant to resist the majority at the U.N. She described how the U.N.'s Security Council and Human Rights Council regularly single out Israel but leave authoritarian regimes alone. "Soon after coming to the U.N. last year, we decided we weren't going to silently accept that anymore. Israel is our great friend," Haley said to applause. "And Israel is a lonely voice for democracy and human dignity in the Middle East." "We've made these changes to have the back of our friend and ally Israel, absolutely, but we're also sending the message that the era of the United States leading from behind is over," she added. Haley also drew attention to the administration's willingness to reverse former President Barack Obama's attempts at closer ties with Cuba. She said that action "broke faith" with Cuban exiles and political prisoners, and said Obama did not demand any changes from the Cuban government. "The previous administration chose to ease sanctions on the Castro regime in Cuba without demanding respect for the human rights of the Cuban people in return," she said. ... "It's often just easier not to rock the boat. When the crowd is all going one way, it's sometimes hard to be the only one going in the other direction," she said. "But in America, we don't celebrate the mob, we celebrate the person who has the courage and conviction to stand up to the mob."

"Leading from behind" was the worst post-World War II foreign policy decision since perhaps committing U.S. ground troops to Vietnam. What made it even worse is that the policy implied that America isn't good enough to lead the world as the sole superpower, that somehow, most of the problems of the world were our fault, and it was better we withdraw from international leadership on a host of issues.

Looking at the state of the world today, we can see the disastrous outcomes that flowed from that policy. Our allies are weaker and our adversaries stronger. Trump may not engage internationally on a level desired by many internationalists, but his instincts have been mostly good, and he hasn't been afraid to put U.S. interests ahead of those of other countries.

That's why we elect a president, isn't it? We elect a chief executive not to preside over the dissolution of American power or to fight for the interests of other countries. "America first" may be portrayed in the press as some kind of super-nationalism akin to fascism, but in fact, it's exactly what the American people want in a president.

Good riddance to "leading from behind."
Claiming he was just trying to free Josh Holt, a devout young Mormon from Utah held hostage by Venezuela's Maduro regime on phony charges, left-wing Illinois Democratic senator Dick Durbin isn't exactly credible about his real mission in his secret visit to Caracas this past week.

Rep. Pete Sessions, a Dallas-based Republican, isn't exactly believable, either, given that he called his secret trip with Durbin "a peace mission" to Caracas last week. Ralf.

Stranger still, Sessions should have good reason to despise Durbin, given that Durbin invented a phony story for the press about Sessions insulting President Obama in 2013, something even Obama's White House denied. Durbin apparently does a lot of this. It was Durbin who invented the story about President Trump calling migrant countries "s-hole countries," which the White House again denied. What a guy.

So what could the two of them have actually been up to in the trip they took together to the socialist shambles of Venezuela last week that they didn't want anyone to know about? Sessions wanted not even the State Department to know about it, keeping State out of his meeting with Maduro, probably because the people there are a leaky, partisan bunch. And instead of using congressional funds for this trip, they paid for it themselves.

It just doesn't add up.

The country is a socialist hellhole. It's run by the Castro crime family of Havana, not a one of whom intends to leave power any time soon, and the Castroites have a track record of clinging to power for decades. They've cheated in elections to maintain their grip on power, they've co-opted Western useful idiots to sing their praises, they've hoodwinked Jimmy Carter to declare their elections free and fair, and they have used the absolute power they illegally seized to drive ten percent of their country into exile while making beggars of the rest. Their currency is garbage. They're out of money  to the point where even their consulates are being evicted for non-payment of rent abroad. They've driven out their foreign investors  to the point that not even the Russians and Chinese want to touch them  and the meltdown has no end in sight. Most top Venezuelan officials are under sanctions for things like dealing drugs and money-laundering, while neighboring Brazil and Colombia are trying to board the doors as a mass exodus builds.

Peace mission? Freeing Holt? In a spiraling vortex like that? Where do you even start?

It's not the first time a political pilgrim has made his way to the Chavista socialist hellhole, even as the celebrity endorsers such as Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, and Michael Moore go quiet. About a year ago, Joe Kennedy, Jr., of Dial-Joe-4-Oil fame, went to Caracas to visit Maduro, too, and he, too, didn't want to talk about it. His vaunted cheap heating oil for the poor program, based on Venezuelan fuel, had gone dark by then, and since Kennedy's trip, it hasn't restarted. It's just strange that with the celebs out, the political pilgrimages are continuing.

The Dallas Morning News has done some useful research about the Sessions end of the trip, finding that Sessions represents a district of Dallas that includes a large Exxon presence. The oil giant has been trying to get paid for the assets the Chavista socialists nationalized without paying for and then ruined. Something there might be on the agenda, particularly since Venezuela has been defaulting on its debt and allowing its oil industry to go to seed. The Associated Press has a bit more here.

Durbin, meanwhile, has no obvious reason to be there. The State Department might know what he had in mind, but those guys aren't talking.

What's left now is for the press to start asking questions.
HMD Global has announced its own online store to market Nokia-branded smartphones in India. The company plans to sell its entire range of Android-powered smartphones, feature phones and accessories via Nokia.com. Its announcement was made at an event on Wednesday where the 2018 lineup of Nokia smartphones were announced in the country, however, the store has been live since a couple of weeks with last-gen Nokia devices listed. Being an under-penetrated market, the South Asian country offers a great growth opportunity for the Finnish smartphone maker that began its operations a little over a year ago. The report adds that in the following two years, HMD aims to grab a spot among the top three smartphone makers in India, which currently has its market dominated by Chinese players with Nokia nowhere to be seen in the top five positions, according to a recent industry analysis report.

For selling Nokia smartphones via a brand-owned store, HDM Global had to fulfill the condition of locally assembling its products. Nokia smartphones and feature phones have been made locally since its debut in the country last year with its entire portfolio now being assembled in India. Nokia currently partners with online retailers including Flipkart and Amazon to market its products, besides having an extensive offline presence, and its new online store will function alongside these partners. HMD Global will also be tapping the enterprise market in India with its latest line of smartphones besides upping its retail sales. It has partnered with HCL Infosystems to implement this plan, which will also carry out product deliveries in major Indian cities that are expected to bring the initial sales for the new Nokia store.

The Nokia brand owner HMD Global seems quite bullish for the Indian market, which was evident when it launched three smartphones together in the market earlier this week. HMDs first Android Go smartphone Nokia 1 was announced along with the Nokia 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 Plus and the Nokia 6 (2018) and all of them will go on sale by the end of April. The 4G-enabled Nokia 8110 feature phone should be launched in the country next month, as per the report. All of these devices will be available for sale via Nokias online store.
LG Electronics has revealed that it will be playing a key part in the upcoming ATSC 3.0 Model Market Project to take place in Phoenix. Thats according to a new announcement made by the company on April 5. The project, which is led by the U.S. broadcast conglomerate Pearl TV, centers around an effort to plan and implement transmission of Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 standards. For those who arent aware, the new standards would effectively allow for the transmission of 4K television over-the-air and for massive improvements to the audio sent the same way. As part of its new agreement to join Model Market, LG will be the first manufacturer to provide ATSC 3.0-compatible receivers for the project. Other required technologies will be provided by unnamed professional broadcasting equipment providers.

The primary focus will be on developing services, equipment, software, and documentation, while also showing that the next-generation services dont need to oust current digital television. As many as ten TV stations in the Phoenix area, in addition to several focus groups, have signed on to test LGs receivers to accomplish those goals. By showing that the standards are workable and that they dont need to disrupt viewing for current customers, Pearl TV hopes to accelerate adoption of ATSC 3.0. Phoenix will essentially serve as a base market and an end-to-end model for how implementation should go. Others will then be able to emulate that for their own implementation of the standards, making adjustments where needed to account for any regional requirements.

If testing is successful, the ATSC 3.0 Model Market Project could go a long toward achieving just that. This change should, after all, be somewhat less painful for viewers and broadcasters than the most recent prior large scale transition. The transition from analog to digital broadcasting required broadcasters to take on substantial changes in infrastructure and viewers to buy new devices if they didnt have a newer model television. This transition moves from digital to digital and is backward compatible. So the changes most likely wont be so dramatic and television will still work for those without new hardware. It should simultaneously still bring plenty of benefit to viewers with compatible hardware. However, as exciting as that is, there are still no details about the timeframe for testing or completion.
Qualcomm on Friday once again extended the deadline for the completion of its proposed merger of NXP Semiconductors valued at approximately $44 billion, with the firm pushing it back for a week and setting the new completion date to April 13. The Dutch firms stock is still declining and has been following that trend since late February when Qualcomm beefed up its offer while it was still fighting off a hostile takeover attempt on the part of Broadcom. Around 16.1-percent of all outstanding NXP shares have been tendered as of yesterday, whereas 14.8-percent of them were considered as such last week, before the announcement of Qualcomms previous extension. NXP was trading at just over $114 as of Friday noon PST, whereas Qualcomms bid stands at $127.50 per share, representing a double-digit return for NXPs investors.

Neither NXP nor Qualcomm signaled any intention to walk away from the deal whose fate is becoming more uncertain by the day, with rising trade-related tensions between the United States and China making Beijing less keen on greenlighting the consolidation, as has been widely reported in recent weeks. President Donald Trumps decision to prevent a Broadcom-Qualcomm merger likely made China even more resistant to approving the NXP deal as a Broadcom-owned Qualcomm could have posed a smaller R&D threat to Huawei than an independent one currently does, some industry watchers believe, with that sentiment also being expressed by one of Treasury Departments national security panels which previously advised the President to block Broadcoms advances.

China is the last of nine regulators with jurisdiction over Qualcomms proposed NXP acquisition that has yet to approve the move. Previous reports suggested Beijing is seeking more protections for local manufacturers but details on the matter remain scarce. As was the case with other the eight antitrust watchdogs that inspected the consolidation proposal, China is allowed to review the deal and ask for concessions before approving it or outright reject it by virtue of the fact that both Qualcomm and NXP do large-scale business in its domestic market, largely due to the ubiquitous nature of their technologies such as mobile chips, modems, and NFC solutions.
South Korean authorities raided Samsung Electronics offices on Friday due to allegations of anti-union activity on the part of the tech giant, with a representative of a local prosecutors office confirming the move earlier today, Reuters reports. The facility targeted by the raid was that of Samsungs repair service division operating on the outskirts of the companys home city of Seoul. The development marks the second official investigation into Samsungs alleged endeavors meant to discourage its employees from unionizing. The firm was accused of making a concentrated effort to stop in-house unions in 2013 but a lack of evidence saw that case dropped after several months.

The new raid was possibly prompted by some evidence discovered as part of the governments recent investigation into Jay Y. Lee, Samsung Group Executive Chairman and the de facto heir of the countrys largest chaebol  a family-run conglomerate. Mr. Lee spent the majority of 2017 incarcerated following accusations of corruption and bribery. While initially sentenced to five years in prison, an appellate court released him on probation in early February. Previous reports suggested local authorities discovered evidence of anti-union activity while raiding Samsungs offices in regards to the probe aimed at investigating Mr. Lee and his role in the 2015 merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, two of the companys affiliates whose consolidation strengthened the scions grasp over the firm and was approved by the countrys largest pension fund despite the fact that the government organization lost millions of dollars as a direct consequence of the tie-up.

Samsung historically rarely cooperated with large unions in the Far Eastern country, whereas existing ones that include its employees are widely perceived as non-influential. A company spokesperson confirmed the conglomerate is aware of the raid but hasnt elaborated on the matter. The Seoul-based technology juggernaut is presently on an overall rise and is expecting to post over $14 billion in operating income for the first quarter of 2018, as per its Friday guidance.
Both Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant are very popular smart assistants that can also play a role in controlling your smart home. But which one is the better platform to use and invest in? They are both pretty similar, but where the Google Assistant is built into every Android smartphone (outside of China) sold, could it be the better option? Lets explore.

Smart Home Compatibility

As of right now, Alexa does support more smart home products. However that is quickly changing, as Google Assistant is quickly catching up with Alexa. In many cases, smart home products will support both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing you to use either platform to control them with your voice. Now Alexa will also support more of the lesser-known brands, as its easier (and Amazon has more incentives) to integrate than Google Assistant. But if youre buying products from the likes of Wemo, Philips Hue, Arlo, and others, then it is very likely that both platforms are supported out of the box.

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How Smart Are These Assistants?

Google Assistant is actually the smarter one here, and its a pretty simple explanation as to why. Google Assistant has the power of Google Search behind it, which is the most popular search engine out there and has a ton of data. Meanwhile Amazon is using its own search engine, and it is obviously not as robust as Google Assistant. Google has also been answering questions via voice for quite a few years with Google Now and now Google Assistant, so it also has that experience behind it.

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With Google Assistant you can also ask follow up questions. For example, if you wanted to know who the president was, you could then follow up by saying how tall is he? and Google Assistant will know you are still talking about Donald Trump. That was a feature that Alexa lacked until recently. So this shows that Google Assistant did have a big lead over Alexa, but Amazon is still improving the platform and catching up  much like Google Assistant is with smart home integration.

Hardware Options

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Both platforms have a ton of options for hardware. With Amazon Alexa, you have a slew of different Echo form factors, with the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Show, and Echo Spot. Not to mention the many, many third-party options. Including the ecobee4. This is the most interesting way to use Alexa, since it is built-into your smart thermostat. So its like having an Echo inside your thermostat. So you can ask your thermostat different things. Its pretty neat  and ecobee has just announced a new light switch that also has Alexa built-in. Of course, Amazon has also built Alexa into its tablets and Fire TV platforms, so that you can have Alexa available on more platforms.

With Google Assistant, Google hasnt done as many first-party products  releasing the Google Home, Home Mini and Home Max. But third-party manufacturers have come out with plenty of other great products here for you to use. One of our favorites is the Sony LF-S50G smart speaker. Its a great looking speaker that also has a LED clock on the front. This is great for having next to your bed at night, as you can easily see the time, instead of relying on an old-fashioned alarm clock. Theres also other things like the JBL LINK Series, which are portable Google Assistant speakers and currently the only portable Google Assistant speakers available. And of course, Google Assistant is built into virtually every Android smartphone and its available for iOS as well.

Wrap Up

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Whether you decide to go with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, youre going to have a good time with plenty of options for bringing either assistant into your home. However, if you are looking for some quality smart speakers to bring into your home, you may want to go with Amazon Alexa, as it has Harman Kardon and Sonos on its side. Although Google Assistant also has JBL  Harman Kardons sister brand  on its side. If you are going to be using your assistant a lot on your smartphone, then Google Assistant is the one to go with. Otherwise, either one will be perfectly fine.
According to an April 4 press release from Verizon, itself and at least six other industry leaders are now working to accelerate deployment of 4G LTE over the CBRS spectrum the FCC first opened up in 2016. The news follows initial testing which started in 2017, leading to further tests in February. These new tests will be a continuation of the latter and are set to take place at Verizons Irving facility in Texas. Meanwhile, its partners in the endeavor include Corning, Ericsson, Federated Wireless, Google, Nokia, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

With regard to what the companies hope to accomplish, Verizon lists several key areas of concentration. The first is to gain further understanding of the commercial viability of using the CBRS shared spectrum, which covers the 150 MHz of 3.5 GHz range. That includes a focus is on traffic prioritization and the testing of both indoor and outdoor radio solutions that will make using the spectrum feasible in real-world devices. To that end, the trials will include testing and verification of the Spectrum Access System algorithms provided by Google and Federated Wireless, as well as the data rates, modulations, and customer experience of the spectrum. Interoperability will also be tested to ensure that licensed and CBRS spectrum can be used interchangeably via mobility handoffs. As to the role each of the remaining companies will play, Corning, Ericsson, Qualcomm, and Nokia are responsible for supplying various technological components to be used in the testing. Qualcomm will supply LTE mobile modems for the tests, while Nokia is providing base transceiver stations for both outdoor and indoor use  as well as controllers for those. Ericsson is responsible for delivering its Radio System solution, which includes micro base stations and Radio Dot System for 44 MIMO and Carrier Aggregation on the SBRS spectrum. Cornings SpiderCloud Enterprise RAN will comprise the final component of the tests.

It goes without saying that Verizon is not the only company interested in using that spectrum to increase the number of available small cells for mobile connections. Comcast also recently expressed its interest in testing on CBRS to the FCC. However, Verizons cooperation with other industry leaders may very well give it an edge when it comes to working in the spectrum. Testing will continue over the next several weeks, but the mobile carrier says it has already provided actionable insight and that consumer deployment should begin before the year is out.
The Territorial Court of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein has rejected "rebellion" as grounds to extradite Carles Puigdemont as there is no evidence of the violence that is required to sustain the accusation. Moreover, the court has released Puigdemont on bail while it considers whether to grant Spains extradition request for other crimes, such as misappropriation of public funds.

The German courts decision undermines the foundation of the case which Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has been building against the leaders of the Catalan independence process. This is based on the claim that violence occurred both during the demonstration outside Catalonias Ministry of Economy on 20 September and in the passive resistance by members of the public outside polling stations on the 1 October. The German judges did not need to deliberate for very long to conclude that no violence took place in either instance. It remains to be seen how Llarena and the prosecutor's office will react, but Spains loss of face on the international stage is, at any rate, undeniable.

It is still possible that Germany will end up extraditing Puigdemont for the crime of misappropriation of public funds, an outcome which the Spanish government would attempt to depict as a victory. Either way, theyve lost. Those who accuse the Catalan leaders of staging a "coup", those who claim that what the Spanish justice system did would have happened in any country have been overruled and their arguments defeated. Is it simply that the German judges have also fallen victim to pro-independence propaganda? Where are those who said, just the other day when Puigdemont was arrested, that Germany was a reliable country? Now we can see they were right: Germany truly is a reliable country where accusing someone of a crime requires evidence rather than bending the Criminal Code.

Puigdemont may have to spend some time in a Spanish prison, but such precedents, and perhaps also those of the Belgian and British courts, are bound to make it hard for the Spanish Supreme Court to find the other defendants guilty of rebellion. It may well happen, but in the eyes of the world it would be interpreted more as an act of revenge than of justice. The Catalan pro-independence process has brought Spain to a historical crossroads: it must now decide if it wishes, once again, to isolate itself and to turn its back on the world.

Yesterday it chose to do just that. While the German and Belgian courts allowed the accused to walk free, National Court judge Carmen Lamela filed charges of sedition against the former head of the Catalan police, Josep Lluis Trapero, who wait for it also stands accused of belonging to a "criminal organisation", in an indictment that includes Superintendent Teresa Laplana as well as former Ministry of Interior officials Cesar Puig and Pere Soler. And what crime did Trapero allegedly commit? He failed to use force against the members of the public who were protecting the ballot boxes on the 1 October.

The situation remains complicated, but we must be grateful to the European judges, who have seriously upset the Spanish States plans. Thank goodness.
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.
Eye Creams For Men

Stop Ageing In Its Tracks With These Superior Eye Creams

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

With additions by Alex Bracetti

The skin beneath and around the eyes is thinner and more sensitive than the rest of your face, and thus, more susceptible to signs of aging. In fact, as we age, it thins even more, and the fat in the skin around the eyes can resorb. Other unwelcome signs include dark circles, redness, grittiness, wrinkles, and crows feet at either side.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the numerous eye creams you've seen are far more than standard moisturizers. While a moisturizer is the frontline defense against aging (and the best repair kit for existing wear), eye creams come with even more nutrients targeted at these various, unique conditions  theyve got to de-puff, even out skin tone, smooth wrinkles, and improve complexion. Youd have a hard time finding a moisturizer that targets all those things.



But finding the perfect one isnt easy; there are a lot on the market, with a wide range of claims, costs and testimonials. If youre going to invest in something as expensive as most eye creams, then you should know what to look for, both in function and ingredients.



Dont just take it from us; we spoke with numerous dermatologists to get their expert opinion  heres the definitive guide to eye creams, along with numerous product recommendations from those same doctors.

SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Eye Complex

SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Eye Complex is a unique eye cream to fight the appearance of dark circles, puffiness and crows feet.

 Dr. Kaleroy Papantoniou, New York, NY

This silky formula is loaded with extracts, flavonoids and optical diffusers that work together to remedy dull-looking eyes by eliminating dullness and improving elasticity. Consistency is well-balanced, so you can apply your favorite moisturizer before or after putting on the eye cream. Sure, the price is a bit up there, but rest assured a little dollop will go a long way.

$107.53 at Amazon.com

Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Firm

Look no further than Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Firm for a comprehensive cocktail of antioxidants like vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin C, and green tea extract. Daily use helps neutralize damaging free radicals that contribute to premature skin aging. Suitable for all skin types.

 Dr. Filamer Kabigting, New York, NY

$41.49 at Amazon.com

CerAve Eye Repair Cream

CerAve Eye Repair Cream is a drugstore standout that packs potent antioxidants and skin firming ingredients similarly found in more expensive creams. This cream contains ceramides, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid to keep skin supple around the eyes while combating puffiness and discoloration. This product feels a little thicker (which equates to enhanced moisturizing), but dont worry  it goes on smooth and feels non-greasy.

 Dr. Ilamer Kabigting, New York, NY

$10.53 at Amazon.com

What Exactly Do Eye Creams Do?

As mentioned, there are many reasons to get ahead of the wear, and to invest in an eye cream is one of your best preventative measures against aging. We asked Dr. Tsippora Shainhouse, a board-certified dermatologist in Los Angeles, to outline the benefits of eye creams, in case you were still on the fence.



They moisturize (but of course): The skin under and around the eye is thin and can dry out easily. While there are oil glands on the eyelids, the skin can get dry, flaky and irritated. Dryness can be exacerbated by cold, dry, winter air or by windy, beachy summer environments. Lighter moisturizers and serums are great for spring/summer, as they help add moisture to the top layer of the skin. Adding superficial moisture will reduce the appearance of fine lines and make skin appear more dewy and young. Look for ingredients like Hyaluronic acid for a temporary hydrating and plumping effect. In the cooler fall and winter months, use a thicker cream, especially at night. Consider natural oils like argan, coconut and avocado as a great base, possibly with dimethicones to seal in the moisture.



They reduce inflammation: After a day on the ski slopes or surfing at the beach, consider [an eye cream] with soothing properties that will quickly reduce inflammation and skin irritation, which can trigger collagen breakdown and early skin wrinkling. Look for ingredients like green tea, aloe vera, coconut oil, chamomile, and licorice root that will soothe skin and quickly bring down any inflammation.



They create a skin barrier: If you know that you are heading out into a super-dry environment or that your skin will be irritated by a product that you are about to use, or if you have eyelid dermatitis/eczema, consider a product that will sit on your skin and lock in the moisture that it has. Look for products with dimethicone; they will create a water-resistant, matte barrier.



They support anti-aging: While we cant avoid getting older, we can try to slow the appearance on the skin around the eyes by feeding it some of the molecules and protein precursors that it needs to protect and rebuild its collagen structure. Anti-oxidant ingredients, like vitamin C, acai, coffee berry, and white/green tea help prevent UV-induced oxidation and breakdown of collagen, when applied in the morning under sunscreen, and can help undo and repair oxidative damage when applied at bedtime. Look for lightweight serums that absorb easily into freshly washed skin. Peptides and growth factors are other molecules that can potentially traverse the epidermis and provide some of the necessary building blocks for building new collagen.



They reduce fine lines: While neurotoxins (Botox) are the way to truly, temporarily reduce fine lines around the eyes, [eye] moisturizers and serums can help reduce the appearance of fine lines. Moisturizing the skin makes the skin plumper, so that lines appear less deep. Silicone-based primers and serums can fill in the fine lines, blurring their appearance. Finally, moisturizers with retinoids can help rebuild collagen, which can help thicken the skin and smooth it, helping to prevent new wrinkle formation and reduce the appearance of older ones over time.





They improve skin texture: [Eye creams] with alpha hydroxy acids can help exfoliate skin, while adding moisture, so that you get the hydrating effect while removing dead, dull skin cells. Skin will look smoother and more even-toned over time. Look for ingredients like glycolic acid, pyruvic acid or lactic acid. Salicylic acid can be too drying.



They minimize dark circles: Dark under-eye circles can be caused by many factors, including: genetics, shadows from surrounding raised facial features, skin swelling, and engorged blood vessels. Look for ingredients like Arnica, Vvtamin K and caffeine to help temporarily shrink blood vessels. To help reduce swelling, look for ingredients like caffeine and even store your moisturizer in the fridge. For the best, immediate results on eye-area swelling, skip the moisturizer and stick with the tried and true: Dunk your face in a sink full of ice cold water, lie back for five minutes with cucumber slices over your closed eyes, or steep some tea bags, cool them in the fridge, and then apply them as compressors over your closed eyes.

Which Ingredients Should You Look For in an Eye Cream?

With all the products out there  and many of them promoting the same benefits  the real secret to finding the best one is to read the ingredients label. Take this approach as you shop around, and consider the following ingredients  courtesy of dermatologist Dr. Stacy Chimento from Miami, FL  as the most imperative to reclaiming your youthfulness.

Retinol: Vitamin A cream applied topically over time will force the skin cells to turn over and regenerate new skin cells, stimulate collagen, and help to improve fine lines, wrinkles, and reverse sun damage. While a key product, it should not be used excessively  only in small amounts and with caution for those with sensitivity to retinol and or retinoic acid products. One must also take caution with sun exposure.

Vitamins C, E and Co Q-10: These are potent antioxidants that fight off free radicals in the skin, which are caused by excessive sun damage. The anti-inflammatory and brightening properties of these vitamins can also aid in the appearance of dark circles under the eyes. Vitamin C stimulates not only collagen but also elastin, which gives the skin its youthful snap back. Vitamin E soothes the skin and protects it from inflammation. Co Q-10 is another free-radical-fighting co-enzyme that helps to reverse signs of aging by improving fine lines and wrinkles.

Ceramides and Hyaluronic Acid: Ceramides are substances that provide a natural barrier to the skin to prevent water loss, making the skin more supple and moist. When combined with my favorite ingredient, hyaluronic acid, you get the ultimate outcome: rested and refreshed eyes. Hyaluronic acid is a substance that, when applied to the skin, draws in water to give it a plumped appearance. In fact, it has the ability to draw in over 1,000 times its weight in water."

Neuropeptides: In simple terms, these peptides are small particles that send chemical messages inside the skin to signal them to create more collagen and elastin. This ingredient will help to improve the overall tone and texture of the skin around the eyes.

Caffeine, Green Tea, Alpha-Arbutin: I love these ingredients because not only are they anti-inflammatory (that is, they reduce swelling), but they help those suffering from dreaded dark circles under their eyes. They are super-charged antioxidants that increase the blood circulation to brighten dark circles and they make the skin appear more firm and tight. I use arbutin for brightening in my practice. It is a very natural ingredient extracted from the bearberry and is capable of inhibiting the enzyme that is vital in the formation of pigment under the eyes. So using eye creams that contain this gentle ingredient can lighten dark circles.

Sunscreen with SPF: You can use all of the creams in the world, but if you do not protect your skin from the sun, you will not benefit from eye creams. Wearing a different eye cream during the day that has the appropriate amount of SPF protection is key, while also using a nighttime cream rich in emollients and the above key ingredients; this will give you the ultimate results. Getting an eye cream that is formulated for your skin type is also very important when choosing the right eye cream.

No Fragrance: Fragrances or other extracts and ingredients might lead to skin irritations. In general, a fragrance-free eye cream is best.

RELATED READING: Best Facial Oil

Ask The Dermos: These Are The Best Eye Creams On The Market

If youre not up for a search, then your safest bet is to take a direct recommendation from a doctor or skincare expert. Here are some of the best eye creams available for purchase, as backed by the pros.

For Fighting Wrinkles And Fine Lines:

Roc Retinol Correxion Eye Cream

RoC Retinol Correxion Eye Cream with a balance of Retinol for the evening. This cream will help improve the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

 Dr. Kaleroy Papantoniou, New York, NY

$17.23 at Amazon.com

Renova Tretinoin Cream

First, use sunscreen and moisturize. When it comes to minimizing fine lines and wrinkles around the eye, I recommend Renova, a prescription medicine with enough tretinoin (.02%) to make a difference in the appearance of aging (age spots, fine lines) over time. The only downside is the upfront cost and a prescription is needed. Use sparingly because tretinoin makes the skin sun-sensitive, so it is used only at night and washed off in the morning. Also, make sure you wear a hat and sunscreen if you'll be out in the sun."

 Dr. Sanusi Umar, Redondo Beach, CA

Find out more at Drugs.com

Lancer Eye Contour Lifting Cream

Lancers triple-action eye treatment brightens, moisturizes and strengthens skin for the better. A proprietary blend of caffeine-based agents and light diffusers keeps eyes looking firmer and hydrated. Then come dominant plant flavonoids like chrysin that prevent bags from forming. Lastly, its use of Diamond Power and minerals adds a glow to the skin for better photo opportunities.

$95.00 at Sephora.com

Olay Regenerist Eye Lifting Serum

Olay Regenerist Eye Lifting Serum is great for those who want to soften lines around the eyes (sometimes called crows feet). This fragrance-free serum includes a combination of antioxidants and peptides to hydrate and plump skin. After a few weeks, youll notice smoother and firmer under-eye skin. The serum is ultra lightweight and absorbs instantaneously.

 Dr. Filamer Kabigting, New York, NY

$21.40 at Amazon.com

For Firmness And De-Puffing:

Peter Thomas Roth Instant FirmX

Peter Thomas Roth Instant FirmX Eye is a great choice; a small amount of this will help tighten the area during the day for a smoother look.

 Dr. Kaleroy Papantoniou, New York, NY

$33.59 at Amazon.com

Jan Marini Luminate Eye Gel

Jan Marini Luminate Eye Gel results in firmer, tighter skin and helps reduce puffiness and darkness under the eyes.

 Dr. Melanie Kingsley, Indianapolis, IN

$93.00 at Amazon.com

Kiehl's Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer

Toss the compact Kiehl's Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer stick in your bag to discreetly swipe the under-eye area, and reduce puffiness and signs of fatigue. Contains caffeine, which constricts blood vessels, thereby reducing swelling and brightening the eyes instantly. Keeps you looking refreshed all day.

 Dr. Filamer Kabigting, New York, NY

$20.00 at Kiehls.com

For Daytime Moisture And Sun Protection:

SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion UV Defense

SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion UV Defense, a light 2-in-1 moisturizer with mineral-based sunscreen is a great option, especially in warmer months. The superior protection provided by zinc oxide and titanium dioxide block out harmful UVA and UVB that cause signs of aging  dark under-eye circles, wrinkles, creping, and sagging. This product has a fluid consistency and wont feel heavy or lead to breakouts. Gentle enough for the entire face, even in those with rosacea and sensitive skin who can't tolerate other facial moisturizers with chemical (rather than physical) sunscreen components that cause more stinging and skin irritation.

 Dr. Filamer Kabigting, New York, NY

$98.88 at Amazon.com

Shiseido Sun Protection Eye Cream SPF 34

A staple of sunscreen protection, Shiseido's luxury eye cream is infused with strong SPF capabilities to replenish and safeguard skin from cell damage and dryness caused by overexposure to the sun. Users rave about the product's superior sun protection, light moisturizing effect,and quick absorption, working its magic as fast as possible. It also comes water-resistant, which means you can soak in the pool or ocean for long periods without needing to reapply.

$34.00 at Sephora.com

For Correcting Deep Discoloration:

Peter Thomas Roth Power K Eye Rescue

Peter Thomas Roth Power K Eye Rescue with vitamin K, arnica, vitamin c, and kojic acid, is a perfect blend.

 Dr. Kaleroy Papantoniou, New York, NY

$69.00 at Amazon.com

For Indian Men (Who Struggle With Under-Eye Discoloration):

RoC Multi Correxion, CSI Recovery, Vit-K Eye Cream

Indian men are conscious about their under-eye region, the most common concerns being dark circles and eye bags or puffiness. My favorite regimen includes vitamin K- and retinoid-based formulations, applied a few nights a week on well-hydrated skin; along with a vitamin K-, vitamin C-, and peptide-based formula applied during the daytime.

These formulations are potent and effective, show visible results, and have high patient satisfaction. Retinoids boost collagen production and reduce fine lines, vitamin K masks the effect of dark circles due to sluggish vascular circulation and vitamin C and peptides brighten and improve skin texture.

 Dr. Sonam Yadav, New Delhi, India

RoC Eye Cream, $17.85 at Amazon.com

CSI Recovery Eye Cream, $25.51 at Amazon.com

m/f Vit-K Eye Cream, $48.00 at Mfpeople.com

For The Budget-Conscious:

Every Man Jack Age Defiant Eye Cream

Best known for their natural deodorants and shower care lineup, Every Man Jack offers a quality eye cream filled with natural extracts from green tea to Myrtus leaf that revitalizes skin to achieve the suppleness one desires. The numerous antioxidants contained within the formula are guaranteed to bring down puffiness, plus the hydrating combination of aloe and cocoa butter leaves a smooth surface to admire. It's an anti-aging saver great for on-the-go use.

$8.99 at Amazon.com

For Improved Tone And Texture:

Baxter of California Eye Complex

Reinforce all efforts to balance skin tone and tightness with Baxters anti-aging cream. The companys revered Eye Complex is designed to nourish, repair and protect skin around the eyes with energizing ingredients to fight off free radicals before they cause any discoloration. Caffeine and seaweed extracts work to reduce dark circles, whereas hyaluronic acid retains water and moisture.

$28.00 at Amazon.com



For A Stem-Cell Boost:

Biopelle Tensage Stem Cell Eye Cream

A relatively newer product, Biopelle Tensage Stem Cell Eye Cream is a stem cell activator that promotes new collagen and elastin formation.

 Dr. Melanie Kingsley, Indianapolis, IN

$130.00 at Amazon.com

Nugene's Eye Serum

NuGenes Eye Serum utilizes cutting-edge stem cell technology and growth factors to reverse damage and restore skin.

 Dr. Nima Shemirani, Beverly Hills, CA

$150.00 at Nugene.com

Lifeline Skin Care Anti-Wrinkle Eye Firming Cream Complex

Hydrate, lift, soothe, and tighten  these are just four of the key factors that come with using this potent eye cream. The Eye Firming Complex is powered by advanced stem cell technology that feeds the skin underneath your peepers with powerful nutrients and peptides to dramatically reduce fines lines, all while producing more collagen and elastic.

$82.45 at Amazon.com

For A Protein-Packed Punch:

Lumiere Riche Bio-Restorative Eye Balm

My favorite eye cream is Lumiere Riche Bio-Restorative Eye Balm made by Neocutis, a Swiss company. I sell it in my office and my male and female patients love it. It contains a balanced blend of skin proteins, including human growth factors and interleukins.

 Dr. Janet Prystowsky, New York, NY

$84.95 at Amazon.com

For Sensitive Skin:

ZO Hydrafirm Eye Brightening Repair Creme

ZO Hydrafirm Eye Brightening Repair Creme is my favorite because it targets all aspects of the aging eye: fine lines, wrinkles, dark circles, and puffiness. It is an all-in-one product containing active vitamin A, plant stem cells, antioxidants, retinol, and hydrators  just to name a few. What I love about this particular eye cream is that (with the number of ingredients it has) it is very tolerable, doesn't irritate the skin around the eyes and is also used on the upper eyelid.

 Dr. Seth Forman, Tampa, FL

$140.00 at ZoSkinHealth.com

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

Avocado oil remains one of the most overlooked eye skincare ingredients available  containing rich, fatty-acids that relieve skin from stress-induced symptoms. Kiehls combines this element with amino acid proteins, potassium, key vitamins (A, D and E), and Shea butter to defend against dehydration, while restoring suppleness for men with sensitive skin. Consistent use should warrant you a younger look.

$29.00 at Nordstrom.com

For Those Who Want A Prescription:

Retin-A Cream

For a more aggressive treatment, try Retin-A cream, which aids in the renewal of skin. But start with a lower strength since the skin beneath the eyes is so thin and delicate. In my experience, it has shown to yield exemplary results.

 Dr. Nima Shemirani, Beverly Hills, CA

$24.99 at Supreme-Pharmacy.com

For The All-Natural, DIY Guys:



I used to use olive oil. But it would sting if it got in the eyes, plus I smelled like salad. I switched to argan and seabuckthorn oil. Pick one and just use it on your whole face. Simple.

 Dr. Valerie Goldburt, New York, NY

Another Approach: Eye Serum

Dont overthink the eye cream vs. eye serum debate. The difference is often in the marketing, though traditionally a serum will be more viscous, like an oil. Their ingredients may differ slightly, too. Dermatologist Vermen Verallo-Rowell, of Kenn ebunkport, Maine, and Manila, Philippines, developed her own eye-rejuvenating serum and, based on her experience with similar products, chose the following ingredients as essential in her own recipe  thus she recommends finding serums with the same lineup.

Soy protein-derived polymer (along with a bland liquid silicone to form the base of the concentration): This provides the most immediate effects. It has several functions: The protein polymer and silicone immediately plasticize or tighten the thin, puffy eyelid skin and also add a thin barrier effect to the skin. These effects can be immediately visible but are temporary.

Antioxidants: The rejuvenating effects of antioxidants kick in with continued use. They include the isoflavone of the soy protein; green tea and rice-derived phytic acid.

Escin: Its a mixture of saponins (which have foaming, soap-like qualities) with vasoactive and anti-inflammatory properties that help diminish puffiness and dark circles.

Elestane: This is a leaf extract, which helps protect and stimulate elastin and collagen, to make the skin more firm.

Kinetin: Promotes cell rejuvenation by causing skin cells to act younger. Stimulates collagen and elastin production.



Glycolic acid (with the antioxidant phytic acid): This exfoliates ever so gently, while also making the skin look younger, with a mild glow.

Re-Everything Serum, $65.00 at VMVHypoAllergenics.com

Crop Natural Eye Serum, $26.06 at Amazon.com

Skinceuticals Serum, $82.00 at Amazon.com

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Eather is an expert in finance and projects. She advises both public- and private-sector clients on major projects, including complex contract risk review and strategic procurement and probity. She also acts for a range of mining and infrastructure clients on procurement and construction contracts, as well as project and mining infrastructure related contracts, both in Western Australia and internationally.

Most of the firms new partners come from the litigation and regulatory group, which had 16 among the promoted lawyers. The group is followed by corporate (14), tax (8), finance and projects (8), real estate (6), intellectual property and technology (4), employment (3), and government affairs (2). There is also a new partner in the firms US office of general counsel.

DLA Piper made the most promotions in the US, which had 19 lawyers in the promotion round. Continental Europe followed with 18, followed by 10 in the UK, six in Canada, two in Australia, two in Asia, two in the Middle East, and one in South Africa.

I would like to congratulate all of our lawyers who have been promoted to partners this year. This round of promotions brings to our partnership another highly talented group from across the world who represent the quality, breadth and depth of DLA Piper and are vital to the continued success of our business, said Simon Levine, global co-CEO.

Their client work and importance to the firm are now a foundational part of our ongoing success and our ability to evolve to meet the challenges of the market, and they will play a key role in our delivery of legal services of the highest quality and value to our clients around the world. We look very forward to their ongoing contributions, said global co-CEO Jay Rains.
Located near Mai Mahiu in Kenya, the visible nature-made ditch was allegedly revealed by heavy rains and powerful earthquakes in the region in March.It is perhaps for the first time in history the world gets to experience first hand the starting stages of continental separation.According to experts, in a few tens of millions of years (some argue 50 or so million, others say 10 million), the crack would be so wide that the ocean would come rushing in and bite off a good chunk of East Africa.Until then, residents in the area are left trying to find a solution to a more pressing matter. Since the crack in the ground appeared on March 19, authorities have been trying to fix a major highway linking Narok to Nairobi, which has been severed as a result.Kenya is located on the so-called East African Rift (EAR), an active continental rift that began developing some 25 million years ago. The rift is the point where two tectonic plates, the Somali and the Nubian, meet.The Great Rift splits Africa into two plates, Kenyan geologist David Ahede was quoted as saying by Face2Face Africa With what is happening we have established one plate which is the Somali plate is moving away from the other plate at a rate of 2.5cm. In the near future, if this happens, we shall have the Somali plate separating from the other Nubian plate.When the rupture would be complete, several thousand kilometers of East Africa would be cut off from the main continent. If they would still be around, countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozanbique would need air or sea connections to mainland Africa instead of roads.
To be more precise, Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur has touched a GT3 RS and the images above allow you to check out the result.The black finish of the car and the wheels, which are finished in Satin Aurum, remind us of the John Player Special livery we can find in the German automotive producer's trophy cabinet.Note that this machine doesn't pack the Weissach Package, nor does it come with the optional magnesium wheels. Nevertheless, there's no reason to fret, since the weight savings brought by these elements aren't nearly as hefty as in the case of the GT2 RS As it is often the case with Porsche Exclusive machines, the cabin might be even more special than the exterior.The highlights of this GT3 RS interior come from the deviated stitching in yellow (used on the bucket seats, steering wheel and dashboard), the seatbelts that use the same hue, along with the Porsche crest embroidered on the Alcantara-covered armrest.Returning to the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur detail of the tale, we'll remind you that the customisation efforts of the brand started rather soon after that 1948 birth of the company, with these involving a (ready for it?) 356 covered in faux fur - what, you though the velvet wraps that were so popular a few years ago came as a fully original proposal?Fast-forwarding to 2017, we see the company strengthening its customization arm - the Manufaktur particle was added to the Porsche Exclusive nameplate, which had landed back in 1986. And, to make things headline-worthy, Porche used the division to introduce the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series From a 27 hp output bump to an exclusive set of modern-day Cookie Cutter wheels, the limited edition offers more than just bespoke colors and materials.
From jazz drummer to award winning developer in just 3 years, Aristide Benoist wins the well deserved Independent Developer of the Year 2017! Check out his award winning collection of websites here. At Awwwards Conference Berlin we discussed winning awards, what's coming next with Shaders and WebGL and his self taught journey to success!

Whenever I can, I avoid libraries because I find it very interesting to try and do things by myself, that's where I learned the most.

Subscribe now - watch the hottest digital design talks and interviews from Awwwards, on our official YouTube Channel.

Coming soon, this May you can get unbeatable tips and knowledge from top talents and tech brands like Google, Adobe, Airbnb, Uber and more, buy your ticket for Awwwards San Francisco 2018 here, an inspiring networking event for designers and developers!
China's Ministry of Commerce warned Friday that it will immediately retaliate if the U.S. imposes the additional $100 billion in tariffs that President Trump threatened on Thursday, and said the country is not ruling out any options.

Why it matters: The Trump administration insists they aren't engaging in a trade war with China, but the country's latest comments have increasingly made it appear to be just that.
A U.S. District Court Judge in Massachusetts upheld a ruling on a law which states that assault weapons and large magazines are not within the scope of the Second Amendment. The law originally passed in 1998.

Why it matters: The ruling to uphold the ban is a win for gun control advocates following an increase in demands for gun control laws on the heels of multiple mass shootings throughout the country this year alone. This case could be referred to in the future if other states choose to follow suit.
By Kamila Aliyeva

Azerbaijan extends the geographical zone of its trade houses aiming to support the promotion of national goods worldwide. After exploring CIS market, Azerbaijan now targets to enter the Persian Gulf market.

Meanwhile the work on the establishment of trade house in Dubai has already started as was stated by Azerbaijani Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev.

Making remark at a meeting with the UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash in Baku on April 5, Mustafayev noted that this step is aimed at promotion of Azerbaijani products in the UAE.

The minister noted the development of trade and economic relations between the two countries, and emphasized that the first foreign representative office of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry was opened in Baku.

Azerbaijan, in turn, appointed a trade representative to the UAE, sent export missions and participated in exhibitions held in the country with a single country stand, noted the minister.

Noting the potential for development of relations between Azerbaijan and the UAE, Mustafayev shared his thoughts on the prospects for cooperation in the areas of investment, industry, alternative energy, pharmaceutics, transport and transit freight traffic, as well as in the oil and gas sector.

The development of relations between the two countries in the sphere of tourism was also stressed during the meeting.

Gargash, for his part, expressed the interest in the development of relations between the UAE and Azerbaijan in the sphere of cargo transportation, tourism, education, energy and other sectors.

Trade turnover with the UAE amounted to $7.4 million in January-February 2018 that is 2.4 times more than in the same period of 2017, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

Azerbaijan extends the geographical zone of its trade houses aiming to support the promotion of national goods worldwide. The Trade House will support promotion of Azerbaijani products under the Made in Azerbaijan brand in several countries, marketing research, participation in exhibitions and other activities related to promotion of national goods.

The first Trade House of Azerbaijan was opened in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, in May 2017 to facilitate the export process, promote an export of competitive Azerbaijani production and enable the countries to expand trade operations. Today, alcoholic products, natural juices, jams, cosmetics and other products of Azerbaijan are displayed in the Trade House.

The country plans to open its second Trade House in Arkhangelsk region, Russia. The opening of the Trade House, which will be located in one of the historical buildings in Arkhangelsk, is expected to be a good driver for the development of economic and cultural-educational cooperation between Arkhangelsk and Azerbaijan.

One more trade house is planned to open in Latvia. The trade house will support promotion of Azerbaijani products under the Made in Azerbaijan brand in Latvia, marketing research, participation in exhibitions and other activities related to the promotion of Azerbaijani goods.

Moreover, in mid-March, its planned to open Azerbaijans Trade House in Kiev.

--

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Kamila Aliyeva

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went to Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to discuss cooperation issues as part of his two-day visit to Azerbaijan on April 5-6.

The visit took place at the official invitation of the authorities of the Nakhchivan Republic.

During a meeting with Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Vasif Talibov, Zarif expressed readiness of his country to export medical services to Azerbaijans Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan.

Proper grounds exist for expansion of cooperation in the fields of industrial livestock production, medical treatment, and creation of pharmaceutical enterprises as well as dispatching physicians, tourism, transportation, and joint production, the visiting foreign minister said.

Speaking about existing cooperation between Iran and Nakhkchivan, he said the sides have already launched joint projects in power generation and dam construction.

The reciprocal ties of Iran and Azerbaijan Republic and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic are developing, according to Zarif.

Talibov, in his turn, expressed his pleasure with the visit of Zarif and his entourage to Nakhchivan, and said relations between the two sides are on the right track in various areas.

People of Iran and Nakhchivan are easily travelling, the number of tourists has increased, and Iranian university students are pursuing their education without any problem, he noted.

Talibov also emphasized the significance of customs regulations in the development of bilateral relations between the two sides, and called for further expansion of cooperation in this field.

Earlier, the sides held talks in Tehran in December. During the meeting, Talibov said Nakhchivan is ready to increase its cooperation with Iran in the fields of energy, tourism and transportation.

In late December 2016, Iran launched a direct passenger train service between its northeastern city of Mashhad and Azerbaijans Nakhchivan. The train from Nakhchivan travels to Irans northwestern city of Tabriz through Jolfa and thereon to Tehran and finally Mashhad.

Azerbaijan and Iran have had diplomatic relations since 1918. Political and economic ties between the two countries have increased in recent years and the two sides have made serious efforts to boost mutual ties. Azerbaijan and Iran have already prepared grounds for private sector investors in order to improve mutual cooperation. Currently, about 450 companies with Iranian capital operate in Azerbaijan.

In 2017, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran amounted to $257.1 million, which is 16 percent more than in 2016. In January-February 2018, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Iran amounted to about $43 million.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Beginning of de-occupation of Azerbaijani territory is the first step in phased settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with TASS agency.

Of course, the current situation is not acceptable either for Azerbaijan or for the international community. All the more so, the countries that have the mandate for the mediation mission, the OSCE Minsk Group co-charing countries - Russia, France and the US - have repeatedly declared at the level of the heads of state that the status quo is unacceptable and should be changed. We fully share these positions and consider such statements to be very correct. But we are waiting for concrete actions. Statements are, of course, important, but we need a settlement of the issue, he said.

The head of state noted that there are all legal mechanisms to settle the issue.

More than twenty years ago the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territory. These resolutions remain valid and must be implemented. But Armenia refuses to fulfill them. And unfortunately, no sanctions were imposed on Armenia for this refusal. Other international organizations also adopted a similar decision and resolutions. OSCE, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, European Parliament, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Non-Aligned Movement and other organizations adopted similar resolutions - Armenia does not fulfill them, Ilham Aliyev said.

Ilham Aliyev stressed that the occupation of Azerbaijani lands continues.

As a result of the occupation, more than a million Azerbaijanis became IDPs and refugees on their own land. Our cities were destroyed, people were expelled. Ethnic cleansing was carried out against us. All this was proved by facts and materials, said the president.

He said the main problem is that Armenia does not want to change the status quo.

Armenia in words declares a desire to negotiate, but in fact is engaged in their imitation. It makes every effort to ensure that everything goes in circles and to create a process without an end. It is not acceptable for us and for the international community. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure speedy fulfillment of the UN Security Council resolutions by Armenia and start of de-occupation of the Azerbaijani territory. Not only Nagorno-Karabakh, but also Azerbaijans seven districts, which dont have and didnt have anything to do with the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijani SSR, are under occupation. The beginning of de-occupation of the Azerbaijani territory is the first step in the phased settlement of the conflict, which should be carried out on the basis of norms and principles of international law, President Aliyev said.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Vice Foreign Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Dang Dinh Quy on the sidelines of the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non- Aligned Movement, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message April 5.

Dinh Quy expressed his satisfaction over visiting Azerbaijan and thanked the Azerbaijani side for high-level organization of the event.

The sides underlined that the official visits of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on May 18-19, 2014 to Vietnam and the official visit of Truong Tan Sang on May 13-15, 2015 to Azerbaijan ushered in a new page in the development of the bilateral relations.

Highly appreciating the current level of relations between Azerbaijan and Vietnam, the sides underlined the importance of exchanging mutual visits and expanding the legal framework.

The sides stressed that there is a huge potential for raising trade turnover between the two countries and noted the importance of further development of cooperation in the fields of economy, energy, agriculture, tourism, science and education. In this context, they also stressed the necessity of holding mutual business forums.

Mammadyarov further pointed out that North-South and South-West transport corridors provide favorable and efficient opportunities for the export of products from the countries of the region, including Vietnam, to the Eastern and Northern European countries.

Later, Mammadyarov gave brief information about the negotiation process on the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with the mediation of the Minsk Group Co-chairs.

He added that the relevant UN Security Council resolutions still have not been implemented by Armenia and the presence of military forces of Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan remains a main obstacle in the settlement of the conflict.

At the meeting, the sides exchanged their views on the issues of mutual interest.

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By Trend

It is impossible to ensure international peace and stability, sustainable development in the absence of international justice, Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Ri Yong Ho said in Baku.

He made the remarks addressing the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) April 5.

The DPRK foreign minister noted that sovereignty, territorial integrity, the principle of equality and non-interference in the affairs of other countries are deliberately rejected.

The violation of small countries independence by large countries occurs in various forms, Ri Yong Ho said.

The minister further thanked Azerbaijan for holding the NAM meeting.

I believe that the international conference held under the chairmanship of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will be fruitful. We hear various appeals in connection with justice. Today, major countries are infringing on small countries. I believe that this conference will contribute to international peace and sustainable development, he said.

Mid-Term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), titled Promoting international peace and security for sustainable development, kicked off in Baku April 5. The Non-Aligned Movement participating states, representatives of the observer states and international organizations, as well as countries and institutions, invited as special guests, are taking part in the two-day event.

NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM. In 2019, the Republic of Azerbaijan will host the 18th Summit of the NAM and will be chairing NAM in 2019-2022.

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By Trend

Turkey will always stand by Azerbaijan when necessary, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Baku on April 5.

He said Azerbaijan widely informs the international community of the truth about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

We, headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are also spreading this truth everywhere, the Turkish foreign minister noted.

Cavusoglu further said that although there are documents for resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, nothing is being done to implement them.

Armenia still continues to occupy 20 percent of the Azerbaijani land. This conflict must be resolved soon, Cavusoglu noted.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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By Trend

Travel companies must inform Azerbaijani citizens wishing to travel to Norway about the spread of norovirus in this country, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA) Nahid Baghirov told Trend April 5.

Norway is not a priority country for Azerbaijani tourists and they rarely visit it, he said.

"Usually it happens in summer so the spread of norovirus in this country does not threaten our citizens," Baghirov said.

Thirty tourists were evacuated because of the outbreak of norovirus in the Norwegian Hardangervidda National Park. Norovirus is an infectious disease that is known as stomach flu.

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The City Council appointed former Judson Independent School District superintendent Willis Mackey to CPS Energys board of trustees Thursday, but the vote was a controversial one.

The 8-3 decision highlighted the lack of gender diversity on the electric and natural gas utilitys board of trustees. All four appointed board members are men. The fifth CPS board member is Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

Mackey will replace Derrick Howard, who has termed out after a decade on the board. He will represent the southeast portion of the CPS service area.

Its been more than two years since a woman served on the CPS board. The last female appointed to the position was Nora Chavez, who served from 2011 until 2016, when she left the board because she moved out the geographic area she represented. She was replaced by John Steen, the current board chairman.

Mackey was nominated by CPS board of trustees on March 6 after the first candidate, Terri Williams  an African-American woman  withdrew her candidacy to take a position on the North East Independent School District board of trustees.

Those voting against Mackey included Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, whose District 3 falls entirely in the borders of the area Mackey will represent. She led the discussion and talked at length about the lack of a female voice on CPS board, saying what was in front of City Council was a continuation of the status quo.

Viagran also complained to the CPS executives who were there  including President and CEO Paula Gold-Williams  about a lack of transparency in the process that she said made it hard to know if she was sending qualified candidates to CPS. Near the end of one of her points Viagran appeared to wipe away tears.

District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales also voted against Mackey, who she called a fine candidate, saying a woman could have been brought up to speed just as quickly as Mackey.

District 6 Councilman Greg Brockhouse said that his thought process had changed after a heated exchange last month with some of his female colleagues over an appointee to the board of San Antonio Water System. In that instance, tough questions had been directed to a female water law expert nominated to the SAWS board but not to the two men.

Brockhouse said Thursday that CPS should have asked, What does this board look like? Does it look like San Antonio?

My opposition today is in the process. I think it needs refinement, Brockhouse said.

Councilman Rey Saldana, who represents District 4, called Steen to the podium and made the point that CPS had already nominated a female applicant to the board seat. He asked if Steen had heard the councils concerns, to which Steen replied, Yes, sir, loud and clear.

District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval  the other female council member  emphasized that qualified and diverse candidates need to be found.

As we go forward, I want us to think about that and, Mr. Kelley and Mr. Steen, I really appreciate your openness and willingness to work on that, Sandoval said, speaking to both Steen and former board chair Ed Kelley, who was in attendance.

Mackey garnered controversy after his retirement from Judson ISD in 2014. He stayed on the payroll for another year despite the hiring of his replacement, Carl Montoya.

Judson ISD named a new high school after Mackey, but the schools name was later changed to Veterans Memorial High School when it became a point of contention.
In the middle of World War II, Beaumont native Jack Wheat found himself in a Maryland warehouse marked as storage for cherry soda. Only it wasn't.

Within its walls, Wheat was preparing for a covert mission for the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

"All they told us was, 'If you want to volunteer for an extremely hazardous mission overseas, that's all we can tell you. And you just have to make up your mind whether you want to do that,'" Wheat recalled.

"So of course...I was just a young kid, so I volunteered," said Wheat, laughing. "I was barely 19 years old."

Wheat, now 92, said he was "tremendously proud of being a member of that very elite group." He was among 20 OSS veterans who received the Congressional Gold Medal last month on behalf of the organization's 13,000 members, nearly 100 of whom are still living.

The medal, the nation's highest civilian honor, was awarded "for their indispensable contributions to victory in World War II," House Speaker Paul Ryan said at the March 21 ceremony in Washington.

In 1943, Wheat was gearing up to head to basic training, but before he could don his uniform, the Army Specialized Training Program he had signed up for was canceled.

"That meant that thousands of college students who were in that program...they didn't just discharge us, they got drafted. 'You're in the Army now,' " Wheat said.

When OSS officers visited Fort Belvoir, where Wheat was stationed, he was one of 14 soldiers selected for an interview, the details of which were not to leave the interview room, he said.

"We had a lot of people doing things, but nobody knew what the other guy was doing," Wheat said. "You didn't ask a person what they were doing."

Assigned to Detachment 202, Wheat was part of a clandestine team that was to go to Japanese-held Northern China.

Wheat said he couldn't tell his family where he was headed - not only because it was secret, but because he didn't know himself.

"They asked me the questions. They didn't answer any of my questions," Wheat said.

Wheat traveled by train from Washington to San Diego and then sailed to Kolkata, India. The next thing he knew, he was traveling to another Indian town, from which he later flew to his station in Kunming, China.

His mission was to rescue Allied prisoners of war and bar Japanese troop movements using trained Chinese militiamen, Wheat said. The assignment was never carried out.

By the time the plan was approved, it was Aug. 6, 1945.

That day, American forces dropped the world's first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

"There was no more need for the mission to go, so we just didn't do it," Wheat said.

Wheat said that though he felt "extremely disappointed" that the mission didn't come off, "by far, my disappointment was overruled that the war was over."

Wheat was transferred to OSS headquarters in Washington, where he remained until he was discharged in February 1946.

"This just means a lot to me, but at the same time, I don't want to take credit for those guys who actually did go and fight behind enemy lines because I did not do that," Wheat said. "I only volunteered to do that."

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/PhoebeSuy
San Antonio City Council appointed former Port Arthur ISD Superintendent Willis Mackey to CPS Energys board of trustees Thursday, but the vote was a controversial one.

The 8-3 decision highlighted the lack of gender diversity on the electric and natural gas utilitys board of trustees. All four appointed board members are men. The fifth CPS board member is Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

Mackey was nominated by CPS board of trustees on March 6 after the first candidate, Terri Williams  an African-American woman  withdrew her candidacy to take a position on the North East Independent School District board of trustees.

Those voting against Mackey included Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, whose District 3 falls entirely in the borders of the area Mackey will represent. She led the discussion and talked at length about the lack of a female voice on CPS board, saying what was in front of City Council was a continuation of the status quo.

Mackey garnered controversy after his retirement from Judson ISD in 2014. He stayed on the payroll for another year despite the hiring of his replacement, Carl Montoya.

Judson ISD named a new high school after Mackey, but the schools name was later changed to Veterans Memorial High School when it became a point of contention.

Mackey's tenure in Southeast Texas was also marred by controversy. He was named superintendent of Port Arthur ISD in March 2003 and was credited with helping the district pass a $110 million bond package and increasing test scores.

But in the three-year period that followed, the district also saw a downward spiral. Changes in school trustees, discord among board members and the administration and increasing levels of state intervention marked that time period, The Enterprise reported in stories at the time.

In January 2006, trustees planned to discuss disciplining Mackey but failed to provide a reason.

The item was postponed after Mackey asked for a hearing in open session, The Enterprise reported.

Trustees accepted Mackey's resignation in February 2006, again with little explanation. Beaumont ISD hired him that same month in a split vote as assistant superintendent for secondary education. He left the district in December 2007 to take the Judson ISD position.
A federal court has denied a Jasper man's request for a new hearing, turning down his argument that his lawyers should have argued his racist views were "largely fantasy" during his 1999 trial for the dragging death of James Byrd Jr.

John William King, 43, who was convicted of capital murder in Byrd's death, argued in a motion for rehearing filed last month in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that he should be given a new hearing on his claims of ineffective counsel.

"King's racist views are not in dispute," appeals attorney Richard Ellis said, "yet the defense failed to effectively show that these racist views did not encompass racist violence."

>>>King attorney calls Byrd death a 'backwoods drug deal gone bad'

Three federal judges unanimously denied that motion and issued a mandate in the case this week, signaling the case is closed in the New Orleans court. King can still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

His execution date will not be set until he has exhausted all possible appeals.

In the motion, filed in March after the court denied King's appeal in February, Ellis said that King's trial counsel should have challenged the prosecution's argument that the murder was racially motivated by arguing that while King had racist views, he would not have committed a hate crime.

King joined a KKK splinter group known as the Confederate Knights of America (CKA) while in prison on a burglary charge in the 1990s and indicated that he wanted to start a white supremacist group in Jasper, according to court testimony.

Ellis called that intent a "stillborn fantasy," which he said lawyers Sonny Cribbs and Brack Jones should have pointed out at trial.

"Defense counsel could also have cast doubt on the State's theory by showing that King's CKA activities were largely fantasy and grandiose braggadocio common to inmates with a fertile imagination and time on their hands," Ellis wrote in the March motion. King referred to himself as the "Exalted Cyclops of the C.K.A. here in prison," which Ellis said was evidence that his plan to start the hate group was not realistic.

In the motion, he reiterated his claim that Cribbs and Jones did not pursue that theory because of a media rights deal that made the hate crime theory more profitable for them.

According to court documents, King signed an agreement on the last day of his trial giving literary and media rights to his life story to Cribbs, Jones and King's father.

"Defense counsel had an obvious financial motive not to challenge the sensational State's theory, because a steroid-deal gone bad would have had negligible value as a media property," Ellis said.

King's story and the agreement were "worth much more if this crime was not seen as simply another drug-related murder, however grisly in its details."

When the court denied King's appeal in February, the justices said the argument was "unconvincing" because no proof existed that the deal influenced the lawyers' actions. Ellis argued in the motion for rehearing that there was clearly an adverse impact on the case's outcome.

>>>Texas playwright brings James Byrd Jr. tragedy to stage

The most recent order included no explanation for the denial.

In February, the Appeals Court ruled that Cribbs' and Jones' treatment of the evidence was reasonable and said the theory that King had "violent white-supremacist views was multifaceted and ironclad."

"No matter how skillful they were, counsel could not make this evidence go away," the court said.

King was the first of three white men from Jasper convicted of capital murder for the hate crime.

He was sentenced to death in 1999.

>>>1 killer in Byrd murder executed, 1 still awaiting lethal injection

Co-defendant Lawrence Brewer was sentenced to death in the case and was executed in 2011 at the age of 44. Another co-defendant, Shawn Allen Berry, 42, is serving a life sentence.

>>>Scenes from Lawrence Russell Brewer's execution

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
The term breastaurant has been used for years to describe Hooters, Twin Peaks and other restaurants that feature scantily clad waitresses who cater especially to a male appetite.

Thanks to a trademark filed with the United States Patent and Trademark office, however, there is officially only one Breastaurant.
Three people were arrested for alleged involvement in the sale of a stolen tractor that led to a threat on a Tyler County judge's life, the Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

FBI agents told Tyler County officials that last week, they received a report of a threat to kill Justice of the Peace Jim Moore, TCSO said.

Investigators learned the threat was made by Dalton Collins, 45, and Alicia Johnson, 35, both of Woodville, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Collins, Johnson and Matthew Mckenzie, 24, of Spurger, were allegedly all involved in the sale of a stolen tractor that officials in Tyler and Polk counties had been searching for, according to TCSO.

Moore gave investigators a bill of sale for the tractor, and told them Collins asked to meet with him about the tractor, which was later located in Hardin County.

All three are charged with theft, and Collins and Johnson are charged with making a terroristic threat against a judicial official.

Two firearms and "additional evidence" were also found during the investigation, TCSO said.

The FBI and Texas Rangers are involved in the ongoing investigation, Tyler County said.

The threat to Moore is the second made to a Southeast Texas judge in recent weeks. A Port Arthur woman was indicted Wednesday for allegedly threatening to kill a Jefferson County judge in March.

>> Woman reportedly threatened to shoot Jefferson Co. judge over custody battle
Our cameras were at Champagne and Ribs on Thursday night. Did we see you there?
The federal government indicted four people in connection with a $7.8 million healthcare fraud conspiracy at Birmingham, Ala.-based Care Complete Medical Clinic.

Here's what you should know.

1. Investigators charged Patrick Ifediba, MD, Uchenna Ifediba, MD, Ngozi Ozuligbo and Clement Ebio with healthcare fraud conspiracy. The defendants were also charged with unlawful drug distribution and money laundering.

2. Investigators allege the physicians used their prescribing authority to force opioid-dependent patients to submit to unnecessary treatments to obtain narcotic prescriptions. The physicians and their support staff then billed the government for these unnecessary services.

3. In addition, Dr. Uchenna Ifediba made a false statement in connection with healthcare matters.

4. The FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency led a joint investigation into the case. U.S. attorneys Mohammad Khatib and Jim Weil will prosecute the case.
Here are four gastroenterologists who made headlines this past week.

Becker's ASC Review spoke with William Chey, MD, of Ritter Pharmaceuticals' medical advisory board, about the first treatment for lactose intolerance, the company's RP-G28.

V. Raman Muthusamy, MD, and Sri Komanduri, MD, spoke to Becker's about the 9th annual AGA Tech Summit, March 21 to March 23 in Boston.

Nashua-based Southern New Hampshire Health appointed gastroenterologist Timothy Scherer, MD, its new CMO of Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua.
The following hospital and health system credit rating and outlook changes and affirmations took place in the last week, beginning with the most recent.

1. Fitch upgrades Nanticoke Health Services' rating to 'BBB+'

Fitch Ratings upgraded Seaford, Del.-based Nanticoke Health Services' series 2013 revenue bond rating to "BBB+" from "BBB-."

2. Fitch affirms 'BB+' on Loma Linda University Medical Center

Fitch Ratings affirmed its "BB+" rating on Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center's series 2014A, 2014B and 2016A revenue bonds.

3. Moody's assigns 'Aa2' to BJC Health System's bonds

Moody's Investors Service assigned its "Aa2" rating to St. Louis-based BJC Health System's remarketed $75 million series 2017D bonds.

4. Fitch upgrades Summit Health's rating to 'AA-'

Fitch Ratings upgraded Chambersburg, Pa.-based Summit Health's $113 million series 2010 revenue bonds to "AA-" from "A+" and assigned the health system an issuer default rating of "AA-."

5. Fitch upgrades Heritage Valley Health System to 'AA-'

Fitch Ratings upgraded the rating on Beaver, Pa.-based Heritage Valley Health System's revenue bonds to "AA-" from "A+," affecting $51.6 million of debt.

6. S&P downgrades Bozeman Health's rating to 'A'

S&P Global Ratings downgraded the rating on Bozeman (Mont.) Health's outstanding revenue bonds to "A" from "A+."

7. S&P upgrades Freeman Health System's rating to 'A'

S&P Global Ratings upgraded the rating to "A" from "A-" on Joplin, Mo.-based Freeman Health System's series 2011 and series 2015 bonds.

8. S&P downgrades ProMedica's bond rating to 'A+'

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica Healthcare's bonds to "A+" from "AA-."

9. Fitch affirms 'A-' rating on Redlands Community Hospital

Fitch Ratings affirmed its "A-" rating on Redlands (Calif.) Community Hospital's series 2016 revenue bonds.

10. Fitch downgrades Valley Medical Center to 'BBB'

Fitch Ratings downgraded Renton, Wash.-based Valley Medical Center's series 2010A bonds, series 2010B bonds and its issuer default rating to "BBB" from "BBB+.

11. Fitch assigns 'A+' issuer default rating to Orlando Health

Fitch Ratings assigned its "A+" issuer default rating to Orlando (Fla.) Health and upgraded the rating on $690 million in revenue bonds to "A+" from "A."

12. Fitch affirms 'BBB' rating on Memorial Hospital at Gulfport

Fitch Ratings assigned its "BBB" issuer default rating to Memorial Hospital at Gulfport (Miss.).

13. Moody's affirms 'Aa3' rating on Scripps Health

Moody's Investors Service affirmed its "Aa3" long-term rating on San Diego-based Scripps Health, affecting $632 million of rated debt.

14. Moody's revises Firelands Regional Medical Center's outlook to negative

Moody's Investors Service affirmed its "A3" rating on Sandusky, Ohio-based Firelands Regional Medical Center, affecting $77 million of debt.

15. Moody's assigns 'Aa2' to Indiana University Health

Moody's Investors Service assigned its "Aa2" rating to Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health's proposed $354 million series 2018A bonds.

16. Moody's upgrades Medical College of Wisconsin's rating to 'Aa3'

Moody's Investors Service upgraded Milwaukee-based Medical College of Wisconsin's revenue bonds to "Aa3" from "A1," affecting $236 million of debt.

17. Moody's affirms 'A1' rating on Huntsville Health Care

Moody's Investors Service affirmed its "A1" rating on Huntsville (Ala.) Health Care Authority, affecting approximately $205 million of rated debt.
The cash-strapped Friend (Neb.) Community Healthcare System is seeking $800,000 to complete federally required upgrades to avoid closure, reports the Lincoln Journal Star.

Friend Community Healthcare must update its electrical system by January 2019. Without the upgrade, the hospital will lose its Medicare funding and will be forced to close, according to hospital board member Nick Svehla.

If the hospital closed, Friend residents would be forced to travel 30 minutes for hospital care.

The $800,000 funding request will be present on a May 15 ballot. Half the town must agree with their solution  a bond issue to raise enough money to update the wiring.

The bond issue request would not raise taxes because the hospital district raised the tax levy in 2017 in anticipation of the upgrade, explained Mr. Svehla. However, the hospital needs the money faster than it has been collecting it from the levy. The bond request would serve as a loan and the hospital would make bond payments with taxes it is already receiving.

In fiscal year 2017, the hospital generated $4.8 million in revenue, but ended in the red because expenses exceeded $5 million.
After placing a hidden camera in an employee restroom, Michael Mcdermott, a 21-year-old staff member at Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, was fired and charged with possession of a wiretapping device, reports The Boston Globe.

Mr. Mcdermott reportedly hid the miniature camera in a pen, which was found in the restroom during a routine cleaning March 29. The pen had only been there for a short period of time, according hospital officials.

Hospital officials notified police March 29 that a device was found in a staff-only restroom. Immediately after identifying the culprit, the hospital fired Mr. Mcdermott.

Police looking into the incident found the device contained multiple videos of people undressing in the restroom.

Mr. Mcdermott was charged April 5 with three counts of photographing an unsuspecting nude person and one count of possession of a wiretap device.

"Protecting the safety, security and privacy of our colleagues, patients and visitors is a top priority," a spokesperson for Lahey Hospital told The Boston Globe. "We take any activity of this nature very seriously, and we will continue to work closely with the Burlington Police Department as they conduct their investigation."

No patients or visitors were impacted, as this was a staff-only restroom.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
From a Nebraska hospital resolving false claims allegations to a judge asking the American Hospital Association to weigh in on how to resolve the Medicare appeals backlog, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines.

1. Feds, 30 states claim McKesson illegally repackaged cancer drugs to maximize profits: 5 things to know

The federal government and 30 states sued pharmaceutical distributor McKesson, alleging the company violated the False Claims Act by illegally extracting excess cancer drugs from single-use vials and then repackaging and selling the drugs.

2. Teen sues Michigan hospital after vicious attack in ER

A woman sued Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn, Mich., after she was attacked by a man inside the hospital.

3. Nebraska hospital pays $677k to settle Medicare fraud allegations: 5 things to know

Hastings, Neb.-based Mary Lanning Hospital agreed to pay a $677,239 settlement after a physician reportedly made false claims to Medicare for more than six years.

4. NorthShore University HealthSystem sued for allegedly collecting worker's fingerprints without consent

A former NorthShore University HealthSystem employee filed a class-action lawsuit against the Evanston, Ill.-based health system for allegedly scanning and digitally collecting his fingerprints without his consent.

5. Orthopedic, anesthesia providers settle false claims allegations for $3.2M

Newnan-based Georgia Bone & Joint, Summit Orthopaedic Surgery Center, Southern Crescent Anesthesiology medical group, Sentry Anesthesia Management, as well as certified registered nurse anesthetist David LaGuardia, agreed to pay the federal government $3.2 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act.

6. Judge asks AHA to weigh in on Medicare appeals backlog: 5 things to know

A federal judge is seeking input from hospitals and health systems on how to reduce the Medicare appeals backlog at the Administrative Law Judge level.

7. Atrium Health responds to lawsuit: Mecklenburg Medical Group physicians can break away

Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health said it will allow most physicians with Mecklenburg Medical Group to operate independently of its health system after 92 physicians sued to break away from the non-compete agreements.

8. Microsoft sues CHS, alleging copyright infringement, breach of contract: 8 takeaways

Tech giant Microsoft filed a lawsuit against Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems March 15, alleging CHS engaged in "willful copyright infringement and willful breach of [the health system's] contractual obligations and implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing."

9. Atrium Health countersues anesthesiology group over 'frivolous lawsuit': 6 things to know

Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health fired back at its former anesthesiology services provider and filed a countersuit against the group's parent company, Sunrise, Fla.-based Mednax.

More articles on legal and regulatory issues:

California files antitrust suit against Sutter Health: 5 things to know

Iowa hospital pays $1.88M to settle Medicare overpayments case

Humana reaches $2.5M settlement over alleged pay discrimination against 753 women
Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health fired back at its former anesthesiology services provider and filed a countersuit against the group's parent company, Sunrise, Fla.-based Mednax, April 4, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.

Here are six things to know about Atrium's countersuit.

1. Atrium Health terminated its nearly 40-year contract with Southeast Anesthesiology Consultants earlier this year, claiming SAC was not willing to lower costs or introduce a new operating model to increase savings. The contract, which expires June 30, was instead awarded to Charlotte-based Scope Anesthesia of North Carolina.

2. SAC filed a lawsuit against Atrium March 26, alleging the health system and its new anesthesiology provider stole trade secrets and used that information to poach the contract from SAC. The group alleged Atrium canceled its contract with SAC after the group refused to consent to Atrium and Scope's plan to impose substantial cuts to the number of anesthesiologists at the health system's various facilities.

3. SAC's lawsuit, which seeks more than $25,000 in damages for SAC but does not disclose how much the organization's contract with Atrium was worth, mirrors concerns cited by SAC in an ad campaign and website the organization launched last month to protest Atrium's decision to switch anesthesiology providers.

4. In an April 5 statement to Becker's Hospital Review, Atrium said the countersuit was filed in response to Mednax's "frivolous lawsuit," and noted the company "has a history of suing others" and "sued 47 of its own anesthesiologists practicing at Atrium Health [in July 2017]. This lawsuit was filed shortly after the anesthesiologists reported Mednax to the North Carolina Medical Board."

"We are not alone in making the decision to end our relationship with Mednax," the statement continued. "In the past several months, other providers, such as Duke Raleigh (N.C.) Hospital has refused to renew with Mednax, as has Cone Health, the preeminent public healthcare system in Greensboro, N.C. Ultimately, we were not comfortable in partnering with Mednax, a company that has workforce instability, among other issues. This decision supports our priorities to provide high quality care to every patient who walks through our door."

5. SAC said in an April 5 statement to Becker's the goal of its lawsuit is to "protect the investments in patient care that have delivered great benefits to hundreds of thousands of Charlotte patients for nearly 40 years. Today's answer and counterclaim by Atrium are merely an attempt to distract from our serious claims."

"We are not surprised that Atrium would seek to defend itself through these legal actions, given its history of repeated adversarial behavior toward the medical community, and its own employees, throughout Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. We deny Atrium's assertions and look forward to presenting our case in Court, where we believe the facts will speak for themselves. In the meantime, we remain focused on providing the quality of care that our patients depend upon and deserve."

6. SAC's lawsuit is the second piece of legal action to hit Atrium Health in recent weeks. Mecklenburg Medical Group, an Atrium physician practice, filed a civil lawsuit against the health system April 2, alleging Atrium's "self-serving monopolistic and anticompetitive actions" presents a threat to physicians, leaving them unable to provide cost-efficient, high-quality care, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.

To access the report, click here.
The federal government and 30 states have sued pharmaceutical distributor McKesson, alleging the company violated the False Claims Act by illegally extracting excess cancer drugs from single-use vials and then repackaging and selling the drugs.

Here are five things to know about the lawsuit.

1. The lawsuit, which was filed April 4 and is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleges McKesson extracted "overfill" from single-use vials of oncology drugs and then repackaged the drugs in bulk into non-sterile plastic syringes. The contents of single-use vials may be extracted only once because they do not contain preservatives or antiseptic chemicals to prevent bacterial or fungal growth.

2. McKesson allegedly sold the repackaged drugs to cancer centers, physicians and medical practices from 2001 until at least 2010. The healthcare providers would then seek reimbursement from government payers for the drugs.

3. McKesson "knowingly and intentionally put cancer patients and others with compromised immune systems at serious risk for infection, and defrauded federal, state, and local governments out of hundreds of millions of dollars," the lawsuit states.

4. AmerisourceBergen, one of McKesson's competitors, pleaded guilty last year to similar actions and has paid approximately $900 million in fines, according to Law360.

5. The lawsuit against McKesson was brought by Omni Healthcare, which received oncology drugs from McKesson, under the qui tam, or whistle-blower, provision of the False Claims Act. The federal government, 30 states, Washington, D.C., and the cities of New York and Chicago joined Omni as plaintiffs. McKesson said it is currently reviewing the complaint.

More articles on legal and regulatory issues:

Teen sues Michigan hospital after vicious attack in ER

14 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements

California files antitrust suit against Sutter Health: 5 things to know
Hastings, Neb.-based Mary Lanning Hospital agreed to pay a $677,239 settlement after a physician reportedly made false claims to Medicare for more than six years.

Here are five things to know.

1. The false claims were submitted by one of Mary Lanning Hospital's contracted physicians, Daniel Mazour, MD. He provided care at Mary Lanning's Blue Hill (Neb.) Clinic.

2. Mary Lanning Hospital billed Medicaid and Medicare for Dr. Mazour's services, later discovering he billed the government payers for medically unnecessary services.

3. Dr. Mazour, according to the settlement, falsely billed Medicaid and Medicare from January 2010 to April 2016.

4. Mary Lanning Hospital self-disclosed the false claims after discovering Dr. Mazour billed for medically unnecessary services.

5. The hospital will pay state and federal governments $677,239, consisting of $451,493 in restitution and $225,746 in additional damages.
A nurse at Waukesha (Wis.) Memorial Hospital allegedly stole a patient's wallet containing $2,585 in cash while the patient received treatment, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Jay Reiners, a 33-year-old nurse, was reportedly seen on surveillance video entering the area where the patient's belongings were temporarily held before it was placed in a more secure area.

When hospital security interrogated Mr. Reiners, he reportedly admitted to taking the cash. However, when law enforcement stepped in, he claimed he was pressured into an admission by hospital staff.

According to the complaint, Mr. Reiners allegedly told hospital officials he placed a whiteboard eraser and tissue box into a security bag that he labelled with the patient's name. He then took the original bag that held the cash into the bathroom, removed it and threw away the wallet.

Following investigations by hospital security and the Waukesha Police Department, Mr. Reiners was charged with theft, which carries a maximum penalty of three and a half years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $10,000. He is no longer employed at the hospital.

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United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, issued a national public health advisory April 6, urging opioid users  and their family and friends  to carry and learn how to administer the overdose-reversal drug naloxone.

The move marks the first time a U.S. surgeon general issued a public health advisory since 2005, when the surgeon general warned against consuming any alcohol while pregnant, according to The New York Times.

"Each day we lose 115 Americans to an opioid overdose  that's one person every 12.5 minutes," Dr. Adams said. "It is time to make sure more people have access to this lifesaving medication, because 77 percent of opioid overdose deaths occur outside of a medical setting and more than half occur at home."

The public advisory specifically identifies several groups of individuals as being at elevated risk for opioid overdose: those who misuse prescription opioids, heroin and illicit fentanyl users, and those recently released from jail or an addiction treatment program.

To read the full public health advisory, click here.

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Baltimore-based MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center is closing its pediatric inpatient and emergency room units, the Capital Gazette reports.

The hospital cited a 40 percent drop in pediatric admissions during the past five years as reason for the closures. Franklin Square's decision comes as Maryland continues to encourage patients to seek less expensive treatment outside of the hospital as part of its global budgeting system. MedStar said as a result, several patients are using urgent care centers and ASCs.

"There is a transformation taking place in our healthcare system nationally and locally, which translates into patients seeking treatment in lower cost, non-hospital settings," MedStar said in a statement to the Capital Gazette. "This includes our pediatric patients as well."

The downsizing also affected 20 staff members, including eight physicians and the hospital's chair of pediatrics. While some affected staff members will receive positions at Franklin Square or other MedStar facilities, an unidentified number will be laid off.



Franklin Square physicians will continue to provide outpatient pediatric surgeries; however, children requiring inpatient treatment will be transferred. Children needing emergency care will use the hospital's main ED, the report states.
Atlanta officials confirmed the death of Dr. Timothy Cunningham, a 35-year-old epidemiologist with the CDC who was last seen nearly two months ago, during an April 5 press conference.

Here are four things to know.

1. Dr. Cunningham's body was found April 3 in a remote area alongside the Chattahoochee River. Fulton County's Chief Medical Examiner Jan Gorniak, DO, said the positive identification was confirmed by dental records and that the preliminary cause of death was drowning. There were no indications of foul play. Dr. Groniak could not confirm whether the manner of death "was an accident or suicide or anything [else]."

2. Officials described the area as remote and difficult to get to by vehicle or foot. Maj. Michael O'Connor of the Atlanta Police said the investigation is ongoing and that investigators are still awaiting the results of a couple more tests, but anticipates the investigation should be resolved within a month. However, the exact means by which Dr. Cunningham got to the river may never be revealed.

"Barring new information coming forward, we may never be able to tell you how he got to the river," Mr. O'Connor said.

3. Dr. Cunningham was the team lead for the CDC's division of population health and an alumnus of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. He was last seen leaving work Feb. 12 after telling colleagues he didn't feel well. Dr. Cunningham's parents later discovered their son's cellphone, wallet, keys, car and dog unattended at his home on Feb. 14.

4. In early March, multiple media outlets, citing comments from an Atlanta police official, reported Dr. Cunningham met with a supervisor Feb. 12 to discuss why he hadn't received a promotion the week before he went missing. The Atlanta police have maintained that the CDC was the source of this information. On March 12, Anne Schuchat, MD, who was then acting director of the agency, refuted the media reports.

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The average acceptance rate for 2017-18 medical school candidates was 7 percent, according to data gathered by U.S. News & World Report.

For the publication's annual survey, U.S. News compiled data submitted by 120 ranked medical schools. Among the top 10 schools with the lowest acceptance rates, the average rate of acceptance was 2.8 percent.

The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine topped the list with an average acceptance rate of 2.1 percent, up from 1.8 percent during the 2016-17 school year. Roughly 8,000 incoming medical school students submitted applications to the Rochester, Minn.-based school. Of those, only 168 students were accepted.

Here are the top 10 ranked medical schools where the lowest proportion of applicants for fall 2017 were admitted, according to U.S. News. Unranked schools were not considered for the report.

1. Mayo Clinic  2.1 percent acceptance rate

2. Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine  2.3 percent

3. Florida State University School of Medicine (Tallahassee)  2.6 percent

4. Wake Forest School of Medicine (Winston-Salem, N.C.)  2.8 percent

5. George Washington University School of Medicine (Washington, D.C.)  2.9 percent

6. Georgetown University School of Medicine (Washington, D.C.)  2.9 percent

7. UC Davis School of Medicine (Sacramento, Calif.)  2.9 percent

8. David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (Los Angeles)  3.2 percent

9. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (Providence, R.I.)  3.2 percent

10. UC San Diego School of Medicine (La Jolla, Calif.)  3.2 percent
A nurse who lost her position at Kaiser Permanente Roseville (Calif.) Medical Center after saying Stephon Clark "deserved it" in a Facebook post launched a GoFundMe page March 31 and has since raised more than the page's stated goal of $25,000, as of April 5.

Here are five things to know.

1. Faith Linthicum, RN, a labor and delivery nurse, posted a comment to her Facebook in reference to Mr. Clark, a black man who was fatally shot by Sacramento police on March 18 while unarmed. Ms. Linthicum's Facebook post read, "Yeah but he was running from the police jumping over fences and breaking in peoples (sic) houses  why run??!!! He deserved it for being stupid."

2. Activist Christina Arechiga took screenshots of Ms. Linthicum's comment and reposted it after discovering she was a nurse in the Sacramento area. On Facebook, Ms. Arechiga said, "How can we trust our lives, the lives of our black and brown babies to these people? Nurses are supposed to help people not be happy when people die."

3. In a prepared statement obtained by The Sacramento Bee, Kaiser Vice President Yvette Radford said the health system "does not tolerate hate or discrimination and has a long history of embracing diversity and inclusion.  We are very much a part of the wonderful and rich diversity of the communities we serve and feel a deep responsibility to them. We are deeply saddened by the events associated with Stephon Clark's death, and will continue to do our part to make sure the community is healthy, safe and inclusive."

4. On her GoFundMe page, Ms. Linthicum asks for donations to help her pay rent. She says she is not a "hateful" or "discriminatory" person and that Kaiser Permanente violated her First Amendment rights "in order to protect themselves from the wrath of these activists."

5. Employment attorney Julia L. Jenness of Sacramento-based law firm Boutin Jones told the Bee private employers can legally determine whether an employee's conduct outside of the workplace is harassing or discriminatory. As of April 3, Ms. Linthicum had not responded to the Bee's multiple attempts to contact her.

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President Donald Trump recently proposed a 25 percent tariff on a list of products from China. Some of the items on the list include magnetic resonance imaging electro-diagnostic apparatuses, orthopedic or fracture appliances and artificial joints.

The statement from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative published by The Wall Street Journal. said the reason for the tariff is due to "the acts, policies and practices of the government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation covered in the investigation are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce."

Orthopedic and spine companies are among those who could be affected by the proposed tariff. While not all companies are based in China, many have distribution and manufacturing agreements.

Here are 15 companies who may face burdens from the proposal.

Alphatec (Carlsbad, Calif.). The medical device company is partnered with independent distributor Scient'x's which distributes Alphatec's implants and instruments throughout China.

Arthrex (Naples, Fla.). While Arthrex is expanding in the U.S., the medical device company also has a corporate manufacturing center in Shanghai, China.

DePuy Synthes (Warsaw, Ind.). In 2008, DePuy Synthes opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China, to distribute implants and instruments throughout the country.

Exactech (Gainesville, Fla.). While having a corporate manufacturing location in Shanghai, Exactech distributes its hip and knee systems throughout the country.

Globus Medical (Audubon, Pa.). Globus Medical acquired Alphatec, which distributes implants and instruments throughout China.

Life Spine (Huntley, Ill). In early 2014, Life Spine entered into a partnership with China Pioneer Pharma Holdings to grow its orthopedic market share in China.

Mazor Robotics (Caesarea, Israel). Mazor Robotics partners with Chinese distributor Cicel Science. Additionally, the Renaissance robotic system was recently awarded China Food and Drug Administration approval.

NuVasive (San Diego). Since NuVasive named Gregory Lucier CEO, the company has been working on expanding into the greater Chinese market for orthopedics.

Orthofix (Lewisville, Texas). An Orthofix distribution center for external and internal fixation systems is located in Shanghai.

OrthoPediatrics (Warsaw, Ind.). OrthoPediatrics partnered with Bioretec, a Chinese device company, to distribute the company's implants and systems.

Smith & Nephew (London, England). The company has manufacturing facilities in mainland China and Hong Kong.

SpineGuard (Saint-Mande, France). In 2017, SpineGuard partnered with Xing Rong Medical Group in China to distribute the company's implants. Later in the year, Xing Rong Medical announced it began purchasing SpineGuard's PediGuard system.

Stryker (Kalamazoo, Mich.). Stryker has manufacturing locations all throughout China, including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Wuhan.

United Orthopedic Corporation (Irvine, Calif.). United Orthopedic Corporation was first established in China beforing brining its operations to the U.S. five years ago. The medical device company has locations in Taiwan and China.

Zimmer Biomet (Warsaw, Ind.). Zimmer Biomet's has a manufacturing location in China for the company's orthopedics and microfixation devices. Recently, the FDA lifted its warning letter on the Zimmer Biomet's China plant.
Physicians on Hawaii have been expecting a shortage of medical professionals for a while now, and as the state's aging population continues to grow, there are not enough physicians to provide care, according to Khon 2.

Here's what you need to know.

1. Physicians note Hawaii is not training or recruiting enough physicians to leave the mainland. Research shows the state is short 700 physicians, 282 of which are primary care physicians.

2. Some adults are now being forced to visit their pediatrician due to the backlog primary care physicians face.

3. Orthopedic surgeons are among the most needed professionals in the state. Additionally, Hawaii is in need of infectious disease, critical care and pulmonary surgeons.

4. Patients are often transferred from island to island in order to see a physician when care is critical

5. To combat the shortage, some of the smaller islands are adding more training facilities for medical students.
In December 2017, a federal grand jury indicted spine surgeon Cathleen Van Buskirk, MD, for bankruptcy scheme allegations. Daily Camera Boulder News reports she is scheduled for a federal court trial in May.

Here are five key points.

1. Beginning May 14, the trial will span one week in the U.S. District Court in Denver.

2. Dr. Van Buskirk is accused of "bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy assets, fraudulent transfer and concealment, and money laundering," according to the Daily Camera Boulder News report. While currently free on $150,000 bond, she is facing up to 20 years in prison for two counts of money laundering and up to five years each for all other charges.

3. Dr. Van Buskirk filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in August 2014, but federal prosecutors claim she tried to defraud her creditors. The indictment report claims the she didn't report $46,000 and 200 U.S. silver dollars, foreign currency, gold coins and a diamond ring. The report also alleges Dr. Van Buskirk transferred $170,000 to companies controlled by others.

4. Dr. Van Buskirk treats patients at Alpine Spine Center in Boulder, Colo., but the website says, "Alpine Spine Center is temporality closed due to medical leave."

5. She completed her spine surgery fellowship at Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University.
Todd Lanman, MD, of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Lanman Spinal Neurosurgery, will lead an artificial disc replacement presentation at the Marina Del (Calif.) Rey Hospital April 17.

Here are four things to know.

1. The hour-long session will provide surgeons insight into new uses, indications and revision strategies for artificial disc replacement, particularly cervical disc replacement.

2. Dr. Lamnan routinely travels around the country to educate fellow spine surgeons on artificial disc replacement. He was recently in Atlanta conducting research on cadavers by installing a new lumbar spine implant for fusion.

3. The Los Angeles Times recently named Dr. Lamnan one of Los Angeles' Top Doctors. United Airlines' Hemispheres magazine listed him as on of the country's top spine surgeons.

4. Dr. Lanman has more than 25 years of experience in the spine industry. He has treated high profile celebrities in music, film and television.
In the April 1 special insert, Spine included an article examining the future of robotics in spine surgery by Vikas Patel, MD, a surgeon at The Spine Center of University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.

Here are five key observations from the article.

1. While robotics have been available in the U.S. for spine surgery since 2004, the technology didn't see significant use until 2011. However, there were still fewer than 100 installations in 2015.

2. Robotics in spine surgery has gained acceptance over the years, and in 2015 around 3,000 procedures were performed annually in the U.S. with the technology.

3. Resident training and hour restrictions could push more spine surgeons to incorporate robotics into their operating rooms. Residency work hour restrictions mean surgeons in training spend less time learning about the procedure, which could make robotics a valuable tool to increase the safety of performing spinal procedures.

4. Spine robots are currently a guide to position tools used during the procedures and place pedicle screws. There is a potential for evolution in the future; surgeons may be able to use robots to detect proximity to protected structures or handle more complex tissue manipulations.

5. The robotics industry in the U.S. is expected to reach $6.8 billion by 2021, growing from $4 billion in 2016. "Robotics in spine surgery will continue to grow as a tool to improve safety, and increase our efficiencies and capabilities in the OR," wrote Dr. Patel.
Workers at an upmarket shirt maker in Londonderry have been temporarily laid off after the loss of a customer, it has emerged.

Staff at Smyth & Gibson on Victoria Road in the city have been sent a letter telling them that the loss of the customer means there will be no work for them from April 9 to May 14.

It's understood around 50 staff in its workforce of around 54 are affected.

The identity of the customer is not revealed but according to the company's website, stockists include Selfridges in London and its sister department store, Arnotts in Dublin.

Last year the company also received funding of 500,000 from the Growth Loan Fund to help it explore new export markets and create four new jobs.

A letter to staff seen by the Belfast Telegraph refers to a meeting last month when staff were told that the company had lost "one of our main customers".

It adds: "Through discussions I have been able to secure one final order from them which in turn will allow some time for the business to source further work from potential new clients.

"However, as a result of this current situation, this has caused some difficulty in work flow and we will have no work in the factory until mid-May. Therefore it is with regret that due to this we have made the decision to temporarily lay you off work for approximately five weeks."

Staff will be entitled to 27 per day for the first five days.

The letter adds: "We accept that this is a very difficult time for everyone and I would like to personally thank you for your understand in the current circumstances we find ourselves in."

Foyle DUP MLA Gary Middleton said: "My office is currently assisting several staff from the shirt factory after they were contacted by management to inform them that they have lost one of their main customers.

"Approximately 50 staff have been informed that a decision has been taken to temporarily lay them off for five weeks, allowing time to source further work from potential new clients. This has obviously caused much concern among the staff.

"I have already made contact with the company. I will continue to work with those affected and to provide advice and guidance where appropriate."

The company did not respond to a request for comment.
A North West councillor has called for the City of Derry Airport to shut its doors because it has become a "colossal waste of money".

Conservative Party councillor David Harding said government funding should instead be focused on infrastructure projects in the area.

The Causeway Coast and Glens representative said the council need to "face the reality that the airport is a failure".

"We need to see funding focused on roads, both completing the dualling of the A26 to Coleraine and pressing on with the huge task of upgrading the A6," Mr Harding told the BBC's Nolan Show programme.

"This will greatly enhance journey times to Belfast International.

"Belfast International passenger numbers are up again by over 10% and it is rapidly approaching six million passengers per year.

"There are single routes from Aldergrove that carry more passengers than go through City of Derry on all routes."

Derry and Strabane District Council said the airport "is an important piece of infrastructure for the local economy".

"The airport plays a key role in providing air connectivity to the region, carrying over 200,000 passengers in 2017 and brings significant employment to the region," the council added.

Mr Harding said that the only two "significant airports" on the island of Ireland are Dublin Airport and Belfast International.

He added attempts to sustain other airports, particularly as the road infrastructure improves, is "simply an unwise use of ratepayers' and taxpayers' money".
'Topaz has said that the move to rebrand will further strengthen the chain's position in the Irish market'

Forecourts retailer Topaz, soon to be rebranded as Circle K, posted a pre-tax profit of 13.3m (11.6m) in the 16 months to the end of April last year, newly-filed accounts show.

Revenue at Circle K Retail for the period was 215.8m (189m).

The accounts note that the turnover is derived from the sale of petroleum products and convenience store items.

There are more than 420 Topaz forecourts across the island of Ireland, with one of the group's main competitors being stock market-listed Applegreen.

Businessman Denis O'Brien sold Topaz to Alimentation Couche-Tard in a deal that involved almost 260m (227m), with the Canadian group also assuming long-term debt of about 133m (116m) and other debt tranches.

It had been speculated at the time of the sale that the enterprise value of the deal, including equity and debt, was about 450m (393m).

That was about twice the amount Mr O'Brien invested in Topaz to secure control of it from the special liquidators of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, in 2013. As Couche-Tard announced its plan to buy Topaz in 2015, the Irish forecourt retailer also finalised a 75m (65.6m) acquisition of a chain of Esso outlets here.

Mr O'Brien owned 90% of Topaz, with his nephew Emmet O'Neill owning the remainder.

Topaz has said that the move to rebrand will further strengthen the chain's position in the Irish market.

Couche-Tard uses the Circle K brand at more than 12,000 sites around the world.

Next week, the Circle K brand will be launched in Ireland.

Topaz, whose managing director is Niall Anderton, will then become known as Circle K Ireland.

The launch will be attended by Jacob Schram, the group president of European operations at Circle K.
Actress Jaime King has described an incredibly violent attack on a car containing her four-year-old son, causing glass to rain down on him.

The Sin City actress, 38, on Thursday also hit out at photographers who are also being investigated by police after she said they documented the attack rather than attempting to halt it.

She was not in the car with son James during the attack at around 4.40pm in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday, but a friend who confronted the suspect was.

The attack was incredibly violent and my four-year-old son was obviously the target of the individuals brutal attack, which is terrifying, she wrote on social media.

She thanked police and bystanders who stepped in and called for more resources to combat the mental health, drug addiction and homelessness crises that grip Los Angeles.

I want to believe that we live in a world where human integrity comes before documenting an attack, Im saddened that the paparazzi chose to terrorise my son and by shoving cameras in our face during an attack, whilst he was shaking and crying instead of trying to help, she said.

My brave friend Judit Balogh used her self-defence training to try and keep the individual from harming James Knight while glass was shattering on him, as the perpetrator jumped on the roof until it collapsed and kicked in windows trying to get to him.

Pictures show the caved-in windscreen of a black Mercedes and the arrest of a worse for wear man.

The Los Angeles Times has reported that homelessness across much of the county increased from 32,000 to 55,000 in the past six years, with poverty being on plain view in the notorious Skid Row as well as wealthy areas such as Beverly Hills.

Her friend, the driver, was with a boy in the car, which was one of two vehicles targeted, Beverly Hills Police Department spokeswoman Lieutenant Elisabeth Albanese said.

Lt Albanese also said the force is investigating several paparazzi who were photographing the incident over intentional harassment of a child.

Paul Floyd, 47, of Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, battery and two counts of vandalism and is being held on 100,000-dollar (71,000) bail ahead of a court appearance on Friday, police said.
The council was criticised over storing material for bonfires

A much-discussed report commissioned by Belfast City Council following a row around the storage of bonfire material could be published early next week.

Former Northern Ireland Ombudsman Tom Frawley was appointed to investigate the council's controversial storage of bonfire material last summer.

But the contents of his report have been kept confidential to date, with most councillors only getting restricted access to it.

There was criticism across several media outlets last week that the report had not been released publicly.

However, at a special meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on March 27, councillors voted by 13 to two in favour of publishing the full report. The result emerged last night when the minutes of the meeting were published on the council website.

Decisions made by council committees are not official until approved by a full meeting.

The next full meeting takes place on Monday and if the minutes of that special SPR committee meeting are approved, officials will be authorised to make Mr Frawley's report public.

A council spokeswoman said: "Dr Frawley's Bonfire Review Report was presented at a special meeting of Council's Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on Tuesday, March 27.

"The committee's recommendations on next steps will go forward to full council for ratification at its meeting on April 9."

Meanwhile, the committee meeting minutes also include the agreement of six conditions which community groups organising bonfires must abide by to receive council funding from it's Bonfire and Cultural Expression Programme.

The conditions include a ban on collecting materials until June 1, a ban on tyres and other hazardous materials and a ban on paramilitary trappings.

The fourth condition demands bonfires must be sited on a "clear unenclosed space at a safe distance from buildings and overhead cables" and should conform to the 1:5 principle - eg, if the bonfire is 20 metres tall, it should be at least 100 metres from the nearest building.

The final two stipulations include a ban on burning flags, emblems or election posters, and that groups must comply with council health and safety advice.

Ten bonfire beacons are set to be allocated, as well as up to 1,750 in funding for community events and activities that promote engagement on issues of cultural expression and diversity.
A group of almost 30 international journalists have arrived in Belfast to see how Northern Ireland has been transformed in the 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement.

Journalists and broadcasters from 16 countries including Japan, China and Australia are represented as part of the Foreign Press Association (FPA) delegation.

Belfast and Northern Ireland's success in driving tourism growth, investment and economic return is a key theme during the two-day event.

Today the journalists will visit Londonderry, exploring the potential impacts of Brexit by gauging local opinion and expert insights, as well as experiencing the city's cultural tourism offering.

A visit to Belfast's Titanic Quarter has been arranged, along with a variety of tours and experiences which take in all quarters and communities of the city, representing the past, present and the future.

The event is facilitated by the NIO, hosted by Visit Belfast and supported by Tourism Ireland.

Welcoming the correspondents to the city, Visit Belfast chief executive Gerry Lennon said: "I am very proud that such a large and esteemed group of respected international journalists and editors from the Foreign Press Association has travelled to Belfast to hear about our tourism renaissance.

"With focus, significant investment and a commitment from government and industry, Belfast and Northern Ireland is now a real contender on the global tourism map, successfully and confidently competing for visitors as one of the world's leading tourist destinations.

"Propelled by millions of pounds of public and private investment in tourism infrastructure, delivering world class attractions and events, Belfast is firmly recognised as an exciting, vibrant and forward-looking city."

Since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, overnight stays in Belfast have more than tripled from 500,000 a year to over 1.5 million.

Tourism spending has risen to 335m from 84m during the period.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: "With journalists from prominent media outlets around the world visiting the city this week, it's a major coup for tourism and a superb opportunity to show them at first-hand what makes Belfast unique."
A detective hunting the killers of a German backpacker says he only needs fractional pieces of evidence to bring the chief suspects to justice.

Munich teenager Inga Maria Hauser was last seen alive 30 years ago, as she travelled by ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland.

The 18-year-olds body was discovered two weeks later  on April 20 1988  in a remote part of Ballypatrick Forest on the outskirts of Ballycastle, Co Antrim. No one has ever been convicted.

Police believe a number of people may have been involved either directly or in the cover-up of what remains one of Northern Irelands most high-profile unsolved murder cases.

A man in the rural area east of nearby Ballymoney was seen soon after the murder with scratches on his face, sparking concern in the community that he was involved.

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Police also have a male DNA profile from the crime scene but have yet to secure a positive match.

On the 30th anniversary of Ms Hausers disappearance, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray warned the killers that the net was closing.

We are investigators and we keep an open mind but the evidence and the information and the intelligence that we have to date has led us to focus on a very, very small number of individuals, he said.

Mr Murray confirmed that all the suspects were still alive, though he declined to confirm whether they still lived in the north Antrim area.

They will know who they are, he said.

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The senior detective is heading a two-week awareness campaign in a bid to secure the last pieces of the evidential jigsaw.

A number of years ago, in one of the largest DNA screenings ever undertaken in the UK, 2,000 samples failed to produce a definitive match to a male genetic profile found at the murder scene.

Mr Murray revealed that further DNA testing has been carried out and the results were expected within days.

I think there are people out in the community who know exactly what happened, I think there are one or two who were possibly involved in the aftermath of this killing, he said.

I think at least one of them is finding it very difficult to live with.

We are all getting older, we are moving on  is this something that you want to take with you to your grave?

Some people are like that, but some people are not, some people struggle and I think this person is struggling.

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It is not too late now to examine your own conscience and come forward to the police.

What we need is just those few fractional pieces of evidence to help us complete the picture. We think we are close.

He added: What if this was your daughter or granddaughter  subjected to a brutal and ruthless assault after arriving in a new country before being killed and left in a forest. Think of the fear and pain she felt, think of her family not having justice.

Mr Murray recently travelled to Munich to brief Ms Hausers sister on developments. Her father Josef is now dead and her mother Almut is battling illness.

Her father died and her mother in her illness still doesnt know who killed their daughter when she came to visit our land, he said.

At a time when a lot of people wouldnt come  she did and she ended up paying for that with her life.

Mr Murray appealed for anyone who saw the teenager depart the ferry at Larne to come forward. He said she was wearing a distinctive floral dress and carrying a blue rucksack and a sleeping bag cover with a USAF badge on it.

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She intended to travel to Dublin and had planned to catch a train from the ferry terminal to Belfast before carrying on her journey southward. Instead she was found dead in a forest north of Larne.

She didnt make it as far as the railway platform and that was her intended destination in the port, said Mr Murray.

Prior to her death, the backpacker travelled around England, from London to Bath and on to Liverpool. From Liverpool she journeyed to Preston and then northward to Inverness in Scotland. She then took the train to Glasgow and on to Stranraer.

Mr Murray said he wanted to hear from anyone who encountered her in Scotland.

The detective also revealed Ms Hausers poignant last entry in her diary.

He said: Her last notebook entry on April 6 reads: Went from Glasgow to Ayr and from there to Stranraer to get over to Ireland. Saw the sea. Beautiful and mysterious. Wonder where I stay tonight. Need more money.

Sadly, Ingas final resting place in Northern Ireland was in Ballypatrick Forest.
Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann says the high hopes of the Good Friday Agreement have not been fulfilled.

Tuesday will mark two decades since the historic deal was signed - pushed through amid extraordinary pressure from around the world - by David Trimble and John Hume.

And as Mr Swann, who voted against the deal in 1998, prepares to give his second leader's speech at the UUP's spring conference tomorrow, he said he was struggling to be upbeat about an Agreement that "isn't working".

He said it has been "undermined" over the years, especially at St Andrews.

"Of course we'll talk about the Belfast Agreement this weekend," said Mr Swann.

"It's a significant milestone, 20 years on. But to be honest, it's hard to celebrate something that isn't currently working, something that started out with such hope for a lot of people but that has been allowed to wither.

"The reality is we probably aren't where we should have been. We aren't where people envisaged we'd be back in 1998.

"A lot of people then would have hoped that by this stage politics would have normalised, but if anything we've regressed in the last 14 months and we're more polarised than we have been for 10 or 12 years.

"Society itself isn't regressing, I don't think, but politically we're pulling away into a sphere of 'them and us'."

Mr Swann (46) was new to the party around the time the Agreement was signed, and voted against it over the issue of prisoner releases.

"That was my core concern," he said.

"But after the referendum and the vote went through, I supported David Trimble and what he was trying to do. I saw the positives in what was happening, the hope that was there to improve people's lives."

The political impasse is a frustration for many, especially in the context of Good Friday, and it's something Mr Swann will be addressing in his speech to party delegates at tomorrow's conference in Newcastle.

"It's the day to day issues that are difficult," he said. "You'd think by now we should be doing bread and butter work, talking about education, the NHS - ordinary, mature politics.

"But we can't, we don't have a functioning system, a functioning society. As politicians, we've been playing everything out in the media for more than a year because even after all these months we still have no Assembly."

Last month prominent Ulster Unionist Colin McCusker revealed he was standing down as a party representative after becoming disillusioned with politics.

He resigned his post as general secretary in December, and confirmed he would not seek re-election as a councillor for Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon.

Mr McCusker, the son of late MP Harold McCusker, said it was the 2017 elections - which saw the party lose six seats at Stormont and two at Westminster -that spelled the end.

"Northern Ireland politics has gone backwards instead of forwards," Mr McCusker said at the time. "The party had done quite well in 2016, and then in 2017 were obliterated and that was very demoralising."

Mr Swann agreed there was frustration, adding: "He got involved in active politics when there was active politics in Northern Ireland.

"He became disillusioned, but a lot of the general public are disillusioned with politics too because we should be up there, day to day, making decisions on education and health, on all the issues that matter to people."

While Mr Swann declined to be drawn on whether the party would join an opposition coalition in the future - "that's a hypothetical question" that would have to follow "real conversations about progress for government, budget discussions and talks round tables" - he was quick to rule out a pan-unionist party under his watch.

"I have no intention of going down that path," he said. "It doesn't work. Unionism is not a single, homogeneous group and there has to be an alternative voice. It's not in my DNA."

And neither, said Mr Swann, would he consider leaving Northern Ireland in another "hypothetical" scenario, this time a united Ireland - unlike DUP leader Arlene Foster, who told comedian Patrick Kielty in a BBC documentary aired on Wednesday night that she would "probably have to move".

"Would I consider leaving the country? No," said Mr Swann. "I'm the leader of the Ulster Unionists, I'd never run away from a fight. In any case, there would be a lot of people here who wouldn't be able to run away from a united Ireland and they'd need to be represented.

"But the job for now is to persuade people of the benefits of staying in the UK. That's what's important - not that I think there's any realistic prospect of it happening. Northern Ireland is my home."
Politicans from across the community yesterday united in condemnation of anti-Islamic material distributed around an area of south Belfast.

The PSNI said that it is treating the incident, during which leaflets were delivered to homes in the lower Ravenhill Road area of south east Belfast, as hate crime.

The leaflet, purported to be from a group which calls itself Generation Sparta, warns against the 'Islamification' of Northern Ireland.

It contains a number of racist messages, one of which calls for Catholics and Protestants to unite against "a common threat from fanatical Islamists" and that "Protestants and Catholics bled for this land, not Islamists".

It singles out Sinn Fein and the Alliance party for supporting immigration.

Police received a report on Wednesday that the leaflet had been delivered to an address in the area earlier in the week.

Chief Inspector David Moore said that officers are making inquiries.

"The Police Service of Northern Ireland continues to make it clear that hate crime, in any form, is unacceptable," he added.

"Each of us has a responsibility to ensure that we live in a society where diversity is respected.

"We in PSNI are working with our partners across the public, private and voluntary sectors to provide reassurance, support to victims and promote tolerance and respect for all cultures and identities."

A range of politicians expressed disgust at the contents of the leaflet.

DUP MLA Christopher Stalford said that he was raised in the area and the leaflet did "not speak for the people who live there".

South Belfast DUP MP Emma Little Pengelly added: "It is absolutely wrong and dangerous to try and stir up racist sentiment by conflating an entire religion with the vile, violent acts of terrorists, who are just masquerading under the cover of religion.

"In addition, the leaflet totally disregards the express wishes of murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby's family that his death should not be used to stir up hate."

Sinn Fein MLA Mairtin O Muilleoir described the leaflet as "fascist and Islamophobic", adding that he has reached out to Muslim community leaders in south Belfast "in an attempt to allay any concerns raised by this incident".

Green Party MLA Clare Bailey said she believed those behind the leaflet want to stir up hatred in the community, but that is 'the last thing that local residents want'.
Jazz musician Linley Hamilton at the launch of this year's Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival at the Sunflower bar in Belfast yesterday

It is one of our best loved arts events and this year's Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival will be the best yet, organisers promise.

Taking place over 11 days in 30 venues across Belfast city centre, the festival features over 150 gigs including live music, comedy, film and theatre.

Musicians include Jimmy Webb, Ben Folds (and a piano), Mary Gauthier and the CQAF Artist in Residence Joshua Burnside.

Other highlights include master Irish poet Paul Durcan making a long-awaited return to Belfast.

Festival director Sean Kelly said: "As investment in the arts in Northern Ireland reaches critical levels, to put together an ambitious arts programme such as this becomes something of an act of faith.

"Challenges there may be, but our commitment to bringing world-class artists to this city remains undimmed, and thus we present one of the most exceptional programmes in our 19-year history."

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is the principal funder and its head of drama and literature, Damian Smyth, said the festival "continues to invigorate the cultural life of Belfast through its highly creative programme".

Belfast's Deputy Mayor Sonia Copeland said: "The festival means so much to the city in terms of celebrating fine performers and artists, in attracting visitors to the city, and showcasing Belfast to a global audience - and in doing that, supporting the local economy." The festival will run from May 3 to 13.
The widow of a dissident republican who was shot dead five years ago is relieved that a man who had been charged with his murder was arrested in Spain after 15 months on the run.

Dubliner Dean Evans (27) was one of three men charged in connection with the murder of father-of-three Peter Butterly (35) on March 6 2013.

But days before he was due to face trial in January 2017, Evans disappeared along with his girlfriend Stacey Roche. She had previously been the girlfriend of slain Real IRA chief Alan Ryan (32) who was shot dead in 2012.

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin issued a warrant for the arrest of Evans, of Grange Park Rise, Raheny, after he failed to appear to face trial in January last year.

Yesterday he was arrested in the company of Roche in Fuengirola. Roche was not arrested.

Speaking about the arrest of Evans, Peter Butterley's widow Eithne said she had waited for this day for a long time.

"I knew this day would come, and I have waited patiently. I had full faith in the gardai. I was very emotional when I heard the news. I was shaking and crying," she added.

Evans, along with Edward McGrath (35) and Sharif Kelly (46), was due to stand trial on charges connected with the murder of Butterly (35), who was shot dead in the car park of the Huntsman Inn, Gormanston, Co Meath.

Kelly, of Pinewood Green Road, Balbriggan, and McGrath, of Lanndale Lawns, Springfield, Tallaght, were both sentenced to life in prison for murder after they were tried in the absence of Evans.

Evans will remain in detention in Spain while his extradition back to Ireland is organised, a progress that could take two to three weeks.
Civil rights marchers are confronted by a strong force of police in Duke Street, Derry on October 5 1968.

Sinn Fein are planning to hold a march in Derry on the 50th anniversary of a historic civil rights protest in the city.

The party has lodged an application with the Parades Commission to hold a march in Derry on Saturday October 6, 50 years on from the historic October 5 1968 march considered by many to be the official start of the Troubles.

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The 1968 march was a key moment in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and was followed by two days of unrest in Derry.

The protest, organised by Derry Housing Action Committee and supported by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), was held in the city to highlight the lack of housing, jobs and electoral fairness.

Banned by the Stormont government at the time, the parade route was blocked by the RUC.

The RUC used heavy-handed tactics including water canons and batons against protesters to break up the march.

Footage was captured by television crews attending the protest and beamed around the world, drawing attention to the situation in Northern Ireland.

The 2018 march, organised by the Sinn Fein Commemoration Committee will start in Duke Street, the same as the original protest and follow the route of the 1968 parade before ending up at Guildhall Square via the Craigavon Bridge, Carlisle Road, Ferryquay Street, the Diamond and Shipquay Street.

The march will start at 3:30pm and finish at 5pm.

Sinn Fein has informed the Parades Commission around 5,000 people are expected to attend the event.

In February former MP Bernadette McAliskey branded Sinn Fein MLA Declan Kearney "delusional" after he claimed republicans inspired the civil rights campaign.

Sinn Fein's national chairperson Declan Kearney said that decisions made by the IRA and Sinn Fein leadership helped form the civil rights movement 50 years ago.

But Mrs McAliskey, a civil rights veteran, hit out at the South Antrim MLA's comments, saying he was guilty of "silly rambling".

The SDLP were contacted by The Belfast Telegraph but declined to comment on the Sinn Fein event.
In the wake of reaction to comments from DUP leader Arlene Foster saying she would consider leaving Northern Ireland in the event of a united Ireland DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has reiterated "a United Ireland is not going to happen".

Speaking on the BBC documentary by Patrick Kielty's called 'My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me', when asked about the possibility of a united Ireland, Mrs Foster said: "If it were to happen, I'm not sure that I would be able to continue to live here, I would feel so strongly about it. I would probably have to move."

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On Friday, Sir Jeffrey said that there was no realistic prospect of a united Ireland.

As Arlene Foster pointed out in the Patrick Kielty programme, a united Ireland is not going to happen, the Lagan Valley MP said.

"It was a hypothetical question as there is no realistic prospect of a united Ireland. Mrs Foster was reflecting how the Protestant population dwindled in the Republic of Ireland after partition. Those with a British identity did not feel welcome.

"Sinn Fein spins to unionists that they would be welcome in a united Ireland yet when unionists look at how SF controlled Councils treat unionists currently within Northern Ireland there is a very different reality.

"Sinn Fein blocks armed forces recruitment days, wouldn't present awards to teenagers in the cadet forces, won't allow the Union Flag to fly a few days per year, relegate English to a second language, celebrate PIRA murderers, mock PIRA victims, snub the Royal Family and ban the sale of poppies. The list goes on. Sinn Feins actions speak louder than their words."

Sir Jeffrey said that Mrs Foster pointed out advantages of the union with Great Britain in footage that was cut from the show.

"Whilst not broadcast on the programme, Arlene rightly pointed to the strong arguments for the Union whether the economy or our fantastic and invaluable National Health Service," he said.

"Over the coming months, the DUP leadership will travel to every corner of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom promoting the benefits of the Union.

"It is always useful to debate and refresh the minds of the next generation as to why Northern Irelands place within the Union is so important whether from an historical, cultural, economic, social or security point of view.
A still from the video posted by Barry McElduff

Barry McElduff and Michelle O'Neill when he was elected West Tyrone MP in 2017

The furore over Barry McElduff's Kingsmill loaf tweet will not affect Sinn Fein's vote in the West Tyrone by-election, the party's vice president has predicted.

Michelle O'Neill said she expected a strong showing, portraying the poll as the first chance for voters to cast judgment on the breakdown of the Stormont talks process.

Former MP Mr McElduff quit in January, 10 days after he posted a video of himself with a Kingsmill-branded loaf on his head on the anniversary of the 1976 Kingsmill massacre.

He insisted it was not an intentional reference to the murders of 10 Protestant workmen by republican paramilitaries, but he acknowledged he had caused hurt and offence to victims' families.

Mrs O'Neill accompanied Sinn Fein's candidate, Carrickmore solicitor Orfhlaith Begley, as she lodged her nomination papers in Omagh yesterday.

Sinn Fein is defending a 10,000-plus majority in a seat where it took over 50% of votes cast in last year's general election.

Mrs O'Neill rejected any suggestion that the party's vote would be eroded by the tweet controversy.

"I don't believe so," she said.

"Barry did the right thing when he realised there was an error of judgment.

"He did the wrong thing, it wasn't intentional, but he himself recognised that hurt was caused, he took action, he stood out of political office, which is a big decision for anybody to take.

"We wish Barry well in the future but this is now an election in West Tyrone about Orfhlaith Begley, this is about getting Orfhlaith Begley elected."

Power-sharing at Stormont imploded in January 2017 amid the RHI scandal. The rift subsequently widened to take in disputes over issues such as the Irish language, same-sex marriage and how to handle the legacy of the Troubles.

Sinn Fein claimed DUP leader Arlene Foster agreed a draft deal to resurrect power-sharing in February before pulling the plug in the face of an internal revolt among party members angry at the prospect of concessions on an Irish Language Act.

Mrs Foster has denied that there was a draft deal.

Yesterday Mrs O'Neill said: "This is the first chance that people will have since the DUP collapsed the talks and denied people their rights."

Ms Begley said she had already received a warm reception on the campaign trail. "People are positive," she said.
Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson has said the joint bid by Belfast and Londonderry to be the European Capital of Culture 2023 can still be rescued - but only if Northern Ireland remains in the Customs Union.

A Sinn Fein MEP has claimed to have obtained secret civil service documents outlining the disastrous consequences Brexit will have on Northern Ireland.

Martina Anderson called on the civil service to release the documents to the public.

The assessments looked at the border, the customs union and single market and the availability of labour for key sectors such as health, agri-food and manufacturing post-Brexit.

There is no doubt that Brexit will have a catastrophic impact on all aspects of our society in the north, she said.

I have met the interim head of the civil service and directly challenged him to release all assessments publicly so people can see the full extent of the outworking of Brexit.

Despite initial civil service claims that it had no assessments, we have now received more than 30 papers on the impact of Brexit which it had shared with the British government.

Ms Anderson said the information had to be dragged out of the civil service and that it was clear it had no intention of making the documents public.

#BREXODUS

Despite civil service claim it had done no analysis, no assessments on impact of #Brexit, I now have access to more than 30 such civil servant assessments which include the dire impact on our health service, on manufacturing & on higher education #DemandingTransparency pic.twitter.com/v5QeMlW0HJ  Martina Anderson Sinn Fein (@M_AndersonSF) April 6, 2018

She added: It paints a bleak picture and shows that Brexit will have a hugely detrimental impact on these key sectors, jeopardising future growth and potentially creating a real crisis in our health service.

If the civil service had this information, it begs the question of what other information on Brexit it has and is not releasing.

"I am reiterating my call for all assessments on the impact of Brexit held by the civil service to be made public immediately so the public are fully aware of it.

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Sinn Fein has campaigned for Northern Ireland to be given special status, meaning the province would remain in the single market and customs union after Brexit.

Analysis published by the UK government in February said the Northern Ireland economy would take a 12% hit if there is no Brexit deal.

The figures suggest that if a trade deal is agreed the Northern Ireland economy would take an 8% hit.

In the event of a so-called soft Brexit, in which the UK would participate in the single market, the Northern Ireland economy would take a 2.5% hit.

Even in a so-called soft Brexit, in which the UK still participates in the single market, a 2.5% hit is estimated.

The Belfast Telegraph has approached the Executive Office for comment.
Police Community Support Officers standing outside the Salisbury home of Sergei Skripal, who is no longer in a critical condition (Ben Mitchell/PA)

Sergei Skripal, the Russian ex-spy poisoned with a nerve agent, is no longer critically ill, according to doctors.

The former double agent is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition, Salisbury District Hospital said.

Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were left fighting for their lives in hospital after being found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury on March 4.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the improvement in the condition of Mr Skripals was great news and testament to the quick work of the emergency services.

Sergei Skripals improved condition is both great news, and testament to the quick work of our world-class emergency services and NHS staff, who have been paramount to his and Yulias recovery. I thank all involved and wish Sergei & Yulia a quick return to full health.  Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 6, 2018

Police believe Mr Skripal and his daughter, who was visiting him from Russia, first came into contact with the Novichok agent at his home in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Ms Skripal made her first public comments on Wednesday shortly after Russian TV reported that she had contacted her cousin Viktoria in Moscow to say she and her father were recovering and that she would soon be discharged.

The UK authorities have refused to grant Viktoria Skripal a visa to come to Britain, with the Home Office saying her application did not comply with the immigration rules.

The improvement in Mr Skripals condition was revealed by Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, who said speculation about when the two could be released from hospital was just that  speculation.

The Foreign Office said the pair were likely to have ongoing medical needs.

The Russian Embassy said it hoped the improvement in the Skripals health will contribute to the investigation of the crime perpetrated against them.

Moscow has denied being responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals but the incident has plunged diplomatic relations between Russia and the West into the deep freeze.

We welcome the news of progress in Sergei Skripal recovery. Read comment: https://t.co/ROOMo5VFKh pic.twitter.com/29JmlYcqQW  Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 6, 2018

A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are very pleased that both Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia are improving. This is a tribute to the hardworking and talented NHS staff in Salisbury who have provided outstanding care.

The NHS will continue to provide ongoing care for the Skripals, both of whom are likely to have ongoing medical needs.

Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses.

Meanwhile, Russia continued to raise questions about the fate of the pets at Mr Skripals home.

Two guinea pigs were found dead at the property and a cat, which was found in a distressed state at the house, was put down.

The Russian Embassy said: Regarding the dead guinea pigs and the malnourished cat, it is said unofficially that they were taken to the Porton Down facility and incinerated there.

But it remains unclear if their remains were ever tested for toxic substances, which would constitute useful evidence, and if not, why such a decision was made.

Overall, it is difficult to avoid the impression that the animals have been disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence.
A hospital will ask a judge to set a date for withdrawing life support for terminally ill Liverpool boy Alfie Evans.

The 23-month-old, who has a rare degenerative brain disease which doctors have been unable to diagnose, is being kept alive on a ventilator at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool.

His parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, both in their 20s and from Liverpool, have fought a long legal battle through the courts to keep their son alive.

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They took their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, but it was rejected by the ECHR last week, ending their legal options after a decision to withdraw life support was upheld by Court of Appeal judges and Supreme Court justices in the UK.

The case has drawn interventions from the Pope, and the White House has been contacted by North West England MEP, Steven Woolfe, who has supported Alfies family.

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

On Thursday, Mr Evans and Mr Woolfe had a meeting with hospital officials, where Mr Evans presented what he believed was fresh evidence.

His understanding was that a decision on ending life support was on hold for the hospital to reconsider and review the case, including alternative options, including taking Alfie to Italy for treatment.

But Alfies mother said they were given false hope as, within an hour of the meeting, Alder Heys lawyers were contacting the High Court to arrange a date for a court hearing for a judge to rule on a date for withdrawing life support.

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In a statement on Friday, Alder Hey Childrens NHS Foundation Trust said: We understand that this is an incredibly difficult time for Alfies family and we continue to support them in every way we can.

Understandably, there is a lot of interest in this case but, despite reports, at no point has a date for withdrawal of treatment for Alfie been agreed with his family.

After a long and difficult legal process, the courts have ruled that Alfies condition is irreversible and untreatable and that continued active treatment is not in his best interests.

We always aim to reach agreement with parents about the most appropriate palliative care plan for their child but sadly, in this case, we have not been able to do this.

Consequently, we must return to the High Court, as we are legally required to do, for guidance about a date on which to withdraw treatment from Alfie.

We understand that this case is highly emotive and many people have an interest in Alfies situation.

We are receiving an unprecedented amount of queries, concerns, comments and questions on social media, via phone, email and in person.

We need to make it clear that Alder Hey will not make any comment about Alfie or his treatment to any members of the public.

We ask that our staff are treated with respect.

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Mr Woolfe said: Our position is the family are saying Alfies physical condition has changed. Hes showing more activity, smiling, lifting his eyelids. Im not a doctor but Ive seen him myself, you can see physical signs of life.

Hes a beautiful little boy.

They believe there are possible physical changes with Alfie to enable him to be safely transported to Italy and an Air Ambulance that would carry him that would satisfy Alder Heys concerns.

Earlier this week, Pope Francis waded into the life support treatment battle, saying: 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.
A man has been arrested over the shooting of Tanesha Melbourne on Monday evening (PA)

A 30-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Tanesha Melbourne who was gunned down in Tottenham on Monday.

The 17-year-old was killed in a drive-by attack as she sat chatting with friends.

The killing shocked the capital, which has seen a rising wave of violent crime with the number of suspected murders in March higher than that of New York.

The Met Police said on Friday that a man had been arrested in Hackney, east London, on suspicion of murder and is currently being held in custody.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne-Blake on 2 April #Tottenham #Haringey https://t.co/k6IwKRXNjP pic.twitter.com/4rG3tKo0wc  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 6, 2018

Police were called to Chalgrove Road at 9:35pm on Monday following reports of gunshots.

Paramedics battled for an hour to save her life but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Just 30 minutes later, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor was shot in Walthamstow and died in hospital the following day.

Officers said they are keeping an open mind about the attack, and at this stage there has been no suggestion that the two killings are linked.

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Detective Inspector Beverley Kofi, of the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: We are appealing to anybody who witnessed the incident and has not yet come forward, or who in the hours since this shocking murder are privy to information that could help us find those responsible.

You may be fearful of repercussions of speaking to police, or have loyalties that you believe cant be compromised.

We are dealing with the fatal shooting of a teenage girl, and would implore you to do the right thing and come forward.

It emerged on Thursday that the Met has opened 55 murder investigations in London this year and there were six non-fatal stabbings from Thursday night into Friday morning in the capital.

On Friday afternoon a section 60 order, granting police stop and search powers across the Borough of Newham, was announced in response to an incident where a 13-year-old boy was stabbed in Gainsborough Avenue on Thursday.

The order will remain in place until 6am on Saturday.
A pensioner arrested for fatally stabbing an intruder at his home will face no further action, police said.

Henry Vincent, 37, died following a struggle in the botched raid at the south-east London property of Richard Osborn-Brooks on Wednesday.

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Mr Osborn-Brooks, 78, was arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail, but was told no action would be taken on Friday, the Metropolitan Police said.

Scotland Yards decision to drop the investigation followed a consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

The force said in a statement that it had informed Vincents family of the development and explained to them the reasons why no charges will be brought.

A 78-year-old man who was arrested following a fatal stabbing in #Lewisham has today been informed that no action will be taken. Our thoughts remain with the families whose lives have been devastated by these events. https://t.co/GT1Zf4cZNT pic.twitter.com/zJK4VJs4QJ  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 6, 2018

Detective chief inspector Simon Harding said: This is a tragic case for all of those involved.

As expected with any incident where someone has lost their life, my officers carried out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the death.

We have approached the CPS for early investigative advice, as required under the guidance. We have received and considered that advice, and, at present  on the evidence available  we will not seek a charging decision. Therefore, no further action will be taken against the man.

The arrest of the 78-year-old provoked outcry from neighbours and an online fundraising campaign which gathered hundreds of pounds in several hours.

Addressing the controversy, Mr Harding continued: Whilst there might be various forms of debate about which processes should be used in cases such as this, it was important that the resident was interviewed by officers under the appropriate legislation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act; not only for the integrity of our investigation but also so that his personal and legal rights were protected.

There will be an inquest in due course which will further review the circumstances into Mr Vincents death in a public forum.

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Our thoughts remain with the families whose lives have been devastated by these events.

Tributes have been paid to Vincent, from Kent, by family and friends on social media, with one reading he will never be forgotten.

In January, he was named and pictured by Kent Police investigating a distraction burglary when jewellery and valuables were stolen from a man in his 70s.

Officers were called to reports of a burglary in progress at 12.45am, after two men entered the house on South Park Crescent in Hither Green, south-east London.

One suspect, armed with a screwdriver, forced the homeowner into his kitchen when he discovered them, while his accomplice went upstairs, the force said.

Detectives believe a struggle ensued between one of the males and the homeowner and the intruder was stabbed in the upper body. It is unclear what implement was used to deliver the fatal blow.

Both men then apparently attempted a getaway, but Vincent collapsed on nearby Further Green Road.

An accomplice attempted to drag him towards a van but eventually left, according to a witness.

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Paramedics from London Ambulance Service took him to a central London hospital where he died at 3.37am.

The second man has not been found and remains wanted by police.
The Prince of Wales confessed chemistry was not his strongest subject at school as he created his own blend of rum at one of Australias most famous distilleries.

Presented with three test tubes of alcohol at Bundaberg Distillery, and instructed to mix them together, Charles joked: Its like chemistry.

And he confessed: I was never any good at chemistry at school.

Crowds are out in force again for the arrival of Prince Charles in Bundaberg - Australia's "rum country" pic.twitter.com/VFePJnTZXS  Ellie Cullen (@EllieCullenPA) April 6, 2018

Earlier, the prince had been shown a range of the distillerys own blends  sniffing and swirling them like an expert.

Dressed in a stone-coloured suit and brown lace-up shoes, he looked relaxed as he asked the distillerys operations and brand manager Duncan Littler about the brewing process.

After a quick cup of tea, Charles then spent time chatting to distillery staff and people from several community projects  before thrilling the gathered crowds with an impromptu speech.

How does Charles like his cup of tea? With a spoonful of honey and a splash of milk pic.twitter.com/uJxNNNsKtu  Ellie Cullen (@EllieCullenPA) April 6, 2018

Stepping up to the podium in front of hundreds of well-wishers, he said: After being here in 1994 and having tasted the rum then, its taken me all those years to come back for another tot.

Im thrilled the distillery is still one to be producing some of the most famous of all rums around the world.

He also shared his sympathies over devastation from flooding and storms that have hit the area in recent years.

His appearance in Bundaberg  an area of Australia famed for its rum  came on the third day of his week-long tour around the country.

Later on Friday he will meet the family of wildlife expert Steve Irwin at the Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef to discuss the challenges facing the worlds coral reefs.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, the prince said society was truly at a crossroads in its ability to protect the majority of the worlds reefs.

He added: I have no doubt in my mind that this will need to be a central aspect of the rapidly emerging concept of a sustainable blue economy, through which sustainable economic development is achieved via the wise use of ocean resources.

Within the blue economy it would be helpful to think of coral reef ecosystems as natural capital assets, assets that require the kind of prudent and wise management that will yield dividends long into the future.
Soldiers wearing protective clothing in Hyde Road, Gillingham, Dorset, as the investigation into the suspected nerve agent attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal continues (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Russia has warned Britain is playing with fire and will be sorry over the Salisbury poisoning as it emerged Yulia Skripals strength is growing daily.

The two countries referenced British dramas and the Nazis as they traded jibes at the United Nations, with the UK arguing that doubt should not be cast on the likelihood of Russian responsibility for the Novichok nerve agent attack and that British actions stand up to any scrutiny.

But Russian UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya pointed to Midsomer Murders and read from Alices Adventures In Wonderland to mock suggestions of Russian involvement.

He claimed the UKs main argument about the unquestionable Russian origin of the Novichok is no longer valid following comments from Porton Downs Gary Aitkenhead.

Mr Nebenzya later accused the West of using the method of Dr Goebbels  lies that are repeated a thousand times become the truth by trying to manipulate people via the media.

Yulia Skripal thanks people of Salisbury and hospital staff https://t.co/t6BO7UFzye pic.twitter.com/2raifFQafB  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 5, 2018

The terse exchanges at the UN Security Council in New York capped another day of developments and diplomatic disagreements, which saw the first public comments emerge from Ms Skripal since the March 4 attack which left her and her father Sergei in intensive care.

Ms Skripals remarks were released shortly after Russian TV reported that she had contacted a relative in Moscow to say she and her Russian spy father were recovering and that she would soon be discharged from hospital.

Moscow called the UN Security Council meeting to discuss the incident, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying the UK has legitimate questions to answer about what happened.

But security minister Ben Wallace said it was beyond reasonable doubt that Russia was to blame for the attack, as the UK sought to maintain diplomatic pressure over the incident.

A 90-minute press conference at the Russian embassy in London also saw ambassador Alexander Yakovenko repeat Moscows denial of responsibility for the attack.

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On Wednesday, Russia lost a vote at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague on its demand for its experts to be involved in testing samples of the substance used in the Salisbury attack.

Ahead of the UN Security Council meeting, UK ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce told reporters: Allowing Russian scientists into an investigation when they are the most likely perpetrators of the crime in Salisbury would be like Scotland Yard inviting in Professor Moriarty, so I dont think thats a tenable way forward.

But Mr Nebenzya said characters in Midsomer Murders knew hundreds of very clever ways of killing someone but those who sought to kill the Skripals supposedly chose an extremely toxic chemical substance, the most risky, dangerous method possible and didnt really finish the job.

Mr Nebenzya criticised the sources of the British intelligence services, before adding: Couldnt you come up with a better fake story?

We all know what the worth of British intelligence information is based on the experience of Tony Blair. We have told our British colleagues that youre playing with fire and youll be sorry.

"Yesterday in the @OPCW Executive Council Russia failed quite resoundingly in an attempt to have their scientists join the OPCW investigation.



Allowing Russian scientists into an investigation would be like Scotland Yard inviting in Professor Moriarty."



@KarenPierceUN to media pic.twitter.com/iavBHrjhi9  UK at the UN  (@UKUN_NewYork) April 5, 2018

Ms Pierce accused Russia of turning a blind eye to the use of chemical weapons in Syria and in Salisbury, adding: We believe the UKs actions stand up to any scrutiny.

Kelley Currie, US representative on the economic and social council at the UN, said: Our support for the United Kingdom is unwavering and we continue to stand in absolute solidarity with our British colleagues.

Earlier Ms Skripal, 33, in her first statement since coming out of a coma, said: I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received.

In the statement released by the Metropolitan Police, she thanked healthcare workers at Salisbury District Hospital as well as the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated.

And she said: I am sure you appreciate that the entire episode is somewhat disorientating, and I hope that youll respect my privacy and that of my family during the period of my convalescence.

Russian media reported that Ms Skripal had told her cousin Viktoria that her father Sergei was alright, adding: Everyone is recovering, everyone survived  No irreparable harm was done. Thats all, I will soon be discharged from the hospital.

"I wont take any lectures on morality and on our responsibilities from a country that has done so much to block the proper investigation of the use of #ChemicalWeapons in #Syria"



 Ambassador @KarenPierceUN speaking at #UNSC meeting on Salisbury pic.twitter.com/rm6vK6ZXPp  UK at the UN  (@UKUN_NewYork) April 5, 2018

Mr Yakovenko initially said Russia would accept the findings of the OPCW investigation but wants to know who the experts are who are carrying out the testing.

Russian news agency Tass later reported that foreign minister Mr Lavrov told reporters on Thursday: We will accept the results of any investigation in which we take an equal part and which is transparent, not a secret one.

He added: Since March 12, we have sent more than 10 official notes requesting access to the investigation.

Mr Lavrov said the requests have been flatly rejected.

Mr Yakovenko also said Russia had suspicions about a string of deaths of its nationals in the UK over the past decade, including businessman Nikolai Glushkov, whose body was discovered in his south London home last month.

We have a lot of suspicions about Britain, said the ambassador. If we take the last 10 years, so many Russian citizens died here in the UK under very strange circumstances 

My question is Why is it happening here?
US president Donald Trump has instructed the US trade representative to consider slapping an additional 100 billion dollar (71bn) in tariffs on Chinese goods in a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute between the two countries.

Mr Trumps surprise move came a day after Beijing announced plans to tax 50 billion dollars (35bn) in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a US move earlier this week to slap tariffs on 50 billion dollars in Chinese imports.

And it intensified what was already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle since the Second World War. Global financial markets had fallen sharply as the worlds two biggest economies squared off over Beijings aggressive trade tactics. But they had calmed down on Wednesday and Thursday on hopes the US and China would find a diplomatic solution.

Instead, the White House announced after the markets closed on Thursday that Mr Trump had instructed the Office of the United States Trade Representative to consider whether 100 billion dollars of additional tariffs would be appropriate and, if so, to identify which products they should apply to. He has also instructed his secretary of agriculture to implement a plan to protect our farmers and agricultural interests.

Chinas illicit trade practices  ignored for years by Washington  have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs, Mr Trump said in a statement announcing the decision.

NEWS: USTR Lighthizer: President Trump is proposing an appropriate response to Chinas recent threat of new tariffs. Read the full statement here: https://t.co/Q6pqcRuYlw  USTR (@USTradeRep45) April 5, 2018

The latest escalation comes after the U.S. on Tuesday said it would impose 25% duties on 50 billion dollars of imports from China, and China quickly retaliated by listing 50 billion dollars of products that it could hit with its own 25% tariffs. The Chinese list on Wednesday included soybeans, the biggest US export to China, and aircraft up to 45 tons in weight. Also on the list were American beef, whisky, passenger vehicles and industrial chemicals.

Earlier in the week, Beijing announced separate import duties on three billion dollars (2.1bn) of US goods in response to the Trump administrations duties on all steel and aluminium imports, including from China.

US officials have sought to downplay the threat of a broader trade dispute, saying a negotiated outcome is still possible. But economists warn that the tit-for-tat moves bear the hallmarks of a classic trade rift that could escalate. And already, tensions between the worlds two biggest economies have rattled global stock markets.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer called Chinas moved unjustified and said Mr Trumps proposal was an appropriate response to Chinas recent threat of new tariffs.

Such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses, he said in a statement. Under these circumstances, the President is right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the unfair acts, policies, and practices identified in USTRs report.

The clash reflects the tension between Mr Trumps promises to narrow a US trade deficit with China that stood at 375.2 billion dollars (267.8bn) in goods last year and Chinas ruling Communist Partys development ambitions.

Mr Trumps top economic adviser, Lawrence Kudlow, said earlier on Thursday in an interview with Fox Business Network that negotiations were ongoing. But, he said, at the end of the day, Chinas unfair and illegal trading actions are damaging to economic growth, for the US, for China and for the rest of the world.

He also called Mr Trump the first guy with a backbone in decades to actually go after it. Not just whisper it, but to go after it with at least preliminary actions.

Any additional tariffs would be subject to a public comment process and would not go into effect until that process is complete.
Titanic and the Troubles - whether we like it or not, that's what this part of the world is known for. We already have the tremendously successful Titanic Belfast visitor attraction, where people can explore the history of the doomed liner. Yet there is no equivalent museum for examining the Troubles.

In many ways this is understandable - the recent past is so close, the hurt of victims is still raw and there are numerous contested and conflicting narratives about what actually happened.

How do you approach the legacy of a dirty war? How do you accommodate the worldwide interest in the Troubles without breaching the boundaries of taste or ethics, or being accused of political bias, or exacerbating existing pain among those affected by the conflict? These seemingly intractable questions are probably why we don't - yet - have a Troubles museum.

So in the absence of any dedicated venue this is where the Ulster Museum, our primary institution for engaging with the past, has a particularly important role to play. It has a special duty to provide a place, not just for visitors but for local people too, to reflect on the complicated, cataclysmic events that happened here and how those experiences have shaped us.

I'm not saying that's an easy thing to do - it definitely isn't - but it is necessary.

That's why I'm pleased to see the Ulster Museum launch a new exhibition, The Troubles And Beyond, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. It aims to explore "politics and conflict and the impact of both on everyday life, people and communities".

A complete revamp of the existing display was long overdue. The last show, which opened in 2009 after the museum's refurbishment, was, to put it frankly, really poor. I remember talking to Tim Cooke, the former director of National Museums Northern Ireland, at the launch, where he admitted that the display was "tentative".

Not half. It consisted of walls of dense text and images, not an artefact or relic of the conflict in sight. Early plans to exhibit bullet-riddled boots, controversial political art and the shirt worn by founding SDLP leader Gerry Fitt when he was bludgeoned by a police baton at a civil rights rally were scrapped.

Instead, there were pictures of guns, but no real guns. A reproduction of a prison 'comm', or prison letter, but no sign of the letter itself. Reviewing the exhibition at the time I described it as bland, boring and strenuously non-controversial in its desperate attempt to offend nobody.

Almost nine years on, and under a new leadership team headed by Kathryn Thomson, National Museums NI has taken its courage in its hands and given us a show you would actually want to see. Unlike the previous exhibition, this one contains fascinating stuff - relics, objects, artefacts, some from the museum's own collections, some donated by the public - and that's a big step forward.

There is a bomb disposal robot; a bodhran painted with the face of Bobby Sands; a vinyl LP of UVF songs; a menu signed by Ian Paisley and others from a dinner held at the Europa Hotel to mark the fall of the Sunningdale power-sharing Executive (they dined on ham and peaches, in true Seventies style).

One particularly poignant exhibit is the guest book from the Ulster American Folk Park from August 15, 1998, signed by 12-year-old Fernando Blasco Baselga, a Spanish schoolboy who was killed later that day in the Omagh bomb.

"There is a power in the objects, and it's about how you frame them, to let opposing perspectives reveal themselves." That's what William Blair, director of collections at National Museums NI, told me at the launch of the new display. He acknowledged that most people found the previous show underwhelming because of the absence of material culture: "There was a monochrome uniformity, without any sense of being on a journey."

Ironically enough, the new content would actually have been easier to present nine years ago, given that we are in a much more toxic political environment now.

But it seems likely that the curators have been inspired, or given confidence, by powerful, resonant and very popular temporary shows at the museum like Colin Davidson's Silent Testimony - portraits of 18 individuals affected by the conflict - or the Art of the Troubles.

In my view the Ulster Museum could go still further in developing an innovative, imaginative and interpretive response to the Troubles. As William Blair admits: "We don't claim to have cracked the code - this is a contested, challenging period."

But The Troubles And Beyond is a vast improvement on what went before.
It is hardly surprising that Michelle O'Neill is calling for a border poll. If she had not urged a vote on a united Ireland, that would have been read by some as a softening of the Sinn Fein position after the departure from high office of Gerry Adams. Suggesting that it come within five years makes sense from her perspective.

The deciding factor for many will be the outworking of Brexit. That should be clear enough by 2023. An earlier vote would not capitalise on Brexit, because then no one would be sure yet whether it had worked out well or not.

If she is thinking there are many people in Northern Ireland who would hold on to the Union with Britain for another couple of years to see how things work out, then she is probably right.

If by then the economy has slumped badly and the border has returned as a significant irritant, she may have a better chance of getting the result she wants.

On the other hand, the Tories may have fragmented by then, we might have the softest possible Brexit and Labour might be back renationalising the railways, bolstering the health service and scrapping Trident, and what would it be but bliss to be alive in such a dawn?

Who knows? Things are too uncertain now for a vote that would work to Sinn Fein's plan.

But give us a Britain outside the EU, having lost its bearings in the world, looking like it might be perpetually Tory - especially if Scotland leaves the Union - and following from that you get a further erosion in support for social services and the NHS and many will wonder what would be lost by pitching in with the south.

For how long would we really be able to boast of having a better health service here?

Complicate all that with a sense that reconciliation at party-political level is simply a lost hope and the confidence of Arlene Foster that a united Ireland could never happen would look misplaced.

She told Patrick Kielty she wouldn't want to live in it.

It would hardly be more uncomfortable than living in the socially conservative, Bible-bound, stunted little Ulster she offers the rest of us.

But if she wants an Ulster that is comfortable inside the UK, even a post-Brexit UK, then she should be talking to Theresa May about the state of health and education here and gambling that most people will, when faced with a choice, vote pragmatically.

She, of course, will not vote pragmatically, but with her heart devoted to Britain and her monarch.

If nationalists prove as sentimentally attached to their affronted Irish identity after Brexit, her struggle will be even harder.

She may hope that most people are lot like herself. We don't know.

The Belfast Telegraph online poll suggests that 18% of us would have to change our minds to deliver Irish unity at a referendum.

Given that even at the most crucial constitutional vote in modern times, after the Good Friday Agreement, 20% of voters didn't even show up, that leaves something to play for.

About 15% of Scots didn't even bother to vote in an independence referendum in 2014.

But Irish unity in the next decade depends mostly on a window that may not open and may close very quickly.

Brexit is crucial to this.

The IRA campaign for decades failed to sway significant numbers in favour of a united Ireland, because republicans could not provide a practical argument for it.

People could see there was a problem, but for many, perhaps most, the greater part of that problem was the IRA itself. In fact, the IRA masked the degree of nationalist interest here, because many who want a united Ireland were embarrassed to say it for fear of being associated with people who thought they could advance that cause by murder and sabotage.

After the Good Friday Agreement, nationalism grew and raised the Sinn Fein vote.

The greatest drag on Sinn Fein had been the very IRA it so fervently celebrates.

Which takes us back to letting republicans bear the burden of their own anomalies. They are welcome to it.

For the rest of us, this growth in confident nationalism did not pose the significant threat to the Union, because sufficient numbers of people in the supposedly nationalist community weren't nationalists at all; they were de facto unionist.

They were crucial to stability here, but they were invisible on the political landscape, because unionism which relied on them for survival made no space for them.

They were never going to be unionists like Arlene. They might take a day off work to watch a royal wedding, but for them that was like staying in at night to see a much-hyped episode of EastEnders. Royals are just celebrities to them.

Unionism lost the moment at which it could extend its social and cultural boundaries.

Though it relied on the de facto unionists to hold the Union together, it did nothing to identify with them and gave them no credit for being the cornerstone of the Union.

There was a way to sell Britishness as multicultural, multilingual, connected to the world, liberal and modern. The idea was aired briefly in the 1990s, but nobody really tried.

The DUP decided that it was more important to preserve party unity around evangelical Christian principles than to grow into a party that could govern for all.

In confining itself within a laager, it made itself an easy target for Sinn Fein, which could pick up any of half-a-dozen common sense issues and taunt them with it.

But Sinn Fein has difficulties, too. It invests all its hopes now on the border poll and those hopes depend on Brexit going badly and so insulting those in the north who identify as Irish will want to withdraw from the UK.

The vote depends, crucially, on the section of the "nationalist" community that hasn't really wanted a united Ireland changing its mind.

These are people who will not have been traditional Sinn Fein voters. They have probably been voting for the SDLP, Alliance, or nobody at all.

If they can be roused by the shock of a hard Brexit combined with the continued intransigence of the DUP, a republican miracle might be possible.

Michelle O'Neill would be well picking her moment with care because if in such favourable circumstances, there is no significant surge in demand for Irish unity, she may have to resign herself to the prospect that there never will be.
A man and a boy pass soldiers in a street in Srinagar, where businesses were shuttered for a fifth straight day amid recent violence in Indian Kashmir, April 6, 2018.

Villagers discovered the beheaded body of a civilian Friday in an orchard in Indian-administered Kashmir, a day after suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants abducted him, police said.

Authorities said the victim was the second civilian killed by militants in separate incidents this week in the troubled Himalayan region, where the Indian-controlled side has been shut down since Monday following an outbreak of violence that left 20 people dead on April 1. As of Friday, more than 170 people had been injured during five days of clashes between anti-India protestors and security forces, officials said.

Exhibiting its brand of brutality, the terrorists have left the body headless, Kashmirs Zone Police said in a Twitter post Friday.

The latest killings occurred as intelligence agencies were warning of a significant spike in militant attacks on security forces and civilians following the killings of 13 separatist rebels by Indian forces in a single day last weekend.

We have information that Pakistan-based terror groups such as LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) have joined hands with Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Kashmirs oldest and largest separatist group, to launch attacks on security forces and civilians, an Indian intelligence officer who asked to remain anonymous told BenarNews.

The 13 militants were gunned down in three separate encounters in south Kashmir on Sunday, the deadliest day of the year so far in Indian Kashmir. Three security personnel were also killed during the gunfights, while four civilians were killed in police firing after anti-India demonstrations to protest the killings turned violent.

These outfits have suffered heavy casualties at the hands of our security forces in recent months. They are trying to regroup to mount major attacks to disrupt any chances of peace in the region. We have already informed our forces that they should expect a significant increase in armed assaults in Kashmir, the intelligence officer said.

Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir. An outbreak of insurgency on the Indian side, known as the state of Jammu and Kashmir, has claimed more than 70,000 lives  a majority of them civilians  since the late 1980s.

Kidnapped from homes

The latest civilian who was killed, Manzoor Ahmed Bhat, 24, and his father, Abdul Gaffar, 50, were kidnapped early Thursday after suspected members of Pakistan-based LeT stormed their house in north Kashmirs Bandipora district, police said.

Bhats body was found on the outskirts of the districts Hajin area. Gaffar managed to escape but was recovering at a hospital after being shot, police said.

The brutal killing of young Mazoor Ahmed is highly condemnable but should also serve as a reminded of where society is headed. The scourge of terror has hit a new low as the brutality of this act has left us all in shock, Mehbooba Mufti, the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, said in a tweet.

The young man and his father were abducted two days after a taxi driver, Muntazir Ahmad Parrey, 33, was found dead within hours of being taken by suspected LeT operatives from his father-in-laws home in Bandipora, according to authorities.

Police identified the mastermind of the two killings as local LeT militant Mohommad Saleem, an official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity, adding that efforts to capture him and his accomplices were ongoing.

Tourist season

Ravideep Sahi, inspector general of Kashmirs Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), said officials expected a spike in militant attacks in the region with the tourist season approaching in May.

Militants have always shown desperation to disrupt the tourist season by attacking security installations to create terror among visitors, Sahi told BenarNews.

But, this year, their desperation has grown because of the severe damage security forces have inflicted on rebel outfits by killing their members, he added.

About 730,000 tourists visited Indian Kashmir last year, the lowest in six years, according to official figures. About 840,000 tourists visited Kashmir in 2016 and 920,000 the preceding year.

S.P. Vaid, Indian Kashmirs police chief, said the situation was under control. He urged tourists to ignore threats and visit Kashmir in large numbers.

The situation is very much in our control and tourists need not panic, Vaid told BenarNews. We are here to safeguard tourists and locals, he added.

Meanwhile, according to a defense analyst, militant outfits in Indian Kashmir are struggling to survive.

Indian forces have stepped up counter insurgency operations in recent months, and gunned down several suspected rebels. These groups may coordinate and launch attacks in the region to ensure violence continues in the region, retired Maj. Gen. Ravi Arora told BenarNews.

India needs to act tough against Pakistan to stop on-going ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto border dividing Kashmir between the two sides, another expert said, adding these ceasefire violations were intended as a cover for Pakistani militants to sneak into Indian territory.

Pakistan will make desperate attempts to push more JeM and LeT operatives into India. Pakistan believes LeT and JeM cadres fight more effectively than local militants, retired Maj. Gen. G.D. Bakshi, a New Delhi-based security analyst, told BenarNews.

On Friday, Pakistans Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif accused India of trying to resolve the Kashmir issue through the barrel of the gun.

Sundays killing of 17 people by the Indian occupation forces is totally unacceptable and should be unequivocally condemned by the international community and human rights community around the world, Khawaja said, according to the Press Trust of India.
Three Rohingya survivors receive medical attention in Banda Aceh after their rescue by Indonesian fishermen, April 6, 2018.

An Indonesian fishing boat rescued five Rohingya off western Aceh province after five others starved to death and their bodies were tossed overboard when they were stranded at sea for almost three weeks, officials said Friday.

The survivors, identified as two men, a woman, a teenage girl and an 8-year-old boy, were taken to Zubir Mahmud Hospital after the fishing boat crew brought them to shore, according to Herman, the secretary of the Search and Rescue Team of East Aceh regency.

Their conditions when they arrived on the land was weak, even though they had been fed by the fishermen after they were found, Herman, who uses one name, told BenarNews.

H.B. Aris Santo, commander of the Navy Force at Acehs Kuala Idi, said the five were spotted Monday night by the fishermen about 176 miles from the Aceh shoreline.

Despite the language barrier, the Rohingya told their rescuers they had been stranded for 20 days after leaving their village in Myanmars Rakhine state.

They said initially there were 10 in the boat, but five of them had died from lack of food and had been thrown into the sea, Aris said.

Officials said the Rohingya were lucky to survive.

If we look at the boat they used, it was in very poor condition and was unfit to sail through the ocean because it was very small and no engine, said Razali Ali, a coordinator of Aceh traditional fishermen community.

Afrizal, an immigration official in Aceh, said immigration officers took the Rohingya Muslims from the hospital Friday afternoon.

We have not questioned them yet. We have coordinated with UNHCR and IOM, he told BenarNews, referring to the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration.

Maybe tomorrow well start checking their identity documents after a translator from IOM comes.

Afrizal said the Rohingya described their journey to an IOM representative during a phone call.

They left from Myanmar to sail to Malaysia, he said.

On Tuesday, Malaysian officials intercepted a boat carrying 56 people believed to be Rohingya off the island of Langkawi.

Malaysian officials said the boat with 36 adults and about 20 children sailed from Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh, where about 700,000 Rohingya refugees have sheltered since August 2017 after fleeing Myanmars Rakhine state to escape a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by security forces.

In 2015, about 1,000 stranded Rohingya were rescued by Acehnese fishermen. Most chose to flee to Malaysia to find jobs while the rest have been granted political asylum in other countries, according to the Indonesian government.
Updated at 2:35 p.m. ET on 2018-04-06

Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday announced the dissolution of Malaysias parliament, paving the way for what is expected to be a tightly contested general election within weeks.

Malaysias Election Commission will now set dates for nomination of candidates and the 14th general election, which by law must happen within two months after the dissolution of parliament and will likely take place before Ramadan begins around May 15.

In a televised address from his office in Putrajaya, Najib, 64, said he had had an audience with Malaysias king and received his consent to dissolve parliament on Saturday.

In accordance with Article 55 of the Federal Constitution, his Majesty has given his blessing for the dissolution to take effect on Saturday, April 7, he said.

Najib then launched into a campaign speech, asking voters to deliver a new mandate for the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled Malaysia since independence.

We have delivered, and we will continue to deliver, said Najib, whose United Malays National Organization (UMNO) is the linchpin of the ruling coalition. We will develop this country from Perlis to Sarawak and Sabah ... so there is no one left behind.

Unprecedented

The election is unprecedented in that nonagenarian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has come out of retirement to lead the opposition in its bid to unseat Barisan. Mahathir led UMNO when he was prime minister for more than two decades.

UMNO is beyond resuscitation, beyond turning around. It has become very bad, it has become, obviously, very corrupt. The leaders are corrupt. They dont express the views of the people, Mahathir told BenarNews in 2016.

In the coming election, the party that wins a simple majority in the 222-seat parliament will form the next federal government. Barisan Nasional currently holds 130 seats.

But this years general election promises to be a stiff challenge for Najib, 64, because his coalition will be vying against an opposition alliance led by still-popular Mahathir, 92.

Once Najibs mentor, Mahathir quit UMNO in 2016, accusing party leaders of shielding the prime minister from corruption allegations tied to 1MDB, a state investment fund started by Najib. Mahathir has been nominated to serve as the next PM should the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition defeat Barisan at the polls.

For the past three years, Najibs name has been linked to a scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly stolen from the fund known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad, but he has denied allegations that he committed any wrongdoing.

Najib has acknowledged receiving close to U.S. $681 million in his personal bank accounts, but said the money was a political donation from Saudi Arabias royal family. The prime minister and 1MDB officials have denied the embezzlement allegations.

The controversy over the 1MDB scandal has stoked negative opinion polls against Najib, but the opposition has struggled to make a serious dent in Najibs rural support, analysts say.

This government is a credible and trustworthy government and fulfills promises, because. I believe politics is not just promises but the ability to fulfill promises, Najib said in his speech Friday, claiming that Barisan had fulfilled 99.4 percent of its promises.

Prime Minister Najib Razak's motorcade arrives at the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya ahead of the announcement of the dissolution of parliament, April 6, 2018. [S. Mahfuz/BenarNews]

Prime minister in waiting

In 2008 elections, Barisan Nasional lost the two-thirds majority that UMNO and its partners had enjoyed since 1957. Najib was sworn in a year later, in a move aimed at stemming the ruling partys lagging popularity amid a slowing economy.

In 2013, the opposition made further inroads, winning 52 percent of the popular vote. But Najib and his allies ultimately held on to power by securing 133 seats in parliament.

Anwar Ibrahim, who headed the bloc that challenged Najib in the last election, has been in jail since 2015 on a sodomy conviction following a trial that a U.N. rights panel deemed politically motivated. He is due to be released on June 8.

Mahathir has pledged to relinquish the prime ministers post to Anwar after that date should the opposition prevail in the upcoming elections.

The opposition bloc Pakatan Harapan is made up of the United Malaysian Indigenous Party (Bersatu or PPBM), the Democratic Action Party (DAP), Peoples Justice Party (PKR) and Amanah.

Malays and other indigenous groups account for nearly 70 percent of Malaysias population of 31 million, with ethnic Chinese making up 23 percent and ethnic Indians and others the remainder. Most Malaysian political parties are race-based, including UMNO.

But Islam-based parties also have a role to play, with some observers saying the Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS), which allied with the opposition bloc in 2013, could tip the balance in favor of the incumbents this year.

PASs 2015 push to implement a Sharia penal code in northern Kelantan state, its power base, fractured the opposition bloc at the time. It has since reformed with UMNO deserters and a newly formed moderate Islamic party.

Experts weigh in

Following Najibs announcement on Friday, Malaysian political analysts expressed a range of views on the electoral prospects for both the ruling Barisan bloc and the opposition Pakatan alliance heading into national polls.



According to recent surveys of voters conducted by a think-tank, the Darul Ehsan Institute, the two sides were polling fairly evenly, but with support for Pakatan and its constituent parties growing to 41 percent against Barisans static 42 percent. Sixty-one percent of people surveyed by the institute said they supported Mahathir, versus 39 percent who said they backed Najib.



Young voters who had been so-called fence sitters were now making their stand by choosing PH, Redzuan Othman, the institutes CEO, told BenarNews on Friday.



Overall, the public still sees Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim era as the golden period of our country, he said, noting that 72 percent of ethnic Chinese survey respondents said they supported Mahathir, compared with 61 percent and 57 percent of support for him, respectively, from ethnic Indian and Malay respondents.



Analyst Wong Chin Huat, of the Penang Institute, said Barisan would retain control of parliament on polling day if voter turnout was low.



If there is an increase in the number of voters turning up, it shows that people are angry with the government and that will not benefit BN and will foil attempts at gerrymandering, he told Benar.



Ibrahim Suffian, program director at the Merdeka Center, a think-tank, predicted that Najibs coalition would face an uphill challenge in winning the popular vote in this years general election. But Barisan would hold on to power through controversially redrawn electoral maps that were approved by parliament last week, he said.



According to critics, the altered electoral boundaries would give Barisan an unfair advantage by skewing the upcoming vote in its favor through packing more voters into districts currently held by the opposition.



Not only BN will be given a new mandate but there is a probability that it will get back a two-thirds majority based on the approved redrawing of the electoral map, Ibrahim said.



BN will win more parliamentary seats and PH will get the majority in popular votes but will not be able to form a government, he told BenarNews.
Updated at 4:30 p.m. ET on 2018-04-06

Malaysias four most important opposition parties will drop their separate logos and contest upcoming elections under the banner of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's party, leaders said Friday.

The move came a day after authorities suspended the registration of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamads new party and hours after Prime Minister Najib Razak dissolved parliament, clearing the way for elections expected by mid-May.

It is not easy for every Pakatan Harapan party member to drop their symbols, Mahathir said, referring to the informal opposition coalition. But because we want to unite, we agreed that all these four parties will use only one symbol.

I am very happy, something that was impossible to do before, it was done by all of us now. I am pleased to inform Malaysians and the world  the symbol we are going to use is the Peoples Justice Party (PKR), he said to cheers at a campaign event in Pasir Gudang, Johor state.

On Thursday, Malaysias Registrar of Societies (RoS) announced it had rejected Pakatan Harapans application to be registered as a political coalition and de-registered Mahathirs party, Bersatu, saying the party had failed to hand over required documents within a 30-day deadline.

Leaders of all four parties in the opposition alliance shared the stage at Fridays event in Johor, including Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Anwars wife and the current PKR president.

I feel very happy with Pakatan Harapans decision to use the Peoples Justice Partys logo for the next general election, Wan Azizah told BenarNews, calling it a historic night and symbolic of peoples support for her husband.

The founder of the opposition Peoples Justice Party was charged with sodomizing a former aide in 2008. The High Court acquitted Anwar in 2012 but the Court of Appeal reversed that decision and sentenced him in 2014 to five years in prison.

A court recently rejected his latest attempt to overturn the conviction after reports surfaced that the lead prosecutor had received millions from the prime minister to handle the case.

Anwar, who is 70 and being treated for a shoulder problem, led the opposition to new gains in 2013 elections, five years after the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition lost its super majority in parliament for the first time since 1957.

PKR holds 28 seats in the parliament set to be dissolved Saturday. The opposition party that holds the most seats, 36, is the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

The DAP decision not to use the Rocket logo, which had appeared in the ballot papers for 11 general elections from 1969 to 2013, was not an easy one, but a most painful and heart-wrenching decision, DAP founder Lim Kit Siang wrote in a blog post.

The 14th General Election is probably the only opportunity in many decades for a change of federal government and for Malaysia to take the first step to become a normal democracy where voters can change the government peacefully and democratically, he said.

The goal is for opposition bloc candidates to win a simple majority in parliament to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state, he said.
Rasamala Magondaraya, 62, shows her identification card, the only personal possession she retrieved from her ruined house in the destroyed southern Philippine city of Marawi, April 6, 2018.

When Rasamala Magondaraya entered the ruins of her home in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, she could not recognize anything but the spray-painted graffiti on what remained of the walls: ISIS.

The bold acronym spelled the other name for the Islamic State (IS), whose followers attacked Marawi in May 2017 and engaged security forces in five months of vicious gun battles that killed more than 1,200, most of them militants.

Magondaraya, 62, was appalled as she and her children stared at the holes in the wall and a huge pit dug in what used to be the living room where she and her family gathered in happier times.

Entire sections of their four-story home had collapsed under heavy bombardment.

This is what I found. The only thing that was left, Magondaraya, 62, said, holding up an identification card she found in the rubble.

At least I have some identity left, she said, choking back tears.

Her children fared no better, retrieving just a few pieces of clothing they were able to salvage.

Two blocks away, Samia Macondara, 35, had a similar reaction when she saw what remained of her bakery and small grocery store  a pile of concrete and twisted steel.

Macondara said when she escaped as Marawi descended into chaos, she hid a small fortune inside a vault.

On Thursday, Macondara and her brother, Abdul, rummaged through the clutter of what they believed was where they had placed the steel box, but found no traces of it.

Since they fled Marawi, Macondara said she lived as a refugee and had depended on food aid given by government agencies.

She has since left the evacuation camp in Balo-i, a small town about 32 km (20 miles) from Marawi, and transferred to a relatives farm in a nearby village.

We have been subsisting on root crops since then, said Macondara, a mother of two. At least we have that, but I want to have my business back again.

An aerial photograph shows the devastated areas of the southern Philippine city of Marawi, April 6, 2018. [Richel V. Umel/BenarNews]

Unexploded ordnance

Task Force Bangon Marawi, the agency that oversees the return of evacuees, allowed about 1,200 residents to visit their homes inside the main affected area.

Since April 1, the Philippine government told residents they could venture back and retrieve whatever possessions they could find from their homes. They were herded out of the city by sunset of the same day.

A sign hanging on a tree warned residents to be careful in combing through the ruins, where unexploded ordnance lay unrecovered.

Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., local army deputy commander, said the military could not provide an estimate on the number of explosives that litter the debris.

Among the deadliest ordnance are the 500-pound general purpose bombs dropped by the Philippine Air Force FA50 jets at the height of the fighting to allow the military to flush out the enemy fighters hiding in buildings. Seventeen of these bombs did not explode and pose a danger to the returning civilians, Brawner said.

Army ordnance disposal team found only nine of the bombs. There are still eight bombs out there, he said.

So far, the military has recovered 1,178 unexploded bombs and 323 improvised explosives since fighting ended.

Felix Castro, head of the task force overseeing the return of the thousands of refugees, said the visits in the 24 villages of the main affected areas would continue until May.

Residents would not be allowed to rebuild their houses until the area is cleared of debris and ruined buildings, Castro said.

A business consortium of Chinese and Filipino firms will lead the construction of the 250-hectare affected area, he said without providing details.

Five-month battle

Fighting began in May 2017 when government troops moved to arrest Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the IS in the country. But the soldiers were repulsed by a huge militant force that included foreign fighters from Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

President Rodrigo Duterte had admitted he underestimated the enemy strength, and enlisted the help of the U.S. and Australian governments, which provided crucial intelligence help.

In October, Hapilon was declared killed, ending the fighting.

But almost a year after the gun battles started, Marawi remains largely deserted and devoid of any visible commercial activity.

Most of its 200,000 residents have not been allowed to return home permanently.
-Triumph is unhappy with increase in CKD custom duties

-Had the option of importing CBU from Thailand but invested in a new facility instead

-90 per cent of its range is CKD

Triumph Motorcycles is rethinking its sales strategy in India. The company might opt to go for completely-built-up (CBU) units rather than assembling its bikes at their Haryana plant.

The company was forced to rethink its strategy after the government increased the custom duties of CKD vehicles from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. Along with this, there was an increase of duties on certain parts from 7.5 per cent to 15 per cent. This new policy change has a big impact on Triumph as close to 90 per cent of its India range is assembled in India. Its other rivals like the Ducati are at an advantage here. Ducati imports majority of its bikes from Thailand, and thus benefits from FTA which attracts very less custom duties.

Triumph says it had the option of launching fully imported bikes from Thailand, but it went on to setup a plant in India. But unfortunately, this has backfired and the Indian arm of the British manufacturer might have difficulties in attracting more investment from its UK headquarters. The British bike maker has written to the ministry of finance but has not received any response yet.
The World Health Organisation has designated the theme for 2018s World Health Day to be Everyone, Everywhere, an indication that nations around the world are aspiring to provide higher accessibility of healthcare to their citizens.

Universal Health Care has become a fundamental principle guiding much of Public Policy and Healthcare Services in countries around the world. The basic premise of this construct is to alleviate the financial costs associated with healthcare while increasing individual access to these services. The World Health Organisation has designated the theme for 2018s World Health Day to be Everyone, Everywhere, an indication that nations around the world are aspiring to provide higher accessibility of healthcare to their citizens. Time is therefore right for stakeholders in the public and private healthcare delivery systems and the medical education ecosystem to collaborate and drive the agenda of universal healthcare coverage for India.

The Government seems to have given the principle a tacit approval, as demonstrated by the impetus placed on Public Healthcare in the 2018 Budget. Upon implementation, India is set to have the worlds largest public health care programme that would cater to half a billion of its citizens. Modicare has lofty goals to fulfill as it aims to ensure that nearly 10 crore vulnerable families would be entitled to coverage of up to Rs 5 Lakhs a year. India is amongst the group of countries with the lowest proportions allocated to healthcare globally. This policy would help ensure a minimum standard of coverage offered to citizens, improving accessibility and health outcomes for the masses. Apart from this, there are indications of a New Pharmaceutical Policy that is likely to be introduced that would run in tandem to help ensure the effective implementation of the Modicare plan.

While a change in public policy and discourse is one end of the spectrum that governs Universal Healthcare, its effective implementation is governed by stakeholders in the Healthcare Industry. For a country where public healthcare spending has traditionally been less than 1% of its GDP, private healthcare delivery has taken monumental strides to improve accessibility and delivery of healthcare services in the country. The start up ecosystem in healthcare which has contributed to the rise in use of digital technologies in various facets of healthcare has also played an important role in the market. Right from the use of health applications by consumers, data mining and analytics for personalized service offerings, digitization of health information and records, or even leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for a varied array of functions specific to the industry, the trends in healthcare seem to move towards improving access, delivery and personalisation. The diagnostics industry is similarly transforming disease detection with innovative technologies. Another important trend seen is a rise in the adoption of Home Health Services, where access to quality healthcare is not limited to institutions like hospitals; instead, it can be delivered to the patients' doorstep. This would make it easy for individuals to access Clinical and Non- Clinical Care despite time, distance, monetary and other restrictions.

All these changes happening in the industry will collectively contribute to the idea of Universal healthcare in India. When these trends are analyzed cohesively, they leave us with the impression that the consumer with various new technologies at their disposal will define the movement of Universal Healthcare. This is a promising sign for the future and hopefully will lead towards a healthier country.

-Vishal Bali, Co-founder and Chairman, Medwell Ventures
Thank you for being patient.
Originally intending to restore only one 1950s-era farm truck, Dean Foote sealed his fate when he agreed to pass it on to one of his three children when he was done with it.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 6/4/2018 (1272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Originally intending to restore only one 1950s-era farm truck, Dean Foote sealed his fate when he agreed to pass it on to one of his three children when he was done with it.

Two more classic truck restorations later, and each of his triplets, now 28 years of age, have called dibs on a vehicle apiece.

Joined by family matriarch Heather, the five started the restoration projects approximately six years ago.

During the first three years, the triplets worked on the vehicles with their parents on a regular basis at their Killarney home, during which time they completed the first two.

With the second vehicle completed, they branched out on their own professional paths, with Braden becoming a mechanic in the area, Kelsey becoming a teacher in Dauphin and Stephanie becoming a nurse in Edmonton.

SUBMITTED A 1951 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-ton truck is pictured before Dean Foote joined his triplets Braden, Kelsey and Stephanie, in restoring it.

Still, Dean said that whenever they came home for visits they remained eager to lend a hand whenever possible on restoring the third and final vehicle in the collection.

"I couldnt have done it without him," Dean said this week.

Not only that, but he said that spending so much time with his children made the undertaking all the more enjoyable.

SUBMITTED The Foote familys 1951 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-ton truck is seen after being restored.

"It just seems like it takes forever to build something, but in the end you have something that youre so proud to have done with your family and others who have helped, and now you can go out and enjoy it," he said.

The years-long process began when Dean tracked down a 1951 Chevrolet 3100 1/2 ton truck, which had been locally driven until the 1960s and he said needed "some tender loving care."

The family tore the vehicle down and rebuilt it from the frame up, mounting the body on a S10 chassis and installing a 350 engine and five-speed overdrive manual transmission.

SUBMITTED A 1950 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-ton truck is pictured before Dean Foote joined his triplets in restoring it.

This vehicle was topped off with a copper colour paint job.

After pledging it to one of his children, Dean said that the renewal of two more vehicles became necessary.

Next up was a 1955 9430 GMC one-ton truck, which they were able to restore to its original condition.

SUBMITTED The Foote familys three trucks, from left, include a 1955 9430 GMC one-ton truck, a 1951 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-ton truck and a 1950 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-ton truck.

Whats perhaps most impressive about this truck is the fact that its components are all original, Dean said, with the parts serial numbers all matching its original paperwork.

This truck was painted green.

The final of the family truck trilogy was a 1950 Chevrolet 3100 1/2 ton truck, which they put onto a S10 chassis and installed a 5.3L fuel injection engine and automatic transmission.

SUBMITTED Dean Foote and familys 1951 Chevrolet 3100 1/2-ton truck is seen gutted and primed.

This vehicle was painted blue.

The trio of vehicles, all originating in Manitoba, were completed in time for Canadas 150th anniversary, as well as Kelseys wedding last year at Clear Lake, where the three vehicles made an appearance.

Although the vehicles will still go to the triplets when their parents are done with them, Dean said that Heather and himself are still having a great deal of fun hitting the road.

"It just makes my day when I receive a wave or a smile while driving these trucks, whether it's going for the mail, going to a car show or just out for a cruise," Dean said. "Theyre for leisure driving and for the enjoyment of driving them; just good times."

 tclarke@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB
By Eamon Quinn

Hammerson, the owner of Dundrum and Swords shopping centres, the 1916 battlefield site in central Dublin, as well as Kildare Village, is marshalling an uplift in the value of its Irish assets to help bolster its defences as it prepares to fight off the advances of 5.6bn takeover bid from French rival Klepierre.

In a business update, the property group cited the strong performance of Dundrum  which at 124,000sq metres is the countrys largest shopping centre  and its other Irish assets no fewer than half a dozen times, saying that Ireland has delivered a particularly strong leasing performance.

The British group is preparing its defences against Klepierre which last month made the 5.6bn approach, which Hammerson dismissed as significantly undervaluing the company.

Klepierre must decide by April 16 whether or not to make a bid. Its shares rose almost 2% in London, valuing the company at almost 5bn. Klepierre shares in Paris rose 1.5%, valuing it at almost 10.34bn.

At almost 1.1bn (1.26bn) at the end of March, Hammersons Irish retail assets account for almost a tenth of its overall property value, of almost 10.6bn. With Allianz, Hammerson owns half of Dundrum Shopping Centre; a half share with Iput and Irish Life in the 46,000-square-metre Swords Pavillions; and with Irish Life half of the 30,000-square-metre Ilac Centre; and controls the nearby 1916 battlefield site.

It owns outright the Abbey Retail Park in Belfast and has a significant minority stake in the Kildare Village.

Our attractive high-growth markets of Premium Outlets and Ireland are driving valuation growth, said its chief executive David Atkins.

It said Pavillions in Swords had an impressive start to the year with lettings to Australian stationery firm Smiggle, while Dundrum was boosted by the opening of fine food emporium Fallon & Byrne.

The property group also hailed a successful court appeal involving the five-acre site and the 1916 battlefield near Dublins Henry and OConnell Streets as an outstanding European city centre development site.

In Britain, it owns large minority stakes in Brent Cross in London and in Birminghams Bullring, and in France, it has a number of retail centres. It was weathering the difficulties faced in UK retailing, including the restructuring and administrations of New Look and Toy R US in Britain, it said. Hammerson said it had cut its net debt to 3.4bn from 3.5bn at the end of 2017 through disposals.
By Gordon Deegan

The Labour Court has recommended drug giant Pfizers 900 strong workforce each receive lump payments of up to 35,000 to compensate for it freezing its defined benefit pension schemes.

The court has made its comprehensive recommendation in the long-running dispute between the US company and Siptu, and the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU).

If the terms of the Labour Court recommendation are accepted by workers across four sites, Pfizer could face a maximum bill of around 31.5m to fund the lump sum payments.

In its recommendation, the Labour Court said that an initial lump sum payment of 10,000 be made after June 30, when workers would have the option of receiving the payment through payroll or on a tax-free basis to their pensions.

The Labour Court has also recommended an additional lump payment to include 1,700 per year of service up to a maximum of 25,000 which would be paid to the workers defined contribution scheme.

The proposal by Pfizer to freeze its defined benefit scheme has been strongly resisted by unions over the past four years since the plan was first proposed in 2014.

In their arguments before the Labour Court, Siptu and the TEEU said they opposed changes to the current defined benefit pension scheme at the company.

The unions said the pension scheme was an integral part of the agreement with Pfizer.

In response, Pfizer said it was forced to make the change to address the unsustainable cost and exposure of the defined benefit schemes which impact negatively on Pfizer and the cost competitiveness of Irish operations.

Pfizer said the cost to the company of funding the defined benefit schemes had risen 1,000% since 2009.

The Labour Court said it commissioned independent actuaries.

A spokeswoman for Pfizer said the defined contribution scheme which would replace the defined benefit scheme was above market average, with very attractive transition incentives and with strong contributions from the company.

The company is reviewing and considering the recommendation of the court, she said.

A Siptu spokesman said: Until our members fully consider the Labor Court recommendation, the union will not be commenting any further.
By Padraig Hoare

Three Ireland is on course to bring 5G phone coverage to Ireland next year, beating rivals Vodafone and Eir in the battle to make smartphones faster and more powerful.

The network said it was focusing on bringing the coverage to rural areas as well as urban centres, and had plans to trial 5G later this year with a view to commercially launching some services in 2019.

Eir and Vodafone said they plans to introduce it within two years.

A spokeswoman for Eir said: Eir continues to assess the evolution of 5G technology and we secured national 5G spectrum in 2017. We plan to develop 5G network capability for our customers in the next 24 months.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said it expected to see 5G launch in 24 months: We are introducing 5G attributes into 4G in the short to medium term, to bridge the gap between the two.

Vodafone has already successfully trialled 5G, it said.

Three Ireland said it was the only mobile operator to secure national optimum 100MHz spectrum in ComRegs 3.6GHz auction last year, which meant it could provide the same service to those living outside main city areas as urban dwellers.

A spokeswoman for Three said: Three is currently investing heavily in its network upgrade and expansion. This investment will continue with the deployment of 5G.

It comes as Telefonicas O2 won the biggest chunk of new British mobile airwaves in an auction that raised 1.36bn (1.56bn) for the UK government, the communications regulator Ofcom said.

All four of the UKs networks secured new airwaves for next-generation services, Ofcom said, but O2 also secured all of the blocks of 2.3Ghz airwaves that can be deployed immediately to boost capacity for 4G services.

The airwaves in the 3.4GHz band have been earmarked for 5G, the future wireless technology that promises to link up everything from cars to household devices, as well as providing far greater smartphone speeds.

The UKs networks are starting to test 5G but it will not be deployed commercially until 2020 at the earliest. O2 said its success in the auction was further evidence of the commitment of its parent, Spains Telefonica, to the UK.

O2, which ranks second to BTs EE, paid nearly 524m for its two packages, Ofcom said. The firm said it will deploy its 2.3GHz spectrum as soon as possible, starting in London.

- Additional reporting Reuters
Update 9pm: Conor McGregor has been released on $50,000 bail and order to appear in court again in New York on June 14th.

He appeared in court today charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief following an incident at the Barclays Centre in New York on Thursday.

The UFC champion appeared in court alongside fellow fighter Cian Cowley, who was released on a $25,000 dollar bail after also being charged with assault.

Update 4.30pm: Conor McGregor's former trainer Philip Sutcliffe has defended the UFC star amid his arrest in New York today.

Speaking on RTE Radio 1's Liveline programme, Sutcliffe said: "I hope it was a cunning plan, rather than Conor losing the head. It's after working, he has every paper in the country with his face on the front it.

He has everyone all around the world talking about it. I hope it's a cunning stunt on Conor's behalf and I hope he comes out smelling of roses.

McGregor was detained following an incident at the Barclays Centre in New York on Thursday after he had earlier been stripped of his UFC lightweight title. He is due to appear in court today.

Conor McGregor walking out of @NYPD78Pct in handcuffs. Is likely being transported to court. pic.twitter.com/MyaWsUOlyK  MMAContent (@MMAContent) April 6, 2018

Sutcliffe went on to say that while money changes everyone, McGregor remains "the same man" and said he hopes that the fighter still has the integrity of his early years.

"Plans don't always go as planned," he said.

"There's always three sides to every story and the truth is in the middle."

You can listen to the full interview here:

Update 12.15pm: Conor McGregor's former sparring partner and two-time world champion fighter Paulie Malignaggi says the Dubliner is struggling to stay relevant.

He said: "This wasn't about gamesmanship, this was about putting on a show to keep himself relevant.

"He's a bit too exciting when he does those things.

"The past six months have been very disrespectful to the people he's done this with."

McGregor has been a flamboyant presence on the sporting scene and divided opinion in Ireland.

The alleged trouble erupted at a UFC media day.

Beforehand, he had been stripped of his UFC lightweight title.

Update: 9am: UFC champion Conor McGregor has been charged with assault in New York.

He is due to appear in court later on Friday, US police said.

McGregor was detained following an incident at a UFC media day in Brooklyn on Thursday. The 29-year-old had earlier been stripped of his UFC lightweight title.

A New York Police Department spokesman said: "He (McGregor) has been charged with three counts of assault and one of criminal mischief."

He added that 25-year-old Cian Cowley, also a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, from Hyde Park, Dalkey, has been charged with assault.

Conor McGregor is reportedly in jail in New York after attacking Khabib's bus 



RT if you want McGregor v Khabib now. #UFCpic.twitter.com/A63M2VJows  888sport (@888sport) April 6, 2018

Earlier: Conor McGregor in police custody in New York

Conor McGregor is in police custody in New York.

A New York Police Department spokesman said charges would be filed later.

An Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) statement said a vehicle that contained a number of athletes competing at an event taking place this weekend had been "vandalised".

It added: "The organisation deems today's (Thursday) disruption completely unacceptable and is currently working on the consequences that will follow."

The alleged trouble erupted at a UFC media day.

Beforehand, McGregor, 29, had been stripped of his UFC lightweight title.

He has not fought in the UFC for more than a year but lost to former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather in a money-spinning bout last August.

McGregor has been a flamboyant presence on the sporting scene and divided opinion in Ireland.

An NYPD spokesman confirmed the Irishman was in police custody.

He added: "No formal charges have been filed yet but they will be filed after 7 o'clock (12 pm BST)."

The incident happened at the Barclays Centre in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Conor McGregor. Picks up guard rail. Attempts to throw it at bus. ABSOLUTE CHAOS IN NEW YORK. #UFC223 (Via Felice Herrig's IG story) pic.twitter.com/JYQZD7jtKP  Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) April 5, 2018

People had gathered to promote a competition headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Max Holloway.

The UFC added: "NYPD was immediately alerted and is currently in the process of investigating the situation.

"UFC is working very closely with the New York Athletic Commission, Barclays Centre security and law enforcement authorities.

"All parties are working together to ensure the highest standard of proper safety precautions are implemented to protect the fans and athletes."
By Gordon Deegan

A judge told a court today that he doesn't do "a sniff or a snot' when adopting a hard-line approach against parents of school shy kids.

In two separate cases at Ennis District Court today, Judge Patrick Durcan issued two jail warnings to parents of school shy children if there isnt 100% school attendance over the next two weeks.

In one case, Judge Durcan told a father that he would be sending him to a boarding school for adults starting with the letter 'J' if there is not a 100% attendance record by his two children.

In the other case where he issued a jail warning to two parents, Judge Durcan said that he wasn't running "a creche for parents".

He told the parents of a school shy 14 year-old that if there isnt 100% attendance over the next two weeks you will be going to jail.

"There is no point using excuses. There is severe damage being done to children - to the child that you love - I want 100% attendance," he said.

In the prosecutions being taken by the Child and Family Agency (CFA) against parents of children with poor school attendance records, Judge Durcan told another parent of a school shy child in a third case that he doesnt do a sniff or a snot when when rejecting an excuse that the child had missed school days recently due to the recent flu outbreak in the country.

Judge Durcan told the court that there is too much molly codling these days.

Solicitor for the CFA, Dermot ODonovan said that the childs school attendance record recently had suffered a significant relapse due to the outbreak of influenza across the country and we accept that.

In reply, Judge Durcan said: I dont accept that - are we talking about a serious illness? Everyone had flu. Im sure that it was nothing unusual about the flu the child had.

He said: A sniff or a snot - I dont do that.

The childs father then intervened to state to say that his 13 year old boy was very sick - we couldnt send him to school because he couldnt get out of bed. You had to see him the way he was.

Solicitor for the parents, Stiofan Fitzpatrick said that there was also transport issue with the boy using the school bus while his parents dont have a car.

Judge Durcan asked how far the school is from the teens home and Mr Fitzpatrick replied: Ten kilometres.

In response, Judge Durcan said: When I was going to school, there were many children walking that distance to national schools and there were many children walking to school with no footwear.

The father replied that it would be too dangerous to ask his child to walk to school as it involves getting across a busy main road.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that the school transport business has been rectified and Judge Durcan said that he wanted 100% school attendance in the case and adjourned the case for two weeks.

In the 'boarding school jail threat' case, Judge Durcan told a father that if his children dont go to school you will be going to a different kind of school - to a boarding school for adults who dont send their children to school.

Explaining to the foreign national with very average English, Judge Durcan said: There is a four letter word for that boarding school and it begins with the letter J.

Judge Durcan asked the mans solicitor, Daragh Hassett to tell the father what he meant and Mr Hassett told the father Jail.

Judge Durcan told the man:

We look to the future of this country with your children playing a big part - but they must be educated. There are going out to a big difficult world out there and if they are not educated, they will sink and be at the bottom with a lot of difficulties.

Judge Durcan said: I want your children to be at the top of everything."

Judge Durcan adjourned all cases to April 20th.
A 29-year-old man replied Im innocent when he was charged with the murder of a homeless man whose body was found in North County Dublin following a stabbing.

The remains of Polish national Michal Kurek, 33, who sustained multiple stab wounds, were found by the side of a country road just outside Ballyboughal in North County Dublin on the morning of August 4th last.

He was homeless at the time of his death and had spent time in Dublin city centre and in the west of the city. He was from Dziewin in Poland but had been in Ireland since 2010.

He was formally identified two days after his body was discovered and investigating gardai had launched an appeal for information.

A 29-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday and detained at Balbriggan garda station where he was charged last night with murdering Mr Kurek at an unknown location on August 3rd last.

Sebastian Barczuk, 29, was remanded in custody after appearing before Judge Michael Walsh at Dublin District Court this morning.

Garda Ross Rowan told the court Mr Barczuk, who was of no fixed address but also from Poland, was charged just before 11pm with the murder of Michal Kurek contrary to common law.

He said the accused replied, Im innocent.

The district court cannot grant bail in murder cases.

Mr Barczuk, dressed in a black anorak, dark jumper and grey tracksuit bottoms, remained silent during the hearing and listened to the proceedings with the help of an interpreter.

Defence solicitor Brian Coveney said that due to the nature of the charge he could not make a bail application.

Judge Walsh agreed to remand him in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court next Friday.

Legal aid was granted.
Rugby star Paddy Jackson has said he is ashamed the woman who accused him of rape left his home distressed and has apologised for betraying the values of his family.

Jackson, 26, and his Ireland and Ulster teammate Stuart Olding, 25, were unanimously acquitted in Belfast Crown Court last week of raping the same woman at a party at Jackson's south Belfast home in June 2016. Jackson was also found not guilty of sexual assault.

He told the Press Association he would always regret the events of the night in question.

"I am ashamed that a young woman who was a visitor to my home left in a distressed state," he said.

"This was never my intention and I will always regret the events of that evening."

The flyhalf, capped by Ireland 25 times, apologised unreservedly for engaging in "degrading and offensive" Whatsapp conversations about the incident.

Jackson also said public criticism of his behaviour was "fully justified" and he expressed determination to return to the values and principles that guided his upbringing, in particular the importance of respect.

Jackson and Olding have both expressed a desire to return to rugby action.

But they remain relieved of their duties pending the outcome of a review into their conduct by Ulster Rugby and the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU).

That exercise is focusing on a series of sexually explicit messages sent by the players and their friends in the wake of the incident.

Jackson said: "I am also truly sorry for engaging in a Whatsapp group chat which was degrading and offensive and I apologise unreservedly for this.

"The criticism of my behaviour is fully justified and I know I have betrayed the values of my family and those of the wider public.

"Following the trial I have taken time to reflect with my family on the values that were such an integral part of my upbringing, the most important of which is respect.

"My departure from these values has caused understandable public anger and I am resolutely committed to returning to those principles."

In the wake of his acquittal, Olding also expressed regret for his involvement in the incident.

Two other men were unanimously acquitted of lesser charges related to the high profile case.

Blane McIlroy, 26, was acquitted of exposure while Rory Harrison, 25, was found not guilty of perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

Here is Paddy Jackson's statement in full:

"I am ashamed that a young woman who was a visitor to my home left in a distressed state. This was never my intention and I will always regret the events of that evening. I am also truly sorry for engaging in a WhatsApp group chat which was degrading and offensive and I apologise unreservedly for this. The criticism of my behaviour is fully justified and I know I have betrayed the values of my family and those of the wider public. Following the trial I have taken time to reflect with my family on the values that were such an integral part of my upbringing, the most important of which is respect. My departure from these values has caused understandable public anger and I am resolutely committed to returning to those principles."
Social media technology giant, Twitter, has suggested growing efforts to clamp down on 'undesirable content' on social media will inevitably impact 'freedom of expression' online.

In its latest transparency report, under a section titled Legal Threats to Freedom of Expression, the company suggested new legislation and ongoing regulatory discussions taking place around the world about the future of public discourse online will have "a potential chilling effect with regards to freedom of expression.

The statement went on: "According to Human Rights Watch, the wave of regulatory pressure in Europe and beyond is setting an emerging precedent and creating a domino effect as governments around the world increasingly look to restrict online speech by forcing social media companies to act as their censors.

"As regulators explore further potential restrictions, transparency is one of the most important ways we can continue to protect freedom of expression."

Between August 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017, Twitter suspended 1,210,357 accounts for violations related to the promotion of terrorism. Read more in our 12th Transparency Reporthttps://t.co/e4ridwmnVI  Twitter Public Policy (@Policy) April 5, 2018

The company report also linked to Human Rights Watch criticism of recently implemented social media law in Germany which sees social media platforms threatened with fines of up to 50m for failing to promptly delete 22 different types of illegal messages.

HRW have called the law vague, overbroad, and turns private companies into overzealous censors to avoid steep fines, leaving users with no judicial oversight or right to appeal. and suggested the law has had a domino effect, with at least half a dozen governments, including those in Russia and the UK, now proposing the introduction of similar restrictions.

The HRW report identifies two key aspects of the law which violate Germanys obligation to respect free speech.

"First, the law places the burden on companies that host third-party content to make difficult determinations of when user speech violates the law, under conditions that encourage suppression of arguably lawful speech.

"Even courts can find these determinations challenging, as they require a nuanced understanding of context, culture, and law.

"Faced with short review periods and the risk of steep fines, companies have little incentive to err on the side of free expression.

"Second, the law fails to provide either judicial oversight or a judicial remedy should a cautious corporate decision violate a persons right to speak or access information.

"In this way, the largest platforms for online expression become no accountability zones, where government pressure to censor evades judicial scrutiny."

Russia Today also report today how Silicon Valley giants have also tried to stave off domestic regulatory pressure with proactive measures.

RT report that earlier this week Facebook closed 270 accounts that violated user guidelines over their connections to alleged Russian troll factory the Internet Research Agency but did not provide any evidence to the public to explain the closures.

The RT website also report how Twitter have also been embroiled in a controversy for its shadow-banning of conservative voices on the 330-million strong platform despite claims in Thursdays transparency statement that it sought transparency as one of the most important ways we can continue to protect freedom of expression and pointed users to its Lumen database, which collects justifications for various suspensions.

In the transparency report Twitter announcedit had deleted 274,460 accounts in the second half of 2017 for violations related to the promotion of terrorism, noting that three-quarters of the suspended users were kicked out before they posted a single tweet with help from internal proprietary tools.

The company went on: "Twitter is proud of our industry-leading policies regarding transparency about content restrictions. This includes our practice of uploading actioned requests to withhold content to Lumen, an independent database that collects and analyzes removal requests for content online (unless we are prohibited from doing so, e.g., if we receive a court order under seal).

"Lumen serves as a critical transparency resource as more freedom of expression comes under fire, by making such requests available for public review.

"Additionally, upon receipt of requests to withhold content, we promptly notify affected users (unless, like with our Lumen uploads, we are otherwise prohibited from doing so)."

Meanwhile other social media companies have detailed the steps they are taking to clamp down on terrorist content.

YouTube has introduced "machine learning" to help identify extremist and terror-related material, removing more than 150,000 videos between June and December.

Facebook has deployed artificial intelligence as part of its efforts, with 99% of Islamic State and al Qaida-related content removed before it is flagged by users.

- Digital Desk
National unions have criticised a new superannuation scheme for Deliveroo riders which is entirely self-funded by workers.

The Deliveroo "partnership" with GigSuper means the delivery riders will make their own contributions without any contributions made on their behalf by Deliveroo.

The Transport Workers Union is calling on Deliveroo and other food delivery companies to pay riders superannuation and fair rates.

A bicycle food delivery in the Sydney CBD. Credit:James Brickwood

Food delivery riders are being ripped off. They are denied superannuation payments and are forced to work below minimum rates, and sometimes not paid at all during shifts demanded by the companies. This so-called partnership on superannuation by Deliveroo is an insult to these riders who deserve rights and protections set down under the law, TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon said.
'National disgrace' A former investment banker, Corrigan became involved in stevedoring  the business of loading and unloading ships  around 1990. As he explains two decades on from the waterfront dispute this week, productivity was a national disgrace. From my very first exposure, it was clear this was an industry buried in the past, attempting to re-live a class struggle that was no longer relevant, sustained by myth and legend and with no concept of modern workplace culture or productivity, Corrigan says. Union delegates on the docks were calling all the shots. They decided who would work, their hours, what job they would do, and how efficiently they would do it, recalls Corrigan. And "the cost and inconvenience was borne by Australian exporters and consumers, he says. Chris Corrigan fronts a press conference during the dispute. Credit:Dean Sewell

There is little dispute, even from some unionists involved at the time, that the closed-shop waterfront terminals of the 1990s had a problem with efficiency. Australian port crane rates  how many containers are moved per hour  were at an average of 18 lifts an hour in 1998, lagging well behind the 25 lifts or more in other industrialised countries. Imperative to act Reform in the sector had previously been attempted by Bob Hawkes government, but, Corrigan contends, meaningful improvements were yet to be achieved. So when the Coalition stormed to office in 1996, serious about tackling the waterfront and restructuring labour laws, Corrigan says, there were three key reasons for him and his company to act. Firstly, the need to respond to a call by government, rightly in my opinion, for an improvement in national waterfront performance, which was affecting the nations prosperity, he says. Secondly, restoring a sense of pride and purpose in the company and its employees, and, thirdly, as in all business pursuits, the aim of enhanced returns by improving business practices and client service. John Howard and his workplace relations minister, Peter Reith (pictured), to this day maintain their focus was on lifting productivity.

And so the bitter showdown began, with active assistance from Australias federal government. Howard and his workplace relations minister, Peter Reith, to this day maintain their focus was on lifting productivity and the clash was crucial in modernising the economy. Unions insist the government was ideologically hell-bent on smashing the power of the maritime union. They hated the unions, and especially the maritime union  theyd been waiting years to get square with the Communist MUA, says Greg Combet, former federal Labor minister. Waiting to 'get square' On the night it began, Combet was assistant secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. He was asleep in bed when the call came. The voice on the line sounded severe. Tensions had been rising in previous weeks, and a recent leak had revealed a failed company plan to train ex-soldiers in Dubai into a replacement stevedoring workforce. There had been a lot of disputes and skirmishes, Combet recalls, but on April 7, it all came to a head. 'There had been a lot of disputes and skirmishes,' recalls Greg Combet (right), 'but on April 7, it all came to a head.' Credit:Peter Rae

The caller told him about the guards, the dogs and the lock-out at Melbournes East Swanson Dock. Identical reports were coming in from Sydney and elsewhere. Combet hung up and went back to sleep. I knew I was going to need every iota of energy I had the next day, he says. Union leaders spent the next month on picket lines and in court rooms, where they obtained a temporary order to stop the sackings, and, on April 21, won an ultimate legal victory, thwarting the companys plans to replace its workforce and saving the jobs of many members. Not long after the courts ruling, on May 7, the wharfies were returned. Negotiations between the union and Patrick had reached agreement on retrenchments as well as new workplace deals containing important efficiency reforms. Chris Corrigan says efficiency improvements made the dispute worthwhile: within a few years, crane productivity had doubled. Credit:Glenn Hunt Productivity improvements

Reflecting this week, Corrigan says these were what made the bitter dispute ultimately worthwhile. The productivity improvements, as independently measured by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, speak for themselves, he says. Within a few years after 1998, crane productivity doubled and productivity per hour of work more than quadrupled. That level of improvement is contested by unions and their supporters. Christopher Shiel, senior fellow in history at UNSW and president of the Evatt Foundation, which advocates unionism, says the monitoring scheme was revamped in the 12 months leading up to the 25 lifts-an-hour benchmark being reached, making comparisons unreliable. If sections of society are encouraged or allowed to shelter in a protected and unproductive cocoon, the costs are borne by all Australians. Chris Corrigan Corrigan hopes the enduring lesson from the dispute is that we live in a global economy. If sections of society are encouraged or allowed to shelter in a protected and unproductive cocoon, the costs are borne by all Australians, he says. For Combet, the biggest lesson was something else: this is not a country where you seek to tear up and throw away really basic rights. To secretly terminate an entire workforce because they are union members, thats just not the right thing in this country, he says. We should have found a different way to improve productivity on the waterfront ... I hope we never see anything like it again.

Australias industrial landscape, since the late 1990s, has shifted substantially. Today, strikes are rare, dramatic workplace lock-outs even rarer, and union influence is at its weakest in a 100 years. Just one in 10 private-sector workers is a union member. New wave of energy For the labour movement, though, the waterfront dispute triggered a new wave of energy and campaigning. Many link it to the success of the anti-WorkChoices campaign that helped sink the Howard government a decade later, and say it helped frame an overarching approach that unions retain to this day. The whole union movement was pushed together, says ACTU secretary Sally McManus, who was a 26-year-old organiser at the time of the dispute. The Your Rights at Work campaign would not have been possible if it wasnt for everything we learned through the MUA dispute. 'I am concerned that the merger of the CFMEU and MUA will impact Australias reputation as a productive place to do business,' Employment Minister Craig Laundy says. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Twenty years on, business groups and the Turnbull government warn seaports may once again be targeted as a result of the merger on March 27 between the MUA and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. I am concerned that the merger of the CFMEU and MUA will impact Australias reputation as a productive place to do business, Employment Minister Craig Laundy says. The government tried and failed in recent weeks to convince crossbenchers to support new laws containing a public interest test with the potential to block the so-called super union tie-up.
The Australian Taxation Office uses heavy-handed tactics to target small businesses, and one of its deputy commissioners admits the powerful institution sometimes makes mistakes.

A joint Age/Sydney Morning Herald/Four Corners investigation can reveal that the tax office can get it wrong in one in 20 tax cases  often with huge financial impacts to the small businesses and taxpayers involved.

The ATO's watchdog, the Inspector-General of Taxation Ali Noroozi, has about 30 staff and his powers arent binding. It has prompted calls for more oversight and transparency to bring Australia into line with countries such as the US, Britain and Canada.

Mr Noroozi told the investigation: I think it's perhaps in 5 per cent of the cases or so, an organisation that size may not get it right.
I don't think so. I'm into compromise, but there has to be a meeting in the middle. At the moment, I'm with a pretty hard-line atheist, but I'd say his position has somewhat softened since being with me. Is there any label that feels comfortable for you? I used to describe myself as agnostic. As a journalist, you're always looking for evidence that things add up. Largely, I feel we make our own destinies on this earth; that's why I'm interested in politics. I'm much more interested in what people are creating and the institutions they serve. BODIES When was the last time you were naked that didn't involve showering or sex?

Changing at the gym  does that count? [Laughs] Oh, I went to a music festival last year in Oxfordshire where I was speaking. There was a lake people could swim in. I didn't strip naked, but I did change in public. There were people swimming naked, though. What prevented you from swimming naked? My little sister was there. I don't think she would've been impressed. She's only 11. She's very conservative on these matters. What's your relationship like with your body? I'm working on a very absorbing podcast project at the moment. At times like this, you can find yourself de-prioritising what your body needs: ignoring hunger pangs, working through it, pushing though a few more hours. As my work life has become more intense, I'm forcing myself to try to get more in touch with my body. I started going to the gym in October because after the book came out [in mid-2017], I was so busy I abandoned all my usual eating and moving routines and went up a few dress sizes. I've really enjoyed gymming and weightlifting, feeling the strength in my body and developing biceps. Being able to lift heavy pots and pans  that's exciting.

Growing up in a mostly white environment as non-white, what images did you have of black women? I remember one terrible thought I had when I was a teenager. "So, I'm black, and I've got glasses  but at least I'm not fat." I was really internalising a terrible, toxic expectation about how women are supposed to look. Being somebody who does very public work now, I feel troubled by the fact that even if you're a woman who does thinking as a job, there's still an expectation that your body needs to be seen. I don't like it. You featured on the cover of British Vogue in January, among a group the magazine tagged the New Suffragettes. What was posing for the photos like? My future is definitely not in modelling. I can't believe how long it takes. It takes all day! I've done a few photo shoots since the book came out. It's understandable: I'm a young, photogenic woman under 30. Most people who write ideas books are middle-aged, not-very-photogenic men. Nobody wants to takes pictures of them! But it feels completely the opposite of everything I've tried to do with my life. At the same time, I understand readers want to see who's behind what they're reading. I don't love it. At the same time, most authors don't even get to have pictures of themselves. So can I complain? I mean, I can. But should I? [Laughs]

DEATH How do you feel about the concept that you're going to die one day? Pretty good about it, honestly. "Pretty good" is a rare response! Why do you feel that way about it?

Because I've done what I wanted to do in the world. Very few people get to say that. What did you want to do, specifically? Attempt to fundamentally change the way my country thinks and talks about race. I did that. I'm not saying "I did it" in a dismissive way. It took me many years, but I achieved that goal. Since the book came out, I'm like, "That's me done." Now it's weird. I actually have to think, "All right, what do I want to do next?" Any answers? It's just boring and conventional: be married and have children. The things other people want to do! But now I'm like, "Well, I suppose those are things that give people's lives meaning, too." The book was giving my life meaning for a long time. I've done it. So I wouldn't be angry about being hit by a bus tomorrow.
Internationally famous fashionista, Bandana Tewari, is a front row regular in both Milan and Mumbai.

The editor-at-large of Vogue India, however, is aware that many Indian women engage with the fashion industry in a different way: not just as workers in her country's fast-fashion factories, but also its less known, and less regulated, home handiwork industry.

Vogue India editor-at-large, Bandana Tewari.

"When you see clothes that look like they've been embroidered by hand, it's probably an Indian woman who is sitting in a village after she's fed her kids, who sits in her one-bedroom home, on her bed, and does hundreds of these T-shirts," she says.

"Ethical fashion is about human rights and gender rights."
Q: Our son bought us some rather expensive Neil Diamond concert tickets. When the tour was cancelled, our son pocketed the refund! What is the go? M.N., BUNDOORA, VIC

A: It's a shame you missed out on the Neil Diamond concert because he's a great live act, even though he is the guy who sang Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon, which has a creepy song quotient of ickkkk to the power of ewwwwwwww. He's also the guy who wrote, " 'I am,' I said, to no one there, and no one heard at all, not even the chair." I mean, Neil could have rhymed any other word with "there" and it would have been better than "chair": bear, underwear, prickly pear, Linda Blair. Even "Department of Community Welfare."

Illustration by Simon Letch.

Still, it's very sad that Neil Diamond cancelled his concert, and even sadder that Neil Diamond is never touring again, and saddest of all that your son pocketed the concert ticket refund. As Neil himself might have sung, "You are the son, I am the moon. You bought me tix, I got no tune, pay me." In fact, maybe that's how you and your partner need to confront your son: with painfully forced, diabolically unfunny Neil Diamond song parodies. Throw on spangly-tasselled Neil Diamond shirts, glue on a pair of bushy, 1970s Neil Diamond sideburns, then surprise your son with a rousing version of Sweet Caroline, ("Sweeeeeeeet Christmas gift, ba ba ba! Where's that gift you gave to ussssss??????") Then segue into a heartbreaking You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore ("You don't give us refunds, anyyyymoooooooore ")

Then plunge into an uptempo crowd-pleasing Cracklin' Rosie ("Pay it now, pay it now, pay it now, my baaaaaaby!") And just keep singing and dancing and hip-thrusting in your obscenely tight Neil Diamond leather pants until he gives you the money just to make you stop.
It was the place to meet friends for a movie in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, but it's the end of yet another era for the old Center Cinema building at 50 Bunda Street, Civic.

Owners of Academy Club, which opened at 50 Bunda Street in 2004, have decided to close the nightspot after more than 14 years of operating as a "breeding ground for new musical talent".

Academy Club owner Frank Condi and other owners will now focus exclusively on their other nightspot, Mr Wolf.

Club owner Ryan Sabet said the expiration of the club's lease at the end of April 2018 "just felt right" for the timing of the club's closure.

"The vision was always about bringing to Canberra a nightclub experience that you would find internationally, and about showcasing all kinds of international and national musical talent," Mr Sabet said.
"I've stood naked in front of a room full of people so I feel like I can pretty much do anything."

There's a side effect to performing burlesque that Canberra mum and public servant Rachel Reid (stage name Jazida) can't get enough of.

"It's really empowering to perform and I've noticed the longer I do it, the more that empowerment accidentally spills over to more parts of my life," Reid says.

Rachel Reid, aka Jazida, in her Candy Land burlesque costume. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

"I feel like, well I've taken my clothes off in front of a room full of people so I suppose that I can now turn around to my boss and tell them I don't agree, or give my opinion louder.
A Greenway man accused of trying to film a woman under the door of a change room in a Canberra Kmart was on Friday found guilty of the crime. The magistrate was not persuaded by the man's defence that he had been wrongly accused while the real peeping Tom had slipped away.

Dane Christian Muench, 33, was charged over the October 16, 2016, incident after police released surveillance footage of the suspect at the Tuggeranong Hyperdome, and someone recognised Muench. He pleaded not guilty to attempting to capture intimate data.

Dane Muench in surveillance footage at the shopping centre.

The woman told the court she had entered the change room cubicle to try on some clothes, but as she undressed saw a black phone pointed at her from under the next cubicle.

She pulled out her own phone and started filming, in footage that was later played to the ACT Magistrates Court when the case was heard last year.
Former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias outside ICAC. Credit:Janie Barrett

The partner of disgraced former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias - who is alleged to have worked with him to put together up to $30 million worth of land deals at a NSW Aboriginal land council - has failed in a bid to have an ICAC inquiry into the transactions shut down.

But an appeal has been launched, after the Supreme Court threw out the complaint made by Knightsbridge North Lawyers, of which Despina Bakis is the sole director and shareholder.

The Supreme Court was asked to declare the corruption watchdog's investigation "void" and "infected by jurisdictional error".

It was also requested the court make orders "restraining ICAC from continuing to investigate the subject matter and from conducting a public inquiry into it".

However Justice Des Fagan dismissed the complaint and ordered Knightsbridge to pay ICAC's costs, finding the matters being investigated were "capable of being corrupt conduct when seen against the background facts."
The Duchess of Cornwall spoke about domestic violence during a lunch at the Women of the World Festival on Friday.

Camilla arrived at the Brisbane Powerhouse without husband Prince Charles, who flew Bundaberg for a community barbecue, and was greeted by former governor-general Quentin Bryce, WOW founder Jude Kelly and Australian executive producer Cathy Hunt.

Camilla said hello to people gathered in the Brisbane Powerhouse for the Women of the World festival. Credit:Felicity Caldwell

"It's so lovely to be here," the Duchess of Cornwall said.

Wearing a blue paisley chiffon dress designed by Anna Valentine, a pearl necklace and earrings and nude heels, Camilla stopped to speak with visitors to the festival, including Evie and Grace Tanner, aged 5 and 7, who told the Duchess they had been on a trip to the beach.
Prince Charles has met with the Irwins, sampled Queensland rum, championed conservation and praised the resilience of Aussies, as his royal tour for the Commonwealth Games continues.

Visiting Bundaberg on Friday for a community barbecue, the Prince of Wales saluted the "wonderful" people of the city for their strength in the face of recent natural disasters.

Terri Irwin, left, Bob Irwin, Bindi Irwin and Britain's Prince Charles before a roundtable meeting, discussing coral resilience on Lady Elliot Island. Credit:Mick Tsikas/AAP/Pool

"The Australian spirit and character is such that you are unbelievably resilient and somehow you've managed, regardless of what happened," he said.

"That is one of the great characteristics I've always admired [about Australians] ever since I first came here 52 years ago."
Just before 10am on Friday, Audrey Blair and her friends, one of them still carrying his blanket, were ordered out of Brisbane's central square.

It was nothing new for the handful of homeless young people, part of a dozen-strong group aged between 12 and 20, and used to police telling them to move on.

Police move a group of homeless young people on from King George Square in Brisbane.

The one thing different about Friday was the justification. Half a dozen police, some of many brought in from throughout Queensland told them they had to make way for the Duchess of Cornwall, Ms Blair said.

It's like they're trying to make everything look perfect, she said.
An image from CCTV showing police pinning pensioner John to the ground.

Victoria Police has suspended four officers from duty over allegations of brutality days after The Age published footage showing them using excessive force.

Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, head of Professional Standards Command, said in a statement on Friday that the force had temporarily stood down the officers ahead of an investigation by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.

Three of the officers suspended were involved in an incident at Preston last September that saw disability pensioner 'John' pinned down, beaten with a baton, doused in capsicum spray and blasted in the face with water from a high-pressure garden hose.
An officer alleged to have engaged in racial profiling and harassment of African-Australian youths was moved to Victoria Polices ethical standards unit, only to be moved out following protests from his complainants.

Sergeant Nick Konstantinidis was deployed last year to Professional Standards Command, the division that promotes high ethical standards within the police force and investigates public complaints of alleged police misconduct.

Complaints were made about Sergeant Konstanidis. Credit:Josh Robenstone.

This was despite him having been the subject of a landmark racial discrimination case some years earlier, in which several young African-Australian men took legal action over their claims of persistent racial harassment by police in and around Flemington and North Melbourne.

Sergeant Konstantinidis was moved out of the area at the time the claims were being pursued.
The early days of the Abbott Government saw an amazing moment when theory, zeal and ideology knew few limits, and Cabinet told domestic car manufacturers  and later a cannery  to go jump. Cabinet was well aware of the South Australian job implications, but thought, probably rightly, that the economy would be better off in the long run. This proved to be one of the few occasions  and the last -- in which the courage of the Abbott and Turnbull governments has ever brought it within sight of the enemy. From then on, particularly under Malcolm Turnbull, it has been frank retreat, to the point where the short, the medium and the long term cost of the new submarine purchase is many times what it should be so as to create jobs for South Australians. Compared with this political imperative no one cares about getting the best, the best-value or the most suitable submarines. Forty years ago, a ginger group of Liberals led by John Hyde and Jim Carlton began to agitate for a new party ideology focused on the idea that markets were the best, most effective and even, usually, the most moral, ways of rationing resources, even public resources. Converts, including the then Treasurer, John Howard, came in time to be bitterly critical of the caution and timidity with which then prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, applied political, economic and party philosophy to the resolution of problems of government. Fraser came from the school of Bob Menzies, not Adam Smith. The Menzies Liberal Party purported to believe in free markets, but was quite comfortable regulating and in restricting free competition. It was comfortable using the purchasing and spending power of government, and its moral and legal powers, to impose its will on markets or on individual players. If it had a more restrained and narrow view than Labor about the role of government in promoting and causing social change, it was, in modern day terms at least, very much in the camp of big government. It believed that direct regulation and intervention were necessary to prevent the brutality of pure market forces being visited on people facing disadvantage.

The Liberal Partys shift to the right was matched  sometimes even led  by a similar shift to the right by the Labor Party under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating during the 1980s and 1990s. The political landscape, and the thinking of the bureaucracy and the institutions, and the commentariat, changed markedly towards a strong belief in markets. Much of the electorate never actually went along with this shift of approach, particularly as it led to privatisations, contracting out of services, and an increasing focus on rationing and coercion. But voters were at least a bit susceptible to panicky slogans about Budget deficits, an alleged need to reduce the size of government and reduce the crippling burden of taxes, particularly on business and the rich, and on the need to administer tough love, and frugality, on those at the bottom of the heap. Other rich economies became influenced by much the same ideas, in any event heavily promoted by organisations such as the OECD. In some countries, such as the US, outbreaks of liberalism, neo-liberalism, fear and loathing of government and white nationalism have produced new movements such as the Tea Party as well as isolationist, anti-immigration groups, who want to opt out of international trade liberalisation, blamed for lost local jobs. Free market fervour has reached its zenith. There is remaining rhetorical lip service paid to its doctrines. But what governments have been doing, as opposed to saying, is back to big government interventionism. Why should markets be let rip, even the zealot might argue, when one sees the rapacity with which big banks have ripped off their customers? Or the blandness with which chief executives have blamed problems on a few bad apples, and received fresh bonuses? Or has seen businessmen proclaiming the virtues of transparency and fair process while demanding (and often getting) special favours, licences, grants and exclusive rights, free of the competition they otherwise extol?

Changing views about the role of markets and government affected government and politicians rather more than they affected the approach of business, or the way the electorate saw things. The size of government has not much changed in recent times. The long-term tendency has been for it to increase, a process somewhat masked by the number of continuing functions taken off-budget. Modern government is about 60 per cent bigger, as a proportion of GDP, than in Whitlams day, when, allegedly, government was so profligate as to almost inspire mutiny, revolt, chaos and economic and moral collapse. Since then, new governments have tended to prune expenditure, but not by much, and not for very long. Barr no longer battles against any federal contraction of money spent in Canberra. That, still as ever, is the main driver of local jobs and prosperity. The biggest modern constraint on the budget bottom line is on the revenue side, largely due to automatic levers created, more unwittingly than intentionally, by John Howard and Peter Costello. The state or territory politician does not look only to national and international views about government activism. The record does not, or should not, offer much encouragement for bold action. Leaders have sought to promote growth in their polity by schemes to encourage the entry of new businesses through tax concessions, by direct (if not always transparent) subsidy, and by using the power of government itself as a customer and player to reward and punish other players. Some premiers and chief ministers have driven hard their pet theories of how the states growth and political and economic future might be secured. Sometimes their ideas have worked for a while. Generally, their costs and benefits have been accurately charted, most often by Royal Commissions when the music stopped and everything went terribly wrong. We all remember WA Inc and the slow implosion of the recent mining boom, the South Australian State Bank affair, the Fitzgerald Royal Commission in Queensland, and Tricontinental in Victoria, and any number of boosting-the-economy schemes in Tasmania.

The last hard driver of the ACT economy  in a far tougher economic climate than Barr has faced  was Kate Carnell, whose demise was linked to stadiumitis and to making a public spectacle of the demise of a Canberra hospital. In NSW we have an almost continuous ICAC show, periodical inquiries reminding us how inevitably police follow the example of their political masters, and ample cases of the political diversion of money away from infrastructure, education health and essential services towards Olympic circuses, mates, and public-private projects where profit goes in one direction and risk and long-term consequences in the other. Many of those who conceived of such schemes of actively driving their economies were in no way corrupt. When they were being blamed, often after initial apparent success, it was often for getting deeply out of their depth, or failing to anticipate external circumstances they were in no position to control. In almost every case there were smarties, particularly in the private sector, seeking opportunities from the start, and well aware of how easily politicians can be flattered and told how wise and statesmenlike they are. So too with bureaucrats, few of whom have any great experience in business, and fewer of whom these days seem to have much sense of the public interest. The lesson to be drawn from such debacles is that government works best when it creates the environment in which business, enterprise, and imagination can flourish. Getting too involved, driving too hard, inevitably leads to disaster. It happens with picking winners." It happens with beggar-my-neighbour schemes to lure businesses (or sporting enterprises, or airlines) with concessions, rationalised as being well worthwhile because they will bring employment, or tourism, or business for restaurants. It happens when government decided to subsidise or invest in marginal economic propositions  if, indeed, they were not marginal at best, no one would be asking for government help.
Canberra unit owners say the Barr governments hikes to their rates last year created substantial inequities in the way apartments and townhouses are taxed across the city.

In a series of stinging submissions to an ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry, landlords and owner-occupiers have lashed the Labor-Greens government for changing the way it calculated rates for apartment blocks and unit complexes.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr answers questions from the media on budget day last year. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong

Before, rates were calculated after the property's unimproved value had been divided between the number of apartments of units there were on site.

That meant most apartments fell into the lowest tax bracket.
"Talk of changing Malcolm Turnbull is in the Canberra bubble," says Elgood. Which is exactly where a good many of his MPs and senators dwell. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out calling a leadership spill once he hits the same polling result he used to topple Tony Abbott. Credit:Fairfax Media As the knives stabbing into Julius Caesar's back in playhouses around the world year in and year out attest, Australian politicians didn't invent internal rivalries and bitter feuds in politics.

The Monash University political psychologist James Walter remarks of the government's current condition: "When both leadership and a common cause fail, we should remember Churchill said in politics your greatest enemies are always behind you!" And that's the point. Regicide and fratricide are established norms in politics. It's just that they flourish under some conditions more than others. Australia seems to have had ideal conditions, Canberra winning the dismal distinction of being dubbed the "coup capital of the Western world".

The big picture is that a complacent and introspective political class, reigning over the world's longest running economic boom, has taken to indulging itself in parlour games. Loading

It began in Labor, with the destruction of a first term prime minister in 2010. Julia Gillard's coup against Kevin Rudd set off the cycle of vengeance. Rudd then brought her down. The Coalition, rather than seeing this as a shocking betrayal of the people's trust, thought it looked rather fun. It is now deep in its own cycle of vengeance. Tony Abbott today is every bit as angry at Malcolm Turnbull as Kevin Rudd was at Julia Gillard. Within that broader, eight-year pathology of coups and counter-coups and frenzied political fratricide, there is the specific picture of today's problem of the Turnbull government. As Walter says, leadership has failed and a common cause eludes the Coalition. How has leadership failed? Turnbull's critics in the conservative camp, Tony Abbott and his acolytes, will answer that he has failed to deliver on their agenda, the agenda of the party's "base". They will answer that he's too soft on the unions, that he's too committed to the makebelieve of man-made climate change, that he can't see the damage being done by runaway immigration, that he's failed to cut taxes and spending. The rest of the electorate will answer that he's been too straitjacketed by the demands of the conservatives. In focus groups of uncommitted voters in marginal electorates in Sydney and Melbourne last year, this was universally held.

Loading "If he just had the guts, the political will," said a younger voter from Melbourne. Said an older voter in western Sydney: "He just needs to grow, pardon me, balls." Another said: "We've switched off." Since then, he's presided over the success of the same-sex marriage plebiscite and has legislated a company tax cut for smaller businesses, with turnover up to $50 million a year. But whatever he does, he seems unable to win credit with an electorate that long ago lost interest and hope in his leadership. But what about the Fairfax/Ipsos poll result showing that people want him kept in place? Jess Elgood again: "We don't want change - we don't necessarily say we like Malcolm Turnbull. We don't have the evidence for that. I read it as 'we don't want change'." If the Prime Minister is to be removed, it's the voters who will do it, is the message. The people get their say once every three years. They don't want political schemers and factional apparatchiks to usurp their choice between times. As for unity of purpose, some among the Coalition's conservatives have demonstrated afresh that they cannot unify behind Turnbull. This week's launch of the so-called Monash Forum is a stark example. Its leading lights are Abbott and his veteran loyalists Kevin Andrews and Eric Abetz, plus the former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce. Members of the Monash Forum include Craig Kelly, Eric Abetz, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Andrews. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

It is plainly a device to destabilise the government. Nothing less and nothing more. The forum, with half a dozen real members but claiming up to 20, purports to be a "ginger group" to mobilise support for the federal government to build a coal-fired power plant. As a campaigning device, this is not a stupid idea. It's akin to Donald Trump's highly successful campaign device of a wall across the Mexican border. It's not so much a realistic policy plan. Its power is symbolic. It is a symbol of a specific object designed to embody a political sentiment. And that sentiment is anger. It's anger at the left and its prized ideals. The symbol is designed to be as offensive as possible to the dearest beliefs of the ideological enemy. Trump's wall offends the concepts of immigration, immigrants and non-discrimination. Freshly built coal-fired power offends the concepts of man-made climate change, renewable energy and environmentalism. But instead of railing against concepts, the wall and power plant pose a specific hurt. If realised, they'd be an actual, physical agent of harm to the some of the dearest values and interests of the left. As powerful as it is a campaigning device for Coalition conservatives, the coal-fired power plant is even better as a destabilising device against their own leader.

The Turnbull government is tantalisingly close to winning the support of the states for its proposed electricity policy, the national energy guarantee. The federal and state ministers are to meet as the Council of Australian Governments in a couple of weeks to decide its fate. The Turnbull plan has no call for a new, government-built, coal-fired power plant. The Monash Forum won't meet before COAG - there are no parliamentary sittings till well after. Instead, if Turnbull succeeds with his policy, the group can be brought together afterwards to impose a new and impossible demand on Turnbull. You may think the group, which has been roundly abused for appropriating the name of an Australian war hero for its own aggrandisement, is just a few second-hand cranks. But a former prime minister and former deputy prime minister have guaranteed media platforms whenever they choose. The capacity to destabilise is infinite. All under the guise of a serious policy proposal. The government's polling position isn't great. On Monday we'll likely learn that Turnbull has failed his self-inflicted leadership test, losing 30 Newspolls in a row. Likewise, today's Fairfax-Ipsos poll has the government in an election-losing position, 48 per cent to Labor's 52.

But this is not a hopeless situation. A shift of just a few percentage points would reverse the government's standing. However, it becomes a hopeless situation when the government destroys itself from within, and when the people give up any hope that it can reform itself. This is increasingly the position the government cements for itself. That's why, in the Canberra bubble, talk of removing Turnbull is increasingly rife. The cycle of vengeance is still working itself through, and the Coalition is unable to short-circuit it. This doesn't mean that Abbott will emerge as the new prime minister, merely that Turnbull is his target. The party is more likely to choose a new leader, not a recycled one.
The Treasurer and others might well look to behavioural psychology and behavioural economics when framing the Budget, but we would be better off if they ignored them.

It took several decades for mainstream economists to accept that the economists view of the world was essentially flawed.

For a long time, classical economists worked on the theory that humans act rationally in their self-interest to maximise utility, so people should be given as much choice as possible and markets will sort everything out for the benefit of all.

Then along came the behavioural psychologists who proved this was wrong. They showed that people were not rational and often did not act in their own best interests. In particular, people were averse to loss.

Given a choice between a certain gift of $500 or a toss of a coin with tails yielding zero and heads yielding $1100, nearly everyone takes the certain $500. This is despite the fact that the 50 per cent chance of more than double the $500 is clearly worth more than $500.
On Monday morning we will find out for sure three things that we really already knew.

The first is that Malcolm Turnbull will have lost his 30th Newspoll in a row. This is significant, of course, because it was the marker he originally laid down as a reason for challenging Tony Abbott and seizing the prime minister-ship. At the time he insisted "We have to make a change for our country's sake; for the government's sake; for the parties sake." What a difference three years makes.

The second thing we'll learn is that, despite his bumping and bumbling along at his polling nadir, Turnbull will declare that the rule doesnt apply to him. Hell insist on continuing as PM.

The final issue is that nobody else has the numbers to challenge. Yet.

Nevertheless, even our egotistical PM is realistic enough to understand his time has run out. Turnbulls judgement of Abbott back in September 2015 was spot on: theres absolutely no chance that anyone can overcome such an entrenched deficit. It becomes the story: the prism through which everything the government done is seen.
Australians havent seen such turnarounds since the start of the century for one very simple reason: no prime minister since Howard has been given the chance by their party to work their way out of trouble, or even to finish their first term as leader. The party rooms and caucuses of the major parties have allowed themselves to become so spooked by opinion polls that again and again they have cut down their leaders in their first terms, replacing them with alternatives who have done no better than those they replaced. We went from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard and back to Rudd again. Credit:Andrew Meares Australians will never know whether Kevin Rudd would have led Labor to victory in 2010. Hobbled by polls showing he might lose - despite earlier enjoying record popularity - his party panicked and chose Julia Gillard ... and she and the party did so poorly no one knew who would govern Australia for several days until she won the support of two independents. Gillard didnt make it to a second election. Suffering terrible polls and internal party divisions, she gave way to Rudd 2.0. He failed, too.

Tony Abbott surfed to a smashing victory in 2013. He lasted precisely two years before Turnbull, citing the aforementioned 30 negative polls, tore him down. Turnbull ran such a poor election campaign in 2016 he lost virtually all the gains of 2013 and his Coalition only squeaked home. And here we are. Back to the future. But what if a party in trouble stuck with its prime minister right through a political term to a new election despite its members waking every week or so to frightening polls? The sweetest victory of all: Paul Keating with his then wife Anita on election night in 1993. Credit:Amanda Watkins

Labor did it in 1992 and 1993 when, having removed its most successful prime minister, Bob Hawke, it watched the new PM, Paul Keating, sink in to a swamp of apparently hopeless polls. Keating, with an approval rating at minus 25, looked gone, and the vast majority of commentators predicted, right up to polling night in 1993, that he was finished. The Liberals John Hewson, who needed to win only five seats, was so fancied that a major newspaper actually declared on election night that hed won. In fact, Keating, having been allowed to stay the distance, won his sweetest victory of all, and Hewson was derided (by John Howard) for losing the unloseable election. And then there was John Howard in 2001. Right through 2000 and for the first half of 2001, few observers - including Howards own colleagues - believed he could hold on to government. Howard had just managed to scrape back to power in 1998 despite winning less than half the two-party preferred vote. Kim Beazleys Labor team won 50.98 per cent and Howards Coalition won only 49.02 per cent. Howard claimed victory because the Coalition won a slight majority of seats. Howard was on the back foot from then on as he struggled to win approval of his promised Goods and Services Tax (the one hed earlier said hed never, ever produce), which, after being compromised by political deals, finally came into force in July 2000.

By June 2000, the Roy Morgan polling organisation found the Liberal Party was at its lowest rating ever. Only 30 per cent of voters said they would vote Liberal. The National Partys tiny offering took the Coalitions primary vote to just 33.5 per cent. On a two-party preferred basis, the Coalition was on a pitiful 40 per cent to Labors 60 per cent. Over the following year, Howards Coalition never got near Labor. Howard entered 2001, the election year, to screams of anger from all sides. Business people werent coping with GST paperwork, the nations roads were breaking up, Queensland voters had all but wiped away the states Liberal and National MPs (Labor would soon hold all states and territories), and the federal president of the Liberal Party, Shane Stone, wrote a secret memo saying the Howard government was perceived as mean and tricky. The memo leaked. Howard ordered major policy changes to deal with the nations complaints, gaining himself some traction. In the middle of the year, faced with a crucial byelection in the seat of Aston in Melbournes eastern suburbs, Howard looked at the suburban sea of red-tiled roofs and had a blinding moment of clarity. He would double the first-home buyers grant to $14,000, and he would buy new toolboxes for young tradies. Against all expectations, the Liberal candidate won the seat of Aston. Howard was back.

A month later, the good ship Tampa, laden with asylum seekers, sailed across the horizon, and Howard began sharpening his cry about we will decide who comes to Australia. A month after that, Howard was in Washington DC when jets hijacked by terrorists smashed into New York City and the Pentagon. Howard, counted out by the polls for years, led his Coalition to an immense victory the following month, winning 82 seats to Labors 65. Kim Beazleys ALP recorded its lowest primary vote since 1934. Howard, given the chance by his sceptical and worried colleagues, had changed the domestic political landscape and used circumstance and unpredictable history to his advantage. Malcolm Turnbull targeted Tony Abbott's economic leadership, as well as his Newspoll record. Credit:Andrew Meares Turnbull is no John Howard, of course, and the likelihood that a ship like the Tampa might appear across the horizon, or that jets might smash into New York City, are remote.
Facebook has announced that it will require more disclosure for advertisers pushing viewpoints on social issues as co-founder Mark Zuckerberg prepares to face US legislators angered over data leaks and Russian internet trolls.

The company said those placing issue ads on Facebook will need to verify their identity and location, the same way as those placing candidate ads. Anyone who doesn't go through those steps won't be able to run either type, Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.

Facebook will hire more people to make the change before the 2018 US midterm elections. The company also said it would require managers of popular Facebook pages to have their identity verified.

"This will make it much harder for people to run pages using fake accounts, or to grow virally and spread misinformation or divisive content that way," Zuckerberg said.
Seoul: Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye has been formally convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison, a year after she was driven from office and arrested over a corruption scandal that saw months of massive street rallies calling for her ouster.

People watch a TV screen showing file footage of former South Korean president Park Geun-hye during a news program on Friday. Credit:AP

The conviction, which she can appeal, is the latest hit in a dramatic fall for South Korea's first female president. Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, she was dubbed Queen of Elections by local media for her track record of leading her party to victory in tight races and still has a small group of fierce supporters who regularly stage rallies calling for her release.
Jakarta: Malaysians will deliver their judgment on scandal-plagued Prime Minister Najib Razak in weeks, after he announced on Friday he was dissolving Parliament to clear the way for a general election.

Malaysian PM Najib Razak is seen on television announcing he obtained consent from Malaysia's king to dissolve Parliament. Credit:AP

In an extraordinary press conference, opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad predicted a dirty election campaign, compared Najib to former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos and even suggested he himself could be assassinated.

In a blow to the Pakatan Harapan coalition of opposition parties led by Mahathir, Malaysian authorities ordered his Parti Pribumi Bersatu be temporarily disbanded on Thursday because of problems with its registration paperwork.
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Shes written a moving comedy!

A British-Trinidadian playwright will launch a heartwarming comedy about immigration and messy relationships this weekend. Mother-in-Law, opening at the Black Lady Theatre in Bedford-Stuyvesant on April 7, follows undocumented immigrant Petra as she prepares to marry her fiance Philo, only to face interference from her soon-to-be mother-in-law. Playwright B. Nandi Jacob said that she rewrote her main character several times in order to make her story more relevant to the current situation with Caribbean immigrants  a subject that is rarely joked about.

She wasnt always undocumented, but her story is very important to the community, and it raises the stakes about immigration, said Jacob. But I really want people to get a critical story and laugh. I thought it was important enough to highlight while laughing, because my creative arts is always surrounded with laughter and being able to find joy somehow.

Set in a Brownsville apartment, the stage play contrasts the highly educated Petra with her fame-seeking fiance Philo, who Jacob describes as a glorified subway performer.

This guy wants to be Soca star, and he sings on the 4 train and tosses his hat around for money, she said.

Both are Trinidadian, but Petras immigration status comes with a lot of setbacks. And when she suspects that her not-quite mother-in-law is plotting to send her back to Trinidad, it puts a great deal of stress on her relationship with Philo, said Jacob.

She is frustrated with him, because to him, his mom can do no wrong, she said. But as the plot unfolds, he has to make a choice.

Jacob says mainstream news outlets focus on Mexican and South American immigrants, ignoring how black and Caribbean immigrants are also affected by the new restrictions, and that her play is a rare chance to learn about a story facing many in the Caribbean community.

In the immigration struggle  we are literally absent from it, but this issue has always been in our community, especially for those who came here and are undocumented, she said. And now that immigration has tightened up, there are many undocumented immigrants who are impacted, and going through a marriage like Petras. For Caribbean people, theres a lot of us who know so many stories like this, and my ultimate goal is to get that message out there  and make people laugh.

Mother-in-Law at the Black Lady Theatre [750 Nostrand Ave. between Park and Sterling places in Bedford-Stuyvesant, (718) 7710900, www.thebl ackla dythe atre.com ]. April 7 at 8 pm. $30.

Reach reporter Alexandra Simon at (718) 2608310 or e-mail her at asimo n@cng local.com .
Number of companies with promoters' pledged holding has been rising over the past two months, a phenomenon hardly visible in the 9-10 months before this period. Data available on the BSE website, which provides the information every month, reveals that since the month of May 2017, the volume of companies with promoters' pledged holding have either remained at same levels or have declined till January 2018. In the past two months, however, there was a trend reversal with 83 more companies with promoters' pledged holding - February added 71 and March had an addition of 12 companies. Pledging of shares was seen in 3,074 out of 5,035 BSE-listed companies as on March 2018.

Amid falling markets, though, there was a decline in terms of value. The value of shares pledged by promoters dipped around 6 per cent, from Rs 2, 53,798 crore in February to Rs 2, 39, 611 crore in March. It declined around 7 per cent in February. The markets fell around 3.2 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively in the past two months. In January, the value declined sharply -- around 10 per cent -- compared to the preceding month, primarily due to the fall in the number of companies with promoters' pledged holding.

High pledging levels are not considered as a healthy attribute by investors. Promoters of three companies pledged 75-90 per cent of their holdings in February which reduced to zero in the following month. However, 81 firms saw 50-75 per cent of their promoters' holding worth Rs 28,255 crore, compared to 78 firms in February.

It was interesting to note that the ratio of value promoters' pledged holding to value of shares pledged with non-banking financial companies (NBFC) have increased significantly to around 60 per cent in March from 39 per cent in December 2017.

Share pledging is done by promoters to raise funds with financial institutions as collateral for loans. And as per the Reserve Bank of India guidelines, a loan-to-value ratio of 50 per cent is required to be maintained. All NBFCs with asset size of Rs100 crore and above should report on-line to stock exchanges information on the shares pledged in their favour by borrowers for availing loans.
Rajiv Kochhar, Avista Advisory's founder and CEO, and brother-in-law to ICICI Bank's chief, Chanda Kochhar , was intercepted at Mumbai airport on Thursday while he was about to board a flight for a South East Asian country, on the basis of a look-out circular issued by the investigative agency.

He was then reportedly taken to CBI's Bandra office where he was grilled for six hours in connection with ICICI Bank's alleged quid pro quo loan of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon Group in 2012 as well as his links with Venugopal Dhoot, the promoter of the Videocon Group. According to officials, the CBI questioned Rajiv for the second day today.

The Indian Express recently reported that over the past six years, Avista Advisory got the mandate to restructure foreign currency-denominated debt deals worth over $1.7 billion of seven companies, all of which had taken loans from ICICI Bank at the same time.

For instance, the Singapore-based financial services company acted as "Debtor Advisor" in the restructuring of $200-million FCCBs of Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. ICICI Bank was not only a lender to the latter but also received equity under the corporate debt restructuring package. A similar story played out with GTL Infrastructure in 2012. Significantly, Avista's website mentions two loan restructuring deals involving the Videocon Group.

According to the India Today, Chanda's husband Deepak Kochhar will also be interrogated by the CBI. The latter has already registered a preliminary probe naming Dhoot, Deepak and unidentified others in connection with the loan. A preliminary inquiry is the first step by the CBI to gather information about the allegations. If the agency is convinced there exists prima facie material in the matter, it may register a regular case against the accused. The CBI has already questioned some ICICI officials, who were part of the entire loan process in 2012, as part of the probe to find any quid pro quo.

Deepak is the co-founder and CEO of NuPower Renewables, a firm originally founded as a 50-50 joint venture between the family of Videocon Industries Limited chief Venugopal Dhoot and the Advani family. Around that time, Chanda Kochhar was the CFO and Joint MD at ICICI Bank. Central investigators swung into action when the mainstream media accused the Kochhars of wrongful personal gains from the loan mentioned above to Videocon Group companies.

Even as all the parties involved have been vociferously denying allegations of wrongdoing and any conflict of interest, the Income Tax Department has reportedly already swung into action. "Deepak Kochhar along with few other people of the firm has been served notices by the department [under provisions of section 131 of the Income Tax Act]. All have been asked to furnish the required details and submit some documents," a source told India Today. Section 131 empowers income tax authorities to conduct inquiries. It provides powers to summon persons/witnesses, examine them under oath, compel production of books of accounts and documents as well as issue commissions.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has reportedly also sought permission from the ministry of corporate affairs to probe the case.

Deepak Kochhar, however, in an interview to India Today has said investigative agencies have not reached out to him or his wife for questioning. "I will have to give all documents to investigative agencies when they ask. I will. I have not been asked yet for questioning. Chanda has not been asked yet for questioning," he said.

Business Today has previously reported that the report on the basis of which the bank decided to back Chanda was an internal evaluation carried out by Chairman MK Sharma. No third party or external consultancy, accounting or forensics firm was hired to present its findings before the board. Propriety demands that the process should have been evaluated and vetted by a third party instead.

With PTI inputs
Tata Steel's India business has achieved highest-ever annual sales of 12.13 million tonne (MT) in the financial year ending March 2018--- a growth of 11 per cent compared to the previous year. It recorded the best-ever annual sales in the automotive sector, registering a growth of 21 per cent as against an industry growth of 14 per cent in this period. Tata Steel's global CEO and Managing Director, T. V. Narendran tells Business Today's Nevin John in an email interview that the company will complete the Kalinganagar Phase II expansion of 5 million tonne (MT) within 48 months from the board approval date with an investment of Rs 23,500 crore.

Q: Steel prices are improving and demand too picking up and Tata Steel Group is sorting out its issues in Europe and is going for a JV with Thyssenkrupp. How these major factors will influence the performance of the company?

A: Globally, the steel industry is in a better situation than it was a couple of years back. China has taken supply side action which has reduced its exports, and the demand in both developing and developed countries is picking up which is reflected in better prices and more price stability. Tata Steel is well positioned to leverage the opportunities this creates. In Europe, through the JV, we are trying to create a stronger and more sustainable company, and in India, we are capitalising on opportunities for organic and inorganic growth.

Q: In India, the large steelmakers are creating new capacities or buying assets, expecting a supply deficit by 2021. What is your long-term view on the Indian market, capacity creation and the margins?

A: The consumption of steel in India is expected to at least mirror the GDP growth rate, if not do better than that in the medium to long term. This is because of the infrastructure deficit we have and the Government's plans to address this infrastructure deficit. Also, the increasing investments in the Indian market, the 'Make in India' initiative, the urbanisation trends and a growing middle class are also positives for steel demand. I believe that in India demand will outpace supply over the next few years and that should help the industry improve its margins which will in turn attract new investments in the industry.

Q: Now, the global giants like ArcelorMittal are vying for sick assets for an entry into the Indian market. Will it be a challenge to Tata Steel, at least on client acquisition and pricing fronts?

A: I think the Indian market has room for many strong players. It will be good for our Industry as it will help us push each other to perform better, and it is good for the customers, and it is certainly good for the economy as it will lead to more investments and jobs.

Q: What are your greenfield expansion plans and how much investment will be done to complete it?

A: The Board has recently approved the Kalinganagar Phase II expansion which will take the plant to a capacity of 8 MT from the current level of 3 MT. This will entail an expenditure of Rs 23,500 crore and we have promised to complete it in 48 months from the Board approval date.

Q: Tata Steel India is better positioned in the case of raw material security -- iron ore 100 per cent and coal 30 per cent. Will there be any change when you add capacity in Kalinganagar? If so, how will you manage it?

A: On iron ore, we will continue to invest to grow our production and feed our plants. For coal, we have limitations and will strive to stay at 30 per cent of our needs through our investments in our West Bokaro coal mines. We will also continue to participate in auctions wherever we find the blocks attractive to sustain our requirements over the long term.

Q: What are going to be the short-term and medium-term challenges for the Indian steel business?

A: In the short term, the profitability of the industry has to improve so that we can attract more investments in the industry to cater to the long-term needs of the country. We also need good quality capital equipment manufacturing facilities in India to reduce the dependence on imports. We need to attract and retain the right talent. We also need to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the Industry. The industry players have to improve the internal efficiencies and the government needs to help us reduce our costs outside the factory gates.

Q: Who will get the management control in the European JV that you are planning with Germany's Thyssenkrupp? Will it be like Tata Steel just holding a stake in Europe business and not involving in day-to-day business?

A: As announced earlier, it will be a 50:50 JV and the management structures and operating structures are currently under discussion. Both Thyssen and us are committed to create a strong European entity with a 'one company' structure.

Q: What is your long-term view of the European business? What is your expectation on turnaround of business in Europe?

A: The European business struggled because the market for steel in Europe collapsed post 2008 and it has been the last of the major markets to recover. Even today, steel consumption is not much different from what it was 10 years back. However, we have taken a number of tough calls over the years and our colleagues in Europe have also worked hard to drive greater efficiencies and develop a richer product mix and a stronger market position. Since last year, we are also seeing a certain robustness for steel demand that we have not seen for a long time. The JV will help us create a strong number 2 player in Europe and we have identified 400 to 600 million Euros per year of synergies for the combined entity. We are confident that we are moving in the right direction and are creating a strong and sustainable European business that is well positioned to capitalise on a recovering European market.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formed a five-member committee to oversee the tax implications of the high net worth individuals (HNIs) who leave the country and settle abroad.

The panel, which is led by a joint secretary-rank official and four revenue officers, is expected to meet on Friday and look into the cases of Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and likes. The panel will also look into various hidden clauses so that the government can evaluate the "substantial risk" such migrations pose and devise a policy response accordingly.

A CBDT office order said: "The new panel will coordinate with various Divisions/Directorates of Board in order to evaluate India's position in taxing the migrating HNIs. The Working Group shall also make recommendations for policy decision in respect of tax risks of migrating population."

A recent global survey said that around 23,000 high net worth individuals (HNIs) have left India since 2014, with 7,000 left in 2017 alone. This is the highest among other countries. Around 2.1% super rich have left India, while it is 1.3% for France and 1.1% for China.

A non-resident Indian enjoys a lot of tax benefits as our country, like many others, follows a residence-based tax system. Under this system, residents are taxed on their global income, while the non-residents are taxed on income sourced (received or accrued) in India.

Besides, a non-resident also gets benefits under the country's bilateral tax treaties with countries they have migrated to. The dividends the non-residents receive from Indian companies are tax exempted as per the Indian law. US is the only exception in such cases.

HNI migration has become a global phenomenon as most individuals aspire for better work, better education and better living conditions. Tax mitigation and evasion in many cases is also a big cause.

Experts quoted in various news reports have lauded the move but have said the policy change should target the "intended audience", i.e. those who evade taxes and migrate to other countries.

The existing laws, such as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, have enough scope, where authorities can reopen cases involving foreign assets for up to 16 years. However, they pointed that the practical approach of the tax authorities to book the fraudsters.

They added that cases such the Nirav Modi episode should make lawmakers rethink and re-examine the existing taxation system and the relaxations it gives.

Recently, to avoid cases like Nirav Modi-PNB scam, the government has introduced the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill (FEOB), which will help in freezing and confiscating the assets of economic offenders fleeing India to escape the reach of law. The Bill is still awaiting Parliament's approval.
For Bollywood star Salman Khan, the conviction in the 20-year-old poaching case, has brought to fore the complexities of a strange relationship - rising above the inherent flaws of a human being to being human.

The Bollywood star was convicted for five years under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act for killing two endangered animals near Kankani village in Jodhpur in 1998 while shooting for his movie, Hum Saath Saath Hain.

For a while charity had superseded the "bad boy of Bollywood" image for the jailed actor. He was cheered for his efforts behind the Being Human Foundation, which was registered in 2007 as a non-profit charitable trust, to provide healthcare and primary education to the economically weaker section. For the past decade, the foundation organised cataract surgeries, free eye camps and women healthcare camps across India.

In 2013, Being Human partnered with Fortis Foundation and offered free treatment to children with congenital heart defects. The Little Hearts Programme was aimed at helping children below the poverty line. Till July 2015, 849 surgeries were funded through the Little Hearts Programme.

The foundation has put in place a revenue-sharing model with a private company to fund its programmes. It gets a 5.75 per cent share from the sale of tees, women's wear, kids' wear, jewellery, flip flops and electric bikes, which sell under the Being Human brand.

The foundation has partnered with non-profit Akshara High School, NGO Aseem and the Maharashtra Prabodhan Seva Mandal to provide free education to 500 children directly, and 4,000 indirectly.

It also funds career development centres along with NIIT and Coca-Cola, besides financing educational resource centres across Zilla Parishads in Maharashtra.

It has also provided a platform to skill 2,700 differently-abled persons and make them job-ready under the Project Veer. The Being Human stores have a policy to employ at least one differently-abled person.

The Brand

In 2009, the foundation floated its clothing at HDIL Couture Week 2009, which was supported by a host of Bollywood stars. Khan launched the brand through a tie-up with Cotton & Linen Clothing major Cottonworld. The T-shirts were sold at offline stores and on BookMyShow website. The watches were sold on beinghumanwatches.com.



Talking about his entry into the apparel sector, Khan had said: "Clothes, watches, paintings... whatever talent I have, whatever sells, we will sell it. All the money from that will go into the charitable foundation."



In an interview to Forbes India about the Being Human T-shirt brand, the Tiger Zinda Hain star said: "We couldn't keep asking people for donations. So we have set up this clothing line. We'll sell T-shirts as we are good at it." The venture as well as the products were, however, discontinued later.



Subsequently, the actor roped in Mandhana Retail Ventures Limited (MRVL) in 2011, to design, manufacture, retail, market and globally distribute all Being Human retail merchandise until 2028.



Mandhana also produces apparel for Aditya Birla Nuvo (of Louis Phillipe, Peter England and Allen Solly fame), Pantaloon Retail and ITC (manufacturer of Wills LifeStyle). Their overseas customers include Tommy Hilfiger, All Saints, Simint, Colins, and Pepe Jeans.



As of December 2017, the brand has presence across 15 countries with over 600 points of sale. Besides, it has set up exclusive stores in 45 cities across the country and sells its merchandise through shop-in-shops, distributor networks and online portals, such as Myntra.

Mandhana has also helped the brand foray into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, company sources quoted by The Economic Times said.



The brand is also very famous in West Asia and France and is being sold from 256 points. It has signed an exclusive deal with The Landmark Group for its West Asia business.

In 2016-17, MRVL had posted sales of Rs 216 crore and its net profit was at Rs 20.02 crore, according to its balance sheet.



But, will the conviction in the blackbuck poaching case waterdown all the hard work that he has put in over the past 10 years behind brand Being Human. Unlikely, say industry observers, especially if he can secure a bail on Saturday.



However, if he spends more time behind the bars, it could perhaps dent the company's fortune, but only in the short-term.
Apart from seeking international cooperation from Hong Kong and China on Nirav Modi's arrest, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is finding out whether any official of the RBI helped the PNB scam - worth Rs 13,700 crore - to go on for around seven years. The CBI on Friday questioned former deputy governor of the central bank, Harun Rashid Khan, who was with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) between 2011 and 2016. Firestar Diamond owner Nirav Modi and his uncle and Gitanjali Group owner Mehul Choksi are both accused in the biggest bank scandal in India.



Being the central bank, the RBI conducts statutory audits of banks and keeps a check on their internal systems. Due to the involvement of several PNB officials, the banking system was misused to help Nirav Modi's companies.



Times of India, in a report, says that Khan was also questioned about the 80:20 gold import scheme, released by the UPA government on May 13, 2014. The CBI on Thursday also questioned four senior RBI officials, including three chief general managers and a general manager of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in connection with the gold import rules in 2014.



The government on March 12 said the scheme resulted in a windfall of around Rs 4,500 crore to 13 private entities in just six-month time as it was given a go ahead against the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence decision. Then finance minister P Chidambaram had cleared the scheme just three days before the counting of votes of the General Election. Thereafter, the Modi government had come to power at the centre.



In a statement, the government said the increase in gold imports had put pressure on the current account deficit in 2012-13. And after coming to power, the NDA government took a series of steps, including increasing the import duties on gold and gold products and placing restrictions. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had also said former finance minister P Chidambaram helped Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Group through the UPA government's 80:20 gold import scheme.



The government had earlier said that at first on July 22, 2013, and then on August 14, 2013, the restrictions were modified to introduce the 80:20 scheme, under which, it was mandated that at least 20 per cent of gold imported is to be used for export. Under this scheme, only banks and PSUs like MMTC, STC, etc. were allowed to import gold for domestic use following the 80:20 formula.



The scheme was designed to restrict the import of gold, conserve foreign exchange by imposing export obligations, and ensure the premium from purchase and sale of gold resided in the hands of public agencies.



But, from May 21, 2014, the Premier Trading Houses (PTH) and Star Trading Houses (STH) were also allowed to import gold under the 20:80 scheme. "Then finance minister (P Chidambaram) approved the modified scheme on May 13, 2014, even though the model code of conduct was in place since March 5, 2014, with the announcement of the Lok Sabha Polls, and the counting was due on May 16, 2014," the government had said.



At the time when the scheme was announced, it was known that there was a shortage of gold for domestic use, and a premium between $100 to $150 per ounce (approximately Rs 2 lakh per kg) was being charged from the domestic customers. "Allowing private companies like PTHs and STHs to import gold provided these agencies opportunities of windfall gain, as the benefit of the high premium on gold could now be availed of by these agencies," said the government.
Finally, after two months the Indian government has been able to locate fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi. The government has confirmed the whereabouts of Firestar Diamond owner, who's the main accused in the Rs 13,700-crore PNB fraud, saying he is living in Hong Kong. To stop him from moving to a different country, the government has approached the authorities in Hong Kong for his provisional arrest. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Reports suggest that China, which though rarely interferes in Hong Kong's legal process, might be a hurdle in the businessman's extradition.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) submitted a request to the Hong Kong authorities for Nirav Modi's provisional arrest on March 23. He is the prime accused in the Rs 13,700-crore PNB loan fraud.

Submitting a written response on Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi's whereabouts in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs VK Singh said: "The ministry has sought the provisional arrest of Nirav Deepak Modi by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Peoples Republic of China, for which a request has been submitted to them on March 23, 2018."

He also said the Indian government was in talks with the Chinese government over the issue. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the case along with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), is also exploring all possible options to bring the fugitive businessman back. On the CBI's earlier notice to Nirav Modi to return to India to join the probe, he had said through an email that he has "business outside, so can't join the investigation."

He said the MEA had earlier served them the show-cause notices to explain why the government should not revoke their passports. The government had revoked their passports on February 23 after they failed to respond to the suspension notice in time. "Since they failed to respond within the stipulated time period, their passports were revoked on February 23, 2018," Singh said.

The provisional arrest can prove to be a major step in stopping Nirav Modi from moving out of his current location. Both the businessmen fled the country in the first week of January, around a month before Punjab National Bank came out with a revelation that it had detected a fraud worth several thousand crores of rupees at its Brady House branch in Mumbai.

According to a report in India Today, India's envoy to Beijing, Gautam Bambawale, met with top Hong Kong officials just days before the March 23 request was submitted, although his official visit to the HK SAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) from March 18 was said to have been arranged in advance and not connected to the Nirav Modi case.

The report says the law in Hong Kong gives the region "independent judicial powers, including that of final adjudication" but its judiciary has no power in issues related to "defence and foreign policy".
Patna has come on top among 20 largest cities in India in terms of 4G connectivity. The city outperformed Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, said a report by OpenSignal, in terms of 4G availability metric which indicates where users can access LTE network more of the time. Kanpur came second to Patna in the list.

OpenSignal monitored 4G user experience in 20 of the largest cities of India for a period of 90 days from December 1, 2017. Based on this survey, the top ten spots were given to - Patna, Kanpur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh, and, Bengaluru - in that order. Indicating an expansion of 4G networks across the country, cities from eastern and central regions ranked much better in the 4G availability metrics of the London-based wireless coverage mapping firm this time.

"In our latest measurements, which cover the 90 days from December 1, 2017, we looked at the user experience of 4G availability in 20 of India's largest cities. Four cities from India's central and eastern regions - Patna, Kanpur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Bhopal and Lucknow - made it into our top ten," said the report.

OpenSignal said that these cities will bridge the gap in terms of 4G speed with operator network rollout gathering pace. While Bengaluru managed to feature in the top-ten of the 4G availability metrics, Mumbai secured the 15th sport and national capital Delhi came 17th. Notably, the difference between Indian cities in terms of 4G connectivity is also narrowing down.

"Our measurements show that the disparity in 4G availability between India's cities is also getting slimmer. The difference in our 4G availability metric between top-placed Patna with 92.6% and 10th-placed Bengaluru with 88.3% was just 4.3% points," OpenSignal said in a statement.

Moreover, the condition of 4G connectivity has improved overall, as per the OpenSignal survey. "All 20 cities in our measurements have achieved 4G availability measurements of over 80 per cent -- a score we would expect to see in many of the world's most mature 4G markets," the company said.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio did not only disrupt the telecom industry but also saved Rs 60,000 crores in annual savings for India. The number was put out in a report by the Institute for Competitiveness in March this year. It said that the saving happened due to lower tariffs on data services that led to massive consumption.

"Within six months of Jio's launch, India became the highest mobile data user in the world, consuming over 1 billion GB of data every month compared to 200 million GB earlier," the IFC claimed in its report.

Explaining the methodology to reach this number, IFC said: "Taking a conservative estimate that every consumer uses 1 GB of data a month, we can calculate the financial gains to the economy by estimating the benefit to all 350 million internet subscribers of the country."

However, the report claims that the most recent estimates of the Jio network show that its users on an average consume almost 10 GB of data, 700 minutes of voice and 134 hours of video every month. Such levels of digital consumption were unprecedented a year and a half ago, the IFC said.

The rise in data consumption was a result of improved accessibility and affordability of internet offered by the new entrant. "Jio has managed to change the face of the Indian telecom industry by changing the basis of competition from being voice-based to a data-based platform," the report said.

The IFC has also claimed that the econometric analysis shows that Reliance Jio would boost -if everything in the economy remains constant- India's GDP by about 5.65 per cent.

Last year in March, it was reported that Reliance Jio's promotional offers may have robbed the government of almost Rs 800 crore in revenue. The report emerged after the government saw massive decline in its revenue from licence fee. The government collects licence fees and spectrum usage charges from operators, which are calculated on the basis of their revenue.

However, Jio's free promotional offers forced other telecom companies to bring down their charges, leading to a drop in their revenue. Later, Telecom Secretary JS Deepak in a letter asked the Trai to restrict the period of 'promotional tariffs' offered by telecom companies.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani launched the Group's telecom venture in September 2016. So far, Reliance has spent more than USD 31 billion to break into India's telecom market. Earlier in a speech, Ambani said that in less than two years India has become the number 1 country in mobile broadband usage. "Jio users consumed more than 100 crore GB of data per month and that's more than 3.3 crore GB a day," he had said.
Salman Khan is no stranger to run-ins with the law. In fact, his career has been marked by multiple court cases. The blackbuck poaching case for which he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of Rs 10,000 on Thursday has been going on for nearly twenty years. While Bollywood and his fans have come out in full support, the Bishnoi community, along with lawyers and activists have expressed their satisfaction with the verdict.

Khan spent the night in Jodhpur prison's barrack number 2 and was given inmate number 106. Asaram Bapu, too is lodged there. Salman Khan has been sentenced to five year in prison under Section 51 of Wildlife Protection Act for poaching blackbucks while filming for Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998.

The Case

While filming for the Barjatya's multi-starrer, Salman Khan along with his co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, along with a local, Dushyant Singh allegedly went on a hunting session and killed two of the endangered animals near Kankani village in Jodhpur. The Bishnoi community, who are known for their environmental activism was enraged by this incident and filed a case against the actors. Not only for poaching, Khan was also accused of keeping an arm with an expired arm licence. He was later acquitted of that account. Moreover, the actor was also accused of killing two chinkaras in Bhawad and one in Mathania. He was acquitted of those charges as well by the Rajasthan High Court.

Both the sides completed their arguments on the poaching incident at the Jodhpur Sessions Court last week and the verdict was delivered yesterday. While the other accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence, Salman Khan was convicted and given a jail term.

As the quantum is more than three years, it makes him ineligible for a bail from the same court. Salman Khan has the option of appealing to a higher court and challenging the verdict. Meanwhile, his legal team's first course of action would be to get him bail from Jodhpur prison.

Here are the LIVE updates of the bail plea hearing:

11:59am: "Really Sad to see my friend Salman khan sentenced for 5 year But the Law must take its course & we got to respect the decision of honourable court of India but i still think punishment is to harsh but my heart goes to his family & fans... Am sure he will out soon... (sic)," said Shoaib Akhtar in a tweet.

Really Sad to see my friend Salman khan sentenced for 5 year But the Law must take its course & we got to respect the decision of honourable court of India but i still think punishment is to harsh but my heart goes to his family & fans ..

Am sure he will out soon .. - Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) April 5, 2018

11:57am: The order was deferred because Judge Ravinder Kumar Joshi asked for records from previous cases.

11:53am: Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at Galaxy Apartments. Fans gathered outside the star's residence hoping for positive news and catching a glimpse of the actor returing home. After the deferral, fans gradually dispersed.

11:46am: "I totally respect the Indian judiciary, always have, yet I find myself questioning this rather curious decision of letting everyone else off and convicting," says actor Rohit Roy.

I totally respect the Indian judiciary, always have, yet I find myself questioning this rather curious decision of letting everyone else off and convicting @BeingSalmanKhan - Rohit Roy (@rohitroy500) April 6, 2018

11:25am: The order will be pronounced tomorrow at 10:30am. Salman Khan will have to spend another night in prison.

11:18am: Jodhpur court reserves bail order till tomorrow.

11:02am: According to Pakistan's Geo News, the country's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said "Salman Khan has been sentenced because he's a minority," while speaking to anchor Hamid Mir. Asif further said, "Maybe if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him."

10:52am: Salman Khan's sisters Alvira and Arpita reach the court.

10:45am: "Yesterday I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in bail hearing today," says Mahesh Bora, Salman Khan's counsel.

Yesterday I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in bail hearing today: Mahesh Bora,Salman's Counsel #BlackBuckCase #JodhpurCourt pic.twitter.com/1oceG8uXQY - ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

10:37am: "The accused is a popular actor whose deeds are followed by people. Despite this, the accused hunted two blackbucks," Judge Khatri said in his written judgment after Salman Khan was sentenced.

10:28am: According to multiple reports, a crucial and solitary witness failed to recognise Sonali Bendre and Tabu, while although Saif Ali Khan's presence at the scene was testified there was no evidence to show that he was complicit in the poaching. This led to the acquittal of the actors.

10:21am: The Sessions Court judge has arrived and the hearing would begin at 10:30am.

10:19am: Salman Khan's legal team is equipped with a 51-page bail application. They will be raising 54 grounds for the judge to consider the bail.
In a career that's spanned almost 30 years, Salman Khan, the poster boy of controversies, has only reached greater heights. Neither is the blackbuck poaching case his only brush with the law nor is it his first conviction. Yet somehow, Salman Khan as a brand is one that only keeps on giving. Even his movies invariably enter the much-coveted Rs 200 crore club. Khan who was expected to get bail today would be spending another night at the Jodhpur jail as the plea hearing has been deferred till tomorrow. Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday and his legal team would now be looking at challenging the verdict at a higher court. Although this gives the star another chance to wriggle out of the sentence, it still raises the question - what would happen to brand Salman Khan ultimately?

To begin with, Bollywood is looking at losses to the tune of Rs 1000 crore. Salman Khan is currently part of four movies - Race 3, Bharat, Dabangg 3 and Kick 2. According to trade analysts as well, since the average collection of his movies are Rs 250 crore, Bollywood is looking at losses of Rs 1000 crore. The fate of these movies is tied with how the rest of the case pans out. Furthermore, last year Forbes ranked Salman Khan as the ninth highest-paid actor in the world. The only other Indian who surpassed him was Shah Rukh Khan.

Along with movies, Khan was also scheduled to shoot for Sony Pictures Networks India's Dus Ka Dum in May and June. Filming of the show that's scheduled to make a comeback after 9 years has not even started.

Not only Bollywood, even stocks associated with brand Salman Khan has taken a dip. Relaxo Footwear, whose Bahamas collection of footwear is promoted by Salman Khan has been trading lower by 2.65%. Moreover, Mandhana Retail Ventures that manufactures and sells the actor's Being Human brand of apparel has also been trading lower at the BSE.

To add to that, Salman Khan is the ambassador of around 10 brands, including Relaxo Footwear, Being Human, Appy Fizz and Emami. "However, since knowledge of the blackbuck case is public for around two decades, the impact on Salman or the brands endorsed by him may not be that severe. Having said that, Brand Salman is likely to experience a negative impact in the short term especially if the conviction does not get a stay in the High Court," said Varun Gupta, MD and India Leader, Valuation Advisory at Duff & Phelps.

A report by Duff & Phelps mentioned that Khan's brand value declined by around 33% in 2017 because of a revision of his endorsement fees, which is unusual for a star of his stature.

With younger and fitter stars bagging one endorsement after another, Khan who has always been embroiled in a controversy or the other has had to lighten his kitty. Nevertheless, if brand Salman Khan has not taken a beating because of all the controversies and court cases is there any reason to believe it will now?

If media footages from the two days at Jodhpur are anything to go by, Salman Khan's fans still worship him with the passion of a thousand suns.
It is estimated that 62 companies were formed every day in the first quarter of 2018. This is according to new figures from leading business and credit risk analyst Vision-net, published in partnership with its new acquirers, international fintech company CRIF.



While this represented a fractional drop of less than 1% on the same period last year (5,347 total companies in the first quarter 2018 vs 5,394 in the first quarter 2017), the first quarter of 2018 follows the best ever calendar year for new company start-ups.



The figures show that Dublin accounted for 45% of all new company start-ups in the first quarter 2018 (a 5% increase year-on-year). Meanwhile Cork saw the biggest increase in company start-ups; the county recorded a 12% increase year-on-year, accounting for 11% of all Irish start-ups between January and March.



Galway was the third most popular location (4% of all new companies, 3% growth year-on-year), followed by Kildare (4% of new companies, but 4% decline) and Meath (3% of new companies, but 19% decline).



According to the figures, the professional services sector continues to attract the highest number of new company start-ups, accounting for 21% of all new start-ups in the first quarter 2018. This sector was followed by finance (13%), construction (11%), and social and personal services (10%).

Construction grew by 12% year-on-year. Compared to last year, the sector ranks a place ahead of social and personal services. The real estate sector, though ninth overall in terms of share of new companies, experienced 5% growth year-on-year.



Commenting on the figures, Managing Director of Vision-net, Christine Cullen said, "Theres plenty of evidence to suggest that Ireland remains in enviably good economic health, with the conditions necessary for businesses to thrive. 2017 was the best ever year for new company start-ups. Start-up figures were once again up in January, and in February, they were consistent with last year. In light of the Governments Project Ireland 2040 plan, and its emphasis on greater regional economic diversification, it is particularly encouraging to see significant business growth in Cork and Galway, amongst other counties."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
It was announced this week that Irish tech company, Diaceutics, has raised 4.3 million in new mezzanine financing from two partners, WhiteRock Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. The money will be used to support the organisations continued global expansion.



Specifically, Diaceutics will use the funding to invest in the data analytics services that it provides to pharmaceutical clients and continue to expand its global laboratory network. The company will also look to grow the internal team of experts to deliver data-driven insights designed to improve diagnostic testing that benefits patients.



Over the last three years, the company has experienced revenue growth of 60% year-on-year. In 2017, it achieved revenue of $10 million and aims to reach $40 million revenue by the end of 2020. Moreover, the organisation currently works with 31 out of the worlds top 35 pharmaceutical companies.

Diaceutics recently announced a partnership with Intel and Lenovo to leverage artificial intelligence in a machine learning environment to further improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients.



Speaking about the new partnerships, CEO of Diaceutics, Peter Keeling said, "Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, helping patients benefit from better testing. Silicon Valley Bank and WhiteRock Capital Partners have been hugely supportive of this vision and we are delighted to have them as partners at the table. We need to continually broaden our global data capabilities and insights; this mezzanine financing allows us to keep pace with our data collection and protection infrastructure while expanding globally."

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.

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You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
The bells for the entrance examinations are about to begin with the JEE Main exam, being conducted this Sunday. Within no time, students will witness many national and state-level entrance examinations for both engineering and medical admissions.

COMEDK (Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental, Karnataka) is one amongst the popular entrance examinations in the country. Annually, COMEDK conducts two examinations namely, UGET (Under Graduate Entrance test) and PGET (Post Graduate Entrance Test).

COMEDK-UGET is conducted for admissions to BTech and BArch courses and NEET score is mandatory for admissions to medical and dental courses in the country. More than 2 lakh candidates are expected to take this prestigious examination for the 20 thousand seats spread across 16 medical colleges, 25 dental colleges and 192 BE colleges.

COMEDK is the most awaited and popular entrance examination, specifically in southern India. With only a month left for the examination, explore the tips that can land you at the doors of your dream college.

Exam Pattern

The exam is conducted in English medium only. The duration of the exam will be three hours. There is no negative marking for wrong answers. However, in the event of a tie negative marking will be considered. Check the exam pattern here.

Subject No of Questions No of Marks Physics 60 60 Chemistry 60 60 Mathematics 60 60 Total 180 180
The U.S. dealt with $3 billion in economic losses during March, thanks to a number of winter storms that caused multistate damage, travel delays and business interruption problems, according to Aon Benfields Impact Forecasting.

Public and private insurers are expected to cover about two-thirds of the total cost, Impact Forecasting said.

Most of those losses came from a Noreaster that hit the U.S. East Coast from March 1-3, killing at least nine people. Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency, and the winds and storm surge caused massive damage. Power outages struck more than 2.4 million people in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Economic losses, including net loss business interruption, came in at about $2 billion, with public and private insurers likely paying out more than $1.4 billion.

There was also another coastal winter storm that slammed the East Coast on March 7-8, leading to heavy snowfall in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine. At least 3,000 flights were canceled and legions of highways and interests were closed during the storm. More than one million people also lost power, particularly in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York. This storm caused $500 million in economic losses with private and public insurer payouts likely hitting $300 million, Impact Forecasting said.

Yet another coastal storm hit the Northeast on March 12-15, bringing massive snowfall to multiple states, heavy winds and more than 250,000 power outages. Business interruption continued with thousands of flight delays and cancellations. Impact Forecasting said that economic and insured losses went well into the millions.

A few days later, from March 18-20, a storm struck areas including Texas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, with damage caused by large hail and damaging, straight-line winds. Buildings sustained shattered windows, dented roofs, and there were plenty of downed trees. On top of that, another Noreaster hit the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast during this period, causing major business disruption and transit snafus. Economic losses from this wave should hit the hundreds of millions of dollars, Impact Forecasting said.

As well, major rain brought flooding and mudslides to California on March 21-22. While there were no fatalities, several inches of rain led to major evacuations in Santa Barbara County, mudslides, damage to infrastructure and flooded structures/vehicles. Economic damage: the low millions.

Globally, there were also drought events in Argentina and Uruguay that harmed agriculture, causing nearly $4 billion in economic losses. Other events during the month included earthquake aftershocks in Papua New Guinea, a tropical storm in Madagascar, two extratropical cyclones in the Iberian Peninsula, and flooding in other parts of the U.S., Brazil, Turkey, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho and China.

The full report is the Impact Forecasting March 2018 Global Catastrophe Recap report.

Source: Aon Benfield/Impact Forecasting
Photo: The Canadian Press A woman looks at a Google Pixel 2 phone at a Google event at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, October 4, 2017.

Starting today, Canadians won't have to be near a television or radio to receive emergency alerts.

Life-threatening emergencies will now be broadcast on compatible mobile phones.

As of today, the National Public Alerting System  commonly called Alert Ready  will include wireless networks, in addition to traditional broadcast channels.

In the case of a life-threatening emergency, officials will send a localized alert that will compel compatible phones to emit an alarm and display a bilingual text warning.

Situations that could prompt an alert include forest fires, terrorist threats or an Amber Alert for a missing child.

Canada's broadcast regulator, the CRTC, has said that wireless carriers will conduct one test of the system during the week of May 6.

The shrill, siren-like alarm tone is the same one that currently accompanies emergency broadcasts on radio and television.

The Alert Ready website says individuals will not be billed for the messages.
Unfortunately, we have come to the end of the season "Good live music". To close with the Multishow screen boom...
Cemtech MEA 2018

ICR Research By

Published 06 April 2018

Industry professionals from over 30 countries gathered for the 13th Cemtech Middle East & Africa 2018 conference and exhibition, held between 17-20 February at the JW Marriott Marquis hotel in Dubai, UAE.

Opening this years Cemtech MEA conference, Thomas Armstrong, managing editor of International Cement Review, welcomed over 200 delegates to Dubai. In his presentation, he observed how global overcapacity is driving competition between producers by encouraging smart investment in cost-reducing technology and optimisation initiatives. Alongside this, he noted how the programme for the event would address important developmental issues in the industry such as the significance of alternative fuels (AFs) and raw materials.

To continue reading this story and get access to all News, Articles and Video sections of the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or Login
Uganda cement prices rise due to cement shortage

ICR Newsroom By 06 April 2018

Cement prices in Uganda have increased by UGX5000-11,000 (US$1.35-2.98) within a month, sparking a country-wide crisis in the building sector, according to the Daily Monitor.



Pader District, some 411km from the capital Kampala, reported the highest price at UGX50,000 for a 50kg bag of cement.



The countrys two largest cement producers, Tororo Cement and Hima Cement, which supply 80 per cent of the domestic market, said the fall in output was attributable to a reduced power supply.



Tororo Cement Executive Director, Morgan Gagranihe, said the companys production is down by 600,000t to 1.2 million which, combined with increased competition for raw material by cement producers, has constrained output. He added that the company had appealed to the government to address the issue.



Hima Cement country CEO, Nicolas George, said: The lack of steady power supply remains our biggest challenge because our production process is power intensive; this affects production and the dispatch to the market. We are in constant engagement with [power distributor] Umeme to see how we can stabilise our supply for the long term.

Both Hima and Tororo have dedicated supply lines, which are efficiently running and monitored under our Automated Meter Reading technology that gives us alerts whenever there is any supply challenges, Mr Stephen Ilungole, the Umeme spokesperson, stated. He noted that both cement plants had a stable electricity supply throughout the 1Q18. We have made significant investments in providing dedicated feeds and lines to all the key regional manufacturing plants and entities in our effort to promote industrialisation across the country.

Uganda currently has more electricity generated than is consumed. The countrys installed capacity is 900MW while peak demand does not exceed 600MW. Hima Cement also has an on-site back-up power plant.

Umeme has rejected the claims and said the producers were likely prioritising their cement supplies to large energy and road infrastructure projects, which assure large payments. According to Mr Ilungole, the producers are likely overwhelmed after big infrastructure projects began buying cement from them under the government-driven Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) campaign.





Published under
25th AFCM Symposium and Exhibition held in Bandung

06 April 2018

The 25th ASEAN Federation of Cement Manufacturers (AFCM) Technical Symposium and Exhibition has successfully concluded after being held between 4-6 April at The Trans Luxury Hotel in Bandung.



The event is held every three years, with its location rotating between AFCM member countries. Indonesia was selected to host this years event, which focussed on the theme of green technology for the cement industry. Over 400 delegates and 50 exhibitors participated in the conference.



The programme featured 22 presentations, designed to encourage production and efficiency across the industry.



Widodo Santoso, chairman of the Indonesian Cement Association, noted that the conference has an important role in promoting the operation of effective, efficient, and environmentally-friendly cement factories.

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Countless companies are piggybacking off Facebooks negative press, making headlines themselves for deleting their Facebook accounts amidst the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Even celebrities  personal branded businesses in their own right  are taking a stand and severing ties. After all, one bad PR scandal is all it takes to tank a longstanding Hollywood career.

When reports broke that data of 50 million Facebook users was collected without consent and wound up at political consultancy Cambridge Analyticas front door, all hell broke loose. Facebook declined to report the number of people who have deleted or deactivated their accounts in the aftermath, but #DeleteFacebook mentions on social media have hit 90,000, according to some sources. High-profile businesses traded access to one of its most profitable marketing platforms to take a stand against user privacy and compliance.

Ahead is a list of companies that have ditched Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and two that pledged loyalty amidst chaos.

1. Mozilla

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 21st, 2018

Mozilla operates the Firefox internet browser. The company announced it would be pressing pause on its advertisements on the social network, while also offering praise on Zuckerbergs promise to improve users privacy settings. Mozilla is willing to sacrifice access to one of the most convenient and profitable platforms if it means increased transparency and privacy for themselves and their audience. Should Facebook strengthen its default privacy settings for third party apps moving forward, Mozilla will consider returning.

Next: Uber celebrity cuts ties with Facebook

2. Cher

When she parted ways with Facebook: March 20th, 2018

Cher pledged to delete her personal Facebook profile as a result of the data leak. She stated her decision to leave was very hard as the platform helped her raise awareness for her charity. But like most companies and celebrities youll see on this list, she knows she cant afford to leave Facebook completely for risk of losing valuable facetime with fans. Therefore, Chers fan page with upcoming tour dates remains active.

Next: You may notice a few less car part ads on your newsfeed moving forward

3. Pep Boys

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 26th, 2018

Auto parts retailer Pep Boys also committed to stop spending money to advertise on Facebook amidst the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The companys Chief Marketing Officer Danielle Porto Mohn is looking for facts and corrective action before they consider returning to the platform.

In a statement to Reuters, she claimed, We are concerned about the issues surrounding Facebook and have decided to suspend all media on the platform until the facts are out and corrective actions have been taken

Next: This company says the Cambridge Analytica scandal contradicts its values

4. Playboy

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 28th, 2018

Playboy has never been a company too concerned about public image and privacy  until now. Cody Hefner, Playboys Chief Creative Officer said the decision to leave Facebook completely was clear. The March 27th announcement cites the scandal, as well as the networks sexually repressive nature as reasons for deleting its Facebook pages that boast 25 million followers.

That said, abandoning Facebooks overarching influence is hard. Fox News reports that, while Playboys main page is gone, foreign versions are still up and running in Germany and the Philippines.

Next: An actor who launched a preemptive strike

5. Jim Carrey

When he parted ways with Facebook: February 6th, 2018

Jim Carrey was way ahead of the curve in his decision to #unfriendfacebook in February. Carrey felt Russia-linked accounts and its alleged interference with the 2016 election was no joke and vowed to both delete his Facebook page and sell off his stock in the company. He enthusiastically encouraged others to do the same.

Next: Social pressure to delete Facebook

6. SpaceX and Tesla

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 23rd, 2018

Elon Musk became the latest and most prominent business owner to back the #DeleteFacebook movement following pressure from Twitter users to take action. Musk responded will do claiming he didnt even know his companies had Facebook pages. The pages were deleted promptly. The Facebook link on his website was also removed, leaving only links to its Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Instagram accounts, since he believes the Gram will stay fairly independent.

Next: A home audio company looking to make a statement

7. Sonos

When they parted ways with Facebook: The week of March 26th, 2018

Sonos wasted little time cutting ties with Facebook and capitalizing on subsequent publicity. A company blog post announced itd be pulling ads from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Instagram (also owned by Facebook). Of course, the cant afford to go dark and abandon profits completely. So their suspension will only last a week. Money they save during their week-long gesture will be donated to RightsCon, a conference dedicated to balancing technology and human rights in the digital world.

Next: A comedian who thinks internet privacy is no laughing matter

8. Will Ferrell

When he parted ways with Facebook: March 24th, 2018

Saturday Night Live comedian and co-founder of Funny or Die announced  through Facebook  thatd hed be leaving Facebook after Cambridge Analyticas efforts to undermine our democracy and infringe on our citizens privacy. Ferrell confessed it could not in good conscience continue to use the platform and would be shutting it down 72 hours after his initial announcement.

Next: The movement goes international

9. Commerzbank

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 21st, 2018

One of Germanys largest banks joined the long list of companies and celebrities pulling its ads from Facebook. We are pausing our campaign on Facebook. Brand safety and data security are very important to us, head of the banks brand strategy Uwe Hellmann told a German newspaper. Commerzbanks dollars will be allocated elsewhere until further notice.

Next: Facebook engages in a little purging of its own

10. Data brokers

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 28th, 2018

Facebook is doing a bit of purging itself as a last-ditch effort to save its reputation. Facebook ended its partnerships with several large data brokers including Acxiom Corp and Experian PLC. These are the companies that collect data Facebook offers to advertisers to target ads online, both of which stand to lose millions in revenue post-split.

Next: A man expected to take action

11. New Zealands privacy commissioner

When he parted ways with Facebook: March 28th, 2018

Its almost expected for John Edwards, the head of New Zealands privacy commission, to make a statement regarding Facebooks blatant disregard for user privacy. He says in a blog post that Facebook is in violation of the New Zealand Privacy Act and urges users in his country to be more aware of the information they put online. Edwards deleted Facebook after 10 years of use.

Next: A band willing to risk its fans and delete Facebook

12. Massive Attack

When they parted ways with Facebook: March 21st, 2018

The British trip-hop duo Massive Attack urged fans to connect with them on their official website and Twitter moving forward, as theyd be temporarily withdrawing from Facebook. They cited a continued disregard for your privacy, their lack of transparency, and disregard for accountability as their reasons for leaving the site via Twitter.

Next: Ironically, this company did not delete its Facebook pages

1. WhatsApp

When they parted ways with Facebook: Never

Pressure to delete the Facebook pages of Elon Musks most profitable companies stemmed from a challenge issued by WhatsApp co-founder Brain Acton (Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014). Acton, who has since left the company to peruse other ventures, urged everyone to purge themselves of Facebook. But the company he sold to the media platform is staying quiet while its former co-founder continues his tirade. WhatsApp has yet to issue a statement or cut any ties with Facebook following the controversy.

Next: Another company pledging loyalty to Facebook

2. Carlsberg

When they parted ways with Facebook: Never

Beer brewer Carlsberg will stick with Facebook rather than abandon the social network and its unusually lucrative online following. Liam Newton, the advertisers top marketer, and his team decided that Carlsberg would continue running ads on Facebook  for now  in hopes its data remains unharmed.

At the moment, we feel were on the best platforms for us in terms of what were trying to do, Newton said. But well continue to review that.

Next: The Cambridge Analytica scandal will cost Facebook dearly. Or will it?

What Facebook stands to lose

Though some say Facebook is too big to fail, the social media platforms stock plunged 18% and profits sunk more than $100 billion in total market value as a result of the scandal. Facebook ended a few key partnerships with data brokers as well as adjusted the privacy settings on its service to give users better control over their personal information. Experts remind naysayers that there arent many alternatives to Facebook, and its ubiquitous nature turns this scandal into a minor speedbump the company will surely bounce back from.

Its unclear whether Zuckerbergs apologies will stop the bleeding. He will testify before Congress and become the subject of a Federal Trade Commission investigation. A violation, if found, could carry a $40,000 penalty per violation CNBC reports.

Follow Lauren on Twitter @la_hamer.

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Christian Woman Raped and Sold by ISIS Reunites With Father Christian Post Contributor | 06 April, 2018 by Stoyan Zaimov

A Christian woman who was kidnapped by the Islamic State terror group in 2014, and was raped and sold as a sex slave, reunited with her father, her last surviving family member, in an emotional video captured online.

The woman, Rita Habib, described her reunion with her father as a "dream," as reported by Kurdistan 24. Extremists overran their town of Qaraqosh, southeast of Mosul, three years ago, killing thousands of people and taking hundreds of women and girls.

"I am very happy that after three years I reunited with my father. It is a joyous moment because he is the only family I have left," Habib said.

The Christian woman was held in IS' stronghold of Mosul for several months after being kidnapped, before she was sold on the Syrian sex slave market.

"I was bought and sold four times. They did evil things to us. They beat us and raped us," the woman recounted. "The worst of all was girls aged nine who were raped. Girls would be sold for 4,000 to 15,000 dollars."

She said that other Christian girls were also used as sex slaves, all part of IS' genocidal campaign in the Middle East.

Habib was finally rescued five months ago in Syria's Deir al-Zor province, as IS continued to lose captured territory in both Iraq and Syria throughout 2017.

Now that she has reunited with her father in Erbil, the woman said that she wants to start rebuilding her former life, and help other victims forced under IS slavery.

An untold number still remain in captivity, with the terror group branching out its operations and kidnappings in other countries, including Egypt.

Read more about ISIS on The Christian Post.
The fate of thousands of African Christians living in Israel is uncertain. The government intends to expel them, but questions remain over where the migrants will go and how the Jewish state will make it happen.

Amid the uncertainty, they are always asking for Gods guidance, a Tel Aviv priest working at a pastoral center that offers traditional African services for the displaced told Catholic News Service. But in their daily life, they are afraid.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would move to resettle the approximately 40,000 Eritrean and Sudanese immigrants living in the Holy Landmost in the country illegally since 2012 or earlierin Western nations in light of a new unprecedented understanding with the United Nations.

However, in only a few hours the deal stalled; within two days, it was canceled outright, serving as a reminder of the fierce political dynamics embroiling the Jewish state.

The UN had confirmed the agreement with Tel Aviv, indicating it would work with recipient countries throughout the entire process of resettlement. This agreement will ensure that protection is provided to those who need it, said Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner for protection for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in TheWashington Post.

Under that plan, 16,250 African migrantsmany of whom are Christianswould be resettled in Western nations over the next five years, while an equal number would be granted temporary residence status in Israel.

But then Netanyahu suspended any implementation until he could meet with residents in Israels second largest city, Tel Aviv, where most of the African migrants live.

I went to the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv, said Netanyahu, according to The Guardian, indicating the area of the country where the largest number of African migrants have settled. I saw the suffering of the Israelis living there and we said that we have to remove the problem. But because the Supreme Court has banned us from moving them to a country they do not want to go to, we had to find another solution.

His Tel Aviv meetings ultimately resulted in the complete dismantling of the deal, returning the migrants yet again to a state of limbo.

After I weighed the pros and cons, I decided to cancel the agreement, said Netanyahu. We will continue to work determinedly to exhaust all the options at our disposal to remove the infiltrators.

In February, African migrant men in the group targeted for deportation were given notice that they had two months to leave Israel. If they stayed, theyd be imprisoned.

The asylum seekers were lured with a plane ticket and $3,500a sort of farewell fund to help them relocate back to Africa. But both Uganda and Rwandathe likely recipient statesrejected the proposal when they learned the migrants might be deported by force.

Israels Supreme Court blocked the forcible resettlement plan, too, in a move indicative of the dissension the issue of immigration has spurred in the Holy Land.

More popular among migrant-friendly Israelis was another possibility that would offer vocational training as an incentive to get migrants out of Tel Avivs Little Africa enclave and prepare them for work in a third country.

The latest iteration of the plan, now derailed, proposed to facilitate the transfer of thousands of migrants to countries including Italy, Germany, and Canada. However, according to the Posts report, neither the German embassy in Israel nor Italian media sources were aware of any agreement involving their countries.

The Eritrean and Sudanese refugees collecting in Tel Aviv continue to face dire straits. Most of them fled civil conflict flirting with genocide in Sudan, or severe human rights abuses and brutal oppression in Eritrea. Eritreans especially face slavery-like conscription in their home country; dodging it warrants the death penalty.

One such Eritrean, Frezgi Ketef Tehehaymanut, said in February hed return to his homeland tomorrow if he didnt fear hed end up under the ground, reportedTheNew York Times (NYT).

According to Open Doors 2018 World Watch List, Sudan is the No. 4 most dangerous country in the world for Christians; Eritrea is ranked No. 6.

For its part, Israel has presented its own challenges to the migrants. As of 2016, Israel has approved fewer than one percent of applications for asylum since signing the UN Refugee Convention in 1954.

Additionally, of the more than 15,000 asylum applications submitted by Sudanese and Eritreans in Israel between 2013 and 2017, only 12 percent were granted refugee status. According to Amnesty International, 0.1 percent of Eritreans seeking asylum in Israel have been granted refugee status. This comes in stark contrast to the more than 90 percent of Eritreans granted refugee status in the EU in 2016.

In its push to expel migrants, Israel voted to close its Holot migrant detention center, which hosted up to 1,200 migrants who were permitted to work during their stay. According to Netanyahu, the centers closure is part of the accelerated removal stage of his deportation efforts.

Just prior to the decision to shutter Holot, he told his officials, This removal is taking place thanks to an international agreement I reached that enables us to remove the 40,000 infiltrators remaining, remove them without their consent, reportedThe Times of Israel.

Of the migrants who elected resettlement in Africa before the deal stalled, many have faced challenges after arriving, citing loss of their Israel-issued documents, difficulty finding work, and lack of recognition as refugees. According to the UN, some who were resettled in Africa are already making another sojournthis time toward Europe.
All over the Middle East and North Africa, Muslims who have converted to Christianity struggle with their new identity in Christ. Islam is not just a part of their lives, it is their entire life. From praying in a set direction 5 times a day, to setting aside an entire month to fast, the actions required to be a Muslim are all consuming. And society is not always kind to those who disagree.

Following Christ as a former Muslim might cost you these five things:

1. Your Family

Often, direct relatives are the first and heaviest persecutors of believers from a Muslim background. For many Muslim families, leaving Islam and converting to another religion brings "shame" to the family. In moderate families, a new Christian may be ignored or excluded. In stricter families; forced separation, divorce or the removal of children are all common.

In cultures with a strong sense of shame and honour, new believers face the most pressure. Family members in this situation can feel that killing the converted family member is the only way to remove the shame from their name.

2. Your Friends

Old friends quickly become the most vocal opposition. Entire communities pressure new believers to renounce their faith in Jesus. In Iran for example, Christians from a Muslim background are considered to be unclean. Particularly in rural areas, Muslims will not shake hands with Christians, touch them in any way, or eat food they prepare.

In many Muslim countries, it's legally impossible for Christian men to marry women from Muslim families. In Yemen, if a Muslim finds out a woman has started following Christ, she will most likely be forced into marriage with a Muslim man or placed under house arrest. This causes most converts to keep their faith in Christ completely hidden.

3. Your Church

Almost nowhere in the Middle East and North Africa is it possible for former Muslims to meet at a church. In Saudi Arabia, there are no church buildings at all. Meetings of former Muslims who have accepted Christ can only take place in secret and in very small groups. Algeria is probably the most 'relaxed' country in this regard but believers still face a high degree of persecution.

In Iran, fear among believers is rising, as the government has recently increased surveillance of the house church movement. In 2015, several house churches were raided by the police. More than a hundred Christians were arrested, with many being sentenced to prison terms of varying lengths and the additional punishment of torture.

4. Your Country

All over the Muslim world, Christians who convert from Islam feel there is no option but to leave their home countries. This is especially true for Christians in Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Death threats, constant discrimination and assassination attempts all lead Christians to feel there can be no future for them in the country of their birth. It is believed that there are currently more Saudi believers living outside of the country than there are left within it due to this.

Migrant churches in Europe and North America have seen their attendance rise as refugees from the Middle East (former Muslims among them) worship with them in freedom.

5. Your Life

Finally, people who convert to Christianity from a Muslim background come to be known as 'Apostates' and may pay the highest price of all. Some Muslims are convinced that everyone who leaves Islam should be killed. In Saudi Arabia and Iran, this is enshrined in law. In other countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia the majority of supporters for Sharia law also support death sentences for apostates. [1]

Any apostate from Islam is, in theory, punishable by death if they do not recant. This is based upon the prophet Muhammad's saying, as quoted in the Hadith (Islamic tradition), "Whoever changes his religion, kill him."

Is Christ Worth It?

According to our brothers and sisters who risk everything for His sake, the answer is a resounding, "yes."

The apostle Paul, who himself gave his very life, agrees:

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" - Philippians 3:8

[1] Pew Research 2013, The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society.

This article first appeared on www.opendoorsblog.org. For prayer ideas during Ramadan a copy of Open Doors free resource A Dedicated Faith can be accessed from: https://www.opendoors.org.au/getinvolved/a-dedicated-faith
Archbishop of Canterbury honours hero Muslim imam

The archbishop of Canterbury has honoured a Muslim imam, Mohammed Mahmoud, who intervened to prevent violence against a driver who ran down worshippers outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in January.

Mahmoud was one of the recipients this afternoon of the Lambeth Awards honouring those who have made a particular contribution to prayer, evangelism and peacebuilding.

Speaking at the ceremony, Justin Welby urged the importance of hope in the face of despair, saying: 'Throughout the world  and I by no means exclude this country  it is the poorest and weakest who suffer most from the selfishness and injustice visited upon them by the rich and the strong.'

He said: 'It would be easy to despair. But I do not despair. My own faith in God and in our Saviour Jesus Christ teaches me that I must be always hopeful. I must never give in to hopelessness. And one of the things which lightens my darkness is the knowledge that there are good women and men, throughout the world, who have also refused to give into despair.'

He said the Lambeth awards represented the thanks of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, but were also a public acknowledgment that the recipients were 'examples to be followed'. 'I want others to see what these people have done and understand that, in their different fields, they show forth values which are our values, Gospel values of love for humanity, reconciliation and selfless service; and, more widely, values common to all people of good will  values of common decency and a refusal to bow to false gods,' he said.

The 30 recipients included Christians from Africa, the Far East and the UK. Among them were Canon Dr Paula Gooder, who was recognised for her biblical scholarship and service to the Church of England, Canon Grace Kaiso, who received an award for his service to the Anglican Communion, including his leadership on conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Africa, and Rev Dr John Bell, recognised for his Christian witness through hymn-writing, broadcasting and social action.

Mohammed Mahmoud was one of two Muslim leaders who received awards.

The Lambeth Awards were launched by Archbishop Welby in 2016.
Christian woman kidnapped by ISIS reunited with father after three years

A Christian woman from Qaraqosh, kidnapped by ISIS in 2014, has been reunited with her father who is the only surviving member of her family after three years apart.

Rita Habib's family were killed when the jihadist group took over Qaraqosh, southeast of Mosul in northern Iraq. She was kidnapped and repeatedly sold and bought as a sex slave by militants first in Mosul then in Syria.

The extremists 'kidnapped Christian and Kurdish Ezidi girls and used them for many things, including as sex slaves', she said.

'I was bought and sold four times. They did evil things to us. They beat us and raped us,' she said in an interview with Kurdistan 24.

'The worst of all was girls aged nine who were raped. Girls would be sold for $4,000 to $15,000.'

Rita was rescued five months ago in Syria by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), according to Kurdistan 24, and reunited with her father in Erbil by a Christian humanitarian group.

She is one of thousands of women from Syria and northern Iraq to have been captured by ISIS and sold as sex slaves, many of whom have been freed as ISIS is pushed back from large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Perry Noble's 1st 'Second Chance Church' gathering at Easter had 2,100 attendees

Second Chance Church had its first-ever gathering in a physical site in South Carolina on Easter Sunday and Pastor Perry Noble could not have been more thrilled since 2,100 attended the service.

In a post on Facebook, Noble expressed his gratitude for the unexpectedly high turnout. He stated that 2,100 churchgoers was "so much more than we could have asked for or imagined."

Second Chance Church normally holds services on the Internet as an online ministry. A small number of people usually gather at the pastor's home for Sundays, while the service is streamed on its website.

Easter Sunday was the first time that Second Chance Church held a service in a physical location. Noble said in the same Facebook post that the church will return to its digital service this coming Sunday but the ministry could soon establish a permanent physical site.

"Keep us in your prayers as we have a meeting this week to solidify a permanent meeting space where we can hopefully have things up and going sometime this summer!" Noble wrote.

By having 2,100 attendees, the Second Chance Church could earn the distinction of being a megachurch. Based on the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, if more than 2,000 adults and children attend a Protestant worship service every week then it can be considered a megachurch.

Noble was a pastor at NewSpring megachurch until 2016, when he admitted to struggles with alcoholism and family problems. His feud with the current pastor and leaders of NewSpring went public in the summer of 2017. That same year, he and his wife divorced.

The pastor's old ministry, which began as a small Bible group at Noble's apartment in the late 90s, grew to over 30,000 members since its formation. NewSpring expanded across 17 cities in the U.S. with 14 worship sites. Its membership, however, started dwindling when Noble left NewSpring, a report claimed.
What do Muslims believe about Jesus, and the crucifixion and resurrection?

While Christians around the world celebrated Holy Week recently, have you ever wondered what other religions believe about the death and resurrection of Jesus? Do they even believe in Jesus at all? If they do, what do they know about Jesus Christ?

Today, let's talk about what the Muslims believe about the crucifixion and resurrection.

Jesus is a Muslim

Muslims acknowledge Jesus, but they think of him differently. For them, he was the son of a virgin, but not the son of God. Muslims believe that when Jesus was still a baby, he could already speak sentences. Jesus was able to tell Mary that God made him a prophet. He wasn't the redeemer of mankind, he was just a messenger, but a special one. In Islam, Jesus is believed to be the "anointed one" but he is not almighty - he is regarded as simply a Muslim prophet.

Jesus Did Not Die on the Cross

The Koran talks about Jesus a lot. This is why Jesus is also an important part of the Islamic religion. This is also the reason why plenty of Muslims name their sons and daughters Isa and Mariam, in English it's Jesus and Mary respectively. This goes without saying that every Muslim must believe in Jesus. However, they just believe in Jesus differently.

For instance, the Muslims believe that Jesus did not die on the cross, but was rescued by God from his untimely death. This belief means that Muslims do not believe that Jesus went to the cross willingly, and indeed, they do not believe he died there. The Koran's fourth Sura verses 157-158 says, "And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them."

So who died on the cross? Islam believes that another who looked like Jesus was crucified in his place, and it's just that people's eyes were hidden from the fact that this was not Jesus hanging on the cross. Some believe it was Judas. Some say that God changed the face of the crucified man to resemble the face of Jesus so that he would live. Others believe that it was Jesus who was crucified, but lived.

Jesus Was Not Resurrected

Since Muslims do not believe in the crucifixion of Jesus, they obviously do not believe the resurrection happened either. As said, there are some who believe Jesus was placed up on the cross but that he did not die on the cross. They simply believe Jesus was resuscitated, not resurrected. Muslims do not believe that Jesus is a divine being, but they believe that he is a mortal prophet, just like Abraham.

What to Christians Believe

For Christians, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is the central part of our faith and belief. We believe Jesus was sent to Earth to save us, and bring salvation to mankind, reconciling us back to our heavenly father. Since the Fall of Man, man had been separated from the father by our sins, and indeed each of us was piling up sin against ourselves, which would result in us eternally being away from our heavenly father. But Jesus came, and atoned for our sins. He went the path of the cross, and suffered and was crucified, taking away our sins from us and placing them upon himself on the cross. Even though he died, he was resurrected again by God, and through him, mankind has now been forgiven of our sins and are now reconciled back to our heavenly father.
Young boy trapped in sewer pipes prayed to God not to let him die

During the darkest hours of one's life, a conversation with God can help do wonders for one's wellbeing. This is what 13-year-old Jesse Hernandez experienced as he spent 12 hours trapped inside Los Angeles' sewer pipes.

Hernandez had no clue whether he would be saved or die in the sewers, so he turned to God for strength. "I was just praying to God to help me and to not die," Hernandez told NBC 4. "I was scared."

It was Easter when Hernandez was celebrating with his family at Griffith Park. Unbeknownst to them, he snuck into a decommissioned building and fell through a hole, and the rushing waters of the city's underground sewage system carried him away.

Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Erik Scott admitted that "chances of surviving in that toxic environment" were slim, so it was truly a miracle that Hernandez stayed alive throughout that ordeal.

"To be honest with you, we were surprised we found him overnight," Scott said. "It does feel like a miracle. Mouths dropped when that hatch was opened and we got reports back that Jesse was alive."

Hernandez was playing by jumping on a wooden plank that eventually broke. He then fell about 25 feet into a 4-foot wide pipe.

"It was all quiet. You could just hear the water running through and you couldn't see anything. It was dark." Hernandez recalled. "I kept on going. The water, it took me."

It was only after rescue workers inserted video cameras into the pipes and lowered them into the water that Hernandez was found. Adel Hagekhalil, assistant director of the Bureau of Sanitation, told the Los Angeles Times that the cameras sent back grainy but visible live footage of the inside of the tunnels.

One camera managed to captured a smeared handprint along the tunnel wall, and it was then that they found the young boy. Sanitation workers then opened the manhole cover and heard Hernandez cry out for help. He was visibly scared and shaken, but nonetheless fine.
Hokusais prints  as youve never seen them before

As a collection of Hokusais ukiyo-e prints appears in our Japanese and Korean Art sale on April 18 in New York, we thought it would be fun to bring his famous visions of 19th-century Japan to life. Just click the play button above, and enjoy

Katsushika Hokusai was born in 1760 under the gaze of the snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji in Japans capital, Edo  at the time the worlds largest city, and the precursor to modern-day Tokyo. He changed his name no fewer than 30 times during his life, altering his artistic style with each new persona. He also famously declared that he would live until the age of 110. Scholars argue that his work reached its peak when he was in his 70s and 80s. Hokusai made a name for himself designing ukiyo-e woodblock prints of Edos floating world of bathhouses, pavilions and theatres, as well as landscapes and figurative illustrations to accompany poetry anthologies. His revolutionary style incorporated elements of colour, shade and perspective inspired by French and Dutch engravings that were smuggled into Japan when contact with the outside world was forbidden, says Takaaki Murakami, Christies Japanese Art Specialist. Cheap to produce, his prints were bought and sold in volumes in the markets of Edo and became hugely popular during the artists lifetime.

Perhaps the best known of Hokusais volumes was his Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Painted in dense hues of Prussian blue and indigo  which both flooded the market after Japan opened its ports to outsiders  the images depict the sacred mountain from town, sea and sky in all four seasons and ever surrounded by life. The volume was made between 1831 and 1834 and was a remedy to Hokusai's financial problems, which had forced him from his home after his wife's death, says the specialist. The work proved such a success that its publisher, Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo) commissioned several editions, which accounts for the slight alterations in colour between examples. Existing heavily-worn wooden printing blocks also remain as testament to its popularity.

The cornerstone of Hokusais oeuvre in the west is his In The Well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa  the first of the 36 views. Depicting a seascape in early spring framed with pink cumulus clouds, the summit of an anchored Fuji watches over Tokyo Bay as skiffs battle crashing waves. Eight men scull each boat, as opposed to the usual four, suggesting that the intention of the trip was to deliver a valuable catch of bonito to the markets of Edo. The question of whether or not they will make it, as each hunkers down amidst the storm, is the works enduring legacy, observes Murakami.
Warhols Most Wanted

Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr  offered in New York on 17 May  is the artists haunting reminder of the dark underside of America during a time when, outwardly at least, the country was projecting a confident, forward-looking culture

Like any good detective story, the origins of Andy Warhols Most Wanted series involve a series of dramatic twists and turns. At the beginning of 1963, the architect Philip Johnson approached Andy Warhol, along with Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Peter Agostini, John Chamberlain, James Rosenquist, Robert Mallary, and Alexander Lieberman, to create a mural-sized work to adorn the outside of the Panoramic Cinema Theater, a centrepiece of the New York State Pavilion at the Worlds Fair, which was to be held the following year. Warhol decided to reproduce, on a monumental scale, 13 mugshots of various criminals taken from a booklet entitled The Thirteen Most Wanted Men produced by the New York Police Department. Some of the mugshots were double-aspect (front-on and in profile), others just a single shot of the men (and they were all men), that the NYPD considered to be its most dangerous criminals.

Installation view, Andy Warhol, Thirteen Most Wanted Men, 1964, New York State Pavilion, New York Worlds Fair, 1964. Photo: Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images. Artwork:  2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS)

These sparse compositions, consisting of tightly cropped portraits, reveal little information about the subject; the exact details of their lives, the circumstances of their arrest, and even the gruesome details of their crimes are left to the imagination. Warhols exact reasons for choosing this subject matter are unclear. According to John Giorno, a member of the artists inner circle, the idea came from the painter Wynn Chamberlain, whose lover at the time was an NYPD officer who, according to Giorno, obtained a large envelope filled with various crime photos, mug shots and archival photographs which he passed on to Warhol. Of the mugshots that Warhol selected, the one of John Joseph Henehan Jr. is perhaps the most enigmatic. Other subjects, such as John Victor Guisto and Andrew Ferraiola, look suitably villainous, but with his good looks and chiselled features, Henehan wouldnt have looked out of place in one of the eras teen heart-throb magazines.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr. , 1964. Estimate on request. This work is offered in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on 17 May at Christies in New York  2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS)

This outward appearance, however, hides a darker, violent character, evidenced by the description of Henehans crime in the original police booklet. On 28 February, 1959, Henehan Jr. and three accomplices walked into a liquor store in Queens, New York, and robbed the cashier at gunpoint. They took $350 from the register, $70 from the store owner and $450, a watch and a ring from an unlocked safe. Henehan was a familiar face to his local police precinct as three years previously, aged 19, he had been arrested in possession of a gun and given parole. Two years later he was arrested again, this time for the possession of a small amount of heroin and drug paraphernalia, but was later acquitted. Indicted for the Queens robbery of the liquor store by a grand jury, he absconded before the trial and was wanted by the F.B.I. on a charge of unlawful flight from custody. As such, the Thirteen Most Wanted Men series was controversial from the start.

Aluminium paint covering Thirteen Most Wanted Men, New York State Pavilion, New York Worlds Fair, 1964. Photo: Ranier Crone Archive. Artwork:  2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS)

Just a few days before the Worlds Fairs official opening in April 1964, Warhols large-scale mural was dramatically painted over, although the exact reasons why have proved difficult to pin down. Initially it was thought that Warhol himself had instigated this process, saying that he wasnt happy with the final result. Press reports at the time stated that, Mr. Warhol claims that the work was not properly installed and felt that it did not do justice to what he had in mind. Mr. Johnson [Philip Johnson, the architect] said that he was in agreement with the artist and ordered the mural removed from the building. It later emerged that New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller had commented on the large number of subjects who could be said to be of Italian-American heritage, and was worried that this would upset an important and influential political lobby.

Despite its dark subject matter, Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr. also falls squarely within Andy Warhols Pop vernacular

Perhaps the fairs organisers felt that a work of art depicting armed robbers and murderers (including a child murderer) was not in keeping with the fairs theme: Mans Achievements on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe. If the 1964 Worlds Fair was designed to look to the future, Warhols contribution seemed to hark back to Americas history of lawlessness and violence. Later in 1964, Warhol made a series of nearly two dozen larger than life-size canvases featuring 13 of these most wanted men, many of which were exhibited at the Sonnabend Gallery in Paris in 1967. Part of this important series, Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr. is one of only six subjects that Warhol made in two versions, with the other housed in the permanent collection of the Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main.

Andy Warhol in the Factory with Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr. Photo:  Billy Name Estate. Artwork:  2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS)

Set against a light ground, the dark image of of John Joseph Henehan Jr. that Warhol screened onto the canvas has a looming presence. This dichotomy between the clarity of the image and the obscurity of the subject is one of the factors that makes this series one of the artists most complex and engaging observations of American culture. In the chapter on the Most Wanted series in his book, Outlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Art, Richard Meyer identifies a strong homoerotic thread that runs throughout these paintings. Thirteen Most Wanted Men constructs a countermodel of visual power in which one sort of social outlaw (the criminal) is watched  and wanted  by another (the homosexual artist), writes Meyer. Interestingly, just a few months after completing the present work, Warhol produced a film called Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys continuing this theme, and making it even more explicit. Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr. resides within the body of Warhols work that deals with death, disaster and tragedy. Chronologically, his Most Wanted Men paintings come immediately before one of Warhols most haunting series  his portraits of Jackie Kennedy, the wife of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

By elevating the criminal visage to a form of high art Warhol is aligning these nefarious figures with his own earlier celebrity portrayals

Using press photographs taken immediately after the fateful events in Dallas, Warhol reflected the grief, shock and stoicism experienced by the First Lady and the entire nation. Like millions of Americans, Warhol had watched the drama unfold on television, but his interest was not in capturing or replicating the emotional intensity, but in responding to the near-hysterical media coverage of the event. Despite its dark subject matter, Most Wanted Men No. 11, John Joseph H., Jr. also falls squarely within Andy Warhols Pop vernacular. Just as he did with his paintings of Liz Taylor, Campbells Soup cans and Coca-Cola bottles, Warhol seeks to embrace the entire range of Americana. As Meyer points out, Warhols work from this period becomes a stark, disabused, pessimistic vision of American life, produced from the knowing rearrangement of pulp materials by an artist who did not opt for easier paths of irony or condescension. By elevating the criminal visage to a form of high art Warhol is aligning these nefarious figures with his own earlier celebrity portrayals.

Andy Warhol at the Factory, New York, 1968 (present lot illustrated). Photo:  Billy Name Estate. Artwork:  2018 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS)
We highlighted the amateur video work of Houstonian Josh Burdick, who uploaded some of his slices of Bayou City life onto YouTube. His videos come from the late 80s and early 90s, mostly when he was in his teens and early twenties exploring the city with a VHS camcorder.

It turns out that the hobby runs in his family.
For three years, the U.S. did its best to stay out of Europe's bloody conflict, but in the first week of April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to enter the "the war to end all wars."

In his address at the capitol on April 2, Wilson argued "the world must be made safe for democracy." Four days later, the U.S. Senate voted 82 to 6 to declare war against Germany.
Postino Wine Cafe traffics in good food, wine, service and vibes. But none of that would be possible if it weren't for good bones.

Upward Projects, the Phoenix-based restaurant group that is bringing Postino to Houston, is dedicated to restoring and revitalizing architecturally significant buildings. The latest example of the company's handiwork is its first Postino in Texas  opening April 11 at Heights Mercantile.

Occupying a chunk of a building that used to be a former distribution center for the Pappas family restaurants, Postino in the Heights is 150-seat space with a patio designed in a cacophony of colors, textures and fabric that's heavily influenced by mid-century iconography.

It's an ideal backdrop for the brand's premise of interesting, affordable wines paired with fresh bites of bruschetta, panini, and cheese and meat boards.

The Heights Mercantile project provided the perfect opportunity for the Postino brand to grow outside of Arizona, where it has multiple locations in the Phoenix metroplex (there's also a store in Denver). Postino co-founder Lauren Bailey said it was an easy decision to green-light the Houston location after her initial visits here. She said she fell in love with Houston  its people, its neighborhoods, its easygoing nature. Though the company also looked at the Dallas, San Antonio and Austin markets, Houston stood out.

"It was very clear to me this neighborhood had its own unique identity. It really feels like this is our place. We got goosebumps," Bailey said. "We're home."

Postino's food menu features a handful of starters and a collection of bruschetta, sandwiches, soups and salads. The signature dish is bruschetta, the shareable antipasti of grilled bread topped with assorted cheeses, meats, fruit and spreads -- think fig spread with brie and apples; mozzarella, tomato and basil; prosciutto, figs and mascarpone; warm artichoke spread; smoked salmon and pesto; burrata, bacon and arugula; almond hummus with chopped tomato; and salami with pesto.

"This menu in a lot of ways is very simple," Bailey said. "But simple is hard."

Weeks were spent sourcing the ideal sourdough loaf for its bruschetta (Kraftsmen Baking got the nod); the mozzarella comes from a vendor in Los Angeles; and produce is locally sourced.

The wines, curated by beverage director and advanced sommelier Brent Karlicek, trot the globe and are priced between $27 and $150 per bottle.

"We represent exceptional quality at a wide range of price points," Karlicek said.

That includes some pretty sweet deals: $5 glasses of wine from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily; and $20 "board and bottle" Mondays and Tuesdays after 8 p.m. when a house bottle of wine and a bruschetta is priced at 20 bucks. Postino is set up for retail sales, too. There are also eight beers on tap and 22 can and bottle selections.

While Bailey said that further expansion of the Postino brand in Texas and in Houston is possible, they are aren't rushing things.

"Right now we're just excited to be here in Houston, it has such a special feeling," she said. "We're not in a hurry."

Postino WineCafe, 642 Yale at Heights Mercantile, 346-223-1111; postinowinecafe.com. Open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to midnight, Saturday from 9 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Majoring in English or philosophy doesn't necessarily mean a recent college graduate will be driving Uber after she receives her diploma.

But Texas college administrators and faculty must better coordinate between academic departments and with employers to prepare their students for life after graduation, according to a keynote speech that will be presented to attendees of a University of Houston conference next week.

Texas college leaders will talk about students' marketable skills, career readiness and the value of the liberal arts at the two-day sessions starting Monday hosted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Workforce Commission.

A session Tuesday will teach universities how to better integrate career services with academic departments. Three UH employees will discuss a process they created in 2017.

One of the state's ambitious higher education goals is an effort to better market each college or university program to employers by documenting the skills taught. The coordinating board says these skills must be "resume ready" for students as they enter the job market.

It's part of a bigger effort by universities nationwide to communicate their utility.

As we reported earlier this year:

Rice's Kinder Institute last year found that Donald Trump voters were far more likely than Hillary Clinton voters to say "there are many ways to succeed in today's economy with no more than a high school diploma." Most Republican and right-leaning independent voters told the Pew Research Center over the summer that higher education had a negative effect on how things are going in the country.

These shifting political forces have resulted in sharper scrutiny for campuses in state and federal government chambers, and constituencies from top university strategic plans to individual researchers have argued for the importance of better communicating their value.

The University of Texas System recently rolled out a data tool that helps decode what their graduates make -- and what they owe in loans -- no matter where in the country they move after graduation. It partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to release the information.

Conference registration is closed, but meeting materials are available online here.

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.
Police on Friday released a sketch of a woman whose head was found last month in a black plastic bag near Lake Houston and provided a description on a person of interest in the case.

The sketch, completed by artist Lois Gibson, fits the previously described features of the woman, which included teeth in good condition and hair that had been dyed red.

Volunteers found the badly decomposed head near 10600 FM 1960, on the east end waterfront among the erosion-controlling rocks and boulders surrounding it, said Michael Perez, a homicide investigator with the Houston Police Department, which patrols the lake.

READ ALSO: Rain forecast for start of weekend; temps to drop Saturday

About two weeks prior, a man in his early to mid-20s was seen about 2:30 to 3 p.m. throwing a black plastic bag off the bridge, officials said Friday. He was seen getting out of the front passenger side of a truck.

The man, who police say is a person of interest in the case, is described as having short dark brown hair with long bangs across his face, is about 5-foot-4 to 5-foot-8 tall and has light skin. He was seen wearing a gray and black plaid shirt.

The truck is a teal or a bluish green Chevrolet Silverado extended cab.

READ ALSO: Window a/c unit starts fire at Edgebrook home

Perez said the truck was rusted and looked pretty beat up, as if it had been in several wrecks. The back left passenger window was busted out and was covered by what looked like cardboard, according to investigators.

Investigators released a photo of a truck similar in body, style and color to the one the person of interest was seen exiting.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Houston Police Departments homicide division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.
Almost seven months after Hurricane Harvey bore down on southeast Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott's office has lifted the suspension of environmental regulations he put in place in the early days of the storm, a move environmentalists called long overdue.

"It was an ill conceived, bad idea from the start," said Ilan Levin, an attorney with the nonprofit Austin-based Environmental Integrity Project. "It did nothing useful (and) it sowed confusion among industries."

TCEQ spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said in an email that the decision to lift the suspension "was the culmination of weeks of review and discussion between the TCEQ and the governor's office to determine the best course of action."

RELATED STORY: Silent Spills, Part 1: In Houston and beyond, Harvey's spills leave a toxic legacy.

The governor's decision comes just weeks after the Houston Chronicle and the Associated Press published a series on the government's inaction following more than 100 toxic spills on land, in water and air during and after Harvey, even though documents show that benzene, vinyl chloride, butadiene and other known human carcinogens were among the dozens of tons of industrial chemicals released throughout Houston's petrochemical corridor and surrounding neighborhoods and waterways.

The news organizations found that only a handful of the industrial spills had been investigated by federal regulators and Texas regulators say they have investigated 89 incidents statewide. Testing by state and federal regulators of soil and water for contaminants largely was limited to Superfund toxic waste sites.

Environmentalists made their opinions known on the matter earlier this week, sending a letter to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality demanding the rules be enforced again.

"There was little justification for suspending these environmental and health rules in the first place, but certainly none seven months later," said Luke Metzger, Environment Texas' executive director who signed the letter. "I'm glad Gov. Abbott recognized that and, hopefully, not too much damage was done by his writing polluters a blank check."

RELATED STORY: Environmentalists call on state to lift environmental regulations suspension post Harvey.

On Aug. 28, three days after Harvey began pummeling the Houston area, Abbott suspended many environmental regulations relating to air pollution, wastewater and fuel standards for vehicles.

The governor's Harvey disaster declaration suspended environmental reporting and record-keeping rules, as well as liability for unauthorized emissions for the duration of the disaster declaration, an order most recently renewed on March 16. A spokesman for the state environmental agency said the suspensions apply only when rules would hinder disaster response.

On Thursday, James Person, assistant general counsel in the governor's office, sent an email to TCEQ agreeing that it was time to lift the suspension.

"The TCEQ now asserts that the suspension is no longer necessary," Person wrote. "Based on the TCEQ's assertion and our office's review, the Office of the Governor hereby grants TCEQ's request to terminate the temporary suspension of those rules."

The governor's office declined to comment Friday.

RELATED STORY: Forecasters predict a less brutal hurricane season in 2018.

With the rules suspended for almost seven months, environmentalists say the damage already may be done.

"The state, basically, shot itself in the foot," Levin said. "It will be hard for the state to collect penalties from companies that may have egregious violated the laws because the first thing their lawyers will do is hold up governor's order as their shield."

It also means that some "bad actors" could have used the suspension to continue to circumvent the law long after the storm, Levin added, though he believes most Houston industries reported releases as they would have if the rules had not been suspended.

"I think that if a company is trying to circumvent the law or to avoid having to report, then, yes, the governor's order could help that bad actor. I think the order could invite some companies to pollute with impunity," he said. "It'll eventually come out ... (but) at this point, we don't know."

The Chronicle and AP's reporting found that a number of companies continued to report toxic releases even as Abbott's suspension was in effect in part because federal laws also require reporting pollution. But the state did little independent monitoring at spill sites to verify whether those Harvey reports were accurate.

Morrow said TCEQ still will evaluate the Harvey-related incidents "as part of conducting routine investigations in areas impacted by the hurricane."

Alex Stuckey covers science and the environment for the Houston chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
Houston police are searching for two men who bailed out of a U-Haul truck after it got stuck at the end of a chase.

Police started pursuing the truck around 2 a.m. Friday after receiving a call about a suspicious vehicle that was driving slowly around shopping center parking lots near Fuqua and Interstate 45, Metro Video reported.
College Park High School students competed in the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH) in February and seven students qualified for the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in May.

Six of the qualifying students are members of the Academy of Science and Technology at College Park.

Dr. Susan Caffery, the academy headmaster, said the school provides STEM education and has stricter requirements for graduation.

"We offer students the opportunity to focus on a STEM education. Our students have additional requirements that are above the state requirements for graduation," Caffery explained. "Specifically, our students must complete exploration credits each year by attending lectures, tours and independent excursions, and they must take notes in their journal and type a two-page report that includes research on some topic related to the event. Students must do a research project each year."

Students apply for the academy in the fall of their eighth grade year and are accepted their freshman year.

"All of our ninth grade students take Scientific Research and Design and do a science fair project," Caffery added. "Beginning in 10th grade students may choose among science fair, Envirothon, Destination Imagination, BEST Robotics, Senior High Engineering Design Competition, or FIRST Robotics. Additionally, our students must complete an 80-hour internship."

Science is for Everyone

Jill Bohnet, a junior at College Park High School who is interested in pursuing a chemical engineering degree and attending medical school, is not part of the Science Academy but she also qualified for ISEF. Bohnet wanted to create a project that would help solve a problem, and she decided to construct cement by using polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or water bottle waste, and fly ash. Her project, "Repurposing Recycled Materials for Greener, Stronger Cement," won the Grand Award in Engineering at SEFH in February and qualified her for the ISEF.

"I took recycled plastic water bottle waste and broke it down, and I put it into cement. Cement is the second most widely produced material in the world. By putting it into cement, I made the cement stronger and I was able to use two waste products, which were the plastic water bottles and fly ash, which is a by-product that comes from burning coal," Bohnet explained. "So I made a superior product that also incorporated two different waste products and reduced CO2 emissions and reduced the amount of water that making the cement consumed, which since it is the second most used material in the world, it actually on a big scale becomes extremely important to conserve water and even small percentages of the CO2 emissions."

Bohnet explained that she put out a few emails to local corporations and was able to work in a lab setting in Conroe. She also received help from Texas A&M University, which offered to irradiate her materials.

More Information The following students in the Academy of Science and Technology qualified for the ISEF: Arman Sharma, sophomore, with his project "A Novel Analytical Technique for Growth Speed Dependence of Dendritic Microstructures formed during Directional Solidification of Binary Alloys." Sharma also received the Grand Award at the State Science and Engineering Fair. Andrew Kim, senior, "Nutrient-Induced Supersilk Fibers Through Utilization of Bombyx mori" Michael Gerhard and Kabir Jolly, sophomore team, "Reducing Commercial Food Waste: Developing an Application for the Economically Viable Transportation of Food Waste from Source to Composting Facilities via Private Contractors" Adham Kassem, junior, "Synthesis of Corexit9500A and Organic Material to Stimulate Bio-remediation of Crude Oil Spills" Sebastian Saenz, freshman, "Faraday's Bicycle" See More Collapse

"I was able to use an industry standard process in order to create my materials because I was able to be mentored by someone who does it every single day," Bohnet said. "First, I took my materials and I found the different ratios for them based on how much fly ash I wanted to be incorporated, cement, how much of the plastic that would need to go into it."

The final product was a cement mixture that included 15 percent irradiated PET and had a 33 percent increase in compressive strength compared to the control (Portland cement), she said.

"My hope is to eventually have this be standard in the industry because you get to incorporate an extreme problem with all of this waste material that ends up in the landfills. It's helping to solve a problem that's becoming extreme for us, especially with CO2 emissions," Bohnet said. "It's so much more beneficial for the environment and it's a superior product."

Bohnet and the other qualifying College Park students will compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair on May 13-18 in Pittsburgh.
The number of students classified as homeless in the Conroe Independent School District has nearly doubled in the 2017-2018 school year over the previous year, district officials confirmed.

In light of the increase in homeless students, district officials believe adding a dedicated professional services liaison to work with students classified as homeless could make a positive academic impact on their grades.

Dr. Chris Hines, deputy superintendent of operations, said the cause of the increase-there were 475 in 2016-17 and 945 in 2017-18-over the past year is mostly a result of families who lost their homes and belongings during Hurricane Harvey.

Hines addressed the Conroe ISD board of trustees during the March 20 Board of Trustees meeting where he asked them to grant approval to apply for a homeless children and youth grant program from the state.

If approved, the state would fund 42 percent, or $30,000, for support of a new position within the district that would provide help to students who are homeless, Hines told the board.

Another 42 percent would come from the district, while the final 16 percent would be pulled from Title 1 funds allocated for homeless students by the state, Hines said.

The total amount for a professional services liaison position would be roughly $72,000, including benefits, funds for mileage and a computer, but that number may go up, Hines added.

Lynda Gowin, a parent education social worker and homeless liaison for the Conroe ISD, said the grant would give the district the opportunity to apply for funding for personnel to be used to support the identification, enrollment, attendance and academic success of homeless children and youth.

Gowin, who currently handles much of the homeless and foster student responsibilities, said part of her job is ensuring that homeless children are identified and enrolled immediately in the program. She also assists in any enrollment disputes and provides transportation for homeless students to remain in their school of origin.

"Homeless students are a fragile segment of our student population and it is important they receive as much support as possible," Gowin said. "(The professional services liaison) position will be able to focus on finding resources and support for this group."

At the board meeting, Hines said the district average of students classified as homeless is around 475, which was based on the 2016-17 school and is what district officials used for the grant cycle.

But Conroe ISD's current homeless student count has nearly reached 1,000 students since last year, he said, adding that the grant may be recalculated based on updated counts in the later grant cycle.

Gowin said the increase in homeless students this year can be linked back to Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas just as Conroe ISD students had started classes.

"Conroe ISD had several areas that were greatly impacted and many families in the area were displaced because their homes were damaged in the floods," Gowin said. "Any time that a child experiences a traumatic life event, such as being displaced by a natural disaster, there is a high likelihood of that event impacting them academically."

Adding a professional services liaison to focus solely on homeless students will allow those students to be better connected with resources and support to help them overcome many of the challenges that may arise in being homeless, Gowin added.

While Harvey could account for the majority of the recent growth in homeless students, district growth is also a variable, Hines said.

In 10 years between 2008 to 2018, student enrollment jumped by nearly 15,000 students, according to information from the district. As the 13th largest district in the state, officials project that by 2020, the district will have a student enrollment of roughly 70,000.

When Datren L. Williams, vice president of the CISD Board of Trustees, asked Hines to give a legal definition of homeless student, Hines said that it was a fair question because the definition was broad under federal guidelines and not what we would normally think of as homeless.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which authorizes the federal education of homeless children and youth, defines a homeless student as children "who lack a fixed, regular and adequate night-time residence" and includes families who lived in shared housing because they lost their homes, or who are living in motels, cars, parks, abandoned buildings and similar settings, according to the National Center for Homeless Education.

The Act also specifies that migrant children can also be considered homeless, "as migrant families often live in conditions of poverty and may not be able to afford fixed, regular and adequate housing."

Once a teacher or professional liaison has identified a student as homeless, the district-as it does with all students-monitors their achievement and success, Gowin said.

"In situations where students are at-risk for not graduating, the district provides additional resources," Gowin said. "With this new position, we will be able to provide weekly monitoring of these students to ensure academic success and provide early intervention as needed."

The Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness estimates that Texas had more than 100,000 homeless students in 2016.

Five school district in Texas, including districts in San Antonio, Pasadena, Northside, Houston and Dallas, had more than 3,000 homeless students in 2014, according to the United States Department of Education.
Looking to build off last months March For Our Lives events, which attracted thousands of demonstrators advocating for gun-law reform, Houston-area students are planning a series of local town hall events Saturday to discuss gun ownership rights and student safety.

High school and college students have set town halls in six Houston-area cities, with several legislators and political candidates scheduled to attend. The events come two weeks after hundreds of student-led March For Our Lives rallies blanketed the nation, a response to the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 14 teenagers and three adults dead. The downtown Houston March For Our Lives event attracted as many as 15,000 people calling for legislative changes that would reduce access to some guns, primarily assault-style rifles, and strengthen background check procedures for firearm purchases.

Students in dozens of cities across the country are assembling town halls Saturday in response to a call from David Hogg, a Parkland student and lead activist following the shooting. In the area, events are scheduled in Houston, Katy, Pearland, Sugar Land, El Lago and Angleton. At least three Austin-area town halls are scheduled, according to the Town Hall Project, a national volunteer organization helping to coordinate gatherings nationally.

Kelly Choi, a Cypress Woods High School senior and organizer of the Houston town hall, said eight legislators and candidates have committed to Saturdays event at Rice University.

It was short notice, so a lot of people couldnt come out just because they had things planned, Choi said. But I think theyre recognizing the fact that we have the power to do something. I think it shows they see value in what were doing and that were more than just students trying to be rebels without a cause.

Student organizers have emphasized that they plan to get more involved in political activism and local elections beyond the march, backing candidates who support gun-law reforms. The Saturday town hall events are expected to focus on gun legislation and student safety, with legislators and candidates from all political parties welcome.

Choi said organizers received commitments from seven Democrats  including Laura Moser and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, who are in a hotly contested primary runoff for Texas 7th Congressional District  and a lone Republican, state Rep. Sarah Davis, of Houston.

Moser, who finished second in the seven-candidate March primary, garnering about 24 percent of the vote, said the March For Our Lives events represent a moment of true mobilization for high school students in our country.

More Information Here's when and where to attend Saturday's Houston-area March For Our Lives town halls: Houston Rice University, Grand Hall 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77005 5 p.m. Katy Seven Lakes High School 9251 S. Fry Road, Katy, TX 77494 Pearland Spring Creek BBQ 9005 Broadway St., Pearland, TX 77584 10:30 a.m. Sugar Land University of Houston at Sugar Land 14000 University Blvd., Sugar Land, TX 77479 1 p.m. Angleton Brazoria County Courthouse 451 N. Velasco St., Angleton, TX 77515 5:30 p.m. El Lago McNair Memorial Park 418 Lakeshore Dr., El Lago, TX 77586 10 a.m. See More Collapse

I think theres been a huge shift since Parkland, and a lot of that is because of the student-led activism. said Moser, whose campaign team includes a lead organizer for Houstons March For Our Lives events. Even though people said, Its Texas, dont campaign on gun reform, I believe its a winning issue and thats why Ive been talking about it in our campaign.

Fletcher, the leading choice for primary voters at 29 percent, said she has heard calls for gun legislation pretty much every time Ive been out on the campaign trail since the Parkland shooting.

People are moved by what theyre seeing, and I do think people are talking about gun violence across party lines, Fletcher said. I think the student leadership is very inspiring for those who have been working on this issue. I really think its galvanizing a lot of discussion in the community.

In Pearland, student organizers are planning for several dozen attendees and at least four current or aspiring political leaders, including three involved with the Pearland ISD school board.

We just feel as if our representatives arent hearing us or listening to us because they think were just kids, said David Nguyen, a senior at Glenda Dawson High School in Pearland ISD. I hope they hear our concerns about school safety and what safety measures they should be doing to prevent another (shooting) from happening, without making us students feel imprisoned in these schools.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

twitter.com/chronjacob
Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday ordered federal prosecutors along the southern border to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to criminally charging all immigrants caught entering the country illegally, capping a week in which the administration railed against policies it said was drawing migrants here.

The new memorandum would swell already overburdened federal dockets at the border and expands a controversial program known as Operation Streamline that started in Del Rio more than a decade ago. Though simply being here without authorization is a civil offense, improper entry is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison, and the conviction can result in a felony if migrants return and potentially prevent them from gaining asylum.

Criminally prosecuting migrants allows the government to hold them in federal prisons, where there is more capacity than immigrant detention centers, before deporting them after they have served their sentence. It also enables the administration to separate families, as children cannot be held in prison, necessitating their placement in foster care and allowing the government to detain parents until they are deported.

"The recent increase in aliens illegally crossing our Southwest Border requires an updated approach," Sessions said in the memo.

The announcement came hours before President Donald Trump signed a memo ordering the end of so-called "catch and release," in which immigrants are freed to wait out their cases in the backlogged civil immigration courts.

He ordered government agencies to ensure that apprehended immigrants are imprisoned, including reporting steps taken to allocate money to build detention facilities near the border and listing military sites that could be used to hold immigrants.

Read more: Trump moves to end 'catch and release', prosecuting parents and removing children who cross border

Sessions' order, however, would likely have far greater consequence as the government under Trump already detains most immigrants it apprehends at the border.

But his administration, like President Barack Obama's before him, has struggled with how to handle the increasing number of Central American families and children. They make up the fastest-growing demographic of migrants coming here, though are among the most difficult to quickly deport.

A bipartisan 2008 law aimed at curbing human trafficking and a 20-year-old legal settlement protecting children in detention requires the release of most such families with children if asylum officers find that they have a credible fear of returning home.

If families are separated, however, parents can be detained until they are removed, fulfilling Trump's campaign-era promise of ending "catch and release."

Supporters say such a policy encourages migrants to come here, alleging that most of their claims to asylum are fraudulent.

Advocates warn separating families poses great risks as parents and children are not always reunited.

Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle

The speed of the criminal prosecutions and subsequent deportations at the border means advocates for migrant children in federal foster care are often unable to find parents prior to their removal. By then, advocates say, the children also have their own immigration cases and cannot simply be returned without court procedures, particularly if caseworkers argue it is against their best interest.

"What we are looking at is a separation of days and weeks and months, and some cases even years, because of the length of time a child's case can take," said Jennifer Nagda, policy director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, which provides guardians ad litem.

The developments Friday came after a week in which Trump tweeted almost daily, criticizing what he has called "legal loopholes" that prevent the government from quickly deporting many immigrants. He also announced he was sending some 4,000 National Guard troops to the border, though they cannot by law detain immigrants.

"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," Trump said this week. "A whole big wasted procedure must take place."

Read more: Trump administration tries to curb asylum

Bridget Cambria, a Pennsylvania immigration attorney who represents parents separated from their children, said the procedures were set in place by Congress to protect both potential asylum seekers and children.

Under the zero-tolerance policy, she said on Twitter, "children will be taken from their parents. Mothers will lose babies. Fathers will lose their children. They will enter our foster system. Watch for this disaster to play out, and for the lawsuits to pile up."

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit last month accusing the administration of illegally separating hundreds of immigrant parents and children who are seeking asylum.

Separately, the federal public defender's office of the Western District of Texas also contends that such prosecutions violate the due process rights of immigrant parents. Arguing on behalf of five Central American parents who were prosecuted in El Paso and had their children removed as a result, the office holds they pleaded guilty to the crime of illegal entry so that they can reunite more quickly with their kids.

Read more: ACLU challenges Trump administration practice of separating migrant parents and children

One of the parents, Blanca Vasquez, sought asylum at the El Paso border last fall after her husband, a Salvadoran military sergeant, was gunned down and gangs persecuted her family. Though she asked for refugee protection and requested a lawyer, the government removed her 13-year-old son and prosecuted the mother.

After four months in detention, she was released in February and allowed to reunite with her son after a judge agreed she had a potential claim to asylum. All of the other parents, however, were deported and most of their children remain with relatives or in foster care in the United States.

The administration in the past two months has ramped up its criticism of the 2008 law and 1997 legal settlement, known as Flores, suggesting increasing urgency as the number of families and children coming here has risen once more.

The Department of Homeland Security this week released statistics showing that more than 13,000 arrived in March.

"The crisis at our Southwest border is real," its statement said.

About as many arrived during March 2014 in what was seen as a surge of Central American families crossing the southern border, spurring a federal emergency as Obama's government struggled to house them all.

After Trump took office in January 2017, announcing a series of harsh immigration policies to deter migrants from coming, the number of such families dropped to record lows, about 1,200 in March of that year.

But they quickly began rising again and in recent months have almost reached Obama-era levels, even as the overall number of illegal crossings at the border are historically low, with about 415,200 apprehensions last year.

A Department of Homeland Security report last fall found that it is harder than ever to cross the border illegally, estimating that as much as 85 percent of attempted illegal border crossings are unsuccessful.

Johnny Hanson/Houston Chronicle

Advocates say the increase in families reflects the deteriorating security in El Salvador and Honduras, where gang violence, including that of MS-13, has made the countries two of the most dangerous in the world, after Syria and Venezuela, according to the global violence monitoring group Small Arms Survey. Political instability in Honduras, where President Juan Orlando Hernandez took office in November after a highly contested election, is also drawing people here.

"The rising number of asylum-seekers requesting protection in Mexico or the United States is a humanitarian problem, not a security threat," wrote Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy organization.

Read more: Her husband murdered, her son taken away, a mother seeking asylum tells a judge, 'I have lost everything'

Sessions' order Friday tells prosecutors "to the extent practicable" to have "zero tolerance" when it comes to pursuing first-time offenders for improper entry. The order supersedes his previous instructions from last summer, which told prosecutors to prioritize such crimes. By the next month, May, immigration cases in federal courts had spiked 27 percent, according to federal data.

The attorney general in his directive referred to a zero tolerance pilot program in Texas that began under President George W. Bush, later expanding to six of the nine Border Patrol sectors on the southern border.

The sheer number of offenders charged with the misdemeanor means federal judges often have to see some 80 at a time, which critics have likened to a "cattle call in the courts."

Since there is no real defense to the crime, most plead guilty in a fast-tracked mass hearing that lasts about an hour and in which one taxpayer-funded lawyer represents the group.

While the legality of such expedited hearings -- a months-long federal process condensed into one -- has been upheld by appellate courts, advocates say the proceedings deprive immigrants of due process.

Read more: STREAMLINED: Trump pressing for mass criminalization of illegal border crossers

In particular, they say the zero tolerance strategy punishes asylum seekers in a violation of international treaties and can deny them an opportunity to make their claims for refugee status at all. The Department of Homeland Security's own Office of Inspector General identified this as a problem in 2015.

"Border Patrol does not have guidance on using Streamline for aliens who express fear of persecution or return," it said. "Its use of Streamline with such aliens is inconsistent and may violate U.S. treaty obligations."

Supporters of expanding immigration prosecutions say the prospect of prison time has contributed to historically low apprehensions at the border and deters migrants from trying to return. Border Patrol officials point to the agency's own figures showing that the number of people attempting to cross the border again within a year fell from 29 percent in 2007 to 14 percent in 2014.

The Government Accountability Office, however, has found problems with the agency's methodology, suggesting return rates basically remained unchanged when measuring over a more realistic time frame of three years and excluding immigrants who stayed in the United States in that period.

Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle

By 2013, U.S. Attorneys and federal judges along the border had largely moved away from such zero-tolerance prosecutions, frustrated by the time and expense they necessitated.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, who oversees Austin in the Western District, has called the expenses involved in prosecuting all immigrants for illegal entry "simply mind-boggling," saying the taxpayer cost is "neither meritorious nor reasonable."

Detaining migrants on such charges alone costs some $1 billion a year, according to estimates by Grassroots Leadership, an advocacy group in Austin opposing incarceration.

By far the larger cost is the time, and resources, such a strategy expends.

The crime of illegal immigration now makes up almost half of all federal cases and 80 percent of the dockets in the Western and Southern Districts of Texas, which includes Houston, according to an analysis of federal data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data research group at Syracuse University.

Meanwhile, the second-most pursued offense by U.S. attorneys - going after drug-related offenses during the height of the nation's opioid epidemic - made up just 14 percent of all new federal cases last spring, according to Syracuse, falling to its lowest level in a quarter of a century.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he's made $1 million in overtime pay available to the city's police force to help combat gun and gang violence.

The allocation, announced at a press conference with Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, came a little more than a week after the death of an 8-year-old boy who was caught in the crossfire of alleged gang members.

Tristian Hutchins died March 28 after being shot during a March 1 drive-by that police say was gang-related. Devonte Lockett, 18, was arrested and charged with murder Thursday, and Acevedo said they are still pursuing multiple other suspects.

The death of Hutchins and the non-fatal shooting of his 5-year-old sister has become a rallying cry for the city and community leaders, who have pleaded for those with information to come forward with information, and for an end to the gun violence that has killed ten other children in the city since December 2016.

ORIGINAL COVERAGE: Acevedo said children were caught in 'crossfire of cowards'

"Our hearts remain heavy because 8-year-old Tristian Hutchins should not have been shot and he certainly did not deserve to die," Turner said .

"I said then, and I'll say it again today: We are going to stand and fight for all of the children in our city," he said. "This will not be the new normal."

Acevedo said he was not immediately sure how many hours of overtime the money would cover, but said the department has already been "surging" officers to some "hot spots" of violence around town. He said he expects that to continue.

"The bottom line is that's a lot of money," he told the Chronicle after the press conference. "And it's not just the overtime. We're actually doing some joint investigations on gang members, and they shouldn't be resting right now because before they know it we'll be coming for them, trust me."

He also noted that the department has increasingly shifted it's focus to gang and gun violence since he took over in late 2016. Under his tenure, HPD has deployed more officers at night, when violence more often occurs, and intensified its focus on aggravated assaults as a way to stem homicides.

"There's a direct correlation between police presence, police activity and bad outcomes," he said. "When police presence goes up, when police activity goes up - whether it's stops or arrests - the bad things go down."

Federal assistance

Police have declined to name the gang in which Lockett was a member, only noting that it is active in the Third Ward. Lockett was previously sentenced to 20 days in jail for a misdemeanor weapons charge, court records show, and was shot in the face last September  a shooting that left him a scar, Acevedo said.

He was arrested Thursday evening outside a convenience store near the intersection of Scott and Dennis streets, the chief said.

U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee  a ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations subcommittee  said at the press conference Friday that she would work to put Houston at "the front of the line" to receive federal funding to combat gangs.

"Even though it looks like the federal government is distant, there are ways that we should be able to collaborate," she said.

She also called on civilians and officers to unify to prevent more violence.

"It's important today to say that the police is a community, and the community is the police," she said. "For those who view the police as anything other than community, now is the time to put down your arms and your barriers."

Turner and Jackson Lee also highlighted programs and initiatives that they say could revitalize poorer communities and provide opportunities to children and young adults  like 18-year-old Lockett  before they turn to gang life.

Last month, Turner announced a commission to study gun violence in the city that will likely include medical professionals, mental health experts, educators and advocates in the LGBT community. Some of the organizers of Houston's March for Life will also be involved, Turner's spokesman Alan Bernstein said.

Though Houston's homicide rate is still low compared to many American cities  and dropped 11 percent between 2016 and 2017  Turner said leaders should focus on reducing violence now, rather than later.

"One homicide in our city is one homicide too many," he said. "It's important to stop and arrest it now, before it gets to any sort of stage that really just causes a great deal of distress."

Acevedo also reiterated Friday his vow to pressure lawmakers to strengthen gun laws and punishments for felons who are caught in possession of firearms. Among the proposals the chief has previously floated are rules that would revoke bond or parole for felons caught with guns.

He said he and other Houston-area leaders have been assured by the state's parole board that such changes will be implemented.

Robert Downen covers crime for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter or email him at robert.downen@chron.com.
A man who was drunk when he crashed into and killed a Houston teenager as she was coming home on her prom night was sentenced Friday to 32 years in prison.

Edin Palacios, a native of Guatemala, pleaded guilty to a felony murder charge on Monday. Police said on May 14, 2016, he ignored a police officer trying to pull him over on suspicion of drunken driving and ran a red light, killing 18-year-old Jocelynn Valero and injuring her date.

Prosecutors said Valero and her prom date were returning home from IHOP, where they ate after prom, when she was killed.

PAST COVERAGE: Driver in fatal prom crash arrested without bail, could face deportation

Palacios, 28, will be deported after he serves his sentence, his lawyer, Emily Detoto said.

Between Palacios' guilty plea and sentencing, Detoto filed a motion to set aside the indictment and instead have Palacios charged with causing death while evading a police officer, which carries a lower sentence, she said. That motion wasnt granted.

Palacios would have pleaded guilty earlier, but the state didnt want to waive the right to a jury trial and couldn't come to agreement with Detoto on a sentence, Detoto said. The state asked for a 50-year sentence for the murder charge, she said.

Officials with the Harris County District Attorneys Office could not immediately be reached for comment.

NOTABLE CRIMES IN HOUSTON OF 2018

While in jail, Palacios attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, took classes through Houston Community College and participated in religious activities, Detoto said.

Its tragic because a life was cut short, but whats also tragic is that my client had otherwise lived an impeccable life, his lawyer said. He was educated; he had goals also. Theres no winners here at all.

Valero and her date were seniors at Yes Prep North Central.

The day her daughter died, Macrina Valero, asked for justice for the teen, whom she described as a "good, respectful" girl who aspired to become a detective.

"She was everything to me," Valero said in a post distributed across social media that Saturday afternoon.

St. John Barned-Smith contributed.
The Houston Zoo has come a long way since its first resident, a bison named Earl donated from a traveling circus, moved onto the grounds back in 1922.

It was only two acres then and few in Houston could have imagined what the future was to hold for the plot of land in Hermann Park.

These days 8,000 animals of all shapes and sizes call the zoo home across its 50-plus acres. Millions of visitors walk through its gates annually to learn about the animal kingdom and get a respite from the human world, if only for a few hours.

MAJOR PROJECT: The Houston Zoo announces ambitious plans, additional habitats

This week Chron.com reported on the zoo's plans to transform half of its acreage in the next four years leading up to its centennial.

For years, the city owned the zoo until it was privatized in 2002 and became a non-profit entity. A 50-year lease and operating agreement was signed with the city. With this change the zoo's goals changed, becoming an evermore strident proponent of conservation and education.

Houstonians have been along for the ride for decades.

Most natives have fond memories of school field trips, family treks and encounters with their favorite animals along the way. Maybe it was a tortoise, an elephant, or a giraffe that felt like a friend after so many visits.

ANIMAL DOCS: See what it takes to give a Houston Zoo gorilla a physical exam

Chron.com has dug into our archives to gather a series of photos from the zoo's history, when it was known as the Hermann Park Zoo and operated by the city of Houston.

There was a time when the zoo had more of circus-like atmosphere, at least in the early days. Elephants were ridden, snakes were charmed and lions were tamed.

Some Houstonians might just recognize a few of the animals in the photos from their own childhood visits.

Check out the slideshow above to see how the Houston Zoo has changed over the past century...

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.
From freeways, to stadiums, to theaters, a lot of dirt has been moved around the city in the past century or so.

Construction in Houston seemingly never ends. Heavy is the crown that lays on the head of one of the country's coolest and most growing cities.

RELATED: The city of Houston as seen in Kodachrome photos shot in the '50s and '60s

Because Houston is constantly growing, you'll hardly find a major highway or street that isn't undergoing some kind of construction or road improvement.

The old photos of NRG Stadium in the slideshow above show off the extensive manpower it took to create the home of RodeoHouston and the Houston Texans.

Also included here are a handful of photos of the Astrodome in its skeletal phase. Those are always fun to see.

RELATED: Vintage menus show what foods Americans used to love

The photos of freeways still in their infancy are a great flashback to a time when it didn't take three hours to drive from Katy to Clear Lake, with two hours of that likely at a near stand-still somewhere off I-10.

Jones Hall looks beautiful inside and out, but there was a point in the mid-1960s when it was just a mess of wood, wire, and steel.

Our favorite photos, though have to be the ones of 1,000 acres of empty prairie land in Clear Lake. The land would soon be developed into the Manned Spacecraft Center, later renamed the Johnson Space Center.

Construction began in 1962 and within seven years where livestock once roamed, men would speak to astronauts bouncing around on the moon nearly 240,000 miles away.

Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com.
A teen was arrested Thursday in connection with a drive-by shooting death of an 8-year-old boy in southeast Houston, police said.

Devonte Lockett, 18, is charged with murder in connection with the March 1 fatal shooting of Tristian Hutchins, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Thursday night.

Hutchins and his 5-year-old sister Kheristian were sitting in a car in a shopping center parking lot in the 3900 block of Scott Street when gunfire erupted, police said.

Tristian was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital, where he died on March 28. Kheristian also suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. Houston Police Department homicide detectives have previously said the shooting was gang related.

GANG CRACKDOWN: Acevedo vows action after 11 kids have been slain in 16 months

Lockett, who lives in the Sunnyside area, served a 20-day sentence last year for a misdemeanor weapons charge, court records show.

In a statement Thursday night, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner thanked the community for providing information that he said helped assist police in the case.

"Violence against our kids will not be tolerated," he said. "We will work overtime and spend whatever it takes to protect our children."

It was not immediately clear whether a tip lead to Lockett's arrest, but Acevedo said that "when children get shot - when our most innocent people get killed - even some of the toughest people will start to talk."

VIGIL: Third Ward prays for violence to end after two children shot in 'crossfire of cowards'

The shooting - and Tristian Hutchins' subsequent death - sent shockwaves through Houston, bringing together city and community leaders in a call for an end to gang and gun violence.

"We have to come together," said Reginald Gordon, of Operation Outreach, a community organization that empowers at-risk youth, said at a vigil held one day after the shooting. "We have to sit down at the table and discuss the issues. We've got to come together to bring a truth to this kind of violence that is going on amongst the communities here."

In an emotional press conference last week, Acevedo read Hutchins' name along with 10 other children who he said have died in indiscriminate gunfire in the city since December 2016, before pleading with Houston residents to find the "collective courage to stand up" to the violence.

"We have people being shot in gas stations that are innocent bystanders, in apartments that are innocent bystanders, and in our streets that are innocent bystanders," he said. "This community needs to be outraged. Although it wasn't your child that was shot, injured or killed, your child could be the next."

"There's no excuse - there's no justification - for these children to be taken from us," he said.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.
Houston residents can expect another couple of rainy days, with a severe weather threat in place Friday night and Saturday morning.

The greatest threat is to the areas northeast of Houston, closer to the Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas borders, according to the National Weather Service.
Pastor Leo Tyler was actively seeking a challenge when he was assigned to a new position at Bear Creek United Methodist Church.

He ended up getting more than he bargained for when, seven weeks later, Hurricane Harvey struck. The 54-year-old pastor and his congregants rose to the occasion, organizing a massive relief effort, one that continues to provide services today. Tyler credits his congregation for its generosity and hard work in a time of need.

I just happened to be there to coordinate, Tyler said. This is a network of heroes.

Tyler was welcomed to the congregation, located at 16000 Rippling Water Drive, with a July 4 weekend celebration. The church was preparing for its 40th anniversary celebration. In that history, Tyler was its first black senior pastor.

A few weeks later, Tyler was watching the weather, as Harvey roared to the coast. He canceled services on Sunday, Aug. 27. By Monday morning, Tyler still could not get out of his house. But his phone had been ringing all weekend, with people asking if they could shelter in the church. Around 40 families in the church lost their homes.

Tyler opened the doors to his church for his congregation and area residents to take refuge. While stuck in their home, Tyler and his wife served as a call center for those in need. Church member Wendi Perez organized rescues.

We rallied the troops, and Wendi was our boots on the ground, Tyler said. As we were getting reports, Wendi would find someone with a boat, with a truck. She jumped on it like it was her job.

Once Tyler was able to return to the church, he turned it into a distribution center for supplies, toys, snacks and personal items. In addition, the church partnered with the Houston Food Bank and MESA-Outreach to serve meals. Volunteers delivered food in the neighborhood as well.

Bear Creek United Methodist opened its nursery on Saturdays to provide free child care. Church member Al Balboni started organizing work crews, and congregants headed out to the neighborhood to muck out and gut homes.

You know how when you face trouble, all at once, you become stronger than you thought you were? Tyler said. Thats exactly what happened. These guys went all day for several weeks.

The calls continue to come in, and Bear Creek United Methodist hasnt stopped responding. The church has a goal of returning 30 families to their homes by May.

Anne Mosk has known Tyler for 10 years. He was her pastor at First Methodist before he went to Bear Creek, and she followed him there, becoming a regular at his weekly sermons.

She has been impressed with the churchs outreach for Harvey relief.

Theyre so active, and its not just one of them, its all of them, she said.
The Houston region and its leaders must rethink what flood mitigation means and how to accomplish it, a report released this week by the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium argued.

Two of the items in the report (which was produced by a team of local experts funded by philanthropic groups) worth revisiting are its cautionary comments about a third reservoir in northwest Harris County and its discussion of equity in flood mitigation spending.

READ MORE: Report: Houston region must rethink approach to flood mitigation

County Judge Ed Emmett, Mayor Sylvester Turner and numerous other elected or appointed officials representing the region speak often of the need for a third reservoir in the Cypress area, in addition to Addicks and Barker reservoirs in west Houston.

But this reservoir, in the format it was most formally envisioned from 2012 to 2014, would not address the problems laid bare during the storm, the consortium reports states.

The so-called Plan 5 reservoir outlined in a county Flood Control District study would guide the flood waters flowing out of Cypress Creek and across the prairie into Addicks Reservoir through improved channels, the report states, eliminating the sheets of flood water that make it difficult to build on 18,000 acres in northwest Harris County today.

(The study) was designed to enable more development in the Katy Prairie. A different reservoir, in the same area but with very different design goals, could be of real benefit to Cypress Creek, which has significant flooding issues, the report states.

Emmett and Turners so-called "flood czar," Steve Costello, reiterated their support for a third reservoir this week, but distanced themselves from the reservoir as drafted.

I bet Ive given 20 speeches talking about the third reservoir and saying it needs to be in a different place than Plan 5, Emmett said. We need the third reservoir to actually protect the Cypress Creek watershed.

Added Costello: I dont think anyone has specifically said Plan 5 in some time.

Now, the issue of equity.

The report (and our story about it) discuss how local flood control efforts will produce inequitable results without more local funding to offset federal formulas that make flood control projects in poor neighborhoods far less likely to get federal funds.

The report also points out that inadequate local funding has enabled large projects to proceed in only a handful of the regions watersheds, leaving many populous and Harvey-damaged areas without projects in the pipeline.

For a visual version of this latter point, check out this interactive chart:

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A federal judge hasn't even issued his final opinion, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's staff is already preparing for an appeal of a decision related to the national Motor Voter law.

U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia in San Antonio has agreed with a Texas civil rights group that Texas was violated the federal National Voter Registration Act, often called Motor Voter.

The Texas Civil Rights Project has sued the state, accusing it of treating some online voter registrations through drivers license renewals differently from those done in person. The result is the law is not being applied equally to all people, the group has argued.

Garcia has granted a motion to side with the Texas Civil Rights Project with a formal ruling expected any day.

But Paxton's office said they are ready to challenge the decision once it's issued.

"We are not surprised by the order issued on Tuesday by this particular judge," said Marc Rylander, Paxton's communications director. "The Fifth Circuit will not give merit to such judicial activism because Texas voter registration is consistent with federal voter laws. We look forward to filing an appeal."

That response brought criticism from Paxton's Democratic opponent in this year's elections.

"It is offensive and dangerous for the Office of Attorney General to attack a judge personally," Democrat Justin Nelson said. "Just as offensive, Ken Paxton is trying to make it more difficult to register to vote than it is to renew a driver's license online. Anyone who has stood in line to obtain a driver's license knows the hoops you have to jump through. We should make it easier to vote, not harder."

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.
In a Thursday appearance on "The Ellen Degeneres Show," Sen. Kamala Harris busted out some dance moves and some controversial bipartisan humor, but she still won't say if she's running for president in 2020.

Degeneres certainly tried to get the California Democrat to spill the beans, asking Harris multiple times about her presidential aspirations. Harris remained coy.

"I'm not going to answer," she told Degeneres.

RELATED: Harris confirmed as UC Berkeley graduation commencement speaker

Speaking like a true politician, Harris said she has more "pressing issues" to focus on, like gun control, health care and protecting DACA immigrants.

OK, fair enough, but "who would be your vice president?" Degeneres asked.

"Got any plans?" Harris quipped.

"I'm busy," the talk-show host replied.

Degeneres then rapid-fired Harris with a series of light-hearted questions: First celebrity crush? Tito Jackson. Most rebellious teenaged act? Loitering. Tattoos? None.

The conversation took an edgier turn when Degeneres asked Harris: "If you had to be stuck in an elevator with either President Trump, Mike Pence or Jeff Sessions who would it be?"

"Does one of us have to come out alive?" Harris asked, to a roar of cheering from the audience. Even Degeneres applauded the senator's wit.

Some conservatives were not amused by the quip. A Thursday headline on Drudge Report read: "KAMALA CRACKS TRUMP DEATH JOKE," accompanied by a photo of the senator with a wild, full-toothed grin.

A story on conservative pundit Sean Hannity's website called the joke "vicious" and questioned if the senator went "too far."

RELATED: Jerry Brown lashes out at Jeff Sessions for 'sad political stunt'

Harris has yet to respond to the conservative hoopla. The Democrat had only positive things to say about her Ellen appearance on Twitter Thursday.

"Had a great time with @TheEllenShow yesterday," she wrote, with a photo of herself drinking from an Ellen-emblazoned mug.
Uber and its competitors have made life more convenient for their many customers in New York. Uber alone picks up 289,000 passengers every day; last fall, it actually surpassed yellow-taxi ridership. The service is especially useful for residents of outer boroughs, which yellow cabbies have long found uneconomical, and sometimes unsafe, to serve. Yet half of Ubers rides begin in Manhattan and often end there, too, and the service has contributed to the growing congestion of the boroughs streets. As transportation consultant Bruce Schaller noted in a study last year, growth in the for-hire car business has added nearly 50,000 vehicles and over half a billion miles of driving to the citys streets in just three years. The crush of new vehicles is one reason that traffic speeds have slowed from 9 miles an hour to 7 miles an hour in Manhattans central business district (below 60th Street) in just six years.

The governor, mayor, and state legislature should stop dithering on congestion pricing. Imposing a fee to carry passengers into or within Manhattan should reduce the number of for-hire drivers operating at any given time, provided the fee is high enough, which would improve traffic flows.

The state and city should also acknowledge that part of their job is to ensure market fairness, rather than use regulation to discriminate against one or another market participant. Until e-hailing companies disrupted the taxi industry, the citys purpose in limiting the number of yellow cabs (the current cap is 13,587 ) was to reduce congestion in the densest areas of Manhattan. In the 1930s, when New York created this system, it had no technological way to control congestion by charging a fee; now, thanks to transponder readers such as E-ZPass, it does. The inevitable transition from a medallion-based to a cordon-based system of controlling traffic in the densest parts of the city, however, should acknowledge that one segment of the market has already paid a congestion fee: the yellow-medallion owners. So far, proposed government congestion fixes havent fully acknowledged this reality. Governor Cuomos Fix New York panel, convened last year to address Manhattan congestion, has proposed a fee ranging from $2 to $5 on all for-hire car trips that touch Manhattans central business district. Yet treating yellow-medallion owners and drivers the same as Uber and Lyft ignores the fact that medallion owners paid for this privilege, albeit under a regulatory system that now seems obsolete. Its sensible to update regulations for new technology, of course, but taxi drivers and medallion holders in effect would be paying a congestion fee twice.

Unfortunately, New York State has just passed legislation that is unlikely to reduce congestion or establish a level regulatory playing field for the taxi industry and ride-sharing firms. The state has decreed that Uber and its competitors must pay a $2.75 surcharge per ride below 96th Street and that traditional cabbies must pay $2.50. But this fee likely isnt high enough to deter the behavior of Uber and Lyft customers, which is ostensibly one of the purposes of the charge, in addition to raising money for the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Uber, in particular, already heavily subsidizes the cost of a ride through the billions of dollars in losses that its investors incur each year. The fee, then, may only raise revenue while serving as a nuisanceexactly the kind of tax policy that a state shouldnt pursue. Second, the 25-cent differential between the charge on cab rides and the charge on Uber rides nods at the fact that medallion owners have already paid a hefty fee without doing enough to ameliorate this imbalance. At the city level, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been if anything less forward-looking, vacillating even on the concept of a congestion cordon in Manhattan.

Why not, then, exempt yellow cabs from this fee, at least for the first decade of a new regulatory regime, in consideration of the price they have already paid? Over ten years, a driver picking up or dropping off 15 fares a day within Manhattan would save nearly $300,000 on the higher fee suggested by the Fix New York panel, a significant portion of the medallion price. Green-cab owners, who paid a much smaller fee, during the Bloomberg era, for the right to pick up fares outside of core Manhattan, could accordingly get a smaller number of free trips within the central business district, over a shorter time period. A cordon system that differentiates between license plates held by for-hire cars and those held by private vehicles, in order to charge each a different fee, should be able to differentiate between the license plates of yellow cabs and other for-hire cars, as well.

The rise of ride-hailing services has put enormous pressure on the taxi and livery-car industrysometimes with grim consequences. Four New York City taxi and livery-car drivers have committed suicide since December. Nicanor Ochisor, a yellow-medallion owner, hanged himself in Queens two weeks ago. The value of his taxi medallion, which he expected to lease out to finance his approaching retirement, had plummeted from more than $1 million to less than $200,000 over the last few years. Black-car driver Douglas Schifter shot himself in front of City Hall in February. In 1981, I averaged 40-50 hours per week, he wrote on Facebook beforehand. Now he was working more than 100 hours per week to make ends meet. I cannot survive any longer with working 120 hours. Due to the huge number of cars available with desperate drivers trying to feed their families, they squeeze rates to below operating costs.

Government cant shieldand shouldnt shieldpeople entirely from bad luck, bad decisions, and economic change. Yet New York State and City certainly shouldnt exacerbate the problems with bad regulations. Elected leaders at both the state and local level can take steps that would make city streets less cloggedand address an unfair imbalance of the current situation.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Charity workers are being invited to apply for a programme which will provide training and financial support to become an entrepreneur.

The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme 2018, run in partnership with School for Social Entrepreneurs, and jointly funded by Big Lottery Fund, is a programme created to support social entrepreneurs in communities across the UK.

Now in its sixth year, the programme provides entrepreneurs with financial support to start or scale up a social business (grants of 1,000, or a Match Trading grant of up to 7,000, depending on the applicants eligibility), a comprehensive learning programme with the School for Social Entrepreneurs and a dedicated mentor from Lloyds Banking Group.

Match Trading was launched in 2017 to encourage social entrepreneurs to grow their business through trading and increase their sustainability by incentivising them to explore new markets and diversify income streams.

The programme aims to support 2,350 entrepreneurs by 2020.

Paula Rogers, head of Social Enterprise at Lloyds Banking Group said: The Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme attracts so many inspirational and motivated individuals from across the UK and we look forward to supporting a new cohort of students this year.

We believe that by supporting individuals to start and develop social businesses to solve the most pressing issues within their local communities, we are helping to drive economic growth across the UK and deliver on our ambition to help Britain prosper.

Alastair Wilson, chief executive of the School for Social Entrepreneurs, said: Our partnership with Lloyds Banking Group has enabled us to support thousands of social entrepreneurs across the UK to develop businesses that transform communities and help people in need.

We look forward to supporting these social entrepreneurs on each of their individual journeys and to witness their growth with the support of a grant, learning programme with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and dedicated mentor from Lloyds Banking Group.

Applications for the 2018-2019 programme are now open online at www.bethesocialchange.com and taster sessions are taking place across the UK.




Charities have a gender pay gap of less than 2 per cent once bodies such as independent schools and housing associations are stripped out, an analysis has found.

The figures suggest the sector is performing far better against equality metrics than previous estimates had suggested, and better than almost any part of the private sector.

Yesterday an analysis by David Kane, a freelance data scientist, revealed that 568 registered charities with more than 250 employees had reported on differences in median pay between men and women, and that among those bodies, the average median pay gap was 8 per cent.

Kane has now undertaken an analysis of the figures against the criteria used for NCVO's UK Civil Society Almanac, where he has has identified that the original figure included almost 200 organisations not classified as part of the voluntary sector by the annual analysis of charity accounts.

When building the almanac, NCVO strips out a number of different classes of registered charity, such as schools, housing associations, universities and public bodies  to give an overview of what it terms general charities  those likely to be considered part of the voluntary sector.

Kane, who led work on the almanac for many years, found that 374 qualifying employers, employing around 400,000 people, met the general charity definition.

These charities had an average mean pay gap of 5.6 per cent, and median pay gap of 1.9 per cent.

Median pay gap is the preferred figure for calculating differentials, to avoid distortion from a small number of very senior earners. The difference between the two figures suggests that men are slightly overrepresented in high-paying executive positions in charities.

Kane found the data included more than 100 independent schools, which have a 20.6 pay gap in favour of men, as well as 38 housing associations, with a gap of 4.1 per cent, and 24 universities, with a gap of 15.6 per cent. Another 25 charities had various other exclusions.

This means that voluntary sector organisations have a better pay gap than almost any other sector weve seen, Kane said. Its very encouraging.



Theres obviously still a difference, and the analysis suggests a bigger difference in the highest-paid jobs. But this shows the voluntary sector is more progressive than others, and much more progressive than we realised at first.

A full analysis of gender pay gap data will be published in next month's Charity Finance magazine. To find out more about this month's magazine, click here.

Civil Society Media is hosting its Charity People & Culture conference on 18 September 2018, which will include a session on gender pay gaps. For more information and to book, click here.




Update, April 15: Google both won and lost the first right to be forgotten case in England on April 13, when a judge dismissed the claims of the first claimant and upheld those of the second, ruling that Google must delist the requested URLs in his case.

The High Court judge made a distinction between the gravity and relevance of the two mens crimes. While both were convicted of business crimes over a decade ago, the judge ruled that information regarding NT1s crime was essentially public in its character and he did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The information on NT2s crime on the other hand, is no longer relevant and of no sufficient legitimate interest to the public, the judge wrote.

The judge also dismissed Googles claims that it should benefit from the journalism exemption, striking down several of Googles supporting arguments. Googles argument that they get journalism points for providing access to journalistic content is parasitic, wrote the judge, because it is entirely dependent on the journalism of the third-party site. The court also rejected the argument that Google was acting in the public interests when choosing to deny or accept right to be forgotten requests. There is no evidence that anyone at Google ever gave consideration to the public interest in continued publication of the URLs complained of, at any time before NT1 complained, the judge wrote.

In the first right to be forgotten case to reach Englands High Court, two men are fighting to keep their past crimes out of Googles search results, and the tech giant is fighting back by claiming its journalistic.

The case, which is actually two nearly identical cases, involves two businessmen who were both convicted of white-collar crimes in the 90s, and requested that Google delist several URLs referencing their convictions, including news articles. When Google denied their requests, they sued under a 2014 European Union ruling which established the right of individuals to have information delisted from search indexes under certain conditions.

In its defense, Google has argued that it should be protected under an exception for journalism because it provides access to journalistic content. Even as a legal sleight of hand, the argument is quite a departure from Googles customary efforts to present itself as a disinterested arbiter of information, a position that has become more untenable with time.

Gareth Corfield, a reporter for The Register who covered the cases from the courtroom, said its disingenuous of Google to put on the mantle of journalism only when it suits them. Theyve gone through great lengths to say they dont make any editorial judgement in processing results, Corfield said, but it now wants you to believe it is on a par with journalism.

As the first case to test the right to be forgotten in Englands High Court, its outcome will likely set some ground rules in the roiling debate between personal privacy and freedom of expression on the internet. Googles sudden identification with journalism may be a legal gambit, but it could have far-reaching effects across the landscape of data protection laws.

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RELATED: Mike Ananny on Facebook, facts, and the problem with a marketplace of ideas

The journalism argument

The core of the London case is a classic clash of rights. The claimants, called NT1 and NT2 to protect their identities, argue that since their crimes are decades old, they should be able to move on from their past. The URLs they are requesting to delist include news articles in national publications, an excerpt of a book, and interviews given by NT2 to news outlets. Google counters that the information is in the public interest, and still relevant given that the nature of the claimants business has not changed dramatically in the ensuing years.

Whether Google is motivated to protect the public interest or simply to expand its discretion, it has been given the power to do so.

In 2014, Europes top court ruled that a right to be forgotten existed under the EUs Data Protection Directive, instituted in 1995. The court ordered Google to give Europeans the option of requesting to remove search results for their own names, if the information is inadequate, irrelevant or excessive in relation to the purposes of the processing.

The ruling placed Google at the port-of-call between privacy and the public interest. Guidelines provided by the court direct the search engine to balance these rights when making a decision whether or not to delist, with primacy given to privacy except where it is overridden by a preponderant interest of the general public.

So unless a requester sues, the decision is entirely up to Googles discretion. The tech giant reported that it rejects more than half of the requests it receives, but did not provide insight as to why.

In this case, Google is defending its initial decision not to delist the URLs in question, suggesting that the court trust its discretion. But another piece of its defense makes a broader claim. Google says that it should be protected under the journalism exemption in the Data Protection Act from 1998, the UK version of the EU directive of 1995. The exemption allows any data processed for the special purpose of journalism to be exempt from data protection rules.

This argument directly challenges the EU courts decision. In that case, the EU made a distinction between search engines and the third-party sites they link to. While the court cant compel a news outlet like the BBC to remove content because it was published for journalistic purposes, it can compel Google to restrict access to it, because the search engine doesnt enjoy the same protections.

Now, Google is arguing that in some cases it should. In Googles words, a broad definition of journalism could include the work of a search engine because [t]he process of making search results available is for the purpose of enabling users to access third party publishers content which discloses information, opinions, and ideas, according to the documents filed with the court. Therefore, Google argues, in appropriate cases it can rely on the journalism exemption.

In Googles words, a broad definition of journalism could include the work of a search engine.

Englands Information Commissioner dismissed Googles argument and said that journalism presupposes a process that includes human editorial decision-making, something that Googles very algorithmic service does not do. The commissioner warned that if the court sided with Google, it would completely defang the original ruling. In effect, she wrote, Google would be able to operate the right to be forgotten regime almost entirely free from regulatory oversight and control.

Google had previously argued for the journalism exemption in a case in Northern Ireland, involving the removal of 12 search results regarding a mans sexual crimes. The judgment clarified that, according to Google, to ask the question as to whether a search engine is journalism is to ask the wrong question. The right question is whether the material is journalistic material.

In other words, Google is making the case that where they provide access to journalistic content, they are a part of that journalistic process.

Rehabilitation

The case highlights one of the primary uses of the right to be forgotten, and a key area that the right hoped to solve: How to deal with a persons criminal or legal history when the past lives forever in the digital sphere.

Twenty percent of requests to Google are from people seeking to erase their legal history, according to Googles report, and that number increases to 35 percent for URL takedown requests to news sites in particular. The guidelines provided by the EU include the gravity and recency of the crimes as factors to be considered in determining whether or not to delist a link.

The UK has an explicit mandate, the Offenders Rehabilitation Act, and a robust legal tradition to support the rehabilitation of offenders. The act, which restricts what can be published about a persons past crimes after a certain amount of time elapses, hasnt aged well. When it passed in 1974, no one dreamed that one day you could pull up a 20-year-old article with a Google search. But its not yet a mandate for the digital sphere, or part of legislation like RTBF.

Meg Leta Jones, the author of the 2016 book Ctrl+Z: The Right to be Forgotten, says a decision that applies the rehabilitation act to digital intermediaries could open the floodgates. To extend that out into a general search would be a really interesting and powerful move, Jones said, because it would expand the acts power beyond its initial intent. You could do that for a lot of legal issues. You could say, Okay were going to extend this out into other platforms, were going to extend this out into social media.

In a meta application of this issue, the court placed a reporting restriction order on the trial, with firm restrictions as to what news outlets can and cannot say about the claimants, including their names, their occupations, and the exact nature of their past crimes. If that information were shared, it would defeat the entire purpose of the case.

Corfield says the order is a draconian one by the standards of the court, and a gamble to boot. If the decision goes against either of these two claimants, then everything they tried to keep under wraps is going to be shouted from the rooftops, so its a pretty high stakes game for them, Corfield said.

And a high-stakes game overall. One of the major problems of [the] right to be forgotten is the privatizing of decisions which really ought to be made by public bodies or the courts, says George Brock, a Professor of Journalism at City University London, and the author of the 2016 book, The Right to be Forgotten.

Given the breadth of the right to be forgotten decision, says Brock, there is a lot of scope for taking out of circulation that which should still be there for the public interest.

A spokesperson for Google says in a statement that, We take great care not to remove search results that are clearly in the public interest and will defend the publics right to access lawful information.

Where we go from here

The two cases have concluded in court, and judgment is expected in the coming weeks. It comes at a moment of intense debate over data protection, and as Europe gears up for an expected overhaul to their data protection regime.

In May, the General Data Protection Regulation will go into enforcement in the EU, replacing the 1995 directive on which the right to be forgotten legislation is based. The UK is expected to update its own data protection rules later this year and, like the GDPR, includes language on the right to be forgotten (rechristened the right to erasure). After Brexit, there will be further changes to the application of the various legal schemas.

With so much about the data protection regulations up in the air, a judgment on the right to be forgotten will likely serve as a foothold for future debate on the subject. If Google were to benefit from the journalism exemption, it could be seen as a win for public interest purists who would like to see less information delisted, but it would also muddy the waters by giving the already all-powerful Google a tool designed to protect the more vulnerable work of a free press.

ICYMI: Women who speak out about sexual harassment are often blacklisted by other news organizations

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Chava Gourarie is a freelance writer based in New York and a former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow her on Twitter at @ChavaRisa
Netflix has been pumping out non-fiction documentary work at warp speed. One of their latest, Wild Wild Country, is a six-part series, directed by brothers Chapman and Maclain Way, that chronicles the frankly nutty tale of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and thousands of his devotees living on a ranch in rural Oregon. Bhagwan arrived in 1981, inaugurating years of clashes with local residents, claims of religious persecution and bigotry, election fraud, arranged marriages and immigration fraud, wiretapping, assassination plots, mass poisoning, and attempts to silence the local press as it investigated the groups murky origins.

Led by the gurus controversial, media-obsessed personal secretary, Ma Anand SheelaThe Oregonian called her the tigress of the two-minute interview in 1985thousands of Rajneeshees, also called sannyasins, moved to Antelope, Oregon, a rural community southeast of Portland. They purchased the massive Big Muddy Ranch under the pretense of reviving agricultural land and creating a utopia in the desert. For a while, the locals observed them from a guarded distance. As more members flooded onto the ranch, dressed in varying shades of red and wearing mala beads that bore the face of Bhagwan, local media took note. The group had controversial beliefs and methodsparticularly about sex and group therapyand when they moved to incorporate the ranch as a new town, called Rajneeshpuram, the townspeople, accustomed to Oregons notoriously strict land use laws, lawyered up. Then, in 1983, a Rajneeshee hotel in Portland was bombed. This started an incredible, sometimes violent, chain reaction involving (a heavily armed) Rajneeshee insurgency.

It was several years before the group came on the radar of Les Zaitz and his colleagues Jim Long and Scotta Callister, who at the time were reporters for The Oregonians investigative team. It had become clear that the operation was spending enormous amounts of money and gaining municipal control of the town. Who were they? Where was the money coming from? And why had they left India? The trio would spend 18 months working full-time to find out. During the course of their investigation, Rajneeshees snuck into the newspapers headquarters in an attempt to destroy the reporters hard drives, and targeted Zaitz on a hit list.

Still, in 1985, The Oregonian ran the teams 20-part series over 20 consecutive days, telling the story of Bhagwans ascent to the the helm of a wealthy international cult, of the groups clashes with Indian authorities and tracing their arrival in Oregon. Twenty-five years later, in 2011, Zaitz published a five-part update that featured new documents, and he appears in the Netflix series.

CJR talked to Zaitz, who is retired and now publishes a weekly newspaper, about the collapse of the Rajneeshee commune and what it was like to cover such a strange moment in Oregon history. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity and includes spoilers.

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When did the Rajneeshees become a topic of interest for the investigative team at The Oregonian?

As the Rajneeshees came into the state, we were busy on a number of other fairly intense projects and so the day-to-day coverage was being handled either by the newsroom or by a correspondent we had [Jeanie Senior] that lived [near] The Dalles, roughly 90 miles from this place. So neither my partner Jim Long nor I had any direct involvement. We just sort of watched like everybody else, eating popcorn and wondering what the hell is going on out there.

When you have a group like this parachute into what is cowboy country, that makes for great stories. And that was the flavor of the coverage for quite a long time. As it became apparent they were making substantial investments and more and more people were coming, thats when it moved onto our radar. We were guided by some pretty foundational questions. Number one: Where in fact did these people come from? The short story was that they had moved from India. Well, nobody had done any reporting to find out what they did in India and why they left. Second was: Theres millions of dollars flowing into this. Where is that money coming from? And then the third question, what do they really intend to do out there?

[Their attempt to turn the ranch into a city] was a high-profile event that drew considerable attention. It raised questions not only for people that lived around what was turning into a commune but to the rest of the state. This religious organization is trying to become a city? Oregon is renowned for its land use laws and it was pretty restrictive about what you could and couldnt do on agricultural land. People were asking questions. Why are they getting to do that when I cant even put up a workhouse to house a worker on my farm? So, as the scale of their operation grew, so did public interest within Oregon.

What were the biggest challenges in reporting on a group that had proven itself at best dishonest and at worst dangerous?

One of the early, immediate challenges was, as people came into this organization they took new names, and there would be several people with that same name within the organization. So for an investigative reporter, the key was, how are we going to keep these people straight so that if we see a person is suspicious we dont get diverted chasing another person with the same name? One of the ways they brought foreigners into the state is that they staged a lot of marriages between Americans and foreign born citizens. They filed their marriage licenses in The Dalles in Wasco County. So we went to the courthouse and spent three or four days going through every single marriage license going back like three years. We knew what addresses theyd used, so we got a portable copier. We copied every one of those. They were invaluable because they gave you dates of birth and their real names.

They were operating in the US under tax-exempt organizations so we got their federal tax filings to look at what they were listing as far as cash flow and investment. We started to get a handle on how much money they had and where the money was going. We spent a great deal of time tracking down anyone that was involved with the real estate deal that led to the acquisition of the Big Muddy Ranch. That included tracking down real estate brokers in Alabama and Texas to piece together how they found this ranch. They had originally started in New Jersey, so Jim Long and Scotta Callister went to pick up the trail from the day they got into the US to the day they came to Oregon. And of course one of the main questions we had was, Who is this guy? This Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. And why are they no longer in India? I spent literally a month in India chasing that question.

Your reporting in India found that the group had faced major issues with authorities there, including legal challenges over unpaid taxes. What was it like navigating the Indian government bureaucracy as you looked for public records?

Id never been out of the country when I went to India. The luckiest break I got was in Bombay [now called Mumbai]. I managed to get in to see the head of the state police. Ill never forget, this guy had a huge, ornate office in a colonial-style building with all these medals. He was very straight and very quiet. Im in there explaining who I am and what Im there for and he was completely impassive. I thought, well, this is going nowhere. I stopped talking and without saying a word he turned and picked up the phone and called somebody and spoke in a local language. I didnt know what he was doing. I thought maybe I was going to get escorted out of there. He hangs up the phone and says I just talked with the commander of our station in Pune, they will be expecting you and they have been directed to cooperate with you in every way possible. It was like getting a key to the front door. It was amazing.

I went to Pune to the local police station there and they assigned a commander and a detective to me and I was there at least a full week. I explained to them what I needed and they started pulling case file after case file after case file, literally. They put me in a room with stacks of paper. It was a gold mine for an investigative reporter. Then they made contacts for me with local immigration officials, customs officials. Those folks were amazingly cooperative. Its through all that that I learned about their tax issues. In India, at that time, everything was done on paper. Filing systems were haphazard at best. I would go to a sales tax office and it would take me a half a day for them to understand what I wanted and find the material, but they ultimately would. The sect had made enough enemies, had angered enough people that these government officials couldnt have been more helpful. It was completely unexpected and deeply rewarding for our work.

Did you meet Bhagwans family?

I traced him from his birth village to Bombay. I went back to central India, a small little village called Gadarwara and showed up unannounced. Pretty quickly I was told that his two uncles run this shop. They were wearing malas of their nephew. As best we could tellI had a photographer with methey had rarely seen Westerners in this remote village in the middle of the plains. They were very excited to tell me his life story. Then I spun forward to the next big city, Dalapur, where he became a college professor. I talked with the people at the school who knew him and followed his trail through India to Bombay, to Pune, and then on to the United States. And I did the same with Sheela. I went to the city where she grew up, Baroda, which is north of what is now Mumbai and dropped in, unannounced, on her parents who were very proud of her and had no idea that I was a persona non grata at the ranch. They took me down to their club and spent an evening talking to me about Sheela. I imagine when Sheela discovered that I had gone to her folks without her knowledge, she would have been mighty unhappy about that.

In the Netflix series, Sheela comes across as an outrageous character who very much feeds off of media attention. Once you got back from India, what interactions did you have with her?

During the course of the investigation, we went down to the ranch half a dozen times. We didnt have much exposure to Sheela. As things ramped up, my most distinct memory of Sheela was this: I was down there by myself for some reason, maybe just to pick up some records. I was told by their press officer that Sheela wants to see me. They led me to her office compound and into a dining room. All of her lieutenants were seated at this long dinner table, probably 8 or 9 people. They had two different camera men there with Sheela listening at the head of the table and I thought, What the hell is this all about? She proceeds to lace into me, saying that I had a negative attitude, that I was bringing bad feelings to the ranch, that I was rude, that I was this and that. And she said, You are no longer welcome on the ranch, you are banished from the ranch. The TV lights are on and all the leadership is being smug.

But Im young, Im brash. To me, this is just a bit of a lark. I tried to keep a straight face but it frankly amused me. They could keep me off the ranch property, but there were public roads going through the ranch, particularly a county highway. And they themselves had created government buildings. There was a City Hall, a fire department, a police departmentthey couldnt keep me out of public buildings and thats where we needed to be for the most part in any event.

What was public reception like when the story ran? Did you hear from the upper management of the Rajneeshees?

We had the entire series prepared before the first story published. It was a tremendous amount of work to write a 20-part series and have it all in hand, edited, with graphics and photos ready to go. At the end, we worked more than two months without a day off. They were long, tough, hard days. We had massive amounts of information, tremendous challenges organizing the stories. I just found an old CJR piece they did on us back in 1986 I think, and at the time, Oregonian management told CJR that just the expenses alone at that time were a quarter of a million dollars. When the series ran, it quickly became the talk of the state because we were answering questions many people had for a long time. And we also heard that sannyasins were sneaking off the ranch to find a copy and they were finding out things that they had no idea had been going on. So there was a pretty discernible shift in public attention when this came out.

Theres one story in the series that is about whether it was a cult or a religion, and it talks about Rajneeshee claims of religious persecution. Did you ever ask yourself, is this a cult, or is this a religion?

Im sure we had all those conversations, I just dont remember how that evolved or how we elected to use whatever phrases we used. I did very little of the writing. Scotta Callister, who is now my wife, did the bulk and my partner Jim Long did some. I wrote one or two or the pieces.

I didnt do any of the reporting [on the series installment on defining cults], I was more focused on the money and India and all that. And frankly, I wasnt too worried about what we labeled them. What you called them generically wasnt a big issue for me. I was focused on the conduct, the movement of money, the threats, the manipulation, on the lies. It didnt matter what label you wanted to put on them, that didnt change the conduct. Whether it was a cult or a religion did not change the core questions that we had, or the reporting.

How did the Rajneeshees try to disrupt the teams reporting before the series ran?

The Rajneeshpuram mayor had come into The Oregonian on the pretext of taking a tour, but his mission was to find where we were located. Then they had a couple of their sannyasins find out who the cleaning company was, an outside contractor for The Oregonian. They got garb for the cleaning company and literally were in the building with electronic equipment they thought would destroy our hard drives. The night cleaning supervisor, a really tough gal, caught them coming out of the elevator and didnt recognize them, of course. She said, Who the hell are you? They said theyd just started working and were obviously in the wrong building and they got out of there. It was a fairly developed, and nearly executed, scheme.

Can you tell me about how you found out youd been targeted for murder?

As the commune collapsed they had a couple of key people who decided to strike deals with prosecutors and become informants in exchange for immunity for a wide range of crimes. It emerged, among many jaw dropping disclosures, that they had plans to assassinate people. There had been a hit list put together of about 10 people. The US Attorney Charles Turner was number one, the Oregon attorney general who had sued to disrupt the city was number two. I was number three.

Two state police detectives came to The Oregonian and asked to speak with me. They took me into one of our small interview rooms and said, Youre on a hit list for assassination. We think the threat has passed but we cant be sure until we finish this investigation. They said they were going to arrange some protectionat the time, I had a wife and two small children. It was a pretty unusual day in the office, to have police come to you and say, just so you know, these folks would like to kill you. But it also underscored for me that I win by just doing my job. If I overreact or flame out or panic, then theyve won. But if I stay on course, I do my job, I do it fair, I do it accurately, that was the best antidote.

Are there questions that were never answered that youre still curious about?

Ive had it on my bucket list to produce a really detailed non-fiction account of that time in Oregon because there are many details that have yet to come out. Details that I know, details that I know people are waiting to share with me, and details I want to find out. Although after the 1985 series, if I never heard the name Rajneesh again I was going to be a happy reporter. It was just exhausting. But particularly now with the new Netflix series out, I feel a duty to history and to the state to move it up in my bucket list and lay out the story even more fully than its ever been told.

Ive always been struck by just how dangerous and evil some of these people were. Im not sure the Netflix series has accurately captured that. This was not just a group of people that lost their way. This was a very dangerous group that put a lot of lives at risk.

Update: This article has been updated to clarify the identity and location of Jeanie Senior, a correspondent for The Oregonian who covered the Rajneeshees prior to the investigative teams series.

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Alexandria Neason was CJRs staff writer and Senior Delacorte Fellow. Recently, she became an editor and producer at WNYCs Radiolab.
President Trump has made attacks on the media a recurring feature of his presidency. At times, hes gone after outlets individually, targeting the failing New York Times or fake news CNN; at other points, organizations get put on a laundry list of offenders or grouped together as the enemy of the American people. But rarely has the president waged such a sustained campaign against a single entity as he has with recent broadsides against The Washington Post.

The Fake News Washington Post, Amazons chief lobbyist, has another (of many) phony headlines, Trump Defiant As China Adds Trade Penalties. WRONG! Should read, Trump Defiant as U.S. Adds Trade Penalties, Will End Barriers And Massive I.P. Theft. Typically bad reporting!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 5, 2018

Over the past week, Trump has repeatedly tweeted about the Post, its owner Jeff Bezos, and Amazon, the company that made Bezos his fortune. The president has referred to the paper as Amazons chief lobbyist, and has gone so far as to offer rewrites of the papers headlines. Bezos has remained silent and leadership at the Post restrained in the the face of the criticism, but yesterday the paper published a long story exploring the presidents charges and rebutting them at every turn.

The Posts top figures, including Publisher Fred Ryan, Editor Marty Baron, and Editorial Editor Fred Hiatt, all spoke with Marc Fisher for the piece, and all reiterated that Bezos has no influence on the papers coverage. Jeff has never proposed a story. Jeff has never intervened in a story. Hes never critiqued a story. Hes not directed or proposed editorials or endorsements. The decisions are made here, Ryan said.

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When not condemning the paper directly, the president has used Amazon as a punching bag proxy. His main charge against Amazonthat it is costing the US Postal Service moneyhas been debunked by numerous fact-checkers, but one source told the Post that Trump really seems to believe that is true. To some extent, the presidents words had an impact: Amazons stock was down 5 percent early in the week, though it has gained ground since.

To be clear, Amazon does not own The Washington Post. Bezos purchased the paper in 2013 with his private fortune, and by all accounts has been a hands-off owner, focusing on technological upgrades and strategy initiative that, along with an influx of financial support, have helped the Post regain its position as one of the nations most impactful newspapers. Trumps conflation of Bezoss two properties as the Amazon Washington Post is an attempt to discredit the work of journalists who have reported critically on his charitable foundation, his business interests, and his administration. The president may cast his criticisms as a defense of a beleaguered federal agency, but as Jill Abramson puts it succinctly for The Guardian, Trumps feud with Amazon is really about the Washington Posts success.

Below, more on Trumps battle with Amazon, Bezos, and the Post.

Other notable stories

Being a female whistleblower, were inherently seen as troublemakers, former Fox contributor Caroline Heldman tells Yardena Schwartz for CJR. People dont like women who make waves. Schwartz reports that none of the women who sued Fox for sexual harassment have found full-time TV news jobs in the months since theyve spoken out. Her piece looks at the news industrys hypocrisy as it celebrates women who come forward, but then turns its back on their careers.

HuffPosts Jason Cherkis profiles Rob Byers, who covered West Virginia for 26 years, working his way up to executive editor of the Charleston Gazette-Mail before being laid off last week. No editor seemed better suited to cover the American Rust Belt under Trump, Cherkis writes. He was made for this moment.

The Atlantic has parted ways with conservative columnist Kevin Williamson, whose hiring last month sparked a backlash among liberals and contributed to an ongoing debate about which voices get elevated by national publications.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg was on a media tour yesterday. She tells the Financial Timess Hannah Kuchler, We made mistakes and I own them and they are on me. Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify before US lawmakers next week.

Fun piece from CJRs Jon Allsop, who looks at the media hype machine greeting new LA Galaxy superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The eminently quotable and frequently controversial Zlatan has sparked water-cooler conversations among diehards and neophytes alike, Allsop writes.

ICYMI: Sinclair circles the wagons as former employees speak out

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Pete Vernon is a former CJR staff writer. Follow him on Twitter @ByPeteVernon.
The bankrupt railway at the center of a 2013 train derailment that killed 47 people in the Canadian province of Quebec will not have to stand trial for criminal negligence, provincial officials said Tuesday.

There was little chance of convicting the Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway of negligence after three of its former employees facing the same charge were acquitted in January, said a spokesman for prosecutors, Robert Benoit.

The (Crown) was no longer reasonably convinced it could obtain a conviction against the company, Benoit said. This closes the file.

An unattended train carrying crude oil rolled down an incline before coming off the tracks in the town of Lac-Megantic in 2013, exploded into a massive ball of fire and consumed much of the downtown, killing the 47 people.

The Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway currently exists as a post-bankruptcy corporate entity with no money of its own and with no physical or operational assets. The defunct railway wasnt even represented by lawyers during the criminal negligence proceedings.

Even if prosecutors had somehow obtained a guilty verdict, Benoit said the next steps would have been unclear.

Before the tragedy, the railroad existed as two companies, one based in the United States and the other in Canada. The derailment sparked legal claims against it that forced it into bankruptcy proceedings on both sides of the border.

Attorney Robert Keach, the court-appointed trustee overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings in United States, said the railroad has no money of its own.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings in the United States and Canada, several companies tied to the disaster agreed to pay into a fund for victims and creditors of the tragedy, in exchange for legal immunity.

In January, a jury acquitted former employees of the railroad of criminal negligence causing the deaths.

Lac-Megantics current mayor said she was stunned by the decision to abandon proceedings against the railroad.

Companies need to be held accountable, Julie Morin said.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Border patrol agents apprehend an immigrant who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. in the Rio Grande Valley sector, near McAllen, Texas, April 2, 2018. Loren Elliott | Reuters

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that "illegal" crossing attempts from the Southwest border tripled in March compared with a year ago. "We saw a 203 percent increase from March 2017 compared to March 2018 and a 37 percent increase from last month to this month  the largest increase from month to month since 2011," Tyler Houlton, the DHS press secretary, said in a statement. It comes on the heels of President Donald Trump this week announcing a plan to deploy National Guard troops at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also repeated his call for more security at the border in remarks Thursday while making claims about an immigrant "caravan" in Mexico heading toward the U.S. border. The DHS official also said "the crisis at our Southwest border is real. The number of illegal border crossings during the month of March shows an urgent need to address the ongoing situation at the border."

The government's data show there were a total of 50,308 people last month that were apprehended or deemed "inadmissible" at the Southwest border by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That was up 37 percent from March 2017, when there were 16,588 people stopped, and up 203 percent from February 2018's tally of 36,695 people. DHS considers a person "inadmissible" when they appear at a port of entry without proper documentation for legal entry into the U.S. Those apprehended are individuals "caught trying to enter illegally between ports of entry." The government's data also tracks the number of family units attempting to cross at the Southwest border as well as what the agency calls UAC, or "unaccompanied alien children."

U.S. Border Patrol Apprehensions FY2018 YTD (October 1 - March 31) Field Operations and Demographic OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR Total Southwest Border UAC 3,155 3,977 4,070 3,213 3,134 4,171 21,720 Southwest Border Family Units 4,837 7,016 8,120 5,654 5,475 8,882 39,984 Southwest Border Total Apprehensions 25,484 29,084 28,998 25,978 26,662 37,393 173,599

While 37 percent is the highest month-over-month increase since 2011, the actual number of people  50,308  is lower than what was experienced last fall. For example, October and November 2017 both produced monthly totals exceeding 63,000 attempted crossings. So far this year, the biggest number of apprehensions have been recorded in the Rio Grande sector in Texas, followed by the Tucson and Yuma sectors in Arizona, according to the government. The Rio Grande sector accounted for about 60 percent of the apprehensions on the Southwest border last year.

U.S. Border Patrol Inadmissibles FY2018 YTD (October 1 - March 31) Field operations and demographic OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR Total Southwest Border UAC 630 672 906 688 610 1,099 4,605 Southwest Border Family Units 3,230 3,680 4,906 3,562 3,941 5,127 24,446 Southwest Border Total Inadmissibles 9,361 9,909 11,511 9,839 10,021 12,915 63,556

"Illegal aliens continue to exploit our immigration laws," Houlton said. "We need to close these dangerous loopholes that are being taken advantage of each and every day, gain operational control of the border, and fully fund the border wall system. As the President has repeatedly said, all options are on the table."

WATCH: Trump's going to militarize the border with Mexico
This Hamptons mansion, recently on the market for $72 million, was once a convent that housed Catholic nuns for nearly 75 years. The "sprawling waterfront" estate, called Villa Maria, is featured in a recent episode of CNBC's "Secret Lives of the Super Rich," and it is described as "one of the most exclusive properties in the Hamptons." The episode notes that the property ended up selling earlier this year for "just under $50 million."

Bespoke Real Estate

Sitting on a 15-acres overlooking Long Island's Mill Creek, the mansion was originally built in 1887 before being refurbished and expanded by shipyard tycoon Edward Morse in 1919. The 20,000-square-foot was purchased in 1931 by the Sisters of the Order of St. Dominic of Amityville for roughly $250,000. The nuns maintained control of the estate until it was sold again for $35 million in 2005, when it reportedly went to footwear designer and Nine West co-founder Vince Camuto. The estate reportedly went back on the market in 2008 with an asking price that reached $100 million at one point.

Bespoke Real Estate

Camuto died in 2015 and the estate's most recent sellers and buyers were not publicly revealed (though Camuto's family were reported to be the sellers).

Bespoke Real Estate

Cody Vichinsky of Bespoke Real Estate, who handled the deal, told "Secret Lives of the Super Rich" that Villa Maria's most recent owner invested nearly $40 million over several years to refurbish the property, which now features such luxuries as $500,000 wrought-iron decorative railing that Vichinsky says was custom-made in Austria "by a gentleman whose sole job is to make this look like it's been here for a hundred years."

Bespoke Real Estate

The mansion also features a dome imported from Italy that Vichinsky says is "centuries old," as well as a marble tub in the master bathroom that cost $50,000 and weighs 4,000 pounds (it was cut from a single piece of stone, the broker says).

Bespoke Real Estate
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he departs from the White House on July 12, 2017 in Washington, DC.

It's unfortunate that President Donald Trump has chosen to add fuel to an already heated spat with China just as officials from both countries have signaled their willingness to negotiate to avoid escalating trade tensions, said a former deputy U.S. trade representative.

"The timing is especially unfortunate," Miriam Sapiro, a former deputy and acting U.S. trade representative during the Obama administration, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday.

"(The latest development) just makes it more difficult for the Chinese government to engage. Either China matches this escalation, plays tit-for-tat, or it takes a high road and score significant leadership point," she added.

Trump on Thursday proposed $100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese products. The president said that's a response to China's "unfair retaliation" against an up to $60 billion of tariffs that the U.S. had earlier announced.

Given that China previously said "it is only polite to reciprocate," Sapiro said it's unlikely that the Asian economic giant would back off.

That would heighten the prospect of a trade war between the two largest economies in the world, which would then hurt the "very U.S. companies that the White House has been trying to help," noted Sapiro, who's now managing director of Sard Verbinnen & Co's New York office.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on December 7, 2017

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., has asked the House Oversight Committee to subpoena documents from and hold a hearing with embattled Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and his top aides.

Pruitt has fallen under scrutiny amid reports that he frequently made pricey travel arrangements and that he paid cheap rent for a Capitol Hill condo linked to an energy lobbyist.

In a Thursday letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., ranking member Cummings explained that while the committee is already investigating Pruitt, he has not produced travel documents it requested.

Receipts made public by watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project showed that taxpayers funded at least $90,000 worth of flights for Pruitt and his aides in January. The Washington Post reported that Pruitt's round-trip flight cost several times more than the fare other officials paid.

Cummings said it is the committee's duty "to conduct credible, robust oversight in a timely manner that protects the interests of the American taxpayers."
For 25 years, Zachary Wyatt worked as a CIA operations officer tasked with acquiring foreign sources around the world to gather information essential to U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives.

Today, Wyatt, who is now retired from the CIA, works to help the agency find its next generation of talent.

From analysts to accountants to lawyers and foreign language instructors, the CIA is looking to fill 100 professional positions across its five directorates  operations, analysis, science & technology, support and digital innovation. Wyatt says the most proactive recruitment efforts are in operations, which handles the clandestine work.

"We're fortunate to get a steady stream of applicants, but that's not to say we're not constantly looking for more," Wyatt said. "When you look at the national security challenges we have and combine that with the challenges that face any country today  regional instability, cyberattacks, economic interdependence  finding individuals who can address any of them is not easy."

To apply, one must be at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, born or naturalized. Most roles within the agency also require a four-year degree. Beyond that, applicants can come from nearly any background; Wyatt himself was a theater major before joining the CIA; but having an interest in foreign affairs and current events is essential. The process is lengthy, and it can take a year or more to get security clearance, Wyatt said.

"We look for characteristics that many employers do  everything from excellent communication skills, integrity, decisiveness, good judgment, common sense and certainly patriotism," he said.

Entry-level salaries within the Directorate of Operations typically range from $55,000 to $88,000 annually, and training is extensive, Wyatt said.

The agency recruits from veterans groups, military bases and schools that run the gamut from local colleges to Ivy League universities. Among them is the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, where Anne Steen is executive director of the school's Graduate Career Center. Student interest in the intelligence field has continued to grow, as many study political science, economics and languages, Steen said. Agencies such as the CIA, the FBI and the State Department come to campus to look for new potential hires.

"We have global thinkers in Georgetown.  They are attractive to the intel community in both the public and private sectors," she said. "There are elements to intelligence that didn't even exist 10 years ago whether its cyber or artificial intelligence, and our students are on the cutting edge."

A common theme among students who want to pursue careers in intelligence is a desire to serve.

"They're students who want to make the world a better place," she said. "I think our students are value-driven and they're very interested in public service or in serving the country and making it safer  they're driven by the mission of the organization."

William Bilicic, 20, is one student at Georgetown who feels compelled to serve in some capacity. He's a sophomore studying international politics and security, minoring in French. Working as an analyst for the CIA or another agency in the intelligence field is among his top career interests.

"We've got all of these great public servants doing amazing work each day just to keep our country safe, and keep everyone here and abroad safe. That's what really attracted me to that field," he said.

Steen cautions students like Bilicic who are aiming to work in intel roles that the competition is steep and the application process is often long.

"Students that put themselves out there need to understand that they have to have all of their ducks in a row, and put their best case forward," she said. "There are thousands of applications for these positions."

And the work isn't for everyone. Wyatt says it's also not what you see in Hollywood movies.

"When you combine what we're looking for  that is an interest in public service, not needing public recognition for your successes, not being able to share some of your successes with the people you most love and respect  that is a sacrifice and it's a lifestyle. We are mission-driven, and people have to realize that coming in."
ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump both literally and figuratively threw out his prepared remarks at a West Virginia roundtable event that was supposed to be about tax reform.



The president instead launched into a freewheeling riff on several unrelated topics, including extended remarks on illegal immigration in which he hearkened back to controversial and unsubstantiated comments he made on the campaign trail in 2015 when he said: "when Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best."



Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened. Everybody said: Oh, he was so tough. I used the word rape. Yesterday it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before. They don't want to mention that, Trump said on Thursday.



The president was referring to the march of roughly 1,000 Central American migrants, which Trump has referred to as a caravan.



Trump started to praise Mexico for what he suggested was their efforts in turning the caravan back, saying they were very good to us yesterday,.



The group organizing the so-called "caravan told ABC News that at least 80 percent would probably end up staying in Mexico and the rest would try to go to the United States.



We cannot let people enter our country. We have no idea who they are, what they do, where they came from. We have no idea what their records are. We don't know if they're murders if they're killers, if they're MS-13, we're throwing them out by the hundreds, Trump said.



The president also claimed that there is widespread voter fraud in California, suggesting that Democrats are in favor of family-based immigration, so-called chain migration, and the visa lottery program because they believe they are gaining votes.



"They're doing it for that reason," Trump said. "A lot of them aren't going to be voting. A lot of times it doesn't matter because in many places like California, the same person votes many times. You probably heard about that. There was like they say oh  not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people. It is very hard because the state guards their records."



The president again called for building his long-promised border wall along the southern border, saying today that the military will be building some of it after suggesting days ago that resources to fund and build the wall could come from the military.



Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen has since said the president was talking about the military building wall along military installations.



Trump also slammed a variety of other immigration laws that he wants to do away with including provisions that some local jurisdictions have used to limit or delay cooperation with federal immigration agents and also criticizing the practice of "catch and release", in which migrants who surrender to border agents are released from custody and eventually face a hearing before a judge.



How about that catch, that means you catch them. Now you release them. That is what is called, catch-and-release, Trump said.



While in West Virginia, the president also took several shots at the states Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who is facing a tough re-election bid.



If you look at your senator. He voted against  Joe. He voted against. No, it was bad. I thought he would be helpful, Trump said, referring to Manchins vote against the tax bill.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Chinese state media on Friday slammed Donald Trump's threat of more trade action against China as "ridiculous" after the U.S President called for an additional $100 billion of tariffs, escalating an already high-stakes trade dispute between the two nations.

"This latest intimidation reflects the deep arrogance of some American elites in their attitude towards China," the state-run Global Times said in an editorial.

Trump said on Thursday he had instructed U.S. trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China, upping the ante in an already high-stakes trade confrontation between the world's two biggest economies.

In making the call for extra tariffs, Trump wanted to vent his anger with a "bomb-like" statement, the newspaper said, adding that whether the tariffs are actually put into effect and what the consequences will be "are secondary to him."

Washington on Tuesday proposed $50 billion in duties on Chinese goods aimed at forcing Beijing to address what the United States says is deeply entrenched theft of U.S. intellectual property and forced technology transfer from U.S. companies.

China hit back within hours with its own threatened tariffs on U.S. imports including soybeans, planes, cars, whiskey and chemicals.

The widely read Global Times is run by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, although its stance does not necessarily reflect Chinese government policy.
Instead of relying on tariffs, the U.S. should partner with its allies to restrict Chinese investment in certain sectors, until those same sectors are opened up to Western investment in China, the former U.S. ambassador to China said.

The fact that Chinese investments worldwide are increasing gives the U.S. some leverage, according to Gary Locke, who was then-President Barack Obama's top diplomat in Beijing for more than two years. The U.S., he told CNBC, can push for access to Beijing's market by threatening to close the global investment opportunities China now enjoys.

"I really believe the United States has to partner with our allies and other countries that have similar grievances toward China and basically say Chinese can't invest in sectors of the U.S. economy or foreign economy unless those same sectors are open to foreign investment by Americans or the EU countries or other Western countries," Locke said.

Washington has legitimate concerns and grievances against China's trade policy, which includes the theft of American companies' intellectual property, the requirement of joint ventures for American companies looking to do business there, as well as many sectors of the Chinese economy being off-limits to foreign investment, Locke explained.
The U.S. is wasting its time trying to fix a non-existent problem regarding its current account deficit, according to an economics professor at Harvard University.

A number of U.S. policymakers have sought to justify stoking a trade war with China in recent weeks, saying it is "unfair" for the world's biggest economy to have a current account deficit  which measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of the country  with Beijing.

A tit-for-tat trade standoff between the U.S. and China has fueled market fears that the dispute could soon spiral into a full-blown trade war  with market participants also concerned about the potential impact on global economic growth.

"The U.S. has borrowed $9 trillion over the past 20 years, supposedly to cover its current account deficit, so you would expect to see that it now has to pay an interest on those $9 trillion it supposedly borrowed," Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Harvard Center for International Development, told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick on the sidelines of the European House Ambrosetti Forum in Italy on Friday.

"But the U.S. isn't paying a cent. It is actually making more money out of its financial position than it was doing before," he added.
On the eve of the first anniversary of United Airlines' man-dragged-from-plane incident, more than 15,500 American Airlines pilots who belong to the Allied Pilots Association (APA) said today they are on a mission to humanize air travel  one they collectively hope AA management and passengers will join them in helping achieve.

AA pilots said the man-dragged-from-plane incident and other more recent incidents such as dead-dog-on-board demonstrate how the air-travel experience has become frustrating and unpleasant for many.

But today APA released a memo outlining three core principals that AA pilots believe could make the travel experience better for airline employees and passengers alike.



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Noted AA captain and APA president Dan Carey: "As pilots, we have our passengers' backs. We strive to uphold these principles every day with every flight. By calling attention to them now, we are committing ourselves to helping reverse a troubling trend in air travel."

So what are these principles to which AA pilots are committed?

First of the three is safety, which means, of course, getting passengers to their destination safely.

But APA pilots also argue it means flight schedules should allow for well-rested pilots and a cockpit and cabin that are free of toxic fumes.

That last bit about toxic fumes, of course, is a none-too-veiled reference to the battle AA pilots and flight attendants have waged with management for nearly 20 months over Twin Hill uniforms believed to be tied to symptomatic reactions experienced by thousands of flight attendants and pilots since September of 2016. AA has named two new vendors for uniforms, but flight attendants in particular may have to wait up to two years to get their new uniforms from Lands' End.

The second principle named by APA is reliability.

APA said today that the flying public and pilots deserve flight schedule reliability, meaning passengers should have the assurance they will arrive at their destination and not be left behind because of overly aggressive booking, early jet-bridge door closings, or rushed plane departures.

Sources within the AA pilots ranks say AA management has been cracking down hard on late departures in recent months in an effort to improve the carrier's on-time performance. Preliminary data for March shows AA narrowing the on-time arrival gap with archrival United Airlines, which suggests the crackdown could be part of the reason for the improvement.

But pilots also argue some passengers are experiencing the downside of this crackdown in various ways, and pilots are arguing for more latitude if needed in deciding when the airplane door closes and plane pushback begins.

Also on the reliability front, APA pilots want to see pilot flight schedules that offer sufficient buffer against federally-mandated maximum duty times and that protect mandated rest times. Noted APA today: "A rationally-scheduled airline is a reliable airline."

Finally AA pilots say empowerment is the third principle that will help humanize air travel.

This speaks to a theme United Airlines (NYSE: UAL) CEO Oscar Munoz has been emphasizing since the man-dragged-from-plane incident aboard a United Express flight on April 9, 2017. Munoz has encouraged his employees to use common sense when difficult, unexpected events happen.

APA said today: "Pilots must be empowered to make decisions that help preserve the margin of safety and ensure their passengers' needs are met. Policies are important and should be followed, but not at the expense of common sense."

APA concluded the memo with a call for management and pilots and passengers to work together toward a common goal: "Pilots know that everyone on the aircraft wants the same thing: a safe, reliable, comfortable travel experience. Pilots and passengers are all in it together, and we are dedicated to working with passengers and American Airlines management to make sure that happens."

An AA spokeswoman had this response today to the AA pilots' memorandum: "We agree with APA that safety, reliability and exceeding our customers' expectations is American's goal on every flight. We're committed to providing that experience, and it's great to have partners in our unions that share our passion to take the best care of our customers."

More than 1,000 AA pilots are domiciled in Chicago, where AA has its third largest hub at O'Hare International Airport.
Apple CEO Tim Cook tours labs to view demonstrations of apps during an event at Lane Tech College Prep High School on March 27, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.

"Right now, heroes do walk among us," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an acceptance speech for the Human Rights Award presented by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Wednesday. While paying tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of his death, Cook said that the student survivors of the shooting in Parkland, Fla., the activists of the #MeToo movement and those defending Dreamers and DACA are working effectively for change. "These heroes know that patience is an indulgence that we cannot afford," Cook said.

These heroes know that patience is an indulgence that we cannot afford. Tim Cook Apple CEO
The counterpunches threaten to harm farmers in areas that supported Trump, such as Nebraska, Iowa and parts of Illinois. The actions by the Republican president put GOP lawmakers in a difficult spot as they fight off Democratic efforts to win congressional majorities in the midterm elections.

The escalation in tariffs proposed by the world's two largest economies could affect the GOP's ability to hold on to its congressional majorities in November.

Senators from states reliant on farming are pushing the president not to implement his proposed levies, which are designed to punish alleged unfair trade practices by China.

"He's threatening to light American agriculture on fire," Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a statement Thursday night. "Let's absolutely take on Chinese bad behavior, but with a plan that punishes them instead of us. This is the dumbest possible way to do this."

On Wednesday, as China proposed its retaliatory measures, Sasse's Republican Senate counterpart in Nebraska, as well as both of Iowa's GOP senators, urged Trump to reconsider the moves. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a noted Trump ally, said, "Farmers and ranchers shouldn't be expected to bear the brunt of retaliation for the entire country."

Sen. Deb Fischer, who faces what should be an easy re-election bid this year in Nebraska, said Wednesday that she told the White House her state's farmers would face a "significant market loss" if China went through with its tariffs.



Trump has said recently in regard to the tariffs that a bit of temporary pain is worth it in the end.

Public opinion of the president's proposed tariffs is unclear at this point. It is not certain that views on Trump and GOP candidates in agricultural states will change significantly because of the proposals.

Still, the president's plans at least create a delicate situation for some Midwestern House Republicans already locked in tough fights for re-election.

One analyst of political risk for markets, Greg Valliere of Horizon Investments, told CNBC that a GOP source tells him the party is worried about political damage in states like Iowa. The Koch brothers' political network, a key financial source for Republican candidates and their agenda in the Midwest, has expressed frustrations with Trump's pursuit of tariffs, according to The Washington Post.

House Republicans facing tough re-election bids in states or districts with a major farming presence include Rep. Rod Blum of Iowa, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois. Nonpartisan election handicappers consider those races toss-ups and potentially crucial to whether Democrats flip the 24 GOP-held seats needed to take a House majority.

"I encourage the Administration to sit down and find a solution to this tariff war with China that protects the U.S.'s agricultural economy, promotes fair and free trade, and protects our intellectual property," Bacon said Friday in a statement. "It is time the president keeps his commitment to press for trade agreements with other countries that will expand our opportunities."

The offices of Blum and Bost did not give CNBC an immediate response to the tariff escalations with China. The House is out of Washington this week, so lawmakers could already be facing questions about the measures at home in their districts.

House Democrats' campaign arm has already started to criticize Bost and Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., over the soybean tariffs. Davis' office did not immediately respond to CNBC's request on the congressman's tariff stance.

The tariffs also come as Republicans try to campaign on the tax overhaul passed in December, their signature achievement of Trump's first year in office. The fears about tariffs have sparked questions about whether the policy could overrule the GOP's economic messaging on taxes.

Trump's top economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Friday he is not worried about those repercussions.

"I will never let anything overshadow tax cuts," Kudlow said.

 CNBC's Patti Domm contributed to this report.
Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), speaks to employees of the agency in Washington, February 21, 2017.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly urged President Donald Trump last week to remove Environmental Protection Agency Chief Scott Pruitt, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The newspaper, citing a White House official, said Kelly is convinced that Pruitt, who has recently been the subject of reports scrutinizing his spending habits, must step down.

Trump, however, is happy with the job Pruitt has done as the head of the EPA and does not want him to resign, the Journal reported.

In a tweet Friday morning, Trump said that Pruitt is "doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege."

Trump tweet Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!

He reiterated his confidence in Pruitt in remarks to reporters on Thursday.

At a press briefing the next day, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the White House is "continuing to review any of the concerns we have, and we'll keep you posted if there's anything further on that front."

Sanders added: "He has done a good job of carrying out the goals of the EPA."

The Journal's report comes amid a series of controversies surrounding Pruitt's conduct as a public official. Among them are questions about a apartment Pruitt rented in Washington from the wife of an energy lobbyist last year, for which he paid $50 a night.

An EPA watchdog initially cleared Pruitt of any wrongdoing, but later said it was missing certain facts in its initial determination.

The New York Times also reported on Thursday that multiple EPA officials were demoted or reassigned after questioning Pruitt's spending conduct.

Read the full report from the Wall Street Journal.
The world has invested $2.9 trillion in green energy sources since 2004, according to new research, with China leading the way in recent years with its push towards solar power.

The "Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018" report was published Thursday by UN Environment, the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Center, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. It also found that 98 gigawatts (GW) of new solar capacity was installed in 2017.



What's more, solar power attracted $160.8 billion of investment, more than any other technology. China, where a staggering 53 GW was added and $86.5 billion invested, was described as a "driving power" behind the increase in solar.

"The extraordinary surge in solar investment shows how the global energy map is changing and, more importantly, what the economic benefits are of such a shift," Erik Solheim, the head of UN Environment, said in a statement.



"Investments in renewables bring more people into the economy, they deliver more jobs, better quality jobs and better paid jobs," he added. "Clean energy also means less pollution, which means healthier, happier development."



The report found that China invested the largest amount of money in renewables last year, at $126.6 billion. This represents a 31 percent increase compared to 2016. Around the world, 157 GW of renewable power was commissioned last year.



"The world added more solar capacity than coal, gas, and nuclear plants combined," Nils Stieglitz, president of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, said. "This shows where we are heading, although the fact that renewables altogether are still far from providing the majority of electricity means that we still have a long way to go."



While China led the way, other countries saw a drop in renewables investment. In the U.S., investment fell by 6 percent to $40.5 billion, while Europe saw its investments come in at $40.9 billion, a 36 percent reduction.
China is still investing massively in coal projects outside its shores, notably in places linked to the Belt and Road project.

Chinese residents wear masks for protection as smoke billows from a coal fired power plant in Shanxi, China. Getty Images

Once globally vilified for extensive air pollution due to heavy coal usage, China now talks a big game about its environmental efforts after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate pact. But, beyond its borders, the country has been the world's biggest investor in coal power. "Chinese banks' and companies' investments in coal abroad are a cause of major concern because of their potential to lock in more climate warming emissions in our carbon-constrained world," said Huang Wei, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia. Chinese financial institutions are the world's largest investor of overseas coal plants, pumping in $15 billion in coal projects from 2013 to 2016 through international development funds, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based non-profit environmental advocacy group. There's another $13 billion in proposed funding. That is even as data from the International Energy Agency show a slowdown in coal power investment globally.

Belt and Road

One major source of concern is the Belt and Road Initiative  an infrastructure and investment program widely seen as an attempt by China to construct a massive, multi-national zone of economic and political influence that has Beijing at its center. The coal investments come in various forms: Chinese banks and companies provide financing, construction and equipment, said Huang. That is even as China continues to invest and promote renewables such as wind and solar energy. "It is a complicated web of involvement, but ultimately all investments in coal, the world's dirtiest fossil fuel, are bad for everyone involved  recipient country, China and the planet as a whole," Huang said in an email to CNBC. A more recent report by Greenpeace and counterparts Sierra Club and Coalswarm shows the extent of Chinese involvement in coal plants overseas, revealing that Asia leads the world in new coal power building even though overall coal plant construction is falling globally. CoalSwarm, which describes itself as a network of researchers studying fossil fuels and alternatives, estimated Chinese firms are involved in the construction, ownership, or financing of at least 16 percent of all coal-fired power stations under development outside China. By the end of 2016, Chinese companies and banks had been involved in 240 coal-fired power projects in 25 of the 65 countries along the Belt and Road, according to research released in May 2017 by the Beijing-based Global Environment Institute.

Beijing has issued guidelines on overseas investments advocating environmentally friendly practices, but one big concern is that the guidelines are not binding and merely offer a blueprint, said Greenpeace. "If China wants to enhance its leadership on climate and 'ecological civilization', Chinese companies' and banks' investment must steer away from coal towards renewable alternatives such as wind and solar and help countries along Belt and Road to leapfrog from traditional development model that sacrifices environment for economic advancement," said Huang.

Overcapacity

China's push in coal away from home comes against the backdrop of an aggressive and determined cut in overcapacity in China as the manufacturing giant transitions to a consumption and services-driven economy. The drive to cut coal consumption also plays to the Chinese Communist Party's powerful constituents in big cities who are burdened by bad air quality from steel mills and coal plants, posing potential political risk to President Xi Jinping. The official Xinhua news agency recently said China has met its 2020 carbon intensity target three years ahead of schedule. That is, the country claims it has cut the amount of carbon dioxide it produces per unit of growth by almost 50 percent in 2017 from 2005. This is even as a report released by China's National Bureau of Statistics earlier this year said coal consumption rose percent in 2017 for the first time since 2013, mainly due to economic stimulus from the government. Furthermore, coal continued to constitute the largest energy source for the country.

It's not just China
"We feel America is very arrogant. They have taken a wrong action. The result is that they will hurt themselves. If they release the list of $100 billion tariffs, China is prepared. And will not hesitate," he added.

"We will immediately fight back with a major response," the representative said during a Chinese-language briefing with reporters Friday in Beijing. "We have no other choice."

If the U.S. goes through with an additional $100 billion in tariffs, China will not hesitate to fight back and is already prepared to, a Ministry of Commerce representative said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said late Thursday that he instructed the United States trade representative to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China. Stock index futures fell sharply after the news, with Dow futures off more than 200 points, on fears of retaliation by China.

"We believe this is a battle between unilateralism and multilateralism, a fight between protectionism and free trade," the Ministry of Commerce representative said. "This is not good for China, or the world. Facing this serious problem, we must fight resolutely."

"We have prepared with a bottom-line mindset and have planned detailed action. We won't start a war, but if someone does, we will definitely fight back," the representative said.

He added there was no merit to talk the two countries were discussing trade behind the scenes.

Thursday's announcement follows the Trump administration's late Tuesday proposal for 25 percent tariffs on imports of roughly 1,300 Chinese product lines valued at $50 billion, ranging from machinery to vaccines. Less than 24 hours later, China's Ministry of Commerce revealed a list of 106 imports from the U.S. that will be subject to a 25 percent tariff, including soybeans and cars.

No effective date for China's planned tariffs was announced at the time. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has planned a hearing on its proposed duties for May 15.

 CNBC's Eunice Yoon contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump, wanting to protect U.S. farmers from China's threatened tariffs, may end up pitting his country against many more nations in a trade spat that has hit global markets and worried the international business community, experts said Friday. If the Trump administration chooses to subsidize American farmers further, that could trigger retaliatory tariffs and subsidies in major exporters of agricultural products such as the European Union and Brazil, the experts added. An additional agricultural subsidy from the U.S. "brings third parties into the dispute, who could be expected, at a minimum, to complain to the World Trade Organization," said Simon Baptist, Asia managing director and chief economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

It is basically impossible for the U.S. to be confident that any actions it takes will protect its agricultural sector from Chinese tariffs, given the ways that other countries will respond to it. Simon Baptist Asia managing director and chief economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit

Trump can't really help US farmers after all

Whatever measures the USDA eventually comes up with, it's unlikely that they would be effective because China can always impose counter-measures, experts said. Such tit-for-tat could actually benefit other agricultural exporters because China may end up buying more from them instead of the U.S., Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit, told CNBC in an email.
Health officials are reportedly investigating soup-and-sandwich chain Panera Bread after a cluster of E. coli cases sprung up in four New Jersey counties.

The New Jersey Department of Health said it is looking into eight cases of E. coli in the state that led to hospitalization. Five of the patients have been discharged from hospitals, it said.

NJ.com reported that Panera Bread was the focus of the investigation, particularly a Phillipsburg location.

Sarah Perramant, public health epidemiologist in Warren County, told NJ.com that the Warren County Health Department and the state health department were investigating several E. coli cases that may have been from "local Panera Breads."

The New Jersey Department of Health said the other affected counties are Hunterdon, Middlesex and Somerset.

The department declined to disclose the name of the restaurant.

"The Department is investigating a possible association with a chain restaurant, but the association may be broader than a single chain restaurant," it said in a statement.

The department told CNBC that the investigation is still evolving and it is possible that as the department gathers more information, more than just one restaurant or restaurant brand could be associated with the outbreak.

"It can be very difficult to determine where someone got sick," the department said in a statement. "Individuals could have eaten a number of meals in a number of places before becoming ill. They could have eaten at several restaurants, at home or eaten food purchased at a supermarket. Sometimes the food source associated with illness is never determined. That's why we conduct many interviews with sick individuals to get food history data."

When asked about the E. coli outbreak, Panera directed CNBC to the health department's statement.

The New Jersey agency is in the process of doing lab tests to determine if the strain of E. coli, of which there are many, matches. Then the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will conduct its own tests.
Facebook messages that Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives sent to other users on the social network were recently found to be deleted from those user's inboxes, TechCrunch reported Friday.

Three unnamed sources speaking to TechCrunch said that messages they had previously received from Zuckerberg were no longer in their inboxes, though the messages they sent to Zuckerberg remained.

Facebook doesn't allow users to delete messages from a recipients inbox, which suggests that Zuckerberg has special treatment on the social network. The company told TechCrunch that the ability to retract Zuckerberg's messages was instituted for legal compliance after Sony Pictures' emails were hacked in 2014.

Facebook confirmed to CNBC that it will roll out a feature that's similar to the one Mark Zuckerberg used to all users.

"We have discussed this feature several times," a Facebook spokesperson said. "And people using our secret message feature in the encrypted version of Messenger have the ability to set a timer  and have their messages automatically deleted. We will now be making a broader delete message feature available. This may take some time. And until this feature is ready, we will no longer be deleting any executives' messages. We should have done this sooner  and we're sorry that we did not."

CNBC recently explained how to download all of your private data from Facebook, and that data include old chat messages that you might have exchanged with other users on Facebook. It typically appears as a two-way conversation with messages from both parties. In this instance, TechCrunch said that Zuckerberg's messages don't appear at all, even in the downloaded logs.

Zuckerberg has previously had access to features that weren't available to some users. Until last year, other users on Facebook weren't able to block him, for example. He was also scrutinized for comments he made while at Harvard, when he messaged a friend that users who trusted him with their data were "dumb f****."

But Facebook's treatment of user data has seen a fresh wave of criticism as millions of consumers have been told they can assume some personal data has been scraped from their profiles.

Read the full TechCrunch story here.

 Anita Balakrishnan contributed to this report.
Ford is recalling 350,000 vehicles for a transmission issue that could result in the car moving after the driver has placed it in park and removed the keys.

Ford said it is aware of one reported accident and injury related to the issue.

The recall applies to some 2018 Ford F-150 trucks and 2018 Expedition SUVs with a 10-speed automatic transmission, and some 2018 Ford F-650 and F-750 vehicles with 6-speed automatic transmissions.

The recall involves about 347,425 vehicles in North America, including 292,909 in the United States, 51,742 in Canada, and 2,774 in Mexico. Ford's reference number for the recall is 18S10.

There is a clip that locks the gear shift cable to the transmission in vehicles. In some of the affected vehicles, this clip is not firmly in place, which could result in the car shifting into a different gear from the one the driver has chosen.

In this situation, there may be no warning light or chime to warn the driver the vehicle is not in park upon exiting the vehicle. This could mean the truck rolls away after the driver has left, if the emergency brake is not engaged.

Dealers will inspect vehicles and make necessary repairs for free, Ford said.

Ford issued a second recall for other another similar potential transmission problem, affecting 161 2017 and 2018 F-150, Expedition, Mustang, and Lincoln Navigator vehicles. A missing transmission roll pin could cause the vehicles to fail to shift to park when the driver selects it. The reference number for that recall is 18S09.
Terry Morrison of Earlham, Iowa, watches as soybeans are loaded into his trailer at the Heartland Co-op, Thursday, April 5, 2018, in Redfield, Iowa.

China may be less likely to deal on trade after new tough talk from President Donald Trump, and the GOP is getting worried the party will suffer in the farm belt, according to political analyst Greg Valliere.

Valliere, who is Horizon Investments' chief global analyst, said a GOP source told him the risk of soybean tariffs by China will hurt Republican candidates in the farm belt and even beyond. "There goes Iowa," he quoted the source as saying.

Trump on Thursday night said he may slap tariffs on another $100 billion of Chinese goods, after China matched an earlier $50 billion round of Trump tariffs with $50 billion of its own.

China's tariffs target goods and agricultural products, causing particular concern for soybean farmers. The tariffs threaten to hit farm states that were strong supporters of Trump in the presidential election, as Republicans prepare for November midterm elections.

"The 'headline risk' president has stunned Washington  and it takes a lot to stun Washington these days," Valliere wrote in a note. "We still think a trade war can be avoided, but our confidence has been shaken; Donald Trump is itching for a fight and the Chinese will not tolerate public bullying from him."

Valliere said Chinese officials have privately said that trade concessions are necessary, especially on intellectual property and tariffs on U.S. cars, but Trump may have made China less likely to deal.
John Bolton, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, waves as he leaves Trump Tower, December 2, 2016.

President Donald Trump's choice to tap John Bolton as national security advisor is widely expected to produce more hawkish U.S. foreign policy on rogue states such as North Korea and Iran. Pakistan, a country that's long been a thorn in Washington's side, could also be affected.

If the conservative hawk, scheduled to start the job next week, pursues tough action on Islamabad, that could push the South Asian country closer to China, Russia and Iran, experts warned.

Islamabad was a crucial U.S. ally during Washington's war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, but bilateral relations have worsened in recent years as the U.S. demands the country do more to fight Taliban-affiliated militants known as the Haqqani network.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration suspended military and security assistance to the South Asian nation. Many believe the president could follow-up by rescinding Pakistan's non-NATO ally status or declaring Islamabad a state sponsor of terrorism.

"Bolton's hardline views may translate into an even more aggressive rhetoric against Pakistan," said Uzair Younus, director of consultancy Albright Stonebridge's South Asia practice.

A hostile policy approach in the form of increased drone strikes, financial sanctions, or diplomatic isolation "would only harden Pakistan's position and bring it closer to other regional powers," such as Beijing, Moscow and Tehran, Younus cautioned.

The three countries, which are currently experiencing frosty ties with Washington, have steadily increased their influence in Pakistan in recent months.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is on course to secure another four-year stint in power on Sunday, paving the way for Europe's most prominent populist leader to continue building what he calls an "illiberal democracy." Orban's right-wing Fidesz party comfortably leads most opinion polls ahead of the vote, though a surprisingly bruising election campaign has put the incumbent's parliamentary majority on shaky ground. "There are two different worlds to this election. To the outside world, it's all about migration and conspiracy theories. But for many opponents of Orban in the country, social issues and corruption allegations are more important," Andras Biro-Nagy, political analyst at Policy Solutions, a Hungarian think tank, told CNBC in a phone interview.



"Orban's far-right rhetoric is even more extreme than (President Donald) Trump when it comes to migration. The country has shifted to the far-right and, in doing so, has become a role model for such parties with similar ambitions in Austria, Germany and France," he added.

Why does this matter?

"Everyone is watching to see if the tide of populism has turned  it hasn't," Otilia Dhand, senior vice president of Teneo Holdings, told CNBC via phone interview. "My guess is by 2022 the Hungarian opposition may have finally got their act together and so will stand a much better chance then," she added.

Panoramic view over the Castle Hill of Budapest with Buda Royal Palace and the Castle District. Getty Images

The presidential election is viewed by some external observers as a test to discover exactly how strong Europe's populist pulse is beating, following the success of anti-establishment parties in Italy last month. "Orban is the strongest populist leader with the most powerful position in the EU. He's also recognized by several other far-right parties as the man to follow. So of course it is very, very important how successful that man becomes," Policy Solutions' Biro-Nagy said.

Immigration issue

Hungary's long-time premier has consistently vowed to maintain a forceful defense of the country's borders and culture against an influx of people from the Middle East and Africa. The issue is a key election topic in the country, which found itself at the heart of the continent's refugee crisis in 2015. That summer, almost 175,000 people submitted asylum applications to Hungarian authorities, with 425 being accepted, according to Eurostat. Last year, the number of applicants seeking asylum in the country slowed dramatically to just 3,115 requests, with only around 33 percent receiving a positive response. "Fidesz tries hard to be seen as the protector of external enemies and, in doing so, it creates a siege mentality," Dhand said.

Mehmet Yilmaz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

In addressing a sizable crowd at a rally in the capital city of Budapest last week, Orban said his ruling party had been fighting against shadowy international forces looking to break Hungary. "Europe is now under invasion  (Brussels) wants to dilute the population of Europe and to replace it, to cast aside our culture, our way of life and everything which separates and distinguishes us Europeans from the other peoples of the world," he said. Orban's latest comments were reminiscent of a now infamous speech he made back in 2014, in which he had championed the idea of an "illiberal democracy." Shortly after his second consecutive electoral victory four years ago, Orban said Hungary would reject a common set of values among EU countries broadly thought to be liberal and democratic and, instead, it would look to follow in the footsteps of countries such as China, Russia, Turkey and Singapore. Hungary, which joined the EU in 2004, has frequently been at loggerheads with Brussels since its ascension to the bloc. The former communist state has often been criticized for looking to assert its influence over courts, the media and other independent institutions.

Soros 'scapegoat stories'

Orban has also often attempted to vilify Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros for the immigration "problem." And at the start of the year, he introduced draft legislation to "Stop Soros." This included a 25 percent levy on foreign donations that backed illegal migration in Hungary. Soros, whose political views are in stark contrast to Budapest's ruling Fidesz party, had previously said he believed he was targeted by an administration "stoking anti-Muslim sentiment and employing anti-Semitic tropes reminiscent of the 1930s."

George Soros OLIVIER HOSLET | AFP | Getty Images

Orban's view that European culture is under an existential threat from migration and multiculturalism is squarely at odds with both Soros and the EU. "The majority of people here do not believe in the migration issue or the Soros scapegoat stories but the minority of Orban supporters that do are easy to mobilize so they are difficult to fight," Robert Laszlo, elections expert at Budapest-based think tank Political Capital, told CNBC in a phone interview.

Who can challenge Fidesz?

In an election system that tends to favor the winner, Orban has a fragmented  but stable  political base of around 2 million voters. That's about 20 percent of the total population. "(However) a growing appetite among dissatisfied voters is likely to encourage higher turnout and therefore a higher chance of success for Orban's rivals. And as each district is set up as winner takes all, people could back the most likely candidate rather than the one they would choose," Policy Solutions' Biro-Nagy said. Fidesz is the clear favorite to secure enough votes to retain its majority, followed by far-right party Jobbik and the Hungarian Socialist Party.

Viktor Orban, Hungary's prime minister, pauses as he delivers a speech during a public ceremony in Budapest, Hungary, on Thursday, March 15, 2018. Akos Stiller | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Epacadostat was supposed to further immunotherapy. The body contains an enzyme called IDO , which stops T cells from doing their job. Epacadostat is an IDO inhibitor, meaning it stops IDO from suppressing T cells.

Epacadostat was supposed to work in conjunction with Merck's blockbuster cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda  which has delivered billions in revenue to the pharmaceutical giant  to help the immune system fight cancer. The immune system contains T cells. These cells know the difference between a normal cell they should leave alone and a foreign cell they should attack. The problem is many cancer cells also look normal to T cells. Keytruda helps T cells recognize and fight cancer cells. Drugs like Keytruda are called "checkpoint inhibitors."

The future of cancer immunotherapy looks promising, but it suffered a major setback on Friday. Incyte announced that its trial drug epacadostat did not help melanoma patients, and the company is halting the study altogether.

Incyte hoped epacadostat, in conjunction with Keytruda, would fight cancer more effectively than Keytruda alone. But epacadostat failed to stop the progression of cancer, and it hasn't helped overall survival. The disappointing trial caused Incyte stock to drop more than 19 percent on Friday; Merck shares were down near 3 percent, though that merely matched the selloff in the stock market.

"We are disappointed that this study did not confirm the efficacy of epacadostat in combination with KEYTRUDA in patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma," said Dr. Steven Stein, chief medical officer of Incyte, in a release. "We remain dedicated to transforming the treatment of cancer and will continue to explore how IDO1 inhibition and other novel mechanisms can potentially improve outcomes for patients in need."

After halting the melanoma study, Incyte wants to test epacadostat with other types of cancer. Dr. Jason Luke, an oncologist at the University of Chicago, believes the Incyte study examined a patient sample that was too broad. Only patients with T cell-inflamed tumors react to immunotherapy at all. Patients without T cell-inflamed tumors don't have a natural immune response against cancer. IDO inhibitors won't make any difference.

"This is why we need to select those patient that have an immune response," said Luke. For patients that have the natural immune response, epacadostat still might be effective. Unfortunately, this is the minority of cancer patients.

Doctors can use RNA-based sequencing to test if a patient would be a prime candidate for immunotherapy. Although the Incyte and Merck press release mentions lung cancer, Luke said IDO inhibitors might help this minority of patients with any type of cancer.

Dr. Roy Herbst, a Yale University oncologist, believes there is no one-size-fits-all cancer solution. "You have to personalize immunotherapy," he said. "You need to know who will benefit from drug A and who will benefit from drug B."

The more research that goes into immunotherapy, the more doctors will understand how best to treat patients. Combining different medications, like Merck and Incyte were trying to do, could improve treatment in the future.

Even with the trial failure, "That's all the interest right now," Herbst said.

More from Modern Medicine:

Knee surgery for seniors is costly, and usually a waste of time



Scientists on verge of universal flu vaccine



New Alzheimer's blood test could detect disease decades in advance
Charles and David Koch Miller Hawkins | MSNBC

President Donald Trump is so far unwilling to back down from a trade war with China, but that may change as pressure mounts from the influential political and donor network backed by the conservative billionaire Koch brothers. Executives at Americans for Prosperity, just one part of the ever-growing Koch influence empire, said that tariffs will only hurt American consumers and possibly cancel out positive effects from the Republican tax cut bill passed in December. "From the beginning we've said that tariffs and protectionism is a bad idea," Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, said in an interview Friday. "It's a tax on American consumers because a lot of the product they're buying will cost more and it hurts American industries when countries retaliate." The group has also expressed its concerns directly with the White House. Charles and , the leaders of Koch Industries, one of the largest private corporations in the world, exert vast political power and influence on the right for an array of pet conservative issues, such as tax cuts.

The political wing of the Koch network was one of the most vocal supporters of the tax reform bill Trump signed last year. The group pushed the message that changes to the tax code will lead to economic growth across the country. On Friday, with the president ratcheting up his trade rhetoric, Americans for Prosperity continued to make the case for the GOP tax cuts. In a recent article titled "5 Things to Look Forward to Under the New Tax Code," the group promoted the notion that the reduced corporate tax rate  which was cut from 35 percent to 21 percent in the tax bill  will not only lead to strong growth, but more investments in the United States. However, there is concern within Koch-backed groups that the ripple effects from a trade war could cancel out tax reform wins. "We think when you look at tariffs this is a significant threat that can undermine tax reform and increase costs for people who are only just starting to feel the relief," Americans for Prosperity's top spokesman, Bill Riggs, told CNBC. The group has privately spoken with the White House about the tariffs. So far, the two sides have failed to see eye to eye on the administration's trade policies. "It's been an ongoing conversation. We have a good line of communication with the White House's economic policy team. They've explained their reasoning behind it and we just strongly disagree," said Phillips, the Americans for Prosperity president.

Potential conflict for the congressional GOP

With the network taking a stand against the president's efforts to slap tariffs on Chinese imports, Republican leaders in Congress who reaped Koch funds last year could be forced to go after Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., for instance, was one of the top recipients of Koch financial contributions in 2017. His campaign committee, Team Ryan, brought in $495,000 in November from the coffers of Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth, during the same month the House of Representatives passed its historic tax reform bill, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Ryan criticized the president in March when the administration proposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports. "I disagree with this action and fear its unintended consequences," Ryan said at the time.

In a statement provided to CNBC, Ryan's spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, said Friday that the speaker still intends to work with the administration on future trade initiatives and is hoping for a different approach. "We continue to work directly with the White House to find a better, more targeted approach," Strong said. The Kochs also gave more than $406,000 last year to the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign fundraising arm for Republicans trying to get elected to the House. They gave a similar amount to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is dedicated to maintaining a GOP majority in the Senate. David Koch made his fair share of political investments in 2017, as well, shelling out $100,000 to the joint fundraising committee for Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, among others. The NRCC declined to comment while the NRSC and a spokesman Hatch did not immediately return CNBC's requests for comment.

WATCH: Kudlow says Trump not using tariffs for negotiation
Larry Kudlow, Director of the National Economic Council, speaks to reporters outside the White House April 4, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Tariff negotiations with China have not started, though the White House hopes they will bear some fruit and prevent a trade war, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Friday.

"They have not really begun yet," Kudlow, President Donald Trump's chief economic advisor, told Bloomberg Television. "China's response to our complaints ... has been unsatisfactory."

Markets were on edge again after the Trump administration announced Thursday night it was exploring another package of tariffs against Chinese goods.

However, Kudlow stressed that no new duties have been implemented, and talks with the Chinese will continue for several months before anything is done. He said there is always an open line of communication with China, but no formal tariff talks have begun.

"This is a moderate, tempered approach that we are taking," he said. "This is not a trade war."

Earlier in the week, Kudlow's comments insisting that the U.S. is not looking to provoke a major confrontation with China helped sooth a jittery market that staged a 700-point swing Wednesday in the Dow industrials.

He reiterated Friday the U.S. concern over China stealing U.S. intellectual property, particularly in technology.

"There's no secret here. They've got enormous trade and tariff barriers," he said. "They've got to stop their stealing of the intellectual property that we try to use in any company around the world. Those are good places to start."

Kudlow, a fomer CNBC special contributor, succeeded Gary Cohn as Trump's top economic advisor. Cohn, who opposed imposition of tariffs, resigned in March.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the dissolution of parliament on Friday, more than two months before the end of his five-year term, paving the way for a general election.

Najib has been burdened by a multi-billion dollar scandal linked to a state fund and is under pressure to deliver an emphatic win for his ruling coalition as he struggles to appease voters unhappy with rising living costs and an unprecedented challenge by his former mentor, Mahathir Mohamad.

Najib said he met King Sultan Muhammad V to gain approval for the dissolution.

"The king has recommended for parliament to be dissolved effective Saturday, April 7," Najib said in a special announcement.

Polling day must be held within 60 days from the dissolution of parliament. The Election Commission is expected to meet within the week to announce a date for the vote.
Rep. Blake Farenthold resigned abruptly Friday, months after sexual harassment allegations against the Texas Republican surfaced.

Farenthold, who has represented Texas' 27th District since 2011, said in December he would not seek re-election this year. The 56-year-old becomes only the latest member of Congress to resign in recent months following sexual misconduct allegations.

"While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it's time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve," Farenthold said in a statement Friday.

A 2014 harassment lawsuit brought by a former staff member against Farenthold was settled using $84,000 in taxpayer money. The congressman's former communications director, Lauren Greene, accused him of making sexually inappropriate comments. Other former aides have spoken to media outlets about a toxic work environment.

Farenthold pledged to pay back the $84,000 sum. It is not clear he has. His office did not immediately respond to a request to comment on whether he paid back the money.

The congressman has denied allegations of wrongdoing. In December, he said "the charges that were made are false."

At the time, he acknowledged that he "allowed a workplace culture to take root in [his] office that was too permissive and decidedly unprofessional."

The 27th District, which sits in southeastern Texas, is likely a difficult one for Democrats to flip in November, despite Farenthold's manner of leaving office. President Donald Trump won it by more than 20 percentage points in 2016.

It is unclear if a special election for his seat would take place before November. The Texas Secretary of State's office did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Farenthold's resignation.

Voters are set to choose the Republican and Democratic candidates for the general election in a May primary runoff.
Underwhelming payroll growth in March shows the job market is running out of great workers available for hire, veteran strategist David Kelly told CNBC on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls rose 103,000 in March, a big slip from the prior month.

"There is a message here: We are out of easily employable workers," the J.P. Morgan Funds chief global strategist told "Squawk on the Street."

"In the housing market, sometimes realtors say sales were weak because there was no inventory. Well, there is not a lot of inventory of really great workers to hire who are still unemployed. That may be slowing down job growth."

Nonfarm payrolls data fell well short of the 193,000 expected by economists, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. The monthly reading was a slip from the 326,000 reported in February.

The unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, while economists expected it to decline one-tenth of a point to 4 percent.

Kelly expects payroll numbers to improve in coming months. "The jobs number today is a little bit like snowfall in April. It's unpleasant but probably not a harbinger of things to come," he said.

Job growth is still making "good headway," averaging 200,000 per month this year, Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius told "Squawk on the Street" on Friday.

However, Hatzius expects job creation to really slow down late this year and next.

"Next year if the unemployment rate comes down again, which I think it will, then we're going to have a harder time adding jobs because we'll be down at just really low levels, probably beyond full employment with a little more upward pressure on wages and prices," he said. "And then the fed will want things to slow down somewhat."

 CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
, some countries that could indeed benefit from Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods.

have announced hundreds of billions of dollars worth of import tariffs on each other's goods in a mounting tit-for-tat trade standoff.

Kevin Phillips | Getty Images

A broad swathe of economists and corporate executives are criticizing the mounting trade spat between the U.S. and China, with many American business leaders fearing damaging retaliation for the tariffs President Donald Trump has been unveiling since March. To date, both countries have announced hundreds of billions of dollars worth of import tariffs on each other's goods. But while the larger part of market experts seem to agree a trade war would be generally bad for the whole world, there are some countries that could indeed benefit from Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods, as it creates potential room for other trade partners to expand their own exports. "There are definitely economies that can benefit from the trade tariffs," said Jim Barrineau, head of emerging market debt relative at Schroders. If the dispute becomes a longer lasting trade war, Barrineau said, "China could step up direct investments into agriculture, metals, and energy producers throughout emerging economies to diversify sources of goods away from the U.S."

Brazil

A major U.S. export now facing a 25 percent tariff is soybeans. China is the world's largest importer of the crop, and the U.S. is its second largest supplier. This is set to severely impact both American soybean farmers and Chinese pork producers, who rely on the produce to feed their livestock. Speaking to CNBC Wednesday, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao cited South American markets as a potential source for a greater volume of soybeans. "Brazil may be a prime beneficiary," Barrineau said, while noting that 75 percent of their soybeans already go to China. "Nevertheless, they could enjoy preferential pricing if U.S. soybeans face a high tariff."

Soybeans are loaded onto a truck after being harvested at the Sitio Azulao farm, near Itapetininga, Brazil. Paulo Fridman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Brazil is already China's top supplier of soybeans, but it alone won't be able to fully replace the U.S.'s supply. In 2017, the U.S. sold 32.9 million tons of soybeans to China, second after the 50.93 million tons sold by Brazil.

Argentina

Argentina, the world's third-biggest soybean exporter, is similarly well-positioned, Barrineau said. Soybean meal represents 17.5 percent of Argentina's total exports. But commodity analysts expect the country's crop price to dive by 25 percent as it suffers from a prolonged drought.

Paraguay and Uruguay

The immense Chinese market will likely look for further alternatives, including smaller soybean exporters like Paraguay and Uruguay, said Stefan Vogel, head of agri commodity markets research at Rabobank. "(South American) grain handlers will then see the price of their goods increase," Vogel said. "The farmers should receive a higher price for it, and everyone in the supply chain will get some share of that price."

Australia

Cotton was one of the 106 U.S. exports slated for a 25 percent duty announced by Beijing Wednesday, as part of a package targeting $50 billion worth of U.S. goods annually. China is not a major importer of U.S. cotton, but those businesses seeking an alternative market for cotton to bypass the potential import duties would likely turn to Australia, Vogel said. Australia's raw cotton exports come to $1.2 billion a year, and one-third of that currently goes to China, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. Vogel didn't have a projection, however, of how much any import shift could raise prices and increase profitability for Australian cotton producers. Still, there are downsides, Vogel noted: "Because Australia also imports some soybean meal, they'll face higher prices there even though they're benefitting on cotton."

The UK (well, Scotland)

China's $50 billion tariff package includes whiskey, of which the U.S. exports more than 354 million liters a year worldwide. And it's China's second-largest whiskey provider after Scotland, selling 926,384 liters to China in 2016  trailing the U.K.'s whopping 11 million liters in the same year. The Chinese market therefore isn't crucial to America's whiskey sellers, placing 32nd in its list of top importers.

Carla Gottgens | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Still, it will likely only continue to boost demand from Scotland, said Francois Sonneville, director of beverages at RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness. "If you're a Chinese person and you like buying American bourbon, like Jack Daniel's, you might now go for a Scottish whisky because that becomes more attractive," Sonneville said. Of course, the tariffs would still hit U.K. and European companies with operations in the U.S. in a number of other sectors  so the benefit of this boost to one sector is unlikely to outweigh costs on other businesses.

France's wine industry

Another victim of the tariff battle is American wine, set to also see a 25 percent duty if the threatened measures come into force. China is America's ninth-largest buyer of wine, according to statistics from Rabobank International, and imported roughly $76 million of the U.S.'s $1.57 billion of total global exports in 2016. A Chinese buyer might "go for a French or Australian wine rather than a Californian wine because of the tariffs," Sonneville explained. France and Australia are already China's top two wine suppliers. As a result, he said, U.S. wine exporters "will be upset and have to rely more on domestic demand."

Too soon to say
As the CEO of the world's most valuable company (Apple currently boasts a market value of nearly $870 billion), Tim Cook is more than qualified to offer life advice. But what advice would Cook give to his younger self?

"I would tell myself that the joy is in the journey," Cook says, according to an excerpt of an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes and Recode's Kara Swisher that is set to air Friday, April 6.

"The truth is we all have the same purpose. And, we should all quit looking," Cook told the crowd at Chicago's Lane Technical College Prep High School.

"Our purpose is to serve humanity."

He says it's something he learned from his late boss, Steve Jobs.

"I went through a period of time that I was rudderless, where I thought I should be looking for my purpose," he said. "I looked under every sheet, behind every door, and everywhere, and I couldn't find it. I thought, 'Oh my God, there's something wrong with me. I can't find it.'"

Cook says he finally came around after he met Steve Jobs and joined Apple in 1998, noting that he'd "found a company that believed ... its job was to serve humanity."

During the interview, Cook went on to advise high school students to ask the question, "What will be my gift?" every day.

"Most of your gifts will never be money," he said. "They will be a gift of yourself and your passion  your way of changing the world, improving the world for other people."
52. New York

State income tax rate: 6.45 percent

Local income tax rate: 3.65 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.93 percent It takes $86,446 to live comfortably in New York, found a separate GOBankingRates study, despite a median household income of just under $59,000. Having the heaviest tax burden of the 52 largest cities in America can't help.

51. Detroit

State income tax rate: 4.25 percent

Local income tax rate: 2.4 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.82 percent Detroit has the second-highest tax burden of the cities included here, which is hardly a burden its residents can afford: The city also has the second-lowest median household income and the highest poverty rate. Despite the high taxes, though, Detroit is one of the cities where your paycheck goes the furthest.

Baltimore, Maryland Richard T. Nowitz | Getty Images

50. Baltimore

State income tax rate: 4.75 percent

Local income tax rate: 3.2 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.52 percent Baltimore is among the least tax-friendly cities, due in no small part to the high local income tax rate of 3.2 percent. The city does have lower expenses overall, being one of the 20 best big cities for renters, based on another GOBankingRates study.

49. Columbus, Ohio

State income tax rate: 3.46 percent

Local income tax rate: 2.63 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.03 percent Average property taxes over 2 percent are higher than the norm, with only 11 of the 52 cities at or above that rate. Despite its tax burden, Columbus can be affordable for retirees  it's the No. 8 city on the list of places where your retirement nest egg will stretch the furthest.

48. Cleveland

State income tax rate: 2.97 percent

Local income tax rate: 2 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.27 percent Cleveland has the lowest median household income of the 52 cities at $27,551. Higher taxes, though, didn't prevent it from being the largest city in Ohio where your paycheck stretches the furthest, reports GOBankingRates.

47. Milwaukee

State income tax rate: 6.27 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.56 percent Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee are three of the four cities with the lowest median household income, highest poverty rates and the highest average property taxes.

46. Philadelphia

State income tax rate: 3.07 percent

Local income tax rate: 3.92 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.95 percent The City of Brotherly Love had the highest local tax rate for residents at 3.92 percent, while the median household income is $41,449.

Omaha, Nebraska Walter Bibikow | Getty Images

State income tax rate: 6.84 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.09 percent Omaha's local income taxes are nonexistent for median earners. Omaha wound up in the top 10 least tax-friendly cities, however, because it is one of the 11 cities with average property taxes over 2 percent and has a relatively steep income tax rate.

State income tax rate: 5.8 percent

Local income tax rate: 2.2 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.94 percent Louisville's property tax rates are relatively modest, but its local and state income tax rates more than counterbalance that.

State income tax rate: 9 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.13 percent Oregon is one of the highest-taxed states when it comes to state income taxes, and things don't look like they're going to get any better for Portland residents. Portland is one of the cities where the cost of living will rise the most in 2018, according to a GOBankingRates study.

42. Chicago

State income tax rate: 4.95 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.01 percent The Windy City rises up the list of the least tax-friendly cities due almost entirely to its average property tax rate of more than 2 percent.

State income tax rate: 9.3 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.95 percent California's capital city is also the first from the nation's most populous state to make the list of least tax-friendly cities.

View of downtown Oakland, California. Justin Solomon | CNBC

State income tax rate: 9.6 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.87 percent Oakland's average property tax rate is a modest 0.87 percent, which ranks at the 15th lowest of the cities on this list. However, with a median home value of $746,100, the third highest, the total estimated property taxes wind up being $6,641 per annum, the fifth highest on this list.

39. Minneapolis

State income tax rate: 7.05 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.35 percent The larger of the Twin Cities doesn't have any additional local income taxes, but residents get hit hard with state income tax rates and average property tax rates on the higher end of the spectrum.

38. San Jose, Calif.

State income tax rate: 9.3 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.79 percent The tremendous wealth created by Silicon Valley tech firms has been kind to San Jose, which is one of just two cities on this list with median household incomes in excess of $100,000 a year. It also sent the cost of homes skyrocketing, however.

37. Long Beach, Calif.

State income tax rate: 9.3 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.79 percent Long Beach has a median household income of more than $60,000 a year, putting it in the top third of the cities on the list. However, that relative prosperity hasn't extended to every resident: More than one in five of its inhabitants lives under the poverty line.

36. San Diego

State income tax rate: 9.3 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.78 percent While residents of big Northern California cities tend to have higher median incomes than those of Southern California cities, San Diego households have a median income of $71,481  the fifth highest of these 52 cities.

35. San Francisco

State income tax rate: 9.3 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.68 percent San Francisco is the city where it costs the most to live comfortably, so it's a good thing it has the highest median household income at $103,801. The median home price is the highest of the cities in this study at $1.29 million, however.

34. Indianapolis

State income tax rate: 3.23 percent

Local income tax rate: 1.62 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.06 percent Indiana's only city among the 52 largest has modest property taxes and one of the lower state income tax rates. It's the local income tax rate that's pushed its total tax burden up this high.

Los Angeles, California TheCrimsonRibbon | Getty Images

33. Los Angeles

State income tax rate: 8 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.79 percent Angelenos are paying the seventh-lowest average property tax rate of the 52 largest cities in the country, but state income taxes still land it among the least tax-friendly.

32. Kansas City, Mo.

State income tax rate: 5.2 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.39 percent The state income tax rate of 5.2 percent and lack of local income tax might have you saying "Kansas City, here I come," but the relatively high property tax rate of 1.39 percent might have you saying "Kansas City, there I go."

District income tax rate: 8.5 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.57 percent The nation's capital is the only East Coast city to appear among the top five for median household income: $75,000 a year.

30. Atlanta

State income tax rate: 6 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.14 percent Atlanta residents are spared any local income tax, but its overall tax burden is boosted by Georgia's higher state income taxes.

State income tax rate: 5.2 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.32 percent Wichita could be among the most tax-friendly states were it not for its higher-than-average property tax rates.

28. St. Louis

State income tax rate: 6 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.06 percent St. Louis has a median income among the 10 lowest and poverty rate among the 10 highest of the 52 cities studied.

State income tax rate: 5.5 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.16 percent Many Charlotte residents live in relative prosperity, with a median household income over $60,000 and a poverty rate among the 10 lowest on this list.

State income tax rate: 6 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.91 percent Fresno residents earn less than those in the other seven California cities listed. With a median household income of just $44,905, they're in a lower tax bracket, paying an average of 6 percent for state income taxes.

Source: Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau

25. Fort Worth, Texas

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.32 percent Texas is one of the states with no income tax, but Fort Worth has the third-highest average property tax rate on the list.

State income tax rate: 5 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.1 percent Tulsa is a curious case, with a median income among the 10 lowest but a poverty rate that puts it on the lower half of the list for that category. Every other city among the 10 lowest median incomes is also among the 10 highest poverty rates.

23. Houston

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.26 percent Of the 11 cities with an average property tax rate over 2 percent, five are in Texas, including Houston.

22. Virginia Beach, Va.

State income tax rate: 5.75 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.89 percent Virginia Beach is the only Virginia city in the GOBankingRates study, and its low property taxes help land it among the most tax-friendly.

21. Oklahoma City

State income tax rate: 5 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.06 percent Oklahoma City has relatively light taxes, plus it's the top city where salaries are high and costs of living are low, according to a GOBankingRates study.

State income tax rate: 5.5 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.86 percent Raleigh would have climbed much further up the list of the most tax-friendly cities, but the city's high median household income helped push up the state income tax rate for the city's typical resident to 5.5 percent.

19. Dallas

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.17 percent Dallas is the No. 4 city where rent is cheap but the cost of living isn't, according to another GOBankingRates study.

State income tax rate: 4.9 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.96 percent New Mexico's only city among the 52 largest also features a lower-than-average property tax rate and a relatively light state income tax burden.

El Paso, Texas. Brian Wancho | Getty Images

17. El Paso, Texas

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.13 percent El Paso is among the 20 most tax-friendly cities. Texas being one of the states without income tax has something to do with that.

16. San Antonio

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 2.10 percent The Lone Star State has the second-most cities among the 52 largest with six, just behind California's eight. California, though, has no cities among the top 25 most tax-friendly while all six Texas locales are.

15. Boston

State income tax rate: 5.1 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.86 percent Boston is among the cities with the 10 highest median household incomes, and the low property tax rates mean workers are hanging on to a relatively large slice of those earnings.

14. Austin, Texas

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.97 percent There's a clear trend when it comes to cities in Texas: all six have no state or local income taxes, but all six are among the 12 with the highest average property tax rates. Austin is the only Texas city with an average property tax rate under 2 percent, but it's just barely there at 1.97 percent.

State income tax rate: 3.36 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.05 percent The low tax burden in Tucson is likely a welcome relief for its residents. The city has among the 10 lowest median household incomes, and a quarter of its residents live below the poverty line.

State income tax rate: 4.24 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.80 percent Mesa was ranked third among cities where you can realistically live on minimum wage in another GOBankingRates study, and the low tax rates could be a part of that.

11. Denver

State income tax rate: 4.63 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.70 percent The Mile High City has the fourth-lowest average property tax rate in the study.

Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. Getty Images

10. New Orleans

State income tax rate: 4 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.74 percent New Orleans is among the poorest cities in America, with a median income of $38,681 and a poverty rate of 26.2 percent, but its residents at least avoid a heavy tax burden.

9. Colorado Springs, Colo.

State income tax rate: 4.63 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.52 percent Colorado Springs has the lowest average property tax rate on the list at just over a half percent.

8. Phoenix

State income tax rate: 3.36 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 0.80 percent Phoenix is the only Arizona city in the study among the 10 most tax-friendly.

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.51 percent Although the average property tax rate is 1.51 percent, Memphis has the second-lowest median home price of the cities studied at $82,600  which means the average property tax bill is $1,250, one of the lowest amounts in this study.

6. Miami

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.28 percent With a median home value of $308,200 in Miami, the average annual property tax is $3,945.

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.15 percent All of the seven most tax-friendly cities in the United States, including Tampa, get there by featuring no state or local income taxes for a typical resident.

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.05 percent The three Florida cities rank in succession, and they're all inside the top 10 as the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-most tax-friendly large cities in the United States.

3. Seattle

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1.03 percent Seattle has the third-highest median household income of major American cities, which might be important, as it's also one of the 20 cities where home prices are skyrocketing, according to another GOBankingRates study. In fact, prices rose 17.39 percent between mid-2016 and mid-2017.

Nashville, Tennessee Davel5957 | Getty Images

State income tax rate: 0 percent

Local income tax rate: 0 percent

Average property tax rate: 1 percent Nashville inhabitants likely have plenty of other uses for the money they're saving on taxes. The city had the third-highest cost of living increase last year at 15.4 percent, GOBankingRates found.

1. Las Vegas
President Donald Trump is clearly not a fan of Amazon. He attacked the company via Twitter five times in the last week. One of his main contentions is that Amazon is ripping off the U.S. Postal Service, but it's not clear whether it is getting the short end of the stick from the Jeff Bezos-led retailing juggernaut. In fact, Amazon may be saving the post office from financial ruin. On April 3, Trump said, "the post office is losing billions of dollars," at U.S. taxpayers' expense. It's true that the post office is losing money. It reported a $2.7 billion net loss in 2017. But the post office is not funded by U.S. tax dollars. And when you look at the revenue breakdown, you can see that shipping and packages is actually one of the few categories that brought in more money than the previous year. While overall revenue fell $1.8 billion, shipping and packages saw a $2.1 billion increase in revenue. Meanwhile, first-class mail revenue was down around $1.8 billion.

USPS 2017 Fiscal Report CNBC | Kyle Walsh

And the post office was in the red long before Amazon became such an online giant. The USPS began to lose money in the early 2000s with the internet's rise. But one of the post office's biggest revenue drainers has nothing to do with shipments, or the Internet. It's all about employee benefits. Back in 2006, Congress enacted a law that required the USPS to prefund its employee health benefits for the next 75 years. And that has cost the post office billions. In a note to clients on Tuesday, Baird Equity Research said that any large customer, including Amazon, would actually help the post office subsidize its pension costs.

A United States Postal Service (USPS) letter carrier delivers mail in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In October 2013, Amazon struck a five-year deal with the post office. The specific terms of the contract aren't available to the public because the post office's deals with private shippers are considered proprietary. That means there's a decent amount of information we don't know. But one thing we do know is that the post office is making a profit. In 2006, Congress ruled that the USPS couldn't set its prices lower than its costs, otherwise it would be able to unfairly charge less than its competitors like UPS and FedEx. Every year, an independent agency called the Postal Regulatory Commission makes sure the USPS' deals make economic sense. And year after year, the commission has approved the deal with Amazon. In its 2017 annual report, the USPS even said its shipping and packages business helped the "financial picture of the Postal Service." Trump is right that Amazon does technically receive a discount. Amazon ships a lot of packages, so chances are it's utilizing a bulk discount. But that's not specific to Amazon; it's available to other businesses, too.

Inventory at a warehouse Getty Images

That idea that the post office is losing big likely stems from a Citigroup report. The report alleges the USPS' pricing model is unsustainable, and that parcel rates would need to rise significantly for the agency to break even. The report was mentioned in a widely circulated Wall Street Journal commentary by shipping analyst Josh Sandbulte. The analyst argues that the post office is essentially giving Amazon a $1.46 subsidy for every box it ships. But if true, that figure would hold for all companies across the board, not just Amazon. Which is probably where Trump is coming up with the claim that the post office "will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon." TWEET However, the $1.46 figure has been debated. On Tuesday, the Citigroup analyst who wrote the original report clarified that Amazon's business could be profitable for the USPS. The Postal Service does receive reimbursements for some things mandated by Congress, like free mail for the blind and overseas voting. And it borrows money from the government to pay for its employee health benefits. But most analysts seem to agree that the post office isn't losing a fortune to Amazon. The USPS declined to comment on this story. The commission did not return CNBC's request for comment.

Jeff Bezos David Ryder | Getty Images
Germany should fix the current trade tensions sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump, a former German state secretary told CNBC Friday, as he expressed sympathy with the U.S.' position in an escalating war of words with China over trade practices. Flassbeck's comments come amid rising fears of an all-out trade war between the U.S. and China. On Thursday, Trump instructed his trade team to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese products  raising fears of a continued escalation against global free trade. This would be the second set of tariffs imposed on China in a couple of weeks. In early March, Trump started by implementing tariffs on aluminum and steel imports  measures that did not represent a big impact for China, but did for countries like Japan and potentially Europe too.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images

Germany has also faced international criticism for its trade surplus, which means its exports outweigh its imports, as some see it as unfair, imbalanced and a cause for protectionism elsewhere. However, Germany saw the first decline in its trade surplus since 2009 last year. Data from the Federal Statistics Office showed that trade surplus dropped to $300.9 billion in 2017 from the record high seen in the previous year at $304.44 billion. The euro zone's largest economy still had room for improvement, Flassbeck told CNBC's Steve Sedgwick on the sidelines of the European House Ambrosetti Forum in Italy. "Germany is really out there as the main culprit, so to say, because Germany has the highest surplus, much higher than China in terms of GDP Germany has to do something against it, that's absolutely clear," Flassbeck said. Last month, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany's trade surplus has been narrowing due to higher domestic demand. She added that Germany will continue to work towards that trend, but there are factors, such as oil prices and currency levels, that it cannot control.

German Chancellor and head of the German Christian Democrats (CDU) Angela Merkel during statements following all-night preliminary coalition talks on January 12, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. Steffi Loos | Getty Images
President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked various media organizations, is skipping the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner for the second year in a row, according to the group that throws the event.

"The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment," the association's president, Margaret Talev, said in a statement.

Trump himself addressed the question Friday morning.

"I probably won't do it," the president said during a radio interview with a New York radio show, 77 WABC's "Bernie & Sid," when the hosts asked whether he would attend the dinner.

Trump's decision to avoid the lavish affair  an annual parade of celebrities, journalists and politicians  isn't necessarily a surprise, although he did attend the journalist-hosted Gridiron Dinner last month.

The president often uses the media as a punching bag, including during his recent attacks on The Washington Post, which he falsely describes as a "lobbyist" for tech giant Amazon.

The CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, owns the Post, but the two companies are operated as separate entities.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will represent the administration at the head table at the April 28 event.
President Donald Trump said falling aluminum prices are evidence that his tariffs aren't impacting the U.S. economy.

But in reality the price of the metal declined because he exempted Canada and Mexico from the tariffs.

Tweet Link

"Despite the Aluminum Tariffs, Aluminum prices are DOWN 4%. People are surprised, I'm not! Lots of money coming into U.S. coffers and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!," Trump tweeted Friday.

Trump signed his steel and aluminum tariff proclamations on March 8 that excluded Canada and Mexico and also left the door open to other countries to ask for exemptions. As a result, the general spot aluminum price fell.

LME aluminum price year-to-date chart

Source: FactSet

But industry observers pointed out a key measure of aluminum for local U.S. producers did not decline much at all.

The price of Midwest premium aluminum, which is the difference between the general aluminum spot price and total price paid by local U.S. buyers, more than doubled since Jan. 1 in anticipation of tariffs to 19 cents per pound Thursday, according to data from American Metal Market and BMO Capital Markets. The price is only half-a-cent per pound lower than its year-to-date highs in March.

Midwest premium price represents the cost of transporting aluminum from the overseas into the U.S., after factoring in transport costs, taxes and the potential impact from tariffs.
President Donald Trump holds up a proclamation during a White House ceremony to establish tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum at the White House in Washington, March 8, 2018.

"Outside the agricultural areas, which will remain safely Republican in this cycle, the trade/tariff issue probably helps more than it hurts," said veteran Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma. "Somebody is finally doing something about China, which has simply ripped us off since we let them in the WTO. That is a net plus."

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , powerful advocates for the GOP's pro-business wing, have both warned against potential economic damage from Trump's course. But other Republicans, facing heavy losses in November's midterm elections, see the possibility of political benefit despite fallout on Wall Street and in farm states whose exports might suffer.

Here's something that might alarm financial markets as much as President Trump 's trade war threats: his reshaped Republican Party doesn't much mind them.

"From a Senate lens, it is helpful," added Josh Holmes, a top GOP Senate strategist, referring to Trump's "America First" combination of tariffs and an immigration crackdown. Tossing away prepared remarks on tax cuts, the president in West Virginia yesterday emphasized both issues as he took aim against vulnerable Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

As for investor fears that have sent markets tumbling, Holmes added: "Generally, the people freaking out are people with a lot of money. There aren't that many people with a lot of money."

That reflects the ongoing evolution of a Republican Party increasingly dependent on white working-class voters, while better-educated voters in growing, globally linked sectors of the economy drift toward Democrats. In last month's NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll, twice as many Republicans as Democrats described trade with other nations as "a threat" rather than "an opportunity for economic growth."

Congressional Republicans still rely on wealthy business executives to finance their campaigns. They and Trump have delivered big benefits for their donor constituency through deregulation measures and the $1.5 trillion tax-cut whose proceeds will flow disproportionately to businesses and wealthy individuals.

Yet the tax-cut has yet not sheltered Republicans as much as they once hoped in the gathering 2018 campaign storm. The party holding the White House nearly always loses Congressional seats in mid-term elections, but Republicans fear results of recent special election foreshadow losses large enough to hand Democrats control of both chambers of Congress.

Last November, Republicans suffered a stunning Senate loss in Alabama. This week, a poll in Tennessee showed Democratic ex-Gov. Phil Bredesen leading GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn for the Senate seat of retiring GOP incumbent Bob Corker.

Last month, Democrats captured a Pennsylvania House district that Trump won easily in 2016. So far, 38 House Republicans have declined to seek re-election in a year Democrats need to gain 23 seats to recapture their majority.

Dave Wasserman, a top analyst of House races at the Cook Political Report, draws a striking conclusion from the failure of ads touting tax-cuts to save the Republican seeking that Pittsburgh-area seat. Public support for the tax cuts is weak enough, he says, that attention on tariffs or even the president's relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels helps Trump's approval ratings, and his Republican allies, more.

Some strategists for the GOP, strongly identified with free trade since the Reagan era, disagree. Media consultant Kim Alfano called it "disastrous" to shift attention away from tax cuts toward trade conflict and potential damage to a strong economy.

"Tax cuts were a clear win," Alfano said. In addition to tangible benefits in higher worker paychecks, added pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson, "it proves that Washington is capable of getting something done."

Whether tariffs or any other issue can reshape election outcomes this fall is unclear. Fighting China over trade appeals to much of Trump's blue-collar constituency, but tariffs and their consequences would also hurt chunks of his base whose livelihoods depend on imported steel and exported farm products.

And in any event, survival of the GOP's majority requires reducing its current double-digit deficit among independents. Since that deficit stems largely from consistent concerns about Trump, even the most focused and aggressive Republican campaigns have limited ability to alter it.

"There are things we can control," Rep. Cole concluded. "We can't control the president."
The United States is taking the blame for trade tensions that were started by other countries, said Steve Odland, president and CEO of Committee for Economic Development, a Washington think tank.

"It's China that has been doing the bad behavior for a number of years," Odland told CNBC, referring to the Asian nation's history of alleged unfair trading practices.

Odland, who was chief executive officer of Office Depot from 2005 to 2010 and AutoZone from 2001 to 2005, pointed out that the European Union has imposed tariffs on the U.S. in the past.

"We're essentially following the Europeans," said Odland, who is also a CNBC contributor.

But Odland said he's spoken with a number of business leaders in Europe, Latin America and Asia, who have told him that the U.S. is instigating trade wars.

"That is totally unfair," he said Friday on "Power Lunch."

"I think [other countries are] not accustomed to this style of negotiation and diplomacy," he said. "It's not a typical way for the U.S. or other countries to carry out diplomacy. So they're reading it not as a negotiation, but as a trade war."

"That's what's spooking them," he said. "Their interpretation is that this is the new-brand America and they don't like it. It's been confusing for people, obviously nations."

President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled a list of Chinese imports he plans to target with his tariffs, in what he has said is an attempt to correct unfair trading practices. The list includes products from sectors such as robotics, information technology, communication technology and aerospace.

On Wednesday, China responded with plans to impose tariffs of its own on 106 U.S. products. The Chinese levies would hit soybeans, cars, aerospace and defense products.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC's Steve Liesman on Friday that the administration's "objective is still not to be in a trade war" with China, but acknowledged that "there is a potential of a trade war."

While Odland said he thinks the U.S. is getting a bum rap for other countries' deeds, he acknowledges that public perceptions do matter.

"This is hurting America," he said. "People are misunderstanding what the administration is trying to do. They're trying to get China to follow WTO rules, stop dumping and stop stealing IP."

"The way the administration has been conducting negotiations is not working, so they're trying something new," he said.
The Trump administration on Friday unveiled new actions against Russian officials, oligarchs, businesses and agencies  freezing assets that are subject to U.S. jurisdiction. One of those named is Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire with links to former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort, who has been charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. "There is no question that this activity goes after a number of individuals and entities surrounding the Kremlin regime, and this will be noticed far and wide," a senior administration official said Friday. speaking on condition of anonymity. In all, the Treasury Department, after consulting with the State Department, sanctioned seven Russian oligarchs and 12 companies they control, plus 17 top Russian officials, a state-owned weapons-trading company and a subsidiary bank. Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, described the action as baseless and unfriendly, Interfax news agency reported. Another key name sanctioned: Kirill Shamalov. According to the Treasury Department, "his fortunes drastically improved" after he married Russian President Vladimir Putin's daughter, Katerina Tikhonova, in February 2013.

Oleg Deripaska Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A senior administration official said that the "significance and scale of these steps" will have a profound impact on the Russian economy. "This is a large number of senior officials and oligarchs, many of whom are in the inner circle of Vladimir Putin and many of whom are facing sanctions for the first time as well as the state-owned enterprises," the official said. "I think the individuals and companies in question will see the consequences of this in the near term." The official called the administration's latest move a "consequence for Russia's actions" and said the designations were carried out in close coordination with U.S. allies. "The Russian government chose to destabilize Europe through military pressure, malicious cyberactivities and malign influence across numerous countries. It chose to prop up the Assad regime [in Syria], a regime that kills little kids with chemical weapons. It continues to subvert Western democracy," the official said. "Today's actions are the result of Russian government decisions." Similarily, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a release, "Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government's destabilizing activities."

Russian President Vladimir Putin Pavel Golovkin | Reuters

The latest sanctions come as President Donald Trump's relationship with Putin is under greater scrutiny since the American leader congratulated the Russian president for his landslide election victory last month. Putin critics have said the election was rigged, and, reportedly, Trump advisors told him not to congratulate his Russian counterpart. The U.S. also ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian agents last month in response to the nerve-agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in England. There were reports earlier this week that said a new round of sanctions could be on the way. Last month, the Treasury Department issued sanctions for 19 people and five entities, including Russian intelligence agencies, for cyberattacks over the past two years. The Trump administration said it has designated 189 Russian related individuals and entities to date.

The Manafort connection

Paul Manafort, former advisor to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign. Getty Images

Of the 12 companies hit with sanctions in Friday's action, the Treasury Department said seven are either controlled or owned by Deripaska, the billionaire who emerged as a central figure in the U.S. probe of possible election interference by the Kremlin and its associates. Manafort, who ran Trump's campaign for a few months in 2016, had reportedly offered to brief Deripaska on the campaign. Manafort was Trump's campaign chief at the time he sent emails making the offer. Manafort had also reportedly done business with Deripaska in the past. The Treasury Department, in unveiling its sanctions, described the Russian businessman in ominous terms. "Deripaska has said that he does not separate himself from the Russian state. He has also acknowledged possessing a Russian diplomatic passport, and claims to have represented the Russian government in other countries," the announcement said. It continued: Deripaska has been investigated for money laundering, and has been accused of threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering. There are also allegations that Deripaska bribed a government official, ordered the murder of a businessman, and had links to a Russian organized crime group. The special counsel is investigating possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The president has repeatedly denied his campaign colluded with the Russians, and Russia has often pushed back on the allegations, as well.

The other oligarchs sanctioned
MGM Resorts may be interested in buying its casino rival Wynn Resorts, according to a report in the New York Post on Friday.

MGM's expressed interest in Wynn came from back-channel approaches, sources familiar with the situation told the Post.

Despite earlier claims by MGM chief executive James Murren that it would be unlikely his company would make a bid, one source told the Post that Wynn CEO Matt Maddox could be tempted to sell if the price was right.

Other sources told the Post that MGM still has time to change its mind and that no official talks have occurred.

For its part, Wynn Resorts spokesperson Michael Weaver told CNBC that "Wynn has not had any discussion with MGM or its advisors about a sale of the company."

After a premarket bounce, Wynn shares fell 1.5 percent on Friday, while MGM's stock fell 4 percent.

Both companies are outperforming the S&P 500 this year; Wynn is up 7.5 percent and MGM is up 6.5 percent.

Wynn stock has encountered turbulence after The Wall Street Journal detailed allegations in January of decades of sexual misconduct by then-CEO Steve Wynn.

Following strong public backlash  and a loss of more than 10 percent in the company's stock value  Wynn resigned as CEO and chairman in February. Wynn Resorts said last month Wynn no longer holds a stake in the company after he agreed to sell all his remaining 8 million shares.
China's President Xi Jinping waves to delegates as he is elected to a second five-year term during the fifth plenary session of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 17, 2018.

In March, China's mostly toothless parliament passed a series of constitutional amendments ceding significant power to Xi. The Chinese government removed presidential term limits as part of the package, effectively enabling Xi to remain in office indefinitely.

Despite Trump's authority, however, he is bound by the political constraints of a democratic government, with a Constitution imposing presidential term limits, and securing the rights of Americans' free speech and association.

As the leader of the executive branch, Trump has broad abilities to impose tariffs and other trade barriers against countries. Trump, who has long railed against "unfair" trade deficits and advocated for more protectionist trade policies, is increasingly exercising that power during his second year in office.

U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping have been engaged in a battle of escalating threats to impose billions of dollars in tariffs.

Trump, on the other hand, not only has to worry about his prospects for the 2020 presidential election, but also for the Republican Party's control of the legislative branch in the 2018 midterm elections.

And while congressional Republicans have largely been reluctant to criticize the president, who enjoys high approval ratings among large swaths of the party, lawmakers have shown no such restraint when it comes to trade.

When Trump announced tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum in March, for instance, more than 100 Republicans in the House of Representatives signed a letter urging the president not to follow through on the plan, or at least dial back its scope. In the end, the tariffs were imposed by executive order, but were vastly watered down due to the outcry.

"Needless to say, this is not going to happen in China," said Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "That's a very important reason why China's likely to win if this does come down to a trade war."

The administration's newest proposal includes slapping tariffs of approximately $50 billion on Chinese products  a plan Trump shortly followed up on by floating additional tariffs of $100 billion on Chinese imports.

The signal that Trump is tripling down on punitive tariffs has already spurred leaders of the traditionally free trade GOP to voice their opposition.

Chinese public opinion on the trade skirmish is playing out in almost the opposite direction, said Mary Lovely, a professor of economics at Syracuse University.

For Xi's government, Lovely said, "This particular episode is going to play right into their ability to get people on their side because Trump is seen as the aggressor."

Trump and the U.S. trade representative have argued that the tariffs constitute an appropriate retaliation to China's alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property. China's foreign ministry has pushed back on the accusation, arguing that Trump was instigating a fight between protectionism and free trade.

"We feel America is very arrogant. They have taken a wrong action. The result is that they will hurt themselves. If they release the list of $100 billion tariffs, China is prepared. And will not hesitate," a Ministry of Commerce representative said Friday.

To be sure, China isn't without potential headwinds of its own as it retaliates against U.S. tariff threats. An increasingly powerful and affluent country, China is now "in a spot where they are trying to take a seat at the adult table" on global affairs, according to John Rutledge, chief investment officer of Safanad, a global principal investment house.

"It imposes certain constraints on them," Rutledge said. "They're doing things to actively curry support among other governments."

Still, Rutledge said the aggressive U.S. strategy is not playing well on the world stage.

"The point is, there's a widespread preference for trade," he said. "This is playing very badly for the U.S. in many parts of the world."
Now the CEO of China's largest restaurant company, Joey Wat didn't always know that she would end up in food retail  let alone be the leader of a major group.

So for those who are just starting out in their careers and are undecided on what they truly want to do, Wat has some key advice:

"Keep learning  no matter where we are in our life, in our career," Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China, revealed to CNBC's Akiko Fujita last month.

Newly-appointed to the position of CEO, Wat didn't always have a job in food retail. Before working for her current company and other retail groups, Wat spent seven years in the management consulting industry, including time at McKinsey & Company.

"It took me a long time to find what I am passionate about. One of the reasons why I kept on doing consulting was because I didn't know what I was truly passionate about, until I found out that I really liked retail."

"I realized that I really enjoyed the pace, I enjoyed the common sense, I enjoyed the result-driven business  but before then, I didn't know."
Yesterday I reported that in some parts of the country CCHQ has had to deploy paid campaign staff just to try to secure enough candidates and nomination signatures to put up a full slate in the forthcoming local elections.

The scale of that eleventh-hour push is further illuminated by an email sent yesterday afternoon  just a day before the nomination deadline  to Conservative Party members in Wales, which ConservativeHome publishes exclusively today.

Sent out from the Welsh Conservatives official email address, and under their branding, it reads:

All our activists are campaigning hard across the NW to secure victory in the local elections in May. The deadline for nominating candidates is 4pm Friday. We are aiming to field a full slate of candidates across the Region but still have vacancies in Knowlsey and Manchester (where we have 96 vacancies). Can you help us? Do you know anybody who lives, works or owns property in Manchester or Knowsley that will be willing to put their name on the ballot paper? We are not expecting anyone to collect nomination forms, all is required is that they sign a candidates consent form. A member of the team can visit them later today or tomorrow and that will be all that is required.

The email ends by giving the names and contact details of two of the Partys campaign managers, one respectively for Manchester and Knowsley.

What to make of this?

First, it demonstrates that ConservativeHomes sources were right about this last-minute dash to try to find candidates  extending, it seems, to accepting anyone with some sort of local link, which seems a risky way to pick candidates. The fact that the search has extended at such a late stage to appealing to members across Wales, on the off chance they might know someone eligible to fight a ward in two English council elections, suggests things really have got quite desperate.

Second, the question of quite how bad things are in the Manchester City Council nominations remains unclear. As I reported yesterday, reliable sources tell ConservativeHome that the local Partys goal is to stand one candidate in each of the 32 wards (out of a possible three in each ward). Following the publication of that article, some Conservative members in Manchester assured me that there would be a full slate in the city. But the Welsh email, also from yesterday, claims there are 96 vacancies in Manchester  which would mean they lack any candidates at all. That seems implausible; perhaps the text of the appeal was agreed some time before it was sent out, and therefore exaggerates the scale of the problem. Either way, there is evidently a serious shortage, underscoring the atrophy suffered by the local party in the city.

Finally, the news of a similarly dire situation in Knowsley is significant. Since Guido Fawkes first reported Party employees being sent to Liverpool to try to find candidates, on Wednesday, Liverpool Conservatives have hotly denied that they have any shortage of candidates whatsoever. Knowsley might be the answer  we do not know who Fawkess sources were, but if they were from outside the North West, perhaps in London or the South East, its possible they said Liverpool when they meant Merseyside, ie they have been drafted in to help find candidates for Knowsley Borough Council, where we now know there is a problem, not Liverpool City Council, where the local party denies theres any issue at all. That might explain the dispute.
Isabel Sigmac specialises in technology project delivery. She recently founded Help Street Cats and Dogs, a registered charity in England, rescuing and transforming the lives of street animals. She contested Birmingham Ladywood in the 2015 general election.

More than ever before, animal welfare is an increasing concern for the general public. There is certainly a renewed focus since Michael Gove has become the Environment Secretary. Recently, the Conservatives have made a string of announcements that has helped create awareness, and put animal welfare and the environment firmly back on governments agenda. The genuine determination within the Conservative Party to improve animal welfare is certainly welcome.

Having founded a charity called Help Street Cats and Dogs, I dedicate a significant amount of my time these days to creating awareness on animal welfare related issues. Help Street Cats and Dogs is about rescuing and transforming the lives of street cats and dogs around the world by feeding, treating and re-homing.

Of course, I have my own rescues including a cat, two goats (a brother and sister of Saanen/Boer mix for the goat enthusiasts) and 27 Shetland sheep, soon to be over 50 after the lambing season. Just to clarify, the goats and sheep are not for the food chain. As a vegan, I cannot bear the thought of animals being killed for food, and wont be breeding them either. How the sheep came to my ownership is a long story, but Ive saved them from the slaughterhouse. I was lucky enough to be able to do this with the permission of a local landowner, allowing me to keep my four-legged family there.

Around 70 billion animals are farmed for meat, milk and eggs worldwide each year (2.3 billion in the EU), with about 25,000 animals are being slaughtered every single minute. They can be kept in horrific conditions with little or no regard for their welfare. As a result of increasing support for mandatory CCTV within all slaughterhouses, the legislation that made this possible and safeguard animal welfare was laid by Michael Gove during February this year. It will come into effect from May, when it will pass through Parliament, and businesses will then have six months to comply. This was a manifesto commitment and is a really positive step, reassuring consumers that welfare standards are being enforced by providing access to this footage.

Having said that, we need to also be mindful that there are other slaughter practices of different religions and cultures still tolerated within this country. The two that are relevant are the halal and kosher methods practiced by Muslims and Jews respectively. The Defra website does contain guidelines on how to legally carry out a religious slaughter, but I believe that bleeding animals to death is barbaric and not right for any reason. Measures should be to taken to end this practice within the UK.

The EU regulation on the welfare of animals in transport states that animals must be transported in a way that wont cause them injury or unnecessary suffering. Whilst many farmers and business do their best to comply with the regulations, the long-distance transportation can cause immense suffering. This is especially true for the animals exported from Europe to countries outside the EU. They are often kept in overcrowded conditions, cannot lay down, have insufficient headroom and can be trampled to death. With transportation lasting days, perhaps in extreme weather conditions, the animals can be left dehydrated and exhausted, with little or no sufficient water or rest along the journey.

There are a number of campaigns on this front against the live animal exports for slaughter on welfare grounds. Last years Conservative Manifesto said that the UK could take early steps to control the export of live animals when it leaves the EU. There is a Private Members Bill in the current session aimed at a live export ban (with an exemption for the Northern Ireland border) as soon as the UK leaves. I strongly oppose the export of live animals, because it is inhumane and causes unimaginable suffering and sometimes a painful death.

The Environment Secretary has indicated he is looking very seriously at banning the trade, and I very much hope that is the case. We shouldnt wait until a ban is in place to take action. In the meantime, the journey and rest times, and animal stock densities along with fitness for transportation, must be addressed at the earliest opportunity.

There are so many other animal welfare related issues that need to be addressed. I have only touched on couple of areas  the practice of slaughter and live animal export. Other examples include the fur trade, animal cruelty and fighting, puppy mills, factory farming, animal testing and the increasing threats to our wildlife.

Animals are sentient beings who do feel pain, pleasure and suffering. I very much hope to see the Conservatives continue in their efforts to make animal welfare a priority.
Iain Dale is Presenter of LBC Drive, Managing Director of Biteback Publishing, a columnist and broadcaster and a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

As I write, there have been 51 murders in London so far this year. If the rate continues, it will have close on 200 murders in 2018 compared to 130 last year.

Thats quite an increase. Sadiq Khan is completely devoid of ideas as to what to do, and jerks his knee by blaming police cuts for the rise. The Right instinctively blames the fall in the number of stop and searches, while the Left  in the form of Diane Abbott  blames social deprivation. David Lammy says that a lot of it is down to drug gang turf wars. In truth, there is no single cause, and if were honest its probably in part down to all of these things. There is no short-term quick-fix solution.

I had a teenage caller on my programme on Tuesday, who said one of the long-term solutions is to get rid of gang grooming. He reckoned that its schools who hold the key to stopping 12 or 13 year-olds joining gangs. Gangs give some kids the feeling of belonging and family that they may have lacked in their home lives. The reality of gang life needs to be explained to young boys, especially young black boys, at a very early age. Its a truth we all need to recognise.

         

By last Thursday at midnight, every company in the country with more than 250 employees had to file gender pay gap information to the Government. I may not like this nanny state approach to the issue, but its thrown up some very interesting information. It may be a blunt instrument, but it does show how much work there is to do on the subject of equal work and opportunity.

For example, airlines complain that they have a big gap because most of their employees are cabin crew, of which 70 per cent are women, and much lower paid than pilots, only three per cent of whom are women. Perhaps they ought to ask themselves why only three per cent are female, and then do something about it. Theres no intrinsic reason for women to shun the opportunity to train as pilots.

         

Someone asked me this week if I think it is now possible that Theresa May could fight the 2022 election as Conservative leader. Most people assume that she will step down after Brexit is complete at the beginning of 2021, thus giving her successor time to bed in before an election.

If her performance continues to improve, as it has done in recent weeks, then she may be able to demand the right to continue. Id say there is only a ten to twenty per cent chance of her still being in Downing Street in 2022, but it may well grow over the coming months. Watch the betting markets.

As the local election campaign gets underway  and has anyone noticed?  it will be interesting to see if Labours anti-semitism woes have any effect on voting patterns. There has been a remarkable dearth of opinion polls during the last fortnight, so we have no evidence to go on, but it would be remarkable if Labour hadnt lost a couple of per centage points. The last poll showed a three point Tory lead. If by the end of the year there is a six or seven point Tory lead, I suspect Theresa May will have every right to say she aint goin nowhere.

         

I had a week off last week and started watching Game of Thrones. I must admit it took quite a few episodes to really get it into it. There are so many characters that its quite difficult to follow whos who and how they relate to each other.

It all fell into place when I realised that the Queen was actually shagging her own brother. And the series isnt even set on the Isle of Sheppey, a place where the family trees apparently dont fork too often. Or so rumour has it.

         

Isnt Turkey a member of NATO? Why then is it buying defence systems from Russia? This week, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, its President, held a summit with Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani, Irans President. I think of it as the Summit of the Three Monkeys: hear no evil, see no eviland evil. Ill leave you to guess which one is which.

         

The Greatest Showman has possibly the best ever movie soundtrack. Discuss.
Syed Kamall is Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and is an MEP for London.

The latest European Council leaders summit was unusual because, for once, Brexit was not the only subject the media wanted to discuss as I faced the cameras and assembled newspaper journalists in the cavernous European Council press hall.

Russia and US trade tariffs were also on the agenda and, when Brexit did come up, reporters focused on the positive news that was emerging  the agreement of a transition and implementation period as well as the EU27s decision to open negotiations on its future relationship with the UK.

At the start of the year, many seasoned commentators were suggesting that such progress was unlikely. They were wrong. We still have a long way to go to reach the final agreement, but we can now move on from the sometimes acrimonious process of disentangling ourselves from 40 years of EU membership and begin shaping a new, outward looking Britain.

While I was enjoying unexpectedly less pointed interviews, Theresa May was pulling off a diplomatic coup by securing unprecedented support from EU leaders for her tough stance against Vladimir Putin. A few days beforehand the Government had announced the expulsion of 26 Russian diplomats in response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack and she was now urging the EU to draw a line in the sand by presenting a united front to Putins aggression.

The Prime Minister persuaded the Council to toughen up its summit conclusions, strengthening an expression of unqualified solidarity with Britain to include a specific mention of the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities. Those consequences became clear a few days later as a majority of EU countries joined in the co-ordinated international expulsion of Russian diplomats.

This extraordinary solidarity sent a strong signal to Moscow and once again highlighted Britains influential role on the international stage. It has also brought into focus the importance of our post-Brexit security and defence relationship with the EU.

While Brussels insists that Britain cannot continue to enjoy  what it sees as  all the benefits of membership once outside the bloc, both the UK and EU realise that there is a strong argument for continued security cooperation.

In February the heads of intelligence services in the UK, France and Germany issued a rare joint statement stressing that continued cooperation was indispensable. They stated: Even after the UKs exit from the EU, close cooperation and cross-border information sharing must be taken forward on themes such as international terrorism, illegal migration, nuclear proliferation and cyber attacks. To have effect, our efforts must be combined in partnership.

Subsequent events in Salisbury have underscored this message, even if they came as little surprise to observers in Central and Eastern Europe.

My European Parliament colleagues from across Central and Eastern Europe, and especially from the Baltic States where there are significant Russian minorities, have been warning me for years that we in the West underestimate the threat the Russian propaganda machine poses. To them, Russian interference is ever-present and all pervasive. For instance, while we might regard the state funded television station Russia Today simply as a second rate Sky News or CNN, they have long regarded it as a pernicious channel which aims to stir up discontent amongst Russian-speaking minority communities and Russophiles.

The cohesion shown by both EU and NATO members over the past fortnight offers hope that security and defence will transcend politics in the forthcoming Brexit talks and allow us to continue to work together to tackle such threats.

The UK Government is committed to that goal. It has consistently stressed that the UK will continue to cooperate via NATO, bilaterally with individual countries and, where there is mutual interest, with the EU. The Prime Minister is optimistic a new UK/EU security treaty can be agreed and signed during the implementation period.

The EUs response has been encouraging. Guidelines for the future relationship with the UK, signed off at the Summit, state: In view of our shared values and common challenges, there should be a strong EU-UK co-operation in the fields of foreign, security and defence policy.

Of course differences remain, notably surrounding judicial oversight of the new structures and whether the UK would want to, or be able to, contribute as a third country to operational planning for EU defence missions. However, I am confident we will find agreement where it is in both our interests.

Certainly our Central and Eastern European partners hope so. But whatever the eventual outcome, they know we will not abandon them.

During a recent visit to Latvia I was told: We would prefer you not to be leaving the EU but we would be much more worried if you were leaving NATO.
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CORNWALL, Ontario  Eric Bialkowski, 19, of Windsor was arrested on March 24th, 2018 and Curtis Griffith, 30, of no fixed address was arrested on March 25th, 2018. Both men were charged with possession of property obtained by crime.

Curtis Griffith was further charged with the following:

 Threats

 Breach of recognizance (for operating a motor vehicle)

 Breach of probation (failing to keep the peace)

 Drive while disqualified

 Theft under $5000

It is alleged on March 24th, 2018 both men were in possession of a stolen motor vehicle and during that time, Curtis Griffith, a disqualified driver, attended a gas bar and fueled the vehicle making no attempt to pay for the fuel as he left the area. The man also allegedly made threats to harm a man known to him and police were contacted to investigate. An investigation ensued, at which time it was learned the man was wanted on several outstanding warrants. On March 25th, 2018 the man was taken into custody on the strength of the warrants by Ottawa, London, Windsor and Smith Falls. He was charged accordingly and held for a bail hearing. Eric Bialkowski was also taken into custody, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on April 26th, 2018.

THEFT, BREACH

Cornwall, ON  Gilles Desforges, 41, of Cornwall was arrested on March 23rd, 2018 and charged with theft under $5000 and breach probation for failing to keep the peace. It is alleged on March 23rd, 2018 the man entered a Ninth Street store and removed merchandise making no attempt to pay for the items as he left the store. He was stopped by the Loss Prevention Officer and police were contacted. The man was taken into custody, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on May 3rd, 2018.

ASSAULT WITH A WEAPON, THREATS, POSSESSION OF A WEAPON FOR A DANGEROUS PURPOSE

Cornwall, ON  Michael Chicoine, 40, of Cornwall was arrested on March 23rd, 2018 and charged with assault with a weapon, threats and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. It is alleged on March 23rd, 2018 he assaulted a man who was known to him and threatened him with a knife. Police were contacted and an investigation ensued. During the investigation the man was taken into custody, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on April 12th, 2018.

RESIST ARREST

Cornwall, ON  Ashley Belanger-Boudrias, 19, of Cornwall was arrested on March 24th, 2018 and charged with resist arrest. It is alleged on March 24th, 2018, while police were investigating an unwanted person call, a struggle ensued and the woman began kicking at police. She was taken into custody, charged accordingly and released to appear in court on May 3rd, 2018.

BREACH

Cornwall, ON  A 27-year-old Cornwall man was arrested on March 25th, 2018. He was charged with breach of recognizance for being within 200 metres of his ex-girlfriends residence, failing to reside with his surety, failing to notify police of a change of address, and failing to abide by a curfew. It is alleged on March 24th, 2018 the man was found to be in breach of his conditions when he walked by the residence of his ex-girlfriend. Police were contacted and an investigation ensued. On March 25th, 2018, he was taken into custody, charged accordingly and held for a bail hearing. His name was not released as the conditions stem from a domestic incident and would identify the victim in the matter.

There were 116 calls for service in the City of Cornwall in over the weekend (8am Friday to 8am Monday morning). To see whats happening in your neighbourhood visit our Crime Plot Map. CCPS reserves the right to not post all calls for service in order to protect the identity of the victims.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The Cornwall Community Police Service Traffic Unit is currently investigating a motor vehicle collision and is asking the public to come forward if they have any information about this incident.

At approximately 12:20 pm on March 24th, 2018 a 19-year-old male was travelling in a red Honda Civic, west-bound on Water Street, at which time the vehicle struck a building at the corner of Water Street East and Adolphus Street. The male was transported to the Cornwall Community Hospital with serious injuries.

Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident or anyone who may have information about this motor vehicle collision to contact Cst. Dupuis at (613)933-5000 ext. 2755 or ext. 2404 to leave anonymous information.
AKWESASNE  The Ontario government has announced that it has awarded funding to Enbridge Gas Distribution to potentially bring low cost natural gas to Kawehno:ke (Cornwall Island.)

Funding of $3,447,000 was granted by Ontario from the provinces Natural Gas Grant Program. A total of 11 new projects were announced that will potentially bring natural gas to several First Nations communities and Ontario towns.

The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and Enbridge Gas Distribution have begun discussions on how the project can be implemented, which would include the construction of a natural gas transfer station and distribution network to provide access to homes and businesses on Kawehno:ke.

MCAs Environment Program is prepared to enter into an agreement with Enbridge to conduct the mandatory environmental assessment before any project can begin.

The investment will help more people across Ontario connect to natural gas and significantly lower their heating costs, Ontarios Ministry of Infrastructure announced.

MCA Grand Chief Abram Benedict said, This project has the potential to significantly alleviate the burden Kawehno:ke community members currently face with the higher than normal electricity costs. Natural gas is the preferred choice for both heat and hot water in Ontario on account of its affordability.

Information meetings will be conducted to share further details of the project as plans are developed.

If you have any questions, please contact the Mohawk Government Office at 613-575-2348 or speak to a Council Chief.
West Monroe Partners, a fast-growing next-generation MSP with a robust Salesforce application management practice, is making a big investment in building out an Amazon Web Services practice.

West Monroe, which has carved out a significant business helping midmarket customers drive more business value with Salesforce.com, is now set to apply that same model to the AWS market.

[Related: AWS Introduces Channel Program With New Incentives For Solution Providers]

The Salesforce application management practice has been West Monroe's sales growth leader for the past two years. Now the company is taking aim at the booming AWS market.

"What we are most focused on in terms of growth for the business in the next 18 months is around AWS and AWS Connect [AWS' cloud-based contact center]," said Nathan Ulery, managing director of West Monroe's Performance Services practice. "We are investing a lot of engineering talent around AWS. The adoption of AWS in the midmarket is just getting started. That is where we see the market going over the next couple of years."

West Monroe has done a pilot with Amazon Connect that saved the company 80 percent a month versus the legacy software provider in that market. "That is how big an impact Amazon has in changing the market landscape," he said. "We are having conversations to migrate clients to Amazon Connect and then run it and maintain it for them."

West Monroe is currently training its current Performance Services team on AWS and will be adding new AWS positions over the next year.

The AWS offensive comes with an increasing number of customers looking at treating "infrastructure as code" with an ability to quickly shrink and scale on demand, said Ulery.

"We focused on Office 365 five years ago, Salesforce.com two years ago and now we are doing it with AWS," he said. "This is just the next step in our evolution as a next-generation MSP."

Ulery believes that the AWS practice will in short order overtake West Monroe's growing Salesforce.com business. "Look at the breadth of what AWS provides," he said. "There is just so much capability within the AWS platform that it has all the potential in the world to be bigger than our Salesforce.com business."

The AWS business will be focused on the same business-outcome-based cloud services consulting focus that has powered a 40 percent compound annual growth rate over the past five years for West Monroe's Performance Services business.

Ulery  a 20-year technology consultant  said the secret to the group's success is a razor-sharp focus on how next-generation cloud services can drive better business outcomes for midmarket customers.

"We are focused on how do we improve IT operations for clients with new cloud technologies," he said. "We don't have legacy assets that we need to sell. That has allowed us to embrace the new technologies. This is all about having IT that supports the overall business objectives."

West Monroe, which was formed 16 years ago as a pure business services consultant by former Arthur Andersen executives, has eschewed technology product sales in favor of what it calls a "vendor-agnostic" business-outcome-based cloud "performance" services model.

West Monroe not only provides consulting around cloud services like Salesforce.com, but also a suite of managed services focused on maintaining those applications.

That no-nonsence focus on business outcomes will drive an estimated $20 million in business this year with a mind-boggling 85 percent of that business from recurring revenue managed cloud services from some of the top technical cloud talent in the country, said Ulery.

That Performance Services technology team of 110 employees is highly prized by midmarket clients who have hit the wall and have outgrown their existing MSPs, said Ulery. "A lot of our clients are finding that their existing MSPs do not have the people, processes and accountability to take them to the next level," he said.

The prime target for those services is midmarket customers with $250 million to $1 billion in revenue with 10,000 and even more seats. "There are not a lot of midmarket MSPs that are really focused on the midmarket who understand the complexities of those businesses in areas like regulatory compliance, security and M&As," said Ulery.

West Monroe's midmarket focus has been boosted by the Chicago-based company's multinational management business with some 800 business industry experts that can team with the Performance Services team.

Among the West Monroe services areas are infrastructure management for cloud, on-premises or data center with support for Office 365, Azure, Cisco, VMware; client device managemen,t which includes patching management and service desk support with a 24/7 support staff; and a growing security consulting practice that includes risk management audits and day-to-day management of firewalls, secure client devices and even security incident response.

Besides Salesforce.com and AWS support services, West Monroe provides SharePoint application and custom .Net applications. "We are finding that a lot of organizations are looking to refine their cloud applications implementation to ensure they get more and more business value from a platform like Salesforce.com," Ulery said.

"We are doing continous enhancements every month to these platforms so customers are getting more and more value," he said.

West Monroe also has found a growing practice around assisting companies with merger and acquisition technology planning and implementation. "We are helping customers think through in the long term which pieces of the infrastructure and data centers should be kept or retired over time," said Ulery.

Ulery says the future is bright for next-generation MSPs like West Monroe that are embracing new cloud services like AWS and AWS Connect. "The successful MSPs will be the ones that embrace the new way companies are consuming technology and then providing value on top of that to help those customers get the most out of those platforms."

Many companies are investing in cloud platforms but are not taking advantage of the full business impact of those services, said Ulery. "Midmarket customers want a business partner that is looking out for them so they can get more business value from these technologies," he said. "We are helping customers get more business value every month, every quarter and every year."
HARTFORD  It was just a straw poll of 216 AFL-CIO delegates, not a binding vote, not a union endorsement. But Democrat Ned Lamont of Greenwich trounced the rest of the field so strongly Friday that its hard not not to read much into it.

The Greenwich cable TV and digital media entrepreneur polled 48 percent support after the labor coalition heard pitches from him and four other governor hopefuls.

Lamont was the most forceful of the five on issues the labor leaders hold most dear, calling unabashedly for a $15 minimum wage and higher taxes and fees, including highway tolls and what he called a small increase in the income tax for the states wealthiest residents, as part of an overall plan to right the Connecticut economy.

On throwing out the state workers 10-year benefits agreement, which is the clarion call of virtually every Republican in the race, Lamont was both firm and emotional, which is exactly what the unionists wanted to hear: Its the wrong thing to do as a human being.

The four other Democrats who addressed the AFL-CIO political convention in the capital city, with their straw poll votes, were:

Jonathan Harris, former state senator, West Hartford mayor and commissioner of consumer protection, 15 percent; Sean Connolly of East Hartford, former state veterans affairs commissioner, 11 percent; Former state Rep. and Secrerary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown, 11 percent; Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, 6.6 percent.

No one at this time polled 9.5 percent.

All five Democrats received warm receptions from the delegates at the Hartford Hilton hotel, and other than Lamont, they all played up their government experience and pro-worker bona-fides.

Connolly talked about his Irish-American, working-class background in East Hartford. Bysiewicz declared shes strong in non-urban, non-wealthy areas where President Donald Trump did well. I am a candidate who can win all over the state, she said.

Harris talked about his long record. Ive been a progeressive problem solver, Ive been able to get things done with your help.

Ganim talked about his hundreds of millions of dollars in pro-labor construction and redevelopment contracts, for example, but he was apparently hurt by perceptions he cant win because of his felony corruption conviction and prison term.

When asked by Chris DeFrancesco, an AFT delegate from UConn Health, Ganim didnt shy away from his criminal history. I made some terrible mistakes, I broke the law. I learned from that, he said in a slightly cracking voice. I think I understand even more, the sanctity of not only the public trust, but the need for accountability and transparency in every level of government.

Lamont, later Friday evening, attributed his success to the way he shows respect for workers, espoecially at his companies, as somebody who really understands where folks are coming fromI just find in government theres not the same kind of respect, he said.

The straw poll was the first of its kind for AFL-CIO. To win a formal endorsement, a candidate must garner two-thirds of the votes of delegates, who are leaders from 67 union locals statewide. No one raised a motion to even vote for a full endorsement for Lamont.

Still, combined with him receiving the endorsement of Attorney General George Jepsen, who appeared at the convention Friday, and his hard play for delegate support, Lamont should be viewed as the frontrunner heading into the Democratic Party convention in May.

In the campaign for attorney general to succeed Jepsen, state Rep. Mike DAgostino, D-Hamden, far outpolled the other four candidates for that position after a charged-up appearance, with 48 percent. Chris Mattei polled 25 percent; Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, pulled in 11 percent; Clare Kindall, 7.4 percent; and Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, who has often opposed labor positions, came away with zero percent.

No one at this time polled 8.7 percent.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin also sought to address the convention but did not fill out the pre-convention questionnaire to the AFL-CIOs liking  specifically, he didn;t check off boxes for support or oppose to questions he said called for nuanced answers, suich as, Will you support or oppose increasing the income tax on the wealthiest 1 percent in order to...make necessary and appropriate investments?

AFL-CIO president Lori Pelletier added, Lets be clear, Bronin also has made some previous commentsincluding wanting to bankrupt the city to abrogate collective bargaining agreements.

Bronin, in a statement afterward, said, I strongly support the right to organize and collectively bargain...Im sorry that I didnt have the opportunity to address the convention, but I have no regrets about giving detailed, thoughtfuil answers...in response to serious policy questions.

All five Democrats who appeared scored well on the questionnaire, with Connolly trailing the others at 82 percent. The Army veteran was marked down for opposing higher income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent of households; refusing to pledge not to shift teacher retirement costs to cities and towns; opposing a proposed fee on low-wage employers; and other measures.

Lamont scored 97 percent with one wrong answer, according to materials provided by the union coalition: He opposed the penalty on low-wage employers.

Lamonts performance was one of the best Ive ever seen, said Sal Luciano, who is retiring this year as executive director of AFSCME Council 4.

Luciano said he thought Bysiewicz might have been seen as a frontrunner before Fridays presentation. Lamont, he said, has got to be feeling pretty good coming out of today.
ANSONIA  After 31 years of building roads, installing sewers and handling state and municipal contracts, Complete Construction is calling it quits, liquidating heavy equipment and looking to sell its office.

I have a feeling theyre not going to be the last one, said Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association, of which Complete was one 300 members. There are a lot of highway contractors out there that have little if any work. And those that have work have no backlogs.

As a result, Shubert said, a lot of contractors have no idea where their next job is coming from.

Connecticuts economy is the problem, said Shubert and Guy DeMaio Jr, one of Completes owners.

Generally the outlook in Connecticut is rather grim, said DeMaio, of Orange, who along with Antonio Teixeira, of Shelton, owns Complete. We determined it would be too difficult to continue in this business climate. The work isnt there.

Shubert said the state has pulled back $4.3 billion in transportation projects.

We estimate that every billion spent represents 15,000 jobs, Shubert said.

Shubert said the Department of Transportation has deferred $63 million in projects already, and that could rise to $550 million by the end of the year.

The state also reduced funding to municipalities, leading to delays in local road, sewer and sidewalk projects.

Those jobs that are going forward attract a lot of bidders, Shubert said.

Bidding is very aggressive, and were seeing super low prices, he said. Most companies are working on very low margins. You would think the state would want to take advantage of these low costs.

So when a company like Complete, which was on the state DOTs pre-qualified list of construction firms, shuts down, that impact resonates across the industry.

They wont be buying materials or equipment, they wont be sending equipment in for repairs, Shubert said.

DeMaio said Complete plans to finish its current contracts and then shut down by the end of the year.

We have a gravel pit in Milford that will probably be operating a little longer, DeMaio said.

Over the years, Complete Construction rebuilt sections of Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Campbell Avenue near West Haven City Hall and the parking lot at the Ansonia Nature Center. Last summer the company reconstructed a portion of Derby-Milford Road.

We did bridges, sewers, street scapes like Campbell Avenue, DeMaio said. Both he and co-owner Teixeira are in their 60s.

Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti, who formerly operated Birm-1 Construction and competed with Complete Construction, said he is sorry to see them go.

They were a competitor but they were very good contractors, he said. Their work was excellent.

Sheila OMalley, Ansonias economic development director, said Completes closing is a big loss for the Valley.

They are good people to work with, she said. They have a great reputation and a lot of experience that we are losing. I hate to see them go.

Once word leaked out, OMalley said, inquiries began coming it about the building they own on Riverside Drive.

Their building is about 10,000 square feet and they own 47 adjacent acres, she said.

DeMaio said his company opened on Bridgeports Kossuth Street, then moved to the Riverside Drive, known as the Woodlot  just across the river from the old American Brass Co.  some 20 years ago.

He said at the height of business, Complete employed about 60 workers.

Were down to about six or seven now, DeMaio said. The Connecticut economy has been deteriorating for a long time and the outlook is not much better. Thats the way we feel.
BRIDGEPORT  Two separate threats at different high schools in the city prompted a police response Friday.

A bomb threat was reported at Bassick High School Friday afternoon at an unspecified time, school officials said.

Students were safely evacuated while police conducted a thorough search of the entire campus, a news release from school officials said.

Once police cleared the school, all students were able to return to the school without incident, officials said. School resource officers remained stationed at the school for the rest of the day.

Earlier in the day, a Snapchat photo circulating at Central High School prompted a lock in/lock out late Friday morning.

There (was) no active shooter threat at Central High School, police officials said later Friday afternoon.

It turns out the threat was for a different CHS  one based in New Mexico.

Upon further investigation, it was determined that the threat referenced had been generated at Clovis High School in New Mexico ... where authorities investigated and apprehended a suspect, a news release from the school officials said.

Clovis police arrested a 17-year-old male student at Clovis High School after, police said, he threatened a shooting at the school on Snapchat late Thursday night. It was unclear if the arrest took place at the students residence or at the school.

In 2017, there was a shooting at a library in Clovis, New Mexico, that killed two people and injured four.

As a precaution, a perimeter of the Central High School campus was set up with the help of Bridgeport police patrol officers.

School security, the principal and the school resource officers swept the building, police officials said. Once the sweep was completed, school student resource officers were stationed at the school for the remainder of the day.

The lock in/lock out was initially reported around 11:30 a.m. and was lifted around 12:15 p.m.

Parents of students at Bassick and Central high schools received a phone blast about the incidents, school officials said.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.
BRIDGEPORT  A man who was rescued from a garbage chute in an apartment complex last month apparently did crack shortly before he got stuck, a police incident report said.

The one-page report was recently obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media through a Freedom of Information Act request.

On March 8, police and Fire Department personnel responded to call from the Greene Homes complex, where a man stuck in a garbage chute. Firefighters got the man out.

Police spoke to a 37-year-old man nearby that lives in the building and said he knew the man stuck in the chute.

(He) stated that he had done crack with the ... male and that the ... male just freaked out and ran down the stairs of the Greene Homes, the officers summary said. When he followed after him, the witness found the man stuck inside the garbage chute and immediately called 911.

When the man was taken out of the chute, he was unconscious and taken to Bridgeport Hospital by ambulance, the incident report said.

Police did not release any further information about the incident. Charges did not appear to have been filed at the time.
Carol Kaliff / Carol Kaliff

HARTFORD  State auditors are asking for Attorney General George Jepsens help getting a report on inmate medical care that the Department of Correction is refusing to hand over.

State Auditors Robert Kane and John Geragosian sent a letter to Jepsen Friday requesting he decide whether attorney-client privilege, which DOC has twice cited withhold the report, applies.
Weve all heard the story dozens of times: A brilliant kid drops out of college, turns his or her idea into a business and ends up becoming a multi-billionaire. Bill Gates, for example, dropped out of Harvard after two years to pursue his business idea (Microsoft) with his partner Paul Allen.

Related: The Best Career Advice From Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Other Billionaire College Dropouts

And, in a story with almost eerie similarities, Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in 2004 to focus on building Facebook. He became a billionaire within the decade.

Inspiring stories, for sure. But, are such stories really as common as they seem?

Reality check: the statistics

A quick glance at the statistics is all it takes to discount this dropout-to-billions fiction. According to a report by the Swiss bank UBS, there are 1,542 billionaires in the world. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the graduation rate for full-time undergraduate students seeking a four-year bachelors degree was 59 percent.

Related: Forget College Dropout: Why Staying in School Can Be a Huge Advantage for Entrepreneurs.

Some 20.4 million students are estimated to have attended college in 2017. There are some complicating factors there, including varying dropout rates for different programs, differences among population segments and of course, the possibility of a dropout subsequently returning to school. Still, we can count on there being at least a few million new college dropouts per year.

Data from the National Student Clearinghouse backs up this assumption, estimating that more than 31 million adults have attended some college, without receiving a degree or certificate. Even if we assume that all billionaires are college dropouts (hint: they arent), that still results in a 0.005 percent chance of having dropped out, then of financial success after dropping out.

One study reported in The Conversation found that among Forbes billionaires, 44.8 percent went to and completed a program from an elite school. Another 44.3 percent had a college education somewhere else and 10.9 percent either had no college education or there was no data to report. The same study found similar correlation data between other important job categories and high achievement levels.

For example, among 30 millionaires, 33.8 percent went to an elite school, 46.1 percent had a college education and 20.0 percent had no college or there was no data. Among Fortune 500 CEOs, 41.0 percent went to an elite school, 53.0 percent had a college education, and only 5.8 percent had no college education or no data.

Looking at the other side of the equation, college dropouts are unlikely to have a bright future. According to a story in The Atlantic, college dropouts over the age of 25 are 71 percent more likely to be unemployed, and four times more likely to default on their student loans. On average, members of this group earn 32 percent less than their contemporaries with college degrees.

Why college-dropout billionaires seem more common

So if college dropout successes are so rare, why does it seem that theyre so common, and that dropping out of college to pursue entrepreneurship is a genuinely good idea?

Part of the problem is survivorship bias. We hear all the stories of billionaires who started their journeys as college dropouts, but how often do we hear the stories of the millions of unemployed college dropouts? We blind ourselves to this much bigger proportion of the population -- unintentionally -- because they never accomplished something worth sensationalizing.

As Americans, we also cant resist an underdog story. We like to believe that its possible for anyone, in any circumstance, to be successful, so when we hear about someone who broke the norm and worked hard to succeed on an unconventional path, we cant help but amplify the message and cheer him or her on.

What we miss about college-dropout entrepreneurs

Were also doing a disservice to the full stories of college-dropout successes. These arent random people who dropped out with a decent idea and stumbled into a fortune. For starters, they worked very hard to get to their level of success. Bill Gates, for example, after dropping out to form Microsoft, allegedly worked 16-hour days for five years before finding success (according to this Infographic based on Walter Isaacsons book The Innovators).

They may also have had more (or better) connections. Take, for example, the Peter Thiel Fellowship, which grants recipients $100,000 and two years out of college to pursue a compelling entrepreneurial idea. This is a good system, and one that mitigates the risks of dropping out with nothing. If you have access to this kind of capital, and to external validation, your college education may not matter as much as it would have to someone with less money, fewer connections and less-developed skills.

The reality is, entrepreneurial dropouts arent really as common as we make them out to be. There are occasional stories of young geniuses bucking the norm to bring a revolutionary idea to market (and they truly are inspiring), but these stories are the rare exception to the overwhelming average experience.

Related: These 20 Kids Just Got $100,000 to Drop Out of School. And They Want to Change Your Life.

Dropping out of college deprives most people of the skills, knowledge and resources they need to build a good life for themselves -- regardless of what business ideas they have at the time. Accordingly, its a much better idea, almost universally so, to complete your education first, and start your business later.

Related:

Are College-Dropout Billionaire Entrepreneurs Really That Common?

India's College Dropouts Who Made It Big as Entrepreneurs

#3 Key Lessons New Grads can Learn from Mark Zuckerberg's Speech



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


The issue: The term bump stock became part of the general publics vernacular in October after the Las Vegas gunman used the devices to make his weapons fire with machine gun rapidity and kill 58 concert-goers and injure hundreds of others. Calls for a ban on bump stocks quickly arose and gained widespread support.

Connecticuts senators introduced legislation in Washington, the Automatic Gun Fire Prevention Act. Others called for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to re-evaluate its decision that bump stocks complied with the 1986 ban on machine guns.

But with any federal remedy agonizingly slow, states such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida passed their own bans. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed similar legislation for Connecticut, saying bump stocks are cheap, they are deadly and they have no place in our society.

What we said: Possibly we can find common ground with this: Prohibiting the use of bump stocks on weapons. ... No one should be able to turn a semiautomatic gun into a machine gun by adding an attachment.

Editorial, Oct. 6

The National Rifle Association, which in recent years has resisted any further controls whatsover, on Thursday said that bump stocks should be subject to additional regulations. ... The momentum toward agreement on such a common sense issue must be marshaled.

E ditorial, Oct. 11

Malloys proposed ban would cover not only the bump stock, but other devices he referred to as rate of fire enhancements like binary trigger systems and trigger cranks. ... The legislature should embrace these proposals. ... The of rate of fire enhancements is not a Second Amendment issue. This is a common sense action designed to protect the citizens of Connecticut. .... A madman with a legal gun that he can modify to satisfy his bloodlust is a peril we should not have to live with.

Editorial, Jan. 10

The discouraging aspect to all of this is that there should be no dithering and parsing of phrases when it comes to something as potentially dangerous as the bump stock.

Editorial, March 18

What happened: The Judiciary Committee voted 36 to 5 Tuesday, with bipartisan support, to approve House Bill 5542, An Act Concerning Bump Stocks and Other Means of Enhancing the Rate of Fire of a Firearm. At a hearing March 23, nearly 300 people spoke or submitted testimony with the majority in favor. But some conservative committee members tried three times to dilute the common sense bill. Fortunately, those amendments failed.

What should happen next: The bill moves to the House where we urge its passage. There should be little debate about whether anyone needs the means to fire nine bullets a second. This is not a Democrats vs Republicans issue. State legislators are obligated to pass laws to protect the public.

And furthermore: Elected leaders in Washington should take note of the recent March For Our Lives and, finally, do something. Banning bump stocks is a good start.
Another frivolous ADA suit dismissed days after CUNA, league file brief: CUNA has filed six amicus briefs backing up credit unions in predatory lawsuits filed by plaintiffs lawyers attempting to exploit credit unions and abuse the American with Disabilities Act. In our latest, we joined with the Cornerstone League to support Local 20 IBEW FCU of Grand Prairie, Texas, and days after we filed the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed it. This sends a message that these kinds of lawsuits are not a winning strategy.

When the best offense is a strong defense: CUs left out of suggested regs: When Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act to increase access to banking services to low- and moderate-income communities, it deliberately didnt include credit unions. Our not-for-profit structure and well-earned reputation for inclusive lending proved we were already part of the solution.

So, when we found out the Treasury would be making recommendations to reform the Act, we met with them in January to explain this. In short, we told them were the good guys. Released on Tuesday, the Treasurys report only mentions credit unions onceto note the CRA doesnt apply to credit unions. This is good news, and an example of the kind of narrow regulation we advocate for in our Campaign for Common-Sense Regulation.
Israel blocks ad urging women to keep their seats around Orthodox men

New York Post/April 4, 2018

By Yaron Steinbuch

Israels Airport Authority has rejected a billboard campaign that urged female passengers not to give up their flight seats to ultra-Orthodox men who refuse to sit next to women, according to reports.



The Israel Religious Action Center, the Reform Movements advocacy arm, sought to display the ads at Tel Avivs Ben-Gurion International Airport during Passover, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.



The campaign followed a landmark 2017 court ruling in favor of Renee Rabinowitz, 83, who sued national airline El Al for gender discrimination after a flight attendant asked her to move when an ultra-Orthodox man refused to sit next to her on a 2015 flight.



The Holocaust survivor was awarded 6,500 shekels  about $1,850  and El Al was ordered to amend its policies and retrain its staff.



The ad features a pair of womens shoes on the floor under one seat and a black hat worn by ultra-Orthodox men on another.



Ladies, please take your seat  and keep it, reads the ad, which explains that requiring a person to switch seats because of gender is illegal.



IRAC director Rabbi Noa Sattath told Israels Army Radio on Monday that airport officials initially had agreed to display the ads at departure gates, but reneged four days before Passover, which began Friday night.



If it is important to a man [to not sit next to a woman] then he should make arrangements before he gets on the plane, Sattath said, according to the Times of Israel.



Sattath told Haaretz that the management of Newark International Airport had OKd the billboards, but due to the high costs involved, her organization decided to hang them only in Tel Aviv.



It makes much more sense to do this in Israel, which is where the main problem is, she told the news outlet.



Airport Authority spokesman Ofer Leffler told Army Radio that the billboards were banned to keep the airport out of any political or divisive debate.



For the same reason, we would reject billboards by the Islamic Movement and Yad lAchim, he said, referring to an Orthodox group that fights assimilation.



IRAC executive director Anat Hoffman told the UKs Guardian that asking women to move on grounds of gender was discriminatory, dehumanizing and illegal.



Since the ruling, we believe its still happening. Women are still not sure whether its kosher or not kosher, she said.



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?

To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.
Reports of a Scientology-style sect infiltrating schools have aroused concern in the Netherlands.



A television investigation claimed to have found at least six private schools governed by "Avatar wizards" and guided by the principles of the Avatar ideology.



So what is Avatar (besides a blockbuster movie)? And how influential is it?



Avatar's self-proclaimed goal is to create an "enlightened planetary society".



Some members believe Earth was colonised by aliens, and Avatar explores controversial practices such as exorcism.



It was created in 1986 by the former Scientology leader Harry Palmer.



Emailing from their headquarters in Orlando, Florida, Mr Palmer told the BBC they have almost a million graduates worldwide.



"The basic doctrine of Avatar is: what you believe has consequences in your life," he says.



"The course does not promote a specific philosophy beyond this. We have people from all religions. What Avatar does teach are tools, techniques, processes for taking control of one's own mind, of connecting beliefs and actions to their consequence."



He shared a link, suggesting we get a feel for Avatar by exploring the free mini-courses.



Trainees typically pay for courses, which generate money for Mr Palmer's company Star's Edge. Prices vary from $500 (350) for a five-day "Integrity Course" to $7,500 for a 13-day "Wizards Course".

People who qualify as a Master or Wizard can offer their own lessons. A portion of the profits are funnelled back to Avatar HQ.



Mr Palmer believes there are "tens of thousands" of Avatar disciples living in the Netherlands.



Sektesignaal or "sect alert" - a Dutch organisation set up to monitor sectarian movements - has asked the Dutch Education Inspectorate to investigate reports that Avatar poses a threat to society by covertly infiltrating public institutions which are ostensibly secular.



"We aren't saying if it's right or wrong," the organisation's manager Karin Krijnen told the BBC. "We are only worried if there has been abuse or misconduct. That's why there needs to be an investigation."



They are responding to claims that three Dutch councillors attained Wizard status and were using public money to send civil servants on Avatar training courses.



Han Bekkers, 69, a municipal secretary in the south-eastern province of Limburg, was one of those named in the reports. His spokesman Roek Lips told the BBC the reports were "mostly nonsense".



"Han Bekkers did the Wizard Course, but there was no public money used in training," he said. "And from the workshops he offers, none of the profits are transferred to Star's Edge, he is fully independent."

Avatar, Scientology - what's the difference?

Avatar shares much of its philosophy with Scientology.It offers self-development programmes that borrow elements from Scientology, Shamanism, Hinduism and New Age philosophy.Many of the original course materials incorporated Scientology terminology.The Church of Scientology filed a trademark case against Harry Palmer over a sign featuring a Scientology logo. The sign was eventually removed. Harry Palmer launched Avatar shortly afterwards.It has retained some of the same terms such as "rundown" and course names like "integrity" and "professional".Scientologists deny that they are part of a cult and reject accusations of abuse and scamming members. Followers describe it as providing spiritual support.The word Avatar comes from Hindu mythology, and refers to the manifestation of a soul released in bodily form on Earth.
Second woman backs out of protective order against Somerset DA

A second woman who requested that a protection from abuse order be filed against Somerset County DA Jeffrey Thomas withdrew that request Monday afternoon.
In a major blow to 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his networks, the US has declared Milli Muslim League (MML), the political front of Jamaat-ud Dawa, as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO).

The United States has added the Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) to its list of foreign terrorist organisations, reasoning that both were fronts for the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). "The aliases - MML and TAJK - have been added to LeTs designations as an FTO under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224," the US State Department website said.

Significantly, the United States designating MML as FTO comes at a time when several political parties have started registering themselves for the general elections to be held in Pakistan in July.

Clearly, the MML will face difficulties in registering itself as a political party with the Pakistani Election Commission. This action by the United States also derives importance from the fact that Pakistan has always denied associating Hafiz Saeed and his activities with "terrorism". In fact, it has been providing safe haven and protection to the Mumbai attack mastermind. The US action also affirms India's stand that those perpetrating terrorism are present in Pakistan, getting protection from the Pakistan Army, the ISI and the Pakistan government.

The US knows and understands very well that Pakistan gives shelter, training and arms to the terrorist organisations. The huge hideouts of these terrorist outfits present in Pakistan themselves remain a headache for America. The US finds itself in a fix over criticism coming from the whole world that despite knowing about Pakistans track record in supporting terrorists, it gives Pakistan much leverage in the form of heavy military and financial support while Pakistan uses it to spread terrorism, especially against India.

On several occasions India has raised its objections before the US and asked it to take strict action against Pakistan. Now apart from the MML, the US has also included Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) in the list of terrorist groups.

It is well known that no terrorist organisation can carry out its activities without the consent of the Pakistani government and its army. Pakistan had, in fact, refused to accept Hafiz Saeed as a terrorist. It will now be worthwhile to see how Pakistan protects terrorists like Hafiz Saeed after the US action. It was in 1980s that Hafiz Saeed had formed the Laskhar-e-Taiba with the objective to deal with Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Later, Pakistan started using it in Kashmir against India. It was LeT that had carried out attacks on Indian Parliament and in Mumbai.

The LeT was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation and specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) group on December 26, 2001. Its leader, Saeed, is also designated as an SDGT. Although Pakistan had banned the LeT, it was allowed to keep functioning in its new avatar as Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Later, the JuD was also declared a terrorist organisation by the US and the United Nations.

It is not hidden from anyone that Hafiz Saeed has managed to continue running his terrorist activities by creating a new organisation with new names every time. In January 2017, LeT began operating under the name of TAJK. Under this name, the LeT has engaged in inciting terrorism, as well as recruiting and fundraising. In August 2017, Saeed created the MML to serve as a political front for the group.

The US designating Milli Muslim League (MML), the political front of Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud Dawa, as a foreign terrorist organisation is major move ahead of the general elections in Pakistan. MMLs foray into politics came about last year when it made an impressive show at Lahore's NA-120 by-election, where a candidate backed by it gained the fourth place. Candidates backed by the party - since it is yet to be registered as a political party - have made similar gains in subsequent by-elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The USs action comes as a shot in the arm of India. Reacting to the US move, an MEA spokesperson said: India welcomes the action taken by the US. It vindicates Indias position that Pakistan 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 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, the spokesperson pointed out.

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Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who arrived in India today (April 6) is expected to press India to exchange demonetised Indian currency notes lying in financial institutions and with individuals in the Himalayan country.

According to this Reuters report, the two nations have yet "to agree on how to exchange old Indian bank notes estimated to be worth $146 million [Rs 950 crore] held by individuals and informal sectors after Indias shock announcement in 2016 to ban 500 and 1,000 rupee bills".

Following PM Modi's shock announcement to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November 2016, countries such as Nepal and Bhutan, where the Indian currency is widely used, were also caught off-guard.

Neighbourhood first! Prime Minister of Nepal K.P. Sharma Oli and Mrs. Radhika Shakya were warmly welcomed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on their arrival in India. This is the first State visit of Prime Minister Oli after being elected as Prime Minister of Nepal. #WelcomePMOli pic.twitter.com/TKIrWYUwUe  Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) April 6, 2018

Nepalese #PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli arrives in #India on a 3-day visit; this is Oli's first visit after getting re-elected as Prime Minister of #Nepal #IndoNepal pic.twitter.com/li8vLE5RG4  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) April 6, 2018

Back home, Indian authorities are scratching their heads as the estimates suggest that by exchanging the demonetised notes held in Nepal, the total number of invalidated currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination returned to the RBI may exceed 100 per cent and may even touch 101 per cent.

According to the RBI annual report, Rs 15.28 lakh crore, or 99 per cent of the Rs 15.44-lakh crore scrapped currency notes, have come back to the central bank and only Rs 16,050 crore hasn't. These figures are of June 30, 2017, and RBI is still counting and has not revealed the latest data.

As per law mandated by the RBI and treaties between Nepal, Bhutan and India, Nepalese and Bhutanese citizens can possess and carry Rs 25,000 to their countries through the open borders. Nepal is willing to settle for exchange of demonetised currency of Rs 4,500 per person, but the RBI has not responded so far.

Exchanging this currency will open another big window of opportunity for many unscrupulous people in India who are still saddled with the demonetised Indian currency to exchange for new.

The Nepal Police has apprehended several Indian nationals exchanging demonetised notes for much lesser amount in Nepal knowing full well that New Delhi will have to honour the treaties and exchange old Indian currency with Nepalese citizens. Nepal has been a conduit for sending high quality fake Indian currency notes (FICN) printed in Pakistan by ISI due to open border between India and Nepal.

Sources say that many people with FICN are waiting for this opportunity and a very large amount of this high quality fake Indian currency notes stuck at various places will also get exchanged in Nepal without getting detected.

In a reply in Parliament on March 16, the finance ministry has said that only Rs 35.30 crore of fake currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations have been detected by the RBI during demonetisation. The worried authorities of the RBI and finance ministry say this will increase the amount of demonetised currency to be exchanged in Nepal manifolds and lead to more than 100 per cent of the invalid currency coming back to the RBI.

More than two-thirds of Nepal's total trade with India is in Indian currency and at least one-fourth of the total currency used in Nepal is Indian rupees while more than two million Nepalese work in India. The much-valued and extensively used Indian currency in Nepal that has now turned into scrap paper is also one of the factors fuelling anti-India sentiments in Nepal.

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has assured his countrymen that he will raise the issue of demonetised Indian currency still lying with the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and the people of Nepal, during his India visit.

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 Nepali Parliament on Tuesday.

India exchanged Rs 120 crore worth of demonetised Indian currency in Bhutan after much consternation, deliberation and delay in May 2017.

If not today, then tomorrow India will have to exchange the demonetised notes in Nepal.

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Recently, social media played the Good Samaritan in securing Vimla Devi of Mathura a disability certificate for her husband. As 34-year-old Vimla did not have the money to hire an autorickshaw or a taxi, she carried her disabled husband Badan on her shoulders and ran from pillar to post to obtain the certificate that would entitle him to get a free wheelchair.

The authorities woke up as the video clip of Vimla carrying Badan went viral and provided him a "70 per cent disability certificate" in no time. Badan, a truck driver, developed complications in one of his legs which had to be amputated. His medical treatment and the numerous visits to hospitals in Jaipur and Delhi cost the couple the little savings that they had. To run the household, Vimla started working as a cook and earns Rs 3,600 a month.

Having faced the usual harassments in government corridors for not having the requisite photo on the papers, or that she had come on a wrong day as the certificate could not be issued on that day of the week, she found providence at last in the form of social media that put an end to her ordeal.

This story with a somewhat happy ending is a rare one as there are many Vimlas and Badans out there who have no access to medical treatment - the primary reason being economic. The dismal state of government healthcare drives patients towards private players and the high cost incurred in the process more often than not lead to abject poverty.

This situation is, however, not peculiar to India. In the US, the most common cause of bankruptcy in any household is due to expenditure associated with medical treatment.The situation gets worse with patients taking loans for treatment which they would never be able to pay back.

To address this grave problem in a country with more than a billion population and around 200 million (according to World Bank Report Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016) people below poverty line is not easy.

In February this year, finance minister Arun Jaitley revealed a healthcare plan in the Union Budget - labelled as Modicare, which is the worlds largest healthcare scheme. The National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) would provide 100 million families with an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh. There is an increase of 1,500 per cent from Rs 30,000 that falls under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and is implemented in 15 states.

Indias ranking in healthcare is abysmally low - even behind some of the poorest countries, like Bangladesh, Nepal or Ghana. Indias government expenditure on healthcare is 1.15 pe rcent of the GDP - that is among the lowest in the world. According to a World Bank report, in 2014, China spent 3.1 of its GDP on healthcare, the United States spent 8.3 and India spent 1.4 of its GDP in the same year.

If we were to draw a list of factors ailing the health sector, it would be a long one. To start with, there is an acute shortage of infrastructure and manpower - 0.7 beds per 1,000 persons and 0.6 doctors per 1,000 persons.

There is a shortage of paramedics as well as teachers in medical colleges. India needs 65 million surgeries every year, but only 26 million can take place. According to WHO, India has the highest disease burden in the world, and it says Indias economic burden from non-communicable diseases will be $6.2 trillion between 2012 and 2030. Moreover, India not only tops in diabetes and heart diseases in the world, it also leads in HIV-AIDS and tuberculosis.

Thus, the future cannot be more bleak given the fact that India has not been able to eradicate diseases like malaria which have been eliminated in the developed nations. Also tuberculosis, which has shown some resurgence in the US secondary to HIV infection, in a non-HIV infected individual is almost unknown.

As far as the health workforce in India is concerned, according to a WHO report, there are 79.7 doctors per one lakh in the country with Chandigarh having the highest - 279.9 doctors per lakh - and Meghalaya 27.5 doctors per lakh population.

In the rural sector, the scenario is further grim where 32 per cent patients have to travel more than five kilometres to access even primary health care.

The government proposes to set up 1.5 lakh wellness centres under the Ayushman Bharat programme by December 2022. These centres will provide diagnosis and treatment for non-communicable diseases and common ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic bronchitis; undertake screening for common cancer, apart from mental health and elder care.

Setting up more government medical colleges and hospitals are also in the plan to combat the dismal health scenario. At present, there are 479 medical colleges affiliated to the Medical Council of India in 543 parliamentary constituencies with most of these located in urban areas. The new plan is to set up at least one medical college and hospital for every three parliamentary constituencies.

The governments plans are no doubt ambitious, but despite questions raised over the funding, many feel that this time the government means business. Unlike the earlier plan in 2016 of providing Rs 100,000 per family, that was not funded, this time funding is more likely to happen as the economy is better and, more importantly, the elections are near.

Some medical experts believe that preventive and curative health must go together. With rampant pollution in air and water, the preventive health would take a backseat as it is also linked to the governments pro-business policies. Apart from pollution, malnutrition, poor sanitation and lack of proper housing also contribute to ill-health.

The new "Modicare" plan has been touted as the worlds largest health programme, and there is no doubt about it. But some medical lapses like the recent child deaths in Gorakhpur due to lack of oxygen supply or botched up sterilization cases of women in Chhattisgarh a few years ago are grim reminders to the state of the healthcare in our country, where quality does not count.

Proper planning along with fund allocation can bear fruits only if corruption is rooted out without which quality healthcare will remain an elusive dream for Indians.

Also read: Why India is far from being tuberculosis free by 2025
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ConocoPhillips engages in the exploration, production, transportation and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas on a worldwide basis. It operates through the following geographical segments: Alaska; Lower 48; Canada; Europe, Middle East and North Africa; Asia Pacific; and Other International. The Alaska segment primarily explores for produces, transports and markets crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The Lower 48 segment consists of operations in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico. The Canada segment is comprised of oil sands development in the Athabasca Region of northeastern Alberta and a liquids-rich unconventional play in western Canada. The Europe, Middle East and North Africa segment consists of operations and exploration activities in Norway, the United Kingdom and Libya. The Asia Pacific segment has explorations and product operations in China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. The Other International segment handles exploration activities in Columbia and Argentina. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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The following companies are subsidiares of WESCO International: 1502218 Alberta Ltd., ALLNET Technologies Pty. Ltd., AXE Distribution Solutions Trinidad Ltd., Accu-Tech Corporation, Anixter (Barbados) SRL, Anixter (CIS) LLC, Anixter (Switzerland) Sarl, Anixter (U.K.) Limited, Anixter Argentina S.A., Anixter Asia Holdings Limited, Anixter Australia Pty. Ltd., Anixter Austria GmbH, Anixter Bahamas Limited, Anixter Belgium B.V.B.A., Anixter Cables y Manufacturas S.A. de C.V., Anixter Canada Inc., Anixter Canadian Holdings ULC, Anixter Chile S.A., Anixter Colombia S.A.S., Anixter Communications (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Anixter Communications (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Anixter Costa Rica S.A., Anixter Czech a.s., Anixter Danmark A/S, Anixter Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Distribuidor de Soluciones Empresariales e Industriales S.A., Anixter Distribution Ireland Limited, Anixter Dominicana SRL, Anixter Egypt LLC, Anixter Espana S.L., Anixter Eurotwo Holdings B.V., Anixter Fasteners Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Financial Inc., Anixter France SARL, Anixter Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Anixter Holdings Inc., Anixter Holdings Mexico LLC, Anixter Hong Kong Limited, Anixter Iletisim Sistemleri Pazarlama ve Ticaret A.S., Anixter Inc., Anixter India Private Limited, Anixter Information Systems LLC, Anixter International, Anixter Italia S.r.l., Anixter Jamaica Limited, Anixter Japan KK, Anixter Jorvex S.A.C., Anixter Limited, Anixter Logistica do Brasil LTDA, Anixter Logistica y Servicios S.A. de C.V., Anixter Magyarorszag Elektronikus Halozati Rendszer Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft, Anixter Mid Holdings B.V., Anixter Middle East FZE, Anixter Morocco SARL AU, Anixter Nederland B.V., Anixter New Zealand Limited, Anixter Norge A.N.S., Anixter Operaciones y Logistica s De RL De CV, Anixter Panama S.A., Anixter Pension Scheme Trustees Limited, Anixter Pension Trustees Limited, Anixter Peru S.A.C., Anixter Philippines Inc., Anixter Poland Sp.z.o.o., Anixter Portugal S.A., Anixter Power Solutions Canada Inc., Anixter Power Solutions Inc., Anixter Procurement Corporation, Anixter Puerto Rico Inc., Anixter Real-Estate LLC, Anixter Receivables Corporation, Anixter Saudi Arabia Limited, Anixter Singapore Pte. Ltd., Anixter Slovakia s.r.o., Anixter Sub Holdings B.V, Anixter Sverige AB, Anixter Thailand Inc., Anixter U.S. LLC, Anixter Venezuela Inc., Anixter de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Anixter do Brasil Ltda, Atlanta Electrical Distributors, Atlanta Electrical Distributors LLC, Atlas Gentech (NZ) Limited, Avon Electrical Supplies, B.E.L. Corporation, Brews Supply, Brown Wholesale Electric, Bruckner Supply, CBC LP Holdings LLC, CDW Holdco LLC, Calvert Wire & Cable Corporation, Carlton-Bates Company, Carlton-Bates Company (CBC), Carlton-Bates Company de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Carlton-Bates Company of Texas GP Inc, Central Security Distribution Pty. Ltd, Communication Cables LLC, Communications Supply Corporation, Conney Investment Holdings LLC, Conney Safety Products, Conney Safety Products LLC, Distribuidora Materiales Electricos E-Supply Limitada, EECOL Electric, EECOL Electric Bolivia Ltda, EECOL Electric Corp., EECOL Electric Peru S.A.C, EECOL Industrial Electric (SudAmerica) Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Ecuador Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Limitada, EECOL Power S.A., EECOL Properties Corp, Eurinvest B.V., Eurinvest Cooperatief U.A., Fastec Industrial, HMH Pension Trustees Limited, Hazmasters, Hazmasters Inc., Herning Underground Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply Company LLC, Hill Country Electric Supply, Hill Country Electric Supply L.P., ICV GP Inc., Infast Group Limited, Inner Range Pty. Ltd, Itel Container Ventures Inc., Itel Corporation, Itel Rail Holdings Corporation, J-Mark Inc., LaPrairie, Liberty Wire & Cable Inc., Monti Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply LLC, Obras Y Servicios Sunpark S.A.C., PT Anixter Indonesia, Potelcom Supply, Pro Canadian Holdings I ULC, RECO LLC, RS Electronics, Reily Electrical Supply, SASK Alta Holdings S.A., Services Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios Anixter S.A. de C.V., Signal Capital Corporation, Signal Capital Projects Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply GP Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply Limited Partnership, TVC Communications, TVC Communications L.L.C., TVC Espana Distribucion y Venta De Equipos S.L., TVC International Holding L.L.C., TVC UK Holdings Limited, Tri-Ed Puerto Rico Ltd. Inc., Trydor Industries, Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., WDC Holding Inc., WDCH LP, WDCH US LP, WDI USVI LLC, WDI-Angola LDA, WDINESCO B.V., WDINESCO II B.V., WDINESCO III B.V., WEAS Company S. de R.L., WESCO (Suzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., WESCO Australia Pty Ltd, WESCO Canada GP Inc., WESCO Canada I LP, WESCO DC Holding I LP, WESCO DC Holding II LP, WESCO DC Holding III LP, WESCO DC Holding IV LP, WESCO Distribution Canada Co., WESCO Distribution Canada LP, WESCO Distribution HK Limited, WESCO Distribution II ULC, WESCO Distribution III ULC, WESCO Distribution IV Inc., WESCO Distribution Inc., WESCO Distribution Ireland Limited, WESCO Distribution NL B.V., WESCO Distribution Pte. Ltd., WESCO Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L., WESCO Distribution-International Limited, WESCO Enterprises Inc., WESCO Equity Corporation, WESCO Holdings LLC, WESCO Integrated Supply Inc., WESCO Integrated Supply Polska Spolka z o.o., WESCO Netherlands B.V., WESCO Nevada Ltd., WESCO Nigeria Inc., WESCO Procurement Canada ULC, WESCO Real Estate I LLC, WESCO Real Estate II LLC, WESCO Real Estate III LLC, WESCO Real Estate IV LLC, WESCO Receivables Corp., WESCO Services LLC, WESCO TLD Holdings Co. Ltd., WND Nigeria Limited, WireXpress Ltd., Xpress Connect Supply Hong Kong Limited, XpressConnect Holdings B.V., XpressConnect International B.V., XpressConnect Supply B.V.B.A., XpressConnect Supply Colombia S.A.S., XpressConnect Supply Inc., XpressConnect Supply Mexico S.A. de C.V., and XpressConnect Supply do Brasil Ltda.
Brookdale Senior Living, Inc. engages in the operation of senior living communities. The firm manages independent living, assisted living and dementia-care communities and continuing care retirement centers. It operates through the following segments: Independent Living Assisted Living & Memory Care, CCRCs, Health Care Services and Management Services. The Independent Living segment is primarily designed for middle to upper income seniors who desire an upscale residential environment providing the highest quality of service. The Assisted Living & Memory Care segment offer housing and 24-hour assistance with ADLs to mid-acuity frail and elderly residents. The CCRCs segment offers a variety of living arrangements and services to accommodate all levels of physical ability and health. The Healthcare Services segment provides home health, hospice and outpatient therapy services, as well as education and wellness programs, to residents of many communities and to seniors living outside communities. The Management Services segment composes of communities operated by the company pursuant to management agreements. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Brentwood, TN.

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Vedanta Resources plc operates as a diversified natural resources company in India, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Australia, and Liberia. It primarily produces zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, and aluminum deposits. The company also explores for, extracts, and processes minerals, as well as oil and gas. In addition, it operates as a power producer with an installed capacity of 8.4 gigawatts of thermal based power generation and 274 megawatts of wind power generation. Further, the company engages in the port operations business in India; mining, smelting, and refining copper, aluminum, zinc, and iron ore; and gold and silver processing activity. Additionally, it provides accommodation and catering services; and leases medical equipment, as well as offers related building and conducting services. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. Vedanta Resources plc is a subsidiary of Volcan Investments Limited.

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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.

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Total Energy Services Inc. provides various products and services to the oil and natural gas industry primarily in Canada, the United States, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Contract Drilling Services, Rentals and Transportation Services, Compression and Process Services and Well Servicing. The Contract Drilling Services segment offers contract drilling services to oil and gas exploration and development companies. As of December 31, 2020, it operated a total fleet of 98 drilling rigs. The Rentals and Transportation Services segment provides drilling, completion and production rental equipment, and oilfield transportation services in western Canada and in the United States. This segment owned and operated a fleet of 87 heavy trucks. The Compression and Process Services segment offers gas compression services; and designs and packages skid style compressors and proprietary trailer-mounted compressors under the NOMAD brand in Canada and the United States, the European Union, Australia, and Mexico. It had 54,800 horsepower of compression in its rental fleet. The Well Servicing segment offers well services. This segment operated a total fleet of 83 well servicing rigs across Western Canada, mid-western United States, and Australia. It has a strategic alliance with Pason Systems Inc. to develop and deploy drilling automation and optimization technologies. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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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.
Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc provides engineered solutions for the users of industrial and commercial steam systems, electrical heating and temperature management systems, and pumps and fluid path technologies. It offers industrial and commercial steam systems, including condensate management, controls, and thermal energy management products and solutions for heating and curing, cleaning and sterilizing, hot water generation, space heating, and humidification; electrical process heating and temperature management solutions, such as industrial heaters and systems, heat tracing, and various component technologies for industrial processes, heaters, and systems; and peristaltic and niche pumps and associated fluid path technologies, including pumps, tubing, and specialty filling systems and products for single-use applications. The company serves food, beverage, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, oil, gas, chemical, healthcare, power generation, buildings, mining and precious metal processing, water and wastewater, and pulp and paper, as well as original equipment manufacturers. The company sells its products directly, as well as through distributors. It operates in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; the Asia Pacific; and the Americas. Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Cheltenham, the United Kingdom.

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Toyota Motor Corp. engages in the manufacture and sale of motor vehicles and parts. It operates through the following segments: Automotive, Financial Services, and All Other. The Automotive segment designs, manufactures, assembles and sells passenger cars, minivans, trucks, and related vehicle parts and accessories. It is also involved in the development of intelligent transport systems. The Financial Services segment offers purchase or lease financing to Toyota vehicle dealers and customers. It also provides retail leasing through lease contracts purchase by dealers. The All Others segment deals with the design and manufacture and sale of housing, telecommunications and other businesses. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda on August 28, 1937 and is headquartered in Toyota, Japan.

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Wall Street analysts have given UrtheCast 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 UrtheCast wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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WEX Inc. provides financial technology services in North America, the Asia Pacific, and Europe. It operates through three segments: Fleet Solutions, Travel and Corporate Solutions, and Health and Employee Benefit Solutions. The Fleet Solutions segment offers fleet vehicle payment processing services. Its services include customer, account activation, and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; premium fleet services; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions with access to web-based data analytics platform that offers insights to fleet managers; and ancillary services and tools to fleets to manage expenses and capital requirements. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to commercial and government vehicle fleet customers with small, medium, and large fleets, as well as with over-the-road and long haul fleets; and indirectly through co-branded and private label relationships. The Travel and Corporate Solutions segment provides payment processing solutions for payment and transaction monitoring needs. Its products include virtual cards that are used for transactions where no card is presented and that require pre-authorization; and prepaid and gift card products that enables secure payment and financial management solutions with single card options, access to open or closed loop redemption, load limits, and with various expirations. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to commercial and government organizations. The Health and Employee Benefit Solutions segment offers healthcare payment products and software-as-a-service consumer directed platforms for healthcare market, as well as payroll related and employee benefit products in Brazil. The company was formerly known as Wright Express Corporation and changed its name to WEX Inc. in October 2012. WEX Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.

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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,

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Kinder Morgan, Inc. operates as an energy infrastructure company. The firm engages in the operation of pipelines and terminals that transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, carbon dioxide (CO2) and other products and stores petroleum products chemicals and handles bulk materials like ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Pipelines, CO2, Terminals, Product Pipelines and Kinder Morgan Canada. The Natural Gas Pipelines segment engages in the ownership and operation of major interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline and storage systems, natural gas and crude oil gathering systems and natural gas processing and treating facilities. The CO2 segment focuses on the production, transportation and marketing of CO2 to oil fields that use CO2 as a flooding medium for recovering crude oil from mature oil fields to increase production. The Terminals segment consists of the ownership and operation of liquids and bulk terminal facilities located throughout the U.S. and portions of Canada that trans load and store refined petroleum products, crude oil, chemicals, ethanol and bulk products, including coal, petroleum coke, fertilizer,

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The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation.
Arconic Corporation manufactures and sells aluminum sheets, plates, extrusions, and architectural products in the United States, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, and the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Rolled Products, Extrusions, and Building and Construction Systems. The Rolled Products segment provides a range of aluminum sheet and plate products for ground transportation, aerospace, industrial, and packaging markets; and roofing, architectural composite panels, ventilated facades and ceiling panels, spacers, culvert pipes, and gutters for building and construction markets. The Extrusions segment offers extruded products, including aerospace shapes, automotive shapes, seamless tubes, hollows, mortar fins, and high strength rods and bars for ground transportation, aerospace, and industrial markets. The Building and Construction Systems segment provides various products and building envelope solutions, such as entrances, curtain walls, windows, composite panels, and coil coated sheets for fabricators and glazing subcontractors under the Kawneer, Reynobond, and Reynolux brands. The company offers its products directly to customers, as well as through distributors. The company was formerly known as Arconic Rolled Products Corporation and changed its name to Arconic Corporation in Arpil 2020. Arconic Corporation was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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ConvaTec Group Plc develops, manufactures, and markets medical products and technologies worldwide. It offers advanced wound dressings and skin care products for the management of acute and chronic wounds resulting from various conditions, such as diabetes, immobility, and venous disease, as well as from traumatic injury, burns, invasive surgery, and other causes. The company also provides devices, accessories, and services for people with a stoma resulting from colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, bladder cancer, obesity, and other causes. In addition, it offers continence and critical care products, including intermittent urological catheters; and products for people with urinary continence issues related to spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, and other urological disorders, as well as devices and products use in intensive care units and hospital settings. Further, the company provides advanced systems for managing acute fecal incontinence, as well as for monitoring urine production output and intra-abdominal pressure; and various disposable medical devices, such as wound drainage systems, urine collection bags and catheters, airway management and oxygen/aerosol therapy devices, suction handles and tubes, gastroenterology tubes, and securement devices. Additionally, it offers disposable infusion sets to the manufacturers of insulin pumps for diabetes, as well as similar pumps that are used in continuous infusion treatments for other conditions; and various products to hospitals and the home healthcare sector. The company sells its products to pharmacies, hospitals, and other acute and post-acute healthcare service providers directly or through distributors and wholesalers. It serves a range of customers, including healthcare providers, patients, and manufacturers. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Reading, the United Kingdom.

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Flotek Industries, Inc. is a technology-driven, specialty chemistry and data company that serves customers across industrial, commercial and consumer markets. It operates through the following segments: Chemistry Technologies and Data Analytics. The Chemistry Technologies segment develops, manufactures, packages, distributes delivers, and markets sanitizers and disinfectants for commercial, governmental and personal consumer use and also includes specialty chemistries and logistics which enable customers to improve efficiencies in the drilling and completion of well. The Data Analytics segment includes the design, development, production, sale and support of equipment and services that create and provide valuable information about the composition of energy customer's hydrocarbon fluids. The firm also empowers the energy industry to maximize the value of hydrocarbon streams and improve return on invested capital through real-time data platforms and chemistry technologies. It serves downstream, midstream and upstream customers, both domestic and international. The company was founded on May 17, 1985 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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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.
The following companies are subsidiares of EnerSys: ABSL Power Solutions Inc., ABSL Power Solutions Ltd., Acumuladores Industriales EnerSys SA, Alpha Alternative Energy Inc., Alpha Broadband Services Inc., Alpha Innovations Industria e Comercio de Produtos Eletronicos Ltda., Alpha Innovations Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Alpha Mexico Network Power S.A. de C.V., Alpha Tech Energy Solutions India Private Limited, Alpha Technical Services Ltd., Alpha Technologies Asia Ltd., Alpha Technologies Ltd., Alpha Technologies Pty. Ltd., Alpha Technologies Services Inc., Argus Research Ltd., Battery Power International Pte Ltd., Cooperative Enterprises Inc., DCPM Engineering Sdn Bhd, EH Batterien AG, EH Europe GmbH, EH Global Holdings GmbH, ENAS Industrial Batteries Morocco Sarl, EnerSys (Chaozhou) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (China) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (Chongqing) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (Jiangsu) Huada Batteries Company Limited, EnerSys (Yangzhou) Huada Batteries Co. Ltd., EnerSys A/S, EnerSys AB, EnerSys AD, EnerSys AE, EnerSys AS, EnerSys Advanced Systems Inc., EnerSys Asia Limited, EnerSys Assad Sarl, EnerSys Australia Pty Ltd., EnerSys BV, EnerSys Battery Private Limited, EnerSys CJSC, EnerSys Canada Inc., EnerSys Capital Inc., EnerSys Cayman Euro L.P., EnerSys Cayman Holdings L.P., EnerSys Cayman Inc., EnerSys Cayman L.P., EnerSys Delaware Inc., EnerSys Delaware LLC I, EnerSys Delaware LLC II, EnerSys Delaware LLC III, EnerSys Delaware LLC IV, EnerSys Delaware LLC V, EnerSys Energy Products Inc., EnerSys Europe Oy, EnerSys European Holding Co., EnerSys GmbH, EnerSys Holdings (Luxembourg) Sarl, EnerSys Holdings UK Ltd., EnerSys Hungaria Kft., EnerSys India Batteries Private Ltd., EnerSys LLC, EnerSys Ltd., EnerSys Luxembourg Finance Sarl, EnerSys Malaysia Sdn Bhd, EnerSys Mexico Holdings LLC, EnerSys Mexico Management LLC, EnerSys Participacoes Ltda., EnerSys Reserve Power Pte. Ltd., EnerSys S.r.l., EnerSys SARL, EnerSys SPRL, EnerSys de Mexico II S de R.L. de CV, EnerSys de Mexico S de R.L. de CV, EnerSys s.r.o., EnerSys sp. z o.o., EnerSystem Argentina S.A., EnerSystem Chile Ltda., EnerSystem de Argentina S.A., EnerSystem do Brazil Ltda., Enersys Aku Sanaya Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Esfinco Inc., Esrmco Inc., GAZ GmbH, Hawker GmbH, Hawker Power Systems Inc., Hawker Powersource Inc., ICS Industries Pty Ltd, ICS Industries Pty Ltd., ICS Sheet Metal Pty Ltd., IE EnerSys South East Asia Technologies Pte. Ltd., IE Technologies Pte Ltd., Industrial Battery Holding Ltda., International Communication Shelters Australasia Pty Ltd., Lancord Pty Ltd., Lenmic Pty Ltd., MIB Energy Sdn Bhd, National Infrastructure Pty Ltd., National Infrastructure Services Pty Ltd., NaviSemi Energy Pte Ltd., NaviSemi Inc., New Pacifico Realty Inc., NorthStar Battery Company LLC, Outback Power Technologies Inc., Powercom (NSW) Pty Ltd., Powersafe Acumuladores Industrialis Unipessoal Lda., Powersonic S de R.L. de CV, Purcell Systems, Purcell Systems Inc., Purcell Systems International AB, Quallion LLC, Riverfront Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., Shenzhen Huada Power Supply Mechanical & Electrical Co. Ltd., Telecomponents & Supply (Hong Kong) Ltd., The Enser Corporation, UTS Holdings Sdn Bhd, UTS Technology (JB) Sdn Bhd, UTS Technology (PG) Sdn Bhd, YCI Inc., and Yecoltd S. de R.L. de CV.
Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides bandwidth infrastructure solutions for the communications industry in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company operates in six segments: Fiber Solutions, Transport, Enterprise Networks, Zayo Colocation (zColo), Allstream, and Other. The Fiber Solutions segment provides dark fiber, and fiber-to-the-tower and small cell mobile infrastructure services for carriers and other communication service providers, Internet service providers, wireless service providers, media and content companies, large enterprises, and other companies. The Transport segment offers lit bandwidth infrastructure solutions comprising wavelength, Ethernet, wholesale IP services, and SONET services through its metro, regional, and long-haul fiber networks for carriers, content providers, financial services companies, healthcare, government entities, education institutions, and other medium and large enterprises. The Enterprise Networks segment provides connectivity and telecommunications solutions comprising Internet, wide area networking products, managed products, and cloud based computing and storage offerings to medium and large enterprises. The Zayo Colocation (zColo) segment offers data center infrastructure solutions consisting of colocation space, and power and interconnection services to a range of enterprise, carrier, cloud, and content customers. The Allstream segment provides cloud VoIP and data solutions, such as voice offerings; and unified communications, as well as telecommunications services, including Ethernet, and IP/MPLS VPN solutions. The Other segment provides network and technical resources to customers in designing, acquiring, and maintaining their networks. Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

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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

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Hecla Mining Co. operates as a silver and gold production company. The firm produces lead, zinc and bulk concentrates for custom smelters and brokers; and develops unrefined precipitate and bullion bars for precious metals traders. It operates through the following business segments: The Greens Creek, The Lucky Friday, The Casa Berardi, The Nevada Operations, and The San Sebastian. The Greens Creek segment is located on Admiralty Island near Juneau in southeast Alaska. The Lucky Friday segment is located in northern Idaho. The Casa Berardi segment is located in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, Canada and is operated by Aurizon. The San Sebastian segment is located in the state of Durango, Mexico and contains underground mines. The Nevada Operations segment is located in northern Nevada. The company was founded by Amasa B. Campbell, Patsy Clark, and John Finch on October 14, 1891 and is headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, ID.

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The following companies are subsidiares of The Travelers Companies: 10762962 Canada Inc., 350 Market Street LLC, 8527512 Canada Inc., Aetna Life and Casualty Co, American Equity Insurance Company, American Equity Specialty Insurance Company, Aprilgrange Limited, Arch Street North LLC, Auto Hartford Investments LLC, Bayhill Restaurant II Associates, Camperdown Corporation, Constitution State Services LLC, Discover Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Discover Specialty Insurance Company, F&G UK Underwriters Limited, Farmington Casualty Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Company, Fidelity and Guaranty Insurance Underwriters Inc., First Floridian Auto and Home Insurance Company, Gulf Underwriters Insurance Company, IHP Capital Partners Fund VIII L.P., Northbrook Holdings Inc., Northfield Insurance Company, Northland Casualty Company, Northland Insurance Company, Phoenix UK Investments LLC, SPC Insurance Agency Inc., Select Insurance Company, Simply Business Holdings Inc., Simply Business Inc., St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, St. Paul Guardian Insurance Company, St. Paul Mercury Insurance Company, St. Paul Protective Insurance Company, St. Paul Surplus Lines Insurance Company, Standard Fire Properties LLC, Standard Fire UK Investments LLC, TCI Global Services Inc., TPC Investments Inc., TPC U.K. Investments LLC, The Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford Connecticut, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company, The Family Business Institute LLC, The Phoenix Insurance Company, The St. Paul Companies Inc., The Standard Fire Insurance Company, The Travelers Casualty Company, The Travelers Home and Marine Insurance Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company, The Travelers Indemnity Company of America, The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, The Travelers Lloyds Insurance Company, TravCo Insurance Company, Travelers (Bermuda) Limited, Travelers Brazil Acquisition LLC, Travelers Brazil Holding LLC, Travelers Casualty Company of Connecticut, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, Travelers Casualty UK Investments LLC, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of Europe Limited, Travelers Commercial Casualty Company, Travelers Commercial Insurance Company, Travelers Constitution State Insurance Company, Travelers Distribution Alliance Inc., Travelers Excess and Surplus Lines Company, Travelers Global Inc., Travelers Indemnity U.K. Investments LLC, Travelers Insurance Company Limited, Travelers Insurance Company of Canada, Travelers Insurance Designated Activity Company, Travelers Insurance Group Holdings Inc., Travelers Lloyds of Texas Insurance Company, Travelers London Limited, Travelers MGA Inc., Travelers Management Limited, Travelers Marine LLC, Travelers Participacoes em Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Personal Insurance Company, Travelers Personal Security Insurance Company, Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, Travelers Property Casualty Corp., Travelers Property Casualty Insurance Company, Travelers Seguros Brasil S.A., Travelers Syndicate Management Limited, Travelers Texas MGA Inc., Travelers Underwriting Agency Limited, Ultramar Travel Management, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Xbridge Limited, Zensurance Brokers Inc., and Zensurance Inc..
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) is a pipeline transportation and energy storage company in North America. KMP. The Company operates in five business segments: Products Pipelines, Natural Gas Pipelines, carbon dioxide (CO2), Terminals and Kinder Morgan Canada. In August 2012, the Company acquired Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) and a 50% interest in El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) pipeline from Kinder Morgan, Inc. In November 2012, Tallgrass Energy Partners, LP acquired Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission (KMIGT), Trailblazer Pipeline Company, the Casper-Douglas natural gas processing and West Frenchie Draw treating facilities in Wyoming, and KMP's 50% interest in the Rockies Express Pipeline. Effective March 1, 2013, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (Kinder Morgan Energy) acquired the remaining 50% interest, in El Paso Midstream Group Inc. In May 2013, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP acquired the entire share capital of Copano Energy LLC.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Lennar: 360 Developers LLC, Alliance Financial Services Inc., Ann Arundel Farms Ltd., Aquaterra Utilities Inc., Arbor Mill Veteran Project 2018 LLC, Asbury Woods L.L.C., Astoria Options LLC, Autumn Creek Development Ltd., Aylon LLC, Azusa Associates LLC, B2 Milpitas LLC, BB Investment Holdings LLC, BCI Properties LLC, BMR Communities LLC, BMR Construction Inc., BMTD LLC, BPH I LLC, Bainebridge 249 LLC, Bay Colony Expansion 369 Ltd., Bellagio Lennar LLC, Belle Meade LEN Holdings LLC, Belle Meade Partners LLC, Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Blue Horizons Estates LLC, Bonterra Lennar LLC, Bramalea California Inc., Bressi Gardenlane LLC, Breton Park Lennar LLC, CAP IL 1 LLC, CL Ventures LLC, CML INACTIVE LLC, CML-MO HAF LLC, CML-MO HAF PARKING LLC, CP Block 6aS LLC, CP Block 8aS LLC, CP Block 9aS LLC, CP Center Apartments LLC, CP Center Garage LLC, CP Red Oak Partners Ltd., CP Vertical Development Co. 1 LLC, CP/HPS Development Co. GP LLC, CP/HPS Development Co.-C LLC, CPFE LLC, CPHP Development LLC, CalAtlantic Financial Services Inc., CalAtlantic Group, CalAtlantic Group Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Arizona Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Georgia Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Texas Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Washington Inc., CalAtlantic Mortgage Inc., CalAtlantic National Title Solutions LLC, CalAtlantic Title Agency LLC, CalAtlantic Title Group LLC, CalAtlantic Title Inc., CalAtlantic Title LLC, CalAtlantic Title of Maryland Inc., Camarillo Village Park LLC, Cambria L.L.C., Candlestick Retail Member LLC, Cardiovascular Medical Specialists LLC, Carolina Blue LLC, Carson 175 LLC, Cary Woods LLC, Casa Marina Development LLC, Central Park West Holdings LLC, Cherrytree II LLC, Club Bonterra Lennar LLC, Coco Palm 82 LLC, Colonial Heritage LLC, Columbia National Risk Retention Group Inc., Commonwealth Incentive Fee LLC, Concord Station LLP, Coventry L.L.C., Creekside Crossing L.L.C., Crest at Fondren Investor LLC, DBJ Holdings LLC, DCA Financial LLC, DTC Holdings of Florida LLC, Darcy-Joliet L.L.C., Durrell 33 LLC, EL Ventures LLC, EV LLC, Eagle Bend Commercial LLC, Eagle Home Mortgage LLC, Estates Seven LLC, Evergreen Village LLC, F&R QVI Home Investments USA LLC, FLORDADE LLC, Faria Preserve LLC, Fidelity Guaranty and Acceptance Corp., Fidelity Land LLC, Fox-Maple Associates LLC, Friendswood Development Company LLC, GDI MANAGER LLC, Garco Investments LLC, Greystone Construction Inc., Greystone Homes of Nevada Inc., Greystone Nevada Holdings LLC, Greystone Nevada LLC, Greywall Club L.L.C., HCC Investors LLC, HPS Development Co. LP, HPS Vertical Development Co. LLC, HPS Vertical Development Co.-B LP, HPS Vertical Development Co.-D/E LLC, HPS1 Block 1 LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3B LLC, HPS1 Block 50 LLC, HPS1 Block 51 LLC, HPS1 Block 52 LLC, HPS1 Block 53 LLC, HPS1 Block 54 LLC, HPS1 Block 55 LLC, HPS1 Block 56/57 LLC, HSP Arizona Inc., HTC Golf Club LLC, Hammocks Lennar LLC, Harbor Highlands Group LLC, Harveston LLC, Haverton L.L.C., Heathcote Commons LLC, Heritage Pkwy East Holdings LLC, Heritage of Auburn Hills L.L.C., Hewitts Landing Trustee LLC, Hingham Properties LLC, Huntley Venture L.L.C., Inactive Companies LLC, Independence L.L.C., Independence Orlando LLC, Isles at Bayshore Club LLC, KMC Real Estate Investors LLC, Kendall Hammocks Commercial LLC, Kentuckiana Medical Center LLC, Kingman Lennar LLC, LB/L  Duc III Antioch 330 LLC, LCD Asante LLC, LCI Downtown Doral Investor LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor GP LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor LP LLC, LEN - Belle Meade LLC, LEN - OBS Windemere LLC, LEN - Palm Vista LLC, LEN BPT Investor LLC, LEN Mirada Investor LLC, LEN Notarize Investor LLC, LEN OT Holdings LLC, LEN Paradise Cable LLC, LEN Paradise Operating LLC, LEN-CG South LLC, LEN-Cypress Mill LLC, LEN-Ryan 1 LLC, LEN-Touchstone LLC, LENH I LLC, LENNAR HOMES OF TENNESSEE LLC, LFS Holding Company LLC, LH Eastwind LLC, LHI Renaissance LLC, LMC 10th & Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 144th and Grant Investor LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Holdings LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Investor LLC, LMC 360 Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 410 S Wabash Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Investor LLC, LMC 8th Avenue Apartment Investor LLC, LMC 990 Bannock Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Investor LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Holdings LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Investor LLC, LMC Block 42 Holdings LLC, LMC Build to Core III Investor LLC, LMC Build to Core III LLC, LMC Burnside Holdings LLC, LMC Burnside Investor LLC, LMC Chandler and McClintock Holdings LLC, LMC Charlestowne Holdings LLC, LMC Charlotte Ballpark Developer LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Holdings LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Investor LLC, LMC Cobalt Holdings LLC, LMC Costa Mesa Holdings LP, LMC Crest at Park West Holdings LP, LMC Denver Gateway I Investor LLC, LMC Denver Gateway II Holdings LLC, LMC Development LLC, LMC Downtown Doral South Holdings LLC, LMC Durham Gateway Holdings LP, LMC Evans School Holdings LLC, LMC Gateway Investor LLC, LMC Gateway Venture LLC, LMC Gilman Square Investor LLC, LMC Horton Street Holdings LLC, LMC Huntington Crossing Holdings LLC, LMC Inactive Companies LLC, LMC Lakeside Holdings LP, LMC Leya Holdings LLC, LMC Living Illinois LLC, LMC Living Inc., LMC Living LLC, LMC Living TRS LP, LMC Millenia Investor II LLC, LMC NE Minneapolis Lot 2 Holdings LLC, LMC New Bern Investor LLC, LMC North Park Holdings LP, LMC Parkfield Holdings LLC, LMC Parkfield Investor LLC, LMC Righters Ferry Holdings LLC, LMC River North Holdings LLC, LMC Spring Street Investor LLC, LMC Stonewall Station Investor LLC, LMC Triangle Square Investor LLC, LMC Venture Developer LLC, LMC Verbena Holdings LLC, LMC West Loop Investor LLC, LMCFX Investor LLC, LMCPNW Marymoor Holdings LLC, LMI - Jacksonville Investor LLC, LMI - South Kings Development Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle Holdings LLC, LMI - West Seattle Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle LLC, LMI Cell Tower Investors LLC, LMI City Walk Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale LLC, LMI Contractors LLC, LMI Glencoe Dallas Investor LLC, LMI Lakes West Covina Investor LLC, LMI Largo Park Investor LLC, LMI Las Colinas Station LLC, LMI Naperville Investor LLC, LMI Pacific Tower LLC, LMI Park Central Two LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners Investor LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners LLC, LMI-JC Developer LLC, LMI-JC LLC, LMV 1640 Broadway REIT-DC LP, LMV 1701 Ballard REIT-DC LP, LMV 19H REIT-DC LP, LMV 2026 Madison REIT-DC LP, LMV 85 South Union REIT-DC LP, LMV ATown REIT-DC LP, LMV Annapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Apache Terrace REIT-DC LP, LMV Block 42 REIT-DC LP, LMV Bloomington REIT-DC LP, LMV Bolingbrook REIT-DC LP (DE), LMV Central at McDowell REIT-DC LP, LMV East Village I REIT-DC LP, LMV Edina REIT-DC LP, LMV Fremont WS I REIT-DC LP, LMV Glisan REIT-DC LP, LMV Grand Bay REIT-DC LP, LMV II Grand Bay Pod V Holdings LP, LMV II Kierland Holdings LP, LMV II NoMo Holdings LP, LMV II Venture Developer LLC, LMV II Wynwood Holdings LP, LMV Kirkland REIT-DC LP, LMV Little Italy REIT-DC LP, LMV M Tower REIT-DC LP, LMV Millenia II REIT-DC LP, LMV Milpitas REIT-DC LP, LMV NE Minneapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Oak Park REIT-DC LP, LMV One20Fourth REIT-DC LP, LMV QR Build to Core Manager LLC, LMV Rio Bravo REIT-DC LP, LMV Scottsdale Quarter REIT-DC LP, LMV Tysons REIT-DC LP, LMV Vallagio III REIT-DC LP, LMV Victory Block G REIT-DC LP, LMV Warren Street REIT-DC LP, LNC Communities II LLC, LNC Communities IV LLC, LNC Communities V LLC, LNC Communities VI LLC, LNC Communities VII LLC, LNC Communities VIII LLC, LNC Pennsylvania Realty Inc., LNC at Meadowbrook LLC, LNC at Ravenna LLC, LS College Park LLC, LS Terracina LLC, LV Opendoor Investor LLC, LV Opendoor JV LLC, LW D'Andrea LLC, Lagoon Valley Residential LLC, Lakelands at Easton L.L.C., Legends Club LLC, Legends Golf Club LLC, Len - Little Harbor LLC, Len FW Investor LLC, Len Paradise LLC, Len-Angeline LLC, Len-Hawks Point LLC, Len-Land LLC, Len-Land West LLC, Len-MN LLC, Len-Verandahs LLP, LenCom LLC, LenFive LLC, LenFive Opco GP LLC, LenFive Sub III LLC, LenFive Sub LLC, LenFive Sub Opco GP LLC, Lenalto CMBS LLC, Lencraft LLC, Lennar Aircraft I LLC, Lennar Arizona Construction Inc., Lennar Arizona Inc., Lennar Associates Management Holding Company, Lennar Associates Management LLC, Lennar Avenue One LLC, Lennar Berkeley LLC, Lennar Bevard LLC, Lennar Bridges LLC, Lennar Buffington Colorado Crossing L.P., Lennar Buffington Zachary Scott L.P., Lennar Carolinas LLC, Lennar Central Park LLC, Lennar Central Region Sweep Inc., Lennar Chicago Inc., Lennar Cobra LLC, Lennar Colgate Urban Renewal Development LLC, Lennar Colorado LLC, Lennar Colorado Minerals LLC, Lennar Commercial LLC, Lennar Communities Development Inc., Lennar Communities Inc., Lennar Communities Nevada LLC, Lennar Communities of Chicago L.L.C., Lennar Concord LLC, Lennar Construction Inc., Lennar Cory Road LLC, Lennar Courts LLC, Lennar Developers Inc., Lennar Ewing LLC, Lennar Financial Services LLC, Lennar Flamingo LLC, Lennar Fresno Inc., Lennar Gardens LLC, Lennar Georgia Inc., Lennar Greer Ranch Venture LLC, Lennar Heritage Fields LLC, Lennar Hingham Holdings LLC, Lennar Hingham JV LLC, Lennar Homes Holding LLC, Lennar Homes LLC, Lennar Homes NJ LLC, Lennar Homes of Arizona Inc., Lennar Homes of California Inc., Lennar Homes of Indiana Inc., Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction Ltd., Lennar Homes of Texas Sales and Marketing Ltd., Lennar Homes of Utah Inc., Lennar International Holding LLC, Lennar International LLC, Lennar Lakeside Investor LLC, Lennar Layton LLC, Lennar Living LLC, Lennar Lytle LLC, Lennar MF Holdings LLC, Lennar MPA LLC, Lennar MPA WIP LLC, Lennar Mare Island LLC, Lennar Marina A Funding LLC, Lennar Massachusetts Properties Inc., Lennar Middletown LLC, Lennar Monmouth Redevelopers LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Victory Block G Mezz LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily Builders LLC, Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC, Lennar Multifamily Venture DC LP, Lennar New Jersey Holdings LLC, Lennar New Jersey Properties Inc., Lennar New York LLC, Lennar Northeast Properties LLC, Lennar 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and Broadway Holdings LLC, Menifee Development LLC, Mid-County Utilities Inc., Miralago West Lennar LLC, Mission Viejo 12S Venture LP, Mission Viejo Holdings Inc., Motomic Diagnostics LLC, Multibank 2009-1 CML-ADC Venture LLC, Multibank 2009-1 RES-ADC Venture LLC, NC Properties I LLC, NC Properties II LLC, North American Asset Development LLC, Northbridge L.L.C., OHC/Ascot Belle Meade LLC, One SR L.P., PD-Len Boca Raton LLC, PG Properties Holding LLC, POMAC LLC, PT Metro LLC, Pace Drive Holdings LLC, Palm Gardens At Doral Clubhouse LLC, Palm Gardens at Doral LLC, Palm Springs Classic LLC, Palm Vista Preserve LLC, Patuxent Infrastructure Inc., Pioneer Meadows Development LLC, Pioneer Meadows Investments LLC, Plaza Condominium Ventures LLC, Portside Marina Developers L.L.C., Portside SM Associates L.L.C., Portside SM Holdings L.L.C., Portside Shipyard Developers L.L.C., Prestonfield L.L.C., Quail Roost Lennar LLC, RCCF GP II LLC, RCCF GP III LLC, RCCF GP IV LLC, RCCF GP LLC, RES-FL EIGHT LLC, RES-FL SEVEN LLC, RES-FL VISION ONE LLC, RES-FL VISION TWO LLC, RES-GA CASCADE LLC, RES-GA DIAMOND MEADOWS LLC, RES-GA KAP LLC, RES-GA SOUTHERN PLANTATION LLC, RES-GA THIRTEEN LLC, RES-GA TWELVE LLC, RES-GA WEST LLC, RES-IL ONE LLC, RES-NC ONE LLC, RES-PA LSJ LLC, RES-PA POM LLC, RES-TX BOULEVARD LLC, RH Insurance Company Inc., RH MOA BBCMS 2017-C1 LLC, RH MOA CF 2017-C8 LLC, RH MOA LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C4 LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C6 LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 CLASS B LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 LLC, RL BB FINANCIAL LLC, RL BB INACTIVE LLC, RL BB-AL LLC, RL BB-FL ALHI LLC, RL BB-GA LLC, RL BB-GA RMH LLC, RL BB-IL LLC, RL BB-IN AA LLC, RL BB-IN KRE LLC, RL BB-IN KRE OP LLC, RL BB-IN KRE RE LLC, RL BB-MS LLC, RL BB-NC LLC, RL BB-OH LLC, RL BB-SC BROOKSA LLC, RL BB-SC CLR II LLC, RL BB-SC CLR III LLC, RL BB-SC CLR IV LLC, RL BB-SC CLR LLC, RL BB-SC CRRC LLC, RL BB-SC RACEDAY LLC, RL BB-TN BRISTOL LLC, RL BB-TN LLC, RL BB-TN RACEDAY TOWER LLC, RL BB-TX LLC, RL BB-WV LLC, RL CMBS Holdings LLC, RL CML 2009-1 Investments LLC, RL REGI ARKANSAS LLC, RL REGI Alabama LLC, RL REGI FINANCIAL LLC, RL REGI Florida LLC, RL REGI GEORGIA LLC, RL REGI INACTIVE LLC, RL REGI KANSAS LLC, RL REGI MISSISSIPPI LLC, RL REGI MISSOURI LLC, RL REGI NORTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI SOUTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI TENNESSEE LLC, RL REGI VIRGINIA LLC, RL REGI-AL HP LLC, RL REGI-AL VRC LLC, RL REGI-FL CRC LLC, RL REGI-FL ESH LLC, RL REGI-FL FT. PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. (Florida), Rutenberg Homes of Texas Inc., Rye Hill Company LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada Holdings LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada LLC, Ryland Homes of California Inc., S. Florida Construction II LLC, S. Florida Construction III LLC, S. Florida Construction LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve South LLC, SPIC CPCO Inc., SPIC CPDB Inc., SPIC CPRB Inc., SPIC Del Sur LLC, SPIC Dublin LLC, SPIC Mesa LLC, SPIC NC Fremont LLC, SPIC Otay LLC, SPIC Springs LLC, San Felipe Indemnity Co. Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. LLC, Talega Associates LLC, Temecula Valley LLC, Terra Division LLC, Terra/Winding Creek LLC, The Baywinds Land Trust, The Bridges Club at Rancho Santa Fe Inc., The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe Sales Company Inc., The LNC Northeast Group Inc., The Oasis Club at LEN-CG South LLC, The Preserve at Coconut Creek LLC, The Vistas Club at LEN-CG South LLC, Titlezoom Company, Treasure Island Holdings LLC, Treasure Island Member LLC, Treviso Holding LLC, Two Lakes Lennar LLC, U.S. Home Corporation, U.S. Home Realty Inc., U.S. Home of Arizona Construction Co., U.S. Insurors Inc., U.S.H. Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC.
Lonmin Plc explores, mines, refines, and markets platinum group metals in South Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. The company explores for platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and gold, as well as chrome, nickel, copper, and cobalt deposits. Its flagship property is the Marikana mine located on the Western Limb of the Bushveld igneous complex in South Africa. In addition, the company holds 100% interest in Pandora mine. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Melrose North, South Africa.

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Wall Street analysts have given PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund 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 PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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Standard Chartered PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services primarily in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. The company operates through Corporate & Institutional Banking, Retail banking, Commercial Banking, and Private Banking segments. It offers retail products, such as deposits, savings, mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans; wealth management products and services that include investments, portfolio management, insurance and advices, and planning services; and transaction banking services, such as cash management, payments and transactions, and trade financing products. The company also provides corporate finance products and services that comprise structured and project financing, strategic advising, and mergers and acquisitions; and financial market services, such as investment, risk management, debt capital markets, and securities services. In addition, it offers digital banking solutions. The company serves corporations, financial institutions, governments, investors, small businesses, and individuals. It operates through approximately 1,026 branches. The company was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC provides telecommunications services to consumers and business to business customers in the United Kingdom. It offers fiber, broadband, landline, TV, and mobile services under the TalkTalk and TalkTalk Business brands. Its products include HomeSafe, a home filtering service for residential customers; WorkSafe that provides protection for internet devices to business customers; SuperSafe, which offers protection from viruses and malwares; CallSafe, a security feature that screens inbound calls; and TalkSafe, a way of identifying a customer when they call using their voice. TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC was founded in 2002 and is based in Salford, the United Kingdom.

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The following companies are subsidiares of TransDigm Group: ARA Deutschland GmbH, ARA Holding GmbH, Abbott Electronics Ltd., Acme Aerospace, Acme Aerospace Inc., Adams Rite Aerospace GmbH, Adams Rite Aerospace Inc., Advanced Inflatable Products Limited, Aero-Instruments, AeroControlex Group Inc., Aerosonic, Aerosonic LLC, Air-Sea Survival Equipment Trustee Limited, Airborne Acquisition Inc., Airborne Global Inc., Airborne Holdings Inc., Airborne Systems, Airborne Systems Canada Ltd., Airborne Systems Group Limited, Airborne Systems Holdings Limited, Airborne Systems Limited, Airborne Systems NA Inc., Airborne Systems North America Inc., Airborne Systems North America of CA Inc., Airborne Systems North America of NJ Inc., Airborne Systems Pension Trust Limited, Airborne UK Acquisition Limited, Airborne UK Parent Limited, Aircraft Materials Limited, AmSafe, AmSafe Aviation (Chongqing) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Kunshan) Co. Ltd., AmSafe Bridport (Private) Ltd., AmSafe Bridport Ltd., AmSafe Global Holdings Inc., AmSafe Global Services (Private) Limited, AmSafe Inc., Arkwin Industries, Arkwin Industries Inc., Aviation Technologies, Aviation Technologies Inc., Avionic Instruments, Avionics Instruments, Avionics Specialties Inc., AvtechTyee Inc., Beta Transformer Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Beta Transformer Technology Corporation, Beta Transformer Technology LLC, Breeze-Eastern Corporation, Breeze-Eastern LLC, Bridport Erie Aviation Inc., Bridport Holdings Inc., Bridport Ltd., Bridport-Air Carrier Inc., Bruce Aerospace Inc., Bruce Industries, CDA InterCorp, CEF Industries LLC, Champion Aerospace, Cobham, DDC Electronics K.K., DDC Electronics Ltd., DDC Electronics Private Limited, DDC Electronique S.A.R.L., DDC Elektronik GmbH, DDL195 Limited, Data Device Corp., Data Device Corporation, Dukes Aerospace Inc., Edlaw Limited, Electromech Technologies LLC, Elektro-Metall Export GmbH, Elektro-Metall Paks KFT, Esterline, Extant Components Group Holdings Inc., Extant Components Group Intermediate Inc., GQ Parachutes Limited, HARCO LLC, Harco, Hartwell Corporation, ILC Holdings Inc., Irvin Aerospace Limited, IrvinGQ France SAA, IrvinGQ Limited, Johnson Liverpool LLC, Kirkhill Elastomers, Kirkhill Inc., Kunshan Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., MarathonNorco Aerospace Inc., McKechnie Aerospace, McKechnie Aerospace (Europe) Ltd., McKechnie Aerospace DE Inc., McKechnie Aerospace DE LP, McKechnie Aerospace Holdings Inc., McKechnie Aerospace US LLC, Mecanismos de Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Militair Aviation Ltd., Norco, Nordisk Asia Pacific Limited, Nordisk Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Nordisk Aviation Products (Kunshan) Ltd., Nordisk Aviation Products AS, North Hills Signal Processing Corp., North Hills Signal Processing Overseas Corp., Pascall Electronics Limited, Pemberton 123 Ltd., Pexco Aerospace, Pexco Aerospace Inc., PneuDraulics, PneuDraulics Inc., Rancho TransTechnology Corporation, Retainers Inc., SSP Industries, Schneller, Schneller Asia Pte. Ltd., Schneller S.A.R.L., Schroth Safety Products, Semco Instruments, Semco Instruments Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Inc., Shield Restraint Systems Ltd., Signal Processing Matamoros S.A. de C.V., Skandia, Skandia Inc., Skurka Aerospace, Skurka Aerospace Inc., Symetrics, Symetrics Industries LLC, Symetrics Technology Group LLC, TDG Germany GmbH, TEAC Aerospace Holdings Inc., TEAC Aerospace Technologies Inc., TTERUSA Inc., Tactair Fluid Controls Inc., Takata Protection Systems, Technical Airborne Components Industries SPRL, Telair International, Telair International AB, Telair International GmbH, Telair International LLC, Telair International Services PTE Ltd (JV 70.5%), Telair US LLC, Texas Rotronics Inc., TransDigm (Barbados) SRL, TransDigm European Holdings Limited, TransDigm Ireland Ltd., TransDigm Receivables LLC, TransDigm UK Holdings plc, Transicoil (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad, Transicoil LLC, Whippany Actuation Systems, Whippany Actuation Systems LLC, XCEL Power Systems Ltd., Young & Franklin, and Young & Franklin Inc..
UBM plc organizes business-to-business events worldwide. The company offers face-to-face interaction in the form of exhibitions, tradeshows, conferences, and other live events. It also provides Website sponsorships and banner advertising services, as well as online directory and data products; and publishes magazines and trade press to specialist markets. In addition, the company offers data and broadcasting services. It serves advanced manufacturing and technology, brand licensing, business services and infrastructure, fashion and jewelry, food and agriculture, leisure and hospitality, lifestyle, pharma and healthcare, transport and logistics, and other sectors. The company was formerly known as United Business Media Limited and changed its name to UBM plc in May 2011. UBM plc was founded in 1843 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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Banco Comercial Portugues SA provides banking activities and financial services. Its operating segment consists of Retail Banking segment activity includes the Retail activity of Banco Comercial Portuguas in Portugal, operating as a distribution channel for products and services from other companies of the Group and the Foreign business segment. Corporate & Investment Banking segment includes corporate network in Portugal, specialized monitoring division, investment banking unit and activity of the Bank's international division. Private Banking and Asset Management segment comprises the private banking network in Portugal and subsidiary companies which are specialized in the asset management business. Non-core Business Portfolio segment includes the business granted for securities-backed landing, loans collateralized with other assets, subsidized mortgage loans, construction subcontractors. Foreign Business segment comprises the operations outside Portugal, in particular Poland, Mozambique, Angola, Cayman Isl

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Wall Street analysts have given Concord Medical Services 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 Concord Medical Services wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

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Toyota is all set to launch the Yaris in India in a few weeks from now. While the Japanese carmaker itself has been tight-lipped about the sedans launch date, some reports suggest that the Yaris will be launched on April 24. However, some recent reports are predicting May 19 as the date as well. Toyota dealers across India have already started accepting bookings for a token amount of Rs 50,000 (refundable). Wondering how much the Yaris costs?

Toyota had showcased two variants of the Yaris at the Delhi Auto Expo 2018 in February - V and VX, both of which are loaded with some segment-first features such as tyre pressure monitoring system, front & rear parking sensors, 8-way adjustable drivers seat, roof-mounted rear AC vents, all four disc brakes and 7 airbags. To achieve a competitive starting price in the C-segment, we expect a slightly feature-stripped variant named G or GL.

Only available with a petrol engine, the Yaris is expected to be the first car in the mass market to offer a 6-speed manual and 7-speed CVT transmission from the base variant itself.

Toyota will be gunning for the Honda City so prices are likely to be in close vicinity of the City. The Citys prices start from Rs 8.71 lakh but the Toyotas base variant is likely to pack more features. A starting price of Rs 9 lakh makes sense.

Toyota touts the Yaris as a premium offering. Hence, expect even the base variant of the Yaris to be loaded with a fair amount of goodies, which then would justify the price premium. But will Toyota pull a surprise with an introductory price cheaper than the Honda City? Wed love to see that!

Heres how the prominent petrol opponents of the Yaris fare in terms of pricing.

Source: CarDekho.com
Air India ran losses for nearly a decade after a botched merger in 2007 and has debts of around $7.67 billion according to government figures.

New Delhi: India's largest airline IndiGo has pulled out of the race to acquire national carrier Air India, dealing a blow to the government's privatisation campaign.

Indigo told the Bombay Stock Exchange late Thursday that it was interested only in Air India's international routes and not its domestic operations.

The government, which said last week it wants to sell a 76 per cent chunk of the debt-laden carrier, wants the prospective buyer to take on all of Air India's operations.

The government last week released bid documents on one of the country's highest-profile asset sale in decades.

The documents said the proposed sale would include a 100 per cent stake in Air India's low-cost arm Air India Express, which operates in West Asia, and a 50 per cent stake in its ground-handling SATS Airport Services.

"From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India's international operations and Air India Express," IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh said in the statement to the stock exchange.

"However, that option is not available under the government's current divestiture plans for Air India.

"Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air India's airline operations."

IndiGo publicly expressed interest in acquiring Air India's international operating arm after the government first approved a sale in June last year.

Once the country's monopoly airline, Air India has slowly lost market share to new low-cost private players in one of the world's fastest-growing airline markets.

Air India ran losses for nearly a decade after a botched merger in 2007 and has debts of around $7.67 billion according to government figures.

It has received $5.8 billion in bailout funds from the government but needs even more working capital to turn it around, experts say.

India has the world's fastest-growing passenger airline industry, expanding at an annual rate of around 20 per cent.

About 100 million of its 1.25 billion people took to the skies in 2016 and airlines have embarked on huge purchases of new jets in expectation of new growth.
Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in prison and was taken straight to the Jodhpur Central Jail from court after the verdict was announced. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: In 1998, villagers of the Bishnoi clan in Rajasthan testified against actor Salman Khan and his friends for killing endangered species of animals.

The judgement by a Jodhpur court on Thursday held Khan guilty but gave his accomplices the benefit of the doubt and acquitted them. The inquiry officer in the poaching cases, Lalit K. Bora, was happy with the judgement.

An ex-conservator of forests in Jodhpur, Mr Bora says he expected an acquittal for the actor as well since Khan had been acquitted of poaching chinkara in 1998. He had been acquitted in that case in 2016, which was a blow to Mr Bora.

I had visited the sets of Hum Saath Saath Hain, while the shooting was going on to apprehend the actors. I had received information from residents of Gudha Bishnoi, which is almost 25 km from Jodhpur, that they heard the sounds of gunshots and saw a Maruti Gypsy late at night on October 1, 1998. The villagers also claimed that they tried to stop the vehicle when they saw the injured animals, however, Salman had reportedly pointed a gun at them.

The villagers had noted the registration number of the vehicle which was the same as the Gypsy van the actors were travelling in.

Mr Bora obtained a statement from Salman Khans spot boy that the actor was involved in the killing of two chinkaras at the end of September 1998 and also traced back the meat of the animals that were reportedly consumed by the actors at the hotel.

I had also checked Salmans gun licences, both of which had expired. It was hurdle after hurdle in the case. There was no smooth progress. Just when we began to uncover a clue, another hurdle would pop up. The post-mortem report stated that the animals died due to over eating, which was not possible. Each star had a lawyer and I have often felt that I was on the receiving end of the interrogation. I was ridiculed for my post, says Mr Bora. He was often questioned for his keenness in pursuing the case despite not being in the police force.

While there have been rumours of the officer having had to step down due to pressure, he chose not to comment on it.
The actress turned politician Kushboo is known for her bold and controversial statements and tweets. Her post on her social media handle on Thursday mocking the ruling BJP created quite a storm. Commenting how BJP ruled state assemblies are expected to look like in a few days from now, she posted a picture of revered naga sadhus tagging the party president Amit Shah, which went viral instantly. The post invited the wrath of many who openly slammed her, remarking, sometimes quite vulgarly, on her film career and how she acted glamorously for money etc.

She was pounced upon for dragging the Hindu faith and spiritualism while making a political comment. When we contacted her, Kushboo refused to talk further about it saying that it was just my post and it ends with that. There were about 600 likes and 250 retweets within hours of her post, but it also received flak in equal measure. Many BJP politicians, party supporters and those who follow Hinduism were extremely angry with the actress for getting so starkly political as to use one state governments special treatment of Hindu seers into a national issue while slamming the ruling party.

The saner ones saw a clear north-south divide in this, remarking that Kushboo showed little understanding of how the naga sadhus are viewed in the northern parts of the country where they are considered to be closest to divinity among those walking the earth. Her naivety in choosing the sadhus for taking down the BJP in a political argument was remarked upon extensively. What was she thinking when she chose the sadhus to illustrate her anger at BJP is what many are asking.

The photo Kushboo tweeted.

Replying to her tweet, former BJP MP and journalist Tarun Vijay said, You are not just trying to mock at your pol rivals, you r insulting, mocking & contemptuously looking at your ancestors traditions, beliefs & devotion to spiritualism. Your illiteracy exposes those who hate everything connected with Hindus. No different from Islamic invaders. Another among the twitterati, Rangarajanji, dragged the argument to mention her religion too, saying, Tarun ji, obviously she may not have knowledge of Hindu and Hinduism as she was born in another religion. She was Nakhat Khan now Kushboo. Further she belongs to Congress known for appeasement. Also Congi known for bashing Hinduism. He also posted a picture of Osama bin Laden dancing along his militant group and wrote, And this is how Congi n their ruled states will b like after some days. The battle continued making it a full-fledged Congress-BJP war on Twitter.

Rosy tweeted comparing the present congress ruled Karnataka with a picture of Siddaramaiah carrying a lemon. This is how #Cong ruled State #Karnataka already looks like under Siddaramaiah- Carrying a LEMON wherever he goes! (see pic) Why do you bring aghoris in your political problem asked Tamizh Pesum Indian. Would this "atheist" mock Islamic or Christian religion like this? I dare you to show one tweet. Kushboo or badbu?, commented Sankrant Sanu. This is how Congress ruled state assemblies looked like said Smoking Skills, posting a picture of militants sitting in a group. The arguments are expected to go on but what the actress has done is to invite scorn after having spoken out so boldly on her atheism in a TV channel saying how she had lost her faith  and stopped her visits to mosques, temples and churches  after seeing so many children roasted in the Kumbakonam school fire.
Rating:

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Tabu, Annu Kapoor

Director: Mukul Abhyankar



Life goes out of gear for a couple holidaying in Mauritius: their three-year-old girl disappears from the resort they have checked into, and, obviously, they are devastated. From then on, a motley mix of genres  right from mystery to whodunit to suspenseful drama  get thrown into the plot leaving us with little choice to get involved in the action. Debutant director Mukul Abhyankars Missing may not have been anything that one hasnt seen before, that too umpteen times, but it does have a riveting story right from the opening scene. Does it also deliver? Without giving spoilers, and just to amuse you all, let me warn you that Abhyankar in an interview claims that Missing is his tribute to Hitchcock! No less!

Nothing wrong with being ambitious, but wish he had made an attempt at learning how to write a taut, engaging plot too!

Missing, despite its promising premise, is a misfire that turns into a silly and borderline absurd story that cannot execute its twists and turns. It falls into a common trap: by trying to do too much, it accomplishes too little. Sushant Dubey (Manoj Bajpayee) checks in at a beach resort of Mauritius late night with his lovely wife Aparna (Tabu) and their three-year-old daughter, Titli, who has high fever and is cozily snugged into her mothers arm. Aparna, who is visibly fatigued after a late night travel itinerary, settles her child comfortably in bed and dozes off only to wake up the next morning and find her daughter missing. When the police are informed and investigations begin, more questions begin to deepen the mystery. Sushant is patient but discreetly ambivalent towards Aparna. Meanwhile damning evidence keeps turning up, as both Aparna and Sushant cover up for each other revealing that they may not be a happy couple. Or, even a couple. The film deploys flashbacks, while the investigation unfolds, and many unusual details about them begin to add weird twists: Does Sushant love his family? He seems someone who keeps flirting with women, and hides behind a mask of politeness and decency before outsiders. Aparna doesnt wear her heart on her sleeve: she too has a secret, and behaves rather awkwardly, intermittently losing her cool one moment, and shedding a tear whenever she recalls her missing child.

Sushant displays uneven shades of both virtue and abrupt and impulsive evilness, more in the presence of the local police chief Ram (Annu Kapoor), who for some strange unexplained reason, is puzzled but keeps cracking miserably low jokes. Ram responds with quips presumably to add colour to his personality. That he irritates rather than amuses, could easily be because of poorly scripted lines for an actor of Kapoors calibre. Raising our expectations high and claiming to take us on a journey full of intrigue and unknown, the film juggles between several thrilling moments, and as many unclear and imprecise situations that throw open several queries for the viewers. Sadly, it falters because theres a skill to visualise and adapt a plausible story that not all filmmakers have  no matter how many gumshoe elements abound. This is especially all the more challenging if the narrative is not inherently cinematic and requires more adept handling to shape it into a form capable of fitting comfortably into a two-hour time slot. Missing is a victim of messy handling and is beset by problems related to flow and coherence. Worst is, when the narrative gets confusing, the dead-end subplots end in sudden twists to ensure that we make up our minds to sit through some more baffling moments for the characters for development.

Though the film can boast of good background score and has a tonal consistency throughout, the carefully woven secrecy during the investigation pitched as highlights, tend to annoy. In 2003, Ron Howards The Missing and the Costa-Gavras tense political American drama Missing made in 1982 were exceptionally great films. In comparison, this Bollywood film  though that has no similarity with the aforementioned films except the name  is at times, laughable, messy and too ambitious a film that may have been motivated to pay homage to one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, but the bits of thriller elements shrivel up along the way. The climax looks straight out of a short film that invariably stuns with a bizarre development. But it cannot lift itself out of so much gloom and grimness, even with seasoned performers like Bajpayee and Tabu, who try their best to rise above a muddled script!

The writer is a film critic and has been reviewing films for over 15 years. He also writes on music, art and culture, and other human interest stories.
KOCHI: The Indian Association of Dermatologists Venereologists and Leprologists Kerala chapter (IADVL) has urged the State government to initiate strict measures against quackery in dermatology. According to the Association, more and more unqualified individuals claiming skin specialists start clinics in the state due to lax regulations in the sector. In connection with World Skin Health Day on April 6, the Association has proposed series of recommendations to improve quality of dermatology treatments.

Incidents of patients getting cheated by those with certificates from universities and autonomous institutions not recognised by Medical Council of India is on the rise. The pseudo-dermatologists practice cosmetology trea-tments like lasers, hair treatments and hair transplants which end up in severe complications and untreatable skin conditions, said IADVL state president Dr. T. Salim. In view of the increasing incidents, the Association launched a task force against quackery which has been keeping a close watch on centres offering cosmetic skin treatments.

Last year, an MBBS student of Madras Medical College died after a hair transplant performed by unqualified persons at a hair transplant centre. If procedures like hair transplant and removal of pimples and scars are not done in uninfected environment, it will result in serious health issues. Issues like excessive hair growth and pimples are the result of hormonal imbalance. For such problems, patients should consult dermatologists rather than going to beauty parlours or such institutions, remarked Dr K. Firos, secretary of IADVL.

The state government has also been urged to provide free medicines at government hospitals for skin disorders like psoriasis which has already been introduced in Tamil Nadu. The IADVL has also approached the Insurance Regulatory Authority seeking insurance coverage for very expensive dermatology treatments. As part of World Skin Health Day the Association is conducting awareness programmes on skin care, misuse of steroids in skin treatments and vigilance against quackery.
One of Adolf Hitler's paintings of a lover to go up for auction. (Photo: AFP)

BERLIN: An oil portrait believed to have been painted by Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler of a little-known former lover will go under the hammer next week with an asking price of 60,000 euros ($74,000), a German auction house said on Thursday.

The 63 x 48 cm painting, signed A. Hitler, 1916, depicts Charlotte Lobjoie, a Frenchwoman whom Hitler met while serving in France during World War One, according to Werner Maser, a leading Hitler scholar who died in 2007.

Portrait of a Girl - a damaged work painted on hessian - was purchased by Flemish industrialists around 1967, auction house Weidler in Nuremberg said in a statement.

It said it had documents showing it had been exhibited at art galleries in Japan.

The painting in what appears to be a rural setting depicts a young woman with a red scarf loosely on her head that casts a heavy shadow over her face, and holding a pitchfork.

She is wearing a light-colored shirt, open from the neck down, exposing part of her breasts.

Maser, who was referred to by Weidler in its statement, wrote several books about Hitler, providing insight into the mind of the Nazi leader through a close look at his drawings, letters and notes.

Hitler painted for a living in the 1920s before rising to power and leading Germany into World War Two. With Soviet troops closing in on his headquarters in Berlin, he committed suicide in April 1945, along with his mistress Eva Braun whom he married shortly before.

In 2015 Weidler sold a watercolor of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria that was also signed A. Hitler and believed to be the work of the former Nazi leader at an auction that fetched 100,000 euros.
The sender started threatening saying that the videos and photos would be posted on social media, and my reputation would be destroyed if I did not send money.

Hyderabad: An event manager from the city was honey trapped and blackmailed by a woman claiming to be from Singapore. She sent him a friend request on Facebook and sweet talked him into sending her photos of himself and having video chats with her. She then morphed those photos and videos, sent them back to him, and began demanding money.

10 days ago, I received a friend request from the profile of a girl named Criztine Lea Wetpacks from Singapore. She told me that she worked at a dental clinic and that she was interested in making new friends. We started chatting and after a while, she asked for video chats. Things were going well until Tuesday when I received an obscene video and morphed photos of myself. They were sent to me from an unknown number via WhatsApp.

The sender started threatening saying that the videos and photos would be posted on social media, and my reputation would be destroyed if I did not send money, said the victim, a resident of LB Nagar.

Unable to bear the torture, he decided to send Rs 30,000. His parents noticed that he was depressed and dejected, and they asked him what was wrong. After finding out what had happened, they approached the cybercrime cell of Rachakonda, said an official from the cybercrime Cell. He added that the officials also counselled the youngster and gave him courage.

The victim then sent a message to his tormentor and said that he had filed a complaint with the cyber crime police. After that, he stopped receiving messages and the womans Facebook profile was deactivated.
Hyderabad: Police suspect honour killing to be the reason behind the murder of a petty financier on Thursday in Golnaka. The man, identified as K. Satish, the husband of one Himabindu, had married her against the wishes of her family. He was allegedly murdered by his brother-in-law and her uncle. This murder is in addition to the previously reported four to five honour killings that occurred within the span of a year in Telangana. According to the police, Himabindus brother Venkatesh and her uncle Suresh, were behind the attack. The couple got married nine years ago against the wishes of her family. His brother-in-law and her uncle took their vengeance on Thursday afternoon, sources said.

The duo picked up Satish while he was en route to Dilsukhnagar with his wife and forced him into an autorickshaw, where they strangled him to death during the ride and abandoned his body on the busy Golnaka road. Venkatesh and his uncle Suresh picked up Satish on Thursday afternoon at around 1 pm while they were going to meet his wifes sister in Dilsukhnagar. At around 3.30 pm, the body was found in Golnaka, said A.P. Anand Kumar, police inspector of Amberpet.

A complaint was received from his wife, Himabindu, wherein she stated that two men kidnapped him in front of her and took him in an auto-rickshaw from Dilsukh-nagar to Malakpet and later to Golnaka, said the sub-inspector of Amberpet police, M. Ramesh. Based on a complaint given by her, a case was booked under section 302 (murder) of IPC and an investigation was started.
Mumbai: BJP president Amit Shah on Friday derided opposition unity moves as the motley group of animals during a flood. Hours later, responding to some angry reactions from rivals, he clarified that he was "only talking in the context of ideologies".

Addressing BJP workers in Mumbai to mark the party's founding day, Amit Shah said, "A mongoose, a cat, a dog, a cheetah and lion, they are coming together because they see water rising below them. So they are all in one boat."

Fearing the 'Modi flood', Shah sneered, "a snake, a mongoose, a dog and a cat have come together to fight elections."

At a press conference in the evening on Friday, the BJP president said, "I apologise if anyone felt bad, but I was only talking in the context of ideologies."

He continued, "I want to tell the Congress, BSP and all other opposition parties. Those assembled together do not match in ideologies but they have come together only because they are afraid of PM Modi."

The Congress said it was the BJP's "arrogance" speaking, "In our culture, a man and his character are known by the phraseology he depicts and states, manner in which Amit Shah used abusive language, calling entire opposition animals & names, reflects that it is language of a leader who's lost the battle even before it started," Randeep Surjewala.

The BJP is still smarting from its defeat in two Uttar Pradesh strongholds - Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Gorakhpur and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya's Phoolpur - where the Samajwadi Party joined forces with its bitter rival Mayawati in an arrangement that included Samajwadi's support to BSP in the Rajya Sabha polls.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah took a dig at the BJP president on Twitter. "Did the BJP President liken the Hon PM to a natural disaster?" he posted.

Addressing BJP Foundation Day in Mumbai, Amit Shah said the Modi government will neither scrap the reservation policy nor allow anyone else to do so, BJP president Amit Shah asserted in Mumbai on Friday, amid a raging controversy related to the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act following a Supreme Court ruling.

He also accused the Opposition of not allowing the Budget session of Parliament to function. The session concluded on Friday. During his speech, he insisted that the Modi government had done a lot for all sections of the society and that the BJP will seek to win the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on the basis of work done rather than by making "hollow assurances".

"Rahul Gandhi and others are saying that we are demolishing reservation for SCs and STs. We are in no way demolishing the reservation (policy)," Shah said in his address on the occasion of the BJP's 38th foundation day. He went on to add, "Rahul and (NCP chief Sharad) Pawar, listen. BJP will never end the reservation policy. And even if you want to end the reservation, BJP will never allow it."

The BJP president's remarks came in the backdrop of the recent controversy and agitation after a Supreme Court ruling regarding the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, which is seen by many as dilution of the law.
Chennai/Tiruchy: The DMK-led opposition parties-sponsored bandh demanding the setting up of the Cauvery Management Board was by and large peaceful across the state except for a few stone pelting incidents in Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruchy and Coimbatore.

Both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka police forces stopped transport lorries and buses in border areas to ensure that there would be no untoward incident. Buses were stopped at Hosur, Chamraj Nagar and at Gudalur where police took extra steps urging the motorists to suspend transportation till Thursday.

According to Southern Railway sources, trains were held up by agitators at Avadi, Chennai Park, Vaniyambadi, Jolarpettai and Ambur railway stations. About 10 suburban trains were also held up. Four express trains were affected by protests. Express train services were disrupted by agitators at various places in Salem Division. Trains were held up at Magudanchavadi, Morappur, Cauvery, Elamanur, Rasipuram, Tiruppur and Lalapet railway stations.

According to Southern Railway general manager R K Kulshreshta, trains held up in the rokos were released with least detention ranging from 5 to 30 minutes as stations were alerted to be prepared to face the situation. The GM also appealed to the public to refrain from detaining trains considering the inconvenience and possible safety hazards. Southern Railway geared up security arrangements at railway stations by deploying RPF and also GRP personnel. Emergency Control was functional at Zonal and Divisional headquarters with officers monitoring the situation, he added.

A policeman and a few auto drivers were injured in Chennai and Kancheepuram during stone-pelting incidents, police said. In Madurai, Theni and Virudhunagar districts, the bandh evoked partial and mixed response.

Meanwhile Deputy chief minister O Panneersevalm, said 98 per cent of the buses were operated. DMK working president M K Stalin said a decision on the next course of protests would be taken up if the Centre did not listen to the voice of Tamil Nadu on Cauvery.

CPI (M) state secretary K Balakrishnan, too dubbed the shutdown as a huge success. Such protests would continue till the CMB was constituted, he said. VCK chief Thol Thirmavalavan, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi leader M H Jawahirullah who were detaine along with Stalin also said the shutdown was a massive success.
IndiGo had written to the civil aviation ministry expressing its interest to buy out Air India's flight operations, particularly the international services; however, such option was not available under the disinvestment plan. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Budget carrier IndiGo, which had initially evinced interest in acquiring Air India's international operations, on Thursday said it was not in fray to bid for the national carrier as such option was not available under the disinvestment plan.

"From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air India's international operation and Air India Express. However, that option is not available under the government's current disinvestment plan for Air India.

"Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air India's airline operations," president and whole time director of IndiGo Aditya Ghosh said in a statement.

IndiGo, a market leader in the Indian skies with close to 40 per cent share, was one of the first players to show interest in the ailing airline soon after the government gave its in-principal approval in June 2017 for the disinvestment of the national carrier. It had written to the civil aviation ministry expressing its interest to buy out Air India's flight operations, particularly the international services.

On March 28, the ministry came out with the preliminary information memorandum on Air India's strategic disinvestment. According to the memorandum, the government plans to offload 76 per cent 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.

In July 2017, IndiGo's founder Rakesh Gangwal had raised concern of having a joint ownership with the government in Air India during a conference call with investors and analysts, saying it was a "very very difficult proposition".

While virtually ruling out the possibility of running Air India along with the government, he also cautioned that it would be a "Shakespearean tragedy" if the national carrier's international assets go to a foreign entity.

IndiGo has been expressing concerns over the country's international air traffic being captured by Gulf carriers.

Against this backdrop, Gangwal had said that if a foreign airline was to get hold of Air India's international assets such as slots and landing rights, then the economic interests of that particular entity would be maximised.
In its report titled Yoga and Catholic faith, the commission headed by Bishop Mathew Kallarangat of Pala diocese, said yoga would help physical and mental health but the spiritual means in yoga would not gel with prayers and theological views of Catholic tradition. (Photo: File)

Kottayam: The Syro-Malabar Church has said that yoga and Catholic faith cannot go together. A report by the doctrinal commission of the Syro-Malabar Church underlined the views expressed by its Synod in 2017 that yoga is not a medium to attain divine experience.

In its report titled "Yoga and Catholic faith", the commission headed by Bishop Mathew Kallarangat of Pala diocese, said yoga would help physical and mental health but the spiritual means in yoga would not gel with prayers and theological views of Catholic tradition.

The commission was appointed to review the stand taken by the Syro-Malabar Church on yoga practice in view of the alleged communal politics and Hindutva agenda of the Sangh Parivar, the report said.

In 2017, the synod of the Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, which discussed the role of yoga in their faith, had opined that divine experience could not be attained through a particular posture.

"The God in whom we believe is a personal god. God is not someone who can be reached through a particular posture," a circular signed by the Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal George Alencherry, had said.

In its circular to its priests and laity in 2017, the church had said that recognising the important place given to yoga in Indian culture, it is to be considered as a physical exercise or postures to concentrate or to meditate.

"It is not quite right to think that the experience of God and the personal encounter with the Lord is possible through yoga," the circular had said.
Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in prison and was taken straight to the Jodhpur Central Jail from court after the verdict was announced. (Photo: PTI)

Jodhpur: Jodhpur Sessions Court today reserved order of Salman Khan's bail plea till Saturday in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case.

Salman Khan will have to spend one more night in the Jodhpur Central jail.

Salman Khan's counsel said that the court has asked for the entire record of the case from trial court and after reading it, the court will decide on the bail of the Bollywood actor.

Actor Salman Khan who was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday in the 20-year old case.

Shortly after the sentence was pronounced on Thursday, Salman Khan was taken to Jodhpur Central Jail.

Read: Salman Khan gets 5-yr jail in blackbuck poaching case, other actors let off

After medical examination, he was lodged in barrack number 2, which is close to the dispensary and next to the cell of spiritual leader and rape accused Asaram Bapu.

Salman spent his first night at the Jodhpur Central jail as prisoner number 106. He was served simple dal-roti which he did not eat.

Also Read: Salman Khan refuses dal-roti dinner on first night in Jodhpur jail

Besides, Asaram, the Jodhpur central jail houses Shambu Lal Raigar accused of Rajsamand hate crime. Then there is gangster Lawrence Vishnoi who had threatened to kill Salman a couple of months ago and the prison is also having several hardened terrorists who have been moved out of Srinagar jail.

On Thursday, the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court (CJM), Jodhpur Rural found the actor guilty of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village, near Jodhpur, during the shooting of Bollywood movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Salman, the main accused in the case and who was driving the car that night, was also fined Rs 10,000 by CJM Dev Kumar Khatri.

Convicting the actor, a judge in Jodhpur court emphasised that the "accused is a film star and people look up to him".

Also Read: Sending Salman Khan to jail as people follow, look up to him: Judge

His co-stars and co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, who had accompanied the actor that night, were acquitted by CJM Dev Kumar Khatri.

The killing took place near a village of Bishnois, who are passionate about protecting the animals. On hearing the gunshots, the villagers came out running and some were among the 28 witnesses whose evidence against the actor was crucial in the conviction.

Also Read: Why blackbucks are so important to Bishnois who sent Salman Khan to jail

The Bishnois chased the actor's car, a Gypsy, on their bikes after finding the carcass of the dead animals at the spot. Four of them, Chhogaram, Poonam Chand, Sheraram and Mangilal, have remained firm on their account in the last twenty years.

The villagers had handed the carcass of the two blackbucks to the to the forest department.

The postmortem cited asphyxiation as reason of death for one deer, the other was said to have been killed from injuries after falling into a ditch and from dog-bite. The prosecution challenged the postmortem report, saying it did not mention gun injuries. A medical board was constituted, which confirmed that both animals died from bullet injuries.

Salman Khan was charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors were charged under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.
Salman Khan lawyer Mahesh Bora today said he has received threat calls on Thursday warning him not to appear for the actor's bail plea in Jodhpur court on Friday. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Mumbai: Salman Khan lawyer Mahesh Bora today said he has received threat calls on Thursday warning him not to appear for the actor's bail plea in Jodhpur Sessions court on Friday.

"Yesterday I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in bail hearing today," Bora said.

Despite warnings Salman Khan's lawyer reached the Jodhpur sessions court on Friday morning with his 51-page bail application.

The Court has reserved the actor's bail plea order till Saturday.

Now, Salman Khan will have to spend one more night in Jodhpur Central jail before his bail plea is heard.

Read: One more night in jail for Salman Khan, court reserves bail for tomorrow

A Jodhpur court, on Thursday, convicted actor Salman Khan in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, while the court has acquitted his co-actors - Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari - who went on a hunt after spending the day shooting for their film, Hum Saath Saath Hain.

The other actors were acquitted for lack of evidence.

The Bollywood superstar spent his first night at Jodhpur Central Jail as Qaidi (prisoner) number 106, after the court found him guilty of killing two endangered blackbuck 20 years ago.

While delivering the verdict on Thursday in the blackbuck poaching case, the judge said, "The way the accused killed two innocent black bucks in violation of the wildlife laws...he is a film star, people emulate him... there has been a rise in poaching incidents, so leniency is not justified."

Also Read: Sending Salman Khan to jail as people follow, look up to him: Judge

There is heavy security at the Jodhpur Central jail because of the superstar's presence. Salman Khan has been kept alone in cell and nobody is allowed to meet him. The actor has his own guards in jail.

Police said Salman Khan's family could meet him once a week, but given that his bail request is coming up, his lawyer can meet him anytime.

On the first night in the Jodhpur Central jail, actor Salman Khan had denied the dinner - dal, roti - served to him.

Also Read: Salman Khan refuses dal-roti dinner on first night in Jodhpur jail
The contractor had hired the agriculture workers and was transporting them in his tractor-trolley. (Representational image)

Hyderabad: Eight women drowned and another is feared dead after a tractor-trolley fell into the Alimineti Madhav Reddy Project (AMRP) canal near Waddipatla village in Pedda Adiserlapally Mandal of Nalgonda district in Telangana early on Friday. Ten persons received minor injuries in the incident.

According to Nalgo-nda SP A.V. Ranganath, the accident occurred when about 35 persons were heading in a tractor-trolley to Pulicherla village in Pedavoora mandal. All of those who were travelling we-re residents of Padam-ati Thanda in the Pedda Adiserlapally mandal of Nalgonda.

The contractor had hired the agriculture workers and was transporting them in his tractor-trolley. The accident took place while they were negotiating the canal bund.

The driver was talking on his mobile phone while he was steering the tractor. The bund mud had been excavated few days ago for some work and the stretch being narrow, the tractor along with the trolley fell into the canal, said Mr. Ranganath.

He added that 10 people died due to drowning. Luckily, a few locals and some men who were travelling in the tractor managed to save about 25 people.

The agricultural wor-kers were to sow onion seeds in a farm in Pulicherla village. The locals informed that the authorities had proposed to widen the bund to allow movement of vehicles and the works were to commence later this month.

The victims were identified as Ramavath Kamsali, 50; Ramavath Sona, 70; Ramavath Jeja, 65; Jarukula Dwali, 30; Ramavath Keli, 50; Banavath Beri, 55; Ramavath Bharathi, 35; and Ramavath Sunitha, 30.

The police deployed ropes and other equipment to pull out the tractor from the canal. Efforts are underway to retrieve the body of a woman who is still missing.
Bengaluru: In a move that the BJP has crowed is a slap on the face of the Chief Minister, the office of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's aide and security adviser to the home minister, M. Kempaiah, and all advisors has ceased to exist, based on the advisory from the Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat.

Chief Secretary K. Rathna Prabha told Deccan Chronicle: Advisors ceased to exist. The ECI has not dismissed any one. It said the advisors can not function under any official capacity.

A senior officer in the government told this newspaper that Mr Kempaiah had not only returned his vehicle, he had also vacated his room as soon as the office of the security adviser was scrapped. He will be operating from outside the confines of the government office, the official said.

Mr Kempaiah, a 1981 batch retired IPS officer has remained a controversial figure, with his access to the chief minister eliciting major heartburn among both Congressmen as well as opposition leaders.

The first to tweet the development - a trifle erroneously - was BJP Chief Minister hopeful B.S. Yeddyurappa who tweeted thanking the Election Commission of India for dismissing Mr Kempaiah.

CM says it thrice

Its Chamundeshwari for CM Siddaramaiah. Not Badami. No, not even Basavakalyan! The CM chanted the name of Chamundeswari constituency thrice, evidently irritated with many questions that were being thrown at him on whether he would go back to Varuna or migrate to a new constituency in north Karnataka-Badami or Basavakalyan. How many times are you going to ask this question? How many times should I clarify? I am contesting from Chamundeshwari. What more do you require? What further clarification do you need? he queried.
Hyderabad: A criminal case was registered against the ex-TDP MP, Nama Nageshwar Rao at the Jubilee Hills police station on Friday by a person named C.K. Ramakrishnan who alleged that the former MP has been having an extramarital affair with his wife, Sujatha Ramakrishnan, since 2013. Ramakrishnan has been reportedly residing in the US since 1992. His wife Sujatha returned to Hyderabad in 2014. Rao used to occasionally visit her at her residence at Jubilee Hills Road number 45. Ramakrishnan further alleged that in October last year, Sujatha called him and told him that she is being threatened by Rao and his brother Seethaiah to divorce him and to begin a live-in relationship with Rao, said the police inspector of Jubilee Hills, P. Chandra Shekar.

He added that Sujatha had even filed a case against Rao last October. According to sources, Ramakrishnan returned to Hyderabad two days ago and noticed that his wife was depressed. Upon inquiry, she confessed to him that she had been having an extramarital affair with the ex MP since 2013 and that of late, Rao and Seethaiah have been harassing her and even threatening her to divorce her husband.

Following Ramakrishnans complaint, the police registered a criminal case against Rao and Seethaiah under IPC Sections 497 (adultery), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC. We will gather all the evidence from the victim and complainant and examine them accordingly. The case is under investigation, said the police inspector.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a fillip to the startups in the state, IT networking major Cisco has announced setting up an incubator in state for Internet of Things (IoT), while Singularity University launched India Global Impact Challenge. The announcements were made at Huddle Kerala, a two day startup ecosystem congregations that began here on Friday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the event that was being attended by 1,350 delegates and 600 startups. The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) is organising the event in association with Internet and Mobile Association of India and IAMAI Startup Foundation.

Cisco is launching the thinQbator programme in association with the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K). NASSCOM foundation will be implementing the programme through its authoritsed partners at college level with the aim of skill and entrepreneurship development. Ciscos Networking Academy Programme on computer networking would be also launched in association with ICT Academy for schools, colleges, universities and other non-profit educational institutions.

Singularity Universitys India Global Impact Challenge would be open to all residents and India. The winner of the challenge will be selected on July 7, 2018 and awarded a prize to participate in the Singularity University Ventures Incubator Programme free of charge. The winners will get training in leadership, structure and foundation for companies, develop a minimum viable product and meet other amazing innovators from all over the world. The top teams will also be shortlisted for Kerala Innovation Challenge and will have the opportunity to pitch for an innovation grant for implementing the socially relevant solutions in the state.

Huddle Kerala also witnessed the launch of an Innovation Platform of KSUM in association with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing. It is aimed at connecting all key stakeholders like startups, innovators, academicians and funding agencies. Sharjah Digital Transformation Higher Committee Chairman Sheikh Fahim Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, NASSCOM Foundation chief executive officer Shrikant Sinha, Cisco India managing director Harish Krishnan, and Internet & Mobile Association of India president Subho Ray were among those attending the two day event.
A file photo of the iconic Moazzam Jahi Market, photos of which were part of the exhibition organised by the Deccan Heritage Trust in partnership with Heritage Buffs at the Ibrahim Mahal during Nizam VIIs 132nd Birth Anniversary celebrations.

Hyderabad: Ninety rare still photographs depicting the public buildings constructed by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Nizam VII were put on display as part of his 132nd Birth Anniversary celebrations.

The images, drawn from private collections, date back to the Nizams rule and include a picture of the Osmania Hospital in the 1920s, and an aerial view of Hussainsagar, showing a functioning thermal power station dating back to the 1940s.

On display was also a picture of the inauguration of a church in Secunderabad, and even rarer images of restoration and conservation work commissioned by the Nizam, of the Ajanta and Ellora caves, undertaken between 1914 and 1932.

These photographs provide a glimpse of the grandeur of the Asaf Jah and bring to life the many influential and multi-faceted contributions of Osman. The photographs also highlight the treasures that Hyderabad is gifted with, said Sajjad Shahid, convener, Centre for Deccan Studies.

The intention of organising the event was to raise awareness and kindle hope and optimism for the sustainable conservation of Hyderabad's iconic heritage for the benefit of all.

The event was held at a heritage building, Ibrahim Mahal, La Palais Royal, and was hosted by the Deccan Heritage Trust in partnership with Heritage Buffs, a WhatsApp group of heritage lovers.

We were delighted to host this first-in-a-series of events to catalyze a beneficial change and make meaningful contributions to the sustainable conservation of Hyderabads heritage and highlight its culture, said Mohammad Safiullah, Head of the Deccan Heritage Trust.

Meanwhile, the members of the Nizam Family Welfare Association and other historians paid floral tributes at the grave of Mir Osman Ali Khan, at Masjid-e-Judi, King Kothi.
New Delhi: In what may be a major cyber-war offensive that sent the security establishment into a tizzy, the websites of a few Union ministries, including ministry of defence (MoD), the ministry of home affairs (MHA), and the law and labour ministries were possibly hacked on Friday afternoon.

The MoDs homepage, which was brought down at about 2 pm, showed up a blank page with a single Chinese character for some time while the MHA homepage said it was offline due to technical issues.

Reacting to the development, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted: Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website (http://mod.Nic.In). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. Defence ministry officials also said there were strong indications that organised hackers may be behind the effort and were possibly involved in defacing the MoD website.

On the other hand, National Cyber Security chief coordinator Gulshan Rai blamed it a storage system hardware failure. Mr Rai told this newspaper: There is no cyber attack. There is no hacking of any government website.

Denying that the MHA site had been broken into, an official spokesperson said the National Informatics Centre, which hosts the MHA site, is upgrading the security system of the website and taking extra precautions leading to its temporary suspension.

As of now, both the possibilitiesof a deliberate hacking and of technical issues in the Central Management Systemappear equally plausible. The situation and the causes will be clear only after some time, said Rohit Srivastwa, an information security expert who actively collaborates with the government and police on cyber crimes.
New Delhi: Amidst the ruckus created by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan whether Ayodhya dispute is less important than polygamy, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine whether the entire Ayodhya title dispute can be sent to a constitution bench.

We will not restrict the scope of arguments only to reconsideration of 1994 verdict, Chief Justice Dipak Misra, heading a three-judge bench, told Mr Dhavan, You (Dhavan) can argue for referring the entire title suit to a constitution bench. Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer are the other judges in the bench. At the outset, Mr Dhavan, appearing for the main petitioner M. Siddiq, referred to a recent order passed for referring polygamy issue to a Constitution bench of five judges and asked the SC whether Ayodhya dispute is less important than polygamy for not referring to five judges.
Visitors trying out newly launched Amma Wifi zone facility at Labour statue at Marina beach on Friday. Tamil Nadu Cable TV Corporation has installed the facility at Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchy, Salem and Coimbatore. (Photo:DC)

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has launched Amma Free Wi-Fi zones in five cities of the state. The scheme was announced by former CM J. Jayalalithaa in September 2016, with the government then saying the Wi-Fi zones will come up in 50 spots, comprising bus terminals, parks and commercial complexes. The move was in line with a poll promise made by the AIADMK during Assembly elections that year. Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami launched the initiative on Thursday, an official release said on Friday.

As promised in 2016 election manifesto by the AIADMK, the government has launched Wi-Fi zones in five cities. The facility would be free for first 20 minutes every day and Rs10 would be charged per hour thereafter. Chief Minister K. Palaniswami has launched the 'Amma Wi-Fi zones' through video conferencing facility from the secretariat.

In a release on Friday, the government stated that CM inaugurated the Wi-Fi facility at Labour Statue, Marina, Chennai, Central bus stands, Salem and Tiruchirappalli, Gandhipuram bus stand in Coimbatore and Mattuthavani bus stand, Madurai. The scheme was announced in September 2016 by AIADMK supremo and former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, who promised that Wi-Fi zones would be set up in 50 spots, including big bus terminals, parks and commercial complexes across the state.

Regarding this, the government issued a GO on August 16, 2017. The release stated that users will get 20 minutes of free internet service every day and a sum of Rs10 per hour will be charged thereafter. The facility has been provided by state-run Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV) at a total cost of Rs 8.50 crore. In the first phase, the facility would be provided in Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Coimbatore and Ma-durai.

Among others minister for information technology, Dr M. Manikandan, chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, secretary, information technology department Dr B. Chandramohan and managing director TACTV J. Kumaragurubaran, were present. The CM also inaugurated buildings constructed in various colleges in districts through video conference facility. The CM distributed appointment orders to 275 persons who were appointed through direct recruitment in Tamil Nadu Housing Board.
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has sought the release of 2 TMCs of water from the Narayanapur dam in Karnataka to the Jurala dam in Mahbubn-agar to meet drinking wa-ter and irrigation needs this summer.

The Jurala project is the first project in TS on river Krishna to receive water from upstream Narayan-pur.

Farmers in undivided Mahbubnagar district have sown crops over an extent of 40,000 acres with hope resting on Jurala water.

However, the water level in Jurala fell to dead storage level. With this, officials stopped the release of water for agriculture, due to which crops are drying up.

Farmers are pleading on to the streets to save their crops from drying up by releasing water from the Narayanpur dam.

Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao pursued the case with the Karnataka government last week to release water. Though Karnataka had agreed to release 1 TMC of water from Narayanpur last week, it did not release orders to this effect so far.

As a result, irrigation officials at the Narayanpur dam refused to release water. Chief Secretary S.K Joshi, on Friday, had written to the Principal Secretary of the Irrigation Department, Karnataka, Mr Rakesh Singh, requesting him to release water immediately to save crops and meet the drinking water needs in summer.



Mr Joshi said, "In view of current adverse weather conditions prevailing in Telangana, it is requested that 2 TMCs of water be released from Narayanpur to Jurala for drinking water and other purposes. I request you to pass on the necessary instructions to your engineers for coordination with their counterparts in Telangana."
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Friday complained to the Centre that decisions taken by the Kr-ishna River Management Board (KRBM), regarding the sharing of water from the Krishna River, were not being implemented.

At a KRMB meeting held in June 2016, it was decided that telemetric systems would be installed on the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar projects within two mo-nths in order to accurately monitor the drawing of wa-ter from the projects by AP and Telangana. However, those plans have not been implemented even after nearly two years.

The Telangana government sought the immediate installation of a tamper-proof telemetric system to avoid any disputes between the two states over the sharing of Krishna water.

Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi on Friday sent a letter to Upendra Prasad Singh, the secretary of the Union ministry of water resources. In the letter, he said, As river Krishna forms a boundary between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it is necessary that a transparent, robust telemetric/data acquisition system should be installed at various places of withdrawal of water, for proper accounting between the two states.

He added that as far as the Srisailam Reservoir was concerned, AP had developed a gravity-based system capable of drawing up to 55,000 cusecs water in Pothireddypadu. In the absence of an accurate flow measurement system in Pothireddypadu, there will always be a dispute regarding the quantum of water being drawn and utilised by AP, he said.

Mr Joshi stated that there had already been a considerable delay in the implementation of the KRMBs orders, and he asked the Centre to expedite the process. I request you to instruct the concerned officials of the Central Water Commission/KRMB, un-der the close supervision of some senior officials from the Union Ministry of Water Resources, to commission the installation a tamper-proof telemetric system before the commencement of the 2018-19 water year, he said.
Thrissur: The chamber of Commerce in Thrissur has come out in open against the frequent hartals. The functionaries of the unit said here on Friday that they would not be taking part in any of the hartals from now on including the one called by Dalit organisations on Monday. President of the unit C.A. Saleem said that all the traders associated with the chamber would open their shops during hartals as they could not suffer the financial loss caused by frequent hartals called by political parties and other organisations.

We have taken such a decision with the support extended by Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti, Bus Operators Association, and hoteliers associations, secretary of the chamber Sajive Manjila said. He said that the chamber did not have any political affiliations, and was ready to hold consultations with political parties over the matter.

We expect all the support from the public on the stand taken by us in the issue of hartals. Our organisation came up with such a bold step after holding several rounds of internal talks between the businessmen and traders, he added. The chamber is affiliated to The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti.
New Delhi: In what may be a major cyber war offensive that sent the security establishment into a tizzy, the websites of a few Union ministries including ministry of defence, the ministry of home affairs, and the law and labour ministries were possibly hacked on Friday afternoon.

Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken, defence minister Nirmala Sitharam tweeted.

Defence ministry officials also said there were strong indications that organised hackers may be behind the effort and were possibly involved in defacing the MoD website.

On the other hand, National Cyber Security chief coordinator Gulshan Rai blamed it a storage system hardware failure.

This isnt the first time hackers have targeted official websites of the Indian government. Authorities had temporarily taken down the ministry of home affairs website last year after a cyber attack was reported.

A month before that, suspected Pakistan-affiliated operatives had hacked the official website of the elite National Security Guard and defaced it with a profanity-laden message against the PM and anti-India content. In 2016, the websites and databases of seven Indian missions in Europe and Africa were reportedly hacked.
Chennai: The appointment of MK Surappa as the vice chancellor of Anna University here has kicked up a political row with the opposition parties questioning his Kannada origin as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are embroiled in the Cauvery dispute. Senior minister D.Jayakumar, however, said the state government had nothing to do with the VCs appointment as it was decided by Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his capacity as Chancellor of the university from a pool of candidates.

A Raj Bhavan release on Thursday said Dr Surappa was appointed vice-chancellor of Anna University for a period of three years from the date of his assumption of office. A former director of IIT Ropar, Surappa, who has a doctorate in Metallurgical Engineering, enjoys rich teaching experience of more than 30 years, of which 24 years were spent at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, the release said, adding that Surappa has 150 research publications and four patents to his credit.

Opposition parties, however, are not impressed by the new VCs credentials and have raised demands that the academician from Karnataka be replaced with a Tamil. At a time when Cauvery protests are raging in Tamil Nadu, the governor appointing Surappa, who is from Karnataka, as the VC of Anna University is not acceptable, DMK working president and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly M K Stalin said in his Facebook post. He said academicians, who were sons of the soil should not be belittled by such appointments.

PMK founder S Ramadoss in a statement said Surappas appointment is condemnable as it does not respect the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu and it must be withdrawn.

Actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan in a tweet said, We asked for water from Karnataka and we get a vice-chancellor from Karnataka instead. The gulf between people and the government cannot be more obvious. Are they taunting us so we react adversely? I wonder what their game plan is.

MDMK founder Vaiko urged for the withdrawal of Surappas appointment and said only an academician from Tamil Nadu should be nominated for the coveted post.
The five MPs are Vara Prasad Rao V, YV Subba Reddy, PV Midhun Reddy, YS Avinash Reddy and the party floor leader Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Vijayawada: The fight for AP special status in the national capital saw YSRC MPs submit their resignation and TD MPs continue their protest in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

But down in the AP capital, the governments proposal to convene an all-party meeting on Saturday received poor response. However, Jana Sena, Left parties and YSRC made it clear that they would stay out of it.

YSRC MPs submitted their resignations and moved to AP Bhavan in Delhi for an indefinite hunger strike.

TD chief N. Chandrababu Naidu participated in cycle rally and warned the Union government not to touch Andhra sentiments.

Across the state, Jana Sena activists took out protest rallies and Left parties too had their parades.

The decision not to attend the Saturday all-party meet conven-ed by the state government was despite the invitation and request from the Chief Minister.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan said, Naidus experience didnt yield any result over awarding special status to the state.

Mr Naidu retorted during the address at the concluding day of the state Budget Sess-ion asking Mr Pawan to see the development taking place in the state.

Jana Senas two-day exercise in Capital Amaravati caught the attention of masses.

The Jana Sena chief has used this protest rally to gauge his strength in the capital and also succeeded in getting out of the image that he is the BJPs man, said a party leader, pointing to the partys association with the Left.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with senior BJP leader L.K. Advani as Union home minister Rajnath Singh looks on during BJP Parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Its a protest vs a protest. Both the BJP and the Congress have decided to go on a fast accusing each other of dragging politics and parliamentary proceedings to a new a low.

Moments after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a fast by BJP MPs on April 12 to protest the impasse caused by Opposition in Parliament, the Congress asked its functionaries to hold a day-long fast at all state and district headquarters on April 9 to expose the BJPs lies on various issues.

Union ministers blamed the Congress for disrupting proceedings in both the Houses on a day when the washed out second leg of the Budget Session came to an end. Both Houses were adjourned sine die, capping a month of relentless disruptions and stated to be the least productive since 2000.0.
Chitradurga/Bengaluru: The BJP has demanded that Jignesh Mewani be barred from entering Karnataka till voting day on May 12. MLA and BJP state general secretary CT Ravi told this newspaper, Mewani wants to disrupt public life by instigating people.

People like Mewani, Prakash Raj and others instigate the Dalits and minorities not to vote for BJP in the elections. Their agenda is to divide society based on castes and to instigate riots. With the Congress in a desperate situation, it has taken the help of Mewani and others in the elections", Mr. Ravi said.

Supreme Court verdict has sparked unrest in North India. Taking advantage of the SC ruling on atrocity related cases, Mewani and others, are blaming the BJP led NDA government at Centre for SC verdict. They are trying to create unrest in North India and now, they are trying to create unrest in South India, especially election-bound state like Karnataka. We have decided to file a complaint against Mewani before the Election Commission of India, requesting ECI to bar Mewani from entering Karnataka and we have also decided to urge ECI to take action against him for dividing the society based on castes, Mr. Ravi added.

Mewani is currently in Chitradurga in southern Karnataka and he has been appealing to all Dalit groups in the state to not vote for the BJP in the assembly elections. Mr Mewani called upon people to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming rally on April 15.

His address, recorded in a video to a gathering of Dalit organizations in Chitradurga has now gone viral on soical media. In the video, Mewani called on people to enter PM Modi's rally, throw chairs in the air and question the prime minister's promise to generate two crores worth of employment in the state". He said "if Modi does not answer, then he should be asked to leave and take shelter at a Ram Mandir in the Himalayas.

I am not here to support any political party," Mewani can be seen saying in the video. I am here to awaken the masses over the risk of fascism and ensure that BJP doesnt enter South India.

FIR against Jignesh

Authorities enforcing the Model Code of Conduct have filed a complaint against Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani and office bearers of Komu Souhardha Vedike for the Dalit leader's "provocative speech" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chitradurga even as the BJP has stepped up its tirade against the man seen as having stopped the BJP juggernaut in his home state of Gujarat.

Vedike had organised a interaction of Mr Mewani with Dalit organisations in Chitradurga where he issued a call to disrupt PM Modi's campaign here in the state.

Chitradurga police have registered a FIR against Mr Mewani and local office bearers of Vedike.
They complained that officials of the Agriculture Department were estimating crop losses without conducting any ground-level verification.

Hyderabad: The Telugu Desam has asked the Telangana government to immediately release compensation and input subsidy for farmers affected by unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

Telangana TD MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah and senior leaders Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy and L. Ramana met with agriculture commissioner Jagan Mohan on Friday and submitted a representation in that regard.

They brought to his notice that the crops on 1.2 lakh acres of land had been damaged by the recent rains, but the government was yet to obtain reports regarding the lo-sses from the collector and release compensation.

They said that as per the preliminary estimates released by the agriculture department, 72,632 acres of paddy crop, 16,785 acres of maize, and 7,500 acres of mango had been damaged.

They informed the Commissioner that farmers in Nalgonda, Khammam and Suryapet districts had suffered the greatest losses  32,420 acres, 29,000 acres and 14,577 acres respectively.

They complained that officials of the Agriculture Department were estimating crop losses without conducting any ground-level verification.

Mr Veeraiah said, Farmers are not eligible to claim insurance for their crop losses as banks delayed the disbursement of crop loans. As per the insurance norms, only those crops for which loans are given between October and December are eligible to be considered for insurance during the Rabi season. But the banks gave out the loans between January and March. Farmers are now totally dependent on the State Government for help. Unfortunately, the State Government has failed to even obtain reports regarding the crop losses.

Mr Chandrasekhar Reddy said, Less than 2 lakh of the 30 lakh farmers who have sown crops in the Rabi season are covered by insurance. Even these farmers have been declared ineligible to claim compensation because they failed to call the insurance firm and register their grievances within 48 hours of the crop damage occurring, due to a lack of awareness. Though a few farmers called the insurance firm, the insurance officials and officials of the Agriculture Department failed to visit their fields to assess the damage.
Hyderabad: Lok Sabha security staff got protesting Telugu Desam members of Parliament to vacate the House by resorting to a ruse on the last day of Parliament.

After the House was adjourned sine die on Friday, around 13 TD MPs remained in the House staging protests at the Speakers podium and before the Prime Ministers seat. They refused the request of the Lok Sabha security personnel to vacate the House and said that they would continue their protest in the House.

A security officer then told them that the Speaker has asked them to come for discussions in her chamber. As soon as the MPs came out to meet the Speaker, the security staff locked the doors of the Lok Sabha. The Speaker had also left. The TD MPs then protested in the Speakers chamber.

The marshals requested them to vacate the Speakers chamber, but former minister Y. Sujana Chowdary said they would not leave till they met the Speaker.

The confrontation ended in the evening when, acting on the directions of the Speaker, the marshals forcibly removed the TD MPs from her chamber. The protests continued at the gate of Parliament.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam MP M. Murali Mohan was shifted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital after he fell ill.

The Telugu Desam is demanding the grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh and implementation of assurances given to the state in the AP Reorganisation Act.
Forty-four years ago, Balasaheb Deoras, when he had barely taken over as sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), delivered a stirring speech in Pune whose objectives still remains the Sangh Parivars kathni (proclamation), but is yet to become its karni (practice). He had taken over the organisation which although just a year from its golden jubilee, remained a peripheral grouping. His predecessor, the ascetic-looking Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, had left behind an embarrassing situation which required a resolution  in an interview to the Marathi paper Nava Kal he had waxed eloquently on the necessity and intrinsic worth of Chaturvarna, or the four-caste system prevalent in Hinduism.

This assertion put paid to the carefully devised strategy to enlist support for the Sangh Parivar across caste lines. Despite Maharashtrian brahmins dominating the RSS leadership as a modernist peshwai, RSS ideologues saw the caste order as an impediment to Hindu consolidation. Significantly, when interned at Ratnagiri, and disallowed from participating in political activity, V.D. Savarkar had participated in campaigns seeking dalits entry into temples. Golwalkars comments had provided gist to adversaries mills  his views showed the RSS in its true colours, they said. When offered a choice of topics for his speech at Punes Vasant Vyakhanmala, or spring lecture series, a part of the citys brahminical tradition dating back to 1875, Deoras chose a demanding subject: Social Equality and Hindu Consolidation. His selection provoked immense curiosity  how would he argue for caste equality in the face of RSS inherent savarn conservatism?

Deoras set out as sarsanghchalak to consolidate all the Hindus. Swayamsevaks were told  the audience was wider, but the primary target was the RSS cadre  that social inequality has been a reason for our downfall... caste, sub-caste rivalries and untouchability have been manifestations of social inequality... He told followers that the problem lay with Hindu Sangathanists taking pride in archaic traditions, including the caste order. Deoras made a concession by accepting social classification may have been once justified but after becoming associated with caste discrimination, such social stratification had no justification. He then went on to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: If untouchability is not wrong, then nothing in the world is wrong!

Deoras words created an intellectual flutter within the RSS but he failed in getting the behemoth to integrate the lower castes, especially dalits. Panic set in only after the Meenakshipuram conversions, and when the shilanyas ceremony for the Ram temple at Ayodhya was conducted in 1989, it was performed by a dalit activist. Such tokenism apart, the Sangh Parivar remains gripped by upper-caste mentality. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that his government had done more to promote Dr B.R. Ambedkars memory than any previous government. His declaration of the dalit icons last residence near Delhi University being dedicated to the nation on his birth anniversary next week ignored its acquisition by the Centre in 2003 and that it has already been a low-key memorial for several years. It is for Mr Modi to ponder if dalits will be satisfied with a spruced-up memorial, or if they prefer Ramji  added to Dr Ambedkars name by Yogi Adityanath in Hindutvawadi zeal  being struck off so the original middle name remains what it was  in a state of disuse. The Modi government is conspicuous in its inability to comprehend dalit sense and sensibility. Matters related to economic advancement are vital, and no government cannot but prioritise this. Yet, respecting dalit identity and dignity is paramount.

The BJP argues that violence against dalits was higher during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance, but more anti-dalit headlines have been created since 2014. In the Rohith Vemula case, then HRD minister Smriti Irani had personally challenged his dalit identity. Insensitivity ruled the roost after the incident in Una, Gujarat, in July 2016. Last year, the BJP sweep in Uttar Pradesh was followed by violence against dalits in Saharanur village as upper caste elation at a Thakur becoming chief minister swept the hinterland. The recent incident of a dalit youths murder because he owned a horse was not the first such act. Within days, a dalit youth in UP moved the high court seeking protection so that he can ride a mare for his baraat. In recent years, specially after 2014, India is seeing an unprecedented resurgence of upper caste hostility.

Upper castes and lower OBCs collaborate in discriminating against dalits, even resorting to violence. These groups are incensed with the emergence of a reservation-linked affluent dalit middle class. On the social media, there is a proliferation of old campaigns against reservations and visuals demonising and ridiculing dalits. Symbols of upper and middle castes nouveau-riche superiority  owning motorcycles, wearing jeans and T-shirts, riding horses or elephants for ceremonial occasions  even growing moustaches, draping a chunni (by unmarried women)  are in the dalit list of prohibitions. Violation is responded to with violence. Due to the decades-old animosity, whenever the purchasing power of dalits rise, he/she flaunts products which evoke resentment and envy.

The Supreme Courts argument of not taking the sting out of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act will now be put against the Centres belated claim that it can be argued that any law can be abused (and possibly is being misused). But by singling out the SC/ST Act, the court was putting the onus on dalits for allegedly abusing a law. The judiciarys upper caste dominance needs no reiteration. The investigating agencies have little sympathy for dalits, seeing them mainly as freeloaders.

When the Supreme Court passed its first order, the BJP and the Central government acted like deer frozen in headlights. The dalit issue is the proverbial gale mein haddi (bone stuck in the throat)  the BJP can neither spit it out nor can it swallow it down. The issue has surfaced when it is politically inopportune as several social and economic groups are dissatisfied with Mr Modi. The imbroglio has forged intra-dalit unity and ranged upper castes and OBCs against them. The social coalition the BJP raised in its support has overnight become shaky. This is mainly because the Sangh Parivar still has little clarity over its stance on the caste order.
Its hard to see why Prime Minister Narendra Modi at all took the trouble Wednesday to bring up B.R. Ambedkar, the national icon of dalit resistance, intellectual and head of the countrys Constitution-drafting committee, when there was no specific reason to do so. Its true that casual or even hypocritical referencing of Ambedkar has become a ritual of our politics. Apart for the dalits themselves, to whom Ambedkar matters as much as Martin Luther King Jr does to American blacks, if not more, politicians routinely exalt that famous leader of dalit challenge to Indias social system in order to show that they care for the former untouchable community even when they actually dont.

In election meetings and in Parliament, Mr Modi has done enough of this. But his allusion to Babasaheb Ambedkar has two specific contexts: One, his government finally woke up  seeing that storm clouds were gathering  to file a review petition in the Supreme Court seeking a change in the courts order that was widely seen (except by the Supreme Court itself) as diluting the effect of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989.

Two, the government was, in a way, forced to take that step. Dalit BJP and NDA MPs, including ministers of parties that are the BJPs coalition partners, left the Prime Minister very little choice. Union Cabinet minister Ram Vilas Paswan went to the extent of saying that the BJP should conduct itself the way that the Congress used to when it ruled at the Centre  show sympathy to SC-ST people and to the minorities. In other words, the PM was coming off a licking.

That really cant be the best time to blow ones own trumpet. Mr Modi said no other government in the country had shown as much honour to Ambedkars memory as his government had. That is a vacuous observation. All that the government can say is that it will soon refurbish and inaugurate the house in Delhi where the dalit icon died, and that statues have been raised to his name. Mr Modi forgot to mention that his government had decided to create an Ambedkar pilgrim circuit.

Probably some of this political razzmatazz helped the BJP harvest dalit votes in the UP Assembly elections last year, although the dalit community had faced violence at the hands of Sangh Parivar cow vigilantes, including in the PMs home state Gujarat.

The real point the BJP doesnt get is that its impossible to honour the memory of Ambedkar while dalit lives become more insecure. The dalits would have been truly appreciative if the Modi government had built no statue or inaugurated a building for Ambedkar, but sent down the message that violence to their lives or dignity would be severely punished.
Just over a week ago, the United Kingdom passed the half-way point in its negotiations to leave the European Union. Unless there is unanimous agreement to extend the two-year negotiation period mandated in the EU Treaty, the UK will cease to be a member of the EU on March 29, 2019. So far the process has resembled nothing less than the Suez affair  but in slow motion. Then, in 1956, under American pressure, the British (and French) were forced into a degrading retreat from the Suez Canal in the space of two weeks. It taught them a valuable lesson  they were no longer world powers, they were no longer able to dictate to lesser nations. Now, 62 years later, the British are taking a refresher course.

The sorry saga begins with Conservative PM Theresa May recklessly triggering the withdrawal process barely nine months after taking office. To allow only nine months to prepare for negotiations which would unravel 45 years of Britains EU membership was grossly negligent. There was absolutely no need for Ms May to act so precipitously, other than her desire to demonstrate to Europhobes in her ranks her steadfast commitment to the Brexit cause. Instead of detailed groundwork, we had Ms Mays fatuous slogan that Brexit means Brexit.

Unsurprisingly this was a wholly inadequate substitute and the result was all too predictable. The UK has been forced into repeated and demeaning retreats from its so-called red lines, its supposedly immovable positions. This is hardly surprising since they were unrealistic and indefensible in equal measure.

The first to be abandoned was the sequencing of talks. The UK demanded negotiations over the terms of its withdrawal from the EU take place in tandem with negotiations over the terms of the UKs future relationship. The EU refused, knowing that it was only to the UKs disadvantage to waste valuable time on process. The UK gave way.

Desperate to move the talks on to the terms of a future trading relationship, it was only a matter of time before the UK had to agree to the EUs figure for the divorce bill, the accrued liabilities owed by the UK to the EU. The UK duly agreed; and what is more, it agreed an amount four times greater than it originally said it would pay.

The next red line to be smudged was the UKs demand that it have the freedom to set its own trade tariffs and regulatory standards from the moment of departure. But if the UK is to set its own trade tariffs and regulatory standards, there have to be customs checks on UK borders. Necessarily that would lead to a hard border with the Irish Republic  the UKs only land frontier with EU. Yet it was the removal of precisely that hard border which helped so much to end 30 years of terrorism in Ireland.

Entirely understandably, the Irish Republic  backed by the EU  refused to countenance an arrangement which risked provoking terrorist activity simply to accommodate hard-line Brexiters in Ms Mays party. The UK caved in. During a 21-month transition period, the UK will remain bound by the EUs external trade tariff and fully aligned in regulatory matters, but with no say over either. On the UK-Irish border, Northern Ireland will remain permanently inside the EU tariff area and bound by EU regulatory standards; unless a technological solution can be found. The withdrawal arrangements agreed, the UK now stands on the threshold of negotiations to determine its long-term relationship with Europe. The EU has consistently made its position clear. Full and unimpeded access to EU markets depends on membership of the EU customs union and full compliance with regulatory standards of the single market.

The UK governments proposals on the other hand are confused and unworkable. There is to be a global Britain, outside the EU customs union and single market, able to make its own trade agreements and set its own regulatory standards. However, the UK will retain access to EU, its largest export market, by dint of mutual recognition of regulations. This process hasnt been defined and its advantages to the EU are yet to be explained. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland will remain economically aligned with the rest of the UK, rather than EU, and as yet unknown and untested system of drones and tracking devices will ensure there is no hard border with the Irish Republic.

All this is the stuff of fantasy, but behind it there is a reality  a hard choice between exit from the EU customs union and the single market or de facto membership of each. The first means greatly limited access to the EU market, by far the UKs largest, and a hard border in Northern Ireland, with all that entails in terms of peace and stability. The second will preserve the economy, but it would be a humiliating climbdown. It would also mean exiting from the EUs decision-making structures. Outside them the UK will have no say on trade policy or regulatory standards but would have to comply with both. The UK would in effect become an EU economic protectorate.

But the hard choices dont stop there. If Ms May bends to the large and vocal Europhobic segment of her parliamentary party and leads the UK out of the customs union and single market, she wrecks the economy. She also risks splitting the Conservative Party as the Euro-realist wing revolts and votes with the Opposition to bring her down. If Ms May bends to common sense and decides that the UK should remain de facto in the customs union and single market, she saves the economy but risks the Europhobic segment deposing her. Neither is appealing, so for now Ms May hides behind bromides and circumlocutions. In the meantime, a diminished UK drifts on, in disarray and disunity, to an uncertain destiny.
Sandberg says Facebook should have conducted an audit after learning that a political consultancys improperly accessed data 3 years ago.

Facebooks No. 2 executive says the company should have conducted an audit after learning that a political consultancy improperly accessed user data nearly three years ago.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told NBCs Today show that at the time, Facebook received legal assurances that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the improperly obtained information.

What we didnt do is the next step of an audit and were trying to that now, she said. The audit of Cambridge Analytica is on hold, in deference to a UK investigation. But Facebook has been conducting a broader review of its own practices and how other third-party apps use data.

The company is facing a global backlash over the improper data-sharing scandal. Hearings over the issue are scheduled in the US, and the European Union is considering what actions to take against the company.

Sandberg gave several interviews this week as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to testify before Congress next week. The company is also facing an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission in whats become its worst privacy crisis in its 14-year history.

It started with revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm, improperly accessed the private information of tens of millions of users to try to influence elections around the world. Over the past three weeks the scandal continued to spiral. For one, Facebook executives took nearly five days to respond to the Cambridge Analytica reports.

Then, some users who logged in to Facebook through Android devices discovered that Facebook had been collecting information about phone calls they made and text messages they sent. Facebook also acknowledged this week that nearly all of its 2.2 billion users may have had their public data scraped by malicious actors it did not name.

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When a popular smartphone from a renowned manufacturer is due for launch or under development, information about such devices usually creeps up from one of their sources. Sometimes, the websites reveal the information while there are times when a software code for an existing product reveals everything. Apple has had such moments before the launch of the iPhone X, with the HomePod firmware revealing enough about the handset. Something similar has happened from Google, where they have accidentally revealed the name of their next flagship smartphone offering.

If you live and breathe tech, then it shouldnt be hard to guess that the next flagship Google smartphone will be called the Pixel 3. The source code for the Android P Developer Preview houses a clause that reveals the existence of the Pixel 3. The code mentions a situation related to NetworkScan API, which is stated to be only available in the Pixel 3. It seems that the Pixel 3 will keep on scanning mobile networks to make sure that options are always available. The current Pixel 2 shows results 30 seconds after scanning, which is not the most convenient feature. The feature was discovered by XDA Developers Mishaal Rahman.

While this makes sure that Google will be sticking to the Pixel brand for its flagship smartphone(s) for this year, we are still in the dark about the handset's expected launch date. However, as with Googles tradition, we might see the company unveiling the Pixel 3 in October 2018, just after Apple launches its new iPhones. The Pixel 3 is expected to sport a flagship Snapdragon 845 chipset along with Android P out-of-the-box. Since Google is including support for the notch in Android P, we expect the Pixel 3 to jump in on the notched-display bandwagon.

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In 2003, I married, graduated college and flew halfway around the world with my husband to serve for two years in the United States Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova. It was a deeply rewarding and difficult experience. Moldova was one of the former Soviet states where Russian influence loomed large. I have seen, up close, the damage that can be done by unchecked external interference in elections.

The damage in Moldovan society took the form of twin maladies that ate away at the countrys strength: apathy and corruption. Many Moldovans I worked with felt their elections didnt matter because their government was corrupt beyond repair. Russia controlled much of what they saw, read and heard in the media, carefully crafting an image of authority and power. I remember being present during a Moldovan election where Russia did not allow the media to host debates between candidates until after Election Day.

Russias meddling inside Moldovas borders, both cyber and physical, fed apathy and corruption, resulting in a strain on the foundations of their electoral system. Starting to sound familiar?

My Moldovan experience is one reason I am so deeply concerned about Russian interference in our democratic institutions and in our elections. Utahns and all Americans need representation in Congress that takes seriously the modern, complex threats currently shaking our democracy. Our freedom is tied to our faith in our intelligence community, our national security and our elections. The strength of our democracy should not be subject to politics. It is not a progressive issue. It is not a conservative issue. It is an American issue.

Rep. Chris Stewart, the incumbent I am challenging, was recently in Salt Lake City. He held a security summit where he said there is a sense of urgency to stop Russian meddling in the upcoming midterms, but he went on to say, Maybe well be surprised (by the Russians) in ways we dont really anticipate right now. Utahns deserve representation that supports our intelligence community, rather than undermining their efforts, so we are not surprised come November.

The omnibus spending bill included $380 million in grant funding to help states secure election systems. If this were truly an urgent concern, why wasnt it given higher legislative priority like the increase in defense spending? More concerning, this ignores the threats to our country from dark money in politics and breaches in our personal, private data and discounts our ability to actively counter foreign interference in our elections.

I will prioritize cybersecurity, data protection and supporting our intelligence community and the Department of Justice in their ongoing efforts to defend our democracy. False news stories and coordinated social media campaigns by foreign governments that manipulate our elections need swift action, and I am concerned about the lethargic and misguided response taken by this administration and the House Intelligence Committee.

We must reform campaign finance so elections cannot be funded by secret money. I am proud to say that each of my campaigns over 700 donors has a name and a face. I have not accepted one cent from a corporate PAC. There are solutions to these complexities, but they deserve clarity and leadership in the preservation of our American democracy.

It is time to ensure that our elections are decided by the people, by you  not corporate donors, billionaires or foreign governments. I dont want to see what surprises Congress allows to influence our elections. I want to protect them.
SALT LAKE CITY  The state of Utah is among multiple critics to the so-called Million pipeline project that proposes to divert Green River water to the Front Range of Colorado.

The Utah Division of Resources indicated in an official protest filed this week it has concerns over negative impacts to Green River water users, the ability to meet target flows for endangered fish recovery and questions over whether Colorado itself supports the project.

Multiple protests are on record with the Utah State Engineer's Office over a water rights application from Aaron Million's Water Horse Resources to export 55,000 acre-feet of water from Green River at two points near Utah's Browns Park in Daggett County.

The project envisions construction of a hydroelectric facility, likely in Wyoming, along with a network of hundreds of miles of pipeline to convey the water to Colorado's Front Range.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected Million's pipeline plan in 2012. At the time, Million sought a permit for a 501-mile buried pipeline that would be accompanied by seven hydropower projects before its terminus in Pueblo, Colorado.

The commission denied Million's preliminary permit application on the basis that it was incomplete.

Critics to the revised proposal include the Uintah and Emery county water districts, the Provo River Water Users Association, the Center for Biological Diversity and Trout Unlimited. The Utah Board of Water Resources also filed an objection.

The Center for Biological Diversity, in its protest, cited declining snowpack, warming temperatures and increased instances of prolonged drought in the Colorado River Basin, as well as potential impacts the diversion would have on the recovery of endangered fish species.

Paul Burnett, the Utah water and habitat program lead for Trout Unlimited, said he was a bit surprised to see the project resurrected.

"To us this just looks like speculation," he said. "The proposal is lacking so much information we can't even put together a full protest on it. It is a lot of water and not a lot of information."

Million is a wealthy Fort Collins entrepreneur who formed Water Horse Resources to pursue the project again. This time, he's seeking much less water than the original 240,000 acre-feet and also changed the point of diversion from Flaming Gorge in Wyoming to the Green River in Utah.

The protest period ends Saturday.
SALT LAKE CITY  A wild series of events in Cedar City Wednesday night started with shots fired inside a high school and ended in the arrest of a Wyoming man.

Talon Sessions, 28, of Thayne, Wyoming, was booked into the Iron County Jail for investigation of nearly a dozen charges. Late Thursday afternoon, he was formally charged in 5th District Court with 11 felonies and two misdemeanors, including two counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; two counts of theft of a vehicle, a second-degree felony; burglary and aggravated burglary, both second-degree felonies; and three counts of discharging a firearm, a third-degree felony.

The investigation began about 9:15 p.m. when someone near Cedar City High School heard what sounded like "someone inside the school smashing and breaking things," said Cedar City Police Sgt. Jerry Womack.

Officers arriving at the school found someone had entered the school by shattering a window. No one was in the school by the time police arrived, but detectives found a couple of windows that had been shot, Womack said. Investigators looked at surveillance video from the school and learned that a man had been walking the hallways with a gun.

"There was video of him shooting. And he tried to shoot the lock off an interior door, too," Womack said.

Nothing was reported missing from the school, and it was unknown how long Sessions had been inside, he said.

Not long after, a carjacking was reported near 900 South and 25 East in a neighborhood not far from the school. Womack said detectives believe Sessions approached a woman in a car either parked in a driveway or on the side of the road, and told her to get out.

That car, however, didn't have a lot of gas in it, according to the sergeant. After taking the vehicle, he abandoned it about 12 blocks later in another neighborhood.

"I think he just saw that it wasn't going to take him very far," Womack said.

At that point, police believe Sessions entered an unlocked home and stole the homeowner's car keys at gunpoint, he said. That car was also abandoned a short distance away.

He then allegedly entered another home, took orange juice from the refrigerator, and left.

At least four other homeowners in the same neighborhood reported someone at their door that night attempting to get in, he said. In addition, police found several cars on the street with open doors.

"It appeared he'd been going through cars trying to find another one to get a way in," Womack said.

With officers from several jurisdictions closing in, Sessions was arrested near 400 E. Hillside Place just before midnight.

Sessions is also a suspect in a pharmacy robbery in Wyoming, according to Womack.

Based on the limited information detectives were able to get from interviewing Sessions, Womack said it is believed that he traveled from Wyoming to Cedar City with a woman, but then had an argument and left her. The woman had not been located as of Thursday.

Police believe Sessions was under the influence of an unknown substance Wednesday night.
SALT LAKE CITY  A hard-scrabble compromise involving land trades for ski resort expansions, new wilderness and a federal land designation for the Wasatch canyons remains on the table, but more questions than answers remain over its ultimate fate.

"The concerns we have heard is that we are putting the cart before the horse," according to Josh Satterfield, legislative assistant for Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, who has agreed to carry the legislative proposal first introduced in 2016 by then-Congressman Jason Chaffetz.

Members of the Central Wasatch Commission met Thursday with key staffers from Love's office. The Central Wasatch National Conservation and Recreation Area Act proposes to set aside 80,000 acres for protection and facilitate land trades between the Forest Service and four Salt Lake County ski resorts for expansion.

It would also establish 8,000 acres of new wilderness.

Although Love has agreed to carry the bill forward, Satterfield said there is no timetable "right now" on when that might happen.

Some provisions in the bill continue to be negotiated, he added.

"We understand it has been developed through a yearslong process and we don't want to throw a wrench in that," he said, noting the office does have questions and concerns.

The Utah Department of Transportation is in the midst of an environmental impact statement for the Little Cottonwood Canyon Road, a process that is just beginning the public input period. The final document and recommendations won't be released until 2020.

Some critics of the designation and potential ski resort expansions say the canyons' transportation troubles, water issues and public amenities need to be addressed before there is an effort to attract even more visitors.

"Our concern is this is going to generate national publicity through a federal designation," said Barb Cameron, head of the Big Cottonwood Community Council. "That should be done when we have the proper infrastructure in place."

Cameron cited problems with traffic and crowds and a lack of potable water in a canyon that attracts 1.7 million visitors a year.

Others at the meeting complained local residents had been left out of the public input process for the legislation, which grew out of the now defunct Mountain Accord.

"There was no effort to include small-property owners," said Bill Clayton, who said he owns a quarter-acre lot with a cabin in Little Cottonwood Canyon that has been in his family since the 1870s.

"This was sent straight from the executive committee of Mountain Accord to Chaffetz," he said, instead of being aired before multiple community councils, city councils or even the Salt Lake County Council for approval.

"We felt like we were getting thrown under the bus" during the Mountain Accord process, he said. "(In the future) we would appreciate a phone call from Mia Love."

Some ski resorts, too, are backing off some of the provisions in the land trades.

Mike Vaughan with Alta said the resort is interested most in preserving the experience people get at the resort, not necessarily attracting more and more visitors.

"If we don't manage (growth), it will manage us," he said.

He said the resort owners are no longer interested in offering Grizzly Gulch as part of a trade with the Forest Service.

The designation, too, brings an "overlay" of more regulation  on top of city, county and Forest Service control  that Vaughan said is not necessarily palpable.

"It does not seem like an overlay that works to our advantage."

Love's deputy district director, Barry McLerran, said it will be up to commission members and the parties involved in the negotiations to work out the final details before the legislation moves ahead.

"We are fully supportive of this if it is the result of locals coming together."

Chairman Chris McCandless said he is confident necessary revisions will be made to the bill to make it better.

"It is important this get done."

The Chaffetz measure drew the ire of Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, last legislative session. Noel ran a bill that would first require the nod of a legislative natural resources committee before a governmental entity seeks a federal land designation. The bill did not pass.
PROVO  A Spanish Fork man has died after his shirt caught on fire during family barbecue on Easter.

The Daily Herald reports 73-year-old Larry Webster died Wednesday after he was severely burned outside his home in Spanish Fork on Sunday.

Family members say his polyester shirt caught on fire as he lit the grill. The family rushed to his side and helped put out the flames.

His granddaughter Mandee Webster says he was on fire for less than 2 minutes.

Larry Webster was flown to the burn center at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City.

The family says he had burns on 48 percent of his body with second-degree burns on his face.

Webster was a former teacher at Payson Junior High School and a retired National Guardsman.
SALT LAKE CITY  More than 20 years ago, Denette Young said she relapsed into a cocaine addiction, which would lead her to carry a burden for the rest of her life: a felony drug conviction.

That was 1997. Since then, Young said she hasn't had any more drug charges and has turned her life around. And yet, that felony charge  preceded by a separate 1992 felony charge for drug possession in Colorado  continues to haunt her.

"I've been turned down for jobs, for housing. I've been denied custody of my grandsons," Young said.

"But today is a big deal," she said Thursday. "A big deal."

Young was among dozens of applicants participating in Salt Lake County's first ever "Expungement Day," where a team of prosecutors, attorneys, judges and others joined forces to help streamline the complicated and at times expensive process to clear eligible criminal records so, legally, applicants can start with a clean slate.

Rows of tables and computers lined the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall across the street from the Rio Grande homeless shelter Thursday, where attorneys met with clients to fill out and exchange paperwork.

Young was on her way to her own appointment with an attorney, after her application with Salt Lake County qualified.

"This will no longer be shadowing my life," she said. "It didn't matter what I did in my life for the last 25 years. What mattered is that I had a felony."

Meanwhile, Mindy Sipes was already exchanging paperwork with an attorney. She hoped to clear forgery and theft convictions that have been stamped on her record since 1998, when she said she stole checks and forged signatures when she was 18.

She said it's a "horrible feeling" to check the box on job applications acknowledging she has been convicted of a felony.

"This is a blessing," Sipes said. "I cried on my way here because of the emotion of finally being able to not check that box or have somebody see that and think I'm a horrible person anymore."

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, at a press event to kick off the day, lauded the program as a way to bring those who have "paid their debts to society" to come out of the "shadows" and remove barriers to work, housing and education.

"These individuals today are law-abiding, taxpaying citizens who are trying to move forward but they continue to be held back by their past mistakes," McAdams said. "Some couldn't afford to expunge their records. Others told us the system was too complicated and they didn't know where to start.

"So today, we're giving those individuals a chance to hit reset, to start over, and to have a clean slate," McAdams said.

The program was made possible by $19,200 in private donations to cover the costs of application and certification fees, along with 40 volunteer attorneys.

Kaytline Beckett, one of those attorneys, said she was "incredibly excited" to see all of the services in one room  from prosecutors to judges and other social service programs  so even those who might not qualify for an expungement now could be redirected to other services that could help them eventually become eligible.

"Navigating the legal process can be difficult, and expungement comes with a lot of paperwork, so it's just a good opportunity to assist people who wouldn't normally know this was an option, let alone know how to follow through with it," Beckett said.

After Salt Lake County began accepting expungement applications in February, more than 400 people called asking to participate in the program, said Noella Sudbury, the county's senior policy adviser on criminal justice. Of those, 52 people applied and 32 qualified and were issued 191 certificates showing legal proof of expungement eligibility. Of those, eight applicants were issued 10 or more certificates per person.

Thursday afternoon, additional participants in the Rio Grande area were welcomed to fill out applications on a walk-in basis. By the end of the day, 73 applicants were served, though not all left with complete expungements, said McAdams spokeswoman Michelle Schmitt.

However, about 75 people lined up outside the dining hall were turned away because they couldn't be paired with an attorney in time. Schmitt said there's "definitely a possibility" the county may do another Expungement Day, but the county will have to study the results of the event to see if it makes sense to do it again.
My parents brought me to Utah from Quito, Ecuador, when I was 13 years old in search of better economic opportunities. I was sad to leave my friends and school, but choosing Utah for our new home was fortuitous. I met my wife here, had a daughter here and found my faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I also found my calling as a molecular oncologist. The bulk of my work is to process biological samples, which means I analyze patients blood and bone marrow specimens to see if they have cancer. I strive to work as carefully and efficiently as possible, because I know that early diagnoses can save lives.

No matter how much I feel at home in Utah, however, I have no security here. Last September, President Donald Trump announced that he was shuttering the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which gives "dreamers" like myself the legal right to work in this country. Unless Congress takes action, I could be deported along with the other 13,600 DACA recipients in our state. That means leaving my job and being separated from my wife and 2-year-old American-born child.

The March 5th deadline has come and gone, yet there is no solution in sight  even though Democrats and Republicans agree that protecting dreamers is the right thing to do. A new poll by New American Economy and TargetPoint Consulting shows that across Republican and conservative ranks, there is overwhelming support to give us a pathway to citizenship in exchange for an increase in border security. This is in spite of President Trumps latest Tweets declaring that a DACA deal is dead.

Congress inability to protect the countrys 800,000 dreamers is a moral  and an economic  travesty. In Utah, more than 91 percent of dreamers are employed and pay taxes, according to NAE; nationally, the vast majority have graduated from high school and have taken at least one college course. We are also poised to help alleviate the projected shortage of 1 million workers in the science, technology, engineering and math fields. These are jobs that have been disproportionately filled by immigrants like myself. Im part of the 14 percent of STEM masters students who are foreign nationals in Utah  many of whom are working in Silicon Slopes, the states fastest growing economic sector.

Im so grateful that I was able to receive my education in Utah on a scholarship for first-generation minority students. This made it possible for me to earn my masters degree in animal science with an emphasis on molecular biology from Utah State University. From a strictly economic point of view, it doesnt make sense for Utah to invest in my education and not protect my ability to give back in spades.

I also want Congress to act because Im tired of living with the constant uncertainty about my future. What will happen to me and my family if the DACA program is sacrificed for good? Ive woken up from nightmares imagining my daughter watching me get arrested and taken away. Would we be forced to move to Canada? I cant imagine leaving the state I love so dearly just because politicians wont give us a chance.
SALT LAKE CITY  Wisconsin defense attorney Dean Strang, a central figure in the hit Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer," told S.J. Quinney College of Law students Thursday that his faith in the criminal justice system is steadfast.

"I have exactly the faith and exactly the lack of confidence that I have in human beings generally, because the human being is the only player in every institution that in assemblage, make up the criminal justice system. It's all human actors," he said.

For good or for bad, human beings and the criminal justice system are inextricably connected, he said.

"To give up on the project of justice is to give up on human beings. Much as much as I love my dog, I'm not willing to give up on human beings," said Strang, who spoke on the U. campus at the invitation of law professor Shima Baradaran Baughman. The professor has developed an advanced research course for law students based on the 2015 documentary series.

"Making a Murderer" followed the cases of two men  Steven Avery and his teenage nephew Brendan Dassey  accused of the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, in 2005.

Both were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, with Dassey tried as an adult. Their cases are on appeal with new legal counsel.

"I don't know that Steven Avery is innocent, but I've always had a nagging suspicion that he is," Strang said.

As for Dassey, whom Strang described as "intellectually compromised," his case "is a stain on our criminal justice system. It's abominable in my opinion."

Dassey was convicted of first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse and second-degree sexual assault, the case built on a confession a federal magistrate later ruled had been coerced.

A panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judges affirmed the magistrate's ruling and ordered a new trial.

The full court later reversed the panel's decision by a 4-3 vote. The majority held police had properly obtained Dasseys confession but the dissenting judges called the reversal a travesty of justice.

Earlier this year, however, Dassey's legal team filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review his case.

Strang responded to criticism that "Making a Murderer" left out evidence favorable to the prosecution or told the story of the crimes and trials from the point of view of the defense.

The filmmakers labored to interview police and prosecutors but ultimately, civil attorneys representing the county advised officers not to sign release forms, he said.

Strang said the 10-part series left out evidence and testimony favorable to both sides, which is only natural given each episode was about an hour long and the trials lasted weeks.

"You're still seeing a distillation of two trials. Youre not seeing the trials themselves," he said.

Yet, "'Making a Murderer' is such an immersive experience in that there's 3 hours of an actual trial in this. Think about that. I can't think of any other documentary that gives that much screen time to actual courtroom proceedings and then another hour, hour and a half to Brendan Dassey's separate trial," he said.

Some of the criticism that the documentary was slanted was leveled by special prosecutor Kenneth Kratz, who at the time was Calumet County District Attorney.

"Ken Kratz doesn't seem to have any aversion to a camera but he chose repeatedly not to participate with this film project. He had his chance in many ways to say what he thought ought to be said," Strang said.

Strang did not charge a fee for his appearance at the University of Utah law school, for which Baughman said she was grateful. There are 12 students in her advanced research class based on the docu-series, but the law school's entire first-year class was invited, she said.

The documentary has wide appeal and provides many teaching moments such as evidence handling, what constitutes a zealous defense and associated social justice issues, she said.

The thing that I thought while watching is that Avery and Dassey are all of us. I wanted to teach this class because I wanted people to know that this is not a story unique to Avery or Wisconsin. Injustice happens to many Americans every day in courtrooms all across the country. In a lot of ways the Avery and Dassey story is the story of all Americans who confront the criminal justice system  at least those without money, Baughman said in an interview prior to Strang's visit.

Avery was found guilty of first-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm but acquitted of a charge of mutilating a corpse. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder conviction, plus five years on the weapons charge, to run concurrently. His case is on appeal.

Two decades earlier, Avery was wrongly convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder and had served 18 years in prison. DNA evidence played a key role in his exoneration.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Avery received the maximum state compensation of $25,000. In 2004, he filed a federal lawsuit seeking $36 million from Manitowoc County. Prior to the trial in Halbach's death, Avery settled his lawsuit for $400,000.

Strang, who had been a public defender in the federal courts before returning to private practice, had not faced Kratz in court prior to the Halbach trial.

In most jurisdictions, prosecutors and defense attorneys interact collegially because they recognize each has a job to do, he said.

But interactions with Kratz "were harder than it had to be in some respects," he said.

As the trial progressed, Kratz and defense co-counsel Jerry Buting clashed to the point that they were scarcely able to say good morning to each other, Strang said.

"You can't, in fidelity to a client, let communication break down all together with the other side so that meant I had to maintain some level of collegial communication with the prosecution, which meant Ken," Strang said.

On occasion, it was aggravating, he said.

"After a point in practice, you do lose patience for fighting over the things you shouldn't be fighting over. You want to fight over the things you should be fighting over," he said.

Manitowoc County law enforcement's treatment of the Avery family provided a glimpse of the sometimes antagonistic relationship between police and people with little means or social standing, Baughman said.

"The interesting thing is that many people after watching 'Making a Murderer' wondered how this could have happened to Avery or Dassey. People commented about how awful it was that the prosecutors tainted the jury pool, that Dassey had such bad representation and that the cards were stacked in favor of the state at every part of the process," Baughman said.

Particularly baffling for Strang was the conduct of Manitowoc County officials. The Manitowoc District Attorneys Office prosecuted Avery for sexual assault and attempted murder  for which he was eventually exonerated.

Officials publicly stated its officers would not participate in the Halbach homicide investigation to avoid the appearance of a conflict.

Instead, they were involved "up to their necks," he said.

One explanation may be that the Avery family was "as socially accused constantly by the law enforcement apparatus of that county as any family could be," Strang said.

"They simply were the 'usual suspects,' Steven in particular but not Steven alone, not the only family member. Where that antipathy came from, I don't know. It's a common thing in rural counties. It happens. I don't know if that's the explanation. But it's possible that antipathy just led to a defiance, in saying 'We said we're not going to be involved but we're going to be involved.' "
SALT LAKE CITY  Nearly 1 in 10 Utahns have been a victim of rape or attempted rape, including about 1 in 6 women, according to the results of a Utah Department of Health questionnaire released Thursday.

Using what is called a Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System poll, the state randomly surveyed about 10,000 adult Utahns by phone in 2016 and found that 9.7 percent of them "reported that someone had sex, or attempted to have sex with them without their consent," department officials said in a release.

Of those surveyed, 16.4 percent of women said that had happened to them, while 3.1 percent of men said the same.

Deanna Ferrell, a violence and injury epidemiologist for the Utah Department of Health, said 2016 was "our first time in Utah even asking men this question," which she called a "huge step forward."

Any numbers regarding sexual violence are always subject to underreporting due to respondents' hesitance to open up about the topic, Ferrell said. She added it is likely that any underreporting would be more pronounced with men's responses.

Questions about sexual violence have "been asked different ways in different years, so we don't have state trend data" showing how the prevalence of rape has changed over the years in Utah, Ferrell said.

Additionally, 33.6 percent of lesbian or gay respondents reported having been the victims of rape or attempted rape, as did 45.5 percent of those who are bisexual, compared to 8.7 percent who are straight.

This data reinforces what sexual violence prevention and response professionals will tell you. Sexual violence is rooted in the inequities of our society and disproportionately hurts those who have been pushed to the margins, said Turner Bitton, executive director of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault, in a statement released with the Department of Health data.

Other respondents who were disproportionately likely to report having been victimized were divorcees (18.7 percent), the unemployed (21.3 percent) and those in a household earning $25,000 or less per year (14.9 percent).

Bitton added that "the results speak to the need for robust, culturally specific prevention programming."

Megan Waters, a Department of Health spokeswoman who specializes in interpersonal violence prevention, agreed, saying the survey "gives us really good information about where our efforts should be focused."

"(It) really speaks to the greater need in some communities over others, so when we're designing prevention (efforts)  we might really be able to understand communities that need that most," she said.

Adverse childhood experiences  including molestation, physical abuse or living in a home where domestic violence or drug abuse was present  were also tied to rape risk, according to the new data. The Department of Health said that of adults who reported having been victimized, 56.4 percent had lived through at least four adverse childhood experiences.

Of those who had never been victimized, just 14.3 percent had suffered at least four adverse childhood experiences, according to the department. Just 5.4 percent of respondents who were victims had never encountered an adverse childhood experience.

"It really speaks volumes about how our efforts need to move (prevention) upstream to younger and younger ages," Waters said. "Are we teaching consent from young ages and are we teaching bodily autonomy so that kids know their body is their own?"

Waters added that it's important to be "teaching parents to instill these consent concepts with their kids  giving the child that sort of autonomy to make their own decisions and having them be in control of their own body."

Ferrell said the data surrounding adverse childhood experiences was not unexpected.

"Unfortunately, one of the risk factors for future victimization is past victimization," she said.

Victims were also more than 2 1/2 times as likely to report having experienced at least seven days of poor mental health in the previous month than others who took the survey, 38.6 percent to 14.9 percent.

"Sexual violence is also linked to physical consequences, such as chronic pain, cervical cancer and migraines; psychological consequences, such as shock, anxiety, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder; and to social consequences, such as strained relationships with family, friends and intimate partners," the Department of Health said in a release.

Additionally, the survey found that more victims reported having difficulty "concentrating or remembering" compared to others  19.4 percent to 7.9 percent. Victims were also more likely than others to report having "difficulty doing errands alone," 12.5 percent to 3.3 percent.

Tinesha Zandamela, a senior at BYU and vice chairwoman of the Emerging Leaders Council of the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault who has experienced different forms of sexual violence "multiple times over the course of my life," said the connection between victimization and poor memory and concentration is unsurprising.

"I think that quite frequently, for many people, when they think about sexual violence they don't think about the after-effects," Zandamela said. "There are significant long-term effects that can affect things we may not think of, such as concentration."

She added, "the survivors I know, many of them have PTSD  I have PTSD (and) depression, and those things are the result of sexual violence."

Good data on the prevalence of rape and other forms of sexual violence is important to understanding the true magnitude of the problem, Zandamela said. Specifically, knowing that many others have gone through similar experiences can be helpful to victims who feel isolated.

"What I try to do now is help people know that they are not alone," Zandamela said.

"Sexual violence does happen in Utah and it does affect someone (you) might know."

Anyone who has encountered sexual violence, or knows someone who has, can find help by calling the Utah Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 1-888-421-1100.
LOGAN  An independent investigation into allegations of discrimination and sexual assault within the Utah State University music department has revealed that discrimination and sexual misconduct went unpunished for years.

We cannot move forward as an institution if we do not own up to our past mistakes, USU President Noelle Cockett said at a press conference Friday morning, where she announced changes the university is making as a result of the reports recommendations.

The report concluded that piano program head Gary Amano had discriminated against female students on the basis of gender and tolerated sexual harassment of students by faculty members, and it recommended Amanos dismissal.

Cockett announced Amano has retired effective April 2 and is no longer employed at the university. When contacted Friday, Amano had no comment.

The report also recommended sanctions for professor Dennis Hirst, who investigators said enabled Amanos discriminatory behavior. Cockett announced that Hirst has been removed as the piano program coordinator and that the university will move forward with sanctions against him. Attempts to reach Hirst Friday were not successful.

Read more about the report's findings here.

Another faculty member  whose name was redacted in the report  has been barred from further employment at the university, Cockett said.

The 18-page, partially redacted report, which reflects interviews with 60 witnesses and hundreds of pages of documents, said four faculty members between 1994 and 2012 were accused of sexual harassment, including one former faculty member who admitted to sexual relations with three students.

"A disturbing pattern emerges from all these incidents: some of them appear to have been common knowledge at the time, but none of them appears to have been taken seriously by the leadership of the piano program or the university," the report states. "In several instances, the only party to be criticized was the victim."

Additional recommendations included changes to ensure university policies clearly prohibit psychologically abusive behavior by the faculty, eliminate gender discrimination within the university, and develop standards for more stringent review of student claims of mistreatment and sexual harassment.

Cockett said she is initiating a reorganization of the university's Title IX office, including leadership changes, the addition of more staff and increased oversight.

"The authority and scope of Title IX must be undeniable here on the campus," she stated.

Cockett said that in the coming weeks she will announce a task force to address the issue of gender discrimination, not just in the music department but across the university. The task force will re-evaluate processes for grading, awarding scholarships and the hiring of new faculty to advance gender balance.

Other actions the school is considering include hiring a dedicated mental health counselor for students and putting observation windows, and potentially cameras, in all one-on-one instruction rooms.

The issues raised in the report challenge the very mission of our university, Cockett said.

I believe people are feeling more empowered to bring these things forward, she said. Its an evolving university climate that has to continue to just move forward and absolutely with no doubt, people have to understand there is zero tolerance.

President Cockett has taken this seriously from the start, and by seriously I mean she has taken it to heart, Tim Vitale, a spokesman for the university, told the Deseret News. She has had the safety and well-being of our students front and center in her mind.

USU hired outside counsel Snell & Wilmer of Salt Lake City to conduct the investigation on February 16 after several women claimed in Facebook posts that they had been mistreated by music department employees. Whitney McPhie Griffith, who said she was raped by her piano instructor in 2009, and Amy Cannon Arakelyan, who said she was sexually harassed by faculty members, were among the first to come forward.

Since the start of the investigation, more alleged victims have spoken up, including a male former music student who said he was groped by his music professor on an overnight trip, and more than a dozen former piano students who said the program culture allowed for sexism, harassment and intimidation.

Each of us at Utah State has to dig deeply into ourselves and come out the other end with solutions to these problems and a commitment to preventing these actions in the future, said Cockett.

Students react

Before the press conference, Cockett held a separate meeting to debrief music students on the contents of the report. As the meeting let out, students returned to their classes and practice rooms. Soon the familiar sounds of piano, cello and violin filled the halls of the fine arts center.

I dont think there was one person who wasnt in tears (during the meeting), senior piano student Lexie Hansen said of fellow piano majors. I think thats telling.

Hansen was pleased to hear that Amano was retiring but felt that Hirst, her private teacher, had unfairly taken much of the fall for Amanos bad behavior.

He was in a really difficult position, and he always tried his best to help students, said Hansen, who filed a Title IX complaint against Amano in the spring of 2017. Professor Hirst always protected me, always.

Other students expressed gratitude for the steps the school has taken.

Im really grateful to what the university is doing for us, and how transparent they have been, says Sarah Hamatake, a junior in the piano program. Its been a really emotional trip, this whole thing, from day one.

Not just piano majors, but music students throughout the department felt the impact of the report.

Laura Corrigan, a sophomore studying music therapy, said she thought the investigation and response were very effective. I feel more relieved and protected knowing the faculty and instructors are here are looking out for my best interest, she said.

'A huge relief'

Amy Cannon Arakelyan described her feelings of relief in a phone interview with the Deseret News.

I am so grateful that USU has Noelle Cockett as a president, she said through tears. The work is not done, but I trust her, and I havent felt that from anyone at USU for a long time.

She was especially supportive of the decision to remove Amano.

I dont wish anybody ill will, she said. But I have been witness to so much damage that hes done to people, myself included, so the fact that hes no longer in a position to do that is a huge relief.

Whitney McPhie Griffith agreed.

Gary was the root of the problem, she explained. In my opinion, it was largely because of him that so much of this happened for so long, without any consequences.

Griffith said that although she feels the reports recommendations and Cocketts response are a massive step, she believes that there is still so much to be done to ensure that there is lasting change in the department.

Both Arakelyan and Griffith, who were among the first to come forward on social media, said they never could have imagined their posts would have this impact.

Never in a million years did I think there was a chance it would blow up like this, said Griffith.

The earth was dry and parched, and a spark was lit, and it just took off, said Arakelyan.
LOGAN  For decades the piano program at Utah State University has discriminated against women and sexual misconduct has gone unpunished, according to an independent investigative report released following a press conference Friday to describe the findings.

The 18-page partially redacted report, which reflects interviews with 60 witnesses and hundreds of pages of documents, concludes that professor Gary Amano, head of the piano program, was the main source of discrimination. In August 2017 he was removed as coordinator of the piano program and began a year sabbatical, replaced by Dennis Hirst. USU President Noelle Cockett announced Friday that Amano has resigned.

The report also concludes that Hirst, the interim head of the program, be removed from that role.  we conclude that for years professor Hirst enabled professor Amanos discriminatory acts, or else ignored them, without taking meaningful steps to hold him accountable or correct the problems to which they led.

Cockett said Friday that "the university will also move forward with a sanction process against Hirst."

The report also found that:

Between 1994 and 2012, students or parents complained to university officials of a series of incidents involving sexual harassment by four members of the music department faculty, two of whom are no longer employed at the university. The incidents demonstrate, at the very least, a persistent bias against women and a serious lack of faculty supervision and discipline, the report said.

Some of the cases of sexual harassment and assault appear to have been common knowledge at the time, but none of them seem to have been taken seriously by music department and university leaders. One current piano program faculty member said he observed a consistent pattern of discrimination against women.

Amano himself was the source of much of the controversy: "We conclude that for more than a decade professor Amano created a hostile academic environment for women and discriminated against female students on the basis of gender. We conclude that he tolerated sexual harassment of students by faculty members whom he was supposed to be supervising, without holding those faculty members accountable," the report states.

Many current and former students said they were frequently humiliated and psychologically abused by the piano program faculty. Investigators added, We are unable to see how such treatment of students could advance any legitimate pedagogical objectives.

The report further recommends that university policies be strengthened to protect students from mistreatment, eliminate gender discrimination and increase the power of the Title IX office.

Cockett announced on Feb. 16 the school would hire outside counsel, Snell & Wilmer of Salt Lake City, to conduct the investigation after several women claimed in Facebook posts that they had been mistreated by music department employees.

Whitney McPhie Griffith, who said she was raped by her piano instructor in 2009, and Amy Cannon Arakelyan, who said she was sexually harassed by faculty members, were among the first to come forward. No students were named in the partially redacted report, citing privacy concerns. The students previously told their stories to the Deseret News.

Since the start of the investigation, more alleged victims have spoken up  including a male former music student who said he was groped by his professor on an overnight trip, and more than a dozen former piano students who said the program culture allowed for sexism, harassment and intimidation.

Unwilling to confront sexual harassment offenders

Four different music department faculty members were accused of sexual harassment between 1994 and 2012, according to the report.

Allegations included unwelcome sexual advances, sexual relations between faculty and the students they taught, and sexual assault, the report said. Two of the faculty members accused of harassment are still employed by the department.

One of the accused was a former faculty member of the piano program, who was part of Amanos inner circle of favored students, the report said. The alleged perpetrator admitted to investigators that he had sexual relations multiple times with at least three female students in the piano program during the late 2000s, but claims all of them were consensual.

Two of those women filed Title IX complaints claiming the faculty member had sexually assaulted them and were interviewed for the report. The third woman could not be reached by investigators.

One former student recalled that everyone knew that the faculty member was sleeping with various female students and believes that Amano had to know.

The instructor's behavior made her afraid to practice in the piano program space at night, the report states, and she believed that Amano or another faculty member would have retaliated if she complained, because the student was the faculty favorite, the report states.

In interviews with investigators, Amano confirmed he knew about the faculty members sexual relations with undergraduate students. He said he dealt with these students by transferring them to other classes and telling the faculty not to have sex with undergraduates anymore.

To these investigators, these incidents demonstrate, at the very least, a persistent bias against women and a serious lack of faculty supervision and discipline, the report reads. They also demonstrate that the piano program faculty and music department leadership were for years unwilling to confront sexual harassment offenders concerning their misconduct.

Decades of discrimination

Based on interviews with more than 40 current and former students, faculty and administrators, investigators concluded that the piano program has for decades discriminated against women and favored men.

Current and former students told the independent investigators that it was not unusual for Amano to tell students that men are generally better pianists than women, and that therefore, men should be awarded with performance opportunities.

In a statement to the Deseret News, prior to release of the report, Amano said, "I would never make the ridiculous statement that men play better or are better students than women. I can give you names of women in our program who got married, had babies and still graduated with great success. Others got married and dropped out to start a family. That was their choice and I applaud their decisions."

According to the report, the programs discriminatory atmosphere improved after Amano began his sabbatical in August 2017. But until then, the music department and Title IX office did little to address the problem despite repeated opportunities to confront professor Amano and respond to complaints.

Investigators also found that the programs scholarship records showed men in the program received more than twice as much as women on a per capita basis. Between 2009 and 2017, female students received 41 cents for each scholarship dollar paid to males, according to the report.

The report recounts the experience of one former student who said Amano gave her a very difficult piece to play, and when she told him she did not think she could learn it quickly enough in time for the performance, he canceled her scholarship on the spot. Other students cited in the report also complained that Amano threatened to cut their scholarships.

Aaron McClaskey, a former piano student who attended USU from 1993-94 and 1996-2000, told the Deseret News that he had a positive relationship with Amano.

The requirements to practice and attend class to remain in good scholarship standing are not unique to USU, said McClaskey. I only look back on my years at USU with fondness and appreciation for everything professor Amano did for all of us under his care. Any of my later success is due directly to the opportunities he provided me.

I have told students that the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has been running since the 1960s. In all that time there have only been two female gold medal winners. All the others have been males. That is fact, not opinion, Amano told the Deseret News. It appears some people want to shoot the messenger because they didnt like the message. Or they seek someone to blame for their failures besides themselves. 

Humiliation, intimidation

The piano program tolerated psychologically abusive faculty behavior for decades, the report said. As a result, some students were driven to leave the university without degrees and others found it difficult to continue playing piano after they graduated.

Former student Tiffany Watts, who graduated from the program in 2007, told the Deseret News, I left and did not look at a piano for three or four years. I couldnt. It brought too much pain.

Although Amano was the main faculty member cited in these types of complaints, Hirst and a former professor who now teaches elsewhere were also frequently named, according to the report.

Camille Jensen Weber, currently a senior in the piano program, said that in Amanos classes there were not any grading rubrics or syllabuses. While still in her junior year, she asked Amano for help preparing for a test.

He completely exploded, she said. He must have thought I was challenging his authority.

She said she filed a Title IX report shortly following the incident.

Many current and former students, however, never witnessed their professors behaving badly, the report stated. Investigators were also sure to mention that serious music programs are, by nature, rigorous and stressful.

The reason I loved being in the piano program at USU was because of the intensity of the program, said former student Mary Anne Huntsman, who started studying with Amano at age 8 and attended USU for one year in 2004, before transferring to another school. I was there to learn and improve and professor Amano ran the department like a serious music conservatory.

Recommendations

The report concludes that because of the hostile environment, Amano should be dismissed from the university or reassigned to a job that would distance him from piano students. Cockett announced Friday that Amano has resigned.

Additionally, Hirst, who enabled professor Amanos discriminatory acts, or else ignored them, according to the report, should be removed as interim coordinator and a new head of the program should be appointed in his stead, the report suggests.

Additional recommendations include creating a plan to prevent gender discrimination as well as standards for faculty behavior toward students.

We do not believe the policies of the university clearly prohibit psychologically abusive behavior by the faculty, the report reads. Because faculty relationships with students in the arts are in many ways different from other disciplines, we recommend that the Caine College of the Arts take the lead in developing its own standards for faculty behavior.

The report asks the Title IX office to step up and develop standards that will allow for more aggressive investigations, regardless of a professors tenure.

Additionally, administrators are charged to review the student admissions process, the grading process, the process for scoring student performances, the process for awarding scholarships, and the hiring process for faculty as well.
Artificial intelligence experts have announced they will boycott a South Korean research university that is looking into how to use AI for weapons, according to CNN.

The university, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, started a research center that will look to create AI-based missiles, submarines and quadcopters by the end of this year.

More than 50 leading experts penned an open letter to the university that denounced the killer technology research, Fortune reported.

At a time when the United Nations is discussing how to contain the threat posed to international security by autonomous weapons, it is regrettable that a prestigious institution like KAIST looks to accelerate the arms race to develop such weapons, the experts wrote in the letter. We therefore publicly declare that 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 center will not develop autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control.

The letter's signers said AI-based weapons would lead to a third revolution in modern warfare, which will be hard to stop.

"They will permit war to be fought faster and at a scale greater than ever before," the letter said. "They have the potential to be weapons of terror. Despots and terrorists could use them against innocent populations, removing any ethical restraints. This Pandora's box will be hard to close if it is opened."

Institute president Sung-chul Shin responded to the letter, saying the school does not have any intention to engage in (the) development of lethal autonomous weapons systems and killer robots.

KAIST will not conduct any research activities counter to human dignity including autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control.

Even so, Toby Walsh, an AI professor at the University of New South Wales who signed the open letter, told CNN he still has a few question marks about what they intend to do, but broadly speaking they have responded appropriately.

Still, as The Guardian reported, a South Korean company called Dodaam Systems already builds autonomous combat robots, stationary turrets that can detect targets from almost 3 miles away. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have already bought that technology.

Walsh told The Guardian the common threat of AI-based weapons should concern the world.

Developing autonomous weapons would make the security situation on the Korean peninsula worse, not better, he said. If these weapons get made anywhere, eventually they would certainly turn up in North Korea and they would have no qualms about using them against the South.

According to The Verge, world leaders have asked the U.N. to craft an international treaty to regulate AI-based weaponry. Egypt, Argentina and Pakistan have all backed the idea.

However, the U.K. and the U.S. are against the proposal because of the impossibility of defining what does and does not constitute human control. Many systems already have at least some autonomous capabilities, including drones and missile defense networks, according to The Verge.
Confirmed! Ewan McGregor And Mary Elizabeth Winstead Back Together

Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead started seeing each other on the sets of American black comedycrime drama anthology television series, Fargo. Ewan was still married to his ex-wife Eve Mavrakis when he started dating Winstead.





Rumours were rife that the couple broke up as the actress didnt like the way she was portrayed as a home breaker. Now, if latest reports are anything to be believed, McGregor and Winstead are back together. They were seen holding hands on a movie set.





Rumour has it that the two cant live without each other and the actor was seen visiting Winstead on the set of her latest movie, Gemini Man, many times. They first confirmed their relationship when they were spotted kissing last year. In January this year, McGregor filed for divorce from his wife, citing irreconcilable differences. With this, the couple confirmed that they are very much together and are with each other.





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Source: wordpress.com
'Reliance Jio behind fastest adoption of technology in human history'

The entry of Reliance Jio into the telecom sector has brought annual savings of Rs60,000 crore to its consumers and has resulted in the fastest adoption of technology in human history, says a report.

Reliance Jio has made data accessible and affordable for every user in the country, says the report. Average price per GB of data has dropped from Rs152 to Rs10. Such a drastic reduction in data price has not only brought the internet within the reach of larger proportion of the Indian population but has also allowed newer segments of society to use and experience it for the first time. Reliance Jio has made data accessible and affordable for every user in the country, says the report. Average price per GB of data has dropped from Rs152 to Rs10. Such a drastic reduction in data price has not only brought the internet within the reach of larger proportion of the Indian population but has also allowed newer segments of society to use and experience it for the first time.

Impact of Reliances Entry  a socio-economic analysis of Jio-fication and Indias GDP story, is the report by the Institute for Competitiveness, an international institute centred on the country, and part of the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School.

According to the report, Jio has managed to transform the face of the Indian telecom industry by changing the basis of competition from being voice-based to a data-based platform.

And, due to improved accessibility and affordability of data, India became the highest mobile data user all over the world within a span of just six months since the launch of Jio.

The report claims that econometric analysis shows that through widespread network effects, Jios entry would boost Indias GDP by 5.65 per cent, if everything else in the economy remains constant.

Jios entry in September 2016 changed the basis of competition by offering free lifetime calling to its consumers in an industry that derived 75 per cent of its revenue from voice.

Instead, data became the new focal point of competition, says the report. Within six months of Jios launch, India became the highest mobile data user in the world consuming over 1 billion GB of data every month as compared to 200 million GB earlier.

Recent estimates of the Jio network  which is controlled and managed billionaire-industrialist Mukesh Ambani - show that its users on an average consume almost 10 GB of data, 700 minutes of voice and 134 hours of video every month.

Meanwhile, debt-ridden Reliance Communications (RCom is controlled by Mukesh Ambanis younger brother Anil) expects to reduce debt by around Rs25,000 crore following the lifting of the stay on the sale of its assets by the Supreme Court.

The apex court lifted the stay granted in favour of Ericsson by the Bombay High Court, in relation to asset sales by RCOM. It said secured lenders can proceed with the asset sales in accordance with law.

Accordingly, there is now no bar in immediately completing the asset sales of spectrum, MCNs and real estate, and the same shall be concluded expeditiously, said an RCom statement.
BJP fails to convince all NDA MPs to surrender salary for non-functioning of Parliament

The BJP has failed in convincing some of its own leaders and key partners in backing its move to get all NDA MPs to surrender their salaries and allowances because of non-functioning of parliament.

Parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar had announced that all NDA MPs would surrender their salaries and allowances for the 23 days of the second half of the Budget session, much of which was disrupted because of opposition protests.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, a Rajya Sabha MP, refused to toe the party line. I went to the House every day and if it did not run, it was not my fault, he told reporters.

Also claiming to be a representative of the President, he said he would not forgo his salary until the head of the state asked him to do so. I am the President's representative, until he says so how can I say I'll not take my salary, he said.

Some NDA members such as union minister Upendra Kushwaha, who is the leader of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Samata Party, was unaware of NDA's decision.

And the Shiv Sena, which with its 18 MPs is the second-largest constituent of the NDA, has also flatly refused to toe the governments line. According to Arvind Sawant, an MP from Mumbai, the BJP did not consult with the Sena before taking the decision.

This is not a question of salary, he said. We as MPs have been doing our work. Even if Parliament was not functioning, we have held meetings with ministries to address the problems faced by our people.

The NDA currently has 314 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 80 in the Rajya Sabha, and their total salary and allowances add up to Rs3.66 crore for 23 days.

The second half of the budget session ends on Friday, but the entire session has been a washout. The government got five bills passed in the Lok Sabha, including the Finance Bill, which was passed without any discussion, through voice vote.
India not to buy energy from Nepal's China-built power projects

India will clearly tell Nepals Prime Minister KP Oli who is on a three-day visit to the capital that it wont surrender its commercial interests to benefit China, whose interests the Himalayan nation tries to sponsor under Oli.

Reports quoting official sources said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make it clear to Oli that if he awards more dam-based projects to China, India will not be buying energy produced by Nepal. Reports quoting official sources said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make it clear to Oli that if he awards more dam-based projects to China, India will not be buying energy produced by Nepal.

If Oli wants China to build power projects in his country let Nepal also sell power so produced to China, a report in The Indian Express quoted a senior government official as saying.

Oli, however, was given a grand welcome at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi with home minister Rajnath Singh, minister of state for finance Shiva Pratap Shukla and officials from the external affairs ministry reaching the airport to welcome him today.

As per standard protocol, state level minister receives foreign dignitaries during state visit.

India is annoyed at Nepals move to award the $2.5-billion Budhi Gandaki project, which is situated in the Budhi Gandaki river in central-western Nepal. The project was initially given to China last year, when former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had decided to join Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. However, it was soon cancelled by his successor Sher Bahadur Deuba, who said that it had been concluded in an irregular and thoughtless manner.

Oli is now reported to be determined to revive the project, according to the South China Morning Post.

Political prejudice or pressure from rival companies may have been instrumental in scrapping the project. But for us, hydropower is a main focus and come what may, we will revive the Budhi Gandaki project, the paper quoted Oli as saying.

However, selling electricity from the Budhi Gandaki project back to China would be a tricky proposition for Nepal, considering the difficulty in building power transmission lines along a rocky terrain on the China-Nepal border.

At the same time, Nepal needs a proactive India in the Neighbourhood First spirit.

Nepals preference for China is due mainly to the fact that its import of highly expensive petroleum from India cots the country heavily and it needs to develop cheaper hydropower as an alternative.

Modi and Oli are expected to come to an agreement regarding the foundation stone of the $1.5 billion, 900 MW Arun III hydro-electric project in the Sankhuwasabha district of eastern Nepal.

PM Oli arrived in the Indian capital leading leading a 54-member delegation  45 from Nepal and nine from India.

Olis spouse Radhika Shakya, foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali, physical infrastructure and transport minister Raghubir Mahaseth, minister for industry, commerce and supplies Matrika Yadav and PMs chief political advisor Bishu Rimal, among other officials, are accompanying the prime minister.

Foreign minister Gyawali, who is at Baku, Azerbaizan to attend the Mid-Term Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), is scheduled to join the PMs delegation late in the afternoon.

PM Oli is scheduled to hold a brief meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this evening.

He will also hold a meeting with president of Opposition Congress party Rahul Gandhi.
RBI cracks down on bitcoin players, even as police arrest kingpin in Delhi

On a day when authorities arrested a Pune-based bitcoin 'entrepreneur in New Delhi, the Reserve Bank of India directed banks and others to cease all relationships with bitcoin players.

The RBI gave banks three months to end all existing relationships with bitcoin players. Technological innovations, including those underlying virtual currencies, have the potential to improve the efficiency and inclusiveness of the financial system, said the RBIs Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies. However, Virtual Currencies (VCs), also variously referred to as crypto currencies and crypto assets, raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others.

The bank said it has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, regarding various risks associated in dealing with such virtual currencies.

In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs, said the central bank.

Meanwhile, the Pune police arrested Amit Bhardwaj, a bitcoin dealer, who has allegedly duped over 8,000 people to the tune of Rs2,000 crore, at Delhi airport on Thursday.

According to the police, Bhardwaj introduced bitcoins to India about four years ago when he started his operations in Delhi. He also owns several bitcoin mining operations including in China.

The Enforcement Directorate had also issued a lookout notice for Bhardwaj after he fled the country. He is alleged to have cheated investors in Mumbai, Pune and other cities in Maharashtra.
RBI bars regulated entities from dealing in virtual currencies

Reserve Bank of India has barred banks and other regulated entities from providing services to any individual or business dealing in digital currencies, virtually banning trading in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins.

RBI has asked all regulated entities to unwind their positions with dealers in virtual currencies within three months.

RBI deputy governor BP Kanungo, speaking at a media conference, said the central bank has decided to promote the use of blockchain  a public ledger that serves as the backbone of Bitcoin  in financial services for strengthening transparency and improving inclusion.

If they (cryptocurrencies) grow beyond a critical size they can endanger financial stability, said Kanungo.

RBI had earlier thrice warned the public to be cautious while dealing with cryptocurrencies that are unregulated.

Reserve Bank has repeatedly cautioned users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, regarding various risks associated in dealing with such virtual currencies. In view of the associated risks, it has been decided that, with immediate effect, entities regulated by RBI shall not deal with or provide services to any individual or business entities dealing with or settling VCs, RBI had stated in an earlier warning.

While many central banks are still engaged in the debate, an inter-departmental group has been constituted by the Reserve Bank to study and provide guidance on the desirability and feasibility to introduce a central bank digital currency. The report will be submitted by end-June 2018, it added.

See: Governments around the world are stepping up scrutiny of virtual currencies amidst skyrocketing valuations over the past one year that triggered worries that currencies like Bitcoin could facilitate everything from money laundering to tax evasion and fraud ( The path of ransomware payments exposed ).

Bitcoin scaled a peak of almost $20,000 in early December last year, since then its valuations have come down, which pulled down rival cryptocurrencies as well. With losses mounting in the start of 2018, several lenders have decided to stop lending to Bitcoin dealers.

Countries like China, Japan and South Korea, which were earlier encouraging virtual currencies, have since put in place a number of regulations.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had already said that the Indian government doesn't consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender and will take all measures to eliminate payments using them.

While investors will no longer be able to buy Bitcoins through their bank accounts or digital wallets, Reserve Bank of India is in the process of introducing its own digital currency in line with the policy followed by central banks around the world.

These are issued by the central bank and are considered the liability of the central bank, Kanungo said. They will be in circulation in addition to the paper currency that we have. It also holds the promise of reducing the cost of printing notes.

RBI has constituted an interdepartmental committee that will submit a report on the feasibility of a fiat digital currency. The committee will submit its report by June-end.
IWA to invest over Rs10,000 cr to develop inland waterways: report

The government will invest over Rs10,000 crore in the development of inland waterways over the next 3-5 years, with aid from the World Bank, says a report in The New Indian Express.

The World Bank will provide Rs5,369 crore for the navigation project from Varanasi to Haldia in the River Ganges, the report quoted Nutan Guha Biswas, chairperson, Inland Waterways Authority of India, as saying.

He said the ministry of shipping will tap other sources for the remaining funds that will be needed for developing 106 notified inland waterways.

We are undertaking a major project on the Ganges, which is the national water-1. We aim to make the river navigable with 3m draft, 2.5m draft and 2.2 m draft over the stretches so that 1500-2,000 ton ships can move throughout the year, the official was quoted as saying.

This and the development of the remaining 106 notified waterways with investments of another Rs5,000 crore in the next five years will help harness the potential of inland waterways and make it economically viable, she added.

She said work on the Ganges has been on since the last two years to develop multimodal terminals in Varanasi, Sahebganj and Haldia to connect the rivers through roads and railways and directly transfer the freight from one source to another.

The Ganges project is expected to be completed by 2020, Biswas said, adding that the nnual movement of cargo on the Ganges, which is around 6 million tonnes at present, is expected to reach 21 million tonnes by 2020.

For the Yamuna River, however, the inland waterways project might not see much development in near future, she said. We are doing a detailed project report on it. Water is scarce in Yamuna so we really need to be sure how we can go ahead. It is also used for drinking purposes, Biswas added.
Salman spends night on Jodhpur jail floor; bail verdict on Saturday

Bollywood star Salman Khan will have to spend at least one more night in Jodhpur Central Jail as the the Jodhpur district court has reserved its order on his bail plea for Saturday.

See: The actor was on Thursday held guilty of killing two blackbucks during the shooting of the movie Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998. He was awarded a five-year sentence and fined Rs10,000 ( Salman Khan gets 5 years in 1998 blackbuck poaching case ).

His co-stars Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre and Tabu were acquitted of all charges and left soon after the judge delivered the verdict.

The hearing of the bail plea has begun and will continue on Saturday, when Salman's lawyers will seek to substantiate their claims that the eyewitnesses weren't reliable.

Salman Khan is placed in the VIP barracks in ward number 2 of the jail. The superstars barracks is adjacent to godman Asaram Bapu, jailed in a rape case.

Reports say the actor spent Thursday night sleeping on the floor with four blankets. Food prepared at Taj Hotel was sought to be given to him but his bodyguard Shera was not permitted to bring it into the jail.

Instead, the Tiger Zinda Hai star was served simple chana dal, cabbage and roti, which he did not eat.

Salman's lawyers are currently arguing for bail. Thereafter the prosecution lawyers will argue why he should remain behind bars.

While sentencing Salman to five years in jail, chief judicial magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri pointed out the fan following of the superstar, saying, "The accused is a popular actor whose deeds are followed by people. Despite this, the accused hunted two blackbucks."

While his fans are upset over the verdict, animal rights groups welcomed the sentencing, asserting that the order proved that no one is above the law. "The verdict shows, whether you are Salman Khan or an ordinary citizen, the facts will be heard by a court and the law will prevail," PETA India spokesperson Sachin Bangera said.

Some activists said that the actor should have been given the maximum punishment of six years under the Wildlife Act.

Salmans sisters Alvira and Arpita and brother Arbaaz and Sohail are in Jodhpur to support him. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, a host of industry friends dropped at the actor's residence to meet his family at Galaxy Apartments in suburban Bandra, where a large number of fans had also gathered. Race 3 producer Ramesh Taurani, Sonakshi Sinha along with her parents Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha, Sneha Ullal and Daisy Shah were seen visiting his residence.

Just before the hearing, Salman's counsel claimed that he received threatening messages. "Yesterday I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in bail hearing today," Salman's lawyer Mahesh Bora said.
Donegal chef captures top Ulsters Local Food Hero award

Donegal chef Brian McDermott has been named Ulsters Local Food Hero at the prestigious Irish Restaurant Awards.

Brian, from Moville is fast becoming known all over Ireland as the voice of Donegal food. He is famous in Donegal as a tireless supporter of local food producers and the food and hospitality industry.

The top award of the night and the only one to be awarded on a province-wide basis, the Local Food Hero recognises an individual who promotes food culture in their locality and inspires people to get involved with food.

Reacting to the award Brian said he was overwhelmed to be named Ulsters Local Food Hero.

This is the culmination of the most incredible three weeks in my career, he said.

As a chef my ethos has always been to promote local food producers, local growers and local restaurants.

Were lucky in Donegal, because weve always had incredible food right on our doorstep, and thats a message Ive spent my career trying to get out to a wider audience.

Im genuinely overwhelmed that Ive been recognised in this way, he said.

Brians second cookery book, Brian McDermotts Donegal Table  which celebrates traditional recipes, local produce and the countys people and places  was launched in March to popular and critical acclaim.

I have to give all credit to the people of Donegal, said Brian.

This isnt just my award, its their award, and it shows that the things we value here in Donegal, hard work, integrity, commitment to quality, really do pay off.

Ive had a great reaction to the book from all over Ireland and further afield, so I think the secret of Donegal cooking really is well and truly out!

Brian was nominated by a member of the public and accompanied by his wife Brenda, Brian received the award at an events ceremony in the La Mon Hotel and Country Club in Belfast on Wednesday night.
Deputy Joe McHugh has announced a 115,402 funding package for the development of a bespoke holiday home to cater for people with severe disabilities.

The not-for-profit Hoist Away project, the brainchild of former teacher Una McGinley, is to be built on a site next to Culdaff Caravan Park in Inishowen.

Mr McHugh said: This 115,000 funding was vital to get such a unique project of the ground and I am delighted to have been able to support such a worthwhile idea.

The log cabin, specifically designed and built with wheelchair users in mind, will add a valuable new dimension to the tourism industry in Inishowen and open up one of the most beautiful parts of the country to people with disabilities, their families, friends and carers to share valuable time in a unique setting.

The driving force of the project, Una McGinley, deserves huge credit for her ambitions to bring equality and enjoyment to people with disabilities.

The LEADER funding of 115,402 will be boosted by another 38,467 of private investment to get the project off the ground.

Work on the bespoke, not-for-profit, log cabin holiday home is expected to begin later this year.

The three bed house, with one bedroom en suite, will be fully wheelchair accessible and will be equipped with a ceiling hoist linking the main bedroom to the en suite. All other equipment and facilities will meet the needs of people with disabilities.

The cabin will overlook the beach and will be let out to people with disabilities and their families or carers one week at a time.

Una McGinley, a former special needs teacher who cares for her partner who has MS, said: There are people who do not have the privilege of going on holiday and spending time with their families and carers.

We are not-for-profit. The whole idea is so that families can stay together on holidays.

We would like to thank the people of Culdaff and the people who use the local caravan site for all their support and Anne Sperrin and Gillian McColgan of the Inishowen Development Partnership.

We also want to thank two young girls from Derry who have worked tirelessly to support us  Shannon Doherty, 13, from Glenowen, who goes to Thornhill College and Molly Coyle, 14, from Creggan, who goes to St Cecilias College. I will never be able to thank those girls enough. It would not have happened without them.

There is no other facility in Ireland like it and the vision to provide this specially designed home will open up the doors to more people and families, creating inclusion and ownership.

It is hoped the log cabin will be ready for its first visitors in late September.

Last year, over 550 LEADER projects were approved across the country for funding of 14.6 million.
Dundalk Municipal District councillor Maeve Yore has called on the local authority to provide tangible proof of the benefits to annual trips to New York city.

The Independent councillor made her comments after a delegation from Louth County Council made the trip to New York for St Patrick's Day this year, the second time in as many years such a trip has been undertaken.

"My question to the council meeting last week was how much did the junket to New York cost," she told the Democrat. "Show me tangible proof that Louth gets added to tour itineraries by US tour companies or that local businesses in Louth get contracts from these junkets."

"In my opinion, there has to be targets set and progress reports given, otherwise it is a waste of Louth taxpayers money and I have raised and asked for the same for the last four years. I'm fed up.

"We are told each year at Budget Workshops and meetings how tight our budget is and how little maneourving we have with the same budget so spending money on local projects would benefit our county more," Yore added.

Last month, Frank Pentony, Cathaoirleach Colm Markey and Thomas McEvoy travelled to New York over the St Patrick's Day weekend where they met with officials from Tourism Ireland.

In 2016, CEO Joan Martin was among the officials who travelled to the US for a similar trip. Last year's trip cost in the region of 8,000 in travel and accommodation.

Last week's full council meeting was told the trip was budgeted. Mark Dearey said he felt there may be value in the trips. A full report has been ordered.
A Dundalk father and daughter team are set to travel to Haiti with 'Haven', a prominent Irish NGO working on the ground in the country, as part of a volunteer trip from 13-22 April 2018.

Dave McCooey and his daughter Aislinn from Knockbridge, just outside Dundalk, along with 34 other volunteers, are setting off on this life-changing trip with Havens 2018 Volunteer Programme.



This years Volunteer Programme sees the group travel to the small commune of Gressier, located two hours south-west of Haitis capital, Port au Prince. The Volunteer Programme will play an important role in supporting the people of Gressier, who are still working to rebuild their lives after the devastating earthquake in 2010.

Volunteers will lead the refurbishment and upgrade of the main building of the local Jean Jean School, which has six classrooms and serves 160 children. The enhancement of the school facilities will ensure local children have access to education that will lead to bright, self-sufficient futures.



Over the course of their time in Haiti, Havens volunteers will work together to replace the school roof, and repair and plaster the walls of the buildings that were badly damaged by the 2010 earthquake. The team of volunteers will also repair the kitchen on the school grounds and build a covered area for children to eat in and enjoy shelter from the searing afternoon heat. The construction of a new toilet block will greatly improve the schools facilities, ensuring clean sanitation and good health for its students.

In addition to the construction element of the programme, the team will provide equipment and furniture to enable improved learning and education. These include new bookshelves, blackboards and desks to enrich the school experience and make it more engaging for students. The volunteers will also create a safe area for children to play with the development of a colourful and interactive playground.

Dave McCooey, said: This years Volunteer Programme marks my eighth time travelling to Haiti with Haven, and my daughter Aislinn is travelling with me for her fourth time. Were both really looking forward to returning to Haiti.

"The Volunteer Programme is so rewarding. It is truly eye-opening to see what families like ours face every day in Haiti, and we feel very fortunate to share this experience together. We know the work we will do in Haiti will transform the local school in Gressier and its great to be a part of that.


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An alarming number of major U.S. retailers, industrial firms, government agencies and other organizations have been hit in a recent wave of cyberbreaches that may signal increasing vulnerability for consumers and businesses alike.

The attacks have exposed millions of consumer payment cards to fraud. Cyberthieves have used a variety of methods to infiltrate corporate computer systems and resell financial data on the Dark Web.

What is particularly worrisome is that in the aftermath of the high-profile intrusions during the 2016 presidential election and the massive ransomware attacks of 2017, there seems to have been little to no movement in developing comprehensive strategies.

It appears that many major U.S. institutions have been maintaining the status quo instead of implementing new measures to protect critical financial and personal information from determined adversaries, whether criminal cybergangs or rogue nation states.

"U.S. companies and organizations are woefully underprepared to deal with modern attacks like this -- and the problem is simply exacerbated by the amounts and access to personal data these companies and institutions store," said Kevin O'Brien, CEO of GreatHorn.

The personal data stolen in past attacks enhances the efficacy of future attacks, he told the E-Commerce Times. Executive impersonation scams, for example, have risen 300 percent over the past year.

Nearly one in three executives have fallen victim to these type of attacks, either by clicking links in suspicious emails or by having their names and emails spoofed and used in propagating future breaches, GreatHorn has found.

Orbitz, Under Armour

Travel website Orbitz on March 20 announced that credit card data belonging to 880,000 customers on a legacy platform might have been accessed by an attacker between Oct. 1 and Dec. 22, 2017, according to spokesperson David McNamee.

After bringing in a leading third-party forensic team and notifying law enforcement, Orbitz determined that the attacker might have accessed data for trips purchased between Jan. 1 and June 22, 2016, on its legacy site and purchases on its legacy partner platform for trips purchased from Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 22, 2017.

The compromised information included names, credit card numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, physical addresses and gender. The company did not disclose how the attackers accessed the data. Orbitz has offered customers a year of free credit card monitoring in response.

Under Armour on March 29 announced that 150 million accounts using the MyFitnessPal food and nutrition app had been compromised due to an unauthorized third-party having gained access to user data sometime in February.

The breach, which was discovered on March 25, involved usernames, emails and hashed passwords, but not credit card, driver's license or social security numbers. Under Armour called on data security firms and law enforcement to address the breach and has notified customers via email or using the app.

Under Armour was notified of the breach by a white hat researcher, and the cause is still being investigated, according to an official familiar with the company who asked not to be identified. He said that how the attackers got into the system was unknown.

No customers have reported being compromised by the attackers, the source said, which could be due to the short window between the discovery of the breach and the disclosure. The company has urged customers to change their passwords.

Boeing, Saks, Sears, Delta

Boeing in March was hit by a cyberattack that reportedly was a variant of the WannaCry ransomware. The attack impacted a North Charleston, South Carolina, production facility, according to The Seattle Times.

Boeing on March 28 confirmed that its cybersecurity systems had detected a "limited intrusion of malware," but remediations were applied, and the incident was "not a production or delivery issue."

Media reports overstated its impact, the company said.

"We identified and assessed a minor issue and quickly applied the appropriate fix with a software patch," said Linda Mills, vice president of communications at Boeing. "It was limited to a small number of machines within our commercial airplane businesses -- not defense or services."

There was no interruption to aircraft production or delivery, she added.

Boeing has not said whether the malware was WannaCry or any type of ransomware.

Despite the potential link to WannaCry in the Boeing case, and links to SamSam in a recent attack on the city of Atlanta, ransomware attacks actually have been on the decline as a cybercrime tactic as the demand for virtual currency has skyrocketed.

"Cryptomining is more profitable since people never know they are infected and work for the attacker longer," noted Craig Williams, director of outreach at Cisco Talos.

"It's also less likely to be pursued by law enforcement since it isn't very destructive in nature," he told the E-Commerce Times.

One of the most recent major breaches exposed the credit card data of 5 million customers of Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks Off Fifth and Lord & Taylor, all subsidiaries of Hudson's Bay Company. Its other brands were not impacted.

A JokerStache syndicate on March 28 announced that it had 5 million stolen credit and debit cards for sale on the Dark Web, according to a post by Gemini Advisory, a cybersecurity firm.

The card theft dated back to May 2017 and likely involved 83 Saks Fifth Avenue locations, mostly New York and New Jersey Saks and Lord & Taylor stores, Gemini Advisory said.

About 35,000 records of Saks Fifth Avenue and 90,000 records of Lord & Taylor customers already had been released by the syndicate, and Gemini Advisory expected more to be released over time.

Delta Air Lines and Sears Holdings on April 4 separately announced that they were the victims of a data breach at a customer service online chat platform called [24.7] a.i.

Sears said it was notified in mid-March about the incident, which involved access to credit card data of fewer than 100,000 customers between Sept. 27, 2017, and Oct. 12, 2017. However, customers using Sears-branded cards were not impacted. Sears said it immediately notified federal law enforcement, its banking partners and outside IT security firms, and that neither stores nor internal Sears systems were compromised.

Delta said it was notified by the same firm on March 28, and that certain payment data for a "small subset" of customers from Sept. 26, 2017, to Oct. 12, 2017, had been accessed. Federal law enforcement and outside cyberforensic teams were brought in to help investigate the incident. The airline launched a website, delta.com/response, to post updates.

Asleep at the Switch

"While each incident is different, the overarching theme is poor cybersecurity hygiene, or fundamentals," said Andrew Howard, CTO at Kudelski Security.

"None of these attacks appear to be overly sophisticated, but rather take advantage of mistakes and human error to gain access," he told the E-Commerce Times.

A common thread across major companies is that no one has been thinking proactively across different threat vectors, observed Manoj Asnani, vice president of product and design at Balbix.

"If we expect to see the problem minimized at any time in the near future," he told the E-Commerce Times, "enterprises are going to need to find a better way to cover all of their attack surfaces, and fix key issues ahead of the next breach happening."

David Jones has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2015. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, e-commerce, open source, gaming, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. He has written for numerous media outlets, including Reuters, Bloomberg, Crain's New York Business and The New York Times. Email David.


AMSTERDAM  Amfori  formerly the Foreign Trade Association  has shared the first speakers for its Unleash Opportunity conference, to be held in Amsterdam in June. Frank Dassler, general counsel at sportswear giant Adidas Group will discuss how companies can remain competitive, sustainable and future-fit.
WELLINGTON  Outdoor apparel brand Icebreaker, which was recently acquired by VF Corporation, has demonstrated its strongest commitment yet to transparency by launching a report which it claims gives consumers an unparalleled opportunity to inspect every aspect of the firms supply chain and operations.

Transparency Report: Made Different is the first publication of its kind by the company and includes the companys full supply chain matrix, detailing all stages of the New Zealand brands operations and outlining its goals for the future.
By Nicholas Bryner and Meredith Hankins

Editor's note: On April 2, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the Trump administration plans to revise tailpipe emissions standards negotiated by the Obama administration for motor vehicles built between 2022 and 2025, saying the standards were set "too high." Pruitt also said the EPA was re-examining California's historic ability to adopt standards that are more ambitious than the federal government's. Legal scholars Nicholas Bryner and Meredith Hankins explain why California has this authorityand what may happen if the EPA tries to curb it.

Where does California get this special authority?

The Clean Air Act empowers the EPA to regulate air pollution from motor vehicles. To promote uniformity, the law generally bars states from regulating car emissions.

But when the Clean Air Act was passed, California was already developing innovative laws and standards to address its unique air pollution problems. So Congress carved out an exemption. As long as California's standards protect public health and welfare at least as strictly as federal law, and are necessary "to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions," the law requires the EPA to grant California a waiver so it can continue to apply its own regulations. California has received numerous waivers as it has worked to reduce vehicle emissions by enacting ever more stringent standards since the 1960s.

Other states can't set their own standards, but they can opt to follow California's motor vehicle emission regulations. Currently, 12 states and the District of Columbia have adopted California's standards.

Gov. Ronald Reagan signs legislation establishing the California Air Resources Board to address the state's air pollution, Aug. 30, 1967. CA ARB

What are the "compelling and extraordinary conditions" that California's regulations are designed to address?

In the 1950s scientists recognized that the unique combination of enclosed topography, a rapidly growing population and a warm climate in the Los Angeles air basin was a recipe for dangerous smog. Dutch chemist Arie Jan Haagen-Smit discovered in 1952 that worsening Los Angeles smog episodes were caused by photochemical reactions between California's sunshine and nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons in motor vehicle exhaust.

California's Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board issued regulations mandating use of the nation's first vehicle emissions control technology in 1961, and developed the nation's first vehicle emissions standards in 1966. Two years later the EPA adopted standards identical to California's for model year 1968 cars. UCLA Law scholar Ann Carlson calls this pattern, in which California innovates and federal regulators piggyback on the state's demonstrated success, "iterative federalism." This process has continued for decades.

California has set ambitious goals for slowing climate change. Is that part of this dispute with the EPA?



Yes. Transportation is now the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. The tailpipe standards that the Obama EPA put in place were designed to limit GHG emissions from cars by improving average fuel efficiency.

These standards were developed jointly by the EPA, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and California, which have overlapping legal authority to regulate cars. EPA and California have the responsibility to control motor vehicle emissions of air pollutants, including GHGs. DOT is in charge of regulating fuel economy.

Congress began regulating fuel economy in response to the oil crisis in the 1970s. DOT sets the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard that each auto manufacturer must meet. Under this program, average fuel economy in the U.S. improved in the late 1970s but stagnated from the 1980s to the early 2000s as customers shifted to purchasing larger vehicles, including SUVs, minivans and trucks.

In 2007 Congress responded with a new law that required DOT to set a standard of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020, and the "maximum feasible average fuel economy" after that. That same year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act authorized the EPA to regulate GHG emissions from cars.



The Obama administration's tailpipe standard brought these overlapping mandates together. EPA's regulation sets how much carbon dioxide can be emitted per mile, which matches with DOT's increased standard for average fuel economy. It also includes a "midterm review" to assess progress. Administrator Scott Pruitt's new EPA review, released on April 2, overturned the Obama administration's midterm review and concluded that the 2022 to 2025 standard was not feasible.

The EPA now argues that earlier assumptions behind the rule were "optimistic" and can't be met. However, its review almost entirely ignored the purpose of the standards and the costs of continuing to emit GHGs at high levels. Although the document is 38 pages long, the word "climate" never appears, and "carbon" appears only once.

The EPA's decision does not yet have any legal impact. It leaves the current standards in place until the EPA and DOT decide on a less-stringent replacement.

Can the Trump administration take away California's authority to set stricter targets?



The EPA has never attempted to revoke an existing waiver. In 2007, under George W. Bush, the agency denied California's request for a waiver to regulate motor vehicle GHG emissions. California sued, but the EPA reversed course under President Obama and granted the state a waiver before the case was resolved.

California's current waiver was approved in 2013 as a part of a "grand bargain" between California, federal agencies and automakers. It covers the state's Advanced Clean Cars program and includes standards to reduce conventional air pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, as well as the GHG standards jointly developed with the EPA and DOT.

The Trump administration is threatening to revoke this waiver when it decouples the national GHG vehicle standards from California's standards. EPA Administrator Pruitt has said that the agency is re-examining the waiver, and that "cooperative federalism doesn't mean that one state can dictate standards for the rest of the country." In our view, this statement mischaracterizes how the Clean Air Act works. Other states have voluntarily chosen to follow California's rules because they see benefits in reducing air pollution.

How would California respond if the EPA revokes its waiver?



Gov. Jerry Brown, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols have all made clear that the state will push back. It's almost certain that any attempt to revoke or weaken California's waiver will immediately be challenged in courtand that this would be a major legal battle.

Reposted with permission from our media associate The Conversation.
If the U.S. does decide to stay in the Paris agreement, a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has confirmed a policy proposal that would enable us to meet our 2030 commitments, an MIT press release reported Friday.

Researchers studied various carbon tax proposals and found that they would be an effective means of reducing emissions and would have minimal impacts on the economy.

The joint MIT and NREL study was one of 11 such reports to look at the impact of a carbon tax in Climate Change Economics. The studies all started from the same set of assumptions; while the details of the studies' conclusions varied, all agreed that a carbon tax could be both effective environmentally and fair economically.

In order to reach their conclusions, researchers used two models: an MIT model of policy impacts on global climate and a NREL model of the U.S. electrical system, which allowed them to assess how proposals would impact that emission-generating sector specifically.

They examined proposals looking at three sets of variables: taxes beginning at $25 or $50 per ton of carbon emitted, yearly tax rate increases of one or five percent, and revenue distribution in the form of equal rebates for every household, individual tax breaks, or corporate tax breaks.

They found that a tax beginning at $50 and increasing by five percent would reduce emissions 63 percent by 2050 and meet both 2030 and 2050 Paris goals. A tax beginning at $25 would also meet the U.S.'s 2030 Paris goal if it was accompanied by a five percent increase.

The researchers also looked at which revenue-uses would be most efficient for the economy overall and which would be fairer in terms of minimizing the tax's impact on low-income Americans.

Using the revenue to give all taxpayers an equal rebate was the fairest option, but the least economically efficient, whereas using the revenue to reduce capital taxes was the most efficient, but the least fair.

However, researchers also looked at a compromise plan that would reduce corporate taxes and offer a rebate to the lowest-income families, a plan they said would have a minimal impact on the economy. Even the most economically-inefficient options would only reduce growth by four-tenths of a percent.

Study author and MIT Sloan School of Management senior lecturer John Reilly noted that the study's economic analysis was slightly out-of-date, since it was conducted before the passing of President Donald Trump's tax bill.

"It is important to realize that this study was completed before the tax reform that took effect in January that slashed corporate income tax rates. Given that these tax rates have now been cut, and that those cuts will contribute to a growing deficit, we might better consider the revenue as a contribution to closing the deficit," Reilly said in the MIT release.
A rare orchid's unique pollination strategy could be imperiled by climate change in Britain, The Guardian reported Thursday.

The early spider orchid, or Ophrys sphegodes, imitates the scent of the female mining bee, or Andrena nigroaenea. This confuses male mining bees, who attempt to mate with the orchids and spread their pollen in the process.

This only works, however, if the orchid blooms before the female mining bee emerges from hibernation. If the male bee picks up the scent of actual females, he won't fall for the orchid's trick.

A study conducted by the University of Kent, the University of East Anglia, Kew and the University of Sussex and published in the April issue of the Botanical Journal of the Linnaen Society found that, as springs get warmer, the female bee emerges earlier, beating the orchids to male attention.

Researchers looked at data for temperatures and orchid populations covering 356 years in central England. They found that mean spring temperatures had gone up from 7.68 degrees Celsius to 8.64 degrees Celsius from 1659 to 2014 and that the female bee emerged before the orchid bloomed for 80 percent of the years between 1961 and 2014. This is an increasing problem: In 26 of the last 28 years, the female bee emerged first.

Lead author and University of Sussex ecology professor Michael Hutchings told The Guardian that the orchid's range has shrunk in Britain and that it could become extinct in the country.

But the study has implications beyond one orchid.

"Ecologists have been saying for a long time that if phenologies (seasonally-impacted life cycles) are changed by changing climate this might disrupt important interactions in communities of species. This study provides the strongest evidence we have that something nasty is happening. There are probably lots of other undocumented cases where similar detrimental effects on species are occurring," Hutchings said.

Indeed, The New York Times ran a story this week highlighting other examples of this growing phenomenon.

For example, the European pied flycatcher usually migrates from Africa to Europe in order to lay eggs before winter moth caterpillars emerge so that their chicks can feed on them. But warmer temperatures in Europe mean that the caterpillars are emerging up to two weeks earlier in some places, and the birds, who leave based on the length of days in Africa, are not arriving in time. Researchers in the Netherlands found that, in the parts of the country where the caterpillars emerged the earliest, flycatcher populations were declining.

Caribou face a similar problem. In Greenland, they winter along the coasts then move inland to give birth and eat Arctic plants. But as temperatures warm, those plants are greening earlier and earlier, and the caribou are not changing their habits. Researchers have found that caribou calves die earlier in years when the plants green before their inland calving season, suggesting that the young caribou need the nutritious, early growth that they are missing as the Arctic warms.
By Basten Gokkon

An oil spill in Borneo that began over the past weekend has now spread across an area greater than the city of Paris and is heading out to the open ocean, the Indonesian government said.

The spill, first reported on March 31, stems from a pipeline operated by state-owned oil firm Pertamina in the city of Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan province. A report released April 4 by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said the slick was spreading out from Balikpapan Bay and into the Strait of Makassar, covering some 130 square kilometers (50 square miles).

Pertamina, which for days had denied responsibility for the disaster, finally admitted on April 4 that one of its pipes used for transporting crude oil was the source of the slick.

"Our preliminary investigation had indicated that the oil was ship fuel, but it was only until [the evening of April 3] that we got confirmation that it was from us," Pertamina general manager Togar M.P. told reporters. "Ever since the incident was discovered, we have shut down the pipes."

A satellite image dated April 1 shows the extent of area that is covered with crude oil from an undersea pipe leakage in Balikpapan Bay. Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency / BNPB

The incident has been blamed for the deaths of five fishermen in a fire sparked by clean-up workers who were trying to clear the oil by burning it off the water's surface.

Some 84 acres of mangrove forests are covered in oil, the environment ministry report said. The slick is also believed to have led to the death of an endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (orcaella brevirostris), a protected species under Indonesian law, which was found washed up on the coast near the site of the spill.

Thousands of people in Balikpapan, a city of 700,000, have also complained about health problems from the toxic slick.

Authorities declared a state of emergency in the city on April 3, and warned residents not to light cigarettes in the area. They also distributed gas masks to protect against the acrid fumes and smoke.

"Dolphins have died from oil spills in Balikpapan Bay. The marine waters are polluted. Until now the impact of oil the spill can not be overcome," said Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (via Google Translate).

The East Kalimantan police and Pertamina are investigating the cause of the leak, after divers from the company found the pipe had moved some 328 feet from its initial position on the seabed.



Togar suggested "an external heavy force" had caused the damage to the 20-year-old pipe. Balikpapan Bay sees heavy traffic, particularly of coal barges coming through from the Borneo hinterland.

The police said a criminal prosecution may follow.

Nearly 18,300 gallons of oil was collected as of Tuesday evening, and several oil booms have been deployed to contain the spill, the environment ministry said.

"We have told our teams and also Pertamina to prioritize cleaning up the spill near settlements, considering the strong smell and other potential risks [from the slick]," Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said in a statement.
Portugal just took a huge step forward in the renewable energy arena. The country ran on solar, wind and hydropower energy for 107-hours straight from 6:45 a.m. May 7 to 5:45 p.m. May 11, The Guardian reported.

A large photovoltaic power project, the Serpa solar power plant, in Portugal, one of Europe's sunniest areas. Photo credit: Wikipedia

This was a landmark event for Europe and renewable energy. In that four-day period, the European country didn't have to turn to coal or fossil fuels for its electricity needs.

Francisco Ferreira, president of Portuguese sustainability NGO Zero, told The Independent:

Portugal has been investing considerably in renewables, particularly in electricity, since this will be the main final energy within the next decades with the transition from fossil fuels in road transportation to electric vehicles. Since key decisions in the beginning of the century to greatly expand on-shore wind, with the renew of the equipment in certain dams and the improvement of their storage capacity to handle wind production variability, the electricity system can now achieve 100% of renewable electricity being produced and even export.

However, this was the first time that it happened for such a long period, due to particular meteorological conditions and the great management performance of the electricity network.



Portugal has been moving away from fossil fuels in recent years. In 2013, 70 percent of the country's energy came from renewable resources and 24.6 percent of that was from wind power. Only Denmark produced more energy from wind power than Portugal.

This is a significant achievement for a European country, but what seems extraordinary today will be commonplace in Europe in just a few years," James Watson, the CEO of SolarPower Europe, told The Guardian. "The energy transition process is gathering momentum and records such as this will continue to be set and broken across Europe."

The push toward renewable energy sources is an European Union-wide effort. The union set a goal to produce 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

Other countries have made recent stridesalthough not as substantial. On May 15, Germany produced 45.5 gigawatts of its 45.8 gigawatt demand, Bloomberg reported. The UK also had several instances of zero-reliance on coal energy last week, The Guardian reported. For more than half of the day, on May 12, there was no electricity from coal.

We are seeing trends like this spread across Europelast year with Denmark and now in Portugal," Oliver Joy, a spokesman for the Wind Europe, told The Guardian. "The Iberian peninsula is a great resource for renewables and wind energy, not just for the region but for the whole of Europe."

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Several U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees who raised concerns about Scott Pruitt's leadership tactics, including his spending habits, were reassigned or demoted, according to a New York Times report.

The five officials in question, including one Trump administration political appointee and one member of Pruitt's security detail, were a key part of the approval process for certain requests, and directly raised concerns over demands for items like a $70,000 desk upgrade, expanded security detail and the use of sirens and flashing lights on occasions when Pruitt was running late for dinner.

The Times report capped off another day of Pruitt-related scandals, including a report from the Washington Post that he endorsed raises for his aides despite denying knowledge of the pay changes earlier this week. One of Pruitt's top aides, Samantha Dravis, handed in her resignation Wednesday.

In a scathing op-ed published in The Hill, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) said Pruitt "has done more to damage the economy, our environment, public safety and American global competitiveness than any Trump Cabinet member.

"Since taking office, Mr. Pruitt has questioned man-made climate change, scrubbed the EPA website of references to climate change, disputed settled scientific findings, and removed scientific experts from advisory boards, replacing them with industry representatives. He has withdrawn and reversed important environmental protections, including the Clean Power Plan and coal ash disposal requirements. Lest we forget, it was Mr. Pruitt who was the loudest cheerleader for pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. The administrator has even advocated slashing his agency's budget by a third. All of these decisions jeopardize the American public.

Under the Obama administration, we were making investments in the 21st century clean energy economy and leading the global community in taking historic action on climate change. Mr. Pruitt, however, seems hell-bent on reversing that progress, and would rather pretend climate change doesn't exist. Knowing he speaks to an audience of one, he has calculated that pushing these backward policies may be enough to protect his job."

For a deeper dive:

Employees: New York Times, CNN. Traffic: CBS, Raises: Washington Post. Pruitt in crisis: New York Times, Axios, Huffington Post, LA Times, Politico. Dravis: CNN. Commentary: Washington Post, Philip Bump analysis, Washington Post, Aaron Blake analysis, The Hill, Rep. Gerry Connolly op-ed, The Hill, Mike Carr op-ed, GQ, Jack Holmes analysis, Wall Street Journal editorial, Fox, Steve Milloy op-ed

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.
Already outnumbered in state-level offices, embattled Democrats nationwide are hoping to turn momentum from recent teacher protests into political gains this fall, when 36 governors and three-fourths of state legislative seats are up for grabs.

In states such as North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, Democrats have framed themselves in political ads and candidate talking points as the party that will rescue financially struggling public schools from the grip of fiscally conservative Republicans, who fully control more than half the nations statehouses.

As if U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos relentless championing of charter schools and vouchers werent enough, millions of Americans have been bombarded by the sounds and images of striking teachers and educators rallying in Arizona, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, articulating the harm of real-life classroom cuts they attribute to Republican leadership.

Democrats are hoping it will resonate with voters of all stripes come November.

Everybody has had a teacher who inspired them or kept them in school and, as simple as that sounds, there are few things thats as familiar to all of us as public schools and teachers, said Joe Thomas, the president of the Arizona Education Association.

Even the rallies around teacher pay issues that have erupted in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Kentucky have taken on political overtones. Voter registration booths lined walkways. Petitions and volunteer forms were passed around.

In Oklahoma last week, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson gave teachers at the state Capitol rulers with his campaign slogan and cups of hot cocoa.

And at an especially raucous rally in Phoenix earlier this month, David Garcia, a former teacher and a Democratic candidate for governor, posed for selfies with teachers.

Every one of these teachers is a potential voter and volunteer canvasser, said Ian Danley, Garcias campaign manager, while looking out over a crowd of thousands of teachers banging cowbells, blowing whistles, and chanting slogans against incumbent Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

Democrats are feeling hopeful that their laser-like focus on education might work this fall. Of the seven special elections for legislative seats in Oklahoma last year, Democrats seized four of them. Two of those candidates were teachers.

Were not using any groundbreaking techniques here, said Anna Langthorn, the chairwoman of Oklahomas Democratic Party, who said education will again be a top issue on voters mind this fall. Were putting up leaders who are offering solutions for our public schools.

An Uphill Battle

Still Democrats face a grinding, uphill battle.

Democrats fully control just eight states, compared to the 26 where Republicans control both the governorship and the legislature. Legislative districts in most states arent drawn toward Democrats favor, and knocking out of office an incumbent with both name recognition and ready-made war chests is no easy task.

As the teacher protests have rolled on, Republican leaders in Florida, Texas, and Wisconsin have made a concerted effort to detail their own efforts to increase public school funding, even while Medicare, pension, and other government costs have soared in recent years.

Besides, they point out, public school systems in Democratically controlled states such as Connecticut and Oregon arent necessarily flush with cash either.

Democratic efforts to exploit the fervor over teacher pay and school funding have been especially intense in Arizona. For three years now, public school funding has been a leading concern among voters, according to a poll conducted by Expect More Arizona, a nonpartisan advocacy group that pushes for improved academic outcomes.

The state is among the lowest in the nation in teacher pay, and has one of the nations most expansive school voucher and charter school systems.

Were finally coming out of the recession and our economy is healthy, but were in a state where politicians have over many years divorced the conversation about tax policy from the cost of funding different parts of government, said Christine Thompson, the president and CEO of Expect More Arizona.

Democrats there havent held a statewide executive seat for more than a decade. But Democrats need only two seats in order to control the state Senate, and with the states voter registration evenly split between Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, theres a chance Democrats could grab the governors seat.

After West Virginias recent teacher strike, Arizonas teachers ramped up their threats, staging rallies, calling legislators, and increasingly turning their ire toward the governor. Democratic candidates have been in lock step with them.

Ducey has in recent weeks scrambled to quell the teacher-led movement dubbed Arizona Educators United. He and the Republican-run legislature late last month extended an 18-year-old sales tax thats poured tens of millions of dollars into the states public schools, and the legislature is currently attempting to pass a budget that provides for an incremental increase in school funding.

But Ducey has not managed to boost teacher pay, an expensive task that likely will require new taxes in this conservative state. (A 1 percent pay increase would cost the state an estimated $34 million.) Arizona requires the approval of at least two-thirds of its legislature in order to pass a new tax.

Political Vitriol

As the legislation session approaches its close with a teachers strike seeming more likely than not, the political vitriol rhetoric has ramped up.

Both Republicans and Democrats are for public schools but the difference is were realists, and were in power, and making reforms to make schools better, said Republican state Sen. John Kavanagh, the vice chairman of the Senates appropriations committee. The Democrats are like the emperor with no clothes.

Business advocates, including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the utility company Pinnacle West, are backing Ducey and have pumped $1 million into a campaign called Arizona Education Project to salvage the reputation of the states public school system.

Quite frankly, there are entities in this state that see political advantage in talking down the quality of our schools, said Matthew Benson, the spokesman for the Arizona Education Project. Arizona schools have made a lot of progress. Thats not to say that were where we want to be. Because clearly, were not. But were on the right track.

Meanwhile, leaders of Save Our Schools Arizona, which has helped organize the teacher protests, are reluctant to align themselves with a specific political party. They want higher pay and more money for schools, and say they dont care whether Republican or Democrats do it as long as it gets done.

At the recent statehouse rally by teachers, several candidates asked to set up campaign boothsa request the Save our Schools Arizona organization ultimately denied. The group is currently debating whether to endorse candidates this fall.

We feel theres a little bit of a danger of developing enemies where you dont want to have enemies, said Dawn Penich-Thacker, a spokeswoman for Save Our Schools Arizona.

At the rally, several teachers said even if they dont strike, theyll express their rage at the polls this fall. One protestor held a sign that said, Im a teacher and I vote.
2018-04-06

Maeci

The visit to Madrid by Elisabetta Belloni, the Secretary-General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by the Director General for the European Union, Giuseppe Buccino, aims to pave the way for stronger cooperation between Italy and Spain in the sectors of strategic interest for the two Countries. Indeed, European policies were at the top of the agenda of the talks that the Italian delegation had with the Secretary of State for European Affairs of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Jorge Toledo, which focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation in the sectors of common interest in which Italy and Spain can jointly influence and mould EU decisions and policies.

The other issues on the agenda included the migration dossier, seen from the common perspective of frontier Countries of the European Union and of the experience acquired by Italy and Spain in their relationship with the African Countries of origin and transit; boosting Europes common defence, also in order to respond to the threats coming from the Southern front; completing the Economic and Monetary Union and the negotiations over the next EU Multi-annual Financial Framework, with the aim of bringing the two Countries positions closer together. The talks also focused on economic and commercial bilateral relations in the light of the relevant and consolidated presence of Italian businesses on the Spanish market and vice versa.

Present at the bilateral talks were also the Italian Ambassador to Spain, Stefano Sannino, the Spanish Director General of Bilateral Relations with EU Countries, Juan Lopez-Herrera Sanchez, and the Director General for the European Union Affairs, Jose Pascual Marco Martinez.

Ambassador Belloni also had the opportunity of meeting with representatives of Italian businesses in Spain and to address a greeting to the Embassy personnel and the representatives of other Italian institutions in Madrid.
Australian scientists have confirmed the hybridisation of two of the world's major pest species, into a new and improved mega-pest.

One of the pests, the cotton bollworm, is widespread in Africa, Asia and Europe and causes damage to over 100 crops, including corn, cotton, tomato and soybean.

The damage and controlling the pest costs billions of dollars a year.

It is extremely mobile and has developed resistance to all pesticides used against it.

The other pest, the corn earworm, is a native of the Americas and has comparatively limited resistance and host range.

However, the combination of the two, in a novel hybrid with unlimited geographical boundaries is cause for major concern.

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) researchers in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA provides clear evidence of the hybridisation of the two moths in Brazil.

"A hybrid such as this could go completely undetected should it invade another country," Research Director leading CSIRO's Biosecurity Risk Evaluation and Preparedness Program Dr Paul De Barro said.

"It is critical that we look beyond our own backyard to help fortify Australia's defense and response to biosecurity threats.

"As Australia's national science agency, we are constantly looking for new ways to protect the nation and technology like genome sequencing, is helping to tip the scales in our favour."

While a combination of insecticides currently controls these pests well in Australia, it is important to study the pests themselves for sustainable long-term management world-wide.

The scientists confirmed that among the group of caterpillars studied, every individual was a hybrid.

"No two hybrids were the same suggesting a 'hybrid swarm' where multiple versions of different hybrids can be present within one population," fellow CSIRO Scientist Dr Tom Walsh said.

The bollworm, commonly found in Australia, attacks more crops and develops much more resistance to pesticides than the earworm.

A concerning finding among the Brazilian hybrids was that one was 51 per cent earworm but included a known resistance gene from the bollworm.

Lead author of the paper Dr Craig Anderson, a former CSIRO scientist now based at The University of Edinburgh, believes the hybrid study has wide-ranging implications for the agricultural community across the Americas.

"On top of the impact already felt in South America, recent estimates that 65 per cent of the USA's agricultural output is at risk of being affected by the bollworm demonstrates that this work has the potential to instigate changes to research priorities that will have direct ramifications for the people of America, through the food on their tables and the clothes on their backs," Dr Anderson said.

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How does air pollution affect the development of baby's brains? Can innovative heart regeneration treatments increase the long-term survival of heart attack victims? How did non-living matter evolve into living systems that established themselves on Earth? Why are bacteria extremely aggressive towards one another? These are some of the issues that leading researchers will be exploring thanks to Advanced Grants from the European Research Council. This EU funding, worth a total of EUR653 million, announced today will benefit 269 senior researchers across Europe, giving them a chance to realise their most creative ideas and potentially produce results that will have a major impact on science, society and the economy. The grants are part of the EU's Research and Innovation programme, Horizon 2020.

On this occasion, Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: "The ERC's Advanced Grant scheme has supported outstanding and established research leaders since 2007. It provides a great example of how EU funding can help expand the frontiers of scientific knowledge, providing the resources necessary to continue ground-breaking, high-risk projects, and ensure Europe's global competitiveness."

The President of the ERC, Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, commented: "The diversity and boldness of the research in this latest funding round are once again impressive. The selected researchers explore the brink of the unknown, the ideal setting to make breakthroughs. If the past is any guide to the future, the ERC is set to continue betting on audacious scientific projects - the latest review shows again that over 70% of ERC-funded research led to discoveries and major scientific advances. But there are many more bright minds with ambitious ideas in Europe that the ERC could fund if we had more means. That's why the ERC Scientific Council argues for more resources for the future while keeping the strategy of using scientific quality as the only criterion for selection."

The research of these new grantees covers all fields of scholarship. One grantee in France will explore using underwater communication cables in earthquake warning systems. Another scholar in London will investigate the causes and consequences of electoral hostility and a scientist in Ljubljana will build a new class of molecular machines based on proteins.

See more project examples.

The ERC competitions are open to any nationality and in this round, researchers of 27 nationalities received funding, with British (50), German (40), French (29) and Spanish (18) researchers being the most numerous. The grantees will carry out their projects at universities and research centers in 20 countries across the European Research Area1, with the United Kingdom (66 grants), Germany (42) and France (34) as leading locations.

Demand for ERC grants remains very high: 2,167 research proposals were submitted this time, out of which 12% were selected for funding. Female researchers submitted approximately 17% of proposals and some 17% of grants have been awarded to women.

These grants will not only allow top researchers to execute their best ideas at scientific frontiers, but will also lead to job creation as an estimated 2,000 postdocs, PhD students and other staff could be employed in the grantees' research teams.

See more statistics.

List of all selected researchers (alphabetical order)

Lists of selected researchers by domain (alphabetical order):

Discover more projects in this Advanced Grant competition

Background

The ERC Advanced Grants in brief

For well-established top researchers of any nationality or age, who are scientifically independent and have a recent high-level research track-record and profile which identifies them as leaders in their respective field(s).

Based on a simple approach: 1 researcher with his/her team, 1 host institution, 1 project, 1 selection criterion: scientific excellence.

The host institution should be based in the European Research Area. This can be the institution where the researcher is already working, or a new one. The host institution can be changed in the course of the project if the researcher so wishes ("portability of the grant").

No consortia or co-funding are requested.

Funding: up to EUR2.5 million per grant (can exceptionally go up to EUR3.5 million, in case of purchase of major equipment, mobility from another continent, etc.).

About the ERC

The European Research Council, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the first European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. Every year, it selects and funds the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based in Europe. The ERC has three core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants and Advanced Grants. Another funding scheme Synergy Grants should be re-launched in 2018.

To date, the ERC has funded some 8,000 top researchers at various stages of their careers, and over 50,000 postdocs, PhD students and other staff working in their research teams. The ERC strives to attract top researchers from anywhere in the world to come to Europe. Key global research funding bodies, in the United States, China, Japan, Brazil and other countries, have concluded special agreements to provide their researchers with opportunities to temporarily join ERC grantees' teams.

The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. The ERC President is Professor Jean-Pierre Bourguignon. The ERC has an annual budget of EUR1.8 billion for the year 2017. The overall ERC budget from 2014 to 2020 is more than EUR13 billion, as part of the Horizon 2020 programme, for which European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas is responsible.

More information

ERC website

Horizon 2020

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A particle that is its own anti-particle is the subject of a theoretical study by Brazilian researchers with results published in Scientific Reports.

In March 1938, the young Italian physicist Ettore Majorana disappeared mysteriously, leaving his country's scientific community shaken. The episode remains unexplained, despite Leonardo Scascia's attempt to unravel the enigma in his book The Disappearance of Majorana (1975).

Majorana, whom Enrico Fermi called a genius of Isaac Newton's stature, vanished a year after making his main contribution to science. In 1937, when he was only 30, Majorana hypothesized a particle that is its own anti-particle and suggested that it might be the neutrino, whose existence had recently been predicted by Fermi and Wolfgang Pauli.

Eight decades later, Majorana fermions, or simply majoranas, are among the objects most studied by physicists. In addition to neutrinos - whose nature, whether or not they are majoranas, is one of the investigative goals of the mega-experiment Dune - another class not of fundamental particles but of quasi-particles or apparent particles has been investigated in the field of condensed matter. These Majorana quasi-particles can emerge as excitations in topological superconductors.

A new study by PhD student Luciano Henrique Siliano Ricco with a scholarship from the Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP, in collaboration with his supervisor Antonio Carlos Ferreira Seridonio and others, was conducted on the Ilha Solteira campus of Sao Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil and described in an article in Scientific Reports.

"We propose a theoretical device that acts as a thermoelectric tuner - a tuner of heat and charge - assisted by Majorana fermions," Seridonio said.

The device consists of a quantum dot (QD), represented in the Figure A by the symbol 1. QDs are often called "artificial atoms." In this case, the QD is located between two metallic leads at different temperatures.

The temperature difference is fundamental to allowing thermal energy to flow across the QD. A quasi-one-dimensional superconducting wire - called a Kitaev wire after its proponent, Russian physicist Alexei Kitaev, currently a professor at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the US - is connected to the QD.

In this study, the Kitaev wire was ring- or U-shaped and had two majoranas (1 and 2) at its edges. The majoranas emerge as excitations characterized by zero-energy modes.

"When the QD is coupled to only one side of the wire, the system behaves resonantly with regard to electrical and thermal conductance. In other words, it behaves like a thermoelectric filter," said the principal investigator for the FAPESP fellowship.

"I should stress that this behavior as a filter for thermal and electrical energy occurs when the two majoranas 'see' each other via the wire, but only one of them 'sees' the QD in the connection."

Another possibility investigated by the researchers involved making the QD "see" the two majoranas at the same time by connecting it to both ends of the Kitaev wire.

"By making the QD 'see' more of 1 or 2, i.e., by varying the system's asymmetry, we can use the artificial atom as a tuner, where the thermal or electrical energy that flows through it is redshifted or blueshifted," Seridonio said (see Figure B for illustrative explanation).

This theoretical paper, he added, is expected to contribute to the development of thermoelectric devices based on Majorana fermions.

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About Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. For more information: http://www.fapesp.br/en.
Frankfurt am Main/ Germany, April 5, 2018. For the first time, scientists of the German Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, Goethe University and the University of Lund in Sweden have deciphered the complete genome of the blue whale and three other rorquals. These insights now allow tracking the evolutionary history of the worlds' largest animal and its relatives in unprecedented detail. Surprisingly, the genomes show that rorquals have been hybridizing during their evolutionary history. In addition, rorquals seem to have separated into different species in the absence of geographical barriers. This phenomenon, called sympatric speciation, is very rare in animals. The study has just been published in Science Advances.

Blue whales are the giants of the sea. With up to 30 meters (100 feet) long and weighing up to 175 tons, they are the largest animals that ever evolved on earth; larger even than dinosaurs. Short of becoming extinct due to whaling by the end of the 80s, currently the populations of the gentle giants are slowly recovering. Now new research highlights that the evolution of these extraordinary animals and other rorquals was also anything but ordinary.

A research team led by Professor Axel Janke, evolutionary geneticist at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center and Goethe University, has found that the rorquals, including the blue whale, mated across emerging species boundaries. "Speciation under gene flow is rare. Usually, species are assumed to be reproductively isolated because geographical or genetic barriers inhibits genetic exchange. Apparently however, this does not apply to whales", explains Fritjof Lammers, co-lead-author of the study, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre.

Teaming up with cetacean specialist Professor Ulfur Arnason at University of Lund, Sweden, Lammers and his colleagues are the first to have sequenced the complete genome of the blue whale and other rorquals, including the humpback and the gray whale. For these migratory whales, geographical barriers do not exist in the vastness of the ocean, instead some rorquals differentiated by inhabiting different ecological niches. Cross-genome analyses now indicate that there are apparently no genetic barriers between species and that there has been gene flow among different rorqual species in the past.

This is confirmed by spotting hybrids between fin and blue whales still to date, which have been witnessed and genetically studied by Professor Arnason. However, the researchers could not detect traces of recent liaisons between the two species in their genomes. This is probably because whale genomes are currently known only from one or two individuals.

To track down the rorquals' evolution, the scientists have applied so-called evolutionary network analyses. "In these analyses, speciation is not considered as a bifurcating phylogenetic tree as Darwin has envisioned it, but as an interwoven network. This allows us to discover hidden genetic signals, that otherwise would have stayed undetected", says Janke.

Overall, the research also shows that the relationships among the rorqual species are more complicated than hitherto thought. So far, the humpback whale has been seen as an outsider among the rorquals because of its enormous fins. The genome reveals that this classification does match the evolutionary signals. The same is true for the gray whale, which was believed to be evolutionarily distinct from rorquals due to its appearance. Genomic analyses show however that gray whales are nested within rorquals. Gray whales just happened to occupy a new ecological niche by feeding on crustaceans in coastal oceanic waters.

"Our research highlights the enormous potential of genome sequencing to better understand biological processes and the fundamentals of biodiversity. It even reveals how population sizes of whales have changed during the last million years", summarizes Janke. Janke is one of the leading researchers at the Hessian LOEWE Research Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG). Launched in January 2018, LOEWE-TBG is set to systematically analyze complete genomes or all active genes. The research center is envisaged to do basic research with a strong emphasis on transferring knowledge to benefit the study of natural products and protect biodiversity.

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To study and understand nature with its limitless diversity of living creatures and to preserve and manage it in a sustainable fashion as the basis of life for future generations -- this has been the goal of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft fur Naturforschung (Senckenberg Nature Research Society) for 200 years. This integrative "geobiodiversity research" and the dissemination of research and science are among Senckenberg's main tasks. Three nature museums in Frankfurt, Gorlitz and Dresden display the diversity of life and the earth's development over millions of years. The Senckenberg Nature Research Society is a member of the Leibniz Association. The Senckenberg Nature Museum in Frankfurt am Main is supported by the City of Frankfurt am Main as well as numerous other partners. Additional information can be found at http://www.senckenberg.de

Goethe University is a research-oriented university in the European financial centre Frankfurt The university was founded in 1914 through private funding, primarily from Jewish sponsors, and has since produced pioneering achievements in the areas of social sciences, sociology and economics, medicine, quantum physics, brain research, and labour law. It gained a unique level of autonomy on 1 January 2008 by returning to its historic roots as a "foundation university". Today, it is among the top ten in external funding and among the top three largest universities in Germany, with three clusters of excellence in medicine, life sciences and the humanities. Together with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz, it acts as a partner of the inter-state strategic Rhine-Main University Alliance. Internet: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de
In the latest round of funding awards, Herbert Edelsbrunner, a mathematician and computer scientist, received an ERC Advanced Grant. With an average success rate of around 12%, these grants are a testament to the quality of the work of those who receive them, as well as the innovation and expected impact of their research plans. Edelsbrunner, a professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) since 2009, uses topology, algorithms, and computer software to answer questions related to the recognition, matching, and classification of shape that arise in a variety of applications, from scientific visualization to molecular structure.

ERC grants provide long-term funding for ground-breaking, curiosity-driven research, and Edelsbrunner's project is no exception. In his project, "Alpha Shape Theory Extended", he will work to fully develop a larger theory that unites several of the topics that he has worked on before: alpha shapes, wrap complexes, and persistent homology. Alpha shapes are way of connecting points defined by Edelsbrunner and his collaborators in the 1980s, and they played a key role in sophisticated analyses of molecular structures. The wrap complex was instrumental in getting fast and accurate geometric software for surface reconstruction that emerged in the late 1990s. Alpha shapes and wrap complexes motivated Edelsbrunner's work developing persistent homology, a method for determining topological features at different scales. Persistent homology is the most important method in topological data analysis (TDA), and--given its increasing reach, complexity, and versatility--is likely to remain so in the future. A framework unifying these concepts would broaden and deepen the existing theory, and enable new applications in science, including medicine and biology, as well as to abstract or very high-dimensional data, such as text or language. For instance, Edelsbrunner, together with students and other collaborators, is already working on text applications and developing the necessary extensions in TDA.

Thomas Henzinger, President of IST Austria, congratulates the awardee: "Herbert Edelsbrunner's work exemplifies both the high quality and the interdisciplinary nature of the research performed on campus, and I look forward to seeing further connections between the mathematical and experimental sciences--one of the Institute's characteristic strengths."

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About IST Austria - http://www.ist.ac.at

The Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria) is a PhD-granting research institution located in Klosterneuburg, 18 km from the center of Vienna, Austria. Inaugurated in 2009, the Institute is dedicated to basic research in the natural and mathematical sciences. IST Austria employs professors on a tenure-track system, postdoctoral fellows, and doctoral students. While dedicated to the principle of curiosity-driven research, the Institute owns the rights to all scientific discoveries and is committed to promote their use. The first president of IST Austria is Thomas A. Henzinger, a leading computer scientist and former professor at the University of California in Berkeley, USA, and the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. The graduate school of IST Austria offers fully-funded PhD positions to highly qualified candidates with a bachelor's or master's degree in biology, neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, physics, and related areas.
Parkinson's disease, a progressive brain disorder, is often tough to treat effectively because symptoms, such as tremors and walking difficulties, can vary dramatically over a period of days, or even hours.

To address this challenge, Johns Hopkins University computer scientists, working with an interdisciplinary team of experts from two other institutions, have developed a new approach that uses sensors on a smartphone to generate a score that reliably reflects symptom severity in patients with Parkinson's disease.

In a study published recently online in the journal JAMA Neurology, researchers from Johns Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering, the University of Rochester Medical Center, and Aston University in the United Kingdom reported that the severity of symptoms among Parkinson's patients seen by neurologists aligned closely with those generated by their smartphone app.

Typically, patients with Parkinson's disease are evaluated by medical specialists during three or four clinic visits annually, with subjective assessments capturing only a brief snapshot of a patient's fluctuating symptoms. In their homes, patients may also be asked to fill out a cumbersome 24-hour "motor diary" in which they keep a written record of their mobility, involuntary twisting movements and other Parkinson's symptoms. The doctor then uses this self-reported or imprecise data to guide treatment.

In the new study, the researchers say patients could use a smartphone app to objectively monitor symptoms in the home and share this data to help doctors fine-tune their treatment.

E. Ray Dorsey, a University of Rochester Medical Center neurologist and a co-author of the research paper, said he welcomes the validation of Parkinson's patient severity scores produced by the smartphone tests.

"If you think about it, it sounds crazy," he said, "but until these types of studies, we had very limited data on how these people function on Saturdays and Sundays because patients don't come to the clinic on Saturdays or Sundays. We also had very limited data about how people with Parkinson's do at two o'clock in the morning or 11 o'clock at night because, unless they're hospitalized, they're generally not being seen in clinics at those times."

About six years ago, while doing medical research at Johns Hopkins, Dorsey was introduced to Suchi Saria, an assistant professor of computer science at the university. Saria, the corresponding author of the study and an expert in a computing technique called machine learning, had been using it to extract useful information from health-related data that was routinely being collected at hospitals. The two researchers, along with some of Saria's students, teamed up to find a way to monitor the health of Parkinson's patients as easily as people with diabetes can check their glucose levels with a pinprick blood test.

The team members knew that neurologists evaluated their Parkinson's patients by gathering information about how they moved, spoke and completed certain daily tasks. "Can we do this with a cellphone?" Saria wondered at the time. "We asked, 'What are the tricks we can use to make that happen?' "

Using existing smartphone components such as its microphone, touch screen and accelerometer, the team members devised five simple tasks involving voice sensing, finger tapping, gait measurement, balance and reaction time. They turned this into a smartphone app called 'HopkinsPD.' Next, using a machine learning technique that the team devised, they were able to convert the data collected with these tests and turn that into an objective Parkinson's disease severity score--a score that better reflected the overall severity of patients' symptoms and how well they were responding to medication.

The researchers say this smartphone evaluation should be particularly useful because it does not rely on the subjective observations of a medical staff member. Moreover, it can be administered any time or day in a clinic or within the patient's home, where the patient is less likely to be as nervous as in a medical setting.

"The day-to-day variability of Parkinson's symptoms is so high," Saria said. "If you happen to measure a patient at 5 p.m. today and then three months later, again at 5 p.m., how do you know that you didn't catch him at a good time the first time and at a bad time the second time?"

Collecting more frequent smartphone test data in a medical setting as well as in the home, could give doctors a clearer picture of their patients' overall heath and how well their medications are working, Saria and her colleagues suggested.

Summarizing the importance of their finding in the JAMA Neurology report, the researchers said, "A smartphone-derived severity score for Parkinson's disease is feasible and provides an objective measure of motor symptoms inside and outside the clinic that could be valuable for clinical care and therapeutic development."

Patients in the research project used Android smartphones to download the software, available through the Parkinson's Voice Initiative website. The team has now partnered with Apple and Sage Bionetworks to develop mPower, an iPhone version that is available at Apple's App Store.

The study's three co-lead authors included two of Saria's students from the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins: doctoral candidate Andong Zhan and third-year undergraduate Srihari Mohan.

Zahn, who is from Qujing, Yunnan, in China, described the project as "a unique experience of extracting data from the physical world to a digital world and finally seeing it become meaningful clinical information."

Mohan, who is from Redmond, Washington, added, "While not all research gets integrated tangibly into people's lives, what excites me most is the potential for the methods we developed to be deployed seamlessly into a patient's lifestyle and improve the quality of care."

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The third co-lead author was Christopher Tarolli, a physician at University of Rochester Medical Center. Andreas Terzis, a computer science research associate professor at Johns Hopkins, also was a coauthor. In addition to Dorsey, the other coauthors from the University of Rochester Medical Center were Ruth B. Schneider, Jamie L. Adams, Saloni Sharma, Mollie J. Elson, Kelsey L. Spear and Alistair M. Glidden. Max A. Little from Aston University was also a co-author.

The study was funded in part by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grant P20NS092529-02).
East Hanover, NJ - April 6, 2018. Americans with disabilities reached a milestone this month, as the major economic indicators showed increases for the 24th consecutive month, according to today's National Trends in Disability Employment - Monthly Update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). The strengthening economy underscores the value of diversity in the workplace. As hiring increases, preparing for the workplace is more important than ever for people with disabilities. Jobseekers with skills and experience gain employment more readily. Programs that provide hands-on work experiences are equipping people with disabilities with the skills they need to succeed in careers in government, nonprofits and private industries.

In the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released Friday, April 6, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased from 28.6 percent in March 2017 to 31.7 percent in March 2018 (up 10.8 percent; 3.1 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 73.3 percent in March 2017 to 73.6 percent in March 2018 (up 0.4 percent; 0.3 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

"For the 24th consecutive month, we are seeing improvement in the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities, commented John O'Neill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. "This is the longest duration of job gains we've seen during our five years of issuing nTIDE Jobs Reports. Most importantly," he emphasized, "because of this upward trend, people with disabilities are closing in on their pre-Great Recession employment levels."

The labor force participation rate for working-age people with disabilities increased from 32.3 percent in March 2017 to 34.8 percent in March 2018 (up 7.7 percent; 2.5 percentage points), while for working-age people without disabilities, the labor force participation rate increased slightly from 76.6 percent in March 2017 to 76.7 percent in March 2018 (up 0.1 percent; 0.1 percentage points). The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is working or actively looking for work.

"The gains made by people with disabilities continue to outpace the gains of people without disabilities," said Andrew Houtenville, PhD, associate professor of economics at UNH and research director of the Institute on Disability. "The recent increases in wages may possibly be offsetting some of the barriers that people with disabilities face, and thus making employment more feasible," he noted.

For students, internships are a proven pathway to competitive employment. The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars (TWC) connects college students from the U.S. and abroad with semester experiences for academic credit in the DC area. TWC actively recruits students with disabilities, and provides comprehensive support services to ensure their full participation in the internship program. Through its Leadership Initiative for Student with Disabilities, TWC supports scores of students every year, enabling them to choose from the rich array of opportunities in our nation's capital, while employers meet potential job candidates and learn the benefits of workplace inclusion.

New Jersey college students are eligible for TWC scholarships funded by Kessler Foundation. "The internship experience is especially valuable for students with disabilities, " said Elaine E. Katz, MS, CCC-SLP, senior vice president of grants and communications at Kessler Foundation. "Like other students, they gain skills and experience and earn course credit. However, effectively managing their disability in workplace requires that they have knowledge of their rights as employees. At TWC, students with disabilities receive the preparation they need to launch themselves into the workplace and navigate their advancement in professional careers."

In March 2018, among workers ages 16-64, the 4,945,000 workers with disabilities represented 3.4 percent of the total 145,299,000 workers in the U.S.

The next nTIDE will be issued on Friday, May 4, 2018.

Note that each nTIDE is followed by a noon webinar that features our experts, as well as invited panelists to discuss current disability-related findings and events. You can join live, or watch the recordings at: http://www.ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

NOTE: The statistics in the nTIDE are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, but are not identical. They are customized by UNH to combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16 to 64). NTIDE is funded, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (9ORT5022 and 90RT5017) and Kessler Foundation.

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About Kessler Foundation

Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes -- including employment -- for people with neurological disabilities caused by diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit http://www.KesslerFoundation.org. About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a coherent university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, visit http://www.ResearchonDisability.org.

For more information, or to interview an expert, contact: Carolann Murphy, 973.324.8382, CMurphy@KesslerFoundation.org.
In a groundbreaking development, results from a recent clinical trial to treat lung cancer show that a novel immunotherapy combination is surprisingly effective at controlling the disease's progression. The study, published April 4 in the journal The Lancet Oncology, focused on non-small cell lung cancer, which is the most common form of lung cancer.

Immunologist John Wrangle, M.D., of the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina said it's a promising therapy that can be delivered in an outpatient setting. "People don't talk about 'curing' patients with metastatic lung cancer. We now get to flirt with the idea for certain patients using immunotherapy. And at the very least we have a significant proportion of patients enjoying prolonged survival even if we can't call them 'cured'," he said.

He, along with his colleague Mark Rubinstein, Ph.D. also of the Hollings Cancer Center, designed a clinical trial that started in 2016.

Patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer will always progress after chemotherapy, so most patients go on to be treated with immunotherapy, a type of therapy that uses the body's immune system to fight cancer. One class of immunotherapeutic drugs is known as "checkpoint" inhibitors, as they target checkpoints in immune system regulation to allow the body's natural defenses, such as white blood cells, to more effectively target the cancer.

Rubinstein said checkpoint therapies work by cutting the brake cables on the white bloods cells that are inherently able to kill tumor cells. "Tumor cells often produce suppressive factors which essentially turn the brakes on tumor-killing white blood cells. What's unique about the therapy that we're testing is that in addition to cutting the brake cables on white blood cells, we're providing fuel to them so that they can more effectively kill cancer cells."

Wrangle and Rubinstein's therapy is a combination of a checkpoint drug, nivolumab, with a new and powerful immune stimulation drug, ALT-803. "What's unique about our trial is that it's two completely different types of drugs that have never been combined in humans before, and the trial demonstrated that these drugs can be safely administered, and also, there's evidence that it may help patients where checkpoint therapy is not good enough alone," said Rubinstein.

Patients who have stopped responding to checkpoint therapy may be helped significantly by adding ALT-803. Pre-clinical studies have shown that ALT-803 activates the immune system to mobilize lymphocytes against tumor cells and could potentially serve as an important component in combination treatments. Of the 21 patients treated, nine previously either had stable disease or responded to single-agent immunotherapy before becoming resistant to this treatment. Of these nine patients, 100 percent either had stable disease or had a partial response to the treatment used in this study.

"We can reassert control, at least in terms of stable disease, in essentially everybody we've treated so far," Wrangle said.

This novel combination is a huge step forward in cancer treatment. "Whereas for decades the modalities of therapy were surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, the last decade has brought targeted therapy, and more recently, immunotherapy. It fundamentally alters the balance of power between your body and your cancer," Wrangle said.

A lung cancer specialist, Wrangle said 75 percent of lung cancer patients unfortunately are diagnosed at an incurable stage. "If 10 years ago you were talking about defining a five-year survival rate for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients, someone would laugh in your face. It would be a joke. It's just a very different time now," he said of the progress being made in the treatment of lung cancer.

He credits Rubinstein's work, instrumental in the development of ALT-803, in helping to make this advance. Research into ALT-803 started years ago while Rubinstein was doing his postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute. It was there that he co-discovered the powerful immune system stimulator used in this trial. The stimulator, known as IL-15 complexes, is actually a combination of an immune system growth factor and its soluble receptor. IL-15 is a growth factor for certain kinds of white blood cells including natural killer cells and T cells.

Wrangle explained that natural killer cells are the chief arm of the innate immune response. "They are an important part of anti-cancer response that haven't been really talked about for a long time."

Wrangle said his collaboration with Rubinstein is a powerful example of what team science can accomplish.

"His ownership of the intellectual foundation of this therapy is manifest," Wrangle said of Rubinstein's contribution. "He is brilliant and just works furiously to help understand how we can develop this therapy."

Successful trials for the treatment of cancer are incredibly rare, he said. "There are very few people in human history who get the privilege of developing a new therapy for any human disease, much less cancer. Mark and I are now in this weird micro-club of folks who have developed the promise of a new therapy for cancer. That's such an amazing privilege to be able to do that," he said.

In contrast to other immunotherapies that require admission to a hospital, this new therapeutic combination can be administered in an outpatient setting. "The plan was to do it all as an outpatient therapy because inpatient therapy is just infeasible. My patients feel like they have the flu, but they go about their day, and it's totally manageable. That's the kind of revolutionary part with regard to this class of agent," Wrangle said.

Wrangle and Rubinstein are surprised and elated at the success demonstrated in their latest study. Wrangle said the landscape of oncology is "eyeball-deep in failed trials," so he and Rubinstein are hopeful this will provide more treatment options for patients. "The number of trials that work is miniscule, so was I surprised? I was ecstatic that it was working," he said.

Rubinstein agreed, adding that the success of the trial is a testament to the commitment, hard work and incredible insight that Wrangle has for making a difference for his patients. "He has an amazing vision for how to bridge the gap between basic and clinical research."

Wrangle said there's still plenty of work to do before the new combination of drugs can be used outside of a clinical trial. "We have a lot to figure out about how to use this therapy, and we need to treat a few hundred patients in order to get a better sense of how to refine the synergy of these two classes of drugs. That's just going to take time," he said.

Both of the researchers, who are in their early forties, said they were motivated by the need to give lung cancer patients better options. Wrangle plans to frame the study's publication. "I think this manuscript will be the thing that we have on the wall that we look back at 20 years from now, when we're still working together and discovering new therapies."

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About Hollings Cancer Center

The Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina is a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center and the largest academic-based cancer research program in South Carolina. The cancer center is comprised of more than 120 faculty cancer scientists with a research funding portfolio of $44 million and a dedication to reducing the cancer burden in South Carolina. Hollings offers state-of-the-art diagnostic capabilities, therapies and surgical techniques within multidisciplinary clinics that include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation therapists, radiologists, pathologists, psychologists and other specialists equipped for the full range of cancer care, including more than 200 clinical trials. For more information, please visit http://www.hollingscancercenter.org.
A multinational South American team from Peru, Brasil and Bolivia led by the Universidad de San Martin de Porres at Lima, Peru, published the first genetic study on the modern descendants of the imperial Inka lineages in the journal Molecular Genetics and Genomics. This work supported by funds from the Genographic Project (Geno 2.0), shows new insights about the Inkas origins and lineages.

The Inka people arrived to Cusco valley and in a few centuries they built the Tawantinsuyu, the largest empire in the Americas. The Tawantinsuyu was the cultural climax of 6,000 years of Central Andes civilizations overlapping modern countries of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, the South of Colombia and the North of Argentina and Chile. In contrast with the richness of archeological and cultural evidence, pre Columbian history vanishes in time as it intermingles with myths due to the lack of writing systems before the arrival of the European chroniclers. Very little is known about the Inka origins and some genetic information could help reconstruct part of their history. Unfortunately the mummies and bodily remains of the Inka emperors, worshiped as gods, were burnt and buried in unknown locations due to religious and political persecution by the Christian Conquistadors and Inquisitors, so no direct material remain to study their DNA. "Thus for now, only the genetic analysis of modern families of Inka descent could provide some clues about their ancestors" remarks geneticist Jose Sandoval, first author, working at Universidad de San Martin de Porres at Lima, Peru.

There were two foundational myths for the origin of the Inkas before they established in Cusco valley to build their capital city. One is that Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, considered children of the Sun God and founder parents of the civilization, came from Lake Titicaca about 500 km southwards from the border of North Bolivia and South Peru, more or less the same region where Tiwanaku empire existed a few centuries before. The second myth narrates that four Ayar brothers, with divine powers, came out from the caves inside of a hill in the area of Paccarictambo, 50 km south of Cusco and only one of them, Manco, arrived to the Cusco valley. Concerning the succession of the rulers (between 12 to 14), most chroniclers mention only one patrilineal heritage, however other authors think that it was a complex selection of military and administrative skills not necessarily electing the son of a previous Inka. "A unique patrilineal cluster would be expected in the first case. In the second case, two or more patrilineal pattern will be evident" says geneticist Ricardo Fujita, senior author, also at Universidad de San Martin de Porres". The research team included historian Ronald Elward, who studied documentation of twelve Inka noble families and followed up from the conquista times to their contemporary descendants. "Most of them still living in the towns of San Sebastian and San Jeronimo, Cusco, Peru, at present, are probably the most homogeneous group of Inka lineage" says Elward.

Markers for Y chromosome and mtDNA were used for the genetic analysis of these families and compared with a database for 2400 native individuals from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Brazil. "The results show distinctive patrilineal origins to two founder individuals who lived between 1000 to 1500 AD, a period between the decline of former Tiwanaku (south) and Wari (north) contemporary empires, and the rise of the Inca empire a few centuries later" says geneticist Fabricio Santos from the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais at Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The first patrilineal haplotype named AWKI-1 (awki means crown prince in quechua language) is found in the putative families descending of 2 earlier Incas Yahuar Huacac and Viracocha. The same pattern of the Inca descendants was also found in individuals living south to Cusco, mainly in Aymaras of Peru and Bolivia. The second patrilineal haplotype named AWKI-2 was found in one descendant of a more recent Inca, Huayna Capac, father of the two brothers (Huascar and Atahualpa) who were fighting a fraternal war over the empire at the arrival of the Conquistadors. "AWKI-2 is also found in dozens of individuals from different locations in the Andes and occasionally in the Amazon, suggesting a populational expansion" says Dr. Santos.

"In addition to San Sebastian and San Jeronimo, most locations of AWKI-1, AWKI-2 were southwards to Cusco including the basin of lake Titicaca and neighboring Paccarictambo, in agreement with the two foundational myths of the Incas" says Ricardo Fujita, "probably two pictures at different times of the same journey with final destination Cusco" adds Fujita. "It is also remarkable that in these contemporary Inka noblility families there is a continuity since pre Columbian times" says Ronald Elward. The analysis of their mtDNA suggested a highly varied matrilineal marker whose counterparts are found all over the Andes reflecting a high genetic flow. "This probably reflects the political alliances by arranged marriages between Cusco nobility and daughters of lords of kingdoms and chiefdoms all over the empire" states Jose Sandoval.

This work is the continuation of several studies performed by the team to reconstruct South American history by Genetics and also funded by a previous grant of the Genographic Project (Geno 1.0) led in South America by Fabricio Santos. Two published works included the unique ancient roots of the Uros, people from the Floating Islands of the Lake Titicaca and the Quechwa-Lamistas in Peruvian Amazon. Modern Uros are Aymara speaking people that some have thought to be people from the Aymara ethnia who profited tourism by living on the floating islands. However the team showed that they were genetically isolated people who had lost their original Uro language, shifting to more the widely used Aymara language. On the other hand the Kechwa-Lamista are Amazonian people who speak the Andean Quechua language and they were presumed descendants of Andeans Chancas, former enemies of the Incas, and were chased by them towards the Amazon. DNA showed that they are actually descendants of linguistically different Amazonian people who were gathered by Catholic missions and were taught the Quechua language (learn by the missionaries at the Andes) for a better evangelization.

"In some cases Genetics shows us something different than the official history. What is no written or badly written in historical records, can be revealed by what is written in our DNA. " concludes Ricardo Fujita. "This study is just the tip of the iceberg in trying to solve part of several enigmas of one of the most remarkable civilizations. The DNA of one Inka monarch bodily remain or of one direct descendant who lived at the beginning of the Spanish colonization could give more certainty about the Inca lineage, and our team is looking forward to it" declares Jose Sandoval.

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An interdisciplinary team of scientists examining everything from glaciology to freshwater ecology discovered drastic changes over the past decade to the world's largest High Arctic lake. And from glacial melt to the declining lake ice to changes in lake ecology, the results from Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island in Canada are alarming.

While it may sound modest, scientists have documented a temperature increase of just one degree over a series of warm summers, which has set off a chain of events disrupting the entire ecology of the lake. This increase of just one degree in atmospheric temperature led to increased solar radiation. The increased solar radiation has led to a significant increase in snowpack temperature, which in turn led to a whole series of shifts in the lake system.

"The amount of glacial meltwater going into the lake has dramatically increased," said Martin Sharp, glaciologist and University of Alberta professor. "Because it's glacial meltwater, the amount of fine sediment going into the lake has dramatically increased as well. That in turn affects how much light can get into the water column, which may affect biological productivity in the lake, and it also increases the rate of mineral sediment deposition on the lake bottom."

The domino effect of changes resulted in not only algal blooms and detrimental changes to the Arctic Char fish population, but also points to a near certain future of summer ice-free conditions.

Untold impact

"Lake ice is important, because it prevents light from getting in to the lake, which phytoplankton need to photosynthesize," said Kyra St. Pierre, a co-author and Vanier Scholar PhD student at the University of Alberta. "So if we have less lake ice or longer ice-free periods, more light enters the lake, which could actually increase productivity for the lake, a dramatically different scenario from what we've seen in the past."

The findings document an unprecedented shift versus the previous three centuries, not only painting a bleak picture for the future of the of the lake and its catchment, but also challenge scientists' expectations of how such a large system could respond so rapidly to a one-degree rise.

"We originally hypothesized that, because of its large volume, Lake Hazen would be relatively resilient to the impacts of Arctic warming," said lead author Igor Lehnherr, assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto-Mississauga and UAlberta alumnus. "The finding that this was not the case is alarming, because the Arctic is the most rapidly warming region on the planet, with conservative estimates predicting further warming of another approximately 4oC by the end of the century."

St. Pierre further added that, while scientists would expect smaller systems to respond rapidly to temperature shifts, it was been anticipated that larger systems, like Lake Hazen, would change more slowly. "But Lake Hazen is pretty much as big as you can get in this kind of environment, and it's already showing that there are changes across the entire ecosystem in less than a decade. And this is only a third of what the conservative scenarios are for future warming," said St. Pierre.

Big-picture perspective

St. Pierre noted that the scientific exploration of Lake Hazen speaks to the big-picture perspective, approaching the questions of climate change from a focus on the whole system rather than examining subsystems in silos.

According to Sharp, the focus of the findings also marks an important milestone from the perspective of glaciology, which traditionally focuses on sea level as the most direct consequence of the impact of climate change on glaciers.

"If you look at the glacier literature on climate change, it's mostly focused on sea level as the number one outcome. What this finding about Lake Hazen is telling us is that there can also be pretty substantial impacts in terrestrial aquatic ecosystems that are directly connected to the glaciers. So there are other things we need to think about from a climate impacts perspective," said Sharp.

So are these dramatic changes in the High Arctic's largest lake a sign of things to come? Sharp and St. Pierre say it's too soon to tell, though given the rapid changes in the past decade, the scientific team is keeping a close eye on the entire ecosystem. "We are interested in how this plays out going forward, whether this is a short-term disturbance for which there could be some recovery if the atmospheric temperature cools again, or whether this is the start of something much bigger. That's the interesting question," said Sharp.

"The world's largest High Arctic lake responds rapidly to climate warming," was published in the March 29 issue of Nature Communications.

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New research has found treating an infected hip replacement in a single stage procedure may be as effective or better than the widely used two-stage procedure. To date no well-designed study has compared these procedures head-to-head to decide if one is better or if they achieve the same results. Hip replacement is a very common operation that is effective at providing pain relief and improving mobility, however, infection can sometimes occur following joint replacement. The findings have wide implications for orthopaedic surgery, the NHS, and health systems worldwide.

The research team, led by the University of Bristol, conducted a study that reviewed patient data from 44 studies to compare the effectiveness of the two types of surgery currently used to treat infections - one-stage and two-stage revisions.

In the two-stage procedure, the existing artificial joint is removed in one operation and the patient is treated for several months with antibiotics. A new joint is then inserted in a second operation. In the one-stage procedure, the artificial joint is removed along with all infected tissue and a new one inserted in the same operation.

The study found that the one-stage revision strategy is as good, if not better, as the two-stage strategy. The one-stage strategy may also be better suited for patients with certain types of infection or problems that were previously thought not to be appropriate for this type of surgery.

Dr Setor Kunutsor, Research Fellow from the Musculoskeletal Research Unit at the Bristol Medical School: (THS) and lead researcher, said: "For several decades, the two-stage procedure has been presumed to be more effective than the one-stage. However, it has disadvantages for patients such as having two major surgical procedures, significant pain and limited function between stages, long hospital stays, as well as high healthcare costs. The one-stage strategy has potential advantages for patients which include having only one major surgery, shorter time in hospital, reduced functional impairment, and is less expensive.

"When the research team analysed the collected data, the findings confirmed what we had suspected all along - the one-stage strategy may be as effective as, or better than the two-stage strategy.

Speaking about the study, Co-investigator and Senior Author Mr. Andrew Beswick, also a Research Fellow of the Musculoskeletal Research Unit at the Bristol Medical School: (THS), said: "Our research and the subsequent adoption of the one-stage strategy by surgeons and hospitals, could improve lives, prevent unnecessary deaths, and save money."

The researchers suggest a clinical trial should be carried out to compare which of the two strategies is better in treating infection, but it will require several thousands of patients with hip infections.

The research team at Bristol led by Professor Ashley Blom, Head of Translational Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, is currently undertaking a trial which is comparing the two surgical strategies using patient reported outcomes such as pain and function. It is hoped that this trial will determine which is the better way to treat infected hip replacements when pain and function are thought to be the most important outcomes.

While the research team await results of this trial and in the absence of any further evidence, surgeons and policy makers are encouraged to consider the current evidence in their practice and guidelines. The Bristol researchers will work with patients, surgeons, nurses and other health professionals, and the NHS to ensure that the results of the study have an appropriate impact on future practice.

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Paper:

"One- and two-stage surgical revision of peri-prosthetic joint infection of the hip: A pooled individual participant data analysis of 44 cohort studies" by The Global Infection Orthopaedic Management Collaboration European Journal of Epidemiology
PHILADELPHIA - The kidney is a highly complex organ - far beyond a simple filter. Its function requires intricate interactions between many highly specialized cell types to extract waste, balances body fluids, form urine, regulate blood pressure, and secrete hormones. New research from a team in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shines a light on specific cell types that drive normal or diseased kidney function at the molecular level.

By sequencing the RNA from 57,979 cells from healthy mouse kidneys, the team found that mutations in genes that have similar characteristics are expressed in a single unique differentiated cell type. The study, led by Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD, a professor of Renal-Electrolyte and Hypertension and Genetics, also identified three novel cell populations, along with all previously described kidney cell types. They published their findings online this week in Science.

"The work provides unprecedented insight into kidney physiology and disease," Susztak said. "Each cell in the kidney seems to have a unique non-redundant function, and dysfunction of specific cell types present with specific symptoms in people. Using our approach we are starting to understand how kidney disease develops at the level of a single cell." The overall prevalence of chronic kidney disease in America is about 14 percent, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The Penn team unexpectedly found that what they thought were two irreversibly differentiated and distinct cell types in the kidney could convert to each other. The interconversion was also observed in kidney disease mouse models. They analyzed a large cohort of human patient samples from the human kidney biobank managed by Susztak and found that the interconversion might also occur in patients with kidney disease and likely contributes to a condition when the kidneys cannot remove enough acid from the body.

"Knowledge from our survey will enhance our understanding of the roles that different cell types play during normal kidney functioning and dynamic changes occurring during disease development," Susztak said. "When combined with existing knowledge, this study provides a new roadmap for future studies to identify the underlying causes of chronic kidney disease. A change in the basic identity of the cells, means that kidney disease 'reprograms' the kidney. Our goal is to find methods to undo this reprograming."

###

Coauthors include Jihwan Park, a postdoctoral fellow supported by the American Diabetes Association fellowship, Rojesh Shrestra and Mingyo Li from Penn and Jonathan Barasch from Columbia University. Work in Susztak's lab is supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01 DK076077, R01 DK087635, DP3 DK108220). Research in Barasch's lab has been supported by NIH (1U54DK104309-01, 2R01DK073462, DK-16-026).

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital - the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided $500 million to benefit our community.
The first definitive demonstration of climate change upsetting the vital interdependent relationships between species has been revealed, thanks to a study led by the University of Sussex.

The first definitive demonstration of climate change upsetting the vital interdependent relationships between species has been revealed, thanks to a study led by the University of Sussex.

Research led by Prof Michael Hutchings at the University of Sussex tracks how rising temperatures since the mid-17th century have wrecked a relationship, which relies on precision timing to succeed, between a rare orchid species and the Buffish Mining-bee which pollinates it.

Prof Hutchings, Emeritus Professor in Ecology, said the climate is changing so rapidly that the early spider orchid cannot respond effectively, leaving this species, and probably many other plants with highly specialized pollination mechanisms, facing the threat of severe decline and possible extinction.

Prof Hutchings said: "It is likely that many other species dependencies are also suffering from climate-induced changes to their life cycles. This study is, we believe, the best documentation we have as yet of such an effect and confirms with hard data the long-held concerns of ecologists. While this is especially bad news for the early spider orchid, the devastating impact of climate change is in all likelihood harming the delicate interdependent relationships of many species."

The early spider orchid achieves pollination by emitting a scent that imitates that of a female Buffish Mining-bee. The smell fools male bees into attempting to mate (pseudocopulation) with the flower. In doing so, the male bee dislodges pollen masses from the flower. These pollen masses are then transported to different flowers when the bee next attempts pseudocopulation.

Pollination depends not only on male bees emerging before female bees and before flowering, but also, crucially, on the orchid flowering before female bees emerge.

However, rising temperatures have led to male bee flight, female bee flight and flowering all occurring earlier in the calendar year, but the timings of the three events are not changing at the same rate.

This is causing an increasing frequency of years in which the sequence of events needed for successful pollination (male bee emergence before orchid flowering before female bee emergence) does not occur.

For every 1 C rise in spring temperature, the peak flying dates of male and female bees occur 9.2 and 15.6 days earlier in the year but the orchids' peak flowering advances by just 6.4 days.

The study shows that, since the mid-seventeenth century, as recorded spring temperatures have gradually risen, the interval between male and female bees emerging from hibernation has decreased significantly.

Most critically, however, higher spring temperatures now make female bees likely to achieve peak flying more than a week before peak orchid flowering date.

Whereas peak flying date of female bees preceded peak orchid flowering in only 40% of the years between 1659 and 1710, this figure has risen to 80% in the years from 1961 to 2014.

As female bees now take flight before the orchid flowers in almost every year, male bees will mate by preference with females rather than pseudocopulate with the orchid, simply because female bees are available as a better alternative when the orchid is flowering. Orchid pollination is therefore much less likely nowadays than when spring temperatures were lower, and it may fail completely in almost all years.

Worryingly, the research, carried out with the University of East Anglia and the University of Kent and published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, also shows that while the mean spring temperature in the UK has risen by about 1 C in the 356-year period studied, the rate of warming, and its impact on bee flying and orchid flowering dates, is accelerating.

Climate change, alongside loss of habitat, unsuitable grazing regimes, the orchid's already-inefficient pollination mechanism and its short life-span, has seen its range in the UK decline by at least 60% since 1930.

But Prof Hutchings warns that unless the orchid undergoes rapid selection for earlier flowering following warm springs, it is likely that continued climate change will result in it always flowering after the emergence of female bees. He warns that a programme of hand pollination may be the only means to ensure the early spider-orchid remains a presence in the UK.

He added: "Further studies are urgently required, on a wider range of species and in various ecological communities, to assess the potential for climate warming to cause disruption of vital life historical events where different species are dependent on each other.

"As well as posing problems for plants that depend on pollinators being available on particular dates, climate change could threaten many other ecological interdependencies, including birds depending on caterpillars being available as food immediately after hatching and insects needing specific nectar sources."

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Researchers from the School of Medicine in Ribeirao Preto (FMRP), at the University of Sao Paulo (USP), in collaboration with international groups, have developed indices that provide information about the prognosis of cancers, aid in the choice of the most appropriate therapy to be used and identify potential targets for the development of new drugs. The article reporting these results - Machine Learning Identity Stemness Features Associated with Oncogenic Dedifferentiation - will be published on April 5 in Cell.

To perform the study, researchers at the Omics laboratory from the Department of Genetics of the FMRP combined the use of artificial intelligence algorithms, genomic data from 12,000 samples from 33 different types of tumors, and an understanding of how progression of cancer occurs.

According to Houtan Noushmehr, senior author of the study, the methodologies used in this work are part of a new trend in biomedical sciences research, consequence of the large amount of molecular data currently available. "The present challenge is to manage, interpret and analyze different categories of data," says Noushmehr, "which requires researchers to integrate knowledge in biology, computer science and statistics." He considers the training of young scientists to manage coherently these massive data amounts as his main task, both as a teacher and a researcher.

These results build on the group's previous studies, including one also published in Cell, that identified important genomic features of brain tumors. "The goal is that our index can be used one day in the clinical routine," explains Tathiane Malta, first author of the study, "as additional information for the clinician to choose the most appropriate treatment for each patient and tumor." In addition to the Ribeirao Preto team, researchers from Harvard University, in the United States, and the University of Poznan, in Poland, also authored the study.

Cancer stem cells

According to a currently accepted understanding, transformations that healthy cells undergo when growing tumors include mainly two characteristics: The loss of their specific features and the acquisition of the ability to multiply in a disorderly fashion. This process can also be considered as a loss of specialization, with tumor cells become progressively undifferentiated. Typically, the sub-population of cancer stem cells "drives" tumor growth. The stemness indices developed by the researchers provide a measure of how much the tumor cells resemble stem cells.

Artificial intelligence

Based on the idea that there is a similarity between tumor cells and stem cells, the USP researchers used a machine-learning algorithm to detect and systematize molecular characteristics of healthy stem cells and differentiated cells derived from them. The software analyzed thousands of cells at different stages of differentiation, to identify typical molecular signatures of stem cells. With this information, they created two independent "stemness-like" indices, based on gene expression and DNA methylation. The indices range from zero to one, with zero meaning low similarity to stem cells, and one high similarity.

The Cancer Genome Atlas program

The database from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program includes samples from primary tumors of 12,000 people, covering 33 different types of cancers. Over the last 10 years, scientists involved in the program have generated and stored data on genetic and epigenetic changes in tumors. Using the stemness indices, the researchers detected the tumoral degree of stemness in the TCGA samples. Results

The main finding of the study is that stemness indices provide a measure of the path of tumor cells towards "de-differentiation", with higher indices correlating with tumor aggressiveness in many types of cancer. Accordingly, the researchers found that metastatic tumors have high rates of similarity to stem cells. In addition, the stemness indices could allow the identification of new targets for anticancer drugs, aimed at halting the progression of the cells towards de-differentiation. "If we can identify the point at which the tumor cells start to have characteristics of stem cells, we can prevent this trajectory and avoid its aggravation," Noushmehr adds.

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Universidade de Sao Paulo

Universidade de Sao Paulo is a state-funded university in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best university in Ibero-America,[and holds a high reputation among world universities, being ranked 100 worldwide in reputation by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. USP is involved in teaching, research and university extension in all areas of knowledge, offering a broad range of courses.

The university was founded in 1934, regrouping already existing schools in the state of Sao Paulo. The university has subsequently created new departments, becoming one of the largest institutions of higher education in Latin America, with approximately 90,000 enrolled students. Currently, it has eleven campuses, four of them in the city of Sao Paulo. The remaining campuses are in the cities of Bauru, Lorena, Piracicaba, Pirassununga, Ribeirao Preto and two in Sao Carlos.

Ribeirao Preto Medical School (FMRP) at University of Sao Paulo (USP) provides excellence in patient care and in higher education, by training health professionals with a high level of qualification and qualified researchers in its graduate programs, which produce high-quality innovative research with international insertion. In this context, OMICs Lab aims to identify and understand the epigenomic signatures that define normal and disease states. The ultimate goal is to help develop better therapies and cures for complex diseases such as diabetes and cancer. To this end, we generate (by our own and through our collaborators), next generation sequencing data across a multitude of -omics type data, genomics, epigenomics, proteomics and transcriptomics and perform mechanistic studies. A main focus of the lab is to train and educate the next generation of scientists skills in analyzing and interpreting these data types and by doing so we introduce important skills in the scientific method, bioinformatics and leadership. For more information, visit http://www.fmrp.usp.br, http://www.usp.br or bioinformatics.fmrp.usp.br and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has started proceedings to strip several radicalised dual nationals of their citizenship, Swiss public television SRF reports.

We can confirm that at present there are proceedings to withdraw Swiss citizenship underway. There are fewer than five cases, SEM spokeswoman Katrin Schmitter told SRF.

Switzerland is only allowed to strip citizenship from dual nationals. The proceedings are mostly aimed at people who leave Switzerland to fight for militant groups such as the so-called Islamic State (IS) and who have carried out serious terror-related or other crimes. These are people whose behaviour is detrimental to Switzerlands interests or reputation, Schmitter said.

The SEM did not say whether the persons concerned are outside Switzerland or back in the country.

According to the Federal Intelligence Service, 20 dual nationals out of a total of 93 people have left Switzerland since 2001 to fight with militant groups, according to figures from February this year.

The first case over stripping citizenship dates back two years and concerned a joint Swiss-Italian citizen. It caused an outcry at the time and legal clarifications were needed. It was found that the legal criteria were too vague so it was agreed to tighten them up. The change came into force officially in January 2018.

The case against the Swiss-Italian citizen has since been suspended. He is thought to have died in Syria, SRF reports.
A coalition of NGOs on Wednesday urged Spain not to sign off on a planned sale of warships to Saudi Arabia during an upcoming visit to Madrid by the kingdom's crown prince.

The Arms Under Control collective, which includes Amnesty International, Oxfam and Greenpeace, also called on Spain to stop exporting arms to the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, where thousands of civilians have been killed.

During his trip to Spain on Thursday, Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy  a meeting during which bilateral agreements will be signed, read the Spanish governments agenda, without giving more details.

Spains loss-making shipyards are placing a lot of hope on the planned sale of five corvettes, which has reportedly been under negotiation for two years.

But rights groups have denounced it, saying the warships could be used in Saudi Arabias military campaign in Yemen.

On Wednesday, the NGOs coalition asked the royal palace and Spanish government not to promote the signature of Spanish company Navantias contract to build five corvettes for the Saudi army and to end arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

It also called on Spain to join a growing number of countries like Germany, Sweden, Norway or Belgium that have stopped exporting arms to the Saudi coalition fighting in Yemen, which also includes countries like the United Arab Emirates.

The Saudi princes trip to Spain will come hot on the heels of a three-day official visit to France and after a tour lasting several weeks of the United States, Britain and Egypt, where the self-styled moderniser signed multimillion-dollar deals.

Spain and Saudi Arabias royal families are very close as King Felipe VIs father Juan Carlos was a close friend of the kingdoms late King Fahd, who reigned from 1982 to 2005, and is close to his brother King Salman.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pursues in France next week his first world tour as heir to the throne of his powerful and oil-rich kingdom.

The 32-year-old de facto Saudi leader, named crown prince last year, is doing the rounds of world capitals as he ushers in sweeping reforms to liberalise his conservative kingdom and moves to stamp its regional supremacy.

Here is a recap of his trip so far.

 Red carpet in Cairo 

The prince starts out on March 4 in Cairo where he is welcomed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the international airport, a red carpet rolled out at the foot of his plane.

The following day the two countries agree on a joint $10-billion fund to develop the Egyptian side of a $500-billion futurist mega-city that is planned to straddle Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Called NEOM, which means new future in a combination of English and Arabic abbreviations, it will be a biotech and digital hub spread over 26,500 square kilometres (10,000 square miles).

On the diplomatic front, the two countries share strategic regional interests notably against Qatar which they accuse of supporting extremists and of closeness with Iran, an arch enemy and regional rival to Riyadh.

 A royal welcome in London 

On March 7, Britain rolls out its own red carpet for the crown prince but his three-day visit is controversial, drawing protests over Saudi Arabias role at the head of a military coalition operating in war-ravaged and destitute Yemen.

Prince Mohammed lunches with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and goes on for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May on the kingdoms reforms, trade and investment relations, and defence and security cooperation.

Around 200 anti-war protestors line up outside Downing Street as the crown prince meets May, who has to defend the visit in parliament.

The Yemen conflict, into which the Saudi-led coalition intervened three years ago to fight Iran-backed Huthi rebels, has left nearly 10,000 people dead and the country on the brink of famine.

On the third day of the princes trip, military equipment-maker BAE Systems says Britain has signed a multi-billion-pound preliminary order from Saudi Arabia for 48 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets.

 Great friends with Trump 

On March 20, US President Donald Trump gives the prince an effusive welcome at the White House, hailing a great friendship.

The relationship is probably the strongest its ever been  we understand each other, says Trump as the young leader embarks on a nearly three-week tour of the United States.

Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation and they are going to give the United States some of that wealth hopefully, in the form of jobs, in the form of the purchase of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world, Trump says.

The same day the US Senate rejects a resolution aimed at ending US military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

On March 23, the United States formally approves defence contracts totalling more than $1 billion with Saudi Arabia.

On April 2, in an interview published in US news magazine The Atlantic, Prince Mohammed says that Israelis, as well as Palestinians, have the right to have their own land.

The remark suggests increasing rapprochement with Israel, with whom Saudi Arabia has no formal diplomatic relations but is firmly allied with the United States.

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International donors pledged $11 billion in low-interest loans and aid for Lebanon at a conference in Paris on Friday to try to avert an economic crisis in a country hard hit by the fallout from the Syrian war.

Lebanons growth has plummeted due to political instability, with the effect compounded by the Syrian conflict which has sent a million refugees across the border  equivalent to a quarter of the Lebanese population before the conflict.

Some 40 countries sent representatives to the CEDRE conference in Paris along with officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund where an aid package, made up 90 percent of low-interest loans, was agreed.

Praising the exceptional generosity of the Lebanese people with regard to Syrian refugees French President Emmanuel Macron said the world needed to show full solidarity with Lebanon.

The support was all the more critical given that the continued fighting in Syria makes the imminent return of Syrian refugees impossible, he added.

Among the biggest donors was the World Bank which pledged more than $4 billion over five years, while France opened the conference with a promise of 550 million euros.

Saudi Arabia, which vies with arch-rival Iran for influence in Lebanon, said it would renew a $1-billion line of credit to Beirut which had been agreed in the past but never used, Lebanese officials said.

Iran, which backs Lebanons powerful Hezbollah Shiite militia, was not invited to the meeting.

 Model of pluralism 

In a Middle East shaken by crises, wounded by civil wars, Lebanon remains a model of pluralism, tolerance and openness which we need, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

But Lebanon is not an island. Its borne the full force of regional tensions and the Syria crisis, he said, adding that it was also grappling with the threat of terrorism.

An economic adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was at the conference, estimated the total amount pledged in loans and grants at $2.6 billion by midday.

The figure did not include the World Banks offer as well as that of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (1.1 billion euros), the European Investment Bank (800,000 euros) and Kuwait ($700,000).

The EU promised 150 million euros, the Netherlands 300 million euros and Italy pledged 120 million euros.

Economic growth in Lebanon has plunged from eight percent since the start of the Syrian war to around one percent.

Lebanon cannot succeed alone, Hariri said, adding: Its not just a matter of Lebanons security, its about the security of the region and the whole world.

France, which had mandate power over Lebanon for the first half of the 20th century, has been leading efforts to try stabilise the country.

When Hariri announced his resignation in November, a shock move in which many observers saw the hand of Saudi Arabias de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, President Emmanuel Macron intervened, inviting Hariri to Paris for talks before his return to Lebanon, where he withdrew his resignation.

 Cash for reforms 

The Paris conference was aimed at giving Lebanon a boost as it prepares for its first general elections in almost a decade in May.

While the small country has managed to avoid a major spillover of the fighting in Syria, it has long been wracked by domestic power struggles, inefficiency and corruption stemming from its own 1975-1990 civil war.

With the government forecasting a deficit of $4.8 billion for 2018  more than double that in 2011, when Syrias war started  economists say the state urgently needs to reduce its spending.

But public services such as water supplies, electricity and waste management have suffered rampant underinvestment, compounding problems that date back decades.

The political idea behind (the investment plan) is that the Lebanese state could be able to provide services and infrastructure to the public, rather than others, an aide to Le Drian said, referring to the social role also played by the controversial Hezbollah.

Lebanon will for its part sign up to a string of reforms including tougher measures to fight corruption.
Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman, who is set to visit France next week, has shaken up the ultraconservative oil superpower with economic, social and religious reforms since becoming crown prince.

The 32-year-old de facto ruler has overseen the most fundamental transformation in the modern history of the Gulf nation and sidelined all rivals after emerging as first-in-line last June.

Known by his initials MBS, the prince has pledged a moderate Saudi Arabia as he seeks to get international investors on board with his grandiose vision to overhaul the kingdoms oil-reliant economy.

He has taken on the powerful clerics who long dominated Saudi life and struck out at the nations coddled elite with a dramatic purge of royals, ministers and business figures that saw hundreds detained in a probe over graft worth $100 billion.

We want to live a normal life. A life in which our religion translates to tolerance, to our traditions of kindness, he told international business leaders at a conference in Riyadh last year.

Seventy percent of the Saudi population is under 30, and honestly we will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today and at once.

On the international stage, he has ratcheted up tensions in the Middle East by plunging the usually staid kingdom into the quagmire of regional rivalries.

He has overseen a blistering military campaign in Yemen, ramped up a stand-off with Shiite rival Iran and tried to bring Qatar to heel by isolating it.

 Freed himself 

Born on August 31, 1985, Prince Mohammed graduated in law from Riyadhs King Saud University. The dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls.

In a dramatic announcement on June 5, he was named to replace his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, as heir to the Saudi throne. He had been second-in-line since early 2015.

Prince Mohammeds drive to create a moderate Saudi Arabia could be fraught with risks, but so far he has managed to avoid triggering a public backlash from powerful conservatives.

In September 2017, a royal decree said women would be allowed to drive. The kingdom has also lifted a public ban on cinemas and has encouraged mixed-gender celebrations  something unseen before.

The government last year set up an Islamic centre tasked with certifying the sayings of the Prophet Mohammed in a stated bid to curb extremist texts.

The authorities appear to have clipped the wings of the once-feared religious police  long accused of harassing the public with rigid Islamic mores  who have all but disappeared from big cities.

In tandem with reforms, Prince Mohammed has been shoring up power, culminating in the dramatic detention of some high-profile individuals after he was named head of a new anti-corruption commission.

But the lightning accumulation of authority has sparked fears that Prince Mohammed might have upended the fine balance of powers in Saudi Arabia too quickly and could end up sparking instability.

He has freed himself to engage in ill-fated confrontations abroad that dilute Saudi power, exposing the kingdom to greater military threats and scaring off investors, wrote Federic Wehrey, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In February, he oversaw a dramatic shake-up that saw top brass, including the chief of staff and heads of the ground forces and air defence, replaced largely with younger leaders loyal to him, further consolidating his control within the military.

The prince is the architect of a wide-ranging plan dubbed Vision 2030 to bring social and economic change to Saudi Arabias economy.

Among his most prominent positions have also been defence minister and chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which coordinates economic policy.

Mohammed is also overseeing plans to sell under five percent of state-owned oil giant Aramco, the crown jewel of the Saudi economy, in what is expected to be the worlds largest initial public offering.

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Russia's telecoms watchdog on Friday asked a Moscow court to block the popular messaging app Telegram after the expiry of a deadline for it to give the state security services access to private conversations.

The lawsuit is the latest move in an ongoing battle between authorities and Telegram, which has a reputation for secure communications, as Moscow pushes to increase surveillance of internet activities.

Roskomnadzor said in a statement it had filed a suit demanding the limiting of access on Russian territory to the service.

But a lawyer representing Telegram said any ban would be unconstitutional and in any case impossible to enforce.

The position of Telegram remains the same  the demands of the FSB (security service) to provide access to private conversations of users are unconstitutional, not based on the law, and cannot be fulfilled technically and legally, said Pavel Chikov, who leads a human rights group representing the app.

Telegrams self-exiled Russian founder Pavel Durov has long said he would reject any attempt by the countrys security services to gain backdoor access.

The free application, which lets people exchange messages, photos and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people, has attracted some 200 million users since its launch in 2013.

President Vladimir Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday said the service was a convenient tool to communicate with journalists and it would be a shame if an agreement between the app and authorities could not be reached.

But the law is the law, he added during a regular briefing, quoted by Interfax news agency.

Telegram is popular among political activists of all stripes, but has also been used by jihadists.

In Russia we have many problems  from poverty to awful state of the roads, from crime to poor medical care, opposition leader Alexei Navalny said via Twitter.

But the state is engaged in blocking Telegram in our name in what way is Telegram making life in Russia any worse? Whom is it bothering? he said.

In September 2017 the FSB demanded the encryption keys, Durov said, prompting a formal complaint when the request was rejected.

The Roskomnadzor had threatened to ban the app in June last year for failing to provide its registration documents. Although Telegram later registered, it stopped short of agreeing to the regulators data storage demands.

Companies on the register must provide the FSB with information on user interactions.

From this year they must also store all the data of Russian users inside the country, according to controversial anti-terror legislation passed in 2016 which was decried by internet companies and the opposition.
Britain on Thursday opened a new naval base in Bahrain, its first permanent military outpost in the Middle East in nearly half a century, London's defence ministry said.

The base, south of Bahrains capital Manama, will house around 300 British troops and support personnel as Britain and Gulf states press their campaign against jihadist groups in the region.

Our presence in Bahrain will play a vital role in keeping Britain safe as well as underpinning security in the Gulf, defence secretary Gavin Williamson said.

Bahrain and Britain are part of the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq, and the new base means Britain will have the opportunity to add to its four mine-hunter warships currently based at the Mina Salman port.

What happens in the Gulf region has a direct impact on the national security of the United Kingdom, our prosperity and the safety of our citizens, Britains defence ministry said.

It is vital that we work with close allies like Bahrain to tackle regional threats such as that posed by Daesh, it added, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

The tiny island nation of Bahrain currently houses the US Navys Fifth Fleet.

Britain withdrew from bases in the Gulf in 1971 as part of its plan to pull out from East of Suez.

It ended its troop presence in southern Iraq in 2009, leaving bases built in Basra after the 2003 invasion.

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A host of former country leaders have served time behind bars for corruption committed while they were in power, with South Korea's ex-president being the latest to be jailed Friday.

Some have been able to avoid prison through appeals and others are on trial, such as South Africas past president Jacob Zuma who appeared in court on Friday facing 16 counts of graft from before his presidency.

With Brazils former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ordered to start a 12-year sentence for corruption Friday, here is a recap of ex-leaders jailed for graft over the past 10 years.

 Europe 

 Croatia: Ivo Sanader

Prime minister from 2003 to 2009, he was arrested in late 2010 on charges of corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power.

Sanader served time in 2011 and again in 2012-2015, when he was released after a court overturned a nine-year sentence and ordered a retrial. Other trials are due.

 Portugal: Jose Socrates

The former Socialist prime minister (2005-2011) spent more than nine months in temporary detention before being placed under house arrest in September 2015.

After a long investigation, he was formally charged in October 2017 on 31 charges of bribery and other crimes, including money-laundering, tax fraud and falsification of documents.

 Romania: Adrian Nastase

A Social Democrat prime minister from 2000 to 2004, Nastase was sentenced to four and a half years for corruption in 2012.

He was freed early in March 2013 but jailed again in 2014 for several months for accepting bribes.

 Serbia and Montenegro: Svetozar Marovic

President from 2003 to 2006, Marovic was handed a 46-month term in 2016 for corruption after allegations of involvement in suspicious land purchases and construction deals.

He was the only president of the short-lived country, which broke up in 2006 when Montenegro proclaimed independence.

 Moldova: Vlad Filat

Ex-prime minister Filat (2009-2013) was dramatically arrested in parliament in 2015 over allegations of accepting bribes worth some $260 million, which he denied.

He was sentenced to nine years in jail for corruption and abuse of office.

 South America 

 Guatemala: Alfonso Portillo

President from 2000 to 2004, he was detained in 2010 and extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to five years and 10 months for money-laundering.

He returned to Guatemala in 2015 after serving just over a year in a US jail in consideration of the time already served while fighting extradition and on trial.

 Guatemala: Otto Perez

Perez became president in 2012 but was forced to resign in 2015 and then detained over allegations of organising a fraud ring which netted him $800,000 in bribes.

In October 2017 he was ordered to stand trial for racketeering, illicit enrichment and fraud.

 Peru: Alberto Fujimori

President from 1990 to 2000, Fujimori entered jail in 2009 after being sentenced to 25 years for rights abuses, including ordering massacres.

In 2015 he was sentenced to another eight years on charges of embezzling state funds.

He was pardoned in December 2017 but in February 2018 a court ordered a trial for a new case involving killings.

 Peru: Ollanta Humala

President from 2011 to 2016, Humala entered prison in July 2017 on a sentence of 18 months of pre-trial detention.

This followed charges of accepting illegal campaign donations worth $3 million from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.

 Middle East 

 Israel: Ehud Olmert

The 2006-2009 prime minister entered jail in February 2016 with a 27-month prison term for taking bribes, fraud, corruption and obstructing justice.

Olmert was freed in July 2017 on parole.
After the school shooting in Florida that left 17 students and staff members dead, state Rep. Philip Cortez started getting calls from constituents concerned about what was being done in Texas to improve school safety.

In response, he decided to visit schools in his district to get a better handle on what their leaders can do to protect students in an active shooter situation and listen to their ideas for legislative fixes that could help. On his first such visit Thursday, the conversation quickly turned to money.

The limitations of funding have not always risen to the top of a national debate that has featured proposals to arm teachers or reinforce schools with metal detectors and bullet-proof glass. But it came up when Cortez walked the halls of South San Antonio High School with its principal and the South San ISD superintendent and police chief.

Unfortunately, the modern times are forcing this issue to the forefront, Cortez, D-San Antonio, said. Its not going away.

Some frequently-suggested options are impractical for a school like South San High, where a dozen buildings are scattered over a three-quarter-square-mile campus. It would be difficult to install metal detectors at so many points of entry, school officials said.

Measures that would help, said Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra, are facility upgrades like a mechanism for someone in the central office to immediately lock all doors in a given building during an emergency. The district already assigns four police officers to the high school and has other officers responsible for the elementary and middle school campuses. Hiring more would require additional funding, he said.

Many districts in San Antonio, including South San, are in budget crises, caught between declining enrollment and state aid, which make it difficult to devote further funding to safety without help from the state or the federal government, officials said. Issues with infrastructure are more pronounced at older schools that were built decades ago, and modern security upgrades can be costly, said Lee Hernandez, the high schools principal.

Francisco Negron, chief legal officer for the National School Boards Association, said during a Thursday news conference on school safety that his group has been advocating for the appropriation of federal funds and grants to address school safety.

In San Antonio for the associations national convention, he said schools today need extra dollars for a variety of safety measures, from beefing up security technology to adding school resource officers to even paying for the construction of new educational facilities in the aftermath of a shooting. But those needs can vary widely, Negron,said.

Every school district is different. Every school is different. Every community is different, he said. Thats why were advocating at least for federal funding for a holistic approach to these issues.
FLORESVILLE  A former San Antonio attorney facing a life sentence for coercing his female clients into sex to lessen their legal troubles tearfully apologized for having no moral compass but told a jury here Thursday that his accusers lied.

Im embarrassed, humiliated and sorry, to my family and the girls they had to bring forward against me, Mark Henry Benavides told the Wilson County jury that convicted him Tuesday of continuous trafficking of persons.

Benavides, 48, who did not testify in the first phase of his trial, was on the stand for nearly three hours Thursday.

Six accusers named in the indictment testified that almost from the moment he became their court-appointed attorney or were retained by him, he would pick them up, take them to court for appearances and have sex with them.

The women, who are not being identified because they are victims of assault, said they used Benavides office, his SUV, witness and jury rooms in the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center in Bexar County for their encounters.

Under direct questioning by his defense attorney, Monica E. Guerrero, Benavides told the jury of his Catholic school upbringing. He became emotional when he spoke about the charges, turning away from God and his spirituality from the moment he became a lawyer in 2000 and about cheating on his wife, which he said he did from the beginning.

Benavides blamed the people he defended for leading him down the path he went.

I decided to do criminal (law). It was the easiest, and I started to find myself in a dark place, he said. I found myself representing people raised with morals less than those I was raised with.

He said that when he took on clients who had an adult novelty store, he became interested in pornography because they would give five to six DVDs that had some sort of damage that prevented them from being sold.

I guess I fell in with that mentality, the clientele I was around, he said. I had no faith. No moral compass.

Benavides did not deny having sex with the women, some of whom he paid when they were prostitutes. He said he believed that the sex was consensual and admitted to taking video of the encounters. He also said he labeled each video and etched in acronyms to describe the types of sex acts. But he adamantly denied that they agreed to have sex in exchange for legal services.

It was never discussed, he said.

When prosecutor Meredith Chacon asked Benavides if he believed that he is guilty, he replied, This is a jury of my peers. I have to believe it.

Earlier Thursday, Benavides mother, Olga Benavides, said her sons accusers lied. She believed that the jury was wrong in its verdict, she said, and that her son is not guilty of trafficking and does not deserve to go to prison.

They made a mistake because you trained the witnesses with what you wanted them to answer, she told prosecutor Jay Norton. I dont believe they told the truth.

In at times heated exchanges with Norton, Olga Benavides told the court that she thought the case against her son was personal, telling the court that what happened to her son was a big conspiracy on the part of (Bexar County District Attorney) Nico LaHood and his family for some unknown reason.

She also asked the jury to show mercy for her son because he is broke and is supporting his own family and helping his parents. Benavides father was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease shortly after his arrest.

The jury also heard from a clinical and forensic psychologist who reviewed sex videos and commercial pornography seized from Benavides home that he said demonstrated patterns of control and an arousal to violent sex.

Dr. Aaron Pierce was the last witness to testify Thursday before the state rested its case.

Chacon asked Pierce for his expert opinion on video evidence he observed.

Most concerning were two videos where women had to engage in anal sex, he said. It was very painful, they asked him to stop; they were crying.

When Chacon asked if he noticed a pattern in the videos and evidence, Pierce said Benavides consistently was the one in control, directing what was happening.

Pierce also testified that numerous videos of commercial pornography were concerning because among the titles taken from Benavides home, many of them contained language that was concerning.

The list of titles show incestuous behavior or titles or references to sexual assault, Pierce told the jury.

Pierce also testified that there was a concern that Benavides took video and kept it because in his experience, sex offenders dont always collect trophies.

Is he a collector or maintaining them for a specific purpose, he said. Keeping record of conquests, record of trophies ... it takes you beyond the typical sex offense.
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico  Presidential front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told cheering supporters here Thursday that theres more crime in Washington than Laredo.

His voice hoarse from nonstop campaigning, Lopez Obrador dismissed President Donald Trumps order to deploy National Guard troops along the border as propaganda, a political ploy designed to stir xenophobia.

What (Trump) says, that theres a great threat on the southern border of the United States, that threat doesnt exist, Lopez Obrador told the crowd.

What he said about crime was true; FBI crime statistics put the crime rate in Washington at 20.4 per 100,000 and Laredo at 4.6 per 100,000 in 2016, the last year for which complete figures are available.

Meanwhile, Trump aired a familiar charge of crime and rape in Mexico. He suggested that hed been vindicated by reports about the perils of immigration, particularly for women.

Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened, the New York Times quoted Trump as saying in reference to comments he made in 2015 while announcing his candidacy for president. Everybody said, Oh, he was so tough, and I used the word rape. And yesterday, it came out where, this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before.

Rodrigo Abeja, one of the organizers of an immigrant caravan that Trump had highlighted in a tweet, said he was unaware of any accusations of rape against the migrants.

In the Mexican presidential campaign, the anti-establishment Lopez Obrador is running for the left-of-center Morena party after two failed presidential bids in 2006 and 2012. He offers a populist vision for the country that has rattled business elites. His outsider appeal has driven his popularity, especially among disillusioned working-class voters.

Just as Trump cast the border as a threat to national security, Lopez Obrador, 64, launched his campaign on the border, stirring nationalism across the troubled region.

In his speech, the candidate vowed to end corruption, slash government salaries and reinvest in the working class. He castigated elected officials for living off of exorbitant salaries, and he accused them of corruption that costs the country billions of dollars every year.

Were going to lower the salaries at the top because were going to increase the salaries at the bottom, Lopez Obrador said. This isnt vengeance; its justice.

The leftist candidate, popularly referred to as AMLO, stopped to shake hands and pose for photos with passionate supporters wearing AMLOVE T-shirts in city plazas, roadside stops and rough-around-the-edges neighborhoods.

Recalling the story of Nuevo Laredos origin, when the Treaty of Guadalupe made the Rio Grande the international border, he noted that residents of the combined city were given the option of becoming citizens of the U.S. or moving to the southern banks of the river where they would remain Mexican in New Laredo, known as Nuevo Laredo.

I dont know if its real or legend, Lopez Obrador said, but they brought their dead so they would remain Mexican.

Even as Lopez Obrador has sought to assure business leaders that hes not a leftist firebrand, his rhetoric on spurning foreign investment over domestic initiatives has scared off some voters. Yet his willingness to address U.S. aggression surely has won over others.

Lopez Obrador made it clear Thursday, as he has in other campaign stops, that Mexico is nobodys pinata.

And to ensure the rights of its citizens in the U.S., he promised to add attorneys to all Mexican consulates to help protect the rights of migrants.

Since the campaign season officially kicked off a week ago, Lopez Obrador has made stops in the states Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, a region that has prospered from trade with the U.S., but also has suffered some of the worst drug war violence.

After leaving Nuevo Laredo in the early afternoon, Lopez Obrador sped along a border highway known as the riberena, a dangerous road between Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, making brief stops in Miguel Aleman and Camargo, cities that have been plagued by drug cartel violence in recent years.

We are going to restore public life, Lopez Obrador said at a roadside stop in Miguel Aleman, where he was greeted by enthusiastic supporters carrying handmade signs and dressed in maroon Morena shirts. But were going to do it peacefully.

In Camargo, he paused in front of a gas station for a few quick photos and was on his way again.

At all his border stops to date, Lopez Obrador has promised to lower the tax rate in the area from 16 percent to 8 percent to make the region competitive with neighboring cities in the U.S. and to double the minimum wage.

In southern Mexico, Lopez Obrador has pledged to build a high-speed train to spur tourism along the Mayan coast, which could create up to 400,000 jobs, he said. The candidate also said he would create scholarships for low-income students, some of whom have been called NiNis because they dont study or work.

Its not their fault they have no opportunities, Lopez Obrador said. Scholarships yes, assassins no.

At least some of the funds to finance his ambitious plan would come from eliminating the $5 million peso (about $274,200 in U.S. dollars) pension received by former presidents, slashing his own salary by half, doing without bodyguards and offering the presidential plane to Trump. He assured supporters at stops in Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa that he would not raise taxes.

Lopez Obrador also said hed convert Los Pinos, the palatial presidential residence in Mexico City, into a public space that promotes Mexican cultural heritage.

Its not right to have a rich president and a poor public, Lopez Obrador said to roaring applause and chants of President! President!
The way Joe Pags Pagliarulo sees it, nearly everything hes read in the media about his controversial interview with Ted Nugent, the gun-toting rock guitarist who called two survivors of the Parkland mass shooting soulless, mushy-brained liars, failed to tell the whole story.

And for the past week, San Antonios only nationally syndicated radio talk-show host has taken to the airwaves to tell his listeners what he thinks the media missed.

Ted Nugent did not out of the blue attack anybody, Pagliarulo said during a recent episode of the Joe Pags Show, which is broadcast on 108 radio stations across the United States and on the cable channel Newsmax TV.

You can think that the words Ted chose on Friday were out of line, Pagliarulo said. But few media outlets mentioned that Nugent was responding to verbal attacks against the National Rifle Association.

There shouldnt be a response to that? he asked. Really?

The controversy put Pagliarulo in a familiar place  under the national spotlight.

Pagliarulo has worked at WOAI in San Antonio for nearly 13 years  an eternity in the radio business. Five years ago, he negotiated a deal with WOAIs owner, iHeartMedia Inc., to syndicate his show nationally, and he launched that effort about 21/2 years ago.

When I talked to people about syndicating the show, I thought Id get five to 10 stations, said Pagliarulo, 51. Im humbled by what the show is now.

Pagliarulo said his crowning achievement was landing an interview with President Donald Trump, who spoke to Pagliarulo in November 2017.

Locally, Pagliarulo endorsed Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood, a Democrat who had appeared on a past show to decry the alleged threat of sharia law in the United States. LaHood ultimately was trounced in last months Democratic primary.

Pagliarulo said he could have left San Antonio long ago for bigger markets and better opportunities. But he cant imagine leaving.

It's just home, man, he said. I love my Spurs. I love that theres so much history here. I love the people.

Pagliarulo said he interviewed Nugent, a longtime friend and a board member of the NRA, to hear his side after CNN interviewed Parkland survivors David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez. They described the NRA as child murderers and that politicians shouldnt accept the groups blood money.

Nugent, an outspoken defender of the Second Amendment who once said Barack Obama could suck on Nugents machine gun, said the students level of ignorance went beyond stupidity.

These poor children, Nugent told Pagliarulo. It hurts me to say this, but the evidence is irrefutable. They have no soul.

Backlash

At a time when some conservative pundits are under fire for insulting survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, who are calling for stronger gun-control measures, Pagliarulos March 30 interview with Nugent sparked another wave of condemnation from critics.

Gonzalez and Hogg didnt directly respond to Nugent, but Parkland students such as Cameron Kasky demanded an apology on Twitter, writing: Talk about no soul. This guy better apologize, seriously.

So far, there have been no serious attempts to boycott Pagliarulos advertisers in the wake of Nugents comments. After conservative commentator Laura Ingraham ridiculed Hogg on Twitter, Hogg accused her of cyberbullying and helped organized a boycott of her advertisers. Some companies dropped their support of Ingrahams talk show and she later apologized.

While the Joe Pags Show will not surprise anyone familiar with conservative talk radio for its stance on guns (good), most liberals (bad) and climate change (no big deal), Pagliarulo also has tried to debunk right-wing conspiracy theories.

During a recent episode, Pagliarulo weighed in on the arrests of two false flag hoaxers who confronted the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs near San Antonio, where gunman Devin Kelley killed 26 worshipers in November.

The hoaxers dont believe the shooting actually happened. In a video published by the documentary news site Vice, they cursed at pastor Frank Pomeroy and accused him of lying about the death of his 14-year-old daughter. Authorities arrested the pair for trespassing on church property.

Pagliarulo called the conspiracy theorists very, very sick.

The idea that any and all shootings or mass murder or massacres have been manufactured by the government and there was some sort of psi-op by the FBI or the CIA  theres something wrong with you, he told his listeners.

Before the Nugent controversy, Pagliarulo had joined other pundits in criticizing Hogg, Gonzalez and other Parkland students who are calling for gun control. On Twitter, Pagliarulo  who says he cant stand ad hominem attacks  nevertheless has called Hogg a radical lefty and a poster boy for far left-wing American politics.

But Pagliarulo also defended Hogg and other Parkland survivors from conspiracy theorists who claimed on Twitter the students were crisis actors in a staged mass shooting.

When people said David Hogg was a crisis actor, I defended him and said, Stop it, he's not. Pagliarulo later told the San Antonio Express-News.

The conspiracy theories make it harder to tackle the real issue, he said  making schools safer.

Watch this

A New York native whose family moved to Florida when he was young, Pagliarulo was fascinated with broadcasting as a boy.

Decades before the baritone-voiced talk-show host was syndicated nationally, Pagliarulo recorded audio tapes pretending to be a disc jockey on the imaginary WPAGS radio station.

I started watching television news as a 10 or 11-year-old, he said. Who does that?

Members of his blue-collar family doubted his obsession with broadcasting would go anywhere, which only inspired Pagliarulo to prove them wrong.

I think the more they told me that I couldn't do it, the more I was like, Watch this.

His first job was at a Palm Beach County radio station, but he later worked at a series of television gigs in Michigan. In July 2002, he got his big break as a news anchor at WRGB-TV in Albany, a CBS affiliate where he was making a six-figure salary for the first time, according to a 2016 profile published in Talker Magazine.

The Albany Times Union gave high marks to the newcomers inaugural newscast in July 2002, when Pagliarulo jokingly spoke directly to an Italian viewer who had told him Pagliarulo was mispronouncing his own name.

There he was, a high-and-mighty anchor, talking directly to viewers instead of at them, wrote Mark McGuire, the newspapers media columnist at the time.

Making that kind of connection with audiences was easier through radio than television, Pagliarulo said. In Albany, Pagliarulo was also hosting a radio show for a station owned by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, which later became iHeartMedia.

That's how they heard of me, he said. Pagliarulo resigned as a news anchor and moved to San Antonio in 2005 to work at WOAI, where he felt like he didnt have to hold himself back when he talked about the news.

Pagliarulo views the The Joe Pags Show as a place to inform, to entertain and to be himself. The same day he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2011, Pagliarulo dealt with the bad news by talking and even joking about it with listeners.

A very small number of listeners thought it was too serious a subject to joke around about, Pagliarulo, who is now cancer free, told the Express-News at the time. I disagree. This is my cancer, and I deal as I choose to deal."

In 2016, Pagliarulo openly spoke on his show about his missing teenage daughter and pleaded for her safe return. She later was found with an older co-worker, who was arrested for taking a minor out of the state without the permission of her parents.

She is safe. She is healthy. We're heading out now to go get her, the relieved talk show host said during a past broadcast.

The interview

Gonzalez and Hogg, two of the Parkland students leading the effort for tighter regulation of firearms, appeared on CNN in February and criticized the NRA and politicians who accept its support.

If you cant get elected without taking money from child murderers, why are you running? Hogg asked.

Pagliarulo opened his March 30 show complaining the students had told patented lies about the NRA and sought Nugents response.

Nugent said he couldnt be more proud of the NRA, which is made up of good families, and that he felt sorry for the students.

The lies from these poor, mushy-brained children, who have been fed lies and parrot the lies, they are actually committing spiritual suicide, Nugent said. Because everything they recommend will cause more death and mayhem, guaranteed.

Nugent downplayed the danger posed by the AR-15, a popular, semiautomatic rifle that has been used in past mass shootings. He said the Remington .223, a type of rifle cartridge commonly used as ammo for the AR-15, is a feeble round.

When you call these guns weapons of war, its a lie, Nugent said.

Pagliarulo said in an interview his goal was to get Nugents side, not challenge him on his claims. But the Remington .223 is a high-velocity, anti-personnel round specifically designed for the U.S. military in the 1950s. Its development was tied to the AR-15, a new, lightweight rifle.

In 1960, the Air Force tested early versions of the AR-15 using Remington .223 ammunition at Lackland AFB in San Antonio and officials were impressed by the results. The rifle rounds could penetrate two steel helmets stacked together 300 yards away.

Trauma surgeons say rounds fired by AR-15-style rifles rip through tissue and bones with devastating effectiveness that cant be matched by handguns.

Todays version of the AR-15 rifle is marketed to civilians solely as a semiautomatic weapon, which means one round is fired with each pull of the trigger. Military versions of the rifle, such as the M16, arent allowed to be sold to the public.

Pagliarulo stands by his interview with Nugent, saying he was performing a fundamental act of journalism  seeking the other side of the story.

The talk-show host views some of the Parkland survivors as misguided, but says they also possess remarkable potential to change the world.

I think they've got an incredible ability to do so much good when it comes to stopping the next shooting from happening, Pagliarulo said. I just wish they werent so one sided.
The documented gang member accused of fatally shooting a 20-year-old woman on an East Side road told a witness she was "crawling for her life" after he he gunned her down, according to court records.

Kedreen Marque Pugh, 30, was jailed early Wednesday on a murder charge in connection with the killing of Brianna De La Cruz. He also faces charges of felony possession of a firearm and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

An affidavit released Thursday provided new details about the killing.

RELATED: SAPD: Authorities used pepper spray, stun gun, Ketamine on irate suspect who shot H-E-B guard

According to police, Pugh drove De La Cruz out to the 800 block of South Foster Road sometime during the night of March 28 or morning of March 29 and shot her.

A witness told police Pugh shot her because she had stolen some money from him. Pugh also told the witness he was even thinking about returning to where he had abandoned her to "pop her a couple more times," according to his arrest affidavit. He ultimately decided against it because the sun was beginning to rise.

Just before 5 a.m. on March 29, the driver of an 18-wheeler spotted De La Cruz's body on the side of the road. Unable to turn around, he notified a supervisor who found her "trying to reach up for help," the affidavit says.

"According to them, she was still moving," San Antonio Police Detective Randal Hines wrote in the affidavit.

RELATED: Bexar County Jail officials knew of escape plan months before 3 murder suspects broke out

The supervisor called 911, but by the time paramedics arrived, De La Cruz had died. She was pronounced dead at 5:16 a.m.

Police spoke with De La Cruz's relative, who told authorities De La Cruz had left their home the night of March 28 with a man and a woman in a red Nissan and that she had been staying at a Studio 6 Motel on Highway 90 at Military Drive.

Police discovered Pugh was renting the room where De La Cruz was staying and records showed he owned a red Nissan Altima, officials said. Police also learned he was a documented gang member known by the name K.O. A witness told police that Pugh owns a 9 mm pistol and extended magazines, the affidavit says.

Based on the information Hines and other police officers gathered during the investigation, they were able to obtain an arrest warrant for Pugh, which they executed late 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
A real estate firm from Chicago has purchased the $70 million Flats at Big Tex apartment complex, a major component of the redevelopment of the southern stretch of the San Antonio River.

The Accend Companies, a firm that specializes in operating high-quality apartment complexes, bought the 7.5-acre, 336-unit apartment complex late last month from local developer James Lifshutz and national company NRP Group, according to county property records published this week.

The purchase price wasnt disclosed, but the two properties comprising the complex were valued at a total of about $70.2 million this year by the Bexar Appraisal District. Accends subsidiary, Accend Big Tex LLC, borrowed $51.8 million from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to buy the property, property records show.

A spokesperson for NRP Group declined to comment. Lifshutz and Accend principal Jeff Szorik didnt respond to requests for comment.

Flats at Big Tex, which opened in spring 2016, has been one of the biggest development projects to be built along the Mission Reach stretch of the River Walk since it was completed in 2013, transforming that stretch of the river from an austere drainage channel into a destination for joggers and cyclists. A few other apartment complexes are in the works, including one by NRP.

But the areas largest and most anticipated project, the rehabilitation of the Lone Star Brewery as retail, offices and apartments, is in limbo after the partnership that planned to redevelop the brewery collapsed. NRP has sued the brewerys owner after a deal to build an apartment complex along the river there fell through.

The Blue Star Arts Complex, an arts hub operated by Lifshutz a short walk north of Big Tex, has also been a catalyst for other development in the area, including bars, restaurants and an organic grocery store.

The Big Tex complex includes high-end amenities designed to attract younger urban dwellers, including a resort-style pool, fitness center, social lounge and two dog parks. The rents range from about $1,135 to $1,805 a month for a one-bedroom, according to its website.

Accend has invested in San Antonio before  in late 2016, it sold a $19 million apartment complex on Wurzbach Parkway.
Person to Person has launched its new Mobile Food Pantry.
In honor of the third annual Safe Havens Awareness Day on April 4, State Reps. Brenda Kupchick (R-132) and Laura Devlin (R-134) are urging public education on the importance of this lifesaving bill.

We have to continue to spread the word that the Safe Havens law exists, especially to a new generation of people who were too young to be aware of when it was first passed. We can help these often vulnerable women from making a devastating decision if they know they have an option to surrender a baby safely that they otherwise cannot care for. I am committed to assisting any individuals or local organizations in raising awareness of the law, said Rep. Kupchick.

The aim of this day of is to bring awareness to those who might find themselves in difficult situations with a newborn baby, that there are safe options available if, for whatever reason, they are unable to keep their infant child. This little bit a knowledge can be lifesaving by preventing abandonment, said Rep. Devlin.

Since its passage in 2000, Connecticuts Safe Havens law has saved 33 infants from abandonment and near certain death. The parents, too, of these infants have been saved from possible incarceration and a life overshadowed by the crime of neonaticide, committed in a moment of panic.

Paula Gill Lopez, PhD, has been appointed as co-chair of the newly formed School Safety and Crisis Response Committee by the Connecticut Association of School Psychologists (CASP). Geoff Millenson, School Psychologist for Stratford Public Schools and alumnus of Fairfield's school psychology program, will join Gill-Lopez as co-chair. The School Safety and Crisis Response Committee has been formed in response to recent national events and the needs of families, schools, and school psychologists. The committee's charge is to coordinate public and private response efforts to crises in the state.

Gill-Lopez is associate professor and chair of the department of psychological and educational consultation, and director of the school psychology program at Fairfield Universitys Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions (GSEAP). As a certified PREPaRE trainer, a national crisis intervention program, Dr. Gill Lopez is a leading expert in school crisis prevention and response, and a member of the National Association of School Psychologists. She will be initiating contact with school districts and mental health organizations across the state regarding PREPaRE training.

The PREPaRe curriculum, developed by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), provides school-based mental health professionals and educational professionals with school safety and crisis management training. According to NASP, PREPaRE is one of the first comprehensive nationally available curriculums developed by school-based professionals with first hand experience and formal training. The training model incorporates guidelines from The U.S. Department of Education Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) and the Department of Homeland Security Incident Command System (ICS). PREPaRE Crisis Curriculum focuses on the five stages of a crisis: prevention, mitigation, protection, response and recovery.

More than 80 men and women from the Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC) in the South Carolina Corps of Cadets are being recognized for their academic and military leadership and excellence.

The Citadel ROTC departments provide cadets with officer training during college to allow them to begin their military careers as officers after graduation. Through the departments, which include Air Force ROTC, Army ROTC, Marines ROTC and Navy ROTC, The Citadel is one of the nation's proven producers of top military leaders. This spring, more than 100 cadets are expected to commission to all branches of the military.

Annually, the departments nominate their finest cadets and active duty students for awards. This year's award recipients were honored on Thursday, March 29 in McAlister Field House.

During the ceremony, Matthew Coppola (Army) of Fairfield received the Military Order of the World Wars Award. The Military Order of the World Wars Award is presented to one member in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th class from each branch of service for their diligence in demonstrating military excellence and outstanding accomplishments during the year.
FAIRFIELD  A new ordinance could help kickstart the towns efforts to increase affordable housing in Fairfield.

The Representative Town Meeting recently unanimously adopted an ordinance establishing a housing trust fund. The ordinance had bipartisan sponsorship. Now, the Town Planning and Zoning Commission will need to adopt regulations making the ordinance a reality.

The trust fund was recommended by the updated Affordable Housing Plan as well as the TPZs Plan of Conservation and Development.

I expect that the Affordable Housing Committee will be making an application, or a request for the TPZ to do so, to propose a regulation for a new inclusionary fee now that the trust fund is established, Planning Director James Wendt said. He said he has not seen any proposals as of yet and isnt sure at this point what the ultimate process will be.

However the trust fund comes into being, officials whose goal it is to provide affordable housing are happy with the news.

Stephen Grathwohl sits on the Affordable Housing Committee and was chairman when the plan was updated in 2014. I am very happy that the RTM adopted the housing trust fund ordinance, he said. Its an important step for the town.

Grathwohl said the trust fund should receive money from many sources, such as federal and state grants, individual donations and bequests, as well as permit fees so that there are continued annual deposits. The trust fund is designed to be a vehicle to help the town achieve its affordable housing goals. If there are no monies in the trust fund, it cannot fulfill its purpose.

The ordinance adopted allows for funds to come from all those sources cited by Grathwohl.

Any expenditures must first be approved by the Affordable Housing Committee and the Community and Economic Development director, and then by the Board of Selectmen.

I just finished reading the ordinance, and certainly, from my vantage point, any fund created to support more affordable housing opportunities in Fairfield is well-needed, said Carol Martin, executive director of the Fairfield Housing Authority.

Westport, where Martin also heads up the Housing Authority, has a Planning and Zoning Commission subcommittee to make recommendations to existing regulations, including discussion of a housing fund. New Canaan has had a housing trust fund since 2005. All applications in New Canaan for a zoning permit for any building construction or addition in any zone require a fee of $10 for every $1,000 of construction value. That money goes into the housing fund, and in 2014, estimated that $2.5 million had been collected and $900,000 distributed to support affordable housing.

I think Fairfields housing trust fund would be helpful in providing adaptive reuse of existing town-owned structures, Martin said, or provide needed gap money to a project that would otherwise not get funded, and possibly provide first in funds to obtain control of a site that would otherwise not have any affordable units.

Martin said she appreciated the RTMs leadership and recognition of the need for affordable, quality housing. Many residents, she said, do not have the housing they need to remain in Fairfield, which for decades they have called home. The need is not just for senior citizens, Martin said. Our young adults as well are seeking independent quality housing, many of whom have student loans, car loans, and other expenses which makes a market rate rental out of reach.

Connecticut General Statues allow any town to implement inclusionary zoning regulations to promote the development of affordable housing. Those regulations include making payments to a housing trust fund to be used for constructing, rehabilitating, or repairing affordable housing.

Its another tool that we can use to help create additional housing options, Community and Economic Development Director Mark Barnhart said, adding the Affordable Housing Committee modeled their fund using the experiences of other communities.

The approach is very similar to that used successfully in preserving and creating open space.
ANSONIA -A 26-year-old Derby man has been arrested in the robbery of the Webster Bank on Wednesday.

Bruce Rowley, of Chapel Street, was arrested by warrant Thursday for second-degree robbery and fourth-degree larceny.

Rowleys arrest came after two people identified him as the person who robbed the the Division Street bank, said Lt. Patrick Lynch.

After identifying Rowley as the person involved in the robbery, detectives obtained an arrest warrant and search warrants for Rowley, his residence and the car Rowley used during the robbery, a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Ansonia Police Department entered the Jeep into a nationwide database as wanted.

Rhode Island State Police found Rowley driving the Jeep south on Interstate 95 and attempted to stop the car.

Lynch said, Rowley refused to stop and engaged the Rhode Island State Police in a pursuit that eventually entered Connecticut. Troopers from the Connecticut State Police Troop E in Montville joined in the pursuit.

The pursuit ended at Exit 89 on I-95 in (Mystic) Connecticut after troopers used spike strips to flatten the tires on Rowleys Jeep. While being taken into custody a Rhode Island State Police K9 bit Rowley in the arm.

After his arrest, Rowley confessed to committing the robbery, Lynch said.

Rowley was held on a $100,000 ond and transported to Derby Superior Court for arraignment on Friday.
A North Yorkshire farmer has told of how this spring has been the worst he has ever had after losing forty of his lambs due to adverse weather.

Jonathan Fairburn, a farmer from Helmsley, told the BBC that six of his lambs died this week on top of the dozens more he has lost over lambing season.

Usually 650 lambs are born each March and April on Mr Fairburn's farm. However, this season he has lost about forty lambs, which is more than usual.

The prolonged stretch of adverse weather the UK has received towards the back-end of winter and into spring has left many farmers reeling.

Farmers across the country have experienced one of the wettest and coldest winters following persistent rainfall which has made conditions difficult.

"They are wet, they're cold, they're sheltering behind bales but they get lost from their mothers and are starved. Once that happens it's a downward spiral," Mr Fairburn told BBC News.

"I've been at this farm for 25 years and it's the worst spring we've had.

"The ground has never really dried and as soon as you get rain like we've had in March, it just puddles up."

'Worst in living memory'

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.

Farmers are also becoming increasingly concerned about the recent cold weather which in turn has put a pressure on fodder supplies.

A Somerset farmer had to ditch 8,000 litres of milk because his farm was inaccessible due to the severe weather conditions.
Sugar beet growers are celebrating record yields from the crop, with the final average yield for 2017/18 an impressive 83.4 tonnes per hectare of beet.

The 2017/18 sugar beet campaign came to a close just before Easter and the British beet sugar industry is celebrating its record yields.

8.9m tonnes of sugar beet were processed through British Sugars four factories with the final average yield 83.4 tonnes per hectare of beet. This compares to a previous record of 79.8.

The increases have been driven through the work of the British Beet Research Organisation (BBRO)  jointly funded by British Sugar and sugar beet growers  which has played a role in driving productivity.

The result has been an increase in yields of 25% in the last ten years and this year many growers have seen yields of over 100 tonnes per hectare.

Paul Kenward, Managing Director of British Sugar said it has been a "long and challenging" campaign for growers.

I am hugely proud of the record yields weve seen from our homegrown sugar beet and we continue to be one of the most efficient sugar industries in the world, Mr Kenward said.

However, we simply couldnt do it without our 3,500 growers and the 9,500 people who work across our supply chain.

We are processing the same amount of sugar beet today with four factories as we were 20 years ago with ten, as a result of investing in our factories to make them even more efficient. Well now focus on getting ready for the next campaign and making further improvements.

The total sugar produced by British Sugar for the 2017/18 campaign was approximately 1.38 million tonnes from a total growing area of over 105,000 hectares.

British Sugar is the sole processor of the UKs sugar beet crop, and supplies around 50 per cent of the UKs demand for sugar.
A post shared by  (@a._n._i.__) on Mar 24, 2018 at 3:09pm PDT



As history goes, it is said that the very blood of Christ was collected and brought to Belgium by Joseph of Arimathea from the Holy Land to this church; it is also said to house a relic of Christ himself. Apart from being a deeply religious place, the basilica is also worth visiting irrespective of what faith you profess, because it is stunning in its simplicity, its masterly decorations and its historic value. It consists of two chapels; the one on the lower level is austere with very little decoration, while the one on the upper level is Gothic and alive with colour and detail. Every day at a certain set time, the cloth with the holy blood of Christ is revered, and visitors can queue up to touch or kiss it, and seek blessings.


Salman Khan to spent 1 more day in Jail, hearing on Bail Plea postponed again | FilmiBeat

Salman Khan was sentenced to 5 years in prison for killing two blackbucks during the shoot of Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998 and a fine of Rs 10,000 was levied on the actor. He had to spend the whole night at the Jodhpur jail barrack no 2 and was also given prisoner's number 160.

The bail hearing for Salman Khan begins today and his lawyers have prepared a 51 page argument trying to discredit the eyewitness reports and claim that Salman Khan is being punished due to his celebrity status. The team of lawyers are going to question the eyewitness Poonam Chand's credibility and argue that his statements are false as he was 2 kilometres away when the shots were fired and it's impossible for him to reach the location within minutes to see who actually shot the blackbucks.
Mammootty As Sakhavu Alex

Mammootty gets into the shoes of the character Alex easily. He has convincingly portrayed the various stages of the character to perfection and thus making the variations believable and distinct.

There is none to beat him in the emotional sequences and Parole is yet another example of that. Watch out for those soul-stirring moments in the second half of the movie. In fact, Mammootty shoulders the movie with his performance in many portions.

Miya George As Kathreena

Miya george essays a character named Kathreena, the younger sister of Alex. Well, it wasn't a performance oriented role as such and her performance was found to be mediocre. In some of the sequences, the performance went down to be dramatic.

Iniya As Annie

Iniya appears in the role of Annie, the wife of Alex. Even though her character didn't have the required depth, she has done her part neatly without much exaggerations.

Rest Of The Cast

Parole also features other prominent actors in important roles. Siddique essays a character named Abdu in the film and as usual he does his role to perfection. Suraj gets to play the role of Varghese and he has done a good job.

It was good to see Lalu Alex back on the big screen after a short while. At the same time, the performances of the actors who played the prison inmates looked artificial and dramatic. Sijoy Varghese, Irshad, Alencier etc., also essay important roles in the movie.

Script & Direction

Parole's script is by Ajith Poojappura. The story of the film isn't anything new and there are some striking similarities from some of the films of the past. Nevertheless, the script has its moments, especially in the second half where the plot thickens a bit with some intriguing elements. The dialogues of the film, especially those given to the character Alex were particularly good. At the same time, some of the sequences in the first half of the film looked a bit odd and forced in for the run-time.

Sharrath Sandith has done an OK job with his debut work. The film-makers visual sense is incredible and that could be understood right from the very first frame. He has also come out successful in using the actor in Mammootty up to a good extent. Nevertheless, he couldn't keep the audiences completely hooked to the film, especially with the narrative pattern, which is slow at many parts.

Other Aspects

The cinematography department of Parole has been handled by S Loganathan is excellent and the beautiful frames set by him give the film some freshness. Suresh Urs could have done a better job with the editing of the movie and movie was found to be too long for the subject that it had to narrate. The songs set to tune by Sharreth were average and at the same time the BGM was indeed good. The actions sequences weren't convincing.
Kapil Sharmas Account Hacked!

He made a series of tweets blaming system and abusing media and then deleted it. He then apologised and claimed that his Twitter account was hacked. But later, this tweet was also deleted.

Kapil Abuses A Reporter

While many of them are not convinced that Kapil's Twitter was hacked, there came another shocking tweet in which Kapil was seen abusing a reporter by calling him Kutte Bikaayu'!

The Comedian Calls A Reporter Kutte Bikaayu!

He wrote, "Maine jo b likha tha apne dil se likha tha.. it was my team who deleted my tweets .. But main is kutte bikaayu reporter se darne wala nahi hu.. he can write anything for anybody just for few bucks. Shameless." - (sic)

Did Kapil Sharma Call & Abuse A Reporter?

With the recent tweet, many of them felt that his account was still hacked! Meanwhile, Spotboye reporter claims that Kapil abused him. He even had his call recorded. As Kapil started abusing the reporter badly, Kapil's friend snatched the phone and he asked him to meet him to solve the issue!

Kapils Unbelievable & Unacceptable Behaviour

While a few doubt whether the voice is of Kapil, many of them were disappointed and upset to see their comedian abusing someone in such a way. They couldn't believe as to how a person who can make anyone laugh, do such a bad thing!

The Comedians Deleted Tweet

Here are a few deleted tweets in which Kapil was seen abusing the reporter/media: N a request to media... pls dont make it negative news just to see ur paper... he is a nice man n he will come out of it soon. There have been so many and such huge scams but at that time no one said a word... How much do you charge to spread negative news. u fu****g paid media... specially @spotboye u m*"- (sic)

Kapil Abuses A Reporter In His Tweet

"@Spotboye Vicky lalwani.. u r a mo***er lier.. who only spread negativity about me for a very little money ..N I know who is giving u money .. mehnat ki kha.. tattti matt kha ma****od .. u know what .. I can pay u more then ur worth .. but I don't want to pay u." - (sic)

Kapils Abusive Tweets

"According to sources this is the news .. u mo****ker why don't u tell who r ur sources." "I earned money with my hard work.. I paid tax in india .. whether I m earning from usa or Pakistan.. but I am boosting indian econimy.. u motherf****r ... how can u forget my hard work?" - (sic)
Vikas Supports Salman Khan

Sharing the lengthy note, Vikas wrote, "Just jotted down what I really feel about @BeingSalmanKhan and this current scenario . Backlash is expected but  You stand for what you feel is right." - (sic)

Blackbuck Poaching Case

Vikas note read, "They say being a celeb is not easy and Salman Sir is one of the biggest celebrity of this country. I do not know what the truth is of the case I wasn't there but it says that 2 black bucks, 3 chinkaras killed and all the blame has been put on one man." - (sic)

Vikas Point Of View

"There were a lot of people in that shoot and in that area. Isn't it a bit strange that no one else has been charged for actually shooting. The Bishnoi community heard gunshots and came running to find 2 blackbucks dead and a jeep full of people running away." - (sic)

Vikas Gupta Has Got A Point!

"I don't want to use my brains here. Salman Khan cannot shoot with two hands. No matter what you see in his films if he would have shot one the other blackbuck would have run away." - (sic)

The Bigg Boss 11 Finalist Writes

"One man has killed 3 chinkaras 2 blackbucks on his own. While others clapped and cheered for him. He is a Bombay bred man. Not a gunman trained for shooting. A lot of people are getting their claim to fame cause Salman Khan has been sentenced to jail cause of them, this will be their life's highlight yes they do have a reason to lie or side with wrong." - (sic)

Salman Khan Is Not Perfect Nor Is Anyone Of Us

"Salman Khan is not perfect nor is anyone of us. There are wrong he must have done as well but there are more rights he has done. Salman Khan is not perfect nor is anyone of us. There are wrong he must have done as well but there are more rights he has done." - (sic)

Vikas Adds

"He has won more hearts than broken. He has given much more than taking. Whether he is guilty or not or if he has taken the fall for someone else or he had been framed cause he hurt someone important's ego in Rajasthan yes there are important and more powerful people than the film stars, there are a lot of theories you and I keep hearing what is the truth I do not know." - (sic)

Salman Khan case: Shilpa Shinde REACTS on Blackbuck Poaching case | FilmiBeat

Salman Khan Is Paying The Price For Being A Celebrity

"What I know is he is paying the price of being the biggest celebrity of this country. For starters, go find out in the history of our country, how many people in total have been actually been jailed for 5 years for hunting of whatever cases actually registered. - Vikas Gupta" - (sic)
Network18 introduced the digital counterpart of its flagship business news brand CNBC-TV18 on Friday, with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launching the website for the business news channel during the India Business Leader Awards

Network18 introduced the digital counterpart of its flagship business news brand CNBC-TV18 on Friday, with Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launching the website for the business news channel during the India Business Leader Awards.

Manish Maheshwari, the CEO of Network18 Digital said CNBCTV18.com aims at driving deeper engagement with the audience. "We want to break the clutter. Our emphasis will be on quality rather than quantity. We have set up a team that will produce accurate, credible and relevant content that provides distinctive value to the audience. We will invest enough time in decoding the behaviour of our readers to offer them an unmatchable experience," Maheshwari said about the launch.

Shereen Bhan, the managing editor of CNBC-TV18 said that the channel promises to provide truly integrated business newsroom experience to the users. "CNBCTV18.com will be the destination for a truly integrated business newsroom that packs live streaming of CNBC-TV18 content, special shows, videos, and compelling analysis. The launch of CNBCTV18.com is an important milestone in our evolution as Indias most watched and most trusted business news brand," she said.

The website promises to offer in-depth news coverage, analysis and other easily-accessible information on business, the stock market and the economy. The site wishes to offer fresh perspectives on entrepreneurship, leadership, start-ups and other finer aspects of business and economy in various multimedia formats.

Binoy Prabhakar, editor of CNBCTV18.com said, CNBCTV18.coms aim is to shine a light on the most important financial trends, leveraging the full power of CNBC-TV18 to deliver sharp news and featuring in-house and outside experts to share in-depth analysis. All the CNBC-TV18 products such as the website, apps, a daily newsletter and podcasts, among others, have been created to deliver news and information efficiently and effectively to our audiences,"

The site will also have a separate weekend edition, which will provide columns on food, books, parenting, health and fitness, womens special, luxury, travel as well as offbeat stories.

Users can access CNBCTV18.com through the following outlets:

Website: https://www.cnbctv18.com

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.network18.cnbctv18

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/cnbc-tv18/id1353781941?mt=8

Disclaimer: CNBC-TV18 is a part of Network18 Media & Investments Ltd, which also owns Firstpost.
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.






Clearing the decks for the complete asset sales of Reliance Communications, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday vacated stay on its tower and fiber asset sale

New Delhi: Clearing the decks for the complete asset sales of Reliance Communications, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday vacated stay on its tower and fiber asset sale.

It has allowed execution of sale deeds to proceed, directing sale proceeds to be deposited in an escrow account with the State Bank of India (SBI).

The NCLAT has ordered the final hearing on the matter on 18 April, when it will decide on the allocation of proceeds.

The claim of minority investors (which is fully disputed by RCOM) is limited to Rs 200-300 crore out of the proceeds, the tribunal said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the decks for the sale of its assets, including spectrum, to Reliance Jio Infocomm as it vacated a stay granted by the High Court.

RCOM can also part with its assets involving media convergence network (MCN) and real estate.

A bench comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman set aside the stay by the Bombay High Court, which had re-affirmed a restriction by the arbitration tribunal on the sale of spectrum and optical fibre assets of the company.

RCOM's plea challenging the High Court stay was supported by the consortium of banks headed by the SBI, which had contended that the sale of spectrum and optical fibre assets would fetch Rs 25,000 crore -- part of Rs 45,000 crore that RCOM owes them.

Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on 26 December said the company has achieved full resolution of RCOM's debt, reducing it by Rs 25,000 crore to Rs 6,000 crore by monetising its assets.

"We have achieved full resolution that involves Reliance Communications exiting strategic debt recast. What we have achieved, in the face of extraordinary challenges, is truly historic and unprecedented in Indian corporate history. RCOM debt will reduce by Rs 25,000 crore. The entire monetisation process to repay debt of lenders will be completed by January-March 2018 in a phased manner," Ambani had said.

Ambani said that in the debt reduction, there would be no write-off for any lender or bondholder. "There will be no conversion of debt to equity as well," Ambani added. Reliance Communications had close to Rs 45,000 crore debt on its books in October 2017, he had said.

RCOM's shares were trading at Rs 24.45 per share, up 4.71 percent at the BSE at 2.13 pm..
The inclusion of petroleum products under GST will bring it into a rational tax mechanism, Pradhan said

Raipur: Amid an uproar over higher fuel rates, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said the inclusion of petroleum products under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will bring the products under a rational tax mechanism.

Speaking to reporters at the Raipur airport on Thursday evening, he said the prices of petrol and diesel are linked with the international market and they fluctuate as per the global prices. Whenever there is hike in crude petroleum rates in the international market, it leads to an increase in fuel prices in the Indian market, Pradhan said while replying to a query on taxes and cess imposed on petrol and diesel. Pradhan said his Ministry wanted the petroleum products to be included under the purview of GST and that several requests and suggestions have already been made to the GST Council.

The state governments are gradually making up their mind in this direction. Pradhan said the states had an apprehension of losses earlier, but now that the GST is giving benefits, a consensus is building in this direction slowly. "The inclusion of petroleum products under GST will bring it into a rational tax mechanism," he added.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's statement at a rally in poll-bound Karnataka, the Union Minister said it was very irresponsible act on the part of the Congress president. "Gandhi has been speaking blatant lies in public forum and is spreading rumours under a conspiracy with an intention to create trouble in the society, which is not acceptable in democracy," he said.

Quoting BJP president Amit Shah, Pradhan said the party is in favour of reservation and it will not let anyone to end the system. He further said the BJP organisation in Odisha has become stronger and the way it is being strengthened, in the next elections the BJP will come to power in the eastern state. "The political scenario is fast changing in Odisha and people are being attracted towards PM Narendra Modi and his policies," he added.
The fuel price hike has already been much debated upon, but an economic rationalisation of the same has been missing.

The fuel price hike has already been much debated upon, but an economic rationalisation of the same has been missing. Here, we would like to present sound reasons why government should not bow down to the demands for subsidising petroleum and petroleum products prices.

Firstly, environmentally petroleum is one of the major pollutants. Keeping its prices high will push people towards other alternatives. This is also the case with the most developed economies in Europe. The pricing of petrol and petroleum products is kept high to encourage use of non-conventional energy sources.

In transport sector, this move, pushes people towards LNG and electricity-based vehicles, or public transport. However, the absence of good public transport in India is something which needs to be improved upon, if the government wishes to take this policy forward.

Further, the transport sector can be divided into commercial and private vehicle owners. Car is still a middle class vehicle. It is the same class which is most vocal about environmental issues also. Both the standpoints of the middle class are hence, self-contradictory.

It is time that citizens realize that a good environmental quality is not free of cost, and it will require efforts on part of everyone, in ensuring the same. One cannot complain of rising pollution and its effects like the smog in Delhi and rising petroleum prices in the same breath.

Secondly, in so far transport sector is concerned, it is wise economics, considering that fuel efficiency in transportation sector will increase as GST regime proceeds further.

One of the stated benefits of GST is that it will decrease fuel consumption per kilometer by reducing the halts made by an average transport vehicle. Previously, such a vehicle would need to make multiple stops on all state border to pay respective taxes in different states. Due to GST regime coming in force, such tax is paid in the form of GST beforehand and only once, so there are no subsequent stoppages related to collection of taxes. This naturally reduces the fuel consumption for the same amount of travel by increasing the efficiency.

This benefit of efficiency entirely goes to the transporter and will set off any subsequent price hike by the government. The activation of GST regime has itself negated the logic to subsidise the fuel by reducing center and state taxes.

Thirdly, in domestic (which majorly depends upon Kerosene oil) and agriculture sectors, higher petroleum prices are again an incentive to switch to electricity and LPG based operations. As far as availability of alternative energy sources is concerned, one cannot forget that UJJAWALA scheme of the Union Government has been a very successful policy, especially because the capital investment required has been met by the government.

It has to be taken into consideration that government subsidised the use of LPG via UJJWALA and then hiked the petroleum prices. This made the economic choice of using a cleaner fuel, easy. The gas burners and cylinders were initially given on loans under UJJWALA scheme by the government and recently, the government announced that repatriation of such loans will not begin until the first six refills of cylinders, are complete. This further made sure that the people stick to the choice of a cleaner fuel.

However, the challenge before the government in this regard remains, where it must ensure smooth supply of LPG in rural areas, where it is uncertain due to rampant black marketing. Similarly, government must take a proactive approach to increase number of LNG filling centers in the chosen smart cities.

In conclusion, high petroleum prices in the current context, is an example of good economics, as far as tradeoff between environmental quality and economic activities is concerned.

It has a very sound distributive aspect when seen in the context of other economic policy actions initiated by the government. It is good politics too, when we consider that poorer sections of the society have already been provided with alternatives e.g. LPG and electricity.

(Pandey and Singh are Research Fellows in Economics with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai)
IndiGo, Indian conglomerate Tata Group, and Turkeys Celebi Aviation Holdings, have expressed an interest in buying some of Air Indias operations.

New Delhi/Mumbai: Interglobe Aviation Ltd, which operates under the IndiGo brand, said on Thursday it was opting out of a race to acquire state-run Air India as the terms set by the government would not suit it.

The government, which fully owns money-losing flag carrier Air India, last week released bid documents seeking to sell a 76 percent stake in the carrier that operates both domestic and international routes.

The proposed sale will also include a 100 percent stake in Air Indias low-cost arm - Air India Express, and a 50 percent stake in its ground-handling arm - SATS Airport Services.

From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air Indias international operations and Air India Express. However, that option is not available under the Governments current divestiture plans for Air India, IndiGo said in a statement.

We do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air Indias airline operations, said Aditya Ghosh, the airlines president, in the statement.

IndiGo, Indian conglomerate Tata Group, and Turkeys Celebi Aviation Holdings, have expressed an interest in buying some of Air Indias operations. Singapore Airlines has also said the company has an open mind about making an initial bid.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet gave the go-ahead last year to sell Air India after successive governments spent billions of dollars to keep it solvent.

But its debt burden of about $8 billion and a bloated cost structure have been a concern. Previous attempts to offload the airline have been unsuccessful.
The ED had issued a provisional order for attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Mehul Choksi's firm Gitanjali Gems has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with money laundering. The matter will be heard today, an ANI report said. Choksi is the uncle and mentor of designer diamond jewellery businessman, Nirav Modi and promoter of Gitanjali Gems. Choksi and Modi are being investigated by the ED, CBI and other probe agencies in the PNB fraud case.

The ED had issued a provisional order for attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED is investigating if the allegedly defrauded bank funds were laundered and proceeds of crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.

Earlier, the ED attached 41 properties, valued at over Rs1,200 crore, in connection with its money laundering probe in the PNB scam against Gitanjali Gems and Choksi. The agency had attached 21 immovable assets worth Rs 523.72 crore of diamond jewellery businessman Nirav Modi and his group.

The attached assets include 15 flats and 17 office premises in Mumbai, a mall in Kolkata, a four-acre farm house in Alibaug and 231-acres of land at locations like Nashik, Nagpur, Panvel and Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. A 170-acre park in Hyderabads Ranga Reddy district valued at over Rs 500 crore has also been attached, it said. Four flats in Borivali (east) area of the Maharashtra capital and nine others in Kheni Tower in Santacruz (east) have also been attached as part of the action.

The total value of the 41 assets attached today, which are controlled by Choksi, is estimated at Rs 1,217.2 crore, the ED said.

As part of the agencys PMLA probe against the two, the ED said it has till now has conducted 198 searches across the country leading to the seizure of gold, diamond, platinum, silver, precious and semi-precious stones, jewellery and watches of stock value of more than Rs 5,100 crore. The agency had said it is independently valuing these assets.

The agency earlier also seized shares and mutual funds to the tune of Rs 124 crore belonging to Modi and Choksi and companies controlled by them. Also, it said, bank accounts with deposit balance of Rs 38.7 crore have been frozen and thirteen luxury cars belonging to Nirav Modi, his brother Nishal Modi and Choksi have also been seized.

Nirav Modi and his uncle Choksi and others are being investigated by the ED, CBI and other probe agencies after the bank fraud recently came to light, following a complaint by the PNB that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 12,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

The CBI and the ED have registered two FIRs each to probe the case. Both Choksi and Modi are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them. They have, however, denied any wrongdoing.

The ED, a central probe agency under the union finance ministry, is investigating if the allegedly defrauded bank funds were laundered and proceeds of crime were subsequently used by the accused to create illegal assets and black money.
In 2017, the Justice SN Dhingra Commission concluded that blaw of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Robert Vadra made illegal profits of Rs 50.5 crore from a land deal in Haryana in 2008 without spending a single penny.

In a setback to Robert Vadra, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed a plea against a probe by the Income Tax Department (IT-D) into a firm, SkyLight Hospitality Private Limited, linked to Vadra, according to media reports. Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, a director in the firm, had moved the apex court seeking a halt to the investigation.

SC denies relief to #RobertVadra-firm: #SupremeCourt refuses to junk Income Tax reassessment notice to #SkyLight Hospitality LLP over DLF land deal. Appeal by Vadra firm dismissed by court, saying the facts required no intervention. @News18Courtroom  Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) April 6, 2018

The SC said it is satisfied with the explanations provided by I-T officials justifying their investigation -- the Department wants to reassess SkyLights 2010-11 land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan. The top court also agreed that the IT-D probe was not a case of political vendetta, as claimed.

In 2017, the Justice SN Dhingra Commission concluded that Robert Vadra made illegal profits of Rs 50.5 crore from a land deal in Haryana in 2008 without spending a single penny. The Economic Times reported that the commission's report has demanded an inquiry into the properties bought by Vadra.

The commission was constituted in 2015 to investigate a mutation of land deal between Vadra's firm Skylight Hospitality and realty major DLF. The Dhingra Commission had submitted its 182-page report to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Chandigarh on 31 August, 2016. The content of the investigation, which looked into nearly 250 land deals struck by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda's Haryana government, was not made public then. "I have named each and every person involved, whether private or government, he said, adding that had there been no irregularity, I would have submitted a one-line report. My report has 182 pages," Dhingra had said at a press conference in August 2016. The state government sent the report, which was in a sealed cover, to the Supreme Court last week.

The Commission was constituted under Section 3 of The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. The one-man commission was probing the grant of licences for change in land use (CLU) in four villages of Gurgaon, including the licence granted to a company (Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited) owned by Vadra. The Dhingra-led commission got three extensions since it was set up in May 2015. The commission had the mandate to investigate the circumstances of the grant or rejection of the licences for the development of colonies, group housing societies and commercial complexes in those sectors of Gurgaon for which lands in the areas of Shikohpur, Sikanderpur, Badah and Kherki Dhaula were used.

It had investigated whether the transfer of licence by the original licencee within a short period of time was in violation of the law and caused a loss of revenue to the state government. Vadra has been accused of transferring his licence to DLF in violation of the law and causing a huge loss to revenue. Initially, the commission was given time of six months to submit its report, however, its tenure was extended for another six months till 7 June, 2016, with same terms and conditions.
The Attorney General argued that the Aadhaar regime had to be assessed based on what it was, and not on hypothetically what it could be.

On Day 25 of the Aadhaar hearing, the Attorney General continued his arguments that Aadhaar met the test of proportionality.

The Attorney General argued that the Aadhaar regime had to be assessed based on what it was, and not on hypothetically what it could be. Further, the invasion of privacy was minimal. The Bench also pointed to certain gaps in the Attorney Generals arguments  that meeting the legitimate state interest requirement did not imply meeting the proportionality requirement, that Aadhaar could not prevent bank frauds or prevent terrorists from using mobile phones.

Constitutionality cannot be weighed against dramatic Hollywood fantasies

First, the Attorney General continued his argument that Aadhaar did meet the test of proportionality as emphasised in the Puttaswamy judgment. The Attorney General commenced with citing the 2012 American case of Haskell v. Harris (see Page 261), which dealt with the collection of DNA of arrested persons. The Bench here cautioned the Attorney General that this case had limited applicability to Aadhaar, since, unlike Aadhaar, it dealt with arrested persons.

The Attorney General read out portions of the judgment  here, the Court agreed that hypothetically, it was possible that the government expands the legislative scope of DNA collection in the future, or that rogue government employees could record and analyse more extensive DNA information than was permitted. However, the constitutionality of the current regime could not be weighed by arguing on hypothetical and speculative actions, which would undeniably constitute violations had they been in effect. The Courts job, they had said, is to resolve the constitutionality of the current regime as it is designed and implemented, and not based on dramatic Hollywood fantasies.

The Bench, here, reiterated that the issue with the collection of biometrics under the Aadhaar regime was that the UIDAI had the power to define biometric information under the Aadhaar Act (Section 2(g)). This, they said, indicates a failure to meet proportionality requirements.

Finger-imaging is 99.9 percent accurate

Next, to support the choice of fingerprinting as an authentication technology, the Attorney General quoted portions of James Killerlanes article on Finger Imaging: A 21st Century Solution to Welfare Fraud at our Fingertips. This article asserted that finger imaging technology is 99.9 percent accurate. He argued that biometrics was a safe and accurate technology, which could solve issues like money laundering, bank frauds, income tax evasion, etc.

Aadhaar cannot prevent bank frauds

To this, the Bench pointed out that bank frauds werent caused because of multiple identities. Aadhaar, they said, could not prevent bank frauds. Nothing in the Aadhaar Act prevented an individual from operating a layer of commercial entities to carry out a chain of transactions. At best, it may provide benefits as per Section 7 (receipt of subsidies, benefits, etc. via Aadhaar). Further, the Bench asserted that Aadhaar meeting the requirement of a legitimate state interest did not prove that it also met the test of proportionality. This, they stated, was a gap in the Attorney Generals argument.

Do terrorists apply for SIM cards?

Next, the Bench questioned how far the net of Aadhaar could be cast. Section 7, they said, appears to be understandable. Beyond this, it cannot be assumed that an entire population consists of defaulters and violators. Further, the Bench questioned the reasoning behind linking mobile numbers to SIM cards. On the Attorney Generals response that this will curb terrorism, they asserted that while terrorists might use SIM cards, what was the likelihood of them applying for SIM cards. The Bench asserted that linking of an entire populations SIM cards was an issue.

Invasion of privacy is minimal

The Attorney General continued his arguments, arguing that Aadhaar only conducted the most minimal invasion of privacy. Aadhaar, he stated, was required only for Section 7 benefits, banks, income tax and mobile numbers. Apart from this, he asserted that it was purely voluntary. Next, he argued that the right to food, right to employment, right to medical care, and so on trumped the right to privacy. The right to privacy, he argued, could not be invoked to deprive other sections of society.

Need for balancing interests

Arguing that competing interests needed to be balanced, he cited the famous case of X v. Hospital Z. Here, an HIV positive patients right to non-disclosure of his identity and information by the hospital was held to be outweighed by his fiances right to know about his condition.

The Bench pointed out that this was a case of balancing competing rights, while in the case of Aadhaar, the state was offering a person food in exchange for his privacy. To this, the Attorney General argued that all that was taken was the bare minimum information needed and to the extent permitted by the technology. To this, the Bench stated that what constitutes minimal invasion was subjective, and varied from person to person.

Voluntary Aadhaar implies informed consent

The Bench further asserted that there were three factors that were essential  informed consent, purpose limitation and security. To this, the Attorney General asserted that the CIDR is completely safe. Further, he argued that when Aadhaar was rolled out, it was completely voluntary. This, he argued, removed any question of violation of rights and implied informed consent.

The Bench, here, asserted that the Attorney Generals arguments do not take into account the fact that during the early Aadhaar enrolments, there was no law, and hence no protection to the rights of the people. Neither was there any retrospective effect under the Act.

The Bench also questioned the collection of data by the state government, to which the Attorney General stated that the state governments were acting as the Central governments agents in the collection of the data.

Arguments will continue next Tuesday on 10 April.

Sources of Arguments include live-tweeting of the case by SFLC.in and Prasanna S. You can read out coverage of the Aadhaar Supreme Court case below.

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

Aadhaar hearing: UIDAIs presentation discusses Aadhaar enrolment, updation and authentication processes in detail

Aadhaar hearing: Supreme Court expresses concerns with data breaches, Aadhaar security and profiling

Aadhaar hearing: Petitioners question UIDAI on verification of residency requirement, de-duplication rejections and authentication failures

Aadhaar hearing: Attorney General argues that pervasive collection of fingerprints meets proportionality requirements

The author is a lawyer and author specializing in technology laws. She is also a certified information privacy professional.
Mumbaikars have to brace for a bad-traffic day on Friday ahead of BJP's foundation day celebrations planned at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex.

Regular commuters in Mumbai are bracing themselves for a bad-traffic day ahead on Friday ahead of BJP's foundation day celebrations planned at the MMRDA grounds in Bandra Kurla Complex. BJP chief Amit Shah is expected to address around 3 lakh party workers at the event who are expected to come in from across the state. The rally is planned ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a show of strength for the party, and the BJP has booked 28 trains from across the state, as also 50,000 private buses and vehicles for transportation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with BJP workers of five Lok Sabha seats and with the presidents of the party's 734 district units, a BJP statement said. The five Lok Sabha constituencies chosen are New Delhi, North East Delhi, Hamirpur in in Himachal Pradesh, North Central Mumbai and Saran in Bihar. Their MPs are Meenakshi Lekhi, Manoj Tiwari, Anurag Thakur, Poonam Mahajan and Rajiv Pratap Rudy respectively. The statement said Modi will speak to thousands of party workers in these five seats besides the district presidents and their team members on a host of issues, and will also answer their queries.

Over 300,000 workers  booth level to Members of Parliament  from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are expected for the mega event, said Danve-Patil. To a question whether this signals the launch of BJP's campaign for the next parliament elections, he said: "Yes.. You can say that."

BJP cadres organised a bike rally, when Shah arrived in Mumbai on Thursday, and a congregation at the airport to welcome party leaders severely hit vehicular traffic on the Western Express Highway's south-bound arm for over five hours, The Times of India reported. Traffic snarls due to the rally stretched for 20 kilometres upto Borivali. Reports said additional traffic policemen were posted on the stretch but there was hardly any relief for the commuters.

Amitabh Bachchan tweeted about the traffic snarls on Thursday:

T 2765 - A 30 min drive .. takes 5 hours .. ! thats the Phantom movie camera moving at 500 frames per second .. Film City to JVPD Scheme, Juhu .. normal camera moves at 24 frames ..  Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 5, 2018

For Friday's event, the Mumbai Police issued a traffic advisory which said, "Traffic congestion is likely to occur on approach roads to Western Express Highway and Eastern Express Highway towards BKC. Commuters are advised to avoid Santa Cruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Surve Junction on LBS Road, Sion Junction, Dharavi T Junction, Hansbhugra Marg, CST Road, Nehru Road till Ambedkar Junction and Sharadadevi Road as far as possible."

Around 80,000 booth heads, 26 wings and unit office-bearers, 5,000 village sarpanches, elected members of 97 big and small civic bodies, all MPs and MLAs, district and sub-district heads  who have been entrusted to bring another five-ten representatives each  have already started arriving in the city.

More than 50,000 buses and vehicles and 28 special trains will ferry the activists from across Maharashtra and other states, at the BKC Grounds, all being supervised by Mumbai party President Ashish Shelar. Elaborate arrangements have been made at the BKC Grounds with three massive stages, seven marquees for the events and another two marquees for the activists to stay the night.

Provision has been made for their comfortable stay with food packets and water supply during the entire duration of their halt in Mumbai. Besides, similar celebrations shall be held in all districts and other states of India, and various people-oriented welfare programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shall be showcased through digital and social media.

With inputs from agencies

Click here for LIVE updates on BJP rally in Mumbai
Three years on, the MEA has not managed to verify his Indian nationality, without which he cannot be repatriated. As a result, Arjunwar is still languishing in a Pakistan jail despite having completed his sentence.

In August 2013, Pakistani newspaper Frontier Post reported that Pakistani Rangers at Cheta Chowk arrested a teenage boy. He did not have travel documents, and had crossed over into Pakistan accidentally. He identified himself as Jitendar Arjunwar, belonging to a village in Madhya Pradesh.

Arjunwar was presented before the Additional District and Sessions Court in Umerkot, where he was sentenced to a year-long imprisonment. However, the conviction expired on 14 July, 2014, and subsequently he was given consular access in January 2015.

Three years on, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not managed to verify his Indian nationality, without which he cannot be repatriated. As a result, Arjunwar is still languishing in a Pakistan jail despite having completed his sentence.

Mumbai-based journalist Jatin Desai, secretary of the Pakistan-India Peoples' Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), is following up the case with the MEA. Desai said he has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 5 March, 2018, flagging the situation.

The ministry, responding to a query under the Right to Information Act, confirmed on 21 March that the confirmation of Arjunwar's nationality is awaited. Why should it take three years to confirm somebodys nationality in todays day and age? Desai asked. We have been demanding that it needs to happen within three months of consular access. But the problem is there is no time limit for such confirmations, which results in delays.

Worse, Arjunwar has been diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia, and has to be taken to civil hospital several times for blood transfusions. Lawyer Haya Zahid, part of the Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners (a committee established by the Home Department of the Government of Sindh), met Arjunwar in Malir prison in Karachi, which is overflowing with inmates with under-equipped and understaffed medical ward.

Writing a piece for Aman Ki Asha on her visit, Zahid noted Arjunwar stood out as far more young and pale in comparison to the rest.

Each time, his life perilously hung by a thread but he has miraculously managed to survive this way for over three years, she wrote. He was barely able to respond to my queries and was unable to bear the weight of his own feeble stature. The jail officials have had no option but to situate him as a stateless permanent fixture in the medical ward, forgotten and secluded, until the next time he has to be rushed to the civil hospital in the prisons lone ambulance.

However, back home in Barghat village, Seoni district, Madhya Pradesh, Arjunwar's family only knows he has a problem with blood. He used to be sickly even at home, said his mother Parwati.

Arjunwar, studied till Class 5, comes from an impoverished family. His father, who used to run a snack stall, committed suicide some years ago. The responsibility of running the household fell on Arjunwar and his brother Bharat, who works as a mechanic. He would leave home in search of work and come back in some days, said Parwati. This time too, we thought he'd come back. It's been four years since we last heard from him.

Parwati said she was asleep when Arjunwar left. Some of the reports in 2013, however, said he allegedly left after a quarrel with his mother, and crossed the border near Khokhrapar.

According to a report in India Today, Arjunwar told the Pakistan police that he kept wandering here and there, and after nearly a month, he reached a place where he found barbed wires and thought that the wires had been placed to stop livestock in the area. He dug out soil beneath the wires and continued his journey.

Parwati is uneducated. Local journalist Neeraj Mishra helped the family draft letters for the chief minister, collector, superintendent of police as well as the president. We did not receive a single promising response, said Mishra.

On 4 April, Tarun Nayak, Superintendent of Police of Seoni, said the necessary details would be sent to the MEA by evening. We have confirmed his nationality from our side, he said, refusing to divulge exactly when the MEA contacted him for details on Arjunwar.

Desai said the procedure is laced with bureaucratic insensitivity. Indian high commission writes to Ministry of External Affairs, which writes to Ministry of Home Affairs, which follows up with concerned state secretaries, who then contact the police, he said. Often, when the husband is caught, wife moves to her parents with her kids for survival. When the police lands at the address for verification, the house is locked.

In January, The Indian Express reported on a villager, Ismail Sama, from Kutch in Gujarat, who went missing in 2008, and was traced to a Pakistani jail. His sentence ended in October 2016, and the only reason Ismail is not back home is because his nationality has not been verified. The Express report quoted his wife, Kamabai, saying she learnt her husband is alive when one of the prisoners released in October 2017 told her he was with Ismail in Karachi prison. But the Government of India apparently had his information for four years.

A questionnaire has been mailed to MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, along with an SMS. In a telephonic conversation, Kumar said he has forwarded the email to the concerned department. The piece will be updated if and when the response is received.
Jaitley, 65, who has skipped office since Monday and even oath of office after being re-elected to the Rajya Sabha, was taken to AIIMS for diagonostic tests, sources close to the minister and doctors in AIIMS said.

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is suffering from a kidney-related ailment and may have to undergo a transplant.

Jaitley, 65, who has skipped office since Monday and even the oath of office after being reelected to the Rajya Sabha, was taken to AIIMS for diagonostic tests, sources close to the minister and doctors in AIIMS said.

The minister, who cancelled his scheduled visit to London to attend the 10th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue, confirmed his illness in a tweet.

"I am being treated for kidney related problems & certain infections that I have contracted," he said in a tweet.

A source at AIIMS said that the minister is likely to undergo kidney transplant and it is learnt that formalities for a donor kidney have been completed.

The minister did not elaborate on the ailment, but said he is "currently working from controlled environment at home. The future course of my treatment would be determined by the doctors treating me".

Depending on doctors' advice, he may be admitted to the Cardio-Neuro Tower at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. The centre is housed in a separate building and is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.

He is likely to be operated by nephrologist Dr Sandeep Guleria from Apollo hospital, brother of AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, who is a family friend of Jaitley.

The minister, however, has not yet been hospitalised but has been advised to avoid going out in public for fear of catching infection.

Sources said Jaitley's present condition may be a fallout of the bariatric surgery he had undergone soon after the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. He underwent the surgery to treat weight gain that he suffered because of a long-standing diabetic condition.

That surgery was first performed at Max Hospital, but he then had to be shifted to AIIMS because of complications.

Though he has not been attending office since Monday, he is clearing files from his residence, they said.

The minister, who suffers from chronic diabetes, had heart surgery several years ago. He is a key member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet and presented his fifth and the present NDA government's final full budget on 1 February.

The Budget was approved by the Lok Sabha without a discussion last month and it is not listed to be taken up in the Rajya Sabha before the current session of Parliament ends on Friday, thereby not requiring his presence for a reply.
By Jung Min-ho







A Turkish broadcaster has been fined for using Korean President Moon Jae-in's image falsely as a murder suspect in February.



According to the Korea Communications Commission, Wednesday, the Radio and Television Supreme Council, the Turkish media regulator, fined Show TV for using Moon's photos in a Feb. 25 news program to represent a suspect who allegedly killed a Filipina maid in Kuwait.



The broadcaster also described U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka as his wife, showing a photo taken during her visit to Korea for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February.



After the false report came to the fore here, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs complained about the error to Show TV. It later dropped the report and issued an apology to Moon and the people of Korea during a prime-time news program last month.


In the Ayodhya dispute, the Supreme Court on Friday declined a plea to immediately refer the case to a larger bench.

In the Ayodhya dispute, the Supreme Court on Friday declined a plea by the Sunni Waqf Board and other Muslim petitioners to immediately refer the case to a larger bench.

According to CNN-News18, the court said that it will first hear arguments on behalf of all the litigants in the matter, including the Sunni Waqf Board and the Uttar Pradesh state government, and then come to a decision on whether to refer the case to a larger bench.

The special bench of the apex court is seized of a total of 14 appeals filed against the Allahabad High Court judgment delivered in four civil suits.

A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had in 2010 ordered that the land be partitioned equally among three parties  the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

On 14 March, the bench had said it would first decide whether the land dispute appeals should be sent to a five-judge constitution bench as sought by lead petitioner M Siddiq (since deceased), who is represented by legal heirs in the case.

The Supreme Court has fixed 27 April as the next date of hearing in the matter, ANI reported.

With inputs from PTI
The hearing in the sensitive Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute case saw a heated exchange of words in the Supreme Court.

New Delhi: The hearing in the sensitive Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute case saw a heated exchange of words in the Supreme Court between senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan and two Additional Solicitors General (ASGs)  Maninder Singh and Tushar Mehta.

As soon as the special bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra assembled at 2 pm to hear the case, the spat began apparently on a trivial issue after ASG Singh asked Dhavan, who was standing to start advancing arguments, to move a bit.

"Sit down, Mr Maninder Singh. Sit down," Dhavan said at top of his voice, leading the ASG to retort by saying, "behave yourself, Mr Dhavan".

"Don't talk nonsense," Dhavan said.

"You are talking nonsense," ASG Singh retorted, adding that he was extending regard to him (Dhavan) due to his seniority.

ASG Mehta then came in support of his colleague and said, "There are people who are arrogant. With due respect to the learned senior counsel (Dhavan), he seems to have undergone a course in it."

"Why are they sitting next to me and murmuring away and murmuring away", Dhavan told the bench, apparently complaining about the law officers.

"Why are you standing near us? There is enough space there," Mehta told Dhavan.

The bench, also comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer, said that lawyers are supposed to vacate seats for the counsel for litigants.

As the hearing progressed, Dhavan made some uncharitable comments against former Attorney General and senior advocate K Parasaran, appearing for a Hindu group, who opposed his (Dhavan's) submission that the Ayodhya case be referred to the larger bench.

"I am not indulging in theatrics and drama like Mr Parasaran. He suddenly gets up and says things," Dhavan said and also used the word 'rubbish'.

Senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan and ASG Mehta took strong objection to the language used by Dhavan against Parasaran and said now a tendency has emerged among some lawyers to browbeat the institution and they are trying to "vitiate the atmosphere".

"What kind of language is being used," Vaidyanathan asked and added that it seemed that Dhavan did not want to argue the case.

The bench also reminded Dhavan that Parasaran was the former Attorney General of India.

The law officers and some other lawyers took strong note of Dhavan's other submission that the nation wanted to know as to why the apex court referred the polygamy issue to the larger bench and not doing the same with the Ayodhya case.

"What kind of argument is this? How can he make such an argument? That (polygamy) was a separate case," Vaidyanathan said.

Dhavan would resume advancing arguments in the case on 27 April.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Friday, announced that it would observe a fast on 12 April to protest the impasse in the Parliament. Later, the Congress also announced its decision to observe a fast on 9 April to promote communal harmony in the country

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the Opposition particularly the Congress of divisive politics and said that BJP MPs will observe a fast on 12 April to protest the impasse in Parliament. Quick to hit back, the Congress also sought to preempt the BJP event by announcing that the party would observe a fast on 9 April to promote communal harmony in the country.

At a BJP parliamentary meeting, the prime minister said that the ruling party was involved in inclusive politics, while the Opposition was involved in divisive and negative politics due to the saffron party's rising strength, Union Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters.

With Opposition parties targeting the government over Dalit protests, Modi said BJP MPs and other leaders will spend a night between 14 April and 5 May 5 in over 20,844 villages

with over 50 percent population of scheduled castes and tribes to inform the masses about the Centre's various measures aimed at their welfare.

The party will also take out 'Sabka saath sabka vikas yatra', Kumar said.

On a day the BJP is celebrating its 38th foundation day, Modi said it has become the largest party due to people's blessings and tireless efforts of its workers and also paid

tributes to many of its late leaders and workers.

The foundation day is dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives for the party's growth, the prime minister said.

The Congress has decided to observe a day-long fast to 'protect and promote communal harmony across the nation', following widespread violence during protests over the alleged dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

On 20 March, the Supreme Court banned automatic arrests of public servants under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, triggering widespread criticism and outcry from the Dalit community.

Several persons were killed in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in the violence that erupted during protests by Dalits in April against the Supreme Court order, which was seen as diluting the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Violent protests were also reported in Gujarat and Bihar.

While the administration in Punjab took preventive measures on Sunday in the wake of the Bharat Bandh called by Dalit organisations, including shutting down schools, deployment of paramilitary forces and suspension of internet services, efforts in other states failed as a large number of protesters showed up.

With inputs from PTI
Pakistan foreign minister Khwaja Asif told a local TV news channel that may be if Salman Khan belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence

Pakistan foreign minister Khwaja Asif says that actor Salman Khan was sentenced to five years in jail by a Jodhpur court on Thursday in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case because he is a member of the minority community.

"Salman has been sentenced because he's a minority," the Pakistan foreign minister told Geo News during his appearance in the channel's programme Capital Talk.

"Maybe if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him," Asif added.

While Asif's statement is likely to make news headlines both in India and Pakistan, the Pakistan foreign minister seems to have failed to comprehend that while Salman was sentenced to five years in jail, co-accused Saif Ali Khan and Tabu, both from the minority community as well, were acquitted (along with three others) giving them the "benefit of doubt".

But then Asif is known to make such tirades against India. In the past, he had threatened to nuke India in 2016 after New Delhi handed over proof of Pakistan's involvement in the 2016 Uri attack. "We will destroy India if it dares to impose war on us. Pakistan army is fully prepared to answer any misadventure of India," he had said.

In Pakistan, Asif is not particularly popular either. In fact, just last month, when ink was thrown at the Pakistan foreign minister during a Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) workers' convention at Sialkot in Pakistan, Asif said, "Someone gave him some money and sent him to throw ink at me but release him because I don't have any enmity with him."

On Thursday, Asif was criticised on Twitter soon after making the absurd statement linking Salman Khan's conviction with his religious identity. Twitterati hurled a series of questions to Asif about his remarks including the sentence handed to Sanjay Dutt and Pakistan's ban on two Salman films  Ek Tha Tiger and its sequel Tiger Zinda Hai.

At the end, Asif's comment on Salman's conviction is just another anti-India tirade from the Pakistan foreign minister.

Salman and the other five were accused of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of 1 October, 1998, while shooting for the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Blackbuck, from the antelope family, is an endangered animal and included in the schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act-1972.
In a bid to escalate the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh, Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu has begun a bicycle rally from Venkatapalem in Amaravati to the newly-constructed secretariat

In a bid to escalate the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh, Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu has begun a bicycle rally from Venkatapalem in Amaravati to the newly-constructed secretariat.

The TDP has been at loggerheards with the Centre over grant of special status to the state. The Centre had denied Special Category Status (SCS) to Andhra Pradesh.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, while justifying the move, had said that the Centre was already providing the state with financial benefits equivalent to the SCS through the special package.

Naidu also directed his party MPs to meet President Ram Nath Kovind if the Parliament, which is set to conclude on Friday, is adjourned sine dine.

#TDPvsCentre Chandrababu Naidu to MPs: Today is the last day of Parliament session. We should further intensify our fight for justice to 5 cr people of Andhra Pradesh. BJP is running away by repeatedly adjourning the house. If Parl is adjourned sine die, MPs must meet President pic.twitter.com/TAFBMoXU9P  News18 (@CNNnews18) April 6, 2018

Last month, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister and other MLAs had attended the state Assembly wearing black badges as a mark of protest against the Narendra Modi government over the demand for special status to the state.

The Centre is facing heat from Andhra Pradesh's political parties over the issue of special status to the state. Five MPs of the YSR Congress Party, on Thursday, had announced that they will resign from the Lok Sabha on Friday to protest the "failure" of the NDA government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Addressing a press conference, the MPs also said they are outraged as their notices for no confidence motion against the NDA government could not be taken up for discussion in the House due to continuous disruptions.
In this process of interplay between identity and politics, BJP may have learnt from the Congress, which is beginning to re-learn the same: This time from the BJP. Such identity politics will continue for the foreseeable future. In Indian democracy, the individual stands defeated.

Editor's Note: As the Indian Republic turns 70, Tufail Ahmad begins a journey through the country to examine the working of democracy at the grassroots level. Inspired by the French author Alexis de Tocqueville, who toured America and wrote Democracy in America, the authora former BBC journalist and now senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institutewill examine how sociological realities of India and the promise of democracy interact with each other in shaping the lives of the Indian citizen. This report is a first in a series called "Democracy in India".

A key characteristic of democracies is to prioritise the individual over the community. But, the 2 April protests called by Dalit groups across India, the burning of the homes of a former and a current Dalit member of Rajasthan legislative Assembly on 3 April, and continuing tensions over caste politics indicate that Indian democracy is prioritising the community over the individual. It appears that nearly seven decades after the Constitution came into force, the politics of caste and religion has enslaved the citizen. There is no light at the end of this tunnel.

The framers of the Indian Constitution did not write the role of political parties. However, political parties emerged through a set of rules and the Election Commission of India. In their lust for power, all political parties have been using caste and religious identities to foment conflict in Indian society. The Bharatiya Janata Party discovered Hindutva to divide Indians along religious lines, while the so-called secular parties used a distorted form of secularism to cause religious divisions.

Parties use caste to divide Indians. Most recently, BJP governments of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to cultivate the Kshatriya vote bank, went to the Supreme Court, demanded that the Bollywood movie Padmaavat be banned, and lent a helping hand to the Karni Sena. Interviewed four days before the 2 April protests by Dalit groups, Ram Bhuwan Singh Kushwah of the Swami Vivekananda Kendra in Bhopal said: "After Independence, casteism should have ended, but it hasn't. Politics in India is strengthening caste instead of removing it. Politicians are dividing Indians along caste lines".

"Even today, a Scheduled Caste person may not become the Prime Minister of India without some support of swarna jatis (upper castes). To become prime minister, a Scheduled Caste person will necessarily need support of the upper caste leaders of a political party", he says. Kushwah's point is that caste is so deep rooted in Indian society that democracy is unable to eliminate it. In Indian democracy, he says, "Byakti balwan nahee huwa hai, jaati sameekran balwan huwa hai" (the individual is not empowered; rather, the caste combination has been empowered).

It was not always so. In the first two decades after the Constitution came into force, political parties generally did not have any wings in the name of SCs, STs or religious minorities. Kushwah says that by the 1970s, non-Congress parties began forming morchas (fronts) in the name of caste and religion. He recalls that in the 1970s, when the Jan Sangh formed caste-based morchas, its members opposed it; but today even the BJP, the successor to Jan Sangh, has established these morchas as permanent part of the party structure. In reaction to the Jan Sangh, Congress too established SC/ST and minority wings, he says, adding that before this, such caste-based and religion-based "cells" used to exist only in the apparatus of the government.

A senior IAS officer in the government of Madhya Pradesh, where at least eight people died in the Bharat bandh on 2 April says parts of Gwalior city are under curfew even two days later. He differs slightly from this perspective. The officer, who did not wish to be named, spoke days before the bandh: "We in the government are not prioritising communities over the individual, but such things are happening naturally as part of the Indian politics". His argument is that most government policies ultimately aim at delivery of services to the individual, and not communities.

While this argument is valid, it is also the case that government leaders, to ensure that their parties win votes, pander to communities. In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has routinely organised meetings of different interest groups such as maids, barbers, rickshaw pullers, and SC/ST students. While these groups may sometimes appear to be professional classes, the sociological reality of India is such that occupations are essentially linked to caste.

This means that a Brahmin is not even remotely likely to be a barber or a maid. In parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, a lower caste bridegroom will not be allowed to ride a horse on his wedding day. Despite seven decades of Indian democracy, the link between caste and occupation has not been broken. It is also the case that political parties will necessarily use these societal divisions to capture power. BJP, which emerged as a party with a difference, went on to use caste and religion. Its efforts to unite Dalits with upper castes are limited to forging the unity of Hindus against Muslims.

In this process of interplay between identity and politics, BJP may have learnt from the Congress, which is beginning to re-learn the same: This time from the BJP. Such identity politics will continue for the foreseeable future. In Indian democracy, the individual stands defeated.

The next generation of Indians, the first-time voters born in the 21 Century, lose out. Youths who do not have jobs are ultimately political tools in the hands of parties. So, is there a way forward? A discussion must begin on how to make political parties accountable through a far-reaching legislation to form the basic framework of the Constitution.

Read Part 2: Use of religion by ruling parties overwhelms secular character of Indian State

Read Part 3: Caste and politics continue to collide, sometimes violently, in a cyclical struggle for power

Read Part 4: Rule of law routinely trampled upon by politicians in power, who act like 'new kings'

Read Part 5: Cities are drivers of democratic change, secure rights and liberties of individuals

Read Part 6: Despite caste and religious divisions, our democratic journey reflects silent revolution

Read Part 7: Country's polity vastly unaccountable to citizens despite relative success of democratic process

Read Part 8: Strong democratic process engendering surplus of free speech, empowering communities

The author is touring India to write a series on the workings of democracy. He is a senior fellow at the Middle East Media Research Institute, Washington DC. He tweets @tufailelif
The complexion of South Asia has changed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony nearly four years ago, when he tore the rulebook apart and invited the leaders of all SAARC nations to the event.

"The misunderstanding that persisted in the last few months is no longer there. I believe our relationship will greatly benefit from our discussions. It is high time to look at India-Nepal relations with a forward-looking approach in the interest of the two countries and their people," said KP Oli after his February 2016 visit to India, his first overseas visit after taking office earlier that month.

Ahead of his visit, the Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda)-led Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)  an ally in the Federal Parliament of Nepal  had issued instructions to Oli not to compromise on "national interest". During the visit, a set of MoUs and agreements ranging from a $250-million post-earthquake reconstruction aid package to road infrastructure in the Terai area, Letters of Exchange on transit routes and the usual art and culture agreements, was signed.

A little less than four months later, CPN (MC) pulled the rug out from under Oli's feet and he was ousted in a no-confidence motion. "India's role was primarily behind" the pulling out of support by the Maoists, he said soon after, adding that the process of government change was "not an automatic process but conducted by remote control". During a September 2016 visit to India, then newly-sworn-in prime minister Prachanda was quoted as saying that Oli's 'one-sidedness and ego-centric, self-centric psychology' had a role to play in the deterioration of bilateral ties.

Oli's Communist Party of Nepal (Unified MarxistLeninist) would once again join hands with the CPN (MC) for the 2017 election and the Left coalition would emerge victorious, with a massive mandate to boot. The curious cyclical  perhaps even opportunistic  nature of Nepali politics notwithstanding, Oli, who came to power on the twin planks of development and ultranationalism, is prime minister once more and set for another India visit. Ahead of his visit, he was quoted as telling lawmakers, "I will not reach any deal that would go against the national interest of Nepal." The inescapable sense of deja vu probably stems from the fact that Prachanda made an identical pronouncement ahead of his own visit in September 2016.

The lay of the land

That ties between the South Asian countries have been frayed for a while is known, however, the extent of damage to relations is as-yet-unclear. Before his departure from Kathmandu, Oli had noted, "We want to maintain trustful (ties) with India and clear any suspicion in the bilateral relations... We want to maintain a dignified relationship with India while desisting from anything that would be disgraceful to the nation" (emphasis added).

The words in italics serve as a useful preview of Oli's likely approach to India ahead of his discussions with Indian leaders. Having come to power on staunchly nationalistic rhetoric, the Nepali prime minister will need to be seen to be making the right noises, and his remark about desisting from 'disgracing' the nation can be viewed in that context. Simultaneously, there are a host of issues, like connectivity, power and the growing trade deficit that he will want to address, with a view to striking up some deals that will be in the interest of Nepal.

Oli will be acutely aware that even though China is emerging as an attractive counterweight to India, Beijing's chequebook diplomacy comes with a fair few strings attached. Further strings come in the form of India drawing a line of sorts when it comes to China-funded projects. "You can't expect India to buy power from a Chinese-built project. Let Nepal take Chinese assistance to build those dams and let China buy back the power produced from there," The Indian Express quoted a government official as saying.

This is probably why despite his boisterous tone and tenor in public pronouncements, Oli is likely to take a nuanced and balanced position when it comes to putting pen to paper.

What lies ahead

Nepal's complicated balance of India and China must be seen as the new normal for the bilateral relationship and New Delhi must take note of the fact that if Kathmandu sees Beijing offering a better deal, it's likely to take that one. And even though historically, India has been reasonable in the terms attached to its lines of credit and aid, the Nepal Constitution issue and the "economic embargo" that followed has vitiated the atmosphere.

The impact of this is being felt beyond just bilateral ties with Nepal now seemingly on the opposite side of the debate vis-a-vis Pakistan. After four South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries stood by India's call to boycott the 2016 edition of the summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan, it was Nepal that called for a new venue to be found. While Kathmandu didn't exactly support New Delhi's boycott, it did little to show any confidence in Islamabad's abilities to host the summit. Flash-forward to March this year and it was Nepal leading the way in its efforts to bring Pakistan back into the SAARC fold, in what could loosely be viewed as a snub of India's efforts to sideline its neighbour to the northwest from the regional grouping, a SAARC ex-Pakistan, if you will.

The complexion of South Asia has changed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony nearly four years ago when he tore the rulebook apart and invited the leaders of all SAARC nations to the event. In the intervening years, India's relations with the Maldives have deteriorated drastically, ties with Sri Lanka frequently experience ups and downs  not least due to the Chinese influence, all-weather friend Bhutan put the roadblocks on India's proposed Bhutan-Bangladesh-India-Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA), and the less said about India-Pakistan relations  that has recently descended into a variety of actors (not exclusively thespians, mind you) taking potshots at the other country on fairly random issues  the better.

The only real shining lights of India's SAARC policy are Afghanistan, where India's assistance in the rebuilding process is noted and acknowledged by Kabul, and Bangladesh, with which relations are exceptionally warm. For a variety of reasons, New Delhi is losing its foothold in South Asia  where, rightly or wrongly, it considered itself the big brother. With China stepping in with lucrative deals and promises of all sorts, this foothold is growing weaker. In order to arrest this decline in relations with its neighbours, Nepal presents a good starting point for Modi.

He must realise that the Nepal with which he is dealing is not the same kingdom that showered him with warmth when he visited. The mood has changed and it will require a major charm offensive to bring Nepal, and in time, the region back on board. For now, it's safe to say that the 2018 ultranationalist avatar of Oli isn't going to make it easier for him.
Noting that the cost of food and water inside multiplexes was exorbitant, the Bombay High Court on Thursday opined that it should be sold at regular prices

Mumbai: Noting that the cost of food and water inside multiplexes was exorbitant, the Bombay High Court on Thursday 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 SM Kemkar and MS Karnik was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Mumbai 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 that there does not exist any legal or statutory provision that prohibits a person 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 on Thursday 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 12 June.

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.
Although it's the March-April fishing season, very few boats are out fishing. The fisherfolk are too traumatised to return to sea after Cyclone Ockhi.

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, the third of a three-part series, examines the lack of adequate measures taken to tackle the effects of the cyclone.

Kanyakumari: On 15 January, 45 days after Cyclone Ockhi ravaged south India in late November last year, Ambica's husband Crispin S's body was brought ashore to Neerody village in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. Within a week, the district collector personally delivered a compensation cheque of Rs 20 lakh to Ambica. Crispin, a daily-wage worker on a fishing boat, used to earn around Rs 200 a day plus a percentage of the profits from each catch.

Although the compensation is a welcome relief, it can't make up for Ambica's loss. Neither is the money of any real use to her in her time of need. She wants to use part of the money to repay a loan of Rs 64,000 taken by her husband from the Indian Bank in Thoothoor by mortgaging their relatives' jewellery. But the bank won't allow her to close the loan without a death certificate.

The kin of those killed by Ockhi hasn't received death certificates yet. Ambica produced Crispin's post-mortem report, but the bank won't accept it. "I am in a very difficult position. They (the relatives) call me every day; they need the jewellery back next month as their daughter is getting married. I just want to repay this loan and fulfil my husband's obligations," she said.

A missing person is declared dead only when there hasn't been any news of him or her for at least seven years from the time they are reported missing. But, in natural disasters like Ockhi, as was the case with the tsunami in 2004, those who are still missing after the end of search and rescue operations are declared dead to enable their dependents to access their legitimate claims.

Following in the steps of the Kerala government, Tamil Nadu (TN) announced relief of Rs 20 lakh each for the kin of 177 missing fisherfolk who've been presumed dead, amounting to a total of Rs 35.5 crore. It was already giving Rs 20 lakh to the next of kin of the confirmed dead and those whose bodies were recovered and identified through DNA tests. Another Rs two lakh is expected from the Centre.

The relief money has created a new set of problems for Ambica, who lives with her in-laws. "My mother-in-law wants Rs two lakh even though she runs a local provision store and can support herself. I have two girls (ages 11 and 12) who I have to educate and take care of, but she insists on taking a share of the money," says Ambica. It is difficult for her, who has only studied up to middle school, to find a proper job. She and can ill afford to share it with her in-laws.

In these fishing communities, where women are widowed often and young, a working son is the only support they have in their old age. This generates a lot of conflict within the family when the sole earning member is lost. While the wife has the natural right to compensation for her husband's death, sometimes young women return to their parents' homes with the relief money, leaving their mothers-in-law without support.

Compensation for kin of the dead, but what about those alive?

Most of the deceased were daily wage labourers who worked on fishing boats from villages in Kanyakumari district, other districts of Tamil Nadu, and other states including Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam. Their families don't have any social security.

The condition of boat owners is not much better. Deep sea fishing, which is practised in these parts of India, is a costly affair. Each trip, depending on the size of the boat and the distance and duration of the trip, can cost anywhere between Rs four-eight lakh. This includes the cost of equipment like nets, diesel, ice for storing the catch, food for all the workers, and the cost of labour. The boats are at sea for weeks and don't return until this initial investment is recovered.

During Ockhi, boat-owners not only lost this investment but also their entire catch and their boats, which cost upwards of Rs 60 lakh each. Cecil M, a boat-owner from Thoothoor, was getting constant reminders from the bank to repay his loans until he submitted a letter, along with an FIR of his destroyed boat, informing the bank that there was no way he could repay his loans. While the follow-ups have stopped, he is now not eligible to apply for any more loans. His only hope is some kind of relief for damaged/destroyed boats from the government.

Yesudhasan T from Chinnathurai owned two boats before Ockhi. One of them was lost, along with eight men (two were rescued) during the cyclone. Yesudasan was in the second boat which managed to return to shore on 1 December, despite having taken a lot of battering in the storm.

"It cost me Rs 10 lakh to repair my boat and put it back into the business. It's now at sea. I also owe Rs 20 lakh to the bank and to other private parties, and the interests have gone over my head now. What little assets I have might be seized any time." Both his boats, registered with the Tamil Nadu government, didn't have any insurance.

It's been four months since the cyclone but there's no word from the government yet on compensation for those who lost their boats and equipment like nets. "There has been some relief for the families of those who died, but no one is bothered about those of us who survived. We are the living dead," said Yesudasan.

A social activist from Muttam, Jayasundram T, said that the fisheries department has put together a list of 2,215 people from Kanyakumari who've lost their boats and/or equipment after screening their applications. The relief amount in all these cases will be transferred to the accounts of the affected in the next two weeks, officials at the collectorate office announced on the latest grievance day.

"If they give us the means to get a new boat, we will find a way to survive. After the Tamil Nadu budget is passed, we expect some relief. Otherwise, it will be very difficult because it'll take us another six months to build new boats and restart our business. I don't even know if I'll be alive until then; my mental health has really been affected by all this," Yesudhasan said.

Although it's the middle of the March-April fishing season, very few boats are out fishing. The fisherfolk are too scared and traumatised to return to the sea. Many of them are waiting for the government jobs they have been promised. Ambica is one the over 200 people from Neerody village to have applied for these jobs; all of them are waiting to hear back from the government.

Read Part 1: Months after Cyclone Ockhi, Tamil Nadu fisherfolks' families allege government apathy in recovering bodies

Read Part 2: During Cyclone Ockhi, lack of early warnings and at-sea communication devices left fisherfolk helpless

The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters. She tweets @Luvnbeer
In Almaty, 156 applications were submitted for the annual fair of social ideas and projects, which are aimed at developing and improving the quality of life of Kazakhstanis. However, the tender commission selected the top 50 most significant concepts in nominations: modernization +, socialization + and evolution +.





The selection of the best social Kazakhstan projects among the non-governmental sector began. The Annual Fair was organized by the Foundation of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy, which this year focused on using the latest technologies.





This is 14th fair, the interest to the event is steadily growing. We are very glad that people from all corners of the country expressed a desire to participate in it. There are 156 project applications, not only organizations that have rich experience in managing grants presented their ideas, but also those, who have recently been established. There is a large communicative platform where they can get knowledge," said Gulnara Yershimanova, Senior Project Coordinator of the Foundation of First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.





According to the organizers, out of 156 applications the contest commission selected the top 50 most relevant and interesting projects in three nominations: socialization +, modernization +, evolution +.





They will defend their projects before the commission. Anyone may come to defense. Not only opponents, but also those who wish to participate in the defense. Those who will give most interesting answers to the questions will receive financial support from the First President's Fund - this is a grant for the social project. This year 12 projects will be financed," Yershimanova said.





The jury noted that every year the quality of projects is increasing, and the ideas are becoming more interesting. Member of the jury director of the Public Foundation "Information and Resource Center" Altynai Kobeeva said that the main thing in selecting winners is the nomination they submitted, the social significance and sustainability of the project.





The project has its continuation, we look at how realistic the program budget is, the financing will be different, depending on the amount declared by the participants. This year they were from one million tenge to four million. There are projects that will be implemented in partnership with business structures or other donors," says Kobeeva.





As a member of the jury it was difficult for her to determine who to pass to the finals, since all proposals are suitable for the life of Kazakhstanis. However, she chose several projects and did not greedy with points.





I liked the three projects. They still need to defend themselves, because it's one thing to see on paper, but it's more important how things will turn out in practice. One of them is the project "Digitalization of museums." That is a mobile application about museums. The country is very diverse and is oriented to any audience, both by age and language skills. For example, there are programs even for kids that entertain and tell about exhibits. Naturally, everyone will be interested in knowing about the museums. So, they will be more available, because not all of us have the opportunity to visit museums, and then you can follow it through smartphones, even in online mode," Altynai Kobeeva said.





After the opening of the event, the NGO representatives went to the master classes. Experts from Russia and Kazakhstan will tell contestants about social innovations, help them to effectively commercialize their projects and teach them how to do business properly. Then the participants will start presenting their ideas to the audience and jury members. On April 6, they will select the best and most important projects for the welfare of Kazakhstani people.









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Amit Shah on Friday said he is a 'Hindu Vaishnav', refuting Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's claim that the BJP chief is a Jain

Mumbai: Amit Shah on Friday said he is a "Hindu Vaishnav", refuting Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's claim that the BJP chief is a Jain.

Shah, while speaking to reporters after a rally to mark the BJP's 38th foundation day in Mumbai, also said, "I maintain that the Karnataka government's move to give Lingayats a separate religion status is a move to divide the Hindus."

"The UPA government had rejected the recommendation (to give Lingayats the status of a minority group) in 2013. The present decision has only been taken to stop Yeddyurappa from becoming the CM. This is an election gimmick," Shah said.

When asked about the Karnataka chief minister's comment last month that Shah is a Jain, the BJP chief said, "I am not a Jain, but a Hindu Vaishnav."

Responding to Shah's barb that Siddaramaiah is not an 'AHINDA' (a Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) leader but 'AHINDU' (non-Hindu) leader, the Karnataka chief minister had said last month in Mysuru that Shah should first clarify whether he himself is "AHINDU or not".

"Amit Shah is a Jain. He needs to clarify first whether he is AHINDU. Jain is a separate religion. How can he talk about me like that," Siddaramaiah had said.

Ahead of the Assembly elections, the Congress government in Karnataka on 19 March decided to recommend to the Centre that Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats should get the status of religious minority.
An army jawan was injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops who opened fire and resorted to shelling along the Line of Control (LoC)

Jammu: An army jawan was injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops who opened fire and resorted to shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, district officials said.

Pakistan troops resorted to firing and shelling on forward posts along the LoC in Nowshera sector in which one jawan suffered injuries, they said.

On Wednesday, a man and his daughter were injured when the neighbouring country's troops fired mortar bombs at forward posts and targeted civilian areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera sector.

Pakistani troops also fired using small arms and automatic weapons and targeted the Sair and Kadli hamlets and forward posts of the Indian Army, the officials said.

On Tuesday, an army jawan was killed while four others were injured as Pakistani troops fired mortar bombs at forward posts in Krishna Ghati sector along the LoC in Poonch.

The death toll due to Pakistani shelling along the LoC this year has gone up to 27. The dead included 13 security personnel and five members of a family who lost their lives when a shell hit their house in Balakote sector of Poonch district on March 18.

Pakistani troops have violated the ceasefire along the LoC and the International Border over 650 times this year.
Both Houses of the Parliament were adjourned indefinitely on Friday bringing an end to the Budget Session  half of which was completely washed out in disruptions.

Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned indefinitely on Friday, bringing an end to the Budget Session  half of which was completely washed out in disruptions.

As the Lok Sabha met on the final day of the session, AIADMK MPs protested near Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's podium, demanding the setting up of the Cauvery Management Board.

Mahajan asked the MPs to return to their seats so that the no-confidence motion moved by Opposition against the government can be taken up, but the protests continued.

The Lok Sabha Speaker made an emotional appeal to the protesting MPs, and even reminded them that Friday was the last day of the Budget Session, but all were ignored.

"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," she said in her concluding speech.

With the protesting MPs not willing to settle down, Mahajan decided to adjourn the Lower House sine die.

Even before the beginning of the proceedings of the House, five YSR Congress Party MPs submitted their resignation to Mahajan over the Centre's failure to accord special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The proceedings of the Rajya Sabha started smoothly with MPs laying papers on the table. However, soon after that MPs started raising slogans inside the House.

Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu appealed to the MPs to settle down, but his requests were ignored. Naidu then announced to adjourn the House indefinitely.

In his valedictory remarks, Naidu rued that he had little to say in terms of what the Rajya Sabha did but a lot to say what it did not.

"No legislative business apart from passing of the Payment of Gratuity Bill could be transacted. Even the general Budget was not discussed nor the Finance and Appropriation Bills were discussed and returned to the Lok Sabha," Naidu said.

He lamented that even a farewell to the retiring members could not be done smoothly on the fixed day and had to be "negotiated" subsequently.

Naidu asked the MPs to "introspect" and try to create a "win-win situation, not the lose-lose situation".

With protests remaining the hallmark of Friday's business as well, the Budget Session of the Parliament was a complete washout with MPs from different parties protesting over several issues both inside and outside both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Both Houses have seen repeated adjournments since the second leg of the Budget Session reconvened on 5 March over several issues. While AIADMK MPs have been protesting over the Centre's failure to form the Cauvery Management Board, whereas Congress has been opposing it.

TDP and YSR Congress Party from Andhra Pradesh have been protesting demanding special status for the state while MPs of Congress, BSP and SP have been protesting over the recent Supreme Court order which diluted the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The TDP and other Opposition parties have also been protesting in the House seeking a no-confidence motion to be taken against the NDA government at the Centre in the Lok Sabha.

Though Mahajan has often expressed her willingness to take the motion, the Lok Sabha throughout the second leg of the Budget session was adjourned due to disruptions before the no-confidence motion could be taken.

TMC, in the meanwhile, has been protesting in the Parliament over the Punjab National Bank fraud which saw the government-owned bank making a loss of over Rs 12,000 crore through fraudulent transactions.

The disruptions have impacted legislative business in both Houses with only three bills being introduced between 29 January 2018 and 6 April 2018 during Budget session.

The Lok Sabha passed just three bills  Specific Relief Amendment Bill 2017, Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Finance Bill 2018  while the Rajya Sabha managed to pass just one bill  the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2017  on 22 March.

As for reports, the two Houses in the Parliament presented just one report on the National Medical Commission Bill, 2017 by the Health and Family Welfare.

Overall, the Upper house worked for just 45 hours in around 30 sittings while it lost 120 hours in disruptions, IANS said.

With inputs from IANS
An unidentified militant was killed in a gunfight with security forces in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday

Srinagar: An unidentified militant was killed in a gunfight with security forces in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, the Army said.

Rashtriya Rifles, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) cordoned off an orchard field in Kangan following information that some militants were hiding there. As the security forces closed in on the target house, the militant opened fire. The forces retaliated the firing triggering a gunbattle, the official said.

The unidentified militant was killed after a brief encounter, he said, adding that one firearm has been recovered from the scene of the gunbattle.
The website of Ministry of Defence has been hacked allegedly by Chinese hackers. The website  mod.gov.in  is inaccessible due to the hack.

The website of Ministry of Defence was on Friday hacked, according to media reports.

According to ANI, Mandarin characters were appearing on the website homepage. The MOD's website (https://mod.gov.in/) as of now cannot be reached. The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later message is being flashed on the home page.

Ministry of Defence website hacked, Chinese characters appearing on the website home page. pic.twitter.com/VBzWXLC8EM  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

Following the incident, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharam said the website will be restored shortly. Action is initiated after the hacking of the website. The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken she said."

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

This isn't the first time hackers have managed to breach the government's web security.

From April 2017 to Janauary 2018, over 22,000 Indian websites, including 114 government portals were hacked between April 2017 and January 2018.

As per information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total of 22,207 Indian websites including 114 government websites were hacked during April 2017 to January 2018. A total number of 493 affected websites were used for malware propagation, Minister of State for Electronics and IT KJ Alphons said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Besides, as per the information reported to and tracked by National Informatics Centre (NIC), a total number of 74 and six government websites hosted on NICNET were hacked during 2017 and 2018 (till February), respectively

Recently, according to Scroll, a group of hackers had claimed to have accessed a section of the Rajya Sabha website that only members of the Upper House and administrators of the website are supposed to have entry to.

The hackers also managed to gain access to BJP president Amit Shah's email inbox on the Rajya Sabha domain, and text messages that can be sent by the public to the Rajya Sabha members on their official numbers, the report added.

The Ministry of Home Affairs website was hacked in Februrary 2017. The MHA website was immediately blocked by the National Informatics Centre.

With inputs from PTI
The University of Mumbai is likely to get a new vice-chancellor by the end of April. The selection committee, headed by noted scientist and former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, has shortlisted 34 candidates, who will be interviewed on 13 and 14 April at Nariman Point

The University of Mumbai is likely to get a new vice-chancellor by the end of April, according to reports.

The selection committee, headed by noted scientist and former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, has shortlisted 32 candidates, who will be interviewed on 13 and 14 April.

The interviews will reportedly take place at the CIDCO office in Nariman Point.

"Thereafter, five candidates will be selected for an interaction with the chancellor," a report quoted a government source as saying.

The university has been without a vice-chancellor ever since the post was vacated by Sanjay Deshmukh, who was sacked following the criticism that the varsity faced over the delayed announcement of examination results owing to a unprepared and half-baked implementation of a digital assessment system.

The panel had received 102 applications for the post of vice-chancellor, of which 64 were shortlisted for interviews.

BL Jadhav (Dept of Life Sciences), Jyotshana Prajapat (Mathematics), Karunashankar Upadhyaya (Hindi), Gautam Gawali (Psychology), Vibha Surana (German) and Dr Vishnu Sarvade (Hindi) of the Mumbai University; Kiran Mangaokar, principal of Khalsa college; and Suhas Pednekar, principal of Ruia College were among those who had applied for the post.

Acting vice-chancellor of Mumbai University Devanand Shinde, who is also the vice-chancellor of Shivaji University, did not apply for the post.

Of the 64 candidates who were shortlisted for the role of vice-chancellor, some prominent names included Khalsa College principal Kiran Mangaonkar, Mumbai University commerce professor Vivek Deolankar and VJTI professor BB Meshram.

The call for the resignation of Deshmukh had gained momentum slowly after the long delay in declaration of results of over four lakh Mumbai University 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.

On 26 September, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao had sought Deshmukh's resignation, failing which he could face dismissal, The Times of India had reported.

The vice-chancellor had also violated Section 11 (14) and 89 of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act as he did not submit a report to the chancellor, stating his failure to announce results before the deadline. Instead, he applied for leave "for personal reasons" on 9 August

Rao then appointed Shinde as acting vice-chancellor of Mumbai University with immediate effect. The selection panel was constituted simultaneously to appoint a new vice-chancellor.

The committe also comprises of Uttarakhand National Institute of Technology director Shyam Lal Soni as the University of Mumbai nominee and CIDCO MD Bhushan Gagrani as the state government nominee, besides Kasturirangan.

Deshmukh had also failed to take into consideration the staff crunch in the university. Since 1985, the number of colleges affiliated to the university has gone up to 748. The staff, even the non-teaching staff, is inadequate to handle the increasing workload.

An analysis of the online process had revealed that the infrastructure required for the implementation of the ambitious new idea was highly inadequate; that examiners were not equipped with sufficient training and information; and the poor coordination between various agencies responsible for different tasks had paralysed the whole process.
Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli will arrive in New Delhi on Friday on his maiden foreign trip after assuming office, during which he will hold talks with the top Indian leadership to strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

New Delhi: Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will arrive in New Delhi on Friday on his maiden foreign trip after assuming office, during which he will hold talks with the top Indian leadership to strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

Oli, accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya Oli, will arrive in the morning and later attend a business luncheon event.

He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening ahead of the delegation-level talks on Saturday. Oli will also interact with the Nepalese community in Delhi on the first day of his visit.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception on Saturday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where he will call on President Ram Nath Kovind.

Delegation-level talks between Oli and Modi will be also held on Saturday. The talks will be followed by remote inauguration of development projects and press statements, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

On Saturday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and home minister Rajnath Singh will also call on Oli separately.

During the visit, Oli will also call on vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will visit the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

He will visit the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project there. Oli will also be conferred with a Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science at the university.

He would leave for Kathmandu later in the evening from Delhi.

Oli's visit is in line with the tradition of a Nepalese premier visiting India on his first overseas trip. Swaraj had visited Nepal before Oli took office to congratulate him on the historic victory of the Left Alliance in the Parliamentary and Provincial elections.

She was the first senior Indian minister to visit Nepal after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament.

While congratulating Oli over phone upon his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.
Issues in the identification of beneficiaries for PDS scheme, as pointed out by the CAG report, were not addressed by the Delhi govt, L-G's office said.

Issues in the identification of beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System, as pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General report, were not addressed by the doorstep delivery of ration scheme proposed by the Delhi government, a statement issued by the Lieutenant Governor's office said on Thursday.

The statement comes at a time when Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been accusing the L-G, Anil Baijal, of protecting the 'ration mafia'. The CAG report, along with many other loopholes in the PDS scheme, had also pointed out other issues in the identification of beneficiaries  through which suspected theft of ration items took place.

Soon after the CAG report was tabled in the Delhi Assembly, Kejriwal shifted the blame for the scam to the L-G in a tweet. He hinted that had the L-G had approved the doorstep delivery of ration scheme, the menace could have been prevented.

Extract from CAG report. This is what LG trying to protect when he rejects Doorstep delivery of rations. Entire ration system in grip of mafia protected by political masters. Doorstep delivery wud hv destroyed this mafia. pic.twitter.com/ZytNFgc0XF  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 3, 2018

The L-G office's statement is seen as a rebuttal to this allegation: "The recent CAG report has pointed out several issues with the identification of beneficiaries under the Act and the proposed scheme of the elected government did not touch upon this issue at all." The outcome report of the L-G office published by the Delhi government raised 35 allegations against the former of delaying and hindering welfare and development schemes. The report is a documented version of the tug of war between the government and the L-G.

Significantly, the report took up the issue of doorstep delivery of PDS items, where it alleged that the L-G office did not approve of this scheme meant to curb theft of goods distributed.

"There are close to 20 lakh beneficiaries of the targeted PDS, but the widespread corruption and inefficiency of ration shops, coupled with the temporary linking of distribution with Aadhar resulted in the exclusion of at least 2.5 lakh rightful beneficiaries. The 'doorstep delivery of ration scheme will plug most of the existing leakages, apart from making ration accessible to the section of the population that is unable to commute to the ration shops on a regular basis, such as senior citizens and the disabled," the report read.

"The Honble L-G directed that the approval of the relevant department of the central government be obtained. The Honble L-G does not have the power to do so. According to the proviso to Article 239AA (4) of the Constitution and Rule 49 of the Transaction of Business Rules, the Honble LG can express a difference of opinion with the substantive decision of the cabinet or the minister; however, the Honble L-G cannot return a proposal asking for approval by a department of the central government," the report added.

Replying to the allegation raised by the outcome report, the L-G office statement said: "The Targeted Public Distribution System is implemented under the National Food Security Act, 2013 and as pointed by the law department, the introduction of the scheme would require prior approval of central government."

It further stated, "The finance department had observed that the proposed system of home delivery ration will only replace one set of human intervention with the other, that is service providers and their agents. Diversion of ration materials and corruption may not be eliminated under the proposed scheme."

Significantly, the statement also said that the Rs 250 crores required to implement the scheme could be rather used to supply an additional five kilograms of flour per family in Delhi.

In the 10 page statement, the L-G office also maintained that it had approved 97 percent of the files sent by the Delhi government and the few files which were returned to seek clarification were incomplete or in contravention of the rules. The statement also maintained that delays at the level of the government are wrongly attributed to the L-G office.

The outcome report has escalated the war of words between the Delhi government and the L-G office as the former retorted with another statement, where it reiterated the allegations. The Delhi government's response to the L-G office's statement mentioned the scheme 'Establishing Delhi Healthcare Corporation Ltd'.

"Hon'ble L-G has written, '... I am not sure that this is such a good idea. CS/health secretary may discuss with me at their convenience'. The office of the Honble L-G may like to tell us where is the procedural irregularity or lack of due diligence pointed out by him in this proposal? It seems a matter of a matter of his whims and fancies," the Delhi government's response said.

Further, regarding the higher education loan guarantee scheme, the Delhi government's response stated: "The Hon'ble L-G has asked for the file to be re-examined by the law department. As per the due process, the file is supposed to be examined by the law department before the proposal is put up in the Cabinet. This process had already been followed. The office of the Hon'ble L-G may like to tell us where is the procedural irregularity or lack of due diligence pointed out by him in this proposal? The Honble L-G was asking for another examination of the same proposal by the law department. It seems like the addition of extra procedures merely to delay the approval of the scheme."

However, on the issues flagged about the doorstep delivery of ration scheme, the Delhi government statement said: "The office of the Hon'ble L-G has accepted that the Hon'ble L-G concurred on the very same proposal that was sent back in the first place."
Rohingya refugees await in anxiety as the Supreme Court decides on their fate on 9 April.

Nurul Fazal, a 12-year-old Rohingya boy at Budena Gaon camp in New Delhi, is quite optimistic on the 9 April Supreme Court verdict.

"Those who come to help us have told that there is a case filed for us in the court to enable our stay here. I am praying to the Almighty that the verdict is in our favour so that we can stay back here safely," Nurul told Firstpost.

On behalf of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), a Left youth organisation, Subash Chandran, a lawyer at Supreme Court, has filed a case citing that as India has signed 1989 UN Convention for Rights of Child in 1992, it cannot deport the Rohingya children from India.

"As India has ratified the Convention, it will be the violation of Articles 2, 6, 7, 19, 20, 22, 31 and 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," said Chandran.

There are around 12,000 Rohingya children in refugee status living in India.

In August 2017, the government had announced that it was planning to deport all 40,000 Rohingya refugees living in the country.

On 18 September 2017, the government had told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that the continued illegal immigration of Rohingyas to India had "serious national security ramifications and threats".

It claimed that inputs from security agencies indicated that some of the refugees had links with terror groups in Pakistan.

The lawyer said that such deportation fully being aware and conscious that the people/children being would be killed in transit/on reaching the country of their origin also would amount to the violation of Fundamental Rights guaranteed to such people under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

"Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child mandates the signatory state to uphold the spirit of all the articles in the Convention and to apply it regardless of childs nationality even," the lawyer said adding that if the if he wins the case on children, then it will put the government in a fix.

"If the court says the government not to deport the children, then their parents also can stay back isnt it?" the lawyer asked.

Nurul and his ten-member family, including three brothers, four sisters and father and mother, walked for seven continuous days to reach India.

"We were afraid of getting killed in Myanmar riots. Even though food, jobs for my parents, education for me and my siblings is a problem in India, at least we are safe here. We dont want to go back," said Nurul.

Nurul and his family have UNHCR Refugee status card, however, they are being denied many facilities in India.

Avantika S Raj, a volunteer from Ubais Sainulabdeen Peace Foundation, said that they are trying hard to get basic facilities for the children but most of the time they fail.

"On Thursday, we tried to get school admission for Nurul and his friends. The government school has agreed to allow them to sit in the class but cannot be enrolled in the school list. Even though they have UNHCR Card, this is the situation," said Avantika.

Nurul and his family survive on collecting waste from the city, segregating it and sending it to waste management centres.

"They get paid for the work and also most of the time they find some food leftovers too from the waste they collect. Its a sad state of life. But other than fighting for their right, there are limitations in helping them," the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Riyas, DYFI president, said that the whole gamut of their activities revolves around Service To the Humanity.

"Through this petition, we are trying to uphold the cause of humanity. We always stand with the downtrodden, the rights of women and the backward, weaker sections of the society irrespective class, caste, gender or nationality. Rohingyas need help. And we see its our responsibility to help them," Riyas said.

According to the lawyer, Article 14 of the Constitution of India mandates that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

"The above-said article guarantees the right to equality before the law and the equal treatment under the law to refugees in India. It is pertinent that Tibetans, the Chakmas of Bangladesh, Afghans and ethnic Tamil from Sri Lanka are among those given refuge in India. Tibetans who got asylum are one lakh in number. They can take land on lease and seek jobs in the private sector," Chandran said.

In 2016, the Central government had allowed Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to buy property for self-living, obtain driving licenses, and receive PAN and Aadhaar IDs, etc.in India.

"Then there is no rationale in discriminating the Rohingya refugees who are only around 40,000 in number," he said.

The lawyer is hopeful that on 9 April, the court will give the final verdict.

"The court has asked states response. If they dont fail to send their response, then the issue is over," Chandran said.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri, in his 201-page verdict, said Salman Khan has a substantial following & his actions are observed by the masses.

Actor Salman Khan was convicted on Thursday of poaching blackbucks in Rajasthan under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 by a Jodhpur court. He was sentenced to five years in jail. The other accused in the case, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, were acquitted after getting the benefit of doubt.

Salman was found guilty of killing black bucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of 1 October, 1998, during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain. The court, in its verdict, refused to give the benefit of probation to Salman.

The actor approached the Jodhpur Sessions Court on Friday to appeal for bail. The court has reserved its order till Saturday.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri sentenced the Bollywood superstar to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks, capping a 20-year case that began with a late night safari outside this tourist city on the sidelines of a film shoot in 1998.

Khatri, in his 201-page verdict, said that since the culprit is an actor and has a substantial following, thus his actions are observed and followed by the masses.

"The accused is a popular actor whose deeds are followed by people. Despite this, the accused hunted two black bucks. It is not justified to give Salman Khan the benefit of probation in view of the manner in which he hunted by shooting two innocent, moot black bucks that come under the purview of the Wildlife Conservation Act," the verdict said.

Khatri said that,"... considering the rising number of cases of illegal hunting of wildlife animals, looking at the circumstances of the case and gravity of the offence, giving the benefit of Probation of Offender Act does not appear justified."

He said that the court had reached its decision after careful examination of the examples and evidence presented by the accused's lawyer, but added that "in my opinion, the facts and circumstances presented by them are different from the facts and circumstances of this case. Thus, it is fair to be punished with imprisonment and penalty in accordance with the 9/11 Wildlife Protection Act under the convicted crime. "

The defence had argued that Salman has not been convicted in any case earlier and that he has always appeared before the court on a given date. The defence counsel also said Salman was under the custody of the forest department for five days and he should be given the benefit of the Probation of Offenders Act.

But, the court refused to give Salman the benefit citing the circumstances of the case and gravity of the offence, according to a copy of the judgment. Salman's lawyer had argued in court that the actor had not been found guilty in any of the cases before this. He said that for nearly 20 years, Salman had been facing trials for this case and whenever the court ordered him, he had appeared before it.

Not only this, the lawyer also argued that if Salman is sent to jail, it will affect the livelihood of many related to the film industry. In the light of these facts, the lawyer had requested that Salman be given the benefit of probation law under the Wildlife Protection Act. The prosecution, meanwhile, countered these arguments. "The culprit has hunted two blackbucks. Blackbucks are a wild species on the verge of becoming extinct. His actions also hurt the ecological balance (of the region). "

The prosecution lawyer added: "The accused is a famous artist, who is followed by the general public. Despite this, the accused has hunted two wild animals. "

He said that Salman already has two cases of deer hunting registered against him, in which the court had convicted him. "It was only after the intervention by a high court that he was acquitted."

The actor's case was represented by defence counsel Hastimal Saraswat. The judgment was pronounced by Chief Justice Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri at a hearing attended by Salman's sisters Alvira and Arpita. The trial of the case was in progress since the last 19 years and the judge had reserved the order after the final arguments on 28 March.

The actor's legal counsel Anand Desai had issued a statement saying, "We respect the decision of the Hon'ble Court. While we are studying the judgment it just came as a surprise, as the entire investigation, and facts of this case were the same as those for which Salman has been acquitted by the Hon'ble High Court of Rajasthan in two cases, and even by the Hon'ble CJM in the Arms Act matter for the alleged offence on the very same night as is the subject matter of the present case,"

"Also, in the present case, the Hon'ble Court has acquitted all the five co-accused which would imply that Salman was out hunting alone in the middle of the night in a remote area outside Jodhpur."

Read the full judgment here:

Click here to follow LIVE updates on Salman Khan's conviction

With inputs from agencies
Here are brief details of four cases against actor Salman Khan in Jodhpur.

Jodhpur: Here are brief details of four cases against actor Salman Khan in Jodhpur:

1. Salman Khan was first sentenced to one-year imprisonment on 17 February, 2006 under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act for killing two Chinkara (Indian gazelle), Rajasthan's state animal, at Bhawad village near Jodhpur on the night of 26-27 September, 1998. The sessions court later suspended the sentence on 10 March, 2006.

2. The actor was awarded a five-year jail term on 10 April, 2006 under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act for hunting one blackbuck, a protected animal, at Ghoda Farm near Jodhpur's Mathania village on the night of 28-29 September, 1998. Three days later, the sessions court granted him bail in the case. After the same court rejected the defence plea to suspend the sentence on 24 August, 2007, Salman Khan surrendered before the court on 26 August, 2007 and was sent to the Jodhpur jail. He was granted bail by the Rajasthan High Court on 31 August, 2007.

After almost eight years, on 25 July, 2016, the Rajasthan High Court acquitted Salman Khan in both the poaching cases in which he was convicted by the trial court (in February 2006 and April 2006). The state government later appealed against Salman Khan's acquittals by the high court and filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court in October, 2016.

3. The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Jodhpur Rural) acquitted Salman Khan of the charges under Sections 3/25 and 27 of the Arms Act on 18 January, 2017. Salman Khan was booked for possessing an unlicensed .22 rifle and a .32 revolver and using them to poach two blackbucks. The state government moved the sessions court on 7 March, 2017 challenging the trials court's order of acquittal.

4. On Thursday (April 5, 2018), the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (Jodhpur Rural) sentenced Salman Khan to five-year imprisonment under the Wildlife Protection Act for hunting two blackbucks in Kankani in October 1998. The court acquitted his Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the "benefit of doubt" for the incident.
A court on Thursday convicted superstar Salman Khan and sentenced him to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks, capping a 20-year case that began with a late night safari outside Jodhpur on the sidelines of a film shoot.

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Salman Khan 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.

"It even failed to prove that the black bucks were killed by gunshots. Hence, such an investigation cannot be trusted," Saraswat said.

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.

Refuting the prosecution's allegations, Salman Khan's counsel HM Saraswat said there were several loopholes in the prosecutor's story and that it had failed to prove its case beyond any doubt.

Actor Salman Khan and the other accused are charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. The maximum punishment under Section 51 is up to six years in prison.

According to a report , a fan forcibly made his way into the security guards' circle and misbehaved with the actor. The bouncers, however, immediately pushed him back, steering him clear off Tabu's way. No official complaint has been filed yet.

Section 9 prohibits the hunting of certain animals listed in the Act. A black buck is one of the animals protected by it. Section 51 allows the court to sentence those found guilty to imprisonment between one to six years along with a fine of at least Rs 5,000.

Salman Khan is charged under Section 9 read with Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 along with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code.

Speaking to ANI , Saif Ali Khan, Neelam and Sanali Bendre's lawyer said: "If they are found guilty, then there is equal punishment for all. Maximum punishment will be for six years and minimum one year."

Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri has reached the Jodhpur court, reported CNN-News18. The court will be pronouncing its verdict in the black buck poaching case, involving actors Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and others.

According to News18, Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh said that they will wait for the court's verdict before commenting. "We shall wait for the court's order. It will be inappropriate for me to say anything now," he was quoted as saying.

Speaking to CNN-News18, Race 3 director Remo D'Souza said the entire cast and crew was looking forward to the closure of the 19-year-old case with a favourable verdict. "Salman never talks about the case while shooting for his films. Same was the case during Abu Dhabhi schedule of Race 3, after which the actor left for the verdict. The unit and everyone associated to his big Eid release are hoping for a closure to this long stretched case with a favourable verdict," D'Souza said.

Reports said that two sisters of Salman  Arpita and Alwira  reached the Jodhpur court premises. Salman is expected to reach anytime soon. The verdict is expected to come by 11.15 am.

If convicted today, Salman Khan and others will be taken to Jodhpur Central Jail, which currently houses three high-profile inmates  Asaram Bapu, Malkhan Singh Vishnoi and Shambhu Lal. The latter two are accused in the Bawri Devi case and the Rajasthan hacking case, respectively.

All actors are in attendance in the court. Security is heavily beefed up outside the court premises after Salman received a death threat. Salman arrived with his bodyguard Shera at the Jodhpur court. The hearing is expected to begin shortly.

According to reports, the court has not allowed anyone from the media or the lawyer fraternity not connected to the case enter the court.

The court held Salman Khan guilty in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case but acquitted Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and other actors. Quantum of sentence shortly

Arguments currently underway on quantum of sentence. If the court pronounces more than three years in prison for the actor, Salman will have to approach a higher court for bail but if it is less than three years, the actor can apply for bail in the same court.

Salman convicted under Section 9 and 51 of Wildlife Protection Act. Maximum sentence under the law is six years

Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act carries maximum punishment of six years and minimum one-year jail term. The prosecution has demanded maximum punishment for Salman Khan. The actor will be taken to Jodhpur Central Jail, which currently houses three high-profile inmates  Asaram Bapu, Malkhan Singh Vishnoi and Shambhu Lal. The latter two are accused in the Bawri Devi case and the Rajasthan hacking case, respectively.

Arguments for quantum of sentence is currently underway in the Jodhpur court. Salman's counsel are arguing for early probation, reports have said.

CNN-News18 reported that one of the parties to the case, Bishnoi Sabha, has decided to appeal against the acquittal of the four co-accused in the black buck poaching case.

The actor is likely to be granted bail on Thursday itself since the jail term is below three years. Salman is eligible for bail from the Sessions Court.

There is some confusion over the quantum of sentence handed down to Salman Khan. According to News18, lawyers signalled the victory sign (for the acquitted), which reporters mistook it to be two years in prison.

Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh said that they have asked for the maximum punishment (of six years) and that the quantum is yet to be pronounced.

Speaking to ANI , Bishnoi Tigers Vanya Evam Paryavaran Sanstha state chief Rampal Bhawad said: "We'll analyse the judgement. We want an immediate appeal to be filed against those who have been acquitted and we also demand maximum punishment for Salman Khan."

The court proceedings have resumed after a lunch break. Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri will pronounce the quantum of punishment shortly.

According to CNN-News18, actor Salman Khan has been sentenced to five years in prison in the black buck poaching case.

As the actor has been sentenced to more than three years in prison (5 years), Salman's legal team will have to approach the Rajasthan High Court. There is a possibility that he may have to spend the night in jail. As per CNN-News18, his legal team is ready with the appeal.

Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh told CNN-News18: "We are happy with the judgment. I haven't read the complete order. Salman Khan has been given a five year simple imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine. If he files an appeal and the court considers it, then he can get the bail."

Just after the verdict, Salman will be taken for medical examination before heading to Jodhpur Central Jail. A Jodhpur court held actor Salman Khan guilty in a 1998 black buck poaching case and sentenced the actor to five years simple imprisonment. A penalty of Rs 10,000 has been levied too. The court earlier acquitted fellow actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, who were named co-accused.- CNN-News18

Salman will be taken for medical examination first and then to the Jodhpur Central Jail, say police sources

According to CNN-News 18, Salman Khan's bail application has been moved and will be taken up at 10:30 am on Friday morning. The actor will have to spend the night in Jodhpur Central Jail. Meanwhile, members of Bishnoi community keep raising slogans as the actor is taken for medical examination.

Salman Khan's bail application is likely to be heard at 10.30 on Friday

Salman Khan is now on his way to Jodhpur jail, DCP East Jodhpur, Amandeep, informed CNN-News 18. Salman was taken into custody after the sentence was pronounced and he will undergo a medical examination. An arrest warrant was being processed for the actor, and reports state that he will be taken to Jodhpur Central Jail.

Salman Khan is likely to be housed with self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who was sent to jail after being convicted of rape, and allegedly received preferential VIP treatment in prison. Another convict housed in the same prison is Rajsamand killer Shambhulal Regar, who, even after being jailed for murdering a Muslim labourer, was making videos from inside the jail. Other inmates include some hardened terrorists from Kashmir who were recently shifted out from Srinagar jail.- CNN-News18

Salman should be given relief, he has done a lot of humanitarian work: Jaya Bachchan

The Bishnoi community continued the fight for 20 years and are celebrating the verdict. The perseverance and determination for the fight stems from the fact that the black buck is an integral part of the Bishnoi culture. While many may criticise the verdict as the court trying to set a strong precedence, the Bishnoi Sabha, which has been the primary complainant in this case, has also decided to appeal against the acquittal of the other four actors. The Bishnois, a prosperous and influential group residing primarily in Rajasthan, are unwilling to forget and forgive Salman for his alleged crimes, especially his acquittal in the chinkara poaching case.

Sources in Jodhpur Central Jail confirm that the room lacks all kinds of amenities. The actor has been kept in a cell close to that of Asaram bapu. There is definitely no cooler or AC and it is just like other simple prison cells.

In the black buck poaching case, which has taken almost 20 years to come to a seeming conclusion, Salman was charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act while the other actors were charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. The reason behind the acquittal of the other stars may be because of the difficulty in furnishing any evidence linking Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu to the killing of the black bucks. Apart from Salman Khan, who was booked for killing an endangered species, the rest were charged with unlawful assembly.

Why Saif Ali Khan, Tabu and others were let off

While Bharat, Kick 2, and Dabangg 3 are yet to go on the floors, Race 3 is on the verge of completion and only a small part of the shooting remains. The absence of Salman from the horizon of Bollywood for a period is bound to spell disaster for single screen theatres which look forward eagerly to his every release.

While Salman's immediate future isn't clear, what is certain is that Bollywood will suffer a dent in its economic activity when it pertains to projects the megastar is involved in. If the worst were to happen  meaning that Salman will have to serve his jail tenure  then it would be another blow to an industry that is already suffering under piracy, streaming services, and Hollywood superheroes. Salman now has four films lined up  namely, Race 3, Bharat, Kick 2 and Dabangg 3  and a TV game show, Dus Ka Dum.

As co-accused Neelam Kothari returns to Mumbai, husband Sameer Soni says, "I am happy for us but disappointed for Salman. Justice has not been given properly in this case."

One of the co-accused in the case, Neelam Kothari, returns to Mumbai

As Salman entered Jodhpur Central Jail following the verdict a while ago, tight measures have been kept in place around the cell and the prison. As a Firstpost author says, "There is no bigger relief than to see convicts serve punishments they deserve. It not only establishes the rule of law, but also acts as a deterrent for society. If Khan manages to walk away again without serving his sentence, it would indeed be a travesty of justice."

For years, we have watched him walk out, chest puffed with pride, after every court appearance. It is possible that the same circus may be repeated after his latest conviction for killing two black bucks in Jodhpur 20 years ago. Like in the past, his lawyers may knock on the doors of the High Court, seek bail and then let an appeal drag on. The questions on every mind, as this report is being typed are: how quickly will he get bail and will he actually serve the sentence? And we may again lament that an offender got away because of his clout and money.

Question on every mind is whether another great escape is round the corner

Salman's lawyer issued statement, "We respect the decision of the Hon'ble Court. While we are studying the judgement it just came as a surprise, as the entire investigation, and facts of this case were the same as those for which Salman has been acquitted by the Hon'ble High Court of Rajasthan in two cases, and even by the Hon'ble CJM in the Arms Act matter for the alleged offence on the very same night as is the subject matter of the present case. Also, in the present case, the Hon'ble Court has acquitted all the 5 co-accused which would imply that Salman was out hunting alone in the middle of the night in a remote area outside Jodhpur. We have preferred an appeal to the Hon'ble Sessions Court and applied for an urgent hearing today. The Hon'ble Sessions Court will hear the appeal for suspension of the sentence / bail at 1030 tomorrow."

As the sentence is more than three years, Salman will have to appeal in a higher court for bail. His lawyer, Anand Desai, said the sessions court will hear the appeal for suspension of the sentence/bail at 10.30 am on Friday. Salman has consistently denied shooting the two deer, as claimed by the prosecution.

Salman Khan may be a heartthrob of millions, but at the Jodhpur Central Jail he is just Qaidi No. 106 who was served simple dal-roti which he did not eat.

Khan, who was today sentenced to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks about 20 year ago, has been kept in ward no. 2, adjacent to the cell of self-styled godman Asaram.

In 2007, the total number of blackbuck in the state stood at 14,701; in 2016, the number rose to 30,530 in 2016, as per the wildlife census of the Rajasthan forest department.

Since actor Salman Khan was booked for killing two blackbuck in 1998, the endangered species population in Rajasthan has increased substantially in the last 20 years, reported The Indian Express .

According to India Today , the convicted actor's family will be allowed to meet him on Friday. His lawyers are free to meet him at anytime.

He was offered a cauliflower and potato vegetable dish, a pulse and a chappati, which he did not eat. He also did not drink the tea served to him. At present, he is wearing his own clothes, but will be given jail clothes once the jail store opens on Friday morning.

Quoting jail officials News18 reported that actor Salman Khan has not eaten anything after his verdict was announced and even refused to drink tea.

According to the report, defence counsel Shrikant Shivade produced Tabu and Sonali in court one day and asked Bishnoi to identify the two women. He couldn't do so. When the court asked Bishnoi why he couldn't identify them even though he named them in his complaint, he replied that their unassuming attire of white salwar-kameez confused him. This helped boost Shivade's case that Bishnoi was not at the site of the killing but 150 metres away from it. The defence also added it would have been impossible to recognise people in the vehicle's glare.

It was during a cross examination in the blackbuck poaching case trial that a crucial witness and complainant Poonamchand Bishnoi failed to identify Tabu and Sonali Bendre in court, that helped in the actors' acquittal on Thursday, reported The Times of India .

Security has been tightened in the Jodhpur Central Jail due to Salman Khan's presence. The actor has been kept alone in his cell, with nobody allowed to meet him, reported NDTV . He also has his own guards in jail.

Khan will be appealing in the Session Court on Friday, since the first right of appeal is yet to be exhausted. In case the bail is rejected, the Rajasthan High Court will be approached.

Qaidi 106 Salman Khan may have spent a night in the Jodhpur Central Jail but his lawyer is ready with a 51-page bail application where 54 grounds have been raised for the judge to consider and grant the convicted actor bail. Speaking to News18, lawyer Hastimal Saraswat said there are problems with Thursday's verdict which needs reconsideration. "If it was not Salman Khan, bail would have been granted the next day," said Saraswat.

News18 reported that Salman Khan's lawyer in the court argued that eyewitness Poonam Chand's account is not reliable. "Salman is paying the price for his celebrity status. Five-year jail term is too harsh," the lawyer reportedly said.

Convicted actor Salman Khan's sisters and bodyguard Shera were seen entering the Jodhpur Sessions Court on Friday morning ahead of the Bollywood star's bail plea hearing at 10.30 am.

"I am getting death threats. The message said 'Salman Khan ka case ko chodh dijiye, warna goli maarenge'," said Mahesh Bora, the convicted actor's lawyer.

Actor Salman Khan's bail plea hearing has begun inside the Jodhpur Sessions Court on Friday morning. The actor was convicted in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case on Thursday. Five other co-accused  Bollywood actors Neelam, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan and local Dushyant Singh.

The Jodhpur court reserved its order on actor Salman Khan's bail plea till Saturday. According to reports, the arguments were brief.

"The case has been argued. It has been posted for tomorrow. We argued that the circumstances relied upon by the trial court were already discarded by the Rajasthan High Court," said Salman Khan's lawyer Mahesh Bora to reporters.

Here's what has happened so far after Salman Khan was convicted on Thursday:

The Jodhpur Sessions Court on Friday decided to defer proceedings in Bollywood actor Salman Khan's bail plea hearing to Saturday. The actor, who was convicted by the trial court on Thursday and sentenced to five years in prison in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case, spent a second night in the Jodhpur Central Jail. The district and sessions court in Jodhpur had heard arguments on the suspension of sentence and bail application before deferring the matter till Saturday.

The Jodhpur District and Sessions judge, who was scheduled to continue hearing the bail plea of convicted actor Salman Khan on Saturday, was transferred by the Rajasthan High Court overnight, reported The Times of India . Sessions judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi was transferred along with 87 other district judges, the report said.

Speaking to CNN-News18, lawyer Mahipal Bishnoi said that in case a judge is transferred, matters of urgent importance such as bail applications can be heard by the judge. But it also depends on the judge's discretion if he wants to continue hearing arguments.

It is up to the judge to decide if he wants to continue the hearing or not: lawyer Mahipal Bishnoi

The medical board report stated that there were holes, one inch in diameter, in the bones of blackbuck carcasses and this could be caused by shots fired from a gun. Relying on this report, the trial court refused to admit the argument of the defense that the hole had been made by the investigator using a charred piece of coal just to establish the story of poaching and frame Salman in the case. - PTI

The second post-mortem report of the two blackbucks played a key role in proving that the animals had died of gunshots, as the trial court, while convicting Salman Khan, mentioned that it has been proved beyond doubt that the Bollywood superstar had shot them.

CJM (rural) Dev Kumar Khatri (the judge who pronounced Salman's sentence of five years imprisonment) is currently in a meet with Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi (the judge currently hearing Salman's bail plea) in his chambers, reported News18. Sources, however, say it is a routine meet. Both judges were among the 87 who had been transferred on Friday night in a routine shuffle.

Day two of actor Salman Khan's bail plea hearing has begun on Saturday morning with Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi to continue presiding over the court proceedings.

Arguments from both the defense and prosecution are over. The judge will pronounce the order after lunch at 2 pm.

"Salman is more than a friend to me. I don't know what transpired (in the case), the courts are there to decide. But today if you ask me what is your wish, I would say he should be released tomorrow. He doesn't deserve to be in jail. From two days my wife is asking me what is going to happen, and I am like, he will be out soon," he added.

Manjrekar and Salman have worked together in films such as Wanted, Dabangg, Ready and Jai Ho among others.

"Salman is one guy who is ready to take the rap. He is ready to take the rap, the blame (on himself). He is human at the end of the day. Who doesn't make a mistake? I definitely make a mistake. But when he makes a mistake, it is blown out of proportion," actor-filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar told PTI .

When Salman Khan makes a mistake, it is 'blown out of proportion', says filmmaker-actor Mahesh Manjrekar

The Jodhpur Sessions Court is likely to pronounce actor Salman Khan's bail plea order after 2 pm. Earlier on Saturday, both prosecution and defense arguments were concluded, before the judge announced he would reserve the order till after lunch. The actor has already spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail since he was convicted in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case on Thursday.

News18 reports that Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi has entered the courtroom and is likely to pronounce the decision over Salman Khan's bail plea application

The judge arrives in the courtroom. Bail order likely to be pronounced shortly

The Bishnoi community will be approaching the Rajasthan High Court against bail granted to Salman Khan, reports India Today. Mahipal Bishnoi, the Bishnoi community's lawyer said to News18 that the 52-year-old actor cannot leave the country without the court's permission. Khan will also have to be present on 7 May for the next hearing in the blackbuck poaching case, the report adds.

Relatives of Jodhpur Central Jail prisoners say police isn't letting them meet their relatives inside jail where Salman Khan was lodged

Relieved to learn that Salman Bhai has been given bail. Always with you Bhaijaan. @BeingSalmanKhan

Comedian Rajpal Yadav says he is 'relieved' to hear about Salman Khan being given bail

Love you @BeingSalmanKhan Bhai . There is no heart like you in this world.

The strongest person in our industry to deal such situations that too these many times @BeingSalmanKhan We are with you and we love you #WeSupportSalmanKhan

A slew of celebrities extend their wishes to Salman Khan after he got bail

Salman Khan reaches Mumbai after spending 48 hours in Jodhpur Central jail in the #BlackbuckPoachingCase . The star is accompanied by sisters Arpita, Alvira and bodyguard Shera. #SalmanGetsBail pic.twitter.com/k0jJ0QzKBG

Salman Khan's sister Arpita and Alvira and his bodyguard Shera accompany him as he makes his way home

Terming the decision in the actor's case "unusual," the NGO states that "these days, wildlife crime matters are commonly fast-tracked, bail is often denied, and offenders regularly receive seven-year prison sentences."

"While Salman Khan gets to go back home to his movie star life for now, blackbucks were made to pay the highest price, with their lives," PETA India CEO Manilal Valliyate said in a statement.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has condemned the decision of a Jodhpur Court to grant bail to actor Salman Khan in connection with the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, reports ANI .

Salman Khan reaches Galaxy Apartments, reports India Today. The report adds that his younger brother Sohail Khan had accompanied Salman in his car on his way home. Fans crowded the area and began bursting crackers as the actor reached his house.

Salman Khan reaches his residence, the Galaxy Apartments in Mumbai. Crowds roar for their hero after he returns home after spending 2 days in the Jodhpur Central jail in the #BlackbuckPoachingCase . @shilparathnam from ground zero. #SalmanGetsBail pic.twitter.com/xgTdbiZqsS

Salman Khan addresses fans from his residence after being released from the Jodhpur jail on Saturday. He is accompanied by his mother Salma, father Salim and sister Arpita's son Ahil. #SalmanGetsBail pic.twitter.com/8LCwkNk6ua

Salman Khan waves to fans from his home in Mumbai, gets emotional while greeting fans

Salman Khan convicted in blackbuck poaching case updates: Salman Khan's defense counsel reportedly argued that there were discrepancies in the key witnesses' statements. Following this, the public prosecutor argued that the defense should bring forth these documents. The judge then ordered the defense to produce the relevant documents in the Jodhpur court on Saturday.

The public prosecutor on Friday said that the saying that the bail plea order for Salman Khan has been reserved till Saturday is wrong, adding that the arguments are set to continue in the Jodhpur court on Saturday.

The bail plea order was reportedly deferred because Judge Ravinder Kumar Joshi asked for records from previous cases judged by the rural court and high court, the prosecutor told CNN-News18. The arguments will proceed on Saturday. However, it is uncertain till what time they will extend.

Actor Salman Khan will be spending a second night in the Jodhpur Central Jail on Friday after the court reserved its order on the bail plea for Saturday.

The Jodhpur court reserved its order on actor Salman Khan's bail plea till Saturday. According to reports, the arguments were brief. "The case has been argued. It has been posted for Saturday. We argued that the circumstances relied upon by the trial court were already discarded by the Rajasthan High Court," said Salman Khan's lawyer Mahesh Bora to reporters.

Actor Salman Khan's bail plea hearing, who was convicted in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case on Thursday, has begun inside the Jodhpur Sessions Court on Friday morning.

Actor Salman Khan's bail plea hearing is set to be taken up at 10.30 am on Friday in the Sessions Court in Jodhpur. The judge has reached the court premises. The actor's Bollywood colleagues are hopeful Salman will get to return to Mumbai on Friday itself.

Salman Khan's lawyer told the chief judicial magistrate in Jodhpur court that the eyewitness account was not reliable. Quoting excerpts from the defence lawyer's arguments, News18 reported that the lawyer told the court that the actor was paying the price for his celebrity status and that the five-year jail term for the actor was too harsh.

The chief judicial magistrate, who was hearing the black buck poaching case on Thursday, pointed out the fan following of the superstar, saying he is a "popular actor whose deeds are followed by people". "The accused is a popular actor whose deeds are followed by people. Despite this, the accused hunted two blackbucks," Khatri said in his written judgment. "...considering the rising number of cases of illegal hunting of wildlife animals, looking at the circumstances of the case and gravity of the offence, giving the benefit of Probation of Offender Act does not appear justified," the judge said.

It was during a cross examination in the blackbuck poaching case trial that a crucial witness and complainant Poonamchand Bishnoi failed to identify Tabu and Sonali Bendre in court, that helped in the actors' acquittal on Thursday, reported The Times of India.

Jail superintendent Vikram Singh, while briefing the media on the celebrity inmate on Thursday, said Khan would be treated as a normal prisoner and no special treatment would be given to him. He will have a simple wooden bed, a rug and a cooler in his cell, Singh said. He added the actor was given dal-roti to eat. Sources, however, said the Bollywood icon did not eat the jail food.

A court on Thursday convicted superstar Salman Khan and sentenced him to five years in prison for killing two blackbucks, capping a 20-year case that began with a late night safari outside Jodhpur on the sidelines of a film shoot.

The Jodhpur court acquitted his Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the "benefit of doubt" for the incident in October 1998. Besides attracting attention due to Salman's popularity, the case also caught the nation's imagination because it was the first time that five actors were involved in one single case.

"The accused is a popular actor whose deeds are followed by people. Despite this, the accused hunted two blackbucks," said Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri in his written judgment.

The verdict triggered a deluge of sympathy from colleagues for the "bad boy" of Hindi filmdom, whose career and personal life have been peppered with controversies, including a manslaughter charge in a hit-and-run case that is still pending.

"I feel bad. He should be given relief. He has done a lot of humanitarian work," actor-politician Jaya Bachchan told reporters outside Parliament in New Delhi, adding that the punishment was harsh.

Since morning, media crews, hundreds of stargazers and security personnel swarmed the court premises waiting for Salman and the other accused to show up. Large crowds armed with phone cameras lined up along the two-kilometre route from the court as the 52-year-old was whisked away in a Bolero police jeep to spend a night in the Jodhpur Central Jail. Within hours, social media was awash with photographs of Salman, dressed in a black shirt and jeans, entering the jail.

Animal rights activists welcomed the sentencing, and some said Salman should have been given the maximum punishment under the Wildlife Act.

"We are happy that justice has prevailed and a serial offender is behind bars. The judiciary has once again proved that the popularity of the accused has no bearing on the case before the court,"said Gauri Maulekhi of People For Animals.

As the sentence is more than three years, Salman will have to appeal in a higher court for bail. His lawyer, Anand Desai, said the sessions court will hear the appeal for suspension of the sentence/bail at 10.30 am on Friday. Salman has consistently denied shooting the two deer, as claimed by the prosecution.

Jail sources said Salman was lodged in barrack number 2 in a heavily protected and secure cell. He would have to spend at least one night in the jail until his bail hearing on Friday.

This is Salman's fourth stint in the Jodhpur Central Jail, which also houses religious preacher Asaram Bapu, who has been accused of rape. He had earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.

Final arguments in the blackbuck case were completed in the trial court on 28 March. In his verdict, Khatri also imposed a Rs. 10,000 fine after finding him guilty under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which prescribes a maximum punishment of six years behind bars.

The actor is alleged to have shot and killed the blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of 1 October, 1998 during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Blackbuck, from the antelope family, is an endangered animal and included in the schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act-1972.

According to prosecution lawyer Mahipal Bishnoi, the actors were in a Gypsy that night with Salman in the driving seat. He spotted a herd of blackbucks and killed two of them, Bishnoi says.

However, Salman's lawyer said that the fact that the court has acquitted all the 5 co-accused, "would imply that Salman was out hunting alone in the middle of the night in a remote area outside Jodhpur."

All the accused, some of them accompanied by their family members, were in the courtroom when the verdict was read out.

Salman's friends in the industry expressed concern over the verdict with some saying the actor was punished harshly for his star-status.

"I am extremely shocked," director Subhash Ghai, who has worked with Khan in several films, tweeted.

Neelam's husband, actor-director Samir Soni, said while he was happy for his wife, he believed Salman had been targeted for his star status.

"I have mixed emotions right now... It is a 20- year-old ordeal. I don't know why Salman was singled out. It seems his (star) status has come in the way," Soni told PTI.

Members of the Bishnoi community, mainly found in Western Rajasthan and known for their reverence for nature and wildlife, however, said justice had been done.

The case was under the national spotlight on Thursday with the media monitoring every development, his legion of fans tuned into social media and television and trade analysts watching anxiously to know the fate of the star who has an estimated Rs 600 riding on his next ventures - Race 3, Bharat and Dabangg 3.

Salman also had a jail stint in Mumbai when he was also involved in a hit and run. His white Toyota Land Cruiser allegedly crashed into American Express Bakery at Hill Road at Bandra in Mumbai, killing one person and injuring four on 28 September, 2002.

He was acquitted in the case but the Maharashtra government has filed an appeal.

With inputs from PTI
The BSF recently seized a large consignment of Yaba tablets on the Bangladesh border. Usage of the drug is seeing a worrying rise.

In the early morning hours of 28 March, the Border Security Force (BSF) confiscated contraband items at Mankachar in Assam bordering Bangladesh during an operation based on specific inputs. The seizures included not just items like cattle and ganja, but also small packets of glittering pills for local consumption and for export to Bangladesh.

A press release from the BSF said that two veteran smugglers  Samsul Alam and Noor Mohammad  were arrested during the operation. The consignment of 4,566 tablets that was seized came close on the heels of another seizure of 110 tablets on 20 March in Meghalayas Garo Hills which were en route to Bangladesh.

Yaba, a Thai word for crazy medicine, is a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine that comes in different flavours and colours. Inhaling its fumes or snorting the crushed powder induces a hyper-alert state so exhilarating that users have been tempted to give up on heroin and ganja. There is also a crystalline variant of this drug called Ice made up entirely of methamphetamine.

The sustained use of Yaba can cause permanent damage to the lungs, kidneys and blood vessels in the brain, which could eventually cause a stroke, cardiac arrest and rotting of the teeth.

BSF officials informed that the arrested duo has been receiving consignments from agents in Meghalaya but they were unaware about the origin of the pills. Officials believe they are imported from laboratories in Myanmar through the Mizoram and Manipur borders. On interrogation, the two accused confessed that Yabas demand has been steadily picking up in some border zones, but more important for them was transferring the packets across to Bangladesh where the demand has been steadily soaring.

Bangladesh receives the bulk of its supplies through Coxs Bazar which borders Myanmar. According to reports, the seizures last year in the country yielded 29.4 million pills. These could comprise only a small amount of the total quantity consumed in the neighbouring country. The pills are available in different labels like R7, Guti, Champa and Baba in a wide price range varying between Taka 300  2000.

Alarmed over the situation, the Bangladesh High Court had instructed the government in January to take effective steps to check the influx of illegal narcotics, including Yaba.

Origin of Yaba

In The Merchants of Madness: The Methamphetamine Explosion In The Golden Triangle, Bertil Lintner and Michael Black have documented the origin and spread of methamphetamine which was first created in Japan in 1918 by a chemist named Akira Ogata but marketed only in the late 1930s. Called ATS (Amphetamine Type Stimulants), these tablets were widely used by the Japanese and German militaries during the Second World War for helping soldiers to fight round the clock.

According to a report in Spiegel Online, more than 35 million tablets of Pervitin and Isophan were supplied to the German army and air force during the short period between April and July of 1940. These tablets were sent to the Wehrmacht's (Armed Forces Headquarters) medical divisions under the code name OBM and then distributed directly to the troops. The packages were labeled "Stimulant," and the instructions recommended a dose of one to two tablets "only as needed, to maintain sleeplessness."

After the war, production of methamphetamine resumed in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China which subsequently became available in Thailand as Yama since the mid-1950s. Its use decreased in the country in the 1970s after the government clamped a ban.

However, that was only the beginning of Yabas journey in the region. As the book reveals, drug gangs which once produced heroin shifted to the tablet from the early 1990s since it was easier to manufacture them in portable laboratories, less expensive and not dependent on the supply of opium. A primary ingredient required for its manufacture is Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride which is supplied to the laboratories from multiple sources in China, Thailand and India.

North East At Risk

In the last two decades or so, the bulk of the methamphetamine labs have been concentrated in Myanmar, especially in the Shan state. This state, bordering China and Thailand, is also a hotbed of insurgency. Most of these labs are in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of the largest and well armed drug-dealing outfits in the world. Sections of the Myanmar army are reported to be involved in the trafficking of the drugs.

BSF officials are apprehensive that Yabas demand in Bangladesh could fuel more imports from Myanmar into the North East and also lead to a spurt in the export of Actifed pills to the neighbouring country for its pseudoephedrine content.

Arteries that already exist in the North East have been transporting large quantities of Heroin No-4 and gold among other items from the Indo-Myanmar border to different destinations which is evidenced from the seizures in the past few years. The two most prolific routes are from Chandel in Manipur and Champhai in Mizoram that pass through Assams Barak Valley to multiple points along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Besides Yaba, another synthetic drug similar in colour and size that has surfaced in the North East is Word is Yours, the usage of which is increasing in a section of the youth from the upper income groups in the region. Consignments of these tablets, which are also imported from Myanmar, have been seized at least four times since 2012. Most of them have been seized near the border in Manipur.

(Bhattacharyya is a senior journalist in Guwahati and author of Rendezvous With Rebels: Journey to Meet Indias Most Wanted Men)
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav is set to tie the knot next month with Aishwarya Rai, the granddaughter of ex-Bihar CM Daroga Rai

Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav is set to tie the knot next month with Aishwarya Rai, the granddaughter of ex-Bihar CM Daroga Rai and daughter of senior RJD leader and MLA Chandrika Rai. "The tentative date for the marriage is 12 May, and the ring ceremony is expected to take place on 18 April," a close family aide said on the condition of anonymity.

The venue for the marriage is Patna's Veterinary College grounds, the same place opted by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi for his son's marriage after threats from Tej Pratap Yadav. Aishwarya who has done her schooling Patnas Notre Dame school, is a history graduate from Delhi University. She also have an MBA from Amity University in Noida.

"Despite receiving many job offers, including one from the World Bank, she has not worked anywhere," one of her relatives said. She is the eldest of her three siblings. Her younger brother Apurva has been pursuing law degree and sister Aayushi is an engineer.

Speculations about the impending marriages of Lalus two sons, Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, have been rife for a while now. In a recent interview, Tejashwi said he would tie the knot only after his elder brother and two other political leaders  Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswans son Chirag Paswan and chief minister Nitish Kumars son Nishant Kumar  took the marital plunge.

Tej Prataps marriage will be the first big wedding in Lalus family since 2014, when the RJD chief's youngest daughter Raj Laxmi tied the knot with the grand-nephew of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Prasads daughters Ragini, Hema and Anushka are also married into political families across Delhi and Haryana.

Only recently, Rabri Devi had controversially remarked that she did not want a "mall-going" daughter-in-law for her sons. Rabri had told reporters that they want daughters-in-law who "will respect them, abstain from trips to the mall, and run the house smoothly". This had triggered a controversy but Lalu was quick to do damage control. He had tweeted saying, "Sanskari bahu doesn't mean veiled, homebound, dependent lady. It means strong-willed, loving, caring lady, whthr (whether) working women or housewife (sic)."

Tej Prataps impending marriage has often been a point of a political war of words in Bihar. During a public rally in Motihari in Bihar in December 2017, Tej Pratap had taken a dig at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying he doesnt want a dhokhebaaz dulhaniya like the JDU leader.

Interestingly, Bihar BJP chief, Sushil Modi, whose son's wedding had been boycotted by Tej Pratap Yadav, may just have helped Rabri in finding Tej Pratap a suitable match. Afterall, it was Tej Pratap himself who had requested "Modi uncle" to find a bride for him as well. The deputy chief minister tweeted back that he was ready if Tej Pratap met three conditions of "No dowry, pledge organ donation and no threatening to disrupt any marriage." But Tej Pratap's mother, Rabri Devi, had her own conditions.

According to another RJD leader, talks between the two families had been underway for the last six months. The girl is intelligent and we do not rule out the possibility of her joining politics sooner or later. Both the families are very happy with the relations he said. However, the bride's parents have said that an official announcement is yet to be made and Lalu's family will be the one making the announcement.

When asked about the news, Leader of Opposition and Tej Prataps brother Tejashwi Yadav said: "Such information should be given by parents and guardians. Anyway, people would get to know once invitation cards are printed." He added that his turn would come after his elder brother gets married.

Meanwhile, there was no confirmation if the incarcerated RJD chief, who is currently being treated at AIIMS hospital in Delhi, will be able to attend the wedding. Lalus aide said they are likely to a move a petition to this effect in court. "We will try to keep the function as simple and modest as possible as we are pained at our leader being in jail, an RJD leader was quoted as saying.
One consistent narrative in Salman Khans story has been the commitment of the Bishnoi tribe in following up on the case. To the Bishnoi, nature is sacred, and they are willing to sacrifice for its wellbeing. They are the guardians of that forest.

Editor's note: From May 2017, Firstpost is featuring a fortnightly column by Mridula Ramesh, titled 'Climate Conversations'. In this column, we take a look at pressing issues pertaining to climate change  in an accessible way.

The world is talking about Salman Khan today.

And also about the black buck (or two) that he allegedly shot nearly 20 years ago.

In that order.

What is the real so-what in this?

The first part of the real so-what? is that what we believe is the right thing to happen depends very much on our worldview.

Let me explain.

We are each a product of our upbringing, our experiences and our choices. And we feel a deep need to belong to a group  a throwback to our tribal roots, no doubt. We each have a set of beliefs or values through which we view the world. When we are confronted by a new piece of information, we first check to see if the messenger is one of us and that the message reaffirms our worldview. This is what experts call the confirmation bias.

The messenger becomes especially important considering the popular messaging medium of today: Twitter. In the days of B.S.M. (Before Social Media), there was a significant cost one had to incur to become an opinion-shaper. One had to either be damned good at communicating, honed by years of practice, or be an expert on the subject matter, again honed over years of practice. Once you joined the chummy club of opinion-shaping, there were norms of behaviour one was expected to adhere to. And one typically did.

Again, B.S.M., there was a time-gap between thought and global broadcast, which allowed for reflection and editing. This usually played an important part in increasing the quality of the broadcast. But in these A.S.M. (After Social Media) days, most, in their desire to be the first and the quickest off the mark, do not take time to reflect or edit their initial thoughts. In these A.S.M age, any person can have a shot at shaping opinion, incurring little cost.

But as it typically happens, when one incurs lower costs or expends less time in creating content, quality suffers. So, how does the wannabe-opinion-shaper grab attention?

Sensationalism. There are increasingly two types of inhabitants of twitter in India  right and left, and a disappearing centrist sliver sandwiched between them. What in earlier days (when it was considered good form to be centrist) one tried to camouflage, is now displayed proudly as a badge on ones twitter handle. Naturally, opinions are polarised with the two sides barely agreeing on what is right.

Returning to Salman Khan and his blackbucks.

The supporters of Khan (appropriately hash-tagged #WeLoveYouSalmanKhan) speak to his success as an actor, to all the others who have killed wildlife (or people, or stolen from banks) and gone scot free, his humanitarian efforts, and even the financial loss if he were to be jailed as factors on why he should be set free.

The anti-Khan (#SalmanGuilty) crowd talk of justice served, and how there is hope when even the rich and famous can get nailed in a wildlife case.

It is as though they exist on two different planets. Khan-friend will believe Khan-friend while anti-Khan will believe anti-Khan. The messenger has become more important than the message. Good luck with bridging the gap between the two groups.

What on Earth, does this have to do with climate change?

You see, there are groups in climate change also. Simplistically, those on the conservative of the spectrum, typically downplay climate change risks while those on the liberal end, tend to blame capitalism for causing our climate to change. And since they each broadly socialise and get their information from their carefully curated echo-chambers, their world view tends to also be polarised.

How would climate change be covered by channels catering to each of these groups? A conservative channel might highlight the immediate development needs and perhaps have an expert talk about the uncertainty on climate change. Conservative viewers might then walk away thinking climate change may not be a very serious problem and they need to focus on the immediate need to develop. A liberal channel might have climate change experts who blame capitalism for global warming. Some might club climate change with womens rights, tribal rights, etc., and advocate a wholesale change to our way of life. Liberals who regularly tune into this channel come away thinking that our businesses are dastardly and wholesale actions are the only thing that will work. What results is a veritable cacophony of views but very little action.

This bias is particularly relevant today  in what is being referred to as the post-truth era. When we begin to rely more on our network (and social media) for our news than on traditional media, the confirmation bias is strengthened. At the extreme, we have alternate facts used at the highest levels, which makes for two (or more) camps that can barely communicate because they each are operating on a completely different set of facts. In an era of such interconnectivity, its ironic that we are hurtling back to our tribal, isolated silos.

It's critical for our planets health and our collective fate that the two sides on climate change interact and get to a common action plan on reducing emissions. They are not doing such a great job, because global emissions (the stuff that causes our planet to warm) may have actually risen in 2017. If we keep going on with business as usual, parts of South Asia may become so unliveable, that we will have almost 36 million internal migrants leaving for their homes in search of greener (and cooler) pastures. One of those will be the southern highlands between Bengaluru and Chennai.

The second part of the so-what? is the tremendous delay in the justice system and the role that plays in the lax attitude of citizens towards common goods. Most plaintiffs would have lost interest in a case that dragged on for two decades over the killing of wildlife  this encourages law-breakers to trample on public goods such as wildlife, forests, water or air. When justice may never come, why should one fear the law?

One consistent narrative in Khans story has been the commitment of the Bishnoi tribe in following up on the case. To the Bishnoi, nature is sacred, and they are willing to sacrifice for its wellbeing. They are the guardians of that forest.

Which brings us to the third part of the so-what: as a society we dont seem to care too much about common goods in general, and climate change in particular. As this column has said before, we have first world concerns in a third world country. Looking at the Google trends chart (that compares interest in two topics  in this case, Salman Khan vs Climate Change), we see that Climate Change is losing rather handily in the fight for eyeballs with Salman Khan.

Maybe we should ask the Bishnoi for help.

The writer is the founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, cleantech angel investor, teacher and author of a forthcoming book on Climate Change and India. Follow her work on her website; on Twitter; or write to her at cc@climaction.net
While male comics being awkward, rude, cynical, gross, horny makes us laugh, female comics who perform the same acts make us awkward | #FirstCulture

Meet Bumper. A short, fat nurse working in the 50-50 hospital, sister to Lottery, a tall, slim nurse. She is surrounded by people who have called her a truck, a pumpkin, an uncle, an entire district. They lift her up frequently only to drop her on the floor, and sometimes she skids and falls voluntarily. When she desires a makeover, the parlour owner arranges for cement, a crane and a chainsaw. Everybody keeps talking about her size and the associated ugliness, incompetence and stupidity. She raps about burping and farting, and her dance warrants immediate laughter.

Bumper was a character on The Kapil Sharma Show, accompanied by 'Besharam Nani', who desperately force-kisses celebrities, and Rinku Devi, a Bihari woman deeply dissatisfied in her marriage. All three female characters were played by male actors, while Kapil ridiculed them with and in front of celebrities, and this awkward mess was sealed into prime-time comedy by Siddhus endless ROFL.

Despite controversies, Kapil Sharma is set to return yet again with a new show, and I would be naive to expect anything to change.

Funny men and their entitlement to our laughter

Last year, Bollywood star and Padman actor Akshay Kumar found it perfectly alright to direct a crass innuendo at comic artist Mallika Dua on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. The audience was expected to laugh at that, and if questioned, defend him like author and feminist Twinkle Khanna did in her follow-up jokes and comments.

Well, how can one complain about Khanna when more established feminists of our society hurried to question the victims of sexual harassment to protect their own men who found themselves on the list? Just like academia and the media, the comedy industry is also dominated by the same group: upper caste males.

And its not just comics, the key thing about all privileged men we meet in everyday life who fancy themselves as funny is that they feel unquestionably entitled to your laughter. Once the joke has darted out of their mouths, the challenge is on the rest of us to prove a sense of humour. The power they have in society is directly proportional to the pressure felt by the audience to laugh, irrespective of how cool or uncool the joke is.

If your boss happens to belong to this species, not laughing might risk not being favoured at work. If you question a male friend for a joke made at the expense of your weight, you are asked if you are on your period. Not laughing is a serious offence. We have found ourselves in coerced laughter at work, at family events, and in front of the TV set. This laughter comes with an inherent sadness  about what passes off as humour in India and its mainstream creators: cis-het savarna men.

It is tough to question these men without being called a humourless prick. Further, when censorship is involved, hereby recalling the All India Bakchod (AIB) roast, the focus shifts to regimes and stifling freedom of expression, while the freedom to crack sexist, casteist, homophobic jokes stays upheld.

Kapil Sharma: A case study

Kapil Sharma has ruled this species. The man could produce not one but three shows titled around his own name  a rare event in the history of Indian TV. Son of a constable, this Sharma ji ka beta grew up in Punjab, performing at college events before winning The Great Indian Laughter Challenge in 2007. On his own shows, he was paid to rub shoulders with all kinds of celebrities, promote their films and make them laugh.

It is not surprising that our sexist, casteist, bhakt-filled society adores him, for he is a small-town, North-Indian, fair Brahmin man who had neither dynasty nor reservations, but only used 'pure' talent to gain success through reality shows. He made it to the top 10 of all sorts of popularity lists and was declared brand ambassador for a bunch of government schemes. His claim on a 'humble' background and his awkward English creates a special space in the hearts of merit-mongering savarna families, to rephrase a term popularised by the Twitter handle @DardEdiscourse.

This is not the first time that his shows have been criticised for sexist jokes. However, savarna feminists like me have ignored his surname, the caste privilege that shields him from any controversy or backlash. Any criticism of his show would be incomplete without the criticism of his brand, of which being a Brahmin is a big, understated part.

On his shows, men enter dressed as women, and this is a cue solid enough for the audience to burst into laughter. If that doesn't describe our collective transphobia, I don't know what does.

Casteist, racist and ableist humour is neatly woven into the script. A character named 'Baccha Yadav' is reduced to his caste occupation of a milkman, shown to be obsessed with his buffalo. Chappu Sharma is presented as a childish, feminine character who is fresh out of a mental institution. In some episodes, Kapil plays a Japanese or an Arab and a series of silly, stereotypical jokes follow. Sarla, a character played by the only female actor in the main cast, is shown as being a clingy, nagging, desperate girl. Kapil gets to sadistically friendzone her while attempting to flirt with the actresses who are guests on his show.

Is English comedy on the Internet any better?

Let's not kid ourselves by blaming this on Indian TV's general sh*ttiness and swear by 'woke' stuff on the web. In early 2017, we had The Viral Fever (TVF) using feminist content to cover their a**es while Arunabh Kumar was accused of molestation by several women. Later in the same year, when Amazon Video wanted to enter the growing comedy scene in urban India, they signed 14 comedians, all savarna dudebros.

We have All India Bakchod, who had recently requested us to let them know through Sarahah if they have been sexist. I was puzzled  whether to send them a link of the AIB roast where they make a cocktail of racist, homophobic, sexist jokes or the link of the Film Companion interview where Tanmay Bhat and others mansplain sexism in comedy while not letting Aditi Mittal speak.

Sorry if we are not ready to applaud them yet for giving space to female writers and comics only in videos about sexism and womens bodies (duh). They are still hosting podcasts with dudes just bro-ing around, while the female comics only congregate without men for the promotion of Lipstick Under My Burkha. Seems like feminism is important for business  a checklist to avoid making launda sketch(es), something to be plugged in without much natural commitment towards its cause.

The larger issue: Our non-acceptance of female comic talent

When Indian comedy dudes try to include female talent, whether it is on TV or on the web, it just doesn't appear to be an equal partnership. It is almost like how a doctor requires a nurse; she is needed to assist him in his own performance (or to do the 'lady bits') but is not autonomous enough to call the shots.

While male comedians are now experimenting and making money with their art, we are still busy proving the basic fact that women can be funny too.

Talented performers like Sumukhi Suresh, Urooj Ashfaq and Supriya Joshi among others do not enjoy the same popularity and fandom as their male counterparts. Unlike the music and dance industries, comedy has no trace of marginalised, non-urban, queer, Bahujan men and women, the ones used as subjects for feel-good social reality shows like Satyamev Jayate.

On TV, female comedians are somewhat welcome only when they crack self-deprecating jokes about their own weight and appearance. I do not know how to cheer for Bharti's presence in a male-dominated business when she has to constantly infantilise, de-gender and fat-shame herself.

The audience finds it difficult to welcome female comics. We need introspection: why are we are this difficult to please for women comic artists?

The expectations of Brahmanical femininity

Perhaps this has a lot to do with expectations of femininity in our caste society. Humour often comes from being awkward, rude, cynical, gross, horny. Gracewhich is what is heavily demanded of women in our Brahmanical patriarchyis the exact opposite of these behaviours. For example: Can you imagine a female artist do what Bhuvan Bam does in BB Ki Vine videos and be appreciated in the same way?

To see women breaking out of the graceful and feminine mould on their own accord makes us awkward, whereas the same act by men tickles us. Workplace humour by men is seen as enriching for the work environment, whereas that by women is seen as unnecessary and unprofessional. Humour is defined by who gets to create a culture around it.

Challenging the domination of cis-het savarna men in the comedy industry is important to create an environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to be funny in non-discriminatory and creative ways. It will also, hopefully, liberate us from the misery of coerced laughter.

Also read on Firstpost: Stand-up for feminism: Indian women comics are making patriarchy the punch-line in their acts
TDP president Chandrababu Naidu on Friday asked the party's MPs to intensify their protest for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

New Delhi/ Amaravati: TDP president Chandrababu Naidu on Friday asked the party's MPs to intensify their protest for special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

In a tele-conference with TDP MPs, Naidu said, "BJP is running away by repeatedly adjourning the House for these many days. If Parliament is adjourned sine die, MPs must meet the president. BJP is acting on the lines of divide and rule."

Friday was the last day of Parliament's second part of the Budget Session.

This morning in Amaravati, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister led a cycle rally of his ministers and TDP legislators protesting the Centre's attitude towards the state, vis-a-vis the implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.

"Already people of Andhra Pradesh are not accepting BJP. Soon, there will be a day when the BJP will not be accepted by the entire country," Naidu said in a statement issued by his media cell.

"We will not step back until assurances made in the Rajya Sabha including Special Category Status and provisions of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act are fulfilled," he said.

Responding to YSR Congress MPs not taking part in a protest held by his party MPs in the Parliament complex on Thursday, Naidu said it was an example of the party's collusion politics.

"In the past, some natives used to collude with Britishers. In the same way, YSRCP is now colluding with Centre," he said in the statements.

TDP MPs on Thursday protested in Rajya Sabha chamber and refused to leave even after the house was adjourned for the day at around 2.30 pm.

The members were in the night around 8.15 pm marshalled out along with the party's Lok Sabha MPs who held protests in the Central Hall in solidarity.

The TDP parted ways with the NDA last month alleging failure in fulfilling the promises made in the State Reorganisation Act.
BJP chief Amit Shah made scathing remarks at the Opposition while addressing a rally in Mumbai on Friday organised on the occasion of BJP's Foundation day

Unmoved by the criticism from opposition parties, BJP president Amit Shah on Friday defended his comparison of the rival parties to "snakes", "mongoose", "dogs" and "cats" he made earlier in the day while addressing party cadres at the BJP foundation Day rally in Mumbai.

Defending his remarks which followed hours after the BJP event, he said, "All parties such as SP, BSP TMC, and Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, their ideologies do not match but the fear of Narendra Modi ji is bringing them together, and hence I used the example of snakes, mongooses, cats and dogs fearing the rising floods."

He also re-asserted that BJP has good equations with all its allies and that it will take them together in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

While congratulating lakhs of BJP workers across the nation, Shah in the rally at Mumbai Bandra-Kurla Complex on Friday morning had said, "Our party started with 10 members and today we have more than 11 crore members. Now we are the largest political party in India. BJP has sacrificed the highest number of workers in the history of India's democracy, I pay homage to all the workers. Bharatiya Janata Party has succeeded in creating an organisational, patriotic and good governing party in its journey of years." He added that the people of this country have immense faith in BJP and that they will form government again in 2019 with a bigger margin under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However what made headlines were his stinging comments against the Opposition parties by referring to them as "snakes", "mongoose", "dogs" and "cats". To counter the Narendra Modi wave in the country, snakes, cats, and mongooses have all come together to fight a united battle against us in elections, the BJP president had said.

He also took a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi by saying, Rahul Gandhi seeks a report of our work in four years. I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that the people of this country seek the report of their work in four generations. When we lost two Lok Sabha seats recently and Rahul Gandhi distributed sweets. He is the first leader I've seen who would do this. Today, 20 states are ruled by BJP. This is a thing of joy for the party."

In the press conference, Shah accused the Opposition of not allowing the Budget session of Parliament to function. "Budget Session washed out because of Opposition. We were ready to address all issues in the Parliament. It was the Opposition that disrupted the proceedings. Ghulam Nabi Azad, you fix the stage and we'll be up for debate. We have nothing to hide."

The BJP chief further asserted that the Modi government will neither scrap the reservation policy nor allow anyone else to do so. His statement comes amid a raging controversy related to the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act following a Supreme Court ruling. During his speech, he insisted that the Modi government had done a lot for all sections of society and that the BJP will seek to win the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on the basis of work done rather than by making "hollow assurances". "Rahul Gandhi and others are saying that we are demolishing reservation for SCs and STs. We are in no way demolishing the reservation policy," He went on to add, "Rahul and (NCP chief Sharad) Pawar, listen. BJP will never end the reservation policy. And even if you want to end the reservation, BJP will never allow it."
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had already announced that his party will fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections alone.

Mumbai: In an attempt to keep its alliance partner Shiv Sena in good humour, BJP president Amit Shah on Friday hoped that the party continues to remain part of the NDA.

"Its our heartiest wish that Shiv Sena stays together with us. Shiv Sena is part of NDA at the Centre and the Devendra Fadnavis government Maharashtra as well," he said while addressing a press conference hours after the mega rally on the occasion of BJP's 38th Foundation Day at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had already announced that his party will fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections alone. With Shah seeking to woo the Shiv Sena, it may be assumed that the BJP needs Shiv Sena in the coming General Elections which are scheduled to take place in the earlier half of 2019.

Shah exuded confidence that his party would continue to remain in power after the Lok Sabha elections next year.

"We will retain power in 2019 at the Center and as well as in Maharashtra later. The BJP-led NDA government will come to power with a bigger majority and the Narendra Modi wave will be seen once again in 2019," he said.

Shah said that the NDA has gained more alliance partners since 2014.

The BJP president, however, denied any rift within the party.

"The Opposition has created an environment by spreading lies that we are against SC/ST, tribals and backward class. That's why on 14 April on the occasion of BR Ambedkar's birthday the party cadres will visit 20,000 villages across the country and will spend the day with the residents there," Shah said.

The BJP president was not alone who tried to be in the good books of the Shiv Sena. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also did his bit to restore the almost acrimonious relationship between the two parties to normalcy. The chief minister recalled the contribution made by Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray towards Hindutva while paying homage to BJP leaders who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the party.

Although both the parties share the burden of governance both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena's decision to fight the forthcoming Lok Sabha alone has sent some chill down the BJP spine.
Amit Shah's Panchsheel enunciated on BJP's foundation day is full of rhetoric, prediction based on selective facts, self-adulation and low standard political discourse.

Amit Shah's Panchsheel enunciated on Friday on BJP's foundation day is full of rhetoric, prediction based upon selective facts, self-adulation and low standard political discourse.

The BJP president's comparison of opposition parties to animals like dogs and cats is unbecoming of his stature. "During a flood, all the rats, dogs, cheetah, mongoose and cats climb on board a floating log to save themselves from the flood. However they will not be safe from the Modi flood which will sweep them away," Shah said at a mega rally in Mumbai. History tells us that political fortunes have a tendency to oscillate. The BJP itself grew from mere two seats to win the majority on its own.

The party that rules the nation and 20 states should have displayed some amount of humility. Such a brazen display of arrogance is uncalled for in a democracy and can even prove to be self-destructive. The history of Congress party itself is a vindication of this.

Shah describing united opposition as a potpourri of parties without any ideological commonality holds true even for NDA. The BJP chief said that all parties such as SP, BSP TMC, and Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, their ideologies do not match but the fear of Narendra Modi is bringing them together. But, this is not unusual in India.

During the hay days of Congress, then opposition parties got united on blind anti-Congressism. Shah's remarks are true. But, he should explain to the nation what is the commonality between BJP and its allies. The only party with which the saffron party has an ideological convergence, the Shiv Sena already declared that it would independently contest in 2019. The ideologically divergent parties like BJP and the PDP share power in Jammu and Kashmir.

While the BJP calls for abrogation of Article 370 that accords autonomy for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the PDP wants the state to be given maximum autonomy. Similarly, the BJP allied with Indigenous people front of Tripura (IPFT) though both these parties have diametrically opposite views on the formation of separate state of Tipraland. Yet, both these parties came together to defeat CPM.

In fact, all these 'rats, cats, dogs, mongoose' etc. were a part of BJP led NDA in the past. The parties which Shah named like TMC, TDP, SP etc. have allied with BJP in the past. The BJP chief is expected to be conversant with the history of Indian politics or at least the history of his own party.

Notwithstanding reverses in its strongholds like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, his assertion that BJP would win with bigger margin is purely in the realm of speculation. The series of electoral reverses in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and even Gujarat cannot in anyway be compensated by small gains in the tiny states of North East India. The BJP cannot dismiss these electoral reverses as insignificant though they are by-elections.

His criticism on the opposition for parliamentary disruption is selective perception as Shah is oblivious to the fact that the government has a responsibility to run the house. The AIADMK which refused to support no-confidence motion was instrumental in ensuring that the house will not be in order so that the BJP led NDA would escape the no-trust debate. Can this happen without BJP's karseva? In fact, it is the responsibility of the government and the Speaker to keep the house in order.

The Constitution accords sweeping powers to the presiding officer and the house to ensure order. The Supreme Court in Raja Rampal case has even said that a member can even be expelled to ensure order in the house. Even the courts cannot review the decision of the Speaker unless it is a case of substantial illegality. The UPA government has ensured the passage of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation bill by suspending its own members. But, now, NDA government has not shown any initiative to resolve the impasse. Thus blaming it on the opposition does not cut ice with the people.

His claims on relations with allies are unfounded given the Shiv Sena's revolt and Akali Dal sulking, TDP estranging. In fact, allies like the PDP and even the smaller allies in Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala are uncomfortable with the big brother.

Shah's jibe at opposition is, therefore, distasteful and disdainful. The BJP which is in power in most of the states in the country should have fought the elections with much more decent discourse. The saffron party is known for fighting elections with animal spirits. But, such an animals analogy only reveals its desperation as critics observe.

The writer is former MLC in Telangana, former editor, The Hans India and Professor, Journalism, Osmania University.
BJP president Amit Shah, speaking at the party's 38th foundation day in Mumbai on Friday, gave a war cry for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

It is unusual for the president of the ruling party at the Centre to hold a massive convention of party workers at a megapolis, far from the national capital, and give a war cry for parliamentary elections to be held a year later. This is more so when the immediate attention is on Assembly elections lined up in the next seven months.

But then, Amit Shah is known to start preparing for elections, whether at the Centre or states, much ahead of his rivals. The BJPs 38th foundation day gave an opportunity to hold a massive workers' conclave in Mumbai and sound the bugle for the Lok Sabha elections. It was here that the party was launched 38 years ago, after separating from the Janata Party.

The BJP chief, during his speech, repeatedly told party workers to start a door-to-door campaign not on the basis of slogans and empty promises, but on the basis of governance." He also urged workers to ensure that the BJP returns with a full majority government at the Centre as well as in Maharashtra.

Shah's speech, as well as the ongoing brainstorming within the BJP on simultaneous polls, gives an indication that the Maharashtra polls may be advanced from October 2019 to April-May 2019, to be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections. Elections may also be advanced in two other states ruled by the party, namely Haryana and Jharkhand, where elections are due towards the end of 2019. As per the current schedule, five states  Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim  would go to polls along with the Lok Sabha election.

The BJP chief's address was aimed at boosting the morale of party workers, who may be slightly confused over attacks on the party from various social and political quarters. Shah mentioned the list of the party's electoral and other achievements, including snatching 11 states from the Congress. However, after this, Shah said that the golden period of the BJP is yet to come. "Our golden period will come when we win Odisha and West Bengal, and the BJP gets another full majority in 2019.

Significantly, Shah also spoke at length about the commitment of Narendra Modi and the BJP towards issues concerning Dalits. Historically, Maharashtra has been a hub of Dalit activism, and so, it was important for the BJP to address the concerns of the community in the state. This was also important as one of Maharashtra's neighbouring states is Karnataka, where an election campaign is going on. Shah accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of lying and claiming that the SC/ST Atrocities Act is being abolished. He also asserted that the BJP would never take away reservations given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and would not allow the Congress to do so if it were to come to power. A day earlier, Shah had tweeted:

Lies and only Lies! See how @RahulGandhi fictitiously revokes the SC/ST Act to incite hatred in society. pic.twitter.com/4vcnM0zltM  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 5, 2018

Two days ago, at a function in Delhi, Modi had said that his government had done more than any other dispensation to work for the betterment of the Dalit community and to honour its icon Dr BR Ambedkar. He also lavished praise on another community icon, the late Congress leader Babu Jagjivan Ram, posting a small video in his memory on Twitter. Modi and Shah's comments have political implications, as they come in the aftermath of the Bharat Bandh, which saw vociferous protests by the Dalit community. While the BJP has been celebrating its foundation day for the past 38 years, the celebrations were earlier confined to party headquarters, whether in Delhi or in other states. This time, the celebrations were on a much larger scale. While Amit Shah addressed a massive workers' conclave, the prime minister directly interacted with 734 district party presidents and other workers through the Narendra Modi app. These were in the parliamentary constituencies of MPs Poonam Mahajan (north-central Mumbai), Meenakshi Lekhi (New Delhi), Manoj Tiwari (north-east Delhi), Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur) and Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Saran). Sources in the BJP said that such a two-way interaction with workers, through the use of modern technology, can be used to engage booth-level workers in the run-up to the parliamentary election. Earlier on Friday, Modi had tweeted:
The Budget session of Parliament, which ended on Friday, was the least productive since the year 2000, a legislative research body has said

New Delhi: The Budget session of Parliament, which ended on Friday, was the least productive since the year 2000, a legislative research body has said.

The ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have blamed each other for the impasse during the session which saw daily disruptions in both the Houses.

According to data provided by Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar, the productivity of the Lok Sabha (LS) was 134 percent, and that of the Rajya Sabha (RS) around 96 percent during the brief Part I of session. The Part I of the session had seven LS and eight RS sittings.

But Part II of the session which began from 5 March saw productivity taking a nose dive due to daily disruptions and adjournments. The productivity of the LS was 4 percent and that of the RS 8 percent, the minister said.

"The productivity of the complete Budget session was 23 percent for the LS and 28 percent for the RS," he said.

According to PRS Legislative Research, "this was the least productive Budget session for both Houses since 2000".

According to PRS data, during the session, on an average, Lok Sabha worked for 21 percent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha worked for 27 percent.

So far in the 16th (the present) Lok Sabha, the average productivity of Lok Sabha is 85 percent, and that of Rajya Sabha is 68 percent.

Former Lok Sabha Secretary General PDT Acharya said the productivity of the just-ended session reminds him of the Winter session of 2010 when the 2G scam led to its complete washout.

The protests by the BJP and other parties had rocked Parliament after the CAG reported on the alleged 2G scam.

The LS and the RS could utilise only 6 percent and 2 percent of their allotted time.

But the UPA government, in a bid to avoid another washout, agreed to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam in the 2011 Budget session.

Acharya said as the leader of the House, the prime minister has the authority to ensure that the House functions.

He was of the view that Parliament "can function if the government wants".

"Disruptions for a couple of days is alright, but legislations have to be passed...disruptions should not happen daily," he said.

He recalled that India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru used to reach out to the Opposition leaders and was present in the Lok Sabha every day.

Several MPs gave notices to move no-confidence motion in the LS against the government. However, due to disruptions caused by members raising various issues such as PNB scam, special status for Andhra Pradesh and Cauvery water dispute, it could not be admitted.

This was the first time a notice to move a no-confidence motion was given in the 16th Lok Sabha.

"A no-confidence motion was also moved in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2013 but was not discussed. In the 14th Lok Sabha, a no-confidence motion was converted to a confidence vote, which the government had won," said PRS Legislative Research.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has attempted to stitch a federal front consisting of regional players. However, this is fraught with risks.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Raos attempt to stitch a federal front consisting of regional players also led him to give the assurance that he will play an active role in the state even after the 2019 elections. However, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi chiefs confidence is fraught with problems and his path to South Block full of pitfalls.

A number of factors may queer KCR's pitch, including a change in equation after the formation of Telangana, lack of unity among regional parties, turf wars between parties within same states, water conflicts between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over Krishna and Godavari, between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on Cauvery, and border disputes with Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The demand for special category status for Andhra Pradesh is a classic example of regional parties demonstrating conflicting interests. After Chandrababu Naidus Telugu Desam Party (TDP) walked out of the BJP-led NDA over the issue, KCR was expected to pilot the no-confidence motion in Parliament in defence of the sibling state to portray himself as vanguard of the so-called federal front. Instead, his fellow TRS members have been accused of working at cross-purposes in the Parliament.

Similarly, Tamil Nadus AIADMK, whose non-stop protests over the Centres reluctance to set up a Cauvery Water Management Board in view of elections in neighbouring Karnataka, has become a roadblock to the Oppositions attempt to introduce the no-trust motion. So where is the unity?

KCR's dream to lead third front far-fetched

In Andhra Pradesh, the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the opposition YSR Congress have been engaged in power battles on the common issue of special category status for the state, instead of putting up a unified fight against the Centre. In fact, both chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and leader of Opposition YS Jagan Mohan Reddy have competed with each other to curry favours from the BJP-led dispensation.

In the 2014 general election, Naidu, whose party won 16 seats, forced rival Jagan Mohan Reddy to miss the bus by striking a post-poll deal with BJP. But Reddy too has expressed an inclination to align with the saffron party, hoping for a breather from cases relating to acquisition of illicit wealth, in which he is attending court trials once in a week. For that matter, KCR too pursued politics of convenience by sailing with the Congress-led UPA until his separate statehood demand was achieved, and then opted to be a non-NDA ally in 2014.

Andhra Pradesh was created in 1956 when the princely state of Hyderabad was merged with all Telugu speaking areas. The long-drawn movement in Telangana challenging Andhra Pradeshs hegemony culminated in the bifurcation of the state in 2014.

Due to this, Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha seats, while Telangana has 17 seats. The undivided state of Andhra Pradesh had 42 seats earlier, equal to West Bengal's share and next only to Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The present numbers do not favour either KCR or Naidu to play a lead role in national politics. With this poor bargaining power, KCRs positioning as a mascot of regional parties at the national level and leading larger states like Uttar Pradesh is a far-fetched dream.

With just 25 seats in his states kitty, Chandrababu Naidu, a leader with a national stature, prefers to lend his ear to ground realities. Around the time of KCRs federal front pitch, Naidu told a TV channel he had to decline the offer of the prime ministers post in the past due to the inherent problems hampering the ecosystem of regional parties. Opposition parties are still trying to get the TDP into the club.

Front without Congress road to a 'khichdi' government?

The angst among regional parties can be understood from the manner in which the Modi dispensation worked against the spirit of cooperative federalism. Unfair sharing of funds among states through the 15th Finance Commission has provided fresh breeding ground for the creation of a third front. But regional parties are badly in need of a leadership with a pan-India appeal for making the front a viable option with a common agenda.

Janata Dal (S) leader HD Deve Gowda, who served as a prime minister for less than a year, has not been able to play an active role. His son and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy held on to power with the help of the BJP, but failed to grow beyond his state. In Tamil Nadu, all players are struggling to fill the vacuum caused by Jayalalithaas death.

Syam Kishore, general secretary of the BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit, dismisses the third front, saying it was only born out of the leadership tussle between Naidu and KCR at the national level. When Naidu was trying to script his exit from the NDA to position himself in national politics, KCR pre-empted him by floating a federal front. It will not affect the NDA in any manner, he says.

While KCR may not be able to bell the cat, hopes are being pinned on West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, who has met leaders from across party lines, like TRS, TDP, Biju Janata Dal, Karunanidhis DMK, Lalu Prasads RJD and even the Shiv Sena, in a bid to keep the momentum alive.

Senior Congress leader and former union minister JD Seelam recalls the past failed experiments of regional parties which led the national front and the united front khichdi governments with no stability. Such moves, without the involvement of the Congress, cannot combat the BJPs onslaught on the federal spirit and pluralistic fabric of the country. The federal front without national parties is just like a train without engine, he says.

While Mamatas meetings with Samajwadi Partys Akhilesh Yadav and BSPs Mayawati may hold the key, it remains to be seen how strong the positioning of a federal front will be.

(Nagaraja Gali is a Vijayawada-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters)
As the campaign for Karnataka Assembly election gathers pace, both the BJP and Congress are expected to release the first list of their candidates by 11 April.

As the campaign for the Karnataka Assembly election gathers pace, both the BJP and Congress are expected to release their first list of candidates by next week, according to media reports.

The Economic Times reported that both the parties are expected to bring out their first list by 11 April. The Congress has completed two rounds of discussions  one for the seats that it did not win in 2013 and the second for the 122 that it did, the report further said.

Meanwhile, Muralidhar Rao, BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka, was also quoted in the report as saying, "We will release the first list in the next four days. The second list will be released after that."

The Hindu had reported that the BJP's first list is expected to have 140 names. Sources told the newspaper that most of the incumbent MLAs are likely to get tickets to contest the forthcoming elections. "At the most, two to three sitting MLAs may miss out on tickets," a prominent leader was quoted as saying in the report.

Congress leader G Parameshwara had earlier told PTI that the party would announce its candidates for all the 224 Assembly seats in the state in a "single phase" by 15 April.

Karnataka is slated to go to polls on 12 May, while counting of votes will take place on 15 May.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has asserted that he will be contesting from the Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru, amidst reports that it will not be an easy battle for him in the 12 May polls. There were also reports about Siddaramaiah looking for more than one constituency for contesting following demands from Congress workers in northern districts.

Siddaramaiah had declared that he will be contesting from Chamundeshwari, the constituency that gave him "political birth".

However, reports suggest that a section of local party leaders have warned Siddaramaiah that the contest would not be easy for him in Chamundeshwari.

Speculation is rife that the chief minister, who has already indicated that the 2018 Assembly polls could "most likely" be his last election, is keen on fielding his son Yatindra from Varuna.

Reports also suggest that BJP chief ministerial candidate Yeddyurappa's son BY Vijayendra will be pitted against Yatindra.

With inputs from PTI
The second leg of the Budget Session of Parliament headed for a complete washout on Thursday, with the penultimate day witnessing adjournment.

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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

Latest updates: The Rajya Sabha was adjourned soon after Chairman Venkaiah Naidu reminded the MPs of their duties. The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die as Speaker Sumitra Mahajan reminded the members that the House was a platform for raising issues for the welfare of the people.

MPs from various Opposition parties were seen protesting outside the Parliament on Friday before both Houses convened on the final day of the second leg of the Budget Session. While Congress MPs were seen protesting with placards that read "We oppose constitution of Cauvery Management Board", Punjab Congress MPs were protesting demanding farm loan waiver.

Meanwhile, TDP MPs were seen demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh, dressed in yellow.

The second leg of the Budget Session of Parliament headed for a complete washout on Thursday, with the penultimate day witnessing adjournment of both the Houses without transacting any legislative business due to continued protests by the Opposition parties.

The second half of the session, which began on 5 March, has been a washout with no legislative business being transacted as yet, barring the crucial Finance Bill by Lok Sabha.

The Congress and BJP members traded charges in the Lok Sabha over the near washout of the session as noisy protests by AIADMK members seeking setting up of the Cauvery water management board saw the House being adjourned for the day.

The proceedings in the Rajya Sabha too witnessed uproarious scenes when it met on Thursday morning, leading to the first adjournment till 2 pm. Thereafter, the continued ruckus forced the House to be adjourned for another 15 minutes and then for the day.

The heated exchanges between the government and the Opposition in the Lok Sabha also saw Congress leader Sonia Gandhi being agitated over certain names being taken by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar holding them and her party responsible for the disruptions in the House.

The names mentioned by Kumar were expunged by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

The House, as in the past in this session, saw AIADMK members trooping into the Well and raising slogans. This led the Speaker to adjourn the House till noon.

At noon, even before the House re-assembled, the AIADMK members were again in the Well raising slogans such as 'we want justice' and 'we demand Cauvery board'.

After the listed papers were laid, Congress, NCP, Left, TDP and RJD members stood at their seats seeking the Speaker's ruling on the notices they had given on the no-confidence motion, moved by some of them.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the entire Opposition was ready for a discussion on the no-confidence motion, besides seeking debates on alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act by the Supreme Court and the banking involving diamantaire Nirav Modi.

"We are ready for discussion. Kindly allow us to move the no-confidence motion to discuss various issues," Kharge said.

Countering him, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government was ready for a debate but the Congress and some of its leaders were against the debate.

His remarks angered the Congress members who strongly protested saying it was the government which was running away from the debate.

An agitated Sonia Gandhi and other Congress members strongly objected when the minister took names of a few party leaders alleging they were trying to stall the debate.

At this, the Speaker intervened and ruled that no names should come on record of the proceedings.

With AIADMK MPs continuing sloganeering, Mahanaj said she cannot take up notices on the no-confidence motion till the House is in order. But as the noisy protest continued, she adjourned the House for the day.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition parties continued to stall proceedings on Thursday, forcing an adjournment till 2 pm within about 10 minutes after it had met for the day.

While DMK and AIADMK protested over the Cauvery issue and MPs from Andhra demanded special status for the state, TMC members charged the government with misleading the House on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill.

With inputs from agencies
TDP MPs on Friday again held protests for special category status for Andhra Pradesh inside Parliament even after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die

New Delhi: TDP MPs on Friday again held protests for special category status for Andhra Pradesh inside Parliament even after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die.

The party's MPs, including those from the Rajya Sabha, held the protests inside Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's chamber as the party's no-confidence notice against the government was not taken up for discussion.

The House was unable to take up notices for no-confidence motion against the government.

High drama was witnessed in the Central Hall of Parliament as well as in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday when Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs protested for the status to Andhra Pradesh.

TDP president Chandrababu Naidu had in a tele-conferencing this morning had asked the party's MPs to intensify their protest here on the issue.

The TDP members in the Upper House refused to leave the chamber even after the House was adjourned for the day around 2.30 pm, later they were all marshalled out around 8.15 pm.
The panchayat election in West Bengal  scheduled for 1, 3 and 5 May  were never expected to be a peaceful affair, and so it has proved, with violent clashes breaking out with about a month to go and the graph rising.

The panchayat election in West Bengal  scheduled for 1, 3 and 5 May  were never expected to be a peaceful affair, and so it has proved, with violent clashes breaking out with about a month to go and the graph rising. Its not only the violence that is attracting censure, issues like timing and deployment of forces, too, are in the mix.

The first fatality was reported earlier this week, a couple of days after the schedule was announced by the State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday. On Tuesday, a Trinamool Congress supporter was killed in Malda district when he was caught, according to reports, in the crossfire between two factions of the states ruling party. The next day, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate was chased and killed, allegedly in a bomb attack carried out by Trinamool workers in Uttar Dinajpur district.

There were a rash of clashes in Murshidabad district, where the Congress alleged their nominees were not allowed to file their papers; in West Burdwan, the BJP was accused of mounting attacks on Trinamool candidates; and in North 24 Parganas district BJP workers were said to have been attacked by ruling party cadres. And on Thursday, incidents of violence were reported from Birbhum district, where former CPI-M MP Ramachandra Dom was struck on the head by a missile; and Uttar Dinajpur, where BJP workers allegedly ransacked a block office.

We have, at present, no reason to believe that things will quieten down, especially given the fact that though the Trinamool Congress appears to be flexing its muscles the most, BJP workers have also been guilty of orchestrating acts of violence. It has been reported that the leadership of the ruling party does not want to countenance intimidation and violence and that orders to exercise restraint are being issued. It believes the Trinamool Congress will win anyway, without recourse to such tactics. The problem is that some local units, which feel they are under pressure, are autonomously resorting to intimidation to secure their victories.

It is against this backdrop that the Congress has filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court for the deployment of central forces, with the possibility that the BJP could follow suit not ruled out. The SEC has also written to the government to the government desiring the deployment of central forces, after a meeting between the state election commissioner and the governor, who has independently recorded a similar plea.

The BJP has also moved the Supreme Court seeking a postponement of the deadline for filing nominations and perhaps will bring into the ambit of the plea the question of force deployment. But given that the deadline is Monday, 9 April, and that the Supreme Court has not scheduled a hearing yet, the deadline seems to be a fait accompli. The high court will hear the Congress's petition on Friday. Despite its protestations, the state government may have to accede to the demand for the deployment of central forces given the SECs position that the state forces designated for the elections are inadequate, but it is equally possible that by the time that happens, their intervention may prove irrelevant.

Politically, however, it must be said that the decision to hold the elections in May rather than in, say, July has caught the opposition off guard. It is a legitimate ploy. If anything, opposition parties should have begun preparations anticipating such a move. If the union government decides to hold the Lok Sabha elections earlier than now anticipated, the same argument would apply.

As for the violence and intimidation, there are several points that need to be made: one, it is inexcusable; two, it was foreseen and that is how panchayat elections have been held ever since their inception after the passage of the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1992; and, three, both the ruling party and the BJP are responsible for instigating and carrying out attacks of various kinds.

Though the incidence of violence is neither surprising nor wholly unilateral, it is a potent argument for the deployment of central forces, which would not infringe any federal principle. The Trinamool leadership should, thus, set the process in motion, especially if it feels that the ruling party will win more than comfortably in any case.

The question arising from this is: Does the Trinamool Congress have doubts about its popularity and strength? Or is it just stalling, perversely, to make the point that it will not be dictated to. Neither makes sense, given that the ruling party should actually win handsomely. The opposition is in disarray: the Congress exists in only two districts; the CPI-Ms organizational machine is in tatters and the popular support it can expect doesnt amount to much; and, the BJP, despite making some gains, is still far behind the ruling party, especially in the rural hinterlands.
A former CPM MP was injured as fresh clashes between West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition parties were reported on Thursday

Kolkata: A former CPM MP was injured as fresh clashes between West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition parties were reported on Thursday over filing of nominations for next month's panchayat (rural local bodies) polls.

Former Lok Sabha member Ram Chandra Dome was attacked allegedly by Trinamool Congress activists when he was leading a procession of party candidates to file nominations in Nalhati in Birbhum district.

However, the Trinamoool denied the allegations and accused the Communist Party of India-Marxist of trying to disturb peace by taking out rallies where participants carried bows and arrows.

In footage broadcast by television channels, some participants in the procession led by Dome were seen carrying bows and arrows as they marched to the local administrative office to file nominations.

In a tweet, CPIM State Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said "a Central committee member and former MP Ramchandra Dome was brutally attacked by TMC hoodlums. Left activists have resisted the attack and have entered the office to submit nomination in Nalhati, Birbhum."

He said: "It is no more capturing of polling booths, WB panchayat election starts with capturing the BDO and SDOs' office. Statewide attack on opposition not to allow filing nomination."

He called upon the people to "protest and resist" everywhere.

Taking a swipe at Trinamool's Birbhum district President Anubrata Mondal, Dome  with his head bandaged  said: "Trinamool imported the politics with arms and ammunition at Nalhati and they have planned to expand the Anubrata-model here at Nalhati. The attack was organised by the Trinamool-backed hooligans."

About the processionists carrying bows and arrows, Dome said: "It is the tradition of adivasis (tribals) here."

State Minister and Trinamool's Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said: "In various districts, some people carrying arms and CPM flags were trying to disturb peace."

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anuj Sharma said: "There was no need to carry bows and arrorws while going to file nominations. And carrying arms in such political processions is not part of any tradition. We are looking into what kind of legal action can be taken regarding this incident."

Elsewhere, there were reports of clash between Trinamool and CPI-M workers at Mayureshwar in Birbhum district after the Marxist candidates went in a group to file their nominations. After the violence, they however returned without filing papers.

Eight Trinamool workers were allegedly injured in a clash with Congress activists at Hariharpara in Murshidabad district. Later, police claimed to have seized weapons from the area Congress office.

Sharma said additional forces were being rushed to the violence-hit districts.

"In some of the affected districts like Bibhum, Purulia, Bankura and South 24 Parganas, we have already sent additional forces to further strengthen security. We will send more forces. We are doing an assessment," said Sharma.

The BJP state unit has already approached the Supreme Court for intervention for the protection of its candidates so that they could file nomination for the three-phase polls on 1, 3 and 5 May.

On the other hand, state Congress President Adhir Chowdhury has moved the Calcutta High Court to seek deployment of central forces for the polls.

A Trinamool delegation comprising senior Ministers and party functionaries called on Governor KN Tripathi at the Raj Bhavan and State Election Commissioner Amarendra Kumar Singh at his office and accused the opposition parties of indulging in falsehood and hatching conspiracies to defame the state.

"In many areas, the opposition parties have filed more nominations that the Trinamool. The BJP itself has fielded more candidates than us in several areas," said Trinamool Secretary General and senior Minister Partha Chatterjee.
YSR Congress leaders on Friday threatened to go on a hunger strike at Andhra Bhawan in New Delhi.

YSR Congress leaders on Friday threatened to go on a hunger strike at Andhra Bhawan in New Delhi, after five of their leaders submitted their resignation letters to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over their demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh.

#BREAKING -- After submitting resignations, now YSR Congress threatens to go on a hunger strike at Andhra Bhawan in Delhi | @tweetsakshi with more details #TDPvsCentre pic.twitter.com/W9g1rtgBqU  News18 (@CNNnews18) April 6, 2018

YSR Congress also said its leaders will go on relay hunger strike across Andhra Pradesh.

The five MPs who resigned from Lok Sabha are Vara Prasad Rao V, YV Subba Reddy, PV Midhun Reddy, YS Avinash Reddy and the party floor leader Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy.

The MPs met the speaker in her chamber and submitted their letters.

"I hereby tender my resignation of my seat in the house with immediate effect," said one of the letters.

"We do as we say! YSRCP MPs are submitting their resignations today! Challenge N Chandrababu Naidu to make TDP MPs resign and stand united with the people of AP in their rightful demand of special category status for AP," YSRCP leader Jagan Mohan Reddy said in a tweet.

The MPs had said in a press conference yesterday that they were resigning to protest the "failure" of the NDA government to grant special category status to Andhra Pradesh.

They said they were also upset as their notice for a no-confidence motion against the NDA government on the issue could not be taken up for discussion in the House due to continuous disruptions.

Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced in February that the party's five MPs would resign if its demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh was not fulfilled by the Centre.

With inputs from PTI
Asheeta Regidi

On Day 25 of the Aadhaar hearing, the Attorney General continued his arguments that Aadhaar met the test of proportionality.

The Attorney General argued that the Aadhaar regime had to be assessed based on what it was, and not on hypothetically what it could be. Further, the invasion of privacy was minimal. The Bench also pointed to certain gaps in the Attorney Generals arguments  that meeting the legitimate state interest requirement did not imply meeting the proportionality requirement, that Aadhaar could not prevent bank frauds or prevent terrorists from using mobile phones.

Constitutionality cannot be weighed against dramatic Hollywood fantasies

First, the Attorney General continued his argument that Aadhaar did meet the test of proportionality as emphasised in the Puttaswamy judgment. The Attorney General commenced with citing the 2012 American case of Haskell v. Harris (see Page 261), which dealt with the collection of DNA of arrested persons. The Bench here cautioned the Attorney General that this case had limited applicability to Aadhaar, since, unlike Aadhaar, it dealt with arrested persons.

The Attorney General read out portions of the judgment  here, the Court agreed that hypothetically, it was possible that the government expands the legislative scope of DNA collection in the future, or that rogue government employees could record and analyse more extensive DNA information than was permitted. However, the constitutionality of the current regime could not be weighed by arguing on hypothetical and speculative actions, which would undeniably constitute violations had they been in effect. The Courts job, they had said, is to resolve the constitutionality of the current regime as it is designed and implemented, and not based on dramatic Hollywood fantasies.

The Bench, here, reiterated that the issue with the collection of biometrics under the Aadhaar regime was that the UIDAI had the power to define biometric information under the Aadhaar Act (Section 2(g)). This, they said, indicates a failure to meet proportionality requirements.

Finger-imaging is 99.9 percent accurate

Next, to support the choice of fingerprinting as an authentication technology, the Attorney General quoted portions of James Killerlanes article on Finger Imaging: A 21st Century Solution to Welfare Fraud at our Fingertips. This article asserted that finger imaging technology is 99.9 percent accurate. He argued that biometrics was a safe and accurate technology, which could solve issues like money laundering, bank frauds, income tax evasion, etc.

Aadhaar cannot prevent bank frauds

To this, the Bench pointed out that bank frauds werent caused because of multiple identities. Aadhaar, they said, could not prevent bank frauds. Nothing in the Aadhaar Act prevented an individual from operating a layer of commercial entities to carry out a chain of transactions. At best, it may provide benefits as per Section 7 (receipt of subsidies, benefits, etc. via Aadhaar). Further, the Bench asserted that Aadhaar meeting the requirement of a legitimate state interest did not prove that it also met the test of proportionality. This, they stated, was a gap in the Attorney Generals argument.

Do terrorists apply for SIM cards?

Next, the Bench questioned how far the net of Aadhaar could be cast. Section 7, they said, appears to be understandable. Beyond this, it cannot be assumed that an entire population consists of defaulters and violators. Further, the Bench questioned the reasoning behind linking mobile numbers to SIM cards. On the Attorney Generals response that this will curb terrorism, they asserted that while terrorists might use SIM cards, what was the likelihood of them applying for SIM cards. The Bench asserted that linking of an entire populations SIM cards was an issue.

Invasion of privacy is minimal

The Attorney General continued his arguments, arguing that Aadhaar only conducted the most minimal invasion of privacy. Aadhaar, he stated, was required only for Section 7 benefits, banks, income tax and mobile numbers. Apart from this, he asserted that it was purely voluntary. Next, he argued that the right to food, right to employment, right to medical care, and so on trumped the right to privacy. The right to privacy, he argued, could not be invoked to deprive other sections of society.

Need for balancing interests

Arguing that competing interests needed to be balanced, he cited the famous case of X v. Hospital Z. Here, an HIV positive patients right to non-disclosure of his identity and information by the hospital was held to be outweighed by his fiances right to know about his condition.

The Bench pointed out that this was a case of balancing competing rights, while in the case of Aadhaar, the state was offering a person food in exchange for his privacy. To this, the Attorney General argued that all that was taken was the bare minimum information needed and to the extent permitted by the technology. To this, the Bench stated that what constitutes minimal invasion was subjective, and varied from person to person.

Voluntary Aadhaar implies informed consent

The Bench further asserted that there were three factors that were essential  informed consent, purpose limitation and security. To this, the Attorney General asserted that the CIDR is completely safe. Further, he argued that when Aadhaar was rolled out, it was completely voluntary. This, he argued, removed any question of violation of rights and implied informed consent.

The Bench, here, asserted that the Attorney Generals arguments do not take into account the fact that during the early Aadhaar enrolments, there was no law, and hence no protection to the rights of the people. Neither was there any retrospective effect under the Act.

The Bench also questioned the collection of data by the state government, to which the Attorney General stated that the state governments were acting as the Central governments agents in the collection of the data.

Arguments will continue next Tuesday on 10 April.

Sources of Arguments include live-tweeting of the case by SFLC.in and Prasanna S. You can read out coverage of the Aadhaar Supreme Court case below.

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

Aadhaar hearing: UIDAIs presentation discusses Aadhaar enrolment, updation and authentication processes in detail

Aadhaar hearing: Supreme Court expresses concerns with data breaches, Aadhaar security and profiling

Aadhaar hearing: Petitioners question UIDAI on verification of residency requirement, de-duplication rejections and authentication failures

Aadhaar hearing: Attorney General argues that pervasive collection of fingerprints meets proportionality requirements

The author is a lawyer and author specializing in technology laws. She is also a certified information privacy professional.
Reuters

Australia on Thursday said it had begun an investigation to decide whether social media giant Facebook Inc breached its privacy laws, after the company confirmed data from 300,000 Australian users may have been used without authorization.

Personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, Facebook said on Wednesday, exceeding a media estimate of more than 50 million.

In a statement, Australias privacy commissioner, Angelene Falk, said her office would confer with regulatory authorities internationally, given the global nature of the matter.

A Facebook spokeswoman in Australia said the company would be fully responsive to the investigation and had recently updated some privacy settings. Facebooks chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, told reporters during a conference call that he accepted blame for the data leak.

Zuckerberg is due to testify about the matter next week during two U.S. congressional hearings, and the data breach has drawn criticism from lawmakers and regulators around the world.

London-based Cambridge Analytica, which has counted U.S. President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign among its clients, disputed Facebooks estimate of affected users.

It said in a tweet on Wednesday that it received no more than 30 million records from a researcher it hired to collect data about people on Facebook.

Australias investigation follows comments by New Zealands privacy commissioner last week that Facebook had broken laws in that country, a charge the company called disappointing.

Australias competition regulator is already investigating whether Facebook and Alphabet Incs Google had disrupted the news media to the detriment of publishers and consumers.
Reuters

A Brazilian judge has ordered that Facebook Inc pay 111.7 million reais ($33.4 million) for failing to cooperate with a corruption investigation, federal prosecutors said on Thursday, prompting Facebook to say it was exploring all legal options.

The judge fined Facebook for failing to give access in 2016 to WhatsApp messages exchanged by individuals under investigation for defrauding the healthcare system of Brazils Amazonas state, the prosecutors said in a statement.

In an emailed comment sent to Reuters, Facebook called the fine groundless. Facebook cooperates with law enforcement. In this particular case we have disclosed the data required by applicable law, the statement said. We understand this fine lacks grounds, and are exploring all legal options at our disposal.

According to federal police, a Brazilian judge ordered in April 2016 that Facebook give authorities access to the WhatsApp messages in question.

The fine amounted to 1 million reais plus interest for every day Facebook did not comply with the order, beginning when it took effect in mid-June 2016, and ending when the corruption investigation was made public that September, police said.

Through the probe known as Operacao Maus Caminhos, or Operation Bad Paths, federal police exposed the embezzlement of tens of millions of reais of public funds.
Reuters

Facebook is co-operating with Britains Information Commissioners Office (ICO) as it examines how 30 organizations have used personal data, but the ICO said on Thursday it was too early to say whether the social media giant had done enough.

On Wednesday, Facebook said the personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, more than previous estimates.

The ICO said it was looking at how data was collected from a third party app on Facebook and shared with Cambridge Analytica, as well as a broader investigation into how social media platforms have been used in political campaigning.

Facebook has been co-operating with us and, while I am pleased with the changes they are making, it is too early to say whether they are sufficient under the law, the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said in a statement.

As part of my investigation into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors, the ICO is investigating 30 organizations, including Facebook.

Britains digital and media minister Matt Hancock said he would meet Facebook next week to discuss the scandal. Facebook shares are down over 10 percent since it first disclosed the leak.

I expect Facebook to explain why they put the data of over a million of our citizens at risk, Hancock said in a tweet. This is completely unacceptable, and they must demonstrate this wont happen again.
Reuters

The Canadian federal agency charged with protecting privacy rights of individuals said on Thursday that it, along with its counterpart in British Columbia, will jointly investigate Facebook Inc and Canadian data firm AggregateIQ, over an ongoing data sharing scandal.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said the probes, which broaden two existing investigations, will look at whether the companies broke federal and provincial personal privacy rules.

Canadas privacy commissioner launched an investigation of Facebook in March after the New York Times and Londons Observer newspaper broke news of the use of Facebook data by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook Canada said on Wednesday that more than 600,000 Canadians had their data improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.

British Columbias privacy commissioner was separately investigating AggregateIQ over whether the Victoria-based company had broken provincial personal privacy rules for its role in the Brexit campaign. The two agencies will now jointly investigate the companies, as they are subject to both federal and provincial personal privacy laws.
Reuters

International Business Machines Corp has joined a private, non-profit organization called Sovrin Foundation that is seeking to build a global decentralized identity system based on blockchain technology.

The blue-chip U.S. computing company will join the non-profit as a founding steward, dedicating hardware, security, and network capacity to help create a digital identity network for individuals and businesses, Sovrin foundation chair Phil Windley told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Other international IT firms are already taking part, led by Deutsche Telekoms research and innovation unit Telekom Innovation laboratories, Sovrin said.

The way we live and work online is quite different from the physical world, Windley said. By creating a global digital identity system, Sovrin is trying to make the online world as authentic and as interactive as the physical world.

Sovrins identity network uses distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, to enable the secure exchange of cryptographically-signed credentials to prove an owners digital identity information.

We believe that the adoption of blockchain is an opportunity for a new trust model to take hold where individuals and organizations can securely share private information and credentials without an intermediary, Marie Wieck, IBM Blockchain general manager, said in a statement.

IBM, which did not give a cost estimate for its contribution, has been active in participating in blockchain initiatives and is keen to remain at the forefront of developments in the fast-moving space.

The Sovrin network is currently running with limited capacity, but will be more widely available by mid-2018, Windley said. Sovrin said existing identity systems were flawed, with more than 2.9 billion records compromised from various security incidents across industries in 2017.

These damaging and costly security breaches are a consequence of the internet being developed without a true identity layer, Sovrin said. To solve this infrastructure flaw, the Sovrin network was purpose-built to add the missing identity layer to the internet.

The Sovrin network is based on emerging standards from the World Wide Web Consortium that standardizes the format of digitally-signed credentials.
tech2 News Staff

WhatsApp, one of the most popular cross-platform messaging and VoIP has long maintained a fundamental distance from its parent company Facebook.

The company emphasised its stand as details emerged about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. A stand that WhatsApp has maintained ever since the acquisition by Facebook.

The difference is that WhatsApp focuses on fact that it employs end-to-end encryption on the messaging and VoIP platform the ensure that the company cannot access the content of the conversations between two people. According to an in-depth article by Vivek Wadhwa, a distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Mellon University of Engineering at Silicon Valley, WhatsApp is not as secure as it claims to be.

He added that despite the end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp is vulnerable to scandals and data scraping attempts as the one done by Cambridge Analytica. According to report on VentureBeat, Wadhwa referred to a draft paper by a group of researchers from Switzerland clarifying that the vulnerability lies in the implementation of the WhatsApp groups. The draft paper talks about how anyone on the internet can get invite links of open WhatsApp groups and join them to check on all the new messages and phone numbers of the group members.

What is more worrying is the fact that people with enough skill-set can automate the group joining while using an old smartphone to gather all the information about the group in the local database. What is interesting to note here is that even though the database is encrypted, the key to unlocking the database is present in the RAM of the old smartphone and skilled individuals can easily use the key to unlock the local database and then access all the data posted on the group.

The authors of the research draft paper, Kiran Garimella from EPFL, Switzerland and Gareth Tyson from Queen Mary University, London joined some of the 2,000 groups that they found and showcased how easy it is for governments, marketers and hackers to join any group and get all the information.

Wadhwa also added examples where Chinese government sent human rights activist Zhang Guanghong to detention for criticising Chinas president, after it monitored a WhatsApp group of his friends. Here, it is likely that the government hacked Zhangs smartphone or had a spy in that group chat. He highlighted that anyone in control of the WhatsApp server can insert other people in a private WhatsApp group without any permission from the administrator, something that requires high-level hacking skills or the access available to the government of any particular country.

One thing to note here is that WhatsApp only allows up to 256 members in one group so the scope of surveillance is comparatively much smaller than Facebook or even Telegram supergroups.

However, the report added that WhatsApp needs to look at such serious flaws in its setup instead to merely distancing themselves from Facebook in such a situation else something like a #DeleteWhatsApp is not far off despite its co-founder expressing his support for #DeleteFacebook.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his concern over the situation in Kashmir and his call for protecting civilians.

United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated his concern over the situation in Kashmir and his call for protecting civilians.

"The Secretary General has expressed and will continue to express his concern at the situation," his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday in answer to a question about Kashmir at his daily briefing. "I think we spoke about the situation earlier in the week reminding all parties of the need to protect civilians."

He added that while he was not speaking specifically about Kashmir, "as a matter of principle, in any issue where there are differences to be bridged between member states, the good offices of the United Nations are available, but they only work if both parties require, ask for it and are open to it."

India has maintained that the disputes with Pakistan were bilateral issues that need to be sorted out directly by them without the involvement of third parties.

New Delhi holds that Pakistan has recognised this through the Simla Agreement of 1972 between former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then-president of Pakistan.

Unrest swept Kashmir this week after four civilians were killed during confrontations between security forces and terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Sunday. Three soldiers and 13 terrorists also died during Sunday's three separate gunfights.

In the protests that ensued, a young man was killed during street protests in Kangan on Monday and a police constable has been suspended in connection with the incident that is under investigation.

Along the Line of Control (LoC), an Indian soldier was killed, and four army personnel including a lieutenant were injured in Pakistani firing on Tuesday.
Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who arrived in India on Friday on a three-day state visit, was received by Union minister Rajnath Singh.

Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who arrived in India on Friday on a three-day state visit, was received by Union minister Rajnath Singh. He is slated to hold talks with the top Indian leadership to strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday evening ahead of the delegation-level talks on Saturday. Oli will also interact with the Nepalese community in Delhi on the first day of his visit.

Pacts related to agriculture, research and development, education and training, exploring the possibility of inland water navigation upto Indian ports from Nepal, and expansion of Indian rail upto Kathmandu from the countries' border have been agreed by the two sides, as IANS reported.

Oli is likely to take up various issues including the early execution of India funded projects in Nepal, implementation of the Mahakali Treaty and construction of integrated checkposts.

Some other issues to be discussed with India include agricultural modernisation of Nepal, increasing production and trade, connectivity, implementation of the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project and a postal highway among others, said Oli.

Oli's visit to India assumes greater significance as its two neighbours  India and China  vie for more influence in the country. With Kathmandu officially associating with China's ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) project, India's concerns seems to have risen.

As The Indian Express points out, "India is keenly aware that China's open chequebook policy has called into question its own tardy implementation of infrastructure projects."

India is expected to send a strong message to Nepal about its growing proximity with China during Oli's visit to India. A senior official told The Indian Express, "Modi's tough message to Kathmandu will be couched in the niceties of diplomatic prose, but there will be no denying 'Indias red lines'."

One such point of contention between India and China is the Budhi Gandaki project.

Budhi Gandaki project

Nepal, in November 2017, cancelled the 1200 mega-watt Budhi Gandaki hydropower project with a Chinese firm citing irregularities and lack of transparency. It was awarded to a Chinese company by the then government, headed by former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

However, Oli decided to revive the project and told This Week in Asia, "Political prejudice or pressure from rival companies may have been instrumental in the scrapping of the project. But for us, hydropower is the main focus and come what may, we will revive the Budhi Gandaki project."

Sources quoted in this The Indian Express report said that India can buy back a large chunk of power but on the condition that Indian public sector or private companies be involved in building dams in Nepal.

"You cant expect India to buy power from a Chinese-built project. Let Nepal take Chinese assistance to build those dams and let China buy back the power produced from there," the government official said.

Oli had previously said that he wants to deepen ties with China to get more leverage in his dealings with India "in keeping with the times".

Inauguration of the integrated check posts

The inauguration of integrated check posts (ICPs) located on the India-Nepal border is likely to be brought up during the talks of the two leaders, reported Hindustan Times.

ICPs are sanitised zones with dedicated passenger and cargo terminals and space for regulatory agencies besides necessary modern facilities under one roof. The officials added that discussions on the check posts will be held considering the diplomatic success they can produce for India vis-a-vis its relationship with Nepal in the backdrop of an aggressive posturing by China, the report added.

In 2005, Nepal and India signed an accord to build a string of checkposts near the border at Biratnagar, Birgunj, Bhairawa and Nepalgunj. In the first phase, ICPs were to be built in Birgunj of Nepal and Raxaul of India, and Biratnagar of Nepal and Jogbani of India. The Indian side has already completed the ICPs in Raxaul and Jogbani and the ICP of Raxaul has already come into operation, while the one at Jogbani will be operational soon. Meanwhile, the Nepali side has urged the Indian side to operationalise ICPs at both sides of border Raxaul and Birgunj simultaneously.

Nepal's trade deficit with India

In an interview with The Times of India, Oli said that Nepal's trade deficit with India is growing at an alarming rate. "This is not sustainable. We need to take concrete measures to address this situation," he added.

A review of the trade treaty might be one of the prominent issues that Oli discusses with his Indian counterpart. He had previously said that he will lay thrust on reducing the huge trade deficit with New Delhi.

"We need to work on both tariff and non-tariff measures and also on quarantine and testing related facilities for both agricultural and industrial products," he had told The TImes of India.

Oli told South China Morning Post that he wants to "update" relations with India "in keeping with the times" and favours a review of all special provisions of India-Nepal relations, including the long-established practice of Nepalese soldiers serving India's armed forces.

Nepal's foreign minister was also quoted as saying by Kathmandu Post that time has come to change the discourse that Nepal is merely a recipient. We have enough bases for redefining and redesigning relations with India in the context of the two nations having strong leadership

With inputs from agencies
The United States hit seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions on Friday for what it called 'malign activity' around the world.

Washington: The United States hit seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions on Friday for what it called "malign activity" around the world, as the Trump administration tried to show that President Donald Trump is taking tough action to stand up to Moscow.

A dozen Russian companies owned by the oligarchs were also targeted, along with a state-owned arms-dealing company and a subsidiary bank, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast the penalties as part of a concerted and ongoing effort by the US to push back Russian president Vladimir Putin's government, emphasising that since Trump took office last year, the US has punished 189 Russian-related people and entities with sanctions.

Trump has continued to avoid directly criticising Putin himself, and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House. Still, in recent weeks Trump's administration has rolled out a series of actions  including several economic and diplomatic steps  to increase pressure on Putin and those in his circle.

"Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have," Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions are in response to "the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren't authorised to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The officials ticked through a list of activities they said had prompted the US to act, including Russia's actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, cyber-hacking and attempts to subvert Western democracy.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's government.

Many of the targets are individuals and businesses associated with Russia's energy sector, including those affiliated with state-owned Gazprom. Officials said the goal was to show that those who have benefited financially from Russian president Vladimir Putin's position of power are fair game for US punishments, noting that many of those being sanctioned are closely tied to Putin himself.

Also targeted is aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a figure in the Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Deripaska has been targeted with US sanctions previously, but officials said those being announced Friday were more comprehensive.

Many of the Russian oligarchs and politicians and affiliated businesses had already been identified by the Treasury and State Department as potential targets on a list that was compiled and published in January.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in US jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them. But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions.

The Trump administration used a variety of legal mechanisms to implement the sanctions, including the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Known as CAATSA, the law was overwhelmingly passed by Congress in 2017 and signed by President Donald Trump despite some objections. The law aims to punish Russia for interfering in the US election as well as actions intended to subvert democracy in Europe. The law also authorises the president to impose sanctions on Iran for destabilising activity in West Asia and North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Last month, the US targeted 19 Russians and five other entities with sanctions in the first use of the law. The administration has also expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down two Russian consulates in response to Russian behavior, including the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain that has been blamed on Moscow.
Commodity prices have been relatively strong lately, especially in the energy markets, and that's good news for Franco-Nevada (TSX:FNV). The streaming and royalty-based financing company has set its sights on becoming better diversified, with the intent of boosting its exposure to oil and gas to complement more fully its portfolio of precious metals streaming arrangements.

Franco-Nevada had a strong 2017, but investors want to know whether the company can sustain its positive momentum into 2018 and beyond. Here are some of the things that executives shared with investors in Franco-Nevada's most recent conference call.

1. Don't count gold out at Franco-Nevada

The current wave [of growth] has been diversification in the form of oil and gas. I expect the next wave of growth on the mineral side will be project financing as the industry gets back to building mines again. Asset fund management is limiting the amount of new equity available to the sector, and bank capital requirements are limiting the amount of project debt. So I believe streaming will play a meaningful role in the coming round of mine financings. -- Paul Brink, SVP of Business Development

Franco-Nevada has made substantial acquisitions recently to bolster its position in the oil and gas industry, but it's important to understand that precious metals still make up the lion's share of Franco-Nevada's business. About 90% of revenue in 2017 came from gold, silver, and platinum group metals, and even the company's most ambitious targets had oil and gas rising to only about 20% of total revenue. That simply reflects the fact that precious metals will remain the bread and butter of Franco-Nevada's portfolio, and Brink sees fundamentals in that area improving in the near future in a way that could lead to greater success for the company.

2. Look to Cobre Panama for growth

The key [asset], of course, is Cobre Panama, and we're watching that very closely. Right now, Panama is proving to be a very receptive country for investment. We see no pushback from the government. We see them very commercially minded. There we haven't seen any [non-governmental organization] issues. It's been very receptive, so that's what's giving us the confidence to put more money in that country. -- CEO David Harquail

One issue that companies in the mining industry always have to pay attention to is the need to work well with labor organizations. Latin America has seen contract renegotiation efforts on a regular basis for mine workers, and given how much exposure Franco-Nevada now has to the Cobre Panama project, some analysts worry that a labor dispute could cause material damage to the streaming company's financials. Harquail did his best to allay those concerns, as Franco-Nevada has sought to invest largely in well-established operations with good relationships with various stakeholders. Nevertheless, political risk is always present, and investors are wise to consider it in assessing Franco-Nevada's prospects.

3. Energy will remain a big deal for Franco-Nevada

There certainly is opportunity to spend [$420 million in] capital [in the Permian]. The nature of the landholdings in the U.S. is such that most of the mineral title is held by individuals, and so there is a tremendous inventory of mineral title and hence royalties that we can buy, and there are a lot of private equity-backed companies in the U.S. that are looking to sell packages of those royalties. ... It's a matter of picking the right opportunities and also just balancing off how much oil and gas exposure we want, versus gold and other precious metals. -- Jason O'Connell, VP of Oil and Gas

Franco-Nevada has purchased oil and gas interests in several locations, including the STACK play in Oklahoma and Alberta's oil sands region. Yet the Permian Basin of West Texas remains one of the most fertile prospects for new investment, and Franco-Nevada believes there's more opportunity there than ever before. When asked whether the company anticipates continuing to invest in oil and gas at last year's run rate of roughly $420 million annually, Franco-Nevada's key oil and gas division executive said that a lot depends on the strategic direction that the overall company takes. Nevertheless, there are many opportunities in the region, and it's up to Franco-Nevada to identify the best ones and then come up with lucrative terms for moving forward.

4. Lower U.S. taxes are coming

Our projection for effective tax rate for 2018 is about 17%. -- CFO Sandip Rana

Tax reform has had a positive impact on many companies, and Franco-Nevada looks like it'll be one of them. In fact, once operations in Panama kick in at top gear, the company anticipates effective tax rates to fall to around 13% in the next three years. That's good news for shareholders, especially because lower taxes could mean larger distributions in the future.

Keep watching Franco-Nevada

Franco-Nevada built up good business momentum heading into 2018, and shareholders are hopeful about the company's prospects. Even though its stock price has foundered somewhat in recent months, strong fundamental performance could help turn shares around in the coming year.
LKQ Pick Your Part - Chula Vista (West)800 & 825 Energy Way

Chula Vista, California 91911

There's only 2 in Chula Vista, and 1 in Oceanside. The two in Chula Vista on Energy Way one is on the right hand side at the end of street. Older trucks are straight in and to the left. The other yard is mid block on left. Straight in toward back. The other one in Oceanside is a little drive you can look that one up by typing in LKQ Pick Your Part. Other than that there's Craigslist or word of mouth for local sellers. Most yards are drying up for these year trucks. Good luck. I do have some parts for these trucks. You can always send me a PM. and I'll try to help you.
Hard Rock International Appoints Todd Hricko as Senior Vice President & Head of Global Hotel Development

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - April 5, 2018 // PRNewswire //- Hard Rock International announces the promotion of Todd Hricko to senior vice president & head of global hotel development, where he will oversee the development of hotels for the entire brand, working directly under Hard Rock International's Chief Operating Officer Jon Lucas. Supported by Hricko's more than 20 years of property development experience, the new position will showcase Hricko's strong hospitality network, paving the way for collaborations with some of the largest industry-leading owners and operators of commercial real estate in the United States.

Hricko joined the Hard Rock brand in 2014 serving as vice president of business development for Hard Rock Hotels, where he spearheaded the development of the Hard Rock Hotels portfolio throughout the United States and Canada. During this time, he played an essential role in identifying strategic markets and sites to develop, managing contract negotiations for the brand and leading negotiations for management agreements in key markets, such as New York City, New Orleans, Atlanta and Daytona Beach. He also participated in the development of Hard Rock's new upscale select-service brand  Reverb by Hard Rock.

"Todd's extensive experience in the acquisition, disposition, financing and development of hotels and vacation ownership resorts makes him an asset to the Hard Rock International brand," states Jon Lucas, chief operating officer for Hard Rock International. "We greatly value his hard work and dedication to the brand and we look forward to him bringing Hard Rock International to new global heights."

Before joining Hard Rock International, Hricko was vice president of development of Wyndham Hotel Group. This experience not only expanded his professional portfolio, but also afforded him long-term relationships with national owners and development partners in the industry.

The promotion of Todd Hricko comes as the Hard Rock Hotels portfolio actively expands in key cities and destinations across the globe, ranging from the Maldives and New Orleans to London and China. For more information on Hard Rock International, please visit www.hardrock.com.

Hard Rock International

With venues in 75 countries, including 181 cafes, 25 hotels and 11 casinos, Hard Rock International (HRI) is one of the most globally recognized companies. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world's greatest collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues and an award-winning website. HRI owns the global trademark for all Hard Rock brands. The company owns, operates and franchises Cafes in iconic cities including London, New York, San Francisco, Sydney and Dubai. HRI also owns, licenses and/or manages hotel/casino properties worldwide. Destinations include the company's two most successful Hotel and Casino properties in Tampa and Hollywood, FL., both owned and operated by HRI parent company The Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as other exciting locations including Bali, Cancun, Ibiza, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Upcoming new Hard Rock Cafe locations include St. Petersburg, Fortaleza, Casablanca and Chengdu. New Hard Rock hotel, casino or hotel-casino projects include Atlanta, Atlantic City, Berlin, Budapest, London, Los Cabos, Maldives, New York City, Ottawa, Dalian and Haikou in China. For more information on Hard Rock International, visit www.hardrock.com.

Media Contact:

Jill Trudeau / Erin Owens

The Zimmerman Agency

850.668.2222

hardrock-pr@zimmerman.com

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Kids 'R' Kids Breaks Ground On Newest Location In Haslet, Texas

DULUTH, Ga. - April 5, 2018 // PRNewswire // - On March 27th, Kids 'R' Kids Learning Academies hosted and broke ground on the lot that will soon become the newest academy for the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school, which will be known as Kids 'R' Kids Learning Academy of Haslet, will be under the ownership of Roe and Rekha Bhakta, who are incredibly excited for what is to come. In a statement the Bhaktas said, "We are very happy to Break ground on a brand-new Kids 'R' Kids learning center in Haslet, Texas. This will be a great opportunity for the community, the parents, and the children to find a place where children will be able to bloom with others in a fun, safe, educational, and healthy environment."

In attendance for the groundbreaking ceremony were Kids 'R' Kids Learning Academies Co-Founders Pat and Janice Vinson, along with CEO David Vinson and VPO Sasha Vinson and other members of the Kids 'R' Kids Franchise Support center. Also in attendance were many of the people who worked alongside the Bhaktas to build the new learning academy, including Business Banking Officer Brian Roussel of BBVA Compass Bank, the architect, and the contractor for the building.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held at noon on the construction site of the soon-to-be building, with special comments from Ronnae Williams, the marketing project manager for Kids 'R' Kids International, David Vinson, Brian Roussel and Roe and Rekha Bhakta. Light refreshments were served after.

About Kids 'R' Kids Learning Academies

Headquartered in the North Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Georgia, Kids 'R' Kids Learning Academies provide a secure, nurturing, and educational environment for children (6 weeks - 12 years) to bloom into responsible, considerate, and contributing members of society. With over 160 Academies in 17 states, Kids 'R' Kids International is a family-owned organization that ranks in the top three franchised early childhood education centers nationwide (www.kidsrkids.com). If you are interested in joining the Kids 'R' Kids Family by owning and operating your very own preschool, you can contact them through www.kidsrkidsfranchise.com.

SOURCE Kids 'R' Kids International

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[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

The Australia Civilization & Scenario pack for Sid Meiers Civilization VI on iPad is now available in the iOS App Store for $4.99.This DLC pack requires the full, unlocked game Sid Meiers Civilization VI on iOS in order to play, which is currently on sale for 50% off in the App Store. Civilization VI is regularly priced $59.99. Sale ends May 17 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. ABOUT THE AUSTRALIA CIVILIZATION & SCENARIO PACK John Curtin leads Australia in Sid Meiers Civilization VI! Australia grows and thrives in territory, where other civs would have difficulty, by getting full Housing from coastal starts. Their districts get improved yields when built in attractive terrain. John Curtin provides bonus production to Australia when they have been the target of a declaration of war, or have liberated a city. This pack also includes the new Outback Tycoon scenario: can you accumulate your fortune by striking gold, creating massive herds of livestock, or by preserving this land's natural beauty for future generations?Includes the Australian civilization with John Curtin, the Digger unique unit, Outback Station unique improvement and a new Natural Wonder: Civ Unique Ability: Australian coastal cities always receive extra Housing. Pastures also trigger the Culture Bomb effect, grabbing adjacent tiles from other civs and City-States. Yields from Campuses, Commercial Hubs, Holy Sites and Theater Squares are enhanced in attractive terrain.

Leader Unique Ability: John Curtins unique ability is called Citadel of Civilization. Australia gets bonus production at the start of a Defensive War, and when it liberates a city.

Unique Unit: Australias unique unit is the Digger, which gets bonuses to combat on land tiles adjacent to water and when fighting outside their territory.

Unique Infrastructure: The Outback Station is a tile improvement that unlocks with the Guilds civic, and can be upgraded with Steam Power and Rapid Deployment. It provides food and production, with bonus food for adjacent Pastures. New Outback Tycoon Scenario: This uniquely economic-focused Scenario has you take control of one of four Colony Governments as you compete to explore and develop the natural beauty and wealth of Australia.

Includes unique units and gameplay effects, with no combat between players.

60 turn limit. New Uluru Natural Wonder: This desert wonder provides bonus Faith and Culture to adjacent tiles. ** Civilization VI requires iOS 11 on an iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, or any iPad Pro. Please note, Civilization VI on iPad includes the base game only, and does not include expansion content. ** Civilization VI is currently on sale for 50 percent off and is regularly priced at $59.99. This sale will end May 17, 2018 11:59 p.m. PDT. Prices and availability may vary by territory. Sale only available on the App Store. Contact Jonathan Miller Aspyr Communications [email protected]
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.
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Ankara for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and then a summit with both Mr. Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The main topic of the summit was the conflict in Syria.

Syria and Iraq were both once part of the Ottoman Empire, which as a regional power always tried to fend off Iranian influence. Today, the rivalry between Iran and Turkey can be seen clearly in Syria, where the two countries have very different goals. Iran wants to create a Shia corridor through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea, which is not in Turkeys interest.

For these reasons, Iran supports the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Alawite sect of Islam, which is close to the Shia branch. Turkey wants the entire Syrian regime replaced.

However, Turkey has difficult relations with many of its neighbors, and it must somehow find a modus vivendi with them.

During the Cold War, Turkey was clearly an ally of the United States and Western Europe. Now it is rather isolated. The unsettled situations in Syria and Iraq present a danger to Turkish interests. Russia, which was never a friend of Turkey, is trying to find a settlement in Syria. Moreover, with the exception of the Syria obstacle, Turkey and Russia have recently tried to build better relations. Trade is increasing between the two countries and Turkey is building a nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, in the countrys south, with Russian technology  Presidents Erdogan and Putin visited the site. Turkey is also acquiring the S-400 air defense missile system from Russia.

Turkey must find a way to keep relations with its neighbors on an even keel

NATO is worried that its second-largest member is acquiring Russian defense equipment. But, as mentioned above, Turkey must find a way to keep relations with its neighbors on an even keel. Also, Iran has the same objective as Russia in Syria: to achieve peace under the leadership of the present government. Russia will try to find a solution that also respects Turkish interests, especially when it comes to the Kurdish-inhabited areas in Syria along the Turkish border. Ankara is concerned that these regions are supporting Kurdish terrorism in Turkey.

If the three powers can find some arrangement that all of them can live with, it could lead to a solution in Syria without the Wests involvement. The U.S. already announced its intention to withdraw from Syria. This decision could improve U.S.-Turkish relations, as it would eliminate the problem of a potential standoff between two NATO partners in the Kurdish-controlled regions of Syria. The Kurdish militias based in these areas have been valuable U.S. allies fighting Daesh (also known as Islamic State or ISIS). What is in everybodys interest is that the bloodshed ends.

Despite all the differences, realpolitik can lead the three powers to barter and support a solution.

Unfortunately, a solution in Syria will not bring an end to the tensions that were created by the regions arbitrary division between the United Kingdom and France during World War I. The result of the 1919 peace talks will continue to haunt this area. It will remain a flash point for the regions powers  Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Israel  allowing global powers to intervene. Whatever peace is coming to Syria, it will not necessarily be sustainable in the long term.
Chinese OEMs have been the early adopters of any new technology News oi-Priyanka This display trend will also drive innovative biometric solutions such as Apples FaceID or under display fingerprint sensors to complement this new design language.

Consumption of visual content has exponentially grown in the last few years, especially after the increase in mobile penetration and broadband speed and it also drove the needs for larger mobile screens, according to the latest report by market research firm Counterpoint.

The report said riding on this trend, many leading mobile OEMs especially from China i.e. Oppo, Vivo, Huawei focused on phablet smartphones (5.5 inches and above) and this trend was also adopted by giants like Apple and Samsung. It is now a norm in smartphone design to have a 5.5" or larger size display.

However, smartphone-size has its limits and increasing the display size without increasing the overall size of the phone is the trend now.

The firm pointed out that, one in four smartphones sold during February 2018 had an 18:9 or higher aspect ratio.

As we have seen, Chinese OEMs have been the "early adopters" of any new technology and they are swiftly transitioning their entire portfolio to 18:9 displays and the top Chinese brands such as OnePlus, OPPO, vivo, Huawei are driving this trend. Chinese players are leveraging their supply chain and ability to rapidly scale, to leapfrog the competition and lead this trend.

Furthermore, Counterpoint expects that 18:9 aspect ratios are penetrating lower price-tiers, accelerating month-to-month and estimated at least 35 percent of the new smartphones sold will sport this new aspect ratio by the end of 2018, up from 25 percent in February 2018.

Display manufacturers like Samsung Display, LG Display, and Japan Display Inc. will benefit from the increase in the device display footprint and Chinese suppliers such as Tianma, BOE, and CSOT will help it further proliferate into different price-tiers. OEMs will also be more aggressive in adopting the next display trend (19:9) or bezel-free smartphones, and therefore advance orders to acquire display material could be a priority.

Auto Expo 2018: How AI can change the face of Mobility

This display trend will also drive innovative biometric solutions such as Apple's FaceID or under display fingerprint sensors to complement this new design language, the report added.

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Nokia X concept renders seem to be unbelievable News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia X has been imagined with a notch at the top left corner on the front, a dual-camera setup at the rear and more.

HMD Global has just launched the Nokia 7 Plus, new Nokia 6 and Nokia 8 Sirocco smartphones in India. While the company is focusing on the global release of these new smartphones, a new concept video has emerged online showing the futuristic concept renders of the Nokia X smartphone. Nokia smartphones have always been durable despite their sleek and trendy design, so we can expect the same to be the case with the Nokia X.

The Nokia X concept renders and video show that the device could be very different from the design we have seen earlier. The design of the smartphone appears to be very different than the existing smartphones in the market. Despite being different, it looks futuristic as well.

For now, we know that HMD is working on flagship smartphones - Nokia 9 and Nokia 8 Pro. We have not come across rumors regarding a device dubbed Nokia X. There is an Android smartphone with the moniker but it dates back to 2014. Apparently, the Nokia X moniker could have been the designer's imagination just like the design.

In the concept renders, the Nokia X appears to feature a metal and glass build. It appears to have a 'full-screen' display along with a notch. Unlike many other smartphones, the notch is not at the center of the screen but at the top left corner. The device also appears to feature stereo speakers.

Moving on to the rear, the Nokia X seems to house a fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone and the Nokia logo in the middle. We can see dual cameras at the rear aligned horizontally along with LED flash at the middle of the sensors. There is a Zeiss branding hinting at the partnership between the two companies, which first happened in 2017 for the Nokia 8. The other goodies revealed by the concept renders and video of the Nokia X are the presence of a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and seven color variants.

You can watch the Nokia X concept video from below to know how the futuristic smartphone actually looks like.

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Microsoft ScaleUp launches its 12th cohort in India to help emerging startups News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Microsoft ScaleUp focuses on late-stage B2B start-ups and helps them with their business growth through mentorship, streamlined go-to-market (GTM) activities and access to technology

In its continued efforts to strengthen the collaboration between startups and corporates, Microsoft ScaleUp(known previously as Microsoft Accelerator) has selected 12 startupsto be part of its new 12thcohort. ScaleUp is part of the recently announced Microsoft for Startups initiative, a new program that delivers access to technology, go-to-market and community benefits that helps startups grow their customer and revenue base.

The selected startupsin the 12th cohort are focused on areas of Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, Big Data analytics, among others to build solutions for the market.Microsoft ScaleUp focuses on late stage B2B start-ups and helps them accelerate their business growth through mentorship, streamlined go-to-market (GTM) activities and most importantly access to world-class technology.

During thesix-monthprogram, thesestartups will work closely with Microsoft leaders, industry experts and leverage the Microsoft Partner Network to scale their business models and serve enterprise clients. Thesestartups will get access to Microsoft's rich technology expertise,infrastructure and Azure cloud platform to build a strong technology backbone for their business. As part of the program, these startups will also have access to a vibrant global alumni network of over 730 startup graduates, which will foster peer support and networking as well as access to Microsoft industry and customer events.

The selected startups for the 12th cohort are:

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update - GIZBOT

1. AppICE has built a proprietary platform that can take soft and hard sensor data from connected devices like smartphones and use machine learning to generate actionable insights.

2. Appiyo Technologies' Twixor is a 'customer engagement platform' which brings together the power of 'bi-directional actionable messaging' and Business Process Management (BPM).

3. Avanseus Technologies delivers AI based enterprise solutions for Mobile, Fixed, Transmission and IP Backbone Networks, Industrial Analytics, Security, Railways and the Internet of Things, transforming massive amounts of data into useful business insights and actions.

4. eGovernments Foundation aims to build and drive government transformations across India using open source technology.

5. Gaia Smart Cities Solution is a Data Automation and Analytics Company focused on bringing together multiple IoT and digital data streams into a single platform to enable the clients to measure, monitor and manage performance and service delivery.

6. GrowthEnabler GrowthEnabler Pii (Personalised Intelligence Interface) provides insights and intelligence on Technology Disruption, Digital Innovation and its impact on large corporations to solve their business issues and create competitive advantage. Their unique Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning engine connects business issues to global innovative emerging companies and startups.

7. Karo Sambhav is a tech-enabled, environmentally beneficial and socially responsible Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) that is setting up a robust India-wide transformative solution on e-waste management.

8. Kogence. It brings flexibility, agility and productivity in the High-Performance Computing (HPC) based workflows.

9. MachineSense has developed a patented Industrial IoT system for Predictive, Preventative and Electrical Maintenance of Industrial Machines. The company aims to build an IoT platform for factory and building utilities that includes electricity, compressed air, water, HVAC, vacuum, etc.

10. SmartVizX is developing VArch Suite, a virtual reality product that improves interior design collaboration in the Architecture-Engineering-Construction (AEC) industry by offering immersive visualization, spatial awareness, interactivity with design elements, data management and communication features.

11. Sprinkle Data provides Search based Insight discovery and adaptive data management software-as service.

12. Xurmo Technologies is a self-service data ingestion, preparation and analysis platform built with the vision to simplify and automate data-driven decisions. By simplifying the analytics process, Xurmo enables faster adoption of data-driven decision making in enterprises.

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Syrian refugees, their journey and aspirations in the spotlight



Our academics surveyed refugees from Syria who have been resettled in the UK since 2015 and present the projects initial findings at an award-winning international photographic exhibition in The Lighthouse, Glasgow.

Building Futures: Aspirations of Syrian Youth Refugees and Host Population Responses in Lebanon, Greece and the UK research project, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the realities, opportunities, and challenges Syrian refugees face as they attempt to rebuild their lives.

The project is run by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Glasgow, in cooperation with SolidarityNow(GR), Educart (LB) and the Scottish Refugee Council (UK).

Dr Georgios Karyotis, Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Dr Ben Colburn, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, at the University of Glasgow said: Young Syrians and citizens in the UK have a diversity of views about religion, politics, and personal morality, but share opinions about what is most valuable for a good life. This counters the narrative that migration poses a problem because of incompatibility with 'Western' or 'British' values: in fact there is substantial common ground.

The research findings are based on 1,511 face-to-face interviews with young Syrian international protection beneficiaries and applicants aged between 18-32 years. The interviews were conducted in the UK, Lebanon and Greece, between April and October 2017 and explored their values, skills, training needs and work aspirations.

Representative surveys of home populations were also administered about their own aspirations and ideals, their attitudes to refugees, and their priorities for refugee policies.

The main findings

Young Syrian refugees in the UK have the highest levels of skills and training, and are most eager to remain and contribute to their host economy, compared with Syrian refugees in Greece and in Lebanon;

Around two-thirds of young Syrian refugees in Britain are either in work or studying. A majority of them identifies language as the main barrier to labour market access;

Young Syrian refugees in the UK are much better supported than those in Greece or Lebanon;

While refugees everywhere face some hostile attitudes, Syrian refugees in the UK report less discrimination than their fellows elsewhere;

Young Syrians and citizens in the UK have a diversity of views about religion, politics, and personal morality, but share opinions about what is most valuable for a good life. This counters the narrative that migration poses a problem because of incompatibility with 'Western' or 'British' values: in fact there is substantial common ground.

When the refugees were asked what they would like to say to Britons, one said: We have the skills and education needed to start a new life and to help further improve this country, so we are just asking you to have faith in us, in our abilities and good intentions.

Another said: Tolerance and acceptance of the Other needs courage and compassion, two traits British citizens have often shown. Therefore, please give Syrians the helping hand in the time of need.

Exhibition

The Exhibition is funded by the UKs Global Challenges Research Fund and hosted at The Lighthouse (Gallery 4) in Glasgow (11 Mitchel Lane; G1 3NU), to Tuesday, April 10 April (10.30am to 5 pm). The Exhibition comprises two main parts and entrance is free to all:

The Journey: People on the Move is about the experience of the journey of Syrians fleeing their homeland to Europe. Originally held in 2016 at Benaki Museum in Athens, co-organised by SolidarityNow, a Greek organisation aiming to support those most affected by the economic and humanitarian crisis in Greece.

Eight renowned photographers/photo-journalists from Greece captured the Journey, the route all these people took in the past year as they had to flee their countries. The images trace their journey from Turkey to Greece, with the borders as their final destination, hoping to reach a safe haven in Europe.

The Arrival: Young Syrian Refugees in Britain presents the original research findings of the Building Futures: Aspirations of Syrian Youth Refugees and Host Population Responses in Lebanon, Greece and the UK" research project. Visitors will have the chance to engage in an interactive way with the findings, enriching their understanding of refugee politics in Britain, in a comparative context. They will also have the chance to learn about the project team, and about the stories of Syrian refugees resettled in Glasgow by the British Red Cross (with some photographs by Conor Ashleigh).

Project fieldworkers

Two of the project's fieldworkers are Syrians Khaled and Rana. The images of Khaled and Rana are by photographer Magdalena Grochal.

 Khaled, from Daraa

I am currently studying electrical and electronics engineering at Glasgow Caledonian University but my main interest is being a politician, I am currently a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament as well as the Glasgow Youth council. My life in the U.K. has been quite enjoyable. The U.K. gave me a wide range of opportunities and I feel optimistic about the future.

 Rana, Syria

I am 27 years old. I live in Hamilton. I am from Syria. I have been here 1 year and 6 months. I came to this country with my husband and my children through UNICEF to build ourselves after the war destroyed us. I look for peace and security for my family. I am trying to build a better future here. I want to study accounting and business administration at the University of Glasgow I feel a sense of hope here in this country and aspire to prove myself and my work. I am an ambitious person, optimistic. Looking for a new beginning here.

"I started here with a lot of obstacles such as the language of a new country and a different civilization. A difficult start with two children and many hopes Fear, anxiety, loneliness and alienation. It is a difficult reality and we have to understand it. Every day we learn something new. I search every day for a start. Until I started working with the university in this research. This job gave me an opportunity to start my first step in this country. I was very happy with this work. Again my dream is that I will complete my studies at university. Then I want to start my business. I have a lot to do here."
Private equity firm Clearview Capital announced Friday the acquisition of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based substance-abuse treatment firm Community Medical Services Holdings, the latest in a series of major deals in recent months.

Operating across four states, CMS provides medication-assisted services to more than 4,000 individuals, at 14 treatment centers, including what it describes as the countrys first 24-hour opioid treatment program.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The idea that substance use disorders should be treated like any other chronic condition is finally gaining acceptance in the medical community, while evidence continues to demonstrate the efficacy of using (medication-assisted treatment) to combat opioid dependency, Calvin Neider, Clearview managing partner and co-founder, said in a statement. We will look to grow CMS through the opening of new clinics, as well as through complementary add-on acquisitions.

Clearview acquired CMS from undisclosed inactive majority owners, who did not maintain an ongoing stake in the company, Clearview officials said. CMS CEO Nick Stavros would continue to lead the management team and maintain an ownership position.

Clearview has established a successful track record in health care services while maintaining a strict commitment to providing first-class patient care, which perfectly aligns with our companys mission and core values, Stavros said in a statement. We look forward to investing in our infrastructure, technology, people and communities to continue our goal of expanding treatment access to as many individuals and families as possible.

Clearview has invested in 29 companies, which have been concentrated in business services, health care, manufacturing and specialized distribution. With the acquisition of CMS, Clearview has a portfolio of 10 businesses.

Among other recent deals, Clearview acquired in February Acworth, Ga.-based direct mailing company Mudlick Mail. Last December, it sold GCR, a New Orleans-based software development and consulting firm focused on the public sector and Xact Data Discovery, a Mission, Kan.-based provider of IT services for the legal field.

Clearviews investors include funds of funds, university endowments and public pension funds.

Based in downtown Stamford offices at 1010 Washington Blvd., Clearview now employs 20. Many live in the area, including co-founder and managing partner James Andersen, a Wilton resident.
TOKYO - CV-22 Osprey transport aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force arrived at Yokota Air Base on Thursday, with an eye to increasing the deterrent power of the Japan-U.S. alliance against North Korea.

The aircraft will soon begin training at the base on the outskirts of Tokyo. They will officially become operational this summer, and are expected to be used for special operations. This will be the first deployment of Ospreys at a U.S. base in Japan outside of Okinawa Prefecture.

Some believe the arrival of Ospreys at the Yokota base is intended to increase pressure on North Korea ahead of the U.S.-North Korea summit meeting, which is expected to be held by the end of May.

In light of a series of accidents involving the aircraft in Japan and abroad, however, local residents have voiced concern over the aircraft's deployment.

At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, five gray CV-22 Opsreys flew in formation over the Yokota base, which lies amid residential areas and farmland in Tokyo's Tama area. The aircraft, which had flown over from the U.S. military's Yokohama North Dock facility in Yokohama, slowly landed in succession on the runway in helicopter mode, with their propellers facing up.

As they landed, a civil group opposed to the deployment protested with loudspeakers in front of the base's gate.

The five Osprey aircraft had flown to the base to join drills conducted around Japan, and are believed to be participating in a U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise that began Sunday. After they officially begin operations this summer, a total of 10 CV-22s are scheduled to be deployed to the Yokota base in stages over several years.

"They will increase the deterrent power and emergency management ability of the Japan-U.S. alliance and contribute to Japan's defense and stability in the Asia-Pacific region," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference Wednesday, welcoming the deployment. However, he also stressed, "The safety of their flights must be ensured."

The dispatch of Ospreys to the Yokota base marks their second deployment in Japan following the deployment to the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture. During the planning phase, the Ospreys were originally to go to the U.S. forces' Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. However, their deployment to the Yokota base was decided in 2015 with the aim of using them for disaster management in the Tokyo metropolitan area and to ease Okinawa Prefecture's burden in hosting the U.S. military, among other considerations.

The U.S. government initially planned to deploy the aircraft from October 2019 to September 2020. However, it announced Tuesday that the original schedule would be moved forward. A U.S. military official stationed in Japan said the move corresponded with the National Defense Strategy announced in January, which called for strengthening alliances with countries in the Indo-Pacific region among other policies. The Ospreys could also be deployed in the future to the U.S. military's Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

---

The Ospreys currently deployed at the Futenma base are the MV-22 type designed for the Marines, and are mainly tasked with transport. They can fly at a maximum speed of about 520 kph (about 323 mph) with a flight range of about 3,900 kilometers.

The CV-22, the U.S. Air Force version of the tilt-rotor aircraft, has almost the same maximum speed and flight range as the MV-22. However, it also possesses enhanced abilities to fly at night or at low altitudes. They are expected to be used for special operations, such as penetrating enemy territory to target a specific person in a sudden assault.

A U.S. military official stationed in Japan stressed the significance of the CV-22s' deployment to the Yokota base, saying they bring unrivaled special operational abilities to areas under the U.S. military's coverage. The deployment is also thought to be aimed at deterring North Korea, which has conducted nuclear and missile development, and China, which has aggressively pursued maritime expansion.

Toshimichi Nagaiwa, a former lieutenant general in the Air Self-Defense Force, said the CV-22s could be used for a "decapitation operation" by the U.S. military targeting North Korea's leadership should an emergency arise on the Korean Peninsula. The ongoing exercises around Japan could be a "message from the United States that a military option is on the table depending on the outcome of negotiations [over North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs]," Nagaiwa said.

The Japanese government plans to introduce a total of 17 MV-22 Ospreys for use by the Ground Self-Defense Force, with an initial five aircraft to be deployed this autumn. They are seen as strengthening the defense of remote islands, and will be used for transport by the GSDF's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade. The unit, stationed at GSDF Camp Ainoura in Nagasaki Prefecture, specializes in amphibious operations. The government initially planned to deploy them to Kyushu-Saga International Airport in Saga Prefecture. But due to difficulty coordinating with local governments, they will be temporarily deployed to the GSDF Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture.
We are eagerly awaiting to hear more about the Black Shark gaming smartphone. This is a Xiaomi-backed company that is planning to release a gaming-oriented smartphone to compete with the first-generation Razer phone.

The phone has already been spotted in a couple of benchmarks and an invitation has been sent out for an April 13 event in Beijing, China. The latest piece of news surrounding the Black Shark is a teaser that pulls back the covers on the corner of the phone, revealing a smartphone body with a large-curved corner, contrasting the Razer phones blocky appearance.

Translation: "Born to compete"

There is a power key on the side being teased, but no volume rocker, so we are expecting the volume rocker to be on the opposite side of the device. By contrast, weve seen many Chinese phone makers put the power key and volume buttons on the same side. The teaser translates to Born to compete and features a fencer with a sabre splitting their face and the phone down the middle, which sets the tone well for a gaming smartphone.

The phone is rumored to have a Snapdragon 845 and may come with between 6GB and 8GB of RAM and were hoping to see 256GB of internal storage to pack away all those games. We are also expecting a display supporting 120Hz refresh rates and HDR support. Otherwise, we dont know too much more about the devices hardware itself. We cant wait to hear more about this once April 13 rolls around.

Thanks for sending this in, Steve !

Via
The United Kingdoms Advertising Standards Authority banned one of HTCs ads that have been running on social media since mid-last year. The ad in question features Olympic diver, Tom Daley, diving into a pool, feet first (after a flip or two), holding the HTC U11 over his head, taking selfies on his decent into the pool, and after being seen exit the pool with the phone in hand. .

Despite having a disclaimer at the bottom, it wasnt enough for the ASA to deem the ad as misleading. It highlighted the fact that the products instructions explicitly warn users against intentionally submerging the phone into water and that it should not come in contact with pool water. In the event that it does is, its buttons shouldnt be pressed, either.

HTC defended the ad, claiming that the devices IP67 rating meant it was safe for up to 1m deep of water. However, the ASA rebutted that an average person out of a few thatd attempt the stunt would not have a good chance of keeping the phone above 1m deep. HTC apologized for the misleading ad.

Don't try this stunt, Tom's a professional. HTC U11 has an IP67 rating... - Ad disclaimer

The ad was ordered to be taken down from Facebook and the ASA understands that it expects HTC to taken down across all media and it will remind the company if any versions of it linger around. The ad still exists in re-uploads.

The ad was able to run for the majority of the HTC U11's product cycle and the HTC U12+ is just over the horizon, possibly due for a May arrival.

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Haiti - Religion : 20,000 Adventist baptisms at Sylvio Cator Stadium





As part of the "Lord Transform Me" (LTM 2018) program, 70 missionaries from 34 different countries making up the 24 Inter-American Division (IAD) of Seventh-day Adventist Divisions are deployed to all regions of Haiti for a week of evangelization.



This Great Evangelical Campaign will end on Saturday, April 7, at the Sylvio Cator Stadium where 15,000 members are expected from 7:00 am to attend the Christian baptism (immersion) of 20,000 new converts. Pools will be installed on the Stadium's lawn for the occasion.



This event will be broadcast by satellite from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm in all countries of the DIA, to allow the 3.7 million members to follow this grand ceremony. In Haiti the ceremony will be broadcast on ONTV (channel 46).



This Thursday and Friday, Adventist youth will be at the stadium and around the Sylvio Cator Stadium for remediation work. Police are already mobilized to ensure the safety of participants informed the organizers.



TB/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2018/04/06 | Source

Added episode 11 captures for the Korean drama "Queen of Mystery Season 2" (2018)

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Directed by Choi Yoon-seok-II, Yoo Yeong-eun-I

Written by Lee Seong-min-II

Network : KBS

With Kwon Sang-woo, Choi Kang-hee, Lee Da-hee, Park Byung-eun, Kim Hyun-sook, Kim Won-hae,...

16 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00

Synopsis

"Queen of Mystery" tells the story of a prosecutor's wife who's always dreamed of being a detective. After actually solving a case, she ends up in an unlikely crime-fighting duo with a young police captain.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/02/28

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Published on 2018/04/06 | Source

Added episodes 5 and 6 captures for the Korean drama "Switch - Change The World" (2018)

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Directed by Nam Tae-jin

Written by Baek Woon-cheol, Kim Ryoo-hyun

Network : SBS

With Jang Keun-suk, Han Ye-ri, Jung Woong-in, Jo Hee-bong, Shin Do-hyun, Ahn Seung-hwan,...

32 episodes - Wed, Thu 22:00 (2x35min)

Formerly known as "Operation King" (, gong-jak-wang)

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A smart con artist impersonates a prosecutor. He passed all the necessary exams, but never managed to get work in the legal profession.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/03/28

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Technology-passionate teens lead Havre High School's Technology Club to state

While many high school classrooms may be empty during lunchtime, Chris Comp's classroom seems to be the complete opposite. Lunches and snacks are spread over the tables but are greatly ignored as the students in the room gather around computers, 3D printers, gadgets of all shapes and sizes and, of course, robots.

This year marks two milestones for the club with a freshman driving a team all the way to state.

The driving force behind the autonomous robot the Havre High School Technology Student Association is taking to the state technology conference and competition in Billings next week was freshman Gabriel Edmonds. At only 15, Edmonds, who said that in the future he would like to major in robotics engineering and programming, said he wanted to make the robot because he is really interested in technology.

"It is the first year I have had a freshman just stand up and say 'I'm going to do this!'" Comp said. "We've had robots before but this is the first time we had the autonomous part."

Havre High's TSA

The national Technology Student Association is one of the eight federally recognized career and technical student organizations, and strives to give middle and high school students the chance to grow in leadership, teamwork, community service and personal growth.

The Montana chapter of the TSA received its state charter in 1991, but the Havre High club is relatively new, having only started four years ago. Comp, who is the technology and vocational skills teacher as well as the advisor for the Havre High TSA club, said he started the club because he wanted to be able to create more opportunities for students to become involved.

The high school club has been working hard since their first lunchtime meeting in Comp's classroom at the beginning of the school year. In the first meeting, Comp said, he just showed the attending students the different materials they could use to make projects such as paper rockets and robots and showed them the 3-D printers.

He said he wanted the students to discover what they like and were interested in. Comp also said that the club did not wait to start getting prepared for the state competitions; they were building to competition from day one.

The clubs' focus this Wednesday was rooted on the technology surrounding them, because on April 9 and 10, four of 10 active members of this club will be traveling to Billings for the state conference and competitions

This competition will be memorable as it is the first time in school history an autonomous robot, one that works independently on a computer-downloaded program, will be in the state competition.

The four students who will be going to state are Skyler Buck, Kade Turner, Andrew Nelson, all 16, and Gabriel Edmonds, 15. Out of these four students, three of them - Buck, Turner and Edmonds - will be on the team that is competing in the VEX Robotics Competition.

Comp said that the VEX Robotics Competition is becoming the highlight of the state competitions. He said that the public is allowed to come and in the previous three years he has taken his club to state, many students and adults have attended to watch.

Working as a team

Each member of the robotics team plays their own role. Edmonds did the coding on the computer, while club Vice President Turner did a lot of the structural work on the robot. The final member of the team, club President Buck, said he does the heavy lifting.

The club used a program that the members can download on the computer, and Edmonds said he inserted the script, which is the language that tells the robot how to move, into the program. He said he then downloaded the program to the robot and wirelessly connected his robot to his hand-held remote.

The VEX Robotics Competition this year is called "In the Zone" and requires the robot to stack cones onto goals or into colored zones to earn points. The winner of the Montana competition will move on to the national competition in Atlanta June 22-26.

Comp said that at the end of the competition there is also an awards ceremony honoring the three top competitors from each of the 22 technological events at the state competition with awards.

The four students who are attending the state conference said they are looking forward to the conference. Edmonds said that he feels "awesome" about having his robot in the VEX Robotics Competition and he also said he can't wait to meet the other students who will be attending.

Comp said he feels the same way.

"This kind of competition is a learning experience and a social challenge," he said. "This competition helps the students learn to work with each other-be a team as an individual group and also a (Montana state) team as a whole."

The adviser and club members also said it was a bonding experience to make the money to attend the conference. Buck said that they do different fundraisers such as 50/50 and concessions at sporting events. Comp said that they wanted to relate their fundraisers to their club. The club members had their robot out on display during the Christmas Carnival and had the robot pick the ticket when the club did their 50/50.

Comp said he hopes that the high school club can garner more interest and become bigger. Each year, representatives from Havre high activities and clubs go to the middle school and tell the future freshmen about the ways they can be involved in high school.

The presentation last year is how freshman Edmonds first learned about TSA at the high school and became interested about the club. Buck said that Edmonds is the only student who approached him to ask questions after he finished his presentation.

Hoping to grow the club

Comp said he is very proud of his club this year. He is most proud of "the excitement my students bring and the autonomous part of the robot; watching my students learn to do that on their own," he said. "The club is about them; it is a student-run organization."

Ryan Welch/Havre Daily News

Havre High School Principal Mike Haugen said he is excited about the opportunity for the high school club to attend the conference and competitions. This is "a group of young men who show up daily," to learn and work with technology. He said he and the school are very proud of the club.

Comp said he is also thankful to the school, district and community for the support for the Havre high club. He said that Triangle Communications gave the club a grant for a 3D printer and then the district matched the amount and they were able to buy a second, bigger one.

He said he is looking forward to watching technology-based activities, such as the TSA club at the high school, expand throughout Havre. He said he would like to see a TSA club open up at the middle school.

He wants "to encourage the whole community to come check out what the TSA club is working with," Comp said.
Press release

"Two Indians Riding Horses" by Teddy Koop is the featured artwork this month in Montana State University-Northern's Office of Diversity and Multicultural Awareness

"My preferred media is acrylic paint," Koop said. "I can paint on pottery or stained glass ... in this case, I painted on a cow skull ... I like to paint on objects - even skulls and rocks could be free canvases ... I have taken rocks home, cleaned them, and paint on them ... many objects are free canvases on the ground."

This is how Koop refers to his passion of painting on objects.

"Two Indians Riding Horses" is a piece owned by Terry Healy. She received it as a birthday gift and is loaning it for exhibition.

Koop said that he likes to paint primarily wildlife.

"I almost never name a piece," Koop said. "I just signed it with my name."

Koop also works in air brush, carving and sculpture.

Koop had a successful career in law enforcement. He also served in the U.S. Army. In those years he dedicated his time partially to paint, but currently he is able to do it full time.

A few years ago, he won a nationally recognized art contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Department. This contest was geared toward Native American Art.

"I was able to make it to national level," he added.

Koop is a multifaceted individual. He not only paints but also helps represent his people in criminal law cases; he has a degree in teaching and is a talented cook. He lives in the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation with his wife and three children and is an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe.

The MSU-N Office of Diversity Awareness and Multicultural Programs invites local and regional artists to exhibit their pieces, preferably those that have some link to multicultural themes. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 265-3589.
Matthew 6:9-13

Out our way, I am pleased to have been able to live a dream. Like many kids growing up, I wanted to play cowboy - and here on the Hi-Line I got to play it for real. Charlie took me under his wing and let me work cattle with him for six years. Oh, I suspect the real deal cowboys will always see me as an amateur - and that is accurate - but at least with Charlie it wasn't just wearing the hat, it was doing the actual work.

Now, I have ridden off and on for years, but always on different horses owned by someone else. I did not know about bonding. Ken Overcast sent out a fun thing on Facebook, a poster with a cowboy saying, "Can you ride my horse? Can I wreck your car?" Years ago I would not have understood that. Now I do. For in the six years I rode and worked with Goliath, old "Doc" and I actually began to bond. We sensed each other and communicated without words.

In the animated film "Avatar," the native people rode dragons and bonded by somehow physically plugging their braid into the dragon and from that point on the two became as one. Later I felt that Doc and I were approaching that unity. We were up in the Beaver Creek area where the open range was still in process. A large herd was being moved down the road and one of the herders, seeing I had Doc in my trailer, asked if I saw any strays to try to head them down the road in the general direction of the rest of the herd and they, the hands, would be back up a bit later and pick up the strays.

Well, as it happened, Doc and I did run into about four pairs a few miles up the road and decided to try to give a hand. But these pairs had been ranging all summer and were well, "rangey." They saw us and took off. That's when Doc took over. Instead of chasing, he somehow got it through to me to let him slowly pick his way around without spooking them, and get behind them. He was raised a cow horse and had far more horse sense than I did - and somehow he communicated the plan with me. So I just relaxed and gave him his head. Sure enough he went around the pairs slowly and indifferently until we were behind them - and then began moving forward and slowly pushing them to the road. No panic, no sudden moves, just nice and easy.

Did I actually learn these things from working with Charlie over the years? Was I subconsciously directing Doc to round these strays up? Perhaps, but it felt more like he and I were connected and both thinking the same thing. I saw his plan and may have subconsciously nudged a tad with leg and heel, but I felt Doc knew exactly what to do and we were both on the same wavelength. That was an amazing feeling.

I wonder if that may not be little something like what Christ was talking about when He asked to come in to us ... and also told us the Kingdom of God is already here inside. This book by the French writer Jeanne Guyon several hundred years ago suggests this very thing. One of the exercises is to recite the Lord's prayer and consider what it is saying. Father suggests an intimacy and parental love that many people have not considered. The idea of God as the tyrant waiting to punish is much more popular with the agnostic and theists who have never desired nor attempted to meet God face to face. And the idea of asking for Thy Kingdom Come, meaning to open the door of the heart when Christ knocks, is equally foreign. Just as the idea that I would feel and connect with Doc and we could really communicate simply by blending our bodies together in the riding seemed totally nonsense until I discovered it was true.

My buddy Rick reminds me Doc's brain is the size of an orange - which may be true enough, but when it came to cows he was a lot smarter than I was. I never saw intelligence in those eyes like I do in Scout, my dog - but I sure felt it in my seat and legs. Horses can be trained to act like dogs, and the Sioux word for horse, "Chunka Wakan," means "Big Dog" - but a horse is not a dog. The bond between horse and rider is not the same between dog and master. The Native peoples had a special bond with their ponies as do the real-deal cowboys. A rider who abuses a horse, rides it hard and put it away wet - has no bond.

If the Kingdom of God is within me, perhaps I am binding with God as Doc bonded with me. There is no fear - there is trust and a sense of unity. We are in this together. Indeed for that short time of pushing pairs, Doc and I were connected and on the same wave length. Guyon suggested, if I read her right, God wants that same connection with us. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done - together - united - seeking the same goal.

We pushed those pairs toward the road as a team ... no, as more than a team - as a unit! Working together. We had bonded in the same mission goal. That is what I seek with God. "Unite with me, Lord that my mind may meld with Yours and my will is Thy will ... here on earth as it is in heaven."

--

Brother John Bruington and Doc have discovered what it is to be connected to each other. Now we seek to discover what it is to be connected to the Mind of God and be as one - just as Doc and I were pushing cows. "Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, and unite with me, that indeed Your will is done on earth as it is in Heaven, for I am a sinner with a soul the size of a tangerine and need Your guidance. I am an untrained cow pony with no sense. Guide me with legs, knees, reins and spurs that I may follow the way of righteousness and become a good and solid cow horse. This old Mustang is useless without the Rider to guide it. Cinch me up and step aboard and show me the way You want me to do that I too may find the green pastures and still water promised to your herds."
Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Death is the single common denominator that will come to all men.

I have been called several times over the years to pray with a person who has been diagnosed with very little time left on this earth. It is the last stage of life as we know it here and the entering in to a new dimension of life in the hereafter. In Hebrews 9:27 it says And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

One of the first questions I ask a person on their death bed is if they are ready to go into eternity. If they arent sure, or dont know at all, I ask if they believe in God. I have never had a person on their death bed say they did not believe in God. Next, we look at Gods word.

The gospel is pretty simple when it comes to the facts about heaven. In John 14:6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We, as a Christian community, just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus, this last Sunday. We acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he suffered and went to hell and was raised from the dead by God the Father on the third day. Jesus paid the price we could never pay. He shed his blood for our sins. Because He did this for us we can invite Him into our heart to be our personal savior. Its one thing to believe that He did this and its another to pray and accept Christ as our personal savior.

In Romans 19:9-10 it says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. In 1 John 5:11-13 it says And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (12) He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (13) These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. You can know that you have eternal life!

Pray this simple prayer. Jesus, I confess that you died on the cross and shed your blood for my sins. I confess that I have sinned, but I also confess that your precious blood was shed for my sins and cleanses me from all sin. I receive you into my heart right now as my personal savior. I thank you that I am forgiven, and I forgive myself and anyone who has ever hurt me. I purpose in my heart, by your grace, to make you Lord and Master of my life from this day forward. Amen!



Brian Barrows

Lead pastor of Abundant Life Ministries
North Central Senior Citizens Center, April 9-13

Monday  Transportation from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Tuesday  Transportation from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; bingo at 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday  Transportation from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m; TOPS at 8 a.m.; cards at 1 p.m.; mall or Walmart shopping from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Thursday  Transportation from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; pinochle at 1 p.m.

Friday  Medical transportation will be available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. but people must make a request at least 24 hours in advance.

No cards played this week

March Menu by Earlene DeWinter

(Subject to Change)

Monday  Chicken patty sandwich, french fries, relish tray, cherry pie

Tuesday  Salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, green beans, peach kuchen

Wednesday  Creamy Swiss steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas, pudding

Thursday  Hamburger steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, cauliflower, sliced pears

Friday  Soup, salad bar, chefs choice, dessert, milk

Steam Table Update

We want to update everyone who has been so generously donating to our steam table fund over the last four months. We have estimated the cost of a new steam table at todays prices at about $10,000, and we have received $6,762.65 so far in donated funds toward our goal. Who would have thought we would find so many gentle people willing to do so much good for others with no expectation of gain or recognition. Thank you again. I know it wont be long before we meet and complete our goal.

We will be holding a silent auction, which will begin next week. A drawing by Arlene Morgan titled The Old Buttrey Home has been donated to the Senior Center. A picture of the drawing can be seen on the Seniors Face Book page or you can stop down to see the drawing and put in your bid. The proceeds from this auction will go to the steam table we have been working so hard to replace.

Smart Drivers Class

AARP Smart Drivers Safety Class will be held at the Senior Center April 16, 1-5 p.m. The fee will be $15 if you are an AARP member, and $20 if you are not. Be up to speed with the latest driving strategies, auto safety features and new state and local traffic laws! There are no driving tests or exams! And while this class is designed for drivers 50-plus, all drivers are welcome. Montana mandates insurance discounts for qualified participants. Upon completion you may be eligible to receive an auto insurance discount. Other restrictions may apply consult your insurance agent for details.
Montana State University-Northern will be presenting Voices of the Hi-Line at the universitys Little Theatre Wednesday, April 11, at 7 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public and is being hosted by the Office of Diversity Awareness and Multicultural Programs and English departments. It is being presented in conjunction with National Poetry Month.

According to a promotional poster, Voices of the Hi-Line celebrate the beauty of poetry and languages in the form of poems, chants, and songs in the other languages our community speaks.

This is the second year this performance has taken place. Valerie Guyant, Ph.D., an associate professor of English at Northern, said that the organizers are expecting around 25 community members to participate in this event.

Everyone in the region is encouraged to participate or come and watch the show, she said.

The event is meant to celebrate the diverse cultures on the Hi-Line, Guyant said. It is celebrating our backgrounds.

Guyant said her goal is to have all the different languages of the region represented.

A number of people are presenting in their native tongue, Guyant said, and some are presenting in a language they have learned.

She added that she is happy that some people are presenting in a language that they are learning so they can explore the language of their heritage.

Guyant said she is particularly excited that this year they will have presenters in the Samoan and Swahili languages. She added that they will also have ancient and modern Hebrew language, presented.

Creative languages are also welcome, Guyant said. She said she is looking forward to having a faculty member presenting in an Elvish language.

I am hoping each year more people will know about (this event), Guyant said.

People who are interested in presenting a poem, chant or song Wednesday at Voices of the Hi-Line can contact Guyant at 265-4173 or [email protected] by Monday.
Over the years we inhaled plenty of Montana wilderness trail dust. Were a couple of long-in-the-tooth recreational horse and mule packers who enjoy wandering in our Montana public lands. We have a few bones to pick with Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte. Mainly, we dont approve of their land grab of the peoples Wilderness Study Areas, or WSAs.

Sen. Daines bill S2206 is titled, The Protect Public Use of Public Lands Act. Sounds benign right? It aint. Its a wolf in sheeps clothing. This bill was introduced to remove the wilderness protection on 449,500 acres of Montanas Wilderness Study Areas. Congressman Gianforte proposed a similar bill  H.R. 5148  along with another bill  H.R. 5149  that unlocks protection on 366,000 acres in 24 of Montanas Bureau of Land Management WSAs. Together this legislation proposes to release 800,000 acres of Montanas WSAs from wilderness protection.

Daines and Gianforte, along with their hired hands, jabber on claiming local input for their land grab coup detat. What we know is they spoke with the presidents of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Montana Stockgrowers Association, eight or nine county commissioners and some motorized vehicle folks. Lets be generous and guesstimate their idea of local input is about 200 people.

Wed be the first guys to tell you that our friends and neighbors who enjoy motorized travel certainly deserve a seat at the table. However, Steve and Greg forgot to invite the rest of us who prefer a quieter mode of transportation known as legs. Whether you travel on two legs or four, its still kinda hurtful not to be included in their get together.

The WSAs have many wonderful attributes like clean water, beautiful scenery, and amazing wildlife, one of our favorites is that theyre good for the states economy. Outdoor recreation is Montanas second largest industry. According to a recent report compiled by The Center for Western Priorities, 17,287,676 visitors come here annually to enjoy Montanas public lands. They generate $7.1 billion in consumer spending, which in turn provides 71,000 jobs and $2.2 billion in salaries and wages. Best of all, outdoor recreation is sustainable.

Obviously, the time our elected officials spend in Washington, D.C., discombobulates their thinking when it comes to Montana values. Montanans, above all else, value our public land heritage. Montanans dont agree on everything but when we sit down together we will eventually agree on some things like The Rocky Mountain Heritage Act, The Scapegoat Wilderness, The Musselshell Watershed Coalition, and currently The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. We know how to get stuff done.

One last thing about Montana values, Montana folks put all the cards on the table. We have a disquieting hunch that the senator and the congressman arent on the up and up. Why else are they trying to ram this legislation through without inclusive public meetings? We think their scheme is to remove WSA protection then lease the land at bargain basement prices to some international saw, dig and drill moneygrubbers.

Our public land heritage is the signature reason we call Montana, The Last Best Place. What will we call our home after 800,000 acres of protected wilderness-worthy land is degraded?

Let Sen. Daines and Congressman Gianforte know they all owe us a square deal.



James Haggerty, Ulm, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

Patrick McGuffin, LIttle Belt Mountains rancher, Backcountry Horsemen and the Montana Wilderness Association
Discovery has implications for the development of potential drug targets in treatment of neurodegenerative conditions

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 Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons 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 Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, and hence warrant their continued development as potential drug targets.

These findings demonstrate that nanoparticle damage to brain cells can cause DNA damage thats dependent on astrocytes. This has implications for further studies aimed at developing astrocytes as potential drug targets for neurodegenerative conditions.

Trinity College Dublin
By Aylin Woodward

Typically cancers are classified by where they originate in the bodythink breast cancer, stomach cancer, and so on. But a collaboration called the Pan-Cancer Initiative, launched in 2012 at a meeting in Santa Cruz, California,sought to study cancers from a new anglea molecular one. Preliminary analyses showed cancers that start in different organs actually share commonalities at the molecular level, whereas cancers that originate from the same tissue can have very different genomic profiles.

Now, the Pan-Cancer Initiative has released the results of a much larger analysis of genomic and molecular data characterizing 33 different types of cancer from more than 10,000 patients. Called the Pan-Cancer Atlas, it is the most comprehensive cross-cancer analysis to date and is the final output of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program, a joint effort of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The results appear in 27 papers published April 5 in Cell, Cancer Cell, Cell Reports, andImmunity.

Insights about how one type of cancer relates to another form of the disease can have real clinical implications, said Josh Stuart, Baskin Professor of Biomolecular Engineering at UC Santa Cruz and an organizer of the Pan-Cancer Initiative. In some cases, we can borrow clinical practices from better-known diseases and apply them to cancers for which treatment options are less well defined.

Stuarts main collaborators on the pan-cancer analyses have been Christopher Benz, professor of cancer and developmental therapeutics at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and a clinical oncologist at UC San Francisco, and Christina Yau, assistant adjunct professor of surgery at UCSF and a senior scientist at the Buck Institute. Stuart and Benz are co-directors of the UCSC-Buck Institute Genome Data Analysis Center, one of seven national centers in the TCGA Research Network.

Comprehensive analysis

Working with an international team of researchers, they performed a comprehensive molecular analysis of the complete set of TCGA tumor data. The results showed that, based on their cellular and genetic makeup and independent of their anatomic site of origin, all 33 tumor types could be re-classified into 28 different molecular types, or clusters. Nearly two-thirds of these clusters were considered heterogeneous as they contained up to 25 different histological tumor types that, traditionally, would all be treated differently. These molecular analyses and clustering results, now also linked to multiple clinical outcome endpoints, are available to clinicians and researchers worldwide via a single TCGA portal.

This comprehensive body of final TCGA Pan-Cancer Atlas analyses will provide a new foundation for future cancer research efforts and clinical trials, Benz said. It will also incentivize clinical oncologists to get newly diagnosed and recurrent tumors genomically characterized. Patients will have the best shot at successful treatment if their tumors can first be classified according to their genomic and molecular makeup.

The first wave of cross-tumor comparisons was completed in September 2013, when Stuart and his colleagues in the Pan-Cancer Initiative analyzed 12 types of tumors profiled by TCGA. While most tumors did end up being grouped by their tissue of origin, there were some common DNA, RNA, and protein signals that cut across those groupings.

It became clear, when we found similarities between different types of cancer, people wanted to do a more comprehensive comparison, Stuart said.

In 2014, he coauthored another pan-cancer paper in which the researchers sorted the tumors into subtypes, or clusters, using a statistical analysis of tumor molecular data. While a majority of the cancer subtypes matched their tissue-of-origin, some of the clusters consisted of tumors that originated in different parts of the body. The 2014 study indicated that one in 10 cancer patients would be classified differently using the new molecular classifications, and those differences could have ramifications for what types of treatment options or clinical trials should be made available to those patients.

Integral role

As co-leader of the Pan-Cancer working group for TCGA and the International Cancer Genomics Consortium, Stuart has played an integral role in ensuring the research compiled by the collaboration was organized under one common umbrella and overseen by a single steering committee.

Stuart helped organize the 27 Pan-Cancer Atlas papers published April 5 in Cell Press journals. He said the Pan-Cancer Initiatives work so far resembles a giant tree, with roots representing different means of classifying tumors, and sub-roots branching off each of the main roots. This organizational structure provided the basis for themed working groups, rather than groups based on organ or tissue type.

Stuart and Benz are senior authors of one of the papers, published in Cell and led by Peter Laird of Van Andel Research Institute, which provides a roadmap for other researchers seeking to delve into the findings of the various working groups. Its a survey of what kinds of overarching systems underlie the data. Its less about clinical implications, and more about the patterns weve found, Stuart said. The first authors of the paper include Yau and Christopher Wong, a staff scientist in Stuarts lab at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute.

Stuart said he is confident that once scientists start scrutinizing the data, clinical implications wont be far behind. Obviously, finding actionable pieces of logic from these root maps is the holy grail, he said. The milestone we hit with this paper is finally being able to stand back and look at the big picture.

Tumor Map

The UCSC Tumor Map, an interactive browser developed by Yulia Newton and Adam Novak to help researchers visualize the data, displays patient samples on a Google Maps interface. Wong used the browser to compile a set of 10 panels in the Cell paper illustrating the dominant patterns found in the data. These include the cell of origin, molecular histology, stemness or differentiation status, specific altered genetic pathways, and the immune system component of the tumors.

Looking at these Tumor Maps is like looking at the Earth from orbit for the first time, Stuart said. We now see cancers complete picture and it fills me with hope that we can understand its finite, not infinite, complexity.

UC Santa Cruz has a legacy of creating browsers for the biological community, starting with the highly popular UCSC Genome Browser. We are thrilled to make this rich data available to the public through this new portal, Stuart said.

Benz said the new TCGA data hold particular promise for expanding treatments designed to enlist the immune system to beat cancer, including approved immunotherapies now showing near-miraculous results against a limited number of classical cancer types. Remarkably, the study shows that one of the most heterogeneous of the observed 28 molecular clusters was composed of 25 different classical tumor types and exhibited very strong features linked to activation of the patients immune response.

This finding supports the growing notion that specific immunotherapies approved by the FDA for one cancer type would likely benefit patients with various other cancer types, if these other types could be molecularly identified, Benz said.

Drugs approved for other diseases could also be effective against some of the newly classified cancer types. A couple of our newly defined cancer clusters also show activation of a molecular pathway (JAK/Stat) thats commonly upregulated in rheumatoid arthritis, said Yau, who provided bioinformatics expertise for much of TCGAs work over the past decade. Perhaps we can repurpose drugs used to treat that non-malignant chronic disease, as researchers will now have the molecular rationale to explore this novel treatment strategy.

Even though TCGA is donethe database wont be added to or changedthis same kind of comprehensive and collaborative multi-platform genomic analysis continues nationwide under new NCI sponsorship. Stuart, Benz, and Yau continue to work together as part of their bioinformatic analysis center for the newly constituted Genomic Data Analysis Network which, among other challenges, is tasked with determining clinically measurable biomarkers that would make it easier and more cost effective to identify a priori those same tumor molecular subsets identified by the TCGA networks multi-platform analysis.

Its time to re-write the textbooks on cancer, and its time to break down the silos in clinical oncology that make it difficult for patients to take advantage of this paradigm shift in cancer classification, said Benz.

UC SANTA CRUZ
Older cells promote inflammation, abnormal blood vessel growth that can lead to blindness

As people age, their immune systems age, too. And new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that aging immune cells increase the risk for age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness in the United States.

Studying mice and cells from patients, the researchers found that as immune cells called macrophages age, they are more likely to contribute to the inflammation and abnormal blood vessel growth that damage vision in macular degeneration.

Their findings are published April 5 in the journal JCI Insight.

Drug treatments for macular degeneration arent effective for some patients, who either have a minimal response or not response at all, and many patients continue to experience vision loss over the long term, even if they have a good initial response to treatment, said senior investigator Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. But by understanding what happens with the immune cells in the eye, it may be possible to develop therapies to help patients who cant be helped with existing drugs.

In experiments in mice, Aptes team found that older macrophages carry larger amounts of short snippets of genetic material, called microRNAs, that govern how cells express genes. The researchers found significantly higher levels of microRNA-150 in macrophages in the eyes of older mice.

MicroRNAs help regulate many things in cells by binding to several genes to influence how those genes make proteins. In this study, the researchers found that microRNA-150 seemed to be guiding older macrophages toward promoting inflammation and abnormal blood vessel formation in a mouse model of macular degeneration.

The researchers also tested blood samples from human subjects with and without macular degeneration. The samples from those with macular degeneration also had significantly higher levels of microRNA-150 in their macrophages.

We think microRNA-150 may be a potential therapeutic target, or at least a biomarker, for aggressive disease and risk of vision loss, said first author Jonathan B. Lin, an MD/PhD student at the School of Medicine.

In the United States, almost 11 million people have some form of age-related macular degeneration, with the number expected to top 22 million by 2050. It affects women more than men, and the majority of patients are Caucasian. One early symptom is blurry vision in which straight lines appear distorted. That can progress to darkness, whiteouts or blurry areas in the center of the visual field. The disease does not, by itself, lead to total blindness because peripheral vision remains unaffected. Although some therapies delay loss of central vision, no current treatments restore it completely.

Macular degeneration therapies seem to be treating disease symptoms, rather than its cause, Lin said. We focused on the role of macrophages in regulating inflammation and the growth of abnormal blood vessels to see whether it may be possible one day to help people who dont get much benefit from existing treatments and design therapies that may prevent progression to advanced forms of the disease.

Lin and Apte said if they could somehow reduce microRNA levels in macrophages, or alter one or more molecular pathways regulated by this microRNA, they might be able to lower levels of inflammation and interfere with abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye. They also believe similar strategies eventually may help patients with other diseases related to aging.

Its possible to envision immune-based therapies that would tweak the level of microRNAs so that these macrophage cells no longer contribute to disease, said Apte. Such therapies are a long way off, and we need to do a lot more research, but if we could make these older cells more like the younger ones, we might be able to prevent a great deal of vision loss.
The University of Melbourne-led study, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, was the worlds first to characterise lung function trajectories that could lead to COPD in a large general population from early childhood into the sixth decade.

The researchers identified six trajectories, including two new ones. Of the six, three led to COPD, which is a range of conditions that impair breathing, such as emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma.

The study found that later COPD risk could be minimised if immunisation was encouraged, if mothers did not smoke and if their children did not smoke when they got older, especially if they had smoking parents or low childhood lung function.

Led by Mr Dinh Bui and Professor Shyamali Dharmage at the University of Melbourne School of Population and Global Healths Allergy and Lung Health Unit, the study used data from 2438 participants of the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study. It involved a range of university departments and hospitals across Australia and pinpointed six lung function pathways from childhood to middle age.

Professor Dharmage said the findings suggested that early life factors  including allergic diseases, lung infections, parental asthma and maternal smoking  influenced the three unfavourable lung function trajectories.

She said if study participants did not smoke and controlled their asthma as an adult, they could possibly reduce the impact of what had happened as a child.

Personal smoking might amplify the effect of maternal smoking and adult asthma might amplify the effect of childhood asthma to determine membership of the worst lung function trajectory, Professor Dharmage said.

Clinicians and patient[s] with asthma should be made aware of the potential long-term implications of non-optimal asthma control for lung function trajectory throughout life, and this should be investigated in future intervention trials.

The six lung function pathways/trajectories were:

early below average, accelerated decline (new)  those with lung function below average in childhood followed by an accelerated decline in adulthood;

persistently low;

below average;

early low, accelerated growth, normal decline (new)  those with low lung function in early childhood followed by a catch-up growth during adolescence and remain normal in adulthood;

persistently high; and

average.

Three of them  early below average, accelerated decline, below average and persistently low  had increased risk of COPD by middle age and were associated with 75 per cent of the COPD burden.

However, this burden could be modified. For people in these categories, reducing maternal smoking, encouraging immunisation and avoiding smoking could minimise later COPD risk.

The two new trajectories both contradicted the notion that lung function established in childhood tracks through life.

The early low, accelerated growth, normal decline path also suggested a somewhat surprising pathway, where some children with low lung function in childhood still had an opportunity to grow out of it.

Female and underweight children were more likely to follow this trajectory, which saw them recover some lung function as they grew bigger and stronger.

*Click here to access the paper.

*Read more on Pursuit.
Ireland's Grand Slam-winning hero Jonny Sexton has had lots of reason to celebrate lately.

Just off the high of Six Nations glory, he now has even more to be happy about.

The Herald can reveal that he is gearing up to tackle parenthood for the third time, as wife Laura Priestley is expecting another baby.

Laura, who works as a teacher, is in the second trimester of her latest pregnancy and was looking the picture of health as she cheered on the boys in green from the sidelines.

Thrilled

"She's due around the end of the summer and they're both thrilled," said a source.

"She's feeling great and really excited about the prospect of a third baby."

One of Irish rugby's best-known couples, Jonny and Laura already have two children - Amy (two) and four-year-old Luca - so they'll have their hands full with three little ones all under the age of five.

The couple, who have been together since their teens, jetted off to Dubai this week to spend time with three other rugby couples as they enjoyed a babymoon away from their two youngsters. They were joined on the Gulf coast by fellow star Sean Cronin and his spouse Claire Mulcahy, who have twin boys, who were born in December 2016, together with Joey Carbery and his girlfriend Robyn Flanagan.

The Ireland team is clearly going through something of a baby boom. Fergus McFadden and his wife Rebecca, who are also expecting a new arrival later this year, making them first-time parents, are also sunning themselves in Dubai.

Rebecca was seen sporting a very tidy bump while the gang lapped up some well-deserved time off in the millionaires' playground in the UAE.

No expense was spared for the team members as they dined out in some of the city's top spots including the massive tourist attraction of the Burj Khalifa and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where plush rooms start from 500 a night.

Sexton was widely lauded for his last-minute drop kick which secured Ireland's win over France, setting the boys in green on the path to their Grand Slam triumph.
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Distillers are hoping to make Irish gin a household name here and around the globe.

The tipple has seen a resurgence in popularity recently thanks to the retro cocktail culture trend, despite an overall 25pc decline in consumption of spirits since 2008.

Irish exports of the juniper-based spirit trebled last year to 130,000 cases, prompting the Alcohol Beverage Foundation of Ireland to establish an Irish Gin Working Group as part of the Irish Spirits Association.

However, instead of sitting around a boardroom toasting each other with G&Ts, the group has been working hard to put Irish gin on the world map the same way that Irish whiskey is recognised globally as a quality product, according to working group chair Pat Rigney.

"It's a serious business," he said, adding that the 20-member working group did not touch a drop as it prepared its new five-year strategy.

Exotic

The group is hoping to treble its current sales of gin by 2022, with a target of selling five million bottles around the world.

While the berries that form the basis of gin are imported from warmer climes, it is the "quality of distillation and botanicals from exotic locations" that is generating a buzz about Irish gin, said Mr Rigney.

"Every gin has its own backstory," he said of more than a dozen Irish gin distillers, including his own Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin, which he distils in medieval copper pots at his rustic distillery, The Shed, in the Co Leitrim town.

"We're almost creating a new market with our gin," he said.

Irish gin is already sold in 25 countries around the world.

It received rave reviews at a recent trade show in Germany as well as in Canada, where it was showcased in government-licensed liquor stores throughout the province of Ontario as part of a promotion with Bord Bia.

The group is setting its sights on making Irish gin a tipple of choice for domestic drinkers as well as opening up markets for distribution in North America, the UK, Spain and Germany and is looking at opening secondary markets elsewhere.
Actress Ruth Negga has reportedly split from her boyfriend of eight years, Dominic Cooper.

The Limerick woman is said to have parted ways with the actor who she starred alongside in the AMC series Preacher.

A source told the New York Post that "their romance ran its course and the two are moving on".

Ruth (36) and Dominic (39) first met in 2009 when they worked together on the play Phedre for the National Theatre in London.

They later worked together on the film Warcraft before starring in Preacher.

The couple were notoriously private about their life together throughout their relationship, with Dominic even skipping attending the Oscars ceremony with his other half when she was nominated for Best Actress last year.

Awards

They were last pictured together in November 2017, looking uncharacteristically loved-up while attending the Harper's Bazaar Woman of the Year Awards, where Ruth was honoured with the top gong.

Ruth has previously discussed some aspects of her personal life, admitting that the idea of having children one day is something that is often on her mind.

"By the time you're in a great relationship, it's like, oh, I'm 35. S***," she said.

"So there is part of your thinking that is: 'Do I want kids? When? If? How?

"It's there, all the time, preoccupying me. And that's not being an actor, it's being a woman."

The actress went on to say that there were few careers that allowed women the opportunity to start a family and then return to work with support behind them.

Born in Ethiopia and raised in Limerick, Ruth relocated to London in 2006 in an attempt to further her acting career and admitted that people often poked fun at for her Irish accent.

"I remember someone laughing at the way I said 'thirty' and I was so shocked you could do that," she said.

Representatives for Ruth had not responded to request for comment last night.
A student who threatened a pregnant teacher and told her he would "kick the baby out" was back in the classroom the next day, a teachers' union conference was told.

The frightened teacher fled the classroom and, when the student followed her, had to lock herself in a side room and ring the school office.

The incident started when the teacher challenged the student over misbehaviour.

Audrey Cepeda told the annual conference of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) that the student was suspended three weeks later, but that "was not good enough and, if there are going to be consequences, it is much better that it happens very quickly".

Failure

She said teachers felt unsupported and the failure of schools and other educational settings to implement codes of behaviour and "a blatant disregard of health and safety procedures" was causing growing levels of work-related stress.

TUI general secretary John MacGabhann told reporters afterwards that such incidents were not the norm, but a small minority of schools were affected by student violence.

"We don't want to be alarmist about this but we want to nail the problem where it occurs. In some instances, school management simply do not discharge their obligations," he said.

Ms Cepeda, chair of TUI Dublin City branch, detailed a litany of aggressive and violent incidents, which, she said, were now daily occurrences.

"Some of them are quite bad; teachers would have objects thrown at them - nuts and bolts, cans of coke, coins, some might be pushed.

"Some may be physically assaulted before someone gets a chance to intervene," Ms Cepeda said.

"Sometimes it is verbal assault, where students could be inches from the teacher's face, threatening them in front of class, and they don't know if it is going to escalate further.

"Sometimes, a student might swing for a teacher and it may not connect but the following day that student could be sitting back in front of you."

She said that teachers will report such incidents to management and ask for certain codes of behaviour to be implemented, but feel they are disregarded.

Ms Cepeda said teachers were often left feeling that it was their fault, that it was their management style or that they hadn't imposed discipline and may be told that they needed some up-skilling.

Indiscipline

A motion adopted by the conference commits the unions to establish the extent of work-related stress due to indiscipline, violence and breaches of health and safety in their schools and other educational centres, and how school managements were dealing with it.

Meanwhile, the conference also voted unanimously not to comply with a Department of Education directive to provide alternative classes to students in community schools and community colleges who opt out of religion, from next September, unless extra staffing is provided.
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.
With the state set to go to polls on May 12, the tussle for tickets has reached fever pitch and children of political leaders have not shied away from staking their claim for a berth.

Foremost among such ticket-seekers is chief minister Siddaramaiahs son Yathindra, who is set to contest from Varuna constituency, a bastion of his father who has shifted to neighbouring Chamundeshwari to accommodate the son.

Similarly, speculation is rife that the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may field BY Vijayendra, the younger son of the partys chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa, against Yathindra in Varuna. The constituency has a significant population of Lingayats, a community to which Vijayendra belongs. However, the Congress and the BJP have not released their candidates list yet.

Moreover, BJP general secretary in charge of the state, Muralidhar Rao, on Thursday seemingly put paid to Vijayendras ambitions, when he said the party was against dynastic politics. Dynasty and democracy cannot co-exist. BJP is against dynastic politics and in the eco-system which we have created in the party, dynasty cannot survive. This is the broad, old principle of the BJP, he said, while addressing a press conference.

When asked about Vijayendra campaigning in Varuna, Rao said: We have never stopped him from campaigning. Rao highlighted the partys stance that it was the Congress that indulged in dynastic politics.

The Congress, however, said Yathindras candidature was certain. State working president Dinesh Gundu Rao said there were no other claimants for Varuna. There is only one application, that of Yathindra, in Varuna, he said, adding that a final decision would be taken by the central leadership.

Vijayendra said it was not his decision to contest from Varuna. Party workers in that constituency demanded that I contest there and hence to respect their wishes I visited the constituency, he said, adding that he had not yet filed an application with the party to contest from the seat.

Vijayendras brother Raghavendra is the current MLA from Shikaripur, where Yeddyurappa had won seven consecutive elections, before successfully constesting the Lok Sabha polls in 2014.

When asked about Muralidhar Raos statement, Vijayendra said he was only bowing to the wishes of the party cadre. It is for the central leadership to decide on candidates. But the local party workers have taken it upon themselves to ensure a humiliating defeat to the Congress in a seat that was represented by the chief minister, he said. Repeated attempts to reach Yathindra went unanswered.

Others in the fray

There are other political heirs in the fray, too, like Sowmya Reddy, daughter of home minister Ramalinga Reddy, who is an aspirant from the Jayanagar constituency in Bengaluru. Ramalinga Reddy had represented the constituency from 1989 to 2008, when he switched to the neighbouring BTM Layout constituency.

In Jayanagar, there are three-four aspirants, so a decision will be taken based on the candidates ability to win, Gundu Rao said.

Meanwhile, Darshan Puttanaiah is set to contest from the constituency of his late father and stalwart farmer leader KS Puttanaiah, who passed away in February. Puttanaiah will contest from Melukote in Mandya district on the Swaraj India ticket.

Puttanaiah said he had not nursed any political ambitions, and had been thrust into the role because of the sudden death of his father. While I have gone along for my fathers campaigns in the past, I had never considered electoral politics, he said. I was more interested in the work of the farmers union.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for granting the minister of state (MoS) status to five Hindu religious leaders recently. The move has not gone down well with a section of the ruling party either.

Gandhi parodied the Papa kehte hain song from Bollywood film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak to criticise Chouhan as well as the religious leaders. Baba kahte the bada kaam karunga, Narmada ghotala nakaam karunga; Magar yah to mama hi jaane, ab inki manjil hai kahan (Baba used to say that I will achieve a lot, wont let the Narmada fraud happen; But only mama knows now, where their destination lies). Madhya Pradesh, Qayamat se Qayamat tak, he tweeted.

The ghotala, in this case, refers to the alleged corruption in the planting of saplings along the banks of the Narmada during Chouhans Narmada Seva Yatra programme.

The state government had accorded the MoS status to religious leaders Swami Namdev (aka Computer Baba), Pt Yogendra Mahant, Narmadanand Maharaj, Hariharanand Maharaj and Bhayyu Maharaj on Tuesday. The Congress responded by accusing the government of using spiritual figures to placate various sections of the society ahead of the assembly election this year.

The religious leaders were accorded the ministerial status after their appointment to a committee set up to launch an awareness campaign for Narmada conservation on March 31. Soon afterwards, Computer Baba and Mahant began praising the governments efforts towards preserving the river.

I only want to say that Computer Baba computer ki tarah kaam karega. Duniya mein Madhya Pradesh ka naam rahega, Computer Baba said in response to Gandhis tweet.

Mahant also played down the Congress presidents jibe. Instead of passing comments on sadhus and saints, Rahul Gandhi should follow the path shown by them. This will result in his progress, he said.

Vijesh Lunawat, vice-president of the BJPs state unit, termed Gandhis tweet as an insult to all the sadhus and saints in the country. Rahul Gandhi cannot understand the meaning of Hinduism. He becomes a Hindu only at the time of elections. Sadhus dont aspire for any kind of facilities, and the government gave them MoS status with a specific objective. And as far as Qayamat se Qayamat tak is concerned, the people of Madhya Pradesh suffered enough of that during the Congress rule, he said.

However, the governments decision has found criticism in the ruling party itself. This tendency to give government posts to sadhus and sants is wrong. They include even controversial persons in such decisions. The government may get the support (of religious leaders) by according them MoS status, but it will antagonise 50 others, said former BJP legislator Raghunandan Sharma.

BJP MLA Babulal Gaur maintained that mistakes were committed on both sides  the government by giving away the MoS status, and the religious leaders by accepting it. If sadhus and saints become subservient to any government, they will lose their identity. One recalls legendary Goswami Tulsidas, who turned down the order of Akbar  the then emperor of Delhi  to become one of his courtiers, added Gaur, who is also a former home minister.
At a time when people are migrating from drought-hit Bundelkhand, a local farmer in a Chhatarpur village refusing to leave his village is inspiring people to stay put and grow flower on their own. He grows drought resistant marigold on his farm and earns a good profit. He is now inspiring other farmers in the area to adopt growing flowers like marigold, said administrative authorities.

Marigold flowers are naturally drought tolerant and can withstand vagaries of weather quite well.

Many farmers in the region are struggling to make both ends meet and they are unable to bear the crop losses and pressure of the moneylenders. There have been regular reports about farmers committing suicide. The success story of this farmer has emerged as a ray of hope for other struggling farmers in the area, says the authorities.

Farming is challenging in drought prone Bundelkhand where cross losses is a regular phenomenon. You cant bank on it for a regular income to run your household. Before starting growing flowers, I used to be a farm labourer and had given my farm to other farmers for contract farming. At that time I had also plans to migrate to a big city for a better earning but flower cultivation changed my life, said Raikwar.

On what motivated him to grow flowers Raikwar said he had gone on a pilgrimage to Kumbh mela at Allahabad several years ago. A person from our neighbouring village had a flower shop there. I stayed with him at his place and used to help him at the shop. I found that he was earning a huge profit by selling flowers which he used to purchase from the local farmers, he said.

Raikwar said it was the flower seller who suggested him to grow flowers as traditional Rabi and Kharif crop. After returning I inquired from agriculture department about flower cultivation. I installed a Gobar tas plant as I had cattle and set up an earthworm manure pit with the help of agriculture department, he said.

Raikwar said he started growing marigold using cowdung and organic earth worm manure. The result was good and as time passed I started earning a good profit from flower cultivation. In one year we grow marigold crop three times. Every season I earn around Rs 85000 while the input cost is Rs 15000.

Around 50 to 70 kg of flowers are plucked daily from the farm and sent to Chhatarpur market. During peak marriage season, we send flowers to Jhansi also. My two sons have also joined me in this business. My younger son is pursuing BSc in agriculture stream from Nowgawh Government College.

Raikwars success story has also inspired other farmers in the area.

Bachu Kushwaha, a farmer in neighbouring village said after seeing Raikwars blooming business he too started flower cultivation on his half acre land. Now I am also earning a good profit. Other farmers of my village and neighbouring villages are also coming to me for advice and soon you will see whole of this area is blooming with flowers, he said.

Chhatarpur collector Ramesh Bhandari said farmer Bala Raikwar was motivating many farmers to look for other means to earn their livelihood besides growing traditional crops. Thats why Raikwar was awarded as the best farmer of his block on January 26 by the government.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who was sentenced to five years jail term in the 20-year-old blackbuck case, was prisoner No. 106 in Jodhpur Central Jail on Thursday night and was lodged in the barrack next to Asaram Bapus. With his bail plea reserved for Saturday, he is expected to stay in jail for another night at least. The actor ate a simple dinner of dal, sabzi and chapatis served in the jail and slept on floor. He refused breakfast on Friday morning. His only question was about the toilet in his barrack and if there was a geyser.

This is the fourth time Salman spent time in this jail. Talking about his previous jail terms, Salman had told Koel Puri in an interview in 2008 that he was chilling and the only tension was bathroom. When Koel asked, What was your time in jail like? Salman replied -- apparently with sarcasm, A lot of fun. He then went ahead and laughed loudly when she said, Really? She accepted that this kind of question would lead to such a response.

Read: Missing movie review: Slightly disoriented, but Manoj Bajpayee-Tabu make it work

I was blank. I was chilling. The only tension was the bathroom. That was it. [pause] And, the bin, and three, four times I have gone in and out of it. If someone wants to put you in, you go in quietly. When you know you havent done it, you go in head high, he said in the 2008 episode of On the Couch with Koel.

The police custody here, yeah.. There were like nine or 10 rooms, and each room had 9-10 people in one room. One bathroom. One toilet. So that was...[rolls his eyes] Then the rest of the space, the Central Jail. When you go to the judicial custody, you get your own suite there [smiles].

Salman further elaborated on the people he got to see and meet in the prison: Once a week. Then you get one qaidi wholl give you chai in the morning. The same guy will come and get you the lunch. Theres one guard outside. You get this one mug, that you have your chai in and wash it. Then you have daal-chawal in it. You use it to take a shower. You use it to do whatever you wanna do.

I used to do a lot of push-ups and crunches. And used to work out thrice a day, he added in answer to how he spent his time in the jail.

Watch excerpts of the interview here:

Salmans current stay in Jodhpur Central Jail is his fourth inside the prison. He has earlier been behind bars from October 15 to October 17 in 1998 after he was sent to judicial custody during the investigation in the Kankani blackbuck poaching case.

Salman was convicted of killing a chinkara (on September 28, 1998, at Ghora Farm near Mathania village) in 2006 and spent three days in the jail for the second time after the court of chief judicial magistrate sentenced him to five years of imprisonment.

The third time Khan went behind bars was in 2007 when his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the session court on August 26. He came out on August 31 after he got bail from the high court.

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Miss World Manushi Chhillar says that as someone who is living up to a lot of expectations, she didnt feel scared about being compared to successful Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor Khan. Manushi was on Thursday at an event where she was announced the brand ambassador of a jewllery brand that is also represented by Kareena. This will be the first brand endorsement by Manushi who won the beauty pageant earlier this year.

The Haryana-born beauty queen was asked about being compared to the brands other face Kareena. She said: There are a lot of expectations when people have already seen actors like Tamannaah Bhatia and Kareena Kapoor Khan. But I think for a girl who is already living up to a lot of expectations, I wasnt really scared. There was more of excitement than nervousness. What Kareena Kapoor Khan has been doing and will keep doing is different from the line of jewellery that I am endorsing for Malabar.

Manushi had earlier ruled out a Bollywood stint for her just now. Bollywood is just something that is not on my mind as of now so I really cant say anything about it, she had said after winning the pageant while admitting she would want to do an Aamir Khan film someday.

On her journey as Miss World, Manushi said: I just hope that this journey keeps going forward. I have just completed one year since my audition for Miss World and in this one year, my life has changed completely. And the whole world has seen that. So, I know that a lot of change is going to come and I am definitely not going to stop here. I am looking forward to it and with this campaign, we are going to touch lot of young lives and lot of women.

Manushi is supporting many charity causes and launched her own project named Shakti before joining the beauty pageant. For someone like me who is still studying and didnt come from a pageant background, knows and understands how education is important. Education brings a sense of confidence and self-worth to yourself. To give this gift to other girls is something very great that the brand is doing, she said.

Manushi is currently travelling from city to city in India and abroad to spread awareness about womens hygiene under the Beauty with Purpose campaign.
Even as Salman Khan spent the night in Jodhpur Central Jail after being convicted in the 20-year-old blackbuck poaching case and sentenced to five years of jail term, close friends visited his residence at Galaxy Apartment, Mumbai, to meet his family. Filmmaker Sajid Nadiadwala even cancelled the success party of his latest, Baaghi 2 , and left for Jodhpur late Thursday.

Salmans bail hearing is expected to come up for hearing on Friday and he will also be allowed to meet his family. His sisters Arpita and Alvira are in Jodhpur, as are other people close to the actor.

Salman Khan enters the Jodhpur Central Jail after being awarded five years jail term in the blackbuck poaching case. (HT Photo)

Salman Khan is taken away from the court after he was awarded five years in jail in decades old illegal poaching case. (PTI)

Sajid Nadiadwala had organised a celebration party in order to celebrate the blockbuster success of Tiger Shroff starrer Baaghi 2. The film has collected Rs 104.9 crore, becoming the third film this year to enter the Rs 100 crore-club.

Salmans sisters Arpita and Alvira were with him on Thursday at the Jodhpur sessions court.

Actor Salman Khan's sisters Arpita and Alvira Khan arrive at a Jodhpur rural court on April 5, 2018. (IANS)

How Bishnois compassion for wildlife led to Salman Khans conviction in blackbuck poaching case

Shatrughan Sinha, who shares a close bond with the family, visited them and so did Sneha Ullal.

Malaika Arora Khan, who was married to Salmans brother Arbaaz, also visited the residence. Sisters Malaika and Amrita Arora were among the first ones to reach Galaxy Apartment and meet the Khan family.

Actors Daisy Shah and Waluscha DSouza were also spotted outside Salmans home.

As per the Jodhpur DIG (Jail) Vikram Singh, multiple layers of security have been put in place for Salman in the jail, and he has been lodged in a separate barrack. "Salman Khan has been given number 106 and is lodged in ward number 2. He was made to undergo a medical test and has no medical issues. He has not made any demands. We will give him jail uniform tomorrow. Multiple-layer security has been put up for his ward," the DIG said on Thursday, hours after he was taken to jail following his conviction in the case. The DIG said the actor was served with chana dal (split chickpeas), cabbage, and chapati (flat bread) for the meal. The Sultan of Bollywood will have to sleep on the floor of the jail like other prisoners.

Salman will be able to meet his family and advocate in the morning, to discuss future course of action.

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Bollywood star Salman Khans sentencing in the blackbuck killing case has left Bollywood overwhelmed. While many have tweeted about the sanctity of law while expressing grief at the punishment meted out to Salman, many others have come out in full support of him. Leading the charge is actor Varun Dhawan. Tweeting about it, Varun says how Salman will eventually come out of this mess much stronger. He wrote: I know for a fact that Salman bhai and his family have the utmost respect and faith in our judiciary system. @BeingSalmanKhan is one of the strongest and most genuine people I know and Im sure he will come out of this stronger.

Read: Missing movie review: Slightly disoriented, but Manoj Bajpayee-Tabu make it work

Simi Garewal had a telling tale to add. She believes Salman want the guy who shot the endangered blackbuck. She wrote: Of one thing I am dead sure..@BeingSalmanKhan would NEVER EVER harm any animal. He loves them too much. The real culprit should be exposed. 20 years is too long to bear someone elses cross..

I know for a fact that Salman bhai and his family have the utmost respect and faith in our judiciary system. @BeingSalmanKhan is one of the strongest and most genuine people I know and Im sure he will come out of this stronger.  Varun DAN Dhawan (@Varun_dvn) April 5, 2018

Of one thing I am dead sure..@BeingSalmanKhan would NEVER EVER harm any animal. He loves them too much. The real culprit should be exposed. 20 years is too long to bear someone else's cross..  Simi Garewal (@Simi_Garewal) April 5, 2018

Salman was sentenced by a Jodhpur court for killing the endangered blackbuck in the case that goes back to 1998. He was found guilty of killing two blackbucks during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain in Rajasthan. Co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu were present in court during pronouncement of the verdict. They were, however, acquitted.

The trial in the case, which has seen several twists and turns, began in May 2013, 15 years after the Bishnoi community reported the poaching on October 2, 1998. At least 28 witnesses from the prosecution side were examined.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan arrives at the court in Jodhpur on Thursday morning. The court awarded Khan five years in jail in the case. (PTI)

Final arguments were completed on March 28, after which chief judicial magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri reserved the judgment for Thursday.

Early voices such Subhash Ghai, Arjun Rampal and actor and MP Jaya Bachchan expressed their sadness and shock at what they felt was the harshness of the verdict. Now, more voices from Bollywood have joined the chorus.

Veteran actor Kabir Bedi tweeted to say that he was feeling sad for Salman. He wrote: Feeling very sad that Salman Khan has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for allegedly shooting a black buck. 5 years! The length of sentence seems excessive and must be appealed. @BeingSalmanKhan has all my sympathy and support. #WeLoveYouSalmanKhan.

Feeling very sad that Salman Khan has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for allegedly shooting a black buck. 5 years! The length of sentence seems excessive and must be appealed. @BeingSalmanKhan has all my sympathy and support. #WeLoveYouSalmanKhan  KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) April 5, 2018

Nafisa Ali too came out in full support of the Bollywood star. She wrote: Salman Khan after 20 years convicted of killing a Black Buck that he never killed! He was man enough to take the entire blame and only his name registered in the FIR. The reason way all the other were acquitted. Salman we know the truth. Hope justice will be done tomorrow.

Salman Khan after 20 years convicted of killing a Black Buck that he never killed !He was man enough to take the entire blame and only his name registered in the FIR . This the reason why all the other were acquitted . Salman we know the truth. Hope justice will be done tomorrow.  Nafisa Ali Sodhi (@nafisaaliindia) April 5, 2018

Bigg Boss 10 winner Manveer Gujjar couldnt hide his disappointment. Heres how he expressed his dismay at the verdict.

  ! Rape  Murder  Victims         Insaaf    @BeingSalmanKhan   Charity  Proper     20   Incident     ! #IStandWithSalmanKhan #BlackBuckPoachingCase  Manveer Gurjar (@imanveergurjar) April 5, 2018

Bigg Boss 11 participant, Bandgi Kalra tweeted: #WeSupportSalmankhan always and forever ?? @BeingSalmanKhan @tweetbeinghuman.

Naved Jafri, son of veteran Bollywood comedian Jagdeep and brother of popular dance-show host and actor Jaaved Jaaferi, too expressed his grief at the verdict. Extremely saddened by hearing about @BeingSalmanKhan , I have full faith in the law, and I hope they get lenient on behalf of the great humanitarian work that he is doing. #Salman Khan #WeSupportSalmanKhan #BlackBuckPoachingCase.

Extremely saddened by hearing about @BeingSalmanKhan , I have full faith in the law, and I hope they get lenient on behalf of the great humanitarian work that he is doing. #Salman Khan #WeSupportSalmanKhan #BlackBuckPoachingCase  Naved Jafri (@NavedJafri_BOO) April 5, 2018

Pakistani actor Marwah Hocane too tweeted about Salmans verdict. She wrote: In a world with no NO human rights, a great human being is being punished for killing an animal umpteen years ago under animal rights. Bash me all you want, but theres something completely wrong about it.. mind you such human beings are our saving grace! #SalmanKhanVerdict.

In a world with no "NO" human rights, a great human being is being punished for killing an animal umpteen years ago under animal rights. Bash me all you want, but theres something completely wrong about it.. mind you such human beings are our saving grace! #SalmanKhanVerdict  MAWRA HOCANE (@MawraHocane) April 5, 2018

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New income tax return forms (ITR forms) notified on Thursday seek more details from individual taxpayers about their salary structure and income from property while making it mandatory for small businesses to report their goods and services tax identification number (GSTIN) and turnover reported under GST.

The forms give non-resident Indians (NRIs) some relief. They can now provide details of their foreign bank accounts to claim credit or refunds. Earlier, they could only provide details of bank accounts held in India.

However, NRIs will no longer be able to file returns using the simple income tax return (ITR)-1 form, which can now only be used by residents. NRIs will have to use ITR-2, which seeks more information.

The new ITR forms notified for assessment year 2018-19 require salaried taxpayers to disclose their salary break-up. Taxpayers will have to give details about allowances that are not exempt, value of perquisites, profit in lieu of salary and deductions claimed under Section 16. Typically, these are available in the Form 16 issued by the employer but do not have to be disclosed in the tax return.

Like last year, the one-page ITR-1, or Sahaj, form can be filled by salaried taxpayers having an income up to Rs 50 lakh and one house property. Last year, 30 million taxpayers filled this form, the tax department said in a statement.

Among the procedural changes is doing away with the requirement of disclosing cash deposits made immediately after demonetisation. Further, those paying tax under the governments presumptive taxation scheme will have to provide their GSTIN and details of their turnover reported under GST, as the government seeks to check tax evasion among these entities by linking their direct and indirect tax data.

Businesses with a turnover of less than Rs2 crore can do away with the requirement of maintaining books of accounts and instead pay a tax on the basis of a certain percentage of their turnover. However, the government fears that there has been misuse of the scheme.

GSTIN number now has to be mentioned in ITR-4 filled by businesses and professionals claiming presumptive income. They also have to quote gross receipts as per GST returns. It appears that the department intends to use this information to link the direct and indirect taxes paid by these businesses, said Archit Gupta, chief executive officer of ClearTax, a tax and compliance software provider.

Also, partners in firms will now have to file ITR-3 instead of ITR-2, Gupta added.

The tax department has also given an option to taxpayers above the age of 80 and those earning income up to Rs 5 lakh and not claiming refunds to fill ITR-1 and ITR-4 in paper form.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday escalated trade tensions with China, saying he has instructed his officials to consider imposing tariff worth an additional $100 billion on Chinese imports goods. Trump accused China of continued misconduct and unfair retaliation.

Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers, Trump said in a statement referring to the last round of tariffs announced by Beijing on Wednesday, in retaliation to the $50 billion worth of proposed levies by the United States on 1,300 categories of products.

| Read: Are soyabeans Chinas fatal blow to US in this trade war?

He added: In light of Chinas unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR (the office of the US Trade Representative) to consider whether $100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate  and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs.

But the president also sought to allay fears of a trade war saying the United States was still prepared to have discussions. He has argued that the US is only proposing these tariffs as a negotiating position and will be happier to settle them through talks. Commerce secretary Wilbur ross has said, Even shooting wars end with negotiations.

Chinas ministry of commerce, however, said on Friday the country was ready to pay any cost in the deepening trade war tensions with the US. If the US side disregards opposition from China and the international community and insists on carrying out unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Chinese side will take them on until the end at any cost, said the ministry in a statement, reports Agence France-Presse.

Trump started this exchange in March announcing a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum from China and a host of other countries, including India. He had cited the countrys burgeoning trade deficit of $800 billion as the reason, calling it a national security threat.

Then accusing China specifically of forcing American companies in China to transfer technology to their local partners and stealing intellectual property, he announced nearly $50 billion in tariff on Chinese goods later in the month. China hit back the next day with 15-25% duty on 128 American imports such as fresh fruit, pork and recycled aluminum.

The United States rolled out a list of 1,300 Chinese products on Tuesday implementing the presidents earlier order  hitting aeronautics, medical products and computers among others. Beijing retaliated overnight, with $50 billion worth in tariff at the rate of 25% on aircraft, auto and soybeans.

| Read: US list of $50 billion tariffs aims at technology, retaliates in equal measure

The American tariff announcements are in the nature of proposals at present and will go into effect after a public comment process, including a public hearing at which supporters of the tariffs will have the opportunity cheer on the president, opponents will their chance to make their case.

Soybean farmers and their trade bodies will be right up their among the opponents. Soybean is Americas number two crop and China is their number one market, accounting for 61% of American soy production. But Chinas top supplier is Brazil, which could pick up more of the marketshare if American soy goes under the new tariff.

Soy growers are frustrated, but not surprised this week, as a trade war looms with US soys top customer, said the American Soybean Association in a note on its website on Thursday, inviting readers to follow its twitter-handle thats running posts hash-tagged #RethinkTheTariffs and #SoyLeaders.

China has chosen its targets for retaliatory tariff well. President Trump won eight of the countrys top 10 soy producing states in the 2016 elections and as trade tension intensifies, so will the political pressure on him his supporters. And he may already be feeling it, when he grumbled Thursday that rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers.
We now know  from Facebooks written submission to the ministry of information technology that 335 downloads in India of the Kogan App called This is your Digital Life  enabled disgraced election advisory, Cambridge Analytica, which manipulated elections, to potentially breach the data of 562, 455 Indians. What we still dont know is what the organisation did with the information it harvested illegally from India. In the he-did-it, no-she-did-it quarrel between the Congress and BJP over which party used Cambridge Analyticas parent company, Strategic Communications Limited, for their election campaigns, whats lost is the pertinent question: can this happen again?

A Facebook spokesperson confirms that the social network has informed the government about a new slew of privacy measures. These will include working on informed consent instead of technical consent  in other words, our assent will no longer be measured by the fine print we were too busy to read but apparently said yes to or by mumbo-jumbo jargon that was too complex to understand. Going forward, banal timepass digital quizzes on whether you are Phoebe or Ross from Friends will not allow the app to automatically access the data of hundreds of your friends. There will be better signposting of what you are agreeing to and what it might be used for. And if you have downloaded an app that you dont use, Facebook will send you alerts and reminders.

Facebook is on the mat for a breach that impacted 87 million users globally and these are all welcome measures to enable the start of a long overdue conversation about privacy in a country in which the laws needed to protect it still dont exist. But to complete the circle, the next push for privacy and data protection needs to come from the government.

First, on Cambridge Analytica, Facebook is not incorrect in arguing that while it is accountable for what happened on its platform between November 2013 and December 2015  the years the Kogan App was active  it does not have the means or the mandate to investigate rogue actor Cambridge Analytica. That probe can only be done by official investigative agencies. For this, it has urged the ministry to establish contact with the UK regulator that has cracked down on Cambridge Analytica.

Since the debate is all about greater transparency, the government should place in the public domain the response it has received not just from Facebook, but also from Cambridge Analytica (which last checked was still to respond). After all it is we, the people, whose privacy has been violated and we have a right to be in the loop on whats going on. In his testimony to a British parliamentary committee, whistleblower Christopher Wylie spoke of India Files that would detail how the company he was once part of operated here. Let the government push its counterparts in London for an immediate sharing of this information. And let it release this online, irrespective of whether it references the Congress or BJP or any other political outfit.

For now it is Facebook that has come under scrutiny; but in the digital dystopia that is our new normal, our privacy is just as vulnerable on other online and offline platforms. What happens to our personal information on political apps; how do tech behemoths use our Internet search history; the ease with which our mobiles can be tapped or eavesdropped on by snoopers who may be freelancers or officially sanctioned; and of course the raging debate about Aadhaar  all of these are issues that Ravi Shankar Prasad, as the nodal minister for both law and information technology, should initiate a conversation on with citizens. This rigour must be extended not just to the online giants; but also to the big telecom companies. How can we allow targeted advertising to become a respectable euphemism for our details being released to telemarketers who harass and hound us with sales pitches?

And finally there is the question of the integrity of our elections. The primary reason the world is up in arms is because Cambridge Analytica influenced the victory of Donald Trump in the United States and the Brexit vote in the UK. That cannot be allowed to happen here. A Facebook spokesperson told me that the organisation is ready to talk and listen to the election commission on how to make elections more secure and how to better act against fake news and fake profiles. The EC and the government should seize that initiative; for a start, Facebook  as a gesture of rebuilding trust  could agree to take all political advertising off its platform.

Facebook has begun to do its part; now so must the government.

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author

The views expressed are personal
By some uncanny coincidence, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh governments decision to confer minister of state (MoS) status on five godmen, one of whom goes by the name, Computer Baba (apparently he has a memory like a computer), comes days after Netflix began streaming Wild Wild Country, the true story of the misadventures of Bhagwan Rajneesh in Oregon, USA.

Youd be forgiven for believing its fiction. A charismatic godman, flowing beard and all, sells his koolaid philosophy of free sex and conspicuous consumption (one of his wristwatches cost a million bucks  thats dollars, not rupees) that finds a market among westerners but is greeted with somewhat less enthusiasm in Pune where the ashram is based.

High on hubris, the Rajneeshis resolve to build their own Shangri La, choosing a tract of 64,000+ acres in Oregon, California. You know right then that the red-robed Rajneeshis are doomed to clash with the local god-fearing Christians. Add to this, some hard-to-miss bigotry (one state official describes Rajneesh as an Ayatollah Khomeini) and you pretty much know the ending; no spoiler alerts here.

Indias fascination with godmen is probably as old as its history and past regimes have flaunted their own Rasputins: Dhirendra Bhramachari for Indira Gandhi and Chandra Swami for Narasimha Rao.

Nearly 18 years after Raos death, weve moved past those days when shadowy figures lurked in the corridors of power peddling their shady dealings. Today, we have a range of godmen from Asaram, currently in jail on rape charges, to Baba Ram Rahim, also in jail after a rape conviction.

Some like Baba Ramdev, the penniless yogi who controls a billion-dollar corporation have built empires and others like Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have social solutions to current problems: Muslims should gift the land in Ayodhya for the building of a Ram temple, he says.

Yet, Chouhans decision to confer MoS status on five unelected godmen in an election year is unprecedented. And worrying for two immediate reasons.

The first is the ethical breach. It has been reported that these godmen had planned to launch a Narmada Ghotala Yatra on April 1 to highlight a slew of ills from Chouhans apparent failure to stop cow slaughter to alleged corruption in the planting of saplings along the Narmada river.

With Chouhans announcement that planned agitation has miraculously vanished. We are sadhus and dont need any status, said a grateful Computer Baba. But a warrior needs certain resources to fight in a war. Hence, the facilities as MoS will help us.

The entitlements the famous five will receive are yet to be spelt out, but MoS are generally entitled to government vehicles, house rent, and a monthly salary or, to put it more respectfully, an honorarium. All this comes out of the state exchequer.

The second reason is more worrying, and that is the far-reaching implications of the appointment on the secular character of our Constitution.

Even though the word was brought into the Constitution only with the 42nd Amendment, there is still ambiguity about what constitutes secularism and what it means.

In recent times, as women themselves question discriminatory practices, the questions have included whether a truly secular state can allow different religions to hold different personal laws.

In a secular state, should religion be a purely personal and private matter, removed from issues of governance?

What are the implications on majoritarian rule when Hindu godmen receive official benediction?

At a time when sickular is the word used to denigrate a liberal mindset, what does this promotion of sadhus and sants mean to the social fabric of this country?

Unfortunately, nowhere does our Constitution specifically mandate a separation of state from religion, leading to this sort of ambiguity.

Some ministers of this government along with members of the BJPs parent body, the RSS, have made no secret of their desire to change the Constitution. In December, a junior minister Anantkumar Hegde declared: We are here to change the Constitution  a statement that the ruling government sought to distance itself from.

After Yogi Adityanath  also a man in saffron  was appointed Uttar Pradesh chief minister, eminent jurist Fali Nariman asked if it was the beginning of a Hindu state.

That question is no longer merely rhetorical. If state governments can confer ministerial status to godmen and holy men, how long before we have an official priestly council directing governance?

How long before the word secular itself is junked?

@NamitaBhandare writes on social issues

The views expressed are personal
Three people, including two from western Uttar Pradesh, were booked on Friday for fanning communal tensions in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, police said.

In a Facebook post, the three people claimed on Thursday evening that a Muslim boy raped a Hindu girl at Agastmuni town in the Kedarnath valley, which led to a communal flare-up. Right-wing groups took out a procession in the town shouting slogans and vandalised some shops, police said, adding that their attempt to torch more shops was foiled.

According to police officials, a post circulated on Facebook attached a picture of a couple in a compromising position.

No rape has taken place. In fact, someone in a building clicked a picture of a couple in a compromising position, and it was dubbed as a rape incident, Rudraprayag superintendent of police (SP) Prahlad Meena said over the phone. In a video message, Rudraprayag district magistrate Mangesh Ghlidiyal denied that the incident involved a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl.

The police lodged an FIR against Mehkar Singh and Santu, both from Amroha in UP, and Soni Kumar from Haridwar for uploading the picture and the post on Facebook.

They have been booked under the IT Act and sections 354C and 299 of IPC. More than 10 people have been booked for rioting in the town, police said. A case has been lodged against several people, including a man called Swami Darshan Bharti, for spreading hatred against a community in the social media.

The flare-up followed recent incidents that created communal tension in the hills. In July last year, shops were torched at Satpuli town in Pauri Garhwal after a teenager updated his profile picture on Facebook that purportedly showed his shoe touching the Kedarnath shrine. The teenager was produced in a juvenile court.

In October last year, a clash between Hindus and Muslims was reported from Raiwala in Dehradun district following the recovery of a youths body from railway tracks.

Being neighbours, the movement of people, mostly engaged in trade, from UP to Uttarakhand and vice versa has been going on for decades. In the name of business, no one is permitted to do nefarious things in the dev bhoomi (abode of gods), said Vishwa Hindu Parishad secretary Sanjay, who goes by the first name.

The opposition Congress demanded that criminals be treated as per law of the land. It is not rocket science to understand why right-wing organisations are jumping into action everywhere ahead of the general elections, said MD Joshi, Congress spokesperson.
With involvement of many government employees in the Mondays Dalit protest coming into light, police and intelligence unit have started identifying them and compiling evidences for initiating disciplinary action.

During inspection of CCTV, media and social media footages by police, several government employees have been identified for creating ruckus, forcefully stopping vehicles, threatening traders to shut down their establishment.

A police personnel, currently posted in Dehradun, has also been identified, who was seen mobilising protestors in Roorkee and Haridwar.

Krishna Kumar VK, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), said a report has been send to Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti for further action against the policeman.

He said law violators and anyone involved in creating vandalism will not be spared and more arrests are being made as soon as police is identifying the miscreants.

All the details are being thoroughly checked, regarding involvement of government employees, including, whether they had taken leave, reason of their leave or had they taken part in protest during duty hours, he said.

Till date, about 50 protestors have been arrested while cases have been registered against 4,500 unknown people across the district.

Police are also monitoring movement of those people, who staged a protest at Bhagwanpur police station on Thursday night, despite section 144 was imposed in the area. They were opposing arrest of five protesters.

Superintendent of Rural Police Manikant Mishra said at Civil Lines and Gang Nahar police stations, more than 3,000 cases were registered against people, who pelted stones on police personnel, vandalised shops, burnt vehicles and created ruckus during the nationwide band.

More than 15 people got injured in clashes in Roorkee during the protest.

The nationwide band was called against the Supreme Courts order diluting the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
In major step-down, the Uttarakhand cabinet Friday gave its nod to bring in several amendments in the excise policy for the current fiscal that it had approved less than a month ago.

In a meeting chaired by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the cabinet approved a major cut in licence fee for bars, restaurants, and departmental stores that sell liquor.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, minister Madan Kaushik said the amendmentshave been introduced in keeping with the suggestions that came from the excise department and some other quarters. Giving details he said that there would now be single wine shops in an area of 20 kms as the crow flies instead of cluster of four liquor outlets at one location as was the provision earlier.

Similarly, as per the amended excise policy, the license fee for hotels and restobars with 20 rooms each has been brought down to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 5 lakh. The policy also has a provision of a 10% exemption on the license fee if deposited for three years at one go, Kaushik said.

Restaurant and bar owners had been demanding a review of the high-license fee in the new excise policy that came into effect on April 1.

Kaushik said the license fee for the departmental stores selling foreign liquor has been raised up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 3 lakh. The earlier legal condition that the departmental stores would have to record a turnover of Rs 5 crore has been revoked. Instead, the departmental store owners would now have to show a turnover of a mere Rs 50 lakh, he added.

Similarly, restobars, hotels, and restaurants would have to record the sale of cooked food worth Rs 10 lakh for renewal of their licenses. Earlier, all such establishments were supposed to record the sale of cooked food worth Rs 12 lakh, Kaushik said.

Profit is not the motive behind the steps taken by the government. The move is aimed at checking the illegal sale of liquor, he said.

Approving the excise policy for 2018-19, the Trivendra rawat government had set the revenue target at Rs 2,550 crore. The target for 2017-18 was Rs 2,310 crore.

Hoping to boost revenue collection, the government had also approved a cluster of four liquor outlets at one location in 20-km radius. The move was opposed by the Congress that accused the BJP government of favouring the liquor mafia. The government has purposefully decided to introduce the cluster approach for tendering of liquor vends in the state. This will directly benefit the liquor mafia because only big players will be able to participate in the process, Congress state president Pritam Singh had earlier said.

Liquor outlets in state carry out business from 10 am to 10 pm, except for in areas bordering Uttar Pradesh where they remain open till 11am.
For the first time ever, the Delhi government has decided to grade around 5,600 schools in the city on the basis of the infrastructure they possess and academic facilities they offer.

The government has enlisted the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) to assess each government, private, and municipal school on three primary criteria  safety, teaching-learning facilities, community engagement in case of government and municipal schools and social inclusion in case of private schools.

DCPCR is the statutory body to monitor implementation of rights of children and the Right To Education Act, 2009 in the city. The evaluation and grading fram-ework will be ready by May-end.

It is also in the process of developing software to conduct the exercise. The evaluation process will begin in August and the grades of the schools will be announced on Childrens Day, November 14, which parents will be able to access on a website.

The exercise, which was announced by deputy chief minister and education minister Manish Sisodia in the Delhi governments budget, will help parents choose a school for their wards based on hard information and not merely rely on public perception of an institute. Delhi has 5,800 recognised schools, but 200 of them are minority schools which will not be graded as they do not fall under the RTE.

As of now parents have to rely on general perception while choosing a school. They go by the look of school building and perception of the school in their friends circle. But now we will give them credible information on every aspect of the school. It will also help the government in fixing responsibility in cases of shortcomings by school and concerned departments, said Anurag Kundu, member, DCPCR.

The entry point for school education in the city is nursery admission, which is a highly competitive process with most parents in the city struggling to secure a seat in a few schools of their choice.

The grading decision comes in the backdrop of incidents of violence in schools in recent years such as murder of a schoolboy in a Gurgaon school, the rape of a minor girl by a school attendant in Delhi, and the death of a student by who fell into a septic tank in school.

We will enquire if the school has conducted background check of its employees and if it conducts workshops on sexual safety or not. Similarly, under fire safety, we will check if schools have fire-extinguishers and if the fire extinguishers are working and finally if the school conducts mock drills or not, said Kundu. He said the grading will not be in comparison to other schools and that each school will be graded on various parameters. We are working on what the grades and sub-grades will be like, he said.

To evaluate schools on the teaching-learning parameters, the institutes will be asked to submit information on the number of teachers, students, classrooms, library and laboratory facilities. The DCPCR will then conduct inspections and surveys to cross- check the information.

Lets say the school claims to have ten computers; we will check how many of those computers work and if students are able to use it or not, Kundu said.

The third parameter is different for private schools and government schools. In case of government schools, they will be evaluated on effective functioning of school management committees and parent-teacher meetings. For private schools, we will speak to parents and students from the economically weaker section (EWS) category and find out if the school gives them free books and uniforms, how are students treated by teachers and if there are any problems they face, he said.

The project will cover over 1,100 schools run by the government, 1,900 schools run by municipal bodies, 1,700 private, unaided schools recognised by the government and 900 private schools recognized by municipal bodies.

Shyama Chona, former principal of the RK Puram branch of Delhi Public School, welcomed the move.

If parents can see the grades a school has in each category then they can make informed decision based on what facilities they need most. Many parents in government schools are not aware of standards but by this grading they will know of standards and can demand the same from schools, she said.

Some are sceptical about the exercise and suspect that it may end up promoting some schools that will get better grades.
Members of JNUSU on Friday protested outside the social justice ministry against the alleged violation of the reservation policy in admissions by the varsity administration.

A JNUSU delegation later submitted a memorandum to Union social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot highlighting the issue.

We have submitted a memorandum to the minister and apprised him of the issue, JNUSU joint secretary Shubhanshu Singh said.

He assured us of action. We also raised the issue of the death of a Dalit student at Mizoram University and submitted a memorandum in this regard, he said.

Flagging alleged tampering of the reservation policy in admissions by the JNU administration, the university students union had two days ago petitioned the Lok Sabha seeking its intervention to restore the benefits awarded to students belonging to backward castes.
The Delhi forest department will not allow the use of an elephant, named Lakshmi, in a much-publicised play on Maratha King Shivaji that starts playing Friday at Delhis historic Red Fort, because it fears for the safety of the audience, which includes VIPs.

Titled, Raja Shiv Chatrapati, the play, originally in Marathi, has been staged several hundred times since it was first staged in 1985, and its appeal includes the use of elaborate sets and props including live camels, horses, even an elephant.

The Hindi version of the play is being staged in the Red Fort, from April 6-10 under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture.

In a letter to the play organisers, Ishwar Singh, Delhis chief wildlife warden said that untrained elephants like Lakshmi might become aggressive and pose a serious threat to people and VIPs security.

Home minister Rajnath Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan have confirmed their presence at the inaugural show, according to the organisers.

Raja Chhatrapati Mahanatya Ayojan Samiti, which is organising the play, requested the Department of Forest and Wildlife on March 27 to allow them to hire horses, camels and an elephant from Delhi and use them in the play.

We wanted to bring the animals from Pune but due to complications in (securing) permission, we decided to hire them from Delhi, says Sri Ram Joshi, a member of the organising committee.

Transporting animals across state borders is difficult in India.

While the forest department permitted the use of horses and camels, it had problems with the elephant for two reasons: a dispute over the ownership of the elephant in question, Lakshmi (one of the seven privately owned elephants in Delhi) ; and the safety issue.

Then theres the issue of a Delhi high court order saying there can be no captive elephants in Delhi, based on which the department is working on the confiscation of elephants and cancellation of certificate of ownership. The forest department has said it wants to translocate the elephants to other states for better housing and feeding conditions owing to the inability of the elephant owners to provide housing, maintenance and upkeep facilities...

In its letter to the organisers, the department also wrote: ...these are not trained elephants and may become aggressive at any point of time which may pose a serious threat to the security of the people and VIPs present in the function.

Joshi hasnt given up, though. On Thursday evening, he said he would try till the last moment to persuade the forest department to allow the use of Lakshmi because her part is crucial. We have made a huge effort in creating a grand four-storey stage, with a live impression of a fort.

Still, if it doesnt work out, the play has other attractions, he said and her absence will not make much of a difference.

The play is authored by celebrated historian, Shiv Shahir Babasaheb Purandare, 96, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2017 and asked for his blessings in holding the play in Delhi.
Its been 50 years since an artificial intelligence (AI) benignly named HAL (short for HAL-9000, a Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer of the 9000 series) defied a direct order from a human being aboard a spaceship headed to Jupiter on a secret mission in Stanley Kubricks classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Seventeen years after that landmark year 2001, in which so much of our world changed, AI has not yet progressed beyond laughing at humans once in a while. Perhaps it is just as well, given how things always seem to end with super-intelligent computers in science fiction.

For a movie that was envisioned and made before humans set foot on the moon and before integrated circuits were invented, Arthur C Clarke (the author of the book on which the film is based) and Kubrick managed to get much of the science right. The film may have failed to predict how ubiquitous computers would become, and definitely did not see the advent of hand-held devices to make calls with a video component; but it saw the flat screen computers, the voice-activated systems, and even the videophones  all inventions that came to be, even if in a different form. On the 50th anniversary of the film, it is perhaps also an appropriate time to point out how much that ubiquitous mobile phone resembles the mysterious monolith.

The film is made in a unique way: with long stretches of silence and slow, reflective, music-imbued build-ups. It has broken as many stereotypes as it has created. Embracing the form of the visual medium of cinema, the film famously has only about 20 minutes of dialogue in a runtime of well over two-and-a-half hours. It released in the United States on April 2, 1968, to a polarised response from critics  some showered the film with praise while others called it a monumentally unimaginative movie. Kubrick even trimmed 19 minutes of the 161-minute-long film after the opening weekend. But in the half century since it released, it has aged well enough to find a spot on almost every best ever list and gain a cult following.

Its legacy, though, is more than just in the realm of science fiction. A cinematic masterpiece, the scope of the film is as vast as it is specific  the evolution and destiny of man. From that famous opening sequence of the Dawn of Man to the enchanting Stargate sequence; from the confident equanimity of HALs voice to the mystery of the monolith, perhaps the reason the film has withstood the test of time is that it explores as many themes of visual art, human endeavour, and philosophy as it does of science.
Students, who appeared for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 political science examination on Friday, found the difficulty level of the paper as easy and said they will score well.

Students in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal were happy with the direct questions, which they said were from National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books.

The paper was easy and short as I expected. I completed it before time, Nisha Yadav, a student of Mansarovar Public School, said.

It was a moderate paper. I am expecting good scores, Shradha Malviya, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, said.

The principal of Rajiv Gandhi CBSE School, PK Pathak, said students in his school were happy with the paper.

Political science is a scoring subject and students can expect good marks due to the level of the paper, Pathak added.

In Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow, students found the difficulty level of paper as moderate and said that it was scoring in most of the sections.

Students of GD Goenka Public School said the questions were direct and none were difficult.

Overall the paper was fine and it went well, Shreyash said.

Except one question of four marks rest of the paper was easy, his schoolmate Alisha said.

Akshit Chaddha, another student from GD Goenka Public School said it was an easy paper. Im hopeful of scoring full marks, he added.

Their teachers said students will be able to score well.

The next main exam for Class 12 students is that of sociology, which will be held on April 10.

The CBSE Class 12 board exams started on March 5 and will end on April 12. This year, 11,86,306 students are appearing for the Class 12 exams conducted at 4,138 centres in India and 71 venues abroad.

(With inputs from Shruti Tomar in Bhopal and Rajeev Mullick in Lucknow)
Italian fashion icons Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said that their famed Dolce & Gabbana label would die with them. Once were dead, were dead. I dont want a Japanese designer to start designing Dolce & Gabbana, Gabbana, 55, said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The veteran fashionistas launched their brand in 1985 and continue to work together despite breaking up as a couple in 2004. When we split up, we said to ourselves that it was better to divide up everything, because if I took a blow to the head the next day he (Dolce) would have found himself dealing with someone not involved in the industry, like for example my cousin, who could ruin the business, Gabbana said.

We have created a trust neither of us can touch. Dolce, 59, added that the pair had refused every offer to buy the brand. You can have all the money in the world, but if you are not free, what do you do? You dont go to the grave with a coffin stuffed with money, he said.

After decades building up their fashion house, which is famed for its sultry womenswear, Gabbana admits he doesnt have time to spend their fortune. Im too busy working. I dont care about becoming richer, my goal is to be successful, he said. The two men said they still share an exceptional bond, even though they are no longer romantically linked.

Even today, what is mine is his, and what is his is mine... our new partners know thats how it is, whether they like it or not, Dolce said. If a love is born when you are young  for me it was the first experience, for him the first love story  it is pure, total, he said. The pair will head to New York for an extravaganza of haute couture events from 6-10 April.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more
The Gurgaon special childrens court on Friday adjourned the hearing on a batch of petitions filed on behalf of the juvenile accused in the private school murder case to April 10. The hearing was adjourned because the juveniles counsel was unwell and the election to the district bar association that was held on Friday.

The court will hold a hearing on four petitions filed by the juveniles counsel, including the ones pertaining to his preliminary assessment report and the his remand granted to the CBI.

The 16-year-old, who is accused of killing a Class 2 student of a private school in Bhondsi, was sent to the Faridabad observation home on November 11, four days after being arrested by the CBI.

With the hearing being adjourned again, it seems like it will be a long wait for justice. The judge wanted to schedule the hearing in his chamber on Saturday, but since the lawyer representing the accused could not be reached on his mobile phone, the hearing was adjourned to April 10, the victims father said.

We sought an adjournment of the hearing for two reasons. Firstly, Tanvir Ahmad Mir (the counsel representing the accused) was unwell and secondly, we were involved in the election to the bar association today, Sandeep Aneja, another counsel of the accused said.

Read I Private school murder case: Gurgaon court adjourns hearing to Feb 17

The CBI is planning to move an application before the high court seeking the transfer of the case to the CBI court in Panchkula, a source privy to the case said.

On Thursday, the hearing on the juveniles bail plea at the high court was adjourned to April 30. The bail application at the Punjab and Haryana high court in Chandigarh was scheduled to be heard by justice Rajan Gupta.

The Class 2 student was found with his throat slit inside the schools toilet on the morning of September 8, 2017. Although initially, the schools bus conductor was arrested by the Gurgaon police in connection with the case, the CBI apprehended the 16-year-old student of the same school after taking over the probe. The conductor was acquitted later.
A dust storm, followed by a spell of rainfall on Friday evening brought relief to city residents from the stifling heat over the last few days.

While residents woke up to overcast skies, there was marked shift in the weather pattern around 5pm, as strong winds swept away the plastic sheets on the overhead covers of the recently constructed Rajiv Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk underpasses.

Some of the plastic sheets fell on vehicles causing minor damage.

Such was the intensity of the winds that the some of the overhead plastic sheets of the Rajiv Chowk and Hero Honda Chowk underpasses flew off. Officials are at the spot and the sheds will be repaired by tonight, Saurabh Singhal, traffic transportation expert and head of the underpasses built by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, said.

Around 5.45 pm, parts of the city reported spells of rainfall which dragged down the mercury.

The city recorded a maximum temperature of 38C on Friday, while the minimum temperature was 22C. On Thursday, a city recorded maximum and minimum temperatures of 37C and 24C respectively.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), there could be more such showers in store till April 11.

An IMD official said, There could be more such rainfall till April 11 after which the skies will clear. The rainfall was the result of a depression over Punjab and Haryana and a western disturbance in Jammu and Kashmir.

For residents who booked indoor seats at eateries on Friday evening, the sudden change in weather called for a change of plan.

Read I Met predicts rain, dip in temperature in Gurgaon today

I had booked indoor seats at an eatery in CyberHub well in advance. However, after the rainfall, I called the manager of the eatery and had my seat reservation changed to the outdoor seating area as I wanted to relish the cool breeze, Mihir Kohli, a resident of DLF 5, said.

Some residents, who had been experiencing breathing problems due to the rise in the level of suspended particulate matter in the air over the last few days, heaved a sigh of relief as the rain brought down the pollution levels and gave them a reason to venture outdoors.

I had been experiencing a breathing problem because of the rise in pollution levels. However, the rainfall in the evening resulted in a significant improvement in the air quality. I could breathe better and even took a stroll in the park, Tina Khanna, a resident of Essel Towers, said.
The first trailer for Johnny English Strikes Again, the third in the series of spy movie spoofs starring Rowan Atkinson, was released online on Thursday. The film sees the return of Atkinsons titular British Intelligence agent for another adventure filled with slapstick humour and tongue-in-cheek gags.

After the success of the first two Johnny English movies - the first film was released in 2003 and grossed $160 million worldwide; the second, Johnny English Reborn made $160 in 2011. Both films, like the Austin Powers series and Get Smart, played on the tropes of the spy movie genre, especially the very British James Bond movies.

Johnny English Strikes Again doubles down on that front, essentially lifting the plot of Skyfall - the secret identities of every British agent have been revealed - and even casts a former Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, who played Camille Montes in Quantum of Solace.

Like the previous films, Johnny English 3 also sends the most bumbling spy on Her Majestys secret service on a globe-trotting adventure.

Directed by David Kerr, the film is scheduled for a September release in the US and an October release in the UK.

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Actor Salman Khan will be listed among the most notorious wildlife criminals of the country on the website of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a government body that combats poaching and related offences.

Khan, 52, was sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday for killing two blackbucks, a protected species, in Rajasthan twenty years ago.

Any person convicted in wildlife crime finds a place in the list of convicts on our website, said Tolitama Varma, the additional director WCCB,

Khans name will be among 35 other convicts jailed for various crimes under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The convicts were found guilty of poaching tigers and smuggling pangolin scales and body parts, seahorse, snakes and other animals.

Black buck (Antelope cervicapra) is a Schedule I species under the act.

Native of India and extinct in Bangladesh, it is one of the species which has high conservation value in the country.

The animal is commonly known as Krishna mrig or Krishna saar and has been mentioned in Hindu scriptures as pulling the chariot of Lord Krishna.

Varma said that of the 35 convicts listed, most of them belong to Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.

Six criminals, including a woman, were convicted for attempting to poach tigers at the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, bordering Tamil Nadu.

Three others were convicted for tiger parts smuggling from Amravati in Maharashtra while a woman from Haryana was convicted for attempting to hunt tigers in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh.

Six other wildlife criminals were convicted for attempting to poach tigers in the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and were sentenced in Haldwani, Uttarakhand.

Six Bawariya community tribe people were convicted for smuggling pangolin scales and body parts in other parts of the country.
Assam assembly unanimously passed three Bills on Friday to increase salaries of all lawmakers by up to 50% without a single amendment.

Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami said usually the Amenities and Facilities Committee recommends revision of salaries of the MLAs, but this is the first time the pays were revised by a Pay Committee headed by former chief secretary PP Varma.

According to the three Acts, the salaries of the Assembly speaker, deputy speaker, chief minister, all ministers, Leader of the Opposition, other lawmakers and pension of former MLAs have been increased with effect from April 1.

The salaries of the speaker and the deputy speaker will be raised to Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh per month from the existing Rs 80,000 and Rs 75,000, an increase of 50% and 33.33% respectively.

Besides the salary component, both will get Rs 30,000 as parliamentary assistance and sumptuary allowances, according to one of three Acts.

For the chief minister, the salary will go up to Rs 1.3 lakh from Rs 90,000, while his allowances for the two categories will become Rs 34,000 from Rs 17,000. So his total take away would be Rs 1.64 lakh every month.

For the cabinet ministers and the leader of the opposition, the salary has been proposed to be raised to Rs 1.1 lakh from Rs 80,000 at present, while the allowances have been doubled to Rs 30,000 from Rs 15,000.

A minister of state will now get a salary of Rs 1 lakh compared to the existing Rs 75,000, while also drawing an additional Rs 28,000 as parliamentary assistance and sumptuary allowances as against Rs 14,000 a month.

A deputy ministers salary will become Rs 95,000 in place of Rs 70,000 and the allowances will increase to Rs 26,000 from Rs 13,000, the Act said.

The salaries of all MLAs were hiked in a separate Act to Rs 80,000 from the existing Rs 60,000 per month, while doubling allowances for constituency, camp office and secretariat to Rs 40,000.

In addition to the above emoluments, all of them will get other allowances under categories such as assembly sitting and travel among others, besides other non-cash benefits.

For an ex-MLA, the government announced a pension of Rs 40,000 per month compared to Rs 30,000 along with a hike in medical allowances to Rs 20,000 from Rs 12,000.

Besides, the Act also said, The widow/widower of any ex-member shall be paid family pension at the rate of 50% of the pension amount drawn by the ex-member and shall also be paid medical allowance at the rate of Rs 20,000 per mensem.
Accusing the Congress of taking parliamentary proceedings to a new low with its conduct, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday a fast by BJP MPs on April 12 to protest the impasse caused by the Opposition party in Parliament, which saw a washout of the second half of the Budget Session.

In a counter-offensive, the Congress also said its workers would hold a day-long fast at all state and district headquarters on April 9 to expose the BJPs lies on various issues. The Congress said it was the government which was responsible for not letting Parliament function and termed as a gimmick and drama the move by NDA MPs to forgo their salary for 23 days when Parliament did not function.

Addressing BJP MPs on the partys foundation day, Modi kept the Congress in his line of fire and spelled out an exercise by party lawmakers and ministers for reaching out to villages with substantial Dalit and tribal population through implementation of his governments seven key welfare schemes.

Briefing reporters on the parliamentary party meeting, Union minister Ananth Kumar quoted the Prime Minister as saying that while the BJPs strength has been rising, the opposition, especially the Congress, has resorted to divisive and negative politics.

Modi accused the Congress of paralysing Parliament proceedings during the Budget Session, which ended on Friday, and said it was throttling democracy and abusing peoples mandate.

Sources said he also told the MPs that opposition members almost surrounded him during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the Presidents Address to Parliament, and such a disruption during a Prime Ministers speech was unprecedented. Modi had replied in both Houses during the sessions first half.

He said he continued with his speech for over 90 minutes for the sake of democracy amid relentless protests by opposition MPs, according to sources.

The opposition has been left with no issues and that is why it was resorting to disrupting Parliament, he said, asking BJP MPs to expose such parties.

Parliamentary proceedings stooped to a new low due to the conduct of the Congress, he said.

All BJP MPs will observe a day long fast on April 12 to protest the oppositions conduct in Parliament, Modi said.

While the BJP has been working to unite society, the opposition wants to divide it, he said.

The BJP, he said, will observe the birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule, a social reformer who came from a backward caste, on April 11 as Samta Diwas (equality day).

He also stressed on the need for all MPs to organise events to mark the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, a Dalit icon, on April 14, asserting that it is mandatory for them to do so, sources said.

The BJP and its top brass have been underlining the partys commitment to the welfare of Dalits and works of the Modi government to highlight Ambedkars legacy at a time when opposition parties have accused the ruling party of being anti-Dalit.

Noting that the party has announced Gram Swaraj Abhiyan between April 14 and May 5, he asked BJP law-makers to ensure total implementation of seven welfare schemes of his government in villages, especially the ones with population of over a thousand, sources said.

Anath Kumar said Modi said 20,844 villages have over 50% population of scheduled castes and tribes and MPs should work to implement these schemes, including Jan Dhan and Ujjwala among others.

All MPs will spend a night in these villages while ministers will spend two nights in different parts of the country.

The party will also take out Sabka saath sabka vikas yatra, Kumar said.

With the BJP celebrating its 38th foundation day, Modi said it has become the largest party due to the peoples blessings and tireless efforts of its workers and also paid tributes to many of its late leaders and workers.

The foundation day is dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives for the partys growth, the prime minister said.

It has risen due to its work for the nations development. The BJP did not focus on casteism or dynasty, he said.

The BJP had been treated as an untouchable party by others when it was founded in 1980 but it has become strong due to peoples faith in it.

People have taken us to this level and now we have to live for them, he said.

He also asked party MPs to see a drama on Maratha king Shivaji, being performed in Delhi, and noted that he had travelled to Pune from Gujarat almost 30 years ago to see it.
Amid a blame game over the washout of the second half of the budget session, the Congress has suggested to the government that a short sitting of both the Houses of Parliament could be held before the monsoon session, which usually starts in July, to discuss issues of national importance.

A senior Congress leader familiar with the development said the suggestion was given to the governments floor managers on the last day of the budget session on Friday.

We want a thorough discussion not only on anti-corruption bill but also on the bank frauds, the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) paper leak, the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, atrocities on Dalits, the agrarian crisis, growing unemployment and other important national issues, the Congress leader added on condition of anonymity.

When asked about the Congress proposal, a BJP leader said, We dont have any official information about this proposal. Let them come out with it officially. It is a bit rich for the Congress to make this proposal now since they were the ones who did not engage in debate and discussion through the parliament session and wasted it. This person spoke on condition of anonymity. The Congresss offer came after the BJP squarely blamed the main opposition party for the washout of the second part of the budget session that commenced on March 5.

For their part, Congress leaders have maintained that the onus of smoothly running Parliament lies with the government. They also accused the BJP of running away from debates by orchestrating the protests though its allies in both the Houses.The several no-confidence motions against the government havent been taken up because the speaker says the house has been disorderly. The Congress says the BJP is using smaller regional parties such as the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to create this disorder.

Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jyotiraditya Scindia have repeatedly stated that there has been no effort on the part of the government to reach out to opposition parties to break the logjam in Parliament.

Before making the offer on Friday, Congress MPs had also met Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and urged him not to prorogue or end the sitting of the House.

Both Houses of Parliament have been adjourned sine die (for an indefinite period).

Confirming the offer, Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said his partys MPs had also requested Naidu to inform the government about their willingness to discuss in Parliament the critical issues confronting the country.

We wanted debate, we wanted accountability and we shall continue to demand that, he said.

Today, we told the Rajya Sabha chairman to inform the government (of) our willingness to discuss all issues and reconvene Parliament for two weeks or ten days to debate these issues and bring important laws. The ball is in their (governments) court now, Sharma said.

Terming as a gimmick and drama the move by National Democratic Alliance MPs to forgo their salary for the 23 days Parliament did not function, the Congress leader dared the BJP members to give up the salary or refund the salary for the period they did not allow Parliament to function when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power.

My advice to BJP is stop this hypocrisy; if you are honest about it, tell your MPs to refund their salaries for the period which they disrupted Parliament during UPA-I and UPA-II. This is my challenge Sharma said.
The leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday clarified that discussions on moving a removal motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra are on among opposition parties in the Upper House.

Kharge was quoted in a media report as saying that the issue of bringing a removal motion against CJI Misra in Parliament was closed and that the Congress had no such plans now.

The matter is still under discussion but as far as the Lok Sabha is concerned I have got no directions from the high command. My statement has been misreported, he told reporters.

The removal of the Chief Justice - or any judge - is a lengthy constitutional process. To submit a removal motion requires the support of at least 50 members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha or 100 in the Lok Sabha.

Read: Opposition moves to remove Chief Justice: How and when can a judge be removed

The chairperson or Speaker has to then decide whether to admit it and, if it is admitted, constitute a three-member committee to investigate the charges. If the committee finds the judge guilty, the House can take up the motion for consideration.

Once the House, in which it was originally admitted, passes it with a special majority, it then goes to the other House which has to pass it with a special majority as well. An address is presented to the President for the removal of the judge, who then passes an order.

Chief Justice Misra retires in October.

While the budget session ended on Friday, the notice can be served even when Parliament is not in session as happened in the case of former Karnataka high court chief justice PD Dinakaran.

As many as 76 legislators belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and other parties had handed the motion to the then Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari in his office when Parliament was not in session.

Dinakaran, who faced allegations of corruption, had quit while his impeachment proceedings were on.

The Congress, so far, has been able to collect around 65 signatures15 more than the minimum requirement to move a proposal to remove the CJI in the House  and Left parties and the Nationalist Congress Party have backed the move.

However, Congress leaders have maintained that the party is waiting for a broader consensus within the opposition ranks on the issue.

Three prominent regional parties, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Biju Janata Dal have so far maintained their distance from this initiative, though.

There is a clear divide on the issue within the Congress as well.

While one section believes that the party should not get involved as it open up a Pandoras box and will make them appear anti-judiciary, the other group is of the view that the motion itself - even if it has no chance of passage - will act as a deterrent and pressure point to ensure that the executive cannot influence the judiciary.

Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar on Thursday said that the entire opposition was in a discussion on the issue.

I cannot give a reply and the way forward on the issue as it can only be given by the leaders of various parties including the Congress, he told reporters.

This will be the first time a motion to remove a sitting Chief Justice of India will be moved in the countrys history if the opposition goes ahead with the move.
The Delhi high court was witness to high drama on Friday when justice Pratibha Singh passed an oral order giving notice to former President Pranab Mukherjee before subsequently withdrawing it and recusing herself from a case seeking the deletion of portions of Mukherjees book Turbulent Years 1980-1996 referring to the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

The case was filed by a social worker and a group of lawyers who objected to the references, contending that they hurt the sentiments of Hindus.

In the morning, justice Singh passed an oral order issuing notice to Mukherjee . Towards the late afternoon, the single judge recused herself from the case without specifying a reason and passed a written order that read: Subject to the orders of the Honble Acting Chief Justice, list this matter before another Bench.

The bench set the next hearing for April 9. In the morning, it had set a July 30 date.

It is the customary practice among judges to pass an oral order in their courtrooms and towards the end of the day sign the orders. In this case, too, justice Singh passed an oral order in her courtroom, but when the written order came, it was diametrically opposite to what was said in the courtroom. It was the second hearing on the matter.

Vishnu Kumar Jain, counsel for the petitioner, said that he was called by the judge at 3.15 p.m. to her chamber. She told me that she is recusing herself from the case and hence the matter will be listed before some other bench, Jain said. He did not disclose the reason given by the judge for the recusal.

The petition in the case came as an appeal against an earlier order by a trial court that rejected the plaint seeking deletion of references made in the book.

The plea claimed that the book written by former president Mukherjee had become controversial in the public. It alleged that Muslims at large were quoting passages from the book to assert that the former President of India had declared the disputed structure in Ayodhya was Babri Masjid. It was alleged that some references made in the book were contemptuous and lowered the dignity of the Indian judiciary.

It is also clear that some facts stated in the book are based due to the prejudice of the author based on his political ideologies and even incorrect facts have been given therein intentionally to criticize and demoralise the Hindu organizations and supporters of Sri Ram Janam Bhoomi Temple, the plea said.

The author has tried to establish against record that the building complex was a mosque without caring about the court proceedings. The book is being filed along with the suit for proper appreciation of the case, it contended.
Under the newly announced integrated scheme of the human resource development ministry, all government and government-aided schools, including madrasas, across the country will be eligible to get free textbooks from the Centre at an average cost of Rs 250 per child at the primary level and Rs 400 per child at upper primary level.

In addition, schools will also get the option of availing direct bank transfer (DBT) in lieu of the textbooks to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

This provision has been made under the new integrated scheme of school education wherein free textbooks will be provided to all children in government, local body and government-aided schools.

The newly announced integrated scheme of the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry created by subsuming the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and CSSTE and will be called Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), it is learnt. Madrasas will be able to enjoy this benefit if they agree to introduce state curriculum.

The scheme has been launched keeping in mind a holistic approach to school education. Under this scheme, we have integrated pre-school to Class 12 so that we can focus on the overall development of the children, those familiar with the development said.

Under the existing norms of SSA, RMSA and Teacher education, free textbooks, Braille books and large print books are provided to all girls and SC/ST children at primary and upper primary levels within an upper ceiling of Rs 150 per child. This has been increased to Rs 250 per child at primary level and Rs 400 per child at upper primary level.

Under this scheme, a provision of extension to senior secondary schools (Classes 11 and 12) has been made for the first time and preference will be given to composite schools from Classes 11 to 12. For the first time, a provision has also been made to support efforts of state government in setting up pre-nursery schools. Also, under ICT and digital initiatives a provision for classes 6 to 8 has been made with flexibility to procure hardware such as tablets, laptops, notepads and integrated learning devices. This would also include support for digital boards, smart classrooms, virtual classrooms and DTH channels on pro-rata basis for a number of schools approved, reads the document detailing the new norms accessed by HT.

This is a very good step and this step by the Centre. Madrasas provide elementary education to lakhs of children across the country and are largely dependent on help from other organizations and charity. The only important issue is that basic curriculum should not be touched while other subjects can be taught, said Masoom Moradabadi, a member of advisory committee Delhi Minorities commission.

The cabinet had last month approved the integration of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, RMSA and Scheme of Restructuring and Reorganisation of Teacher Education (STE) from 2018-19. The three centrally sponsored schemes that have been in operation for the past about 15 years for improving the quality of education and infrastructure in government schools at elementary (Classes 1 to 8) and secondary (Classes 9 and 10) levels have been replaced by a new integrated programme for classes 1 to 12.

The budget of SSA, RMSA and STE have been merged and the Centre will provide funds on 60:40 sharing basis to most states and 90:10 to north-eastern states and three Himalayan states, including Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. While the states will submit separate plans for each of these schemes at present, the new programme envisages a single plan for the entire school education sector under the new programme.
India on Saturday announced a US $500 million line of credit to Mauritius as the two countries resolved to deepen ties in a range of areas including the maritime domain.

The two countries also signed a maritime security agreement after extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth.

In a statement, Modi said he and Jugnauth agreed that effective management of conventional and non-conventional threats in the Indian Ocean is essential to pursue economic opportunities.

The bilateral maritime accord will strengthen mutual cooperation and capacities, he said.

A total of four agreements were signed after the talks between the two leaders.

The agreement today on the US $500 million line of credit to Mauritius is a good example of our strong and continuing commitment to the development of Mauritius, the prime minister said.

The two countries also decided to ramp up cooperation in a number of areas including trade and investment.

India is proud to participate actively in the ongoing development activities in Mauritius, Modi said.
The Indian Air Force on Friday began the process of buying around 110 fighter jets, which could be worth more than $15 billion, in what will be, once it is closed, one of the biggest defence deals in recent years.

IAF published a Request for Information on its website on Friday seeking supply of single- and twin-seat jets to be mostly manufactured locally under the Modi governments flagship Make in India scheme.

The fact that a RFI was imminent was first reported by Hindustan Times which said in a report on March 12 that one would be issued within the month.

According to the RFI, around 75% of the aircraft will be single-seat ones. IAF intends to use the aircraft as day and night -capable, all-weather, multi-role combat aircraft. The RFI is likely to evoke interest from most major aircraft makers, including Saab, Lockheed Martin, and Dassault Aviation.

According to the RFI, 15% of the aircraft will be bought in a flyaway state, and the rest will have to be made locally.

The RFI is the first step towards finding a new warplane for the air force and global manufacturers have to respond to it by July 6, with operational features and technical parameters of their platforms.

That done, the air force will make a case for getting the ministrys so-called acceptance of necessity (AoN)  a stamp of approval to pursue a military purchase programme.

After the AoN comes, we could either opt for a government-to-government deal or put out a tender. Both options are open at this stage, said a senior officer familiar with the matter on condition of anonymity.

The air force wants to speed up the project as the count of its fighter squadrons has shrunk to 31 compared to an optimum strength of 42-plus units required to fight a two-front war.

The urgent need for fighters has also been necessitated by the phasing out of Russian MiG fighters -- Indias mainstay. According to the governments own estimates, the countrys air force and navy require as many as 400 single- and double-engine combat aircraft. India started looking for new warplanes in 2007, a contest that ended with the government selecting Dassault Aviation to supply 126 Rafale jets for $11 billion. But the plans were scrapped for acquiring the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) for the Indian Air Force around five years ago.

Instead, the National Democratic Alliance(NDA) government, in September 2016, signed an Euro 7.87 billion (approx Rs 59,000 crore) deal with the French government for purchase of 36 Rafale twin-engine fighter jets. The IAF was keen on a follow-on order of 36 additional Rafales. However, the government is yet to take a decision on it. The purchase has been controversial, with the opposition claiming the government paid too much for the fighters, although the government says the scrapped 2012 deal isnt comparable to the new one.
An RTI activist in Haryanas Jind was brutally thrashed on Thursday a second attack on him within 10 days as the accused was on the run.

Sunil Kapoor, 29, who also owns a jewellery store was sitting at his shop when he saw in his CCTV cameras some masked men outside approaching the gate. He immediately ran out of shop towards the opposite direction but was caught by assailants who brutally thrashed him with lathis.

He was rushed to the local civil hospital where doctors asked his family to seek a better facility. He will now undergo knee surgery at a private hospital on Friday morning.

Watch: RTI activist in Haryanas Jind district being thrashed by masked men for the second time in 10 days. Caught on CCTV camera @HTPunjab @htTweets pic.twitter.com/W1DbeEVare  Hardik Anand (@Hardik_anand) April 6, 2018

This was the second attack on Kapoor, who had filed a complaint against a DSP-rank police officer for corruption. Kapoors father Om Prakash said his son had seen a video of the police officer accepting bribe through an agent from the owner of an education society, and had written for an enquiry against them to the DGP and the IG.

The DSP through his agent got my two sons booked in a false case of forgery and extortion on March 3. However, the court on March 26 stayed the arrest of my two sons as there was no evidence against them. This irked them and they sent masked assailants to our house the same night, who attacked our family and intimidated us by firing gunshots. Sunil had that time, too, suffered a head injury but managed to save himself by locking the door. Sunils mother was also beaten with lathis and suffered injuries, said Om Prakash.

The police had at that time registered a case against unidentified assailants, besides the owner of the education society, Bhupendra Sharma, and the agent, Virendra Kumar, under Sections 120B, 147, 148, 285, 323 and 427 of the IPC.

Om Prakash said after the attack, Sunil had written to the local police twice to provide security to him and his family fearing the accused might strike again. However, he alleged, the police ignored his requests. Today, our worst fears came true as they attacked my son again, he said.

Jind SP Arun Singh did not respond to repeated calls and text messages of HT. Jind city SHO inspector Jagbir Singh said they were in the process of recording the statement of the victim to register a case. On being asked why he was not given any security when attacked earlier, he said, Giving security to anyone is not under my purview.
The beheaded body of a 24-year-old man was recovered from Hajin in north Kashmirs Bandipora district on Friday morning, a day after he was abducted by suspected militants.

The body of Manzoor Ahmed Bhat, who was abducted by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists on the intervening night of April 4 and 5, was found on the outskirts of Hajin early today, a police spokesperson said.

Police have identified Kashmiri militant Mohd Saleem Parrey and his Pakistani accomplices as the alleged killers of Bhat, a shepherd by occupation. LeT militants abducted Manzoor Ahmed Bhat and his father, Abdul Gaffar, after barging into their house and assaulting their family members on Wednesday night, the spokesperson said.

Gaffar, however, managed to get away. He is currently hospitalised with bullet injuries sustained during his escape.

Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti reacted to the incident, saying in a tweet, The brutal killing of young Manzoor Ahmad is highly condemnable but should also serve as a reminder of where society is headed. The scourge of terror has hit a new low as the brutality of this act has left us all in shock.

This is the second incident of militants targeting civilians at Hajin this week. Muntazir Ahmad Parrey, a 33-year-old private car driver, was found murdered hours after suspected LeT militants abducted him from his father-in-laws residence in the village on Tuesday. Two women from the household were injured in the attack, and are being treated in a hospital.

Mohd Saleem Parrey, who hails from Hajin, had joined militant ranks last summer. Police said he was behind both cases of abduction and murder. Further information is awaited.

While a number of foreign terrorists are active in north Kashmir, the southern part of the state is dominated by homebred militants.
Four people, including a four-year-old girl, were killed by lightning strikes on Thursday in different parts of Telangana, which had been witnessing thunderstorms for the last three days, reports reaching the state capital said.

Two deaths were reported from Sangareddy district and one each in Mahbubnagar and Vikarabad districts.

In Boda Janampet village of Balanagar block in Mahbubnagar district, four-year-old Anusha died and her sisters Jyothy (2) suffered shock, when lightning struck a tree under which the girls were taking shelter.

The girls went to the agricultural fields along with their parents Vadde Narasimhulu and Yadamma, who were harvesting their groundnut crop in the afternoon. Suddenly it started raining heavily, accompanied by thunder and lightning, prompting children to take shelter under a nearby tree.

Anusha who was hit by the lightning was burnt to death instantaneously.

Another girl Jyothy managed to escape with a shock and she was immediately shifted to Niloufer Childrens Hospital in Hyderabad, where she was declared out of danger.

In Dharmapur village of Raikode block in Sangareddy district, 45-year- old Shahbuddin, who took his cattle into a nearby forest area to graze, died on the spot when he was struck by lightning. The deceased was standing under a mango tree.

In Sadasivapet of the same district, 35-year old Nagamani also died in a similar fashion, when lightning struck her as she went to a nearby forest area to graze the cattle.

In Kandlavelli village of Vikarabad district, Chintakindi Satish (25) was struck by lightning when he went to the terrace of his house to cover cement bags with a polythene sheet to prevent them from being damaged by sudden thunderstorm.

Several parts of Telangana have been witnessing heavy rains coupled with gales and hailstorms for the last three days, causing extensive damage to paddy, maize and mango crops in over 1.30 lakh acres. The crops, mostly paddy, are in the harvesting stage. The officials are yet to assess the quantum of damage to the crops.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad Meteorological department predicted moderate rains and thunderstorms in Sanga Reddy, Nizamabad, Jagityal and Rajanna-Sircilla districts in the next 48 hours.
A 21-year-old woman from Bhandara district of Maharashtra was attacked by a tiger, and has survived to tell the tale. Rupali Meshram, a commerce graduate living in Usgaon village of Bhandara district, took a number of selfies after the attack and shared it on social media with a harrowing account of her fight with the big cat.

Though the incident took place on March 24, it was reported only earlier this week.

Meshram is recuperating after receiving treatment for injuries to head, legs and waist.

I heard our goats bleating around midnight, and went out into the shed where we keep them to see what was the matter, Rupali told PTI.

She saw three goats lying dead in a pool of blood. Before she realised what had happened, the big cat which had killed them pounced on her.

Rupali, who maintained it was a tiger, said she managed to pick up a stick and hit the animal with it, while praying to Jesus Christ. She also called out to her mother.

Her mother ran to her help, and the animal attacked her too.

However, she managed to drag Rupali inside the house and close the door.

They called Rupalis uncle, who lives in Sonegaon, and he alerted the forest department and rushed to the familys house.

Forest officials shifted Rupali to a hospital in Bhandara and later to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Nagpur.

Rupali complained that other than reimbursement of expenses of treatment at Bhandara, she didnt get any financial help from the forest department. Her mother sold off some jewellery to raise money for the treatment, she said.

Vivek Hoshind, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bhandara, refuted Rupalis claim that it was a tiger which attacked her.

Pug marks of a leopard were found in the vicinity. Besides, there was no tiger movement recorded in that area, he told PTI.

Her story has earned her praise on social media, with many lauding her bravery and fearlessness.

Bravo!#WONDERWOMAN

everyone saying #badasswoman

Defending something doesn't make #badass...It makes a HERO

BTW she put a shame on WONDERWOMAN

  JN BRA (@meJOONbora) April 4, 2018

Hands down, this fearless woman is currently at the top of the "Show Me How Big Your Brave Is" List for 2018 https://t.co/txncjnf26c  Rhona Applebaum (@RhonaA_PhD) April 4, 2018

(With inputs from PTI)
Expressing anguish over an eminently forgettable post-recess budget session, Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday said the fears expressed by former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru over the need and justification for a second chamber comprising the council of states were coming true.

Naidu said this during his valedictory remark at the conclusion of the Rajya Sabhas 245th session, which saw a complete washout of proceedings in the house due to constant disruptions by members over some issue or the other from the very first day.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who headed the Union Constitution Committee for reporting on the structure and function of the future legislature of our country, had feared in 1936 that a second chamber (council of states) will check any forward tendencies of the lower house and will be reactionary. Are we making Nehrus worst fears come true? We should not, for the sake of our parliamentary democracy and the people, the Rajya Sabha chairman said.

Naidu stated that the session had turned out to be eminently forgettable on account of missed opportunities as well as an utter disregard for the mandate of the parliamentary institution and its responsibilities. The upper house, he said, was envisaged to enable a reasoned and quiet consideration of bills passed by the other house  slowing them down at best.

But what is on show here is total obstruction of legislation and disregard for issues of public concern. Let us not be a party to this house becoming a clog in the wheel of progress. You should instead dispel fears expressed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who  despite his reservations about the utility of this house  supported its coming into being. You need to rise to the expectations of those who strongly justified the need for this house in the constituent assembly, Naidu said.

Recalling the intense debate in the constituent assembly, the Rajya Sabha chairman said opinion on the need for such a chamber was divided before bicameralism was adopted and the house finally came into being in 1952. Many advocates for the upper house  including then vice-president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and parliamentarian Gopalaswami Ayyengar  said it could be used for holding dignified debates on important issues and delay legislation that might be the outcome of the passions of the moment until the passions have subsided.

Giving a report card of the Rajya Sabhas performance during the session, Naidu observed that even discussions on the general budget for the financial year could not happen due to constant disruptions.

No legislative work was transacted, with the exception of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2018, and that too without any discussion even as several important bills awaited your consideration. The honourable Supreme Courts recent verdict on the Act regarding the prevention of atrocities against the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes resulted in a certain public perception that caused agitations and even violence in some parts of the country. You did not even discuss it. Proven weaknesses in the management and monitoring of public sector banks led to widespread concern across the country, but you had different priorities and no time to discuss it, he said.

The Rajya Sabha chairman said that over 113 hours of the House were lost to disruptions as against 43 hours of functioning, and all the members  even those from the ruling party  were responsible for this.

At the end of such a long session, what can we show to the people of our country as our contribution towards addressing their concerns and furthering their genuine aspirations? Nothing, I am afraid. As a result, we are all the losers. This includes the opposition, the ruling party, the government and, most importantly, the people and the nation. All of you need to now reflect on how we, together, end up creating a lose-lose situation when it could have been a win-win situation. It is time to wake up and look at the way forward.

Naidu said the highlight of this crucial session was the over three-hour-long farewell accorded to retiring members on March 28.

But even that could not happen smoothly because the farewell observations, scheduled for a day earlier, were also not allowed. This house could have been more discreet and considerate while allowing such basic courtesies to a large number of retiring members. But even that had to be negotiated, he said.
Nepals Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli arrived in Delhi on Friday on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with the Indian leadership to boost ties between the two countries.

Oli was received at the airport by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the evening and will hold delegation-level talks on Saturday.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Saturday.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will visit the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

He will visit the Breeder Seed Production Centre and an integrated farming project there.

Oli will also be conferred with a Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science at the university.

While congratulating Oli over phone on his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

In February, Oli took charge as Nepals prime minister for the second time.
Nepals Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi ahead of delegation-level talks that would be aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

Oli, accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya Oli, arrived in New Delhi Friday morning for a three-day India visit and was received at the airport by home minister Rajnath Singh. This is his first foreign trip after assuming office.

The Nepalese premier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the evening ahead of delegation-level talks on Saturday.

Delighted to meet the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr KP Sharma Oli, Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Modi also posted photographs on Twitter of his meeting with Oli at the Prime Ministers official residence here.

Oli, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a dinner hosted by the Nepalese Embassy, said Nepal wants to be close with every neighbour and every friend.

Responding to questions on his discussions with Prime Minister Modi during the meeting, Oli said, It was excellent.

Earlier in the evening, Oli also addressed members of the Nepalese community at an event at Nepals Embassy in New Delhi.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi also met Oli and discussed issues of mutual interest.

Oli also attended a business luncheon event on the first day of his visit.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Saturday.

Olis visit is in line with the tradition of a Nepalese premier visiting India on his first overseas trip.

The visit also assumes significance as it comes after Oli had publicly criticised New Delhi for interfering in Nepals internal matters and accused it of toppling his government last year.

In February, Oli took charge as Nepals prime minister for the second time.

Ahead of his visit, Oli had said his trip would focus mainly on implementing the past agreements signed between Nepal and India rather than singing a new one.

We want to maintain trustful (ties) with India and clear any suspicion in the bilateral relations, Oli had said.

Swaraj had visited Nepal before Oli took office to congratulate him for the historic victory of the Left Alliance in the Parliamentary and Provincial elections.

She was the first senior Indian minister to visit Nepal after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament.

While congratulating Oli over phone upon his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

Ahead of the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said it would provide an opportunity to the two sides to review the wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples.

India and Nepal enjoy age-old, special ties of friendship and cooperation, it had said.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will also visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.
External affairs ministry on Thursday said there is no change in its position on Chinas One Belt One Road (OBOR) or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the signature connectivity project of President Xi Jinping.

The ministry clarified its position in response to some media reports that suggested Indias possible cooperation with China on the project.

We have seen some media reports alluding our possible cooperation with China on OBOR/Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Our position on OBOR is clear and there is no change, MEA spokesperson said.

HT had reported on March 25 that despite the recalibration of ties with China, India would not sign the OBOR.

The initiative includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that goes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Though India supports connectivity, it has to be open and equitable, MEA has consistently maintained.

New Delhi boycotted a high- profile Belt and Road Forum organised by China in May last year. No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity, the spokesperson said.

He reiterated the stated position of India on the project which is connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality, and must be pursued in a manner that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The project involves massive infrastructure investment in countries along the old Silk Road linking China with Europe. China is expected to spend some $150bn a year in the 68 countries that have agreed to be part of the initiative.
The second half of the Parliaments Budget session ended in a complete washout on Friday. Both the Houses adjourned without transacting any legislative business.

The session, which began on March 5, has seen no legislative business transacted except for the Finance Bill by the Lok Sabha.

On Thursday, parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar had hit out at Congress, calling it the main culprit behind the disruptions in the House, while former Congress president Sonia Gandhi accused him of lying and said it was the government that had not allowed the Parliament to function.

Here are the highlights:

1.50pm: Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien says, The Chair (in Rajya Sabha) can only talk to both the sides(government and Opposition), and the Chairman did his best to bring them together. He also met them separately.

12.55pm: Ananth Kumar says, In the second stage of our protest, all BJP MPs will observe a one-day fast in their respective constituencies on April 12. This will be done across the nation.

12.48pm: TDP MPs are protesting in demand of special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

TDP MPs stage a 'dharna' in Lok Sabha speaker's chambers. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is not present in the chamber. #SpecialStatus #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/Ewgvi3KifS  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

12.24pm: YSR Congress Lok Sabha MPs submitted their resignations to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

11.45am: BJP MPs protest on Parliament premises against Congress.

MoS PMO Jitendra Singh says, Entire session got washed out. People of this country have not taken it kindly. We have failed to live up to the expectations of the people because of a handful of people.

11.35am: BJP works for connecting people, Congress works for dividing people. Congress indulges in divisive, negative politics. It didnt let the House function. Well sit in protest against the negative attitude of Congress during last 23 days, says Ananth Kumar.

11.23am: Rajya Sabha adjourned sine dine.

11.17am: Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu makes fervent plea to members of the House to do their duty. Members extend well wishes to leader of the House Arun Jaitley.

11.15am: BJP MPs to observe fast on April 12 to protest the impasse in Parliament caused by Congress, says union minister Ananth Kumar.

11.14am: Lok Sabha adjourned sine dine.

10.51am: Punjab Congress MPs protest on Parliament premises demanding farm loan waiver.

10.41am: Karnataka Congress MPs are protesting on Parliament premises against the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board. Telugu Desam Party MPs protest demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

10.32am: TDP MP Naramalli Sivaprasad dresses up as Sage Vishvamitra to protest over the demand of special status for Andhra Pradesh.

Sivaprasad has earlier dressed up as a woman, a washerman and a school boy among others. (ANI/Twitter)

10.20am: Five YSR Congress MPs to submit their resignation from Lok Sabha to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan over special status category forAndhra Pradesh.

9.45am: Naidu said, BJP is practising Divide and Rule. Already people of Andhra Pradesh are not accepting BJP. Soon, there will be a day when BJP will not be accepted in the entire country.

9.44am: Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu in a teleconference with TDP MPs said, BJP is running away by repeatedly adjourning the house for the last many days.If parliament is adjourned sine die today then our MPs must meet President.

9.40am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leader LK Advani, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh and parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar arrive for BJP Parliamentary Party Meeting.

9.35am: BJP will hold a Parliamentary party meeting today. The party is celebrating its foundation day.

9.32am: Permission has been granted to YSRCP to protest in Andhra Bhavan premises in Delhi, ANI reports. YSRCP MP YV Subba Reddy had sought permission for this.

9.30am: On Thursday, April 5, high drama was witnessed in the Central Hall of Parliament as well as Rajya Sabha when Telugu Desam Party MPs protested at the two places demanding special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

The TDP members in the Upper House refused to leave the chamber even after the House was adjourned for the day around 2.30 pm. In solidarity, Lok Sabha members from the party staged a similar protest in the historic Central Hall. Those protesting inside the Rajya Sabha chamber were marshalled out around 8.15 pm.

(with agency inputs)
Plans are afoot to set up Haryanas first armed forces preparatory institute in Sonepat. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has given his approval for the proposed institute in principle in Khanda village in Sonepat, which would provide training to selected boys from the state for commission into the armed forces through National Defence Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA), Officers Training Academy (OTA) and other central armed police forces.

It would run a two-year NDA preparatory course for boys, along with 10 plus 2 course, and three-year preparatory course for IMA and OTA, along with graduation degree. These courses will have 100 and 50 seats, respectively.

Haryana, which has just about 2.09% of the countrys population, is known as the provider of finest military recruits and contributes for more than 10% of its total army recruits.

The village panchayat has offered 30-acre land, which is lying barren. Located on Sonepat-Rohtak road, Khanda village is about five km from Kharkhoda and eight km from KMP Express Highway.

Khattars nod came after repeated representations by the village panchayat led by Raj Singh, the registrar of companies at Chandigarh, who hails from the village.

The proposed institute would be named after Banda Bahadur as the legend warrior had set up his first military headquarters and raised his army in Sehri Khanda village in 1709. He stayed at the Bairagi Thakurdwara of Mahant Kishore Das of Nirmohi Akhara for about nine months then.

The institute will give a further push to state youths recruitment in armed forces. Haryana, which has just about 2.09% of the countrys population, is known as the provider of finest military recruits and contributes for more than 10% of its total army recruits. Out of the total 832 successful cadets at IMA in 2017, 107 (13%) were from Haryana.

Singh, whose ancestors hosted the legend warrior Banda Bahadur, said. This way the institute would also serve the purpose of recognising the contribution of the legendary warrior.

He added, The state government also has plans to have a regional centre of the institute for girls later in Lohgarh (Yamunanagar), which was the then capital of Banda Bahadur.
Abuji, please forgive me. I could not fulfil the promise made to you,

A moving telephone conversation between a militant trapped in a security cordon and his family has gone viral on social media in Kashmir, underlining the personal and emotional cost of violence in the restive state.

The last phone call between Aitmad Hussain Dar, 28, a Hizbul Mujahideen militant of south Kashmirs Shopian, and his family on Sunday was recorded just before he was killed in a gun battle on Sunday.

Aitmad, an MPhil degree holder and junior research fellow, who joined the militant group last November, was killed along with his four accomplices in the gunfight with security forces in Kachdoora village from where he was calling his family.

Aitmad called his brother on the phone and sought forgiveness for his mistakes. Please forgive me for my mistakes. I am trapped (in an encounter), Aitmad tells his brother and breaks down.

The call sent the family into mourning and the women of the household could be heard grieving.

Lagya wandith (I be sacrificed for you), the father told the son in chaste Kashmiri whose essence cant be translated. Why are you crying?

Crying, the son responded by asking for forgiveness since he could not fulfil his promise to him.

The father asked him where he was trapped and urged him to remain steadfast and have patience. I wont tell you to surrender. I cant tell you that, he said. Aitmad responded, No, no and adds, Abu ji, I just want you to be pleased with me and God will also be happy with me.

"Lagya wandith," the father said again as the women in the background shout and cry.

Is there any chance of escaping? the father asked and when the militant son responded in negative, the father said, If you can escape, do it, if not then what can be done.

No, we tried a lot. Abrar bhai (another militant) has been hit by a bullet in the head, Aitmad said.

The phone is then taken by injured Abrar (Ishfaq Thokar) who is stumbling for words. Excuse me, I have been hit by a bullet in my head so I am not able to speak properly, forgive me. Can I get the phone number of my father, Abrar could be heard saying.

Superintendent of Police, Shopian, Shriram Ambarkar Dinkar, said the conversation looked authentic and the militant was Aitmad . Aitmad is crying in the conversation, Dinkar said.

The other three militants killed in the encounter were Aqib Bashir, Sameer Lone and Gayas ul Islam, all residents of south Kashmir. Three army soldiers  Lance Naik Nilesh Singh, Gunner Arvinder Kumar and Sepoy Hetram  were also killed in the operation.
In a bid to reach out to the Dalits and Adivasis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked BJP ministers, MPs and senior leaders of the party to spend a night in villages with over 50% population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs).

Union minister Ananth Kumar said the programme will be held during the partys Gram Swaraj Abhiyan programme bet- ween April 10 and May 5. As part of the event, BJP leaders will hold mass contact programmes in villages with 1,000-plus population and ensure 100% enrolment in the governments saptrishi programmes that includes Indradhanush, Jandhan and BHIM App.

Kumar told reporters that Modi said about 20,844 villages have over 50% population of SC/STs and MPs should work to implement schemes, including Jan Dhan and Ujjwala, among others.

The outreach bid comes amid a raging controversy over a recent Supreme Court order on the Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the government inviting criticism for the delay in filing a review petition. At least 11 people were killed in protests across three states since the Bharat Bandh against the order on April 2.

BJP MP from Etawah, Ashok Kumar Dohrey, also wrote to the Prime Minister alleging that police across the country, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, were registering false cases against Dalits and STs after the April 2 bandh. Dohrey is third Dalit BJP MP, after Savitri Bai Phoole and Chhotelal, from Uttar Pradesh to have raised concern about atrocities against the Scheduled Castes.

At the BJPs parliamentary party meeting on the partys foundation day, the PM asked MPs to take out Sabka saath sabka vikas yatra in their areas. All MPs will spend a night in these villages while ministers will spend two nights in different parts of the country, a BJP leader who attended the meeting quoted PM Modi as saying.

The BJP, he said, will observe the birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule, a social reformer from a backward caste, on April 11 as Samta Diwas (equality day). All MPs have been asked to organise events to mark the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, a Dalit icon, on April 14, asserting that it is mandatory for them to do so, sources said.

PM Modi also asked the BJP to organise a nationwide protest on April 12 against Congress conduct in Parliament, which led to a complete washout of the second half of the budget session.

The PM said BJPs strength was on a rise and the Congress was resorting to divisive and negative politics, Ananth Kumar said. Modi accused the Congress of throttling democracy and abusing peoples mandate by blocking the Parliament.

He told the MPs that opposition members almost surrounded him during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the Presidents Address to Parliament, and such a disruption during a Prime Ministers speech was unprecedented.

Modi replied in both Houses during the sessions first half. He said he continued with his speech for over 90 minutes for the sake of democracy amid relentless protests by opposition MPs, according to sources. The opposition has been left with no issues and that is why it was resorting to disrupting the Parliament, Modi said, asking BJP MPs to expose such parties.
A Jodhpur court on Thursday sentenced Salman Khan to five years in jail for killing two blackbucks, an endangered antelope, in a 20-year-old poaching case, a stunning verdict that dealt a blow to the actor who has Rs 500 crore riding on him.

Salman has sought bail and his application will be heard on Friday morning in the Jodhpur sessions court. If the bail does not come through, he will have to stay in jail for at least three more days as the weekend follows.

Here are the highlights:

11.15am: Jodhpur court reserves order till Saturday on Salman Khans bail plea as prosecution seeks time.

11am: Salman Khans case is listed at no. 24 in the Jodhpur sessions court.

10.30am: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan slept at 11:30pm on Thursday night in the central jail in Jodhpur, officials said on Friday.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan slept at 11:30pm on Thursday night in the central jail in Jodhpur after being sentenced to five years of imprisonment in the blackbuck poaching case, officials said on Friday.

Khan, prisoner No 106, got up around 8:15 am and didnt take the morning tea and breakfast, jail officials added.

The Tiger Zinda Hai actor, whose bail application will come up for hearing on Friday morning, was lodged in the barrack next to rape accused self-styled godman Asarams and jail officials said the two exchanged pleasantries on Thursday before retiring for the night.

He will be able to meet his family and lawyer on Friday.

Sources claimed that the 52-year-old actor got non-vegetarian food from a hotel but officials denied it, saying he ate the dinner of dal, sabzi and chapatis served in the jail.

Jail superintendent Vikram Singh told reporters on Thursday evening that the actor was given four blankets to sleep on the floor in his barrack that has two ceiling fans. Singh said Khan inquired about the toilet in his barrack and also wanted to know if there was a geyser.

I remembered the last time he was in Jodhpur jail in August 2006, he had promised to improve the toilets here, Singh added.

This is the fourth time Khan is spending time in the Jodhpur Central Jail.

He has earlier been behind bars from October 15 to October 17 in 1998 after he was sent to judicial custody during the investigation in the Kankani blackbuck poaching case.

The second time the actor went to jail was in 2006 when he was convicted of killing a chinkara on September 28, 1998, at Ghora Farm near Mathania village. The court of chief judicial magistrate sentenced him to five years of imprisonment on April 10, 2006. Khan spent three days in the jail and was released on April 13 on bail.

The third time Khan went behind bars was in 2007 when his appeal against the conviction was rejected by the session court on August 26. He was sent to jail and released on August 31 after he got bail from the high court.
The Supreme Court reserved on Friday its order on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) request to direct the West Bengal election commissioner to accept online nomination papers for the states panchayat polls, alleging that its candidates are targeted.

Poll-related violence has claimed two lives in Malda and Bankura districts so far since the beginning of the filing of nominations on April 2, according to police. Besides, scores of people were wounded in clashes between supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP.

The top court bench of justices RK Agarwal and AM Sapre said it will pass an order on April 9, which is the last day to file nomination papers for the rural polls scheduled for May 1, 3 and 5.

The counsel for the West Bengal government opposed the petition, saying no violence was reported in the state. For its part, the Union government said it can send paramilitary forces to ensure violence-free elections.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi requested the courts intervention to enable BJP candidates to file their nomination papers. Democracy is being murdered in the state, he said.

Rohatgi placed before the court data on the number of nomination papers filed in the districts to stress that the Trinamool managed to file more than the BJP and the Congress. This is because our party workers have not been allowed to approach the designated offices to collect nomination papers, Rohatgi said.

In response, West Bengal government counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi wondered why the BJP chose to approach the top court directly without going to the state election commission or the Calcutta high court first.

The Calcutta high court, in response to a similar petition filed by state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury, directed the state election commission to file an affidavit by April 16. The next date of hearing is April 20.

The Congress appealed for central forces as it informed the court about violence during the process to file nomination papers. Paramilitary forces were first deployed for West Bengal rural elections in 2013.

At least two prominent leaders came under attack, allegedly from the ruling party in the West Bengal districts on Friday, the fifth day of filing of nomination papers.

Eight-time Lok Sabha MP and CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharya was hit on the head in Purulia district, the party said. The BJP alleged that its state unit general secretary Raju Banerjee was dragged out of his vehicle in Bankura and assaulted in front of the district magistrates office.
The Shiv Sena  a BJP ally  has rejected parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumars announcement that parliamentarians affiliated to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) wont claim their salaries for the second half of the budget session, which was nearly washed out due to Opposition protests.

The Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP), on the other hand, expressed ignorance over any such decision.

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said his party was not on the same page with the BJP on the issue. They did not consult us before taking the decision. They only remember the NDA when the presidential and vice-presidential polls are on, he added.

Blaming the Congress for the near-washout of the second half of the budget session, Kumar had stated on Thursday that 400 MPs of the NDA will forego Rs 3.66 crore in salaries. The Sena leader, however, accused the government of causing the Parliament logjam. We feel that the government did not want the House to function, and the reason behind it is (the upcoming) Karnataka polls, he said.

Sawant said speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not even use strong words to rebuke AIADMK parliamentarians who were agitating for the formation of the Cauvery Water Management Board. The MPs did their work even if Parliament did not function, he added.

Union minister Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP said he was not informed about any such decision. I am not aware. I do not know, he told reporters, before adding that all constituents of the NDA will forego their salaries if any such decision was indeed taken.

The second half of the budget session ends on Friday.
The University of Hyderabad on Friday said two languages which were lying hidden from linguists have been discovered by a professor of linguistics in the institution.

As a part of the activity of the Centre for Endangered Languages and Mother Tongue Studies, Prof Panchanan Mohanty discovered two languages recently, which were lying hidden from linguists, a university release said.

One of them is called Walmiki and is spoken in the district of Koraput of Odisha and on the bordering districts of Andhra Pradesh, it said.

The professor collected some data and did a preliminary analysis and published a paper in the proceedings of the XX Annual Conference of the Foundation for Endangered Languages, UK, it said.

The analysis showed that the language is an isolate, and does not belonged to a particular family of languages, the release said.

The name of the language, Walmiki, is also interesting and indicative because the speech community claims descent from the great Indian saint-poet Valmiki, it said.

The second language Malhar is spoken in a remote and isolated hamlet about 165 km away from Bhubaneswar.

The community consists of about 75 speakers including children, it said.

The preliminary data shows that Malhar belonged to the North Dravidian subgroup of the Dravidian family of languages and that it has close affinities with the other North Dravidian languages like Malto and Kurux spoken in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, it said.
The BJP and the Congress blamed each other for the violence during the April 2 Bharat bandh called by Dalit organisations protesting the Supreme Courts ruling that, they say, dilutes a law protecting their rights, even as normalcy has returned to Rajasthans Barmer district.

BJP leader and chairperson of Barmer urban improvement trust Priyanka Choudhary alleged that Congress leaders misled protesters and provoked violence to get political mileage in poll-bound states.

Nine persons were killed in the country, including one in Rajasthan, during the nationwide bandh against the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act.

A day before the protests, I met many people from SC/ST communities who said that Congress leaders told them that the BJP government at the Centre is going to end reservation, and thats the reason for the protests, Choudhary said, adding Congress leaders misled the people by telling them a lie.

It was a planned conspiracy and part of dirty politics of the Congress, which created rift among communities and caused loss to property and disturbed law and order, she alleged.

Choudhary also blamed the authorities for their failure to handle the situation. Despite being informed, authorities remained negligent and took the movement lightly, due to which it turned violent.

Reacting to Choudharys allegation, Congress MLA Mevaram Jain said BJP leaders were leading the protest. He named Aaduram Meghwal (former district BJP president), Mohan Kurdiya (BJP nagar mandal president) and Laxman Badera (BJP leader).

Before the protest, Congress leaders appealed for peaceful march. A party delegation recently met the authorities, urging for action against those behind the violence and not to harass innocent people, Jain said.

Choudhary said, BJP leadership never supported such incidents. If any BJP leader is found responsible for the violence, the party will demand action against them.

Instigators on police radar

A video has come handy for Barmer police to identify the instigators of violence. We have got a video footage in which some people were seen distributing sticks to the demonstrators, superintendent of police Gagandeep Singla said. We are investigating the matter, after which action will be taken.

Meanwhile, Barmer district administration organised a meeting of a peace committee compromising members of various communities. Section 144 has remained in force in parts of the district.

Appealing for help to normalise the situation, Barmer collector Shivprasad Nakate and Singla said action would be taken against the people responsible for the violence. Innocent people need not to worry, Nakate said.

The administration set up a control room and appealed to people to share information about those who instigated the protesters to turn violent.
The director general of Border Security Force (BSF) awarded the commendation roll to a team of Rajasthan Frontier, led by IG Anil Paliwal, for unraveling the false story of infiltration by Hassam Khan. BSF Rajasthan Frontiers team proved that the man did not cross the border into Jaisalmer but entered the country through Atari on a fake passport.

The border intelligence unit of Rajasthan Police arrested Hassam Khan of Siyalo Ki Basti on October 9, 2017, and said that the man crossed the international border on April 28, 2017, and was living in his village for six months without the knowledge of BSF.

This was an embarrassment for the BSF that reflected lack of its alertness. Anil Paliwal, who heads the Rajasthan Frontier that guards the international border in Jaisalmer, Bikaner and Sriganganagar districts, found the police theory incredulous and set up a probe.

We formed a team consisting DIG Ravi Gandhi, deputy commandant Avanish Sharma, inspector Ravinder Dhaliwal and sub-inspector Gurjeet Singh to conduct a detailed investigation into the alleged infiltration of Hassam Khan, Paliwal said.

The team took Hassam Khan to the border areas for verifying his story but it was found suspicious. Paliwal, a Rajasthan-cadre IPS officer, had been the SP of Jaisalmer in 1998 and found some Pak nationals visiting Jaisalmer on fake passports. This led the team to probe if Khan had also adopted the same modus operandi.

During checking of records of Atari (Amritsar), Munabao and CCTV footages, it appeared that Khan entered India through Atari on a fake passport. Later, during interrogation, Hassam Khan confessed that he entered India on April 3 on a fake passport. From Atari, he went to Delhi by train and took another train from Delhi to Jaisalmer. Khan said he used a cab to go to his village.

For this investigation, BSF DG KK Sharma conferred the commendation roll to the team of Paliwal, Gandhi, Sharma, Dhaliwal and Singh.
Farmers under the banner of Kisan Mahapanchayat plan to gherao chief minister Vasundhara Raje on April 9 during her visit to Sri Madhopur in Sikar district. Raje arrived in Sikar Firday on a four-day visit.

The farmers in Rajasthan are up in arms against the government over its failure to procure Rabi crops at minimum support price (MSP). While the state government has made arrangements to procure major crops, including wheat, at MSP, farmers union have alleged that the designated centers for wheat were too less and it was not possible for those living in remote villages to access them.

Apart from wheat, farmers are also being forced to sell other crops such as mustard and chana (gram/ chick pea) at below MSP, according to the union leaders.

As against MSP of 4,000 per quintal, farmers are selling mustard at Rs 3,500. The situation is worse for chana. It is being sold at Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500 per quintal while the MSP was set at Rs 4,400. The MSP for wheat is Rs 1,735 per quintal, but at most mandis farmers are selling it for Rs 1,500, Kisan Mahapanchayat leader Rampal Jat said. We plan to gherao the chief minister during her visit to Sri Madhopur on April 9, he added.

On April 3, police had detained Jat along with about 50 other farmers when they were trying to march to chief ministers residence in Civil Lines area.

The farmers affiliated to All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) are holding demonstrations at mandis in Kota district to protest steep fall in the prices of garlic. In Sikar, farmers are holding protest against steep fall in onion prices.

Wheat is being purchased at MSP by Food Corporation of India (FCI) at 207 designated centers in Rajasthan. It is up to the farmers to sell the wheat at designated centers, a state agriculture department official said requesting anonymity.

Jat, however, said that FCI procures crops during a 90-day period and it was not possible for farmers from more than 45,000 villages across Rajasthan to access 207 centers. So they are forced to sell their produce below the MSP at nearby mandis. In addition, farmers are getting only Rs 1,200 for jowar against the MSP of 1,425, he said.

Other farmer unions are also unhappy. In February, AIKS leader Amra Ram had spent four days in jail after he attempted to lead a farmers protest march to the Rajasthan assembly. On February 22, Rajasthan Police had arrested 179 farmers from different locations and detained around another 2,000 who were marching to Jaipur to stage a sit-in outside the assembly that was in session.
A Kolkata court sent Subhabrata Majumdar to hospital on Friday for psychiatric treatment for keeping his mothers body in a freezer for three years in their home in the West Bengal capital, even as his 89-year-old father told reporters that he was not aware of his sons deeds despite living in the house all along.

When police produced Majumdar in Alipore court, the judge released him on a personal bond of Rs 500 with the direction that he should be treated in a state-run hospital.

Majumdars mother Bina died on April 7, 2015 in a private nursing home. But the man, in his fifties, applied mummification techniques to preserve her body in a commercial freezer used to store ice-cream and frozen food in stores, police said.

He was detained on Wednesday in his two-storey house in Behala on the southern fringes of Kolkata by officers from the local police station and the Kolkata homicide department, who were acting on a tip-off.

On Friday morning, police arrested the leather technologist, before taking him to the state-run SSKM Hospital.

He sometimes speaks coherently ... From what he is saying and the manner of his speech, he seems to be suffering from chronic psychosis, said Pradeep Saha, head of psychiatry, SSKM Hospital.

Plainclothes policemen help Gopal Chandra Majumdar, 89, alight the staircase in Kolkata. (AP Photo)

Police produced him in court after the check-up and submitted the doctors findings. From the court, police took Majumdar to the Institute of Psychiatry, where in 2015-16 Partha De, who lived for about six months with the skeletons of his sister and two pet dogs in his Robinson Street house, was also treated.

His father, Gopal Majumdar, told TV channels: My son did not allow me to go to the floor where the freezer was kept. I have no idea what happened.

Though police said nothing officially, an officer told reporters the investigators found that Majumdar believed he was in touch with the Russian and German consulates that supplied him with information on how to preserve the body of his mother. He used to study cadaver preservation techniques, books in his room suggests.

As investigators puzzled over the case and tried to find a motive, deputy commissioner, (south west division) of Kolkata police, Nilanjan Biswas said Majumdar used to withdraw money from the pension account of his mother, a retired employee of the Food Corporation of India.

His father too said if any money was withdrawn from his wifes pension, it was his son who did it. I am unable to do it, said the senior Majumdar, who can hardly get around the house, let alone go out. But that fails to explain why his son tried to preserve his mothers body for so long.
Spanakopita in Greece, sanbosag in Iran or samboosa in Tajikistan call it what you may  samosa will always bring back memories of rainy days coupled with steaming cups of chai. The ubiquitous snack, originating in Central Asia, has been adapted by Indians with a fondness that breaks barriers of flavour, appearance and cultures.

And now, with organisers of Leicester Curry Awards in Leicester, England, hosting National Samosa Week between April 9 and 13, Indias favourite snack is expanding its global reach. Funds raised from this event will go towards charitable organisations. In a recent report published in Hindustan Times, Romail Gulzar, founder of the awards, said: Theres a national food event for everything  from burgers to beer. So why not samosas? The savoury dish has grown in popularity among the South Asian community. We want to encourage people all over the UK to buy and make their own samosas during the week. They may even sell them at work and school to raise funds for local charities.

So, what is it about this triangular piece of savoury dough that draws people? Its charm lies in its cultural connect. The fried dough, stuffed with meat and cheese has been a part of most cultures, barring Eastern Asia. From Greece to India, it has been existing in some form or the other, says chef Sabyasachi Gorai.

International recognition and nationwide love happens when a food dish becomes an intrinsic part of ones identity. What cheese and wine are to France, or pasta is to Italy, chaat and curry are to India. Our lineage and identity are shaped by food, says chef Kunal Kapur.

Interestingly, this flavourful pocket of everything uniquely Indian has its roots in Persia. Merchants from Central Asia, on the Spice Route, brought a meat-filled savoury pastry called samsa with them. At that time, it was either baked in a clay oven, fried, or steamed. It came to India from Persia, where it used to be filled with pine nuts and chicken mince. It is essentially a Central Asian snack, fried or steamed. Frying increases its shelf life, says food historian Pushpesh Pant.

Reference to samosas has been found in the works of Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta and Indian poet Amir Khusrau, too. It is also mentioned in Ain-i-Akbari and in the writings of Ibn Battuta at the time of Muhammad bin Tughlaq in shahi dastarkhwan (royal spread), explains Pant.

Chef Kunal Kapur and chef Sabyasachi Gorai.

With time, the form and flavours of the snack were adapted as per the changing taste of the people. Samosa is popular in India as the poor mans food on the run, says Pant.

In a country as diverse as India, it was much obvious that an iconic dish like samosa will undergo its set of experimentation and evolution, according to the changing palates. In Amritsar, pounded coriander is used a lot, while in Varanasi peas and dry fruits are added to samosas, lending it a sweeter taste. In Rajasthan, samosa chaat is prepared the way aloo tikki chaat is made, with chutney and yogurt. In Hyderabad, onion samosas are made much like onion kachoris, explains Kapur.

And how to prepare a perfect samosa? The secret lies in its entiretythe crust and the filling, says Gorai. The skin has to be thoroughly cooked. Raw, thick layer of flour spoils the samosa. The trick is to cook it on low flame. Then comes the filling. A good samosa is a rarity. Its a skill that a few can master, he adds.

However, this iconic dish is incomplete without its companion  chutney (a spicy dip). Chutney is the deciding factor of how good a samosa would be. Its the humble companion that hardly gets acknowledged. But its important, says Kapur.

Though samosa is one of the staple snacks in the Indian subcontinent, it has never been a fancy dish and it was much late in the day that it received acknowledgement from the Western culinary world. This definitely raises the question that do Indians realise the value of their cuisine and culture only when it gets validation from the West? With another country celebrating a week of samosas, Gorai says, Its not fair to blame Indians. Its a worldwide phenomenon. In France, there was a time when people got really excited about curry leaves, but weve been eating curry patta since childhood. So it doesnt excite us. When something has always been with you, you are not aware of its exotic factor. We tend to take a liking to a culture that fascinates us. Im assuming that people in the UK and the US are finding samosas as an exciting new product, though every Indian restaurant always had samosa on their menu.

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Its a fight over ownership, heritage, revolution and rum.

Its 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 brands founders, the Arechabala family.

But Pernod Ricard insists its Havana Club is the authentic version since it is distilled in Cuba with 100% Cuban ingredients.

Pernod Ricard joined forces with the government in order to get profits from that stolen property, Bacardi brand executive Roberto Ramirez said.

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.

A bartender prepares a drink with Havana Club Rum. (AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS)

The Arechabala and Bacardi families were forced from home in the aftermath of Castros 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 governments 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 worlds 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.

Dont tell us were not Cuban

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 recognising trademarks stolen by the Castro government.

In January, the rum maker released a campaign featuring a Cuban-American walking through Miamis 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.

Dont tell us were not Cuban.

Vanessa Garcia, playwright of Amparo, Roberto Ramirez, Bacardi brand executive and Paola Arechabala Consuegra, second generation Arechabala family member, during the AFP interview. (AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS)

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 April 3, 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 flavour.

So there is a really big difference between the two products, he said. 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, its an important marketing tool in the fight against their rivals Havana Club.

Bacardi late last year sued the US government over the retroactive renewal of Cubas export trademark registration, which violated well-settled United States law, Bacardis lawyers at Kelley Drye & Warren said in the complaint. (AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS)

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 Cubas export trademark registration, which violated well-settled United States law, Bacardis 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 were 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.

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Basmati Blues

Director - Dan Baron

Cast - Brie Larson, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Scott Bakula, Donald Sutherland

Rating - 0.5/5

Theres a scene in Quentin Tarantinos Kill Bill in which David Carradine (Bill) does what so many actors in Tarantinos movies tend to do: He delivers a speech. The recipient of the speech is his nemesis, Uma Thurmans Bride, tied to a chair, beaten and bloody. The stage is the living room of a rather large house. Superman didnt become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, hes Superman, Bill says, surprising just about everyone with his choice of topic.

Bills thesis suggests that the blue suit with the big red S emblazoned on it isnt Supermans costume, those are the clothes of his people. The costume - the suit, the glasses - is what he chooses to wear to blend in with us. Clark Kent, Bill says, is how Superman views us.

And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent?

Hes weak... hes unsure of himself... hes a coward. Clark Kent is Supermans critique on the whole human race.

Theres a point to this story. Promise.

A pre-Oscar, pre-Marvel Brie Larson stars in Basmati Blues.

To someone who doesnt belong to a certain place, the idiosyncrasies and eccentricities of its people are open to interpretation. That is why racial and cultural stereotypes exist, theyre usually propagated by people who have either not had first-hand experience dealing with foreigners, or even if they have, theyve been too close-minded to appreciate the uniqueness of others.

Basmati Blues is a film made by people who could belong to either category. And since its frankly unbelievable that a person could be familiar with India and its people and still choose to make a film like this, whats more likely is that debutant director Dan Barons entire research for this movie comprised of watching old cartoons and listening far too intently to one of his racist uncles stories.

If this is how clueless foreigners perceive us - head-bobbing, monkey-eating, rags-wearing buffoons - then weve just been critiqued, like the earthlings in Tarantinos reading of Superman.

Not two minutes have passed since Brie Larsons arrival in India - less than 24 hours after declaring that she doesnt even have a passport, mind you - and she has already stepped in poop, befriended a goat and observed Dalip Tahil eat rice off a banana leaf. She has also met a man named William J Patel, a name that any Indian can tell you - while theoretically possible in the same way that Donald Obama is theoretically possible - is a hard one to come across.

Can you spot a popular comedian in the crowd?

Almost as hard, some might say, as it is to find an authentic Indian accent in this movie. For some reason (laziness), Baron and his team decided to cast almost every speaking role, and certainly every significant Indian role, with American actors. And as any racist who has ever made the mistake of casting a man from Senegal to play a black man from Los Angeles can tell you, they dont really have much in common besides their shared heritage.

Similarly, there isnt a single central Indian character in Basmati Blues who sounds Indian, and none of the actors have the capability of sounding authentic either. In addition to this blatant racism - lets not beat about the bush here; this movie doesnt deserve leniency - its also geographically vague. Its supposed to be set somewhere in the south - which itself is a crude generalisation to make - but has scenes in which characters dance to Punjabi music, drink north eastern tea, and visit Rajasthani-looking houses. Again, all of this is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely, especially when all this is happening in the same scene.

Of course theres a club scene.

Clearly, the ignorance of several people is responsible for how Basmati Blues turned out. And we havent even begun talking about the actual filmmaking, which involves cheap green screen, hastily shot filler material, and song and dance numbers straight out of a 80s Bollywood movie (that last bit is not a compliment, before Baron takes it as one).

After the first trailer came out, and was subsequently (and rightly) slammed for, as it turns out, accurately representing this movie, a Vulture article attempted to understand how a film like this could actually get made in todays cultural climate. Among its many crimes, it also reintroduces that rather outdated white saviour trope that we thought wed abolished by now.

Notice the Blackberry. In the time it took for this film to see the light of day, four versions of the iPhone came and went.

And of course the story behind it is just as hair-brained as the final product. You should read it. Baron began shooting in 2012 - a fact evidenced by Brie Larsons use of a Blackberry in some scenes - but could only finish five years later. Its easy to imagine that Larson, whose star has significantly risen since 2012 - shes won an Oscar and has signed on to play a Marvel superhero in the meantime - attempted to bury Basmati Blues. Enough actors have done this in the past - most recently, Jennifer Lawrence was rumoured to have tried to kill her 2014 movie, Serena, released to capitalise on her Hunger Games star power.

Wherever the truth may lie, its quite clear that this isnt the loving homage to Bollywood musicals that was originally intended. It isnt a takedown on global capitalism and the corrupt food industry. And it most certainly isnt a celebration of India.

Watch the Basmati Blues trailer here

Follow @htshowbiz for more

The author tweets @RohanNaahar

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Missing

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Tabu, Annu Kapoor

Director: Mukul Abhyankar

Rating: 2/5

Two strangers meet on a cruise and end up in each others arms. Cliched, but twist in the tale comes when the womans daughter goes missing.

Sushant Dubey (Manoj Bajpayee) and Aparna (Tabu) are on the mercy of the Mauritian police, its effort spearheaded by Ram Khilawan Budhu (Annu Kapoor), to find the missing girl but the list of their lies is never-ending.

Missing begins on an off-note. Both Manoj Bajpayee and Tabu struggle to find their feet. Some of their acts begin to make sense as the film progresses but Missing lacks the overall sense of urgency.

Idea is to probably give the audience a comic breather before turning the premise intense, but it gets too predictable. You start anticipating the character graphs and movements. Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee tries his best to attain a momentum, but silhouettes and hard-edged photography need subjects, preferably gripping ones.

Missing is a story that takes place within a few hours. It begins at a dockyard and ends at a hotel. After a while, just two characters seem insufficient to hold our attention. A few more characters could have added more intrigue to the suspense. Thankfully, Annu Kapoor enters the story and stops it from becoming another been there, done that kind of a film.

Read: Baaghi 2 movie review: Goa bears Tiger Shroffs wrath and so do we

On second thoughts, the credit should also go to the editor, Shree Narayan Singh, for keeping it short. At 120-minute, Missing isnt exactly an edge-of-the-seat saga, but it manages to keep the viewers interested.

It picks up pace towards the end and generates necessary push to shock the spectators, but things escalate real quick to get there. However, all is well that ends well.

Tabus restrained act keeps the focus on her, but Manoj Bajpayee falters. Too many mood changes in a limited time dont let his character develop. As a well-mannered, soft spoken cop, Annu Kapoor carries the film forward.

Read: Hichki movie review: Rani Mukerjis well-intentioned film could have been so much more

Missing isnt a spellbinding thriller, but it has its moments. Your exposure to world cinema and well-made thrillers will decide whether you would enjoy it or not. Nonetheless, a genuine effort on part of the debutant director Mukul Abhyankar.

Interact with Rohit Vats at Twitter/@nawabjha

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Less than a week after the Bombay high court (HC) revoked the bail plea of an Andheri school trustee accused of sexually assaulting a three-year-old student, the school management is now facing more problems. Over the last two months, 10 teachers have quit, of which five teachers and the principal of the primary section resigned in the past week.

While the management has called this a warm goodbye from teachers who quit for personal reasons, some parents are worried it will affect the school.

 Three teachers are shifting to work part-time. Two are relocating. Effectively only five teachers quit. Thats a 6% attrition this year, which is very low. The school conducts a year-long course to train teachers, and theres a refresher course to retrain older teachers, so theres always a pool of trained teachers to select from, said the spokesperson of the school.

This week, a school trustee sent a detailed list of the teachers who quit to all parents, citing reasons for their resignation. HT is in possession of the letter. The school also assured in the letter that new teachers will be hired by the school soon.

Many parents are also planning to withdraw their children from the school, the parent said.

Many parents were also unhappy that the accused trustees wife, also a teacher in the school, will now be heading the primary section.

The case dates back to May 2017, when parents of a three-year-old student accused the school trustee, a French national, of sexually assaulting their daughter.

The trustee was arrested in November following an FIR lodged on the parents complaint, and was booked for aggravated sexual assault. However, he got bail, and was back in the school in December. The victim has since moved to another school.

Earlier this week, acting on a plea filed by the mother of the victim, the HC struck down the special Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) court order, that had granted bail to the accused.

A group of parents who support he schools stand refuted claims that teachers quit due to the recent events.

Almost all of them quit for personal reasons, not because of this case. These are attempts to malign the school, said another parent.
Mumbai

On the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) 38th foundation day on Friday, party president Amit Shah sounded the bugle for the 2019 elections with a speech squarely targeting Rahul Gandhi and Sharad Pawar, at the partys mega rally held at MMRDA grounds in Bandra-Kurla Complex .

The countdown to 2019 has begun, and disparate political parties and groups are trying to come together to challenge the BJP, he said. Shah called out Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his failed attempts to point fingers at Prime Minister Modi. Rahul baba, the worlds view of India has changed because of PM Modi, he said.

Referring to the BJPs defeat in the recent Rajya Sabha by-polls, he said: We lost two seats in by-polls, but Rahul baba should focus on the fact that Modiji has taken away 11 of his party governments.

In an attempt to woo Dalits, the BJP top leadership reiterated that it was committed to reservations and would not let it get diluted. Chief Minister Deevendra Fadnavis, who addressed the rally a little before Shah, also promised that SC/ST reservations will not be abolished under the BJP, and that the party is fighting for it.

Shah indicated that there would be a saffron alliance, while Fadnavis made it a point to refer to Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray as an idol, and state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, who started the rally, criticised Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who has been targeting the Sena.

While the party celebrates its foundation day every year, this mega show -- a year ahead of the polls -- was aimed at showcasing the partys growth over the past four years. Party leaders said an estimated three lakh workers from across Maharashtra attended the rally. Around 50,000 buses, 28 special trains and jeeps were pressed into service to ferry BJP workers to the venue.

Traffic jams have been reported from several parts of the city, with slow traffic movement around BKC, Western Express Highway, Kurla and Bandra Terminus.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up for a mega show of strength on its 38th foundation day on Friday at Mumbais Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). While the party holds foundation day celebrations every year, this show, a year ahead of the polls, is aimed at showcasing its growth in the past four years and energising its cadre. The rally at MMRDA grounds will be addressed by party president Amit Shah, who arrived in the city on Thursday. Union minister of transport Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are also expected to address the crowd.

Party leaders said an estimated three lakh workers from across Maharashtra will attend the rally. The BJP has organised 28 special trains, 50,000 buses and jeeps to get workers into the city  with workers arriving in hoards, the Western Express highway and BKC are experiencing traffic snarls.

Here are highlights from the BJPs foundation day rally:

2.37pm: We lost two seats in the by-polls, but Rahul baba should focus on the fact that Modiji has taken away 11 of his partys governments, says Shah.

2.35pm: Shah tells BJP workers that on April 14, BR Ambedkars birthday, BJPs message and symbol will be taken to 20,000 villages.

2.31pm: Shah calls out Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his failed attempts to point fingers at Modi. Rahul baba, the worlds view toward India has changed because of PM Modi, he says.

2.30pm: Amit Shah, national President, addresses workers.

2.23pm: Fadnavis also promises that reservation for SC/ST will not go away, as the party is fighting for it.

2.23pm: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis takes a dig at Congress and NCPs alliance, says BJP cannot be defamed by any allegations. He also referred to Late Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray as an idol.

1.32: Ashish Shelar, BJP Mumbai chief, says todays rally has seen the biggest gathering of supporters, even bigger than protests at Azad Maidan and rallies at Shivaji Park, indirectly referring to Congress and Shiv Senas display of strength.

1.05pm: BJP national president Amit Shah and Union minister Nitin Gadkari arrive at the venue.

1.03pm: Central Railway says all trains booked for the BJP rally have reached the city.

12.45pm: Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar addresses the crowd, refers to the Congress and the NCP as the Kaurav Sena coming together under leadership from Baramati. Earlier, it was Nathuram Godse from Baramati who killed the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. And now, a conspiracy is being hatched against the prime minister from Baramati.

12.30pm: Union ministers Prakash Jawdekar, Piyush Goyal, Hansraj Ahir, Suresh Prabhu and Subhash Bhamre present at the rally.

12.23pm: Addressing lakhs of BJP workers, Patil said: This is the first time we are celebrating at this scale. Till next year, we will work day and night, without sleep. And the party will soon form governments in the Northeast states too.

12.17pm: Patil batted for the Shiv Sena by criticising Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar who has been targeting the Sena. He referred to the NCP and the Congress as termites that ate into the states finances.

12.15pm: The rally starts with revenue minister Chandrakant Patils address. Patil gives credit to a host of BJP stalwarts for the partys expansion and growth, mentioning the role played by Khadse as well.

12.05pm: Sudaam Gandhare from Aurangabad says he is enjoying the celebrations. This is the first time such arrangements have been made for us. I did not spend anything on travel as special trains were arranged, he says.

11.55am: Party activists from Beed district are agitated as they have not been able to spot any posters of BJP leader late Gopinath Munde. The arrangements are all fine, but we want Mundes posters also to be displayed, they demand, shouting slogans and waving pamphlets with Munde and Pankaja Mundes photos, which prompted Beed MP Pritam Munde to go up to them and request them to settle down.

11.52am: CM Fadnavis, state president Raosaheb Danve and state public works and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil arrive at the venue.

11.50am: Traffic jam reported outside Bandra Terminus.

11.42am: Folk music and dance performances begin at MMRDA ground for BJP workers, who have arrived from different parts of Maharashtra.

11.40am: Nine of 11 trains have reached Bandra Terminus on the Western Railway. The remaining trains are expected to arrive by 2pm. Railway officials said each train has the capacity to carry 1,500 to 2,000 people.

11.37am: Another resident of Ballarpur, Sudhakar Pardhi says: Around 3,000 people from my city are here. Though it is very hot and we have been here for hours now, we dont feel exhausted because we are excited to be here.

11.33am: Salla Nanded, 65, who has been a BJP worker for the last 40 years, has come to Mumbai from Ballarpur in one of the special trains arranged by the party. I am not at all tired. I am very happy to be here, she says.

11.30am: Bus operators said about 2,000 buses will come from across Maharashtra; of these, 800 will be from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

11.25am: Raghunath Hedau from Vidarbhas Yavatmal district travelled almost 700km to attend the BJP foundation day celebrations. I was also there at the 2014 rally, before the elections. The arrangements are better this time, he said.

11.24am: Traffic slows down from Kurla station to BKC.

11.22am: Traffic moving slow from Kalanagar junction towards BKC, says traffic control room. Traffic crawling from Andheri on WEH towards airport.

11.15am: Former revenue minister Eknath Khadse, who has been sulking with the BJP leadership, is present on the party dais.

11.05am: Lakhs of BJP workers from across Maharashtra have arrived to celebrate the partys foundation day. Many said they are impressed with the arrangements made, such as snacks, water bottles, newspapers and proper seating, all in place since 5am.

10.50am: The MMRDA ground, where the rally is being held, has a rough sitting capacity of 2.5 lakh. The ground has nearly filled up, and more vehicles and buses are en route.

10.45am: The police have deployed a large number personnel and made security arrangements in the business hub, where the rally is being held.

10.35am: Traffic starts getting blocked on the Western Express Highway.
Offering an olive branch to ally Shiv Sena in the face of the changing political arithmetic in Maharashtra and the country ahead of the 2019 polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Friday said it is our heartiest wish that the Sena should stay with us.

Shahs remarks at a press conference in Mumbai an hour after the partys massive rally on their 38th foundation day, points to likelihood of the saffron alliance in 2019 elections, even though the Sena leadership is yet to comment on the issue. The Sena is part of our NDA government in the Centre and Maharashtra. It is our heartiest wish that they stay with us, said Shah.

While asking party workers to ensure victory with absolute majority in the 2019 polls, Shah took care to say the NDA government will come to power again in the Centre and the state.

Ruling out speculation, Shah clarified the states Assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections would not be held together in May 2019, and the Fadnavis-led government would get its full tenure of one-and-a-half years until October 2019.

Through the day at the rally in Bandra-Kurla Complex, BJPs top brass appeased its bitter critic and ally Shiv Sena, signalling a patch-up to counter the Congress-NCP.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis evoked Bal Thackeray, as he started his address by remembering BJP ideologues and stalwarts. There is one idol I have to mention here even though he is not from our party. He was an idol for all Hindus and, with the BJP, raised the consciousness of Maharashtra, Hindu Hriday Samrat Bal Thackeray, said Fadnavis. Before this, revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, in his address, slammed Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar for comparing the Sena to two-faced earthworm earlier. The Sena is not an earthworm, but you [NCP] are termites attacking the nation. The Sena is part of our government, said Patil, adding, In the coming year, other NCP leaders, too, will find themselves in jail like Chhagan Bhujbal.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at the partys executive meeting in January had announced that his party would contest all polls independently henceforth. Since then, the BJP has suffered in successive bypolls in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, even as the Opposition has started bandying together to form an anti-BJP front.

With the rally, Shah sounded off the bugle for the 2019 polls in a distinctly electoral speech that targeted the Opposition parties and reiterated the BJPs commitment to Dalits, the poor, the backward and farmers.

While Shah slammed Congress president Rahul Gandhi, state leaders took swipes at NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Those [NCP] who looted the state exchequer through irrigation scam are today on the streets with the Halla Bol campaign...these political unemployed are now coming together against us like a pack of wolves, said Fadnavis.

The coming days are important, attempts are being made to spread misinformation about our party among Dalits, tribals, OBCs. Let the media show what it wants to... We will not rely on this media. If you workers reach out to people then no one can defame us, said Fadnavis.
Holding saffron flags and matching scarves, more than three lakh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers travelled overnight from different parts of Maharashtra to reach the MMRDA grounds at Bandra-Kurla complex for the partys foundation day rally on Friday.

Despite the sweltering heat, the workers had little to complain about as the party made elaborate arrangements, from transport to food to entertaining cultural performances.

The BJP organised 28 special trains, 50,000 buses and jeeps to get workers to the city. Railway officials said the trains brought 1,500 to 2,000 people each, from 11:30pm on Thursday to 4am on Friday.

At BKC, excited and eager workers from Nanded, Beed, Ajangaon, Amravati, Chimur, Ballarpur and other areas of the state sat under a white canopy spread over the 1.5-lakh sqm ground, facing three multi-purpose stages. LED screens displayed live feed and loudspeakers blared overhead as folk performers sang and danced on the stage.

Raghunath Hedau, one of the workers who reached the grounds at 5am by travelling for almost 700 km for 14hours, said, I had attended the 2014 rally before the elections. This time, the arrangements and management are commendable. We were given breakfast and tea as soon as we arrived.

65-year-old Salla Nanded, who has been a BJP worker in Ballarpur for 40 years, said, I am not at all tired. I have attended three other such rallies before. We dont feel exhausted because we are excited to be here, said Sudhakar Pardhi, another senior worker of the party.

Lauding the free transport facility, young Sudaam Gandhare who works in Aurangabad said, I did not have to spend a paisa to reach here as we could take the special trains for free. We will return to our villages in the same train later tonight.

Jyotibai Thackeray, a local leader from Chimur, said 70 women had joined her to the rally. Jyoti Gaegole, one of the 50 women from Ajangaon, said many people had not come because their children had exams.
The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Centre to clarify its stand on the pre-450 series Neo P&W 1100 engines, even as most grounded aircraft of IndiGo and GoAir have started flying again after replacing the problematic engines.

Everybody is concerned about safety of passengers, said division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni.

Ultimately an experts view will prevail, but this air (anxiety about safety of fliers) must clear. We must navigate in clear air, said the bench.

It was hearing a petition filed by a frequent flier, raising concerns about safety and airworthiness of Neo P&W 1100 engines fitted on number of aircraft flown in India and demanding that the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) be directed to ground all aircraft flying with the purportedly problematic engines manufactured by US giant Pratt & Whitney.

The comment came after advocate Advait Sethna, who represented DGCA, maintained that the Indian aviation regulator has conducted its own examinations and had not found any problem with pre-450 series Neo P&W 1100 engines.

The judges then asked additional solicitor general about the stand of the Centre with regards to safety and airworthiness of these engines and asked him to file a short affidavit clarifying Centres stand on the issue.

IndiGos lawyer, senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas informed the court that six of its nine grounded aircraft have started flying after replacing post-449 series engines with safer ones.

GoAirs lawyer, senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond said three of its aircraft had been grounded for having fitted with post-449 series engines and now two of those aircraft have resumed services after replacing the engines.

A total of 45 Neo aircrafts are operated in the country by Air India, Vistara, Indigo and GoAir. However, the affected aircrafts are only operated by the latter two airlines.

According to the airlines, 626 flights have been cancelled up to March 31 after the aviation regulator asked them to ground aircrafts with post-449 Neo engines.
Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) on Friday denied that it has allotted any part of multi-level parking areas at both terminals of Mumbai airport to any political party or commercial entity. Responding to a public interest litigation (PIL), MIAL also assured the Bombay high court that it does not intend to allot any part of the airport land to any political party.

We have not allotted any part of the airport land to any political party and we do not intend to allot any part of the airport land to any political party, said senior advocate Janak Dwarkadas, who represented MIAL.

He was responding to the PIL filed by city businessman Abu Obaidullah Azmi alleging that parts of the parking areas at the city airport were allotted to commercial establishments such as hotels and restaurants as well as political parties.

His counsel, advocate Bhushan Mahadik, submitted that the parking area could not have been allotted for any other purpose, but now there are commercial establishments like hotels, restaurants and offices of political parties in the area in clear violation of fire safety norms. The office spaces have already been allotted to Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray and now things are moving fast to allot space also to the ruling BJP, Mahadik said. He also submitted photographs to support his contentions.

Dwarkadas responded by saying there was no allotment to any political party, but the allotments have been made to registered trade unions of MIAL employees. The senior advocate alleged that the petitioner was apparently opposed to allotment of office space to a trade union affiliated to BJP.
The Maharashtra government, along with the Centre, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the World Bank to help more than 5142 villages from drought-prone districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada to adopt climate resilient practices in agriculture. The US$420 million project will benefit over 70 lakh farmers cultivating 30 lakh hectares of land in 15 districts.

The MoU was signed in New Delhi on Friday between officials from agriculture department of Maharashtra government, finance ministry of the Centre and the World Bank. Maharashtra cabinet had given its nod to the project in August 2016 by setting up manpower for its implementation.

The Maharashtra Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture will be implemented in the villages largely dependent upon rain-fed agriculture. It will involve series of activities at farm and watershed level and implement micro irrigation systems, expand surface water storage and facilitate aquifer recharge. This would help to a more efficient use of scarce water resources. By adopting climate-resilient seed varieties with short maturity and drought resistance, the project will help the farmers in reducing risks of climate-related crop failure and increase their income.
When Hemant Nagrale took charge as the police commissioner of Navi Mumbai in May 2016, he stressed on promoting relations between the police and the public.

Today, he says the police- public partnership has evolved in a manner conducive to better policing. As the police force battles staff crunch and rising crime rates, it relies on advanced technology and explores innovative measures to tackle the situation.

The annual crime report, which was out in January, shows the areas the police need to improve. Nagrale talks about the measures taken to curb cybercrimes and crimes against women and the hurdles they face in detecting crimes.

Navi Mumbai is expanding rapidly in terms of population. With the construction of new airport and Mumbai transharbour link  that will reduce travel time between South Mumbai to the Island city  the population is expected to grow further. How ready are you to deal with it considering that you are facing staff crunch  nearly 5,000 cops for over 25 lakh population?

Urbanisation and industrialisation have increased the citys population. Important projects such as international airport, fourth terminal port at JNPT and Sewri-Nhava Sheva sealink have turned Navi Mumbai into a major business and residential hub.

Catering to a population of 25 lakhs has its own limitations. However, this has also encouraged us to explore innovative ideas, technology and measures to cope with the situation. We are stressing on man and resource management with optimum utilization of technology to achieve the desired results. Police-public partnership has also evolved in a conducive manner with community-oriented policing measures.

Coastal security has been the priority after 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai. Navi Mumbai has the countrys largest container port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Uran that is surrounded by more than 50 villages. In the past three to four years, law and order has become a major issue there. Are police ready to deal with cases of smuggling and terrorism?

The Navi Mumbai police are ready to tackle any terror threat. New initiatives and modern equipment will help us secure the city better. We have created specialised groups at police station level and set up Quick Response Teams (QRT).

Navi Mumbai police is also in active coordination with other central agencies. The government has notified Vashi, NRI, Uran, Nhava Sheva and Mora 3 in Navi Mumbai as coastal police station to maintain security up to five nautical miles.

Cybercrimes have increased over the years but the police have failed to improve the detection and conviction rate. According to the annual crime reports, a total of 72 cybercrimes were registered in 2017. Of this, only 26 were solved, which constitutes just 36% of the total crimes. In 2016, as many as 83 cases were registered and 57 of them were detected. It shows that the police solved almost 68% of the crimes. There is a noticeable decrease in detections. What are you doing to improve it?

The nature of cybercrimes is such that even if investigating agencies do all the right things and follow all the standard procedures, at times, they are difficult to crack.

For instance, since cybercrimes often extend beyond the boundaries of the country, obtaining court orders in multiple jurisdictions and following legal assistance treaties signed with other countries lead to cases remaining stagnant for months. Conviction happens when the investigating agency, the prosecution and judiciary come together.

Lack of technical skills and knowledge among most investigating officers is a stumbling block. The fact that forensic validation of evidence takes time adds to the problem.

Educating and empowering the public to stay safe in cyberspace are crucial. We are stepping up efforts to educate the public and boost awareness on cyber-safe practices. We are building a pool of skilled investigators having detective and technical skills and are continuously upgrading our cyberlab.

Crimes against women are also on the rise. In 2017, at least 196 molestation cases were registered as opposed to 189 in 2016. What measures are being taken to ensure their safety?

Safety of women, children and senior citizens has been our priority. There might be variation in registration of crimes but the priority remains high. We have a dedicated 24x7 helpline number, 103, besides 100.

We have two mobile patrol vans in the two zones with specific responsibility of ensuring safety and security of women. This is in addition to the routine beat marshals and police station patrol vans. Important locations are under electronic surveillance and are continuously monitored.

Have the high-resolution closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras helped curb crimes and rash driving?

CCTV cameras have become an integral part in effective policing. They not only act as a deterrent but also provide vital clues and evidence to nail culprits. They have been helpful in crowd control and traffic management.

In 2017, around 35 offences were detected through CCTV cameras. In 2017, around 1,490 e-challans were sent to the traffic violators.
In a big relief to taxis and bus operators, including the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, the transport department of Maharashtra has directed all the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) not to force for installation of vehicle tracking system and panic buttons to public service vehicles registered, sold or manufactured before April 1, 2018.

The directive issued through transport commissioner office states that the department has sought clarification from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) about mandatory fitment of the tracking device and panic button. Hence, this relaxation to the old vehicles will be applicable till then.

With this, RTO offices will now be able to issue fitness certificates to certify if a vehicle is road-worthy, to existing buses and taxis. However, they will have to ensure that newly manufactured buses are fitted with the a tracking device and panic buttons.

Through a notification dated November 28, 2016, MORTH has made installation of vehicle tracking system (VTS) and panic button mandatory on all public service vehicles that include buses and taxis, from April 1. In November 2017, Maharashtra government had informed all the RTOs about implementation of the new regulation.

After Hindustan Times highlighted the confusion among the RTO officials and the operators of buses and taxis through a news story published on April 5, the transport department immediately came into action and issued the directive in the noon. The new story had pointed out how the state government in action was causing troubles to several drivers and operators.

Since last four days, RTOs have stopped registration of new buses and taxis without tracking device and panic buttons. They had also refused to renew fitness certificates to buses belonging to BEST and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). Even black-and-yellow cabs, and app-based cabs were not issued fitness certificate since more than four days.

Meanwhile, writing letters to transport authorities, 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.

It learnt from BEST officials that Tardeo RTO on Tuesday returned their 20 buses, which were sent for fitness renewal. Since the, the undertaking has stopped sending buses for fitness renewal. Confirming this, Hanumant Gophane, public relations officer of BEST, said that they have already started tendering process for tracking system, but it will take few months for installation.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), which had earlier registered an FIR against Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, has found that at least six premises of the Gitanjali Group in Mumbai, Gujarat and Kolkata either do not exist or were not in possession of the company.

However, the group continued to show these places as their own office space which has led the DRI to suspect that the companies floated at these addresses were used as shell companies. DRI found this after it raided two locations each in Mumbai and Kolkata, and one each in Ahmedabad and Baroda.

In Mumbai, DRI raided Gitanjali Gems Ltd in building number 11 at Solitaire Corporate Park, 167, Guru Hargovindji Road at Chakala, Andheri (East). Gitanjali Gems Ltd could not be located at the said premises as there was no such premise, said an officer.

Another search was also carried out at Asmi Jewellery India Ltd at 2nd floor, B wing, Kumar Silk Mills Comp, Vishweshar Nagar, Pahadi in Goregaon (East). The address appears to be fictitious, he said. In Gujarat, a premise declared as Gilli India Ltd was searched at Diamond Park, in Naroda, Ahmedabad. The premise was briefly taken on lease in 1995 by Gilli group of companies. However, the same is still shown as a branch office, said the officer. Similarly, Gitanjali Exports Corporation Ltd in Makarpura, Baroda was searched and it came to light that the premise did not belong to the group. It was owned by Jenish Bhupatrai Bhut who had purchased it in 2010, said DRI sources.

In Kolkata, two premises of Asmi Jewellery India Ltd were raided. A search at at Diamond City North at Cal Jessore Road, Kolkata revealed that Asmi Jewellery India Ltd. did not exist. The occupants of the premises said they were tenants there since March 1, 2016 and did not know whether the company operated from that premise at any time, said DRI sources.

Another search at Raja Basanta Roy Road in Kolkata, revealed that Asmi Jewellery India Ltd. did not exist there as the premise was owned by one Anurag Fatehpuria.

DRI has issued summonses to Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi via e-mail, to appear in Mumbai next week. They have been asked to appear before the investigating officer, said the officer. We are probing if there are any violations under the Customs Act, any duty concessions availed while importing diamonds and pearls or any violations pertaining to valuation of goods, he said.

DRI had registered a tax evasion case against Nirav Modi for illegally diverting imported diamonds and pearls worth Rs890 crore into the local market. DRI alleged that Nirav Modi misused benefits given to firms operating out of Indias Special Economic Zones (SEZ).
The Maharashtra government on Friday assured the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) of fee exemption and financial support to Scheduled Tribe (ST) students  current and former.

A letter sent to the institute put an end to the misunderstanding between the state and Centre on the deemed university status of TISS, making it non-eligible for state reimbursement as it wasnt a public university.

TISS is made eligible for Post Matric Scholarship (PMS). Applications of 2017-18 and arrears, if any, are in process. Scholarships will be disbursed to eligible candidates within 15 days, said the letter dated April 6. It further states that TISS has been mapped on the online system for scholarships; therefore, all eligible students of post matriculation courses, along with MPhil, can apply.

A bandh was called by the TISS Students Union on February 21 to protest the institutes decision to withdraw fee waiver to SC, ST and OBC students eligible for the Government of India Post Matric Scholarship (GoI-PMS) last year. The state has sent this letter to the central Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The status of students from the Schedule Caste (SC) category, however, still remains unclear.

A spokesperson for TISS management said, This is the result of regular letters sent to the government by the institute, as well as students, who raised their voices. This will ease out some of the financial burden on us.

Students, who have been protesting for almost 45 days have called this a huge victory.
A worker, installing solar panels on the roof of a school, fell to his death on Thursday morning. The deceased worker was identified as Rajauta Ali, 23, a native of West Bengal working in Pune.

Ali was working on the roof of the Victorious Kidss Educares school, which follows the international baccalaureate system of education. The police rushed to the spot and secured the area to find that Ali was wearing a safety belt and helmet.

He has been working here along with other labourers since March 24. He had the required safety gear. In fact, he was still wearing it, said Mangesh Manohar, human resource manager of the school, three hours after the incident. Ali was working with various other workers who were employed through a labour contractor by the solar company.

Alis body was sent for post mortem to the Sassoon General Hospital. The police said that the advance report of the post mortem blamed a head injury for his death. Ali, who worked as a contract labourer, lived in Bhima Koregaon and travelled to Pune from there everyday. His body was claimed by his brother, who also lives in the district.

The case is being investigated by police sub-inspector (PSI) Sandeep Salunkhe of Chandannagar police station. The police recorded statements of the school authorities as well as the solar panel vendor.

We have registered an accidental death report (ADR) in the matter. Upon further investigation we will decide whether a case needs to be filed. His safety belt was broken as per our observation, said PSI Salunkhe.

The incident happened two weeks after Mansi Vishal Dabhade, 28, a resident of Erandwane fell to her death from the sixth floor of a building under construction. On February 27, Anika Devrat Tomar, 2, fell to death from the ninth floor of her residence in Chinchwad.
The Border Security Force troops gunned down a Pakistani smuggler and nabbed his accomplice when they were entering the Indian territory in the Ramkot border outpost area of the Amritsar sector in the wee hours of Friday, and seized 4kg heroin from them.

A mobile phone and two Pakistani SIM cards were also recovered from them, BSF officials said. The deceased has been identified as Rashid Ali, while arrested one as Sabar Hussain hailing from Thatta Dhilwan village in Lahore district.

Jawans of the BSFs 88 battalion, who guard the Ramkot border outpost, noticed some suspicious movement near the border fence at 1.45am.The troops launched a search operation.

At about 2am, they found that the Pakistani smugglers, who had crossed the zero line, were trying to smuggle the contraband and other items into the Indian territory. The troops opened fire at them, resulting in the death of one of the smugglers, said Mukul Goel, inspector general (IG), BSF (Punjab frontier) talking to mediapersons in Ramkot.

JS Oberoi, deputy inspector general (DIG), BSF, Amritsar sector, said the smugglers wanted to take advantage of the standing wheat crop in fields in the border area. He said tactical operations are being increased to foil such attempts.
The Chandigarh international airport would remain open for three days from May 18 to 20 for the governors conference, which will be attended by President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and governors of different states.

As a result, the closure window of the airport has been extended up to June 4. Last month, the Centre had told the court that the airport would remain closed between May 12 and May 31.

The governors meet will be held from May 19 to May 20. A communication was received from secretary of the President asking the authorities to keep the airport open for operation for two days. In view of this, the airport will remain open from May 18 to May 20, assistant solicitor general Chetan Mittal told the Punjab and Haryana high court during the resumed hearing of a petition on infrastructural deficiencies at the airport. Mittal said that airlines can also operate on these three days if they wish to.

Now, the court has asked the Centre to apprise it by April 17 whether the closure window could be reduced by one day to June 3.

Earlier in February, the airport was closed for two weeks from February 12 to February 26 for runway upgrade. The upgrade work started in October, 2017. The airport operates 28 flights, three of them to Dubai, Sharjah and Bangkok. The remaining operate in the domestic circuit between Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Srinagar, Leh, Jammu and Jaipur.
The recent hike in parking rates across 25 smart, paid parking lots in Chandigarhs prime commercial places has ruffled many feathers. Even as mayor Davesh Moudgil pinned the blame on the babus of the municipal corporation (MC), saying that he was kept in the dark about the decision, the officers have simply been stating that a legally binding agreement signed last year is being followed. Whats the technical side of this mess, and whos saying what and why? Here are some answers.

What is the row over hike in parking fee?

It stems from two consecutive hikes in four months. The charges earlier were Rs 2 for two-wheelers and Rs 5 for other vehicles, which doubled in December and also were made slab-wise. This meant, for first four hours, Rs 5 for two-wheelers and Rs 10 for four-wheelers; and then addition of the same amount every two hours. And these were doubled again to slabs of Rs 10 and Rs 20, respectively, from April 1. Further, double of these rates is charged in lots near three prime malls. The hike was done to discourage use of private vehicles and to provide smart facilities and better management. While mayor Davesh Moudgul, who took office this year, has termed the hike arbitrary, MC officials could not do much since the contractor was free to revise the rates as per the agreement signed between the firm and the civic body in June last year. There is no further revision proposed in the contract. The MC is elected for five years, and a mayor from among the councillors is chosen each year.

Must read | Whats the fuss? Hike in parking rates came as per pact, with approval of House

Who signed the agreement?

The agreement was signed by the then MC joint commissioner on behalf of the civic body with a director of the Mumbai-headquartered contractor, Arya Toll Infrastructure Limited, which was selected through a tendering process after bidding Rs 14.78 crore for the 25 lots. These lots earlier fetched a fifth of that when auctioned separately; and there were complaints of overcharging and other violations routinely. The terms of the agreement with Arya Toll Infra was approved in the MC House headed by the then mayor Asha Kumari Jaswal, also from Moudgils party, BJP in February last year.

What is the rationale behind the hike?

It was a decision of both the MCs political leadership and the executives to keep parking rates high to earn more revenue due to the MCs bad financial death. At the same time, the MC wanted smart facilities and better management.

What is new and smart about the parking system?

Every parking lot has an electronic ticketing system, CCTV cameras, kiosks at both entry and exit, uniformed attendants, marking of lanes, signboards to display the rate list, and more, including an app for phones that can be used to check and book parking spaces in advance.

What are the irregularities that have been alleged ?

MC has already penalised the firm for various anomalies, including haphazard parking and attendants not wearing nameplates. However, as per the agreement with the firm, these violations cannot lead to termination of the pact, which needs stringent violations such as overcharging, that too several times, before the extreme step. The MC commissioner has formed five teams for regular inspection.

What is mayor's argument, And what do officers say?

The mayor has argued that this was not the only provision in the contract. The firm had to provide all facilities and make regular payments to MC  terms that have not been honoured, he said. He has already formed his own inspection team to substantiate his charge and announced to bring the issue in the next House meet. On the other hand, officials say that they allowed the hike since they were under contractual obligation passed by the House. They said the firms quarterly payment was late but it was recovered with interest.

What does the contractor say?

As per the firms local in-charge Sunil Badlani, they applied for the contract, based on the hike proposed by the MC. If we had to run the parking as per old rates, with (nearly) Rs 15 crore in licence fee every year, besides huge infrastructure facilities, no firm would have come forward for this job, he said.

Can the MC House terminate the contract? If yes, how?

Yes, the MC House has the power to terminate the contract via a resolution. However, the contractor can move court to enforce clauses of the agreement against any one-sided termination. The firm is all set to move court and seek a stay order if in the next meeting, later this month, the MC House calls for rollback of hike or terminates contract altogether.

Whats the politics behind the mayors objections?

First, with just about a year to go for the Lok Sabha election, the hike will go politically against the BJP, whose MP Kirron Kher played a vital role in Moudgils election as mayor amid bitter factionalism in the saffron party that dominates the House. Second, the decision of allotting these lots came in the tenure of Jaswal, who revolted against Moudgil before his nomination as mayor. Jaswal belongs to city BJP chief Sanjay Tandons camp, which is opposed to Khers and other factions. Any rollback can also lead to Moudgil gaining in stature as traders in particular have been protesting the hike.
In view of Panjab University Campus Students Councils (PUCSC) Pinjra Tod movement and protests by student outfits against differential hostel policies, the university has allowed female students to return to their hostels by 11pm, while research scholars have been allowed late entry with their hostel wardens permission.

Emanual Nahar, dean, students welfare, said, We have to ensure security of girl students residing on campus. We have relaxed the timing to return by one hour. Students can enter hostels till 11pm, and in unavoidable circumstances till midnight. Earlier marked at 9pm, attendance will now be marked between 10pm and 11pm.

He added, Research scholars have a genuine reason to stay out till late, as they work differently. Therefore, they will not be charged a fine if they return late, but only if they have the hostel wardens permission.

Students for Society (SFS) continued their protest, seeking 24-hour entry for girls in hostels, among other demands, such as rollback of fee hike

Male students are allowed 24-hour entry to their hostels. PUCSC secretary Vani Sood had earlier written to the DSW, demanding relaxation in timings for female students.

On the extension in deadline, she said, We do not want 24-hour entry, but wish the entry time be relaxed till midnight.

Seeking easier regulations for female hostellers, Student Organisation of India (SOI) member Iqbalpreet Singh had been on a hunger strike for the past four days. As part of the protest, SOI members closed PUs gate number 3 for around an hour in the day.

After the DSW gave them a written assurance in the evening, they ended the hunger strike.

On the other hand, the Students for Society (SFS) continued their protest, seeking 24-hour entry for girls in hostels, among other demands, such as rollback of fee hike. SFS spokesperson Harman said, The one-hour relaxation is just a sweet pill by the university authorities.

Prakash Rani from Ferozepur, mother of one of the protesting students, said, Our daughters are mature enough to know what is right for them. They know how much relaxation they need.
Three women, including a hospitals owner, were arrested on Friday for allegedly carrying out sex determination tests and medical termination of pregnancy in Kharar town.

The trio was arrested following a raid by a team of health department from Ambala, probing allegations of illegal sex determination being conducted at SK Hospital, near Kharar bus stand.

Not a first A health department team from Haryana had earlier raided SK Hospital, Kharar, on August 26, 2016, and arrested owner Sarabjit Kaur and two conduits. However, she was released on bail, and returned to the illegal sex determination and medical termination of pregnancy business.

The accused have been identified as Sarabjit Kaur, owner of the hospital, Balbir Kaur, who acted as a conduit, and Paramjit Kaur, who underwent abortion at the hospital.

We had a tip about illegal sex determination tests at the hospital. Thus, we laid a trap and arrested the hospital owner and conduit, said Dr Vipin Bhandari, Ambala nodal officer, Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT).

The trio has been booked under the PNDT Act, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and Sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in a case registered at the Kharar (City) police station.

They will be produced before a court on Friday. Police have also seized a portable ultrasound machine, the digital video recorder (DVR) of a CCTV camera installed in the hospital, Rs 6,500 in cash recovered from Sarabjit and Balbir, hospital records and three mobile phones.

Ambala health teams trap busted racket

With a view to bust the racket, the Ambala health department team entered into a deal of Rs 18,000 with conduit Balbir Kaur to get a four-month pregnant woman tested for sex determination. The pregnant woman accompanied Balbir to SK Hospital on Thursday, where Balbir gave Rs 12,000 to Sarabjit and retained Rs 6,000 as commission.

As soon as the money exchanged hands, the three-member team led by nodal officer Vipin raided the hospital premises. The team recovered Rs 6,000 from Balbir, while Sarabjit hid the money. Later, a Rs 500 note from the total cash was found in her purse that led to her arrest.

Raid unearths illegal abortions

When the health team raided the premises to bust the illegal sex determination racket, they found Sarabjit hiding something. On checking, cops accompanying the team found a four-month male foetus wrapped in a cotton pad.

Following the discovery, the health team informed Kharar chief medical officer Dr Sukhwinder Singh. The foetus was aborted by a Dau woman, Paramjit Kaur, who was also arrested from the hospital, said Dr Sukhwinder Singh.

He said Paramjit Kaur had three daughters. She visited the hospital on Wednesday, complaining of pain in the stomach.

In her statement to the police, Paramjit claimed that the doctor told her that the foetus was not developing properly and thus needed to be aborted. Hence, she gave consent. Paramjit had paid Sarabjit Rs 22,000 for medicines and injections to terminate the pregnancy. A team from the Kharar civil hospital, comprising a gynaecologist, visited the hospital for inspection, and found the aborted foetus was healthy.
The weather-beaten face of Rajpal Singh shows signs of anxiety as he stands in one corner of his eight-acre farmland in Punjabs Bathinda, surveying the standing wheat crop that is almost ready for harvest.

Singh might get a reasonable price for his produce but its his Rs 12-lakh loan he is more worried about.

What started off with a debt of a few thousand rupees has now swelled to huge proportions  Rs 2 lakh of it from private money-lenders  and continues to grow every passing year.

Rajpals anger and frustration have multiplied over the past three months, ever since the Congress government led by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, announced a loan waiver for the states farmers.

Grim Picture Ra 73,000 crore is the estimated loan burden of Punjabs farmers 1/3rd of Punjabs population is directly into farming and farm labour 22.5% of the states GSDP comes from agriculture The loan waiver applied only to loans taken from cooperative societies, for peasants owning not more than 2.5 acres of land and a loan value of up to Rs 2 lakh

The governments announcement came with a rider, though  it applies only to loans taken from cooperative societies, for peasants owning not more than 2.5 acres of land and a loan value of up to Rs 2 lakh.

A major chunk of the farmers estimated Rs 73,000-crore loan burden is from non-cooperative banks. Its mere drama, Rajpal says in Kotfatta village, not trying to hide his contempt. Others are angry too.

Across Punjab, lakhs of farmers  who constitute one-third of the states 2.80 crore population  have been staging protests and demanding that all farmers be brought under the loan waiver scheme.

The scene in the state is reflective of a growing farm crisis in several parts of India, sparking protests and similar demands for loan waiver.

For farmers in Punjab  Indias grain bowl where farming contributes 22.5% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP)  the loan burden has turned into a vicious cycle. Rajpal, a father of two, says that while his income has remained almost constant, input costs of farming rises every year, sometimes as much as 10-20%.

Family liabilities including expenditures on healthcare and childrens education takes away a large chunk of income, leaving him with no option but to borrow afresh every sowing season.

You ask any child in this village, or anywhere else, how the governments loan waiver scheme has become a joke, he says. At Kot Shamir village, some 5 km from Kotfatta, a group of elderly people are sitting in front of a fertiliser shop, engaged in an animated discussion. And a mere mention the loan waiver scheme opens the floodgates.

They [the Congress] ditched us after seeking votes on the slogan of waiving the entire farm loan...but gave a lollypop by bringing only minor loans from cooperative banks under the schemes ambit, says Mukhtiar Singh, a farmer.

Prof Jaswinder Singh Jassi of the department of economics in Panjab Universitys regional centre at Muktsar says that the government has to get its priorities right to stem the farm unrest.

Their opinion is unanimous: Not more than a few hundred in the entire state has benefited from the scheme. As farmers continue to protest, the scheme has become a political issue, with opposition parties blaming the government for going back on its commitment.

Faced with mounting criticism, chief minister Amarinder Singh recently announced in the assembly that the government will waive farm loans amounting to Rs 9,500 crore within the upcoming financial year 2018-19.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led opposition has been scathing in its criticism of the government.

The much-hyped promise is a colossal let down. Not even half per cent of total farmers under debt in the state have benefited in the first one year... Instead of stemming the tide of farmer suicides, it could drive more farmers to end their lives, AAP legislator Kanwar Sandhu says.

It is like Nero fiddling when Rome was burning. States like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have done far better.

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spearheading the farmers protest is also not impressed. One of their main resentments, as BKUs Ekta Ugrahan faction president Jagdev Singh Kojrikalan puts it, is the exclusion of farm labourers  or landless farmers  from the scheme.

There is no talk of farm labourers who are the worst affected, says Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union president Lachhman Singh Sewewala.

There are approximately 7.5 lakh landless or farm labourers families in Punjab who have a total debt burden of Rs 5,300 crore, and this amount that is not being considered for any waiver is still less than the Rs 11,500 crore that fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi owes to banks, he says.

Dubbing the scheme a fake drive, Kokrikalan has sought a waiver of the entire institutional loans of all farmers, as promised ahead of the February 2017 assembly polls.

Kokrikalan also highlights other demands, including creation of a remunerative market for farmers, reducing input costs and improving the public healthcare in villages and a law to curb exorbitant compound interests charged by private money lenders.

Prof Jaswinder Singh Jassi of the department of economics in Panjab Universitys regional centre at Muktsar says that the government has to get its priorities right to stem the farm unrest. We cant see farm debt in isolation, as rural lifes social and economic fabric is crumbling, with the government washing its hands of healthcare and education sectors....this has forced the marginal agrarian classes to go for private hospitals and schools, he adds.

Jassi is only echoing what farmers like Jaspal Singh have been saying all along.
A weekly off for resident doctors, working hours not to exceed 12 hours a day and no duty in emergency during the first month of joining, are a few of the suggestions given by a special committee of Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), which was constituted to reduce stress among doctors.

A five-member committee was constituted in January by deputy director Amitabh Avasthi under the chairmanship of Prof Amod Gupta, ex-dean, PGIMER. The committee suggested measures in order to relieve resident doctors of their stress.

Chandigarh: PGI doctors told to summon security before announcing patients death

Short term solutions

The first seven days of the course should have induction programme during which residents are not assigned any clinical duties, suggested the committee.

The members suggested that residents should not be posted on the emergency duty in their first month of their joining. The working hours should not normally exceed 12 hours per day. There should be a weekly off day for all residents. These suggestions will be cherished by resident doctors who have been working for at least 24 hours a day and without any weekly off.

Buddies programme should be started in which residents from the same region, language and cultural background can be put together. Frequent interaction between faculty and residents should be arranged, is another suggestion. The report also mentions about special attention for recreational activities. A common room equipped with recreational activities and availability of refreshment is another suggestion.

The committee suggested organisation of empathy, communication programme in terms of inspirational talks and group discussions for sharing difficulties faced by residents.

There should be regular meetings with residents for problem solving and immediate crises helpline to be made available to all residents, committee suggests. The dean (academic) should monitor all activities conducted by Institute with respect to making favourable and congenial working environment for the residents.

Long term solutions

The committee suggested that efforts should be made for curtailing unbridled inflow of patients from surrounding states for maintaining high quality and stress-free environment of the institute. Strength of supporting staff, including nurses, technicians and hospital attendants should be increased and optimum patient -doctor ratio should be maintained. It was also felt that there is a need to increase the strength of residents.

No general care should be provided on the campus of Nehru Hospital, as it should be a superspeciality hospital.

Seek PUs help for language classes

A structured compulsory communication programme of 7-14 hours should be planned with help of Panjab University, mentions the report. Also, to overcome the language barrier, the report has suggested that help of PU may be sought for Hindi/Panjabi language orientation classes for residents who come from the non-Hindi belt of the country.

Recently, a resident doctor had committed suicide and his parents said that he was stressed because he could not understand the language.
It could be the next big leap for Punjab. Kamal Kaur, founder and CEO of the US-based DaVinci11, which claims to be the worlds first artificial intelligence (AI) big data marketing cloud company, has received the state governments approval to test its Whisper Network Protocol, a blockchain technology developed by Kamal and her brother, serial tech entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal.

Chahal, who is coordinating the project from the US, says the Punjab government is keen to run a pilot project for the Whisper Network Protocol so it can be at the forefront of the latest blockchain technology that works on an AI platform.

Blockchain, explains Kamal, is a decentralised ledger where you can share your ledger openly. There is zero probability of fraud. We tested it in digital marketing and received favourable results, says Kamal, whose company with branches in 15 countries uses AI to anticipate what consumers want.

The Whisper Network, says Kamal, aims to solve the challenges of scalability plaguing the adoption of blockchain by digital giants.

Make in India, stay in India

Chahal, 36, who launched his first startup at 16 and sold it for USD 40 million at 18, and has floated four mega ventures, one of which he sold to Yahoo for USD 300 million, is now looking to develop a Silicon Valley in India with over 100 companies from around the globe. His tagline for the project Make in India, Stay in India.

In town to see whether Mohali fits the bill, his sister Kamal, a maths whiz and Stanford Business School graduate with stints at Yahoo and Samsung, said she was pleasantly surprised to see the new Punjab.

Though our parents come from Punjab, it had never struck us as an IT destination, says Kamal, whose parents, Avtar Singh and Arjinder Kaur, migrated from Tarn Taran to the US in 1985, when she was five years old. The last two days have been an eye-opener, and Kamal was impressed with the software technology park and the Indian School of Business at Mohali.

AI effect on jobs

The fast-paced innovation in emerging technologies, especially AI, will have a dramatic impact on the job sector, says Kamal, telling you how all cashier-related jobs will be automated in five years, while driverless cars will render taxi drivers redundant in 10. The challenge is to see how countries ride this wave, says Kamal.

Punjab could get a head-start if it bags this project. Every company in the Silicon Valley is populated by Indians. Why cant we set up a Silicon Valley here? asks Kamal.

But for that to happen, the Chahals need strong infrastructure and skilled manpower. We need enough land to grow, besides internet connectivity, housing, roads et al.

Gurbaksh, she says, is ready to move back to India to retrain the manpower for this project. We need to tweak our education system so that the focus is on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), says Kamal, who declares that no one should be allowed to graduate without basic proficiency in maths. Her only son started coding at the age of 9. Today at 15, he is employable, she says.

Param Singh, the Australia-based founder of the Mooo project in Punjab, who prompted the Chahals to look at Punjab, says the blockchain technology will also help the agriculture sector. We could analyse the data for loans, farm inputs, outputs et al.

The whisper network

The Whisper Network, says Kamal, aims to solve the challenges of scalability plaguing the adoption of blockchain by digital giants. The industry currently faces the challenges of achieving decentralisation, security, and scalability. The Whisper Network protocol is focused to develop the fastest blockless ledger, which will establish transparency, remove middlemen and provide true accountability to enable a framework that can be used by any sector. Kamal says the companys R&D facility in India is currently testing early developments.
The 1950s West Bengal must have been a fascinating place -- the British had just left and despite the painful partition of Bengal, there was new hope. India then was dripping with Nehruvian optimism. West Bengal was represented by its remarkable chief minister, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. At the heart of it all was Calcutta (yes, very much Calcutta not Kolkata) -- its modern character intact -- her buildings, her boulevards, her river banks, her cleanliness and overall, sensibilities were very much a driving force.

In cinema, this modernity expressed itself in two distinct yet dominant sensibilities - the high-brow intellectualism, often symbolised by the citys adda culture; the other, perhaps less authoritative, was the middle-class way of life. If Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak were the high priests of the former, Suchitra Sen (born Roma Dasgupta) was the prima donna of the latter.

On her 87th birthday today, heres a look at what made her so special, why there can never be another Roma di.

No ordinary diva

To appreciate Suchitras unrelenting charm, it is essential to familiarise oneself with the quintessential Bengali sensibility. Suchitra was a strikingly good-looking woman -- sharp features, big expressive eyes, a gainly figure, a disarming smile. Yet, to many an Indian, growing up on classic Indian features as epitomised in the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, she would, perhaps, fall short by a step. Heres where the likes Madhubala, Nutan, Waheeda Rehman and Nalini Jaywant etc would score over her.

Much of Suchitras endless appeal lay in her persona. She was refreshingly free of the clutches of tradition -- she could be playful, provocative, intelligent, controlled, poised and dignified -- a radical change from the notions of a woman set to patriarchy. Yet, she was no rebel really. In so many of her roles, she was a giving and a caring person, who excelled as the beloved, friend, sister-in-law, daughter, etc. It is a combination of these two, somewhat, contrasting value systems that made her a classical beauty.

Romance on a bike.

So complete was her hold over the Bengali public and the film industry that she was often referred to as Mrs Sen, out of awe and admiration. All those who comment (and lament) about the lack of roles for married woman, ought to borrow a leaf from Suchitra, whose career began after marriage.

Suchitra Sen-Uttam Kumar: A pair made in heaven

No discussion of Suchitra can be complete without a mention of her legendary pairing with the other great exponent of acting, Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chatterjee). They were the golden pair of Bengali cinema from 1950s till the 1970s. In a career spanning close to 25 years, she acted in 60 films, of which 30 were with Uttam Kumar.

This writer grew up on staple stories on the draw of a Suchitra Sen-Uttam Kumar film. In the 1950s, while my father was still a college student, watching these two in films like Shapmochan, Saptapadi, Shilpi, Ekti Raat and Rajlakshmi Srikanto, was to tug at the heartstrings like nothing else.

The fact was Uttam provided the perfect foil to Suchitra. He was the elemental bhadralok to her expressive emotiveness. Decency of demeanour was their calling card. Subtle expressions their biggest strength. Stories of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (Rajlakshmi Srikanto and Kamal Lata) of peoples destinies undone by prejudice-ridden society their ideal turf. Adding to the lure of the pair was the haunting melody sung by Hemant Kumar, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay and Geeta Dutt. Who can forget bike ride in Ei Poth Jodi Na Sesh Hoye (Saptapadi) and Tumi Je Amar (Harano Sur)?

The other films in which they worked together include Agnipariksha, Harano Sur, Pathey Holo Deri, Indrani, Sabar Upore, Suryatoran, Shaare Chuattor, Sadanander Mela, Jiban Trishna, Ekti Raat, Chaawa Paawa, Bipasha, Naborag, Trijama, Har Mana Har, Alo Amar Alo, Ora Thakey Odhare, Grihaprabesh among others.

Their iconic pairing was magical yet Suchitra always maintained that they were just friends. Ardent fans have for long speculated that the chemistry they created onscreen could not have been possible if they did not share a close bond. Whether or not their onscreen chemistry translated into something off screen is something we will never know. The affection, the passion, the spontaneity, the passionate romance and the teasing humour that they could conjure between them was, perhaps, born out of mutual trust, appreciation and admiration for each others work and personality.

According to studio gossip, Uttam had proposed to Suchitra on several occasions. However, she said no as she believed in the sanctity of marriage and was aware of her image and standing in society. Whatever be the case, it was beyond doubt that they shared a deep platonic and spiritual bond. Suchitra was a devout follower of Ramakrishna Mission. Many say that Uttam too followed her to the Belur Math.

Suchitra went on to work in many films that didnt feature them together. One of her best-known turn as an actor remains in the film Deep Jwele Jaai (1959), directed by Asit Sen, where she plays a hospital nurse who is required to develop a personal relationship with male patients as part of their therapy. The film was remade in Hindi as Khamoshi with Wadeeha Rehman as the lead and is considered an all-time classic.

Suchitra Sens Hindi avatar

To the Hindi cinema buff, Suchitra is synonymous with the songs of Aandhi (1975). Paired with Sanjeev Kumar, this Gulzar directed film has survived the test of time. However, Aandhi was not her only claim to fame in Mumbai. Who can forget her as Paro in Dilip Kumar starrer Devdas, directed by Bimal Roy? Of all the versions of Devdas there are (including films by Pramathesh Barua and now Sanjay Leela Bhansali), the Bimal Roy film remains the finest film adaptation of Saratchandra Chatterjees timeless classic.

Suchitra Sen as Paro and Dilip Kumar as Devdas.

And while Suchitra appeared in films Bombai Ka Babu (in 1960 with Dev Anand) and Mamta (in 1966 with Dharmendra), she could not repeat the success of her Bengali films.

In the late 1970s, after her film Pronoy Pasha flopped, she disappeared from films (and society at large) for good and shunned limelight completely. She dedicated the rest of her life to Ramakrishna Mission, even refusing Dadasaheb Phalke award!

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It seems Kapil Sharma, once Indias most loved stand-up comedian, has lost grip on his work and life. On Friday, in a bizarre turn of events, he started abusing people who criticised him on Twitter. The tweets were laced with abuses and were deleted soon. He then posted that his account has been hacked and then deleted that tweet too.

If his account has not been hacked then it is a new low for the comedian whose late night tweets have led to controversy earlier as well.

Hi all please ignore the previous offensive tweets as my account was hacked . Apologies for the inconvenience caused

Love and regards to all .  KAPIL (@KapilSharmaK9) April 6, 2018

On Friday, Kapil tweeted multiple times, and each tweet contains objectionable comments. The tweets were deleted soon after, but screenshots were taken by then. Strangely, the tweets began in defence of Salman Khan and his prison sentence in the blackbuck poaching case. I have met many people who have told me with pride that they hunt lions. Salman helps people... he is a good man. I dont know if he did it or not but the system is crooked. let me do good work.

From there, it got worse as he used abuses all around. He asked media not to spread negative news, going on to say that if he was the prime minister he would hang everyone who spreads fake news.

In another, he is angry with a media outlet for quoting a source in their story about him. When a fan told him not to use such language as he is a celeb, he said he is also human.

Since his on-flight fight with fellow comedian Sunil Grover in March last year, Kapil Sharma has always been in news for all the wrong reasons. His reputation took such a hit that his programme The Kapil Sharma Show was cancelled.

He has now come back with a new show titled, Family Time With Kapil Sharma. The launch of the show has been accompanied by news of cancelled shoots. Sources have said that Kapil cancelled shoot with Rani Mukerji at the last minute.

With these tweets, Kapil Sharma will once again be struggling to save his reputation.
The Trump administration on Friday slapped new sanctions on seven of Russias richest oligarchs, 12 companies owned or controlled by them and 17 top bureaucrats, citing Russias efforts to undermine Western democracies and support for the Syrian government and Ukrainian separatists.

The sanctioned oligarchs included President Vladimir Putins son-in-law Kirill Shamalov, an energy sector executive, and former Trump campaign chair Paul Manaforts business associate Oleg Deripaska, who has deep connections with the government and whom the US has alleged was linked to a murder and a Russian organised crime group.

We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancour to be successful, President Donald Trump said in a statement.

The sanctioned companies linked to oligarchs included United Company RUSAL PLC, one of the worlds largest producers of aluminium.

Among the government officials targeted were Andrey Akimov, chairman of state-owned Gazprombank, Russias third largest bank, and Mikhail Fradkov, head of a research body that provides information support to the presidential administration, Duma and security council.

Also on the list was state-owned Russian weapons trading company Rosoboronexport, which is alleged to have supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Russian Financial Corporation Bank, an affiliate, was also named.

The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites, said US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, announcing the sanctions.

The Russian government engages in a range of malign activity around the globe, including continuing to occupy Crimea and instigate violence in eastern Ukraine, supplying the Assad regime with material and weaponry as they bomb their own civilians, attempting to subvert Western democracies, and malicious cyber activities.

He added: Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their governments destabilising activities.

Those named in the sanctions came from a list compiled earlier in the year by the US of business leaders, politicians and members of Russias elite considered close to Putin, but not including him. The goal was to hurt the rich and the powerful who tend to park their wealth and families abroad, mostly in London, New York and Miami, and spare the larger population that tend to suffer the most from broader countrywide economic sanctions.

These were the most expansive punitive measures taken by this administration against Russia, torn as it has been between Trump, who has openly advocated warmer ties with the one-time Cold War rival, and the bulk of the administration and US Congress, which have aggressively pushed for punishing the Kremlin for, as Mnuchin said, its malign activity.

These sanctions stem from a legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support by the Congress last year to punish Russia for election meddling, annexing Crime and supporting the regime in Syria, and also to prevent Trump from reversing Obama-era sanctions against Russia.

The sanctions came barely three weeks after the administration acted against 19 Russian individuals and five entities, including the FSB intelligence service and GRU military intelligence unit.

Those were specifically in retaliation for Russian meddling in the US elections in 2016, and the list of those named included all persons indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the alleged interference and possible collusion by the Trump campaign. His team also interviewed Russian oligarchs during their visit to the US.

Despite Trumps desire for better relations with Russia and Putin, ties have not been so bad in years. The US led a worldwide expulsion of more than 100 Russian intelligence operatives and diplomats over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, for which London has directly blamed Moscow.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States has already lost any trade war, as he defended his proposed tariffs against Chinese goods, saying the move might cause a little pain but the country will be better off in the long run.

Weve already lost the trade war. We dont have a trade war, weve lost the trade war, Trump said in a radio interview with New York radio show, 77 WABCs Bernie & Sid.

Im not saying there wont be a little pain, but the market has gone up 40%, 42% so we might lose a little bit of it. But were going to have a much stronger country when were finished.

So we may take a hit and you know what, ultimately were going to be much stronger for it, Trump said.
Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed on Friday mocked the US decision to designate JuDs political front Milli Muslim League (MML) as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, saying the move has proved the partys credibility.

In a setback to Saeeds political ambition, the US on Tuesday designated the MML as a terrorist organisation, making it difficult for it to get registered with Pakistans election commission.

Pakistan is set to hold general elections this year.

Well, a partys that is banned by the US is the one that actually holds some credibility, Saeed, who is the chief of the JuD, said at a rally.

The Americans, he added, understand that this is the political party they cannot be an ally with.

Saeed also asked Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to dedicate the rest of his day in office for the cause of Kashmir.

The US will exclude your name from among its loyalists, but that will be a matter of honour, he said.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is no longer in a critical condition and his health is improving rapidly more than a month after he was poisoned with a nerve agent in England, the British hospital treating him said on Friday.

Skripal, 66, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of spies to Britains foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia were found slumped unconscious on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning, the first known offensive use of such a nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Moscow denied any involvement and suggested that Britain had carried out the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition, Christine Blanshard, Medical Director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.

Russia has said it does not have such nerve agents and President Vladimir Putin said it is nonsense to think that Moscow would have poisoned Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter.

A British judge said last month, nearly three weeks after the attack, that it might have left them with compromised mental capacity and that it was unclear whether they would recover.

The attack prompted the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War as allies in Europe and the United States sided with Mays view that Moscow was either responsible or had lost control of the nerve agent.

But Moscow has hit back by expelling Western diplomats, questioning how Britain knows that Russia was responsible and offering its rival interpretations, including that it amounted to a plot by British secret services.

Both Moscow and London have accused each other of trying to deceive the world with an array of claims, counter-claims and threats.

Playing with fire

At a session of the executive of the global chemical weapons watchdog this week, Russia called for a joint inquiry into the poisoning of the Skripals, but lost a vote on the motion.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, Russia warned Britain that youre playing with fire and youll be sorry over its accusations.

Given the twists and turns in the affair, British and Russian diplomats have variously claimed the mystery to be worthy of Sherlock Holmes or of an Agatha Christie whodunit.

In an exchange at the United Nations, the ambassadors of Britain and Russia quoted extracts from Alice in Wonderland at each other.

The hospital in Salisbury said it was providing the medical update in response to intense media coverage yesterday.

Russian state television reported that Yulia had phoned her cousin in Russia and told her that she and her father were both recovering and that she expected to leave hospital soon.

Yulias health has improved rapidly. On Thursday, she issued a statement through British police to thank hospital staff and people who came to her help when when my father and I were incapacitated.

Sergei Skripal, who was recruited by Britains MI6, was arrested for treason in Moscow in 2004. He ended up in Britain after being swapped in 2010 for Russian spies caught in the United States.

Since emerging from the John le Carre world of high espionage and betrayal, Skripal lived modestly in Salisbury and kept out of the spotlight until he was found poisoned.

British police believe a nerve agent was left on the front door of his home. Skripals cat was put down by British authorities. His guinea pigs were discovered dead.

When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died, a British government spokeswoman said.

A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering, the spokeswoman said.
M any of us fantasise about waking up to the sight of the sea, but few can afford the record-breaking 300,000 price tag slapped on to a tiny Dorset beach hut with no toilet or mains electricity.

Found at the end of the popular Mudeford Spit near the historic town of Christchurch, the timber-built Hut 475 measures just 18ft by 11ft but can sleep up to six people comfortably in the living space and mezzanine level.

Lighting is provided by solar panels on the roof while in the kitchen, the oven runs on gas bottles, the fridge is battery-powered and the tap water comes from a pump.

The nearest communal toilet and shower block is a couple of minutes stroll away.

It is exclusively for use by hut owners and cleaned by the council.

One of the main attractions of Hut 475 is its large decking area for watching the sun rise over breakfast and enjoying a glass of wine as it sets again on a balmy summers evening.

There is also a large area under the hut which has previously been used to store a RIB boat.

Overnight stays are allowed from March to October  unusual for a beach hut  with owners able to rent huts out for more than 1,000 per week during peak holiday season.

Bear in mind, however, that council tax is 500 per year and ground rent is approximately 2,500 per year.

Flexible: up to two people can sleep downstairs, with room for a further four upstairs

The spit can be accessed in 20 minutes on foot from parking available at Hengistbury Head, along which there are numerous lovely beachside, clifftop and harbour-side pathways.

There is a land train that runs regularly and a ferry during peak season, weather permitting.

If you need to transport furniture, kayaks etc, it may be possible to bring your car directly to the spit, but this is subject to prior arrangement with the council.

The nearest station is in Christchurch, just over a mile away, with direct routes to London Waterloo taking just under two hours. Other stations a touch further afield include Hinton Admiral and Pokesdown.

Rules and restrictions: The Mudeford Sand Spit beach huts can be used 365 days a year

Between November 1 and February 28 (February 29 on a leap year) the huts cannot be used between 11pm and 5am

Reduced council tax is paid on the huts, usually around 500 per year.

There is also a ground rent/licence fee which depends on the size of the hut but can reach 4,000.

Beach huts can only be bought by cash buyers because they do not count as habitable dwellings.

Beach huts are exempt from stamp duty but owners must pay a 15,000 transfer fee when they sell.

They can be insured, with insurers offering cover on the hut and its contents.

Charles Dancer, property negotiator at Denisons estate agents, who are marketing the beach hut, believes it stands to become the most expensive in the UK because of its prime position on the sought-after spit.

Being the last in the row of 350 huts, Hut 475 benefits from extra space to the side that, although not private, can be used by the owner.

These huts give people the opportunity to enjoy our beautiful coastline all through the year, he says.

Obviously, they are primarily used in spring and summer, but many of the hut owners I know love spending time there in the winter months too, using the hut as a cosy haven.

The previous owners have thoroughly enjoyed Hut 475 for 15 years but have decided to sell now that their children are older and not using it as much.

They feel it is time to let someone else enjoy it and take on a new adventure.

Not a bad sight to wake up to: the 350 beach huts on Mudeford Spit are in high demand

Denisons have dealt with the majority of huts that have sold on the spit and, as such, have a large database of active buyers waiting for the perfect hut to come to market.

There have been numerous enquiries for this hut so far, says Dancer, mainly from families wanting to take advantage of the sea views towards the Isle of Wight.

To put the eye-watering cost into perspective, other properties currently listed for the same price in the surrounding area include a luxury new-build apartment and a three-bedroom semi-detached house, while the same amount could buy you a one-bedroom flat in an outer zone of London.

In Yorkshire, you could buy a five-bedroom family home.

Though the 300,000 mark has yet to be broken, other beach huts on Mudeford Spit have come close.

Early last year, a 212 sq ft hut sold for 275,000  50,000 more than the average UK house price  and another, priced at 270,000 with harbour views, is also currently on sale with Denisons.

The beach huts have steadily increased in value over the years, in line with the rising popularity of their seaside location.

We are very lucky to live in such a popular area, and we find both locals and buyers from out of the area all want their own coastal escape, says Dancer.

While the demand is still high, I cant see any reason why the huts shouldnt appreciate in value. A number of huts I have sold have gone for in excess of the asking price.

Golden touch: beach hut owners enjoy stunning sunrises and sunsets

Hagen Rose, founder of online community Beach-Huts.Com, believes beach huts are so popular because they are part of our culture and often part of the family history.

Beach huts capture the imagination in many ways and outdoor life is booming, from camping and foraging to kayaking and outdoor swimming he said.
Pipeline

6 April 2018

Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts has signalled its intention to expand the company portfolio by signing an agreement for a hotel in Luxor, Egypt. The Steigenberger Resort Achti is to be located on the East Bank of the Nile, and the plan is that it will open for business in the third quarter of 2018. As well as 281 rooms, suites and bungalows, the hotel will also boast six restaurants and bars serving up a range of culinary offerings. Further highlights will include an outdoor pool with views of the Nile, a separate pool in the bungalow area complete with jacuzzi, a Business centre, a meetings room and a permanent multi-purpose tent for the staging of conferences and banquets.

The agreement has been concluded with the Arab Company for Hotel & Tourism Investments
Appointment

6 April 2018

Continuing the expansion of its domestic and global sales force, Teneo Hospitality Group,the premier global group representation firm, has appointed David Berzofsky as Director of Sales, Midwest. Mr. Berzofsky is a leading specialist in luxury hotel sales and brings an in-depth knowledge of the luxury market together with a strong presence in the Midwest to his new position with Teneo.

In David Berzofsky's prior position in Global Sales he worked to broaden Ritz-Carlton's overall customer base and generate new business. Upon Marriott's merger with Starwood, Mr. Berzofsky was promoted to Marriott's new Luxury Division, representing eight brands and over 350 hotels worldwide. In this capacity, he cultivated and managed a customer base of over 500 accounts throughout the Midwest, doubling yearly revenues over an eight-year period.

Mr. Berzofsky's earlier sales experience spans several prominent luxury resorts in Florida, including the Eden Roc Resort & Spa in Miami Beach, the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo and Ritz-Carlton's three Miami properties.

David Berzofsky holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Isenberg School of Management at Amherst. His exceptional career sales performance has been recognized with several distinguished awards, including ten Chairman's Circle awards with Ritz-Carlton.
Appointment

6 April 2018

Hard Rock International announces the promotion of Todd Hricko to senior vice president & head of global hotel development, where he will oversee the development of hotels for the entire brand, working directly under Hard Rock International's Chief Operating Officer Jon Lucas. Supported by Hricko's more than 20 years of property development experience, the new position will showcase Hricko's strong hospitality network, paving the way for collaborations with some of the largest industry-leading owners and operators of commercial real estate in the United States.

Hricko joined the Hard Rock brand in 2014 serving as vice president of business development for Hard Rock Hotels, where he spearheaded the development of the Hard Rock Hotels portfolio throughout the United States and Canada. During this time, he played an essential role in identifying strategic markets and sites to develop, managing contract negotiations for the brand and leading negotiations for management agreements in key markets, such as New York City, New Orleans, Atlanta and Daytona Beach. He also participated in the development of Hard Rock's new upscale select-service brand - Reverb by Hard Rock.

Before joining Hard Rock International, Hricko was vice president of development of Wyndham Hotel Group. This experience not only expanded his professional portfolio, but also afforded him long-term relationships with national owners and development partners in the industry.

The promotion of Todd Hricko comes as the Hard Rock Hotels portfolio actively expands in key cities and destinations across the globe, ranging from the Maldives and New Orleans to London and China.
Industry Update

Appointment

6 April 2018

Martina Kessler

Promoted Director of Marketing

At Burgenstock Selection in Lucerne, Switzerland

Martina Kessler was promoted to Director of Marketing for the Burgenstock Selection on January 1, 2018. Joining the company in 2012 as Senior Brand and Marketing Manager, Ms. Kessler made a significant contribution to the growth of the new Burgenstock Resort. She will be responsible for all marketing activities and operations, social media, brand management and the corporate identity for the Burgenstock Resort. Previously, she worked at Sunrise Communications, one of Switzerland's largest telecommunications companies. She began her career at Movenpick Hotels & Resorts where she spent six years in marketing. Martina has a Swiss federal degree in Communications Planning. Ms. Kessler speaks English and German and enjoys trail running.

Katara Hospitality Katara Hospitality, previously known as Qatar National Hotels, is a hospitality owner, manager and developer, aiming to become one of the leading hospitality organisations in the world. Our journey has seen us grow steadily at home, then expand across the world, spreading our passion for impeccable standards of service and luxury to the Far East, Africa and throughout Europe. more information

Recent Appointments at Katara Hospitality Christian Sack - General Manager 22 January 2021  Christian Sack is moving from The Ritz-Carlton Doha hotel in Qatar to The Burgenstock Selection in Switzerland. The 50-year-old has extensive experience in the international hospitality industry. In Asia, Europe, Russia and North America, he has successfully managed prestigious hotel and resort operations for brands such as Ritz-Carlton, Raffles, Shangri-La and Fairmont. read more

Claire Martin - Director Alpine Spa & Wellness 4 September 2020  Claire Martin has taken over responsibility for the Alpine Spa and the Alpine Golf, Tennis and Yoga divisions. Born in France, Claire Martin was most recently Spa Director of the wellness area at the Hotel La Reserve in Geneva. read more
Press Release

6 April 2018

Gearing up for the first Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC) of 2018, event producers Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) is excited to announce the launch of this year's "HFTP Events" mobile app. The HFTP event 2018 mobile app is home to all the information attendees and exhibitors will need for HITEC Amsterdam, HITEC Houston and Annual Convention this year, with information coming available as the event nears. Available now for download from the iTunes Apple Store and Google Play, the app will serve as a comprehensive guide for information on education sessions and exhibits while also providing social feeds and in-app correspondence capabilities for exhibitors and attendees.

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The HFTP events 2018 mobile app is a benefit for event attendees, serving as an interactive and informative tool. Users should create a profile and login to gain access to all app functionality. Once logged in, users will have the ability to create a customized educational schedule and link speaker biographies, session evaluations and more. Mobile app users will also be able to connect with other attendees using searchable directories, direct messaging and meeting booking functionalities. Robust searching gives users the capability to network a practical way to find and make direct contact for potential business opportunities.

"As a hospitality association, HFTP is always looking for ways to enhance the experience for our event attendees and members," said HFTP CEO Frank Wolfe. "The decision to create a combined mobile app again in 2018 comes from our determination to offer corporate event attendees a feature-rich tool in an easy-to-use and convenient platform. Attendees will not only benefit from the interactive capabilities and mobile planning functions, the app gives users a front seat to all of the event information."

The HFTP event mobile app is a resource complete with all the information you will need to navigate the association's upcoming events in 2018. Event maps, floorplans, survey links, information sites, educational credits are only some of the resources available inside the app. Discover information about event speakers, exhibitors, sponsors, Entrepreneur 20X (E20X) and much more. Stay updated with HFTP through the app's activity feed feature, which streamlines all social channels into one space.

Next up on the HFTP event schedule is HITEC Amsterdam  the first of three HITEC events HFTP will produce in 2018  taking place next week from April 11-13 at the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam. HITEC Houston, HFTP's largest event of the year, will take place from June 18-21 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas USA. HFTP Annual Convention will take place October 24-26, 2018 at the Omni Louisville Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky USA. HITEC Dubai will take place December 5-6 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, UAE.

For a full listing and more information about HFTP's international events, visit www.hftp.org and www.hitec.org or contact the HFTP Meetings & Special Events Department at [email protected].

About HFTP

Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), established in 1952, is a hospitality nonprofit association headquartered in Austin, Texas USA with offices in Hong Kong, United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Dubai. HFTP is recognized as the spokes group for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry with an international network of members and stakeholders. HFTP uniquely understands the industry's pressing issues, and assists its stakeholders in finding solutions to their challenges more efficiently than any organization. HFTP offers expert networks, educational resources, career development programs, research, leadership opportunities and conferences and events. HFTP produces international events throughout the year, including the world's largest hospitality technology tradeshow and conference brand: HITEC. The association also owns the world's only hospitality-specific search engine: PineappleSearch.com. For more information about HFTP, visit www.hftp.org.For the latest news, visit the HFTP News page at news.hftp.org and the HFTP Connect blog at blog.hftp.org.

Follow HFTP on social media: Facebook (@HFTPGlobal); LinkedIn; Twitter (@HFTP); Instagram (@HFTP_HITEC). Stay tuned to HFTP's industry-specific, informational news sites: HFTP News, HITEC Bytes, HFTP Club Bytes, HFTP Finance Bytes and HFTP GDPR Bytes. HFTP event photos are available on Flickr, and HFTP event videos are available on YouTube.

About HITEC

Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference (HITEC) is the world's largest and oldest hospitality technology exposition and conference brand. HITEC offers a unique combination of top-notch education, and brings together the brightest minds and hottest technologies from across the globe to one place. The unparalleled event offers attendees essential education, access to top hospitality technology industry experts and the resources to find cost-effective ways to improve company bottom lines. Combined with the intimate opportunities to connect with fellow professionals, HITEC has everything to enhance your career.

Historically hosted annually in a different city throughout the United States, HFTP decided to break tradition in 2017 by hosting three HITEC events all taking place outside of U.S. borders in Toronto, Amsterdam and Dubai. This was the first time the global association's largest HITEC event  featuring thousands of hospitality professionals from around the world took place outside of the United States. For more information about HITEC, visit www.hitec.org.

Follow HITEC on social media: Facebook (@HITECconference); LinkedIn; Twitter (@HFTP); Instagram (@HFTP_HITEC). Find updates on the HFTP News page, and exhibitor news on the HITEC Bytes site. HITEC event photos are available on Flickr, and HFTP event videos are available on YouTube.

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Press Release

6 April 2018

TEFAF, the not-for-profit foundation that organizes three Fairs internationally, TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring, has announced that Raffles Hotels & Resorts, an award-winning, luxury hotel brand, is the lead sponsor for the second edition of TEFAF New York Spring, May 4-8, 2018 at the historic Park Avenue Armory.

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Raffles Hotels & Resorts, established in Southeast Asia in 1887 with the opening of the illustrious Raffles Singapore, is regarded as one of the world's top luxury brands with an enchanting portfolio of legendary hotels. Arguably the gold standard for luxury, glamour and distinctive experiences in the global hotel industry, the brand is renowned for its impeccable and bespoke guest service  exemplified by the brand's legendary Raffles butlers. The Raffles flag flies in some of the world's leading cities and top resort destinations including favorites such as Paris, Istanbul, Dubai and the Seychelles, with many more locations on the horizon.

"Raffles is honored to support TEFAF New York Spring and the marvelous forum it provides for international art collectors and connoisseurs," said Jeannette Ho, Vice President, Raffles Brand & Strategic Partnerships. "Our clientele shares our passion for the visual arts and many of our hotels, such as Raffles Istanbul and Raffles Jakarta, exhibit the works of contemporary artists on a grand scale, infusing our lobbies and lounges with inspiration, energy and modern local culture. We are grateful to the artists, the international dealers and TEFAF who continue to present such works to a global audience."

"TEFAF is delighted that Raffles Hotels & Resorts is sponsoring the second edition of our New York Spring Fair," said Patrick van Maris, Chief Executive Officer of TEFAF. "Our shared dedication to the highest standards of cultural heritage and craftsmanship make this a natural partnership for TEFAF. We look forward to working together with Raffles to craft an exceptional visitor experience at TEFAF New York Spring, welcoming the world's top dealers, collectors, institutions, and connoisseurs."

The association with TEFAF New York Spring will bring the spirit of Raffles' iconic and much-loved Long Bar to the Park Avenue Armory's Drill Hall and Mezzanine Level. On hand to welcome Fair visitors will be ambassador Narajan Singh, the iconic and worldly doorman from Raffles Singapore who is a living embodiment of Raffles' customs and traditions. In the TEFAF Raffles Long Bar, also known as the elegantly designed Colonel's Reception Room, guests will be able to learn more about, and taste, the brand's signature Singapore Sling, a gin-based cocktail created in 1915 by Raffles bartender Ngiam Tong Boon. The showcase will also play host to a series of special events throughout the Fair's run, including master classes on how to prepare the Singapore Sling. Meanwhile, on the Armory's Mezzanine Level, visitors will find the Raffles Balcony Bar inspired by the stylish Parisian design of Raffles' Le Bar Long at Le Royal Monceau, Raffles Paris, a opulent palace that also features its own in-house art gallery, art concierge and contemporary art and design bookstore.

During the event, a raffle will also take place with one winner receiving an exclusive stay for two at a Raffles location of their choice. The giveaway, taking place during TEFAF's Gala Preview on May 3, will benefit Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The prize includes a luxurious three-night stay in a signature suite, spa treatments for two, and a culinary experience curated by the selected hotel's executive chef.

Throughout the multi-day showcase, visitors will also hear about the latest news and developments across the Raffles portfolio including details on the legendary restoration program currently in its final phase at Raffles Singapore and a sneak preview into the remarkable transformation of the soon-to-open Raffles Europejski Warsaw, a neo-renaissance palace that was one of the most beloved hotels of 19th century Europe and which is now home to more than 400 unique pieces of Polish art.

TEFAF New York Spring, which launched in May 2017, is dedicated to modern and contemporary art & design, and will feature 90 exhibitors, including Levy Gorvy, Gagosian, Gladstone Gallery, Marian Goodman Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery, and Taffin. A selection of TEFAF New York Spring exhibitors will showcase jewelry, African and Oceanic art, and antiquities to reflect how the art historical canon has influenced some of the greatest modern and contemporary artists.

To learn more about TEFAF New York Spring, visit www.tefaf.com. To learn more about Raffles Hotels & Resorts, visit www.raffles.com.

About TEFAF

TEFAF is a not-for-profit foundation acting as an expert guide for both private and institutional collectors in a global art marketplace, and inspiring lovers and buyers of art everywhere. TEFAF now runs three Fairs internationally: TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring.

About TEFAF New York

A joint venture between TEFAF and Artvest's Co-Founders Jeff Rabin and Michael Plummer, TEFAF New York was founded in early 2016 to host two annual art fairs in New York at the Park Avenue Armory, TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring. Each Fair features around 90 leading exhibitors from the around the globe. Tom Postma Design, celebrated for its innovative work with leading museums, galleries, and art fairs, has developed designs for the Fairs that interplay with the spectacular spaces while giving them a lighter, contemporary look and feel. Exhibitor stands will flow throughout the Armory's landmark building encompassing the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and extending to both the first and second floors of the Armory's period rooms, creating a Fair of unprecedented depth and impact in New York City.

About Artvest

Artvest Partners LLC is an independent art advisory firm that counsels private clients, museums, foundations, and Fortune 500 companies on valuations, market projections, acquisitions, dispositions, and business strategies related to art. Additionally, Artvest arranges art financing for private collectors and dealers.

About TEFAF Maastricht

TEFAF Maastricht, the world's leading art and antiques Fair, champions the finest art dealers and experts from around the world. It was the first art fair to be run by dealers for dealers, and inspires lovers and buyers of art everywhere. The 31st edition of TEFAF Maastricht will be held in the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre from March 10-18, 2018.

Since 2005, TEFAF has been supporting research and international collaboration by means of a special Chair of Oncology at the research institute GROW, the School for Oncology and Developmental Biology at the Maastricht University Medical Centre.
Performance

6 April 2018

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee -- The U.S. hotel industry reported mixed year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 25-31 March 2018, according to data from STR.



In comparison with the week of 26 March through 1 April 2017, the industry recorded the following:

Occupancy: -2.8 to 66.4%

Average daily rate (ADR): +3.6% to US$130.81

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +0.7% to US$86.90

Among the Top 25 Markets, Miami/Hialeah, Florida, reported the largest increase in RevPAR (+33.0% to US$259.47), due primarily to the highest lift in ADR (+26.9% to US$295.28).

Orlando, Florida, experienced the only double-digit increase in occupancy (+11.7% to 90.4%), which helped drive the highest jump in RevPAR (+23.8% to US$136.72).

New York, New York, posted the second-largest rise in ADR (+15.6% to US$263.56) and the third-largest jump in RevPAR (+20.9% to US$240.81).

STR analysts note that performance in many major markets was affected by a drop in group business due to the Easter holiday. Overall, 10 of the Top 25 Markets reported a double-digit decrease in RevPAR.

Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia, reported the steepest decline in RevPAR (-25.9% to US$115.05), due primarily to the largest drop in ADR (-19.2% to US$150.56).

Detroit, Michigan, experienced the largest decrease in occupancy (-14.6% to 56.9%).

Phoenix, Arizona, saw the second-largest decreases in ADR (-11.6% to US$172.96) and RevPAR (-19.7% to US$129.73).
The Queen's court assembled at a dinner celebrating her debut record Invasion of Privacy, at a restaurant in the 'Rotten Manzana.' Cardi B was gushing over those in attendance, namely her extended family from the Dominican Republic who rarely if ever make the trip. Cardi sounded off on Instagram thanking her boo Offset for arranging the reunion without her knowledge. This act of love language proves that Offset might have made up the ground he lost over the Celina rumors or the cheating stories which surfaced several months ago. Regardless of the fact, it appears the love caucus has resumed its session just in time for Cardi's coming out party. "Be Careful" was only a warning shot, the next one's going for upper sternum.



Offset flew in Cardi's niece, her cousin, her grandma, her grandfather from the Dominican Republic, a day after celebrating his 3 year-old daughter's birthday with 'Pony Princess' streamers. The group 'went in' until the wee hours of the morning, with Cardi opting for a beauty nap while the early SoundScan data came piling in. Offset was noticeably absent from the festivities, but I'm sure he'll make up the ground once again. Such is the life of a power couple.
There are low points in everybody's life. At the lowest of the lows, it becomes hard to compose yourself and, especially when cameras capture your every move, any negative situation is amplified in the media. Conor McGregor recently turned himself in after throwing a chair at a bus full of fighters at a UFC media event. 50 Cent has already commented several times on the matter, continuing his ongoing clash with McGregor but TMZ caught up with Chris Brown to hear his opinion on the matter.

Famously battling through his own hardships and controversies, Breezy is no stranger to negative headlines. His domestic altercation with Rihanna tainted his public image for much of his career and as he continues to prove that he is a changed man, he issued a brief statement about the UFC star. Keeping things simple, CB said of McGregor's rampage, "We all get crazy sometimes." Sympathizing with the fighter, Breezy did not make any further comments to the photographer, preferring to keep things concise.

Chris has made similar headlines to what is going on right now with Conor, as you'll recall him throwing a rock through his mother's windshield in 2013, being thrown out of rehab consequentially. If Conor needs any advice, Breezy may be just the guy to go to in this case. Do you think McGregor has a future in the UFC or has he dug his own grave?
Dunkin' Donuts is introducing new items to their menu at select stores in the Boston area. The popular fast food breakfast chain is testing out the items, which will undoubtedly spread to other stores across the nation. The most popular new item are the donut fries. For just $2, residents in Boston can snatch up the deliciously sweet looking treats.

According to NBC Boston, waffle breaded chicken strips, pretzel bites, ham and cheese roll-ups, a gluten-free fudge brownie, munchkin dippers, and warm cookies are also new $2 items that are being tested by Dunkin' Donuts. If you're in the greater Boston area, head over to 265 Franklin St. in Boston's Financial District, 588 Washington St. in Quincy, or the Logan Airport store to try out the new menu items.

"The test is designed to gather valuable feedback from consumers, franchisees and their employees to help inform future decisions about a possible national rollout," said Dunkin' in a statement to NBC.

The good news comes in the wake of Taco Bell announcing that they will no longer be selling nacho fries. Munchie lovers will be trading salty creamy queso for sweet and sticky donut fries, and hopefully, residents in Boston will spend so much money on the new snacks that they get introduced across the country.
This is good news for those who have been bummed about a potential delay on the Juelz Santana and Lil Wayne project that was looking to possibly be materializing. Juelz Santana has not had the greatest last few weeks as he was arrested on gun and drug charges after a bizarre fiasco at the Newark Airport, concluding in Juelz allegedly leaving all his belongings behind and making a run for it. The rapper had been in jail since March 12 and, while he was denied bail last week, he looks to have been released.

Working together frequently as part of The Diplomats, Cam'ron and Juelz Santana have a lot of history and plenty of hits from the Diplomatic Immunity projects. From the looks of it, the "Dipset" rapper has made his way home after spending nearly a month behind bars. Cam'ron posted a screenshot of a video call with Santana on the other line, with both grinning from ear to ear. "F-ck they talking bout!!!! @thejuelzsantana home!!!!!  #TheBrotherhood," wrote Killa Cam, affirming his Diplomat brother's release.

While the details of Juelz's release are still developing, it was reported recently that he would be federally prosecuted in the airport gun and drugs case with the state of New Jersey dropping the case. We will keep an eye on any emerging details as they arise. With Juelz out of jail, the possibility of an imminent I Can't Feel My Face release will build anticipation for the long-awaited project as both he and Lil Wayne were teasing its probability earlier this year.
Hours after images surfaced of Cam'ron chopping it up with ole buddy Juelz in his orange jumpsuit, new details have emerged regarding his release from prison. Cam'ron was the first to confirm Santana's exit from jail close to his Totowa home. Juelz was awaiting transfer and federal prosecution in his locality.



According to North Jersey, the rapper has been released on bail and will see out his suspended status with an ankle monitor. To top it all off, Juelz will have to report to his mother's house, and will confined to it 24 hours a day until the case is overturned by federal marshals.



Juelz Santana spoke frankly outside the federal courthouse this afternoon, showing an affinity for God, and a level of remorse for his actions.



"I'm just happy to be in God's graces, I was praying every day. He came through for me ... just gotta do the right thing, do everything I need to do the right thing so I stay home."



Judge Michael A. Hammer concluded that he posed no threat to his mother's Englewood community. His behavior while on house arrest will determine the next possible clause in his case for freedom.




Jazz aficionado Nick Grant has been putting in work; it's only appropriate that the man with two first names brings out double the hustle. Now, he's linked up with Yo Gotti for a new banger by the name of "The Switch Up." Far from the hit Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds led comedy, this banger features a minor key piano banger as a backdrop. In truth, the majority of trap bangers these days seem to occupy a similar musical checklist: 808s, dark keyboard melodic line, and a generally creepy aesthetic. Who knew trapping would be such a Gothic endeavor.

Employing a singsong flow, both rappers hold it down with solid verses. These days, rappers are becoming increasingly antagonistic toward the internet, and Yo Gotti takes aim at "email gangstas" and their tendency for sporadic fingers. We internet users will decide to let this one slide in the name of good sportsmanship.

Quotable Lyrics

Bad like Jordan with the 4-5

Boy I'm at your neck like boyties

Know I'm at your neck like clothesline

Yeah I'm bout the green like go sign


David A. Funchess, HC staff intern / David A. Funchess

Solar power continues to spread in Houston, but still lags far behind in Austin and San Antonio, where residents and businesses, encouraged by local utilities, have added solar panels much more quickly, according to research released by a national environmental advocacy group.

Houston saw modest gains in solar power capacity in 2017  the city has 9.5 megawatts of solar power, up 19 percent from 8 megawatts in 2016, according to the survey by Environment America (One megawatt is enough to power 200 Texas homes on a hot summer day).Ssolar power capacity in Austin and San Antonio, where municipal utilities offer incentives for solar power, grew by 27 and 37 percent, respectively.
James Black is silent, using a pregnant pause to consider the response to the question. He knows hell have to answer carefully.

The interim artistic director at the Alley Theatre is weighing the best response to the query of, What will be Gregory Boyds legacy? Boyd, who left in January, helped grow the companys reputation as artistic director over nearly three decades but was also accused of harassing several women on his staff and creating an abusive work environment.

Sitting in the Alleys donor room, with its red carpet providing a vibrant undertone, Black, sporting a flat-top hat, goatee and spectacles, takes a deep breath.

He did extraordinary things for this theater, Black says of Boyd. When I compare what it was when I started to where it arrived, I think he did a lot of good. There was some questionable behavior, but  I dont know. Im not interested in talking about the past.

During the first major interview with an Alley leader since the Boyd controversy, Black says its time to look forward. The theater needs to adapt to the modern zeitgeist, he says. He wants the Alley Theatre to be a more inclusive place, an organization that hires more people who are young, local, female and ethnically diverse. And he wants to ensure the Alleys resident company of actors remains through these changes.

That change starts with the Alleys lineup for the upcoming season, which was announced Friday. It is headlined by Stephen Karams Tony Award-winning The Humans, which uses the tradition of the kitchen sink drama to deconstruct the mythology of the white middle class, and Dominique Morisseaus Skeleton Crew, which argues for the humanity of working class people of color. Plenty of safe, family friendly picks are present as well: Shakespeares Twelfth Night, Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, Agatha Christies The Mousetrap. Its an interim season by an interim director meant to show stability and familiarity to subscribers while at the same time suggesting the embers of an overhaul.

We need someone younger

Black, an associate artistic director with the Alley since 1999 and an actor with the theater since the late 80s, says he plans to serve a total of nine to twelve months as the artistic director until someones hired. Hes not interested in pursuing the job permanently.

Im proud to represent what was great about the past here, but we need to start thinking about the future, he says. We need someone younger.

And, potentially, female.

The theater was founded by a female. It should return to (similar) hands, Black says. The whole resident theater movement was born in Dallas with Margo Jones, and (Alley founder) Nina Vance was an employee of Margo Jones. I think women are better leaders than men. Current history shows us that.

Whomever is hired will walk into a theater that, according to Black, has high morale after a troubling start to the new year.

More Information The 2018-19 Alley Theatre Season Start dates are the first day of previews. Skeleton Crew By Dominique Morisseau Aug. 31-Sept. 30 Workers at one Detroit's last auto stamping plants swap stories. Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare Directed by Jonathan Moscone Oct. 5-28 Shakespeare's hilarious tale of unrequited love. A Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story Of Christmas By Charles Dickens Adapted and originally directed by Michael Wilson Directed by James Black Nov. 16-Dec. 30 Houston's seasonal favorite returns. The Carpenter By Robert Askins Jan. 18-Feb. 10, 2019 A new comedy by the Texas playwright of Alley's hit "Hand to God." Quack By Eliza Clark Feb. 8- March 10, 2019 New comedy exposes the shaky foundations of the wellness industry. The Humans By Stephen Karam Directed by Brandon Weinbrenner March 1-24, 2019 A family drama pulsating with life. Winner of the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play. Crimes of the Heart By Beth Henley Directed by Theresa Rebeck April 12-May 5, 2019 Winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize, Henley's first play whisks you to the Mississippi home of the Magrath sisters. Constellations By Nick Payne Directed by Leslie Swackhamer May 3-June 2, 2019 Broadway and London hit in which science and romance collide. The Three Musketeers By Ken Ludwig May 31-June 30, 2019 Action-packed adventure adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. See More Collapse

People are sensing a forward movement. Were embracing what works and jettisoning what didnt work, Black says. Theres fear and pain as well, but theres also excitement.

The picture of positivity is in stark contrast, however, to the public image of the Alley in late January, during which Houstons theater community  and the theater world at large  was up in arms not only at Boyds treatment of women but at an organization that allowed such behavior. The hashtag #WhyWeWearRed trended on national theater social media on Jan. 26, dubbed Red Friday, as Alley employees wore red in protest of Boyd and in solidarity with the women who had come forward with stories about him.

As Black spoke of the Alleys new season, he was asked if he felt there was any connection between Boyds treatment of women and the theaters lack of female writers and directors over the years. Lauren Halvorsen, associate literary director at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., had pointed out on Twitter that, during her time at the Alley from 2008-11, the company produced 34 plays. Of those, four were directed by women, zero were directed by people of color and seven were written by women  three of those by Agatha Christie.

Im not sure theres a connection between Gregory Boyds conduct privately and publicly, New York theater critic Elisabeth Vincentelli said on the podcast Three on the Aisle. But if you have someone who shows no respect for women on a personal level, that person is not going to be interested in having womens voices.

Black considers those points.

I dont know, Im trying to find the correct way to answer this. What shes saying is true about the number of plays. Thats factually true. I dont think its any relation to the difficulties that we had, he says. Again, Im focused on the future. Im very proud of the inclusivity of next season. That will speak for itself.

Black emphasizes three major tenets for the Alley of the future. The first is diversity. We need to hold a mirror up to the community, he says. The second is the hiring of local talent: Im going to push for a utilization of local artists as directors and actors and designers. You could be seeing that next season. Im going to make sure we look in our own backyard first before we go shopping for out-of-town actors.

Fresh blood important

Its a shift in procedure from Boyds time at the Alley, which was a point of contention to some people in the Houston theater scene.

It would help the theater scene by encouraging more talent to stay in the city after college, says Trevor Boffone, an advocate for Latino theater and a Hispanic Studies professor at University of Houston. Houston has the potential to be competitive with Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia, but we need more, better-paying theater jobs in town. The Alley can be a beacon of change if it wants to be, but it wont be easy and will require a full shift of the companys DNA.

Blacks third tenet for the Alleys future is to retain, define and diversify its company of actors. He hopes to soon announce new members who will help achieve some of that, but also ensure the company doesnt dissolve amidst the changing tides.

Thats a fear that the company has right now. Thats why I tried to pick a season that highlighted them, Black says. Ive known no other way.  It allows you to do some more challenging programming. The audience is so much more willing to go along for a ride in a difficult show with people theyre familiar with. Were having a lot of meetings with the acting company, trying to define what the company is, so we can present a clear working model.

The Alley Theatre will soon announce an official list of company members, which will add new names to the roster, Black says. Fresh blood, he says, will be a must for the Alley.

I think of this season as a transition season, a preparation for our audience for where I think were headed, and we have to head in that direction for survival, he says. We cant continue to play to a sea of white, aging faces.
The Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge has a panoply of native plants that harbor native prairie chickens that are too tough to die.

Attwaters prairie chickens lived for centuries on 6.5 million acres of Gulf Coast prairies with tall grasses swaying like sea waves beneath the spring breeze. An efflorescence of spring wildflowers covered the prairie like an artists palette of resplendent colors.

The prairie stretched 75 miles inland between present-day Corpus Christi and Bayou Teche, La., and held more than a million prairie chickens.

Near the close of the 20th century, the vast prairie had shrunk to one-half of 1 percent of its former realm. The population of prairie-chickens had plunged to fewer than 50 wild birds clinging to existence on remnant Texas prairies. They were long since gone from Louisiana.

Anglo settlers arriving in Texas during the early 1800s plowed prairies for crops and grazed cattle on prairie grasses. The coup de grace for the once great swaths of native prairies came in the 20th century, as people paved grasslands with concrete to build cities, sprawling suburbs and shopping centers.

While small pockets of prairie persisted, the prairie chickens could not keep going without extensive native grounds where they could scoot among dense clumps of grass for food and shelter while establishing breeding territories to harbor chicks.

More Information Booming-N-Blooming Festival When: 7 a.m.- 2p.m. April 14-15 Where: Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, entrance 10 miles west on FM 3013 from intersection with Texas 36. What: Tours to view prairie chickens, tours of refuge, guided birdwatching walks, guided native plant walks, children's art display, Native American prairie dance, guest speaker. Fee: Free to all ages Information: attwater.org, 979-234-3021 History: Attwater's prairie chicken, a subspecies of greater prairie chicken named for legendary Texas Naturalist H. P. Attwater (1854-1931). Listed as endangered in 1973. See More Collapse

A native prairie is what the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge gave the little brown-barred chickens, which are actually a species of grouse, with short fan-shaped tails.

The Attwaters prairie chicken is an icon for conserving prairie resources for potential flood reduction, cleaner water and higher biodiversity, which can affect our economy, said Sumita Prasad, vice president for Friends of Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge.

Extraordinary work by refuge personnel and wildlife biologists, which included captive breeding and prairie management, enabled wild prairie chickens to rebound to about 104 birds by 2015.

Then Hurricane Harvey hit in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding in our communities  and inundating delicate prairie preserves.

Yet the indomitable prairie chickens prevailed, with a holdout of roughly 40 wild birds.

The upcoming Booming-N-Blooming Festival, April 14-15 at the refuge, offers a chance to the see male prairie chickens gather on a grassy mound called a lek to perform an ancient courtship dance as elaborate as anything a choreographer could imagine.

The males rapidly tap their feet, do jumping jacks and lower their heads to inflate bright orange air sacs on their necks while flaring their tails and humming a deep-toned wooo-ooo-looo call that echoes for a half mile.

But the birds need prairies, and so do we.
The clock was ticking.

Earl and Lesley Correll had four months to complete substantial renovations on their Briargrove home so they could move in before Lesley gave birth to their third child.

Not only did they not want to take a new baby home to the cramped apartment they were living in temporarily after their earlier home sold, but she didnt want to suffer through an arduous move with a newborn.

When the North Carolina natives moved to Houston  Earl came here in 2006 to work at On Point Custom Homes, where hes president  they lived in a 900-square-foot downtown loft for five years. (Lesley came in 2007 after they married.)

From there, they moved to an 1,800-square-foot ranch that they renovated extensively. It was comfortable enough for four years, but with their third child on the way and two sets of parents who visited from North Carolina, its three bedrooms simply were not enough.

Inside look: Interior designer upgrades every room with new accessories.

Now theyre the next-door neighbor of Earls cousin, On Point founder John Leggett and his family. The red-brick-and-stucco home was spacious with its 4,800 square feet, but its interiors were dated and simply not their style.

Both Lesley, 34, and Earl, 35, love classic Southern style, so they made changes in every room, keeping it traditional but in a whole new way. First, the downstairs flooring was a combination of travertine and wood, and they took out the travertine to add more wood, which they stained dark brown.

Paint did some dramatic work, with Benjamin Moores Extra White covering the main living area. They turned a small sitting room into a study and painted it Benjamin Moores Hale Navy. Built-in bookshelves, painted the same deep, dark blue, are a masculine backdrop for the couples antique desk that sits on an animal-hide rug.

Another shade of blue, the brighter Benjamin Moore Downpour Blue, turned a stodgy butlers pantry into a bold new space. Gray-white quartz counters and backsplash made it even more sophisticated.

New hardware updated every room, with warmer antiqued brass pulls and knobs on most of the cabinets. And if you think no one ever notices doorknobs, you havent seen the sleek Emtek brass-and-acrylic style throughout the Corrells home.

And every room got new lighting in gold finishes and a variety of styles. Lantern-style pendants went over the kitchen island, and in the dining room, a grand crystal chandelier. The master bathroom, nursery and the girls rooms got smaller chandeliers.

Modern farmhouse: Mother-son team create barn among bungalows in Upper Kirby.

Essentially, they took the homes surfaces  walls, floors and counters  from warmer tones of gold and tan to cooler shades of gray, white and blue.

The living rooms cast stone fireplace mantel came out in favor of a white brick one  matching the homes exterior, which was also painted white. Built-in cabinets were added to each side of the fireplace, and the lower doors hide baskets of toys that the Correll children play with  its an easy way to put things away when guests arrive.

There were other considerations for the children. Though some of the doorways had pocket doors, more were installed so that when the girls  5, 3 and 1  play, no ones toddling or crawling to the front door or staircase. Earl and Lesley know their children can play safely in the back of the home, and theyll always know where they are.

In the overhaul of the downstairs powder bathroom, soft blue wallpaper rests on top of blue wainscoting. A sink and traditional cabinet were replaced by a spare metal frame and a beautiful stone sink.

The girls bathrooms upstairs all got updates, and the master bathroom, which once featured almond-colored cabinets with tan-gold flooring and counters, is now bathed in cool Carrara marble. The cabinets stayed but are now white and have stylish new hardware.

One interesting change is in the foyer, where a beautiful curved staircase just inside the front door rests between the dining room and study.

Its updates included paneling to the walls  in the foyer and on the staircase  and the removal of the travertine floors.

Though black and white 12-inch marble or granite tile is an old-school style that many would remove, the Corrells put it in.

Since Ive known Lesley, shes wanted a black-and-white floor somewhere, and this is one of my favorite things in the house, Earl said. We found a place online that had the tile. They were like, You want to use 12-inch black marble? We cant give that stuff away. 

The black-and-white diamond-pattern flooring is classic and sophisticated, despite any trend predictions. In this context, it works.

Another change turned extra second-floor landing space into a sweet nursery for their youngest daughter.

The homes interiors werent the only spaces getting a makeover  the backyard has a whole new look, too. The previous owner had a travertine tile patio and landscaping with a bubbling fountain and palm trees.

Earl and Lesley spend plenty of time with the Leggetts next door  they have a pool and a great outdoor kitchen-living area  and the Corrells wanted a pavilion of their own.

We both really wanted to create this outdoor space, said Lesley, who was a cardiac intensive care nurse before she decided to stay home with their children. We see that on a lot of (On Points) homes. We had to be creative to find a way to still make that work for us.

Out came the travertine and all of the landscaping.

Stamped concrete sits at the back of the home and on a pad where the covered pavilion is directly out the back door. The pavilions brick is painted the same white as the home, and a fireplace serves as a focal point.

Magnolia trees replaced palm trees, and ivy grows on an espalier along a wooden fence.

As much as they love relaxing in their pavilion, the best part might just be the artificial turf that replaced real grass. No mud, no dirt, no problem. And its always a beautiful shade of green.
When seconds matter, emergency services are still minutes away, as the saying goes. But when a 911 call for help is routed to another county 125 miles away, an emergency can quickly become a disaster.

Cleveland resident Jeremy Ewing claims that when his house in Kirbywood Subdivision caught on fire around 3 a.m. Wednesday, his cell phone call to 911 was directed to emergency dispatchers in Austin County, located west of Waller and Harris counties.

Ewing said the diverted call delayed emergency responders in Liberty County by about 10 minutes. By the time Cleveland and Tarkington firefighters arrived 20 minutes after the fire was first reported, the house was fully engulfed. The structure has since been condemned by the city and will have to be bulldozed to the ground. Fortunately, Jeremy and Amelia Ewing have homeowner's insurance, but the couple still has questions about why the 911 system let them down.

"Every other time I've called 911, it's gone to the right spot," Ewing said, explaining that he has reported drunk drivers to police in the past. "The one time I needed the system to work right for me, it didn't. There are cell phone towers in this area and outside of town. They are right there. If I am connected to one of those towers, my call should have been routed to Liberty County."

Ewing and his wife, Amelia, harbor no ill feelings for the firefighters, who they say tried heroically to save their home and possessions.

"When the fire started, I grabbed my dad's flag," said Amelia, explaining that it had draped her Marine father's coffin after his death last year. "I laid it down outside when I had to grab the dogs and then couldn't remember where I set it down. Those firemen were so awesome. They protected it. It didn't have one drop of water on it."

When called for comment, Cleveland Fire Chief Sean Anderson said he has heard about calls in Cleveland being diverted to the Liberty County Sheriff's Office dispatch center, but he has never experienced a situation like this.

"I've never heard of a 911 call going that far," the chief said. "This is a question for a cell phone company. It's not so much a 911 system issue as it is a cell phone issue. With the home being in the city of Cleveland, the call should have gone to Cleveland Police Department or the sheriff's office, not a county so far away."

Jeremy Ewing's phone carrier Verizon, when asked for details about how the 911 system works for cell phones, referred the Advocate's questions to Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, the Washington, D.C.-based organization that represents the U.S. wireless communications industry. Information requests to CTIA have not been answered at this time.

However, the Federal Communications Commission recognizes the "unique challenges" that cell phones can cause when making 911 calls and offers the following tips:

- State clearly to the 911 operator the location of the emergency immediately;

- Provide your cell phone number for return calls;

- Know the phone numbers used for emergency resources in your area; and

- Create "In Case of Emergency" contacts in your phone with the phone numbers of people you want notified in an emergency.

Cell phone users should also consider turning on their phone's location services, which makes it easier to pinpoint their location during an emergency.

Ewing said he followed every suggestion from the FCC and the 911 system still failed. He is adamant that it was an issue with Verizon's routing.

"I am going to keep digging to see if I can get Verizon to show me where the disconnect was in their system," he said.

His concern is that someone else in his family will call for help and it will be delayed.

"Seconds matter in these situations. We pay for these cell phone systems to work and they need to work," he said.
President Donald Trump said he still has confidence in the embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has been the subject of a cascade of ethics questions in recent days that cast doubt on his future in the job.

"I do," Trump said Thursday when asked if he had confidence in the Environmental Protection Agency chief as he boarded Air Force One for a trip to West Virginia.

Pruitt has been under fire for disclosure that he rented a condo from the wife of a prominent lobbyist under unusual terms and that the EPA used an obscure law to boost the pay of two Pruitt aides over the White House's objections. The news has spurred calls for an investigation by Congress and the EPA's watchdog. The White House said Wednesday it is conducting its own review of the rental arrangement.

Meanwhile, the author of an analysis the EPA used to justify Pruitt's lease arrangement has authored a new memo stressing the review doesn't clear Pruitt of all ethical questions involving the arrangement. Kevin Minoli, the designated EPA ethics official who conducted the review, says it only scrutinized whether the condo lease ran afoul of federal ethics regulations prohibiting certain gifts. He concluded it didn't.

But Minoli, in a new memo obtained by Bloomberg News, says he wasn't asked to and didn't examine whether the arrangement violated other ethics rules, nor "whether the actual use of the space was consistent" with the lease agreement.

"A federal employee must comply with the standards of ethical conduct, including those related to impartiality, at all times," Minoli wrote in the 24-page memo dated April 4.

Trump on Wednesday privately asked some lawmakers to share their opinions of Pruitt, said two people familiar with the requests. The president didn't signal any intention to fire Pruitt, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing private conversations with the president.

Trump asked the lawmakers how they thought Pruitt was doing politically, the people said.

Also on Wednesday, a top Pruitt ally at the EPA, Samantha Dravis, the associate administrator of the agency's office of policy, resigned, according to an EPA official who asked for anonymity because the departure hadn't yet been made public. Dravis came to the EPA after serving with Pruitt when she was general counsel of the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Meanwhile, conservative activists and industry allies are mounting an aggressive campaign to keep Pruitt in his job.

CEOs are calling President Donald Trump to argue against firing the man they see as a champion of deregulation. Senators are warning that getting an equally business-friendly replacement confirmed won't be easy. And aides have been booking him for a series of conservative-media appearances.

"We are very much in support of him and making it known," said Tom Pyle, who heads the American Energy Alliance, an influential free-market advocacy group. "Obviously, he is an ideal administrator."

The unusual campaign aims to overcome Trump's inclination to dispatch top officials with little warning. Other recent departures -- including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin -- haven't benefited from a similarly coordinated outpouring of external support.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans are warning the White House that it would be tough -- if not impossible -- to confirm a replacement. Given bruising confirmation fights expected for Trump's picks to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Department, there isn't much appetite for a fourth, said a senior Republican Senate aide who asked for anonymity to discuss strategy.

At the same time, environmental groups are stepping up a "boot Pruitt" campaign on Twitter and opposition research. The Sierra Club broadcast an ad on "Fox and Friends," which counts the president among its most loyal viewers.

Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics who resigned last year after clashing with the Trump administration, said that under the impartiality rule cited by the EPA's ethics chief, Pruitt should have steered clear of all clients of the lobbyists with ownership interests in the condo.

"The impartiality regulation addresses when you must recuse from matters involving a person with whom you have a 'covered relationship,'" Shaub said on Twitter. "This lease gave him a covered relationship not only with the landlord but also with anyone in the landlord's firm because the definition of 'person' includes both an individual and the individual's employer."

Minoli's latest memo underscores the limitations of the ethics review that Pruitt and his defenders have cast as clearing the administrator of all possible ethical concerns tied to the rental.

The unconventional lease terms permitted Pruitt to pay $50 only on days he actually occupied his bedroom in the condo, located just steps from the U.S. Capitol. He paid a total of $6,100 over a roughly six-month period last year, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.

Pruitt told the Washington Times in an interview this week that career ethics officials at the EPA "reviewed the lease and have determined there are no ethical concerns -- that it's market value."

Pruitt told the Washington Times he was living out of a suitcase and his access was confined to one room in the condo. Under the lease terms, Pruitt had to leave his bedroom door unlocked and did not have use of common areas, which continued to be a venue for dinner parties and meetings during his stay.

The EPA's first ethics review was conducted hastily last week, after news reports that Pruitt had rented the bedroom from the spouse of an energy lobbyist whose firm has clients with matters before the EPA. Health care lobbyist Vicki Hart, who co-owns the condo through a limited liability corporation, rented the bedroom to Pruitt. Her husband, J. Steven Hart, is the president of Williams & Jensen, a firm with a stable of energy industry clients including Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.

Under federal ethics laws, government employees are required to act impartially and prohibited from giving preferential treatment to any private organization or individual. They also are barred from accepting gifts or other items of value from people or entities seeking official action or conducting business with the employee's agency.

In an interview with Fox News Wednesday, Pruitt was indignant when asked if a low-priced condo rental arrangement with a lobbyist friend was in sync with President Donald Trump's "drain the swamp" campaign vow. "I don't think that that's even remotely fair to ask that question," Pruitt told Fox.

The new EPA memo asserts that there are seven comparable private bedrooms within a six-block radius of Pruitt's temporary quarters that can be rented for $55 or less per night, a basis for the ethics officer's conclusion that last year's rental was fair "market value" and did not constitute a prohibited gift. While Pruitt was allowed to leave "limited" personal belongings, such as some clothing, at the site even on nights he was not paying $50 to occupy the room, under the lease, that did not appear to factor into the ethics analysis.

The April 4 memorandum reaffirms the original decision while clarifying what was beyond the initial review's scope, Minoli said in an emailed statement.
DOSS  For a publicity-shy couple who live in this tiny ranching community, population 225, Mike and Mary Porter are causing a stir in Texas politics.

Over the past year, theyve given a total of $1.5 million to Gov. Greg Abbotts re-election campaign and to a political action committee bent on protecting Republican philosophy in drawing legislative and congressional districts. And they tossed in $70,000 to an unsuccessful legislative candidate in their home district in the hill country west of Austin.

The Porters, however, are not fond of the limelight. Mary Porter hung up on a reporter seeking an interview. And veteran political operatives and fundraisers say they havent even met the Porters and have no clue about why they suddenly have emerged as a financial force in Texas politics.

Others have theorized that the Porters, who lived in California before finding a home in a rural valley far from the closest big city, may have found common ground with Abbott, a conservative who has often contrasted Texas approach to governing with the Golden States.

Former state Rep. Doug Miller, a New Braunfels Republican whose campaign received $50,000 from Mike Porter two years ago, said the reason for the couples burst of political activity may be simple, albeit shrouded in their pursuit of privacy. Miller said he had gotten calls from other political operatives wondering whether the Porters would start spreading their money more widely.

I think hes just a guy who has got concerns and is conservative, but that doesnt mean he couldnt fall prey to some of the people who would exploit somebody who lives in Doss, Texas, Miller said. Im not saying that he is naive, but maybe a little bit of naivete on political matters. He is kind of a private person.

Yet a $1 million contribution to a governors campaign, taking advantage of Texas permissive campaign-finance laws, will attract attention. And Mike Porter pumped another $500,000 into a super PAC called #ProjectRedTX, led by a former Abbott campaign manager, that was created to repel challenges to Texas Republicans redistricting efforts.

If its not clear whats driving the Porters, theres some indication of the source of at least some of their wealth. Mary Porter is the daughter of Frank Batten, a Virginia media magnate who founded the Weather Channel and sold it a decade ago for billions. Porter is a California native who owned general and electrical contracting firms and started acquiring land in Gillespie County in 2004.

When the couple wrote the big check to Abbotts campaign last year, Mike Porter told the Houston Chronicle: We believe Gov. Abbott has put forward a vision to keep Texas exceptional and we want to do our part in supporting what hes doing. Thats all there was to it.

The Porters have continued to spend lavishly on political causes and candidates. But unlike last year, the couple isnt publicly discussing the reasons for their contributions, or anything else.

In response to an interview request from the Houston Chronicle, Mary Porter said: Were not interested. We are not interested. We know you contacted us several times and some of our friends and we are definitely not interested. Then she hung up.

Land, and a restaurant

Mary Porter, 57, is the daughter of Frank Batten Sr., who was chairman of Virginia-based Landmark Communications. At the time of his death in 2009, Landmark owned nine daily newspapers, televisions stations in Las Vegas and Nashville, more than 50 weekly newspapers and a national chain of classified advertising publications, according to his obituary in The New York Times.

Toward the end of his life, Batten was best known as the founder of the Weather Channel, which debuted in 1982. In 2008, Landmark sold it to NBC Universal and two private equity firms for nearly $3.5 billion.

Batten and his wife, Jane, had three children  a son and two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Dorothy.

Michael Porter, 70, was born southwest of Los Angeles. According to California business filings, Porter registered several companies, including the Red Butte Corp., Jayport Electric, Inc., and Wespac Electric with addresses in Los Angeles County, and Landco Management Corp. in San Diego County. A 2009 business record listed Landco as a general contractor.

Mike Porter began to buy land in Gillespie County in 2004 under a trust, according to property records. In addition to their Cross Creek Ranch in Doss, the Porters own a house in nearby Fredericksburg.

He sued the Doss school district in 2013, accusing it of withholding public records in the acquisition of a house and land adjacent to the school that he said cost the district too much. The district said Porter had tried to buy the same property. He dropped the lawsuit eight months after filing it.

That year, Mike Porter also was the target of a lawsuit. Matthew Cavin, the executive chef of the restaurant in the Doss Country Store that Porter owned, sued him, alleging that Porter violated his employment contract when Porter fired him without cause. Porter rejected the allegation.

Cavin said he had warned the couple that the restaurant would lose money, but Cavin said Mary Porter enjoyed eating and entertaining at a restaurant outside Fredericksburg and wanted one.

The Porters wanted a restaurant with the acclaim of the Hilltop Cafe, according to court records filed by Cavins Austin attorney, Jim Guleke. The Porters told Cavin that they did not care whether the restaurant to be opened in the Doss Country Store made money. They just wanted to have a restaurant there.

Guleke deposed Mike and Mary Porter separately in 2014. Cavin said as part of the lawsuits out-of-court settlement, he agreed not to release copies of the depositions. The store and restaurant have closed.

Discussion over a Coors

The Porters made their first campaign contribution in Texas in 2014, when the couple made one and Mike Porter made another to Abbotts successful gubernatorial campaign. The two contributions totaled $5,000.

The following year, Porter gave $50,000 to Miller, the Republican House member who represented three counties, including Gillespie. Miller lost in a GOP runoff to a tea party favorite, Kyle Biedermann.

Miller said Porter told him he asked his Doss neighbors whom he should support and they said Miller. One of the Porters neighbors is a relative of Millers wife, whose descendants helped found Doss in the mid-1850s.

He and I had a conversation on the back of one of his pickups over a Coors beer and I guess he decided he liked me because he made a nice contribution to my campaign, Miller said.

John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbotts campaign, said the Porters generosity extends well beyond politics.

They play a pivotal role in their community where they provide scholarships to children, are heavily engaged in building the new fire station in Doss, are staunch supporters of the Wounded Warrior Group, Combat Marine Outdoors, and so much more, Wittman said in a written statement. The Governor is grateful not only for the (Porters) financial support of his campaign, but also their support for Texas values that have made the Lone Star State the freest and most prosperous state in the nation.

The Porters contributed $50,000 last December to David L. Campbell, a former Fredericksburg school board member who challenged Biedermann in the GOP primary. They followed that up with $20,000 last month to Campbells campaign. Biedermann defeated Campbell in the primary. Biedermann and Campbell could not be reached for comment.

Other Republicans  including state party chairman James Dickey, Gillespie County GOP Chairman Dalton Fromme, and Allen Blakemore, a campaign consultant for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick  said they didnt know the Porters.

In November and December of last year, Mike Porter made two contributions totaling $500,000 to #ProjectRedTX. When the PAC disclosed contributions and expenditures earlier this year to the Federal Election Commission, Porter was the sole donor.

The PACs website states: Low taxes, positive business climate, and a predictable regulatory process have paved the way for those wanting a freer way of participating in free enterpriseTexans are welcoming people. Our neighbors that move here from out of state laud their newfound freedom. We cannot sit by and take it for granted.
More than 2,800 students in Katy ISD were left homeless after Hurricane Harvey. Students at four high schools in Northeast Houston had to consolidate and split school days after two of their campuses flooded. Younger students across Houston still cry during hard rains.

As schools and districts prepare for STAAR testing to begin Tuesday, the Texas Education Agency has remained mum on whether it will hand out poor academic ratings to campuses that bore the brunt of Hurricane Harvey last August.

Since October, school districts from Port Aransas to the Louisiana border have pleaded with lawmakers and TEA officials for a one-year reprieve from consequences and ratings tied to poorer student performance on the state-mandated STAAR test. School district administrators who have testified in front of legislative public education committees said almost all of their students missed at least two weeks of school after the storm. Using their scores to punish schools in flooded communities would be unfair, they said.

If such a reprieve were granted to Houston ISD and 10 of its longest struggling schools, it would help the district avoid state takeover by a state-appointed board of managers. Ten of the districts more than 280 schools have failed to meet the states academic standards for the past five years, triggering a state law mandating the schools either close, the state takeover the district, or the district find a third-party partner to assume management of the struggling campuses. To bring those schools up to the states standards, the district has spent $18 million and has provided the schools and more than a dozen others with additional staff and resources since August.

HISD Trustee Sergio Lira said Harvey made the districts efforts in those 10 schools more difficult after students and teachers alike were flooded out of their homes.

I am just flabbergasted. Why are they being so insensitive about this? The affects of such a national tragedy, its long term, Lira said. It doesnt just affect students, it affects the whole family, it affects teachers, it affects a lot of people involved with this. I really am surprised and very disappointed for not giving us a reprieve.

Houston ISD is not the only district feeling stressed over the uncertainty of how students will fare and how schools will be judged based on their test scores.

In Aransas County ISD, Superintendent Joseph Patek testified last November that about 200 of his students did not attend any school for six-and-a-half weeks.

"These students are still going to be asked to take the STAAR exams, and I understand the reasoning for that. What I'm asking for, is that TEA give our district and districts affected by Harvey a waiver from being publicly graded on a school report card this year," Patek said. "I think accountability has been good for education, and I don't mind taking exams. I just don't want to be publicly humiliated over something we have no control over."

Patek could not be reached for comment Thursday.

School district officials from Harvey-affected areas expressed worry over the state's new A-through-F grading system for school districts, which is set to debut in August. The TEA will use STAAR scores from this spring to calculate letter grades for districts statewide, but officials in Harvey-affected areas worry it will create a stigma for schools in areas still struggling to recover.

"For us, F stands for flood, not a failing district," Charlotte Baker, executive director of the Education Service Center 3, which serves school districts surrounding Victoria, testified last November. "It should not stand for a district dealing with social and emotional challenges of the community and schools as we allocate all efforts toward recovery."

Others are less concerned. Linda Macias, associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction and accountability at Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, said Thursday that officials adjusted their lesson plans after students missed 10 days of school at the beginning of the academic year. She said the district typically does not stress test performance in normal years, instead relying on teaching to the state standards to ensure students pass.

I dont believe weve done much of anything different than in past years, with the exception of making sure additional funds were available for our campuses for tutoring support and interventions for any of the kids we saw falling behind, Macias said.

After Hurricane Ike slammed into the Gulf Coast in 2008, the TEA created a provision changing how accountability ratings were given to districts and schools across Galveston and Houston. If a school's 2009 rating was "Academically Unacceptable" or lower than the rating it received in 2008, the TEA listed it as: "Not Rated: Other."

Last November, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath told the Texas House Public Education Committee he would have a decision about whether his agency would relax accountability standards for Harvey-affected districts by December.

In December, the TEA told districts they could not hold back fifth and eighth grade graders who scored poorly on their STAAR exams. It did not, however, include information for how schools and districts would be graded.

DeEtta Culbertson, a spokeswoman for the TEA, said Morath is taking his time to make sure he examines all aspects of the decision.

The commissioner is being very thorough as he looks at all the information and pros and cons of what may and may not be done, Culbertson said. Its just taking a while.
MOSUL, Iraq  Weeks after the militants seized the city, as fighters roamed the streets and religious extremists rewrote the laws, an order rang out from the loudspeakers of local mosques.

Public servants, the speakers blared, were to report to their former offices.

To make sure every government worker got the message, the militants followed up with phone calls to supervisors. When one tried to beg off, citing a back injury, he was told: If you dont show up, well come and break your back ourselves.

The phone call reached Muhammad Nasser Hamoud, a 19-year-veteran of the Iraqi Directorate of Agriculture, behind the locked gate of his home, where he was hiding with his family. Terrified but unsure what else to do, he and his colleagues trudged back to their six-story office complex decorated with posters of seed hybrids.

They arrived to find chairs lined up in neat rows, as if for a lecture.

The commander who strode in sat facing the room, his leg splayed out so that everyone could see the pistol holstered to his thigh. For a moment, the only sounds were the hurried prayers of the civil servants mumbling under their breath.

Their fears proved unfounded. Though he spoke in a menacing tone, the commander had a surprisingly tame request: Resume your jobs immediately, he told them. A sign-in sheet would be placed at the entrance to each department. Those who failed to show up would be punished.

Meetings like this one occurred throughout the territory controlled by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, in 2014. Soon municipal employees were back fixing potholes, painting crosswalks, repairing power lines and overseeing payroll.

We had no choice but to go back to work, said Hamoud. We did the same job as before. Except we were now serving a terrorist group.

The disheveled fighters who burst out of the desert more than three years ago founded a state that was acknowledged by no one except themselves. And yet for nearly three years, the Islamic State controlled a stretch of land that at one point was the size of Britain, with a population estimated at 12 million people. At its peak, it included a 100-mile coastline in Libya, a section of Nigerias lawless forests and a city in the Philippines, as well as colonies in at least 13 other countries. By far the largest city under their rule was Mosul.

Nearly all of that territory has now been lost, but what the militants left behind helps answer the troubling question of their longevity: How did a group whose spectacles of violence galvanized the world against it hold onto so much land for so long?

Part of the answer can be found in more than 15,000 pages of internal Islamic State documents I recovered during five trips to Iraq over more than a year.

The documents were pulled from the drawers of the desks behind which the militants once sat, from the shelves of their police stations, from the floors of their courts, from the lockers of their training camps and from the homes of their emirs, including a record detailing the jailing of a 14-year-old boy for goofing around during prayer.

The New York Times worked with outside experts to verify their authenticity, and a team of journalists spent 15 months translating and analyzing them page by page.

Individually, each piece of paper documents a single, routine interaction: A land transfer between neighbors. The sale of a ton of wheat. A fine for improper dress.

But taken together, the documents in the trove reveal the inner workings of a complex system of government. They show that the group, if only for a finite amount of time, realized its dream: to establish its own state, a theocracy they considered a caliphate, run according to their strict interpretation of Islam.

The world knows the Islamic State for its brutality, but the militants did not rule by the sword alone. They wielded power through two complementary tools: brutality and bureaucracy.

The Islamic State built a state of administrative efficiency that collected taxes and picked up the garbage. It ran a marriage office that oversaw medical examinations to ensure that couples could have children. It issued birth certificates  printed on Islamic State stationery  to babies born under the caliphates black flag. It even ran its own department of motor vehicles.

The documents and interviews with dozens of people who lived under their rule show that the group at times offered better services and proved itself more capable than the government it had replaced.

They also suggest that the militants learned from mistakes the United States made in 2003 after it invaded Iraq, including the decision to purge members of Saddam Husseins ruling party from their positions and bar them from future employment. That decree succeeded in erasing the Baathist state, but also gutted the countrys civil institutions, creating the power vacuum that groups like the Islamic State rushed to fill.

A little more than a decade later, after seizing huge tracts of Iraq and Syria, the militants tried a different tactic. They built their state on the back of the one that existed before, absorbing the administrative know-how of its hundreds of government cadres. An examination of how the group governed reveals a pattern of collaboration between the militants and the civilians under their yoke.

One of the keys to their success was their diversified revenue stream. The group drew its income from so many strands of the economy that airstrikes alone were not enough to cripple it.

Ledgers, receipt books and monthly budgets describe how the militants monetized every inch of territory they conquered, taxing every bushel of wheat, every liter of sheeps milk and every watermelon sold at markets they controlled. From agriculture alone, they reaped hundreds of millions of dollars. Contrary to popular perception, the group was self-financed, not dependent on external donors.

More surprisingly, the documents provide further evidence that the tax revenue the Islamic State earned far outstripped income from oil sales. It was daily commerce and agriculture  not petroleum  that powered the economy of the caliphate.

The U.S.-led coalition, trying to eject the Islamic State from the region, tried in vain to strangle the group by bombing its oil installations. Its much harder to bomb a barley field. It was not until last summer that the militants abandoned Mosul, after a battle so intense that it was compared to the worst combat of World War II.

While the militants state eventually crumbled, its blueprint remains for others to use.

We dismiss the Islamic State as savage. It is savage. We dismiss it as barbaric. It is barbaric. But at the same time these people realized the need to maintain institutions, said Fawaz A. Gerges, author of ISIS: A History.

The Islamic States capacity to govern is really as dangerous as their combatants, he said.

Land for the Taking

The day after the meeting, Hamoud, a Sunni, returned to work and found that his department was now staffed 100 percent by Sunnis, the sect of Islam practiced by the militants. The Shia and Christian colleagues who previously shared his office had all fled.

For a while, Hamoud and the employees he supervised at the agriculture department went on much as they had before. Even the stationery they used was the same, though they were instructed to use a marker to cover up the Iraqi governments logo.

But the long-bearded men who now oversaw Hamouds department had come with a plan and they slowly began to enact it.

For generations, jihadis had dreamed of establishing a caliphate. Osama bin Laden frequently spoke of it and his affiliates experimented with governing in the dunes of Mali, in the badlands of Yemen and in pockets of Iraq. Their goal was to recreate the society that existed over a millennium ago during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.

In Mosul, what had been called the Directorate of Agriculture was renamed em>Diwan al-Zeraa,/em> which can be translated as the Ministry of Agriculture. The term em>diwan/em> harks back to the seventh-century rule of one of the earliest caliphs.

The Islamic State printed new letterhead that showed it had branded at least 14 administrative offices with em>diwan/em>, renaming familiar ones such as education and health. Then it opened em>diwans/em> for things that people had not heard of: something called the em>hisba/em>, which they soon learned was the feared morality police; another em>diwan/em> for the pillaging of antiquities; yet another dedicated to war spoils.

What began as a cosmetic change in Hamouds office soon turned into a wholesale transformation.

The militants sent female employees home for good and closed the day care center. They shuttered the offices legal department, saying disputes would now be handled according to Gods law alone.

And they did away with one of the departments daily duties  checking an apparatus, placed outside, to measure precipitation. Rain, they said, was a gift from Allah  and who were they to measure his gift?

Employees were also told they could no longer shave and they had to make sure the leg of their trousers did not reach the ankle.

Glossy pamphlets pinpointed the spot on the calf where the hem of the garb worn by the companions of the prophet around 1,400 years ago was said to have reached.

Eventually, the 57-year-old Hamoud, who wears his hair in a comb-over and prides himself on his professional appearance, stopped buying razors. He took out the slacks he wore to work and asked his wife to trim off 5 centimeters, or about 2 inches.

But the biggest change came five months into the groups rule, and it turned the hundreds of employees who had reluctantly returned to work into direct accomplices of the Islamic State. The change involved the very department Hamoud headed, which was responsible for renting government-owned land to farmers.

To increase revenue, the militants ordered the agriculture department to speed up the process for renting land, streamlining a weekslong application into something that could be accomplished in an afternoon.

That was just the beginning.

It was then that government workers got word that they should begin renting out property that had never belonged to the government. The instructions were laid out in a 27-page manual emblazoned with the phrase The Caliphate on the Path of Prophecy. The handbook outlined the groups plans for seizing property from the religious groups it had expelled and using it as the seed capital of the caliphate.

Confiscation, the manual says, will be applied to the property of every single Shia, apostate, Christian, Nusayri and Yazidi based on a lawful order issued directly by the Ministry of the Judiciary.

Islamic State members are exclusively Sunni and see themselves as the only true believers. Hamouds office was instructed to make a comprehensive list of the properties owned by non-Sunnis  and to seize them for redistribution.

The confiscation didnt stop at the land and homes of the families they chased out. An entire ministry was set up to collect and reallocate beds, tables, bookshelves  even the forks the militants took from the houses they seized. They called it the Ministry of War Spoils.

It was housed in a stone-faced building in western Mosul that was hit by an airstrike in the battle to retake the city. The ensuing fire consumed the structure and blackened its walls. But the charred shapes left behind still told a story. Each room served as a warehouse for ordinary household objects: kerosene heaters in one; cooking ranges in another; a jumble of air coolers and water tanks in yet another.

The few papers that did not burn up showed how objects seized from the religious groups they had chased out were offered as rewards to Islamic State fighters.

Please kindly approve the request of the family of the late Brother Durayd Salih Khalaf, says one letter written on the letterhead of the Islamic States Prisoners and Martyrs Affairs Authority. The request was for a stove and a washing machine. A note scribbled at the bottom says: To be provided with a plasma TV and stove only.

Another application from the General Telecommunications Authority requested, among other things, clothes hangers.

The Islamic States promise of taking care of its own, including free housing for foreign recruits, was one of the draws of the caliphate.

Im in Mosul and its really the top here, Kahina el-Hadra, a young Frenchwoman who joined the group in 2015, wrote in an email that year to her secondary school teacher, according to a transcript contained in a report by the Paris Criminal Brigade, which was obtained by The Times.

I have an apartment that is fully furnished, Hadra gushed. I pay no rent nor even electricity or water lol. Its the good life!!! I didnt buy so much as a single fork.

When her concerned teacher wrote back that the apartment had probably been stolen from another family, she shot back: Serves them right, dirty Shia!!!

Hadra, according to police records, was the pregnant wife of one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up in the packed Bataclan concert hall during the Paris attacks of 2015.

The Paper Trail

I got into the habit of digging through the trash left behind by terrorists in 2013, when I was reporting on al-Qaida in Mali. Locals pointed out buildings the group had occupied in the deserts of Timbuktu. Beneath overturned furniture and in abandoned filing cabinets, I found letters the militants had hand-carried across the dunes that spelled out their vision of jihad.

Those documents revealed the inner workings of al-Qaida and years later I wanted to investigate the Islamic State in the same way.

When the coalition forces moved to take Mosul back from the militants in late 2016, I rushed to Iraq. For three weeks, I tried  and failed  to find any documents. Day after day, my team negotiated access to buildings painted with the Islamic State logo, only to find desk drawers jutting out and hard drives ripped out.

Then, the day before my return flight, we met a man who remembered seeing stacks of paper inside the provincial headquarters of the Islamic States Ministry of Agriculture in a small village called Omar Khan, 25 miles southeast of the city. The next day we traveled to the town, no more than a speck on the map of the Nineveh Plains, and entered House No. 47.

My heart sank as we pushed open the door and saw that the closets had been flung open  a clear sign that the place had already been cleared.

But on the way out, I stopped at what seemed to be an outhouse. When we opened the door, we saw piles of yellow folders cinched together with twine and stacked on the floor.

We pulled one out, laid it open in the sun  and there was the unmistakable black banner of the Islamic State, the flag they claim was flown by the prophet himself.

Folder after folder, 273 in all, identified plots of land owned by farmers who belonged to one of the faiths banned by the group. Each yellow sleeve contained the handwritten request of a Sunni applying to confiscate the property.

Doing so involved a step-by-step process, beginning with a report by a surveyor, who mapped the plot, noted important topographical features and researched the propertys ownership. Once it was determined that the land was owned by one of the targeted groups, it was classified as property of the Islamic State. Then a contract was drawn up spelling out that the tenant could neither sublet the land nor modify it without the groups permission.

The outhouse discovery taught me to stay off the beaten track. I learned to read the landscape for clues, starting with baqiya  the first word of the Islamic State slogan. It can be translated as will remain, and marked the buildings the group occupied, invoking its claim that the Islamic State will endure.

Once we confirmed that a building had been occupied by the group, we lifted up the mattresses and pulled back the headboards of beds. We rifled through the closets, opened kitchen cupboards, followed the stairs to the roof and scanned the grounds.

The danger of land mines and booby-traps hung over our team. In one villa, we found a collection of records  but could search only one set of rooms after security forces discovered an unexploded bomb.

Because the buildings were near the front lines, Iraqi security forces nearly always accompanied our team. They led the way and gave permission to take the documents. In time, the troops escorting us became our sources and they, in turn, shared what they found, augmenting our cache by hundreds of records.

The Times asked six analysts to examine portions of the trove, including Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, who maintains his own archive of Islamic State documents and has written a primer on how to identify fraudulent ones; Mara Revkin, a Yale scholar who has made repeated trips to Mosul to study the groups administration; and a team of analysts at West Points Combating Terrorism Center who analyzed the records found in bin Ladens hideout in Pakistan.

They deemed the records to be original, based on the markings, logos and stamps, as well as the names of government offices. The terminology and design were consistent with those found on documents issued by the group in other parts of the caliphate, including as far afield as Libya.

As lease after lease was translated back in New York, the same signature inked at the bottom of numerous contracts kept reappearing: Chief Technical Supervisor, Mahmoud Ismael Salim, Supervisor of Land.

On my first trip back to Iraq, I showed the leases to a local police officer. He recognized the angular signature and offered to escort me to the home of the Islamic State bureaucrat.

The officer shrugged when asked why a man who had taken part in the groups organized land theft had not been arrested. His men were overwhelmed investigating those who had fought and killed on behalf of the terrorist group, he said. They didnt have time to also go after the hundreds of civil servants who had worked in the Islamic States administration.

Hours later, the man whose signature appeared on the lease for farmland seized from a Christian priest, on the contract for the orchards taken from a monastery, and on the deed for land stolen from a Shia family allowed us into his modest home.

The only decoration in his living room was a broken clock whose hand trembled between 10:43 and 10:44.

A stooped man with thick glasses, the 63-year-old Salim was visibly nervous. He explained that he had spent years overseeing the provincial office of the government of Iraqs Directorate of Agriculture, where he reported to Hamoud, whom we contacted for the first time a few days later.

Salim acknowledged that it was his signature on the leases. But speaking haltingly, he claimed to have been forcibly conscripted into the bureaucracy of the terrorist state.

They took our files and started going through them, searching which of the properties belong to Shia, which of them belong to apostates, which of them are people who had left the caliphate, he said.

He described informants phoning in the addresses of Shias and Christians.

Sunnis who were too poor to pay the rent upfront were offered a sharecropping agreement with the Islamic State, allowing them to take possession of the stolen land in return for one-third of the future harvest.

On busy days, a line snaked around his office building, made up of Sunni farmers, many of them resentful of their treatment at the hands of a Shia-led Iraqi government. In the same compound where we found the stacks of yellow folders, Salim received men he knew, whose children had played with his. They came to steal the land of other men they all knew  whose children had also grown up alongside theirs.

With the stroke of his pen, farmers lost their ancestors cropland, their sons were robbed of their inheritance and the wealth of entire families, built up over generations, was wiped out.

These are relationships we built over decades, from the time of my father, and my fathers father, Salim said, pleading for understanding. These were my brothers, but we were forced to do it.

A Clean Sweep

As 2014 blurred into 2015 and Hamoud and his colleagues helped keep the machinery of government running, Islamic State soldiers set out to remake every aspect of life in the city  starting with the role of women.

Billboards went up showing an image of a woman fully veiled. The militants commandeered a textile factory, which began manufacturing bales of regulation-length female clothing. Soon thousands of niqab sets were delivered to the market and women who didnt cover up began to be fined.

Hamoud, who is known as Abu Sara, or Father of Sara, gave in and bought a niqab for his daughter.

As he walked to and from work, Hamoud began taking side streets to dodge the frequent executions that were being carried out in traffic circles and public squares. In one, a teenage girl accused of adultery was dragged out of a minivan and forced to her knees. Then a stone slab was dropped onto her head. On a bridge, the bodies of people accused of being spies swung from the railing.

But on the same thoroughfares, Hamoud noticed something that filled him with shame: The streets were visibly cleaner than they had been when the Iraqi government was in charge.

Omar Bilal Younes, a 42-year-old truck driver whose occupation allowed him to crisscross the caliphate, noticed the same improvement. Garbage collection was No. 1 under ISIS, he said, flashing a thumbs-up sign.

The street sweepers hadnt changed. What had was that the militants imposed a discipline that had been lacking, said a half-dozen sanitation employees who worked under the Islamic State and who were interviewed in three towns after the group was forced out.

The only thing I could do during the time of government rule is to give a worker a one-day suspension without pay, said Salim Ali Sultan, who oversaw garbage collection both for the Iraqi government and later for the Islamic State in the northern Iraqi town of Tel Kaif. Under ISIS, they could be imprisoned.

Residents also said that their taps were less likely to run dry, the sewers less likely to overflow and potholes fixed more quickly under the militants, even though there were now near-daily airstrikes.

Then one day, residents of Mosul saw earthmovers heading toward a neighborhood called the Industrial Area in the eastern half of the city. Laborers were seen paving a new blacktop road that would eventually run for roughly 1 mile, connecting two areas of the city and reducing congestion.

The new highway was called Caliphate Way.

The new government did not concern itself only with administrative matters. For morality, as for everything else, there was a bureaucracy.

Citizens stopped in the street by the em>hisba/em>, the morality police, and accused of an offense were ordered to hand over their IDs in return for a confiscation receipt. The ID was taken to the groups office, where residents were forced to appear and face judgment. Religious specialists weighed the crime, filling out a form.

Afterward, the offender was made to sign another form: I, the undersigned, pledge not to cut or trim my beard again, said one. If I do that again, I will be subject to all kinds of punishments that the Hisba Center may take against me.

The zeal with which the Islamic State policed the population is reflected in the 87 prison transfer records they abandoned in one of their police stations. Citizens were thrown into jail for a litany of obscure crimes, including eyebrow plucking, inappropriate haircuts, raising pigeons, playing dominoes, playing cards, playing music and smoking the hookah.

In early 2016, Hamouds daughter Sara ran out for a quick errand without covering her eyes.

She was spotted by an officer from the morality police. Before she could explain, he smashed his fist into her eye.

From then on, her father forbade her to leave the house, except to drive to the hospital for the appointments that followed the assault, which left her with vision loss, the family said.

With change sweeping the region, residents were forced to make fraught choices, among them: Stay or leave, rebel or accommodate.

Hamoud decided to try to escape. He and his eldest son, 28-year-old Omar, had set aside over $30,000 to buy a new home. The morning of their planned departure, Omar withdrew all but around $1,000 from the bank account.

Not even two hours later, a unit of masked fighters banged down the familys front door. One of them was holding the bank slip Omar had signed.

Try this again and well kill every last one of you, the militants warned.

The Money Machine

On the western banks of the Tigris River, in a pulverized building, I found an abandoned briefcase.

The documents that spilled out revealed that the briefcase belonged to Yasir Issa Hassan, a young professional whose photo identification shows a balding man with a large, aquiline nose. He was the administrator of the Trade Division inside the Islamic State Ministry of Agriculture.

The groups outsize ambitions and its robust bureaucracy hinged on its ability to generate funds. Bulging with accounting forms, budget projections and receipts, as well as two CD-ROMs containing spreadsheets, the briefcase shed light on the scope of the organizations revenue machine and offered a blueprint for how it worked.

The financial reports tallied over $19 million in transactions involving agriculture alone.

The documents describe how it made money at every step in the supply chain: Before a single seed of grain, for example, was sown, the group collected rent for the fields it had confiscated. Then, when the crops were ready to be threshed, it collected a harvest tax.

It did not stop there.

The trucks that transported the grain paid highway tolls. The grain was stored in silos, which the militants controlled, and they made money when the grain was sold to mills, which they also controlled. The mills ground the grain into flour, which the group sold to traders.

Then the bags of flour were loaded onto trucks, which traversed the caliphate, paying more tolls. It was sold to supermarkets and shops, which were also taxed. So were the consumers who bought the finished product.

In a single 24-hour period in 2015, one of the spreadsheets in the briefcase shows, the Islamic State collected $1.9 million from the sale of barley and wheat.

Another table shows that the militants earned over $3 million in three months from gross flour sales in just three locations in Mosul.

The organization appeared intent on making money off every last grain  even crops that were damaged.

On just one day, according to another statement, it took in over $14,000 from wheat described as having been scorched in a bombing, and $2,300 from the sale of spoiled lentils and chickpeas. It also took in over $23,000 from grain that had been scraped off the bottom of a tank, according to one spreadsheet.

The Islamic States tax arm reached into every facet of life in Mosul. Households in Iraq were taxed 2,000 dinars per month (less than $2) for garbage collection, 10,000 dinars (about $8) for each 10 amperes of electricity, and another 10,000 for municipal water.

Businesses wishing to install a landline paid a 15,000-dinar (about $12) installation fee to the groups telecommunications office, followed by a 5,000-dinar monthly maintenance fee.

Municipal offices charged for marriage licenses and birth certificates.

But perhaps the most lucrative tax was a religious tax known as em>zakat/em>, which is considered one of the five pillars of Islam. It is calculated at 2.5 percent of an individuals assets, and up to 10 percent for agricultural production, according to Revkin, the Yale researcher. While some of these fees had been charged by the Iraqi and Syrian governments, the mandatory asset tax was a new development.

Ordinarily in Islamic practice, the zakat is a tithe used to help the poor. In the Islamic States interpretation, an act of charity became a mandatory payment, and while some of the funds collected were used to help needy families, the Ministry of Zakat and Charities acted more like a version of the IRS.

Most accounts of how the Islamic State became the richest terrorist group in the world focus on its black-market oil sales, which at one point brought in as much as $2 million per week, according to some estimates. Yet records recovered in Syria by al-Tamimi and analyzed by Revkin show that the ratio of money earned from taxes versus oil stood at 6:1.

Despite hundreds of airstrikes that left the caliphate pocked with craters, the groups economy continued to function, fed by streams of revenue that could not be bombed under international norms: the civilians under their rule, their commercial activity and the dirt under their feet.

According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the land that the militants seized was Iraqs most fertile, and at the groups height, the fields that were harvested accounted for 40 percent of the countrys annual wheat production and more than half of its barley crop. In Syria, the group at one point controlled as much as 80 percent of the countrys cotton crop, according to a study by the Paris-based Center for the Analysis of Terrorism.

It all added up to astonishing sums, as much as $800 million in annual tax revenue, according to the study.

Still, the groups ambition of running a state meant it also had large bills.

On a single day in the summer of 2016, the owner of the briefcase handed over $150,000 to one of the groups accountants to pay for the transport of wheat from one town to another, according to one financial report.

In a two-week period the same year, he paid over $16,000 to the Islamic State trade division in the Dijlah district and $14,000 to the one in Kirkuk. He gave an $8,400 cash advance to the groups Hawija office, $16,800 to the land department and $8,400 to the Islamic State province straddling the Euphrates River.

Tax collection continued until the very end. At least 100 documents labeled Daily Gross Revenue that showed incoming cash were dated November 2016, a month after the start of the coalitions push to take back the city.

Even as tanks were rolling in and taking surrounding neighborhoods, the trade division continued to make money, pocketing $70,000 in a single sale.

After the Islamic State

One day in late 2016, a flyer decorated with the Iraqi flag floated down onto the Hamoud familys home.

The agricultural department official and his extended family were hunkered down inside the living room, sitting elbow-to-elbow on an L-shaped couch, he recalls. By then, the militants had banned both cellphones and satellite dishes. They were cut off from the world.

The flyer was one of millions dropped over Mosul warning the population to take cover. The military assault was about to begin.

Could this really be happening? Hamoud wondered. Then he used a lighter to incinerate the flyer.

The fighters whose plans of building a state had been met with ridicule proved surprisingly good at it. It took nine months to wrest Mosul from the militants grip, a slog that one senior U.S. general said was the most difficult battle he had witnessed in 35 years.

Since then, the militants have lost all but 3 percent of the territory in Iraq and Syria they once held. But they clung so tightly to their caliphate that block after city block was leveled during the battle to take back cities and towns. Thousands of people have lost their homes. New mass graves are being discovered every month. One of them contains the remains of four of Hamouds cousins.

His daughter Sara now wears thick glasses to correct her vision, which has been blurry since the day she was punched by the em>hisba/em>. Even through her compromised eyesight, she can see the mountain of trash rising in the empty lot across from her familys home.

Few have anything good to say about their old rulers  unless prodded to talk about the services they provided.

We have to be honest, Hamoud said. It was much cleaner under ISIS.

Though the militants are gone, reminders of the Islamic State and their particular style of governance remain.

In the northern town of Tel Kaif, for example, residents recall how the militants conscripted a committee of electrical engineers to fix an overloaded power grid. They installed new circuit breakers, and for the first time, residents who had been accustomed to at most six hours of electricity a day could now reliably turn on lights.

In early 2017, Iraqi soldiers reclaimed the town, and were welcomed as heroes. But then they disconnected the Islamic State circuit breakers  and the power failures resumed.

If the government was to go back to the system that ISIS put in place, we would go so far as to kiss their foreheads, Younes, the truck driver, said at the time.

Within a few months, the government did just that.

The irony that it had taken a terrorist group to fix one of the towns long-standing grievances was not lost on its citizens.

Although they were not recognized as a state or a country, said one shopkeeper, Ahmed Ramzi Salim, they acted like one.
Gregory Boyd, the Alley Theatre's former artistic director, retired under pressure from board leadership after they learned of "the depth of staff concerns regarding his behavior," the theater's top administrator said Friday.

The Alley's leadership previously had refused to comment on abuse allegations leveled against Boyd, who announced his retirement Jan. 9, saying at the time that it had been planned for months but delayed by Hurricane Harvey.

The theater's managing director, Dean Gladden, broke his public silence Friday as rumors swirled of a potential staff walkout, some donors and patrons assailed Boyd's severance agreement on Facebook and supporters of Alley employees wore red as part of a social media campaign demanding accountability, with the hashtag #WhyWeWearRed.

The Houston Chronicle started investigating abuse allegations against Boyd in the fall and was told by more than 20 current and former Alley employees that his 28-year, Tony award-winning tenure was tainted by abusive behavior, particularly toward young actresses.

Boyd's former colleagues reported he screamed profanities at employees, and two actresses told the Chronicle he touched their buttocks inappropriately while giving stage directions.

Boyd, 66, did not return a reporter's phone call.

The theater's managing director, Dean Gladden, issued a news release Friday morning that offered a vaguely worded apology for the Alley's handling of the allegations.

"On behalf of the Alley Theatre, we apologize for recent events and the actions that led to these news stories," the statement read.

Asked if he was apologizing for Boyd's allegedly abusive behavior or for the Alley's response to it, Gladden said: "It's everything. I just apologize for absolutely everything."

Mum on personnel issue

Gladden, managing director for 11 years, refused to answer many questions about Boyd. He and Boyd both reported directly to the board, and he had no power to discipline or fire Boyd, Gladden said.

Asked when he first became aware of the allegations against Boyd, Gladden said he was unsure. He also said he could not recall the first allegation he heard. He said he made the board aware of allegations against Boyd but refused to disclose when he did so.

"That is a personnel issue that wouldn't be proper to discuss," Gladden said.

In a Jan. 9 news release announcing Boyd's departure, the theater said he had planned to retire before Hurricane Harvey hit in August, flooding the theater in the heart of the city's downtown.

However, the Chronicle filed a request under a state law that requires financial disclosures by nonprofits and learned that Boyd had been paid more than $380,000 severance as part of his retirement.

News of that payment angered many Alley employees, who have been unable to get raises this year. Some staff members were considering the possibility of a walkout before Gladden called a staff meeting Friday morning and issued the apology.

"We recognize that this lack of transparency has been viewed negatively," Gladden said in the statement. "We should have handled it differently. We apologize to those impacted, the Alley staff, patrons, donors, press, and to the city of Houston."

The statement said Boyd "had been discussing retirement options with members of the Board of Directors," but it did not say when that started. Gladden would not disclose which board members were involved in those conversations but said he was told they started a year ago.

"When the Alley Theatre Board Leadership learned of the depth of staff concerns regarding his behavior, they requested he proceed with his retirement," the statement said.

Gladden said that occurred in early January.

Butch Mach, the board's president, did not return a reporter's phone call Friday.

Boyd was about one year into a five-year contract when he announced his retirement. He was paid at least $420,000 in the fiscal year that ended in June 2016, according to tax records.

The Chronicle started investigating allegations against Boyd after current and former employees complained about his behavior in the midst of the "#MeToo" movement.

Emily Trask, a member of the company for nearly two years, told the Chronicle in an article published this month that she quit her "dream job" at the Alley in April after reporting to three members of management that Boyd had bullied her at rehearsals and called her a "stupid c---" while giving another actor stage direction.

Trask and another actress, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported being touched inappropriately by Boyd on their buttocks.

Alley hires consultant

After the Chronicle's story this month, the Alley did not directly address the allegations against Boyd but announced the creation of a special board committee to evaluate the "workplace environment."

The Alley also hired a third-party consultant, Walker Consulting Group, to help provide guidance and recommendations for changes.

Asked why the Alley was issuing an apology now, more than two weeks after the allegations were published, Gladden said: "We felt it was best to make a full apology, that this is the appropriate time. We felt our advice on how to handle the situation wasn't working."

He declined to elaborate.

"We're really working on the healing process now," Gladden said. "We are very optimistic about the future and look forward to bringing on a new artistic director and having the Alley continue as an outstanding organization for the city."

Jane Wagner, a longtime Alley donor and supporter who was critical of its earlier silence, welcomed the theater's apology.

"This statement of contrition by Dean Gladden, and his taking ownership that The Alley mishandled many allegations of abuse, is a start to changing the climate there that protected the wrong people for decades," Wagner said. "Hopefully, stellar plays will continue to be performed at the Alley, but will no longer compromise human decency in the process.

"It's a long road back to regain the confidence of donors, actors, playwrights, and the entire community, but it's an important beginning."

Longtime Alley actor and director James Black is serving as interim artistic director at the Alley, which is among the five largest nonprofit theater companies outside of New York.

Positive steps or PR?

Actor John Feltch said the apology was a positive step, though the statement seemed "more cosmetic than genuine."

"They are trying desperately to shore up public relations, but as is always the case in situations like these, they would have been so much better off coming clean and being honest about the situation," said Feltch, who worked at the Alley in the 1990s and returned recently for more than a year, until Boyd let him go in August. "To see a lack of transparency, that saddens me.

"I hope and expect that will change."

Blair Gulledge, who worked at the Alley from 2006 through 2013 as a resident costume design assistant, said she hopes the apology was made for the right reasons and marks a fresh start.

"I can't help but think if the staff was able to produce world-class theatre under the tyranny of Greg Boyd - think of what they could do with honest, open and respectful collaboration," she said.

Molly Glentzer contributed to this report.
A 31-year-old Houston nurse was beaten and stabbed in the arm after being called a "sand n**ger" among other racial and religious slurs Thursday night, a Muslim civil rights advocacy group and Harris County Sheriff's Office reported Friday.

The victim, who wore a hijab or Islamic headscarf, was driving home from work at the North Cypress Medical Center when she was almost sideswiped by a red SUV, the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a news release.

When the victim pulled over into a parking lot on Huffmeister Road and got out of her car to check for damage, the driver of the red SUV made a U-turn and also pulled over. The driver, whom the victim described to police as a white male with tattoos, shouted "oh my God, it's a raghead," "it's a f**king raghead," and called the nurse a "sand n**ger" and "desert monkey."

The woman attempted to get back inside her car but the passenger side door was locked, allowing the attacker to wave a knife in her face and hit her with the weapon's handle on her shoulder and arms, CAIR said.

TEXAS POLICE VID: 'That's why we keep having to hit you'

"A person who was riding in the alleged attacker's SUV got out of that vehicle and tried to restrain him, but not before the Muslim nurse was stabbed in the arm, severing an artery and resulting in loss of blood, some of which got on the attacker," CAIR said. "The attacker's companion convinced him to get back in his SUV and they left the scene, while the victim returned to her hospital and had the artery cauterized and the wound stitched."

CAIR said the alleged attacker is described as a white male, 20 to 35 years of age with tattoos on his arms and neck. A more detailed description provided to the Harris County Sheriff's Office said the attacker was 5 feet 8 inches tall, about 175 pounds with a thin build, dark hair and wearing a white t-shirt and dark colored pants.

Police said the man with the attacker was of unknown height and hair color, thin build, wearing a white t-shirt and dark colored pants.

Anyone with any information is asked to call HCSO at 713-221-6000.

This is a developing story.

See the hate groups that are active in Texas above.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.
A teen was arrested Thursday in connection with a drive-by shooting death of an 8-year-old boy in southeast Houston, police said.

Devonte Lockett, 18, is charged with murder in connection with the March 1 fatal shooting of Tristian Hutchins, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Thursday night.

Hutchins and his 5-year-old sister Kheristian were sitting in a car in a shopping center parking lot in the 3900 block of Scott Street when gunfire erupted, police said.

Tristian was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital, where he died on March 28. Kheristian also suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. Houston Police Department homicide detectives have previously said the shooting was gang related.

GANG CRACKDOWN: Acevedo vows action after 11 kids have been slain in 16 months

Now Playing: Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department says two young children were shot while sitting in a car in the 3900 block of Scott Street in Houston on Thursday, March 1, 2018. Finner said a suspect drove by and fired multiple times into the car while the children's mother was in a nail shop across the street. Finner said an 11-year-old in the car was not hit by gunfire. Video: Houston Chronicle

Lockett, who lives in the Sunnyside area, served a 20-day sentence last year for a misdemeanor weapons charge, court records show.

In a statement Thursday night, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner thanked the community for providing information that he said helped assist police in the case.

"Violence against our kids will not be tolerated," he said. "We will work overtime and spend whatever it takes to protect our children."

It was not immediately clear whether a tip lead to Lockett's arrest, but Acevedo said that "when children get shot - when our most innocent people get killed - even some of the toughest people will start to talk."

VIGIL: Third Ward prays for violence to end after two children shot in 'crossfire of cowards'

The shooting - and Tristian Hutchins' subsequent death - sent shockwaves through Houston, bringing together city and community leaders in a call for an end to gang and gun violence.

"We have to come together," said Reginald Gordon, of Operation Outreach, a community organization that empowers at-risk youth, said at a vigil held one day after the shooting. "We have to sit down at the table and discuss the issues. We've got to come together to bring a truth to this kind of violence that is going on amongst the communities here."

In an emotional press conference last week, Acevedo read Hutchins' name along with 10 other children who he said have died in indiscriminate gunfire in the city since December 2016, before pleading with Houston residents to find the "collective courage to stand up" to the violence.

"We have people being shot in gas stations that are innocent bystanders, in apartments that are innocent bystanders, and in our streets that are innocent bystanders," he said. "This community needs to be outraged. Although it wasn't your child that was shot, injured or killed, your child could be the next."

"There's no excuse - there's no justification - for these children to be taken from us," he said.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.
Fifteen-year-old Jacqueline Cruz was startled to discover that Victory Prep South, the in-district charter high school that she attends, will close at the end of the year. She wasnt alone. The announcement came as a shock to Winston Steele  her principal.

Houston Independent School District trustees also expressed surprise that the school was closing, just a few months after Victory Prep North, its sister Houston ISD in-district charter school, closed, as reported by Chronicle reporter Shelby Webb.

A schools closure shouldnt hit school administrators and other stakeholders like a sudden car wreck. It should be more like an expected demise after a terminal illness. When the people with overall responsibility have no clue about whats next, its a sure bet that a school operated with too little supervision.

EDITORIAL: Why does a charter school own two luxury apartments?

The Texas Legislature should act in conjunction with Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath to plug the loophole that allows a failing school to stay on the public dole by merely becoming an in-district charter. Not only does the current system permit a problematic charter to continue to operate without meaningful scrutiny, but it also muddies accountability.

The troubled history of Victory Prep North and South illustrates how hard it is to figure out whos in charge under the status quo. The charismatic and influential pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, Kirbyjon Caldwell, who was recently indicted on unrelated charges of fraud, founded these public school charters and served on the board as late as 2014, according to the school website.

After the schools failed to meet the states academic standards for three years in a row, TEA ordered the charter network to close in 2016. Instead HISD threw a lifeline to the charter network by allowing the schools to operate within the district.

The change did nothing to address the Victory schools unreported financial problems.

WOODS: Unfair advantage goes to charter schools

Although these schools had to turn in an audit of their charter networks finances every year, Mark Smith, HISDs chief student support officer, told the school board that other than that minimal requirement, HISD exercises little oversight over its in-district charter schools.

Last week, two years after assuming some responsibility for the schools, trustees were faced with finding $300,000 to keep Victory Prep South open through June or put students through a disruptive closure. Its clear why members voted to fork over the funding even though HISD faces a $115 million deficit. The alternative would be harmful for students. But its unclear why the original funding provided the in-district charter wasnt sufficient to pay teachers.

Charter schools were intended to permit the educational innovation characteristic of some successful private schools. But theres a huge difference between public school charters and private schools. Private school tuition is willingly paid by parents, while charter schools are funded by tax dollars.

OPINION: Use results of charter school 'experiment'

The high level of accountability that citizens should have a right to expect regarding the use of their tax dollars was absent here. As part of the deal approved by HISD trustees, the district will conduct a financial audit of both the North and South campuses.

But any audit will be too late as public funds will already be disbursed and perhaps wasted.

Victory Starts Here! the schools website proudly proclaims. Victory will start when the Legislature finds the right balance between delegation and oversight in public school charters. The first public school charter was launched in 1995, long enough ago that taxpayers shouldnt have to put up with the regulatory blind spots in charter school governance. Nor should students and parents be left scrabbling to find alternative schools.
Tom Reel, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Gov. Greg Abbott surprised Democrats with a tweet where he acknowledged for the first time that former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez would be the party's nominee to face him next November.

"The next 7 months will be a battle between @LupeValdez and me about whether or not Texas will secure our border and protect our sovereignty," the governor's message said. "It's about whether sanctuary cities will remain banned or be allowed. I need your help to fight for the future of Texas. #tcot @TexasGOP."
STR via Getty Images Indian poet, lyricist and scriptwriter, Javed Akhtar performs at the Indian legendary Hindi and Marathi film music director and composer, the late N. Dutta Naiks musical gurney show in Mumbai on June 4, 2015. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

I once had the occasion to visit Javed Akhtar with a group of friends, and almost the entire evening was spent in hearing Akhtars arguments in favour of atheism. Akhtar is a staunch and vocal atheist.

He is no doubt very convincing. Religious belief gets sanctity from numbers, he said. If I were to tell you I have a statue of Apollo in my bedroom and worship it, you would laugh. But if there were a few million people who did that, it would be serious business.

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As someone born a Muslim, Akhtar sees it as his responsibility to speak up against the dogma of his own religion. It takes courage to do so.

Akhtar narrated this incident where he had given some statements on atheism that had made headlines. The prominent Muslim politician of the 90s, Syed Shahbuddin, asked Akhtar: I hear you are no longer a Muslim?

Ask the Shiv Sena, Akhtar replied. If the Shiv Sena burns my house in a riot, I am a Muslim.

It would be impossible for Akhtar to be a vociferous atheist in a Muslim majority country like, say, Pakistan. Akhtar knows this very well. He is also a staunch opponent of the Partition, of nation-states formed in the name of religion, and so on.

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Perhaps Javed Akhtar cannot understand the multiple layers of ironies hes wrapping himself up in, when he makes Bharat Mata ki jai an issue. Akhtar said in his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha today that chanting those words was a matter of right for every Indian.

In doing so, he was taking a dig at Hyderabads Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who said he was not mandated by the Constitution to say Bharat Mata ki jai. Owaisi had made this comment in response to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who had said todays youth had to be taught to say Bharat Mata ki jai.

Javed Akhtars larger point here was to oppose religious extremes. In doing so, he was equating people who refuse to say Bharat Mata ki jai with those who lynch Muslims in the name of cow meat. Does he really believe the two are equal?

Bharat Mata ki jai is the oldest trick in the Hindutva playbook. Merge Indian nationalism with Hindu symbolism, ask Muslims to follow it, and if they dont, voila! Go to Pakistan!

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For those who dont know: Islam prohibits idol worship. Calling India a mother goddess and asking Muslims to worship her, is unacceptable to most Muslims. There is a Bharat Mata Mandir in Varanasi, one in Haridwar and a small one in Leh. The RSS has its own specific image of Bharat Mata, which is key to its politics of cultural nationalism.

The Muslim problem with India as Mother Goddess does not prevent them from loving India, Indias flag, army, Constitution, and so on. Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted Tagores well-known views on nationalism, the key words being idolatry of geography:

Must Read this should be definition of Nationalism pic.twitter.com/vSKz62CHSn  Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) March 16, 2016

Just as there are many paths to god, there are many paths to nation-love. But why does the atheist Javed Akhtar not see the problem with the worship of Bharat Mata? And why does someone who opposes religious fundamentalism not see a problem with jingoism?

Asaduddin Owaisi has emerged as a representative of a brand of Muslim politics that was seen to be dying in India. He is an independent Muslim politician, not one tied to a bigger party where he would just be a token Muslim in service of hollow secularism. Owaisi is not apologetic about wearing his religion on his sleeve. Why should he be? If you ask Owaisi what he is trying to do, he will tell you hes only trying to strengthen Indian democracy by making sure that Muslims dont lose their voice in it.

Yet it is Javed Akhtar and his contradictions that better personify the Indian Muslims political dilemma. The atheist Muslim who can never be atheist enough for the Hindu majority, never be Muslim enough for Muslims, and never feel he has asserted his nationalism enough to be accepted as Indian.

It must be difficult to be Javed Akhtar.

Also See On HuffPost:
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MARCH 30: Visually impaired Microsoft developer Saqib Shaikh (L) stands next to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella as he delivers the keynote address during the 2016 Microsoft Build Developer Conference on March 30, 2016 in San Francisco, California. The Microsoft Build Developer Conference runs through April 1. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Microsoft developer Saqib Sheikh who lost his eyesight at the age of seven has developed an app to help the visually challenged.

Microsoft released a video in their developer conference Build 2016 to explain how the intelligent software system called Seeing AI works.

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In the video, Sheikh tells his story that how he went to the blind school where he was introduced to talking computers. After joining Microsoft as a software engineer, he always wanted to develop apps which would help others.

The app developed by him can help the blind to read out text from posters or menus by clicking a photo of them. The app also guides them on how to take the photo. For instance, if the person is visiting a hotel the app will guide them on how to move the phone so a full picture of the menu can be taken. After taking the picture the person can command the app to read out the menu.

Sheikh said in the video that, "The app not only runs on the smartphone but Pivothead smart camera sunglasses as well so the person can be hands-free". The Pivothead sunglasses are smart wearable devices which have a camera. The person can take photos or videos simply by touching the side panel of the camera. And the Microsoft Seeing AI will recognise objects like "A young man on a skateboard jumping in the air". The person using the smart sunglasses can hear it through the built-in sound feedback system.

If the blind person is talking to a group of people and want to know the reaction of the people, he can click a picture of the people and the app will recognise them. In the video Sheikh clicks the picture and the app tell him the description of two persons as "40-year-old bearded male looking surprised" and "20-year-old woman looking happy".

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"It is an honour to share a stage with Saqib today. He took his passion and empathy to change the world. He is here to inspire and teach about these applications. Microsoft build is all about taking the dreams we have to reality", said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Microsoft had earlier released a website How-Oldwhere they tried to guess the age of the person based on the web came snapshot. They had also launched Captain Bot AI where the website tried to identify the objects in the picture.

Recently, Facebook debuted a new way for visually challenged people to experience photos. The social network describes the image to the user in the audio format. For example, the app will say,"Image may contain: two people, smiling, sunglasses, sky, outdoor [sic], water" for the photo above.

Twitter also added image support for assistive technology. Now when you post an image you can add a 420 character description so differently abled people can access the information through screen readers or braille assistants.

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If you are working from home, make sure to include these three affordable and tasty food in your diet
"Adverbs, you will remember from your own version of Business English, are word that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They're the ones that usually end in -ly. . . . (Adverbs are) like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that . . . and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it's--GASP!!--too late."
Do you have a minute to learn about an exciting new timeshare opportunity?

Before you run for the hills, don't worry. I'm not going to try to sell you anything or make you sit through a two-hour presentation.

Instead, this is about a timeshare for sale in the Caribbean that comes with an unusual extra feature: citizenship and a second passport. (Or a third one, I suppose, if you already have two passports. But I digress.)

We'll get to why someone might want an additional passport in a minute. First, the details on the Anichi Resort & Spa in the country of Dominica.

The development, set to open next year, is associated with the Autograph Collection hotel chain owned by Marriott International. It looks nice, but the real draw seems to be that if you buy a timeshare, as the development's publicity materials trumpet, you'll become eligible for Dominican citizenship.

The country has a citizenship by investment program, and in a nutshell, it means you can buy a passport--either with a $100,000 contribution to the country's general fund, or by purchasing more than $200,000 worth of real estate.

Conveniently--I say that with a wink--a timeshare at the Anichi Resort and Spa just happens to go for $220,000. (You'd also be on the hook for government fees that can run between $35,000 and $55,000 or more for a family.)

So, why would you want another passport from a tiny country like Dominica?

Well, if you're an American citizen, the advantages might not be super-obvious, but for citizens of some countries it could be very appealing.

For one thing, Dominca's passport allows visa free entry to 120+ other countries, as the travel site One Mile at a Time pointed out, including a few that require visas from Americans (Brazil, Cuba, Iran, and Venuzuela, to name them).

"Financial reasons motivate most [ultra high net worth individuals] ... but another motivating factor is ease of travel," said Nuri Katz, founder of Apex Capital Partners. "Most of our applicants come from China, Vietnam, the Middle East and Russia and the ability to travel the world on business or for pleasure without any barriers is important."

Alexander Lowry, Professor and Director of Master of Science in the Financial Analysis program at Gordon College explained further:

"The wealthy (and not so wealthy) have long gotten second passports by spending time in another country and eventually qualifying for citizenship Then in the 1980s St. Kitts and Nevis introduced a citizenship by investment program. Since then, various countries have proactively made citizenship available to people based on investment. Such arrangements are available in the U.S., U.K., Singapore, Portugal, Spain, Malta and many other places. There's now a burgeoning market in investment-based citizenship programs for wealthy individuals who make a suitable financial commitment."

The difference here for Dominica is that the process is really fast--just a few months--and the level of investment is comparatively low. To apply for the U.S. EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program for example, requires a minimum of $500,000--and that just gets you a Green Card residency permit, not citizenship.

So no, it's not for everyone, but the Dominica program allows your investment to be in real estate that you could theoretically later sell at a profit--and that somebody else who later buys it from you could also use to fulfill the $200,000 purchase requirement.
In Thailand, you dont ask friends if theyve had dinner yet. You ask, Kin khao ayung? Translated? Have you had rice yet? Food writer Kay Plunkett-Hogge, who was born and raised in Thailand, says it shows how critical rice is in Thai and South East Asian food and cooking. It is the most important thing on the table, she says. Every dish goes with it, not the other way around.

Thailand isnt alone in its love of rice. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), rice is a staple food for over half the worlds population.

About 90 per cent of worldwide rice production comes from Asia  an area IRRI defines as reaching from Pakistan in the west to Japan in the east. While most rice is grown and eaten locally  never entering the export market  the volume of international trade has almost quadrupled since the 1960s, with Thailand, Vietnam and India leading exporters.

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Food writer Yasmin Khan, author of The Saffron Tales, says her grandfather was a rice farmer and that rice plays a crucial role in Iranian cuisine. In Iran, cooking rice is elevated to an art form and a cook is judged on the quality of his or her rice.

She says Iranians are fastidious about how rice is cooked  each grain should be elongated and separate. Even to this day, the bit of my meal I get most nervous about when hosting a dinner is the rice!

For her, a favourite rice dish is loobia polo  a layered rice dish with minced lamb, tomatoes, potatoes and green beans, spiced with cinnamon, turmeric and cumin. Its my ultimate comfort food, she says.

TA TA Eatery's 72 hours braised Galacian brisket and fermented pumpkin Ricewich (tata_eatery/Instagram)

In fact, rice is grown on every continent except Antarctica. Notably, its not grown in Britain which may be one reason it doesnt feature in our cooking as it does in rice growing countries. So much of Thai culture is built around rice farming and eating, says Plunkett-Hogge.

Arguably, its through rice agriculture that the peoples who became Thai settled the central plains in the first place. That gives them an inbuilt reverence for it. Rice doesnt grow in Britain, so we dont have the same connection to it. It becomes just another ingredient.

But is that changing? Zijun Meng and Ana Goncalves hope so. They originally launched TA TA Eatery in Londons Druid Street market, selling three different rice bowls and then created a ricewich  a rice sandwich with nori on the outside and grilled short ribs inside. Rice plays a big part in Portuguese and Chinese cuisine (Goncalves is originally from Portugal while Meng is from China).

We didnt know the type of food we were going to do when we started TA TA Eatery. Each of us wrote down the foods we love and rice appeared on both of our lists. They acknowledge that rice is typically seen in England as a carb to soak up liquid but theyre keen to show its versatility with dishes like a puffed rice dessert, toasted rice-infused dashi and a toasted rice-flavoured oil.

For their next two-day pop up theyll include a sake-glazed Iberian pork rice bowl and toasted rice ice cream.

The rice harvest in Catarroja, Valencia is much denser than in Asia (Rex ) (Rex)

For chef Marcia Barrington, rice too is a key ingredient in Valencia, Spain where she spends much of her year. Rice was brought to Spain in the 10th century where it was  and still is  grown in Valencia. Rice is life! Rice forms part of the Valencian identity, says Barrington.

Everyone talks about paella, cooks paella and eats rice dishes of which there are many. While Barrington has been travelling to Spain since she was a child, shes still learning about different types of rice grown in Valencia.

On my last trip I had a chat with a seller friend in the central market and she recommended I try the Valencian Albufera rice. Its a blend of the Senia and Bomba varieties. It cooks really quickly within 20 minutes, holds stock well and has great flavour.

How to cook perfect rice by Kay Plunkett-Hogge This is my perfect Thai jasmine rice recipe  although I have used it for basmati and American and it has worked just as well. Rinse 1 cup/mug/whatever of rice well in a sieve under cold water. Now pop it into a pot with a good lid. Add 1 1/3 volume of cold water. Bring to the boil, uncovered. When it gets there, cover and turn the heat right down. Cook gently for 10-12 minutes to absorb all the water. Check its done. Older rice will need a dash more water and a couple more minutes. You should be able to smell the perfume. Allow the rice to rest, covered, off the heat for about 5-10 minutes, so the grains puff up in the residual steam. Job done.

For Plunkett-Hogge in Thailand, the variety thats caught her eye is one called Sangyod. It only grows in a few places in Thailand and thrives on brackish, salty water.

And its water of course thats key to rice. With rice consumption growing, there is increased demand on farmers to produce more, but climate change means some areas get too much rain while others are facing drought conditions.

And while rice loves water it dies if completely submerged for too long, a problem for low lying areas subject to flooding due to rising sea levels.

IRRI points to a report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) forecasting that rice prices could increase by between 32-37 per cent by 2050 due to climate change with a drop in production of almost 15 per cent in both South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Work is being done to manage water usage, to create seed varieties better suited to handle climate change, and to control flooding  but will it be enough?

Its a major cause for concern, Khan feels. As with all farming, climate change and international trade rules are the biggest factors facing the future of rice farming and supply.

In Iran for example, it is cheaper to buy imported rice from China or India than locally produced rice. Promoting food sovereignty for farmers is central for the health of our planet and local economies all over the world.

And its small farmers who grow much of the worlds rice. Their livelihoods  their very lives  depend on finding ways to protect their crops while meeting our insatiable hunger for rice.

Arroz negro con calamares black rice with squid

Serves 2

Spanish black rice is a typical dish in Valencia as well as other parts of Spain. It is super easy to make and tastes sensational. My recipe serves 2 yet is very easy to increase for 4 or 6 guests. I allow 100g of rice and 1 whole, cleaned squid per person with tentacles. For the rice, I have used a newly found albufera variety from Valencia that I discovered in the Mercat Central. Yet the more familiar bomba or calasparra rice will work well and are easy to find outside of Spain. In terms of the rice to liquid ratio, I always have 3 times stock volume to rice simmering on the hob. I find that a 2:1 ratio of fish stock to rice is never quite enough for the fat little round rice grains used for this type of dish. Be generous.

1 x paella pan (28-30cm) or equivalent

Olive oil approx. 90ml/6 tablespoons

1 small onion, fine diced

3 small cloves of garlic, crushed

200g redondo, (round) short Spanish rice (bomba, calasparra)

1 glass of dry white wine

4 sachets of squid ink (available from fishmongers)

600ml fresh fish stock (available from fishmongers)

2 whole, cleaned squid with tentacles in tact (Ask your fishmonger to clean) Squid tubes cut into 2-3inch pieces and scored diagonally, taking care not to score all the way through

1 whole Spanish or un-waxed lemon cut into quarters

Heat approx. 60ml/4tablespoons of olive oil in a paella pan if you have one, or similar. Add the finely diced onion and cook gently until soft. Add the crushed garlic and cook until you smell its aroma, roughly about 3 minutes or so.

Add the rice and gently combine. With the heat on medium, add the white wine, stir into the rice allowing it to reduce and burn off the alcohol.

Meanwhile pour your stock into a saucepan and gently heat ready to start adding to the rice. You will note that I am using a 3:1 ratio of fish stock to rice. I prefer to have extra to hand as I find the rice always takes more than double its volume of liquid. So for 200g of bomba, calasparra, or round short Spanish rice, I have 600ml of fresh fish stock on the go.

I like the rice to be quite black and therefore add 2 sachets of squid ink per person. So, next, gently squeeze 4 sachets of squid ink into the rice along with a ladle of warm stock.

Gently combine everything together to colour the rice. I then add the stock in maybe 3 or so additions shaking the paellera gently and stirring just a little until cooked through. Always taste for doneness. You want the rice to be soft all the way through the grain.

You can at this point add a little salt if required. Yet I find that the rice has lots of flavour and very little seasoning is needed, especially if you have used a good quality fish stock. Turn the rice off when cooked and allow it to rest for 5 minutes while you finish the squid. Heat a small frying pan to hot then add the remaining 30ml olive. Add the squid and cook until the flesh becomes opaque and begins to curl up. This should be super quick! Remove and set aside.

To serve, place the squid on top of the rice. If you like, sprinkle the squid with a dusting of Spanish sweet smoked pimenton. There are two varieties of pimenton, and I can say, hand on heart, that the picante is very picante indeed. Have some good quality lemon wedges to hand also, very much needed for squeezing over the rice. Finally, please, please resist the English temptation to hurl parsley over this dish. It is really not very pleasant to eat and unnecessary. Instead, enjoy the rice with a fresh aioli perhaps a little open textured bread; accompanied by a chilled glass of Alborino, Verdejo or good Spanish dry white.

Marcia Barrington  Valencia, March 2018. Instagram @marciabarrington
Today the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have welcomed their third child into the world, a baby boy.

While Prince George and Princess Charlotte both have a lot to look forward to with a new younger sibling, this birth is especially significant for Princess Charlotte.

This is because Princess Charlotte is the first female royal to retain her claim to the throne regardless of whether the new baby was a boy or a girl.

Prior to the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013, a female royals claim to the throne would have been diminished by the arrival of a younger brother.

However, as stated by the legislative act when it was passed five years ago: In determining the succession to the Crown, the gender of a person born after 28 October 2011 does not give that person, or that persons descendants, precedence over any other person (whenever born).

This means that had Prince George been born a girl when he arrived on July 22 2013, he would have still retained his position as the third-in-line to the throne after his grandfather, the Prince of Wales, and his father, the Duke of Cambridge.

The previous succession act, which dated all the way back to 1701, stated that brothers would always come before their sisters in the line of succession to become monarch.

When Princess Charlotte was born on May 2 2015, it was announced that she would automatically be granted the title of HRH.

Prior to 2012, as the second child of the second heir to the throne, she would have become a Lady.

However, on December 31 2012 the Queen made an official ruling declaring that all of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges children would be named princes and princesses.

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When Prince George was born, this meant that the monarchy had three generations of heirs to the throne for the first time in 119 years.

However, with all this talk about the royal succession, apparently the majority of the royal family would rather not take on the reigning position.

Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I dont think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time, Prince Harry told Newsweek in an interview last year.

Even if I was king, I would do my own shopping, he added.
Lifting weights has become increasingly popular amongst millennial women, who share their #girlswholift pictures and videos on Instagram.

But deadlifts, weighted squats and bench presses neednt be the reserve of the young, as one powerlifting grandmother shows.

Edith Traina is 97 years old and lifts weights in the gym three times a week.

The granny, from Tampa, Florida, now has a competition named in her honour: the 2018 Edith Traina Inspirational Open took place on Saturday, where people from the ages of 13 up to Traina in her 90s competed.

The nonagenarian hasnt always been into weights though - it wasnt until a friend dragged her kicking and screaming to the gym that she found her passion.

When I lift that bar up, as Im lifting it up in here I hear words like oh my God Im doing it, Traina told Bay News.

Recommended How lifting weights has revolutionised my mindset

If I find Im sitting in a chair for a whole day, and not doing anything constructive, the next day I light a fire under my tush and get out of the house.

Traina is the only person in her age category so doesnt actually have any competition, but that doesnt stop her pushing herself.

The former line dance instructor is aiming to complete a 200lb (90kg) deadlift by her 100th birthday.

She takes part in six competitions a year and most recently won two gold medals at the Polk County Senior Games in the 95-99 division with a 60lb (27kg) bench press and a 130lb (59kg) deadlift.

With no competition, Traina hopes to inspire more elderly people to pick up a dumbbell or barbell and get into weightlifting.

I cant find any other 90-year-olds to compete with so if you know anybody that has a grandmother or friend who would like to compete with me, she said.

There are many benefits to weight lifting, from increasing your metabolic rate to improving your mental health and feeling more empowered.

Whatever your age, make sure you get an expert to teach you the proper technique first.
On 6 April, something very unusual will happen to Scotland. While the whole of the UK will see tax levels adjust with the new tax year, Scotland is going to break away and introduce an extra two bands of income tax.

The tax-free personal allowance will stay the same but then theres going to be a starter rate of 19 per cent for earnings above that and up to 13,850. After that its the standard basic rate of 20 per cent up to 24,000 but then theres an extra percentage point on earnings up to 44,273.

And, just in case you havent had enough of the numbers, the rate then rises to 41 per cent and 46 per cent on earnings over 150,000.

That means that, in Scotland, if you earn less than 33,000 you will almost certainly pay less tax north of the border than you would in the rest of the UK.

Scottish finance minister Derek Mackay says that 70 per cent of taxpayers will pay less tax as a result of the changes. It certainly might make people living near the border thoughtful about where they go next.

But where else in the UK might your fortunes improve?

Best countryside home

Its easy for city-dwellers to assume the best quality of life is to be found in pricey urban areas but there are many attractive and affordable areas in the countryside particularly if you dont mind a stretch of water between you and the mainland.

The recent Halifax 2018 Rural Areas Quality of Life Survey has found that the Orkney Islands top the charts for the best rural place to live, for the second year in a row.

Employment there is at 87 per cent compared with the British average of just over 75 per cent.

Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said: With strong education and employment levels, low crime rates and residents loving life, not to mention breathtaking wide open spaces, the Orkney Islands have retained the crown of Britains best rural place to live.

The winning formula for quality of life in the countryside seems to consistently include high employment levels and top scores on wellbeing, along with low school class sizes and high average-spend per pupil  more than twice the national average.

If the size of your house is important to your quality of life, however, Orkney might not be right for you. Its homes have an average of no more than 4.6 habitable rooms, compared with a British average of 5.4.

If you want large homes then Uttlesford in Essex and Rutland both have an average of 6.4 habitable rooms, a whole room more than the average.

Most affordable homes

If youre one of the many aspiring first-time buyers struggling to get a foothold on the housing ladder then where you live can play a significant role in whether you realise your homeowner dreams.

Last year, research from Halifax showed that the average first-time buyer house price had reached 208,000, the highest on record.

However, in London that was closer to 410,000. Stirling in Scotland was the most affordable for first-time buyers with an average property price of 136,181  less than three-times the local average earnings.

In fact, seven out of 10 of the most affordable places to buy a first home were in Scotland. In England, Copeland in the north-west was the most affordable with average house prices just 3.2 times average local annual earnings.

Thats a far cry from Brent in London where average house prices are 12.5 times average local earnings.

Best quality of life

If you have enough cash to buy wherever you want then you can just chase quality of life. Hart in Hampshire was recently named the best place to live in Britain, scoring high for health, life expectancy, employment, good weather and low crime.

Hart has actually come top of the Halifax Quality of Life Survey for five of the last six years. But of course that comes with a hefty price tag; the average property for sale in Hart is almost nine-times the average local income.

Longest life expectancy

What price can you put on a longer life? Research published earlier this year by the Office for National Statistics looked at the areas where children born between 2009 and 2013 can expect the longest typical life expectancy.

Of course there are a number of factors playing into that figure rather than straightforward geography, but its certainly a good indicator of good local health resources and lifestyle opportunities.

The latest figures show that baby boys born between 2012 and 2014 have the longest average life in Kensington and Chelsea at 83 years, compared with just 74 in Blackpool.

Baby girls born in Chiltern have the longest life expectancy at well over 86 years, compared with just under 80 in Middlesbrough.

More generally, life expectancy is increasing faster in England than Wales, although its increasing gradually in all areas.
Uber has appointed a former British Gas executive to its UK board in a move it says is proof that it is willing to change.

Susan Hooper, former managing director at the energy giant, will join Ubers UK board as a non-executive director.

Ms Hooper also sits on the boards of the Department for Exiting the European Union, Wizz Air and Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group.

Roger Parry, chairman of market research firm YouGov, will also join the ride-hailing firms UK board.

Both Mr Parry and Ms Hooper are expected to sit on the first board meeting later in April.

Ubers UK chairwoman Laurel Powers-Freeling said the appointments showed Ubers willingness to address past issues and follow the path of good governance that two individuals of their calibre have decided to work with us.

Tom Elvidge, Uber's UK general manager, said: "At a time when Uber is going through an important period of change we're really pleased two such experienced individuals are joining us.

"Under our new leadership we're implementing major changes including more safety features, improvements for drivers and a new approach to partnering with cities.

"Susan and Roger's wide range of experience will be invaluable as we continue to develop and mature as a business."

The new board members join Uber just months before the firm will have its appeal heard on whether it can continue running in London.

Transport for London said in September that it would not renew Ubers licence.

An appeal made in October will now be heard at Westminster Magistrates Court at the end of June.

Uber has battled lawsuits filed against it citing gender and race discrimination in the US.

The company has come under fire from regulators across European cities. Uber services were suspended in Greece this week, while Denmark has called on ex-Uber drivers to pay a collective 1.3m in unpaid tax to authorities.
On 20 January 2017, all eyes were on Donald Trump. While billions of people watched the former reality television star being sworn into the highest office in the world, the UK government was quietly publishing the response to its consultation on limiting child tax credit to two-child families.

From 6 April that year, any woman claiming the equivalent of 53 per week for a third or subsequent child would have to fit into one of several exceptions  including declaring she had been raped or that she had the child within an abusive relationship.

The consultation got universal disapprobation, says Emma Ritch, executive director of Scottish feminist organisation Engender. And it was only open for one month.

Campaigners that contributed, such as Child Poverty Action Group, estimate that more than 250,000 children will consequently be pushed into poverty by the end of the decade, representing a 10 per cent increase in child poverty. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) urged the government to delay implementation until it had carried out a full impact assessment, otherwise it was at risk of violating human rights law.

The government said it consulted widely on the issue and 52 organisations had submitted evidence. The policy and the rape clause were brought in, under the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, with the government declaring it would restore fairness in the benefit system.

Now, on the one-year anniversary of this policy, the government faces growing calls from charities and advocacy groups to answer questions as to how data is being collected and how the claims of rape and abuse are being handled by a separate team at HMRC.

Ive continued to ask questions, but ministers havent given me any answers, or reassurance or justification that this policy is either workable or necessary, says SNP MP Alison Thewliss.

There is also a lack of clarity over the way in which benefits are being administered, given that the governments call for third-party referrers, who would verify women have been raped or abused to claim money, has been dismissed by most large charities in Scotland.

Its a toxic policy for womens health and wellbeing that we could not associate with, says Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Womens Aid. It would completely shift the relationship with the women we support. If theres nobody to implement this policy in Scotland, I would think there might be room for challenging it legislatively or judiciously.

The government responded that third-party referrers can include social workers, specialist support workers from an approved organisation, doctors, midwives, nurses and health visitors.

Within four months of the policy becoming law last year, Child Poverty Action Group issued a claim for judicial review in the High Court against the secretary of state for work and pensions, then Damian Hinds, on behalf of three families.

CPAG solicitor Carla Clarke told The Independent that the two-child policy was deeply disturbing and ultimately unlawful, treating some children as less deserving than others purely because of the order in which they were conceived.

It places women, in particular, in the invidious position of deciding whether to continue with an unplanned pregnancy or to have an abortion, she adds. It removes the safety net for those families who had three or more children at a time when they were fully able to provide for them but then encounter job loss or sickness.

Alison Thewliss, Nicola Sturgeon and Kezia Dugdale joined campaigners to protest against the governments rape clause (PA)

The plaintiffs include two lone mothers who gave birth to a third child after the cut-off date. One is on income support, the other on working tax credit. The women did not intend to fall pregnant  one had been on the pill  but neither of them wanted an abortion. In the third household, a child being looked after under a child arrangement order was taken in as the familys second child before the couple went on to have a natural child of their own. The father works full-time, while the mother is currently on maternity leave from her part-time job.

The case was heard in February this year. Even if the judge agrees with CPAGs case, the policy still may not be scrapped. (Last June, the High Court ruled that a separate government benefit cap unlawfully discriminated against single parents with children under two. However, in March, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government. The four families that brought the case are now going to the Supreme Court.)

Its yet another kick in the teeth after rounds of benefit changes that have left families trapped in poverty and struggling to afford rent or put food on the table, says Sumi Rabindrakumar, research officer at Gingerbread, a charity that supports single parent families. We hope that the judicial review judgment [of the two-child limit] recognises the detrimental impact of this policy and puts the needs of children first.

In Northern Ireland, there is another layer of complexity. It is mandatory to report a crime such as rape, a hangover law from the Troubles, and if the perpetrator is identifiable, for example, the husband of the claimant, the person hearing the woman claimants case must report him to the police.

Many women do not want to engage with the criminal justice system, or report someone that they are in a relationship with to police, the Womens Aid Federation Northern Ireland wrote in a statement last year. They should not be forced to do so to access welfare.

While the judicial review result is awaited, campaigners say the steam that first built up after April last year became harder to maintain. A petition to scrap the clause reached more than 25,000 signatures but was closed early when Theresa May called a snap election. In August last year, CPAG filed its paperwork. In November, the newly elected petition committee, chaired by Labour MP Helen Jones, forced the government to update its response to the petition, paying more attention to the impact on women. But the policy has not been voted on or debated in Westminster.

An EHRC report found households with three or more children will see an average drop in their net annual income by more than 5,000 by 2021

In January, Scottish politicians including Thewliss and former Labour leader Kezia Dugdale renewed their calls to Esther McVey, the first woman to be appointed secretary of state for work and pensions, to scrap the policy.

In a letter seen by The Independent, McVey wrote back to Thewliss last month that the policy strikes the right balance between protecting the vulnerable and encouraging families who receive benefits to make the same financial decisions as those families who support themselves solely through work. She added that the exceptions were designed to protect those who are not always able to make choices about the number of children in their family.

McVey wrote that devolved powers granted to Scotland since September 2016 allow it to either top up benefits such as child benefit, which is not affected under the two-child limit, provide discretionary payments or create new benefits. This argument was echoed by Scottish Tory leader when the clause was debated in Holyrood last April: If the First Minister [Nicola Sturgeon] doesnt like the two-child tax policy, she can change it.

Thewliss responds: The UK government sets rules on tax credits, they are not devolved, and the two-child limit is within the tax credit system. To say we can mitigate this policy [in Scotland] also ignores the big picture here  the real concern is for women across the UK who are being affected.

The government estimated it would save almost 2bn by 2021/22 through this policy, reducing income by 2,780 a year for families who have a third child after the cut off date.

Also by the year 2021/22, a March 2018 report from the EHRC found that households with three or more children will see an average drop in their net annual income of 5,150, compared with a loss of 1,600 and 800 for two and one-child households respectively. Three-child families are also hit by limited access to benefits in other areas, such as housing. Thewliss says she had met with parents whose children were also no longer eligible for schemes like Healthy Start vouchers, which give families on certain benefits free milk, fruit and vegetables.

It would be good if the two-child cap could be the next government U-turn, said Thewliss (PA)

Rob Gowans, policy officer at Citizens Advice Scotland, says the rape clause has been one of the most damaging welfare reforms in recent years, along with the four-year freeze on working age benefits and the bedroom tax of 2012, a cut to housing benefit if you had a spare bedroom in a council house.

The problem is accumulative  its part of a whole range of things that reduce peoples ability to pay for essentials, he says.

He adds that he would like to see the abandonment of the two-child policy, and it has a particular impact on women.

Female lone parents and female single pensioners were hit the hardest by Conservative tax reforms between May 2010 and January this year, the EHRC found, with more than 87 per cent of people in both categories losing money in that period.

We shouldnt balance the budget on the back of poor women, says Ritch. There remains public concern if not fury that these measures exist in a supposedly civil society.

A government spokesperson responded, saying: This policy ensures people on benefits have to make the same choices as those supporting themselves solely through work. But we have always been clear it will be delivered in the most effective, compassionate way, with the right exceptions and safeguards in place.

But government policy can change overnight, especially with public pressure.

When it was revealed that Universal Credit claimants had to wait up to six weeks for money, the government was forced to review its process. And on 29 March, the government suddenly reversed its 2014 decision to axe housing benefit for anyone under 21, a move that was estimated to hit about 10,000 young people. The call had been backed by celebrities such as Idris Elba.

Policy can suddenly change even when the government has held out for ages, says Thewliss. It would be good if the two-child cap, which disproportionately affects a relatively small number of families, could follow as the next U-turn.
Six teenagers have been stabbed within 90 minutes in another night of violence on Londons streets.

A 13-year-old boy was among the victims of four separate knife attacks, which took place as protesters gathered elsewhere in the capital to demand action to prevent young people dying.

Earlier, Tottenham MP David Lammy said violence in London was the worst Ive ever seen it and warned there was absolutely no sign of an end to the bloodshed following a spate of murders as drugs drive turf wars between gangs.

Crowds gathered at Hackney Central station in east London on Thursday, close to where 18-year-old Israel Ogunsola was stabbed to death the previous night.

But as demonstrators and community leaders called for peace, violence was breaking out again on the capitals streets.

A 13-year-old boy was taken to hospital with serious injuries after being stabbed near Little Ilford Park, Newham. Three other boys were arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Minutes later a man in his late teens was taken to hospital following a stabbing in Ealing Broadway, west London. The Metropolitan Police said it was awaiting an update on his condition.

An hour earlier, three boys were taken to hospital following a knife attack in Mile End, east London.

Two were in a serious condition, Tower Hamlets police said. The third was treated for minor injuries before being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

The scene in Grove Road, Mile End, where three boys were injured in a knife attack (PA)

The night of violence had begun at 5.30pm, when a 15-year-old boy was seriously injured in a stabbing in East India Docks. His condition was stable and his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

No arrests have been in connection to the attacks in Ealing Broadway or East India Docks.

The violence on Thursday evening came after a man in his twenties was injured in a stabbing in Walthamstow, north-east London, at around 12.50pm.

The flurry of knife attacks followed the killings of three teenagers in the capital in the first four days of this month.

Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was shot dead in a drive-by attack in Tottenham, north London, on 2 April. Minutes later, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor died in a gun attack three miles away in Walthamstow.

No arrests have been made in connection to either murder.

Two 17-year-old boys have been held on suspicion of killing 18-year-old Mr Ogunsola.

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At the protest in Hackney, demonstrators of various ages huddled around the station entrance before linking hands in a wide circle nearby in solidarity for those killed.

Protest organisers Guiding A New Generation  commonly known as GANG  invited people to share their stories and plead for an end to the killings.

One speaker, who addressed the crowd under the name Scripture, said he had seen people being killed at close hand.

Its not a pretty sight, he said. You know what, its not a computer game. Youre not gonna come back, bruv.

These youths who are doing damage to each other are not coming back, and theyre not learning their lesson neither.

Hackney Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Pauline Pearce told the rally young people felt disenfranchised by their environments.

She said: A lot of the children feel disenfranchised, they dont feel they belong, they havent really got a meaning  they dont feel that they have that connection to society, so a lot of things go wrong for them and sadly this is the sort of retaliation that comes.

Demonstrators link hands during a protest against violent crime outside Hackney Central station (PA)

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Lammy told BBC Radio 4s Today programme children as young as 11 were being recruited by drugs gangs as foot soldiers in turf wars.

The Labour former minister said: Ive been an MP now for 18 years and Im afraid what were seeing today is the worst Ive ever seen it.

Ive had four deaths in the London Borough of Haringey since January, Ive had as many knife attacks as there have been weeks in the year.

There are parents, friends, families, schools, traumatised and grieving, and there is absolutely no sign, Ive got to tell you at the moment, of reduction in the violence.

He called on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the government to work together to reduce violence.

Mr Khan said the 55 killings in the capital since the start of this year were heartbreaking and criticised the government for cuts to the policing budget.

Of course it concerns me, I think one murder is one too many, he said.

Since 2014 we have seen an increase in violent crime in London and across the country.

Already in the last seven years we have lost 700 million from the policing budget. Over the next three years the government plans to cut another 300 million. Thats a billion pounds worth of cuts.

So my message to the Government is please work with us to solve this national problem.
Gang members have reportedly boasted about the fatal shooting of teenager Tanesha Melbourne in a series of social media posts.

The 17-year-old was killed in Tottenham, north London, earlier this week.

Her mother arrived at the scene before paramedics and watched as they tried to save her life.

Neighbours and friends described her as a good girl and lovely member of the community.

A series of posts on Instagram have since boasted about the shooting.

One read: If your chilling with my ops (opposition) I ain't gonna adjust my aim for you".

Alongside a laughing emoji, was "#NPK #SINSQUAD".

The NPK is believed to refer to Northumberland Park in Tottenham, where the gang is thought to be based.

A second message read: We got him down in Tinseltown and his girl down by Chalgrove [two laughing emojis] #NPK #RNS.

It is thought this refers to a fight in Farringdon's Tinseltown Diner, where a fight took place before Melbournes death.

(Instagram (Instagram)

Scotland Yard told The Independent they were investigating the posts.

Ms Melbournes death came amid a flurry of violence in the capital. Just hours after she was shot, another 16-year-old was shot in the face in Walthamstow, north-east London.

Named locally as Amaan Shakoor, the teenager died after being taken to hospital. The two shootings are not believed to be connected.

Eighteen-year-old Israel Ogunsola was also stabbed to death in the borough of Hackney on Wednesday.

A further seven people were injured in stabbings, including a 13-year-old boy who was seriously hurt in an attack in Newham, east London.

The spate of recent attacks has now brought the total number of suspected murders in the capital to more than 50, according to London's Metropolitan Police.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures 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 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

Fatal stabbings in England and Wales are also at their highest levels since 2010/2011.

Tottenham MP David Lammy said violence in the capital was the worst he had ever seen.

There are parents, friends, families, schools traumatised and grieving," he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. "And there is absolutely no sign at the moment of reduction in the violence.

There is no single cause. What Im concerned about is what drives the gangs in the turf wars, and thats an 11bn cocaine drugs market.

We are the drugs market of Europe and I think the police and our country have lost control of that drugs market. You have children as young as 12, 13, being recruited into gangs to run drugs.
The head of the Metropolitan Police has denied her force has lost control of London's streets but admitted the wave of violent crime sweeping through the capital was very worrying.

Commissioner Cressida Dick said the recent spate of killings and stabbings was ghastly but not unprecedented .

She added she expected further arrests and charges in the five murder investigations launched in London in the last few days.

Recommended Six teenagers stabbed in 90 minutes during night of violence in London

Her comments came after a 30-year-old man was detained in Hackney over the murder of 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, who was gunned down in Tottenham on Monday.

The teenager was shot in a drive-by attack as she sat chatting with friends in a killing that has shocked the capital.

Her death is one of 55 suspected murders in London this year.

Ms Dicks comments also followed a night in which six teenagers were stabbed within just 90 minutes on Londons streets. Four of the victims, including a 13-year-old boy, were seriously injured but none lost their lives.

The crime wave led the Mets former head of diversity and policing in Tottenham to suggest the police appeared to "have lost control of public spaces and the streets.

The silence from senior officers in the Met is deafening, Victor Olisa added in an interview with The Guardian.

But Ms Dick insisted her officers had not lost control.

Speaking after a walk through Stoke Newington in north London, she told the BBC: Over the last three months and in particular in the last several days we have had a unusual spike in horrible homicides, ghastly events, that have taken peoples lives and devastated other peoples lives.

This is not an unprecedented time, but it is a very worrying time.

She defended the Mets record of bringing criminals to justice and said she believed the perpetrators of the recent killings would face the courts.

It is important that we investigate those to the best of our ability and that we bring people to justice, Ms Dick said. I anticipate that we will. We are very good at that.

In the five cases in the last week that will be on your mind, we have arrested in all but one. I anticipate that we will have further arrests, and indeed charges.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA 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

Police have appealed for witnesses over the murder of a 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor, who was shot in Walthamstow just 30 minutes after Tanesha was killed. He died in hospital the next day.

Officers said they were keeping an open mind about the later attack, and at this stage there has been no suggestion that the two killings are linked.

Detective Inspector Beverley Kofi, of the forces murder squad, appealed for information.

He said: We are appealing to anybody who witnessed the incident and has not yet come forward, or who in the hours since this shocking murder are privy to information that could help us find those responsible.

You may be fearful of repercussions of speaking to police, or have loyalties that you believe cant be compromised.

We are dealing with the fatal shooting of a teenage girl, and would implore you to do the right thing and come forward.

On Friday afternoon a section 60 order, granting police stop and search powers across the borough of Newham, was announced in response to stabbing of the 13-year-old boy on Thursday.

The order will remain in place until 6am on Saturday.
A pensioner arrested on suspicion of murder after a suspected burglar was stabbed to death at his house has been released without charge.

Police said Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, will face no further action over the death of an intruder at his home in Hither Green, South-east London, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Henry Vincent, 37, died after allegedly forcing his way into the pensioners home with an accomplice. One of the men was armed with a screwdriver and is said to have threatened Mr Osborn-Brooks.

The Metropolitan Police said it considered advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) before freeing the pensioner without charge.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Harding, of the forces murder squad, said: This is a tragic case for all of those involved. As expected with any incident where someone has lost their life, my officers carried out a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the death.

We have approached the CPS for early investigative advice, as required under the guidance. We have received and considered that advice, and at present  on the evidence available  we will not seek a charging decision. Therefore, no further action will be taken against the man.

Officers have informed Henry Vincents family of the decision and explained how it was reached, police said.

Richard Osborn-Brooks has been released without charge (Facebook)

Vincent was found slumped on the street with stab wounds to his upper body after police were called to a reported burglary at Mr Osborn-Brookss house at 12.45am.

A witness said Vincents alleged accomplice dragged him away towards a white van before leaving him for dead, groaning and bleeding heavily from his chest through his shirt.

It later emerged Vincent had been under investigation over a burglary at the home of another elderly victim.

Mr Osborn-Brooks suffered bruising during the break-in at his house where he lives with his wife who has dementia.

He was taken into custody on suspicion of murder on Wednesday and bailed the next day. His arrest prompted an outcry among neighbours and sparked a debate about crime victims rights to defend themselves.

They were indoors minding their own business and their world has been turned upside down, said one elderly neighbour.

Burglary suspect Henry Vincent was killed during an alleged break-in (Kent Police)

Addressing the controversy, Mr Harding said: Whilst there might be various forms of debate about which processes should be used in cases such as this, it was important that the resident was interviewed by officers under the appropriate legislation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act; not only for the integrity of our investigation but also so that his personal and legal rights were protected.

There will be an inquest in due course which will further review the circumstances into Mr Vincents death in a public forum.

Our thoughts remain with the families whose lives have been devastated by these events.

Family and friends have paid tribute to Henry Vincent, who was from Kent.

I dont know what happened in that home. But all I do know is that my cousin is dead today, a female family member told the BBC.

The Henry I know, he was such a loving person, and its probably something which just went wrong but he shouldnt have died out of it.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA 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

His death bore similarities to the killing of 16-year-old burglar Fred Barras, who was shot dead by Norfolk farmer Tony Martin in 1999.

The farmer was jailed for murder after firing a shotgun three times at the teenager and his accomplice, who was also injured. The conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal and he was released from prison after three years.

After Mr Osborn-Brookss arrest, the government reiterated that people have the right to defend themselves if they believe they or their families are in danger.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: While we cannot comment on specific cases, our sympathies are with householders who have to defend themselves when intruders break in.

Thats why we strengthened the law in 2013 to give householders greater protection from intruders.

Those changes make it clear that if a householder believes their life or the lives of their family are in danger, and they act in self-defence, they would not ordinarily be convicted of an offence.
The secrets of what lay behind the first nerve agent attack in Europe since the Second World War are likely to be revealed with Sergei and Yulia Skripal expected to speak to investigators in the coming days after making a remarkable recovery.

The former MI6 spy and his daughter may soon be in a position to reveal to investigators the chain and time of events leading up to her poisoning and that of her father in Salisbury a month ago  and who may have carried out it out.

Despite the head of Porton Down, the military research centre, saying there is no known antidote to the military grade novichok, which Theresa Mays government has said was used in the attempted murders, both now appear to be out of danger.

The timing of their interviews will be dependent on advice of the specialist medical staff treating them, but the police and security agencies are optimistic that the answers to what took place are likely to emerge soon.

Salisbury District Hospital, where the pair have been treated since being struck down last month, said Mr Skripal was responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition.

Yulia Skripal, who had issued a public statement through the police saying she woke up a week ago and am glad my strength is growing daily, will be questioned before her father unless his condition improves dramatically.

Ms Skripal supposedly spoke on the telephone with her cousin Viktoria in Moscow who was due to visit her in hospital. During the call Yulia told Viktoria she may not be given a visa, and yesterday the UK authorities confirmed that the visa application has been refused.

This led to an immediate charge of further cover-up by Russian officials who have already accused the UK of carrying out the attack.

A Home Office spokesman said: We have refused a visitor visa application from Viktoria Skripal on the grounds that her application did not comply with the immigration rules.

 Sergei Lavrov says the British government could have poisoned the Skripals themselves

Russian state television earlier this week broadcasted a telephone conversation between Viktoria and her cousin, where Yulia allegedly said everything is fine and her father was sleeping.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the improvement in the condition of Mr Skripal was great news and testament to the quick work of the emergency services.

Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said speculation about when the two could be released from hospital was just that  speculation.

The Foreign Office said the pair were likely to have ongoing medical needs.

We are very pleased that both Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia are improving, a spokesman said. This is a tribute to the hardworking and talented NHS staff in Salisbury who have provided outstanding care.

Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses.

The Russian Embassy said it hoped the improvement in the Skripals health will contribute to the investigation of the crime perpetrated against them.

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

Dan Kaszeta, a security and chemical defence consultant, said nerve agents are quick acting if they are inhaled, which did not appear to be the case with the Skripals.

We do not know the narrative of that afternoon in detail, for example Sergei  what did you touch and when did you touch it?

Now that Ms Skripal in particular is known to be recovering and talking, her insight into what happened will be extremely important, Mr Kaszeta added.

The development came as Donald Trump heightened diplomatic tensions further by announcing sanctions against seven Russian oligarchs with ties to Vladimir Putin for malign activity around the world.

Meanwhile, Russia is demanding an explanation over the deaths of two guinea pigs and a cat that was found in a distressed state at Mr Skripals house.

The Russian Embassy said: Regarding the dead guinea pigs and the malnourished cat, it is said unofficially that they were taken to the Porton Down facility and incinerated there.

But it remains unclear if their remains were ever tested for toxic substances, which would constitute useful evidence, and if not why such a decision was made.

Overall, it is difficult to avoid the impression that the animals have been disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence.
A herd of cattle were filmed as they made a two-mile journey across a beach to an uninhabited island to give birth.

Angus MacDonald, his wife Michelle, both 53, and their family take the cows from the mainland to the Island of Vallay on the Outer Hebrides.

They make the journey so that the cows can give birth outdoors on clean ground. Vallay is a small uninhabited island that is only reachable by the beach at low tide.

Recommended Cow escapes farm to live with herd of bison

Mr Macdonald said that the cows love the beach because they are free to run around it.

He said: ''We do the two-mile walk twice a year. We move them so they can calve in April then back to graze on the heather hills in October. They totally love the beach. They are totally free and run around and eat seaweed and play in the sea."

Angus has kept Highland cows for almost 50 years when his mother had a croft in the 1970s.

The MacDonald family now run Ardbhan Highland Cattle, a herd of purebred cattle with bloodlines dating back to 1885.

They now have 140 cows including three new calves.

The cows are sold all over Europe to bidders from Italy, France and Estonia.

Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round Show all 7 1 /7 Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 450481.bin Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 449982.bin Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 449983.bin Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 449984.bin Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 449985.bin Rex Features Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 449986.bin Scottish Highlands: Take the long way round 449987.bin

The couple live on the mainland but hope to retire to Vallay and repair an old house on the deserted island.

The cows have gained a lot of attention after Angus' daughter-in-law Carianne posted stunning footage of the cows on their Facebook page.

Mr Macdonald said: ''We keep the cows organic and the soil is fertilised with seaweed brought in by the Atlantic storms. 'The herd of Highland cows have been a well-kept secret but not anymore."

SWNS
A conwoman who posed as a Grenfell Tower survivor has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for her 'callous and contemptible' fraud.

Joyce Msokeri, 47, said her husband died in the fire so she could claim food, clothing, and hotel accommodation worth 19,000.

The divorcee, who was in fact single and living miles away, could have got her hands on more than 200,000 if she had not been caught, London's Old Bailey heard.

Msokeri showed no emotion as judge Michael Grieve described how she seized on "one of the most horrific disasters to befall London in recent times."

The judge told her: "These are callous and contemptible, indeed disgusting, offences for which only a custodial sentence can be justified, and one of some length. Your greed in taking advantage of the situation you had created was insatiable."

The court heard she went to the Westway Centre set up to help survivors on 15 June last year, the day after the fire.

She claimed she had escaped the blaze after her husband gave her a wet towel to shield her face and directed her to safety.

Msokeri said she never saw him again after he went to help his sister on another floor.

She would go on to fill a room at a Hilton hotel with donations from well-wishers including money, electronic devices, handbags and dresses.

"What the evidence demonstrates is that she committed these crimes through greed and she got away with it for a certain amount of time through her skill at manipulation," said prosecutor David Jeremy QC.

Her story was called into question when she was unable to give the number of her flat in the tower, despite claiming to have lived there for five months.

Msokeri then roped in a vulnerable man to play her husband, telling investigators she had found him living in a cave in Margate, Kent.

Police traced Msokeri's real address to Sutton and established she was not married at the time of the fire. She was charged with fraud in September.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

Msokeri, Sutton, south London, was found guilty of three counts of fraud against the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), the Hilton and charities plus a further charge of possessing a false document.

Detective Chief Superintendent Matt Bonner, said: "It is terrible that this individual should try to profit from the pain of others.

"Not only did Msokeri take money, housing and clothing intended for genuine victims, she diverted police resources away from those who most needed it.

"We will continue to use all our powers to investigate anyone who we think is fraudulently profiting from the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower."

The Press Association contributed to this report.
A 30-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Tanesha Melbourne who was gunned down in north London.

The 17-year-old was killed in a drive-by attack as she sat chatting with friends in Tottenham on Monday.

The killing shocked the capital, which has seen a wave of violent crime with the number of suspected murders in March higher than that of New York.

Scotland Yard said that a man had been arrested in Hackney, east London, on suspicion of murder.

Paramedics battled for an hour to save Taneshas life but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her mother arrived at the scene before paramedics and watched as they tried to save her life. Neighbours and friends described her as a good girl and lovely member of the community.

Just half an hour later, 16-year-old Amaan Shakoor was shot in Walthamstow and died in hospital the following day.

Officers said they are keeping an open mind about the attack and at this stage there has been no suggestion that the two killings are linked.

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Detective Inspector Beverley Kofi, of the Mets homicide and major crime command, said: We are appealing to anybody who witnessed the incident and has not yet come forward, or who in the hours since this shocking murder are privy to information that could help us find those responsible.

You may be fearful of repercussions of speaking to police, or have loyalties that you believe cant be compromised. We are dealing with the fatal shooting of a teenage girl, and would implore you to do the right thing and come forward.

It emerged this week that Londons Metropolitan Police has opened 55 murder investigations this year  and there were six non-fatal stabbings on Thursday night into Friday morning in the capital.

PA
A cancer patient slept in what he described as a cupboard as he recovered from an operation because of a shortage of hospital beds.

There was equipment all up the shelves alongside me and clinical staff kept coming in to pick things up for other patients," said Martyn Wells. Some of them were apologetic, but others just shook their heads in disbelief."

The 49-year-old IT manager added: "They were embarrassed, that's the best way to describe it.

Mr Wells said that he woke up in a small, windowless room after having part of his stomach removed at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Diagnosed with stage four malignant melanoma earlier this year, he went under the knife after tumours were discovered.

When he complained to a nurse, he was told the room was a clinical decisioning space and a bed shortage was to blame.

I almost feel guilty for complaining, because the surgeons that operated on me saved my live," he said. But there must be something very wrong with the system if this is what's happening to ill people like me. I feel for the employees as well, because they can't do much else without the central funding,

He added: For me, this whole incident encapsulates the issues that we have in the NHS today, he said. What on earth is the logic between putting a stage four cancer patient in a broom cupboard? I dont understand it.

The hospital bed Mr Wells woke up in after surgery (SWNS)

Mr Wells said the room was a 50-metre walk from the toilets.

Having to stagger down to go the loo was humiliating - it's an awfully long way to walk for someone that has just had their stomach removed, he added.

A spokesman for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation said: We are sorry Mr Wells is unhappy with his situation. The trust has a standard operating procedure for capacity escalation and a full capacity protocol which are strictly followed to ensure the safe care of all of our patients.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA 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

When a ward reaches maximum capacity a patient who is clinically fit for discharge may be moved into a consultation room to allow another patient with clinical needs to be transferred onto the appropriate ward.

The consultation rooms such as the one occupied by Mr Wells are fully equipped clinical areas and are used to support capacity management across the hospital. The dignity and safe care of all of our patients remains our priority.
The number of reports about right-wing extremist material online has surged over the last year, according to a specialist anti-terror team.

The national unit has instigated the removal of just over 304,000 online videos, web pages and posts in total since it was established in 2010.

Although the vast majority related to Islamic extremism, more than one in four referrals about web content from the public are now raised over far-right concerns.

Of a total of 1,849 public referrals to the Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) since last March, 481, or 26 per cent, related to extreme right-wing material, figures released by Scotland Yard show.

Concerns over the availability of terror-related and extremist content on the web, intensified after Britain was hit by a string of atrocities.

All five attacks on UK soil last year had an "online component" and tech companies like Facebook and Google have come under sustained pressure over their efforts.

The CTIRU works with hundreds of organisations to remove content including propaganda and recruitment videos, images of executions and speeches calling for racial or religious violence.

The unit has also provided key evidence and information in 226 counter-terror investigations since its launch.

The team's main function in previous years has been getting content taken down but officers have been able to shift their focus more towards investigative work as tech providers step up their efforts to remove material automatically.

In February Mohammed Kamal Hussain, 28, from east London, was jailed for encouraging terrorism and supporting a proscribed organisation as a direct result of a public referral that came into the CTIRU.

Metropolitan Police Commander Clarke Jarrett, head of the Counter Terrorism Command, said: "This example shows how the public has a vital role to play in the fight against terrorism.

"I would urge anyone who comes across what they think could be extremist or terrorist material - whether it's right-wing, Islamist or indeed any other form of extremism - to report it to us. Our specialist officers can then assess the material and take appropriate action to potentially prevent further terrorist activity from happening."

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

A number of companies have detailed the steps they are taking to clamp down on terrorist content.

In the second half of last year Twitter suspended 274,460 accounts for violations related to promotion of terrorism.

The site said 93 per cent of the suspended accounts were flagged by its "internal, proprietary spam-fighting tools", and 74 per cent were removed before sending their first tweet.

YouTube has introduced "machine learning" to help identify extremist and terror-related material, removing more than 150,000 videos between June and December.

Facebook has deployed artificial intelligence as part of its efforts, with 99 per cent of Isis and al-Qaeda related content removed before it is flagged by users.

Press Association contributed to this report
An animal rights group has blamed British authorities for the death of three of Sergei Skripals pets at the poisoned former double agents home.

The government confirmed the long-haired black Persian cat had been found alive but in a distressed state at the house in Salisbury.

Found extremely malnourished, officials said the cat was taken to the Porton Down chemical weapons laboratory for testing but it was in so much pain that a vet decided to put it down.

A pair of guinea pigs were sealed into the property and later died.

These deaths are another tragedy of this horrific situation, and this time, the British authorities are evidently to blame, said Elisa Allen, director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).

No one should have left these animals sealed inside the house any more than they would have done children  clearly, they should have been rescued.

She added the group was calling for an investigation to be carried out in order to determine how this was allowed to happen and ensure that procedures are put in place to prevent any such loss of lives  which were valued by the Skripals and the animals themselves  from ever happening again.

Her comments came after Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova demanded an explanation for the animals deaths.

She said the animals were really important witnesses when it comes to a chemical substance, which, in a number of versions, could have been used in the Skripals house.

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

A British government spokesperson said the property in Wiltshire was sealed as part of the police investigation.

They said: When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died. A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare.

News of the creatures deaths came as it has emerged that both Sergei and Yulia Skripals conditions are improving after being infected with the novichok nerve agent last month.

Yulia said she was getting better in a phone recording played by Russian state television, while Sergei is no longer in a critical condition and is said to be improving rapidly.
Britain has opened a permanent military base in Bahrain in an attempt to boost its role as a "major player" in the Middle East.

The 40m UK Naval Support facility at Mina Salman will be staffed by up to 500 soldiers, sailors and airmen.

It is 47 years since Britain left its original HMS Juffair base in Bahrain following the country's declaration of independence.

The new base will support the operation of bigger ships in the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran, including the new aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

"Our Armed Forces are the face of Global Britain and our presence in Bahrain will play a vital role in keeping Britain safe as well as underpinning security in the Gulf," said defence secretary Gavin Williamson.

"Britain is a major player on the world stage and this new Naval Support Facility will help us tackle the growing threats to our nation wherever they are across the globe and protecting our way of life."

The support facility is equipped with two gyms, a cinema room and games rooms and houses the British Forces Broadcasting Service Middle East radio station.

"The aim of the Royal Navy being out here anyway is to enhance and ensure the maritime security in the region, and whether or not that's law and order on the high seas, countering piracy, countering terrorism, making sure that the high seas are all safe for the free-flow of commerce, the free flow of trade to be able to take place," said Commodore Steve Dainton.

Prince Andrew officially opened the base with Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa an a formal ceremony on Thursday attended by General Sir Chris Deverell, commander of the UKs Joint Forces Command.

The deal to open the base was announced in 2014 and described by then foreign secretary Philip Hammond as "a watershed moment in the UKs commitment to the region".

The US Navy Fifth Fleet is also based in Bahrain on the original site of HMS Juffair, which was established in 1953.

Last year, US Navy commanders accused Iran of harassing warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and warned of the possibility of an armed clash. Iran denied the allegations.

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. 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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 Gulf is also a major trade route for oil tankers.
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Page: 1 2 3 Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: kaput

04-06-2018 01:46 AM











Post: #1 Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

Advertisement



A s of the third quarter of 2017 (when the ImpactECON report was published), the real GDP of the United States was $17.01 trillion, according to figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A 0.09 percent decline in that would amount to a $15.3 billion loss  not far off the $13 billion posited by the food and agriculture industry, in their letter.



https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mexico...rder-wall/



Where are the Trumpcocsuckingpuppets ...................... Theyre trying to distract us from the fact that Mexico retaliated against the border wall by establishing an agricultural agreement with Argentina. Starting next year Mexico will be buying 100% of their corn, rice, wheat and soy from Argentina duty free. In exchange Mexico will ship cars to Argentina duty free. This will take away at least $13 billion annually from American farmers.Where are the Trumpcocsuckingpuppets ...................... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 01:59 AM











Post: #2 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

Nobody can be King of the World forever.



Even Americans. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:04 AM











Post: #3 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 01:59 AM) Nobody can be King of the World forever.



Even Americans.

The sad part is America is being set up to fail, Look at the government employees still doing sock-puppet work to advocate for the babbling idiot in the white house they traitors. The sad part is America is being set up to fail, Look at the government employees still doing sock-puppet work to advocate for the babbling idiot in the white house they traitors. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:06 AM











Post: #4 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 01:46 AM) Theyre trying to distract us from the fact that Mexico retaliated against the border wall by establishing an agricultural agreement with Argentina. Starting next year Mexico will be buying 100% of their corn, rice, wheat and soy from Argentina duty free. In exchange Mexico will ship cars to Argentina duty free. This will take away at least $13 billion annually from American farmers.



A s of the third quarter of 2017 (when the ImpactECON report was published), the real GDP of the United States was $17.01 trillion, according to figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A 0.09 percent decline in that would amount to a $15.3 billion loss  not far off the $13 billion posited by the food and agriculture industry, in their letter.



https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mexico...rder-wall/



Where are the Trumpcocsuckingpuppets ......................



This $15 billion loss will go nicely with the $15 billion or so loss from the China soybean fallout and whatever else is coming up...



MAGA



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u_aLESDql1U







This $15 billion loss will go nicely with the $15 billion or so loss from the China soybean fallout and whatever else is coming up...MAGA LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:07 AM











Post: #5 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

You think American farmers and the associated corporate complex supporting them won't be able to find another buyer to make up the difference? Or hell, most farmers I know would be willing to take the hit if it meant sticking it to the dirty Mexicans and standing behind strict border policies. Non-story. Monk-1

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:08 AM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #6 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

Nope.. South america&chinatown is the new China. (This post was last modified: 04-06-2018 02:08 AM by Monk-1 .) Monk-1

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:08 AM



Posts: 5,687









Post: #7 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

And GoGo Japan. Pasta Lover

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:12 AM



Posts: 9,463









Post: #8 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

My whole family is from Argentina so.....wait for it.





[ ]YAAAAAAY!!!![/size]



[ ]WINNING[/size] LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:20 AM











Post: #9 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

If you don't believe that President Trump and the American people



are Winning, you're on the wrong team and you will be the losers. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:24 AM











Post: #10 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 02:07 AM) You think American farmers and the associated corporate complex supporting them won't be able to find another buyer to make up the difference? Or hell, most farmers I know would be willing to take the hit if it meant sticking it to the dirty Mexicans and standing behind strict border policies. Non-story.

The world doesn't want to eat "food" that's been laced with poison from Monsanto.











That's why Putin banned the use of it in Russia. The world doesn't want to eat "food" that's been laced with poison from Monsanto.That's why Putin banned the use of it in Russia. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:28 AM











Post: #11 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 01:46 AM) Theyre trying to distract us from the fact that Mexico retaliated against the border wall by establishing an agricultural agreement with Argentina. Starting next year Mexico will be buying 100% of their corn, rice, wheat and soy from Argentina duty free. In exchange Mexico will ship cars to Argentina duty free. This will take away at least $13 billion annually from American farmers.



A s of the third quarter of 2017 (when the ImpactECON report was published), the real GDP of the United States was $17.01 trillion, according to figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A 0.09 percent decline in that would amount to a $15.3 billion loss  not far off the $13 billion posited by the food and agriculture industry, in their letter.



https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mexico...rder-wall/



Where are the Trumpcocsuckingpuppets ...................... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:31 AM











Post: #12 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 02:20 AM) If you don't believe that President Trump and the American people



are Winning, you're on the wrong team and you will be the losers.

Look another delusional Trumpcocsuckerpuppet ........ Look another delusional Trumpcocsuckerpuppet ........ LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:33 AM











Post: #13 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 02:07 AM) You think American farmers and the associated corporate complex supporting them won't be able to find another buyer to make up the difference? Or hell, most farmers I know would be willing to take the hit if it meant sticking it to the dirty Mexicans and standing behind strict border policies. Non-story.

They could sell to china



If it weren't for that easy to win war They could sell to chinaIf it weren't for that easy to win war LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:37 AM











Post: #14 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 02:31 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 02:20 AM) If you don't believe that President Trump and the American people



are Winning, you're on the wrong team and you will be the losers.

Look another delusional Trumpcocsuckerpuppet ........

Trump says no more free sh!t for you free loaders..... Trump says no more free sh!t for you free loaders..... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 02:39 AM











Post: #15 RE: Trump is going to lose again , Mexico and Argentina agreement soon.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 02:20 AM) If you don't believe that President Trump and the American people



are Winning, you're on the wrong team and you will be the losers.

Sounds like you're a spokesperson for the cult of actual retardation.. Sounds like you're a spokesperson for the cult of actual retardation.. Advertisement


















India is not in a rush to conclude a trade deal with the UK after Brexit, the countrys chief ambassador to the UK has said.

Yashvardhan Sinha, Indias high commissioner to Britain, said that such a deal was not going to be done overnight.

The ambassador also hinted that an agreement  which Brexiteers are keen on to plug the gap in Britains trade that will probably be created due to new frictions with the European Union  would require the UK to make it easier for Indians to come to Britain.

I dont think India is in a rush. I think India would like certainly, and Im sure the UK would too  to get the best deal possible, he told the Politico Europe website.

I think for us it is very important that if we need to step up our engagement, we need to have that easier access, the ease of travel has to be looked into.

India has been in talks with the EU since 2007 on a free trade agreement, and the bloc is already the countrys number one trading partner.

The high representatives comments come days after a leading Japanese diplomat told The Independent that his countrys first and foremost priority was signing a deal with the EU over Japan.

Shinichi Iida, the countrys minister for public diplomacy, said: A lot of Japanese companies, to be very frank, are concerned with the prospect of the Brexit.

The EU is pushing for free trade deals with other Commonwealth countries Australia and New Zealand, and has a head start on Britain, with preliminary discussions already open.

European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said Theresa Mays plan to leave the single market and customs union will mean inevitable frictions in trade between the EU and the UK.

Brexit so far: in pictures Show all 53 1 /53 Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson led the VoteLeave campaign PA Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit campaign Boris Johnson MP, Labour MP Gisela Stuart and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell address the people of Stafford in Market Square during the Vote Leave Brexit Battle Bus tour on 17 May 2016. Their lead line on the tour was: We send the EU 350 million a week, let's fund our NHS instead. Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Voting day A man shelters from the rain as he arrives at a polling station in London on 23 June 2016. Millions of Britons voted in the referendum on whether to stay in or leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Referendum results Leader of Ukip, Nigel Farage, reacts at the Leave EU referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London as results indicated that it was likely the UK would leave the European Union AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Protesting the result A young couple painted as EU flags and a man with a sign reading Im not leaving protest outside Downing Street against the voters decision to leave the EU on 24 June 2016 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures David Cameron resigns British Prime Minister David Cameron resigns on the steps of 10 Downing Street on 24 June 2016 after the results of the EU referendum were declared and the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Theresa May Becomes the new Conservative Party leader Theresa May receives a kiss from her husband Philip, after becoming the new Conservative Party leader on 11 July 2016. May became Prime Minister two days later and although she voted to remain in the referendum was keen to lead Britains Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be prime minister because she had children AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Lancaster House keynote speech on Brexit British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote speech on Brexit at Lancaster House in London on 17 January 2017. Where she spoke about her offer to introduce a transition period after the UK formally leaves the European Union in March 2019. Despite repeating the pro-Brexit mantra of no deal is better than a bad deal, the Prime Minister claimed she wanted a tone of trust between the negotiators and said Britain was leaving the EU but not Europe. She said there should be a clear double lock needed for the transitional period to make sure businesses had time to prepare for changes to their trading relationships with the EU Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Triggering of Article 50 British Prime Minister Theresa May in the cabinet, sitting below a painting of Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole, signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk invoking Article 50 and the United Kingdom's intention to leave the EU on 29 March 2017 Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Gibraltar nonsense Tensions have risen over Brexit negotiations for the Rock of Gibraltar. The European Council has said Gibraltar would be included in a trade deal between London and Brussels only with the agreement of Spain. While former Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that Theresa May would be prepared to go to war to protect the territory. Spain's foreign minister stepped in only to assert that there was no need for the dispute Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Shock snap election Soon after triggering Article 50, Theresa May called on 18 April 2017 for a snap general election. The election would be on 8 June and it came as a shock move to many, with her reasoning to try to bolster her position before tough talks on leaving the EU AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Dissolution of Parliament for General Election Campaign Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement in Downing Street after returning from Buckingham Palace on 3 May 2017. The Prime Minister visited the Queen to ask for the dissolution of Parliament signalling the official start to the general election campaign Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Conservatives lose parliamentary majority An arrangement of British daily newspapers showing front page stories about the exit poll results of the snap general election. British Prime Minister Theresa May faced pressure to resign on 9 June 2017 after losing her parliamentary majority, plunging the country into uncertainty as Brexit talks loomed. The pound fell sharply amid fears the Conservative leader would be unable to form a government AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Labour gains Britains opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gives a tumbs up as he arrives at Labour headquarters in central London on 9 June 2017 after the snap general election results showed a hung parliament with Labour gains and the Conservatives losing their majority AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit negotiations begin Brexit Minister David Davis and European Commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations Michel Barnier address a press conference at the end of the first day of Brexit negotiations in Brussels on 19 June 2017 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May speaks in Florence British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks on 22 September 2017, in Florence. May sought to unlock Brexit talks after Brussels demanded more clarity on the crunch issues of budget payments and EU citizens' rights AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  insufficient progress German Chancellor Angela Merkel joins other EU leaders for a breakfast meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on 20 October 2017. The EU spoke about Brexit and announced that insufficient progress had been made AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures DUP derails settlement on the withdrawal part of Brexit DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds walks off after speaking to members of the media as a protester holding flags shouts after him outside the Houses of Parliament on 5 December 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to pull out of a deal with Brussels after the DUP said it would not accept terms which see Northern Ireland treated differently from the rest of the UK Getty Brexit so far: in pictures May suffers defeat over EU (Withdrawal) Bill Theresa May suffers defeat in parliament over EU (Withdrawal) Bill on 13 December 2017. The Government was defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation. MPs amended the EU (Withdrawal) Bill against Theresa May's will, guaranteeing Parliament a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels. Ms May's whips applied pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 Brexit so far: in pictures EU council summit  sufficient progress Britain's Prime minister Theresa May arrives to attend the first day of a European union summit in Brussels on 14 December 2017. European leaders discussed Brexit and announced there was finally sufficient progress at the end of the two days AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures The game moves to transition Brexit Secretary David Davis gives evidence on developments in European Union divorce talks to the Commons Exiting the EU Committee in Portcullis House, London, on 24 January 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures Trade deal is what May wants French President Emmanuel Macron gestures to Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May after they hold a press conference at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on 18 January 2018. May and Macron agreed a new border security deal, through which the UK will pay more to France to stop migrants trying to reach British shores on 18 January 2018 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Transition period agreed The UK and EU agree terms for Brexit transition period on 19 March, 2018 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures No agreement on Irish border The EU and UK however failed to reach an agreement on the Irish border during the successful talks on other Brexit issues AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU attacks Mays fantasy strategy For months after the March deal is struck there is little significant progress in talks. One senior EU official tears into Britains fantasy negotiating strategy and accuses Theresa May of not even having a position on a variety of important issue Getty Brexit so far: in pictures UK releases Ireland plan Britain releases a new customs plan to solve the Northern Ireland border but Michel Barnier says it leaves unanswered questions and would not prevent a hard border EbS Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan agreed The cabinet agrees on a plan known as the "Chequers deal" on July 6 2018. The plan seeks regulatory alignment on goods and food, divergence on services, freedom from the European Courts of Justice and an end to free movement. Many were surprised that the hard Brexiteers of the cabinet would agree to this plan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Chequers plan sparks resignations Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and numerous ministers resign in the days following the Chequers agreement Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Davis out, Raab in On 9 July, Dominic Raab replaces David Davis as Brexit Secretary. Raab is a keen Brexiteer and was a housing minister before taking over from Davis Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Barnier's "deal like no other" EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier claims on August 29 2018 that they are prepared to offer Britain a trade deal like no other, though he stressed that they will not divide or change the single market to accommodate Britain AP Brexit so far: in pictures "My deal or no deal" In an interview on Panorama on September 17, the Prime Minister insists that any Brexit deal will be offered to the EU on her terms. She asserts this amongst continued attacks on her approach to Brexit by Boris Johnson and the European Research Group, headed by Jacob Rees Mogg BBC/Jeff Overs Brexit so far: in pictures EU leaders reject Chequers Quite the blow was dealt to the Prime Minister at a EU leaders summit in Salzburg on September 20. European Council President Donald Tusk stated that the Chequers deal "will not work" Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures May demands respect Following the rejection of her Chequers plan the day before, the Prime Minister voiced her anger that the EU had dismissed it without offering an alternative. She stated that throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same. A good relationship at the end of this process depends on it." Getty Brexit so far: in pictures People's Vote march As the People's Vote campaign and The Independent's Final Say campaign gain traction, 700,000 people turn out in London to demand a final say on the UK's Brexit deal on October 20 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures More resignations As the Prime Minister settles on a Brexit deal, Brexit secretary Dominic Raab resigns along with Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey and many other ministers Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Final Say petitions delivered to Downing Street People's Vote supporting MPs Chukka Umunna, Justine Greening and Caroline Lucas and The Independent editor Christian Broughton deliver over a million signatures in favour of a People's Vote to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on December 3 2018 PA Brexit so far: in pictures May delays vote On December 10, the Prime Minister delayed the vote on her Brexit deal as it was near certain not to pass through the Commons due to Tory rebels and lack of DUP support AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures No confidence motion Tory MPs triggered a confidence vote in the Prime Minister on December 12. She won by 200 votes to 117 Reuters Brexit so far: in pictures Commons rejects the deal Following the delay, the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons by a historic 230 votes AFP Brexit so far: in pictures Corbyn tables a no confidence motion Following the rejection of the Prime Minister's deal, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which the government won by a margin of 19 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Plan B The Prime Minister won the support of the commons to return to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop on January 29. In the same sitting, MPs also voted against a no-deal Brexit in a non-legally binding motion PA Brexit so far: in pictures EU council president savages Brexit campaigners who failed to plan for departure: Special place in hell There is a special place in hell for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without explaining how it should happen, Donald Tusk has said. The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU could reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa Mays hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her exit deal through parliament. Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mr Tusk said: Ive been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely. He also tweeted the accusation moments later Getty Brexit so far: in pictures EU and UK announce talks to restart after Theresa May visits Brussels Both have agreed to restart Brexit talks to find a way through the deadlock in Westminster, following a visit by Theresa May to Brussels. In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a robust but constructive meeting with president Jean-Claude Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month. But the EU again refused to reopen the withdrawal agreement and its controversial backstop  with any negotiations expected to focus on the future relationship between the UK and EU instead Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brexit strategy lost MPs voted down May's Brext plans, with a majority of 45. The prime minister did not appear in parliament to see another defeat PA Brexit so far: in pictures Labour and Conservative MPs resign and create the Independent Group Back row of Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, middle row of Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey and front row of Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan PA Brexit so far: in pictures Non-biding votes on amendments to Brexit motion On February 27 he house held a series of votes, unanimously calling for the UK and EU to guarantee citizens rights in a no-deal scenario AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Attorney General publishes legal advice A hammer blow for May as Geoffrey Cox said her renegotiated deal can still leave UK in backstop against its will. Mr Cox did say the prime ministers efforts had reduced the risk of the UK being trapped in the backstop indefinitely. MPs went on to vote against her deal by 391 to 242 UK Parliament/PA Brexit so far: in pictures No-deal off the table MPs rejected a no-deal Brexit by 43 votes on March 13, with cabinet ministers rebelling in another humiliating defeat for Theresa May. A day later they voted in favour of the prime minister seeking an extension to Article 50 AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures House speaker bans May from third Commons vote on same Brexit deal John Bercow sensationally told Theresa May he would stop her making another attempt to pass her Brexit deal unless she has secured changes. The Speaker said a further meaningful vote would be ruled out of order if the motion was the same or substantially the same  under an ancient convention to stop the government bullying parliament on issues MPs have rejected Parliament Live Brexit so far: in pictures May writes to Tusk The prime minister wrote to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, to ask for a three-month extension to give her more time to try to get her deal through parliament. However the European Commission advises the EU27 should offer a short extension to May 23 or a longer one meaning the UK would participate in European elections 10 Downing Street/AFP/Getty Brexit so far: in pictures European Council summit Theresa Mays request to extend triggering Article 50 until the end of June was rejected by the EU, and instead offered a shorter time frame. She accepted the offer of a delay until May 22 if her withdrawal deal is approved by Parliament. If MPs rejected it for a third time, the EU said Britain must propose a new plan by April 12. Ms May said she will not support a long delay because it would mean Britain participating in elections for the European Parliament Getty Brexit so far: in pictures Brussels confirms preparations for a no-deal Brexit are completed They warned that it is increasingly likely the UK will crash out. In a statement the European Commission (EC) said preparedness and contingency work, which the EC has been conducting since December 2017, was now finished. The announcement came days after EU leaders agreed to a request by Theresa May to extend the UKs Brexit date AFP Brexit so far: in pictures May resigns Reuters

Brexiteers however argue that global Britain will be able to benefit from being able to sign new trade agreements with other countries that the EU cannot land.

US president Donald Trump has expressed enthusiasm for a great trade deal with Britain after it leaves the EU.

The Independent has contacted the Indian High Commission in London for comment.
Labour MPs are demanding Theresa May intervene personally to stem the rise of gun and knife deaths in London, accusing her of being absent while violent crime surges.

More than 40 MPs in the capital have signed a letter demanding a face-to-face meeting, amid attacks on both the prime minister and Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, for their lack of involvement in the crisis.

The prime minister was criticised after it emerged she visited east London on Thursday to open a new office for the local Conservative party and to campaign for next months local council elections.

The office, in Waltham Forest, is close to the scenes of three violent deaths since the start of the year  but Ms May is understood to have not visited the sites, nor spoken to police.

In the letter, Labour MPs urged the prime minister to recognise that communities are crying out for national leadership on this issue.

The letter linked the deaths directly to funding cuts of 1bn to the Metropolitan Police, alleged that probation and prisons are in chaos and that youth services had been cut to the bone.

Mr Khan has also been criticised for his lack of response to the killings, and for failing to meet any victims or visit the murder scenes. The MPs pointed out that 75 per cent of Met funding comes from the government.

We are calling on you, the prime minister and home secretary, to urgently meet with us, along with the mayor, to discuss what more must be done to make our city safer, the letter reads.

We need a police force with the resources to provide reassurance to communities, do the necessary prevention work and catch those who commit crimes.

The letter adds: Social media is a key factor, glorifying and amplifying violence. Social media companies must take down videos and posts that are fuelling the rise in violent crime.

On all these issues, we need urgent action from the government. It is not good enough simply to ignore the impact cuts have had on communities. Ministers cannot bury their heads in the sand.

The letter has been coordinated by Wes Streeting, Labour MP for Ilford North, and signed by both frontbenchers and backbenchers, including Jeremy Corbyn.

There have been more than 50 murders in the capital in just the first three months of the year  forcing Mr Khan to deny the police have lost control of crime in London.

Police patrols have been stepped up and officers are using stop-and-search powers to seize weapons, the Met says.

Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, criticised Ms May's priorities on Twitter, telling her: If you can come to our borough looking for votes as you did today... the least you can do is hear our call for help to tackle the violent crime we are experiencing.

But Jo Johnson, the minister for London, criticised Mr Khan for failing to focus on the problem, saying: Londoners deserve to feel safe on the streets and that is why the government has given the [Met] additional funds again this year.

Sadly, the mayor has chosen not to prioritise community policing and now urgently needs to use all his powers to tackle this scourge.
The cousin of poisoned Yulia Skipral has been denied a UK visa to visit her relatives in hospital, the Home Office has confirmed.

Viktoria Skripal had hoped to visit former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, where the pair have been fighting for their lives after being poisoned by a deadly nerve agent last month.

Mr Skripal is "no longer in a critical condition", doctors said, while Yulia has regained consciousness and thanked the public for their support in her first public comments since the incident on 4 March.

A Home Office spokesman said: We have refused a visitor visa application from Viktoria Skripal on the grounds that her application did not comply with the immigration rules.

Viktoria, who lives in Russia, declared she would visit her cousin in hospital after hospital staff announced Yulia was recovering from the attack, which involved the toxic nerve agent novichock.

Russian state television broadcast a telephone conversation between Viktoria and her cousin, where Yulia allegedly said "everything is fine" and her father was "sleeping".

It comes amid growing tensions with Moscow over its role in the attack on the Skripals, as Russia's ambassador to the UN warned Britain it was "playing with fire" for suggesting the Kremlin was behind the poisoning.

Theresa May said it was "highly likely" that Russia was behind the attack and prompted a global wave of diplomatic expulsions by allies, including the US and European nations.

Donald Trump also announced sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs with ties to Vladimir Putin for "malign activity" around the world.

Hospital bosses said Mr Skripal was "responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and no longer in a critical condition", while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the improvement in the condition of Mr Skripals was "great news" and "testament to the quick work" of the emergency services.

Dr Christine Blanshard, medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said speculation about when the two could be released from hospital was "just that - speculation".

The Russian Embassy said it hoped the improvement in the Skripals' health will "contribute to the investigation of the crime perpetrated against them".

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are very pleased that both Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia are improving. This is a tribute to the hardworking and talented NHS staff in Salisbury who have provided outstanding care.

"The NHS will continue to provide ongoing care for the Skripals, both of whom are likely to have ongoing medical needs.

"Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses."

Meanwhile, Russia is demanding an explanation over the deaths of two guinea pigs and a cat, which was found in a distressed state at Mr Skripal's house.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA 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

The Russian Embassy said: "Regarding the dead guinea pigs and the malnourished cat, it is said unofficially that they were taken to the Porton Down facility and incinerated there.

"But it remains unclear if their remains were ever tested for toxic substances, which would constitute useful evidence, and if not, why such a decision was made.

"Overall, it is difficult to avoid the impression that the animals have been disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence."
The Colombian government has been ordered to take urgent action to protect the Amazon rainforest by its own supreme court.

In a historic ruling, the country's most senior judges said the state had not done enough to tackle the destruction of the environment.

The court recognised the Amazon as an "entity subject of rights" - meaning it has the same legal rights as a human being - and ordered action plans to be drawn up within four months.

"It is clear, despite numerous international commitments, regulations ... that the Colombian state has not efficiently addressed the problem of deforestation in the Amazon," the supreme court said.

Colombia's rainforest covers an area roughly the size of Germany and England combined but is slowly being destroyed by farming, agriculture, cocaine production, illegal mining and logging.

The judges said the rate of deforestation - an important factor in climate change - increased by 44 per cent between 2015 and 2016 and lead to "imminent and serious" damage to children and adults.

"Without a healthy environment, subjects of law and living beings in general will not be able to survive, let alone safeguard those rights for our children or for future generations," said the court.

The ruling comes after a group of 25 people aged between seven and 26 filed a lawsuit claiming their constitutional rights to life, food and water were being violated.

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

Bogota-based rights group Dejusticia, which supported the case against the government, said it was the first such ruling delivered in Latin America.

"The Supreme Court's decision marks an historical precedent in terms of climate change litigation," said researcher Camila Bustos, who was also one of the plaintiffs.

"The ruling states the importance of protecting the rights of future generations, and even declares the Amazon a subject of rights."

Meanwhile the Brazilian senate is set to vote on a bill which could scrap an eight year ban on the farming of sugarcane in the Amazon.

Thomson Reuters Foundation contributed to this report.
A family in California whose son was permanently scarred by bedbug bites has been awarded nearly $1.6m (1.14m) by a civil jury.

It was the highest amount ever paid to a single family in a US 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, California. 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 three months old at the time of the infestation, was also bitten, the bugs feasting on her back as she slept, Ms Martinez said.

On Monday, after deliberating for a day, a civil jury in Alhambra, California, 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 $3.5m 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, Mr Virag said.

Ms 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, Ms 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 three-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.

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 lawyers representing the company declined to comment on Wednesday.

Jorge, now eight years old, had the strongest reaction to the bites. He still has scars on his legs, arms and torso from constant scratching, Ms 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, Ms Martinez said and brought justice to her son. They went to court for him, she said, because this marked him for his life.

The New York Times
Americas largest police force has agreed not to conduct surveillance operations based on religion or ethnicity, as part of a deal to settle claims that it illegally spied on Muslims in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In an agreement announced in New York, the force agreed to put an end to such operations based solely on these factors and to pay $75,000 in damages and $1m in legal fees. It also agreed to meet with members of the Muslim community to discuss various issues.

We are proud that we stood up to the most powerful police force in the country and against the suspicion and ignorance that guided their discriminatory practices, said Farhaj Hassan, the lead plaintiff in the case.

We believe the legal rulings and settlement in this case will endure as part of a broader effort to hold this country to account for its stated commitment and its obligation to uphold religious liberty and equality.

The lawsuit followed a series of award-wining article by the Associated Press that revealed how the citys police department infiltrated Muslim student groups and put informants in mosques as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks.

 James O'Brien's powerful response to a man who said all Muslims were complicit in terrorism

In New Jersey, the department collected intelligence on ordinary people at mosques, restaurants and schools starting in 2002. At a press conference, the plaintiffs pointed out that the programme failed to produce a single lead despite spying on 20 mosques, 14 restaurants, 11 retail stores, 2 schools and 2 Muslim student associations in New Jersey.

The deal came after a Philadelphia appeals court in 2015 likened the surveillance programme to when Japanese Americans were interned during World War II.

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

Today's settlement sends a message to all law enforcement: Simply being Muslim is not a basis for surveillance, Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a legal advocacy and educational organisation after after Thursdays agreement.

As part of the settlement, the force will be required to provide input into a new policy guide to control the police departments Intelligence Bureau. It also requires NYPD counter-terrorism probes in New Jersey to follow the Handschu Guidelines, which resulted from a 1971 lawsuit by the Black Panther Party alleging police engaged in widespread surveillance of legitimate political activity.

It also requires the city to pay $47,500 to businesses and mosques harmed by surveillance and $25,000 to individual plaintiffs. The city also will pay $950,000 in legal fees for plaintiffs, the AP said.

Zachary Carter, the citys top lawyer, said in a statement: This settlement demonstrates a continued commitment by the NYPD to safeguard individual constitutional rights while keeping New York the safest city in America.
US post offices will be forced to display photos of Donald Trump and Mike Pence if a Republican congressman succeeds in getting his bill passed.

New York Representative Dan Donovan is planning to introduce a piece of legislation that will require the public institutions to exhibit photos of the president and the vice president.

A draft of the legislation said it would require official portraits of whoever is in the positions to be displayed side by side in post offices across the US.

The politicians proposal comes after a Staten Island resident told Mr Donovan a local post office hung photos of Mr Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden, but chose not to display photos of Mr Trump or Mr Pence.

Mr Trump recently signed legislation stopping federal funds from being used for oil paintings of high-level politicians, the president and the vice president.

The bill came after a 2013 report revealed agencies had forked out more than $100,000 (81,460) on official portraits since 2010.

Mr Donovan is facing a primary challenge from former Representative Michael Grimm  a businessman who finished an eight-month prison sentence in 2016 after pleading guilty to tax fraud.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Mr Donovan won a special election to fill the seat after Mr Grimm - who once notoriously threatened to throw a political reporter off a balcony - resigned in early 2015.

The battle between the pair has become increasingly acrimonious and aggressive as both politicians have attempt to present themselves as the Trump-like figure of the race.
Donald Trump has doubled down on his defence of Scott Pruitt, saying the chief of the Environmental Protection Agency is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege.

Mr Pruitt has been under mounting scrutiny in recent weeks, with the EPA administrator facing a growing number of negative headlines, leading many to wonder whether his stint as head of the EPA may soon be over.

But reports have also suggested that Mr Trump was floating the idea as recently as this week of replacing Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Mr Pruitt, despite all the scandals.

Mr Trump has publicly conveyed how frustrated he is over Mr Sessions decision more than year ago to recuse himself from an investigation into alleged ties between Russia and Trump campaign advisers. The president has insisted there was no collusion. Meanwhile, he continues to express confidence in Mr Pruitt.

Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Mr Trump tweeted. Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!

The White House is conducting a review of ethical questions surrounding Mr Pruitt.

During a White House briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president believes Mr Pruitt has done a good job at ... carrying out the goals of the EPA.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is said to have told Mr Trump last week that he is convinced Mr Pruitt needs to step down, the Wall Street Journal reported. Several members of Congress, including three Republicans, have also called for his resignation.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Mr Pruitts tenure has been part of the Trump administrations culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence.

Pruitt must resign, she declared in a statement.

Mr Pruitt has spoken with conservative media outlets, protesting against media reports about his regular first-class travel, his use of an obscure administrative provision to increase the salaries of two favoured aides, and his below-market rental agreement with the lobbyist. He has denied knowing about the pay raises and says he did nothing wrong.

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 stories, he has suggested, are the handiwork of his critics who are trying to derail his deregulatory and pro-business agenda.

A spokesperson for the EPA has said the lease agreement was in line with federal ethical regulations.

Additionally, a report by the New York Times on Thursday said that at least five EPA officials were sidelined after they confronted the administrator over several issues, including unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr Pruitt for security coverage.

The EPA disputes the veracity of the accusations. None of the officials who reportedly left or were removed from their jobs at the agency after questioning Mr Pruitt  as well as the official said to be considering resigning  would comment when contacted by the newspaper.

The White House has said it is aware that reports on Mr Pruitt raise questions.

If the president has confidence in somebody, then they stay, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters. We all serve at the pleasure of the President. You guys know that. And when hes not pleased, youll know it.

Mr Gidley on Thursday declined to elaborate on which of Mr Pruitts specific activities it was reviewing.

I cant get into specificity on what were looking at, Mr Gidley said. We see what you guys see. We read what you guys report. And, you know, the president demands the highest levels of ethical standards for his entire staff, and that includes the cabinet.
US President Donald Trump has called on the National Guard to defend the border with Mexico.

The order - in the form of a signed memorandum - follows months of frustration for the president as he struggles to fund his long-promised "big, beautiful wall" and follows his expressing concern over a "caravan" of 1,000 migrants from Central America crossing Mexico in pursuit of a better life in the US.

President Trump has warned that the problem of illegal immigration into the US from its southern neighbour is reaching a "crisis point" and threatened to withdraw foreign aid to Honduras - the country of origin of many of the convoy's participants.

The signed memo on Wednesday evening states that "the security of the United States is imperilled by a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border".

Citing his predecessors George W Bush and Barack Obama summoning the National Guard to the southern border in 2006 and 2012 respectively, Trump's memo reads: "The crisis at our southern border once again calls for the National Guard to help secure our border and protect our homeland."

Kirstjen Nielsen, Homeland Security Secretary, made the initial announcement on Wednesday afternoon but was unable to confirm the number of troops that would be dispatched, the cost of the mission or precisely where the guardsmen would be positioned but did say that an up-tick in attempted crossings over the last month was the reason for the call-up.

This last point contradicted assumptions that illegal immigration from Mexico was currently at a historic low, based on a Homeland Security report concluding precisely that published as recently as last September.

But why deploy the National Guard, a reserve military force comprised of troops with part-time jobs elsewhere, rather than the US Army itself?

Roughly equivalent to the Territorial Army in the UK, the short answer is that the National Guard is not subjected to the same restrictions as the professional military.

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, signed into law by President Rutherford Hayes after the Civil War, prohibits the federal use of American military might to enforce laws and domestic policies within US borders.

The Army therefore cannot perform civilian law enforcement tasks on US soil like arrests, apprehension, interrogation or detention without the act being suspended by Congress.

It could though play a secondary role in relation to the Mexican border wall, assisting with tasks like training, construction or intelligence gathering.

The act does not apply to the National Guard, however, which can carry out law enforcement duties as long as it has the support of the state in question's governor.

But making arrests or searching suspects without explicit congressional support would contravene the Guards' regulations, meaning that Homeland Security is likely to play them in a supporting capacity, assisting the Customs and Border Protection agents already patrolling the border.

Given that the National Guard is organised on a state-by-state basis, any federal decision to deploy them involves effectively assuming control of a local governor's resources - a move that can be contentious.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, however, has tweeted his support for President Trump's decision:

In this instance, calling on the National Guard appears to serve primarily as a show of force on behalf of the Trump White House that can be undertaken with greater freedoms and without the greater expense a full military commitment would incur.

President Bush spent $1.2bn on sending 6,000 guardsmen to the border to assist with the "War on Drugs" while President Obama sent 1,200 at a cost of $110m to the same end.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Historically, the National Guard has been called in in moments of national crisis, typically coming to the aid of civilians in the aftermath of natural disasters like last August's Texas flooding.

They have been assigned as a peacekeeping force before, however, notably in Little Rock, Arkansas, following the desegregation of schools in 1957 and during the Los Angeles Riots of 1992.
Evangelical Christian leaders are hoping to meet with Donald Trump to raise mounting concerns about the drama surrounding his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels and claims levelled at the president by other women.

The billionaire businessman secured huge support from white Christians in the 2016 election, despite his reputation as a thrice-married casino magnate and the Access Hollywood affair in which he was caught on video bragging about sexually assaulting women. Even though Mr Trump was not personally seen as coming from a strong faith background, he secured the backing of 80 per cent of white evangelicals, compared to just 16 per cent for Hillary Clinton.

Yet a report suggests several evangelical Christian leaders are planning to meet with Mr Trump later this summer. According to a report on NPR that cited our unidentified sources, the faith leaders are hoping they will see the President on June 19 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington to discuss various concerns with him.

 Seth Rogan alleges that Stormy Daniels told him 10 years ago that she was sleeping with Donald Trump

One leader of a faith-based ministry said of the allegation Mr Trumps lawyer paid Ms Daniels $130,000 to buy her silence ahead of the 2016 election: Were very concerned.

The source said the combination of the allegations swirling about an alleged decade-old relationship with Ms Daniels, along with rhetoric from the president that many find divisive, had spread concern that evangelicals may be less enthusiastic about turning out to vote in Novembers midterms.

Another source said the June meeting would be a chance for evangelical leaders to seek reassurance from Mr Trump and to talk about how to mobilise conservatives. Lets reconvene and lets see what we can do to encourage enthusiasm  beyond Trump, so to speak, the source said.

Ralph Reed, best known as the head of the so-called Christian Coalition during the 1999s and currently chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, will among those religious leaders meeting with Mr Trump if it proceeds.

He said he doubted the controversy surrounding Ms Daniels would erode turn-out. Yet he he said if it did, Republicans could suffer. If these folks dont turn out in record numbers in 2018, its going to be a long night for Republicans, he said.

Mr Trump this meet referred to the issue for the first time this week when he said he had no prior knowledge of the payment to Ms Daniels made by his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One flying back from a trip to West Virginia, Mr Trump was asked if he knew about the payment. He replied: No.

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. 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Mr Trump also said he did not know why Mr Cohen had made the payment. He said: Youll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. Youll have to ask Michael.

Asked about the reported planned meeting, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters, said: We have no scheduling update at this time.

Johnnie Moore, who serves as an informal evangelical adviser to Mr Trump, denied the meeting  which he said was still at a very early stage  was being held to discuss Ms Daniels, but rather to focus on policy priorities for evangelical groups.

He said that with Mr Trump having secured the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, having sought to push back legislation that prevents individuals refusing to provide services based on their religious beliefs and his Attorney General declaring the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not provide special protection to transgender people, most evangelicals would score Mr Trumps first 15 months highly.

Evangelicals are very focussed on the issues, he told The Independent. They have a way of not being distracted by what the media may be talking about every day.
Donald Trump said that he did not know about the $130,000 his personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had an affair with him, in the president's public comments about

The payment came in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. When asked if he knew about the payment aboard Air Force One flying back from a trip to West Virginia, Mr Trump replied with a flat "No".

Mr Trump also said he did not know why Mr Cohen had made the payment: You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You'll have to ask Michael.

Responding to a second follow up, Mr Trump said he did not know where the money even came from. No, I dont know, he said.

Until now, Trump had avoided any questions on Ms Daniels  real name Stephanie Clifford  though the White House has consistently said Mr Trump denies there was a relationship. Still, he has been dogged by the focus Ms Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with the president in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet about it as part of a non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. Ms Daniels is now seeking to invalidate that agreement.

Her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, has argued that the agreement is invalidated as the president himself did not put personally sign the document. He has also claimed that Mr Cohen broke the non-disclosure agreement by commenting publicly about the contract.

In a tweeted response to Mr Trump's remarks on Thursday, Mr Avenatti said: We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One.

As history teaches us, he added, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Ms Daniels publicly discussed her allegations for the first time late last month on CBS 60 Minutes programme, when she alleged that she was threatened in 2011 while in a car park with her infant daughter to discourage her from discussing the alleged relationship.

Ms Daniels said she was on her way to a fitness class with her child when an unknown man approached her, according to an interview broadcast on Sunday.

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, Ms Daniels said.

In the interview, Ms Daniels was asked why she repeatedly signed statements denying the relationship with Mr Trump, and acknowledged that there could be questions about her credibility.

I felt intimidated and ... honestly bullied. And I didn't know what to do. And so I signed it, Ms Daniels said.

Last month, a law firm representing Mr Trump and the corporation owned by Mr Cohen, claimed Ms Daniels could owe more than $20m (14.3m) in damages for violating the nondisclosure agreement. The court document alleges Ms Daniels is guilty of at least 20 violations of the agreement's confidentiality clause and could face a $1m (700,000) penalty for each violation

David Schwartz, spokesman for Mr Cohen, issued a statement in response to Mr Trump's remarks on Air Force One.

This is an accurate assessment of the facts, Mr Schwartz said. This is exactly what I have been saying all along. Michael Cohen made the payment to protect reputation, family and business. It had nothing to do with the election.
At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency were reportedly reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year, after they expressed concerns about the spending and management of agency chief Scott Pruitt, a report said.

The officials, four of them said to be high-ranking, were apparently worried about several issues, including unusually large spending on office furniture and first-class travel, as well as certain demands by Mr Pruitt for security coverage, sources who worked for or with the EPA told The New York Times.

Mr Pruitt reportedly was upset when the officials confronted him, the sources said.

One official was placed on administrative leave without pay, the newspaper reported, while two were moved to jobs where they had less say in spending decisions and less interaction with Mr Pruitt.

A third official joined American University as a temporary executive in residence after reportedly being told by the EPA to get a new job. And another, who served on the security detail, had his gun and badge taken away after expressing concerns about how Mr Pruitts security was being handled, the Times said.

Another official close to Mr Pruitt is said to have raised questions about Mr Pruitts spending. He remains in his job but is thinking about resigning, the Times reported.

None of the officials who reportedly left or were removed after questioning Mr Pruitt - as well as the official said to be considering resigning - would comment when contacted by the newspaper.

Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the agency, said the agency disputes the veracity of the accusations.

Mr Pruitt has been under mounting scrutiny for the past couple of weeks.

The White House has said it is aware that reports on Mr Pruitt raise questions, leading many to still wonder whether his stint as head of the EPA may soon be over.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, said he had confidence in Mr Pruitt.

While speaking to reporters, the president called Mr Pruitt very courageous but suggested he was still reviewing the complaints about him.

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

When asked if he was bothered by the reports, he said: I have to look at them. ... Ill make that determination.

But hes a good man, hes done a terrific job, the president added. But Ill take a look at it.

Earlier in the day, a top aide and close friend of Mr Pruitt tendered her resignation.

Samantha Dravis, the senior counsel and associate administrator in the EPA's Office of Policy, resigned last week, just days before the news broke about Mr Pruitt paying cheap rent to live in a condo owned by lobbyist who deals with issues overseen by the agency.

Mr Pruitt has spoken with conservative media outlets, protesting against media reports about his regular first-class travel, his use of an obscure administrative provision to increase the salaries of two favoured aides, and his below-market rental agreement with the lobbyist.

The stories, he has suggested, are the handiwork of his critics who are trying to derail his deregulatory and pro-business agenda.

A spokesperson for the EPA has said the lease agreement was in line with federal ethical regulations.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said he could not say whether Mr Pruitt would be around several months or several weeks from now.

If the president has confidence in somebody, then they stay, Mr Gidley told reporters. We all serve at the pleasure of the President. You guys know that. And when he's not pleased, you'll know it.

Mr Gidley also declined to elaborate on which of Mr Pruitts specific activities the White House was reviewing.

I can't get into specificity on what we're looking at, Mr Gidley said. We see what you guys see. We read what you guys report. And, you know, the president demands the highest levels of ethical standards for his entire staff, and that includes the cabinet.
A security officer who tried to stop the US environment agency chief Scott Pruitt from using his vehicle's sirens frivolously to get through traffic is among a number of employees who were removed from their jobs and reassigned, according to US media reports.

Reports in CBS News, the New York Times and others paint a picture of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where those who question Mr Pruitt find themselves sidelined.

Mr Pruitt, a key Trump appointee who has previously suggested climate change might actually be good for humans, is reportedly often late for meetings where he has to travel across Washington DC.

Yet when special agent Eric Weese told Mr Pruitt that his security detail's lights and sirens were only for emergencies, he was replaced as the man in charge of security detail by Pasquale Perotta, according to CBS.

Mr Weese had also unsuccessfully tried to convince his boss not to fly first class for short trips, according to The New York Times. The EPA administrator had justified it by saying flying in economy posed a security risk.

Speaking to the New Hampshire Union Leader in February, Mr Pruitt explained he flies in first class to avoid a lack of civility.

Unfortunately, ... weve had some incidents on travel dating back to when I first started serving in the March-April timeframe, he said.

Weve reached the point where theres not much civility in the marketplace and its created, you know, its created some issues and the (security) detail, the level of protection is determined by the level of threat.

In February, the Washington Post reported that Mr Pruitt once spent $1,641.63 (1,173.29) on a first-class ticket for a flight from Washington DC to New York City for a television interview.

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 two aides who accompanied him on the trip travelled in economy class.

Mr Pruitt also reportedly flew in first class and business class for international trips.

The Times quoted sources within the EPA as saying another four officials were reassigned or demoted for questioning Mr Pruitt's spending or management. It said career officials Reginald E Allen, John E Reeder and John C Martin, as well as political appointee Kevin Chmielewski, were all sidelined for "confronting" Mr Pruitt. None of them commented when approached by the Times, and the White House declined to issue a statement.

In response to the specific report of Mr Pruitt requesting the use of sirens in non-emergencies, EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson told CBS News: We have no knowledge of anyone being removed from the detail for not using lights and sirens.

When asked why Mr Weese was removed from his post, an EPA spokesperson added: We do not comment on personnel matters within EPA's protective service detail.
President Donald Trump has said that he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the US-Mexico border and keep them there until the wall he wishes to build is completed.

Speaking to reporters as he flew back from event in West Virginia, Mr Trump was asked how many troops would be dispatched to the four states that border Mexico.

Anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000, he said. Well probably keep them or a large portion of them, until the wall is built.

 Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in talks with governors of border states about deploying national guard

Mr Trumps comments came a day after it was announced he had signed an order to deploy National Guard troops to help protect the border with Mexico.

Its time to act, said Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing. We do hope the deployment begins immediately. Were working with all haste.

In the memo signed Mr Trump on Wednesday evening, the president called on the Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to request use of National Guard personnel to secure the border and said the homeland security secretary would with him to train and direct the troops.

The security of the United States is imperilled by a drastic surge of illegal activity on the southern border, he wrote.

During the administrations of Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, the National Guard provided support for efforts to secure our southern border. The crisis at our southern border once again calls for the National Guard to help secure our border and protect our homeland.

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

Speaking on Air Force One Thursday, Trump gave his first estimate on guard levels. He also said he hoped they would stay there until the wall he wants to be built on the border is completed. Asked about the cost, he said his administration was looking at it.

Mr Trump campaigned for the presidency with a promise to build a wall on the border to stop illegal migration. The issue of immigration to the country became one of the central themes of his campaign and since entering the White House, he has ordered a crackdown on illegal migrants and signed an executive order making it more difficult for citizens from a group of countries to enter the US.

He has repeatedly asked Congress to provide funds to build a wall but he has met with limited success. In the $1.3 trillion mega-budget he signed last month, he was given $1.6bn for border security. It is unclear how much of that is for a physical border.

On Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto delivered a sharp rebuke to Mr Trumps plan, urging him not to thrust Mexico into US domestic politics.

If your recent declarations are due to frustration over issues to do with internal policy, your laws, or your Congress, direct yourself to them, not to Mexicans, a stern-looking Mr Pena Nieto said in an address to the nation, according to Reuters.

Mexicos Senate and the country's leading presidential candidates have all condemned Mr Trump for his border plans in recent days, and Mr Pena Nieto said he agreed with all of them.
A US judge handed down an unusual sentence last year after five teenagers defaced a historic black schoolhouse with swastikas and the words white power and black power.

Instead of spending time in community service, Virginia judge Avelina Jacob decided the youths should read a book.

But not just any book. They had to choose from a list covering some of historys most divisive and tragic periods.

The horrors of the Holocaust awaited them in Night by Elie Wiesel. The racism of the Jim Crow South was there in Maya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The brutal hysteria of persecution could be explored in The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

A year has passed since the youths spray painted their hateful messages on the side of the Ashburn Colored School, a 19th century classroom that had been used by black children during segregation in Northern Virginia. The swastikas and words were long ago covered with paint. The teenagers have read their books and written their reports.

The charges, destruction of private property and unlawful entry, were dismissed in January, Alejandra Rueda, a deputy commonwealth attorney who suggested the reading sentence, said.

I hope that they learned the lesson that I hoped that they would learn, which was tolerance, Ms Rueda said.

So, did they?

The juveniles who vandalised the old schoolhouse in Ashburn, a community of about 43,000 people northwest of Washington DC., could not be identified because of their ages. But the commonwealth attorneys office has said they were public school students ages 16 and 17. Two were white, and three were non-white.

One of the teenagers agreed for this article to share the list of books that he chose. Among them were The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, set in Afghanistan; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; The Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle, about a Mexican couple trying to make a life in California and Things Fall Apart, a tale of Nigeria by Chinua Achebe.

He wrote that two books affected him deeply: 12 Years a Slave, a memoir by Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped in 1841 and sold into slavery in Louisiana, and Night.

An excerpt from one of his court-ordered essays was provided to The New York Times, with his permission, by his defence lawyer. He describes not fully knowing what a swastika meant and that he thought it didnt really mean much.

Not anymore, he wrote. I was wrong, it means a lot to people who were affected by them. It reminds them of the worst things, losing family members and friends. Of the pain of torture, psychological and physical. Among that it reminds them how hateful people can be and how the world can be cruel and unfair.

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

Now, he wrote, he sees the swastika as a symbol of oppression and white power, that their race is above all else, which is not the case.

He also wrote that while he had studied this period in history class, the lesson lasted only a few days.

I had no idea about how in depth the darkest parts of human history go, he wrote.

He wrote that he feels especially awful that he made anyone feel bad.

Everybody should be treated with equality, no matter the race, religion, sex or orientation, he wrote in his essay. I will do my best to see to it that I never am this ignorant again.

Since the Ashburn case, the reading sentence has been applied to another case, one involving a 14-year-old who threatened a black student with a noose, Ms Rueda said.

She gathered a list of 36 books with input from librarians who emphasised that the most enlightening could be A Wreath for Emmett Till, a poetry book about a black youth of the same age who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955.

Marilyn Nelson, the author, said she was concerned it might have the opposite effect to what was intended. I cant say Im pleased to know that my work is being inflicted as a punishment, she said. Will kids punished by being made to read poetry ever read poetry again?

Other authors expressed hope that the underlying message in their works was not lost.

Boyle, whose The Tortilla Curtain is told from four points of view, said he hoped the teenager will be able to live inside the skin of someone unfamiliar to him, whether that be the Mexican immigrant couple or the Anglo couple living in a gated community and that the experience will enrich his social perspective.

After the graffiti episode in September 2016, the Ashburn schoolhouse underwent a renovation organised by students from the Loudoun School for the Gifted, a private high school that owns it. Money was raised, work teams were drawn from community volunteers and the little schoolhouse eventually opened as a museum.

Some criticised the sentence. For example, an English teacher at the nearby Loudoun school balked at the idea of associating reading with punishment, said Deep Sran, the schools founder.

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Kamran Fareedi, 17, a pupil at Loudoun had been working on the renovation before the vandalism. He said he thought the sentence reeks of pampering and no consequences.

When I heard that the punishment was that they were going to have to do homework assignments, I was very disappointed, he said. All over the country we have a giant mass incarceration problem. And particularly African-Americans do the slightest thing, their interaction with the criminal justice system is way more harsh. When people of colour make mistakes they dont get the chance to start over.

Shailee Sran, a 16-year-old student at the school, said she hoped that the teenager learned the value of bravery in defending what is right from his reading of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I actually thought the punishment made sense, she said. I feel like if they dont understand what they did wrong it is not helping the problem. It is just teaching them not to get caught.

 New York Times
Pakistans foreign minister has suggested that a Bollywood star who was sentenced to five years in prison for poaching a protected species of Indian antelope, received the lengthy punishment because he was Muslim.

Salman Khan, one of the highest paid actors in the world, was convicted of the 1998 shooting two rare blackbuck deer from his car window at a wildlife preserve near the city of Jodhpur, in the country's north west.

The animals are protected by India's wildlife laws. Public prosecutors alleged that the 52-year-old and four other actors in the car with him fled the scene, leaving the carcasses behind.

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Pakistans foreign minister, Khawaja Asif, claimed that the actor who is known for his bad boy image, had received the long sentence because he was Muslim.

"Salman Khan has been sentenced because he's a minority, he told Pakistani news channel Geo TV. To sentence him in a case that is 20 years old goes on to show that lives of those who are Muslims, 'untouchables' or Christians are not valued in India.

He added: "Maybe if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him.

Khan identifies as both Hindu and Muslim. In January 2017, he told the court: Im Hindu and Muslim both. Im Bharatiya (an Indian).

After he was handed the sentence, along with a 10,000 rupee (109) fine, his lawyers immediately said they would appeal and an urgent bail hearing was scheduled for Friday morning.

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

Khan was first arrested in the poaching case in October 1998. The incident was alleged to have taken place as he was making the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Four of his co-stars -Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam - were also tried in the case, but they were all acquitted for lack of evidence.

Indias wildlife protection act bans the hunting of all but a few species of wild animals unless you possess a special permit.

Hundreds of police surrounded the courtroom in Jodhpur to contain the actors devoted fans.

Khan, who has appeared in more than 100 films, argued forest officials framed him for publicity and the blackbucks could have died from natural causes such as overeating.

Recommended Bollywood actor sparks outrage after making rape comment

The actor, whose film career has spanned more than 30 years, was taken to Jodhpur central jail after going to a local hospital to undergo a medical examination.

He has previously been sentenced to jail terms of one and five years in related poaching cases.

In 2006, Khan was convicted for killing the blackbucks and sentenced to five years in jail. But after spending a week in prison, the sentence was suspended by the Rajasthan High Court.

Seven years later he was acquitted of killing a homeless man in a 2002 hit-and-run incident. That decision is now being challenged in the supreme court.
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Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S. Black [email protected]

We All Watching

User ID: kaput

04-06-2018 03:03 AM



Posts: 15,422









Post: #1 China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

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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.





https://sports.yahoo.com/china-military-...27016.html



[ ]SooOOoon[/size]



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.[ ]SooOOoon[/size] (This post was last modified: 04-08-2018 01:24 AM by Black [email protected] .) LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:04 AM











Post: #2 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

As soon as May 1st. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:12 AM











Post: #3 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.





MAGA! Oh Bother :P

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:16 AM



Posts: 535









Post: #4 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.





division is a beastly thing! Union is a strength and also a beastly thing if you dont want a part in it.



Trade wars and unrest, I feel just a little scared of it all. division is a beastly thing! Union is a strength and also a beastly thing if you dont want a part in it.Trade wars and unrest, I feel just a little scared of it all. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books. I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me: Hermann Hesse



If there be magic, let it be an art.

:Small bend from William Shakespeare



How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

 A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:17 AM











Post: #5 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

Anti-Trumpers are Xi Jinping buttboys.

So they must be conflicted right about now because this assures that they will now not get their hot war with Russia they have been cheering for.



Too bad anti-Trumpers. Your hero Xi Jinping betrayed you. Oh Bother :P

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:19 AM



Posts: 535









Post: #6 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:17 AM) Anti-Trumpers are Xi Jinping buttboys.

So they must be conflicted right about now because this assures that they will now not get their hot war with Russia they have been cheering for.



Too bad anti-Trumpers. Your hero Xi Jinping betrayed you.

I'm anti trump and have no heros, never have, never will. I'm anti trump and have no heros, never have, never will. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books. I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me: Hermann Hesse



If there be magic, let it be an art.

:Small bend from William Shakespeare



How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

 A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh udis

Philosopher

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:21 AM



Posts: 31,248









Post: #7 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

But I lived Through the OLD COLD War with this same Knowledge!

SO Your Saying Nothing is changing in ColdWar 2.0?  This Claim Is Disputed Pending Fact Checkers.  udis

 The Ministry Of Thought Crime. Does Not Approve Of Your Thoughts!     Roddy's Creed

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:25 AM



Posts: 5,419









Post: #8 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

HA! I do not label myself. What I stand for is based on my own convictions, and I don't care which box - the left one or the right one - they happen to belong. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:26 AM











Post: #9 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:17 AM) Anti-Trumpers are Xi Jinping buttboys.

So they must be conflicted right about now because this assures that they will now not get their hot war with Russia they have been cheering for.



Too bad anti-Trumpers. Your hero Xi Jinping betrayed you.





Is that you loud snooze?



Really trying to save face aren't you.



Trump and Xi Jinping are both Puppets. Is that you loud snooze?Really trying to save face aren't you.Trump and Xi Jinping are both Puppets. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:26 AM











Post: #10 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

Oh Bother :P Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:19 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:17 AM) Anti-Trumpers are Xi Jinping buttboys.

So they must be conflicted right about now because this assures that they will now not get their hot war with Russia they have been cheering for.



Too bad anti-Trumpers. Your hero Xi Jinping betrayed you.

I'm anti trump and have no heros, never have, never will.

But you will still be cheering Jinping as the one you support in the trade war Jinping has started against Trump. Because you have to support someone, even if they be a commie chink dictator, if they are against Trump, you will support and cheer for that person. So you WILL still cheer Jinping on against your own president, in spite of what you just said about this. We know that. But you will still be cheering Jinping as the one you support in the trade war Jinping has started against Trump. Because you have to support someone, even if they be a commie chink dictator, if they are against Trump, you will support and cheer for that person. So you WILL still cheer Jinping on against your own president, in spite of what you just said about this. We know that. Oh Bother :P

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:27 AM



Posts: 535









Post: #11 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

udis Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:21 AM) But I lived Through the OLD COLD War with this same Knowledge!

SO Your Saying Nothing is changing in ColdWar 2.0?

And how close did we come to all hell breaking loose in the first installation?



From what I recall it came close. There seems to be a lot less restraint these days on every front. And how close did we come to all hell breaking loose in the first installation?From what I recall it came close. There seems to be a lot less restraint these days on every front. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books. I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me: Hermann Hesse



If there be magic, let it be an art.

:Small bend from William Shakespeare



How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

 A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:27 AM











Post: #12 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

Did they knock first like a proper Vampire? Oh Bother :P

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:29 AM



Posts: 535









Post: #13 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:26 AM) Oh Bother :P Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:19 AM) I'm anti trump and have no heros, never have, never will.

But you will still be cheering Jinping as the one you support in the trade war Jinping has started against Trump. Because you have to support someone, even if they be a commie chink dictator, if they are against Trump, you will support and cheer for that person. So you WILL still cheer Jinping on against your own president, in spite of what you just said about this. We know that.

No I wont. Dont pretend to know what I cheer for. I think you might be just a wee bit delusional believing you know anything about anyone really. No I wont. Dont pretend to know what I cheer for. I think you might be just a wee bit delusional believing you know anything about anyone really. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books. I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me: Hermann Hesse



If there be magic, let it be an art.

:Small bend from William Shakespeare



How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

 A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh Roddy's Creed

Registered User

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:32 AM



Posts: 5,419









Post: #14 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:26 AM) Oh Bother :P Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:19 AM) I'm anti trump and have no heros, never have, never will.

But you will still be cheering Jinping as the one you support in the trade war Jinping has started against Trump. Because you have to support someone, even if they be a commie chink dictator, if they are against Trump, you will support and cheer for that person. So you WILL still cheer Jinping on against your own president, in spite of what you just said about this. We know that.

Says the Patriotard!



Dude, cut the "commie/Fascist" narrative! Says the Patriotard!Dude, cut the "commie/Fascist" narrative! I do not label myself. What I stand for is based on my own convictions, and I don't care which box - the left one or the right one - they happen to belong. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:33 AM











Post: #15 RE: China Military Tells Russia 'We've Come to Support You' Against U.S.

Oh Bother :P Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:29 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (04-06-2018 03:26 AM) But you will still be cheering Jinping as the one you support in the trade war Jinping has started against Trump. Because you have to support someone, even if they be a commie chink dictator, if they are against Trump, you will support and cheer for that person. So you WILL still cheer Jinping on against your own president, in spite of what you just said about this. We know that.

No I wont. Dont pretend to know what I cheer for. I think you might be just a wee bit delusional believing you know anything about anyone really.

Wee bit delusional is being nice, The person is batshit insane. Wee bit delusional is being nice, The person is batshit insane. Advertisement


















An Italian fashion label has attracted criticism from around the world after releasing a new collection taking inspiration from a historical period of empire-building associated with slavery and genocide.

Big Uncle, a Milan-based clothing firm for men, denies endorsing "a historical bloody period full of atrocities", but describes its new "Colonial Deal" range as a "short and intense journey in the West [sic] former colonies in order to understand the Colonialism style", adding "[some of] the linen is rough like the faces consumed by the sun". Among the items in the range is a jumper emblazoned with the word "colonialism".

Mireille Harper launched a petition demanding the line be axed after encountering it online which has gathered hundreds of signatures from around the world.

After contacting Big Uncle to complain, the 23-year-old writer said she was "disgusted" with the response she received, which said the firm was inviting customers to "think about it".

As a woman who has lived, studied and has family who live in Italy, I felt obligated to address this," she told The Independent.

Controversial: The SS18 'Colonial Deal' collection (Big Uncle)

Whether Big Uncles views are misguided or downright racist, I cannot argue, however they appear to have a complete lack of understanding for people of colour who continue to live with the intergenerational trauma that lingers today in all pockets of society, particularly in their own country of origin, Italy, where racism, prejudice and discriminatory behaviour continues, with the most recent migrant shooting in Macerata being a stark reminder of this.

Colonialism is defined as a country or government taking a land by political or military force, then exploiting its resources, manpower and wealth. Indigenous populations around the world were decimated and enslaved by European countries expanding their territories over a period of hundreds of years that lasted into the 20th century. At its height in 1922, the British Empire encompassed a fifth of the world's population and quarter of its land.

Ms Harper's campaign has received support from more than 500 people, including independent online magazine for people of colour Gal-dem, American vlogger Tia Taylor and authors Yomi Adegoke and Nikesh Shukla.

A Big Uncle spokesman defended the collection, claiming it was not glorifying the bloodshed and cultural hegemony of imperialism but celebrating the XIX centurys clothing style. He added writing colonialism on a T-shirt did not mean to celebrate the historical period, but was intended to get people to reflect on it.

He said: We are really sorry if the name of our collection Colonial Deal has caused such a stir and indignation. We didnt mean to use a fashion collection to glorify a historical bloody period full of atrocities. We did not want to offend anyone and we deeply apologise if we did.

Big Uncle designers are not racists, fascists, Nazis or colonialists, they believe in freedom of thought and in the superiority of thought over any form of violence, abuse, imposition and oppression.

We only want to say that as stylists, not as historians, we live in a liquid society (Zygmund Bauman) where many references have changed, just as the use and perception of words have changed. Writing COLONIALISM on a T-shirt doesnt mean to celebrate that historical period, but instead it wants people to reflect on it.

Big Uncle loves colonial style and it is against all forms of colonialism.

Big Uncle is not the only clothing brand to cause controversy in this manner.

Marc Jacobs was accused of cultural appropriation following its use of dreadlocks at its Spring 2017 show in New York.

H&M was also forced to issue an apology after it released an advert depicting a black child wearing a monkey jumper.
Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has left a German prison after paying bail of 75,000 (65,000).

A court in Schleswig-Holstein decided he could go free pending a decision on whether to extradite him to Spain, but that he cannot be expelled on the most serious charge against him - organising the campaign for Catalonian independence.

It would only be possible on a charge of misuse of public funds, the court ruled.

The court's decision is a setback for Spanish efforts to crack down on the separatist movement.

Schleswig's state prosecutor said the former Catalan leader may immediately leave the jail where he has been held since last month.

The 55-year-old has provided authorities with an address in Germany where he will live pending a decision in his extradition case.

Mr Puigdemont was arrested last month on a Spanish-issued arrest warrant as he entered Germany from Denmark.

He has been living in exile since his regional government last year attempted to declare independence from Madrid. Spain is seeking his extradition for rebellion and misuse of public funds in organising the unauthorised vote.

The ruling allows Mr Puigdemont to move freely in Germany pending any decision on his extradition.

Madrid has insisted the dispute over Catalan separatism is a legal issue, not a political one, and has refused to be drawn into negotiations with Mr Puigdemont and his supporters since the referendum.

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

Spain's deputy prime minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said the government would respect the German ruling and awaited further details before deciding on any response.

Mr Puigdemont could have face up to 25 years in prison if he returned to Spain on charges of rebellion and sedition.

In all, 13 Catalan separatist politicians have been charged with rebellion offences by Spanish judges. Six international arrest warrants have been issued for those now living abroad.
Russia is demanding an explanation for the death of Sergei Skripals cat and two guinea pigs after they were left in his sealed-off house.

The animals were "important evidence" said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, adding that they had been destroyed by British authorities,

The government confirmed the cat had been found alive but "in a distressed state" at the house in Salisbury.

Found extremely malnourished, officials said the long-haired black Persian was taken to the Porton Down chemical weapons laboratory for testing but that it was in so much pain that a vet decided to put it down.

The guinea pigs reportedly died from dehydration.

Quoting a press report, Ms Zakharova condemned the way the animals had been treated.

According to the publication, the guinea pigs and the cat were cremated," she said. "In other words destroyed, although the animals could be important evidence in the poisoning case.

She claimed the BBC had known there were pets in Mr Skripals house when it was sealed up but that the information was hidden.

I would like clarification, she said in a Facebook post, in which she angrily condemned the decision to euthanise the cat.

It turns out that the Skripals pets, in the form of two guinea pigs and the cat, are not alive any more," she wrote. "It's at first glance just an excuse for another joke - 'remove important witnesses'. In fact, they are really 'important witnesses' when it comes to a chemical substance, which, in a number of versions, could have been used in the Skripals house.

According to the British newspaper, the guinea pigs died of dehydration because they weren't taken from the house. What do you mean? Was there a search and no animals? Didn't they notice the pets of the man who was poisoned with nerve gas?!!

She added: The cat did it again... Supposedly he (really no one knows what day) was brought to the Porton Down lab and then... drugged. Why drugged? The answer is because the cat was stressed, since he was not noticed in the search. Is that what the UK usually does with pets? Is that normal practice?

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

Moscow raised concerns earlier this week over the animals' welfare.

A UK government spokesman said: When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died. A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering. This decision was taken in the best interests of the animal and its welfare.

News of the creatures deaths comes, as it has emerged that Yulia Skripal's condition is improving after both she and her father were infected with the Novichok nerve agent last month.

She said she was getting better in a phone recording played by Russian state television.

The highest concentration of the nerve agent was later found on the front door of Mr Skripal's home. His condition remains critical but stable, according to NHS England.
It may have become the de facto messaging app for the top Kremlin officials, but Telegrams days in Russia may soon be numbered. On Friday, Roskomnadzor, the states communications authority, asked a local court to block access to the companys services.

The agency had given Telegram 15 days to provide backdoor keys to encrypted messages  a request that was refused by the tech giant.

Ramil Akhmetgalieyev, a lawyer acting for the company, told The Independent, that the demands were technically impossible. The company had yet to be sent the detail of the lawsuit, he added. Without it they would not make further comment: Its very important for us to understand what they have requested, and the legal and evidential basis they are using.

In public statements, the FSB, Russias security service, has claimed encrypted messenger apps have become the toys of terrorists and criminals. Telegram was singled out for its supposed role in a terrorist attack on the St Petersburg metro system a year ago.

But many suspect political considerations have played a role in the new regulatory activity.

There is much history between Pavel Durov, Telegrams maverick founder, and the Russian authorities. In 2014, a hostile state takeover forced him out of his own company, Russias largest social network, VK. He has since styled himself as a crusader fighting against state surveillance. Telegram became revenge for VK, he even claimed.

In just a few years, it has grown to 200 million users. Its remit has also widened. No longer just a private messenger service, it now features channels, including, in Russia, many anonymous and influential political blogs. A channel can be described as a kind of public message board.

According to Mr Durov, Telegrams encryption is strong enough to shut out government eyes. The ongoing battle with regulators would suggest that might well be true. But his critics have drawn attention to the companys lack of transparency, evidence of massive investment from Kremlin-linked oligarchs and the fact many coders have remained in Russia to suggest the relationship with authorities may be more complex.

Telegram has also become the favourite messenger service for many within the Kremlin walls. Much informal government business is now conducted using it. In last months election campaign, dozens of Telegram channels told loyal officials about new talking points, and ways of boosting turnout. The presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov organises his daily press briefings via the application.

Mr Peskov said it would be a shame were a compromise not to be reached. We use it, its very convenient, but the law is the law and we might have to look at different options, he told journalists on Friday.

There are doubts whether regulators will be able to follow up on a promise to block the service. According to Andrei Soldatov, an expert on the Russian internet, Telegram will likely be able to circumvent restrictions by disguising traffic. It would then be up to authorities to block all messenger traffic  a move, he says, the Kremlin are reluctant to take.

Russia is already engaged in a stand-off with leading global tech companies, who have refused to abide by 2015 regulation demanding they move servers to Russia.

There have been all kinds of talks and conversations, and more talks and conversations again, but no one seems ready to make a move against the tech giants, said Mr Soldatov. People understand that is a political decision taken at the very top.

A press spokesperson for the Tagansky district court has said it would make a decision on whether to accept the lawsuit within the next five days. If Russia were to ban Telegram, it would join a very select group of countries: Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, China and Kazakhstan.

German Klimenko, Vladimir Putins internet adviser, suggested any user panic resulting from a ban could be easily managed  and with a somewhat retro solution.

People have forgetten about ICQ [a twenty-one year old instant messaging service], he said. Its a fully-fledged messenger, and absolutely in no way inferior to Telegram for the average user.
Seven Palestinians have been killed in fresh violence on the border between Israel and Gaza, raising the death toll since last week's major outbreak to 29, health officials say.

The Gazan health ministry said 1,070 people were wounded today, including 293 by live fire, and 25 of those were in a serious condition. Among those hurt were 12 women and 48 children, the ministry added.

It mirrored clashes of a week ago, when thousands of residents streamed to camps close to the fence near the town of Khan Younis to face Israeli troops.

The protests are part of what Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory. Friday is a non-working day in Israel and the action began on what Palestinians call "Land Day".

Palestinians again burned tyres, sending black smoke billowing into the air, prompting Israeli troops to fire tear gas and live fire.

The UN human-rights office says it has indications that Israeli forces used "excessive force" during last week's crackdown.

Spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell today said forces were required under international human-rights law to use non-violent means as far as was possible.

But an Israeli Defence Forces spokesman said they used live fire only as a last resort.

Lt Col Jonathan Conricus accused Hamas of controlling the events around the border fence, sending people to riot as a cover to attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in Israel and plant improvised explosive devices.

He argued Israel was attempting to defend its land and soldiers from such Hamas incursions.

International anger mounted last week after Israeli leaders rejected calls for an inquiry over its use of live rounds as troops were accused of using disproportionate force.

Lt Col Conricus said Israeli troops followed strict rules of engagement, involving publicising warnings in Arabic to Palestinians not to approach the fence, and using non-lethal deterrents such as tear gas and water cannon to create distance between rioters and the fence before using live fire.

We review our activities rigorously to minimise casualties on the other side, he said.

Whats clear is that Hamas understands that we hold them accountable for anything that happens. Theyre the ones who decide how many people to send to the riots, they effectively control the outcome.

"We will not tolerate anyone breaching our border. Its up to them to decide how many civilians they put in harms way.

"Hamas has said it wants to invade Israel, and our mission is to continue to defence our communities, soldiers and infrastructure against attacks from Hamas."

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

Speaking from a few hundred yards from the fence where tyres were being burned, the Lt Col added: "We try to the greatest extent not to use lethal means and we resort to live fire only when absolutely necessary, when there's a clear danger to us and soldiers, and then under clear guidance from command." More than 90 per cent of the injured had gunshot wounds to their lower limbs, exactly in line with the rules of engagement.

He condemned the "fake news and lies" that Hamas was trying to spread "under the guise of riots".

And Israel, he insisted, had nothing to fear from an independent inquiry into the shooting of Palestinians last week as called for by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Refusing to call them "protesters" or "demonstrators", he said "a few thousand rioters" were engaged in the violence, and Israeli troops were trying to extinguish the fires.

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, visited the Khuzaa camp, receiving a hero's welcome. He was surrounded by hundreds of supporters who chanted, "We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs."

He told the crowd that the world should "wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at Al-Aqsa", referring to the major Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

It appeared to be the first time a Hamas leader specifically threated to break through the border  something Israel has said it would not allow at any price.

The Israeli military said Palestinians hurled several explosive devices and firebombs under cover of smoke.

Agencies contributed to this report.
Women in Qatar will be allowed to volunteer for national service for the first time, according to state media in the middle eastern country.

Under the new law, which comes into effect immediately, females aged over 18 will be able to volunteer, while all men between the ages of 18 and 35 will now have serve a year instead of three months.

It will be the first time women have been allowed to undertake national service, although some already have administrative roles in the military.

It is not yet known what roles the new volunteers would undertake.

The new law also allows for a national service academy to be established and says men must apply for conscription within 60 days of turning 18, the Qatar News Agency reported.

Conscription for men in the country was introduced in 2013

Anyone caught trying to avoid military service could face up to three years in jail and a fine of up to 50,000 Qatari riyals (9,800).

The news came as it was announced the emir of Qatar would meet Donald Trump at the White House for talks on strengthening ties between their countries next week.

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 US president looked forward to discussing with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani ways to strengthen ties between the two countries and "advance our common security and economic priorities", said White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Qatar, a small, gas-rich monarchy has been isolated since early June, when the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and its other neighbours severed ties over claims it was funding Islamist terrorism, disrupting Gulf unity and fostering ties with Saudis arch-rival Iran.

Qatar, which rejects the accusations, has claimed the group considered military intervention to resolve the crisis.

The state has subsequently signed several military contracts with countries including Britain, the US, France and Italy since the crisis began.
At least two people have died after violence erupted in and around a rebel-held town near the Syrian capital Damascus.

The conflict signalled an apparent collapse of a truce and an evacuation deal for opposition fighters to leave the area, state media and opposition activists said.

The violence came after almost two weeks of relative peace in eastern Ghouta, the last rebel-held town in the region, after a Russian backed truce allowed the Army of Islam to evacuate the area towards rebel-held regions in the north of the country.

Several air strikes hit Douma after members of the Army of Islam rebel group shelled government-held areas nearby, inflicting casualties, Syrian state TV reported.

Hundreds of opposition fighters and their relatives left Douma towards northern areas controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters in the north.

The evacuations have been suspended since 5 April and Army of Islam members have refused to release scores of government supporters they have been holding for years.

There have been reports that the Army of Islam wants to negotiate a new deal, complaining of mistreatment by Turkish troops in northern Syria.

"There will be no further negotiations with terrorists over the evacuation deal. No one will be able to twist the army of the Syrian Arab Army," a state TV reporter said as sporadic explosions could be heard in the background.

"They will either release the detainees or the terrorists' hideouts and offices will be destroyed."

Army of Islam official Ammar al-Hassan said he had no information on whether the truce collapsed.

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 British based monitors, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said two people were killed and 25 wounded in the air strikes that hit Douma on Friday.

Haitham Bakkar, a media activist based in Douma, said at least four were killed and many others wounded.

Before the strikes, a bomb exploded near a mosque in Damascus, killing one person and wounding six others, according to state news agency Sana. It said the blast occurred in the north-eastern neighbourhood of Barzeh, close to the al-Khansaa mosque.

Such explosions have been rare in Damascus recently.

Barzeh is close to the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta that opposition fighters evacuated last month following weeks of a crushing government offensive on eastern Ghouta.

Agencies contributed to this report
Meghan Markle will soon become an official member of the royal family when she exchanges vows with Prince Harry.

Living a real-life fairytale, Ms Markle will leave her American roots and career behind and join her new husband in London.

But as the upcoming royal wedding becomes an increasingly popular topic of conversation, many are wondering who exactly will be footing the bill, how much money the actress has - and who pays for her expansive wardrobe.

As it turns out, the former actress and philanthropist is much more than just a future royal - and she has a pretty impressive net worth in her own right.

Heres everything you need to know about Meghan Markles age, future royal status, net worth and family.

What is her age?

Surprisingly, Meghan Markle is actually three years older than her future prince - and her real name is Rachel Meghan Markle.

Ms Markle was born on August 4 1981 in Los Angeles, California. She is currently 36 years old.

What is her net worth?

Before finding her prince charming, Markle was successful in her own right.

Although much less than her fiances, it is estimated that she has a net worth of 3.5m ($5m).

She has worked numerous jobs, including as a calligrapher before becoming a successful actress in Hollywood.

Prior to making it big, Markle had multiple small guest roles on television, including spots on General Hospital, Century City, The War at Home, and CSI: NY.

In 2011, Markles big acting break came when she was cast as Rachel Zane on the show Suits, which she played for seven seasons, until finishing in late 2017.

For her role on Suits, Fortune magazine estimated she was paid 35,500 ($50,000) per episode or an annual income of 319,400 ($450,000).

Markle also worked as the editor-in-chief of lifestyle website, The Tig, and created a line of womens workwear alongside Canadian clothing company Reitmans. From these ventures and related sponsorships, Markle received an estimated annual income of 56,800 ($80,000).

And in 2010, Markle was paid 132,750 ($187,000) for her role in the film Remember Me and 121,697 ($171,429) for her role in the short film The Candidate.

As for the future royals clothes, she currently pays for her own wardrobe, according to People magazine.

But once she ties the knot, Markles clothing budget for official outings will be covered by the money Prince Charles gives to Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry from his Duchy of Cornwall income.

Who is her family?

Although Ms Markle wasnt raised a royal, her early life was certainly not without its perks.

Her mother, Doria Loyce Ragland, is a social worker and a yoga instructor who lives in California. And her father, Thomas Markle Sr, is an Emmy award-winning lighting director who lives in Mexico.

Markles parents divorced when she was six years old and although she was their only child, she has two older paternal half-siblings.

She was educated in private schools and attended Northwestern University in theatre and international studies in 2003.

Her mother is African American and her father is Caucasian, a background that Markle has embraced and discussed throughout her career.

In addition to a successful career, Markles father Tom, 72, once won the lottery, winning an estimated 532,222 ($750,000), according to the Daily Mail.

Both her parents are expected to attend her wedding on May 19 at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle.

This article has been updated. It was originally published in April 2018.
Travellers to, from, within and over France face another round of problems this weekend as some air-traffic controllers join railway workers and Air France staff in industrial action.

Controllers based at the Marseille area control centre will strike all weekend against proposals for more flexible rostering.

The strike will affect aircraft flying over south-east France at 15,000 feet or above. It could hit a significant number of flights to and from the UK, where Easter holiday traffic is augmented by late-season ski flights to the French, Swiss and Italian Alps.

An alternative routing from the UK to Geneva will be opened over the southern Netherlands and Germany, but it can handle only three flights per hour.

The additional traffic in adjacent airspace could lead to delays. However, pressure on Saturday is lower than it might be because of another strike by Air France pilots, cabin crew and ground staff, which is likely to lead to the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

The airline said: Our flight schedule for this day will be disrupted. The adaptation of this flight schedule is under study.

Previous industrial action has grounded about a quarter of Air France flights, including some services connecting Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh with Paris Charles de Gaulle and about 30 per cent of long-haul departures.

The unions are demanding a pay increase of 6 per cent; the airline is offering 1 per cent. They have announced additional strikes on 10, 11, 17, 18, 23 and 24 April 2018. Passengers booked on strike days can switch to alternative dates without penalty.

On Sunday and Monday, millions of rail passengers in France face another round of disruption with the second of a series of 18 two-day strikes. The dispute centres on moves to tackle the losses at SNCF, the national rail operator, and prepare for competition from 2020.

The series of rolling two-day strikes began on 3 and 4 April, when only 14 per cent of long-distance trains operated.

Eurostar trains linking London with Brussels and Paris are affected because many drivers are employed by SNCF. The cross-Channel train operator has cancelled 15 departures on Sunday, representing about one third of the usual service. Affected passengers are being accommodated on trains which are running.

The rail strikes are planned to continue until 28 June. The Foreign Office is warning British travellers: Be aware that strikes and disruptions may occur outside of these dates.
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Post: #1 Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1

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As an upcoming industrial power, Japan was always down-rated by the West. When they destroyed the Czar of Russia's Pacific naval fleet at Port Arthur, early in the 20th Century, Americans and Russians were suitably shocked. How is it they did not understand? In World War One, Japan was an ally of the Western Powers. The Japanese Royal Family interlocked with their business cartels, the Zai-batsu, and had plenty of financial muscle. They began pulling away from America in the 1930s. The Japanese Monarchy had huge deposits in U.S. banks. They angered the American aristocracy by withdrawing those deposits and contributing to the then oncoming bank collapse. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to declare a bank holiday, an emergency, right after being inaugurated in 1933.





When the common people of one nation are angered by those of another country, that is ethnic, nationalist, or religious friction. But, when the aristocracy of one country is really sore at the aristocracy of another country, however, that is not simply opposition; that means WAR.





Japan began attacking China 1931. President Roosvelt sent in a top military expert, Brig.General Claire Chennault, to find out why the Chinese did not have an effective air force to counter the Japanese attacks. China began making demands for material assistance on the American government as well as American financiers. After all, with another World War expected, the U.S. needed items from China, such as tungsten, for the making of airplanes and battleships.





One result was that American mercenaries became involved in aiding China fight an air war against Japan. They were called "The Flying Tigers". From documents released more than fifty years AFTER the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, it became evident that the Japanese may have felt justified attacking our fleet and airfields in Hawaii. Six months BEFORE Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers were part of an American plan to aid the Chinese, known to the Japanese, to bomb Japan. [In recent years, Barbara Walters and ABC Network did a documentary, based on those documents, on this American plan to bomb Tokyo six months BEFORE Pearl Harbor.]





Part of the world's then richest family, May-ling Soong, known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was the wife of the Chinese dictator. Her family member, T.V. Soong, was considered one of the richest men in the world. Their fortune, in great part, was based on narcotics exports. The American government contemplated that assisting China with war loans would minimize dope addiction in American. [Then, as now, the major dope coming into the U.S. was and is from China, now called "China White". The monopoly press, to protect Red China, falsely states the major dope now is from Colombia.] The American hope then was that narcotics exporting to the U.S. would diminish.





Even all during World War Two, however, corrupt Chinese generals were in charge of dope exports, even, on occasion, through Japanese lines, down the Burma Road, and elsewhere. [Numerous details are in the book, "The Soong Dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave, hardback edition, Harper & Row, N.Y., 1985, pages 368-369.]





Historically, arranging the finances of the dope cartel was the British bank owned jointly by the British Monarchy and dope-rich families of Shanghai, the HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANK. [See, for example, the book "Dope, Inc."] The Queen of England, through the bank owned by her, Coutts Bank London, has a joint account for laundering illicit funds such as from the dope trafficking, jointly with George Herbert Walker Bush and his sons, George W., Jeb, and Neil. [See Federal Reserve secret wire transfer records, attached to our website series, "Greenspan Aids and Bribes the Bush Family".] The reputed head of the Red Chinese Secret Police IN THE UNITED STATES is tied to the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank. He lives in the Midwest and has direct communications links with the White House. [Visit our website series, "The Red Chinese Secret Police in the United States".]





To benefit ethnic Chinese in controlling oil-rich Indonesia, the American CIA, in 1965, arranged the mass murders of some half a million of that nation of islands. The excuse, other than that the ones to be slaughtered, opposed the CIA-installed regime? The victims were considered and perceived as being "Reds", whether actually true or not did not seem to matter.





Made fantastically rich on reputed dope exports and other contraband to the West, the ethnic Chinese family of Riady set up their North American headquarters from their flagship, Lippo Group and Lippo Bank, in Arkansas. For influencing American Presidential elections, they bought the tiny First National Bank of Mena,Arkansas. The further purpose? For reportedly assisting the American CIA and their surrogates, William Rockefeller Clinton, Ollie North, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Henry Hyde. The purpose? To launder the huge cash flow resulting from the narcotics flown in, through, or nearby, to the Mena airport. The cash flow, in turn, was relayed through two or more routes, among others. Some of the cash went through a small bank, in Noel,Missouri. The reputed body of the too-talkative bank president was found in a nearby lake. His murder was falsely blamed on to young fellows. The documents purportedly linking the dope cash affair to George W. Bush and his father, were in the possession of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan running in 2000 for U.S. Senator. In an earlier story, we mentioned the sabotaged plane crash by which Carnahan was snuffed out to benefit George W. Bush's alleged "election".





Other parts of the American CIA/Riady huge dope cash flow, from fourteen Southern states, was funneled to what became reportedly First Union. That bank ran surreal TV commercials, showing Wall Street as an area of great confusion, with mannequins suddenly falling down and splitting apart. The Southern states operations were under the supervision of Arkansas Governor Clinton, together with Jeb Bush, later Florida Governor, Ollie North, the Elder Bush, and Henry Hyde. As a Chicago-area lawmaker, Congressman Henry Hyde had numerous links to Arkansas and the dope cash. Hyde had been a director of a reputed CIA proprietary, Clyde Federal Savings & Loan of a Chicago suburb. [There have been 26 other S & Ls as CIA proprietaries sucking out the federally-insured funds for covert operations and then the S & Ls went under. See the book, "The Mafia, the CIA, and George Bush" by Pete Brewton, former Houston newspaper journalist, S.P.I. Books, N.Y., 1992.] Hyde was accused as an S & L director, in federal district court Chicago, of causing 67 million dollars of the thrift's funds to disappear in Arkansas. Where did it start and when and how will it end? To understand that, requires pulling together little understood facts and making some sense of them. Perhaps this will give you a door into a better handle on the situation.As an upcoming industrial power, Japan was always down-rated by the West. When they destroyed the Czar of Russia's Pacific naval fleet at Port Arthur, early in the 20th Century, Americans and Russians were suitably shocked. How is it they did not understand? In World War One, Japan was an ally of the Western Powers. The Japanese Royal Family interlocked with their business cartels, the Zai-batsu, and had plenty of financial muscle. They began pulling away from America in the 1930s. The Japanese Monarchy had huge deposits in U.S. banks. They angered the American aristocracy by withdrawing those deposits and contributing to the then oncoming bank collapse. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had to declare a bank holiday, an emergency, right after being inaugurated in 1933.When the common people of one nation are angered by those of another country, that is ethnic, nationalist, or religious friction. But, when the aristocracy of one country is really sore at the aristocracy of another country, however, that is not simply opposition; that means WAR.Japan began attacking China 1931. President Roosvelt sent in a top military expert, Brig.General Claire Chennault, to find out why the Chinese did not have an effective air force to counter the Japanese attacks. China began making demands for material assistance on the American government as well as American financiers. After all, with another World War expected, the U.S. needed items from China, such as tungsten, for the making of airplanes and battleships.One result was that American mercenaries became involved in aiding China fight an air war against Japan. They were called "The Flying Tigers". From documents released more than fifty years AFTER the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, it became evident that the Japanese may have felt justified attacking our fleet and airfields in Hawaii. Six months BEFORE Pearl Harbor, the Flying Tigers were part of an American plan to aid the Chinese, known to the Japanese, to bomb Japan. [In recent years, Barbara Walters and ABC Network did a documentary, based on those documents, on this American plan to bomb Tokyo six months BEFORE Pearl Harbor.]Part of the world's then richest family, May-ling Soong, known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek, was the wife of the Chinese dictator. Her family member, T.V. Soong, was considered one of the richest men in the world. Their fortune, in great part, was based on narcotics exports. The American government contemplated that assisting China with war loans would minimize dope addiction in American. [Then, as now, the major dope coming into the U.S. was and is from China, now called "China White". The monopoly press, to protect Red China, falsely states the major dope now is from Colombia.] The American hope then was that narcotics exporting to the U.S. would diminish.Even all during World War Two, however, corrupt Chinese generals were in charge of dope exports, even, on occasion, through Japanese lines, down the Burma Road, and elsewhere. [Numerous details are in the book, "The Soong Dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave, hardback edition, Harper & Row, N.Y., 1985, pages 368-369.]Historically, arranging the finances of the dope cartel was the British bank owned jointly by the British Monarchy and dope-rich families of Shanghai, the HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANK. [See, for example, the book "Dope, Inc."] The Queen of England, through the bank owned by her, Coutts Bank London, has a joint account for laundering illicit funds such as from the dope trafficking, jointly with George Herbert Walker Bush and his sons, George W., Jeb, and Neil. [See Federal Reserve secret wire transfer records, attached to our website series, "Greenspan Aids and Bribes the Bush Family".] The reputed head of the Red Chinese Secret Police IN THE UNITED STATES is tied to the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank. He lives in the Midwest and has direct communications links with the White House. [Visit our website series, "The Red Chinese Secret Police in the United States".]To benefit ethnic Chinese in controlling oil-rich Indonesia, the American CIA, in 1965, arranged the mass murders of some half a million of that nation of islands. The excuse, other than that the ones to be slaughtered, opposed the CIA-installed regime? The victims were considered and perceived as being "Reds", whether actually true or not did not seem to matter.Made fantastically rich on reputed dope exports and other contraband to the West, the ethnic Chinese family of Riady set up their North American headquarters from their flagship, Lippo Group and Lippo Bank, in Arkansas. For influencing American Presidential elections, they bought the tiny First National Bank of Mena,Arkansas. The further purpose? For reportedly assisting the American CIA and their surrogates, William Rockefeller Clinton, Ollie North, George Herbert Walker Bush, and Henry Hyde. The purpose? To launder the huge cash flow resulting from the narcotics flown in, through, or nearby, to the Mena airport. The cash flow, in turn, was relayed through two or more routes, among others. Some of the cash went through a small bank, in Noel,Missouri. The reputed body of the too-talkative bank president was found in a nearby lake. His murder was falsely blamed on to young fellows. The documents purportedly linking the dope cash affair to George W. Bush and his father, were in the possession of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan running in 2000 for U.S. Senator. In an earlier story, we mentioned the sabotaged plane crash by which Carnahan was snuffed out to benefit George W. Bush's alleged "election".Other parts of the American CIA/Riady huge dope cash flow, from fourteen Southern states, was funneled to what became reportedly First Union. That bank ran surreal TV commercials, showing Wall Street as an area of great confusion, with mannequins suddenly falling down and splitting apart. The Southern states operations were under the supervision of Arkansas Governor Clinton, together with Jeb Bush, later Florida Governor, Ollie North, the Elder Bush, and Henry Hyde. As a Chicago-area lawmaker, Congressman Henry Hyde had numerous links to Arkansas and the dope cash. Hyde had been a director of a reputed CIA proprietary, Clyde Federal Savings & Loan of a Chicago suburb. [There have been 26 other S & Ls as CIA proprietaries sucking out the federally-insured funds for covert operations and then the S & Ls went under. See the book, "The Mafia, the CIA, and George Bush" by Pete Brewton, former Houston newspaper journalist, S.P.I. Books, N.Y., 1992.] Hyde was accused as an S & L director, in federal district court Chicago, of causing 67 million dollars of the thrift's funds to disappear in Arkansas. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 05:24 AM











Post: #2 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1

Contrary to the U.S. Constitution's mandate of "Separation of Powers", Hyde is also head of CIA's "black budget", covert funds to overthrow governments and to finance political assassinations. Also, Hyde arranged, for CIA, that the dope cash be laundered reportedly through the gambling casino on Paradise Island, the Bahamas. [Many more details. Visit our website series, "IRS Officials Face Exposure".]





Another route for the American CIA/Riady dope cash reportedly went up through Garfield Ridge Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago. A principal owner of the small, closely held bank has been defrocked Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, an ex-convict. Having been for years head of the tax-writing committee of Congress, quietly and corruptly favoring with loopholes the Chicago markets, "Rosty" as he is known, had plenty of "muscle". [His daughters were reportedly paid by the exchanges in Chicago while apparently doing little if any actual work.] Rosty's pal, Clinton, pardoned him. Rosty had been federal criminally convicted of defrauding the private bank of the U.S. House of Representatives.





The Riady/American CIA dope cash also reportedly benefitted, Tyson Chickens; J.B. Hunt Truck Lines, heavily transporting from Arkansas to a Chicago suburb; Wal-Mart discount store chain; and Beverly Enterprises, the reputedly highly corrupt nursing home chain. That truck line reportedly on occasion transports contraband, such as narcotics. Illinois state transportation regulators, however, know better than to dare stop and check their trucks. Other truck lines, not J.B. Hunt, are harassed and shaken-down for pay-offs for purporting to have "overweight" trucks.





A terminus point for the Riady/Lippo/Red Chinese Secret Police/American CIA dope cash has been for several decades, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Five currency and commodity brokers have traded with use of this river of narcotics money, without filing reports, required by the U.S. Treasury, of cash intake over ten thousand dollars. The brokers knew, know, and have known, that the cash came in great part through the Red Chinese and reportedly the Riady Family, for the purpose of corruptly influencing U.S. Presidential Elections. In violation of Federal regulatory rules, they did not conduct "due diligence", to accurately determine who their "clients" were. But they had plenty good reasons to already know.







Clinton as presidential candidate, and as president, often came to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to supposedly give a "speech". Funny thing, if the monopoly press even mentioned he was at the "Merc" as it is called, which was seldom; they never mentioned what his speech there was all about. Clinton came to the "Merc", to tap into and connect into the illicit fountain of cash, masquerading as foreign currency and other deals.





For some twelve years, regulating the Chicago markets was oriental-descent Wendy L. Gramm, then head of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A brokerage owned by a former top Chicago Mercantile Exchange official, GNP Commodities, accused her jointly with the Federal Reserve Board, of falsely interfering with the firm's plan to merge with a French firm, Bank Indo-Suez. Following a regulatory hearing, an attorney for the firm reportedly hollared that if Wendy Gramm and the Fed, do not get off GNP's back, they will be caught up in an international incident and will cease to exist. [Stories about this appeared in the Wall Street Journal, November, 1989.] Wendy L. Gramm, as then head of CFTC, played a key role reportedly in covering up the bribery agenda of Bank of Credit and Commerce International. BCCI, through five La Salle Street brokers, corruptly condoned by CFTC and Wendy L. Gramm, was engaged in bribery and/or blackmailing 108 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 28 U.S. Senators, including Gramm's own husband, U.S. Senator Phil Gramm (R., Texas). BCCI wanted Congressional okay to spread out their bank branches in the U.S. [Only one populist newspaper, Spotlight, ran the details of my exclusive story in August, 1991, of this scheme operating through "straddles", Chicago and London.] By a strange series of circumstances, the Bank of England had the BCCI bribery records, as an open record, for only thirty days.





Senator Gramm has been in a position to cover up this dirty cash. He has been Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. His wife Wendy, became a Director of Enron Corp. Enron produces electricity and natural gas, develops, constructs, and operates energy facilities worldwide and delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers. Annual revenue exceeds Forty Billion Dollars. Alleged U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney is a major stockholder of Enron. And Enron reportedly has been part of putting the giant squeeze on California in their electricy black-out following the alleged year 2000 "Election". Going heavily for Presidential candidate Gore, was California thus punished? As an example to other state's popular vote that went for Gore instead of for George W. Bush? That is, if you supported Gore, we are going to "stick it" to you.





The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Red Chinese and their secret police, played a key joint role in several presidential elections. The head of a Chicago Mercantile Exchange consulting unit leaked the earth-quaking bribery/dope details to certain more independent journalists. At a key point in the year 2000 Presidential Election, this key figure was murdered. Both George W. Bush and William Rockefeller Clinton had an interest to snuff him out. What was it all about? Who all in Florida were bribed with the Red Chinese dope cash funneled through the Merc? Are some members of the alleged "Cabinet" of alleged "President" George W. Bush tied to the Red Chinese? Was there a malign, if not corrupt, influence, on the U.S. Supreme Court in the Bush/Gore cases? More coming. Stay tuned.http://www.rense.com/general7/red.htm LoP Guest

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04-06-2018 05:25 AM











Post: #3 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1

Red China And The American

Presidential Elections - Pt 2

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04-06-2018 05:50 AM











Post: #4 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1

Dragon Lady - Part 1



ince the time of the Borgias, there was no one just like her. Some swore by her, proclaiming she was the best for the country. Others, swore at her, that she is the curse of the nation. Were they talking about Madame Chiang Kai-shek, born May-ling Soong, First Lady of China? Her Harvard-educated brother, T.V. Soong, was described as one of the richest men in the world. The Soongs were tied to international big business and shadowy high-level criminals in and out of governments, worldwide.





OR WERE THEY TALKING ABOUT HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON?





To some, there is quite a similarity. With her family's help, in his quest for power, Madame Chiang Kai-shek's husand, the Generalissimo, shook down the criminal bankers of Shanghai. A great deal of the nation's money and assets were centered there. Madame Clinton's husband, the President and Commander-in-Chief, on behalf of international big business, shook down the criminal bankers of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, as well as the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. A great source of money and assets is also there. When Clinton, as President, came to give a speech from time to time, at CME or the "Merc" as it is called, the pressfakers never reported what it was he said.





Madame Chiang's secret links to power and money, financed her husband's political ambitions. Madame Clinton's links, similarly, did the same for her alleged husband.





It was a marriage of convenience. The Generalissimo's concubines were more or less known. It has been more or less known who the sex-mates are and were of Hillary's alleged husband as well. The secret societies and their monopoly press create the images of those with disturbing roles in human history, as May-ling Soong and Hillary Rodham. As one author described the Soongs:





"The Soongs captivated publisher Henry Luce, of Time Inc., who enlarged their fame in his magazines. Luce, himself the child of American missionaries in China, helped to keep the Soongs in power as vestiges of his own lost horizon, symbols of a romantic China that had become a figment of his imagination. He provided the distorted lens through which many Americans came to see the events in Asia. Scores of influential Americans fell under the Soong spell--operatic characters like Claire Chennault of the Flying Tigers, journalists such as Theodore White and Joseph Alsop, famous Washington lobbyists, such as Roosevelt's friend 'Tommy the Cork' Corcoran. While FDR joked about letting himself be 'vamped' by Madame Chiang, other Americans were nearly done in by the Soongs, especially those who argued for a more objective view of the Chinese quandary, men like General Joseph W. Stilwell, and diplomats John Service and John Paton Davies. "This is their story as well. It is also the story of the Russian secret agent...."





"The Soong Dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave, Harper & Row, New York, 1985, pages 9-10.





Sound familiar? How the Clintons captivated Hollywood movie-makers and the lackeys in the press, painting a romantic and imaginary view of America and its lost horizons, under the Clintons.





Hillary's father, Hugh Rodham, Sr., was reportedly a "fixer" and "bagman" for banks and insurance companies, here and overseas. Her brothers have reportedly aligned themselves with business in the former Soviet Union, described by some as with the criminal oligarchs of the Russian mafiya and their laundry banks. In the Clinton administration, there was no effective scrutiny or restraint of the Russian criminals operating in U.S. big cities, like Chicago, Cleveland, and New York.



America's secret political police, the FBI, the CIA, and the DEA, have been willfully blind. With impunity, dope from Southwest Red China floods into the U.S. through Chicago as a major intake point. According to law enforcement personnel, the Rodhams reportedly stem from links to the Gambino crime family in Scranton, Pennsylvania.





We were among the first to publicly mention that Bill and Hillary are a CIA couple, each from an early age with their own separate agenda. Operating under the wing of the CIA Station Chief in London, Bill pretended to be an alleged "draft evader", a convenient cover to infiltrate the Viet Nam Peace movement in Europe. So sponsored and financed, he went to Moscow with shadow Strobe Talbott, and somehow together they unearthed the secret transcript of Krushchev lambasting the old-line Stalinists. Used as propaganda by the American CIA.





Hillary became Board Chairman of a reputedly CIA proprietary, the New World Foundation, financing CIA agents provocateurs used to frame up and discredit real dissidents. Jointly with George Herbert Walker Bush, Hillary was reportedly involved in supplying weapons in the 1980s to Iraq in their war with Iran. The purpose was to keep up the price of oil for the worldwide oil cartel. The Elder Bush reportedly had a sizeable financial stake in the U.S. unit of a French firm, American LaFarge. Hillary was on their Board of Directors. They apparently supplied the ingredients to Bagdad for the making of poison gas used by Iraq against their own dissidents the Kurds, and against the wave after wave of exceptionally young soldiers of Iran in that conflict. And used against U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf War, implicated some say, partly as the cause of the Gulf War Syndrome.





Hillary and her reputed lover and law partner, Vincent W. Foster, Jr., played key roles through the twin infamous enterprises, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, BCCI, and Banca Nazionale Delavoro, BNL, owned in part by the Vatican. The Atlanta branch of BNL supplied some 5 billion dollars, disguised as Agriculture Department loans, for weapons for Iraq. The Chicago branch of BNL laundered billions of dollars of Persian Gulf oil kick-backs from the weak sheikdoms to the Elder Bush and his private business partner of the decade of the 1980s, the Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein. [Dealt with in previous stories on our website. It was the subject of unpublicized proceedings in Chicago's federal courts.]





Those who got in the way of Madame Chiang and the Generalissimo were mysteriously and conveniently snuffed out. Those that got in the way of Bill and his alleged wife, the Dragon Lady, were likewise done in, often disguised in the monopoly press as "suicides". Some websites have the bloody list of victims, dubbed as The Clinton Body Count.





The Soongs criminal treasures have not been scattered to the wind. They have reportedly been moved to Chicago where they are disguised as secret numbered accounts and trust accounts with major banks in the Windy City, such as with the former Continental Bank now called a branch of Bank of America. The bank is jointly owned, as we have pointed out in previous stories, by the Rothschilds, the Jesuits, and the Giannini Family.





The pressfakers allege that the Chicago Sun-Times has been owned by the Canadian/British interests, Hollinger International Inc. They conveniently omit that the Soongs reportedly have a sizeable interest in the Chicago Sun-Times.





And Chinese "royalty" reportedly tied to Madame Chiang has their anchor face on local TV in Chicago, Linda Yu, on the ABC owned and operated outlet WLS-TV, Channel 7. Some contend that Hollinger is tied to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, the vast reputed money laundry that washed the huge criminal funds of Shanghai for the Soongs and then jointly, with the Red Chinese Secret Police. Just as that bank's parent holding firm was to merge with a bank reportedly tied to the Russian mafiya, Republic National Bank of New York, the major owner of Republic National was apparently murdered. [Visit our story, "Murder in the Gold Market".]





By the way, the North American Chief of the Red Chinese Secret police is apparently from a major Shanghai banking family. If we posted his name, address, and phone number---he lives in the U.S.---the FBI, without a court order, would shut down our website. Something like that has happened in the past. He has a direct communications link to the White House.



Did I hear you mutter the word TREASON?





There is a tie-in, as we have pointed out, between the Red Chinese Secret Police and the Chicago markets. Bank of America, with their unit in Chicago, are tied to the money laundry gang whose front is Madame Clinton. Bank of America is the major transaction point for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the other markets here. What is not always easy to understand is how, over a period of years, there got to be an overlap between the Mainland Chinese and those in Taiwan, supposedly the nemesis of the Red Chinese. After all, money is not Red, but like the blood of bugs, is Green.





If you understand all this, you would understand why Madame Clinton's husband came to the fountain of money, from the Red Chinese, the Hollywood movie producers, the dope traffickers disguising the illicit items as proceeds of foreign currency deals, and such: The Chicago Mercantile Exchange.





Through their foreign exchange department, Bank of America launders huge funds for the Soongs jointly with the Red Chinese Secret Police as well as the Russian mafiya. On all this the Federal Rserve is inclined to be willfully blind. [Visit our series on Greenspan bribes Bush.]





To really understand all this, the Dragon Lady and the strange death of her reputed lover, Foster, you have to read our website, from the beginning to now, as if it were a book.



More coming.



Stay tuned. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 05:52 AM











Post: #5 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1

Dragon Lady - Part 2



In Part One of this series, we drew a comparison between Madame Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Hillary Rodham Clinton. The power behind her husband, the Generalissimo, as dictator of China, Madame Chiang was highly skilled at using private secret police. They black-mailed, terrorized, and strong-armed the criminal bankers of Shanghai, to fund and solidify her husband's political ambitions. Madame Chiang used them against her enemies, perceived and actual. Murder and mayhem were just another way of means to an end.





In a like manner, Madame Clinton reportedly uses her private secret police to strong-arm and blackmail the criminal bankers on the commodity and currency markets in Chicago. It is an open secret that the Red Chinese, overlapping on the Taiwanese, have a dominant presence on the Chicago futures and options exchanges, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and somewhat lesser on the Chicago Stock Exchange. [By a massive embezzlement scandal, not adequately publicized except by our TV Show in Chicago, the Midwest Stock Exchange, about 1991, to get the stink off themselves, changed their name to the Chicago Stock Exchange.]





The monopoly press has near totally censored the open secret of the Red Chinese laundering billions of dollars through the Chicago markets, in open defiance of U.S. Treasury regulations requiring records of where cash over ten thousand dollars comes from. The cash torrent is the reported proceeds of "China White", high quality heroin from Southwest China, flooding into the U.S. via Chicago as an intake point, through small airports encircling the Windy City. [Our public access Cable TV Show has done several one-hour shows on this since 1994.] The huge cash flow is also the proceeds of harvesting human body organs from young, healthy dissidents in mainland China, condemned to death as the parts are ordered reportedly by the Rockefeller hospitals in Chicago, part of the University of Chicago. [Visit our web series, "Red Chinese Secret Police in the U.S."]





Madame Clinton's private secret police are headquartered, among other places, in Chicago, as Investigative Group International, also called Investigative Group Inc. [20 So. Wacker Drive, Chicago IL 60606 (312)236-6363]. Chairman of the reputed private spy operation has been Terry Lenzner. He has powerful friends, such as in the monopoly press. Such as Cokie Roberts. Another crony has been Strobe Talbott and his wife Brooke Shearer.[Time Magazine, 7/10/2000, page 95.] Talbott was Deputy U.S. Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration. Of course, the pressfakers leave out revealing details. Talbott with Bill Clinton endeared themselves at an early age to the American CIA. Under the auspices of the CIA Station Chief in London, they went to Moscow as purported American dissidents and somehow extracted a secret transcript of Krushchev lambasting the old-line Stalinists.





For reportedly helping cover up a political murder, Cokie Roberts was rewarded with a million and a half dollar a year a job as ABC Anchor Face on the network's Sunday morning propaganda hour. Her father, Cong.Hale Boggs [D., La.], sat on the Warren Commission proclaiming a lone assassin murdered President John F. Kennedy. In later years, her father began to have misgivings about the lone assassin story, some of which he started to make public. He disappeared a month before Nixon was re-elected President, 1972. The press whores say his plane disappeared on a flight to Alaska and was never found. Cokie Roberts made a public statement that she was satisfied on the story that her father's plane was not found. Yet, she reportedly was in a position to know that the U.S. Military recovered the plane which apparently had been sabotaged. That is, her father had been murdered. [Cong.Boggs knew about Tricky Dick's role in and near Dallas leading up to the cabal to murder JFK.] Cokie's mother, the widow Boggs, was rewarded for her silence by being paid off as apparently the first U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. Being a theocracy, the Vatican previously did not have a U.S. Ambassador, only an unofficial Delegate.





Head of the Alaska Military District, General David McCloud was apparently murdered for two reasons [1] He knew the details of the Boggs plane and [2] he was reportedly part of a group of 24 flag officers, Admirals and Generals, who vowed to arrest their Commander-in-Chief Clinton pursuant to documents they had showing his treason with the Red Chinese. If charged with mutiny, these flag officers planned to defend themselves, if not assassinated, at Courts Martial with their proof of Clinton's high crimes. As we have stated in earlier stories, 10 of the 24 have already been murdered, their patriotic plan and sacred honor stopped by bloodshed.





So, Madame Clinton's private secret police chief, Lenzner, does he with cronies like Cokie Roberts, understand about political assassinations? By the way, some contend that Cokie privately blames Nixon for his complicity in the murder of her father.Cong. Boggs' disclosures could have wrecked Tricky Dick's re-election campaign. And, Lenzner deeply hated President Nixon for firing Lenzner in 1970 as Director of Legal Services for the Office of Economic Opportunity. For revenge, Lenzner was the very one who served the Watergate subpoena on President Nixon.





Starting at the time Clinton failed one-term to be re-elected Arkansas Governor, his campaign wizard who revived Bill's political hopes, was Dick Morris. By the 1990s, Clinton reportedly owed Morris over eleven million dollars. To stop Morris from trying to collect, Cllnton apparently used Lenzner's group of dirty tricksters. Planted in the press, starting with grocery store scandal magazines, was a picture of Morris cavorting with a prostitute. This gave Clinton an excuse to fire Morris and not pay him the sums owed. [Morris was lucky. Look what happened to Campaign Security Chief Jerry Parks, owed 80 some thousand dollars for his work. When he demanded payment, he was murdered, gangster-style, near Little Rock, shortly after the apparent murder of White House Deputy Counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr. in 1993.]





In later years, angry over what was done to him, Dick Morris wrote a column for the New York Post, entitled "Call To Ban Secret Police in America", New York Post online, 6/12/2000: His opening statements, "The time has come to absolutely prohibit the growing use of secret police in our political system. For those unfamiliar with the secret police, they are elite private detectives secretly hired by politicians to do only one thing: dig up dirt- especially about the personal sex lives- of elected officials, journalists and private citizens who get in the pols'way. This revolting technique was perfected into a new art form by Bill and Hillary Clinton." He goes on with details.





Morris only scratched around the subject. He left out that Madame Clinton's "Gestapo" overlapped onto the doings of supposed political enemies of Bill, such as Congressman Henry Hyde [R.,Ill.] from the Chicago-area, long head of the House Judiciary Committee with vast blackmail power against federal judges and other U.S. government officials.





The private secret police working for both Lenzner/Hillary and Henry Hyde include Ernie Rizzo and Tony Pellicano. For Hyde, they reportedly sought ways to silence and punish Hyde's critics. Hyde certainly understands high-level gangsters and espionage. Earlier in his career, Hyde was reportedly the "bagman" and "fixer" to those former top lawmen running the gambling casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The traditional mafia types running the operation were removed, framed, or murdered, and a team of former top Justice Department honchos took over. Including William G. Hundley and Robert Peloquin who had been the top officials of the Organized Crime Section. This happens to be the neatest trick of all: top lawmen framing or murdering gangsters and taking over their game. [Extensive details in the book "Spooks-The Terrifying True Story of Spies-For-Hire and Their Secret Dirty War" by Jim Hougan. Also: visit our website, where we have several stories on Hyde.] Note that Hyde only pursued Clinton on impeachment charges having to do with sexual matters not the serious matters of treason jointly with the Red Chinese Secret Police and the dope traffic. By the way, Hyde has also been at the same time as Congressman, head of the CIA's "black budget", funds for murder and mayhem against those the CIA perceives as unfriendly. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 05:52 AM











Post: #6 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1







Ernie Rizzo is quite a character, useful to Lenzner, Madame Clinton, and Hyde. He started out as Chicago suburban supposed reform-minded policeman, claiming the department was riddled with mafioso. In 1970, believing his assertions, I permitted Ernie to monitor the classes I was then teaching on civic investigation at a Chicago-based broadcast school. Little did I understand early on that Ernie was reportedly WITH the hoodlums while claiming to be AGAINST them.





Hyde and Madame Clinton have had a joint interest to try howsoever they could figure out, to interfere with our popular public access Cable TV Shows, cablecast within Chicago. We have often discussed their criminality on our show. To try to stop us, Hillary put me and a TV associate of mine, Joseph Andreuccetti, on her "enemies list" to be subjected to numerous dirty tricks by the private and federal Gestapo. Our lawsuit against her ended up with the same federal district crook, Judge George M.Marovich, who turned loose Hyde. As we confronted the Judge in his court with his ownership with criminals jointly with corrupt revenue officials of a shopping mall, the Judge dismissed our suit without legal formality. The federal appeals court in Chicago, highly corrupt themselves as we have pointed out, as a reprisal, refused to hear our appeal and banned us from all the federal courts in the 7th Circuit, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.





Ernie Rizzo from time to time is reportedly observed in his car in front of Andreuccetti's residence, writing down details of the house and vehicles parked there. This is a form of overt intimidation on behalf of his patrons, Hillary/Hyde/Lenzner.





A confederate of Madame Clinton/Hyde/Lenzner is Rahm Emanuel who off and on for six years had been Clinton White House Senior Advisor. He went on to become managing director of Wasserstein Perella & Co., with reputed secret links to the Red Chinese Secret Police operating on and through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Rahm is, in effect, with his dual citizenship, the Deputy Chief of Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, for North America. [As we have told you, the Monica Lewinsky Affair was part of an intelligence agency manipulation of Clinton.] Rahm Emanuel's doings apparently interface with those of Terry Lenzner and his private secret police.





Some believe that Madame Clinton jointly with her private secret police should be grilled about the following mysteries:



1. Madame Clinton's reputed lover and law partner, Vincent W. Foster, Jr., was apparently murdered in or near the District of Columbia and his body parked in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia. Foster reportedly was about to be implicated in treasonous doings he did jointly with Madame Clinton as to selling nuclear missile tracking secrets to a foreign power. Some contend Terry Lenzner and his group know plenty about all this.



2. A leading critic of the Clinton White House was U.S. Senator James M. Inhofe (R., Okla.). While going in his private one-motor airplane, the propeller fell off. Luckily for him, he was somehow able to glide his plane to a safe landing. Is it true that Lenzner's group reportedly has available experts on airplane sabotage? Aviation experts contend the propeller incident is unheard of in airplane history.



3. What do Lenzner and his reputed sidekick Rahm Emanuel know about the demise of Clinton White House intern Mary Caitrin Mahoney, murdered in a Starbucks Coffee Shop in the District of Columbia, July, 1997 and blamed onto a "lone assassin"?



4. What do Hillary/Lenzner/Emanuel know about the National Reconnaissance Office satellite video images of Foster's body transported from in or near the District of Columbia to Fort Mark Park? Do they know about the murder of NRO video imaging expert, Daniel Potter, snuffed out in March, 1998? Potter knew too much about the Foster images.





Are the following merely Dragon Lady-type coincidences, sort of a French-style connection?



===Just as important, scandalous testimony is about to surface about Madame Clinton and her White House "strong arm", Craig Livingstone, TWA Flight 800 crashes offshore New York, July 17, 1996, the apparent victim, according to some counter-terrorist sources, of two submarine missiles. The White House scandal is blanked out by the mass media coverage of the airplane disaster. The plane was Paris-bound. Of the 60 French nationals onboard, 8 were members of the French CIA. A top official of the French spy agency, however, refused to board Flight 800 and took another flight instead. WHAT DID HE KNOW? The French were the first to send in their divers who reportedly retrieved pieces of plane wreckage and OTHER ITEMS, from the ocean bottom, proving missile attack.





The French threatened the Clinton White House prior to Clinton's 1996 re-election, with an international scandal. In a much watered down version, the French, through Pierre Salinger, former ABC Network Paris reporter, said a few days AFTER the election, that apparent "friendly fire" by some mistake by the U.S. brought down Flight 800 and that the White House was covering it up. Counter-terrorist experts, however, have contended it was two missiles shot from an Iranian submarine. The sub was a former Soviet one, bought from the Moscow government, and operated by a Russian mercenary crew. It was an apparent revenge attack for the U.S. by accident or otherwise, years earlier, having shot down an Iranian civilian airplane over the Persian Gulf. In 1996, President Clinton was planning friendly relations with Iran. Further, he did not want the missile mess to interfere with his 1996 Presidential re-election campaign.





Between the French threat of scandal and the White House cover-up, a stand-off was created when the Clinton Justice Department reportedly threatened the federal criminal prosecution of 14 top-level French nationals, on U.S. soil, some in Chicago, of having reportedly stolen U.S. industrial, financial, and military secrets. By the year 2000, the French CIA and other French authorities were publicly accusing Microsoft of being an espionage proprietary and adjunct of the U.S. National Security Agency. Microsoft, according to the French, was reportedly assisting NSA in the "Echelon" program, to spy on the Paris government and French business, as to French industrial, financial, and military secrets. Among the accusations, that the U.S., with Microsoft's aid, interferes with French business contracts with other nations and foreign firms. Such as, wrecking an Airbus zillion dollar contract with Saudi.





===Just as the Barak/Arafat Camp David peace propposals were about to be announced as having failed, July 25, 2000, a French Concorde airplane crashes right near Paris. Clinton intended as his "legacy" the now failed peace plans. So news negative to the CIA created couple, William Rockefeller Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, is subdued by the Concorde disaster.





Aviation and other sources point to the possiblity of sabotage. As the Concorde started to take-off, with its usual tremendous force, the plane's wheels reportedly stopped turning as if the brakes were on, and pieces of the rubber tires and the highly flammable, explosive magnesium wheels disintegrated, shot like bullets into the plane's engines and fuel chambers. So that the Concorde was on-fire even before take-off. The landing gear would not retract.





Cynics passed off the incident as apparent sabotage, commenting in cruel terms: "So the Frogs(the French) threw away 96 Krauts(Germans). So what? It is time the Concorde is sent away to the old people's home." The Concorde flight was chartered primarily for well-off Germans on the way to South America as a tour and then elsewhere later by a German boat.





In covering up White House scandals and White House foreign and domestic policy disasters, have there been numerous murders, strange "suicides", and air crashes, and convenient bombings of Iraq and elsewhere? How big a list of these do you suppose we can put here? Using Ernie Rizzo, Madame Clinton/Cong.Hyde's private secret police tried to get "dirt" to intimidate a Hyde critic in the Chicago-area, Tim Anderson, a long-time bank consultant who knew a lot about Hyde's crimes as a Director of Clyde Federal Savings & Loan, a Chicago suburb operation now defunct. According to a federal agency lawsuit against Hyde, he as Director of Clyde caused it to go under. Among other things, he reportedly caused 67 million dollars of their depositors funds to be transferred to Arkansas where they were plundered or disappeared. Madame Clinton/Cong. Hyde blackmailed a federal district judge in Chicago, Judge George M. Marovich, to turn Hyde loose. [The Judge owned a suburban shopping center reportedly used by known hoodlums as a money laundry jointly with corrupt top officials of the Chicago IRS and the Illinois State Revenue. Visit our various stories on our website, such as series on IRS Corruption.]Ernie Rizzo is quite a character, useful to Lenzner, Madame Clinton, and Hyde. He started out as Chicago suburban supposed reform-minded policeman, claiming the department was riddled with mafioso. In 1970, believing his assertions, I permitted Ernie to monitor the classes I was then teaching on civic investigation at a Chicago-based broadcast school. Little did I understand early on that Ernie was reportedly WITH the hoodlums while claiming to be AGAINST them.Hyde and Madame Clinton have had a joint interest to try howsoever they could figure out, to interfere with our popular public access Cable TV Shows, cablecast within Chicago. We have often discussed their criminality on our show. To try to stop us, Hillary put me and a TV associate of mine, Joseph Andreuccetti, on her "enemies list" to be subjected to numerous dirty tricks by the private and federal Gestapo. Our lawsuit against her ended up with the same federal district crook, Judge George M.Marovich, who turned loose Hyde. As we confronted the Judge in his court with his ownership with criminals jointly with corrupt revenue officials of a shopping mall, the Judge dismissed our suit without legal formality. The federal appeals court in Chicago, highly corrupt themselves as we have pointed out, as a reprisal, refused to hear our appeal and banned us from all the federal courts in the 7th Circuit, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.Ernie Rizzo from time to time is reportedly observed in his car in front of Andreuccetti's residence, writing down details of the house and vehicles parked there. This is a form of overt intimidation on behalf of his patrons, Hillary/Hyde/Lenzner.A confederate of Madame Clinton/Hyde/Lenzner is Rahm Emanuel who off and on for six years had been Clinton White House Senior Advisor. He went on to become managing director of Wasserstein Perella & Co., with reputed secret links to the Red Chinese Secret Police operating on and through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Rahm is, in effect, with his dual citizenship, the Deputy Chief of Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, for North America. [As we have told you, the Monica Lewinsky Affair was part of an intelligence agency manipulation of Clinton.] Rahm Emanuel's doings apparently interface with those of Terry Lenzner and his private secret police.Some believe that Madame Clinton jointly with her private secret police should be grilled about the following mysteries:1. Madame Clinton's reputed lover and law partner, Vincent W. Foster, Jr., was apparently murdered in or near the District of Columbia and his body parked in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia. Foster reportedly was about to be implicated in treasonous doings he did jointly with Madame Clinton as to selling nuclear missile tracking secrets to a foreign power. Some contend Terry Lenzner and his group know plenty about all this.2. A leading critic of the Clinton White House was U.S. Senator James M. Inhofe (R., Okla.). While going in his private one-motor airplane, the propeller fell off. Luckily for him, he was somehow able to glide his plane to a safe landing. Is it true that Lenzner's group reportedly has available experts on airplane sabotage? Aviation experts contend the propeller incident is unheard of in airplane history.3. What do Lenzner and his reputed sidekick Rahm Emanuel know about the demise of Clinton White House intern Mary Caitrin Mahoney, murdered in a Starbucks Coffee Shop in the District of Columbia, July, 1997 and blamed onto a "lone assassin"?4. What do Hillary/Lenzner/Emanuel know about the National Reconnaissance Office satellite video images of Foster's body transported from in or near the District of Columbia to Fort Mark Park? Do they know about the murder of NRO video imaging expert, Daniel Potter, snuffed out in March, 1998? Potter knew too much about the Foster images.Are the following merely Dragon Lady-type coincidences, sort of a French-style connection?===Just as important, scandalous testimony is about to surface about Madame Clinton and her White House "strong arm", Craig Livingstone, TWA Flight 800 crashes offshore New York, July 17, 1996, the apparent victim, according to some counter-terrorist sources, of two submarine missiles. The White House scandal is blanked out by the mass media coverage of the airplane disaster. The plane was Paris-bound. Of the 60 French nationals onboard, 8 were members of the French CIA. A top official of the French spy agency, however, refused to board Flight 800 and took another flight instead. WHAT DID HE KNOW? The French were the first to send in their divers who reportedly retrieved pieces of plane wreckage and OTHER ITEMS, from the ocean bottom, proving missile attack.The French threatened the Clinton White House prior to Clinton's 1996 re-election, with an international scandal. In a much watered down version, the French, through Pierre Salinger, former ABC Network Paris reporter, said a few days AFTER the election, that apparent "friendly fire" by some mistake by the U.S. brought down Flight 800 and that the White House was covering it up. Counter-terrorist experts, however, have contended it was two missiles shot from an Iranian submarine. The sub was a former Soviet one, bought from the Moscow government, and operated by a Russian mercenary crew. It was an apparent revenge attack for the U.S. by accident or otherwise, years earlier, having shot down an Iranian civilian airplane over the Persian Gulf. In 1996, President Clinton was planning friendly relations with Iran. Further, he did not want the missile mess to interfere with his 1996 Presidential re-election campaign.Between the French threat of scandal and the White House cover-up, a stand-off was created when the Clinton Justice Department reportedly threatened the federal criminal prosecution of 14 top-level French nationals, on U.S. soil, some in Chicago, of having reportedly stolen U.S. industrial, financial, and military secrets. By the year 2000, the French CIA and other French authorities were publicly accusing Microsoft of being an espionage proprietary and adjunct of the U.S. National Security Agency. Microsoft, according to the French, was reportedly assisting NSA in the "Echelon" program, to spy on the Paris government and French business, as to French industrial, financial, and military secrets. Among the accusations, that the U.S., with Microsoft's aid, interferes with French business contracts with other nations and foreign firms. Such as, wrecking an Airbus zillion dollar contract with Saudi.===Just as the Barak/Arafat Camp David peace propposals were about to be announced as having failed, July 25, 2000, a French Concorde airplane crashes right near Paris. Clinton intended as his "legacy" the now failed peace plans. So news negative to the CIA created couple, William Rockefeller Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton, is subdued by the Concorde disaster.Aviation and other sources point to the possiblity of sabotage. As the Concorde started to take-off, with its usual tremendous force, the plane's wheels reportedly stopped turning as if the brakes were on, and pieces of the rubber tires and the highly flammable, explosive magnesium wheels disintegrated, shot like bullets into the plane's engines and fuel chambers. So that the Concorde was on-fire even before take-off. The landing gear would not retract.Cynics passed off the incident as apparent sabotage, commenting in cruel terms: "So the Frogs(the French) threw away 96 Krauts(Germans). So what? It is time the Concorde is sent away to the old people's home." The Concorde flight was chartered primarily for well-off Germans on the way to South America as a tour and then elsewhere later by a German boat.In covering up White House scandals and White House foreign and domestic policy disasters, have there been numerous murders, strange "suicides", and air crashes, and convenient bombings of Iraq and elsewhere? How big a list of these do you suppose we can put here? http://www.rense.com/general3/dragon.htm LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 09:35 AM











Post: #7 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1





The French threatened the Clinton White House prior to Clinton's 1996 re-election, with an international scandal. In a much watered down version, the French, through Pierre Salinger, former ABC Network Paris reporter, said a few days AFTER the election, that apparent "friendly fire" by some mistake by the U.S. brought down Flight 800 and that the White House was covering it up. Counter-terrorist experts, however, have contended it was two missiles shot from an Iranian submarine. The sub was a former Soviet one, bought from the Moscow government, and operated by a Russian mercenary crew. It was an apparent revenge attack for the U.S. by accident or otherwise, years earlier, having shot down an Iranian civilian airplane over the Persian Gulf . In 1996, President Clinton was planning friendly relations with Iran. Further, he did not want the missile mess to interfere with his 1996 Presidential re-election campaign. Wow it looks liek th eIsraelis where trying to get Clinton to war with Iran back in the 90's... Nothing seems to change...same sh*t different year/dayThe French threatened the Clinton White House prior to Clinton's 1996 re-election, with an international scandal. In a much watered down version, the French, through Pierre Salinger, former ABC Network Paris reporter, said a few days AFTER the election, that apparent "friendly fire" by some mistake by the U.S. brought down Flight 800 and that the White House was covering it up.. In 1996, President Clinton was planning friendly relations with Iran. Further, he did not want the missile mess to interfere with his 1996 Presidential re-election campaign. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 1337

04-06-2018 03:30 PM











Post: #8 RE: Red China & The American Presidential Elections - Part 1





damn
















Half a century ago, Heathrow Terminal 1 opened as the most advanced aviation facility in the world. Later this month, the innards of the obsolete terminal will go on sale: the final indignity for a building which saw its last flight depart on 29 June 2015.

The auctioneer CA Global Partners has announced that Heathrow Airport, Complete Contents of Terminal 1 will go under the hammer on 21 April 2018 at the Thistle London Heathrow Terminal 5 Hotel.

At the auction, 11 baggage carousels, 4,000 seats and 110 check-in desks will go on sale, along with smaller items of airport memorabilia such as signage and original 1950s and 60s works of art.

Escalators, air bridges and security cameras will also be available for aviation collectors or airport builders.

Terminal 1 was built as the home of British European Airways, which merged with BOAC in 1973 to form British Airways. It is newer than the original Terminal 2 (previously known as the Europa Terminal) and Terminal 3 (formerly Oceanic). It was initially used for domestic and short-haul flights, but in the 21st century handled some intercontinental flights.

In 1975, the BA Shuttle to Glasgow was launched as Europe's first walk on, no-reservation, guaranteed seat service. Passengers could buy tickets on board from cabin crew.

Before Concorde was grounded in 2003, sightseeing trips on the supersonic plane departed from Terminal 1.

In the 1990s, an awkward extension was added to the terminal: a long elevated corridor to a distant pier from which flights to Ireland departed.

At its peak, Terminal 1 handled nine million passengers a year.

But after the redevelopment of Terminal 2 it was surplus to requirements.

At the time of its shutdown, Heathrow Airport said: The Terminal closure will make way for improved service and way finding around the airport and eventually an extension of the new Terminal 2 will take its place.

Jamie Bowden, an aviation consultant who worked as customer service manager for British Airways at Terminal 1, will not be attending the auction.

He told The Independent: Considering the departure queues and baggage belt breakdowns I had to contend with, I think I dont want to be reminded.

Airline bosses have called for competition between terminals at Heathrow, if and when a third runway is built.
Its cloistered and handsomely paid executives may not recognise it yet, but the BBC is facing a crisis. It is fast losing political friends and risks slipping into irrelevancy as tech oligarchies come to dominate our digital future.

For now, though, it seems pretty pleased with itself. Research shows, it boasts on its website, that the BBC is seen as by far the most trusted and impartial news provider in the UK. Whilst true, this rather overstates the case. The Ipsos Mori survey the BBC cites asked how biased or impartial different news sources are, and, yes, the BBC just about came out on top. But counting neutral responses as dont knows, and including only those who think a news source is either bias or impartial, would put ITN and Channel 4 News ahead. This isnt surprising because thats what Ofcom found in its latest news survey.

But lets not get too bogged down in the numbers. These are just vague impressions of the politics and professionalism of the BBC and its rivals, and whilst the broadcasters and broadsheets are unsurprisingly some way ahead of the tabloids and social media, theres not a great deal between them. The BBCs slim lead likely reflects both its historical reputation and the central place it still occupies in our national culture. Neither, though, are as secure as they might seem. There are warning signs.

When I started researching the BBC a decade ago there was still something of a taboo on the left around criticising the broadcaster, which was seen as constantly under threat from Murdoch and the right. This always seemed foolish to me. Not only because I dont think we should ignore reality for the sake of political expediency (the BBC is a small c conservative organisation and always has been), but also because the aspects of the BBC the left wants to defend have been steadily eroded by the right over the years. The defensive posture has not been effective.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA 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

In any case, that taboo no longer exists. In my experience the BBC is now widely thought by supporters of what is likely to be the next government as part of the establishment and as systematically biased against them.

Well they would say that wouldnt they? Except that this claim is supported by scholarly research which suggests not only that the BBC is consistently pro-government in its news reporting, but that it leans more to the right under Conservative governments than left under Labour. And we now have a Labour Party that is more left-wing than any point in its history, and a BBC that has drifted rightwards and is regularly parroting attack lines against the party, with scant regard for balance or accuracy.

This has been taking place in a context in which conservative figures have held key editorial positions at the BBC. Andrew Neil and Sarah Sands, James Harding, who recently stood down as director of news, and Nick Gibb, who moved from BBC political programming to 10 Downing Street, to name a few. Not reassuring for those who want an independent and impartial BBC.

Even centrists, who have traditionally been its strongest supporters, are losing faith. The Blairite peer Lord Adonis has been trouncing the BBC on Twitter, claiming it is biased in favour of Brexit, and the journalist Peter Jukes has announced he will be boycotting the BBC for its use of the right-wing blog Guido Fawkes as a news source, and its failure to cover allegations against the Leave campaign. Even the wider industry seems to quietly accept that BBC journalism is not quite up to scratch. For this years BAFTAs the BBC has received no nominations for news, and just one for current affairs.

A few years ago I said I thought the BBCs institutional need to both serve elite interests and maintain public trust would at some stage become untenable. I think were now reaching that crisis point. Unfortunately its happening at a time when the BBC badly needs public support and the public badly needs a BBC thats up to the job.

This isnt just about journalism and political bias. In its recently published annual plan, the BBC emphasised the urgent need for digital innovation, with younger people now spending more time on Netflix than BBC TV and the iPlayer combined. And last month James Harding argued that the rise of digital media today is analogous to the birth of broadcasting in the 1920s, suggesting this would mean creating a British Digital Corporation to serve the public interest in the digital age. On this much at least I agree with Harding. But were we to grant the BBC a privileged position in our digital media ecology, we would need first need to see fundamental change at the BBC that will address its systematic failings.

The Media Reform Coalition has recently published a set of draft proposals on the future of the BBC, produced by a working group I chaired. We argue that the BBC needs to break with its statist model and become a digital public network and platform, but also that all and any governmental influence over the BBC must be abolished, with the BBC instead being democratised and radically decentralised. This is an agenda for 21st-century public media. The only question is, when the Conservative Party and the interests it represents collapse under their own contradictions and incompetency, will the BBC have any political friends left that still think it is worth saving?

Tom Mills is the author of The BBC: The Myth of a Public Service
Thousands of protesters returned to the border this Friday, burning great heaps of tyres to produce a black smokescreen which they hoped would hide them from Israeli snipers. Gazas health ministry has said that five people were killed and 1,070 people were wounded on Friday, including 293 by live fire.

The demonstrators know what to expect. A video from the first day of the march shows a protester being shot in the back by an Israeli sniper as he walks away from the fence separating Gaza from Israel. In other footage, Palestinians are killed or wounded as they pray, walk empty-handed towards the border fence, or simply hold up a Palestinian flag. All who get within 300 yards are labelled instigators by the Israeli army, whose soldiers have orders to shoot them.

Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed, claimed a tweet from the Israeli military the day after the mass shooting on 30 March at the start of 45 days of what Palestinians call the Great March of Return to the homes they had in Israel 70 years ago. The tweet was deleted soon after, possibly because film had emerged of a protester being shot from behind.

The sheer scale of the casualties on the first day of the protest a week ago is striking, with as many as 16 killed and 1,415 injured, of whom 758 were hit by live fire according to Gaza health officials. These figures are contested by Israel, which says that the injured numbered only a few dozen. But Human Rights Watch spoke to doctors at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City who said that they had treated 294 injured demonstrators, mostly with injuries to the lower limbs from live ammunition.

Imagine for a moment that it was not the two million Palestinian in Gaza, who are mostly refugees from 1948, but the six million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan who had staged a march to return to the homes that they have lost in Syria since 2011. Suppose that, as they approach the Syrian border, they were fired on by the Syrian army and hundreds of them were killed or injured. Syria would certainly claim that the demonstrators were armed and dangerous, though this would be contradicted by the absence of casualties among the Syrian military.

The international outcry against the murderous Syrian regime in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin would have echoed around the world. Boris Johnson would have denounced Assad as a butcher and Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, would have held up pictures of the dead and dying before the Security Council.

Recommended The Gaza protest showed how Israel is immune to criticism

Of course, Israel would furiously deny that there was any parallel between the two situations. Its government spokesman, David Keyes, rebuked CNN for even using the word protest when what actually happened is that Hamas engineered an event where they wanted thousands of people to swarm into Israel, to crush Israel, to commit acts of terror. Indeed, we have captured on camera pictures of people shooting guns, people placing bombs, people shooting rockets.

In the event, no pictures of these supposedly well-armed protesters ever emerged. But four days later, Human Rights Watch published a report entitled Israel: Gaza Killings Unlawful, Calculated. Officials Green-Light Shooting of Unarmed Demonstrators, which said that it could find no evidence of any protester using firearms. It added that footage published by the Israeli army showing two men shooting at Israeli troops turned out not to have been filmed at the protest.

Israeli ministers are unabashed by the discrediting of claims that the demonstrators pose a military threat to Israel. Defence minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israeli soldiers had warded off Hamas military branch operatives capably and resolutely ... They have my full backing. The free-fire policy is continuing as before and, as a result, the Israeli human rights organisation, BTselem, has launched a campaign called Sorry Commander I Cannot Shoot, which encourages soldiers to refuse to shoot unarmed civilians on the grounds that this is illegal.

Why is the surge in Palestinian protests coming now and why is Israel responding so violently? There is nothing new in Palestinian demonstrations about the loss of their land and Israels aggressive military response. But there may be particular reasons that a confrontation is happening now, such as Palestinian anger at President Trumps decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the move of the US embassy to there from Tel Aviv. This trumpeted Washingtons unconditional support for the Israeli position and the US disregard for the Palestinians and any remaining hopes they might have to win at least some concessions with US support.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Show all 10 1 /10 Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters flee from teargas AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers stand as Palestinian protesters gather on the Israel Gaza border AP Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations A Palestinian is carried on a stretcher after being injured during the demonstration AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers take aim as they lie prone over an earth barrier along the border with the Gaza strip in the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nahal Oz as Palestinians demonstrate on the other side commemorating Land Day AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian paramedics evacuate an injured man on the Gaza side of the Israel-Gaza border Reuters Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians demonstrate with crossed-out posters depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, during a tent city protest near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip AFP/Getty Images Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters flee from teargas AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Israeli soldiers shoot tear gas grenades towards the Palestinian tent city protest commemorating Land Day AFP/Getty Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinian protesters take cover from Israeli troops AP Palestinians clash with Israeli troops during mass demonstrations Palestinians chant slogans as they attend a demonstration near the Gaza Strip border AP

Strong support from the Trump administration is reported by the Israeli press to be further reason why the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, feels that bad publicity over the shootings in Gaza will not damage Israels position in the US. In the past, controversy over the mass killings of Palestinian or Lebanese by Israel has sometimes provoked a negative US response that has curbed Israels use of force.

So far, Israel has faced little criticism from an international media uninterested in the Gaza story, or else is happy to go along with Israels interpretation of events. The vocabulary used by news outlets is often revealing: for instance, the BBC website on 31 March had a headline reading Gaza-Israel border: Clashes leave 16 Palestinians dead and hundreds injured. The word clashes implies combat between two groups capable of fighting each other, though, as Human Rights Watch says, the demonstrators pose no threat to an all-powerful Israeli military machine  a point reinforced by the fact that all the dead and wounded are Palestinian.

Possibly, the Israelis are miscalculating the impact of excessive use of force on public opinion: in the age of wifi and the internet, graphic images of the victims of violence are immediately broadcast to the world, often with devastating effect. As in Syria and Iraq, the political price of besieging or blockading urban areas like Gaza or Eastern Ghouta is rising because it is impossible to prevent information about the sufferings of those trapped inside such an enclaves becoming public, though this may have no impact on the course of events.

Contrary to Keyes claims, the idea of a mass march against the fence seems to have first emerged in social media in Gaza and was only later adopted by Hamas. It is the only strategy likely to show results for the Palestinians because they have no military option, no powerful allies and their leadership is moribund and corrupt. But they do have numbers: a recent report to the Israeli Knesset saying that there are roughly 6.5 million Palestinian Arabs and an equal number of Jewish Israeli citizens in Israel and the West Bank, including those in East Jerusalem and Gaza. Israel has usually had more difficulty in dealing with non-violent civil rights type mass movements among Palestinians than it has had fighting armed insurgencies.

Keyes claims that the demonstrations are orchestrated by Hamas, but here again he is mistaken on an important point because witnesses on the spot say that the impetus for the protests is coming from non-party groups and individuals. They voice frustration with the failed, divided and self-seeking Palestinian leaders of both Hamas and Fatah. The most dangerous aspect of the situation in terms of its potential for violence may be that nobody is really in charge.

* This article has been updated to make clear that the Knesset's report indicating there are 6.5m Palestinian Arabs in Israel and the West Bank includes those in East Jerusalem and Gaza. 18/4/18
A spike in murders in London that saw more people killed in the city in February and March than in New York, has provided newspapers with some sensational headlines. Of the more than 50 murders to have taken place in London so far in 2018, the vast majority are the result of knife crime.

While comparisons between murders in New York and London make for a good story, simplistic headlines based on one dimensional readings of statistics can be seriously misleading. UN Office on Drugs and Crime global homicide figures show that in 2014 the UK recorded 594 homicides, giving it a murder rate of 0.92 per 100,000 people. In contrast, the rate for the US with 15,696 deaths was 4.88 per 100,000. Yet Latvia has a 4.11 per 100,000 homicide rate  a fact explained by a smaller population and a total of just 81 homicides. Of course, Latvia is not as murderous as American inner-city housing projects, nor is it four times more dangerous than the UK.

What happened in New York

In 2017, there were 290 homicides in New York  the lowest number since the 1940s. The city has a longstanding association with violence. Crime rates spiked in the 1980s and early 1990s, but subsequently New York has been spectacularly rehabilitated. It now has one of the lowest murder rates of any US city.

The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo, 18, was killed in a fight in Chislehurst on 10 January 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Hasan Ozcan Hasan Ozcan, 19, was stabbed to death on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking on 3 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Sabri Chibani Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed fatally in the chest in Streatham on 11 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Promise Nkenda Lord Promise Nkenda, 17, was stabbed to death in Canning Town on 14 February 2018 Facebook The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lewis Blackman Lewis Blackman, a 19-year-old rapper from Kentish Town, was stabbed to death in Kensington on 18 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Abdikarim Hassan Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was stabbed to death near his home in Camden's Peckwater estate on 20 March - less tahan two hours before another man was stabbed to death nearby Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Kelvin Odunuyi Kelvin Odunuyi, a 19-year-old rapper known as DipDat and Lampz, was shot dead in Wood Green on 8 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lyndon Davis Lyndon Davis, 18, was chased down and stabbed to death in Chadwell Heath on 14 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Tanesha Melbourne-Blake Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tottenham on 2 April PA The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Amaan Shakoor Amaan Shakoor, 16, was shot dead in Walthamstow on 2 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Israel Ogunsola Israel Ogunsola, 18, was stabbed to death in Hackney on 4 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, a 17-year-old rapper and aspiring architect, was shot dead in a Kennington Street on 5 May Handout The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jordan Douherty Aspiring rapper Jordan Douherty died of his injuries outside a birthday party in Romford on 23 June Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Katrina Makunova Katrina Makunova, 17, was stabbed to death in Camberwell on 12 July 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Latwaan Griffiths 18-year-old Latwaan Griffiths was fatally stabbed on 25 July and died in hospital after being thrown off the back of a moped in Camberwell Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Guled Farah Guled Farah, 19, was shot in Walthamstow on 22 September Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Ethan Nedd-Bruce Ethan Nedd-Bruce, 18, died after he was shot outside a party at a flat in Greenwich, south-east London, on 22 October. He had also been stabbed, but the gunshot wound was the cause of death. Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jay Hughes Jay Hughes, 15, died was fatally stabbed outside a chicken shop in Bellingham, south-east London, on 1 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Malcolm Mide-Madariola Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was found suffering from a stab wound outside Clapham South Tube station on 2 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 John Ogunjobi John Ogunjobi, 16, died in front of his parents after he was stabbed in Greenleaf Close, Tulse Hill, on 5 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Aron Warren Aron Warren, 18, was found stabbed in a flat block in Greenwich on 8 December and died at the scene Metropolitan Police

There have been various explanations for this, from changing lead levels in petrol to changes in abortion policy, but an oft-cited factor is changes in policing. Picking up on this argument, The Sun newspaper recently drafted in the man hailed as the architect of the New York Crime drop, former US police commissioner Bill Bratton, to advocate a crackdown on crime in London.

Bratton  with the support of then-mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani  introduced a zero tolerance policing policy from the mid 1990s which focused on quick arrests for minor offences and little tolerance for petty crimes. It was heavily influenced by broken windows theory, a simple concept that has persuasive power. Under this theory, visible symptoms of neighbourhood decline  the broken window or civil disorder  act as cues to encourage further crime and disorder, including serious violent crime.

Bratton  who was reappointed as NYPD police chief for a second two-year term in 2014  has currency among conservatives, and it was reported that former British prime minister David Cameron once hoped to install him as head of the Metropolitan police.

Laying blame in London

Perhaps neighbourhood decline does drive crime, but Londons murders are not only happening in impoverished areas in decline. Great wealth and poverty exist almost cheek by jowl in London  and neighbourhood decline alone is not going to drive up a murder rate.

While there have been various factors suggested for Londons rising murder rate, like many complex social phenomena, the truth is that there are elements of truth in all of them  and no single causal driver. The Labour MP David Lammy has linked the rise in violence to drug gangs and inequality, while the Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dicks commented that social media is fuelling murder and knife crime among young people.

Dick is not the first to express concern about the role of music such as grime and drill in rising violence  and the media have variously referenced the usual suspects: lack of male role models, absent parents, violent media, gangs, and declining use of police stop and search powers.

Yet without blaming victims and recognising that every murder has an effect far greater than the act itself, there are some striking recurrent features to the backdrop of those killed in London. A large proportion of the victims have been young men from ethnic minorities. This does not mean that gangs or postcode rivalries are the cause, but it shows us violence tends to be concentrated in less affluent areas.

What the victims do show us, is that whether in New York or Newham, your chances of being murdered  which are already incredibly slight  are much more likely if you are poor, in a violent relationship, in a gang or already involved in crime. The likelihood of being randomly stabbed or shot is much, much lower than headline statistics indicate.

Invest in policing

Rather than zero tolerance, perhaps the lesson we ought to learn from the US is that of proper investment in policing. The Metropolitan police has suffered government cuts of more than 700m since 2010 and is expected to find a further 325m of savings by 2021. The thin blue line gets ever thinner  and people know it. Nationally, police numbers have been cut by around 21,000 since 2010, which has inevitably reduced community policing, investigation activity and more. Bratton might have used zero tolerance to drive down crime in New York, but he also hired 6,000 extra police officers.

The Conservatives austerity policies are putting the criminal justice system under strain. Violence has risen in prisons and the community alike, and cuts to legal aid are having serious implications for access to justice.

Londons murder rate is now at its highest for more than a decade. It is cutting young lives short and leaving a wake of human misery. Zero tolerance policing is not a magic solution  yet unfortunately, there are signs that police chiefs are turning to it. Dick has declared a return to more aggressive use of stop and search powers in violence-prone areas. But the trade off will be a return to tensions between police and ethnic minority communities that could cause more damage in the long term. Such a strategy is no way near as sensible as good community policing, because building ties and working closely with members of the community creates the very intelligence that can lead to real crime prevention.

To be fair to Dick, in a service cut to the bone, not all options are on the table  and she has announced a task force of 100 officers to tackle knife crime. What we ought to remember about Brattons initiative in New York was that it was well resourced and politically supported. So if the UK government really wants to stop the spate of killings in London, perhaps it should kill austerity first.

James Treadwell is professor in criminology at Staffordshire University. This piece first appeared in The Conversation.
Tuesday was the second anniversary of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffes imprisonment in a Tehran jail for doing, well, nothing whatsoever.

Its tricky to get our heads around this in Britain where, for all our faults, we tend not to grab a mother with her toddler at the airport, pass the kid to her grandparents then throw the mother in prison mumbling something nonsensical like: As you were feeding your baby, you looked like you were plotting to overthrow the government.

Newspaper reports announce her as dual national or north London mum. The first tells us she belongs to two countries  one of which is hers; the second reminds us she is one of us  a Brit.

Richard Ratcliffe has not seen his wife or their four-year-old daughter for two years (PA)

Her husband, Richard, has not seen his wife and their almost four-year-old daughter, Gabriella, for two years now. The Iranian authorities, ever keen to preserve the monster-under-your-bed story, refuse to issue him a visa.

Nazanins case finally became front-page news in November when a gaffe by Boris Johnson, ever keen to preserve his image of being a bumbling hairdryer accident who doesnt bother himself with revising the facts before he opens his cakehole amid the most delicate of diplomatic situations, made her situation worse.

While  finally  speaking of her case in parliament, he said she was teaching journalism in Iran. This was not what Nazanin was doing. She was on holiday, visiting her mum and dad with her baby.

Johnson demonstrated a catastrophic this doesnt affect me, so I cant really give a rats arse attitude. He bolstered Tehrans claim that she is a spy  justifying, in the eyes of Nazanins jailers, the five-year sentence she is currently serving in Irans notorious Evin Prison.

The foreign secretarys inexcusable mistake caused an outcry  Labours most powerful figures suddenly became interested in the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn piled in  the foreign secretary has to go, they said.

What took them so long? Why did Johnson have to shove his foot so firmly in his mouth before they paid attention?

Recommended The UK must pressure Iran to release unfairly sentenced prisoners

I think hes got to go. Hes our foreign secretary, whose job is diplomacy and representing the best interests of our country and if Theresa May was a strong prime minister shed have sacked him a long time ago, Khan said.

Until that point, sadly, none of them had been moved enough by the case to make any meaningful intervention. It seemed an opportunity to bash the Tories was more enticing than fighting for Nazanins freedom.

When the Mayor of London invited thousands of Londoners to Trafalgar Square to watch an Oscar-winning Iranian film in March last year, it was only reluctantly that he agreed for the #FreeNazanin campaign to have a small presence  a few placards but no access to the stage, no chance of speaking to the crowd.

That is the experience of this family  sidelined both by the Islamic Republic, the UK government and, sadly, the Her Majestys Opposition too.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures 2018 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. Free Nazanin Campaign/AP Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard Ratcliffe and their daughter Gabriella. Nazanin is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran's government. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures June 2016 Richard Ratcliffe's daughter Gabriella had her British passport confiscated and was stranded in Iran with her grandparents after her mother Nazanin was jailed. He left left a giant birthday card on the doorstep of the Iranian embassy in central London to mark her second birthday in June 2016. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin has spent some of her prison sentence in solitary confinement. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband Richard and daughter Gabriella. Family Handout Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures July 2016 Richard Ratcliffe delivering a letter of petition with his mother Barbara Ratcliffe and MP Tulip Siddiq, to 10, Downing Street on the 100th day of her detention, on July 12, 2016. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Supporters of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe held a vigil outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to mark her 707 days in captivity. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures January 2017 Richard Ratcliffe holds a '#Free Nazanin' sign and candle during a vigil for for wife on January 16, 2017. The vigil, being held outside the Iranian Embassy in London marks one year since the Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and other US-Iranian dual-nationals were released from prison in Iran. Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin with her daughter Gabriella before they were detained by Iranian authorities. Change.org Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures September 2017 Gabriella, who is three-years-old in this picture, has now spent two years away from her mother. Richard Ratcliffe Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson meets with Richard Ratcliffe over Nazanin's case. They meet just days after Johnson told a parliamentary committee that she was in Iran "training journalists". WPA Pool/Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 Actor Emma Thompson braved pneumonia to support Richard Ratcliffe in leading demonstrators before a march in support of Nazanin in November. Reuters Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 Richard Ratcliffe after the march said: 'It is profoundly moving to see so many people here.' REUTERS Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures November 2017 A picture of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shown on Iranian state TV as part of a report that made fresh allegations against her. They said she had been recruiting for banned broadcast services, as well as 'opposition cyber teams'. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures December 2017 Iranian president Hassan Rouhani greets British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson at the presidential office in Tehran, Iran. Johnson visited Tehran to discuss the fate of detained Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. EPA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures December 2017 Photos of Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on display at their home in north London. Mr Ratcliffe said he believed there was "still a chance" she may be released from an Iranian prison in time for a dream Christmas together. Unfortunately that didn't happen. PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures February 2018 Richard Ratcliffe delivers a petition and a letter addressed to the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to demand her release, at the Iranian Embassy in London on February 21, 2018. He also left support letters for his spouse in the country's embassy, amid a visit by a deputy foreign minister. AFP/Getty Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures August 2018 Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt meeting Richard Ratcliffe. Hunt has pledged to do everything possible to secure the release of a charity worker jailed in Iran Jeremy Hunt/PA Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe  in pictures August 2018 Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugs her daughter Gabriella, in Iran after she was allowed to leave the Iranian prison, she is being held in, for three days. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested during a holiday with her toddler daughter in April 2016. Iranian authorities accuse her of plotting against the government. Her family denies this, saying says she was in Iran to visit family. PA

It was scandalous that the family of a Londoner wrongly imprisoned in Iran were not allowed to address the biggest public gathering the Iranian community in London has ever had. The Ratcliffe family and Nazanins supporters were denied a unique and powerful platform.

Im a Labour supporter, I backed Corbyn, but if you ask someone to resign for an error and five months down the line all you have shown is inaction, should there be a punishment?

Lefties often argue that to be inactive against injustice is to be complicit. By that reckoning, were Corbyn and Khan  who called for Johnson to go in November and were curiously silent on Tuesday when Nazanin marked her second year in jail  not complicit in her suffering?

Labour must now demand action against the inhumane incarceration of this innocent British woman in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nazanins suffering is hard to imagine. Her child is allowed two 45 minute visits to her mum a week. The little girl talks to her father via Skype but she has forgotten how to speak English so her grandparents translate conversations between father and daughter.

Recommended Jeremy Corbyn has the power and respect of Iranians to free Nazanin

Last Tuesday I hosted a comedy night in London with Amnesty International and the anti-torture charity Redress, to make the second anniversary of her imprisonment a little bit easier for her family to get through and to keep her in peoples minds.

Richard Ratcliffe, in his impossibly gentle and dignified manner, addressed the audience in a packed Conway Hall  he assured us that Nazanin drew some succour from knowing the event was happening.

Al Murray, Mark Steel and Sara Pascoe, the poet Luke Wright and young talents Tom Lucy and Lou Sanders all turned up and raised the roof.

Corbyn went to Iran in 2014. He has the respect of the Iranian government as an anti-imperialist who opposed the Iraq war. Why is he not speaking out? Why is Khan, Londons first Muslim mayor, not speaking out?

We need you guys  Nazanins MP, Tulip Siddiq, cant be left to pressure the government on her own. We need you to step up and help Nazanin and her young daughter come home to Finchley where they belong.
The news that Sergei Skripal and his daughter are both getting better means that the unravelling of what lay behind the shocking nerve agent attack is now getting closer. They will be able to provide the information which will be crucial in piecing together the possible motive for their attempted murders and who carried it out.

The news from Salisbury District Hospital offers a degree of authenticity to the telephone call broadcast on Russian TV on Thursday morning, supposedly between Yulia Skripal and her cousin Viktoria in Moscow. Yulia says in the recording: Everything is OK. He [Sergei] is resting now, having a sleep. Everyones health is fine, there are no irreparable things. I will be discharged soon. Everything is OK.

In this highly charged affair, in which Russia is accused of the poisoning in Salisbury of the former MI6 agent and his daughter, there is already suspicion and recrimination surrounding their recovery. Moscow is demanding to know how it could have taken place when the director of Porton Down has said there was no known antidote to the military-grade novichok used in the attack.

The Russian embassy has asked the British government for an explanation and says it is yet to receive one. Russian officials claim what has happened supports the allegation that the UK was responsible for the attack and has its own access to novichok, with an alternative conspiracy theory that some other substance, not novichok, had been used in a staged attack by the British authorities.

Recommended Corbyn was right to avoid blaming Moscow for the Skripal poisoning

Moscow appears to be on the front foot on the propaganda war. There had been no indications from the British authorities of the extent of Yulia Skripals recovery until her supposed call to Viktoria was broadcast on Russian TV.

Hours later, while the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko was holding a prolonged press conference at his residence on Thursday afternoon, berating Britain for alleged secrecy and dishonesty, came the news that that Wiltshire Police have issued a statement from Yulia saying: I woke up over a week ago and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. The question may be asked that if the British security agencies wanted to keep the news of Skripals recovery as quiet as possible for operational reasons, as has been suggested, how did the call to Moscow come about?

Similarly, there had been nothing from UK officials to indicate that Sergei Skripal was recovering as well. But after the airing of the phone call between Yulia and Viktoria, and the ensuing publicity, came this afternoons announcement from the hospital that he too has responded to treatment and was improving rapidly.

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

Amid the claims and counter-claims, the confrontation between the West and Russia continues to ratchet up. The US administration has announced the imposition of sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs, 17 senior government officials and 12 companies.

Among those affected are key allies of Vladimir Putin including Arkady Rotenberg, a friend since childhood of the Russian President; Kirill Shamalov, Putins former son-in-law; and Alexey Miller, the chief of Gazprom, the worlds largest natural gas producer and a long-term ally of Putin.

The sanctions have been imposed under laws the US Congress passed last year in retaliation for Russian interference in the US presidential election that brought Donald Trump to power. Trump has been criticised by both Republicans and Democrats for failing to act on them, but the Skripal case appears now to have acted as the trigger. Washington was among 24 countries that expelled Russians working under diplomatic credentials after Theresa Mays government blamed the Kremlin for the Salisbury attack.

One of the most prominent Russian tycoons to be sanctioned is the billionaire Oleg Deripaska. He has been in the headlines for his links to Paul Manafort, Trumps former campaign advisor, who has been arrested and charged in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Trumps Moscow connections. The list also includes Aleksandr Torshin, a deputy chairman of Russias Central Bank, who had been in contact with Trump officials in the run up to the 2016 election.

The reverberations from the Skripal affair, with all its extraordinary twists and turns, show no sign of ending.
For us farmers, not having enough fodder to feed your stock is the stuff of nightmares.

However, it is a vista that faces many farmers this morning as they see the back wall of their silage pits edging ever closer by the day, and for some, theres nothing left at all.

The impact such a situation can have on farmers should not be underestimated, with recent research by Teagasc showing the main cause of depression among farmers in Ireland is the unexpected death of their livestock.

However, while it hit the headlines in recent weeks, the fodder shortages have been apparent in many parts of the country for months.

On my farm in Roscommon, we were lucky to have harvested a reasonably big crop of silage last summer.

Coupled with having less stock on the farm this winter, we should have enough fodder to get us through the rest of spring.

We were also in a position to help a neighbour in December and January with some silage for his sheep, but for many that has not been the case.

The origins of the now undeniable fodder crisis that faces farmers all over the country go back to last summer.

A combination of events occurred that none of us could have predicted or planned for.

Last year, first cut silage made in late April and early May was generally of exceptional quality, but quantity was a big issue with many farmers harvesting lighter crops.

As the summer rolled on, those cutting silage later saw quality levels drop due to bad weather.

Many farmers who usually do a second cut of silage could not, which all led to a significant reduction in the volumes of fodder harvested in 2017 to feed stock over the winter months.

It is no understatement to say that the weather this spring has not helped.

In some regions, an extremely wet period from September saw livestock housed much earlier than usual, lengthening the winter. Storm Ophelia, followed by Storm Emma, put a lot of farmers under severe and unprecedented pressure, and many with increased stocking rates struggled to cope with the situation of more cattle and less feed for them.

Now the country has been forced to import feed from the UK and Europe to alleviate the problem, at a huge cost to the farming community.

The last fodder crisis, in 2013, is estimated to have cost in the region of 500m.

The cost of this most recent crisis will be felt by many in the farming community for many months and possibly years.
Alfie Hughes was reviewing progress on the rebuild on his three span shed at his farm in Inch, Co Wexford when we spoke last week, while at the same time taking what shelter he could from the incoming hail and sleet of the latest storm.

Its been one long winter, says Alfie. The three span shed collapsed when the thaw set in after Storm Emma. The snow stayed on the roof for the entire time and when it began to thaw the whole building collapsed. It had been up for 45 years and when it fell down it caused serious problems for housing the herd  things were overcrowded.

Anyway, we were alright because we were insured and now there is a week of work left on replacing the shed, the 54-year-old lifelong farmer explains.

Alfie farms 40 acres of the home farm with an additional 60 acres rented outside the north Wexford village where he runs a split 85-strong herd of British Friesians and Holsteins. He has also started to add some sucklers to the enterprise over the past few years.

Alfie is married to Sandra who works at the local grain company and also helps on the farm at the weekends. He took over the family farm in the early-1990s and although happy out with the way things have gone since then, he is singularly unhappy with the volatility in the milk prices he has been getting of late.

Glanbias milk is down to 33c/l at the moment, which is below the 35c/l that Alfie believes is the very minimum required for dairy farmers to survive.

Unless a floor price of at least 35c/l is put on the milk prices, young farmers and those with high overheads are going to struggle, he says. I am alright because I dont have the overheads and I have no plans to expand, but not everyone is as lucky.

Alfie accepts, of course, that the dairy sector is not back in the old days of prices in the low 20s that prevailed during the economic crash.

I accept that. I remember those days, I remember Glanbias John Moloney addressing dairy farmers in Enniscorthy in 2009 when they were demanding an extra c/l, he says.

Alfie recalls that farmers left the meeting in despair as they were told the 1c/l rise was just not possible in that economic environment.

Today is different, we are in a global market now and the selling price for milk must be related to the production cost.

Pressing home his argument, Alfie claims that things were better for dairy farmers in the quota era.

He is quick to admit that such an idea would be greeted with roars of disapproval by farmers today but sticks to his guns that some kind of market intervention on milk prices is needed.

The price was good last year but is falling back already this year, says Alfie. That type of market volatility has to be addressed by the authorities.

However, for the moment he is only really thinking about his shed rebuild and once that is completed next weekend  assuming the Easter wintry weather has not thrown the schedule out of kilter  then its onto the new project: expanding his suckler herd despite concerns over prices in the sector at the moment.

I have five sucklers at the moment, but I will have a bigger herd over the next few years, he says in the full expectation that they will provide an insurance policy against what he believes will be a roller coaster for dairy farmers over the next few years.
BaleCollect 1230 is Krones first bale collector and was launched at this years Agritechnica.

BaleCollect is 4.3m wide, 3.2m long and carries up to three 2.7m long bales.

Its standout feature is its hydraulic drawbar that telescopes to provide absolutely safe castering in road transport - a unique feature that sets it apart from all traditional bale collectors.

This telescoping drawbar breaks the connection between the bale collector and the baler, allowing the collector to track behind the baler like a second trailer (3.9m total transport length).

There is no bouncing, because the brake on the Big Pack has been designed to also handle the extra weight of BaleCollect, ensuring exemplary rides on slopes as well.

Another plus point is the fact that the type approval is issued for the baler-collector combination and not for the tractor-baler-collector combination, giving machine owners maximum flexibility in the use of the tractor.

This is a great advantage over competitor collectors where the approval covers the entire combination of tractor, baler and collector and becomes void when a different tractor is used.

How BaleCollect works

In transport position, the sides fold on to the table to reduce the transport width to less than 3m.

The bale collector pulls like a second trailer behind the Big Pack  a boon when travelling around bends or through narrow gates. BaleCollect is compatible with all Big Pack models and can be approved for 50km/hr.

In the field, the hydraulic drawbar is retracted and the bale collector runs in line with the bale chamber.

Also, the wheels are unlocked hydraulically and turn freely. After the sides are lowered hydraulically BaleCollect is ready to collect bales.

When a bale leaves the bale chamber and moves on to the BaleCollect, it passes over a detecting sensor which signals to push it to the side.

The following bale is then pushed to the other side. When the third bale arrives on the bale collector, all bales are pushed off the machine. The individual steps of the process are sequenced automatically and the operator can select one of four different unloading modes.

Another powerful selling point for BaleCollect is its weighing system: the bottom and top frames are linked by four sensor pins which determine, indicate and store the weight of each bale that is currently on the machine.

An additional accelerator sensor cushions shock loads, for example.
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed vowed the Government's fodder support scheme will be extended into June for livestock farmers if required.

The vow came as the Cork TD rejected claims the Government had disastrously underestimated the scale of Ireland's weather-related fodder crisis.



Mr Creed insisted a Government initiative to underwrite the import of 20,000t of fodder from overseas would help alleviate the problem - and he said that, if the poor weather continues, up to 40,000 tonnes of fodder or more will be imported until June if necessary.



Under the 1.5m scheme, the Government is paying for the transport of fodder from southern England into Ireland where it is then provided to farmers at cost prices.



The scheme is operating in liaison with Irish co-ops.

Dairygold boss, Jim Woulfe, said they have contracted with Wexford-based Nolan Transport to bring 20 lorry loads of fodder into Ireland daily for the next 10 days as some of its suppliers ran out of feed.



The Cork-based co-op is bringing in 4,500 tonnes but, like other co-ops, could extend that fodder total if required.



Mr Creed rejected suggestions the Government should have moved earlier on the fodder issue.



"Implicit in that question from Fianna Fail or others is that we should have been importing fodder much earlier," he said.



"If I had approached the co-ops and asked them on February 1 if we should have started importing fodder they would have said no, we won't do it.



"All our interventions at all of the times since last October have been measured and appropriate.



"In October, we brought forward the date for the Single Farm Payment. We paid the maximum permitted at that time.



"In January we had the support measure for haulage and transport regionally into the north west.



"We have a measure that is appropriate to where we are at now.



"Remember what happened in 2013? In 2013 we didn't start importing fodder in November or December either.



"If we had started importing at an earlier stage and we had got an early or a normal Spring? What we have been doing all along is dealing with a dynamic situation which is changing on an almost weekly basis.



"We are working with all of the stakeholders including the co-ops, Teagasc, individual farm organisations and taking it as appropriate at any given time.



"In 2013 it was 40,000t (of fodder imported) - it was about 2,800 truck loads.



"What we said is, from dusting down that template, we have provision made between here and the end of April. If necessary, if the weather continues and the importation continues to be necessary, we can revisit that."



Mr Creed said the feed now being imported is of exceptionally good quality.



"I think one of the most important things we have seen so far is that the quality of the fodder is top class," he said.



"It has been very good quality fodder so far and that is very important. What we have announced now is a financial package until the end of the month. At the end of the month it will be reviewed and we will continue to support the transport costs with the co-ops for as long as is necessary.



"Judging from 2013 it started on April 20 and it continued right up until the June Bank Holiday.



"If necessary we will stick with it as long as that.



"But obviously we hope that the weather will give us a break as well. The ambition is to deliver the fodder at cost - in other words what the bale is bought for in the UK, it is delivered to the farmer for that.



"The Department with the co-op are meeting the transport costs."



Mr Creed acknowledged that the long, challenging winter has been very difficult for farmers.



"When we move from this very difficult period, I think all of us - all stakeholders - will have to sit down and learn the lessons from this in terms of changing weather? This is the second time in five years we are in this situation.



"How can we build our resilience in these matters?"



However, the UK fodder deliveries came as farmers across the south were hit by another bout of disastrous weather with up to 50mm of rainfall falling in less than 24 hours across Cork, Kerry and Waterford.



Thousands of acres of farmland are now under flood waters as rivers including the Blackwater, Lee and Funcheon broke their banks in many rural areas.



Mr Creed was speaking as he met farmers in Millstreet, Co Cork today as part of the roll-out of the Govenrment's Euro 1.5m imported fodder initiative.



Fianna Fail have accused Mr Creed of a dramatic about-turn given the Government's assurance on fodder supplies. Charlie McConalogue TD described the policy change as 'a blatant U-turn'.



The IFA warned that the fodder initiative threatened to prove a case of "too little, too late."



ICMSA President Pat McCormack said it was apparent the Government and Department of Agriculture should have responded to the looming fodder crisis far earlier.
Over 3,000 employees in Ireland received income protection payments worth a total of 57m from Irish Life last year.

The biggest payout of income protection in 2017 by the company amounted to 297,000, and the average annual benefit paid was 22,659.

The insurance and pensions firm, which paid more than 1m weekly to those injured or unfit for work in 2017, said that the data provides an insight into the health of our working population.

Income protection payments are made in direct correlation to the amount of the policy owner's salary at the time of claiming.

Back pain and mental health were the main reasons for the 3,323 individual claims, both accounting for one-fifth of total claims each, followed closely by cancer, which made up 17pc of all claims.

The data review also revealed that the average age for men who made claims was 49 years, compared to an average age of 46 for female claimants.

Claims made by men for mental health problems dropped 4pc in the 2011-2014 period to 22pc over the 2015-2017 time span.

Female claimants also made fewer claims in this category over the same period, falling from 22pc to 19pc.

Tony Lawless, managing director of Irish Life Corporate Business, said that these reductions could be a result of better awareness and acceptance of mental health problems in society and by employers.

"With a global trend focusing on health and wellness, thankfully most people are more alert to early warning signs when it comes to their health," Mr Lawless said.

The number of cancer claims over the period 2015-2017 also fell from 19pc to 17pc, a trend attributed to continued improvements in early detection and treatment. In contrast, claims for injuries jumped from 8pc to 11pc over the same period.

The Irish Life data also showed that, between 2015-2017, 2,474 people who claimed income protection had made sufficient recovery to return to work.

Mr Lawless said that the company supported claimants in this process, increasing the chances of people successfully getting back into employment.
If the terms of the Labour Court recommendation are accepted by workers across four sites, Pfizer could face a maximum bill of around 31.5m to fund the lump sum payments

The Labour Court has recommended that drug giant Pfizer's 900-strong workforce each receive lump payments of up to 35,000 to compensate for it freezing its defined benefit pension schemes.

The court has made its comprehensive recommendation on the long-running dispute between the US drug giant and Siptu and the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU).

If the terms of the Labour Court recommendation are accepted by workers across four sites, Pfizer could face a maximum bill of around 31.5m to fund the lump sum payments.

In its recommendation, the Labour Court has recommended that an initial lump sum payment of 10,000 each be made after June 30 where workers would have the option of receiving the payment through payroll or to their pensions where it would be tax-free.

The Labour Court is also recommending that an additional lump payment be made of 1,700 per year's service to a maximum of 25,000 and that would be paid to the workers' Defined Contribution Scheme.

The proposal by Pfizer to freeze its defined benefit scheme has been strongly resisted by unions over the past four years since the plan was first proposed in 2014.

In their arguments before the Labour Court, Siptu and the TEEU said that they are not agreeable to any changes to the current DB Pension Scheme.

The unions claimed that the pension scheme is an integral part of the company union agreement and of the terms and conditions of its members.

In response, Pfizer said the change is necessary "to address the unsustainable cost and exposure to highly volatile discount rates associated with DB plans, which impact negatively on both the financial health of Pfizer Inc but also on the cost competitiveness of Irish operations".

Pfizer said the cost to the company of funding the Defined Benefit schemes "has risen 1000pc since 2009".

A spokeswoman for Pfizer said the Defined Contribution Scheme proposed to replace the DB Scheme "is above market average, with very attractive transition incentives and with strong contributions from the company".

She said that the court's recommendation "supports moving away from the DB Schemes but includes recommendations for enhanced terms and transitional arrangements compared to previous proposals".

"The company is reviewing and considering the recommendation of the court," she said.

A Siptu spokesman said its Pfizer members are currently availing of actuarial advice on the recommendation.

He said until members fully consider the recommendation, the union will not be commenting any further.
The Topaz outlets in Ireland are all being rebranded as Circle K this year. Photo: Arthur Carron/Collins

The Topaz forecourt retailing chain, soon to be formally rebranded as Circle K following its acquisition in 2015 from Denis O'Brien by Canada's Couche-Tard, posted a pre-tax profit of 13.3m in the 16 months to the end of April last year, newly-filed accounts show.

Revenue at Circle K Retail for the period was 215.8m.

The accounts note that the turnover is derived from the sale of petroleum products and convenience store items.

There are more than 420 Topaz forecourts across the island of Ireland, with one of the group's main competitors being stock market-listed Applegreen.

Mr O'Brien sold Topaz to Alimentation Couche-Tard in a deal that involved almost 260m in cash, with the Canadian group also assuming long-term debt of about 133m and other debt tranches.

It had been speculated at the time of the sale that the enterprise value of the deal, including equity and debt, was about 450m.

That was about twice the amount Mr O'Brien invested in Topaz to secure control of it from the special liquidators of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, formerly Anglo Irish Bank, in 2013.

As Couche-Tard announced its plan to buy Topaz, the Irish forecourt retailer also finalised a 75m acquisition of a chain of Esso outlets here.

Mr O'Brien owned 90pc of Topaz, with his nephew, Emmet O'Neill, owning the remainder.

The Topaz outlets in Ireland are all being rebranded as Circle K this year.

Topaz has said that the move will further strengthen the chain's position in the Irish market.

Couche-Tard uses the Circle K brand at more than 12,000 sites around the world.

Next week, the Circle K brand will be officially launched in Ireland. Topaz, whose managing director is Niall Anderton, will be known as Circle K Ireland.

The launch will be attended by the group president of European operations at Circle K, Jacob Schram.

In June last year, Couche-Tard injected a total of 303m into Topaz.

The group is shifting some global functions to Ireland from countries including Norway and Luxembourg.

That has resulted in more senior roles at its head office in Ireland.
Robert Pitt and Leslie Buckley during the INM AGM in the Westbury Hotel in June 2015. Photo: Frank McGrath

The former chief executive of the countrys largest media publisher claims he stopped using his company email address due to concerns about the privacy of his communications.

The corporate enforcement watchdog maintains Robert Pitt, former CEO at Independent News and Media (INM), switched to using his personal email account for recording notes of events.

INM, which publishes the Irish Independent, is at the centre of a major data breach controversy.

A list has emerged containing the names of 19 people, who it is feared had their emails searched by outside companies.

The list included two distinguished Sunday Independent journalists, Brendan OConnor, the newspapers deputy editor, Life magazine editor, and a successful television and radio presenter, and his colleague, respected investigative journalist Maeve Sheehan.

According to an affidavit filed with the High Court by the States corporate watchdog, Mr Pitt says he switched to a private email account on the basis that INM had a track record of reviewing former directors emails.

The claims were said to have been made in August 2017 when Mr Pitt brought concerns about the alleged data breach at the company to the attention of the watchdog, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE).

ODCE director Ian Drennan is now seeking to appoint inspectors to INM to investigate a range of corporate governance issues, including the suspected data breach.

Mr Drennan says INMs IT back-up tapes were removed from its premises to a company outside the jurisdiction in October 2014, where they were interrogated over what appears to have been the course of a number of months.

The data is alleged to have been accessed by six companies external to INM.

It is unclear why the 19 names were on the list, but Mr Drennan claims data relating to a number of former and current staff, including journalists, may have been interrogated during this exercise.

The data interrogation, the ODCE alleges in its affidavit, was directed by then INM chairman Leslie Buckley.

Two invoices associated with it were paid by Blaydon Limited, an Isle of Man company whose beneficial owner is businessman Denis OBrien, INMs largest shareholder and a long-term business associate of Mr Buckley.

Neither Mr Buckley nor Mr OBrien have commented.

According to Mr Drennans affidavit, Mr Pitts concerns about the privacy of his emails were driven by a conversation he had with an INM employee.

This person, he said, told him that they had previously used IT privileges to look into other peoples accounts or copy to third persons data from the servers.

According to a disclosure made by Mr Pitt to the ODCE, this same person informed him in May 2015 that they were very worried and concerned about something.

They went for a walk on the street outside INMs premises in Dublin and Mr Pitt was informed that a third-party company was given access to INMs servers. Mr Pitt was also informed a Derek Mizak was involved in the work.

When one of the companies suspected of involvement in the alleged data interrogation, TDS UK, sent an invoice to INM in December 2015, Mr Pitt contacted Mr Buckley.

According to the affidavit, Mr Pitt said Mr Buckley told him to contact a person called John Henry, who could resolve the matter.

Mr Drennans affidavit says Mr Henry is the chief executive of a company called Special Security Services Limited and that he believes Mr Henry ran the data interrogation.

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 Mr Mizak, an IT expert, in order to assist with what Mr Buckley described as a cost-reduction exercise at INM.

The affidavit says Mr Pitt told the ODCE he made it clear to Mr Buckley there was an issue regarding the nature of the work and that neither he nor INMs chief financial officer Ryan Preston had clarity of what it led to.

These concerns were not allayed when Mr Pitt subsequently spoke to Mr Henry by phone.

The invoice was subsequently discharged not by INM, but by Blaydon, Mr Drennan says.

Following Mr Pitts disclosure of the suspected data breach to the ODCE in August last year, the watchdog wrote to INM. On August 22 last, the companys board appointed Deloitte to conduct a review of the circumstances relating to the extraction of the data and its provision to third parties in October and November 2014.

The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) was also informed of a potential data security incident on August 27.

Premises

According to Mr Drennans affidavit, Deloitte was asked to ascertain what INM files were accessed, what work was carried out at INMs premises and what files were provided to TDS UK.

The scope of its examination was limited to the period October to December 2014.

He said its terms of reference did not extend to ascertaining what accessing occurred in locations other than INMs premises and by whom.

Deloitte was advised INMs back-up tapes were returned from TDS UK in Wales prior to Christmas 2014.

The consultants found the engagement of Mr Mizak had not been supported by an engagement letter or formal terms of reference and a recommendation was made that any engagements with third parties should be underpinned with an engagement letter.

Deloitte also noted that although senior management had concerns regarding the data interrogation, these concerns had not been escalated.

In the affidavit, Mr Drennan says Mr Mizak has connections with the Reconnaissance Group.

This firm provides security services to clients doing business in emerging markets. According to Mr Drennan it has connections in Haiti with Digicel Haiti, of which Mr Buckley is vice-chairman.

Mr Drennan claims INMs reaction to the incident was unsatisfactory.

While it commissioned a report into the data interrogation by professional services firm Deloitte, INM downplayed the seriousness of the data interrogation in its subsequent correspondence with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, Mr Drennan alleged.

INM has declined to comment.
The European Union says Facebook has admitted up to 2.7 million people in the 28-nation bloc may have been victim of improper data sharing involving political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica.

EU spokesman Christian Wigand said justice commissioner Vera Jourova will have a telephone call with Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg early next week to address the massive data leaks.

The EU and Facebook will be looking at what changes the social media giant needs to make to better protect users and how the US company must adapt to new EU data protection rules.

Mr Wigand said EU data protection authorities will discuss over the coming days "a strong co-ordinated approach" on how to deal with the Facebook investigation.

Separately, Italy's competition authority opened an investigation on Friday into Facebook for allegedly misleading practices following revelations that the social network sold users' data without consent.

Authority chairman Giovanni Pitruzzella told Sky News24 the investigation will focus on Facebook's claims on its home page that the service is free, without revealing that it makes money off users' data.

The investigation comes as Italian consumer advocate group Codacons prepares a US class action against Facebook on behalf of Italians whose data was mined by Cambridge Analytica.

Codacons said just 57 Italians downloaded the Cambridge Analytica app, but an estimated 214,000 could be affected because the data mined extended to users' friends.

A senior Facebook privacy official is scheduled to meet with the authority later this month.
DAFHYD Flynn is Michael McCrea, an 18-year-old Dubliner who lives with his grandfather, Francis (Lalor Roddy). Michael doesnt keep the best company.

One day, a friend asks him to hide a bag of drugs for his brother. Michael stashes the bag in his bedroom. The following morning, the gardai come knocking, and Michael is caught and arrested for possession. Things arent looking good, and the young fella is eventually sentenced to three months in prison.

Michael is afraid. Francis warns Michael that hell have to toughen up, but he, too, is terrified. Once inside, Michael befriends a violent and volatile inmate named David (Moe Dunford), but this is no ordinary friendship.

David will look out for Michael, but there is no such thing as a free favour in prison.

Meanwhile, on the outside, Francis is paid a visit by the gangsters whose drugs Michael was caught with. Debts are owed. Threats are made. This is not going to end well.

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Written and directed by Frank Berry (I Used to Live Here), Michael Inside isnt just another prison feature. It is a film about class. It is a film that goes out of its way to present a raw and authentic portrayal of a very real problem. It is a film that is every bit as powerful as youve heard. Its well researched. It is remarkably well shot. It packs one hell of a punch.

A muscular Moe Dunford gets his hands dirty with a role that is as intense as the material requires. He has never been better. Lalor Roddys quiet, gentle turn as Michaels granddad will move you to tears. But the beating heart of this fraught and frightening drama is young Dafhyd Flynn, whose bruised and tortured turn as our troubled, young protagonist is nothing short of breathtaking.

Its no easy watch, thats for sure  but its an important one. Stellar Irish film-making. HHHHH

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Jordan Peele, who won an Oscar for taking on racism with the film Get Out, will now target domestic abuse with a documentary on Lorena Bobbitt.

Amazon announced the director, writer and comedian will be executive producer on the series, which will challenge the long-held narrative surrounding Bobbitt, who cut off her then-husband John Wayne Bobbitts penis.

She was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1993 after having argued he abused her.

Expand Close Lorena Bobbitt (centre) arrives for her trial / Facebook

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Whatsapp Lorena Bobbitt (centre) arrives for her trial

Peele, who won the best original screenplay Academy Award, said: When we hear the name Bobbitt we think of one of the most sensational incidents to ever be catapulted into a full-blown media spectacle.

With this project, Lorena has a platform to tell her truth as well as engage in a critical conversation about gender dynamics, abuse, and her demand for justice. This is Lorenas story and were honoured to help her tell it.

The groundbreaking re-investigation, titled Lorena, will be a four-part documentary series on how the event created sensationalistic media coverage in a time of 24-hour news, Amazon said.

Lost in the tabloid coverage and jokes was the opportunity for a national discussion on domestic and sexual assault in America, Amazon said in a statement.

The series, which does not yet have a release date, will be directed by Joshua Rofe, the producer of Lost For Life, a documentary about youngsters serving life in prison.

Bobbitt, then 24, was cleared by a jury in 1994 of malicious wounding after she used a kitchen knife to cleave off the penis of her ex-Marine husband, then 26, in their home in Manassas, Virginia.

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She told a court she was raped after her husband came home from a night of drinking with a friend.
A MAN has been charged with the murder of a homeless man whose body was found on a roadside in north county Dublin.

Sebastian Barczuk (29) told gardai: "I'm innocent" when the charge was put to him, a court heard.

He was charged following the death last August of Polish national Michal Kurek, whose body was found with multiple stab wounds along a road in an isolated area in Ballyboughal.

Judge Michael Walsh remanded Mr Barczuk in custody after he was brought before Dublin District Court today.

The accused, of no fixed address, is charged with murdering Mr Kurek at a place unknown on either August 3 or 4 last year.

This morning, Garda Ross Rowan said he arrested the accused at Balbriggan Garda Station at 10.33pm last night. The arrest was for the purpose of charging him with the murder of Mr Kurek, contrary to Common Law, Gda Rowan said.

He then charged him at 10.55pm. Mr Barczuk replied Im innocent to the charge after caution, Gda Rowan continued. He was handed a copy of the charge sheet.

The garda said he had no objection to legal aid.

Solicitor Brian Coveney, for the accused applied for free legal aid and handed a statement of Mr Barczuks financial means in to court.

He said there was no application for bail being made given the nature of the charge.

Bail can only be granted in the High Court on a murder charge.

Mr Barczuk, wearing a black jacket, black sweater and grey tracksuit bottoms, sat with a Polish interperter, who translated the proceedings.

Judge Walsh certified for an interpreter to be assigned to the case for furture court appearances.

The accused remained silent during the brief hearing.

Mr Kureks body was found by the side of a road in Grange, Ballyboughal at around 10.40am on August 4.

He was in his mid 30s, had lived and worked in Ireland for a number of years but was reported to have been homeless at the time of his death.
A haulage driver charged over a seizure of 1.8m worth of drugs in a search of a truck at Dublin Port has been further remanded in custody.

As part of a joint investigation an operation was conducted by the Revenues Customs Service and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau at the port on March 31.

Father-of-two Alvydus Simkus, of Smith Lane, Cathedral Place, Limerick, faced six charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act for unlawful possession of MDMA, ketamine and cocaine and possessing them with intent to supply, at Dublin Port on March 31.

He was refused bail following a court hearing on Monday.

He faced his second hearing on Friday when he appeared before Judge Victor Blake at Cloverhill District Court and was further remanded in custody to appear again in one week.

At his previous hearing, Det Garda Ronan Doolan objected to bail citing the seriousness of the charges and fears the accused was a flight risk.

Det Garda Doolan said Mr Simkus was driving a truck which arrived on a ferry from Liverpool. He was stopped by customs officers and the vehicle searched.

Det Garda Doolan said two boxes were uncovered in the cab of the truck and another was recovered from a compartment attached to the cab.

It was alleged three types of drugs  ketamine, cocaine and MDMA powder  were recovered and the seizure was worth 1.8m, the detective said.

He considered the truck driver to be a flight risk due to his occupation and because he was a non-national.

The detective agreed with defence solicitor Andrew Vallely that the case could take some time to prepare. He also accepted Mr Simkus had lived in Ireland since 2005, lived in Limerick with his wife and he supported his family including two children in third level education.

However, bail was refused by the District Court and that decision can only changed by the High Court.
Smyths Toys has made an offer to buy the Toys 'R' Us business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, it is believed (stock picture)

A mum-of-five who stole toys using a buggy was described in court as a "very good mother" who was under financial stress when she stole for her children.

Hearing that Elaine Joyce (41) already had 138 previous convictions, Judge John Lindsay said her circumstances were "quite sad" and put her on a one-year peace bond.

Joyce, of Briarfield Road, Kilbarrack, pleaded guilty to theft and public order offences.

Gda Eimhin Matthews told Dublin District Court that Joyce entered the Smyths toy store at Airside Retail Park, Swords, on April 20 last year.

She hid a number of toys in her handbag and on the lower seat of a buggy.

Joyce was stopped by security and some toys were recovered, but those in the buggy, which were worth 49, were not.

Separately, an altercation took place between several women outside a pub at Apple- wood Village, Swords, on November 13, 2016.

Gardai saw Joyce "clench her fists and raise her arms in a manner that gave rise to the fear she was going to assault a garda or others".

Defence solicitor John Feaheny said Joyce was "by all accounts a very good mother" and was doing her best in difficult circumstances.
Still from a video showing Conor McGregor and his entourage involved in an incident after a UFC event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York

Conor McGregor was last night wanted for questioning by New York police after an incident in which a bus was attacked and a UFC fighter left injured.

The Dublin MMA champion and his entourage gatecrashed a UFC press conference before attacking a bus at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

In video footage, McGregor appears to be seen lifting a trolley and hurling it at the bus. He later appears to be attempting to lift a rail guard and a bin to throw them at the bus.

Last night, a New York City Police Department spokesperson confirmed McGregor was wanted for questioning "regarding an incident at the Barclays Center".

The melee occurred as McGregor's rival Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was at the Barclays Center promoting tomorrow night's UFC 223 fight, made his exit from the arena's bottom floor.

It is reported McGregor and his entourage entered the building via a side entrance and attempted to climb aboard Russian lightweight contender Nurmagomedov's bus before smashing one of the windows, and leaving several passengers covered in glass.

Fighter Michael Chiesa was allegedly taken to hospital after shards of glass from the window hit him and resulted in him suffering cuts to his face. Shortly after the incident UFC president Dana White claimed the NYPD had issued McGregor with an arrest warrant.

However, an NYPD spokesperson later denied that an arrest warrant had been issued. "There is no arrest warrant," the spokesperson said. "He is wanted for questioning regarding an incident that took place ... at the Barclays Center."

Mr White said it was "the most disgusting thing that has ever happened in the history of the company".
Taoiseach Leo Varadkars personal approval rating has been compared to that of Bertie Ahern at the peak of his power. Picture: Gerry Mooney

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said Leo Varadkar "can nearly do anything" he wants despite leading a minority Government relying on the goodwill of Fianna Fail.

Mr Ahern claimed he had a tougher time when he had to rely on a motley crew of Independents such as "Jackie Healy-Rae and Mildred Fox and a few of them to get things done".

He said the Government was riding high in the polls because of Fianna Fail but the time is approaching to "move on" from the confidence and supply agreement. As soon as the three-year term is complete, there should be a general election.

Mr Varadkar is "in a great position at the moment where he has the support of Fianna Fail", Mr Ahern told the Irish Independent.

"I had to depend on Jackie Healy-Rae and Mildred Fox and a few of them to get things done", but Mr Varadkar can "rely on Fianna Fail" for "95pc of issues".

Fine Gael's approval rating has been consistent for the past few months and the party is reaping the rewards of relative political stability.

This, alongside Mr Varadkar's high personal rating, has been compared with the days when Mr Ahern's popularity was at its peak. Asked if he thought Fianna Fail had regained the trust of the people since the economic crash, he said: "Yeah, I think it has, but it is not back to where we were."

"I used to feel upset if we didn't get over 38pc in the polls," he added.

Fianna Fail is currently on around 28pc, according to the 'Sunday Independent' poll from February. But Mr Ahern acknowledges that the confidence and supply agreement was the best plan for the country at the time.

"I agreed with Micheal Martin," he said, that the party was right to support the formation of a Government, "the country needed it".

He added: "I think Fianna Fail has got some credit for the confidence and supply agreement, it is due credit; but it has to move on when the three years are up.

"When the Budget finishes and the social welfare bill and the finance bill go through in the new year, that's it. It has done its bit and should move on."

Mr Ahern predicts there will be a general election around this time next year.

"Politicians don't like winter, and neither do voters, so it will have to be around this time next year."

The European elections and the local elections are due to take place in May 2019. It's possible to have them all on the same day or very close together, said the former Fianna Fail leader.

In Northern Ireland, Assembly elections took place one month and European elections the following month, he said. So, "you could do one in April, one in May, or the same day".

Mr Varadkar entered politics in 2007, just as things were beginning to fall apart for the Fianna Fail government.

During the brief spell in which they encountered each other as TDs, the then-Taoiseach predicted Mr Varadkar would "get an early exit".

Mr Varadkar had been particularly disparaging of Mr Ahern over his controversy relating to personal finances, telling the Dail: "This dark affair will darken the Taoiseach's record in the same way as Tony Blair's involvement in Iraq or Bill Clinton's personal scandals darkened theirs".

Now, Mr Ahern says Mr Varadkar is "a bright guy, and doing OK", but the big tests are all ahead with Brexit and the North.
So-called 'sin taxes' on soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco could greatly help combat rising rates of chronic disease worldwide, researchers claim.

A global study found taxes on these products are more likely to change the lifestyle behaviour of vulnerable poorer consumers while the tax revenues would come from higher income households.

Poorer sections of society are disproportionately affected by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked to lifestyle, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer, doctors discovered.

NCDs were described as a "major cause and consequence" of poverty.

The findings come from a series of articles published in 'The Lancet' medical journal.

The sugar tax is to come into effect here in May, while in Britain a tax on sugary drinks came into effect yesterday and will see significant cost added to the price of fizzy drinks.

It is designed to hit manufacturers rather than consumers, but will likely lead to price rises.

Any drink in the UK containing more than 5g of sugar per 100ml will incur a levy of 18p (20c) per litre. The tax goes up to 24p per litre if the sugar content is over 8g per 100ml.

Here, the tax will see 16c added to a litre for drinks with between 5-8g of sugar per 100ml, which will rise to 24c per litre for varieties with over 8g.

Experts gathered data from 13 countries, all with large poor populations.

In one example, they cited the introduction of a soft drinks tax in Mexico which resulted in an average 4.2 litre reduction in consumption per person in 2014. Soft drink purchases decreased by 17pc in lower income groups, but hardly changed among the better off.

Other research found that in the UK - not one of the countries assessed - the response to the possible introduction of a minimum price for alcohol was likely to be 7.6 times larger in poorer households than in the richest.

Poverty

Dr Rachel Nugent, of the non-profit institute RTI International in Seattle, America, who chaired 'The Lancet' Taskforce on NCDs and Economics, said: "Non-communicable diseases are a major cause and consequence of poverty worldwide.

"Responding to this challenge means big investments to improve healthcare systems worldwide.

"Taxes on unhealthy products can produce major health gains, and the evidence shows these can be implemented fairly, without disproportionately harming the poorest in society."

However, the findings were strongly challenged by Christopher Snowdon, of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

He said the claim that poor people disproportionately benefit from these taxes is "absurd".

"Sugar taxes have not reduced obesity rates anywhere in the world, and smoking is much more prevalent among the poor than among the rich," he insisted. "There is precious little evidence that poor people benefit from being taxed.

"On the contrary, sin taxes drive them further into poverty."
Larisa Tuaev, from Russia, gets battered by the waves at Sandycove, Co Dublin. Photos: Justin Farrelly

Deluges of heavy rain across large parts of the country will bring flash flooding, waterlogged fields and burst river banks.

Deluges of heavy rainfall across large parts of the country will bring flash flooding, waterlogged fields and burst river banks.

A desperately cold and wet spring has left farmers in most parts of the country short on fodder and facing severe forage problems.

Now Met Eireann has issued two separate status yellow weather rainfall warnings as eight counties face the threat of flooding.

The warnings of heavy downpours remain in place until 3pm today and affect counties Kilkenny, Wexford, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, Cork, Kerry and Waterford.

Between 25mm and 30mm of rain was expected to fall in the eight counties last night.

Along the southern coast, rainfall levels are predicted to reach 50mm.

Strong gusts of south-westerly winds whipped coastal regions in the west last night, and increased the likelihood of spot flooding, Met Eireann meteorologist Pat Clarke said.

Coastal areas will be the worst hit, he said.

The sudden downpours could result in flash and spot flooding and cause rivers to rise and river banks to burst.

A wind warning has been issued for Galway, Mayo, Clare and Kerry which will remain in place until 6pm today.

Spot flooding has already been reported on secondary roads in the Fermoy, Mallow, Bandon, Macroom, Tralee, Killarney and Kenmare areas.

Roads in west Waterford around Lismore have also been hit by the heavy rainfall.

Gardai urged motorists to slow down, allow extra braking distance to the vehicle in front and never to enter major floodwaters given the risk of vehicles becoming stalled and stranded.

Irish Water Safety has urged people to be extremely careful near all streams, rivers and lakes given that large volumes of rainfall could transform normally placid waterways into torrents.

There is also a risk on higher ground that some mountain streams could be subjected to flash floods given the sheer volume of rain that has fallen.

Residents and traders in low lying areas have also been warned to take flood precautions though, as yet, there have been no reports of property damage.

Towns including Fermoy and Mitchelstown have erected Office of Public

Works (OPW) flood barriers amid fears that major waterways like the River Blackwater could break its banks.

There is also a risk of flooding along riverside farmland in the Lee and Funcheon river valleys.

Low lying parts of Cork city are also on flood alert.

The heaviest overnight rainfall hit Cork, Kerry and Waterford.

Met Eireann warned that a yellow weather alert will remain in place for rainfall until this afternoon for those counties.

By 5pm today, the Atlantic front which brought the torrential rainfall over Ireland will have moved to the east.

The Irish Coast Guard and RNLI warned the flooding threat should not be underestimated over the coming days.

A respite in rainfall yesterday afternoon meant some areas avoided becoming completely waterlogged.

The poor spring weather follows on from an extremely wet autumn in 2017 which has seen some livestock housed for over eight months.

Storm Ophelia and Storm Emma further compounded the plight of farmers, as gusts of up to 156kmh and snow drifts engulfed the country.

The situation, which many are now dubbing a crisis, is reminiscent of the 2013 fodder shortage caused by drought.

The current shortage has seen prices for feed and fodder skyrocket.

The first shipments of fodder from Britain landed in Cork and Rosslare harbours yesterday and Teagasc is advising farmers to budget feed to minimum roughage requirements of stock for three more weeks.

Meanwhile, around the country, county councils began preparations to stymie flood damage.

In Kilkenny, the County Council said it would continue to monitor water levels and had made sandbags available for high risk areas.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has asked road users to exercise caution while using the roads today. Increased rainfalls can lead to hydroplaning and a loss of traction on roads, drastically increasing the chances of road traffic accidents.

The RSA said when driving in wet conditions, drivers should remember that it takes longer to stop a vehicle on wet roads so slow down and allow extra distance between you and the vehicle in front.

Irish Rail have confirmed bus transfers will operate between Limerick Junction and Waterford until further notice due to flooding on the line.

In a separate incident DART passengers were left stranded on a train for three hours due to fallen wires on the track at Bray Head.

Around 30 passengers were travelling on a train when the wires became tangled and services were suspended at 9.30pm on Thursday night.

A spokesman said that due to the remote location of the stalled train and the difficulty accessing the area customers were not moved off the train for a number of hours.

Eventually passengers were transferred to a diesel commuter train and were brought to Bray, arriving at around 12.40am this morning.

The spokesman said the company had apologised to customers involved but added safety must come first.

Services on the line resumed shortly after 8am on Friday morning.

Thankfully, the skies will clear slightly over the weekend as temperatures reach from 11C to 14C.

There will be scattered showers in south-west counties, but elsewhere should stay relatively dry over the course of the weekend.

The evenings will be cool but there is little chance of frost.

The month of March was an unsettled month, Met Eireann said, with very cold temperatures and widespread air and ground frost.

Donegal experienced the most ground frost with 26 days.

While this spring may seem exceptionally cold and wet, experts are warning of further extreme and devastating weather events as a result of global warming.

Temperatures have increased by 1C from pre-industrial levels and are projected to increase by a further 1.5C to 4.5C by 2100.

This increase in temperature will result in the sea levels rising by between 0.5 and one metre, Met Eireanns Gerald Fleming has warned.

As a result, coastal erosion will escalate and make seaside cities and towns like Cork, Wexford and Clontarf more susceptible to flood damage.
Irelands most special twins had their dreams come true today as they took on the role of Operation Managers at Shannon Airport.

Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf, who were conjoined at birth but survived a miraculous operation to separate them, have spent the last eight years of their lives in and out of surgery.

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The Cork twins, who have already had 45 operations and are facing a lifetime of surgery, landed at Shannon and boldly took to their temporary task as operations managers.

The initiative was all part of a weekend treats in the region put together for the twins by 'Share A Dream' founder Shay Kinsella after he met the boys and their mother Angie.

Weve had a brilliant two days and today at Shannon capped it all," Angie said.

"The airport staff couldnt have been more helpful. Its a busy day for the airport but they were so generous with their time and the boys loved every minute of it.

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Their visit to Shannon Airport today followed a visit to Dreamland Limerick - the first fully accessible, inclusive fun centre in Ireland, before checking into the 5-Star Savoy Hotel for an overnight stay.

The courageous twins got the VIP treatment as they got to go behind the scenes to see how Shannon Airport works.

This included a visit to the fire station where they met with Fire & Police staff and got to become honorary firemen.

Next stop was an overview of the airports security screening and operations facilities before being given a quick instruction on life of a pilot.

For this element they enjoyed a tour of an Aer Lingus plane and a special visit to the cockpit where they met Aer Lingus Captain Gerry Guthrie.

The VIP treatment continued when the twins and their family visited the Airports Presidential Suite where they signed the visitors book and wrote their names alongside famous dignitaries who have visited the airport over the years.

Said Airport Operations Director Niall Maloney: Weve had VIPs coming through Shannon for decades, among them some of the most famous people in the world but Im not sure weve met any as special as these two boys.

Airports are magical places for youngsters but the boys are magical in their own right and we were absolutely delighted to have them. This was about a treat for them but it was a treat for us also. Theyre an inspiration and Shannon Airport is now officially a big fan of theirs. Well be keeping up to date with their progress and wishing them well every inch of the way. As our chosen staff charity for 2018 we were delighted to support the Share a Dream Foundation in making the boys wishes come true.

Said Shay Kinsella, Share A Dream Founder said that the boys "deserve the special trip".

This has been a great two days for the boys and they deserve it. Shannon Airport came up trumps for them. We just put the ask into the airport and Niall Maloney and all of the airport staff couldnt have been more welcoming. Its easy know why Shannon has such a strong community reputation; they really get behind you as weve seen today with the boys. They smiled from ear to ear and they have made true friends in the boys and their family for sure.
Irish theme park Tayto Park will hold an autism-friendly morning next week.

An autism-friendly environment will be offered in the park from 9am -12pm on April 14 with the intention of allowing families of children with autism to enjoy the facilities.

No music will be played throughout the park; no hand dryers will be turned on; and queues for the attractions will be kept to a minimum during the morning.

A quiet room will also be made available on site.

Tayto Park staff will wear Autism Ireland branded t-shirts; collections will take place throughout the day to raise funds for the charity; and staff will take part in autism awareness training ahead of the event.

The Autism Ireland team will also be at Tayto Park on the 14th April to assist with all activities throughout the day as well as answering any questions or queries the public might have.

Tayto Park has also created a social story, or a visual guide describing the various social interactions, situations, behaviours and skills that they may encounter on the day, to help children with autism to prepare for the morning.

For more information, see here
Terrifying news on the design front. Peach is back! Pause to administer CPR to anyone who remembers it from the 1980s. Back then, peach was the colour of nylon knickers, frilly toilet-roll holders, and nauseating bathroom tiles. It was associated with kitsch, claustrophobic design. And coloured bathrooms.

Sometimes you came across an entire bathroom suite in peach. 1n 1934 Twyford's introduced coloured lavatories, claiming that they "added a note of distinction to the room" and produced sanitary wear in peach from 1951-1958. These are now collectors' items. Then, in 1989, Twyford's re-introduced the peach suite, which continued in production until 2006 (God help us). When peach faded from the interiors landscape, most people breathed a sigh of relief. It was a colour that we all wanted to put behind us.

The young, of course, aren't frightened at all. To them, and from any rational perspective, peach is the shy blushing lovechild of pink and orange. It's a warm and delicate neutral. Peach partners happily with terracotta and shines in the company of gold. Last summer we saw it in fashion - what could be lovelier than a subtle silk peach vest against tanned skin? Now, it's coming through in interiors - lively, energetic, and confident.

This spring, Harvey Norman pinned its peachiness to the mast when it launched its Retro Peach collection. "Peach has come full circle, and it's come back in a much nicer way," says Yvonne Nugent, head-of-homeware for Harvey Norman Ireland. Reluctantly, she admits to remembering peach the first time around. "My mother sold bathrooms, including a peach-coloured suite," she says. "It was called 'champagne and roses'. Bizarrely, that was when gold taps were in too." Then, as now, peach and gold was a winning team.

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Retro peach is nostalgic, but reinvented with clean lines and textural contrast. Nugent points to a series of ceramic cachepots (10 each) that combine a glazed top section in shades of peach with an unglazed terracotta base. "It's a handcrafted look but it needed to have a gloss on it." Similarly, the Reef rug (280) in coral combines wide bands of peach with ochre, blues, and taupe. Block colours and sharp angles make it look modern, and the peach is administered in homeopathic doses. "It's a lovely way to get into the trend," Nugent explains.

Harvey Norman's cushions are designed and made in Navan by Scatterbox and include the Origami cushion in rose (from 30) with folded velvet sculpted in a way that counteracts the sweetness of the colour. The Scatterbox Eloise cushion (from 30) is even more daring in that it shows big blowsy floral print in shades of peach against a background of sage. "It's our hero cushion," says Nugent proudly. "The sharpness of the digital print is a more modern way of translating florals than a straight screen print." There is also something adorable about the idea that a cushion can be a hero.

The designers at Harvey Norman also worked closely with the paint company Colourtrend to produce a colourway for Irish homes. Colourtrend is known for paint colours created by Irish designers and inspired by the Irish landscape. Its popular peaches include Cuckoo Call, a shade that its marketing manager Edel Nicholson describes as: "A lighter peach for calmer areas, and a possible alternative to magnolia." It could also be layered, to create a sort of peach-on-peach fruit salad, with Beag: "a warm peach with a light red tone." Each of these costs 73 for a five-litre can. Deeper and more daring versions of peach include Pink Chocolate, which belongs to Colourtrend's historic collection and costs 80 for a five-litre can. According to Nicholson, the contemporary way of using peach is to combine it with similar shades and not, as was done in the 80s, with contrasting colours. "My mother had a magnificent peach and mint colour scheme in the "good room", back in the day, and everyone knew somebody that had an avocado bathroom suite with pink wall tiles."

One of the advantages of pink is that it goes well with grey. That's welcome news for those who have invested in drab grey furniture and now wish that they hadn't. A peach-on-peach paint scheme will liven it up no end or, if that's too much, one of those heroic cushions.

"Ah peach, one of the most divisive of colours!" reflects Sarah O'Dea, designer and maker of lampshades and owner of Shady and the Lamp.

"It's a tint that I don't naturally gravitate towards, but I often find it to be the missing link when colour-blending with materials or preparing mood boards." Her recent collection of lampshades - In the Nudey - is inspired by the American actress Jean Harlow, as seen in the 1933 film Dinner at Eight. "I wanted to capture its softly lit boudoir aesthetic and the devil-may-care attitude that Harlow embodied," O'Dea says. "I paired the traditionally-shaped shades seen throughout the film... with fabrics that evoke the almost underwear-like costumes Harlow wore throughout."

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O'Dea is trained in lampshade making techniques that can only be described as corsetry for light fittings. The collection, which comprises six lampshades, each in a shade of nude, includes two ceiling pendants (285) and four shades for table lamps (from 110) with embellishments including wild silk, embroidered tesserae, soft fringing and luxe feathers. "In period lighting design, peach is most suited to the bedroom. When lit, it's the closest colour to candlelight; it's naturally soft, evokes romance, and its femininity is easily enhanced by the curve of a traditional lampshade frame."

Peach also has its place in modern lighting where, used in a supporting role, it will offset faded reds and blues and punchier darker pigments. "That's no mean feat for a colour with such a bad reputation but it's exactly that ability, or perhaps its sheer lack of competitivity, that earns peach its place in our homes," she says. "It just needs some consideration and perhaps a little renewed faith."

See harveynorman.ie, colourtrend.ie, scatterbox.ie, and shadyandthelamp.ie
Irelands Grand Slam-winning hero Jonny Sexton has had lots of reason to celebrate lately.

Just off the high of Six Nations glory, he now has even more to be happy about.

The Herald can reveal that he is gearing up to tackle parenthood for the third time, as wife Laura Priestley is expecting another baby.

Laura, who works as a teacher, is in the second trimester of her latest pregnancy and was looking the picture of health as she cheered on the boys in green from the sidelines.

Shes due around the end of the summer and theyre both thrilled, said a source.

Shes feeling great and really excited about the prospect of a third baby.

One of Irish rugbys best-known couples, Jonny and Laura already have two children  Amy (two) and four-year-old Luca  so theyll have their hands full with three little ones all under the age of five.

The couple, who have been together since their teens, jetted off to Dubai this week to spend time with three other rugby couples as they enjoyed a babymoon away from their two youngsters. They were joined on the Gulf coast by fellow star Sean Cronin and his spouse Claire Mulcahy, who have twin boys, who were born in December 2016, together with Joey Carbery and his girlfriend Robyn Flanagan.

The Ireland team is clearly going through something of a baby boom. Fergus McFadden and his wife Rebecca, who are also expecting a new arrival later this year, making them first-time parents, are also sunning themselves in Dubai.

Rebecca was seen sporting a very tidy bump while the gang lapped up some well-deserved time off in the millionaires playground in the UAE.

No expense was spared for the team members as they dined out in some of the citys top spots including the massive tourist attraction of the Burj Khalifa and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where plush rooms start from 500 a night.

Sexton was widely lauded for his last-minute drop kick which secured Irelands win over France, setting the boys in green on the path to their Grand Slam triumph.
Time to get working on the garden?

Mother Nature is set to offer Ireland some long-overdue respite from rain, sleet and icy temperatures.

The next five days will see a marked improvement in temperatures together with spells of bright sunshine as spring finally arrives.

Saturday morning's mist and fog will clear to give way to mainly sunshine initially - but it's not time to put away the raincoats just yet.

Early showers in Munster will spread to other parts of the country by this afternoon, and some of them will be heavy and thundery.

Overnight, however, while the south of Ireland will still be subject to scattered showers, it will be largely dry and clear elsewhere.

Sunday morning is expected to start off with mist and fog, quite dense around dawn and lingering around the east coast.

Again, while temperature highs of 11 to 14 degrees are forecast, rain will spread from Munster to around the island throughout the day.

Stranded

While not beach conditions just yet, the weather over the next few days will be a relief from the extreme rainfall and wind that left 30 DART passengers stranded for three hours at Bray Head on Thursday night when overhead wires were torn down and damaged.

The incident occurred between Bray and Greystones and the passengers were stranded for three hours because Iarnrod Eireann then had to use a diesel-powered train to access the site and help remove the passengers.

The long, hard winter also brought yet more misery for Irish farmers as thousands of acres of farmland were left under flood waters as rivers across Munster broke their banks following torrential downpours on Thursday and Friday.

Cork, Kerry and Waterford received almost 50mm of rainfall in just 24 hours as a major Atlantic weather front moved across the south.

The rainfall, which prompted a Status Yellow warning from Met Eireann, resulted in dangerous driving conditions with widespread flooding across secondary roads.

In parts of north Cork, the downpours were so heavy that roads were left impassable by spot flooding.

On Thursday night, western counties including Galway and Clare were battered by winds which gusted close to 100km/h.

A total of eight counties were hit by the torrential downpours - though Kilkenny, Wexford, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary sustained around 25mm-30mm of rainfall, far less than the worst hit Cork, Kerry and Waterford.

Gardai and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) warned people not to attempt to drive into flood waters of unknown depth.
Sales of the Bible appear to be banned in China

China appears to have banned the 'Bible' from being sold online or in large book stores, as Beijing and the Vatican negotiate a historic agreement.

Searches for the book on e-commerce platforms JD.com and Taobao brought up no results, while staff at one of Beijing's biggest book stores said they no longer sell it.

There are currently tensions between China and Rome over a landmark deal that observers believe is close to being signed.

It would give the Vatican more control over the appointment of bishops in China but has sparked concern among some Chinese Catholics who believe recognising Beijing's role in the Church would represent a betrayal of their faith.

China's ruling Communist Party is officially atheist, but the Chinese government recognises Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism.

Chinese leaders have called for increased efforts to "Sinocise" religion in comments seen as being part of a wider clampdown on Western ideas.

Christians in China have complained on social media that people are being prohibited from buying the 'Bible' online.

The websites of the huge Xinhua Book Stores in Beijing's Wangfujing and Xidan shopping districts also showed that the 'Bible' is not for sale.

A staff member at the Wangfujing said the 'Bible' had been removed from sale for some time. She did not know why.

Authorities in China have only confirmed that warnings have been issued to some online retailers.

The Chinese 'Global Times' newspaper said regulators "held talks" with JD.com "about selling illegal products, publications and other printed materials online."

The firm "had failed to regulate products and so caused a negative social impact", the regulators said.

On Monday, China released its first white paper on religious freedom in more than two decades. It pledged to protect religious freedom but also called on religions to adapt to a socialist society.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has defied an order to turn himself in to police as he hunkered down with supporters at a metallurgical union that was the spiritual birthplace of his rise to power.

The once wildly-popular leader, who rose from poverty to lead Latin Americas largest nation, had until 5pm local time to present himself to police in the city of Curitiba to begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

At 5pm, however, da Silva remained inside the union with party leaders saying he planned to address supporters.

Federal judge Sergio Moro, seen by many in Brazil as a crusader against endemic graft, issued an order for da Silvas arrest on Thursday so he would begin serving a sentence of 12 years and one month for a corruption conviction.

Three hours before the deadline, it remained to be seen whether da Silva would comply, or instead wait for authorities to pick him up.

The latter would be a logistical nightmare given the thousands of supporters outside and heavy Friday traffic in Sao Paulo, South Americas largest city.

Two sources close to da Silva told The Associated Press the former leader would not to go to Curitiba, but instead was considering either waiting for police at the union or presenting himself in Sao Paulo.

I dont see why he should turn himself in just because judge Moro had an anxiety crisis, Senator Lindbergh Farias, from the Workers Party, told journalists at the union.

He added: I think they should have to go through the embarrassment of coming here and taking him in front of all these people.

That footage will be seen around the world and it will be historic.

Judge Moros warrant came after Brazils top court, the Supreme Federal Tribunal, voted 6-5 to deny a request by the former president to stay out of prison while he appealed a conviction he contends was simply a way to keep him off the ballot in Octobers election.

The 72-year-old is the front-running presidential candidate despite his conviction.

In a statement, Mr Moro said he was giving da Silva the opportunity to come in of his own accord because he had been Brazils president.

He also said a special cell away from other inmates had been prepared for da Silva at the jail in Curitiba, where Mr Moro ordered da Silva to present himself.

Last year, he convicted da Silva of trading favors with a construction company in exchange for the promise of a beachfront apartment. That conviction was upheld by an appeals court in January.

The speed with which Mr Moro issued the warrant surprised many, as legal observers said there were technicalities from da Silvas upheld appeal that would not be sorted out until next week.

Such technicalities were simply a pathology that should be eliminated from the judicial world, Mr Moro said in his statement.

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Late on Thursday, thousands gathered outside the metallurgical union in Sao Bernardo do Campo where the ex-president, universally known as Lula, got his start as a union organiser.

Hundreds spent the night sleeping on the street and early on Friday, da Silva waved to supporters from a window at the union but did not speak.

Why are they in a rush to arrest him? said former President Dilma Rousseff, who succeeded da Silva and in 2016 was impeached and ousted from office.

They fear that Lula would get a favorable decision in (a higher appeals) court. That is part of the coup that removed me from the presidency.

However it happens, the jailing of da Silva will mark a colossal fall from grace for a man who rose to power against steep odds in one of the worlds most unequal countries.

Born in the hardscrabble northeast, da Silva rose through the ranks of the union in the countrys industrial south.

In 1980, during the military dictatorship, da Silva was arrested in Sao Bernardo do Campo for organising strikes. He would spend more than a month in jail.

After running for president several times, in 2002 da Silva finally won. He governed from 2003 to 2010, leaving office a world celebrity and with approval ratings in the high 80s.

Former US president Barack Obama once called da Silva the most popular politician on Earth.

Since leaving office, things have steadily gotten worse for the leader, who has been charged in several corruption cases.

He has always maintained his innocence while continuing to campaign across the country the past year.

Despite his legal troubles, he leads preference polls to return to office  if by some chance he is allowed to run.

Like so much in a nation that has become deeply polarised, the fact da Silva would soon be behind bars was being interpreted differently by supporters and detractors.

Brazil scored a goal against impunity and corruption, said Congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a right-leaning former army captain who is second in the polls after da Silva.

Lula is one of us. He knows what it is like to have a tough life and loves the poor more than the rich, said Antonio Ferreira dos Santos, a 43-year-old bricklayer who was keeping vigil outside the union.

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Workers Party leaders insist da Silva would still be the partys candidate in October.

Technically, beginning to serve his sentence would not keep da Silva off the ballot.

In August, the countrys top electoral court makes final decisions about candidacies. It was expected to deny da Silvas candidacy under Brazils clean slate law, which disqualifies people who have had criminal convictions upheld.

However, da Silva could appeal such a decision, though doing so from jail would be more complicated.

Da Silva is the latest of many high-profile people to be ensnared in possibly the largest corruption scandal in Latin American history.

Over the last four years, Brazilians have experienced near weekly police operations and arrests of the elite, from top politicians to businessmen like former Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht.

Investigators uncovered a major scheme in which construction companies essentially formed a cartel that doled out inflated contracts from state oil company Petrobras, paying billions in kickbacks to politicians and businessmen.

While Mr Moro, who oversees many cases in the so-called Operation Car Wash, is hailed as a hero by many, others see him as a partisan hit man out to get da Silva and the Workers Party.

Da Silva was convicted in July of helping a construction company get sweetheart contracts in exchange for the promise of the apartment.

He denies any wrongdoing in that case or in several other corruption cases that have yet to be tried.

An appeals court upheld the conviction in January and even lengthened the sentence to 12 years and one month.
Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has walked out of a German prison after posting 75,000 euros (65,000) bail, demanding that Spanish authorities release fellow separatists and open a dialogue on his regions future.

Puigdemont was detained by German police on March 25 after crossing the border from Denmark.

Spain is seeking his extradition for rebellion and misuse of public funds in organising an unauthorised referendum last year on Catalonias independence from Spain.

The state court in Schleswig said the charge of rebellion would not warrant extradition because the equivalent German law presumes the use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities.

He can still be extradited on misuse of funds charges.

A smiling Puigdemont emerged into the sunshine from the prison in Neumuenster where he has been held for nearly two weeks, thanking staff for their professionality and for their respect and inmates for their solidarity and help for me to adapt quickly to the situation.

He also sent a defiant message to Spanish authorities.

I call for the immediate release for all of my colleagues still in Spanish prisons, he said, speaking in English. Its a shame for Europe to still have political prisoners.

The time for dialogue has arrived, he declared, arguing that years of Catalan demands for dialogue have met with only a violent and repressive response.

Now, seeing the fall of that response, its time to do politics, Puigdemont added.

He said there are no excuses for the Spanish authorities to avoid a political dialogue with the Catalan political leaders in order to find a political solution of our demands, not by criminal law.

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Puigdemont can move freely in Germany pending a decision on his extradition, though he must report to police once a week and inform prosecutors of any change in residence. He cannot leave Germany without prosecutors agreement.

Under European rules, a decision on extradition should happen within 60 days of arrest.

The German courts decision to release him on bail is a setback for the Spanish judiciarys efforts to crack down on the separatist movement.

It is also an embarrassing blow for Spains conservative government, which has insisted the dispute over Catalan separatism is a legal issue, not a political one, and has refused to be drawn into negotiations with Puigdemont and his supporters since Octobers banned referendum.

In Madrid, the Spanish government denied that it is hounding Puigdemont. Spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said he is not a victim of political persecution, hes a fugitive from justice.

Mr Mendez de Vigo told a regular weekly news conference that the government respects Spanish and German court decisions and does not interfere in their rulings.

He said the Spanish government met its obligations by imposing direct rule on Catalonia after Puigdemont and other separatists organised the independence referendum last year.

Spains Supreme Court has charged 14 Catalan separatists, including Puigdemont, with rebellion, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years.
A German court has ordered the release of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on bail pending a decision on his extradition to Spain.

Judges found the most serious charge of rebellion is not punishable under German law.

The court in Schleswig set bail at 75,000 for the 55-year-old to leave prison.

It was not immediately clear when he would be released, though it appeared unlikely before this morning.

"We will see each other tomorrow. Thank you all!" read a message posted on his Twitter feed.

Mr Puigdemont was detained on a European arrest warrant shortly after entering Germany on March 25.

He was trying to drive from Finland to Belgium, where has been living since fleeing to escape arrest in Spain. He has been held at a prison in Neumuenster.

Spanish authorities accuse Mr Puigdemont of rebellion and misuse of public funds in organising an unauthorised referendum last year on Catalonia's independence from Spain.

German prosecutors argued earlier this week the main charge of rebellion was equivalent to treason in Germany, which calls for prison sentences for anyone who "undertakes, by force or through threat of force" to undermine the republic's existence or change its constitutional order.

However, the court disagreed yesterday, saying Mr Puigdemont cannot be extradited for rebellion.

It ruled the accusations against Mr Puigdemont did not satisfy the precedents set by previous German decisions, which call for a use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities.

"That is not the case here," the court said in a statement.

Judges will consider Mr Puigdemont's extradition on the less serious charge of misusing public funds, meaning he could only face trial for that if he were returned to Spain.

They said that there was no indication he could be "exposed to the danger of political persecution".

The court said that because Mr Puigdemont cannot be extradited for rebellion he posed less of a flight risk and could be released on bail.

If Mr Puigdemont makes the payment, he cannot leave Germany without prosecution approval, must inform authorities of every change of residence and report to police once a week.

A Spanish official said the government in Madrid respected judicial decisions "always, when it likes them and when it doesn't".

Mr Puigdemont's Spanish lawyer welcomed the court's decision.

"I always said that I had full confidence in the German judiciary," Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas wrote on Twitter, adding: "We continue."
Yulia Skripal (33), poisoned almost a month ago with her father Sergei, is recovering in hospital. Photo: AP

Yulia Skripal has confirmed that she is recovering in hospital and her "strength is growing daily" in her first statement since the Salisbury attack.

The 33-year-old has finally spoken almost a month after she was found unconscious on a bench in the English town alongside her father Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy. Both were claimed to have been poisoned with the nerve agent novichok.

It came just hours after Russian state TV broadcast an interview with Ms Skripal's cousin, who claimed to have spoken to her in a phone call from hospital.

Goodwill

In a statement issued by Scotland Yard yesterday, Ms Skripal said: "I woke up over a week ago now and am glad to say my strength is growing daily. I am grateful for the interest in me and for the many messages of goodwill that I have received.

"I have many people to thank for my recovery and would especially like to mention the people of Salisbury that came to my aid when my father and I were incapacitated.

"Further than that, I would like to thank the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their care and professionalism."

It followed the airing of what was reported to be a phone call between Ms Skripal and her cousin Viktoria broadcast on the Rossiya-1 channel.

Ms Skripal said her father Sergei "is all right" and "sleeping". "Everyone is recovering, everyone survived... No irreparable harm was done," she added.

Viktoria said she wanted to visit her relatives in Britain and bring Yulia back to the "motherland".

Mr Skripal's niece said the British embassy had promised to do "everything possible" to get her a visa. She is expected to travel to Britain within days.

Moscow's ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko yesterday attacked the UK's handling of the Salisbury attack.

Smiling throughout a press conference, he denied Russia had ever made novichok.

Mr Yakovenko denied allegation after allegation, including the claim that President Vladimir Putin had stated "traitors would kick the bucket", despite video footage of him doing so.

He said there was no evidence and "the whole story about novichok started in the United States in the 1990s. It is nothing to do with Russia. We never produced it."

British security sources claimed to have identified the Russian laboratory where the novichok was manufactured.

Security minister Ben Wallace said the UK would not release more intelligence in order to placate those questioning the investigation as to do so would put people's lives at risk.
South Koreas former president Park Geun-hye has been found guilty of abuse of power and coercion.

The details came in a nationally televised verdict as Judge Kim Se-yun read a lengthy statement at Seoul Central District Court.

Sentencing is to follow, and prosecutors have demanded a 30-year prison term.

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Park has been held at a detention centre near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Fridays court session, citing sickness.

Park was removed from office early last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the nations streets calling for her to be ousted.

Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, she was dubbed Queen of Elections by local media for her track record of leading her party to victory in tight races and still has a small group of fierce supporters who regularly stage rallies calling for her release.

Park maintains that she is a victim of political revenge and has been refusing to attend court sessions since October.
Hungarys main political parties held their last major rallies before Sundays parliamentary election, harshly criticising their rivals days before voters go to the polls.

In the city of Szekesfehervar, where Hungarian kings were crowned for centuries, Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned again of the supposed dangers of mass migration.

Mr Orban claimed Hungarys opposition parties  in cahoots with the United Nations, the European Union and wealthy philanthropist George Soros  will settle the first 10,000 immigrants in Hungary this year, if they defeat his right-wing nationalist Fidesz party.

Go tell everyone that migration is the rust that slowly but surely consumes our nation, he told supporters packed into a city square.

If migration comes our economic growth will all be in vain. We wont have the means to support families or pay pensions.

Despite the scare-mongering, supporters in the crowd were more impressed by his governments economic and social policies than the issue of migration.

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Now, you get so much. School books are free up until the eighth grade, said Margit Nemeti, explaining that she supports Mr Orban because he is making life easier for her children and grandchild.

Orban speaks the language of the people and he works for the people, added Antal Nyari, an 83-year-old retired engineer.

A handful of protesters trying to enter his rally were violently ejected by security guards.

In the capital of Budapest, a Jobbik politician said he was beaten when he tried to stop Fidesz supporters from vandalising Jobbik billboards.

At their own rallies, Hungarys left-wing parties described Mr Orban as a gangster swindler, criticising his authoritarian tendencies and his governments alleged large-scale corruption.

Ive already seen many politicians who promised nice things before the elections but changed after getting in the vicinity of power, Gergely Karacsony, candidate for prime minister for the left-wing Socialist Party and the Dialogue party, said at a rally in Budapest.

Viktor Orban is such a man, too. He lost his original character. Not a single word of what he said is true and its clear that he didnt change the country. Power changed him.

Gabor Vona, leader of the nationalist Jobbik party, as well as the two other parties most likely to win parliamentary seats  the green Politics Can Be Different party and former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsanys Democratic Coalition  were also holding rallies to motivate voters.

Some 199 seats in the national parliament are up for grabs in Sundays vote.

Mr Orbans Fidesz party now has a near two-thirds majority along with the Christian Democrats.

Polls expect the Fidesz party to win a majority of votes but increasing cooperation between the fragmented opposition parties is building uncertainty about Fidesz likely margin of victory.
The metal object that was mistaken for a gun in a fatal shooting by officers turned out to be the head of a welding torch, according to New York Police Department.

Saheed Vassells father has told reporters his son had previously worked as a welder.

Police seeking to quell simmering anger over their shooting of the mentally disturbed black man released a montage of security videos that showed him minutes earlier thrusting a metal object that looked like a gun into the faces of several people  including a woman holding the hand of her child.

A final video snippet showed the man raising the object in a two-handed shooting stance as police arrived, the edited video frozen just before officers unleashed 10 shots that left the 34-year-old dead.

The shooting in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening prompted two nights of protests among many who felt police should have known that Mr Vassell, a fixture in the Crown Heights neighbourhood, had emotional problems.

It's a tragedy because a man with a profound mental health problem ... was doing something that people perceived to be a threat to the safety of othersNew York mayor Bill de Blasio

But mayor Bill De Blasio did not lay blame on the officers, who were not from the local precinct and were passing through at the time.

He said they had no information that the person they were confronting was mentally ill.

Its a tragedy because a man with a profound mental health problem  was doing something that people perceived to be a threat to the safety of others, Mr de Blasio said at a news conference shortly before the images and a partial transcript of emergency calls were released.

The release of the edited material on the NYPDs Twitter account  the full videos and transcripts were not immediately provided  was meant to back up the departments claims that the four plainclothes and two uniformed officers who responded had a legitimate reason to believe they needed to move swiftly to stop a deadly threat.

The material released by the department did not answer questions about whether the officers had identified themselves or ordered the victim to drop the object before they opened fire.

The citys medical examiner found Mr Vassell was hit seven to nine times, including one shot to the head.

At a vigil on Thursday night, his mother Lorna said her son came from a good home.

His father Eric told reporters that his son had been treated in hospital several times for psychiatric problems, some involving encounters with the police, but that he was polite and kind.

Police had a choice. They always have a choice. They should not train them to kill. They should train them to protect life, to save life, Eric Vassell said in an interview with WABC-TV.
Facebook shares have staged a muted recovery from the lengthy and damaging decline the company has suffered over the last three weeks after founder Mark Zuckerberg said the Cambridge Analytica scandal had not had a "meaningful" impact on how many people are using the social network.

The rebound came despite revelations that millions more Facebook users than previously thought may have had their data illegitimately collected by the British election consultants.

Facebook shares opened 4.2pc up, regaining some of the ground they lost since the data controversy first hit the company three weeks ago.

They have climbed more than 5pc since their lowest point of the crisis, although remain more than 10pc below what they were before reports first emerged alleging Facebook had failed to protect users' data. On Wednesday night, Mr Zuckerberg had indicated that the #deletefacebook movement, which urged users to leave the social network, had not spread beyond a vocal core.

"I don't think there has been any meaningful impact we've observed," the Facebook chief executive said.

"But, look, it's not good. I don't want anyone to be unhappy with our services or what we do as a company.

"So, even if we can't really measure a change and the usage of a product, or the business or anything like that, it still speaks to people feeling like this is a massive breach of trust and that we have a lot of work to do to repair that."

Yesterday, Matt Hancock, the UK minister responsible for overseeing internet companies, said the news that more than a million British people may have had their data compromised was "completely unacceptable".

Facebook revealed on Wednesday that an estimated 87 million users around the world had had their personal data harvested by a quiz app downloaded by just 305,000 people because of the way the social network allowed such apps to access data about their friends.

Mr Hancock, the secretary for digital, culture, media and sport, said he would meet Facebook representatives on Wednesday to demand answers. "I expect Facebook to explain why they put the data of over a million of our citizens at risk," he wrote on Twitter.

"This is completely unacceptable, and they must demonstrate that this won't happen again."

The share bump came despite analysts at Morgan Stanley estimating that Facebook's recent efforts to protect people's data would hit its business.

The financial services firm downgraded its price target for the shares.

It said an announcement made last week that advertisers would no longer be able to target adverts based on using information bought from data sellers would mean revenues being 1.6pc lower than previously forecast this year and 4.5pc lower in 2020.

In total, it said it expects combined revenues over the next three years to be $6.9bn (5.6bn) below forecasts made before the scandal emerged.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen answers questions during a White House press briefing related to Donald Trumps plan to place the US military on Mexican border to stem illegal immigration. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty

National Guard troops could be at the US-Mexico border later today after being ordered there by Donald Trump.

The Trump administration said yesterday that it was working with state governors to "immediately" deploy the National Guard to combat illegal immigration at the border.

Asserting the situation had reached "a point of crisis", President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation ordering the deployment.

"The lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people," Mr Trump wrote in a memo authorising the move, adding that his administration had "no choice but to act".

Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, earlier said the troops could begin heading to the border immediately, though other administration officials cautioned that details on troop levels, locations and timing were still being worked out.

Ms Nielsen said her department had developed a list of locations where it would like assistance on things like aerial surveillance and other support, and was discussing with the governors how to facilitate the plans.

She declined to say how many personnel would be needed or how much the operation would cost, but she insisted: "It will be as many as is needed to fill the gaps that we have today."

Mr Trump first announced his plan to send the military to the border during a meeting with Baltic leaders on Tuesday.

Mr Trump's plans were hailed by Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who tweeted: "Arizona welcomes the deployment of National Guard to the border."

The California National Guard will promptly review the president's request "to determine how best we can assist our federal partners", said a spokesman for the state's unit in a statement. He added he was speaking for Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement: "Today's 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."

President Barack Obama and President George W Bush both took similar temporary measures.

Mr Trump has expressed frustration in recent days over what he called a "caravan" of more than 1,000 migrants heading through Mexico to the US border.

He has also been frustrated by lack of funding from congress for his border wall.

"Until we can have a wall and proper security, we're going to be guarding our border with the military," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, lamenting what he called "horrible" US laws that left the border poorly protected.

The caravan of Central American migrants on Wednesday scrapped plans to cross into the United States.

Its leaders said most of the group - about 80pc - would now remain in Mexico, where authorities were working with individual migrants and families to get them temporary papers.

Irineo Mujica, head of migrant advocacy group People Without Borders, said: "All they want is a place to live in peace, where they can work without having guns pointed at them, without being forced to join a gang." ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Border patrol agents apprehend people who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the US near Falfurrias, Texas. Photo: Reuters/Loren Elliott

Russian oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin are to face sanctions in the US, according to American media reports, in retaliation for Moscow's interference in the 2016 US election.

Those affected were not named, and the 'Washington Post' reported that the sanctions were still being finalised but that around six individuals may be affected.

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Reuters, which first reported on the coming sanctions, said the affected oligarchs have ties to Mr 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.

Warfare

In February, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russians and three Russian companies in what Mr Mueller's office described as a plot to wage "information warfare" against the US.

Mr Trump has faced fierce criticism for doing too little to punish Russia for the election meddling and other actions.

The US is expected to impose sanctions on more Russians under a law passed last year in response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the actions ahead of an announcement.

It was unclear how many Russians would be hit with sanctions or who exactly would be targeted. But under the same law, the administration in January released a list of powerful Russian oligarchs and politicians. Some who were on that list are expected to be targeted.

The State Department declined to comment.

During a joint press conference on Tuesday with Baltic leaders, Mr Trump argued that his administration was continuing to put pressure on Russia for its destabilising actions and election interference.

"Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have," Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump's outgoing national security adviser, HR McMaster, used his final speech on Tuesday to warn that more must be done to counter Russian aggression.

He said the US had "failed to impose sufficient costs" on Russia, which meant "the Kremlin's confidence is growing".

He said: "Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies, and the foundations of international peace and stability.

"We are now engaged in a fundamental contest between our free and open societies and closed and repressive systems. Revisionist and repressive powers are attempting to undermine our values, our institutions and way of life.

"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."

He added: "Mr Putin may believe he is winning in this new form of warfare. Perhaps he believed that our free nations are weak and will not respond. He is wrong. Russian aggression is strengthening our resolve and our confidence."

Four sources told Reuters that the sanctions would be imposed under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, also known as CAATSA.

CAATSA was passed by Republicans and Democrats seeking to punish Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, involvement in the Syrian civil war, and meddling in the election.

The White House and Treasury declined comment on whether they planned to impose sanctions this week.
Palestinians are flocking to tent camps along the Gaza-Israel border ahead of what the territorys Hamas rulers hope will be the second mass protest in a week.

As Israel and the Hamas-led protesters geared up for another showdown along the border fence, concerns grew about more bloodshed. Last week, more than a dozen protesters were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli fire, Gaza health officials said.

Just before Muslim noon prayers on Friday, hundreds of people arrived at one of the tent camps, near the community of Khuzaa.

Activists plan to burn large numbers of tyres in hopes that thick black smoke will block the view of Israeli snipers deployed on the other side of the border.

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At one point on Friday, Israeli forces fired tear gas inside the encampment, briefly sending people fleeing.

Protesters also moved toward other camps, including east of Gaza City, where a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, greeted the crowd. Nearby, smoke from burning tyres rose into the sky.

Fridays march is the second in what Gazas Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory.

Israel has accused Hamas of trying to carry out border attacks under the cover of large protests and said it will prevent a breach of the fence at all costs.

Israels defence minister has warned that protesters approaching the border fence endanger their lives, drawing condemnation from rights groups that said such seemingly broad open-fire rules are unlawful.

A leading Israeli rights group, BTselem, issued a rare appeal to soldiers to refuse grossly illegal orders to fire at unarmed protesters.

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Last Friday, thousands of Gaza residents participated in the demonstration, many gathering in five tent encampments set up along the narrow coastal strips border with Israel, several hundred metres from the fence.

Smaller groups, mostly young men, rushed forward, throwing stones, hurling firebombs and burning tyres and drawing Israeli fire.

In all, 22 Palestinians were killed in Gaza over the past week, including 16 involved in last Fridays protests, according to Gaza health officials.

The six other deaths included three gunmen killed in what Israel said were attempts to attack the border and three men who were struck by Israeli tank fire.
A Palestinian protester runs out of black smoke of burning tyres during a protest at the Gaza Strip (AP)

Palestinians have torched piles of tyres near Gazas border with Israel, sending plumes of black smoke into the air and drawing Israeli fire that killed six men in a second mass protest in a week.

Fridays deaths brought to 28 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire over the past week, including 22 protesters.

Gazas Health Ministry said 1,070 people were wounded on Friday, including 293 by live fire.

It said 25 of those wounded were in serious condition. Among those hurt were 12 women and 48 minors, the ministry added.

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Fridays march was the second in what Gazas Hamas rulers said would be several weeks of protests against a decade-old border blockade of the territory.

Israel has accused the Islamic militant group of using the protests as a cover for attacking Israels border, and has warned that those approaching the fence put their lives at risk.

On Friday, thousands of Palestinians streamed to five tent encampments set up at various points several hundred metres from the border fence.

In one camp near the border community of Khuzaa, smaller groups of activists moved closer to the fence after Muslim noon prayers. They torched large piles of tyres, engulfing the area in black smoke meant to shield them from Israeli snipers. The faces of some of the activists were covered in black soot.

Israeli troops on the other side of the fence responded with live fire, tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and water cannons trained at the fence.

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The Israeli military said protesters hurled several explosive devices and firebombs in an attempt to damage the fence under cover of smoke.

It said attempts to cross the fence were thwarted, and troops brought in a huge fan to disperse the smoke.

After the first tyres started burning, several young men with gunshot wounds began arriving at a field clinic at the camp.

Mohammed Ashour, 20, who had been among the first to set tyres on fire, had been shot in the right arm. He rested on a stretcher placed on the ground.

We came here because we want dignity, he said before paramedics carried him to an ambulance to be transported to the strips main hospital.

Later on Friday, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, visited the Khuzaa camp, receiving a heros welcome. He was surrounded by hundreds of supporters who chanted: We are going to Jerusalem, millions of martyrs.

Mr Sinwar told the crowd the world should wait for our great move, when we breach the borders and pray at Al-Aqsa, referring to the major Muslim shrine in Jerusalem.

It appeared to be the first time a Hamas leader had specifically threatened to break through the border  something Israel has said it would not allow at any price.

Hamas had billed the final protest, set for May 15, as the Great March of Return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, implying they would try to enter Israel, but they had stopped short of specifically threatening a mass breach of the fence.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, portrayed the protests as riots, and said Hamas organisers were trying to use them as a diversion to open up the fence and then to insert terrorists into Israel.

Israel has drawn sharp criticism for its open-fire orders along the border.

#Gaza: UN experts condemn killings by Israeli security forces of Palestinian protesters & urge independent/impartial investigation. Law enforcement officials shld refrain from using lethal force unless unavoidable in order to protect own or others lives. https://t.co/vxRES0rCPA pic.twitter.com/4r2Is7cu1f  UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) April 6, 2018

The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had indications that Israeli forces used excessive force against protesters last week.

Rights groups have branded orders permitting the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters as unlawful. A leading Israeli rights group, BTselem, issued a rare appeal to Israeli soldiers this week to refuse grossly illegal open-fire orders.

Lt Col Conricus said snipers are used sparingly and only against those that pose a significant threat.
Susan Hooper is one of two new independent non-executive directors on Uber's UK board (Uber/PA)

Uber has appointed two big hitters to its UK board, including a former British Gas executive, as the ride hailing firm battles to keep its service running in London.

New non-executive directors Susan Hooper and Roger Parry will sit in on their first board meeting later this month, joining Laurel Powers-Freeling who was appointed as Ubers first non-executive UK chair in November.

Both appointments bring a raft of cross-industry experience to the table, with Ms Hooper having served in roles including managing director of British Gas Residential Services and chief executive of Acromas Groups travel division where she was responsible for Saga holidays, the AA Travel division and Titan Travel.

She now sits on the boards of the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), Wizz Air and UK-listed gambling company Rank Group.

Mr Parry currently serves as chairman of data analytics and market research firm YouGov and was previously at the helm of firms including Johnston Press  publisher of the Yorkshire Post, Scotsman and the i newspapers  More Group, and Future Publishing.

Tom Elvidge, general manager of Uber in the UK, said: At a time when Uber is going through an important period of change were really pleased two such experienced individuals are joining us.

Under our new leadership were implementing major changes including more safety features, improvements for drivers and a new approach to partnering with cities.

Susan and Rogers wide range of experience will be invaluable as we continue to develop and mature as a business.

Ubers new board members join just months before the company is set to have its appeal heard over its right to operate in London.

Its testament to Ubers willingness to address past issues and follow the path of good governance that two individuals of their calibre have decided to work with usLaurel Powers-Freeling, non-executive chair of Uber UK

Transport for London (TfL) decided not to renew the ride-hailing apps licence last September on the grounds that it was not fit and proper to operate in the capital.

TfL raised a number of issues when it stripped the ride-hailing firm of its licence, including Ubers approach to reporting serious criminal offences, how drivers medical certificates are obtained, how criminal record checks are carried out, and its use of technology which allegedly helps it to evade law enforcement officials.

Uber launched its appeal in mid-October and will be heard at Westminster Magistrates Court at the end of June.

UK chairwoman Ms Powers-Freeling said the new appointments were proof that Uber was willing to change.

Its testament to Ubers willingness to address past issues and follow the path of good governance that two individuals of their calibre have decided to work with us.

With their combined experience in transportation, working constructively with cities and delivering for consumers, we strengthen our ability to understand and address the needs of all our stakeholders, she said.

The app  which enables users to book cars using their smartphones and is available in more than 40 towns and cities across the UK  is used by some 3.5 million passengers and around 40,000 drivers use the service in London, according to Uber.
The United States has punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putins inner circle, as President Donald Trumps administration tried to show he is not afraid to take tough action against Moscow.

Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said.

Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Mr Putin, emphasising that since Mr Trump took office last year, the US has punished 189 Russia-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of bad behaviour, said the officials.

The officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russias actions beyond its borders, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian president Bashar Assad, and cyber-hacking.

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Above all else, Russias attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the US sanctions, officials said, in a direct nod to concerns that the US president has failed to challenge Mr Putin for alleged interference in the 2016 election that brought Mr Trump to power.

Mr Deripaska, whose business conglomerate controls assets from agriculture to machinery, has been a prominent figure in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Treasury Department said Mr Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretaps, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and even death threats against business rivals.

On the London Stock Exchange, global depositary receipts of En+, an energy company majority-owned by Mr Deripaska, dropped by 19% on news of the sanctions. Mr Deripaskas conglomerate, Basic Element, said it regretted the sanctions and was analysing them with its lawyers.

Mr Putins government dismissed the sanctions as absurdity, arguing that the US was punishing companies that have longstanding business ties to the US. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the US was striking at ordinary Americans by jeopardising thousands of jobs.

American democracy is clearly degrading, the ministry said. Of course, we will not leave the current and any new anti-Russian attack without a tough response.

To the dismay of Mr Trumps critics and of Russia hawks, the president has continued to avoid directly criticising Putin himself and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House. Yet in recent weeks Trumps administration has rolled out a series of actions  including several economic and diplomatic steps  to increase pressure on Putin and those presumed to benefit from his power.

Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have, Mr Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Yet even as it rolled out the new penalties, Mr Trumps administration left open the possibility of a good relationship with Russia in the future. And at the White House, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said discussions with Moscow about a Trump-Putin summit would not be called off.

Not at all, Ms Sanders said. Well continue.

Those being punished are not necessarily involved in the Russian actions in Syria, Ukraine or elsewhere that have drawn consternation from the West. But officials said the goal was to put pressure on Mr Putin by showing that those who have benefited financially from his position of power are fair game.

The target list includes some who are closely tied to Mr Putin himself, including top-tier officials involved in Kremlin decision-making and heads of the top state-controlled business entities. Yet others on the list are far from the Kremlins orbit, including some who long have fallen out of favour or hold technical positions.

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Targets include:

 Kirill Shamalov, who is reportedly Mr Putins son-in-law, married to his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, although neither Mr Putin nor the Kremlin have acknowledged that she is his daughter.

 Igor Rotenberg, the son of Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Mr Putins since they were teenagers.

 Andrey Kostin, named among government officials, heads the nations second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state.

 Alexei Miller, the longtime head of Gazprom, the state-controlled natural gas giant. Both Mr Miller and Mr Kostin are longtime key members of Mr Putins team.

A state-owned arms-dealing company, accused by the US of selling to Assad, was also targeted, along with a subsidiary bank. Many other targets were associated with Russias energy sector, including parts of Gazprom.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in US jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions. Some, but not all, of the individuals sanctioned will also be prohibited from entering the United States.

The US also has punished Russia for other troubling activity, including its alleged involvement in the poisoning an ex-spy with a military-grade nerve agent in Britain. In tandem with European allies, the Trump administration expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle.
A significant reduction in the total number of students appearing in the Andhra Pradesh Engineering, Agriculture & Medical Common Entrance Test (AP EAMCET) 2018 entrance examination is expected as compared to that of 2017. Till the evening of April 02, 2018, only 2,71,305 applicants registered for AP EAMCET 2018.

Click Here For Detailed Information on AP EAMCET 2018

In 2017, total 2,79,016 applicants registered for AP EAMCET 2017 entrance examination for engineering, medical and agriculture courses. The last date by which students could have submitted their application form in online mode for AP EAMCET 2018 without late fee was March 29, 2018.

However, candidates who could not fill their registration form by the due date would be given four more chances for the same with differentiated penalties. They can register online for the entrance by April 6, 11, 16, and 21, 2018, by paying a late fee of INR 500, 1000, 5000, and 10000 respectively.

Some experts suggest that since the count of applicants of AP EAMCET is already behind the previous years count by around 8000, it would be difficult to surpass the same in around next two weeks. The primary reason being, there would be only little number of students ready to pay a late penalty of INR 500, 1000, 5000, and 10000, apart from the regular AP EAMCET 2018 application fee of INR 500.

The maximum penalty that students wish to pay in case of genuinely missing the registration is INR 500, or at the last INR 1000. Post then, there may be very rare or single digit registrations at every slab.

Most of those students, who are likely to appear in AP EAMCET 2018 seriously must have already applied for the same. The cases of registrations with penalty payment are always very less for any entrance exam in our country.

Declined Numbers in 2018  A Matter of Concern?

The decline in the number of applicants in a year for any entrance exam when compared with the previous year actually represent the fall in its popularity or even the dissatisfaction of students on the exam organizing committee or over the other transparency parameters. However, the organizer of the AP EAMCET, Mr. Saibabu, stated that the current number of applicants of the AP EAMCET 2018 would cross those of the previous year by the end date of registration with penalty, that is April 21, 2018.

Controversially, some of the principals of private engineering and pharmacy colleges stated that many students of class 12th from the states other than Andhra Pradesh are not willing to apply for the engineering or architecture courses entrance from other state. They, however, are showing their more interest in applying for the centralized entrances (such as JEE, NEET, AIIMS and more), and those of their own state.

Same concept is always applicable to everyone and everywhere, but there was hardly seen any decline in the number of applicants in the successive year over at least past one decade.

Mr. Saibabu declared that students whose AP EAMCET 2018 application form would have been approved by the board through all means, will be able to download their AP EAMCET hall ticket or admit card starting from April 18, 2018. However, the students filling the application form with penalty would subsequently be able to download admit cards a few days later than this date.

The AP EAMCET 2018 entrance examination for the engineering courses will be held from April 22 to 25, 2018, for the architecture courses on April 25 and 26, 2018, and that for both of these streams on April 24 and 25, 2018. The exam will be organized by the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada on the behalf of APSCHE for the candidates seeking admissions in various courses at the agriculture, engineering, and pharmacy colleges in Andhra Pradesh.
Kolkata, Apr 5 (IBNS): Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies, famous for its Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic range of organic beauty and holistic wellness products, is set to expand its geographical footprint as well as the range of product portfolio.

The company is in the process of setting up its second production facility after Roorkee in Ooty, Tamil Nadu, to further expand its product line and also cater to the growing demand of its products in the region.

The company currently has pan-India presence with its 160 plus organic products and 7000 sales touchpoints.

We are currently in the process of completing the compliances to mark our foray into the US market, said Dr Blossom Kochhar, Aromatherapist and Chairperson, Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies.

The Group currently exports its products to Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, Vietnam, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

In a few months we are going to launch Blossom Kochhar Earth to Bottle Shop in Kolkata which would be a one-stop shop for all our products offered in a cafe-like ambiance. This would be the second such shop in the country. We are also going to launch 13 news hair products in the market soon, said Samantha Kochhar, Managing Director, Blossom Kochhar Group of Companies.

Blossom Kochhar and Samantha Kochhar held a workshop in Kolkata for 300 professionals and beauticians from West Bengal to share perfect skincare tips and the benefits of using Aromatherapy and essential oils in daily life. They would also educate the professionals on the latest hair and make-up trends.

Samantha Kochhar also spearheads the Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic Franchise Green Salon Chain across India providing green, safe and healthy wellness solutions.

As the countrys pioneer Aromatherapist, Kochhar highlighted that Aromatherapy is a healing, potent therapy which affects the mind, body and spirit involving the use of essential oils. It can also be used to treat a broad spectrum of conditions including physical, mental and stress problems; and posses anti bacterial and antiseptic properties as well.

In the workshop, the Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic Diamond Glow Facial, one of the latest hair care treatment formulations of Kochhar, was demonstrated along with the recent make-up and hair trends.

This was a session aimed at helping the professionals in servicing their clients using updated techniques and new products. The Diamond Glow Facial kit has been specially formulated by Kochhar to restore softness, smoothness, resilience and radiance. It helps in giving the skin new energy levels by revitalizing and rejuvenating it.

It is important to understand the requirement of the consumers and create products which will not only suit their skin types but will also help them to combat the weather conditions in their specific regions, Kochhar said.

Blossom Kochhar Aroma Magic products which are 100% free of parabens, alcohol, harmful chemicals, artificial fragrance and colours and promote an organic way of lifestyle with biodegradable packaging.
New Delhi, Apr 6 (IBNS): Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi will visit Sweden and United Kingdom from Apr 16-20, MEA has said.

Apart from bilateral visits to the two countries, PM will attend the India-Nordic Summit and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sweden and United Kingdom respectively.

At the invitation of Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister of India will undertake his first visit to Sweden on Apr 16-17.

Prime Minister will arrive in Stockholm on evening of 16 April and will have a number of meetings on Apr 17, including an audience with King Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden and consultations with Prime Minister Lofven.

Prime Minister will address a gathering of select Swedish business leaders and will also meet the vibrant Indian community in Sweden.

"India and Sweden share friendly bilateral ties and common views on major global issues," read the MEA statement.

Sweden is India's valued partner in trade, technology and investment.

Over 170 Swedish companies have invested USD 1.4 billion since 2000. Around 70 Indian companies have invested in Sweden. India-Sweden annual bilateral trade stands at around USD 1.8 billion.

India and Sweden will co-host the India-Nordic Summit in Stockholm on Apr 17.

The India-Nordic Summit will see participation of the Prime Ministers of India and of all the Nordic countries- Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

"Indias trade with the Nordic countries totalled around USD 5.3 billion in 2016-17, with Cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India at USD 2.5 billion. The Nordic countries have globally recognized strengths in clean technologies, environmental solutions, port modernization, food processing, health, agriculture infrastructure, skill development and innovation which are also the focus areas of Indias development. These complementarities and the unique strengths of India and the Nordic countries hold the potential to further boost trade and investment from both sides," read a statement issued by the MEA.

On the sidelines of the India-Nordic Summit, Prime Minister will have separate bilateral meetings with Prime Ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

Prime Minister will visit the United Kingdom from Apr 17-20 for a bilateral visit and CHOGM. The forthcoming visit of the Prime Minister to the UK will focus on enhancing India-UK tech partnership.

The visit will see a number of deliverables in the area of skill development, healthcare, cyber security, innovation, traditional medicine, and education.

The India-UK CEOs Forum will also take place during this visit. UK will formally convey their readiness to join the International Solar Alliance.

India and the United Kingdom share a modern partnership bound by strong historical ties.

In 2004, the bilateral relationship was upgraded to a strategic partnership.

UK is among Indias major trading partners.

The merchandise trade between the two countries in 2017 reached $13 billion, and trade in services is around US$7.2 billion.

UK is the 4th largest inward investor in India with a cumulative equity investment of US $25.31 billion, accounting for around 7% of all foreign direct investment into India. India continued to be the third largest investor in the UK and emerged as the second largest international job creator with Indian companies having created over 110,000 jobs in the UK.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London from Apr 19-20.

The Meetings of the Commonwealth Heads of Government usually take place every two years and serve to shape the organizations agenda for the next two years.

The Commonwealth is a multilateral organization known for its focus on the development issues that confront Small States and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), many of whom have deep historical and bilateral ties with India.
Jodhpur, Apr 6 (IBNS): The bail plea of superstar Salman Khan, who has been convicted in a 20-year old Blackbuck poaching case, will be heard at 10.30 am on Friday, media reports said.

Salman, who has been imprisoned for five years on Thursday, spent the last night in Jodhpur Central Jail.

The actor was also fined Rs. 10,000.

The four other co-accused  actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam  have been acquitted.

The Bishnoi community, known for their deep respect for their forests and animals, expressed satisfaction over the verdict.

The actors were accused of poaching a blackbuck, an endangered species protected under the Indian Wildlife Act, in Kankani village of Jodhpur during the shooting of film Hum Saath Saath Hain in September, 1998.

Khan was convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on Mar 28, after which chief judicial magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for Thursday.

.

According to the complaint, Salman Khan had killed two black bucks.

He was also charged for possessing a weapon with an expired license.
New Delhi, Apr 6 (IBNS): As the second phase of budget session of the parliament is heading for a washout, the YSR Congress MPs might submit their resignations on Friday as they had stated earlier.

The YSR Congress was one of the political parties which had brought the no-confidence motion against the central government.

However, due to the ruckus by several opposition parties in the parliament, the motion could not be tabled.

The YSR Congress had earlier said that its MPs will resign if the motion is not allowed to be tabled in the parliament.

The Telegu Desam Party, the Congress and the Left were other parties which had brought no-confidence motions against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.

The parliament will meet for the last time in the budget session on Friday.

The BJP MPs have already declared that they will not receive the salaries for the washout days.
New Delhi, Apr 6 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday hailed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) karyakartas (party workers) on the occasion of the party's foundation day.

"I bow all @BJP4India Karyakartas on the special occasion of the Partys Sthapana Diwas. We remember, with great pride, the heroic service and sacrifice of all Karyakartas who built the BJP and committed themselves towards creating a stronger and better India. #IndiaTrustsBJP," his tweet read.

I bow all @BJP4India Karyakartas on the special occasion of the Partys Sthapana Diwas.



We remember, with great pride, the heroic service and sacrifice of all Karyakartas who built the BJP and committed themselves towards creating a stronger and better India. #IndiaTrustsBJP pic.twitter.com/5iLKVcBVI7  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2018

Praising the party workers, the Prime Minister said that they are the 'heart and soul of the party'.

"For @BJP4India, the Karyakartas are everything. They are the heart and soul of the party, whose sweat has taken the Party to new heights. It is due to their efforts that we have the honour to serve people all over India and fulfil their aspirations. #IndiaTrustsBJP," he said.

"The BJP is the party of a New India. We are privileged to receive the blessings of people of all age groups, across all sections of society. We are a Party that believes in Indias diversity, our unique culture and, above all, the strengths of 125 crore Indians! #IndiaTrustsBJP.

The Prime Minister also thanked the 'sisters and brothers' of India for their 'unwavering faith in the BJP'.

I thank my sisters and brothers of India for their unwavering faith in @BJP4India. It is our commitment that we will continue to devote ourselves towards Indias transformation. #IndiaTrustsBJP pic.twitter.com/bc2YmtMg7F  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2018

"I thank my sisters and brothers of India for their unwavering faith in @BJP4India. It is our commitment that we will continue to devote ourselves towards Indias transformation. #IndiaTrustsBJP," he said.

The BJP was formed on Apr 6, 1980.



Image: twitter.com/narendramodi


New Delhi, Apr 6 (IBNS): The parliament will meet for the last time in the budget session on Friday, media reports said.

The second phase of the budget session, which began on Mar 5, was devoid of any business due to the disruptions created by several opposition parties.

The no-confidence motions, brought by the Telegu Desam Party (TDP), the YSR Congress, the Congress and the Left, against the government, could not be tabled due to the ruckus.

The two houses could barely work for an hour each day in the second phase of the session.

The opposition parties, mostly AIADMK and TDP, have been protesting against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government on a number of issues, ranging from Cauvery river water to Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

The BJP MPs have already declared that they will not receive the salaries for the washout days.
Jodhpur, Apr 6 (IBNS): Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who has been convicted in a 20-year old Blackbuck poaching case, will have to serve in jail for the second night as the Jodhpur court has reserved its bail order till Saturday, media reports said.

After hearing Salman's bail plea for about 40 minutes, the court decided to pronounce its order on Saturday.

Following the reserve of the order, defence lawyers were disappointed, report said.

Salman, who has been imprisoned for five years on Thursday, spent the last night in Jodhpur Central Jail.

The actor was also fined Rs. 10,000.

The four other co-accused  actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam  have been acquitted.

The Bishnoi community, known for their deep respect for their forests and animals, expressed satisfaction over the verdict.

The actors were accused of poaching a blackbuck, an endangered species protected under the Indian Wildlife Act, in Kankani village of Jodhpur during the shooting of film Hum Saath Saath Hain in September, 1998.

Khan was convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

Final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on Mar 28, after which chief judicial magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for Thursday.

.

According to the complaint, Salman Khan had killed two black bucks.

He was also charged for possessing a weapon with an expired license.
New Delhi, Apr 6 (IBNS): The budget session of the parliament ended on Friday with the adjournment of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha indefinitely due to the ruckus by opposition parties, media reports said.

Both the houses were adjourned within 15 minutes of the commencement of proceedings on Friday.

The second phase of the budget session, which began on Mar 5, was devoid of any business due to the disruptions created by several opposition parties.

The no-confidence motions, brought by the Telegu Desam Party (TDP), the YSR Congress, the Congress and the Left, against the government, could not be tabled due to the ruckus.

The two houses could barely work for an hour each day in the second phase of the session.

The opposition parties, mostly AIADMK and TDP, have been protesting against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government on a number of issues, ranging from Cauvery river water to Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam.

The BJP MPs have already declared that they will not receive the salaries for the washout days.
Amaravati, Apr 6 (IBNS): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) chief, N Chandrababu Naidu, on Friday held a bicycle rally in the state as a protest against the central government over the demand for a special status for his state, media reports said.

Naidu was accompanied by several of his party men.

The bicycle rally took place from Venkatapalem village in Thullur Mandal of Guntur district to the Legislative Assembly.

Naidu on Friday warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the latter's party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), would end up meeting the same fate as the Congress if the central government does not fulfill the demands.

The TDP chief has hinted at a possible downfall of the BJP in the electoral battle which the Congress experienced in last few years.

Naidu's TDP had also pulled itself out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which runs the central government, over the demands.

In a recent television interview, Naidu said he will continue to fight for the rights of his state.

Image: twitter.com/ncbn
New Delhi, Apr 6 (IBNS): Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli arrived in India to commence his three-day trip to the Asian nation.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh welcomed Oli to the nation.

"Neighbourhood first! Prime Minister of Nepal K.P. Sharma Oli and Mrs. Radhika Shakya were warmly welcomed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on their arrival in India. This is the first State visit of Prime Minister Oli after being elected as Prime Minister of Nepal. #WelcomePMOli," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

A high-level delegation will accompany Prime Minister of Nepal.

"During the visit, Prime Minister of Nepal will call on Rashtrapatiji and Vice President of India, and will hold talks with Prime Minister of India. EAM and other Ministers will call on the Prime Minister of Nepal. India and Nepal enjoy age-old, special ties of friendship and cooperation," Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

"The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples," it said.

Besides official engagements in New Delhi, the Prime Minister of Nepal will be visiting G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

Oli is scheduled to return to Nepal on Apr 8.

Image: MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar Twitter page


New York, Apr 6 (JEN): In 2017, solar energy dominated global investment in new power generation like never before, according to a new United Nations-backed report, which shows a steady move away from fossil fuel-based power production to green power sources.

Last year, the world installed a record 98 gigawatts of new solar capacity, far more than the net additions of the rest  other renewables, fossil fuel and nuclear, according to the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018 report, released Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and its partners.

Solar power also attracted far more investment than any other technology, at $160.8 billion, up 18 per cent.

A driving power behind last years surge in solar was China, where an unprecedented boom saw some 53 gigawatts added  more than half the global total  and $86.5 billion invested, up 58 per cent.

Investments in renewables bring more people into the economy, they deliver more jobs, better quality jobs and better paid jobs. Clean energy also means less pollution, which means healthier, happier development, he said.The extraordinary surge in solar investment shows how the global energy map is changing and, more importantly, what the economic benefits are of such a shift, said UNEP chief Erik Solheim.

Last year was the eighth in a row in which global investment in renewables exceeded $200 billion  and since 2004, the world has invested $2.9 trillion in these green energy sources.

Overall, China was by far the worlds largest investing country in renewables, at a record $126.6 billion, up 31 per cent on 2016. There were also sharp increases in investment in Australia, up 147 per cent to $8.5 billion; Mexico, up 810 per cent to $6 billion; and Sweden, up 127 per cent to $3.7 billion.

UN Asia-Pacific forum adopts declaration to accelerate transition to sustainable energy

Meanwhile, countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which is projected to account for two-thirds of global energy use between now and 2040, committed to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy by scaling up their share of renewables, as a United Nations forum in Bangkok wrapped up on Thursday.

There is a palpable sense of the enormous opportunities ahead that can transform the energy scene, Shamshad Akhtar, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), told the two-day forum, acknowledging the growing recognition by governments, the private sector and investors, that a sustainable, low carbon energy system is the only option to safeguard the future.

The highlight of the Second Asian and Pacific Energy Forum was the adoption of a ministerial declaration, which lays out a series of actions to encourage the sustainable use of energy, including through greater regional cooperation to facilitate cross-border infrastructure and energy trade to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Organized by ESCAP, the Forum provided a platform for governments, the UN system, private companies, international organizations, and civil society organizations to review the regions implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) on affordable and clean energy.

Delegates concluded that Asia and the Pacific has made remarkable progress on universal access to electricity, with renewable energy surpassing price benchmarks that were only expected in 2020. However, greater efforts are needed throughout the region to achieve targets on reliance on clean fuel and renewable energy, and energy efficiency.

PresseBox.de flickr




UN Photo/Mark Garten

New York, Apr 6 (IBNS): After last weeks deadly violence near the Gaza fence and with fresh protests planned at the Gaza-Israel border tomorrow, the United Nations has urged all parties to refrain from any act that could lead to further violence or place civilians  especially children  in harms way.

In a statement Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called upon all parties on the ground to avoid confrontation and exercise maximum restraint.

I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties. Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully, he stressed.

The UN chief also highlighted the urgency to accelerate efforts to return to meaningful negotiations that will eventually allow Palestinians and Israelis to live in two democratic states side by side in peace and within secure and recognized borders.

Mr. Guterres reaffirmed the UNs readiness to support these efforts.

Echoing the Secretary-General, Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process also called upon Israeli forces to exercise restraint and on the Palestinians to avoid friction at the Gaza fence.

I am following with concern the continuing preparations and rhetoric for this Fridays Great Return March in Gaza, he said, noting that demonstrations and protests must be allowed to proceed in a peaceful manner.

Civilians, particularly children, must not be intentionally put in danger or targeted in any way, he added.

The call by the United Nations follows clashes last Friday, 30 March, during which thousands of Palestinians marched to Gazas border with Israel to protest the long-standing blockade of the enclave.

According to reports from the Palestinian Health Ministry, 15 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 injured.

Some of the casualties were reportedly the result of live ammunition used by Israeli security forces during the March. Other casualties followed armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including the shelling of a Hamas observation point.

There were also reports from Israeli security forces of militants attempting to get through the fence an in attempt to plant explosives. Palestinians also reportedly sent a nine-year-old girl through the fence, but Israeli forces were able to send her safely back.

In the aftermath of the clashes the UN Secretary-General called for an independent and transparent investigation the incident. The Security Council had also convened an emergency meeting on the clashes.

Zero stocks for nearly half of essential medicines

Quoting partners on the ground, a UN spokesperson said today that supplies of essential drugs and medical disposables are running low at health facilities in the enclave while an ongoing electricity crisis that has hampered the functioning of hospitals.

There are currently zero stock levels for nearly half of the list of essential drugs and for a quarter of the list of essential [medical] disposables in Gaza, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General, said at a regular news briefing in New York.

An estimated $1 million is urgently required to support the health system in Gaza for drugs, disposables, equipment, gases and lab materials in the coming 6 to 8 weeks, he added, noting that humanitarian partners are working to prioritize urgently required medical items and coordinating the disbursement of supplies in preparation for the expected medical increased needs.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

New York, Apr 6 (JEN): Activists, ambassadors and actors gathered at the United Nations on Thursday to underline their commitment to empowering women and girls with autism, a lifelong neurological condition that begins in childhood and is characterized by some degree of impaired social behaviour, communication and language.

Women and girls were the focus on World Autism Awareness Day, observed on 2 April: a segment of the global population that faces multiple challenges, as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated in his message for the Day.

Speaking at the commemorative event in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Chamber, Alison Smale, head of the UN Department of Global Communications, outlined some of the many forms of discrimination women and girls with autism face.

They are denied equal access to education and employment, to healthcare services, justice and equal recognition before the law, and they are far too often denied the freedom to make their own choices, she stated.

The UN Headquarters event included breakout panels exploring issues that have an impact on women and girls with autism such as gender disparity in diagnosis, racism and sexism, as well as the heightened risks they face of violence, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Julia Bascom, Executive Director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, provided an overview of the state of women and girls with autism.

She said they are diagnosed much less frequently than men and boys, and often much later in life: sometimes only after bringing in their own children for assessment.

The diagnostic criteria for autism are normed off of four-year-old white boys in upper middle-class families in the United States, she reported. So, anyone who doesnt fit in that box has an uphill climb.

With one child in 160 on the autism spectrum, Ambassador Mahmoud Saikhal of Afghanistan stressed the need to fight stigma and promote inclusion, but also to highlight the contributions made by people with autism.

He gave examples such as Eileen Parker, inventor of a weighted blanket that helps some people with autism to feel calm enough to fall asleep, and Dr. Temple Grandin, a leading advocate.

Events like this help to give a voice to those who may otherwise be left behind, he said, reading a statement on behalf of Miroslav LajAak, the President of the UN General Assembly.

Ensuring that no one is left behind is the promise of the Sustainable Development Agenda for a more just and equitable future that world leaders have committed to bring about by 2030.

Smale, the UN official, called for giving women and girls with autism a direct role in policy making on matters that concern them.

To achieve the inclusive society to which we aspire, we must ensure that the fundamental rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by Member States at the UN in 2006, are known and respected and are recognized as applying to everyone, including women and girls with autism, she said.

Though based in the US, the non-profit Autistic Self Advocacy Network  Ms. Bascoms organization  works to empower people with autism globally, under the rallying call of Nothing About Us, Without Us!

As a society we still see autism as a negative, sad, scary thing. But for autistic women, an autism diagnosis can be a tool for empowerment, she told the UN audience.

Its an answer, its an explanation, its a way out of cycles of self-blame and guilt. Its a passport to an entire community. And if were lucky, its a connection to the understanding, support and services we need in order to truly thrive sometimes for the first time in our lives.
Islamabad, Apr 6 (IBNS): On the invitation of Afghan President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will undertake a day-long visit to Kabul on Friday, officials said.

"The Prime Minister's visit is taking place in the backdrop of Pakistan's support to President Ghani's offer of peace talks with the Taliban for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan and strengthening bilateral engagement," read a statement issued by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The Prime Minister will have in-depth consultations with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah on matters of mutual interest, including strengthening bilateral political, economic, security and counter-terrorism cooperation, return of Afghan refugees, combating drug production and narco-trade, Afghan peace process and regional political and security situation. The Prime Minister will also meet senior Afghan political leaders," read the statement.

The Ministry said Pakistan will continue to support Afghanistan's developments efforts through capacity building in infrastructure, educational and health sectors in Afghanistan.

Pakistan said it aspires to deepen people to people contacts.

In this regard, the Prime Minister would discuss with the Afghan leadership ways to facilitate travel between the two countries, assist education and medical treatment of Afghan nationals in Pakistan and expand trade and transit facilitation between the two countries.

"To promote regional economic integration, the two countries are participating in key trans-regional initiatives namely Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and Central Asia - South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000). The Prime Minister recently joined Afghan President in Herat to inaugurate the TAPI gas pipeline project. The two sides are also engaged in undertaking major bilateral rail-road connectivity projects," read the statement issued by the Ministry.

"The Prime Minister's visit to Afghanistan is aimed at strengthening the positive momentum in bilateral relations and help augment joint endeavours in the pursuit of durable peace, stability and economic prosperity in the two countries, and the region," it said.

Image: Wikimedia Commons
Kabul, Apr 6 (IBNS): During raid in Chapahar district of eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, security forces have killed two Islamic State terrorists, media reports said on Friday.

According to reports, they have also seized an explosives-laden vehicle.

"A statement from the governors house the slain Daesh (IS' name in Arabic) rebels had been planning an attack in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, 'on an important government organ'", reported Pajhwok Afghan News.

"But their plan was frustrated after the bomb-rigged car was confiscated and the two Daesh men were killed," the statement further said.

Nangarhar governors spokesman told the Afghanistan-based news agency that in a separate incident a key Taliban member, Shahidullah aka Amin, has been arrested.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News the detainee had confessed to serving under Taliban commander Hamzas leadership and committing terrorist activities in different areas.




He is visiting the neighbouring nation at the invitation of Indian PM Narendra Modi.

He has reportedly left for New Delhi on Friday morning.

A high-level delegation will accompany Prime Minister of Nepal.

"During the visit, Prime Minister of Nepal will call on Rashtrapatiji and Vice President of India, and will hold talks with Prime Minister of India. EAM and other Ministers will call on the Prime Minister of Nepal. India and Nepal enjoy age-old, special ties of friendship and cooperation," Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

"The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples," it said.

Besides official engagements in New Delhi, the Prime Minister of Nepal will be visiting G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

Oli is scheduled to return to Nepal on Apr 8.
On his arrival, a guard of honour was presented to the PM.

"National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Janjua, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Khyber Pakhtunkwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, among other officials, are accompanying the premier on his day-long visit to the Afghan capital," reported Geo News.

Earlier, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement: "The Prime Minister's visit is taking place in the backdrop of Pakistan's support to President Ghani's offer of peace talks with the Taliban for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan and strengthening bilateral engagement," read a statement issued by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The Prime Minister will have in-depth consultations with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah on matters of mutual interest, including strengthening bilateral political, economic, security and counter-terrorism cooperation, return of Afghan refugees, combating drug production and narco-trade, Afghan peace process and regional political and security situation. The Prime Minister will also meet senior Afghan political leaders," read the statement.

The Ministry said Pakistan will continue to support Afghanistan's developments efforts through capacity building in infrastructure, educational and health sectors in Afghanistan.

Pakistan said it aspires to deepen people to people contacts.

In this regard, the Prime Minister would discuss with the Afghan leadership ways to facilitate travel between the two countries, assist education and medical treatment of Afghan nationals in Pakistan and expand trade and transit facilitation between the two countries.

"To promote regional economic integration, the two countries are participating in key trans-regional initiatives namely Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and Central Asia - South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000). The Prime Minister recently joined Afghan President in Herat to inaugurate the TAPI gas pipeline project. The two sides are also engaged in undertaking major bilateral rail-road connectivity projects," read the statement issued by the Ministry.

"The Prime Minister's visit to Afghanistan is aimed at strengthening the positive momentum in bilateral relations and help augment joint endeavours in the pursuit of durable peace, stability and economic prosperity in the two countries, and the region," it said.
Reliance Communications (RCom) has received conditional clearance from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to go ahead with the sale of its tower assets. However, the proceeds of the asset sale would have to be kept in an escrow account. This decision is a significant relief to RCom as the company would now be able to continue with its asset monetization plan.The Supreme Court had earlier halted the sale of assets after accepting a petition from some of RCom's creditors. However, the Supreme Court, on Thursday, reversed most its decisions while referring the matter of tower assets to the NCLAT.Rcom had initiated an asset monetization plan which would have seen the debt of the company reduce from ~Rs45,000cr to ~Rs6,000cr. As part of this plan, the company would sell its B2C telecom business, tower assets, spectrum, and real estate holdings.Reliance Communications (RCom) is a diversified telecom service provider offering wireless, wireline, and DTH services. It is a dual technology (GSM + CDMA), wireless player. It has RMS of 5% and a subscriber base of 10.3cr as on March 31, 2016.We expect revenue CAGR of only 2% on account of RCOMs strategy to migrate CDMA subscribers to 3G/4G services. However, the customers may not want to upgrade their services (3G/4G) and switch to other service provider offering better plans. This will impact the revenue visibility of the company. Besides, the entry of new telecom player Reliance Jio will also affect RComs revenue. This is because RJio is offering 4G plans at low rates (Rs5ps per MB to Rs50 for 1GB). The structure of the RCom-Aircel deal and the amount of equity infusion into the merged entity is still unclear. Further, the stock is trading at an expensive valuation of EV/EBITDA of 7x (FY17E) vs. its competitor IDEA- EV/EBITDA 5x (FY17E).Reliance Communications Ltd is currently trading at Rs24.50, up Rs1.15, or 4.93%, from its previous close of Rs23.35 on the BSE.
So maybe in this age of presidential Twitter rants, costly office makeovers and cheap housing for Cabinet officials, a public relations assist will pay off for two tribes whose gaming project in Connecticut has been held up by the Trump administration for eight months and counting.

The National Congress of American Indians sure hopes so. With the release of a letter on Thursday, the largest inter-tribal organization in the United States waded into a classic controversy: the Washington whodunit.

Only in this situation, it's more of a who hasn't done it. And that would be Secretary Ryan Zinke of the leader of the Department of the Interior , whose oft-repeated mantra of "sovereignty has to mean something" hasn't meant much for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and the Mohegan Tribe

Eight months ago, on August 2, 2017, the tribes sent their respective gaming agreements to Zinke's department for review. According to their interpretation of federal law and regulation, a response was expected within 45 days.

Someone in Washington must have thought the same, because exactly 45 days later, a response from the Bureau of Indian Affairs arrived. On September 15, 2017, a top career official who was about to be shipped to Montana under Zinke's orders informed the tribes that the agency's review of their agreements had been "completed."

Veterans honor song at NCAI Veterans honor song by Leander "Russ" McDonald (Spirit Lake Nation) at the mid-year session of the National Congress of American Indians. The event is being held at Mohegan Sun on the Mohegan Reservation in Connecticut. June 13, 2017. #NCAIMY17 Posted by Indianz.Com on Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Video by Indianz.Com: Veterans honor song at NCAI

Except completed doesn't mean completed under this administration. Despite the deliverance of the letter to both tribes, Zinke's department has yet to publish notice of their agreements in the Federal Register as seemingly required by law.

As a result, their $400 million gaming project remains in limbo while a non-Indian competitor basks in the glow of a high-powered influence campaign and the September opening of a $950 million casino less than 20 minutes away.

"These amendments are very important to economic development for both tribal governments as well as the state of Connecticut, and publication of amended compacts is within your duties under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act," NCAI President Jefferson Keel said in a letter to Zinke

"We urge you to act with dispatch," Keel added.

Last June, NCAI welcomed Zinke to their mid-year conference, which was coincidentally hosted by the Mohegan Tribe. In what was his first appearance before the organization, he was presented with a Pendleton blanket and was honored with a song in recognition of his status as a military veteran.

Sovereignty has to mean something, said Zinke, a U.S. Navy SEAL commander has been adopted into the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes , whose reservation is located in his home state of Montana. Sovereignty has to be more than a name.

Jim Cason, the Associate Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior, at the mid-year session of the National Congress of American Indians on June 13, 2017. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Zinke wasn't the only Interior official embraced at the meeting. After he departed for an another engagement in New England, a delegation of Mashantucket and Mohegan leaders made a special presentation of their own to Jim Cason, a high-ranking political appointee at the department.

Cason, according to Mashantucket Chairman Rodney Butler, "stood up for Indian Country, stood up for that government-to-government relationship" not just once, but twice, when he informed the tribes in two different advisory letters that their gaming agreements would pass muster in Washington and pave the way for their new development.

I also have the privilege of working with a Secretary who is very much aligned with Indian Country's interests, Cason said as he was presented with a Pendleton of his own, though no one sang any songs in his honor.

Eight months later, someone at Interior is still holding onto those blankets and those gaming agreements. But the department isn't saying much for now.

"At this time the matter is now in litigation and it is not appropriate for the department to respond outside of the court process," Nedra Darling, a spokesperson for the BIA, said on Friday.

As part of a lawsuit pending in federal court, the Trump administration has offered some guidance, though not particularly helpful for the tribes. According to the Department of Justice , Interior is not required to make a decision for the Mashantuckets within 45 days -- or any number of days for that matter -- because they opened their Foxwoods Resort Casino under a provision of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that comes into play when a state refuses to agree to a Class III gaming compact.

"The Secretary therefore has no discrete and mandatory obligation to take action," a February 5 motion to dismiss the Mashantuckets from the case reads.

The tribes have since responded to the motion, calling it a hyper-technical reading of the law," and the government filed a final reply last week. A decision hasn't been made on the matter as of Friday morning, according to a review of federal court records.

The Mohegans, on the other hand, opened Mohegan Sun with a Class III gaming compact. But government attorneys have yet to explain why Interior hasn't followed the 45-day deadline that has been followed in every other situation since January 2017, when President Donald Trump took office.

"Very respectfully, we urge you to fulfill this responsibility under IGRA and publish notice in the Federal Register immediately," Keel wrote in his letter to Zinke.

The New England Casino Race: Tribal and commercial gaming facilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island

In response to growing competition in New England, the Mashantuckets and Mohegans joined forces to pursue a new casino . They secured approval from the Connecticut Legislature and selected a site in East Windsor, a city far from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, which are located in the southeastern part of the state.

Since the tribes are pursuing the project outside of the framework of IGRA, and since the site in East Windsor won't be placed in trust, approval from Interior is not needed for it. In a different lawsuit, a federal appeals court upheld the legality of the state law that authorized the new casino.

But the Mashantuckets, as part of their federally-approved Class III gaming procedures , and the Mohegans, through their federally-approved Class III gaming compact , have been promised regional exclusivity for Class III games like slot machines and card games. In exchange, the state gets 25 percent of their slot revenues.

To protect that relationship, the tribes worked with the state of Connecticut to ensure the new casino won't affect their rights. They also thought Cason, in his role as associate deputy secretary at Interior, had assured them their approach was correct.

Jim Cason has been there for us ... to ensure that our forward movement, our economic development, our partnership as tribes is respected, Mohegan Chairman Kevin Brown said last June.

An honor to be @NCAI1944 today! Thank you to the Tribal leaders & members who are here. My pledge is to be a partner w/ & champion for you. pic.twitter.com/LDgEFrxbbc  Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) June 13, 2017

The tribes had expected to open their casino later this year, around the same time as the non-Indian facility in Springfield, Massachusetts. But they only got around to demolition work last month and have not said when they will be ready to game.

MGM Resorts International, the developer in Massachusetts, has made no secret of its intent to derail the tribes. Through litigation, lobbying of the Trump administration and proposals to open a different casino in Connecticut, the firm has so far fended off the potential competition. East Windsor is only about 15 miles from Springfield.

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Welcome to the demolition of Sioux San

By Elizabeth Cook-LynnNative Sun News Today Columnist

Ive been wanting to write about the failure of the IHS (Indian Health Service) to defend its Bureaucratic Self ever since Pick-Sloan decided to flood thousands of acres of treaty land along the Missouri and swept away the huge white IHS hospital at Fort Thompson where I was born. That happened so long ago no one remembers. After 30 years of no services, we have a clinic there now at the Fort. No hospital.

I got the chance to see how things are going in Indian Heath Monday, February 26, when I attended a meeting at Sioux San with about 30 people in attendance. It was called a mitigation meeting and the plan, which has been on the drawing board for many months, is to tear down the old and build a new multi-million dollar hospital at the site.

Nineteen buildings on the 43 acre campus will be demolished according to the Mitigation Plan: Lakota Lodge, Maintenance, Quarters, Offices, Health Education, 4 garages, a storage building, a social services building, the Dental Clinic and the Water Tank. That is for starters. A barn and a root cellar will be retained and rehabilitated and the hospital, itself, a historical land-marker for the past century, will be mothballed.

This is a season of grief and the end of history for the many Soo San clients for whom this hospital and clinic has been since the early thirties the only port in the storm filled with a history that will be forever silenced. There is no question that health service, a treaty right and obligation to the Great Sioux Nation, is a disgrace to an underserved population here in our area, and there is no question that many good people including the city mayor and council have worried about the future of this facility for a long time.

Three of the major tribal governments in western South Dakota, Pine Ridge, (Oglala), Eagle Butte (Miniconjou), and Rosebud (Sicangu) have appointed tribal representatives to serve on the Sioux San Advisory Hospital Board and have been in consultation with other officials on this huge undertaking.

Tribal representation played an important part in this project meeting last week if for no other reason than to put forward an official request that before demolition gets started in full force, a reassessment be called for to take up a course different from the one proposed by the mitigation plan.

Tribal members who would like to see the site preserved as a significant historical monument to the early history of the region, and the old facility put to new uses in much needed health services to Indian people. Jean Kessler, president of the Pennington County Historical Preservation Committee spoke in favor of the wishes of the tribes.

Willie Bear Shield, Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu), and Darla Black (Oglala) speaking as the vice president of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, said that there was little interest in tearing down existing buildings on the hospital campus but there was agreement for moving the services to a new site on the east side of town, on land offered as a donation by Hani Shafai, a local developer.

There was little discussion of history nor was there much information given concerning the adverse effect of the proposed move and the demolishing of contributing properties on the clientele even though there are examples close by that suggest such an undertaking poses severe adjustments for the clientele of the facility.

The Fitzsimmons Hospital in Denver, for example, where many urban Indian patients have been served for generations, underwent at least ten years of disruption when they decided to modernize. Childrens health needs were neglected during the early phases of development, and the tearing down of the veterans old folks home saw hundreds of vets in the streets, homeless and unattended; the elderly were without services for a decade, the detox facility and mental health and counseling services offered at the hospital were unavailable, to say nothing about the absence of barracks and parade grounds and parking facilities.

This March 27, 2018 community meeting in Rapid City concerning such a change was an important meeting and should probably have been attended by more people in the city and surrounding areas. But it was advertised in the local white owned newspaper and not in the paper most Indians read, Native Sun News Today.

Sometimes a community doesnt realize what the loss of a major infrastructure like the Sioux San campus and Indian care center means to a vulnerable population. The needs are enormous! People who have chronic illnesses or who are unemployed, without health insurance, children who need dental care and educational opportunities, working families who need decent child care will all be affected by the decisions that are being considered.

It is nothing new to Indians to realize that the trust responsibility of the federal governments treaty obligations to the Great Sioux Nation is being pushed off to the private sector and many know that what has happened during the years of neglect and ongoing land theft by churches, schools, businesses and opportunists is an outrageous violation of history.

This facility, the Sioux San, has been a special place and, while the IHS is a white mans creation, IT IS US, says councilman Bear Shield. It is here because of us, he reminds us, the indigenous population in the west.

The tribes have said to go ahead with the project, but have also said that it must be done with care. It is important to take the time to protect the history and the clientele in the process.

Another meeting has been called for by tribal spokesperson, Willie Bear Shield who has been asked to make the arrangements. The time and place will be announced.

Contact Elizabeth Cook-Lynn at ecooklynn@gmail.com

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today

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A lecturer at the Queen Mary University of London and a reseracher is steadfast on giving a rightful burial for a sepoy from the 1857 mutiny, whom he considers was innocent.

Here's a quick background for the uninitiated:

Facebook/Gurinder Singh Mann

Whose skull is it?

The Skull is of an Indian man named Alum Bheg. He was just 32-years-old when the British army brutally murdered him by tying his body to a canon. The Britishers considered him to be behind the murder of several English missionaries and was also one of the most ill-mannered Indian sepoy.

Where was the skull found?

Facebook/Robert McAngus/Our Past Beneath Our Feet

Alum Bheg's skull was found in the year 1963 by owner of The Lord Clyde, a pub in the eastern English coastal town of Walmer in Kent. It was extremely disfigured and it also had a note stuck in one of the eye sockets, which read:

Skull of Havildar Alum Bheg, 46th Regt. Bengal N. Infantry who was blown away from a gun, amongst several others of his Regt. He was a principal leader in the mutiny of 1857 & of a most ruffianly disposition. He took possession (at the head of a small party) of the road leading to the fort, to which place all the Europeans were hurrying for safety. His party surprised and killed Dr. Graham shooting him in his buggy by the side of his daughter. His next victim was the Rev. Mr. Hunter, a missionary, who was flying with his wife and daughters in the same direction. He murdered Mr Hunter, and his wife and daughters after being brutally treated were butchered by the road side.

According to a Telegraph report, the skull was then Dr Kim Wagner, an expert in imperial history at Queen Mary University, London, who began to study it's history.

The note added that the skull had been brought back to Britain by "Captain (AR) Costello (late Capt. 7th Drag. Guards), who was on duty when Alum Bheg was executed", states the report.

In Dr Wagner's opinion, Bheg was not to be blamed for any of the deeds and the actual person behind it was a local executioner who was against the Britishers.

Wagner says that Bheg was only part of the regiment that executed such henious crimes, and that he was never really invovled in any violence.

Despite not being part of any of the murders, Alujm Bheg was murdered by the Britishers is the most brutal ways possible. So much so, his body was completely disintegrated.



That's why Dr Wagner is hell bent on getting the skull back to Indian and giving his the rightful burial.
Theres a lot about Twinkle Khanna thats inspiring and worth admiring. The Bollywood celebrity is, perhaps, the only one who has acquired the #nofilter medium of conversation and speaks her mind without any hesitation. From talking about politics to everyday life, Twinkle Khanna never minces her words.

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The producer-writer-actress was recently awarded with the FLO (FICCI Ladies Organisation) Icon Award for Excellence in Conscientious Cinema at an event at Vigyan Bhawan, where the guest of honour was President Ram Nath Kovind. She was one of the 10 women achievers lauded at the 34th annual FICCI Women's Group FLO Awards.

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Women have always been making adjustments, she says.

The problem is that women have been bending over backward in order to move forward. We are constantly doing that and it is time that we stop. Look at what has been happening in all our lives.

(Also Read: Twinkle Khanna Calls Herself The Biggest Fan Of Baba Ram Rahim, Takes A Sarcastic Dig At Him In Her Blog)

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Speaking her mind on gender inequality and questioning why its always a womans job to raise a chid, Twinkle Khanna said:

"Whether we are working women or stay-at-home women, child-raising seems to be only a woman's job. We spend 10 years of our lives running to the school, sending their lunch boxes, dressing them as dracula, Hanuman... Why should it be just a woman's job? Where are the men? Unless they are off fighting wars, they better be there."

(Also Read: From CBSE Paper Leak To Achhe Din, Twinkle Khanna Says This Fools Day, The Joke Is On Us)

PTI

It is not just social media. In the times that we live in, there is pressure from everywhere. Sometimes I do feel that 'Oh my God, am I on the right path?' But my mother has always told me that 'the reason I sprain my legs is not because of weak ligaments, but because I tend to put my foot in my mouth a lot'.

But then all my troubles have led me till here, isn't it?, she quipped.

(Also Read: Twinkle Khanna Blogs About How She Lost The Love For Train Journeys And Her Handbag)
Writing Canadian Speculative Fiction

In the April 2018 Publishing Tip, Evelyn Deshane has five tips to help you find your way into the Canadian speculative fiction scene. Evelyn Deshane's work has appeared in Plenitude Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Bitch Magazine. Their chapbook, Mythology, was released in 2015 with The Steel Chisel. Evelyn (pron. Eve-a-lyn) received an MA from Trent University and is currently studying for a PhD at Waterloo University. Visit them at: evedeshane.wordpress.com

Last year, Sandra Kasturi announced that her publishing house's reading series would not receive a grant like it had years previous. The Chiaroscuro Reading Series is a small facet of Chizine's output, but it's an important community effort which hosted some of Canada's most accomplished speculative fiction authors such as Charles De Lint and Michael Rowe. While Chizine Publishing still runs on Canadian grants, the discontinuation of the Chiaroscuro government funding demonstrates a clear genre bias in the Canada Arts world, one that Kasturi has spoken about in the past.



Canada produces distinct speculative work, but it is work that exists in a perpetual liminal state. In order for writers of speculative fiction to receive grants, awards, publications, and gather an audience, they must become fluent in both US and Canadian markets, customs, and cultures, in addition to being good writers. It means, like so many supernatural creatures, being able to navigate two distinct worlds while also being adaptable. I always felt as if I needed to pick a side as a speculative fiction author: literary recognition in Canada or genre-fame in the US.



This article is an attempt to provide a bridge between the worlds of national pride and genre cache, in hopes of carving out a spot for those who are tired of being lost in a strange place.

1. Go to conventions



This is the best advice I can give anyone who wants to enter the world of Canadian speculative fiction because so much happens at Ad Astra, Can-Con, The Toronto Speculative Fiction Colloquium, and the Limestone Genre Expo. These events are usually an array of author readings, academic and casual talks about the genre, and a place to meet and mingle with authors and Canadian publishers like EDGE, Exile Editions, Bundoran, and Chizine. There is a strong DIY-feel in many of these conferences since the organizers are usually authors (like Liz Strange of Limestone Genre Expo), publishers, or fans. Enthusiasmand insider informationabounds.

2. Talk to people. In person. And not always about your work.



When I participated in the Chiaroscuro Reading series, it was alongside well-established spec fic authors Kate Story and Fiona Patton. I was thrilled to talk to them, but the event itselfhosted by seven-time Aurora winner Derek Newman-Stillealso gave me access to a huge community of reviewers, fans, publishers, and writers who I wouldn't have met if I hadn't made the effort to talk beyond my own work. So often, the friendships formed at these events lead to bigger projects, and if they don't, you've still had an amazing conversation about Vincent Price. Be nerdy together. Embrace it.

3. Send work to Canadian markets first

On Spec is Canada's main speculative fiction magazine, but there are other avenues. One of my favourites is Lackington's Magazine, run by Ranylt Richildis. Lackington's keeps the stories online for readers as well as available for purchase as an e-book. Some literary publicationslike Agnes and Truemay not seem the like best place for speculative fiction, but they do accept 'any' genre. Challenge that listing by sending in the work that straddles the line between literary and genre fiction.

4. Enter awards



Once you've been published, it's time to nominate yourselfand other Canadiansduring awards season. In addition to the US ones like The Hugos, Nebulas, and Rhyslings for poetry, Canada has the Aurora and The Sunburst Awards. The main categories are for novel, short fiction, and poetrybut there are also awards for fan publications, fan video and song, and lifetime achievement.

5. Have fun



In my opinion, the best aspect of Canadian speculative fiction is the way in which it has fundamentally transformed the way I see Canada. Thanks to Charles De Lint and his novel Jack The Giant Killer, Ottawa is forever an underground fairy portal to another world; and through the Chiaroscuro Reading Series, I've met people who understand the allure of monsters and goblins who live down the street.

Canadian speculative fiction can seem like a lonely genre, but the community is there. Right now, it's the community of readers, writers, and fans who are keeping Chiaroscuro Reading Series afloat. Canadian spec fic writers are passionate, and the worlds we create are becoming better than ever before.

To read more about the Chiaroscuro Reading Series, go to their website: https://chizinepub.com/chiseries/about/

* * * * * * * *


She was clicked outside the central jail a few hours ago, and was trying to hide her face. Take a look:



#EXCLUSIVE -- An eye-witness in the #BlackBuckPoachingCase speaks exclusively to CNN-News18, says the actor Tabu provoked Salman Khan to pull the trigger. Listen in! #SalmanVerdict pic.twitter.com/SlYR8EwkMs  News18 (@CNNnews18) April 5, 2018



Now an eye-witness has revealed that it was Tabu who provoked Salman to shoot the blackbuck. She was the one who had asked Salman to pull the trigger.





The problem is that women have been bending over backward in order to move forward. We are constantly doing that and it is time that we stop. Look at what has been happening in all our lives.





Now, it has been revealed as to who will play the role of Sonia Gandhi in the movie. German actress Suzanne Bernert has been roped in, and she looks quite similar to the politician. Take a look at her some of her pictures below.





The movie has set another record now. It has become the first movie that people in Saudi Arabia will get to watch after 35 yeas. Due to the cinema ban in the country, no movie was screened about three decades, and now finally Black Panther will be screened there on April 18.
The website of the Ministry of Defence was on Friday evening 'hacked', reported PTI quoting officials.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman took to Twitter to say that "appropriate action" had been initiated in the matter. She added that steps would be taken to "prevent any such eventuality in the future."

Issue with the MoD website ( https://t.co/JJawys4yoB ) has been taken note of. Appropriate action has been initiated. @nsitharaman  Raksha Mantri (@DefenceMinIndia) April 6, 2018

Upon visiting, the website displayed an 'error' message and asked users to 'try again later'.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi  Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

The site also began to display - what ANI called - a 'Chinese' character, which purportedly means 'home'.
The Uttar Pradesh government has uncorked a series of changes on sale of liquor in the state, the latest on Thursday bringing down business time for booze shops by four hours.

But a tweak that will concern people in NCR the most is an amendment the government made to the liquor law late last year to stop out the practice of buying alcohol at cheaper rates from neighbouring Delhi.

The state government had in September last year made an amendment to the UP Excise Act, 1910, to bring down the import of liquor from other states.

bccl/representational image

The new law makes it a non-bailable offence to carry along more than one sealed bottle of liquor from other neighbouring states and carries a maximum punishment of five years in jail along with a fine of Rs 5,000 or ten times the revenue the state would have earned from the bottles, whichever is higher.

The rules, however, do not apply if the bottles are open.

A person is permitted to bring only a single unit of alcohol at a time into UP from other states and that too only for consumption and not sale. If more than one bottle being imported is found with the seal intact, it will be presumed it is for sale and the charges of liquor smuggling can be invoked, Ghaziabad district excise officer Gyanendra Tripathy said.

bccl/representational image

It is common practice for people in Noida and Ghaziabad to bring along liquor from neighbouring Delhi as alcohol is cheaper in the capital. Many fliers returning from the IGI airport also buy their liquor there.

On Thursday, the UP government announced that liquor shops in the state would now open only at noon and close at 10pm. The earlier business hours for liquor outlets were from 9am to 11pm. The slashing of the business hours got the thumbs up from various residentsassociations.

The intention behind reducing the hours for retail sale of liquor is noble. Residents will now be spared the hooliganism created by drunkards in the morning.

bccl/representational image

In any case, liquor sales usually pick up in the evening. However, strict vigilance is required to prohibit purchase of liquor from Delhi, particularly from vends in the border areas that open before noon, said Vinay Mittal, president of the Kaushambi Apartment RWAs.

Another section of residents had a different version. They said the reduced hours could lead to law and order problems and brawls oitside liquor outlets.

The move is welcome. Some people line up at liquor vends early in the morning and squander their earnings on alcohol. But customers are likely to purchase alcohol from the several outlets on the Delhi border and bring it to Ghaziabad for consumption, said KK Sehgal, a resident of Kaushambi.
Pakistan's foreign minister Khawaja Asif was today trolled on Twitter for alleging that actor Salman Khan was convicted in a blackbuck poaching case as he belongs to a "minority" community, reported news agency ANI.

"Salman Khan has been sentenced because he's a minority. To sentence him in a case that is twenty years old goes on to show that lives of those who are Muslims, 'untouchables' or Christians are not valued in India," said Asif in an interview to his country's Geo TV.

"Maybe if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him," he further alleged.

ap

Twitterati were not amused, with reactions on social media ranging from angry to mocking.

ap

Some users wondered if co-accused actors Saif Ali Khan and Tabu were let off because they were "Hindu" or "Brahmin," respectively...

And Saif Ali Khan let off because he's Hindu?https://t.co/jsRKY3AQut  Rohit Agarwal (@ragarwal) April 5, 2018

And Tabbu Hashmi was let off as she is a Brahmin. #MoronKwajaAsif  Rita Singh (@Rita_2110) April 5, 2018

Thankfully Saif Ali Kumar & Tabulakshmi are hindus, so they escaped this burden.  Od (@odshek) April 5, 2018

Some talked of other celebrity convictions...

Sanjay dutt was jailed   amardasbhalla (@amardasbhalla) April 5, 2018

While others sounded incredulous...

@KhawajaMAsif - Dude no wonder Pakistan is such in dire straits. Seems the qualification required to be a leader in #Pakistan, be it civilian or #Army, is a person with Brains of a Jellyfish (They have none for last 650 years now)   Satya Vats (@IndiaInnov) April 5, 2018

A Jodhpur trial court today found Khan guilty in a 1998 poaching case, while it acquitted Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu.

Jodhpur District Presiding Officer Devkumar Khatri pronounced Salman guilty of killing two blackbucks - an endangered species - during a hunting expedition near Jodhpur. A penalty of Rs 10,000 was also levied on him.

The actors were accused of hunting down the animals in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the intervening night of October 1 and 2, 1998, when they were in the city shooting for the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.

Khan had earlier pleaded innocence in the case, claiming before the court that the blackbuck died of "natural causes" and that he was being "framed".

This is the last of the three poaching cases against the actor from 1998 being heard at Jodhpur trial court. He was convicted in two poaching cases

by the trial court, only to be acquitted by the Rajasthan high court later.
A woman from Hyderabad's Telangana, who was allegedly trafficked to Dubai and later to Oman has been rescued.

The woman was hoodwinked by agents and taken to Dubai then to Oman on the pretext of providing a job. She was also allegedly tortured and harassed by her employers and agents.

"An agent offered me a job as a salesgirl in a supermarket in Dubai.

reuters/representational image

On March 18, they first sent me to Sarjah, Dubai where I was confined in an office. Later a Sheikh bought me and took to Bahrain from there I was taken to Oman and kept as a maid. The workload was heavy, I was tortured and not given adequate food, "the victim told ANI.

Later when she informed about her ordeal to her mother, her family complained the matter to the Indian embassy in Muscat and she was rescued.

ap

"I was finally rescued and I would like to thank EAM Sushma Swaraj and Indian Embassy," added the victim.
Bishnoi community is a Hindu religious sect, known for its love for nature and animals. They belong to western Rajasthan and are also found in many parts of Haryana. Reports show that in 2016, over 1,700 people who were involved in wildlife crimes in Rajasthan were arrested due to the efforts of this community. Read More

Here are the top stories of the day:

2. Beating Rajdhani Express, New Super Expressway To Help You Reach Mumbai From Delhi In 12 Hours!

Theres good news for those who love to drive. The travel time between the national capital New Delhi and the financial capital Mumbai will soon come down to 12 hours by road. Currently it takes 24 hours by road. Read More

3. Indians Under Constant Health Threat Due To Poor Antibiotic Resistance

It has been found that Indians are most affected by antibiotic resistance. The recent publication by Aetna International titled Antibiotic resistance, highlights India among as most affected by antibiotic resistance. Read More

4. Sushma Swaraj Does It Again, Rescues Hyderabad Woman Trafficked To Dubai

A woman from Hyderabad's Telangana, who was allegedly trafficked to Dubai and later to Oman has been rescued. The woman was hoodwinked by agents and taken to Dubai then to Oman on the pretext of providing a job. She was also allegedly tortured and harassed by her employers and agents. Read More

5. Chinese Workers Thrash Pak Cops For Harassing Them At China-Pakistan Project Site

In a brawl, the Chinese engineers and other staffers attacked policemen deployed for their security in Pakistans Bahawalpur-Faisalabad M4 Motorway on Wednesday. The Chinese were reportedly leaving for the red light area when the police stopped. Read More

6. MA Student Shot At In Class At Allahabad University, Accused On The Run

The incident happened on Thursday afternoon when Nagender Singh, a philosophy student, was in his classroom. A case has been registered. No one gave him chase because he was wielding a gun. Read More

Bishnoi community is a Hindu religious sect, known for its love for nature and animals. They belong to western Rajasthan and are also found in many parts of Haryana. Reports show that in 2016, over 1,700 people who were involved in wildlife crimes in Rajasthan were arrested due to the efforts of this community. Read More
Russian opposition let Putin win again

by Jeff Peters Friday Apr 6th, 2018 2:16 AM

Despite promises to make a decent stand against the ruling regime and call into question the legitimacy of Putin's re-election for a further term, Russian opposition has demonstrated fragmentary action and lack of competence in its political struggle during the presidential elections on March 18.
April 27 is National Freedom Day - UC California Celebration by Khubaka, Michael Harris

Friday Apr 6th, 2018 12:56 PM

City on A Hill Press captured the energy and success that led to April 27, 2018 - National Freedom Day

Over 1,000 demonstrators occupied Hahn Student Services in May 1977, demanding the UC divest from South Africa, which was in the midst of legislated racial discrimination known as apartheid. Racial segregation and white supremacy werent new issues, but in 1948 when the predominantly white National Party came to power, segregation became law.



Led by Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid revolutionaries protested and were met with violence from National Party supporters. Thousands died and Mandela was convicted of sabotage and charged with life in prison.



UC Santa Cruzs Coalition Against Institutional Racism organized the Hahn occupation where over 400 were arrested. This was the first of many protests, including sit-ins, rallies and mock shanty towns, that demanded the UC regents divest holdings in South African Business. In the height of apartheid protests in 1985, the UC had $1.7 in billion invested in firms operating in South Africa.



The situation is this  the university does not invest in countries, it invests based on financial considerations, said UC spokesperson at the time, Mike Alva, to City on a Hill Press.



Bart Stratton, spokesperson for the UCSC Student Divestment and Anti-Apartheid Coalition, said some students at 22 colleges across the country reported they had boycotted classes, according to the Los Angeles Times. Marches and rallies were reported at 51 other schools.



In 1978, divestment was rejected by the UC regents. The same year, a student referendum for divestment passed 5-to-1 at UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSC and UC Santa Barbara. A similar statewide petition received 10,000 signatures, yet both were ignored.



Eight years later, the UC regents met at UCSC and voted to divest from South Africa by the end of the decade. The UC became the largest public institution to take a stance on the South African apartheid.



Today represents a major victory for the movement, said Pedro Noguera, Associated Students president and an organizer anti-apartheid demonstrators during a protest at UC Berkeley. This meeting today with [the UC regents] is a clear sign they are feeling the pressure and we are having an effect.



In 1990, apartheid collapsed under the outside economic pressure from other countries and Mandela was released from prison after 27 years. He became president of South Africa in 1994. His first stop on his U.S. speaking tour was UC Berkeley, where he thanked the students for their support throughout his peoples struggle.
The figures are by no means unusual  a recent report by Aon found that, in 2017, 56% of Australian losses related to natural disasters were uninsured.

Marcus Vaughan, managing principal of growth strategies at Aon Global Risk Consulting, said both brokers and the wider insurance industry have a role to play in closing the gap.

I think there is more we can do as an industry to really understand what the risks are, what the threat landscape to a particular business is, what risks theyre exposed to, if they have their numbers right, if theyre conducting valuations and if theyre even managing their risks, said Vaughan.

While Vaughan points to Australias shell be right attitude as the reason behind some underinsurance, he also says there are plenty of astute consumers who remain inadequately covered.

Youve got prudent business people who are just not as educated as they probably need to be given all of the other priorities they have in terms of growing their business and keeping their business running, he says. Theres a real lack of education around the intricacies that come with insurance, including getting their declared values right for both property and business interruptions.

The most effective way to improve education, he says, is for brokers to spend more time with clients and really challenge them to see what could happen in a worst case scenario.

It comes down to being professionally assertive with the experience we have around the impact of having insurance versus not having insurance or having the wrong level or type of insurance, he says.

Its about sitting down with clients and having those what if? discussions around losing the life blood of a business, having those conversations with clients that arent always the easy conversations, challenging clients in terms of the decisions theyre making around insurance and the impact of those decisions, should a catastrophe or a significant event take place.

Related stories:
CBA conceded its fault to the banking royal commission. It plans to refund affected customers around $10 million.

The bank revealed it has also set aside a further $16 million to refund around 140,000 customers who bought its Personal Loan Protection (PLP) and Home Loan Protection products.

Both the CCP and PLP products were scrapped by CBA just weeks before the banking royal commissions first round of hearings in March.

During the hearings, the commission heard the bank was aware as early as 2015 that its credit insurance products were being sold improperly to unemployed customers. However, it did not notify the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) until two years later, and after ASIC was made aware of the issue by a customer.

CBA has accepted its wrongdoings, especially in failing to issue sales scripts that highlighted its policies employment exclusions. In a written statement to the commission, the bank said it breached its obligation under the Corporations Act to do all things necessary to ensure that it provided the CCP and LPP products efficiently, honestly and fairly.

Related stories:
According to the agency, the international driving permits are used to translate information from a government-issued driver license in other countries, but they are not valid for use in the US.

As the state regulator we work hard to investigate and penalize fraudulent professionals, said state insurance commissioner Andrew Stolfi. We encourage Oregonians to call our advocates any time they have a concern with any of their financial products and services, or the professionals and businesses that provide them.

KOIN News reported that the fraud came to the attention of the authorities when a driver showed the permit to a Hillsboro officer during a traffic stop. The driver told the officer that he purchased the permit from Molens agency.

Molen was indicted November 09 last year on six felony counts of first degree theft. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to one count of first degree theft and was sentenced last month to 30 days in jail, on top of probation.

The AAA and the American Automobile Touring Alliance sell legitimate international driving permits for $25.

Related stories:
Following the transaction, Seeman Holtz will be handling and servicing all of the existing life insurance business for this group of federal employees. The company said that the addition of new clientele provides an excellent opportunity for Seeman Holtz to bring their decades of life insurance expertise to thousands of federal employees across the country.

In a release, Seeman Holtz said that it continues to target high-quality independent agencies to expand its geographic footprint and broaden its presence across the country.

We are always looking for opportunities to acquire business with federal employees. This acquisition of Federal Employee Services Business is a perfect fit, commented Seeman Holtz executive vice-president and chief marketing officer Eric Holtz.

We have always had tremendous expertise with life insurance and are excited to bring our knowledge to this valuable client base. We look forward to working with thousands of federal employees across the country, added vice-president Brett Williams.

Related stories:
How does insurance come into play when a high-value object goes missing?

For expensive pieces of artwork or valuable artifacts, its always best to have a specialty fine art insurance policy, explained Joe Dunn, president and CEO at fine art insurance company, Huntington T. Block. Broad-based, competitive fine art policies in todays marketplace are able to provide coverage for a situation like this  but that has not always been the case.

When a piece of artwork goes missing, the insurance claim is usually logged initially as a mysterious disappearance, unless theres clear evidence of a robbery, a burglary or something of that nature. In the past, it was commonplace for fine art insurance policies to exclude theft or mysterious disappearance, but over time those exclusions have disappeared. By virtue of those exclusions being absent from current policies, theres an intention to cover those perils.

Risk management against the perils of theft and mysterious disappearance of objects from museums and galleries is fairly straightforward, according to Dunn. Inventory control and effective cataloguing is of the utmost importance, alongside burglar alarm systems, and CCTV.

The DeLind Fine Art Appraisals gallery did not have surveillance cameras when the Picasso print was stolen. Speaking to WITI-TV about the alleged theft, appraiser Bill DeLind said someone might have walked unnoticed through the gallerys unlocked door and swiped the valuable print while he and a business partner were upstairs.

However, the crooks work has been described as a crime of opportunity rather than a certain gateway to profit, by David Bass, member of the FBI Art Crimes Team, in discussion with FOX6 News. He told the channel: The hard part is selling it. The reason for this is that these things tend to be one-of-a-kind, unique. They could be identified.

Dunn shares Basss sentiments: It begs the question: why would somebody steal a piece of artwork? When a piece of artwork is stolen theres an entire infrastructure that exists to help with the recovery of that art. Two entities headquartered in London  The Art Loss Register and Art Recovery International  exist and run databases with a primary purpose of recovering lost or stolen artwork. They operate in tandem with the FBI and Interpol to solve and prevent cultural property crimes.

Related stories:
All of Dumortiers professionals will join Alliants real estate group in its Los Angeles office. Other terms of the transaction were undisclosed.

Alliant is well known in the real estate market for our large property placements and our unique habitational insurance programs, said Tom Corbett, chairman and CEO of Alliant. The addition of Chris Chang and the Dumortier team to Alliant adds well-known expertise in representing marquee hotel franchises and their owners. Hospitality owners count on Chris and her team to build master insurance programs that streamline coverage and significantly reduce their insurance costs.

Dumortier was founded in 2002 and represents over 200 hotel owners and developers. Its strong cultural ties to mainland China and Taiwan are seen to help Alliant succeed in its plans to expand its real estate practice beyond the United States and into Asia. The acquisition also brings in more cultural diversity into Alliant, with the new team members having Chinese, Greek, Spanish and French speakers among them.

Related stories:
Insurance Risk Services, a Sanford, Fla.-based provider of insurance inspection services and field underwriting support, is now conducting field inspections in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

These Northeast states have been added as part of the companys strategic geographic expansion. Insurance Risk Services also serves customers in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Insurance Risk Services President Dave Valenzano said in a company press release the expansion coincides with demand from the companys client base, which includes personal lines and commercial lines carriers, managing general agencies and property valuation companies.

Source: Insurance Risk Services
A Pennsylvania man has been charged with filing nearly $50,000 in fraudulent insurance claims for items allegedly lost or stolen while he was traveling around the country.

Robert Cirino of Reading, Penn., was indicted on charges of second-degree insurance fraud and third-degree theft by deception in connection with five fraudulent claims he allegedly filed seeking payouts on homeowners or renters insurance policies on properties in Jersey City, Newark and Elizabeth, N.J. The charges were contained in an indictment handed up by a state grand jury in Trenton, N.J., on Thursday.

We allege this defendant used his insurance provider like an ATM that would provide him with money any time he filed a fraudulent claim, said Acting New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Tracy M. Thompson. As this indictment shows, this kind of blatant criminal greed and exploitation of the insurance system will not be tolerated in New Jersey.

Cirino is charged with submitting five fraudulent claims to Travelers Insurance between September 2015 and February 2017. According to the indictment, Cirino, who also uses the names Rafael Diaz, Michael Cirino, Christopher Sanchez and Robert Cirino, provided fraudulent receipts, invoices and other documents in support of the fraudulent claims. Travelers Insurance paid out $27,700 on two claims but denied three others.

Cirino, who often claimed that he traveled with a wheelchair and oxygen because he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sought insurance coverage for:

A collapsible wheelchair, a book bag containing a MacBook Pro laptop computer, $500 cash, credit cards, a cell phone case and a toiletry kit containing medication allegedly lost on a Miami Airport terminal bus when the bus driver drove off before he could retrieve his belongings.

A wheelchair, a book bag containing $800 cash, credit cards, an iPhone cellular telephone, an oxygen compressor and medication allegedly stolen when a cab driver drove off with his belongings in Baltimore, Md.

An iPad tablet computer, medication, $1,000 cash and clothing allegedly left by him on a train in Chicago, Ill., and gone when he went to retrieve them.

A motorized wheel chair, an oxygen condenser, an insulin pump and insulin, an iPad Pro tablet computer and a book bag allegedly stolen when two men he accepted a ride from in Charlotte, N.C., drove away with his belongings while he was using an ATM machine.

Six MacBook Pro laptop computers he purchased as Christmas gifts allegedly stolen from the garage of a family member he was staying with in Chicago, Ill.

The indictment is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Second-degree charges in New Jersey carry a sentence of five-to-10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000. Third-degree crimes in New Jersey carry a sentence of three-to-five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000.

Submitting false claims on your homeowners or renters insurance policy to receive undeserved compensation is not only a crime, it drives up premiums and forces honest policy holders to pay more to insure their properties, said New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.

Deputy Attorney General Crystal Callahan presented the case to the grand jury. Detectives Amy Carson and John Cicchino coordinated the investigation.

Source: The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General

Topics Claims Fraud Abuse Molestation New Jersey Pennsylvania
Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. announced the appointment of Carol Jardine as president of Wawanesas Canadian property and casualty (P/C) operation. Prior to her appointment, Jardine was senior vice president and chief strategy officer, a position she assumed when joining the company in 2016.

Its an exciting time in our company as we accelerate the transformation of Wawanesa with a strategy that Carol Jardine has been instrumental in developing, said Jeff Goy, CEO of Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co.

I am truly honoured for the opportunity to lead our P/C organization at this strategic moment in time for this highly respected name in Canadian insurance, said Jardine. Among my top objectives for the business is to strengthen our relationship with the 1,700 brokerages that offer our products to Canadians. As our industry moves further into the digital age, I look forward to creating innovative partnerships with our brokers for mutual success.

In addition to her leadership role at Wawanesa in strategy development, Jardine played a key role in the acquisition of Western Financial Group and Western Life Assurance in 2017. Prior to joining Wawanesa, Jardine held executive roles at Canadian Northern Shield, TD Insurance, CUMIS Group and RSA Insurance. She was named a Fellow of Distinction by the Fellows of the Insurance Institute of Ontario in 2011.

Jardine currently serves as director of the Institute of Catastrophic Loss Reduction with a focus on climate change risk mitigation, and was the founding vice-chair of CANATICS, an industry organization dedicated to fraud identification and reduction.

In the community, Jardine has made significant contributions as a board member or adviser to multiple organizations and causes in areas such as youth opportunities, risk prevention and community health.

About Wawanesa

Founded in 1896, Wawanesa has C$3 billion (US$2.4 billion) in annual revenue and assets of more than C$9 billion (US$7.1 billion). Winnipeg-based Wawanesa Mutual is the parent company of: Wawanesa General, which offers P/C insurance in California and Oregon; Wawanesa Life, which provides life insurance products and services throughout Canada; and Western Financial Group, which distributes personal and business insurance across Western Canada.

Source: Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co.

Topics Property Casualty Canada
Facebook Inc. expressed a willingness to engage with European Union regulators in the wake of fresh evidence showing that data on most of the social networks 2 billion users could have been accessed improperly.

Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova is in touch with Facebook to arrange for high-level contacts in the coming days, her spokesman Christian Wigand told reporters at a briefing in Brussels Thursday. Wigand said the Menlo Park, California-based company contacted the EU in response to a letter from Jourova last month.

Facebook late Wednesday said data on as many as 87 million people, most of them in the U.S., may have been improperly shared with research firm Cambridge Analytica. This is Facebooks first official confirmation of the possible scope of the data leak, which was previously estimated at roughly 50 million. It has resulted in calls from legislators and policymakers for greater regulation of social media, helping to shave billions of dollars from the companys market value.

The growing scale of Cambridge Analytica, Facebook case is very worrying, 87mln people were affected, also from EU, Jourova said in a tweet Thursday. Facebook needs to step up the response and protect the European data.

Facebook said it remains strongly committed to protecting peoples information.

We have received a letter from Commissioner Jourova and we appreciate the opportunity to explain what we know, as well as to outline both the steps we have already taken and those we will take to address these challenges, the company said in an emailed statement. We are in the process of responding to the questions that the Commissioner has asked, within the two-week time-frame specified in the commissioners letter.

Zuckerberg Conference Call

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has apologized and promised to investigate whether Cambridge Analytica still holds the information it obtained from a third-party app creator and to broaden the probe to other developers who harvest data. On a conference call with reporters on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said his company didnt focus enough on preventing abuse and thinking through how people could use these tools to do harm as well.

The shares rallied after Zuckerberg stoked optimism that the drumbeat of bad news may be coming to an end.

The company has been under pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic as regulators have opened probes into what EU watchdogs called a very serious allegation with far-reaching consequences. The U.K.s Information Commissioners Office, which is leading the probe in Europe, is combing through the evidence it collected during a search of the offices of Cambridge Analytica on March 23.

Elizabeth Denham, the U.K.s privacy commissioner, said on Thursday that Facebook has been cooperating with regulators and while she welcomed the changes the company is making, she said it is too early to say whether they are sufficient under the law.

The ICO has been reviewing the use of data analytics for political purposes since May 2017 and is now investigating 30 organizations, including Facebook, Denham said. The watchdog is looking at how data was collected from a third party app on Facebook and shared with Cambridge Analytica and is also doing a broader investigation into how social media platforms were used in political campaigning, she said.

Facebook has updated its data policy to better spell out what information it collects and how the company uses it across the social network and other services like Instagram and Messenger. The company this week clarified that it scans chats sent via its Messenger service to make sure they abide by the overall terms, for example.

The policy changes come ahead of strict EU privacy rules that will kick in starting May 25 and apply to any company using or processing data on European citizens. Zuckerberg on the conference call on Wednesday said the changes under the so-called General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] are very positive.

Facebook plans to make all the same controls and settings available everywhere, not just in Europe, albeit probably not in exactly the same format everywhere, Zuckerberg said. We need to figure out what makes sense in different markets with the different laws and different places. But  let me repeat this  well make all controls and settings the same everywhere, not just in Europe.

Other EU privacy regulators also weighed in on the data scandal, with Italian authorities saying they will meet with Stephen Deadman, Facebooks deputy chief global privacy officer, on April 24.

Jourova on Thursday said she will seek updates on ongoing probes by EU and U.K. privacy watchdogs, as well as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The latest figures published by Facebook confirm that European users have also been affected, Wigand told reporters in Brussels, repeating the EUs view that the unauthorized access to and further misuse of personal data belonging to Facebook users is not acceptable.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Legislation Europe
North Dakotas Great Depression-era law banning corporate farming wont preclude horticulture operations from growing medical marijuana, provided its not done on agricultural land, the states attorney general has determined.

The state health department sought clarification from Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem on how the program voters approved in November 2016 will apply to large corporations, which are barred from owning and operating farms. The agency is in the process of accepting applications from potential marijuana growers, which might include large corporations.

The intent of the longstanding ban is to protect the states family farming heritage. Two years ago, voters overwhelmingly rejected an effort to exempt hog and dairy operations from the ban in order to boost those dying industries.

But marijuana presented a different legal dilemma. Some members of the Legislatures Administrative Rules Committee said last month that they thought lawmakers last year had made it clear that medical marijuana production was not to be considered an agricultural operation.

Stenehjem in his opinion dated Tuesday said that was done in tax law but not in the medical marijuana or corporate farming statutes. However, he said, while medical marijuana production was not specifically exempted from the legal definition of farming or ranching, there is nothing in the law requiring a medical marijuana operation to be on agricultural land.

The law requires that medical marijuana be produced in an enclosed, locked facility that does not allow the plants to be visible from the street or other public areas, Stenehjem said.

He cautioned, however, that if an operation owned or leased farmland, corporate farming may apply.

The opinion clears the way for the state to move forward with the process of registering two manufacturing facilities, said Jason Wahl, director of the Health Departments Medical Marijuana Division. Applications from potential growers are being accepted until April 19.

Sometime after that, the department will begin accepting applications from potential medical marijuana dispensaries. A draft application likely will be made available sometime this month to give potential applicants a head start, Wahl said.

Last summer, nearly 100 groups and businesses submitted nonbinding letters of intent showing interest in producing or dispensing medical marijuana.

The North Dakota Compassionate Care Act allows the use of the drug for 17 medical conditions, along with terminal illnesses. The Health Department hopes to have the drug available by late this year.

The agency in February selected a Florida-based company to implement a system to monitor the drug program. The department also is accepting proposals through April 19 from laboratory companies that want to test medical marijuana. Application periods for potential dispensaries, patients and caregivers will be announced in the coming months.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Agribusiness Cannabis North Dakota
The former head of the Washington-based Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), Tim Pawlenty, has thrown his hat into the ring in a bid to get a previous job back: that of governor of Minnesota.

Pawlenty resigned from his post at the financial services lobbying group in February amid speculation that he would run for the governors office in his home state. He previously served as Minnesotas governor from January 2003 through January 2011.

In a statement on his campaign website, Pawlenty said he would focus on charting a better way forward for Minnesota families who see health care premiums skyrocketing, paychecks not increasing very fast, college costs and student debt rising  all while government spending and taxes climb through the roof.

Stating that the government needs to be more accountable, he said he has the strength and experience to solve guguberproblems and bring Minnesotans together.

The FSR advocates for the banking, insurance, asset management, finance and credit card industries. Pawlenty joined the group in 2012 after mounting an unsuccessful bid to become the Republican nominee for president in 2012.

After dropping out of the presidential race, he served as co-chair of Mitt Romneys presidential campaign.

The Washington Post reported that a number of candidates have filed to compete in the Republican primary to be the partys gubernatorial candidate.

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton is not running for reelection after serving two terms in office. Several candidates have filed to become the Democrats candidate for the post, as well.

Related:

Topics Legislation Minnesota
The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) announced that Roy E. Wright has been selected as the next president and chief executive officer of the organization, succeeding Julie Rochman who is retiring after more than 10 years at the helm.

Wright joins IBHS from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where he most recently led the agencys resilience, risk management, risk reduction, and flood insurance programs. Wright served as chief executive for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and led the reinsurance and risk transfer program that helped financially support the NFIP in the context of 2017s record breaking storms.

The non-profit IBHS is dedicated to researching and promoting effective strategies to strengthen homes and businesses against a variety of natural hazards. IBHS is wholly supported by the property insurance industry.

Wright is expected to assume his new roles on April 25. He will be based at the IBHS Research Center in Chester County, South Carolina.

A California native, Wright has a Master of Public Administration degree from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Azusa Pacific University.

After conducting an exhaustive nationwide search, we are confident that Roy has the right blend of experience, vision, and leadership skills to accelerate IBHS progress toward tangibly reducing the terrible losses Mother Nature inflicts each year with wind, hail, wildfire and other perils, said Eric Nelson, senior vice president for CAT Strategy & Analysis at The Travelers Companies, Inc., and IBHS vice chairman. Nelson led the IBHS CEO search committee.

IBHS has only begun to realize its full, incredible potential as an organization and dynamic force for positive change, and I am honored to take the helm, Wright said. I look forward to working with IBHS members and the institutes highly talented leadership team and staff. We will continue to prove the value of resilience and encourage home and business owners to take steps large or small to reduce disaster response and recovery expenditures. Whether those costs are borne by homeowners, business owners, insurers, or a government agency at some level, we all benefit by favorably bending the cost curve and keeping the fabric of lives, commerce and society intact.

Since joining IBHS as president and CEO in late 2007, Rochman has re-oriented and grown the organization. Under her leadership, IBHS has gained new insights into structural vulnerabilities  particularly involving roofing systems  and provided information about how to strengthen both new and existing buildings.

In addition, Rochman spearheaded creation of IBHS one-of-a-kind research facility in South Carolina, which is capable of simulating hurricanes and wind storms, hail storms, wildfire ember storms, and wind-driven rain to test the strength and durability of full-scale residential and commercial building systems and materials.

IBHS is supported by the property/casualty insurance industry. Its board of directors includes representatives from leading insurers including Travelers, Nationwide, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Swiss Re, General Re, USAA and others.

Related:
Risk managers are very concerned about the cyber risks facing their companies and are heavily investing in protection against cyber attacks with the blessings of their boards and CEOs, a major shift from even just 10 years ago when convincing a company to worry about cyber was a big challenge for risk managers.

However, the new challenges for them include getting the right coverage from the insurance market and ensuring their companies have enough coverage in the event of a major breach, three risk managers on a recent panel at Advisens Cyber Risk Conference in San Francisco said.

Jimmy Kirtland, vice president of Voya Financial, said in the early 2000s, convincing CEOs or CIOs to consider cyber insurance or put proper cyber controls in place was a battle, but that is no longer the case.

I have become our CIOs best friend because I am protecting what he is protecting, he said.

Im just never sure I have the coverage that I need; that always concerns me.

The cyber insurance buying process between risk managers and the industry has also improved as the cyber market has matured.

The quality of the questions and the quality of the discussions between the insurers and the insured are much better, said Katherine Fithen, managing principal consultant for Secureworks. We know better what to talk about; we know better how to articulate what our data is, where it is, and how its protected.

Steep Learning Curve

But as the cyber market has evolved and more coverages and competition have developed, so have the threats to businesses. Companies that are newcomers to buying cyber insurance often face a steep learning curve in trying to figure out what coverages they need and how much they should buy.

David Little, senior vice president of Global Risk Management at the Las Vegas Sands Corp., said his company was a latecomer to the cyber market, buying its first cyber policy back in 2012. It wasnt until it had a significant loss a year later that the company realized the amount of coverage it had was considerably less than what it needed.

That was a wake-up call for everyone we realized we needed to get smart about this, Little said. Since that time weve realized we didnt really understand this risk and how it applied to us. Now theres a lot more work done to understand that this is a big issue for us, and we need to do what we need to do to take care of that.

Little said part of that work includes visiting the London insurance market, which he did recently, to learn about the cyber coverages currently available, as well as what risks are on the horizon that the company should be preparing for.

He said the relationship with his broker and cyber underwriters has been critical.

One of the most important things I did was that I interviewed a lot of brokers and I found someone that really matched my perspective of what I thought the future was going to be. That has made a tremendous amount of difference for us because they have been a partner with us in all of this also, he said.

Policy Differences

Christaan Durdaller, executive vice president and Cyber & Tech team lead for Atlanta-based INSUREtrust, and moderator of the Advisen risk manager panel, said there are more than 120 different players in the cyber market and that is a challenge for agents and brokers, and their customers.

I think theres still a lot of difference in each policy form and what it is designed to cover. Its important to dig into the policy and understand what it covers, Durdaller said. Each policy varies carrier by carrier and its important buyers understand that.

He said with such a knowledge gap in the cyber market and misinformation about where coverage like business interruption responds, as well as emerging risks such as reputational threat, having a relationship with a knowledgeable cyber broker has become essential for risk managers.

Fithen said protecting her company from cyber risk is a team effort across the board  from the internal operations to its insurance underwriters  and thats the way it must be.

It is a team effort now, I think weve really grown and learned to understand that, she said. Were learning to talk to each other in languages that each company can understand so we can partner with each other and really get a handle on this.

The risk managers agreed that the insurance industry also plays a vital role in helping them determine what their cyber exposures are, including when it comes to outside risks like the vendors they work with.

Supply Chain Impact

Durdaller said many companies are unaware of the data a vendor they contract with could have access to  either related to the company or its customers  and the impact of a supply chain-related breach.

When asked about what future cyber concerns keep them up a night, Kirtland said vendors getting into the company network and causing chaos is one of his main concerns, along with the ever-changing nature of cyber risk.

What keeps me up at night is the stuff were not prepared for, that we dont even know is out there, he said.

Little said his biggest concern is the incongruous nature of cyber exposures and how it overlays with his companys cyber insurance programs.

Im just never sure I have the coverage that I need, that always concerns me, he said. [And] with the advent of artificial intelligence, how its being put into so many different things, I think there might be a loss that I just cant envision right now, and Im really concerned and interested in how it evolves and affects our industry.

The risk managers opinions differ on whether the insurance industry is offering the right cyber coverages and limits to respond to companies needs, or if they are holding back for fear of large claims.

Kirtland said considering that every insurance company writing cyber is likely to get hit with a large claim at some point, he thinks the industry is doing a good job at keeping up with the risk and hitting their sweet spot in the cyber market.

But Little said he worries that many in the insurance industry dont understand the true risk, especially to the industry itself. He said there is a lot of room for improvement, particularly on the claims side, which he described as horrific.

I dont think they understand the aggregation, I dont think they understand the totality of the risk. I think theres a lot of just getting money and premium in the door, he said. Im disappointed, I think theres a lot of capital out there thats gonna get hit.

Durdaller said balancing new players in the market with those who have adequate cyber experience is a constant balance for brokers, but the good ones know which cyber markets to turn to.

Its important that you highlight to your broker whats important to you. I think you just need to be having those conversations with your broker and addressing the market accordingly, he said.

Topics Agencies Cyber Trends Market Risk Management
Chubb announced two executive appointments in its North America Insurance operations. Christopher A. Maleno has been named division president, Field Operations, and Matthew Merna has been named division president, Major Accounts. Both appointments are effective July 2.

Maleno will have responsibility for Chubbs field organization in North America, including 48 branch and regional offices in the United States and Canada. He also will be responsible for local delivery of the companys full capabilities and services to agent and broker distribution partners and managing these relationships.

Maleno, who is a Chubb Group senior vice president, most recently served as division president, North America Major Accounts.

Maleno succeeds Gerard Butler who, after more than 36 years in the industry including 27 with Chubb, will retire on July 2.

Merna will lead the Major Accounts division, Chubbs retail commercial property/casualty insurance business that serves the large corporate market in the United States and Canada. His responsibilities will include strategy, underwriting activities and results, production, and product development and management. He most recently served as chief operating officer, North America Major Accounts.

Both executives will report to John Lupica, vice chairman, Chubb Group and President, North America Major Accounts and Specialty Insurance.

Although he is retiring, Butler will continue serving Chubb in an active advisory capacity and will work closely with Maleno.

Prior to ACEs acquisition of Chubb in January 2016, Maleno served as division president of ACE USA, a position he held since 2013. He joined the company in 2007 as division president, Regional Operations for ACE USA, and also served as chief operating officer and president, ACE Casualty Risk. Maleno began his insurance career with the Chubb Corp. in 1988 and served in a number of middle market commercial lines and branch roles. He was appointed senior vice president, ACE Group, in March 2014.

Merna joined ACE in 2000. During his tenure, Merna has held various senior leadership positions, including president of the Financial Solutions division and president of ACE Risk Management. Earlier in his career, he served in a range of management roles in public accounting and at American International Group in New York and Europe.

Topics Chubb
BB&T Insurance Holdings, which is owned by financial services firm BB&T Corp., has agreed to acquire another bank-owned insurance broker, Regions Insurance Group, from Regions Financial Corp.

No terms were disclosed.

Memphis-based Regions Insurance is a mostly retail insurance broker with offices in 10 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. In 2017, it sold about $1.5 billion in premiums in property/casualty and employee benefits products to businesses.

Regions Insurance also has a wholesale insurance division, Insurisk, based in Little Rock, Arkansas, which accounts for about eight percent of its business. Insurisk is also included in the sale.

This acquisition of Regions Insurance, with its almost $2 billion in annual revenue, adds incremental balance to BB&Ts insurance business between its wholesale and retail insurance channels and further builds its footprint across core markets in the Southeast, according to BB&Ts chairman and chief executive officer, Kelly S. King.

Following this acquisition, BB&T Insurances retail network will contribute almost half of its insurance brokerage revenue. Currently about 46 percent of BB&Ts insurance business is retail and 56 percent is wholesale. For Region Insurance, 92 percent is retail. After closing, BB&Ts business profile will be 49 percent retail and 51 percent wholesale, according to figures from BB&T.

Rick Ulmer, president and chief executive officer of Regions Insurance, and other Regions Insurance associates, will join BB&T Insurance in senior leadership and other positions, according to the announcement.

This transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.

BB&T Insurance Holdings, the fifth largest insurance broker, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T Corp. BB&T Insurance Holdings operates 200 offices through subsidiaries BB&T Insurance Services, BB&T Insurance Services of California, McGriff, Seibels & Williams, CRC Insurance Services, Crump Life Insurance Services and AmRisc.

Regions entered the insurance agency business with the acquisition of Rebsamen Insurance, an Arkansas agency, in 2001. Over the next several years, Regions added numerous insurance agencies including ICT Insurance in Louisiana, Consolidated Insurance in Texas, Miles and Finch in Indiana and Barksdale Bonding and Insurance in Mississippi.

Topics Mergers Agencies
The owners of a dog that was shot and killed by a Louisiana sheriffs deputy will receive $75,000 in a settlement of their lawsuit against a sheriff who has had legal troubles.

The settlement isnt an admission of liability by Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal and Deputy Lucas Plauche, says the March 26 release signed by the dogs owners, Teddy Sonnier and his son, Brance.

Plauches body camera captured part of his August 2015 encounter with the large dog, a 2-year-old Presa Canario breed named Tank. The video captured Plauche saying, Dog, youre about the die, you understand me? Youre about to die, before chuckling.

But it ends before the deputy shot the dog in the Sonniers yard. The suit claimed Plauche and another deputy purposefully turned off their body cameras before the shooting.

The incident began when a neighbor called 911 to report the loose dog. The dog barked at the officers but wasnt growling or acting aggressively toward them, the lawsuit said. The sheriffs lawyer, however, said in a February 2017 court filing that the deputy shot the dog after it leapt at him.

The lawsuit said Plauche had been at the scene for nearly an hour before he killed Tank and could have employed non-lethal methods to restrain the dog. An animal control officer was also at the scene with a catch pole but didnt use it, the suit said.

Teddy Sonnier, 58, of New Iberia, said he and his son sued in the hopes of maybe making them think twice before they did this to another dog.

It was never about money for me and no money would ever bring my dog back, he said in an email Tuesday.

The sheriffs office fired Plauche for his untruthfulness in an unrelated incident that occurred on the same day of Tanks shooting.

Ackal and an attorney representing him and Plauche didnt immediately respond to telephone calls seeking comment.

The suit said Ackals office has a custom of tolerating officers unreasonably using deadly force against loose dogs.

In 2016, Ackal was acquitted of federal criminal charges that accused him of ordering the beatings of parish jail prisoners and orchestrating a brazen cover-up. Ten deputies pleaded guilty to related charges in a case that led to several civil lawsuits.

Earlier last month, a settlement agreement resolved a federal lawsuit against Ackal over the shooting death of a man, Victor White III, whose hands were cuffed behind his back when he died in the rear of a patrol car. A coroner ruled that White shot himself in the chest after his drug-related arrest in March 2014, but a federal magistrate judge said in an October 2017 ruling that the manner of Whites death hadnt been conclusively established.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Louisiana
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has appointed Kristi Koncaba, president and chief operating officer at Texan Bank, to the board of directors for workers compensation insurer, Texas Mutual Insurance Co.

Koncaba has 15 years of experience in commercial banking, including co-founding both Family Bancorp, Inc. and Friendswood Capital Corp., the bank holding company for Texan Bank, where she serves as executive vice president, chief operating officer and secretary.

In addition, John Swanson, president and chief executive officer of Utica Resource Ventures LLC, has been reappointed to another term on the Texas Mutual board. Swanson was first appointed to the board in May 2012 by former Gov. Rick Perry.

Source: Texas Mutual Insurance Co.

Topics Texas
Flood control engineering on the Mississippi River and its tributaries has likely made floods worse in Mississippi and Louisiana, researchers say.

Using 500 years of data from tree rings and from sediment in oxbow lakes  bends that once were part of the Mississippi River but became lakes when the river changed its path slightly  they say the river has flooded more often and poured more water into those states over the past 150 years than any previous period.

Climate change may be responsible for about one-quarter of the difference, they estimate. Engineering, such as building levees and creating a straighter, narrow channel for navigation, is likely responsible for the rest, researchers from Massachusetts, Illinois, Alabama, South Carolina, Texas and Liverpool, England, say in Wednesdays journal Nature.

Some outside scientists praised the entire paper. Others praised the paleoflood work but had doubts about the conclusion that flood engineering is the main reason floods are worse.

Lead researcher Samuel Munoz of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said he had expected to find early floods that were greater than more recent floods  not because the river was unrestrained, but because other research had covered a fairly recent period.

I just expected that, given more time, you would see events that were bigger, he said. Because theres a longer perspective, theres more chance for something really big to happen.

The researchers said climate variability, particularly the multidecade changes in the North Atlantics surface temperature, has played a big part in flooding over the centuries. However, they said, changes in such cycles would predict a much smaller increase than has occurred since 1800.

The other likely culprit is something weve done to the river or basin, Munoz said. The Mississippi River Basin drains all or part of 31 states and two Canadian provinces.

Their palaeoflood record is compelling.  And if the authors are correct, and collective efforts to subdue the Mississippi have inadvertently pushed it to rise higher than ever, then the time might have come to consider loosening its restraints, Scott St. George of the University of Minnesota wrote in a companion commentary.

However, he wrote, he thinks climate change could be the main driver behind the increased flooding. To test that, more work like Munozs is needed along the upper Mississippi and its main tributaries, he said.

Munoz said he and his colleagues are working on such studies.

We have records were working on now from the Missouri River, the Ohio River and the Arkansas River  the big tributaries of the Mississippi.  Were also doing this in the Houston area to put Hurricane Harvey into context, Munoz said.

Such work isnt possible on the upper Mississippi, where locks and dams have permanently submerged oxbow lakes, he said.

Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University, said the work linking floodiness to climate cycles over five centuries is exciting.

But the argument about river engineering as the main driver is weak, Lall said. For one thing, he said, recent floods have included some very low as well as very high floods, but small floods probably didnt leave sediment or tree ring records. The recent flood analysis also doesnt offer any formal analysis of likely causes and ignores whether increased rainfall or changes in the landscape, such as Midwestern farm drainage, might be among them, he said.

Nicholas Pinter of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale said the study confirms and underscores what he described as extensive work he and others have done about flood frequency and magnitude over the last 100 to 150 years, and modeling studies looking forward.

Its particularly notable that the study found large increases along a stretch of the Mississippi that previous research has among the LEAST impacts of river engineering on flood levels, he wrote in an email. If the same research had been completed on the Middle Mississippi, the Lower Missouri, or parts of the Upper Mississippi, the increases in flood magnitudes and frequencies would have been MUCH greater.

Munoz studied three oxbow lakes: Lake Mary, west of Woodville, Mississippi; False River Lake, northwest of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Lake St. John, in Louisiana about north-northwest of Natchez, Mississippi.

The scientists also used tree-ring data from a 2015 study by University of Alabama scientist Matthew Therrell, including three floods not described in that report.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Louisiana Flood Mississippi
A.M. Best has upgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating to bbb+ from bbb and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) of Kentucky Growers Insurance Company (KGIC) of Lexington, KY. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect KGICs balance sheet strength, which A.M. Best categorizes as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management, according to a statement from the ratings agency.

A.M. Best said the rating actions reflect KGICs considerable improvement in operating performance over the past five years, driven by its consistently positive underwriting results. Growth in policyholders surplus has been reported in each of the past five years, attributable primarily to underwriting gains.

The ratings also reflect the KGICs very strong balance sheet, driven by its risk-adjusted capitalization being at the strongest level, low loss reserve leverage, comprehensive reinsurance program with strong partners and strong liquidity measures enhanced by positive operating and underwriting cash flows.

A.M. Best noted, however, that these positive rating attributes are offset somewhat by KGICs limited financial flexibility and scale.

Additionally, KGICs business profile is limited by its single-state concentration in Kentucky, which exposes its results to frequent and severe weather-related events, as well as potential judicial, economic, competitive or regulatory challenges.

Source: A.M. Best

Topics AM Best Kentucky
A Florida law prohibiting local governments from enacting their own gun regulations is invalid and unconstitutional, according to elected officials from 10 cities suing the states governor in the aftermath of a mass shooting that left 17 people dead at a suburban high school.

The Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland has renewed criticism of the 2011 law backed by the National Rifle Association and signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

A state law to pre-empt local gun regulations was passed in 1987, but the changes made in 2011 threatened local officials with removal from office and fines of up to $5,000.

Elected officials from the 10 Miami-area cities told reporters at a news conference Monday in Weston that the law prohibits changes their constituents have asked for since the school shooting.

We get phone calls every day: What are you going to do about it? It happened in Parkland. It could happen in Miramar, said Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam.

Messam wants a new 5,000-seat amphitheater to be a gun-free venue.

In Miami Beach, Mayor Dan Gelber wants to keep guns out of City Hall. Pompano Beachs mayor wants to regulate gun shows at public facilities. Coral Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli wants to block the sale of military-style rifles within his citys limits.

The lawsuit argues that the 2011 sanctions overstep restrictions on a governors limited ability to remove a local elected official from office. It also says the law violates state rules protecting a municipal governments authority to enact laws without fear of legal penalties against local lawmakers.

The lawsuit also calls the law an unconstitutional restriction of local democracy  including the responsibility of a citys elected officials to respond to constituents petitioning for local action after the Parkland massacre.

It cites the threat of removal against Valdes-Fauli and other members of the Coral Gables City Council.

Valdes-Fauli won unanimous council support in a preliminary vote for a citywide ban on the sale of military-style rifles, but the measure was narrowly voted down March 20 after the city attorney warned of severe financial consequences under the 2011 state law.

Valdes-Fauli said Monday that the law was unconstitutional because we have the duty to regulate our zoning and public safety. The state is making it impossible for us.

Valdes-Fauli still voted for the ban, saying he thought the ordinance would help his citys legal case against the 2011 law. I believe in civil disobedience when the laws are unjust, he said.

Scott and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi are listed among the defendants in the lawsuit filed in Leon County Circuit Court.

A Scott spokesman said Tuesday the governors office was reviewing the lawsuit. A Bondi spokesman said they had not yet received it.

Broward County commissioners are expected next week to ask their attorney to sue the state and challenge the laws. The county wants to regulate accessories to firearms such as large capacity magazines and create zoning ordinances that could outlaw guns at all times in some areas such as polling places and school administration buildings.

Local residents are demanding these types of actions, said Commissioner Michael Udine, whose district includes Parkland. We should be able to make these common sense types of ordinances to deal with our local population. I think this is something people are still talking about and I think people want to see common sense regulations.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Legislation Florida
Two Sandpoint, Idaho insurance brokerages will now operate under the Alliant Insurance Services brand.

North Idaho Insurance and Summit Insurance Resources Group have a new name and central location. Both firms will assume the Alliant Insurance Services name, operating from the companys downtown Sandpoint location.

The change follows Alliants acquisition of Summit in May 2017 and North Idaho in April 2015.

North Idaho and Summits management team and staff have made the transition to Alliant and will continue to serve their client base as members of the Alliant team.

The combined firms offer a mix of insurance products and services, including commercial insurance, personal lines, employee benefits and risk management.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Alliant Insurance Services provides property/casualty, workers compensation, employee benefits, surety, and financial products and services.
Two Utah construction companies have agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a whistleblowers lawsuit alleging abuse of a federal program that helps small businesses.

The U.S. Attorneys Office says the Salt Lake City-based Big-D Construction Corp. already has paid more than $1 million and the Ogden-based Creative Times Dayschool Inc. will pay $150,000 in the coming months as part of the settlement agreement.

Neither company admits any wrongdoing or liability.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports an ex-worker at Big-D filed a whistleblower suit in federal court in 2011 accusing the firms of violating the rules of the Small Business Administration program.

The suit said Creative Times qualified for the program and was awarded a government contract, but that the majority of the work was done by Big-D, which has ineligible partly because it has more than 1,000 employees.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Construction
What Is Mendoza College of Business?

Mendoza College of Business is located at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Reverend John Francis O'Hara founded the school in 1921. It offers five undergraduate majors and eight graduate degrees. The undergraduate program is particularly well regarded. Poets & Quants rated the Mendoza College of Business as No. 5 among the best undergraduate business schools in the United States.

Key Takeaways Mendoza College of Business is located at the University of Notre Dame.

The school's MBA program enrolled 285 students in the Fall of 2020.

Students scored an average of 635 on the GMAT and had a 3.3 average GPA.

92% of the MBA students in the 2019 graduating class received offers within three months of graduation and a record salary, including bonus, of $144,536.

Graduates have pursued careers in financial services, management consulting, and technology.

How Mendoza College of Business Works

The Mendoza College of Business is named after Tom Mendoza, former president and vice chair of NetApp (NTAP), who along with his wife Kathy Mendoza donated $35 million to Notre Dame in 2000, the largest gift to the school at the time.

For Master of Business Administration (MBA) candidates, the Mendoza College of Business offers a traditional two-year program; an accelerated one-year program; a dual degree that combines an MBA with a Master of Science in business analytics; and other dual degrees that pair an MBA with fields such as law, science, and engineering. The school's Executive MBA program requires a 22-month commitment and meets on the Notre Dame campus. A two-year Executive MBA program meets in Chicago.

The undergraduate program enrolled 1,750 students in the fall of 2020. Students can major in accountancy, finance, business analytics, management consulting, and marketing. Minors are available in accountancy, digital marketing, innovation and entrepreneurship, real estate and business technology.

For undergraduate rankings, the school was rated No. 5 in the country by Poets & Quants, No. 4 in accountancy by Public Accounting Report, and No. 12 in marketing by U.S. News & World Report.

Real World Example of Mendoza College of Business

Despite its reputation for undergraduate studies, graduate-level programs at the Mendoza College of Business are ranked highly as well. Forbes rated its MBA program as 25th best among U.S. business schools in 2019. Meanwhile, U.S. News and World Report rated it 36th, while Businessweek rated it 28th best in the country. Tuition for the two-year program costs $58,030 annually.

92% of the MBA students in the 2019 graduating class received offers within three months of graduation and a record salary, including bonus, of $144,536.
What Is Property?

Property is a term describing anything that a person or a business has legal title over, affording owners certain enforceable rights over said items. Examples of property, which may be tangible or intangible, include automotive vehicles, industrial equipment, furniture, and real estatethe last of which is often referred to as "real property." Most properties hold current or potential monetary value and are therefore considered to be assets. But properties can simultaneously be liabilities in some situations. Case in point: if a customer sustains an injury on a company's property, the business owner may be legally responsible for paying the injured party's medical bills.

Key Takeaways Property is any item that a person or a business has legal title over.

Property can be tangible items, such as houses, cars, or appliances, or it can refer to intangible items that carry the promise of future worth, such as stock and bond certificates.

Intellectual property refers to ideas such as logo designs and patents.

Property owners may also have liabilities, which is the case if a business owner is on the hook for medical expenses resulting from a customer incurring an injury on his company's grounds.

Understanding Types of Property

Intangible property describes assets that represent current or potential value, but that don't carry intrinsic value themselves, such as stock and bond certificates. While these items are merely pieces of paper, they might represent significant amounts of money, once stocks are redeemed, and bonds reach their maturity. Other types of intangible property, such as a brands reputation, are more nebulous, and cannot be signified by a paper document.

Intangible properties, like design concepts, song lyrics, books, and screenplays, are categorized as intellectual properties. Even though these entities are not physical in nature, they may nevertheless carry significant value. Examples of intellectual properties include Nikes swoosh logo and the chemical formula for Coca-Cola. To enforce ownership of intangible properties, individuals and businesses typically hire lawyers to legally protect their items from infringement.

Evaluating Property Assets

When auditors, appraisers, and analysts calculate the value of a business, they factor all of its underlying property into the equation. For example, a manufacturer of small machine parts may gross just $80,000 per year, but if it owns the factory in which it operates, and that building is appraised at $1 million, the overall value of the business would be substantially higher than profits alone suggest. Furthermore, if that same company holds a patent for a part, it has the potential to generate substantial income by licensing the rights to manufacture that item to a larger business, rather then producing the part in-house. In this way, licensing deals may create lucrative revenue streams that significantly boost a companys overall value.

Establishing Net Worth Through Property

An individual's net worth may be determined by calculating the total value of the properties they own, such as real estate, cars, jewelry, stocks, bonds, and retirement savings, and then subtracting any liabilities or debts from that figure. For example, if an individual's assets include a $100,000 home, a $7,000 car, and a $65,000 IRA, the tally of their property comes to $172,000. But if that same individual is saddled with a $20,000 student loan and a $3,000 credit card bill, the total liabilities add up to $23,000. Thus, the total net worth would be $149,000 ($172,000 - $23,000).
Update 12pm: A Polish man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a homeless man in North County Dublin.

The body of Michel Kurek, who was also Polish, was found in a laneway near Ballyboughal last August.
The international significance of the Good Friday Agreement is to be discussed in Dublin today.

DCU's invited several speakers to a seminar, including the co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, Bronagh Hinds.
Sorting out Cork people...

Cmere, whats the story with Irish women and Dermot Bannon?

The old doll used to get herself done up and all on Sunday night, just to watch him on Room to Improve, as if he was going to jump out of the telly and go way-hey, baby, why not ditch Dowcha Donie there and run off with me. (In fairness, I have a thing for the blondie one in the show who do be saying, no way Dermot, that will cost loads.)

Anyway, now the show is over for another year, Im worried that myself and the old doll will have nothing to talk about.

Any ideas, like?

 Dowcha Donie, Blackpool.

I asked my sexpert nephew, Paul the Perv, about this. He said your old dolls interest in Room to Improve is basically a subtle comment on your sexual prowess. I said, keep going.

He said, I think she wants Dowcha Donie to get an extension. So maybe you should talk about that.

I recently divorced my husband, even though he pulls in the low 400s every year and is no stranger to the executive lounge in Cork Airport.

The good news is Im back in the dating game and seeing this amazing guy who owns a chain of gyms. The bad news is hes only from Ballyvolane and I always told my kids theyd be out of the will, if I ever caught them dating a norry.

Im introducing Tony (dont get me started on his name) to the kids this weekend. Do you think Id get away with telling them hes from one of the tragic parts of the southside, like Turners Cross?

 Lisa, Ballinlough, he wont let me call him Anthony.

Try Ant-nee. Ive just started an intensive 6-hour crash course for Norries who are trying to go respectable. Its called Less of the Hair Gel for Starters, Sham.

At the end of the six hours, Ant-nee will have learned a short-cut to Crookhaven and Ronan OGaras phone number. Cover up his tattoos and he might even pass for someone from Glasheen. (Its better than nothing.)

Bonjour. I live in Paris, and have noticed ads on the Metro for flights to Cork and the Wild Atlantic Way.

I have a week off next month, because it is my turn to go on strike. (Did I mention I am French?)

Do you think I will enjoy myself in this Ireland of yours?

- Annette, Paris, I have also seen mention of something called the Ancient East.

Steer clear. They had a competition to name that route and the runner-up names included Tears of Boredom, Call that a mountain! and Can I get a refund for New Ross? Worse again, it includes Dublin, which is basically an open prison with an airport.

So turn right when you come out of Cork airport and hit the Wild Atlantic Way. Its wall-to-wall, amazing peaks that are almost too good to be true. And thats just the collection of boob-jobs on display in Kinsale. Bon voyage.

Im studying medicine in U.C.C. (My mother asked me to mention that, she lives in Sundays Well.) I was doing some research on anatomy last week and ended up on a website aimed at people with a fetish for big noses.

Four hours later, I was still trawling through it, looking for the perfect partner. To cut a long story short, I think I might be hot for schnoz. Does this make me a pervert?

Aine, Sundays Well, are there other people out there with weird sexual preferences?

Absolutely. My aunt was drawn to men from Kenmare, until they changed her medication.

And like you, I once spent four hours on a fetish website aimed at people who had a thing for speech impediments. They had it organised into three different categories : stammer, lisp and Waterford accent.

So I wouldnt worry about being a pervert Aine. The truth is, there is no accounting for what turns people on. (Unless they are from Ballintemple, in which case its almost definitely money.)

Hello old stock. Hoggy and myself are licking our lips at the prospect of going to Bordeaux to watch Munster play in the European semi-final.

Or at least we were until our lovely wives told us theyd like to come too. Why they would want to watch us singing Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi at some hot French totty on a tram is beyond me. (Ill never understand women, and neither will Hoggy.)

Can you think of anything I might say to Marjorie that would put her off?

Reggie, Blackrock, she has never shown any interest in going to a match in Limerick.

Imagine. Posh Cork has only two things on its mind at the moment; a ticket for the match in Bordeaux and is it possible to get a gold-plated Dyson for over two grand to piss off my sister-in-law in Montenotte?

I asked my Posh Cousin what you should say to Marjorie. She said, tell her its France so you and Hoggy are planning to do a bit of wife-swapping.

The woman is a genius.
Kieran Cuddihy likes a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner and puts some thought into the preparation, he tells Helen OCallaghan

Kieran Cuddihys passion for journalism really kicked in when he did a stint on a Canadian community radio station.

I absolutely loved it, says the Newstalk presenter, who qualified as a solicitor in 2009. When the Kilkenny native left Ireland for Vancouver that year, the recession had really begun to bite. I just wasnt that interested in a legal career. I was looking for something new. I did general labouring jobs in Canada, but there was something about journalism, it always sounded interesting and I thought heres an opportunity to dip my toe in. I did and I loved it.

Back home in Ireland, Kieran did a masters in journalism at DCU and then a work placement at Newstalk. He hasnt left since. He regularly fills in on Newstalk Breakfast during the weekday schedule and he took the reins of new weekly current affairs show On the Record early this year.

What stories has he particularly enjoyed covering?

Perversely, Brexit. Theres a bit of understandable fatigue with it now but we had the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke in and he was really interesting, says the 35-year-old whos married to Natasha. The couple have two children: Sam, three, and Grace, one.

As a Kilkenny native, Kieran is passionate about hurling. Ive always played with the club at home, up to a few years ago. I stopped because of injury. Now Im involved in managing a team in a club at home.

Hes based in Kilkenny but commuting to Dublin isnt too tough  almost because of the frequent 4am starts.

Because of the unusual hours, Im never coming up and down in traffic.

What shape are you in?

Im in okay shape. Like everyone else, I think I could be in better shape. My sister and I did a half ironman last year. Wed both done a couple of other triathlons and at the start of the year we were looking for something to focus on for the year ahead. After the ironman we took it easy for a while. Ive been getting back into shape again recently.

What are your healthiest eating habits?

I generally eat a quite healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast might be porridge or eggs, for lunch salads and sandwiches and for dinner it could be your standard curry, spaghetti, lasagne, meat and two veg, but we do them all from scratch.

Whats your guiltiest pleasure?

All the bits in between my main meals. Im a terrible grazer. Id nibble away all day on anything. If there were biscuits or chocolate around, Id devour them. Theres no saying no.

What keeps you awake at night?

I put my head down and Im gone in a flash. But the one thing that disrupts my sleep is my children. A lot of the time one or both of them would be awake.

How do you relax?

By going out for a run or to the gym or training in the evening. When youre in the media bubble, its great to get out on the side of a pitch. Its a world away from what Im dealing with all day. Really relaxing.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Hitler and Stalin. It would be fascinating to talk to them about their decisionmaking process, about what they were thinking when different directions were taken in the War. Also Queen Elizabeth I because of the shape she had on the history of these islands and how long that lasted. And Collins and Dev. Id get them to describe what they think Irelands like now and then Id give them a rude awakening and show them exactly what its like.

Whats your favourite smell?

A brand new hurl when you just puck around for a while and then smell the bass. Its like a combination of freshly cut grass and freshly cut timber.

When did you last cry?

I honestly dont know. Im not much of an emoter.

What trait do you least like in others?

I suppose falseness. Even if you have something unkind to say, just be honest and say it.

What trait do you least like in yourself?

I can be really pass remarkable when Im people watching. My inner monologue becomes an external monologue. My wife says would you stop commenting on everyone.

Do you pray?

No, I dont. Maybe a sign Ive had too easy a life. Ill probably be one of those death-bed converts.

What cheers up your day?

Getting outdoors with the kids in good weather, particularly after such a cold, wet winter.
Later this month Kim Jong-un of North Korea and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet for the first time at the truce village of Panmunjom for talks aimed at extending the recent detente on the Peninsula.

The talks, on April 27, will pave the way for a historic summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of May.
The comments were made by Matthew Sadlier when he urged the Irish Medical Organisation (MO) to call on the Minister for Health, Simon Harris to ensure that the use of medicinal cannabis is evidence-based.

Dr Sadlier said medicinal cannabis products must be subject to the same rigorous efficacy and safety tests as other authorised medicines.

There were very useful compounds in the cannabis plant that could be used for the treatment of different conditions.

However, they must be subject to the same regulatory procedures as every other medication that is licensed today.

There should not be any short-cut legislation specifically on medical cannabis that is not evidence-based, he said at the IMOs conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Dr Sadlier said his reading of cannabis had always been that it had never been shown to be an effective medicinal product and has never been able to get past regulatory authorities.

It is a compound that I would love to be banished from the planet. It does more damage to humans than any drug that is out there, he said.

He said that, in his work as a general adult psychiatrist in north Dublin over the last five years, he could comfortably say that a third of all his patients had been referred because of cannabis.

It is a destructive, nasty, evil drug and a lot of people are trying to pretend that it does not have side-effects and that it doe not have negative consequences. It tears apart families; it tears apart lives and it tears apart our country.

The IMO also supported screening for alcohol in pregnancy to prevent Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and foetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Specialist in public health medicine at the HSE, Mary T OMahony, who proposed the motion, said its goal was to ensure every pregnant woman was helped to be alcohol-free.

Dr OMahoney said there was a large element of professional and public denial that pre-natal exposure to alcohol was causing serious brain damage.

International studies confirm that a countrys prevalence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders is related to population alcohol consumption and Ireland is estimated to have the third highest rate, she said.

Dr Matthew Sadlier has begun his presentation "Anti-depressants  A Modern Epidemic" at #IMOAGM18 #ValuingDoctors pic.twitter.com/ML5KNinrYK  Irish Medical Organisation (@IMO_IRL) April 5, 2018

It is estimated that 600 babies are born with foetal alcohol spectrum in Ireland each year with an estimated 40,000 people living with the condition. About 80% of Irish women pregnant for the first time reported consuming alcohol while pregnant.

Waterford GP Niall McNamara said that he had some concerns about screening for alcohol in pregnancy, particularly the issue of consent

Dr OMahony said that providing a sample of urine for analysis was a standard antenatal routine and it could be tested for alcohol. The test would show if a woman was drinking regularly during her pregnancy and would be intended as a health-promotion intervention.

Pre-natal alcohol exposure is the only known cause of foetal alcohol syndrome, she said and screening for alcohol in adults was a proven effective intervention.

The IMO also called on the Government and the European Commission to introduce a social media regulatory agency that will only license companies that can ensure the security of children when issuing social media accounts.
The loss of 115 car-parking slots at Morrisons Island to facilitate a planned flood relief scheme and the traffic ban on the citys main thoroughfare dominated the latest CBA meeting.

CBA chief executive Lawrence Owens said the business community welcomes the relief works planned for Morrisons Island, primarily as it is the area where flooding waters spill out into the rest of the city centre.

It is also welcome news, he said, that once the flood relief works are finished, the city council plans to carry out a major public realm enhancement scheme at Morrisons Island.

We 100% support that as the area is quite derelict and hasnt seen any improvement works in the last 50 to 60 years, he said.

Mr Owens said businesses are greatly concerned about the loss of so many central parking spaces. The city council want to remove 115 spaces which will leave about 40 or 50 on Morrisons Island. This is the single biggest removal of car parking spaces ever seen in the city.

Were concerned that this will have a knock-on effect.

The average turnover of each parking space is four times a day. That would amount to around 150,000 cars not being able to park there each year and theres no plan B coming from the city council to address this.

Mr Owens said City Hall would have to find alternative parking spaces to negate the impact of the loss of those on Morrisons Island, in the interim, until proper bus services and park-and-ride facilities are established to serve shoppers.

Issues surrounding the closure of St Patricks Street to cars from 3pm to 6.30pm daily was also raised at the midweek meeting.

There was a lot of confusion when the ban was implemented last week. I know it is a trial period and its only in the early stages, said Mr Owens.

Just for clarification the traders were meeting tonight not to keep cars in the city but to keep our customers in the city it just so happens thats how they get in.Try run a business without them and see what its like. @PhilipGillivan @Nash19Cork @pattheenglishm1 @eoinfromzone  CBA Cork (@CBA_cork) April 4, 2018

But this is a period when the schools are off and, even with less traffic coming in and out of the city, it will put additional pressure on the city quays, causing logjams.

Having surveyed the associations members seeking opinions on the car ban, Mr Owens said the CBA didnt get one positive response.

As far as we are concerned, its not working. We have written to the city manager and the director of services for roads and told them that, said Mr Owens.
Garda Des Prendergast from Gurranabraher Garda Station was on duty at North Mall, Cork, on the morning of July 1 when he observed some suspicious activity and decided to follow the accused and conduct a drugs search.

Darius Szolnis, of 49 Bracken Court, Douglas, Cork, pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing a drugs search.

The charge stated that on July 1, 2017, at Grenville Place, Cork, he obstructed a drugs search whereby, on being stopped by gardai and told that he was to be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act, he placed a large bag of suspected diamorphine in his mouth and swallowed it.

Defence solicitor Eddie Burke said the defendant did not give Garda Prendergast any abuse and did not react physically to the demand for a search.

Mr Burke said the 29-year-old was working and was also participating in a drug treatment programme through Arbour House.

Judge Olann Kelleher imposed a five-month prison sentence suspended for a period of two years on the basis that the accused would behave himself and not come to the attention of gardai in that period.

He had to previous convictions for having drugs for his own use and one for possession of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply to others.

The background to the incident at the centre of this case was that the defendant was on a bicycle and appeared to be involved in a drug transaction with another man at North Mall.

Gardai followed him and eventually stopped him at Grenville Place near the Mercy University hospital.

Garda Prendergast explained that he was about to carry out a drugs search when Szolnis swallowed the suspect material.
The Department of Justice has confirmed that Mr Flanagan spoke to Ms Hayes by phone after the Government agreed more needed to be done to rectify wrongs inflicted on the family.

The Irish Examiner understands that representatives for the Hayes family remain in touch with the Department of Justice and government officials. This follows an apology offered by the Government.

Gardai have also apologised for the stress and pain Ms Hayes and her family were put through as part of their investigation into the murder of baby John in Kerry in 1984.

Baby Johns body was discovered with multiple stab wounds on a beach outside Cahirciveen in 1984. Joanne Hayes was wrongfully charged with the babys murder, with gardai suggesting she had been pregnant by two different men and gave birth to both babies.

A subsequent tribunal examined the mishandling of the case by gardai, but it triggered public outrage.

Mr Flanagan, speaking to the Irish Examiner, refused to elaborate on his conversation with Ms Hayes, saying: I wish to make no public comment and respect the familys calls for privacy.

It is understood that the Government has been taken aback by the continued level of hurt and pain experienced by Ms Hayes and her family, decades on from the events.

Charlie Flanagan

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was told of the phone conversation between the justice minister and Ms Hayes.

It is also understood that the Department of Justice is still considering the possibility of a fresh inquiry into the garda handling of the case. Mr Flanagan said earlier this year such a probe was merited.

Sources close to the Hayes family confirmed negotiations between representatives, including their solicitor Pat Mann in Tralee, and the Department of Justice are ongoing.

Mr Varadkar apologised to Ms Hayes in January, after DNA tests finally confirmed she was not the mother of baby John.

Mr Varadkar said he wanted to reiterate the apology the gardai made to Joanne Hayes and also to make that apology on behalf of the State as well.

However, he also said: I cant offer compensation here now but its something that I think we can discuss with her representatives in the period ahead.

Sources familiar with the talks stress that the Hayes family are not pushing for a monetary settlement and are still in suffering years after the scandal and are guarding their privacy.
Highlighting the issue, Cork mum Angie Benhaffaf described how the past eight years of her twin boys lives have been a major challenge following multiple surgeries and hospital appointments.

Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf underwent a 14-hour separation operation at London University Hospital in December 2009.

Since having survived the miracle surgery, they have undergone 45 operations between them, including a number of gruelling spinal surgeries.

Three years ago they started their first day at Educate Together National School, Midleton, and they continue to bravely battle the odds after doctors initially gave them little chance of survival.

The last eight years have been a major challenge for all of us, but we will keep doing what we have to do to give our two little fighters as much normality and quality of life as we can possibly give them, said Ms Benhaffaf.

We want them to just be kids again, as they are denied so much because of all the operations, and total lack of inclusive play centres.

The Benhaffaf boys, along with the rest of their family, including their sisters Iman and Malika, yesterday began three days of fun in the Mid-West, courtesy of the Share A Dream Foundation.

Their trip began at Dreamland Limerick, Irelands first fully accessible inclusive fun centre.

Shay Kinsella, owner and founder of the Share A Dream Foundation, said he organised the special event as it was the first time in eight years the twins were free from surgeries to fully enjoy themselves.

Identical Cork twins have marked the eighth anniversary of their separation with a special play date in Limerick. Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf from Cork began the first of three days celebration at the Share a Dream specially-adapted play centre. pic.twitter.com/IcT75P3I4G  RTE News (@rtenews) April 5, 2018

Ms Benhaffaf said her boys were thrilled to celebrate their amazing milestone and miracle separation by visiting Dreamland.

"Here we can let our children live the dream of being firemen, policemen, pilots, construction workers, doctors. They can also climb the tree of life, then whizz down the magic slide."

Mr Kinsella said Dreamland is the kind of place you can only find in story books or a childs wonderful imagination where all children regardless of ability or disability can role-play together with their siblings, friends and parents.

In Dreamland we only see ability and not disability, he added.

The Benhaffaf twins later checked into the Savoy Hotel for an afternoon of pampering ahead of todays trip to Shannon Airport, where they will assume joint roles as airport operation managers.

They will also learn about becoming a pilot, before some further pampering at the Park Inn hotel, Shannon and preparation for a mega family party in Dreamland tomorrow.

Our sincere thanks to the Shannon Airport authorities, the Savoy Hotel Limerick, the Park Inn Shannon, and all the staff in Dreamland for reaching out a hand of love and friendship to two very brave young boys and their family who have suffered so much in their short but painful, traumatic young lives, said Mr Kinsella.

There are thousands of parents out there who face each day with this same challenge, to give their special children all the love and support they can to give them back their childhood and just let them enjoy life to the very best of their ability, and see their fondest dream come true, he added.

Appealing for funds, Mr Kinsella said the Share A Dream Foundation relies on donations.

Share A Dream rely totally on the community for funds so if you can help in any way please contact us, he said.

To donate contact: dreams@shareadream.ie, www.shareadream.ie or 061-200080.
The Fine Gael minister has been told time is running out and he was now in the last chance saloon because of the failure to stop the housing emergency escalating.

This is the warning from Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin OBroin who yesterday confirmed his party could table a Dail motion of no confidence in a matter of weeks.

The Dublin TD explained: The minister for housing is showing himself to be as inept as his predecessor, the figures show that. We want to see the numbers of adults and children in emergency accommodation fall.

"Is it something we will consider in the coming months if the numbers continue to go in the wrong direction? Yes, it is something we will consider.

You can view @EOBroin's "Fianna Fails Housing Hyprocrisy" document in full through the link below 

https://t.co/K91ClKMERl pic.twitter.com/GzSzfoxnID  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) April 5, 2018

Sinn Fein yesterday also released an analysis of Fianna Fails previous time in government which, it claimed, showed how the ruling party let the housing crisis escalate.

An analysis of figures by Sinn Fein revealed Fianna Fails own failings on housing over 14 years, said Mr OBroin.

During the partys last tenure in government they delivered on average 5,523 real social homes per year, he said.

During their term in office, the number of households on local authority waiting lists jumped from 27,000 to 98,000. Thats an increase of 70,891 households, representing a jump of 258%.

This was coupled with an increase in the level of rent subsidy dependence over the same period from 36,000 to 113,000, that represents an increase of 76,818 households, an increase of 209%.

In 1997 the annual cost of rent subsidies was 90m. By the end of 2011 it had increased to 620m. An increase of 588%.

Debate around housing is increasing ahead of a nationwide protest and marches this weekend, where trade unions, parties and campaigners among others will hold a national day of action.

However, Mr OBroin warned against any promises by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to fix the Governments problems.

Sinn Fein Housing spokesperson, @EOBroin, has responded to Micheal Martins criticism of current government housing policy stating it is sheer hypocrisy given his partys own record in government. pic.twitter.com/GyPJeb7bKZ  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) April 5, 2018

Fine Gael is too dependent on the private sector, he said. Fine Gael isnt building enough social housing. Micheal Martin is right.

"But the very fact that they are the same policies that he supported in government and he is facilitating in opposition means he absolutely cant be trusted on social housing and affordable housing and the private rental sector and housing more generally.

"People would do well to remember what he did last when he sat around the Cabinet table.

Quizzed if it was appropriate to be engaging in political point-scoring when 10,000 people were homeless, Mr OBroin said it was important voters knew the record of politicians.

Minster Murphy is in the last chance saloon, he needs to change direction, he said. And if he doesnt and if we see over the coming months increases, we will be looking at all options, including a motion of no confidence.

Mr OBroin said any deadline on the issue had already passed for families in emergency accommodation.
The event, which took place at the Milk Market in the city centre, featured a graphic retelling of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Parents were left incensed when an American Church, Global Ventures, then spoke of relatives who had allegedly taken their own lives.

The organisers of the festival, which was marketed as being family friendly, have distanced themselves from the performers behind the drama, saying they now regret that it slipped by our screening process.

Mary Barry Larkin, who travelled to the Good Friday drama with her three young children, said: We attended this event as a family night out of music, face-painting, and it ended in me having to console my children.

Brad Beebe, co-ordinator of the festival, said: We are saddened this slipped through and people were upset.

Ms Barry Larkin, a religion teacher at Scoil Mhuire agus Ide in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, said: I wouldnt present that drama to teenagers, it was that violent. It was lovely when we first came in  there was face-painting, a traditional band with kids dancing, she said.

However, a retelling of the crucifixion then took place, followed by a drama presentation.

It was like they were visually trying to depict the struggle between good and evil," said Ms Barry Larkin.

A guy came out on stage, dressed in black from head to toe, with a knife with red paint on it to signify blood. At the end of the night, the main character in the play, the teenage girl, was slitting her wrists.

It was at this point that she left with her children. However, as she was exiting, she said the speaker was recalling family members who had killed themselves, thrown themselves into the river due to drugs use.

It was wholly inappropriate, she said, adding her children were left struggling to sleep that night as a result.

Its not the kind of thing any family should see. But what I am more concerned at is the deception. It should have been described and made very clear so I, as a parent, had a choice in whether to go to this event or not. My children know Jesus died on the cross and rose again. But they dont need to see it in such a graphic manner, said Ms Barry Larkin.

Another parent, Damian Coughlan, tweeted: This was an evangelical event organised by a US missionary. Should this not have been advertised? Some transparency would go a long way.

@TheMilkMarket Should you not advertise the Easter Festival as being an Evangelical event organised by a U.S. missionary? Some transparency would go a long way #LimerickMilkMarket #Limerick @Limerick_Leader @limerickpost @LimerickCouncil   or Damian (@damiancou) March 30, 2018

While the festival was organised by a group of local churches and charities, this segment was delivered by Global Ventures, based in Oklahoma in Americas Bible Belt.

Mr Beebe said the presentation by Global Ventures, was not appropriate in light of the teen suicide issue in Ireland.

We wanted the event to be fun and upbeat and present the true reason for Easter and Good Friday in a way that would be entertaining, but not in a scary manner, he said.

When contacted, Global Ventures referred all queries to Mr Beebe.

The festival took place at the Milk Market, and although the venue had no part in running the event, its manager David Fitzgerald also issued an apology.
Concerns for teacher welfare were raised yesterday at the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) congress in Co Wexford, where one delegate described a case in which a student told a pregnant teacher he would kick the baby out of her.

TUI general secretary John MacGabhann said violence is not the norm in classrooms, but is a significant issue in some schools.

In some instances, school management simply do not discharge their obligations either in terms of applying their own procedures or processes, or following through on those procedures or processes or, in some instances, in terms of their obligations in terms of health and safety at work legislation, he said.

There is a consistent pattern of intimidatory behaviour, intimidatory language, inappropriate behaviour, sometimes very sexualised behaviour, inappropriate sexualised behaviour. Its often shot through with a type of misogyny as well.

I cant by any means say its always focused on women, but I think it more likely it is focused on women more of the time and it bespeaks something about society at large.

There have been some absolutely egregious attacks, some of them to the point where, in other circumstances, you would probably regard them as requiring action at law. But teachers are reluctant to take that action, and certainly school management does not in the main wish teachers to take action even, quite frankly, on occasions where they should.

Asked why management is failing to adequately discipline such students, Mr MacGabhann said no member of staff is entirely exempt from feeling intimidated, and many principals feel these students will just be recycled into schools.

What is happening in the general community does find reflection inside the school, but were not going to allow that to be the case, if what is happening outside in the general community represents a type of lawlessness, where minimum standards of respect and behaviour are simply not observed, he said. We will protect our members.

The TUI is not saying we have a generation of students who are out of control, we are saying there are some who are out of control.

Moira Leydon, Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland assistant general secretary, said the extent to which school management is overwhelmed in recent years means they are losing focus on staff wellbeing.

Its not surprising to hear that principals are sometimes doing nothing, she said.

In some cases, decisions [on disciplinary matters] arent properly communicated to staff when they havent dealt with an issue as teachers might have expected. Some principals are perceived as being weak in their response to violence by pupils.

"But in the majority of cases, its one of the priorities of the school to make teachers welfare and follow through appropriately on incidents.
Despite the express wish of some ministers for the pay of new entrant teachers to be restored, the Department of Finance is holding a hard line, saying no side deals will occur.

Government sources, speaking to the Irish Examiner, have said that a complex public sector pay deal, which is less than a year old, cannot and will not be re-opened and there will be no exceleration of the agreed rate of pay restoration.

Such a refusal to bend has heightened the chances of an autumn election with one minister saying he and his colleagues are already on a war footing and readying to face the people.

Mr Donohoe is facing increased opposition from unions and from some of his fellow ministers to his hard line.

Speaking yesterday, Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath said the restoration of pay will be a priority issue for him in the next budget and that he will be speaking to Mr Donohoe about this next Wednesday.

Minister of state for disability issues @FinianMcGrathTD says we need to protect, develop and reform the education services. We must invest in our services, develop the role of the SNA and guarantee stability. pic.twitter.com/dgBgwaObAE  Forsa trade union (@forsa_union_ie) April 5, 2018

They have gone 75% of the way on pay restoration and I think we need to make this a priority issue, he said.

I had young teachers into my clinic a few weeks ago and they were very strong, they want fairness, they want to be able to afford to rent and want to have pay restored.

Mr McGrath said he had never supported the two-tier system, adding Paschal would be aware of my view.

Asked if he would withdraw support of a budget on the basis of a lack of progress, Mr McGrath said: If there isnt major progress on this, its something that I would have to look at.

However, Mr Donohoe and his department are insistant that there can be no revision of the national pay deal that was signed last year.

The unions had the chance to make new entrants pay a core demand last year, they didnt. They had the choice to fix that issue, they didnt. It is a bit rich for them to be squealing about it now, said one senior Government figure.

The Government is also under fire from opposition TDs to restore the austerity cuts.

Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall called on the Government to wake up to the crisis in general practice and set out a timetable to reverse austerity cuts which are harming GP practices and patients.

This crisis has been looming over recent years and, due to the inaction of Government, is now coming to a head." @RoisinShortall has called on the Government to set out a timetable to reverse austerity cuts which are harming GP practices and patients https://t.co/fYonqmQwMG  Social Democrats (@SocDems) April 5, 2018

The Government must wake up to the impact on patients and GPs alike of the austerity cuts which are having a massively damaging effect on medical practices up and down the country, she said.

As yet, the Government has not provided any definite reassurance about the timescale for reversing these cuts and this is urgently required.

In a speech in Dublin yesterday, Mr McGrath warned that progress on pay restoration may be jeopardised given the increased chances of an early election this year.

He said it is now clear that Fianna Fail are preparing for a general election, especially after the reshuffle of their frontbench and the appointment of Dara Calleary as deputy leader.

They seem to be on a war footing, but the reality is we are also on a war footing, he said.

However, he warned that it would be detrimental to bring down a government or to call an election in the coming months.

I would be of the clear position that it would be absolute madness, said Mr McGrath.

Fianna Fail would find themselves in a bad position if they call an election.

The vast majority of people he speaks to are not in favour of holding a general election at this point, he added.

Mr McGrath encouraged Fianna Fail to stick to their three-budget confidence and supply agreement.
A global study found taxes on soft drinks, snacks, alcohol, and tobacco are more likely to change the lifestyle behaviour of vulnerable poorer consumers.

At the same time, most of the tax revenues would come from higher-income households.

Poorer sections of society are disproportionately affected by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) linked to lifestyle, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, said the authors.

NCDs were described as a major cause and consequence of poverty.

The findings, from a series of articles published in The Lancet medical journal, were reported shortly before a sugar tax on soft drinks comes into force in Britain today. Its introduction in Ireland has been delayed until at least May 1.

The tax is designed to hit manufacturers rather than consumers, but is likely to lead to price rises.

A task force of experts appointed by The Lancet gathered data from 13 countries around the world, all with large poor populations.

In one example, the authors cited the introduction of a soft drinks tax in Mexico which resulted in an average 4.2 litre reduction in consumption per person in 2014.

Soft drink purchases fell by 17% in lower income groups, but hardly changed among the better off.

Other research found that, in Britain, not one of the 13 countries assessed, the response to the possible introduction of a minimum price for alcohol was likely to be 7.6 times larger in poorer households than in the richest.

Rachel Nugent, from the non-profit institute RTI International in Seattle, who chaired The Lancet Taskforce on NCDs and Economics, said: Non-communicable diseases are a major cause and consequence of poverty worldwide.

Taxes on unhealthy products can produce major health gains, and the evidence shows these can be implemented fairly, without disproportionately harming the poorest in society.

However, the findings were challenged by Christopher Snowdon of Britains Institute of Economic Affairs.

The claim that poor people disproportionately benefit from these taxes is absurd, he said.

Sugar taxes have not reduced obesity rates anywhere in the world and smoking is much more prevalent among the poor than among the rich, despite decades of high taxes on tobacco.
The story is one example of the intimidation, harassment, and assault suffered by teachers that were aired at the Teachers Union of Irelands annual congress in Wexford yesterday.

Audrey Cepeda is an English teacher at a second-level school in Coolock, and chair of the Dublin City branch of the TUI. Yesterday she raised some of the indiscipline issues at schools and other educational institutions that she says are not being addressed by management.

Teachers would have objects thrown at them, nuts, bolts, cans of Coke, coins. Some might be pushed over, some maybe actually physically assaulted before anyone can intervene, said Ms Cepeda.

Sometimes it can be verbal assault, where students are in a teachers face threatening them. This is in front of their class, they cant get out of the classroom to seek help and theyre quite frightened, they dont know if it is going to escalate further.

Sometimes students might swing for teachers, they may not connect, but in some schools or centres the following school day that student could be sitting back in front of you.

Ms Cepeda said the lack of discipline sets a bad example to other students who see violent or abusive peers get away with bad behaviour.

There was a pregnant teacher who had to challenge a student due to his behaviour. He got quite aggressive, the teacher challenged him, kept very calm, told him his behaviour was not acceptable. He went for the teacher and told her  I wont use the explicit language  but that he was going to kick the baby out of the teacher.

The teacher got quite frightened and left the room. In that split second, as a teacher, youre thinking I cant leave the room because this guy is hyped up and aggressive, and I cant leave that person in that room with 20 other students, because obviously you have a duty of care to the other students.

But this teacher felt she had no other option. She left the room and the student followed. She found a side room that she locked herself into and called the school office from her mobile phone, said Ms Cepeda.

He was back in the classroom the next day. Subsequently, maybe three weeks down the line, he was suspended. But studies show that consequences need to be swift so students understand. Three weeks down the line they might have forgotten about it.

A motion put forward by Ms Cepedas branch was backed by delegates yesterday. It called on the TUI to conduct a study of members to gauge the level of work-related stress caused by a failure to properly discipline aggressive students.

Teachers are facing, sometimes on a daily basis, quite stressful situations in work, she said.

Ms Cepeda said this then leads to teachers taking sick leave due to stress  but that they are afraid to put this on their sick cert.
Mr Hallissey, who has 65 cows and 70 dry cattle, said the animals have been on silage since October.

After resorting last week to sourcing fodder locally, yesterday he collected an emergency batch from the Co-op Stores in Ballymakeera

The cows had a very long winter, he said. The supplies have run out so this hay is a lifesaver altogether.

It has been continuous bad weather. Growth is at a standstill and it is very hard to travel the land. We would normally have the cows out there from March 1.

He said the cattle were outside for a few hours yesterday but, given the heavy rainfall expected for today and the heavy showers predicted for much of the weekend, they would be inside for the rest of this week.

Mr Hallissey said the two big bales of hay he got yesterday could easily be eaten in a day by his herd.

I have a bit of silage so I will just mix it up, he said. Hopefully the weather will improve next week and the growth will pick up. It will take a few days to dry out.

He also revealed the financial impact of the prolonged bad weather.

The milking is down, the solids are down, he said. Its making a big difference.

Its a hard time for farmers, very stressful putting up with all of this.
Delegates at the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) annual congress yesterday backed an emergency motion on the issue, which has seen the union at loggerheads with the Department over consultation and funding.

The TUI say the circular, issued to Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and community post-primary schools in February, was unexpected.

The circular instructed that these schools must, from September, timetable other subjects for students who opt out of religious instruction, rather than have them sit through it at the back of the class.

However, the TUI has argued that the requirement to provide alternative tuition has been made unilaterally, without discussion with teachers, and that the department has not made any extra funding or resources available to meet the demand.

The three-day TUI conference came to its conclusion in Wexford yesterday, where delegates unanimously backed a motion calling on members not to comply with the circular until the union is satisfied that sufficient resources have been put in place.

Joe Brennan of the Kerry branch of the TUI said it was not an issue about the role of religion in schools, but one about resources.

What do we do with these kids? he asked.

We all know how hard it is to get staff, we all know how hard it is to get allocations, to get hours. Nobody has time for extra work, everybody is working flat out.

The rejection of the circular had been predicted on Wednesday by TUI president Joanne Irwin, who told Education Minister Richard Bruton that the unions members were taken aback by the circular.

We have no intention of infringing on the constitutional rights of students and their parents, and will not do so, but to ask us to draw water with a colander from a dry well is to ask for the miraculous, said Ms Irwin.

The rejection of the circular was welcomed by TUI general secretary John MacGabhann.

This was just so ham-fisted that it was extraordinary. It would be unfair to say it was typical of the department  its not. This is extraordinarily ham-fisted for the department on an issue that is extraordinarily sensitive, he said.

Mr MacGabhann said there is a suspicion that the circular was an opportunistic attempt by the Department to shift the burden for providing environments free of religious instruction onto the ETB sector to avoid a row with denominational schools.

He was also critical of the ambiguity of the wording of the circular, and said it has led to confusion as to whether it applies to religious education as well as instruction.

While religious education is an academic subject, instruction plays a part in particular faith formation.
Ms Twomey, from Aghabullogue, Co Cork, held a press conference yesterday calling on Health Minister Simon Harris to include her daughters medication under the long-term illness (LTI) scheme.

Ava, 8, has Dravets Syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy which, in the past, has led to multiple daily seizures. On one occasion, Ava suffered a heart attack after 17 seizures in an eight-hour period.

Ms Twomey successfully campaigned for Mr Harris to grant a special licence which allows Ava to receive medicinal cannabis treatments. Ms Twomey said it is the only medication that works.

However, before the licence was awarded last December, she had moved her daughter temporarily to the Netherlands, where a neurologist prescribed the treatment she had been unable to access at home.

They returned at Christmas after six months in exile, believing Avas medication would be covered under the LTI scheme, as all her previous anti-epileptic medication had been since 2010.

It has emerged, however, that the treatment was not among the products the State reimburses. Ms Twomey said the HSE and the Government told the family there was a difficulty importing it.

She said the State could not say it had a problem importing it, as Avas parents travel to the Netherlands to collect it.

The medicine costs up to 5,000 every three months, the cost of which has been met to date through a GoFundMe page and the familys own funds. Ms Twomey said epilepsy is an LTI and should be covered by the LTI scheme.

Sinn Fein TD Jonathan OBrien, who attended the press conference, said it was his understanding that to qualify for reimbursement, medicine had to be exported by a pharmacy and imported by a pharmacy and the rules and regulations in Holland dont allow that to happen.

The HSE confirmed that the importation of medicinal cannabis by a pharmacist requires an export licence from the state where it is manufactured, and a ministerial licence in Ireland to import.

The HSE said that, for some particular formulations, if an export licence is not granted by another member state, it cannot be procured by a community pharmacy in Ireland. Drugs reimbursed by the State are dispensed by community pharmacists.

Vera Twomey holding the bottles of CBD oil and THC oil for her daughter. Pic: Denis Minihane

Mr OBrien said the simple solution was for the State to change the guidelines governing reimbursement to allow the importation of Avas medication.

Ms Twomey said the HSE had suggested an alternative product that could be reimbursed, but their neurologist said Avas seizure control was extremely fragile and it would be irresponsible and dangerous to change her medication from something that is working to something that is unknown.

In a statement yesterday, Mr Harris said the legal issues involved in developing a reimbursement process for cannabis-based products for medicinal use are being examined and my officials are working to resolve this matter.

He said local restrictions in place in the Netherlands do not permit commercial export of cannabis-based oil products from that country.

However, department officials were continuing to work to establish a reliable and affordable quality controlled cannabis product supply for the Irish market.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, who put forward a bill, currently stalled, pushing for legalisation of medical cannabis, said it was ludicrous that the minister had granted a licence for a medicine that the patient was expected to collect and fund.

Solidarity TD Mick Barry said the HSE and the department had repeatedly put bureaucratic obstacles in Ms Twomeys way.
Arts Painting the Practice of Victim-Blaming in a New Light

Chuu Wai Nyeins solo exhibition at Gallery 65 in Dagon Township, Yangon, runs through Sunday.

Artist Chuu Wai Nyein will never shake the memory of the time her sister was sexually assaulted some eight years ago in Mandalay. A man groped her sister and ran away. Among Chuu Wai Nyeins many responses to the experience was a heightened interest in female identity and standing up for women.

In her new solo exhibition, One-Ten-Hundred, many of the paintings depict half-naked women; it is the artists answer to the widespread practice in Myanmar society of victim-blaming in rape cases. I dont accept that women always need to dress modestly, or that there would be no [rape] if women wore modest attire, Chuu Wai Nyein said.

I dont mean women should be able to go naked. But their dress has nothing to do with rape, she said.

Some of the works draw parallels between the court ladies of the Yadanabon Era and the current status of women in Myanmar. The Yadabanon Era refers to the reign of King Mindon in the mid- to late 19th century.

In Myanmar society, women are encouraged to wear modest attire, like their predecessors in the monarchical period, especially the Yadanabon Era, supposedly did. The era is widely considered the epitome of tradition in Myanmar and as a true Burmese cultural reference point for girls and women today.

But based on documents she has seen from the Yadanabon period, Chuu Wai Nyein believes the truth was far more complex.

Women of the Yadanabon Era were not as I had imagined, and been led to believe. While their attire reflected the unique taste of the Yadanabon Era, I also found them to be free and fashionable, she said.

It has probably been the mode of court ladies since time immemorial to wear revealing dress or go topless, Chuu Wai Nyein said. But this is just my feeling, and not based on historical research. Maybe it is not historically accurate.

Two years after the sexual assault on her sister, Chuu Wai Nyein started to draw Myanmar womentheir lives, the restraints upon them, the glass ceiling, but also their confidence and courage.

She studied with famous painters in Mandalay and Yangon while attending Mandalay Technological University.

Her grades were good enough to get into a masters degree program at the university, but she chose to do a postgraduate degree in painting at the National University of Arts and Culture in Mandalay.

The engineer-turned-artist has held three solo exhibitions focusing on Myanmar women, and plans to hold both group and solo exhibitions this year and next in New York and France.

There have been calls for women to wear modest attire. OKwell wear long-sleeved blouses and long pants. Can you guarantee women wont ever be harassed or raped? the artist asked.

Chuu Wai Nyeins solo exhibition at Gallery 65 in Dagon Township, Yangon, runs through Sunday. Paintings are available for purchase for between $150 and $850.
Asia Philippines Duterte Cites Genocide in Myanmar, Says Will Take Refugees

Rohingya refugees collect water at Hakimpara refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 21, 2018. / Reuters

MANILA  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Thursday genocide was taking place in Myanmar and he was willing to accept Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing from it, though Europe should help too.

The United Nations and rights groups say some 700,000 people, most of them Rohingya, have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since August last year when Rohingya militant attacks on the security forces sparked a military crackdown.

The United Nations and several Western countries have said the Myanmar action constitutes ethnic cleansing but Myanmar rejects that. It says its security forces have been conducting legitimate operations against terrorists.

Duterte, in a wide-ranging speech to farmers and agriculture officials at the presidential palace, touched on various issues including his recent decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court over its decision to open a preliminary investigation into his bloody war on drugs.

Drawing the ire of officials in Myanmar, Duterte then expressed sympathy for the Rohingya and offered to help.

I really pity the people there, Duterte said. Im willing to accept refugees. Rohingyas, yes. I will help but we should split them with Europe.

He also mentioned the inability of the international community to resolve problems in Myanmar.

They cant even solve the Rohingya. Thats what genocide is, if I may say so, Duterte said.

Myanmar has rejected any suggestion genocide is taking place and its government spokesman, Zaw Htay, said Dutertes comments did not reflect the real situation.

He doesnt know anything about Myanmar, Zaw Htay told Reuters. The usual behavior of that person is to speak without restraint. Thats why he said that.

Dutertes comments were broadcast live on television and later included in a transcript of his speech, issued by his office.

Such a denunciation by a Southeast Asian leader of a neighbor is rare.

Both the Philippines and Myanmar are members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, which has long upheld a convention of withholding criticism of fellow members.

Duterte did not refer by name to Myanmar leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been heavily criticized abroad for failing to stand up for the largely stateless Rohingya, only saying: That woman, she is my friend.
Burma Heritage Building Demolished to Make Way for US$500-Million High-Rise

The Mayors Residence was demolished in February by Zaykabar Company to make way for a high-rise project. The picture was likely taken in the early 2000s. / YCDC

YANGON  A British colonial-era building that appears in the Yangon City Heritage List has been torn down by a developer to make way for a construction project in Yangons Bahan Township.

The building, named The Mayors Residence, in the 13-acre compound of the now-defunct Myayeik Nyo Hotel was demolished in February by Zaykabar Company, which is developing a US$500m project on the site comprising 12 buildings with heights ranging from 382 to 412 feet.

The project on military-owned land has been suspended until the Yangon government approves its proposed safety measures for a 92-year-old reservoir nearby.

Company chairman U Khin Shwe told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that the old building needed to be demolished to pave way for the project.

It no longer exists, said the tycoon.

As the name suggests, the Mayors Residence was once home to Yangons mayors. The last resident was U Aung Thein Lin in the early 2000s.

The city municipal body, the Yangon City Development Committee, started a survey in 1996 to list buildings with heritage value across the city; as of 2001 it comprised 188 structuresmostly religious and British colonial-era buildings. The criteria for their selection was to be architecturally significant; more than 50 years old; and not under private ownership.

The demolished residence was on the list along with the Mayors Guest House, another British colonial-era Heritage-listed building in the same compound.

According to Myayeik Nyo Project director U Tun Win Han, the Guest House remains intact, but the residence was destroyed during the site-clearing process.

We are now using it as an office, he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

Yangon possesses many historical buildings constructed during its long, magnificent history. The city has the largest collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century colonial architecture in Southeast Asia.

According to the Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO advocating for heritage protection, the project area was known as Mount Pleasant during the British colonial days. Many mansions belonging to high officials, including the Mayors Residence and the Mayors Guest House and the residence of the manager of Chartered Bank, were located there.

The YHT estimates that both listed buildings are believed to have been built before 1920, based on their designs.

Both U Khin Shwe and U Tun Win Han insisted that the residence was no longer a Heritage building as it had been through several heavy renovations.

The roof and floor were replaced in the early 2000s. It was heavily damaged during Cyclone Nargis in 2008. So we renovated the entire building. Thats why it is no longer a Heritage building, U Khin Shwe said.

Yangon Heritage Trust said the demolition of the Heritage-listed Mayors Residence was a total mistake.

It is on the publicly announced list. But when it comes to Heritage buildings, we havent got any strict and precise process to ban tearing them down, said YHT director Daw Moe Moe Lwin.

Myanmar has a Heritage Building Protection Law, which was enacted in 2015. The law dictates that any building more than 100 years old is qualified to become a Heritage building.

But the law can be applied to the buildings listed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture. So its unclear whether the demolition of the Heritage building listed by the YCDC is against the law.

The YCDC was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

Daw Moe Moe Lwin of YHT rejected Zaykabars excuse.

You cant simply tear down a Heritage building because it was renovated. It doesnt reduce the value! she said.
Burma Myanmar Agrees to UN Security Council Visit; Where, When to be Decided

Gawdu Zara, a Muslim village in southern Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, is seen burning in early September. Non-Muslims were seen looting the village. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  Myanmar has given the UN Security Council permission to visit the country, including conflict-torn Rakhine State, after blocking its requests for months.

U Myint Thu, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the government has agreed to let the UN Security Council visit. But he added that critical details including exactly where and when they would travel had yet to be worked out, and that Myanmars ambassador to the UN in New York had been put in charge of those negotiations.

They proposed a trip to come here last month. U Myint Thu said. We agreed to let them come.

The ministry said delegates from neighboring countries, permanent member states of the Security Council and Singapore, as the current ASEAN chair, would join the trip.

The UN has been asking Myanmar to allow the visit since militant attacks on several security posts in northern Rakhine triggered a massive clearance operation by the military that has driven nearly 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh. The operation has generated widespread reports of arson, rape and murder by Myanmars security forces. The UN has called it a textbook example of ethnic cleansing, which the military denies.

The UN wants to send a team to northern Rakhine to investigate the alleged rights abuses. But Myanmar has repeatedly denied its requests, claiming the area was too insecure.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry now says the government wants to accommodate the UN.

To be cooperative, we will let them come to our country and we will help them with the trip. We will try our best to help them with the trip, U Myint Thu said. Based on their request, we will negotiate about when they will come and the people they want to meet, he said.

He said the delegates would also visit Bangladesh, where most of the refugees are sheltering in sprawling camps near the border.
Burma Students Fined Over Anti-War Performance

Students perform a drama deemed to be defamatory to the Myanmar Army in January 2017. / Salai Thant Zin / The Irrawaddy

PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region  The Pathein Township Court in Irrawaddy Region on Wednesday fined eight of nine students who were sued by the Myanmar Army for defamation more than a year ago.

The Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, sued nine students for defamation in January last year after they staged a drama that was critical of military clashes with ethnic armed groups during a peace discussion at the Pathein Hotel in Pathein, the capital of the Irrawaddy Region.

The students performed a satirical comedy in which a news agency called Oxygen interviewed the supporters of conflict in Myanmar. The drama was deemed to mock those who held protests in favor of the Tatmadaw.

We did not want to harm either the military or ethnic armed groups, lead organizer of the drama Ko Aung Khant Zaw told The Irrawaddy in January last year. The message of our drama is that we dont want wars.

Two students were fined 50,000 kyats each, and six others were fined 30,000 kyats each. The ninth student Myo Ko Ko failed to appear in court, and the Pathein Township Court will issue an arrest warrant for him.

The judge assumed that the script we recited during the drama did not directly refer to soldiers and their families (but was instead simply an anti-war message). So, he only imposed a fine on us, said Ko Aung Khant Zaw.

After four months of trials at the Pathein Township Court, the judge decided to charge only lead organizers Ko Aung Khant Zaw and Ko Myat Thu Htet for defamation and acquitted the seven others.

Then, the army appealed to the Pathein District Court, which overruled the verdict of the township court. The township court then heard the case again and imposed a fine.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma UN Humanitarian Affairs Team Visits Strife-Torn Maungdaw in Rakhine State

Ursula Mueller speaks with Rohingya children in northern Rakhine State on Thursday. / OCHA Myanmar Facebook

YANGON  The deputy emergency relief coordinator of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) visited northern Rakhine State on Thursday to meet with Buddhist and Muslim communities and hear their concerns.

Maungdaw District Deputy Director U Ye Htoo said Ursula Mueller arrived in the morning with a nine-member team and immediately headed for Kai Gyee village in the south, home to a community of ethnic Mro, a sub-group of the states majority Buddhist Arakanese.

Six locals from the village were killed by suspected Muslim Rohingya militants in early August, after which some 50 Mro families fled the Mayu mountain range for the surrounding lowlands.

A few weeks later, on Aug. 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked nearly 30 border police posts and a military base in northern Rakhine. The Myanmar military then launched a massive clearance operation targeting Rohingya communities that sparked widespread reports of arson, rape and murder and has driven nearly 700,000 Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh. The UN has called the militarys actions a textbook example of ethnic cleansing, and rights advocates have urged the UN Security Council to refer the countrys army leaders to the International Criminal Court.

After her visit to Kai Gyee, Mueller travelled to Pan Taw Pyin village, on the outskirts of Maungdaw town, to meet with a Muslim community, and then on to the village of Shwe Zar, a mixed community of Arakanese, Rohingya and Hindus that largely escaped last years violence, and a refugee reception camp at Hla Phoe Khaung, near Myanmars border with Bangladesh.

OCHA Myanmar spokesman Pierre Peron sent The Irrawaddy a brief statement on the trip via email in lieu of answering specific questions.

It said Mueller visited a camp for Rohingya displaced by communal violence in 2012 in the state capital, Sittwe, and that she met with both Buddhist and Muslim communities, local government officials and humanitarian aid partners on the same day.

The deputy emergency relief coordinator listened to the concerns of people in all communities and discussed ways to improve humanitarian assistance, protection and essential services, as well as livelihoods and job opportunities for all people in need, the statement said.

Her itinerary suggests the OCHA team did not reach parts of northern Maungdaw that saw the worst of last years violence, nor other villages in the area that survived at least partly intact, including Ngan Chaung, Nga Sar Kyu and Nga Khu Ya.

A Muslim resident of Ngan Chaung told The Irrawaddy by phone that villagers were being prevented from leaving without a recommendation letter from the village head.

We have been stuck here for almost seven months. We have no access to health care in town, no freedom of movement and no education for schoolchildren, he said.

The man said the village was spared the arson attacks of late 2017 but added that nearly 5,000 residents had fled fearing arrest, leaving only about 700 people behind.

During a government-led tour of Maungdaw for local journalists last week, one villager told The Irrawaddy that he was fined 200,000 kyats ($151) by border police for traveling without a permit. He said his village receives regular humanitarian assistance from the government and international aid agencies, but not enough to make up for the income they are losing out on because of the curfews and travel restrictions.

The relative calm of recent months was abruptly shaken on Wednesday when a Mro woman was hacked to death by unidentified men while she and seven others were fishing and foraging for edible plants near Kha Maung Seik Town.

Though Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in November to repatriate the Rohingya who have fled across the border since last year, the returns have yet to begin.
Guest Column Placing Spotlights Casts Shadows

Amal Clooney attends a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 21. / Reuters

Last Friday, media releases all over the English and Burmese-speaking internet reverberated with the news that top human rights lawyer Amal Clooney will join the legal team for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oos ongoing court case.

I see at least two tiers of issues going on here, recognizing that there are many others (such as the militarys cause of national security and the impunity that accompanies it, and the shameful layers of disinformation in Rakhine State).

The first is personal, the need for a timely resolution and for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to be returned to their families as soon as possible. The second is more political and relates to the way issues of political freedoms transpire in Myanmar courts and the role local lawyers are enabled to play.

The first issue is self-evident: There is no good argument justifying the prolonged incarceration of the two journalists, who have been wrongfully prosecuted under archaic laws simply for reporting the news. Yet a tension emerges with the second issue: how cases of such international interest proceed in Myanmar and how the countrys lawyers can go about their jobs.

Reuters recruitment of Amal Clooney instantly elevates the case further into global exposure. For those of us who have not been privy to Reuters strategy meetings, we can only imagine it forms part of a mission to draw more attention to the case and place additional pressure on the Myanmar government, as we will hear back from the court next week.

I am a dedicated fan of Ms. Clooney, but her involvement in this way jars with me. Some further questions need to be asked: Has the current legal team requested outside help to argue the case? Were other senior lawyers in Myanmar approached to take this case and did they refuse to do so? I ask these questions because the recruitment of a foreign lawyer risks reinforcing a misplaced assumption widely held by numerous observers in the rule of law space that local lawyers are inept at their jobs.

I spent most of 2017 living in Myanmar and researching how particular local lawyers mobilize for justice, as part of a thesis for my own studies in law. I went to central Myanmar, where I lived with a team of dedicated lawyers and activists who advocate for farmers in land-grab cases. I went to the north, near the Chinese border, where lawyers rally against military power by representing ethnic minorities embroiled in criminal proceedings. Around Yangon, I observed the daily rhythm of law offices where lawyers act for unaccompanied minors, vulnerable women and the homeless.

The fragmentation of political issues across the country leads to varying specialties for activist lawyers. Lawyers in Myitkyina aligned with the Kachin ethno-nationalist movement know the nuances of the Unlawful Associations Act far more intimately than their colleagues in Yangon. Lawyers working across the dry zone who operate in tandem with civil society organizations to advocate for farmers rights know the law of trespass extremely well. I would expect that there are numerous senior lawyers who have acted in Official Secrets Act cases  the law under which the two journalists have been charged  several times before.

Of course, the lawyers I met arguably represent the sectors elite. It would be a stretch to claim they are representative of Myanmars legal profession at large. Following the military takeover in 1962, the practice of law fell swiftly into decline. Legal education deteriorated. The bar association lost autonomy. The lawyers who speak truth to power in activist communities across the country do so in spite of decades of adverse structural conditions. In some ways they are the exception to the rule: They have been able to educate themselves when the legal education has been deficient, through mentoring relationships with the professions elders, and opportunities for career development with local and regional civil society initiatives.

These lawyers and their mentors are no strangers to grave personal risk. Many of them, or members of their immediate community, have been political prisoners. Most of them are embedded in the pro-democracy movement. Throughout the career metamorphoses of the democratic transition, some veteran activist lawyers have entered political office and now occupy seats in the state-level and national-level legislatures as NLD representatives. One politician who I met, aged in her early thirties, juggles a position in the state-level legislature with taking land rights cases pro bono in her spare time.

I include these narratives because we too easily forget the toils and quiet victories of local lawyers when our eyes turn, star-struck, to a foreign import. Some may think it is terrific Ms. Clooney is drawing more attention to the case. But I wonder, looking into the long-term ramifications, if she could be better placed to play a different role.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oos legal team have argued for the case to be dismissed on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Should this eventuate, it is more likely than not that Ms. Clooney will receive credit for their achievement. Yet it is the lawyers on the local team who have done the legwork up until this crucial moment and who shoulder all of the personal risk for their involvement in the case.

These perceptions matter because, despite millions in donor funding pledged toward strengthening rule of law in Myanmar, many foreign consultants still know very little about the lawyers in the country who have fought for political freedoms all their lives. Ms. Clooneys inclusion in Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oos legal team risks unwittingly sustaining tiresome and out-of-touch beliefs that there are no lawyers in Myanmar who are equipped to successfully advocate for justice and political freedoms of their compatriots. I would tell those tempted to think so that there are plenty.

This article was originally published online by Tea Circle on April 5.
Friday, April 6th, 2018 (4:40 pm) - Score 572

The Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has written to First Trust Bank, Ulster Bank and Danske Bank in the hope of encouraging them to help invest in improvements to local broadband connectivity. Recently online banking has become much more important due to the closure of local branches.

People who live in rural areas will no doubt be all too familiar with the issue of vanishing banks, post offices and so forth. Many such closures often end up being targeted for areas where the availability of superfast broadband is similarly considered to be weak or even non-existent, which is a tricky problem because the very use of internet banking is what has also helped to make traditional branches less sustainable (i.e. a lot of what we all once did in-branch can now be done online).

As the councils letter states (Impartial Reporter): There is a real need for improvements to broadband coverage in the rural areas and members believe that given the pursuance of banks to promote increased online banking, the institutions could possibly assist with this matter. Naturally the banks have a different interpretation and state that broadband is a matter for the government.

Ian Jordan, Non-Executive Chairman of the N.I Committee of UK Finance, said: But, technology is not for everyone, which is why all the major banks have partnered with the Post Office to help consumers and businesses do basic banking at over 11,000 Post Office branches across the UK, many of which are open outside of normal branch banking hours. I can assure you that we are fully cognisant of the issue which you raise and that our initiative with The Post Office is designed to address the needs.

Technically speaking it could perhaps be argued that some banks are already lending significant chunks of money to broadband operators (in the same way as they do for any other commercial businesses), as well as various related investment funds, and are thus already investing in the betterment of national broadband connectivity. Admittedly this isnt quite the same as handing a big chunk of cash to local authorities.

The other counter argument here is that you dont strictly need a superfast connection in order to conduct online banking (banking sites should work fine with 1-2Mbps). Plus a far bigger concern is likely to come from elderly and certain disabled users, many of which prefer to talk with a human than fiddle with unfamiliar internet connectivity (the issue of better broadband for them may be a moot point).

Actually most of us like the option of talking with a human, not only pensioners, although increasingly to get this from your bank means having to travel a fair bit further (e.g. into a larger town). Whether or not we should be expecting banks to cover at least some of the costs for new core infrastructure is at the very least an interesting debate, albeit probably not one thats likely to make much practical headway.

Meanwhile the 1.6bn+ Broadband Delivery UK programme predicts that the coverage of fixed superfast broadband (24Mbps+) networks, which currently sits at an estimated 95%+ of UK premises, could reach 98% by 2020 and theres a future 10Mbps+ USO for tackling the final 2% (enforced from 2020).

However, Northern Irelands national coverage of 24Mbps+ capable connectivity is currently closer to 86-88%, which places it well below Scotland, Wales and England. In the meantime a good place to start might be for the government of Northern Ireland to resolve its political differences and get on with the job of actually governing (easier said than done).
The chief data protection officer at a French cloud computing company says it is a pity that different countries and regions are coming up with data protection laws that are not uniform, making their implementation more complicated, especially for international companies.

Florent Gastaud (below, right), who works for France-based OVH, told iTWire that Europe's General Data Protection Regulation, which takes effect in the 28 EU states on 25 May, would mean that many countries had to legislate around data protection and notification of data breaches.

"Even though the objectives are often similar, the way these rules are applied is different. The way the Australian Notifiable Data Breaches scheme works is different from how the data breach notification requirement under the GDPR works, for example," he said.

"This lack of harmonisation is regrettable, because it makes implementing these types of law more complicated, especially for international companies."

OVH has 20 data centres housing around 260,000 machines, which are home to 18 million websites and 3.9 million domain names. Among the better known sites it hosts is WikiLeaks. The company recentlyin Australia.

Some tech writers have been complaining about the fact that WHOIS data will not be as freely available under the GDPR as it is now. Asked about this, Gastaud said the publicly accessible WHOIS data had been strongly challenged in recent years by European data protection authorities and "in particular, by the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29)".

"So we think that all registries, and especially ICANN, should come up with new models that are more respectful of privacy. This is actually what ICANN did on 28th February 2018, with its 'Calzone' model," Gastaud responded.

"The 'publicly available WHOIS' will no longer display personal data, but a 'restricted WHOIS' will permit certain people, including legal authorities, to access information about the domain name holders. We think this compromise is heading in the right direction."

Asked how the GDPR would shape new standards across most industries, including healthcare and financial services, Gastaud said by increasing the level of risk that companies faced if they did not comply with data protection laws, the GDPR would mobilise all stakeholders around these issues.

"As a result, we can expect businesses to be more and more careful about the way they handle personal data," he added. "In addition to this, the GDPR leaves open the possibility of drawing up codes of conduct that will enable its provisions to be adapted to specific business sectors.

"These codes of conduct will help establish new sets of industry standards. It is with this in mind that OVH co-founded the CISPE trade association, one of whose objectives is to create a Code of Conduct specific to the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) sector."

Regarding the Australian data breach law, which came into effect on 22 February, Gastaud said it would need some additional beefing up to have the intended effect.

"It is similar to any other requirements related to data breach notifications that already exist in other countries. Businesses should therefore implement the following," he said.

"An effective process for escalating incidents (note that this assumes the business has technical tools in place for identifying potential data breaches); procedures for dealing with data breaches; risk analysis mechanisms, in order to evaluate the impact of a breach; and appropriate communication plans."

As to the rights that the public had under these laws, Gastaud said that everyone involved had certain responsibilities.

"Governments, and more specifically the authorities in charge of enforcing data protection laws, have an essential role in raising awareness among citizens. But businesses also have a role to play, in being more transparent about the way they process citizens data," he said.
The way in which the decision by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to launch a probe into the leakage of personal information of Australians by Facebook is being reported is laughable.

Outlets, both mainstream and tech, act as though this will bring the social media behemoth to its knees and make it quake in fear.

The head of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, snubbed the British Government when it asked him to front up and answer questions in its parliament. And the same man is going to fear a probe by the largely ineffectual privacy commissioner in Australia?

Well, if anyone has hope on that count, they must list among the top optimists in this crazy world. Even Dale Carnegie would rate second to that individual.

Australia has one too many regulatory bodies, all geared towards helping big business achieve its ends. What better example of this than the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and its decision to mandate 121 points of interconnect for the national broadband network?

Building into a single PoI is an expensive business. How did the venerable head of the ACCC think a small or medium-sized ISP could afford to build into 121 PoIs in order to compete with the big boys? There was no way that was going to be possible.

That's one example to which everyone can relate as the NBN is a topic very much in the news.

Let's have a look at the stern words of the acting privacy commissioner, Angelene Falk. As an aside, it is pertinent to note that the federal government values its subjects' privacy to such an extent that it did not even ensure a smooth passage from one privacy commissioner to the next.

No, when Timothy Pilgrim made his exit, the government did nothing to fill his post. Instead, we have an acting commissioner  probably the government is waiting for a supine flunkey to manifest himself/herself before deciding to appoint a new person to the post. An upstart, someone with a mind of his/her own, will never get the job.

But back to Falk's statement. It says an investigation will be carried out to find out if Facebook violated the Australian privacy act. Note: despite all the evidence that is in the public domain, Falk still needs an investigation to find out if information has been stolen.

Yes, despite Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer making an official statement on Wednesday that the personal data of 311,027 Australians was leaked to Cambridge Analytica, we still need an investigation to verify  what?

An investigation is the best way to do something without troubling any of the political interests which are involved. How many politicians have shares in Facebook? Ah, we need to find that out first, in order to avoid rubbing anyone in power the wrong way. After all, it is public money that is used to pay for all these regulators to give us the impression that our interests are being protected.

In the words of the Charles Dickens character, Ebenezer Scrooge, "Bah, humbug."

When one is dealing with someone whose personal wealth is measured in multiple billions, a multimillion Australian dollar fine  which is what The Australian, that august organ that calls itself the voice of the nation or some such, claims Facebook may face  means nothing.

The only way to safeguard the data of an individual is to shut down Facebook completely or fine the company continuously  as no doubt the European Union will do once the General Data Protection Regulation comes in next month  until it meets the standards laid down.

Shouting out that Facebook will face an investigation is meant to placate the local media and give the government something to bleat out when its representatives are questioned.

In reality, it means nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Zip. It is just another meaningless gesture which means that life can now go on and we can all get back to business and being screwed over as usual.
A variant of the Mirai botnet is likely to have been used in attacks against one or more companies in the financial sector in January, the security firm Recorded Future claims, pointing out that this is the first time a botnet made up of Internet of Things devices has been used since Mirai.

The Mirai botnet was taken down last year and the three men behind it pleaded guilty in December.

Recorded Future's Insikt Group research unit said the botnet, which was possibly linked to another named IoTroop or Reaper, was used in an attack on 28 January which used DNS amplification and had traffic volumes peaking at 30Gbps.

Two more companies were hit the same day but Insikt said it did not have enough information to provide an indication of the strength of these attacks.

The IoTroop botnet is made up of compromised home routers, TVs, DVRs and IP cameras, made by manufacturers like TP-Link, Avtech, MikroTik, Linksys, Synology, and GoAhead. Insikt said it was probably the first time IoTroop had been used in an attack since it was identified in October last year.

Insikt said in February, the police in the Netherlands had arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of staging DDoS attacks on the technology site Tweakers and the ISP Tweak. There had been speculation that the same man was behind the January attacks but no proof had emerged as yet.

Insikt said the first attack used at least 13,000 devices, each with a unique IP address. Analysis showed that about 80% of the devices were MikroTik routers; the remainder ranged from vulnerable Apache and IIS Web servers, to routers from Ubiquity, Cisco, and ZyXEL.

"We also discovered webcams, TVs, and DVRs among the 20% of IoT devices, which included products from major vendors such as MikroTik, GoAhead, Ubiquity, Linksys, TP-Link, and Dahua," Insikt said.

It may be recalled that MikroTik routers were also targeted by the Slingshot malware that Kaspersky Lab provided details about last month and which was claimed to be an American state exploit targeting extremists.

Insikt said that many of these devices were new additions to the range that IoTroop targeted: Dahua CCTV DVRs, Samsung UE55D7000 TVs, and Contiki-based devices were previously unknown to be vulnerable to IoTroop/Reaper malware.

The researchers noted that all the compromised MikroTik devices had TCP port 2000 open; this port was normally enabled in new MikroTik devices as it is usually reserved for MikroTiks bandwidth test server protocol.

As far as the botnet controllers were concerned, Insikt said the following IPs were candidates:

98.95.228.104: 34% of all activity targeting the first financial sector company included UDP DNS requests to or from this IP.

71.68.32.251: A large amount of activity to or from the first company went to this IP.

213.160.168.18: There was no specific threat data on this IP, but it is part of a /24 range that has historically been linked to malware deployment and suspect proxies.

84.47.111.62: This is likely a top controller, based on volume and pattern analysis.

87.197.166.13 and 87.197.108.40: Large amounts of data were exchanged between these two Slovakian IPs and a couple of the controllers. These could be primary controllers, or at a minimum, one hop closer to source.

62.204.238.82: This IP was one of the 13,000 IPs originally involved in the DDoS attack. It resolves to the Czech Republic, and accounts for almost 3% of the traffic generated from our metadata analysis. During the researched window, Insikt observed this IP make repeated connections to three suspected IRC servers in France (149.202.42.174, 51.255.34.80, 5.196.26.96). All three triggered Recorded Futures predictive risk model.

Insikt said: "These attacks highlight the ongoing threat of DDoS to the financial sector from continuously evolving botnets. The similarity in device composition with the IoTroop/Reaper botnet suggests IoTroop has evolved to exploit vulnerabilities in additional IoT devices and is likely to continue to do so in the future in order to build up the botnet to facilitate larger DDoS attacks against the financial sector."
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

The aspiration for a 100% green electricity grid is no longer a dream. It is regularly being achieved in the real world for weeks or months on end. This development is absolutely crucial, since burning fossil fuels at the rate we are burning them is rapidly changing the climate in ways that seriously harm our quality of life.

In this past March, Portugal not only generated enough electricity from renewables to power the whole country for the whole month, it actually produced extra electricity this way. Portugal is constructing an underwater cable to export green electricity to Morocco, and hopes to strengthen the links of its grid to Spain and France. But the important thing is that Portugal, a country of over 10 million people, may soon regularly avoid burning fossil fuels for making electricity nationally. 100% renewables are becoming normal.

Portugal has an advantage in that some 30% of its electricity comes from hydro. Still, if it had not invested heavily in wind and in re-engineering its national grid, it would not have a chance of getting to 100% renewables. Portugal still has enormous untapped wind and solar potential, too, and the costs of both are falling.

Scotland, with over 5 million people, got 68.1 percent of its electricity from renewables last year. In 2016, the percentage of electricity from renewables was only 54%. Scotlands renewables percentage is 45% higher than the United Kingdom as a whole. Scotland is now perhaps the world leader in renewables, and has innovated recently in offshore, in-the-sea wind turbines. Much of the advance in green energy, however, has been driven by onshore wind. Britain in general also greatly increased its renewables generation last year, to over 28%, a record.

Costa Rica, a country of nearly 5 million, ran on renewables for 300 days of the past year. It has hydro and geothermal as well as having put in a lot of wind turbines. Costa Rica has a great deal of untapped solar potential, as well. There does not seem much doubt that the country can generate its electricity completely from renewables in the near future (its stated goal is 2021).

When the news broke about the 300-day record, some critics pointed out that Costa Rica still burns a lot of petroleum to fuel cars and trucks. The electricity sector is only one generator of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas. The transport sector is also key. Costa Ricas leaders heard the criticism.

The incoming president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, says he is going to decarbonize the transportation sector, making electric cars and trucks standard in the country. (He is a prominent journalist and novelist, and cleverly represented decarbonization as a national achievement on the scale of the 1948 abolition of the army). India has made a similar pledge, and this goal appears to be shared by more and more environmentally conscious countries.

In general, the world invested more in solar energy than in coal, gas, and nuclear combined last year. The Portuguese, Scottish and Costa Rican advances are not even very dependent on solar, which suggests that a whole new wave of further renewables implementation is around the corner.



Bonus video:

The Business Year: from last year: Costa Rica  Green Energy
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By Jessica Purkiss and Abigail Fielding-Smith | ( Bureau of Investigative Journalism) |  

Civil rights group calls the transparency clampdown deeply disturbing

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The US has quietly stepped up secrecy over its air wars in Afghanistan and Yemen since President Donald Trump entered office.

The American Civil Liberties Union called the new practices  discovered by the Bureau through interviews with past and present US military officials  deeply disturbing.

Towards the end of the Obama administration, US military officials began to communicate in a more transparent way with the Bureau about their counterterrorism campaigns. For over a year, the Bureau received detailed monthly reports on air strikes in Afghanistan, broken down into different types of strike.

The Pentagons Central Command (CENTCOM), meanwhile, announced its intention to launch a monthly tally of strikes in Yemen. Although this was abandoned shortly after Trump took office, Centcom continued to provide detailed information on Yemen strikes on an ad hoc basis.

By the end of 2017, specifics had started to fade out from the US militarys communications on Yemen and Afghanistan. Officials from Resolute Support, the US mission in Afghanistan, said that the Bureau would have to rely on data simply showing the number of weapons released in Afghanistan, which provides a much less clear picture of the war. A spokesman for Resolute Report explained that they no longer wanted to give so much detail to the enemy.

In February this year, a Centcom spokesman responded to a request for information on the location and casualty estimates of a spate of strikes in Yemen with a press release which simply stated the number of strikes that had occurred. The spokesman said he had been advised not to give out detailed information on strikes. Secretary Mattis has made it clear we are not providing numbers or tactics that gives our adversaries any advantage, the spokesperson said.

Support the Bureau Investigative journalism is vital for democracy. Help us to tell the stories that matter. Join our new Friends of the Bureau scheme or make a donation Find out more about supporting our work

I dont give the enemy information they could use to their advantage  Mattis

The explanations by military officials echo remarks in a press conference given by General Mattis, the US Secretary of Defense, on November 9 2017, in response to a question about troop numbers.

General Mattis said: I dont want to talk specific numbersbasically, I dont give the enemy information they could use to their advantage. He added: And Im told by some, Well, people used to do that. Thats not me.

When asked by the Bureau whether General Mattiss comments about not providing information to the enemy amounted to a formal instruction, the Office for the Secretary of Defense simply said the November remarks stand as guidance for commanders.

It is not clear whether the change in practice was as a result of Mattiss remarks, or whether they simply represent a more public expression of a new culture at the Pentagon. Nor is it clear that the new practice amounts to a formal policy.

Captain Thomas Gresback, a Resolute Support spokesperson in Afghanistan, told the Bureau that their decision to restrict the flow of information was made locallybased on the circumstances in the area of operation.

On the other hand the US military command in Africa, Africom, has said it will continue to release detailed information on strikes in Somalia, in the interests of transparency. Detailed information is also still being released about strikes in Iraq and Syria.

The restriction of information makes it harder for the Bureau to gain a proper picture of the war in Afghanistan and Yemen and hold operations in those countries to account as they increase in intensity.

A US military official derided the idea that the level of detail once provided would give the enemy an advantage.

The enemy knows a strike happened. Its ridiculous, the official told the Bureau, adding: the policy for US forces is that you can confirm what happened yesterday  thats how weve been trained.

Lack of transparency hides the costs and consequences of US legal force from the public

Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the new practice deeply disturbing.

It hides the costs and consequences of US lethal force from the public in whose name the military conducts operations, said Shamsi.

At the same time, civilians who are wrongly or mistakenly harmed say that it is the absence of transparency and accountability that weighs most heavily on them.

The amount of information made available by the Pentagon about its overseas operations has fluctuated over the years, and it could be that the practices in place since late last year are just a one swing of the pendulum.

But they resonate with a wider picture of decreasing military transparency under the Trump administration.

On 1 March 2018, the Air Force ordered an overhaul of its public affairs operations aimed at preventing the release of information deemed sensitive.

The March guidance, which was obtained by Defense News, said: In line with the new National Defense Strategy, the Air Force must hone its culture of engagement to include a heightened focus on practicing sound operational security. As we engage the public, we must avoid giving insights to our adversaries that could erode our military advantage.

Military watchdog SIGAR meanwhile reported in October last year that the US had begun to withhold data on the size and attrition (also known as churn) rate of the Afghan security forces. In January 2018, SIGAR reported that the release of other key metrics of the war in Afghanistan once available had also been restricted, including the number of districts under Taliban control. The US later said this had been a human error in labelling and released some of the data.

The clampdown comes as the use of US air power has increased  the Bureaus data shows that strikes doubled in Afghanistan and tripled in Yemen last year compared to the previous one.

Header photograph: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks with President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence following a meeting of the National Security Council at the Pentagon, July 20, 2017. From Department of Defense/Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro

Via Bureau of Investigative Journalism

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



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Africanews from last week:U.S. airstrike kills two suspected terrorists in Libya
TORONTO, April 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. (Kirkland Lake Gold or the Company) (TSX:KL) (NYSE:KL) (ASX:KLA) today announced solid quarterly production for the first quarter of 2018 (Q1 2018). A total of 147,644 ounces was produced in Q1 2018, an increase of 13% from the first quarter of 2017 (Q1 2017). Q1 2018 production exceeded target levels for the quarter, driven by record monthly production in March of 71,615 ounces, which largely reflected positive grade performance at both Fosterville and Macassa. The Company remains on track to achieve its full-year 2018 production guidance of over 620,000 ounces, with production volumes to increase in the second half of the year, including at Fosterville with the commencement of stope production from the Swan Zone. All dollar amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise noted.

During Q1 2018, the Company continued to build financial strength with cash and cash equivalents increasing $43.8 million or 19%, to $275.4 million at March 31, 2018 compared to $231.6 million at December 31, 2017.

Highlights of Q1 2018 production results:

Consolidated Q1 2018 production of 147,644 ounces, which compared to 130,426 ounces of production in Q1 2017 and record quarterly production of 166,579 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2017 (Q4 2017)

of 147,644 ounces, which compared to 130,426 ounces of production in Q1 2017 and record quarterly production of 166,579 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2017 (Q4 2017) Record quarterly production at Macassa totaling 54,038 ounces in Q1 2018, an increase of 11% from 48,723 ounces in Q1 2017 and 5% from 51,608 ounces produced in Q4 2017 (record monthly production in March 2018 of 30,319 ounces at an average grade of 27.6 g/t)

totaling 54,038 ounces in Q1 2018, an increase of 11% from 48,723 ounces in Q1 2017 and 5% from 51,608 ounces produced in Q4 2017 (record monthly production in March 2018 of 30,319 ounces at an average grade of 27.6 g/t) Solid results at Fosterville in Q1 2018 with production totaling 63,843 ounces, 39% higher than 46,083 ounces in Q1 2017 and compared to record quarterly production of 79,157 ounces in Q4 2017 (March 2018 production of 29,463 ounces at an average grade of 20.4 g/t, Fostervilles second best monthly production performance)

in Q1 2018 with production totaling 63,843 ounces, 39% higher than 46,083 ounces in Q1 2017 and compared to record quarterly production of 79,157 ounces in Q4 2017 (March 2018 production of 29,463 ounces at an average grade of 20.4 g/t, Fostervilles second best monthly production performance) Production at Holt of 16,675 ounces in Q1 2018, a 9% increase from 15,318 ounces in Q1 2017 and compared to record production of 19,263 ounces the previous quarter

of 16,675 ounces in Q1 2018, a 9% increase from 15,318 ounces in Q1 2017 and compared to record production of 19,263 ounces the previous quarter Production at Taylor of 13,055 ounces compared to 10,942 ounces in Q1 2017 and record production of 16,541 ounces in Q4 2017.

Other key developments during Q1 2018, include:

December 31, 2017 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates released

 Consolidated Mineral Reserves increased 36% to 4,640,000 ounces @ 11.1 grams per tonne (g/t)

 Fosterville Mineral Reserves increased 247% year over year, to 1,700,000 ounces @ 23.1 g/t, with a Swan Zone Mineral Reserve of 1,160,000 ounces @ 61.2 g/t

 Macassa Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2017 totaled 2,030,000 ounces @ 21.0 g/t, with Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increasing 58% to 2,090,000 ounces @ 17.1 g/t and Inferred Mineral Resources increasing 48% to 1,370,000 ounces @ 22.2 g/t

 Consolidated Mineral Reserves increased 36% to 4,640,000 ounces @ 11.1 grams per tonne (g/t)  Fosterville Mineral Reserves increased 247% year over year, to 1,700,000 ounces @ 23.1 g/t, with a Swan Zone Mineral Reserve of 1,160,000 ounces @ 61.2 g/t  Macassa Mineral Reserves at December 31, 2017 totaled 2,030,000 ounces @ 21.0 g/t, with Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increasing 58% to 2,090,000 ounces @ 17.1 g/t and Inferred Mineral Resources increasing 48% to 1,370,000 ounces @ 22.2 g/t Strong growth in earnings and cash flow for full-year 2017 reported

 Earnings from continuing operations in 2017 totaled $157.3 million ($0.76 per basic share), a 95% increase from 2016

 Cash flow from operating activities of continuing operations totaled $309.8 million, a 66% increase from 2016, while free cash flow increased 56%, to $178.0 million in 2017

 Earnings from continuing operations in 2017 totaled $157.3 million ($0.76 per basic share), a 95% increase from 2016  Cash flow from operating activities of continuing operations totaled $309.8 million, a 66% increase from 2016, while free cash flow increased 56%, to $178.0 million in 2017 Continued focus on shareholder returns

 Quarterly dividend payment of $0.02/share paid on January 15, 2018.

Tony Makuch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kirkland Lake Gold, commented: We had a solid start to 2018 and finished the first quarter with record monthly production in March of 71,615 ounces. In Canada, all our mines performed well in Q1 2018, with Macassa achieving record quarterly production and both Holt and Taylor exceeding target production levels for the quarter. In Australia, Fosterville finished the quarter ahead of plan, reflecting positive grade reconciliations, with production increasing 39% from Q1 2017. Entering the second quarter, we are very much on track to achieve our consolidated production guidance for 2018 of more than 620,000 ounces. Based on our strong performance in Q1 2018, we continued to build financial strength, with our cash position increasing 19% during the quarter to $275.4 million at March 31, 2018.

Among other key catalysts in Q1 2018 was the release of our December 31, 2017 Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates. The fact that we more than tripled Mineral Reserves at Fosterville and grew Measured and Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources at Macassa by 58% and 48%, respectively, in 2017 provides a powerful demonstration of the growth potential of our assets. Attractive organic growth is one of our key pillars of value creation. With our current business portfolio, we are poised for solid year-over-year production growth to a million ounces of annual production over the next five to seven years.

First Quarter 2018 Production Results

Q1 2018 Q1 2017 Q4 2017 Fosterville Ore Milled (tonnes) 123,669 137,788 118,877 Grade (g/t Au) 16.8 11.1 21.5 Recovery (%) 95.7 93.7 96.3 Gold Production (ozs) 63,843 46,083 79,157 Macassa Ore Milled (tonnes) 86,661 91,460 119,129 Grade (g/t Au) 19.9 17.1 13.9 Recovery (%) 97.6 97.1 96.8 Gold Production (ozs) 54,038 48,723 51,608 Holt Ore Milled (tonnes) 122,280 105,629 127,494 Grade (g/t Au) 4.5 4.8 5.0 Recovery (%) 94.8 94.9 94.9 Gold Production (ozs) 16,675 15,319 19,263 Taylor Ore Milled (tonnes) 84,464 63,289 89,297 Grade (g/t Au) 5.0 5.6 6.0 Recovery (%) 95.5 96.7 96.2 Gold Production (ozs) 13,055 10,942 16,541 Operations on Care & Maintenance1 Cosmo  Gold Production (ozs) n/a 9,092 n/a Holloway  Gold Production (ozs) 33 267 13 Gold Production (excluding operations on

care and maintenance or sold in 2017) 147,611 121,067 166,566 Total Consolidated Production (ozs)2 147,644 130,426 166,579

1) The Companys Cosmo mine in Australia was placed on care and maintenance effective June 30, 2017 (see News Release dated May 4, 2017). The Companys Holloway mine in Canada was transitioned to care and maintenance effective December 31, 2016 (see News Release dated December 12, 2016).

2) Production numbers may not add to total due to rounding.

Performance Against Full-Year 2018 Production Guidance

Macassa Holt Taylor Fosterville Consolidated 2017 Guidance (,000 ozs) 215  225 65  75 60  70 260  300 +620 Q1 2018 Production (ozs) 54,038 16,675 13,055 63,843 147,6441

1) Includes 33 ounces related to the Holloway mine



Q1 2018 production totaled 147,644 ounces, an increase of 13% from 130,426 ounces in Q1 2017. Excluding production from mines currently on care and maintenance, total consolidated production for Q1 2018 grew by 22% from 121,067 ounces in Q1 2017. Production in Q1 2018 compared to record quarterly production of 166,579 ounces in Q4 2017. The main contributor to the change in production from Q4 2017 was the impact of a greater proportion of high-grade stopes mined at the Fosterville mine during Q4 2017, consistent with the mine plan.

Review of Operating Mines

Fosterville

The Fosterville Mine produced 63,843 ounces, based on processing 123,669 tonnes at an average grade of 16.8 g/t and average mill recoveries of 95.7%. Q1 2018 production increased 39% from 46,083 ounces in Q1 2017, based on processing 137,788 tonnes at an average grade of 11.1 g/t and average recoveries of 93.7%. The increase in production compared to the same period in 2017 resulted from higher average grades, consistent with the trend at Fosterville towards improving grades at depth. Production in the Lower Phoenix system in Q1 2018 was approximately 80 metres lower than mining fronts for the same period in 2017. Q1 2018 production compared to record quarterly production of 79,157 ounces the previous quarter when a total of 118,877 tonnes were processed at an average grade of 21.5 g/t and at average recoveries of 96.3%. The quarter-over-quarter change in production mainly reflected a greater proportion of high-grade stopes in the mine plan during Q4 2017, with both quarters benefiting from positive grade reconciliations.

Macassa

The Macassa Mine achieved record quarter production in Q1 2018 of 54,038 ounces based on 86,661 tonnes milled at an average grade of 19.9 g/t and average mill recoveries of 97.6%. Q1 2018 production was 11% higher than the 48,723 ounces produced in Q1 2017, when a total of 91,460 tonnes were processed at an average grade of 17.1 g/t. The increase from Q1 2017 was primarily related to an improvement in the average grade, reflecting mining higher-grade stopes as well as the impact of favourable grade reconciliations in Q1 2018. A significant increase in the average grade more than offset reduced tonnes processed in accounting for a 5% increase in production compared to the previous quarter when Macassa produced 51,608 ounces of gold from processing 119,129 tonnes at an average grade of 13.9 g/t and with average recoveries of 96.8%.

Holt

During Q1 2018, the Holt mine produced 16,675 ounces, representing an increase of 9% from 15,319 ounces in Q1 2017, as higher mill throughput more than offset the impact of a slight reduction in the average grade year over year. Q1 2018 production compared to record quarterly production of 19,263 ounces in Q4 2017 with the change reflecting reduced tonnes processed and a lower average grade compared to the previous quarter. A total of 122,280 tonnes were processed in Q1 2018 at an average grade of 4.5 g/t and with average recoveries of 94.8%, which compared to 105,629 tonnes at an average grade of 4.8 g/t and average recoveries of 94.9% in Q1 2017 and 127,494 tonnes at an average grade of 5.0 g/t and average recoveries of 94.9% the previous quarter.

Taylor

Gold production from the Taylor Mine during Q1 2018 totaled 13,055 ounces, based on 84,464 tonnes processed at an average grade of 5.0 g/t and average recoveries of 95.5%. Q1 2018 production was 19% higher than the 10,942 ounces produced in Q1 2017, when a total of 63,289 tonnes were processed at an average grade of 5.6 g/t and average recoveries of 96.7%, and compared to record quarterly production of 16,541 ounces in Q4 2017, which resulted from processing 89,297 tonnes at an average grade of 6.0 g/t and average recoveries of 96.2%.

Qualified Persons

Pierre Rocque, P.Eng., Vice President, Canadian Operations and Ian Holland, FAusIMM, Vice President Australian Operations are qualified persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved disclosure of the technical information and data in this news release.

About Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. is a mid-tier gold producer with 2018 production targeted at over 620,000 ounces of gold from mines in Canada and Australia. The production profile of the Company is anchored by two high-grade, low-cost operations, including the Macassa Mine located in Northeastern Ontario and the Fosterville Mine located in the state of Victoria, Australia. Kirkland Lake Gold's solid base of quality assets is complemented by district-scale exploration potential, supported by a strong financial position with extensive management and operational expertise.

For further information on Kirkland Lake Gold and to receive news releases by email, visit the website www.klgold.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward looking statements and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of Kirkland Lake Gold with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions and include information regarding: (i) the amount of future production over any period; (ii) assumptions relating to revenues, operating cash flow and other revenue metrics set out in the Company's disclosure materials; and (iii) future exploration plans.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical facts but instead reflect Kirkland Lake Gold's management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although Kirkland Lake Gold believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the combined company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the future development and growth potential of the Canadian and Australian operations; the future exploration activities planned at the Canadian and Australian operations and anticipated effects thereof; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the business of Kirkland Lake Gold and market conditions. This information is qualified in its entirety by cautionary statements and risk factor disclosure contained in filings made by Kirkland Lake Gold, including its annual information form, financial statements and related MD&A for the financial year ended December 31, 2017, which are filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Although Kirkland Lake Gold has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Kirkland Lake Gold does not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information except as otherwise required by applicable law.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT

Anthony Makuch, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director

Phone: +1 416-840-7884

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mark Utting, Vice-President, Investor Relations

Phone: +1 416-840-7884

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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A hundred years ago, the practice of medicine was just that: the practice of professionals specially trained to alleviate suffering and heal the sick. Doctors had a fiduciary responsibility to put the needs of their patients before their own. A small town doctor might be paid for his efforts in chickens  living or cooked.

Flash forward.

Medicine is big business. Trillions of dollars are spent every year in the health care industrial complex that is the American health care system. Its not really a system anyway. Everyone is not guaranteed access to care, what is paid for the care is highly variable often depending upon who is paying, and the quality of the care is more variable than the many ways for which it is reimbursed.

I awoke to this in the early 1990s. Managed care was being born, and the Clintons had entered the White House with the promise of reforming health care for the betterment of all Americans. The new first lady was to be in charge of an army of health care advisors and planners who would remake the system into one where access was certain, costs were controlled, and the quality of care would improve. Hearing this I thought, I better head to business school. So I did.

On May 15, 1993, I received my masters degree from the University of Houston Executive MBA Program and soon was working on strategic planning for the massive academic health care delivery system whose faculty I was on.

It became very clear, very fast that medicine was not following any of the principles I had committed to memory in my strategic planning class. Chief among those was the Michael Porter four-box model of strategic planning in which every company was either a broad market or niche competitor that chose a product differentiation strategy of high quality and associated higher prices, or a low-cost leader that competed on price. Did medicine obey these rules?

Not a chance.

I was working at a major academic center. By definition, it was competing on a product differentiation .. niche market strategy. It was a cancer center. It was not seeking patients needing heart transplants. Nonetheless, for a variety of historical reasons, it had thrown its front doors wide open to every patient with cancer wishing to be seen, whether or not they could be helped by the faculty or whether or not they could further the facultys research through participation in a clinical trial. In other words, its stated strategy, like that of many academic centers was Tiffany & Co., but it behaved like Walmart.

These academic centers continued to grow. Their indirect costs (buildings and people) grew, and thus the need for greater patient volumes was constant.

I was leading a strategic planning effort when no one for whom I was working wanted to plan anything.

I had received a business degree but was being largely ignored by people who had no idea that they were running a business.

They do now. For like many academic centers, the one for which I worked ran into some serious financial shortfalls along the way, although it has recovered.

What does this have to do with health care reform? Everything.

Until academic centers right size their faculties, staffs and physical plants, they will constantly push to grow their volumes. This will put them in competition with private practitioners who are also developing ways to curtail costs and maximize profit. There is a place for the academic center  research, training and patient care, too, but not everyone needs to go to one.

A major academic cancer center is not needed to care for patients with routine common cancers  if that care can be obtained in communities. Many centers are developing community-based centers to do just that. But then they have to shrink their main campuses and move routine care to sites where overhead is lower because education and research are done only at the mothership.

Such a system would get all patients the access they need at reasonable prices due to controlling of costs  mostly indirect costs. Quality in one location would be measured differently than quality at another. But in all locations, the number one metric of quality is outcome  not free parking, polite staff, the latest magazines or a Starbucks in the lobby. Those extras are fine, but lets get back to first principles and make note of true measures of quality. Those measures ought to be available to all patients on a website so people can shop for their care as easily as they shop for a cell phone while knowing as much about their care as they do about that cell phone.

Its just common sense. And you didnt have to go to business school to learn it.

Leonard Zwelling is an internal medicine physician and can be reached at his self-titled site, Dr. Len Zwelling.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
The Mooncoin Midnight Walk will take place on Friday, April 6 for a Kilkenny native facing a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Given just 12 months to live by her oncologists, Vicky Phelan set up a GoFundMe page which has raised over 160,000 since February 13 of this year to help pay for treatment.

Vicky  who currently lives in Annacotty in Limerick but is originally from Mooncoin needs the money to meet the exorbitant costs of a clinical trial in the US.

The fundraiser for her will take place midnight from the Rose of Mooncoin Car Park.

All proceeds will go to the Vicky Phelan Fund and there will be music, refreshments and a raffle on the night.

Registration is from 9.30pm.

10 for registration and children are free once accompanied by an adult.

Vicky, who is married to Jim and is mother to Amelia, 12, and Darragh, 7, was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in July 2014, but following an aggressive course of radiation and chemotherapy, was given the all-clear late that year.

A routine scan in November last year, however, showed a large mass of lymph nodes around her aorta, which is inoperable.

But Vicky did not give up fighting the cancer.

A doctor told Vicky the Maryland trial was an excellent one to get on to if she could, but pointed out that one of the drugs it used, pembrolizumab, was what she should really be chasing.

She has struggled to get that drug here in Ireland.

To donate to Vickys GoFundMe page, visit www.gofundme.com/savevickyphelan
Kilkenny based Glanbia, the country's largest dairy processor, has arranged for the import of 1,000 tonnes of alfalfa fodder from Spain, which will land in Dublin this weekend for distribution to Glanbia branches by early next week.

It has also said it will make a support payment of 50 per tonne on all ruminant feed purchased by its co-op members during the month of April.

Speaking earlier in the week, the Irish Farmers' Association chairperson in Kilkenny, James Murphy, said many farmers here and around the country have "just days" left of fodder.

Continuous wet and cold weather meant below-average growth at a time of year when animals would traditionally go back out on grass.

A Status Yellow rainfall warning remains in place for Kilkenny which is likely to exacerbate the crisis, with 25 to 30mm of rain expected between yesterday evening, last night and for a time today.

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has also announced the allocation of 1.5m for the introduction of a Fodder Import Support Measure with immediate effect.

The last time a fodder importation scheme was required was in 2013.

On that occasion, a total of 140,000 tonnes of imported supplies were required to meet the shortage in supply.
The murderer of Kilkenny woman Sharon Whelan and her two young daughters Zarah and Nadia has been refused parole.

Sharon's brother, John who has campaigned tirelessly for changes to sentencing in relation to homicide and parole hearings said that his family had 'a small bit of respite' in knowing that the murderer will not be considered for parole for another three years.

"The family are happy that we have a three year respite before we have to address this again, it highlights for us the issue that if there was appropriate sentencing laws in Ireland then parole would not be an issue but for now I'm pleased that my parents don't have to worry about this for a while," he added.

John Whelan is a member of SAVE - Sentencing and Victim Equality. John's sister Sharon and her two young daughters - Zarah (7) and Nadia (2) were murdered on Christmas morning 2008 at their home at Roscon, Windgap.

Brian Hennessy from Windgap in Co Kilkenny was convicted of the murders and handed down down three life sentences - one for murdering Sharon Whelan and one for each of the children, to run concurrently after the first life sentence was served.

In 2010 Hennessy succeeded in his uncontested application to the Court of Criminal Appeal to have all three life sentences run concurrently.

He is now serving one life sentence for the three murders and my question to the powers that be is 'Who is he serving the sentence for'. No one has ever told me or my parents which one - is it Sharon or Nadia or Zarah. It nullifies the value of the other two lives," added Mr Whelan.
The Irish Farmers Association Chairman for Kilkenny, James Murphy, has urged farmers "not to bottle things up" during the fodder crisis.

Months of wet weather have left many farmers low on feed with the country's supply of fodder dwindling.

Continuous wet and cold weather meant below-average growth at a time of year when animals would traditionally go back out on grass.

Speaking to the Kilkenny People, Mr Murphy said: "This a frighteningly stressful time for farmers. There is a need for them not to keep it bottled up. This is a national crisis. They are not the only ones."

Mr Murphy said farmers need to get out and "need to talk" to each other.

He added: "They're under enormous stress. There's nothing as bad as having stock bawling at you. Right now, the supply of fodder in Ireland is as good as gone."

Farmers who have enough fodder for two weeks with a bit of meal could stretch that supply out to three weeks and use the additional week's supply of fodder to give to another farmer in need.

The forecast next week is not predicting a dry spell and the wet land means it could be another week to ten days before farmers can put their animals out on the fields.
Over 1,000 people across Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford are expected to take part in a major collaboration which celebrates the unique character of rural towns across the three counties and examines how the layout and design of their public spaces impacts on how people engage, gather and move.

The 'Bring Your Own Chair' project is funded by the Arts Councils 'Making Great Art Work - Open Call Award' and will foster greater civic engagement and participation in public spaces across the three counties, organisers say.

The community project runs from now until the end of September and focuses on the decline of small towns and revival of traditional meeting places. It will see a performance in 12 parts taking place at three locations this summer following a series of coordinated design, craft and performance scoping workshops and residencies.

Over 1,000 participants will be involved in the performance, with the possibility of a further 12,000 audience members enjoying the experience. In Kilkenny, participating areas hand-selected to take part are Slieverue, Kells, Coan and Goresbridge.

The initiative is produced by Callan Workhouse Union in partnership with Create/Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme (CAAP), the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCOI), Waterford County Council, Kilkenny County Council, Wexford County Council and Kilkenny Leader Partnership. They want the business, farming and wider community to engage with those traditionally engaged in the arts in what is expected to be a major community initiative across the south-east region and beyond.

When cinema started out in Ireland, it was also a time when few households had a television set. Cinema-goers or potential television viewers would therefore bring their own chair to a hall or a neighbours front room to view a film or watch a programme. People attending the pop-up performances will also be required to bring along their own chair and appreciate how while weve come a long way since then, little has actually changed.

Bring Your Own Chair will highlight the realities of rural living in 2018 at a time when rural public amenities are closing, among these post offices, shops, bus routes and schools and people have less and less meeting places, visual artist Michelle Browne explains.

This international arts project will investigate how the design or layout of public space can impact the way we come together, she says.

Were engaging with our carefully selected villages and towns with a population under 2,000 and have had a current or recent shift, for instance the loss of a transport connection. We want everyone to engage with us. We all have a role to play in ensuring the beating heart of our rural communities survives.

Three Irish and European designers will undertake a two week residency each in the selected rural towns, will examine the vernacular craft and design history of each area and lead a workshop process in three towns each.

A large-scale event will take place through a well-managed and ambitious cross-county and multi-institutional partnership. All of our work stems from the close working relationship which emerged between key groups across a wide variety of industries and walks of life in the three counties during the Three Sisters European Capital of Culture bid. As the heart of many of our small towns face decline, Bring Your Own Chair looks at ways we can all come together, work together and reclaim public space for collective experience and action."

Bring Your Own Chair draws out the character of these individual towns in order to bring them together under the umbrella of an artwork in 12 acts to investigate what is at stake for todays rural communities. It aims to foter greater civic engagement and participation.

Michelle Browne will also work with choreographer Emma Martin throughout the project. As the heart of our small towns face decline, Bring Your Own Chair looks to reclaim public spaces for collective experience and action.
Chip Somedevilla/Getty Images(HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.) -- For the second time this week, a California city has joined a Trump administration lawsuit charging that the state's sanctuary law protecting undocumented immigrants against federal agents is unconstitutional and "advancing an open borders philosophy."



The city council of Escondido, which is near San Diego and about 45 miles from the Mexican border, voted 4-1 Wednesday night to support the lawsuit filed in March against the state by the U.S. Department of Justice.



On Tuesday, the city council in Huntington Beach, California, voted to join the Trump administration lawsuit and prepare its own legal challenge of the state sanctuary law. Last month, the Orange County Board of Supervisors also voted to join federal lawsuit.



Escondido Mayor Sam Abed said the sanctuary law, passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year, is the result of "politically, ethically and morally corrupt" leadership.



"Gov. Brown, I promised you a year ago we would sue the state, Abed said at a raucous city council meeting Wednesday in which more than 70 community residents gave impassioned reasons for and against supporting the federal lawsuit.



Under the state's sanctuary law, local police are prohibited from notifying federal officials when immigrants in their custody who may be subject to deportation are about to be released.



"This bill does not prevent or prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security from doing their own work in any way," Brown said at the time he signed the legislation. "They are free to use their own considerable resources to enforce federal immigration law in California."



U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions filed suit against the state on March 7 after the mayor of Oakland, California, Libby Schaaf, publicly announced that ICE agents would be conducting an immigration crackdown in her community.



Sessions said Schaaf's warning put the lives of federal agents at risk.



"Stop treating immigration agents differently from everybody else for the purpose of eviscerating border and immigration laws and advancing an open borders philosophy shared by only a few, the most radical extremists," Sessions said the day he filed the suit.



Taking aim at Schaaf, Sessions added, "Her actions support those who flout our laws and boldly validates illegality. There's no other way to interpret those remarks. So here's my message to Mayor Schaaf: How dare you needlessly endanger the lives of law enforcement to promote an open borders agenda."



Escondido Councilman John Masson, who voted in favor of supporting the federal lawsuit, said that for a border town like his, working with immigration agents has been a necessity for public safety. He said the relationship was so close, ICE agents had a desk in police headquarters.



The city officials said ICE agents are still in their community arresting people without any help from local police.



"When [sanctuary law] got passed and we were no longer able to deal with ICE, that relationship with ICE disappeared," Masson said at Wednesday's city council meeting. "So, no longer do we have control over our community and who we go after in our community, which was very controlled through our [police department]."



Prior to the city council's vote, community residents held a boisterous demonstration outside City Hall, demanding the city leaders vote against supporting the lawsuit.



"What's being discussed inside chambers is not representative of the values in my community," Escondido resident Lilian Serrano told ABC station KGTV in San Diego.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
New Delhi, April 6: Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Friday said that the Nepal has two neighbours - India and China and would be working with them for the country's development. Speaking exclusively to ANI, Oli said, "We (Nepal) have two neighbours. They (India and China) are more developed and advanced than us. They (India and China) are also bigger than us, both in terms of size and population. We (Nepal) are geographically located in the centre. We (Nepal) will work with the neighbours for ensuring development and stability."

The Nepal Prime Minister further said that he was taking the visit to India as an opportunity to work with New Delhi and Beijing and develop a feeling of understanding, trust and mutual cooperation. Answering questions on India's apprehensions regarding Nepal's participation in OBOR (China's One Belt One Road Initiative), Oli said, "I think we are neutral."

On being asked about why he had chosen India over China for his maiden foreign visit after assuming the post in February, Oli added, "India invited me and so I visited India." Further, he said that friendship was more important than signing agreements. These comments came ahead of the delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi tomorrow.

Earlier on Friday, Oli arrived in India on a three-day state visit. The visiting dignitary was received by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State (MoS) Finance S.P. Shukla. The Nepal Prime Minister is accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya and an entourage of ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), secretaries and other high-ranking officials of the Nepal Government. Oli addressed a gathering with the Nepali business community of both the countries on Friday at the Embassy of India. He then met Prime Minister Modi and held informal talks.

On Saturday, Oli will attend a ceremonial reception and inspect a guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhawan will meet President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu. He will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat.

He will then hold official delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Modi and exchange views on matters of mutual interests. The Nepal Prime Minister will also visit Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and attend a programme organised at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology.
Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is set to embark on his three-day maiden visit to India on Friday. The Nepal Prime minister will be accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya and an entourage of ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), secretaries and other high-ranking officials of the Nepal Government.

The upcoming visit will provide an opportunity to the two sides to review the wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples, a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement said.

It is convention for every new Nepali prime minister to make his first visit abroad to India. However, in a sign of the rough patch the bilateral relationship seems to be going through, Nepal's newly elected premier invited Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqqan Abbasi as his first state guest in March this year.

Columnist Prashant Jha notes in his article for the Hindustan Times, "the visit comes after three years of deep acrimony between India and Oli and about six months of an intense effort by the two to patch up." K.P. Oli's government is an alliance of his party and the Maoists of Nepal which have traditionally been opposed by the Indian government. However, after Oli swept the general elections, New Delhi seeing Kathmandu's outreach to China has worked to mend the bilateral.

In an unprecedented move, India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Nepal to meet with Oli after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament but before he had been sworn in as prime minister. PM Narendra Modi has spoken to Oli twice on the phone before he became PM and once after he took office inviting him to visit India and reinforcing New Delhi's commitment to the Nepali government in office.

Oli is scheduled to hold discussions with the top leadership of India to discuss issues including the previously signed treaties between Nepal and India and further make updates on issues which require attention.

Later, he will visit Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and attend a program organised at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and other ministers will call on the Nepalese prime minister, the MEA said.

While briefing the House of Representatives in Kathmandu on March 3 prior to his trip to New Delhi, Oli had assured the house that he would not take any such steps which would create a feeling of distrust between the two historically connected nations.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 06, 2018 09:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Colombia: Colombias national federation of coffee producers (FNC) has reported that national coffee production fell by 6% year-on-year to 3.4m 60kg sacks in Q1 2018. According to the FNC, the fall in production comes on the back of the fall in international coffee prices, which producers say have fallen below their production costs. The low levels of production have also had an impact on exports, which according to the FNC fell by 14% to 1.2m sacks year-on-year in March. This situation has led the FNC to ask the Colombian government to provide emergency economic assistance to the sector. However, the government, which offered US$358m in subsidies for coffee producers in 2013-2014, has said that it currently does not have means to provide any assistance.
Ballinamore Foroige have expressed their gratitude to all who helped ensure their fundraiser in aid of homelessness proved to be a huge success.

On behalf of Ballinamore Foroige, we would like to extend a sincere thank you to all who contributed to our Sleeping Rough Initiative on March 16 in aid of the homeless population.



Our young people did us very proud on the night by volunteering to stay awake and experience something of what it must be like on a daily basis for those are who homeless in Ireland.



We are delighted to say that we raised 1,322.53. This money will go towards the vital work of the North West Simon Community and Focus Ireland.



We are very grateful to the St. Patricks Parade Committee for all that they did, from allowing us the use of the viewing area in the town, to offering us the use of their gazebo and helping us to set up on the night.



We are thankful to the tourist office for allowing us to use their facilities. We are grateful to the publicans for allowing us to collect in their establishments.



We would also like to thank Lorna Thompson Cakes for baking us a cake and delivering it to us on the night!

We are also extremely grateful to the local people for their very kind donations.
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.

The newly 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)
FOUR men have appeared before Limerick court in connection with burglary incidents and the unauthorised taking of a vehicle.

The four men appeared at Limerick District Court on Thursday after being arrested in Castletroy early on Wednesday morning under Operation Thor, which targets organised crime gangs.

They are Kenneth Meehan, of McGarry House, 36, Joseph O'Shea, Kylefea, Croom, 34, David South, 26, with an address at Arywee, Fedamore and and Peter McDonagh, 25, of Shanaclough, Crecora, who were each charged with a number of offences, including burglaries and possession of articles.

At the court, Garda Robert Sheehy said it is alleged they left a house in Fedamore last Tuesday evening in a Peugeot van registered to Peter McDonagh, under the influence of alcohol and cocaine and intent on a crime spree.

It is further alleged Peter McDonagh entered a home in Croom, where he unsuccessfully tried to siphon fuel.

Garda Sheehy told the court they then went to addresses at College Close and Harvard Close at College Court, Castletroy, where McDonagh entered and fled when he saw the occupants.

It is also alleged McDonagh stole a bag of coal and a silver vase from a home at Lios Na Sidhe, Milford Grange, before taking a Ford C-Max car from another house in the area.

Judge Alan Mitchell remanded Kenneth Meehan and David South in custody to appear next Tuesday for directions and bail applications, which gardai have said they will object to.

Judge Mitchell remanded Joseph OShea on bail until May 16, subject to conditions.

Gardai objected to bail for Peter McDonagh. Judge Mitchell refused bail and remanded him in custody until next Tuesday, for directions.
THE 96-bed block that is crucial to tackling University Hospital Limericks chronic overcrowding crisis may not open its doors until, at earliest, March 2021.

The project, which has received concrete commitment from the Government in its 10-year national development plan, has already initiated its design team following a small sum of funding.

It is expected that the much-needed facility will cost in the region of 25m, and the UL Hospitals Group has been calling on the Government to fund the project.

However, in response to a parliamentary question by Labour TD Jan OSullivan, UL Hospitals boss, Prof Colette Cowan has said that the projects delivery is contingent on an increase in the current projected capital allocation for health in future years.

Prof Cowan said that the first stage of the process is the selection of a design team, and is due to be completed within the next month.

After the design process is completed, the planning process and a detailed design process will then be carried out, before being ready for tender. It is estimated that this could be finished by mid-2019. The award of a public works contract for the ward block would then be subject to capital funding availability to fund the cost of construction works. It is estimated that the tender and evaluation stages for the works could be completed within three months.

Once started on site, construction could be completed within a further 18 months. The overall cost of the project is anticipated to be in the region of 25m. There are currently very significant budgetary constraints over the next couple of years, primarily due to current capital commitments in respect of major Government priority projects, she stated on January 28.

In reaction to the current overcrowding crisis at UHL, which saw 1,022 people on trolleys in March, Deputy OSullivan said:

The new 96-bed unit is years away from opening, even if it meets all its delivery targets. What we now need is an absolute commitment to build a modular unit and open any remaining available beds in the region. This requires political will and determination and, if a visit from the Minister would expedite that, then I would support it. However, it should be absolutely clear to him, just by looking at the figures from his Dublin office, that such action is urgent and necessary.

The Department of Health stated no official invite was extended to Minister Simon Harris to visit UHL.
A NEW Limerick festivals guide has been released, with all of the information on what to see and do this summer.

The guide, launched by Limerick City and County Council, aims to help locals and visitors plan for all the main summer festivals taking place around the city and county.

Whether its Limericks premier festival Riverfest, Bruffs Bluegrass Festival or EVA, Irelands biennial of contemporary art, the guide  created by the councils Marketing and Communications office and Culture and Arts office  highlights dozens of ideas for fun days and nights out in Limerick.

Festivals are an important way of bringing us together to share and learn about ourselves, our culture, our heritage and give confidence and voice to creative expression of all kinds, said Sheila Deegan, Culture and Arts Officer with the Council.

The recent investment by Limerick City and County Council into festivals is testament to the belief that they can create a sense of belonging as well as impact on the social and economic life of Limerick.

If youre planning on running a festival in Limerick, please get in touch with us so we can help to promote it, she added.

Head of marketing at Limerick City and County Council, Laura Ryan, said that they created the guide to complement the comprehensive event listings on Limerick.ie, which is the Councils official guide to Limerick.

We provide a free service to festival organisers throughout Limerick so that their events can be promoted to the thousands of visitors who visit Limerick.ie every year.

The number of festivals and gigs is staggering, over 100 that have been included in the guide. They range from local community ones to large international gigs, all taking place in Limerick, she said.

The new guide will allow a greater promotion and marketing of all of these festivals, making more people aware that they are taking place and ultimately helping them grow.

Organisers of festivals or events can submit details via the My Limerick page on Limerick.ie, to be promoted for free in the Councils event guides.

One of the years festival highlights is Riverfest, taking place on the May bank holiday weekend. This year, many of the weekends most popular attractions are back, including Riverfest watersports on the Shannon, the BBQ competition, the River festival village in Arthurs Quay Park, the Great Limerick Run and a spectacular fireworks display.

And this summer, whether its family fun at Riverfest, a big gig like Steps in Thomond Park in July, history and heritage for the Lough Gur Summer Solstice Festival in June, or arts and culture for the Askeaton Contemporary Arts Festival in July  there is truly something for everyone.
KILFINANE Community Projects CLG said Hallelujah when they heard they were to receive a Leader grant, through Ballyhoura Development, of 138,362 for the former Church of Ireland.

The building has gone from strength to strength, and is now seen as one of the Ballyhoura area's most exciting and beautiful venues. Since 2009 fundraising has been ongoing and with the help of local people, local musicians, community groups, JP McManus, and Ballyhoura Development, the committee were in a position to finish phase 1 of a two-part project. The hard-working committee is made up of 12 and around 20 volunteers.

The church has become Kilfinanes cultural centre, and is now used by all sectors of the community, including Ballyhoura CCE, Ballyhoura Development, Community Council, Westend Drama Group, musicians, dance classes, choirs, parties and community gatherings. It has been said it is one of the greatest assets that the town has and has been attracting a large number of national and international visitors through a series of exciting events in recent times.

The church has been the lynchpin in bringing music and dance back to Kilfinane. Events such as the Revelations gigs have had some of the very best modern acts, playing to large audiences within the old walls, said Katie Hennessy of Kilfinane Community Projects CLG.

Hup na Houra, a traditional music, song and dance show, run by Ballyhoura CCE has seen over 1,000 visitors coming through the doors during the summer of 2016. This event will take place again this summer. This would not have been possible had the venue not been open.

The Leader grant will help facilitate the completion of phase 2 but it will be necessary for the committee to obtain a loan to fund the extra 15% required to commence the project. However, with the support of the community it is hoped that as much fundraising can be done as possible to ensure that any loan taken is short term to ensure the viability of the venture into the future. The works to be completed include installation of three phase electricity and additional heating; roof, gutters and drain work; pointing and plastering; works to entrance hall area; new flooring in main hall; lighting; painting and sound equipment.

To carry out the works, the building will have to close down completely for a few months. We hope that this will not inconvenience our service users and that they will bear with us so that this project can be completed satisfactorily. We envisage that, when finished, it will be even more beneficial to the community, and easier to maintain, said Ms Hennessy.
ONE of the most senior gardai in the country has encouraged victims of the "heinous" crime of rape to report it to gardai, following the fallout from the Belfast trial.

Assistant Commissioner David Sheahan moved to assure women and men that the "anonymity of the individual is sacrosanct" in such cases.

Rallies have taken place across the country, and in Limerick city, with thousands of women showing their solidarity with individuals who are victims of rape.

The former chief superintendent of the Limerick Garda Division said: There is no more heinous crime than the rape of a woman.

Asst Comm Sheahan didnt wish to comment directly on the Belfast rape trial but did encourage victims in the past or future to come forward. Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding, Blane McIlroy and Rory Harrison were found not guilty on all counts.

Im not going to comment on one particular case but I would have to say that the laws are slightly different down here in so far as the anonymity of the individual is sacrosanct, said Asst Comm Sheahan, who spoke to the Leader after receiving the Limerick Person of the Month award for his role in transforming the city into the safer place we know today.

I think from the time that I started in An Garda Siochana my whole role was suspect, suspect, suspect and following the suspect. Many times, I wont say ignored, but we certainly didnt bring the victim along with us in the same way as we do now. In the current climate with the transition of the Victims Charter into Irish law, that has put an extra onus and responsibility on An Garda Siochana in respect of the victim of crime.

I would like to think that some of the structures we have now put in place with victims offices and family liaison officers  that should give the encouragement for anybody out there that wants to come forward to come forward, and to have the confidence that An Garda Siochana will be there with them from the start, the middle and the end of it. We will support them every way we can along the way because there is no more heinous crime than the rape of a woman, said Asst Comm Sheahan, who is currently doing a piece of academic work in UL around victims of crime.

We have to support those people when they come forward and I can guarantee them that support from An Garda Siochana because our main role now is both the investigative role on one side and mind and look after the victim on the other side, he said.

- See the Limerick Leader broadsheet for the full interview, in shops now
DIPLOMATIC relations between Russia and the West are now the coolest they have been since the Cold War, and recent international controversies have loomed large over Limericks links to Russian trade.

In the meantime, across the Atlantic, Donald Trump has just introduced steel and aluminium tariffs  but the president has temporarily exempted the EU from these new measures.

But what could these international developments mean for one of Europes largest aluminium producers, Limericks very own Aughinish Alumina?

Employees, for one, will be hoping for no negative consequences.

Aughinish, owned by Russian company Rusal, was raised in a conversation between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Theresa May, the Dail heard last week.

The Taoiseach had been discussing US trade issues with Mrs May, he told deputies.

While Ireland is not a steel producer, we account for approximately 30 percent of all aluminium produced in the EU at Rusal Aughinish, said Mr Varadkar.

Although very little of this is traded with the US, any tariffs will impact global commodity prices, and we were pleased at the White House decision to exempt the EU from the tariffs until May, he added.

But Brendan Howlin pointed out: This is a temporary measure that will apply until May  despite this concession we can expect that the Trump administration will continue to press its case.

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska owns the controlling stake in Rusal. The oligarch is known for his close ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Aughinish owner was named on a US list earlier this year, which profiled Kremlin-linked members of the Russian business class, potentially singling them out for potential new sanctions.

Deripaska was among 96 wealthy Russians published on the watch list, called Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which identified allies of Putin. It does not necessarily mean that they will face sanctions.

But a number of weeks later, Mr Deripaska stepped down from his management role as president of Rusal.

The oligarch is also a person of interest in the Russian election-hacking investigation due to his business ties with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, according to Forbes.

The poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in Britain one month ago triggered a chain of international events, amid suspicions that the Kremlin was behind it.

A Russian diplomat in Dublin was sent home, while an Irish diplomat who was based in Moscow is now receiving the same treatment.

But despite the cool breeze between Europe and Russia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade this week moved to reassure those who rely on Russian industry.

There is no reason to believe that our trade and economic relations with Russia will be affected by recent events, said a spokesperson from the department in a statement to the Limerick Leader.

We have much to gain from each other in our trade and economic exchanges and, indeed, in people-to-people contacts. We hope that we can continue to build on the many positives in our relationship.
DEPUTY Niall Collins has called for the Fodder Import Subsidy Scheme announced yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture to be made available through all co-ops as well as private feed merchants.

The scheme is inexplicably confined to the dairy co-ops and excludes mart co-ops as well as private feed merchants. This means that many parts of the country which do not have a strong dairy co-op network will struggle to avail of fodder through the scheme.

In particular, the ministers decision to confine the subsidy to dairy co-ops would disadvantage those in the suckler and sheep farming sectors that are also under massive pressure to source scarce fodder to manage livestock through the next few weeks, said Deputy Collins this Friday morning.

The Limerick TD said In spring 2013, all co-ops were eligible to avail of the subsidy scheme introduced to import fodder and it makes no sense that Minister Creed would now exclude mart co-ops and private feed merchants that are well placed to serve the needs of their local farming community.

Minister Creeds very narrow scheme reflects a minister who is trying to play catch up on a crisis that he has failed to prepare for and smacks of a minister making it up as he goes along, said Deputy Collins.

On Thursday evening Minister Creed announced that he has allocated 1.5 million towards the introduction of a Fodder Import Support measure.

In light of poor weather conditions and an evolving fodder supply challenge across the country, I am immediately introducing a support measure contributing to the cost of importing fodder from abroad.

The Minister added: I welcome the moves to import fodder by the co-operatives and this measures supports this initiative. The co-operative ethos remains very strong and vibrant in Irish Agriculture.

This measure is being introduced with immediate effect to reduce the cost to farmers of imported forage (hay, silage, haylage etc.) from outside the island of Ireland. The measure will operate through the dairy co-operatives. It will cover forage imported by the co-ops from April 5, 2018 to April 30,2018 and will be subject to EU State Aid rules. Support under the measure will substantially reduce the cost to farmers of imported fodder by approximately one third. This initial allocation will support the importation of up to 20,000 tons of fodder into the country and this will be kept under ongoing review until the current crises is over.

The minister stressed that while the measure will operate through the dairy co-operatives, the actual beneficiaries will be farmers who urgently need supplies of forage.

Minister Creed said: This measure will largely replicate the straightforward approach adopted in 2013 whereby a farmer approached a participating co-op, purchased fodder and my Department subsequently paid the transport support element to the co-op.

Application forms and terms and conditions will be made available through the co-ops and on the departments website from this Friday. Supplies imported yesterday will be covered.
TWO loads of UK fodder that arrived in Dairygolds Cappamore store on Thursday evening was loaded and gone in minutes.

A third load is due in this Friday. Con Berkery, manager of Dairygold co-op Cappamore, said the phone has been hopping with farmers looking for fodder.

There has been a lot of phone calls. I have over 25 names on a list at the moment and that number is growing all the time. We are trying to prioritise the critical ones and then hopefully keep everyone going, said Con, who paused to answer a call from another farmer looking for fodder.

Some lads have nothing. They have bought bales from other people. Others might have silage for now but they might not have silage in a weeks time so they are preparing for that. Weve had another deluge of rain. Even when the weather does turn for the better it will take the bones of a week and a half before land is dry enough to get cattle out, said the Con, as the phone rang again.

First in the queue for fodder on Thursday evening was Mike ODonoghue.

He said he is out of his own supply and has been buying fodder locally for the last week.

Thats running out as well, said the dairy and beef farmer. Mike said it is huge extra expense. He headed off with two large bales of hay which he says will keep his cattle going for a couple of days.

Mike estimates it could be two weeks before he gets his cattle out on grass unless the weather changes dramatically.

The fact that the bad weather has carried so far out into the spring is the issue, said Mike.
WITH the countdown to the referendum on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment now well under way, ESB has warned people against postering on its electricity poles.

Ireland will go to the polls on May 25. Voters will be asked asked if they wish to repeal an amendment to the constitution that was inserted following a 1983 referendum to enshrine the equal right to life of the mother and her unborn child, and to instead enable parliament to set the laws.

The move could lead to the legalisation of abortion.

With campaigning expected to step up in the weeks prior to polling day, ESB has warned that putting posters on its poles poses a risk to staff, contractors and members of the public and is strictly prohibited.

Dangerous situations have been created in the past by individuals or parties erecting posters on ESB poles, including the danger of electric shock, falls from heights, restricting visibility for traffic, posters coming loose and falling and poles catching fire.

"In some cases, ESB Networks has been required to interrupt the electricity supply to households and businesses in order to safely remove these posters, said a spokesperson for the electricity board.

Posters that are erected on electricity poles will be removed by ESB Networks when possible and safe to do so, they added.

In the event of a dangerous situation or emergency, the public are reminded to immediately phone ESB Networks emergency service on 1850-372999.
A MEETING to help farmers through the fodder crisis has been organised for Monday, April 9.

Robert Holmes, a farmer in Kilteely, and Pat Blackwell, Teagasc, joined together to put on the event in Hayes function room, Cappamore at 8pm.

The purpose of this meeting is to inform farmers of their options in relation to the fodder shortage, said Robert.

There will be a couple of short presentations from Brian Ryan, Mulcair Veterinary Clinic; Pat Blackwell, Teagasc; Sean Ryan, Dairygold; Richard Ryan, GVM; and a representative from a bank.

Following the presentations, farmers will have the opportunity to discuss their own situation  one to one - with the speakers and also representatives of other feed companies. Those that are currently sourcing fodder should be encouraged to attend.

It is expected that farmers will be better able to deal with the difficult situation they are in by attending this meeting, said Robert, who stresses that all farmers are welcome to attend.
THE University of Limerick has agreed a settlement with Leona OCallaghan, a former member of its finance department who said her position became unsustainable after she questioned expenses claimed by senior UL staff, including the delivery of a fitted kitchen.

Ms OCallaghan met the UL president, Dr Des Fitzgerald, this Wednesday, following earlier discussions with Kieran Mulvey, a mediator appointed by the university to deal with a series of long-running staff issues.

Mr Mulvey, the former chief executive of the Workplace Relations Commission, recommended that a payment be made to Ms OCallaghan in the light of the Thorn report, which was critical of HR and finance practices at UL over a number of years.

In 2011, Ms OCallaghan wrote to the former UL president, Dr Don Barry, setting out her concerns in detail. On leaving UL the following year, she provided the same information to the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC).

Shortly afterwards, Dr Barry told the PAC that any concerns raised by Ms OCallaghan had been fully dealt with, but that despite this, the employee continues to make the same allegations.

Writing in the Limerick Leader this week, Ms OCallaghan says: I never made any false allegations. Honesty is hugely important to me and that caused me a lot of hurt. She confirmed that she had accepted a personal apology made by Dr Fitzgerald, as well as the terms of a settlement agreement recommended by Mr Mulvey in the interests of fairness and equitable treatment.

Its not a life-changing amount of money by any stretch, she said, following her meeting with the president. I was not a high earner at UL and its basically a year and a halfs salary. However, in her article for the Leader she writes that hearing a representative of the university own the hurt that was caused to me helped a lot in the healing process of moving on.

Ms OCallaghan also stated that while she is finally moving on, she is conscious that others remain in dispute with UL, particularly the women known as Persons B and C who were suspended from their jobs in the finance department for more than two years. They also highlighted spending they regarded as inappropriate.

While their suspensions were lifted by Dr Fitzgerald last November, the employees remain in dispute with UL over their treatment.

Their story, first reported in the Limerick Leader in September 2015, was the catalyst for a number of reports into different matters at UL.

Last Novembers Thorn report was sharply critical of HR and management practices at UL and Dr Fitzgerald pledged then to implement all of its recommendations in full. Changes to ULs management structure and governing authority have already been introduced.

However, Persons B and C were unhappy that the Thorn report contained no negative findings about how their own cases were handled. Writing to the PAC, they accused UL of seeking to create the impression that all of their problems arose from interpersonal difficulties.

They also stated that they were shocked by the finding of the reports author, Richard Thorn, that they were unwise to pursue a garda complaint against a work colleague who, they allege, threatened them at a Christmas party in 2014.

While Persons B and C issued High Court proceedings against UL in November, it is understood that they have also met with Mr Mulvey.

He is expected to make recommendations to them and UL about a potential way forward, which may include reinstatement or redeployment.

- See the Limerick Leader for more on this story - in shops now
SINCE Christmas, a string of violent assaults and robberies have taken place on the streets of Limerick citys nightclub hub.

But in the past month, reckless gangs of youths and armed individuals have taken this behaviour from the street into restaurants, cafes and shops in the heart of the city centre.

Thats according to gardai, who are now tackling the surge in street crime with high-visibility garda patrols and a number of arrests.

In January 2017, Limerick was awarded the prestigious Purple Flag, recognising its excellence in managing its evening and night-time economy.

And now, following a spate of robberies and attacks, leading retailers are calling for unity in stomping out this rising trend.

Last Wednesday, two men entered the Fine Wines store in Corbally, with their faces covered, and fled in a car with a sum of cash. This was the second time since December 9 this store was robbed. In March, there were at least nine major robberies in Limerick city, a number of which included armed children, aged under 12.

Four weeks ago, a lone man entered Be Fabulous fashion store on Catherine Street, and threatened a staff member with a gun, demanding cash from the till.

He was basically walking up and down the street, keeping an eye to see and get a chance in somewhere, and just came in, and pulled the gun and wanted the money. The girl that was working said that he wasnt getting anything and that she was ringing the gardai, and he took off, said owner Will OBrien, who was told that the individual was later arrested.

Mr OBrien said that the culprits are not deterred by CCTV signs.

We didnt want to put a buzzer on the door, but were going to have to put a buzzer on the door. Its very serious at the moment.

Superintendent Derek Smart confirmed to the Leader this week that gardai have identified four different gangs of young people coming into the city (centre) from all parts of the city and decided that it was becoming like a playground for them. We have dealt with a number of those, insofar that they have been before the court. A number of other files are before the National Juvenile Liaison Office to be dealt with because of their age and circumstances.

He added: There have been a number of seizures of items around the city centre that we havent maybe seen for a while, so we are being proactive in regard to that, where if people are caught with these implements they are going to be brought before the courts.

Catherine Street retailer Shane Gleeson said he is aware of four gangs in the city who are all underage, and as young as 13.

He said that he has witnessed people being trained to steal before they could walk, and that a lot of the shoplifters he knows are sons and daughters of previous shoplifters, and even grandchildren of previous shoplifters.

He said that young offenders are are very quick to use violence. They are very quick to say: You cant touch me because I am 13 or 14. You will be aware, I am sure, that they have produced a knife, they have used weapons, they have picked up sticks to attack staff.

"Its not as if it happens every night or every day or every week, it does not, but its still something that they are quite willing to do. And its disturbing when you are attacked with a weapon, and to see that child back on the street after a week or two, your staff are asking Whats going on? These children have followed staff to their houses, he explained.

Mr Gleeson has praised the gardai and Supt Smart for their increased patrols, under Operation Mierle, and is calling on all retailers to work together.

Marcella ONeill, manager of Mace on Upper William Street, said that they once experienced gangs of youths stealing from the shop. But after linking in with the gardai, she said her staff feel more reassured.

Sometimes they tell us whats happening, because sometimes you can feel alone and no one is doing anything. But once you know they are proactive and coming to terms with this, it makes it easier for us, she added.

One retailer said that one incident involved a gang of youths robbing a store on OConnell Street, then proceeded to drink wine outside a fast food restaurant with one individual throwing gym barbells onto the road. Anyone with information in relation to these incidents is asked to contact Henry Street garda station at 061 212400.

Timeline of recent serious incidents in retail

March 28, Fine Wines on Corbally Road: At around 7.30pm, two men enter the off-licence, both had their faces covered and demanded cash from the till. They fled the scene in a silver two-door Opel Corsa with cash.

March 26, Chez Le Fab, Arthurs Quay: At around 9pm, two boys, armed with pipes, attacked a group of 30 students and later threatened the owner of the cafe, who was 33 weeks pregnant at the time of the incident. This was after her partner was hit in the head with a plank of wood and punched in the neck. It is understood that youths also targeted local fast food outlets at the time of the incident.

March 26, off-licence in Penneywell: At around 9pm, a lone man threatened staff at the premises, removed money from the till and fled the scene.

March 26, Centra in Caherconlish: At around 1.30am, entry was gained from the front of the premises and a large sum of cash was stolen from the safe. The criminals fled the scene with a large sum of cash.

March 25, petrol station in Cappamore: At around 2.30am, the front shutter was pulled up and a window was smashed, resulting in a significant amount of property being stolen from the premises.

March 20, McDonalds in Castletroy: At around 2.50am, a burglary occurred at city restaurant in which a digger was used to break into the premises. According to gardai, the male culprits gained access to a rear office and an attempt was made to leave the premises with a safe. However, they were unsuccessful and fled a short time later. The restaurant was extensively damaged and a major garda investigating is continuing.

March 20, licensed premises on Henry Street: At around 12.30am, an individual or individuals entered the premises through the cellar door and the premises was then ransacked. A quantity of cash was taken.

March 19, off-licence on Church Street: At around 9pm, a lone man entered the premises and made off with a sum of cash after he threatened staff with a sword.

March 12, fast food restaurant on OConnell Street: One child, understood to be 13 years of age, was arrested in possession of a knife. He is believed to have attempted a robbery on a fast food restaurant on OConnell Street. Three incidents at separate establishments since that Sunday saw one Centra staff member being hit repeatedly with a sweeping brush, while a knife was brandished at another Centra store and the fast food restaurant.

March 12, Russells Bar in Dooradoyle: A violent incident during which staff at a pub in Dooradoyle were threatened by a number of armed and masked intruders. Two males entered the licensed premises and approached staff. Both men were carrying weapons, said a garda spokesperson who added that the culprits were also wearing balaclavas to hide their faces.

The staff members, who were assaulted during the incident, are said to have been traumatised following their ordeal.

The extent of their injuries has not been disclosed.

March 9, restaurant in Thomondgate: At around 10.40pm, the owner of restaurant was threatened after one, of two, young men went behind the counter. The injured party was then assaulted by one of these males.

February 17, Maxol filling station in Dromkeen: At around 8.30pm, a man wearing a balaclava entered the premises with whats believed to have been a firearm in his possession. He demanded cash from the till and fled with a sum of cash towards the rear of the premises.

January 10, Bar One Racing on Quinlan Street: A man who had covered his face walked into Bar One Racing with a kitchen knife, he threatened the staff there and made off with a sum of money.

December 30, shop on Upper William Street: Man, wearing wooly hat and scarf, attempted to take the till from the counter and when he didnt succeed he threatened the staff behind the counter.

December 9, Fine Wines on Corbally Road: At around 6pm, two males entered the premises threatening staff with a wheel brace. The assailants forced a staff member to open the till and made off with cash.
Built between roughly A.D. 1113 and 1150, and encompassing an area of about 500 acres (200 hectares), Angkor Wat is one of the largest religious monuments ever constructed. Its name means "temple city."

Originally built as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu, it was converted into a Buddhist temple in the 14th century, and statues of Buddha were added to its already rich artwork. Sometime later it was turned into a military fortification. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that scientists are struggling to preserve.

Its 213-foot-tall (65 meters) central tower is surrounded by four smaller towers and a series of enclosure walls, a layout that recreates the image of Mount Meru, a legendary place in Hindu mythology that is said to lie beyond the Himalayas and be the home of the gods.

Within the largest city in the world

The city where the temple was built, Angkor, is located in modern-day Cambodia and was once the capital of the Khmer Empire. This city contains hundreds of temples. The population may have been over 1 million people. It was easily the largest city in the world until the Industrial Revolution.

Angkor had an urban core that could easily have held 500,000 people and a vast hinterland that had many more inhabitants airborne laser scanning (lidar) research has shown. Researchers have also identified a "lost" city called Mahendraparvata, which is located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Angkor Wat.

A moat, towers, spiral structure and hidden paintings

Angkor Wat itself is surrounded by a 650-foot-wide (200 m) moat that encompasses a perimeter of more than 3 miles (5 km). This moat is 13 feet deep (4 m) and would have helped stabilize the temple's foundation, preventing groundwater from rising too high or falling too low.

Angkor Wat's main entrance was to the west (a direction associated with Vishnu) across a stone causeway, with guardian lions marking the way. Recently, archaeologists found the remains of eight towers made of sandstone and laterite by the western gateway. These towers may be the remains of shrines that were in use before Angkor Wat was fully constructed. To the east of the temple was a second, more modest, entrance.

The heart of the temple was the central tower, entered by way of a steep staircase, a statue of Vishnu at top. This tower "was at once the symbolic center of the nation and the actual center where secular and sacred power joined forces," writes researcher Eleanor Mannikka in the book "Angkor: Celestial Temples of the Khmer Empire" (Abbeville Press, 2002). "From that unparalleled space, Vishnu and the king ruled over the Khmer people."

Hidden paintings have been discovered in the central tower. One chamber in the tower has a scene showing a traditional Khmer ensemble of musical instruments known as the pinpeat, which is made up of different gongs, xylophones, wind instruments and other percussion instruments. In the same chamber, there's also an intricate scene featuring people riding horses between two structures, which might be temples. These two paintings are among 200 that have been discovered in Angkor Wat since 2010.

A mile long sand structure containing a variety of spiral designs was recently discovered beside Angkor Wat by archaeologists using lidar. It would have existed for a brief period during the mid-to-late 12th century. Archaeologists are not certain what it was used for, and it's possible that the structure was never completed.

The remains of homes and ponds used by workers who lived near Angkor Wat, and serviced the temple, were also found recently during lidar research.

Bas relief carving showing Hindu devas, or gods, pulling on the snake Vasuki in the Churning of the Sea of Milk creation story. Shutterstock.com) (Image credit: BasPhoto

Vishnu and the king

The builder of Angkor Wat was a king named Suryavarman II. A usurper, he came to power in his teenage years by killing his great uncle, Dharanindravarman I, while he was riding an elephant. An inscription says that Suryavarman killed the man "as Garuda [a mythical bird] on a mountain ledge would kill a serpent."

Suryavarman's bloodlust would continue into his rule; he launched attacks into Vietnam in an effort to gain control over the territory. He also made peaceful diplomatic advances, re-opening relations with China.

He venerated the god Vishnu, a deity often depicted as a protector, and installed a statue of the god in Angkor Wat's central tower. This devotion can also be seen in one of the most remarkable reliefs at Angkor Wat, located in the southeast of the temple. The relief shows a chapter in the Hindu story of creation known as the "churning of the sea of milk."

As archaeologist Michael Coe writes, the relief "describes how the devas (gods) and the asuras (demons) churned the ocean under the aegis of Vishnu, to produce the divine elixir of immortality," ("Angkor and the Khmer Civilization," Thames & Hudson, 2003). Scholars consider this relief to be one of the finest art pieces at Angkor Wat.

Suryavarman's devotion to Vishnu is also shown in the posthumous name he was given, "Paramavishnuloka" which, according to researcher Helene Legendre-De Koninck, means "he who is in the supreme abode of Vishnu." ("Angkor Wat: A Royal Temple," VDG, 2001).

Construction techniques

Building Angkor Wat was an enormous undertaking that involved quarrying, careful artistic work and lots of digging. To create the moat around the temple, 1.5 million cubic meters (53 million cubic feet) of sand and silt were moved, a task that would have required thousands of people working at one time.

The buildings at Angkor Wat posed their own challenges. To support them a tough material called laterite was used, which in turn was encased with softer sandstone that was used for carving the reliefs. These sandstone blocks were quarried at the Kulen Hills, about 18 miles (30 km) to the north. A series of canals were used to transport the blocks to Angkor Wat, research shows.

Beneath the central tower was a shaft that leads to a chamber where, in 1934, archaeologists found "two pieces of crystal and two gold leaves far beneath where the Vishnu statue must have been," Coe writes, adding that deposits like these "spiritually 'energized' a temple, much as a battery will provide power to a portable electronic device."

A Ficus strangulosa tree grows over a doorway at Angkor Wat. Shutterstock.com) (Image credit: David Davis

Purpose

Although Angkor Wat is dedicated to Vishnu, the full purpose of the temple is still debated. One question is whether the ashes of Suryavarman II were interred in the monument, perhaps in the same chamber where the deposits were found. If that were the case it would give the temple a funerary meaning.

Eleanor Mannikka has noted that Angkor Wat is located at 13.41 degrees north in latitude and that the north-south axis of the central tower's chamber is 13.43 cubits long. This, Mannikka believes, is not an accident. "In the central sanctuary, Vishnu is not only placed at the latitude of Angkor Wat, he is also placed along the axis of the earth," she writes, pointing out that the Khmer knew the Earth was round.

In addition, in her writing, Mannikka notes a dozen lunar alignments with Angkor Wat's towers, suggesting that it served an important astronomical role. "During the long and clear Cambodian nights, when the stars filled every inch of the black sky, the astronomer-priests stood on the long western causeway ... and recorded the movements of the moon against the towers in the top two galleries of the temple."

Additional resources
(Inside Science) -- Even drugs that clear the body quickly leave traces about when and where they were used. In fact, many traces get flushed down the toilet  and those traces can be surprisingly revealing.

In a study published last month in the journal Science of the Total Environment, researchers analyzed sewage from two towns in western Kentucky. By testing for active ingredients and metabolites of marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and several opioids, they were able to estimate the average quantity of each drug consumed per 1,000 people in the population on any given day. This allowed them to infer how drug use changed during special events in the summer of 2017.

In both communities, significantly higher levels of amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, morphine and methadone were found in the wastewater on July 4 than on a typical day. In particular, methamphetamine levels were high on Independence Day, with levels doubling in one town and rising by half in the other.

One of the towns was in the path of the total solar eclipse that crossed the country August 21. In that town, the eclipse brought a significant uptick in amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, morphine and marijuana. The measurements suggested that 1,450 milligrams of amphetamine per 1,000 people was consumed on the day of the eclipse -- enough to get about 2.9 percent of the town's population high. That represented a roughly 60 percent increase over the amphetamine residues found on a typical day.

Of course, it's likely that some people took more than one dose, said Bikram Subedi, an analytical chemist at Murray State University in Kentucky and one of the study's authors. Moreover, he added, some of the drugs used on eclipse day likely came from visitors who came to see the eclipse, not the town's regular population. "This is an interesting study and provides valuable information on the magnitude of increase in the use of illicit drugs during specific holidays," wrote Kurunthachalam Kannan, an environmental health researcher at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health in Albany, New York, in an email. "One interesting find is that meth usage in communities surveyed seems to be higher than in urban communities." Kannan was not involved in the study.

Researchers have used sewage to track drug use in other parts of the world, but the technique has rarely been used in the United States, despite its potential to complement traditional data sources such as surveys and toxicology reports, said Subedi. Sewage can't lie like a person on a survey, and it offers a relatively unbiased look at all drug use in a community, not just the extreme cases that end up in a hospital. And unlike traditional methods, sewage analysis can track changes from day to day.

"This will give the semi-real-time drug consumption in communities," said Subedi. "That information could be really helpful for the authorities."

This article is provided by Inside Science News Service, which is supported by the American Institute of Physics.
Some of the new Nazca Lines discovered on a hillside in Peru. These particular lines have already been restored by archaeologists. "Prior to that it was almost unnoticeable," said archaeologist Charles Stanish, who visited the newfound lines last week.

Drones hovering and darting over the mountainous landscape of Peru have spied some amazing ancient "artwork": previously unknown and sprawling geoglyphs called Nazca Lines that were likely made by the Nazca people and their predecessors, some as long as 2,500 years ago.

The approximately 50 newfound geoglyphs (Greek for "Earth carvings") give more evidence that the giant designs have a long history in the region and weren't just the brainchild of the Nazca culture, which flourished from A.D. 200 to 700.

"[This discovery] is really quite exciting," said Charles Stanish, executive director of the Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment at the University of South Florida. "I've been working there for 30-some years, so it was fun to see something new," said Stanish, who visited the newly discovered lines last week but isn't involved in the new research. [Amazing Photos of the Mysterious Nazca Lines]

The newly identified ground markings are long and skinny  merely inches across and as long as a football field  and they were likely made by the Paracas and Topara cultures, which prospered from about 500 B.C. to A.D. 200, according to National Geographic, which broke the story. (The National Geographic Society funded the research.)

Ancient lines

Modern researchers have known about Peru's Nazca (also spelled Nasca) Lines since 1927, when Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe came across them on foot. Soon after, the area became a tourist hotspot as airplane pilots began to purposefully fly over the etchings, giving their passengers a bird's-eye view of the geometric shapes and ancient figures, including those of a spider, a hummingbird, a monkey, a lizard and even a pelican, Live Science previously reported.

One of the previously discovered Nazca Lines, which forms the outline of a hummingbird. The newfound Nazca Lines mostly depict people, including warriors. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

It's unclear why the Nazca made these lines, but some theories put forth by archaeologists suggest that the lines may represent constellations in the night sky, that perhaps they played a role in pilgrimage or that the lines were part of water-based rituals for the Nazca, who had figured out how to irrigate the dry desert, Live Science has reported.

Archaeologists found the "new" lines in Peru's Palpa province. The seeds to the discovery were planted in December 2014, when the environmental organization Greenpeace placed a huge sign calling for renewable energy next to the Nazca hummingbird design, National Geographic reported. Greenpeace didn't have permission to enter the World Heritage Site and ended up damaging it.

Following the incident (for which Greenpeace later apologized), Peru received a grant from the United States to help restore its archaeology by hiring Peruvian archaeologist Johny Isla, the Nasca Lines' chief restorer and protector, National Geographic said. Given that not all of Peru's archaeological sites have been mapped from the air, Isla and Peruvian archaeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, who co-discovered the new glyphs, partnered with Sarah Parcak, a space archaeologist and founder of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to do so.

Parcak uses aerial photography from drones and satellites to discover and examine archaeological sites. For instance, satellite imagery helped Parcak and her colleagues find potential Viking sites in Newfoundland, Canada, in 2016, Live Science previously reported.

In Peru, Parcak's team used drones, which took images in 2017 that helped the archaeologists discover the new lines.

Human figures

Many of the newly found markings portray human figures, including warriors, and are a bit smaller than other Nazca lines, Stanish told Live Science. [Gallery: Aerial Photos Reveal Mysterious Stone Structures]

Moreover, "the Nazca Lines are all on the flats, and most of the Paracas ones seem to be up in the hilly parts," Stanish said. Perhaps, people in towns below these hills could see them, he said.

The Paracas culture, which emerged about 800 B.C., was ruled by priests, Johny Isla, who is also the head of Peru's Ministry of Culture in Ica province, previously told Live Science. The Paracas also constructed pyramids and made key advances in the production of ceramics and textiles.

In 2015, Isla rediscovered a Paracas geoglyph of a killer whale that had originally been found in the 1960s but couldn't be found again until Isla began researching it.

Archaeologists hope to preserve all of the Peruvian geoglyphs, including the newfound ones, as more people move to the area.

"The lines are being destroyed," Stanish said. "Peru has a booming economy."

Original article on Live Science.
What do you do if you're in the middle of nowhere and you have a heart attack? If you're a nurse alone in Western Australia, apparently the answer is, save your own life, damn it.

A case report published March 8 in The New England Journal of Medicine tells the harrowing tale of a nurse who did just that. The unnamed 44-year-old man was the only nurse on duty at a small post more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from Perth and about 90 miles (150 km) from the next nearest medical facility. [27 Oddest Medical Cases]

All by himself, he attached the leads of an electrocardiogram to his chest and sent the results by email to an emergency physician. The results showed that he had a "complete heart block, right bundle-branch block, hyperacute T waves in the inferior leads, and reciprocal ST-segment depression in the anterolateral leads," the researchers wrote in the paper.

In other words, much of his heart had stopped responding properly to nerve impulses telling it to beat, and other parts of the heart were beating poorly. It was a significant, life-threatening heart attack.

Nursing skills kicking into action, he inserted needles into the blood vessels on the insides of both his elbows and administered a cocktail of drugs designed to get his blood flowing, his heart beating and his pain within a manageable threshold. It included everything from aspirin to nitroglycerin to opioids.

He also attached "his own defibrillator pads" and got ready to dose himself with adrenaline and other drugs designed to kick a heart back into rhythm.

Eventually, Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service arrived and airlifted him to a hospital in Perth. There, doctors found a severe blockage in his mid-right coronary artery, and he underwent surgery. Forty-eight hours later, he was released.

Originally published on Live Science.
David Bonetti, an incisive and passionate art critic for the San Francisco Examiner in the late 1980s and 90s, was found dead in his apartment in Brookline, Mass., on Wednesday, shortly after returning from his annual visit to San Francisco.

Bonetti was discovered slumped in a chair while listening to classical music by his apartment manager who came in to change batteries in a smoke alarm, according to Amanda Doenitz, a close friend who spoke to a police detective in Brookline. He was 71.

Bonetti was the art critic for the Boston Phoenix when he was recruited by Examiner Publisher Will Hearst in 1989, in a bold move to beef up the Examiners art coverage when it was the broadsheet afternoon daily.

From the start, Bonetti stood out for his commitment to the Bay Area art scene in all its venues no matter how small, garage galleries being a favorite. He was an early and ardent advocate for gay and queer artists, along with all forms of high art and low art. The only thing he could not abide was kitsch.

As a critic and colleague, David was smart, funny and bitchy  all good qualities, said his longtime editor Paul Wilner. As a writer, he was clear on his likes and dislikes. And while funny in conversation, he was serious and committed to his beat.

Among Bonettis causes were saving the Piazzoni murals from destruction when the old Main Library was transformed into the Asian Art Museum. They are now at the de Young Museum. He also championed a mammoth Richard Serra sculpture that was deeply controversial and never installed at the Legion of Honor.

He was very lively, very opinionated and lots of fun, said Sandra S. Phillips, curator emerita of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He was also very knowledgeable about the art that he was focused on. If you get into an argument with him, you had to know what you were talking about because he could tackle you very adroitly.

Bonetti was openly gay and lived in a rambling apartment building known as the Yellow Bordello in the Duboce Triangle. All forms of gay photographers, painters and photographers lived there. In addition to promoting gay artists through his criticism, Bonetti was a collector and owned work by Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman and Jerome Caja, a San Francisco eccentric who used nail polish to paint perverse iconography on tiny thimbles and pieces of cardboard.

David arrived at the apex of the high queer era in San Francisco, said queer historian Gerard Koskovich. It was a time period that saw an extraordinary political and cultural response to the darkest years of the AIDS crisis and the extreme attack on LGBT people during the right-wing culture wars.

Urbane and intellectual, Bonetti never drove a car but got around. Bonetti regularly traveled to Los Angeles and New York to review important exhibitions and went as far as Berlin when Christo wrapped the Reichstag in 1995.

His out-of-town reviews brought sweeping grace and a sense of the adventurous excitement of the art world to Examiner readers, Wilner said.

After the Examiner merged with The Chronicle in 2000, Bonetti became uncomfortable in his role on the combined staff. He ultimately took a buyout in 2002 and decamped for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to become a national art critic.

He was in St. Louis for seven years, then moved to Boston where hed grown up. He was a freelancer and wrote about opera for the Berkshire Fine Arts, a website. He also made an annual winter trip west to San Francisco.

A year ago, he brought a small package to Koskovich as a gift. It contained two Caja paintings, which Koskovich will be donating to the GLBT Historical Society as being From the David Bonetti Collection.

In late March, Bonetti arrived for his annual visit to San Francisco and stayed in the tiny guest room at the Mission District home of Phillips and Stephen Vincent. He spent an afternoon at SFMOMA and was moved to tears by The Train exhibition on the funeral train of Robert F. Kennedy.

As he left, I thought, How wonderful it was to have him as a friend, Phillips said. I was looking forward to seeing him next year.

Bonetti continued to Los Angeles to visit Amanda Doenitz, an art appraiser who had met Bonetti when she worked at Fraenkel Gallery. Doenitz noted that Bonetti was overweight and taking a variety of medications to combat high blood pressure.

On Saturday, he and Doenitz went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where he stocked up on art books. When they rode an elevator up to the galleries, Bonetti stepped off and was immediately confronted with A Group of Animals by Sir Edwin Landseer. Bonetti launched into a passionate dissection of the 19th century painting that attracted a crowd, as if he were a tour guide.

That was just so David, Doenitz said. His infectious enthusiasm and the depth of knowledge about the whole range of art.

As Bonetti boarded a bus for the airport and his overnight flight to Boston, he yelled over his shoulder at Doenitz: I want to continue this conversation!

A memorial service is pending. Survivors include a brother, Gary Bonetti of Milford, Mass.
Lenke Szilagyi, Menemsha Films

The arrival of two laconic strangers (Ivan Angelusz and Marcell Nagy) in a small Hungarian town in August 1945 precipitates a commotion in Ferenc Torok's black-and-white drama of buried secrets that won't stay buried.

The men - a Jewish father and son bearing two small, coffinlike wooden crates said to be full of perfumes and cosmetics - make their way, over the course of the beautifully photographed if at times overwrought tale, from the train station to their final destination, which is best left unnamed. Old sins and poetic justice will be given an airing.
NEW YORK - Battered by screenwriting jobs that fell through and the depressing feeling that his career was over before it had started, Mart Crowley found himself housesitting in Beverly Hills in summer 1967 and mulling over an idea he desperately hoped might get him somewhere.

It was for a play that would focus on the emotional lives of gay men - a subject that had been treated in other plays, but not in one that made it to the mainstream. Drawing on memories and relationships, the 32-year-old Catholic University graduate was still groping for the right conceptual canvas for the play, when one was dropped in his path.

"I was invited to this birthday party by a friend of mine, on whom Harold would be based," Crowley, now 82, recalled, referring to a character who arrives halfway through the play, stoned and cold-eyed. "Not his party, but a friend of his," Crowley added, "who was a flamboyant guy and would be partially the basis of Emory (the play's most ostentatiously effeminate character). So I went to this cocktail party of this guy I didn't know in West Hollywood."

And, bam. "The Boys in the Band" found its focus.

In due course, Crowley's comedy-drama centered around a fateful birthday party would be a fixture of popular culture - a commercial off-Broadway hit whose often laceratingly self-loathing characters would divide the gay community, even as the play itself drew straight audiences as never before to a story revealing the passions and neuroses of a gallery of gay men. (In 1970, it was made into a film by director William Friedkin.) Of the work, an admiring Tony Kushner would write in a much later printing that "the play's characters and their agonies are movingly, engrossingly, entertainingly representative of human foibles and virtues, which, while not necessarily eternal, have remained constant in the human psyche for a long, long time."

Now, marking the 50th anniversary of its off-Broadway debut, "The Boys in the Band" is being given its Broadway premiere, in a year boasting perhaps the most notable convergence of tentpole plays of gay theater Broadway has ever seen. Already the year has produced an impeccable revival, directed by Marianne Elliott and starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane, of Kushner's poignant, blisteringly funny "gay fantasia" of AIDS and Reaganite neglect, "Angels in America." Courtesy of Hollywood and Broadway producer Ryan Murphy, Crowley's "Boys" joins "Angels" on Broadway on April 30, under the direction of Joe Mantello - a member of "Angels' " original 1993 Broadway cast - and with an ensemble including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer and Andrew Rannells.

Setting up as a third pillar on Broadway is the revival of Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song," which first made its way onto Broadway in 1982 (as "Torch Song Trilogy") and starred Fierstein as Arnold Becker, a lovelorn drag queen with middle-class dreams and a thing for a closeted married man. (As with each of the two parts of the original "Angels," directed by George C. Wolfe, "Torch Song Trilogy" won the Tony Award for best play.) The new "Torch Song," a transfer from off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre, will open in the fall at Second Stage's recently acquired Broadway space, the Helen Hayes Theatre, with Michael Urie as Arnold and Mercedes Ruehl playing his tough-as-lacquered-nails Jewish mother.

This retrospective meetup in the commercial OK Corral of American theater suggests that for at least some parts of the gay community, the canonization of milestone works is taking deeper root in the culture. Not that this signals any end to the struggles of gay, lesbian and transgender people, not by a long shot, or that the works of female and trans writers, particularly those of color, are as yet receiving the same level of prominent treatment as those of these white men. But, as Kushner noted in a telephone interview, the tide of history might be playing a part in this intersection of gay plays.

"There's a moment," he said, "after you feel like you've sort of arrived at a place, when you can look back with a certain sense of belonging and security, and see these as the chronicles of our experience. Maybe that's one reason why it felt like a good moment for them."

For playwrights, tourist-driven Broadway is no longer the crossroads of American theater: That distinction is now shared by dozens of play-commissioning regional theaters, along with the playhouses and nonprofit companies of off-Broadway. Still, that these three works are able to attract this caliber of talent and producing might all at once speaks to some evolution in the taste of audiences, or the ones that can afford Broadway prices, anyway.

And maybe something of what the plays mean to younger gay artists was conveyed when, as Crowley reported, Bomer - one of several openly gay actors in the cast - flew into Crowley's arms upon meeting him at a Manhattan photo shoot and exclaimed, "I can't tell you what a thrill it is to be in your play!"

For the playwrights themselves, though, the coincidence of having one another's best-known plays brought back practically simultaneously and with such fanfare might have less to do with the related permutations of identity and sexuality that run through all three than with the broader, universal themes they tackle.

"I don't think it had anything to do with being gay," Crowley, a screenwriter and dramatist, said of his most famous play. In 2002, he wrote a sequel, "The Men From the Boys," about the original characters gathering at a memorial service. "It's the humanity in the play; I think humanity is the crossover." About the troubled characters he created - some of them based on men he knew as far back as his Mississippi childhood, growing up with deeply religious Catholic parents - Crowley observed, "There is something about each and every one of ourselves that we don't like."

To Fierstein, too, the possibility of a major new revival of his own seminal play was an opportunity to view it in its most powerful context - and that did not include the AIDS epidemic, about which some people seem to think Fierstein was framing his story. In fact, "Torch Song" predates the AIDS crisis; to make that fact even clearer in this new, carefully trimmed version Fierstein pushed back the events of the play by a year.

"I had decided long ago that I wanted to wait until our community was not defined by AIDS," said Fierstein, whose subsequent writing career has included the books for musical hits such as "La Cage aux Folles" and "Kinky Boots." "It's not what 'Torch Song' is about. So I put it off for a while, because there was no understanding of the differences between human beings and viruses."

Then, in 2012, Fierstein let a friend direct a revival of the play at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. A year later, Michael Kahn staged it at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., with Brandon Uranowitz as Arnold. The reception was so warm that the playwright felt that the clouds had parted for a more coherent reckoning of what "Torch Song" was about: For me, it is that family values amount first, last and always, to the emotional shelter of compassion and tolerance. "I really felt that now we were at a time where we could see the characters in the play as human beings," he added. "I thought it was going to be a period piece, which it turned out not to be."

Does Broadway's bear hug have a deeper meaning? That this confluence of events is only occurring in 2018 probably says more about the peculiar mercantile folkways of Broadway than it does about any collective cultural impact of these plays. As critic and Columbia professor Alisa Solomon noted recently, in a response to a lengthy piece about the history of gay theater by New York Times theater critic Jesse Green, there is a rich, varied pantheon of gay theater writers, performers and plays that both precede and follow works such as "The Boys in the Band." Reza Abdoh, Charles Ludlam, Maria Irene Fornes, Lisa Kron, Peggy Shaw, Carmelita Tropicana and Megan Terry are just some of the artists she mentions. "A very partial list," Solomon writes, "and yet - surprise! Not all white guys!"

Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright ("How I Learned to Drive") who finally made her Broadway debut last season with the Tony-nominated "Indecent," avers that in 2018, the definitions may have shifted over whether white gay men in the performing arts can be considered to be on the outside looking in. "To be a gay man in New York theater, that's not quite an oppression," said Vogel, who is a lesbian and whose play about the Yiddish theater documented the first lesbian kiss on the New York stage.

She makes an exception, though, for "Angels in America," and the "intersectional" manner in which it has inspired the creative impulses of "women and people of color and Mormons and the entire range of gender."

"So if Tony wants to write about race and class and gender, go for it, man!" Vogel said.

As for Kushner, he acknowledges a debt to Crowley, in particular. From whatever source of writerly invention "Boys in the Band" emanated, Kushner cites Crowley as an influence. Years ago, Kushner appeared at a Barnes & Noble in New York with David Greenspan, an actor in an earlier off-Broadway revival of "Boys." Crowley was there. Kushner said the moderator "asked what 'Boys in the Band' meant to us?, and then he turned to Mart, and said, 'Mart, what do you think about these gay artists of a later generation, so enamored of your work?' "

Crowley's eyes, Kushner recalled, filled with tears.
Macbeth

By Jo Nesbo

Hogarth. 446 pp. $27

---

The Norwegian novelist Jo Nesbo's adaptation of "Macbeth" is a variation on the known-outcome thriller, a subgenre that we may owe to Frederick Forsyth. The reader picks up Forsyth's pioneering novel "The Day of the Jackal" (1971) knowing that Charles de Gaulle was not assassinated; the suspense lies in finding out how a near-foolproof plan to accomplish that will be thwarted.

With Nesbo's "Macbeth," readerly foreknowledge rises to a new level. We come to the novel not only with an awareness of how the play turns out (not so hot for the title character), but also with a cauldron of memorable features bubbling in our brains - the soothsaying witches, the compulsive hand-washing, Banquo's ghost and at least a smattering of the poetry: "Out, damned spot," life is "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," etc. Here, the fun comes from watching a crack storyteller put his noir stamp on one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies.

The new "Macbeth" takes place circa 1970, not in a kingdom but in a nominal democracy with a tendency to elect strongmen. By eliminating rivals and superiors, Macbeth hopes to slay his way into the mayor's office of the industrial city in which he lives, and then - well, to borrow from another Shakespeare play, perhaps there will be a tide in his affairs, taken at the flood.

To help the Scottish play's heaping doses of mayhem go down, the author makes some crafty choices. Many of the main characters, Macbeth included, ply a trade in which killing with impunity is relatively easy: police work. To provide plausible modern substitutes for ghosts, Nesbo hooks many of his characters on a drug called (rather heavy-handedly) "power," which can induce frightful hallucinations. To make the drug kingpins au courant, the author endows them with a libertarian strain. "My religion is capitalism," one of them explains, "and the free market my creed." And Nesbo adds another layer of addictive behavior by making casino gambling his imagined country's national pastime.

I don't know whether Nesbo has read Stephen Greenblatt's "Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare." But Greenblatt astutely points out that the Macbeths are the Bard's most convincing portrait of a devoted couple, and Nesbo takes care to explain why they delight in each other. In a drug lord's words, Lady, as she is simply called, is Macbeth's "beloved dominatrix." In turn, she views his submissiveness as an asset, exulting that he loves "that part of her which frightened other men. Her strength. Willpower. An intelligence that was superior to theirs and [that] she couldn't be bothered to hide under a bushel. It took a man to love that in a woman."

Nesbo tinkers with some elements of the play, as when he changes Caithness' gender from male to female. He had every right to do that sort of thing, even to skip certain episodes entirely - his fulfillment of the Birnam Wood prophecy is so over-the-top that he might just as well have left it alone. On the whole, though, Nesbo manages the balancing act of being true to the original play without slighting his own interests as a writer: bleak settings, loyalty (or the lack thereof) among crooks, clever escapes from tight spots, the affinities between policemen and the criminals they chase.

Nesbo's "Macbeth" is the latest entry in a project in which top-flight novelists are asked to reinterpret Shakespeare. Already published are Jeanette Winterson's "The Winter's Tale" (retitled "The Gap of Time"), Howard Jacobson's "The Merchant of Venice" ("Shylock Is My Name"), Anne Tyler's "The Taming of the Shrew" ("Vinegar Girl"), Margaret Atwood's "The Tempest" ("Hag-seed"), Tracy Chevalier's "Othello" ("New Boy") and Edward St. Aubyn's "King Lear" ("Dunbar"). This is heady company for a crime novelist to join, but Nesbo has repaid what may have been a wild hunch on the part of his publisher.

Near the end of the novel, Macbeth raises his hand to give a certain door a momentous knock. He stares at that hand, expecting it to betray "the seven-year tremble. He couldn't see one. They said it was worse when there wasn't one, then it was definitely time to get out." That missing constabulary tremor is a nice touch, an embellishment of Shakespeare that is all the more striking when you recall that Macbeth is indeed about to "get out," though not the way he intended.

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Drabelle is a former mysteries editor of The Washington Post Book World.
No Immediate Danger: Volume One of Carbon Ideologies

By William T. Vollmann

Viking. 601 pp. $40

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A decade ago, the environmental philosopher Timothy Morton invented a new word: hyperobject. It describes something so "massively distributed in time and space relative to humans" that it eludes our understanding. The best example of a hyperobject is climate change. Its scale confounds our perception. It is everywhere-"viscous," as Morton has it - and yet it is hard to see directly. Its implications are so great that they verge on unthinkable.

William T. Vollmann's new book, "No Immediate Danger," tussles with the comprehension-defying nature of climate change. It is a 600-page amalgam of scientific history, cultural criticism, mathematical experiments, risk-benefit analyses of energy production and consumption, and diaristic meanderings through radiation-festooned landscapes post-Fukushima. The effect is bewildering.

The first of two volumes, jointly called "The Carbon Ideologies," the whole book is written as a letter to the future. "Someday," it begins, "perhaps not long from now, the inhabitants of a hotter, more dangerous and biologically diminished planet than the one on which I lived may wonder what you and I were thinking, or whether we thought at all. This book is for them." We know more today about the effects of climate change than ever before (although, as Vollmann and others have noted, we've really known for a half a century). We are experiencing heightened storms, record droughts, rising seas and temperatures, increased pollution. And yet we have done little to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which are at record highs. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at a level not seen since the Pliocene era - more than 3 million years ago. Why so little action? Is it because many of us don't care about some "ecosystem somewhere"? Because the science lacks certainty? Because of companies' concerns about their profits? Because of data suppression? Because it is easier not to act? These questions course through the book.

"No Immediate Danger" is divided in two parts, beginning with a primer. It is a kind of encyclopedia of the causes of climate change, including manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and industrial chemicals, with occasional stretches of commentary and analysis that are some of the most compelling parts of the book. In the opening section, titled "What Was the Work For?" Vollmann acerbically logs the small, seemingly routine comforts that many of us enjoy - the ability to wake up and turn on the lights, to shower at will, to cook with gas, to take fresh vegetables out of the refrigerator, to leave our devices plugged into the wall, to wash clothes in a machine, to throw out our trash, to cool our houses, to heat our houses, and on and on. "I think we felt a kind of grandness to have so many energies at our call, even if we rarely thought about our situation," he writes. "Why shouldn't they serve us faithfully?" (In 2012, 61 percent of power in the United States was wasted). It's an elegant indictment of the mundane behaviors that require immense amounts of carbon-emitting fuel, and the ways we've structured our world around fulfilling and continually augmenting energy demand. "In each two days of 2009," Vollmann points out, "the world burned the entire oil output of 1990."

He adds: "Being one of those pathetic creatures called 'literary' writers, I never before got called upon to quantify peak load capacity or ponder the carbon content of dirty diapers." Thus, he throws himself exuberantly into numbers, producing dozens of calculations and comparative tables on the global-warming potentials of the three worst greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide), the energy required to manufacture the "big five" materials (cement, paper, steel, plastics, aluminum), the solar energy lost en route to reaching the Earth's surface, and dozens of others. These sections are dense and sometimes inscrutable, but terrifying insights are to be found. For instance, the cultivation of rice - "the most important grain crop in the world" - accounts for about 50 percent of Japan's methane emissions. A pound of nylon sends up 10.5 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Brussels sprouts are among the highest producers of nitrous oxide.

The title "No Immediate Danger" refers to a phrase Japanese authorities used after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, and in the second part of the book, Vollmann enters that realm. Our insatiable demand for energy has pushed us toward nuclear power, touted as a miracle solution that can sustain our way of life without emitting carbon dioxide and thus contributing to climate change. During trips to Japan, Vollmann wades through the zeal that surrounds nuclear power ("Will free us from the fear that our energy resources will run out.") and considers its hidden and heinous costs. He also interrogates the safety failures of the plant operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), whose management plan stated, "The possibility of a severe accident occurring is so small that from an engineering standpoint, it is practically unthinkable."

Vollmann treks through communities in the vicinity of the Fukushima plant, measuring radiation with a dosimeter and a scintillation counter wherever he goes. He meets tsunami survivors, decontamination workers and plant officials, often supplying them with radiation levels that suggest they're not as safe as they think. He is repeatedly met with chilling stoicism. The disaster was "just bad luck. "Even natural radiation exists, and if it is natural, it must be all right." Nuclear power "is necessary. Whether it is good or bad is another story." Perhaps this is true patriotism. Or a coping mechanism. Or, as one of Vollmann's taxi drivers says, "it's invisible, so I don't feel anything."

I read much of "No Immediate Danger" in Delhi, where the air is heavy with the refuse of coal plants, construction and the steady thrum of 10 million cars (as Vollmann calculates, gross domestic product growth and the growth of emissions go hand in hand). Breathing in Delhi is the equivalent of smoking about 40 cigarettes a day, and 1 in 3 children has impaired lungs. One hazy day, while sitting in snaking, mind-numbing traffic on a major flyover, I peered over the edge. Beside the sacred Yamuna river, putrid and parched, a large group of men were burning a pile of what looked like refrigerators and televisions. Thick black smoke billowed up toward the highway. Vollmann's refrain - What Was the Work For? - rang through my ears like a drill.

There are swifter, simpler, more efficient ways to learn about how human impact on the planet has set us striding into a "hot, dark future." But "No Immediate Danger" - written as calculated denial becomes policy - takes a tack that feels appropriate. It is overwhelming. It drowns us in calculations, facts, images, stories. It embodies the confusion of our current moment, the insidiousness of disbelief, and the mania-inducing reality that our greatest threat is the hardest to act upon. It is a feverish, sprawling archive of who we are, and what we've wrought.

In describing the vast amounts of research, travel, personal expense, risk and, indeed, energy consumption he engaged in to write this book, Vollmann admits to the reader from the future that much of it had to do with assuaging his own guilt, avoiding the shame of doing nothing. "Well, in the end I did nothing just the same," he concedes. "And the same went for most everyone I knew."

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Sharma writes about culture and the environment.
3 1 of 3 Leah Millis / The Chronicle 2017 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Macor / The Chronicle 2017 Show More Show Less 3 of 3





A Chronicle investigation that revealed hundreds of questionable arrests in Californias shelters for abused and neglected children won top honors Monday in the prestigious Investigative Reporters and Editors annual awards.

The story, called Fostering Failure, documented how shelter residents as young as 8 were arrested and jailed for relatively minor incidents, after calls to law enforcement by shelter staff. The contest judges called it a heartbreaking story... (that) is both rage-inducing and depressing. It was named best investigative story of the year in its circulation category.
TOKYO - Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye was Friday sentenced to 24 years in prison - effectively for the rest of the 66-year-old's life - after being found guilty of charges including bribery, coercion and abuse of power.

The heavy sentence completed the sensational fall from grace for a political princess who became South Korea's first female leader, but then went on to become its first president to be impeached when she was ejected from office a year ago.

In a first for South Korea, the sentencing was broadcast live on television - a sign of the intense public interest in the case. But Park, who continues to strongly deny any wrongdoing, has boycotted the court for the last six months and refused to attend Friday's sentencing.

For many South Koreans, who took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands to oust Park, the case starkly illustrated widespread feelings that the system is stacked against them and that only the rich and well-connected can get ahead. That feeling has only grown with the arrest of Park's predecessor on unrelated corruption charges.

Together, the cases have added new momentum to efforts to revise South Korea's constitution and dilute the power of the presidency.

In a damning verdict delivered Friday, three judges in the Seoul Central District Court found Park guilty on 16 of the 18 charges leveled against her, including bribery, abuse of power, coercion and leaking government secrets.

The judges found Park guilty of planning an elaborate extortion scheme with her confidante, Choi Soon-sil - allegations that she has strongly denied. Numerous supporters of Park's gathered outside the court before the sentencing, waving both South Korean and American flags, to protest against her prosecution.

"Park, denying all of the charges, did not appear to be remorseful about her wrongdoings," said Kim Se-yoon, the lead judge in the case. "We must hold her accountable to stop such an unfortunate case involving a president's abuse of power from dragging the country into turmoil again."

Judges sentenced Park to 24 years in jail and fined her $17 million.

"The main blame ... lies with former president Park herself," Kim said. "She neglected her constitutional responsibilities and shared her power with a private citizen."

In February, Choi was sentenced to 20 years in prison and also fined $17 million for her role in the scheme.

She was accused of setting up two charitable foundations ostensibly to promote sports, but in fact using them as slush funds for the president and for herself. She and Park were accused of extracting bribes or promises of bribes totaling $70 million from conglomerates including Samsung and from big businesses in return for favorable treatment from Park's government.

Prosecutors had been asking for a 30-year prison sentence and a fine of about $120 million to be imposed on the former president.

Experts said the harsh sentence was justified.

"The 24-year sentence, which is more than double the usual sentence for a murder charge in our country, may appear heavy on the surface," said Lee Chang-hyun, a law professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. "However, considering that the entire population of South Korea is affected by her crime, this seemingly heavy sentence is actually reasonable."

After the sentencing, South Korea's presidential Blue House issued a poetic statement.

"Each person would have had different feelings about former President Park. However, a bleak and dry wind blew across all of us today," said spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom. "This is a heartbreaking incident for one person's life as well as for the country as a whole."

Park was not present in the court, having refused to attend court hearings since last October. And, unlike the rest of the country,she would not have been able to watch the sentencing on TV in her 108-square-foot cell because she's only allowed to view pre-recorded programs.

In her solitary cell, Park has been eating apples and yogurt rather than prison food and has been reading popular comic books, including ones about fortune telling and a legendary karate fighter, according to local reports. She has been refusing to meet with anyone except her lawyers.

Friday's sentencing is the latest chapter in the downfall of a South Korean blue blood.

Park is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, the former military general who seized power in 1963 and served as South Korea's strongman president for almost two decades.

In 1974, Park's mother was assassinated by a North Korean sympathizer who was trying to kill her father. At the age of 22, she effectively became first lady. Then, in 1979, Park's father was shot dead by his own spy chief.

During this period, she came to rely on a kind of shaman fortune teller who was close to her father. The shaman reportedly began conveying to Park messages from her mother in the afterlife.

When the shaman died in 1994, his daughter took over his role of providing spiritual advice to Park, who was estranged from her siblings. The daughter was Choi Soon-sil.

After Park was elected president of South Korea at the end of 2012, she continued to rely on Choi for guidance on everything from policy prescriptions to wardrobe choices. Choi had no official title and no security clearance, but saw Park much more frequently than the president's own staff.

But in 2016, reports of Choi's influence emerged, leading to revelations that she had been extracting money from big businesses on the president's behalf.

The most deeply involved was Samsung, South Korea's largest conglomerate.

Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, was convicted last year of paying bribes totaling $6.4 million to Choi, embezzling corporate money to fund the bribes, then lying about it. He was sentenced to five years in prison but served only six months before being released.

Experts hope that this case will contribute to the end of the corruption that has plagued South Korea.

"I hope that this trial will provide a good opportunity to sever the lingering negative legacy of collusion between political power and big business," said Kang Won-taek, a political scientist at Seoul National University.

While this scandal has been roiling South Korea, another former president has found himself in hot water.

Former conservative president Lee Myung-bak, Park's predecessor, was arrested last month on a raft of charges including bribery, embezzlement, tax evasion, abuse of power and breach of trust. The 76-year-old, who was president from 2008 to 2013 and made his name as chief executive of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, is now being held in a separate jail from Park.

South Korean presidents have an inglorious record when it comes to corruption and prison time. This is not even the first time two former presidents have been detained simultaneously.

But these cases will help the cause of constitutional reform.

South Korea's constitution has not been changed since 1987, when it was revised to mandate direct presidential elections. But elected presidents were limited to a single, five-year term to stop the kind of long tenures that Park's father had enjoyed.

The current government, led by progressive Moon Jae-in, is promoting a revision that would allow a president to serve two four-year terms, as in the United States.

Similar plans have been put forward by previous presidents, but the government's plan is the subject of political wrangling now. Moon wants a referendum in June, during local elections, but the opposition wants more time and prefers a separate vote later in the year.

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The Washington Post's Min Joo Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
When Mark Zuckerberg testifies to the U.S. Congress next week, the Facebook chief executive will face off with lawmakers who have long been itching to confront him - on everything from a privacy mishap involving 87 million users to a litany of issues that have dogged the company for years.

"I think we're at a moment of reckoning. It's really high noon for Facebook and the tech industry," Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Conn., one of the senators who is set to grill Zuckerberg, said in an interview.

Zuckerberg's scheduled appearance at two congressional hearings beginning Tuesday marks the first time that the tech leader will submit to questioning at the Capitol. For more than a decade, Zuckerberg had dodged the congressional spotlight, slipping away from the sort of high-drama, made-for-television Washington interrogations that had befallen some of his tech industry peers. But the controversy around Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis firm that improperly accessed Facebook users' data, has left Facebook's founder newly exposed to the political firestorm.

Now, the stakes are sky high for Zuckerberg, whose every statement -- likely under oath -- will carry immense legal and political weight. His company is under investigation around the world, including a probe in the United States that threatens Facebook with fines that could reach into the trillions of dollars. And Zuckerberg's testimony could fuel new efforts to regulate not only Facebook but the whole of the tech industry, at a time when lawmakers increasingly are wondering if Silicon Valley is out of control.

To Blumenthal, it's Facebook's "unsafe at any speed moment." The senator was referring to the legislative onslaught that befell car makers in the 1960s following revelations that they had manifestly failed to protect passengers from harm.

A spokesman for Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, Zuckerberg pledged to rethink his company's privacy practices. "We didn't take a broad enough view of what our responsibility is, and that was a huge mistake. It was my mistake," he told reporters.

Zuckerberg's gauntlet begins with a rare, joint hearing Tuesday before two Senate panels - the Commerce Committee and the Judiciary Committee. As many as 43 members, almost half of the entire Senate, are set to pepper the Facebook executive with questions. A day later, the House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to follow suit.

Lawmakers last month called on Zuckerberg to appear to respond to the controversy around Cambridge Analytica. Since then, Facebook's problems have worsened, including the revelation this week that what it called "malicious actors" could have accessed information, including names and profile photos, about most of the social network's more than 2 billion users.

To start, some members of Congress said they want Zuckerberg at his hearings to offer specifics about Cambridge Analytica - and Facebook's privacy practices writ large -- even beyond the information the company has shared in recent weeks.

"More than any one issue, I'm interested in Mark Zuckerberg's vision for the responsibility Facebook plans to take for what happens on its platform, how it will protect users' data, and how it intends to proactively stop harmful conduct instead of being forced to respond to it months or years later," said Republican Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the leader of the Senate Commerce Committee, in a statement.

New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, emphasized that his chief concern is "how many Cambridge Analytica types are out there" that aren't yet public, he said in an interview. A Republican counterpart on the panel, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Tenn., said she was most frustrated that Facebook had "turned their users into the product that they are selling."

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, Mass., one of his committee's most outspoken advocates for a new online privacy law, said he wants to know if there's any "recourse for victims" from Facebook's recent privacy mishaps. For years, Markey has written letters to the social giant, imploring it to improve its data-protection practices. His efforts helped inform a decision by the Federal Trade Commission to penalize the company in 2011.

The Massachusetts Democrat said he'd next press Zuckerberg on how the company ensures "the integrity and safety of the platform." Markey specifically cited an old memo, written by a Facebook vice president and recently unearthed by BuzzFeed, that described "bullying and terrorist attacks" as the regular "costs of doing business" on the site.

Previously, Facebook had warded off such invites from Congress. Lawmakers had tried as recently as October to press Zuckerberg and his counterparts at Google and Twitter about the ways that the Russian government spread propaganda on their platforms around the 2016 presidential election. But the top executives sent their leading lawyers to testify in their place, to the chagrin of Democrats and Republicans.

Zuckerberg's appearance next week gives now lawmakers another opportunity to raise questions that still linger about the election. "What I care the most about is. . . what has this done, what is it doing to democracy?" said Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo (Calif.), a member of the House committee, who represents a slice of Silicon Valley.

Republicans, meanwhile, recently have been fuming that Facebook is biased against their viewpoints, to the detriment of conservative employees and news sources. At Facebook's last major appearance on Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) slammed the company as well as Google and Twitter for what he perceived as censorship.

And the hearings starting Tuesday may force Zuckerberg to confront his industry's ever-souring reputation in the nation's capital, where lawmakers increasingly question if tech giants can police themselves.

"What I see are incredibly innovative and powerful companies that dominate on their platforms, whether that's Facebook, whether that's Google, whether that's Amazon," said Republican Rep. Greg Walden, Ore., who runs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "But like all good things, if you get too big too quickly you may not have the self-regulation in place that ultimately consumers demand."

Zuckerberg is hardly the first tech titan to sit across from a dais of peeved federal lawmakers. In 2011, Eric Schmidt, then the executive chairman of Google, was summoned to explain whether the search giant had sought to disadvantage its smaller rivals. Two years later, the Senate trained its sights on Apple, grilling chief executive Tim Cook on allegations that the company dodged billions of dollars in U.S. taxes by keeping its cash offshore. Both executives were subject to scrutiny well beyond what lawmakers saw as their immediate offenses.

This time, the frustration with Facebook on Capitol Hill initially threatened to draw Google and Twitter into the fray. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the leader of the Judiciary Committee, even invited those two companies' chief executives to testify. But Senate leaders ultimately chose not to require either tech giant to appear - a victory for Google and Twitter, which privately had grumbled for days that they had done nothing wrong and didn't deserve to sit next to Zuckerberg.

Yet Zuckerberg's back-to-back appearances on Capitol Hill still threatens to implicate them all anyway -- triggering a new push for privacy regulation, another round of congressional hearings and a continued shift in web users' impressions of tech giants, Facebook and otherwise, that they once revered.

GOP Rep. Blackburn, for one, said in an interview she'd push Zuckerberg to support privacy legislation that would require tech companies to obtain permission before selling users' data -- a proposal that Facebook and its tech peers have vocally opposed. As the leader of a tech-focused subcommittee, Blackburn also said she's considering a hearing of her own soon focused on tech companies' powerful algorithms.

Broadly, though, lawmakers signaled that they're ready to confront Facebook on its many recent missteps. "We can no longer go with the mantra 'trust us' because they have proven untrustworthy," Blumenthal said about Facebook. "Whether intentionally or inadvertently, they have really in effect betrayed that trust."
The diversity of the worlds people was on display Thursday at Illinois College.

The cultures of 13 different countries and communities were highlighted at the 10th annual Multicultural Festival at ICs Bruner Fitness and Recreation Center.

This festival is extremely important because it showcases what Illinois College has to offer in terms of cultural diversity, said Daniel Aguilar, ICs assistant director of diversity, equity and inclusion. For those who havent experienced other cultures, this is a great opportunity for them to do so. Also, for our domestic and international students, it gives them the opportunity to showcase a small snippet of who they are and what their culture represents.

Aguilar and Mikail Petin, ICs associate dean of student success and director of the office of diversity, equity and inclusion, were members of a committee that helped organize the Multicultural Festival.

This year, we wanted to help all of our students, not just the international students, showcase their identities, cultures and countries, Petin said.

The 13 countries and communities that were represented at the festival were India, Japan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, the LGBT community, Germany, China, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Pakistan, Spain, Nigeria and the Chicano community.

The event featured diverse cuisine, cultural dress and photos of major landmarks in students home countries, as well as provided information on students homeland.

IC senior biology major Gerald Cadet of Jamaica, Queens, New York, said he always enjoys attending the event.

I like learning about other cultures, he said. I come from a very diverse city and since Jacksonville is not culturally diverse, its fun to see everyone come together at the festival to learn about all the different cultures and ethnicities in the world.

Cadet grew up with Haitians, Jamaicans and other people from the West Indies. While growing up, I also interacted with people who originated from places in Europe and Asia, he said.

IC sophomore Nancy Cisneros of Chicago, who is majoring in Spanish, psychology and sociology, is pleased the college holds the Multicultural Festival.

I mostly grew up in a Hispanic community on the South Side of Chicago, she said. When I came to Illinois College two years ago, I experienced culture shock and homesickness. But for now, this is home. Diversity on the campus could be better, but when the college allows for events like this to happen, we are one step closer toward obtaining more diversity.

Cisneros is a member of Nuestra Casa, a Spanish organization on campus that is part of the annual festival.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.
WASHINGTON - Lawyers for Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, asked a federal judge Friday to order special counsel Robert Mueller III to release the names of alleged accomplices accused of helping Manafort commit crimes.

Manafort's legal team also asked the court to direct Mueller to specify each allegedly false and misleading statement their client is accused of making, including to his tax preparers about his control of foreign bank accounts and to the Justice Department about his alleged lobbying work in 2016. Without that information, Manafort's lawyers said he cannot adequately prepare for trial.

Among other details that Manfort's lawyers want Mueller to disclose are the identifications of people said to have helped him and his business partner engage in an alleged multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign in the United States. Mueller's team says the alleged lobbying campaign was carried out at the direction of Ukraine's former president Viktor Yanukovych, his pro-Russian Party of Regions and the Government of Ukraine.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. The flurry of activity late Friday in the U.S. District Court in Washington came as Manafort's lawyers faced a motions deadline. Mueller's legal team has until April 23 to respond.

Manafort's request is his latest move to challenge the legitimacy of Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and allegations that Trump's campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to gain an advantage over his opponent, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Manafort, 69, and his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, 45, pleaded not guilty in October to a 12-count indictment accusing them of conspiring to defraud the United States by laundering $30 million from their work in Ukraine.

Gates, who also served as a top official in Trump's campaign, pleaded guilty in February to reduced charges of conspiracy and lying to the FBI and struck a deal to cooperate and provide information to Mueller's investigation. Mueller subsequently added tax evasion and bank fraud charges against Manafort in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Manafort has not been charged with any crimes connected to Trump's presidential campaign, where he served as campaign chief for five months before he resigned amid news reports about his activities in Ukraine.

On Thursday night, Mueller's team indicated that the investigation into Manafort is ongoing. Mueller's prosecutors revealed in court filings that they had used a March 9 search warrant to get information tied to five AT&T phone numbers. That search, they said, is related to "ongoing investigations that are not the subject of either of the current prosecutions involving Manafort." They also moved to seize bank accounts at three financial institutions last year.

Manafort's attorneys argued in a January lawsuit that the Justice Department exceeded its legal authority when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ordered Mueller to investigate "links and/or coordination" between the Russian government and Trump campaign, as well as "any matters that arose or may arise directly from" that investigation. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson expressed doubts about Manafort's lawsuit during a hearing earlier this week.

Mueller's team has sought to counter the arguments by Manafort's attorneys that the special counsel probe has exceeded its legal authority. Court filings submitted Mondayinclude an August 2017 memo indicating that Rosenstein authorized Mueller to investigate whether Manafort "committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials."

Earlier this week, Alex van der Zwaan, 33, who admitted that he lied to Mueller's team about his phone calls and emails with Gates, was ordered to served 30 days in prison. On Friday, the court revealed that van der Zwaan will be sent to a federal minimum-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. He is the first person to be sentenced in Mueller's investigation.

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The Washington Post's Spencer Hsu contributed to this report.
The Maryland Senate gave final approval to a bill that creates a new set of rules for dealing with sexual harassment complaints in the statehouse - the first major overhaul to the state's anti-harassment policy in decades.

The bill heads back to the House, which passed it last month and is expected to approve the changes made by the Senate before the General Assembly adjourns on Monday at midnight.

"This session will be remembered for school construction, gun control, environmental protection and for Me Too," said Sen. Cheryl Kagan, D-Montgomery, on the floor before the vote. Kagan was one of several current lawmakers and former staffers who spoke publicly over the last weeks about their alleged harassment in hopes of shifting the culture in Annapolis.

The bill's passage was part of the flurry of activity in Annapolis on Friday as legislators moved quickly to approve legislation before the 90-day session ends.

Del. Ariana Kelly, D-Montgomery, the bill sponsor and president of the Women Legislators of Maryland caucus, said the #MeToo movement empowered women to share their experiences and ultimately helped the bill gain momentum.

"This is a legislative manifestation of a larger movement where people are no longer willing to be silent," she said. "We ultimately hope to see a culture change. The policies are changing and we expect the culture to change too, and the passage of this legislation is an indication that that is happening."

Kelly said the changes made by the Senate strengthen the legislation - even though the Senate version replaces "sexual harassment" with "harassment" throughout the bill. Even the bill title was changed from "Legislative Branch of State Government - Sexual Harassment" to "State Government - Discrimination and Harassment."

"It blunts the impact of the title, but not the policy," Kelly said. "We changed the sexual harassment policy to include all forms of unlawful discrimination."

The legislation was a top priority of the Women Legislators of Maryland caucus, which issued a report that detailed numerous alleged accounts of sexual harassment and offered dozens of recommendations to update the policy.

One of the most substantial changes requires an independent investigator to handle complaints.

Under the bill, the Joint Ethics Committee is required to refer complaints to an outside investigator, unless an alleged victim objects. It also must notify the alleged victim of the investigator's findings. The legislation also prohibits a legislator or member of state government to use state funds to settle a harassment or discrimination claim.

The original House bill only dealt with the legislative branch and lobbyists, which have never been a part of the state's anti-harassment policy. The Senate expanded the measure to include the members of the executive branch.

The legislation requires the legislative policy committee to update the anti-harassment policy every two years and requires the Department of Legislative Services to maintain electronic records of training attendance for five years and publish attendance on the General Assembly's website.

The bill requires the Ethics Commission to provide a "training related to discrimination and harassment" to lobbyists every two years. It also sets up a procedure for lobbyists who are harassed for filing a complaint.

It was unclear for much of the session whether the legislation would advance. Senate President Thomas Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert, and House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, set up a commission in January to review the harassment policies of all three branches of government. The panel's final report is expected in December, and Miller previously indicated that he wanted to wait until then before changing policies.

Also on Friday, the Senate gave final approval to a bill that imposes a $250 fine and one point against a person who drives while using a cell phone. The Senate amended the House bill by reducing the fine by half and adding the point against the driver's license.

The Senate also passed a so-called "red flag" bill that makes develops a procedure for getting guns out of the hands of people who are danger to themselves or others and a measure that allows the state to sell the naming rights of rest areas to businesses.
Morgan County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Tony Miller, 44, of Chicago was booked into the Morgan County jail at 2:07 p.m. Thursday on a warrant accusing him of contempt of court.

 Jerrell K. Crayton, 29, of Harvey was booked into the Morgan County jail at 7:53 p.m. Thursday on a charge of battery.

Jacksonville Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Larry J. Driver, 63, of 833 S. Fayette St. was arrested about 4:30 a.m. Thursday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while license is revoked or suspended and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

 Tyshawn G. Barnes, 30, of 838 W. State St. was arrested about 11:10 a.m. Thursday on charges of domestic battery and interfering with a report of domestic violence.

 Lexani F. Thomas, 18, of 800 Hoagland Blvd. was booked into the Morgan County jail at 5:26 p.m. Thursday on a charge of retail theft.



Cass County

Beardstown Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Ramon G. Colon Melendez, 35, of 111 S. State St., Beardstown, was booked into the Morgan County jail at 11:10 a.m. Thursday on charges of retail theft and resisting a peace officer.



Pike County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Patrick D. Webster, 39, of Pleasant Hill was arrested at 10:37 p.m. Sunday on a charge of domestic battery and on an unspecified Pike County warrant.

 Stacy L. Dolbeare, 37, of New Canton was arrested at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on an unspecified Pike County felony warrant.

 Glenda L. Barrios Santiago, 23, of Hull was arrested at 8:28 p.m. March 30 on a charge of domestic battery.

 Taylor A. Martin, 20, of Pleasant Hill was arrested at 6:50 p.m. March 30 on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass to a residence.

 Patrick L. Anstedt, 41, of Pittsfield was arrested at 7:46 p.m. March 30 on a charge of residential burglary.

 Joshua R. Bricker, 27, of Pearl was arrested at 12:48 p.m. March 29 on a charge of domestic battery.

Compiled by Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree, David C.L. Bauer and Greg Olson
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's bid to put the Catalan independence push behind him and forge a working majority in parliament suffered a blow Thursday when a German court ordered former regional President Carles Puigdemont freed on bail.

The court in Schleswig-Holstein declined to consider a Spanish judge's request to have Puigdemont extradited on rebellion charges but said he might still be sent to Madrid to face trial for corruption. He was ordered to pay 75,000 euros ($92,000) in bail, the court said in a statement. German prosecutors earlier this week had backed the Spanish request.

The German ruling damages Rajoy's strategy of painting Puigdemont's attempt to declare Catalan independence as an act of violent rebellion and sets back his efforts to finally pass a budget for this year after months of gridlock. As well as sapping authority from Madrid's legal argument, the decision leaves Rajoy casting around for votes in the national parliament where the divisions over Catalonia have paralyzed legislative activity. Catalonia itself has been without a government since Puigdemont was ousted in October.

"As soon as the news broke, we immediately saw the pro-independence camp claiming this as a great victory," said Caroline Gray, a lecturer at Aston University in the U.K. who specializes in nationalist movements, by phone. "It puts Rajoy in a very difficult position, to put it mildly."

Basque nationalists in the Spanish parliament have refused to back the budget presented by Rajoy's minority government because they oppose the emergency powers put in place to sack Puigdemont when he tried to declare independence.

The Spanish government isn't aware of the exact terms of the German court's decision and therefore can't form an opinion about it, a spokesman said. "The government is convinced that Spanish justice will adopt the most appropriate measures in the light of these new circumstances to make sure the laws of our country are obeyed," he added.

The German court decision threatens to overshadow the ruling People's Party annual convention in Seville this weekend with Rajoy due to deliver the closing speech on Sunday.

The Catalan saga is just one Spanish political drama that isn't going the PP's way. The Madrid regional President Cristina Cifuentes is facing calls to resign amid allegations that she faked a master's degree at Juan Carlos University. She insists the qualification is genuine and that she has no plans to quit.

Meanwhile, Catalan separatist politicians rejoiced at Puigdemont's impending release.

"It's very good news," Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan parliament and an ally of Puigdemont, said on his Twitter account. "The crime of rebellion is totally unfounded."

"See you tomorrow. Thanks very much everyone," Puigdemont said on his Twitter page last night alongside a photo of himself giving a thumbs-up sign.

Elsa Artadi, the spokeswoman for Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya group in the Catalan parliament, told broadcaster TV3 that the separatist parties had agreed to nominate pro-independence campaigner Jordi Sanchez for regional president. Rajoy has said he won't accept the nomination of any candidate accused of crimes, including Sanchez who is jail on remand as he faces prosecution for rebellion.

A Spanish Supreme Court judge reactivated an arrest warrant against Puigdemont for rebellion and misuse of public funds last month and he was held by German highway police on March 25 after he crossed into the country from Denmark.

The court refused extradition on Spain's most severe charge by finding that Puigdemont's alleged rebellion couldn't be prosecuted successfully in Germany as high treason -- the rough equivalent. That's because the "pressure" applied by Puigdemont and his independence referendum on Spain's government was insufficient for it to feel forced to surrender to the rebels' demands, under German standards.

"I have always said that I had full confidence in German justice," Puigdemont's lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas said on Twitter.

---

Bloomberg's Birgit Jennen, Todd White and Tony Czuczka contributed.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump now finds himself struggling with one of the main immigration challenges that also faced his predecessors: How to grapple with a major shift at the southwestern border away from lone Mexican men seeking work and toward Central American families fleeing violence in their home countries.

Although overall illegal immigration rates last year reached a 46-year low, there has been a sharp evolution in the profile of the arriving immigrants, experts said. The flow is increasingly dominated by families - including tens of thousands of unaccompanied children - seeking to escape criminal gangs, drug cartels and domestic violence in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

In March, 8,900 families and 4,100 unaccompanied children crossed the border illegally, according to new data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In all, 62,000 have arrived over the past six months - nearing the peak rates of an earlier crisis under former president Barack Obama.

The phenomenon presents a challenge for the U.S. legal system, which offers greater protections for these particular migrants, allowing them to remain in the country longer and preventing federal immigration agents from detaining them for lengthy periods. And it means that traditional enforcement tactics are inadequate.

For Trump - who this week announced plans to work with governors to dispatch National Guard troops to the border - the surge in women and children from Central America over the past six months has threatened to undermine his administration's efforts to crack down on illegal border crossings and his desire to fulfill his hard-line campaign promises on immigration. He has reacted by sounding alarms - including incendiary remarks on Thursday suggesting that female migrants "are raped at levels nobody's ever seen before."

He also has sought to blame Democrats for the continuing influx, even though he lambasted Obama for failing to stanch the flow in 2014. "Nobody could be that incompetent to allow what is happening to happen," Trump told Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren in July of that year, after Central American children had overwhelmed patrol stations and created a humanitarian crisis.

By the end of 2014, 137,000 children and families had arrived - twice as many as the year before. The number of unaccompanied children was nearly 3 1/2 times greater than in 2012. The Obama administration attempted to cope with the crisis by working with Mexico to secure its borders, delivering $750 million in aid to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and allowing migrants to apply for U.S. asylum while still in their own countries.

But now, with a new surge underway, Trump is signaling a harder-line approach - threatening to punish Mexico on trade and to withhold foreign-aid money from the three Northern Triangle countries.

Talking to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, Trump said the administration would like to see between 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops at the border. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said their activities would include "aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance and logistical support" to border agents as they perform law enforcement duties.

Although the military approach might appeal to the president's conservative base, it is unlikely to have much impact, experts said. Most of the Central Americans surrender directly to Border Patrol stations in hopes of winning asylum protections.

"Sending our military to the border, building a wall - that's not going to be a solution," said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense. "They provide some photo op for the administration, but other than that they're misusing resources. People are more afraid of what's happening in Central America than what's happening on the U.S. border."

Beyond the political debate and Trump's tweets - including his inflated warnings about a "caravan" of more than 1,000 Hondurans that unsuccessfully tried to reach the United States this week - the reality is that tactics traditionally employed by U.S. immigration agencies are not tailored to meet the emerging problem.

One former Obama administration official suggested that "there would be a lot less anxiety if these were adults from Mexico rather than families and children, because the tools of detention and removal are difficult for them to use on these two populations." The official added that "the people who want to be tough don't know how to be tough."

Trump aides contend that it was Obama who did not know how to be tough. In his 2014 interview on Fox, Trump suggested that Obama was happy with the crisis because the migrants would remain and become Democratic voters - even though the vast majority of undocumented immigrants have no path to citizenship under U.S. law.

"They're flowing through like crazy," Trump said, as Van Susteren's show played clips of children crowded into Border Patrol stations. "I'm hearing stories where the parents come through in a different line and they all meet up in the United States and get plenty from the United States. It's a very serious problem."

During the earlier crisis, tens of thousands of minors were arriving on their own and nearly as many more were traveling with adults, mostly women without male partners. Many of the children sought to be reunited with parents or other relatives already living in the United States.

Border Patrol officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are limited in how they can respond. In December 2008, in the final months of the George W. Bush administration, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of Congress approved a bill called the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. That law granted minors from nations other than Mexico or Canada the right to an immigration court hearing before they could be deported.

The law also mandated that the children be referred to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours of their detainment and be placed in the least-restrictive setting possible as they awaited their asylum hearings, which because of backlogs often took more than a year. The migrants were often sent to live with relatives across the country, and some never showed up for their court hearings.

The Trump administration is preparing a new public relations campaign to push lawmakers to "close the loopholes" in immigration laws this spring. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said this week that before 2011, more than 90 percent of undocumented immigrants were single adult men but that today, 40 percent are families and children.

One in 10 of all new arrivals are claiming "credible fear" and seeking asylum, she said, compared with 1 in 100 before 2013.

"Smugglers themselves are gaming the system, pure and simple," Nielsen said.

Immigrant rights advocates said Obama also relied on deterrence measures. His administration publicly called on Mexico to strengthen its southern border and conducted an advertising campaign to dissuade Central Americans from undertaking the dangerous journey north. The Obama administration opened more family detention facilities, drawing criticism from advocates over the spartan conditions.

Obama sought to balance his approach by also working more closely with leaders in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, dispatching Vice President Joe Biden to the region and meeting with the foreign leaders at the White House.

But by 2016, the total number of children and families crossing the southwestern border - 137,366 - was several hundred more than two years before.

"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," Trump wrote on Twitter this week. "A whole big wasted procedure must take place. Mexico & Canada have tough immigration laws, whereas ours are an Obama joke. ACT CONGRESS."

Immigration advocates said Trump's approach is doomed to fail. Congress, which has failed to strike a major immigration deal in decades, is highly unlikely to do so in a midterm-election year. And advocates said the conditions in the Northern Triangle will not improve without help from the United States.

"Trump has doubled down on the deterrence policy, which failed under Obama and will continue to fail," said Kevin Appleby, a senior director at the Center for Migration Studies of New York. "The forces pushing people out [of Central America] are stronger than any deterrence factors that may be deployed."

- - -

The Washington Post's Missy Ryan contributed to this report.
When a pipeline in Grand Canyon National Park sprung several leaks last month, restaurants there were told to serve food on disposable dishes. Waiters were instructed to pour glasses of water only by request while sinks in public restrooms were turned off until the problem was fixed.

But repairing worn-out infrastructure across 417 national park sites can be costly, and the National Park Service is facing a whopping $11.6 billion maintenance backlog. That Grand Canyon pipeline alone has broken more than 80 times since 2010.

So the Trump administration, with the help of Congress, is getting resourceful: It now wants to pay for the park upgrades with money the government collects from oil, natural gas, wind and solar development on public lands.

"It's a creative way of solving a problem, and it really solves the problem," Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, head of the House Natural Resources Committee and an administration ally, said in an interview with The Post.

The plan to push revenue from royalty payments and lease sales into park repairs is designed to appeal to most fiscal conservative Republicans and enough environmentally-minded Democrats to get it across the finish line.

The logic is straightforward, says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke: "I think if you're going to gain resource and wealth from public lands, then a fair proposition is, you should also contribute to the maintenance backlog and preservation of those lands," he recently told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

But some Democrats worry about tying the viability of the park system to expanded drilling both on- and offshore, one of President Trump's highest energy priorities.

Since most energy revenue comes from oil and gas, they note, the nation may come to depend on ever more fossil-fuel development to finance one of the most popular parts of the federal government.

"The proposal in the budget is backward," Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said at a hearing. "Our most treasured places should not have to depend on the fortune of the energy industry for their success and failure."

Grijalva wants Congress to repair parks with money from the regular appropriations process. Earlier this year, the Trump administration proposed cutting the Park Service's budget by 8 percent; instead, Congress raised it by 9 percent.

But Bishop argues that money has been wasted that way in the past. "A long time ago, when I was still younger and like this place, when we passed a stimulus bill with all sorts of new money that went to the Park Service, [it] didn't solve the problem," Bishop said. "They increased their administration but it didn't solve the problem."

In coordination with Zinke, Bishop and his counterparts in the Senate co-sponsored a series of bills to create the park maintenance fund. It drew a sizable number number of Democratic backers in both chambers.

"If we all agree that addressing deferred maintenance at our parks and public lands is a priority, then we should be able to find a bipartisan solution that would allow the National Park Service adequate resources to seriously address its maintenance backlog," said Rep. Colleen Hanabusa of Hawaii, top Democrat in the Natural Resources subcommittee on federal lands and a co-sponsor on two of the bills.

One legislative proposalbacked by Zinke would funnel half of onshore and offshore revenue not already dedicated to fund other priorities into an account to build roads, bridges and other infrastructure with national parks. That design is meant to ensure the already existing Land and Water Conservation Fund, used to buy land for federal, state and local parks nationwide, does not get shortchanged.

The Trump administration hopes to fill the maintenance fund with up to $18 billion. "We think we can get there in eight years," Zinke told Congress.

Yet there is no guarantee that the price of oil, set by global market forces, or that coastal U.S. states, rich in offshore oil but unwilling to work with Trump to extract it, will cooperate to generate the amount of money the Trump administration projects.

Matt Lee-Ashley, a senior fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and a former deputy chief of staff at Interior, called the proposal "a dubious, speculative and uncertain approach to infrastructure investment."

The reliability of energy revenue is a concern shared by some Republicans.

"Your proposal, as we look at it, does not have guaranteed funding," Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told Zinke at a hearing last month. Portman has introduced a bill with Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) that includes a steadier stream of money for a national parks fund.

The park system's backlog of repairs, which include needed work on the Arlington Memorial Bridge crossing the Potomac River and on the Grand Loop Road connecting attractions at Yellowstone National Park, ballooned over the past decade as visits surges annually. The total number of visitors to the park systems grew from 273 million in 2006 to 331 million in 2017. At the same time, the number of units in the park system grew from 390 to 417.

Still, money allocated by Congress has not kept pace during the same period, with the Park Service's budget remaining more or less flat.

"It's fun to create a park," Bishop said. "It's a legacy that people always have. But we have never really funded the expansion of those parks."

The national park system, often billed as "America's best idea," usually garners bipartisan support. Shortly before leaving office, former President Barack Obama signed into law the National Park Service Centennial Act, which aimed to attract private donations to match public spending on park improvements. The bill passed the House with strong bipartisan support and passed the Senate with unanimous consent.

But philanthropy can go so far. "Private sector money wants to do high profile things," Bishop said. "They're not going to really fund sewer systems."

The Park Service has also turned to leasing out park assets to help pay for maintenance. For example, the agency has leased out a historic hanger in southeast Brooklyn to house a metering facility for the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company and is renting out space at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas to a brewery.

The Park Service touts such contracts as a one-two punch, since lessees both pay rent and "assume all maintenance, deferred and new since properties can be leased 'as-is,'" said spokesman Jeremy Barnum. "Lessees are also required to insure the properties that they use and occupy."

But park officials acknowledge such arrangements only make small dents in the nearly $12 billion backlog.

It remains unclear how park-goers would also feel about using private sector money to pay for park repairs. After all, park-goers do not always support the presence of private firms during nature trips.

Just as some activists object to more oil rigs on public lands, park-goers also do not always support the presence of private firms during nature trips. Last month, more than 25,000 petitioners at Change.org asked for Yosemite National Park to consider renting out a space now leased to Starbucks to a local business instead.

"Multinational corporations have no place in our National Parks," the petition read.

Another Trump administration proposal for raising park revenue has faced even more backlash. Interior officials are now backing away from a plan to dramatically increase entrance fees at popular national parks after weathering criticism from members of Congress and of the public, in the form of more than 100,000 public comments opposed to the idea.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump sort-of answered the question that's been bandied around Washington for weeks: Will he go to the White House correspondents' dinner?

"I probably won't do it," he said in a radio interview on WABC that aired Friday morning. His reason, which was the same as last year, was animosity toward the media. ("So bad and so fake," Trump said in the interview.)
LONDON - It is an indelicate question, but why aren't the Skripals dead?

The former Russian double agent attacked by a military-grade nerve agent a month ago is no longer in critical condition, his doctors said Friday, joining his daughter in a recovery that could lead to the pair helping investigators solve the mystery of exactly how, where and by whom they were poisoned.

Sergei Skripal, 66, is "responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition," said Christine Blanshard, medical director at the Salisbury district hospital.

The ex-spy's 33-year-old daughter, Yulia Skripal, was also poisoned, but her condition had improved to stable last week.

Yulia Skripal is speaking, issuing statements and allegedly talking to relatives back home in Russia on the telephone.

"As Yulia herself says, her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital," her doctor said.

How can this be? As the Russian government has asked, in its campaign to discredit British assertions that Russia was behind the attack, why didn't Skripals collapse immediately if they were poisoned by a powerful nerve agent? If they came into contact with the agent at their doorstep, how did they have the ability to first go to a pub and a restaurant before they succumbed?

The Skripals were found March 4 on a park bench, she comatose, he awake but disoriented.

Medical experts attributed their recovery to the readily available treatments and antidotes they likely received at the hospital.

"Poisoning does not necessarily result in death," said Michelle Carlin, a senior lecturer in forensic and analytical chemistry at Northumbria University. "If treated quickly and promptly enough, it is possible to recover from poisoning of many compounds."

Asked if it was surprising that at least one of the Skripals regained consciousness after several weeks in a coma, Carlin said: "We don't really know what normal is with Novichok agents, but what you've got to remember is their body has been poisoned with a compound, and although giving somebody an antidote will block the signal, the body still needs time to recover, and it needs to recover naturally, and obviously that takes time."

She said it was difficult to discern why Yulia Skripal recovered faster than her father. "We don't know if that's because she had less administered, or it took longer to have an effect or because she's younger or healthier - there's too many factors to take into account," she said.

Toxicologists and medical forensic specialists said nerve agents are most dangerous in the first few days after an attack, but given that the Skripals pulled through that, it wasn't surprising that their condition was improving.

Malcolm Sperrin, a medical physicist, said that a longterm prognosis for the Skripals remained somewhat uncertain. Referring to Yulia, he said "She might talk and converse, but what we don't know is if she will go back to where she was before the event, not just about cognition, but there's other aspects that could be affected, like mobility, problems with mental state, anxiety, depression, there are so many unknowns."

After the doctor's statement on Friday that the elder Skripal's health had improved, the Russian Embassy to the United Kingdom tweeted, "Good news!"

Russia has denied having anything to do with the attack, with top Russian diplomats insisting that Britain either rushed or bungled the investigation - or that British agents themselves may have poisoned the father and daughter to smear Russia, or justify increases in military spending, or distract their population from the failures of Brexit negotiations.

A director of a British military laboratory said earlier this week that the nerve agent was definitively from the Novichok class, a type designed and manufactured by the former Soviet Union and Russia. The lab, however, cannot definitely say where this batch was manufactured.

British police investigators say the highest concentration of residual nerve agent was found at Skripal's front door in the quiet town of Salisbury, down the road from the Stonehenge ruins.

Prime Minister Theresa May has condemned the poisoning as a reckless and hostile attack by Russia on British soil. She and her government say that in addition to forensic evidence, Russia is suspect because it has assassinated critics abroad before.

Skripal was a double agent who sold secrets to Britain. He was convicted and jailed in Russia but released in a swap of intelligence agents in 2010.

Britain's foreign ministry issued a statement Friday saying, "Let us be clear, this was attempted murder using an illegal chemical weapon that we know Russia possesses."

Britan said the improving health of the Skripals is "a tribute to the hardworking and talented National Health Service (NHS) staff in Salisbury who have provided outstanding care. The NHS will continue to provide ongoing care for the Skripals, both of whom are likely to have ongoing medical needs."

May's government, alongside the United States and more than two dozen other countries, have expelled about 150 Russian diplomats and intelligence agents from their embassies abroad. Russia has retaliated with its own expulsions.
The reward for a top 10 most wanted sex offender in Texas is up to $8,000, if information provided to police this month ends in an arrest.

Monroe Hernandez, 51, is wanted for a parole violation warrant from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles that was issued on Sept. 10, 2014.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the Waco Police Department issued another warrant for Hernandez on April 11, 2016, for failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.

TEXAS CRIME: Harris County employee charged in dominatrix blackmail case

Hernandez's last known location was in the 2400 block of La Salle Avenue in Waco. Police did not say what date Hernandez was last seen at that location.

According to DPS, Hernandez was convicted of sexual assault in McLennan County in an incident involving a 21-year-old woman in 1993. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

In 2001, Hernandez was convicted of driving while intoxicated in McLennan County and received a 17-year sentence since he had at least two prior DWI convictions. He was paroled in March 2014.

The sex offender is 5-foot-5 and weighs approximately 180 pounds. Police said he has tattoos on his chest, left hand and both legs, but authorities did not describe what the tattoos look like. He also has scars on his left leg and right arm.

BUSTED: Friendswood student arrested after threatening image appears on Snapchat

To get the $8,000 reward, the information leading to Hernandez's arrest has to be reported in April. Police did not disclose the amount of the original reward.

To submit a tip, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-252-8477 or log onto the Texas 10 Most Wanted Facebook page.

Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com. Read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter.
FLORESVILLE  A Wilson County jury on Friday sentenced a former San Antonio attorney to 80 years in prison on each of the six counts he faced for coercing clients into sex.

Mark Henry Benavides will have to serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole.

It took the panel about six hours to decide on the sentences for the six counts of continuous trafficking of persons. The sentences will be served at the same time.

Before Benavides was taken away, the judge increased his bail to $150,000 on each of the remaining four cases pending against him. The former attorney faces two charges of sexual assault of a child, one charge of sexual assault and another charge of continuous trafficking of persons, according to court records. Each case is expected to be tried separately.

RELATED: New Braunfels man with history of 'deviant' sex acts with vegetables sentenced to life in prison

As he walked out, Benavides, 48, glanced at his parents and mouthed I love you to his wife.

Benavides attorneys declined to comment on the verdict or sentencing.

Prosecutor Jay Norton said this case was about forced sex, not just about legal services.

Calling him a master manipulator and liar, prosecutors had asked the jury to send Benavides to life in prison for having sex with clients in exchange for legal services.

Prosecutor Meredith Chacon said although the state wanted for the judge to stack the sentences and have them run one right after the other, they decided to withdraw that motion at this time.

This is human trafficking, Chacon said. He transported, coerced, threatened and made them feel they had no choice. This jury understood that.

RELATED: S.A. company responds after woman finds 'teeth' in barbacoa

Benavides was convicted Tuesday of continuous trafficking of persons and faces 25 to 99 years or life in prison. Six women he had represented in prostitution or drug cases testified he coerced them into having sex to keep them out of jail or lessen their legal troubles, and videotaped the encounters, which were shown to the jury.

Investigators seized 246 mini DVDs that contained hundreds of videos of Benavides and the former clients engaged in various sex acts, in which he could be heard directing the women and telling them what to do and say.

Its worth life, ladies and gentlemen, Chacon said in her closing argument.

He is a calculating and manipulating liar, she told the jury. He lied to you, sitting here. He said he made amends to his family, and what does his wife tell you? I'm unaware, other than what's on the news.

Norton told the jury that this wasnt Benavides trial alone, that it was shared with every single person who took the stand and told their stories.

In her closing argument, defense attorney Liza Rodriguez said Benavides is not the person jurors saw only in the snippets of video the state put together for them to watch.

Hes a son, husband, father, she said.

Rodriguez argued that Benavides did not kill someone and should not be sent away for life.

Defense attorney Monica E. Guerrero said Benavides admitted he lost his moral compass, and although he deserves to be punished, she asked for mercy.

We are asking you for 25 years, she said.

Earlier, his wife told the jury deciding his punishment to be fair because he does not deserve this.

Linda Benavides said that although he was unfaithful, she didn't leave her husband of nearly 11 years after his arrest because she supports him.

He cheated. He did. But he's a good person. Please be fair. His kids love him so much, she told the jury through tears.

Under questioning by Guerrero, Benavides said her husbands demeanor changed after his arrest in 2015.

He paid more attention; we spent a lot more time with the kids, she told the court.

When Norton asked her if her husband committed a crime, Benavides said she was not allowed to hear the testimony, so I am not aware of what has happened, except what I heard on the news.

They found him guilty of force, fraud and coercion, Norton said.

To me, its cheating, Benavides said.

It's an understatement to call it cheating if its a criminal act, Norton replied. The jury found him guilty of crimes, not cheating.

Defense expert Mark Steege, a sex therapist who testified he has treated hundreds of sex offenders in 35 years, said he evaluated Benavides in April 2017.

When I saw him first, he was arrogant and untreatable. He was so resistant to the idea he had done anything wrong, Steege said. What I saw yesterday (in Benavides testimony) was a totally different man. He is now treatable.

Under cross-examination, Norton asked Steege whether he reviewed police reports and videos Benavides took of sexual encounters with his clients. Steege said he had not.

When Norton asked if he saw a change in Benavides from his testimony, Steege said he did.

I saw a humbled man rather than an arrogant man, he said.

I looked at you three times, sir, and you were asleep, Norton told Steege.

The jury entered deliberations at 1:18 p.m.

The case was tried in Wilson County on a change of venue from Bexar County, with Senior District Judge Dick Alcala presiding.
Lanesboro man Sean Casey has been honoured for his work with aid agency Concern Worldwide at a special reception at Aras an Uachtarain.

The south Longford man was recognised by the head of the Irish State for his outstanding contribution to Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency as it celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Over 170 volunteers, supporters and staff were among the invited guests at the event.

All eyes, however, were firmly fixed on Mr Casey in terms of the his own input in raising crucial funds in order to help some of the world's poorest people transform their lives.

Mr Casey is the lead street collection organiser in Newtowncashel and has been involved in the annual 24 hour Concern Fast and church gate collection since 1987.

He previously worked overseas as a volunteer engineer for Concern and organised a local fundraising group for the organisation on his return.

Concern CEO Dominic MacSorley heaped praise on those honoured and paid tribute to the incredible generosity of the Irish public, which has helped the organisation to reach many millions of people over the past 50 years.

The response of the Irish public was phenomenal. Images of war and starvation broadcast into homes across Ireland tapped into the instinctual empathy and generosity of a nation and this is what has continued to sustain Concern over the past 50 years.

President Higgins added that Concern has been to the forefront of addressing the great issues of our time.

He said: Through your work you crafted a vital bridge between the Irish people and some of the poorest people in our world.

"Thank you all those of you who have worked for and with Concern over the years for your compassion, your courage, and your dedication to supporting the lives and building the capacity of the poorest people of the world.
Local News, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: April 06 2018

MTA Accelerating Car Repairs with Full Subway Action Plan Funding.

Albany, NY - April 6, 2018 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today toured MTA New York City Transit's 207th Street Car Overhaul Shop with MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota and announced a series of accelerated car repairs associated with the full funding of the Subway Action Plan. The 207th Street Overhaul Shop along with the system's other overhaul shop in Coney Island will now fully rehabilitate more than 1,300 cars a year - nearly 40 percent more than previous years. The full funding secured in the FY 2019 state budget will allow New York City Transit to significantly enhance the number of workers hired as part of the Subway Action Plan and allow the MTA's car overhaul shops to be fully staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"The subway system is the lifeblood of New York City, and the newly fully funded Subway Action Plan is essential to deliver a mass transit system of the caliber that New York's economy and people require and deserve," Governor Cuomo said. "Enhancing the reliability of subway cars leads to fewer delays and better performance for riders, and we are determined to further modernize the system quicker than had ever previously been thought possible."

Full funding allows the MTA to dedicate additional repair crews to specific car classes including the R46 and the R142A. On the 750 R46 cars, the MTA will focus on the repair and rehabilitation of the master controllers and voltage converters. For the R142A's, the new intensive focus will be on door monitoring control units.

The intensive car rehabilitation efforts include a focus on subway car doors - the most problematic element of the cars - which are the most likely to lead to delays. New York City Subway car doors open and close 7 million times a day across the system. The increased staffing associated with the full funding of the Subway Action Plan will allow New York City Transit to continue to focus on the repair, replacement and testing of key door components to stop car-related delays before they start.

The overhaul shops are also using increased staffing to ramp up HVAC (air conditioning and heating) repairs which is especially critical for the summer. The MTA will strategically deploy staff ahead of the summer to accelerate preventive air conditioning maintenance and then during the summer will redeploy that staff to address emergency air conditioning repairs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"The MTA's new leadership team was challenged with stabilizing a system that had dealt with decades of deferred maintenance and neglect - and with the full funding of the Subway Action Plan we will be able to accomplish that mission," said Chairman Joe Lhota.

TWU International President John Samuelsen said, "This is part of the system the public never sees: the car barns and overhaul shops where thousands of transit workers spend their working lives. The work that goes on behind the scenes is absolutely critical to restoring reliability. Gov. Cuomo took ownership of the problem and what needed to be done. He showed true leadership where others tried to duck and run."

Tony Utano, President of TWU Local 100, said, "Subway trains carry so many riders, and travel so many miles in service, they really take a beating. We will now have more workers doing more inspections and repairs. The trains will be more reliable. It's fairly simple but also hugely important. Gov. Cuomo deserves a lot of credit for not only providing half the funding but also for ensuring the city met its responsibility."
by Melynda Fuller , April 6, 2018

To remind everyone of the health benefits that can come from something as simple as a walk, April 6 has been named International Walk to Work Day. Hearst Magazines Digital Media (HMDM) is partnering with FitFlop to encourage its readers to participate.

[FitFlop] came to us with an interest in raising awareness of International Walk to Work day because it perfectly aligns with their mission, which is to provide support to its wearers from the feet up so that they may focus their attention on worthwhile things, not their foot pain, Todd Haskell, senior vice president and Chief Revenue Officer for HMDM, told Publishers Daily.

FitFlops was founded in 2007 by Marcia Kilgore, who worked with biomechanists to create the shoes.

Elle, Harpers Bazaar and Marie Claire are promoting the day through a special social-first campaign featuring the shoes being worn by women from many different spheres.

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With this campaign, we are distributing content on Instagram and Facebook with each element designed through the brand lens, Haskell says. Elle will look at the day from a global perspective, showing women walking to work from LA to Toronto to the Philippines.

The campaign also taps into HMDMs influencer network, filled with lifestyle, fashion and beauty content creators. Hearst will promote a total of seven influencers across its channels. They will also boost the campaign on their own social channels, amplifying the coverage to millions.

By creating their own content around International Walk to Work Day, the influencers we are working with will be providing a glimpse into their daily lives, while delivering an impactful and experiential opportunity for FitFlop, Haskell says. Its an opportunity to engage with our followers in a new way.
New research strengthens the idea that estrogen therapy could help to prevent type 2 diabetes following menopause, after it identified the mechanisms by which the hormone helps to control blood sugar levels.

Share on Pinterest Researchers reveal how estrogen could help to prevent type 2 diabetes in women who are postmenopausal.

In a study of postmenopausal mice and human cells, researchers found that estrogen targets specific cells in the pancreas and the gut to increase tolerance to glucose.

This is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

Study leader Jacques Philippe, who is a diabetes specialist currently working at the University of Genevas Faculty of Medicine in Switzerland, and colleagues recently reported their results in the journal JCI Insight.

It is estimated that around 30.3 million people in the United States  or around 9.4 percent of the population  are living with diabetes, which is a condition that causes blood glucose levels to become too high.

Type 2 diabetes  which arises when the body struggles to effectively use insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar  accounts for approximately 9095 percent of all diabetes cases.

Previous research has suggested that after menopause, women may face a greater risk of type 2 diabetes. This has been attributed to hormonal changes, such as a reduction in estrogen levels.

Following on from such studies, scientists have investigated whether or not estrogen replacement therapy could help to prevent type 2 diabetes among postmenopausal women, and many studies have produced positive results.

That being said, the exact mechanisms by which estrogen may protect against type 2 diabetes have been unclear  until now.
A massive research effort that started more than a decade ago has completed a comprehensive PanCancer Atlas that, for the first time, offers researchers and clinicians alike a way to fully understand cancer according to its genomic and molecular features. Share on Pinterest Researchers reveal the detail included within the PanCancer Atlas. The PanCancer Atlas is so vast that it spans more than two dozen scientific papers published in several Cell journals. It represents a huge milestone in the work of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). This was sponsored by two institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH): the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute. More than 150 researchers at more than two dozen research establishments across the United States have worked on the $300 million program. This project, says Dr. Francis S. Collins, the director of the NIH, is the culmination of more than a decade of groundbreaking work. You can access the newly published PanCancer Atlas papers through a portal that groups them into three categories: cell-of-origin patterns, oncogenic processes, and signaling pathways.

Looking at cancer from a different angle Cancer is a disease that arises when cells start to grow out of control because of errors in their DNA.The traditional way of classifying cancer is according to where it starts in the body  for example, breast cancer, prostate cancer, or stomach cancer. The work that culminated in the PanCancer Atlas was launched as the Pan-Cancer Initiative at a meeting in 2012 that took place in Santa Cruz, CA. By then, scientists were already noticing some interesting features about cancer that led them to question the traditional way of classifying the disease. One interesting feature was that some cancers were similar at the molecular level, despite the fact that they had started in different parts of the body. Another interesting feature was that cancers that started in the same tissue could be quite different at the molecular level, possessing distinct genomic profiles.

Implications for researchers and clinicians These early molecular insights spurred researchers to investigate how changes in each cancers genome  the complete set of its DNA  might drive the disease. The PanCancer Atlas is a product of this effort and will pave the way to improving prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer in its various forms. As Pan-Cancer Initiative co-organizer Josh Stuart  a professor of biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz  explains, Insights about how one type of cancer relates to another form of the disease can have real clinical implications. In some cases, he continues, we can borrow clinical practices from better-known diseases and apply them to cancers for which treatment options are less well-defined. Looking at cancer from the molecular angle also opens up opportunities to explore drugs that are already approved for other diseases that have molecular features that also occur in cancer. One example of this is the JAK/Stat molecular pathway that is activated in rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers found that this pathway is upregulated in some of the newly defined tumor clusters.
Having sex can flavor our nights, and days, with sweet pleasure and excitement, relieving stress and worry. And, of course, sex has been key to ensuring that the human race lives on. In this article, we ask, How does sex impact what happens in the brain? Share on Pinterest Sex influences our brain activity in ways that may impact our emotions, sensitivity to pain, and even sleep. Sexual intercourse is known to impact the way in which the rest of our body functions. Recent studies have shown that it can have an effect on how much we eat, and how well the heart functions. As we have reported on Medical News Today, sex has been cited as an effective method of burning calories, with scientists noting that appetite is reduced in the aftermath. Also, a study published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior in 2016 found that women who have satisfying sex later in life might be better protected against the risk of high blood pressure. Many of the effects of sex on the body are actually tied to the way in which this pastime influences brain activity and the release of hormones in the central nervous system. Here, we explain what happens in the brain when we are sexually stimulated, and we look at how this activity can lead to changes in mood, metabolism, and the perception of pain.

Brain activity and sexual stimulation For both men and women, sexual stimulation and satisfaction have been demonstrated to increase the activity of brain networks related to pain and emotional states, as well as to the reward system. This led some researchers to liken sex to other stimulants from which we expect an instant high, such as drugs and alcohol. The brain and penile stimulation A 2005 study by researchers at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands used positron emission tomography scans to monitor the cerebral blood flow of male participants while their genitals were being stimulated by their female partners. The scans demonstrated that stimulating the erect penis increased blood flow in the posterior insula and the secondary somatosensory cortex in the right hemisphere of the brain, while decreasing it in the right amygdala. The insula is a part of the brain that has been tied to processing emotions, as well as to sensations of pain and warmth. Similarly, the secondary somatosensory cortex is thought to play an important role in encoding sensations of pain. As for the amygdala, it is known to be involved in the regulation of emotions, and dysregulations of its activity have been tied to the development of anxiety disorders. An older study from the same university  which focused on brain regions that were activated at the time of ejaculation  found that there was an increase in blood flow to the cerebellum, which also plays a key role in the processing of emotions. The researchers liken the activation of the cerebellum during ejaculation to the pleasure rush caused by other activities that stimulate the brains reward system. Our results correspond with reports of cerebellar activation during heroin rush, sexual arousal, listening to pleasurable music, and monetary reward. The brain and the female orgasm In a study of the female orgasm that was conducted last year, scientists from Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, monitored the brain activity of 10 female participants as they achieved the peak of their pleasure  either by self-stimulation or by being stimulated by their partners. The regions that were significantly activated during orgasm, the team found, included part of the prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex, the insula, the cingulate gyrus, and the cerebellum. These brain regions are variously involved in the processing of emotions and sensations of pain, as well as in the regulation of some metabolic processes and decision-making. Another study previously covered on MNT suggested that the rhythmic and pleasurable stimulation associated with orgasm puts the brain in a trance-like state. Study author Adam Safron compares the effect of female orgasms on the brain to that induced by dancing or listening to music. Music and dance may be the only things that come close to sexual interaction in their power to entrain neural rhythms and produce sensory absorption and trance, he writes. That is, he adds, the reasons we enjoy sexual experiences may overlap heavily with the reasons we enjoy musical experience, both in terms of proximate (i.e. neural entrainment and induction of trance-like states) and ultimate (i.e. mate choice and bonding) levels of causation.
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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.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.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.Source: Eurekalert
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He added that Jaitley may have to stay in the hospital for 10-15 days after the surgery as is the norm for this treatment.Due to his ill health, Jaitley had to cancel his next week's visit to London for the annual economic dialogue.As reports of his ill health started doing rounds, Jaitley took to Twitter and said he was receiving treatment and was working from controlled environment at home."I am being treated for kidney related problems and certain infections that I have contracted. I am therefore currently working from controlled environment at home. The future course of my treatment would be determined by the doctors treating me," he tweeted.The Finance Minister, who underwent a gastric bypass weight loss surgery in 2015, reportedly visited AIIMS on Thursday for a checkup where doctors advised him to take rest before treatment for his kidney ailment begins.A senior Finance Ministry official told IANS that the Finance Minister had cancelled his visit to the United Kingdom for next week's annual UK-India economic dialogue.While Jaitley came to his North Block office on Monday, he is working from his residence since Tuesday.Jaitley, who was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha last month, has yet to take the oath as member. He has not been to the House yet. Significantly, he was appointed the Leader of the House on Tuesday, even before could take the oath.Jaitley was unwell for some time when he assumed office in May 2014.Source: IANS
Until a few days back, Salman Khan was busy posting about 'Race 3', and today that man is behind the bars. This often makes me wonder if Sylvester Stallone could have had anything to do with it. After all, he's the one who spotted the real Salman Khan, after confusing him with Bobby Deol initially. Maybe, Stallone's realization made the Jodhpur court think of taking the case forward? Okay, that's a joke guys, don't take it seriously.

 Twitter

It feels very dramatic and unreal to see Salman Khan, change from Bollywood's 'Dabangg' to 'Qaidi No. 106', in just a matter of a few hours. However, the fact remains that Salman has been sentenced to five years in prison, for killing two rare blackbucks during the filming of 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. Seriously, where was Alok Nath, when you needed him? He could have probably stopped all of it with his '#sanskaar'.

On one hand where Bollywood is largely keeping low about the verdict, his co-star and friend Preity Zinta went to meet him in jail on Friday. Preity, who has earlier worked with Salman in movies like 'Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega' and 'Jaan-E-Mann' in a very 'Chori Chori Chupke Chupke' style (secretly we meant).

Preity was first spotted at the Jodhpur airport and then seen hiding her face with an over-sized white hat.

Well, this picture alone was enough for all the Bhai fans to sing praises for Preity. Honestly, we don't think she'll ever get these many praises for IPL 2018 or her team Kings XI Punjab. Or maybe she willnow!

@realpreityzinta in jodhpur ... love u preity WE LOVE YOU SALMAN KHAN pic.twitter.com/R3yUMr3zEm  Altaf (@Nadaf6Altaf) April 6, 2018

Preity Zinta reached Jodhpur to meet n give her support to @BeingSalmanKhan this is called true friendship. M glad i shipped this girl wth Salman once. No any other  Thank u @realpreityzinta 



WE LOVE YOU SALMAN KHAN  Jigisha (@jigisays) April 6, 2018

Preity Zinta in Jodhpur to meet & support Salman. Thankyou @realpreityzinta this is something salman fans will always be grateful of.



WE LOVE YOU SALMAN KHAN  De (@ibeingdevil_) April 6, 2018

Priety zinta arrives jodhpur to meet #SalmanKhan ... yeh hote hai true frnds .. balki woh nahi jo acquitted hote hi mumbai chale gaye (fake frnds) #Tabu #Saif #SonaliBendre

... #WeLoveYouSalmanKhan pic.twitter.com/C7CeVlK7ls  Ayash (@being_Ayashkant) April 6, 2018

Ab Humen Pata Chala K Kon Salman Ka Sacha dost Hai Aur Kon Matlabi Dost Hai. Thanks Preity Zinta For Supporting Salman Sir In This Hard Time.

WE LOVE YOU SALMAN KHAN  #WeLoveYouSalmanKhan (@MohsinKhayaalSK) April 6, 2018

Preity Zinta arrives in jodhpur to meet #SalmanKhan

True Friendship  @realpreityzinta-.. @beingsalmankhan

WE LOVE YOU SALMAN KHAN

- pic.twitter.com/i7v7t4fHMh  WE LOVE U SALMAN (@iKunnu_Kick) April 6, 2018

Reportedly, Preity Zinta was also one of the first celebrities who visited Salman at his Mumbai home, after he was convicted in the 2002 hit-and-run case in 2015.
Everyone knows Gordon Ramsay, the brutal critic famous for roasting the crap out of people on Twitter, and also yeah, probably the best chef in the whole world.

The guy knows more about food than anyone else and getting insulted by him, is like a life goal for people. In recent years, he's become the most hilarious food critic on Twitter, and people actually wait for the day that Chef Ramsay would notice and roast them and their food. I'm still waiting in line for that.

Just look at some of these lucky bastards, I'm so jealous, I want him to insult my food also. Let's have a look at some of his most brutal replies.

The Famous 'Idiot Sandwich'!

 Twitter/Gordon Ramsay

That's A Nice Burn.

 Twitter/Gordon Ramsay

That's A Bad Looking Mat, Tho.

 Twitter/Gordon Ramsay

So, I think we've established that Gordon Ramsay on Twitter is a gift that keeps on giving. His replies are equal parts hilarious and brutal, but what will happen when we reverse everything.

If anyone had the privilege of eating something that was made by Chef Ramsay, I don't think they would be disappointed. But, a Thai chef doesn't care about all the hype. Looks like head chef Chang from the Blue Elephant restaurant is a total no-nonsense person and he did not hold back when he got the chance to roast chef Ramsay.

An old clip from an episode of Gordon Ramsay's show 'The F Word' has started going around on Twitter and I'm forever grateful to that person for bringing this joy into our lives. Yes, the video aired in 2009, but Gordon Ramsay getting roasted for his food is timeless.

In the episode, he visits a Thai temple in London to cook for Buddhist monks, but before going, he meets up with a Thai restaurant chef to get some guidance.

Then, he proceeds to cook his own 'quick and easy' version of the famous Pad Thai.

First strike.

There's a reason you're not supposed to mess with the classics.

Chef Chang tastes Gordon's version of Pad Thai and he is not impressed. I love the fact that he did not even try to hide his disappointment and disgust.

His expression is the best thing I've ever seen.

 The F Word/Youtube

I can watch it all day.

It's like he's practically growling at him 'Wolverine' style. Maybe, he took it personally and is ready to pounce on chef Ramsay for disrespecting him like that.

Here's The Tweet That Made This Go Viral.

And, People Can't Get Enough Of It.

You can tell he didn't even know where to begin with Gordon Ramsay pic.twitter.com/NpcwsyuJzW  flying nimbus (@OldManDes) April 3, 2018

Exactly What Happened.

I Agree.

This Thai chef needs his own show.   Ciku Muiruri (@MissCiku) April 4, 2018

Perfect Description.

When Ramsey meets himself but the Asian version  https://t.co/PkCG1storQ  murf Parker (@IsmethakaSmurf) April 3, 2018

Now, This Is The Perfect Tweet.

When you taste your traditional dish after the colonisers have gentrified it pic.twitter.com/kLHh4Jrk1D  This Woman (@KingThandie) April 3, 2018

Okay, I have a theory. Maybe Gordon Ramsay is the way he is because of this incident. Getting called out could have been a life-changing experience for him and that's why he's so mean now.
Salman Khan has the biggest fandom. He could start his own religion with all the people who are ready to blindly follow him, if he wanted to. (Not giving anyone any ideas, okay thanks)

But, there is a huge difference in having people love and support you and people just blindly agreeing with everything you say, and people making excuses for anything you do.

Ever since Salman Khan got convicted in the blackbuck killing case, his fans have taken over social media to show their sadness and anger, which is valid to some extent. No one likes to believe the person they've idolized for years screwed up and is now 'unjustly' paying for his actions. But, some fans don't know where to cross the line.

Crossing over to the 'crazy fan' territory, Dev Karan Singh, an aspiring model from Kolkata and a huge Salman Khan fan, has taken it upon himself to get Salman Khan out of jail with his devotion.

Recently, he posted pictures of his bloodied arm online, and it looks like he used the blade to carve out Salman's name. Well, not to sound too disrespectful, but man, you could've just used like a red marker to get the point across.

According to him, this was his way of protesting against Jodhpur Court's decision of illegally convicting Salman.

Disclaimer  Distressing images.

 Dev Karan Singh

Moreover, he also believes that the five-year jail sentence was given as a way to defame him. While talking to News18, he said, The verdict is completely biased and made to frame Bhai. I cut my hand to demand justice for bhai. I will continue doing this and will even commit suicide if Bhai is not let go.

He also felt like the court's decision was unfair. He said, There were five actors that went out to shoot the buck. How could they all have been acquitted? All, but bhai? There is definitely something wrong.

He also said that if 'Bhai' is not brought to justice soon, he will go on to commit suicide.

Now, for a little scary line from him  If by laying down my life, I can get justice for bhai, I will surely do it.

I don't how Salman would feel if he heard this. I would like to believe he would never ever encourage this kind of behaviour from his fans. Now, only if the fans knew.

His fans are defending him saying that he would never harm any human or animal, but if his fans are harming themselves because of him, then doesn't it kind of defeat that argument.
Violent protests erupted in Kashmir once again on Thursday, as students staged demonstrations following the death of four civilians in the Valley (where 13 militants were also killed). Educational institutions had opened after a three-day shutdown following a counter-terrorism operation in the Valley, in which three Indian soldiers were also martyred. But this important development drowned amidst the noise generated by the guilty verdict handed over to Salman Khan in the blackbuck killing case. What's even more deplorable is that Salman refusing dinner in jail had a much better run time on prime-time television than the extremely volatile situation in Kashmir at the moment.

 Twitter

The massive counter-terrorism operation in the Valley gave way to violent protests after a three-day shutdown. Students were seen chanting anti-India and pro-freedom slogans amidst heavy stone-pelting. The Indian Army responded with tear smoke shells and baton charge in an attempt to restore order. Earlier, the exams had to be postponed in the wake of the army operations and the subsequent fallout.

 Twitter

The Separatists have called for more protests after the Friday prayers, as the army braces for a violent weekend. What's deeply troubling in these recent protests is the anger being witnessed amongst the youth studying in schools and colleges. The students of Amar Singh College in Srinagar set a police bunker on fire, even though no security personnel was present in the bunker at the time. Female students from the Women's College also staged a walkout and protested at Lal Chowk.

 Twitter

While the students too suffered minor injuries, the alienated youth of the Valley pose a bigger threat to the security forces than the militants ever did. That is exactly why their voices must be heard and the mainstream media needs to play its role in diligently in times like these, rather than speculating on the dinning woes of a convicted Bollywood star.
EAST LANSING -- Farmers in the Saginaw Bay watershed who submit an application by May 18, to be considered for the current round of 2018 funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation assistance.

A partnership, including The Nature Conservancy, the Michigan Agri-Business Association and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wants to help farmers in the Saginaw Bay watershed improve water quality. The Saginaw Bay Regional Conservation Partnership Program will make financial assistance, provided through the USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program, available to help farmers adopt new conservation practices.
MIDDLETOWN  The University of Connecticuts Neag School of Education Alumni Board recently selected city resident Samuel Galloway as its 2018 Outstanding School Administrator Award recipient.

The Bristol Public Schools director of human resources was recognized March 17 at the Neag Schools 20th annual alumni awards celebration in Storrs.

Im blessed that I had the opportunity to operate in capacities where I either protected or served, and that has been a blessing. I am very proud to have gone to UConn, Galloway said in a prepared statement.

Galloway balanced two careers simultaneously: in education and as a Connecticut State Police sergeant. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves, honorably discharged at the rank of first lieutenant. Prior to pursuing a career in education, Galloway served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, according to the release.

Dr. Samuel Galloway is an outstanding school leader who has garnered the respect and admiration of those people who have worked with him, nominator David H. Larson, executive director emeritus of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents said in the release. He is a bright, articulate, and collaborative school leader who accepts responsibility squarely. He is truly a man of high integrity.

Galloway received his 6th Year certification in 2001 from the UConn Administrator Preparation Program through Neag, according to a press release. He earned his doctorate in education and superintendent certification from Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. He also holds a master of arts in education and bachelor of science in business economics from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.

Larson first hired Galloway as an elementary school teacher in the Middletown Public School system in 1993.

At the time, he was a Connecticut State Trooper. When I asked him why he wanted to become a teacher he said, Dr. Larson, I see what happens to young people who get in trouble and go to jail. I want to prevent this. I want to give young people the chance for a successful life, Larson said.

Galloway was a teacher and assistant principal at Keigwin Middle School in Middletown and as a middle school and high school principal in Bloomfield. Under his leadership, Galloway helped increase the graduation rate from 72 percent to 92 percent, the reading scores by 15 percent, and the AP calculus pass rate from 0 percent to 64 percent, according to Larson.

Dr. Galloway is one of the most focused, mission-driven, and talented educational leaders I have ever worked with, nominator Dr. Ellen Solek, superintendent of Bristol Public Schools, said in the statement. He serves with distinction as the consummate professional educator, leader, and team player in a very complex and demanding urban school district.

Dr. Galloway clearly understands the synergy of community, civic government and education, all coming together to create a system of excellence, she added. He is not afraid to take on contentious situations and always works to resolve them in ways that keep the best interest of students at the center of the solution.

The Connecticut State Police awarded Galloway two life-saving medals and an outstanding service citation during his time as a police trooper. He was on a task force with the New Haven and Bridgeport Police Departments, where he received awards for honorable service.

The award annually honors a graduate of UConns Neag School of Education who demonstrates excellence and has made significant contributions to his/her profession.

For information, visit education.uconn.edu.
Contributed photo

MIDDLETOWN  There are a limited number of tickets remaining for Saturdays Middlesex County NAACP Women in the NAACP luncheon.

Guest speaker is Joella A. Murchinson, chief diversity officer at UConn and mom of four who balances career, family responsibilities and an active community and volunteer schedule. The event begins at 1 p.m. at the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, 346 Butternut St.
Crown Manor is an oceanfront mansion just outside San Diego in the peninsula town of Coronado. The 11-bedroom, 17.5-bath property was built in 1902 by the architecture team of William Sterling Hebbard and Irving John Gill. It's now on the market for $25 million.

Commissioned by banker-turned-rancher Bartlett Richards and his wife, Inez, the 22,997-square-foot home's Tudor Revival hallmarks would have stood out from the nearby Queen Anne Victorians at the time as a particularly modern and fashionable choice.

"Gill's 10-year partnership with William Hebbard produced a number of eclectic residences inspired by English design," writes Gill scholar Bruce Kammerling. "The Bartlett Richards house in Coronado (1902) with its high-pitched roof, brick walls and half-timbered gables is an excellent example."

In 1914, homeowner Agnes Burnham added a south and east wing to house the staff.

"The house is on national and local historic registries," explains listing agent Christine Baker Willis.

The stunning mansion boasts a formal living room, billiard room, music room, salon with gold-leaf ceiling, formal dining room, hunt room with themed murals, and commercial kitchen with butler's pantry.

Interior realtor.com

Bedroom realtor.com

The second floor holds the master suite and dressing room, nine more bedrooms, a library, theater, family area, and several bathrooms. The third floor features a salon and massage space, sauna, private office, and guest bedroom.

According to San Diego Magazine, the mansion was purchased in the early '70s for a mind-blowing $375,000 by Greg McPartlin, a former Navy SEAL and owner of local watering hole McP's. But its most famous owner was likely real estate mogul and Democratic political booster Larry Lawrence.

Owner of the nearby Hotel del Coronado, Lawrence is the one who dubbed the house Crown Manor. He housed Bill and Hillary Clinton at Crown Manor on at least two occasions. In the '90s, Arianna Huffington reported rumors about a Hillary-less Bill spending the night in Crown Manor with Lawrence's wife at the time, Sheila, a charge both have vehemently denied. A libel suit was later settled out of court.

Gossip aside, Crown Manor is a gorgeously preserved mansion with killer ocean views and beautiful grounds. The three formal courtyards are home to over 130 species of plants.

Sitting room realtor.com

Billiard room realtor.com

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This article by Jeff Schogol originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

Best known for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sir Patrick Stewart has found a kindred spirit in Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller.

Neller  likely the most lethal Trekkie in history  recently expressed his admiration for Next Generation and Stewarts Captain Picard during a March 29 discussion at The Atlantic Council think tank.

Its a leadership show, because you always find that the crew and the captain are put in some sort of moral, ethical, operational dilemma, which I find interesting, the commandant said.

In the quarter century since Next Generation ended, Stewart has been gratified to hear from people who were inspired by Next Generation to survive personal ordeals, such as rehab, he said. After Task & Purpose sent Stewarts representatives video of Nellers praise, the legendary Shakespearean actor replied to the commandant.

I was deeply moved by a letter from a sergeant in the Las Vegas Police Department, explaining how there were days when he despaired for humanity but once home he would watch an episode or two of TNG and his faith would be restored, Stewart said.

However, just now watching an interview with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert B. Neller and hearing him praise TNG, a very satisfied smile lit up this Captains face, Stewart said. He said that for him TNG was about leadership above anything. I took that very personally as, if anyone knows about leadership, it has to be him.

Jeff Schogol covers the Pentagon for Task & Purpose. He has covered the military for 12 years and embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and Haiti. Prior to joining T&P, he covered the Marine Corps and Air Force at Military Times. Follow Jeff Schogol on Twitter @JeffSchogol Email: schogol@taskandpurpose.com

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Two pilots and two enlisted aircrew were killed Tuesday when a CH-53E Super Stallion from Marine Corps Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH-) 465 crashed near El Centro, California.

Those killed in the crash include Capt. Samuel A. Schultz; 1st Lt. Samuel D. Philips; Gunnery Sgt. Richard D. Holley; and Lance Cpl. Taylor J. Conrad, Marine Corps officials said in a release. All belonged to HMH-465, out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.

"The loss of our Marines weighs heavy on our hearts," Maj. Gen. Mark Wise, commanding general of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, said in a statement. "Our priority is to provide support for our families and HMH-465 during this critical time."

According to information provided by the Marine Corps, the fallen troops had a range of military and combat experience.

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Schultz, 28, of Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania, was a pilot who joined the Corps in May 2012, according to a release. He previously served at MCAS New River, North Carolina, and had deployed with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Philips, 27, of Pinehurst, North Carolina, was also a pilot who had previously served at New River. He joined the Marine Corps in August 2013.

Holley, 33, of Dayton Ohio, was a combat veteran. A CH-53 crew chief, he joined the Marines in November 2003 and had twice deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He had also deployed to Japan as part of the United Deployment Program, and completed another deployment with the 15th MEU, according to the release.

His awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (4th award), and Air Medal-Strike/Flight (9th award).

Conrad, 24, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was also a CH-53 crew chief. He joined the Corps in May 2016.

It's not clear what caused the helicopter to crash. The Associated Press reported the aircraft had been conducting routine desert landing training at the time of the mishap, about 15 miles west of El Centro.

The crash, the first of three major military aircraft mishaps in two days, two of them deadly, is still under investigation.

"The hardest part of being a Marine is the tragic loss of life of a fellow brother-in-arms," Col. Craig Leflore, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 16, said in a statement. " ... These 'Warhorse' Marines brought joy and laughter to so many around them. They each served honorably, wore the uniform proudly and were a perfect example of what makes our Marine Corps great."

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
The Pentagon couldn't say Thursday when or where National Guard troops would be deployed to the Mexican border, how many of them would be called up, how long they'd be there, how much it would cost, whether they'd be armed, or what exactly their mission would be.

"We want to do this immediately," said Dana White, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, but "those are the questions we're working to resolve right now. I don't have the answers for any of those."

President Donald Trump later told reporters aboard Air Force One that about 2,000-4,000 troops would deploy.

"We're moving that along," he said.

Trump gave no estimate for the duration of the deployment but said some of the troops would probably stay "until such time as we get the wall" that he promised to build along the border during the campaign.

A day after Trump said troops would go to the border ahead of his proposed border wall, White said the details of the deployment would be worked out by the Pentagon's new Border Security Support Cell.

The 24-hour cell, headed by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security Ken Rapuano, will serve as the "single conduit for information and coordination" between the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, White said at a Pentagon briefing.

"The president has authorized the National Guard, with the affected governors' approval, to enhance its support to CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) along the border," White said. "The National Guard's efforts will include aviation, engineering, surveillance, communications, vehicle maintenance and logistical support."

"These National Guard members will act in support of Border Patrol agents who are performing law enforcement duties," she added. "We will focus on supporting CBP's priorities, which will determine the time frame and number of military personnel employed."

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff who joined White at the news conference, said it had not yet been determined whether the troops deployed to the border would be armed.

In a statement, Mexico's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday night that it had received assurances from the Trump administration that the Guard troops would not be carrying weapons.

At a White House briefing Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that National Guard troops could start deploying to the border as early as Wednesday night, but White said Rapuano and Homeland had yet to coordinate with the border state governors who would approve the callups of the Guard.

In addition, there was the possibility that Gov. Jerry Brown, D-California, might delay his approval or refuse to cooperate.

Trump also appeared to back off on the urgency of the National Guard deployment in lieu of the "big beautiful wall" he pledged to build during the campaign and have Mexico pay for it.

In an early morning tweet, Trump said that the "Caravan" of immigrants from Central Americans, mostly Hondurans, that had been moving north through Mexico had mostly dispersed, and he lamented that Mexico appeared to have stronger immigration laws than the U.S.

"The Caravan is largely broken up thanks to the strong immigration laws of Mexico and their willingness to use them so as not to cause a giant scene at our Border," he said. "Because of the Trump Administration's actions, Border crossings are at a still UNACCEPTABLE 46 year low. Stop drugs!"

At a forum in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, later Thursday, Trump said that eventually "We're gonna have the wall."

"The military is going to be building some of it," he said. I think over the next 12 months we'll have a lot of things happening."

However, it was unclear whether the military had the authority to build on land near the border.

At the White House briefing Wednesday, Nielsen said parts of the wall might go up on land controlled by the military along the border

White said Thursday that the Pentagon was looking at the vast Barry M. Goldwater training range in the Sonoran desert south of Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, but she was not sure whether the military actually owned the part of the training range abutting the border.

The U.S. has periodically sent troops to the border to assist the Border Patrol with surveillance, intelligence and logistical support. Both the White House and the Pentagon noted that Guard troops were deployed in the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

In 2010, Obama sent 1,200 to the border and Bush sent about 6,000 in 2006. According to a Government Accountability Report, the Obama deployment helped the Border Patrol apprehend

25,514 illegal immigrants at a cost of $160 million.

In the Bush administration's Operation Jump Start, about 6,000 troops were sent to the border between 2006 and 2008, at a cost of $1.2 billion.

Under rules of engagement set by the Pentagon for the Obama and Bush deployments, Guard troops were not allowed to pursue, confront or detain suspected illegal immigrants, investigate crimes, make arrests, stop and search vehicles, or seize drugs.

In addition, they could not check Mexico-bound vehicles for bulk cash or smuggled weapons headed to the drug cartels.

At the Pentagon Thursday, White and McKenzie said the rules of engagement for the current deployment had yet to be worked out.

"We'll work in conjunction with the governors who are in fact on the front lines to see what they need, and work it within the National Guard," White said.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
3 Soldiers at 10th Mountain May Have Died by Suicide in 2 Days. The Division Is Trying to Figure Out Why.

The Army's 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, is reeling from the suspected deaths by suicide of three troops in...
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs issued an official news release Thursday afternoon, attempting to debunk warnings of any effort in President Donald Trump's administration to privatize the agency's vast health care system.

"There is no effort underway to privatize VA, and to suggest otherwise is completely false and a red herring designed to distract and avoid honest debate about the real issues surrounding veterans' health care," the VA statement read.

The statement comes one week after former VA Secretary David Shulkin penned a commentary in the New York Times, blaming his ouster on White House appointees who seek to dismantle the agency. Trump fired Shulkin March 28 after weeks of internal strife at VA headquarters.

In Shulkin's searing opinion piece, he wrote the agency, which is responsible for providing medical care to 9 million veterans, became enveloped in recent months in a "brutal power struggle."

"The advocates within the [Trump] administration for privatizing VA health services ... saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed," Shulkin wrote.

Shulkin -- outspoken since his dismissal -- repeated that message on every major news network during the past week.

The VA clapped back, explaining Thursday that the agency's budget has grown from slightly more than $42 billion in 1998 to nearly $189 billion in 2018. The agency also noted increases in its workforce and medical facilities in the past decade.

Congress has been working on a major overhaul of the Veterans Choice program, which veterans use to receive private-sector care.

Negotiations of potential changes to the program have created disagreements and delays in Congress and highlighted divisions between VA leadership and White House insiders. The option of more choices in health care for veterans was a promise that Trump made during his election campaign. The crux of the dispute is how far veterans' health care should be pushed into the private sector, as well as who should make that decision -- the veteran or the VA.

Many large veterans organizations have reiterated concerns that allowing veterans unfettered choice to the private sector would erode VA resources and eventually dismantle the agency.

The VA -- now under new temporary leadership -- indicated Thursday that the new regime favored an approach that would maintain the VA as the gatekeeper to decide in what instances veterans could receive private-sector care.

"VA is working with Congress to merge all of VA's community care efforts into a single, streamlined program that's easy for veterans and VA employees to use so the department can work with veterans to coordinate their care with private providers when VA can't provide the care in a timely way or when it's in veterans' best medical interest," the release states.

It's uncertain when Congress might take up the issue. Lawmakers failed at the end of March to attach reforms onto the massive spending bill that it approved to avoid another government shutdown.

Congress is facing a tight deadline. Without an overhaul of the Choice program -- or at least more approved funding -- the program is expected to run out of money by early June. As the deadline approaches, fewer veterans will be able to utilize the program.
The Defense Department does not see a "crisis" for military aviation developing after four deadly accidents in the last three weeks killed a total of 14 service members.

"Certainly, that's not normal and our response to it is not normal," but "I'm not prepared to say right now that it is some kind of crisis," Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Joint Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.

McKenzie said no pattern or linkage has been found in the initial analysis of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft accidents.

He said questions still to be answered in each accident include whether the mishap cause was systematic, "related to something we're doing across the entire fleet," or maintenance-related.

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In the latest incident, Air Force Thunderbirds pilot Maj. Stephen Del Bagno was killed in the crash Wednesday of his F-16 Fighting Falcon during a routine training flight at Nevada Test and Training Range near Nellis Air Force Base.

On another routine training flight Tuesday, four Marines were killed in the crash of a CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter near El Centro, California. The helicopter was part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

The California crash was the second Marine aviation accident to occur Tuesday. In Djibouti on the Horn of Africa, an AV-8B Harrier jet crashed shortly after takeoff.

The pilot ejected and was in stable condition, the Corps reported. The pilot and aircraft were assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162 aboard the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima.

On March 15, seven service members were killed in the crash in western Iraq of an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter. And on March 14, two naval aviators were killed in the crash of an F/A-18F Super Hornet near Key West, Florida.

The number of service members killed in non-combat aviation mishaps has risen sharply in recent years. In 2017, there were 37, compared to 19 in 2016, according to the Defense Department.

The latest string of accidents follows on numerous warnings from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the service chiefs that the forward deployment of forces in high-tempo operations has led to cutbacks in funding for flying hours, maintenance of aircraft, and overall training for stateside troops.

Mattis put the onus on Congress. "We as a nation have got to come to grips with this," he said in unveiling the National Defense Strategy in January.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has often stated that more service members now are being killed in training than on the battlefield.

In an op-ed last September for The Washington Post, Rep. Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote, "A total of 185 service members lost their lives in non-combat accidents over the past three years -- more than four times as many as the 44 who were killed in combat."

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
The Marine Corps is getting ready to launch a test to determine if lighter footwear will improve the performance of Marines at boot camp.

According to a release from Marine Corps Systems Command, the test, to be run during a future recruit training cycle, will involve two lightweight boots designed for warmer climates: the Danner Reckoning Hot Weather Boot, currently available to Marines for optional wear; and the Rocky Tropical boot, which has participated and performed well in recent wear tests assessing jungle footwear for Marines.

The Marine Corps plans to order 700 pairs of each to issue to an equal number of male and female recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. They will be compared to the standard Marine Corps combat boot during the test, according to the release.

During the three-month test, users will be monitored to determine if there is a decrease in lower extremity injuries for those wearing the lighter boots, according to the release.

"The feedback we've received from Marines on the Reckoning boots, is positive," Todd Towles, project officer for the Clothing and Equipment Team at Marine Corps Systems Command, said in a statement. "The boots are lightweight, durable, and there's virtually no break-in period."

While officials did not say when the test is set to take place, they have already begun to procure the boots it requires.

On March 22, the Marine Corps published an intent to sole source 700 pairs of the Reckoning boot. It published a request for a quote on the Rocky boot on Wednesday.

This most recent effort follows a series of wear tests in 2016 and 2017 involving tropical boot prototypes. The tests, which took place in Hawaii and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California, involved boots made by four different companies: Rocky Boots, Bates Footwear, Altama, and Danner.

While the Marine Corps has not publicized full results of those tests, they said the Rocky brand performed well during testing.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
H. R. Khan, the Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attends a news conference at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit at Gandhinagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat January 13, 2015. REUTERS/Amit Dave (INDIA - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTR4L936

The Central Bureau of Investigation is questioning HR Khan, the former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. This is for the first time that the CBI is examining a top RBI official. Khan was in-charge of micro-economic policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) from 2011-16.

A source told Moneycontrol, We have called former RBI deputy governor HR Khan who was in charge of regulation, micro-economic policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act from 2011-16 for questioning. Another source said that this is in continuation of Thursdays probe where three chief general managers and a general manager were called in for questioning.

An RBI official told Moneycontrol that Khan had been called for explaining the policies and regulatory guidelines about the technical aspects relating to the PNB case.

The CBI is also looking to quiz top officials of a South-based bank for violating the 80/20 Gold Scheme. Sources said investigative agencies have done one round of questioning of PNB officials. After having recorded their statements, the CBI is now questioning the former RBI deputy governor.

The RBI note on 80:20 gold scheme was sent by me so they wanted an understanding about it, the instructions given, etc," Khan told Moneycontrol.

The circular was signed by the chief general manager as per the RBI website.

The governments instructions on export/import matter received via fax was acted upon accordingly. The matter was also deliberated upon by the RBI internally and the decision was not taken in haste, he added.

I think a lot of jewellery companies have taken advantage of the scheme and have been beneficiaries despite importing the least gold. Choksi is one of the firms, a source said.
Fortis Healthcare | Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia) Ltd increased stake in company to 5.02 percent from 4.96 percent earlier via open market purchases.

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The Delhi High Court, which is hearing Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo's arbitration enforcement case against the Singh brothers, on Thursday asked Fortis Healthcare to submit a counter affidavit in response to Daiichis move to stall the company's merger with Manipal Hospitals.

The next hearing is scheduled for April 25.

The Delhi High Court has impleaded Fortis Healthcare as a party in the latest application filed by Daiichi Sankyo's, which is aimed at blocking a merger between Fortis hospitals and Manipal hospitals.

Last week, Fortis Healthcare's board had approved the demerger of its hospitals business, which will be acquired by Manipal Hospitals and TPG Capital, along with the sale of 20 percent stake in its diagnostics chain SRL, in a Rs 3,900 crore deal.

Daiichi has dragged the Fortis-Manipal deal into the ongoing arbitration case, as the Singh brothers were erstwhile promoters of Fortis. Their stake in the company has fallen to 0.80 percent from 34.43 percent in February as lenders invoked the shares pledged by them.

Fortis said the objections raised by Daiichi are "unfounded.

We would like to confirm the promoters of the company - Mr. Malvinder Singh and Dr. Shivinder Singh have already tendered their resignation as Directors of the Company on February 8, 2018 and currently hold very minimal shareholding in the Company, Fortis said.

Further, the board of directors had approved the merger of its hospitals business with Manipal on March 27, 2018. In the outcome of the said meeting, it was informed that the merger is subject to approvals by various stakeholders and authorities. These processes are expected to be completed in approximately 12 months with the closure of all necessary formalities, the company added.

Fortis was represented in the court by its legal counsel and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram.

The court also set aside a petition filed by Daiichi seeking to restrain the Singh brothers from leaving the country.

The brothers said a in statement that they are in Singapore to challenge the arbitration award in the courts there.

As is publicly known that we have challenged the majority arbitration award in Singapore Courts, which is coming up for hearing from April 09 to April 13, 2018, the Singh brothers said.

In this regard, we are in Singapore to engage with our legal counsels to prepare and participate in the upcoming court hearings in Singapore. We will continue to fight for our justice and reputation at this point and not for economics only, they added.

The brothers accused Daiichi Sankyo of making all possible efforts to try and sabotage the Fortis-Manipal deal.

Their constant blocking of any economically accretive proposals goes to show that their objective and motive is not to secure their award but rather being vindictive and hurt the larger stakeholders of our group, the Singh brothers said.

Shares of Fortis rose 6.80 percent on Thursday to close at Rs 137.50 on BSE, while the benchmark Sensex gained 1.75 percent to end at 33,596.80 points.
Dr Lal Pathlabs, Indias largest diagnostic chain, said its looking at acquisitions to gain a foothold in West and South as it wants to grow beyond its home market of North India.

The diagnostic firm said it will leverage its Rs 500 crore cash pile to fund its buyout plans in coming months.

In FY17 Dr Lal Pathlabs had sales of Rs 912.3 crore of which North India constituted 70-72 percent, East contributed 1213 percent, and South and West together contributed 1314 percent.

The company wants to correct this imbalance through acquisitions in West and South India. The company said it has identified about 10-15 regional diagnostic firms that it deems fit for its inorganic strategy.

We have done most of the acquisitions before 2012, actually for last 5-6 years there hasnt been any reasonable acquisition, our investors also do ask this question, said Om Manchanda, Whole Time Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dr Lal PathLabs in an exclusive interview to Moneycontrol at his office in Gurugram.

We are sitting on a good pile of cash. It's a good problem to have. We know for sure that larger companies in this space have only became larger by doing consolidation. We are waiting for the right moment where we get good quality assets at the right price, Manchanda added.

Manchanda didnt provide a timeframe for the proposed acquisition plan but added that the valuations of diagnostic companies have tapered off a bit now from the past year or year-and -half.

For me the challenge in the business is to have access to South and West, especially consumer facing business not the institutional business. It's very challenging to go into other markets and establish organically, he said.

To be sure, acquisitions for Dr Lal Pathlabs are nothing new  the 52-year old Manchanda, an IIM-Ahmedabad alumni having stints with Hindustan Unilever, Monsanto and Ranbaxy before joining Dr Lal Pathlabs in 2005, built the company by stitching together a dozen deals.

He has been credited for bringing vigor into the standalone diagnostic laboratory set up by late Dr SK Lal, a retired army major in 1949 into a chain of 189 clinical laboratories. His son Arvind Lal is the promoter and CMD of the company.

Dr Lal Pathlabs over the years has disrupted the diagnostic industry establishing standard operating procedures for labs, collection centres and sales operations.

Each lab and collection centre is linked with a central server on a real-time basis  helping the company manage the entire network in an integrated manner.

The catalogue of services offered includes 1,110 test panels, 2,028 pathology tests and 1,561 radiology and cardiology tests.

Running a diagnostic chain is operationally somewhat similar to running an e-commerce company today, Manchanda says.

In the USD 4 billion diagnostics market  organised retail chains corner just 15 percent, while hospitals have 37 percent and rest is unorganised run by thousands of small standalone labs run by pathologists and radiologists.

But analysts flush with private equity funds  the regional laboratories have started scaling up and now pose serious competition to established players leading to price erosion.

Organised diagnostics players have demonstrated strong growth thus far, propelled by strong underlying growth of the sector as well as wresting market share from unorganised players, said Edelweiss Securities in its sector report on diagnostics.

However, the sector landscape is undergoing a rapid shift with private equity (PE) capital enabling subscale players to become more aggressive in the market, and the hospital chains/corporate houses seeding diagnostics ventures, Edelweiss said.

Manchanda says he isnt perturbed and sees it as an opportunity for consolidation in the future.

"PE firms will only improve service and corporate governance standards, they bring the industry to a more level playing field," Manchanda said.

Despite competition Manchanda said he is confident of his company achieving 15-16 percent revenue growth.
Freeze casted saline solution of the sculpture of Charlie del Rosario

The state has been at war with the people it perceives to be the enemy, unleashing all instruments of violence, like the police and military, in order to hold on and preserve its political power. As some political scientists would say, the purpose of the state is to supress the class struggle temporarily in order to preserve the status quo. As Friedrich Engels put it: But in order that these antagonisms, these classes with conflicting economic interests, might not consume themselves and society in fruitless struggle, it became necessary to have a power, seemingly standing above society, that would alleviate the conflict and keep it within the bounds of order; and this power, arisen out of society but placing itself above it, and alienating itself more and more from it, is the state. The period after World War II, the ruling elite, which had less power while the labor movements were relatively stronger, introduced neoliberalism to re-establish its power over the working class. Eventually, the ruling elite was able to drastically take away the share of income and wealth from labor. There was upsurge in the social movements in the 60s and 70sa period of political turmoil that threatened the power of the ruling class.Martial law under the Marcos dictatorship was a manifestation of restoring the power of the elite because it could no longer rule under the guise of democratic principles. There was clear irreconcilable class interests and one class should dominate over the other. It was a war between the national democratic forces and the Marcos dictatorial regime and military establishment. Manolo Sicats MFA thesis exhibit at the University of the Philippines Bulwagan ng Dangal (which ran from March 2 to 23) was about the victims of involuntary disappearance, which was perpetrated by the state in order to sow terror among the people, thus suppressing dissenters and finally silencing them. There were many victims of involuntary disappearance during martial law under the Marcos dictatorshipand in the regimes that followed. From the low-intensity conflict of the CIA to US-AFP Oplan Bayanihan of the present Duterte regime, these were all designed for counter-insurgency psywar and covert operation to inflict damage on the national democratic movement and other civil society groups opposing the present dispensation. Sicat made a cold cast of bronze from victims of alleged abduction by the military from the Marcos dictatorship to the time of the regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Among those who disappeared were Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, who were abducted in Hagonoy, Bulacan on June 26, 2006. The theme of Sicats thesis is a tribute to the victims of abductions perpetrated by the state in the name of national security. Many of the victims were youngstudent activists who were advocates of human rights, anti-imperialism, genuine land reform, free education for all, universal health care, against corruption, social justice, labor rights, and the like.Their youthful idealismtheir dreams and aspirationswas cut short by their sudden involuntary disappearance. The perpetrators objective was to inflict harm to the activists. Strategically, the state has been killing the prospect of social change for a just and humane society amid hopelessness and abject poverty under the present dispensation. From the eight busts done in cold cast bronze resin, Sicat made another eight negative casts made of ice, which was controlled by a freezing machine in transparent glass cube. One can see through the hollow image copy of the busts as the ice slowly melts over them. They call it the phenomena of absence in the mold reversal sculptural technique. As in Derridas presence-absence concept, the negative mold represents what is physically present while the positive mold represents what is physically absent. Derrida compared this concept to footprints, an evidence of ones foot stepping on something and leaving a mark, and the negative mold carries with it the inherent tactile qualities of the cast object. A negative mold is therefore a trace of a positive form, Derrida added. The concept of time is being withheld by freezing the tears and memories of the desaparecidos in ice images. The tears of their loved ones that run dry preserve the metaphorical tearstears of hope, desperation, tenacity, determination, and the like. For practical reasons, the process of collecting the tears of their loved ones was done by simulating real tears using a chemical compound. Because real tears easily dry up, its impossible to gather them and place them in a container. The dialectics of the presence and absence of an object dramatized the concept of Sicats Resurfacing MFA thesis exhibit. The absence of a thing resurfaces from the traces left of the thing in a given space. One cannot have a concept of presence of a thing without knowing the absence of it. As in dialectics of a thing, one cannot exist without the other. Perhaps nature has its own way of retribution for the people who unjustly robbed the dreams of the youth, who as Rizal said were the hope of our future, as himself was robbed of his dream by the Spanish colonizers. About the author: Leonilo Doloricon is a visual arts professor and former dean of the UP College of Fine Arts.
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Is IndiGo's exit a reflection of the industry sentiment towards the Air India divestment? Yes, says a senior executive from an international airline.

"The pullout was not surprising, it's sensible," he told Moneycontrol. The airline he works for, despite being one of the biggest names in global aviation, didn't consider participating in the divestment of India's national flyer.

At the same time, others have called it a "wheat separated from the chaff moment" in the Air India divestment process.

"Many have been scavenging for bits and pieces. But the government has been clear that it wants to sell Air India to someone who will make something out of the national airline as a whole," says Mark Martin, Founder & CEO of Martin Consulting LLC, an aviation advisory and consulting firm.

The announcement

From day one, IndiGo has expressed its interest primarily in the acquisition of Air Indias international operations and Air India Express," said Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director.

IndiGo , in an announcement on Thursday night, said it has opted out of the race for Air India.

"However, that option is not available under the governments current divestiture plans for Air India. Also, as we have communicated before, we do not believe that we have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning around all of Air Indias airline operations, he added.

The country's largest airline by domestic share was hoping that the government demerges the domestic operations of Air India, enabling IndiGo to bid for just the international business of the national airline.

But the Government has decided to sell Air India, Air India Express and the ground handling unit, AISATS, together.

While the exit of IndiGo, the only domestic airline that was financially capable to take over Air India, will dampen spirits in the Government, the market is expected to give a more cheerful response.

"Interest (in Air India) has been minimal till now. The huge debt on the books is a big damper," said the senior official quoted above. "IndiGo's pullout is not surprising, it's a sensible decision," he added.

The preliminary information memorandum (PIM) released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on March 28, noted that Air India's buyer will have to take on debts of Rs 33,392 crore. Many in the industry considered the amount higher than expected.

But if any domestic airline was capable to take on the debt, it was IndiGo. Reports had even emerged saying the airline could team up with Qatar Airways to team for the Air India bid.

IndiGo has a market capitalisation of Rs 54,943 crore and is the most profitable flyer in the industry. It's net profits in the December quarter soared by 56 percent to Rs 762 crore.

"But the company has its own operations to handle. It has ambitious expansion plans. Should it take the risk of shutting down its operations and do the bravery of buying Air India and turning it around," asked Martin.

IndiGo plans to add 40 more aircraft to its fleet this year. This includes 25 Airbus A320neos and 15 ATRs. The airline has over 150 aircraft in its fleet at present.

Only for serious players

IndiGo's exit can't mar the opportunity that Air India offers, says Martin.

Apart from the airline's 115-aircraft fleet and nearly 17 per cent market share of the overseas service out of India, Air India has valuable bilaterals that will allow its new owner to start new operations.

According to the PIM released by the Civil Aviation Ministry, Air India 3,739 slots in the domestic market, and 2,543 slots internationally.

Slots are landing and take-off rights that an airport gives an airline.

"Air India is like a monster that can wipe out some of the biggest names in the aviation," says Martin.
Thane city police today registered a case for allegedly possessing disproportionate assets against former MNS corporator Sudhakar Chavan.

Police registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Chavan and others while probing the builder Suraj Parmar suicide case in which he is an accused.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohite, who is investigating the Parmar suicide case, said that it was found that Sudhakar Chavan and his wife had amassed property worth Rs 10.96 crore when he was a corporator between April 1992 to October 2015.

The value of his assets was 40 per cent more than his known sources of income, the ACP said.

The case was registered at the Vartak Nagar police station against 33 persons including Sudhakar Chavan, his associates, some family members and some officials of the Thane Municipal Corporation, a police release added.

Nobody has been arrested yet.

Sudhakar Chavan was one of the four corporators from the city who were booked by police for allegedly abetting the suicide of builder Suraj Parmar of Cosmos Group.

Parmar shot himself at one of his construction sites on October 7, 2015. He left behind a 13-page suicide note where he said that these corporators and some civic officials were harassing him for bribes.

Then corporators Sudhakar Chavan (MNS), Vikrant Chavan (Congress), Hanumant Jagdale and Najeeb Mulla (NCP) were arrested and later released on bail in the case, in which the police have filed the charge sheet.

Sudhakar Chavan had been TMC standing committee chairman many times during his career as a
India will take up with the US next week the Donald Trump-administrations decision to impose steep import tariffs on aluminum and steel that could adversely affected Indian companies.

Indian officials will take up the matter with visiting US commerce department officials visiting New Delhi on April 9-10, to exclude Indian steel and aluminum products, among others, from tariff hikes.

We will try to convince officials from the US to exempt India from the import duty hikes that the Trump government has imposed on steel and aluminum products last month, a senior government official said.

In March, the US government signed an order imposing at least 24 percent tax on steel and 10 percent on aluminum products coming into the country from all nations, except Mexico, Canada, South Korea, European Union, Argentina and Brazil.

China, India and Russia will be affected by the tariff hike as the US did not grant these nations any exemption.

The move triggered a trade war of sorts globally, as Chinathe biggest producer and exporter of steelretaliated by imposing similar tariffs on exports to the US.

India, however, will not retaliate the way China did or drag the issue to the World Trade Organisation (WTO)the global apex body for settling trade disputesas the US is an important strategic partner for the country, the official explained.

However, it is learnt that India will point out that the quantum of duty raised is not WTO-compliant as it is way beyond its bound rate, which act as ceiling on tariffs.

Another concern for the government towards the tax hike on imports is that India has a trade surplus with the US.

According to a report published by Care Ratings, in terms of value, imports from the US into India is around 50 percent of the exports from India to the US. The trade surplus stood at around USD 20 billion in 2017-18.

The worlds largest importer of steel, US slapped higher duty on the alloy as it intends to increase its domestic steel production from its current 73 percent of capacity to approximately an 80 percent operating rate, the minimum rate required for long-term sustainability, as per the estimation of US department of commerce.

The direct impact of the move on India is limited as most products exported to the US attract anti-dumping or countervailing duties. Aluminum and steel together accounts for around 3 percent of Indias exports to the US and in 2017, India exported less than one mln tn of the alloy, primarily pipes, tubes, and wire rods, to the US.

However, the industry and the government fear a long-term impact of the executive order.

According to another government official, steps taken by the US can create glut in export-oriented nations like China, Russia, and South American nations that could be diverted towards India.

Our concern is that India should not become a dumping ground for steel yet again, the official said.
LocalBitcoins | This peer-to-peer exchange allows people from different countries to exchange their local currencies to bitcoins. Users post advertisements on the exchange stating their exchange rate and preferred payment method for buying or selling bitcoins. By replying to these advertisements, a trade is opened and escrow protection is automatically activated. Escrow protects both buyer and seller, by keeping the bitcoins safe until the payment is done and the seller releases bitcoins to the buyer. Bitcoins are placed in LocalBitcoins web wallet from where one can pay for their bitcoin purchases directly. However, investors need to be aware of scams as they are dealing directly with other people unlike other stock-like exchanges or centralized bitcoin trading sites.

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday registered an enforcement case investigation report (ECIR) against Amit Bharadwaj, a bitcoin entrepreneur who duped thousands of Indians.

The EDs decision came on the same day as the Reserve Bank of Indias decision to ban regulated entities from dealing in virtual currencies. This is the first ECIR registered by the ED for violations involving virtual currencies.

The case was filed hours after Bharadwaj was arrested by Pune Police at Delhi Airport. A complaint had been registered against Bharadwaj in the cybercrime cell of Pune Police by Bhimsen Agarwal.

Consequently, the cybercrime cell filed an FIR (first information report) against Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Rupesh Singh, Hemant Chauhan, Hemant Suryavanshi, Kaka Ravde, and others, under Sections 406, 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

A similar FIR was registered against Amit Bharadwaj by the cybercrime cell in Pune in January this year, too.

Thousands of people were duped in the name of cryptocurrencies and only in Maharashtra, the number is more than 8000 people, a source told Moneycontrol.

The case against Bharadwaj is only one of 27 such cases of fraud involving cryptocurrencies that the Pune cybercrime cell is investigating at the moment. Pune Police have already arrested eight people on charges of cheating, in connection with these cases.

Also, the crackdown on virtual currencies is not just confined to Pune. Last month, Delhi Police also registered an FIR against Amit Bhardwaj. An investor who invested in Bharadwajs scheme told Moneycontrol, Amit Bhardwaj duped people, not only in India, but in the US too, and even from there, he is absconding.

An FIR registered in Delhi clearly mentions that Amit Bhardawajs company duped hundreds of investors in a Ponzi scheme. The FIR stated that through this Ponzi scheme, Bharadwaj convinced people to invest in Gatbitcoin.com, which is owned by Variable Trade Pvt Ltd, a company registered in Singapore.

According to the report, Gatbitcoin promised to give an assured return of 10 percent every month to all its investors. In order to attract investors, it claimed to be an authorized Bitcoin miner, and that world-renowned miner Amaze Mining holds a 5 percent stake in it.

A source close to the development told Moneycontrol that all cases against anyone dealing in virtual currencies like Bitcoin, including the one against Bharadwaj, will now be clubbed into one and investigated by the ED. Despite being arrested by Pune Police already, Bharadwaj may also be arrested by the ED as it has now filed a case of its own against him.

On Thursday, in its monetary policy statement, the RBI stated that virtual currencies raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering. The Mahrashtra government also mentioned in the state assembly that the ED will probe the case involving thousands of investors getting duped to the tune of Rs 2,000 crores.

The victims of Bharadwajs con hailed primarily from Mumbai, Pune, Nanded and Kolhapur.

Despite Bitcoin and other altcoins getting a warm welcome in India after their initial success abroad, the ED and Income Tax Department are now looking at individuals who invested in these speculative instruments.
The Delhi High Court today restrained ITC from publishing and broadcasting its new controversial advertisements which allegedly disparage rivals Pepsico and Dabur's juices.

Pepsico India Holdings Pvt Ltd had rushed to the high court after ITC, the manufacturer of B Natural, also a juice product, came out with full page advertisements in national dailies today and in electronic and social media for last two days, allegedly belittling its product 'Tropicana' and Dabur's 'Real'.

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw took an undertaking from ITC to keep under "suspension" its advertisement campaign -- #SayNoToConcentrate -- and to produce its revised advertisement before the court on April 9.

The judge said the plea for restraining ITC from holding an event scheduled in Mumbai on Monday (April 9) evening will be considered on that day.

"The impugned advertisements be not published in the print or the electronic or social media till April 9," the court said in the interim order.
IRB Infrastructure Developers | In 2020 so far, the share price has moved up 76 percent to Rs 131.20. It's trailing twelve months (TTM) P/E was 6.40 multiple while 5-year average P/E was 8.30 multiple.

The National Green Tribunal has slammed Delhi and neighbouring states for not filing their reply on a plea alleging that illegal operation of brick kilns has resulted in severe air and water pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR).

A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore said that despite its February 7 direction for filing of the replies in three weeks, Delhi, NCR states and state pollution control boards have not filed their response.

"Counsel for State of Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Delhi and state pollution control boards are given last opportunity to comply with the order dated February 7 for filing of the report in respect of all brick kiln within the area referred in the original application.

"In case they fail to do before the next date of hearing, they would be liable to be saddled with costs," the bench said while posting the matter for next hearing on May 2.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Delhi resident Shailesh Singh seeking action against brick kilns which are operating without complying to pollution norms and causing immense air and water pollution.

The plea had also claimed that these brick kilns were running without obtaining necessary clearances from statutory authorities concerned.

The petition had listed seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Hapur and Muzaffarnagar, 13 districts of Haryana, including Gurgaon, and two districts (Alwar and Bharatpur) of Rajasthan, besides Delhi.

Referring to a 2017 Central Pollution Control Board report, it claimed that out of 2,125 brick kilns in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, 1,728 were operating illegally.

Similarly, out of of 172 brick kilns in Alwar, 109 were running without permission, while 13 of 110 lacked necessary approvals in Bharatpur, it said.
We believe that FY19 will see individual growth stocks doing well, but overall, Nifty is likely to deliver a muted return for investors, Prasanth Prabhakaran, Senior President and CEO, Yes Securities said in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrols Kshitij Anand.

How are fears of trade wars likely to play out for Indian markets in FY19? Which sectors are likely to see the worst of it?

India seems to be less at risk from the global trade war. Hardly 15 percent of Indias GDP is contributed by exports. The US accounts for only around 10 percent of Indias steel and aluminum exports.

Further, exports from India to China and Hong Kong constitute only about 10 percent of the total Indian exports. Hence, India may not see a drastic impact despite the slowing Chinese economy.

However, some sectors could see a short-term impact because of the US protectionist measures; especially IT and Pharma companies which have overexposure to the US markets.

FY18 closed with gains of about 11 percent thanks to domestic liquidity. Do you think the momentum will continue in FY19 as well?

We believe that FY19, would be a year for individual growth stocks which will continue to do well, but overall Nifty is likely to deliver a muted return for investors. It is time to focus on select stocks rather than the headline indices.

It is also pertinent to note that apart from the high valuations that the Indian markets were trading at, it will also be a busy year  with elections around the corner for select major states and the impending General election.

In the short run, there will be a lot of noise which could spook the market. However, as long as the earnings growth revival that the market is displaying for the last two quarters continue, there would be substantial returns that the Indian markets would deliver over the long run.

What is your index target for the financial year 2019? Do you think the index will be able to reclaim 12000 on Nifty?

We believe that it would be very difficult for the benchmarks to make new highs anytime soon. The general markets would tend to gyrate between a broad range of 9800-10600 on the Nifty. Multiple events would bring about heightened levels of volatility.

Which sectors are likely to hog the limelight in the coming financial year and why?

Sectors and themes that we like for the next FY include stocks positively affected by1. agriculture led government spending,2. infrastructure led public capex spending

3. Indian consumption story.

Do you see Modi returning to power in 2019 and how are markets likely to react?

We tend to believe that the Indian capital markets have managed to give a CAGR return of 14 percent over the last two decades, irrespective of events like elections, scams, wars, droughts, floods, etc.

Hence, as long as one continues to hold good fundamental stocks in growth sectors and run by a top class management, an investor would continue to get large benefits from the Indian growth story.

Do you think the uptrend for mid & smallcaps will continue in the next financial year? If yes, why?

As mentioned earlier too, returns that an investor makes in the market are purely based on the quality of stock that one holds in ones portfolio. Irrespective of the market cap of a company, as long as there is a disconnect between actual earnings and valuations, there would be upgrades or downgrades in a stock. We continue to believe that a bottom up approach is warranted in building ones portfolio.

What should be the portfolio composition of investors in the coming financial year assuming he is in the age bracket of 35-40 years?

100 minus age rule is the simplest way to determine asset allocation but it does not consider a lot of important factors like risk profile, personal liabilities etc.

For example, based on the same principle, a 40-year-old investor should invest 60 percent in equity and 40 percent in debt.

However, goal-based investing is more scientific and works best when combined with a dynamic portfolio strategy. All one has to do is to identify ones goals and a time horizon to achieve them.

Do you think earnings is likely to bounce back in double digits in FY19?

We expect earnings to grow by ~12-15% over FY19.

Some analyst was telling in an interview that India is now part of Expensive 4 in terms of valuations. Do you agree with the statement? Do you FIIs flows coming down in light of constant rate hikes by the US Fed and rising US bond yields?

In the last few years, FII inflows have been dull based on the expensive valuations that Indian markets traded with, in FY18. However, what has kept the market firm is the domestic flows and that is where the focus should be. Going by history, if such funds dry up (due to expectation mismatch) then it would be a bigger concern than FII inflows.

How should investors play PSU banks in FY19 given that we are seeing new frauds from different banks almost on a daily basis?

We believe it would be better to take the better to be safe than sorry approach and avoid investing in PSU banks given the legacy issues that these banks face.

Until the time such banks have a more defined growth path for capital raising, subsequently affecting their credit off-take; it is better to avoid.
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While the market may have fallen around 10 percent from its peak, experts such as Gaurav Jain, Director, Hem Securities believe that the worst may be over now.

In the next quarter, the market should settle and then a pullback is likely, Jain told Moneycontrols Uttaresh Venkateshwaran & Sunil Shankar Matkar. He expects largecaps to move ahead and midcaps will play catch-up.

He expects a broad-based pick up in the market going ahead. In the past few days, a few stocks have risen, which have pushed the market. We should start seeing a pick-up in many more stocks. Essentially, people are not in a panic stage, while retail investors have looked to book profits and are not in a hurry to invest, Jain further added. Edited excerpts:

The market has been trading off the previous high points. What is the outlook for D-Street going ahead?

Over the last quarter, we saw events such as the Union Budget, which introduced taxes on long term capital gains (LTCG). Global markets reacted negatively, while big IPOs also sucked liquidity from the market, among other factors. As such, the market had a good run up in the past two three quarters.

Related stories Gaurav Jain Director|Hem Securities

In the next quarter, the market should settle and then there could be a pullback. Next quarter should be of accumulation and positive movement.

So, what kind of returns are you expecting from this market?

We are in an election year. So, the market could behave differently with results coming on. Overall, for FY18 we are looking at 8-10 percent returns.

What can be seen as triggers for this market?

Firstly, many companies results were affected in one quarter on the back of Goods and Services Tax (GST). With new GST Bill coming in full flow, it should give positive flow for most sectors. Even as the e-way bill is introduced, some companies could face some issues at the start and then gradually get comfortable with it.

Secondly, look at growth visibility in the Sensex and Nifty. Several managements are hinting at positive cues. Earnings could improve and several companies have done their expansions on their side.

Lastly, we have to wait for how monsoon pans out. So, overall there is positive momentum and investors are quite bullish on India even at this point.

Does that mean we could go back to the record high levels?

Probably

What are you hearing on private capex plans? Are they willing to spend on that front as well?

Most companies, the big ones especially, have done their share of capital expenditure. One important reason why this is happening is due to change in technology that is erupting. For instance, look at telecom sector. In case Reliance Jio comes up with a new technology, rivals also tend to counter those. In case of textiles, many things have happened and firms are adding up more technology and machines. With changing technology, fast-growing companies need to adapt to it and they are deploying resources in those areas.

Could you throw some light on the state of midcaps? How do you expect them to perform going forward?

Largecaps should start moving first, going forward, followed by midcaps. Investors currently are playing conservative as they saw their stocks bleeding all through the last quarter. Hence, the money is going into largecaps right now.

But what about valuations for several segments in the markethow did the IPO market perform in FY18?

Look at the number of IPOs that came up with multiples of 30 and 40 times. Fund managers that we spoke to are talking about large systematic investment plans (SIPs) that have to be deployed into such stocks and that is probably why such high multiples were

seen.

In FY17, we saw around 37 IPOs hitting the market and this figure could be higher this fiscal, looking at the prospectuses filed and information available from merchant bankers. Also, IPO sizes are a lot larger now.

But will investors have the appetite going forward?

Institutional investors will have it. They will always look at beaten down stocks and they also do not have issues with funds.

Currently, retail investors are investing less. If they have Rs 100 with them, they are looking to invest Rs 20 right now. In fact, many retail investors have booked profits in the past quarter.

Is there much downside from the current market levels?

I dont think so. The worst should already be over. In the past few days, a few stocks have risen, which have pushed the market. We should start seeing a pick-up in many more stocks. Essentially, people are not in a panic stage, while retail investors have looked to book profits and are not in a hurry to invest.

So, what will your advice be to a 35-40-year old investor?

They must invest in mutual funds. But you could also do it making money by directly investing in equity markets as well.

What sectors are you looking at currently?

We expect pharmaceuticals to perform, while it could be a challenge in case of information technology names.

You can look at infrastructure sector as well. These companies are flooded with orders.

On banks, it is clearly not the case that all PSU banks are bad. Right now, people are not trusting PSU banks and private banks are usually considered more transparent.

It is a play on perception and that could be seen in cases of a recent listing such as Bandhan Bank. The IPO came at a very good multiple and still listed at good returns. These are companies with professional management which are growing along with having fast execution and chasing for business. As such, we were seeing a shift to private sector banks, but currently investors also do not know about hidden concerns in PSU banks too.

LTCG tax on equities has become a reality now. Are you getting queries about it and what are you telling them?

I think the sentiment around it has been already digested in the market. People are taking in the transition in stock market. I feel that this is not an issue at this point.

How much of a risk is political scenario for the market?

The market tends to be very volatile on political instability. As soon as there are chances of dent to existing government, it starts reacting. The question is not about which government, but about a stable one. This is important from a foreign investor perspective. These would have regular impact but not larger levelthe market will make a comeback once the elections are over.

As we move into end of this year (and closer to general elections), investors may hold for couple of months to understand what is happening (on the political front).

On the global front, any statement from the US with respect to protection of its own trade boundaries is a major risk for the market.

Lastly, what are your top stock picks for FY19?

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.
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After outperforming benchmark indices in the last 5 years, midcaps struggled in the last two months weighed down by muted global cues and fierce selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

But, the party may not be over for the bulls who love the midcap space, suggest experts. Even though the investor would prefer largecaps more in 2018 thanks to attractive valuations, but select midcaps could do well.

Since the last one year both mid-cap and small-cap stocks have outpaced the benchmark Sensex beating concerns over valuations and fundamentals, Amarjeet Maurya- Sr. Equity Research Analyst - Mid Caps at Angel Broking told Moneycontrol.

Going ahead, we believe the quality of midcap and small cap stocks would outperform the index mainly due to strong earnings momentum, better ROE, and relative releasable valuation, he said.

Valuations of Indian equities have moderated from the recent highs. The Sensex trades at a 12-month forward P/E of 17.7x, at a 2 percent premium to its long-period average of 17.3x. Sensex P/B of 2.6x is at its historical average.

Specifically, from the broader market perspective, midcaps have struggled over the last few months, resulting in its underperformance versus large-caps. Over the last 12 months, midcaps have delivered 9 percent returns, as against 10 percent by the Nifty. However, over the last five years, midcaps have outperformed the Nifty by 75 percent, Motilal Oswal said in a report.

In March 2018, Nifty Midcap100 was down 4.6 percent, as against Niftys fall of 3.6 percent. Midcaps now trade at a 73 percent premium to the Nifty in terms of P/E, added the report.

In most of the bull markets, midcaps have outperformed large gaps. This is more the keys in emerging economies. Small caps too have done well but lag midcaps overall, Harendra Kumar, Managing Director-Institutional Equities at Elara Equities told Moneycontrol.

So its a prudent strategy to have a slightly higher share in midcaps if one wants to maximize their returns, he said.

Here is a list of top 10 stocks which can return up to 35 percent in the next 12 months. For simplicity, we have taken stocks which have a market cap of less than Rs 10,000 crore.

Safari Industries Ltd: BUY| Target Rs650| Return 15%

Angel Broking maintains a buy rating on Safari Industries with a target price of Rs650. Safari Industries Ltd (Safari) is the third largest branded player in the Indian luggage industry. The restructuring has helped it in posting a CAGR of 42 percent in revenue and 46 percent in PAT over 2012-17.

Angel Broking expects its revenue to grow by 23 percent CAGR over FY2017-20E on the back of growth in its recently introduced new products.

Safari currently trades at a P/E of 42x FY2019E and 30.8x its FY2020E EPS which looks attractive looking at its strong brand play story emerging in the luggage industry.

HSIL: BUY| Target Rs510| Return 29.7%

Angel Broking maintains a buy rating on HSIL with a target price of Rs510. HSIL Limited (HSIL) is an Indian company, which offers sanitaryware products, faucets, and glass bottles.

The company has entered into new segments like consumer, pipes and caps and closures which will drive the further growth. Angel Broking expects HSIL to report net revenue CAGR of 12 percent to Rs2,905 crore over FY2017-20E.

On bottom-line front, the brokerage firm expects CAGR of 15 percent to Rs154 crore over FY2017-20E owing to improvement in operating margins.

Blue Star Ltd: BUY| Target Rs867| Return 11.5%

Angel Broking maintains a buy rating on Blue Star (BSL) with a target price of Rs867. BSL is one of the largest air-conditioning companies in India. With a mere 3 percent penetration level of ACs compared to 25 percent in China, the overall outlook for the room air-conditioner (RAC) market in India is favourable.

Aided by increasing contribution from the Unitary Products, Angel Broking expects the overall top-line to post revenue CAGR of 19 percent over FY2017-19E and margins to improve from 5.8 percent in FY2017 to 6.6 percent in FY2019E.

Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd: BUY| Target Rs851| Return 36%

Angel Broking maintains a buy rating on Siyaram Silk Mills (SSML) with a target of Rs851. SSML has strong brands which cater to premium as well as popular mass segments of the market.

Further, SSML entered the ladies' salwar kameez and ethnic wear segment. Going forward, we believe that the company would be able to leverage its brand equity and continue to post strong performance

Going forward, the domestic brokerage firm expect SSML to report a net sales CAGR of 12 percent to 1,981 crore and adj.net profit CAGR of 16 percent to Rs123 crore over FY2017-19E on back of market leadership in blended fabrics, strong brand building, wide distribution channel, strong presence in tier II and tier III cities and emphasis on latest designs and affordable pricing points.

Music Broadcast Ltd: BUY| Target Rs475| Return 22%

Angel Broking maintains a buy rating on Music Broadcast with a target price of Rs475. Radio Industry is protected by licenses for 15 years, thereby restricting the entry of new players. This would support the existing companies to strengthen their position and maintain a healthy growth rate.

MBL outperformed its closest peer with 18.4 percent CAGR in revenue over FY2013-17 (ENIL reported 13.2 percent CAGR in revenue). Capex for 39 licenses have been done for the next 15 years, hence no heavy incremental Capex requirement would emerge.

Moreover, the maintenance Capex would be as low as Rs5-10 crore. This would leave sufficient cash flow to distribute as a dividend.

Aster DM Healthcare Ltd: BUY| Target Rs213| Return 26%

Goldman Sachs initiates a buy on Aster DM Healthcare Ltd with a target price of Rs213. Aster is likely to now enter a phase where it would have to sweat assets, improve cash flows and add leverage.

Solid demand across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and India is likely to drive utilisations, said the Goldman note. It expects utilisations to improve to 65 percent over the next 3 years.

Goldman Sachs expects 17 percent revenue CAGR over the next 3 years. It expects 500 bps margin expansion over FY17-20. The valuations look attractive, and the stock is trading at a discount to Indian/GCC peers.

Westlife Development Ltd: BUY| Target Rs450| Return 34%

CLSA maintains a buy rating on Westlife Development with a target price of Rs450. Lifestyle-related diseases are on the rise, and the companys The Good Food Story initiative is a positive.

The management guides its journey to offer healthier options has just started. Initiatives can be taken to boost business going forward.

SpiceJet Ltd: BUY| Target Rs166| Return 25%

Edelweiss maintains a buy rating on SpiceJet with a target price of Rs166. Enthused about the growth prospects of the company, Edelweiss is of the view that robust domestic passenger growth to outstrip capacity addition.

Profit is likely to grow with improving yields, and the addition of new planes to prune costs. Edelweiss expects Volume/EPS to grow at a CAGR of 22 percent/37 percent over FY17-20.

Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd: BUY| Target Rs311| Return 72%

CLSA maintains a buy rating on Indiabulls Real Estate with a target price of Rs311. The divestment deal with Blackstone is likely to establish a valuation for Indiabulls Real Estate.

The deal is likely to mark a major strategic step in deleveraging the development business. The deal valuation of Rs 9,500 crore valuation should be accretive to Indiabulls.

Phoenix Mills Ltd: Overweight| Target Rs710| Return 22%

JPMorgan maintains an overweight rating on Phoenix Mills but raised its target price to Rs710 from Rs 605 earlier. The global investment bank expects the company to double rental growth combined with residential business to boost earnings.

The global investment bank expects 12 percent/35 percent EBITDA/Net Profit growth over the next two years. Phoenix should generate positive free cash flow from FY19.

Funds can be used for additional growth and increase dividend payouts. Phoenix remains best proxy plays on retail growth in India, said the report.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Aditya Agarwal

The Thursdays sharp upmove in Indian markets can be termed as a Bear Trap as Nifty opened higher with a significant gap and eventually surpassed the crucial resistance zone of 10,280  10,300 levels.

In that process, Nifty confirmed its breakout from Downward Sloping Channel pattern.

The bearish engulfing candle formed on Wednesdays trade was negated as Nifty closed above the pattern high of 10,280.

At this juncture, the hourly RSI (14) signals a Bearish Divergence hence its prudent to wait for some pullback to enter a long position. On the higher side, Nifty is likely to extend its ongoing short covering move towards 10,450.

Whereas on the lower side, 10,100 will act as a strong support and till the time index is holding above this level every meaningful correction is an opportunity to enter in the long position.

Here are the lists of top 3 stocks which could give up to 16% return:

Apollo Tyres: BUY around 290  288| Target 340| Stop loss 270| Timeframe 15 to 21 sessions| Return 16%

On the weekly chart, the stock confirmed its breakout from the Bullish Cup & Handle pattern on Thursday. The volume activity too started accelerating which support our hypothesis.

The daily as well as weekly RSI (14) entered inside the 60 levels. The conservative target of cup & handle formation comes near Rs340. A stop loss should be placed below Rs270.

TATA Elxsi Ltd: BUT around 1020  1010| Target 1150| Stop loss 950| Time frame 15 to 21 trading sessions| Return 12%

Tata Elexi has been consolidating in a narrow range of 960-1060 for almost last 2 months and on daily charts, the stock has formed a Descending Triangle pattern. The said pattern is a continuation of an ongoing uptrend.

The weekly Higher Top and Higher bottom formation is intact. In Thursdays trade, the stock confirmed its breakout from the triangle pattern.

Hence, we advocate traders to buy this stock in a range of 1020 to 1010 with an upside price target of 1150. A stop loss should be placed below 950 on a closing basis.

Bharat Forge Ltd: SELL around 730  735| Target 670| Stop loss 760| Time frame 15 to 21 trading session| Return 7%

After posting an all-time high of 798, the stock corrected sharply and hit a low of 678. Subsequently, stock saw decent pullback however it is struggling near 730  740 range which coincided with its previous resistance zone as previous support became an immediate hurdle.

The hourly RSI (14) is signaling an overbought condition. Hence, we recommend traders to go short in a range of 730 to 735 with a price target of 670. A stop loss should be placed at 760.

Disclaimer: The author Head Technical Research, Way2Wealth Brokers Pvt. Ltd. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The city government of Makati on Friday urged residents to have their pets vaccinated following reports on the shortage of available human anti-rabies vaccines in the country. Apart from the expensive cost of human anti-rabies vaccines, the shortage could translate to fatalities if patients do not receive immediate treatment. The only thing we can do right now is to prevent cases of rabies in humans by making sure that our pets are vaccinated, Mayor Abigail Binay said. Binay said the lack of human rabies vaccines is alarming since the fatality rate is 100 percent. She added she is asking all residents to take advantage of the citys anti-rabies program and have pets vaccinated for freeat the soonest time possible. Reports showed that the Philippines was listed number six among the countries which still have reported cases of rabies, with around 200 to 500 people dying from the illness annually. It also showed that 30 to 60 percent of the victims were children under the age of 15. Most of these deaths are caused by the lack of prevention measures, such as dogs not being vaccinated against the disease, lack of treatment after an animal bite, or misconceptions such as the belief that pouring vinegar on an animal bite will kill the rabies virus. In its website, the Rabiesawareness.com stated that rabies is a viral disease that affects the nervous system of mammals, including humans. Animals and people can get rabies when they come into contact with the saliva of, or most often through the bite of an infected animal. The Department of Health recently confirmed the global shortage of human rabies vaccines. On Tuesday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III announced that his department will intensify its anti-rabies vaccination program for dogs in response to the problem. He also encouraged local government units to step up their dog anti-rabies immunization campaigns and promote responsible pet ownership.Rabies eradication is one of the key programs of Makati City government under the Binay administration. There are roughly 32,000 cats and dogs registered in the citys database. The city runs a year-round pet immunization program and also launched a pet microchipping project in October 2017. The pet microchips help pet owners avoid the cost of redundant rabies vaccinations. Each microchip contains a unique 15-digit code readable with a microchip scanner, and gives veterinarians access to a pet's vaccination records for them to determine whether or not a pet needs to be given anti-rabies shots after biting a human, and if there is a need for the bite victim to be vaccinated against rabies. Binay directed Makati Veterinary Services Office chief Katherina Mangahas to come up with public awareness on rabies prevention. The VSO is currently conducting house-to-house vaccination campaigns in Barangays Comembo, Sta. Cruz, and San Isidro. The program will continue until all pets in the said areas have been injected with the vaccine. The VSO has been knocking on doors at various barangays since the last quarter of 2017. Anti-rabies shots for pets are also part of the social and health services offered to residents at the scheduled Lingkod Bayan Caravans. Pet owners are encouraged to bring dogs and cats for vaccination to either of the VSO's district offices Mondays to Fridays. For District I, pet owners may proceed to the City Pound at Malugay St. Barangay San Antonio while residents of District II may go to the Vet office at Cadena de Amor St. Barangay Pembo. Residents may also call the VSO Offices at 8897949 and 8341166 for scheduling and inquiries.
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Indias largest airline IndiGo operated by InterGlobe Aviation has pulled out of the race to acquire flag carrier Air India. Does this mean the much-flaunted air India disinvestment will hit an air pocket?

In a statement, IndiGo, the first carrier which had officially expressed interest in buying Air India, said it does not have the capability to take on the herculean task of acquiring Air Indias entire operations and turning it around.

Government had set the stage for the disinvestment of the debt-laden national carrier giving in-principle approval for divestment by way of management control and sale of 76 percent stake including shareholding interest the carrier has in Air India Express Limited (AIXL) and Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited (AISATS).After establishing leadership in the domestic skies, the management of IndiGo wanted to capture the long-haul international market, and the inorganic opportunity in Air India seemed like a right fit.

In light of this, the company expressed its interest in buying Air Indias international operations, along with Air India Express, a short-haul low-cost carrier.

Acquisition of the international operations would have given IndiGo an immediate access to the various restricted and closed foreign markets and strengthened its reach to highly coveted prime slots on foreign soil. It could have given IndiGo a head start that would have otherwise taken several years to build organically.

As per the preliminary information memorandum released by the government, the acquirer will have to buy a stake in Air Indias entire airline operation, both domestic and international, along with AIXL and AISATS. International. Domestic airline operations are not up for sale separately now.As the option of acquiring only a part of Air Indias business (international airline operation) is not available anymore the management of IndiGo said they do not believe they have the capability to take on the task of acquiring and successfully turning aroundSome back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest IndiGo could face stress on both its balancesheet and profitability (pressure on operating margins) should it acquire Air India alone in the current format -with the acquisition of Air Indias airline and Express operations along with AISATS.

As of 3QFY2018, IndiGo had net cash of Rs 11,454.7 crore on its balance sheet. IndiGo will have to take debt of close to Rs 20,618.3 crore for acquiring AI.

In terms of the payback period, optimistically assuming IndiGo brings in operational efficiencies in AI and succeeds in improving the EBITDA margin to 12 percent from 8 percent currently in two years, and then clocks 15 percent growth in EBITDA going forward, then it would take approximately 8-9 years for the company to recover its cost.

The stress is not only financial. The feasibility of turning around operation of a state-owned company with a large unionised workforce and different work ethics is not easy. Hence, the news of IndiGo pulling out of the race is not totally a surprise.

The company has its own organic expansion plan domestically as well as in the international operations. The Indian aviation sector is in a sweet spot and IndiGo with the strength of its balance sheet and strategy is clearly in a vantage position.

What is clear after IndiGos decision is that for any potential acquirer the initial years post-acquisition will spell a lot of turbulence.

As per the financial eligibility criteria set in preliminary information memorandum, IndiGo is the only carrier amongst domestic carriers which alone can bid for Air India. Now, with IndiGo out of the race, the only hope is if other carriers like SpiceJet/Jet Airways or Vistara join hands with foreign airlines or financial investors to take over the beleaguered Maharaja.

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Have a long-term outlook | Timing investment is logically impossible because the best entry and exit opportunities are known only in hindsight. No one can predict market movements with certainty. Therefore, it is important to allow your investments to compound over a long term.

Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli today sought investments from Indian businesses saying his country offers investor friendly environment and incentives for industries.

He said areas such as infrastructure, tourism, power, agriculture and IT hold huge opportunities for investors.

Nepal has a strong government at the centre, and stable government gives stability and continuity in policy regime, he said here at the India-Nepal Business Forum meet organised by industry chambers, including CII.

Law and order situation has improved and this means Nepal is safe for foreign investment, he said, adding that the country need massive investments in every sector.

"Indian investors have invested across the globe, so why not to go to the next door Nepal. Geographical proximity, easy access and cultural similarities are all there to make you feel good about Nepal. Seize the opportunity," Oli said.

The prime minister said investment in any sector is highly profitable in Nepal and it also provides huge market for investors.

"Investors always looks for market. Look at Nepal's position. For us, market is not a problem, (but) production is a problem. It is lying between two vibrant economic powers with huge population of the world -- India and China. That assure you of a promising market of 2.5 billion people," he said.

He informed that Nepal enjoys duty free access to European markets.

"We are ready to listen to you. Your advises and suggestions. We want to know your views. We are committed to further improve our business climate," he said.

Talking about policies, he said the country has enacted laws and reforms for foreign investments and they are committed to provide a liberal economy and polices.

"Nepal has to offer attractive incentives compared to other countries. We have reduced tariffs, simplified tax regimes," he said, adding that the country is planning to establish SEZ in the cities bordering India with incentives for industries, including liberal labour laws.

He said the Nepalese government have streamlined administrative procedures and "we are committed to provide corruption free administration".

"We have favourable fiscal environment. We have low tax slabs, no income tax on dividends and export earnings and tax holidays for certain industries," he added.

He also stated that foreign companies register in Nepal can purchase, own and sell land and there is no discrimination between nationl and foreign investors.

"We are discussing the new version of bilateral investment agreement" with India, he said.

Talking about sectors that holds opportunities, he said power, manufacturing, IT, agro based industries and tourism are the areas where investments can be profitable.

"All sectors open for investment. We are eager to work together with business community of India. I would request you to come to Nepal and invest," he added.

The bilateral trade between the two countries increased to USD 5.9 billion in 2016-17 from USD 4.4 billion in the previous fiscal.
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.

22:11 Airtel to enhance network capacity by up to 7 times at IPL venues

Telecom major Bharti Airtel today said it

will deploy a pre-5G-technology at IPL match venues that can enhance its network capacity by up to seven times and provide high speed connection to its subscribers.

"Airtel will deploy the advanced Massive MIMO Pre-5G technology across IPL match venues. Massive MIMO expands existing network capacity by five to seven times over existing spectrum. Customers will be able to experience superfast data speeds on Airtel's 4G network despite the very large number of concurrent users on the network sites at the venue," the company said in a statement.

21:52 RBI asks banks to submit `true data' for SLBC websites

Manual intervention in data reporting by banks on loan disbursements at the state level is leading to integrity issues, the Reserve Bank said today.

The Central bank asked lenders to submit the true data as reflected in their core banking system (CBS) on the state-level banking committee's website.

21:13 SAT grants more time to Sebi to pass final order in Mallya case

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has allowed markets regulator Sebi to pass the final order by May-end in the case of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

The regulator had sought more time from the tribunal as personal hearing in the matter was completed only on March 23.

"Since personal hearing etc in the matter was completed only on March 23, 2018, and therefore extension of time is required to complete the proceedings and pass the final order," Sebi told the tribunal.

20:45 RBI issues notification on data storage by payment companies

The RBI today asked all payment system operators in the country to store all data, including full end-to-end transaction details and information collected, within India to ensure security of users' information.

The operators have been asked to comply with the instructions within six months, the central bank said in a notification.

RBI noted that "not all system providers" store the payments data in India.

20:10 Sugar tax on soft drinks comes into force in UK

Britons may have to shell out more for their soft drinks, as a so-called "sin tax" or "sugar tax" came into force in the UK today as part of the government's plan to combat obesity and sugar related disease.

The Soft Drinks Industry Levy was announced by former UK Chancellor George Osborne in 2016 and is based on the levels of sugar in the drinks, with the most sugary drinks paying the highest tax.

Drinks containing five grams of sugar per 100ml taxed at 18 pence per litre, and those with more than eight grams per 100ml taxed at 24 pence per litre. The levy will be applied to manufacturers in Britain and whether they pass it on to consumers or not will be up to them. (PTI)

19:38 No hacking of websites: National cybersecurity chief

Government websites, including those of defence and home ministries, have not come under any cyber attack, but suffered a hardware-related glitch, National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai said on Friday.

Explaining the outage, he said the websites have been down since afternoon after it was noticed that there was a "storage area networking system" failure.

"The same is being addressed. It is only a hardware failure," Rai, who has been working in the field of cybersecurity since 1998, said. "There is no hacking or cyber attack," Rai, who heads the cybersecurity unit, said. (PTI)

18:55 TDP MPs demand special status for AP, hold protest inside Lok Sabha Speaker's chamber

TDP MPs again held protests for special category status for Andhra Pradesh inside Parliament even after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die, reports PTI. The party's MPs, including those from the Rajya Sabha, held the protests inside Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's chamber as the party's no-confidence notice against the government was not taken up for discussion. (ANI)

18:33 U.S. sanctions Russians over 'malign activity'

The United States sanctioned 24 Russian people, including oligarchs and government officials, and 14 groups on Friday over what it called a range of malign activities by Moscow to subvert Western democracies, the Treasury Department said. (Reuters)

18:24 US job gains smallest in six months, wage growth picks up

The US economy created the fewest jobs in six months in March as the boost from mild temperatures faded, but a pickup in wage gains pointed to a tightening labor market, which should allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further this year.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 103,000 last month as construction and retail sectors shed jobs, the Labor Department said on Friday. That was the smallest amount since September and followed a 326,000 surge in February. (Reuters)

18:19 Startups raised 80% more funds in January-March quarter as against a year ago

The first quarter of the calendar year remained bullish for the startup ecosystem with the sector raising over USD 1.8 billion funding. This is a whopping 80 percent growth as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year when the sector raised USD 982 million, according to Tracxn data exclusively shared with Moneycontrol.

This excludes debt and grants given to the startups and here Tracxn has taken into account all the deals upwards of USD 5 million.

The development was led by big-ticket funding raised by companies such as BigBasket, Zomato and Swiggy.

18:16 Lookout notice issued against Chanda Kochhar, reports India Today

Lookout notices have been issued against ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Venugopal Dhoot, India Today reports.

18:05 Bank of Baroda raises benchmark lending rate by 0.1%

A day after RBI opted for status quo in its monetary policy, state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) hiked benchmark lending rate by 0.1 percent or 10 basis points, making loans expensive.

The bank has raised marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 0.1 percent to 8.40 percent for 1-year tenure, BoB said in a statement.

Similar cut has been made effective in other tenures, it said.

The revised MCLR benchmarks are effective April 7, it added.

18:03 Honda Grazia crosses one lakh unit sales mark

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) today said its 125cc scooter Grazia has crossed one lakh unit sales mark in less than five months of launch.

The company had launched the model on November 8 last year with price starting from Rs 58,133 (ex-showroom, Delhi). (PTI)

17:41 Congress to hold a protest fast of its own on April 9

In a counter-offensive, the Congress today said its workers would hold a day-long fast at all state and district headquarters on April 9 to expose the BJP's "lies" on various issues, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a fast by BJP MPs on April 12 to protest the impasse in Parliament for which he blamed the opposition party.

Hitting back at the BJP, the Congress said it was the government which was responsible for not letting Parliament function and termed as a "gimmick" and "drama" the move by NDA MPs to forgo their salary for 23 days when Parliament did not function. (PTI)

17:30 Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website: Nirmala Sitharaman

The website shall be restored shortly, the Defence Minister said. (ANI)

17:25 SEBI to take action against 14,720 entities for 'non-genuine trades'

SEBI will take action in a phased manner against 14,720 entities for "non-genuine trades" through illiquid stock option segment as it clamps down on fraudulent activities in the securities market.

Adjudication proceedings have been initiated against 567 entities involved in such trades in the first phase, according to a SEBI order dated April 5.

The markets regulator came across violations by 14,720 entities while it was probing 59 entities in a case related to alleged trading irregularities in stock options segment of the BSE. (PTI)

17:20 Facebook says up to 2.7 million EU users affected by leak

The European Union says that Facebook has told it that up to 2.7 million people in the 28-nation bloc may have been victim of improper data sharing involving political data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica.

EU spokesman Christian Wigand said today that EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova will have a telephone call with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg early next week to address the massive data leaks. (PTI)

16:47 Ministry of Defence website hacked, Chinese characters appear on the website homepage: CNN-News18

Image: ANI

16:47 CBI questioning RBI's former Deputy Governor in PNB fraud case

The Central Bureau of Investigation is questioning HR Khan, the former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case. This is for the first time that the CBI is examining a top RBI official. Khan was in-charge of micro-economic policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) from 2011-16.

A source told Moneycontrol, "We have called former RBI deputy governor HR Khan who was in charge of regulation, micro-economic policy and Foreign Exchange Management Act from 2011-16 for questioning." Another source said that this is in continuation of Thursdays probe where three chief general managers and a general manager were called in for questioning.

An RBI official told Moneycontrol that Khan had been called for explaining the policies and regulatory guidelines about the technical aspects relating to the PNB case.

The Budget session of Parliament, which ended today, was the least productive since the year 2000, a legislative research body PRS Legislative Research said. According to data provided by Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar, the productivity of the Lok Sabha was 134%, and that of the Rajya Sabha around 96% during the brief Part I of session. The Part I of the session had seven LS and eight RS sittings. But Part II of the session which began from March 5 saw productivity taking a nose dive due to daily disruptions and adjournments. The productivity of the LS was 4% and that of the RS 8%, the minister said.

16:26 NCLAT

RCom

Anil Ambani-led telecom firm Reliance Communications (RCom) said the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has passed an interim order to allow the company to execute its Rs 25,000-crore asset monetisation programme, reports PTI.

NBFC

From branded underwear to passenger cars, consumer goods are Indias best stock market bets. And theyre ones you can make money in even when the shares arent cheap. Thats the view of Axis Mutual Fund in Mumbai, whose long-term equity portfolio holds 26% in consumer discretionary and staples companies, together the second largest holding after financials.

If you want to play India, you need to invest in stories that are directly linked to consumer spending in some form, Jinesh Gopani, who as head of equities at Axis Asset Management Co helps oversees about $5.1 billion, said in an interview to Bloomberg. In that parlance, even retail-focused banks and select non-bank finance companies are a part of the consumer sector for us.

The competing tariff proposals announced by the US and China will weigh on investor sentiment, and such tit for tat measures could lead to more financial market volatility in the coming months, global ratings agencies said. S&P Global Ratings said a greater threat is the dispute expanding beyond tariffs on goods. Moody's Investors Service said the rising uncertainty and political risk accompanying these tit for tat measures will likely have economic and financial impact beyond that which is transmitted through direct trade channels.

16:01 Dabur

FMCG major Dabur India said it has completed acquisition of two South Africa-based companies - D&A Cosmetics Proprietary and Atlanta Body & Health Products Proprietary - through its subsidiary. The company had last year announced that it will acquire the two personal care products companies in South Africa for a total cash consideration of about Rs 25 crore.

The market ended Fridays rangebound session on a flat note amid a trade stand-off between US and China. The broader markets outperformed front-liners, with the Nifty Midcap index rising half a percent. The Lupin counter is the biggest gainer, rising 3% after receiving an establishment inspection report for Pithampur Unit-I from the US drug regulator.

UBS Financial Services Managing Director Art Cashin said this year's market volatility reminds him of the 1987 stock market crash, reports CNBC. Cashin, now one of six executive floor governors at the New York Stock Exchange, was referring to the volatile market that began on October 19, 1987, in Asia before spreading to Europe and then the United States later in the day.

A trade war between the US and China represents the greatest threat to the world economy, Jacob Frenkel, the Chairman of JP Morgan Chase International, told CNBC.

Guggenheim Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd sees a tough road ahead for the US market and economy, with a sharp recession and a 40% decline in stocks looming reports CNBC. He warned clients that the market is on a collision course with disaster, expects the worst of the damage to start in late 2019 and into 2020. Minerd expects the Fed to intervene to stem the crisis, but says that will only make matter worse.

15:09 HRD

CBSE

The Human Resource Development Ministry has warned students and parents against fake leak mafias, saying a purportedly leaked political science paper is doing rounds on social media, reports PTI.

BJP

Several trains arrived late in Mumbai after BJP workers, being ferried in special services for the party's 38th Foundation Day rally at BKC, insisted on unscheduled halts enroute, Western Railway officials told PTI.

Facebook has asked several major US hospitals to share anonymised data about their patients, such as illnesses and prescription info, for a proposed research project, reports CNBC. Facebook was intending to match it up with user data it had collected, and help the hospitals figure out which patients might need special care or treatment. The proposal never went past the planning phases and has been put on pause after the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal raised public concerns over how Facebook and others collect and use detailed information about Facebook users.

State refiners plan to almost double oil imports from Iran in FY19, drawn by incentives offered by Tehran, sources told Reuters. Tehran recently deepened freight discount to firms in India, its second-biggest oil client after China, in return for higher volumes. In FY19, Indian Oil Corporation, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum plan to import 396,000 barrels per day (bpd) Iranian oil, sources added.

Vadra

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by Sky Light Hospitality - a hospitality firm linked to Robert Vadra - challenging an Income Tax Department notice to it for re-assessment of its profits from land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan for 2010-11.

Gox

Mark Karpeles, the former chief executive officer of the once-largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt Gox, said he no longer is a Bitcoin believer, and sounded pessimistic about cryptocurrencies in general, reports Bloomberg. The technology is definitely here to stay, but Bitcoin may have trouble evolving and keeping up, Mark Karpeles said in a chat on the online message board Reddit.

ICICI

Rajiv

Kochhar

The Central Bureau of Investigation questioned Rajiv Kochhar, ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar's brother-in-law, for the second day in connection with the bank's Rs 3,250 crore loan to Videocon Group in 2012, reports PTI.

14:21 Lok

Sabha

The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die with the House unable to take up notices for no-confidence motion against the government and bringing to close a tumultuous Budget session that witnessed repeated disruptions.

14:20 Rajya

Sabha

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die, bringing to an end the Budget session that was marked by continuous disruptions that saw 120 working hours being wasted.

14:06 Lok

Sabha

Disruptions led to loss of more than 127 hours of the Budget session in the Lok Sabha with just about 0.58% of starred questions answered during 29 sittings before the House adjourned sine die today. Protests by members from various parties on diverse issues marred proceedings almost every day during the two-phase Budget session. The second leg of the session, that started on March 5, had 22 sittings that were mostly disrupted.

Bajaj

Bajaj Auto, Indias fourth largest two-wheeler maker, has discontinued at least five bikes, including four models from the Pulsar brand, as rivals mount pressure on the Pune-based company, reports Moneycontrol News Swaraj Baggonkar. The company's market share has also seen a sharp decline in recent times.

German industrial output fell by the most in more than two years in February and the sector is losing momentum, the Economy Ministry said, as factories in Europes largest economy throttle back in the face of the rising threat of protectionism. Output fell by 1.6% after rising by a revised 0.1% in January, reports Reuters.

12:45 PNB

Mehul

Choksi's

The Delhi High Court sought the Enforcement Directorate's response on a plea by diamantaire Mehul Choksi's firm Gitanjali Gems in a money laundering case in connection with the over Rs 13,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud case, reports PTI.

12:40 BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of divisive politics and announced that BJP MPs will observe a fast on April 12 to protest the impasse in Parliament, for which he blamed the Congress.

12:36 BJP

On the BJP's 38th Foundation Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi credited party workers for taking the organisation to new heights, reports PTI. The BJP is the party of a New India and his party "believes in India's diversity, its unique culture and the strengths of 125 crore Indians", he said.

12:35 Lupin

EIR

USFDA

Pithampur

Drug firm Lupin said it has received an Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US health regulator for its Pithampur, Unit 1 manufacturing facility in Madhya Pradesh.

Indias domestic air passenger demand surged 22.9% in February, more than two-fold of the global average, propelled by the launch of new flights and routes by the local airlines during the period, reports PTI. February was also the 42nd month of double-digit YoY growth on a trot, with a record more than 90% occupancy on aircraft operated by the domestic airlines, airlines global body, IATA said.

329m

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said it has acquired Royal Dutch Shell's 17% stake in the Makhaizna oilfield in Oman for $329 million. Mukhaizna oilfield is the single largest producing individual oilfield in Oman, contributing about 13% of total Omani crude oil production of 120,000 barrels per day.

Lal

Pathlabs

Dr Lal Pathlabs, the countrys largest diagnostic chain, said it is actively scouting for acquisitions as it plans to expand outside its stronghold of North India, reports Moneycontrol News Viswanath Pilla. The company is sitting on a cash pile of Rs 500 crore and since its growth is plateauing, investors want it to move beyond the North. It is looking at buyouts in West and South India where it is marginal player.

rangebound

pharma

The market continues to consolidate as investors after digesting the Reserve Banks policy await corporate earnings that will start from next week. Pharma stocks outperformed, with the Nifty Pharma index rising a percent led by Lupin stock that has gained 4% after receiving an establishment inspection report for Pithampur unit from the US drug regulator.

Some 1.5 billion sensitive online files, from pay stubs to medical scans to patent applications, are visible on the open internet, reports PTI. Researchers from the cybersecurity firm Digital Shadows said a scanning tool used in the first three months of 2018 found mountains of private data online from people and companies across the world. The unprotected data amounted to some 12 petabytes, or four thousand times larger than the Panama Papers document trove which exposed potential corruption in dozens of countries.

11:24 Salman

Actor Salman Khan's bail appeal has been reserved for 10:30 am on Saturday. This means the actor will have to spend another night in jail.

11:12 Binani

Binani

Binani Industries said it has filed application for termination of insolvency resolution process of its debt-ridden subsidiary Binani Cement, reports PTI.

Samsung Electronics flagged a first-quarter operating profit of 15.6 trillion won ($14.7 billion), a record for any three-month period, as it benefited from soaring demand for its memory chips for mobile devices, reports AFP. Sales for January to March are expected to reach 60 trillion won.

10:53 HCL

C3i

60m

Software services firm HCL Technologies has acquired C3i Solutions for $60 million, a move aimed at accelerating the Indian IT firm's growth in life sciences and consumer services. C3i Solutions is a wholly owned, independently operated subsidiary of Merck & Co. It provides multi-channel customer engagement services for life sciences and consumer packaged goods industries.

Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modis failure to create tens of millions of jobs for the countrys youth - a promise which helped him secure the largest mandate in three decades in 2014 - would be the biggest threat to his bid for another term in a general election due by May, 2019, reports Reuters. That seems the case in Kasba Bonli, a market town in Rajasthan state on the edge of sprawling wheat fields, which voted overwhelmingly for Modis Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at assembly elections in 2013 and the general election in 2014.

The much-touted merger of the three public sector general insurance companies - National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance - has been pushed to FY20, reports Moneycontrol News M Saraswathy. Sources said companies will function as separate entities this financial year and the merger will be implemented from the next financial year as the timeline for the process has been extended.

The market is trading mildly lower amid consolidation, with the Nifty hovering around 10,300 levels following muted Asian cues. The Sobha stock zooms 9% on strong sales growth in the March quarter as well as FY18 The trend among sectors is also mixed, with Nifty PSU Bank index falling over a percent after an alleged banking fraud was unearthed in Diamond Power Infrastructure to the tune of Rs 2,654 crore.

09:53 SFIO

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has received a complaint against Larsen & Toubro alleging thousands of crores of financial irregularities, including money laundering and tax evasion, a charge that the infrastructure giant rubbished as baseless, reports PTI. Acting on the complaint received, SFIO's Mumbai regional office has written to the head-office here stating that it is a fit case to be investigated as it will help in unearthing wrong doings of L&T group, in terms of misappropriation of money, money laundering and tax evasion"

09:40 Arvind

demerge

Kulin

Lalbhai

Arvind will demerge, and list, its apparel and engineering businesses by September, as the textile major presses the accelerator on its ambitious target to reach a topline of Rs 20,000 crore, from the present Rs 11,000 crore, in 4-5 years. The demerger, Arvinds Executive Director Kulin Lalbhai hopes, will unleash the animal spirit in these units. We believe our growth rates will move from 5-6% today, to 10-12% on our Rs 11,000-crore aggregate topline, Lalbhai said in an interview to Moneycontrol News Prince Mathews Thomas.

09:30 IndiGo

Interglobe Aviation, which operates under the IndiGo brand, said it was opting out of a race to acquire state-run Air India as the terms set by the government would not suit it, reports Reuters.

ITR

The new Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for the assessment year 2018-19 mandates salaried class assessees to provide their salary breakup and businessmen their GST number and turnover. All the seven ITRs are to be filed electronically except for some category of taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

The most basic - ITR-1 or Sahaj - is to be filled by the salaried class of taxpayers. The form this time seeks an assessees salary details in separate fields and in a breakup format such as allowances that are not exempt, value of perquisites, profit in lieu of salary and deductions claimed under section 16.

China has launched a World Trade Organisation challenge against Washington's proposal to slap $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports over Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property and technology, reports AFP.

09:11 Numetal

ArcelorMittal

Essar

The resolution professional handling the Essar Steel case informed the NCLT that Numetal and ArcelorMittal were rightly disqualified from the bidding to acquire the steel firm, even as bankers said the law permits them to invite more bids to get the best price, reports PTI.

Japans household spending suffered the biggest annual decline in nearly a year in February as inflation-adjusted wages continued to fall, suggesting the economys longest run of growth since the 1980s asset bubble has peaked, reports Reuters. Household spending fell 0.9% in February from a year earlier, government data showed.

Johnson & Johnson suffered its first trial loss in a lawsuit claiming its talc-based products including Johnsons Baby Powder contain cancer-causing asbestos, with a New Jersey jury ordering J&J and another company to pay $37 million in damages, reports Reuters. The verdict of liability in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick came as J&J fights thousands of cases claiming its talc products can also cause ovarian cancer.

08:12 BlackRock

ETFs

BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager, said it will offer new investment strategies and exchange-traded funds that exclude civilian firearms producers and retailers, following through on plans it outlined last month after a Florida high school massacre, reports Reuters.

Lipper

Investors pulled $11.6 billion from US-based equity funds during the latest week, marking the third straight week of withdrawals for those products, Lipper data showed. Taxable bond funds attracted $3.5 billion during the week ended Wednesday.

The United States is willing to negotiate with China on trade, but only if talks are serious, as previous attempts produced little progress, a senior US official told Reuters, adding that no formal negotiating sessions have been set.

100bn

President Donald Trump said he had instructed US trade officials to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against China, reports Reuters. The further tariffs were being considered in light of Chinas unfair retaliation against earlier US trade actions, which included a proposed $50 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods, Trump said in a White House statement.
Startups | Paytm | Rs 4,217 crore loss

Softbank-backed Paytm is planning to enter Indias Rs 22 trillion mutual funds industry with the launch of a new digital platform by the end of April, reported Mint.

Paytm's upcoming Android and iOS applications will offer investors mutual funds from 12 of the 15 largest asset management companies (AMCs) in the first phase, with an aim to increase the number of investors to 25 by August.

The digital wallet's entry may add one more distributor in the list of asset management firms as Paytm claims to have a customer base of more than 300 million.

The firm plans to carry out distribution through Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered Paytm Money, another unit of One97 Communications Ltd, which also owns Paytm and Paytm Payments Bank.

None of the investors would be charged, Pravin Jadhav, chief executive of Paytm Money, said in an interview.

Investments via Paytm Money will be free from any commissions or fees or any hidden charges until a certain threshold; beyond this investment limit, Paytm Money is considering options to include a very small transaction or subscription fee for its investment platform, Jadhav said.

To avoid distributor commissions embedded on higher expense ratios, Paytm is planning to sell only direct plans with lower expense ratios. Paytm aims to provide a direct plan for investors without the help of a distributor directly from an investment adviser who is registered with the SEBI.

Considering that half of Paytms transactions occur in small towns, Paytm's entry may help in the expansion of the mutual funds market beyond the top 15 towns, which has been on the rise. In 2017, only 28 percent of individual investors assets in mutual funds come from B15, or beyond the top 15, towns, as of February, according to Association of Mutual Funds of India.

Industry experts seem to hold a similar view.

As direct plans become more dominant and the role of technology goes up over time, Paytm will be able to take mutual funds to newer and newer people, Sundeep Sikka, chief executive officer of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd, told the paper.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has effectively banned any dealings in cryptocurrency via banks or e-wallets in the country stating "dealing with or providing services to any individuals or business entities dealing with or settling virtual currencies."

Many startups have emerged in the country after surge in bitcoin's popularity.

Nischal Shetty, CEO of WazirX , a Bitcoin and crytocurrency exchange said: "Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are going to define the future of financial technology and the way money operates. While the security features intact in the blockchain technology have been acknowledged by the Finance Minister himself, the latest mandate by the Reserve Bank of India, discouraging Indians from dealing in cryptocurrencies, is quite disheartening. More so, since in the recent past, the RBI had seemed to be favourably predisposed towards supporting new, innovative and tech-driven processes.

"While India continues to debate and hold back the mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies, our global counterparts in the USA, Japan, South Korea etc are moving forward and regulating cryptos. By supporting blockchain and cryptocurrency, RBI could have given Indians an opportunity to be at the forefront of a global phenomenon, act ahead of time and be future-secured with our own set of digital assets."

The central bank said in its statement that virtual currencies (VCs), also variously referred to as cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity, and money laundering, among others.

"The RBI statement will negatively impact startups, because no matter how great an idea they have, investors will be wary of putting money into a crypto-venture given their uncertain future in uncertain regulatory environments," said Nehaa Chaudhari, Public Policy Lead, TRA, a technology policy and law firm.

After these RBI guidelines, Shetty added that this will exclude India from global crypto revolution. There will be massive wealth erosion of all the tax paying people who have invested in cryptocurrencies.

"Gullible investors will now try to buy cryptos through cash and other OTC means where they would have no buyer protection and end up falling for scams. This will also make illegal trades almost impossible to track," said Shetty.

Atulya Bhatt, Co-founder of BuyUcoin, a multi cryptocurrency wallet and exchange, said: "There will be a parallel economy and in few months people will find unregulated ways of cashing out. Some investors are in utter shock because the government has given only three months to handle the transactions. "

As for startups, he said, "It disturbed the whole structure of crypto exchanges. We have plans and we are discussing it. But banning it is an unfair step."

"The alternate way for the cryptocurrency exchange will be to do crypto to crypto trading," said Bhatt.

Ravi Kikan, COO, Panaesha Capital, said: "If you look at the complete circular it first talks about RBI exploring the desirability and feasibility of introducing its own crypto currency (a fiat-digital one). In fact, it has set up a panel to review the proposal and come up with suggestions by June.

"The RBI is more concerned about the other side of negatives like speculative trading, Consumer protection, Ponzi Schemes, Money laundering and terror financing that can pop up through this un regulated market, which I think is a very fair stand to safeguard the public at large. In the long run keeping the above in light the digital currencies which have a certain usefulness towards their utility/usage will be the ones that will have a shot at the silverline and more prone to acceptability."

In its budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley clarified in his budget speech that it is not a legal tender and the government will discourage its use. However, he had mentioned that the government will look at the utilisation of blockchain.

(Neha Alawadhi also contributed to this report)
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Angel Broking maintains a buy rating on Music Broadcast with a target price of Rs475. Radio Industry is protected by licenses for 15 years, thereby restricting the entry of new players. This would support the existing companies to strengthen their position and maintain a healthy growth rate.

MBL outperformed its closest peer with 18.4 percent CAGR in revenue over FY2013-17 (ENIL reported 13.2 percent CAGR in revenue). Capex for 39 licenses have been done for the next 15 years, hence no heavy incremental Capex requirement would emerge.

Moreover, the maintenance Capex would be as low as Rs5-10 crore. This would leave sufficient cash flow to distribute as a dividend.

The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Fortis Healthcare share price gained more than 5 percent intraday Friday after the Delhi Court asked company to respond on Daiichi's plea to stall restructuring process.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked Fortis Healthcare Ltd, which is going through the process of restructuring, to give its response on Japanese pharma major Daiichi Sankyo's plea to maintain status quo of the assets of the hospital chain.

Justice Jayant Nath made Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) a party in the fresh application of Daiichi after the FHL counsel said it was not a party to the Rs 3,500 crore execution suit filed by the Japanese firm against the former promoters of India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd -- Malvinder and Shivinder Singh.

The court was hearing Daiichi's plea to stall the restructuring process until it was paid the Rs 3,500 crore arbitration award by Fortis' erstwhile promoters, the Singh brothers. The court listed the matter for further hearing on April 25.

The court also asked RHC Holding Pvt Ltd and Oscar Investments Ltd, companies controlled by the Singhs, to explain how they had arrived at the realisable value of shares in March 14, 2017 order.

It also asked the two companies to disclose their unencumbered shareholding in FHL through Fortis Healthcare Holdings Pvt Ltd (FHHPL), as on March 6 last year and April 5. RHC and Oscar hold shares in Fortis through FHHPL.

In its application, Daiichi, represented by senior advocate Arvind Nigam, has sought a direction to the Singhs and their companies to fulfil the undertaking given to the court in June last year, before initiating any scheme of restructuring or transaction involving FHL.

During the hearing, senior advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for FHL, argued that the company was not a party in the suit and no order can be passed against it. He said that the restructuring process would not be concluded any time soon and take some time as FHL would require several regulatory approvals.

He said that earlier FHHPL had 52 percent shares in FHL but today the holding company owned only 0.67 percent shares in Fortis Healthcare and 99 percent of FHL is owned by banks and other shareholders.

The high court on January 31 had upheld the international arbitral award passed in the favour of Daiichi and paved the way for enforcement of the 2016 tribunal award against the brothers, who had sold their shares in Ranbaxy to Daiichi in 2008 for Rs 9,576.1 crore. Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd had later acquired the company from Daiichi.

Daiichi had moved the high court seeking direction to the brothers to take steps towards paying its Rs 3,500 crore arbitration award, including depositing the amount. It had also urged the court to attach their assets, which may be used to recover the award.

At 12:10 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 144.40, up Rs 6.90, or 5.02 percent on the BSE.

(With inputs from PTI)
IRB Infrastructure Developers | In 2020 so far, the share price has moved up 76 percent to Rs 131.20. It's trailing twelve months (TTM) P/E was 6.40 multiple while 5-year average P/E was 8.30 multiple.

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Share price of Kridhan Infra rose 5 percent in the early trade on Friday as company won order worth Rs 1,340 million in Singapore.

The company's subsidiary KH Foges Pte has been awarded a new piling contract, in Singapore, worth Rs 1,340 million (SGD 27 mn).

The contract period for the project is approximately 4 months.

At 09:48 hrs Kridhan Infra was quoting at Rs 120.25, up Rs 3.55, or 3.04 percent on the BSE.

The share touched its 52-week high Rs 142 and 52-week low Rs 52.45 on 05 January, 2018 and 08 May, 2017, respectively.

Currently, it is trading 15.32 percent below its 52-week high and 129.27 percent above its 52-week low

Posted by Rakesh Patil
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In his first press conference after the recent scams and controversies in the banking sector, Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel parried questions on lapses in private sector banks.

When asked for his views on the recent lapses in private banks, which followed shortly after his public remarks on RBIs lack of powers to regulate public sector banks, Patel said, Those are two different issues and they are not related.

What was said in the speech and the debate around it relates to the legal powers that RBI has which seem to be asymmetric between public sector banks and private sector banks and therefore that has got nothing to do with our supervisory and regulatory action on any bank concerned, he said.

The question was in reference to reports accusing ICICI Bank's leadership of grave governance lapses in loans given to the Videocon Group. A whistle-blowers letter to the Prime Ministers Office flagged the loan by Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot to a firm controlled by Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar.

Separately, a report also said that RBI had asked Axis Bank's board to reconsider appointing Shikha Sharma as the banks CEO and MD for a fourth term, amid the bank's poor performance.

Patel has spoken out only once ever since the Rs 13,000 crore-plus fraud at Punjab National Bank fraud came to light on February 14, less than a week after the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy for the previous financial year.

Last month, the CBI filed a case against a Chennai-based jeweller, Kanishk Gold, for defrauding a consortium of 14 banks led by the State Bank of India, of Rs 824.15 crore.

A couple of days later, the agency filed a case against Hyderabad-based Totem Infrastructure for allegedly defrauding a consortium of eight banks led by Union Bank of India (UBI) of Rs 1,394 crore.

While the policy rate decision remained a non-event as expected, with repo rate being kept unchanged at six percent, many questions still remain unanswered in the wake of rising concerns on the governance of both private and public sector banks.

In a recent address at a Gujarat University, Patel had lamented the lack of regulatory powers to take action against erring public sector banks.

In his speech, available on RBI's website, Patel had pitched for making bank regulation ownership-neutral, saying the regulator had very limited authority over state-run banks since it did not have the power to replace the boards of these banks or force a merger.

The governor had argued that the RBI could not even revoke the licence of a public sector bank for any activity undertaken, which was not the case when it came to private sector banks.

Elaborating Patel's point at the post-policy press conference, Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan said: "This requires amendment to the BR (Banking Regulations) Act. The Governor has said the non-neutrality of RBI's powers comes from the provisions of the BR Act. That needs to be changed. The Governor has made the bank's position on this very clear."

Concluding his comments on the question, Patel said, Therefore that has got nothing to do with our supervisory and regulatory action on any bank concerned.

Investigations in the ICICI bank-Videocon case by various government agencies are currently underway even as the RBI's audit and supervision processes are being reviewed.
Unocoin | One of the leading exchanges in India, Unocoin serves a customer base of over a million. It is a member of NASSCOM and has featured among the top 20 out of 350 companies in The FinTech 20: India list. Users are also given a chance to earn free bitcoin by referring the exchange to friends and family.

The director of an online multi-level marketing company and his brother have been arrested from Delhi today in connection with an alleged multi-crore bitcoin ponzi scheme, a senior Pune police officer said.

Amit Bhardwaj, the director of Gainbitcoin, and his brother Vivek Kumar Bhardwaj were arrested a day after the Pune Police picked up seven people in connection with the alleged scam.

"Acting on inputs, a team of the economic offences wing (EOW) and the cyber cell of the Pune Police went to Delhi and arrested the duo," the officer said.

The Bhardwaj brothers, both residents of Delhi, were brought to Pune and were produced before a court, which remanded them in police custody till April 13.

According to the local police, Amit Bhardwaj had set up an online multi-level marketing company through which he allegedly lured investors by promising them handsome returns.

The officer said, "He would promise 10 per cent returns for investing one bitcoin but did not keep his word."

Explaining the modus operandi of the Bhardwaj brothers, Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla said, "(Amit) Bharadwaj had involved Pankaj Adlakha, a motivational speaker, who conducted several seminars in various cities of the country as well as foreign destinations like Dubai".

"Adlakha motivated people to invest in bitcoins through Bhardwaj and once they invested with his company, he duped them," the police commissioner said.

According to officials of Pune Police's cyber cell, so far, 25 people have come forward with complaints of cheating against Amit Bhardwaj.

"So far, the amount of cheated stands at Rs 2.25 crore. Till now, 32 bitcoins, 79.99 other virtual currencies and a cash of Rs 38.96 lakh have been seized," said a senior police officer.

Pune police have set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case.

Bitcoins or cryptocurrencies is a type of unregulated digital money that is issued and normally controlled by its developers and used and accepted among the members of a virtual community. Bitcoins are not a legal tender in the country and are not recognised as a medium of exchange.
Five charged over party drugs in 2016 rave party

posted April 06, 2018 at 10:25 pm by Manila Standard April 06, 2018 at 10:25 pm

Two years after a rave party incident that resulted in the deaths of five people, authorities threw the book against five suspects who were found guilty of illegal drug possession during the event. The suspects were linked to the deaths of the victims in the event dubbed as Forever Summer and hosted by a popular toothpaste brand, who were found to have overdosed on party drugs. Two of the five suspectsMarc David Deen and Seergeoh Villanueva, were sentenced to life imprisonment and fined P5 million each. The three others, identified as Erica Valbuena, Thomas Halili and Martin Dimacili, were sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined P500,000 each.The five were arrested days after the event at a suspected party drug laboratory in Paranaque City in 2016. Also charged were executives of toothpaste brand Closeup and its parent company, Unilever Philippines, for criminal negligence over the deaths, while the event and security organizers of the concert were also charged.

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publications right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.
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The trajectory of the India-US defence ties in the fighter jet segment depends on New Delhi's decision on the F-16 and F-18 warplanes being offered by the US, a top Defence Department official has said.

A positive decision by India could be a precursor to advanced fighter technology  the fifth generation, Joe Felter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for South and Southeast Asia said yesterday, adding that the Trump administration would like a closer co-operation with India on fighter jets.

"So, starting down the path of fighter cooperation beginning with the (F-16) Block 70 or F-18, I think would be a great signal that the India (is) serious about the level of cooperation that we think would be in India's interest and could potentially, if we stay on this trajectory, lead to even closer cooperation, and even more advanced technology being offered," Felter told PTI in an exclusive interview.

"I think it would be a natural progression to discuss at a later date sharing even more advanced fighter technology (maybe even fifth generation fighters)," he said.

The US is also considering New Delhi's interest in armed drones for its air force, the official said, noting that neither have they received any offer nor have they made any decision on this count.

"It would be natural for India to want them. We would have to consider this request but it hasn't been offered on our side yet. We are aware of their interest and we are considering that. But we haven't made any decisions," he said.

Last year, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, Trump had agreed to sell unarmed drones to India so as to enhance India's surveillance capabilities in the Indian Ocean.

Asked about the fifth generation F-35 fighter jets, the official said there was no move from either side as was being reported in the media.

The F-18 deal, however, was very much on the table, the official said.

"Our F-18, is the twin-engine fighter that India may consider for future purchases. It serves the US very well and has a cutting-edge technology," Felter said, adding that India adopting the F-18 would be one potential example of India-US closer cooperation in naval aviation.

"There would be better interoperability if we're flying similar platforms. We appreciate India is going to review its options and make a choice at some point in the time of their choosing," he said.

Noting that the US has offered the Block 70 version of the F-16, he said it was a technologically very advanced fighter.

"It's superior to the platform that Israel flies for example. It is referred to as having generation 4.5 level of technology given it shares some of the same components as the F35 Joint Strike Fighter," he said.

"This is a very, very advanced a platform - it shares some of the very same components that our most advanced fifth generation fighter does for example," he said.

Furthermore, Felter said, choosing the Block 70 fighter would mean that its entire production line would move to India which was consistent with New Delhi's 'Make in India' priority.

"The fact that it will be made in India would make it possible for India potentially supply other partners in the region with this advanced fighter platform," Felter said.

But, the official said, the US has not made any other offers right now.

"We are not in a position to make any offers right now, but given the trajectory of the relationship, we think identifying opportunities for even closer cooperation on fighters to include some of our most advanced fighters maybe even fifth generation fighters is a natural discussion to have at some point down the road," Felter said.

"Adopting the Block 70 version of the F-16 would be a very positive step down that path (towards fifth generation)," he said.

Responding to a specific question on the sale of F-35 to India, he said the US has made no such offer as of now.

"I have read that in the press. We have not made any offer, nor has it been formally requested. I think it's aspirational," he said.
New Delhi: A view of Parliament in New Delhi on Sunday, a day ahead of the monsoon session. PTI Photo by Kamal Singh (PTI7_16_2017_000213B)

The current washout of the Parliamentary session throws open larger questions about the role and relevance of the institution. Broadly speaking, Parliament, the highest elected institution in the country, is mandated to frame laws, keep the executive i.e. the government in check, maintain financial oversight and represent the overall interests of the citizens. As per parliamentary rules, there are a number of procedural mechanisms that equip a member to carry out each of these functions effectively.

In this article, we look at the functioning of Parliament on some of these parameters during the recently concluded Budget Session.

As the countrys foremost law-making body, Parliament must thoroughly debate and scrutinise Bills that the government pilots before passing them. Legislative business in each session is a significant aspect of the work transacted on the floor of the House. Before the beginning of the session, the government announced its legislative agenda that it intended to pursue. 32 bills for consideration and passage and additional 9 bills for introduction and passage were scheduled to be taken up.

Of these, only two were taken up. The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill was passed by Parliament and the Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill was passed by Lok Sabha. Both these bills were passed without discussion and participation of any members. Passage of bills in such a manner without adequate debate has serious implications and undermines the role of Parliament.

Looking at the data for the overall session, Lok Sabha spent 1% of its productive time on legislative business, while Rajya Sabha spent 6%. This was the lowest time spent on legislative business for both Houses in the 16th Lok Sabha (from 2014- till now)

The other aspect of parliamentary functioning is its role of exercising financial oversight. The Budget session is especially significant in this regard. The Finance Minister presents the Budget in the Parliament, and it is passed after detailed deliberation and scrutiny.

Parliament carries out this duty broadly in two ways. First, scrutiny of detailed ministry allocations (Demands for Grants) in departmentally related standing committees during the intersession period, and second, debate and discussion on the floor of the House. Ideally, both these aspects of deliberation are critical for Parliament to perform its function fully.

This year, the Finance Minister presented a 24 lakh crore Budget on February 1. While Standing Committees studied each ministrys allocation, the Budget was passed without any debate on the floor of the House. Least amount of time was spent by both Houses on debating the Budget since 2000.

In Lok Sabha general discussion on the Union Budget took place during the first half of the session for 15 hours. However, the since 2000, on an average, Lok Sabha has spent 53 hours discussing the Union Budget.

Further, the Finance Bill was passed in Lok Sabha in 20 minutes, without any MP participation. Typically, the Finance Bill is extensively deliberated in Lok Sabha. Last year, 10 hours and 29 minutes was spent on discussing the Bill itself.

Another function of Parliament is to fix accountability of the government. One such instrument available to members is the Question Hour. During Question Hour, members from both the opposition and treasury ask ministers tough questions about different aspects of their ministrys work.

Unfortunately, this session witnessed the poorest performance of Question Hour in Lok Sabha since 2014. Question Hour in Lok Sabha functioned for 12% of its scheduled time and for 4% in Rajya Sabha.

Finally, as the highest deliberative body, Parliament is mandated with discussing key issues of national importance and represent the interest of the voters. Various debates and interventions allow members to participate in such discussions.

This session saw the Lowest number of discussions on matters of public importance, since 2014. The issue of irregularities in the banking sector was listed for discussion in both house but could not be taken up due to continuous disruption. Members across political parties wanted to raise issues related special status for Andhra Pradesh, constitution of Cauvery Management Board, atrocities towards SC/STs, among others.

As data suggests across these parameters, Parliaments role in all four aspects witnessed a decline in this Budget Session. Political vagaries often tend to affect the working of Parliament, especially in times running up elections. However, it is now time to deliberate over how the institution can be strengthened and remain insulated from such electoral compulsions. This would also ensure that sessions such as this one are an anomaly and not a norm.

(The author is Program Officer at PRS Legislative Research.)
India's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav speaks during a meeting with his party workers in the eastern Indian city of Patna June 20, 2009. REUTERS/Krishna Murari Kishan (INDIA POLITICS) - RTR24UMC

RJD national president Lalu Prasad has attacked the Narendra Modi government, alleging that there was a state of "undeclared emergency" in India and the weaker sections of society were going through a bad phase.

In a message read out to his colleagues at a RJD legislature party meeting in Patna, Prasad - who is serving sentences in several fodder scam cases - said "the weaker sections of the society are looking at Rashtriya Janata Dal with hope".

The former Bihar chief minister is currently admitted to AIIMS in New Delhi for specialised treatment. He was referred to AIIMS by the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science, Ranchi.

He said "not just the downtrodden sections of the society, but many political parties too are pinning their hopes on the RJD in the ongoing fight against communal and Manuvadi forces".

"Laws meant to protect weaker sections of the society are being diluted or scrapped... A sustained propaganda is on against Dalits, backwards and minorities. The government at the Centre is encouraging forces which believe in dividing the society and winning elections by polarisation," he alleged.

"This state of undeclared emergency is even more dangerous than the Emergency, because today people are talking about changing the Constitution openly," Prasad alleged.

Prasad urged his party members to celebrate B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary on April 14 by visiting homes of people from the "lowest sections" of society.

The RJD legislature party meeting was held at the residence of opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav. It was chaired by the party national vice-president Rabri Devi.
13:01 That brings us to the end of the Budget Session of the Parliament. That's all from our side. Thanks for staying tuned.

11:19 The proceedings of the Lok Sabha have ended for the Budget Session. The House will meet in the Monsoon Session, dates for which will be announced later.

Some MPs who were in the Well of the House continued protesting even

as the Speaker took up formalities of the House while ending the session. The no-confidence motion was not taken up today.

11:16 Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has adjourned the House sine die.

11:14 The House has risen for the Vande Mataram, according to the tradition.

11:13 The Speaker has listed down the work done by the Lok Sabha so far in the session. This includes presentation of the Union Budget and passing of the Finance Bill.

Speaker Mahajan has said that crucial bills such as the Finance Bill, Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment Bill) and Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2017.

11:05 Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has requested protesting MPs to return to their seats as she needs to complete certain procedures. Today is the last day of the Budget Session.

11:04 The Lok Sabha has convened. The ruckus has continued.

10:52 Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs are protesting in the Parliament premises demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh while Congress MPs from Punjab are protesting, seeking farm loan waiver.

10:48 According to news agency ANI, YSR Congress MP PV Midhun Reddy has submitted his resignation from the Lok Sabha, to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

10:15 The Lok Sabha will convene for the final time today in the Budget Session. The Opposition is expected to move a motion of no-confidence today.

At the same time, as many as 5 MPs of the YSR Congress will step down from their positions. The YS Jaganmohan Reddy-led party had earlier said that their MPs would resign if special status is not granted in this session of the Parliament.

14:00 The Lok Sabha will convene for the final time in the Budget Session tomorrow at 11 am. That's all from our side. Thanks for staying tuned.

12:17 Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 11 am tomorrow after uproar by AIADMK MPs over the Cauvery issue.

11:58 The Lok Sabha will convene is a short while. Remember, today is the penultimate day of the Budget Session of the Parliament.

11:07 The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till noon.

10:48 The Lok Sabha is set to convene at 11 am today. Yesterday, the House was adjourned following ruckus by AIADMK MPs over the Cauvery Management Board issue.

14:13 The Lok Sabha will convene tomorrow at 11 am. That's all from our side. Thanks for staying tuned.

12:24 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu has met J&K National Conferences Farooq Abdullah, Congress Jyotiraditya Scindia and Nationalist Congress Partys Sharad Pawar.

12:17 Lok Sabha has been adjourned by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan till 11 am tomorrow.

12:16 Some MPs raised 'we want justice' slogans even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh was making a statement on incidents of violence during the 'Bharat Bandh' protests yesterday.

11:05 Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 12 noon after some MPs raised 'we want justice' slogans, immediately after the House convened.

10:36 The Lok Sabha will convene at 11 am today. Yesterday, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had adjourned the House after ruckus from protesting AIADMK MPs. The AIADMK MPs were demanding setting-up of the Cauvery Management Board.

10:14 Good morning! This live blog will track the developments from the Lok Sabha, where some Opposition parties including the TDP and YSR Congress are likely to move the motion of no-confidence today.

14:09 The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 11 am tomorrow, amid continued ruckus. That's all from our side. Thanks for staying tuned.

12:15 Amid chaos, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has adjourned the Lok Sabha till Tuesday, April 3 at 11 am.

12:12 Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar has said that the government is ready for the no-confidence motion and has blamed the Opposition for the logjam.

12:09 Around 10-11 Members of the Parliament (MPs) across various Opposition parties have moved the motion of no-confidence.

12:07 The AIADMK MPs have continued their protest in the Well of the House. They are demanding setting-up of the Cauvery Management Board.

12:04 The Lok Sabha has convened. AIADMK MPs have continued to protest in the Well of the House. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is encouraging the day's list of business to go on in spite of the ruckus.

11:08 The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 12 pm, minutes after convening. AIADMK MPs were protesting demanding formation of the Cauvery Management Board.

10:22 Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)s MP JP Yadav and Congress MP Sushmita Dev have given adjournment motion notices in Lok Sabha over the CBSE paper leak issue, according to reports.

09:16 The Lok Sabha is expected to convene at 11 am.

09:14 AIADMK to consider moving trust vote against NDA, only if Congress supports

In a significant shift, the AIADMK has agreed to consider moving a no-trust motion in the Lok Sabha against the NDA government if Congress supported it.

AIADMK has put the political onus on its rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on the Cauvery issue.

Party leader M Thambidurai said, "Stalin says AIADMK should bring a no-trust motion (on Cauvery issue). We are ready to bring it."

In the same breath, Thambidurai, who is also the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker said Congress support was needed to facilitate such an initiative.

"Let Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi issue a statement (indicating support), they (DMK) are in alliance with them (Congress)... only if they (Congress) support, we will get the (requisite) numbers," he said. (With PTI inputs)

09:08 Last week, the TRS agreed to no protest and support the no-confidence motion being brought-in by TDP. AIADMK however continued to protest over the Cauvery Management Board issue.

09:08 The Speaker of the House, Sumitra Mahajan, needs a head-count of at least 50 Members of Parliament (MPs) to initiate the trust vote against NDA.

However, the Speaker was unable to bring in the motion even as she said she was duty-bound to do so, as MPs from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) were protesting in the Well of the House.

09:07 For around two weeks, Andhra Pradesh-based Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress have been hoping to bring the motion of no-confidence against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Last week, other Opposition parties such as the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also tried to bring in their own no-confidence motion against the government.
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.
New Delhi: A view of Parliament in New Delhi on Sunday, a day ahead of the monsoon session. PTI Photo by Kamal Singh (PTI7_16_2017_000213B)

The brown Gandhi statue, an unmissable attraction inside Parliament complex in New Delhi, is often a site of protest by opposition lawmakers, but it was ministers and ruling alliance MPs who were protesting there today.

Protesting near the statue of the meditating Mahatma, the ministers blamed the Congress for disrupting proceedings in both the houses.

A total of nearly 250 working hours were wasted before both the houses were adjourned sine die today. During the session, merely five of 19 starred questions were replied to orally by ministers in Rajya Sabha. In Lok Sabha, 17 of 580 such questions were answered in 29 sittings.

Yesterday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said 400 MPs of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would forego Rs 3.66 crore as salary. He blamed the Congress for the near washout of the second half of the Budget Session.

However, allies like RSPL and Shiv Sena did not appear to side with the BJP on foregoing the salary.

Other than Kumar, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Health Minister J P Nadda, Steel Minister Birendra Singh, and Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (MoS) in the Prime Minister's Office were among those protesting there.

Also in attendance were Shiv Pratap Shukla, MoS (Finance), S S Ahluwalia, MoS (Agriculture), Vijay Geol, MoS (Parliamentary Affairs), Manoj Sinha, MoS (Railways) were among the ministers from the Narendra Modi Cabinet to protest.

Several BJP lawmakers also gathered near the statue to support the ministers. With placards in their hands that read: "Save Democracy". The ministers took out a short march.

"The Congress did not allow to the House to function and we are upset in the manner the proceedings were disrupted," Kumar, who was leading the protest, said.

Attacking the Congress, Shukla said the Congress was doing a "drama" both inside and outside the house and it did not allow the house to function.

"They never allowed Parliament to function. We will now take this before the people," he said.

Singh said the past four weeks were unproductive and this was a "blot" on democracy.

"We were waiting for some good sense to prevail but that did not happen. This is why we were protesting," Alhuwalia said.

Interestingly, a group of Congress lawmakers - Sushmita Dev, Ranjit Ranjan, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar, Ambika Soni - also protested against the government before the Gandhi statue.

Reacting to the protest, Jakhar said, "Doing protesters is the job of the opposition but we were successful in making the government fulfil role of the opposition.
Accusing the Congress of taking parliamentary proceedings "to a new low" with its conduct, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced a fast by BJP MPs on April 12 to protest the impasse "caused" by the opposition party in Parliament, which saw a washout of the second half of the Budget Session.

Addressing BJP MPs on the party's foundation day, Modi kept the Congress in his line of fire and spelled out an exercise by party lawmakers and ministers for reaching out to villages with substantial Dalit and tribal population through implementation of his government's seven key welfare schemes.

Briefing reporters on the parliamentary party meeting, Union minister Ananth Kumar quoted the prime minister as saying that while the BJP's strength has been rising, the opposition, especially the Congress, has resorted to "divisive and negative" politics.

Modi accused the Congress of paralysing Parliament proceedings during the Budget Session, which ended today, and said it was "throttling" democracy and "abusing" people's mandate.

Sources said he also told the MPs that opposition members almost surrounded him during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address to Parliament, and such a disruption during a prime minister's speech was unprecedented. Modi had replied in both Houses during the session's first half.

He said he continued with his speech for over 90 minutes for the sake of democracy amid relentless protests by opposition MPs, according to sources.

The opposition has been left with no issues and that is why it was resorting to disrupting Parliament, he said, asking BJP MPs to expose such parties.

Parliamentary proceedings stooped to a new low due to the conduct of the Congress, he said.

All BJP MPs will observe a day long fast on April 12 to protest the opposition's conduct in Parliament, Modi said.

While the BJP has been working to unite society, the opposition wants to divide it, he said.

The BJP, he said, will observe the birth anniversary of Jyotiba Phule, a social reformer who came from a backward caste, on April 11 as 'Samta Diwas' (equality day).

He also stressed on the need for all MPs to organise events to mark the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, a Dalit icon, on April 14, asserting that it is mandatory for them to do so, sources said.

The BJP and its top brass have been underlining the party's commitment to the welfare of Dalits and works of the Modi government to highlight Ambedkar's legacy at a time when opposition parties have accused the ruling party of being anti-Dalit.

Noting that the party has announced 'Gram Swaraj Abhiyan' between April 14 and May 5, he asked BJP law-makers to ensure total implementation of seven welfare schemes of his government in villages, especially the ones with population of over a thousand, sources said.

Anath Kumar told reporters that Modi said about 20,844 villages have over 50 per cent population of scheduled castes and tribes and MPs should work to implement these schemes, including Jan Dhan and Ujjwala among others.

All MPs will spend a night in these villages while ministers will spend two nights in different parts of the country.

The party will also take out 'Sabka saath sabka vikas yatra', Kumar said.

With the BJP celebrating its 38th foundation day, Modi said it has become the largest party due to the people's blessings and tireless efforts of its workers and also paid tributes to many of its late leaders and workers.

The foundation day is dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives for the party's growth, the prime minister said.

It has risen due to its work for the nation's development. The BJP did not focus on casteism or dynasty, he said.

The BJP had been treated as an "untouchable" party by others when it was founded in 1980 but it has become strong due to people's faith in it.

"People have taken us to this level and now we have to live for them," he said.

He also asked party MPs to see a drama on Maratha king Shivaji, being performed in Delhi, and noted that he had travelled to Pune from Gujarat almost 30 years back to see it.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be touring in Bengaluru division for two days from tomorrow for campaigning ahead of the May 12 assembly polls in Karnataka.

Gandhi will tour in Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Bengaluru as part of his sixth leg of poll campaign in the state, party sources said.

The Congress president will begin his tour by visiting Kudumalai Ganesha temple at Mulabagilu and will later take part in a road show.

He is also scheduled to address corner meeting and public meeting at Kolar and Chikkaballapura respectively.

On April 8, Gandhi is scheduled to take part in an interaction with Safai Karmacharis and industrialists in Bengaluru, following which he will address a public meeting here to mark the conclusion of 'Janashirvada Yatra'.

The Congress President had earlier toured in northern and coastal districts, also in old Mysuru and central Karnataka districts.

Visits to temples, mutts, church and dargha were part of Gandhi's successive trips to the poll bound state.

Though the party has not announced any Chief Ministerial candidate, it has projected Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as its face.

Pradesh Congress president G Parameshwara had recently said that the party would announce its candidates for all the 224 assembly seats in the state in a "single phase" by April 15.
BJP National President Amit Shah likened Opposition parties to snakes, cats, dogs and mongoose who are coming together to fight the Modi 'flood' in 2019.

Shah said the Opposition is uniting in a manner similar to how animals come together during a flood. "There is a campaign that all opposition should unite. Whenever there is a massive flood, all snakes, mongooses, cats, dogs, cheetahs, lions etc climb up a huge tree, they fear the rising water levels," he said.

Shah made the comment at the BJP's 38th Foundation Day event, held at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai today. At least three lakh party workers are said to have attended the mega event.

Stepping up the tirade against Rahul Gandhi, Shah said, "Rahul baba, we have lost 2 seats, but we have defeated you in 11 states under the leadership of Narendra Modi ji".

The BJP president was referring to the two seats the BJP lost in the recent Uttar Pradesh bypolls.

The public thinks the Congress' decades of rule was inefficient, Shah said. "Rahul Gandhi, you are questioning Narendra Modi over his four and half years of rule. The people of the country are questioning you on four generations of rule," he said.

Shah also addressed the issue of farmer compensation. "The farmers of the country were tired of asking for proper price under Congress rule. The Modi government has planned to compensate farmers with 1.5 times the price of their crop," Shah said.
THE government stands to lose between P18 billion to P20 billion in revenue from the six-month closure of Boracay Island to tourists, Local Government Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III said Thursday. In a Palace briefing, Densing said the government might lose roughly P20 billion in gross receipts if the closure of the island lasts half a year. He said it was not in the interest of everybody to go the full six months in cleaning up the iconic destination, and that it was possible to open Boracay again in four months if all concerned parties participated in the government-led environmental rehabilitation efforts. In other developments:  The Philippines will struggle to meet its 7.4-million visitor target for 2018 with the closure of Boracay, ending three years of double-digit percentage gains, a Sydney-based aviation industry group said.  Boracays closure has forced the countrys three main airlines to cancel both domestic and international flights to and from Caticlan and Kalibo airports, as the island accounts for approximately 6 percent of air traffic for Cebu Pacific, 22 percent of the smaller AirAsia, and an unspecified percentage for Philippine Airlines, the same industry group noted.  Senator Nancy Binay, chairman of the Senate Committee on Tourism, said the government is still missing a detailed plan for the estimated 35,000 workers who will be affected by the closure. Malacanang also said the P2 billion mentioned by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has called the island in Aklan province a cesspool, will be a fund for Boracays displaced workers. There will be a declaration of a state of calamity [for Boracay], but the President was insistent that the funds that will be spent will go only to the workers who will be displaced. He will not let any resort owners benefit from any sort of a calamity fund, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said. Vito Barcelo, Macon Ramos-Araneta, Joel Zurbano and Darwin Amojelar Tourism Assistant Secretary Frederick Alegre, in another press briefing, called on all stakeholders to cooperate and help the government to restore Boracays pristine condition and reduce the time to rehabilitate the world-renowned island. Still, the short-term impact on tourism in the Philippines and the countrys three main airlines could be significant, the CAPA-Centre for Aviation said in a detailed analysis on its website published Wednesday. Philippines tourism authorities will need to invest heavily in marketing alternative tourist destinations, and work closely with the impacted airlines, to avoid a decline in overall visitor numbers, the Sydney-based industry group, formed in 1990, added. It noted that Boracay attracts two million visitors yearly  close to half of them foreigners -- and is the third-largest aviation market in the country after Manila and Cebu. About 15 percent of visitors to the country spend time in Boracay, which is also the most popular holiday destination for local tourists, CAPA-Centre for Aviation said. Nearly all the traffic at the Kalibo and Caticlan airports -- the sixth and seventh-largest airports in the Philippines -- consists of visitors heading to Boracay, the group added. The Boracay Foundation, citing its own data, previously said about P56 billion in revenues would be foregone with the closure, with 36,000 jobs from both the formal and informal sectors to be affected. This figure comes from the island generating about 20 percent of the countrys total tourism receipts from January to September 2017, a joint statement from the Philippine Travel Agencies Association, Tourism Congress Philippines, Philippine Tour Operators Association, and Organization of Hotel Sales and Marketing Professionals added. Christine Ibarreta, president of the Organization of Hotel Sales and Marketing Professionals, said during a press briefing in March that 11 hotels in Boracay would stand to lose P50 million each in revenues should the island be closed to tourists for one year.Corporate clients were already asking the hotel group about the closure owing to their scheduled summer conferences and they are getting mad at us, Ibarreta said last month. However, the National Economic and Development Authority said that while the shutdown will have a minimal impact on the countrys economic growth, it can have an adverse short-term impact on the local economy. Reynaldo Cancio, Neda director for national policy and planning, said in a briefing on Tuesday that a 6-month closure would only have a 0.1 percent impact on the gross domestic product growth. Even if the ban extends to up to 6 months, it would not impact the macrofundamentals, Cancio added. Meanwhile, Binay said there should be information channels to employees and employers about the impending disruptions in Boracay, along with programs for re-employment service, unemployment insurance, cash-for-work, direct job creation, and other measures to soften the blow to Boracay and its stakeholders. The goal should be to mitigate the impact brought job displacements by providing those who are working in the primary, secondary, and tertiary economic sectors a clearer plan for them before the proposed shutdown, the senator said. Is government willing to subsidize 35,000 employed in the island? she added. As for Cebu Pacific, it has canceled 31 daily commercial flights and its sister airline Cebgo in Manila, Caticlan, Kalibo, and Cebu. CEB also suspended daily commercial flight operation in Kalibo to and from Incheon beginning June 1. We expect to minimize the impact on our bottom line by redeploying capacity to other routes to between two to five percent. Our priority is to be able to help passengers who would be affected by the closure of Boracay, said CEB spokesperson Ma. Rosario Lagamon. Legacy carrier Philippine Airlines also adjusted its flight operations, as its chief information officer Ma. Cielo Villaluna said the airline will scale down its services to Caticlan and Kalibo airports for a six-month period beginning late April. PAL will expand flights to other Philippine tourist and provincial destinations during the same period to help ensure the continued growth of domestic tourism. Villaluna said PAL will operate nine weekly flights between Manila and Kalibo and seven weekly flights between Manila and Caticlan to maintain continued links to these gateways to Boracay and Aklan province. All other Caticlan and Kalibo flights from Manila will be suspended from April 20 to Oct. 27, while flights to Caticlan from Cebu and Clark will be suspended from April 26 to Oct. 27, she added. Beginning April 20, PAL will deploy additional flights on routes between Manila and Cebu, Iloilo, Puerto Princesa and Bacolod while on April 26, PAL will start increasing flights between Cebu and Busuanga (Coron), Cebu and Siargao as well as between Clark and Busuanga. As we direct our passenger market flows to these other key PAL destinations, PAL anticipates that the additional flights will help increase demand and spur economic activity for the benefit of the travel and tourism communities in various regions of the country, PAL president Jaime Bautista said.
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Bajaj Auto, Indias fourth largest two-wheeler maker, has discontinued at least five bikes, including four models from the Pulsar brand, as rivals mount pressure on the Pune-based company.

The company's market share has also seen a sharp decline in recent times.

The Pulsar 135LS became the latest to be pulled out of Bajaj showrooms, following months of dwindling demand for the mini Pulsar. The Pulsar AS150, AS200 and NS150 were pulled out a few months ago.

We stopped selling the Adventure Sport (AS) model of the Pulsar some months ago. We are now selling the Naked Sport (NS) models, said a Mumbai-based Bajaj Auto dealer. The NS150 was replaced by a slightly bigger NS160 less than a year ago.

With the recent phasing out of the Avenger 150, the company has now discontinued at least five models from its line-up in the past one year.

This restructuring of Bajaj Autos product portfolio follows a similar attempt by the company for the Discover brand, when it discontinued and then relaunched several models under the troubled brand.

Under the Discover series, Bajaj launched 100M, 100T, 110, 125 DTSi, 125T, 125ST, 125M, 135 DTSi, 150, 150 DTSi, 150F and 150S. It phased out each of these models, before bringing back the 125 and 110 models that are currently on sale.

The Discover was positioned as a better alternative to Hero Motocorps twin mileage masters Splendor and Passion. However, the Splendor remains the countrys second largest two-wheeler brand after Hondas Activa.

Market share

Several new models have made their way to the 150cc and above segment where Bajaj Auto has been the market leader with the Pulsar brand. Models from Honda, Yamaha, Hero Motocorp, Suzuki and TVS Motor Company have been launched in this segment, putting pressure on Bajajs market share.

Thus from a targeted 24 percent share in the motorcycle segment by end of the last financial year, Bajajs share in the bike segment stood at just under 16 percent in FY18, as at the end of February.

The 400cc Dominar launched by Bajaj, though not an underperformer according to the company's executives, has not seen a scale up in volumes as was expected. The Dominar was launched to take on the Royal Enfield 350cc range.

Bajaj only has a presence in the motorcycle segment, as it exited the scooters market more than a decade ago. All other bike manufacturers also have scooters in their line-up. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) is yet to announce sales figures for March, 2018.

Japanese heavyweight Honda, which posted a growth of 24 percent in volumes till February, trailed Bajaj by only 14,000 units in motorcycles and closed the month at third spot. Bajajs volumes showed a fall of 2 percent during the same period, as per SIAM data.
April 06, 2018 / 09:44 PM IST

21:44 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.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives to deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress inside the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Win McNamee/Pool - HP1EE1V06J5S3

US President Donald Trump, who often accuses the media of spreading fake news, will skip the annual White House Correspondents Dinner in second year in a row.

White House Correspondents' Association president Margaret Talev confirmed that the president does not plan to participate in the dinner on April 28.

This is for the second consecutive year that Trump has declined to attend the annual mega event of the journalists who cover the White House.

Held every year, mostly on the last Saturday of April, the White House Correspondents Dinner is considered as a signature event in the nation's capital and has been addressed by the presidents in the past.

However, unlike last year, senior administration officials, including White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, would be attending the dinner.

"The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment," Talev said.

"In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also will represent the administration at the head table. The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy." Talev said.

Trump, who frequently criticizes the national news media, often targets negative news stories about his administration or outlets that cover his presidency critically as "fake news.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives to deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress inside the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Win McNamee/Pool - HP1EE1V06J5S3

US President Donald Trump, who has sought to impose USD 150-billion worth of import tariffs on Chinese products, is taking actions to address China's "unfair trade practices", the White House said today.

Early this week, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced an initial proposed list of Chinese goods that could be subject to additional tariffs.

The Trump administration "is taking actions to address China's unfair trade practices, including the forced transfer of United States technology and theft of US intellectual property," the White House said.

Trump's trade actions are a response to years of unfair trade practices by China that have gone unaddressed.

The initial list included approximately 1,300 tariff lines valued at an estimated USD 50 billion. The list will now undergo an extensive public comment period and public hearing.

Once this process is complete, the USTR will make a final determination on the proper response.

"In order to develop the initial proposed list, the USTR worked with other agencies to identify products that unfairly benefit from China's industrial policies. There was extensive interagency analysis to ensure these tariffs maximise pressure on China to change its behaviour, while minimising the impact on the US economy," the White House said.

Instead of addressing its misconduct, China has retaliated against American farmers and manufacturers, the White House alleged.

"President Trump has therefore directed the USTR to determine if an additional USD 100 billion worth of tariffs would be appropriate under section 301. Any additional tariffs would be subject to a similar review and public comment period as the initial list," the White House said.

Noting that Trump has instructed the Secretary of Agriculture to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect American farmers and agriculture, the White House said that in addition to this week's tariff announcements, the USTR has initiated a WTO dispute against China for its unfair practices, is examining potential restrictions on Chinese investment, and is working with allies also affected by China's unfair behaviour to restore fairness to global trade.

"Year after year, China continues to distort global markets and harm US businesses and consumers with unfair trade practices," the White House alleged.

For example, China's unfair industrial policies, like 'Made in China 2025' policy initiative, clearly state China's goal of taking away domestic and international market share from foreigners. Members of all political parties, the US business community, and workers around the world are concerned about China's behaviour, it said.

The White House said Trump has made it clear that the US can no longer tolerate such behaviour and he is following through on his pledge to take actions to ensure China finally plays by the rules.

"While previous administrations let China's actions go unanswered, President Trump is standing up for American workers to ensure that American businesses are treated fairly and lawfully," the White House said.

Asserting that Trump is for free trade which must also be fair trade, the White House said that addressing unfair trade practices and ensuring that global trade is free, fair, and reciprocal will have a significant positive long-term impact on the US economy.

"The administration's responsive actions follow an extensive investigation by the USTR, which revealed how China's unfair policies and practices are harming American commerce. An inter-agency analysis concluded that these policies and practices cause at least tens of billions of dollars in damages to the US every year," it said.

The White House statement came as several US lawmakers criticised Trump for his anti-China measures, asserting that this would harm American economy and industry.

"Escalating the potential of a trade war with China is reckless and it gambles the livelihoods of US farmers and ranchers across rural America. Sixty per cent of North Dakota's exports to China are agricultural products. China's unfair trade policies need to be reined in but this isn't the way to do it," said Senator Heidi Heitkamp.

Virginia Senators  Mark Warner and Tim Kaine - raised concerns after Virginia's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed that proposed tariffs could hurt Virginia businesses and employees, as China is its biggest export market for agricultural goods.

In retaliation, China said it was considering raising tariffs on soybeans, beef and other critical agriculture commodities produced in Virginia in response to President Trump's proposed tariffs.

"President Trump should be making it easier for Virginia farmers and families to get ahead, not driving us head-first into a harmful trade war," the Senators said.
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The foreign ministers of Russia and China jointly denounced what they described today as the unilateralism of the United States, criticism that underlined their growing rapport on global issues.

Speaking in Moscow after talks with his Russian counterpart, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi strongly criticized Washington's move to hike tariffs on Chinese products.

"If the U.S. thinks that it can get advantages through protectionism, its calculus is wrong," Wang warned.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, when asked about Russia's view of the US-Chinese trade conflict, said the US action reflects the Trump administration's unilateralist approach to international concerns.

He cited as examples the US push to renegotiate a nuclear deal with Iran and the terms of an international climate agreement.

"It has nothing to do with diplomacy. It's an attempt to enforce its own interests while completely ignoring the interests of others," Lavrov said.

Russia's recently reinvigorated support for China reflects its disappointment with Washington after the Kremlin hoped for improved relations under President Donald Trump.

Trump has approved higher duties on Chinese telecoms, aerospace and other technology goods, but left time to negotiate by announcing a comment period through May 11.

Chinese regulators made a USD 50 billion list of items on which the country could increase tariffs to retaliate, including soybeans and small aircraft.

Wang warned that Washington's move would hurt the global economy and international trade, denouncing it as "typical unilateralism and an undisguised attempt at hegemony." "The international community must jointly oppose such unilateralism and violation of rules," he said.

Wang's trip to Russia follows a Moscow visit earlier this week by new Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who said it was a signal to the U.S. of increasingly close Russia-China military ties.

As part of their burgeoning military cooperation, Moscow and Beijing have conducted joint drills, including exercises in the South China Sea and joint navy maneuvers in the Baltics.

Moscow's hopes for warmed Russia-U.S. ties under Trump have withered amid the investigations of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and myriad other disputes, most recently the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain.

"We in Russia stand for direct dialogue to solve any outstanding issues," Lavrov said. "We never dodge negotiations. It's our American partners who do." He pointed to the last-minute cancellation of a meeting of Russian and American cybersecurity experts and Washington's refusal to hold a meeting on cultural issues.
Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump today ramped up his trade war rhetoric with China, seeking USD 100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese products.

This is in addition to the proposed 25 percent import tariffs worth USD 50 billion on some 1,300 Chinese products being imported into the US.

On April 3, the US Trade Representative (USTR) had announced the 25 percent tariffs on imports from China as an initial means to obtain the elimination of policies and practices identified in its investigation.

China retaliated by announcing similar import tariff on American products.

Trump said his latest decision for additional tariffs was in response to China's retaliatory action.

"Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers. In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether USD 100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Trump said in a statement here.

Accusing China of repeatedly engaging in practices to unfairly obtain America's intellectual property, Trump said the Chinese practices detailed in the investigation of the USTR had caused concern around the world.

"China's illicit trade practices? ignored for years by Washington? have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs," Trump said.

Trump has also instructed the secretary of agriculture, with the support of other members of his Cabinet, to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect American farmers and agricultural interests.

"Notwithstanding these actions, the United States is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people," Trump said.

The US president reiterated his America-first rhetoric and said he was seeking a level playing field around the world for American companies and workers.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer branded the latest presidential proposal as "an appropriate response" to China's recent threat of new tariffs.

"In the light of such evidence (of USTR investigation), the appropriate response from China should be to change its behaviour, as China's government has pledged to do many times," he said.

"Unfortunately, China has chosen to respond thus far with threats to impose unjustified tariffs on billions of dollars in US exports, including our agricultural products," he said, adding that such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses.

Under these circumstances, Lighthizer said, the president was right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the problems identified in USTR's report.

"Any additional tariffs proposed will be subject to a similar public comment process as the proposed tariffs announced on April 3, 2018. No tariffs will go into effect until the respective process is complete," Lighthizer said.

Defending his decision against China, Trump told a business roundtable in West Virginia that before him, no president wanted to take on China.

"For many years, no president wanted to go against China, economically. And we're going to do it," he said.

Trump said it was time the US did something to change the US-China business terms.

"The US can't continue to to allow this to happen, where hundreds of billions of dollars is taken out of the US; where if they make a car, they sell it here, it's 2.5 percent tax," said Trump.

"If we make a car and try and get it into China, number one, they won't take it. But if they did, it's 25 percent tax. So they pay 2.5; we pay 25. They don't even want to take it. That doesn't sound so good. But it's all like that," he said.

The US has a trade deficit of almost USD 500 billion with China.

Despite the ongoing trade war between the two countries, Trump claimed that he was on good terms with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and that the US would have a "fantastic long-term relationship" with China.

"I have great respect for the President of China, President Xi. He's a friend of mine, and I'm a friend of his. And I like him a lot. But he's representing China, and I'm representing the USA. And it was time that we did something," said Trump.

"But we have to get this straightened out. We have to have some balance. That goes for other countries and it goes for other places," he said.
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The US trade deficit widened in February for the sixth straight month, hitting a fresh nine-and-a-half-year record even though US exports were at an all-time high, official data showed today.

The broadening gap comes as President Donald Trump pursues an increasingly fraught battle with the world's largest economies to right the yawning US trade imbalance, sparking fears of a trade war.

Soaring US imports of industrial supplies and capital goods pushed the monthly US trade deficit up 1.6 percent to $57.6 billion, seasonally adjusted, the highest level since October 2008.

The February result overshot the expectations of economists, who were calling for the trade deficit to hold steady at January's level, previously the highest since October 2008.

The rising trade gap was also due to weigh heavily on growth at the start of the year because deficits subtract from calculations of GDP. Citing the underperformance on trade, IHS Market lowered its first-quarter estimate for GDP growth a tenth of a point to 1.5 percent.

A decade of steady job growth and rising incomes has driven stiff demand among consumers and industry in the world's largest economy.

The US is already on track to surpass 2017's deficit, the highest since the financial meltdown of 2008 -- testing Trump's vow to rein in the trade gap, which he sees as a job killer but economists view as a symptom of growth.

"The US continues to expand faster than most other industrialized countries, so it should not surprise anyone that the trade deficit is worsening," economist Joel Naroff said in a client note.
While the two lenders can still issue securities backed by Ginnie Mae despite the restrictions, they can only do so in custom pools where the loans are not mixed with those from other lenders. Bloomberg said prices for the bespoke securities are likely to get worse.

In a statement, NewDay USA said that it would continue to issue custom pools of Ginnie Mae MBS, and denied churning veteran loans. The company also said that in October, it offered Ginnie Mae and the Veterans Administration recommendations to help end loan churning, but that none have been implemented.

Policy changes recommended by Ginnie Mae will do virtually nothing to stop the unprincipled practice of veteran loan churning, but in all likelihood will force the elimination of much-needed benefits and financial services for tens of thousands of veterans -- especially those veterans struggling with poor credit, the company said.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Liber, chief administration officer at Nations Lending, said in a statement that the company is confident that the matter will be successfully resolved. In a statement, Lieber said the company did not have any problems during a recent examination by the Department of Veterans Affairs, adding that Nations Lending does not have issues with its VA loan program.

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NEUMUNSTER, GermanyCatalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is set to walk out of German jail Friday, after judges refused his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge and ordered him freed on bail pending a ruling on a lesser corruption charge. See you tomorrow. Thank you very much to everybody! read a tweet posted in Puigdemonts name late Thursday. It was not immediately clear what time he would leave the prison in the northern town of Neumuenster. By 0730 GMT, prosecutors said Puigdemont had yet to post his 75,000-euro ($92,000-) bail. In a heavy blow for Madrid on Thursday, judges at the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein found extradition on a charge of rebellion would be inadmissible. Puigdemont was not involved in violence during a referendum on Catalan independence last October, they said in a statement. That was grounds to reject prosecutors argument that the Spanish rebellion charge was similar enough to Germanys high treason statute to justify extradition. The Catalan separatist figurehead could still be extradited on a charge of misusing public funds, the judges added, as they asked their Spanish counterparts for more information on the matter. Once Puigdemont is out on bail, he must keep authorities informed of his whereabouts, report to police weekly, respond to summons from prosecutors or the court, and remain in Germany. Puigdemonts German defense team welcomed the decision to set aside the outrageous rebellion charge, and said they respected judges call for more information from Spain. [Puigdemont] always said he had full confidence in the German judiciary, his Barcelona-based lawyer Jaime Alonso-Cuevillas tweeted. A Spanish government source told AFP Madrid always respects judicial decisions whether they please it or not, adding it expects appropriate measures from Spains judiciary in response. If extradited only for misusing public funds, Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted in Spain on the more serious charge of rebellion under European law. The lesser charge relates to the cost of the Catalan independence referendum, estimated at 1.6 million euros by Madrid.News of Puigdemonts bail will reduce tension and pressure in Catalonia where protesters have blocked streets and clashed with police in recent days, political scientist Oriol Bartomeus of the Autonomous University of Barcelona told AFP. But the relief would only be momentary, he added, noting that nothing has been resolved. Puigdemonts lawyers have appealed in Spain against the rebellion charge, highlighting that he was not involved in violence. Public opinion in Spain is divided on whether the referendum constituted a violent uprising as laid out in law. Catalans mostly reject the rebellion charge, according to opinion polls, with a major demonstration calling for imprisoned separatist leaders to be freed planned for April 15 in Barcelona. After being removed from office by the central government in Madrid following a unilateral declaration of independence on October 27, Puigdemont fled to Belgium. He was arrested in northern Germany in late March on the way back from a trip to Finland. Puigdemont and six political allies escaped Spanish authorities in an attempt to internationalize their plight by dragging other European Union countries into the row. A Belgian judge on Thursday bailed three of the four former Catalan ministers who fled to Belgium with him after they handed themselves in to police there. Spain wants the trioMeritxell Serret, Antoni Comin, Lluis Puigto face charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobeying the state. Nine other pro-independence figures are currently in custody in Spain, including six members of Puigdemonts Catalan government and the former president of the Catalan parliament.
New wells being drilled in the Permian Basin have become more complex because of the trend toward longer laterals, enhanced completions and high initial production rates.

That increased complexity is challenging well integrity, especially in the horizontal wells dominating activity in the Permian.

Materion Corp. of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, a materials provider, has worked with producers to develop a new oilfield coupling designed to reduce failures in wells prone to extreme rod string buckling and wear deep in the wells. The new ToughMet 3 Valve Rod Guide Bushing Coupling is engineered to reduce metal-on-metal contact resulting in tubing wear, thus preventing tubing leaks and cutting down on production interruptions in artificial lift systems.

This particular product, which is a completely new product, is an offshoot of a sucker rod coupling we developed with Hess Corp. and launched in 2016, Diane Nielsen, global market manager, oil and gas, with Materion, said in a phone interview.

Nielsen, a metallurgical engineer, said the two companies were looking at ways to mitigate coupling-on-tubing wear.

The No. 1 failure in rod strings is holes in the tubing," she said.

She said traditional couplings are made of steel, and tubing is made of steel, and steel-on-steel friction wears couplings out.

But spray-metal couplings wear out the tubing, she said. So her company developed a material so that neither the coupling nor the tubing would be sacrificed. The ToughMet material is a low-friction alloy that Nielsen said has good bearing characteristics and is able to withstand high impact loads from rod buckling.

In addition to working with Hess, she said Materion also looked at the pump failures and rod failures experienced by other operators.

Half of that was due to the challenges of the hole, she said. Its particularly challenging in horizontal wells and their deviated sections.

In the Permian Basin, wells are drilled fast with a high corkscrew effect. Those beam pumps have a lot of curves, she said.

This new coupling is designed to drop into the well as a replacement coupling so field projects dont need to be changed, and it conforms to API standards.

The company and Hess spent two years field-testing the new coupling in 10 problematic Hess wells that failed two or three times a year because of holes in tubing. Nielsen said Hess installed 20 to 40 of the couplings in each well to address these failures. As a parameter of what we deemed a success, we wanted to see if the wells would operate two full years without a failure, she said.

Then after two years of gathering not just laboratory data but field testing -- which Nielsen said Hess is willing to share -- Materion placed the product on the market.

That data is a good base to give it credibility, she said, adding that her company is also working with a number of operators also willing to share their data, even if not all are willing to reveal their identities or the specific wells using the couplings.

We have been selling this coupling directly the first couple of years because we wanted to work with oil companies to get data and manage the data, both before and after the couplings. Local inventory is critical. When a well goes down, couplings and everything else are needed immediately.

Nielsen said the company is working with about 20 operators who have ToughMet couplings in about 900 wells and were seeing significant improvement in all areas.

Materion does have an inventory of the couplings in Midland-Odessa, with a couple of other distributors coming onboard, and is expanding into other producing basins such as the Bakken in North Dakota, she said.
Companies that can provide pieces of the midstream infrastructure Permian Basin operators need to get their crude and natural gas to end users are sharing in the wealth being created by those commodities.

KP Engineering, which provides engineering, procurement and construction services to the energy industry, has been busy constructing cryogenic gas processing units. The company just completed the Joyce cryogenic gas processing unit, which processes 200 million cubic feet per day, for Targa Pipeline Mid-Continent WestTex LLC. The unit is located in Rankin.

William Preston, president and chief operating officer of Tyler-based KP Engineering, discussed the impact the growth in midstream activity is having on his company, via email with the Reporter-Telegram.

Q. Midstream is becoming an increasing focus here in the Permian Basin, particularly the Delaware sub basin where there isnt as much infrastructure. Are you seeing significant demand for your services here as midstream companies plan new pipelines and other infrastructure?

A. We are. There is a great deal of activity in the midstream sector throughout the Permian, and recently especially in the Delaware. KP Engineering is engaged with several companies regarding midstream projects in the area. Our midstream projects in the Permian area include the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of gas treating, compression, cryogenic gas processing, condensate stabilization, low/high pressure gathering, and storage facilities. On the other end of the pipelines that originate in the Permian, KPE is very active in the EPC of plants that fractionate the natural gas liquids into valuable products like propane, butane, and iso-butane.

Q. What new demands are you seeing from your clients in terms of processing plant capacity and technology?

A. Most of the new demands are a consequence of the higher volumes of gas being produced upstream, and a desire for higher recoveries of natural gas liquids. Our customers are increasingly asking for higher capacity single-train units, with higher efficiency. KPE is ready with these higher capacity, higher efficiency designs, typically using in-house technology solutions. We are also comfortable using third-party licensed technology if a customer so prefers. These designs may be 10-25 percent higher in capacity with high ethane recovery.

Q. What challenges is KP Engineering seeing as it seeks to engineer, procure the materials needed and construct this infrastructure? And are the planned tariffs on steel and aluminum a concern?

A. These potential tariffs are a concern, as are tightening labor markets in West Texas. We have been successful in working with our customers to mitigate these concerns, however. KPEs execution expertise, including our advanced estimating techniques and scheduling have kept us on-budget and on-time for our projects. Of course, the uncertainty of labor and material costs are always an issue, so ordering equipment and fabricated items as soon as possible is a priority.

Q. Is the Permian a significant portion of KPEs business right now?

A. Certainly. We are also very active in oil refining and chemical markets, including refinery hydrotreating, crude fractionation, syngas and hydrogen production, and specialty chemicals. Recent KPE projects are in the Gulf Coast, West Texas, New Mexico, and the Ohio/Pennsylvania area. But that said, the midstream portion of our business, in the Permian, Marcellus, and Bakken, is our fastest growing business sector at this point.
Democratic U.S. Senate contender Beto ORourke shook up the race Tuesday after he announced he had raised $6.7 million in the first quarter for his campaign, outpacing incumbent Ted Cruz.

The talk between the two is already getting heated.

Cruz jabbed the representative from El Paso during a campaign event in Midland on Wednesday, saying that ORourkes priorities dont match those of Texas. His example came from the State of the Union.

RELATED: Cruz: GOP plays part in Midland's strong economy

Every member of Congress is entitled to bring one guest to the State of the Union, Cruz said. Congressman ORourkes guest was an illegal alien that he wanted to give amnesty to. If you want to talk about where his priority is, that was his one guest.

I joined with Congressman Henry Cuellar, the Democrat from South Texas, and the two of us invited Stephen and Pam Willeford, and they came with us as our guests for the State of the Union.

Stephen Willeford is credited for helping end the mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs in November, when 26 people were killed. Armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, Willeford shot the gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, twice as Kelley exited the church. Cruzs priority is preserving the Second Amendment.

ORourkes guest was Daisy Arvizu a so-called Dreamer  from the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act  brought to the U.S. illegally by her parents when she was 1. She attends El Paso Community College and works two jobs. Cruz has little tolerance for immigrants here in the U.S. illegally and none for amnesty.

RELATED: Beto O'Rourke shatters fundraising records for Texas Democrats

The choice of guests illustrates the relative priorities of what each of us will fight for, Cruz said. In Texas, we want our cities to be sanctuaries  but sanctuaries for Americans and for those who came to this country legally, like my dad did in 1957 from Cuba.

For ORourke, immigrants with citizenship-status situations like Arvisu must be addressed.

Daisy was 1 year old when she was brought to the U.S. Before she could speak or read or have any conception of citizenship, her parents made the difficult decision to bring Daisy here. She has grown up in this country, the only country shes known, he told the Reporter-Telegram on Wednesday. He, like Cruz, is making stops across several Texas towns this week.

And really to the point that Sen. Cruz is trying to make, shes actually here with the permission of the United States government, he said. She is part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA.

ORourke jabbed back on the notion of priorities.

If you want to talk about priorities, about six weeks ago, the U.S. Senate voted just to begin the debate on how to resolve the fate of Dreamers like Daisy. Ninety-eight senators showed up to work that day; 97 of them voted to proceed with the conversation, which did not commit any of them to any specific resolution, but just to see if there was anything better we could do.

Only one of those senators out of the entire U.S. Senate voted no, and that was Ted Cruz. That should give us an idea of Ted Cruzs priorities of not even giving Texas a seat at the table on the issue that we know better than any other state in the Union, and thats the issue of immigration.

Cruz said ORourke, unlike previous Democratic contenders running for statewide office, isnt a pretender. He is unabashedly running hard left.

These are volatile times for our country. The hard left: Theyre angry; theyre energized; they hate the president; they hate Texas  they just want it to turn into California, he said. Theyre going to show up in big, big numbers in November.

ORourke said Cruz, a 2016 presidential candidate, doesnt get Texas, but its because he doesnt spend time in Texas.

The guy has spent so much time in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada running for president, he said. He proudly tells us that while he was U.S. senator for Texas, he visited all 99 counties of Iowa. He can be forgiven for not understanding the U.S.-Mexico border.

ORourke, who said he is visiting all 254 counties in Texas, said border walls and more militarization are unnecessary. Communities like El Paso are among the safest in the U.S. We have record-low levels of northbound apprehensions (the lowest, actually, since the year of his birth, 1971). Texans dont want to spend $30 billion on a wall  which, by the way, will be built on private Texas property. It will be built on the ranches, farms and homesteads of our fellow Texans. Property will be taken from them with the governments power of eminent domain.

The country needs to make sure Dreamers have a chance to do everything within their potential to help our country as citizens, the representative from El Paso said, because they serve in many capacities across the nation, such as in the armed forces or as teachers.

As for his guest, I was very grateful to have the chance to bring Daisy to the State of the Union and grateful to Sen. Cruz to give me the chance to talk about that.
Fort Worth police have released graphic body cam footage showing a violent arrest that drew criticism earlier this week.

The video shows one Fort Worth Police Department officer pinning Forrest Curry, 35, to the street while another officer punches him repeatedly in the face and body.

"The body camera video provides insight into the erratic behavior and active resistance presented by Mr. Curry throughout the duration of the arrest process," Assistant Police Chief Charles Ramirez said in a Wednesday press conference.

BEHIND BARS: Magnolia drug bust nets more than $26K worth of drugs

Prior to his arrest, police said Curry was suffering from a seizure and attempted to strike Fort Worth emergency medical and fire department personnel  an accusation corroborated in the 15-minute body camera footage where police spoke to first responders about Curry's behavior.



Body cam and bystander video show the officer punching Curry eight times before more police arrive at the scene to aid in the arrest.

"Why do you keep resisting, man? That's why we keep having to hit you," said an officer to Curry.

See the Houston area's notable crimes of 2018 above.

According to L. Chris Stewart, one of the lawyers representing Curry, their client "had a seizure on the street and ran from EMS when he woke."

"It's just sad that in a medical emergency, (police) couldn't have been more patient or understanding," Stewart told the Associated Press.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Six Texans among 71 arrested in Louisiana prostitution bust

Curry was arrested on charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest and evading arrest.

"We are focusing on getting the victim of this police violence out of custody and ensuring that he receives the necessary medical attention for injuries suffered during the heavy-handed arrest by officers with the Fort Worth Police Department," Curry's lawyers said in a statement Monday.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.
A police officer in South Texas has been placed on administrative leave while she faces federal human smuggling charges.

Valerie Rivas, an officer with the Brownsville Police Department, was arrested at 8:17 p.m. Feb. 26 by Border Patrol agent Christopher Alaniz.
The Midland Development Corp. has been very active over the past year, investing the Type A quarter cent sales tax it collects in many areas such as transportation infrastructure and business incentives. Here are highlights from the past two quarters:

OCTOBER

INVESTING IN EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

The MDC board greenlighted its contribution of $5 million toward construction of the University of Texas of the Permian Basins engineering building at its growing campus in Midland. The economic development group is building the third floor of the engineering school, which will enable UTPB to expand its offerings to include chemical and electrical engineering. The sum in broken down into two areas: $3 million will go toward the building itself, and $2 million will be put toward the creation of a business incubator and markerspace at the UTPBs Center for Energy and Economic Development, adjacent to the forthcoming engineering building.

MDC Chairman Brent Hilliard says the UTPB partnership will help grow Midlands technology base. Engineering students can create ideas in school, go to the makerspace to develop their ideas into products and services and work with the incubator to develop the business and apply for seed funding.

Earlier in the year, the MDC partnered with UTPBs Small Business Development Center to start an entrepreneurial challenge in which small companies compete for money to grow their businesses and get guidance along the way. Each business receives between $50,000 and $75,000 and has to meet a number of goals.

TXDOT PARTNERSHIP:

The MDC board approved entering into a trio of donation agreements with the Texas Department of Transportation in an effort to leverage funds in order to get road projects finished faster, particularly for completing the eastern portion of Loop 250.

The projects in the donation agreement were:

 $3 million toward the construction of a Loop 250 overpass at County Road 1140. The total project cost is $19.2 million

 $2 million for the reconstruction of the Interstate interchange at Midkiff Road. The cost is slated to be $25.52 million.

 $2 million toward the ramp reconfiguration project at Loop 250 and State Highway 191,which in total will cost about $10 million.

The MDC has committed funding toward other transportation projects, such as $2 million for the Loop 250 overpass at county roads 1150 and 60, a complex curvilinear interchange that has a price tag of $21.5 million.

NOVEMBER

WELCOMING WEIR:

A groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of Weir Oil and Gas new Midland headquarters took place, with earthmovers already at work outside. The oilfield services company is building a $30 million facility on a 20-acre portion of the MDCs David Mims Business Park near Schlumbergers Midland headquarters. Weir is consolidating its three Permian Basin service centers into a single service center in the city of Midland and is slated to add about 100 employees.

The MDC stepped in after a deal between Weir and the city of Odessa fell through. The MDC offered $1.8 million in incentives to be paid in equal installments over five years as Weir meets certain criteria, such as maintaining a payroll of at least $6 million. The board approved the agreement in September. Two months later, the company broke ground. Weir purchased the property at a cost of $20,000 per acre, which will be valued at $65,000 per acre on the tax rolls. As part of the deal, Weir will handle infrastructure development on the remaining 50 acres at the business park, which will make the area more attractive to other companies, Hilliard said.

DECEMBER

CONCERN FOR CARVER STREET:

In September, the MDC board voted to approve putting $1.7 million toward projects at Carver Street and Scharbauer Drive, including improvements to drainage basins and Scharbauer Draw. With an updated price tag from the city, the board voted in December to approve adding an additional $600,000 toward the project.

Carver is a major low-lying thoroughfare that crosses Midland Draw near where Scharbauer and Midland draws meet. When it rains, Carver often is impassible for drivers and pedestrians alike. A box culvert bridge will be built over the draw at Carver. Plus, a 10-foot-wide concrete pilot channel in Midland Draw all the way to Fairgrounds Road will be constructed to move water more quickly and to help the city mow vegetation, further improving flow. Other improvements such as sidewalks, ramps and improved drainage basins also are in the plan.

DOCTOR RECRUITMENT:

The board approved payment to the Midland County Hospital District in the sum of $88,339.42 as part of the MDCs agreement to help fund doctor recruitment. In a presentation, Midland Memorial Hospital said 14 doctors were recruited to Midland last year; much of the recruitment was possible because of the MDCs investment.

JANUARY

SWEET DEAL:

At its first meeting of 2018, the board voted to offer Susies South Forty Confections an interest-free, forgivable loan totaling of $115,000. The candy makers business is growing fast, and it cannot meet demand.

We have a demand for our product in larger retail environments right now, Controller Jeanne Nicodemus said. We service the local H-E-Bs and local Market Streets. Based on our current equipment and employment levels, we cant meet their demand.

Susies also struggles filling orders for shipment. Up to a quarter of Susies business comes from shipping confections, Nicodemus said, adding that Susies is FedExs largest small-package shipper in the state.

The money must be invested in new equipment, which will include a continuous bag sealer with date imprint capability, a bag filler, a candy-coating barrel drum machine, a 450-pound chocolate melting/ tempering machine, a chocolate enrober and other equipment as necessary. Susies must hire 10 new employees and not have a payroll less than $1,037,900 by Dec. 31, 2019.

The company has about 20 employees for most of the year and about 50 during Christmas.

FEBRUARY

EYE ON ENGINEERING:

With so many investments into infrastructure projects, the MDC has opted to hire a civil engineer of its own to oversee their progress and to help the economic development group in future investments. In February, the MDC hired Gary Law, who spent 33 years with TxDOT before retiring in August. He worked as the Odessa Districts director of transportation planning and development. Law is a graduate of Texas Tech University. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves and was part of the Army Corps of Engineers. He is a graduate of the U.S. Armys Command & General Staff College and the Army War College. After 29 years of commissioned service, he was assigned to the Retired Reserve as a colonel in 2013. 
Many Roman Catholic churches in the plush villages of Metropolitan Manila and in other urbanized cities in the Philippines have long been suspected of commercializing religious ceremonies and serviceslike weddings, baptismals, and wakesto the extent that only the very rich can avail of such ceremonies and services. That suspicion appears to have been confirmed last March 19 when the news media reported that Father Jose C. Galoy, the parish priest of Santuario de San Antonio Parish in the wealthy enclave of Forbes Park in Makati was compelled by his critics to recall his decision to impose annual accreditation fees on all suppliers, coordinators, florists, musicians, photographers and videographers covering all weddings at the high end church. Under Galoys aborted plan, every supplier and coordinator must pay an annual accreditation fee of at least P50,000, while each florist, musician, photographer and videographer must hand over up to P30,000, also as their annual accreditation fee. In addition, every supplier would have been required to post a cash bond of P20,000 for every wedding. Incidentally, the wedding fee goes as much as P65,000 for couples who are not residents of Forbes Park and the surrounding diocese. Galoys new rates triggered intense criticism and public outrage from those adversely affected by the measure, particularly medium-scale business enterprises engaged in preparations for wedding ceremonies. The social media carried many complaints, and a number of establishments threatened to boycott any wedding to be held at the Santuario de San Antonio church. Eventually, the public outrage compelled Galoy to revoke his controversial revenue plan, and offered the lame excuse that it was merely a work in progress, and that the proposed new fees were meant to preserve the solemnity of the sacrament of marriage. Galoy added that funds are needed by his parish to finance the maintenance of the church grounds, scholarships, and its alleged outreach programs in prisons, hospitals, and homes for the aged. Father Galoy probably thinks many Filipinos were born yesterday. First, there is no correlation between Galoys exorbitant annual accreditation fees and cash bonds to the preservation of the solemnity of the sacrament of marriage. Church ushers and service personnel present during the wedding, and even the officiating priest himself, can see to that. In fact, money and solemnity are almost incompatible. Second, Galoys high-end church already rakes in plenty of money from rentals and related fees from the numerous wakes of rich and famous personalities held in its adjoining funeral chapels. There is also a nearby pavilion which is also rented out for seminars, cultural events, and similar activities. All baptismals held at the church bring revenue. The same can be said of the collections done during every Mass. All that revenue is, by law, tax exempt. Being so, does Galoy really need more revenue? Third, the alleged scholarships cited by Galoy may or may not be real, but the so-called outreach programs he mentioned are highly suspect. Just how many people have seen priests from high-end parishes visit prisons, hospitals for the poor and desolate, and homes for the agedon a regular basis? The revenue incident in Santuario de San Antonio happened because Roman Catholicism in urban areas in the country has become commercialized. Critics maintain that church services are available only to those who can pay for them. What happened to the vow of poverty taken by all Catholic priests? Do cardinals and priests ride public transportation?Clergy from rich dioceses use late-model expensive cars. Cardinals ride in luxury vehicles, escorted by heavily armed security personnel in large SUVs. Why do they need bodyguards? If they are basically good to begin with, they ought not to have enemies, especially enemies who would want to harm them. A number of parishes have been exposed by the news media as beneficiaries of local gambling lords. Once, a highly visible church leader in Central Luzon was discovered to be living in a luxurious mansion which was lent to him. Priests operating well-patronized elementary and secondary schools in the metropolis live in luxury. Their expensive wristwatches, their jewelry, and their imported shoes are already indicators of their luxurious lifestyles. Its almost as if Father Damaso of Jose Rizals novel came to life. An order of Catholic priests based north of Manila which operates a nationwide chain of schools known for its very expensive tuition fees has members living in luxuryin defiance of the orders founders edict that its priests should live simple lives, educate the poor, preach to poor areas, and not just live and work in comfort in successful parishes. Many clergy enjoy being treated like royalty, just like during the Spanish colonial era in the country. The security guards of a well-known university in Manila must stand at attention each time a priest passes by. Ironically, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle denounced during the Holy Week certain arrogant kings in the government, whom he did not identify. Maybe he should include the priests of that Manila university in his list. There are many nuns who are no better than priests. They operate high-end schools in Metropolitan Manila and treat their schools as geese that lay golden eggs because they cater only to the rich. Parents are expected to sponsor the almost endless fund-raising projects of the nuns. A convent in Quezon City which received donations of used clothes from Europe made commercial use of the donations in violation of the instructions of the donor. These nuns were brazen because they retained an expensive law firm based in Manila. Many senior nuns from the less known orders treat their postulants like plebes in a military academy. The postulants are required to kiss the hand of each nun, and the nun does not even bother to look at them. What is Cardinal Tagle doing to address this mess? Belated happy Easter greetings to everyone!
Although spring may have sprung expectations of rainy days mixed with warm temperatures, Illinois weather seems indifferent to the calendar with impending snow and low temps expected sometime this afternoon or evening.

Todays forecast calls for 42 degree highs with 20 degree lows that will bring snow sometime in the afternoon. Accuweather Senior Meteorologist Paul Walker blamed an incoming cold front for this snowy spring start.

Weve had some cold air masses coming down from Canada and thats led to a chilly start to April, Walker said. That has to do with a jet stream from northwest Canada, which continues to drive cold air down. Well see a change in the weather pattern starting next week, where well see more of a westerly flow and temperatures get closer to normal.

Though there will be snowfall this afternoon, Walker said Jacksonville residents shouldnt expect to see much accumulation until later in the evening as ground temperatures drop. In the Jacksonville area, residents have a 50 percent chance of seeing between 1 and 3 inches  but closer to 1 inch  of accumulation between today and Saturday.

The farther south one travels from Jacksonville, the higher the likelihood of accumulation, with a 50 percent to 60 percent chance of accumulation in Greene County, and a 70 percent to 80 percent chance near St. Louis, according to the National Weather Service.

According to Accuweather forecasts, the temperature will feel close to 11 degrees tonight and wind gusts will reach 17 miles per hour coming from the north. Temperatures will remain around 20 degree going into Saturday before rising on Sunday to around 31 degrees with a 66 percent chance of a snow-and-rain mix.

As of Thursday evening, no accumulation was predicted for Sunday.

Nick Draper can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1223, or on Twitter @nick_draper.
Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree | Journal-Courier

Ben Kvorka, 8, measures rice to be added to a meal that will be going to a family in need. Kvorka, along with other members of 4-H and volunteers, prepared the food packages to help Illinois 4-H reach the 1 million mark of meals packaged by 4-H groups across the state since 2013.
The National Food Authority again roiled the market when one senior official conceded that the agency has run out of cheap rice supply. The irresponsible statement, while it may be true, should not have been aired publicly given the sensitivity of rice to price fluctuations and as a commodity consumed by almost every Filipino. The NFA statement brought confusion and panic to the public. The statement aired on television naturally caused rice prices to spike and gave some unscrupulous traders an excuse to hoard the commodity for profits. The NFA in reality still has ample stocks of rice contrary to the impression created by one NFA executive. Cheap rice may no longer be available, but the more expensive stocks are still in the warehouses of the NFA.

Managing the NFA or the countrys rice inventory, however, appears to be the problem. The agency, it seems, is not manned by competent executives who know how to react to the vagaries of rice as a traded commodity in the world market. Senior NFA executives, for one, should recognize the comfortable level of the countrys rice inventory. They should time the purchase and importation of rice, given the palay output data available from the Department of Agriculture. The NFA, in short, should be run by professionals who are well versed in rice production and marketing and inventory management.Senator Grace Poe summed up the inefficiency of the NFA when she called for the resignation of NFA Administrator Jason Aquino. The current NFA officials, she noted, had been remiss in their duties and responsibilities after the agency miserably failed in managing the rice inventory. It may also be timely for the government to ease the volume restrictions on rice importation. Cheap rice imports are readily available from the neighboring Asian nations if local production is not enough. The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, should take the lead in increasing rice production in the Philippines. Local farmers have often complained of the high cost of credit and fertilizer inputs in rice production. The department should offer credible measures to address the complaints. Thailand and Vietnam obviously found the answer that made them major rice exporters in the region.
Making lesson plans, grading papers, teaching and lecturing in front of a classroom full of students, holding conferences for both students and their parents, and going to board meetings are just some of the things the average school teacher has to do on a daily basis.

Along with those jobs, teachers are going out of their way to provide supplies for the students and having to carry loads of stress on their shoulders. The average working day of a teacher is 6.7 hours, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, but if anyone is acquainted with a teacher then they know they work well over those short hours.

Many school districts in the state are struggling to fill teaching positions and find qualified teachers, especially in central Illinois. One of the foremost solutions to solve the districts problem is to increase the pay of teachers.

Roughly 60 percent of Illinois districts are having difficulty with staffing positions according to a survey conducted by the IARSS, also known as The Illinois Association of Superintendents of Schools. Fewer and fewer men and women are willing to step their feet in the education field today due to the lack of pay.

Teachers are valuable to our nation and they help educate the children of the future. Education plays an important role in our society in the United States, but society doesnt recognize the amazing people behind it all.

An article posted in the Wharton from the University of Pennsylvania argues that the main point of education is to learn, not teach. It goes on to explain that what most faculty in a school are good at is learning rather than teaching and refers to students teaching students in a one-room schoolhouse. The post states, The teacher served as a guide and a resource nut not as one who force-fed content into students minds.

To argue against this claim, Peter Trait wrote in an article titled The importance of great teaching on childrens success in the Telegraph, The best investment any government can make is to get the most effective, the most talented, the best teachers they can in front of the children.

The relationship between the students and children is inspiring and the respect between students and teachers pushes children to work even harder says Trait. Better treatment or and a higher raise would help bring in well qualified teachers.

Along with people leaving the profession due to reduced pay and the lack of recognition there are also other factors. These factors include teachers leaving Illinois, educators quitting the profession, fewer students enrolling in different teaching programs, other people not wanting to move into Illinois, and people who would teach in Illinois but do not be the qualifications, according to the State Journal- Register. Eggers and Calegari in The New York Times stated, we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession.

These days, districts are finding it difficult to find men and women that are qualified to take in a room full of students. According to the State Journal- Register, schools are facing shortages of applicants and districts are forced to cancel classes or have other teachers in the building temporarily fill the spot because they cannot find anyone to teach them. As an example, the paper used A-C Centrals school district because it was in need of a new physical education teacher, but just could not fill the spot because there were only a few applicants.

If we were to pay teachers more in the state of Illinois, we would attract more people into the profession, including young deciding college students, and districts would not have a problem filling all the open teaching spots. The average starting salary, according to Kristof in The New York Times, is $39,000 and after 25-plus years in the profession, the average ending salary is $67,000. With these low wages, people who are looking into teaching will turn away because it makes raising a family almost impossible on one salary. Kristof explains that 62 percent of teachers are having to cope with this by picking up other jobs outside of the classroom to make it by financially. The Association of American Educators said that one in five teachers today are having to take on second and third jobs.

For the sake of the future of education across the state, change needs to be made to reduce the difficulty of having to fill teaching spots and attracting more qualified people for the profession. One of these changes needs to be an increase in teachers salaries to attract those types of people.

Rising compensation of teachers would help districts maintain high numbers of qualified teaching staff, help students in the classroom, and release some of the burden weighing down on the teachers in Illinois.

Michaelene Mays is a Jacksonville resident and student at Northwest Missouri State University.
Posted Friday, April 6, 2018 9:45 am

A total of 20 nonprofit agencies from across southern Missouri will participate in the Community Foundation of the Ozarks first Month of Momentum in April to raise funds for projects via the CFOs crowdfunding platform, Cause Momentum.

Donors can support these agencies online at www.monthofmomentum.causemomentum.org, now until 5 p.m. Monday, April 30.

The following nonprofits were selected by a volunteer committee in January from among more than 30 applicants for the cohort: CASA of Southwest Missouri; Dogwood Ranch (Rogersville); Drew Lewis Foundation; Freedoms Rest Family Violence Center (Ozark); Friends of Abilities First; Friends of the Zoo; Good Samaritan Boys Ranch; GYN Cancers Alliance; Include Ozarks; Isabels House; Downtown Joplin Alliance/Joplin Empire Market; Music Therapy of the Ozarks; Poplar Bluff Kiwanis, Inc.; Sculpture Walk Springfield; Springfield Little Theatre; Springfield Victory Mission; The Summit Preparatory School of Southwest Missouri; Texas County Food Pantry (Houston); The Victim Center; and Whole Kids Outreach (Ellington).

Each participating agency attended two training sessions on how to use the Cause Momentum platform and market their crowdfunding efforts. In return, each received a $500 implementation grant to help with digital promotion efforts for their Month of Momentum projects, as well as one-on-one planning sessions with online marketing experts from Mostly Serious, the CFOs web development partner on Cause Momentum. The training focused on ways of sharing a nonprofits story, strategies for promoting a month-long project online and tools available for creating digital images and videos.

Online giving has grown at a significant rate over the last several years, and its not slowing down, said CFO President and CEO Brian Fogle. Were very pleased to help our agency partners find new ways of reaching tech-savvy donors who want to make an impact on their communities.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is a regional public charitable foundation established in 1973 that provides asset and resource development, grantmaking and public leadership through a network of donors, 49 affiliate foundations and more than 600 nonprofit partners across central and southern Missouri.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called upon all parties on the ground to avoid confrontation and urged Israel to exercise maximum restraint.

I particularly urge Israel to exercise extreme caution with the use of force in order to avoid casualties. Civilians must be able to exercise their right to demonstrate peacefully, the UN Chief stressed in a statement released Thursday.

The UN chief also highlighted the urgency to accelerate efforts to return to meaningful negotiations that will eventually allow Palestinians and Israelis to live in two democratic states side by side in peace and within secure and recognized borders.

Guterres reaffirmed the UNs readiness to support these efforts.

Echoing the Secretary-General, Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process also called upon Israeli forces to exercise restraint and on the Palestinians to avoid friction at the Gaza fence.

I am following with concern the continuing preparations and rhetoric for this Fridays Great Return March in Gaza, he said, noting that demonstrations and protests must be allowed to proceed in a peaceful manner.

Civilians, particularly children, must not be intentionally put in danger or targeted in any way, he added.

The call by the United Nations follows clashes last Friday (March 30), during which thousands of Palestinians marched to Gazas border with Israel to protest the long-standing blockade of the enclave.

According to reports from the Palestinian Health Ministry, 15 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 injured.

Some of the casualties were reportedly the result of live ammunition used by Israeli security forces during the March marking Land Day.

Other casualties followed armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including the shelling of a Hamas observation point.

In the aftermath of the clashes the UN Secretary-General called for an independent and transparent investigation in the incident. The Security Council had also convened an emergency meeting on the clashes.
A woman suffered burns on her face and arms in Sausalito on Friday after the boat she lives on caught fire in Richardson Bay, officials said.

Emergency dispatchers received a 7:45 a.m. report that a boat anchored in the bay some 200 yards from the Schoonmocker Marina had caught fire, said Captain Mike Martinez of the Southern Marin Fire Protection District.
Oil headed for its worst week in more than a month after U.S. President Donald Trump called for tariffs on more Chinese goods, souring investor optimism that tensions between the world's two largest economies will ease with negotiations.

Futures fell as much as 1.1 percent in New York and are set for a 2.6 percent drop this week. China's Commerce Ministry said it had very detailed retaliatory measures after Trump ordered his administration to consider levies on an additional $100 billion in imports from the Asian nation, spurring a flight from risk assets on concern a full-blown trade war will damp global economic growth.

Uncertainty over the spat has rattled investors and pushed oil below $64 a barrel this week. It's also undermined the effect of a surprise drop in U.S. stockpiles that was helped by record high crude exports. While China is retaliating against Trump's moves by taking aim at America's rural heartland by proposing levies on politically sensitive farm commodities such as soybeans, its list of targeted products also includes some petrochemicals, indicating it is willing to use energy as a weapon.

"We now have to start looking at the U.S.-China trade war as a downward geopolitical risk," said Olivier Jakob, managing director at consultants Petromatrix GmbH. "This is starting to not be funny anymore, and there is a risk to reach a point where global asset markets become tired of the White House wars and move back into cash."

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery dropped as much as 72 cents to $62.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and traded at $63.28 at 2:13 p.m. in London. The contract is heading for a second weekly drop. Total volume traded was about 4 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent for June settlement lost as much as 66 cents to $67.67 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and is down 2.9 percent this week. The global benchmark crude traded at a $4.94 premium to June WTI.

The new front in the trade war is also sending commodities from soybeans to copper tumbling. The Bloomberg Commodity Index that measures returns on 22 basic resources has lost 0.8 percent this week.

Oil-market news

The alliance between OPEC and Russia that coordinated historic oil-output cuts could last " indefinitely" and be formalized by setting up a new organization including other major producers, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. Tensions in Iran's neighborhood, including the threat of military action in the Strait of Hormuz, pose a bigger risk to oil than the return of U.S. sanctions against the Middle Eastern producer, Citigroup's head of commodities research Ed Morse said. Eni SpA is in talks to sell a stake in its giant oil discovery in Mexico to Qatar Petroleum International, according to people with knowledge of the plans. Gasoline futures dropped 0.4 percent to $1.9733 a gallon, heading for a second weekly decline.
The bankruptcy trustee for FourWinds Logistics  the now-defunct oilfield company that defrauded investors and led to state Sen. Carlos Urestis criminal conviction  has prevailed in a $2.5 million dispute with its original investor.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta ruled this week that FourWinds payment of $2.5 million to investor Dr. David Zehr less than two months before the companys bankruptcy filing was a fraudulent transfer that the trustee can reject.

The Chapter 7 trustee will have to file another lawsuit in an effort to collect the money for the bankruptcy estate, according to Natalie Wilson, an attorney for the trustee.

Tricia DeLeon, a Dallas lawyer for Zehr, didnt immediately respond to a phone call and an email, so it couldnt be determined whether her client will appeal the ruling.

Assuming the trustee recovers the money, Wilson estimated that a very low seven figure sum could be distributed to FourWinds creditors after the trustee, attorneys and costs are paid.

This will probably be the biggest recovery that the trustee is able to make, Wilson said.

FourWinds bought and sold sand used in hydraulic fracking for oil production. Within about 18 months of its launch, it entered bankruptcy in August 2015 amid fraud allegations from some investors.

Uresti, who was FourWinds outside general counsel and a 1 percent owner, in February was convicted by a federal jury on 11 felony charges  including securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. He has vowed to appeal the verdict. His request for a new trial was denied Thursday. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 28.

Uresti testified in a bankruptcy court trial in September in connection with the trustees lawsuit against Zehr. The San Antonio Democrat said on the stand that he became aware after FourWinds collapse that it might have been a Ponzi scheme.

A lot of the legal work that Uresti said he performed for FourWinds involved recovering monies that were held in escrow for a sand deal that didnt pan out.

Urestis law firm filed a lawsuit against a sand supplier and escrow agent on behalf of FourWinds in 2014. Another law firm stepped in to handle the litigation when Uresti ended his involvement with FourWinds.

FourWinds used the $2.5 million settlement of the litigation to pay Zehr, a Dallas hand surgeon, who was the main principal that invested in a joint venture with FourWinds.

Gargotta ruled the payment was fraudulent because FourWinds was on its financial deathbed and had no other cash at the time. The money would have otherwise gone to the companys creditors, the judge added. He also found FourWinds received less than reasonably equivalent value for transferring the money to Zehr.

We never argued that Dr. Zehr was in any way culpable or (did) anything wrong, Wilson said. But Dr. Zehr got back more money than anybody else did and, unfortunately, despite his belief that it was real returns on investment, it wasnt.

Gargotta also ruled that Zehr must assign a $415,000 judgment to the trustee that was obtained from an escrow agent. Zehr said he had collected $25,000 on the judgment.

FourWinds reported assets of $9.6 million and debts of $5.5 million in a court filing. Of the companys accounts receivable, the trustee was only able to collect $30,000  from Uresti. FourWinds had loaned the lawmaker $40,000.
An Ohio-based subsidiary of Seguin-based heavy machinery manufacturer Alamo Group ended a weeks-long strike Thursday.

Employees are expected to resume work at Gradall Industries, Inc.  located in New Philadelphia, Ohio  on April 9 under a new contract.

John Carr, spokesman for the Eastern Territory of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, said the employees struck because of language in the contract that could have left them open to rising health care costs.

Carr said union members overwhelmingly voted down the contract and then voted to strike. The picket lines went up at Gradall Industries on March 12, a day after Alamo Group was notified, according to a company news release. Gradall Industries constructs excavators, industrial mobile vacuums and sweepers, and firefighting equipment, according to the companys website.

The health care cost concern came after an earlier contract loophole had left employees spouses off Grandall Industries-provided health care if they had their own job-provided plan, Carr said.

Alamo Group did not respond to a request for comment.

Approximately 200 workers of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers from District Lodge 54, Local Lodge 1285 went on strike as negotiations for a new contract were ongoing.

Gradall Industries was bought by Alamo Group in 2006 for $39.4 million.
Saturday is National Beer Day, which celebrates not only beer itself, but also the historical significance of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Cullen-Harrison Act into law.

But mostly its about the beer, so heres a quick list of places to grab a cold one on special on this festive beverage-related holiday.
It's time to ditch the weekday Tupperware lunches and slow cooker dinners and go out to eat because this weekend is looking like a savory smorgasbord of foods to try.

Thanks to food bloggers, restaurants and foodies on Instagram, San Antonians hoping to try something new this weekend have drool-worthy photo previews of their options.
A cholera outbreak has killed about 40 people and infected more than 2,000 Congolese refugees in Uganda, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Thursday.

The outbreak was first reported in Kyangwali Refugee Settlement Camp last month and has spread to other villages.

The Health ministry said the most affected settlements are Kyangwali and Kyaka II in Hoima and Kyegegwa districts.

Uganda is home to about 70,000 people from the Democratic Republic of Congo who have fled this year alone due to a surge in ethnic violence. Inadequate hygiene conditions have resulted in a cholera outbreak that killed scores, IFRC said on its website.

According to Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, IFRC Regional Director for Africa, Cholera remains a serious risk for thousands of refugees.

Access to clean water and proper sanitation is one of the most urgent needs for the Congolese refugees in Kyangwali and Kyaka II, she said.

The refugees are living in overcrowded temporary shelters, which, coupled with limited access to safe and clean water and inadequate sanitation facilities, are contributing to the spread of cholera and other communicable diseases, the aid agency said.

The agency is appealing for nearly two million Swiss francs to help deliver immediate and potentially life-saving emergency services to 18,000 newly arrived Congolese refugees.
For the second time in two months, the San Antonio cafe known for its comically large cinnamon rolls and crispy chicken fried steaks fell flat in a random city health inspection  and this time, it was the lowest-scoring restaurant of the week.

Lulu's Bakery & Cafe is one of 39 food establishments to be named to this week's list of dirtiest restaurants in San Antonio, after an inspector condemned 30 lbs. of macaroni noodles and 5 lbs. of chicken soup for being the wrong temperature. Beyond its greasy floors and soiled knives, an inspector observed an employee breaking a raw egg, then going on to handle clean dishes and ready-to-eat foods without changing gloves.

SEE LAST WEEK'S VIOLATIONS: San Antonio restaurant inspections: March 30, 2018

The unsightly conditions, however, were not the only gross conditions at San Antonio restaurants.

At Las Magueyes Mexican Restaurant, an inspector observed a plate with a taco on it inside a sugar bin, as well as rodent droppings behind and under the ice machine. At Rancho Grande Mexican Restaurant, an inspector saw "clean" chip baskets that still had food debris stuck to them.

A Little Casesar's on Callaghan Road lost points on its inspection score for having an onion cut-side down stored uncovered in a reach-in cooler and a chicken wing on a dirty shelf in the walk-in cooler.

And popular bars Quarry Hofbrau and Little Woodrow's on Babcock Road also landed on this week's list.

To make the Express-News' list of dirtiest restaurants, an establishment must earn a score of 89 or below  or anything less than an "A"  during a random city health inspection.

The San Antonio Express-News examines hundreds of restaurant inspections each week conducted by the San Antonio Food and Environmental Health Services division to bring you the eateries with scores of 89 or below.

Restaurants are graded on a 100-point system, where "100" is a perfect score, and demerits are based upon the number of violations found during a regular food establishment inspection. There are three categories of demerits and each are assigned a demerit score of 3, 2 or 1 points, according to the health division.

Scores and demerits listed are only representative of the state of the restaurant at the time of inspection and establishments are surveyed at random.

See the other restaurants that landed on this week's list of dirtiest restaurants in the slideshow above.

erobinson@mysa.com | Twitter: @eeelizzzabeth
Dear Mr. Premack: I have lived here in Texas my whole life and am a strong conservative who believes that government should stay out of my business. Too bad for me, Ive been diagnosed with a degenerative terminal illness. When I asked my doctor about making a choice for myself about ending my life before I lose all my capabilities, the doctor said the government was in this most personal of my business and that it is not legal for her to assist me to end my life. I dont want to damage my family  they all understand my position as I havent been quiet about it  but I just cant understand how it is illegal for a person to decide about controlling the timing of their own death. Any thoughts?  O.S.

Historically, assisted suicide has been illegal and even considered immoral. No matter what the individuals suffering, unless the individual was willing to violently end their own life (a course not guaranteed to succeed) they had to suffer the entire course of their disease before death arrived naturally. That is still the law in Texas.
One San Antonio baby let the world know his winter birthday was coming with a Game of Thrones cake smash photo shoot.

Hosea Victor turned 1 on Feb. 6, but he's already ready to rule the Seven Kingdoms like Jon Snow.

His mom, Crystal Victor, assisted by dad Paul Victor, set up a photo shoot themed after the hit HBO series to celebrate.

Mom owns Frog Prince Photography, so the camera situation was handled, but dad had to build the set. Hosea's dad used a kiddie-sized lawn chair, toy foam swords and cardboard to build his Iron Throne. The scene was set with dry ice billowing behind the throne and a cake.

RELATED: Coco-inspired San Antonio photos are making Texas 'un poco loco'

The tiny King of the North wore a Night's Watch uniform, complete with a longclaw sword and Snow-like curl.

Crystal said her son's curls are what inspired her idea for the unique cake smash. She and her husband are fans of Game of Thrones, but Hosea sits out on the drama.

The photos were taken in February, then shared on the Frog Prince Facebook page this week where Game of Thrones fans are loving the shots.

The family also noted that Hosea was the first baby to be born through INVOcell conception in San Antonio.

Happy birthday, Hosea!

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for mySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye
Fourteen New Milford High School students will be competing at the national competition for Distributive Education Club of America, or DECA, which focuses on business.

They advance based on their performance at the Connecticut DECA competition held last month. More than 1,200 students competed, including 42 from New Milford High School.
NEW MILFORD - Police officials looking to reduce the number of outstanding warrants are using social media for help.

Like many area police departments, New Milford has dozens of outstanding warrants on misdemeanor charges such as probation violations or failure to appear in court. In an effort to reduce that backlog, the department began posting information about the warrants on Facebook last month.

Since beginning the effort, the department has received enough tips from the community to serve 34 warrants, including 13 last week alone.

We started using the social media program after the chief asked me to find ways to reduce the number of wanted persons in our community, said Lt. Jeffrey Covello, who heads the departments detective division.

Covello said the list includes only those warrants that New Milford police are charged with serving. Someone living in town but wanted by another law enforcement agency likely won't appear on the list.

According to the state courts website, 134 people with New Milford addresses have outstanding warrants. Other towns have similar numbers, including Bethel, where more than 90 people are wanted on outstanding warrants.

New Milfords effort is the latest attempt by an area police department to use social media in novel ways. In recent years, as the popularity of sites like Facebook and Twitter have increased, the use of the sites by police departments has increased as well.

Each department has adapted to the social media age at different times, and is using online tools and services in different ways.

The Danbury Police Department recently posted a video on its social media pages in an effort to reach more potential candidates as the department looks to fill its ranks. Others post photos of suspects or publish missing persons reports.

Monroe Police Chief John Salvatore, the former president of Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, said just about every department in the state is using social media in some form.

It helps us solve crimes and it helps with community outreach, he said. I think everyone sees the value in it.
Scammers looking to take advantage of a difficult situation have stepped to the plate, making calls and asking for donations for a fallen officer fund, shortly after a state police trooper was killed in a crash last Thursday.

Weve heard of similar scams in the past, but not recently, and as you may know we have a fallen officer, TFC Kevin Miller. So what better time than now for scammers to bring this scam back to Connecticut, state police said.
Sarah Page Kyrcz, / For Hearst Connecticut Media

MADISON  Daniel Hand High School went into a brief code yellow security mode early today due to an alleged threat posted on social media, district officials said in a notice sent via the district e-notify system.

The notice, obtained by the New Haven Register, said that high school administrators were informed at arrival time this morning that a threat was made on social media last night towards the high school.
New Caney ISD is considered one of the fastest-growing school districts in the State of Texas and its 2018 bond election was the focus of the April 4 Greater East Montgomery County Chamber luncheon.

Superintendent Kenn Franklin explained how the district has grown significantly over the course of nearly two decades.

In 1999, the school district had just over 6,000 students. That number has nearly tripled as of the 2017-2018 school year across 18 campuses.

"We're a little over 15,000 students," said Franklin.

The school district includes 30 percent of students who are English language learners and 61 percent that are economically disadvantaged. New Caney ISD's growth is also noticeable in comparison to other school districts.

"We're the fastest-growing school district in the Houston area since 2011," said Franklin.

According to Franklin, New Caney ISD is also the fourth fastest-growing school district in the state. In 2025 the school district is projected to have a total number of students of 35,000 to 40,000.

"The growth is coming," said Franklin.

The district has a bond election coming up soon for a total amount of $200 million. The bond is intended to address the growth that is coming to the district.

Some of the key areas the bond will address, if passed, include building a third comprehensive high school campus along with a fifth middle school campus and a 12th elementary campus, providing additions to Woodridge Forest Middle School, finding land for future facilities and replacing three of the campuses.

Franklin explained that replacing the three campuses, which are Keefer Crossing Middle School, Porter Elementary and New Caney Elementary can increase student capacity and improve the school district's budget.

"These three campuses represent 67 percent of the budget it would take to bring all of our schools up to standards," he said.

Franklin says the campus replacements will provide additional seats with an estimate of 450 additional seats from Keefer Crossing Middle School, 180 from Porter Elementary and 360 from the addition planned for Woodridge Forest Middle School.

The bond is also expected to add 2,340 seats to the school district with 1,350 of them set to be placed in the third comprehensive high school campus.

According to Franklin, the comprehensive high school is starting with 1,350 seats and expanding over time to 2,250 seats.

"We're going to grow it a grade at a time," he said.

Franklin explained that some data indicates that transitioning from eighth grade into ninth grade without having ever been on a high school campus prior to that point is beneficial for students.

Bond elections often affect property tax rates. However, the tax rate for New Caney sits at a total of $1.17 for Maintenance and Operations and $0.50 for Interest and Sinking per $100 valuation. This is the legal maximum rate for the taxation, which means the rate cannot be increased. This does not mean the tax bill will be the same.

Early voting begins on April 23 and runs until May 1 for the bond election. All early voting will be held at the East Montgomery County courthouse annex located in New Caney at 21130 US 59 South. Election day is scheduled for May 5. All election day locations and times can be found on the New Caney ISD website.
Spotting the warning signs of mental health crisis may not be the easiest thing to do, but Spring ISD is training community members to see them so that students or young people can get the help they need.

Spring ISD director of guidance and counseling Denise Zimmerman said the eight-hour course is meant to help participants recognize behaviors that may indicate a mental health issue.

"We're not teaching people to diagnose. We're having them to recognize, 'There's something going on with this child and we want to get appropriate help,'" she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about one in 25 people have lived with a serious mental illness, such as major depression or bipolar disorder.

Christopher Fresquez, a response to intervention behavior specialist, will be training participants to spot potential issues in children between the ages of 12 to 18.

Sometimes, sudden shifts in behavior such as changes in eating or sleeping patterns, or a lively child becoming more reserved and disengaging in activities may be indications of an mental health issue.

"It's not one big specific thing to look for, it's that you start to see several things," Fresquez said.

Zimmerman said the program intends to give participants the tools and vocabulary to approach a young person who may need help without exacerbating the situation.

"We have so many adults who are interested, invested in making sure that our young people are safe and are healthy," Fresquez said.

Some mental health issues that young people may need help with could be eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal attempts, psychosis, depression or anxiety, among others.

Although it's become more visible through television shows, film and social media, educating others about mental health can help more people get the help they need, Zimmerman said.

Another benefit of the program is to eliminate the stigma of mental health, Zimmerman and Fresquez said.

Like a person who suffers from a chronic condition, earlier intervention can help prevent bigger problems in the future.

"The sooner we can intervene, the sooner that they get help, the better off they are," Frequez said.

The first session took place on March 29. Future sessions will be hosted on April 26, May 23, June 21 and July 24.

Zimmerman said the district is scheduled to offer the program at least once a month to the community until at least June 2019. The sessions will also be available in Spanish, she said.

All of the courses will take up to 30 participants, who do not necessarily need to be parents of Spring ISD students.

Anyone over the age of 18 can sign up to take the course and can contact Jennifer Ontiveros at jchapa@springisd.org or call 281-891-6383 to reserve a spot.
WASHINGTON - The United States and China dug in for a protracted trade war Friday, with the Chinese government saying it would "fight at any cost" President Donald Trump's threat to slap new tariffs on $100 billion in Chinese goods.

While the White House offered a slim hint Friday that it would be prepared to negotiate an end to the deepening standoff, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also acknowledged "the potential of a trade war." His remarks on CNBC spurred fears of an open brawl between the world's two largest economies and immediately sent the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting 767 points.

Mnuchin added he was "cautiously optimistic" that the two sides would be able to reach an agreement. "Our objective is still not to be in a trade war," Mnuchin said.

The Dow recovered somewhat and ended the day down 572 points, a loss of about 2.3 percent.

Trump announced that he was considering expanded tariffs Thursday night, hours after administration officials downplayed the idea of a trade war. On Friday morning, China's Commerce Ministry told reporters it would retaliate if the new tariffs were imposed, saying, "China has very detailed countermeasures."

Around midday in Asia, the Commerce Ministry released a terse statement: "On the issue of Sino-U. S. trade, the Chinese position has been made very clear. We do not want to fight, but we are not afraid to fight a trade war."

China has not been alone in raising alarm about Trump's trade threats. American business groups and some GOP lawmakers have harshly criticized the president for escalating matters with Beijing.

The Information Technology Industry Council called the new threat of tariffs "irresponsible and destabilizing," while the National Retail Federation warned that the two nations were on a "dangerous downward spiral" that could "spell disaster for the U.S. economy." In response to Trump's tariff announcement Thursday night, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said: "This is nuts."

In a sign that the White House could be prepared to de-escalate the trade conflict, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said Friday that Trump was open to the idea of presenting Chinese leader Xi Jinping a list of requirements that would include the removal of certain tariffs on American-made goods.

"You might see the United States may provide a list of suggestions to China as to what we would like to see come out of this," Kudlow told reporters, adding that no decision has been made so far.

But Kudlow also said that Trump would continue standing up to Beijing and escalating matters if necessary.

"What this is an attempt by a strong-willed, strong-backboned president to right some wrongs . . . with respect to China," Kudlow said.

Before joining the White House, Kudlow, as a CNBC commentator, was critical of Trump's threats to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, warning that they could harm the U.S. economy. But he told reporters Friday that they are necessary to force Beijing to eliminate trade barriers and allow more U.S. products into China.

"I'm not a tariff guy," Kudlow said. "I don't like to use them, but sometimes you have to use tariffs to bring countries to their senses."

The threats have spooked financial markets, in part because the Trump administration has given different explanations for what the president is trying to do. Kudlow, who is in his first week on the job as Trump's chief economic adviser, has tried to exude calm, while Trump has continued to blast China in public statements and social media posts.

The stakes for the U.S. consumer, as well as the global economy, are immense. If the United States and China slap large tariffs on each other's exports, it could drive up costs for consumers, lead to a contraction in spending and arrest growth. Millions of American households are full of Chinese exports, including electronics, clothing and appliances. If costs on these products go up, even incrementally, it could lead to a chain reaction in the global economy - with uncertain consequences. Trump is wagering that Beijing will flinch and back down, but so far, Chinese leaders have shown no sign of retreating.

The trade confrontation with China got underway in March, representing a second-year shift in the president's stewardship of the economy from a more traditional Republican Party line to the "America First" populism Trump embraced as a candidate.

The new agenda was reflected in recent changes in White House staffing. Gary Cohn, the first chief of Trump's economic council and an ardent free-trader, resigned after Trump unleashed the first wave of tariffs on March 8 against imported steel and aluminum. (Rob Porter, another aide and free-trade supporter, left the White House after it was revealed that his ex-wives had accused him of physical and emotional abuse.)

Meanwhile, White House adviser Peter Navarro, a longtime China critic, has seen his internal stature rise as he encouraged Trump to follow his protectionist instincts.

Trump in 2017 largely kept to the economic orthodoxy of the GOP, overseeing legislation that delivered huge, corporate-friendly tax cuts that Republicans have pursued for decades - a measure that included repeal of a critical provision of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration also rolled back Obama-era regulations, pausing or scrapping rules on the climate and labor.

In words and on Twitter, Trump continued to espouse the anti-free-trade rhetoric of his campaign, but he typically pulled back before making major moves. He stopped short of labeling China a "currency manipulator," despite a campaign promise, and he opted to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement after a last-minute push from lawmakers and cabinet officials convinced him not to pull out of the pact.

But that changed in 2018, as Trump pursued a new set of protectionist policies despite protests from Republican lawmakers and businesses who supported him during the tax debate.

"The one thing Trump's been consistent on for four decades is he does not believe in free trade. At heart, he is a protectionist," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at accounting firm RSM.

The pivot has frayed Trump's relationships with fellow Republicans, who have publicly criticized his tariffs and continue to privately lobby his administration to water them down.

The course change to a more protectionist agenda manifested in early March with the steel and aluminum tariffs. Trump alleged that a range of allies and rivals were flooding the United States with cheap metals in a way that harmed U.S. workers. He has since exempted most major steel and aluminum producers from these tariffs, except for China.

In response, China listed 128 items on which it planned to impose tariffs, including pork and a range of agricultural products. Then Trump pledged new tariffs against China, prompting Beijing to threaten even broader tariffs against U.S. exports such as cars.

This led Trump on Thursday evening to issue a statement saying that he is considering additional tariffs on $100 billion in Chinese imports, which would represent 20 percent of the items China sells the United States each year.

China exports far more to the United States than it imports, a fact that Trump has said is due to Beijing's improper economic practices. China has often disputed this, but other countries have also complained that China should do more to open its markets and stop subsidizing key industries in a way that gives the country an unfair advantage.

Other nations, though, have preferred a multinational approach in confronting Beijing, something Trump has said he does not believe works. His adversarial tactics this year have confused world leaders but also sent a signal that the U.S. approach to China has changed markedly.

- - -

The Washington Post's Luna Lin in Beijing, and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
French troops in Mali, on Thursday, killed about 30 Islamist insurgents during a gun battle near the border with Niger, Frances Barkhane mission said in a statement.

According to Colonel Patrik Steiger, soldiers from Barkhane force and Malian troops were on a reconnaissance mission 90 km (56 miles) south of Menaka on Sunday when they encountered several dozen Islamist fighters, some on motorcycles. A number of Malian soldiers died in the ensuing gun battle, Steiger said.

France has deployed around 4,000 French troops in West Africas Sahel region as part of Operation Barkhane aimed at tackling Islamist militants in the region.

The region with its huge expanse of remote desert is home to several jihadist groups.

Last month, two French soldiers were killed after their armored vehicle was hit by an explosive device near Malis border with Niger and Burkina Faso.

Mali-based al Qaeda affiliate, Jamaa Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for the attack. In October, militants killed four US troops just over the border in Niger. JNIM, which has been responsible for other attacks, has also been linked to the kidnapping of at least six western hostages in the region.

Frances military is also coordinating with West African forces, UN peacekeeping forces, and other allied military operations in the area.
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.
EDWARDSVILLE  A former employee of a Collinsville nursing home is facing a charge of criminal neglect of a long-term facility resident resulting in death.

Charged is Christy R. McCall, 41, of Belleville. She allegedly failed to give CPR to a resident who was having a fatal heart attack on June 30. Bail was set at $25,000. McCall, a licensed practical nurse, was charged Thursday.

A report from the Illinois Department of Public Health states the Collinsville Rehabilitation and Health Care Center was fined $50,000 for an incident June 30, the same date as cited in the charging document. The IDPH report does not mention names.

The fine was doubled, the report states, because of the high-risk situation. The report said the resident suffered from heart disease and other illnesses. The report said the licensed practical nurse whose duty it was to administer CPR was suspended on July 1 and later terminated.

The report states that the resident was found with no pulse and purple lips and was unresponsive. The IDPH report said the facility investigated and determined the nurse failed to act properly in the situation. The report said the nurse who was held responsible told authorities that another nurse had done an assessment, but that other nurse denied having done so.

One of the nurses told authorities that she saw the nurse who was later terminated standing in the doorway but did not enter the room. The nurse who was accused of neglect allegedly said, Oh my God, I dont know what to do, according to the report from IDPH.

The report also states that one of the certified nursing assistants asked the licensed practical nurse what to do about the residents serious condition, but the nurse did not respond and left the room.

The report noted that most of the certified nursing assistants did not know CPR. IDPH authorities later schooled staff members on advanced directives and CPR.
The pillow salesman had so much crack cocaine pounding through his bloodstream he hadn't slept for two weeks, he would later say. Even the drug dealers were counseling Mike Lindell to slow down.

It was March 2008, and the Minneapolis-area entrepreneur's life was in free fall. Marriage broken. House lost. Business - a company he started four years earlier called MyPillow - struggling. Two weeks into this particular hot-wired bender, Lindell went to his usual drug dealers for a fix. But the guys had already put word out on the street: no one sell to Lindell until he sleeps.

"They were three of the biggest dealers in the cities," Lindell recounted to the Salvation Army in 2015. "They refused to sell to me again. One of them tried babysitting me until I fell asleep."

Instead, he snuck outside to score elsewhere. But no one wanted his business. Lindell waved around a $100 bill for $5 worth of crack. Nothing. He tried to hide his distinct mustache behind his hand. No luck.

"I get back to the apartment, and [the dealer] is sitting there, and he goes, 'How'd that work out for you?'" Lindell explained to CNBC last September. His dealer picked up Lindell's phone and snapped a photo of the addict's face - walking dead skin tone, disheveled hair, mug shot scowl. It was a memento of what it looked like at rock bottom.

Lindell got clean the next year, and powered ahead with MyPillow, turning an idea plucked from a dream into a successful international business claiming nearly 30 million sales. For years he struggled against addiction and long business odds. Today, Lindell finds himself up against a political backlash.

Last week, Fox News host Laura Ingraham hopped on Twitter to blast David Hogg, the Parkland massacre survivor turned to gun control advocate. The comments - about Hogg's college rejection - quickly sparked outcry, with at least 18 advertisers pulling their spots from the host's show, according to Media Matters.

Not the MyPillow frontman. Lindell, an avid backer of President Donald Trump, proclaimed on Twitter this week: "I did not take my advertising down from @IngrahamAngle and @FoxNews, nor do I intend to."

"Advertising decisions are based on what's best for MyPillow, my employees and my customers," Lindell added in a statement to the Shakopee Valley News. In response, there's been a call online to boycott Lindell's own business. The Minnesota businessman, whose mustachioed face is familiar from MyPillow infomercials and ads, has now found himself in the national debate.

It's the latest stop in a quintessentially American wild ride, a journey that's run from pig farms and Las Vegas card tables to QVC and the gold-plated halls of Mar-a-Lago.

As Lindell tells it, his success has the classic Horatio Alger shape - with cocaine and infomercials and divine inspiration.

Raised in Chaska, Minnesota, Lindell spent a quarter at the University of Minnesota before dropping out, CNBC reported. He jumped from one business idea to the next in the following years, often pulling ideas from his experience. After his sister's apartment flooded, he started a carpet cleaning company. He heard about the success of lunch wagon businesses in California; he tried the same concept in the Twin Cities.

Lindell also tried to fill his pockets counting cards at Las Vegas casinos and raising pigs. Eventually, he started pouring drinks behind a bar and eventually purchased the business. "Probably wasn't a real good idea because I was an addict at the time, a pretty hard-core cocaine addict," he told CNBC.

He started using cocaine in 1982, Lindell told the Salvation Army, switching to crack in the 1990s. He was still deep into his addiction when a lifelong sleeping problem pointed him to his million dollar idea.

Lindell never could find a comfortable pillow all his life. Then in 2004 he woke from a dream in the middle of the night with an idea for a pillow that would hold its shape. He jumped into the project, cutting up foam and material, learning to sew the pillows himself. When he finally had a finished model, he unsuccessfully pitched the items to chain stores.

While struggling to keep MyPillow going, Lindell finally bottomed out on Jan. 16, 2009. A devout Christian - today Lindell can always be seen with a cross dangling from his neck - he believed the MyPillow idea had come directly from God. He asked for the same intervention from above to end his addiction.

"I had one prayer that night," he told CNBC. "God, I want to wake up in the morning and never have the desire again. . . . I woke up the next day - and you've got to realize this is years of crack addiction - I go, 'Wow, something's different.'"

Lindell says his desire to get high was gone.

Infomercials would prove the key to ballooning the business. The 30-minute spots featured Lindell himself singing his product's praises.

"I want to come across as an average guy, talking to his neighbor," he told the Star Tribune in 2014. Business picked up after the spots started running in 2011. "By the end of the year, we went from five employees to 500," Lindell told CNBC. In 2017, MyPillow's founder estimated the company had spent $100 million on infomercials, with 30 million pillows sold to $300 million in annual revenue.

But the company has run into controversy. Prosecutors from nine California counties hit MyPillow with a lawsuit for running deceptive ads about the health and healing properties of the products. In 2016, the company settled the claims with $1 million in civil penalties, NBC News reported.

In January 2017, Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and North Dakota downgraded MyPillow's rating from an "A+" to an "F."

"Among other issues, BBB has attempted to persuade MyPillow to discontinue their 'buy one get one free' (BOGO)/other discount offers without success," Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota, said at the time in a news release. "Continuous BOGO offers, which can then be construed as an item's regular, everyday price, violate not only BBB's Code of Advertising - which all BBB Accredited Businesses agree to abide by - but also other state and national organizations' rules."

Lindell has since said he believes the downgrade could have been motivated by his vocal support of Trump.

The pillow entrepreneur first met Trump in the summer of 2016 when the then-candidate had a 30-minute meeting with Lindell about his business and all-American manufacturing process. Lindell told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal that Melania Trump asked for a pair of his pillows. "I overnighted him pillows from my Minnesota factory," Lindell said. "I got a personal email from him saying he and his wife really liked MyPillow."

Lindell was also invited to Trump's 2017 inauguration, where he hobnobbed with other high-profile Trump backers like Stephen Baldwin and Scott Baio.

The relationship has continued. Last weekend, Lindell was invited to Mar-a-Lago for dinner with the Trumps during the Easter holiday.

"The president shook my hand and told me, 'You are doing a great job, Michael.' He also said he is sleeping great on his MyPillow," Lindell told the Star Tribune.

Despite millions in the bank and proximity to the Trump inner circle, Lindell still regularly talks about his crack cocaine days. As he told CNBC last year, he still has the photo his protective drug dealers snapped - walking dead skin tone, disheveled hair, mug shot scowl - as a warning.

Lindell plans to use the photo as the cover of an upcoming autobiography.
Federal officials arrested 97 immigrants at a meat-processing plant in rural Tennessee on Thursday in what civil rights organizations said was the largest single workplace raid in a decade and a sign that the Trump administration is carrying out its plan to aggressively ramp up enforcement this year.

Ten people were arrested on federal immigration charges, one person was arrested on state charges and 86 immigrants were detained for being in the country illegally, Tammy Spicer, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement Friday. All of those arrested are suspected of being in the country illegally, she said. Immigration advocates said most were from Mexico.

The raid on Southeastern Provision in Bean Station, Tennessee, follows arrests at 7-Eleven stores and other workplaces nationwide. Last year, the nation's top immigration official said he had ordered agents to increase the number of work-site inspections and operations by "four or five times" this year, to turn off the job "magnets" that attract immigrants who are in the country illegally and punish employers who hire them.

The National Immigration Law Center and other immigrant advocates said the Tennessee raid was the largest since the George W. Bush administration and deployed many of the tactics of that era, with a surprise blitz of the factory and streets blocked by state and local authorities. ICE officials would not say where the raid ranked in terms of size.

"People are panicked," said Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, a statewide organization that came to the small town and set up intake centers at local churches where relatives could report their loved ones missing. "People are terrified to drive. People are terrified to leave their homes."

Of the 86 immigrants arrested on civil immigration charges, ICE released 32 but did not explain why. The remaining 54 were being detained, but the agency did not provide their names or say where they were being held.

The immigration arrests came as authorities executed a federal criminal search warrant at the cattle-slaughter facility, outside Knoxville in northeast Tennessee. ICE said it was a joint operation involving its Homeland Security Investigations arm, the Internal Revenue Service and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

In a federal affidavit, IRS Special Agent Nicholas Worsham said the family-run plant is under criminal investigation for allegedly evading taxes, filing false tax returns and hiring immigrants in the country illegally.

He alleged the facility failed to report $8.4 million in wages and to pay at least $2.5 million in payroll taxes for dozens of undocumented workers.

Federal agents began investigating the company months ago after Citizens Bank employees noticed that Southeastern Provision was withdrawing large sums of cash every week - more than $25 million since 2008. Worsham said the plant hired undocumented workers who were paid in cash and subject to harsh conditions, including long hours without overtime and exposure to bleach and other chemicals without protective eyewear.

The affidavit said the company's president and general manager is James Brantley and the employees involved are his wife, Pamela, their daughter Kelsey and a woman who is not part of the family.

Company officials did not return messages left at their offices or the Brantley family home.

A federal official said that the company managers had not been charged as of Friday and that investigators executed the search warrant to gather evidence. The U.S. attorney's office referred the media to court records, but those were not immediately available online.

Since Donald Trump entered the White House, immigration arrests have risen more than 40 percent and deportations from the interior of the United States have spiked 34 percent.

In January, ICE fanned out to 7-Eleven stores in the District of Columbia and 17 states, including California, Maryland, Michigan and New York. Agents arrived at 98 7-Eleven stores to interview employees and deliver audit notifications, making 21 arrests. At the time, agency officials said it was the largest operation targeting an employer in President Trump's tenure.

ICE conducted 1,360 employee audits last year and arrested more than 300 people for alleged criminal and civil immigration violations. Businesses were ordered to pay $97.6 million in judicial forfeiture, fines and restitution and $7.8 million in civil fines, the agency said.

Immigration hawks have called on the administration to step up work-site enforcement and to require all employers to use the federal E-Verify system, arguing that the Trump administration's focus on the border will not work if unauthorized immigrants continue to find jobs in the United States.

In 2017, Tennessee required nearly all employers screen new hires through E-Verify, a federal program that checks that they are authorized to work in the United States.

Last month, border apprehensions surged to 50,308 people, up 37 percent from the month before, prompting Trump to call for an emergency deployment of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Advocates for immigrants called on Congress to pass an overhaul of immigration law, saying the raids upend long-standing communities and that immigrants are filling jobs that Americans will not do. Despite the surge this month, border apprehensions were at a 46-year low last year.

"This incident points out once again the urgent need for immigration reform - a need that has existed for decades and through the administrations of both political parties," said the Rev. Chet Artysiewicz, president of Glenmary Home Missioners, a Catholic society that serves Appalachia and the South.

- - -

The Washington Post's Nick Miroff and Tracy Jan contributed to this report.
An unconventional welcome sign greets visitors in western Georgia.

It stands suitably outside the Harris County Sheriff's Office, only a stone's throw from the Alabama border, addressing would-be criminals and warning them not to cross the locals.

"Welcome to Harris County, Georgia," it reads, sarcastically adding: "Our citizens have concealed weapons. If you kill someone, we might kill you back. We have ONE jail and 356 cemeteries. Enjoy your stay! -Sheriff Mike Jolley."

The sheriff said it's his saucy way of welcoming people to his county while, at the same time, warning them that a number of the citizens exercise their right to bear arms.

"If you come and put someone's life in danger in Harris County, you could stand the risk of being put in danger yourself," he told The Washington Post.

The sign was put up Tuesday, amid a contentious national debate over Second Amendment rights in the wake of recent mass shootings, such as the one in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Jolley said he understands that some people support guns and others do not. But he claims that, in his county, a large part of the population approves of firearms.

"Georgia is very much a Second Amendment state, and Harris County is a strong Second Amendment county," he said.

In 2012, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which investigates matters for Congress, studied state gun laws across the country. Florida was found to have the highest number of valid concealed weapons permits - 887,000 - followed by Pennsylvania and then Georgia, which had about 600,000, according to the report.

Jolley said over that the past several years, concealed weapon permits in Harris County have tripled.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last year that data shows that people in Georgia are twice as likely to be shot and killed as those in New York.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 1,571 firearm deaths in Georgia in 2016. Both firearm deaths and homicides in the state were above the national average.

Jolley said he is giving out-of-towners fair notice about what they can expect.

"We want people to come and enjoy Harris County," he said, "but we want them to do it in a safe manner, and we want them to know that they're safe when they get here."

It's not the first time Jolley had made national news with his welcomes signs.

In 2015, he posted an unusual declaration wishing people a Merry Christmas.

"WARNING: Harris County is politically incorrect," the sign said. "We say: Merry Christmas, God Bless America and In God We Trust. We salute our troops and our flag. If this offends you . . . LEAVE!"

Jolley said he decided to speak up with his sign because, over the years, he had watched "the silent majority" grow even "more silent."

"It's time for the silent majority to stand up for our beliefs and not be ashamed," he told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer at the time.

Jolley said he changes the signs about every eight months or so and pays for them out of his own pocket. Since he has put up the most recent one, he said, the response has been about "99.9 percent positive."

But the sheriff doesn't seem to mind a little controversy, either.

"I've been in office a long time," he said, "so I like to stir the pot."
Ghanas President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday broke his silence on a controversial GhanaUnited State military agreement, which has drawn attention to Ghana in the past few weeks.

In an address to the nation, Akufo-Addo said the agreement, which was ratified by the Parliament a fortnight ago and has received the approval of Cabinet, would enhance peace efforts in West Africa.

The agreement has over the past month triggered agitation among opposition legislators, whose understanding of the contents of the military pact between Ghana and the US is that the nation was making concessions that amount to ceding part of the West African nations sovereignty.

But the Majority side in Parliament also argued that the agreement with the US was not new, but an advancement of standing agreements.

According to President Akufo-Addo, Ghana has not offered a military base, and will not offer a military base to the United States.

Under the agreement, US troops will use an airport runway that meets US standards, and have free access to Ghanas radio spectrum. In return, the United States will invest $20 million in equipment and the training of Ghanaian troops.
As the world blames it for a poison attack on British soil, the Russian government has launched what critics call a campaign of misdirection.

If so, Russian misdirection is extremely weird.

The country called a special meeting at the United Nations on Thursday, during which a Russian official blamed terrorists - perhaps - or any government but its own for poisoning a former Russian spy last month, with a Soviet-developed nerve agent that was later found on the front door of victim Sergei Skripal's home in England.

As the Russian U.N. ambassador suggested that the poisoning was a false flag operation to undermine his country, he asked darkly what had become of the victim's pet cats and guinea pigs. he tweeted, "It turns out Sergey Skripal has two cats and two guinea pigs. Were they also poisoned? Where are they and how are they treated? Important questions for the investigation."

He wasn't joking. The same day, a spokesman for Russia's Embassy in Britain suggested that Skripal's pets might hold clues to the real culprit behind the attack. While Skripal and his daughter are recovering in a hospital, the weeks-long absence of the animals from public sight has apparently troubled Russia.

"There were two cats and two guinea pigs living at Mr. Skripal's place," a press officer for Russia's Embassy in Britain said Thursday. "We don't have any information on their whereabouts or condition, and the otherwise well-informed British media are silent in that regard."

The press officer added that Russia had officially asked the British Foreign Ministry about the animals' fate, and whether they had also been treated for poison.

The next day, the government of Britain obliged Russia's request. One cat and two guinea pigs belonging to the ex-spy were dead, the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs told CNN.

It wasn't necessarily poison that killed them. Officials sealed and quarantined the house after Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious elsewhere in the town of Salisbury on March 4, CNN reported.

It's unclear how long the animals were trapped inside, but "when a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died" from lack of water, the department said in a statement. "A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanize the animal to alleviate its suffering."

Did this explanation satisfy Russia? Far from it. No sooner had news of the animals' demise gone to press than embassy officials suggested a coverup.

The Russian Embassy in Britain tweeted, "Are they seriously saying that nobody had a look at the pets at alleged crime scene? Were the animals' remains tested for toxic substances? Or just disposed of as an inconvenient piece of evidence?"

"It turns out Skripal's pets - two guinea pigs and a cat - are no longer alive," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced in a dire Facebook post on Friday.

Zakharova acknowledged that some might think it a joke to raise this. "In reality, though, they were really important pieces of evidence," she wrote.

How did British authorities not notice the guinea pigs before sealing the house, she asked. Why was the cat euthanized, and all the animals apparently cremated, when they might contain evidence of the nerve agent's origin?

In a postscript, the spokeswoman claimed that British defense researchers had spent decades testing nerve agents on 3,400 guinea pigs. (They were actually humans.)

And she accused the British media of covering all of this up.

"According to our information, BBC knew that the pets had been left in the house but for some reason kept quiet about it," she wrote. "We would like to hear explanations."

So far, the British government had not responded to Russia's latest accusations - that it might have poisoned its own people, framed Moscow for the crime, and destroyed a cat and two guinea pigs to hide the evidence.

Meanwhile, CNN reports, Britain has "offered no information about a possible second cat."

- - -

The Washington Post's Natasha Abbakumova and Paul Sonne contributed Russian translations for this report.
EU helps Georgian apparel industry compete on European markets

Since 1992, Elselema has been producing all types of clothing, with a particular focus on uniforms, outdoor wear, including padded down jackets, as well as casuals and knitted products for men, women and children. Its a family business which has grown to operate two factories both employing up to 200 workers  one in Tbilisi, and one in Lanchkhuti to the West of the Georgian capital.The company is no novice in overseas markets, sourcing fabrics from markets like China and Turkey, and exporting manufactured goods to Italy and Turkey. However, to develop further on the EU export market, Elselema needed to come into line with high European and international social and labour standards  a task that required not only substantial changes to the set-up of the company, but accompanying documentation to meet the demands of an international audit, necessary to receive the certificate which would give the company the green light to develop new partnerships on the European market.Now, however, the company is confident it can take advantage of these opportunities, with the help of a project funded by the European Union as part of its EU4Business initiative, which is building up a business cluster for the apparel industry in Georgia, and is supporting SMEs to upgrade their standards in the directions needed, and become competitive on the EU market.The SME Development and DCFTA in Georgia project is implemented by GIZ, which began by conducting a comprehensive market research of the apparel sector in Georgia, before approaching businesses in the sector to take part and receive practical assistance through the project  namely support for the implementation of leading European and international industry standards, in the form of the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI  focused on areas such as social responsibility, workplace safety and workforce protection), as well as participation in trade missions to establish contacts in potential EU markets.We took the opportunity to participate in the EU-funded project as it provides a chance for further development and making our business more competitive. We have already seen positive outcomes, said Elguja Mamasakhlisi, the founder of Elselema.As both the preliminary research and a subsequent trade mission to Germany last September showed, meeting BSCIstandards is among the key requirements of European buyers  a conclusion confirmed by Elselemas past experience.This project is essential for us in order to upgrade to international standards and connect with potential partners in Europe. For various reasons, some SMEs in Georgia are still reluctant to get involved in such projects, the founder of Elselema said, adding that without support they would struggle to meet the challenges that go with the opportunities in the framework of Georgias Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) Agreement with the EU.With the help of the EU4Business initiative and GIZ we have already been in Germany and met with our potential partners, we are now negotiating with some of them about price and other technical details. A retail branch of one of the leading German players in the apparel industry has shown interest in Georgia thanks to the project, Mamasakhlisi said.He has high expectations for cooperation with other apparel companies in Georgia as well, to concentrate and expand the capacities that the local apparel industry can offer. Apart from attracting more buyers, such cooperation could make it easy for the apparel industry to have a dialogue with the government and introduce legislative amendments that will profit this sector. For a single company such a dialogue with the authorities is mostly fruitless, says Mamasakhlisi.Its a view shared by Mikheil Getia, the head of another clothes manufacturer involved in the project, who argues that apparel industry representatives united in the cluster will be able to lobby far more effectively for the legal amendments they need.Established in 2016 with Georgian and Danish participation, his apparel company MPT Georgia is quite new on the Georgian market.Though the companys Danish shareholders have unlocked some European markets, MPT Georgia has also found it difficult to find new EU partners without the BSCI certificate.He also points to delays in approving a trilateral deal between Georgia, Turkey and the EU, as one of the major challenges for apparelcompanies, which need to import vital materials from Turkey. Agreement on the so-called Euro1 movement certificate would enable importers to buy in goods at reduced or zero rate of import duty under trade agreements between the EU and the beneficiary countries.The Euro1 certificate was activated between Georgia and the EU in 2014 within the DCFTA, and general consent has also been reached on the trilateral deal with Turkey. With joint efforts in the cluster we can hasten the enforcement of the trilateral agreement, which will lead to significant benefits for the Georgian apparel industry, Getia said.But the EU-funded project has also helped Getias company in other ways. One serious challenge was the shipment of small loads abroad, as freight companies were mainly interested in largercargos, while usingair service was expensive.The solution came during last Septembers trade mission to Germany: The project settled the problem as it brought us into contact with a company in Germany that now transports our small loads without any problems, Getia said.But looking ahead, perhaps the most significant contribution of the project is the support from GIZ experts for the BSCI audit.Getia says the companys Danish partnership meant it could export to Denmark, and from there to Germany, Great Britain, Norway and Canada. We were actively looking for new buyers, he adds, but without the BSCI certificate, the process was very slow.Not only did the project help him to prepare the dozens of mandatory documents for the BSCI audit, it helped to overhaul the way the company was set up, to ensure it met requirements.MPT Georgia first applied for the BSCI audit in July last year. At the time, the best they could expect was to receive a very low, D level.The auditor left behind his recommendations over the work safety and mandatory standards. We have tried to meet the requirements. The EU and GIZ experts completely changed the company set-up and helped us to go through the paperwork. Without their help, it would be impossible for us to prepare all the documents necessary for the repeat audit that is due to take place in April. I have high expectations that now we will receive either an A or B level for the certificate, which will enable us to contact new European buyers freely, Getia said.Preparing the BSCI documents was a challenge for another beneficiary, Materia LTD, which was established in 2003, exporting its clothes to the post-Soviet states, the United States, France, and Italy."Regarding work safety standards, we were ready for the audit. However, drafting documents for the audit was a big problem for us. Thanks to the EU and GIZ we did the job, and we will soon apply for the audit, said Lado Giorgadze, the head of the company.He added the project had also helped him to contact potential buyers in Europe and familiarise himself with European best practice in the field, adding the trade mission to Germany had been very interesting and fruitful.Now, Materia, which also received credit for export-related investment and business advice under a separate EU-funded project, is ready to face the future: We focus on continuous development  boosting our competitiveness, increasing the quality of our products, taking care of and creating better working conditions for our people. This is what makes our company stand out, says Giorgadze.After nine months of intensive work with Georgian producers and international consultants, the four companies taking part in the project  Elselema Ltd., Eurotex LLC, Fashion House Materia Ltd. and MPT Georgia are now ready to receive BSCI audits.EU4Business is an EU initiative bringing together all EU programmes assisting SME and private sector development in Georgia. It enables the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the EU Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, which gives Georgia access to a common market of 500 million consumers.
Flanked by the family of Jose Escobar, a Houston man who became a poster child of President Donald Trump's harsh immigration policies, U.S. Rep. Al Green on Friday proposed legislation to make it easier for deported immigrants with American families to legally return.

"This family has been torn apart by the government," said Green, a Houston Democrat. "This bill would allow the Escobars of this country to return without the enormous amount of red tape."

Escobar, who appeared at the press conference via a computer screen from his aunt's house in El Salvador, qualifies for a green card through his American wife, Rose. But congressional bars prevent immigrants who have been here without authorization from returning legally for as long as 10 years.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Illinois Democrat Luis Gutierrez, would allow immigrants with U.S. citizen spouses or children to apply for readmission without being subject to those bans.

It stands little chance of passing in the current political climate.

Lawmakers in Washington have been unable to reach agreement on any immigration policy, not even on protecting young immigrants who came here illegally as children, an idea that largely has bipartisan support.

Friday, the Trump administration further ramped up its crackdown on immigration, announcing a zero-tolerance policy of criminally prosecuting all those who cross the border illegally.

Though simply being here without authorization is a civil offense, improper entry is a federal misdemeanor. But most U.S. Attorneys limit which migrants they prosecute, because the sheer volume of offenders requires enormous resources, both in time and expense, leaving lawyers unable to get to more serious crimes.

The new practice would swell already overburdened federal dockets at the border and revives a controversial program known as Operation Streamline that started in Del Rio more than a decade ago.

Read more:Trump pressing for mass criminalization of illegal border crossers

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the "updated approach" was necessary to deter a recent influx in migrants, particularly of families and children.

Attorneys warned the policy would result in more family separations, as children cannot be kept in federal prison, and also more federal lawsuits. The American Civil Liberties Union has already sued the Trump administration about such a practice.

Green said he understood that passing the legislation would be difficult, and likely take time. But he said many on Capitol Hill felt similarly compassionate about constituents like Escobar who qualify for a way to legally remain here, but are caught in a cruel Catch-22.

By law, they must apply for their green cards at U.S. embassies in their countries of birth. But as soon as they leave, they are prevented from coming back by the 3- and 10-year-bars that punishes those who have ever been here illegally, no matter how briefly.

"I'm used to providing for my family," Escobar, 32, said through the shaky Internet connection.

"It's hard for me because I'm away from my kids, it's been a year and a lot of things have changed."

Escobar was one of the first immigrants to be deported after Trump took office and announced everyone here illegally would be a priority for deportation. During the last two years of his administration, President Barack Obama, known as deporter-in-chief for removing a record amount of immigrants, had focused instead on those who were criminals or had recently arrived here.

Read more: Deported immigrant trying to adjust to life alone in the foreign land of his birth

Escobar's case made headlines across the country as he was seen as largely sympathetic.

He came here from El Salvador as a teen, following his mother to Houston when he was 13 and qualifying for a temporary protected status for residents of certain countries that had been ravaged by natural disasters. Unbeknownst to him, he eventually lost his legal status through a paperwork error.

By the time he realized the mistake and married Rose, his high school sweetheart, his lawyer told him that it was too late. The government had already initiated deportation proceedings since his legal status had lapsed. If he applied for a green card through his wife, he would likely have to spend years outside the country waiting to adjust his status.

Not knowing what to do, the Escobars continued with their life. They had two children, Walter and Carmen, and bought a middle-class house in Pearland where Escobar helped run a paint company and juggled a contracting business on the side.

Eventually immigration agents found him, but Obama's administration in 2012 granted Escobar a temporary reprieve, allowing him to stay here legally as long as he committed no crimes and checked in with the administration every year.

He did as he was told, and then the rules changed.

Soon after Trump's announcement, Escobar arrived at his annual immigration appointment in February 2017, only to be quickly deported with just $20 in his pocket.

At the press conference Friday, Rose Escobar tearfully pleaded for compassion.

"It's been a year already, and I am hurting. My children are hurting," she said. "I'm working overtime, I'm selling my husband's equipment ... I'm a daughter, I'm a mother, I'm a wife. All I want is my family back."

Read more: Family of deported immigrant struggles to adjust to new normal

She said the last year had almost broken her family, and she has been overwhelmed with hateful comments on social media for "not doing things the right way," when what, she asks, could she have done?

"I'm not ordering a burger," she said. "I am doing things the right way and look how long it's taking."

Her son Walter, who is 8, has had to be the man-of-the-house. He worries about his mother, especially in moments like these when she cries, and he reaches out to touch her shoulder.

"I'm OK, Walter," she whispered, wiping away tears.

Carmen, 3, no longer wears diapers and speaks in full sentences, all precious developments which her father has had to watch through an Ipad screen from thousands of miles away.

In the coastal town of La Union, he stays in the house of an aunt, too afraid to wander the streets where gangs prey particularly on those they don't know. Such violence has made El Salvador one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

"What I miss about my dad is when he makes me food I like," Walter said shyly. "I miss about my dad taking me to school."

He looked at the cameras, standing tall.

"Even when Donald Trump is still here, we're going to fight until the end," the boy said. "Even when this family is broke, we'll still keep fighting."
Veronica May Gaga Eberhardt had an unusual start that led to a storybook marriage.

Eberhardt was born to carnival workers in one of the troupes tents, daughter Tracy Eberhardt-Schneider said.

After leaving the carnival, the family settled down in Texas City, where she grew up. As a teenager, she got a job at an ice cream shop.

One day, two soldiers walked in. She thought one of them was very good-looking, but the other one was more persistent, eventually persuading her to get married, her daughter said.

My dad was madly in love, Eberhardt-Schneider said.

The couple got married in 1942, during World War II. While Harry G. Eberhardt served overseas, the couple wrote to each other almost daily, granddaughter Aimee Candelas said.

If he couldnt send her a letter, then he sent a telegram, she said.

More Information Veronica May "Gaga" Eberhardt Born: March 10, 1926, Hollywood, Florida Died: March 23, 2018, San Antonio Preceded by: Husband Harry G. Eberhardt; parents Cleveland H. McGee and Maria T. Chardenal; two brothers Survived by: Daughters Theresa Eberhardt and Tracy Eberhardt-Schneider; sons Harry G. Eberhardt Jr. and daughter-in-law Barbara, and Charles E. Eberhardt and daughter-in-law Cathleen; four grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and 3 great-great-grandchildren Services: Funeral service 2 p.m. April 17 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery See More Collapse

He lived to be 90 and called her sweetheart up until the day he died, daughter Eberhardt-Schneider said. The couple was married for 65 years.

Eberhardt died March 23 at home, surrounded by those she loved. She was 92.

Her fun nature and hospitality made their home the fun place, where everyone wanted to be, Eberhardt-Schneider said.

After the war ended, the family was stationed in Germany and France, giving Eberhardt the opportunity to explore Europe.

She loved to travel, Eberhardt-Schneider said.

My mom and dad would go to Paris  she would barely let him put the luggage down in the room, and they were off.

When Eberhardts husband retired from the military in 1960, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Years later, her husbands job at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service brought the family to San Antonio.

Even after her husband left the military, Eberhardt continued to love traveling.

She loved going on road trips, especially to the beach, her daughter said.

In the 1970s, during trips with her daughter-in-law Cathleen Eberhardt, she met both musician Prince and actor Telly Savalas.

She also met Jackie Chan, whose fan club she had joined.

She flew to Hong Kong in 1998 and got to rub his shoulders, her daughter said.

She got to see him again during a 2003 trip to Hong Kong.

But one of her favorite places to visit was Paris.

She told me once, If I could see the Eiffel Tower one more time before I die I will be happy, her daughter said.

She did  in 1999.
JOURDANTON  A jury deadlocked Friday over a possible death sentence for convicted cop killer Shaun Puente, so state District Judge Donna Rayes sentenced him to life in prison without parole for the 2013 killing of San Antonio Police Department officer Robert Deckard.

The decision was automatic under state law. The Atascosa County jury had deliberated Thursday afternoon and Friday morning and could not agree on either sentence, the only two allowable for capital murder. The jurors left the courthouse looking exhausted, not speaking to news media or attorneys.

RELATED: How a bag of trash almost botched Puente's sentencing

Im not heartbroken about this, said Fred Williams, an uncle of the slain officer. Puente cant be a menace to society any longer. Even if he had gotten the death penalty there would not have been any closure. Thats a comfort word. We all have to move on with our lives, but I will never call it closure.

District Attorney Audrey Louis had told jurors early Thursday that Puente, 36, deserved to die for shooting Deckard by repeatedly firing a pistol out the back window of a car as police chased him in Atascosa County after midnight on Dec. 8, 2013.

Puente had robbed four small businesses in San Antonio at gunpoint in the space of two weeks and had a history of violence toward two former wives, testimony showed. Police said his girlfriend, Jenevieve Ramos, was driving the getaway car and also was charged with capital murder.

As Ramos and Puente  both dressed in a black mask, black jacket, pants and body armor  led the chase at at speeds over 100 mph south on Interstate 37 around 2 a.m., Puente leaned back in the passenger seat of their Mitsubishi Lancer and fired some 36 rounds of his 9 mm semi-automatic pistol at Deckards SAPD vehicle.

A ballistics expert testified that a one in a million shot struck Deckard in the forehead. Jurors watched an eerie dashcam video from his Chevy Tahoe as the SUV veered quickly into a wooded median, out of control, until it hit a tree.

Deckard, 31, died 13 days later, leaving a wife and two children. Fellow police officers and family members described him as a loving father who had the name of his daughter, Cheyenne, tattooed on his forearm.

I take Cheyenne out to Bobbys gravesite, her mother, SAPD officer Tammy Ayala, said in the five-week trials last day of testimony. She tells him how shes doing in school. She asks more questions now about what happened. I know the pain wont go away.

When Deckard would come to family gatherings, testified another uncle, Eddie Williams, you could hear the kids squealing, Bobbys here! Bobbys here. He loved children, and they loved him.

Prosecutors did not immediately comment on what effect Fridays sentence would have on their plans to try Ramos, who remains jailed in Wilson County, where she and Puente were finally captured. She is represented by San Antonio attorney Joel Perez and has a pre-trial hearing scheduled in Atascosa County next week.

Defense attorney Anna Jimenez wiped away tears as she spoke about the verdict.

First and foremost, my condolences go out to the Deckard family for all that they have gone through, said Jimenez, a public defender who has worked on more than a dozen death penalty cases. We appreciate what the jury has done. They were not going to move on their personal decisions, and I respect that.

Jimenez speculated, without having spoken to the jurors, that they might have had difficulty getting past the first of three issues the judge instructed them to decide before they could reach a death penalty  would Puente pose a continuing threat to society if ever released?

Defense lawyers had offered witnesses to document Puentes childhood of poverty, abuse and neglect and his adulthood as a low-functioning 6th grade dropout and methamphetamine addict. His jailers acknowledged Puente became cooperative and stopped violently resisting authority after his incarceration prevented further drug use.

Jimenez said Puente cried in a conference room after being sentenced, realizing he would not be put to death.

He didnt say much, she said. He was just processing what it all meant. He was thanking God and thanking us.

District court officials said Puente will likely be transferred to a state prison facility within about 10 days. He reserves the right to appeal his conviction, but it is not an automatic, constitutionally-required appeal as occurs with all death penalty sentences, a process that often takes a decade or longer in Texas before a convicted murderer is executed.

Ironically, in a state that leads the nation in executions, juries throughout Texas have dramatically turned from the death penalty since about 2005, when then-Gov. Rick Perry signed a law giving juries the option to sentence capital murder defendants to life in prison without parole.

Legal experts say some juries take that option because of Texas other unique distinction - leading the nation in the number of wrongful convictions. Small rural counties are also often reluctant to embark on expensive, multi-year capital murder cases that can cost nearly $1 million for legally-required indigent defense attorneys, investigators and experts.

Atascosa County, which had not had a death penalty trial since 1996, avoided that expense in the Puente case, having joined some 175 other Texas counties in contracting with a Lubbock-based organization called the Regional Public Defenders Office, which offers murder insurance to provide a defense team.

At a trial recess, Judge Rayes remarked that attorneys on both sides of the often emotional and contentious trial handled it with the utmost civility and professionalism. That was tested before the trial even started, when the defense unsuccessfully sought a change of venue because Louis had sent a list of potential jurors to county law enforcement officers and asked them, in a signed email, to help her identify those who wont be afraid to kill this guy.

Louis, a prosecutor under former Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, said afterwards she saw nothing wrong with the practice and would do it again.

Outside the courthouse, Eddie Williams, speaking for the Deckard family, said, We didnt get everything we wanted, but we do feel we got justice for Bobby Deckard.

An unsigned statement by Deckards family, released by SAPD officials, echoed that sentiment, and thanked the department, prosecutors, Atascosa County deputies and courthouse workers and the San Antonio community for unwavering support  over the past four plus years.

Bobby had a passion for helping people, it said. Please help us continue honoring his memory by also helping others in need.
A warm Friday in San Antonio will be followed by a significant drop in temperature, according to the National Weather Service.

After a high temperature of 86 degrees on Friday, a cold front will move into the area Saturday, bringing a low of 54 degrees in San Antonio. The high will be 61 degrees.
Authorities with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force on Thursday arrested a 44-year-old man accused of executing a man who was "begging for his life" with a shotgun at a West Side apartment.

The suspect, Moises Morales, now faces a murder charge in the death of Vincent Fisher, 31. He was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $150,000 bond early Friday.

RELATED: 'Endangered child' from Dallas could be in San Antonio

Morales is accused of shooting Fisher during an argument around 9:30 p.m. on March 31 at an apartment complex in the 2000 block of South Zarzamora.

"We're still investigating the exact motive behind the murder of Mr. Fisher," said Doug Greene, a spokesperson for the San Antonio Police Department, "but it's our understanding that several individuals were in that apartment complex prior to him being shot."

According to his arrest affidavit, Morales and Fisher started arguing that night and Morales pulled out the shotgun and pumped one round into Fisher. A witness told police that Fisher was "begging for his life when Moe walked up to him and shot him again in the head," killing him.

RELATED: 3 SAPD officers suspended for abandoning intoxicated woman who was later struck, killed by train

After allegedly killing Fisher, Morales gave a Bible to a man who was inside the apartment and witnessed the shooting. He then fled.

On April 5, the man who had Morales' Bible contacted police and told them about the execution-style killing. He said he didn't know Morales's true identity, but turned over the Bible to police.

Officers later discovered the name "Moises Morales" on the backside of the Bible's cover. After further investigation, police obtained a photograph for Morales and the witness positively identified him as the man who killed Fisher, according to the arrest affidavit.

Based on that evidence, authorities secured an arrest warrant for Morales.

On Thursday, officers with the San Antonio Police Department's Homicide Unit notified the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and the Texas Department of Public Safety's Violent Crimes Unit that Morales was in the 2000 block of Julia Ross.

RELATED: SAPD: Man shot in groin during argument over woman at NW side party

When authorities got to the location, they found Morales and arrested him around 10 p.m. without incident.

He was later escorted into a state trooper's squad car at police headquarters in front of reporters.

"God bless you," he told reporters as he got into the trooper's car to be delivered to the Bexar County Jail.

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
Border Patrol agents seized millions of dollars in marijuana and methamphetamine this week in separate incidents, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

On Tuesday, agents patrolling near Garceno noticed a pickup traveling at a high rate of speed. When agents caught up to the pickup, which they found abandoned, they discovered more than 600 pounds of marijuana inside.
Fair Oaks Ranch police are warning of candy laced with drugs in the San Antonio area after they were discovered during a recent traffic stop.

On Monday, police pulled over a car that contained 80 packages of candy laced with marijuana.
A San Antonio man is facing child sex assault charges after his 12-year-old relative accused him of abusing her.

The girl made the outcry in March after her mother told her she would spend some of her spring break at the home of Albert Charles Castro, 73, according to the arrest affidavit.
City leaders on Friday announced a detailed list of events for the San Antonio Tricentennials Commemorative Week, which is now about a month away.

The weeklong celebration of San Antonios founding comes just after Fiesta wraps up. Commemorative Week will run from May 1 through May 6.

At a morning news conference in Market Square, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and Tricentennial Executive Director Carlos Contreras laid out plans for the week, including a detailed schedule of events.

The momentum of our Tricentennial celebration has never been better, Nirenberg said. We welcomed visitors from across the country for the NCAA mens Final Four. Together, we packed San Antonio with events for everyone and showed the nation that we are a vibrant city with a rich history. Now, we are just a month away from what will be an exciting week.

RELATED: San Antonio's next River Walk unveiled before grand opening

The citys Tricentennial will be celebrated in the first week of May, Nirenberg said, because it was on May 1, 1718 that what would eventually become known as the Alamo was established.

Among the weeks festivities are celebrations recognizing the first phase of the San Pedro Creek project, which is turning a drainage ditch into a linear park, and a Founders Day Gala that will include delegations from eight of San Antonios nine sister cities.

Wolff highlighted the work Bexar County has done on San Pedro Creek and outlined the countys Commemorative Week festivities, which include a fireworks show along the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River on May 4.

The mayor also noted that as San Antonio celebrates its 300-year history, San Antonians are also contemplating what the city should be as it embarks on its next 300 years.

During Commemorative Week, Nirenberg said, the joy and pride of our entire community will be unified to harness our energy into events unlike our city has ever seen and we will showcase the confluence of cultures that have made San Antonio and Bexar County the community it is today.

As we reflect on our communitys complex history during this week, we will ask ourselves what kind of city we want to leave behind for the next 300 years, he said.
Since Bexar County commissioners approved $125 million in 2013 to revitalize San Pedro Creek, some have labeled the improvements project as a second River Walk.

Officials and project leaders see it differently.

The creek project, now being rebranded as the San Pedro Creek Culture Park one month before its first segment opens, will include a walking path thats similar in places to the River Walk. But the parallels mostly end there, County Judge Nelson Wolff said.

RELATED: Renderings show San Antonio landmark in new light

I believe the major difference is that the creek is telling a story. Weve done it through art work, we're doing it through the interpretive signs, we're doing it through the inscriptions, Wolff said while walking along the creek Thursday. Say you want to bring down some kids. You can tell the whole story of San Antonio as you go along here.

Project manager Kerry Averyt, a senior engineer with the San Antonio River Authority, noted the creek will be the epicenter of a full-fledged park, with trees and aquatic plants, tile murals and historical text, and bioswales to filter stormwater runoff.

The creek is going to be a lot more open. You won't see a lot of development that comes right up on the creek, Averyt said. We want to welcome people to come down and spend time here. We want them to stay in the park, and not just come in and out, or walk alongside there.

S.A. BACK IN THE DAY: World's Fair, HemisFair '68

The first segment of the park opens May 5 at noon, with live music, historical tours and family-friendly activities, SARA general manager Suzanne Scott said Thursday. The section runs for 2,200 feet from the flood tunnel inlet at North Santa Rosa Street to the Alameda Theater at Houston Street.

The park opening falls near the end of the Tricentennial Commemorative Week, 300 years to the day after Spanish explorers founded the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar to protect the Mission San Antonio de Valero, later known as the Alamo.

Thirty days before it opens, the segment has evolved from mostly loose dirt and rock to fully formed limestone walls along the creek, soil beds filled with plants and low walls along walkways with rough and uneven surfaces designed to keep off skateboarders and prevent people from sleeping on the walls at night.

The Sundt-Davila construction team also preserved about 60 percent of the creeks original retaining walls, some of which date to the 1780s, and will install aquatic plants between the original and new walls that Averyt said will filter out contaminants in the water.

Stainless steel panels on the tunnel inlet will form the pattern of the night sky as it appeared May 5, 1718, according to an information sign installed along the creek.

The panels will light up at night as water cascades over them, one part of an illumination ceremony set to take place during the May 5 opening ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Murals and public art along the creek also will light up for the ceremony.

Though most of the creek remains on track, one of its pre-eminent features, a massive stainless steel sculpture called Plethora, remains on hold over uncertain costs and while SARA waits to hear from artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada about additional details surrounding the design process, the parks public art curator, Carrie Brown, said Thursday.

As he seeks re-election in November, Wolff has received criticism from probate Judge Tom Rickhoff, his Republican opponent, for the courts funding of what Rickhoff often refers to as a flawed vision project and million-dollar goddess statue.

Without mentioning Rickhoff, Precinct 2 Commissioner Paul Elizondo on Thursday mentioned some criticism about some of the things that were doing here insofar as culture.

He pushed back by invoking an old saying: Any jackass can tear down a barn, but it takes a craftsman, and a skilled craftsman, to build one. Elizondo also is up for re-election.

Wolff and Elizondo spoke to media during a news conference that carried a noticeable campaign flair to it, with the two candidates lauding each others efforts on the creek. Elizondo called the creek a doorway to the West Side, and said he plans to encourage affordable housing along the park to avoid creating another Broadway-type corridor.

Many uncertainties remain for the Plethora sculpture, including its total cost and a date for when work will recommence. But the commissioners decided in December that the county wouldnt supply funding beyond the $735,000 initially set aside for the project.

Whatever amount that we are over, then it's up to us to figure out how to meet the funding gap, Brown said.

The San Antonio River Foundation was floated as a potential contributor, and Brown said its quite possible that we might work together. But exactly what that looks like, we haven't determined just yet.
Nick de la Torre/Staff

Mayor Sylvester Turner will have to find $29 million less as Houston enters its reliably tight budget season after the city council agreed to settle a 4-year-old lawsuit against an actuarial firm the city had blamed for contributing to its multi-billion-dollar pension crisis.

The overall settlement, which the council approved Wednesday with one dissenting vote, was $40 million -- less than 5 percent of what the city originally had claimed in damages. Of that, $11 million will go to the city's outside counsel, Susman Godfrey.
There have been many descriptions offered of President Donald Trumps attacks on the online retail giant, Amazon. Stupid. False. Wrong.

Here are a couple others: corrupt and an affront to the First Amendment.

The president is using his office to threaten and devalue a corporation because Jeff Bezos, its founder, chairman and CEO, also owns what the president calls the fake news Washington Post. In reality, the Posts reporting of candidate and President Trump has been top-tier journalism.

Fake news is the presidents criticism of all news organizations that accurately report on what he says and does, and what it all means for the country. So, another casualty: Say fake news enough and, presto, even accurate reporting is disbelieved.

A president publicly disputing items reported about him represents the give-and-take of any democracy that includes free speech and a free press.

But here the president is punishing a critic to muzzle a newspaper. This is behavior more common to banana republics. It should have no place in this country.

Trump claims that Amazon does not pay enough in taxes and that it is scamming the U.S. Postal Service. Both are mostly bogus claims.

What the president is essentially telling Bezos is, Nice little internet company you got there; be a shame if something happens to it. Harmless? Amazons stock price dropped following Trumps attacks.

Amazon doesnt pay enough in taxes? Thats from the first president in modern history to refuse to release his tax returns. Investigative reporting uncovered that Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 but avoided paying millions more because he claimed losses. So, is Trump paying his fair share? And, in fact, Amazon does pay taxes, though this hasnt always been so for sales taxes.

Suppose that the Postal Service did jack up the delivery rates for Amazon and other high volume packagers. If the $7 billion in profits the Postal Service gets from Amazon and the revenue from other sellers go away, this institution will be in the red even more than now.

A free press is dependent on freedom to write. If a president punishes a critic in one realm to muzzle that voice he owns in another realm, that is an attack on the free press  hence an attack on the First Amendment.
GlobeIn Artisan Box

4.1 overall rating

266 Ratings | 76 Reviews

The GlobeIn Artisan Box is a monthly subscription that sends you original crafts by global artisans. Each box contains handcrafted items from around the world and the stories of the artists who made the pieces.

There are two levels of subscription: Essential and Premium. The Essential subscription comes with one handpicked artisan item each month, and the Premium comes with a full curated collection. Each month (with the Premium subscription) you have a choice of two new themes, as well as any theme from the previous month that may not have sold out. They also have a shopping club they call the Starter in which you can choose one of three levels of monthly membership, which is applied as a credit to shop in their online store at a discounted rate.

This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

This is a review of the Premium box, which is $40.00 per month.

About This Fair Trade Subscription Box

The Subscription Box: The GlobeIn Artisan Box

The Cost: The Premium box is $40 per month + free shipping for the first month ($10 shipping for future months).

COUPON: Use code MSA60 to 60% off the first month in a 3-month subscription.

The Products: Handcrafted items from around the world curated around a monthly theme.

Ships to: U.S. (free shipping for the first month, $10 shipping for future months)

Good to know: Other subscriptions are available: The Essential box includes one item for $10 per month+ free shipping for the first month ($3 shipping for future months). There is also a Starter level where your monthly membership fee gets put towards credit to use in their online shop.

GlobeIn Artisan Box Fashion Forward April 2018 Review

Each box from GlobeIn contains a pamphlet that talks more about the theme for the box and the items inside.

Just a heads up, there arent prices listed in the booklet for the items, so Im going off the prices given in this Globein spoilers post!

Caftan, India  Listed Value $50.00

This sheer caftan is the perfect beach coverup. Its breezy and beachythe color reminds me of sea glass or the color of a crisp Caribbean shore. It has a loose, one-size-fits-all kind of fit. To me, it fit like a size 2X tshirt might. (I usually wear a large.)

Subscribers might also get the same caftan in this peachy pink color instead of the mint! Which one are you hoping for?

Palm Leaf Clutch, Mexico  Listed Value $20.00

Ive gotten a lot of palm leaf baskets and catch-all dishes from this subscription box, but this is the first time Ive seen a clutch! What a neat idea! The bag is about 9 x 6 and has a bottom pocket and a close-fitting lid that slips over top. Its smooth and flexible to hold and has such a unique, organic vibe. I love the dark charcoal-colored accents, too!

Pineapple Ring, Bali  Listed Value $25.00

This ring is super cute! The brass ring has a little notch in the back that you can use to adjust the size in tighter (or looser, if youd like). The pineapple feels super summeryitd be great to wear to a barbecue or to a night of drinks at the tiki bar. The card the ring is on has a coupon on the back for a future purchase, too!

Coconut Hand and Body Cream, 2 fl. oz., Togo  Listed Value $3.00

Ive tried plenty of coconut scrubs and lotions and hair treatments in my time, but this is hands-down the best smelling coconut product Ive ever experienced! This vegan, gluten-free, paraben-free, non-animal-tested lotion smells of pure, delicious coconutits that perfect, mildly vanilla, dreamy, creamy aroma that I imagine when I think about coconut. Even better, this nourishing lotion supports sustainable development in West Africa through programs like providing bikes, funding births, planting trees, and more!

Glee Gum, United States  Listed Value $1.00

This little pack of gum is made sans-aspartame or other artificial ingredients in the United States. I got a bubblegum flavor, though I think subscribers might get one of about 7 flavors. Gum isnt my favorite, but I can appreciate this little item as a fun extra in this box of otherwise really impressive finds!

Bonus Item: Re/Make Wear Your Values Pin

I didnt know anything about this movement, but I love it! Apparently last September, the folks from Re/Make hosted events during New York Fashion Week to draw attention to the systems and practices along the fast fashion supply chain. This organization is pro slow fashion, which prioritizes ethical working conditions, fair wages, and environmentally friendly practices in regards to making and buying fashion. This 1 wide pin is super lightweight and thinner than most enamel pins Im familiar with, but its striking with its black and gold palette. I cant wait to pop this on my jacket as a reminder every time I head out to shop.

The Verdict: I really loved this box! The fashion aspect was definitely there, but I think the stronger theme was a beachy, warm-weather vibe, which felt super refreshing after a (VERY) long, cold winter. Globein does a great job of providing an assortment of unique itemsI got something to wear, something to taste, something for self-careso that it has a well-roundedness that not all subscriptions have. Its definitely one of my favorite lifestyle subscriptions. The box costs $50.00 (cost + shipping for me), which means I paid about $10.00 per featured item (or $8.33 if you count the pin). That feels a little high for the gum and the ring, but Id suspect to pay a little more for the clutch and the caftan, so it balances out just fine in my eyes. Im also willing to pay a little more to know that what Im getting is supporting real people around the world.

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes! If you subscribe by the 15th, you can choose to get this box. Premium Box schedule from Globein:

1st  5th: Customize your theme and choose add-ons!

10th: Last day to cancel or skip before getting this months box (and add-ons).

15th: Last day to update your shipping address

18th  21st: Your box starts to ship!

Coupon  Use coupon code MSAWELCOME to save $10.00 off any subscription

Value Breakdown: At $50.00 for this box ($40.00 + $10.00 shipping), each item has an average price of about $10.00. But I estimate that I got $99.00 worth of retail value (not counting the bonus item). Using those estimated numbers, proportionally, I paid the following for each item:

Caftan  $25.25

Clutch  $10.10

Ring  $12.63

Hand cream  $1.52

Gum  $0.51

Check out all of our GlobeIn reviews and the Artisan Subscription Box Directory for similar boxes!

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

What do you think of this months GlobeIn Artisan Box?
FORMER Vice-President and opposition Peoples Rainbow Coalition (PRC) presidential candidate Joice Mujuru has set in her first 100 days priorities, pledge to leave no stone unturned in the search for missing human rights activist, Itai Dzamara if she wins the upcoming general elections.

Dzamara was reportedly abducted by suspected State security agents in March 2015 and has not been seen despite assurances by the Zanu PF government that it would investigate the matter.

Mujuru, in a 10-pledge summary of her coalition groupings election manifesto said: The PRC government will institute two judicial inquiries on disappearances: One on missing persons such Dzamara and Paul Chizuze, among others and another on the missing $15 billion as well as other illicit financial flows.

She also pledged to establish a leaner, more productive, gender and age sensitive Cabinet characterised by a skills mix, experience, technical astuteness and national integration.

Mujuru, who served as deputy to former President Robert Mugabe for 10 years before her expulsion in 2015 on corruption allegations, said her government would also launch a war against corruption.

The PRC government will fight and uproot corruption, bribery, fraud and theft wherever it might be found. A lifestyle audit on public officials will be carried out at the very outset of the Mujuru-administration, she said.

The PRC government will ensure that every child will get free access to primary education. And long term concessional loans will be extended to students in colleges, universities and tertiary institutions, she said.

In trying to resolve the logjam in the agricultural sector following Zanu PFs disastorous land reform programme, Mujuru said she would provide bankable title deeds to A1 and A2 farmers. Former commercial farmers will receive their compensation as per the provisions of the Constitution.

Zanu PF has been dithering on implementing a constitutional provision that provides for devolved system of government and Mujuru said she will not waste time as well as repeal repressive legislation, such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act as well as the Public Order and Security Act.

Zimbabwe, under Mujuru, will also rejoin the Commonwealth club of former British colonies and the Rand Monetary Union to resolve the current cash crisis.

 NewsDay

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There was a full drama in Akure, Ondo state on Thursday, April 5, when pregnant women with their protruding stomachs staged a protect at the state Specialist Hospital complaining against outrageous medical fees introduced by the present administration in the state.

Vanguard reports for hours, medical activities were disrupted by the expectant women who lamented the 300 percent increase.

Drama as 200 pregnant women protest in Ondo. Photo credit: Vanguard

Legit.ng gathered that the total number was about 200 that blocked the main entrance of the hospital for hours seeking the state government to urgently reverse the new N25,000 charge for normal deliveries and over N50,000 for complicated deliveries.

READ ALSO: My manifesto will transform Nigeria - New APC presidential aspirant

About 200 pregnant women protest in Ondo. Photo credit: Vanguard

Others besieged the Ante-natal section of the hospital preventing operations in the hospital.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that a group of protesters supporting President Buhari have taken over the street of the federal capital Abuja, on the morning of Thursday, August 10.

The protesters who are members of the Coalition for Good Governance and Change Initiative group were spotted at Unity Fountain carrying placards and singing solidarity songs in support of the ailing president.

How Nigerian youths protest made the National Assembly pass the 'Not Too Y Legit.ng TV:

Source: Legit.ng
- President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that his government has no hidden religious agenda

- He he appointed more Christians than Muslims when I was a Military ruler

- Buhari urged the religious leaders to work towards the broader goal of building a strong and unified nation

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that there was no hidden religious agenda in his government contrary to the rumours being peddled by some Nigerians.

Legit.ng gathered that in a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, the president on Thursday, April 5, in Abuja, called on religious leaders to work towards the broader goal of building a strong and unified nation, and avoid insinuations that could divide the populace, especially along religious lines.

READ ALSO: Nigerian youths will inherit a prosperous country under my watch - Buhari

Receiving a delegation of the Arewa Pastors Non-Denominational Initiative for Peace in Nigeria led by Bishop John Abu Richard, President Buhari said religious leaders have the responsibility of creating an enabling environment for peace and development to thrive.

Some voices, for political or ethnic reasons are making unguarded statements accusing the government and myself in particular of religious bias.

Let me assure you, honourable clergymen that this is far from the truth. In my career as a soldier, administrator, and politician, I have never veered from my oath of office.

When I had the honour to lead a Military Government there were more Christians than Muslims in the Federal Executive Council and the Supreme Military Council.

This was not by design but I appointed people on their merit without the slightest bias. The present Federal Executive Council is also evenly balanced; again not by design but by respecting and rewarding individual qualities, the President said.

President Buhari noted that he was delighted at the proposition to hold a one day prayer and fasting meeting for the nation on April 26, assuring that he would direct the Inspector General of Police to provide adequate security for the gathering.

In his remarks, the leader of the delegation said more than 45,000 pastors in the Northern part of Nigeria had registered with the initiative to use their pulpits for the propagation of the gospel of peace, and shun political distractions.

He urged other pastors to support the administration as it works towards ending the violence in various parts of the country and avoid politically coloured sermons.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that a group of Northern Pastors under the umbrella of Arewa Pastors Peace Initiative, Nigeria (APPIN), Thursday, April 5, in Abuja told President Muhammadu Buhari that those accusing his government of having Islamisation agenda were the opposition elements trying to destabilise the government.

Benue IDPs: Education amidst crisis - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng News
- Yerima Shettima alleges that Olusegun Obasanjo created the same problems for which is assuming a self-appointed messiah

- Shettima says even though the administration of Muhammadu Buhari has not performed up to expectation, the president is morally better than Obasanjo

- He warned the former president against continued meddlesome in governmental affairs

The national president of the Arewa Youth consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima, has lashed out at Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's former president, for allegedly meddling in the affairs of the country, saying the latters interference is now disastrous.

In a personally signed statement received by Legit.ng, Shettima warned Obasanjo to stop turning himself into a self-appointed messiah and trying to define Nigeria's future.

"For quite some time, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has turned himself into a self-appointed messiah in the efforts to define the political and democratic future of this country.

READ ALSO: Tenure elongation: APC has resolved its issues - Oyegun

"And the result of this meddlesomeness by the former president has been disastrous for the country," the AYCF president said in the statement on Thursday, April 5.

According to him, is has become disgusting to note that the former president is still bent on interfering with Nigeria's new dimension of addressing leadership problems.

He recalled that these problems were created by the likes of Obasanjo.

Let him know that this time it would be unacceptable.

We noticed that the former president has made it a duty to lampoon president Buhari at every given opportunity, in a desperate bid to portray himself as Nigeria's democratic superman.

Much as we are equally disappointed in the underperformance of President Buhari, we are not blinded by the fact that Obasanjo has no moral high ground for his repeated attacks on Buhari.

The current president may have his serious shortcomings but he is still morally a better leader than Obasanjo.

We challenge Obasanjo to tell us any of the current political and economic difficulties confronting the nation that are not connected to his meddlesomeness and manipulations. Let him exonerate himself from the current mess facing the country, if at all he can, he said.

Shettima said his organisation would like to tell the former president that Nigeria has already come a long way from the era of manipulative and so-called former leaders.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 new app

It will no longer be acceptable for any old cargo to decide the fate of over 160 million Nigerians. We have had enough of this domineering old men in the democratic space and we are now saying its over.

We urge Nigerians of good conscience to ignore Obasanjo's rantings and face the reality of this defining moment in the history of this nation, he added.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) dismissed a statement from chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, Paul Unongo, suggesting that the northern region had endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari as sole candidate for the 2019 presidency.

Should President Buhari seek reelection in 2019? (Nigerian Street Interview) - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- The federal government reportedly spent 18m refurbishing a ship purchased on behalf of the country for 2.8m

- This was disclosed by MT Mbu, a former minister of foreign affairs, in his autobiography

- 6.5m had been approved for the flagship; but Mbu was able to save the nation the sum of 3.7m, as he managed to purchase the vessel for 2.8m

- The deceased ex-minister also criticised the former governor of Cross River, Donald Duke, for the Tinapa project

Matthew Mbu, Nigerias former minister of foreign affairs, has narrated how a ship he purchased on behalf of the country for 2.8 million was refurbished by the federal government, for 18 million, Punch reports.

Mbu, who died on February 6, 2012, narrated the event in his autobiography. He left the manuscript, which was published in his honour, by his family.

Legit.ng notes that in the book titled, Mbu: Dignity in Service, the former minister stated that after purchasing the ship for 2.8 million, he was surprised when the vessel was sent for refitting to the tune of 18 million by officials at the Ministry of Defence, shortly after he left office.

Mbu noted that the sum of 6.5 million was approved for the flagship by the minister of defence at the time, Alhaji Muhammad Ribadu, but that he (Mbu) was able to save the nation 3.7 million, as he managed to purchase the vessel for the Nigerian Navy for 2.8 million. According to the former minister, he fought corruption by serving with dignity.

READ ALSO: Iyiola Omisore reportedly dumps PDP

Furthermore, he also disclosed that a gift of two ships was presented to Nigeria by the then Netherlands minister of defence, Piet de Jong, who was his friend. Piet de Jong had presented the vessels as his contribution to the Nigerian Navy.

Mbus son, Matthew Mbu Jr, told journalists: MT Mbu did not only come back with a flagship befitting the NN for 2.8m and saved 3.7m, but had a deal to pay back the 2.8m in 10 years interest-free.

The story of Mbu tells us how to stop kickback and start kicking forward. Unfortunately, and it was a sad moment for Mbu, when he left the ministry and one of those ships was sent for refitting at the cost of 18m.

In the book, the late minister also criticised the former governor of Cross River, Donald Duke, for the Tinapa project, which he described as non-viable. He queried: Politically, it was myopic at conception; why should the resources of a state be frozen for decades? What about the cost of maintaining a non-viable project?"

Mbu Jr disclosed that his fathers autobiography would be launched posthumously on April 10, 2018 at the Shehu YarAdua Centre, Abuja.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that MT Mbu disclosed in his autobiography, that ex-presidents Umaru YarAdua and Goodluck Jonathan failed in office because they did not prepare for the presidency.

Mbu also stated that Jonathan could not tackle corruption and became myopic with Ijaw agenda. He also lamented over the fact that former Rivers state governor Peter Odili, who was ready to lead the nation in 2007, lost to the antics of a mischievous individual.

What does Nigeria need right now? - on Legit.ng TV:

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- The four suspects were arrested in a village in Bauchi state by troops of the Nigerian Army

- The Nigerian Army released the names of the arrested suspects

- The suspects, according to the Nigerian Army, confessed to the alleged crime

As part of efforts to rid Nigeria of criminality, troops of 33 Artillery Brigade, Bauchi partaking in Operation Lafiya Dole arrested four cattle rustlers at Yayari village Ningi local government area of Bauchi state, on Tuesday 3 April 2018, the Nigerian Army has said.

In a statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, the director Army public relations, the suspects were named as Musa Mohammed, Magaji Isyaka, Jao Musa, and Nura Bello.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo must stop carrying himself as Nigerias messiah - Shettima

While interrogating the suspects they confessed to have rustle two cows and sold to one Alhaji Ado who is at large.

The arrested cattle rustlers. Credit: Nigerian Army

Effort is ongoing by Nigerian Army troops deployed with support from other security agencies to trail Alhaji Ado and other suspects to put an end to this dirty business.

Troops also maintain surveillance, intensify patrol and continue to monitor the general area to deny cattle rustlers freedom of movement, the statement said.

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Legit.ng earlier reported that the efforts by the troops by the Nigerian Armys Operation Lafiya Dole to rid the north-eastern part of the country of terrorism and other similar crimes recently yielded fruit with the capture of one of the most wanted suspects.

A short statement by Brigadier General Texas Chukwu, the director Army public relations, confirmed the arrest of the suspect and three others whose photographs were also released.

Though the name of the Boko Haram member was not given, the statement read: One of the Boko Haram suspects in white shirt is No.5 on the Nigerian Army wanted list and three other suspected members of the group have been arrested by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole.

Robbers return firearms to Nigerian Police | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Jigawa police have seized materials that were to be distributed by a senator in Dutse, the state capital

- Some of the materials seized included motorcycles and N1,165,000 in cash which were to be distributed to supporters of his party

-It was reported that Governor Badaru Abubakar of the state was expected to distribute the materials on behalf of the senator, Muhammad Nakudu

Police in Jigawa on Sunday, April 1, seized materials including vehicles and N1,165,000 in cash Senator Muhammad Nakudu arranged for distribution to supporters of his party in Dutse, the state capital, Premium Times reports.

Legit.ng notes that the seized items included a car, four motorcycles, 30 hospital beds, 23 water pumps, 110 yards of brocades and 11 women wrappers.

According to the police commissioner in the state, Bala Senchi, the materials were confiscated to avoid a clash between rival factions of the All Progressives Congress from Gwaram local government area of the state.

READ ALSO: There is no plastic fish in Nigeria - NAFDAC

The incident occurred at Aminu Kano Arena in the state capital where Governor Badaru Abubakar was expected to distribute the empowerment materials to party faithful on behalf of Senator Nakudu.

The commissioner said that the police had to move in after a group announced the suspension of the local leadership of the party which would have received the materials.

He said: The senator distributed some items to people in his constituency but a crisis erupted among beneficiaries in Gwaram as a result of misunderstanding between two factions of the party.

Sensing that the problem could cause a breakdown of law and order, we acted immediately and took custody of the materials. All the materials are being safely kept until the crisis is resolved and the right party executives come and take them.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the police command in Jigawa state recovered 119 assorted firearms, 65 rounds of ammunition and six life cartridges in the ongoing nationwide recovery of prohibited and illegal firearms by the police.

The commissioner of police in the state, Bala Senchi, disclosed this at a press conference in Dutse, the state capital on Tuesday, April 3.

Sanci said the exercise was conducted in compliance with the directive of Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to police commands to mop up, seize and recover illegal firearms in the country.

Are Nigerian Policemen the worst in the world? - on Legit.ng TV

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- A member of House of Representatives, Rimande Shawulu, has warned President Buhari against approving $1billion for arms procurement without NASS approval

- He said there would be serious trouble if any money goes out for such purpose without approval

- The minister of defence, Mansur Dan Ali, was reported to have said that the president had approved 1billion dollars for arms procurement to fight insurgency

The chairman, House of Representative committee on Army, Rimande Shawulu, on Thursday, April 5, said President Muhammadu Buhari is courting trouble if he approves one billion dollars for arms procurement without the approval of the National Assembly.

The Nation reports that he said there would be serious trouble if any money goes out for such purpose in that the president lacks the constitutional powers to embark on such solo procurement without the mandate of the legislature.

READ ALSO: There is no plastic fish in Nigeria - NAFDAC

Legit.ng gathered that Shawulu who is representing Donga/Ussa/Takum/Special Area Constituency of Taraba state made the remarks in an interview with journalists shortly after the opening ceremony of the second procurement awareness seminar organised by the directorate of procurement, Army headquarters, at the Army Resource Centre, Abuja.

Reacting to reports quoting the minister of defence Mansur Dan Ali as saying that the President had approved 1 billion dollars for arms procurement to fight insurgency and other criminal activities in the country, the lawmaker said he was optimistic that the Ministers statement is a mere policy pronouncement.

He said: The fact of the matter is that there are processes for money coming into the federation accounts for the money to be used.

And other point that we must note is that a lot of times, pronouncements are policy statements which are not executed, however, its not as if as at that yesterday, when the announcement was made, the federation account was debited. No, it doesnt happen that way.

When the president says hes going to spend money, theres a process that is followed before the money is spent. So I want you to understand that, its not as if money has gone out.

However, if money has gone out without parliamentary approval, thats a problem, its a very serious problem if money went out without parliamentary approval", Shawulu said.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, in his opening speech said it is clear that the operational capability of the Nigerian Army today depends on the availability of requisite hardware, highly trained personnel and other essential resources.

He said in the past few years, the army has no doubt taken robust steps and placed policies in enhancing its procurement plans and processes with a view to meeting its overarching constitutional roles.

The Army Chief said the theme for this years seminar, "Optimizing the Operational Capabilities of the Nigerian Army through an Effective Procurement System, was quite unique and significant, especially in view of the accute need to strengthen the capacity of the Nigerian Army towards meeting the present growing security challenges.

The security challenges facing our dear country manifest in the forms of terrorism, insurgency, separatist movements and banditry amongst others,  he said.

He, however, charged participants to reflect on the theme bearing in mind the opportunities to enhance the Nigerian Army capabilities, building upon ongoing successes in our operational commitments and improving our Procurement methods as well as processes in line with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007

This seminar, therefore, provides a veritable platform for us to familiarize and educate ourselves sufficiently on the Procurement matters that would enable the Nigerian Army compete successfully in the opportunities that arise from the implementation of the national budget

However the director of procurement, Army headquarters, Brigadier General E T Essien, in his welcome address, said the seminar was convened in line with the Nigerian Army training directive 2018.

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The objective of the seminar, he explained, was to develop the capacity of the Nigerian Army personnel on procurement procedures in accordance with the Public Procurement Act, PPA 2007.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Ita Enang, presidential assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly matters says the president wont, ECA, to fund the fight against insecurity without approval from the national assembly.

Martin Luther King Award Scandal: Buhari recognized for leadership? - on Legit.ng TV

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- Some Christian leaders are reportedly indifferent in President Muhammadu Buhari's second term in office

- The national chairman of the group Pastor Aminchi Habu said it is a shame that the APC members are fighting themselves in almost all the states of the country

- Habu said the party led-government has failed Nigerians going by its inability to solve the security challenges

A religious group United Christian Leaders Eagle Eye Forum (UCLEEF) has turned down calls in some quarters especially from the Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), urging President Buhari to run for a second term.

Vanguard reports that the group through its national chairman Pastor Aminchi Habu made its indifference known Thursday, April 5, during a press conference in Abuja.

Habu said the APC led-government has failed Nigerians going by its inability to solve the security challenges, youth unemployment issue, stabilize the economy and reduce poverty in the country.

READ ALSO: NAFDAC passes important information to Nigerians concerning plastic fish

According to him, it is time for northern leaders and their counterparts in the south to unite and present a formidable candidate that will take over from the present government.

He said: ''We are calling on prominent Nigerians like General Yakubu Gowon (rtd), Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), General Abdusalami Abubarkar (rtd), and Gen. Aliyu Gusau (rtd), to team up and work together towards presenting a formidable candidate who will be accepted by all Nigerians in the 2019 Presidential Election.

''Jerry Gana, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, General Theophilous Danjuma (rtd); Emir of Zazzua, Dr Shehu Idris; the Northern Elders Forum (NEF); the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF); leaders of Northern Youths Organizations and other prominent Nigerians are not left out in this call.''

He, however, called on the youths to actively participate in the political process by obtaining their PVCs so as to wrestle power from the old brigade politicians who have ran out of ideas. He also urged the youths not to mortgage their future for the peanuts they get from the current political elite who have taken the country several steps backwards. Just like PDP failed Nigerians before the 2015 election, APC as a party has also failed Nigerians ahead of 2019 election.

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Habu added: ''All we see within the ruling party is disunity, and the party is good at blaming PDP for their incompetence to bring solution to Nigerias problem.

''And it is also a shame that the party members are fighting themselves in almost all the states of the country.

''If they cant coordinate themselves, then, how can they coordinate Nigeria; so, on this point, I am saying that PDP and APC have failed Nigeria and we cant allow them to rule us again.

''In 2015, Nigerians where looking for a saviour to bring them out of hardship, and APC promised us a bright future under the change mantra if elected; the result is this present hardship.''

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that President Buhari met with a delegation of Christian leaders at the State House in Abuja on Friday, November 10 to discuss the state of the nation. The Christian leaders delegation was led by the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria Olasupo Ayokunle.

The Christian leaders, while meeting with the president, lamented the herdsmen crises in the nation and the alleged issue of one-sided appointment in the Buhari's administration.

Are Nigerians truly tired of President Buhari? on Legit.ng TV:

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Due to low employment rate in Nigeria, youth have taken it upon themselves to take up menial jobs in order to earn a living. They do this despite their leaving school certificate.

The pictures of a young man just went viral on the internet as he was spotted hawking pure water on the streets in Abuja. The man is from Sokoto but lives in the Federal Capital Territory.

Man identified as Obinna Dona Dimkpa shared his picture with Legit.ng. Dimkpa added that the name of the young man is Aliyu Abubakar and was seen hawking sachet water around Maraba building market, Abuja.

Aliyu Abubakar

READ ALSO: Lovely photos of Nigerian couple feeding each other during the wedding ceremony

Abubakar hawked his sachet water rocking a white shirt, black trouser and a blue tie. He also wears his school ID card. The name of the school he attended was Babcecil Schools.

See more of his pictures below:

Handsome Nigerian man Aliyu Abubakar spotted hawking pure water in a suit

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Aliyu Abubakar showing off his ID card

Aliyu Abubakar

May God bless his hustle!

Success Story of akara seller who makes a minimum of N10,000 daily | Faces of Nigeria - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit Nigeria
- Bukola Saraki describes the robbery attack on five banks and killing of some people in Offa as heinous

- Saraki says he has discussed with Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state over the incident

- He declares that the perpetrators of the act would be brought to book

The president of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, has declared that he would support Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state to ensure that all those who took part in the robbery attacks on banks in Offa on Thursday, April 5, are brought to justice.

Saraki said, in a statement obtained by Legit.ng, that he spoke with the governor to express his condolence over the killing of some residents and police personnel by the robbers, numbering about 15, who attacked five banks.

Yesterdays savage attack on unsuspecting citizens and establishments in Offa LGA, that led to significant loss of lives and injury is a despicable act committed by cruel individuals.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo must stop carrying himself as Nigerias messiah - Shettima

Make no mistake, there will never be any valid grounds or rationale behind such violence that has left many families without their loved ones - and one more community in grief and shock.

Last night, I spoke to Governor Ahmed to express my condolence on the lives that were lost in the attack, and we both agree that no stone will be left unturned until the perpetrators of this heinous act are caught and brought to justice.

Moving forward, it is also important that we all work together to ensure that this does not reoccur. We all must co-operate at various levels to increase the security of our communities.

I pray that the souls of those that we lost yesterday are granted places amongst the righteous ones. My prayers and support will continue to be extended to all the affected families, and we will remain relentless until everyone who planned or carried out this attack faces the full wrath of the law, he said.

Legit.ng earlier reported that there was confusion in Offa, a town housing a federal polytechnic in Kwara state, on Thursday, April 5, as heavily armed robbers reportedly raided some banks and shot sporadically leading to chaos among residents and customers.

The report said some of those who were killed in the incident included policemen, complainants, bank customers and market people.

The robbers also reportedly carted away huge amounts of money. According to the report, the bandits, entered the town around 4:45 pm and operated till about 5:40 pm after blocking roads from both Ilorin and Osogbo ends. They were said to have escape through Igosun area of the town.

Herdsmen attacks: Benue's Attorney-General explains anti-grazing law | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
The major headlines for mainstream newspapers today, Friday, April 6, are focused on the tussle for the national chairmanship position of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the fresh herdsmen attack in Benue state, the $1bn for arms procurement by the federal government and the outcry by the Senate over the poor performance of the N1.5tr social investment scheme.

This Day is reporting that stakeholders of the APC have turned their sights on the national chairmanship seat, barely 24 hours after governors of the party and the National Working Committee (NWC) seemingly resolved the quagmire that had arisen over President Muhammadu Buharis rejection of the 12 months tenure extension granted to elected and appointed executives of the party at all levels.

According to the publication, names of possible contenders for the position are already being bandied about; prominent among whom are the incumbent national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; the former governor of Edo state, Adams Oshiomhole; and a former governor of Cross River state in the Third Republic, Clement Ebri. Oyegun is eligible to seek another four years in office.

Speaking on the issue, a senior party official reportedly disclosed: Right now, three persons are being considered  former Governors Oshiomhole, Clement Ebri and Oyegun.

Front page of This Day, Friday, April 6, 2018 (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

READ ALSO: Local vigilantes allegedly prevent SARS operatives from arresting Melaye

Still on the issue of the APC national chairmanship position, The Nation is reporting that a plot is brewing among supporters of the incumbent, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to ensure an extension of his tenure.

The proponents of the tenure extension for the embattled APC chairman reportedly want to create a stalemate and dump the decision reached on the National Convention by President Muhammadu Buhari and APC governors.

In a bid to stop this plan, President Buhari has allegedly decided to attend the partys National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Monday, April 9, before leaving for London. This is in order to ensure that the decision for the APC to have congresses and a convention, holds.

Some party chiefs backing Oyegun had reportedly invited all state chairmen for a meeting on Thursday night, April 5, in a bid to fight back against the presidents decision. They want the state chairmen to push back against Buhari and the governors.

Front page of The Nation, Friday, April 6, 2018 (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

Punch is however focused on the herdsmen crisis in Benue state; reporting that members of the House of Representatives from the state raised the alarm over fresh killings in the state, by the herdsmen.

Speaking on Thursday, April 5, the lawmakers demanded full military presence in Benue communities constantly being attacked by herdsmen.

They pointed out that up to 24 persons were confirmed killed in renewed attacks in the state between April 2 and 4, with several others missing.

The aggrieved lawmakers - Dickson Takighir, Mark Terseer-Gbillah, Samuel Udende, and John Dyegh - prevailed on the federal government, once again, to declare the herdsmen as terrorists.

Front page of Punch, Friday, April 6, 2018 (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

On its part, Vanguard is reporting that the House of Representatives said that except approval is given by the National Assembly, there would be trouble if President Muhammadu Buhari goes ahead to approve any money for arms procurement.

This was stated by Hon Rinamde Shawalu, the chairman of the House Committee on Army, who insisted that the president does not have constitutional powers to approve money for arms procurement without the mandate of the legislature. According to the lawmaker, any such violation was bound to brew trouble between Buhari and the legislative arm of government.

The publication noted that the Senate had also taken a swipe at the president over the issue on Wednesday, April 4.

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, vice chairman, Senate committee on media and publicity, had stated: It has not been approved, it is simply the choice of words. The presidency or the executive cannot spend a single kobo on such a mission unless the National Assembly approves that.

It is only when the Senate or National Assembly approves that the executive can go ahead to spend such money. The executive can only recommend and not to approve.

Front page of Vanguard, Friday, April 6, 2018 (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

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The Guardian is however reporting that the Senate has expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal governments N1.5 trillion National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) and described it as a failure.

The upper legislative chamber threatened to cut budgetary allocation for the scheme, as it expressed dismay over the fact that it had not made serious impact on Nigerians.

The threat was made by Senator Mohammed Danjuma, chairman of the Senate committee on appropriation, when the special adviser to the president on social investment, Mrs Maryam Uwais, appeared before the panel to provide clarification on proposed budget implementation.

NSIP funds are captured under the presidencys Service Wide Vote.

Front page of The Guardian, Friday, April 6, 2018 (Photo credit: Legit.ng)

APC official tells why his party could be voted out in 2019 - on Legit.ng TV:

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, April 6, congratulated Julius Maada Bio on his victory as the new president of Sierra Leone after the presidential election run-off on March 31.

President Buhari, in a Twitter post, commended the people of Sierra Leone on the successful conduct of the presidential election run-off as well as the parliamentary and local council elections held on March 7, 2018.

He also expressed his readiness to work with President Bio for the growth, prosperity and stability of their nations, and West Africa.

The tweets:

"President @MBuhari congratulates Julius Maada Bio on his victory as the new President of Sierra Leone."

"The President commends the people of Sierra Leone on the successful conduct of the presidential election run-off as well as the parliamentary and local council elections."

"With the elections concluded and following the trend of recently held peaceful elections in West Africa, President Buhari urges all stakeholders in Sierra Leone to work together for the peace, security and development of the country."

"He enjoins all those with grievances over the outcome of the elections to seek constitutional means of resolving them, stressing that nothing should be done to endanger the peace and stability of the country in particular and the sub-region in general."

"President Buhari salutes the resilient spirit of Sierra Leoneans, who have clearly demonstrated their ability to manage their own affairs and consolidate on the countrys progress after a post-conflict era."

"The President also commends the immediate past president, Ernest Bai Koroma, for his commitment to a credible electoral process and spirited efforts at bringing stability and positive changes to the nation during his presidency."

"President @MBuhari looks forward to working with President Bio for the growth, prosperity and stability of their nations, and West Africa."

Legit.ng previously reported that the opposition partys candidate, Rtd Brig Julius Madaa Bio of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) was declared the winner of the March 31 Sierra Leone presidential run-off election.

According to the result announced by the Sierra Leones National Electoral Commission (NEC) on Wednesday, April 4, in Freetown, Bio received 1,319,406 votes representing 51.81 per cent of the total valid votes cast, 2,546,577, to defeat the candidate of the ruling party.

According to the result, Kamara Wilson of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) polled 1,227,171 votes, representing 48.19 per cent of the valid votes cast.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's former president, Goodluck Jonathan, was in Sierra Leone during the polls to observe the countrys presidential run-off.

Ikechukwu Eze, the spokesman to the former president, stated that Jonathan led the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) Election Observation Mission to monitor the Sierra Leone's polls.

The mission in its interim report presented to the media on March 9 added that the elections were conducted substantially in line with sub-regional, continental and international standards"

Obasanjo and Jonathan are good - on Legit.ng TV

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- The State Security Service (SSS) has reportedly country officer and head of the Nigeria Office of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa Udo Jude Ilo

- Ilos driver said he dropped him off at the facility at about 9:30 am adding that his boss told him he was responding to a summon by the SSS to attend a meeting over an urgent security matter

- Also OSIWA insider said his organisation had of late received disturbing correspondences from the security intelligence service in the country

- NGO boss released and spoke on encounter with SSS saying they asked to know OSIWA Nigeria's partners, how it is getting funding

Emerging report by Premium Time notes that the Country Officer and Head of the Nigeria Office of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Udo Jude Ilo, has reportedly been detained in Abuja.

According to the repot, Ilo is being held by the federal capital territory command of the State Security Service (SSS).

Legit.ng gathered that he responded to a summon. It was learnt that he was arrested and taken there.

READ ALSO: Local vigilantes allegedly prevent SARS operatives from arresting Melaye

Ilos driver said he dropped him off at the facility at about 9:30 am adding that his boss told him he was responding to a summon by the SSS to attend a meeting over an urgent security matter concerning OSIWA.

Also OSIWA insider said his organisation had of late received disturbing correspondences from the security intelligence service in Nigeria.

According to source, ''But I dont know if this is why he is being detained. We didnt see this coming.''

Staff in the Nigerian office of OSIWA in Abuja also said: ''All I know is that one security agency recently wrote to us asking for the names, nationalities, telephone numbers and contact addresses of all our staff in Nigeria, one staff said, asking not to be named for fear of arrest by the authorities.

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''The same agency later ordered us to submit all documents that authorise us to operate in Nigeria. Of course we complied, and it is curious that our colleague can be detained.''

Ilos lawyers, Chike Okafor, could not be reached on telephone. One of his associates said he had rushed to the SSS office to push for the OSIWA officials release.

The SSS could not be reached for comments. It currently has no spokesperson to respond to media enquiries.

Ilo said the SSS questions centered around his organisations activities in Nigeria.

According to him, ''They asked to know our partners, how were getting funding and who we are funding.

''They also indicated interest in profiling us, knowing what we do, who our partners are and how our grantees are using the funds received from.

''They took my fingerprints and other details and told me our interaction was a friendly one.''

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that 32 officers of the SARS have been arrested and are currently under investigations for various cases of misconduct. The officials, according to a report by The Cable, are locked up in various cells in Abuja and have not been allowed to see their families or lawyers.

A source claimed that the order for the officers to be arrested and transferred to Abuja came from the inspector general of police, Idris Ibrahim.

Are Nigerian Policemen the worst in the world? on Legit.ng TV:

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Its traumatising when ladies narrate what they go through when job hunting for what some of their male bosses does to them in order to retain their jobs.

A young lady identified as @maami_Chulo on Twitter has narrated how her Indian boss sacked her for refusing to have an intimate affair with him.

She shared the post on Thursday, April 5 and it reads: Guess who just got terminated for not sleeping with her boss, its me your WCW.

READ ALSO: Young lady dies while giving birth on the floor in Bakassi IDP camp (photos)

See post below:

However, going through her Twitter handle the young lady has deleted the post and changed her username to @blankblank1235.

Following the thread of her post on Twitter, one godOfwine @mr_dennesse said: Mr friend got fired too for not sleeping with an Indian supervisor in a factory along mile2 express before second rainbow bus stop. So crazy but it happens. She's job hunting now.

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See post below:

See reactions below:

Nawa o!

Why do Single ladies prefer to date married men? (Nigerian Street Interview) | Legit.ng TV - on Legit.ng TV.

Source: Legit.ng
- The suspects linked to Senator Dino Melaye were re-arrested by the police Intelligence Response Team

- The team was led by a deputy commissioner of police Abba Kyari

- One of the gang members Kabiru Seudi popularly known as Osama was arrested in Bauchi by the police IRT

Details have emerged on the re-arrest of a suspected jail breaker Kabiru Seudi popularly known as Osama and five of his gang members who escaped from a police cell in Kogi state.

PM News reports that Osama, Nuhu Salihu and other suspects were re-arrested by a team led by deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Abba Kyari.

Kyari who led the police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) were ordered by the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, to locate and arrest the suspects after they had escaped from the cells in Kogi.

It was gathered that the IGP was furious and weighed on the embarrassment of the jail break when he received the information of the suspects escape.

Kyari and his men were moved to Kogi state on the orders of Idris and commenced work which led to the re-arrest of the suspects within three days of their escape.

Sources within the police said Kyari and his team through a hi-tech intelligence tracked and apprehended Osama and Salihu who had confessed to the police that the senator representing Kogi West district, Dino Melaye, engaged and armed them to cause terror in the state.

It was also gathered that Osama was arrested in his hideout somewhere in Bauchi state and flown to the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

The sources said after the jail break and escape of the suspects, it was believed that it was an arrangement by the police to allow the suspects to escape to cover their tracks.

Legit.ng earlier reported that there was drama at the 8th fidau prayers for the late Hon Buba Jubril on Thursday, April 5, when some operatives of Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) tried to arrest Melaye.

Melaye had earlier been declared wanted by the police for his alleged involvement in handing over illegal weapons to some kidnappers who claimed to be his thugs.

The senator was gathered to have been protected from arrest by local vigilante men who encircled him, making it impossible for the SARS operatives to get close to him.

Kogi West senatorial district to recall senator Dino Melaye from the Nigerian Senate - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng News
- Adolphus Ogbonna, says farmers in Nigeria are currently contending with an onslaught of attacks by herdsmen

- He says the problems of farmers has also been compounded by issues relating to climate change

- Lawmakers raise alarm over alleged recent killings in Benue state

A farmer, Adolphus Ogbonna, has warned that food security may be threatened seriously in Nigeria in the near future because of persistent herdsmen attacks and climate change.

Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday, April 6, Ogbonna said the future of agriculture was not looking good, due to recurring attacks on farmers in many parts of the country.

Farmers in Africas most populous nation are currently contending with an onslaught of bloody attacks by herdsmen, forcing many farmers to avoid going to their farms to stay alive.

READ ALSO: Local vigilantes allegedly prevent SARS operatives from arresting Melaye

Ogbonna said the problems of farmers had also been compounded by issues relating to climate change, stressing that the development called for governments immediate attention.

He argues that government must tackle herdsmen invasions head-long and also evolve scientific methods in doing agriculture and handling the problem of climate change.

The crop farmer said that farmers in the country must embrace year-round irrigation farming to stay in business and provide food for the teeming populace.

Most Nigerian farmers cultivate their farms, based on the weather but when there is drought everything is affected.

The local farmer needs to turn away from a climate-dependent farming. Setting up an irrigation system is the best bet for the local farmer, although this will involve huge funds.

Climate change poses a lot of challenges to the Nigerian farmer, so I advise a move towards irrigation farming, instead of waiting for the rains.

He also spoke on the need for young entrepreneurs with interest in farming to learn the ropes before embarking on agriculture as a business venture.

Most youths these days are not interested in tedious work on farms. Young people should get a good place to learn farming properly before embarking on it as a business.

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They must have a strong passion for farming. Farming is not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Ogbonna, who is the chief executive officer of emperors farms, advised those involved in farming to concentrate their efforts on building an enduring value-chain rather than focusing on production alone.

Enumerating a multiplicity of challenges facing crop farmers in the country, he said that serious attention should be paid to how to improve the agriculture value-chain.

As a country we should stop focusing on crop production alone when it comes to agriculture.

We should consider what value we are adding to what we are producing. We must have to put more effort in our value-chain.

The crop farmer lamented that getting access to funds, land, equipment and inadequate manpower had remained critical problems to Nigerian farmers from year to year.

Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives from Benue state have called on the federal government to declare herdsmen as terrorists.

The lawmakers made the statement on Thursday, April 5, when raising alarm over alleged killings of 24 persons in renewed attacks in the state between April 2 and 4, The Punch reports.

Four members, Dickson Takighir; Mark Terseer-Gbillah; Samuel Udende; and John Dyegh, who spoke for the Benue caucus, faulted the military for terminating Operation Cat Race in the state, while it was extended by more weeks in neighbouring states, including Taraba.

Should Nigerians pick up arms to defend themselves against herdsmen?(Street Interview) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- Austin Iwar reveals that 70 thugs disturbing communities in Kaduna were arrested and detained

- Iwar says some of those arrested have helping with investigations

- He confirms that some dangerous weapons were recovered from the suspects

The commissioner of police in Kaduna state, Austin Iwar, on Friday, April 6, confirmed the arrest of at least 70 members of the alleged notorious sara-suka thugs terrorising residents, adding that various weapons were also recovered from them.

Iwar, who spoke at the display of firearms recovered and surrendered by unauthorised persons at the state command headquarters, said further that the police recovered dangerous weapons such as daggers, machetes, clubs and iron bars from the thugs.

According to him, the suspects have made useful statements which are aiding police investigations.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo must stop carrying himself as Nigerias messiah - Shettima

Premium Times reports that the thugs, mostly youth, between 18 and 25 years, usually storm communities to attack residents with dangerous weapons.

May I use this medium to call on the general public, especially those who posses any of the prohibited and unauthorised firearms, to come forward and surrender them while the grace period is still open.

Those who deliberately refused to do so after the period elapses will be made to face the wrath of the law.

The command also urges the good people of the state to remain law abiding and to report to the police or nearest security agency of any suspicious persons, he said adding that the command followed the instruction of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, for a mop up exercise.

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He said 20 AK 47 rifles, 42 dane guns, 15 pump action guns, three revolver guns, and four locally made pistols, charms, 120 ammunition, three boxer motorcycles, three military boats and belt , two bows and arrows and 30 cutlasses were among the recovered items.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Sokoto state command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) recovered at least 948 guns under the amnesty programme as well as from operations in the last 24 months as revealed by Murtala Mani, its commissioner.

Mani made this revelation in Sokoto on Wednesday, April 5 saying some of the weapons were recovered while others were surrendered and that these include AK47, double and single barrel and locally fabricated guns with 1,200 ammunition.

Robbers return firearms to Nigerian Police | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit Newspaper
Nearly 2,000 U.S., European and African counterterrorism forces would conduct an annual exercise, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Friday, April 6.

NAN reports that the annual exercise that is known as Flintlock, would take place in multiple locations in Africa by April 8.

Approximately 1,900 service members from 20 African and Western partner nations will participate in Flintlock at multiple locations in Niger, Burkina Faso and Senegal from April 9 to April 20, 2018," the statement said.

The exercise that is held every year since 2005 and directed by the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, aims to develop the capacity and collaboration among African security forces and law enforcement agencies, according to U.S. Africa Command.

READ ALSO: Police nab 70 thugs terrorising Kaduna residents, recover weapons

This years drill would see the largest level of participation by local law enforcement officers to date, the State Department said.

The largest civilian component to Flintlock 2018 is the law enforcement training and equipment provided under the Department of States Anti-terrorism Assistance (ATA) programme.

Through a partnership with the ATA programme, this years exercise marks the most thorough integration of civilian equities into Flintlock yet, it said.

The statement also said that the exercise would feature a series of training sessions that focus on tactical rural patrol and crisis response capabilities, counter-terrorism investigations, command and communication management, post blast and crime scene investigations.

Participating African nations would include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal, it said.

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Western partners would include Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, the statement added.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the United States of America on Friday, March 2, condemned the killings of four Nigerian humanitarian workers during a Boko Haram attack on an Internally Displaced Persons camp at Rann, Borno state, on Thursday, March 1.

In a statement posted on the website of the US embassy, the US government condoles with the families of the victims.

Victims of herdsmen killing buried in Benue state - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- Governor Obaseki met with Miyetti Allah group on Friday, April 6

- The governor met with the herdsmen group to find a lasting solution to the clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the state

- The heads of security agencies were also present at the meeting

Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, met with the national leaders of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and heads of security agencies in the state at the Government House in Benin city on Friday, April 6.

Obaseki at the meeting said his administration would do everything within its power to ensure qulaity security in the state and ensure peaceful co-existence between the herdsmen and farmers in Edo.

The Nation reports that the governor said the state is fortunate to have recorded fewer incidents as efforts have been intensified to manage the situation.

READ ALSO: PDP ex-vice chairman Ishola Filani dies at 71

He said this was done by setting up the security committee in the 18 local government councils.

Obaseki said: The committee was made up of council chairmen, two leaders of the Hausa/Fulani community, Directorate of State Security, Divisional Police officers and two native farmers. They will continue to meet monthly and report any incident in their areas to the committee at the state level.

Governor Obaseki meeting with leaders of Miyetti Allah. Photo source: The Nation

With the structures in place, sensitisation programmes will be organised for the Hausa/Fulani herdsmen, farmers and other relevant stakeholders in different communities across the state. Through these, we hope to reduce the incidents of clashes between herders and farmers.

He maintained that the ban on night-grazing still stands, and approved a 40-day window request by the group to allow strangers in their midst to register with the state government.

The national secretary of MACBAN, Baba Othman Ngelzarma, thanked the governor for his words.

Ngelzarma said: The stand against night-grazing shows the governors seriousness to maintain peace in the state. The setting up of the committee with representatives of local communities, who are critical stakeholders, will go a long way to ensure a lasting peace.

If the problem must be resolved, it must be approached holistically. We are ready to capture the data of our people through biometrics as it has become necessary for us to identify our members."

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Legit.ng earlier reported that a farmer, Adolphus Ogbonna, has warned that food security may be threatened seriously in Nigeria in the near future because of persistent herdsmen attacks and climate change.

Ogbonna said the future of agriculture was not looking good, due to recurring attacks on farmers in many parts of the country.

Should Nigerians pick up arms to defend themselves against herdsmen?(Street Interview) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain has predicted the 2019 general elections will be a walkover for the party

- The chieftain, Alhaji Mustapha Amasco, made the statement when he led a delegation of the party's supporters to the Katsina state govenor, Aminu Masari

- Amasco said there have been rain of countless democratic dividend in Dutsi local government area, where he hails from

Businessman and politician, Alhaji Mustapha Amasco has predicted the 2019 general elections will be a walkover for the party.

Amasco, made the statement when he led a delegation of the party's supporters to the Katsina state governor, Aminu Masari on Friday, April 6.

According to him, there have been rain of countless democratic dividend in Dutsi local government area, where he hails from.

Governor Masari continues to enjoy immense support from the people of Katsina state. Photo credit: Goevrnment House, Katsina

Source: Twitter

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Legit.ng gathered that thousands of delegation of people from the local government accompanied the businessman to pay a solidarity visit to Governor Masari.

Receiving them, Governor Masari expressed his limitless joy over the visit and described the people of Dutsi as wonderful, discipline and above all God fearing.

He said what happened in Dutsi in terms of project was a tip of the iceberg, stressing we would do more with a view to transform the area.

He further directed the people of the area to itemize their needs in order of priorities for presentation in the State Executive Council with a view to releasing funds for immediate commencement of more projects.

The governor also said that Dutsi was his second home and he would not relent in transforming the area and every other part of the state.

The delegation expressed their unconditional support to the programs and policies of administration of Governor Aminu Bello Masari.

They declared that their support on the second term bid of Governor Masari was unreserved, unconditional and unwavering.

According to Amasco, the state government has rehabilitated and constructed many schools and roads within Dutsi local government adding that the roads linked our communities with the neighbouring state of Jigawa and some parts of Niger republic.

He assured the governor that he need not visit the area for electioneering campaign, stressing this was the only time they were recognised as a people.

Meanwhile, the Tunisian association for future of science and technology, has presented special award of excellence to Governor Masari.

Presenting the award recently at the Tunisian city of Monastir, the association said the award was based on the governor's immeasurable outstanding support in the development of innovation in science and technology.

The award was received on behalf of the governor by Musa Abdu Dankama, the director education resource center in the state ministry of education on behalf of the education commissioner, Professor Badamasi Lawal Chiranci.

READ ALSO: Buhari will win 2019 presidential poll, likewise Masari in Katsina - Kurfi

APC chieftains in Benue state say PDP has nothing to offer on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
The Nigerian Army on Friday, April 6, said it had arrested a kidnap kingpin, Filani Auta, at Ligari village of Kaduna state.

The Army Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Texas Chukwu, said in a statement exclusively sent to Legit.ng, that the kingpin was arrested along with his two sons during a raid by troops following a tip-off.

According to Chukwu, items recovered from the suspect are two Dane guns and four mobile phones.

READ ALSO: Leave INEC alone, focus on governance, Group tells Wike

The suspects will soon be handed over to the police for prosecution, he said.

Legit.ng previously reported that the commissioner of police in Kaduna state, Austin Iwar, on Friday, April 6, confirmed the arrest of at least 70 members of the alleged notorious sara-suka thugs terrorising residents, adding that various weapons were also recovered from them.

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Iwar, who spoke at the display of firearms recovered and surrendered by unauthorised persons at the state command headquarters, said further that the police recovered dangerous weapons such as daggers, machetes, clubs and iron bars from the thugs.

According to him, the suspects have made useful statements which are aiding police investigations.

Robbers return firearms to Nigerian Police | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the family of late Sen. Mustapha Bukar, who died on Wednesday, April 4, in Abuja.

The late Senator represented Katsina North Senatorial District before his death following an illness.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buhari, who arrived at the residence of the late senator as 6:00 pm on Friday, said the deceased was his very close ally in difficulties and in joy.

His death has deeply touched me personally and officially, the president said, adding that Nigeria would miss the wisdom and political sagacity of Bukar.

President Buhari vpaid a condolence visit to the family of Senator Bukar in Daura. Photo source: Bashir Ahmed

READ ALSO: Army arrests kidnap kingpin during Kaduna raid

Buhari prayed fervently for the repose of the soul of the deceased and urged the family to bear the irreplaceable loss.

He described Bukar as humble, honest hardworking and God fearing personality who placed national interest above all other considerations.

He played politics with decency, decorum and understanding; his death is a personal loss to me and the nation in general.

The president is expected to leave Daura on Monday. Photo source: Bashir Ahmed

Responding, Abdullahi Bukar, elder brother to the deceased, thanked the president and said the family was very appreciative of the visit.

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NAN reports that the President was in company of the Governor Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari.

President Buhari is expected to depart Daura on Monday.

Legit.ng earlier reported that President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday, April 4, expressed deep sorrow over the death of the senator representing Katsina North, Senator Mustapha Bukar.

In a statement by the Senate presidents special adviser, media and publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, Saraki described the death of Senator Bukar as one too many coming a few weeks after the Red Chamber lost Senator Ali Wakili.

Lagosians groan as President Buhari's visit grounds activities - Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
By Lynn Parramore, Senior Research Analyst at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website

As America remembers the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the anniversary of his assassination, headlines celebrate the heroic ministers and activists who advanced civil rights in the United States, sometimes at the cost of their lives. But Louis Ferleger, Professor of History at Boston University and a granteeof the Institute for New Economic Thinking, along with Matthew Lavallee, a graduate student at Boston University, have focused their attention on a powerful, behind-the-scenes networkwithout which King and other civil rights leaders could not have succeeded.

Lynn Parramore: You point to an amazing set of facts in your research that would surprise many people. Despite the horrors of Jim Crow, America had 70,000 black-owned businesses in 1920, and over twice that many by 1969. They must have been extremely tough and resourceful to do what they did given the obstacles. Lets talk about who they were and what kinds of businesses were they running.

Louis Ferleger: When African Americans left sharecropping in the South as the national railroads expanded and allowed them to leave, they moved to metropolitan areas like Boston and Philadelphia. The key is that they werent just looking for jobs as domestics or other low-paid work. They were also looking to start their own businesses. They werent out to replicate the experience of being sharecroppers, but to establish themselves in other ways. So they started these small businesses, which served African Americans almost uniformly, allowing black communities to thrive and grow. Its a story that people are not aware of. Their businesses grew even during the Great Depression. Sadly, we dont have a lot of information on them, but we know that they were grocery stores, hair salons, small variety stores selling everything from hardware to food, gasoline stations, and funeral homes.

LP: Businesses like restaurants or salons are also meeting places. That would be critical for political engagement and mobilization, right?

LF: Exactly. And theres a lot more activity in support of this than people realize. My hunch is that there are critical discussions at these restaurants and other places about whats going to happen when Rosa Park does what she does refusing to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. That takes nothing away from her in making that decision, but the African Americans in Montgomery were more prepared for what was about to happen than people realize.

In our research we asked, how do you lay the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement by turning to the one community within these metropolitan areas that has been able to survive the most harsh and adversarial conditions imaginable?

Black businesses become critical as a source of support, but much more importantly, in my mind, as a basis upon which activists could turn to for people who knew how to organize. The business people were entrepreneurial. The capital is self-generated or comes from the small number of black banks. Even though the black banks represented a small amount of capital, it allows business owners to expand when they could. Black insurance companies and banks were established and became successful because there were no alternatives. In Mississippi, when they cut off the access to white banks, African American business owners who were supporting civil rights in various forms turned to black insurance companies and banks outside the state. Martin Luther King made that happen. He visited many of these banks personally.

LP: Lets talk about the violence that these business owners faced. As a North Carolinian, Im thinking all the way back to the Wilmington massacre of 1898, a coup detatin which the white Conservative Democratic Party led a mob to overthrow the local Fusionist government, which included black Republicans. In addition to slaughtering as many as 300 people, they destroyed black businesses, including the only black newspaper in the city. How do people continue to run businesses with that kind of threat?

LF: When the Civil Rights Movement turns violent, its not just towards demonstrators and others, its toward these black businesses. You ask the right question, and all I can say is that African Americans have a long and important set of histories in terms of family and kinship relationships that supported these businesses, from barber shops to beauty salons to service stations.

In a table in our paper, we took a pamphlet from Washington, D.C. and put down all the different kinds of stores that African Americans owned there in 1965. That year, seven percent of all the businesses were black-owned. You could go to African American stores for all of your needs: insurance companies, banks, caterers, beauty schools, variety shops, radio and TV stores. It gives you a sense of how these communities were thriving in these places, and thats how they were able, in my view, to remain viable. I would argue that these black businesses are the training ground for future activists. They taught activists the need to be organized and be prepared.

LP: Tell me about one of the most significant cases in which black business owners provided the kind of support youre describing.

LF: I think the most important case is the 1955 bus boycott of Montgomery, when African Americans refused to ride buses to protest segregated seating. When they started to boycott the buses, a large network of black-owned taxi companies provided the initial transportation solution. The black businesses were invaluable. Martin Luther King knew that, and he relied the support of small businesses during this long protest  not just the taxis, but the gasoline station owners that are providing gas, the automotive companies that are repairing the taxis. These businesses generated funds across the board to help defray the cost of the boycott. Without them, there is no boycott. There is no success.

LP: Lets talk about female black business owners. How were they involved in supporting civil rights? This seems to be an especially overlooked area.

LF: Its true. Whats often missing from the literature is all the black women entrepreneurs who provided the networks of food, who provided clothing when the clothing of protesters was ripped or stolen. Black women were a key part of the black business community. In 1965, there were 295 beauty salons in Washington, D.C., which were overwhelmingly owned by black women. For comparison, there were 180 barbershops owned by black men, but there were many more beauty salons.

NPR [National Public Radio] did a storyon Georgia Gilmore, a Montgomery cook and activist who provided food and funding for the civil rights movement. During the bus boycott, she sold sandwiches and meals to the African Americans involved in the protest, then put the profits back into the movement and helped to support the alternative transportation system. Her house was a meeting place for King.

LP: How do you see black businesses interacting with political causes and civil rights today?

LF: I see black businesses as the nearly invisible cadre of activists that people take for granted. They organize lots of things that happen in lots of cities. Theyre often quiet, and they make contributions, and they are trying to keep themselves afloat while simultaneously being much more socially aware and politically astute than people realize. I have a hunch that when journalists look into the story of the surprising 2017 Alabama senate race, when the white Democratic candidate Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore, this extreme person, theyre going to find a whole network of black business owners who were supportive in helping and providing funds for the Democratic Party to go door to door to get people to register for that particular election.

LP: Right now, as the country is reflecting on the legacy of MLK and the Civil Rights Movement, why dont we hear more about the crucial role played by these entrepreneurs? Is there some unease with the idea of black capitalists and small businesses?

LF: Ive been combing a hundred different sources in terms of newspaper articles all across the country and its very frustrating to see that these stories not appearing. We know the names of the celebrities, but nobody knows the names of the taxi drivers that made things like the Montgomery boycott possible. The women who prepared the food. The farmers who donated it. All the small business involved.

I think youre right that there is a kind of unease. Some historians have dismissed black entrepreneurs because they want African Americans to move into large-scale enterprises, where upward mobility and a better standard of living exist. But people dont understand that for decades African Americans survived in growing metropolitan areas by owning small businesses, not just by doing domestic work or odds-and-ends jobs. Their importance to Martin Luther King is tremendous. He traveled extensively and met black business owners everywhere. He relied upon them. They gave small contributions of money and provided support in very important places, which made his travel and his role possible.
Haven, a prominent Irish NGO working on the ground in Haiti, is undertaking its twelfth volunteer trip to Haiti from 13-22 April 2018.

Long-term volunteer Paudie Halpin from Ballymacarbry, along with another 35 volunteers, is setting off on this life-changing experience with Havens 2018 Volunteer Programme.

This years Volunteer Programme sees the group travel to the small commune of Gressier, located two hours south-west of Haitis capital, Port au Prince.

The Volunteer Programme will play an important role in assisting and helping the people of Gressier, who are still working to rebuild their lives after the devastating earthquake in 2010. The volunteers will lead the refurbishment and upgrade of the main building of the local Jean Jean School, which has six classrooms and serves 160 children. The enhancement of the school facilities will ensure local children have access to education that will lead to bright, self-sufficient futures.

Over the course of their time in Haiti, Havens volunteers will work together to replace the school roof, repair and plaster the walls of the buildings that were destroyed by the 2010 earthquake. The team of volunteers will also repair the kitchen on the school grounds and build a covered area for children to eat in and also provide shelter from the searing afternoon heat. The construction of a new toilet block will greatly improve the schools facilities, ensuring clean sanitation and good health for its students.

In addition to the construction element of the programme, the team will provide equipment and furniture to enable learning and education. These include new shelves for books, blackboards and desks. These new resources will enrich the school experience and make it more engaging for students. The volunteers will also create a safe area for children to play with the development of a colourful and interactive playground.

Paudie Halpin says  This is my seventh trip to Haiti as a volunteer. I feel like I'm making a small difference in the lives of the young people who live in Haiti and that's a great feeling!

Yes, its hard work, but the satisfaction you get from knowing you are helping to make a difference in these peoples lives makes it all worthwhile.

Id like to thank all the people of Ballymacarbry and the Nire Valley area for their extremely generous help and support and generosity towards my fundraising to take part in this years programme.
Concern Worldwide has paid tribute to the extraordinary generosity and compassion of the Tipperary public after being honoured by President Michael D. Higgins at a special 50th anniversary event at Aras an Uachtarain.

Over 170 volunteers, supporters and staff were among the invited guests at the event last Tuesday, including several Tipperary residents who have heavily contributed to the charitys work over the years.

Mary Cavanagh from Tipperary Town is the main street collection organiser in the area and has been praised for her dedication to Concerns work.

Betty White, who has been fundraising for Concern for over 24 years and is well-known for reflecting the current challenges in the world through her poetry, was also recognised on the night.

Commenting at the event, Concern CEO Dominic MacSorley paid tribute to the incredible generosity of the Irish public, which has helped the organisation to reach many millions of people over the past 50 years.

The response of the Irish public was phenomenal. Images of war and starvation broadcast into homes across Ireland tapped into the instinctual empathy and generosity of a nation and this is what has continued to sustain Concern over the past 50 years.

President Higgins added that Concern has been to the forefront of addressing the great issues of our time.

Through your work you crafted a vital bridge between the Irish people and some of the poorest people in our world. Thank you all those of you who have worked for and with Concern over the years for your compassion, your courage, and your dedication to supporting the lives and building the capacity of the poorest people of the world.

Founded in 1968 in response to devastating famine in the breakaway state of Biafra in Nigeria, Concern now reaches over 26 million people in 26 of the worlds poorest countries.

From the beginning, a group of volunteers led by young Dublin couple John and Kay OLoughlin Kennedy had a bold, inclusive vision that brought supporters from all backgrounds and all corners together.

Their efforts built on the legacy of the Irish missionaries and opened a new chapter of ambitious Irish humanitarian relief that was both compassionate and professional, supported by communities and volunteers from all over the country.

In the first year alone, they raised the equivalent of 4 million to send a ship-load of vital supplies to the starving population of Nigeria in what was the largest relief operation to ever come out of Ireland at the time.

MV The Columcille set sail from Dublin Port on September 6, 1968 and arrived off the coast of Sao Tome 23 days later, where pilots flew consignments of aid into the war-torn country.

Dubliner Karl Vekins was just 16 when he spotted the ship at Sir John Rogersons Quay and decided to join the crew as a cabin boy.

He recalled: I was intrigued and eventually I found out that they were looking for crew. I had just finished my Junior Cert and was just going to go on the vessel for six months and continue on with the Leaving Cert then. It didnt quite work out like that.

The people who set it all up were so farsighted. Can you imagine nowadays? Just going out and buying a ship, loading it with cargo and bringing it down to West Africa. It was an incredible experience.

Concern has a number of events planned to mark the 50th anniversary of the organisation over the year, including an international conference on conflict to take place in Dublin in September.
A Tipperary father of three will lead a motorcade and exhibition at The Hub at Cillin Hill, Kilkenny, in aid of the Irish Kidney Association this weekend.

Owen Hanrahans world was turned upside down in 2016 when he suffered kidney failure. Soon after receiving his shock health diagnosis, the 39-year-old had to wind down his small haulage business, leaving an uncertain future for his wife Therese and their sons James, Paul and Matthew.

I was greatly heartened by my community which rallied around me and in a short space of time they raised 17,000 through a truck run to help support me and my young family. This eased the financial burden which was thrust upon us. Like so many other formerly self-employed people, it was difficult to access disability or any other state allowances for almost a year after I ceased working, Grangemocklers Owen says.

Owen, along with the support of friends and members of the Kilkenny branch of the Irish Kidney Association, are putting plans in place for the exhibition, which will include swift cars, trucks and motorbikes. The event takes place on Sunday 8th April from 12-4.30pm, marking the end of Organ Donor Awareness Week 2018. Contact kilkennybigevent@outlook.com to take part.

After feeling unwell for some time, Owen payed a visit to his doctor in July 2016. This led to a shock diagnosis that he had nephrotic syndrome and was in kidney failure. He spent over 10 weeks in hospital in Waterford and in this time he saw his weight soar from 11 and half stone to 15 stone due to fluid retention. His kidney function declined to less than 16% and he commenced dialysis treatment. Initially, he underwent dialysis treatment three times weekly at Fresenius Dialysis Centre in Kilkenny and in recent months his three and a half hourly treatments have been reduced to twice weekly. Although the dialysis is working well for him, he is very lethargic with his condition and is hoping to be accepted onto the transplant waiting list in the near future.

I was overwhelmed and humbled by the support I received from my friends and local community since my diagnosis. As someone who worked hard all my life, it was difficult to have to succumb to my illness and wind my business down. However, I hope that I will be able to receive a life changing kidney transplant which will help turn things around for me and my family. I would encourage everyone to consider organ donation, as like me, you never know when organ failure might visit a member of your family. Organ donation saves lives. It is such a selfless decision for families to donate a loved one's organs so that other people like myself can benefit from the gift of life," Owen, who now lives in Killamery, Co. Kilkenny, adds.

Have you got news for nationalist.ie? Contact dylan.white@iconicnews.ie.
JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: Thank you so much, Kay, and thank you for those nice words and thank you for introducing me and it's really a great pleasure and honour to be here today. And I have visited the United States many times as Secretary General of NATO, but this is my first visit to Texas as Secretary General of NATO.

And I think that it was about time to come here, not least because I'm able to go here together with Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison, which and who is really a strong supporter of NATO and I really appreciate working together with her in NATO and she said many nice words about me, but you have to know that I appreciate very much working with her, because she brings a wealth of wisdom and experience from Texas, but also from the US Senate, and this her knowledge and her wisdom and her political experience is of great importance for the Alliance. Because we need US leadership and she is showing that leadership by her excellent work in Brussels. So, it's great to be with you here in Texas.

Then, I like to be here, or it's great to be here today for actually several reasons. One reason is that I very much like academic institutions because many, many years ago I decided to not become a politician. I decided to pursue an academic career. After I finished my exams in economics at the University of Oslo, I started to work at the University of Oslo and in the Central Bureau of Statistics in Norway, because my plan was to become a professor in mathematics or econometrics. And I started that and then I was asked to become a Deputy Minister, or State Secretary, in the Ministry of Environment back in 1990. And I promised myself, and my wife, to do that for maximum a couple of years and then go back to the academic life and become a professor.

[laughter]

I know, I failed.

[laughter]

Because now I've been in politics for almost 30 years and I'm afraid that the academic career is it's very hard to go back and to start again to do, especially econometrics, partly because I've forgotten everything.

[laughter]

And even if I was able to what shall I say relearn that, I think there is no way I am able to compete with people who are 19 or 20, or 25 years old, I will lose. So, I know my limitations, so I think that econometrics that is a lost career. But instead of then becoming an academic myself, I really like visiting academic institutions.

And therefore I like to, I appreciate really to be here, to sense the atmosphere, to know that the SMU is really a centre of academic excellence for more than 100 years, and the scientific work and the teaching which is taking place here is something really which is highly recognised and therefore is a special pleasure for me to visit SMU.

Also knowing that this university has had as students, senators, congressmen, and even a First Lady, they have walked the quadrangle, I think it is, and therefore this is an academic institution with a lot of proud history. So, thats the second reason why I think it's great to be here in Texas and at the SMU.

The third reason is of course that it provides me an opportunity to share with you some thoughts and some reflections on the challenges NATO is facing and how we are responding to them, and that is important for Europe, but it's also of great importance for North America and the United States.

NATO is the most successful military Alliance in history and the main reason why NATO is the most successful Alliance in history is that we have been able to change, to adapt, when the world is changing. And as many of you already know, NATO was established on 4th April 1949, so almost exactly 69 years ago.

For 40 years, from 1949 to 1989, we did only actually one thing, and that was to deliver credible deterrence against the Soviet Union. It was all about how to make sure that the Soviet Union didnt attack any NATO Allied country. And we did that quite successfully, based on the core principle of NATO, that which is one for all and all for one. So, if one NATO Ally is attacked then it will trigger the response from the whole Alliance. Then it was 12 members, today it's 29 members.

And by having this one for all, all for one principle, we have been able to prevent any attack against any NATO Ally. And thats extremely important for all of us, but especially for small NATO Allies, as for instance Norway where I'm coming from, it was of great important to know that when we are sharing Norway is sharing a border with Russia, and previously with Soviet Union, five million people close to a big nation, the Soviet Union and Russia later on. But we felt safe because we knew that if Norway was attacked, NATO, NATO Allies, the United States, they will come to our support. And as long as any potential adversary is certain that we will defend each other, they will not attack. So, the best way to prevent conflict is to have credible deterrence. And thats exactly what NATO did for 40 years: '49 to '89.

Then in '89 the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended and the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact were dissolved. And then people started to ask, "Do we need NATO anymore?" Because the main reason why NATO was established didnt exist anymore and some commentators said that NATO either have to go out of area, meaning go out of NATO territory in Europe, or out of business. And then NATO decided not to go out of business, but instead go out of area, and for the first time in our history we went beyond NATO borders. We helped to end two wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Serbia, Kosovo.

And later on, we launched our biggest military operation ever in Afghanistan, as a response to a terrorist attack on the United States, 9/11. And, as Kay just said, that is the first and only time we have invoked what we call Article 5, which is the collective defence clause of our founding treaty, the Washington Treaty, which says that an attack on one Ally shall be considered an attack on all Allies.

So then, for the first 40 years, we successfully deterred the Soviet Union and we were able to end the Cold War without firing a shot, but without moving beyond our borders. Then 25 years, from '89 to 2014, we did what we called crisis management beyond our borders, in the Balkans, in Afghanistan, fighting piracy off the Horn of Africa  so we did crisis management beyond NATO borders.

Then 2014 is a new pivotal year in the history of NATO, because in 2014 two things happened at the same time; partly we saw an even more assertive Russia. We saw the illegal annexation of Crimea, which is the first time since the Second World War when borders are changed in Europe by the use of force: one country, Russia, taking a part of another country, Ukraine, by annexing Crimea. So, that was extremely serious. Second, they continued to destabilise Eastern Ukraine and we saw, over a long period of time, a Russia which heavily invested in more military equipment, modernised their armed forces, also invested heavily in nuclear systems and then 2014 was this year they really started to use military force against a neighbour.

Then, in the same year, 2014, something very different happened and that was the rise of Daesh, or ISIL. And I remember when I was asked to become Secretary General of NATO in January 2014, the first time, then hardly anyone had heard about ISIL, or Daesh. Some months later, Daesh controlled territory close to NATO borders, in Iraq and Syria, as big as the United Kingdom and almost eight million people. So, that was really a threat.

And NATO proved again that we are able to adapt, able to respond, and we responded by implementing the biggest reinforcement to our collective defence since the end of the Cold War, and by stepping up our efforts to fight terrorism. So, I am actually quite impressed by the fact that NATO has proven again and again able to change, respond, when the world is changing.

And I will just briefly, and then I will be available for questions, describe how we have then once again changed or adapted in the light of what happened in 2014 and after.

First, the biggest reinforcement to our collective defence. We have for the first time in our history deployed combat ready troops in the eastern part of the Alliance. We call them battlegroups. One is led is by the United States in Poland, then United Kingdom, Canada and Germany, they lead other battlegroups. But together, this is the strongest military presence NATO has ever had in the eastern part of the Alliance. The battlegroups are not very big, it's around 1,000 in each, but the important thing is that they are multinational. So, there are NATO troops already in the Baltic countries that are sending an extremely clear and strong message, that if anything similar to what happened in Ukraine happens against any of the Baltic countries, NATO will be there and responding immediately. So there is no way that can happen without triggering the response from the whole Alliance. That provides deterrence and thats extremely important for, especially the Baltic countries and Poland.

Second, we have increased the readiness of our forces, so we have tripled the size of what we call the NATO Response Force, which is a force around 40,000 troops, which are available and we can deploy them on very short notice.

And thirdly, we have seen, for the first time in many, many years that defence spending is again increasing, especially as the United States have already, has always spent a lot on defence, it has been a bit up and down, but 3/4%, more than that actually, always. But since the end of the Cold War, during the 1990s and up until 2014, we have seen a quite steady decline in defence spending across Europe and Canada. Then, in 2014, NATO Allies decided, as a response to what we saw with Russia in Ukraine and Crimea, and the rise of Daesh in Iraq and Syria, that we needed to invest more. And we decided to stop the cuts, gradually increase and then move towards spending 2% of GDP on defence within a decade. We decided that in 2014 and the first year after our decision, 2015 was the first year with increase in defence spending across Europe and Canada for many, many years. And then now we have had three consecutive years of a rise, of rising defence expenditures in among European Allied countries and Canada.

That is extremely important because it shows that we are willing to invest more in our security when the world requires that.

Second, it is also a message to the United States that European Allies are stepping up, we take it seriously that we need a more balanced burden sharing. We still have a long way to go, but at least European Allies and Canada has turned a corner, showing that they will carry their part of the burden and are investing more in defence.

The other element of our adaptation is that we have decided to do more in the fight against terrorism. All NATO Allies are member of what we call the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. It has achieved a lot already. Almost all the territory controlled by Daesh, or ISIL, in Iraq and Syria, has been retaken, and all Allies have participated, but just to mention Turkey has been key in that fight.

Because sometimes it's easy to forget that Iraq and Syria, Daesh, is actually at the border of NATO, because Turkey is a NATO country. And we know that this is not only a threat against neighbours like Turkey, but it's a threat against all of us, because we have seen terrorist attacks in the United States, in Europe, organised or inspired by Daesh, the so called Caliphate they try to establish in Iraq and Syria. So, this is not only about protecting the neighbours or Iraq and Syria, but also protecting all our countries. So, Turkey has been key because they have provided infrastructure, airbases, in the fight against Daesh.

I think that the lesson we have learned, being very different in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, other places, is that NATO and NATO Allied countries have to be ready to deploy large number of combat troops in big combat operations, as we for instance did in Afghanistan after 9/11, the attack on the United States. But in the long run, it is better to train local forces to enable them to stabilise their own country. And thats exactly what we are doing in Afghanistan.

We have trained the Afghans, so they are now responsible for the security in their own country, and when the Taliban attacks or when there are terrorist attacks in Kabul or elsewhere in Afghanistan, it is the Afghan Special Forces who goes out and respond. We help them, we support them, we train them, we advise them, but they are on the front line and that is a great achievement, that we have been able to train and build local Afghan forces capable of doing exactly that.

We are aiming to do the same in Iraq. Therefore, we are now in the process of planning to scale up and to establish a training mission, a NATO training mission, to train the Iraqi forces, to build the security institutions. Again, based on the idea that prevention is better than intervention and that, in the long run, we are safer if they are able to stabilise their own countries. It's not easy. We need different approaches to different countries, but our efforts to fight terrorism is very much about building local capacity.

Then of course we also have to address other threats, like cyber threats and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, North Korea. Fundamentally when it comes to nuclear and ballistic weapon threats, we respond in the same way as we have responded to ballistic and missile threats for decades, by deterrence. NATO, and again United States is the biggest Ally, we have the resolve, we have the capabilities, to respond if attacked, and that has been the best way to prevent the Soviet Union or Russia to attack, and I think also it sends a clear message to North Korea. At the same time, we work for a political solution, so we support all efforts of trying to find a political solution to the crises caused by the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in North Korea, and to be able to reach a political solution we need strong pressure on North Korea, and therefore also we strongly support the economic sanctions against North Korea.

I will just share with also then one reflection and then I will end and open up for questions, and that is that one of the challenges we face today is that it is a much more blurred line between peace and war than we have seen before. In the old days, war was something a nation declared. The ambassadors went to the capitals and said, "We now declare war against your country". And it was easy to say exactly when the war started and when it was over, or ended. And in my country, Norway, we know exactly when the Second World War started. It started the 9th April, when we were attacked by German forces, and it ended the 8th of May. And that was a clear date and we knew exactly which countries that were neutral and which countries which were a part of the Second World War. Norway, Denmark, we were a part of the Second World War, Sweden was not.

When it comes to today, we see threats which are extremely different. For instance, the fight against Daesh and ISIL, it's very hard to say when it started, it's very hard to say exactly where it takes place. We know that it has taken place in Iraq and Syria, but it has also taken place in our own streets, in our own capitals. And there are different groups claiming to be part of ISIL, we dont know exactly whether how close the connections are, but we know there are several terrorist attacks which are more or less linked to Daesh. So, the war takes place also in that sense in our own streets. Then of course Iraq and Syria, but we have Daesh in Afghanistan, in North Africa, in Asia. And we have Daesh operating in cyberspace. And I think it's very hard to tell when the fight against Daesh is over.

So, classical old kinds of war, they were well defined in time and space. Today, war is hard to define when and where. And we have a very blurred line because there are what we call hybrid tactics, which is a mixture of military and non military means of aggression, covert and overt operations, cyber interventions, we saw in Salisbury the use of a chemical nerve agent, and so on. This is a great challenge for NATO because we have to be strong, we have to respond, but we have to respond in a measured way, and sometimes attribution is extremely difficult, especially when it comes to cyberattacks.

So, thats also the reason why we are modernising the Alliance, not only by strengthening our conventional forces, but also by more intelligence, better situational awareness, higher readiness, and for instance investing more both in cyber defence, but also in our capabilities to deal with chemical weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction.

I will just end by saying that I am optimistic on behalf of NATO because NATO is strong, because we have proven able to adapt. And the impressive thing is that, despite of the consensus we need - because as Kay said thats sometimes quite demanding to reach consensus among 29 Allies - we have been able to take decisions. And for instance, we were able to invoke Article 5 just hours after the attack on the United States, we were able to take over the responsibility for air operations over Libya within days, we have high readiness forces. So we can take decisions fast, or quickly, if needed. But I strongly believe that the fact that NATO has proven able to change and the fact that we have been able to stand united for almost 70 years, provides the best basis for that NATO will continue to be the most successful Alliance in history, good for Europe and good for North America and the United States.

Thank you so much.

[applause]

MAN#1: gathering I mentioned earlier, involving Russia, Iran and Turkey, and of course US troops are nearby and [audio cuts off]  or keep in mind about that gathering and its future implications.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: The reason why US troops are in Syria and also the some other NATO Allies are in Syria as part of the efforts of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, is to defeat ISIS. So, thats the reason why some NATO Allies went into Syria with some ground troops, to train and assist and advise local forces, but also with some air forces, to help defeat ISIS. NATO is not on the ground in Syria, but NATO is a member of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and of course it is a national US decision how long the US will have forces in Syria, but the understanding and the common approach in the Global Coalition is that we will be, the Coalition will be there as long as it takes to be absolutely sure that ISIS is defeated. And we have the Coalition has achieved a lot by being able to retake almost all the territory ISIS controlled, but we see still some pockets of ISIS presence, both in Iraq and in Syria, and thats the reason why NATO will do training in Iraq and thats the reason why also some NATO Allies, as part of the efforts of the Global Coalition, still is present in Syria. Then of course we are aware that Turkey is present in Northern Syria. They are they have some legitimate security concerns. No other NATO Ally has suffered more terrorist attacks than Turkey. They have suffered a very bloody, or brutal, coup attempt back in July 2016, where they actually bombed a parliament building with parliamentarians inside the building, and Turkey has the right to defend itself and to address those security concerns.

At the same time, we have stated clearly that this of course has to be proportionate and measured, and of course we have to make sure that the Turkish presence in Northern Syria is what shall I say is conducted in a way which doesnt weaken the efforts to defeat ISIS. But again, since NATO is not present on the ground, this is a dialogue and context which are taking place directly between NATO Allies, and especially Turkey and United States. I welcome the fact that United States and Turkey are addressing this issue to make sure that they are as coordinated as possible in their presence in Northern Syria.

MODERATOR: OK, let's your questions, please. Why dont we start with this gentleman here, and if you would please introduce yourself and then share your question.

QUESTION [Zack Miller]: My name is Zack Miller. I am a Tower Scholar, so I study Public Policy and International Affairs at the Tower Center. My question is kind of a two part question. The first part is about nuclear sharing in NATO and as we see an evolution, like you said, in the type of warfare that is carried out, whether or not you see the nuclear sharing in NATO becoming obsolete as we shift more towards cyber warfare. And then in particular I wanted to ask about nuclear sharing particularly with Turkey, given their domestic kind of internal disputes and conflicts within the country, and whether or not that has come in to play in any instances within NATO.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: First of all, credible deterrence, which is the key way to prevent conflict, also has a nuclear component, so meaning of course we need strong conventional forces, we need cyber capabilities, we need many different capabilities, but nuclear forces is part of NATO's deterrence. And again, the United States is by far the most important country when it comes to nuclear capabilities, but also other NATO Allies, UK and France, have nuclear weapons. For NATO, it is important to distinguish clearly between nuclear capabilities and conventional capabilities, and the circumstances in which any use of nuclear weapons would be considered is extremely remote. But we need to have them to be able to have the ultimate deterrence which are connected or which is connected to nuclear weapons. Nuclear sharing, for those who dont know that, is something we have had for many, many years in NATO, meaning that the United States they have the weapons, but then other NATO Allies, for instance deliver the planes that can carry the nuclear bombs. So, then different nations work together to provide a nuclear capability. Thats nuclear sharing and we have done that for many years. We exercise and we have the system where the UK and also the United States and some NATO Allies then work together with delivering that part of the nuclear deterrent.

This is not it's not obsolete. We still need it because we see that many countries invest heavily in nuclear weapons, especially Russia. They have modernised their nuclear capabilities very much over the last years. We see other countries developing nuclear weapons. We are strongly in favour of nuclear arms control, partly by strongly supporting those agreements which are in place, for instance the START the new START agreement which came into force on 5th February this year, putting a ceiling on the total number of nuclear weapons at 1550. And also something called the INF Treaty which is about intermediate weapons, missiles, which has actually has abolished the whole category of intermediate forces, or weapons systems. But as long as there are nuclear weapons, we will remain a nuclear alliance. I cannot comment on which countries that are a part of our nuclear sharing arrangements, so you can Google and you can decide whether you trust the information reading Wikipedia or not, but I cannot comment on specific nations.

MODERATOR: Another question. Yes? Wait for the mike if you would, please.

QUESTION: Hi. My name is [inaudible]. I'm a senior here, President Scholar at SMU, studying Finance and Math. I just wanted to bring up, Ambassador Hutchinson had mentioned that when NATO first started considering new member applications, they very heavily scrutinised whether those applicants had established stable democracies in their countries, already there. And I was wondering if there are any mechanisms within NATO now to ensure that those same liberal democratic ideals are maintained within the current member states and, if there are, how those conversations happen in Brussels.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: You're right that in Article 10, which is the Article in the Washington Treaty where we defined how we can become or so how NATO can enlarge with new members, it is stated that any new country has to live up to the NATO standards and NATO is based on some core values; democracy, the rule of law, and individual liberty. So when, for instance, Montenegro applied and went through a big process of reform to become our latest member, the 29th member, they became member last year, we part of that was to make sure that they developed democratic institutions and lived up to the NATO standards when it comes to rule of law, fighting corruption and so on. And of course that values these values are values we expect all Allies to respect and when questions are raised about whether NATO Allies dont fully respect those values, of course that gives reason for concern and I stress, when I travel round the NATO Allies, the importance of that all NATO Allies respect those values. I also know that individual Allies, in their bilateral engagements, also raise issues related to the rule of law, democracy and so on. But we dont have any specific mechanism in NATO dealing with that. For instance, the European Union, they have some mechanisms and some systems so they can launch processes where they assess whether the member states live up to different requirements. They have the process now related to Poland, for instance. But thats according to agreed processes and mechanisms in the European Union. We dont have anything similar in NATO, so this is partly about the political how shall I say focus of me, of the rest of NATO, but also the dialogue between NATO Allies which has to address concerns about human rights or the rule of law, individual liberty.

MODERATOR: Yes, sir?

QUESTION [Jack Vaughan]: My name is Jack Vaughan, I'm a local businessman and former Chairman of the John Tower Center for Political Studies here at SMU. Is the Iran nuclear agreement still effective, in NATO's view?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: Whilst it is important to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and thats important because any proliferation of nuclear weapons is dangerous, we strongly support the Non Proliferation Treaty, which is about avoiding or preventing other countries from developing nuclear weapons, and when the Iran deal was agreed we welcomed, all 29 Allies welcomed the deal. But for any deal to be effective, it has to be fully respected and implemented, and therefore we are underline NATO and NATO Allies underline the importance of the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, to make sure that Iran is not able to develop nuclear weapons. NATO is not directly part in the Iran deal. It was signed by the United States, several other NATO Allies and then it and Iran of course, and then it was later on agreed by the UN Security Council as a decision by the UN Security Council, so now it's a UN Security Council decision, where France, Germany, the United Kingdom, United States, not Germany but some other countries, France, UK and United States, among others, were a part of that decision, Germany participated in negotiations. So, it's not NATO does not possess the mechanisms to assess whether the Iran nuclear deal is fully implemented or not. I think it is extremely important that we leave that to those countries which signed the deal and to the United Nations, which is now responsible for the deal.

QUESTION: So, just to extend on that; is it correct then to understand that NATO is not involved in actively monitoring nuclear activity through technology on the ground or satellite surveillance? So, is it correct to understand

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: NATO is not directly involved in monitoring the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. It was actually because we were never asked to do so and it's the International Atomic Energy Agency which is responsible for that, which is an international body. So, I think I know that this is issue is also a bit sensitive and it will only create move confusion if I started to comment on something which is not my mandate. There are other international institutions that has been mandated to do so and of course, NATO Allies were heavily involved in the negotiations that led to the Iran nuclear deal, we welcomed the deal when it was agreed, but again the implementation of the deal is not for NATO, thats for other international institutions and therefore, I think it will only undermine the efforts to make sure that the deal is fully implemented if I started to comment on that, based on the fact that NATO is not directly involved.

MODERATOR: Yes, this young lady over here.

QUESTION [Hunter Collin]: Hi, my name is Hunter Collin. I'm a sophomore, a Tower Scholar and Hunt Scholar. First, I just wanted to thank you for coming and speaking with us. I know all the students that are here are really grateful for this opportunity. But I wanted to ask, you mentioned briefly about cyber warfare and cyberattacks, so I was wondering if you could talk about how NATO has prepared to handle cyber warfare and cyberattacks, and like how you guys define that on a global scale.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: We have responded and adapted our cyber defences in many different ways because we regard cyber threats and cyberattacks as something potentially very serious, and it's actually not only something which is potentially very serious, it's actually something that takes place almost every day. Because, when it comes to conventional attacks, thats a potential threat in the future, while cyberattacks actually happens almost every day. So, it's not something that may happen in the future, it's something that takes place now. So, we have done many different things.

Perhaps the most important thing we did, back in 2014, was that we decided that cyberattacks can be as damaging, as serious, as dangerous, as kinetic attacks. So, we made the decision back in 2014 that cyberattacks can trigger Article 5, meaning that if a country is attacked in cyberspace, we can go to NATO and say that this is an attack on the whole Alliance. And that sends a clear message that the collective security guarantees does not only apply for a conventional attack or a nuclear attack, but also for cyberattacks. Then of course it's up to NATO Allies to assess whether the scale and the seriousness of the cyberattack is big enough to trigger Article 5. But thats another issue, the thing is that we have clearly stated that cyberattacks can trigger Article 5, and that was the first thing. The second thing is that we have done a lot to strengthen our own defences of defences for NATO networks and cyber systems. Because in all our headquarters, in all our missions and operations, be it in Afghanistan or the headquarters in Brussels or whatever it is, or the deployment in the Baltic countries, are heavily dependent on cyber networks, and it's not possible to envisage any military conflict without a big cyber dimension. So, we have done a lot to improve the cyber defences of our own networks. And we have seen as we see we have seen many, many attacks, as we see many attacks every day, against our networks, but thats everything, you know, from small attacks to big attacks, state actors, non state actors, many of them are very hard to attribute, and we are able to protect our networks because we have strongly improve d the way we protect our own networks.

In addition to that, we have also established teams of experts who are ready to be deployed 24/7 to member states, to help them defend their networks, be it their military installations or civilian institutions or energy networks. Of course, United States has a lot of capabilities themselves, but many other Allies they dont have so much capabilities to protect their own networks, so we can deploy and help them protecting their networks. And thirdly, we do a lot to share technology, to exercise and to share best practices. We have a centre of excellence in Tallinn only focused on cyber defences. So yes, we do a lot, but we need to continue to improve our systems because cyberattacks is something that constantly evolves and requires better and more sophisticated systems.

MODERATOR: Young lady right here.

QUESTION: I'll be recording, is that OK?

MODERATOR: I dont know if it's I dont know if were allowed to record.

QUESTION: Oh, we're not? OK. OK, hi. I am a student here and I also correspond for Deutsche Welle. My question is; the Alliance between NATO and Pakistan and with Pakistan fighting terrorism on its own soil, how challenging it is, and if NATO is helping Pakistan accomplish those goals. And another question, out of curiosity, in the past I know that some NATO trucks were hijacked by terrorists on Pakistani soil, which was very dangerous, and then they used those weapons against Pakistanis. What do you have to say about that? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: The Pakistan is a country which with which we have of course a political relationship for many reasons, not least because NATO is heavily involved in Afghanistan, a neighbour of Pakistan, and we have also used Pakistan as a way to move equipment and forces into Afghanistan. We are not directly involved in any military activities or any practical cooperation with Pakistan when it comes to, for instance, addressing the terrorist threats inside Pakistan, but we have several times underlined the importance of that we need a regional approach to address the Taliban and the threat the Taliban poses, especially to Afghanistan, but also to the wider region. And therefore, we also call upon Pakistan to engage and to work closely with Afghanistan in addressing the threat of the Taliban and make sure that there are no safe havens, no sanctuaries for Taliban in Pakistan, which helps them both to organise terrorist attacks against Afghanistan, but also destabilise Pakistan.

MODERATOR: OK, we'll take one last question. This gentleman right here.

QUESTION [Alexander Stevenson]: Thank you. My name is Alexander Stevenson. I'm a senior here at SMU with a Major in Political Science. We addressed earlier technology a little bit with cyber security and cyber warfare, but I was wondering if you could touch on how NATO is responding to non state actors and their constant ability to attain new technologies, such as 3D printing, such as artificial intelligence, and how they are using it in their warfare capabilities. Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO General Secretary]: NATO is responding to those kinds of threats in many different ways and actually you mentioned different kinds of threats. One is of course the technological development and then NATO and NATO Allies have to make sure that we keep the technological edge, which has been a big advantage for NATO for as long as we have existed. Therefore, one of the reasons why we are focused on why we should invest more in defence is that that provides also more money for research and development. And we have not only stated that we should all spend 2% of GDP on defence, but we have also stated clearly that we should spend 20% of that budget for investments in new equipment and research and development, which will then provide the funding for development of new and advanced technologies. So, we keep the technological edge, we have the most modern systems, more modern than our adversaries. Then of course related to that is the danger or the threat of non state actors, terrorists, getting hold of advanced technology, weapons of mass destruction or whatever it is, then thats partly about intelligence, partly about cooperation between NATO Allies and partners, and partly of course also about police, civilian intelligence, which is a bit outside the responsibility of NATO, but of course NATO Allies are engaged on how to make sure that non state actors or criminal groups, or terrorists, get hold of technology or weapons, which are extremely dangerous.

So, I think thats the brief answer to that.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg continued his visit to the United States on Friday (6 April 2018) with stops at key military installations in Nebraska and Texas.

At US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) in Nebraska, the Secretary General met with General John Hyten, thanking him for his commands many contributions to the Alliance. Mr Stoltenberg stressed that the US nuclear forces overseen by STRATCOM are the "supreme guarantee" of credible deterrence and Allies security. Noting that he had first visited the Command in 1980, the Secretary General said that many thought this headquarters would become less important after the Cold War; but that in the face of evolving threats like nuclear proliferation, it remains as relevant as ever.

At Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, the Secretary General visited the 80th Flying Training Wing, which hosts the worlds only internationally-staffed pilot training programme. After meeting with Brigadier General Ronald Jolly, Sr. and Colonel Andrea Themely, Mr. Stoltenberg addressed a number of pilots graduating today and their families, praising the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Programme as a unique contribution to Allied interoperability and cooperation. Fourteen NATO Allies train pilots at Sheppard, and over the years more than 10,000 Allied pilots have trained at the base, with hundreds more joining their ranks annually. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States all participate. Sheppard Air Force Base has hosted pilot training for over fifty years.

Later on Friday, the Secretary General will visit North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) / US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) in Colorado, together with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. NORAD is responsible for defending Canada and the United States against threats from the air, such as aircraft and missiles, but its early warning capability is also important for transatlantic defence.
(Natural News) Millions of acres of U.S. crops were damaged in 2017 by a dicamba-based herbicide, manufactured by Monsanto and BASF SE. Dicamba herbicide is specifically designed to be sprayed on genetically modified, dicamba-resistant soybeans and cotton. These GM crops have been genetically engineered to withstand dicamba; however, the herbicide is very volatile. Dicamba drifts in the wind and can destroy neighboring crops.

After dicamba is sprayed, its toxic chemistry carries through the wind and causes damage to nearby crops that arent genetically modified to withstand the chemical. It was originally intended to be sprayed as a pre-emergent, before the crops are planted, but farmers began to use it throughout the entire growing season. Not only is dicamba destroying the biodiversity of plant life in the ecosystem, but it is also taking out natural crops, forcing more farmers to depend on Monsanto for the specific GM seeds that can withstand dicamba.

Six Arkansas farmers granted rights to spray dicamba after April 15

There is very little recourse for the farmers impacted by dicamba drift. They are losing upwards of 30 to 50 percent of their yields due to dicamba drift. Federal crop insurance doesnt cover damage caused by dicamba drift. As the crop damage worsened in 2017, many farmers began to sue the manufacturers. Many states have taken action to limit the use of dicamba. Arrogantly, Monsanto has been fighting back. Six Arkansas farmers, now dependent on Monsantos technology, are suing the state of Arkansas so they can continue to use dicamba in 2018.

Backing Monsantos takeover of U.S. agriculture, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox just granted the six farmers the right to spray toxic Dicamba after the April 15 cut off date. This decision will inevitably force more farmers to depend on Monsanto, because many wont be able to stop dicambas encroaching crop damage.

Monsanto blames the farmers for dicambas destruction

Monsanto asserts that when dicamba is used properly, it doesnt cause damage to nearby crops. In the end, Monsanto blames the crop losses on the farmers, because the farmers didnt apply the chemicals correctly. This shifting of blame highlights the sociopathic nature of Monsantos organization. In this realization, many farmers are beginning to realize that Monsantos agrochemicals are the pestilence. Monsantos herbicides are the real menace, plaguing their farms and livelihood. (Related: Dicamba drift destroying crops downwind from application sites of Monsantos toxic herbicide.)

Monsanto still has the upper hand over U.S. farming, though. Once farmers begin using GM technology, they become trapped in a cycle of dependence. Natural crops do not thrive in an environment that has been consumed by herbicides. In order to maintain yields of the most profitable crops, farmers are trapped into growing only the genetically modified seeds that have been engineered to withstand the herbicides. Any surrounding farms are at the mercy of these herbicides. The toxic chemistry of these herbicides drifts and causes damage to natural crops. This forces more farmers to accept Monsantos technology as the answer to continue their operation. And so the cycle of corruption continues.

For more on Monsantos destruction, visit GMO.News.

Sources include:

CA.News.Yahoo.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) His name is constantly blaring across the conservative airwaves these days for his direct involvement in funding civil unrest efforts both domestically and abroad, not to mention the litany of leftists organizations like Media Matters and Planned Parenthood that he actively supports and promotes. But what many people dont know about infamous globalist financier George Soros is that he was also a Nazi collaborator during World War II  and quite proud of it.

During a little-known interview with 60 Minutes journalist Steve Kroft, a portion of which conservative commentator Dinesh DSouza recently tweeted out to his followers, Soros, a Jew himself, made some powerful admissions about his past involvement in working with Nazi soldiers to protect himself from being imprisoned or possibly killed as a result of the horrific war effort.

Soros openly admitted that he was befriended by a Nazi soldier who pretended that Soros was his adopted godson in order to protect him. This same soldier was responsible for seizing Jewish property throughout Hungary, Soross native country, and Soros apparently helped the man commit these war atrocities at the ripe young age of just 14.

George Soros really is a deranged psychopath who lacks normal human emotion and is willing to do ANYTHING to advance his personal agendas

One would think that, more than half a century later, Soros would now, as an adult, be remorseful about his involvement in helping the Nazis commit war crimes in exchange for his own personal protection. But he isnt. Beyond just being grateful that he now lives to commit even more crimes against humanity, though mostly in secret, Soros told Kroft during that eye-opening interview that he isnt regretful about anything he did.

I would say that thats when my character was made, Soros admitted about the experiences he went through as a young teen. That one should think ahead. One should understand that, and anticipate events and when, when one is threatened. It was a tremendous threat of evil. I mean, it was a  a very personal experience of evil.

When asked by Kroft if he was ever an active participant of these atrocities, Soros stated plainly, Yes, yes. When Kroft reiterated, [You] went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews, Soros again stated, Thats right. Yes.

I mean, that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult, Kroft asked, prying deeper into the deranged mind of Soros.

No, not at all, Soros responded, adding again, Not at all.

The real kicker was when Soros was asked if he has, or ever had, any feelings of guilt whatsoever. Soros immediately stated, No, which suggests that he truly is a psychopath who has no issue with harming others as long as it brings him some kind of personal gain.

Its what Soros continues to do today, most recently in the United States with his behind-the-scenes push for gun control in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas incident that took place in Parkland, Florida. The billionaire financier is probably the biggest reason why Americans are now having to watch false flag hacks and shills like David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez parade around on television exploiting young children in a desperate attempt to scrap the Second Amendment.

The issue isnt what Soros did with the Nazis when he was 14. It is his complete absence of remorse for it as an adult, tweeted DSouza along with a video clip of Soros openly admitting to his war crimes while smiling about it on camera.

See more news about George Soros at Soros.news.

Sources for this article include:

ConservativeTribune.com

NaturalNews.com

T.co
(Natural News) Many consumers go out of their way to avoid buying products from China, especially when it comes to food, thanks to their shoddy safety record and the countrys widespread pollution problems. People often scrutinize the labels of the foods and other products they buy to ensure they dont come from China. Now, the countrys official Communist propaganda newspaper, the Peoples Daily, has taken an American pet food company to task for advertising the fact that its products do not contain Chinese ingredients.

The family-owned The Honest Kitchens pet food label reads, We make ALL of our cat and dog foods without ingredients from China  nothing, zip, nada. These words are a huge selling point for people who dont want their pets exposed to toxins, but theyve apparently drawn the ire of the Chinese government. The Honest Kitchens website also features a map showing the origin of their ingredients; nothing comes from China, and there is a note on the map that reads: P.S. Free Tibet.

Its only natural that pet owners would be extremely wary of pet food that comes from China after a widely publicized scandal involving pet treats from the country that were tainted with the chemical melamine, which is toxic to dogs and cats. Petco removed all of the Chinese-made treats for dogs and cats from its stores across the nation after more than 1,000 dogs died and thousands more were sickened after eating them, and PetSmart instituted a similar ban.

The Honest Kitchens founder, Lucy Postins, defended their stance, saying it was established in response to the serious safety concerns posed by Chinese pet food. She added that even some of their Chinese customers are unwilling to use Chinese ingredients.

Nevertheless, the Peoples Daily claims China, a nation where 300,000 babies became ill after drinking melamine-laced formula  somehow places a high value on food safety and has been trying to improve its foods quality. Trying to improve of course, is hardly reassuring to pet owners who do their best to keep their animals healthy not to mention alive.

They also questioned the pet food companys Free Tibet slogan, asking how it relates to food safety and accusing the Honest Company of promoting an anti-Chinese agenda.

A Canadian newspaper quoted one sensitive Chinese consumer who found the label offensive, saying I dont feel very comfortable that a product like this exists in the market.

Chinese government regularly attacks businesses it doesnt agree with

The Honest Kitchen is far from the only business the Chinese government has attacked; in fact, theyre in pretty good company. Earlier this year, they accused Marriott hotels of hurting Chinese peoples feelings and violating national laws by listing Macau, Tibet, Taiwan and Hong Kong as countries in the drop-down menus on its non-Chinese websites.

The Chinese government also threatened Mercedes-Benz with economic retribution after one of their social media managers posted a quote made by the Dalai Lama on their Instagram page. Instagram is banned in China anyway, but that didnt stop them from demanding an apology for offending them.

They also protested when the prestigious Man Booker international literature prize committee nominated the Taiwanese professor Wu Ming-yi for this years award and identified his nationality as being Taiwanese. China considers Taiwan to be a rogue province rather than a sovereign state and forced the prize committee to list the authors nationality as Taiwan, China instead. The author was opposed to the change and wrote on his Facebook page that it did not reflect his personal opinion on the issue.

If the Chinese government spent less time attacking what businesses do in free nations and devoted more resources to controlling the safety of their food instead, perhaps they wouldnt have to worry so much about people avoiding their products like the plague.

Read daily breaking news on food and health at Food.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

TheHonestKitchen.com

CBSNews.com
(Natural News) Its becoming clearer to me that the divide between the Marxist Left and liberty-and-freedom-minded Americans is becoming far too wide to breach and in fact may already be at the point of no return. Ill explain.

When our founders adopted a provision of the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of the press they did so, in part, with the intent that the American media would hold those in power to account.

Thats what the indie media (thats us) does today  we seek to hold people in power to account, while simultaneously reporting accurately on all sides of the political spectrum.

That is a radical departure from what the Left-leaning Pravda media does.

The establishment media purposely skew their coverage so that it always casts a favorable, yet undeserved, light on Democrats and their liberal allies, no matter what they do.

Now, the Leftist Pravda media are going a step further: They are attempting to discredit the truth-tellers simply because we hold differing opinions about how the country ought to be run.

Take what Facebook is now doing to all content published by Breitbart News: The social media platform is labeling all the sites stories intentionally misleading using a Wikipedia About this article pop-up.

Thats really rich because if you ask nearly anyone whos been to college recently, theyll tell you that their instructors forbid them to use Wikipedia as a source because  wait for it  its an unreliable source. I know; I recently completed a graduate degree and not a single one of my instructors would accept Wikipedia as a reference (and with good reason).

As Breitbart noted, the Wikipedia pop-up claims the site is far-right and published falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and intentionally misleading stories. While its true that Breitbart has a conservative viewpoint, that doesnt make its content dishonest or untrue.

Whats more, the Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, the broadcast networks, and the rest of the legacy media all have a far-Left perspective, but Facebooks About this article button does not alert readers to their perspective.

Furthermore, in the age of the Trump presidency, those legacy media sites have been responsible for publishing more fake news and intentionally misleading stories than anyone.

And you want to talk about conspiracy theories? WaPo, NYT, CNN, MSNBC, Politico and the rest have been trafficking in a conspiracy theory bigger than any I can recall in recent history: The Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

Those stories have slowed somewhat from their fever pitch in the weeks and early months after President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated, but all of those establishment media outlets still publish stories containing the allegations, mostly in reports dealing with that sham special counsel, Robert Mueller.

But of Facebook, what are we to expect? Its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is an avowed Leftist, and hes currently trying to win back Democrats and aligned Marxists after they discovered that the Trump campaign managed to harvest user data  legally  in the same manner the Obama reelection campaign did in 2012. The libs think they own social media, and theyve had their claws out for Zuck since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. (Related: Obamas raid of Facebook data OK, but its a scandal when Team Trump does it?)

Our founders envisioned a robust American press full of competing ideas and conflicting ideology, so I have no problems with the existence of media with various points of view. But when were talking about reporting facts as they happen  which is part of Breitbarts daily news budget  labeling them fake or conspiratorial just because you dont like their editorial slant is dishonest and not, in my view, what our founders had in mind.

Stay fully informed without the Wikipedia warnings at Censored.news.

J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Japan is home to almost one million wild boars. These animals are known to gorge themselves on rice, chestnuts, and potatoes, which has brought them into conflict with farmers. But they can only do so much to protect their crops and themselves from the near-fearless beasts. Fortunately, help is on the way, and it comes in the form of the worlds most intimidating scarecrow.

The Super Monster Wolf is exactly what it sounds like: A 25-inch-long and 20-inch-tall animatronic wolf garbed in realistic fur and wearing a permanent snarl. Equipped with an infrared sensor, the Super Monster Wolf is capable of detecting wild boars from a sizable distance. When that happens, the large, red eyes flare to life and it begins to produce any of its terrifying sounds to scare off animals. According to its manufacturers, Ohta Seiko Co., Ltd., the Super Robot Wolf can emit a wide range of different noise (including human screams and even a gunshot) to ensure that wild boars dont become acclimated to the racket. Another noteworthy feature is that the wolf runs on solar-rechargeable batteries.

Trial runs in Kisarazu, a city in Chiba Prefecture, have shown the Super Monster Wolf to be an effective boar deterrent. Farmers in the area had accepted that wild boars would uproot a good portion of their crops every year. But, as per the agricultural cooperative that carried out said trials, that changed once they introduced the Super Monster Wolf into their farmlands. Crop losses have significantly dipped since then; so much so that the company behind the wolf plans on mass producing it by April.

Anybody who wants a Super Monster Wolf of their own should be willing to shell out a hefty 514,000 yen, or 4,840 U.S. dollars. Farmers unable to afford a unit can opt for a much cheaper monthly lease.

Japans growing boar problem

Numerous factors are believed to have contributed to the proliferation of wild boars across the Japanese archipelago. The decreasing snowfall of recent years has made it easier for the animals to make it through winter and enter regions that were once inaccessible to them. Population decline is of no help either: The areas frequented by wild boars tend to be inhabited by older people, as the younger set has mostly moved to the cities.

Further complicating matters is the fact that some of the boars have become radioactive. People fled the northern region in 2011 after it was besieged by an earthquake, tsunami, and eventually the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. In the years since, wild boars from the surrounding forests and hills lay claim to the deserted towns. Scavenging for food and plants in these areas exposed the boars to radiation levels exceeding what the government deemed as safe. But rather than dying off, the animals continued to thrive. (Related: Legacy of Chernobyl: Boar shot in Sweden found to have 10 TIMES the accepted amount of radiation, 30 years after disaster.)

This was the scenario faced by residents of Namie when they attempted to return home. Namie, a town located in Fukushima, has been all but claimed by wild boars. The towns mayor, Tamotsu Baba, commented: It is not really clear now which is the master of the town, people or wild boars. If we dont get rid of them and turn this into a human-led town, the situation will get even wilder and uninhabitable.

If youd like to read up on more news about machines being used to help people, simply go to Robotics.news today.

Sources include:

BBC.com

Earther.com
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was met by protesters outside the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto Thursday.

The crown prince is in the Silicon Valley to meet with high-tech executives but protesters say those partnerships should wait until the conflict in Yemen is over.

"We don't stand for this war, we don't support this war, we don't want him in the bay, we dont want him in our homeland of Yemen as well," said protester Jehan Hakim.

A group called the Yemeni Alliance protested the princes visit, claiming people in Yemen should not live in fear. They shouted "blood on your hands!" and "hey hey, ho ho, war in Yemen has to go!"

Pro-Yemen Group Protests Saudi Prince in Bay Area

Protesters had a clear message despite the princes earlier statements about Israel that made many people hope for a more peaceful Middle East.

"They have to stop the war in Yemen, they have to stop selling weapons to criminals, who support ISIS, who support Al-Qaeda," said protester Salah Alalah.

A group of senators recently tried to put a bill forward to limit United States support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, but the bill has since been tabled.

The prince is expected to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
A San Francisco street named for a man whose son almost a century ago campaigned to "keep California white" could soon be changed to honor one of the most famous Latina artists who ever lived.

Phelan Avenue, a four-block street that runs through one of the campuses of the City College of San Francisco, is likely to be named after Mexican artist and activist Frida Kahlo following a community-led effort to acknowledge the racist connotations of the street's name.

This is a whole movement. It is a response to an anti-immigrant time, said Leslie Simon, an interdisciplinary instructor at CCSF who led the resolution to rename the avenue where the college has its main address.

Phelan Avenue was named for 19th-century banker James Phelan, but Simon said his son, former San Francisco mayor and one-term U.S. Senator James D. Phelan, disgraced the family name with anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Phelan ran a save our state from oriental aggression senate re-election campaign in the 1920s, according to a campaign poster cited by Curbed San Francisco. The poster also used the phrase "keep California white."

Phelan lost his bid for re-election.

Simon said that Phelans xenophobic message reflects the politics of the time and that it's time for the figures that we give honorary status should reflect the politics of the time.

Her sentiment parallels debates going on in the rest of California and across the country over whether streets, schools and monuments should continue to stand if they reflect discriminatory and offensive attitudes of the past. Many cities took down monuments that honored Confederate soldiers after violence broke out at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year.

The national political climate has created more attention, but it did not get me motivated to do this, said city and county Supervisor Norman Yee, who has also championed the name change. It is now easier for people to understand why we are doing this.

CCSFs Board of Trustees said in February, when it first voted on the change, that removing the name from the city's heritage is a way to stand up against these times of heightened xenophobia and racism.

The school is already undergoing a wider transformation.

Phelan Avenue is the main street of the Ocean campus of City College (Simon said it used to be referred to as the Phelan campus) and the school plans to have its new Performing Arts and Educational Center adjacent to the street. The building, according to the school, will be the home to Mexican painter Diego Riveras "Pan American Unity Mural."

Renaming Phelan Avenue Frida Kahlo Way not only honors an internationally renowned woman artist of color, said the school board's resolution, but also will call attention to the bond between the great muralist and the great painter when tour guides say Take Frida Kahlo Way to the Diego Rivera mural.'

Simon said that Kahlo is a great symbol of rebirth." Her life and legacy would help bring up the student bodys morale after the CCSFs accreditation was recently fully restored.

This is symbolic of our regrowth, she added.

The name change was the subject of a series of votes starting in February, when the CCSF board resolved to change the street's name to Frida Kahlo Way.

But they don't have the power to change street names; the city does. So Yee put together a committee made up of multiple community constituencies to come to a democratic agreement on the new name.

Residents of Phelan Avenue and one business located there voted throughout March on five possible names for the street, including Friday Kahlo Way, though the current name wasn't an option. The final results were released on Wednesday, with Frida Kahlo Way coming out on top.

However, Simon said there was some resistance among the street's residents about swapping the name. She said that while the student body and their representatives are very excited about it, residents of Phelan Avenue thought it was unnecessary to change their addresses.

I went door to door  and they basically say, I dont want to change the name, Simon said. She added that some residents seemed less resistant when she explained to them that they would have about five years to get the paperwork done.

A high school and a kindergarten are located on the street. They didn't respond to requests for comment.

The County board's vote to change the name has yet to be scheduled. It could take up to a year to see the Frida Kahlo Way street sign erected, Yee said.

Four other names were considered for the street along with Kahlo's: Muwekma Ohlone, a tribe comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay Region; African-American dancer and writer Thelma Johnson Streat; Chinese-American historian and community leader Him Mark Lai and freedom, as in the American value.

Yee added Lai's name because he was born to Chinese parents in San Franciscos Chinatown, the same neighborhood in which Phelan used slurs to campaign to expel Chinese Americans after the earthquake of 1906.

Its symbolic to at least have the name there, Yee said. Its a step toward educating people about the accomplishments of the people of the Asian American community."
Northern California is bracing for a major spring storm that is expected to dump several inches of rain on burn-scarred areas of wine country. It could also bring the biggest test so far of a partly finished new spillway at the nation's tallest dam.

The National Weather Service has issued flood warnings throughout Northern California ahead of Friday's atmospheric river.

Officials in Santa Rosa are more concerned about how quickly the rain comes than how much.

"Even though we're expecting up to four inches, the totals aren't the concern -- it's the rainfall rates and the intensity," Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshall Paul Lowenthal said. "Especially in the burn areas."

The area's wildfires in October caused the ground to not be able to absorb water at the same rate.

Sonoma and Napa County's Office of Emergency Services are also worried about potential mudslides and flooding.

Authorities are encouraging North Bay residents to check if their area is at risk of flooding at SonomaRecovers.org.

Alberto Lana lost his home in the fire and has been surveying the landscape ahead of this week's storm.

"The one fortunate thing is you see a lot of grass and that probably helps a lot," Lana said.

Fire department spokesman Paul Lowenthal said workers have been monitoring hundreds of storm drain inlets, especially the ones protecting the neighborhoods destroyed by the fires.

For months, Santa Rosa fire officials said they have been prepping the burn areas for storms. Crews spent Thursday cleaning debris and sediment from some 300 storm drains.

While previous storms have largely fizzled out, officials fear this coming storm could be the real deal.

San Francisco is already seeing at least one inch of rain, but it could up to at least three inches in the next 24 hours.

Officials are also closely watching the Oroville Spillway which could see the highest inflows of the season. California officials say they hope to avoid using the main spillway but are confident it can safely function if needed.

"It's a big storm, it's a warm storm," said Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for the Department of Water Resources. "Obviously we have plenty of flood capacity within the lake considering it's still 110 feet (34 meters) below the top of the reservoir."

A flood watch is in effect through Saturday morning for the North Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains, weather officials said. View full weather alerts here.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
President Donald Trump accused Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf of obstruction of justice for warning the immigrant community about impending ICE raids during unplanned remarks at a roundtable in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia Thursday.

After referring to sanctuary cities such as Oakland as "the worst," he also called undocumented immigrants "bad people."

"How about the mayor of Oakland, where she tells 1,000 people to get going, law enforcement's coming to get you," Trump said. "This was all planned, and many of them scattered. It was pretty much a failure.

"To me that's obstruction of justice, and something should happen there, and it hasn't and I don't know why it hasn't," he added. "But something should happen there."

In recent months Schaaf has repeatedly defended her Feb. 24 decision to notify her constituents of a mass sweep planned by federal immigration agents that ended with the apprehension of more than 200 people in Northern California.

It was later revealed that more than 1,100 had been targeted.

Schaaf's office issued a statement today in response to Trump's remarks.

"Mayor Schaaf stood up for her constituents and their shared values," Schaaf's spokesman Justin Berton said. "Sharing information about rights, responsibilities and resources is legal and appropriate."
Park rangers in the world's top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast, are waging a campaign to protect national forests from the illegal farming of the raw ingredient in chocolate.

Last year the governments of Ivory Coast and other top cocoa producer Ghana, along with food giants Nestle, Mars and Hershey, pledged to work together to end deforestation in the West African nations.

The president of the World Cocoa Foundation, Rick Scobey, called it a landmark decision and an "important environmental achievement."

Last year an investigation by environmental group Mighty Earth found that many of Ivory Coast's national parks and protected areas "have been entirely or almost entirely cleared of forest and replaced with cocoa-growing operations." One of them, Mont Peko National Park, is home to endangered species such as chimpanzees and pygmy hippopotamuses.

Chocolate producers should "really give customers peace of mind that chocolate eating isn't contributing to killing chimps or elephants," said Etelle Higonnet, a campaign director for Mighty Earth. "Let's have total transparency all the way from the bar in your hand or the Nesquik that you drink or the Nutella that you spread on your bread, down to the farm."

On a recent patrol in Mont Peko National Park, it didn't take long for park rangers to find cocoa growing illegally. Using machetes, the team set to work removing it.

There has been limited progress, said Kpolo Ouattara, head of the Mont Peko sector for the Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves. "Roughly, more than 800 hectares (1,975 acres) of cocoa has been cut. Compared to the park's total area of 34,000 hectares, that's very little."

While mindful of tensions that have lingered in the wake of the country's deadly political violence in recent years, Ivory Coast has turned to security forces to evict thousands of illegal cocoa farmers from parks.

However, authorities say some have been sneaking back in to harvest trees hidden deep in the forest.

One farmer, Djaka Issa Ouatara, said he accepts the government's actions.

"We weren't surprised because when we entered that area, we were well aware that (the forest) was part of the national heritage," Ouatara said.

Still, some observers worry that local traders are willing to turn a blind eye to any illegal provenance of cocoa headed for the global chocolate market.

Scobey with the World Cocoa Foundation recommended that chocolate lovers choose brands that advertise their adherence to international standards and check brand websites for information about their commitments to environmental and human rights concerns.

"We can't indulge in a feel-good luxury product at the expense of a huge swath of tropical rainforest," Higonnet with Mighty Earth said.
A teacher at a Far South Side military academy has been charged with having sex with a student on four occasions in recent months at south suburban motels, according to authorities.

Scottie Coleman, 50, appeared Wednesday afternoon at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on four felony counts of criminal sexual assault. His bail was set at $50,000.

Coleman had worked as a teacher at Carver Military Academy in the Riverdale neighborhood since August 2017, according to a statement from Chicago Public Schools. He was removed from the position on March 30. He also had worked as a military instructor at Lake View High School.

The district takes seriously any allegation of inappropriate employee conduct and we are committed to fostering safe learning environments for all students, spokeswoman Emily Bolton said. The individual is no longer employed at Chicago Public Schools.

CPS removed Coleman from his position following the allegation and he resigned shortly after, Bolton said.

District records show Colemans salary was $89,000 in his position as a military instructor at the academy as of last year. He previously worked at Lake View High School between 2009 and 2017, Bolton said.

Coleman began talking with the 16-year-old girl over Facebook Messenger in February, Assistant States Attorney Geetu Naik said. On one occasion, they agreed to meet and the girl was dropped off by her father at a movie theater in south suburban Crestwood. The girl didnt see the movie, but was instead was picked up by Coleman and taken to the Aura Motel, 14400 S. Cicero Ave. in Midlothian. The two had previously discussed going to the motel to have sex.

Coleman had sex with the girl at south suburban motels on four occasions, Naik said. Their relationship was discovered by the girls sister, who alerted their mother.

The last time Coleman was with the girl, he dropped her off at her aunts home in Gary, Indiana, and the girls cousin and her aunt confronted the girl about their relationship, Naik said. The girl was taken to a hospital, where an examination was performed.

When Coleman was interviewed by a CPS investigator, he admitted to having sex with the student, Naik said.

Coleman was arrested about 6 p.m. Tuesday at his Lynwood home, according to Chicago Police.

During videotaped interviews with detectives, he again admitted to having a sexual relationship with the girl, Naik said. He also admitted to knowing the girl was 16, and said he had daughters that were the same age as the girl.

Coleman, who has been married for 11 years, is a veteran who previously served in Iraq, his attorney Herschel Rush said in court Wednesday. He said Coleman could post $5,000 bond.

Judge Michael Clancy set his bail at $50,000 and denied a request by prosecutors to put Coleman on electronic monitoring. Clancy ordered Coleman not to contact with the girl or witnesses in the case, and not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18, with the exception of his daughters.
When Vega Blossom was fat-shamed by a fellow customer at an Indiana bakery, she got the last bite  literally.

In a widely-shared Facebook post, the 19-year-old wrote about her experience while waiting in line at Designer Desserts in Valparaiso, where she had gone with plans to buy a half-dozen cupcakes for Easter.



Blossom wrote that the woman standing in front of her in line took "forever" placing an order for a cake, prompting the lady behind Blossom to grow impatient.

I ignored it until the lady infront [sic] of me left, her post read.

But when it was Blossoms turn to order, as she approached the counter, she said she heard the woman standing behind her tell a friend let's hope this fat b---- doesnt buy all the cupcakes, the post read.



Blossoms response?

Instead of buying six cupcakes, she bought all the cupcakes available in the bakery.

I SPENT $54 ON CUPCAKES JUST TO BE A B----, her post read. HAPPY EASTER.

Though Blossom admitted the move was petty, many on social media praised her response, including the bakery.

Designer Desserts-Valparaiso wrote on Facebook Wednesday that the incident was unsettling.

Geeze people, its a cupcake shop, if it wasn't for all of us thick 'n juicy Americans who love to indulge in sweets, I wouldn't have a business, the post read. So please, if you are the one who made these remarks, unlike my page and please buy your cupcakes elsewhere, and for anyone else who feels it necessary to be so uncouth, please take your business elsewhere, as we will ask you to leave if we hear things like this.

Blossom, whose initial post was shared more than 26,000 times, later noted that the bakery has since sent cupcakes to her work two days in a row.

I am honestly so thankful for these guys and everything they have done for me, she wrote.
Family, friends and thousands of police officers from across the country gathered in East Hartford, some standing out in snowfall, to honor Trooper First Class Kevin Miller.

Miller, who served Connecticut State Police for nearly 20 years, died in the line of duty last week during a crash on Interstate 84 in Tolland.

Trooper David Piela spoke during the funeral about his colleague, a man who loved his family and was devoted to public service and providing for his children, Ryan and Sarah.

"Everything he did everyday was for his children, who he loved dearly," Piela said.

As a law enforcement professional, Miller developed a reputation for being there, not only for his fellow troopers, but also for those with whom in came in contact and dignitaries, including Gov. Dannel Malloy and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, attended the service.

"Kevin, please know that you made a difference in the lives of others and we will continue to carry on that mission with your memory forever in our hearts and minds," Colonel George Battle, the commanding officer, of Connecticut State Police said.

Troopers and police officers gathered at Rentschler Field hours before the funeral started at 11 a.m. in a show of respect and several stood at attention, even as the snow began to fall.

Dale Hourigan, a retired Connecticut State Police Major, was part of the band that played.

We're here to send him off appropriately and say farewell to a brother, Hourigan said. It's a tough day.

Police came from all over to pay their respects for a brother.

We come together at times like this to re-enforce that so they know no matter what the situation, no matter what the weather, we are always here for them, Captain Michael Jankowiak, of New York State Police, said.

Trooper Kelly Grant said the support from law enforcement from across the country makes Connecticut State Police feel much better of course to know that our fellow law enforcement from across the state and the country are here to help us pay respects to Trooper First Class Kevin Miller.

Frank Sutton called in the help of the Providence Canteen and Chris Palmer, of the Providence Fire Department, made the two-hour trip, leaving at 5:30 a.m. to be there for the mourners.

Providing all the breakfast here for the troopers this morning, Palmer said.

When the time came to make that final march, troopers steadily made their way in the snow to say their final goodbye.

Sad day for law-enforcement and for the Connecticut state police and certainly for trooper Miller's family, Hourigan said.

Trooper Miller was a 19--year veteran of the Connecticut State Police. A fund has been set up to help his family.
A couple of good Samaritans came to the rescue of an eagle on Route 9 in Berlin Thursday.

Merle Mckenzie told NBC Connecticut he was driving on Route 9 north in Berlin Thursday afternoon when he spotted an injured bald eagle. Mckenzie said the bird had been hit by a car.

The bird was dazed and appeared to need help. With help from a woman who stopped, Mckenzie wrapped the bird in a towel and put it in a cage to take it to a local animal hospital.

Mckenzie said they took the bird to the Kensington Bird And Animal Hospital. The experts there examined the bird and determined it had no broken bones, just a scratch on the eye. The hospital plans to reach out to a rehabilitator to help the bird get back into the wild.
As the opioid crisis continues to take a grip on cities and towns across the state of Connecticut and other states, the City of New London plans to sue opioid drug manufacturers and distributors.

New London Mayor Michael Passero said the city will file a lawsuit in Connecticut Superior Court in an attempt to hold the drug manufacturers and distributors accountable for the damages incurred by New London in dealing with the opioid epidemic.

A news release from the city says New London, its agencies and personnel have devoted an increasingly large portion of the citys resources on public health, social and human services, law enforcement, police, fire and first responders, and outreach initiatives designed to combat the crisis and they want the companies, rather than the taxpayers, to bear these costs.

Tragically the opioid crisis has devastated my city. Between 2016 and 2018 there have been 16 opioid fatalities in New London, a community with a population of only 27,000 people, Passero said in a statement.

City officials said there were also 187 non-fatal overdoses between 2016 and 2018.

Enough is enough, Passero said in a statement. These companies knew that they were leading people into the gripping disease of addiction. 

In February, the U.S. Justice Department said it would support local officials in hundreds of lawsuits against manufacturers and distributors of powerful opioid painkillers.
Ansonia police have arrested a suspect in a bank robbery.

Bruce Rowley, 26, of Derby, is suspected of robbing Webster Bank at 200 Division St. in Ansonia on Wednesday and police arrested him after a chase from Rhode Island into Connecticut.

Police said two people identified Rowley as the robber and Detectives obtained an arrest warrant and search warrants for Rowley, his residence and a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which police said Rowley used during the robbery. They also entered the Jeep into a nationwide database as wanted.

Rhode Island State Police found Rowley driving the Jeep south on Interstate 95 and tried to stop the car, but Rowley led Rhode Island state troopers in a pursuit that eventually entered Connecticut, police said.

Connecticut state troopers from Troop E in Montville joined in the pursuit and the chase ended at exit 89 on I-95 in Connecticut after they used spike strips to flatten the tires on the Jeep.

Police said a Rhode Island State Police K9 bit Rowley in the arm while authorities were taking him into custody.

After he was arrested, Rowley confessed to committing the robbery, according to police.

Rowley has been charged with robbery in the second degree and larceny in the fourth degree.

He was held on a $100,000 bond and transported to Derby Superior Court.
Students are asking whats next after Ridley-Lowell Business and Technical Institute closed Wednesday without warning, just weeks before some students were set to graduate.

Students at the New London location, who said they were blindsided by the email announcement that evening, are now weighing whether its worth transferring and finishing their coursework  if thats even possible  or finding a way to get their money back.

I dont have time. I was able to take eight months out so I didnt have to work. My boyfriend taking care of our daughter, paying the bills. But we cant afford to take another eight months to start all over, student Grace Leonardi said, who was studying to become a dental assistant.

Its a concern the New London resident shares with several of her former Ridley-Lowell classmates.

The State of Connecticut Office of Higher Education (OHE) is stepping in to help. On its website, its outlining options for students to transfer to a different occupational school. But previous course credit isnt guaranteed. Plus students would be responsible for previous loans and might have to take on more. Staff also provided a list of alternate approved private occupational schools.

OHE additionally outlined options for students to have their federal loans discharged, if they dont choose a transfer option, due to the sudden closure of a school. It also explains how the Connecticut Student Protection Fund will assist students who paid out-of-pocket or have taken out personal loans.

I worked so hard. A whole year of my life went into this school and now Im standing here with nothing, student Shannon Ozkan said.

Ozkan was studying medical assisting and was just five weeks from graduating.

She said she contacted Brandford Hall to possibly transfer but was told it could take a few months.

A Branford Hall representative told NBC Connecticut that they have been in touch with some Ridley-Lowell students but have no concrete agreement with the state to take in those students. At some point, they hope to be able to, but the details need to be hammered out with state officials.

Ridley-Lowell has locations in New London and Danbury, as well as Rhode Island and New York.

Ozkan said students demanded answers from Ridley-Lowells director this morning in New London.

She hid behind glass said no other information for us at this time. But were still left with a $20,000 debt, Ozkan said.

Some staff was in and out of the building, packing up belongings. But the doors remained locked. One teacher told NBC Connecticut off camera that she too was blindsided by the news.

Students who spoke with staff said they were gut-wrenched to learn of the closure. But some said they were not surprised.

NBC Connecticut reached out to Ridley-Lowell administration multiple times via email, Facebook, phone and in person, but did not hear back.

Now students who were looking to better their families are in a crunch.

Im going to try to get hired at my externship office. They like me a lot. They said theyre going to do what they can for me. But other than that its putting out job applications and listing the experience I have gained, I guess, Leonardi said.

NBC Connecticut obtained a copy of the email Ridley-Lowells Vice President of Operations, Andrea Weymouth, sent to OHE at 3:25 on Wednesday. The letter says, in part, Ridley-Lowell is insolvent. Since our national accreditor, ACICS, was eliminated, owners have poured personal financing into Ridley-Lowell to carry two accreditor costs over the 18-month bridge and pay for 2 campus teach-outs and programmatic teach-outs for programs that did not meet new accreditor metrics.

State Department of Education spokesperson Peter Yazbak said Ridley-Lowell is a for-profit business, so what happened is not necessarily illegal. Its too early to tell if an investigation would be launched.

Rep. Joe Courtney sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Thursday asking her to quickly provide resources and debt relief to Ridley-Lowell students.

Many of the students used federal student loans and grant programs to pay tuition, and it is imperative that the Dept. of Ed exercises its statutory authority to protect both taxpayers and the students who put their faith in this schools promise of a certificate that would provide gainful employment, the letter reads in part.
What to Know Two men have been accused of illegally smuggling finches into the United States.

The search revealed that the men possessed live finches, concealed in hair curlers and placed in their socks.

Benjamin and Ali have both been released on $20,000 bond and are awaiting trial. If convicted, they can serve up to 20 years in prison.

Two men were arrested Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport after federal authorities said they tried to smuggle songbirds into the country by hiding them in hair curlers.

Victor Benjamin, a 72-year-old Brooklyn man, and Insaf Ali, a 57-year-old Bronx resident, were caught with 26 finches at JFK Airport after being selected for a customs examination, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The pair had been flying in from Georgetown, Guyana.

Authorities said a search revealed that Benjamin and Ali had the finches concealed in hair curlers, which they then stashed in their socks. Benjamin allegedly had 14 birds; Ali had 12.

The birds were confiscated and placed in sanitary cages. They were set to be transferred to the U.S Department of Agriculture.

Benjamin and Ali have both been released on $20,000 bond and are awaiting trial. If convicted, they can serve up to 20 years in prison each.

According to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Services, people can enter finches into singing contests. A judge decides between the two birds which has the best voice, and the winning bird can be fetch $5,000.

While finches are available in the U.S, species of the bird from Guyana are believed to have better voices, and are therefore worth more.

Attorney information for the two men wasn't immediately available.
After YouTube shooting suspect Nasim Aghdam wounded three people at the companys campus in California, questions remain about where and when she bought the 9 millimeter Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun that she allegedly used, authorities said Tuesday.

But what is known is that California has some of the countys toughest gun-control laws and that it has tightened them after previous shootings. And along with its strict gun laws, it has among the lowest number of gun deaths per capita, 43rd among the 50 states.

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which considers California a national model, ranks the state number one in the country for the strength of laws governing background checks, military-style weapons, large capacity magazines, permits for carrying concealed weapons and access to weapons by domestic abusers and children.

California was the first to enact extreme risk protection orders that give relatives or law enforcement the ability to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from people deemed dangerous. It prohibits people who have been convicted of violent misdemeanors and hate crimes from owning guns and next year, will require background checks for ammunition.

Aghdam, a 38-year-old San Diego resident, arrived at the YouTube campus in San Bruno Tuesday afternoon and shot three people before apparently killing herself, authorities said. She had a grudge against the company, claiming it discriminated against her videos, and she felt cheated out of revenue from video views, her family said. Authorities say they have no indication she was singling out anyone as she fired.

Not enough is yet known about Aghdam to say definitively whether Californias tough laws prevented more casualties. The San Bruno police chief, Ed Barberini, did say on Wednesday that Aghdam possessed her handgun legally though he did not know where or when she bought it.

We dont necessarily have enough facts to know which laws in particular may have come into play and how this tragedy may have unfolded differently in another state, said Ari Freilich, a staff attorney at the Giffords Law Center and director of California Legislative Affairs.

Gun Control Grades

The Giffords Law Center in San Francisco ranks the 50 states each year on the strength of their gun laws governing background checks, military style weapons, permits to carry concealed weapons and other measures. Here's how the states stack up.

But she would not have been able legally to buy an assault weapon or large capacity magazines, he noted. For example, AR-15 series weapons, which have been used in mass shootings across the country, are not legal unless they were owned by Aug. 16, 2000, and registered by Jan. 23, 2001, according to the website of the California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

The states gun laws have limitations though. California is bordered by states with much laxer gun laws, Nevada and Arizona in particular. Rates of gun violence rise in California after gun shows in Nevada, Freilich said.

And California has seen mass shooting during which assault weapons were used. Fourteen people were killed at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, in a 2015 terrorist attack when Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, opened fire on Farooks office holiday party. The couple were killed afterward in a shootout with police.

They were armed with two 9 millimeter handguns that Farook had bought legally and two .223-caliber rifles that a neighbor had bought, also legally, authorities said. Despite Californias prohibition on assault rifles, the rifles were variants on the AR-15, authorities said.

Opponents to gun control measures argue the laws are ineffective because they are easily bypassed with the elimination of prohibited features on the guns. But after the killings in San Bernardino, California tightened its laws again, with new restrictions on semiautomatic rifles and a ban on all large-capacity ammunition magazines.

Gun owners and the National Rifle Association have challenged Californias laws in the courts and one lawsuit has delayed the implementation of the magazine ban. Last year the NRA's state affiliate sued over the prohibition on the sale of semiautomatic rifles equipped with bullet-buttons that allow ammunition magazines to be replaced quickly. It argues that that the regulation criminalizes the possession of weapons used for self-defense or sports.

But in February, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two cases involving California's gun laws  one calling for a 10-day waiting period and the other involving fees on gun transactions.

And Freilich noted that 25 years ago, California had the third highest rate of gun murders in the country. Now it is 25th, he said.

California still has been able to make major progress, he said.
Twenty years ago, Cody Gleason got his hands on his first guitar, and from that moment on, he was hooked.

"When I pick it up and play it, it has its own voice," he said.

But not only does this Dallas man play the guitar, he buys sells and trades them on marketplace sites like Craigslist and Ebay.

"And then clean it up and put it back on the market," Gleason explained.

His hobby eventually matured into a side-job.

"I frequently post ads on Craigslist with my guitars and I'm opened to trades on lots of various items," he said.

Last November, he advertised his Gibson Les Paul guitar for $3,000, and a man named "Jason" responded, offering gold bullion.

"Having dealt with gold bullion in the past, I was fairly comfortable with accepting a trade like that," said Gleason. "We came to an agreement on the amount of bullion that was going to be traded for the guitar."

They agreed to meet at a Guitar Center parking lot in Dallas, but Gleason said the man was only available to meet after 7 p.m.

"That was fine. There's a lot of lights in the parking lot. So, I felt comfortable with that," he said.

Gleason said he brought a magnet to test the gold and everything checked out.

"I was very comfortable with him in the situation. He sold me. I took it hook line and sinker," he explained.

The next day, Gleason said he took the bullion in to a gold and silver exchange to trade it in for cash.

"So, they were gone for about 2 minutes before they came back with a very somber look on their face. Zero for four. Zero bars for four were real gold. I thought he was joking. I laughed. I seriously laughed until I realized that no one was joking and this was fake counterfeit bullion," said Gleason.

After receiving the bad news, he said he called Jason, who told him he had no idea what he was talking about and would call him back later.

But Gleason said never did.

"He's disappeared. He ghosted me," he said.

His number was blocked. So, the Dallas man went to the police.

His case was eventually picked up by the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, and about a month later, the man whose real name is Gabriel Carter, was arrested on a felony theft charge.

A spokesperson with the DA's office wouldn't comment on the case, but court documents refer to Carter's actions as a scheme "by acquiring and exercising control over the said propertynamely by deception."

Gleason said he's heard from other guitar traders who were ripped off by the same person but are too embarrassed to tell their stories.

"If I can do something to help other people not be susceptible to this kind of scam, that's what I'm going to do," he said.

We reached out to Gabriel Carter's attorney for comment but we have not heard back. He's expected to appear in court on April 24.

When buying, selling or trading items online, here are Samantha Chatman's Solutions:

-When using sites like Craigslist, talk to the person on the phone. If they're only willing to text or email you, that's a red flag.

-Consider meeting at a police station to conduct your transaction. If everything is on the up-and-up, the seller or buyer shouldn't have a problem with that.

-And last but not least, consider your safety. The consumer in this story met this person at night in a parking lot, which he admits, wasn't the safest scenario.
Dallas has never had a housing policy for developers and non-profits seeking city support for their projects, according to City Council Members.

After years of discussion, the new housing policy heading for approval by the City Council next month is attracting opposition from people who have been building affordable housing in Dallas for years.

Sherman Roberts is President of City Wide Community Development Corporation, a non-profit focused on the South Lancaster Road area of Dallas.

Im doing the things that I thought you say that you want. And now were going to change again. And were going to do studies for the next 3 years, Roberts said. "Weve got tons and tons of studies that we have done and they all say the same thing."

The proposed new policy uses circles to designate reinvestment areas where the city wants housing development to occur. Roberts area is outside the circles.

City Council Member Scott Griggs said the new policy is intended to make better use of limited city resources by directing private and non-profit projects to areas where they are most likely to succeed and hopefully attract more private investment in the future without city support.

Were going to pick particular areas to emphasize and prioritize for redevelopment. These areas are going to be adjacent to areas that have already seen large investment of private capital, Griggs said.

In the new housing policy map, Red circles are Redevelopment Areas where projects are already slated to occur within a year. Green circles are Stabilization Areas with strong potential but also immediate risk of decline. Blue Emerging Market Areas require intense code and crime enforcement and other city services to support current planned improvements.

All of the background colors on the map are based on a Market Value Analysis of real estate in Dallas. City officials believe the MVA provides metrics on which to justify the housing policy.

This is more community driven. Were picking communities and areas of town to prioritize for investment. The old way of doing things is essentially the Bank of Dallas, Griggs said.

In the old practice without a clear policy, Griggs said private and non-profit groups would approach the city for investments in a project based on how much money they were lacking from other sources to accomplish the goal. City staff would evaluate projects and City Council would approve them on more subjective standards.

Its going to be constantly updated. And well do big strategic changes at 18 months and 3 years to see how the market is changing, Griggs said.

Roberts said the new approach with studies required for areas outside the circles may reduce progress that was already underway in other areas that need more help, too.

City Wide CDC has built two large mixed use developments in the South Lancaster Road corridor that has been a Dallas Target neighborhood in the recent past. The projects have access to the adjacent DART rail line, near the Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center. Roberts' agency has vacant land ready for another mixed use development on Lancaster and a single family home subdivision in the neighborhood.

Were talking about major projects, Roberts said. We need a lot of infrastructure here so why not keep doing that and not say were going to study because well be falling behind as we do that.

Griggs said Community Development Corporations will not be cut out of the new policy.

The product he does, he can move over to one of these circles and hes still welcome to do business here in the City of Dallas, Griggs said. We have such limited resources. We cannot put our resources in every single block of the city of Dallas.

The Dallas City Council Economic Development and Housing Committee held a special meeting on the new policy Thursday to hear comments from the public and from Community Development Housing Organizations.

Roberts spoke for CDHOs along with Diane Ragsdale, a former City Council Member who now leads Innercity Community Development Corporation. Her CDHO is focused on areas near Dallas Fair Park that are also outside the new housing policy circles.

People should not have to move to upper class neighborhoods to enjoy a decent standard of living, Ragsdale said. There is responsibility to the neighborhoods where you have a concentration of poor people.

Committee members said the housing policy will not remove basic city services to all parts of Dallas but it will direct the use of additional resources that developers have been able to access in the past.

We need a policy thats going to be good for all of Dallas, Committee Chairman Tennell Atkins said.

Atkins said he hopes to have the full City Council approve the new housing policy in May, but future amendments may be added for technical details that are not yet completed.
An Oklahoma City police officer charged with concealing a federal crime and lying to investigators looking into an interstate theft ring now faces an additional charge of conspiracy.

An indictment filed Tuesday says a grand jury added the conspiracy count against 25-year-old Weston Slater. Slater is one of six people charged with stealing various vehicles in Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska and bringing them to Oklahoma to sell.

Slater has pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges and is on unpaid leave from the department. A message left with his attorney Thursday wasn't immediately returned.

The indictment alleges Slater used a police computer to determine whether a pickup truck had been stolen in Texas, warned a co-defendant of the law enforcement investigation and lied to the FBI during the investigation.
UPDATE: Dustin Hamilton was taken into custody in San Francisco on Friday. Read more here.

Authorities are searching for a man who burglarized his parents home in San Jose on Wednesday, stole a shotgun and left behind a 20-page manifesto where he threatened to kill people in San Francisco and any law enforcement members.

A family in San Jose said they came back home from vacation to find that their estranged son, Dustin Hamilton, stole at least two guns and threatened to come to San Francisco and kill as many people as he can.

San Jose Police Department

The family said that their shotgun was missing and a .357 Magnum revolver was also missing.

They also found a binder with a 20-page manifesto on their kitchen table in which Hamilton says that he hates San Francisco police.

Hamilton, who is diagnosed as schizophrenic, is reportedly off his medicine, police said. He is known to frequent the area of Bryant and Delancy streets in San Francisco and may have firearms on him.

"Hamilton is believed to be armed and dangerous at this time," San Francisco police said. "If you see Hamilton in public, do not attempt to make contact. Please immediately dial 911 to notify authorities."



Hamilton is 6 feet tall, weighs 145 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.

San Jose police said officers on Wednesday responded to a report of a burglary in the 1600 block of Husted Ave. in San Jose around 10:14 p.m. After investigating, they found that Hamilton stole firearms from a residence "and made threats to kill people in San Francisco and any law enforcement personnel."

The San Jose Police Department immediately notified the San Francisco Police Department, and both agencies are actively conducting follow-up investigations to find the suspect.

San Jose Police detectives have obtained a felony arrest warrant for Hamilton for burglary, threats and firearms possession. In addition, Hamilton has two outstanding felony warrants out of San Francisco for assault and vandalism.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or contact Detective Emilio Perez and Detective Matt Brackett of the San Jose Police Department's Assaults Unit at 408-277-5283.

Those wishing to remain anonymous may either call the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (408)-947-STOP (7867) or visit the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers website. Persons providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect may be eligible for a cash reward from the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers.
The governor of Nevada ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot who died this week in a training flight crash.

Gov. Brian Sandoval's executive order calls the Friday gesture a mark of respect and remembrance for Maj. Stephen Del Bagno. Del Bagno was 34 and lived in Valencia, California.

He died Wednesday when his F-16 Fighting Falcon known as Thunderbird 4 crashed in the Nevada Test and Training Range north of Nellis Air Force Base.

Del Bagno was in his first season with the elite Thunderbirds flight demonstration team. He previously served as an F-35A stealth jet evaluation pilot with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

The Air Force says the crash is being investigated.

"We are mourning the loss of Major Del Bagno," said Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, 57th Wing Commander. "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 test range covers 3 million acres and provides 12,000 square miles of restricted airspace to the north and northwest of Las Vegas for pilots to rehearse and test warplanes.

The incident was the third U.S. military aircraft crash this week.
Passengers aboard a cruise ship that left Miami for Los Angeles last month on a 15-day journey are sharing photos and videos of their vacation memories -- few of which are the kind to cherish.

Photos from aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Sun show what passengers described as a floating construction zone with blocked off areas, tools and construction equipment on the ship's deck, pallets stacked with chemicals and exposed supplies, dust and debris. Some of the videos captured the jarring sounds of hammering, grinding, sanding and other construction noises.

Dan Lang

"From the moment we stepped on-board to when we waited to disembark, the Norwegian Sun was under massive construction," passenger Casey Bennem posted in a Facebook group created to share Norwegian Sun experiences.

The Sun left Miami March 16 bound for LA via the Panama Canal. Passengers said they were not informed of the construction prior to boarding, when they noticed some of the ship's areas were closed off. Signs at some of those areas indicated the ship was undergoing improvements.

Some passengers said they received a letter in their cabins about the work, passenger Keith Roos, of Atlanta, told NBC News. Frustrated passengers expressed concerns about their health and safety, he added.

In a statement, the cruise line said it tried to "minimize" the impact of the projects and issued an apology.

Casey Bennem

"At Norwegian Cruise Line, the travel experience, safety and satisfaction of our guests is of the utmost importance to us," the company's statement said. "Recently Norwegian Sun underwent enhancements as part of our continuous efforts to ensure that every ship across the fleet delivers a consistently high-quality passenger experience. While we do our utmost to minimize any impact to our guests when these enhancements are being implemented, we do recognize that during a recent sailing, we did not meet the expectations of our guests, nor our own standards, for which we truly apologize."

Guests aboard the March 16 cruise were offered a 100-percent future cruise credit of their paid fare that can be applied to another cruise through March 2023. It was not immediately clear whether passengers had been informed of the cruise line's credit offer.

"We realize that this gesture cannot replace their recent experience but do hope to have the opportunity to welcome them on board again soon," the statement continued.
Three Orange County residents face charges of distributing the powerful narcotic painkiller Fentanyl and counterfeit opioids through the dark web and U.S. mail, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Wyatt Pasek, 21, of Santa Ana, Isaiah Suarez, 22, of Newport Beach, and Duc Cao, 20, of Orange, were arrested Tuesday, after warrants were served at their homes, and charged Wednesday, according to Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Authorities seized a pill press lab in Suarez's apartment and about 6 1/2 pounds of what investigators suspect is counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax and nearly 10 pounds of white and blue powders that are being tested, Mrozek said.

Authorities seized 13,000 pills suspected to be counterfeit oxycodone and bundles of cash from Pasek's residence, Mrozek said.

The three were caught following a six-month investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Costa Mesa police.

Investigators suspect that from about Dec. 11 through March 20, the defendants made a profit of $189,599.68 in bitcoin from the alleged clandestine online drug shop, according to an affidavit prepared by DEA Special Agent Lindsey Bellomy.
The United States punished dozens of Russian oligarchs and government officials on Friday with sanctions that took direct aim at President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, as President Donald Trump's administration tried to show he's not afraid to take tough action against Moscow.

Seven Russian tycoons, including aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were targeted, along with 17 officials and a dozen Russian companies, the Treasury Department said. Senior Trump administration officials cast it as part of a concerted, ongoing effort to push back on Putin, emphasizing that since Trump took office last year, the U.S. has punished 189 Russia-related people and entities with sanctions.

Rather than punishing Russia for one specific action, the new sanctions hit back at the Kremlin for its "ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern" of bad behavior, said the officials, who weren't authorized to comment by name and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. The officials ticked through a list of complaints about Russia's actions beyond its borders, including its annexation of Crimea, backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, and cyber-hacking.

Above all else, Russia's attempts to subvert Western democracy prompted the U.S. sanctions, officials said, in a direct nod to concerns that the U.S. president has failed to challenge Putin for alleged interference in the 2016 election that brought Trump to power.

Deripaska, whose business conglomerate controls assets from agriculture to machinery, has been a prominent figure in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The Treasury Department said Deripaska was accused of illegal wiretaps, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and even death threats against business rivals.

On the London Stock Exchange, global depositary receipts of En+, an energy company majority-owned by Deripaska, dropped by 19 percent on news of the sanctions. Deripaska's conglomerate, Basic Element, said it regretted the sanctions and was analyzing them with its lawyers.

Putin's government dismissed the sanctions as "absurdity," arguing that the U.S. was punishing companies that have longstanding business ties to the U.S. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. was "striking at ordinary Americans" by jeopardizing "thousands of jobs."

"American democracy is clearly degrading," the ministry said. "Of course, we will not leave the current and any new anti-Russian attack without a tough response."

To the dismay of Trump's critics and of Russia hawks, the president has continued to avoid directly criticizing Putin himself and recently invited the Russian leader to meet with him, possibly at the White House. Yet in recent weeks Trump's administration has rolled out a series of actions  including several economic and diplomatic steps  to increase pressure on Putin and those presumed to benefit from his power.

"Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have," Trump said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Yet even as it rolled out the new penalties, Trump's administration left open the possibility of "a good relationship with Russia" in the future. And at the White House, spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said discussions with Moscow about a Trump-Putin summit would not be called off.

"Not at all," Sanders said. "We'll continue."

Those being punished aren't necessarily involved in the Russian actions in Syria, Ukraine or elsewhere that have drawn consternation from the West. But officials said the goal was to put pressure on Putin by showing that those who have benefited financially from his position of power are fair game.

The target list includes some who are closely tied to Putin himself, including top-tier officials involved in Kremlin decision-making and heads of the top state-controlled business entities. Yet others on the list are far from the Kremlin's orbit, including some who long have fallen out of favor or hold technical positions.

Targets include:

Kirill Shamalov, who is reportedly Putin's son-in-law, married to his daughter Katerina Tikhonova, although neither Putin nor the Kremlin have acknowledged that she is his daughter.

Igor Rotenberg, the son of Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putin's since they were teenagers.

Andrey Kostin, named among government officials, heads the nation's second-largest bank, VTB, which is controlled by the state.

Alexei Miller, the longtime head of Gazprom, the state-controlled natural gas giant. Both Miller and Kostin are longtime key members of Putin's team.

A state-owned arms-dealing company, accused by the U.S. of selling to Assad, was also targeted, along with a subsidiary bank. Many other targets were associated with Russia's energy sector, including parts of Gazprom.

The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them. But the administration said it would give guidance to Americans who may currently have business with them about how to wind down that business and avoid running afoul of the sanctions. Some, but not all, of the individuals sanctioned will also be prohibited from entering the United States.

It was not clear whether any of those hit have significant holdings in the U.S. that could be seized, and if they did previously, they may have already moved their money elsewhere in anticipation of the sanctions. In January, lists of Russian officials and oligarchs were published by the State Department and Treasury. The lists, required under a law passed last year, were informally seen as lists of potential future sanctions targets, even though the public version of the oligarchs list was merely a reprint of Forbes' list of billionaires in Russia.

The U.S. also has punished Russia for other troubling activity, including its alleged involvement in the poisoning an ex-spy with a military-grade nerve agent in Britain. In tandem with European allies, the Trump administration expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle. And last month, the U.S. targeted 19 Russians and five Russian entities with sanctions in the first use of the new sanctions powers Congress passed last year in response to the election meddling.
A family from Orlando en route to relocate to South Florida said it lost everything after the U-Haul truck they rented caught fire.

Jorge Rodriguez described the incident that occurred March 30 as "the most terrible thing" his family has faced.

The family was seeking a fresh start in South Florida.

Rodriguez said his cousin was driving the U-Haul truck on the Florida Turnpike outside Orlando when they saw smoke.

They pulled over, popped open the hood and saw a fire. They stepped back  painfully watching their possessions erode in flames.

The truck contained furniture, clothes and valuables.

Currently, the family sleeps on air mattresses; sits on a couch found in the garbage and watches television through a set given to them by a family friend, Rodriguez said.

A GoFundMe page has been established to help the family.

U-Haul released a statement about the incident in which it said it sent $5,000 to the family on Thursday through the customer claims process:

"We sympathize with their loss of personal possessions and are truly sorry this issue stemmed from an apparent equipment issue. We strive to do right by the customer. We sincerely hope the claims process will offer some measure of reparation, and we will work to try to earn back the family's trust in the future."

An independent adjuster will inspect the family's damaged contents, U-Haul said.


A 17-year-old student at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs was arrested after police say he threatened to shoot up the school on YouTube.

The 10th grade student was arrested Wednesday on a charge of written threats to kill or do bodily injury, according to an arrest report.

The report said Coral Springs Police received a call from California of the potential threat posted on YouTube by someone with the user name "Sharp Shooter."

"I want to be a professional school shooter...(no sarcasm, Broward County, Florida) J.P. Taravella HS is my target, tomorrow. I'M LEGIT NOT JOKING AROUND! SPREAD MY MESSAGE!!!!!!" the threat read, according to the report.

The report said the student had edited the post with a similar threat.

"For who ever is reading this, I will be shooting up my high school in broward county Fl. Tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 when school starts. Round 2. J.P. Taravella HS! (I am legit, make my presence known)." the edited threat read, according to the report.

Police were able to identify the user as the teen and went to his home. The teen told officers he was just joking and wouldn't carry out the threat, the report said.

The report said there were firearms in his home in a location secured by the teen's father. The teen confessed to posting the threats on YouTube, the report said.

Taravella High is about five miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where 17 people were shot and killed on Feb. 14.

"The Coral Springs Police Department wants to thank the concerned citizen for making a call and making a difference," the department said in a statement.


What to Know A photo of an apparent ISIS supporter at the Met last Christmas was altered and the person featured is an innocent Italian tourist

Someone ripped the image from his social media account and superimposed the ISIS symbols on his scarf in a terror threat attempt

Investigators had said they believed the ISIS supporter who altered the holiday season photo was based in Turkey

A photo of an apparent ISIS supporter posing in front of New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art last Christmas was altered after being taken from an Italian tourist's social media posting, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

FBI agents tracked the actual person seen in the photo to his native Italy and interviewed him. Officials said he was innocent and did in fact take that picture and post it on social media. But someone else later superimposed the ISIS symbols onto his scarf in an attempt to make an online terror threat to New York.

Investigators had said they believed the ISIS supporter who altered the holiday season photo was based in Turkey.

FBI agents and police tracked the man in the photo based on his social media postings as well as a credit card record showing he had in fact visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art along Fifth Avenue that December day.

Intelligence officials said ISIS supporters are increasingly altering photos of regular people and using them to try to recruit followers and to make threats. FBI officials said there are no new specific, credible threats to New York.

Law enforcement officials said Joint Terrorist Task Force officials have dozens of investigations underway in the New York area into possible extremists.
Federal public health officials are joining Massachusetts health officials in investigating a large cluster of reported HIV cases in Lawrence and Lowell.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed to help the Massachusetts Department of Public Health with investigating the cases, which it said involves people who inject drugs and are homeless.

Preliminary data from DPH showed 52 new HIV cases in 2017 among those who use opioids, compared to 23 cases the year before.

The CDC's involvement in the investigation will bring resources to determine underlying factors in the infection clusters and why this spike is happening now after a decade of increasing intravenous drug use related to the ongoing opioid epidemic.

There will also be additional help with field interviews of those infected with HIV and their needle-sharing and sexual partners.

Assistance from the CDC is expected to begin later in April.

"The sooner we can discover why these infections are happening now, the sooner we can use the most effective prevention interventions based on the evidence," Dr. Al DeMaria, DPH's infectious disease medical director and state epidemiologist, said in a statement.

Dr. Thomas Stopka, who teaches at Tufts University School of Medicine and studies how one epidemic can lead to another, previously told NBC10 Boston he believed the presence of fentanyl in the Merrimack Valley could be a factor in the increase as addicts tend to use more because of its potency.

"If they're injecting more frequently, there's increased chance for syringe sharing," he said.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50, according the CDC, and hepatitis C cases related intravenous drug use have increased by 300 percent across the country.

Meanwhile, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams has issued his office's first national public health advisory in 13 years after recommending Americans carry the overdose antidote naloxone, commonly referred as Narcan, on Thursday.

"You don't have to be a policeman or a firefighter or a paramedic to save a life," he said.
What to Know Michael Borovetz, a 43-year-old former poker player from Pittsburgh, has been scamming travelers at Newark Airport, police say

He'd claim that his flight was canceled and he needed $200 for a hotel room, and that he'd pay the victim back

Authorities say he's also pulled the trick at other airports

A former pro poker player has been scamming travelers inside Newark Airport in an elaborate ruse in which he'd "borrow" money, then disappear, authorities say.

In the latest scheme on April 3, the suspect, 43-year-old Michael H. Borovetz of Pittsburgh, approached a 55-year-old New Jersey man by the baggage claim in Terminal B of the airport, Port Authority police said.

Borovetz told the man his flight had been canceled and he needed $200 for a hotel room. He promised to pay him back, according to police.

The victim went to a nearby ATM and gave Borovetz the cash -- and then got suspicious and went to Port Authority police to report what happened.

It turned out Borovetz has pulled similar tricks in the past, according to Port Authority police. Last June, he targeted a San Jose man at Newark. And in other cases, Borovetz would purchase a refundable airline ticket to get into the secured areas of the airport and scam people for money.

He'd allegedly pretend to have missed his flight, ask for $200 and promise to pay the victim back, according to police. He'd then use the victim's business card in the next scam, claiming to have a job interview with them.

After the latest report, investigators determined Borovetz was at the Newark Airport Marriott, and on Thursday, went to his hotel room and arrested him.

Borovetz is due back in Essex County Municipal Court on April 17. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.

Borovetz is believed to have targeted people in other airports, including Charlotte. He has played in the World Series of Poker, and played seven events from 2012 through 2014, according to the WSOP website.


A Connecticut school bus driver is accused of using a school bus to buy and deliver heroin, police said.

The Stratford Police Narcotics Vice and Intelligence Unit identified 29-year-old Garfield Howell, of Stratford, as a suspected heroin dealer and was put under surveillance. Howell is also a school bus driver for We Transport, a charter bus company that provides transportation for students in the Bridgeport Public Schools district.

Police said during a months-long investigation that Howell was spotted on several occasions using the company-issued school bus to purchase and deliver heroin.

The suspected drug transactions were made after he dropped off all of his passengers, and children were not present when he was dropping off or picking up drugs, Stratford Police Capt. Frank Eannotti said.

Police served a search warrant Thursday at a Stratford home and found about 195 grams of heroin. Howell was charged with four counts of sale of a narcotics, two counts of conspiracy to sell narcotics and risk of injury to a minor.

NBC Connecticut reached out to We Transport's headquarters in New York, but a company employee said they had no comment. A manager from the bus company's local terminal in Bridgeport says they are investigating the allegations.

Howells bail was set at $100,000. He is scheduled to appear in court later this month. He does not have an attorney who can comment on the charges.


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.

Mai Khanh Tran's campaign website praises "the open arms of a country" that offered "my shot at the American Dream."

Trump this week amplified his rhetoric with tweets about "ridiculous" laws making it hard to send arrivals from Mexico "back where they came from." On Wednesday, he signed a proclamation directing National Guard troops to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

It's the sort of language Democrats hope will send voters their way. Although the economy and health care register higher as voter concerns, Democrats see advantages from touting Congress' attempt to shield young "Dreamer" immigrants from deportation. That effort collapsed in February after Trump rejected $25 billion to build his treasured border wall with Mexico in exchange for offering possible citizenship for Dreamers who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children and who have been temporarily protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Democrats say the gridlock lets them convey a message of tolerance that can woo voters, contributors and volunteers  including liberals, minorities and moderates alienated by Trump's words.

"Immigration is one of those cultural touchstone issues" that shows Democrats are ready to "stand up to Trump," said Mike Lux, a liberal Democratic consultant.

Democrats say GOP incumbents vulnerable to attacks over immigration include Reps. Carlos Curbelo of South Florida, David Valadao of California's Central Valley and Will Hurd of West Texas. Their districts are around 70 percent Hispanic.

While the U.S. population is around 18 percent Hispanic, 62 congressional districts had at least double that mark in 2016, the most recent breakdown available, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Underscoring how Hispanics tend to vote Democratic, just 13 of those districts are represented by Republicans, three of whom are retiring: Florida's Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, New Mexico's Steve Pearce and Texas' Blake Farenthold.

Republicans envision campaigns raising the specter of sanctuary cities, where local authorities limit cooperation with federal immigration officials, and casting such policies as enabling immigrants in the U.S. illegally to commit crimes and grab jobs. That could help in places like Arizona and northern and central Florida, they say.

Many voters view Democrats "as the party of protecting illegals over citizens," said Corry Bliss, executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political committee aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. "This issue works across the country."

Bliss' group ran TV ads attacking Democrat Conor Lamb on immigration in the waning weeks of last month's special election in an open, overwhelmingly white House district in western Pennsylvania that heavily backed Trump in 2016.

The spots said Lamb favors "amnesty to millions of immigrants" and as an Obama administration official encouraged sanctuary cities, "which put illegal immigrants who commit crimes back on the street." Lamb won narrowly, which Bliss attributed to a weak GOP candidate.

Republicans acknowledge that Democrats' pro-immigration stance could attract moderate suburban voters. But the GOP could also use it to energize conservatives concerned about "the proliferation of non-English speaking people in this culture, a sense that we're losing what America used to be," said GOP strategist Whit Ayers.

In California, conservative Shawn Nelson is among several GOP contenders running in the Orange County contest. As a member of the county board of supervisors, Nelson helped push that body to join a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of California's sanctuary law.

"Even if you're not seeing illegals crossing the border into your state, they're potentially stealing your jobs, they're potentially making you less safe," John Thomas, Nelson's chief strategist, said of the issue's appeal.

One of Nelson's Democratic opponents is Tran, a pediatrician who was evacuated to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1975.

Tran policy adviser Jack Hipkins says her message that America is "supposed to be open and inclusive and diverse" could attract Republicans displeased with the party's harsh tone on the issue. The district is roughly evenly divided among whites, Hispanics and Asians.

The top two finishers in the crowded primary will meet in the Nov. 6 election.
Days before the end of their 2018 session, Maryland legislators are attempting to pass a bill to help a quadriplegic man from Bethesda. He is an attorney who faces the prospect of losing either his job or his full-time nursing care because of a loophole in Maryland law.

Josh Basile, who suffered a traumatic injury from the crashing of a wave at Bethany Beach, Delaware, in 2004, has lobbied state legislators to adjust Maryland disability law, including through testimony at a Senate hearing earlier this year. Basile requires around-the-clock nursing or attendant care at his condominium in Bethesda and to maintain his job at a downtown D.C. law firm.

According to Basile and members of the state legislature, Basile must soon shift to a state program for people with rare injuries to continue receiving his private nursing care, but he risks losing his job by doing so. Basile utilizes a state Medicaid program to work professionally as a lawyer, but state law prohibits people who participate in a Medicaid employment program from receiving the nursing benefits.

Basile said he would have no choice but surrender his job if state officials do not change disability laws or policies, because his nursing care is necessary for his physical well-being.

If I didnt have a job, I wouldnt be able to pay the rent or mortgage, so Id have to move into a nursing home, Basile said. Thats a world I dont ever want to live in.

State Sen. Susan Lee, D-Montgomery County, is seeking House support for her Senate-passed bill to help Basile maintain all of his Medicaid benefits.

We have an extraordinary individual who has a disability that requires a nurse, Lee said. Unfortunately, Josh fell through the cracks with this inconsistency law. Were trying to correct that right now.

Lees legislation would allow Basile and a small number of other people with rare medical needs and disabilities to receive private nursing care while holding outside employment for at least the next three years.

In testimony supporting her bill before the Senate Finance Committee in March, Sen. Lee said, It is wholly unreasonable that individuals cannot receive the necessary support and services just because they work and earn income. We try to incentive work, the existing law and policy of MHA in this area, does the opposite.

The Maryland Department of Health, which helps oversee the Medicaid programs, declined requests for an interview.

The Department doesnt comment on pending legislation, the agency said in a written statement. What I can say is that the Maryland Department of Health has worked closely with other state agencies, including the Department of Disabilities, and members of the legislature to determine the best possible outcomes for those who could potentially be impacted and benefit from this piece of legislation.

The legislation preliminarily passed in the state Senate but is awaiting action in the state House, with only days remaining until the end of the 2018 session.

Basile works for a D.C. law firm specializing in cases involving people with disabilities. He has limited use of his right hand, without finger or wrist mobility. Basile uses voice-activated technology and a mouth operated joystick to operate his computer and home devices and appliances.

Basile suffered his traumatic injury while attending Skidmore College. He later graduated from Montgomery College and earned his law degree at the University of the District of Columbia.

I have very limited (physical) abilities, but I use them to the best of my ability, Basile said.

Reported by Scott MacFarlane, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Steve Jones.


A leader of the MS-13 gang was sentenced to 39 years in prison for the brutal murder of a Virginia man in October 2016, Telemundo 44's Alonso Castillo reported.

Marlon Argueta Flores pleaded guilty to first degree murder in the fall. He admitted he fired the fatal shots that killed 22-year-old Edwin Chicas in Manassas.

Investigators said 11 of the 15 shots hit Chicas, and he was slashed with a machete after the gunfire stopped.

Detectives said Flores targeted Chicas for allegedly threatening the gang leaders pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child. The judge said the murder was a hunting, not fear that Chicas was going to hurt Flores' girlfriend.

Chicas was one of six siblings born in the United States to parents who emigrated from El Salvador decades ago. His family said they struggle to understand the severity of the violence.

The family feared Chicas was involved in gang activity but never saw the signs at home.

Flores was one of eight people charged in the case, including two women. Those other cases have not gone to trial.
The Vermont gin and vodka maker Caledonia Spirits is launching a limited-edition product made from pure Vermont maple syrup.

Syrup from Farnham Farm Maple in Plainfield is the key ingredient in the new vodka from the Hardwick company also behind the popular gin and vodka label Barr Hill, which is made from honey.

"Most people think vodka comes from potatoes," noted Ryan Christiansen of Caledonia Spirits.

However, no potatoes, corn or grain are used in making the new vodka. Maple is fermented at the distillery, with yeast consuming the fermenting sugars to make alcohol.

Christiansen paid a premium on top of Farnham Farm's typical bulk syrup prices, with a goal to boost a small family farm while creating new experiences for vodka drinkers.

"I don't think anybody likes to pay bills, but writing a check to a local farmer  you feel pretty good about writing that check," Christiansen said.

"We need to work together, to make it work for everybody," said Kevin Farnham of Farnham Farm Maple, adding that he hopes the partnership helps him grow his business.

Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts said he is glad to see a sugar maker find a new market for his product, and to know one gallon of maple syrup can produce eight bottles of Caledonia Spirits vodka that retail for $35 apiece.

"That's really enhancing that value of the product," Tebbetts observed. "Our spirits industry is taking off  much like our craft beer industry has taken off."

If you're curious: no, the drink does not taste like breakfast. Most of the maple flavor is lost during the production, with just a slight aroma sticking around.

"It's definitely a true-to-form vodka, with just a subtle maple hue," Christiansen said, describing how the vodka is not sweet.

More partnerships are in the pipeline. Christiansen said he wants to keep using creative ingredients from Vermont farms to spotlight the talent and hard work from his state.

Initially, the new maple vodka will be available from Caledonia Spirits' tasting facility in Hardwick. It will be released Saturday at an event called "Vodka & Pancakes," which runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the distillery on Log Yard Drive in Hardwick.
Family, friends and thousands of police officers from across the country gathered in East Hartford at the funeral mass for Connecticut State Trooper First Class Kevin M. Miller, who died in the line of duty last week.

Hours before the mass began, officers gathered at Rentschler Field to show their respect and stood at attention, even as the snow began to fall.

On Thursday, state police held a somber procession as they escorted their fallen brother to the headquarters of the troop where he served, then to Rentschler Field in East Hartford, where representatives from the nation's state police agencies came to pay their respects.

Trooper Miller was killed in a crash on Interstate 84 in Tolland while he was on-duty last week when his cruiser and a tractor-trailer truck collided.

Men and women in uniform led the procession from the Introvigne Funeral Home in Stafford Springs Thursday to Troop C, where Miller served, then to Rentschler Field.

"Its never a good thing when you have to come to a service like this but I think at the end of the day the family appreciates seeing the different shades of uniforms and vehicles that show up from all over the country," said Trooper First Class Robert Tate of the Illinois State Police.

Troopers came from all over to honor Miller. They said though they represent different states, they are one family.

"We are all brothers and sisters on this job we all watch over for one another," said Trooper George Katsarakes of the Massachusetts State Police.

"It's tragic we both had about the same amount of time on the job and I can relate to that," said Sgt. Steven Callinan of the New Hampshire State Police.



Calling hours were held Thursday at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, which is located at 615 Silver Lane in East Hartford.

The funeral mass is underway at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.

TFC Miller was a 19  year veteran of the Connecticut State Police. A fund has been set up to help his family.
Officials are investigating the cause of a fire that swept through a building in Hampton, New Hampshire Thursday night.

Flames erupted at a building on C Street and Ashworth Avenue at about 10 p.m. and quickly reached 3-alarms.

According to the Boston Globe, the building contains the Sea Wash laundromat which was burned in the blaze.

Some nearby apartments were also impacted by the flames.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire shortly after 11:30 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation.
What to Know Waterville officials are calling for Republican Mayor Nick Isgro to resign after a tweet earlier this week that David Hogg should "eat it."

The post was in response to an article about Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who mocked Hogg online and lost advertisers.

A Maine mayor is receiving backlash for a tweet making fun of a Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor.

The Morning Sentinel reports some Waterville officials are calling for Republican Mayor Nick Isgro to resign. Isgro wrote in a now-deleted tweet earlier this week that Parkland student David Hogg should "eat it."

We are deeply disappointed in @nickisgro1's recent tweet about @davidhogg111. As #2A supporters, we don't agree with David's policy ideas, but he should be treated with respect and decency, especially given the terrible tragedy he endured. Mr. Mayor, apologize. #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/HzgS1Y3AvH  THIS STORY IS INCORRECT (@MEtrollNetwork) April 3, 2018

The post was in response to an article about Fox News backing host Laura Ingraham, who lost over a dozen advertisers after mocking Hogg online. The tweet has since been deleted.

The Maine Democratic Party said in a news release Isgro's post was part of a "long line of aggressive and often bigoted social media statements."

Four Democratic city councilors condemned Isgro's comments on Thursday.

Isgro declined to comment when he was contacted on Facebook.
A prominent community theater group in Vermonts Chittenden County is raising the curtain on its latest production, and sharing the spotlight with another non-profit.

Thursday is opening night for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels from the Lyric Theatre Company, at the famous Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Burlington.

The musical is based on the 1980s movie comedy starring Steve martin and Michael Caine.

At its shows through the weekend, the mostly-volunteer theater troupe will encourage audiences to also support the non-profit Green Up Vermont.

Green Up Vermont organizes the annual statewide litter cleanup effort known as Green Up Day.

Its a big part of our mission to be a resource for other theater providers and schools that do shows, but I think that extends to the non-profit community in general, said Jose Rincon, the executive director of Lyric Theatre Company. We want to show our support, and we feel that goes two ways. If we support organizations, that will ultimately come back and turn into support for Lyric as well.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels runs for five performances at the Flynn, through Sundays matinee.

As for Green Up Day, its May 5 this year. Rincon said Lyric is promising to help in the litter removal work.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for the federal government to treat the opioid addiction crisis in a way similar to how it attacked the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

The Massachusetts Democrat will be in Boston on Friday to discuss legislation that she and Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings plan to file in Congress.

The lawmakers plan to model the bill after the Ryan White CARE Act, which targeted federal funds to areas of the country most impacted by the HIV virus.

White, a teenager from Indiana, became a global advocate for AIDS patients after he contracted the disease through a blood transfusion. He died in 1990.

Warren plans to visit an area of Boston that was previously known as the "Methadone Mile," but recently rebranded as "Recovery Road."
The calls are growing louder for the mayor of Waterville, Maine, to resign.

Republican Mayor Nick Isgro has come under fire for his tweet about Parkland shooting survivor and gun control advocate David Hogg.

Writing "Eat it, Hogg," Isgro re-posted a tweet about Fox News' president standing behind embattled host Laura Ingraham. She previously mocked Hogg for getting rejected from several colleges. Hogg called for advertisers to boycott Ingraham's show.

"A grown man going after a kid, regardless of the circumstances, is ridiculous," said John DeWitt in Waterville Friday.

An online petition asking Isgro to resign, started by a Democratic political operative, now has more than 4,000 signatures.

Isgro has deleted the tweet and set his Twitter account to private. He did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

City Councilor Winifred Tate said she has had concerns about Isgro's social media before this controversy.

"This is a longstanding pattern of behavior," she said, pointing to previous posts about Muslims, refugees and the Pope. "This does not reflect Waterville and our values."

City Council Chair Steve Soule called Isgro's "Eat it" tweet "unfortunate."

"Students across America are the best voice for change," he said.

While there is a process to initiate a recall election, Waterville's city manager said he has not seen any petition signatures to start that process.

Councilor Tate said she and other councilors are talking about how to move forward.

"I've heard from Democrats, I've heard from Republicans, I've heard from Independents -- they're all very concerned," she said.

While some in Waterville want to see Isgro step down, others felt that was going too far.

"I think what he said was inappropriate, but I don't think it warrants a man losing his job," said Tim Ziobro.
A week after news of an office harassment-and-abuse scandal led her to forgo a bid for a fourth term in Congress, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty is nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, the victim at the center of the scandal  Anna Kain  has made a public appeal for passage of a #MeToo bill in Congress.

Esty has canceled public events and turned down requests for comment from reporters, while the story of the toxic culture in her office dribbles out and a steady stream of potential successors  Republican and Democrat  talk about taking her 5th District seat.

She will be back to her regular schedule when the House returns to session next week, where she has a very aggressive agenda for the time she has remaining in office, Tim Daly, Estys chief of staff said. She intends to do all the things that she has always done when the floor is in sessionincluding meeting with her constituents.

Esty, a Democrat, stayed out of the public eye since March 29, when Hearst Connecticut Media reported the alleged harassment and physical abuse of Kain by Tony Baker, the congresswomans former chief of staff.

While Esty issued a written apology for not taking action to protect her staff from Baker earlier, but she has not taken any questions on the matter, which only gets murkier as more details become available. A copy of the separation agreement that Hearst obtained contradicts Estys statement that she fired Baker in 2016. The nondisclosure agreement makes no mention of a dismissal, but instead says Baker was required to submit a letter of resignation, and was given a $5,000 severance award and forgiveness of his student loans.

Even when Esty announced on Monday that she would not seek a re-election as a result of the scandal, the news was delivered via press release.

On Thursday, Esty canceled planned appearances at a town hall-style meeting in Newtown on one of her signature issues  gun law reform in Newtown  and at a government class at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, where she was to speak about the law-making process.

She has been staying close to her Cheshire home during the last days of Congress two-week spring break, which ends Monday. Friends of Esty said Thursday that she is determined to fill out the remainder of her term, which ends with the swearing-in next January of the next Congress.

But As Esty retreats, Kain has gone public with an appeal to the Senate to pass a bill that would give sexual harassment protections to congressional staffers.

Kain, who worked for Esty until 2015 and said she was screamed at, punched and threatened with death by Baker, posted on Facebook that she is part of a group called Congress Too.

The halls and offices of Congress are bursting with wide-eyed young people who are excited and honored and amazed to have the privilege to do that work in that place, her post said. But the power dynamic and prevalence of harassment and abuse of all kinds on the Hill is unique, and there is no real place for these staffers to go for support when they need it most.

That needs to change.

The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a good government group, called Thursday for the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Estys handling of the case.
NEW BRITAIN  With 20 minutes left in Wednesdays Republican debate and a little more than a month until the May convention, fireworks finally ignited between the GOP candidates for governor.

Seated on the far right, both physically and politically, Albanian-born immigration lawyer Peter Lumaj and former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst went head to head over whether candidates should petition their way onto the August primary ballot.

Herbst lit the fuse when he announced he will respect the process should he fail to receive 15 percent of delegate votes at the convention. He was clearly taking shots at Bob Stefanowski, a multimillionaire who is self-funding his campaign, plans to petition his way onto the ballot and hasnt attended a single debate.

Herbst called on his competitors to do the same, but only two, Dave Walker and Mark Boughton, agreed.

I was just wondering why is he running the show? I thought you were running the show, Lumaj, of Fairfield, said to the debate moderators after a minute-long rant from Herbst.

When someone comes here and tells us how to vote or how to run the campaign over here, that tells you that hes not very secure at this point in what hes doing, Lumaj said.

It was downhill from there, as the two candidates continued to take shots at each other  Lumaj over Herbsts assertions that he improved the financial standing of Trumbull, and Herbst over Lumajs claims that President Donald Trump asked him to be the U.S. ambassador to Albania.

The exchange took place at New Britain High School in front of a room of 400 people, most of whom will be delegates in May, and  if their audible reactions were any indication  seemed to be entertained by the argument after nearly two hours of mostly typical talking points.

My record speaks for itself, Herbst said. Perhaps you would be better served being the ambassador to the country of Albania than being the governor of the state of Connecticut.

I think I can serve the people here better, instead of you just looking for a promotion, Lumaj shot back.

The war of words was cut short when Mike Handler, Stamfords chief financial officer and a father of four daughters, put his Dad hat on to shame his sparring competitors.

For starters, this conversation started with something to do with respect, Handler said, as he pointed his gaze at Herbst and Lumaj.

I dont know what is going on here, but we cannot do this to ourselves, Handler said. This is the Republican Party at its worst.

It wasnt the only part of the debate in which candidates attempted to differentiate themselves from the crowded field.

All but two of the nine candidates on stage  state Rep. Prasad Srinivasan and Handler  said they support reinstating the death penalty in Connecticut, at which point there were boos from the delegate-filled audience.

The countdown to the convention starts now.
NEW MILFORD  The white colonial at 34 Main St. now stands as the last residential property around the Town Green, but when it was built in 1774, it was one of the first.

The home was built by the neighboring First Congregational Churchs second minister, Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, for his eldest son, Revolutionary War Col. Nathaniel Taylor.

(The Taylors) came very early in the birth of New Milford, said Lisa Roush, New Milford Historical Societys curator. His house was one of the earlier houses that were built on the green and other houses followed. The church was always the center of town.

The younger Taylor was a player in the Revolutionary War, traveling to dine with Gen. George Washington at least once, Roush said.

At the New Milford home, he would host military personnel traveling through town, including Lt. Gen. Marquis de Lafayette and Gen. Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, commanders of the French troops that fought alongside the continental army against the British.

The house would stay in the Taylor family until 1860 and by the 1930s had been converted into four apartments. It was restored to its original state in 1940.

It was this history that gained the attention of its last owner, Charles Beach Barlow, who would buy the home in 1972 and live there until he passed away in 2016.

Barlow, an avid historian and former president of the C.M. Beach Company on Bridge Street, had grown up in another house on the green  now a funeral home  and returned to New Milford after working as a banker in London, Philadelphia, Waterbury and in Worcester, Mass.

When he came back to New Milford, the fact that there was a historical property as important as that  he was very anxious to buy it, Roush said.

Mark Malkin, Barlows friend and the executor of his estate, said that staying on the green, where he grew up, was important to Barlow.

Those who knew him recall Barlow as a formal gentleman who, even in his 80s, would wear a suit and tie each day.

He became well known in town for his involvement in community organizations  more than a dozen in New Milford and throughout the state  and his ability to recall historical details at the drop of a hat.

He was passionate about anything he got involved in, Malkin said. He was an extraordinary man and had an incredible memory. I would sit with him and hed be telling me stories of his childhood. His recollection was amazing.

Barlows passion for history can also be found in the extensive collections he left behind, part of which will become available at an auction later this month.

The auction will be held in two parts because of the number of items that were found on display or tucked away in Barlows home, said Mitchell Borenstein, of Applebrook Auctions.

More than 200 items  including rugs, artwork, sterling and Barlows collection of British royal memorabilia  will be featured in the first auction on April 26.

This was literally like stepping back into a wonderful time that no longer exists, Borenstein said. That formal (kind of collecting)  its a house you wouldve seen in a movie in a different time.

The full collection can be found on Applebrook Auctions website. The home, and parts of Barlows estate not included in the auction, will be donated to a nonprofit, Malkin said. The organization has asked not to be named yet, but has indicated they will continue to use the home.

aquinn@newstimes.com
NORWALK  The towering cinder-block-and-brick house at 295 Olmstead Hill Road is a far cry from what it was during its glory days in the late 1960s.

The home was once described by neighborhood children as Fort Apache, in reference to its gated entrance and six large towers. Four of the them served as bedrooms, the fifth a kitchen and the sixth a studio and living area.

All of the towers were connected by a glass-enclosed gallery that surrounded a 26-foot pool.

But when Tom Hale and his partner Michael Toy came to see the home, the property had been vacant for nearly a decade and was in a state of great disrepair.

We honestly didnt expect to like it at all, Toy said, but we fell in love with it as soon as we walked up.

Our jaws literally dropped, Hale added.

The New York couple made an offer the same day they viewed the house, stopping by at a gas station on their way home to negotiate a final deal. They bought the house for $680,000 in January and started to restore it. New floors are being installed and kitchen is being redone, as the couple brainstorm more ideas for the project.

Living in a one-bedroom apartment in the Upper West Side, the seven-level, 5,000-square-foot home was an unexpected find for Hale and Toy.

This is a total dream home situation where its something that I never thought I could live in at this point in my life, Hale said. This is something really unique and special of the era, and even if we might live there for a time, were more like custodians of this house to preserve it and to keep it alive for future generations when this house gets even older and more particularly different than anything else that surrounds it.

Part of the reason Hale and Toy love the the home so much is because of its backstory, which they read about in The Norwalk Hour. The picture of the architect holding a photo of the original home especially made an impact on them.

The home was built in 1968 by Robert van Summern, a well-known architect and interior designer in the New York City area. Van Summern, now 92, said his firm designed 15 to 20 million square feet of office space in Manhattan and about a dozen homes in Fairfield County.

The house at 295 Olmstead Hill Road is one of those still standing. Most of them have been torn down.

It was a lovely house to live in, said van Summern, who now lives with his wife in a retirement home he built in Westport. My wife and I swam together a lot under the stars. It was quite a romantic place to live in, and a lot of love went into the building, designing it and the effort to get the building built.

Van Summern said it took about a month to come up with the design of the home and less than a year to build it. He drew from his love for his wife and three children, of symmetry seen in Greek architecture and of capturing space in away that he and his family could enjoy living there.

And that they did  for 22 years.

This house was our soul, said Kristin Mauck, one of van Summerns three children. When your dad is an architecture, each house is part of him and you.

The house sold in 1991 and changed hands a few times after then. Before Hale and Toy rescued the home, it laid abandoned, was foreclosed on and was later purchased by an out-of-town investor who gutted the house, installed a new roof and listed it for $500,000.

Van Summern said he was sad to see the home neglected and empty for all that time.

So he was overjoyed when he heard the home had found new owners.

I was very happy to hear because if you leave it alone too long, it starts to deteriorate if no one uses the property, van Summern said. Whatever they do, they should try to keep the nature of the building.

This is what Hale and Toy have decided to do. They want to restore the home to its former glory in the late 1960s but also want to finish it to a level that represents what it has to offer in 2018 and beyond.

This is something really unique and special of the era and even if we might live there for a time, were more like custodians of this house  to preserve it and to keep it alive for future generations when this house gets even older and more particularly different than anything else that surrounds it.

Reporting contributed by Kaitlyn Krasselt.

\skim@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2568; @stephaniehnkim
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Infections are the most common non-cardiovascular causes of death after kidney transplantation.

Since the 1990s, the risk of dying from infections after kidney transplantation has dropped by half, according to a recent analysis. The analysis, which appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), also found that common bacterial infections remain the most frequent cause of infection-related death among transplant recipients.

The risk of infection is something that all nephrologists think of when a patient is considered for transplantation. Indeed, infections are the most common non-cardiovascular causes of death after kidney transplantation, likely due to patients' need for immunosuppressive medications to prevent rejection. No recent data about the infectious causes of death after kidney transplantation exist, however.

To provide an estimate on infection-related mortality among kidney transplant recipients in a modern developed country, a team led by Ilkka Helantera, MD, PhD (Helsinki University Hospital) and Susanna Kinnunen, MD (Kuopio University Hospital) examined data on all adult recipients of a first kidney transplantation between 1990 and 2012 in Finland. Infectious causes of death were analyzed, and the mortality rates for infections were compared between two eras (1990-1999 and 2000-2012).

Among the 3249 adult recipients of a first kidney transplant in the analysis, 953 patients (29%) died during follow-up, with 204 infection-related deaths. The mortality rate due to infections was lower in patients in the more recent era than in patients in the 1990s (4.6 vs. 9.1 per 1000 person-years. A person-year is the number of years of follow-up multiplied by the number of people in the analysis.) Common bacterial infections were the most frequent cause of infection-related mortality, whereas opportunistic viral, fungal or unconventional bacterial infections rarely caused deaths after kidney transplantation. Older recipient age, higher plasma creatinine concentration at the end of the first post-transplant year, diabetes as a cause of kidney failure, longer pre-transplant dialysis duration, acute rejection, low albumin level, and earlier era of transplantation were associated with higher risks of infectious death.

"Our study shows that the risk of infectious mortality in patients with a kidney transplant is much lower than previously thought, and that the risk has dropped by half in the 2000s in our cohort despite transplanting older and sicker patients and using more powerful immunosuppression," said Dr. Helantera. He noted that the discovery that the infections that cause death in transplant recipients are very similar to the infections that cause mortality in the general population is contrary to current thinking among experts. "In addition, surprisingly low number of infectious deaths were recorded during the first year after transplantation, and most of the infectious deaths occurred late, several years after transplantation."
Pregnant womens 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 fluorides 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:
Hong Kong: China's Canaan Creative, one of the world's largest crypto-currency mining equipment makers, said on Friday it is considering an initial public offering (IPO) and would prefer to list outside mainland China.

Co-chairman Jianping Kong did not provide any details on a possible time frame for the IPO or how much the company expected to raise.

Hangzhou-based Canaan has seen a surge in demand for its mining machines amid a global boom in crypto-currencies, with the price of bitcoin jumping more than 1,300 percent in 2017.
Brisbane: A portion of the Brisbane Airport was cordoned off on Wednesday after a package with the words 'Bomb to Brisbane' made its way along a baggage carousel.

Passengers at the Airport were removed from the area and a traveller who noticed the bag said she thought it was a joke, reported Yahoo7 News.

The Australian Federal Police, though, did not take the initial alarm raised lightly. "The Australian Federal Police responded to reports of a suspicious item of baggage at Brisbane International Airport this morning. An area near a baggage carousel was cordoned off and the item was examined in accordance with routine protocols and was not deemed to be suspicious," a spokesperson of the Police force said.

It later turned out that the suspicious piece of luggage belonged to an elderly lady who was travelling from Mumbai to Brisbane. In order to identify her bag, the lady had meant to write 'Bombay', not bomb.

Venkata Lakshmi (65) arrived in Brisbane from Mumbai on Wednesday only to be interrogated by the Federal Police.

Talking to Yahoo7 News, Lakshmi's daughter Devi Jothiraj said that her mother was mortified about the "mix-up".

"She was pulled into a room and interviewed. My mother told me they thought something was in there and people were panicking. They asked her to open the bag and asked her why it says bomb and she said  It's for Bombay!" said Jothiraj.
India is a country of superstars and super fans. But for Dev Karan Singh, an aspiring model from Kolkata, it seems the lines between being a fan and being unhealthily obsessed have somewhat blurred.

28-year-old Singh recently posted a picture of his bloodied arm on social media. Using a blade, which can be seen in the picture, Dev had etched the word Salman" onto his forearm.

According to the man, this act of self-harm was committed to express protest against Jodhpur Courts decision to illegally" convict Salman Khan for shooting the endangered deer.

Ever since the court announced the conviction, followed by a five-year jail sentence, fans across the country have made no bones about their discontent and anger over the judgement.

According to Singh, the court decided to sentence him as part of a plot to defame the actor.

Referring to Salman in the popular moniker used by fans, Singh told News18, The verdict is completely biased and made to frame Bhai (brother). I cut my hand to demand justice for bhai. I will continue doing this and will even commit suicide if Bhai is not let go."

It is unclear who these threats were aimed at, the court, the government or the police. On being asked why he thought the Jodhpur Courts justice was unfair, Singh said, There were five actors that went out to shoot the buck. How could they all have been acquitted? All, but bhai? There is definitely something wrong.

He also added that if justice" was not served to bhai quickly, he would go on to attempt suicide.

When reminded that attempting suicide is a punishable offence under the Indian Penal Court, Dev said, If by laying down my life, I can get justice for bhai, I will surely do it.

On April 5, Salman Khan was convicted for illegally poaching blackbucks, an endangered species of deer, in Jodhpurs Kankani village in October 1998, while shooting for the film Hum Sath Sath Hai.

Actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, and Neelam, who were co-accused in the case, were acquitted by the court on Thursday while Salman was sentenced to a five-year jail term and Rs 10,000 fine under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Dhaka: Bangladesh has launched a billion-dollar campaign to build hundreds of "model mosques", partly with Saudi funding, to try to counter radicalisation in the Muslim-majority country, officials said Friday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who inaugurated work on nine mosques through a video conference on Thursday, is also trying to bolster links with Muslim groups in an election year, according to analysts.

A senior official said 560 "model mosques cum cultural centres" would be built in the next 30 months as part of a government attempt to fight extremism.

"In the next one to one and a half months, work on another 100 mosques will begin," Shahmim Afzal, who heads the government Islamic affairs department, told AFP.

They will be used to preach against "distorted Islamic philosophy" of groups such as Bangladesh's largest opposition Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the official added.

The country has been fighting Islamist extremism in recent years after militants carried out attacks on religious minorities, secular activists and foreigners.

Afzal said the centres of worship would be open to women, unlike most of the country's 300,000 mosques, and would be equipped with libraries and cultural centres.

"Each mosque will cost 150 million taka ($1.8 million)," he said.

Imams would be required to give sermons "to inspire people against extremism".

Afzal last year said Saudi Arabia would bear the lion's share of the project, but a senior official of the Islamic kingdom later denied any such plan.

Afzal, however, told AFP that Saudi Arabia was partly funding the project. "They have already sent part of the fund," he said, without disclosing the amount.

Minority groups have raised concerns over the proliferation of Saudi-backed mosques, saying these could spread the ultra-conservative Sunni doctrine of Wahhabism practised in the Gulf kingdom.

An expert said the real aim of the billion dollar mosque project by Hasina's government could be political.

"She wants to build rapport with traditional Islamic groups. She wants to win over these forces," said Ataur Rahman, chairman of the Dhaka-based Centre for Governance Studies.

Hasina's ruling Awami Legaue party has over the decades championed secular causes.

In recent years Hasina has cracked down on hardline Islamist groups, and tried and executed Islamist leaders accused of war crimes. She has made secularism part of Bangladesh's constitution.

"Ahead of the elections, she is adjusting her secular stand by leaning towards a more rightist Islamist position," Rahman said.

Hasina has said a general election will be held this year.

Some 90 percent of Bangladesh's 160 million people are Muslims.
Bihar TET 2016 Answer Keys have been released by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on its official website - biharboard.ac.in. BSEB had organized the Bihar Teacher Eligibility Test 2016 on 9th April 2016 and 10th April 2016 for four groups viz I-V, VI-VIII, IX-X, and XI-XII. Candidates who had appeared for the same can now download the official Answer Keys till today only, by following the instructions given below:

How to download Bihar TET 2016 Answer Key?

Step 1  Visit the official website - http://www.biharboard.ac.in/

Step 2  Click on TET Answer key

Step 3  Download the Answer Key and take a printout for further reference

Direct Link - http://www.biharboard.ac.in/pdf/tet-ans-key2018.pdf

Candidates can make representations against the official Answer Keys till tomorrow i.e. 7th April 2018, 5PM only that must be accompanied with reasoning from authoritative sources. As per the official notification, any objections raised after 7th April 2018, 5PM will not be entertained by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB).
Jodhpur: Bollywood actor Salman Khan, sentenced to five-year jail in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case, spent a restless night in the Jodhpur Central Prison, sources in the jail told News18.

Salman Khan, prisoner no. 106, was reportedly housed in barrack number 2 of the Jodhpur prison, with just a curtain separating him from rape accused and self-styled godman Asaram.

Sources said Salman refused the simple jail spread of Dal-Roti and accepted Asarams offer to share his food, which is brought from a nearby ashram every evening. The actor, however, refused when Asaram offered him his mattress, sources said.

The Dabbang star reportedly slept on a rug on the floor. Sources said his blood pressure shot up three times through the night, with doctors constantly monitoring the actors health. He was also given a tablet to keep his BP under check, sources said.

Jail superintendent Vikram Singh had earlier said that Salman would have a simple wooden bed, a rug and a cooler in his cell.

On the reported threat to Salman by a gangster, Singh said, We are thinking of keeping him with some other prisoners from tomorrow (Friday) so that he is not alone considering the threat to him." A local gangster had reportedly said he would kill Salman in Jodhpur.

The actor will spend another night in the jail as the Sessions Court will continue hearing arguments over his bail plea on Saturday.

This is Salman's fourth stint in the Jodhpur Central Jail. He had earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.

The actor was alleged to have shot and killed the blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1, 1998 during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain. Blackbuck, from the antelope family, is an endangered animal and included in the schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act-1972.

While Salman was convicted, the trial court in Jodhpur acquitted his Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the "benefit of doubt" for the incident in October 1998. Besides attracting attention due to Salman's popularity, the case also caught the nation's imagination because it was the first time that five actors were involved in one single case.

"The accused is a popular actor whose deeds are followed by people. Despite this, the accused hunted two blackbucks," said Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri in his written judgment.

The verdict triggered a deluge of sympathy from colleagues for the "bad boy" of Hindi filmdom, whose career and personal life have been peppered with controversies, including a manslaughter charge in a hit-and-run case that is still pending.

Animal rights activists welcomed the sentencing, and some said Salman should have been given the maximum punishment under the Wildlife Act.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: After keeping up the suspense for almost a month, the opposition parties, despite having the numbers, failed to move the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

Both house of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Friday. Despite the support of stipulated 50 MPs, the opposition, led by Congress, did not give notice to kick-start the impeachment process. The term of some of the signatories to the motion ended this session.

As per rules, any impeachment motion to be accepted, needs the support of 50 MPs in the Rajya sabha and double that number in the Lok Sabha.

The motion was prepared and supported by some Rajya Sabha MPs from Congress, NCP and the Left parties.

The division within the Congress on the issue seems to have been the reason behind opposition campaign on impeachment fizzling out this budget session.

Sources say, resistance came from a few senior Congress lawmakers who are also practising senior advocates in the Supreme Court.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, sources say, argued that political wisdom should be kept in mind before the party associates itself with any move to impeach the senior most judge of the country.

In fact just after the unprecedented mutiny of four Supreme Court judges, there was a meeting of all lawyer congress MPs and the divide within was apparent.

Sources say, barring Kapil Sibal no one else was in favour of an impeachment. It was felt it would be read as taking on and questioning an important institution of the republic.

Many with in the Congress have opined before Rahul Gandhi that Congress support to impeachment would be politically detrimental as the motion is bound to be defeated.

Congress also runs the risk of being accused of witch-hunting and alienating the judiciary.

But another section in support of the motion felt it was imperative to send a strong message to the judiciary.

In the end, Congress decided to play safe and give the motion a quiet burial, at least, for the time being.
New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Defence on Friday issued an initial request for information (RFI) to global aviation companies to make fighter jets in India.

The RFI has set the ball rolling for a multi-billion dollar Make in India project to produce 110 single or twin-engine fighter jets for the Indian Air Force with foreign collaboration.

This will be followed by request for proposal (RPF) or a formal tender. After that there will be evaluations, technical trials and commercial negotiations.

Th deal could be worth over USD 15 billion, making it one of the biggest such procurement in recent years globally.

This comes after the MoD cancelled their two-year old plan to produce 114 single-engine fighter jets with foreign collaboration at an estimated cost of Rs 1.15 lakh crore.

In 2007, tenders for the 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) were floated. After an intensive trial process, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale were selected in 2012.

Price negotiations followed, but the deal couldnt be completed and was scrapped. In April 2015, the Government announced a move to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets in an off-the-shelf condition from French major Dassault.

IAF is grappling with a severe shortage of fighter planes, now down to 31 squadrons against its strength of 42 squadrons, required to deal with both China and Pakistan. Furthermore, some of squadrons are made up of aircraft which will be retired soon, thereby depleting the strength of the IAF further. A squadron is made up of 16-18 planes.

The RFI clearly says that fighter jets need to be manufactured in India. It will be under Make in India to get global manufactures to have a production line in the country to be open to the possibility for future expansions. To speed up matters, the MoD will be looking at new additions made by global players since the MMRCA trials. The planes tested then were Lockheed Martin F-16IN, Boeings F/A-18IN, Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, Saab Gripen and MiG-35.
New Delhi: The Indian Air Force will carry out one of its biggest combat exercises from Sunday to check its operational preparedness with a focus on dealing with any possible security challenges from China and Pakistan.

Officials said the two-week long exercise named 'Gaganshakti' will involve almost the entire assets of the IAF including its fighter squadrons and the main objective of the day and night drill will be to check war waging capability of the force.

The first phase of the exercise will focus on northern borders and second phase will be carried out to check preparedness in case of a war-like situation along the western borders.

The officials said the exercise from April 8-22 will be one of the biggest in recent decades, adding Pakistan has already been informed about it as per laid down protocol.

"The aim of this exercise is real time coordination, deployment and employment of air power in a short and intense battle scenario," the IAF said in a statement.

It said the IAF will utilise the exercise to validate new strategies and tactics with a focus on recently inducted or upgraded assets and equipment.

"This exercise will hone the war fighting skills of the air warriors in a real time scenario thus affirming the IAF's role as the cutting edge of our nation's military capability," the IAF said.

It said concepts of accelerated operations, network centric operations, long range missions with concentrated weapon releases across all air to ground ranges in India and inter valley troop transfer have been planned as part of the exercise.

It will also focus on flexible use of airspace, joint maritime air operations with the Indian Navy, joint operations with the Indian Army, simulated combat search and rescue for effective extraction of downed aircrew behind enemy lines, mass casualty evacuation from highway among others.

The efficacy and integration of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas in the operational matrix of the IAF is also planned. "The logistics stamina of the IAF and the ability to sustain continuous operations through day & night would be put to test."

Special operations employing transport aircraft and helicopter as well as Special Forces have been planned during the exercise, it said.

"While it is an IAF centric exercise, it is planned to be executed keeping in mind the 'Joint Operational Doctrine'. The requirements of the other services are being met and the same has been factored while planning the exercise settings," the IAF said. It said full spectrum of operations are planned by IAF with special focus on 'network centric operations'.
New Delhi: India has asked authorities in Hong Kong to arrest jeweller Nirav Modi, one of the main suspects in a $2-billion fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank, the government said, suggesting it believes the fugitive is in the Chinese territory.

The whereabouts of Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, the other person accused in India's biggest banking fraud at the country's second-largest state lender, have been unknown since the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched an investigation in February.

"The ministry has sought the provisional arrest of Nirav Modi by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China," Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh told Parliament on Thursday.

The passports of Modi and Choksi, who both left India before the scandal emerged, have been revoked. Singh said India had submitted the request for Modi's arrest to Hong Kong on March 23.

Modi, who owned a chain of boutiques from New York to Hong Kong, and Choksi are accused of defrauding banks by raising loans from overseas branches of Indian lenders using nearly $2 billion of fraudulent guarantees issued by rogue Punjab National Bank staff at a Mumbai branch.

Modi and Choksi have both denied wrongdoing.
New Delhi: Nepalese Prime Minister Khagda Prasad Sharma Oli arrives in New Delhi on Friday and there is very little doubt that the visit will be watched closely across the region.

Oli, in his recent address to the House of Representatives in Kathmandu, said that he was going to India on the invite of PM Narendra Modi and that focus would be on how to make tangible progress on past agreements and in areas of mutual cooperation.

Amid the looming shadow of a rising China, Olis visit is set to revisit old ties with India and hopefully strengthen it. The visit is also significant as the PM has shown signs of charting a new course in bilateral ties with India, forgetting about the Madhesi blockade of 2015 and the loss that the previous government under Oli suffered.

Reservation for the Madhesis living in Nepals Terai region was a sour grape for India when a new Constitution was being drafted in Nepal in 2015 and the Modi governments suggestion that reservation is given was ignored by the then Oli government. There were protests by the Madhesis and simultaneously, border entries from India into Nepal dwindled. Oli accused its neighbour of imposing an undeclared blockade with restrictions on trade, including fuel and its products. In retort, the MEA here said that freight companies and transporters had voiced concerns.

Post that, Oli visited India in 2016 and said the visit was successful. While Olis visit to India on Friday is in keeping with tradition, all of Nepals newly elected PMs have chosen India for their first foreign visit.

A STRONGER OLI

After the debacle during his first term as Prime Minister, Oli came back to power with a huge majority.

Last year, the Left Alliance between Olis CPN-UML and Prachandas CPN-MC swept the elections, thus paving way for the Communist Party of Nepal. Unlike his last term as Prime Minister, where Oli had to resign following CPN-MCs exit from the alliance, Oli comes to India with a formidable support from his alliance partners. With a historic vote of confidence that he won (2/3rd majority in the lower House of the Parliament), he has become the strongest PM that Nepal has seen. Additionally, like Modi and his current government, Oli makes his nationalistic priority very visible and will put Nepal first without any hesitation.

PAKISTAN AND SAARC

The entry of Pakistan is also something that needs to be looked into.

Last month, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaquan Abbasi became the first Pakistan PM to visit Nepal. Abbasis comments on regional cooperation, including his mention of Nepal as a close friend, only created ripples in the region. He threw his weight behind the SAARC Summit and urged Oli to organise it soon.

The SAARC Summit was supposed to happen in Islamabad in late 2016 but India refused to participate, accusing the Islamic nation of promoting cross-border terrorism. Abbasi heading to Nepal with a message that supports SAARC and claims Pakistan was not responsible for a crumbling of the Summit is expected to be a point of discussion during Olis visit here. Nepal is the current chair of SAARC.

CLOSE TIES WITH CHINA

Its not just Pakistans entry into Nepal that is being watched. Nepal is a signatory to Chinese Premier Xi Jinpings ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and has accessed billions of dollars in investment, aid from China.

Significant investments have been made by the Chinese in Nepal, including a nearly $350 million police academy. China is also said to be heavily investing in the Pokhara region. Other than infrastructure, more Chinese travellers too are heading to Nepal.

India, on its part, has voiced its reservation and not participated in the BRI. Oli has, however, previously shown that he shall have none of the concerns that India has. When the 2015 blockade happened, Oli turned to China and signed a series of treaties, including a rail network connecting the two countries. Oli is also expected to visit China soon.
Bengaluru: Karnataka has got talent. This was social media head Divya Spandanas reaction when a spectators garland landed perfectly on party chief Rahul Gandhis neck during an election rally in Tumkur district of the state.

The same talent may now land the man in trouble.

Police are now looking for the unidentified Congress supporter, treating the incident as a security breach. Speaking to News18, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Central Range B Dayananda said that he had asked Superintendent of Police (SP), Tumkur to search for the person and investigate the matter.

This incident has come to my notice. I have already asked Tumkur SP to find out more about that unidentified person. If there is a breach of security, strict action will be taken against the concerned people, Dayananda said.

According to some reports, the elite Special Protection Group (SPG), which guards Rahul Gandhi, is also investigating the matter after the video went viral.

In the video, which was shot during Gandhis roadshow on Wednesday, the Congress chief can be seen standing atop his bus, waving at the crowd. A man, whose face is not visible, is seen throwing a garland at Gandhi, which lands perfectly on his neck.

Gandhi looked stunned from a moment and then removed the garland.

He was in Tumkur to visit the Lingayat seminary Siddhaganga Mutt and seek the blessings of Sri Shivakumara Swami, the revered seer of the community.
New Delhi: Nepal's Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Friday met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi here ahead of delegation-level talks that would be aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.

Oli, accompanied by his wife Radhika Shakya Oli, arrived here this morning for a three-day India visit and was received at the airport by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. This is his first foreign trip after assuming office.

The Nepalese premier met Prime Minister Narendra Modi this evening ahead of delegation-level talks tomorrow.

"Delighted to meet the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr KP Sharma Oli," Modi tweeted after the meeting.

Modi also posted photographs on Twitter of his meeting with Oli at the Prime Minister's official residence here.

Oli, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a dinner hosted by the Nepalese Embassy, said Nepal wants to be close with "every neighbour" and "every friend".

Responding to questions on his discussions with Prime Minister Modi during today's meeting, Oli said, "It was excellent".

Earlier in the evening, Oli also addressed members of the Nepalese community at an event at Nepal's Embassy here.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi also met Oli and discussed issues of mutual interest.

Oli also attended a business luncheon event on the first day of his visit.

The visiting leader will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow.

Oli's visit is in line with the tradition of a Nepalese premier visiting India on his first overseas trip.

The visit also assumes significance as it comes after Oli had publicly criticised New Delhi for interfering in Nepal's internal matters and accused it of toppling his government last year.

In February, Oli took charge as Nepal's prime minister for the second time.

Ahead of his visit, Oli had said his trip would focus mainly on implementing the past agreements signed between Nepal and India rather than singing a new one.

"We want to maintain trustful (ties) with India and clear any suspicion in the bilateral relations," Oli had said.

Swaraj had visited Nepal before Oli took office to congratulate him for the historic victory of the Left Alliance in the Parliamentary and Provincial elections.

She was the first senior Indian minister to visit Nepal after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament.

While congratulating Oli over phone upon his appointment to the top executive post in February, Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation to him for a visit to India.

Ahead of the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said it would provide an opportunity to the two sides to review the wide-ranging cooperative partnership, and to progress it further for the benefit of the two peoples.

India and Nepal enjoy age-old, special ties of friendship and cooperation, it had said.

On the third day of his visit, the Nepalese premier will also visit the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.
New Delhi: Government websites, including those of defence and home ministries, have not come under any cyberattack, but suffered a hardware-related glitch, National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai said on Friday.

Explaining the outage, he said the websites have been down since afternoon after it was noticed that there was a "storage area networking system" failure. "The same is being addressed. It is only a hardware failure," Rai, who has been working in the field of cyber security since 1998, said.

"There is no hacking or cyberattack," Rai, who heads the cyber security unit, said.

Rai, who was earlier heading the computer emergency response team, said that nearly a dozen government websites hosted by National Infomatics Centre, including defence, home, department of law and labour, were affected due to the outage.

"The hardware is being replaced and they will be up very soon," Rai said.

Earlier Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tweeted, "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website (http://mod.nic.in). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken."

The website of the home ministry was temporarily taken down as part of extra precautions.

An official spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs said the National Informatics Centre, which hosts the MHA site, is upgrading the security system of the website which has led to its temporary suspension.

"The requested service is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for Inconvenience. It would be available soon," the message read on the MHA website.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "personal connect" with BJP's grassroots functionaries and "keen understanding" of developmental projects were on display during his interaction with party workers via video conferencing, party sources said on Friday.

On the BJP's 38th foundation day, the Prime Minister interacted with party workers of five Lok Sabha constituencies and all 734 district presidents of the organisation through his 'NaMo App'.

During his interaction, Modi spoke about New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi's "waste-to-best" project and recalled the names of her associates replying to a question by a party worker, Ravi Tanwar. Modi said the project is aimed at providing sustainable gas supply to a working women's hostel, according to party leaders.

Glad to have got the opportunity to interact with Karyakartas of New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. I appreciate the local BJP team and MP @M_Lekhi Ji for the efforts to spread awareness on waste to wealth and public health in the constituency. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2018

During his interaction with party workers, Modi also recognised a party worker named Praveen Sharma from Himachal Pradesh and asked him if he was the same person, who has a big moustache, with whom he often interacted when he was in charge of the state's affairs. Sharma answered in affirmative and expressed his happiness, party sources said.

Modi also cited Sharma's ever-smiling and cheerful disposition as an example when another worker asked the prime minister how to face elections without stress.

Party sources said Modi also recalled an elderly BJP worker, Anguri Devi, during the interaction and said she never missed a party programme. It showed his personal connect with workers and understanding of developmental projects, they said.

NaMo App booths were set up at 20 Assembly segments in the two Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. North East Delhi MP and president of state unit of BJP Manoj Tiwari and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi participated in the event along with senior party leaders and workers.

On Secretary of Mahila Morcha unit in North East Delhi Mamta Kumari's question about opposition parties attacking the BJP, the prime minister suggested that the party workers should not be disoriented by it.

Modi also said that the workers of the biggest political party in the world should also have a big heart, according to a Delhi BJP statement. Five Parliamentary seats -- New Delhi, North East Delhi, Mumbai North Central, Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh) and Saran (Bihar) -- were selected for the programme.
Saharanpur: In the aftermath of the nation-wide protests by Dalits against the alleged dilution of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) ACT, Dalit activists are claiming they are being unfairly targeted by the police, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

To protest against these alleged atrocities, Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad Raavan will launch an indefinite hunger strike from Saharanpur district jail, where he is currently lodged.

Azad has been in jail for the last nine months in connection with last year's Saharanpur riots.

"The Dalit community came out onto the streets to fight for their rights. The Constitution, which was framed by Baba Saheb Ambedkar, gives us that right. Yes, it is true that there was violence in some parts during the protests, but Dalits were the worst victims of it. Most people who died in these protests were Dalits. Since then, the police in UP and Uttarakhand have intensified their campaign against Dalits and Bhim Army activists," said Kamal Walia, Bhim Army's Saharanpur district chief and close confidant of Chandrashekhar.

Walia, who spent eight months with Azad in prison, added, "Scores of boys are being picked up in all districts of western UP, where Bhim Army is active. They are being picked up without any evidence against them. In Uttarakhand, even Dalit policemen are being looked at with suspicion. This is an unprecedented attack on Dalits and to protest this, Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad Raavan will launch a hunger strike against the BJP governments in these states and the Centre. Unless the activists, who have been unfairly held, are released, he will not end his fast."

Vinay Ratan Singh, Bhim Army's acting president, said, "We have recieved input from fellow Bahujan activists that RSS men infiltrated our protests on April 2. They instigated violence in different parts of the country so that our peaceful movement gets blamed."

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: Pakistan Foreign Minister Kwaja Asif Abbas on Thursday alleged that if Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who was convicted for five years for killing two blackbucks, had belonged to the religion of the ruling party in India, the court would have taken a lenient view of him.

Terming Salmans sentencing as discriminatory, the Pakistan minister invoked Salmans minority status.

"Salman Khan has been sentenced because he's a minority," the foreign minister said while speaking to Hamid Mir, anchor of Geo News programme Capital Talk.

To sentence him in a case that is twenty years old goes on to show that lives of those who are Muslims, untouchables or Christians are not valued in India, he added.

Asif added, "May be if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him."

Other than the jail sentence, Salman was also fined Rs 10,000 while his co-actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari were acquitted.

The arguments regarding actors bail plea will continue on Saturday, which means the actor will have to spend another night in the Jodhpur central prison.

The Supreme Court though has maintained that bail not jail is the norm.
New Delhi: Even as actor Salman Khan spent a night as prisoner No. 106 in Jodhpur Central jail, hopes are not completely over for the Bollywood actor as his lawyer is ready with a 51-page bail application, which has raised 54 grounds for the judge to consider.

Salmans lawyer Hastimal Saraswat told News18 that there were definite problems with the verdict delivered by Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri and that it needed reconsideration.

Saraswat has maintained that one of the key grounds for conviction was the eyewitness statement of Poonamchand Bishnoi, which cannot be relied upon as there are several discrepancies in the statements and are doubtful.

"Poonamchand stayed around two kilometres from the alleged spot. Then how did he hear the sound of the Gypsy? Secondly, there were no tyre marks of the Gypsy around the area too," said Saraswat.

But the judge set aside this contention stating that the eyewitness had himself said that the grave of the blackbuck was made at a distance of half-a-kilometre from his house and the defence sides witness, Bhavarlal Vanpal, also agreed that Poonamchand stayed at a distance of about half-a-kilometre from the spot site.

The bail application, which has also prayed for the suspension of the five-year sentence, has raised questions on the way the trial court has handled DNA evidence.

"Both the femur bones and skin sample of the killed animal has to be sent to the lab. In this case, though, only the femur bones were sent and thus, it cannot be confirmed if it was a black buck," said Khan's lawyer.

However, according to the report submitted by Dr GV Rao of the CDFD Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, the DNA sample of the two femur bones collected from the site of the accident was established to belong to two different black bucks.

Judge Khatri, who noted that Khan was a role model for many and his actions could be followed, also stated that the defence had not submitted a single solid evidence and that the prosecution was able to establish the case beyond reasonable doubt.

Khan is also slated to show precedent cases of HC and SC, where cases that dragged for 20 years, did not warrant a five-year punishment.

Saraswat has also raised the ground that there was no evidence of the alleged gunshot that killed black bucks.

"No gun residue was found on the scene of the supposed crime. Secondly, the second post-mortem report showed that the animal "may have suffered" from a gunshot, hence it is not conclusive enough and needs to be reconsidered, said Saraswat.

Khan currently has no plans to appeal in the High Court as the right of first appeal is yet to be exhausted and in case it fails, it is only then that the HC will be approached. "If it was not Salman Khan, bail would have been granted the next day," said Saraswat.
New Delhi: The hearing in the sensitive Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute case on Friday saw a heated exchange of words in the Supreme Court between senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan and two Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) -- Maninder Singh and Tushar Mehta.

As soon as the special bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra assembled at 2 PM to hear the case, the spat began apparently on a trivial issue after ASG Singh asked Dhavan, who was standing to start advancing arguments, to move a bit.

"Sit down, Mr Maninder Singh. Sit down," Dhavan said at top of his voice, leading the ASG to retort by saying "behave yourself, Mr Dhavan".

"Don't talk nonsense," Dhavan said. "You are talking nonsense," ASG Singh retorted, adding that he was extending regard to him (Dhavan) due to his seniority.

ASG Mehta then came in support of his colleague and said, "There are people who are arrogant. With due respect to the learned senior counsel (Dhavan), he seems to have undergone a course in it."

"Why are they sitting next to me and murmuring away and murmuring away", Dhavan told the bench, apparently complaining about the law officers.

"Why are you standing near us? There is enough space there," Mehta told Dhavan.

They (ASGs) came and said that they are the law officers, he said and then referred to his past experience when noted jurist Nani Palkhivala had vacated the chair for the counsel to argue the case.

The bench, also comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer, said that lawyers are supposed to vacate seats for the counsel for litigants.

As the hearing progressed, Dhavan made some uncharitable comments against former Attorney General and senior advocate K Parasaran, appearing for a Hindu group, who opposed his (Dhavan's) submission that the Ayodhya case be referred to the larger bench.

"I am not indulging in theatrics and drama like Mr Parasaran. He suddenly gets up and says things," Dhavan said and also used the word 'rubbish'.

Senior Counsel C S Vaidyanathan and ASG Mehta took strong objection to the language used by Dhavan against Parasaran and said now a tendency has emerged among some lawyers to browbeat the institution and they are trying to "vitiate the atmosphere".

"What kind of language is being used," Vaidyanathan asked and added that it seemed that Dhavan did not want to argue the case.

The bench also reminded Dhavan that Parasaran was the former Attorney General of India.

The law officers and some other lawyers took strong note of Dhavan's other submission that the nation wanted to know as to why the apex court referred the polygamy issue to the larger bench and not doing the same with the Ayodhya case.

"What kind of argument is this? How can he make such an argument? That (polygamy) was the separate case," Vaidyanathan said.

Dhavan would resume advancing arguments in the case on April 27.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday turned down the plea to refer the Ayodhya land dispute to a Constitution Bench.

The court said it will take a decision on referring Ayodhya case to larger bench only after hearing all parties to the litigation.

Senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party, had asked the top court to refer the case to a larger bench.

The 1994 Faruqui verdict had dealt with the constitutional validity of the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993 by which the Centre had then taken over the disputed site and the adjoining land.

"First, we should put this controversy (on 1994 verdict) to rest. We may refer the entire or parts of the judgement to larger bench," the special bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer said.

Terming the observations of the verdict as crucial, senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan said it needed to be reconsidered by a five-judge bench and without rectifying these anomalies on aspects like the position of mosques in Islam, in the judgement, the civil appeals cannot be decided effectively.

Dhavan cited a judgement and said, "It is quite a different matter that the area is now acquired. Can you say that if a mosque is destroyed it ceases to be a mosque." He submitted that the 1994 judgement had said that the fundamental right to worship does not extend to place of worship.

The Babri Masjid was constructed in 1528 and it is a religious structure of extreme importance for the Muslims.

The special bench of the apex court is seized of a total of 14 appeals filed against the high court judgement delivered in four civil suits.

A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had in 2010 ordered that the land be partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
New Delhi: India has come a long way from inviting the world to come and kill its tigers for pleasure to putting Bollywood superstar Salman Khan behind bars for killing blackbucks.

After a lot of effort, the tiger population in India is finally expected to cross the 3,000 mark in the 2018 tiger census. The numbers of the striped cat had dwindled alarmingly in the country before a concerted conservation effort has finally started to boost numbers.

The low tiger population in India isn't only because of poachers and environmental factors. When the government of a country actually invited tourists from all over the world to come here and kill our tigers for fun  there was little hope for survival of the magnificent beast.

This Government of India Tourist Office advertisement from the 1960s shows that besides the Taj Mahal, it was also the 'sport' of shikar (hunting) which India used to attract the world to its shores.

"Shikar! The eyes of the tiger in the jungle-black night are two haunting orbs of fire. Many who have seen them have recorded the experience on film. Others have brought the tiger home the sportsman's greatest trophy," the ad allured.

The advertisement then goes on to glorify 'shikar': "A Shikar in the jungle of India is a princely caravan, with scores of servants and chefs to tend to every need, expert hunters to guide, and thrills lurking in every rustle of the leaf. Enjoy the excitement of an Indian Shikar  the beloved sport of the Maharajahs."

It is only in the 1970s that tiger conservation was taken seriously by the Government of India (Project Tiger was launched in 1973), but much of the damage had already been done.
In November 2016, 40-year-old Dalit woman Asha Devi* was brutally raped and assaulted by an upper caste man in Sujanpur village near Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

As she was struggling to recover in a district hospital for days after the incident, her family members tried to register a case of rape and assault under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act also known as POA or SC/ST Act.

He (the accused) had a problem with my growing influence as an outspoken Dalit rights activist. I have been working locally as an advocate for minority women for some years now and was gaining popularity. I even contested the Panchayati election. He (the accused) was an upper caste man and could not tolerate a lower caste woman do well. So he raped me, Asha Devi states in a dry, matter-of-fact voice as she speaks to News18 over the phone.

At the police station in Sajethi where Ashas family had gone to file an FIR, the officer-in-charge was reluctant to file charges. When he did, after much perusal, the case was not lodged under the SC/ST Act. They did not even register it as a rape case. The police filed an FIR for harassment and assault, Asha said. The 40-year-old believes that had the case been filed it correctly under the SC/ST Act, her rapist would not be roaming free.

Asha happens to be one of the countless women from the low caste who have survived sexual harassment, abuse, violence and rape from members of upper caste families in Uttar Pradesh. Like Asha, most of these women are still waiting for justice. To these women, the Supreme Courts decision to amend the SC/ST Act to safeguard innocents doesnt make all that much sense.

"Who exactly is the SC trying to protect here? The upper castes? Does the SC not know the ground realities of India?" Dr VA Ramesh Nath, General Secretary of the National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ)-NCDHR told News 18.

Nath feels that the SCs decision may be guided by ulterior biases of the judges who were heading the SC bench that decided on it. It appears that the judges that passed the decision have caste biases since this amendment will only protect criminals, he said.

If you look at National Crime Records data for 2016, an average of 9 SC/ST women and girls are victims of sexual crimes, every day. Are they all isolated incidents of sexual crime? Does their caste identity not play a role in their exploitation? an agitated Nath asked.

In 2016 alone, 2541 Dalit women were reportedly raped and a further 3,172 cases of assault were registered against SC women. And 973 cases of rape were reported in 2016 against ST women. According to the National Crime Records Bureaus (NCRB) 2016 data, the largest chunk of atrocities against SC/STs (13.9 percent for SC and 14.8 percent for ST) constitute of sexual crimes against the women of both communities. And these are only the reported cases. According to activists, a majority of them go unreported.

"The SC/ST Atrocities Act was seen by SC/ST women as a shield, something that ensured or at least gave the survivors hope that justice will be done and their perpetrators brought to book. I myself have worked with several victims to file complaints against perpetrators of sexual crimes. Now that the SC has decided to weaken the act, I wonder what the plight of these women will be," said womens rights activist Kavita, who works as the Digital Head of Khabar Lahariya, an all-women news organization that reports on Dalit rights in Bundelkhand.

Kavita reiterates the case of an underage Dalit girl who was raped in Bundelkhands Banda district in 2016 and could manage to get her perpetrator arrested immediately after filing charges against the accused under the SC/SCT Act. In yet another instance, a Dalit woman in Chitrakoot was raped, killed and then her chopped up body was discarded in a gunny bag. At first, the police refused to file any FIRs against the accused. However, several protests and mobilization among the SC community forced the police to arrest the accused under the SC/ST Act.

Had it not been for the immediate arrest provision of the Act, the accused could have escaped the law, as so often happens in such cases when the accused have money and influence, Kavita said, though she admitted that the accused is now out on bail. Kavita also added that in her experience, police officers often come from upper caste families themselves and thus end up protecting only their caste-brothers. She said that many police officers refuse to even lodge POA cases, omitting details of casteist discrimination or slurs from FIR of victims.

A resident of Bundelkhand herself, Kavita said that instances of upper class discriminating against SC/ST was common in her hometown.

"Some shopkeepers dont serve SC/STs cold drink. If they do, they are asked to wash the bottles and bring back. Casteist slurs like 'chamarin', 'bhangi' are as common as anything. In such situations, how can SC/ST women who are doubly vulnerable, both in terms of being women and belonging to lower caste, defend themselves against sexual crimes which are contextualized in their caste identities?"

Beena Pallical, of the National Campaign For Dalit Human Rights, agrees that the sexual crimes against SC/ST women cannot be treated as standalone cases of sexual violence against women.

Look at the numbers. The most number of women who face sexual crimes and abuse belong to SC/ST communities. These are not sexual crimes but caste crimes, Pallical said.

Pallical said that even today, SC/ST women in a lot of Indian villages are not allowed to file complaints against upper caste perpetrators of crime. They are not even allowed to enter police stations or given chairs to sit on, she added.

If they are not even able to file complaints because they are Dalit, how can they be misusing the SC/ST Act to frame innocents? an irate Pallical asked. And by diluting the POA, we make these women even more vulnerable to being targeted as well as obstruct them from obtaining justice, the activist said.

The POA amendment is reminiscent of the proposed guidelines an SC Bench issued last year to dilute the dowry law. The bench had cited protecting innocents against frivolous complained that were allegedly being registered by women.

The bench was headed by Justices Justices AK Goel and UU Lalit. Incidentally, they happen to be the judges presiding on the bench that passed the POA amendment.

First the dowry law... now, this. It seems the SC only wants to change laws that protect marginalized women like us, rape survivor Asha Devi said. But Asha Devi isnt giving up her fight. She said that though the judiciary is not with her anymore, she would continue to fight for her justice till her last penny.

*Name has been changed to protect the identity of the victim.
Thanos is coming and he possesses Infinity Gems that have the power to alter reality and obliterate galaxies. Will the age of superheroes come to an end or will the last stand of The Avengers succeed in stopping the mad Titan? Dread it, run from it, destiny will arrive on April 27.

Co-directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Infinity War promises to be much more than just a superhero move. Its an event of cosmic proportions. The trailer of the film is already the most viewed trailer in YouTube history and social media is abuzz with predictions and inferences. Fans are sharing Easter egg videos and digital channels, websites are putting up new packages every day.

Is Infinity War the biggest film of the millennial generation?

Every generation has its big films. Generation X had Indiana Jones, ET, and Back to the Future to name a few. But the biggest Gen-X release was Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Similarly, the generation preceding Gen-X had Rocky, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, and Platoon. But during the 70s, the two standout films that garnered overwhelming popularity were Jaws and The Godfather. The case of 90s was even bigger in terms of commercial success. Titanic, released in 1996, is the second highest grossing movie of all time with a worldwide box-office collection of $2,208,208,395.

Since then, the money game has undergone a sea change. With the advent of the digital age, more tickets are sold and new fans are born every second. Now lets back fandom with some logic and facts.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is big but the Marvel Universe is bigger. The comic giant has often boasted a proven library of over 5000 characters. The MCU is just about 5% of that. Fans and enthusiasts, who have followed the origin stories for many years, were a tad disappointed to know that key Infinity Gauntlet characters like Adam Warlock, Silver Surfer, Namor, Hank Pym, Reed Richards, Doctor Doom, Mephisto, Terraxia, Death, Galactus, Lord Chaos, and Master Order were not part of MCU's Infinity War, scheduled to release in two parts.

But dont forget, Infinity War has a sprawling ensemble cast and it is the culmination of 18 MCU films. This, in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions, is a movie event of a lifetime and possibly the biggest one of the millennial generation. As per reports, Infinity War Parts 1 and 2 has a combined budget of $1 billion, making it the most expensive two part film ever made.

One of the major reasons for such a high budget cap is the salaries of the actors in the film. Robert Downey Jr., who has been portraying the character of Iron Man since 2008, is the highest paid actor in the world. He received a whopping $60 million for Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. If recent reports are anything to go by, Iron Man will receive a pay check of $200 million for Infinity War.

Thats still just one superhero. The film also has Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Benicio Del Toro, Elizabeth Olsen, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Tom Holland, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Josh Brolin, Paul Bettany, Peter Dinklage, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, and many others. Phew! This feels like a cast from an awards ceremony night.

Recently, the Russo brothers requested fans and enthusiasts to keep the plot of the movie a secret during the special screenings of the film. They wrote  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. Previously, they peaked interests and emotions by saying that viewers must carry tissues to theatres. This possibly meant the demise of a fan favourite.

Paul Bettany, who plays the superhero Vision, explained the sheer greatness and scale of the film to Collider in an interview - It felt like the biggest movie that Ive ever made and will ever make, and weve still got to make the [next] one. Its crazy! I would come in, often at dawn because of the length of my make-up, and there would just be all of these twinkling lights. It looked like a town, but it wasnt. It was where all of the trailers were. It was just massive. Its massive! The call sheets are bananas. When you see the list of cast members, youre like, How is anybody else making a film in Hollywood, this year? How are they getting films financed? Everybody is in this!'

As per Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Infinity War will bring down the curtains on MCUs Phase 3 and will make way for newer characters that will be the mainstay of all Phase 4 movies.

So, mark your calendars for the biggest cinematic event our generation. April 27 will be a day to remember.
Never Born, Never Died.

Only Visited this Planet Earth

between Dec 11, 1931  Jan 19, 1990

These are the words inscribed on Osho's tombstone. His "visit" that the tombstone refers to was so glorious and controversial that it has served as the fodder for many books and movies over the years.

From journalists, writers, to filmmakers, many have previously tried to tell Osho or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's story and while most of these efforts were noble, none could ever truly succeed in capturing the essence of the enigmatic guru. The latest one to fail in the attempt is Netflix's six-part docu-series, Wild Wild Country.

Netflix's Wild Wild Country has been all the rave for the past month and anyone who has watched the series will tell you that it is worth all the praises and more. It tells the fascinating story of a hedonistic Indian guru aka Bhagwan whose cult followers, led by his dynamic secretary, Ma Anand Sheela established the independent city of Rajneeshpuram in the United States and later tried to take over an entire county in the US state of Oregon.

With snazzy background scores, the docu-series for the first four parts details the rise and rise of Osho's followers and as one outrageous happening after another unfolds-- from bioterrorism, immigration fraud, attempted murders to wiretapping-- the audience is left gobsmacked at the turn of events. The last two parts of the series focus on Osho's downfall and his subsequent death.

For anyone who doesn't know the story already Wild Wild Country runs like a thriller; addictive and enthralling, it doesn't let your attention waver even for a split-second.

However, despite all the amazing qualities that make Wild Wild Country an interesting watch, the creators of the show, Chapman Way and Maclain Way, fail miserably in doing justice to the person Osho was.

They reduce Osho to a vengeance-seeking, money-making, sex-obsessed guru who led a life of decadence, hung out with the cool Hollywood crowd and owned diamond watches and ninety nine Rolls Royce. There is no denying the facts of the matter but it is the perspective with which the documentary unfolds that seems problematic.

The image of Osho that the documentary paints for us also happens to be the same perception that the western media propagated back in the 80s which made the guru really unpopular among many US citizens. It is not to say that Rajneesh wasn't all of the things that Way brothers have depicted him to be. He was. However, he was a whole lot more.

It has rarely happened in human history that a man who lambasted every religion across the world and denounced god himself, found such a massive following. Often mistakenly referred to as a godman, Osho was, in fact, anti-god and against all religions.

Osho said that the most fundamental error of all religions is that they pretend to know it all. Every religion pretends to be omniscient while they are nothing but old clubs who have religious jargons around them. Osho's only religion was to rebel against all religions. Once, when asked if he considered himself a god, he said, "There is no god, then how can I consider myself a god? God is the greatest lie invented by men."

However, as the docu-series Wild Wild Country proceeds, we see Osho repeatedly being accused of propagating his "religion" by Antelope residents and other Christians. The guru who had taken a vow of silence and who was hardly seen in public during the early days of building Rajneeshpuram comes out only after Ma Anand Sheela leaves Rajneeshpuram to say that he has never wanted an organized religion around him. He did not want people to wear red robes and he didn't want Rajneeshism. It may sound like the thing a man who has already criticized every religion of the world would say, the documentary hardly ever dwells on the point.

Wild Wild Country by then had become a "he said, she said" battle between Ma Anand Sheela and Osho. We hear Ma Anand Sheela say that denouncing Rajneeshism is an angry retaliation of Osho because she left him and the commune and the idea of Rajneeshism came from Bhagwan himself. While it seems hard to imagine that Osho would dismantle an entire religion around him because of Sheela, there is no way of verifying if the orders to create Rajneeshism truly ever came from Osho at all. There are two versions of the story-- Osho's and Ma Anand Sheela's -- and Way brothers only present us with Sheela's because Osho isn't here to tell them his story.

That is another problem, Wild Wild Country is mostly Ma Anand Sheela's film. She is one of the narrators, and after 28 years, she is still the spokesperson of Osho. Apart from her, presenting the Rajneeshees side of the story are Ma Shanti B and Swami Prem Niren.

Giving the account of things from the skeptical Americans' perspective-- who don't know what the new "cult" in town is all about-- are few locals of Antelope who were there in the 1980s when Rajneeshees took over the muddy ranch near their town and subsequently acquired property in Antelope and moved into their town.

It is easy to trust Sheela and Shanti B as narrators at the beginning of the series, but as we move forward and are told of the horrible deceitful things they did, they immediately become untrustworthy narrators and as an audience one begins to question all the things they had said about Osho as well as Rajneeshees. Therefore, apart from Prem Niren, there is hardly anyone left to give an up-close account of Osho for later part of the documentary.

Another thing that Wild Wild Country talks about several times is the sexual practices of the Rajneeshees and their open marriages. We often see local residents, police authorities and Christian communities question their "immoral" sexual practices, however, what Way brothers leave out are the reasons and justifications of Osho to promote free love and open marriages.

In one of his lectures, Osho said, "The word sex has become so condemned by the priest that even to use it you feel as if you are doing something guilty. Use the word, "life force" instead of sex and you will see that with the word "life force" you don't feel guilty. The priests have created such mechanism in you that the moment you talk about sex, it starts pinching your conscience to say that something is wrong. Sex is the most significant force in you, it is your life force, it is from this energy that you come, it is this energy that keeps you running."

These may be words that would sit well with the 21st-century audience, but Way brothers are not interested in the explanations of things, because the moment they do that, they enter into the realm of trying to understand the person. They mostly focus on all the events around Osho and conveniently do away with any insight or even an in-depth introduction of the guru.

Sex wasn't only an important part of Rajneesh's movement, it was, in fact, his effort to remove the taboo around it. It was his effort to question all social constructs around it-- from marriages and monogamy to making it an unholy experience. In his wildly popular book, "From Sex to Superconsciousness" the guru said, "There is a religious experience, a spiritual experience involved behind the craving for sex. If we can become aware of that experience we can go beyond sex. If not, we will live in sex and die in sex."

One of the reasons Osho was so controversial was also because his preachings were hard to understand by people whose brains were already wired in a certain way due to their social and religious upbringing. That is why he was so misunderstood and Wild Wild Country makes no effort to show what the man truly was and instead focusses heavily on all the misconceptions around him.

Another thing that is conspicuously absent from the documentary is Osho's claim that he was slow poisoned in the US prison. The docu-series easily rolls on showing how Osho was dragged from one state to another on his way back to Portland. The Way Brothers list out all the stops that were made but strangely there is no mention of Osho's claim that he was slow poisoned during that period. In a first-person account, Osho had later written Ronald Reagan's American government poisoned him.

Despite being a documentary that focusses on Osho, the Way Brothers leave out the man himself, which is such a travesty because he is truly a fascinating personality. Ma Anand Sheela although entertaining to watch comes off as a power-crazy woman who was driven by her own agenda, it veers to the territory of becoming a one-woman show that doesn't say much about the Rajneesh movement that rocked the US in the 80s.

In the first installment of the docu-series, we hear Osho talk about "a new man", an awakened man. Osho says that he wants to create a new man who is an amalgamation of eastern spirituality and western materialism.

The western man is half, he says, and the eastern man is half. "My effort here is to create a whole man," adds Osho. Those are the words one is left wondering about by the end of Wild Wild Country. This documentary too seems like a half, a western half to be exact, with half-truths that could never truly show who Osho was as a "whole man".
Hyderabad: Five MPs from the YSR Congress resigned from the Lok Sabha on Friday, while the Telugu Desam Party, Pawan Kalyans Jana Sena and Left parties stepped up protests over the demand for special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The MPs  Vara Prasad Rao, YV Subba Reddy, PV Midhun Reddy, YS Avinash Reddy and Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy  submitted their resignations to Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy challenged regional rival TDP to do the same and announced that the party lawmakers would sit on indefinite strike at Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi. He also announced a "relay hunger strike".

We do as we say! YSRCP MPs are submitting their resignations today. I challenge @ncbn to make TDP MPs resign and stand united with the people of AP in their rightful demand of special category status for Andhra Pradesh. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) April 6, 2018

YSRCP MPs will go on an indefinite hunger strike at AP Bhawan, Delhi while we will observe relay hunger strikes across the state. We continue to stand in solidarity with the people of AP in their fight for Special Category Status! YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) April 6, 2018

While the Lower House  which saw no productive business this session  has been adjourned sine die, the TDP, which is in power in Andhra Pradesh, has asked its MPs to stay put in the national capital.

"If Parliament is adjourned sine die, meet the President. The BJP is acting on divide and rule. The people of Andhra have already rejected the BJP. Soon, the BJP will not be accepted by the entire country, TDP supremo and Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu reportedly told his MPs.

TDP lawmakers, in fact, continued to raise slogans in from the PMs chair in the Lok Sabha even after it was adjourned on Friday. Dressed in yellow as per the party leaderships instructions, the MPs also staged a protest outside Parliament, with Siva Prasad, who is known to turn up in different costumes, protesting as sage Vishvamitra.

The MPs also staged a protest in the Speaker's chamber, though Sumitra Mahajan wasn' present.

TDP MPs stage a 'dharna' in Lok Sabha speaker's chambers. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is not present in the chamber. #SpecialStatus #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/Ewgvi3KifS ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

Back in Andhra, the party staged Cycle Yatra, with the CM and his cabinet colleagues riding bicycles to the Assembly.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan and the Left launched a state-wide Padyatra, drawing large crowds in Vijayawada.

The YSR Congress and the TDP, which walked out of the BJP-led NDA, had given notices for no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. But continued ruckus prevented the notices from being taken up.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the opposition of divisive politics and announced that BJP MPs will observe a fast on April 12 to protest the impasse in Parliament, for which he blamed the Congress.

The Prime Minister said at a BJP parliamentary party meeting that the ruling party was doing an inclusive politics while the opposition was doing divisive and negative politics due to the saffron party's rising strength, Union Minister Ananth Kumar told reporters.

With opposition parties targeting the government over Dalit protests, Modi said BJP MPs and other leaders will spend a night between April 14 and May 5 in over 20,844 villages with over 50 percent population of scheduled castes and tribes to inform the masses about the Centre's various measures aimed at their welfare.

The party will also take out 'Sabka saath sabka vikas yatra', Kumar said.

On a day the BJP is celebrating its 38th foundation day, Modi said it has become the largest party due to people's blessings and tireless efforts of its workers and also paid tributes to many of its late leaders and workers.

The foundation day is dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives for the party's growth, the Prime Minister said.
Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday attacked its own coalition government headed by Nitish Kumar in Bihar and accused the police of being partial in its investigation on communal violence related cases and said that innocent people are being implicated.

This aggressive posturing of BJP comes a day after chief minister Nitish Kumar said that his government was committed to maintaining communal harmony and those trying to disturb it would go behind bars.

BJPs state vice president Devesh Thakur said, We are concerned the way people have been framed post violence in many districts. We have decided to raise this issue. A delegation of my party will meet DGP and submit a memorandum in this regard.

Among those arrested after the recent communal violence in nine districts was BJP leader Arjit Shashwat, the son of union minister Ashwini Chaube. He has been accused of inciting violence in Bhagalpur by leading a procession on Ram Navami without permission.

After Arjits arrest, the police also arrested nine BJP workers in Samastipur district and many in Aurangabad. Apart from the police action, the governments decision to provide funds to repair a mosque and a Madrassa damaged in the violence has also infuriated BJP leaders. According to sources, this was the trigger that made the BJP lodge a complaint with states police chief.

The dissension between the coalition partners has also provided fodder to the opposition parties who accused Nitish of working under pressure from the BJP.

However, on Thursday, Nitish gave a veiled warning to BJP leaders without taking any names and said, I never compromised with the rule of law. But, there are all kinds of people in the society and some of them are trying to create mischief and disturbance in the society. If somebody comes to disturb, then he has to go behind bars. Such elements are not spared.
New Delhi: Do not make the Rajya Sabha a "clog in the wheel" of progress, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday cautioned MPs before adjourning the proceedings of the Budget Session sine die, as the House lost nearly three-fourths of its time to disruptions and adjournments.

During the second leg of the session which commenced on January 29, had 30 sittings in all. While it sat for 44 hours, the Upper House lost over 121 hours.

Of the 419 starred questions listed, only five were replied to orally by the concerned ministers in the House. The Question Hour could not be taken up for 27 days "due to pandemonium and interruptions in the House over one or the other issue", Naidu said.

The disruptions and adjournments were caused by protests over issues like special status to Andhra Pradesh, bank scams, demand for Cauvery water management board, vandalising of statues, review of the recent Supreme Court order on SC/ST Act and law and order situation in Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh.

The proceedings were literally washed out in the post-recess session which started on March 5.

"I am pained to note that it turned out to be an eminently forgettable one on account of utter disregard of the mandate of this important parliamentary institution and its responsibilities and missed opportunities," Naidu said in his concluding address to the 245th session of Rajya Sabha.

He noted that there was a "total breakdown" in communication among various sections of the House that was "at the root of the prolonged stalemate that ruined the session."

"This is not good for our parliamentary democracy of which our country has come to acquire a pride of place," he said, adding "we are all losers. This includes the opposition, the ruling party, the government and most importantly, the people and the nation".

Referring to the House not transacting any substantial business during the second part of the Session, Naidu wondered if the fears of those who doubted the need for a Second Chamber during the debates in the Constituent Assembly were coming true.

Naidu recalled that during the Constituent Assembly debates on the need for a Council of States, some Members feared that it would prove to be "a clog (impediment) in the wheel of progress" involving expenses and not making much contribution.

Jawaharlal Nehru, who headed the Union Constitution Committee for reporting on the structure and function of the future legislature of the country, had feared in 1936 that a Second Chamber will check any forward tendencies of the Lower House and will be reactionary, Naidu said.

"Are we making Nehru's worst fear come true? We should not, for the sake of our parliamentary democracy and the people," said Naidu.

Again talking about the disruptions, the Chairman said: "Let us not be a party to this House becoming a 'clog in the wheel of progress'".

Instead, the members "should dispel the fears" expressed by Nehru, who despite having reservations about the utility of the Upper House, had supported its coming into being. "You need to rise to the expectations of those who strongly justified the need for this House in the Constituent Assembly," Naidu said.

Due to the disruptions, the House could not debate the important Finance Bill 2018 but passed the payment of gratuity law without debate.

The House also bade farewell to 60 retiring members while new and some re-elected members were administered oath. The Rajya Sabha also had a debate on the 'Motion of Thanks' on the President's address for about 14 hours and devoted 10 hours to discuss the Budget.
Bengaluru: The day Congress president Rahul Gandhi arrived in Tumkur district with a dozen top leaders of Karnataka Congress, just 60 km away from the district headquarters, HD Kumaraswamy was campaigning under the scorching April sun.

Kumaraswamy was all alone and there were no leaders with him. But the crowd was much bigger than the one which gathered for Rahul Gandhi. Kumaraswamys rally was lacking in glamour and technology associated with the ruling Congress and opposition BJP. But what he lacked in glamour and technology was compensated in the form of public support.

In Karnataka politics, Kumaraswamy is a lone ranger. The third son of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy is Kumaranna for all in state politics.

Kumaraswamy became Karnataka chief minister in a midnight family coup in early 2006, toppling the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state. He ruled in alliance with the BJP for 20 months and was known as the most accessible chief minister the state had seen in 40 years.

After it lost power in 2008, the JD(S) has not been able to make a comeback either in the state or at the Centre. The JD(S) cadre are getting impatient and Kumaraswamy knows that if he loses this time, perhaps it will be the end of the road for him.

The Gowda clan is getting ready for the final battle and father Gowda has appointed him as the general.

Till two months ago, the ruling Congress and the main opposition BJP were under the impression that the JD(S) was not going to give them a fight at all. But all that has changed now and the Congress looks nervous after seeing the public response Kumaraswamy has been getting in Old Mysore region, the stronghold of the Gowdas.

The BJP is secretly hoping for a big win for the JD(S) in this region as it will reduce the Congress overall tally in the state. The Congress and JD(S) are in direct contest in about 75 Assembly seats, and the Congress and the BJP are fighting each other in the rest. There are 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly.

Kumaraswamy underwent a complicated heart surgery just five months ago and has made a quick recovery, hitting the streets and eyeing a kingmaker role after the elections. Even though his fragile health wont allow him to travel or talk much, he is crisscrossing the state in a specially designed bus, addressing a few public meetings and holding some corner meetings.

In the Gowda heartland of Mysore, Hassan, Mandya, Tumkur and even in Bengaluru outskirts, his campaign has been a big hit, attracting a huge crowd. Political analysts and his rivals have taken note of it.

According to Professor C Narasimhappa, an old associate of Deve Gowda, a big mobilisation of Vokkaliga votes behind the JD(S) can result in a hung Assembly in the state, and the fatherson duo is making all possible efforts to achieve that.

Both Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy know that it is their last chance to stay relevant in Karnataka and national politics. If the Congress retains power or the BJP comes to power, the JD(S) will become irrelevant. It will be like Ajit Singhs RLD in Uttar Pradesh. Their only hope is a badly fractured mandate. If that happens, they can keep their flock together and drive a hard bargain with both the Congress and the BJP. Otherwise, they will be doomed because the BJP or the Congress can hijack their MLAs in case either of them cross 100 seats, Narasimhappa said.

He added that even if Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiahs allegations that JD(S) is a B team of the BJP is true, the saffron party does not want a hung Assembly and they want the JD(S) to eat into Congress votes where the BJP is not strong.

The memories of the infamous 20-20 experiment with Kumaraswamy in 2006-2007 are still fresh in the minds of the BJP leadership and the last thing they want is yet another experiment, admit party leaders.

Speaking to News18, Kumaraswamy said he was in the race to win and not help the others. We are nobodys B team. We are fighting on our own. We will come to power with a clear majority. Both the Congress and the BJP will bite the dust. Siddaramaiah is nervous and spreading such lies. Yeddyurappa has called me and my father names. Do you think we will back him? he said.

Kumaraswamy added that there has been a big surge in favour of the JD(S) and cited huge crowd at his public meetings as proof. I am more popular than Siddaramaiah and Yeddyurappa. Several independent surveys have proved that in the past. I am close to the masses and they come to see me.

But the big crowd may not get translated into big votes for the JD(S). One of his party leaders said, Kumaranna is like a cinema star. People come to see him because he comes across as a sincere, humble man. He is rustic. He is Deve Gowdas son. But not necessarily all of them will vote him.

Some state Congress leaders feel that Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah should not attack the Gowdas too much as it may mobilise more votes for them. They say that instead of opening two fronts at the same time, the Congress must focus only on the BJP. They even argue that Kumaraswamy will mostly likely align with the BJP in case of a hung Assembly, using the Congress attack on him as an excuse.

But Kumaraswamy, a film producer-turned-politician, said he is confident of a win for the JD(S) and does not care about what his opponents say.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the opposition to him is turning "increasingly violent" due to the fact that people born in backward castes are in the country's top positions and also because of their discomfort with the BJP's rising strength.

His remarks at an interaction with party leaders on the BJPs 38th foundation day came against the backdrop of violent protests during a 'Bharat bandh' this week, which had left at least 11 people dead.

Modi, who comes from Other Backward Classes (OBC), also invoked his humble background and said his rivals were unable to digest that a "son of a poor mother" had become Prime Minister.

While the ruling alliance led by the BJP is known for its "win after win", the Congress-led opposition's agenda was "remove Modi, snatch his chair" and its identity is "lie after lie".

Modi also asserted that there are no divisions between the BJP and its allies and painted a picture of an inclusive family at a time when TDP has pulled the plug and Shiv Sena is threatening to walk out.

In the BJP there are no divisions, no dynasty politics and no I versus you. It is truly democratic and an only democratic political party can effectively serve a democratic nation, said the Prime Minister.

The NDA family is getting Jeet after Jeet (victory after victory), which is forcing the other parties to spread Jhooth after Jhooth (lies after lies). Their only aim is to defeat Modi, nothing else, said the PM.

Attacking his rivals, Modi said that the opposition (to his government) is becoming more intense and angrier.

It is being seen now that it is turning more violent as well. The reason is not that we have made any mistake. The only reason is that our rivals are unable to digest the BJP's rising strength," he said.

He continued, "They are unable to accept that the son of a poor mother can become prime minister. They are unable to accept that people born in backward castes can also occupy top positions in the country."

The BJP, which was long considered a 'Brahmin-Baniya' party, made a Dalit India's president when it got its first chance to elect a person of its choice for the top constitutional position, he said.

Its rivals are unable to reconcile to the fact that the BJP has become a party of the poor and has highest numbers of MPs and MLAs from scheduled castes and tribes, he said.

"It is due to this that an atmosphere of violent opposition against the BJP is being created," he said and asked party workers not to fall in the opposition's trap of divisive agenda.

Without losing their patience and decorum, they should redouble their efforts to build a 'New India' by 2022, he said. Modi has spoken about his vision of a "new India' that will provide all families a home and which will be without casteism and communalism.

BJP workers should work for everybody's benefits, he said. Asking them to use technology to spread their message, he said that in current age of social media if they are not active, then they would cede the space to anti-national and anti-social elements.

It is their national due to not cede this space, he said, asking them to put out true and correct information. Speaking on the growth of the BJP since it was founded in 1980 by leaders of erstwhile Jana Sangh, which had merged with other opposition parties to form Janata Party in 1977 to challenge the then ruling Congress, the prime minister said it was the only party run democratically.

It is not run on caste and family lines, and has a tradition of taking everyone along, he said.

Taking a dig at the Opposition, he said those not having democracy within their organisation are unlikely to be committed much to the nation's democracy.

BJP leaders were almost forced out in 1980 and it was a case of political untouchability, he said. People can now see where those are who practised this untouchability and those who were its victims, he said in a reference to the party's rise and the fall of socialist parties and the Congress.
Mumbai: BJP president Amit Shah launched a scathing attack at the so-called Opposition unity to take on the BJP in 2019 by comparing the coming together of like-minded parties to animals coming together in the face of a flood.

Addressing a rally at the BJPs foundation day in Mumbai, Shah said, I have heard that whenever floods happen, all the animals come together. Similarly, all these animals like snake, dogs, snakes and mongoose are coming together to fight the Modi flood.

Later at a press conference, Shah clarified that he did not mean to hurt anyone with the snakes and dogs analogy and was only referring to opposition parties that were uniting without sharing a common ideology. "By saying snakes, mongoose, dogs and cats, I was referring to SP and BSP, Congress and TMC, Congress and Chandrababu Naidu, all of them have come together to fight against the BJP," he said.

The remark was a jibe at the Congress and other Opposition parties holding a series of meetings recently to counter the BJP in the next Lok Sabha election. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had recently held a dinner with 21 opposition parties at her 10 Janpath House, signaling that efforts are well underway to form a coalition.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has also taken a lead on forming a bloc. She even came to Delhi two weeks ago and met a host of opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, and urged them to support regional leaders to take on the BJP one-is-to-one.

The BJP chief, however, said he was not worried and asserted that the golden age of the BJP is yet to come. This is not the Golden Age of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the golden era of BJP will come when in West Bengal and Odisha BJP governments will be formed, he said to large cheers from BJP supporters.

Referring to the partys loss in the two Lok Sabha bypolls in UP in March, he said that he would like to remind Rahul Baba that the party had also defeated the Congress in 11 states under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJPs defeat in the two UP seats to the SP-BSP alliance have been used as evidence that the saffron juggernaut can be stopped by a united opposition.

Continuing his attack on Rahul, he said, "Rahul Baba you ask what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done. Pakistani terrorists killed our soldiers, beheaded them but you did nothing. When our soldiers were attacked in Uri our Prime Minister avenged the killing with surgical strike. If any country can revenge the killing of its people other than US, it is India".

Shah said that he was confident that the BJP would win the 2019 general election with a bigger margin than 2014. Modi is a mass leader and people love him, his leadership has taken the BJP to bigger heights. The party is ready for challenges, he said.

We are ruling in 20 states, and at the Centre. We are one of the biggest political parties in the world. Our state governments have taken the states to new heights of development, he added.
Soon after the official website of the Ministry of Defencemod.gov.in went down, the websites of Ministry of Home Affairs (mha.gov.in) and Law Ministry (http://lawmin.gov.in/) went down as well. On visiting the MHA website this message is flashed: The requested service is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for Inconvenience. It would be available soon. The Law Ministry website also showed a similar message: "The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later."

After an alarm of an alleged cyber attack was raised following a tweet by Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister of India indicating a cyber attack, National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai dismissed the claims by blaming a "storage area networking system failure" for the dysfunctioning of the websites.

Last year, the official website of Ministry of Home Affairs was reported to be hacked but the MHA officials later denied it and said that the website was down for maintenance.

Visitors to the Defence Ministry website are shown this message: The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later. Several reports claimed that the website was hacked by Chinese hackers as it showed a Chinese character which means Zen according to Google Translate. "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken," said Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister of India.

Also read: Top 10 Indian Cities With Best 4G LTE Coverage: Not Delhi, Bengaluru But Patna No. 1

"We are seized of the matter. The National Informatics Centre, which maintains the website, is trying to restore it," a spokesperson in the ministry said. Another official said Chinese hackers may be involved in defacing the website, according to PTI. Previously, the official website of Ministry of Home Affairs was also reported to be hacked but the MHA officials later denied it and said that the website was down for maintenance.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

Last year, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply to Lok Sabha that over 700 websites of various central and state government departments were hacked in the past four years. Of the total of 707, 199 of them were hacked last year, 164 in 2015, 155 in 2014 and 189 in 2013. Rijiju had informed earlier that a total of 8,348 persons were arrested for their involvement in cyber crimes.

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Amazon.in has announced the expansion of its own delivery network in various parts of North East India, which includes states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Sikkim. With this expansion, Amazon now has 20 Service Partner nodes across the eight North Eastern states. This is an almost 2X increase from the existing network of Service Partner nodes that were set up prior to Diwali last year. The Service Partner program will enable Amazon to penetrate further into tier 3 and tier 4 locations in India with its own delivery services, said Amazon India in a release.

The Service Partner program is one of the last mile models by Amazon Logistics wherein entrepreneurs act as Amazon.ins local distribution network providers and create the last mile delivery footprint. The company now has over 350 Service Partner nodes across the country including regions such as Jorhat, Agartala, Zunhebotto, Tirap, Saiha, Ukhrul and Tamenglong to name a few.

Also read: Apple Updates Final Cut Pro X With ProRes RAW, Advanced Closed Captioning

We believe that customers, no matter where they reside or are located, value fast & reliable delivery. In line with our vision of making ecommerce a part of everyday life, we now have our own delivery services in every state of North East India that includes Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. This will enable us to better serve our customers and also support our Prime customers with free and fast delivery, said Akhil Saxena, Vice President, India Customer Fulfilment, Amazon India.

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Under the I Have Space program (IHS), Amazon India partners with local store owners across different cities to deliver products to customers within a 2  4 kilometre radius of their store. These local entrepreneurs understand their area well and have immense goodwill in their neighbourhood to efficiently deliver and receive products. Amazon.in has successfully unlocked the potential of such storeowners, allowing them to supplement their regular income and generate more footfalls in their stores. On an average, Amazon Indias store partners deliver between 20 to 30 packages a day, earning a fee per delivery. Amazon India now has over 17,500 stores under this flagship program in over 225 cities.

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This growth in our delivery network will also create numerous opportunities for local entrepreneurs to scale their business to greater heights under Amazons Service Partner Program. We are happy to announce that we now have more than 20 Service Partner nodes, strengthening our last mile delivery capability in the region, added Saxena.

Amazon has also invested in expanding its network of Fulfilment Centres (FC) to 62 in 13 states across the country with a combined storage space of close to 16 million cubic feet. Leveraging its fulfilment center with state-of-the-art infrastructure, Amazon provides a delightful customer experience through its program - Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA).

Also read: IBM Joins Group Building a Blockchain-Based Global Identity Network

In another news, 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 Flipkart and Amazon dominate India's e-commerce market. The person declined to be identified as discussions were private.

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International Business Machines has joined a private, non-profit organization called Sovrin Foundation that is seeking to build a global decentralized identity system based on blockchain technology. The blue-chip U.S. computing company will join the non-profit as a "founding steward," dedicating hardware, security, and network capacity to help create a digital identity network for individuals and businesses, Sovrin foundation chair Phil Windley told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Also Read: Twitter: One Million Accounts Suspended For 'Terrorism Promotion'

Other international IT firms are already taking part, led by Deutsche Telekom's research and innovation unit Telekom Innovation laboratories, Sovrin said. "The way we live and work online is quite different from the physical world," Windley said. "By creating a global digital identity system, Sovrin is trying to make the online world as authentic and as interactive as the physical world."

Sovrin's identity network uses distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, to enable the secure exchange of cryptographically-signed credentials to prove an owner's digital identity information. "We believe that the adoption of blockchain is an opportunity for a new trust model to take hold where individuals and organizations can securely share private information and credentials without an intermediary," Marie Wieck, IBM Blockchain general manager, said in a statement.

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IBM, which did not give a cost estimate for its contribution, has been active in participating in blockchain initiatives and is keen to remain at the forefront of developments in the fast-moving space. The Sovrin network is currently running with limited capacity, but will be more widely available by mid-2018, Windley said. Sovrin said existing identity systems were flawed, with more than 2.9 billion records compromised from various security incidents across industries in 2017.

"These damaging and costly security breaches are a consequence of the internet being developed without a true identity layer," Sovrin said. "To solve this infrastructure flaw, the Sovrin network was purpose-built to add the missing identity layer to the internet." The Sovrin network is based on emerging standards from the World Wide Web Consortium that standardizes the format of digitally-signed credentials.

Watch: Vivo V9 Review: First Android Clone of iPhone X in India
HPL Electric & Power Ltd has tied-up with RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) in T20 this season as the official partner in LED Lighting & Switchgears category. As a part of the association, Royal Challengers Bangalore will sport the companys branding on its uniform. The company will further leverage the association by using RCB & its associated players in all communications related to LED & Switchgears for the agreement duration. The company also plans to come out with various engagement plans and marketing initiatives around the tie-up.

Speaking on the companys association with RCB in T20 this season, Gautam Seth, Joint Managing Director, HPL Electric & Power Ltd said, As HPL Electric is growing and strengthening its presence in the market, we intend to take the brand to individual consumers by making it a household name and to build an instant connect with the wider audience through the T20 platform.

The company claims that it has experienced a growth trajectory recently and is now looking to substantially increase its annual budget on marketing this year.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore Chairman, Amrit Thomas said, We look forward to delivering great values to the company through this association.

The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League T20 begins on April 7, 2018.

On a similar note, Tecno Mobile has announced its partnership with Kings XI Punjab team. As per the association, Kings XI Punjab players will sport Tecno branding on the team uniforms during matches. Similarly, HMD Global, which designs and sells Nokia brand of smartphones and feature phones, also announced that it will return (as Nokia) as the principal sponsor of the Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. The association has now been extended for the next two years, starting with the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Nokia was also the principal sponsor of KKR from 2008 till 2014.

Watch: Vivo V9 Review: First Android Clone of iPhone X in India
Logitech, mice and keyboards manufacturer, today initiated the Digi@ campaign aimed at promoting inclusive growth as a part of the Governments Digital India programme. With Digi@ Logitech seeks to enhance Digital India initiative by supporting technology for telemedicine, tele-justice, tele-education and promote content creation and consumption in regional languages the company said in a statement. Dr Dinesh Sharma Honble Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Science & Technology and Secondary & Higher Education for the Government of Uttar Pradesh and Shri Sanjiv Saran, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, IT and Electronics flagged-off the campaign from Lucknow.

Also Read: Ministry of Defence Website Hacked: Google Translates Chinese Letter as 'Zen'

Speaking on the occasion, Dinesh Sharma, Deputy Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh expressed, The objective of the Digital India is to come out with innovative ideas and practical solutions to transform our nation and to create opportunities for all citizens by harnessing digital technologies. Our vision is to empower every citizen with access to digital services, knowledge and information. I congratulate Logitech on starting the Digi@ campaign from Uttar Pradesh and hope that this initiative will help in empowering the Indian citizens with access to digital services.

Also Read: Ministry of Home Affairs Website Down After Hacking of Defence Ministry Site

With the Devanagari keyboard, Logitech is aiming to reach out to the 40-crore people in the Hindi speaking belt through its vast network of retailers in this region and the products shall also be available online on Amazon.in starting 15th April 2018. The move is aimed at dissolving Indias major language barrier in technology and to further focus on working towards bridging the digital divide the company claims. The new launch will empower people to communicate in their preferred choice of language.

Logitech K120 keyboard comes at a price of Rs 695 with 3-year warranty while the Logitech MK235 Wireless Hindi Keyboard Combo (with a mouse) is available for 1995 with a 1-year warranty.

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The official website of the Ministry of Defence had not been under any cyber attack but had suffered a hardware-related glitch as per the National Cyber Security Coordinator, Gulshan Rai. He further explained that the websites had been down since Friday afternoon after it was noticed that there was a "storage area networking system" failure. "The same is being addressed. It is only a hardware failure," said Rai.

Earlier, visitors to the Ministry of Defence website were shown an error message stating, The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later. Several reports claimed that the website was hacked by Chinese hackers as it showed a Chinese character which means Zen according to Google Translate. Following this, Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister of India had tweeted "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken."

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

"We are seized of the matter. The National Informatics Centre, which maintains the website, is trying to restore it," a spokesperson in the ministry had said as per PTI.

Also read: Top 10 Indian Cities With Best 4G LTE Coverage: Not Delhi, Bengaluru But Patna No. 1

Last year, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply to Lok Sabha that over 700 websites of various central and state government departments were hacked in the past four years. Of the total of 707, 199 of them were hacked last year, 164 in 2015, 155 in 2014 and 189 in 2013. Rijiju had informed earlier that a total of 8,348 persons were arrested for their involvement in cyber crimes.

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Update: The website of the home ministry has been temporarily taken down as part of extra precautions in the wake of the alleged cyber attack of the defence ministry site, which has now been clarified as a hardware-related glitch by the National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai.

Soon after the official website of the Ministry of Defencemod.gov.in was supposedly hacked, the website of Ministry of Home Affairs was pulled down. On visiting the MHA website this message is flashed: The requested service is temporarily unavailable. Sorry for Inconvenience. It would be available soon. Last year, the official website of Ministry of Home Affairs was also reported to be hacked but the MHA officials later denied it and said that the website was down for maintenance.

Visitors to the Defence Ministry website are shown this message: The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later. Several media reports claimed that the website was hacked by Chinese hackers as it showed a Chinese character which means Zen according to Google Translate. "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( http://mod.nic.in ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken," said Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister of India.

Also read: Top 10 Indian Cities With Best 4G LTE Coverage: Not Delhi, Bengaluru But Patna No. 1

"We are seized of the matter. The National Informatics Centre, which maintains the website, is trying to restore it," a spokesperson in the ministry said. Another official said Chinese hackers may be involved in defacing the website, according to PTI. Previously, the official website of Ministry of Home Affairs was also reported to be hacked but the MHA officials later denied it and said that the website was down for maintenance.

Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website ( https://t.co/7aEc779N2b ). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken. @DefenceMinIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 6, 2018

Last year, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply to Lok Sabha that over 700 websites of various central and state government departments were hacked in the past four years. Of the total of 707, 199 of them were hacked last year, 164 in 2015, 155 in 2014 and 189 in 2013. Rijiju had informed earlier that a total of 8,348 persons were arrested for their involvement in cyber crimes.

WATCH VIDEO: Vivo V9 Review: First Android Clone of iPhone X in India
Kabul: Afghanistan on Thursday accused Pakistan of air strikes causing "huge financial damages" in its province of Kunar bordering Pakistan, highlighting long-standing mistrust between the neighbours, even as both seek ways to improve security.

The incident came ahead of a visit to Kabul on Friday by Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on cooperation to halt militant attacks.

Pakistani jets dropped four bombs on Wednesday evening in Kunar's Dangam district, Afghanistan's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement, without elaborating on the damage or making any mention of casualties.

"Afghanistan warns that continuing violations of international norms ... will have further consequences on the relations between the two countries," the ministry added.

Pakistan rejected as "baseless" the allegation that it violated Afghan airspace, however.

In a statement, its foreign affairs ministry said Pakistan's security forces were countering militant groups based in Afghanistan that launch attacks across the border.

Military officials of the two countries met on Thursday in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, where Pakistan shared details of the operations with Afghanistan, it added. The operations took place on the Pakistani side of the border, Pakistan said.

Afghanistan should focus on plugging gaps on its side of the border and refrain from the "blame game", the ministry said.

Afghanistan's Western-backed government has long accused Pakistan of harbouring Afghan Taliban insurgents, a charge that Islamabad denies.

Islamabad, in turn, accuses Afghanistan of not doing enough to eradicate Pakistani Taliban militants, many of whom are based in Afghanistan and mostly carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
Washington: US President Donald Trump, who often accuses the media of spreading fake news, will skip the annual White House Correspondents Dinner in second year in a row.

White House Correspondents' Association president Margaret Talev confirmed that the President does not plan to participate in the dinner on April 28.

This is for the second consecutive year that Trump has declined to attend the annual mega event of the journalists who cover the White House. Held every year, mostly on the last Saturday of April, the White House Correspondents Dinner is considered as a signature event in the nation's capital and has been addressed by the presidents in the past.

However, unlike last year, senior administration officials, including White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, would be attending the dinner. "The White House has informed us that the president does not plan to participate in this year's dinner but that he will actively encourage members of the executive branch to attend and join us as we celebrate the First Amendment," Talev said.

"In keeping with tradition, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also will represent the administration at the head table. The April 28 dinner celebrates award-winning reporting, scholarship winners and the vital role of the First Amendment and the free press in American democracy." Talev said. Trump, who frequently criticizes the national news media, often targets negative news stories about his administration or outlets that cover his presidency critically as "fake news."
Colombo: A former Sri Lankan military intelligence chief has been arrested and remanded in custody over the assault and abduction of a leading journalist nearly 10 years ago, police said on Friday.

Major General (retired) Amal Karunasekera was arrested on Thursday for the abduction of Keith Noyahr, the then deputy editor of The Nation, an English weekly, they said.

Noyahr was abducted by an armed group on May 22, 2008 when he was returning home. He was released the next morning with severe bruises due to assault.

Noyahr wrote a weekly defence column and it was said that the military was unhappy about his writings. Karunasekera headed the military intelligence at the time.

Noyahr's abduction alongside the murder of the editor of The Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunga, were incidents of media harassment during the regime of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka was dubbed one of the dangerous places in the world for journalism during the 10-year-rule of Rajapaksa.

Noyahr's case was re-opened by his successor Maithripala Sirisena's government after Rajapaksa's defeat in 2015. Noyahr now lives in Australia.

Several military men who were previously arrested are currently on bail in the same case.
New Jersey: Johnson & Johnson suffered its first trial loss in a lawsuit claiming its talc-based products including Johnson's Baby Powder contain cancer-causing asbestos, with a New Jersey jury on Thursday ordering J&J and another company to pay $37 million in damages.

The verdict of liability in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick came as J&J fights thousands of cases claiming its talc products can also cause ovarian cancer. The jury found J&J and another company liable after more than two months of trial.

The lawsuit was brought by New Jersey resident Stephen Lanzo, who said he developed mesothelioma after inhaling dust that was generated through his regular use of J&J talc powder products since his birth in 1972.

Mesothelioma is a deadly form of cancer closely associated with exposure to asbestos. It affects the delicate tissue that lines body cavities, most often around the lungs, but also in the abdomen and elsewhere.

The jury awarded Lanzo $30 million and his wife $7 million in compensatory damages. It found J&J was responsible for 70 percent of the damages and said a unit of France-based Imerys SA, its talc supplier, was responsible for 30 percent.

The jury will return on Tuesday for further proceedings to determine whether to award punitive damages, according to an online broadcast of the trial by Courtroom View Network.

J&J denied the allegations and says Johnson's Baby Powder does not contain asbestos or cause cancer.

J&J in a statement said it was disappointed but would withhold further comment until the trial's completion. Gwen Myers, an Imerys spokeswoman, said Imerys plans to appeal and is confident talc did not cause Lanzo's cancer.

The Lanzos did not respond to requests for comment.

J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, faces talc-related lawsuits by 6,610 plaintiffs nationally, largely based on claims it failed to warn women about the risk of developing ovarian cancer by using its products for feminine hygiene.

In five trials in Missouri involving ovarian cancer lawsuits, juries found J&J liable four times and awarded the plaintiffs a total of $307 million. In California, a jury awarded a now-deceased woman $417 million.

But in October, a Missouri appellate court threw out the first verdict there for $72 million and a California judge tossed the $417 million verdict. J&J is seeking to reverse the other verdicts.

Asbestos claims are a more recent challenge for J&J. It won the only other asbestos-related trial in November when a Los Angeles Superior Court jury ruled in its favour.
London: Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal is no longer in a critical condition and his health is improving rapidly more than a month after he was poisoned with a nerve agent in England, the British hospital treating him said on Friday.

Skripal, 66, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of spies to Britain's foreign spy service, and his daughter Yulia were found slumped unconscious on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning, the first known offensive use of such a nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Moscow denied any involvement and suggested that Britain had carried out the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria.

"He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition," Christine Blanshard, Medical Director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement. British Prime Minister Theresa May said the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a deadly group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.

Russia has said it does not have such nerve agents and President Vladimir Putin said it is nonsense to think that Moscow would have poisoned Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter. A British judge said last month, nearly three weeks after the attack, that it might have left them with compromised mental capacity and that it was unclear whether they would recover.

The attack prompted the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the height of the Cold War as allies in Europe and the United States sided with May's view that Moscow was either responsible or had lost control of the nerve agent. But Moscow has hit back by expelling Western diplomats, questioning how Britain knows that Russia was responsible and offering its rival interpretations, including that it amounted to a plot by British secret services.

Both Moscow and London have accused each other of trying to deceive the world with an array of claims, counter-claims and threats.

"PLAYING WITH FIRE"

At a session of the executive of the global chemical weapons watchdog this week, Russia called for a joint inquiry into the poisoning of the Skripals, but lost a vote on the motion. At a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday, Russia warned Britain that "you're playing with fire and you'll be sorry" over its accusations.

Given the twists and turns in the affair, British and Russian diplomats have variously claimed the mystery to be worthy of Sherlock Holmes or of an Agatha Christie whodunit. In an exchange at the United Nations, the ambassadors of Britain and Russia quoted extracts from "Alice in Wonderland" at each other.

The hospital in Salisbury said it was providing the medical update in response to "intense media coverage yesterday." Russian state television reported that Yulia had phoned her cousin in Russia and told her that she and her father were both recovering and that she expected to leave hospital soon.

Yulia's health has improved rapidly. On Thursday, she issued a statement through British police to thank hospital staff and people who came to her help when "when my father and I were incapacitated".

Sergei Skripal, who was recruited by Britain's MI6, was arrested for treason in Moscow in 2004. He ended up in Britain after being swapped in 2010 for Russian spies caught in the United States.

Since emerging from the John le Carre world of high espionage and betrayal, Skripal lived modestly in Salisbury and kept out of the spotlight until he was found poisoned. British police believe a nerve agent was left on the front door of his home. Skripal's cat was put down by British authorities. His guinea pigs were discovered dead.

"When a vet was able to access the property, two guinea pigs had sadly died," a British government spokeswoman said. "A cat was also found in a distressed state and a decision was taken by a veterinary surgeon to euthanise the animal to alleviate its suffering," the spokeswoman said.
Moscow: Moscow on Friday rejected a British news report that the nerve agent used in the poisoning of a former double agent originated from a town on Russia's Volga river.

On Thursday, The Times newspaper cited British security sources saying they believed the so-called Novichok chemical was manufactured at the Shikhany facility in central Russia's Saratov region. "This laboratory was never part of the scope of our work," Mikhail Babich, the Kremlin's envoy in the Volga Federal District, told Interfax news agency.

"All the bases where chemical weapons were stored are well-known. Shikhany is not one of them," said Babich, who is the former chairman of the state commission for chemical disarmament. He added that there used to be a different "facility" in the Saratov region but it was not located in Shikhany.

The Times said the facility was the Russian equivalent of Britain's Porton Down defence laboratory. The closed town of Shikhany is the location of a branch of the State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology, or GNIIOKhT.

The Soviet Union created a network of closed towns to house secret military installations and research facilities to which access was hugely restricted. Several chemists including Vil Mirzayanov, who first revealed the existence of Novichok, said the nerve agent was invented by scientist Pyotr Kirpichev in Shikhany.

Last month, Russian scientist Leonid Rink told state media he worked at a state laboratory in Shikhany for 27 years, where the development of Novichok formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation. According to the website of GNIIOKhT, its branch in Shikhany is now involved in work related to "ensuring the security" of the country and destruction of chemical weapons.

On September 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had destroyed its last chemical weapons. 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.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pursues in France next week his first world tour as heir to the throne of his powerful and oil-rich kingdom.

The 32-year-old de facto Saudi leader, named crown prince last year, is doing the rounds of world capitals as he ushers in sweeping reforms to liberalise his conservative kingdom and moves to stamp its regional supremacy.

Here is a recap of his trip so far.

Red carpet in Cairo

The prince starts out on March 4 in Cairo where he is welcomed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the international airport, a red carpet rolled out at the foot of his plane.

The following day the two countries agree on a joint $10-billion fund to develop the Egyptian side of a $500-billion futurist mega-city that is planned to straddle Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Called NEOM, which means "new future" in a combination of English and Arabic abbreviations, it will be a biotech and digital hub spread over 26,500 square kilometres (10,000 square miles).

On the diplomatic front, the two countries share strategic regional interests notably against Qatar which they accuse of supporting extremists and of closeness with Iran, an arch enemy and regional rival to Riyadh.

A royal welcome in London

On March 7, Britain rolls out its own red carpet for the crown prince but his three-day visit is controversial, drawing protests over Saudi Arabia's role at the head of a military coalition operating in war-ravaged and destitute Yemen.

Prince Mohammed lunches with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and goes on for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May on the kingdom's reforms, trade and investment relations, and defence and security cooperation.

Around 200 anti-war protestors line up outside Downing Street as the crown prince meets May, who has to defend the visit in parliament.

The Yemen conflict, into which the Saudi-led coalition intervened three years ago to fight Iran-backed Huthi rebels, has left nearly 10,000 people dead and the country on the brink of famine.

On the third day of the prince's trip, military equipment-maker BAE Systems says Britain has signed a multi-billion-pound preliminary order from Saudi Arabia for 48 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets.

Great friends with Trump

On March 20, US President Donald Trump gives the prince an effusive welcome at the White House, hailing a "great friendship".

"The relationship is probably the strongest it's ever been  we understand each other," says Trump as the young leader embarks on a nearly three-week tour of the United States.

"Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation and they are going to give the United States some of that wealth hopefully, in the form of jobs, in the form of the purchase of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world," Trump says.

The same day the US Senate rejects a resolution aimed at ending US military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

On March 23, the United States formally approves defence contracts totalling more than $1 billion with Saudi Arabia.

On April 2, in an interview published in US news magazine The Atlantic, Prince Mohammed says that Israelis, as well as Palestinians, "have the right to have their own land".

The remark suggests increasing rapprochement with Israel, with whom Saudi Arabia has no formal diplomatic relations but is firmly allied with the United States.
Durban: South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma is due to appear in court in Durban on Friday to face corruption charges linked to a multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal that dogged his time in government.

Zuma's supporters are expected to rally at the city's High Court to protest his prosecution which was announced just four weeks after he resigned under mounting pressure from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

It is expected that Zuma will be formally charged with 16 counts of corruption, money laundering and fraud during the hearing which is likely to be brief and procedural.

On Thursday night more than 100 ardent Zuma backers rallied in Albert park in a gritty suburb of Durban to protest his innocence and demand a halt to the prosecution.

"There is an unfairness in the judiciary," warned bishop Timothy Ngcobo, one of the organisers of Thursday's gathering.

"We believe God did stand with Jesus Christ when he was detained. We say also he can stand with Jacob Zuma," added pastor Nqoba Zindela, another organiser.

Nearby, a crowd of 50 young women, some wearing Zuma shirts, gathered below an underpass in a corner of the park to chant in support of their embattled former president.

The protesters sang liberation-era songs including "Umshini Wam", meaning "Bring me my machine gun", which Zuma often sang at ANC rallies and gatherings.

'Traitors'

Police are expected to mount a massive security operation with the local Daily News newspaper reporting that the judge will receive a "special security escort" to court.

Zuma is accused of taking bribes from French arms maker Thales over a contract worth several billion dollars during his time as a provincial economy minister and then deputy ANC president.

Police expect that more than 2,000 protesters could descend on the court house to voice support for Zuma with the main opposition Democratic Alliance planning a counter demonstration.

Zane Mlaba, a local ANC activist, described party leaders who called on members not to rally around Zuma "traitors".

"(Police minister) Bheki Cele said not to come  he has bitten the hand that fed him," he told AFP.

"We are not doing this because of tribalism," he added of the almost entirely Zulu crowd that had gathered ahead of Zuma's court appearance.

Zuma is a Zulu and has his ancestral home in eastern KwaZulu-Natal, the province which makes up the bedrock of his support base.

Black First Land First (BLF), a radical pro-Zuma group that has supported him through numerous scandals, said it expected 200 bus-loads of supporters to travel to the court ahead of his arrival.

"In Zuma's case it seems that it is guilty until proven innocent," said BLF regional spokesman Thobani Zikalala who warned that a campaign by opposition parties against Zuma would preclude a fair trial.

Fair trial

"No black person will get a free (and fair) trial. The law is based on a logic that is against us."

Thales, which supplied naval vessels as part of the deal, will also be charged with corruption and company representatives are expected to appear in court alongside Zuma.

Zuma is accused of illicitly pocketing a total of 4,072,499.85 rand  280,000 euros at today's exchange rates  from 783 payments handled by Schabir Shaik, a businessman who acted as his financial adviser.

Zuma, who came to power as president shortly after the charges were first dropped in 2009, has always denied any wrongdoing.

Shaik was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2005 based on the same accusations, but a much-criticised 2016 inquiry absolved Zuma of any blame.

Zuma claimed that the inquiry proved that "not a single iota of evidence (shows) that any of the money received by any of the consultants was paid to any officials".

Last month, prosecutions chief Shaun Abrahams  dubbed "Shaun the Sheep" for his loyalty to Zuma during his presidency  ordered that Zuma be charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering.

The ANC forced Zuma from office in February largely due to his mounting legal challenges and scandals, and it has distanced itself from its former leader.

Zuma's successor Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to crack down on government corruption, which he has admitted is a serious problem.

Campaign groups are hoping that the case could set a benchmark for allegedly corrupt leaders to face prosecutions, the likes of which are a rarity on the African continent.
When the wheels on this school bus go round and round, so does the home of one Texas family.

Debbie Mayes, 33, from Wigan, England, her husband Gabriel, 35, from Angleton, Texas, and their family of four children decided to convert a 17-year-old Thomas High Top school bus into their new home.
Despite our societys continuing move into cloud and virtual technologies, we remain bound by the physical world -- and choosing the right location for your business is a crucial harbinger for how well it will perform over time.

Should you head for the state with the best tax regulations, or set up shop by a port? Is staying closer to home an advantage? There is no right answer in this search, but there is a best answer for each particular business. Getting to that most ideal location requires you to think laterally and expansively, allowing logic, risk assessment and math to overtake mere instinct.

I work at a third party fulfillment business focused on ecommerce customers, so the question of location is of critical importance in our industry. After setting out on a hunt four years ago, we found ourselves setting up shop in Knoxville, TN. It turned out to be one of the best business decisions weve ever made, and now were about to open a second location in Salt Lake City.

Here are the six questions we used as our mapping metrics, which brought us to exactly where we needed to be:

What is the shipping reach?

If youre a B2B or B2C ecommerce business, like all our clients, there is one major thing you will need to consider: the needs of your end consumer. You need to get your product to them as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. For us as a fulfillment center, this meant having a two-day shipping reach to a majority of the US population, because two days is the standard that Amazon has set.

Related: 4 Ways Omni-Channel Retailers Can Step Up Their Shipping Game

As the majority of the US population lives on the Eastern side of the country, Knoxville, emerged as a major contender. We studied population densities and travel arteries; Knoxville is a major freight corridor with the intersection of I-40 and I-275. This is why the automotive industry has planted many of its production facilities here and in nearby Kentucky and Northern Alabama.

Of course, every company is going to have its own considerations. If 90 percent of your business is to hospitals in New York City that require next-day delivery, youre going to want to be within a one-day delivery time from that city.

How close are the ports?

You might want to think twice before taking over that warehouse in Oakland, Miami or New Jersey. Being close to ports isnt necessarily a good thing; in fact, it can be cost-prohibitive. Outbound shipping costs tend to be a lot higher, per piece, than inbound shipping costs, so you need to look at ways to minimize your total transportation costs. In our case, we wanted to be generally accessible from the ports, but at the same time located as closely as possible to end customers because that was going to have a greater impact on our overall cost structure.

Perhaps youre an ecommerce business owner who lives in Florida and your products are delivered to the port of Miami. It may seem like an obvious solution to have a fulfillment partner in Miami; that way you can have a bit more oversight into their operation. But land does not come cheap in Miami. In addition to the inflated warehousing costs your fulfillment partner will no doubt have to pass along to you, youre also in one far corner of the country. If your customer base is nationwide, your business is going to be hit with several more expensive shipping costs per parcel, since your average shipping zone may end up being five or six.

On top of this, the increased average distance from your customers means that the average ship time may breach four days, from order to delivery. All of a sudden, Miami seems less and less appealing.

What is the workforce availability and quality?

The success of any business ultimately lies in its people. You want workers who are smart, agile and productive; so education and work ethic are important drivers. In terms of availability, find out what the unemployment and turnover rate is in a given city.

Related: How to Relocate Your Business

Clearly, you dont want a very high unemployment rate, but you also dont want an incredibly low unemployment rate, because thats indicative of competition for good labor, which will drive up the wages youll need to offer. Use resources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics to dive into the data in areas youre considering, and talk to staffing firms about their experiences.

What's the cost of living and quality of life?

Who would have thought that Knoxville would be such an awesome city to live in? With its campus of the University of Tennessee, its nearby Smoky Mountains, great restaurants and theaters and strong pool of smart humans, it was even named by TripAdvisor as one of the Destinations on the Rise.

Recent data shows that cities in the South and Midwest have compellingly affordable costs, so delve into these stats. You want a location that good workers will want to live in, and where youll be happy spending your time, but you also want an affordable cost of living. Research the locations that appeal to you, and check out Bankrates Cost of Living Calculator to compare costs among cities.

Whats the weather like?

Does the area youre considering have frequent hurricanes, tornadoes or blizzards? Locations that are subject to dramatic weather can have significantly higher insurance costs, and such events may cause major business disruptions for some industries. This was particularly true for our company, since were focused on logistics: We dont want to be situated in a place that is going to be routinely shut down by snowstorms.

We even went as far as digging into the seismic risk in particular areas. If a few locations are proving to be equal contenders, why not pick the one that has the lowest amount of risk when it comes to disruption to the overall business?

What are the travel costs?

How important is it that clients, partners or investors can get to you, quickly and easily? This was a big question for us as we were considering the location of our second facility in Salt Lake City. As it was a secondary location from our Tennessee base, we would be traveling in and out of the city a lot, so we needed a place that would be easy for clients and our team to travel to and from.

Related: 25 Cities Worth Moving to If You Want to Launch a Business

By researching these six questions, we were able to draw up a winning location based on reason, data, business costs and happiness factors. The first three we termed marketability factors; the second three were focused on the costs of doing business. By taking a data-driven approach to location planning, we think well be able to set ourselves up for long-term success in any region we grow in.

Related:

6 Key Questions to Get You Set Up Where You Want to Be

Four Things to Consider When Deciding a Perfect Location for Your Startup

For This Startup, Office Location Is All About Happiness and Creativity



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


Managers often make tough decisions that affect the careers of their direct reports. It just goes with the territory. Some of those choices involve confidential, financial and legal considerations that just cant be shared with an employee.

But all too often, with the best of intentions, we default to our assumptions of whats best instead of consulting with the individual in question. Its scary how often this happens and how many of us are guilty without realizing it.

Case in point: You assume that because a woman has expressed a desire to lead her current department one day, she may not be open to a transfer to a different team. In fact, she might not be, but if shes earned your consideration, hasnt she earned the right to weigh in on her own career? What about the ace salesperson whose quickest avenue for advancement means forfeiting a commission-based salary? Shouldnt he have the chance to calculate the long-term pros and cons himself?

Likewise, Ive heard managers assume that because an employees spouse has a thriving career, theyd be reluctant to take on a job that requires a move. Again: Why is it so hard to ask? Maybe theyd like to move closer to relatives. Maybe theyre ready for a change. Or they can arrange to work remotely. The point is, you dont know any of that because you didnt ask.

The next time youre tempted to go with your own hunch, consider these four principles.

Have the talk for its own sake.

Just having the conversation may be beneficial. High performers often look for opportunities elsewhere; a signal from you could give them a reason to stay, even if the job you are offering isnt the right one.

People today are conditioned to give input on everything from the courtesy of their Lyft driver to the precise temperature at which they want to sip their coffee. And yet the paternalistic management style that assumes I know best can be blamed for the defections of great talent.

Related: 9 Telltale Signs That It's Time To Quit Your Job

A recent Gallup poll shows that a majority of employees dont see a compelling reason to stay with their company. Specifically, 91 percent say that the last time they changed the scope of their job, they had to leave their company to do so.

You never really know another's motives.

You cant possibly know what motivates other people, or what their priorities might be. In fact, you probably havent considered all the possible combinations of motivators.

The same Gallup research suggests that one of the biggest mistakes we make is to assume that our employees will follow the money and bigger title. In fact, many workers, especially millennials, put an emphasis on finding work that has meaning and purpose -- work they are especially good at or that fits their life in some satisfying way.

Related: 4 Truths You Need to Know About Millennial Job Hopping

A recent Deloitte study underscores the importance of the larger employee experience. It is a combination of meaningful work, supportive management, a positive work environment, growth opportunities and trust in leadership.

Consider an employee may offer something you never thought of.

Employees are in a unique position to make smart decisions and offer options or solutions that you didnt see. They can only contribute when theyre consulted.

Youve obviously given your employee a position of responsibility because they have the right skills. And over time theyve probably learned more about the nuances of their account, customers and department than you have. So why not tap into that expertise and collaborate with your employee to find alternative ideas and perhaps a creative solution? It may work, or not, but your employee knows theyre valued. And thats the job of a good manager.

Get out of your own managerial bubble.

We should already be having these ongoing discussions with our direct reports anyway.

In the age of radical candor, as championed in the best-selling Kim Scott book of that name, the modern manager needs to care personally about direct reports -- enough so that we directly challenge them to achieve greatness.

Since this is impossible to accomplish without having frequent and candid discussions about peoples level of current performance and their longer-term career goals, we have reason to ask people to weigh in on their career path. Perhaps most importantly, it establishes a basis for mutual trust.

Related: The Secrets -- 4 of Them -- to Gaining Employees' Trust

As managers, we must make daily decisions about how to best deploy, motivate and reward employees. That doesnt make it our right to presume we know best when it comes to personal decisions in their lives. You may be able to empathize with an employee, but you are not a mind reader. Engage the employee in the discussion about a future opportunity and see if something can be worked out. Dont take it off the table until they say, No, thank you.

Relationships are built on trust, and it begins with us. If we dont trust people enough to ask them to consider decisions that affect their lives, how can we expect them to trust us? Rational people make rational decisions. Dont presume; ask.

Related:

Don't Assume Employees Can't Handle Tough Decisions

Workplace Violence: How to Prepare for the Unimaginable

Giving up on Employees Only Hurts Your Business



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


New research identifies the kinds and amounts of bacteria from bathroom hand dryers.

This follows up work from the University of Leeds Airborne germ counts were 27 times higher around jet air dryers in comparison with the air around paper towel dispensers.

New work identifies how many bacteria colonies would get onto your hands  small fans in bathrooms make it even worse

Hot-air hand dryers in multiple mens and womens bathrooms in three basic science research areas in an academic health center were screened for their deposition on plates of (i) total bacteria, some of which were identified, and (ii) a kanamycin-resistant Bacillus subtilis strain, PS533, spores of which are produced in large amounts in one basic science research laboratory. Plates exposed to hand dryer air for 30 seconds averaged 18 to 60 colonies/plate; but interior hand dryer nozzle surfaces had minimal bacterial levels, plates exposed to bathroom air for 2 min with hand dryers off averaged 1 colony, and plates exposed to bathroom air moved by a small fan for 20 min had averages of 15 and 12 colonies/plate in two buildings tested. Retrofitting hand dryers with HEPA filters reduced bacterial deposition by hand dryers 4-fold, and potential human pathogens were recovered from plates exposed to hand dryer air whether or not a HEPA filter was present and from bathroom air moved by a small fan. Spore-forming colonies, identified as B. subtilis PS533, averaged 2.5 to 5% of bacteria deposited by hand dryers throughout the basic research areas examined regardless of distance from the spore-forming laboratory, and these were almost certainly deposited as spores. Comparable results were obtained when bathroom air was sampled for spores. These results indicate that many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers and that spores could be dispersed throughout buildings and deposited on hands by hand dryers.

The New research identifies the kind and amount of bacteria placed on your hand from bathroom hand dryers

While there is evidence that bathroom hand dryers can disperse bacteria from hands or deposit bacteria on surfaces, including recently washed hands, there is less information on (i) the organisms dispersed by hand dryers, (ii) whether hand dryers provide a reservoir of bacteria or simply blow large amounts of bacterially contaminated air, and (iii) whether bacterial spores are deposited on surfaces by hand dryers. Consequently, this study has implications for the control of opportunistic bacterial pathogens and spores in public environments including health care settings. Within a large building, potentially pathogenic bacteria, including bacterial spores, may travel between rooms, and subsequent bacterial/spore deposition by hand dryers is a possible mechanism for spread of infectious bacteria, including spores of potential pathogens if present.
India started looking for new warplanes in 2007 and there was a deal with Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale jets for $11 billion. However, constant arguments over price and quality guarantees caused the purchase to be canceled in 2015. India bought 36 jets separately to speed up the process. The 36 Rafale jets will start to be delivered in 2019.

India is now asking global companies to submit proposals for 110 fighter jets. The new plan is to pick a supplier, make an agreement and for the planes delivered within 3 years.

The deal will probably be worth at least $15 billion. India PM Modi announced a $250 billion military modernization that is to be completed by 2025.

Over 90% of Indias military procurement deals fail to be delivered on time and are late by 2.6 to 15 times their deadline. Often the deals are canceled and renegotiated.

Before the Rafale jet deal, India spent three decades developing its own fighter. Indias air force is heavily reliant on Soviet-era MiG-21s that fall from the sky so often some call them Flying Coffins. More than 170 Indian Air Force pilots have been killed in MIG-21 accidents since 1970. These accidents have also resulted in the deaths of 40 civilians.

The Indian Army has stated on record that 68% of its warfighting equipment is obsolete. A new report indicates that usually the army only has 10-12% of its budget left for new purchases but this year the Indian Army is actually facing a deficit.

The allocation of Rs213.38 billion for modernization is insufficient even to cater for committed payments of Rs290.33 billion for 125 on-going schemes, emergency procurements.

SU-30 are like the F15.

Mirage 2000 are like older F16.

Chinas air force currently outnumbers Indias in terms of modern combat aircraft about 2 to 1. China had about 600 modern military jets in 2016. China is building about 100 modern military aircraft every year. China is shifting to making fighter jets with some level of stealth.
Supersonic commercial travel is on the horizon. NASA awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) 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.

Lockheed Martin 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 help NASA establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations banning commercial supersonic travel over land.

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.

The aircraft will be designed to cruise at 55,000 feet (16.7km) altitude at 940mph (1512km/h). The contract began this week and will run until the end of 2021, and is valued at $247.5m. The schedule will see Lockheed Martin hand the aircraft over to NASA at the end of the period, and NASA plans to begin the flight and data collecting phase of QueSST in mid-2022.
STRATFORD  A Bridgeport school bus driver was transporting more than just children in his company-issued vehicle.

A driver for We Transport used the bus he drove to buy and deliver heroin after he dropped off all his passengers, Stratford police Capt. Frank Eannotti said.

After several months of investigating, Stratford police charged 29-year-old Garfield Howell on Thursday with four counts of sale of narcotics, two counts of conspiracy to sell narcotics and risk of injury to a minor.

We Transport is a bus service with a terminal in Bridgeport.

During surveillance, detectives observed Howell, on several occasions, using the school bus to purchase and deliver heroin, Eannotti said.

It was unclear if there were any schoolchildren on the bus when Howell was buying and delivering the heroin.

Howell lives in Stratford but drives in Bridgeport, Eannotti clarified. Bridgeport Public Schools Superintendent Aresta Johnson did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

A terminal manager at the Bridgeport facility said the incident was under investigation.

At this time, we are investigating the incident and we dont have any information to release until that investigation is completed, said Andrew Ifill of We Transport.

When asked Thursday if Howells employment with We Transport had been terminated, Ifill said, that will be determined following the completion of the bus services investigation.

Stratford police Narcotics, Vice and Intelligence Unit investigated heroin sales over the span of several months, Eannotti said.

Then, with the assistance of members of the Bridgeport police task force, Stratford police served a search warrant at a residence in the 2300 block of Barnum Avenue in Stratford on Thursday. Howell was arrested.

During the search, police seized about 195 grams of heroin, Eannotti said.

Howell was held on a $100,000 bond, which he was unable to post. He is scheduled to appear in court on April 18. As of Thursday, he did not have a lawyer.
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
NEW HAVEN  The question is, will better parking, traffic fixes, noise mitigation and a greenway calm the opposition to paving a runway safety area at Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport?

Mayor Toni Harp is hoping it will and has proposed a package of benefits that will be discussed at a public hearing before the Board of Alders Community Development Committee April 25.

A bill that would rescind limitations on paving the safety zone of the runway at the airport has been voted out of the Planning and Development Committee of the state legislature.

It would allow the paved runway to extend an additional 1,000 feet  to 6,600 feet  to accommodate more airline traffic at Tweed.

The paving issue is buried deep in a bill that would set up a community solar system at the airport under a two-year pilot, which is also one of the benefits touted by the mayor.

State Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the Planning and Development Committee, said his constituents in East Haven and New Haven overwhelmingly support paving the runway safety area if it means bringing in more commercial airline business.

That is not the case for residents in the districts represented by state Senate Democratic President Martin Looney, D-New Haven; state Rep. James Albis, D-East Haven; and state Rep. Al Paolillo, D-New Haven.

Adam Joseph, spokesman for Looney, said the senator wants to hear from the community before evaluating the administrations proposal.

Community input is very critical to the process, Joseph said. He said Looney hopes the administration reaches out to the East Shore residents.

Lemar said the bill passed out of his committee, but the understanding is it needed a much more robust benefit package that would be acceptable to the alders, the legislative council in East Haven, Harp and East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr.

Lemar characterized the additional paved area as a small investment that could reap a large benefit for the area economically. He said it also would not further degrade the environment.

But he did not think that the legislature is likely to intervene unless there is strong support locally.

Harp, in her communication to the alders, said after due review, she asked them to implement:

New residential parking along Burr Street to the north of the airport entrance.

Completion of the $7 million sound dampening program for the 185 nearby homes.

Community solar to lower energy costs for residents.

Traffic improvements, including a roundabout at Burr and Dodge avenues.

Creation of an airport jobs zone.

Linking the shoreline greenway across to Lighthouse Point.

The mayor said it is important for local businesses and universities to have an airport with commercial carriers that reach destinations farther than Philadelphia. She said a longer runway would allow travel to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Florida.

Like Lemar, she said the paving would not expand the footprint of the airport or infringe on the wetlands.

Kevin Buterbaugh, who lives close to the airport, said economic studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that investing in airports as small as Tweed is a waste of money.

He said adding more street parking is not necessary as most homes have driveways. As far as solar energy, Buterbaugh said that is a good thing, but asked how it was connected to the airport.

He said solar energy wont mitigate the air pollution or noise. Buterbaugh said he felt it was more of a bait-and-switch tactic.

Depending on the amount of new traffic generated and the noise level from larger planes, it would be difficult to compensate the residents, he said.

The citys economic development office, the states Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, the South Central Regional Council of Governments and the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce back paving the safety zone, as does Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale University.

Several residents already have made their concerns known in testimony submitted to the legislatures Planning and Development Committee.

Susan Campion and Rachel Heerema were concerned about the wetlands and the high-risk flood area where the runway is located. Like Buterbaugh, Campion saw the investment as a waste of money. Others said the loss of homes would not offset the financial gains produced by the airport.
An Orange landscaper was sentenced Friday to 60 days in prison for failing to pay more than $66,000 in employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea also sentenced Thomas Capecelantro, 64, to serve a year of supervised release, John H. Durham, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, announced in a news release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Capecelantro has owned and operated an unincorporated landscaping business known as Chestnut Ridge Landscaping since approximately 1984. From about October 2010 through 2013, Capecelantro caused Chestnut Ridge to withhold $42,322.64 in payroll taxes from its employees but didnt pay it to the IRS. During that same period, Capecelantro failed to pay $24,089.28 in federal employment taxes and $1,347.54 in federal unemployment taxes that Chestnut Ridge owed, the news release said.. Chestnut Ridge also failed to file quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS.

The total tax loss to the U.S. Treasury from October 2010 through 2013 was $67,759.46, the U.S. attorneys office stated.

On Nov. 28, 2017, Capecelantro pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to account for and pay over employment taxes.

In May 2017, he made restitution of $67,759.46 for the delinquent taxes. He owes additional penalties and interest on that amount, and additional restitution for unpaid taxes, interest and penalties for the third quarter of 2005 through the third quarter of 2010.

Capecelantro, who is free on bond, was ordered to report to prison on June 6.

The case was investigated by the criminal investigation division of the IRS and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Wines.
Phoenix, AZ - An Arizona Department of Economic Security employee and a Phoenix police officer were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of theft, fraud and money laundering.

According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, DES alerted them to possible theft involving 39-year-old Autumn Vasquez Maya.

DPS launched an investigation and tracked several other criminal activities, including more than $3,000 in currency, firearms and police body cameras that had been stolen.

DPS says Maya is suspected of pawning the items at Valley pawn shops.

According to court paperwork, on Nov. 28, 2017, it was discovered $3,488 was missing from a safe at the DES offices. The money was initially placed in an envelope but had been replaced with white copy paper cut into the size of bills.

During the investigation, it was discovered Maya had access to the safe and periodically conducted audits of the firearms in the safe, court documents stated.

On March 12, Maya was interviewed by officials, court documents said. She became extremely defensive and denied touching the inside of the envelope  despite her fingerprints being found on tape sealing the envelope.

After Maya was identified as a primary suspect in the case, a records check was completed for further review. During the formal workup, it was discovered Maya had several recent transactions at Valley pawn shops, court paperwork said.

Between May 5, 2017, and Oct. 26, 2017, Maya pawned five firearms.

On March 22, authorities visited a pawn shop in Scottsdale that Maya frequented and spoke with the general manager, court documents said. The manager explained that he recalled seeing Maya and a man later identified as her husband come into the store that same morning to pawn another item and remove a firearm.

Maya had been employed with DES since 2016.

Officials contacted the Arizona Attorney Generals Office where Maya previously worked as a property custodian, court paperwork said. The AAGs said Maya had several performance issues and integrity concerns during her employment.

While working at the AAGs office, $2,000 went missing from a safe and it's believed she pawned an AAG-owned weapon.

Maya's husband Michael, a Phoenix police officer, was also arrested as a co-conspirator.

"It was pretty shocking what happened. Police came out in their tactical gear. There were about 10 vehicles that came up, and they were banging on the door. You could hear them yelling open up, police, open up," said Rhowen Mendoza, Maya's neighbor. "I mean you never know what people are capable of."

Michael told investigators that he knew Maya had pawned items at various pawn shops and helped her retrieve two state-owned firearms after she was placed on administrative leave, court paperwork said. He said prior to the incident, he was unaware that she had pawned the state-owned firearms.

However, because Michael had been identified by employees of several pawn shops on various occasions, investigators say they believe he was, actively participating in the ongoing conspiracy to traffic stolen state property.

A Phoenix police spokesperson said they have begun the procedures to terminate his employment. Phoenix Police said he has been with their department for 24 years.

Maya was booked into jail on charges including theft, fraud, forgery, trafficking stolen property, money laundering, and conspiracy. Michael Maya was booked into jail on trafficking stolen property, money laundering, and conspiracy.

Both were released on bond and will return to court on April 19.
HARTFORD  The state Municipal Accountability Review Board Tuesday rejected a proposed contract settlement with the union that represents 15 West Haven emergency dispatchers , with one member saying the city lacks the ability to pay for proposed salary increases.

I think we should send them a message that youre making raises without the ability to pay for it, said Peter Gioia, who made the motion to reject the settlement. I dont think thats going to pass the smell test.

The MARB approved the motion to reject the settlement  which the City Council had yet to vote on  by a 5-4 vote. The council had been expected to vote on it this Monday, but it now goes back to negotiation.

MARB members also asked pointed questions about possible consolidation of the citys three fire departments and two remaining independent fire districts  something Rossi said after the meeting that they are very interested in.

At one point during the meeting, MARB chairman and ex-officio member Benjamin Barnes, secretary of the state Office of Policy and Management, suggested hiring consultants to investigate consolidation.

Rossi asked him to give the city and its three fire chiefs the opportunity to try to work it out on their own first. Rossi said afterward that the three chiefs  who all attended the meeting at OPM headquarters  all are receptive, but want to make sure that if and when it happens, it happens in the best, least disruptive way.

The dispatchers contract, which was similar to one for Water Pollution Control Authority workers that the MARB allowed to go into effect without voting on it in January, would have provided raises of zero percent, 2 percent and 2 percent over the three years it covers.

It would have moved union members to a new, high-deductable health insurance plan.

The MARB, created to help guide fiscally strapped cities such as Hartford and West Haven out of trouble, has the ability to reject labor contracts up to twice under the legislation that created it.

West Haven, which last year sold deficit bonds to finance $17.35 of the citys accumulated deficit, is counting on $9 million from the MARB to balance its budget both this year and next  a figure MARB members at various times Thursday suggested may not all be available.

Union President Katy Vecellio and union representative Lou DeMeci also attended the meeting.

Im surprised and disappointed, said Vecellio at the meeting.

The MARB rejected it and now we go back to the table, said DeMici.

Rossi told the MARB that during negotiations I did say I didnt know how we were going to pay for it  and suggested that negotiators negotiate increases of zero percent, one percent and one percent.

Were a financially-strapped city, she said. But the union and negotiators reached the current agreement after my input, she said.

MARB members made it clear to city officials that they cant expect the state to pay for things that the city itself isnt willing to do.

Im looking at the mill rate history and I see you have not raised taxes since 2016? asked MARB member Mary Glassman, manager of regional efficiencies for the Capitol Region Education Council and former Simsbury first selectwoman. I almost dont care whats in the contract as long as you can pay for it.

I think whats happening here is, youre giving great benefits, but youre not paying for them. ... Thats ... not sustainable, Glassman said. My role here, and all of our roles, is to help the town get on the pathway to sustainability.

The city doesnt raise taxes for three years, but youre running deficits, said MARB member Patrick Egan, former assistant chief of the New Haven Fire Department and former president of the New Haven firefighters union. I guess thats the price to the taxpayers of getting elected.

Taxes have increased for West Haven residents, however: In the city, a fire district tax now approximately 11 mills in the Allingtown district, for example  is charged in addition to the city tax rate. The citys tax rate may stay the same in a given year, but the fire district tax might increase.

MARB member Thomas Barne, chairman of Barnes Group Inc., said, The mayor has submitted a budget which is not balanced. It is only balanced with $9 million which we would contribute.

But that probably exceeds our ability to contribute, he said.

Robert Dakers, executive finance officer for the state Office of Policy and Management, pointed out to Rossi that your deficit this year is $8 million ... and youre looking at $9 million for next year.

The MARB money was made to be a bridge, not a final solution, he said, urging the city to make structural changes.

Rossi said she is trying to put together an amended budget to present to the City Council, with even deeper cuts.

West Haven is one of just two municipalities in Connecticut that currently fall under the newly-created MARB. The other is Hartford.
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JOHANNESBURG  Several Western countries issued travel warnings about the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar on Friday, citing mob attacks that killed two Europeans and a Madagascan accused of organ trafficking.

The three men were killed after a boys body was found mutilated on a beach on the island of Nosy Be, just northwest of Madagascar, which is off Africas southeastern coast. Residents asserted that the boy had been killed by foreigners seeking to harvest his organs, according to news reports in Madagascar. The two Europeans were tortured and their bodies were set on fire, local officials said.

Tourism is a mainstay of Madagascars economy. More than 250,000 visitors come yearly to see the unique flora and fauna, which include highly endangered lemurs, lush tropical forests and exotic spice plantations.

The killings were another blow to a country struggling to emerge from decades of intermittent political turmoil. Presidential elections are set to take place this month, the first since a former D.J. and mayor, Andry Rajoelina, toppled President Marc Ravalomanana in a military-backed coup in 2009. Both men and other leading political figures are barred from running in what many hope will be a fresh start.
The Berkshire Museum can proceed with the controversial sale of dozens of artworks, including a beloved painting by Norman Rockwell that the artist donated to the institution, a Massachusetts judge ruled on Thursday.

The approval of the judge, David A. Lowy of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, was the last step needed for the museum to sell a significant number of works, a plan the Massachusetts attorney generals office had agreed to in February after a seven-month investigation.

In his decision, Justice Lowy acknowledged serious concerns by some who objected to the planned sale but added that the museum, in Pittsfield, Mass., had demonstrated that selling the works was vital to its survival.

The art displayed in the Berkshire Museum enriches the lives of the entire community, and the museum is a reservoir of cultural nourishment for all who visit, he wrote. The museums charitable purpose of aiding in the study of art, natural sciences and cultural history must be protected.
WASHINGTON  President Trump said Thursday that the United States would consider slapping tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods, escalating a potentially damaging trade dispute with Beijing.

Mr. Trump said in a statement that he was responding to unfair retaliation by China, which published a list on Wednesday of $50 billion in American products that would be hit by tariffs, including soybeans and pork. That move was a direct reaction to the tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods that the White House detailed on Tuesday.

Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers, Mr. Trump said, adding that he had instructed the United States trade representative to determine whether tariffs on an additional $100 billion in goods were warranted and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs.

The announcement came one day after some of Mr. Trumps advisers tried to calm markets and tamp down fears of a trade war between the worlds two largest economies, saying that the tariff threats were the first step in a negotiation process. Mr. Trump said in his statement that the potential for new tariffs would not preclude discussions with the Chinese to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people, but any new tariffs are unlikely to make that already tough task easier.
He strode up and down a busy Brooklyn street on Wednesday, lunging at passers-by  someone pushing a cart, someone holding a young childs hand  with a curved silver pipe resting on his fingers like the barrel of a gun.

Neighbors and police officers knew the man, Saheed Vassell, as the broom handler for a local barbershop, an idiosyncratic fixture on the block who was mentally ill and liked to drink outside. Patrol officers chatted with him and sometimes bought him Jamaican food. They had taken him to the hospital to be treated for mental illness a number of times in recent years.

But the plainclothes anti-crime officers who answered a smartphone alert for someone waving a silver gun on Wednesday didnt know him at all, the police said. Given nothing more than what 911 callers told a dispatcher  that a black man with a brown jacket and bluejeans was pointing at people with something that looked like a gun  they screeched to a stop at the corner where Mr. Vassell spent most days and, after he crouched and aimed the pipe at them, almost instantly shot and killed him.

Police officials argued it hardly mattered which officers answered the call or what training they had. Any officers facing what appeared to be a gun aimed at them would have little choice but to fire, these officials said. Security camera videos from nearby businesses showed Mr. Vassell, 34, just moments before his death, startling people on the street and jabbing the pipe into one mans chest.
A guard at the federal jail in Lower Manhattan where some of the worlds most notorious accused criminals have been held was arrested on Thursday and charged with taking more than $45,000 in bribes from an inmate in return for providing him with prohibited items, like cellphones and alcohol.

The prisoner who paid the bribes was not identified by the government, but a person briefed on the matter said the inmate was Reza Zarrab, the wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader who pleaded guilty last fall and has assisted federal prosecutors in the investigation of a billion-dollar scheme to violate American sanctions on Iran.

Mr. Zarrab, who was arrested in March 2016, was held at the jail, known as the Metropolitan Correctional Center, through at least the middle of last year, the authorities said. The payments all occurred before he pleaded guilty, and he later admitted to paying the bribes as part of his confessed misconduct. But only a few details about the bribe scheme were offered at the time.

The guard, Victor Casado, 35, of the Bronx, was charged with bribery, honest services fraud and other counts. He had been employed as a correctional officer at the jail since about 2012, the government said.
MONASAO, Central African Republic  Each morning, Marie Noella Kango walks over to the local clinic here and takes her spot behind the main desk by 8 a.m. Often, mothers and their children are already waiting in a line outside. One by one, the mothers meet with Ms. Kango and describe their childrens symptoms: fever, diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pains. These are all symptoms Ms. Kango can easily diagnose as malaria or parasites, the two most common ailments in this village. Then she prescribes a treatment plan.

Ms. Kango, a BaAka Pygmy woman who grew up in the village, has no formal medical training, but under the guidance of Emilia Bylicka, a Polish doctor who oversees the small clinic, she has emerged as a critical part of the operation.

With young children dying all too frequently from treatable diseases, Ms. Kango and Dr. Bylickas partnership provides a burst of optimism and inspiration. Along with three other local workers, they are transforming the medical services available to the local population and making serious strides in building local capacity.

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, easily treatable health problems like malaria, respiratory infections, malnutrition and diarrheal diseases are among the top causes of death in the Central African Republic. But there are only 0.05 physicians per 1,000 people in the nation, so even these simple diseases often go ignored. Theres a solution: training locals to take on the responsibilities traditionally reserved for highly trained doctors to fill the gap in resources.
In the early 1880s, legend has it that Daniel B. Wesson, a co-founder of Smith & Wesson, the gun manufacturer, heard about a child who injured himself by cocking the hammer and pulling the trigger of one of his firms revolvers. Wesson, known as D. B., was so distraught about the accident that he and his son, Joseph, developed a more child-safe revolver that they called the .38 Safety Hammerless.

Wesson was also my great-great-great-grandfather. Though it has been half a century since my family was involved with Smith & Wesson, I feel a twinge of responsibility every time a mass shooting occurs. I realize this is not entirely rational: I play no part in making or selling firearms and have never lost anyone close to me from gun violence. But it still haunts me.

After 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., I learned the shooter used a Smith & Wesson M&P 15, a version of an AR-15 military-style rifle. So I had to ask myself: What would D. B. Wesson have wanted his company to do? Would he have accepted the repeated refrain, Guns dont kill people, people kill people?

Obviously I cannot know what D. B. Wesson would want. But I would like to believe that he would have recoiled in horror and disbelief at the weapons created by the brand still bearing his name. And that he would have wanted all of us to ask more of his company today.
The problem is that, once again, Mr. Trump has an impulse  in this case, he even has the right one  but no strategy, an emotion but little insight into reality on the ground. His call to withdraw troops immediately is at odds with warnings from American commanders who believe that it could lead to a resurgence by ISIS, like the rebound of militants in Iraq after Mr. Obama brought troops home from there. This is a familiar pattern for Mr. Trump: He skips past the hard work of commander in chief, seeking a quick political gain while foisting responsibility for difficult military decisions onto the generals. Fortunately, in this case, the generals have persuaded him to sidestep a quick withdrawal in favor of a more studied approach.

There are roughly 2,000 American troops fighting ISIS in Syria today. In January, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared they could expect to remain there indefinitely. Mr. Tillerson also said that the military mission would be conditions-based, meaning without either an end date or benchmarks for success. General Votel had a similar message on Tuesday, describing the militarys future role as stabilizing and consolidating gains while addressing long-term issues of reconstruction, including training local forces to keep ISIS from regaining a foothold.

Despite his isolationist tendencies, the president seemed to support that approach. Since taking office, he has tripled troop levels in Syria, just as he has also sent more troops to Afghanistan. In fact, Mr. Trump even faulted Mr. Obama for setting a timetable for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, saying it gave the Taliban the upper hand. Now he has effectively done the same thing by announcing that its time for the troops to leave Syria.

Mr. Trump is irritated that Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have not contributed enough resources to the Syria campaign. Fine; as president, he should be able to do something about that, particularly given the close relationship he claims to have with the Saudi royal family. Whats his plan?

The president just doesnt seem to get that any American withdrawal requires careful thought to ensure we dont surrender the gains weve made, endanger troops on the ground or alienate our allies. What will happen, for instance, to Syrian Kurds who have been crucial American partners in fighting ISIS and now are under attack by Turkey, which considers the Kurds to be terrorists? Or to Israel, which is increasingly concerned about the foothold that Iran, an Assad ally that Mr. Trump has decried as a major regional threat, has gained in Syria?
JACKSON, Miss.  Senator Bernie Sanders insists he hasnt decided whether to run again for president, but a 14-hour sprint across the Deep South on Wednesday made clear that he is not only thinking about it but is already trying to remedy his most significant vulnerability in 2016: his lack of support from black voters.

Mr. Sanders began the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s assassination with a morning speech and a march in Memphis, helpfully captured in a picture on the Rev. Al Sharptons Twitter feed. He appeared at an economic justice forum here in Mississippis capital, speaking before a crowd that included far more African-Americans than his campaign events typically drew. And he wound down over a plate of wings at a late-night dinner with Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Jacksons new mayor, a 35-year-old African-American and progressive.

Even more than recapturing the magic of 2016 in the early nominating states, Mr. Sanderss prospects in 2020 would hinge in large part on whether he could garner far stronger support from African-Americans than the less than 20 percent of the vote that he won from them in Southern states.

Still, the same unvarnished bluntness, lack of polish and unwavering devotion to his tried-and-true message  which made him a global hero of the left  continue to create challenges for him. On Wednesday night, after the Jackson forum, Mr. Sanders faced sharp criticism from some African-Americans who thought he had reduced the nations first black president, Barack Obama, to merely being what Mr. Sanders called a charismatic individual.
WASHINGTON  At an event on Thursday billed as a round-table discussion on tax overhaul, President Trump aired a litany of familiar  and often inaccurate  grievances on immigration, trade and voter fraud.

He suggested he had been vindicated by reports about the perils of immigration, particularly for women, and referred to a caravan of hundreds of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico, some headed toward the United States border.

Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened, Mr. Trump said at the discussion, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., referring to comments he made in 2015 during a speech announcing his candidacy for president. Everybody said, Oh, he was so tough, and I used the word rape.

Mr. Trump continued, And yesterday, it came out where, this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before.
A quick resolution would also allow negotiators to bypass complications stemming from the upcoming Mexican elections on July 1, which appear likely to usher in a left-leaning president who has sharply criticized Mr. Trump over his broadsides against Mexico. And the White House could promote a revised Nafta as a political win ahead of the congressional midterm elections in November, while giving the presidents top trade advisers room to turn their attention to resolving a potential trade war with China, which has fired back against American trade actions with punitive measures of its own.

White House trade advisers are meeting with their Mexican and Canadian counterparts in Washington this week to try to hammer out areas of consensus on the most difficult issues of the talks. Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland of Canada and Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo of Mexico were expected to kick off trilateral talks on some of the pacts thorniest issues over dinner in Washington on Thursday night.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada struck an optimistic note on Thursday, saying the countries were having a very productive moment, a sharp change in tone from previous comments about a Nafta resolution.

We are in a moment where we are moving forward in a significant way,, Mr. Trudeau said. Hopefully there will be some good news coming.

He is expected to attend the two-day Summit of the Americas in Peru next week, alongside Mr. Trump and President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico.

Yet hurdles remain, including how far the United States is willing to go in surrendering many of its negotiating goals, given Mr. Trumps frequent and vocal criticism of Nafta. Negotiating partners are still waiting to see whether the United States will compromise on the tough requests it has made over the past eight months of negotiations. Many of those demands, including those linked to American auto production, have angered business groups and lawmakers, who say such requirements would actually hurt companies and workers by shifting more manufacturing out of the United States.

A quick resolution would necessitate concessions from the Trump administration, potentially resulting in a deal not significantly different from the one Mr. Trump has denounced as a travesty and embarrassment.
MARSEILLE, France  No ordinary preacher, El Hadi Doudi is perhaps Frances leading proponent of fundamentalist Islam. His influence extends throughout Europe, where his lawyer says the cleric is the only imam authorized to issue fatwas. Over 37 years, he has often berated Jews, women and the modern world, yet the authorities have tolerated his hard-line sermons and occasionally cultivated him as an ally.

That was until now.

The government of President Emmanuel Macron appears poised to expel the preacher in one of the most striking examples of its hardening stance toward radical Islam. Mr. Macron has already used his huge majority in Parliament to inscribe into law some government tactics  searches and seizures, house arrests, shutting down mosques  that had been applied before only as part of the state of emergency put in place after terrorist attacks in Paris killed 130 people in November 2015.

The case of Imam Doudi, 63, who was born in Algeria and is not a French citizen, is part of a high-profile effort by the Macron administration to intensify scrutiny of Muslim clerics and, in some cases, to deport them. Some analysts say that Mr. Macron is using it to display toughness, as European governments struggle for tools to battle radical Islam, and as he fends off political challenges from the far right.

They want to make an example of him, said Vincent Geisser, an Islam expert at the University of Aix-Marseille. Its got more to do with communicating firmness.
And it made him think.

His timing could hardly seem better, with technology rapidly democratizing the instruments of forensic research and the purview of young architects widening. He begins his recent book, Forensic Architecture, recalling the libel trial in London of the Holocaust denier and historian David Irving, nearly two decades ago. Mr. Irvings shameful case relied on a tidbit of architectural evidence: he made much of fuzzy satellite imagery showing a demolished crematory at Auschwitz. Survivors had said they recalled poison cyanide gas canisters dropped through a hole in the crematorys roof, but Mr. Irving said there was no hole in the satellite photos. No hole, no Holocaust, became the deniers catchphrase.

Mr. Irving lost his trial. But Mr. Weizman cites the case as a cautionary tale. The tools of forensic analysis can easily be perverted. Wielded especially by governments and other powers in defense of violence and crime, they need to be challenged by equally sophisticated means. Architecture and forensics may be disparate disciplines but brought together they could produce a new, different mode of practice, Mr. Weizman realized. They could help reverse the forensic gaze back onto state agencies that usually monopolize it.

Adopting a phrase coined by the photographer Allan Sekula, Mr. Weizman terms the practice counter forensics.
LONDON  The right function of every museum, wrote John Ruskin, the influential 19th-century art and social critic, is the manifestation of what is lovely in the life of nature, and heroic in the life of men.

Museums of the 21st century have moved on a bit. Nowadays, they try to exhibit art that reflects a much more diverse spectrum of society than was on show in the Victorian era. They are also destination enterprises, with permanent collections and special exhibitions, cafes and shops trying to attract as many visitors as possible in an age of global tourism.

The Art Newspaper published its 2017 museum attendance survey last month. The Louvre, in Paris, maintained its long-held ranking as the worlds most popular museum, attracting 8.1 million visitors last year, or nearly 40,000 more than the second most visited, the National Museum of China in Beijing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York was third, with 6.7 million.

In terms of total visitors, the dominant exhibition surveyed was Icons of Modern Art: The Shchukin Collection, at the privately owned Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. The show attracted more than 1.2 million visitors in less than five months, according to The Art Newspaper.
Initially a dealer who focused on Judaica, antique books and manuscripts, Mr. Zarug said he began hunting for things to buy in the Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The U.S.S.R. in 1990 was like the Wild West, he said. Mr. Zarug said his diversification into Russian avant-garde art happened by chance. One of the dealers he had been working with regularly in Moscow offered him a painting attributed to Lissitzky for $3,000, he said, and back home in Israel, he displayed the painting for gallery owners in an exhibition in his office. The first person to arrive didnt even look at the Judaica, he just looked at the painting, Mr. Zarug said. I saw his interest and understood it was something of value, so I thought I would ask a very high price. I asked for $30,000. He said O.K.

Mr. Zarug said he immediately returned to Moscow, bought another three paintings, and sold them to a dealer in Israel for a vast profit.

As he began searching for art in earnest across the Soviet Union, Mr. Zarug said he discovered huge stores of neglected paintings. On one occasion, he said, he found 100 pictures in very bad condition covered with a dust sheet in an attic in Moscow and bought them for $1,000 each. On another, he said, he was taken to a deserted building in Azerbaijan where he was offered 206 paintings  including works he said are by Malevich and Kandinsky. In Tajikistan, the staff members of a museum sold him artworks directly from the basement, he said.

Some of Mr. Zarugs acquisitions were more orthodox. He said he traced Chagalls family in St. Petersburg and purchased some works on paper from Oxana Kornienko, the granddaughter of Chagalls sister Lea, as well as an oil self-portrait dating from 1917 that has since been authenticated by the Comite Chagall in Paris and sold to a private collector. The Comite said it could not comment on whether Mr. Zarug had been the person who had the painting authenticated.

Some works he sold out of a gallery he had in Wiesbaden. The rest, he said, he kept in the private collection that was seized by the police. The authorities confiscated some 1,800 works, most of which are being returned to him.

Though he was convicted on the lesser counts, and sentenced to 32 months in jail, he had already been incarcerated for that length of time while he awaited trial, so now he is free. Mr. Hazaz, his partner, who was sentenced to three years, has also served his time.
For inspiration, he leaned into his identity and immersed himself in his familys labyrinthine, peripatetic history. His relatives trace back to India but spent several generations in East Africa; his maternal grandfather owned a restaurant in Tanzania, where he played violin for his patrons.

That legacy manifests on Breaking English in the Carnatic violin playing of Anjna Swaminathan, whose lithe melodic gestures fit snugly with Mr. Bhatias hypnotic, Radiohead-like guitar patterns. And two songs named Olduvai refer to the Tanzanian gorge that Mr. Bhatia visited with his family about a decade ago, where some of the earliest human fossils were discovered.

While Mr. Bhatia embraced his cultural past, he rejected his musical one. An intimidatingly strong guitar player from an early age, he studied first at New York University and then at Oberlin, where he was taken under the wing of the estimable drummer Billy Hart. In subsequent collaborations with Vijay Iyer, Marcus Gilmore and David Virelles, Mr. Bhatia proved he could hang with anyone in the jazz world. He would keep it on reserve and then suddenly unleash something really beautiful and terrifying and intense, Mr. Iyer, a MacArthur fellow, recalled in a phone interview.
It was an amazing feat of physical stamina and mental concentration for the 64-year-old Mr. Schiff, and it demanded some of the same from listeners, who were caught unawares. The program book gave no hint of this bold stroke; nor did Mr. Schiff, who has an impish streak and likes to surprise, say anything from the stage.

Most listeners seemed as enthralled as I was by what amounted to a tour of Mr. Schiffs capacious yet crowded mind, which houses all of Bachs keyboard music and much by many others. For him, individual works must jostle up against one another like this all the time.

True, the audience thinned out a bit at intermission, and many of those remaining refused to play along when Mr. Schiff tried to run the Prelude and Fugue in B minor from Book I of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier into Brahmss three Klavierstucke (Op. 119), interrupting at length with applause. Its hard to blame anyone for enthusiasm or for wanting to relieve the tension of a long and intense musical evening.

Mr. Schiff concluded with a brilliant performance of Beethovens Piano Sonata No. 26 (Les Adieux). Well, almost concluded. He also likes to surprise with generous encores. On Tuesday he added all of Bachs Italian Concerto and Brahmss posthumous Albumblatt in A minor. On Thursday he offered a Beethoven bagatelle (Op. 126, No. 6) and Bachs Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother.
In one of the episodes carefully deployed comic-relief moments, Perkins also plays a voice recording reminding himself to finish that hat for Dionne Warwick, bizarre headgear being another recurring motif in the episode. (Earlier, Darius, frustrated by a Confederate flag cap reading Southern Made, buys it and uses a red marker to make it read U Mad.)

Jay-Z

In another back and forth about the merits of certain music, Perkins and Darius spar over the validity of rap, with Darius offering that sometimes people just want to have a good time. Perkins contends that the genre never quite grew out of its adolescence, adding, Dont you find it insufficient as an art form? Darius shoots back: We got Jay-Z  hes like 65, a rare light moment in this episode where it feels O.K. to exhale.

Sammy Sosa

When Darius calls his friends to alert them to his peculiar situation  before laying eyes on the reclusive Benny Hope himself  he posits that Perkins and his brother are one in the same. I think Benny created Teddy to make up for the fact that he made himself look like a ghoul, he says, before offering a topical example: He looks like somebody left Sammy Sosa in the dryer.
The quick pace of change in the White House gave Seth Meyers an idea on Thursday: Maybe President Trump would enjoy firing the most powerful man in the world.

Trump just keeps moving staffers around. Its like hes rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, after it already sunk. He moved John Kelly to chief of staff, Ronny Jackson to veteran affairs, now he wants to move Pruitt to attorney general. Our only hope is that he gets carried away and accidentally replaces himself.  SETH MEYERS

Robert Mueller, the special counsel, has said that Trump is not the target of a criminal investigation, but not everyones convinced. Meyers showed a series of clips with Fox News commentators warning that Mueller may be trying to trap Trump into testifying.

Maybe it is a trap  but in fairness, its not too hard to trap Donald Trump. He seems like a guy who would put out mousetraps and then 30 seconds later go, Oh, wow, free cheese! Oww!  SETH MEYERS

The Other America

Jimmy Fallon does not have high hopes for Trumps trip to Peru next week for the Summit of the Americas.

I read that Trump will take his first tour to Latin America next week. The following week Trump will return for his apology tour.  JIMMY FALLON Trump is going down there for the Summit of the Americas. When he saw it on his schedule, Trump was like, Wait, theres more than one America? What is this?  JIMMY FALLON

The Punchiest Punchlines (Vin Diesel Edition)

I saw that Australia is now launching an investigation into Facebook. This is very interesting: In Australia, Facebooks stock actually goes down the toilet in a counterclockwise direction.  JIMMY FALLON

According to a new interview, the Rock and Vin Diesel refused to act in any scenes together for the new Fast and the Furious movie. In fact, based on what Ive seen, Diesel refuses to act in any scenes at all.  SETH MEYERS

The Bits Worth Watching

The weird roommate with the four chickens is the best weird roommate.
Two comedic actors take on much darker roles in 6 Balloons. And watch a new series depicting the Trojan War.

Whats Streaming

MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION on Netflix. Jay-Z has been startlingly honest and introspective over the past year, whether on his wrenching album 4:44 or in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times. He vents and ponders his past once again with David Letterman, who nowadays is far more prone to play therapist than crack wise. In this interview, Jay-Z recalls crying from happiness after his mother came out to him and his favorite moments with his daughter, Blue Ivy. He also discusses his favorite rappers, like Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
Two valuable artworks by Egon Schiele, with a long disputed provenance, must be returned to the heirs of an Austrian Jewish entertainer who owned them before he died in the Dachau concentration camp in 1941, a New York State Supreme Court judge has ruled.

The ruling Thursday, by Judge Charles J. Ramos, is one of the first successful applications of the Holocaust Expropriated Recovery, or HEAR, Act, passed by Congress in 2016, and designed to ease statute of limitations restrictions for plaintiffs seeking to recover artwork stolen during World War II.

The two disputed Schiele drawings  Woman in a Black Pinafore (1911) and Woman Hiding her Face (1912)  were part of a 449-piece collection owned by Fritz Grunbaum, a well-known cabaret performer in Vienna who was also a vocal critic of the Nazis. For years, Mr. Grunbaums heirs have argued in courts and elsewhere that the Nazis stole the collection, which included 81 Schieles, and that the collection should be returned to its rightful owners.

In a previous case, filed in 2005, a court ruled against the heirs as they attempted to recover a Schiele drawing from the Grunbaum collection Seated Woman With Bent Left Leg (Torso) from a Boston businessman who had bought the work in 1963. The court said too much time had passed prior to the Grunbaums claim, causing evidence to be lost.
1. Rising tensions between China and the U.S. pummeled stocks, as investors began to take seriously the risk of a trade war between the worlds two largest economies. The latest U.S. jobs report didnt help matters  it showed that job growth slowed in March.

Our correspondent in Shanghai says theres a fundamental question at the heart of the dispute: Which country is more willing to endure short-term pain for the long-term gain of playing a leading role in high-tech industries?
 Spain faces a new obstacle in its political battle against the Catalan separatist movement after a German court ruled that Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's former leader, cannot be extradited on a charge of rebellion.

In a boon to his supporters, Mr. Puigdemont was released on bail while the court decides whether he can be handed over on a corruption charge. The ruling throws a wrench into the Spanish governments efforts to recover and prosecute Catalan leaders who fled to other European nations.

Meanwhile, Spaniards are aghast over footage, above, of what appears to be a rare public spat between Queen Sofia and her daughter-in-law, Queen Letizia.
SAN FRANCISCO  For months, Facebooks critics  ranging from Silicon Valley executives to Washington politicians  have been urging the company to do a better job of identifying who is buying political ads and creating pages about hot-button topics on its social media sites.

On Friday, just days before its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is expected to testify before Congress, Facebook said it had started forcing people who want to buy political or issue ads to reveal their identities and verify where they are.

Mr. Zuckerberg announced the move in a post on Facebook. He said this verification was meant to prevent foreign interference in elections, like the ads and posts from so-called Russian trolls before and after the 2016 presidential election.

Mr. Zuckerberg added that he supported a Senate bill, the Honest Ads Act, that would bring political advertising on the internet more in line with what is required on broadcast television. One of the sponsors of the bill, which has some bipartisan support but is still in the committee stage, said that statement was a reversal from what Facebook had earlier indicated.
Japan is in the midst of its most prosperous period in decades, as the economy cranks up and companies scramble for increasingly scarce workers. Still, for many people in Japan, that only underlines how far the country has fallen from the heights of the 80s  wages are barely rising, the population is aging and shrinking, and many feel that Japans best days are over.

That feeling has helped fuel nostalgia for the last time Japan was unquestionably on top of the world, joining a global reappreciation for the 80s in general.

Bed Ins fashion has become a fixture in local magazines. Similar 80s attire now gets big play in glossy publications like the Japanese version of Vogue. A popular comedian who goes by the name Nora Hirano has shot to fame by mocking the era with her boxy power suits and brick-size mobile phone. Her outfit became a popular Halloween costume last year.
The effective tax rate  the average annual property tax, as a percentage of the average estimated market value of homes in each area  was about 1.2 percent, around the same as the year before, Attom Data reported. States with the highest effective property tax rates included New Jersey, Illinois, Vermont, Texas and New Hampshire, all of which were above 2 percent.

If youve received your formal tax bill, it may be too late to file an appeal  sometimes called an abatement request.

Typically, cities and towns first send out a notice of assessment, showing how your home is valued for tax purposes. Property owners then have a certain amount of time to challenge the assessment, though the period varies from state to state and even city to city. Some areas give a two-week window, while others may allow several months. Assessors are generally strict about filing dates, so if you file paperwork late, your appeal may not be heard.

You really need to know those deadlines, said Aaron Vansant, a partner with DonovanFingar, a Birmingham, Ala., law firm specializing in real estate matters.

Property tax experts suggest taking some basic steps to check the accuracy of your propertys valuation. If you added on to your house, your tax bill will probably be higher. But if the assessment shows that your home has four bathrooms, and you know it has two and a half, thats an error that should be corrected. You may be able to have the mistake fixed with a simple phone call to the assessors office, depending on the departments workload.
Before reading the article:

Watch this short video from The News International about Spyscape, a new espionage museum in Manhattan

What did you see that was most appealing to you, and why?

Would you want to visit a spy museum? Why or why not?



Now, read the article, I Spy at New Yorks Museum of Deception, and answer the following questions:

1. How was Bill Hamilton welcomed when he entered Spyscape in Midtown Manhattan?

2. What are some of the design features of the new museum? What other museum was designed by the same person?

3. What interactive, immersive features does the museum offer, and what was Mr. Hamiltons experience?
Thirty-four years after his death, Garry Winogrands photographs continue to charm, befuddle and amaze viewers. A new book, The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand, takes 100 photos and pairs each with an essay by Geoff Dyer. The experience was daunting, especially sifting through the stream of images shot in his prolific final years. But it was also quite the revelation. Jordan Teicher spoke with Mr. Dyer about the book, which was published by the University of Texas Press. Their conversation has been edited.

Q: Why did you want to write this book?

A: I was teaching down in Austin and had lunch with David Hamrick of the University of Texas Press, because Id written something for them before. Being a complete and utter lowlife I went along not just thinking, Great, its a free lunch, which is often motive enough for me, but I deliberately went along with a completely empty canvas bag in anticipation of all the free books Id take home.

Very quickly, he came out with this line: I know what your next book is going to be. He then proceeded to remind me of something Id said in this printed email exchange with Janet Malcolm in Aperture, when having commented on the John Szarkowski book on [Eugene] Atget  which has a picture on each recto page, and an about 300-word caption on the facing verso page  I said something like, I hope I dont go to my grave without doing a book like that myself. So David said, Well, how about a book like that on Garry Winogrand? And it really this kind of lightning flash of a realization: Oh my God, of course! This is what Ive been waiting for. The strange thing is Id not thought of Winogrand myself, but thankfully he had.
We would talk among students about director commentaries, she said. They found it comforting to hear famous directors narrate their own struggles, as Francis Ford Coppola did for the notoriously chaotic filming of Apocalypse Now.

Image Michael Jackson in The Making of Thriller. Credit... Optimum Productions

Its kind of a chicken soup for aspiring filmmakers, she said.

But Netflix, which bought The Kindergarten Teacher, appears unlikely to include extras from her shoot when it releases Ms. Colangelos film. Like most subscription-based streaming services, Netflix produces little added content. So young filmmakers today might not have the chance to learn from the trials and tribulations Ms. Colangelo experienced on her production.

The first iterations of extras were behind-the-scene documentaries, which became popular in the late 1970s with the rise of blockbusters. Shorts like The Making of Star Wars in 1977 and The Making of Thriller in 1983 set the standard for the genres dissection of special effects, visits to the makeup chair and sit-down interviews.

It wasnt until DVDs took over the home-video market in the late 1990s that studios started seeing extras as an opportunity to help sales.

Patrick Brereton, the author of Smart Cinema, DVD Add-Ons and New Audience Pleasures, said studios began using DVD extras as a selling point when they reissued old movies. Some DVDs of old John Wayne westerns had adverts for cigarettes from the 1950s, he said. They were just sticking in anything.

Quickly enough, studios started producing bonus features to sell new films as well, spending money on voice-over commentary, behind-the-scene shorts and interviews with the cast. Extras, Mr. Brereton said, became increasingly standardized and driven by a marketing agenda.
Netflix put up more than 50 original programs on its streaming service in March, including series, specials and movies. Thus truly began a long-promised deluge of what the kids call content, and just how much original content Netflix will put up before the year is over is something not even Netflix can say.

The influx of original programs coincides with news reports about Netflixs thorny relationship with cinema. The Cannes Film Festival, making good on a pledge last year, has codified its ban on Netflix-produced films in its competition. (If its a Netflix movie, it will not screen in competition.) This is because of what Cannes regards as Netflixs intransigence about showing its films in theaters. Add to that a recent interview with the director Steven Spielberg in which he said that films produced by Netflix and other streaming platforms ought not to be eligible for Oscar consideration but compete for the Emmy Awards instead. That brings the immortal question What Is Cinema? to the forefront yet again. Along with it are the debates over the ostensibly sacrosanct value of the Communal Theatrical Experience.

Its not this columns job to provide definitive answers to the questions these debates raise. I like going to the movies as much as the next fellow, but Ive seen plenty of pictures in theaters that made me think afterward, That wasnt even a movie. For the rest of April Im going to post my responses to original pictures I watched on Netflix. For starters, I went to my spiritual cinephile home and considered sci-fi and horror fare and was gratified to find that the titles I chose were, it turned out, movies, even.

Mute, a sci-fi effort co-written and directed by Duncan Jones, made its debut on Netflix in February and was largely panned by the critics. Mr. Jones is known for the films Moon (2009), a well-received original, and Warcraft (2016), a video game adaptation that confused critics who thought it a little cheesy relative to Mr. Duncans previous projects.
The young Han Solo will make his debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Lucasfilm announced on Friday that Solo: A Star Wars Story, which depicts Solos life before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, would have its premiere at the festival before opening in France on May 23 and in the United States two days later.

The films director, Ron Howard, is expected to attend the festival, along with the cast members Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover and Emilia Clarke, among others. Mr. Ehrenreich plays Han Solo and Mr. Glover plays Lando Calrissian. Ms. Clarke will be featured as Qira, a childhood friend and accomplice of Solo.
Verizon is trying to determine how a portable 4G LTE hot spot could work in an area where a disaster had impacted Verizon service and there is no other way to get cellular coverage to that location, said Christopher Desmond, a principal engineer for the company. The trial in Cape May was the companys second in New Jersey and it reaffirmed the viability of the concept, Mr. Desmond said.

Verizon is not alone in exploring the use of drones to help when disasters strike.

In 2017, AT&T won a $7 billion federal government contract to construct a nationwide disaster readiness network called FirstNet. Parts of the program will include technology to provide cell service from the sky. When Hurricane Harvey struck Houston and Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, AT&T relied on mobile hot spots driven to sites and raised onto masts to provide cellphone service. The company also can launch a remote four-rotor hovering drone known as a Cell on Wings, which is tethered to ground cables for data exchange and power. (Verizon service was not knocked out by Harvey and the company does not provide cellphone service in Puerto Rico).

A vast majority of the time the combination of a truck and a mast will solve the communications problem, said Chris Sambar, a senior vice president at AT&T. But there are times where whats needed is a drone.

In addition to providing phone and other data services for emergency responders, Verizon is pursuing other possible uses for drones.
New Yorkers are forever mourning the death of the funky corner shop at the hands of the soulless, corporate behemoth: an independent bookstore closes, a drugstore chain takes its place. Its been a lament since at least 1871, when A.&P., probably the earliest national chain, opened its first store outside New York. Two McDonalds restaurants arrived in Queens in 1967; Starbucks showed up on the Upper West Side in 1994.

In a December 2017 report, the Center for an Urban Future counted 7,317 chain stores across the five boroughs  a 35 percent increase from 2008, when the research group published its first comprehensive statistics.

And yet any New Yorker who has been in any of the 612 Dunkin Donuts in the city  or the 444 MetroPCS shops, say, or the 433 Subway branches  would certainly recognize the people who work there, shop there and run the place as locals. Just because a building is emblazoned with a familiar brand does not necessarily mean the corporation is completely in charge. Many of the citys largest chains are franchises, owned and run by the moms and pops  immigrants, strivers, entrepreneurs who, in a different time, might have opened their own coffee shop or pharmacy or shoe store.

Some franchising gets a bad rap, but that person is still a small-business owner, said John Armstrong, the owner of the franchising consulting firm FranNet of New York City. Theyre still putting in their capital, time and effort  theyre just going a different route.
But the systems descent into chronic unreliability has become so embedded in the psyches of riders that many are overcompensating, adding extra time to their trips. In one of the more counterintuitive conundrums to emerge from this confounding city, the subway has been making people early.

Still, just because on any given day the subway may offer an on-time surprise does not mean riders will be pleased. Because then you hate that youre there early, said Adanna Roberts, a hair stylist who builds in an extra 30 minutes to travel from Brooklyn to work in Midtown Manhattan.

While delays and failures  broken-down trains, malfunctioning signals, sick passengers and track fires  are extensively tabulated, no one (perhaps unsurprisingly) keeps statistics on when the subway gets riders to their destinations on time.

You make that sacrifice to get up extra early to be at work, and if then you get there early, nobody is going to recognize that  but if youre late, its an issue, said Eduardo Andrade, who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and works as a custodian at Lincoln Center. He has rearranged his familys life around the subway, making his two children go to bed an hour earlier so he can wake up earlier and give himself more time for the ride to Manhattan.

Subway riders have good reason to assume the worst. Despite an infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars and an emergency turnaround plan heavily promoted by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who controls the subway, the system is still faltering  in January it fell to a new low with just 58.1 percent of all weekday trains arriving at stations on time. Weekends were not much better, with 64.7 percent of trains reaching their terminus on time, a nearly 10 percentage point drop from January 2017.
Inserted into Google Translate, any of these communications could be spit out to read: Who needs Cynthia Nixon? Im practically female! Last month Ms. Nixon, the actress and longtime public-education activist mounted a bid to challenge the governor in a Democratic primary, and he has been affirming his feminist credentials ever since, seemingly ready to come up with cures for the more disagreeable symptoms of hormonal imbalance if provoked.

Mr. Cuomos persona is built on one of the more whipsawed adaptations of gendered politics in American government  as eager as he seems to be to assume the role of the guy who has made his way through the womens studies canon, he is more committed still to proving that he is the emasculator in chief. For several years now, his preferred target for that exercise has been New York Citys mayor, Bill de Blasio. Despite the aura of insincerity that some feel surrounds the governor generally, his distaste for the mayor seems entirely genuine.

The embattled relationship is now playing out most dramatically over the issues surrounding the New York City Housing Authority, the largest public housing system in the country. In recent weeks, Mr. Cuomo has been touring some of the citys developments  where he has hardly been a regular presence  like a father coming home from a very long business trip to complain that the house is a mess and the children are unruly and to wonder what Mother has been doing all this time. The governor was showing up, as he put it at one moment on his tour, to expose the problems of the citys public housing complexes, as if no one had previously taken notice.

He called the system a disgrace; blamed decrepit conditions for fostering criminal behaviors; called out the mold, the roaches, the failing boilers and resulting heating problems; and blaming the mayor, essentially, for failing to adequately tend to things even though Mr. de Blasio has spent hundreds of millions of dollars repairing cracked roofs and working to reduce crime in the most violent complexes. Still, the citys housing authority faces close to $25 billion in capital costs at a moment when the federal government has proposed eliminating public housings capital fund entirely and cutting the operating fund nearly by half.

The housing authority faces a moral crisis as well in a lead-paint scandal involving falsified inspection reports and the failure on the mayors part to fire the authoritys chairwoman, Shola Olatoye. Beyond that, just this week a report from the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, found that 70 percent of the playgrounds managed by the housing authority were rundown or actually dangerous.
Isao Takahata, a film director who founded Japans premier animation studio, Studio Ghibli, with Hayao Miyazaki in 1985 and made sophisticated animated films like the elegiac World War II drama Grave of the Fireflies, died early Thursday in Tokyo. He was 82.

The cause was lung cancer, Studio Ghibli said in a statement.

Studio Ghibli has released some of the highest-grossing anime films ever, like Ponyo, Howls Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, which won an Academy Award for best animated feature in 2003 after an English version was released.

These lushly animated fairy tales were all written and directed by Mr. Miyazaki, whose name is more recognizable to international animation aficionados than that of Mr. Takahata.

If Studio Ghibli is your favorite band, then Takahata has the deep cuts from the back catalog, Dave Jesteadt, now the president of GKIDS, which distributes many Ghibli films in the United States, told The Los Angeles Times in 2014.
La Wilson, an enigmatic assemblage artist who took ordinary objects  from dice, plastic forks and alphabet blocks to bullet casings, fake guns and jewelry  and arranged them in boxes, giving them enthralling new life, died on March 30 in Hudson, Ohio, a suburb of Akron. She was 93.

Her daughter, Jenny Wilson, said the cause was most likely complications of two recent strokes.

Ms. Wilson did not plan her elaborate constructions, which hinted at Surrealism and Modernism. She did not explain their meaning (if they had any  she left that up to the observer). And she did not say why she chose particular items and arranged them as she did in boxes and other containers.

Its just trial and error, she said in a short biographical film made in 2011 for the Cleveland Arts Prize, which she won in 1993. She added, I dont have anything in my head that I want them to say, but its entirely what happens when they get together that makes the story, so the story is brand new to me.
The result is a confusion that turned the past week into a theater of the absurd after Mr. Corbyn was slammed in the British press for attending a Seder hosted by a far-left, but unmistakably Jewish, group called Jewdas. Jewdas calls itself non-Zionist, and it revels in the history of the radical Jewish diaspora; during the Seder, participants sang Yiddish songs cursing the police (in addition to observing more traditional Passover rituals).

This group was then denounced by the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, as a source of virulent anti-Semitism. The board, which has claimed to speak for British Jewry since the 18th century, usually keeps its head down and avoids the headlines. In the 1930s, it held back as other Jewish groups, mostly on the left, led the struggle against a nascent fascist movement on the streets of London. An inglorious role, perhaps, but one that has allowed the Board of Deputies to appear nonpartisan and impartial.

Not this time. Interviewed on TV, Mr. Arkush opined that Jewdass members are not all Jewish, as if he were in a position to make authoritative pronouncements on the subject.

We are back in the usual arena of communal politics in which notables bandy writs of excommunication as a means of confirming their own authority. What happened to keeping shtum? Is fighting Jewdas really a priority in the struggle against anti-Semitism?

In this business no one comes out well  neither Mr. Corbyn nor his critics. But the lack of perspective and insight that both sides have demonstrated ultimately have less to tell us about anti-Semitism than they do about the diminished state of British politics. Is anti-Semitism a real issue in Britain? Yes. Is it worse for the Labour Party than for others? The evidence suggests not. Is it the most serious manifestation of racial prejudice facing the country? By no means. Muslims have it much worse than Jews, and Eastern European and other immigrants have also been the targets of far-right violence, especially since the referendum to leave the European Union.

In Brexit, Britain faces the most consequential foreign policy decision of the past half-century, one that will transform the countrys position in the world. So far, the government has handled the negotiations like amateurs. Faced with a hostile use of deadly nerve agents on its own territory, the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has responded with his characteristic lack of professionalism. If this is how the countrys political elite tackles issues of such gravity, can we be surprised at how Mr. Corbyn, no less parochial in his way than his Conservative opponents, has fumbled his own internal crisis  and how the news media have fanned the flames?
International shipping is the backbone of our global trading system. But it can no longer be given a free pass on climate change. If this industrial sector were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world  and if it doesnt act now to reduce those emissions, by 2050 they could surpass total anticipated European emissions.

The International Maritime Organization, which sets regulatory standards for international shipping, is set to meet in London next week to consider approaches to reducing these emissions. So far, progress by the I.M.O. has been agonizingly slow, and the groups timetable  to develop an initial strategy next week and a plan by 2023  is similarly dilatory.

If the I.M.O. does not take action quickly, there is no hope of keeping the global temperature increase below the tipping points set by the Paris climate agreement. This is only possible if emissions peak by 2020 and decline rapidly thereafter. Every industrial sector, as well as country, must play its part in reaching the goal. And international shipping is the last big sector regulated by the United Nations to act.

Unfortunately, some countries that advocate the merits of climate action elsewhere are not singing from the same song sheet at the I.M.O., where talks are already underway.
TORONTO  There is a certain image that Canada projects to the world, one that is particularly compelling to Americans. Its the image of Canada as a tolerant, progressive, kind and humanitarian nation, populated by mild-mannered and polite people. The idea of Canada the Good  a Scandinavian-style socialist democracy, with the added bonus of multicultural harmony  is an attractive one, helpful in providing Canadians with some kind of national identity, and left-leaning Americans with a handy rhetorical device for political arguments: Look at whats possible, right next door!

But its worth remembering that this image of Canada, currently personified by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is a relatively recent construction, largely put forth by Mr. Trudeaus father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Before that  and for most of the intervening years, between Trudeaus  the public face of Canada has looked a lot like, well, Jordan Peterson. Mr. Peterson is the University of Toronto psychologist who leveraged his defiant stance in 2016 against a human rights bill concerning gender expression to become, arguably, the countrys most famous academic ever.

Canada is home to many more Jordan Petersons than Justin Trudeaus. Mr. Peterson is  to use one of his favorite terms  something of a national archetype, the default setting of the Canadian male: a dull but stern dad, who, under a facade of apparent normalcy and common sense, conceals a reserve of barely contained hostility toward anyone who might rock the boat. To these types, those who make a fuss are bothersome and ignorant at best, and probably dangerous and destructive too.

This is a mind-set with deep historical roots in the Great White North. There is, for example, no national mythology surrounding the idea of Canadian independence; thats because try as our forefathers might, its not easy to construct an inspiring story out of representatives traveling to London to request greater autonomy while remaining within the British empire. This is how peace, order and good government came to be the Canadian answer to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Scott Pruitt doesnt like sitting in traffic. My colleague Gail Collins recently named Scott Pruitt the Worst Member of the Trump Administration, and Pruitt has certainly been living up to the title.

Julianna Goldman of CBS News reported yesterday that Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, wanted to use his cars sirens and lights to get through traffic one day last year in Washington. The agent in charge of his security detail said that the siren was only for emergencies. Less than two weeks later that agent was removed from Pruitts detail, Goldman reported.

Another scoop, in The Times, reports that revenge is a pattern for Pruitt: At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agencys administrator, Scott Pruitt.

These are further signs of Pruitts unethical selfishness. He is also under fire for getting a sweetheart deal on renting a Capitol Hill apartment, among other things. His top policy adviser has decided to resign, and his chief of staff has pondered doing the same, The Times reported yesterday.

If the Pruitt story feels familiar, theres good reason. It is strikingly similar to that of several other Trump cabinet officials. Pruitt is in many ways the perfect embodiment of the Trump administration, The Washington Posts Paul Waldman wrote this week, combining blatant personal corruption with an appalling policy agenda utterly inimical to the interests of the country. In Pruitts case, the policy agenda  which will damage air quality and the climate  is particularly worrisome.

In the early months of the administration, I would have voted for Tom Price, then the secretary of health and human services, as the worst cabinet member. He has a history of using government jobs to enrich himself, and he was trying to take health insurance away from millions. But Prices fondness for private jets did him in, and Trump forced him out. So Ill vote with Gail now: Pruitt has the top spot.

Elsewhere: In New York magazine, Jonathan Chait argues that the corrupt self-dealing of Trump and his aides should be a central campaign theme for the Democrats in the midterms.

Chaits piece is titled Corruption, not Russia, is Trumps greatest political liability. He writes: Historically, corruption  specifically, the use of power for personal gain  has played a central and even dominant role in American political discourse.
To the Editor:

Re The Art of the Flail, by Paul Krugman (column, April 6):

The problem with the Trump administration is that except for the hard-core followers, whose intentions are clear, we simply do not trust these officials.

So the shifting of news from tariffs to the border with Mexico, to stories of corruption, whether political or financial or a combination of the two, to stories of payoffs to keep people quiet, and back and forth we go. The trillion-dollar question is whether the confusion is by design or simply confusion and incompetence. And if intentional, then for whose benefit?

And so there is threat of war in the air most days, and that means every kind of war, including trade wars, wars against immigrants, wars against the news media, renewed cold wars or arms races. And even those may simply be imagined for the profits of a few or due to a dangerous incompetence. We probably wont know until the consequences play out.

BRUCE NEUMAN, WATER MILL, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Stumbling into a trade war would be a huge mistake. History and research show that a trade war cannot be won, and should never be fought.
Even by Trumpian standards, the president has been in high dudgeon this week, railing about everything from illegal immigrants to unfair Chinese trade practices. For that, at least some Trump watchers blame his smashing defeat in the passage on March 23 of the omnibus spending bill.

That legislation, approved to avert a government shutdown, brushed aside all of President Trumps plans to restructure the federal government (except for his push for higher military spending). Even his treasured border wall got virtually nothing.

At its core, the bill was simply another exercise in kicking the can down the road with a new twist: Congress blasted through longstanding spending caps, dispensing goodies to all.

While proponents of more military spending got their wish, to win needed Democratic votes the Republicans were compelled to permit a similar increase in domestic spending.
On todays episode:

 Sydney Ember, a New York Times business reporter who covers print and digital media.

 Aaron Weiss, who worked several years ago as a news director for Sinclair in Sioux City, Iowa.

Background reading:

 Anchors at local news stations across the country made identical comments about media bias. The script came from their owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group.

 David D. Smith, the chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group, said his stations were no different from network news outlets.

 The largest owner of local TV stations, Sinclair has a history of supporting Republican causes.

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.
Disappointment and anger were my reactions, upon learning of the harassment accusations against Mr. Meier, Mr. Soloviev said. I didnt see it coming. But his firm did their job and gave us a beautiful building.

At first glance, the tower at 685 First Avenue, which has 148 condos and 408 rentals, is a classic Solow project. On a site that spans the entire block from East 39th to East 40th Streets, it has a reflective black-glass facade, like most of his apartment towers, including 265 East 66th Street, a rental at Second Avenue, and One East River Place, on East 72nd by the F.D.R. Drive.

It even resembles Solows 9 West 57th Street, the sloping office tower that once commanded some of the highest office rents in the city, though much of it is currently vacant.

Mr. Meier, who is known for almost always designing white buildings, rolled his eyes when asked why he hadnt deployed his signature look. I have to be honest with you, he said, before looking in the direction of his client.

I just feel from the outside it is very strong, almost like marble, but from the inside you cant tell its black, because its perfectly translucent, Mr. Solow said of his favorite building color.

If Mr. Solow, who lives nearby at 860/870 United Nations Plaza, is remembered for any buildings, he said he hopes they will be 9 West 57th and 685 First. And the deep-pocketed developer, who in 2017 was ranked 140 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, with $4.7 billion, seems intent on shaping his legacy carefully.

In February, he traveled to a quarry in Italy, accompanied by Mr. Soloviev, to personally choose travertine panels for the walls of 685 Firsts soaring 30-feet-tall lobby. Workers at the site said Mr. Solow calls every day to check on his towers progress.
The democratizing possibilities of such services have not gone unnoticed by Chinas censors.

As they have taken a harder line on online discourse, media regulators have made targets of celebrity gossip blogs, ranting rappers and more. Updates to several sections on Toutiao, Bytedances news app, were halted for 24 hours recently after regulators accused it of spreading vulgar information. Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like forum, had to take several features offline for a week after it was scolded for similar transgressions.

Adolescent motherhood is a subject that arouses special alarm in China. Even as economists warn of a demographic emergency caused by the one child policy, which was ended in 2015, unwed mothers  even those of legal age  are stigmatized and face legal bias. What is more, sex education has struggled to keep up with changing mores, increasing the likelihood of unwanted pregnancies.

Last weeks CCTV segment begins with a young man and woman sitting together on a bed, their faces digitally blurred, as bouncy pop music plays in the background. What do you think of when you see this video? a narrator says. Someone showing off their familys cute children? Wrong. These two children already have their own children. This mother is not even 16.

Over images of another young woman with strawberries digitally superimposed on her cheeks, the segment continues: Perhaps this sweet young girl is obediently helping her parents take care of her little brother. Youre wrong again. This is another 16-year-old young mother.

China does not allow men to marry before the age of 22, and women not until 20, the segment says. The young mothers on these apps, according to the segment, mostly live in rural areas and have dropped out of school. Their lives are dull, and they crave attention, the narration says.

The segment says that several such women had been vying, on the video apps, to be crowned the internets youngest mother. One went by the username 14 years old and already have my little cutie.
Amazon and the Postal Service

Ive also been following the feud between Amazon and President Trump this week, which has led to a bull market for explainers about the business models of the United States Postal Service. My colleague Nick Wingfield wrote that, contra President Trump, the available evidence suggests that Amazon has been a boon to the Postal Service. But Voxs Jen Kirby added that, because the exact details of the contract between Amazon and the Postal Service arent known, its possible that President Trump is partly right: Maybe the U.S.P.S. isnt actually making the best deals. Meanwhile, Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute, says President Trump is actually right that Amazon is ripping off the federal government through its U.S.P.S. contracts.

Im a nonexpert on the subject of parcel shipping, so my opinion on Amazons the -U.S.P.S. probably isnt worth one first-class stamp. But its possible, and maybe plausible, that all of these analyses are partly correct  that the Postal Service benefits from Amazons dominance, and that Amazon is getting a sweetheart deal that should be re-examined. Anyway, Amazons stock dipped sharply after President Trump started tweeting angry things about it, but it has now recovered to its pre-tweetstorm levels, meaning that investors may be as confused as I am.

The YouTube Shooting

Last, and most obvious, the horrific shooting at YouTube on Tuesday, which injured three people and left the company badly shaken. As more details have emerged on Nasim Najafi Aghdam, whom the police have identified as the attacker, it has become increasingly clear that this was a new kind of violence  an act of revenge by an internet creator against the platform that she felt controlled her economic destiny. As my colleagues Nellie Bowles and Jack Nicas wrote, Ms. Aghdams complaints echoed what a wide range of YouTube posters  from self-described animal rights activists like her to right-wing political provocateurs  have increasingly been protesting over the last year.

Its a tragic reminder that social platforms arent just websites anymore. Theyre powerful economies unto themselves, and even seemingly minor policy decisions can alter the lives of millions of people, a few of whom might be disturbed enough to act on their darkest impulses.

Kevin Roose writes a column called The Shift and is a writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter here: @kevinroose.
Good morning.

(Want to get California Today by email? Heres the sign-up.)

Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, is a leading Democratic candidate for governor. California Today has been doing occasional question-and-answer sessions with candidates for office, and today we turn to Mr. Villaraigosa. The interview, edited and condensed for clarity, was done for our article on the race.

Q: Does Gov. Jerry Brown deserve any blame for the increase in poverty and homelessness?

A: No. I dont think so. The state was in free-fall when he came in. And it took, what, four years, the first term at least, really five years, to get us back on the footing that we are on now. We werent in a position to do what we needed to do. The next administration needs to focus a lot more on building on that template of homelessness, affordable housing and economic development.

Q: Do you support the bill proposed by Senator Scott Wiener that would override local zoning laws to permit more dense housing construction near transit lines?

A: There are two problems with the Wiener bill. It starts out with a stick. I think you need to start out with incentives. And it only focuses on places where there is transit-oriented development. So Marin County, as an example, would be exempt. Marin has probably led the state in fighting affordable homeless.
Outbreaks of illness related to synthetic marijuana have occurred in recent years in Lancaster County, Pa., where more than 150 people were sickened in one week, and in New York City in 2016, when 33 people reported falling ill. But state and national public health officials say this is the first time they have seen synthetic marijuana result in severe bleeding in users, a condition that if left untreated can be deadly.

An investigation by the Chicago Police Department and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has resulted in three arrests so far; the suspects, charged with federal drug offenses last week, are believed to have sold at least some of the drugs from behind the counter of a minimart on the West Side of Chicago.

But officials here said they still have unanswered, vexing questions: How much of the tainted drug is still circulating throughout the Midwest, and how many more people will be sickened? Where are the drugs coming from, and how far have they spread? How did a dangerous chemical like brodifacoum, which does not create a sensation of being high, end up in synthetic marijuana?

This is not something we have previously seen, said Dr. Patrick Lank of Northwestern Memorial Hospital. As someone who watches public health, I worry, why is this happening? How did a substance get into these drugs that absolutely has no high?

Renee Funk, the associate director for emergency management for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency is sending a team to Illinois to assist with the investigation.
Former Senator Daniel K. Akaka, a Democrat who represented Hawaii for 36 years in Congress and successfully fought for the belated recognition of Asians and Asian-Americans who had fought for the United States in World War II, died on Friday in Honolulu. He was 93.

Jon Yoshimura, the senators former communications director, confirmed the death, saying Mr. Akaka had been hospitalized for several months, The Associated Press reported.

A World War II veteran, Mr. Akaka sponsored legislation in 1996 that led to a re-evaluation of the service records of Asian-Americans who had fought in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion during the war.
Who should carry the drug?

Active drug users, people who live with or love drug users, and people on methadone or buprenorphine, who are often coming out of treatment and know people at high risk of overdose, said Robert Childs, executive director of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition in Wilmington, N.C. The surgeon general also listed patients who take high doses of prescribed opioids.

People who are coming out of prison or detox programs should carry the drug, because detox lowers tolerance, Mr. Childs said. Those who work in places where there are public bathrooms or where drug users congregate, such as shopping center parking lots, should consider getting trained to use naloxone and keep it on hand.

It should be just like carrying a first aid kit, Mr. Childs said.

How do you know if someone is overdosing?

If someone has shortness of breath or is not breathing, is unresponsive or wont wake up and has pale or discolored skin, they may be overdosing. Other signs include pinpoint pupils, confusion, vomiting and cold or clammy skin.

Trainers will frequently instruct people to perform what is known as a sternum rub.

You make a fist and with your knuckles you go up and down the sternum as hard as you can, said Mr. Childs. It causes excruciating pain, so if someone does not respond to that, you know they are in a state worth responding to immediately.

If someone is awake, look at their eyes. Mostly you see the iris, just a tiny black spot in the middle, said Dr. Steven Daviss, senior medical adviser at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Thats a pretty good sign someone has overdosed on an opioid.
LIVERMORE, Calif.  For seven years, Deepika Jalakam sat at home. Bored, unfulfilled and dependent on her husband for every dime, she struggled with the notion that her professional life was doomed in the land of opportunity.

So when the employment card arrived in the mail in 2015, Ms. Jalakam did what she often does when good fortune comes her way: She placed it before the gods in the Hindu shrine mounted in her kitchen cabinet, blessed it with a dab of red kum kum powder and recited a prayer of gratitude.

Within weeks, Ms. Jalakam, who has a degree in biotechnology, landed a job as an analyst at an insurance company. The next year, she and her husband, Vinay Kumar, a software engineer, bought a house. In 2017, the finances of the Indian immigrant couple were secure enough that they decided to have a second child.

All that planning, though, is in jeopardy. Ms. Jalakam and thousands of other spouses of skilled workers have been told that their special work permits  authorization that can mean the difference between struggling and thriving in their adopted homeland  are likely to be revoked.
WASHINGTON  Representative Blake Farenthold, the Texas Republican who used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment case with his former communications director, abruptly resigned from Congress on Friday afternoon.

In December, Mr. Farenthold, who represented the 27th District of Texas, said that he would not run for re-election amid scrutiny over the payment and accusations from other aides that he set the tone for a hostile work environment in his office. At the time, he was one of several lawmakers to announce his eventual departure from Congress after being accused of sexual harassment and discrimination.

While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart its time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve, Mr. Farenthold said in a statement on Friday, thanking his staff, his family and the voters who elected him.

It was known for several years that Mr. Farenthold, already notorious for a heavily circulated photograph of him in duck pajamas, had been accused of sexual harassment by Lauren Greene, his former communications director. She sued him in 2014, claiming that he had illegally fired her after she complained about mistreatment.
Starting Sunday and continuing through the week, Mr. Trump unleashed a series of fiery Twitter posts denouncing Americas weak border laws and vowing NO MORE DACA DEAL. And while Mr. Trumps Twitter feed isnt always an indication of federal policy, it paved the way for new policy proposals and announcements.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump issued a proclamation directing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to work with governors to deploy the National Guard on the southwest border to help combat illegal immigration. Mexican officials sharply criticized the plan to add troops.

The presidents renewed anti-immigration fervor was in part inspired by news reports of a large group of migrants from Honduras traveling through Mexico to the United States. The caravan later began to splinter, although organizers said it would regroup.

Additional reading:

All It Takes Is One Mistake: Worries Over Plan to Send National Guard to Border

Trumps Immigration Tweets Followed by Policy Plans to Match

You Hate America!: How the Caravan Story Exploded on the Right

Once a rising star in the administration, Scott Pruitt is now under scrutiny.
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has been under fire for his extravagant spending on things like office furniture and private jet travel.

But President Trump has resisted calls, including from John F. Kelly, his chief of staff, to fire Mr. Pruitt, who appears to have punished or pushed out five agency officials who attempted to rein in his spending.

Here are some of the big-ticket items Mr. Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general, wanted  some of which he got.

Private Jets and First-Class Airfare

Mr. Pruitts team wanted to buy a $100,000-a-month charter aircraft membership that would let him take an unlimited number of trips in a private jet when he was traveling for official business.
John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, told President Trump last week that Scott Pruitt, the embattled administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, needed to go following damaging allegations about ethical infractions and spending irregularities, according to two officials briefed about the conversation.

But Mr. Trump, who is personally fond of Mr. Pruitt and sees him as a crucial ally in his effort to roll back environmental rules, has resisted firing him, disregarding warnings that the drumbeat of negative headlines about the administrator has grown unsustainable and that more embarrassing revelations could surface.

White House officials said Friday that Mr. Trump continues to believe that Mr. Pruitt has been effective in his role, and they stressed that it was up to the president alone to decide his fate.

No one other than the president has the authority to hire and fire, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, told reporters. The president feels that the administrator has done a good job at E.P.A.
Fridays penalties could be particularly painful for Mr. Putins regime.

While Russias oligarchs make nearly all of their money in Russia, many stash their families, their lovers and much of their wealth in places like London, New York and Miami, where they are believed to own hundreds of millions of dollars in property. However, the economic strain is likely to be delayed, given that most on the list have already shielded their assets.

Targeted sanctions against the oligarchs are seen as a particularly good way to punish Moscows aggressive moves while sparing wider Russian society, which is already suffering under Mr. Putins thumb.

The sanctions come just three days after Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, in his final speech as Mr. Trumps national security adviser, warned darkly about the growing Russian menace.

For too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats, he said, adding, And we have failed to impose sufficient costs.

The new sanctions stem from legislation passed by Congress overwhelmingly last year and designed to limit Mr. Trumps ability to lift sanctions already imposed on Russia. Lawmakers in both parties feared that the president would suspend sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama as he pursued warmer relations with Moscow as promised during his campaign and first year in office.

The Trump administration opposed that legislation but quietly acceded to it after it passed with a veto-proof majority. Within that law was a measure requiring the administration to create a list of Russian oligarchs. Lobbying around the creation of the list became intense as Russias wealthiest citizens feared punishing sanctions to come.

That is exactly what happened on Friday.

The sanctions list will only hasten the slide of Washington-Moscow relations. This week, 60 American diplomats left Russia as part of a tit-for-tat series of expulsions that followed last months nerve-gas poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter.
WASHINGTON  President Trump defended his pugnacious approach to trade policy on Friday and the Treasury secretary warned there could be a trade war with China, as Mr. Trump doubled down on a White House plan to punish Beijing by threatening to levy tariffs on an additional $100 billion in imports.

There is the potential of a trade war, Steven Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC. There is a level of risk that we could get into a trade war.

Mr. Mnuchin said he was hopeful that negotiations with his Chinese counterparts could avert a damaging escalation of retaliatory, tit-for-tat tariffs but declined to elaborate on the status of talks and whether he thought an agreement could be reached.

Financial markets continued to drop on Friday as the potential for a damaging trade dispute  which had begun to fade on Wednesday and early Thursday as other top White House advisers tried to soothe markets  reared its head amid comments by Mr. Trump, Mr. Mnuchin and Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative, suggesting the United States would not back down.
Mr. Trump has continued to dismiss news stories as fake news when he considers them unflattering to himself or to his administration. In recent days he has focused his attention on The Washington Post, its owner, Jeff Bezos, and the company that made Mr. Bezos among the richest people in the world, Amazon.

On Friday, he turned his attention to stories suggesting that the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Scott Pruitt, could replace his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, a seemingly implausible scenario given the ethical cloud hanging over Mr. Pruitts head.

But encouraging members of the executive branch to attend the April 28 dinner, even in his absence, in support of the First Amendment is a notable change.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, will represent the Trump administration at the head table, where presidents and first ladies have sat in the past.

Last years boycott marked the first time a president had skipped the Washington tradition since Ronald Reagan in 1981, when Mr. Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt.
Can the visas lead to permanent residence?

Very often they do. Companies can choose to sponsor an H-1B worker for permanent residence. The green card applications are often approved, though they can take years to be issued.

Where are most foreign workers from?

India is the country of origin for more than 80 percent of H-1B recipients, with China a distant second. Next in line during the 2016 fiscal year were the Philippines, South Korea and Canada.

Do H-1B workers compete with Americans?

Supporters of the visa program say they fill a critical need for talent that is not available in the United States, especially when the economy is strong and the labor market is tight. Employers must attest that an H-1B worker will not adversely impact the wages and working conditions of American workers.

Critics say that employers often hire H-1B workers for lower salaries than they would pay Americans to do the same job. They point to Americans who have been displaced when companies have outsourced areas like technology maintenance to a company that brings in H-1B workers.

Whos right?

As usual with immigration policy, its complicated. More than 40,500 companies sponsored workers for H-1B visas in the 2017 fiscal year. Many employers specifically target a worker with hard-to-find expertise whom they wish to hire to do specialized work  obviously because they could not find someone in the United States to do the job. In many cases, H-1B workers have gone on to create start-ups and develop cutting-edge technology that keeps America competitive.

But there are questions about whos benefiting, collectively. About 20 companies accounted for 32 percent of approved H-1B petitions, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute. Many of the employers are global outsourcing companies from India that supply entry-level workers to retailers, insurance companies and banks. Not all. Among them are also American firms who appear to be using the program to create a pool of cheap labor.

Big household-name American companies are just as culpable as the outsourcing companies of abusing the program, said Norman Matloff, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who studies the H-1B program.
Mr. Zuma faces 16 charges in the arms case, including corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering. Lawyers representing Mr. Zuma, who used legal maneuvers and the power of the presidency to avoid prosecution, had hewed to a strategy of delaying his trial as long as possible  what analysts have called the Stalingrad strategy.

Mr. Ramaphosa has said that, according to a longstanding agreement between party leaders and Mr. Zuma, who will turn 76 next week, the state will pay for his legal fees because the case relates to actions taken when he was in government.

Mr. Ramaphosa has said that, under the agreement, Mr. Zuma will have to reimburse the state if he eventually loses the case. But the deal effectively gives Mr. Zuma unlimited access to legal representation and raises the possibility that his case will be tied up in the courts for years.

Opposition parties are suing to force Mr. Zuma to pay back his legal fees, and to block the government from paying future ones. The government says it has already spent $1.3 million on Mr. Zumas legal defense, though opposition parties say the real amount is several times more.

The dispute over the fees represents a larger problem for the governing party, the African National Congress, or A.N.C., which must determine how strongly to back Mr. Zuma during his corruption trial. Mr. Ramaphosa and his allies have made fighting corruption a priority before national elections scheduled for 2019.

But they cannot afford to completely jettison Mr. Zuma, who remains popular among many A.N.C. followers, especially in his home province, KwaZulu-Natal. The former leader was recently deployed to KwaZulu-Natal, the province with the biggest number of A.N.C. supporters, to drum up support during a voter-registration drive.
Some Brazilians relished the imminent arrest of Mr. da Silva, seeing it as a measure of justice in a country where powerful politicians have stolen with impunity for years. But others seethed, saying that the 72-year-old former president, who is the front-runner in the presidential election set to take place in October, was about to become a political prisoner.

Mr. da Silva spent the day holed up at the metalworkers union headquarters in Sao Bernardo do Campo, a municipality just outside of Sao Paulo, surrounded by supporters. Though Mr. da Silva did not speak publicly on Friday, a series of posts on his Twitter account conveyed a message of defiance.

They want to arrest me to silence my voice, but I will speak through you, one said. Another read: They want to leave me jailed in a cell so I cant carry on, but I will move forward through your legs.

The setting provided a powerfully symbolic backdrop for a pivotal moment of his political career. The headquarters is where Mr. da Silva gained prominence as a union leader in the 1970s by railing against the military dictatorship, and where he and fellow leftist leaders formed a political movement that decades later carried him to the pinnacle of power.

He is staying positive, he is talking and listening, said Eduardo Suplicy, a founder of Mr. da Silvas Workers Party who visited with him during the afternoon. There has been such an outpouring of solidarity from the people. He has received all these men and women crying, but he always managed to say something positive.
NEW DELHI  Hundreds of thousands of Indias Dalits  once known as Untouchables  skipped work and poured into the streets this week, waving the dark blue flags of Dalit resistance.

The protesters were connected through WhatsApp groups and fired up about a recent court ruling that many Dalits felt eroded some of their hard-fought gains. It soon turned ugly.

Young men barricaded railroad tracks, burned buses and hurled bricks at police officers. Caught off guard, the Indian authorities did what they often do. They sent phalanxes of club-wielding officers charging into the crowds. And in several states, they shut down the internet.

By the time the Dalit mutiny had been quelled, at least 11 people were dead  most of them Dalits. Dozens more were hurt, and hundreds were arrested.
Even before the order to dissolve Parliament was announced on Friday, flags for the National Front began appearing at overpasses and major intersections in Kuala Lumpur, the nations capital. Banners for opposition parties, which are expected to band together under the Peoples Justice Party in order to contest the elections, were not on display.

Two controversial bills were passed in the waning days of Parliament. One rejiggered voting districts so drastically that the opposition derided it as gerrymandering. Another piece of legislation made creating or circulating fake news punishable by up to six years in prison. The definition of fake news has not been made clear.

Earlier this week, Mr. Najib promised to give raises to Malaysias 1.6 million civil servants, most of whom are Malay. The prime minister also vowed to lavish hundreds of millions of dollars on police officers and certain companies run by bumiputra, or sons of the soil, as Malays and indigenous peoples are known.

Dr. Mahathir was the architect of the affirmative action program for Malays, who were discriminated against during British rule. Encouraging mass immigration by Chinese and Indians, the British also gave some prime jobs in the colonial administration and business sphere to non-Malays, fostering resentment that festers to this day.

Pakatan Harapan, Malaysias opposition coalition, is an unwieldy collection of disparate forces that includes Chinese liberals, Islamists and nationalist Malays. Meaning alliance of hope in Malay, it is led by Dr. Mahathir, even though some of the coalitions most prominent members are veteran opposition leaders who were jailed or harassed during the former prime ministers long tenure.

Chief among them is Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister to Dr. Mahathir who fell out of favor and was jailed on sodomy and graft charges that were widely seen as politically motivated. Mr. Anwar famously appeared in court in 1998 with a black eye that Dr. Mahathirs allies insisted was self-inflicted.
SEOUL, South Korea  Park Geun-hye, South Koreas impeached and ousted president, was sentenced on Friday to 24 years in prison on bribery and other charges in a case that exposed the entrenched, collusive ties between the government and huge conglomerates like Samsung.

The conviction and sentencing represented a climactic moment in an influence-peddling scandal that drew hundreds of thousands of South Koreans into the streets demanding Ms. Parks resignation and shook the countrys political and business worlds.

Ms. Park  the conservative daughter of a past dictator  is the countrys first former leader to be convicted of crimes since two former military-backed presidents were found guilty of sedition and corruption in the 1990s. Ms. Parks conviction on bribery, coercion, abuse of power and other charges was the first lower-court ruling on a criminal case to be broadcast live in South Korea.

Many viewed her conviction as a giant step forward for South Koreas democracy, raising hopes that the country would tackle the corruption that accompanied its impressive economic rise. But there are fears that no true reform is possible until the countrys powerful conglomerates are held to better account for serious white-collar crimes like bribery.
I think if Kubrick had kept all of the explanatory things it wouldnt it wouldnt be the classic that it is.

So how did Mr. Rain move from there to becoming HAL?

It was going to be Martin Balsams voice. And even before that it was going to be a female voice. HAL was going to be an Athena.

So the voice was probably just a combination of circumstance and a gut choice by Kubrick. He literally said to Rain, Im not happy what I have in the can, meaning the Martin Balsam recording that had been done a year before. Would you like to play the computer? And then, in a day and a half, it was done.

When I spoke to a linguist he said absolutely that HAL does not have a mid-Atlantic accent as Kubrick kind of thought. Its Standard Canadian English.

Why is Mr. Rain indifferent toward the film?

Even though it was done quickly and I dont think Rain had a very good time doing it, it was fantastic combination of Rains performance, Kubricks decision to use that voice and to edit it in a way that really brought that character to life.

But Im sure if I were Rain I wouldnt want it to define my career. It would be like Alec Guinness being known just for Obi-Wan Kenobi and nothing else.
Mr. Joyce was from a tight-knit community, and he was related to the five people who were killed in August 1882. In total, 10 men were arrested in connection with the murders, two of whom testified against the others. Five pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison. The remaining three, including Mr. Joyce, were tried, convicted and hanged.

The victims  a married couple, Bridget and John Joyce; two of their children, Margaret and Michael; and Johns mother, Margaret  were found in their home in Maamtrasna, a remote community at the border of Mayo and Galway counties. Reports from the time  some of which included cruel descriptions of the Irish-speaking residents of that rural area  suggested that a firearm and some bludgeoning were involved.

Mr. Joyce and two others convicted of participation in the murder were hanged on a cold December morning in Galway. The New York Times reported that Mr. Joyce protested his innocence so persistently that he appeared to have prolonged his own execution:

Before the drop fell Myles Joyce spoke in Irish, as follows: I am going before God. I was not there at all and had not hand or part in it. Lord, forgive them that swore against me. He continued to reiterate his innocence to the end. The drop fell at 8:25 oclock simultaneously for all three of the men. Myles Joyce alone struggled slightly, there being some hitch with the rope. His dying speech was delivered with much vehemence. He was still speaking when the drop fell.

A doctor who examined the bodies said Mr. Joyce struggled for minutes as the rope strangled him to death.

It was shown that after the rope had been adjusted around his neck he turned and addressed the reporters, thus disarranging the rope. The jury severely censured Marwood, the hangman, for his carelessness.

Ireland was not yet independent from Britain  that would not happen until 1921  and the murders took place at a time of simmering conflicts over land rights and independence.

That made people wonder whether the murders were connected to the unrest, ultimately raising the profile of the case, Mr. O Cuirreain said. Instead of being tried in nearby Galway, Mr. Joyce was taken all the way across the island, to Dublin, for his trial. English was the language of the court.

Professional Irish translators would have been easier to find in Galway, but in Dublin, a police officer was called upon to serve as a translator, Dr. Howlins research showed. But he mostly translated Irish into English and not the other way around, effectively leaving Mr. Joyce in the dark. The trial was also compromised by intense media interest, procedural problems, a lack of input from key witnesses and testimonial inconsistencies.

The other two men convicted alongside him swore that he was innocent, and the approvers who had given evidence against him retracted their statements following his death, Dr. Howlin said in her paper. Two years after the trial, The Times reported that one informer said he had been asked to lie by a crown solicitor. Mr. O Cuirreain also found that a lord lieutenant of Ireland, Earl John Spencer, seemed to have been involved in bribing witnesses.

It sounds like fiction because of the twists and turns, Mr. O Cuirreain said. But unfortunately it was true, and innocent people were condemned to death.
And last week, Mr. Mueller turned over a card in the investigation into the Trump campaigns possible collusion with Russia by asserting in a court document that this person has ties to a Russian intelligence service and was in contact with a senior member of the campaign, Rick Gates, during the 2016 election.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents assisting the Special Counsels Office assess that Person A has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016, the filing said.

As Person A, Mr. Kilimnik, a 47-year-old former Russian military interpreter, has appeared now in multiple court filings by the special prosecutor, which suggests that he could become a pivotal figure in the investigation. For about a decade, he worked as an office manager in Kiev for the political consulting business of Paul Manafort, acting as a go-between and fixer for the American and the Russian-leaning politicians who were its clients.

The Russian government has denied meddling in the 2016 election and President Trump has denied collusion by members of his campaign staff. But during the years that Mr. Manafort worked in Ukraine, the country was deeply penetrated by Russian intelligence agents. While Mr. Kilimnik continues to deny that he was a Russian agent, it would have been perfectly normal for Moscow to plant someone in the Manafort operation.

Konstantin Viktorovich Kilimnik was born in eastern Ukraine in the Soviet period. He studied at the Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, and after the Soviet breakup took Russian citizenship, he said in the interview. The institute trains interpreters for the Russian military intelligence agency, formerly known as the G.R.U. and now called the Main Directorate.
Three members of the Swedish Academy, the body that selects the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, have withdrawn from its board to protest the handling of sexual misconduct allegations involving a man married to another member.

The members  the authors Peter Englund, Klas Ostergren and Kjell Espmark  said separately they would no longer participate in the academys work. Board seats are for life, so it is not technically possible to resign.

The Swedish Academy in November severed ties with a man whom it had helped financially in running a cultural club in Stockholm after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced.

Prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation, but later dropped parts of it without filing charges. Bjorn Hurtig, a lawyer who represents the man, said his client denied all the allegations.
YAROSLAVL, Russia  A 45-year-old Russian accountant and relative of the two Russians poisoned in a nerve agent attack in Britain last month said in an interview late Thursday that she was scared for them, calling the British authorities untrustworthy and casting doubt on their version of events.

In the interview in Yaroslavl, Russia, where she lives with her husband and her two children, the accountant, Viktoria Skripal, who has been thrust into an escalating confrontation between Russia and the West, also said that she doubted that Britain would grant her a visa that would allow her to see her relatives.

The relatives, Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter, Yulia, have been hospitalized in Salisbury, England, since the attack on March 4. Ms. Skripals suspicions, which echo the accusations of Russian officials, have become the countrys latest riposte to British assertions that Moscow was responsible for the attack carried out with a rare class of military-grade nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union called Novichoks.

Wouldnt you be scared? she said. While I dont know the whole situation, they ask me to voice my opinion, she said of the British authorities, who she said wanted her to denounce Russia. If they tell me, Well return Yulia to you if you say Russia is filth, then Ill stand up and say Russia is filth and take Yulia back to that filth.
NAHAL OZ, Israel  With tear gas and burning tires fouling the air and gunfire periodically ringing out from one direction, Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers faced off along the fence hemming in the Gaza Strip for a second week on Friday. Nine Palestinians were killed, including two teenagers, and a thousand were wounded, Palestinian officials said.

The demonstrations were smaller than those last week, when 22 people were killed. But the death toll was significant, despite a pledge by Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, that the protest would be peaceful, and by Israel that it had learned from last week and would use live fire judiciously.
Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de []
As battle Bellary hots up, BJP gets set to pacify Reddy brothers

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The battle for Bellary is a keenly contested one and the Reddy brothers want to play a big part in it. The extent of the role to be played by the Reddy brothers is unknown and for now, Janardhan Reddy is upset after BJP president, Amit Shah said a few days back that the party had nothing to do with him.

Reddy's loyalists including BJP MP B Sriramulu are obviously upset with the remark. The state leadership has now initiated moves to pacify the Reddy brothers and their loyalists. The mining baron was keen to play a role in the elections and regain his clout in Bellary.

The BJP's chief ministerial candidate, B S Yeddyurappa said that the matter would be discussed with the party leadership. We will hold discussions in this regard, but there is no question of giving tickets to tainted candidates, Yeddyurappa said.

The Reddys are an important factor for the BJP in Bellary, Chitradurga and adjoining areas. The BJP candidates contesting from these areas say that the support of the Reddys is crucial for them. Any trouble in the Reddy camp could spell trouble for them as they hold a considerable sway over the electorate.

Janardhan Reddy who is barred from entering Bellary wants to play a key part in the election process. He wants to retain his hold over this area and is likely to work for the party behind the scenes if the party leadership in the state is able to convince the national leadership.

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
Chamarajapet battle: Will a split in Muslim votes consolidate the Hindu voters?

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

For anyone covering the Karnataka assembly elections, the Chamrajapet constituency in Bengaluru has provided for some interesting fodder. Once the domain of the indisputable R V Devraj, it was also once a safe seat for former Karnataka chief minister, S M Krishna.

In the 2004 polls, Krishna did not contest from his home-town of Maddur and moved to Chamarajapet instead where he won with the support of Devraj.

This year, the fight is bound to be an interesting one. The two leaders to watch out in this gruelling battle would be Zameer Ahmed and Altaf Khan. Zameer quit the JD(S) to join the Congress. Altaf quit the Congress to join the JD(S) and now both would be pitched against each other.

The key to both these candidates would be the Muslim votes. Zameer had relied on this vote bank to win the constituency twice in 2008 and 2013. The JD(S) is however in no mood to relent. It is visibly upset with Zameer and has issued the war cry to its supporters to punish the 'betrayer.

In the midst of this hard fought battle, the BJP is looking to capitalise. Rejecting conspiracy theories of being in an understanding the BJP is set to field a strong Hindu candidate. The party which has in the past won this constituency feels that the split in the Muslim votes would end up in the consolidation of the Hindu votes in its favour.

Both Zameer and Altaf sound very confident. Zameer says that his win is certain as he has the support of the entire constituency. Altaf, on the other hand, feels that the voters would teach his rival a lesson for betraying the JD(S), a party that helped him shoot into prominence. Interestingly, Altaf's wife Seema is still with the Congress and is a corporator.

The BJP which usually does well in the city is looking to add another constituency to its kitty. It had not put up a good show in several elections in the past from this constituency. But this battle for the Muslim votes and the simultaneous consolidation of the Hindu votes have given the party new hope of taking Chamarajapet.

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
Who will be new Punjab Chief Minister? Congress' decision likely by afternoon after CLP meet

Congress' 'negative politics' didn't let the House function: Ananth Kumar

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Friday (April 6) launched a scathing attack on the Congress over the washout of the second half of Budget Session and said the grand old party has been indulging in "divisive and negative politics".

"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," Kumar told the media outside Parliament.

Congress, on the other hand, gave a notice for breach of privilege against Ananth Kumar for misleading the Lok Sabha over continued disruptions by naming its top leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. The notice was given by Congress leader K C Venugopal to the Lok Sabha Speaker today in which he also accused the government of not being interested in running the House.

The Congress and the entire opposition is keen to hold a discussion on the no-confidence motion and other key national issues, but the government is not showing any inclination and is not interested to discuss important issues such as the banking scam, Venugopal said.

"The minister was deliberately misleading the house by naming the Congress leadership, thereby hiding the fact that it was the government who was actually stopping any kind of discussion on these issues including the no confidence motion," Venugopal said in his notice.

The Congress has been demanding a discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by its leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Some other parties have also given separate notices of no confidence against the council of ministers.

(OneIndia News with PTI inputs)
Aero India-2021 to be held in Bengaluru from February 3 to 7

Govt websites not 'hacked', glitch due to 'hardware failure': NIC

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

National Informatics Centre, which hosts government websites including MoD and MHA on Friday clarified that the defence ministry website has not been hacked as reported by media.

Taking to twitter NIC said "the website is down due to some technical issue that occurred around 2.30 pm."

"mod.gov.in is NOT HACKED. There is some technical issue since 2:30PM today. Drupal theme https://www.drupal.org/project/zen framework. The site displayed the default logo," said NIC in a tweet.

https://t.co/ywDwBbKtfy is NOT HACKED. There is some technical issue since 2:30PM today. Drupal theme https://t.co/pCcIvEaMXO framework. The site displayed the default logo. https://t.co/M3bIdMDhFv  NIC (@NICMeity) April 6, 2018

NIC also said that website of home ministry has also been taken down for the maintenance work and upgrading the security system.

Government websites, including those of defence and home ministries, have not come under any cyber attack, but suffered a hardware-related glitch, National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai said today.

Explaining the outage, he said the websites have been down since afternoon after it was noticed that there was a "storage area networking system" failure.

"The same is being addressed. It is only a hardware failure," Rai, who has been working in the field of cyber security since 1998, said. "There is no hacking or cyber attack," Rai, who heads the cyber security unit, said.

"Nearly a dozen government websites hosted by National Infomatics Centre, including defence, home, department of law and labour, were affected due to the outage. "The hardware is being replaced and they will be up very soon," Rai added.

Earlier, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tweeted, "Action is initiated after the hacking of MoD website (http://mod.nic.in). The website shall be restored shortly. Needless to say, every possible step required to prevent any such eventuality in the future will be taken."

Ministry officials said there were Chinese characters on the website and there were clear indications that Chinese hackers were involved in defacing it.

The website is maintained by the National Informatics Centre, an entity which works under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

MHA website taken down

In the wake of the hacking of the Defence Ministry site,the website of the home ministry has been temporarily taken down as part of extra precautions.

An official spokesperson said the National Informatics Centre, which hosts the MHA site, is upgrading the security system of the website leading to its temporary suspension.
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

Election Commission asks Siddaramaiahs close associate Kempaiah to leave office

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Former IPS officer Kempaiah, CM Siddaramaiah's close associate and political advisor to the Home Minister, has been asked to leave office by Election Commission for allegedly violating the model code of conduct.

The Chief Election Officer of Karnataka Sanjay Kumar wrote to the Election Commission of India stating that CM Siddaramaiah's close associate and political advisor to the Home Minister - Kempaiah, violated the model code of conduct by continuing to perform his duties.

When Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Om Prakash Rawat was on a visit to Bengaluru to review preparedness for the Assembly elections, former prime minister HD Deve Gowda had complained to CEC accusing Kempaiah of misusing government machinery in the elections.

Also, incumbent MLA of Chamundeshwari constituency and JD(S) leader GT Devegowda had written to the Election Commission, asking him to remove Kempaiah, as he was a "hindrance to holding free and fair Assembly polls". He had also alleged that CM Siddharamaiah and Kempaiah were using the police to threaten JD(S) workers.

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
They did everything possible to destroy us: Trump as he suffered 'terrible ordeal' in impeachment

Impeachment: The procedures and judges who have faced it in India

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The opposition has decided to move an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Incidentally, he would become the first sitting Chief Justice of India to face the motion if the same is moved.

How is a judge impeached in India? Here we provide you with a step by step procedure.

A judge of the Supreme Court can be removed by an order of the President of India. The order can be issued following an address the Parliament which is supported by a special majority of each house- a majority of the total membership of that House and a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that house present and voting.

How are judges impeached in India:

First, a removal motion has to be supported by 100 members in case of the Lok Sabha and 50 in the Rajya Sabha. The same is to be given to the Speaker of the House and it can be introduced in any of the two Houses.

It is up to the Speaker/Chairman to admit to rejecting the motion.

If admitted then a three-member committee is formed to investigate the charges. The Committee will comprise either the Chief Justice of India or Judge of the SC, Chief Justice of a High Court and an eminent jurist.

If the Committee finds the judge guilty then the House in which the motion was introduced can take up the matter.

Once the House passes the motion with a special majority, an address is presented to the President of India.

The President then passes an order to remove the judge.

Who were the judges impeached in India:

Soumitra Sen, former judge of the Calcutta High Court was the first judge in Independent India to be impeached. He was removed in the Rajya Sabha on the allegations of misappropriation of funds.

Justice Sen was held guilty of misappropriation of public funds he received in his capacity as receiver appointed by the High Court of Calcutta and misrepresenting facts with regard to it by a committee of three judges set up by former CJI K G Balakrishnan in 2007.

A year later, Justice Balakrishnan recommended his impeachment to the PM, after which a legal opinion obtained by the law ministry endorsed the judges' committee report.

In 2009, 58 MPs of the Rajya Sabha moved a motion for the impeachment of Calcutta High Court Judge Soumitra Sen for his involvement in financial misappropriation. Probe panel was set up by Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari in February 2009. It was headed by SC judge Justice B Sudershan Reddy and had as its members Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and noted Jurist Fali S. Nariman. The Committee said the charges were duly proved.

V Ramaswami:

He was the first judge against whom removal proceedings were initiated in Independent India. The removal motion was placed for debate on May 10, 1993. However, in the Lok Sabha, the removal motion failed.

P D Dinakaran:

Following allegations of amassing assets disproportionate to his income. Facing impeachment on charges of corruption, he resigned from the post of Sikkim High Court Chief Justice on July 29, 2011. He expressed lack of faith and confidence in the three-member committee probing the charges against him.
Who will be new Punjab Chief Minister? Congress' decision likely by afternoon after CLP meet

Ktaka polls: Congress, BJP skip civic bodies meet, JD(S) marks its presence by promising the moon

India

oi-Maitreyee

On Friday, the Civil Society Forum--a coalition of civic society organisations and individuals--released the manifeso for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections at an auditorium in Bengaluru.

The manifesto is being released ahead of the Assembly elections so that political parties can include the issues discussed in the people's manifesto in their individual manifestos.

"Our desire is to make a difference to the politics of the state by actively engaging in the prespective building of political manifestos in the coming elections of the state and later aim at working with the state and its agencies in shaping the goverance structures," said a member of the Civil Society Forum, while explaining the idea behind the exercise of releasing the manifesto.

"We intend to have quartely and department-wise interactions with the elected government to follow-up on the promises made by the parties and the commitments made on our manifesto," he added.

Recently, the Election Commission (EC) announced the date for the polls in Karnataka. While the voting will take place on May 12, the counting of votes will be held on May 15. The state Assembly has 224 seats.

Leaders of five political parties--Dinesh Gundu Rao of the Congress, S Suresh Kumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), PGR Sindhia of the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), GN Nagaraj of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Prithvi Reddy of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)--were supposed to take part at a discussion on the sidelines of the manifesto release programme.

However, representatives of the Congress and the BJP were conspicuous by their absence. Instead of AAP's Reddy, Ashwin Mahesh represented the party at the meet.

Talking at the event, Sindhia, who heads the JD(S) manifesto drafting committee, said that the party will respect the sentiments of the civic bodies if it comes to power. Sindhia, however, left the audience amused when he said that the JD(S) will run Bengaluru's BMTC bus service minus ticket system (free bus ride for all) if the party comes to power.

He added that his party supports the farmers and plans to give them more than the minimum support price (MSP) (as stated in the Swaminathan Report) for their crops.

Nagaraj slammed the rise of communalism in the country under the rule of the BJP. Babu Mathew, resident professor, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), moderated the discussion.
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

India

oi-Madhuri

It surely was a gruelling election which had all the essence that one could have asked for. Karnataka witnessed all the big wigs from all political parties hitting the campaign trail for the May 12 Karnataka elections.

We hope you enjoyed out LIVE coverage of the elections. Thank you for staying tuned with us.

Newest First Oldest First Election observer conducted a raid in Banaswadi area and seized Rs 19 lakh along with voter list and other election related materials. FIR registered. RR Nagar MLA Muniratna ran his constituency like an independent Republic where rule of law had no place. People were harassed and abused. False cases were filed against political opponents. Finally, seems like karma has caught up with Muniratna. Massive blow to Siddaramaiah, says BJP. Victory for Democracy! EC orders countermanding of RR Nagar polls after court ordered FIR against Congress candidate Muniratna Naidu for creating more than 10k fake voter ids. With Siddaramaiah's money bag, Muniratna in the dock, Congress is in a big soup in Karnataka, tweets BJP Karnataka. Polling in RR Nagar has been deferred. Polling to now be held on May 28 and counting on May 31. Earlier this week 9746 voter IDs were seized from a flat in the area. According reports, IT sleuths and district election commissioner conduct raids at Congress candidate Ashok Kheny's residence in Bidar. Kheny is contesting from Bidar South constituency. RSS ideologue Ram Madhav, says, "Karnataka Elections 2018 is an important election. Both parties, namely BJP & Congress have invested heavily in it. I am certain that BJP will be in a comfortable position & will get simple majority & will form the government in the state." Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) & Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) being dispatched from Smt. Kamala Bai Educational Institution to polling booths. The Congress has sought for the lifting of the ban on telecasting the Sriramulu video in which he is alleged to be discussing a pay off with a Supreme Court judge to bail out Janardhan Reddy in the illegal mining scam. Law and order is completely under control says Neelamanu Raju, Karnataka state police chief. 22,000 home guards have been deployed for security, she says. BJP MP, Prathap Simha urges EC to monitor religious places on polling day. He said that political parties would use these places to lure voters as there is no restriction on gathering there. Security has been tightened across the state ahead of polling to be held tomorrow. In Bengaluru, 14 additional commissioners, 1 joint Commisioner and 16 DCPs will oversee security. EC officials seize Rs 20 lakh unaccounted cash from a house in Bagalkote. The money was seized from the house of a man named Sandeep Maji. A Congress delegation has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The Congress has accused both of misleading people and launching personal attacks. Minister Viany Kulkarnis close aide raided by IT officials. Prashanth Kekare whose house was raided was taken into custody. Congress submits memorandum to the Election Commission regarding allegations of bribery of a Judge by BJP candidate B Sriramulu Income Tax Department conduct raids at house of Congress candidate Satish Sail's close associate Mangaldas Kamat in Ankola. According to reports, IT officials raid Prashant Kekare, a close associate of Congress minister Vinay Kulkarni in Dharwad. I-T sleuths raid a house belonging to a doctor in #Mangaluru. I-T officials scrutinise documents. EC officials seize innova car carrying unaccounted cash amount of around Rs 17 lakh in Devanahalli. Poll officials seize Rs 2.17 crore unaccounted cash in Molakalmuru, Chitradurga. Close associate of Congress leader Ramanath Rai, Kachigudda Sanjeev Kumar, allegedly attacked in Bantwal; 4 others including Kumar's wife injured, 2 cars damaged. Police arrest 2 men for trying to bribe voters at Chikkodi in Belagavi. Accused allegedly tried to bribe voters in favour of Rayabagh BJP candidate Duryodhana Aihole. The EC has directed television channels not to air the Sriramulu video in which allegations of him bribing a judge to bail out Janardhan Reddy was made. The direction comes hours after State Home minister Ramalinga Reddy called what the Congress described as an 'explosive press conference' and released the video clippings which were in circulation on social media. Congress claimed the 'sting operation' revealed that alleged attempts were made to bribe to seek a favourable verdict for Reddy. The party alleged that just one day before the then CJI retired, he passed an order in a case related to Reddy brothers' Oblapuram Mining Company. Here are some tips to vote if you do not have a voter ID card. You can vote as long as your name is on the electoral roll. If you do not have a voter ID, then alternative ID proofs can be carried. They are Passport, Driving License, Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt PSUs/Public Limited Companies, Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office, PAN Card, Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, MNREGA Job Card, Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour, Pension document with photograph,Authenticated Photo Voter Slip issued by the election machinery, Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs. The big fear among the candidates especially those contesting from Bengaluru is that polling day is a Saturday. Bengalureans who have this habit of complaining about everything ironically are the worst when it comes to voting. They need to shrug off their weekend mode and go out and vote. In the 2013 assembly the voter turn in Bengaluru was 57 while in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls it was 54. Those are poor numbers. The Income Tax Department (ITD) today said that at Rs 37.33 crore, it has seized "six times" more cash and jewellery in poll-bound Karnataka this time as compared to the last elections in 2013. The poll campaign, for the 224-seat Assembly to be held on May 12, ended today. "From the beginning of the code of conduct period on March 27 to till date, the department has seized unaccounted cash of Rs 31.50 crore and unexplained jewellery worth Rs 5.83 crore. This is nearly six times the seizure made by the department in the last state assembly election in 2013," the department said in a statement. "The seizures are likely to further go up in the last days of electioneering," it added. Even in case, if the EC is able to ascertain that attempt was made to stop people from voting, it can cancel the poll. If the EC finds that a fraud was involved, it could even cancel election to the constituency. The Commission, the sources said, deliberated on the issue and decided to seek more information from the state election adminstration before arriving at a conclusion. The Election Commission tonight deferred a decision on the recovery of nearly 10,000 voter I-cards from a flat in Rajrajeshwari Nagar assembly seat of poll-bound Karnataka even as it sought fresh information from the state election machinery. The Election Commission of India has proposed 450 women-friendly booths. Known as Pink or Sakhi booths, these booths would be run by women only. A team of the EC is on a three day visit to Karnataka. Arrangements such as ramps, wheel chairs and magnifying glasses are also being made to ensure that differently abled persons have a smooth voting experience. Congress will have 35 manifestos. The manifesto committee headed by senior Congress leader, Veerappa Moily is already ready with the draft and the same will be released in another 2 weeks. The manifestos would be district and administrative region wise. There would be one common manifesto for the entire state. P.Muralidhar Rao, National BJP General Secretary and Karnataka in charge and N.Ravikumar, state General Secretary will address media at BJP media centre, Malleshwaram in Bengaluru. Congress president Rahul Gandhi on April 4 visited the Lingayat seminary Siddhaganga Mutt and met the 111-year old seer along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and KPCC President G 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. Kannada actor, Sudeep who recently met with JD(S) chief, H D Kumaraswamy has now called on Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah at his residence. There has been a big push to rope in cine stars into this campaign. Following Sudeeps meeting with Kumaraswamy there were speculations of him either joining the party or campaigning for it. Rahul Gandhi accuses Narendra Modi of disrespecting various institutions by having RSS men sitting in every ministry and giving orders. He said if voted to power, Congress would free these institutions of 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. "18 lakh people are missing from the voting list. We met with the Chief Electoral Officer and urged him to look into it", said Congress spokesperson, Brijesh Kalappa. "At least 18 to 20 lakh names have gone mysteriously missing. It appears as though only members of a particular community find their names missing in the list", Kalappa said. "EC told us that there is still time to rectify this until April 14," he further added. Lies and only Lies!



See how @RahulGandhi fictitiously revokes the SC/ST Act to incite hatred in society. pic.twitter.com/4vcnM0zltM  Amit Shah (@AmitShah) April 5, 2018 BJP President Amit Shah attacks Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his latest tweet, says "Lies and only Lies". He claimed that the Congress president was "lying and fictitiously revoking the SC/ST Act to incite hatred in society." Karnataka Congress on Thursday tweeted saying, "Thank you Amit Shah for speaking the truth yet again. You are turning out to be our Star Campaigner! Karnataka's Silk production hit an all-time high in 2016-17. Major cocoon markets have been modernised & integrated with e-Mandi platform." Manickram Tagore, Secretary, All India Congress Committee, denied reports suggesting announcement of chief ministerial candidate on April 15. He tweeted, "I am surprised that I was misquoted in an article @thenewsminute about things I have neither said nor implied. Thank you @dhanyarajendran for immediately stepping in and clarifying the same and removing this article." Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of late Srikantadatta Narsimharaja Wadiyar, on Thursday ruled out her entry into politics. I am not entering politics. I have been saying this for a long time. I have no interest in contesting elections, she told the media persons as she ended speculations over her possible entry into politics. Amit Shahs visit, which came ahead of the state assembly elections had attracted unnecessary media attention, she felt. The scion of the erstwhile royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar too had no interest in joining politics, she added. Senior BJP leader K S Eshwarappa on Thursday 'advised' Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not to contest from Chamundeshwari Constituency or face a defeat. Taking a dig at Siddaramaiah's statement to the effect that BJP and JDS have joined hands to defeat him from Chamundeshwari segment on the fringes of Mysuru city, the BJP leader said that by making such a statement Siddaramaiah had conceded his defeat. ''When such is the case why should he contest? That too when he has stated that this is his last election?" he asked. BJP General Secretary, incharge of North East and J&K Ram Madhav has been roped in for Karnataka and is looking at crucial aspects of BJP campaign. Madhav has been tasked to push for a decisive shift in BJP campaign efforts and work towards a repeat of Tripura type performance in Karnataka. He held a series of meetings in Bengaluru today with top Sangh functionaries, intellectuals and civil society members, reports ANI. The BJP's first list of candidates for the Karnataka assembly election 2018 is ready. The party has finalised the names of 130 candidates and would release it soon. The BJP has roped in its Tripura architect Ram Madhav for the Karnataka elections. Sources say he met with several eminent persons in the city to discuss the election strategy. Madhav who is the national general secretary will spend a considerable amount of time in the state, sources say. VS Ugrappa, MLC and Minister Sri HM Revanna to hold press conference at 1:30pm on Friday at KPCC Office today. The party claims that the leaders will give "Breaking News against BJP". The Ministry for Home Affairs has stayed clear of the Lingayat religious minority status issue. The issue is beyond it jurisdiction and the Ministry of Minority Affairs would look into it. An MHA spokesperson said that a decision to this effect would not be taken anytime soon as the model code of conduct is in force in Karnataka. We will win 150 seats in the elections. We will provide good and clean governance. We have to realise Narendra Modis and Amit Shahs dream of a "Congress mukt Bharat. Let also ensure that Karnataka is Congress mukt", B S Yeddyurappa said. "People are in distress because of Congress. Crime rate has gone up, farmers have committed suicide. The only solution to all these problems is the BJP", he also said. Karnataka Assembly Elections: Chamrajpet constituency in Bengaluru set to witness an interesting battle. Zameer Ahmed who quit the JD(S) to contest on Congress ticket while Altaf Khan who quit the Congress to quit on JD(S) ticket. The BJP will field a strong candidate to take advantage of the split in Muslim votes. Will the trick pay off? Let us wait and see. Congress MLC, V.S. Ugrappa and Minister Sri HM Revanna to hold press conference at 1:30pm on Friday at KPCC Office today. The party claims that the leaders will give, "Breaking News against BJP". LED van for BJP campaigning will be inaugurated at Bashan Circle in Bengaluru by B.S.Yeddyurappa, P.Muralidhar Rao, Shobha Karandlaje and other leaders today at 2.30 p.m "I will contest from Chamundeshwari constituency and I will definitely win," says CM Siddaramaiah in Mysore. "Son Dr. Yateendra will contest from Varuna constituency if only party high command decides," he said. CM Siddaramaiah visits famous Lingayat mutt in Suttur. Seeks blessings from the seer. The Election Commission of India has sacked Home Ministry Advisor Kempaiah. This action comes in the wake of JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda complaining to the poll body that Kempaiah was using government vehicles to transport money for the elections. Congress leaders begins press conference at KPCC office in Bengaluru. MLS VS Ugrappa releases 3 Income Tax documents against BJP's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa. The party alleged that Yeddyurappa is involved in Rs 1033 Cores scam. Yeddyurappa as CM issued a tender worth Rs. 1033 cr to RNSIL in Upper Bhadra Project.



IT Depts order dated 28/03/2016 after a seizure operation states that Sunil(V.P,Finance,RNSIL) has on oath & based on diary jottings admitted to have paid bribe to BSY: MLC Ugrappa#BSY420 pic.twitter.com/WyydHmT00O  Karnataka Congress (@INCKarnataka) April 6, 2018 Congress levels graft charges on BSY These are not our documents. This is an order against Shri Yeddyurappa by the Income tax department under the Central Govt. Yeddyurappa has even paid a fine for non-declaration, which is in itself an admission of guilt of receiving Rs. 4.11 crore bribe, Karnataka Congress quoted MLC Ugrappa as saying. Former TV journalist and MP Tejaswini is expected to take on HD Kumaraswamy in Ramanagara on a BJP ticket. BJP state general secretary CT Ravi demanded that Jignesh Mewani be barred from entering Karnataka till voting day on May 12. This comes a day after Dalit leader Mevani advised people to disrupt Prime Minister Narendra Modis upcoming rally on April 15. Mevani called for people to enter Modis rally, throw chairs in the air and question the prime minister's promise to generate two crores worth of employment in the state. He said that if Modi does not answer, then he should be asked to leave and take shelter at a Ram Mandir in the Himalayas. Mevani is currently in Chitradurga and he has been appealing to all Dalit groups in the state to not vote for the BJP in the assembly elections. Amit Shah said on Friday he is a Hindu Vaishnav, refuting Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiahs claim that the BJP chief is a Jain. Amit Shah is a Jain. He needs to clarify first whether he is AHINDU. Jain is a separate religion. How can he talk about me like that, Siddaramaiah had said.
Karnataka elections 2018: "I will contest only from Chamundeshwari constituency," says Siddaramaiah

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday clarified that he would contest only from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysore district. Siddaramaiah apparently annoyed by the same question raised by reporters in Mysore.

Talking to media persons, Siddaramaiah said, " How many times you are asking the same question? How many times should I answer the same question." He iterated that he will not contest from two constituencies. "I will contest only from Chamundeshwari. What more clarification you require," he said.

Meanwhile, BJP leader V. Srinivas Prasad alleged that "Siddaramaiah is disturbed with the fact BS Yeddyurappa's son is likely to contest from the same constituency. Srinivas Prasad said, " Being a senior politician I know how to defeat Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari constituency."

There were reports suggesting that the Siddaramaiah was certain that he would be contesting from the Chamundeshwari constituency, a call on whether to represent Badami in North Karnataka was to be taken soon.

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 Janata Dal (Secular) 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.

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: Bengalurus heart, Shantinagar constituency, cries for change

India

oi-Maitreyee

Bengaluru, April 6: In Bengaluru, there exists a mini-India, it is called Shantinagar. There is a reason behind calling Shantinagar a microcosm of modern India as poverty and wealth, knowledge and ignorance, honesty and corruption...every slice of life unveils in this part of the city.

Shantinagar is also known as Bengaluru's "heart", geographically, as it is located in the centre of the city. Spread across a radius of seven-eight kilometers, Shantinagar, one of the 28 Assembly constituencies in the city, is the home to some of the poshest localities to filthiest slums. In the language of a foodie, Shantinagar can be called 'chutney'--an amalgamation of various classes, cultures and religions--which in a way defines what today's Bengaluru is all about.

The diversity of Shantinagar can be gauged by pockets like Cantonment area, built by the British Raj, and which still retains some of the heritage buildings and green cover, and popular shopping and pubbing destinations MG Road and Brigade Road thronged mostly by the young and hip crowd.

The good, bad and ugly sides of Shantinagar

Amid all these charm and energy, Shantinagar constituency, which has seven municipal wards, also hosts seven slums. Believe it or not, the slums of Shantinagar, dens of poverty, crime and drugs, are a total antithesis of the pubs and malls dotting the entire constituency.

The flourishing Central Business District (CBD), from where the state earns a huge amount of revenue, also suffers from various civic issues including severe drinking water scarcity, narrow and pot-holed roads and lack of proper drainage facilities, to name a few.

When it comes to education and health, Shantinagar's 15 government-run schools are on the verge of closure and primary health centres are almost non-existent forcing residents to travel several kilometers to either Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Shivajinagar or Victoria Hospital in KR Road--two main government-run hospitals. Unemployment and rise in crime rate are the two main concerns of the youths, which form a huge chunk of the voting population.

Netas eye Shantinagar

More than a month before the Karnataka Assembly elections, scheduled on May 12, voters in Shantinagar on Thursday told OneIndia that they want a "change". When asked specifically, if they are upset with the incumbent Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) NA Harris, who was recently in news after his son Mohammed Nalapad Harris was booked for attempt to murder for allegedly assaulting a man in a pub in February, activist Abdul Khadar said the constituency is suffering due to the misrule of the Congress leader.

"This time voters will vote for change. All want better roads, regular water supply, end of crimes and good schools and hospitals for poor," said Khadar, who runs an NGO, JK Women's Welfare Trust.

While the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) are yet to announce their candidates for the constituency, it is only the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has declared its candidate for Shantinagar.

Former bureaucrat-turned-politician, Renuka Viswanathan, who is contesting the election as an AAP candidate from Shantinagar, told OneIndia that she and her party members have been campaigning for the last three months now. "We believe in direct conversation with the voters. We are mostly relying on door-to-door campaigning."

A Congress leader said that Harris, the two-time Shantinagar MLA, is once again likely to get the Congress' ticket to contest the election from his "home turf". Disagreeing with his colleague, another Congress leader (both did not wish to be named) said that many within the party were not in favour of Harris contesting the election, especially after his son's scandal.

The BJP too is still undecided about its Shantinagar candidate. Sources say five BJP leaders are vying for the party ticket to contest poll from the high profile constituency. "K Vasudeva Murthy, who was earlier with the JD(S), might be the BJP's man in Shantinagar," said a BJP leader. The JD(S), on its part, is unlikely to field any candidate from the constituency.

Voters' profile

Like the politicians, the voters' profile in this part of the city is equally intriguing. Out of the total 2,18,735 voters, around 27,000 live in slums like ISRO colony, LR Nagar and Maya Bazar. A total of 16,000 new voters have registered their names in the voting list, this time. Thus both the slum population and first-time voters are going to play a crucial role in the elections. While 1,11,960 voters are men, 1,06,734 are women in the entire constituency.

The Tamil population of around 40,000 people, out of which 30,000 belongs to the Dalit community, too will be a deciding factor in the elections. Around 80,000 Christian and Muslim voters too can make or break a candidate's future in electoral politics.

Shantinagar wards are as colourful as the constituency itself

It is interesting to note that out of the seven wards--four are ruled by the BJP, two by the Congress and one by an independent.

While Jogupalya, Shanthalanagar, Agaram and Vanarpete are ruled by the BJP, Neelasandra and Shanthinagar are ruled by the Congress. The Domlur ward was won by an independent candidate.

How leaders fared earlier

In the 2013 Assembly elections, Harris won by bagging 54,342 votes and his nearest rival, the then JD(S) candidate Murthy, got 34,137 votes. In the 2008 polls, Harris emerged triumphant by bagging 42,423 votes and DU Mallikarjuna of the BJP came second with 28,626 votes.

Vikram Singh, who stays in an apartment near Victoria Layout and works in a law firm, said that this election, the people of the constituency can bring the much-needed change by making an informed choice.

Until then, like the rest of Karnataka, it is all about dirty bylanes and equally dirty politics in Shantinagar.
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 polls: FIR against Jignesh Mevani over disrupt PM Modi rally' remark

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday lodged FIR against Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani for his speech in Chitradurga, wherein he urged youth to disrupt PM Modi's campaign program. The complaint has accused Mewani of making provocative statement.

In the video that has gone viral on social media, Mevani called for people to enter Modi's rally, throw chairs in the air and question the prime minister's promise to generate two crores worth of employment in the state.

#WATCH: Jignesh Mevani says, 'Biggest role of Karnataka's youth should be to enter PM's campaign program in Bengaluru on 15th, hurl chairs in the air & disrupt it, then ask him what happened to 2 cr jobs? If he can't answer ask him to go to Himalayas' #Chitradurga #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/3rykIfOFsp  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

He said that if Modi does not answer, then he should be asked to leave and take shelter at a Ram Mandir in the Himalayas."I am here to awake the mass about the risk of fascism and ensure that BJP doesn't enter South India."

A member of the BJP unit at Chitradurga district in Karnataka, has lodged the complaint against Jignesh Mevani. He has urged the EC officials to take action against Mewani because he has asked people to create disturbance during PM Modi's event.

Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded a bar on Jignesh Mewani from entering Karnataka till voting day on May 12. MLA and BJP state general secretary CT Ravi said Mewani wants to disrupt public life by instigating people.

Mevaani is currently in Chitradurga in southern Karnataka and he has been appealing to all Dalit groups in the state to not vote for the BJP in the assembly elections.
Nitish allots funds for repairing mosques damaged in violence in Samastipur

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has allotted more than Rs 2 Lakh for repairing Gudri mosque and Jiaul-Ulum Madrassa damaged in the violence in Samastipur. Also, funds allotted for violence-affected people in Nawada and Aurangabad.

The Samastipur police had detained two BJP workers in connection with the communal violence at Rosera in the district in March last week. According to BJP's Samastipur district president Ramsumran Singh, Dinesh is a BJP Kisan Morcha member, while Mohan is a member of party's weavers' cell in the district.

According to reports, they were detained on the basis of a video footage of the incident in which a mosque was damaged after slippers were allegedly thrown during Ravnavami procession.

The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for allegedly failing to prevent communal disharmony.
Superstar Salman Khan to fans: Say no to piracy, watch 'Radhe' on right platform

'You will get into trouble': Salman Khan warns of action after 'Radhe' leaks online

Salman Khan's bail order reserved till tomorrow, one more night in jail for superstar

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Jodhpur Court will on Friday (April 6) reserved the order on Salman Khan's bail for tomorrow. This means that Khan will have to stay in jail even today. Khan was sentenced to five years jail in blackbuck poaching case yesterday. Salman Khan's lawyer had filed the bail application in the court today. The judgem while hearing the bail plea, sought previous records pertaining to the case.

Salman Khan was taken to Jodhpur Central Jail on Thursday evening, hours after he was convicted in the blackbuck poaching case.

Meanwhile, Salman's fans have gathered outside the court with the posters of the superstar. The fans had also gathered outside the superstar's house in Mumbai yesterday.

Yesterday I got threatening SMSes and internet calls warning me not to appear for Salman Khan in bail hearing today: Mahesh Bora,Salman's Counsel #BlackBuckCase #JodhpurCourt pic.twitter.com/1oceG8uXQY  ANI (@ANI) April 6, 2018

The prosecution had demanded maximum punishment for the actor which is six years. However, the defence sought minimum punishment of three years. The court eventually awarded him 5 years jail term.

This was Salman's fourth stint in the Jodhpur Central Jail, which also houses religious preacher Asaram Bapu, who has been accused of rape. Salman has earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.

[Salman Khan to spend night in Jodhpur jail as Prisoner No. 106]

Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam, who were the co-accused in the case, were acquitted by the court. Khan and other actors were accused of poaching blackbucks on the midnight of October 1-2, 1998 during the filming of the Hindi movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Villagers of the Bishnoi community, who filed the case against the actors and pursued the poaching case for almost two decades, celebrated on Thursday after Salman Khan's conviction.

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.

[Salman Khan convicted in Blackbuck poaching case: A timeline since 1998]

Salman was convicted in one of the cases in 2006 and was sentenced to five years in jail. While the actor spent a week in jail, the sentence was suspended by the Rajasthan High Court. The actor was also booked under the Arms Act as the licence of the gun he allegedly used while hunting had expired. However, the charges were later dropped due to lack of evidence.
UP: Man's nose bitten-off by alcoholic brother after being denied money

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

So intense can be the craving for alcohol that it can lead an alcoholic to resort to anything, including violence and hurting the loved ones. In Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj, a man allegedly bit-off his brother's nose after the latter refused to give him money to buy alcohol, reported ANI. The alcoholic man, who is in police custody now, also attacked other members of the family.

Since Shrikant, the accused, was in an inebriated state when he attacked the family, he does not remember having done so. Shrikant is also said to have attacked his father and bit his arm. The incident took place in Ramlalpurva village in Kannauj.

"He bit me and my father. He also attacked his mother and his uncle. He completely bit off my tongue and also my hand and stomach. My entire nose has been mutilated. Then I was taken to the civil hospital," news agency ANI quoted one of the family members as saying.

Alcohol abuse and dependence is now considered a disease that is characterized by the sufferer having a pattern of drinking excessively despite the negative effects of alcohol on the individual's work and social life. Medical journals say it may involve a destructive pattern of alcohol use that includes a number of symptoms, including tolerance to or withdrawal from the substance, using more alcohol and/or for a longer time than planned, and trouble reducing its use. Violence is one of the manifestations of the drinking problem.
Veteran Kannada actress Jayanthi discharged from hospital

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Veteran Kannada actress Jayanthi, who was admitted to a hospital in Bengaluru on March 26, was on Friday discharged. The actress was hospitalized following severe asthma and acute respiratory problems. She was admitted to Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru.

Jayanthi was rushed to Sidvin Hospital on Sunday, March 25, after she complained of breathing problems. She was later shifted to Vikram Hospital based on the doctor's advice.

Jayanthi has acted in over 500 movies in her career and was part of over 300 movies as the female lead. The 73-year-old worked not just in Kannada films, but also in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Marathi movies.

She has received two Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Actress, the President's Medal for Best Actress and two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress throughout her career. She has been cited as Kannada cinema's "most bold and beautiful" actress by various media outlets, a title for which she has received substantial publicity.
Dumka Treasury case: Lalu Yadav granted bail, may be out of jail soon

Jail release likely on Monday but Lalu to return home from Delhi hospital after recovery

Out of jail, Lalu holds first 'virtual' interaction with party workers

Caste census a must, let 50 per cent cap be broken if required: Lalu Prasad

Who is Aishwarya Rai? The woman Tej Pratap Yadav is all set to marry this year

India

oi-Madhuri

Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap who is a 12th pass is all set to marry this year to Aishwarya Rai, the eldest daughter of politician Chandrika Prasad Rai.

The duo will tie the knot on May 12 at Patna's Veterinary College grounds. The engagement will take place on April 18 at Maurya Hotel in Patna. Their wedding is expected to be an extravagant affair.

Twenty-five-year-old Aishwarya was chosen by Rabri Devi, who met her parents in mid-March at their Patna residence to finalise the marriage.

Who is Aishwarya Rai?

Aishwarya Rai, the daughter of former Bihar minister Chandrika Prasad Rai. She hails from Chhapra and studied in Notre Dame School in Patna.

Aishwarya moved to Delhi afterwards and attended college in Miranda House College in Delhi where she completed MBA degree from Amity University.

She has two younger siblings, a sister and a brother.

The function is likely to witness several VVIPs in attendance. Many state and national level politicians are expected to attend the function.

Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi have seven daughters and two sons. The RJD chief is currently behind bars following his conviction in four fodder scam cases.
Why over-emphasising of Lingayat issue could lead to a hung assembly in Karnataka

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Karnataka Assembly Elections are round the corner and there is no conversation that ends without a question of the religious minority status for Lingayats being asked.

After the state government decided to recommend the status for the very powerful Lingayat community, it did drive doubts into the heads of many people about the impact it would have on the vote bank of the BJP.

The Lingayats have traditionally voted for the BJP and this move by the Congress has driven some amount of confusion into the minds of the BJP leaders. The question is how much of an impact would it have on the BJP's vote bank. Many analysts arrive at a figure of 1 to 2 per cent in favour of the Congress.

The other question that would need to be asked in this context is whether the over-emphasising on the Lingayat issue will have a negative impact on the Vokkaliga votes which is another powerful community in Karnataka.

Some would argue that with so much emphasis being given to the Lingayats, there is a good chance that there would be a back-lash from the Vokkaligas. This has been a traditional vote bank of the JD(S) and Congress. The JD(S) has already picked up the Lingayat issue and is portraying Siddaramaiah as anti-Vokkaliga. The Vokkaligas are a dominant community and their votes do shape the outcome of any election.

If the Vokkaligas who are loyal to the Congress change track and go with the JD(S) then the state is looking at a hung house. In this context, I would see a BJP-JD(S) government in Karnataka, a source following the developments closely said.

The anti-Vokkaliga campaign launched by the JD(S) against Siddaramaiah is now being debunked by the Congress. M Siddegowda who quit the JD(S) to join the Congress said that the Vokkaligas do not indulge in caste politics and will back Siddaramaiah.

Leading psephologist, Dr. Sandeep Shastri says that traditionally the Vokkaligas vote has seen a three way split and a large chunk of its has gone to the JD(S). At one level, the emphasis by the Congress on the Lingayat factor could have an impact for it in terms of Vokkaliga votes.

Dr Shastri however says that the Congress focus is on the OBC, Dalit and minority votes. On the other hand the BJP has been very clever in not over-emphasising on the Lingayat issue. They have stuck to the point that the Congress is dividing Hindus.

If you look at the BJP's presence and expansion in the old Mysore region, then an important focus of the party has been on the Vokkaliga votes. It would not be right to say that the BJP has not taken cognisance of the Vokkaliga votes.

The JD(S) on the other hand depends on the Vokkaliga votes. In 2013, they put up a reasonably good show thanks to their performance in the old Mysuru region barring Bangalore urban and rural. In this region, a majority of the seats went to the JD(S) and the Congress failed to bag many.

The BJP is making a conscious effort to make inroads further into the old Mysuru region. With this spreading, it is early to say how much of an impact will the Lingayat vote have on the Vokkaligas especially in the old Mysore region, Dr Shastri also points out.

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
Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Trump says he has no idea about $130k pay to Stormy Daniels

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

US President Donald Trump on Thursday, April 5, said he had no idea about the payment of $130,000 by his personal attorney to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It was his first remark in public on the issue after Daniels alleged that she had an affair with him before he became the president.

Trump said "No" to the question aboard Air Force One. He also added that he had no understanding as to why his attorney Michael Cohen paid the amount and from where did he get it.

Trump so far has avoided questions about his alleged affair with 39-year-old Daniels, originally known as Stephanie Clifford, while the White House has consistently rubbished such allegations.

Daniels alleged that she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 and was paid money to keep the matter secret just days ahead of the 2016 presidential election. She also said that she was threatened to remain silent on the relationship when she went out with her daughter. The pornstar is now trying to invalidate the agreement. She also appeared on a television interview in March end the viewership of which went through the roof.

Daniels's lawyer Michael Avenatti said her side got better and that they were looking forward to assessing the "truthfulness of Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment".

The actress's lawyer said on MSNBC that if Trump did not know anything about the pay then he had no knowledge about the agreement and in that case, there was no agreement, Associated Press reported.

Daniels is among those women who have pursued Trump with a strong determination. She and her lawyer have used all available media platforms to target the highest executive and the effort has brought them good returns.

Daniels said her relationship with Trump had gone on for about a year. Trump married US First Lady Melania Trump in 2005 and their son Barron was born the next year.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan faces criticism for not meeting knife crime victims kin

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has invited the wrath of the members of parliament (MPs) of his own Labour Party for not meeting the bereaved families of the victims of the knife killings that took place in the UK capital recently.

Khan was spotted on Thursday, April 5, and he conceded that though he was deeply hurt by the killings he did not meet any of the kin of the people attacked with knives. Khan told about his not meeting the kin to LBC Radio.

Seven incidents of stabbing happened in London within a gap of 30 minutes making the violence a big worry for the city's residents and law-keepers. More than 50 murders have taken place in London so far this year, including three earlier this week.

David Lammy, the MP of Tottenham whose London constituency saw four murders this year was critical of Khan saying the latter did not even care to call him over the alarming rise of violence in London. He even accused Khan and Home Secretary Amber Rudd of failure.

Khan, on his defence, said he had met Lammy in January end and said he was ready to meet him again if there was a request.

A 13-year-old boy was fighting for his life after being stabbed in Newham, east London while three more kids in their teens were targeted in other parts of the city. Three teenagers were murdered last Monday and Wednesday.

This spate of attacks occurred after Khan refused to agree that the city's police lost control over the crime. In March, Khan also announced a monetary incentive for those who took initiative to curb knife crimes. He also threatened that those carrying the knife would be caught and made to face the law.

But none of Khan's initiatives is working to curb the crime rate, it seems.
Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Mexican president slams Trump, says 'disrespectful attitude' unjustified

International

pti-PTI

Mexico City, Apr 6: Stating that "threatening or disrespectful attitudes" were unjustified, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto lashed out at his US counterpart Donald Trump amid growing tensions over migration and border security.

Speaking after Trump ordered National Guard troops to secure the US-Mexican border, Pena Nieto vowed Mexico would stand up for itself and suggested the American president was jeopardizing the two countries' relationship for domestic political gain.

"If your recent statements are the result of frustration due to domestic policy issues, to your laws or to your Congress, it is to them that you should turn, not to Mexicans. We will not allow negative rhetoric to define our actions," he said in a national address.

US-Mexican ties have been strained since Trump won office on the back of a campaign heavy on anti-Mexican rhetoric. Pena Nieto has twice canceled plans to visit Washington after tense phone calls with Trump in which the Republican president refused to back down from his insistence that Mexico pay for his planned border wall. Trump's latest attacks on Mexico were triggered by news reports on a caravan of Central American migrants crossing the country toward the United States.

The caravan, which numbered more than 1,000 Hondurans, Salvadorans and Nicaraguans, began breaking up yesterday, after the activists organising it said it had abandoned its goal of reaching the US border and would end its activities with a rally in Mexico City. The decision came after four straight days of Twitter diatribes from Trump.

The US president ordered thousands of National Guardsmen to secure the border and threatened to ax what he called Mexico's "cash cow," the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), if the Mexican authorities did not stop the migrants. The ongoing talks on modernizing NAFTA have also strained ties between the two countries, as well as Canada, the third member of the agreement -- though the three countries have recently indicated they are close to reaching a new deal.

"We are convinced that, by coming to agreements as friends, partners and good neighbors, both countries will fare better than if we confront each other," Pena Nieto said. "We stand ready to negotiate, certainly, but always based on mutual respect."

PTI
Talks with China will not help says USA NSA on situation on Ladakh

Trump seeks USD 100 billion additional tariffs on Chinese imports

International

pti-PTI

Washington, April 6: US President Donald Trump ramped up his trade war rhetoric with China, seeking USD 100 billion in additional tariffs on Chinese products. This is in addition to the proposed 25 per cent import tariffs worth USD 50 billion on some 1,300 Chinese products being imported into the US.

On April 3, the US Trade Representative (USTR) had announced the 25 per cent tariffs on imports from China as an initial means to obtain the elimination of policies and practices identified in its investigation.

China retaliated by announcing similar import tariff on American products. Trump said his latest decision for additional tariffs was in response to China's retaliatory action.

"Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers. In light of China's unfair retaliation, I have instructed the USTR to consider whether USD 100 billion of additional tariffs would be appropriate under section 301 and, if so, to identify the products upon which to impose such tariffs," Trump said in a statement here.

Accusing China of repeatedly engaging in practices to unfairly obtain America's intellectual property, Trump said the Chinese practices detailed in the investigation of the USTR had caused concern around the world.

"China's illicit trade practices? ignored for years by Washington? have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs," Trump said.

Trump has also instructed the secretary of agriculture, with the support of other members of his Cabinet, to use his broad authority to implement a plan to protect American farmers and agricultural interests.

"Notwithstanding these actions, the United States is still prepared to have discussions in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair, and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people," Trump said.

The US president reiterated his America-first rhetoric and said he was seeking a level playing field around the world for American companies and workers.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer branded the latest presidential proposal as "an appropriate response" to China's recent threat of new tariffs. "In the light of such evidence (of USTR investigation), the appropriate response from China should be to change its behaviour, as China's government has pledged to do many times," he said.

"Unfortunately, China has chosen to respond thus far with threats to impose unjustified tariffs on billions of dollars in US exports, including our agricultural products," he said, adding that such measures would undoubtedly cause further harm to American workers, farmers, and businesses.

Under these circumstances, Lighthizer said, the president was right to ask for additional appropriate action to obtain the elimination of the problems identified in USTR's report.

"Any additional tariffs proposed will be subject to a similar public comment process as the proposed tariffs announced on April 3, 2018. No tariffs will go into effect until the respective process is complete," Lighthizer said. Defending his decision against China, Trump told a business roundtable in West Virginia that before him, no president wanted to take on China.

"For many years, no president wanted to go against China, economically. And we're going to do it," he said. Trump said it was time the US did something to change the US-China business terms.

"The US can't continue to to allow this to happen, where hundreds of billions of dollars is taken out of the US; where if they make a car, they sell it here, it's 2.5 per cent tax," said Trump.

"If we make a car and try and get it into China, number one, they won't take it. But if they did, it's 25 per cent tax. So they pay 2.5; we pay 25. They don't even want to take it. That doesn't sound so good. But it's all like that," he said.

The US has a trade deficit of almost USD 500 billion with China. Despite the ongoing trade war between the two countries, Trump claimed that he was on good terms with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and that the US would have a "fantastic long-term relationship" with China.

"I have great respect for the President of China, President Xi. He's a friend of mine, and I'm a friend of his. And I like him a lot. But he's representing China, and I'm representing the USA. And it was time that we did something," said Trump.

"But we have to get this straightened out. We have to have some balance. That goes for other countries and it goes for other places," he said.

PTI
Twitter suspended 1.21 million accounts in 2015-17 for promoting terror

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Twitter Inc. on Thursday, April 5, said that it has suspended 1.21 million accounts between August 2015 and end of 2017 on grounds of "violations related to the promotion of terrorism". It also added that the number of such accounts was seeing a drop.

The social media said 2,74,460 of these accounts were suspended in late 2017 which was 8.4 per cent less from the previous reporting period and the second consecutive period in which Twitter witnessed a reduction in the number of accounts suspended owing to the same reason. The microblogging site said this in a blog post which covered its 12th biannual "transparency report".

It was also informed by Twitter that 74 per cent of the accounts covered in the latest period of reporting was suspended even before the posting the first tweet.

Twitter expressed a sense of satisfaction saying its hard work over the years in making the social media platform an unsuitable place "for those seeking to promote terrorism" paid off and now the tendency has gone down.

It also said that a majority of the accounts suspended in late 2017 "were flagged by internal, proprietary tools" and government's reports on such violations accounted for only 0.2 per cent of all suspensions.

Twitter started taking action in 2014 facing criticism

Twitter began its 'cleanliness drive' in 2014 after facing criticism that it wasn't doing enough to stop people who were using it with sinister designs of promoting extremism.

In December 2015, after 14 people were massacred in a shooting at San Bernardino, California, the then US president Barack Obama approached Twitter and other tech companies with the plea to make it difficult for the terrorists to use technology to evade justice.

Twitter also faced the wrath of the kin of the victims of the 2015 attack in May last year along with Google and Facebook as they filed a federal lawsuit against the tech giants accusing them of purposefully backing the Islamic State terrorist outfit.
KP Oli in India: Why New Delhi has to work harder to deal with the new Nepal

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Nepal's Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli visited India on Friday, April 6, for a three-day stay and perhaps not many visits by the Himalayan country's heads of state to India received the kind of attention it has got.

But why is Oli, perceived to be India-unfriendly, is getting so much focus? The answer in brief: Oli's Nepal is stronger and more assertive than ever and the onus lies on India to deal with it more cautiously and responsibly.

Nepal's politics has changed over last few years

In the last few years, Nepal's politics has undergone a serious churning. The country seems to have emerged from the post-monarchy transition days and the chaos that followed for almost a decade.

The prime minister's post had become more of a musical chair with its occupiers getting toppled often. Alongside the unstable political scenario, the economy also continued to struggle and in the foreign policy affairs, Nepal was seen either as a friend to India or China - depending on the colour of the political force that ruled it.

India's overdoing quake & alleged blockade

But in the last few years, the situation has undergone a significant change. The Nepali establishment and the people, in general, felt unhappy with India over the rescue operation show-off in the wake of the 2015 earthquake and an alleged blockade by New Delhi over the disappointing of Nepal's newly promulgated constitution. In Nepal's psyche, these indicated India's interference into their internal matters and in the age of the fast-spreading social media, the impact was more and long lasting.

China's game-changing OBOR

Next was China's game-changing OBOR (One Belt One Road) initiative or the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Nepal did not give it a second thought to join the initiative along with many other South Asian countries saying it was in its national interest.

For India, this independent thinking by Nepal in its foreign affairs was a surprise but as a sovereign country, Nepal was free to take the route is preferred. India's shadow in its neighbourhood was cut short further by the OBOR.

Death of Sushil Koirala -- India's friend

The third was the death of Sushil Koirala in February 2016. The man was a moderate figure in Nepali politics and also a leader of the India friendly Nepali Congress. His death not only led to a crisis in the party's leadership and succession but also for India in finding a trusted ally in the neighbouring country. Koirala had also taken a proactive role in acting as a bridge between India and Pakistan when the two adamant rivals refused to see eye to eye at a Saarc summit in Kathmandu in November 2014.

An absence of such a balancing figure means polarisation in Nepal's politics will go unchecked and that is not a good news for India which always hoped to win the loyalty of the Nepali people as a whole.

Domination of Left Alliance in Nepal politics

The final factor is the overwhelming victory of the Left Alliance in Nepal's elections late last year. It means Oli, unlike in the past, has a solid mandate behind him and that makes him choose the nationalist path all the more because he is bound to honour the faith of his constituencies. It's not without a reason that Oli said he would not sign any agreement during his visit to India if it went against Nepal's interest. It is interesting to see a Nepali head of government saying so before visiting a country with which Nepal has century-old connections. But this is the power of democracy and Nepal has started getting adjusted to it. It's the Left/Communist parties that are dominating Nepal just like the BJP in India and one can understand how a monolithic political rule serves a country's national interests.

It would be apt to mention here that Oli met Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Kathmandu as the first foreign dignitary after becoming the prime minister for the second time. For Indian observers, this was an inappropriate action by Oli since India-Pakistan ties are not in great health now. But from the perspectives of Oli and Nepal, it was a masterstroke to make it evident that Nepal is not always ready to count India when it is deciding on its foreign policy moves. Also, there are efforts from within Nepal's civil society to develop relations with Bangladesh for economic convenience instead of solely depending on India.

These quests for diversification are something which Nepal's political elite and civil society are trying of late to assert their country's identity beyond the shadows of its big neighbours. This is a new reality that India, which is more emotionally connected with Nepal than China, has to live with.

Time for India to change Nepal policy

It is high time that India changes its strategy towards the smaller neighbours if it wants to continue with the position of eminence in South Asia. With China's rapid rise in the vicinity, India has to accept the fact that it no longer enjoys the authority it did in South Asia and neither does it have the economic and military clout to compete with or resist Chinese ambitions.

India has to fall back on what it does best: employing the ideas of dialogue and cooperation with all neighbours - big or small - alike. Prime Minister Oli can't afford to dump India straightway but can assert his country's national ambitions time and again, thanks to his own strength at home, to India's dismay. But New Delhi must accommodate the fact that democracies are like unleashed energies and can't be expected to act as per one's wishes. Nepal has to be given the space it deserves today before India tries to deal with a new policy perspective.
A senior editor in Thailand is being victimized for putting spotlight on an issue that the World Health Organization (WHO) refers to as "invisible killer" of over 6.5 million people globally every year. Air pollution warrants much more urgency to save lives and help people breathe life, and not inhale deadly disease-causing polluted air.



According to the WHO, 92% of the global population lives in places where ambient air pollution is so high that it makes air unsafe to breathe. As much as 36% of lung-cancer deaths, 34% of stroke deaths, and 27% of heart-disease deaths in a year are attributed to air pollution. More alarmingly, climate change and air pollution are closely interrelated, further escalating the economic costs and health hazards for humankind. Yet it does not seem to be invoking governments to act with the compelling urgency.



Air pollution is biggest environmental crisis we face: WHO



Air pollution causes 1 in 9 deaths and is the biggest environmental health crisis we face, says WHO. Over 80% of the world's cities have pollution levels exceeding WHO's guidelines for safe air.



Is feeling concerned about the quality of air we breathe, a crime? In Thailand, Pim Kemasingki, Editor, Citylife Chiang Mai magazine, has been on the forefront of several initiatives over the years for helping make Chiang Mai city in northern Thailand, a better place for everyone. Recently, Citylife Chiang Mai magazine aimed to draw attention to the region's sometimes dangerously unhealthy air pollution, probably caused by crop burning and traffic. Editor of Citylife Chiang Mai was charged by authorities for posting on Facebook a student's painting of ancient kings wearing pollution masks. Even more shockingly, instead of supporting Thai citizens' initiative to raise awareness about the invisible killer- air pollution - the Governor of Chiang Mai recommended that police should investigate and charge the publication for being disrespectful and endangering tourism. According to a news published in The Bangkok Post, Citylife Chiang Mai Editor Pim Kemasingki could be imprisoned for up to five years if convicted under the Computer Crime Act, which has several broad provisions, including criminal penalties for undermining national security and entering false information into computer systems.



Editor Citylife Chiang Mai Pim Kemasingki told Reuters that "I shared this picture (a student's painting of ancient kings wearing pollution masks) thinking it was pertinent and powerful" and "For decades I have been promoting the city and loving it... so it's quite unsettling that fighting for healthy air for my fellow citizens has turned into me besmirching the city."



Hope sanity prevails, and justice ensues for not only protecting and promoting citizens' call for improving air quality, but also for protecting those who bravely stand up to defend human rights -- right to breathing clean air!



No air-pollution data from most polluted cities



WHO says "Many cities in the world, including some expected to be among the most polluted, do not collect information or report on its ambient air quality." Similar news comes from India where unmonitored cities had much higher air pollution levels than those cities that came under the radar for monitoring air pollution. Not surprisingly, countries, such as Thailand, that share air-pollution data in a spirit for collective action and shared learning to ensure that citizens breathe life (read clean air), get noticed.



Undoubtedly, we need reliable data on air pollution from every country/ city so that appropriate action is taken without delay. Targeting only those cities or countries that are reporting and sharing air pollution data will do more harm than good. Targetting or profiling of those who raise issues such as air pollution is even more worse. The larger issue should be to encourage every country to share reliable data on air pollution and take urgent evidence-based action to address the issue and mitigate human suffering, and avert untimely deaths.



Profiling those spirited crusaders, such as Pim, who raise a long over-due alarm on air pollution, and targeting them will not help address the cause; rather it might be detrimental for efforts to save lives from non-communicable as well as from infectious diseases and fail us in averting untimely deaths.



It is important to mention that Thailand is among the 190+ countries that promised to deliver on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015. Some of these SDGs aim to reduce untimely deaths due to heart disease and stroke, lung cancer, asthma, among other diseases, by one-third by 2030 -- a lion's share of these diseases is caused by air pollution.



It is important for the government of Thailand, and every other government in the world, to have coherent policies, programmes and actions on the ground to help progress towards delivering on the promise of SDGs. Uncalled for targeting of citizens who champion human rights causes, like the one to control air pollution, will only take nations further away from achieving these goals and will be a setback for efforts to build a better tomorrow.



Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant, CNS (Citizen News Service)

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The whistleblower and transgender activist Chelsea Manning discusses Senator Ben Cardin, fighting Nazis without resorting to police, and making mistakes like going to an alt-right party.

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Chelsea Elizabeth Manning is an activist, and former United States Army soldier. She was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 classified and sensitive military and diplomatic documents, was imprisoned between 2010 and 2017. Manning is a trans woman who, in a statement the day after sentencing, said she had a female gender identity since childhood, wanted to be known as Chelsea, and desired to begin hormone replacement therapy. She is currently running for United States Senate, challenging Senator Ben Cardin.

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[Video of Transcript Available at The Real News Network]

BAYNARD WOODS: For the Real News, I'm Baynard Woods. In April 2010, WikiLeaks released a video that showed the U.S. military killing over a dozen people, including two Reuters journalists. The news agency had been thwarted in its attempt to gain the footage, but a young whistleblower shared the video with WikiLeaks after approaching the New York Times and The Washington Post with thousands of documents. The next month the whistleblower was arrested in Iraq and revealed as Bradley Manning. Manning spent 11 months in solitary confinement before standing trial, which Manning described as a humiliating and degrading experience. Manning, who is trans, began transitioning while in prison. I'm not Bradley Manning, she wrote. I never really was. I'm Chelsea Manning, a proud woman who is transgender and who through this application is respectfully requesting a first chance at life.

That was a request for a commutation of the 35-year sentence handed down for sharing classified information. Manning has strongly rejected the idea that she gave up sources or other intelligence that could have endangered people on the ground and describes the documents as historical. In the final days of his presidency, Barack Obama granted the commutation and Manning was set free.

Now she's running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland against Ben Cardin. Manning may be the only candidate for the Senate who's been homeless, served in a war, spent significant time in solitary confinement, and come out as transgender. And all of that makes her a powerful, if unlikely, challenger to Cardin, one of the most establishment of the mainstream Democrats. Manning is here with us in our Baltimore studio today. Welcome, Chelsea.

CHELSEA MANNING: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

BAYNARD WOODS: So I mean, after all of that, I have to start with why would you even want to be in the U.S. Senate?

CHELSEA MANNING: Well, the Senate is where we have our debates about national issues. And national issues, especially the issues that we're facing right now, whether it be ICE detention or the criminal justice system or the militarization of police or the, our broad and expansive surveillance apparatus, and the, the support of the of our foreign policy across the entire world. All of these things are debated and authorized by the funding that comes from the Senate. And so the Senate is the perfect place to challenge this power and this authority.

BAYNARD WOODS: I mean, I want to come back to a lot of those issues. But why, why Maryland, and why Ben Cardin?

CHELSEA MANNING: Well, I'm from Maryland, first off. After I was homeless, I was 18 years old, I was homeless living in Chicago, and my aunt came and saved me and saved my life. And I've lived as my, she lives in Maryland. She lives here in Maryland. And I lived with her for about you know, I live with her since that happened. It's been my place of residence since, as I was in the military, as I was, when I went through trial, as I went through everything, as I was in prison, that was still my home of record. And it was the place that I always intended coming back to if I ever got out. And so here I am.

BAYNARD WOODS: And what is it about Cardin that made him seem like someone that, I mean, there's this moment where mainstream Democrats like Cardin, because they may be a little bit better than Trump, are able to cast themselves as the #Resistance. And so what what makes in this moment Cardin be the right, be the person to challenge in a primary?

CHELSEA MANNING: Ben Cardin is the perfect example of the rest of the Democratic establishment, the entrenched Democratic establishment that, when they're in office, they tread water. They make promises. Expect donations. They're cozy with, you know, interest groups. Why wouldn't, you know, the question is why wouldn't it be Ben Cardin, and why wouldn't I be challenging somebody who is really coopting this whole movement that we have? You know, there's this notion that they're the #Resistance. You know, this is not what, they're not doing what a resistance does, like cozying up to lobbyists and, and focusing on one issue here and there is not how we're going to change things.

BAYNARD WOODS: Yeah. I mean, one of the, he's one of the highest, receives some of the most money from AIPAC. And I mean, how does that affect, do you think, this kind of lobbying money, the foreign policy and domestic policy that people are putting forward, and how would you try to break that if you were in his seat?

CHELSEA MANNING: Right. So, Ben Cardin will never talk about, you know, he might talk about borders here in America but he'll never talk about border walls between Israel and Palestine, he'll never talk about health, health care, like being single payer. He'll never talk about single payer health care, because his primary funders are from the health insurance industry. He is bought and sold, and most of the Democratic Party are bought and sold, which is one of the reasons why I don't accept money from lobbyists. I don't talk to lobbyists, I don't talk, I don't talk to interest groups except for people on the ground, activists and organizers in the community.

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From CEPR

I would agree with pretty much all of Paul Krugman's criticisms of Donald Trump's trade war with China, but I would strongly disagree with one of his criticisms of China. He tells readers:

"In some ways, China really is a bad actor in the global economy. In particular, it has pretty much thumbed its nose at international rules on intellectual property rights, grabbing foreign technology without proper payment."

The issue here is who set the rules and what is proper payment.

The problem is that it was largely the United States that has set the rules in this story and it is demanding ever more money for items protected by its patent and copyright monopolies. We do this through our control of trade arrangements, most importantly the WTO where we had the TRIPS provisions inserted as a late entry to the Uruguay Round that was concluded in 1994.

These rules were about forcing developing countries to pay more money to companies like Pfizer and Microsoft for everything from drugs and medical equipment to seeds and software. It shouldn't be surprising that developing countries like China might not like these rules.

The idea that developing countries would seek to get around rules established by their richer counterparts should not be alien to people in the United States. The United Kingdom had made it illegal to transfer blueprints for steam engines out of the country in order to preserve its competitive advantage. Francis Lowell famously memorized plans on a trip there in order to build the first steam-powered factory in the United States. The United States refused to recognize UK copyrights for much of the 19th century. So if China is not following the rules today, it has an important role model it can point to.

There is certainly a valid point that the cost of innovation must in some way be shared internationally. Certainly, the US shouldn't be expected to foot the bill for the whole world. But does Krugman really want to argue that patent and copyright monopolies are the most efficient mechanisms available? We should be looking for more modern mechanisms that focus on sharing rather than bottling up knowledge, with China and other developing countries having a serious voice in their construction.

On this topic, it is important to note that China may have fired a serious shot over the bow this week. It announced a major initiative to promote the manufacture and use of generic drugs. I have no idea if this has anything to do with Donald Trump's trade war, but this could be a very big deal if China is going to be aggressively pushing generic drugs both in its domestic market and internationally.

The fact is, the "rules" in many areas are not very clear (it is much harder to get a patent on a drug in India than the United States) and if China is going to press the boundaries, look for a really big hit to Pfizer and Merck's stock prices.
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An Egyptian Kangaroo Court Wednesday (April 4) sentenced 35 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to life in prison for allegedly forming "terrorist cells" to attack security forces and state institutions.

The Sohag Criminal Court sentenced another 155 defendants to three to 15 years on similar charges, including plotting to kill public figures and security officials, and joining an outlawed group, a reference to the Brotherhood which has been declared a terrorist group by the government of Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Tellingly, the new harsh sentences against the Muslim Brotherhood members came a day after the Egyptian government announced that Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has won re-election as Egypt's president with 97 percent votes.

According to CNN, observers have widely called the vote a farce, seeing it more as a referendum on el-Sisi than a free and fair election.

US-client General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who later assumed the title of Field Marshall, toppled Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013. Mursi was the first democratically elected President of Egypt.

An Egyptian Kangaroo court last month sentenced 10 people to death and five others to life in prison for allegedly forming a "terrorist group" to plot attacks on security forces and other institutions.

The state-run MENA news agency said the defendants are affiliated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. MENA said three of the 15 defendants were sentenced in absentia.

Egypt has cracked down on anti-government elements since the overthrow in July 2013 of Mohammad Mursi.

Hundreds of anti-government people, including Muslim Brotherhood supporters and members, have received death sentences since 2013, and Egypt has carried out dozens of executions, according to security sources and rights groups.

According to Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide database, in recent years there has been a sharp increase in Egyptian courts' use of capital punishment, with the number of death sentences jumping from 109 in 2013 to at least 509. Since the beginning of 2015, there have been reports of at least 354 death sentences.

The Cornell Center believes there are at least 1,700 people under sentence of death, but no official figures are available due to intense state secrecy surrounding capital punishment. Amnesty International indicates that at least 1,413 death sentences were issued between 2007 and 2014.

Interestingly, in January this year, an Egyptian kangaroo court handed 268 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi up to 25-year jail terms over a violent pro-Morsi sit-in following his removal in July 2013.

Giza Criminal Court sentenced 23 defendants to 25 years in prison, 223 to 15 years and 22 to three years, ordering them to pay altogether a fine of more than $2.1 million for the damages they reportedly caused to the surrounding zoo, public park and college building during their 45-day sit-in.

Egyptian judicial system has become a joke

In January this year CNN quoted an Egyptian attorney as saying that Egypt is using death sentences to settle scores.

Human rights advocates say the alarming numbers recorded by the Egyptian Coordination for Rights & Freedoms and the Initiative for Personal Rights are shocking -- but the stories behind them are even more harrowing, the CNN said adding:

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From Consortium News



Boycott Israeli Apartheid

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The latest Israeli slaughter of Gazans falls into the category of shooting fish in a tank. Indeed, as tens of thousands of Gazans protested the longest occupation in modern history and demanded their historical Right to Return, last Friday, March 30, Israeli snipers raised their rifles repeatedly and, from behind a wide-buffer and an electrified fence, opened fire on the Palestinians.

The latest stats of killed and wounded from the so-called confrontation between Israeli sharp-shooters and Palestinians is at least 18 Palestinians killed and over 1,000 wounded. On the Israeli side, zero casualties. Zero!

Diana Buttu is a Palestinian/Canadian lawyer based in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine. She is a former Palestinian negotiator. I spoke with her in Haifa on April 2nd, 2018.

Dennis Bernstein: Maybe you could begin with your best information in terms of what happened.

Diana Buttu: I can give you the rough numbers. 18 Palestinians are confirmed dead. Others are in very critical condition and unable to get the medical attention they need. Over [1,000] Palestinians were wounded. They are unable to receive treatment, both because of the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip and because of the lack of electricity. Palestinian human rights organizations are calling for the wounded to receive treatment elsewhere, but so far the Israeli government has refused.

Dennis Bernstein: What do we know about how this unfolded? I heard in an NPR report that this was not just a protest, that these were militants.

Diana Buttu: We know that the Israeli government announced days in advance that they were going to be positioning snipers along the border. Now, there are multiple sets of borders in effect here. There is an electrified fence on the eastern and northern sides of the Gaza Strip. A cement wall is on the southern border with Egypt. The water is blockaded by the Israeli navy on the western side.

In addition to those physical borders, the Israeli army has been enforcing what they call a buffer zone, which is about 1,000 feet away from the electrified fence. We know that when Palestinians approached the buffer zone on the eastern side, the Israelis immediately started shooting Palestinian protesters.

From video footage we can see that people were shot in the back. Others were shot for carrying tires or for simply walking into these areas. These were individuals who posed no threat whatsoever. Even if they were attempting to cross the border, you don't use live fire to kill people who are crossing a border.

And secondly, the point of this was to highlight the fact that Palestinians cannot return. 80% of the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip does not come from the Gaza Strip. They are actually refugees driven out by the Israelis. While Israel keeps claiming that there were attempts to "infiltrate," in any case this is not a proper response.

The fact that Israel was positioning snipers on the border indicates that they were ready, willing and able to shoot protesters in the back. The head of the Israeli defense establishment has said that every one of these snipers should be commended.

Dennis Bernstein: How many Israeli soldiers were wounded and killed?

Diana Buttu: Zero. Again, this was not a question of the protesters posing any danger to any individual. It was the mere fact that Palestinians were out in protest.

I want to put this in its proper historical perspective. The reason they were out on March 30 is because this day, in 1976, the Israelis did the exact same thing to Palestinians who were citizens of Israel. At that time, Palestinians were protesting the confiscation of thousands of acres of Palestinian land by the Israeli government in order to make way for Jewish towns.

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Human survival depends on learning to organize the way all successful living communities organize as they adapt to ever changing local conditionsfrom the Bottom-Up. A timely contribution to confronting the transformation imperative confronting humanity."



David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, The Great Turning, and Change the Story, Change the Future
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Free photo Wertheim Refugees Welcome Statement Refugee - Max Pixel960 -- 640 - 174k - jpg

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Over my two decades as a high school ESL teacher, my refugee students were my heroes. They'd left their countries in the midst of conflicts and came here to learn a new language and culture, while at the same time navigating the minefields of adolescence. Many were victims of our country's foreign policy. In the nineties, that included my students from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Vietnam. By the time I retired in 2013, Palestine and Iraq were added to that list.

I'll never forget one Salvadoran student, I had in the early 90's. This young man was quite the charmer, always sporting a big grin, yet it's clear to me now that part of this was show in order to hide what we would call today PTSD. Once, he confessed to me that at night when he heard police helicopters hover over his neighborhood, he always dove under his bed and shook like a leaf because that sound of chopper blades reminded him of los escuadrones de la muerte he and his family had fled in El Salvador. Death squads our country backed with weapons, money, and training.

In the 20-teens, my Iraqi students recounted to me tales of growing up in a war zone. Immediately after we stupidly invaded their country, they were forced to stay inside their homes because our troops, expecting throngs "with sweets and flowers," couldn't secure Baghdad. So for months these children at very important ages for their development couldn't go to school. And, of course, when they were finally able to go out, they would often come upon the brutal aftermath of firefights, IEDs, and suicide bombings, not something we'd want any child to experience.

Today with the Syrian Civil War dragging into its seventh year, and an unstable Middle East, which we are partially responsible for, the world has more refugees than at any time since World War II. In 2016 the UN Refugee Agency estimated that there were 22.5 million refugees in the world. So, in the Age of Trump, what has been our response to this crisis? In one word, obscene.

The Trump Administration had promised to take in 45,000 refugees during fiscal 2018, a paltry number considering our population of over 325 million, being the largest economy in the world, and, as compared to 2016, when we accepted nearly 85,000 refugees. Even so, at the halfway mark, we've only admitted a little more than 10,000. So in this very important respect, the Trump Administration has gone all in for globalization -- or, as Pope Francis called it "the globalization of indifference" to refugees.

Look no further than recent news for proof of the world's hard-heartedness. Netanyahu just changed his mind about resettling African migrants. Anti-immigrant parties are ascendant in many European countries, while Trump demagogues about "caravans" of "illegals."

Yet the fact is most refugees are not in Western countries, but in Lebanon, Uganda, Kenya, and Jordan, countries much smaller geographically and economically than we are, so much less able to handle influxes of refugees. If these relatively poorer countries can step up, why can't we?

We have a moral responsibility to do more, as we have in the past, yet today even mainstream Republicans seemingly equate refugees, who have already gone through a rigorous vetting process, with terrorists. That's not just a lie. It's the big lie on steroids.

But, worst of all, it's self-defeating. Under Trump, the world's opinion of the U.S. has plummeted. A Gallup survey earlier this year documented an almost 20-point drop in global confidence in American leadership.

But if we accept more refugees, we might be able to change the world's opinion. Our intransigence is especially galling to me because, from my experience, we are good at assimilating refugee students. After the shortest time imaginable, my students, no matter where they came from, would be acting like typical American teenagers. Typical American teens who later would be a credit to their adopted country.
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Korean War - 60th Anniversary Photo Archive

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This happened some 63 years ago, but as the U.S. government has never stopped lying about it, and it's generally known only outside the United States, I'm going to treat it as news.

Here in our little U.S. bubble we've heard of a couple versions of a film called The Manchurian Candidate. We've heard of the general concept of "brainwashing" and may even associate it with something evil that the Chinese supposedly did to U.S. prisoners during the Korean War. And I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people who've heard of these things have at least a vague sense that they're bullshit.

If you didn't know, I'll break it to you right now: people cannot actually be programed like the Manchurian candidate, which was a work of fiction. There was never the slightest evidence that China or North Korea had done any such thing. And the CIA spent decades trying to do such a thing, and finally gave up.

I'd also be willing to bet that very few people know what it was that the U.S. government promoted the myth of "brainwashing" to cover up. During the Korean War, the United States bombed virtually all of North Korea and a good bit of the South, killing millions of people. It dropped massive quantities of Napalm. It bombed dams, bridges, villages, houses. This was all-out mass-slaughter. But there was something the U.S. government didn't want known, something deemed unethical in this genocidal madness.

It is well documented that the United States dropped on China and North Korea insects and feathers carrying anthrax, cholera, encephalitis, and bubonic plague. This was supposed to be a secret at the time, and the Chinese response of mass vaccinations and insect eradication probably contributed to the project's general failure (hundreds were killed, but not millions). But members of the U.S. military taken prisoner by the Chinese confessed to what they had been a part of, and confessed publicly when they got back to the United States.

Some of them had felt guilty to begin with. Some had been shocked at China's decent treatment of prisoners after U.S. depictions of the Chinese as savages. For whatever reasons, they confessed, and their confessions were highly credible, were borne out by independent scientific reviews, and have stood the test of time.

How to counter reports of the confessions? The answer for the CIA and the U.S. military and their allies in the corporate media was "brainwashing," which conveniently explained away whatever former prisoners said as false narratives implanted in their brains by brainwashers.

And 300 million of so Americans more or less sort of believe that craziest-ever dog-ate-my-homework concoction to this day!

The propaganda struggle was intense. The support of the Guatemalan government for the reports of U.S. germ warfare in China were part of the U.S. motivation for overthrowing the Guatemalan government; and the same cover-up was likely part of the motivation for the CIA's murder of Frank Olson.

There isn't any debate that the United States had been working on bio-weapons for years, at Fort Detrick -- then Camp Detrick -- and numerous other locations. Nor is there any question that the United States employed the top bio-weapons killers from among both the Japanese and the Nazis from the end of World War II onward. Nor is there any question that the U.S. tested such weapons on the city of San Francisco and numerous other locations around the United States, and on U.S. soldiers. There's a museum in Havana featuring evidence of years of U.S. bio-warfare against Cuba. We know that Plum Island, off the tip of Long Island, was used to test the weaponization of insects, including the ticks that created the ongoing outbreak of Lyme Disease.

Dave Chaddock's book This Must Be the Place, which I found via Jeff Kaye's review, collects the evidence that the United States indeed tried to wipe out millions of Chinese and North Koreans with deadly diseases.

"What does it matter now?" I can imagine people from only one corner of the earth asking.

I reply that it matters that we know the evils of war and try to stop the new ones. U.S. cluster bombs in Yemen, U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, U.S. guns in Syria, U.S. white phosphorus and Napalm and depleted uranium used in recent years, U.S. torture in prison camps, U.S. nuclear arsenals being expanded, U.S. coups empowering monsters in Ukraine and Honduras, U.S. lies about Iranian nukes, and indeed U.S. antagonization of North Korea as part of that never-yet-ended war -- all of these things can be best confronted by people aware of a centuries-long pattern of lying.

And I reply, also, that it is not yet too late to apologize.

[Reprented from The Daily Sheeple April 6, 2018]
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From Strategic Culture

Beyond the general concerns regarding the nomination of John Bolton as National Security Adviser, there is also the specific issue of his impending access to the most highly classified intelligence information that the United States possesses.

There are a number of reasons why Bolton should be denied a clearance, including his well-known record of abusing subordinates at the State Department and colleagues at the United Nations. Bolton also has a close personal relationship with Israel and its government that may have included divulging classified information. The Israeli connection is particularly sensitive because Bolton is beholden to casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has funded his activities since he left the State Department in 2006. And Bolton knows how to return a favor, approving of Adelson's suggestion to detonate a nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert, just to warn them what might be coming.

Adelson, a major GOP donor, was displeased with Rex Tillerson and H.R. McMaster, and to have been instrumental in their removal. Both men supported the nuclear agreement with Iran and both are now gone. McMaster was also targeted as "anti-Israeli" for having opposed moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Bolton's regard for Israel has included unauthorized disclosure of classified information when he was Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. He collaborated with the Israelis, often without the State Department being aware of what he was doing, to justify a US attack on Iran. The strategy to bring about a war included diplomatic pressure, crude propaganda, and the production of fabricated evidence by Mossad.

Bolton was technically under the supervision of Secretary of State Colin Powell, but he violated existing State Department regulations by taking a series of secret trips to Israel in 2003 and 2004. Thus, when Secretary of State Colin Powell was saying administration policy was not to attack Iran, Bolton was working with the Israelis to lay the groundwork for a new war. During a February 2003 visit, Bolton assured Israeli officials in private meetings that he had no doubt the United States would take down Saddam Hussein, before dealing with Iran and Syria.

During multiple trips to Israel, Bolton had unannounced meetings, including with the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, without the usual reporting cable to the Secretary of State. Those meetings clearly dealt with a joint strategy on how to bring about political conditions for an eventual US strike against the Iranians.

John Bolton, while serving as US ambassador to the United Nations, also went behind his boss's back to supply Israel with crucial information on American plans at the U.N. so as to redirect US policy. Dan Gillerman, who served as Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. in 2006 when Bolton was US ambassador has described how "in more than one case, Ambassador Bolton called me and alerted me to the fact that his mission -- the United States mission to the U.N. -- was about to vote against Israel and asked that I alert the prime minister, who at that time was Ehud Olmert. In more than one case the prime minister called the president, who was then George W. Bush, and got him to overrule the State Department."

Bolton would regularly reach out to the Israelis to subvert positions being supported by the US government, as in August 2006 when the U.N. Security Council was considering Resolution 1701, with the purpose of ending a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Bolton warned the Israelis what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was planning to support the initiative. Gillerman reports that "In that case John Bolton got in touch with me at about 8 o'clock in the evening, which was 3 in the morning in Israel, calling to say 'You have to call your prime minister and tell him that Condi Rice sold you out to the French.'"

Given what John Bolton did when last in office, he should never again be allowed to have access to classified information since he would clearly abuse that privilege to satisfy his own agenda. That President Trump will undoubtedly grant Bolton access to all sensitive information is discouraging, particularly as the new Adviser, supremely sure of himself and possessing a proclivity to do what he considers expedient without regard for consequences, cannot be relied upon to do the right thing when it comes to national security. He should never be granted a clearance to use top level intelligence and should never be placed in a position of authority that would permit him to do mischief.

Unfortunately, urging President Trump to reverse the Bolton decision because of the grave damage it will inevitably do to the United States is not likely to be received favorably by the White House.
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During most of Easter Week, Donald Trump was uncharacteristically silent. Then, starting on Easter Sunday, Trump tweeted that he would end DACA, "stop" NAFTA, and move troops to the Southern Border. What spurred this crazy talk?

There are several theories about why Trump unleashed his immigration tweetstorm. One theory is that it was because conservative Republicans have slammed him for signing the $1.3 trillion spending bill (March 23rd) without securing funds for his border wall. Another was that for most of Easter Week, the White House staff had constrained him so that he wouldn't tweet about Stormy Daniels or Karen McDougal; on Saturday and Sunday, freed from the restrictions imposed by White House Chief-of-Staff John Kelly, Trump vented his frustration on Twitter. Another theory is that, on Sunday morning, Trump was watching Fox News and responded to one of their reports. The Final theory is that Trump is coming apart because of pressure from his legal woes. That's the theory that seems most plausible.

Trump is facing legal action on three fronts: Interaction between his presidential campaign and Russia, lawsuits brought by aggrieved women, and lawsuits based on the "emoluments" clause of the Constitution.

Russia Probe: On February 16th, the Justice Department unveiled the first of four pillars of the Mueller investigation into interference in the 2016 election: the indictment of 13 Russians for Internet-based meddling.

In the coming months we're likely to see indictments clustered around the three additional pillars of the Mueller inquiry: hacking, collusion, and obstruction. The hacking indictments should explain who hacked the emails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.

The collusion pillar would explore the illicit cooperation between Russian operatives, involved in election interference and hacking, and the Trump campaign. On March 29th, the Mueller inquiry alleged that while Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were working for the Trump campaign, they had contact with a Russian intelligence operative.

Finally, the fourth pillar of the Mueller investigation should focus on obstruction of justice: has the Trump Administration blocked DOJ efforts to understand interference in the 2016 election?

Recently there's been an unravelling of the Trump legal team responding to the Mueller inquiry. The lead lawyer, John Dowd, resigned and has yet to be replaced. Meanwhile, there's intense speculation about whether Trump will agree to an interview with the inquiry (many observers believe that because of Trump's penchant for mendacity he should not testify).

(By the way: in parallel with the Mueller inquiry is the Cockrum vs. Trump lawsuit; where three private individuals -- Ray Cockrum, Scott Comer and Eric Schoenberg -- are suing Donald Trump and Roger Stone for violating their privacy and civil rights by participating in the hack of the DNC emails.)

Trump's Women: There are three lawsuits of note. The first involves actress Stormy Daniels (real name Elizabeth Clifford) who alleges that, in 2006, she had an affair with Trump and subsequently was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about it. On April 2nd, Trump's legal team asked that this dispute be settled in (private) arbitration. Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, wants a (public) civil trial. (There's a separate allegation that the $130,000, paid in October 2016, violated campaign finance laws.)

The second lawsuit involves model Karen McDougal who alleges that she had an affair with Trump and, in 2016, was paid $150,000 by America Media Inc. (which publishes the National Enquirer) for the story. McDougal claims that American Media actually paid her in order to kill the story. (There's a separate allegation, brought by Common Cause, that the $150,000 was an illegal campaign contribution.)

The third lawsuit involves Summer Zervos who alleges that Trump sexually harassed her in 2007. She's one of more than twenty women who came forward, during the 2016 political campaign, to charge Trump with harassment. Before Trump took office he accused these women of lying; in response, Zervos filed a defamation suit. It wended its way through the courts and, on March 20th, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the suite could go forward citing court precedent from the Bill Clinton-Paula Jones case: "a sitting president is not immune from being sued in federal court for unofficial acts." (Trump's attorneys have appealed this ruling.)

The Trump attorneys handling these cases are not those representing him in the Mueller investigation.

Emoluments: Article I of the Constitution says, "No Person holding any Office... shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." (An emolument is a profit of any kind.) Since Trump took office there have been lawsuits that alleged that Trump businesses illegally accept payments from foreign governments. (That is, Trump is using his position as President to benefit his businesses,)

Several of these lawsuits have been dismissed on technical grounds. However on March 28th, a Federal Judge in Maryland let an emolument lawsuit go forward. This action, brought by the District of Columbia and the State of Maryland, focuses on the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC: "The District of Columbia and Maryland said their local residents who compete with Trump's businesses, such as Trump International Hotel... , are harmed by decreased patronage, wages and tips..."

In this instance, Trump is represented by the Justice Department, not his private attorneys.

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Why we vote against our own interests

"We were wrong." A lamentation for every generation.

Coming of age in 1960's America, my generation knew everything. We knew history and science. We cared about other people and understood war was wrong. We would never make the mistakes of our parents, or their parents, or their parents. How could these people have blundered so badly?

Now, bequeathing them a hate-filled ball of confusion, today's youngsters most likely hold the ebbing generation in the same, sad contempt as I did when I was young. And as my parents must have done, and their parents before them. As surely as elders eternally condemn the folly of youth, so the young endlessly deride the errors of their ancestors.

Today, I see promise in the youth of our country, the promise of an aware and informed generation and better days ahead. The same promise my parents must have seen for my generation, and that their parents saw for them.

We humans continually beat our heads against ancient walls, but science moves ever forward. Dick Tracy's wrist radio, still science fiction in the 1980's, seems a laughable relic, compared with what we now hold in our hands. Science has an innate, fundamental drive to advance, and unfair advantages over mere mortals: it is not bound by pride, ruled by prejudice, or driven to despair by poisonous propaganda. Science learns from its mistakes, corrects them, and moves forward, something humans seem incapable of doing.

History books are filled with humanity's repetitive madness, but learning, correcting, and moving forward seems ever receding goal. "Next time we won't make that same mistake." Until we do. We all know Santayana's, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," but we seem incapable of ever heeding this rock-solid, obvious truth.

Why? Because there is a tremendous advantage in not evolving, maybe not for you or me, but for a powerful few. Those in power are predominantly conservative and they like things just the way they are, hate-filled and confusing. There is big money to be made from lies, fights, and panic. Wars, pollution, disease, depressions, recessions, and foreclosures all funnel humanity's assets upwards. The powerful use their wealth to ensure they generate more wealth by purchasing laws, lawyers, legislators, and judges to do their bidding and the generations of toxic consequences are undeniable.

In 1832, President Andrew Jackson said: "It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. " every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society, the farmers, mechanics, and laborers, who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government."

Then, as now, the wealthy also controlled the media and thus continually manufacture the public's consent for their self-serving actions. Today's media is omnipresent and its messages, both overt and covert, constantly assault our senses. We must consciously "unplug" to think thoughts other than those incessantly and vigorously shoved into our brains.

Everybody wants us to think as they do, and those wealthy enough to own the government and media, win. The humble members of society, the farmers, mechanics, and laborers, who have neither the time nor means, lose, always.
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No matter how many times Muranga Women Rep Sabina Chege denies any connection with suspected conman Wazir Chacha, it seems the unforgiving court of public opinion has already delivered its damning verdict.

The popular politician is still getting a lot of stick over the whole saga with her impersonator and it appears she has finally reached her boiling point. This after she retorted angrily and out of character to a Twitter user who mocked her about Wazir Chacha.

It all started when Sabina Chege posted a picture of her and other officials planting trees in Muranga County.

Muranga goes green. Mashinani Manenos, Sabina wrote.

But a Twitter user, identified as Simon Maina, commented on the photo in Kikuyu and sarcastically asked if Chacha was among those in the picture.

He should have known better. Sabina was seemingly not in the mood for his shenanigans and replied in Kikuyu saying Uria nyukwa (Ask your mother).

And Simon Maina was not the only tweep who suffered a hard tackle from Sabina.

However, it was the ask your mother remark that seemed to excite netizens the most.

Heres how KOT reacted:

Mhesh.. I cant believe you can be that derogatoryesp with a fellow woman. Could you NOT refrain yourself? SAD  M M David (@mugo_m) April 5, 2018

Hard tackle right there ? ?  stephen_muiruri (@stevomuiruri) April 5, 2018

LMAOShe just went rogue..  Antony MK #BellaSafaris (@ItsKariukiA) April 5, 2018

If you rattle a snake, expect to be bitten. Choices have consequences. This tweet was meant to degrade madam Sabina. She has every right to get angry. Shes human, I think that was a perfect answer  Michael Kabuthia (@mkabuthia77) April 5, 2018

????????? yes  SUE WA KURIA KOMU. (@SuewaKuria) April 5, 2018

Tibim.????  Anthony Kiano Wangui (@KianoWangui) April 5, 2018

Women rep amechachisha.  mchokozi viongozi (@j_ngumi) April 5, 2018

Jesu mwega /O\   (@Kin_Kenny) April 5, 2018

Ref. Waves play on??  Kamau Karoki (@KarokiKamau) April 5, 2018
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Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted in his annual speech, delivered on in Moscow, that his military has a new intercontinental cruise missile that is "Invincible." For the sake of argument, let's say that it really exists and that it is really unstoppable.

Throughout time, scientists have sought to achieve invincibility by applying ever-advancing technologies. History shows they have so far been unsuccessful. Adversaries inevitably devise methods to counter any system of offense or defense. Even President Putin admitted in his speech that if anyone found a workaround, "our boys will think of something new."

However, if President Putin, or for that matter President Trump, were to seek it, there is a solution to achieve unquestioned invincibility for their nation. The method comes from the union of social science and quantum unified field theory--not from approaches utilizing weaponry, and not from the field of politics.

President Putin could obtain invincibility for Russia if his armed forces were trained to form a Prevention Wing of the Military, composed of Invincible Defense Technology experts. Field-tested scientific studies show that large groups practicing the non-religious Transcendental Meditation - (TM) and the advanced TM-Sidhi - programs in a group twice a day generate a field effect that profoundly influences all within its vicinity. Militaries worldwide have field-tested this approach and are deploying it today.

The powerful, brain-based, Invincible Defense Technology (IDT) is aptly named. The word invincible means incapable of being defeated, unconquerable. Defense means to defend and to protect. Technology is applied scientific knowledge. The goal of IDT is to prevent enemies from arising. Once IDT is properly applied, Russia's military would become invincible because there would be no enemies to fight. No enemies means no war, no terrorism, no nuclear war and full security, as well as happy and productive lives for everyone.

IDT Breaks the War Cycle



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Extensive peer-reviewed research and military field-tests worldwide show that IDT brings about measurable decreases in war, terrorism, and crime, as well as improvements in quality of life, all of which are tangible signs of reduction of societal stress. These changes have been demonstrated statistically using measures such as reductions of terrorism and armed conflict, crime rates, accidents, hospital admissions, and infant mortality. (See: Lt. Gen. Clarence E. McKnight (Retired, US Army), Dr. David Leffler, Duncan Brown, Dr. Carla Brown, and Arlene J. Schar, 1 August 2017, Preventive Defense as the Ultimate Game Changer. Indian Defence Review.)

In highly stressed areas of the globe, establishment of large groups of IDT experts have also increased growth of prosperity and economic incentives. Creativity and entrepreneurship increase as well. Also, on a global scale, when large groups of civilian experts gathered from 1983 to 1985, terrorism-related casualties decreased 72 percent and international conflict decreased 32 percent. These positive changes in social trends have taken place immediately after IDT was introduced. (For a research summary see: A New Role for the Military: Preventing Enemies from Arising-Reviving an Ancient Approach to Peace. Journal of Management & Social Science (JMSS), Fall 2009, Vol. 5, No. 2., pp. 153-162.)

The IDT approach has been used during wartime, resulting in reduced fighting, reduced war deaths, and reduced casualties, as well as improved progress toward resolving the conflict through peaceful means. IDT is totally unlike any other defense approach in that it does not use violence in an attempt to quell violence.

High stress levels within any nation ultimately create enemies. If dangerous levels of collective stress are reduced by applying IDT, then leaders will be more capable of finding orderly and constructive solutions to irresolute issues that have kept them at odds for generations.

With greater civic calm, citizens' aspirations will rise, and a more productive, more balanced society will emerge. Then violence as a means for change and/or as an expression of discontent will naturally subside.

The Global Union of Scientists for Peace (GUSP) advocates the IDT approach. This non-profit organization hosted an international conference in Kiev, Ukraine last year (see: https://www.gusp.org/global-peace-summit/). Lt. General (Ret.) Vasyl Krutov, former chief of the Ukraine Anti-Terrorism Center was among the impressive list of participants who spoke at or voiced their support for the conference. Others included: President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, who applied innovative IDT programs to end that nation's civil war; retired Ecuadorian Lt. General Jose' Villamil, who also applied IDT to end war between Ecuador and Peru; and Mr. Mohd Khalid Naseemi, the founder and Director-General of the Afghanistan Environmental Society.

IDT is a proven way for Russia's military to protect itself and to gain global respect by deploying a simple, low cost, defense system, with minimal training needed to implement it. So far, no nation has found a way to work around it. Once an enemy becomes a friend, there is no need to fight. Differences can be settled through peaceful diplomacy.

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Former I and B minister, Manish Tewari

(Image by Ashish Shukla) Details DMCA



On the HRD's move on "fake news", now jettisoned, the strategy of Mainstream Media (MSM) has been two-pronged: One, it's an assault on freedom of press (yawn); two, government must define what's "news'.

The second defence is a stonewalling lawyer's argument and it fittingly it has come from Manish Tewari who is from the Congress stable of Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Sanghvi (the names say it all).

So what's "news"? News is information. If it is not truthfully reported, it's "fake news". One wonders why Tewari, once an Information minister, never came to ask the media houses: "Sirs and Madams, that you are in the business of news, what does news really amount to?" Wish somebody had asked him while he was in the minister's chair: "Sir, what do you think is news". Mr Minister himself would've escorted the journo out of the door. (As an aside, imagine worrying about the freedom of press when not being able to define news as per se!)

So the idea is, if you can't define what's news, how would you define what's "fake news"? This jugglery was meant to stonewall and embarrass Smriti Irani. Tiwari and presstitutes of course would take no note of a number of fake news that appear on MSM daily and which OpIndia so brilliantly clubbed together recently.

Don't expect presstitutes to come clean when caught with pants down. It runs to Press Council of India (PCI) for every speck of dust in the eye. But when the PCI chairman sees value in government's move, the rogues of the stable--that's mainstream media--don't publish it.

These rogues are not obliged to any regulatory measure.

These shameless feel no accountability towards their readers.

They wouldn't care to inform you that accredited journalists do not amount to entire community.

These thugs won't tell you that the charm of being "accredited journalists" are the perks and benefits that come with the tag.

Only if the Editor's Guild of India and News Broadcasters Association were under the RTI, we would've known how many, IF ANY, transgressions of mainstream media in all these years these two august bodies have censored. Or whether the only time they clear their throat is when they cry "Assault on Freedom of Press."

Where all this jockeying leaves the readers? No better than vegetables in the eyes of the presstitutes. Freedom of press? My foot. Freedom to loot and subvert; and scavenge on dead is more like it.

And India can go to hell.
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Stephon Clark, A Senseless Killing

On that particular evening, the officers of the Sacramento Police Department were looking for a male suspect who was captured on film breaking windows in the Meadowview neighborhood. The police camera shows officers breathing heavily as they run around the neighborhood trying to apprehend the suspect. They come across Clark standing in the yard of his grandmother's house with a cellphone in one hand. What ensued is hard to watch as is and was the case in many other shootings involving black males in the U.S. The camera footage takes you through the encounter and then one officer is heard shouting, "Gun! gun! gun!" and a barrage of shots follows. The aftermath shows the victim on the ground, his life seeping away. The officers had fired 20 rounds, eight shots found their mark, six of them in Stephon Clark's back. He died about 3 to 10 minutes after being shot. The officers opened fire just seconds, six seconds in all, after they encountered Clark.

This is nothing new. The "overkill" by law enforcement of black males is nothing new, it has happened often enough. The horror and anger is nothing new either and so are the protests that ensued as hundreds if not thousands took to the streets looking for justice. We have yet to see justice prevail in such shootings because police officers are held to different standards and they march to a different drum beat, or so it seems in this country.

According to the police, they believed that Clark was holding a weapon in his hand as they chased him into the backyard and opened fire at an unarmed man. The weapon was a white iPhone. The officers have claimed that they "feared for their lives." We've heard this excuse often enough. Take Michael Brown for instance. The officer, Darren Wilson, who shot him claimed that he feared for his life against an unarmed Brown. The young teenager had been shot six times at least twice in the head; those were the last two shots he delivered. According to Darren Wilson, it was a "fight for survival" and he shot him because he feared for his life. Sound familiar?

Coming back to the case at hand, no aid was administered to Stephon Clark after the shooting. It took about five minutes before a female officer is heard saying, "We need to know if you're OK. We need to get you medics, so we can't go over and get you help until we know you don't have a weapon." Right, how many bullets does it take to believe that a shooting victim is no longer a threat? After five minutes, they walk over and handcuff the man lying bleeding on the ground. More officers arrive at the scene and one officer is heard saying, "Hey, mute," and that was the end of the audio recording.

This is just another shooting of yet another black male in the scheme of things. The use of deadly force is also the norm where black males are concerned. Shoot first and ask questions later is the stance law enforcement takes when it comes to black suspects. The latest incident has sparked protests but this too is nothing new. The anger will simmer long after the protests have died down but justice will take a long time coming, if at all.

California lawmakers are pushing to make it easier to prosecute police officers who kill civilians. According to the author of the bill, Shirley Weber, "It seems that the worst possible outcome is increasingly the only outcome that we experience." How right she is. These killings can only be described as an "overkill" to say the least.

In the meantime, another black male is dead, the victim of a police shooting. Far too often we hear, "we feared for our lives," from the officers after emptying their barrels into the victims but in most cases it was not the officers who had to fear for their lives, it was the victims who had no weapons to protect themselves and are no longer here to give an account of what took place.

Stephon Clark was the father of two young boys, ages 1 and 3, and at the time of his death, he was trying to turn his life around. He had a criminal record but that is not the point here. His record is irrelevant; the shoot-to-kill mentality is. The case is under investigation but don't hold your breath. The killing of black males will continue in a culture where it is condoned by the system.

Stephon Clark's grandmother asked, "Why didn't you shoot him in the arm? Shoot him in the legs? Send in dogs? Send in a Taser? Why? Why?" Those are my questions too, but I will add one more question to that. Why was Clark shot six times in the back if as the officers claimed that they had feared for their lives when they delivered the shots? Finally, did Stephon Clark deserve to die even if he had broken some windows on that late March evening? What do you think?
Apparently, the Sultan of Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho has gone missing.

The controversial and often outspoken politician has noticeably been missing in action and Mombasa residents are letting him know that the silence is too loud.

To drive the point home, a missing person poster of the Mombasa County boss has been made seeking his seemingly elusive whereabouts.

The poster, which carries a picture of the governor reads: The above pictured person went missing 60 days ago and has not been seen since.

It adds: He was last seen wearing blue jeans and a black jacket while taking selfies on snow in Europe.

This, of course, was in reference to the governors excursion to Estonia on March 1, when he lead a delegation from the coastal county on a benchmarking tour aimed at securing partnerships and funding in tourism and e-governance.

The two-day official visit seems to have turned into 60 days, at least according to this poster by one, Polycarp Hinga.

And here are pictures of where Joho was reportedly last seen:
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Survey Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market 2018A market study "Global Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market" examines the performance of the Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market 2018 report includes Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber market Revenue, market Share, Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber industry volume, market Trends, Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market 2018 :ParkerITT EnidineACE ControlsAVENTICSWeformaZimmer GroupTaylor DevicesModern IndustriesHanchenWuxi BCDIndustrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market : By ApplicationMetalworkingFactory AutomationMaterial Handling & PackagingPharmaceutical & MedicalOthersIndustrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market : By TypeMiniature Shock AbsorberMega-Line Shock AbsorberHeavy Shock AbsorberFirstly, the report covers the top Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber industry, Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber market revenue worldwide.Finally, Industrial Hydraulic Shock Absorber market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:GlobeInfoResearch.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas,TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@globeinforesearch.com
Microwave Packaging Market - Drives Growth due to Key Player as American Packaging Corporation, Rock-Tenn Company, Associated Packaging Technologies, Inc., Amcor Limited, Bemis Company, Inc. etc.

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The microwave packaging market is expected to witness stupendous growth fueled by consumer demand for foods offering ease of preparation and portability for on-the-go eating. Other important factors driving the microwave packaging market are improvements in packaging structure that allow food to be heated in the package itself and served instantly and innovations that overcome limitations of microwave ovens like browning and crisping.Obtain Report Details @Freshly prepared food application segment is expected to witness the highest gains depending on its convenience and perception of higher quality compared to frozen and canned food. Frozen food will grow in demand driven by the growing interest of people in various ethnic cuisines and steam-cooked vegetables.Get an exclusive sample of this report @The report provides a complete analysis of the current market trends, industry growth drivers, restraints, and market projections for the coming years. It also includes an analysis of the recent technological developments, Porters five force analysis, and complete industry profiles of the top market players. It includes a review of the micro and macro factors significant for the existing market players and new entrants.Download TOC @The major players in this market are American Packaging Corporation, Rock-Tenn Company, Associated Packaging Technologies, Inc., Amcor Limited, Bemis Company, Inc., Berry Plastics Corporation, Ampac Packaging, LLC, Graphic Packaging Holding Company, Mullinix Packages, Inc., Packaging Concepts Inc., Printpack Inc., Fold-Pak, Rexam Plc, Sealed Air Corporation, Silgan Holdings, Sonoco Products Company, Huhtamaki Oyj, Scholle Vacumet, and othersAbout TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Bifold Doors Market 2018-2023 Worldwide Industry Top Key Players:Andersen Corporation,JELD-WEN Inc., Pella Corporation, Ply Gem Industries Inc., AG Millworks, Associated Windows

Bifold Doors Market, Bifold Doors Market size, Bifold Doors Market share,Bifold Doors Market trends,Bifold Doors Market stat

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Bifold Doors Market Report Added By marketresearchfuture.com, offers Global Industry Share, Growth, Size, Trends, and Forecast Till 2023. Bifold Doors Market Report also covers key players, segregate the market into different segmentations and factors affecting the market (drivers, restraints, and opportunities).Market HighlightsBifold doors market is seen growing in last couple of years due to the changing consumer preferences and increasing household investment on personal construction and renovations. The market has gained popularity owing to inclination towards bringing aesthetic appeal to the construction.The market is further expanding due to increasing demand from the Asia-pacific countries such as China, India and Indonesia. The region has observed positive economic growth which in turn boosts the real-estate and infrastructure development. The various government policies offer lucrative investment opportunities to the foreign as well as domestic investors. For instance, the Smart Cities initiative by the Indian government has led to increased real-estate development in the country which in turn boosts the demand for bifold doors. The global market is expected to grow at approximately 5% CAGR during the forecast period.Key PlayersThe key players of global Bifold Doors market report includes Andersen Corporation, JELD-WEN Inc., Pella Corporation, Ply Gem Industries Inc., AG Millworks, Associated Windows & Conservatories, ATIS Group, AWM Building Maintenance Ltd., Cascade Windows Inc., and Brennan Enterprises Inc.Get Sample Copy of this Report @Scope of the reportThis study provides an overview of the global bifold doors industry, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global bifold doors market as material and application. On the basis of material it is segmented as wood, PVC, aluminum, and others. On the basis of application it is segmented as residential and non-residential.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures by regions (United States, EU, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India) and other regions can be addedMarket Research Analysis:The global bifold doors market is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period, due to the growth in the end-use industry. The demand is augmented essentially due to the rapid growth in residential construction in region of Asia-pacific. The market has been segmented on the basis of application into residential and non-residential. Residential construction is expected to lead the market with largest market size followed by non-residential segment, which includes commercial spaces, manufacturing industry and public utility spaces. However factors such as sustainability issues in construction industry is expected to hamper the market growth during the forecast period.Study Objectives of Bifold Doors MarketTo provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 6 years of various segments and sub-segments of the Global bifold doors marketTo provide insights about factors affecting the market growthTo analyze the Global bifold doors market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (ROW)To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospectiveTo provide country level analysis of the market for segment by material, packaging, application, and regionsFull report on Bifold Doors Market report spread across 111 pages, profiling 18 companies and supported with tables and figures available @Regional Analysis of Global Bifold Doors MarketAPAC is expected to lead the market with the largest market share and fastest growing market. The region has witnessed growth in building & construction activities along with various supportive policies and regulations which encourages real-estate development in the countries of China, India and Indonesia. This has fueled the growth of the Bifold Doors market. Also, due to rapid urbanization and increasing disposable income in the APAC countries, there is seen an increase in the aesthetic values in construction, which leads to the demand for such doors in the interiors of the construction both in commercial and residential spaces.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. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Vehicle Electrification Market Advancement In Automobile Mechanics 2022

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According to Publisher, the Global Vehicle Electrification market is accounted for $330.74 million in 2015 and is expected to reach $659.36 million by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 10.4%. This life-threatening condition of Sepsis arises when the body's response to infection injures its own tissues and organs; the rise in number of the situations is demanding more diagnostics. Rising health concerns such as Cancer, Diabetes, Major Trauma, and Burns etc. are depleting the immune system among all age groups, which has given rise to the demand for the Vehicle Electrification market. Moreover, increasing surgical procedures, exponential rise in incidence of hospital-acquired infections and growth in the number of product approvals are supporting the growth of this market. On the other hand, lack of standard protocols and awareness and shortage of skilled staff are the hindering the same.For more information @Blood Culture Media segment is expected to grow at par level owing to its standardized techniques for the Vehicle Electrification. By Technology, Microbiology segment is estimated to be the largest growing segment in order to the increasing inclination of physicians and patients towards use of rapid diagnostic products for accurate and quick identification and diagnosis of sepsis. North America is dominating the global market owing to high prevalence of sepsis, rising number of invasive procedures, and rising government support towards sepsis researches. However, Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market owing to increasing number of surgical procedures, and growing number of clinical studies.Some of the key players of the Vehicle Electrification market include Beckman Coulter (Danaher), Becton, Dickinson & Co. (BD), bioMerieux, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Bruker Corporation, Cepheid, Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Nanosphere, Inc., Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, T2 Biosystems, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Trinity Biotech.Methods Covered:- Automated Diagnostics- Conventional DiagnosticsProducts Covered:- Assay Kits & Reagents- Blood Culture Media- Instruments- SoftwarePathogens Covered:- Fungal Sepsis- Bacterial Sepsiso Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsiso Gram-Positive Bacterial Sepsis- Other PathogensTechnologies Covered:- Flow Cytometry- Immunoassays- Microbiology- Molecular DiagnosticsApplications Covered:- Laboratory Testing- Point-Of-Care TestingRequest Sample CopyRegions Covered:- North Americao USo Canadao Mexico- Europeo Germanyo Franceo Italyo UKo Spaino Rest of Europe- Asia Pacifico Japano Chinao Indiao Australiao New Zealando Rest of Asia Pacific- Rest of the Worldo Middle Easto Brazilo Argentinao South Africao EgyptMake an enquiry:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Internet of Things Software Market-Industry Verticals, Innovative Trend, Development Technology, Leading Players & Regional Analysis by 2025

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Global Internet of Things Software Market Size Status and Forecast 2025The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these objects to connect and exchange data.Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to inter-operate within the existing Internet infrastructure.This software manages sensing, measurements, light data filtering, light data security, and aggregation of data. It uses certain protocols to aid sensors in connecting with real-time, machine-to-machine networks. Then it collects data from multiple devices and distributes it in accordance with settings. It also works in reverse by distributing data over devices. The system eventually transmits all collected data to a central server.Get sample copy of this report:Top Manufacturers: Cisco Systems, Inc., Bosch Software Innovations GmbH, General Electric, Google Inc., Amazon Web Services, Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel Corporation, International Business Machine (IBM) Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP SEMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket Segment by Type, coversReal-time Streaming Analytics SoftwareSecurity Solution SoftwareData Management SoftwareRemote Monitoring System SoftwareNetwork Bandwidth Management SoftwareMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoBuilding and Home AutomationManufacturingRetailTransportationOthersGet Discount of this report:IoT software addresses its key areas of networking and action through platforms, embedded systems, partner systems, and middleware. These individual and master applications are responsible for data collection, device integration, real-time analytics, and application and process extension within the IoT network. They exploit integration with critical business systems (e.g., ordering systems, robotics, scheduling, and more) in the execution of related tasks.Table of Content:Global Internet of Things (IoT) Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Internet of Things (IoT) Software2 Global Internet of Things (IoT) Software Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Cisco Systems, Inc.3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Internet of Things (IoT) Software Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Bosch Software Innovations GmbH3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Internet of Things (IoT) Software Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 General Electric3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Internet of Things (IoT) Software Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments4 Global Internet of Things (IoT) Software Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)5 United States Internet of Things (IoT) Software Development Status and Outlook6 EU Internet of Things (IoT) Software Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Internet of Things (IoT) Software Development Status and Outlook8 China Internet of Things (IoT) Software Development Status and Outlook9 India Internet of Things (IoT) Software Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Internet of Things (IoT) Software Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions, Type and Application (2018-2025)12 Internet of Things (IoT) Software Market Dynamics13 Market Effect Factors AnalysisComplete Report:Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comCompany Name: ReportsWebWebsite: Reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Meat Snacks Market: Rise in Working Women Population to Propells the Market

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Meat snacks are food products made from animal meat by blending it with other ingredients to attain specific taste and nutrition. The process involves marinating meat in a curing solution and drying it. This process provides a unique flavor and longer shelf life to meat snacks. Changing consumer taste and preferences and inclination toward consumption of convenience food & beverages have increased demand for meat snacks over the years. Meat snacks are considered to be healthy food having significant vitamins, minerals, and other nutritional value. Manufacturers are focused on developing new products to satisfy the changing consumer tastes and preferences. The global meat snacks market has witnessed rapid changes due to factors such as rise in purchasing power, improvement in the living standard of the population, and rapid urbanization. Demand for meat products is expected to increase during the forecast period due to rise in awareness regarding health among the consumers.Download PDF Brochure @The global meat snacks market has been segmented based on meat type, product type, distribution channel, and region. In terms of animal type, the global meat snacks market has been segmented into chicken, pork, beef, lamb, turkey, seafood, and other. Based on product type, the market has been segmented into jerky, sticks, steak, pickled sausages, nuggets, tortilla, chews, and others. In terms of distribution channel, the market has been segmented into online distribution channel and offline distribution channel. Online distribution channel of the global meat snacks market is expected to show the fastest growth rate during the forecast period due to convenience and wide range of options. Offline distribution channel includes convenience stores, grocery stores hypermarkets, supermarkets, restaurants, and fast food corners. Meat snacks dominated the global snacks market owing to several strategies, such as product innovation adopted by manufacturers.The global meat snacks market is primarily driven by factors such as changing lifestyle, rise in working women population, and inclination toward convenience food. Additionally, popularity of convenience food and beverages are resulting in higher demand for meat snacks. Introduction of different product forms, such as handmade sausage crisps, is expected to have a positive impact on market demand. However, consumer awareness regarding adverse health effects such as obesity by consumption of meat, religious, social and preference for vegetarian and vegan foods are some factors restraining the global meat snacks market. Strict government rules and regulations related to the use of certain meat product is also expected to hinder the market. However, product innovation by key players, such as introduction of low fat, high in protein, and gluten free products can result to boost the global meat snacks market during the forecast period.Buy this Report at:In terms of region, the global meat snacks market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America. The U.S. and Canada dominated the global meat snacks market. The U.S. accounted for a major share of the market due to the rise in disposable income among consumers coupled with changing consumer tastes and preferences. The market in the U.K and Belgium is projected to expand at a considerable pace. The meat snacks market in China, India, Japan, and Australia in Asia Pacific are expected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period due to the rise in product innovation among manufacturers and population. Additionally, multiple distribution channels and increase in popularity of meat products are also expected to contribute to the expansion of the market in Asia Pacific.Major key player operating in the global market are ConAgra Food, Zorabian Chicken, Frito Lay, Vista Foods, Venkys, Meatsnacks group, King Elite Snacks, Jack Links, Hormel Foods, Mafood USA, Tyson Food, Vista Food, Winterbotham Darby, Nestle USA and Kepak Group.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:
Energy Trading & Risk Management Market, Technological Innovation, Type, Applications,Industry Dynamics & Forecast by 2025

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Global Energy Trading & Risk Management Market Size Status and Forecast 2025Energy trading and risk management (ETRM) systems involve commercial decision making and market execution using an integrated system that enables data exchanges among trade floor, operations, credit, contract and accounting functions. Integral to the process are event and trade identification/capture, comprehensive risk management strategies/policies, scheduling/nomination/transportation and settlement execution. The process also provides for price transparency, market monitoring, controlled access and regulatory compliance.Energy trading and risk management (ETRM) is a category of software applications, frameworks, and tools that support business processes related to trading energy commodities. It consists of a set of functions that vary depending on which commodity is traded, assets that are used in the business, location of those assets, and companys business strategy and business processes associated with the same.Get sample copy of this report:Top Manufacturers: OpenLink, FIS, Sapient, Accenture, Trayport, Allegro,ABB, Triple Point, SAP, Amphora, Eka SoftwareMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPowerNatural GasOil & ProductsOtherGet Discount of this report:The ETRM system is inclusive of trading requirements of a liberalized energy market and thus help market participants to carry out trade encompassing full range contracts across the globe. It also includes comprehensive risk management plan, event and trade identification, scheduling transportation, and settlement execution. Moreover, ETRM solutions provide consulting services for price transparency, market monitoring, and regulatory compliance.Table of Content:Global Energy Trading & Risk Management Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Energy Trading & Risk Management2 Global Energy Trading & Risk Management Competition Analysis by Players3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 OpenLink3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Energy Trading & Risk Management Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 FIS3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Energy Trading & Risk Management Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Sapient3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Energy Trading & Risk Management Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments4 Global Energy Trading & Risk Management Market Size by Application (2013-2018)5 United States Energy Trading & Risk Management Development Status and Outlook6 EU Energy Trading & Risk Management Development Status and Outlook7 Japan Energy Trading & Risk Management Development Status and Outlook8 China Energy Trading & Risk Management Development Status and Outlook9 India Energy Trading & Risk Management Development Status and Outlook10 Southeast Asia Energy Trading & Risk Management Development Status and Outlook11 Market Forecast by Regions and Application (2018-2025)12 Energy Trading & Risk Management Market DynamicsComplete Report:Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comCompany Name: ReportsWebWebsite: Reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Chronic Kidney Disease Global Market Analysis & Forecast 2017-2026

Chronic Kidney Disease

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Chronic Kidney DiseaseOverviewChronic kidney disease (CKD), or chronic renal disease, is an asymptomatic, long-term condition that damages the kidneys and leads to the loss of kidney function over time (NIH, 2010). As the disease progresses, the symptoms worsen, eventually leading to kidney failure (NIH, 2010).The glomerular filtration rate (GFR), a key measure of kidney function, is determined by the amount of creatinine in the blood, and the Kidney Disease, Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) classification system is considered the standard for GFR measurement and diagnosis of CKD.In the 7MM, epidemiologists forecast the diagnosed prevalent cases of CKD, Stages I-V, to increase from 25,775,828 cases in 2016 to 28,325,839 cases in 2026, at an Annual Growth Rate (AGR) of 0.99%. The UK will have the highest number of diagnosed cases of CKD throughout the forecast period.Click here for sample report @Kidney DiseaseScope- The Chronic Kidney Disease EpiCast Report provides an overview of the risk factors and global trends of chronic kidney disease in the seven major markets (7MM: US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan).- This report also includes a 10-year epidemiological forecast for the total prevalent cases of CKD, Stages I-IV, segmented by age (beginning at 20 years and ending at ages 80 years and older), by sex, and by stage. Furthermore, this report includes a forecast of the diagnosed prevalent cases of CKD, Stages I-V, and the diagnosed prevalent cases of CKD by stage.- The chronic kidney disease epidemiology report is written and developed by Masters- and PhD-level epidemiologists.- The EpiCast Report is in-depth, high quality, transparent and market-driven, providing expert analysis of disease trends in the 7MM.Reasons to buyThe Chronic Kidney Disease EpiCast report will allow you to -- Develop business strategies by understanding the trends shaping and driving the global chronic kidney disease treatment market.- Quantify patient populations in the chronic kidney disease market to improve product design, pricing, and launch plans.- Organize sales and marketing efforts by identifying the age groups and sex that present the best opportunities for chronic kidney disease therapeutics in each of the markets covered.- Understand magnitude of chronic kidney disease..ContinuedFor Detailed Reading Please visit @Kidney DiseaseWise 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
Global DBC Ceramic Substrate Market Forecast 2018-2025 Remtec, IXYS, Rogers Curamik, KCC (Korea)

DBC Ceramic Substrate market

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A market study "DBC Ceramic Substrate Market" examines the performance of the DBC Ceramic Substrate market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the DBC Ceramic Substrate market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of DBC Ceramic Substrate market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The DBC Ceramic Substrate Market 2018 report includes DBC Ceramic Substrate market Revenue, market Share, DBC Ceramic Substrate industry volume, market Trends, DBC Ceramic Substrate Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, DBC Ceramic Substrate Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here-Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of DBC Ceramic Substrate Market 2018 -Rogers Curamik (Germany)KCC (Korea)Ferrotec(Shanghai Shenhe Thermo-Magnetics Electronics) (China)Heraeus Electronics (Germany)Tong Hsing (Taiwan)Remtec (US)Stellar Industries Corp (US)Nanjing Zhongjiang New Material Science & Technology (China)Zibo Linzi Yinhe High-Tech Development (China)NGK Electronics Devices (Japan)IXYS (Germany Division)Mitsubishi Materials (Japan)DBC Ceramic Substrate Market : By ApplicationAlN DBC Ceramic SubstrateAl2O3 DBC Ceramic SubstrateDBC Ceramic Substrate Market : By TypePower ElectronicsAutomotiveHome Appliances and CPVAerospace and OthersFirstly, the report covers the top DBC Ceramic Substrate manufacturing industry players from regions like North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the DBC Ceramic Substrate report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of DBC Ceramic Substrate industry, DBC Ceramic Substrate industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. DBC Ceramic Substrate Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here-The DBC Ceramic Substrate research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the DBC Ceramic Substrate market revenue worldwide.Finally, DBC Ceramic Substrate market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:GlobeInfoResearch.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@globeinforesearch.com
Highly acclaimed Ugandan dancehall crooner Joseph Mayanja alias Jose Chameleone and his wife, Daniela Atim, have welcomed their fifth child together.

The hitmakers wife successfully delivered a healthy bouncing baby on Thursday, April 5 at exactly 7:14 AM. Daniela delivered the baby in Atlanta, Georgia where she currently resides with two of their children.

An elated Jose Chameleone took to social media to break the news and revealed the babys name to be Xara Amani Mayanja.

Look what God has done for me. Xara Amani Mayanja has joined us today morning at exactly 7:14 am. Thanks Andreon Atim for your patience, kindness, loving me and above all giving me all the happiness a wife can ever give to her husband. Congratulations for this beautiful princess. Welcome princess Xara Amani Mayanja. Thanks everybody for your prayers, Chameleon captioned a photo of his wife holding their newborn baby.

Xara Amani is the couples fifth child as they close in on their 10-year marriage anniversary. The four include sons Abba Marcus Mayanja, Alfa Joseph Mayanja, and Amma Christian Mayanja, and daughter Alba Shyne Mayanja.

The arrival of the baby girl comes months after it had been reported that the Valu Valu hitmaker and Daniela had divorced.

Read: We are Still and will Always be Together, Chameleone Speaks Up on Divorce Rumors
Medical Tourism Market Highlights with Top Healthcare Destination by Leading Players - NTT Medical Center Tokyo, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, Prince Court Medical Centre, Samitivej PCL

Medical Tourism Market

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The Global Medical Tourism Market will generate an explosive double digit CAGR of 21.4% during the forecast period (2017-2023).Medical tourism or health tourism refers to traveling abroad to a foreign nation for the purpose of seeking healthcare services. The activities are not restricted to only surgical intervention and may involve medical check-ups, and other practices that require skilled medical interventions. According to OECD estimates, nearly 50 million medical tourists travelled to the emerging nations in 2016.Market Dynamics of the Global Medical Tourism Market:The Medical tourism market is been driven by factors such as rising geriatric population, high cost of treatment in developed countries, availability of cost-effective and quality treatments in developing countries, development of effective travel especially air travel, assistance from tourism departments and local governments, availability and spread of latest medical technologies throughout the world, high penetration of health insurance, development of communication technology, and others.Get a Sample Copy of This Report @The rise of in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy, retro-production has also stimulated the market. International accreditation is a key factor boosting international medical tourism. Currently, over 600 health facilities in the world are accredited by the U.S. Joint Commission International (JCI), which is growing by 20% each year. The market restraints are limited coverage and insufficient reimbursement offered by insurance companies, difficulties associated with cross border travel, such as cultural barriers, connectivity issues, documentation, and VISA approval issues, and others.Key Players:Fortis Healthcare Ltd., Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, KPJ Healthcare Berhad, Barbados Fertility Centre, NTT Medical Center Tokyo, Seoul National University Hospital, Asian Heart Institute and Research Centre Private Limited, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, Barbados Fertility Centre, Asklepios Kliniken Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (Germany), Prince Court Medical Centre (Malaysia), Samitivej PCL (Thailand), CHRISTUS MUGUERZA (Mexico), Anadolu Medical Center (Turkey)Regional Analysis of Global Medical Tourism Market:Medical Tourism Index ranks Canada, U.K. Israel, and Singapore as the key destinations. Globalization has led to a huge impact on the market for medical tourism as can be witnessed by the dominance of Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is home to many emerging economies of the world. The Asia Pacific region accounted for the largest share of the global medical tourism market, of greater than 40% in 2016. This growth is attributed to infrastructure development, rising economy, technology up gradation of health facilities, low cost and quality medical services, and government initiative to promote medical tourism in this region. Asia Pacific market was led by Malaysia, Taiwan, India, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The rise of x-soviet economies is the hallmark of medical tourism in the European continent. Countries such as Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia have leveraged their healthcare systems for medical tourism.Get Attractive Discount on This Report @Americas holds the second position in the medical tourism, followed by Europe. Central and South American countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba and Ecuador are popular destinations for medical tourists. The South American nations have specialised in cosmetic surgery and includes destinations such as Brazil, Argentina and others. According to Patients Beyond Borders, global medical tourism market grew at CAGR rate of 15% to 25% and Mexico was predicted to the fastest growing market. The Middle East and Africa have poor market owing to poorly developed healthcare sector and socio-economic development. Israel and Jordan are the best destinations for medical tourism in Middle East and Africa.Brief TOC1 Report Prologue2 Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations3 Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary research3.4 Market Size Estimation4 Market DynamicsTOC ContinuedInquire about This Report @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market 2018 Analysis and Global Forecast to 2023

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The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) industry market by types, applications, players and regions. This report also displays the 2013-2023 production, Consumption, revenue, Gross margin, Cost, Gross, market share, CAGR, and Market influencing factors of the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) industry in USA, EU, China, India, Japan and other regionsMarket Analysis by Players: This report includes following top vendors in terms of company basic information, product category, sales (volume), revenue (Million USD), price and gross margin (%).UberDidiLyftGettMytaxi(Hailo)Ola CabsBlaBla CarCareemGrab TaxiKako TaxiAddison LeeMeruIngogoFlywheelEasy TaxiGocatchViaYandex TaxiLecab99TaxisRequest a Sample Report @Market Analysis by Regions: Each geographical region is analyzed as Sales, Market Share (%) by Types & Applications, Production, Consumption, Imports & Exports Analysis, and Consumption Forecast.USAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaSouth AmericaSouth AfricaOthersMarket Analysis by Types: Each type is studied as Sales, Market Share (%), Revenue (Million USD), Price, Gross Margin and more similar information.Android PlatformiOS PlatformMarket Analysis by Applications: Each application is studied as Sales and Market Share (%), Revenue (Million USD), Price, Gross Margin and more similar information.Below 25 Years25-40 YearsAbove 40 YearsTable of Content1 Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview of Mobility as a Service (MaaS)1.2 Classification of Mobility as a Service (MaaS)1.2.1 Type 11.2.2 Type 21.2.3 Type 31.2.4 Type 41.3 Applications of Mobility as a Service (MaaS)1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.3.4 Application 41.4 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Regional Analysis1.4.1 USA Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.2 Europe Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.3 Japan Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.4 China Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.5 India Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.6 Southeast Asia Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.7 South America Market Present Situation Analysis1.4.8 South Africa Market Present Situation Analysis1.5 Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Industry Development Factors Analysis1.5.1 Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Industry Development Opportunities Analysis1.5.2 Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Industry Development Challenges Analysis1.6 Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Consumer Behavior Analysis2 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Competitions by Players2.1 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Players2.2 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Players (2017-2018)2.3 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Price (USD/Unit) by Players (2017-2018)2.4 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Gross Margin by Players (2017-2018)3 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Competitions by Types3.1 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Types3.2 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Type (2013-2018)3.3 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Price (USD/Unit) by Type (2013-2018)3.4 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Gross Margin by Type (2013-2018)3.5 USA Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.6 China Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.7 Europe Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.8 Japan Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.9 India Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.10 Southeast Asia Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.11 South America Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type3.12 South Africa Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Type4 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Competitions by Applications4.1 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.2 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Revenue (Million USD) and Share by Applications (2013-2018)4.3 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Price (USD/Unit) by Applications (2013-2018)4.4 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Gross Margin by Applications (2013-2018)4.5 USA Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.6 China Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.7 Europe Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.8 Japan Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.9 India Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.10 Southeast Asia Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.11 South America Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications4.12 South Africa Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Applications5 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Production Market Analysis by Regions5.1 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Production (Unit) and Market Share (%) by Regions5.1.1 USA Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.2 Europe Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.3 China Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.4 Japan Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.5 India Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.6 Southeast Asia Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.7 South America Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.1.8 South Africa Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Production Present Situation Analysis5.2 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Production Value (Million USD) and Share by Region (2013-2018)5.3 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Price (USD/Unit) by Region (2013-2018)5.4 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Gross Margin by Region (2013-2018)6 Global Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Sales Market Analysis by Region6.1 USA Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.2 Europe Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.3 China Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.4 Japan Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.5 India Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.6 Southeast Asia Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.7 South America Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation Analysis6.8 South Africa Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Market Consumption Present Situation AnalysisContinuedAccess 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
Global CFRTP Market is dominated By Top Players like Solvay, Koninklijke Ten Cate Bv., TEIJIN LIMITED, TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC. At Higher CAGR During Forecast 2024

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CFRTP report states import/Export, supply and utilization figures and additionally cost, value, income and gross edge by locales (North America, EU, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India) and different districts can be added. Development approaches and designs are examined and also fabricating procedures and cost structures.The Global CFRTP Market accounted for USD 820.1 million in 2016 and projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% 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.Global CFRTP Market By Resin Type (Polyamide, Polyetheretherketone, Polyphenylene Sulfide, Polycarbonate); Product (Continuous Carbon Fiber, Long Carbon Fiber, Short Carbon Fiber); Application (Aerospace, Automotive, Consumer Durable); Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Complete report on Global CFRTP Market Research Report 2017-2024 spread across 350 Pages, profiling Top companies and supports with tables and figuresFor In depth Information Get Free Sample Copy of this Report@Market Definition: Global CFRTP MarketCFRTP or carbon fiber reinforced polymer is the composite material. It is a strong material having light fibred plastic. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer has its application in automotive and aerospace, and other sectors. Need to reduce weight to optimize efficiency in automotive applications, and excellent performance properties at very high temperatures may act as the major driver in the growth of Carbon fiber reinforced polymer market. On the other side, high customization requirement for end-use applications may hamper the market.Key Questions Answered in Global CFRTP Market Report:-Our Report offers:- What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global CFRTP Market in 2024? What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global CFRTP Market? What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global CFRTP Market? Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global CFRTP Market? Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global CFRTP Market? Business Overview by Type, Applications, Gross Margin and Market Share What are the Global CFRTP Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Request for Detailed TOC:Top Key Players: Solvay Koninklijke Ten Cate Bv. TEIJIN LIMITED TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC. SGL Group Celanese Corporation Covestro AG POLYONE CORPORATION Plasti Comp, Inc. AEROSUD and others.Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have comprehensive understanding of the Global CFRTP Market and its commercial landscape. Assess the CFRTP production processes, major issues, and solutions to mitigate the development risk. To understand the most affecting driving and restraining forces in the CFRTP Market and its impact in the Global market. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by leading respective organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Global CFRTP Market.Avail 10% Instant Discount on Purchase of this report Mail us on: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.comMajor Market Drivers: Need to reduce weight to optimize efficiency in automotive applications Growing demand for CFRTP in the aerospace & defense and energy & power industries Excellent performance properties at very high temperatures Higher costs compared to other metals and alloys High customization requirement for end-use applicationsFor more insightful information visit@Customize report of "Global CFRTP Market" as per customers requirement also available.Market Segmentations:Global CFRTP Market is segmented on the basis of Resin Type Product Application GeographyMarket Segmentations in Details:On the basis of Resin Type, global CFRTP market is segmented into Polyamide (PA), Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS), Polycarbonate (PC), and Others.On the basis of Product, global CFRTP market is segmented into continuous carbon fiber, long carbon fiber, and short carbon fiber.On the basis of Application, the global CFRTP market is segmented into aerospace. The aerospace segment is further sub segmented into interior components, and exterior components.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaCompetitive Landscape: Global CFRTP MarketThe global CFRTP market is consolidated due to the presence of limited number of players concentrated in few countries. These major players have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies such as mergers & acquisitions, new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, and others to strengthen their position in this market.Speak to Author of the report @Other ReportGlobal Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market, By Geography; Offering (Hardware, Software, Services); Structure (Tunnels Bridges, Buildings Utilities, Dams); Technology (Wired Networking Technology, Wireless Technology); Application (Pore Water Pressure, Soil Stresses, Lateral Deformation, Vertical Deformation), End-Users (Building, Infrastructure, Energy, Power, Oil, Gas, Mining)  Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Data Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: sopan.gedam@databridgemarketresearch.com
Global Allelochemical Market Forecast 2018 AgBiTech Pty Ltd, Ajay Bio-Tech, Amit Biotech Pvt

Allelochemical Market Share and Size 2018

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Global Market Study Allelochemical Market Provide Forecast Market Report 2018  2023 presents an detailed analysis of the Allelochemical which researched industry situations, market Size, growth and demands, Allelochemical market outlook, business strategies utilized, market Trends, competitive analysis by Allelochemical market players, deployment models, opportunities, future roadmap, value chain, major player profiles. The report also presents forecasts for Allelochemical investments from 2018 till 2025.In this report, the Allelochemical 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 Allelochemical Market and consumption region in the world, Europe also play important roles in global Allelochemical market while China is fastest growing region.Request For Sample at:Top manufactures include for Allelochemical market such as:1. AgBiTech Pty Ltd. (Australia)2. Ajay Bio-Tech (India) Ltd. (India)3. Amit Biotech Pvt., Ltd. (India)4. Andermatt Biocontrol AG (Switzerland)5. BASF SE (Germany)6. Bayer CropScience AG (Germany)7. Bayer CropScience Biologics GmbH (Germany)8. BionTech Inc. (Taiwan)9. Camson Bio Technologies Limited (India)10. Certis USA LLC (US)11. Dow AgroSciences LLC (US)12. Greeneem (India)13. Hebei Veyong Bio-Chemical Co., Ltd. (China)The 126 page Allelochemical report promises you will remain better informed than your competitor, With approx. 200 tables and figures examining the Allelochemical 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 Allelochemical market to 2025.Geographically, Allelochemical market report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and Allelochemical market share and growth rate in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), covering regions beThe report provides a basic overview of the Allelochemical industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure, Allelochemical market development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. Allelochemical 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 Allelochemical 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 Allelochemical 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 Allelochemical Market:The fundamental details related to Allelochemical industry like the product definition, cost, variety of applications, Allelochemical market demand and supply statistics are covered in this report.Competitive study of the major Allelochemical players will help all the market players in analyzing the latest trends and Allelochemical business strategies.The deep research study of Allelochemical market based on development opportunities, growth limiting factors and feasibility of investment will forecast the Allelochemical market growth.Finally, Allelochemical 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
Global Waste Heat to Powe Market Forecast 2018-2025 Exergy, Siemens, DaLian East, Ormat

Waste Heat to Powe market

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A market study "Waste Heat to Powe Market" examines the performance of the Waste Heat to Powe market 2018. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Waste Heat to Powe market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Waste Heat to Powe market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Waste Heat to Powe Market 2018 report includes Waste Heat to Powe market Revenue, market Share, Waste Heat to Powe industry volume, market Trends, Waste Heat to Powe Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Waste Heat to Powe Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here-Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Waste Heat to Powe Market 2018 -SIEMENSGEABBAMEC FOSTER WHEELERORMATMHIEXERGYELECTRATHERMDURR CYPLANGETECCNBMDALIAN EASTE-RATIONALWaste Heat to Powe Market : By ApplicationSteam Rankine CycleOrganic Rankine CyclesKalina CycleWaste Heat to Powe Market : By TypeChemical IndustryMetal ManufacturingOil and GasOthersFirstly, the report covers the top Waste Heat to Powe manufacturing industry players from regions like North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Waste Heat to Powe report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Waste Heat to Powe industry, Waste Heat to Powe industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Waste Heat to Powe Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here-The Waste Heat to Powe research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Waste Heat to Powe market revenue worldwide.Finally, Waste Heat to Powe market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About US:GlobeInfoResearch.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact US:5001 Spring Valley Rd #400,Dallas, TX 75244, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Email: sales@globeinforesearch.com
Global Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) Market Analysis 2018 Forecasts To 2023

Global Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) Manufacturers, Global Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) Industry,

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Global Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) MarketDescription:-Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Global Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) market 2018: Global Analysis, Industry Size, Share, Trends, Application Analysis and Growth Opportunities Forecast to 2023 To Its Research DatabaseThe global Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) market will reach xxx Million USD in 2017 and CAGR xx% 2011-2017. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features are covered in this report.Product Type Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.):EVA HMAPOE HMASBS HMASIS HMASEBS HMAPU HMAAPAO HMAPolyamide HMAPolyimide HMACompany Coverage (Sales Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Main Products etc.):3M CompanyArkemaBeardow & Adams (Adhesives) Ltd.DOW CorningHB FullerHenkelJowat SESika AGTex Year IndustriesAvery Dennison CorporationKleiberitNanpaoTianyangRenheCherngTay TechnologyZhejiang GoodHuateBrowse sample report @Application Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.):Packaging SolutionsNonwoven Hygiene ProductsFurniture & WoodworkBookbindingOthersRegion Coverage (Regional Output, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.):North AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaTable of Content1 Industry Overview1.1 Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) Industry1.1.1 Overview1.1.2 Development of Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA)1.2 Market Segment1.2.1 Upstream1.2.2 Downstream1.3 Cost Analysis2 Industry Environment2.1 Policy2.2 Economics2.3 Sociology2.4 Technology3 Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA) Market by Type3.1 Segment Overview3.1.1 EVA HMA3.1.2 POE HMA3.1.3 SBS HMA3.1.4 SIS HMA3.1.5 SEBS HMA3.1.6 PU HMA3.1.7 APAO HMA3.1.8 Polyamide HMA3.1.9 Polyimide HMA3.2 Market Size3.3 Market Forecast4 Major Companies List4.1 3M Company (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.2 Arkema (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.3 Beardow & Adams (Adhesives) Ltd. (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.4 DOW Corning (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.5 HB Fuller (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.6 Henkel (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.7 Jowat SE (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.8 Sika AG (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.9 Tex Year Industries (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.10 Avery Dennison Corporation (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.11 Kleiberit (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.12 Nanpao (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.13 Tianyang (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.14 Renhe (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.15 CherngTay Technology (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.16 Zhejiang Good (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)4.17 Huate (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)5 Market Competition5.1 Company Competition5.2 Regional Market by Company6 Market Demand6.1 Demand Situation6.1.1 Demand in Packaging Solutions6.1.2 Demand in Nonwoven Hygiene Products6.1.3 Demand in Furniture & Woodwork6.1.4 Demand in Bookbinding6.1.5 Demand in Others6.2 Regional Demand Comparison6.3 Demand Forecast7 Region Operation7.1 Regional Output7.2 Regional Market7.3 by Region7.3.1 North America7.3.1.1 Overview7.3.1.2 by Country (U.S., Canada, Mexico)7.3.2 Europe7.3.2.1 Overview7.3.2.2 by Country (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.)7.3.3 Asia-Pacific7.3.3.1 Overview7.3.3.2 by Country (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.)7.3.4 South America7.3.4.1 Overview7.3.4.2 by Country (Brazil, Argentina etc.)7.3.5 Middle East & Africa7.3.5.1 Overview7.3.5.2 by Country (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.)7.4 Regional Forecast8 Marketing & Price8.1 Price and Margin8.1.1 Price Trends8.1.2 Factors of Price Change8.1.3 Manufacturers Gross Margin Analysis8.2 Value Chain8.3 Marketing Channel9 Research Conclusion Table Upstream Segment of Hot Melt Adhesives (HMA)Browse 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
Embolization Particle Market 2018-2022:Analysis By Industry Top key Players Sirtex Medical, Merit Medical, Cook Medical, BTG Medical, Boston Scientific Corporation Among Other

Embolization Particle Market

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Embolization Particle or embolisation refers to the passage and lodging of an embolus within the bloodstream. It may be pathological (in which sense it is also called embolism), for example a pulmonary embolism, or therapeutic, as a hemostatic treatment for bleeding or as a treatment for some types of cancer by deliberately blocking blood vessels to starve the tumor cells.Looking for more information on this market?Request for Free Sample Copy of Report @This report focuses on the Global Embolization Particle market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Buy Now This Report Directly Follow@Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Sirtex Medical Merit Medical Cook Medical BTG Medical Boston Scientific Corporation Terumo Corporation HENGRUI Medical INterface BIOmaterials B.V. AliconMarket 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 Microspheres Particles (e.g. PVA Particles, Gelfoam Particles) Drug-eluting Beads (DEBs) Radio-Embolic Microspheres (e.g. Therasphere and SIRSphere)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into Uterine Fibroid Embolization Prostatic Artery Embolization (treatment for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH) Liver Tumor Embolization Trauma Embolization OtherEarly Buyers Will Receive Instant Discount On This Report @Short review On Table Of Content-1 Market Overview1.1 Embolization Particle Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.5 Market Dynamics2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Sirtex Medical2.2 Merit Medical2.3 Cook Medical2.4 BTG Medical2.5 Boston Scientific Corporation2.6 Terumo Corporation2.7 HENGRUI Medical2.8 INterface BIOmaterials B.V.2.9 Alicon3 Global Embolization Particle Market Competition, by Manufacturer3.1 Global Embolization Particle Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer3.2 Global Embolization Particle Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer3.3 Market Concentration Rate3.4 Market Competition Trend4 Global Embolization Particle Market Analysis by Regions4.1 Global Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Regions4.2 North America Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)4.4 Asia-Pacific Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)4.5 South America Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)4.6 Middle East and Africa Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)5 North America Embolization Particle by Countries5.1 North America Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Countries5.2 USA Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)5.3 Canada Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)5.4 Mexico Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)6 Europe Embolization Particle by Countries6.1 Europe Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Countries6.2 Germany Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)6.3 UK Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)6.4 France Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)6.5 Russia Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)6.6 Italy Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)7 Asia-Pacific Embolization Particle by Countries7.1 Asia-Pacific Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Countries7.2 China Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)7.3 Japan Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)7.4 Korea Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)7.5 India Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)7.6 Southeast Asia Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)8 South America Embolization Particle by Countries8.1 South America Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Countries8.2 Brazil Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)8.3 Argentina Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)8.4 Columbia Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)9 Middle East and Africa Embolization Particle by Countries9.1 Middle East and Africa Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Countries9.2 Saudi Arabia Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)9.3 UAE Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)9.4 Egypt Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)9.5 Nigeria Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)9.6 South Africa Embolization Particle Sales and Growth (2012-2017)10 Global Embolization Particle Market Segment by Type10.1 Global Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)10.2 Microspheres Sales Growth and Price10.3 Particles (e.g. PVA Particles, Gelfoam Particles) Sales Growth and Price10.4 Drug-eluting Beads (DEBs) Sales Growth and Price10.5 Radio-Embolic Microspheres (e.g. Therasphere and SIRSphere) Sales Growth and Price11 Global Embolization Particle Market Segment by Application11.1 Global Embolization Particle Sales Market Share by Application (2012-2017)11.2 Uterine Fibroid Embolization Sales Growth (2012-2017)11.3 Prostatic Artery Embolization (treatment for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH) Sales Growth (2012-2017)11.4 Liver Tumor Embolization Sales Growth (2012-2017)11.5 Trauma Embolization Sales Growth (2012-2017)11.6 Other Sales Growth (2012-2017)12 Embolization Particle Market Forecast (2017-2022)12.1 Global Embolization Particle Sales, Revenue and Growth Rate (2017-2022)12.2 Embolization Particle Market Forecast by Regions (2017-2022)12.3 Embolization Particle Market Forecast by Type (2017-2022)12.4 Embolization Particle Market Forecast by Application (2017-2022)13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers13.1 Sales Channel13.2 Distributors, Traders and Dealers14 Research Findings and Conclusion15 Appendix15.1 Methodology15.2 Analyst Introduction15.3 Data SourceIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Know More About our Knowledge store@About Us:Research For Markets indulge in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East And Africa.Contact Us:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsEmail: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.com+44 8000-4182-37
Global Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Market key players in launching new products with upgraded technology and features

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https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/driver-assistance-systems-market/report-sample

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The global advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) market is expected to grow from an estimated $19,813.0 million in 2015 to $99,643.7 million in 2022. Europe dominated the global market with an estimated $7,726.8 million market size in 2015.Explore Full Report Description At:The global ADAS market is being driven due to several factors, including government initiatives to include advanced technology in public safety on roads, increasing demand for premium passenger cars and growing demand for connectivity in vehicles. The increasing partnerships and collaborations have been observed during the recent past in the global ADAS market.The partnership with Safran aims at enhancement in driving aids in autonomous vehicles. On the other hand, under the partnership with Mobileye, Valeo will design front-facing camera solutions and products based on sensor fusion with the use of Mobileyes EyeO microprocessors and computer vision algorithms. During the same year, Robert Bosch collaborated with Axel Springer Media Entrepreneurs to develop products with connected mobility solutions including digital content.Download Free Report Sample:The key players in the global ADAS market include Magna International Inc., Autoliv Inc., Continental AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Valeo, Denso Corporation, Ford Motors Company, BMW AG, and Audi AG.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion 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:
Food Processing Equipment Market - Global Scope And Trends Analysis 2017 - 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/food-processing-equipment-market

Global Food Processing Equipment Market: OverviewFood processing equipment come in several categories such as ovens, slicers, chillers, feeders, mixers, dryers, grinders, roasters, homogenizers, and separators. These equipment are of immense use in the confectionary, dairy, beverage, nuts, vegetable, fruits, chocolate manufacturing units, industrial bakery, and seafood industries, thus driving their market. Key manufacturers of food processing equipment are focusing on new product developments and enhancements of existing features, which is boosting the growth of this market. Manufacturers are devising new business strategies for establishing their products by making use of latest technology, thereby attracting potential customers.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Food Processing Equipment Market: Key TrendsBusy and changing lifestyle has resulted in the need for food processing equipment that are quick and efficient. The availability of raw materials and the need for wider range of food processing equipment is also boosting the growth of the market. Among the various types of food processing equipment, the equipment most in demand is the bakery and pasta equipment. The increasing disposable income of the people across the globe is fuelling the demand for food processing equipment. Frequent change in the preference for food, especially by the large population living in Asia Pacific is resulting in higher investments in these equipment and is also driving the market.Global Food Processing Equipment Market: Market PotentialWith new technology coming in the market consistently, consumers are replacing their old and existing equipment with the latest ones, and this is creating new growth opportunities in the market. Change in food trends also leads to newer investments in food processing equipment, thus driving the market.Companies such as Buhler are making use of sensors, radio networks, and internet of things (IoT) in their new generation roller mill Antares PlusTM, which is a product for the grain milling industry. The sensors continuously monitor the temperature on rolls and bearings as well as for the particle size distribution of ground products. The roller mill is always adjusted to optimum grinding degree, thereby benefitting customers from consistent quality and increased yield. Such developments are expected to drive the market and ensure the progress of the food processing equipment industry.Request TOC of the Report @Global Food Processing Equipment Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global food processing equipment market is segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. Of these, Asia Pacific is expected to witness a fast paced growth in the coming years. The large population base consuming poultry, meat, and seafood in Asia Pacific is driving the market in this region. Europe is another lucrative market for food processing equipment.Global Food Processing Equipment Market: Competitive LandscapeThe global food processing machinery market is fragmented with a large number of small and big players. The competition in the market is also intense owing to the presence of so many players. Most players are intending to expand their operations in the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Africa, as European and North American markets have matured. The shift to these emerging economies is likely to cut down on costs of operation. On the basis of performance of equipment, technical innovation, and after sales service, these players are competing with each other. Some pf the leading manufacturers of food processing equipment are: JBT, Buhler, Anko Food Machine, Marlen International, Alfa Laval, Marel, GEA, Farm and Ranch Depot, John Bean Technologies, A&B Process Systems, IDMC, Tetra Laval, Feldmeier Equipment, Scherjon C. van't Riet, SPX, Paul Mueller, and Krones,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
Sourcenity Launches Second Episode of Escape!VR Escape Room Series Dubbed Above the Clouds

www.escapeVR.net

http://store.steampowered.com/app/566970/EscapeVR_Above_the_Clouds/,

https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/859122784213043/,

https://www.viveport.com/apps/22f060f9-4bda-4084-868c-66ee72e4cda9,

https://www.microsoft.com/en-is/store/p/escape-vr-above-the-clouds/9mv21dv13803

www.sourcenity.com

Sourcenity, a Munich-based company focusing on creating solutions for virtual reality platforms for the new generation of headsets such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, has announced the launch of Above the Clouds, the second episode in its Escape!VR Escape Room series of virtual reality games on. Above the Clouds joins the first episode to be released in the Escape!VR series, The Basement, and will continue Sourcenitys tradition of offering exciting desktop virtual reality escape room games for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.As the second virtual escape game in the Escape!VR series, Above the Clouds is, according to Sourcenity representatives, longer, larger and more challenging than its predecessor, creating a scenario in which players find themselves locked in a penthouse in a mile-high building which reaches above the clouds  but is still partially under construction. With elements of the structure not working as expected, players escapes may take some effort in this challenging escape room game.Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, and Thai, Above the Clouds offers a dozen logical puzzles, impressive visuals with hyper-realistic surfaces and interactions, a plethora of tongue-in-cheek references, clever and frustration-free packaging, in-game teleporting for standing and room-scale play and built-in hint system with saving and achievement features.From the creators of one of the first VR escape games to ever hit the market and one of the few devoid of a creepy theme comes the second installment, which we call Above the Clouds. Much longer and larger than The Basement, our latest Escape!VR game ensures players experience over 250 interactive items on 3 different stages, with no rabbits conjured out of hats.Inspired by real-life escape games and written from the ground-up as a room-scale virtual reality experience, Above the Clouds enables players to solve over a dozen puzzles, requiring them to apply logical thinking to discover clues, find and use the correct objects and show the courage to do slightly crazy things.Escape!VR Above the Clouds is now available on Steam, as an Oculus Experience, on Viveport, and in the Microsoft Store atandFor more information about Sourcenity GmbH visitWe are a Munich-based software company focusing on creating solutions for Virtual Reality (VR), in particular for the new generation of fully immersive, room-scale solutions like the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, or Windows Mixed Reality.We have been at the forefront of VR since day one. Our VR escape game Escape!VR  The Basement was one of the first of its kind and was the first one in an IMAX VR Arcade.Sourcenity GmbHKoferinger Str. 6a81249 MunchenGermany
The proverbial forty days of a thief have finally caught up with Nairobis, if not Kenyas, most wanted female gangster.

Lavender Akinyi Ogilo, described by police as dangerous, was arrested on Tuesday, April 3 after detectives from Kilimani Police Station

raided her house in Ruaka, Nairobi.

The arrest ended a three-year cat and mouse game with the police.

The mother of one is being linked to a spate of robberies in posh Nairobi neighbourhoods including Kilimani, Lavington, Muthangari, Kileleshwa, and Hurlingham.

Lavender has been terrorising the residents of the posh addresses for the past three years and escaping without arrest. She is dangerous and operates with armed gangsters who are still at large, said Kilimani DCIO Fatuma Ali.

The suspect is believed to be half Kenyan and half Tanzanian and has a hide-out in Sirare town.

According to detectives, Lavenders gang is said to operate in both East African countries.

A detective is quoted by The Standard: Lavender ametusumbua sana tangu 2013, anaiba hapa Nairobi hadi Tanzania. Ana bahati sana hajauwawa.

Loosely translated: Lavender has troubled us since 2013, she commits crimes in Nairobi and Tanzania. She is very lucky to be alive.

The gang allegedly uses hired cars to commit crimes especially during weekends and public holidays.

The director of Directorate Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti termed the arrest as a breakthrough in the war against crime.

The woman is the mastermind of most of the break-ins in the city, said Kinoti.

Two men and women found in her house were also arrested and are assisting police with investigations.

Kilimani DCIO suspects Lavender is a member of several gangs.

The suspects details have been shared across city police stations as detectives hunt for her hiding gang members.

We believe complaints against Lavender and her gang have been lodged in other stations, we are seeking to collaborate the same, said Fatuma.
Drip Coffee Machine Market: Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017  2026

https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=350

https://www.factmr.com/report/350/drip-coffee-machine-market

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https://www.factmr.com/

The global market discussion on Drip Coffee Machine can be found in the latest study by Fact.MR, which has been freshly added to its massive collection of research database. The report is titled Drip Coffee Machine Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking  Global Review 2017 to 2026, which works to enlighten the readers about the major factors prompting the growth of the concerned market. Apart from that, the research majorly focuses on global drip coffee machine markets competitive outlook by profiling major players functioning across the globe. As the report moves ahead, information regarding the prominent trends as well as opportunities in the key geographical segments have also been elaborated, thus enabling companies to be able to make region-specific strategies for gaining competitive lead. Some of the prime regions emphasized in the study include key regions.Request For Sample Report-Key Highlights on Global Drip Coffee Machine Market1- Europe is anticipated to remain dominant in the global drip coffee machine market during the forecast period 2017-2026. Owing to the increase in consumption of coffee, and customers willing to pay more for fresh ground coffee with good quality and taste are some of the factors driving the growth of the drip coffee machine in Europe.2- North America is also anticipated to witness growth in the global drip coffee machine market. Increasing number of people consuming coffee in the U.S. is driving the demand for drip coffee machine market. Also, consumers in North America are very loyal to their favorite hot drink brands and are ready to pay a premium for coffee machines.3- Drip coffee machine that can produce more than 10 cups of coffee is expected to account for more than half of the revenue share towards the end of 2017. It is also anticipated to exceed US$ 100 million revenue by the end of 2026.4- Glass drip coffee machine is expected to account for nearly two-third of the revenue share by 2017 end. By 2026 end, glass drip coffee machine is projected to exceed US$ 100 million revenue.5- Residential segment is anticipated to be the largest user of drip coffee machine. Residential segment is anticipated to account for over three-fifth of the revenue share by the end of 2017.6- Metal drip coffee machine is expected to witness growth during the forecast period 2017-2026. By the end of 2026, metal drip coffee machine is projected to reach nearly US$ 200 million revenue.Browse Full Report With TOC-Table of ContentGlobal Economic OutlookGlobal Drip Coffee Machine Market - Executive SummaryGlobal Drip Coffee Machine Market Overview3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Taxonomy3.1.2. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Definition3.2. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Size (Mn Units) and Forecast, 2012-20263.2.1. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Y-o-Y Growth3.3. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Dynamics3.4. Supply Chain3.5. Cost Structure3.6. Pricing Analysis3.7. Global Coffee Consumption Overview3.8. Global Coffee Spending Overview3.9. Global Coffee Spending Overview3.10.Global Coffee Spending Overview3.11. Product Life Cycle3.12. PEST Analysis3.13. Porters Analysis3.14. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By RegionGlobal Drip Coffee Machine Market Analysis and Forecast 2012-20264.1. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Size and Forecast By Cup Capacity, 2012-20264.1.1. Less than 10 cups Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.1.1. Volume (Mn Units) Comparison, By Region4.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.2. More than 10 Cups Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.2.1. Volume (Mn Units) Comparison, By Region4.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.2. Global Drip Coffee Machine Market Size and Forecast By Carafe Type , 2012-20264.2.1. Glass Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.2.1.1. Volume (Mn Units) Comparison, By Region4.2.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.2.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.2.2. Thermal Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.2.2.1. Volume (Mn Units) Comparison, By Region4.2.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.2.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By RegionContinued@@@...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:
Russia Healthcare, Regulatory and Reimbursement Market by Trend, Opportunities, Growth and Forecast To 2022

Healthcare, Regulatory and Reimbursement Landscape - Russia

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/1118583-countryfocus-healthcare-regulatory-and-reimbursement-landscape-russia

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/1118583-countryfocus-healthcare-regulatory-and-reimbursement-landscape-russia

Healthcare, Regulatory and Reimbursement Landscape - RussiaOverview"Country Focus: Healthcare, Regulatory and Reimbursement Landscape - Russia". The report is an essential source of information and analysis on the healthcare, regulatory and reimbursement landscape in Russia. It identifies the key trends in the healthcare market and provides insights into the demographic, regulatory, reimbursement landscape and healthcare infrastructure of Russia. Most importantly, the report provides valuable insights into the trends and segmentation of the pharmaceutical and medical device markets.Click here for sample report @Major Highlight of ReportIn 2016, Russia population was approximately at 146.9 million. The government of Russia has been making continuous efforts to strengthen the economy to ensure long-term growth, and the pharmaceutical market is seen as a key industry for the countrys future growth. To support this industry, the government has improved regulatory guidelines and initiatives to develop the domestic pharmaceutical market. Russias pharmaceutical market is one of the fastest growing in the world, and the largest in Central and Eastern Europe.Based on the 2016 currency exchange rate of RUB1 to $0.0165, the market is expected to reach $36.61 billion by 2021. The Russian medical device market was valued at $5.0 billion in 2009 and is one of the most stable industries in the healthcare sector, due to the aging population and consequent increase in demand for healthcare products and services. It grew to $6.7 billion at a CAGR of 4.2% between 2009 and 2016 and is forecast to reach $8.5 billion in 2021. The segments expected to experience high growth are ophthalmic devices, wound care management, CVD, orthopedic devices and diagnostic imaging.ScopeThe report provides information on the healthcare, regulatory, and reimbursement landscape in Russia, and includes- An overview of the pharmaceutical and medical device markets, comprising market size, segmentation, and key drivers and barriers- Profiles and SWOT analyses of the major players in the pharmaceutical market (Novartis, Sanofi, Bayer, Roche and Pharmstandard)- An insightful review of the reimbursement and regulatory landscape, of which analysis includes details of the healthcare reimbursement process, the regulatory agencies and the approval processes for new drugs and medical devices- Detailed analysis of the political and economic environment, covering economic indicators, demographics, healthcare infrastructure and healthcare expenditure- An overview of the opportunities for and challenges to growth in the Russian healthcare market.ContinuedFor Detailed Reading Please visit @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.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Global Market Top Key Players  Sauder Woodworking , Dorel Industries , Bush Industries , Whalen Furniture , IKEA and Forecast to 2025

RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Market

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/3107253-global-rta-ready-to-assemble-furniture-market-research-report-2018

https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/3107253-global-rta-ready-to-assemble-furniture-market-research-report-2018

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Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Market Research Report 2018 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 107 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionGlobal RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSauder WoodworkingDorel IndustriesBush IndustriesWhalen FurnitureIKEAFlexsteelSimplicity SofasGet sample Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture 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 intoOffice RTA FurnitureResidential RTA FurnitureOn 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, includingIndependent Specialist RetailersIndependent Furniture ChainsConvenient StoresOthersComplete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsGlobal RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Market Research Report 20181 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture1.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Office RTA Furniture1.2.4 Residential RTA Furniture1.3 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Segment by Application1.3.1 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Independent Specialist Retailers1.3.3 Independent Furniture Chains1.3.4 Convenient Stores1.3.5 Others1.4 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture 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 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)7 Global RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Sauder Woodworking7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Sauder Woodworking RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Dorel Industries7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Dorel Industries RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Bush Industries7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Bush Industries RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Whalen Furniture7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Whalen Furniture RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 IKEA7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 IKEA RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Flexsteel7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Flexsteel RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Simplicity Sofas7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Simplicity Sofas RTA (Ready-to-assemble) Furniture Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 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)
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Global Market Analysis & Forecast 2017-2025

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

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Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)OverviewThe NSCLC therapeutics market is a rapidly evolving field in which new developments are constantly influencing the landscape. The Forecast Update is designed to help clients stay abreast of the latest news in the NSCLC space, including regulatory, commercial, and clinical events, and to understand how these events will impact the market forecast.Click here for sample report @Table of ContentsTable of Contents (PowerPoint Deck)1 Dynamic Market Forecast Overview1.1 Related Reports1.2 Upcoming Related Reports2 Executive Summary2.1 Key Events in Update2.2 Updates to Treatment Algorithms2.3 Clinical Trial Landscape Updates2.4 Pipeline Landscape Updates2.5 Market Insight on Key Events3 Event 1: Market Dynamics Shift in Frontline NSCLC3.1 Key Updates to the Frontline Setting - Elderly Patients3.2 Merck & Co., Keytruda (pembrolizumab)3.3 AstraZeneca, Imfinzi (durvalumab) + tremelimumab3.4 Pfizer and Merck KGaA , Bavencio (avelumab)3.5 Roche, Tecentriq (atezolizumab)3.6 Novartis, Tafinlar (dabrafenib) + Mekinist (trametinib)3.7 Additional Clinical Trial Updates- Frontline Setting3.8 Summary/Trends3.9 Sources4 Event 2: Weak Competition in the EGFRm+ Segment Creates Opportunity for Tagrisso4.1 Key Updates to the EGFRm+ Segment4.2 AstraZeneca, Tagrisso (osimertinib)4.3 Pfizer, dacomitinib4.4 Additional Clinical Trial Updates- EGFRm+ Setting4.5 Summary/Trends4.6 SourcesNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Industry Major OutlookKey events covered in the Dynamic Market Forecast include -- Regulatory filings- Approval decisions- Pricing changes- Patent litigation- Clinical trial data announcements- Clinical trial failures- Clinical trial timeline updates- Overview of updates to the forecast model based on anticipated future impact of events- Forward-looking events calendar listing expected key updates to the NSCLC competitive space in the next quarterNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) - Competitive AnalysisKey players are making innovative developments in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) industry. The same will help in improving the market performance. Heavy investments are made by major players in the R&D sector.ContinuedFor Detailed Reading Please visit @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.WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Arastu Systems evolving in the Industry with a strategic roadmap

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April 7th, 2018, San Jose, CA - Arastu Systems, a California based product engineering company, today announced that their existing roadmap, lucid vision and customer projects demands resource expansion and technological advancement. They have been receiving significant traction from customers as well as resources, who are showing keen interest to work with Arastu Systems, due to its robust Customer-Centric approach and Nurturing Environment respectively. For the purpose, the company has quadrupled its floor space in the same building to support the operational efforts.The company was founded in 2014, with a fresh and focused approach to assist Semiconductor SoC and Systems companies. Today after gaining confidence from Customers, the company has diversified its offerings into multiple areas. Arastu Systems has been contributing to the Industry with its vast portfolio of DDR and Networking IPs and complete VLSI Digital Front-End Service. Recently, the company has also ventured into the IoT space by providing Embedded Software Solutions and developing a robust IoT Platform catering to applications in industries such as Food & Beverages, Transportation, Energy and Utilities, Manufacturing and Smart Living. It has also widened its outreach by establishing a sales footprint in Israel, Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea. Arastu Systems have created a working environment of Fun, Learning and Innovation, thereby fostering growth and self-development.Their existing clientele are glorious to work with Arastu Systems and have shared optimistic feedback. A Factory Manager at a leading Food and Beverage Company has said, Increase in the Production line efficiency is one of the top most priority for their plant. With the help of Arastus IoT Platform, they are able to optimize their production processes.Arastu Systems strength lies in its self-motivated team, structured processes and flexible work environment says, Sharmil Dave, Head of Engineering at Arastu Systems. With such innovative approach, fresh ideas and given empowerment, we will surpass our future goals.About Arastu Systems, Inc.Arastu Systems is contributing in the Semiconductor Industry by providing high quality and value added product engineering services through silicon and software engineering. The company provides complete Front-end Digital Solution, Robust and Flexible products in Memory and Networking area. Additionally, they are also catering to demand generated in the IoT segment by leveraging their IoT related products and services. Arastu Systems understands the customers pain points and therefore believe in forging relationship by providing customized solutions. Headquartered at San Jose, California and have a design center in Ahmedabad, India. For more information please visit,Media Contact:Harsh Parikh, Manager, Marketing2690 S White Road, #245, San Jose, CA 95148marcom@arastusystems.com+1-408-223-2374
Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Market Competitive Research & Demands

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In a highly dynamic global market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines, companies need to constantly evolve to stay ahead of the curve. To do so, they need accurate information on the market. The recent report endeavors to help them achieve their growth targets by offering crucial information on the global market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines. The findings of the research study is not just expected to help such savvy vendors keen on expanding their global footprint, but also policy makers and regulatory organizations, investors, independent research bodies, and non-profit organizations.The report on the global market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines, presents important current and future figures and also key trends. It factors in macro-fundamentals to understand the dominant future trends as well. The report gathers data from both paid and open sources and also gathers useful insights from industry veterans to understand where the market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines is headed in the future.Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCVP SystemsR.A JonesMTEKPoint FiveTeinnovationsShanghai Fanming MachineryEnter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @Comprised of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines pages, it provides a chapter-wise dissection of the market. It segments the market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines based on various parameters such as products, technology, application, and geography. It also throws light into which segment holds out maximum promise for vendors and why. It presents such crucial information leveraging tables, charts, and graphs so as to make it easier for clients to spot key trends and make the most of the available opportunities.The team of experienced analysts who have prepared the report, also delve deep into the factors promoting or hindering the market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines. It also uncovers the important trends that are emerging in the market. Banking upon all the information, it has charted the best course of action for success hungry companies.This report has been prepared after exhaustive primary and secondary research by interacting with C-level executives of prominent companies in the global market for Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines and through exhaustive online research.Table of ContentsGlobal Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Market Research Report 20181 Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines1.2 Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Horizotal Type1.2.4 Vertical TypeRead Complete Table of Content @2 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)Enquiry For Discount Visit @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) MachinesFigure Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production (K Units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2013-2025)Figure Global Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2017Figure Product Picture of Horizotal TypeFigure North America Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Europe Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure China Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) Machines Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comBlog:
WLAN Market 2018 Global Key Players: Cisco, Aruba Networks, HP, Ruckus Wireless, Ubiquiti Networks, Aerohive Networks, Zebra Technologies

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Market Highlights:WLAN or wireless local area network is a type of network which allows one or more devices to connect using a wireless distribution method. In the 21st century, WLAN has wide application and is currently used in every possible industry which runs or uses products or services pertaining to information technology. WLAN allows devices to connect on WAN and explore.The WLAN market is driven by the factors such as growing demand for high data transfer rate, increasing adoption of cloud technologies and increasing popularity of internet of things applications. With the increasing number of mobile devices, there has been a constant rise in the demand for connected devices. This is one of the major factors influencing the growth of WLAN market. The constant increase in number of transactions done by consumers using digital tools such as net banking, mobile banking, or digital wallets is building high growth opportunity for WLAN service providers. Uninterrupted and speedy internet connection is the need of the generation.Lack of technical expertise to make full utilization of wireless LAN installed in the enterprises or in outdoor areas lie are the factors which could cause hindrance in the growth of WLAN market.Characterized by the presence of several major well-established players, the global market of WLAN appears to be highly competitive. Well established players incorporate acquisition, collaboration, partnership, expansion, and technology launch in order to gain competitive advantage in this market and to maintain their market position. These Players invest heavily in the R&D to develop WLAN technologies that will meet the increasing demand on a completely different level compared to their competition. These vendors are constantly bringing innovations in the WLAN market. Demand for digital transformation is constantly growing and is not predicted to slow down at any time soon. Aruba Networks is considered to be the second biggest vendor in the WLAN market whereas; Cisco Systems leads the global WLAN market.Request a Sample Report @Major Key PlayersThe key players in the market of WLAN are- Cisco (U.S.), Aruba Networks, Inc. (U.S.), HP (U.S.), Ruckus Wireless (U.S.), Ubiquiti Networks (U.S.), Aerohive Networks (U.S.), Zebra Technologies (U.S.), Netgear (U.S.), Huawei (China), D-Link (Taiwan), TP-Link (China) among others.Know Latest Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:December, 2017  Cisco Systems shines in the WLAN market as the Aruba Networks slips in the third quarter by 0.5% which includes both consumer and enterprise WLAN. Cisco has achieved a 5.3% increase in the enterprise WLAN market. Cisco continues to invest aggressively in the WLAN market.December, 2017  Ubiquiti Networks has witnessed a considerable increase in its revenue of about 28% in this year in WLAN marketOctober, 2017  Huawei Technologies has collaborated with a Russian telecommunications company Rostelecom for deploying high quality wireless network in Moscow. Huawei has become the exclusive supplier to Rostelecom for its central location. Rostelecom plans to complete its Wi-Fi construction for central branch by 2018 including both indoor and outdoor scenarios.December, 2017  Huawei Technologies has witnessed a rise in its revenue of over 20% in the WLAN market.March, 2016  Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquired California based Aruba NetworksMay, 2016  Brocade Communications acquired California based Ruckus WirelessBrowse Full Report @Competitive AnalysisThe market of WLAN appears to be highly competitive. To maintain their market position and to drive the market growth, various dynamic and diversified international organizations, domestic organizations and as well as new entrants form a competitive landscape. Market leaders are innovating continuously and increasingly seeking market expansion through various strategic mergers and acquisitions, innovation, increasing investments in research and development and cost-effective product portfolio. Major players are investing on internal R&D and, most of all, in acquiring other firms.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:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
EMEA E Cigarettes Market Report 2018: Blu eCigs, Njoy, V2, Lorillard, Philip Morris International, Vapor Corp

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In this report, the EMEA E Cigarettes 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 split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of E Cigarettes for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.EMEA E Cigarettes market competition by top manufacturers/players, with E Cigarettes sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingBlu eCigsNjoyV2LorillardPhilip Morris InternationalVapor CorpMCig, IncITCAltria GroupChina National Tobacco CorporationJapan TobaccoElectronic Cigarette International GroupTruvapeProVapeCigr8KiKBull SmokeCloudcigHangsenFirstUnionShenzhen Jieshibo TechnologyInnokinKimreeGamucciRequest for sample copy of report:On the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMINI TypeEGO TypeMechanical MOD TypeOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingMenWomenTable of ContentsEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) E Cigarettes Market Report 20181 E Cigarettes Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of E Cigarettes1.2 Classification of E Cigarettes1.2.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 EMEA E Cigarettes Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 MINI Type1.2.4 EGO Type1.2.5 Mechanical MOD Type1.3 EMEA E Cigarettes Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Men1.3.3 Women1.4 EMEA E Cigarettes Market by Region1.4.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Middle East Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Africa Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 EMEA Market Size (Value and Volume) of E Cigarettes (2013-2025)1.5.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 EMEA E Cigarettes Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Request for complete TOC of this report:2 EMEA E Cigarettes Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Market Share of Major Players (2013-2018)2.1.2 EMEA E Cigarettes Revenue and Share by Players (2013-2018)2.1.3 EMEA E Cigarettes Sale Price by Players (2013-2018)2.2 EMEA E Cigarettes (Volume and Value) by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 EMEA E Cigarettes Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.3 EMEA E Cigarettes Sale Price by Type (2013-2018)2.3 EMEA E Cigarettes (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA E Cigarettes (Volume and Value) by Region2.4.1 EMEA E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4.2 EMEA E Cigarettes Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4.3 EMEA E Cigarettes Sales Price by Region (2013-2018)3 Europe E Cigarettes (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe E Cigarettes Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 Europe E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 Europe E Cigarettes Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.2 Europe E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Type3.3 Europe E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Application3.4 Europe E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries3.4.1 Europe E Cigarettes Sales Volume by Countries (2013-2018)3.4.2 Europe E Cigarettes Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)3.4.3 Germany E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.4 France E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.5 UK E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.6 Russia E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.7 Italy E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.8 Benelux E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4 Middle East E Cigarettes (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application4.1 Middle East E Cigarettes Sales and Value (2013-2018)4.1.1 Middle East E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.2 Middle East E Cigarettes Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.2 Middle East E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Type4.3 Middle East E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Application4.4 Middle East E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries4.4.1 Middle East E Cigarettes Sales Volume by Countries (2013-2018)4.4.2 Middle East E Cigarettes Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)4.4.3 Saudi Arabia E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4.4 Israel E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4.5 UAE E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4.6 Iran E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5 Africa E Cigarettes (Volume, Value and Sales Price) by Players, Countries, Type and Application5.1 Africa E Cigarettes Sales and Value (2013-2018)5.1.1 Africa E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.2 Africa E Cigarettes Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.2 Africa E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Type5.3 Africa E Cigarettes Sales and Market Share by Application5.4 Africa E Cigarettes Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries5.4.1 Africa E Cigarettes Sales Volume by Countries (2013-2018)5.4.2 Africa E Cigarettes Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)5.4.3 South Africa E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.4.4 Nigeria E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.4.5 Egypt E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.4.6 Algeria E Cigarettes Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing Market is Driven by Increasing Healthcare Expenditure

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The global non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) market was valued at $563.4 million in 2014, and it is expected to grow with a CAGR of 17.6% during the period 2015 - 2020.The global NIPT market is growing, due to increasing healthcare expenditure. The average maternal age is increasing in high income countries, due to changing pattern of employment, education and marriage, and increasing cost of raising a child.Explore Report Description With Detailed TOC on Global NIPT Market at:Based on test type, the MaterniT21 PLUS segment led the global NIPT market in 2014 with the largest market size. It was the first test introduced in the market for the diagnosis of Trisomy 21, in 2011. However, the NIFTY test segment is expected to grow with the fastest rate, among the various test type segments during the forecast period.Download Report Sample at:The testing and screening for fetal abnormalities has changed the womens experience of pregnancy. Prenatal tests are medical tests performed during the pregnancy, in order to determine the development of fetus. However, various committees across the globe believe that the implementation of NIPT and consequent increase in prenatal testing would increase the incidence of abortions.Make Enquiry Before Buying the Report:The key companies operating in the global NIPT market include Sequenom Inc., BGI, LifeCodexx AG, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Illumina Inc., Berry Genomics Co. Ltd., Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, and Natera Inc.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide market research reports, industry reports, business intelligence and research based consulting services across a range of industries.With the help of our professional corporate relations with various companies, our market research offers the most accurate market forecasting. Our analysts and consultants interact with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every single data presented in our publication. Our research assists our client in identifying new and different windows of opportunity and frame informed and customized strategies for expansion in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +18887787886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Emergency Lighting Market 2018 Global Key Players: Hubbell Lighting, Cooper Industries, Schneider Electric SE, Emerson, Legrand, Acuity Brands

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Market Highlight:The global emergency lighting market is growing with the rapid pace is mainly due to the declining average selling price of light emitting diode, which is propelling the emergency lighting market growth to the large extent. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global market of Emergency Lighting is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The market is projected to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2023, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2016  2023).The global Emergency Lighting market is significantly competitive. Various established international brands, domestic brands and as well as new entrants form a competitive landscape. The revolution in various lighting technologies with the introduction of various virtual machines is helping the market to grow. The key players are nonstop increasingly seeking market expansion through various strategic mergers and acquisitions, innovation, increasing investments in research and development and cost-effective product portfolio. For instance, the market of incandescent light source is declining due to less energy efficient characteristics and is most widely used in residential building. By battery segment, liFePO4 is expected to account for highest market share owing to dynamic characteristics it possess that includes light weight, small volume, high temperature resistant and long life span is the prime factors driving market growth. The emergency lighting market is highly competitive due to the presence of several large vendors.Request a Sample Report @Philips Lighting Holding B.V. (Netherlands), Hubbell Lighting Inc. (U.S.), Cooper Industries (Ireland), Schneider Electric SE (France), Emerson (US), Legrand S.A. (France), Acuity Brands (U.S.), Beghelli S.p.A. (Italy), Daisalux (Spain), Zumtobel Group (Austria), are some of the prominent players profiled in MRFR Analysis and are at the forefront of competition in the Global Emergency Lighting Market.Industry News:October 14, 2016- Philips Lighting has been chosen as a key partner to provide the urban lighting infrastructure. The company is a global leader in Lighting products and services.June.30, 2015 - Hubbell Lighting, a global leader of lighting innovation, has launched its Dual-Lite product which NEMA 4X Dynamo Emergency Light. It also includes LED emergency egress luminaire. It is designed for complex industrial applications.NOV 09, 2015- Eaton has introduced full range of emergency LED lighting for commercial buildings. These lighting are used for the safety purposes in the occupant places. The company has introduced its LED technology which is efficient in case of low energy usage and low maintenance requirements.The Emergency Lighting Market is expected to grow at approximately USD 7 Billion by 2023, at 6% of CAGR between 2017 and 2023.Competitive AnalysisThe market of emergency lighting appears to be highly competitive. To maintain their market position and to drive the market growth, various dynamic and diversified international organizations, domestic organizations and as well as new entrants form a competitive landscape. Market leaders are innovating continuously and increasingly seeking market expansion through various strategic mergers and acquisitions, innovation, increasing investments in research and development and cost-effective product portfolio. Major players are investing on latest technology and, most of all, in acquiring other firms. Prominent vendors of emergency lighting targeting to invest more in technology and research and development activities to innovate their already existing products. The rising government funding is also expected to motivate key companies to invent new emergency lighting modules that match the changing trends and needs across the globe. These players possess a strong sales and distribution network which have helped them to gain leadership position in the market. An ever-increasing emphasis has been observed among emergency lighting industry marketers on inbound lead generation over branding-oriented efforts.Get a Complete Report @Regional AnalysisNorth America is dominating the global emergency lighting market with the largest market share due to increasing demand for emergency lighting in commercial, residential and industrial sector, is gaining demand in Emergency Lighting market in these region, and is expected to gain growth by 2023. Global emergency lighting market in European market is expected to grow at a substantial high CAGR during 2016 to 2023. The Asia Pacific market for emergency lighting market is expected to grow at a considerable CAGR (2016-2023) due to high adoption of emergency lighting in developing countries and increasing focus on real estate project is driving the market in the region.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:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Residents of Ganze area in Kilifi County are reeling from the shock of a bizarre incident in which a man swallowed a toothbrush.

David Charo, 34, was brushing his teeth on Sunday, April 1, when the toothbrush inexplicably slid out of his hand and slipped down his throat.

Efforts by his young brother Julius Charo to remove the brush were futile.

After failing to remove the toothbrush from my brothers throat, I rushed him to a nearby hospital and was referred to Coast Provincial Hospital. Apart from x-rays, nothing has been done to him, said Julius on Thursday.

The medical report showed that the brush is lodged in his lower abdomen.

His family says Charo has not had a meal since last Saturday and has been surviving on drinks only. He is said to have developed breathing difficulties.

According to Charo, the incident was an unfortunate accident. Some residents, however, linked it to witchcraft.

I have used the toothbrush for the last 20 years. It unfortunate that it slipped from my hands on Sunday.

I can only lie down or stand, whenever I try to bend, I feel the toothbrush, the father of two added.

The toothbrush has stayed in my stomach for long and the doctors have only been telling me that I need an operation, but nothing much has been done.

A doctor who sought anonymity said the toothbrush might result to suffocation and obstruction of oxygen flow in the oesophagus if it stays in the patients body for long.

Being blunt, the object can cause no major harm, but it can cause breathing complications, the doctor said.

Charos family faulted the the hospital for neglecting their kin.

We came here on Sunday and to date, nothing has been done. We have waited to get directions from the hospital management but nothing is coming forth, said Charos elder brother Hamisi Charo.
Global Oxidation Dyes Market 2018 -Archroma, Huntsman, Kiri Industries, Yorkshire

Global Oxidation Dyes Market

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Apex Market Reports, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the Oxidation Dyes Market across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of Oxidation Dyes 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 Oxidation Dyes on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares Oxidation Dyes performance both in terms of volume and revenue.The market research report explores the Oxidation Dyes Market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of Oxidation Dyes 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 Oxidation Dyes Market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Oxidation Dyes. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Oxidation Dyes 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 ReportArchromaHuntsmanKiri IndustriesYorkshireMilliken ChemicalRUDOLF GROUPNippon KayakuSumitomoEverlight ChemicalAtulKyung-InBodal ChemicalAnand internationalOrganic Dyes and PigmentsEksoyAarti Industries LtdOsaka GodoSetasNeelikonThe competitive landscape of the global market for Oxidation Dyes is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Oxidation Dyes Markets production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Oxidation Dyes Market globally.Inquire Before Buying @The Global Oxidation Dyes Market 2018 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Oxidation Dyes production volume, data pertaining to demand and Oxidation Dyes supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Oxidation Dyes 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 Oxidation Dyes 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 -
Opaque Polymers : 2018 Market Strategy and Major Participants - Arkema, Interpolymer Corporation, Indulor Chemie

Opaque Polymers

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Press Release - 06 April 2018Global Research and Development News --. .Report Description-' 'Opaque polymers are pigments with hollow spheres. They are opaque. Opaque polymers are specially engineered for usage in paints and coatings in order to improve the latters hiding properties and whiteness. Usage of opaque polymers in paints and coatings formulations help improve the optical properties of paint formulations. Opaque polymers consist of emulsions in the form of spherical styrene or acrylic beads. These are filled with water for usage in wet paints. When the paints get dry, water from these beads permanently diffuses, and is replaced by air. This results in a uniform dry paint film, with uniform distribution of voids.. . Get Sample Report' 'Opaque polymers help in filling up and hiding the gaps in paints and coatings. Addition of more titanium dioxide (TiO2) is generally encountered in the paints & coatings industry to compensate for gaps. However, it is an inefficient and costly measure with diminishing returns. It helps improve the light scattering properties of paints and coatings. Usage of opaque polymers in paints and coatings brings about an overall cost efficiency in formulations. Usage of opaque polymers also helps lower the usage of TiO2, while maintaining the opacity of paints and coatings. Furthermore, use of opaque polymers in the production of paints and coatings provides them with benefits such as improved resistance to dirt, tint retention, and film durability.Opaque polymers are being extensively employed in formulations of water based as well as solvent based paints and coatings. However, substitutes such as flash calcined kaolin are competing technologies for opaque polymers. They provide the users with several benefits over opaque polymers. At equal volume concentration in high PVC emulsion paints, flash calcined kaolin provides better opacity than opaque polymers. Furthermore, comparatively less volume of flash calcined kaolin is required to match the opacity of opaque polymers.Thus, substituting technologies such as calcined kaolin are anticipated to provide tough competition to the opaque polymers market during the forecast period.Based on product type, the market for opaque polymers can be segmented into solid content 40% and solid content 30%. Currently, the solid content 30% segment dominates the opaque polymers market. The segment is anticipated to continue its dominance during the forecast period. The segment is expected to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period.Based on end-use industry, the opaque polymers market can be divided into personal & home care and paints & coatings. Currently, the paints & coatings segment leads the opaque polymers market. The segment is anticipated to continue its dominance during the forecast period. It is estimated to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period. Paints & coatings as well as personal & home care industries are projected to expand rapidly in the near future, especially in Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe. This, in turn, is likely to fuel the demand for opaque polymers during the forecast period.Geographically, the market for opaque polymers is expected to expand significantly in Asia Pacific due to the rapid industrialization and growth in infrastructure in countries such as Japan, India, and China. The economic development in these countries is also driving the demand for opaque polymers in end-user industries. Asia Pacific holds major share of the opaque polymers market. The region is anticipated to continue its dominance during the forecast period.Major players operating in the opaque polymers market include Croda International, The Dow Chemical Company, Arkema, Interpolymer Corporation, Indulor Chemie, Junneng Chemicals, Hankuck, Latices, En-Tech Polymer, Organik Kimya, Ashland, and Visen Industries.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications. The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysis The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period. 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 market. . 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
Oil Accumulator : 2018 Market Strategy and Major Participants - Eaton Corporation, Parker-Hannifin Corporation

Oil Accumulator

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Press Release - 06 April 2018Global Research and Development News --. .Report Description-' 'Demand for energy is rapidly growing in recent years. Accumulation of oil is an important aspect to eliminate hazards during oil extraction processes. Oil accumulators are considered to be hydro pneumatic devices that store non compressible fluid through an external source such as a fluid, gas, spring, and piston under high pressure. Oil accumulators have gained importance all over the world due to initiatives in reducing harmful environmental pollution during oil & gas drilling activities. Oil accumulators are employed for various purposes such as noise reduction, leakage compensation, and pulsation dampening.. . Get Sample Report' 'The oil accumulator market can be segmented based on its types, applications, and region. Based on its types, oil accumulators can be bifurcated as hydraulic or piston, bladder, and diaphragm accumulators. Hydraulic accumulators are generally considered to be piston type accumulators. A free moving piston separates the compressible gas cushion from the hydraulic fluid. The bladder type accumulator consists of an elastic barrier between the oil and gas.The diaphragm type accumulator is designed into two sections that are bolted or screwed together. A synthetic rubber diaphragm is installed for bifurcation of oil & gas. Accumulators are used in drilling rigs in offshore and onshore regions. It is utilized in blowout preventers to restrict the sudden influx of oil & gas during drilling operations. It is used in mud pumps in oil & gas exploration activities and also by drilling tools and equipment manufacturers for developing instruments. Oil accumulators are also used by environmental research institutes and government organizations.Opportunities in the oil accumulator market arise from rising demand for oil & gas exploration and production activities. The attempts to minimize environmental hazards due to exploration have positively impacted the growth of the oil accumulator market. Restraints of the market include high cost of production. However, efforts are being made to reduce costs and develop advance technology oil accumulators. Thus, oil accumulator are an important component when environmental factors are taken into consideration.In terms of geography, North America leads the oil accumulator market in terms of demand. This can be ascribed to the increase in oil & gas activities in offshore regions of the U.S. New discovery of shale oil in the North Dakota region in North America has increased the demand for oil accumulators. The oil accumulator market has been expanding in countries in Asia Pacific such as India, China, and Japan due to the rise in maritime security activities, growth in offshore oil & gas production activities, and improvement in underwater communications. The oil accumulator market in European countries such as the U.K., Germany, France, and Norway is likely to expand due to increased oil & gas drilling activities in the North Sea and improvement in maritime security. Countries in Latin America such as Brazil and Mexico are anticipated to witness an increase in demand for marine instrumentation activities due to rapid urbanization and rise in offshore oil & gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico. Demand for marine instrumentation in countries in Middle East & Africa is also likely to rise due to the increase in number of offshore oil & gas exploration and production activities.Key global market players operating in the oil accumulator market include companies such as Nippon Accumulator Co. Ltd., Eaton Corporation, Parker-Hannifin Corporation, Bosch Rexroth AG, and Tobul Accumulator Inc.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications. 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 analysis The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period. 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 market. . 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
Traffic Sensor Market 2018 by Global Leaders: TE Connectivity, Kistler Group, LeddarTech, International Road Dynamics, FLIR Systems, Axis Communication, Raytheon Company, Sensys Networks

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Market Research Future published a research report on Traffic Sensor Market Research Report - Global Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market HighlightsTraffic sensors are witnessing a rapid adoption in various parts of the world. They offer a new alternative solution for conventional traffic management systems. Traffic sensors to can help alleviate the growing traffic burden in mega-cities of the world. Governments in various countries across the globe are realizing the need for upgrading their traffic management system, which is opening application opportunities for various advanced traffic management technologies including traffic sensors. Market Research Future (MRFR) in its latest report reveals that the global market for traffic sensor is set to surge at a CAGR of 8% between 2017 and 2023 to reach a valuation in excess of USD 300 Mn.The rising vehicle parc poses a critical challenge for traffic management authorities all over the world. Therefore, deployment of the best available traffic management solution is imperative. Moreover, governments in countries such as India, China, Mexico and Brazil are stepping up efforts to develop their road transport infrastructure, which is likely to reflect favorably on the traffic sensor market. At the same time, deployment of traffic sensor ensures the optimal utilization of existing roadways. Some of the latest traffic sensors come with additional features that allow operators to effectively manage traffic flow and check discrepancies or law violations. Rapid infrastructural development and growing issues of traffic congestion has propelled the demand for traffic sensors. Using traffic sensors, operators can generate traffic data, identify vehicles and detect lane change violations.Get Sample of Report @Latest Industry Highlights: Intelligent sensing algorithms specialist Seeing Machines has reportedly collaborated with the Australian government and a group of researchers to develop mechanism to develop truck crashes in the country. FLIR Systems, Inc. a leading manufacturer of thermal imaging cameras, components and imaging sensors has recently launched a novel thermal traffic sensor FLIR ThermiCam that is based on vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology. The sensor will allow traffic infrastructure and vehicle to communicate and feed information to a system aims to enhance pedestrian, bicyclist and motorist safety.Key PlayersThe prominent players in the Global Traffic Sensor Market are  TE Connectivity Ltd. (Switzerland), Kistler Group (Switzerland), SWARCO AG (Austria), Sick AG (Germany), LeddarTech Inc. (Canada), Siemens AG (Germany) , International Road Dynamics, Inc. (Canada), FLIR Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Axis Communication AB (Sweden), Raytheon Company (U.S.), Sensys Networks, Inc. (U.S.) and among others.Global Market for Sensor Patch  Segmental AnalysisMRFR in its report has segmented the market in into technology (GSM, 3D/2D, RFID and other), sensors types (radar sensors, image sensors, piezoelectric sensors, LiDAR sensors, magnetic sensors and others), application (electronic toll collection system, road tunnel sensors system, laser measurement systems, hot spot detection system, and others) and regions (Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and rest of the world).Regional OverviewNorth America is expected to remain the most lucrative market for traffic sensor in 2018 and beyond. Favourable government policies and presence of leading market players is supporting the growth of the market in the region. In addition, rapid adoption of next-gen traffic management system has been instrumental in driving the demand for traffic sensor in North America. Collection of statistical data associated with lane management, direction, average vehicle speed, traffic headway and volume occupancy has been made easier with integration of traffic sensors. During the review period, the Europe traffic sensor market is also expected exhibit at healthy CAGR. Improvement in traffic management system and increased investment in R&D activities for developed advance traffic solutions are two of the major factors influencing the market in Europe.Get Complete Report @Intended Audience Traffic Sensor manufacturing companies Product sales and distribution companies Government regulatory authorities Semiconductor companies Traffic sensor providers 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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Sensor Patch Market 2018 Global Leaders: Frontier Smart Technologies Group, Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic, DexCom, Isansys Lifecare, iRhythm Technologies, Kenzen, Leaf Healthcare

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global Sensor Patch Market Research Report- Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market HighlightsWearable technology such as the sensor patch will play a greater role in healthcare transformation in the coming years. This is because wearables are closely tied with a changing healthcare delivery model. The emergence of such leading-edge model has added more dynamism to the care giving. Doctors and physicians are now able to keep tract of their patients, irrespective of the place they are at, this has also helped reduce hospital or clinic visits. Factors as such are driving the popularity of sensor patch worldwide. As per the latest study conducted by Market Research Future (MRFR), the global market for sensor patch is expected to surpass the USD 600 Mn towards the end of 2023, reflecting a robust CAGR of 45% during the forecast period (2017-2023). Medical devices are undergoing tremendous change in design and technology, hence delivering improved patient experience. Modern medical devices are evidently becoming smaller, compact and more mobile, thereby creating new solutions for conventional methods. Integration of such devices have allowed healthcare organisations to have more fluent patient interactions, collect highly accurate patient data and deliver treatment effectively.Get Sample of Report @Sensor patch is being increasingly used for examining moisture levels on the skin. Such examinations playing an important role in diagnostics and treatment for areas such as prolonged therapeutic care, childcare, and geriatric care among others. Healthcare and fitness remains the primarily application area for sensor patch. Increased prevalence of chronic disorders such as cardiac disorders, diabetes, blood pressure, and cancer is driving the demand for medical equipments and wearables that can time to time read and monitor the physical condition of the patient. This, in turn, is creating growth opportunities for sensor patch. Moreover, demand for medical patches is also increasing owing to their increasing use for maintaining physical fitness and diagnostic purposes. During the assessment period, the global market for sensor patch is also expected to be influenced by factors such as rising healthcare expenditure, growing consumer interest in wearable devices and technological advances in telehealth. On the other hand, reimbursement issues and high cost of device continues to undermine the potentials of the market.Latest Industry Highlights: Medtronic (MDT), a prominent medical device company based in Dublin, Ireland has recently announced that its latest indication for Guardian Sensor 3 got FDA clearance. With addition of the expanded indication the sensor can now be worn on the upper arm, hence providing a greater user experience with enhanced performance and higher accuracy. Reportedly, FDA recently approved the commercial marketing of Dexcoms G6 integrated continuous glucose monitoring (iCGM) system. Primary function of the device is to determine level of body glucose. FDA classified (iCGM) system under less-stringent class II medical device.Key Players:The key players in the global sensor patch market include- Frontier Smart Technologies Group Ltd. (UK), Abbott Laboratories (US), Medtronic (Ireland), DexCom (US), Feeligreen SA (France), G-Tech Medical Inc. (US), Texas Instruments (US), Isansys Lifecare Ltd. (UK), iRhythm Technologies (US), Kenzen Inc. (US) and Leaf Healthcare Inc. (US) among others.Global Market for Sensor Patch  Segmental AnalysisThe report published by MRFR offers a descriptive segmental analysis of the market based on end-user (sport and healthcare), application (medical therapeutics, monitoring, wellness, diagnostic, imaging and others). The diagnostics application segment is expected to command for a relatively market share during the forecast period.Regional OverviewOn the basis of region, the global market for sensor patch has been segmented into Europe, North-America, Asia-Pacific and rest of world (RoW). North America, led by the U.S., currently accounts for the highest market share. This is mainly attributed to the presence of established players in the region and easy availability of the latest versions of sensor patch in both the U.S and Canada. Moreover, increased government support in medical science research and development programs is reflecting favourably on the regions market. Meanwhile, the market in Asia Pacific is also projected to witness a healthy growth over 2023. Improving healthcare system and rising per capita income is creating markets opportunities for various high-end healthcare products including sensor patch.Get Complete Report @Intended Audience Device manufacturers Network Operators Distributors Suppliers Research firms Software Developers Commercial Banks Vendors Government Agencies Cyber security Vendors End-user sectors Technology InvestorsAbout 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
Global Runtime Application Self-Protection Market Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025

MRRSE

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https://www.mrrse.com/runtime-application-selfprotection-market

The market overview section of the report showcases the market dynamics and trends which includes drivers, restraints, opportunities that influence the current nature and future status of this market. It also provides an overview about the key market indicators given across the five geographical regions. Under the porters five forces analysis section, a brief analysis of the level of competition within the RASP industry is given and business strategy is provided in order to determine the competitive attractiveness and intensity of the RASP market. The report also includes key industry developments covering significant advances made by leading market players over the period of time.Free Sample Copy of Report @The report provides analysis of the RASP market for the period 20152025, wherein the years from 2017 to 2025 is the forecast period and 2016 is considered as the base year. Data for 2015 has been included as historical information. The report covers all the major trends and technologies playing a major role in the RASP market growth over the forecast period. It highlights the drivers, restraints and opportunities expected to influence the market growth during this period.Global Runtime Application Self-Protection Market: Research MethodologyThe RASP market data estimates are the result of our in-depth secondary research, primary interviews and in-house expert panel reviews. These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, technological, and legal factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the market growth. Factors including market position, offerings and R&D focus are attributed to companys capabilities. This section also identifies and includes various recent developments carried out by the leading players. Moreover, key takeaways section provided at the end of competitive landscape section would help the operating companies to make the best move in the market.The study provides a holistic perspective on the markets growth in terms of revenue (in US$ Mn) across different geographical regions, namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America. Report highlights the key trends affecting the market on a global scale. Furthermore, region wise prominent countries/regions covered in the report includes - the U.S, Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., India, China, Japan, GCC, South Africa and Brazil.Global Runtime Application Self-Protection Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report provides competitive landscape of the RASP market, thereby listing out all the major players according to their geographic presence, market attractiveness and recent key developments. The competitive landscape section of the report gives an overview about the market share of several key players for the year 2016. Arxan Technologies, Inc., Veracode, Contrast Security, Inc., Micro Focus International plc, Signal Sciences, VASCO Data Security International, Inc., Pradeo, IMMUNIO, Prevoty Inc., and Waratek are few of the key players which have been profiled in this study. Details such as financials, business strategies, SWOT analysis, and other such strategic information pertaining to these players has been duly provided as part of company profiling.Complete Outlook of Report @On the basis of component, the market has been divided into solution and services. Furthermore, the solutions segment is divided into web applications, mobile applications and others. The services sub segment is further divided into professional services and managed services. In terms of market share, in 2016, solutions was the highest revenue generating segment and services segment is expected to witness highest CAGR growth over the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. On the basis of deployment the global RASP market is sub segmented into on-premise and cloud. On-premise segment is expected to hold highest market share over the forecast period. By industry vertical the global RASP market is divided in to BFSI, IT and telecommunications, government and defense, energy and utilities, manufacturing, healthcare, retail and others.The global runtime application self-protection market is segmented as below.By Component Solution Web applications Mobile applications Others Services Professional Services Managed ServicesBy Deployment On-premises CloudBy Industry Vertical BFSI IT and Telecommunications Government and Defense Energy and Utilities Manufacturing Healthcare Retail OthersBy Geography North America The U.S. Canada Rest of North America Europe The U.K. Germany France Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan India Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa (MEA) South Africa GCC Rest of Middle East and Africa South America Brazil Rest of South AmericaAbout (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  12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559 (US- Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@mrrse.com
Egypt Automotive Parts Die-Casting Market Report 2017, Trends, Analysis, Share, Estimates and Forecasts to 2022.

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The Egypt Automotive Parts Die-Casting report provides an in-depth analysis of the various market segments and its sub-segments.Products Covered: Pressure die-casting Vacuum die-casting Squeeze die-casting Semi-solid die-castingRaw Material Types Covered: Aluminium Zinc Magnesium OthersApplication Types Covered: Body assemblies Engine Parts Transmission parts OthersThe report focuses on current and upcoming market trends such as Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, and Challenges, technological advancements, Porters Five Forces analysis to assess the intensity of competition in the market. The market values are presented in the form of tables and graphs for better interpretation.For More, Please Visit:Market Size EstimationsThe market assessment is made by the core industry experts using our 360 research approach. The data is derived from the most reliable, authenticated data sources and is validated by the industry experts (Primary Research). Both top down and bottom up analysis are implemented to enhance the accuracy of the market figures. The market projections are calculated for the next 8 years using the actual market numbers of previous year as the base value.Company ProfilingThis section provides the overview of the key players that are leading in the industry, covering their business operations, financials, list of products & services, SWOT analysis, major developments such as mergers & acquisitions, agreements, partnerships, joint ventures, new product launch, expansions etc.Report Highlights:- Market share assessments for all the mentioned market segments and sub-segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 8 years for all the given segments- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping, mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsFor More, Please Visit:We offer wide spectrum of research and consulting services with in-depth knowledge of different industries. We are known for customized research services, consulting services and Full Time Equivalent (FTE) services in the research world. We explore the market trends and draw our insights with valid assessments and analytical views. We use advanced techniques and tools among the quantitative and qualitative methodologies to identify the market trends. Our research reports and publications are routed to help our clients to design their business models and enhance their business growth in the competitive market scenario. We have a strong team with hand-picked consultants including project managers, implementers, industry experts, researchers, research evaluators and analysts with years of experience in delivering the complex projects.STRATISTICS MRC17049 King James Way, Gaithersburg,MD, 20877, USA
The Changing Nature of Business Travel: Analysis of key trends and business opportunities for the industry

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GlobalDatas "The Changing Nature of Business Travel", report provides an in depth analysis on the key industry trends in business travel for 2018, offering an insight into both business travelers and industry players.Increased business confidence, trade and a better outlook for both the US and the Eurozone are expected to boost the demand for business travel. Yet, technology and demographic changes are transforming business travel. As the needs of business travelers are becoming increasingly complex, and technology is revolutionizing the industry, companies are urged to adapt and innovate.Get the sample copy of report:Scope- International departures for business purposes are expected to increase by 5.4% in 2018 from 157.7 million in 2017 to 166.3 million in 2018 as a result of the improving economic landscape worldwide.- Industry executives globally travel more for business rather than leisure- China ranks first both as destination and as source market for business travel- Technology such as artificial intelligence and digital security, but also the rise of the sharing economy, the growing importance of millennials in business travel and the popularity of bleisure trips are expected to entirely transform the business travel landscape.Reasons to buy- This case study provides readers with insight into the key trends and developments in business travel for 2018, as well as key suggestions for meeting the rapidly changing needs of business travellers across cohorts. Therefore, it allows clients to develop an informed strategy for effectively tapping and growing within the business travel segment.MRRbiz supports your business intelligence needs with over 700,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Acaricides Market 2018 | Size, Share, Segmentation & Business Demand | Hypothesis Investigation | Forecasts Till 2023 | FMC & Chemtura Usa Corp, E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And BASF SE

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Segments-The global acaricides market is segmented into type and application:On the basis of the type, it is segmented into organochlorine, organophosphorus, natural, and others. Among all, the organophosphorus acaricides segment is dominating the market followed by organochlorine. Organophosphorus acaricides are rich in phosphorous content and are also highly effective against arachnids.On the basis of the application, it is segmented into agriculture, animal husbandry, and others. Among all, the agriculture segment is dominating the market. Growing demand for fruits, vegetables, cereals, and other agricultural products among the rising population is expected to surge the growth of this segment over the review period.Market Definition:Acaricides are popular pesticide among the farmers which primarily use chemical compounds such as organophosphorus compounds, methyl carbamates, macrocyclic lactones, and phenylpyrazoles. They are used to control arachnid attack on crops which include ticks and mites. Acaricides are widely used in the agricultural segment for the crop protection. Chemical acaricides are the most common among crop cultivators. However, owing to high toxic content, their use may also harm nearby beneficial insects which is a major concern.Request To Direct Download The Sample Copy :Regional AnalysisThe Global Acaricides Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (RoW). The Asia Pacific region is expected to retain its dominance over the forecast period of 2017-2023. The growth of the Asia Pacific region is attributed to various factors. India, China, and Japan are witnessed to be the major contributors in this region. Higher arable land coupled with the tropical climate in Asia Pacific countries is considered to be one of the significant factors for the rising growth of acaricides market in the Asia Pacific region.Europe & North America region is estimated to witness a moderate growth due to the market saturation in this particular region. However, the Middle East & African region is estimated to be slothful during the forecast period due to the lack of awareness among the farmers. Additionally, approval for the use of acaricides on agricultural crops by the regulatory authorities associated with crop protection and high yield is projected to uplift the growth of the acaricides market.Market Scenario:Factors such as increased crop production along with food security and crop-damage caused by arachnids have surged the demand for acaricides at the global level. The acaricides market is expected to be driven by various factors such as climate change which has increased the insect lifecycle and is also considered to be one of the significant factors for the rising growth of the acaricides market both in developed and developing economies. Moreover, increasing demand for horticulture in developed countries of Europe and North America is boosting the demand for acaricides.Furthermore, rising demand for natural acaricides for crop-protection from arachnids is projected to drive the growth of acaricides market over the review period. However, several environmental and health hazards caused due to acaricides is restraining the growth of the market. Additionally, the enhancement of the product coupled with technological advancements is considered to be one of the significant reasons for the increasing growth of the acaricides market during the forecast period 2017-2023.Key PlayersSome of the key players profiled in the global acaricides market: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.) Chemtura USA Corp. (U.S.) FMC Corporation (U.S.) Arysta LifeScience Corporation (Japan) Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (Germany) BASF SE (Germany) Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. (Japan) Syngenta AG (Switzerland) The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.) Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.)Get Exclusive Discount On This Report:Key Findings: The Asia Pacific region is dominating the global acaricides market Acaricides have a massive opportunity in the pesticide industryTable Of ContentChapter 1. Methodology And Scope1.1. Research Methodology1.1.1 Initial Data Exploration1.1.2 Statistical Modelling And Forecast1.1.3 Industry Insights And Validation1.2. Data SourcesChapter 2. Executive Summary2.1. Acaricides Market Synopsis, 2017-20232.1.1 Business Trends2.1.2 Product Type Trends2.1.3 Product Application TrendsChapter 3 Acaricides Market Insights3.1 Industry Segmentation3.2 Industry Size And Forecast3.3 Industry Ecosystem Analysis3.4 Industry Impact Forces3.4.1 Growth Drivers3.4.1.1 Adoption Of Modern Farming Techniques3.4.1.2 Increasing Demand For Agricultural Products3.4.1.3 Shrinking Arable LandAnd Continue...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 a supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
To end the week, these are the stories making headlines.

Presidential whiplash stokes immigration crisis to justify troop surge They might deny it, but evidence suggests that a hurriedly announced deployment of National Guard troops to the southern border was sparked by a presidential tweet storm, itself apparently provoked by a Fox News story.

Trump orders National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border Key details like the numbers of troops, how long they will be deployed, how much it will cost and where they will go are still being finalized. In the memo he signed Wednesday evening, Trump declared the defense secretary shall request use of National Guard personnel to secure the border and that the homeland security secretary will work with him to train and direct the troops in that mission.

Ex-Brazil president Lula da Silva loses fight to delay jail sentence Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2011, had been considered a frontrunner in elections due in October. But the courts decision not to grant his request to remain free while appealing the conviction has cast doubt on his bid to regain power.

Facebook says Cambridge Analytica may have had data on 87 million people Facebook had previously said the number of people whose information may have been shared with Cambridge Analytica was only around 50 million. It announced the revised number in a blog post on Wednesday. Facebook has said the data was initially collected by a professor for academic purposes in line with its rules.

Scientists call for boycott of South Korean university over killer robot fears In announcing the boycott, the AI scientists said they were disappointed the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) was looking to accelerate the arms race to develop such weapons, a claim the university has denied.

Sierra Leone declares former junta head president Bio, leader of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party and former junta head of the West African nation in 1996, took 51.81 percent of the vote, beating Samura Kamara of the outgoing All Peoples Congress, who won 48.19 in the poll on Wednesday.

Royal wedding 2018: What we know so far Rumors about the dress, the performers and the all-important guest list continue to swirl. Heres what we know so far and whats still under wraps. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will marry on Saturday, May 19, in St. Georges Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of central London.

Facebook will release more data about election interference, but only after the election Amid growing pressure to remove bad actors from Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday that the company would likely release more information about problematic content posted to the service during elections. But to ensure the accuracy of the data, Zuckerberg said, the reports will likely come after the elections are over.

BMWs new subscription service starts at $2,000 a month BMW is joining the growing list of automakers that are experimenting with different ownership models by launching a new monthly subscription service that gives customers access to a fleet of BMWs for a set fee. The new app-based service, dubbed Access, will launch first in Nashville before BMW decides to bring it to other markets, according to Bloomberg .

YouTube will increase security at all offices worldwide following shooting In the aftermath of the shooting at YouTubes headquarters in San Bruno, California yesterday, the company has announced plans to increase security at all of its offices worldwide. This is intended to make them more secure not only in the near term, but long-term, YouTube says.

Facebook is reducing its Android call history and SMS data collection It was revealed last month that Facebook has been collecting call records and SMS data from Android devices for years. Facebook has been using what it calls an opt-in feature to improve its friend recommendation algorithm by requesting access to contacts, SMS data, and call history on Android phones.

Tinder is testing looping video profile pictures Micro videos have been trendy since Vine (RIP), and later Boomerang, made the format fun and easy to shoot. Now, Tinder is currently testing a two-second looping video feature for profiles thats similar to Boomerang and Facebooks own profile videos.

Google will no longer accept Chrome extensions that mine cryptocurrency Starting today, Googles Chrome Web Store will no longer accept extensions that mine cryptocurrency. The company says there had been a rise in malicious extensions over the past few months which appear to be useful, but are actually embedding hidden cryptocurrency mining scripts that run in the background without consent, consuming valuable computing resources.

Google bought more renewable energy than it needed last year Since 2017, Google pledged to power its data centres and offices with 100 percent renewable energy. Now the tech company said its surpassed that, announcing in a blog post that it purchased more power from solar and wind than was used by its operations globally last year.

Someone named a bunch of streets in Idaho after Game of Thrones characters This is what happens when you let geeks be in charge. A Game of Thrones fan who also happens to be a veteran of residential engineering and development projects has been given the reins to name the streets in a new housing development outside Boise, Idaho, BoiseDev reported Monday.

The Rock finally explains his beef with Vin Diesel on Fate of the Furious We finally have some answers regarding what was arguably the biggest feud of 2016, outside of the election. Dwayne The Rock Johnson gets remarkably candid about his beef with Fate of the Furious co-star Vin Diesel in an extensive interview with Rolling Stone .

NYC lifts ban on electric bikes, but hoverboards still illegal New York City is home to one of the biggest bike-sharing networks in the country, but until this week electric bicycles  regular bicycles with an electric motor to give rides a boost  were banned in the bustling city. The confusing ban has kept out bike-sharing companies and frustrated delivery workers.

Watch Boeing refuel a huge military tanker mid-flight Boeing successfully refueled a KC-46 Pegasus tanker from a fellow tanker  mid-air. Boeing transferred 146,000 pounds of fuel from one plane to another after taking off from Boeing Field, near Seattle. Heres a video of the mid-air fuel transfer. The fuel was off-loaded at a rate of 1,200 gallons per minute.

Gendry confirms hell be at Game of Thrones climax and thats huge All that rowing seems to have paid off for Gendry  and we dont just mean because of his beefy upper body muscles. The actor behind the blacksmith-turned-magic-king-blooded-bastard Joe Dempsie confirmed in an interview with Digital Spy that hell have a bigger role to play in the final season of Game of Thrones.

Almost every Facebook users data has been scraped, Zuckerberg says Our Facebook privacy nightmare somehow keeps getting worse. The vast majority of Facebook users have likely had their public profile data scraped by third-parties, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Wednesday. The seemingly massive privacy loophole was the result of a feature that allowed people to search for friends using their phone number.

Bollywood star Khan guilty of poaching Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is convicted over the killing of two endangered blackbuck antelope back in 1998.

Spanish royals in awkward moment Footage has emerged appearing to show tension between Spains Queen Letizia and her mother-in-law Queen Sofia. The video, shot during Easter Mass on the island of Mallorca, shows Queen Letizia first blocking a photograph of Queen Sofia and her daughters and then removing Queen Sofias hand from her daughter Infanta Sofias shoulder.

Doctor used his sperm to impregnate woman A US woman is suing her parents former fertility doctor after claiming her DNA test results showed he secretly used his own sperm to help conceive her. Kelli Rowlette sent a DNA sample to genealogy website Ancestry.com, and was surprised to receive results that did not match her to her father.
Global Cyber security as a Service Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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This report provides an analysis of the global cyber security as a service market for the period of 2015 to 2025, wherein the period from 2017 to 2025 comprises of the forecast period and 2016 is the base year. Data for 2015 is provided as historical information. The report covers all the major trends and factors playing a major role in the growth of cyber security as a service market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during the said period.Free Sample Copy of Report @The report would also provide executive summary, including market overview about the cyber security as a service market. The report also provides industry development of the cyber security as a service market. The study provides a holistic perspective on the markets growth in terms of revenue (US$ Bn), across different geographical regions namely North America (NA), Europe (EU), Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and South America (SA). Moreover, geographical regions are further analyzed at granular level across countries. Wherein, North America cyber security as a service market is cross segmented amongst U.S., Canada and Rest of North America. Similarly, Europe is analyzed among countries such as U.K., Germany, France, rest of Europe. The cyber security as a service market for Asia Pacific region includes China, India, Japan and rest of APAC countries. Further, Middle East and Africa region includes countries such as GCC, South Africa and rest of MEA. Under South America region countries analyzed for cyber security as a service market are Brazil and rest of South America.The report provides ecosystem analysis and Porters Five Forces analysis for the cyber security as a service market. The cyber security as a service market data estimates are the result of our in-depth secondary research, primary interviews and in-house expert panel reviews. These market estimates have been analyzed by taking into account the impact of different political, social, economic, technological and legal factors along with the current market dynamics affecting the market growth.Global Cyber security as a Service Market: SegmentationCyber security as a service market is bifurcated by enterprise size; service type; security type, platform, end-use and geography. By security type, the global cyber security as a service market is categorized into threat intelligence & behavior analysis, auditing & logging and monitoring & altering. Based on security type the market is segmented into enterprise, endpoint, cloud and network and application security. Further, platform segment is divided into managed and professional. Moreover, based on enterprise size market is divided into small & medium enterprises and large enterprises. Cyber security as a service market based on end-use segment is categorized into BFSI, IT and Telecom, retail, healthcare, defense/government, automotive and others.Complete Outlook of Report @Global Cyber security as a Service Market: Scope of the ReportScope of the cyber security as a service market study includes market indicator which highlights the parent market overview which supports the growth of sub-segment market growth during forecast period. Comparison matrix is also included for global cyber security as a service market and market positioning is provided for cyber security as a service players. Further, report also includes competitive profiling of the key players associated with the cyber security as a service around the globe. The important business strategies adopted by them, their market positioning, financials, SWOT analysis and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The competitive landscape section of the report also gives an overview about the major contributing regions/countries by these key players in order to strengthen their market position in the future.The major companies profiled in cyber security as a service market include Armor Defense Inc., AT&T, BAE Systems, BlackStratus, Capgemini, Choice CyberSecurity, Transputec Ltd, Cloudlock (Cisco), FireEye, Inc., LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, Inc., Optiv Security Inc. and Tata Consultancy Services Limited.The Cyber security as a Service Market is segmented as below.By Security Type Enterprise Security Endpoint Security Cloud Security Network Security Application SecurityBy Service Type Threat Intelligence & Behavior Analysis Auditing & Logging Monitoring & alteringBy Platform Managed ProfessionalBy Enterprise Size Small and Medium Enterprise Large EnterpriseBy End Use Industry IT and Telecom Retail BFSI Healthcare Defense/Government Automotive Others (education, oil & gas, etc.)In addition, the report provides analysis of the Cyber Security as a Service Market with respect to the following geographic segments: North America The U.S. Canada Rest of North America Europe The U.K. Germany France Rest of Europe Asia Pacific (APAC) India China Japan Rest of APAC Middle East and Africa (MEA) GCC Countries South Africa Rest of MEA South America Brazil Rest of South AmericaAbout (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  12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559 (US- Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@mrrse.com
Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market 2018 Global Leaders: Leviton, WiTricity, Convenient Power HK Limited, Siemens, Delphi Automotive, Qualcomm, Bosch Group, ABB

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Market Research Future published a research report on Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market Research Report- Global Forecast to 2027  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2027.Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Global Market - OverviewThe increase in the wireless charging is one of the most exhilarating developments made in terms of technology of automated vehicles. This wireless charging technology is making some huge developments in terms of medical devices, since the technology decreases the risk of usage of heart monitors and other devices meant for the purpose of charging. One of the major driver for the growth of Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Market includes the increasing manufacture and sales electric vehicle, majorly in passenger car segment. There is also increased investment made in technologies related to smart cities. Despite the factors driving the market growth, certain factors such as lack of standardization are hindering the growth of wireless electric vehicle charger Market.Key Players:Some of the major players in Global Wireless electric vehicle charger Market include ABB (Switzerland), Leviton (U.S.), WiTricity Corporation (U.S), Convenient Power HK Limited (Hong Kong), Siemens (Germany), Delphi Automotive (U.K.), Qualcomm (U.S.), and Bosch Group (Germany) among others.Get Sample of Report @Industry NewsFebruary 2018, Designers create wireless charging pad for the Tesla Model 3. The company plans to launch a wireless charging pad for the Tesla Model 3. The charging pad, will charge any Qi-enabled phone. These phones include Apple's iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X and Samsung Galaxy Note and Edge models. The charging pad is easy to install and can be done in three steps, involving connecting a USB cable to the dashboard.January 2018, BMW is bringing its wireless charging pad to the US. BMW is planning to expand the wireless charging pad for its vehicles in the United States. The BMW Wireless Charging Pad will be available in the US only on the 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The charging pad uses an inductive cord built into the car to charge at 3.2kW per hour and charge the plug-ins battery in three and a half hours from zero.January 2018, Power Square introduces first 'Make in India' in-car wireless charging solution. PowerSquare introduced a new wireless charging solution for cars. The company is developing the product in association with OEMs and suppliers. The company aims to bring wireless charging standards to a wider range of cars. The company also claims that the charger can automatically detect the type of charging required from a device, and deliver accordingly.Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Global Market - Segmentation Segmentation by technology: inductive charging, conductive charging, dynamic charging, magnetic resonance, among others. Segmentation by component: electromagnetic induction, wireless power receiver, rectifies, power distribution box, vehicle receiver unit, ground transmission unit, and battery, among others Segmentation by region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa.Get Complete Report @Wireless Electric Vehicle Charger Global Market - Regional AnalysisNorth-America is one of the leading regions where the wireless electric vehicle charger market is used extensively. The region is also supposed to have the largest share of market among all the regions, majorly due to government initiatives of reducing natural gas and petroleum usage in vehicles which is expected to create a profitable market for wireless electric vehicle charging market.About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Automotive Tow Bars Market: Analysis of Opportunities Offered by High Growth Economies, Review till 2022

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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 Automotive Tow BarsMarket Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking: Global Review 2017 to 2022 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 globalautomotive tow bars 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 2026.Request For Sample Report @New technologies and advancements in material science have resulted in boom in the global automotive tow bars market. These developments have enabled the manufacturers to use metals or polymers with higher tensile strengths which could significantly improve the functionality of the tow bar as well as its operational life. The major factor driving the growth of the global automotive tow bar market is the rapid development in the manufacturing techniques o tow bars as well as their materials. Additionally, 3D printing has opened many paradigms which allow the key players to manufacture the extremely complex tow bar material with ease, enhancing their operational functionality. Moreover, the global automotive tow bar market growth is directly associated with the growth of the automotive industry, and as it grows, the use of tow bars increases, thereby impacting the market in a positive way. Europe region is the most lucrative for the tow bar market as it shows higher market attractiveness.The global automotive tow bars market is poised to reach a value of about US$ 6,800 Mn by the end of 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a steady CAGR during the forecasted period of 2017 to 2022.Retractable Towbars Largest Segment in Automotive Towbars MarketThe retractable towbar segment comprises more than a quarter revenue share in the automotive towbar market by product type and is poised to be worth almost US$ 1.9 billion by end 2022. Even though Europe represents the largest region in this segment, companies are advised to target Latin America also as this dynamic, fast-growing region is estimated to record the highest CAGR.Detachable Towbars to Gain Popularity in Automotive Towbars MarketDetachable towbars account for a slightly lesser contribution in terms of product type in the automotive towbars Market. APEJ is anticipated to push past Europe by the end of the forecast period and be worth just over US$ 442 million. However, Europe cannot be ignored at the cost of APEJ and key stakeholders in the automotive towbars Market are advised to devise their long-term strategies accordingly.IAM and OEM Segment Have Similar Market OpportunityThe IAM and OEM segment have a similar market as both have a revenue share of approx. 1/3rd in the automotive towbar market. This equates to a market value of nearly US$ 2.4 billion by the end of the study period, making them extremely lucrative opportunities in the automotive towbar market. Along with Europe, companies could look at targeting either North America or APEJ as these regions have the greatest potential in the automotive towbar market.Close Call Between Compact and Mid-sized Passenger CarsIt is a closely fought battle between compact cars and mid-sized passenger cars in the automotive towbar market with the former currently leading. Companies that wish to focus on the compact segment in the automotive towbar market are recommended to focus on either Europe or APEJ as these two regions are on track to exceed half a billion dollars by end 2022.Competition DashboardThe Fact.MR report on the automotive towbar market has profiled active companies in the automotive towbar market which include Bosal International N.V., Westfalia Automotive GMBH, Thule Group, Dixon Bate Limited, David Murphy Towing Brackets Limited, and Brink Group B.V.Browse Full Report with TOC @Table of Content1. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market - Executive Summary2. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Overview2.1. Introduction2.1.1. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Taxonomy2.1.2. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Definition2.2. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Size (US$ Mn) and Forecast, 2012-20222.2.1. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Y-o-Y Growth2.3. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Dynamics2.3.1. Drivers2.3.2. Restraints2.3.3. Trends2.4. Supply Chain2.5. Cost Structure2.6. Pricing Analysis2.7. Raw Material Sourcing Strategy and Analysis2.8. List of Distributors2.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By Region3. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Analysis and Forecast By Product Type3.1. Global Automotive Tow Bars Market Size and Forecast By Product Type, 2012-20223.1.1. Retractable Tow Bars Automotive Tow Bars Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20223.1.1.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region3.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region3.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region3.1.2. Detachable Tow Bars Automotive Tow Bars Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20223.1.2.1. Revenue (US$ Mn) Comparison, By Region3.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region3.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By RegionContinue@@Check Discount @About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized Automotive 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; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:
Global Pneumococcal Vaccines Market Outlook and Forecasted Analysis Through 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 Pneumococcal Vaccines Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 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 Pneumococcal Vaccines market have been elaborated upon in the research report.To get sample copy of Report Click Here @With the increasing prevalence of pneumococcal diseases, government organizations across various countries are introducing programs to promote the use of pneumococcal vaccines. For instance, UNICEF along with the WHO has launched the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhea (GAPPD) to control incidence and mortality rate in children suffering from severe diarrhea and pneumonia by 2025. The investment in developing countries has also increased to help in the development and delivery of vaccines. For example, GAVI is a vaccine alliance that brings together public and private sector to offer immunization to the children in worlds poorest countries.The high cost of advanced vaccines is one of the factors hampering the growth of the market. However, manufacturers are competing for development of cost-effective and high quality of vaccines by focusing on research and development activities.According to the report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global market for pneumococcal vaccines is likely to witness robust growth, registering 8.3% CAGR between 2017 and 2026. The global market for pneumococcal vaccines is also projected to bring in US$ 20,515.5 million revenue by 2026 end.13- Valent PCV to be the Top-Selling Product in the Global Market for Pneumococcal VaccinesCompared to the various products, 13- valent PCV is likely to emerge as one of the top-selling product in the global market for pneumococcal vaccines. By 2026 end, 13- valent PCV is projected to bring in close to US$ 9,500 million revenue. PVC13 has offered a significant benefit in reducing carriage of Antibiotic-Nonsusceptible Streptococcus Pneumoniae (ANSP). Moreover, 13- Valent PCV includes thirteen serotypes of pneumococcus, also, serotypes 19A and 6A are present only in PCV13. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also recommended PCV13 for adults above the 65 years of age.Hospitals to Emerge as the Largest Distribution ChannelPneumococcal vaccines are likely to be distributed by Hospitals on a large scale between 2017 and 2026. Hospitals are projected to surpass US$ 12,400 million revenue towards the end of 2026. Increasing number of patients are being hospitalized for various infections and diseases, hence hospitals are emerging as the biggest distribution channel for pneumococcal vaccines, thereby reducing mortality associated with the pneumococcal infection.Browse Complete Report details with TOC Click Here @North America to be the Largest Region in the Global Market for Pneumococcal VaccinesNorth America is likely to emerge as one of the biggest regions in the global market for pneumococcal vaccines during 2017-2026. Pneumococcal Conjugated Vaccine (PCV) is the part of routine vaccine immunization in Canada and the U.S., since 2000. The countries have also witnessed highly-effective results since the vaccine was introduced. Investments by the government organization and private companies have also increased for promoting vaccination and towards the research and development of new vaccines. North America has also emerged as a main center for many vaccine producing companies.Meanwhile, PCV is also the part of the vaccination program in countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Slovakia, Albania, Greece and Serbia. Increasing incidence of pneumococcal disease in various countries in APEJ also presents an opportunity for companies producing pneumococcal vaccines. Brazil is also witnessing a significant increase in pneumococcal diseases. Hence, various programs are being introduced in Brazil to increase the vaccine coverage.Competition TrackingThe report provides a detailed analysis of the leading companies operating in the global market for pneumococcal vaccines such as Merck & Co. Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The companies are focusing on the research and development of new pneumococcal vaccines. There has also been an increase in partnership between the leading companies and distributors in order to expand in the global market.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:
Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Treatment Market Value to Reach US$ 8,550.8 Million by the end of 2026

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Majorly, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) occurs in adults, however, it sometimes occurs in children as well. However, targeted drugs called Tyrosine-Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) have been effective in providing long-term survival rates. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved dasatinib (Sprycel) for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia in children. As the chronic myeloid leukemia is more aggressive in younger patients, the approval of drugs can help in effective treatment.As per the latest report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global chronic myelogenous leukemia market is expected to witness strong growth. The market is estimated to register 6.7% CAGR during the forecast period 2017-2026. It is also expected to reach US$ 8,550.8 million revenue by the end of 2026.Some of the factors such as a rise in research and development in oncology sector, innovation in drug development, new products in the pipeline, and the establishment of novel therapies are resulting in the growth of the global chronic myelogenous leukemia market. However, the high cost of treatment is one of the biggest factor hampering the growth of the global chronic myelogenous leukemia market.Some of the key players included in the report are Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Hoffman-LaRoche and Schering Plough, Teva Pharmaceutical, and Others. The key players are entering into the mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, for new product launches and to expand geographically.The global chronic myelogenous leukemia market is segmented on the basis of drug type, treatment type, distribution channel, and region. Based on the drug type, the market segment includes generic and branded drug. Among these, Branded drugs are expected to account for highest revenue share. On the basis of treatment type, the segment includes symptomatic treatment and disease specific treatment. During the forecast period 2017-2026, disease specific treatment is expected to witness significant growth.Request to View Sample Copy of Report -Based on the distribution channel, the market is categorized into specialty pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, and retail pharmacies. Hospital pharmacies are expected to be the largest distribution channel during the forecast period 2017-2026. Region-wise, the segmentation includes North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America is expected to remain dominant in the global chronic myelogenous leukemia market through 2026.Request Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Treatment Market Report Brochure @New Class of Drugs to Revolutionize the Treatment of Chronic Myelogenous LeukemiaChronic myelogenous leukemia is a type of blood cancer that cannot be cured with normal treatments. Hence, a new class of drugs known as Tyrosine-Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) has been developed that is resulting in the more effective treatment of CML. These class of drugs is also known as BCR-ABL inhibitors. Imatinib, which is known as first generation TKI, is quickly becoming a standard treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Meanwhile, Nilotinib is a second generation TKI which is being used by patients who are no longer able to respond to imatinib. TKIs are expensive, hence, generic imatinibs have also been introduced in various countries. The biggest restricting factor in the use of TKIs is the high cost of these drugs. TKIs, including imatinib drug, is effective at killing leukemic cells, but still is not able to kill the CML cells from which the disease is born. Hence, new research is also being carried out for more advanced and effective treatment.Global Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Treatment Market Report is available @ US$ 5795View Report atAbout 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:
North America Set to Dominate Global Oncology Information System Market

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Oncology information systems are digital systems designed to keep track of the multi-pronged treatment patterns of cancer treatment. Oncology information systems deal with various parts of cancer treatment, including treatment planning and patient information records. The global oncology information system market has exhibited steady growth over the last few years due to key drivers such as the rising prevalence of cancer across the world and the rising adoption of digital resources in the healthcare sector. The global oncology information system market is likely to exhibit a strong 7.6% CAGR over the 2017-2022 forecast period, with its valuation set to rise from US$2,285.6 mn in 2017 to US$3,293.8 mn in 2022.View Report atHere are the key insights into the growth of the oncology information system market:The rising prevalence of cancer across the world, and especially in developed countries, is the key driver for the global oncology information system market. The oncology information system market has benefited from the steady growth of the cancer treatment research sector in countries such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the U.K. and is set to prosper in the coming years due to the growing investment being provided to cancer research in these regions. The growing incidence of cancer recurrence in these countries is likely to be a crucial driver for the oncology information system market in the coming years, as oncology information systems are most utile in long-term cases that require consistent coordination with the historical treatment patterns.Request Sample copy of Global Oncology Information System Market @Government support to cancer research has also been forthcoming in developed countries, while the growing adoption of unhealthy lifestyle choices such as sedentary lifestyles, excessive consumption of junk food, and preference to addictions such as smoking and alcohol is likely to be a key driver for the global oncology information system market in the coming years. Growing government support is crucial for widespread adoption of oncology information systems, as it helps enable universal adoption and eases the financial load of incorporating the systems into the operating mechanisms of smaller hospitals.Accordingly, North America is set to remain the dominant contributor to the global oncology information system market in the coming years. The North America oncology information system market is set to rise from a valuation of US$933.7 mn to US$1,411.5 mn over the 2017-2022 forecast period, making it the dominant geographical segment of the global oncology information system market. Europe is also likely to make a vital contribution to the global oncology information system market over the 2017-2022 forecast period, with the region expected to present an absolute opportunity of US$212.5 mn in the aforementioned period.Download Report TOC at -Developing regions such as Asia Pacific except Japan are likely to be major contributors to the global oncology information system market in the future, though their share in the global market is likely to be limited in the forecast period due to the lack of skilled workers and technological support required for advanced oncology information systems. However, the rising prevalence of cancer in leading economies such as China and India, where government support as well as private investment in the healthcare sector has grown rapidly in recent years, is likely to drive the oncology information system market in the region in the coming years. The APEJ oncology information system market is expected to gain 100 BPS over its 2017 valuation by 2022, demonstrating its role as a major future component of the global oncology information system market.Competitive DynamicsLeading players in the global oncology information system market include Accuray Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Cerner Corporation, Mckesson Corporation, Flatiron Health Inc., Raysearch Laboratories, Epic Systems Corporation, Verian Medical Systems Inc., and Elekta AB.Request for PDF Brochure of Report -Popular Reports by Transparency Market Research:Microbiome Sequencing Services Market:High Throughput Process Development Market:High Content Screening Products Market:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
E-paper Display Market Growing Trend by E Ink, OED Technologies, Qualcomm

E-paper Display Market

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Stay up-to-date with Global E-paper Display market research offered by HTF MI. Check how key trends and emerging drivers are shaping this industry growth.The qualitative research study conducted by HTF MI titled Global E-paper Display Market Research Report 2018 provides primary Data, surveys, Scope of the Product and vendor briefings. The market dynamic forces have been determined after conducting a detailed study of the Global E-paper Display market. The study provides forecasts for E-paper Display investments till 2022.If you are involved in the E-paper Display industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. It offers a consequential analysis of the E-paper Display company, key tactics followed by leading manufactures and trending segments.Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:The research study is segmented by Types [Electrophoretic Display (EPD), Electrowetting Display (EWD), Electrofluidic Display (EFD) & Interferometric Modulator Display (IMOD)] as well as Key Applications [E-Reader, Electronic Shelf Label & Other] with historical and projected market share along with the growth rate, revenue figures and gross profit margin in tabular format which makes easy to understand product/service differences, market concentration rate and product distribution for past 5 years.Major geographical regions like United States, EU, China, Japan, South Korea & Taiwan and leading players such as E Ink, OED Technologies, Qualcomm, Liquavista, Plastic Logic, Pervasive Displays, LG Display, Gamma Dynamics & ITRI involved in this report. The report gives a clear idea about the growth factors, reasons for deterioration of Global E-paper Display in recent years and different opportunities and strategies to expand market.Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.Each player highlighted in the research study contains companies Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors, in-depth business overview, geographic footprint and contact information. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to SWOT Analysis.Buy this research @Reasons to Buy:- What will be the market size in 2022 and at what rate will it grow?- What growth potential do E-paper Display market have?- Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies.- Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage.- Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic.- Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and its most promising contributions.- New Development and identify prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope.- Influential factors that are thriving demand and constraints in the market.To add, value to product and services research report comprises of valuable insights with distinguishable traits that influence consumers behavior and demand. The report offers a measurable and verifiable method made towards analysis of market concentration, new entrants and the technological trends in future.Some of the key questions answered in this report:- Detailed Overview of Global E-paper Display market helps deliver clients and businesses making strategies.- Influential factors that are thriving demand and constraints in the market.- What is the market concentration? Is it fragmented or highly concentrated?- What trends, challenges and barriers will impact the development and sizing of E-paper Display market?- SWOT Analysis of each key player mentioned along with its company profile.- What growth momentum or acceleration market carries during the forecast period?- Which region is going to tap highest market share in future?- What Application/end-user category or Product Type may see incremental growth prospects?- What focused approach and constraints are holding the market tight?Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global E-paper Display marketChapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of E-paper Display, Applications of E-paper Display, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of , Capacity and Commercial Production Rate, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, Export & Import, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, EU, China, Japan, South Korea & Taiwan, E-paper Display Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the E-paper Display Segment Market Analysis (by Application [E-Reader, Electronic Shelf Label & Other]) & Type [Electrophoretic Display (EPD), Electrowetting Display (EWD), Electrofluidic Display (EFD) & Interferometric Modulator Display (IMOD)] Major Manufacturers Analysis of E-paper Display;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Electrophoretic Display (EPD), Electrowetting Display (EWD), Electrofluidic Display (EFD) & Interferometric Modulator Display (IMOD)], Market Trend by Application E-Reader, Electronic Shelf Label & Other;Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global E-paper Display;Chapter 12, to describe E-paper Display Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe E-paper Display sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com
Global Microbial Products Market up to 2027: Top Companies, Growth Factors Details and Regional Overview by Types & Application

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Microbial products are produced by microbes such as a bacteria, yeast, or fungus. Medicinal microbiology include production of enzymes, antibiotics, nutrients such as amino acids, vitamins, and organic acids, chemotherapeutic agents, vaccines etc. Some of the applications of microbial products are manufacturing of solvents and reagents such as ethanol, lactic acid, butanol etc. Synthesis of amino acids such as are L-Methionine, L-Lysine, L-Tryptophan, L-Glutamic acid etc. are another use of industrial microbiology for production of microbial products.According to a recent study published by the Market Research Future analysts, the global microbial products market is growing at a moderate rate. The market for microbial products is driven mainly due to growing prevalence of diseases, rising demand for healthcare nutrients such as vitamins, rising rates of cancers, rising demand for diagnostics microbial products, rise of lifestyles industry recommending many of these products etc.Get PDF Sample Copy @Global Microbial Products Market - Regional AnalysisIn 2016, North America and Europe were holding more than half market share of global microbial products market. Increasing funding for R&D is major driving force for the market growth. The funding for microbiology research in US is one of the highest as compared to other countries.European market is second highest revenue generator after North America. Microbiology products have huge and increasing demand not only in developed countries but also in developing countries like India & China. The presence of unmet medical needs and the growing industrial demand are the strongest driver for the growth in these markets. Thus, there is larger potential to grow in the developing regions due to less competition. The growing number of biotech firms and the growing demand for high quality solvents to satisfy the industrial base will drive the future market.The Middle East and Africa microbial products market is growing gradually with the development in the research. Moreover, developing healthcare infrastructure in some of the countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, South Africa have helped the growth of the overall healthcare segment also including the microbial products. Currently Middle East & Africa region contributes least in the global microbial products market.Key Questions Answered In This Report:What will the market size 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?Get Discount On This Report @Global Microbial Products Market - Competitive AnalysisThe global market consist of players such as Amgen Inc. (U.S.), Merck & Co. Inc. (U.S.), Valent BioSciences LLC (U.S.), GlaxoSmithKline plc (U.K.), Pfizer Inc.(U.S.), bioMerieux SA (France), Ajinomoto Co.Inc. (Japan), Sanofi (France), Novartis AG (Switzerland), NovaDigm Therapeutics (U.S.), Kyowa Hakko Bio Co., Ltd. (Japan), and others. These are the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the global microbial products market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis report.There are large number of companies involved in the development of the products, reagents kits, and other microbial products which are now being used in majority part of the developed countries. Major companies are adopting a specific strategy to enter and create unique space in this market. The different strategies includes, product launch, agreement and collaboration, partnership and expansion, joint venture and strategic alliance etc. All major players are focusing on new product development to provide new and innovative solutions to the market. The recent advancements in microbial products is the development of ultra-pure products especially high quality products which are being used in high-tech research.Global Microbial Products Market Report: Key PlayersThe key players in the market of Microbial products vary on the basis of industries. Following companies belong to different industry and are directly connected with the microbial product:Valent BioSciences Corp.LAM InternationalBioOrganics IncMycorrhizal Applications IncMETabolic EXplorer S.A.Procter & Gamble Co.Lesaffre et CompagnieNovo Nordisk A/SAmyris Inc.GevoREG Life Sciences LLCDesert Sweet BiofuelsNatural Environmental Systems LLCBioremediation Inc.BIO-SYSTEMS InternationalSapporo Breweries Ltd.Do You Have Any Query? Just Ask To Our Experts @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), Statistical Report, 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 Us:Market Research Future Office No. 528,Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar, Pune  411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Artificial Tears Market Size by Players, By Applications, Types, 2025 Forecast Report

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"The Latest Research Report Artificial Tears Market Report by Company, Regions, Types and Applications, Global Status and Forecast to 2025 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"This report studies the Artificial Tears market status and outlook of global, from angles of players, regions, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global market, and splits the Artificial Tears market by product type and application/end industries.The global Artificial Tears market was XX million US$ in 2017 and is expected to XX million US$ 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 sales, revenue, market share and growth Rate of Artificial Tears in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Turkey etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam))South America (Brazil etc.)Middle East and Africa (North Africa and GCC Countries)Get Sample Copy of this report @The major companies in this report includingAllerganAlcon (Novartis)Bausch & LombAbbottSanten PharmaceuticalUrsapharmRohtoSimilasan CorporationJohnson & JohnsonOcusoftNicoxSintongWuhan YuandaJiangxi ZhenshimingBy the product type, the market is primarily split intoArtificial Tear LiquidArtificial Tear OintmentBy the end users/application, this report covers the following segmentsDry Eyes TreatmentContact Lenses MoistenOthersTable of Contents1 Artificial Tears Market Overview1.1 Artificial Tears Product Overview1.2 Artificial Tears Market Segment by Type1.2.1 Artificial Tear Liquid1.2.2 Artificial Tear Ointment1.3 Global Artificial Tears Market Size by Type1.3.1 Global Artificial Tears Sales and Growth by Type1.3.2 Global Artificial Tears Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)1.3.3 Global Artificial Tears Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)1.3.4 Global Artificial Tears Price by Type (2013-2018)1.4 North America Artificial Tears by Type1.5 Europe Artificial Tears by Type1.6 Asia-Pacific Artificial Tears by Type1.7 South America Artificial Tears by Type1.8 Middle East and Africa Artificial Tears by TypeBrowse Complete Report with TOC @2 Global Artificial Tears Market Competition by Company2.1 Global Artificial Tears Sales and Market Share by Company (2013-2018)2.2 Global Artificial Tears Revenue and Share by Company (2013-2018)2.3 Global Artificial Tears Price by Company (2013-2018)2.4 Global Top Players Artificial Tears Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area, Product Types2.5 Artificial Tears Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Artificial Tears Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Global Artificial Tears Market Share of Top 5 and Top 10 Players2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Artificial Tears Company Profiles and Sales Data3.1 Allergan3.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.1.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.1.3 Allergan Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.1.4 Main Business Overview3.2 Alcon (Novartis)3.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.2.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.2.3 Alcon (Novartis) Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.2.4 Main Business Overview3.3 Bausch & Lomb3.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.3.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.3.3 Bausch & Lomb Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.3.4 Main Business Overview3.4 Abbott3.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.4.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.4.3 Abbott Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.4.4 Main Business Overview3.5 Santen Pharmaceutical3.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.5.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.5.3 Santen Pharmaceutical Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.5.4 Main Business Overview3.6 Ursapharm3.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.6.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.6.3 Ursapharm Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.6.4 Main Business Overview3.7 Rohto3.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.7.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.7.3 Rohto Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.7.4 Main Business Overview3.8 Similasan Corporation3.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.8.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.8.3 Similasan Corporation Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.8.4 Main Business OverviewView Sample PDF @3.9 Johnson & Johnson3.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.9.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.9.3 Johnson & Johnson Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.9.4 Main Business Overview3.10 Ocusoft3.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors3.10.2 Artificial Tears Product Category, Application and Specification3.10.3 Ocusoft Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin(2013-2018)3.10.4 Main Business Overview3.11 Nicox3.12 Sintong3.13 Wuhan Yuanda3.14 Jiangxi Zhenshiming4 Artificial Tears Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1 Global Market Status and Outlook by Regions4.1.1 Global Artificial Tears Market Size and CAGR by Regions4.1.2 North America4.1.3 Asia-Pacific4.1.4 Europe4.1.5 South America4.1.6 Middle East and Africa4.2 Global Artificial Tears Sales and Revenue by Regions4.2.1 Global Artificial Tears Sales and Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)4.2.2 Global Artificial Tears Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)4.2.3 Global Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4.3 North America Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.3.1 United States4.3.2 Canada4.3.3 Mexico4.4 Europe Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.4.1 Germany4.4.2 UK4.4.3 France4.4.4 Italy4.4.5 Russia4.4.6 Turkey4.5 Asia-Pacific Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.5.1 China4.5.2 Japan4.5.3 Korea4.5.4 Southeast Asia4.5.4.1 Indonesia4.5.4.2 Thailand4.5.4.3 Malaysia4.5.4.4 Philippines4.5.4.5 Vietnam4.5.5 India4.5.6 Australia4.6 South America Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.6.1 Brazil4.7 Middle East and Africa Artificial Tears Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin4.7.1 North Africa4.7.2 GCC CountriesAbout 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
United States Pediatric Vaccine market is likely to reach nearly US$ 10 Billion by 2024

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https://www.futuregenicreports.com/Reports/Pediatric-Vaccine-Market

Growth in US pediatric vaccine market can be attributed to factors such as increased disease awareness, growing public acceptance, increasing government focus on immunization programs and increased government funding for the vaccine development.The research report titled United States Pediatric Vaccine Market 2017  Demand, Insights, Analysis, Opportunities Segmentation and Forecast to 2024 examines the market dynamics, competitive landscape and discusses major trends. The study describes an indepth analysis of the United States pediatric vaccine market.Get PDF with Technological trends atThe report contains a granular analysis of the market segmentation, reveal facts on the market size, volume and revenues and provides forecasts through 2024. The report also provides a deep and thorough evaluation of the top 10 pediatric vaccines by disease indication. On the basis of disease indication, the top 10 pediatric vaccines provide an in-depth analysis of doses administered, number of children being vaccinated and market size. The report also explores detailed description of growth drivers and inhibitors of the United States pediatric vaccine market.The report concludes with the profiles of major players in the United States pediatric vaccine market. The key market players are evaluated on various parameters such as company overview, pediatric vaccine portfolios and latest development & trends of the pediatric vaccine market.Major Pediatric Vaccines (Disease Indication) Covered Under This Report Are:Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis (DTap)Hepatitis AVaricella/Chicken PoxPneumococcalHaemophilus Influenzae Type B (HIB)PolioRotavirusHepatitis BInfluenza PediatricMeasles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR)Obtain Report Details with Technological advancement atKey Companies Covered in the Report are as follows:Sanofi PasteurGlaxoSmithKline(GSK)Merck & Co.Pfizer IncGrifolsKey Deliverables in the StudyMarket Definition for the specified topic along with identification of key drivers and inhibitors for the marketIt provides a growth map over time to understand the industry growth rateIt provides a seven-year forecast assessed based on how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsA comprehensive list of key market players along with the analysis of their current pediatric vaccines portfolios and latest development and trends.About Future Genic ReportsFuture 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 Us:244, Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861E-mail: sales@futuregenicreports.com
Lois and John met at an exchange party in 1959 between a few Stanford undergraduates and Stanford nursing students. After both graduated, they married in 1960, and moved to Phoenix, AZ, where they worked for Maricopa CountyLois for Public Health, John in Juvenile Probation. Then they moved several times for changes in Johns employment, first to Los Angeles, then Stockton, and San Jose. During this time three children came into their life: Michael (1964), Anne (1966) and Cara (1971). In 1975 the family made its last move coming to Napa when John went to work in the County Administrators Office in criminal justice planning.

In addition to being a public health nurse in Phoenix, Lois nursing career included working as a school nurse for the Mt. Pleasant School District (San Jose), and from 1975 to 1995 a school nurse for Napa Valley Unified School District. For her it was much more than a job, she was a formidable advocate in promoting the importance of school nursing both at the local and state level. But her primary focus was bringing quality health care to the children and youth that she cared for. After retirement when she would see and share memories with previous students, parents, colleagues, and faculty, it gave her a great deal of pleasure.
Health IT Security Market is Expecting Worldwide Growth in Future

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https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/health-it-security-market

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The global health IT security market is witnessing considerable growth due to stringent regulatory requirements and interconnected medical devices. Since the usage of interconnected medical device is continuously increasing, health IT security would play a major role in the safety of health information assembled and imparted from various smart devices to patients and care givers. Moreover, increasing use of mobile device, due to greater adoption of bring-your-own device policy, is supporting the growth of the market. The adoption of health IT security across the globe is increasing, owing to increasing number of healthcare data breeches. The market for healthcare IT security services segment is expected to grow at the faster rate compared to healthcare IT security products market in the forecasted period, as the end users in this market would require continuous support in the form of service to protect their IT infrastructure from increased advanced cyber-attacks.Explore Sample Copy of this Research Report:The digital health technologies help to improve communication between patients and healthcare providers to reduce medical errors for better coordinated care. These technologies also help to share information with other healthcare organizations and providers, such as medical imaging facilities, emergency facilities, laboratories, clinics, and pharmacies. Reliability, better health management and cost efficiency are major goals to be achieved in healthcare sector.Geographically, North America has been the largest market for health IT security, owing to large number of healthcare data breeches, and stringent regulatory requirements on data privacy in the region. The U.S. contributed largest revenue to the North American as well as global health IT security market. Europe has been the second largest market for health IT security, where the market is driven by the increasing number of cyber-attacks to misuse healthcare information of an individual. Globally, the health IT security market is expected to witness the fastest growth in Asia-Pacific during the forecast period. The highest growth in the region is attributed to the increasing awareness of IT security and increasing adoption of connected medical devices for managing increasing prevalence of chronic illness in the region.Explore Report at:The key players operating in the global market are IBM Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Trend Micro Incorporated, Oracle Corporation, EMC Corporation, SailPoint Technologies, Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard, AT&T, and Intel 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:
Non-Destructive Testing Services Market 2018 Global Leaders: MISTRAS Group, Olympus, GE Inspection Technologies, Nikon Metrology, Ashtead Technology, Sonatest, Bosello High Technology

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Market Research Future published a research report on Non-Destructive Testing Services Market Research Report- Forecast to 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market ScenarioThe non-destructive testing services market is growing, with a quick pace. Non-destructive testing services are gaining popularity due to the need for ensuring the prevention of accidents and promoting safety for workers during overhauling and maintenance. The rise in demand for improving quality and longevity of the machines is one major factor driving the growth of non-destructive testing services market. Also, increase in the use of renewable energy resources is another major factor responsible for driving the growth of Non-Destructive Testing Services Market.MISTRAS Group, Inc., Olympus Corporation, GE Inspection Technologies, Intertek Group PLC, SGS S.A., Olympus Corporation, and Nikon Metrology are a few major players in the global non-destructive testing services market. Increasing emergence of industrial internet of things is one major factor responsible for driving the growth of non-destructive testing services market. Also, stringent government regulations formulated by the government is another major factor, driving the growth of non-destructive testing services market.Get Sample of Report @The technique segment in the non-destructive testing services market comprises of ultrasonic testing services, radiography testing services, liquid penetrant testing services, magnetic particle testing services, eddy-current testing services, and visual inspection services. The ultrasonic testing services sub-segment of the global non-destructive testing services market is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period. This is owing to the increasing demand for testing method from manufacturing, power generation, aerospace & defense, automotive, and transportation industries.North America region holds the largest share of the market across the globe, followed by Europe, and Asia Pacific region. U.S. and Canada are dominating the North America market due to rising technological enhancements and growing adoption of industrial internet of things in the region. Moreover, the region has a well-established infrastructure, which allows faster implementation of advanced technologies. Additionally, the growing demand to ensure safety and efficiency in the production process is another major factor driving the growth of non-destructive testing services market in the region.The global non-destructive testing services market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 8% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Key Players:Some of the prominent players in the global non-destructive testing services market are MISTRAS Group, Inc. (U.S.), Olympus Corporation (Japan), GE Inspection Technologies (U.S.), Intertek Group PLC (U.K.), SGS S.A. (Switzerland), , Nikon Metrology, Inc. (U.S.), Ashtead Technology, Inc. (U.S.), Sonatest Ltd. (U.K), Bosello High Technology S.R.L. (Italy), and Fujifilm Holdings Corporation (Japan) others.Segments:The global non-destructive testing services market is segmented by type, technique, application and vertical. By product, the market is segmented into traditional non-destructive testing services and advanced non-destructive testing services. By type, the market is segmented into ultrasonic testing services, radiography testing services, liquid penetrant testing services, magnetic particle testing services, eddy-current testing services, and visual inspection services. By application, the market is segmented into flaw detection, leak detection, dimensional measurement, estimation of physical properties, chemical composition determination, and stress & structure analysis. Whereas, based on vertical, the market is segmented into aerospace & defense, automotive, oil & gas, infrastructure, and power.Regional AnalysisThe global non-destructive testing services market is studied in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. It has been observed that North America is estimated to account for the largest market share, whereas Asia Pacific is projected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. The growth of North America market is attributed to technological advancements and the increased adoption of non-destructive testing service applications across industry verticals.Get Complete Report @Intended Audience Technology Investors Research/Consultancy firms Government Bodies Service Providers Information Technology (IT) developers Consulting service providers Technology Providers 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.Media Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
The U.S. Sleep Market

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Bharat Book Bureau Provides the Trending Market Research Report on The U.S. Sleep Market under "Life Sciences" category. The report provides information on industry overview, market size, latest developments, industry trends, Key players, global presence, and their future prospects.Of a total population of 325 million Americans, 58% are estimated to experience insomnia symptoms or sleep disorders. Companies across America are trying to sell us a perfect nights sleep with medications, premium mattresses, high tech pillows, CPAP devices, white noise machines, smartphone apps, and more. All of this has become a $28.6 billion a year industry.Browse our full report with Table of Contents :As obesity rates climb and Americans age, more people are developing sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and other sleep disorders. Plus, stressors related to politics, terrorism, student debt and more are resulting in more sleepless nights for Americans. First launched in 1977, there are now an estimated 4,700 sleep labs or centers in the United States. These labs perform sleep studies and help design treatment programs for insomniacs and those with sleep apnea and other conditions.This new study examines the sleep market and its segments, covering markets for: anti-insomnia drugs (over-the-counter & prescription), sleep labs/sleep centers, mattresses and pillows, CPAPs (continuous positive airway pressure devices) for sleep apnea, and retail sleep aids: earplugs, sleep lamps, sound conditioning machines, eye masks, books on sleep). The report also includes key sleep lab metrics such as patient volumes, bed counts, and much more.The study includes: market size estimates for 1995-2017, with 2018 and 2023 Forecasts, patient demographics, 16 in-depth competitor profiles and rankings in each market segment, discussions of market nature & structure, history and evolution, reimbursement issues and the effect of Medicare rulings regarding home testing.Request a free sample copy of U.S. Sleep Market Report @Company profiles for:- ResMed, Respironics- SleepMed- Sleep Holdings- Foundation Surgery Associates- Novasom- Tempur Sealy- Sleep Number Co.- Simmons SertaAbout Bharat Book Bureau:Bharat Book Bureau is the leading market research information provider for market research reports, company profiles, industry study, country reports, business reports, newsletters and online databases. Bharat Book Bureau provides over a million reports from more than 400 publishers around the globe. We cover sectors starting from Aeronautics to Zoology.Contact us at:Bharat Book BureauTel: +91 22 27810772 / 27810773Email: poonam@bharatbook.comWebsite:Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus
Automotive Spark Plug Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and Industry Analysis

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https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/automotive-spark-plug-market.html

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Automotive spark plug is an essential component of a vehicle meant for delivering electric current from the ignition system to the combustion chamber in the engine. Spark plug ignites the mixture of air and fuel inside the combustion chamber with an electric spark when the pressure within the chamber is at an optimal level. A spark plug has a porcelain insulator, which separates it from a central electrode. In addition, it has a metal threaded shell. There are four different types of spark plug such as copper spark plug, platinum spark plug, double platinum spark plug and iridium spark plug.Copper spark plugs are standard spark plugs, which are low in cost having the least longevity compared to other spark plugs because of coppers characteristic of getting eroded away fast. However, copper is a good conductor of electricity and therefore, copper spark plugs run much cooler compared to other spark plugs and deliver better performance, without reaching overheated temperatures. Platinum spark plugs are completely opposite to copper plugs. They are less conductive to electricity, expensive and get overheated easily under normal driving conditions.Get Brochure for Latest Advancements and Research Insights @However, platinum spark plugs are very long lasting as compared their copper counter-parts, which is why they are preferred by some of the automobile manufacturers. Double platinum spark plugs exhibit more or less the same properties of platinum spark plugs but it ensures a slightly higher performance compared to platinum spark plugs. The tip and the ground electrodes of double platinum spark plugs are made up of platinum for which it is able to provide superior performance compared to platinum spark plugs.However, it is more expensive compared to the platinum spark plugs. Iridium tipped spark plugs ensures better power and combustion, which leads to the superior performance of engine. In addition, it has a longer life span than copper spark plugs and can even match the longevity of some platinum spark plugs. Iridium spark plugs are the highest in cost among all the different types of spark plugs.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @The automotive spark plug market can be classified by type, by application and by geography. The type segment can be classified into copper spark plug, platinum spark plug, double platinum spark plug and iridium spark plug. By application, the market can be segregated as passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles. By geography, the market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.Stringent emission norms and demand for fuel efficient vehicles are the key factors influencing growth of automotive spark plug market. In addition, economic reforms in developing countries, growth in the global automotive sector and rising private equity investments in automotive spark plug manufacturing companies across the world is set to influence the growth of this market positively.Browse the Report@In terms of market revenue share, Asia Pacific is expected to hold the largest share by the end of forecast period followed by Europe, North America, Latin America and, Middle East and Africa.Major market participants profiled in this report include: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd. (Japan), Denso Corporation (Japan), BorgWarner Inc. (U.S.), and Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany) among others.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:Research Blog:
Synthetic Fiber Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2026

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https://www.researchmoz.us/synthetic-fiber-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2026-report.html/toc

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https://marketsizeinfo.blogspot.in/

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Synthetic Fiber Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2026" to its huge collection of research reports.A recently compiled report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) on the global synthetic fiber market submits forecasts for the period 2017 to 2026, along with a detailed market analysis, and dynamics having potential to leave significant footprints on expansion of the market. In addition to provision of recent trends, impeding factors, and driving factors impacting the market expansion, an evaluation on imperative data with respect to different market parameters is rendered by the report.Report StructureThe beginning chapter of this report, titled executive summary, delivers a precis of global synthetic fiber market. The executive summary contains imperative market numbers viz. the forecast (2017-2026) CAGR and the historical (2012-2016) CAGR. Market numbers delivered in this chapter concern with the market segments, especially the product and regional segments. Apropos to sales growth rate and revenues from sales of synthetic fiber worldwide, intelligence regarding financially worthwhile regions for expansion of the synthetic fiber market is incorporated in this report.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @A chapter titled overview follows the executive summary, incorporating definition of synthetic fiber that proceeds an incisive market introduction. This chapter demonstrably portrays global synthetic fiber markets broad scope. The chapters succeeding overview explicate key dynamics affecting the synthetic fiber markets growth across the globe, and offer imperative nodes that include the bottom line of enterprises, global economy and fiscal stimulus. In addition, few chapters in this report deliver information regarding pricing analysis and the cost structure of global synthetic fiber market.Competitive LandscapeIn this report, the reader will also gain access to information regarding competitive landscape of the market, which comprise market share analysis of leading companies operating in the market. The data offered in this section shed light on competition matrix based projected value share. The competition matrix benchmarks key market participants on the basis of their performance. Insights into market share, infrastructure facilities, top line growth, future outlook and recent developments is give in this section.Research MethodologyThe research methodology applied for compiling the report on global synthetic fiber market is tested & proven. Hence, the facts and figures pertaining to the synthetic fiber market provided in the report are highly accurate and credible. The research methodology involved exhaustive primary & secondary research that allowed analysts to make certain assessments. Moreover, data gathered using the research methodology underwent multilevel verification to ensure its authenticity and applicability.Table of Content1. Global Outlook2. Global Synthetic Fibre Market - Executive Summary3. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Overview3.1. Introduction3.1.1. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Taxonomy3.1.2. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Definition3.2. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Size (000 Tonnes) and Forecast, 2012-20263.2.1. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Y-o-Y Growth3.3. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Dynamics3.4. Supply Chain3.5. Cost Structure3.6. Pricing Analysis3.7. Raw Material Sourcing Strategy and Analysis3.8. List of Suppliers3.9. Key Participants Market Presence (Intensity Map) By RegionGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @4. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Analysis and Forecast 2012-20264.1. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Size and Forecast By Synthetic Fiber Type, 2012-20264.1.1. Polyester Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.1.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.1.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.2. Nylon Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.2.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.1.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.3. Acrylic Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.3.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.1.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.1.4. Other Synthetic fibres Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.1.4.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.1.4.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.1.4.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.2. Global Synthetic Fibre Market Size and Forecast By End Use Industries, 2012-20264.2.1. Industrial Use Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.2.1.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.2.1.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.2.1.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.2.2. Apparel Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.2.2.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.2.2.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.2.2.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.2.3. Home Furnishing Market Size and Forecast, 2012-20264.2.3.1. Volume (000 Tonnes) Comparison, By Region4.2.3.2. Market Share Comparison, By Region4.2.3.3. Y-o-Y growth Comparison, By Region4.2.4. Others Market Size and Forecast, 2012-2026Continue...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 @
Eyewear in Brazil Market: Development Factors, Key Players, Regional Analysis, Manufacturer, Applications and Forecasts By 2022

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The report on Brazil Eyewear Market is a customer intelligence and competitive study of the Brazil market.Moreover, the report provides deep insights on demand forecasts, market trends, and, micro and macro indicators in Brazil market. Also, factors that are driving are restarting the Eyewear Market are highlighted in the study.This is an in-depth business intelligence report based on qualitative and quantitative parameters of the market. Additionally, this report provides readers with market insights and detailed analysis of market segments to possible micro levels.Get Sample Copy of this Report:The companies featured in the Brazil Eyewear Market include Chilli Beans Comercio de Produtos Nacionais e Importados Ltda, Luxottica do Brasil Ltda, Oticas Carol Ltda, Strata Medical do Brasil Ltda and international Optcal Co.,Ltd.Segments CoveredThe report on Eyewear Market provides detailed analysis of segments in the market based on Product, Applications and Material.Segmentation based on Product Contact Lenses Spectacles Plano Sunglasses OthersSegmentation based on Applications Young Adults Adults OthersSegmentation based on Material CR-39 Polyurethane Polycarbonate OthersFor More Enquiry on This Report:Highlights of the reportReport provides detailed insights into1) Demand and supply conditions of Eyewear Market2) Factor affecting the Eyewear Market in the short run and the long run3) The dynamics including drivers, restraints, opportunities, political, socio economic factors, and technological factors4) Key trends and future prospects5) Leading companies operating in Eyewear Market and their competitive position in the Brazil.6) IGR Matrix: to position the product types7) Market estimates up to 2022.Table of Contents1. Report Overview1.1 Report Description1.2 Research Methods1.3 Research Approaches2. Executive Summary3. Overview3.1 Introduction3.2 Market Dynamics3.2.1 Drivers3.2.2 Restraints3.2.3 Opportunities3.2.4 Challenges3.3 PEST- Analysis3.4 Porters Diamond Model For Brazil Eyewear Market3.5 IGR  Growth Matrix Analysis3.6 Competitive Landscape in Brazil Eyewear Market4. Brazil Eyewear Market by Product4.1 Introduction4.2 Contact Lenses4.3 Spectacles4.4 Plano Sunglasses4.6 Others5. Brazil Eyewear Market by Applications5.1 Introduction5.2 Young Adults5.3 Adults5.4 Others6. Brazil Eyewear Market by Material6.1 Introduction6.2 CR-396.3 Polyurethane6.4 Polycarbonate6.5 Others7. Company Profiles7.1 Chilli Beans Comercio de Produtos Nacionais e Importados Ltda7.2 Luxottica do Brasil Ltda7.3 Oticas Carol Ltda7.4 Strata Medical do Brasil Ltda.7.5 international Optcal Co.,LtdComplete report at: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
IT Outsourcing Market Is Thriving Worldwide with DXC Technologies, HCL, HP, IBM, Infosys

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report 2018-2025 IT Outsourcing Report on Global and United States Market,Status and Forecast,by Players,Types and Applications to its huge collection of research reports.The report on the global market for IT Outsourcing is written with the intent to provide a focal point of market analysis to readers and analysts. The report considers a multitude of factors that are projected to create growth spaces within the market. The propensities of the customers and the corresponding strategies of the market players have been included in the report in order to give a wholesome view of the market. The global market for IT Outsourcing has undergone fundamental reforms over the past, and each of these changes have been expounded within the report. Since the global market for IT Outsourcing is expanding across several regional pockets, the fettle of different regions has been discretely explained.Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:The researchers have maintained the integrity of their research by referring to authentic sources of information with regards to the market. Moreover, a multifaceted approach of analysis has ensured that the insights in the report assist in comprehending the market dynamics. Statistics with regards to market value, growth rate, segmentation, and regional market share form a vital segment of the report. Evidences that point to the emergence of new trends along with the nature of those trends have been included in the report to support further research.The product portfolio of established as well as the new market players has been listed in the report. Moreover, the execution of business strategies by these market players is a key highlight of the report.Table of Contents2018-2025 IT Outsourcing Report on Global and United States Market, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications1 Industry Overview of IT Outsourcing1.1 IT Outsourcing Market Overview1.1.1 IT Outsourcing Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global IT Outsourcing Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.3 IT Outsourcing Market by Type1.3.1 IT Consulting1.3.2 Equipment and Software1.3.3 Network System1.3.4 Application Software System1.3.5 Maintenance management and upgrading1.3.6 Others1.4 IT Outsourcing Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Traditional Industry1.4.2 High Tech1.4.3 Others2 Global IT Outsourcing Competition Analysis by Players2.1 IT Outsourcing Market Size (Value) by Players (2017 and 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 Accenture3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 IT Outsourcing Revenue (Value) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Cognizant3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 IT Outsourcing Revenue (Value) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Wipro3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 IT Outsourcing Revenue (Value) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 DXC Technologies3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 IT Outsourcing Revenue (Value) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 HCL3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business OverviewRead Complete Table of Content @List of Tables and FiguresFigure IT Outsourcing Product ScopeFigure Global IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2018)Table Global IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Global IT Outsourcing Market Share by Regions in 2017Figure United States IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure EU IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Japan IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure China IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure India IT Outsourcing Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Get discount copy @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
Polyaspartic Coatings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Polyaspartic Coatings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Polyaspartic Coatings Market: OverviewPolyaspartic coatings is a new class of coating technology and is a derivative of aliphatic polyisocyanate and a polyaspartic ester. They are widely used for protecting steel structures from corrosion and also used in various commercial, automotive, and power generation industry. They possess high chemical, abrasion, impact, and UV resistance. They emit low VOC as compared to their counterparts and are highly durable in nature. polyaspartic coatings doesnt turn yellow and require less curing time as well as maintenance compared to epoxy, polyurethane, etc. coatings.The report estimates and forecasts the polyaspartic coatings market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2017 and 2025 based on volume (Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2016 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the polyaspartic coatings market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the polyaspartic coatings market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources. Furthermore, the report analyzes global average price trend analysis of polyaspartic coatings.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the polyaspartic coatings market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-user and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. The report comprises price trend analysis for polyaspartic coatings between 2017 and 2025.Global Polyaspartic Coatings Market: Research MethodologySecondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Global Polyaspartic Coatings Market: Market SegmentationThe study provides a comprehensive view of the polyaspartic coatings market by dividing it into following types: by Technology, by End-user, and by Geography. The polyaspartic coatings market based on Technology type has been segmented into water, solvent, and powder. End-user segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of volume (Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) between 2017 and 2025.Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for Polyaspartic coatings in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for end-user and Technology type segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Germany, the U.K., India, China, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual end-user and products in all the regions and countries.Global Polyaspartic Coatings Market: Competitive LandscapeThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Akzo Nobel N.V, The Sherwin Williams Company, PPG Industries, Covestro AG, Sika Corporation, Cipy Polyurethanes Pvt. Ltd, and Rust-Oleum Corporation. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable).Table of Content1. Preface1.1. Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2. Research Highlights2. Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1. Assumptions and Acronyms Used2.2. Research Methodology3. Executive Summary3.1. Market Size, Indicative (US$ Mn)3.2. Top 3 TrendsGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @4. Market Overview4.1. Product Overview4.2. Key Industry Developments4.3. Market Indicators4.4. Drivers and Restraints Snapshot Analysis4.4.1. Drivers4.4.2. Restraints4.4.3. Opportunities4.5. Global Polyaspartic coatings Market Analysis and Forecasts4.6. Polyaspartic coatings Market: Global Demand-Supply Scenario4.7. Porters Analysis4.7.1. Threat of Substitutes4.7.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers4.7.3. Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.7.4. Threat of New Entrants4.7.5. Degree of Competition4.8. Value Chain Analysis4.9. Global Polyaspartic coatings Market: SWOT Analysis5. Polyaspartic Coating Formulations5.1. Covestro AG5.2. PATCHAM FZC5.3. Rust-Oleum Corporation5.4. The Sherwin Williams CompanyContinue...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 @
Smart Materials Market 2018 Global Leaders: APC International, Harris, CeramTec, Kyocera, TDK, Wright Medical Group, Channel Technologies Group, LORD

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Market Research Future published a research report on Smart Materials Market Research Report- Forecast till 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market HighlightsThe global smart materials market is projected to witness a rapid growth during the forecast period. The study indicates that chemical composition present in the smart materials are responsible for the characteristics of the smart materials it displays. Its response varies depending on the chemical composition of the smart materials used. It is observed that smart materials are dynamic in nature and react to external environments by adapting their properties.The global Smart Materials Market, by geography, is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. North America accounted for the largest share as compared to other regions, the Smart Materials market in Europe market is expected to witness a significant growth and hold the second largest market share during the forecast period. Countries such as France, Italy, and Germany are anticipated to drive the growth of the smart materials market owing to the presence of established automotive industry. The rapidly growing demand for structural materials and mimetic materials has been the main growth driver of the smart materials market in this region. The adoption of new methods in the domains of monitoring of structural health, environmental control, and vibration control is also responsible for the development of the smart materials market in this region.Get Sample of Report @In the global smart materials market, Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness a relatively faster adoption at the highest CAGR during the forecast period as compared to other regions owing to the growing adoption of low labor costs coupled with the reduced costs associated with raw materials.The global smart materials market is projected to reach USD 73 billion at a CAGR of over 14% by the end of the forecast period 2017-2023.Key PlayersSome of the prominent players in the global smart materials market: APC International (U.S.), Harris Corporation (U.S.), CeramTec (Germany), Kyocera Corporation (Japan), TDK Corporation (Japan), Noliac A/S (Denmark), Wright Medical Group, Inc. (U.S.), Channel Technologies Group (U.S.), LORD Corporation (U.S.) among others.Regional Analysis:The global color detection market is studied for Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World. It is observed that North America market was leading in the global smart materials market in 2016, owing to significant demand for smart actuators & motors in key industries such as automotive, consumer goods, and aerospace. Europe accounted for the second-largest share of the market due to presence well-established automotive industry followed by Asia Pacific market. Asia Pacific market is anticipated to exhibit a remarkable growth over the forecast period, owing to significant research activities supported by the government.Smart Materials Market SegmentationThe global smart materials market is segmented by products and application. By product segment, the market consists of piezoelectric materials, shape memory materials, electrostrictive materials, magnetostrictive materials, phase change materials, electrochromic materials, and others. By application, it is segmented into actuators & motors, transducers, sensors, structural materials, and others.Get complete Report @Intended Audience: Research/Consultancy firms Technology Solution Providers Original Equipment Manufacturers Government bodies Automotive Industry Civil IndustryAbout 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
Alternate Marine Power Market Overview and Analysis Including Key Players - ABB Group, Schneider Electric, Wartsila, Siemens AG, and Enel S.p.A

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Alternate Marine Power Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Today, almost 90%92% of the global trade is carried out with the help of ships and vessels via sea route. Growth of the marine industry has led to rapid increase in marine pollution. Traditionally, air emission norms applicable to vehicles were not imposed on ships and vessels. However, several studies and measurements have indicated that a single ship is equivalent to 50 million vehicles in terms of air pollution contribution. Ships and vessels is a major contributor to the air pollution of coastal areas.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @This finding has led to formulation of several new mandates and regulations for reducing the pollution caused by ships and vessels. Air pollution from the marine industry has become a reason for criticism for the last few years, primarily due to emission of highly pollutant gases from the exhaust of ship engines. In order to control the air pollution from the marine industry, several practices are being adopted. One such practice is alternate marine power or cold ironing.Alternate marine power or cold ironing is a process or practice in which ocean-venturing vessels are provided with electric power from the shore side, when they are docked or are at berth, in order to close their auxiliary diesel generators. The electric power is supplied to the ship either from the power grid of the port city, or from in-port power generation plants, or from the renewable power source present in the port. The electric power is utilized for continuous functioning of emergency devices; lighting, cooling or heating equipment; and other equipment that are operational during hoteling activity of the vessel or ship. Cold ironing requires plugging-in of the vessel at the port, which completely eliminates the need for running of the vessels diesel generator. This eliminates the pollution originating from shipboard emission, commonly in the port and surrounding areas that suffer from sooty air.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Based on type of AC power supply, the alternate marine power market can be classified into 440 V of supply, 660 V of supply, 6600 V of supply, and 11000 V of supply. Based on power requirement, the market can be segmented into up to 1 MW, 1 MW to 5 MW, and above 5 MW. In terms of application, the alternate marine power market can be segregated into naval ships, cargo ships, passenger ships, tankers, and others. The cargo ships segment is likely to hold a significant share of the alternate marine power market and is expected to expand at a significant growth rate during the forecast period. This is primarily attributable to the increasing marine trade activities across the globe.In terms of region, the global alternate marine power market can be divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is estimated to hold a dominant share of the global alternate marine power market during the forecast period. Moreover, Europe is expected to follow North America during the forecast period. However, the alternate marine power market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a significant growth rate during the forecast period. Growth of the market in the region is attributable to growth of economies of India and China and rise in trade activities in the two countries.Browse Report @Key players operating in the global alternate marine power market include ABB Group, Schneider Electric, Wartsila, Siemens AG, and Enel S.p.A.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 @
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This Sunday, April 8, at 10 a.m. we will have guest speaker Steven Kellar. The main church building is under repairs and we are meeting at 1920 Finnell Road in Yountville while we are under construction. We will continue to have all of our Sunday school classes, services, and bible studies. Sunday School is at 9 am for all ages. We have an Adult Bible class, Youth Group (fiftheight grades and high school students),and Childrens classes Jesus and Me, (Birth-Kindergarten) and first through fifth grades are offered. 944-2179.
Automotive Inner Fenders Market: Projection of Each Major Segment over the Forecast Period 2025

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Inner fenders are parts of a vehicle that frames both the front wheels and rear wheels in an automobile. When automobile tires rotate at high speed, road debris is thrown into the air towards other vehicles and pedestrians. Inner fenders of an automobile prevent liquids, rocks, mud and sand including other road debris from being thrown at vehicles and pedestrians. In the U.K. fenders are also known as wing and in India and Sri Lanka they are known as mudguard.Steel and sheet molding compounds are the main materials used to manufacture automotive inner fenders. Sheet metal compounds are sometimes used in place of steel as automotive inner fender materials because sheet molding compounds weight lighter than steel. When sheet molding compounds are used as inner fender materials in place of steel in a vehicle, the weight of the automobile is reduced which will consequently increase fuel efficiency by increasing vehicle mileage and reduce vehicular emissions. Automotive inner fenders are used in all types of vehicles ranging from passenger vehicles to commercial vehicles.Browse report detailsBy material, the automotive inner fenders market is segmented into steel and sheet molding compound (SMC). By vehicle type, the market is classified into passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs).In terms of geography, the market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. North America is a major automotive inner fenders market. The U.S. is the largest market in the region as it is the second largest automotive and passenger vehicle market in the world. Canada and Mexico are other major markets in this region.Europe is a prominent automotive inner fenders market. Germany is the largest market in the region as it is the largest automotive market in Europe and passenger vehicle market is fourth largest in the world. The U.K, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, and Netherlands are other major markets in this region.Get Brochure for Latest Advancements and Research InsightsAsia Pacific is the largest automotive fenders market in the world, dominated by China, followed by Japan and India. China is the largest automotive and passenger vehicle market in the world. Japan and India are the third and fifth largest passenger vehicle markets in the world respectively. South Korea and Australia are other markets in this region. Middle East & Africa is another significant automotive inner fenders market with Turkey, Iran and South Africa being prominent markets. Latin America is another major automotive inner fenders market, majorly led by Brazil and Argentina.Rising construction and infrastructure industry in Asia Pacific is anticipated to increase the demand for commercial vehicles which are required for raw material transportation, this will consequently increase the demand for automotive inner fenders for commercial vehicles. Rising sale of passenger vehicles across the world will increase the demand for automotive inner fenders for passenger vehicles.Get Table of Content for detail analysisAn opportunity for the automotive inner fender market is the increasing demand of fuel efficient and low emission electric and hybrid vehicles across the world. A number of automotive manufacturers such as Volvo Car Corp., Daimler AG and BMW AG among others are anticipated to increase production and sale of electric vehicles in future.The report highlights the various competitive strategies adopted by key players operating in the market. Company profiles include company details, market presence by geography and segments, strategic overview, SWOT analysis, and historical revenue. The report also contains details of market share analysis of key players in the market. Some of the major firms operating in the automotive inner fenders market are Samvardhana Motherson Group (India), Gordon Auto Body Parts Co. Ltd. (Taiwan), Great Bestcam Co. Ltd (GBC, Taiwan), Auto Depot Co.Ltd. (Thailand), Auto Metal Direct (the U.S), Glasstek (the U.S), Lokari (Germany), and Pacific Auto Company (the U.S.).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:
Smart Governments Market to Garner Brimming Revenues ($39.27 billion) by 2023

Smart Governments Market

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A new research document with title 'Smart Governments - Global Market Outlook (2017-2023) covering detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like North America, Germany, Rest of Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa and important players/vendors such as ABB Ltd., Amazon Web Services, Inc., Avaya The report will help user gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period of 2017-23According to Research, the Global Smart Governments market is expected to grow from $10.16 billion in 2016 to reach $39.27 billion by 2023 with a CAGR of 21.3%.Increasing data from various sources, raising focus on digitalization, and growing adoption of cloud computing, big data, and Internet of Things are some of the major factors boosting the market growth during the forecast period. On the other hand, differences in regulations across the various countries, security issues are the constraints inhibiting the market growth.Request for sample pages @Among services segment, professional services is anticipated to command the global market with highest market share over the forecast period due to growing demand for consulting service which provides technological assistance. By solutions, remote monitoring segment is expected to witness highest CAGR due to growing deployments throughout governments. North America is expected to hold the largest share in global market. Asia Pacific is predicted to register high growth rate due to increasing adoption of technological advancements in emerging countries such as India, China, and Japan.Some of the key players in global smart governments market include ABB Ltd., Amazon Web Services, Inc., Avaya Inc., Capgemini S.A., Cisco Systems, Inc., Entrust Datacard Corporation, Global Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Hughes Identification Devices (HID) Global Corporation, Imex Systems Inc., International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Nokia Corporation, OpenGov, Oracle Corporation, Socrata, and Symantec Corporation.Services Covered: Managed Services Professional Serviceso Consulting Serviceso Support and Maintenanceo System Integration and DeploymentGet customization & check discount for report @Solutions Covered: Network Management Remote Monitoring Open Data Platform Securityo Identity and Access Managemento Risk and Compliance Managemento Security and Vulnerability Managemento Others Analyticso Edge Analyticso Location Analyticso Social Media Analyticso Streaming Analytics Government Resource Planning Systemo Asset Lifecycle Managemento Financial Managemento Supply Chain Managemento Workforce Managemento Others Other SolutionsDeployment Types Covered: Cloud On-PremisesRegions Covered: North America, Germany, Rest of Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & AfricaWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsView Detailed Table of Content @1 Executive2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities3.5 Threats3.6 Emerging Markets3.7 Futuristic Market Scenario....ContinuedThanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.Buy this report @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
Car Charger Market: Repository of Analysis and Information for Every Facet of the Market

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Car chargers are essential components of hybrid and electric vehicles. In terms of charging, there five notable types such as battery swapping charging, plug-in charging, wireless, direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC). AC charging dominates the global car charger market due to its rising acceptance among electric car owners.In countries such as North America and Europe, there has been an increase in the rate of AC charging infrastructure installations at homes, parking areas, parks and commercial areas. Moreover, in the coming years, AC charging infrastructures are expected to be installed in roads so that the car can charge itself while in motion.Get Report DetailsDC charging, is a faster method of charging a vehicle. It is comparatively a better alternative to AC charging. However, DC charging, lacks the kind of infrastructure as installed for AC charging in homes and other places. Wireless charging ensures reduction in the loss of transmission in vehicles and is hassle-free, compatible and light weight. Such a charging medium is considered expensive and is yet to get commercialized at a large scale.Increasing production of hybrid and electric vehicles, and rising demand for passenger hybrid-electric vehicles is a major driving factor for the car charger market. In addition, strict government guidelines and automobile standards relating to hybrid and electric vehicles is a major factor influencing the car charger market.Obtain BrochureGrowth in the automotive sector and rising investments in car charger manufacturing companies across the world is set to influence the market significantly during the forecast period. However, lack of penetration of hybrid and electric vehicles in numerous countries across the world is inhibiting the growth of car chargers market, which finds application in aforementioned vehicles. In addition, cheap substitutes of original car chargers is another major restraint for the global car charger market.The car charger market can be classified by charging type, by application and by geography. The charging type segment can be classified into battery swapping charging, plug-in charging, wireless, direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC). By application, the market can be segregated as passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles. By geography, the market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.Obtain Table of ContentIn the car charger market, Asia Pacific holds the largest market share in terms of revenue followed by North America, Europe, Latin America and, Middle East and Africa (MEA). In the Asia Pacific region, countries such as China and Japan are considered to be the leading manufacturers of car chargers across the world.The market in North America and Europe tends to be a bit saturated but the market is expected to remain stable during the forecast period. By the end of the forecast period, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America are expected to show significant growth, considering the growth in automotive sector and rising application of car chargers in vehicles manufactured in the aforementioned 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. 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:
Automotive Metal Stamping Market: Comprehensive Evaluation Of The Market Via In-Depth Qualitative Insights

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Automotive metal stamping is a method of processing sheet metals and converting the same into various shapes and sizes as per the specific requirement and application in automobiles. Metal stamping of sheet metals includes five major processes such as blanking, embossing, bending, coining and flanging among others. In blanking process, a piece of the sheet metal is cut into a blank or number of blanks. Embossing involves the work of stretching the materials into shallow depressions in order to add various decorative patterns.Increasing production of vehicles and rising demand for passenger vehicles is a major driving factor for the automotive metal stamping market. In addition, rising trend of engine downsizing in order to have better fuel efficient and lighter vehicles, light-weight metals such as aluminum is expected to be of huge demand among automotive metal stamping manufacturers in the coming years. Moreover, growth in the automotive sector and rising investments in automotive metal stamping manufacturing companies across the world is set to influence the market significantly during the forecast period.Get Report DetailsThe automotive metal stamping market can be classified by process, by application and by geography. The process segment can be classified blanking, embossing, bending, coining, flanging and others. By application, the market can be segregated as passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles. By geography, the market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.In the automotive metal stamping market, Asia Pacific holds the largest market share in terms of revenue followed by Europe, North America, Latin America and, Middle East and Africa (MEA). China is the largest automotive metal stamping market in the Asia Pacific region for which Asia Pacific is the dominant market of automotive metal stamping market in the world.Brochure With Latest Advancements and ApplicationThis is so because China is the largest producer of metals such as aluminum, steel and iron, which are the major metals used for metal stamping in the automotive sector. In addition, China is the largest manufacturer of automobiles and therefore, metal stamping finds immense application in automobile manufacturing companies of China. In Europe, Germany is the most significant market and the largest contributor to the automotive metal stamping market in the region because of the presence of major automobile manufacturers in Germany.In North America, the U.S. is the largest market for automotive metal stamping. The U.S. is the second largest manufacturer of automobiles in the world. The growth rate of automotive metal stamping market in Latin America, and Middle East and Africa is low considering the less usage and production of vehicles in the aforementioned regions. However, with the growth in the automotive sector and investments in automobile companies of Latin America and Middle East and Africa, the market for automotive metal stamping is expected to improve in the coming years.Table of Content For Detail AnalysisThe report also provides company market share analysis of the various industry participants. Acquisition is the main strategy being widely followed by leading market players. In case of an acquisition, the acquirer takes advantage of existing synergies. As a result, both companies are expected to emerge more profitable and stronger than before. Key players in the global automotive metal stamping market have been profiled and their company overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments have been covered in the report.Major market participants profiled in this report include: Alcoa Inc., Acro, Manor Tool & Manufacturing Company, Lindy Manufacturing, American Industrial Company, Precision Metal Stamping, Wisconsin Metal Parts, Inc., Clow Stamping Co., Aro Metal Stamping Co., Tempco Manufacturing, Interplex Industries Inc., Goshen Stamping Co., Inc., Martinrea International and Shiloh Industries, Inc. 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:
Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Key Trends, Challenges and Opportunities 2018

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Cardiac Surgical Devices to its huge collection of research reports.The global Cardiac Surgical Devices market has been deeply evaluated in this publication with the help of both primary and secondary research and useful inputs provided by industry experts. The analysts who have prepared the publication have been among the best in the lot with sound understanding about almost all vital aspects of the market. The publication has come out as a detailed guideline for industry players to explore hidden prospects and take advantage of the best opportunities in the market. Players could also use the information presented in the publication to plan the best strategies that will help them to secure a strong position in the market.By segregating the global Cardiac Surgical Devices market into different segments, the analysts have offered crucial information that could help players to gain a competitive edge over their toughest opponents. Each segment studied in the publication has been meticulously evaluated with market figures to go by. This could help readers to tap into unexplored regions or other categories of segments and ensure a continuing success in the market. Besides segmentation, the publication has offered information on factors detaining market growth, backing them up with opportunities to counter the challenges about to show face in the near future.For more info, get sample report for FREE here:Global Cardiac Surgical Devices market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingEdwards Life ScienceMedtronicGetinge GroupAtrionAbbott LaboratoriesSorinTerumo MedicalBoston ScientificCook MedicalAngiodynamics...Table of ContentsGlobal Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Research Report 20181 Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cardiac Surgical Devices1.2 Cardiac Surgical Devices Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Beating Heart Surgery Systems1.2.4 Cardiopulmonary Bypass Equipment1.2.5 Cardiac Ablation Devices1.2.6 Perfusion DisposablesRead Complete Table of Content of the Report at:1.3 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Segment by Application1.3.1 Cardiac Surgical Devices Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Congenital Heart Defects1.3.3 Cardiac Arrhythmia1.3.4 Coronary Heart Disease1.3.5 Congestive Heart Failure1.3.6 Other Applications2 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Cardiac Surgical Devices Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Cardiac Surgical Devices Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Cardiac Surgical Devices Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)...About QYResearchReports.comQyresearchreports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from Qyresearchreports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact US:Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Smart Parking Systems Market: Off-street Parking Demand Soars

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The staggering amount of vehicles coming on to roads around the world calls for advanced methods for parking. Traffic and parking problems are on the rise and people are finding lesser space for either. This is creating a high level of discomfort, fuel wastage, and high levels of emissions. Urban and city parking has therefore become a major concern for both developed and emerging nations, forming the primary driver leading most entities towards seeking smart parking system solutions.Smart parking systems provide a highly flexible, scalable, and efficient way for buildings and locations of all sizes and types, thus ensuring a smoother flow of traffic and a considerable drop in emissions. The latter forms a high concern issue as the growing emission levels are creating multiple complications in climate change and human health. The leading employers of smart parking systems in most countries are their municipalities. Their interest and involvement allows for the development of better smart parking systems through an upwards scaling of parking fees that can directly be used for advancing smart parking technologies.Download PDF Brochure:The global market revenue for smart parking systems is therefore expected to show an exceptionally positive CAGR of 20.2% from 2015 to 2022. This revenue is expected to be valued at US$59.7 mn by the end of 2016 and reach US$177.1 mn by 2022.North America Shows High Demand for Smart Parking SystemsNorth America is expected to generate a revenue of US$34.6 mn for the global market for smart parking systems by 2022, due to the presence of dense traffic in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and others. These cities are also showing a higher level of awareness towards modern solutions for traffic control and parking, thereby becoming an optimized region for the large-scale adoption of smart parking systems.Various smart parking systems have already been implemented in North America, such as the SFpark program implemented in San Francisco. Areas in the city equipped with SFpark systems have sped up parking of vehicle by five minutes on average when compared to conventional parking methods. Programs such as these are proof that the smart parking systems can bring about a successful change in traffic and parking conditions across the world.Off-street Parking Demand SoarsIn terms of the site of parking, the smart parking systems can be classified into off-street and on-street parking solutions. At the moment, off-street smart parking systems are in high demand due to the ease with which they can be implemented and fine-tuned. Additionally, they can be privately owned, while almost all on-street parking spaces are owned by the government. Therefore, while the need for smart parking systems is extremely high in both sites, it is being implemented on a larger scale in off-street sites. Most off-street parking areas are made of commercial parking lots and garages. On the other hand, on-street smart parking systems have to prepare for permit timers, passenger zones, loading zones, bus and truck zones, and street cleaning vehicles.Off-street parking spots are the easier place to implement effective smart parking systems in tandem with robot-assisted or automated parking services. These systems help increase the comfort and safety of all passengers. On the other hand, on-street smart parking systems are gathering steam. This parking site segment is expected to progress at a CAGR of 23.6% from 2015 to 2022.View Report TOC:About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Technology Market Sees Promising Growth during 2018-2023

Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Technology Market

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HTF Market Report released a new research document of 180 pages on industry titled as 'Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Technology - Global Market Outlook (2017-2023)' with detailed analysis, Competitive landscape, forecast and strategies. The study covers geographic analysis that includes regions like North America, Germany, Rest of Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa and important players/vendors such as DNA (rDNA) Technology market are F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Monsanto Company The report will help you gain market insights, future trends and growth prospects for forecast period of 2017-23According to HTF , the Global Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Technology Market is accounted for $499.8 million in 2016 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% to reach $799.9 million by 2023.Factors influencing the market growth are rise in Genetically Modified (GM) crop, development of biofuel and biopesticides, presence of biopharmaceuticals pipeline and production of various therapeutic proteins. Lack of government funding for research and development in emerging economies, risks involved in usage of genetically modified food and regulatory & ethical challenges associated with gene therapy are hampering the market growth.Request a sample report @Based on component, the Expression systems are used for the production of protein from recombinant DNA molecules. Majorly used expression systems are mammalian, bacterial, insects, and yeast. Development of cell lines such as HEK293 and Chinese Hamster Ovarian (CHO) has contributed to the significant share of mammalian expression system. Further, , ongoing research to explore the prospective of plant as expression system are expected to underpin the adoption of plans expression system for Genetically Modified product development in the future. Furthermore, more than 3000 scientific studies have been carried out to assess the GM products safety in context to its impact on human health and environment.Based on application, Agricultural plants are one of the most frequently cited cases of genetically modified organisms. Some benefits of genetic engineering in agriculture are increased crop yields, reduces cost for food or drug production, limited need for pesticides, enhanced nutrient composition and food quality, resistance to pests and disease, with enormous food security, and medical benefits. The advantage of recombinant DNA technology is that new combinations of genes are determined in the forefront. GE has also been used against crop pathogens. One of the first and most successful genetically modified crops was a papaya with resistance to ringspot virus. Another example includes the development of bananas resistant to wilt in Uganda.North America accounted for the maximum share of the market which attributes to a affluent number of biopharmaceutical manufacturing companies are situated in the U.S. In July 2017, U.S witnessed the 1st FDA approval for gene therapy treatment. The treatment was developed for leukemia disorder, in conjugation between the University of Pennsylvania and Novartis Corp. This, in turn, furtherance the enact of rDNA techniques in the region. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market. Clinical trials in Asian countries such as India and China are less expensive compared to other regions which made migration of several biopharmaceutical developers towards this region.Some of the key players in Global Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Technology market are F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Monsanto Company, Amgen Inc, Biocon, Biogen, Eli Lilly and Company, GenScript, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Horizon Discovery Group PLC, Merck & Co, New England Biolabs., Novartis AG, Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer Inc and Profacgen.Components Covered: Cloning Vectoro Phageo Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC)o Human Artificial Chromosome (HAC)o Yeast Artificial Chromosome (YAC)o Cosmido Plasmid Expression Systemo Baculovirus/Insecto Bacteriao Mammaliano Yeasto Other Expression SystemProducts Covered: Non-medicalo Specialty Chemicalso Biotech Cropso Other Non-Medical Technology Medicalo Human Proteino Therapeutic Agento VaccineApplications Covered: Health & Diseaseo Humano Animal Food & Agriculture Environment Other ApplicationsEnd Users Covered: Academic & Research Institutes Pharmaceutical & Biotech Entities Other End UsersGet Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @Regions Covered: North America, Germany, Rest of Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East & AfricaWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsView Detailed Table of Content @1 Executive2 Preface2.1 Abstract2.2 Stake Holders2.3 Research Scope2.4 Research Methodology2.4.1 Data Mining2.4.2 Data Analysis2.4.3 Data Validation2.4.4 Research Approach2.5 Research Sources2.5.1 Primary Research Sources2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources2.5.3 Assumptions3 Market Trend Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.3 Restraints3.4 Opportunities....ContinuedThanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.Buy this report @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
Photomask Market Overview, Size, Top Manufacturers, Product Types, Applications and Specification, Forecast to 2026

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Photomask Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2026" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Photomask Market- OverviewPhotomask is being used on a large scale in semiconductor and IC manufacturing. Moreover, the sales of semiconductor devices have also shown prominent growth in the recent years. This is driving the demand for new sets of photomasks in semiconductor manufacturing. Also, the innovation in processor technology by companies such as Intel, Qualcomm, Nvidia, etc., is also providing a growth opportunity for photomask manufacturers.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Photomask contains a pattern of ICs. ICs are manufactured layer by layer and each of the layers requires unique photomask. The process of developing photomask has become more complex as a new generation of ICs have around 25-60 layers. ICs are being used on a large scale in electronic devices such as smartphones and other consumer devices. With the evolution of automation in the semiconductor industry, the manufacturers of the photomask are focusing on quality control and new design of photomask for use in the semiconductor industry. Leading chipmakers are also entering into a partnership with major photomask manufacturers.Global Photomask Market- Research MethodologyThe report on the global photomask market offers in-depth analysis of the market based on primary and secondary research. The top-down and bottom-up approach has been used to provide estimation on the market size of the global photomask market. The report also comprises insights on all the major factors affecting market growth. The study includes market dynamics such as trends, opportunities, factors driving the market and opportunities. The interviews of market experts from the core and related industries were also conducted and the opinions offered by them were crosschecked with the available data sources. With the help of statistical analysis, the report provides product capacity, production value, supply and demand, and import and export.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @The market for photomask is further divided by region, segments, and analysis of competitive landscape. Market attractiveness analysis along with SWOT analysis and Porters five force analysis is also provided in the report. The secondary sources including annual reports, investor presentations, etc., were also used to provide data. Absolute dollar opportunity that helps in analyzing various opportunities in the market has also been provided in the research report.Micro-economic and macro-economic factors had been considered to provide information on various market segments. The report also offers in-depth analysis on the leading players active in the global photomask market. It offers details on the opportunities and challenges faced by the companies in the global photomask market. The market study also enlightens on the types of products being offered, categories, market revenue, sales by the major players in the global photomask market. The report presents insights on the market based on the information collected from various informants such as regulatory bodies, suppliers, manufacturers, and stakeholders.Global Photomask Market- Market SegmentationThe global photomask market provides overview on different segments such as photomask type, trade type, technology type, and region. Market segmentation on the basis of photomask type includes masters and reticles.Browse Report @Based on the trade type, the market is segmented into merchant and captive. Meanwhile, on the basis of technology type, the market is segmented into emulsion, laser, and e-beam.Geographical segmentation of the global photomask market consists various regions such as Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), North America, Japan, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA).Leading Players in the Global Photomask MarketThe global photomask market report provides vital information on the leading players in the market such as Applied Materials, Inc., KLA-Tencor Corporation, Photronics, Inc., Lasertec Corporation, Nippon Filcon Co., Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., HOYA Corporation, SK-Electronics Co., Ltd., Taiwan Mask Corporation, and LG Innotek Co., Ltd.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 @
Global Neonatal Intensive Care Market Analysis Covering Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Upcoming Opportunities

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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 Neonatal Intensive Care Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 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 Neonatal Intensive Care market have been elaborated upon in the research report.To get sample copy of Report Click Here @The global neonatal intensive care market is projected to gain growth on the back of the increasing complications in newborns and the need to detect and monitor them. The rising count of preemies or swelling occurrence premature births could be a major factor supplementing the demand for neonatal intensive care. Furthermore, the magnifying birthrate in emerging nations is envisaged to tellingly increase the growth of the market. Notable growth factors such as the prevalence of healthcare-associated pneumonia, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), and other neonatal hospital-acquired infections could be worth keeping a close eye on.Expected to rise at a CAGR of 5.5% between 2017 and 2025, the global market for neonatal intensive care could earn an around US$9.0 bn by the final forecast year. In 2017, it secured a revenue valuation of US$5.9 bn.Cost-effectiveness and Accuracy Key for Leading Growth of Respiratory DevicesOn the basis of product type segmentation, the world neonatal intensive care market could be classified into catheters, phototherapy equipment, respiratory devices, neonatal monitoring devices, convertible warmers and incubators, incubators, and infant warmers. According to market research experts, the respiratory devices segment could continue its lead grabbed in 2016 until the end of the forecast period. Factors such as performance ease, accuracy, and cost-effectiveness are anticipated to set the tone for a valuable growth of this segment. Respiratory devices are surveyed to form a larger portion of special care devices in a neonatal intensive care unit. Their application to care for premature babies could remarkably augment the demand in the coming years.Respiratory devices could be further classified into resuscitators, transcutaneous oxygen/carbon dioxide monitor, and neonatal ventilators. Neonatal monitoring devices, on the other hand, could be divided into capnographs, pulse oximeters, blood pressure monitors, and cardiopulmonary monitors. Infant warmers could see a classification into non-electric infant warmers and electric infant warmers. By end user, the world neonatal intensive care market is predicted to be segmented into childcare clinics and hospitals.Browse Full Report with TOC @Rise of Private Healthcare Sector Significant for Asia Pacific to Grow FasterOn the regional front, the international neonatal intensive care market is foretold to testify the dominance of North America envisioned to expand at a 5.2% CAGR. The growth in North America could be attributed to the rise in government funding and improving awareness about childcare. The U.S. observed a 517,400 count of premature births in 2016 as per a World Health Organization (WHO) report. The country also witnesses a high incidence of premature births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Second on the list of higher-growth getters in the international neonatal intensive care market could be Europe rising significantly due to the extensive presence of global companies introducing forward-thinking techniques. High premature births in the region could be owing to multiple pregnancies with artificial inseminations, late parenthood, high blood pressure, and obesity.Asia Pacific is foreseen to be a faster-growing region of the international neonatal intensive care market expected to rise at a CAGR of 6.2%. Japan and China could be among the major contributors of the Asia Pacific market. Rising awareness, improving education systems, growth of the private healthcare sector, and increasing insurance payers are forecast to support the market in these countries.The worldwide neonatal intensive care market incorporates top players such as Cook Medical, Medtronic plc, Teleflex Incorporated, C. R. Bard, Inc., B. Braun Melsungen AG, and Becton, Dickinson and Company.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:
Demand for Algorithmic Trading Market to Hit 18,160.8 Million Globally By 2025

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The Algorithmic Trading market has experienced significant growth rate owing to increasing automation process in trading by a large number of firms. Integrated financial markets help the local vendors into buying foreign assets with the reduced risks. Involvement of various international markets has directed to global distribution of savings and also aiding the countries in creating opportunities for portfolio diversification and risk sharing. Global Algorithmic Trading market is expected to grow from US$ 8,790.7 Mn in 2016 to US$ 18,160.8, Mn by 2025 at a CAGR of 8.7% between 2017 and 2025.The List of Key Companies - Algorithmic Trading Market1. AlgoTrader GmbH2. Trading Technologies International, Inc.3. InfoReach, Inc.4. Tethys Technology, Inc.5. Lime Brokerage LLC6. FlexTrade Systems, Inc.7. Tower Research Capital LLC8. Virtu Financial9. Hudson River Trading LLC10. Citadel LLCComplete Report is Available atThe report focuses on an in-depth segmentation of this market based by function and application. The geographic segmentation of the report covers six major regions including; North Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SA). The regional market has been further bifurcated by respective countries. By application segment equities accounted for the largest share of the Algorithmic Trading market in 2016; whereas, Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.The report aims to provide an overview of global Algorithmic Trading market with detailed market segmentation. Also, it analyzes the current Algorithmic Trading market scenario and forecasts the market till 2025. The report covers market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period. Furthermore, the report analyzes the competitive scenario, geographic trends, and opportunities in the markets with respect to all geographic regions. The report also includes the detailed company profiles of the key players in the market along with their market strategies. The report also provide PEST analysis of all five regions along with the SWOT analysis for all company profiled in the report.Request Sample Copy is Available atNorth America is one of the prominent regions in Algorithmic Trading market which will contribute highest revenue globally due to technological developments and considerable application of Algorithmic Trading in different end-user segment. Rapidly growing economies in Asia-Pacific (APAC) with significant growth construction sector will pave the path for increasing adoption and propel the market for Algorithmic Trading market. The APAC region is expected to lead the market with highest CAGR during the forecast period.Some of the key players of Algorithmic Trading market include AlgoTrader GmbH, Trading Technologies International, Inc., InfoReach, Inc., Tethys Technology, Inc., Lime Brokerage LLC, FlexTrade Systems, Inc., Tower Research Capital LLC, Virtu Financial, Hudson River Trading LLC and Citadel LLC, among others.Reason to Buy- Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the global Algorithmic Trading market- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Algorithmic Trading market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long term strategies- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distribution- Examine the political, economic, social and technology impact of the five regions namely: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America.Inquire for More Details atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
CALISTOGA -- The Calistoga Fire Department will be testing a possible new siren disaster warning system on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to noon at the Public Works Yard on lower Washington Street.

The siren is about 4-feet wide and is unidirectional. If humans or pets are noise-sensitive, they are advised to shelter in place until the siren testing is complete.

Public safety agencies say the installation of two sirens might serve as a way of warning residents of fires and other disaster when other notification methods fail.

The issue is being studied in the wake of the October wildfires when cell service sometimes failed.
Global Market Analysis on Medical Connectors Trends, Share, Size, Growth Until the End of 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 Medical Connectors Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 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 Medical Connectors market have been elaborated upon in the research report.To get sample copy of Report Click Here @Extensive research and development in the healthcare industry is leading to the development of new devices and medical equipment. These devices and equipment are being connected to several other equipment and devices, thereby driving the need for better medical connectors. Manufacturers are focusing on designing medical connectors that are cost-effective and able to tolerate various sterilization protocols. High reliability, eliminating the potential for failure due to various environmental factors as well as poor handling is also being focused on while developing medical connectors.The latest report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) anticipates the global market for medical connectors to experience strong growth. During 2017-2026, the market is projected to increase to 8.9% CAGR. The global market for medical connectors is also likely to reach US$ 3,690.4 million revenue between 2017 and 2026.Flat Silicone Surgical Cables- Top-Selling Product in Medical Connectors Market GloballyCompared to the various medical connector products, flat silicone surgical cables are likely to emerge as the top-selling product during 2017-2026. Flat silicone surgical cables are projected to reach close to US$ 900 million revenue towards the end of 2026. Increasing adoption of medical devices is one of the major factors in the growth of flat silicone surgical cables. Flat silicone surgical cables offer flexibility in automated diagnostic medical equipment. Moreover, flat silicone surgical cables also offer high resistance to different chemical substances. Silicone is being widely used in applications medical robotics, handheld devices, feeding tubes, catheters, etc.Hospitals & Clinics to Account for the Robust Growth during 2017-2026Among various end users of medical connectors, hospitals & clinics are likely to experience robust growth. Hospitals & clinics are projected to exceed US$ 1,400 million revenue by 2026 end. Owing to the increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures, and increasing investment by government and the private sector in the development of healthcare infrastructure is leading to the increasing use of advanced medical devices and machines. This is driving the use of various medical connectors in hospitals and clinics.Medical Connectors to find Largest Application in Diagnostic DevicesMedical connectors are likely to find the largest application in diagnostic devices. By the end of 2026, diagnostic devices are projected to exceed US$ 1,800 million revenue. The rise in chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc., is leading to the increasing use of diagnostic devices. This, in turn, is expected to drive demand for medical connectors, especially for various diagnostic devices. Manufacturers of medical connectors are also producing connectors used for the specific device.Browse Complete Report details with TOC Click Here @North America to Dominate the Global Market for Medical ConnectorsNorth America is likely to dominate the market during 2017-2026. Advancement in medical technology, availability of better reimbursement policies are the major factors responsible for the increasing demand for medical connectors in North America. The U.S. and Canada are anticipated to remain dominant countries in the medical connectors market. Medical connectors market also have a huge opportunity for growth in the emerging markets of APEJ and Japan. Owing to the increasing awareness among medical providers on the use of advanced devices, countries such as India, China and Japan are increasingly using technically advanced medical devices, thereby resulting in the increase in the use of medical connectors.Countries in Europe including France, Germany, U.K., and Spain are also receiving funding from the government and private companies for development of advanced healthcare system.Competition TrackingAVX Corporation, LEMO S.A., Samtec, Inc., Esterline Technologies Corporation, Fischer Connectors SA, Molex, LLC, TE Connectivity Ltd, ITT Inc., Amphenol Corporation, and Smiths Group Plc, are some of the major market players in the global market for medical connectors.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:
World Extruded Snacks Market Key Players Updates | Calbee, Kellogg Co., Frito-Lay North America, Diamond Foods and Mondelez International | Industry Research Report

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Market Overview:Extrusion is a process that combines several operations such as mixing, cooking, kneading, shearing, shaping and forming. It is a popular means of preparing healthy snacks and ready to eat foods. Most commonly used sources for extrusion snacks are potato, rice, corn, tapioca, mixed grain, and others. Inclination of consumers towards ready to eat packaged foods is driving the market for extruded snacks. Moreover, key players are focusing on providing healthy snacks and various flavor alternatives which is boosting the growth of extruded snacks market.Extruded snacks are derived through extrusion process of blending, shaping, drying, flavoring and packaging. Increasing working population and rising demand for ready to eat food is driving the growth of extruded snacks market. Moreover, availability of healthy snacks which provides requires nutrients and vitamins to the body is attracting the health conscious population and increasing the market penetration of extruded snacks market.Innovation with flavors in extruded snacks is further boosting the growth of extruded snacks market. Moreover, aggressive marketing strategies and attractive packaging is adding fuel to the growth of extruded snacks market. Furthermore, intense competition is adding fuel to the R&D initiatives for extruded snacks, however it may hamper the growth of new entrants in the extruded snacks market.Try Sample Report Here @Major Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the global extruded snacks market are Calbee, Inc. (Japan), Kellogg Co. (U.S.), Frito-Lay North America, Inc (U.S.), ITC (India), Diamond Foods Inc. (U.S.), Mondelez International Inc. (U.S.), Old Dutch Foods, Inc. (U.S.)Key Findings:Organic flavored and low calorie extruded snacks is gaining popularity in extruded snacks market.In the U.S., corn is the major source of extruded snacks whereas in Europe, potato is the major source of extruded snacks.Industry Segments:Extruded snacks market can be segmented on the basis of type such as sweet and savory. Savory segment is dominating the extruded snacks market and is expected to witness substantial growth over the estimated period.On the basis of sources, extruded snacks market is segmented into potato, rice, corn, tapioca, mixed grain, and others. Among all, potato segment is dominating the market. However, rice and corn are expected to witness a substantial growth in the coming years.Based on the distribution channel, extruded snacks are segmented into store based and non-store based. Store based distribution channel is dominating the market among which hypermarkets and supermarkets are the major contributors based on self-picking shopping experience and multiple brand options available to the customers.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:The global extruded snacks market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). Asia Pacific is dominating the market based on a wide range of products available to the consumers at reasonable prices. India is the major contributor to the growth of extruded snacks market in Asia Pacific.Europe and North America are expected to grow substantially over the forecast period owing to high inclination towards healthy snacking among the consumers. Moreover, continuous innovations is growing the extruded snacks market in the rest of the world. Latin America is witnessing the highest growth rate in extruded snacks market.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
IUCD Market Supply And Demand Scenarios | Phenomenal Growth of 12.7% | Topmost Players Review by 2023

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Test the market data and market information presented through more than 45 market data tables and figures spread over 80 numbers of pages of the project report IUCD market Research Report China Forecast to 2023.China IUCD market was about is expected to reach US$ 250 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 12.7% during forecast period 2017 to 2023.Market Scenario for IUCD Market:IUCD stands for Intra-Uterine Contraceptive Devices. It is a device inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. The device is T-shaped made up of flexible plastic with a coating of thin copper wire. China, ICUD was the most important tool to limit the couples to have one child. One child policy of China was introduced in 1979 favored the growth of this market till 2015. But in January 2016, a new law named Two-child policy become effective, which was passed by standing committee of National Peoples Congress in December 2016. According to census 2010, the population change in is 7.39 per year. The market for IUCD is showing a steady rise in China because most of the women still do not want to have a second child even after the passage of second child policy. China market of IUCD is expected to reach USD 20 billion in 2023 from USD 14 billion in 2016 with a CAGR of approximately 8.72% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Key Players for IUCD MarketSMB Corporation Of India, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. (US), Mona Lisa (Belgium), Teva Womens Health, DKT International (US).Sample Report @Regional Analysis for IUCD Market:On the basis of regions market for IUCD in China is segmented into North China, Northeast China, East China, South Central China, Southwest China and Northwest China. East China account for the largest market share. It has the highest population and largest population density. The market in China is showing steady growth due to an increase in the population in all the regions.Segmentation for IUCD Market:The market for IUCD in China is segmented into types which include hormonal IUD, copper IUD and other types. The end users are hospitals, Clinics and others.Top 5 Reasons to Get this Report:Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent development activitiesMarket Strategic Business Influence DataMarket Research Future recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, Trends and the regional markets With SWOT Analysis.Get Discount @Major Table of Contents for IUCD Market:1. Report Prologue2. Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations2.3 Market Structure2.4. Market Segmentation3. Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size Estimation3.5 Forecast Model4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints4.3 Opportunities4.4 Threats4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Value Chain Analysis5.2 Porters Five Forces5.3 Demand & Supply: Gap Analysis5.4 Pricing AnalysisTOC Continued..About Us:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research Future ,Office No. 528,Amanora Chambers Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar, Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Tea Bag Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023

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"Tea Bag is a small, porous, sealed bag containing dried plant material, which is immersed in boiling water to make a hot drink. Classically these are?tea?leaves, but the term is also used for?herbal teas?(tisanes) made of herbs or spices. Tea bags are commonly made of?filter paper?or?food-grade plastic, or occasionally of silk. The bag contains the tea leaves while the tea is?steeped, making it easier to dispose of the leaves, and performs the same function as a?tea infuser. Some tea bags have an attached piece of string with a paper label at the top that assists in removing the bag while also displaying the brand or variety of tea.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Tea Bag 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.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversTwiningsHarney & SonsCelestial SeasoningsTazoDilmahBigelowTetleyYogi TeaThe Republic of TeaYorkshire TeaLiptonMighty Leaf TeaStash TeaTeavanaLuzianneNumi TeaRed RoseMarket 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, coversBlack TeaGreen TeaFlavor TeaHerbal TeaOtherGet more Information about this Report@Market Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCommercialIndividual ConsumptionOtherAbout Future Genic ReportsFuture 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 us-USA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesUK Office109 ,Straford Street,LeedsWest Yorkshrie LS11 6JGUnited KingdomSend Us An EmailE-mail: sales@futuregenicreports.comCall UsToll Free: +1- 844-445-2861Phone: +1- 347-983-9688
Employment Screening Services Market to Create New Growth Opportunities and Demand for Big Data Technology, Globally

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Global employment screening services market is expected to grow from US$ 3.74 billion in 2016 to US$ 5.46 billion by 2025 at a CAGR of 4.32% between 2017 and 2025.A significant reduction in time and cost can be achieved with the implementation of employment screening service in organizations. Also, employment screening services help in saving organizations time in the long-run by clarifying the responsibilities to ensure the recruitment of appropriate candidate in the right way resulting in increased efficiency and work quality, thereby driving its adoption. The employment screening services market is further flourishing with the increased demand for time efficient selection systems owing to rising number of job applicants. Introduction of big data technology in this industry is expected to create new opportunities for the global employment screening services market during the forecasted period.FREE | Request Sample Copy is Available atThe report focuses on an in-depth segmentation of this market based on services and application. The geographic segmentation of the report covers five major regions including; North Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM). The regional market has been further bifurcated by respective countries. By application segment industrial sector accounted for the largest share of the employment screening services market in 2016; whereas APAC region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.The report aims to provide an overview of global employment screening services market with detailed market segmentation. Also, it analyzes the current employment screening services market scenario and forecasts the market till 2025. The report covers market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period. Furthermore, the report analyzes the competitive scenario, geographic trends, and opportunities in the markets with respect to all geographic regions. The report also includes the detailed company profiles of the key players in the market along with their market strategies. The report also provide value chain along with the SWOT analysis for all company profiled in the report.Place a Direct Purchase Order atNorth America is one of the prominent regions in employment screening services market which is contributing highest revenue globally as the employers across US consider background checking as an integral part of their recruitment process. Rapidly growing economies in Asia-Pacific (APAC) with significant economic growth will pave the path for increasing employment screening services adoption and propel the market growth. The APAC region is expected to lead the market with highest CAGR during the forecast period.Some of the major players influencing employment screening services market are Accurate Background, LLC, AuthBridge, A-Check America, Inc., Capita plc, DataFlow Group, First Advantage Corporation, HireRight LLC, Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations Inc., Sterling Talent Solution, Triton, Verity Screening Solutions, GoodHire, and Insperity, Inc. among others.The report segments the global employment screening services market as follows:Global Employment Screening Service Market  By ServiceBackground ScreeningVerificationMedical TestingElectronic Auditing & VerificationGlobal Employment Screening Services Market  By ApplicationFinancial ServicesGovernment AgenciesTransportationIndustrialInformation TechnologyGlobal Employment Screening Services Market  By GeographyNorth America, U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K., Rest of Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Japan, China, India, Australia, Rest of APAC, Middle East & Africa (MEA), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., South Africa, Rest of MEA, South America (SA), Braziland Rest of SAComplete Report is Available atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comAbout Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Media, and Telecommunication industries.533, 5th Floor, Amanora Chambers,Amanora Township, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Pharmaceutical Packaging Market 2018 Global Key Players Amcor Ltd. (Australia), Schott AG (Germany), AptarGroup, Inc. (U.S.), Gerresheimer AG (Germany), Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.)

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Market Research Future published a research report on Pharmaceutical Packaging Market Research Report- Forecast 2021  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2021.Global Pharmaceutical Packaging Market Information by Types (Bottles, Aerosol packs, Tubes, Blister packs, Sachets, Ampoules and others), by Material (Glass, Plastic, Cardboard and Paper) and Region - Forecast to 2021The Global Pharmaceutical Packaging Market is growing with the rapid pace; mainly due to the increasing food industry. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, The global Pharmaceutical Packaging market has been increasing. The market is expected to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period (2017  2021). The global Pharmaceutical Packaging is forecasted to demonstrate a spectacular growth by 2021, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2017  2021).The growth of the Pharmaceutical Packaging market is attributed to the growing Pharmaceutical as well as healthcare industry and emerging economies in Asia-Pacific region. The other key driving factors anticipated to fuel the market growth are the increasing aging population, technological innovations, government initiatives and increasing demand for drug delivery devices.Get Sample of Report @On the other hand, price volatility, availability of raw material and changing health regulation are some major factors anticipated to pose as restraints to the market growth of Pharmaceuticals Packaging market. Adversely, developed economies of Canada, Japan, the US, and Western Europe provide almost 60 percent of global demand of Pharmaceutical Packaging.Drug delivery devices are gaining popularity owing to rising trends of home care and self-administration. The rising demand for innovative products such as parenteral containers and pre fillable inhalers is expected to further augment market demand. The Pharmaceutical Packaging industry has to balance complex considerations such as developing good designs and communicating with customers. Manufacturers should also look into pressing concerns that include counterfeiting, patient compliance, drug integrity and balancing child-resistance & accessibility for the elderly. These concerns have resulted in increasing costs of Packaging for Pharmaceutical products. The costs involved in the development of new products are also expected to increase the Packaging price of these Pharmaceuticals.Key Players Bemis Healthcare Packaging Gerresheimer Owens-Illinois West Pharmaceutical Westrock Alexander (James) Corporation Baxter International Amcor Limited Unilife Corporation AptarGroup Inc Rexam PLCPharmaceutical Packaging Global Market - SegmentationThe Pharmaceutical Packaging Market can be segmented in to 3 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation By Types : Comprises Bottles, Aerosol packs, Tubes, Blister packs, Sachets, Ampoules, and others.Segmentation By Materials : Comprises Glass, Plastic, Cardboard and Paper and others.Segmentation By Regions : Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Pharmaceutical Packaging Market - Regional AnalysisThe global Pharmaceutical Packaging market has witnessed a remarkable growth over the past few years and it has been analyzed that the market growth will keep on increasing during the forecast period. According to the report, the global market has witnessed a humongous growth in the Pharmaceuticals as well as healthcare industry particularly in the North America. Owing to the growth of these industries, the Pharmaceutical Packaging market has seen a remarkable growth across the globe. Geographically, North America is one of the leading region and dominating the overall market followed by Europe. Europe, has gained a strong hold in the market owing to the matured economy, growing aging population and technological advancements. Asia-Pacific is one of the fastest growing region where the global market will achieve ample number of growth opportunities. India and China will emerge as the fastest growing markets owing to rapidly expanding drug-producing capabilities and the adoption of more stringent regulations aimed at improving the medicine quality and integrity. Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Iran, Argentina, and Brazil are among other developing markets that are expected to expand and diversify drug-producing industries and register above average gains in Pharmaceutical Packaging demand.Ask for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.Access Full Report @Pharmaceutical Packaging Global Market - Competitive AnalysisCharacterized by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global Market of Pharmaceutical Packaging appears to be highly competitive. Well established players incorporate acquisition, collaboration, partnership, expansion, and product launch in order to gain competitive advantage in this market and to maintain their market position. Vendors are focusing on improving their market performance and are expanding by acquiring promising companies in the fast-growing markets like India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, and South Africa. Marketers employ a continuous improvement strategy to analyze and update products, implementing improvements and launching new technologies to meet the changing needs of consumer. The market is expected to witness the entry of several new players who are technologically advanced and will capture a major portion of fast moving consumer goods Packaging market in the coming years.Pharmaceutical Packaging Global Market - SynopsisThe major materials used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical packaging are plastics & polymers, paper & paperboard, glass and aluminium foil. Plastics & polymers are the preferred material as they are easy to handle and lightweight in nature. They are majorly used for bags, bottles, cartridges, dry powder, metered dose inhalers, nebulizers and pre fillable syringes.The demand for glass pharmaceutical packaging is expected to decrease over the forecast period owing to rising penetration of plastics & polymers. Handling problems and high costs of glass manufacturing have resulted in manufacturers looking at other alternatives. The rising number of plastic production facilities in Asia Pacific is responsible for decreasing popularity of glass.Paper & paperboard pharmaceutical packaging has been boosted by the introduction of eco-friendly paper products. Industry participants involved in paper manufacturing were faced with a grave situation due to ill effects of non-biodegradable materials. The rising popularity of degradable paper is expected to play a major role in driving demand for this material over the forecast period.About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for , regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Pianoforte Industry by Size, Analysis and Outlook 2018-2023

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Latest research study from HTF MI with title Global Pianoforte by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023. The Research report presents a complete assessment of the market and contains Future trend, Current Growth Factors, attentive opinions, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry validated market data. The study is segmented by products type, application/end-users. The research study provides estimates for Global Pianoforte Forecast till 2023.If you are involved in the Pianoforte industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. Its vital you keep your market knowledge up to date segmented by Applications Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3, Product Types such as [Type 1, Type 2 & Type 3] and some major players in the industry. If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.Request Sample of Global Pianoforte Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023 @:Key Companies/players: company 1, company 2, company 3, company 4, company 5, company 6, company 7, company 8 & company 9.Application: Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3, Product Type: Type 1, Type 2 & Type 3.The research covers the current & Future market size of the Global Pianoforte market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data. It also covers various types of segmentation such as by geography [North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc]. The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. On the basis of attributes such as company overview, recent developments, strategies adopted by the market leaders to ensure growth, sustainability, financial overview and recent developments.Stay up-to-date with Pianoforte market research offered by HTF MI. Check how key trends and emerging drivers are shaping this industry growth as the study avails you with market characteristics, size and growth, segmentation, regional breakdowns, competitive landscape, shares, trend and strategies for this market. In the Global Pianoforte Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023, the revenue is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023. The production is estimated at XX million in 2017 and is forecasted to reach XX million by the end of 2023, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2018 and 2023.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Key questions answered in this report - Global Pianoforte Industry Market Analysis & Forecast 2018-2023What will the market size be in 2023 and what will the growth rate beWhat are the key market trendsWhat is driving Global Pianoforte Market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in Pianoforte Market space?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Pianoforte Market ?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Global Pianoforte Market?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the Global Pianoforte market? Get in-depth details about factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA?Enquire for customization in Report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Pianoforte market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Global Pianoforte, Applications of Pianoforte, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of , Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, Export & Import, 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 North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc, Pianoforte Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Pianoforte Segment Market Analysis (by Application [Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3]) Major Manufacturers Analysis;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Type 1, Type 2 & Type 3], Market Trend by Application [Application 1, Application 2 & Application 3];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Pianoforte by region, type and application ;Chapter 12, to describe Pianoforte Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Pianoforte sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Buy 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 5-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 :Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.comConnect with us at
More Bandwidth for Resource Intensive Sites at Unisecure Data Centers

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Unisecure now offers more bandwidth all hosting servers to 10000GB on 100Mbp/s Port for both new and existing customers without any additional cost.Philadelphia, US, 6th April 2018 | Unisecure, a leading cloud and dedicated hosting provider in US have bundled additional bandwidth on all cloud and dedicated hosting servers to 1000GB on 100Mbp/s port in order to support mass delivery of software updates or video live streaming which are usually more resource intensive. Apart from speed, the cross-connections accessible empower upgraded geographical delivery.Unisecure offers Linux and Windows dedicated server hosting solutions in the US with best features ensuring high availability and 99.995% guaranteed uptime with 24x7 Rapid Action support. The servers include Intel Hexa Core Xeon or Intel Dual Hexa Core Xeon, processors. All servers are placed in US-based data centers. There are three different dedicated server packages available, offered on both Linux and Windows operating systems, priced from $69 per month."We are continually attempting to enhance our services and make our offerings much more appealing to our customers," said Benjamin, Vice President - Business Development at Unisecure. "We are amped up for expanding the data transmission allowance on our dedicated server at no extra charge. This will enable our customers to extend their business and decrease costs."About UnisecureUnisecure is one of the leading Data Center Solutions and Top cloud hosting providers in the US established in 1996. Unisecure data centers guarantee 99.995% uptime, high-density redundant power, flexible configurations, carrier-neutral facilities, and 24x7x365 customer support. We have 5 data centers among which 2 are located in Philadelphia and Conshohocken, U.S embed with Information Security Management System (ISMS) to examine risks and develop better processes for security our data centers are most secure and reliable. Our data centers offer services from cloud services, co-location services, and dedicated hosting to the firewall and advanced backup solutions. We have 50000+ customers over 17 countries including brands such as Canon, DHL, HP, Microsoft, Pepsi, Mc Donalds and much more.For more information about their services, visitWeb Hosting service providers in US (VPS/Cloud and Dedicated Servers)70-26 Groton Street,Forest Hills, NY,New York,11375-5102, US
Zika Virus Vaccines by Company Profile, Deals Type, Funding, Clinical Trials Insight, Regulatory Landscape & Recent Development

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"It is predicted that Zika virus vaccines shot will available to the public by 2018.Zika virus is an emerging viral disease that is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, primarily Aedes aegypti, the same vector that transmits chikungunya, dengue and yellow fever. Zika has a similar epidemiology, clinical presentation and transmission cycle in urban environments as chikungunya and dengue, although it generally causes milder illness.The highest risk is to pregnant women due to the connection the virus has with serious birth defects. Pregnant women who contract the virus have a high possibility of giving birth to a baby with microcephaly, a neurodevelopment disorder, where a baby is born with an unusually small head due to abnormal brain development in the womb or after birth. Complications of this disorder include seizures and developmental issues.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @Due to the serious nature of global risk, the WHO has declared the microcephaly cases associated with the Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). With no vaccines or cure the virus and its risks are expected to continue to spread. The WHO is predicting up to 4 Million Zika cases in the Americas by 2016 and the World Bank is projecting the short-term economic impact for 2016, in Latin America and the Caribbean to be about US$3.5 Billion.With fears of Zika virus reaching new heights, Zika virus vaccines are gaining popularity. Many Government agencies and research institutes support pharmaceutical companies for the development & manufacturing of Zika virus vaccines. It is predicted that Zika virus vaccines shot will available to the public by 2018.The research report presents a comprehensive study of the Zika virus vaccines with details. It provides essential insights of introduction of Zika virus, current situation and areas with Zika virus and funding in Zika virus vaccines research. Additionally, the report includes assessment of clinical trials and regulatory landscape of Zika virus vaccines development. Key trends in terms of partnerships, collaborations and licensing agreements are analyzed with details.The report concludes with the profiles of major players in the Zika virus vaccines development such as Sanofi Pasteur, ImmunoVaccines Inc, Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Valneva, Bharat Biotech International Pvt. Ltd., NewLink Genetics. The major players are evaluated on various parameters such as company overview, product outlook and Zika virus vaccines latest development and trends.Obtain Report Details @This 87 Page report has been analyzed from 7 viewpoints:1. Zika Virus  Introduction, Signs and Symptoms, Transmission, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention2. Current Situation & Areas with Zika Virus3. Competitive Landscape of The Zika Virus Vaccines Companies4. Funding in Zika Virus Vaccines Research5. Zika Virus Vaccines  Clinical Trials Insight by Phase & Trial Status6. Zika Virus Vaccines  Regulatory Landscape7. Key Companies AnalysisAbout Future Genic ReportsFuture 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 productionContact us-USA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesUK Office109 ,Straford Street,LeedsWest Yorkshrie LS11 6JGUnited KingdomSend Us An EmailE-mail: sales@futuregenicreports.comCall UsToll Free: +1- 844-445-2861Phone: +1- 347-983-9688
Other residents said the proposed house might interfere with the views of existing homes, and be difficult to access in the event of a fire or an emergency.

Planning commissioners decided to postpone the matter until their meeting on March 22.

In the meantime, Singh and city staff arranged a town hall meeting at the nearby Harvest Free World Baptist Church on March 15.

After discussing the topic with neighbors, Singh revised his development proposal with the city, eliminating plans for the fifth home.

No residents appeared before the Planning Commissions March 22 meeting to object to the amended project.

I dont see many of them here tonight, said Jeremy Sill, a civil engineer working for Singh, on March 22. Ill take that as a good thing.

Singh told the commission that he offered to sell the lot to local residents who expressed interest in collectively purchasing the land to ensure no one else comes along and tries to build a home there.

We proposed a sale to the neighbors, said Singh. But he had not received any offers as of March 22. It is hard to say what the possibility of that sale is.
Pressure Sensor Automotive Market: Global Industry Analysis By 2018 Key Players - Infineon, Sensata, Bosch, Denso, Delphi, Texas Instruments, NXP, Analog Device, Melexis, General Electric With Forecast To 2023

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April. 6, 2018 (NEWS)  Latest Pressure Sensor Automotive Market research report 2018 analyze Pressure Sensor Automotive Market by Application (ABS, Airbag, TPMS, Engine, HVAC, & Transmission), Technology (MEMS, Strain Gauge, & Ceramic), Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicle and Commercial Vehicle), and region - Forecast To 2023 by MarketResearchFuture, the global market for global automotive pressure sensor market is expected to witness significant growth between 2018 and 2023.Global Pressure Sensor Automotive Market Highlights:Automotive pressure sensor has been witnessing steady growth over a period of time. The boom in the automotive industry is expected to positively impact the automotive pressure sensor market. Increasing demand for safety features in automobiles, stringent government norms, and rapidly rising safety awareness among individuals, are some of the factors primarily driving the automotive pressure sensor market. Rapidly rising integration of advanced driver assistance systems in vehicles has provided a positive outlook to the automotive pressure sensor market. With the New Car Assessments Program awarding safety ratings based on vehicles safety performance, automotive manufacturers have been increasingly integrating automotive pressure sensor in vehicles.Get Sample Report On Global Pressure Sensor Automotive Market At:Market Competitive Landscape:The key players of global automotive pressure sensor market are Infineon (Germany), Sensata (US), Robert Bosch (Germany), Denso (Japan), Delphi (UK), Texas Instruments (US), NXP (Netherlands), Analog Device (US), Melexis (Belgium), General Electric (US), and TE Connectivity (Switzerland). In 2016, these companies accounted for a share of XX% of the global market.Market Segmentation:The global automotive Pressure Sensor market, has been segmented on the basis Application (ABS, Airbag, TPMS, Engine, HVAC, & Transmission), Technology (MEMS, Strain Gauge, & Ceramic), Vehicle Type (Passenger Vehicle and Commercial Vehicle) and Regions.Geographic Analysis:The growth of the North America region is also driven by the presence of major automotive system manufacturers, which are mainly focusing on key developments such as expansion, mergers & acquisition, product launch and others. Existence of major manufacturers and availability of sophisticated technology in this region is expected to propel the demand in the automotive pressure sensor market during the forecast period. Owing to all these factors, the growth of the region is expected to grow at a rapid pace.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global Pressure Sensor Automotive market, tracking market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next 6 years for each region.Target Audience of Report:This report mainly focuses on Pressure Sensor Automotive market Manufacturers, Distributer & Supplier companies, and end Users. Investment bankers and consultants with end user for Pressure Sensor Automotive market also analyzed. And finally Government and Independent Regulatory Authorities involved with Global Pressure Sensor Automotive market studied.Browse market data Tables and Figures spread through 111 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Pressure Sensor Automotive Market"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.528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global EP Catheter Ablation Market Evaluation Targets Advancement Anticipated until 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 EP Catheter Ablation Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 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 EP Catheter Ablation market have been elaborated upon in the research report.To get sample copy of Report Click Here @Unwavering prevalence of cardiac conditions such as flutter, atrial fibrillation, and arrhythmia has driven the adoption of medical procedures such as ablation and electrophysiology (EP) study. Utilization of EP ablation catheters in treatment of cardiovascular disorders continues to gain significant traction. Patients are being drawn towards reliable procedures such as electrophysiology study for the heart. The success rate of these procedures promotes the reputation of catheters being used. Transparency Market Research projects that positive patient attitudes towards the utilization of catheters in ablation procedures and EP studies will foster the growth of the global EP catheter ablation market.RF Ablation Catheters to Remain in Great Demand through 2020According to the report, the catheters to be sold in the global EP catheter ablation market by 2026-end will bring in over US$ 2.74 Bn in global revenues. Among these, the report has analyzed that sales of radiofrequency (RF) ablation catheters will be predominant. While the global market for EP catheter ablation will expand at a 7.9% CAGR during the forecast period, 2017-2026, the sales of RF ablation catheters are poised to register growth at 7% CAGR. Throughout the forecast period, over US$ 100 Mn worth of RF ablation catheters are poised to be sold annually across the globe.Increasing Use of Ablation Catheters in Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation at HospitalsKey insights developed in the study reveal that hospitals will be the largest end-user in the global market for EP catheter ablation. By 2026, nearly four-fifth of revenues being procured in the global EP catheter ablation market will be accounted by the end-use of these catheters in hospitals. Since the ablation and electrophysiology procedures require extended hospitalization, the demand for EP catheters and ablation catheters will be considerably high in the global market. In addition, the report also reveals that atrial fibrillation will be the key diseases indication that will propel the growth of the global EP catheter ablation market. While the use of ablation catheters in cardiac arrhythmia will be considerably high, atrial fibrillation will register high revenues, amassing more than US$ 1.5 Bn by 2026-end.Browse Complete Report details with TOC Click Here @North America will emerge as the largest market for EP catheter ablationBased on the regional forecast, the demand for ablation catheters and EP catheters is estimated to be the highest in the US and Canada, compared to other parts of the world. Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and robust healthcare infrastructure will continue to support the growth of the EP catheter ablation market in the North America region. Over the forecast period, North Americas EP catheter ablation market will expand vigorously, registering a value CAGR of 6.7%. Europe will also be at the forefront of global EP catheter ablation market expansion as the second-most leading market. The EP catheter ablation market in the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region, on the other hand, will register a steady growth on the account of growing geriatric population and manufacturing feasibilities.Leading Manufacturers of Ablation CathetersThe report has profiled leading manufacturers of ablation catheters to assess the competition landscape of the global EP catheter ablation market. Companies such as Medtronic Plc., Boston Scientific Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, BIOTRONIK SE & Co. KG, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Lepu Medical Tech Co. Ltd., MicroPort Scientific Corporation, CardioFocus Inc., and Hansen Medical, Inc. are expected to actively partake in the expansion of the global EP catheter ablation market through 2026. Several manufacturers of ablation catheters are likely to focus on product development that aids patient comfort during the ablation procedure and EP studies.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:
Sustainable Packaging Market 2018 Global Key Players Mondi plc.( Austria), The Dow Chemical Company(U.S.), Stora Enso Oyj(Finland), BASF SE (Germany), Genpak, LLC(North Carolina)

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Sustainable Packaging Quadruples By 2023 With A Decent CAGRMarket Research Future published a research report on Sustainable Packaging Market Research Report- Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Market HighlightsThe global sustainable packaging market is a very dynamic market and is expected to witness high growth over the forecast period. Packaging plays an essential role in our business by meeting consumer needs for convenience and portability, while protecting and preserving our products throughout the supply chain. In recent years, manufacturers have made a considerable effort of creating environmentally-friendly and sustainable packaging. Quality packaging helps safe and sustainable products. It enables efficient transport and prevents items from spoiling; and differentiates brands on the shelf while giving consumers vital information about products.Get Sample of Report @Manufacturers are now under pressure to use ecofriendly material in packaging and adopt methods that have less adverse impact on environment. Sustainable packaging is the eco-friendly type of packaging, which uses recyclable material for packaging process. It also helps reduce the environmental impact. Secondly, increasing environmental concerns and stringent rules and regulation are projected to encourage the demand for sustainable packaging within the forecast period. However, lack of information about sustainable packaging and its benefits, is a major restraint that is likely to hinder the demand of the market.Reusable packaging, recycled content packaging, and degradable packaging are the major types of global sustainable packaging market. Among all these, recycled content packaging dominated the global sustainable packaging market. It accounted for significant share of the total market. In addition, reusable packaging was the second largest type of sustainable packaging. It is also expected to have remarkable growth in the future, owing to the government regulations coupled with rapidly growing demand for bio-plastic packaging. Moreover, degradable packaging is also projected to have moderate growth.Scope of the reportThis study provides an overview of the global sustainable packaging market, tracking one market segment across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global Sustainable Packaging market by its packaging type, material, process, application and region.Sustainable Packaging Market, By Packaging Type Tubes Bags & Pouches Corrugated Box OthersSustainable Packaging Market, By Material Paper & Paperboard Glass Metal PlasticSustainable Packaging Market, By Process Degradable Packaging Recycled Packaging Reusable PackagingSustainable Packaging Market, By Application Pharmaceutical Food & Beverages Personal Care OthersBy Region North America Asia Pacific Europe Rest of the WorldAccess Full Report @Key PlayersThe key players of global sustainable packaging market includes Amcor Limited (Australia), Silgan Holdings Inc.( U.S.), Bemis Company Inc.( U.S.), Sonoco Products Company (U.S.), Mondi plc.( Austria), The Dow Chemical Company(U.S.), Stora Enso Oyj(Finland), BASF SE (Germany), Genpak, LLC(North Carolina), DS Smith Plc.( U.K.), and Smurfit Kappa Group Plc.(Dublin) and others.Market Research Analysis:By moving beyond conventional packaging methods and materials, companies can reduce their carbon footprints and their transportation and warehousing costs. In terms of region, global sustainable market is segmented into four major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and RoW. Additionally, Asia Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing market for green packaging during the forecast period. Increasing consumer awareness coupled with rising demand for recyclable products, acts as a key factor behind the growth of the sustainable packaging market in this region.The increasing environmental consciousness, is the key factor that is driving the sustainable packaging market. The use of non-biodegradable plastics, causes various harmful effects on the environment such as landfill, soil pollution, and loss of the soil fertility. Stringent regulations are, thus, implemented by the government to improve the conditions of the environment. There are certain regions where the use of plastic bags is completely banned, thus triggering the growth of the sustainable packaging market.The report for Global Sustainable Packaging Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for , regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Labyrinthitis Market Overview 2018 | Value Chain Analysis | with CAGR of ~ 3.2% | Investment Feasibility Analysis and Forecast till 2023

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The Global Labyrinthitis Market Is Expected To Reach USD 2.5 Billion By 2023 At A CAGR Of ~ 3.2% During The Forecast Period 2017-2023. Labyrinthitis, also known as vestibular neuritis, is an inflammation of the inner ear or the nerves that connect the inner ear to the brain due to a variety of reasons such as infection by measles, mumps, trauma, autoimmune etc. Labyrinthitis shows various symptoms such as hearing loss, speech problems, double vision, abnormal gait, dizziness, nystagmus (rapid and undesired eye motion), vertigo, ringing in the ears, etc. Labyrinthitis is triggered by cold flu and occur as a single attack, or a series of attacks, which generally resolves on its own over three to six weeks.Request Sample copy of Labyrinthitis Market Report@The causes of labyrinthitis are upper respiratory infection such as common cold or flu, infection by herpes simplex type 1 virus, acute localized ischemia, pressure changes such as while flying or scuba diving, etc. Labyrinthitis affects approximately 35 cases per 1 million people per year across the globe and it is rising due to growing exposure to pathogenic agents. Labyrinthitis affects older population to a greater degree due to weak immunity and hearing problems.Rising older population, increasing awareness and screening, developing healthcare and ENT centres, developing new drugs, especially the advancements in antibiotics are driving the market growth. Development of selective antibiotics for ear and nose infections such as streptomycin has driven the market growth. On the other hand, side effects and high cost of treatment and misdiagnosis may hinder the growth of the labyrinthitis market over the review period.Key Players in the Global Labyrinthitis Market:Some of the key players profiled in the report are Merck & Co., Inc., Sanofi S.A., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Mylan N.V., Eli Lilly and Company, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Shandong Taihua Bio &Tech Co., Cipla Inc., and others.Regional Analysis:The Americas accounts for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care. Additionally, the fastest uptake of new diagnostics and drugs in the US drives the labyrinthitis market. Furthermore, concentration of the major healthcare companies and large hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with large insurance penetration are adding fuel to the market growth. The US expend high amount on its healthcare in 2015, which accounted for 16% of total GDP which, in turn, likely to drive the labyrinthitis market.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to high income and strong healthcare penetration. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. The UK is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period. However the southern European nations have witnessed a greater incidence of infective labyrinthitis due to associated environmental conditional. Owing to strong pharmaceutical industry, Germany dominates the Europe market.For more Enquiry @Labyrinthitis Market - SegmentsThe global labyrinthitis market has been segmented on the basis of types, diagnosis, treatment, and end user. Based on the types, the market has been segmented as autoimmune labyrinthitis, infective labyrinthitis, and other. Based on the diagnosis, the market has been segmented as physical examination, blood test, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography, electroencephalogram (EEG) and electronystagmography (ENG) and others. Based on the treatment, the market has been segmented as antihistaminics and antiemetics, antibiotics, corticosteroids, and others. Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as hospitals & clinics, academic and research, and others.The causes of labyrinthitis are upper respiratory infection such as common cold or flu, infection by herpes simplex type 1 virus, acute localized ischemia, pressure changes such as while flying or scuba diving, etc. Labyrinthitis affects approximately 35 cases per 1 million people per year across the globe and it is rising due to growing exposure to pathogenic agents. Labyrinthitis affects older population to a greater degree due to weak immunity and hearing problems.Table of Content:1. Report Prologue2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope Of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 Limitations3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size Estimation4. Market DynamicsTOC ContinuedGet 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
Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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The advancements in the automotive industry offering several features in a vehicle for the safety of the people. As the concerns regarding safety and comfort among people across the world rise, the automakers are reinvigorated to incorporate automotive intelligent park assist systems. Market Research Hub (MRH) has freshly broadcasted a new study titled Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017  2025 to its massive repository, which provides comprehensive insights on the current as well as future growth prospects for the market. Apart from that, the study highlights the drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence markets growth during the forecast period.Request for Free Sample Report-As the name suggests, intelligent parking assist system assists drivers to park their vehicles, making it easy even for drivers who find parking tricky. With the increasing traffic flow around the world, resulting in a significant increase in the number of road accidents, the demand for automotive intelligent park assist systems has increased substantially. According to the research key findings, the global market for automotive intelligent park assist systems offered an opportunity worth US$22.30 bn in 2016. Analysts of the report estimate that the global automotive intelligent park assist market will rise at a healthy CAGR of 6.76% and reach a value of US$38.53 bn by the end of the forecast period.Geographical Expansion and Segmental OverviewFor a deeper understanding of the market, the study highlights market growth in some prime regions including North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America and MEA. Apart from that the global automotive intelligence park assists system market by segmenting it in terms of component, technology and vehicle. The report also covers demand for individual application segments in all the regions.Browse Full Report with TOC- On the basis of geography, North America dominated the market in 2016 and gathered nearly 32% of the overall market revenue share. Further, the research estimates that this region is likely to retain its leading position throughout the forecast period. By the type of technology, the global market automotive intelligent park assist systems for autonomous parking assist and semiautonomous parking assist are the main segments of this market. Presently, semiautonomous parking assist technology is beholding a higher adoption and the trend is predicted to continue over the forthcoming years. By component, the global automotive intelligence park assist system market is segregated into the ultrasonic sensor, camera, and ultrasonic sensor and camera.As the report accomplishes, the competitive landscape is emphasized which focuses on the major players from the global A2P SMS market. Key players include NXP Semiconductors, HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA, Valeo, Robert Bosch GmbH, TOSHIBA CORPORATION, Continental AG, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Delphi Automotive LLP, Siemens AG, Magna International, Clarion, Aisin World Corp. of America and others.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 -
Growth Of Lidding Films Market 2018 Attributed To Packaging Sector Expansion | 6.1% CAGR For next 5 years

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Market Research Future published a research report on Lidding Films Market Research Report- Forecast 2023  Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Lidding Films Market, by Product (Dual-Ovenable Lidding Films, Specialty Lidding Films, High Barrier Lidding Films and Others), by Material (Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polyethylene (PE), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH), and Others), by Application (Cups, Tray, Cans & Bottles, and others), by End-user (Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Personal Care & Cosmetics, and Others) and Region - Forecast To 2023Market Scenario:The global market of lidding films is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period. The global market has been forecast to demonstrate an exponential growth by 2023, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a CAGR of 6.1% during the estimated period (2017-2023).Get Sample of Report @The prominent players in the global lidding films market include - Amcor Limited (Australia) Bemis Company Inc. (U.S.) Ampac Packaging LLC (U.S.) The Mondi Group (Austria) Sealed Air Corporation (U.S.) Constantia Flexibles Group GmbH (Austria) Berry Plastics Corporation (U.S.) Wipak Walsrode GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) Toray Plastics (America) Inc (Japan) Uflex Ltd (India) Schur Flexibles Holding GembH (Austria) Clifton Packaging Group Ltd (U.K.) Plastopil Hazorea Company Ltd. (Israel) Linpac Packaging Limited (U.K.) Impak Films Pty Ltd (Australia)Regional AnalysisOn the basis of regions, the global market for lidding films has been segmented as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). North America region dominates the market. Increasing demand for consumer goods and packaged food in this region, drives its growth. Additionally, increasing applications for high barrier lidding film packaging in this region, also boosts the growth of the market, here. U.S. accounted for the largest market share in North America.Asia Pacific region is expected to be the fastest growing region for the market. Rapid growth in Asia Pacific packaging industry, is the major factor driving the growth of the market. Growing industrialization and urbanization in developing countries such as China and India, boosts the market. Additionally, the availability of raw materials and low labor cost, together form a positive influence on the market growth. China, Japan, India, Australia and Indonesia are the major markets in Asia Pacific. China accounts for the largest market share in the Asia Pacific region, mainly due to rapid growth in urbanization and industrial development.Europe is another major market for lidding films. It is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period. Europe is expected to be another major market in terms of demand. The packaging industry holds a strong ground in Europe, owing to a high demand coupled with speedy rates of product innovation and development. The lidding films market in Europe is also being pushed towards providing greener alternatives to conventional plastic packaging. South America and Middle-East & Africa regions are also expected to show a positive growth during the forecast period due to rising demand from the e-commerce sector.SegmentationGlobal Lidding Films market has been segmented based on material, product, application, end-user, and region. On the basis of material, the market has been segmented into Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Polyethylene (PE), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH), and Others. Polypropylene (PP) dominates the material segment of the market and is expected to be the fastest growing material segment. Majority of the end-users use LDPE for high barrier packaging films. It has numerous benefits such as ease of processing, barrier to moisture, strength/toughness, flexibility, and ease of sealing. PVC is a dense material. It is considered a common material in India, when clarity is an important selection criterion, particularly for consumer packaging. On the basis of product, the market has been segmented into Dual-Ovenable Lidding Films, Specialty Lidding Films, High Barrier Lidding Films and Others. High Barrier Lidding Films dominates the product segment of the market. The popularity of the high barrier lidding films has increased, owing to its features such as light weight nature, high performance, and attractive packaging. On the basis of application, the market is segmented as Cups, Tray, Cans & Bottles, and others. Trays dominates the application segment of the market and is expected to grow at a fastest CAGR during the forecast period.Global lidding films market appears to be highly fragmented and competitive owing to the presence of numerous large and small players active in the regional market. The key strategies traced from the analysis of recent developments of the key players include Product Launch, Agreement & Partnership, Acquisition and expansion. On the product and sales side, companies are investing in innovation/R&D, brand building, and fostering strong relationships with customers to support their competitive position.Access Full Report@The report for Global Lidding Films Market of Market Research Future comprises extensive primary research findings along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain deeper insight into the market and industry performance. The report gives a 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 detailed 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.About Us:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for , regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Plasma Protease C1-inhibitor Treatment Market Estimated to Exhibit 20.2% CAGR through 2025

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The vendor landscape of the global market for plasma protease c1-inhibitor treatment market is largely consolidated with a handful of companies collectively accounting for a lion's share in the market and maintaining a tough level of competition, observes Transparency Market Research in a recent report. The company Shire plc. held the dominant spot in the market, thanks to its expansive product portfolio and extensive geographical reach. Other leading companies in the market, including CSL Limited, Pharming Group N.V., and Sanquin are focused on expanding their geographical outreach, product portfolios, and startegic collaborations to establish a stronghold on the market.According to the report, the global plasma protease c1-inhibitor treatment market will exhibit an impressive 20.0% CAGR from 2017 to 2025. Considering that the numbers hold true, the market is expected to rise from a valuation of US$1.5 bn in 2016 to a revenue opportunity of US$7.9 bn by the end of 2025.Request for Sample Copy of Report @North America Takes Lead; to Retain Dominance as HAE and Prophylaxis Cases RiseOf the key drug classes used in plasma protease C1-inhibitor treatment covered under the report, the segment of C1-inhibitors accounted for the dominant share in the market in 2016. The wide usage of this drug class for the treatment of conditions such as prophylaxis and acute hereditary angioedema (HAE) is likely to keep their demand steady across the globe. Geographically, the global plasma protease c1-inhibitor treatment market acquires a large share of its revenue from sales across the North America region. The regional market presents high demand for plasma protease c1-inhibitor treatment owing to the high number of HAE cases in the U.S.Request for TOC @Rise in Research Efforts Aimed at Development of Novel C1-inhibitor Drug Classes to Bode Well for MarketThe rising awareness regarding the available treatment options for HAE is one of the key factors driving the global plasma protease C1-inhibitor treatment market. Other contributing factors include the steadily expanding pipeline of novel drug classes and formulations, thanks to an increase in investment for the research and development of inhibitor drugs, and the rising prevalence of acute HAE and prophylaxis globally. The market is also benefitting from the rising practice of prescribing prophylactic treatment procedure for HAE patients, increased focus on the research related to a new route of administering C1-inhibitor medicines, and increased demand for subcutaneous administration of C1-inhibitor drugs in HAE patient.Obtain Report Details @Furthermore, the market could also benefit from the increased availability of C1-inhibitor drugs such as Ruconest in emerging economies with vast unmet needs in the area of HAE and prophylaxis treatment. Research efforts underway aimed at the development of bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist for HAE attack treatment is also likely to work in favor of 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:
Procurement Software Market 2023 Key Leaders by: Coupa Software, Epicor Software, JDA Software, SAP SE, Oracle, International Business Machines, Mercateo

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Procurement Software Market, By Deployment (On-Premise, On Cloud), By Software (Spend Analysis, E-sourcing, E-procurement), By Vertical (IT & Telecommunication, Travel & Logistics) - Forecast 2023Market Highlights:On the basis of regional analysis the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. North America region is generating highest market share in the procurement software market owing to better network infrastructure, digitization and higher technology implementation. Digitization in North America is mainly due to the invention of advanced technology and economies benefitting from it. This region is also leading due to presence of major players from the region in the procurement software market. The implementation of procurement software by both small and medium enterprises is increasing rapidly. These software are especially one of the majorly used software utilized into supply chain and logistics industry. The e-procurement software is gaining demand as organization seek to reduce their purchasing cost and shifting from on-premise to cloud based. The initial low cost, saving amount spent on infrastructure, automatic software upgrading and seamless integration is driving the market of cloudbased e-procurement software.Request a Sample Report @Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 30 market data tables and figures spread over 100 numbers of pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content TOC & market synopsis on The Procurement Software Market Research Report -Forecast to 2023.E-procurement software can be operated in both on-premise and cloud based. This software enable organization in replacing difficulties cause by adopting traditional procurement process. Problems such as finding right category of products, suitable supplier for enhancing the business, unable to find the amount spent on purchase, much amount of time is spent on non-value adding activities. In addition, the study also indicates that e-procurement software minimizes all these difficulties face by organization, by providing accurate solution.It comprises of features such as, catalog management, end-to-end procurement cycle, requisition and approvals, electronic data interchange and maintaining relationship with suppliers in terms of development regarding contract and agreement. Furthermore, the cloud based technology such as software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS) will continue to boost the market and represent a double digit compound annual growth rate. Moreover, by the usage of these software various industries are being benefitted, especially the one into supply chain and logistics support.Procurement software segmentation is done on the basis of deployment these include cloud based and on-premise. Cloud based procurement software enable organization by controlling cost and help them in achieving higher margin of profitability. It facilitates modernize source to pay process through automation and social collaboration. Organization can strengthen their business by leveraging social collaboration and achieve faster results by deploying cloud based procurement software. It can control the cost and reduce risk in settling procurement process.The market of Global Procurement Software will reach USD 9 Billion by 2023, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10%.Major Key Players:Cvent Inc. (U.S.), International Business Machines Corporation (U.S.), Oracle Corporation (U.S.), Proactis (U.K.), SAP SE (Germany), Infor (U.S.), Sciquest Inc. (U.S.), Coupa Software Inc. (U.S.), Epicor Software Corporation (U.S.), Zycus (U.S.), JDA Software Group, Inc. (U.S.), Mercateo ( U.K.) among others.Regional Analysis:The regional analysis of procurement software market is being studied for region such as Asia pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. North America region accounts for largest share in procurement software market owing to better network infrastructure, technological advancement and higher digitization across industries in logistics and support. Europe region is one of the prominent player in procurement software market due to increase adoption of e-procurement solution in supply chain management. Whereas, Asia Pacific is expected to grow with a highest CAGR by 2023.Procurement software Market Segmentation:The procurement software market has been segmented on the basis of deployment, software type, organization type and vertical. The cloud based e-procurement software provides search filters in terms of price, supplier and manufacturer, it also provides function that includes drag and drop, roll-based workflow and among others. Provides centralized purchasing system, means one user can buy on behalf of other and offers automatic notification alert and faster approval process.Procurement Software Market for segment on the basis of By Deployment, By Type, By Organization Type and By Vertical.Access Report Details @Procurement Software Market by Deployment: On-Premise On-CloudProcurement Software Market by Type: Spend Analysis E-sourcing E-procurement Contract Management Supplier Management OthersProcurement Software Market by Organization Type: Small and Medium Size Large Business EnterprisesProcurement Software Market by Vertical: Retail Automotive Travel & Logistics Electronics IT & Telecommunication Mining OthersTABLE OF CONTENTS1 MARKET INTRODUCTION1.1 INTRODUCTION1.2 SCOPE OF STUDY1.2.1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE1.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS1.2.3 LIMITATIONS1.3 MARKET STRUCTURE2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 RESEARCH SOFTWARE2.2 PRIMARY RESEARCH2.3 SECONDARY RESEARCH2.4 FORECAST MODEL2.4.1 MARKET DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS & FORECAST2.4.2 MARKET SIZE ESTIMATIONContinue...LIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 PROCUREMENT SOFTWARE MARKET, BY DEPLOYMENTTABLE 2 PROCUREMENT SOFTWARE MARKET, BY SOFTWARE TYPETABLE 3 PROCUREMENT SOFTWARE MARKET, BY ORGANIZATION SIZEContinue...LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 RESEARCH SOFTWAREFIGURE 2 PROCUREMENT SOFTWARE MARKET: BY DEPLOYMENT (%)FIGURE 3 PROCUREMENT SOFTWARE MARKET: BY SOFTWARE TYPE (%)Continue...Intended Audience: Investors and consultants System Integrators Government Organizations Research/Consultancy firms Technology solution providers IT Solution Providers Supply Chain & Logistics Organizations Original Equipment ManufacturersAbout 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.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune  411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +91 841 198 5042Mail: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Atrial Fibrillation Market to Expand at a CAGR of 11.0% by 2026

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Increasing prevalence of common diseases and conditions such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, etc., are leading to the risk of various heart problems. Moreover, the rise in people suffering from high blood pressure, and valvular heart disease due to the rheumatic fever are some of the most common risk factors for atrial fibrillation. Along with the increasing number of people suffering from atrial fibrillation, especially among the geriatric population. There has been an advancement in diagnoses and treatment of atrial fibrillation. Researchers and experts are also working together to find out new technologies to improve early detection and diagnosis of atrial fibrillation and achieve maximum benefit for atrial fibrillation patients. However, lack of well-trained physicians and the high cost of treatments are hampering the atrial fibrillation market growth.The report has provided a detailed profile of some of the leading players in the global atrial fibrillation market such as Abbott Laboratories, Biosense Webster, Inc., Medtronic Plc, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Biotronik SE & Co. KG, CardioFocus, Inc., AtriCure Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., and Osypka AG.Request for Sample Copy of Report @Global Atrial Fibrillation Market to Witness Robust Growth during the Forecast Period 2017-2026According to a study by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global atrial fibrillation market is expected to witness strong growth. The market is estimated to register 11.0% CAGR during the forecast period 2017-2026. The market is also estimated to reach US$ 10,925.1 million revenue by the end of 2026.On the basis of product type, the EP ablation catheters are expected to emerge as the most preferred product in the global atrial fibrillation market. On the basis of end-user, the market is segmented into electrophysiology labs, hospitals, and ambulatory surgical center. Among these, hospitals are expected to be witness impressive growth during the forecast period 2017-2026. By application, EP ablation is expected to witness the highest growth in the global atrial fibrillation market during the forecast period 2017-2026.Geographically, the market is segmented on the basis of North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, APEJ, and MEA. Europe is expected to dominate the global atrial fibrillation market during the forecast period 2017-2026. A maximum number of catheter ablation are performed in Germany.Request for TOC @Rise in the Use of Less Invasive and Advanced Treatment for Atrial FibrillationMajor hospitals and medical centers are using a less invasive procedure known as catheter ablation for treating atrial fibrillation. It also has facilitated quick recovery than the surgery. Meanwhile, the on-going research is also resulting in more options that can be used by doctors to perform catheter ablation.A recent study by the researchers at the Klinikum Coburg and the University of Utah Health also showed that radiofrequency catheter ablation lowered mortality rates in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation. Being a highly effective therapy, various additional features are being added to catheter ablation. For instance, new 3D mapping technology reduces fluoroscopy time and radiation dose for patients. Moreover, a new 3D catheter mapping technology allowing real-time device tracking in prerecorded fluoroscopy was also being used.Obtain Report Details @However, new treatment options including FIRM ablation, convergent procedure, and watchman device have also been developed and were successful in minimizing the chances of atrial fibrillation. Increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures and better imaging is resulting in the manufacturers investing in research and development for introducing technologically advanced catheter ablation procedure. Meanwhile, increasing number of hospitals are also using a combination of both device and drugs to treat atrial fibrillation.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:
The documents contrast with Shells former public stance on climate change, at least for a period of time in the 1990s. The company was a member of the Global Climate Coalition, an industry group that raised doubts about the science of climate change and opposed the Kyoto Protocol. However, Shell withdrew from the group in 1998, with its then-president Mark Moody-Stewart saying, We recently met them and it was concluded our differences of opinion were irreconcilable. We will not renew our subscription, according to a contemporary press report.

The 1988 report estimated that in 1981, 44 percent of carbon dioxide emissions came from oil, 38 percent from coal and 17 percent from natural gas.

With fossil fuel combustion being a major source of CO2 in the atmosphere, a forward looking approach by the energy industry is clearly desirable, seeking to play its part with governments and others in the development of appropriate measures to tackle the problem, the report said.

At the same time, however, the report said that the likely time scale of possible change does not necessitate immediate remedial action.

On Thursday, Shell issued a statement about the newly released report.

The Shell Groups position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We strongly support the Paris Agreement and the need for society to transition to a lower carbon future, while also extending the economic and social benefits of energy to everyone, the company said. Successfully navigating this dual challenge requires sound government policy and cultural change to drive low-carbon choices for businesses and consumers. It requires cooperation between all segments of society.
Used Cooking Oil (UCO) Market 2018 Global Shares, Industry Trend, Leading Players Updates | Darling Ingredients, Greenergy International, Olleco, Uptown Biodiesel and Proper Oils | Research Report

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Market Overview:Used Cooking Oil Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.3% over the forecast period. Used cooking oil are once used for cooking or frying the food items. These used cooking oil are collected and further brought into various use. This is a best example for waste management brought into effect.European countries are leading the market of used cooking oil and expected to grow over the forecast period 2017-2023. Increasing awareness towards environment friendly products have propelled the demand for biofuel consumption, which has surged the intake of used cooking oil in the market. This growth has been supported by favorable regulations applicable in the region focusing on clean energy.Moreover, the regulations from European Government, which emphasis on reducing imports of meat & increase home production is expected to give boost to livestock industry, resulting in increased application of used cooking oil as animal feed additive. Additionally, rise in processed meat industry backed up with increasing demand for quality meat is adding fuel to the European market of used cooking oil. All these factors will lead to growth of European used cooking oil market at a CAGR of 3.3% during the forecast period 2017-2023.Try Sample Report Here @Major Key Players:This report includes a study of strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, and product launches by the major used cooking oil market players. It further includes product portfolios, developments of leading players, which includes Baker Commodities Inc. (U.S.) Argent Energy (U.K.) Darling Ingredients (U.S.) Greenergy International Ltd (U.K.) Olleco (U.K.) Uptown Biodiesel Limited (U.K.) and Proper Oils (U.K.)Industry Segments: Used cooking oil (UCO) is segmented on the basis of sources such as food manufacturers, restaurants, caterers, household, and others. Among all, food manufacturers are dominating the market. However, restaurants are expected to surge the market based on inclination of biofuel manufacturers towards restaurants as a major source of collecting used cooking oil. Based on the application, the used cooking oil market is segmented into biodiesel, animal feed, oleo chemicals, and others. Biodiesel share the major portion of used cooking oil market.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis: The global used cooking oil (UCO) market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). Among all, Europe dominates the market of used cooking oil followed by South America. Europe regulations have encouraged strong biodiesel production growth, which has increased the demand for used cooking oil. Moreover, increased awareness among consumers about animal protein have supplemented the growth of used cooking oil in this region. Furthermore, North America is expected to grow over the forecast period owing to its increasing consumption of used cooking oil in biofuel production. Moreover, Asia Pacific is projecting growth in developing countries like India and China. However, due to lack of awareness, a negligible growth is observed in this region. From rest of the world, UAE is expected to project application of used cooking oil in the production of biodiesel.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
Dental Fittings Market Dynamics, Segments and Supply Demand 2016-2024

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Global Dental Fittings Market: SnapshotThere are many major growth promoting factors that positively impact the world market for dental fittings. Such factors comprise many reasons such as technological advancements in the industry of dental fittings, demand for oral care and cosmetic dentistry, growing prevalence of various periodontal diseases and dental caries, and soaring awareness amongst common people about dental awareness. There is however a flipside of the said market too. There is a high cost associated with various dental procedures and there is limited scope for reimbursements for cosmetic dental procedures. These factors restrain the growth of the said market.One of the recent trends that is anticipated to gain traction in the world market for dental fittings in the years to come is the advancement of technology in implants. Some of the advancements in the technology of dental implantation comprise virtual reality, 3D imaging, and electron microscopy. The technology of 3D imaging plays a very crucial role in the implant surgeries, because it assists in achieving long-term success, more precise and accurate, faster dental implant surgery. It also diminishes the time of recovery via utilization of computer-guided dental implant surgery. In addition to that, the utilization of hybrid implants owing to the progress in technology is gaining traction because these hybrid materials that contain titanium implants and zirconium heads enhance functionality, strength and visual appearance of dental implants.Download Report Brochure @Owing to the existence of a several types of dental products and large variety of market vendors across the globe, this said market seems to be very highly-competitive. All the major market vendors are involved in merger and acquisition activities so as to form and manufacture distribution partnerships. In addition to that, these market vendors are creating strategies and are emphasizing on building a very strong network of suppliers and distributors that is expected to assist them in the establishment of their presence and maintain competitiveness in this international market.Orthodontics mainly deals with the correction of improper alignment of teeth by braces or apparent loss of teeth by dentures/artificial teeth. Orthodontics was initially chosen for children but now it is used ubiquitously. Technological advancements have reduced the stigma related with this treatment and now many dental fittings such as tongue and teeth colored braces are available commercially. Rising awareness of dental aesthetics and related advantages has resulted in increased acceptance of dental fittings amongst all age groups.The dental fittings include dentures, archwires, anchorage appliances and ligatures. The braces or the brackets are meant to place the misaligned or crooked teeth in place. Braces are small squares attached to the front of the teeth by an orthodontic bonding agent and connected to each other via connectors or bands. Orthodontic bands are stainless steel, tooth colored material or transparent. Spacers are separating parts that fit between the teeth before the bands. Archwires guide braces with the movement of the teeth. Ligatures are small rubber bands which hold on to the archwires together. Traditionally braces were made up of metals, however, with technological advancements they are now available in ceramics. The braces are also made up of stainless steel, titanium or a mixture of both. The orthodontic archwires are of two types: coated metal and transparent non-metallic.Request for TOC @Coated metal archwires are made up of nickel- titanium or of stainless steel and are coated with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), parylene-polymer, and an epoxy-resin. Transparent nonmetallic arches are similar to metal arches which are made from glass spindle and are embedded in polymer matrix. The growing demand for aesthetic archwires has led to many advancements in archwires technology. These wires will continuously be developed on the basis of appearance, durability and flexibility. Non-metallic archwires may take over the future market as they are more preferred over the conventional metallic wires. Dentures are used to replace and support the missing teeth and the surrounding gum tissues. Dentures are of two types: complete ones and the partial ones. The partial ones are plastic partials or the metal partials, on the basis of the material used to attach to the teeth.The dental fittings market is on an all-time high due to many regulatory reforms in most of the countries like reimbursement coverage, access to advanced technology, increased disposable income and increased rate of awareness about dental fittings treatment. Aspects such as rising awareness about dental fittings, cheaper availability of treatment and increasing health care expenditure may boost the growth of the dental fittings market in Asia Pacific. Attributing to rapid development in healthcare, infrastructure, government reforms and access to advanced dental fittings, China and India are most profitable markets in Asia. Also, easy availability of skilled orthodontists and supporting economy is expected to spur the growth of the dental fittings market in China and India.Many of the companies are manufacturing dental fittings, and are adopting acquisitions and mergers, extensive R&D as measures to expand their geographic reach and introduction of novel products in to the market. Asia Pacific dental fittings market is expected to rise with context to volume, on basis of low product prices, less market penetration, disposable earning and improving healthcare expenditure. Also the awareness of dental aesthetics systems and dental cosmetic surgery will expectedly drive this market in North America and Europe.Obtain Report Details @The advanced CAD/CAM technology and 3 Dimensional digital imaging may lead to growth in the industry. The CAD technology can support in making digital prostheses much faster. The global dental fittings market is dominated by few key players such as GC Orthodontics, Dentaurum, Henry Schein, Hangzhou Shinye, and Dental Morelli.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:
Prescription Arthritis Treatments Market - to Witness an Outstanding Growth by 2017 - 2025

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Singapore and Indonesia Prescription Arthritis Treatments Market: OverviewArthritis is becoming an extremely common problem in the world today. Although it is commonly used to describe joint pain, there are over 100 different types of arthritis spread across several categories and sub-categories. Arthritis is also not gender dependent; it can happen to anyone and is often a result of negative lifestyle choices. It is a chronic illness that is affecting a large percentage of the geriatric demographic and is highly prevalent in developed economies. Arthritis is in fact one of the leading chronic illnesses affecting the population of the U.S. From the economic perspective, arthritis has an extremely negative impact as it not only impairs able citizens, but also significantly increases the cost to healthcare services. Studies show that close to half of the patients suffering from arthritis are unable to undertake full-time jobs, causing a severe dent in the economic growth rate.View Report:The report focuses on the markets for prescription arthritis treatments that exist in Singapore and Indonesia. The two regions have shown a massive increase in their demand for arthritis treatments, boosting the pharmaceutical industrys production rate of prescription drugs for arthritis. Researchers have taken special steps to ensure an all-encompassing report that covers both nations and the current state of prescription arthritis treatments. Based on these current statistics and the ones from the recent past and the trends that are visible, the report provides a pinpoint forecast for the Singapore and Indonesia prescription arthritis treatments market for the coming years.Singapore and Indonesia Prescription Arthritis Treatments Market: Trends and Opportunities:The primary factor driving the Singapore and Indonesia prescription arthritis treatments market is the growing percentage of the geriatric demographic. The elderly are highly prone to arthritis of all types and therefore generally form the leading population segment that is in need of arthritis treatments and therapeutics. The number of elderly in Singapore and Indonesia is not only increasing, but advancements in healthcare outreach have contributed to a greater overall population to be studied and treated.Furthermore, the Singapore and Indonesia prescription arthritis treatments market is also expected to benefit heavily from the growing number of international players paying attention to the Asia Pacific pharmaceutical industry. This increasing number of players, coupled with a growth in the number of innovations and developments occurring in arthritis-based pharmaceuticals, Singapore and Indonesia are expected to show a steady growth rate in their demand for prescription arthritis treatments.Request a Brochure of the Report @Singapore and Indonesia Prescription Arthritis Treatments Market: Region-wise Outlook:Both Singapore and Indonesia show a very high proportion of people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis over other types of arthritis. The matter can be further complicated in Indonesia due to high disparities in the national age structure and the high prevalence of other infections. These complications are creating a heavy need for advanced treatments and prescription drugs for arthritis in Singapore and Indonesia. Apart from that, there are also organizations such as the National Arthritis Foundation in Singapore that combat arthritis through increasing awareness and promoting a better level of physical health.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @Companies Mentioned in the Research Report:Numerous players already exist in the Singapore and Indonesia prescription arthritis treatments market. At the top of the charts are a number of companies that are either globally prominent entities that bring with them high brand value and recognition, and local players that have established themselves long age. This list of key players includes Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis International AG, Pfizer, Inc., Roche, Regeneron, and UCB.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.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Cloud Communication Platform 2018 Global Market Key Players  Nexmo, Inc., Avaya, Inc., Twilio, Inc., West IP Communications, Inc., Cisco System, Inc. (Cisco).....

Cloud Communication Platform Market 2018

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Cloud Communication Platform Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Cloud Communication Platform  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2023 To Its Research Database.Description:The Cloud Communication Platform market revenue was xx.xx Million USD in 2013, grew to xx.xx Million USD in 2017, and will reach xx.xx Million USD in 2023, with a CAGR of x.x% during 2018-2023.Based on the Cloud Communication Platform industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Cloud Communication Platform market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2013-2018), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2018-2023), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Cloud Communication Platform market.The Cloud Communication Platform market can be split based on product types, major applications, and important regions.Major Players in Cloud Communication Platform market are:Nexmo, Inc.Avaya, Inc.Twilio, Inc.West IP Communications, Inc.CallfireTelestax, Inc.Plivo, Inc.8x8, Inc.Cisco System, Inc. (Cisco)Netfortris, Inc. (Netfortris)Request for Sample Report@Major Regions play vital role in Cloud Communication Platform market are:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanMiddle East & AfricaIndiaSouth AmericaOthersMost important types of Cloud Communication Platform products covered in this report are:Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC/UCaaS)Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC)Interactive Voice Response (IVR)Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIPReporting and AnalyticsApplication Programming Interface (API)Most widely used downstream fields of Cloud Communication Platform market covered in this report are:Training and ConsultingSupport and MaintenanceManaged ServicesThere are 13 Chapters to thoroughly display the Cloud Communication Platform market. This report included the analysis of market overview, market characteristics, industry chain, competition landscape, historical and future data by types, applications and regions.Chapter 1: Cloud Communication Platform Market Overview, Product Overview, Market Segmentation, Market Overview of Regions, Market Dynamics, Limitations, Opportunities and Industry News and Policies.Chapter 2: Cloud Communication Platform Industry Chain Analysis, Upstream Raw Material Suppliers, Major Players, Production Process Analysis, Cost Analysis, Market Channels and Major Downstream Buyers.Chapter 3: Value Analysis, Production, Growth Rate and Price Analysis by Type of Cloud Communication Platform.Chapter 4: Downstream Characteristics, Consumption and Market Share by Application of Cloud Communication Platform.Chapter 5: Production Volume, Price, Gross Margin, and Revenue ($) of Cloud Communication Platform by Regions (2013-2018).Chapter 6: Cloud Communication Platform Production, Consumption, Export and Import by Regions (2013-2018).Chapter 7: Cloud Communication Platform Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions.Chapter 8: Competitive Landscape, Product Introduction, Company Profiles, Market Distribution Status by Players of Cloud Communication Platform.Chapter 9: Cloud Communication Platform Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application (2018-2023).Chapter 10: Market Analysis and Forecast by Regions (2018-2023).Chapter 11: Industry Characteristics, Key Factors, New Entrants SWOT Analysis, Investment Feasibility Analysis.Chapter 12: Market Conclusion of the Whole Report.Chapter 13: Appendix Such as Methodology and Data Resources of This Research.Complete report details @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Cloud Communication Platform Industry Market Research Report1 Cloud Communication Platform Introduction and Market Overview1.1 Objectives of the Study1.2 Definition of Cloud Communication Platform1.3 Cloud Communication Platform Market Scope and Market Size Estimation1.3.1 Market Concentration Ratio and Market Maturity Analysis1.3.2 Global Cloud Communication Platform Value ($) and Growth Rate from 2013-20231.4 Market Segmentation1.4.1 Types of Cloud Communication Platform1.4.2 Applications of Cloud Communication Platform1.4.3 Research Regions1.4.3.1 North America Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.2 Europe Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.3 China Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.4 Japan Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.5 Middle East & Africa Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.6 India Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.7 South America Cloud Communication Platform Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Drivers1.5.1.1 Emerging Countries of Cloud Communication Platform1.5.1.2 Growing Market of Cloud Communication Platform1.5.2 Limitations1.5.3 Opportunities1.6 Industry News and Policies by Regions1.6.1 Industry News1.6.2 Industry Policies.8 Competitive Landscape8.1 Competitive Profile8.2 Nexmo, Inc.8.2.1 Company Profiles8.2.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.2.3 Nexmo, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.2.4 Nexmo, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.3 Avaya, Inc.8.3.1 Company Profiles8.3.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.3.3 Avaya, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.3.4 Avaya, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.4 Twilio, Inc.8.4.1 Company Profiles8.4.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.4.3 Twilio, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.4.4 Twilio, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.5 West IP Communications, Inc.8.5.1 Company Profiles8.5.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.5.3 West IP Communications, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.5.4 West IP Communications, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.6 Callfire8.6.1 Company Profiles8.6.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.6.3 Callfire Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.6.4 Callfire Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.7 Telestax, Inc.8.7.1 Company Profiles8.7.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.7.3 Telestax, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.7.4 Telestax, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.8 Plivo, Inc.8.8.1 Company Profiles8.8.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.8.3 Plivo, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.8.4 Plivo, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.9 8x8, Inc.8.9.1 Company Profiles8.9.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.9.3 8x8, Inc. Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.9.4 8x8, Inc. Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.10 Cisco System, Inc. (Cisco)8.10.1 Company Profiles8.10.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.10.3 Cisco System, Inc. (Cisco) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.10.4 Cisco System, Inc. (Cisco) Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 20178.11 Netfortris, Inc. (Netfortris)8.11.1 Company Profiles8.11.2 Cloud Communication Platform Product Introduction8.11.3 Netfortris, Inc. (Netfortris) Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.11.4 Netfortris, Inc. (Netfortris) Market Share of Cloud Communication Platform Segmented by Region in 2017Continued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Bio-Electronic 2018 Global Market Key Players  Bioelectronics Corporation, Avago, Honeywell International, Danaher Corporations, Omnivision Technologies.....

Bio-Electronic Market 2018

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Bio-Electronic Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Bio-Electronic  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2025 To Its Research Database.Description:In this report, the global Bio-Electronic 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 Bio-Electronic in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanGlobal Bio-Electronic market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBioelectronics CorporationAvagoHoneywell InternationalDanaher CorporationsOmnivision TechnologiesSensirionMedtronicsBodyMediaSotera WirelessSiemensRocheUniversal BiosensorsAbbottBeckman CoulterLife SensorsRequest for Sample Report@On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBio-Electronic TechnologyBio-Electronic DevicesBio-Electronic MedicineOn 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, includingDisease PreventionDisease Diagnose and TreatmentProsthetics and therapeuticsBiomedical ResearchComplete report details @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Bio-Electronic Market Research Report 20181 Bio-Electronic Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Bio-Electronic1.2 Bio-Electronic Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Bio-Electronic Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Bio-Electronic Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Bio-Electronic Technology1.2.4 Bio-Electronic Devices1.2.5 Bio-Electronic Medicine1.3 Global Bio-Electronic Segment by Application1.3.1 Bio-Electronic Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Disease Prevention1.3.3 Disease Diagnose and Treatment1.3.4 Prosthetics and therapeutics1.3.5 Biomedical Research1.4 Global Bio-Electronic Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Bio-Electronic 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 Bio-Electronic (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Bio-Electronic Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Bio-Electronic Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Bio-Electronic Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Bio-Electronic Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Bio-Electronic Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Bio-Electronic Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Bio-Electronic Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Bio-Electronic Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Bio-Electronic Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Bio-Electronic Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion.7 Global Bio-Electronic Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Bioelectronics Corporation7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Bioelectronics Corporation Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Avago7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Avago Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Honeywell International7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Honeywell International Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Danaher Corporations7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Danaher Corporations Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Omnivision Technologies7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Omnivision Technologies Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Sensirion7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Sensirion Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Medtronics7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Medtronics Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 BodyMedia7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 BodyMedia Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Sotera Wireless7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Sotera Wireless Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Siemens7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Bio-Electronic Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Siemens Bio-Electronic Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Roche7.12 Universal Biosensors7.13 Abbott7.14 Beckman Coulter7.15 Life SensorsContinued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Veterinary Therapeutics Market: Increasing Awareness about Animal Welfare Augments Growth

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Transparency Market Research (TMR) has observed that the degree of competition in the Saudi Arabia veterinary therapeutics market is likely remain high in the coming years. The introduction of new players is expected to intensify the competition. The leading players, Zoetis, Inc., Elanco Animal Health, Merck Animal Health, Bayer Animal Health, and Boehringer, held a share of more than 50% in the overall market in 2016.Request for Sample Copy of Report @According to the research report, the Saudi Arabia veterinary therapeutics market is estimated to be worth US$ 575.3 mn by the end of 2025 from US$ 384.2 mn in 2016. During the forecast years of 2017 and 2025, the global market is projected to surge at a CAGR of 4.7%. The pharmaceuticals segment holds the leading share in the overall market and it is expected to maintain its stance in the coming years as well. The demand for preventive measures against various ailments that can affect animals is expected to help the pharmaceutical segment acquire a share of 58.5% by 2025 in the overall market.The veterinary therapeutics market of Saudi Arabia includes drugs, vaccines, and nutritional feed. These are extensively being used for treating animals, prevention of various infectious and bacterial conditions, and for overall health of the animals. In the past few years, this market has witnessed a rapid rise due to growing awareness about animal health care. The increasing importance of both companion and livestock animals for food and domestication have been driving the demand for veterinary therapeutics.Enquiry for discount on this report @Some of the other factors responsible for the growth of the overall market are ownership of companion animals, evolution of advanced products for combating newer diseases in animals, improving affordability, and growing expenditure on animal health. The growing emphasis on preventing diseases and ensuring wellness is also expected to a key market driver for the increasing sales of veterinary therapeutics. Additionally, the sudden rise in zoonotic diseases has also been identified as a responsible factor driving the soaring revenue of the market. The exponentially increasing consumption of poultry and dairy are also slated to play an instrumental role in defining the trajectory of the overall market. The easy availability of antibiotics and increasing ownership of companion animals are also projected to bolster the Saudi Arabia veterinary therapeutics market growth in the foreseeable future.On the flip side, the Saudi Arabia veterinary therapeutics market is likely to be affected by the low returns on research and development. Though the players are investing a significant amount in developing better and advanced medicines, the returns are not as fruitful. This is expected to restrain the market growth in the coming years. Additionally, ban on antibiotics due to their harmful side-effects is also slated to hamper the market growth in the coming years.Report Overview @About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Fetal Monitoring, Diagnostics and Predictive Tests Market to Reflect Impressive Growth Rate During 2016 - 2024

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Global Fetal Monitoring, Diagnostics and Predictive Tests Market: OverviewFetal monitoring records the fetus pulse rate during pregnancy. It also involves examination of fetal heart rate, movement, and uterine contraction. The global fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests market is driven by many factors, the increasing initiatives from government and non-government bodies aimed at improving maternal and fetal health in their countries being one of them encouraging the market the most.View Report :Besides this, factors such as the increasing number of symposia and conferences organized to spread awareness regarding the health and wellness of an expecting mother and her unborn child and technological advancements are having profound impact on the market. In emerging economies such as India and China, the market is witnessing an array of opportunities, as governments spend increasingly on improving their existing healthcare infrastructure.The report provides a comprehensive overview of the global fetal monitoring, diagnostics, and predictive tests market. For the purpose of the study, it segments the global fetal monitoring, diagnostics, and predictive tests market based on various parameters. It then presents an in-depth review of the various factors impacting the growth of the market across the segments. Fetal monitoring, neonatal monitoring, and prenatal diagnosis for instance are a few of the key segments in the market based on procedure types. Of these, the prenatal diagnosis segment raked high revenue for the market in 2011.Compiled with the intent of helping stakeholders understand the prevailing dynamics in the global fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests market better, the report includes exhaustive information sourced via primary and secondary research. To add to its value expert opinions are also included in the report. Based on in-depth findings, the report thus provides refined outlook for the near future.Request a Brochure of the Report @Global Fetal Monitoring, Diagnostics and Predictive Tests Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe increasing prevalence of cardio pulmonary diseases around the world and the advent of various technologies such as non-invasive surgeries have been providing great impetus to the global fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests market. Besides this, the rising healthcare expenditure across emerging economies such as India, China, Mexico, and Brazil is also aiding the markets expansion.Based on application, the key segments of the market are intrapartum fetal monitoring, neonatal monitoring, and antepartum fetal monitoring. Technological advancements will ensure growth across all these segments. Among the key geographic regions the increasing birth rate in India and China will seal Asia Pacifics position as a lucrative market for fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests. Increasing government initiatives to prevent maternal mortality across emerging nations will also provide significant boost to the market in Asia Pacific.Global Fetal Monitoring, Diagnostics and Predictive Tests Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, the global fetal monitoring diagnostics and predictive tests market can be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World. Among these regions, North America offers the most lucrative opportunities to the market due to the high disposable income of customers and their high awareness level. The region also boasts a highly sophisticated medical infrastructure, which strongly supports the growth of the fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests market in North America.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @Furthermore, the rising healthcare spending is creating opportunities for the market across the emerging economies of Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. The healthcare sector in countries such as India, China, Singapore, and Thailand is developing fast. Governments across these nations are taking conscious initiatives to spread awareness about health and wellness, especially among expecting women. These factors are expected to give impetus to the fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests market in emerging economies.Global Fetal Monitoring, Diagnostics and Predictive Tests Market: Vendor LandscapeTo study the competition prevalent in the global fetal monitoring, diagnostics and predictive tests market, the report provides a detailed assessment of its vendor landscape. Some of the leading companies operating in the market are Gima Professional Medical Products, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Utah Medical Products, Medline Industries, Philips Healthcare, Med-Electronics, Atom Medical Corporation, Thames Medical, Cooper Surgical, GE Healthcare, Shimadzu Europe, Cardinal Health, Summit Doppler, Clinical Innovations, Analogic Corporation, Superior Medical, Hitachi Medical Systems, Wallach Surgical Devices, Rocket Medical, Allen Medical Instruments Corporation, Sunray Medical Apparatus Company, Siemens Healthcare, and others.Using SWOT analysis, the strengths and weaknesses of the companies profiled are gauged. The analysis also presents insights into the threats and opportunities that lie ahead for the companies in the near future. Information thus compiled is intended to help the market participants identify the most successful strategies adopted by the leading players in the global fetal monitoring, diagnostics, and predictive tests market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
E-Sim will Replace Traditional SIM Cards within Five years

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E-SIM card or Embedded Subscriber Identity Module Card is the upgraded version of conventional SIM card which is compatible with all major carriers regardless the type of network. These SIM cards are integrated in the devices which is rewritable and compliant by all operators. The technology is physically integrated into the device during manufacturing process and supports isolated provisioning in such a way that the SIM cannot easily be removed from the device and replaced with another SIM.The e-SIM is already a mainstream technology in the cellular machine to machine (M2M) market. However, the technology will benefits the consumers and will create opportunities and challenges for operators, IoT device manufacturers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), SIM vendors, and service providers across various industries.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @With the implementation of the technology, manufacturers are not required to accommodate a SIM card slot creating further flexibility in terms of deign. For instance, Apple Inc. chose e-SIM technology to employ in Apple Watch 3, shrinking the size without sacrificing battery. The technology will also benefit the international travellers in swapping the SIMs, and services in order to stay connected. Although; universal adoption of e-SIM has to be approved by all major carriers and Apple & Googles Pixel 2 are the only carriers of the technology, paving hurdle for the industry growth.The global market is rising progressively owing to several advantages of E-SIM card over conventional SIM cards in terms of standardization of technical specifications, compact design, reduced operational costs and logistics. Furthermore, ease of switching service providers in real time and, vast growth opportunities in rising application in automotive sector is also anticipated to enhance the growth over the forecast period. However, conceivable resistance shown by service providers towards the adoption, as e-SIM cards eliminates consumers visit to the physical stores of mobile network operators (MNOs) may hinder the market.Based on application, the E-SIM card industry is segmented into wearable & companion devices, Machine to Machine (M2M), smartphones, tablets & laptops. Machine to Machine segment is further segregated to connected cars, utilities and others. Connected cars segment under M2M, contributed leading revenue generation for rising implementation in automotive industry for weather information and infotainment.Get more Information about this Report@Europe region is projected to contribute majorly in revenue generation globally owing to favorable government initiatives for the employment of Industry 4.0 technology & solutions. North America market is expected to witness gradual growth owing to home to key players as well as rise in technological adoption of e-SIM cards in M2M devices. China, Japan, South Africa and Brazil are few other countries which are projected to witness growth over the forecast period. Key industry players are Apple Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG, Gemalto N.V., Samsung, NTT DOCOMO Inc., Sierra Wireless Inc., OT-Morpho, Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Telefonica S.A., and ST Microelectronics.About Us-Xpodence Research is a U.S. based Market Research Company and offers the most extensive collection of progressive surveying syndicated and customized research reports of various categories for private and public industries across the globe.We offer the comprehensive market research solution for all the industries by performing the in-depth study of industry trends, verticals globally. We believe in building an eternal bond with our customers through providing them inclusive research study both customized and syndicated based on their specific requirements.The organizations in every industry such as Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Consumable Goods, Food & Beverage and others demands a market-based solutions for various significant decisions based on productivity and output globally. 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 Us-Xpodence ResearchUSA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email-sales@xpodenceresearch.com
Oil & Gas Biocides 2018 Global Market Key Players  Sigma-Aldrich, BASF, Lonza, Dow Chemical, CORTEC, GE Water Technologies......

Oil & Gas Biocides Market 2018

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Oil & Gas Biocides Market 2018Wiseguyreports.Com Adds Oil & Gas Biocides  Global Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities, Manufacturers, Analysis of Top Key Players and Forecast to 2023 To Its Research Database.Description:The Oil & Gas Biocides market revenue was xx.xx Million USD in 2013, grew to xx.xx Million USD in 2017, and will reach xx.xx Million USD in 2023, with a CAGR of x.x% during 2018-2023.Based on the Oil & Gas Biocides industrial chain, this report mainly elaborate the definition, types, applications and major players of Oil & Gas Biocides market in details. Deep analysis about market status (2013-2018), enterprise competition pattern, advantages and disadvantages of enterprise Products, industry development trends (2018-2023), regional industrial layout characteristics and macroeconomic policies, industrial policy has also be included. From raw materials to downstream buyers of this industry will be analyzed scientifically, the feature of product circulation and sales channel will be presented as well. In a word, this report will help you to establish a panorama of industrial development and characteristics of the Oil & Gas Biocides market.The Oil & Gas Biocides market can be split based on product types, major applications, and important regions.Major Players in Oil & Gas Biocides market are:Sigma-AldrichBASFLonzaDow ChemicalCORTECGE Water TechnologiesAshlandAkcros ChemicalsRhodiaFMCBWA Water AdditivesClariant ChemicalsAlbemarleAkzoNobelChampion TechnologiesLanxessBaker HughesLubrizolKemiraRequest for Sample Report@Major Regions play vital role in Oil & Gas Biocides market are:North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanMiddle East & AfricaIndiaSouth AmericaOthersMost important types of Oil & Gas Biocides products covered in this report are:OilGasMost widely used downstream fields of Oil & Gas Biocides market covered in this report are:Water Treatment & ManagementWood PreservativesPaints& CoatingsPersonal Care PreservativesOthersThere are 13 Chapters to thoroughly display the Oil & Gas Biocides market. This report included the analysis of market overview, market characteristics, industry chain, competition landscape, historical and future data by types, applications and regions.Chapter 1: Oil & Gas Biocides Market Overview, Product Overview, Market Segmentation, Market Overview of Regions, Market Dynamics, Limitations, Opportunities and Industry News and Policies.Chapter 2: Oil & Gas Biocides Industry Chain Analysis, Upstream Raw Material Suppliers, Major Players, Production Process Analysis, Cost Analysis, Market Channels and Major Downstream Buyers.Chapter 3: Value Analysis, Production, Growth Rate and Price Analysis by Type of Oil & Gas Biocides.Chapter 4: Downstream Characteristics, Consumption and Market Share by Application of Oil & Gas Biocides.Chapter 5: Production Volume, Price, Gross Margin, and Revenue ($) of Oil & Gas Biocides by Regions (2013-2018).Chapter 6: Oil & Gas Biocides Production, Consumption, Export and Import by Regions (2013-2018).Chapter 7: Oil & Gas Biocides Market Status and SWOT Analysis by Regions.Chapter 8: Competitive Landscape, Product Introduction, Company Profiles, Market Distribution Status by Players of Oil & Gas Biocides.Chapter 9: Oil & Gas Biocides Market Analysis and Forecast by Type and Application (2018-2023).Chapter 10: Market Analysis and Forecast by Regions (2018-2023).Chapter 11: Industry Characteristics, Key Factors, New Entrants SWOT Analysis, Investment Feasibility Analysis.Chapter 12: Market Conclusion of the Whole Report.Chapter 13: Appendix Such as Methodology and Data Resources of This Research.Complete report details @If you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of Contents:Global Oil & Gas Biocides Industry Market Research Report1 Oil & Gas Biocides Introduction and Market Overview1.1 Objectives of the Study1.2 Definition of Oil & Gas Biocides1.3 Oil & Gas Biocides Market Scope and Market Size Estimation1.3.1 Market Concentration Ratio and Market Maturity Analysis1.3.2 Global Oil & Gas Biocides Value ($) and Growth Rate from 2013-20231.4 Market Segmentation1.4.1 Types of Oil & Gas Biocides1.4.2 Applications of Oil & Gas Biocides1.4.3 Research Regions1.4.3.1 North America Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.2 Europe Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.3 China Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.4 Japan Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.5 Middle East & Africa Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.6 India Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.4.3.7 South America Oil & Gas Biocides Production Value ($) and Growth Rate (2013-2018)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Drivers1.5.1.1 Emerging Countries of Oil & Gas Biocides1.5.1.2 Growing Market of Oil & Gas Biocides1.5.2 Limitations1.5.3 Opportunities1.6 Industry News and Policies by Regions1.6.1 Industry News1.6.2 Industry Policies8 Competitive Landscape8.1 Competitive Profile8.2 Sigma-Aldrich8.2.1 Company Profiles8.2.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.2.3 Sigma-Aldrich Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.2.4 Sigma-Aldrich Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.3 BASF8.3.1 Company Profiles8.3.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.3.3 BASF Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.3.4 BASF Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.4 Lonza8.4.1 Company Profiles8.4.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.4.3 Lonza Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.4.4 Lonza Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.5 Dow Chemical8.5.1 Company Profiles8.5.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.5.3 Dow Chemical Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.5.4 Dow Chemical Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.6 CORTEC8.6.1 Company Profiles8.6.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.6.3 CORTEC Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.6.4 CORTEC Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.7 GE Water Technologies8.7.1 Company Profiles8.7.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.7.3 GE Water Technologies Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.7.4 GE Water Technologies Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.8 Ashland8.8.1 Company Profiles8.8.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.8.3 Ashland Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.8.4 Ashland Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.9 Akcros Chemicals8.9.1 Company Profiles8.9.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.9.3 Akcros Chemicals Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.9.4 Akcros Chemicals Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.10 Rhodia8.10.1 Company Profiles8.10.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.10.3 Rhodia Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.10.4 Rhodia Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.11 FMC8.11.1 Company Profiles8.11.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.11.3 FMC Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.11.4 FMC Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.12 BWA Water Additives8.12.1 Company Profiles8.12.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.12.3 BWA Water Additives Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.12.4 BWA Water Additives Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.13 Clariant Chemicals8.13.1 Company Profiles8.13.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.13.3 Clariant Chemicals Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.13.4 Clariant Chemicals Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.14 Albemarle8.14.1 Company Profiles8.14.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.14.3 Albemarle Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.14.4 Albemarle Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.15 AkzoNobel8.15.1 Company Profiles8.15.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.15.3 AkzoNobel Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.15.4 AkzoNobel Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.16 Champion Technologies8.16.1 Company Profiles8.16.2 Oil & Gas Biocides Product Introduction8.16.3 Champion Technologies Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2013-2018E8.16.4 Champion Technologies Market Share of Oil & Gas Biocides Segmented by Region in 20178.17 Lanxess8.18 Baker Hughes8.19 Lubrizol8.20 KemiraContinued..Contact US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:: Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt Ltd: Pune  411028: Maharashtra,: Ph: +91 841 198 5042
Global Testing, Inspection and Certification Market Insights on Future Growth Prospects and Industry Trends Analyzed till 2025

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In order to study the various trends and patterns prevailing in the overall market for Testing, Inspection and Certification Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has included a new report titled Testing, Inspection and Certification Market to its wide online database. This research assessment offers a clear insight about the influential factors that are expected to transform the global market in the near future. Readers can access the regional as well as segment-wise analysis for acquiring precise information about the global market structure.Click to Get Sample PDF or View Sample Copy of Report @The global market for testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) could face a high level of fragmentation in its vendor landscape owing to the presence of a large number of players sustaining amid intense competition but promising growth avenues, observes in a recent report. So as to strengthen their positions and earn lucrative growth opportunities, companies are targeting strategic collaborations, mergers, acquisitions, and expansion across lucrative emerging economies.The report estimates that the global testing, inspection and certification market will clock in a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017 to 2025 and rise from an opportunity of US$184,545.5 mn in 2016 to US$299,628.6 mn by 2025.Europe to Retain Dominant Spot throughout ForecastIn terms of services, the testing and inspection segment held approximately 95% of the global market in 2016. This is primarily due to the increased focus on monitoring and maintaining hygienic, healthy, and conducive production environments along the supply chain in order to safeguard the safety and quality of products. While the scenario is expected to remain largely unchanged over the near future as well, the certification segment could also a steady rise in demand over the reports forecast period.Geographically, the market in Europe is presently the chief contributor of revenue to the global market. The regional market accounted for over 33% of the overall market in 2016, chiefly owing to the stringent regulations concerning safety of products from industries such as food and beverages, transportation and logistics, chemical, and water and wastewater. The region is also expected to maintain its lead over the reports forecast period.Need to Adhere to Stringent Safety Regulations to Increase Demand for TIC ServicesTesting, inspection and certification services are becoming increasingly important for companies spanning a vast number of industries as these services ensure the maintenance of health, safety, and quality requirements of the concerned products. Increasing focus of the enterprise sector on safety legislations and standards, diversified requirement of products, and standard regulations are some of the factors responsible for the growth of the market.In the European Union, for instance, the General Safety Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 in 2014 mandated advanced safety features in every new van, car, bus and truck sold in the European Union. The new features included ISOFIX child seat anchorages, tire pressure monitoring systems and driver seatbelt reminders. Moreover new buses and trucks must also be armed with lane departure warning systems as well as advanced emergency braking systems. Food safety particularly earns high prominence in countries across North America, calling for advanced technology for testing, inspection and certification services. So as to adhere to all these regulations, the demand for TIC services has ramped up in the recent years and continues to be fueled.Increased Trend of Outsourcing TIC Services to Benefit VendorsIncreased outsourcing of TIC services is expected to emerge as a key opportunities for companies in the global testing, inspection and certification market over the forecast period. The testing, inspection and certification are unceasingly adopted by the emerging economies such as Asia Pacific and South America, which is further anticipated to drive the growth of testing, inspection and certification over the forecast period.The report also includes competitive profiling of the key players associated with the Testing, Inspection and Certification around the globe. The important business strategies adopted by them, their market positioning, financials, SWOT analysis and recent developments have also been identified in the research report. The competitive landscape section of the report also gives an overview about the major contributing regions/countries by these key players in order to strengthen their market position in the future.Some of the major players in global Testing, Inspection and Certification market are Intertek Group PLC, Bureau Veritas SA, SGS Group, ASTM International, ALS Ltd., TUV SUD AG, DNV GL Group AS, AsureQuality Ltd., Underwriters Laboratories Inc, Dekra SE, Lloyd's Register Group Limited, and TUV Rheinland Group. Details such as financials, business strategies, SWOT analysis, recent developments, and other such strategic information pertaining to these players has been duly provided as part of company profiling.Access Complete Report TOC with Table and Figure at @Market Segmentation:Testing, Inspection and Certification Market, by Service TypeTesting and InspectionCertificationTesting, Inspection and Certification Market, by Sourcing TypeIn-house SourcingOutsourcingTesting, Inspection and Certification Market, by IndustryInfrastructure & ConstructionTransformational & Contract ManufacturingFood & BeveragesAgriculture & ForestInformation TechnologiesChemicalHealthcare & PharmaceuticalTransportation &LogisticsTravel & TourismEnergy & UtilitiesWater & Wastewater ManagementGovernmentEducationTextileCosmeticsOthersAbout 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
OAKLAND  Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena has filed two separate motions to dismiss the 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter he faces for his role in a fire at the warehouse in December 2016 that killed 36 people.

Almena, 47, and Ghost Ship creative director Max Harris, 28, who are charged with the same offenses, face up to 39 years in state prison if theyre convicted. Their trial tentatively is scheduled to begin on July 16.

One of Almenas motions, which were filed by defense lawyer Tony Serra, alleges that prosecutors cant say that Almena is negligent because they dont even know how the deadly fire started.

The motion also says Oakland city officials gave Almena the impression that there werent any safety problems as the warehouse, where about 25 people, most of them artists, lived even though it didnt have a permit for residential use and was cluttered with artwork, woodwork, RVs, trailers and other items.

Serra wrote that Almena was ignorant as to the true state of the facts and was never placed on notice of any defect, problem or illegality with the Ghost Ship.
HIV/AIDS Diagnostics Market: Competition Moderate on Account of Few Products Approved for Commercial Use

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The global HIV/AIDS diagnostics market has a handful of dominant players competing against one another. Competition is moderate in the market on account of a few products being approved for commercial use. In fact, all the products in the U.S. are used only for the purpose of research. Another factor serving to keep competition moderate is the high entry barriers to aspiring players. This is because development of diagnostic kits require a lot of research. Going forward, however, the competition may intensify because of the competitive pricing strategy adopted by key companies.Request for Sample Copy of Report @F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Alere, Abbott Laboratories, OraSure Technologies, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, and Siemens Healthineers are to name a few key companies operating in the global HIV/AIDS diagnostics market. While some of them have expanded their shares through mergers and acquisitions, others have made impressive strides through research and development and introduction of new products.As per a report by Transparency Market Research, the global HIV/AIDS diagnostics market will likely expand at a 9.3% CAGR between 2017 and 2025 to become worth US$5.74 bn by 2025 from US$2.606 bn in 2016.The three types of tests used in the global HIV/AIDS diagnostics market are rapid tests (POC), ELISA, and nucleic acid test, among others. Of them, the segment of rapid test (POC) accounts for maximum market share. It was worth US1.526 bn in 2016, finds the report by TMR. The test is popular on account its easy usage and swift results. In the near future too, the segment of rapid test (POC) is predicted to hold on to its dominant share due to its relative affordability and ability to produce accurate results faster.Enquiry for discount on this report @Geographically, the key segments of the global HIV/AIDS diagnostics market are North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. At present, North America dominates the market with a leading share. In the upcoming years too, the region is expected to hold on to its dominant share by expanding at a CAGR of 8.7% from 2017 to 2025. This is mainly because of the increasing awareness about the different diagnosis, initiatives by government to thwart HIV, and superior research and development facilities.Alarming rise in occurrence of HIV worldwide and the growing awareness about diagnosis is said to be the root cause of growth in the global HIV/AIDS diagnostics market. A release by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2015, showed that an estimated 36.7 mn people were living with HIV, and the prevalence rate of HIV was 0.8% worldwide. Most of the HIV-afflicted people live in low and middle income countries. To tackle the menace, government organizations and agencies are focusing on public awareness campaigns about diagnosis, treatment, and care, elaborates the lead analyst of the TMR report.In many cases HIV is asymptomatic, which means even though the immune system is gradually getting affected, there is no outward signs. Many people can go without the symptoms, and hence without realizing they have HIV, for as long as 10 years. This is posing a roadblock to the global HIV/AIDS diagnosis market.Report Overview @About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Worldwide Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market 2018 to 2027 Professional Outlook by Top Players: Medtronic (UK), Boston Scientific Corporation (US), Biotronik (Germany), Elixir Medical Corporation (US) and REVA Medical, Inc (US)

Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market

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The Global Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market is growing with the rapid pace. According to a recent study report published by the Market Research Future, the Global Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market is booming and expected to gain prominence over the forecast period and is projected to grow a sound pace. The market is projected to demonstrate a sound growth by 2027, surpassing its previous growth records in terms of value with a striking CAGR during the anticipated period (2017-2027).Bioresorbable scaffolds are the medical devices used during surgeries of coronary artery disease. These scaffolds are introduced recently and allow successful acute revascularization of coronary artery stenosis. The main advantage of the bioresorbable scaffolds is inclusive of complete bioresorption, leaving no foreign body. Increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes are the major drivers of for the market growth during the forecast period. According to WHO in 2014, cardiovascular diseases were the major cause of deaths, globally. Moreover, it was estimated that during the same year, about 39% of adults who aged 18 years were over overweight whereas 13% were obese. Additionally, rapid development in the devices used for the cardiovascular surgeries, rising demand for bioresorbable scaffolds, adoption of desk-bound lifestyle, and government support for the research and development of better medical devices have fuelled the market growth. However, availability of alternative therapies and high cost of the bioresorbable scaffolds are estimated to restrain the market growth during the forecast period.Global Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market - overviewThe Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market report analyze the market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc and gives historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.Get Exclusive Sample Copy @Global Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market - Competitive Analysis:Characterized by the presence of several well-established and small players, the global market of bioresorbable scaffolds appears to be highly competitive and fragmented. International players are increasingly expanding their footprint in the developing economy, making it difficult for regional vendors to compete with them, especially in terms of features such as product differentiation, product portfolios, quality, and pricing. The Market is witnessing intensified competition which is expected to get more intensified further during the forecast period. The intense competition prevalent in the market dictates the consolidation among marketers.Well established players incorporate acquisition, collaboration, partnership, expansion, and product launch in order to gain competitive advantage in this market and to maintain their market position.In April-2016, Abbott entered into a definitive agreement with St. Jude Medical Inc. which led to its acquisition. This created a premier medical device leader with top positions in high-growth cardiovascular markets, including atrial fibrillation, structural heart and heart failure as well as a leading position in the high-growth neuromodulation market. Under the agreement, St. Jude Medical shareholders received USD 46.75 in cash and 0.8708 shares of Abbott common stock, representing total consideration of approximately USD 85 per share. At an Abbott stock price of USd 43.93, this represented a total transaction equity value of USD 25 billion.In June-2016, BIOTRONIK commercially launched of Solia S ProMRI, with a 5.6 French lead body, the smallest MR conditional pacing lead making it available in the U.S in 45, 53 and 60 centimeter lengths.In July-2017, REVA Medical, Inc completed the reduction in its workforce in connection with the commercialization of its Fantom scaffold. A total of 11 full-time employees were let go, with 49 full-time employees remaining, in the transition from research and development activities to commercial activities. The Company estimates that it will incur aggregate cash charges of approximately USD 420,000 associated with the workforce reduction, comprising approximately USD 410,000 in severance payments and approximately USD 10,000 in continuation of benefits.To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments globally. Segments: Global Bioresorbable Scaffolds market has been segmented on the basis of ecosystem, sub-market, therapeutics and region.Regional Analysis of Global Bioresorbable Scaffolds Market:Globally North America is the largest market for global Bioresorbable Scaffolds. Europe is the second-largest market for global Bioresorbable Scaffolds. The near future market for Bioresorbable Scaffolds will be dominated by the developed regions with developing regions providing a supporting role only. However the developing regions market particularly Asia Pacific will be the fastest growing and is likely to be the key to the future.Globally North America is the largest market for global Bioresorbable Scaffolds. Europe is the second-largest market for global Bioresorbable Scaffolds. The near future market for Bioresorbable Scaffolds will be dominated by the developed regions with developing regions providing a supporting role only. However the developing regions market particularly Asia Pacific will be the fastest growing and is likely to be the key to the future.Get Discount @Major Table of Contents for Bioresorbable scaffolds Market Research Report- Forecast To 2023:1 Report Prologue2 Market Introduction2.1 Introduction2.2 Scope Of Study2.3 Research Objective2.4 Assumptions & Limitations2.4.1 Assumptions2.4.2 Limitations3 Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research4 Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints5 Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Model5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers5.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers5.1.3 Threat Of New Entrants5.1.4 Threat Of Substitutes5.1.5 Intensity Of RivalryAsk to Expertise @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Gastrointestinal Stents Market: Rising Incidences of Gastrointestinal Diseases to Fuel Market Growth

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The world market for gastrointestinal stents has been assessed by a recent publication by Transparency Market Research. The market has been characterized with the presence of a few market players and is considered to be highly consolidated. The world gastrointestinal stents market is dominated by Boston Scientific Corporation and it held around 66.2% share of the total market in the year 2016. The same market, however, features fragmentation owing to the existence of numerous large scale and small scale players that are operational at both global and regional levels.Request for Sample Copy of Report @As analyzed by a TMR research expert, the market is forecasted to be driven by various growth strategies such as acquisitions and mergers so as to expand geographical reach for various companies. Furthermore, product portfolio diversification and expansion is another growth strategy for the said market, as assessed by TMR analyst.Eminent companies that are operational in the world market for gastrointestinal stents comprise names like S&G Biotech Inc., C.R.Bard Inc., Cook Medical, Boston Scientific Corporation, W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., Dickinson and Company, ELLA-CS, s.r.o, CONMED Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Becton, and Merit Medical Systems Inc.In accordance with a market research report by Transparency Market Research forecasts that the world market for gastrointestinal stents is likely to rise at a growth rate of 4.4% CAGR over the forecast period that extends from the year 2017 to 2025. Rising at this pace, the said market is prognosticated to register a market opportunity of around US$ 522.8 mn in the year 2025 from an initial value of around US$356.7 mn in the year 2016.From a regional point of view, the region of Europe and North America are estimated to lead the said market in terms of market share. The North American market for gastrointestinal stents is mostly powered by the U.S., which accounted for a colossal market share of around 94.0% of the total market in the year 2016 owing to the presence of a large chunk of population which have been diagnosed with various gastrointestinal diseases, rising awareness about management and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases, extensive research and development practices, and technical advancement.Enquiry for discount on this report @In the years to come, whilst Europe is forecasted to register declined growth, the region of Asia Pacific is expected to clock high rate of growth over the period of forecast. Emerging economies such as China, India, and Japan are the major countries that would contribute towards the progress of this regional market. Encouraging rules and regulations, adoption of latest technologies, growing awareness and launch of new products are all estimated to result in robust growth of the said region over the period of forecast.A few of the major growth stimulating factors that drive the world market for gastrointestinal stents are rising incidences of gastrointestinal diseases together with soaring preference of patients for procedures that are minimally invasive. There has been an alarming rise in the gastrointestinal diseases and it is affecting millions of people across the globe. For instance, the American Cancer Society made san estimation of around 93,000 new instances of colon cancer and around 40,000 new cases of rectal cancer are identified per year in the U.S.As such, gastrointestinal stents are increasingly being chosen by patients owing to the numerous benefits that they give over various other conventional surgeries when it comes to reduced loss of blood, quick recovery, shorter stay at hospitals, and diminished chances of infection. Due to these factors, gastrointestinal stents are becoming increasingly popular and is used widely especially in the segment of oncology.Report Overview @About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market Poised to Expand at a Robust Pace Over 2016 - 2024

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Global Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market: OverviewVolatile economic conditions in European countries are exerting extensive cost containment pressures on companies in the global pharmaceutical manufacturing market. In such conditions, these companies are compelled to explore new ways to cut down the cost of drug manufacturing. As a result, there is an increasing trend of outsourcing manufacturing facilities. Pharmaceutical players are increasingly depending on contract manufacturing and packaging services to meet their fundamental needs and specified competencies, while fulfilling the stringent regulations. Moreover, these companies are shifting focus from manufacturing the formulated drugs towards research and development of novel drugs to stay relevant in the market. Owing to the aforementioned factors, the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market is likely to tread along a healthy growth track over the forecast horizon.View Report :The primary objective of this market intelligence report is to provide in-depth knowledge of the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market and its affiliated industries. The report sheds light on the current and future trends of the market. It presents essential insights into the factors influencing the market and the extent to which they impact the growth. There is a detailed coverage of the geographical segmentation of the market in terms of both value and volume. The report also profiles the key players in the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. It includes a SWOT analysis that reveals the potential growth trajectory each prominent player will experience.Global Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market: Drivers and RestraintsOver the past few decades, the reliance on medicines and drugs for well-being have increased significantly. With a limited number of blockbuster drugs and growing demand for innovative drugs, large pharmaceutical companies are trying to stay competitive by conducting faster drug development with corresponding cost containment. Additionally, after the regulatory approval of the drug, these companies are left with relatively less time to deliver the drug in the market in substantial quantity. These factors are resulting in greater outsourcing of manufacturing facilities to pharmaceutical contract manufacturers.Moreover, the influx of small and virtual startups with negligible manufacturing capacity is augmenting the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. The rising number of the U.S. FDA-approved manufacturing facilities in developing countries is also working in favor of the growth of the market.Request a Brochure of the Report @On the other hand, the capacity utilization issues and lack of manufacturing standardization are affecting the profitability of contract manufacturing organizations. This, in turn, is hampering the overall revenue generation of the market. Furthermore, the increasing logistics costs and lead time are creating skepticism among pharmaceutical companies, which is limiting the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market from realizing its full potential. However, the increasing demand for next-generation biological therapies is opening new avenues for the manufacturers in the global market.Global Pharmaceutical Contract Manufacturing Market: Geographical SegmentationThe key regions studied in the research report are Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. North America and Europe are anticipated to represent a large share in the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market. The growth of these regions is supplemented by the growing geriatric population and high uptake of biologics. The increasing research activities by biotechnology companies and the rising demand for generics are also contributing to the growth of the regions. The U.S. will be a major revenue contributor in the North America market. The Asia Pacific region is estimated to emerge as a lucrative market during the forecast period owing to the improving healthcare infrastructure and increasing favorable government initiatives.Enquiry for Discount on this Report @Companies Mentioned in the Report are:The majority of the players in the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market are pouring funds to enhance their in-house capabilities in order to meet the dynamic needs of todays marketplace. Mergers and acquisitions activities are among the key strategies adopted by players to strengthen their market position. Large pharmaceutical companies are also forming partnerships with contract manufacturing organizations to achieve vertical integration. Some of the key players in the global pharmaceutical contract manufacturing market are Althea Technologies, Aenova, Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals Limited, Catalent Pharma Solutions, HAUPT Pharma AG, Famar, Kemwell Pvt. Ltd., Jubilant Life Sciences Limited, Nipro Corp., NextPharma, Recipharm, Pfizer Central Source, and Royal DSM N.V.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.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Bamboos Market Poised for a Strong Growth and Promising Opportunities Available for Key Players

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An extensive forecast study, titled Bamboos Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012-2016 and Opportunity Assessment 2017-2027 has been broadcasted to the online repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE). This 168-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).Request Sample Copy of Mining Market Report @APAC is growing significantly both in terms of volume and value in the global bamboos market owing to the significant production and consumption of bamboos across various end-use industries such as pulp & paper, construction, wood and furniture, etc., in India, China and other ASEAN countries. China has the maximum number of bamboo species in the world, followed by India and other countries. The export of bamboo flooring from China to the world accounted for about 90% of the world exports of bamboo flooring in 2012. APAC is expected to account for more than 2/3rd share of the global bamboos market by the end of 2017. APAC is projected to create a total incremental $ opportunity of close to US$ 5000 Mn between 2017 and 2027 and is projected to be the most attractive region in the global bamboos market over the forecast period.Significant health benefits and the versatilities of bamboos drive the bamboos market in APACBamboo is a versatile multi-purpose forest produce that plays a vital role in the worlds domestic and industrial economies. Bamboo and bamboo-based products are used for a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications owing to their abundance and versatility. Bamboo is one of the highly renewable resources in the Indian socio-economic-cultural-ecological-climatic-functional context with more than 1,500 recorded uses. Besides its role as a material for consumer products, it also has great potential as an industrial raw material. Various industrial applications of bamboos include food production, wood substitute, pulp and paper, handicrafts, medicinal products, cottage industries, and charcoal production. Bamboo is often considered to be a replacement of wood and industrial raw materials in both modern industrial and traditional cottage sectors. All these factors are positively contributing to the growth of the bamboos market in APAC.There are significant health benefits associated with bamboo products that fuel the growth of the bamboos market in the APAC region. Due to its unique composition, it is naturally desired for its health benefits. Bamboo shoots help in reducing the risk of cancer and strengthening the immune system. Bamboo assists in weight loss and is very effective to combat respiratory diseases. It is also useful in curing snake and scorpion bites.To Know The latest Trends and Insights Prevalent in This Market, Click the link below @Changing regulations in the forest sector coupled with inadequate supply and an expensive labour force likely to hamper the growth of the bamboos market in APACBamboos have immense potential to transform the rural/tribal economy of India and contribute to the sustainable development efforts of the country. However, it is governed by a web of forestry laws and policies and there are serious restrictions on its harvesting, farming and transportation. These governmental laws and regulations along with the policies on ownership of resources and security as well as a lack of institutional mechanisms have made it difficult for Indian citizens to unlock the value of its abundant sources. There are various regulations in India such as the Indian Forest Act, Forest Conservation Act, Forest Rights Act, etc., which are expected to act as restraints in the APAC bamboos market revenue growth.The bamboo industry in Japan has faced several challenges over the recent years, including insecure supply owing to expensive labour and seasonal employment and weak competitive power in the domestic and global bamboos market, mainly due to high labour cost and the shortage of successors in the ageing society. High labour cost is considered to be the direct reason of problems in the bamboos industry in APAC.Pulp and paper segment is expected to grow at a significant CAGR over the forecast periodThe pulp and paper industry in India and China is among the most established industries growing at significant rates. India is the fastest growing market for paper in the world. The paper industry is growing in the country, mainly due to a favourable government excise policy, increased government spending on education and improved activity from print media, FMCG, and pharmaceutical sectors. Pulp and paper and textile segments together are pegged to account for about half the APAC bamboos market over the forecast period. The pulp and paper segment in the APAC bamboos market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 14.1% over the forecast period and gain 930 BPS by 2027 as compared to 2017.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:
The Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem: 2016 Industry Attractiveness, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts 2030

Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "The Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem: 2016 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts" to its huge collection of research reports.Given the increasing prevalence of expensive household goods, cars and consumer electronics, insurance has become an unavoidable and often necessary cost in modern life. Mobile phones, and smartphones in particular are no exception to this trend.Most major wireless carriers, insurance specialists, device OEMs, retailers and even banks now offer insurance plans that cover theft, loss, malfunctions and damage of mobile phones. Many policies now also integrate enhanced technical support and additional protection features such as data backup facilities, allowing users to securely backup their phone data online.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @SNS Research estimates that the global mobile phone insurance market is expected to account for nearly $20 Billion in revenue by the end of 2016. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 12% over the next four years, eventually accounting for over $30 Billion in revenue by the end of 2020.The "Mobile Phone Insurance Ecosystem: 2016  2030  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts" report presents an in-depth assessment of the mobile phone insurance ecosystem including market drivers, challenges, opportunities, value chain, future roadmap, case studies, ecosystem player profiles and strategies. The report also presents market size forecasts from 2016 through to 2030. The forecasts are segmented for 5 regional and 25 country level markets.Key Findings:The report has the following key findings:- SNS Research estimates that the global mobile phone insurance market is expected to account for nearly $20 Billion in revenue by the end of 2016.- The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 12% over the next four years, eventually accounting for over $30 Billion in revenue by the end of 2020.- In an effort to boost the uptake of mobile phone insurance, wireless carriers and insurance providers have extensively enhanced their insurance offerings with the addition of location tracking, data protection/recovery features and integrated technical support.- The success of mobile phone insurance plans has driven several wireless carriers, such as NTT DoCoMo and Orange, to invest in the sales of other insurance products through mobile phones and their retail outlets.- New insurance models are also beginning to emerge, such as London-based So-Sures social insurance for mobile phones, which allows customers to get up to 80% of their money back, if they and their friends dont claim.- Device OEMs are beginning to invest in tailored plans to suit the specific requirements of certain regional markets. A good example is Xiaomis Mi Protect plan in India, which covers accidental and liquid damage, for as little as $7 per year.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Topics Covered:The report covers the following topics:- Mobile phone insurance ecosystem- Market drivers and barriers- Insurance policy structure, distribution channels and key trends- Case studies of mobile phone insurance initiatives- Industry roadmap and value chain- Profiles and strategies of over 40 leading ecosystem players- Strategic recommendations for ecosystem players- Market analysis and forecasts from 2016 till 2030Forecast Segmentation:Market forecasts are provided for the following regional and country level submarkets:- Regional Segmentation- - Asia Pacific- - Europe- - Latin & Central America- - Middle East & Africa- - North America- Country Level Segmentation- - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, UK & USAKey Questions Answered:The report provides answers to the following key questions:- How big is the mobile phone insurance opportunity?- What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?- How is the ecosystem evolving by region?- What will the market size be in 2020 and at what rate will it grow?- Which countries will see the highest percentage of growth?- Who are the key market players and what are their strategies?- What risks are typically covered in mobile phone insurance offerings?- How can insurance plans help wireless carriers in reducing churn?- What strategies should wireless carriers, device OEMs and insurance providers adopt to remain competitive?Countries covered:ArgentinaAustraliaBrazilCanadaChinaColombiaFranceGermanyHong KongIndiaIsraelItalyJapanMexicoNetherlandsPolandRussiaSaudi ArabiaSingaporeSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpainTaiwanUKUSAMake an Enquiry of this report @List of Companies Mentioned:The following companies and organizations have been reviewed, discussed or mentioned in the report:- A Wireless- AIG (American International Group)- Allianz Insurance- Allianz SE Group- America Movil- AmTrust International Underwriters- Aon- Appalachian Wireless- Apple- Assurant- Asurion- AT&T- AT&T Mobility- Aviva- AXA- Barclays- Best Buy- Bouygues Telecom- Brightstar Corporation- BT Group- Cellebrite- Chubb- CWS (Connected World Services Distributions)- Diamond Wireless- Dixons Carphone- DT (Deutsche Telekom)- EE- eSecuritel- Fonesure- Fortegra- Geek Squad- GoCare- Groupama- Hollard Group- HSBC- Inhance Technology- iQmetrix- Liberty Mutual Insurance Group- Lifestyle Services Group- Lookout- Markerstudy- Microsoft- Mobi PCS- Mobile Rhino (Stuckey & Company)- MTN- NIA (New India Assurance)- Nippon Life Insurance- Nokia- NQ Mobile- NTT DoCoMo- Optus- Orange- Pier Insurance Managed Services- ProtectCELL- Safeware- Salt Mobile- Samsung Electronics- SFR- Singtel Group- SoftBank Corporation- So-Sure- Spark New Zealand- SPB- Sprint Corporation- SquareTrade- Sun Corporation- Supercover Insurance- Swisscom- Telefonica Group- Telefonica Insurance- Telstra- T-Mobile USA- Tokio Marine- Verizon Communications- Verizon Wireless- V-Key Solutions- Vodacom- Vodafone GroupAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Market 2018 | Cubic Corporation, Thales Group, INIT, Xerox

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Market Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment 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 split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingCubic CorporationThe Nippon SignalOmron CorporationScheidt & BachmannThales GroupINITHuamingXeroxGFI GenfareLECIPShanghai Potevio Company LimitedGunneboGMVHuahong JitongGRG BankingOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoFarebox ProductTicket vending machines (TVM) ProductValidator ProductOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingBusRailwayParkingTable of ContentsGlobal Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Market Report 20181 Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment1.2 Classification of Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment by Product Category1.2.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Farebox Product1.2.4 Ticket vending machines (TVM) Product1.2.5 Validator Product1.3 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Bus1.3.3 Railway1.3.4 Parking1.4 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market by Region1.4.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4 Global Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume) by ApplicationGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)3.2 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)3.3 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)3.4 United States Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)4 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Value (2013-2018)4.1.1 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.2 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.3 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)4.2 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)4.3 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)4.4 China Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)5 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Value (2013-2018)5.1.1 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.2 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.3 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)5.2 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)5.3 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Europe Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Value (2013-2018)6.1.1 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.1.2 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.1.3 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)6.2 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)6.3 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)6.4 Japan Smart Cards Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) Terminal Equipment Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)Continue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one 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We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Baby Monitors Market Share, Size, Status and Future Forecast by Competitor till 2023

KD Market Insights

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A fresh report has been added to the wide database of KD Market Insights. The research study is titled Global Baby monitors Market Report 2018 which encloses important data about the production, consumption, revenue and market share, merged with information related to the market scope and product overview. The report anticipates that the sector for Medical Devices Market would rise at a positive CAGR during the period 2018-2023.Request for Free Sample of the Report @The Global and Chinese Baby Monitors Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Baby monitors industry with a focus on the Chinese market. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Baby monitors manufacturers and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including its definition, applications and manufacturing technology. Then, the report explores the international and Chinese major industry players in detail. In this part, the report presents the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and 2013-2018 market shares for each company. Through the statistical analysis, the report depicts the global and Chinese total market of Baby monitors industry including capacity, production, production value, cost/profit, supply/demand and Chinese import/export. The total market is further divided by company, by country, and by application/type for the competitive landscape analysis.The report then estimates 2018-2023 market development trends of Baby Monitors Market. Analysis of upstream raw materials, downstream demand, and current market dynamics is also carried out. In the end, the report makes some important proposals for a new project of Baby Monitors Industry before evaluating its feasibility. Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2013-2023 global and Chinese Baby monitors industry covering all important parameters.Browse Full Report with TOC:research-report/global-chinese-baby-monitors-industry-2018-market-research-report/Table of Content:Chapter One Introduction of Baby monitors Industry1.1 Brief Introduction of Baby monitors1.2 Development of Baby monitors Industry1.3 Status of Baby monitors IndustryChapter Two Manufacturing Technology of Baby monitors2.1 Development of Baby monitors Manufacturing Technology2.2 Analysis of Baby monitors Manufacturing Technology2.3 Trends of Baby monitors Manufacturing TechnologyChapter Three Analysis of Global Key Manufacturers3.1 Company A3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Product Information3.1.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.1.4 Contact Information3.2 Company B3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Product Information3.2.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.2.4 Contact Information3.3 Company C3.2.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Product Information3.3.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.3.4 Contact Information3.4 Company D3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Product Information3.4.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.4.4 Contact Information3.5 Company E3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Product Information3.5.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.5.4 Contact Information3.6 Company F3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Product Information3.5.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.6.4 Contact Information3.7 Company G3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Product Information3.7.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.7.4 Contact Information3.8 Company H3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Product Information3.8.3 2013-2018 Production Information3.8.4 Contact InformationChapter Four 2013-2018 Global and Chinese Market of Baby monitors4.1 2013-2018 Global Capacity, Production and Production Value of Baby monitors Industry4.2 2013-2018 Global Cost and Profit of Baby monitors Industry4.3 Market Comparison of Global and Chinese Baby monitors Industry4.4 2013-2018 Global and Chinese Supply and Consumption of Baby monitors4.5 2013-2018 Chinese Import and Export of Baby monitorsChapter Five Market Status of Baby monitors Industry5.1 Market Competition of Baby monitors Industry by Company5.2 Market Competition of Baby monitors Industry by Country (USA, EU, Japan, Chinese etc.)5.3 Market Analysis of Baby monitors Consumption by Application/TypeChapter Six 2018-2023 Market Forecast of Global and Chinese Baby monitors Industry6.1 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Capacity, Production, and Production Value of Baby monitors6.2 2018-2023 Baby monitors Industry Cost and Profit Estimation6.3 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Market Share of Baby monitors6.4 2018-2023 Global and Chinese Supply and Consumption of Baby monitors6.5 2018-2023 Chinese Import and Export of Baby monitorsChapter Seven Analysis of Baby monitors Industry Chain7.1 Industry Chain Structure7.2 Upstream Raw Materials7.3 Downstream IndustryContinue.....Enquire About This Report:About KD Market InsightsKD Market Insights (KDMI) is a next-generation re-seller of Industry research reports and analysis. KDMI extensive group of market research reports has been judiciously curated to help key personnel and judgment makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their functioning environment and take planned step ladder.Contact UsC-block, Sector 62Noida (India) 201301Email: sales@kdmarketinsights.comWebsite:
Europe Walking Assist Device Market  Size, Outlook, Trends and Forecasts (2018  2024)

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https://www.envisioninteligence.com/industry-report/global-nuclear-medicine-market/

https://www.envisioninteligence.com/industry-report/global-patient-engagement-solution-market/

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Summary of the report:The report provides an extensive analysis of sales, revenue, growth rate, and key market players for the historic period and the forecast period, Moreover, marketing channels, major distributors, and supply channels are discussed in the studyThe report "Europe Walking Assist Device market," the market is expected to reach USD XX Million by the year 2024, at a CAGR of XX% during forecast period. The Key factors that drive the growth of the market include the rising in the aging population, growing demand for rehabilitation equipment, increasing incidents of Osteoarthritis, increasing incidents of neurological diseases and So On.Walking assist devices are designed for the people who are suffering from the leg injuries and also for the people who are unable to walk due to some regions. These devices are also used by the people who have body imbalance problems during walking due to nervous system diseases such as Parkinson disease.Reasons To Buy This ReportThis report contains the in-depth analysis on the market and the estimations are done using volume and value data are further validated on three approaches including bottom-up, top-down and from top companies revenues to conclude the market estimations precisely and accurately considering all the parameters and market dynamics.Download Free Sample Brochure atKey pointers in the report include: Competitive landscape & market analysis is included in the report to understand the key companies position and Porter's Analysis & PESTLE analysis to perform to analyze the impact of drivers, restraints, challenges and constraints on the market during the next five years. Team of analysts have analyzed and listed out the key drivers, constraints, challenges and emerging opportunities in all the industry verticals which will specify the emerging scope for the market in end user industries. Industry value chain analysis is provided in the report to identify the key stakeholders and prominent players at each stage of the company along with the value addition at each stage of the value chain. Complete analysis including global and regional trends, technological developments, and new product innovations are included in the report specific to each and every segment of the market. A complete 360 degree analysis is provided in the report on key companies product portfolio, business portfolio, developmental strategies, and key developments from the companies in the historical period. Advanced customizations on countries, specific applications in end user industries, product based customizations will be provided based on the request. All the collected data is further validated and verified using surveys, interviews and interactions with industrial experts.Europe Walking assist device market Top Players Invacare Corporation Ossenberg GMBH Levo AG Drive Medical Electric Mobility Euro LTD Sunrise Medical Meyra GMBH Honda Motor Co., LTDRelated Reports:Global Nuclear Medicine Market:Global Patient Engagement Solution Market:About usEnvision Inteligence is the Main Supplier of Market Analysis Reviews, Customized Consulting Companies, Information Analytics and Trade Evaluation. Our purpose is to offer the correct data required by the stakeholder on the proper level of time, in a format which assists an clever and knowledgeable resolution making course of!Contact UsSales Team,Sales@envisioninteligence.com,Call:+1 408-963-0099,Web:
Global Flexible OLED Display Market 2017 - 2026 : LG Display, AU Optronics, Samsung Display, CSOT, Japan Display, Visionox

Flexible OLED Display Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Flexible OLED Display Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2026" to its huge collection of research reports.As flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays become more and more affordable, it is likely that new functions will soon be integrated to this technology in the near future. Although curved Flexible OLED displays will be the first to be introduced, patents filed by top manufacturers recently have meant that rollable, bendable, and foldable devices will soon foray into the market. Foldable displays are expected to be preferred on the back of their portability, while catering to consumer demand for large displays. In addition, with surging demand for wearable devices, bendable displays will find huge application in this area, such as in smart watches. Rollable flexible OLED displays are likely to witness use in future televisions that would be developed in tubular form equipped with retractable roll-out display.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Transparency Market Research has collated a new report on the global market for flexible OLED displays, for the forecast period 2017 to 2026. The report offers a detailed market forecast on imperative dynamics that have potential to leave substantial footprints on growth of the market. In addition to the provision of latest trends, curbing factors, and propelling factors affecting the market growth, an evaluation on crucial data regarding different market parameters has been rendered by the report.Report StructureThe report commences with a chapter titled executive summary, which delivers a precis of the global flexible OLED display market. With regards to sales expansion and revenues from worldwide sales of flexible OLED display, intelligence related to lucrative regions for expansion of the global flexible OLED display market is engulfed in this chapter. A chapter titled overview follows the executive summary, and includes a definition of flexible OLED display that trails behind a succinct market introduction. This chapter demonstrably portrays wide scope of global flexible OLED display market. Chapters following the overview explicate key dynamics affecting growth of flexible OLED display market worldwide, while inundating imperative points such as the global economy, bottom line of enterprises, and fiscal stimulus. Some chapters in the report propound information regarding cost structure and pricing analysis of global flexible OLED display market.Competition LandscapeThe report offers a diligent research on global flexible OLED display market in its concluding chapter, comprising data pertaining to companies contributing substantially to expansion of the market. The report incorporates an intensity map that tracks occupancy of leading market participants across the regional segments. In addition to emphasis on profiling market participants rigorously, this chapter offers insights on these players based on SWOT analysis, company overview, key developments, key financials, and product overview.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Research MethodologyA robust research methodology that is proven and tested is employed by TMRs analysts while compiling the global flexible OLED display market report. The research methodology employed depends entirely upon primary & secondary researches, to glean necessary knowledge pertaining to global flexible OLED display market. Data collected is then validated by the analysts a couple of times to ensure the reports authenticity, making it an authoritative source of reference for report readers.About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently made a surprise announcement: he will be reevaluating U.S. asylum policy regarding survivors of domestic violence. A reversal of current policy would mean that people fleeing domestic violence in their home countries no longer qualify for asylum in the U.S.

This is yet another attempt to codify the Trump administrations anti-immigrant and anti-refugee agenda, this time targeting some of the most vulnerable and traumatized people seeking refuge in our country. If we want to stop this from happening, and keep our doors open to those escaping abuse, we have to act now to keep current protections in place.

Gender violence in parts of Central America has driven tens of thousands of women, girls and LGBTIQ people to flee for their lives. And the roots of this violence are tied to U.S. policy in the region. For example, in Guatemala and El Salvador, the U.S. covertly trained armed groups throughout the 1980s to use rape and other forms of gender violence to prevent people from resisting the installation of right-wing governments in their countries.
Middle East & Africa Smart Pills Drug Delivery Market: Trends and Growth, Segmentation and Key Companies | Envision Inteligence

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Summary of the Report:Middle East & Africa Smart Pills Drug Delivery Market study by Envision Inteligence discusses in detail about diverse market dynamics influencing the market and covers the leading market players and competitive highlights.The report "Middle East & Africa Smart Pills Drug Delivery Market," provides the detail description of market segmentation, applications, growth, size, and outlook.Smart pills or nootropics are small medical and embedded electronic devices such as sensors, cameras, and trackers which can be easily swallowed and provides a complete evaluation of the gastrointestinal tract. Smart pill technology is used to diagnose gastrointestinal disorders like constipation, gastroparesis and record parameters like temperature, pressure and pH levels. Smart pills have reduced the difference between digital and healthcare technology. However, real-time patient monitoring is possible by smart pills diagnostics and can record bodily functions of the patients.The Major factors that are driving the market growth are due to the prevalence of Gastro-Intestinal diseases, it reduces invasive surgeries, technological developments in capsule endoscopy, personalized medicine, and reimbursement policies. However, lack of skilled professionals, expensive treatment, and ethical issues hinder the growth of the Asia Pacific smart pills drug delivery market.Reasons To Buy This Report:This report contains the in-depth analysis on the market and the estimations are done using volume and value data are further validated on three approaches including bottom-up, top-down and from top companies revenues to conclude the market estimations precisely and accurately considering all the parameters and market dynamics.Download Free Sample Brochure atKey pointers in the report include:Competitive landscape & market analysis is included in the report to understand the key companies position and Porter's Analysis & PESTLE analysis to perform to analyze the impact of drivers, restraints, challenges, and constraints on the market during the next five years.Team of analysts has analyzed and listed out the key drivers, constraints, challenges and emerging opportunities in all the industry verticals which will specify the emerging scope of the market in end-user industries.Industry value chain analysis is provided in the report to identify the key stakeholders and prominent players at each stage of the company along with the value addition at each stage of the value chain.Complete analysis including global and regional trends, technological developments, and new product innovations are included in the report specific to each and every segment of the market.A complete 360-degree analysis is provided in the report on key companies product portfolio, business portfolio, developmental strategies, and key developments from the companies in the historical period.Advanced customizations on countries, specific applications in end-user industries, product based customizations will be provided based on the request.All the collected data is further validated and verified using surveys, interviews, and interactions with industrial experts.The Middle East & Africa Smart Pills Drug Delivery Market Top Players Given Imaging Ltd IntroMedic Co., Ltd., Medisafe MicroChips Olympus Medical Technology Boston Scientific CorporationRelated Reports:Asia Pacific Smart Pills Drug Delivery Market:Middle East and Africa Metabolomics Market:About us:Envision Inteligence is the Main Supplier of Market Analysis Reviews, Customized Consulting Companies, Information Analytics and Trade Evaluation. Our purpose is to offer the correct data required by the stakeholder on the proper level of time, in a format which assists an clever and knowledgeable resolution making course of!Contact us:Sales@envisioninteligence.comcontact@envisioninteligence.comCall: +1 408-963-0099MIG-236, D.No:- 39-33-75/3,MadhavadharaVuda Layout,Visakhapatnam- 530007Web:
Tubeless Tire Market 2018 Global Key Players: Fleetmatics Group PLC, Verizon Telematics, Trimble Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, WorkWave LLC

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/fleet-management-market-2646

Fleet Management Market 2018Fleet Management Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2023. Fleet Management 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 Fleet Management Market Information Report by Deployment Type (Cloud, On-Premises, Hybrid), by Management type (Driver Management, Asset Management, Operation Management), by Connectivity Type (Satellite Navigation, Cellular System), by Services (Managed Services, Integration and Deployment services, Professional services) and by Regions - Global Forecast To 2023Get Sample Report of Fleet Management Market@Market Scenario:Fleet management is the process of managing vehicle fleet in an organization. Mismanaging a vehicle fleet can have significant effect on an organized operation. Fleet management typically includes vehicles such as trucks, cars and corporate fleets, commercial and freight aircrafts, buses and trams and also container ships. Fleet management includes operations such as vehicle tracking, mechanical diagnostics and also driver behavior. Furthermore, vehicle tracking and diagnostics include risk management, fuel management, telematics and accident management. Fleet management is predominantly used in sectors such as oil and gas, chemicals, mining, construction, retail and logistics, utilities, public and private transport, waste management and service sectors.The market is driven by the continuous increase in the demand for logistics and transport. The determiners of the growth of the market are the fluctuating fuel costs, connectivity issues, demand to meet pollution targets and operational efficiency. With fleet management, organizations can have better access to plan maintenance of vehicles, enhanced driver safety, proper routing of fleets that can all ultimately lead to effective operations of the fleet. Adding to that, vehicle connectivity and smart transportation are increasingly helping organizations to ensure safety operations of the fleets. Fleet management also helps in higher efficiency, consistent performances and ultimately reduced costs.Fleet Management Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22% during the forecast period.Key Players:The key players of global fleet management markets are Fleetmatics Group PLC (U.S.), Verizon Telematics Inc.(U.S.), Trimble Inc. (U.S), WorkWave LLC(U.S.), Zonar Systems, Inc. (U.S.), I.D. Systems, Inc. (U.S), and Cisco Systems, Inc. (U.S.).Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:The key strategies followed by most companies within the global Fleet Management market are that of new product development.On January 2017, Bridgepoint had acquired Zenith, who is vehicle fleet management company. The acquisition will allow the company to focus on both the corporate car and consumer markets from funding company cars or commercial vehicles. This will provide fully outsourced fleet management services.On August 2016, Verizon had entered in the agreement to acquire Fleetmatics. The acquisition will enable them to become leading provider of fleet and mobile workforce management solutions across the globe.On December 2017, Cisco announced the intent to acquire Cmpute.io in order to enhance existing CloudCenter features and accelerate the product features to boost the product line.In 2016, ARI began offering the fleet health card, which helps fleet managers identify problematic vehicles that have the biggest impact on cost and reliability. ARI has received the 2015 International Fleet Industry Award for its unique unbundled fleet management solutions, which deliver complete cost transparency.Fleet Management Market  SegmentationThe Global Fleet Management Market is segmented in to 4 key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Deployment Type : Comprises Cloud, On-Premises, and HybridSegmentation by Management Type : Comprises driver management, asset management, and operation managementSegmentation by Connectivity Type : Comprises satellite navigation and cellular systemSegmentation by Services : Comprises managed services, integration and deployment services, and professional servicesSegmentation by Regions : Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.The report for Global Fleet Management 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 Fleet Management Market@Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology3 Arket Dynamics4 Global Fleet Management Market, By Deployment Type5 Global Fleet Management Market, By Management Type6 Global Fleet Management Market, By Connectivity Type7 Global Fleet Management Market, By Services8 Regional Market Analysis9 Competitive AnalysisLIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENTMARKET, BY TYPETABLE 2 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENTMARKET, BY DEPLOYMENT TYPETABLE 3 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENTMARKET, BY APPLICATIONTABLE 4 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENTMARKET, BY REGIONSTABLE 5 NORTH AMERICA FLEET MANAGEMENT MARKET, BY TYPE.LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 RESEARCH DEPLOYMENT TYPEFIGURE 2 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENT MARKET: BY TYPE (%)FIGURE 3 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENT MARKET: BY DEPLOYMENT TYPE (%)FIGURE 4 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENT MARKET: BY APPLICATION (%)FIGURE 5 GLOBAL FLEET MANAGEMENT MARKET: BY REGION.ContinuedAbout 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
Rolling Luggage Bag Market Overview Key Futuristic Trends and Competitive Landscape 2023

Rolling Luggage Bag Market

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The qualitative research study conducted by HTF MI titled Global Rolling Luggage Bag Market Professional Survey Report 2018 provides primary Data, surveys, Scope of the Product and vendor briefings. The market dynamic forces have been determined after conducting a detailed study of the Global Rolling Luggage Bag market. The study provides forecasts for Rolling Luggage Bag investments till 2023.If you are involved in the Rolling Luggage Bag industry or intend to be, then this study will provide you comprehensive outlook. It offers a consequential analysis of the Rolling Luggage Bag company, key tactics followed by leading manufactures and trending segments.Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:The research study is segmented by Types [Leather Type, Cloth Type & PVC/Plastic Type] as well as Key Applications [Specialist Retailers, Factory Outlets, Internet Sales & Others] with historical and projected market share along with the growth rate, revenue figures and gross profit margin in tabular format which makes easy to understand product/service differences, market concentration rate and product distribution for past 5 years.Major geographical regions like North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India and leading players such as American Tourister, Delsey, RIMOWA, LouisVuitton, Samsonite, Antler, Hermes, HideoWakamatsu, Tumi, ACE & MUJI involved in this report. The report gives a clear idea about the growth factors, reasons for deterioration of Global Rolling Luggage Bag in recent years and different opportunities and strategies to expand market.Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @If you have a different set of players/manufacturers according to geography or needs regional or country segmented reports we can provide customization according to your requirement.Each player highlighted in the research study contains companies Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors, in-depth business overview, geographic footprint and contact information. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to SWOT Analysis.Buy this research @Reasons to Buy:- What will be the market size in 2023 and at what rate will it grow?- What growth potential do Rolling Luggage Bag market have?- Procure strategically important competitor information, analysis, and insights to formulate effective R&D strategies.- Recognize emerging players with potentially strong product portfolio and create effective counter-strategies to gain competitive advantage.- Classify potential new clients or partners in the target demographic.- Plan mergers and acquisitions meritoriously by identifying key players and its most promising contributions.- New Development and identify prospective partners with the most attractive projects to enhance and expand business potential and scope.- Influential factors that are thriving demand and constraints in the market.To add, value to product and services research report comprises of valuable insights with distinguishable traits that influence consumers behavior and demand. The report offers a measurable and verifiable method made towards analysis of market concentration, new entrants and the technological trends in future.Some of the key questions answered in this report:- Detailed Overview of Global Rolling Luggage Bag market helps deliver clients and businesses making strategies.- Influential factors that are thriving demand and constraints in the market.- What is the market concentration? Is it fragmented or highly concentrated?- What trends, challenges and barriers will impact the development and sizing of Rolling Luggage Bag market?- SWOT Analysis of each key player mentioned along with its company profile.- What growth momentum or acceleration market carries during the forecast period?- Which region is going to tap highest market share in future?- What Application/end-user category or Product Type may see incremental growth prospects?- What focused approach and constraints are holding the market tight?Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Rolling Luggage Bag marketChapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Rolling Luggage Bag, Applications of Rolling Luggage 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 , Capacity and Commercial Production Rate, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, Export & Import, 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 North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India, Rolling Luggage Bag Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Rolling Luggage Bag Segment Market Analysis (by Application [Specialist Retailers, Factory Outlets, Internet Sales & Others]) & Type [Leather Type, Cloth Type & PVC/Plastic Type] Major Manufacturers Analysis of Rolling Luggage Bag;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Leather Type, Cloth Type & PVC/Plastic Type], Market Trend by Application Specialist Retailers, Factory Outlets, Internet Sales & Others;Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Rolling Luggage Bag;Chapter 12, to describe Rolling Luggage Bag Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Rolling Luggage Bag sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact US :Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com
Global Power Management Ics Market 2018 Top Players : Analog Devices, Inc., STMicroelectronics N.V., NXP Semiconductors

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Power Management Ics Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Power Management Ics 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.The international market for Power Management Ics has been thoroughly studied with every detail in the publication with augmented emphasis on various important factors such as restraints, market opportunities, and growth drivers. Each of the elements that pertain to the shaping of the market dynamics that has been analyzed and studied in detail by the research analysts, so as to offer the best and most evaluative and exhaustive study to the report buyers. The snapshot or the executive summary that has been provided in the market intelligence study has been designed in such a way so as to give a quick overview of the market for receiving information on the go. This could help readers with hands-on data needed to make quick decisions anytime during their growth journey in the market.Request a Free Sample Report of this research to evaluate more:This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringTexas Instruments Inc.ON Semiconductor Corp.Analog Devices, Inc.Fairchild Semiconductor Corp.Dialog Semiconductor PLCMaxim Integrated Products, Inc.STMicroelectronics N.V.NXP SemiconductorsRenesas Electronics CorporationLinear Technology CorporationThe study of market segmentations that has been offered with the publication that explores some of the most significant categories of the world Power Management Ics market is deemed significant for the growth of industry participants. All of the segments that have been studied elaborately in the said publication have been deeply evaluated with assistance from best of the research techniques. The analysts have dissected each of the segments and have shed light on vital factors that influence the growth of the various segments. Using this crucial information, market players could rightly shape their business plans in favor of the betterment of their growth in the international market. Segments that have been analyzed in the publication could be related to product, end use, application, and geography.A group of experienced analysts who have prepared the said report delves deep into the various factors that hinder or fuel the global market for Power Management Ics. It also discovers and mentions the important trends that are emerging in the said market. Cashing in on all of these information that has been gathered so far, it has come up with the best course of action for all the stake holders of the market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Power Management Ics1.1 Definition and Specifications of Power Management Ics1.1.1 Definition of Power Management Ics1.1.2 Specifications of Power Management Ics1.2 Classification of Power Management Ics1.2.1 Voltage regulators1.2.2 Motor control ICs1.2.3 Integrated ASSP Power Management ICs1.2.4 Battery Management ICs1.2.5 Others1.3 Applications of Power Management Ics1.4 Market Segment by RegionsTo Browse a Complete Report with TOC Visit @2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Power Management Ics2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Power Management Ics2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Power Management Ics2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Power Management Ics3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Power Management Ics3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Power Management Ics Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Power Management Ics Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Power Management Ics Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Power Management Ics Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Power Management Ics Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Power Management Ics Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Power Management Ics Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Power Management Ics Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Power Management Ics Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global Power Management Ics Sales Price4.4.2 2017 Power Management Ics Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)Make An Enquiry For Discount :List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Power Management IcsTable Product Specifications of Power Management IcsTable Classification of Power Management IcsFigure Global Production Market Share of Power Management Ics by Type in 2017Figure Market Share of Power Management Ics by RegionsFigure North America Power Management Ics Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure China Power Management Ics Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure Europe Power Management Ics Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure Southeast Asia Power Management Ics Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure Japan Power Management Ics Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Figure India Power Management Ics Market Size (Million USD) (2013-2025)Table Power Management Ics Raw Material and SuppliersTable Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Power Management Ics in 2017About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Title insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 : Summit Associates, Lawyers TIC

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Title insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.The report Title insurance Market recently added to QYResearchReports.com provides a new perspective into the components and workings of the global Title insurance market on a global as well as regional levels. The report, serving as an invaluable source of guidance for readers, covers an analytical overview of the industry chain of the global Title insurance market and discusses key elements associated with it, including leading consumers, leading raw material suppliers, and suppliers of manufacturing equipment.The report offers key insights regarding the present and past growth dynamics of the global Title insurance market. The study demonstrates market dynamics that are expected to influence the market  either driving it or restraining its scope of expansion over the reports forecast period. The report also offers updates pertaining to trends, growth opportunities, regulatory scenario, and competitive landscape. An overview of the leading growth opportunities ahead of the leading companies operating in the global and regional Title insurance market is also included in the report.For free sample on this report, fill the form @This report studies the global Title insurance market, analyzes and researches the Title insurance development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeTitle Insurance CompanyChicago Title Insurance CompanySummit AssociatesLawyers TICMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaSegmenting the market for presenting a more detailed assessment of key factors influencing the market, the report includes market share of all the key segments included in the report from the perspective of key regional markets with analysis towards market trends respectively. The study also discusses key trends in the market, as well as the degree to which drivers and restraints could affect the global market.An overview of the competitive dynamics of the global Title insurance market is also included in the report, covering a detailed overview of the level of competition in the market, share of leading companies in the market, and other important details pertaining to the business environment in the market. An overview of recent developments and detailed business profiles of some of the leading contributors to the global Title insurance market is also included.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Title insurance1.1 Title insurance Market Overview1.1.1 Title insurance Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Title insurance Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 Title insurance Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Enterprise1.3.2 Personal1.3.3 GovernmentView TOC (table of content) of the Report:2 Global Title insurance Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Title insurance 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 Title Insurance Company3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Title insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Chicago Title Insurance Company3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Title insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent DevelopmentsTo Get Discount Of This Report Click here @List of Tables and FiguresFigure Global Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2018)Table Global Title insurance Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Global Title insurance Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)Figure United States Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure EU Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Japan Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure China Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure India Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Southeast Asia Title insurance Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Table Global Title insurance Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) Comparison by Product (2013-2018)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
EMEA (Europe, Middle East And Africa) Bio-Waste Containers Market Trends and Projected Industry Growth 2018 - 2025

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In this report, the EMEA Bio-Waste Containers 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.Request for discount @Geographically, this report split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Bio-Waste Containers for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.EMEA Bio-Waste Containers market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Bio-Waste Containers sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingJustriteDynalonCovidienOttoMcKessonUltraTechBemis HealthcareEagle Manufacturing CompanyLB MedwasteOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPlastic ContainerPaper ContainerSteel ContainerOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingLaboratoryIndustrial UsePublic ServicesOtherRequest Sample Copy of Report @Table of ContentsEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Bio-Waste Containers Market Report 20181 Bio-Waste Containers Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Bio-Waste Containers1.2 Classification of Bio-Waste Containers1.2.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Plastic Container1.2.4 Paper Container1.2.5 Steel Container1.3 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Laboratory1.3.3 Industrial Use1.3.4 Public Services1.3.5 Other1.4 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Market by Region1.4.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Middle East Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Africa Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 EMEA Market Size (Value and Volume) of Bio-Waste Containers (2013-2025)1.5.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume and Market Share of Major Players (2013-2018)2.1.2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Revenue and Share by Players (2013-2018)2.1.3 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sale Price by Players (2013-2018)2.2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers (Volume and Value) by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.3 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sale Price by Type (2013-2018)2.3 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers (Volume and Value) by Region2.4.1 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4.2 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4.3 EMEA Bio-Waste Containers Sales Price by Region (2013-2018)Browse Full Report With TOC @3 Europe Bio-Waste Containers (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.2 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Market Share by Type3.3 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Market Share by Application3.4 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume by Countries (2013-2018)3.4.2 Europe Bio-Waste Containers Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)3.4.3 Germany Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.4 France Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.5 UK Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.6 Russia Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.7 Italy Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.4.8 Benelux Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Region, Type and Application4.1 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Value (2013-2018)4.1.1 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.2 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.2 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Market Share by Type4.3 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Market Share by Application4.4 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries4.4.1 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Sales Volume by Countries (2013-2018)4.4.2 Middle East Bio-Waste Containers Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4.4 Israel Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4.5 UAE Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4.6 Iran Bio-Waste Containers Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)Who we areResearch Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. 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Contract Research Organization Market Outlook | Global Key Players  Quintiles, LabCorp (Covance), PPD, Parexel, ICON, PRA, inventive | Forecast till 2023

Contract Research Organization Market

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BusinessIndustryReports.com has new research report on the global Contract Research Organization Market. The global Contract Research Organization market is growing continuously and expected to grow healthy CAGR by 2023The global Contract Research Organization Market economy is changing and the big pharmaceutical companies are progressively looking to outsource critical functions including research and manufacturing of the therapeutic drugs and medical devices. Many major corporations are using CROs to lead clinical trials, drug discovery, drug development, outsourcing and various other services. The contract research organizations achieve economies of scale which brings down the price. The reduced costs of manufacturing are then transferred to the final client, thereby giving the benefit of cost efficiency, enabling the client to be free to use his own resources in business.The Americas dominates the global contract research organization market due to a well-developed healthcare sector providing large number of medical services. Moreover, large patient population and changing lifestyle have boosted the growth of the market in the Americas. Additionally, the presence of the global players like Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings and PAREXEL International Corporation along with the developed economies like the U.S. and Canada which have a high per capita income within the region fuels the market growth.Get a Premium Sample Report atContract research organization (CRO) provide clinical trial and other research support services for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device industries and also serve government institutions, foundations and universities.This report includes market status and forecast of global and major regions, with introduction of vendors, regions, product types and end industries; and this report counts product types and end industries in global and major regions.Market Segment as follows: - By Region / Countries- North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico), Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc), South America (Brazil, Argentina etc), Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc). By Type- Preclinical CRO, Clinical Trial CRO, By End-User / Application- Biotechnology, Medical Device Industry.Worldwide Contract research organization Market Top Key PlayersQuintilesLabCorp (Covance)PPDParexelICONPRAinventiveINCCRLWuxi AppTecMore Inquire atMajor Table of Content1 Global Contract Research Organization Market Research Report 20182 Global Contract Research Organization Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Contract Research Organization Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Contract Research Organization Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Contract Research Organization Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type6 Global Contract Research Organization Market Analysis by Application7 Global Contract Research Organization Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis8 Contract Research Organization Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global Contract Research Organization Market Forecast (2018-2023 )13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixKey questions answered in the report:What will the market growth rate of Contract Research Organization market in 2023 ?What are the key factors driving the global Contract Research Organization market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis of top manufacturers of Contract Research Organization market?Who are the distributors, traders and dealers of Contract Research Organization market?Who are the key manufacturers in Contract Research Organization market space?What are the Contract Research Organization market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Contract Research Organization market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by types and applications of Contract Research Organization market?What are sales, revenue, and price analysis by regions of Contract Research Organization market?What are the market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Contract Research Organization market?Purchased this report online with 141 Pages and List of figures and table atAbout usBusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined - we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
Stating that Michigan's real challenge to continue moving forward is population and people, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette spoke before approximately 100 supporters Thursday at the "Leading the Way" speaker series, sponsored by the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce.

"The question is, 'Do you go forward? Or, do you go back?'" Schuette said. "We can't go back, because we were on the mat in 2006 and 2007 when a million people left our state. Why did they leave the state? Other states had more jobs and lower taxes."

The Midland native, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, rejected the thought that Michigan's best days are behind us.

Michigan has seen a rebound, but that didn't deter Schuette from believing that "...our best days are ahead of us if we have the right leadership and we apply ourselves properly."

To continue Michigan on its forward path, Schuette's campaign has emphasized making Michigan, "A growth state, a paycheck state and a jobs state."

Giving families a pay raise would mean rolling back an income tax increase implemented under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and reforming auto insurance.

"The lack of rolling back the tax has cost citizens in this state $8 billion. I want to make sure that people take more of what they earn and the government takes less of what you make," Schuette said.

The former state senator also said that auto insurance costs Michigan drivers $1,000 more than any other state.

"We must crack down on insurance fraud, stop frivolous law suits and we need to have a governor who will be engaged with the legislators and interest groups," he said. "Everyone has to give a little bit. Everyone has to win a little bit. That is how you get things done."

Growth also involves making sure that 3rd graders can read, he said.

"It's glaring to learn that the proficiency of children finishing the third grade is about 35 percent. When I am governor, Michigan students will read," he said.

Schuette won his first election in 1984, earning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was during that campaign when he first took up the coffee pot and Schuette took up the title of "coffee steward."

"I was campaigning in Owosso and was at an event of about 500 people," he said. "They didn't have enough wait staff and no one was pouring coffee. So, I went and grabbed a couple of coffee pots and started pouring coffee at all these tables."

At home that night, he realized that he had stumbled onto something that could prove to be effective. The next week he was at The Ranch House in Beaverton meeting with farmers.

"I started pouring coffee and they loved it too. So, for 18 months I poured coffee and won," he said.

After his address, Schuette fielded the following questions from the audience.

He was asked how to deal with the issue of guns, violence, schools and safety.

"There is a mental health crisis in America today," Schuette said. "The failure of our states, the system to assist those in need of help is severe."

Schuette would like to see more of OK2SAY, a school safety initiative developed during his tenure as attorney general.

"If you learn someone might be planning on causing harm to himself or others, you can text, email or call and it goes to one central place," he said. The Michigan State Police alert the first responder that is nearest.

The third measure would be to implement stronger safety measures at schools.

Schuette also was asked about attorneys advertising on TV.

"It has been litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. "Lawyers are able to do that and that will not change."

The only way to decrease the advertisement is through auto insurance reform, he said.

"Then there would be less incentive for lawyers to advertise," he said.

Schuette's appearance Thursday drew protesters who stood outside the event holding signs reading "#ShadySchuette" and "Schuette stands with DeVos not working families," among other messages.
But homeless cats are not wildlife -- they're domesticated animals, just like the cats we share our homes with. And just like any other cat, they can't survive without our protection. It's cruel and irresponsible to recommend leaving homeless kittens to fend for themselves outdoors.

Just ask the horrified people who say they saw a man shoot and bludgeon to death a tiny kitten who had wandered up to a homeless encampment in Cobb County, Georgia. Or the good Samaritans in Sacramento who rescued a kitten dubbed Furiosa (after the fearless Mad Max character), who had managed to survive for days hanging upside down after her hind legs became entangled in a chain-link fence, possibly causing nerve damage.

Or you could ask the police officers who found a kitten frozen to the ground and barely clinging to life in Cottage Grove, Minnesota.

You'd probably get no argument from the Alabama couple who ran outside to intervene after hearing ear-splitting screams, only to find a homeless cat attempting to fight off a predator while she was in the process of giving birth to a litter of kittens. The mother cat and two of her kittens were rescued just in time and taken to an animal shelter, but five of the kittens didn't survive.
Sixty years ago on April 6, 1958, a terrible plane crash occurred at Tri-City Airport (now MBS International Airport) and claimed more lives than any other disaster before or since in all of central Michigan. Many of the 47 victims of the crash were from the Midland, Bay City and Saginaw areas.

The day, which was Easter Sunday, started out cold and damp with occasional snow flurries fluttering to the ground. Blustery weather prevailed throughout Michigan and eastern states that afternoon and evening. The adverse weather conditions significantly affected airline schedules.

One such flight that was greatly affected by the weather was Capital Airlines Flight 67, which originated at Newark, New Jersey. The plane was a British built four engine turbo prop Viscount and was scheduled to leave from LaGuardia Airport in New York, but, heavy rain resulted in the plane being diverted to Newark.

Flight 67 passengers Dr. Frank Horowitz along with his wife and daughter were to board at LaGuardia to begin their trip home to Bay City. Due to traffic and other factors, the Horowitz family was unable to reach the Newark airport in time and thus missed the plane's departure for Detroit. The big Viscount plane departed from Newark an hour and 10 minutes late at 7:10 p.m.

During the flight up to Detroit, Sue Wessell, who was one of the two stewardesses (later known as flight attendants), became ill and requested of the pilot William Hull to be relieved of duty at Detroit. Once the plane landed, Wessell left the plane and the remaining stewardess, Ruth Denecke, would resume the flight schedule with a final destination of Chicago late that night.

Earlier that afternoon as weather conditions deteriorated here in Michigan, several individuals who were booked on Flight 67, phoned Capital Airlines to inquire whether the plane would come to Tri-City that Sunday evening. Capital informed each of the eight scheduled passengers that they would need to drive to Flint Bishop Airport to board as Flight 67 would not go to Tri-City due to weather conditions.

One of those eight passengers was 18-year-old Ray Merrill. Merrill was a naval cadet stationed in Chicago and had flown home to Bay City the day before to spend Easter with his family. Ray's father, Dr. James Merrill, would drive his son to Flint so that he could be sure of getting back to his duties in Chicago by Monday morning. The seven other Tri-City scheduled passengers likewise drove to Flint late that afternoon and early evening.

Horowitz and his family who missed getting on the plane in Newark, was able to get on another flight and hoped to arrive in Detroit in time to board Flight 67 and get home to Bay City. Weather conditions delayed their flight to Detroit and the family again missed Flight 67 by a few minutes ... much to their dismay.

The Viscount plane flew to Flint, arriving there at 10 p.m. on that cold night as wind gusts produced a half rain and snow mixture. While passengers waited in the boarding area of the Flint airport, an announcement was made that due to improving weather, Flight 67 would go on to Tri-City after all. No doubt, a collective groan was emitted by the eight individuals who drove to Flint from the Tri-City area to be sure of getting a seat on the plane.

The plane's pilot, William Hull, learned there were 46 passengers for the 44 seats on the plane. A request was made for two individuals to give up their seats as an offer was made of utilizing the Capital Airlines limousine to transport the two volunteers up to Tri-City. Two sailors, Robert Wilson and Harold McNally, who needed to get to their ship the GG Post in Bay City, surrendered their seats as pilot Hull assured them that the limo would take them right to the Bay City dock to board their ship.

Flight 67, with all 44 seats occupied, took off from the Flint airport at 11:02 p.m. for the 14 minute flight up to Tri-City Airport. The 28-ton Viscount climbed to 3,600 feet and attained a speed of 190 miles per hour. There was some turbulence experienced during the short flight as wind gusts buffeted the plane ... icing conditions existed.

At 11:16 p.m., the plane began a wide circle east, north and then west of Tri-City Airport. Landing would be on the NE/SW runway. Slowing the aircraft for landing along with the lower altitude, increased the chances for icing on the plane's surfaces. The engine fuel mixture was retarded as was customary procedure for landing. A side effect of this action reduced heat to the wings and horizontal stabilizer, increasing the chances for ice formation. At 11:18 p.m., Hull banked the plane sharply to the left over Freeland to line up with the runway as gusts of wind rocked the plane.

On the ground at Tri-City Airport, Nelson Girardin along with his wife, 8-year-old daughter and sons Larry, 13, and Paul, 11, had stopped at the airport earlier to watch planes land. The family was on the way to their Hemlock home from Easter celebrations in Bay City.

The Girardin boys and their father shared what they witnessed that night: "The big plane with its landing lights on was visible through the snow squalls ... leveled out for a moment after the sharp bank to the left. The plane was about 300 feet above the ground when we heard the engines of the plane accelerate. Suddenly the landing lights pointed straight to the ground below. We saw a huge fireball shoot 100 feet into the night sky, heard a big boom and the ground shook!" It was 11:19 p.m. when the plane crashed just 2,300 feet short of the runway.

Nelson Girardin gunned his car down Freeland Road, jumped out a few hundred feet from the blazing wreckage of the plane and ran through the muddy cornfield to the scene. He thought he could help rescue survivors of the crash, but, the burning wreckage was so hot that he could not even get close. A few moments later, Warner Law, who lived a quarter mile away and on whose farm the crash occurred, arrived on the scene. Law and Girardin immediately concluded that no one could have survived the crash and fire -- likely all aboard were killed instantly.

In the Tri-City terminal, individuals awaiting the arrival of their friends and relatives on Flight 67 as well as those waiting to board the plane, heard a muffled boom and the terminal building shook. Shortly afterward, someone came in and shouted, "the plane has crashed!"

Several individuals who were waiting in the terminal, which was less than a mile from the crash scene, ran outside and witnessed the inferno as fuel tank explosions rocked the flaming wreckage of the big plane. Several individuals started to run toward the scene, but, had to be restrained.

The two teenage daughters of Saginaw residents Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Norberg were awaiting their parents' return from New York City. The two girls ran outside the terminal and when seeing the flames from the crash scene, knew that their parents were dead. Mrs. Norberg had won a Betty Crocker baking contest and the prize was the trip to NYC.

More than a dozen ambulances and rescue vehicles arrived within minutes of the crash. Hundreds of people's cars lined the Garfield and Freeland roadways near the scene.

Law and neighbor Henry Burk used their tractors to haul the fire trucks and rescue vehicles through the deep mud to the burning plane. Once the firetrucks reached the inferno, the flames were soon extinguished.

By 12:30 a.m. when the fire put out, the grim task of removing the bodies began. Burk returned to his farm and hitched his wagon to the tractor and returned to the scene. The first body removed was that of a decapitated man; his body was placed aboard Burk's wagon. The second body removed was that of the stewardess Ruth Denecke; her body was the only one of the 47 that was fully intact. All others were badly burned and dismembered as shared by Tom Bauder, who was the senior Capital Airlines employee at Tri-City Airport that night. Before long, the wagon was fully loaded with bodies and Burk towed the wagon through the mud to the Dow Chemical Co. hanger at the airport, which was utilized as a morgue. Seven of the crash victims were Dow employees.

The grim task of body recovery continued until 7:30 a.m. when the last one was removed from the smoldering wreckage. About that same time, aboard the ship GG Post at Bay City, sailors Wilson and McNally heard on the radio of the plane crash -- the same plane on which they would have been had they not given up their seats in Flint. In the gray dawn of that Monday morning, dozens of reporters, investigators and police officers as well as Capital Airlines employees lingered at the scene of the crash. The only recognizable portion of the plane was the upside down tail section as the rest of the wreckage was strewn over a 200-foot area.

Later that afternoon, which was bright, sunny and cold, my brother-in-law drove my siblings and me to the Freeland Road location, a few hundred feet from the crash scene. Smoke was still rising from the wreckage as a dozen investigators combed through the remains of the big plane. On the blackened upside down tail section of the plane, one could readily read the names "Capital" and "Viscount."

The level of grief experienced by the relatives and friends of the crash victims cannot be measured. The grief was especially pronounced by the family members of the eight victims who drove from the Tri-City area to be sure of getting on the plane in Flint and then lost their lives as the plane crashed where they were to board originally. Each crash victim left behind family members and friends to grieve the loss. Hull left a wife and two small children. Passenger James Brun left a wife and nine children. Co-pilot Earl Binckley was married a few weeks prior to the crash. Victim Charles Ross was to be married in six days. The sad scenarios went on.

Over the following days, extensive searching through the wreckage was conducted in hopes of determining the cause of the crash. Eventually it was concluded that due to icing on the wings and tail stabilizer, the plane lost lift and stalled. Hull apparently realized the situation in those last few seconds and gave the engines full power to hopefully gain speed to counteract the stall, but, being only 300 to 400 feet above the ground, gaining speed and lift was not possible.

Later that week, the wreckage of the plane was loaded on trucks and hauled away for examination. The four heavy engines were buried 5 feet in the ground and were lifted out by a crane.

Funerals for the Tri-City victims took place over the following days. Bodies of other victims were sent on to their respective hometowns for burial services.

Eventually a fund drive was conducted to raise money for a monument to the 47 victims. Tri-City Airport officials wanted nothing to do with having such a monument on airport property. The marble monument with the names of the 47 victims was eventually installed outside the Roselawn Cemetery mausoleum/chapel in Saginaw.

If one is seeking the location of the crash of Flight 67, it is on MBS Airport property. On Freeland Road, there is a metal gate at the entrance to a grassy roadway along the approach lights to the NE/SW runway. At the location of the first light tower (furthest away to the southwest from Freeland Road) is the approximate location of where the crash occurred.

Compiled by Floyd Andrick of the Midland County Historical Society.
The United States Department of Agriculture will address the opioid crisis in rural communities through two key grant programs.

"The opioid epidemic is dramatically impacting prosperity in many small towns and rural places across the country," Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett said in a media release.
The Trump administration imposed a new round of sanctions Friday against multiple close associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Aimed at punishing the nation for its election interference efforts in 2016, the new sanctions target seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials whom the U.S. government believe benefited financially from their close ties to the controversial leader. The move is seen has having a large impact on Putin and his allies while sparing the already-suffering Russian populace.

Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their governments destabilizing activities, said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in a statement.

One subject affected by the sanctions, Oleg Deripaska, is of great interest to special counsel Robert Mueller. Deripaska, one of the richest men in Russia, was closely tied to former campaign manager Paul Manafort at one time. Manafort is one of the main targets in Muellers Russia probe, and his team recently began questioning other Russian oligarchs about financial connections between allies of Putin and Trump.

The decision is the latest in an increasingly inconsistent series of responses by the U.S. government to Russias increasingly aggressive global political activities. As Congress continues to push for harsher punishments against Putin and the Russian government, President Trump has repeatedly called for the two leaders to grow closer and more cooperative while at the same time claiming to be the toughest president against Russia in history.

The Trump administration expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the country last month, a move that Putin matched earlier this week by sending 60 American diplomats home from Russia. That decision came in the wake of the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in England. President Trump was slow to connect that attack to the Kremlin, despite statements connecting Russia to the attack from British Prime Minister Theresa May and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

According to a senior administration official, the sanctions are not solely a reaction to the attack on British soil, but rather in response to the totality of the Russian governments ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity around the world.

While the sanctions aim to punish Putin for his nations increased aggression in Syria and Eastern Europe, the main focus for the U.S. government is still the nations interference in the 2016 presidential election and continued threat to undermine future American elections. The White House has been contradictory in its acceptance of the continued threat posed by Russia and has yet to spend any of the $120 million given to the State Department in 2016 for the purpose of countering Russian hackers.

Congress and the British Parliament are considering further moves against Russia, including legislation requiring the disclosure of owners of companies and properties. The decision would force Russian oligarchs hiding their ownership of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property in London, New York and Miami to be exposed.
Marvels record-breaking superhero movie Black Panther is breaking more new ground by becoming the first film to screen at Saudi Arabian cinemas in 35 years.

The movie will be shown at the countrys first-ever AMC movie theatre on April 18. The 620-seat movie theatre, a converted symphony hall in the King Abdullah Financial District, is opening just four months after the country lifted the ban last December. Its reported to be one of as many as 100 theaters set to open by the year 2030.

Black Panther will play for five days before giving way to Marvels forthcoming movie Avengers: Infinity War, set to release everywhere on April 26.

As the Washington Post explains, movie theaters were common in Saudi Arabia for a good portion of the 20th century, with the first cinemas opening up in the Middle Eastern country by Western expatriates in the 1930s. In the 1980s, however, the countrys increasingly conservative atmosphere resulted in a ban of the Western practice, seen at the time (and, to some extent, still seen) as immoral.

Under the order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabian officials announced that they would lift the ban on movie theaters late last year. In an effort to revitalize their economy, Saudi Arabia has also recently lifted the bans on public concerts and allowing women to drive.

The countrys collective loosening of cultural restrictions is not seen as favorable by all, however. Saudi Arabias highest cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, was quoted calling singing concerts and cinemas a depravity, and speaking against the infiltration of western culture in a statement, warning that opening cinemas would represent a call for mixing between sexes.

At the beginning they would assign areas for women, but then both men and women will end up in one area, he said. This corrupts morals and destroys values.

Still, despite the opinion of some high-ranking clerics, Saudi Arabia seems welcoming of all cinemas, in light of their improving the countrys already-flourishing economy. AMC, along with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, plans to open 30 to 40 new locations in the country over the next five years. Other film enterprises are sure to follow, wanting to cash in on Saudi Arabias 33 million potential customers.

Technically speaking, Saudi Arabia has already seen its first movie screenings, which appeared in makeshift movie theaters during a government-sponsored event catered for children. Reuters reveals that among the films shown at this event were the animated movies The Emoji Movie (sorry, Saudis) and Captain Underpants.

Since its launch in February, Black Panther has already earned over $1.2 billion, making more in its first week than any other MCU film. Read Pastes review of the most tweeted-about film of all time right here.
A poll out today in Tennessee shows that former Governor Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, has a surprising ten-point over dyed in the wool Trump Republican Marsha Blackburn in the states Senate race. The two are competing to replace retiring Senator Bob Corker, a Republican, and until todays poll, there wasnt much indication that Bredesen would have any lead at all, much less such a commanding one. From The Tennessean:

The poll, released Thursday, found 45 percent of 600 registered Tennessee voters said they would choose Bredesen, a Democrat and former Nashville mayor, if the election were immediately held.

Blackburn, a Brentwood Republican, netted 35 percent, with another 17 percent of respondents saying they were not sure. Three percent of respondents declined to answer.

The poll, conducted by Middle Tennessee State University, also found that more Republicans are willing to support Bredesen than vice versa, and he also holds a 45-33 lead over Blackburn among independents.

The dynamic seems to be a familiar oneBredesen was popular among Republicans in his time as governor, at least relatively, while Blackburn is tracking far-right to secure the base, and thereby alienating moderates and independents. That didnt work in Alabama, and though Tennessee is still red, theres enough of a moderate and even Democratic tradition there to make that strategy seem misguided.

As Salon notes, Blackburn is going to have a hard time if she ever does decided to track back to the middle:

Blackburn has a history of hanging around with the Trump crowd and, according to the FiveThirtyEight tracker, she votes in line with Trumps positions nearly 91 percent of the time. She made national headlines for her 2014 claim that the GOP was fighting hard for womens rights and her much-discussed talking point on NBCs Meet the Press that women didnt want pay equity laws. Blackburn has reportedly been backed by Breitbart News and Citizens United.

Yeah, shes pretty much pigeonholed. The election is seven months away, and the blue wave continues to form even in deep red waters.
Vote for the Petoskey News-Review Athlete of the Week: Sept. 20-Sept. 25
Another noticeable difference is in the alcohol in the wines, which has progressively increased over the years. The 1964 is only 11.4 percent whereas the 2015 is 15.8 percent. Peter Sr. believed in low-alcohol wines, but the increase is partially a result of healthier vines that reach their flavor profiles, naturally resulting in higher alcohol. Regardless of the alcohol level, the intention in Charles Krug wines is to find balance.

Tasting old vintages of wine is a special treat that not everyone gets to experience. But Charles Krug is making it possible. They are releasing the first commercial library release in honor of the 75th anniversary, which will include bottles from 1974, 1991 and 2003. The 1991 has notes of lavender and black fruit and fills the mouth with soft acid and tannins. The 2003, which has five percent Petit Verdot, four percent Merlot, two percent Cabernet Franc and one percent Syrah, has deep red and black fruit and fresh olive notes, as well as integrated acid and tannins.

Seventy-five years later, one of the most important values of the Mondavi family is family, and they are proud to still be family-owned and -operated. Fourth-generation Alycia Mondavi, daughter of Marc Mondavi, was born and raised on the property and explained that in the family that somehow, they all end up in wine. It is hard to deviate, Alycia explained. It is in our blood.

Allison Levine is owner of Please The Palate, a marketing and event-planning agency. A freelance writer, she contributes to numerous publications while eating and drinking her way around the world. Contact her at allison@pleasethepalate.com.
Railbird Report: Gus Hansen Returns Online to Win Biggest Pot

April 06, 2018 Jason Glatzer

Last week, Denmark's Gus Hansen appeared on the Joey Ingram podcast and gave some unique insights into his life. At one point in the podcast, Hansen said he wasn't planning to play the big games online anymore, after his attempts on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker had resulted in a combined result of minus $20 million.

Still, "The Great Dane" returned to the high stakes anyway, sitting down on Wednesday in a $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha game on partypoker called "Trickett's Room", named after partypoker Ambassador Sam Trickett.

While he broke with his vows, the result of plus $336,866 must have excited Hansen.

Gus Hansen wins a $205,000 Pot (1,025 Big Blinds) from Leon "KingsOfLeon" Tsoukernik

($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)

In a massive pot, replayed by Ingram, Hansen won over $200,000 in a hand against Trickett and King's Casino owner Leon "KingsOfLeon" Tsoukernik.

The action began with Tsoukernik opening to $700 from the hijack before Hansen three-bet to $1,200 from the cutoff. Trickett then cold four-bet from the button to $4,600 and the players in the blinds folded.

Tsoukernik called before Hansen jacked it up with a five-bet to $18,700. Trickett and Tsoukernick called before the flop came .

The action continued to pick up with Tsoukernik leading out with a pot-sized bet of $42,295. Hansen then went all-in for $146,701. Trickett folded and Tsoukernik called his remaining stack of $39,522.

Player Hand Equity on Gus "Gus__Hansen__" Hansen 75.49% Leon "KingsOfLeon" Tsoukernik 24.51%

Hansen was a 3:1 favorite in the hand and Tsoukernik was drawing dead after the turn gave Hansen a flush. The completed the board on the river shipping Hansen a pot worth $205,929.

You can check out this hand and another that Hansen lost here, compliments of Joey Ingram.

Ingram actually did a long live stream showing the action, which can be viewed here.

Gus Hansen wins a $336,866 Pot (1,684 Big Blinds) from Leon "KingsOfLeon" Tsoukernik

($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)

Tsoukernik opened the cutoff for $700 before Hansen on the button three-bet to $2,400. The blinds got out of the way and Tsoukernik four-bet to $7,500. Hansen called to see a flop.

On , with $15,295 in the middle, Tsoukernik bet pot. Hansen called and the two got the on the turn to work with. Tsoukernik bet pot again, this time for $45,885, and Hansen tanked for a bit.

Tsoukernik had $61,556 behind and would soon have to commit it as Hansen moved in. Tsoukernik called.

Player Hand Equity on Gus "Gus__Hansen__" Hansen 82.5% Leon "KingsOfLeon" Tsoukernik 12.5%

Hansen was in great shape and collected the full pot when the on the river paired the board.

You can watch the hand here, courtesy of the partypoker Twitch stream.

Catching Up on High Stakes Action: Three Biggest Pots of The Week

In addition to the huge action last week at partypoker, there were tons of big pots played at PokerStars as well. The top 29 hands according to HighStakesDB.com all took place at $100/$200 pot-limit Omaha tables.

1) Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky wins a $86,895 Pot (434 Big Blinds) from "BERRI SWEET" (March 29)

($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)

The action began in the biggest pot of the week at PokerStars with "BERRI SWEET" raising the button to $600 and Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky three-betting to $1,800. "BERRI SWEET" four-bet to $5,400 and Sulsky called to bring the preflop pot already up to $10,800.

Both players checked on the flop. Sulsky fired out for $3,567 after the appeared on the turn and got a call from his opponent.

Sulsky led out for $5,517 after the completed the board on the river. "BERRI SWEET" raised to $34,481 and Sulsky called. Sulsky shipped a huge pot of $86,895 after he turned over for the second nut flush, good against the over pair and nut-flush blocker held by "BERRI SWEET" with .

Click for replay via HighStakesDB

2) "BERRI SWEET" wins a $77,966 Pot (390 Big Blinds) from Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky (March 29)

($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)

The second biggest hand of the week took place five hours before the biggest pot, involving the same duo of "BERRI SWEET" and Sulsky. This time, "BERRY SWEET" was able to get the best of Sulsky to snag a pot worth $77,966.

The hand kicked off with "BERRI SWEET" opening from the button for $600 before he called a three-bet from Sulsky to $1,800. Sulsky then led out for $2,037 on the flop and got called.

After the appeared on the turn, Sulsky check-raised a bet from "BERRI SWEET" from $2,297 to $11,196. "BERRI SWEET" called and the completed the board on the river.

Sulsky jammed his remaining stack of $23,957 and "BERRI SWEET", who had him covered, called. Sulsky turned over for trips, which proved to be no good against the flush held by "BERRI SWEET" with .

Click for replay via HighStakesDB

3) Rui "PepperoniF" Cao wins a $64,337 Pot (322 Big Blinds) from Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro (April 1)

($100/$200 PLO 6-Max)

The high-stakes duo of Rui "PepperoniF" Cao and Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro battled it out on April 1 when the third biggest hand of the week took place.

Kelopuro opened the action to $680 from the button and called a three-bet from Cao to $2,120. Cao led out for $2,600 on the rainbow flop and Kelopuro called.

Cao check-called a bet of $7,614 after the paired the board on the turn. Cao then checked again after the completed the board on the river. Kelopuro fired out a huge bet of $19,795 and had just $9,771 behind.

Cao raised the action enough to cover Kelopuro's chips. Kelopuro folded his cards went to the muck, while Cao collected a huge pot of $64,337 without revealing his cards.

This Week's Online High-Stakes Biggest Winners and Losers

Rui "PepperoniF" Cao was easily the biggest winner of the week notching up a healthy profit of $210,102 while also winning three of the six biggest hands of the week. His big week catapulted him from a small career loss at PokerStars into one of the site's profitable players in high-stakes games.

On the flip side, one of Cao's victims Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro lost the most money this week by recording the week's only six-figure deficit of $104,081.

(user)name hands profit/loss 3/29- 4/4 profit/loss 2018 profit/loss all time Winning Players 1 Rui "PepperoniF" Cao 1,864 +$210,102 +$279,697 +$195,717 2 "BlackFortuna" 609 +$43,981 +$216,659 +$363,225 3 Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky 1,440 +$41,445 +$248,468 +$5,410,074 4 "MMAsherdog" 2,733 +$32,484 +$17,751 -$17,005 5 "Venividi1993" 315 +$27,283 +$46,953 +$63,451 6 Joni "bustoville" Jouhkimainen 1,142 +$27,035 +$27,928 +$30,562 7 Andras "probirs" Nemeth 1,029 +$24,487 +$163,772 +$224,734 8 "Xplode7777" 816 +$24,091 +$35,797 -$27,170 9 "haochunyang" 262 +$19,477 +$19,353 +$19,353 10 Jonas "OtB_RedBaron" Mols 717 +$19,295 -$262,537 +$2,109,645 Losing Players 1 Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro 1,225 -$104,081 -$80,274 -$2,061,174 2 "Grazvis1" 1,274 -$56,801 +$119,259 +$409,407 3 Daniel "DANMERRRRRRR" Merriless 231 -$50,258 -$73,870 -$261,036 4 "kycb113" 77 -$45,036 -$58,736 -$58,736 5 "BERRI SWEET" 1,297 -$41,191 -$199,945 +$2,130,369 6 Jordi "prot0" Urlings 1,010 -$$38,000 -$182,302 +$369,854 7 "gragik" 1,044 -$34,886 -$76,140 -$97,222 8 "farruh1415" 355 -$27,724 -$28,355 -$28,355 9 "boerni21" 645 -$24,318 -$32,927 -$21,508 10 "huang33" 417 -$19,298 +$41,029 -$154,354

The 2018 Leaderboard

Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger extended his lead on the 2018 leaderboard despite minimal play while James "JayP-AA" Park remained in second place and Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn remained third despite not playing a single hand last week.

Likewise, the bottom three spots on the leaderboard remained the same. Once again, "ImagineKing" added to his losses and has a firm hold on the biggest loss of the year. Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz with a strong week was able to climb out of the bottom three with Blom losing big in heads-up play and taking his spot in second to last on the leaderboard.

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom added slightly to his losses with minimal volume while Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion didn't play a hand last week and has remained in third to last on the yearly leaderboard for a third straight week.

(user)name hands 2018 profit/loss 2018 profit/loss per hand 2018 profit/loss all time most played game 2018 Winning Players 1 Linus "LLinusLLove" Loeliger 26,460 +$568,908 +$21.50 +$1,199,489 NL Hold'em 2 James "JayP-AA" Park 15,354 +$316,630 +$21.62 +$2,642,409 PLO 3 Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn 9,269 +$291,585 +$31.45 $4,253,455 8-Game Losing Players 1 "ImagineKing" 24,518 -$761,574 -$31.06 -$2,321,281 PLO 2 Viktor "Isildur1" Blom 22,092 -$318,406 -$14.41 +$1,838,092 PLO 3 Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion 3,745 -$293,492 $-78.36 -$171,055 8-Game

The above top winning and losing players in online poker for 2018 only takes PokerStars accounts into consideration. All public data courtesy of HighStakesDB.com. If you want to opt out of being listed in this PokerNews update on high-stakes action, send an email with your username to [email protected]

The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in iBus Media
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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.
The Bushy Park reservoir, shown here in 2005, is one of three sources in the Santee Cooper river system that provide drinking water for most people in the Charleston area. A lawsuit over federal changes to its own Clean Water laws will remain in Charleston, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Provided
Chloe Johnson covers the coastal environment and climate change for the Post and Courier. She's always looking for a good excuse to hop on a boat.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
We have learned much from the fires, said Peter Read, owner of Circle R Ranch. One important lesson is that we need to create better guidelines for forest management and help people understand how better to avoid the devastating impacts of the recent fires in the future. There is a lot of work to be done, but I am encouraged by the outpouring of support from the local community and beyond.

None of the structures burned on the Circle Rs 1,600-acre property, including a beautiful old barn that stands at the edge of a verdant meadow. That meadow and other habitats on the ranch serve to function as natural animal corridors that link with adjacent protected spaces, such as the nearby 1,318-acre Mead Ranch and 1,380-acre Sutro Ranch preserve.

We allow grazing on our land, which helped suppress the spread of fire, Read said. And there are other elements, too: cleaning away the brush from your home and removing any flammable material from under your decks, for example. That said, the recent fire was nearly unimaginable in terms of its ferocity.
The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication.
Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 17:15:01

Almere, The Netherlands

April 6, 2018



This press release replaces the previous release issued on April 4, 2018, to correct for the United States dial-in number



ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) will report operating results for the 2018 first quarter (which ended on March 31, 2018) at approximately:

18:00 p.m. Continental European Time - Thursday, April 19, 2018.

12:00 p.m. US Eastern Time - Thursday, April 19, 2018.



ASM International will furthermore host an investor conference call and webcast on Friday, April 20, 2018 at 17:00 Continental European Time ( 11:00 a.m . - US Eastern Time).

The teleconference dial-in numbers are as follows:

United States: +1 929 477 0448

International: +44 (0)330 336 9105

The Netherlands: +31 (0)20 721 9251

Access Code: 9278937

A simultaneous audio webcast, and replay will be accessible at www.asm.com.



About ASM International

ASM International NV, headquartered in Almere, the Netherlands, its subsidiaries and participations design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International, its subsidiaries and participations provide production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as for assembly & packaging and surface mount technology (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at www.asm.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: All matters discussed in this press release, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry generally and the timing of the industry cycles specifically, currency fluctuations, corporate transactions, financing and liquidity matters, the success of restructurings, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholders or other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to natural disasters, terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability, epidemics and other risks indicated in the Company's reports and financial statements. The Company assumes no obligation nor intends to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future developments or circumstances.



CONTACT

Investor contact:

Victor Bareno

T: +31 88 100 8500

E: victor.bareno@asm.com



Media contact:

Ian Bickerton

T: +31 625 018 512





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: ASM International NV via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 05:48:02

Wide range of customers can now use the services via ATBeX

AT TOKYO Launches Connection Services Between ATBeX and IX Services of 3 Major IX Providers in Japan

 AT TOKYO Media Contact

Mari Nishino, +81-3-6372-3577

pr@attokyo.co.jp

or

Kyodo PR Inc.

Masashi Semba / Takahiro Minematsu, +81-3-3571-5236

masashi.senba@kyodo-pr.co.jp / t-minematsu@kyodo-pr.co.jp

or

 AT TOKYO Sales Contact

+81-3-6372-3500

at-sales@attokyo.co.jp

AT TOKYO Corporation (Headquartered in Koto-ku, Tokyo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Akira Nakamura, referred to as AT TOKYO) hereby announces that it will provide connections services between ATBeX (AT TOKYO Business eXchange) and Japans major Internet exchange providers (IX*1)Japan Internet Exchange Co., Ltd. (JPIX), BBIX, Inc. (BBIX), and Internet Multifeed Co. (JPNAP). AT TOKYO is also pleased to inform you that today it will launch the ATBeX ServiceLink for JPNAP and plans to successively roll out the ATBeX ServiceLink for JPIX and ATBeX ServiceLink for BBIX.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180405006

Rendering of ATBeX ServiceLink for IX services (Graphic: Business Wire)

ATBeX is a network platform that supports customer business growth by offering flexible and efficient, diverse mutual connections within the data center. This includes mutual linkage between corporate systems and use of each providers services that are being carried out within the AT TOKYO data center.

By connecting ATBeX to the IX services offered by Japans major IX providers, customers will be able to access these providers IX services through a single ATBeX connection. Customers will be able to take advantage of the multi-connection functions of ATBeX to access IX services along with various other services, including cloud and communication services. This will enable customers to build a flexible and efficient network.

AT TOKYO data centers will become a place that creates new business opportunities and jointly creates value through interconnections made possible by the service lineup of ATBeX ServiceLink*2, which includes this service.

We here at AT TOKYO look to serve the needs of our customers while also providing a place for business encounters and connections between customers to support and accelerate the business growth of our clients.

Please visit our website (http://www.attokyo.com/) to learn more about AT TOKYO.

*1: This refers to an interconnection point with ISP and other networks to forward traffic and also refers to those functions.

*2: AT TOKYOs ATBeX service provides the necessary bandwidth by logically dividing physical ports.

* All company names, product names and corporate logos included in this press release are respectively the Trade Names, Trademarks, and Registered Trademarks of their respective companies.

* The information contained in our news release is valid as of the date of announcement. Service and product fees, service contents, specifications, and other information may be subject to change without notice thereafter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180405006
PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 15:00:15

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 Sonora Project 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 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 06, 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: 2018-04-06 10:00:17

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Belmont Resources Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Belmont Resources Inc. (TSX Venture:BEA). has issued a press release with the following headline:Belmont Discusses Extraction Testing Technology and Finalizes Drill Hole Locations for Kibby Basin-Nevada Lithium PropertyTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Belmont 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/Belmont Resources Inc.Source: Belmont Resources Inc. (TSX Venture: BEA, FWB: L3L1)Date: April 06, 2018Time: 4:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Belmont 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: 2018-04-06 18:30:16

FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Cranbrook, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:EPL). has issued a press release with the following headline:Eagle Plains Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve Taiga Spin-outTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Eagle Plains Resources Ltd., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.Source: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture: EPL, OTC Bulletin Board: EGPLF, WKN: 588696, ISIN: CA2699062022)Date: April 06, 2018Time: 12:30 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 21:23:02

GA-ASI Awarded FMS Development Contract for MQ-9B PROTECTOR

Melissa Haynes

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

+1 (858) 524-8108

ASI-MediaRelations@ga-asi.com

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is pleased to announce the recent award of a $81M Foreign Military Sales contract by the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center for the United Kingdom (UK) MQ-9B PROTECTOR unmanned aircraft system programme. This contract provides for integration and component level testing for UK specific enhancements to support the MQ-9B PROTECTOR programme. GA-ASI performed the first flight of the MQ-9B configuration less than two years ago, and the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) has continued to meet a series of key qualification milestones.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005

MQ-9B is the Certifiable (STANAG 4671) version of GA-ASIs MQ-9 Predator B product line. It can meet the stringent airworthiness certification requirements of various military and civil authorities, including the UK Military Airworthiness Authority (MAA) and the US FAA.

MQ-9B is the Certifiable (STANAG 4671) version of GA-ASIs MQ-9 Predator B product line. Its development is the result of a five-year, company-funded effort to deliver a RPA that can meet the stringent airworthiness certification requirements of various military and civil authorities, including the UK Military Airworthiness Authority (MAA) and the US FAA. MQ-9B is the latest evolution of the multi-mission Predator B fleet. GA-ASI named its baseline MQ-9B SkyGuardian, and the maritime surveillance variant, SeaGuardian.

MQ-9B represents the next generation of RPA system capabilities, said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. It has demonstrated new airborne endurance records (>48 hours) and automatic takeoffs and landings under SATCOM-only control. MQ-9B will also have our currently operational MQ-9 detect and avoid system (with collision-avoidance radar), which will support MQ-9B operations in civil airspace.

Other important MQ-9B milestones were achieved in 2017, including the first FAA-approved flight for a company-owned RPA through non-segregated airspace without a chase aircraft, when the RPA flew from Yuma, Arizona to Gray Butte, California in August 2017. Upcoming aircraft qualification milestones include lightning protection tests, which are expected within the next 60 days. The aircraft systems overall qualification schedule remains on track.

A weaponized variant of the system is being acquired by the Royal Air Force (RAF) under the UKs MQ-9B PROTECTOR programme. The MQ-9B PROTECTOR will fly in excess of 40 hours with airspeeds up to 210 knots, reach altitudes of more than 40,000 feet, and carry 4750 lbs (2159 kg) of external payload.

The UK MOD and RAF are pleased with the progress of their MQ-9B PROTECTOR programme and work continues at pace on the certification aspects of this platform, ahead of achieving a full Military Type Certificate as the platform enters service. Recently-reported Protector procurement schedule adjustments reflect the UK government managing the transition between getting the most out of our current Reaper aircraft, which is helping us defeat Daesh in the Middle East, and moving to the cutting-edge Protector, said Air Marshal Julian Young, Chief of Materiel (Air) at DE&S. The Protector programme, which is based on GA-ASIs SkyGuardian aircraft, is a key capability for the UK, and the MOD and GA-ASI have worked collaboratively to support programme changes, as well as continuing to meet growing interest in this unique capability.

Hi-resolution photos of MQ-9B are available to qualified media outlets from the listed GA-ASI media contact.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affiliate of General Atomics, is a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems, including the Predator, Reaper and Gray Eagle UAS programs of record and the Lynx Multi-mode Radar. Celebrating over 25 years of aviation innovation, GA-ASI provides long-endurance, multi-mission capable aircraft with integrated sensor and data link systems required to deliver persistent flight, enabling situational awareness and rapid strike. The company also produces a variety of ground control stations and sensor control/image analysis software, offers pilot training and support services, and develops meta-material antennas. For more information, visit www.ga-asi.com.

Predator, Reaper, and Lynx are registered trademarks and SkyGuardian is a trademark of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005
Liquid Biopsy Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 09:40:59

Press Information

Coherent Market Insights

1001 4th Ave,



#3200



Mr Shah

CEO

2067016702

email

http://www.coherentmarketinsights.com





# 729 Words

1001 4th Ave,#3200CEO2067016702

The global liquid biopsy market by Products & Services (Reagents & Kits, Equipment, and Services), By Sample (Cell Free DNA, Circulating Tumor Cells, and Exosomes), By Application (Oncology Testing, Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing, and Transplant Care), By End User (Hospitals, Research Laboratories, Diagnostic Laboratories, and Patients), and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa) nwas valued at US$ 1,824.7 million in 2016 and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 18.3% over the forecast period (20172025), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Advantages offered by liquid biopsy over conventional tissue biopsies such as early detection, and avoidance of biases in results due to cancer heterogeneity, rising prevalence of cancer, and increasing awareness and demand for minimally invasive procedures is expected to fuel growth of the liquid biopsy market.Manufacturers are focusing on upgrading their biopsy tests as well as developing new and innovative liquid biopsy tests for detection of various cancers such as breast cancer. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration granted first liquid biopsy approval to Roche Cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2 in 2016 and the company launched Avenio ctDNA analysis kits for oncology research in May 2017. Biocepta leading provider of liquid biopsy testsobtained patent in Australia for Target Selector assay in January 2018. Furthermore, Fluxion Biosciences launched Erase-Seq NGS liquid biopsy analysis service, which can be used for wide range of targeted cancer panels in January 2018. In 2016, Illumina launched a new company GRAIL, focused on blood based cancer screening involving use of measuring circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the blood. Furthermore, Nateraa leader in non-invasive prenatal testinglaunched Signatera ctDNA assay, in August 2017. Sequenom Laboratories launched MaterniT GENOME non-invasive prenatal test in 2015, which provided comprehensive genome-wide information and was later acquired by LabCorp in 2016. Qiagen N.V. acquired innovative circulating tumor cell technology from AdnaGen and partnered with Tokai Pharmaceuticals to combine this technology to co-develop and commercialize diagnostics for Tokais novel drug, Galeterone, in 2015.Get The Holistic SAMPLE With Research Methodology:Manufacturers are increasing investment in developing advanced liquid biopsies for improved disease detection and diagnosis. Furthermore, increasing research and development in the same by such manufacturers is supporting growth of the liquid biopsy market. PlaqueTec Ltd. announced first peer reviewed publication for its PlaqueTec Liquid Biopsy System to detect biomarkers for coronary artery disease in January 2018. OncoCyte Corporation presented positive data from its most recent breast cancer diagnostic test study, in December 2017. Moreover, Exosome Diagnostics published a study showing superior performance of ExoLution Plus Liquid Biopsy platform in lung cancer, in December 2017. Qiagen and Clinical Genomics collaborated for studies on liquid biopsies, to monitor patients for recurrence of colorectal cancer by detecting circulating DNA, in August 2017. In 2016, Guardant Health entered into partnership with Robert H.Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University for Guardant360, which will be the preferred liquid biopsy test used in the cancer center.Key Takeaways of the Liquid Biopsy Market:The global liquid biopsy market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 3% over the forecast period (20172025), owing to increasing research and development in the liquid biopsy studies and associated product launches by the key players such as Guardant HealthStrong competition in the market has led to increasing focus on continuous development, as manufacturers strive to stay competitive in the market. This is expected to aid in market growth over the forecast period.Increasing application and effectiveness of liquid biopsy in diagnosis of various cancers such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and diseases such as coronary heart disease is expected to boost growth of the liquid biopsy market over the forecast periodNorth America region is expected to witness significant growth owing to presence of players such as Biocept and presence of research oriented players such as Guardant Health, Inc.Major players operating in the liquid biopsy market include Illumina, Inc., Roche AG, Natera, Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp), Qiagen N.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Exact Sciences Corp., Biocept, Inc., Genomic Health, Inc., Guardant Health, TrovaGene Inc., CareDx Inc., Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation, and Biocartis SA.Ask For Customisation: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.
Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 13:03:29

Press Information

Coherent Market Insights

1001 4th Ave, #3200



Seattle, WA 98154



Mr. Shah

CEO

2067016702

email

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/





# 707 Words

1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154CEO2067016702

Non-invasive blood glucose monitoring devices measures blood glucose levels in patients suffering from diabetes, without puncturing the skin, or causing pain or trauma. The frequent change in blood glucose levels in diabetic patients has to be tracked by the glucose monitoring device. Glucose monitoring devices can be invasive or non-invasive but the non-invasive blood glucose monitoring devices market is increasing due to the need of an economic, compact, painless and convenience for the patients to use. Non-invasive glucose monitoring holds great promise for improving diabetes management by providing better and pain-free blood glucose measurement leading to expansion of non-invasive blood glucose monitor market in the forecast period.Get sample copy of this report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1480 Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market Taxonomy:By Technology:Bio-impedance spectroscopyElectromagnetic sensingFluorescenceMid-infrared / Near infrared spectroscopyOptical coherence tomographyOptical polarimetryRaman spectroscopyReverse iontophoresisUltrasound technologyBy Modality:WearableNon-wearable / table topBy End UsersHospitals & ClinicsDiagnostic centersHomecare settingNon-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market DriverThe global non-invasive blood glucose monitoring devices market is expected to be boosted by the increasing diabetes prevalence. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2014, diabetes mellitus is a worldwide epidemic disease affecting 422 million people and seventh leading cause of death in US. The glucose concentration of diabetic patients fluctuates significantly throughout the day which can lead to serious consequences like kidney failure, strokes, heart attacks, high blood pressure, blindness and coma. These demand the technologically advanced devices for frequent monitoring of blood glucose levels. Moreover, the invasive techniques of blood glucose monitor are painful and expensive as compared to non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device, this makes non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device as the device of choice amongst the patients. Furthermore, the high percentage of prediabetes patients, a condition were blood glucose levels are high but not sufficient to detect the diabetes, will also propel the non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device market in the forecast period. According to NIDDK, in 2015, 33.9% of US adults are estimated to be prediabetes, at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.Have a doubt? Speak to our analyst now! https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/talk-to-analyst/1480 Traditional glucose detection device based on electrochemical sensors which requires a small amount of blood sample by finger pricking makes the method inconvenient and painful, which demanded emergence of non-invasive blood glucose monitor device. Currently, non-invasive blood glucose monitors are under great technological advancement to overcome this challenges in currently available glucose monitor. For instance, in March 2018, Nemaura Medical Inc. developing the wireless sugarBEAT, a non-invasive blood glucose monitoring system, received positive results from European clinical trial program which makes a significant milestone towards commercialization of sugarBEAT in the UK, followed by other territories upon achieving CE approval. Furthermore, research institutes and universities are also engaged in developing novel non-invasive blood glucose monitor device. For instance, in February 2018, the researchers from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) developed a smart lens. The smart lens has inbuilt pliable, transparent electronic glucose monitor which can detect the glucose levels using tears of eyes. Moreover, in same year, Glasgow University developed a wearable sweat-monitoring sensor which uses pH levels of patients sweat. Furthermore, rapid advancements in smart-watches and smartphones will also propel the non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device market.Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices- Regional AnalysisOn the basis of region, the global non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to be dominant region with respect to non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device market due to high prevalence of disease in geriatric population which is 25.2 % in US population as per American Diabetes Association of year 2015.Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring Devices Market - CompetitorsThe major players for non-invasive blood glucose monitoring device market are Abbott Laboratories, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Integrity Applications, Inc., Bayer Healthcare, Pendragon Medical, Animas Technologies, Omron and OrSense.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: 2018-04-06 17:45:01

The Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) has provisionally awarded the A1 Apeldoorn - Azelo (phase 1) contract to Heijmans. The contract includes the widening of the A1 between Twello and Deventer and between Deventer-Oost and Rijssen. The contract (design and construct) is valued at 127 million euros.

About Heijmans

Heijmans is a listed company that combines activities related to property development, residential building, non-residential building, roads and civil engineering in the areas living, working and connecting. Our constant focus on quality improvements, innovation and integrated solutions enables us to generate added value for our clients. Heijmans realises projects for private consumers, companies and the public sector and, in partnership with its clients, is building the spatial contours of tomorrow. You will find additional information on www.heijmans.nl.



For additional information / not for publication:



Media

Toinja van Daal

Communications

+ 31 73 543 52 17

tdaal@heijmans.nl

Analysts

Guido Peters

Investor Relations

+ 31 73 543 52 17

gpeters@heijmans.nl





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: Heijmans NV via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 06:02:02

Singapore a Global Innovation Champion, Says CTA

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)

Bronwyn Flores, 703-907-7679

bflores@CTA.tech

www.CTA.tech

A new global ranking from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) identifies Singapore is one of 13 countries earning the designation of 2018 Innovation Champion. CTAs inaugural Innovation Scorecard identifies critical areas of national policy that spur innovation and reveals the areas in which countries may be stunting their own futures and economic growth.

The trend lines are clear  Innovation is encouraged where governments, such as Singapores, are hospitable to new ideas, where people enjoy great freedom and clean environments and where innovators are embraced, said Gary Shapiro, CEO and president, CTA. Countries futures are tied to innovation, because it will bolster economic growth and provide future generations with the jobs they want. Graduates entering the work force today dont necessarily want to stay in the factory jobs of previous generations  they want to use their creativity and curiosity to build brighter futures worldwide.

CTA, the largest U.S. tech trade association, conducted a comparative analysis of 38 countries and the European Union. In addition to Singapore, CTAs Scorecard named Australia, Austria, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Sweden, United States, Portugal, Finland, New Zealand, Canada, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands as global Innovation Champions.

Singapore earned the fourth-highest composite score in the Scorecard. It was also one of only three countries to receive an A grade or higher in Diversity, with the highest percentage of immigrants as a share of its population  a remarkable 45.4 percent. The report also notes Singapore makes no secret of its desire to become a leader in self-driving vehicles, hosting the first-ever self-driving taxi service in 2016.

Although Singapore scores very well in the Scorecard, the country could take actions to be more hospitable to the sharing economy. Would-be ridesharing drivers are subject to unnecessary licensing and testing requirements, and short-term renters face federal length-of-stay limits.

The Scorecard uses several objective criteria including whether governments welcome disruptive business models and technologies such as the sharing economy and self-driving vehicles; how friendly their tax systems are; how well they protect the environment; and issues of perennial importance such as broadband speed and cost. The Scorecard also gauges countries on diversity; the ratio of female-to-male employees in the workplace in key age demographics; immigrants as a share of the national population; and freedom of thought and expression.

Other key international findings, ranked by grade, include:

The countries that have, on average, the fastest and most affordable internet connections are the United Kingdom, Finland, South Korea, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands

The countries with the highest level of entrepreneurial activity are Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States, Singapore, Ireland and Sweden

The countries leading the way in self-driving vehicle policy are Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States

CTA considered a range of indicators to determine the final roster of countries. The Scorecard evaluates countries that fit two guidelines: the government must be able to influence public policy; and publicly available, verifiable and independent third-party data must exist and can be compared with different nations. In future editions, CTA will expand the scope of the Scorecard and include more countries.

To read more about the Scorecard, visit www.internationalscorecard.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180405006
PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 09:02:01

SpareBank 1 SMN (the Bank) refers to the announcement on April 4 2018.

The Bank has today issued NOK 300 million in Additional Tier 1 Capital with a perpetual tenor. The issue has a first call option 5.25 years from the settlement date for NOK 300 million with a coupon of 3 months NIBOR +3.15 percentage points p.a.

Settlement date is April 18 2018 and the bonds will be applied for listing on Nordic ABM.

In conjunction with the bond issues, the Bank has bought back NOK 38.3 million in MING65 (ISIN: NO0010682313) at a price of 100.59 and NOK 46 million in MING68 (ISIN: NO0010692494) at a price of 101.61 - both with Settlement date April 18 2018.

The new issue and the buy-back of MING65 and MING68 is approved by the FSA and the Supervisory Board of the Bank.

SpareBank 1 Markets and Swedbank Norge acted as arrangers for the transactions.

Contact person in SpareBank 1 SMN

Dep. head of treasury Per Egil Aamo, tel: +47 73 58 64 66

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to 5-12 vphl (Norwegian Securities Trading Act)

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: SpareBank 1 SMN via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-04-06 09:32:01

As part of the I4MS initiative, MIDIH will invest up to 60,000 per experiment in its first open call

Data driven applications and experiments in CPS/IoT will be the target of this call for proposals

The Manufacturing Industry Digital Innovation Hubs Project (MIDIH) to Distribute 960,000 to the European Industry

I4MS

Silvia Valcarcel

Communication Executive of Mobile World Capital Barcelona

svalcarcel@mobileworldcapital.com

Funded by Horizon 2020 within the Factories of Future Program and the I4MS Initiative, the Manufacturing Industry Digital Innovation Hubs programme (MIDIH) has launched its first open call since its beginning last October. MIDIH aims to support and link national and local initiatives for the digitisation of manufacturing industry to boost investment and collaborations through strategic partnership and networking. Moreover, the programme will encourage innovation partnerships between solution providers and industry, as well as bring Europe to the forefront of the Industry 4.0 market by 2023. MIDIH will connect operating Digital Innovation Hubs focusing on CPS and IoT into a pan-European network capable of more effectively addressing the needs of European industry, notably SMEs.

With a total budget of  960,000 and a maximum funding request of 60,000 per proposal, this open call will target the development of data driven applications by IT SMEs as technology providers and experiments in CPS/IoT by manufacturing SMEs. Moreover, it aims at complementing functionalities around MIDIH reference architecture and performing experiments in CPS/IoT based on the components provided by MIDIH architecture. In that sense, the experiments proposed will have to cover smart factory, smart product and smart supply chain.

The MIDIH ecosystem, composed by three pan-EU DIHs, nine technology-specific Competence Centres, two Teaching Factories and two I4MS Regional DIHs, will offer skills building services to help SMEs / midcaps understand new technologies, the related business models and to take full advantage of them. MIDIH is also developing a common platform of knowledge, methods and collaboration tools that will be shared among the MIDIHs network and allow cross-border fertilisation, continuous improvement, open innovation.

The expected applicants are ICT SMEs, as technology providers, and manufacturing SMEs established in countries eligible for participation in EC H2020. The experiments can be submitted until the 29th June 2018 at 5p.m. (Brussels local time).

More information at midih.eu/open-call.php

About I4MS

I4MS is coordinated by Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, FundingBox, Foreningen MADE, FIWARE Foundation EV, Danish Technological Institute and Axencia Galega de Innovacion.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180406005

EU Project #MIDIH has launched its first #opencall!! Selected projects can earn up to 60K in #funding. Apply before 29th of June 2018!!! Find out more: http://ow.ly/J02a30jdtYC ?? #I4MS #DigitalSolutions #CPS #IoT #Innovation
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Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is no longer in critical condition and has responded well to treatment after a nerve agent attack in March, the hospital treating him said on Friday.

He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition, Christine Blanshard, Medical Director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in a statement.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia were found slumped unconscious on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain said they were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent first developed by the Soviet Union.

Russia has denied it had anything to do with the first known use of such a toxin on European soil since World War Two.

Blanshard said she was providing the update response to intense media coverage yesterday.

On Thursday, Russian state television reported Yulia had phoned her cousin and told her that she and her father were both recovering and that she expected to leave hospital soon.

Britain has said Russia is culpable for the attack, while Moscow denies any involvement.

The incident has had major diplomatic ramifications, with mass expulsions of Russian and Western diplomats.

NAN reports that U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats, including

48 employees of the Russian Embassy and 12 people who have been assigned to the UN in New York over

the posotioning.

NAN reports that the EU also recalled its ambassador from Moscow for consultations over the nerve gas attack against a former spy in Britain, reinforcing a united stand with Prime Minister Theresa May against Russia.

Britain argues the attack is part of a pattern of behavior by an increasingly assertive Russia whose muscle-flexing, cyber-meddling and law-breaking on foreign soil pose a threat to the international rule of law.

Britain and Russia have expelled 23 of each others diplomats in a dispute showing no sign of easing.

Russias ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, accused the UK Thursday of having a bad record of violating international law and misleading the international community.

History shows that British statements must be verified, he told reporters in London, demanding full transparency

of the investigation and full cooperation with Russia and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

(Reuters/NAN)
In this interview with Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, the National Chairman of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party (ANRP), Tope Fasua, reviews the three-year tenure of the President Muhammadu Buhari government, saying the administration has done more damage to Nigeria than all others before it. He also speaks on the growth of his party and analyses how Mr. Buhari would be defeated in the 2019 election.

PT: On December 14, 2017, INEC announced the registration of your party, ANRP, along with 20 others. What has been the journey so far?

Tope Fasua: Many thanks. Its been very interesting and challenging. Luckily we started on a good note. We opened up our process and system to all and sundry from the moment the idea of the party was conceived and kept growing the numbers until we were approved and certificated. By the time we had our approval we were 27,500 plus in terms of numbers. Since then we have added over 10,000 new members and are growing everyday.

We are Nigerias most honest political effort since the return of civilian democracy. People see that we were formed by regular people and we are vehement that we dont want moneybags or professional politicians. We see ANRP as a platform for the involvement of private sector professionals as well as public servants who seek genuine progress in the governance of this country. We are aware that the political space is now crowded and may become even more so as we move along. However we are positioned as the next biggest political movement after the moribund two which have put Nigeria in serious socioeconomic over the past two decades

PT: So what is actually new that you are bringing to the table? Why should Nigerians take your platform more seriously than APC, PDP and the other older platforms?

Tope Fasua: This is a two-pronged question. What is actually new about ANRP especially in view of 67 other choices? I usually say we are Nigerias most honest effort so far. You will discover that we are the only party in Nigeria that makes plain its numbers of members. We are the most transparent party in Nigeria. We are a party that is offering responsibility to Nigerians. The taste of the pudding is in the eating and because we started on a transparent and honest manner we have sowed seeds far and wide and proven to all who have taken the step of faith that we mean business with our transparency ethos. We publish accounts every month and make it available to all members. We are run by young and fairly young people most of whom have the mindset of private sector efficiency. We are prudent in all our undertakings. We are the party that Nigerians should be joining to build because we offer a true new beginning. Also our ideology is termed constructive pragmatism meaning that we adopt only the best policies for Nigeria. We will support businesses but responsible governance is the first port of call.

Nigerians should take ANRP more serious than APC or PDP or indeed any other party because it is only in ANRP that their voices will really count. We dont have youth and women wings because youth and women own the party and are getting involved fully in the headship, midsection, wings, feet and brainbox of the party. Ours is a statement that as much as Nigerian people had been written off in the past, still we can organise ourselves and get it done. We were the first party to institute and implement crowdfunding in Nigeria and with that we have been able to open branches in most state capitals in Nigeria as well as host a talk of the town national congress in Abuja. Its even much easier to join our party than to join these old parties where people have to return to their wards and get their village chief to recommend them . No. We live in a digital age with much human mobility. And so it takes a couple or minutes at most to key in your data online and join us at server.anrp.org.ng. We walk our talk.

PT: There was a lot of buzz around your party when the idea of forming it was first mooted. That momentum seems to have died down. There are suggestions that you have perhaps run out of steam.

Tope Fasua: Well ordinarily I wont say I got the idea that there was a lot of buzz except among people who truly believed and logged on to the idea. For many the initial buzz was embraced with cynicism. For those driving the process the trick is to ignore cynics and get on with the job. There are ts to cross and is to dot. What we did was basically unprecedented because we built consensus among as many Nigerians as believed in the idea. We didnt keep the idea secret and that is why many heard about it. Now perhaps its natural but Nigerians love ready-made things. We didnt project that we were already made. We wanted people to join and make the idea. We got a handful. We didnt get millions. But we planted a seed. As at today our population is around 50,000 and growing. You will soon see numbers bumping up because we devised a new manner of uploading members on our system. We had to move our website to a more secure server and also got a much higher bandwidth because the former arrangement could not cope with the traffic of people who were just visiting to see what we were on about. As I speak we have just got about 8,000 new real members in Ekiti and another 5,000 in Ondo. We are getting members daily..We are genuine and organic.

So the buzz hasnt died down among those who truly believe in this idea and are ready to be part of building it up. It may seem to have slowed in the eyes of those whose reaction to the ANRP idea was cynicism. On the 17th of February 2018 we had our National Convention at Eagle Square Abuja. The turnout was extraordinary. I was amazed myself. Real members came from 36 states. We didnt hire any crowd. The big parties were afraid. That was great to see. So we decided to continue building our structure. By April 7 we are commencing our state congresses in eight states  six in the South West plus FCT and Kogi. So I will urge you and all who are truly caring to be methodical. Noise is not progress. It takes the bamboo tree five years of watering to grow roots and the sixth year to soar into the skies. We will not need six years but we know that structure is key.

By May 2018 we will move to our LG congresses and later to wards. That is the surest way to build a party. Most others are basing theirs on deception and they call it politicking. Of course we are constrained by finance and that is okay because if we had all the money to spend today even you should be suspicious. We decided that pending when we raise enough cash amongst ourselves we must keep doing every little thing we can do to keep organising ourselves. We are set to surprise the world.

PT: You recently held a convention in Abuja, there were then complaints about lopsidedness in the composition of your NEC. What really happened?

Tope Fasua: Hahaha. Great that you noticed. At least we are making the news. Well again we should be careful not to expect things to be perfect from Day One. Anything great you see today was started somehow and perfected as things went along. Even at that nothing is perfect. The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. Also they say perfect is the enemy of good. Many people who call themselves perfectionists are such that never start or get involved in anything but criticise and pick holes in what others do. Anyway at ANRP we arent looking for perfectionists per se We are looking for those who understand how to start and sustain an initiative..We are looking for those who understand that even failure is a very necessary part and stage in achievement of success.

So when this idea was started a lot of my friends on Facebook joined. In three days we got people from at least 30 states. Usually those states with more internet penetration. Then we kept forging on. Those who joined early have borne the brunt of our progress till date. They have contributed money and have brought ideas. They have travelled all over the country too. We appointed some interim positions and most of them discharged themselves creditably .

Note that the national convention you referred to was also exemplary. All of us in interim positions tactically stepped down and allowed other people contest against us. We therefore brought in new blood into the management of the party. Of course those traducers who dont want the party to see the light of day went to town to start counting how many northerners and southerners, how many Christians and Muslims. We dont roll like that at ANRP and no one is complaining inhouse. What we have said is that we dont do zoning but we do balancing. We tried hard to balance the outcomes ad much as possible. The process is still on going.

INEC office signpost

Remember we also have shadow ministers in our constitution. The list will be unveiled soon. No party in Nigeria has our kind of organic diversity. Forget the two big parties which have been spending Nigerias commonwealth to get big. The people there are united by the money. We are united by the passion. We have people spending their own money to give this idea a great push. Unprecedented. So at ANRP the first port of call is competence. Then we look at the result and balance out somehow. We also should note that we cannot go and beg anyone who is not a member of the party with positions. You have to submit to the supremacy of the party. Those who tried to make this an issue are not members of the party. Imagine. Weve been asking you to join the party so we can build it together you refused. Some guy even threatened to go to court if INEC registers us..I reminded him to hurry up the other day. So such people crawl out of the crevices and start counting Muslims and Christians, Yoruba and Igbo and Hausa etc. Its ridiculous. Same mindset that got Nigeria to this point. ANRP has no time for such inanities but we are a fair and just party

PT: How are you funding ANRP?

Tope Fasua: We have set out to fund via crowdfunding. We are the first to initiate such and take it forward. It is a tad alien to most Nigerians but we are prepared to go the long haul. The uptake hasnt been very great but its expanding. And we can proudly say we have achieved more via crowdfunding than any political party in Nigeria. Our convention was fully funded via crowdfunding. Yes a few of us still bear most of the burden but the kind of Nigerians we are attracting are beginning to appreciate the fact that we all cannot just be foolishly collecting crumbs from looters that we have to step up and own our own game. ANRP is totally about the emergence of new sets of leaders across the length and breadth of Nigeria. We want to throw up new names that people have never heard before.

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We are saying that those famous looters that many seem to worship today were nobodies until they somehow found a chance. ANRP is the chance of our time. The chance of a lifetime. Its the political equivalent of Microsoft shares being sold for a dollar at IPO  Initial Public Offering. With the N5,000 annual dues members are positioned for positions of responsibility like never before. They get an opportunity to get involved to shape the party in the ideal way that theyve always imagined. That is priceless. Anyone who says we shouldnt collect any dues is trying to push us to be dependent on political godfathers. We will not go down that route. So in as much as the process of funding is a painful one we have left the opportunity open to those who still want to assist or fulfil their obligations to the party. The key reason why anyone will even donate to the party is because they have observed the way we work and think and believe they can trust us with the little they have. Let any other party try raise funds and see what happens. Donations are very key to the party beyond subscriptions but we even have a cap on that like they do in the USA. Our constitution says that no one should give the party anything more than 20million naira. This way no one can saunter in with stolen funds and say he wants to buy or hijack the party.

We got it all covered. Only that it places a bigger burden on us. Now we must think deeper, work harder, sacrifice more. Its excruciating. But I tell.our members that we should be proud of the pains and complaints. If we suddenly have billions to spend we will stop thinking. And that may mean that someone somewhere has started to pump in money to steal our innocence. Our funding should increase in line with our membership growth. One other important aspect is that ANRP is undoubtedly Nigerias largest collection of talents. We have so many young people doing things for the party for free. Graphics. Music. Poems. Writeups. Media coverage. Videos. Banners. So so much. Sometimes it makes me emotional that we have got so many diverse people who have absolutely bought into this idea. We are thankful to them all.

PT: You came on board because you felt the older parties have disappointed? What will you do differently if elected?

Tope Fasua: We will do almost everything differently. What Nigeria needs now is a new way of thinking. A new culture. A new way or life. Nigeria is easily the most misgoverned country on earth. The other day Bill Gates was telling them how if they can increase Government Revenue to GDP ratio to the level of Bangladesh which is at 10%, we will.add a whooping $18billion to our yearly budget. That means our National budget will be up at $41billion instead of the paltry, dismal, uninspiring, hopeless level of $23 billion that it is today. We are talking of a budget for 180 million people. Per capita or per person that budget is a mere $133 per annum. That means $133 is what the arrogant and profligate, oppressive and irresponsible Nigerian government intends to spend on an average Nigerian this year whether on roads or health, education or environment. That is as good as nothing. Meanwhile half this money will disappear into peoples pockets. And another quarter will be used to pay salaries.

What is more? Again in the year 2018 we are in April and our wicked government is still kicking the can down the road. They are tossing the budget up and down. The lives of Nigerians dont matter to these people. The members of the National Assembly are gorged full with money. We run a feudal system of slave masters and serfs. Whoever is closest to our resources just stretches their hand and takes everything. No repercussion. No consequences. That is why the Senate collects that huge emolument and the members still corruptly insert themselves in every deal under the sun. They even tell Nigerians that it is not our business to know what they earn. They have also told us to go and find out what Ministers earn and that is true. Somehow everybody is officially earning amounts not approved by Salaries and Wages Commission or the Revenue Mobilisation Agency. Somehow there are allowances appearing from every crack and the public which pays these people are not supposed to know what they are being paid. Remember that the budget is paltry. This is the reason why Nigeria is now by far the poorest country on earth. Poverty is increasing. Too many Nigerians are dropping below the threshold. Too many are unaware what life is all about and how to get involved in the new economy.. And the government is not ready to help.

They are more interested in feathering their own nests. See the story of the Minister for Communication Adebayo Shittu who was recently outed by a former aide. Now hes telling us how he borrowed money to build a mansion. When did he get to Abuja? How well has his budget performed for the people that he became so comfortable to erect a mansion in just two years or less? The man was even justifying his penchant for travels and estacodes and how he has been doing other people favours to enjoy the same. Look, what we have are slavemasters. The shocking thing is that Buhari is superintending over perhaps the most oppressive, most intolerant and most unimaginative poverty-promoting government in the history of Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari

So I went and checked what was Bangladeshs budget this year. I found out it is $56 billion. And the budget is already approved and in play. Their population is 150 million. Our current leaders have no.plans for the people of Nigeria. Forget it. Algeria is already operating a $60 billion budget for its 40 million people already. Reuben Abati recently returned from Morocco and reports first world infrastructure.

Everywhere seems to be overtaking Nigeria. Kenya is already running a $29 billion budget for its 48 million people. Angola is already effecting a budget of $47 billion for its 25 million people. The so called largest economy in Africa and clay-footed giant of Africa is doing a mere dismal $23 billion or N8.6 trillion for 180 million people. They are thumping their chests. They are deluded and misguided. They even think there is so much to pilfer out of that amount. We heard about 78,000 ghost policemen.

Nigerians must unshackle themselves from this nonsense. What we are saying at ANRP is that Nigeria has since lost its way. The problem is not just about structure or tribe or these things that divide us..its in our heads. We stopped thinking. Not that we were great thinkers before but suddenly we went into reverse. We are here with a new thinking. Our ideology says we are a thinking party and will throw out all these ideas and get Nigeria to take informed decisions based on critical thinking. Whether it is for budget or mad debt acquisition or neglect of the environment or neglect of human resources we are here with a totally new thinking that will delight Nigeria and Nigerians and give us a life worth living not the current nonsense.

Meanwhile, just to inform you: South Africa, which is meant to be our junior brothers in Africa  economy wise  is already operating a budget of $155 billion for its 58 million people in this year 2018. Where do I start and where do I end? Its just pathetic. Absolutely pathetic and saddening.

PT: So given the resources needed to campaign in this large country, how strong can your party be for the coming elections?

Yes, resources are needed but not as much as these old parties have made out to be the case. Look at what we have built without having access to any government money like them? We have offices in at least 20 state capitals with the rest coming in stream shortly. We are in many LGs and Wards. We say we dont have money to build houses but we are assiduously building castles and mansions in the hearts of people. We have young people across the country who are crazy about ANRP and truly demand change for the better or renewal for this country. It is these ones who will take our message forward to the corners of the country.

A person casting his vote used to illustrate the story.

Our model is different. We are in touch with all our members via a Call Centre. We manage our members. They are delighted to hear from us. We build the relationships. We are certainly making a dent in 2019. We are unlike other parties that are relying on rigging. Yes they can rig but will not succeed everywhere.. We are tech driven and our eyes are open. If any of these planless, oppressive parties try any hanky panky we will contest the election to any limit. We are building our roots. State LG Ward congresses. That means showing presence. We will keep raising funds too. But one naira in ANRP is equivalent to 100 naira elsewhere..We are prudent and totally accountable. Imagine a political party that renders accounts to all members on a monthly basis. What could be better than that. That is the reason why an increasing number of people are ready to trust us with their hard-earned resources. This trust investment is even more important because it is why people will defend their votes. No other party has that advantage in Nigeria. None of them are ready for the hard work and sacrifice it requires.

So by and.large, before the next general elections all our structures will be solid and we will drive membership recruitment through our equally unique system of performance management. Let me give you an insight. We had since designed a form for recruiting en masse. Anyone who wants to contest on our platform is required to bring a certain number of members..its like the American petition system. We are not here to joke

PT: There are speculations you might seek the nomination of your party to run for president.

Well its a possibility but for now we have a lot of work to do. Our party is not based on ego tripping. Its not about one individual who thinks hes a superstar. Personally Im self-effacing. If not for Nigerias many unbearable problems you wont hear from me. Im here because of my pity for humanity really, myself inclusive.

Our projection for the presidential elections is that we will have at least six people from within contesting for the post. They will go through all the process and have a debate. The best winner will emerge. My joining the group of contestants must not upset the apple cart. Im just another member of the party. At ANRP we dont play politics like elsewhere. At ANRP everybody counts. We are the party that has come to restore dignity to the average Nigerian..I just wish more will know and realise this. Like Harriet Tubman, the lady who operated the Underground Railroad and helped to take thousand of black people to freedom north of America used to say even though this quote is attributed to anonymous online I freed a thousand slaves but I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.

Over the decades Nigerians have been battered almost to a state of stupor and stupidity by its wicked leaders. Tens of millions of Nigerians dont know there is a better life out there even within Africa. Even the educated and middle class dont know their lives will be better if their country was better. That is it. We are selling the idea of a much better life. We dont need to borrow massively from abroad like this current government is doing. A friend said that if we continue to service our debts at this rate it will take us 120 years already to exit these debts. Yet we are taking more. So ours is not about self glorification. We are here to give the responsibility back to Nigerians and this country back to the youths who own the future. They should smarten up and join us at www.anrp.org.ng

PT: Garba Shehu recently said the followership of President Muhammadu Buhari is so phenomenal that it has to be studied by political scientists. How can a candidate like you defeat such a phenomenon?

Tope Fasua: I believe by now we can see that that followership is based on half truths and deceit. Yes it is an approach in politics to amass millions of believers based on fakery. It is not just our approach at ANRP. Who are these followers that Garba Shehu speaks about? Are they not the downtrodden and forgotten people of Nigeria who have since developed Stockholm Syndrome after decades of oppression and suppression by their own very traducers? Are they not the 15 million Nigerian children who have been left in the lurch of illiteracy and want? Are they not the religious and tribal fanatics who see something divine in the man even though he has told them via his actions in no uncertain terms that he is not in their class and category and would rather roll with the heavy hitters and moneybags?

Any follower with a modicum of intelligence has since shifted gear apart from those profiting from the system. How can we be talking of followership for a man whose children school abroad while he says nothing about declaring an emergency against mass illiteracy? A man who prefers the company of lavishers of our commonwealth in high octane parties? A man with no sense of urgency who cannot even move his own cabinet around. A man who has infected Nigeria as a whole with his own disease or stasis? A man who threw the country deeper into economic recession just because he thinks of himself alone and believes that he and some of his friends are superior to 180 million Nigerians?

I can assure you that most of that followership is waking up but I admit he may retain a chunk as long as he continues to promote illiteracy and fanaticism of different hue. Buhari cannot win 25% in 25 states and so cannot form government at first vote. He cannot get any of the five states in the east. Any of the six states in the South South. He cannot get more than two states in the South West and will lose even some North Eastern and North Central States woefully.

Look at the serious problem of open grazing. The man has said nothing. it is a tough problem that requires quick action not preachment. It is a fact that that age long practice can no longer continue in this age. No concise marshal plan is in place or in the works. No we dont have leaders in Nigeria. The man has to be forced and insulted before he visited some of these flashpoints? He has refused to have a media chat for perhaps a year!

A president that cannot even talk to or motivate his own people? What is there to follow in him? FD Roosevelt led the USA through World War 2 on a wheelchair. All he had to do was speak. They called it his fireside chats. All the Americans had was their radios. The man took the USA to abiding greatness. The man we have here only insults and condescends on the people. He wants to be feared I reckon. Wrong strategy. So yes we can defeat the myth called Buhari especially for those who are feigning ignorance of that fact. Just wait and see.

PT: You enumerated how difficult it would be for Buhari to win re-election. How easy can it be for your own party to win the 2019 general elections?

Tope Fasua: Yes, Buhari has been part of the deceptive and wickedly myopic elites that prefer to keep our people in ignorance for the sake of power. Only that he played his own game extremely well. It wasnt until he became president that he bared his fangs. Great strategy. Mind you I had admired him since 1984 partly because I attended an Army Secondary School and had soldiers all around me while they ruled the country. The scales dropped since 2015. So as much as he will have it easy in some parts as usual, it will be impossible to sell his brand in half of Nigeria at least. I recently reviewed the results of the 2015 elections and realised that he lost in some states where we may mistake to be strongholds of his. These are Edo, Plateau, Taraba, even FCT. I was like wow. And he will lose even more in those places going forward. Add that to the South East, South South and losses in the South West. We should probably be seriously looking at a Government of National Unity and ANRP wants to be solidly in such a Government because we must mainstream our many ideas. We must also deploy the youthful energy, passion, global exposure, enlightenment and modernity and most especially the innocence and honesty that drives us for the salvation and renewal of Nigeria. We cannot have another minute of lacklustre, wasteful, ego-driven, disconnected, deceptive, uncommunicative, uninspiring and archaic governance any moment from May 29, 2019. Enough already!

As for how tough it will be for us to win at first vote, I have enumerated that earlier. We dont deceive ourselves. We have to work on building our structure down to the wire. We have to build the structures and create awareness for the party down to the very last moment. Let me just say that we are a party of consequence. We are not here for money or for jokes. We are here to bring to reality all those dreams about Nigeria that had remained in the realm of wishes. We believe Nigerians deserve a better way of living and we are ready to help realise this together with every compatriot.

PT: Whats your message for the Nigerian electorate as we inch towards the 2019 general elections?

Tope Fasua: Nigerians should know that a better life is possible. The poor should know that it is not their destiny to be poor. That we can achieve a nation where most people can pull through. The weak should not despair. They should know that the state can help them because we cannot all be strong and smart the same way. The middle class should know that their numbers can grow and that the progress of society relies on them. They should know that there is no joy in thumbing their noses to their own country. That if we make Nigeria better they will get the first benefit. The rich should know that they can even be richer and have even more fulfilling lives if we allow this country to attain its potentials.

I want Nigeria to know that this country has reached the peak of international disdain and disappointed the entire black race and that time no longer exists to kick the can around and faff about. The time for renewal is now. I want Nigerians to know that it is the choices to which our commonwealth has been put that is wrong; that a situation where 70 percent of the commonwealth is used to make politicians and civil servants comfortable and happy cannot liberate a nation even in a millennium. I want Nigerians to know that the time is now. They should join us at www.anrp.org.ng.

PT: When will you likely declare to run for president?

Tope Fasua: Again Im not the item in ANRP. Someone has even gone ahead and is rallying forces for his presidential ambition within the party while I still slave away to ensure we are not running on a joke but building a solid structure. That we are not presenting candidates as a joke but to ensure we really shake the system when we do. To be a president in Nigeria you need about 10million votes. Where will we find 10million votes? We just have to invest all the time and resources on our hands. It takes time, talent and treasure to get this done. And it cannot be one mans time, talent or treasure. Any serious person in this quest should be able to unleash these three ts in millions of people.

That is why we are concentrating for now on our structure. Our state congresses start April 7. Then we go to the LG and so on. As we go along we are bringing in more talents. And we are getting more and more people to invest their treasures. Only then can we talk of presidential elections. Any party whose focus is on presidency without going through the crucibles we are going through is just deceiving himself. If people have never heard about your party in the villages and you have no members there to tell them how can you win presidency? Is it meant to be a joke? So out of respect for the party and our hundreds and thousands of members and admirers I havent talked about any personal ambition since we started. Ive instead put everything I have and more into growing the party. Sometimes I find it tough meeting obligations because of the party. I get totally chewed out. So much poverty in the land and you have to keep carrying people one way or another. But when it gets frustrating I remember those who have been to jail several times in the quest to make Nigeria better and I tell myself its a sacrifice I have to keep making. I will only declare when the time is absolutely right

PT: Thank you very much sir for speaking to us.

Tope Fasua: Many thanks too.
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The Country Officer and Head of the Nigeria Office of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Udo Jude Ilo, is currently being detained in Abuja, a security source has told PREMIUM TIMES.

Our source said Mr. Ilo is being held by the Federal Capital Territory Command of the State Security Service (SSS).

It is not exactly clear how the OSIWA official arrived the SSS facility in the Asokoro District of Abuja. Our security source said he responded to a summon. But another source claimed he was arrested and taken there.

But when contacted, Mr. Ilos driver said he dropped Mr. Ilo off at the facility at about 9:30 am. He said his boss told him he was responding to a summon by the SSS to attend a meeting over an urgent security matter concerning OSIWA.

Mr. Ilos offence remained unclear at this time but an OSIWA insider said his organisation had of late received disturbing correspondences from the security intelligence service in Nigeria.

But I dont know if this is why he is being detained, the source said. We didnt see this coming.

Staff in the Nigerian office of OSIWA in Abuja told PREMIUM TIMES they have no details on Mr. Ilos detention.

All I know is that one security agency recently wrote to us asking for the names, nationalities, telephone numbers and contact addresses of all our staff in Nigeria, one staff said, asking not to be named for fear of arrest by the authorities.

The same agency later ordered us to submit all documents that authorise us to operate in Nigeria. Of course we complied, and it is curious that our colleague can be detained.

Mr. Ilos lawyers, Chike Okafor, could not be reached on telephone. One of his associates said he had rushed to the SSS office to push for the OSIWA officials release.

The SSS could not be reached for comments. It currently has no spokesperson to respond to media enquiries.

OSIWA is an advocacy and grant-making organisation that pushes for open societies, accountability and inclusive democratic governance. It is present in 10 African countries and is part of the larger Open Society Foundations founded by business magnate, George Soros, which is working to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.

The organisation is doing extensive work in Nigeria to strengthen the capacity of the countrys civil society bodies to hold government, individuals and corporations accountable.
Story Highlights 45% in Southwest are "very religious," the most religious U.S. region

26% are "very religious" in New England, the least religious region

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Southwest and Southeast regions of the United States lived up to their reputation as the home of the nation's Bible Belt in 2017, producing nine of the nation's 11 most religious states. In contrast, the Pacific and New England regions have 10 of the 11 least religious states for the year.

Forty-five percent of Americans living in the Southwest and 43% in the Southeast are "very religious" -- a classification based on how important people say religion is to them and how often they attend religious services. They are the only two of the nation's eight regions with at least 40% of their residents classified as very religious. The percentage is below 30% in the Pacific and New England regions, while religiosity is in the 30s across the center of the country from the Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic.

Religiosity in U.S. Regions Very religious Moderately religious Not religious % % % Southwest 45 31 23 Southeast 43 31 26 West Central 39 29 32 East Central 37 29 34 Rockies 35 27 38 Mid-Atlantic 33 30 36 Pacific 29 28 43 New England 26 26 48 GALLUP U.S. DAILY, JANUARY-DECEMBER 2017

The regional results are based on 130,959 interviews conducted in Gallup's U.S. Daily survey in 2017. The data include more than 6,000 interviews in every region and at least 350 interviews in each state -- with more than 1,000 in most states.

Gallup classifies Americans into three categories:

Very religious Americans say religion is important to them, and they attend religious services weekly or almost weekly.

Moderately religious Americans either say religion is important to them, or they attend services almost weekly or more often.

Nonreligious Americans say religion is not important to them, and they seldom or never attend services.

Nationally, the level of religiosity varies significantly by age, race, ethnicity and religious affiliation. Mormons are most likely to be very religious (73%), followed by Protestants (50%), Muslims (45%), Catholics (40%) and Jews (18%). Religiosity increases with age: Only 28% of those younger than 30 are very religious, compared with 47% of those aged 65 and older. Blacks (48%) are more likely than whites or Hispanics (36% each) to be very religious.

These factors -- especially differences in religious affiliation -- are major contributors to the large state-to-state differences in the percentage of Americans who are very religious. For example, people living in Mississippi are more than three times as likely to be classified as very religious as those living in Vermont -- 59% versus 16%. The full results for each state are available here.

The states within each of the eight regions of the United States as defined by Gallup generally are close to each other in religiosity levels, with a few outlier states. The most religious and least religious regions are particularly illustrative of the overall trends.

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The Southwest and Southeast: The Most Religious Regions

These two regions are home to nine of the 11 most religious states in the union. Three of the four states in the Southwest region are among the 11 most religious (Louisiana fourth, Arkansas tied for fifth and Oklahoma tied for 10th), and the other state, Texas, is 14th.

SOUTHWEST Very religious Moderately religious Not religious Sample size % % % Louisiana 52 31 17 1,800 Arkansas 50 30 19 1,398 Oklahoma 45 30 25 1,808 Texas 43 32 25 10,085 GALLUP U.S. DAILY, JANUARY-DECEMBER 2017

The Southwest has the highest percentage of very religious Americans among the eight regions. The driving force behind the high percentage of Southwesterners who are very religious is the dominating presence of Protestants and other non-Mormon and non-Catholic Christians. They make up 59% of the population, and a majority of these (57%) are classified as very religious. At the same time, only 12% of those in the Southwest region are not religious, below the national average of 18%.

In the Southeast, six of the states in the region are among the 11 most religious in the U.S. Mississippi once again is the most religious state -- as it has been every year since 2008, when Gallup began compiling the annual rankings. Alabama is tied for the second-highest percentage of very religious residents; South Carolina is tied for fifth; Tennessee is seventh; North Carolina is tied for eighth; Kentucky is tied for 10th; and Georgia is tied for 12th. Two states on the region's edges are ranked lower -- Virginia is tied for 19th on the national list, and Florida, tied for 30th, is the only Southeast state in the bottom half nationally.

SOUTHEAST Very religious Moderately religious Not religious Sample size % % % Mississippi 59 29 12 1,187 Alabama 54 29 17 2,144 South Carolina 50 30 20 2,022 Tennessee 49 30 22 2,930 North Carolina 46 31 23 4,093 Kentucky 45 30 26 1,788 Georgia 43 33 23 3,928 Virginia 38 30 31 3,513 Florida 35 32 33 7,982 GALLUP U.S. DAILY, JANUARY-DECEMBER 2017

As in the Southwest, Protestants and other non-Mormon, non-Catholic Christians are the major factor behind the high percentage of very religious residents in the region. They make up a majority of the population in the Southeast (63%) and are more likely to be very religious (55%) than Protestants in every other region except the Southwest. Fourteen percent of residents in the Southeast are not religious.

The Pacific and New England: The Least Religious Regions

These two regions are collectively home to 10 of the 11 least religious states in the union. All of the five Pacific region states are among this group. In the New England region, five of the constituent states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont) are among the 11 least religious.

PACIFIC Very religious Moderately religious Not religious Sample size % % % California 29 29 42 13,074 Alaska 28 25 47 407 Hawaii 28 27 44 541 Washington 28 26 47 3,367 Oregon 28 25 48 2,303 GALLUP U.S. DAILY, JANUARY-DECEMBER 2017

There is only one point's difference among the Pacific region states in the percentage of residents who are very religious. The percentage who are not religious varies a little more -- from 48% in Oregon to 42% in California -- but in all five states, the percentage who are not religious outweighs the percentage very religious by double digits. Forty-three percent of residents in the Pacific are not religious, well above the national norm.

NEW ENGLAND Very religious Moderately religious Not religious Sample size % % % Rhode Island 32 29 39 428 Connecticut 29 29 42 1,428 Massachusetts 26 26 49 2,736 New Hampshire 23 26 51 588 Maine 22 22 55 672 Vermont 16 26 59 370 GALLUP U.S. DAILY, JANUARY-DECEMBER 2017

New England is home to the four states least likely to have residents who are very religious -- Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Three of these (New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont) are the only U.S. states with majorities who are not religious.

Even in this region, Vermont stands out. It has had the lowest percentage of residents who are very religious every year but one since 2008, and this year's 16% reading is six points lower than that of any other state.

Bottom Line

Americans practice their religious beliefs at different levels of commitment and involvement, and these levels vary significantly across the nation's regions.

In the Southeast and Southwest, large percentages of Protestants, especially black Protestants, are very religious. All of the states in these regions are more religious than any of the states in New England and the Pacific, where residents remain the least religious in the nation.

While the percentage of all Americans who are very religious has shrunk over the past decade, the differences in religiousness between the regions have held firm, with no indication that these regional differences will change in the near future.
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Udo Jude Ilo, the Nigeria office director for the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) has been released by the State Security Service, hours after he responded to a summon by the secret police.

Mr. Ilo confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES around 11:45 a.m. Friday.

His visit to the Abuja Command of the SSS in Asokoro District was exclusively reported by PREMIUM TIMES when his colleagues and associates could not communicate with him for unknown reasons.

His driver told PREMIUM TIMES he drove Mr Ilo to the secret police, but could not tell why he was being kept inside without updates about his condition.

His colleagues also raised the alarm, with some OSIWA officials telling PREMIUM TIMES the encounter came amidst a series of disturbing messages the organisation has had with Nigerias security intelligence bodies recently. But they said they werent sure if Mr Ilo was at the SSS over the exchanges.

Mr Ilo said the SSS questions centered around his organisations activities in Nigeria.

They asked to know our partners, how were getting funding and who we are funding, he told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone shortly after his release.

They also indicated interest in profiling us, knowing what we do, who our partners are and how our grantees are using the funds received from.

They took my fingerprints and other details and told me our interaction was a friendly one.

It was not immediately clear why an intelligence organisation like the SSS would have to take an OSIWA official in for secret interrogation about the organisations activities and grantees which are readily available on its website.

OSIWA is an advocacy and grant-making organisation that pushes for open societies, accountability and inclusive democratic governance.

It has presence in 10 African countries and is part of the larger Open Society Foundations founded by business magnate, George Soros, which is working to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.

The organisation is doing extensive work in Nigeria to strengthen the capacity of the countrys civil society bodies to hold government, individuals and corporations accountable.

OSIWA has been widely praised for its achievements and transparency, all of which could be seen on its website.

Mr Ilo said the SSS operatives who interrogated him today told him the exercise was a friendly type that should not have attracted media attention.

The SSS could not be reached for comments as the agency has refused to name a spokesperson since President Muhammadu Buhari named Lawal Daura as its director-general in 2015.
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The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has taken the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to court for defamation and is demanding N1.5 billion in damages.

This follows the release of a list of alleged looters of the nations treasury by the minister. The list contained prominent names of members of the opposition PDP including Mr Secondus. Mr Mohammed had released the list in response to a challenge to do so by the PDP.

The PDP had earlier given the minister a deadline to apologise over the list, and had threatened court action.

According to a statement from the national chairmans media office signed by his spokesperson, Ike Abonyi, Mr Secondus in the suit no/PHC/1013/2018 claimed that Mr Mohammads publication is defammatory and is asking the court to direct him to retract the said publication and apologise in writing.

The minister had mentioned Mr Secondus and other party members in the list of those who looted the nations treasury specifically alleging that he (Secondus) collected N200 million from the former National Security Adviser (NSA).

Others on the list were former National Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh; Raymond Dokpesi; Chairman of DAAR Communications and a former aide to President Jonathan, Dudafa Waripamo-Owei.

The PDP chairman through his lawyer, Emeka Etiaba, had written to the minister seeking the immediate retraction of his name on the list and the payment of N1.5 billion damages and public apology within 72 hours.

He told Mr Mohammad that failure to meet this demand will lead to a suit

Having failed to meet the demand, Secondus on Friday April 6, 2018, made good his threat and filed a suit at the Port Harcourt, High Court, Rivers state claiming among other things that the court awards to him the sum of N1.5 billion being damages for humiliation, castigation, vilification attack on his person and integrity as a result of the publication.

Publish the retraction and apology in all the social media including but not limited to the following newspapers, the Nation, Thisday, The Sun, Guardian and Punch as well as in the following television channels, NTA and Channels Television among others where the defammatory story was published, the statement said.

Mr Secondus is also asking the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from further publishing defammatory materials against him.

Joined in the suit are the federal government through the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Vintage Press Ltd, Publishers of the Nation Newspapers.
African leaders have been urged to honour their commitment towards achieving a Universal Health Coverage for all citizens by 2030.

The World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, made this call on Friday in Abuja as part of the World Health Day 2018 which also doubles as the 70th anniversary of the agency.

The World Health Day is celebrated globally, April 7.

With the theme for this years celebration Universal health coverage (UHC): everyone, everywhere Ms Moeti, who was represented by the WHO country representative to Nigeria, Wondi Alemu, said African leaders should live up to the SDG pledges they made in 2015, and to commit to concrete actions.

Speaking on the theme, Mr Alemu said WHO is drawing attention of global leaders to the need to achieve UHC as this year marks the 40th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978 which called for health for all by the year 2000.

Mr Alemu said countries must strive to improve health governance and information systems to ensure better regulation, planning and accountability to their communities and partners.

He said effective leadership and high-level political commitment are critical to achieving UHC in any country.

Mr Alemu said though health outcomes in the African region have been improved through strategies such as distributing insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria, and vaccinating against the human papillomavirus which causes cervical cancer, more needs to be done in order to provide affordable healthcare services for people within the region.

He said to achieve the feat, adequate and sustained investment in health is necessary for ensuring equitable access to health services.

Member States should address the persistent challenge of inadequate health workforce. Ethiopia exemplifies how investment in health workers, and specifically community health workers, contribute to improved delivery of essential health services.

UHC means ensuring that everyone  no matter where they live or who they are  can access essential quality health services without facing financial hardship. It is a powerful equaliser that ensures #Health for All, enhances health security, reduces poverty and promotes gender equality, he said.

Mr Alemu added that WHO in the African Region is committed to supporting Member States to achieve UHC and have developed a framework of actions to assist countries in selecting their own path towards achieving both UHC and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We have also developed a flagship programme geared towards providing integrated and holistic support to countries through implementation support, a regional learning programme for UHC and more.

A 2017 report by the agency indicated that half of the world population cannot afford essential healthcare services even as a number of households are being pushed daily into poverty each year.

The report showed that even for those who can afford to pay for these services, about 800 million of them spend at least 10 per cent of their household budgets on health expenses for themselves, a sick child or family member.

Though progress was recorded in some countries, the report says, progress is uneven.

Unfortunately, Nigeria is one of WHO member states yet to achieve the UHC agenda for its citizens.

Nigeria is still identified as one of those countries where many citizens cannot obtain essential health services and have to pay through their noses to obtain medical care as the out of pocket spending in Nigeria is said to be as high as 70 per cent.

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Though the government has initiated lots of plans such as the National Health Insurance Scheme, the National Health Acts among others, the efforts are yet to yield desired results.

The National Health Act, which is part of the plans aimed at achieving UHC is yet to be implemented though the National Assembly has promised to provide for it in the 2018 budget.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, during the fifth World Universal Health Coverage Day said the UHC is enshrined in the nations constitution.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Gombe Zone Office, says it has recovered N130 million from the 2015 election looted funds and has convicted nine people from January to March 2018 in the zone.

The Zonal Head of Operation of the Commission, Johnson Babalola, said this when he visited the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Gombe.

According to him, since the coming of this administration in 2015, the Commission has increased its tempo in the fight against corruption adding that recovery of looted funds and prosecutions are still ongoing.

He said there is greater need now to fight corruption, if not, the future of the country would be ruined if selfish people are allowed to steal money that belongs to all Nigerians.

In his words, Nigeria belongs to all of us and we owe it a duty to make the system work and we feel the media is our catchment area if our fight must succeed.

Immediately this administration came on board in 2015, the Government redirected the fight against corruption under Ibrahim Magu and the tempo has changed to a higher speed, he said.

Speaking on the cooperation the Commission has been receiving from the public through divulging useful information, Mr. Babalola said the Commission has been treating such issues with great care so as not to be used as agent of vendetta.

We are very organised, when some one divulges an information, we issue him a form to fill, if he agrees, we make him understand that after investigation is completed and his information is discovered to be false, we prosecute that person. We treat issues based on their merit, he stated.
At least four police officers were reportedly gunned down during a robbery operation in Offa, Kwara State, on Thursday.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that about six other residents and bank customers in the town were also killed in the operation which lasted for more than an hour.

Sources in the town said the robbers blew up entrances into the banks with dynamite, before carting away money from about five banks.

A source told our correspondent that the robbers invaded the town a few minutes past 4 p.m. and shot into the air sporadically to scare away residents and passersby before the operation began.

The robbers then invaded the community police station known as Owode Police Station where some police officers and a few civilians were shot dead.

Sources said the robbers made away with huge cash after the operation.

On Thursday evening, graphic pictures of slain police officers and blood-stained residents flooded the internet.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the banks robbed include branches of Guarantee Trust Bank, Eco Bank, First Bank, Union Bank and Zenith Bank in the town.

According to an eyewitness, who identified herself as Mrs. Tijani, the thieves came in large numbers, and split themselves into teams to carry out the operations in different banks.

She added that the bandits broke into the banks by detonating dynamites.

They used something like bomb to break into Union Bank, she said.

Also, a student of Federal Polytechnic Offa, Dennis Ifeoluwa, explained that gunshots and heavy sounds filled the air. Business activities and vehicular movement ceased during the operation.

I was coming from where Im undergoing my Industrial Training when these sounds started. I had to hide myself somewhere.

After a while they left. Only to discover dead bodies outside. I saw someones intestines outside today, he narrated.

In his reaction, the Kwara State Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, told PREMIUM TIMES that the command could not immediately confirm casualty figure.

He also hinted that the amount stolen by the robbers was still unknown.

Residents and banks in Offa and another nearby community, Omu-aran, have been victims of robbery attacks, especially during Yuletide periods. The rampant cases of robbery in the communities once forced banks to shut operations for a relatively long period.

But in the past year, there has been relative peace in the towns as banks operated without attacks.

A resident who identified himself simply as Ahmed said Thursdays attack remains the deadliest in recent history.

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Offa is in serious mourning now. This is the most tragic and deadliest attack in recent years, he said.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Thursday said the key to the states growth is focus on agricultural development.

The governor disclosed this during the plenary session on the mandate of governance at various level on the improvement of standard of living of citizens as part of activities marking at the third edition of the Kaduna Investment Summit.

He disclosed that government intends to maintain the States position in being the lead producer of soya beans, ginger, millet and potatoes.

The governor said he foresees Kaduna state becoming the food basket of the Northern region and the Country at large in the nearest future.

Mr. El-Rufai said the state has lots of solid minerals but that its developments and long term plan requires extensive collaboration with the Federal Government.

Mining project typically takes eight years to come into operation, which we are focusing on but our main focus is agriculture and agric business, he said.

According to him, the government is simplifying its procedures and making land available to investors in agriculture and agro industries, as part of strategies to grow the sector fast.

We have made significant success in the last two years. Agro industry is growing, we foresee a situation in which Kaduna would be the agricultural hub of Nigeria.

We are already emerging as a big poultry cluster and we want to build on that, he said.

Mr. El-Rufai said going forward, there is need also to invest heavily on education and health.

This is why we invested significantly in the sector of education and state building as well as health care and the United Nations recommended 26 percent of states budget is invested in education.

 Since we came into office , we have surpassed the World Health Organization recommended 15 percent of the budget on health in 2018; we have crossed that as we have done 16.1 percent.

We believe education for the poorest is key to social mobility and we tend to keep doing that.

Coming to the economic growth, recovery and growth plan, all state governors have a consultative plan and we are all involved and we all keyed into the general parameters.

According to him, state governments have internalized the plan, targeting specific areas supporting the main plan.

Unless state governments invest heavily in education and health care, the country will be clapping with one hand,  he said.

On her part, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, commended the state for investing in human capital development.

In health sector the responsibility of the government is to regulate, set up and manage tertiary hospital, she said.

The Minister of State of Industries, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, said the Federal Government is working with the state government and other partners to revive the textile industries in Kaduna.

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According to her, the partners will engage various stakeholders to boost cotton production and set up garment industries.

She said there were plans to supply power to the cluster in the textile zone in Kaduna, to sustain production.

The textile industries in Kaduna are located at the industrial zone and they already have water and good access roads, the major challenges are the raw materials and power, she noted.

The session was to showcase the state as an emerging mining destination, the opportunities therein and the initiatives the sate government is undertaking to attract investments.

The state is endowed with gold, granite, tantalite, columbite and Nickel in commercial quantity.

(NAN)
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The newly-wedded bride kidnapped on Saturday with 10 of her wedding guests has been released by their captors.

The bride was being conveyed to her husbands house by her friends and relatives after the wedding when gunmen stopped the vehicle along the highway in Funtua, Katsina State, and took them away.

She and one of the guests were released at about 8:30 p.m on Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

It was not clear if ransom was paid to the kidnappers and what has happened to the other victims.

Confirming the development on phone, a former chairman of the Birnin Gwari Local Government, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, said the two freed women were being taken away to Birnin Gwari town.

Yes I got the information this morning that she was freed alongside a friend of hers. They are on their way to board a car to Birnin Gwari town. I was told she was from Katsina and she was being taken to her husbands house in Niger state the very day the incident occurred, he said.

Three of the captives, including a member of the brides entourage, had escaped and returned to the town on Sunday morning.

The Funtua road is now a danger zone because at any point they can strike. They operate with impunity along that highway bordering Birnin Gwari and Katsina, the former council boss said.

He said he did not know the fate of the other people abducted with the bride.

Those criminals operating along that route always demand ransom before releasing their victims, he said.

He urged the Federal government to empower local vigilantes to help security agencies and police in fighting the bandits.

Kaduna Police spokesperson, Aliyu Muktar, did not pick his calls when our reporter tried to get his confirmation of the development.
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The Kaduna State Police Command on Friday said they have succeeded in arresting 70 members of the notorious sara-suka thugs terrorising residents of the state.

The police also said they recovered dangerous weapons such as daggers, machetes, clubs and iron bars from the thugs.

The State Commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar, disclosed this while parading firearms recovered or surrendered by unauthorised persons at the state command headquarters.

He explained that the Sara-Suka suspects in custody have made useful statements which are aiding police investigations.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how some membera of the Sara Suka thugs attacked Kwaru Badara and Kawo communities last week, cutting off an ex-soldiers hand in Kwaru.

The thugs, mostly youth, between 18 and 25 years, usually storm communities to attack residents with dangerous weapons.

On the firearms recovered, the police chief urged all members of the public in possession of illegal weapons to hand them over to the command.

 May I use this medium to call on the general public, especially those who posses any of the prohibited and unauthorised firearms, to come forward and surrender them while the grace period is still open.

 Those who deliberately refused to do so after the period elapses will be made to face the wrath of the law.

 The command also urges the good people of the state to remain law abiding and to report to the police or nearest security agency of any suspicious persons, he said.

The commissioner further added that the state command simply complied with the directives given by the Inspector General of Polices disarmament programme, which directs that all police commands should immediately commence mop-up of prohibited and unauthorised firearms to solve problems of proliferation of arms into the country.

He listed the weapons recovered to include 20 AK 47 rifles, 42 dane guns, 15 pump action guns, three revolver guns, and four locally made pistols.

Others are charms, 120 ammunition, three boxer motorcycles, three military boats and belt , two bows and arrows and 30 cutlasses.
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Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has urged the federal government to include names of present and previous political office-holders, irrespective of political parties, who looted public funds, in the looters list.

Mr Okowa made the call at the inauguration of Episcopal House, Chapel of Resurrection Conference Hall and other residential blocks of the Anglican Communion, on Friday in Abuja.

He said that the list of looters should not be limited to some people and should be done with honesty.

In whatever the government is doing, they should ensure that list of every person who has looted in governance is released. It should not be limited to any particular party.

It should not be held in such a manner that Nigerians will begin to think and have doubts, and I believe that in everything we do, we must be honest, he said.

Mr Okowa said that insecurity in terms of Boko Haram and herdsmen-farmers clashes had impacted negatively on the economy of the nation.

He, however, called on Nigerians to work closely with security operatives so as to achieve positive result in securing the communities and the people.

According to him, I believe that a lot has been done by the government at the states and local government levels in terms of security.

Until we begin to engage more of our youth to ease the level of unemployment, it may become very difficult for us to tackle the issues of insecurity in the country.

For the herdsmen-farmers clashes, a committee has just been inaugurated and there is a lot for us to talk about.

We must have a policy direction that will bring hope to the farmers and to also ensure some level of partnership in future.

There is no direct policy as it stands now and it is definitely going to be very problematic because we are calling on Nigerians to embrace agriculture.

If the farmers are not able to defend their produce, then obviously, there will be a major problem. I hope that very soon we will find a light of hope for going forward.

(NAN)
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The Minority Leader of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Gboyega Aribisogan, has said his arrest on Wednesday by security operatives had nothing to do with his involvement in wrongdoing.

Speaking on Thursday in Ado Ekiti, Mr. Aribisogan said it was in relation to a report done by Rotimi Brown, a crime reporter with the New Democrat Newspaper, which he publishes, and for which he was required to give information.

According to him, there was a misunderstanding between the reporter, some politicians and soldiers over the story.

The lawmaker said at the point of his arrest by the police, he called the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Chafe, who advised that he should cooperate with the officers.

He said he was arrested by eight police officers in an unmarked vehicle at his house in Ado Ekiti

The lawmaker further said he had told the police all he knew about the matter as the publisher of the newspaper.

He however said that some powerful politicians in Ekiti State and some military officers were trying to use the arrest as a tool of propaganda to smear his name.

I believe some powerful politicians and military officers are afraid of their shadows and want to use this to embarrass and intimidate me to submission, he said.

The issue is not about me or any scam; it is about one of our freelance journalists who is investigating a story of alleged involvement of an outgoing governor in South West and some military officers in the on-going Dasukigate trial.

Apart from being a notable politician, I am a veteran journalist and publisher. I cannot be intimidated or cowed by any politician no matter his status.

I understand the hazards of the profession as a journalist of so many years. Even as a politician, I know that opponents can go to any length to suppress or subvert the truth, but I believe no public officer should be afraid whenever they are asked to be accountable to the public.

Journalists are harmless; they dont carry guns, but their pen. They should be allowed to practise their profession without let or hindrance like other professionals.

He commended the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for the new reforms that had ushered in new orientation in the force and thanked the Ekiti State Police Commissioner for his quick intervention.

He also commended the officers of the IGP Special Task Squad for their professional conduct on the investigations.
Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State have threatened to initiate disciplinary actions against former deputy governor of the state, Iyiola Omisore, for allegedly supervising the burning of the partys flags in Osogbo on Thursday.

The leaders, who are former PDP political office holders, while addressing journalists in Osogbo on Friday, said they were shocked at the action of the former senator, saying he would need to apologise and condemn the action of his supporters or face disciplinary action.

That Otunba Iyiola Omisore must within the next 72 hours condemn the barbaric action of the hoodlums who desecrated the PDP flag in his office yesterday and tender an unreserved apology to the leadership of the party for the unacceptable conduct, read the statement presented by former Majority Leader of the Osun State House of Assembly, Tajudeen Adeyemi.

That Otunba Omisore must unequivocally state his stance on his continued membership of the party or otherwise rather in view of the conflicting statements emanating from his aides and confidants in the last 24 hours.

That in the event of Otunba Omisore choosing to remain in the PDP, he must within the same 72 hours withdraw all court cases instituted by him through his proxies and explore the internal mechanism in the party to resolve any grievances he has.

That in the event of a failure of Otunba Omisore to do the above, we call the leadership of the party at all levels to take appropriate disciplinary action against him in order to show that no single individuals inordinate ambition is above the larger interest of the party.

The forum includes former members of the National Assembly, ex-members of the Osun State House of Assembly, ex-commissioners, ex-local government chairpersons and vice-chairpersons and councillors, as well as other government officials.

We are all leaders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State and are therefore very interested in the progress of the party and its success in all elections beginning with the Governorship polls in September this year, the statement further read.

We use this medium to state that we are deeply shocked, saddened and disappointed at the most recent conduct of a former deputy governor who is also a former senator, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, who was reported to have personally supervised the burning of the PDP flag and other party symbols by some hoodlums at his office in Osogbo yesterday.

Picture showing him superintend over the burning of PDP flags and banner at the former PDP secretariat, Ogo Oluwa, went viral on all media yesterday. It is a fact that his yesterdays action was the peak of the senators self-determined war against the PDP, the party of which he has been a major beneficiary.

The group also noted that Mr. Omisore was fighting the party because he did not want any competition within the party, despite the promise by the national secretariat that there would be a level playing field for all interest contenders.

The hallmark of this untoward act was yesterdays desecration of the partys symbols in an apparent show of gross indiscipline and ingratitude, the group stated.

This is quite unbecoming of a man who had been greatly favoured by the PDP in his times of trials and need and still hoped to fly the flag of the party as a governorship candidate.

It is also on record that two other political parties recently approached by Otunba Omisore in his political desperation as his Plan B have both rejected him hence his utter state of confusing utterances after yesterdays events.

But Mr. Omisore, in a statement from his media office on Friday, blamed the burning of the flags on his supporters who were aggrieved over the outcome of the congresses held by the party in the state.

He also rejected the calls to withdraw the cases in court, and urged his supporters and the people of Osun State to remain calm and await the outcome of the ongoing suit on controversy surrounding the conduct of the PDP congresses in the state.

The statement, titled, Re  Burning of Flag/Omisore Defects, URNING OF FLAG/ OMISORE DEFECTS noted that the action of the supporters was to protest against the alleged bias by the partys national secretariat in Abuja in the conduct of the congresses.

Mr. Omisore said there was the need for his supporters to continue to remain calm and law abiding even in the face of likely provocation as his main concern is to ensure that peace and stability continue to reign supreme in the state.

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He urged them to await court decision on the issue before any other step could be taken.

He urged his supporters to be calm and and focussed on the task of rescuing Osun state out of the present economic doldrums.

We appreciate the fears, concerns, and anxiety of our national political class especially PDP, opinion leaders, professional colleagues in engineering and academics , business associates party faithful, elder statesmen, media practitioners and good people of Osun State on the above subject matter, he said .

He added that he was determined to see that the impunity in the PDP is put on check and becomes a past tense being the main reason we lost the presidency in 2015.

Mr. Omisore assured his supporters that the ongoing cases in court would correct all the anomalies in the last congresses held.
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***@idxm.com John Herman

End

-- PropertyUp announces this easy living condo at 6976 Brightwater in Fox Lake, Illinois 60020.The 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath condo has 1656 square feet and was built in 2004, and has many great features."The great thing about this condo is the relative low price, for a lot of living space, in a great area," said John Herman, PropertyUp broker. "There is also one of the lowest condo fees I've seen, which makes this very affordable living."The condo fee of $135 per month includes common insurance, exterior maintenance, and lawn care.The floor plan is open, light and feels airy. There's a big open kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Nice wood floors are in the first level. A slider opens out to a deck with stairs going down to a large lawn area behind the condo.There is a finished English basement.Additional features are vaulted ceilings, in unit laundry, fireplace, central air, and large bedrooms. The three bedrooms measure 19 x 14, 19 x 12 and 12 x 10.The condo is in school district 114, and the 2016 taxes were $4136.Fox Lake, Illinois is about an hour northwest of Chicago and an hour away. Located on the south shore of Postakee Lake, Fox Lake and Nippersink Lake, just three of the lakes that form part of the Chain O'Lakes system, which offers plenty of recreation for Fox Lake residents.The population in Fox Lake, is just shy of 11000 and about half male and half female. Median household income is about $ 54,435 and median home value is about $156000.There are many community events, and not surprisingly, many take place on the water, these include the fun Cardboard Cup Regatta, Venetian Night, Polar Plunge, Fox Lake Spring Wine Walk, Concert by the Lake, Fire Department Annual Festival, Movie by the Lake, Celebrate Fox Lake, Mayor's Challenge 5K Run/Walk and more.There are six parks in the area, and a sizeable offering of recreational programs.This listing is offered by John Herman. To see it email assistant @propertyup.com or call 847 847 This listing is offered by John Herman. To see it email assistant @propertyup.com or call 847 847 4711.
UVify

Contact

UVify

***@uvify.com UVify

End

-- The International Drone Racing Association (IDRA) has named UVify as the Title Sponsor for the Denver Internationals, of the 2018 Challengers Cup. The race will be held on the showroom floor of AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018, taking place at the Colorado Convention Center, in Denver, Colorado on April 30  May 3, 2018. Tickets for the races, held on May 1 and May 2, will be available for sale through the AUVSI XPONENTIAL website (http://www.xponential.org/xponential2018/public/Content.aspx?ID=2704).The announcement comes after the press release (https://www.idra.co/auvsi-xponential-partnership)by IDRA and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) on January 30th, revealing the multi-year partnership to host one of IDRA's international drone races at XPONENTIAL (https://www.xponential.org/xponential2018/public/Content.aspx?ID=2743)."XPONENTIAL brings together the most creative minds working on issues face the UAS industry today," said Brian Wynne, president and CEO of AUVSI. "A drone race at XPONENTIAL is not only an opportunity to showcase how UAS technology is advancing, particularly when it comes to agility and speed, but it is also an exciting event that solidifies XPONENTIAL as the place to be for all things unmanned."UVify's Title Sponsorship of the Denver Internationals will add another exciting experience for the attendees of AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018. During the race, UVify will demonstrate several of its high-speed products, including the new OOri micro-drone, on the IDRA race track and drone cage. Competing pilots will also get the opportunity to qualify for a Draco Stock Race, which will be integrated between elimination rounds for the Challengers Cup race. Additionally, all race content from the Denver Internationals will be presented by UVify and featured by the Official Media Partner of the IDRA, Dailymotion. With UVify designing some of the drone industry's best ready-to-fly aircraft, the company has a solid opportunity to shrink the gap between the drone racing community and the rest of the market. The involvement of UVify marks another supporter to IDRA's goal of growing the international drone community, establishing the spectator experience, and developing drone racing as the future of motorsports."UVify is a great partner to have to support our goals for the sport," said Justin Haggerty, President and CEO of IDRA. "There is no doubt, in my mind, that drone racing is the future of motorsports. But first, IDRA needs industry leaders like UVify and AUVSI to work with us to grow the international drone community and introduce new people, especially kids, to the sport and the technologies racers use to compete. We are extremely excited to welcome UVify along for the long flight ahead.""UVify is committed to building products that accelerate the growth of drone racing into a sport that is universally accessible and enjoyed by people from all walks of life. We are delighted to work with the IDRA and see this partnership as a significant step in our goal of advancing the growth of the sport," said Hyon Lim, CEO of UVify. "Our dedication to innovation coupled with the commitment and vision of great organizations like IDRA and AUVSI will help UVify to continue developing and building the world's most advanced racing drones."The International Drone Racing Association (IDRA) is a for-profit association founded on the belief that competition drives innovation, and that drone racing is the next evolution of motorsports. IDRA believes in growing this awesome new industry by organizing historic drone racing competitions like the semi-professional Challengers Cup and professional Drone Racing Series. The IDRA's core mission is to grow this amazing community of tinkerers, dreamers, and innovators.Website: https://www.idra.co/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ droneracingassociation/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/idradroneracingInstagram: www.instagram.com/droneracingYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYGnsbWeH9BC7FitZ5R91UwDailymotion:http://www.dailymotion.com/idraSocial media hashtags: #IDRA #DroneRacing #DroneRacingSeries #ChallengersCupUVify, winner of Digital Trends Top Tech (CES 2018), Best Mini Drone / Best Beginner's Drone award from Drone Rush (CES 2018), Best Drone (CES 2017), Best Drone/Robot by Engadget (CES 2017), Best Danger by the Verge (CES 2017), and Best Drone by Robotics Trends (CES 2017) is a developer and manufacturer of high-performance, drones, autonomous technologies, and related hardware and software. We are committed to acquiring superior candidates to join our extraordinary team of developers. Our team is dedicated to making innovative technologies that establish new standards in drones and autonomous systems and translate into amazing products. Our specialties include: Software and Hardware Engineering, Design, Aeronautics, Content Development and Gaming.Website: https://www.uvify.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uvify/Twitter: https://twitter.com/uvifyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/uvify/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/uvifySocial media hashtags: #UVify #OOri #Draco #Warp9 #TeamUVify #FPVRacing
'The Blue Walk' Helps Guests Capture Pastel Hues of the Mediterranean and Lake Como Regions in New Tour With Artist Leslie Fehling

By: The Blue Walk

Artist Leslie Fehling leads 'Art Walk Italy' tour

Contact

Jeannette Candau

***@herman-almontepr.com

212-616-1190 Jeannette Candau212-616-1190

End

-- Called a "pastel-hued perfection" by Lonely Planet,is comprised of five cliff-side villages along the Italian Riviera whose colorful beauty draws thousands of visitors every year. It is also one of the inspirations for, a unique, seven-night walking vacation offered by 'The Blue Walk', a vacation specialist with tours in France, Italy and Greece. Led by American artist and teacher Leslie Fehling,features onsite sketching and watercolor classes combined with daily coastal walks and tours of villages steep in Old World charm. Fehling, recognized in the U.S. and Europe for her lively style, tutors guests in drawing, watercolor techniques, hand lettering, page design, and travel sketching  all while they absorb the scenic beauty of some of the world's most stimulating environments.Italy is available September 22- 29, 2018, with rates starting at $3,350, based on double occupancy. In addition to art lessons, rates include daily buffet breakfast, a welcome dinner in Rapallo and farewell dinner in Lenno, all hotel taxes, fees, and service charges. The groups are small, allowing both the new and experienced sketchers to gain valuable insight into their craft through personalized instructions."Going to these popular destinations during the shoulder seasons, when they are relatively free of crowds, is the best time to 'brush up' on your creative nature," said Jeannette Candau, co-owner of. "If you're new to drawing, Fehling is experienced in helping students bring out their best to capture the essence of the quaint village scenes and stunning coastal trails."After a night in Milan,guests spend three nights in the town of Rapallo, from which they visitand. For the second half of the tour, they take a train and short ferry ride to Lake Como, a playground for the wealthy that sits at the foot of the Alps in Northern Italy. Guests will sketch the villas, mountain, and lakeside scenes of the towns of Bellagio and Lenno.also offers an optional three-night extension, September 29  October 2, which visits Venice, Verona, and Padua in Italy. Rates for the extension start at $1,095 per person, based on double occupancy."The smaller crowds during our visit allow our guests to linger, individually or in groups, at almost any point in their walks to capture some of the world's most magnificent views," said Candau.Candau noted that The Blue Walk tours continue to grow in popularitySpring tours are sold out, but there are still spaces in their fall tours. The company is also accepting reservations for their 2019 tours, typically offered in spring and fall.The Blue Walk offers small-group walking vacations in unique and undiscovered regions of France, Italy, Greece, and England. Its clients enjoy leisurely strolls along the beautiful coastlines, village squares and open spaces of Europe while staying at luxury four or five-star boutique hotels and resorts. Each tour includes daily one hour to half-day walks in some of the world's most serene surroundings. The Blue Walk also offers themed vacations with well-known, talented and creative teachers. Hiking boots and backpacks are optional, as the routes are always "people friendly," following safe paths that are a unique blend of gentle walking trails, coastal meandering, and urban strolling. For more information, contact The Blue Walk toll-free at 551-258-3955 or by email at info@thebluewalk.com. Visit them online at www.thebluewalk.com
(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/663543/IICTF_2018.jpg )



The IICTF-2018 was held during April 3rd to 5th, 2018 here at Islamabad. Experts from all across the world were invited to attend the conference, including representatives from China, Russia, France, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Scholars, experts, policy makers and politicians from Pakistan also partook in the IICTF-2018; making it a two-way communication and learning experience for scholars from within Pakistan, and beyond. The concluding session was devoted to Pakistan's journey from a victim to a victor, as held today on April 5th April, 2018.

The IICTF-2018 was concluded with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as Chief Guest. He delved into the issue of how terrorism invaded the borders of Pakistan, recalling a time when Pakistan was safe from terrorists and the infiltration of drugs. He said that the Afghan invasion brought major changes in the region, particularly impacting Pakistan. He then discussed the journey Pakistan has had in overcoming said challenges that penetrated Pakistan's borders in the decades that followed the Afghan war. The Prime Minister further observed that no country wants peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan, countering all claims to the contrary. Pakistan suffers the most, he articulated, from instability in its bordering regions.

On the issue of terrorism in the South Asian region, the Prime Minister called special attention to the terrorism permeating the Indian occupied Kashmir. He called upon the international community to accept the reality prevailing in Indian occupied Kashmir, whereby 17 young innocent lives were claimed in cold blood last Sunday. Mr. Abbasi stressed that the Kashmir issue can only be resolved through the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution calling for a plebiscite in the area.

Noting that terrorism has now become a global challenge, the Prime Minister took pride in the fact that Pakistan has been victorious in defeating a monster, where the rest of the world has failed. Cities like Karachi that were once declared as one of the most dangerous cities in the world, have recovered from the catastrophe with courage and grace. Finally, The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to all the participants for their invaluable contributions, and to NACTA for taking such a brave and essential initiative.

Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, who also graced the occasion, noted that although Pakistan has suffered from terrorism for a considerable time, it has also fought against the same with great valour and spirit. Remembering notable sacrifice of Aitzaz Ahsan Bangash, he paid a tribute to the unsung heroes of Pakistan who laid their lives in the cause of countering terrorism and extremism. Referring to the National Action Plan, the National Internal Security Policy 2014-2018, and the National Counter Extremism Policy Guidelines, he said that Pakistan has been engaging all factions of state in its devotion to countering terrorism and violent extremism. Looking forward, Mr. Iqbal noted that Pakistan is now looking towards stabilizing its future, relying on economic opportunities such as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), enabling development not just in Pakistan, but in the whole region.

The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Khawaja Asif discussed Pakistan's vision for a democratic Pakistan, remarking that Pakistan was built upon the values of democracy, justice and fair play, as envisioned by Qauid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Referring to the nation's fight against terrorism, Mr. Asif stressed on the need for a regional strategy to overcome the scourge of terrorism that is impacting the south Asian region of the world. He called for cooperation with neighbouring countries, particularly in the field of countering terrorism to ensure long term peace and development on a regional and global level.

Ms. Sherry Rehman, Leader of the Opposition, Senate of Pakistan, gave valuable insights on the need for inclusion of women in all settings of society for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan; presenting the remarkable notion that it's not just a few good men that are needed to undo the effects of terrorism, but a lot of women involved in the process as well.

Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Member National Assembly and former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, discussing Pakistan's march towards stability, shed light on the internal and external challenges faced by Pakistan. Despite such challenges however, he noted, Pakistan remains a resilient nation willing to fight back and reverse the effects left by terrorism and extremism.

The National Coordinator NACTA, Mr. Ihsan Ghani, who led this monumental effort for calling an international conference on the momentous subject of counter terrorism, thanked the participants and the speakers for honouring the occasion. He recalled some of the highlights of IICTF-2018 over the preceding two days, observing that the discussions were holistic and had far-reaching implications. Albeit, he regretted, that each point could not be addressed in more detail due to constraints of time. Mr. Ghani further noted that the IICTF would be a recurring annual event with fresh themes allocated for each year, hoping that the process of learning, sharing and cooperating would only continue on a regional and global level.

-Sd-

(Ihsan Ghani)

National Coordinator / Official Spokesperson NACTA

SOURCE NACTA
NEW YORK, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson & Johnson and Imery's Talc America have been ordered to pay $37 million to a New Jersey man who was diagnosed with mesothelioma following years of talcum powder use.

Yesterday's verdict in Middlesex County Superior Court followed more than two months of testimony and marked the first time a Plaintiff has prevailed in a talcum powder lawsuit involving Johnson & Johnson's Baby Powder and the often-deadly form of cancer. In the course of the trial, jurors were shown numerous internal documents indicating that, as early as 1969, the Defendants were concerned that Baby Powder could be tainted by asbestos.

The 7-person jury deliberated for less than a day before finding Johnson & Johnson 70% liable for the Plaintiff's damages, while Imery's was found 30% liable. Jurors will reconvene next week to decide whether the companies should be assessed any punitive damages. (Case No. MID-L-7385-16)

"Our Firm is representing numerous women who allegedly developed ovarian cancer due to their long-term use of Johnson & Johnson talc-based powders for feminine hygiene purposes and we have been monitoring this proceeding very closely," says Sandy A. Liebhard, a partner at Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing victims of defective medical devices, drugs and consumer products. The Firm is offering free legal reviews to women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer that may be associated Johnson & Johnson's talc-based powders.

Talcum Powder Ovarian Cancer Litigation

More than 6,600 talcum powder lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson on behalf of women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer following years of genital talc use. Plaintiffs involved in this litigation have cited numerous studies published since the 1970s suggesting that the regular and repeated application of talc-based powders to the female genitals increased a woman's risk for the often-deadly disease.

The complaints also cite numerous internal documents as evidence that Johnson & Johnson officials were aware of this research but chose not to warn consumers in order to protect profits derived from sales of its Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower products.

Missouri's 22nd Circuit Court in St. Louis  home to one of the nation's largest talcum powder ovarian cancer litigation -- began trying talcum powder lawsuits in February 2015. So far, four plaintiffs have been awarded compensatory and punitive damages amounting to $110 million, $70 million, $72 million and $55 million. (Case No. 1422-CC09326-01)

While the $72 million verdict was overturned in October, a state court judge refused to dismiss the $110 million award in December.

California completed its first talcum powder ovarian cancer trial in September, when a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded the Plaintiff $417 million, including $340 million in punitive damages. However, that verdict was later dismissed by the trial judge. (Case No. BC628228)

Women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer following the long-term use of talc-based powders for feminine hygiene purposes may be eligible to file their own talcum powder lawsuit. To learn more, please visit Bernstein Liebhard LLP's website, or call 800-511-5092 to arrange for a free, no obligation case review.

About Bernstein Liebhard LLP

Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993. As a national law firm, Bernstein Liebhard LLP possesses all of the legal and financial resources required to successfully challenge billion dollar pharmaceutical and medical device companies. As a result, our attorneys and legal staff have been able to recover more than $3.5 billion on behalf of our clients. Bernstein Liebhard LLP is honored to once again be named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List," recognizing the top plaintiffs' firms in the country. This year's nomination marks the thirteenth year the firm has been named to this prestigious annual list.

Bernstein Liebhard LLP

10 East 40th Street

New York, New York 10016

800-511-5092

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.  2018 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, 800-511-5092. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

Contact Information:

Sandy A. Liebhard, Esq.

Bernstein Liebhard LLP

info (at)consumerinjurylawyers(dot)com

http://www.rxinjuryhelp.com/

https://plus.google.com/115936073311125306742?rel=author

SOURCE Bernstein Liebhard LLP

Related Links

http://www.bernlieb.com


LONDON, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aon plc (NYSE:AON), the leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, plans to announce first quarter 2018 results on Friday, May 4th, 2018 in a news release to be issued before the market opens. Greg Case, president and CEO, will host a conference call at 7:30 am Central Time on Friday, May 4th, 2018. The conference call will be broadcast live through Aon's website at www.aon.com. Adobe Flash is required to listen to this webcast. A replay will be available shortly after the live webcast. The earnings release and supplemental slide presentation will be available on Aon's web site at www.aon.com.

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) 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.

Follow Aon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aon_plc

Sign up for News Alerts: http://aon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=58

Investor Contact:

Investor Relations

312-381-3310

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Donna Mirandola

Vice President, External Communications - Americas

312-381-1532

SOURCE Aon plc

Related Links

http://www.aon.com


The article in All Things Boulder mentioned several prominent women associated with Colorado communities, including a couple who are also activists, like Attorney Klein. In honor of International Women's Day, the article focused on a few prominent women who have made it a point to make the world a better place. Lauren Y. Casteel, the President and CEO of The Women's Foundation of Colorado, Dr. Philippa Marrack, an immunology researcher, and Leslie Foster, a non-profit leader, were just a few of the well-respected women mentioned in the article.

Attorney Beth Klein was recognized for her work in the fight against human trafficking, a noble fight she first began in 1969. Not only does she act on behalf of clients who were victims of human trafficking, she also created a foundation through our firm, Klein Frank, P.C., to raise awareness, educate others, and take tangible steps to end human trafficking. Beth Klein has also written laws in Colorado and across the world to make it easier to prosecute individuals who commit these heinous crimes.

About Beth Klein

As a cofounder of Klein Frank, P.C., Attorney Beth Klein is dedicated to providing exceptional legal advocacy to injured victims throughout Boulder and the surrounding areas of Colorado. Over the years, Attorney Klein has successfully handled a countless number of cases involving product liability, premises liability, wrongful death, and personal injury litigation. In each case, she carefully examines every detail associated with the client's accident or cause of injury in order to pursue maximum monetary compensation.

Contact:

Carrie Frank

303-448-8884

SOURCE Klein Frank, P.C.

Related Links

http://www.lawcolorado.net


AUSTIN, Texas, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Banker's Toolbox, Inc., leaders in compliance solutions for America's community financial institutions, announced today the acquisition of Georgia-based MainStreet Technologies (MST). MST is a leader and industry trendsetter in the loan risk management space, with their flagship Loan Loss Analyzer (LLA) software platform and highly regarded Advisory Services.

MST solutions are invaluable to institutions in determining and documenting their allowance for loan losses, and preparing for the new Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) model accounting standard.

"We are focused on accelerating growth through the acquisition of new technologies and capabilities, with the express purpose of providing our customers with best in class compliance solutions," said Wayne Roberts, CEO of Banker's Toolbox. Adding, "MainStreet is a perfect fit for Banker's Toolbox strategy. With its innovative approaches to accurately defining and defending an institution's loan loss reserve, it provides tangible benefits to its customers. More accurate science in this arena can drive significant value to our customers' balance sheets and bottom line."

"Banker's Toolbox has aggressive plans for growth, and this acquisition is an important step in our strategy to support our family of customers across multiple aspects of risk management," states Roberts. Dalton Sirmans, founder of MainStreet Technologies adds, "Joining forces with Banker's Toolbox begins a new and exciting chapter for MST. While we are excited about the future for our team of dedicated professionals, our customers will realize the greatest benefit with the combination of two strong, innovative, industry-leading companies."

Supported by private equity firm Accel-KKR, Banker's Toolbox has a vision to be the partner of choice for any organization that is subject to regulatory compliance, even outside of the financial industry. "We are bullish on the Banker's Toolbox team and the Company's growth potential," said Park Durrett, Managing Director at Accel-KKR. "This acquisition adds to a strong and growing portfolio of compliance-related solutions provided by Banker's Toolbox and will continue to enhance the value the company brings to both their customers and the industry."

To learn more about Banker's Toolbox products and services, visit www.bankerstoolbox.com.

About Banker's Toolbox, Inc.

Austin, TX-based Banker's Toolbox, Inc. helps organizations manage risk and streamline compliance. The company's product suite consists of proven solutions for money laundering detection and reporting, risk management through fraud prevention, secure wire processing automation, and commercial real estate loan portfolio risk assessment. The Banker's Toolbox team is a unique combination of seasoned bankers, former regulators, and information technology experts. For more information, visit the company's website at www.bankerstoolbox.com.

About MainStreet Technologies (MST)

MST is the leader and pioneer in allowance software solutions, advisory services, and education. Financial institutions across the U.S. employ MST to address their allowance requirements, including the software and subject matter expertise to achieve and maintain compliance with U.S. GAAP and the impending CECL accounting standard. MST solutions are tailored for the institution, integrate with core and other lender systems, and exponentially improve efficiencies. For more information, please visit www.mainstreet-tech.com.

About Accel-KKR

Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with $4.3 billion in capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and IT-enabled businesses well-positioned for topline and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR's investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value through significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR is headquartered in Menlo Park with additional offices in Atlanta and London. For more information, please visit www.accel-kkr.com.

SOURCE Banker's Toolbox, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mainstreet-tech.com


BALI, Indonesia, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International ("Telin"), a subsidiary of PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk ("Telkom") has successfully hosted Bali Annual Telkom International Conference ("BATIC") 2018, a 3 days platform for telecom carriers and wholesale providers from across the related segments, region and the world to collaborate, share ideas and business opportunities. It took place in Westin Hotel, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia from 4 to 6 April 2018. A theme for this year is Unlocking Opportunities in the Borderless Digital World, a rationale set by seeing a vast growing of digital ecosystem with no limitation in terms of telecommunications.

Representing Telkom as Telin's parent, Abdus Somad Arief, Director of Wholesale and International Services of Telkom delivered his welcome remark followed by these respective speakers: Christophe Meunier, partner from Delta Partners who shared his presentation regarding "Next Generation Enterprise Network: Trend and Opportunities", Dudy Effendi, VP Enterprise Business Development Telkom who shared "Leveraging Partnerships to Build an IoT Ecosystem", and Jaikishan Rajaraman, Global Head of Technology GSMA who shared "5G as an Enabler for Next Generation Networks". A panel discussion was conducted led by all speakers on day 1 to discuss the topic Beyond Connectivity -- Opportunities to Build and Monetize Next Generation Networks and Applications before all participants headed to lunch and series of bilateral meetings.

A synergy with Telkom Infra was conducted that remarks by a signing of Letter of Intention (LoI) for a submarine cable system development to connect Atambua, Larantuka, and Dili. Representatives of each party signed the agreement are Faizal R. Djoemadi, CEO of Telin and Natigor Sitorus, CEO of Telkom Infra. To follow, another initiative was conducted between Telin and Datacomm, where both parties did an agreement to build a system for providing security in digital utilization. This agreement was signed by Faizal and Tan Wie Tjin, CEO of Datacomm. Next, a breathtaking view in Sky at Ayana Resort Bali, where all participants enjoyed a gala dinner, completed Batic's day 1.

Since a healthy body leads to a healthy mind, all participants joined a 5K run around Nusa Dua to start day 2 prior all conferences started. Opening the conference is Kiran Karunakaran, a partner from Delta Partners brought a topic "Transforming the Wholesale Business" followed by Budi Satria Dharma Purba, CMO of Telin who presented "Winning Strategies for Operators Expanding Wholesale Services Beyond Pure Connectivity" and Naveen Menon, President (Southeast Asia) of Cisco System who brought "The Importance of Partnership". Joining all speakers on day 2, Andreuw Th AF, CEO Telin Singapore joined as panelists in a Panel Discussion session to discuss Operator Role in Cloud Enablement -- Evolving Value Proposition, Infrastructure and Monetization Models. As Batic is heading to an end, a farewell dinner was conducted in Westin's beachside where Budi bid his farewell to all delegates during a farewell dinner at Westin Beachside Nusa Dua. "Our aim in Batic is to celebrate the existence of telecommunication players and hoping that the fruits of this three-days event will benefit your business as well as strengthen the bond that we have already had," said Budi.

On Day 3 all delegates enjoy a compliment social activities such as sport or city tour based on their wish.

BATIC 2018 converges delegates from all areas of the global telecommunications community to meet and together explore alternative business insight from experts in OTT and telecommunication industry. This will also facilitate C-Level executives in strategy, marketing, and technology functions in order to extend the business sustainability.

BATIC was firstly begun in 2010 and annually conducted until 2012. The same format is exhibited in 2018 with the same unique interactive using an Indonesian authenticity approach. Bali is selected because it holds strong culture, globally known as an exotic island and one the most desired destination from tourist around the world. The paradise island was chosen to create an environment that allow participants to feel relax and light while their doing the business relationship.

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: [email protected]

SOURCE PT. Telekomunikasi Indonesia International

Related Links

http://www.telin.co.id


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) announced today that BB&T Insurance Holdings, Inc. (BB&T Insurance) has reached an agreement to acquire Regions Insurance Group (Regions Insurance) from Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF).

Regions Insurance is a leading insurance broker serving more than 60,000 clients across the Southeast, Texas and Indiana. It offers property and casualty and employee benefits products to businesses through a retail network of insurance professionals. This acquisition adds incremental balance to BB&T's insurance business between its wholesale and retail insurance channels. Following this acquisition, BB&T Insurance's retail network will contribute almost half of its insurance brokerage revenue.

"Regions Insurance significantly adds to our retail insurance network providing us the opportunity to further build out our footprint in core BB&T markets across the Southeast," said BB&T's chairman and chief executive officer, Kelly S. King. "With this acquisition, BB&T increases the contribution from our insurance brokerage business to almost $2 billion in annual revenue and further affirms our commitment to growing the business."

"This acquisition reinforces our current position as the fifth largest insurance broker in the U.S. and globally," said John Howard, chairman and chief executive officer of BB&T Insurance. "We have great respect for Regions Insurance, its leadership and its associates. We welcome Rick Ulmer, president and chief executive officer of Regions Insurance, and other Regions Insurance associates who will be joining BB&T Insurance in senior leadership and other positions. With a broader set of resources available to them, Regions' insurance professionals will be better equipped to meet the needs of their clients. We have confidence that our organizations will fit extremely well together."

This transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. Terms were not disclosed. The capital used in this transaction will impact BB&T's 2018 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review. The use of capital in this acquisition exceeds BB&T's internal rate of return hurdles.

RBC Capital Markets served as financial advisor and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel to BB&T in this transaction.

BB&T will post a presentation to its website discussing the transaction. To access the presentation, go to BBT.com.

About BB&T Insurance Holdings

BB&T Insurance Holdings, the fifth largest insurance broker in the U.S. and internationally, is a wholly owned subsidiary of BB&T Corporation. BB&T Insurance Holdings operates more than 200 offices through subsidiaries BB&T Insurance Services, BB&T Insurance Services of California, McGriff, Seibels & Williams, CRC Insurance Services, Crump Life Insurance Services and AmRisc, LLC.

About BB&T

BB&T is one of the largest financial services holding companies in the U.S. with $221.6 billion in assets and market capitalization of approximately $38.9 billion, as of Dec. 31, 2017. Building on a long tradition of excellence in community banking, BB&T offers a wide range of financial services including retail and commercial banking, investments, insurance, wealth management, asset management, mortgage, corporate banking, capital markets and specialized lending. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the company operates more than 2,000 financial centers in 15 states and Washington, D.C. A Fortune 500 company, BB&T is recognized consistently for outstanding client service by Greenwich Associates for small business and middle market banking. More information about BB&T and its full line of products and services is available at BBT.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the financial condition, results of operations, business plans and the future performance of BB&T. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but instead represent management's expectations and assumptions regarding BB&T's business, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances difficult to predict. BB&T's actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "intends," "plans," "projects," "may," "will," "should," "could" and other similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. While there is no assurance any list of risks and uncertainties or risk factors is complete, important factors and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are more fully discussed under Item 1A-Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and in any of BB&T's subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this report. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by any forward-looking statement. Except to the extent required by applicable law or regulation, BB&T undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

SOURCE BB&T Corporation

Related Links

http://www.bbt.com


"In an increasingly competitive world, proficiency in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics  collectively known as STEM  is more critical than ever," said U.S. Postal Service Marketing Vice President Steve Monteith , who dedicated the stamps.

Monteith also referenced the importance of STEM in the development of Informed Delivery, one of the Postal Service's latest innovations. Informed Delivery allows customers to see a digital preview of their incoming physical mail and also allows customers to track packages and reschedule deliveries  all from the convenience of the user's computer, tablet or mobile devices.

"Informed Delivery is one of our most exciting innovations and it's already very popular with nearly 9 million users so far," said Monteith.



Joining Monteith to unveil the stamps were Marc Schulman, Executive Director, USA Science & Engineering Festival; Kris Brown, Deputy Associate Administrator for Education, NASA; C. Mark Eakin, Ph.D., Coordinator of Coral Reef Watch, NOAA; Kavya Kopparapu, Finalist, Regeneron Science Talent Search; and Courtney Pine, Kid Reporter, Scholastic News Kids Press Corps. Danni Washington, USA Science & Engineering Festival served as the ceremony's emcee.

The stamp comes in pane of 20, including four different designs, one for each of the four STEM disciplines.

Designed to pique the curiosity of the viewer, each stamp features a collage of faces, symbols, drawings and numbers that represent the complexity and interconnectedness of STEM. Artist David Plunkert worked with art director Antonio Alcala to create these stamps. News of the stamps is being shared using the hashtags #EducationStamps and #STEMEducation.

Customers may purchase the STEM Education Forever stamps at The Postal Store at usps.com/shop, by calling 800-STAMP24 (800-782-6724) and at Post Office facilities nationwide. A variety of stamps and collectibles also are available at ebay.com/stamps.

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks

Customers have 60 days to obtain first-day-of-issue postmarks by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Office facilities, at The Postal Store usps.com/shop or by phone at

800-STAMP-24. They must affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others and place them in envelopes addressed to:

FDOI  STEM Education Stamps

USPS Stamp Fulfillment Services

8300 NE Underground Drive, Suite 300

Kansas City, MO 64144-9900

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for postmarks up to a quantity of 50. For more than 50, customers are charged 5 cents each. All orders must be postmarked by Aug. 6, 2018.

Ordering First-Day Covers

The Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamps and stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the USA Philatelic Publication and online at usps.com/shop. Customers may register to receive a free USA Philatelic Publication online at usps.com/philatelic.

Philatelic Products

Philatelic products for this stamp issue are as follows:

477606, Press Sheet with Die-cut, $60.

477610, Digital Color Postmark Keepsake (set of 4), $16.95.

477616, First-Day Cover (set of 4), $3.76.

477621, Digital Color Postmark (set of 4), $6.60.

477630, Ceremony Program (random single), $6.95.

477633, Panel, $10.95.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf. Follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/usps), Instagram (instagram.com/uspostalservice), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/usps), subscribe to our channel on YouTube (youtube.com/usps), like us on Facebook (facebook.com/usps) and view our Postal Posts blog (uspsblog.com). For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and usps.com/postalfacts.



National: Roy Betts

[email protected]

202.268.3207

Washington, DC: Mike Hotovy

202-636-1245

[email protected]

usps.com/news

SOURCE U.S. Postal Service

Related Links

http://www.usps.com


Mr. Maleno will have responsibility for Chubb's field organization in North America, including 48 branch and regional offices in the United States and Canada. He also will be responsible for local delivery of the company's full capabilities and services to agent and broker distribution partners and managing these relationships. Mr. Maleno, who is a Chubb Group Senior Vice President, most recently served as Division President, North America Major Accounts.

Mr. Merna will lead the Major Accounts division, Chubb's retail commercial property and casualty insurance business that serves the large corporate market in the United States and Canada. His responsibilities will include strategy, underwriting activities and results, production, and product development and management. He most recently served as Chief Operating Officer, North America Major Accounts.

Both executives will report to John Lupica, Vice Chairman, Chubb Group and President, North America Major Accounts and Specialty Insurance.

"Our extensive branch and regional network, which serves agents and brokers locally and delivers a wide range of commercial and personal lines products and services, is a defining strength of Chubb in North America," said Mr. Lupica. "Chris's breadth of experience, including deep distribution and field management expertise, leadership skills and knowledge of our industry and our company, make him an excellent fit to lead this important division.

"Chubb's offerings for large commercial customers, including an extensive product breadth and global service capabilities, are second to none. Matt has successfully managed our largest and most complex clients and distribution partners for many years. His strong industry perspective and experience, together with his leadership and talent development skills, will serve us well as he leads one of Chubb's core commercial insurance franchises."

Jerry Butler, in advisory role, to focus on agent and brokerage relationships

Mr. Maleno succeeds Gerard Butler who, after more than 36 years in the industry including 27 with Chubb, will retire on July 2. Mr. Butler will continue serving Chubb in an active advisory capacity and he will work closely with Mr. Maleno. "We are grateful for Jerry's tremendous contributions to Chubb over the past 27 years," said Mr. Lupica. "We will continue to benefit from Jerry's experience as he focuses on key initiatives centered on strengthening our agent and brokerage relationships and enhancing their experience working with Chubb."

"Jerry's leadership of the Chubb field organization and branch network, which are critical to the success of our middle market, small commercial and personal risk services divisions, has left a significant mark on Chubb's business and culture, and I want to thank him on behalf of the senior management team and all of Chubb," said Paul Krump, Executive Vice President, Chubb Group and President, North America Commercial and Personal Insurance. "I have had the pleasure of working with Chris for the past several years, and I am confident the field organization will be in great hands. His experience, market connections and knowledge of Chubb will serve our distribution partners well. Chris will also have the benefit and insight of Jerry's continued engagement."

Prior to ACE's acquisition of Chubb in January 2016, Mr. Maleno served as Division President of ACE USA, a position he held since 2013. He joined the company in 2007 as Division President, Regional Operations for ACE USA, and also served as Chief Operating Officer and President, ACE Casualty Risk. Mr. Maleno began his insurance career with the Chubb Corporation in 1988 and served in a number of middle market commercial lines and branch roles. He was appointed Senior Vice President, ACE Group, in March 2014. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Vermont.

Mr. Merna joined ACE in 2000. During his tenure, Mr. Merna has held various senior leadership positions, including President of the Financial Solutions division and President of ACE Risk Management. Earlier in his career, he served in a range of management roles in public accounting and at American International Group in New York and Europe. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from West Virginia University.

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company, and the largest commercial insurer in the United States. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at www.chubb.com.

Chubb Insurance Company of Canada has offices in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver and provides its products and services through licensed insurance brokers across Canada. For additional information, visit www.chubb.com/ca.

SOURCE Chubb

Related Links

http://www.chubb.com


NEW YORK and CLEVELAND, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and American Greetings Corporation today completed the previously-announced transaction in which CD&R-managed funds acquired a 60% ownership stake in American Greetings, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards, gift packaging, party goods, and stationery products. The Weiss Family, descendants of Jacob Sapirstein, who founded the company in 1906, retained a 40% stake in the business.

American Greetings has the number one position by volume in the $6 billion North American greeting card market, with several iconic brands, including American Greetings, Papyrus, Recycled Paper Greetings, Gibson, and Carlton Cards. The company currently provides products to more than 60,000 retail stores and maintains a portfolio of 440 patents, more than 2,500 copyrights, and 1,000 trademarks.

About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

Founded in 1978, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is a private investment firm. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of $26 billion in 79 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $100 billion. The Firm has offices in New York and London. For more information, visit www.cdr-inc.com.

About American Greetings

As a leader in meaningful connections, American Greetings is a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in making the world a more thoughtful and caring place. Founded in 1906, the Company's major greeting card lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards. American Greetings also has one of the largest collections of greetings on the Web, including greeting cards available at Cardstore.com and electronic greeting cards available at AmericanGreetings.com. American Greetings is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide. For more information on the Company, visit www.corporate.americangreetings.com.

SOURCE Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

Related Links

http://www.cdr-inc.com


CORNUCOPIA, Wis., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A highly controversial seaweed derivative used in conventional, "natural," and some organic foods, carrageenan, was reapproved for use in organics by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. This move overrides the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) recommendation, an expert industry panel set up by Congress.

After hearing from medical and scientific experts describing carrageenan's link to intestinal inflammation, cancer, and other human health risks, the NOSB had voted to remove carrageenan from the list of approved substances for use in organics.

"This is the latest instance of the Trump/Purdue administration siding with powerful agribusiness interests. They are running roughshod over the will of Congress that established the NOSB as a buffer to insulate organic regulations from corrupt corporate lobbyists," said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit and organic industry watchdog.

A 2016 report by Cornucopia summarized research on carrageenan, exposing the industry's hidden data demonstrating that all food-grade carrageenan contains a carcinogenic contaminantlow molecular weight poligeenan.

Carrageenan, harvested from red seaweed species, is a highly effective thickener/stabilizer found in processed foods, including infant formula, plant-based beverages, deli meats, and some dairy products.

Ironically, the organic industry is far ahead of USDA policymakers, having removed the substance from products due to consumer feedback. Cornucopia's web-based buyers guide shows which brands of organic products have been reformulated without carrageenan or have never included it.

"The USDA has violated the public's trust in the USDA organic label, and will continue to undermine the value of the label in the market as long as it ignores the legal authority of the NOSB, and of public process, to establish the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances," said Jay Feldman, Executive Director of Beyond Pesticides and former NOSB member.

Joanne Tobacman, M.D. at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago has published the most prominent independently funded studies of carrageenan. She said, "The vote of the National Organic Standards Board to remove carrageenan from the list of approved substances was based on their careful review of the available evidence, which clearly shows that exposure to carrageenan causes inflammation and may contribute to human disease, including diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and cancer."

For more: https://www.cornucopia.org/2018/04/usda-rejects-advice-of-expert-panel/

Contact: Linley Dixon, PhD, (970) 422-8470

Mark Kastel, (608) 625-2042

SOURCE The Cornucopia Institute

Related Links

https://www.cornucopia.org


TORONTO and TAMPA, FL, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Cott Corporation (NYSE:COT; TSX:BCB) ("Cott" or the "Company") announced today that the Company will release its first quarter ended March 31, 2018 financial results before the markets open on Thursday, May 3, 2018.

Cott will host a conference call, to be simultaneously webcast, on Thursday, May 3, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A question and answer session will follow management's presentation. To participate, please call the following numbers:

First Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call

North America: (888) 231-8191

International: (647) 427-7450

Conference ID: 4264928

This is a live, listen-only dial-in telephone line.

Webcast for First Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call

A live audio webcast will be available through the Company's website at http://www.cott.com. The webcast will be recorded and archived for playback on the investor relations section of the website for two weeks following the event.

2018 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareowners

The Company announced today that its 2018 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareowners will be held on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. at the Toronto Airport Marriott hotel in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

At the meeting, shareowners will be asked to receive the financial statements for the year ended December 30, 2017 and the report on those statements by Cott's independent registered certified public accounting firm, elect directors, approve the appointment of Cott's independent registered certified public accounting firm, hold a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation, approve the Cott Corporation 2018 Equity Incentive Plan, approve the Cott Corporation Shareholder Rights Plan, approve an amendment to Cott's articles of incorporation to change the province of Cott's registered office address from Quebec to Ontario, and approve amendments to Cott's articles of incorporation and By-Laws to allow for meetings of shareowners to be permitted in such location as the directors of Cott may determine, either inside or outside of Canada.

Webcast for 2018 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareowners

The meeting will be webcast live from Toronto, ON, Canada on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The live audio webcast will be available through the Company's website at http://www.cott.com. The webcast will be recorded and archived for playback on the investor relations section of the website for two weeks following the event.

About Cott Corporation

Cott is a route based service company with a leading volume-based national presence in the North America and European home and office bottled water delivery industry and a leader in custom coffee roasting, blending of iced tea, and extract solutions for the U.S. foodservice industry. Our platform reaches over 2.4 million customers or delivery points across North America and Europe supported by strategically located sales and distribution facilities and fleets, as well as wholesalers and distributors. This enables us to efficiently service residences, businesses, restaurant chains, hotels and motels, small and large retailers, and healthcare facilities.

Website: www.cott.com

SOURCE Cott Corporation

Related Links

http://www.cott.com


SHANGHAI, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- eHi Car Services Limited ("eHi" or the "Company") (NYSE: EHIC), a leading car rental and car services company in China, today announced that it has entered into a definitive Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") with Teamsport Parent Limited ("Parent") and Teamsport Bidco Limited ("Merger Sub"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Parent.

Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, Parent will acquire the Company for cash consideration equal to US$6.75 per common share of the Company (each, a "Share") or US$13.50 in cash per American depositary share of the Company (each, an "ADS"), each of which represents two Class A common shares of the Company, other than Rollover Shares (as defined below) and ADSs representing Rollover Shares, as applicable. This represents a 15.4% premium over the closing price of US$11.70 per ADS as quoted by the NYSE on November 24, 2017, and a premium of 20.8% and 22.8%, respectively, over the Company's 30- and 60- trading day volume-weighted average price as quoted by the NYSE prior to November 24, 2017, the last trading day prior to the Company's announcement on November 27, 2017 that it had received a non-binding "going private" proposal (which announcement was updated on January 2, 2018 to reflect the proposal from an affiliate of MBK Partners Fund IV, L.P. and Mr. Ray Ruiping Zhang ("Mr. Zhang"), the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Company). The merger consideration also represents an increase of approximately 1.1% from the original US$6.675 per Share and US$13.35 per ADS offer price in the non-binding "going private" proposal dated January 1, 2018 from an affiliate of MBK Partners Fund IV, L.P. and Mr. Zhang. The consideration to be paid to holders of Shares and ADSs implies an equity value for the Company of approximately US$937.5 million.

Immediately following the consummation of the transactions contemplated under the Merger Agreement, Parent will be beneficially owned by a consortium (the "Consortium") comprising new investors, including certain affiliates of MBK Partners Fund IV, L.P., Baring Private Equity Asia Limited and Redstone Capital Management (Cayman) Limited, and certain existing shareholders of the Company, including L&L Horizon, LLC, an affiliate of Mr. Zhang, The Crawford Group, Inc. ("Crawford") and Dongfeng Asset Management Co. Ltd. (collectively, the "Rollover Shareholders").

As of the date of the Merger Agreement, the members of the Consortium beneficially own in the aggregate 15,528,160 Class A common shares (including Class A common shares represented by ADSs), which includes 5,264,080 ADSs that BPEA Teamsport Limited ("BPEA Teamsport"), an affiliate of Baring Private Equity Asia Limited, has the right to acquire pursuant to the terms of a Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of February 23, 2018, between Tiger Global Mauritius Fund and BPEA Teamsport, and 25,836,435 Class B common shares, which represent in aggregate approximately 29.6% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company and 37.5% of the outstanding voting power of the Company.

Upon the terms and subject to the conditions of the Merger Agreement, at the effective time of the merger (the "Effective Time"), Merger Sub will merge with and into the Company, with the Company surviving the merger as the surviving company (the "Surviving Company") under Cayman Islands law (the "Merger"), and each Share issued and outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time will be cancelled and cease to exist in exchange for the right to receive cash consideration equal to US$6.75 per Share, and each ADS will be cancelled in exchange for the right to receive cash consideration of US$13.50 per ADS, in each case, without interest and net of any applicable withholding taxes, except for (i) certain Shares (the "Rollover Shares") held by the Rollover Shareholders, (ii) Shares (including Shares represented by ADSs) held immediately prior to the Effective Time by Parent, the Company or any of their subsidiaries or by the Company's ADS depositary and reserved for future issuance under the Company's share incentive plan, which Shares will be cancelled without payment of any consideration, and (iii) Shares held by holders who have validly exercised and not effectively withdrawn or lost their rights to dissent from the Merger in accordance with Section 238 of the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands, which Shares will be cancelled at the Effective Time of the Merger for the right to receive the fair value of such Shares determined in accordance with the provisions of Section 238 of the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands. The Rollover Shares will not be cancelled at the Effective Time and will continue as ordinary shares of the Surviving Company.

The Consortium intends to fund the Merger through a combination of (i) the proceeds from a committed loan facility of up to US$200 million from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore Branch, pursuant to a debt commitment letter, and (ii) cash contributions from MBK Partners Fund IV, L.P., certain affiliates of Baring Private Equity Asia Limited, Crawford and Redstone Capital Management (Cayman) Limited pursuant to their respective equity commitment letters.

The Company's board of directors, acting upon the unanimous recommendation of the special committee formed by the board of directors (the "Special Committee"), approved the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement (the "Transactions"), including the Merger, and resolved to recommend that the Company's shareholders authorize and approve the Merger Agreement and the Transactions, including the Merger. The Special Committee, which is comprised solely of independent directors of the Company who are unaffiliated with Parent, Merger Sub or any member of the Consortium or management of the Company, exclusively negotiated the terms of the Merger Agreement with the Consortium with the assistance of its independent financial and legal advisors.

The closing of the Merger is currently expected to occur during the second or third quarter of 2018, and is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the closing conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, including the requisite approval of the shareholders of the Company and the consent of requisite holders of the senior unsecured notes issued by the Company in 2015 and 2017, if applicable, as well as certain other customary closing conditions. The Merger Agreement and the Merger must be authorized and approved by (i) a shareholders' special resolution passed by the affirmative vote of holders of Shares representing at least two-thirds of the voting power of the Shares present and voting in person or by proxy as a single class at an extraordinary general meeting of the Company's shareholders, (ii) a shareholders' resolution passed by the affirmative vote of holders of Shares representing a majority of the aggregate voting power of the Shares and (iii) a shareholders' resolution passed by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the total outstanding Class A common shares of the Company.

Concurrently with the execution of the Merger Agreement, the Rollover Shareholders, Parent, Teamsport Midco Limited ("Midco"), the sole shareholder of Parent, and Teamsport Topco Limited ("Holdco"), the sole shareholder of Midco, entered into a Contribution and Support Agreement, pursuant to which the Rollover Shareholders have agreed (i) to vote all of their respective Shares in favor of the authorization and approval of the Merger Agreement and the Merger and (ii) to contribute their respective Shares in exchange for newly issued shares of Holdco.

The Company and certain other participants in the Transactions will prepare and file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") a Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement, which will include a proxy statement of the Company. The Schedule 13E-3 will include a description of the Merger Agreement and contain other important information about the Transactions, the Company and the other participants in the Transactions.

Duff & Phelps, LLC is serving as the financial advisor to the Special Committee, Fenwick & West LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to the Special Committee, Maples and Calder (Hong Kong) LLP is serving as Cayman Islands legal counsel to the Special Committee and the Company, and O'Melveny & Myers LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to the Company.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is serving as U.S. legal counsel to the Consortium, Fangda Partners is serving as PRC legal counsel to the Consortium, and Conyers Dill & Pearman is serving as Cayman Islands legal counsel to the Consortium.

Additional Information about the Transactions

The Company will furnish to the SEC a report on Form 6-K regarding the proposed transactions described in this announcement, which will include as an exhibit thereto the Merger Agreement. All parties desiring details regarding the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, including the Merger, are urged to review these documents, which will be available at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov).

In connection with the Merger, the Company will prepare and mail a proxy statement to its shareholders. In addition, certain participants in the Merger will prepare and mail to the Company's shareholders a Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement that will include the proxy statement. These documents will be filed with or furnished to the SEC. INVESTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY THESE MATERIALS AND OTHER MATERIALS FILED WITH OR FURNISHED TO THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY, THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED BY THE MERGER AGREEMENT AND RELATED MATTERS. In addition to receiving the proxy statement and Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement by mail, shareholders also will be able to obtain these documents, as well as other filings containing information about the Company, the Merger and related matters, without charge, from the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov) or at the SEC's public reference room at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549.

The Company and certain of its directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be "participants" in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders with respect to the Merger. Information regarding the persons or entities who may be considered "participants" in the solicitation of proxies will be set forth in the proxy statement and Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement relating to the Merger when it is filed with the SEC. Information regarding certain of these persons and their beneficial ownership of the Company's ordinary shares as of March 31, 2017, is also set forth in the Company's Form 20-F, which was filed with the SEC on April 27, 2017. Additional information regarding the interests of such potential participants will be included in the proxy statement and Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement and the other relevant documents filed with the SEC when they become available.

This announcement is neither a solicitation of proxy, an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities and it is not a substitute for any proxy statement or other filings that may be made with the SEC should the Merger proceed.

About eHi Car Services Limited

eHi Car Services Limited (NYSE: EHIC) is a leading car rental and car services provider in China. The Company's mission is to provide comprehensive mobility solutions as an alternative to car ownership by best utilizing existing resources and sharing economy to create optimal value. eHi distinguishes itself in China's fast-growing car rental and car services market through its complementary business model, customer-centric corporate culture, broad geographic coverage, efficient fleet management, leading brand name, and commitment to technological innovation. eHi is the exclusive strategic partner in China of Enterprise, the largest car rental company in the world, and is the designated and preferred business partner of Ctrip, a leader in the online travel agency industry in China. For more information regarding eHi, please visit http://en.1hai.cn.

Safe Harbor

This news release may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "if," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties as to the expected benefits and costs of the proposed Merger; the expected timing of the completion of the Merger; the parties' ability to complete the Merger considering the various closing conditions, including any conditions related to regulatory approvals; the possibility that various closing conditions to the Merger may not be satisfied or waived; how the Company's shareholders will vote at the meeting of shareholders; the possibility that competing offers will be made and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement and the proxy statement to be filed by the Company in connection with the Merger. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

eHi Car Services Limited

Tel: +86 (21) 6468-7000 ext. 8830

E-Mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Ms. Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE eHi Car Services Limited

Related Links

http://en.1hai.cn


DENVER, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC ("EKSHCA") advised Steve Spangler Science and Spangler Science Club (collectively "Spangler") on its recent sale to Really Good Stuff LLC, a subsidiary of Excelligence Learning Corporation, the Monterey, California-based leading provider of educational tools and solutions to early childhood and elementary teachers and parents.

Steve Spangler, CEO of Steve Spangler Science and Spangler Science Club, said, "EKS&H Capital Advisors was the strategic partner we needed to successfully achieve our company's goals. EKS&H Capital Advisors' ability to circle a team of experts around us from the investment banking, accounting, tax and due diligence disciplines made our process feel very focused and brilliantly executed. Renee and I built our businesses around the motto  Make it big, Do it right, Give it class  and that's exactly what EKS&H Capital Advisors did for us."

Dipak Golechha, Excelligence Learning Corp. president, said, "Steve Spangler is the creative force behind innovative STEM products that engage young learners by injecting fun into the educational experience. Spangler is an Emmy award-winning television personality and YouTube celebrity who first taught millions how to turn a roll of Mentos and a bottle of soda into an erupting soda geyser. We're delighted to welcome Steve and Renee to the Excelligence family and are confident that Steve's demonstrated passion and drive to make science fun will continue to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers." (https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/about-us/)

Steve Spangler added, "Renee and I are excited about the opportunity to partner with Really Good Stuff, combining our innovative portfolio of STEM products and powerful media presence with Really Good Stuff's established presence in elementary schools to drive the awareness and growth of Steve Spangler Science." This partnership will give Spangler an even greater opportunity to create large-scale science experiences and continue his work as a leading STEM influencer online and on television.

Tim Kochuba, Really Good Stuff general manager, noted, "We're thrilled to partner with one of the top thought leaders in STEM education, enabling Really Good Stuff to catapult over the competition in one of the fastest-growing educational categories with a leading brand that is positioned at the intersection of STEM education and play."

About EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC

EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC is an investment banking firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado, that is strategically aligned with EKS&H LLLP to provide full-service M&A corporate finance advisory to the middle market. For more information, please contact EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC President Adams Price at 303-846-1342 or visit https://ekshca.com/.

SOURCE EKS&H Capital Advisors LLC

Related Links

https://ekshca.com


CLEVELAND, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In March 2017, a consortium of three Chinese companies  MLS Company, IDG Capital, and Yiwu  acquired LEDVANCE from OSRAM Licht. This week, MLS became the sole owner of LEDVANCE in a deal with the other two buyers that gives them shares in MLS.

Among the three companies that bought LEDVANCE from OSRAM, MLS is the only one that was already a manufacturer of LED lighting  IDG Capital and Yiwu are investment firms  so it's no surprise that MLS will now take over production of LEDVANCE's lighting products. As a major supplier of LEDs to the global market, MLS can provide LEDVANCE a streamlined supply of LEDs and related components, which is expected to put the SYLVANIA brand in a more competitive position.

According to Freedonia analyst Matt Breuer, this acquisition is part of a larger trend whereby which the traditional market leaders in the lighting industry  OSRAM Licht, General Electric, and Royal Philips  have begun to hand over their general purpose lighting businesses to other companies that can produce LED lighting more profitably. In addition to OSRAM's divestiture of LEDVANCE, Royal Philips spun off Philips Lighting in 2016 and relinquished its controlling interest in the company in 2017. And although no agreement has been made, General Electric began soliciting offers for its GE Lighting division in June 2017.

Now that LEDs have rapidly become the dominant light source in practically all lighting applications, the industry's competitive landscape has been thoroughly disrupted. Breuer states, "Making LED lighting is very different from making incandescent and fluorescent lighting, so the traditional market leaders have had to decide how to adapt: make dramatic changes to materials sourcing and production processes, or hand the business over to someone better poised to compete in the world of LEDs. What makes acquisitions like this so dramatic is that it's some of the most influential brands in lighting  SYLVANIA, GE, and Philips  that are starting to change hands."

For more information on the outlook of the lighting industry, see the following studies by The Freedonia Group:

General Purpose LEDs & Other High-Efficiency Lighting in the US (March 2018)

General Purpose Lighting Fixtures in the US (Q2 2018)

Smart Lighting in the US (Q3 2018)

About The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com  The Freedonia Group is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985, we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Additional Consumer Goods studies can be purchased at https://www.freedoniagroup.com/, www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.684.9600

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group

Related Links

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LAS VEGAS, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Fusion Bank has chosen William S. Akel as Chief Compliance Officer. His responsibilities include security and compliance processes and procedures, hiring staff and officers, conducting site inspections, reviewing application scoring, managing the security of Fusion Bank's sophisticated online system, and more.

Akel's career accomplishments include founding Synapsis Corporation as a Nevada and Los Angeles-based software development company and Los Angeles-based CounterStrike Corporation, which specialized in anti-money laundering (AML), computer forensics, electronic data discovery, and targeting fraud operations. After 20 years as the founder and director/president of these companies, he worked as a BSA/AML Compliance and Regulatory Officer for Global Cash Access (now Everi Holdings) in Las Vegas and transformed the $24 billion money transmitter/casino agent into a fully FinCEN-IRS compliant organization. He then worked both with eCommLink (now Green Dot Corporation) and MobileClearinghouse Network (MCHN) as a Compliance and Security Officer and as a CISO/Compliance Advisor.

Later, as an AML Advisor/Consultant for the Doyle Carden Group LLC, a licensed private investigative firm that provides premier investigative services to law firms, corporations, domestic and international financial institutions, and top tier consulting firms, Akel worked specifically on consent decrees and enforcement actions by Federal Reserve banks, FDIC, OCC and state divisions of banking against international banking institutions.

"Fusion Bank offers a unique and challenging opportunity for compliance, risk management and security. I look forward to working with President Philip LaChapelle and the team to establish the U.S. headquarters operation in Nevada and provide best-in-class governance, risk and compliance programs with proactive results," said Akel.

Akel earned a bachelor's degree in management, business administration and mass communications with three certifications in AML including the Certified Advanced AML Audit Specialist (CAMS-Audit). In addition, Akel is Certified as a Forensic Consultant, is Certified in Homeland Security, is a Master Analyst in Financial Forensics, Fraud, Risk Management and Financial Litigation (MAFF-NACVA) and is also certified as a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

About Fusion Bank

Fusion Bank is an innovative cash and treasury management solution that is in strict compliance with all required government and central bank regulations. This members-only financial institution is licensed under a Bahamas-based Friendly Society and provides safe, legal, and ethical financial, cash and treasury management services to licensed cannabis operators, ancillary service providers and qualified cannabis friendly members around the globe, including cultivators, grower industry supporters, patients, healthcare providers and lobbyists.

Media Contact:

Charlotte Luer,

239-404-6785

[email protected]

Account Contact:

For information, please email [email protected], call +1-866-347-3321 or visit Fusion Bank to Register for a Bank Account.



SOURCE Fusion Bank
LOS ANGELES, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Getaround, the platform that empowers users to instantly rent and drive great cars shared by people in their city, announced its expansion into Greater Los Angeles today. Now, car owners in LA can reduce the financial burden of car ownership and even make some fun money by listing their car on Getaround. Each car is equipped with Getaround Connect, a proprietary technology that enables renters to locate and unlock the car using the Getaround app. People in Los Angeles can now instantly rent nearby cars all through the Getaround iOS or Android applicationno need to meet in person to get the car keys.

Carsharing is a major part of the environmental sustainability movement. An independent study by the University of California Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center measured the impact of carsharing. The study found that for every one car shared, about ten are taken off the road. This means that for every 1,000 cars shared on Getaround, roughly 100M pounds of carbon dioxide are offset.

"It's an understatement to say that LA's traffic and emissions are some of the worst in the country," said James Correa, General Manager for Getaround Los Angeles. "We're excited to bring Getaround to LA and start taking cars off the road to help reduce congestion in our city."

Correa helped the company soft launch Los Angeles in March, quickly onboarding the first 50 car owners onto the platform. Many owners are earning over $1,000 per month already by sharing their car when it would otherwise be idle. With people in LA seeking transportation alternatives this spring and summer for road trips, apartment moves, and errand runs, now is the time for vehicle owners to list their cars and start earning money.

Getaround is dedicated to making the Los Angeles market successful and works closely with local governments to reduce congestion and emissions by encouraging designated parking spaces for carsharing communities. The company has office space in Culver City and has already hired over a dozen full-time and part-time employees. The team is also forging relationships with local auto body shops and automotive vendors.

What sets Getaround apart from competitors is that the company doesn't own its fleet of vehicles. Each car is owned by a person who lives in the city. There are no signup fees, annual dues, or access cards, reducing the barriers for Los Angeles residents to try carsharing.



"As we expand and carsharing becomes universal, we're not only providing people with access to transportation and economic opportunity, but we're also helping cities solve environmental issues such as traffic, congestion and smog," said Sam Zaid, CEO of Getaround. "We're excited to become a part of the greater Los Angeles transportation network and to leverage our technology to create sustainable mobility options throughout the city."



To learn more, list your car, or rent a car nearby, head to https://www.getaround.com, or download the iPhone or Android mobile app from https://appstore.com/getaround.

About Getaround

Getaround empowers people to instantly rent and drive great cars shared by people in their city. Cars can be rented by the hour, or the day, with insurance and 24/7 roadside assistance included. By using the Getaround app, people skip the lines and paperwork at traditional rental car counters, and the hassle of buying and maintaining a car. Powered by Getaround Connect, the patented connected car technology, Getaround creates a fun and safe carsharing experience without the need to meet the car owner, carry an access card, or coordinate picking up a car key. People share everything from a Prius to a Tesla and earn thousands in extra income each year, offsetting the high cost of car ownership while also making a positive impact on the environment. Headquartered in San Francisco, Getaround has thousands of cars available throughout major metropolitan areas across the United States. For more information visit Getaround.com, download the iPhone or Android app, like on Facebook, and follow on Instagram and Twitter.

SOURCE Getaround

Related Links

http://www.getaround.com


ALBANY, New York, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Global light engine market was valued at US$ 2,534.9 Mn in 2016 and is projected to expand at a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 9.61% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled 'Light Engine Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2018-2026.' The report suggests that the rising popularity and adoption of LED is one of the primary factors boosting the expansion of the light engine market. Furthermore, there has been significant rise in the adoption of LEDs on a global level owing to their multiple benefits such as cost effectiveness and energy efficiency. Additionally, LED-based solutions are gaining popularity in commercial and industrial applications. These segments hold a significant share in the market. Furthermore, multiple regulations have been implemented by government bodies of various countries to increase the adoption of LED-based solutions. For instance, in 2016, the California Energy Commission adopted new standards updating the 2015 Appliance Efficiency Regulations for lighting appliances. The updates are expected to roll out in two tiers with Tier 1 effective by January 1, 2018 and Tier 2 to be effective by July 1, 2019. These updates are significantly focused on the optimal adoption of LED-based solutions in California. Such initiatives are expected to have an indirect positive impact on the global light engine market.

Brochure Download for Industry Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=41897

Temperature Issues with LED to Hinder the Global Light Engine Market

With increased temperature, LED lights can face major issues such as mechanical failure or significant drop in performance. This can have a negative impact on the global light engines market, as changes in the sale of LEDs can have a direct impact on the light engine market. Furthermore, in 2016, the American Medical Association (AMA) in the U.S. adopted an official policy statement about street lighting: 'Cool it and dim it.' Within the statement, AMA discussed issues related to LEDs such as the high color temperature (CT) due to the significant blue light content in it, which could have a harmful impact on the human eyes. However, AMA suggested the use of LED lights with lower blue light content i.e. decreased CT level, which can have an indirect positive impact on the expansion of the global light engine market.

Request a Sample PDF at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=41897

Prominent Adoption of Linear Light Engines in the Residential Sector

Based on application, the light engine market can be segmented into residential, commercial, industrial, and others. The others segment includes square and custom made light engines. In terms of form, the global light engine market can be divided into flexible and rigid. The rigid segment can be further categorized into linear, round, and others. The commercial segment is expected to expand at a rapid CAGR over the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. The increasing adoption of linear light engines in LED lighting in households across the globe is expected to boost the rigid sub-segment.

Request for Discount on this Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=41897

North America is a Rapidly Expanding Region of the Light Engine Market

The market in North America is expected to expand at a rapid CAGR over the forecast period. The factors contributing to the expansion in North America are increased LED adoption across countries such as the U.S. and Canada and technological advancements pertaining to light engines. Furthermore, the adoption of LED lighting in the horticulture industry across Canada is continuously increasing, which is likely to have a positive impact on the light engine market in North America. Also, North America is a home to many well-established as well as emerging players providing light engine solutions including General Electric Company and Cree Inc. These players are innovating highly advanced light engine solutions for customers, helping boost the light engine market across the region.

Key Players such as OSRAM Licht Group, Philips Lighting Holdings B.V., General Electric Company, Cree Inc., and Tridonic are Likely to Lead the Global Light Engine Market

Philips Lighting Holdings B.V., OSRAM Licht Group, Fulham Co., Inc., Tridonic, MaxLite, Inc., General Electric Company, Thomas Research Products, Fusion Optix, Inc., RS Components Pty Ltd., and Cree Inc. are some of the major players operating within the light engine market profiled in this study. Various market players are establishing partnerships, entering in strategic M&A, and carrying out acquisitions to enhance their light engine offerings worldwide. For instance, in June 2017, Osram Licht Group acquired LED Engin, a provider of LED emitters, optics, and light engines, to enhance its current light engines offerings.

Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/report-toc/41897

The global light engine market has been segmented as follows:

Global Light Engine Market

Global Light Engine Market, by Application

Residential

Commercial

Industrial

Others

Global Light Engine Market, by Form

Flexible

Rigid Linear Round Others



Global Light Engine Market, by Geography

North America The U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe France The U.K Germany Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC) India Japan China Rest of Asia Pacific

(APAC) Middle East and Africa (MEA) GCC Countries South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa

and (MEA) South America Brazil Rest of Latin America



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Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The company's exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend 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.

TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
MOUNT DORA, Fla., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A peace demonstration, part of the National Day of Action Against Wars Home and Abroad, is scheduled for Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Mount Dora, Florida. Lake County's "Stop the Wars" sign waving and demonstration begins at 12 p.m. at HWY 441 and Donnelly Street. Attendees are encouraged to bring colorful signs to the demonstration.

Green Party of Lake County

"We encourage all the local residents of Mount Dora and surrounding communities to join us in this peace demonstration to stop the ongoing wars at home and abroad," says Mike Archer of the Green Party of Lake County. "Our goal is to bring everyone together so our collective voices can be heard to raise awareness of the atrocities of war."

This event is one of many scheduled for the weekend of April 14-15. Peace demonstrations will also be held in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C, Atlanta and Minneapolis as well as a number of smaller cities and towns. The organizers are holding these demonstrations to raise awareness of the suffering, poverty and death that is caused by needless wars going on all over the world.

On the SpringAction2018.org website, organizers of the peace demonstrations note, "Just as American children fear school shootings, children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and other war zones around the world fear air strikes and military gunfire. As Americans rise up to demand peace and safety in our own schools and communities, the call goes out for a national day of action to stop these wars and save these children."

To learn more, visit SpringAction2018.org or follow the Green Party of Lake County on Facebook.

About SpringAction2018

SpringAction2018 is a website that highlights upcoming peace demonstrations across the United States as well as provides resources on the impact of wars around the globe. For more information, visit SpringAction2018.org.

Related Images

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Related Links

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Sites related to EVENT

SOURCE Green Party of Lake County
SANTA ANA, Calif., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- System Pavers, the top outdoor design and remodeling company in California, the Pacific Northwest and Denver, has received the 2018 Guildmaster Award from GuildQuality for demonstrating exceptional customer service within the residential construction industry.

Out of 600+ eligible applicants, System Pavers is one of 300+ businesses within the residential construction industry recognized by GuildQuality for consistently delivering superior customer care.

Outdoor Living, Designed Around You

"We are thankful to be recognized by GuildQuality for our exceptional service and customer experience. After 25 years of transforming outdoor living lifestyles, we can proudly say that there is nothing that means more to us than the satisfaction and happiness of our homeowners," states Ila Barot-Oldakowski, VP of Marketing for System Pavers.

In determining which businesses received the 2018 Guildmaster Award, GuildQuality reviewed thousands of survey responses submitted by customers of Guildmaster candidates, and considered two primary metrics for each candidate: the percentage of customers stating they would recommend the business to friend and the percentage of customers who responded.

System Pavers achieved a recommendation rate of 90% or above from their customers surveyed by GuildQuality.

Since 2005, GuildQuality, an Atlanta-based third-party customer satisfaction software surveying company, has powered the Guildmaster Award to recognize and celebrate home building, remodeling, and contracting professionals demonstrating the highest level of customer service within the U.S. and Canada.

About System Pavers

Since 1992, System Pavers has become the leading design and installation company in the outdoor remodel industry. As the outdoor home improvement industry has evolved over the years, so have we. Homeowners can find peace of mind in knowing that we provide the latest state-of-the-art outdoor hardscape products and full-service Design Centers for their convenience, comprehensive design services from start to finish to ensure their project is seamless, and a stellar customer experience as showcased through our 95% satisfaction rating.

Media Contact:

Hannah Gaines

[email protected]

949-263-8300

SOURCE System Pavers
CHICAGO, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hub International Limited (Hub), a leading global insurance brokerage, announced today that it has acquired the shares of ES3 Insurance Services Ltd. operating as ES3 Advisory (ES3 Advisory). Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, ES3 Advisory is an innovative employee benefits and pension consulting firm. Founded in 1999 by Darrell Ert, President of ES3 Advisory, the company is well-known for designing custom solutions that helps clients create programs that promote engaged, healthy employees.

ES3 Advisory, led by Faizal Mitha, Vice President of Employee Strategies, will join Hub TOS reporting to Dave Terry, President of Hub TOS.

"ES3 is perfectly set up for the next chapter with a partner that shares our values and has the scale to make a real difference in the North American space," said Ert.

About Hub's M&A Activities

Hub International Limited is committed to growing organically and through acquisitions to expand its geographic footprint and strengthen industry and product expertise. For more information on the Hub M&A experience, visit WeAreHub.com.

About Hub International

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Hub International Limited (Hub) is a leading full-service global insurance broker providing property and casualty, life and health, employee benefits, investment and risk management products and services. From offices located throughout North America, Hub's vast network of specialists provides peace of mind on what matters most by protecting clients through unrelenting advocacy and tailored insurance solutions. For more information, please visit hubinternational.com.

CONTACT:

Media: Marni Gordon

Phone: 312-279-4601

[email protected]

M&A: Clark Wormer

Phone: 312.279.4848

[email protected]

SOURCE Hub International Limited

Related Links

http://www.hubinternational.com


Recapitalization Will Put Company on Solid Long-Term Financial Footing

LUXEMBOURG, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- International Automotive Components Group S.A. ("IAC"), a global automotive and mobility leader in lightweight and new-material interior solutions, today announced it has secured new financing commitments that significantly strengthen its balance sheet and enhances its financial flexibility.

As part of the recapitalization, IAC will issue $215 million of Senior Secured Notes due April 2023 to funds managed by Gamut Capital Management LP ("Gamut"), a New York-based middle market private equity firm. The proceeds, along with cash on hand, will be used to refinance IAC's $300 million 9.125 percent Senior Secured Notes due June 1, 2018. Gamut will also acquire a minority equity interest in IAC and nominate representatives to the board. WL Ross and Co. LLC ("WL Ross"), a division of Invesco Ltd., and Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC, will remain the company's majority shareholders.

Stephen Toy, senior managing director and co-head of WL Ross, said, "This is an exciting day for IAC, its partners and employees. This transaction signals strength and confidence in IAC's business plan and positions the company for sustainable, long-term success."

Stan Parker, founding partner of Gamut, added, "IAC is a market leading business with substantial scale, a blue-chip customer base and numerous growth opportunities. We are excited to be supporting IAC and its management team, as well as partnering with WL Ross and Franklin Mutual Advisers, as they continue to make progress in driving transformational improvements across the business."

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close prior to the end of April.

Perella Weinberg Partners LP is serving as financial advisor to IAC and Jones Day is serving as its legal counsel. Jefferies Group, LLC is serving as financial advisor to Gamut and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as its legal counsel.

About IAC Group

Headquartered in Luxembourg, International Automotive Components (IAC) is a leading global supplier of automotive components and systems, including instrument panels, console systems, door panels, headliners and overhead systems to automakers around the world. The company's 2017 sales were an estimated $4.4 billion. IAC Group operates more than 50 manufacturing facilities in 16 countries. The company has more than 60 total locations in 19 countries, including 19 design, technical and commercial centers, and employs more than 22,000 people globally. For more information, visit www.iacgroup.com.

About Gamut Capital Management

Gamut Capital Management is a New York-based private investment firm managing $1 billion in assets focused on the middle market. Gamut was founded in 2015 by Stan Parker and Jordan Zaken who have over 35 years of combined private equity investing experience across a wide range of industries, in a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional private equity structures, and throughout economic cycles. Gamut's senior deal professionals have executed investments in over 30 companies in North America and Europe. To learn more, please visit www.gamutcapital.com.

About WL Ross & Co. LLC

WL Ross & Co. LLC is a private equity firm specializing in middle market, restructurings, buyouts, turnarounds and special situations. The firm is wholly owned by Invesco and part of its Invesco Private Capital Division.

SOURCE International Automotive Components

Related Links

http://www.iacgroup.com


LONG BEACH, Calif., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Halbert Hargrove, a fiduciary investment management and wealth advisory firm headquartered in Long Beach, California, has been recognized by InvestmentNews as a "Best Places to Work" for financial advisers.

As a 2018 recipient of the inaugural InvestmentNews "Best Places to Work" award, Halbert Hargrove was one of 50 companies honored for its outstanding devotion to employees and company growth. The firms were evaluated on a number of different aspects, including company culture, benefits and career progression opportunities.

Continuing its commitment as a 'best place to work,' the firm announced the opening of an additional office in Houston, Texas which will be headed by Wealth Advisor, Craig Eissler. Conveniently located in the heart of The Woodlands Waterway business district, the office will add a footprint in the local economy and bring Halbert Hargrove's valued investment advice and asset protection to the community.

"At Halbert Hargrove, we are dedicated to serving our clients and employees with integrity through a culture of learning, development, and success. We're honored to be recognized for these values by InvestmentNews," said Halbert Hargrove President and COO JC Abusaid. "As we continue our expansion, we are eager to bring our long-standing commitment to new clients and recruit devoted employees, which will help foster our growth for years to come."

Halbert Hargrove is headquartered in Long Beach, California and has 42 employees across the country, with offices in San Diego and Costa Mesa, California; Denver, Colorado; Bellevue, Washington; Scottsdale, Arizona; The Woodlands and Houston, Texas.

About Halbert Hargrove

Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC, is a fiduciary investment management and wealth advisory firm that provides investment management, wealth advisory, financial planning, and consulting services to individuals, families, charitable organizations, and trusts. Founded in 1933, Halbert Hargrove is headquartered in Long Beach, CA, and has approximately $2.5B assets under management. For more information, please visit: www.halberthargrove.com

SOURCE Halbert Hargrove

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LEXINGTON, Ky., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexmark, a global imaging solutions leader, today announced that effective as of April 2, 2018, Lexmark International, Inc. (the "Company") entered into a Security Agreement with China CITIC Bank, as collateral agent (the "Collateral Agent"), for the benefit of the co-secured parties under the Security Agreement.

Pursuant and subject to the terms of the Security Agreement, the Company granted to the Collateral Agent, for the equal and ratable benefit of the co-secured parties, a first priority lien on and security interest in (subject to permitted liens), those assets of the Company that are expressly subject to the Security Agreement (the "Collateral").

Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Trustee for the holders of the 2020 Senior Notes, is one of the co-secured parties under the Security Agreement and is entitled to the benefit, on a pari passu basis, of the lien and security interest granted by the Company in the Collateral pursuant to the Security Agreement. The Trustee has been notified that the Security Agreement is now effective and has been provided with an executed copy.

All other lenders who are counterparties to agreements with the Company relating to hedging or cash management services that are approved by the Collateral Agent will, upon execution of a joinder agreement agreeing to be bound by the terms of the Security Agreement, be entitled to the benefit, on a pari passu basis, of the lien and security interest granted by the Company in the Collateral pursuant to the Security Agreement.

"We are pleased to announce the completion of this agreement," said Art Richards, Treasurer, Lexmark. "Lexmark is a financially stable company with strong investor backing, and we are positioned for profitable growth."

Investors may request access to Lexmark financial information here.

Caution concerning forward-looking statements

This release contains certain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "will" or words of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts, but rather on current expectations and projections about future events, and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Lexmark undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.



About Lexmark

Lexmark creates innovative imaging solutions and technologies that help customers worldwide print, secure and manage information with ease, efficiency and unmatched value. Open the possibilities at Lexmark.com.

SOURCE Lexmark

Related Links

https://www.lexmark.com


BUFORD, Ga., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Modavate Inc., a fast-growing human and technology solutions firm founded in 2007, celebrated the grand opening of its new Buford headquarters location on April 4. 7th District Congressman Rob Woodall attended the festivities, at 4486 Commerce Drive, to tour the facility and offer congratulations to Modavate President and CEO Bukie Opanuga. Opanuga, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Nigeria, commemorated her 11th year in business by expanding her operation into a new office space. Modavate, a supplier to both governmental entities and private sector corporations, is the rare technology firm that is owned by a minority woman. Congressman Woodall dropped by to welcome the Modavate team to the area and offer his support to the kind of diverse firm that represents the future of the tech world.

"Modavate is a great example of how hard work and dedication can help a small business owner to achieve the American dream," says Woodall. "It is exciting to see the diversity of companies that are setting up shop in the 7th District. I am proud of what Bukie and her team have accomplished thus far and look forward to great things from her in the future." Modavate  a certified 8(a) and EDWOSB supplier, as well as a certified Minority Business Enterprise with the NMSDC  is considered a top-performing contractor at the US Department of Defense. The company, whose new headquarters is located within a federally designated Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone), has recently been awarded a prime contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide management consulting services.

Congressman Woodall engaged Opanuga in a wide-ranging discussion on minority business access to opportunities with federal agencies, collaborative federal/local workforce development partnerships to increase the capacity of the technology labor pool and job creation strategies that lead to economic impact and positive outcomes. Opanuga appreciates the opportunities she has been afforded and is grateful to Woodall for his commitment to the community. "It was quite an honor to have my U.S. Representative stop by to see what we are up to," she says. "He clearly is committed to making sure that small and diverse companies have an opportunity to compete, which is all one can ask for. I was blessed by his visit and look forward to further collaboration with him going forward."

Modavate has recently expanded its full-time team to five employees and is looking to continue to grow, including the addition of an internship program for students with an interest in digital marketing and information technology. The firm was recently recognized as the Business Member of the Month by the Government Contractors Association. Modavate, whose revenues exceeded $1 million in 2017, specializes in IT support, communications and marketing, cybersecurity, management consulting and training. For more information, visit modavate.com.

PRESS CONTACT:

Bukie Opanuga

Modavate Inc.

[email protected]

(770) 573-2838

Related Images

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MODAVATE

Modavate Inc

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Bukie Opanuga and Congressman Rob Woodall

Grand Opening New Headquarters Modavate

Related Links

Modavate Inc.

SOURCE Modavate Inc.

Related Links

http://modavate.com


Said lawsuit is a companion to a previously filed lawsuit by Kennedy against Schneider Electric, a French global electric company, where Kennedy requested a federal Magistrate Judge (Paul R. Cherry) to merge lawsuit against Schneider Electric with the lawsuit against the College. This was not done. The lawsuit against Prairie State alleges that the College through Dean Hansel authored a false Declaration which was allegedly solicited by Schneider Electric, to assist Schneider Electric in their effort to convince Magistrate Judge Cherry to grant a motion for summary judgment.

The lawsuit against Schneider Electric is presently pending before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and during Oral Argument, in January 2018, Chief Judge Diane Wood stated to Schneider Electric's defense attorney that "there is a difference between credentials and qualifications"1.

After almost one year into the Prairie State lawsuit, the College did not respond to properly served summons, so plaintiff filed copies of executed summons with the Clerk of the Court who, upon request, issued plaintiff a Clerk's Entry of Default.

Upon Kennedy's motion for default judgment, the College suddenly responded with two motions of their own: to vacate Clerk's Entry of Default and to deny plaintiff's motion for default judgment. In the lawsuit against the College, the Judge, (Joseph Van Bokkelen), reviewed said motions. Both motions for the College were granted, as the Judge followed the College's argument of meritorious defense, however, if that defense provides the method whereby the College is extricated from this lawsuit, oddly it leaves Kennedy exposed to any allegations of fraud by teaching classes for which the College allegedly claimed he is not qualified. Hansel's Declaration2 splits hairs as it interchangeably speaks to Hansel's review of Kennedy's credentials and qualifications, (in Items #7 and #8), while alleging both to be the criteria of the Higher Learning Commission3.

Kennedy's lawsuit alleges he taught at Prairie State College for six (6) years before Hansel made the decision to terminate his employment as adjunct instructor allegedly breaching his adjunct faculty union contract. Allegations set forth by Kennedy introduces concerns regarding federal student loans4 and the U.S. Department of Education3: This responsibility falls upon Kennedy if the Higher Learning Commission/College or both are not held responsible.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Education and Justice Departments are aware of both complaints4.

Naturally, Kennedy's concern is that teaching at Prairie State College, as his complaint alleges, is a vital fact in deciding whether the College, Higher Learning Commission, or both are attempting to throw their allegedly inefficient administrative problems at Mr. Kennedy's feet.

1234(See PDF)

SOURCE Attorney John H. Davis & Associates
DALLAS, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MSD Capital, L.P. today announced that it has acquired a significant portion of the high-profile Knox district, a best-in-class, mixed-use neighborhood in Dallas, Texas consisting of retail shops, restaurants, offices, and residential properties.

"We are excited to add this extraordinary property to MSD Capital's real estate portfolio," said Coburn Packard, co-head of MSD Capital's real estate group. "Together with The Retail Connection, L.P. and our other partners, the MSD team looks forward to working with our neighbors to further enhance what already is regarded to be the premier street retail district in Dallas."

In total, the Knox district encompasses 14 square blocks located adjacent to the Katy Trail at the convergence of some of the highest-end neighborhoods in Dallas, including Highland Park. The acquisition totals approximately 11 acres with 170,000 leasable square feet of retail and 165 apartments, with current retail tenants including Crate & Barrel, Sur La Table, Trader Joe's, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Z Gallerie, lululemon, Kate Spade and others. The district also features several unique dining options, including Taverna, Toulouse and Up on Knox.

"This investment represents a continuation of MSD Capital's longstanding strategy of investing in irreplaceable real estate in dynamic, growing markets," said Barry Sholem, co-head of MSD Capital's real estate group.

About MSD Capital, L.P.

MSD Capital, L.P. is the private investment firm that was established in 1998 to exclusively manage the capital of Michael Dell and his family. The firm utilizes a multi-disciplinary investment strategy focused on maximizing long-term capital appreciation by making investments across the globe in the equities of public and private companies, credit, real estate and other asset classes and securities. MSD Capital's team operates from the firm's offices in New York, West Palm Beach and Santa Monica.

MSD Capital's Real Estate Group pursues a value-oriented investment strategy that seeks attractive risk-adjusted returns, generally in "forever" real estate with significant barriers to entry. The team invests across most real estate asset classes, and invests in existing properties, value-added assets and ground-up development opportunities, as well as operating companies where real estate expertise and/or relationships can add value.

For additional information about MSD Capital, L.P., please visit www.msdcapital.com.

Contact: Todd Fogarty, KEKST, 212-521-4854 or [email protected]

SOURCE MSD Capital, L.P.

Related Links

http://www.msdcapital.com


DALLAS, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Surgical Funds (www.surgicalfunds.com), a company formed to offer access to responsible, flexible patient financing solutions for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), has launched and is helping ASCs provide healthcare consumers access to financing for high-quality surgical procedures. Created by trusted, veteran leaders in the ASC industry, Surgical Funds provides surgery centers with a best-in-class option for patients to cover their out-of-pocket expenses.

With the surge of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and increasing co-pays, patients are bearing a greater share of the rising costs of healthcare. HDHPs  plans with a deductible of at least $1,350 for an individual or $2,700 for a family  accounted for 43% of private health plans for people under 65 in 2017.1 The average annual deductible for individual plans exceeded $5,700 in 2017.2 Prices are expected to continue rising.

Many patients struggle to pay for surgical expenses not covered by insurance. Through a partnership with patient financing company Health Credit Services (HCS), Surgical Funds now offers ASCs and their patients access to HCS financing solutions. Enrolled surgery centers receive HCS system training and support from Surgical Funds. Upon completion of training, surgery centers can submit patient loan applications. If approved, applicants select an HCS loan package that fits their budget, and the HCS team administers the patient loan moving forward. HCS funds the ASC within 48 hours of the procedure date.

Surgical Funds is founded by ASC executives with extensive experience in the healthcare, including Randy Bishop, ASC industry leader and Chief Operating Officer of Surgical Notes.

"One of the biggest obstacles to patients undergoing a surgical procedure is concern about their ability to pay for care," Bishop says. "Meanwhile, ASCs are shouldering more of the burden to collect what they are owed because of rising patient responsibilities. Surgical Funds is designed to address both challenges. The program makes it easier for patients to undergo the surgeries they need for improved quality of life and enables ASCs to secure appropriate payment for providing these procedures. This allows surgery centers to focus more on what matters most: growing their business while delivering high-quality, low-cost care."

To learn more about Surgical Funds and take the first step toward providing your patients with the financing solutions they need, visit surgicalfunds.com.

About Surgical Funds

Surgical Funds facilitates patient financing solutions to supplement out-of-pocket expenses for ambulatory surgical center procedures. In partnership with the nation's premier funding corporations, we are able to offer access to responsible, expedited financing alternatives to our healthcare clients. Decades of experience in the healthcare and financial services industries uniquely qualifies Surgical Funds to develop focused, customized programs that meet the daily challenges faced in today's healthcare environment.

About Health Credit Services

Health Credit Services (HCS) is on a mission to increase access to healthcare. At HCS, we recognize and empathize with the financial barriers to care that routinely impact providers and patients. The challenges of today impassion us to invest smart, simple financing solutions, while delivering a seamless customer experience. From practices delivering more care to patients successfully managing their health, we take pride in empowering and equipping our customers to take charge of both their physical and financial well-being. For more information about HCS, visit hcsloans.com.

1 www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/insur201802.pdf

2 https://resources.ehealthinsurance.com/individual-and-family/much-health-insurance-individuals-families-2

SOURCE Surgical Funds

Related Links

http://www.surgicalfunds.com


"Ten years later, it is truly humbling to see how Oakworth has grown. Our growth is measured by factors like banking and wealth assets, number of associates, client households, profit, and stock price, all of which indicate a successful first decade. While all of this is meaningful, it is the relationships developed with our stakeholders (clients, associates, the communities we serve and shareholders) over the past ten years that is the most rewarding area of growth," said Oakworth Chief Executive Officer, Scott Reed. "Our Core Purpose is 'Helping People Succeed' and this move is evidence that we are just getting started in doing that."

Oakworth and a group of directors and insiders purchased the new building which is a total of forty-five thousand square feet. Oakworth currently occupies the first two of three floors, or a total of thirty thousand square feet. Prior to moving in, Oakworth reconfigured the first two floors for its unique approach to banking and wealth management. The new location officially opened on January 29th of this year. Oakworth currently operates from this location as well as two additional locations in Montgomery, and Mobile.

Oakworth's associates are comprised of individuals who share Oakworth's vision of "Redefining Financial Services" while demonstrating leadership through our shared core values (Golden Rule, Character, Professionalism, Innovative & Creative Spirit, and Work Ethic).

About Oakworth Capital Bank

Oakworth Capital Bank provides commercial banking, wealth management, and private banking services to successful businesses, families, and individuals. The Bank serves its valued clients across the United States from its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama as well as offices located in Montgomery and Mobile. For more information about Oakworth Capital Bank and its unique approach, please visit the company website at www.oakworthcapital.com or call us at (205) 263-4700.

For more information contact:

Lindsey Krausen

Phone: 205-278-2736

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Oakworth Capital Bank

Related Links

http://www.oakworthcapital.com


PUNE, India, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- "Wild Wild Country," the recently released six-part Netflix docuseries, is capturing worldwide attention. It recounts the extraordinary story of a group of people, inspired by the vision of the mystic, Osho, creating an ecological oasis in the barren hills of the Oregon high desert.

Osho

These events trigger a political and criminal confrontation between a revolutionary vision of a new way of living versus the establishment. Unfortunately, In OSHO Internationals' view, the docuseries fails to explore key details and so does not give a clear account of the real story behind the story.

Based on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, it is clear to OSHO International that the government, from the highest levels on down, were determined to use whatever means possible to thwart Osho's vision of a community based on conscious living. These include US Attorney Edwin Meese, both US Senators from Oregon, the governor of Oregon. All the named later admitted publicly that they had no evidence associating Osho with the crimes of Sheela Silverman, Osho's personal secretary at the time.

The government's attitude toward Osho is perhaps best captured by a statement, on the public record, by the District Director's Chief INS Investigator, Thomas Casey, who stated that Osho will be "deported as an example to wetbacks and other cults."

The attempt to create a model city in the Oregon high desert was blocked from the outset on the basis that it was "farmland" where "offices" were not legal.

Only after the community had been destroyed did the Oregon Supreme Court confirm what anybody could see with their own eyes: that the land was not in any sense "farmland." The court confirmed that the land could only support "9 cows" and that the city's original incorporation had been legal.

Denied even a telephone line, it was impossible for the community to grow. As the film describes, the residents of that community then bought property  that had long been for sale in Antelope, a tiny "ghost town" of 40 mainly retired residents 19 miles away  in order to have essential services. As the film shows, this was termed "the invasion" that was later used to justify ever-greater efforts to "get them out." In response, Sheela Silverman set out on her personal road to perdition  bending and breaking laws as she saw fit in an attempt to defend the community.

A critical moment came when Sheela fell out with Osho and, as she said in the docuseries, "He lost it." She decided only she knew how best to implement what she thought was Osho's vision -- which was the beginning of the end. When Osho became aware of Sheela's criminal acts he immediately invited the FBI to investigate her crimes.

In the fall of '85, the press was full of rumors, later confirmed by the Oregon Attorney General, that the National Guard and other levels of law enforcement were being mobilized. As the film describes, repeated attempts by Osho's attorneys to cooperate with any warrant or allegations against him were rebuffed.

In OSHO internationals opinion, the risk of violence was defused at a stroke when Osho accepted the advice from those around him to leave. He flew out of Rajneeshpuram on the long journey across the country. His departure from Rajneeshpuram was a gift for the authorities who then claimed he was "fleeing." OSHO International questions how Osho could be fleeing a non-existent arrest warrant, while filing flight plans with the FAA, and taking the longest possible route across the US when Canada was only 20 minutes away?

The attacks on Osho's fragile health while the authorities were holding him required him to allow his lawyers to make an "Alford Plea" deal to leave the US, all the while maintaining his innocence of all charges.

Sheela was at the center of this criminal enterprise and received a 20-year prison sentence. She was released after only 39 months. A slap on the wrist compared with what OSHO International guesses would have been decades in prison for Osho had there been a trace of evidence linking him to Sheela's crimes.

OSHO International's summary of this story is that here was a non-white man from India, who wore a dress and an unusual hat, who drove a fleet of fancy foreign cars round a city named after him in Sanskrit, where everyone wore red, worked for no money but with only the love of a vision of a different world based on meditation, where there was no support for the family, private property or any religion, and where everyone was a vegetarian  right in the middle of conservative, Christian, cowboy country!

For more details, see:

http://www.oshotimes.com/2018/03/wild-wild-country-the-story-behind-the-story-of-rajneeshpuram/

To Contact OSHO International:

[email protected]com

Media Contact:

John Andrews

+919823097275

[email protected]

SOURCE OSHO International
NEW YORK, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Preston is a former early Yelp employee, previously worked for Yahoo!, IAC, Apple and currently is Co-Founder of Mile Square Labs, working with domestic and international startups on sales operations and growth objectives. He joined Yelp in 2008 as hire #82, opening & expanding the first NY office, bringing the company through IPO, while significantly growing Yelp revenue as VP of Brand Solutions. Preston has a B.A. from the University of Vermont and is an active advisor & board director with several accelerators, traditional tech and blockchain/ICO companies. Preston is also a former investor in TaskRabbit (acquired by IKEA).

CEO of Baanx Garth Howat said, "Preston is a very welcome long term addition to the Baanx advisory board. With his vast experience within marketing, branding and lately as a Blockchain sector expert we expect his help to be substantial in delivering the goals of our exciting project during the coming months and years."

Preston Junger commented, "Baanx is a fantastic project with huge opportunities to drive the daily use of Blockchain services and the uptake of Cryptocurrency use throughout the world. I am confident I can enable them to build relationships with several of the key brands they are looking to enter into the Baanx Platform and Community, as well as provide valuable assistance to their overall growth goals"

Preston will be joining David Drake and other key advisors on the Baanx Advisory Board as we progress to Pre-Sale on 8th April 2018, Public Pre-Sale on 1st May and the ICO on the 10th May 2018.

Baanx website is on https://baanx.com

If you have any questions relating to Preston Junger joining the team please direct these to [email protected]

SOURCE Baanx Group
MERIDIAN, Idaho, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Registration for the annual ACVO/StokesRx National Service Animal Eye Exam event is now open to Service and Working Animal owners and handlers at www.ACVOEyeExam.org. For the 11th year in a row, board certified veterinary ophthalmologists across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico will provide more than 7,500 Service and Working Animals with free eye exams this May.

The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) is an approved veterinary specialty organization of the American Board of Veterinary Specialties that board certifies veterinarians as ophthalmologists. The organization developed the ACVO/StokesRX National Service Animal Eye Exam event in 2008, and since its inception, nearly 60,000 Service and Working Animals have received free screening eye exams  including approximately 7,500 in 2017 during the 10th Anniversary event.

Honor, a three-year-old yellow lab Service Dog trained by Freedom Dogs in San Diego, received her first free eye exam during the ACVO/StokesRx National Service Animal Eye Exam event in the 2017 10th Anniversary event (picture can be found here). Like many Service Dogs, Honor works loyally each day to help her handler, Marine, Cpl. TJ Melhus, with tasks such as, medication retrieval, retrieval of dropped items, blocking people from approaching, alerting of people approaching from behind, and redirecting anxiety attacks through pressure from her chin.

"It was so important for Honor to take part in the ACVO/StokesRx National Service Animal Eye Exam event for the first time in 2017," said Katie Stoll, Honor's trainer/puppy raiser at Freedom Service Dogs. "The free eye exams provide Service Animal handlers with the comfort of knowing their animals are healthy  sight is an asset these dogs use each day to keep their handlers safe."

More than 300 board certified veterinary ophthalmologists throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico will donate their time and resources to provide free screening exams to Service and Working Animals in May. In addition to dogs, other Service or Working Animals including horses, miniature horses, donkeys, alpacas and cats can receive free sight-saving exams.

The goal of the ACVO/StokesRx National Service Animal Eye Exam event is to provide as many free screening exams as possible to eligible Service and Working Animals. The following types of Working or Service Animals may qualify: guide, handicapped assistance, detection, military, search and rescue, and current, registered therapy animals  all whom selflessly serve the public.

This year's event is sponsored by ACVO and Stokes Pharmacy, as well as several generous industry sponsors. Participating board certified ophthalmologists volunteer their services, staff and facilities at no charge for Service and Working Animals and their owners/agents to participate in the event.

HOW TO REGISTER FOR THE 2018 EVENT:

To qualify, Service and Working Animals must be "active working animals" that have been trained through a formal training program or organization, or are currently enrolled in a formal training program. The training organization could be national, regional or local in nature. More qualification details are available here. Owners/agents for the animal(s) must FIRST register the animal via an online registration form beginning April 1 at www.ACVOeyeexam.org. Registration ends April 30. Once registered online, the owner/agent will receive a registration number and will be allowed access to a list of participating ophthalmologists. Then, they may contact a specialist to schedule an appointment, which will take place during the month of May. Times may vary depending on the facility and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so owners/agents are encouraged to register and make appointments early.

About the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists

The American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) is an approved veterinary specialty organization of the American Board of Veterinary Specialties, and is recognized by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Its mission is "to advance the quality of veterinary medicine through certification of veterinarians who demonstrate excellence as specialists in veterinary ophthalmology." To become board certified, a candidate must successfully complete a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, a one-year internship, a three-year ACVO approved residency and pass a series of credentials and examinations. For more information, please visit www.ACVO.org.

About Stokes Pharmacy

Stokes Pharmacy is a national, full-service compounding pharmacy specializing in the art and science of the custom formulation of prescription medicines for humans and animals. Leading the way in innovation, Stokes invites veterinarians to prescribe compounded medications online securely, quickly, and accurately via iFill, a cloud-based prescription management system. For more information, visit stokesrx.com.

Media Contact:

Jillian Spitz

614-402-0909

[email protected]

SOURCE American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO)

Related Links

http://www.acvo.org


VANCOUVER, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) has published its March 2018 auction metrics on the Company's website. This information can be accessed at the following link:

https://investor.ritchiebros.com/historical-auction-metrics

Monthly auction metrics should not be considered indicative of quarterly, annual or future performance. Auction metrics and corporate performance vary considerably month-to-month, due to the number of auctions held each month and seasonal factors. Ritchie Bros.' actual results could differ materially from those implied by this monthly auction disclosure. Investors are encouraged to review Ritchie Bros.' performance on a 12-month rolling or annual basis before making investing decisions.

About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a multitude of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, oil and gas, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offers live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with featured weekly auctions and providing its exclusive IronClad Assurance equipment condition certification; EquipmentOne, an online auction marketplace; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; and Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales. The company also offers sector-specific solutions including GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, and Kruse Energy Auctioneers, plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about the unprecedented choice provided by Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com.

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Related Links

http://www.rbauction.com


ARLINGTON, Va., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, American Trucking Associations announced Sentry Insurance, a mutual insurance provider specializing in transportation insurance, has been renewed as a Featured Product provider for the third year in a row.

"Building a business requires bold thinking and taking advantage of opportunities, but sometimes setbacks happen that we don't anticipate or foresee," said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. "Knowing that your company is protected by reputable insurance companies like Sentry Insurance gives motor carriers and other trucking industry stakeholders a sense of security when conducting their daily operations and delivering America's freight."

As a leader in the trucking insurance industry, Sentry has experience designing individualized protection for trucking operations of all sizes. The company offers customized traditional coverages including auto liability, auto physical damage, general liability, motor truck cargo, and workers' compensation, as well as cutting edge products like cyber liability and data breach response coverage. Beyond offering the coverages and specialized claims handling fleets need to protect their businesses, Sentry also offers a robust safety services program to help promote a culture of organizational safety for their clients.

"We believe in the work that the ATA is doing to support the trucking industry and to help make our nation's highways safer. Supporting the ATA through their Featured Product program makes sense for Sentry, because we share many of the same goals for the industry," said Scott Miller, vice president, Sentry Insurance. "Our directly-appointed independent agents who specialize in trucking risks feel the same way. They want to work with carriers who also realize the value of building a culture of safety within their organizations. We're proud to continue to work with agents who understand the unique challenges of the trucking industry and who provide excellent service to our mutual customers. With over 110 years in business, we have the experience to adapt to changing conditions in the industry while keeping our clients protected every step of the way."

For more information or to locate an agent, visit sentry.com.

A complete list of ATA Featured Products is available at www.atabusinesssolutions.com or by calling 866-821-3468.

About Sentry:

At Sentry, we understand what you're looking for in an insurance company. Because we've been there ourselves. We got our start in 1904, when members of the Wisconsin Retail Hardware Association formed their own insurance company. But it was the true strength of personalized care and Midwest roots that became hallmarks of the Sentry name. Since thennever forgetting our rootswe've grown to become one of the largest and most financially secure mutual insurance companies in the nation. With more than $15.7 billion in assets, a $4.7 billion* policyholder surplus, and an A+ (Superior) rating from A.M. Best, the industry's leading rating authority, we provide peace of mind to about one million customers. One conversation at a time.

American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter or on Facebook. Trucking Moves America Forward.

*Assets and policyholder surplus as of Dec. 31, 2016, and represent the aggregate total for all members of the Sentry Insurance Group and are not reflective of any individual underwriting company. A.M. Best rating as of 5/19/2017. Property and casualty coverages are underwritten, and safety services are provided, by a member of the Sentry Insurance Group, Stevens Point, WI. For a complete listing of companies, visit sentry.com. Policies, coverages, benefits, and discounts are not available in all states. See policy for complete coverage details. This is a paid endorsement.

SOURCE American Trucking Associations

Related Links

http://www.trucking.org


SEGUIN, Texas, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE: ALG) was notified that on April 5, 2018, the unionized workers at its subsidiary, Gradall Industries, Inc., located in New Philadelphia, Ohio (the "Company"), had formally approved a three (3) year labor agreement with the Company, ending the previously announced strike that commenced on March 12, 2018. The unionized workers are part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District Lodge 54, Local Lodge 1285. The workers are expected to commence work under the new labor agreement on Monday April 9, 2018.

Alamo Group is a leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and service of high quality equipment for infrastructure maintenance, agriculture and other applications. Our products include truck and tractor mounted mowing and other vegetation maintenance equipment, street sweepers, snow removal equipment, excavators, vacuum trucks, other industrial equipment, agricultural implements and related after-market parts and services. The Company, founded in 1969, has approximately 3,300 employees and operates 26 plants in North America, Europe, Australia and Brazil as of December 31, 2017. The corporate offices of Alamo Group Inc. are located in Seguin, Texas and the headquarters for the Company's European operations are located in Salford Priors, England.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market demand, competition, weather, seasonality, currency-related issues, and other risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update the information contained herein, which speaks only as of this date.

SOURCE Alamo Group Inc.

Related Links

http://alamo-group.com


NEW YORK, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Juan Monteverde, founder and managing partner at Monteverde & Associates PC, a national securities firm headquartered at the Empire State Building in New York City, is investigating Pacific Commerce Bancorp ("Pacific" or the "Company") (OTC: PCBC) relating to the sale of the Company to affiliates of First Choice Bancorp (OTC: FCBP). As a result of the merger, Pacific shareholders are only anticipated to receive 0.46531 of a share of FCBP in exchange for each Pacific share they own.

Click here for more information: http://monteverdelaw.com/investigations/m-a/. It is free and there is no cost or obligation to you.

The investigation focuses on whether Pacific and its Board of Directors violated securities laws and/or breached their fiduciary duties to the Company's stockholders by 1) failing to conduct a fair process, 2) whether and by how much this proposed transaction undervalues the Company by and 3) failing to disclose all material financial information in connection with the upcoming shareholder meeting.

Monteverde & Associates PC is a national class action securities and consumer litigation law firm that has recovered millions of dollars and is committed to protecting shareholders and consumers from corporate wrongdoing. Monteverde & Associates lawyers have significant experience litigating Mergers & Acquisitions and Securities Class Actions, whereby they protect investors by recovering money and remedying corporate misconduct. Mr. Monteverde, who leads the legal team at the firm, has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Securities Litigation in 2013 and 2017, an award given to less than 2.5% of attorneys in a particular field. He has also been selected by Martindale-Hubbell as a 2017 Top Rated Lawyer.

If you own common stock in Pacific and wish to obtain additional information and protect your investments free of charge, please visit our website or contact Juan E. Monteverde, Esq. either via e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 971-1341.

Contact:

Juan E. Monteverde, Esq.

MONTEVERDE & ASSOCIATES PC

The Empire State Building

350 Fifth Ave. Suite 4405

New York, NY 10118

United States of America

[email protected]

Tel: (212) 971-1341

Attorney Advertising. (C) 2018 Monteverde & Associates PC. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Monteverde & Associates PC (www.monteverdelaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.

SOURCE Monteverde & Associates PC

Related Links

http://www.monteverdelaw.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigilon Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops immune-privileged living therapeutic implants, today announced that the company will present at the GTCbio 15th Stem Cell Summit being held April 12-13, 2018, in Boston. Presentation details are as follows:

GTCbio 15th Stem Cell Summit

Presenter: Devyn Smith, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Operations Date: Thursday, April 12, 2018 Time: 2.35 p.m. EDT Location: Hyatt Regency Boston Hotel

About Sigilon Therapeutics

Founded and created by Flagship Pioneering, 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.

SOURCE Sigilon Therapeutics

Related Links

http://www.sigilon.com


MADISON, N.J., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC today announced it has signed a 25-year franchise agreement with Realpro Realty Solutions Private Limited to further expand the Sotheby's International Realty brand in South Asia with the formation of Sri Lanka Sotheby's International Realty.

Sri Lanka Sotheby's International Realty will be led by CEO Amit Goyal and President Ashwin Chadha, who also stand at the helm of India Sotheby's International Realty. The firm will serve the luxury residential real estate market throughout Sri Lanka with a flagship office in Columbo that is set to open in June of this year. Charles Phillpot, a seasoned real estate professional from the United Kingdom, will serve as the office's resident director.

"Sri Lanka is an attractive global market for the Sotheby's International Realty brand," said Philip White, president and chief executive officer of Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. "Over the past three years, Amit Goyal and Ashwin Chadha have demonstrated strong leadership in India and are a prime example of how to successfully leverage the brand's global network. We are proud to support this expansion into Sri Lanka."

"The luxury real estate sector in Sri Lanka has a promising future," said Goyal. "Sri Lanka's luxury real estate market is expanding rapidly with condominium developments in Colombo, branded resorts and villas along the magnificent coastline, and private estates in the famous tea country, creating a strong luxury footprint in the region."

"We strive to provide the very best service to our clients," said Chadha. "This is underlined by the significant attention and services we provide to our clients both locally and regionally. The Sotheby's International Realty brand's reputation positions us well in India and now in Sri Lanka."

The Sotheby's International Realty network currently has more than 22,000 affiliated independent sales associates located in 950 offices in 69 countries and territories worldwide. In 2017, the brand achieved a record global sales volume of $108 billion USD. Sri Lanka Sotheby's International Realty listings will be marketed on the sothebysrealty.com global website. In addition to the referral opportunities and widened exposure generated from this source, the firm's brokers and clients will benefit from an association with the Sotheby's auction house and worldwide Sotheby's International Realty marketing programs. Each office is independently owned and operated.

About Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC

Founded in 1976 to provide independent brokerages with a powerful marketing and referral program for luxury listings, the Sotheby's International Realty network was designed to connect the finest independent real estate companies to the most prestigious clientele in the world. Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC is a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY), a global leader in real estate franchising and provider of real estate brokerage, relocation and settlement services. In February 2004, Realogy entered into a long-term strategic alliance with Sotheby's, the operator of the auction house. The agreement provided for the licensing of the Sotheby's International Realty name and the development of a full franchise system. Affiliations in the system are granted only to brokerages and individuals meeting strict qualifications. Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC supports its affiliates with a host of operational, marketing, recruiting, educational and business development resources. Franchise affiliates also benefit from an association with the venerable Sotheby's auction house, established in 1744. For more information, visit www.sothebysrealty.com.  2018 Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. All rights reserved. Sotheby's International Realty and the Sotheby's International Realty Logo are service marks licensed to Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC and used with permission. Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each office is independently owned and operated.

CONTACT

Lindsey Scharf Natalie Hernandez Director, PR & Communications Manager, PR & Communications Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC (973) 407-5596 (973) 407-6142 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC

Related Links

http://www.sothebysrealty.com


WICHITA, Kan., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems and the American Red Cross of South Central and Southeast Kansas celebrated the 20th anniversary of a unique on-site blood bank Thursday with a reception and unveiling of a Spirit of Giving employee donor wall.

Spirit's partnership with the American Red Cross goes back two decades when Spirit Wichita, then Boeing, established an on-site donor center to make it easier than ever for employees to give blood. The on-site center supports the local community with almost 1,500 donor appointments each year.

"I'm proud to be part of an extraordinarily generous group of people who know the importance of giving blood and giving back," said Duane Hawkins, Spirit AeroSystems senior vice president and general manager of Boeing, Defense, Business/Regional Jet Programs and Global Customer Support. "This donor center is unique in the blood banking industry. The thousands of Spirit employees who have visited the center over 20 years have made a huge lifesaving impact."

Blood cannot be manufactured; it can only come from generous donors. The average healthy adult can donate one pint of blood every 56 days and save up to three lives with each donation. Spirit employees Steve Frese, John Hubbard and Stanley Campbell were recognized for giving at least 25 gallons of blood, meaning they've made over 200 donation appointments. By giving regularly, they've each saved up to 600 lives with their donations.

"Blood donations are critical to our community," said Jennifer Sanders, executive director of the American Red Cross of South Central and Southeast Kansas. "We understand it can be difficult for donors to get to a blood drive event or American Red Cross facility on a regular basis. That's why this unique on-site center, the only one of its kind in the country and located at the largest employer in Kansas, is so important to the health of our region. Spirit AeroSystems employees have collectively given hundreds of gallons of blood to people in need in our local community."

Spirit employees can conveniently schedule appointments at the on-site center around their work schedule.

On the web: www.spiritaero.com

On Twitter: @SpiritAero

About Spirit AeroSystems

Spirit AeroSystems designs and builds aerostructures for both commercial and defense customers. With headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit operates sites in the U.S., U.K., France and Malaysia. The company's core products include fuselages, pylons, nacelles and wing components for the world's premier aircraft. Spirit AeroSystems focuses on affordable, innovative composite and aluminum manufacturing solutions to support customers around the globe. More information is available at www.SpiritAero.com.

SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems

Related Links

http://www.spiritaero.com


About Gloria Bieber

Gloria Bieber was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is the Founder of Life Portraits which provides a service of aura and chakra readings which includes Transcendental Meditation, Mediumship, Metaphysical Training, and Reiki. She is a Holistic Healing Specialist who has studied most of her life including Sylva Mind Control, Metaphysical Studies through science of mind, Theoretical and Practical development of spiritual languages to enhance dialogue with Spirit Masters, Guides, and Angels. As a wellness counselor, Gloria offers alternative health treatments with a focus on teaching clients the importance of self-healing within the mind, body, and soul. She is acknowledged for her contributions to the book "Your Invisible Bodies," authored by Sharon Montgomery in 2009. Her other honors and awards include Canada's CMA Awards Celebrity Gifting Suite 2014, Emmy's 2014, 2015, 2016 Celebrity Gifting Suite (LA) Oscars 2015, 2016 Celebrity Gifting Suite (LA), TIFF Celebrity Gifting Suite 2017, Spiritual and Holistic Wellness 2013, Spiritual Wellness Award, 2014, and Women of Distinction Award, 2015. She has also published articles in Rising Woman Magazine and has been interviewed by TV News Media and Radio (Calgary, Regina, and Saskatoon) for Body Soul Spirit Expos. Gloria was spotlighted on CUTV News Radio 2017 and has short videos on Aura Imaging and NADProfessionals on YouTube. www.lifeportraits.ca or www.gloriabieber.com.
Posted by Mark Williams | April 6, 2018

Vehicles Affected: Approximately 250,000 model-year 2018 Ford F-150 pickup trucks with 10-speed transmissions built at the Dearborn Truck Plant between Jan. 5, 2017, and Feb. 16, 2018, and built at the Kansas City Assembly Plant between Jan. 25, 2017, and Feb. 16, 2018

The Problem: The gear-shift cable clip on the transmission may not be fully seated, allowing the transmission to be in a gear different from the shift position selected by the driver. This could allow the driver to move the shifter to Park, remove the key from the ignition and allow the vehicle to be in a gear other than Park when exiting the vehicle which, if the parking brake is not applied, could result in injury or a crash.

The Fix: Dealers will inspect and verify that the shift cable locking clip is properly installed. If the clip is not properly installed, technicians will adjust the shifter cable and secure the locking clip at no charge to the owner.

What Owners Should Do: Ford did not immediately announce an owner-notification schedule. Owners can call the manufacturer at 866-436-7332, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle-safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or visit its website to check their vehicle identification number and learn more.

Need to Find a Dealer for Service? Go to Cars.com Service & Repair to find your local dealer. To check for other recalls, and to schedule a free recall repair at your local dealership, click here: 2018 Ford F-150

Manufacturer image
TUNIS, Tunisia, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Devery.io, a blockchain based startup focused on supply chain tracking, signed with the Tunisian Ministry of Education to implement a blockchain-based tracking system for its school meals programme.

The Tunisian government operates a school meal programme designed to offer one fresh meal a day to underprivileged students in its primary and secondary educational system. In seeking to improve the system and to track the quality of the meals provided, the Ministry of Education is now exploring the utilisation of blockchain-based tracking.

Devery Team meeting with the Tunisian Minister of Education, Hatem Ben Salem and Maria Lukyanova (UN World Food Programme).

The implementation will involve an initial roll out to a scheme to feed 1500 primary school kids, with the goal of ultimately rolling out to the scheme to all 400,000 Tunisian school children currently receiving food assistance once successfully trialed.

The meal programme currently serves approximately 6000 schools. In recognising the importance of nutrition as part of a broader goal to ensure and improve educational achievements, the Ministry of Education's programme is aimed to ensure that children from underprivileged backgrounds meet their nutritional requirements.

The programme is currently managed by the United Nation's World Food Programme to ensure that the programme is implemented appropriately and the schools have an adequate supply of meals for the students that require them. In achieving these goals, the ability to track the delivery of the meals as well as possible aspects on the best utilisation of funds are key measures of success for the programme.

"This project is allowing us to explore how supporting innovation, through the introduction of solutions based on blockchain technology, can contribute to strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the Tunisian national school meals programme," said Maria Lukyanova, the United Nations World Food Programme Representative and Head of Country Office for the Republic of Tunisia.

Devery.io will provide the technical advisory and development capability to build, train and utilise a transparent and more accountable system of tracking the meal deliveries as well as reporting issues directly to the Ministry in real time. Further, Devery will train personnel on the ground to utilise and maintain the technology for the foreseeable future.

"Blockchain technology has the potential to impact billions of people through bridging the gap between the physical and digital world. Ensuring the safe delivery of the food to children via blockchain technology is a cause we truly believe will impact the lives of many to come" - Andrew Rasheed, founder and CEO of Devery.io.

The World Food Programme expects to use the technology developed for this programme to assist with the delivery of food in other missions around the world.

Website: https://devery.io

Telegram: https://t.me/deverychat

About Devery.io

Devery is a leading global blockchain start-up that provides comprehensive product verification services. The company provides software that abstracts the difficulties of blockchain development by providing easy-to-use tools and applications to clients.

Media Contact:

Darren Toh

[email protected]

Related Images

devery-io-meets-with-tunisian.jpg

Devery.io meets with Tunisian Minister and UN World Food Programme representative

Devery Team meeting with the Tunisian Minister of Education, Hatem Ben Salem and Maria Lukyanova (UN World Food Programme).

tunisian-children.jpg

Tunisian Children

world-food-programme-greenhouse.jpg

World Food Programme greenhouse

UN World Food Programme in-construction greenhouse.

Related Links

Devery & United Nations World Food Programme use Blockchain to ensure the safe delivery of food to children in North Africa

SOURCE Devery.io

Related Links

https://devery.io


Caribbean islands (like Jamaica , Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia , Antigua and St. Maarten ) dominate the rankings in over half of US states.

islands (like , Turks and Caicos, , and ) dominate the rankings in over half of US states. New York , Vermont , Maine and Connecticut report the highest percentage of trips to Italy .

, , and report the highest percentage of trips to . Travel insurance customers from Hawaii pick Japan as a favorite destination.

pick as a favorite destination. Exotic destinations like Thailand and Israel gain popularity.

The list shows the top five international destinations state by state.

US STATE #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 Alabama The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Bahamas Italy Alaska United Kingdom Mexico Canada Thailand Germany Arizona Mexico United Kingdom Italy The Caribbean Canada Arkansas The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Italy France California Mexico Italy United Kingdom France Canada Colorado Mexico United Kingdom Italy The Caribbean France Connecticut Italy The Caribbean United Kingdom Mexico France District of Columbia United Kingdom Italy France Mexico Spain Delaware The Caribbean United Kingdom Spain Mexico Bermuda Florida The Caribbean Italy United Kingdom Mexico Spain Georgia The Caribbean Mexico Italy United Kingdom Bahamas Hawaii Japan Canada United Kingdom Australia Italy Idaho Mexico United Kingdom The Caribbean France Spain Illinois The Caribbean Mexico Italy United Kingdom France Indiana The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Italy Bahamas Iowa Mexico The Caribbean United Kingdom Italy Bahamas Kansas Mexico The Caribbean United Kingdom France Germany Kentucky The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Italy Bahamas Louisiana The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Italy France Maine Italy The Caribbean United Kingdom Mexico France Maryland The Caribbean United Kingdom Italy Bahamas Mexico Massachusetts United Kingdom The Caribbean Italy Mexico France Michigan The Caribbean Mexico Italy United Kingdom Spain Minnesota Mexico Italy The Caribbean United Kingdom Germany Mississippi The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Canada Italy Missouri The Caribbean Mexico Italy United Kingdom France Montana United Kingdom Mexico Italy Australia France Nebraska Mexico The Caribbean Italy United Kingdom Bahamas Nevada Mexico The Caribbean United Kingdom Italy Canada New Hampshire The Caribbean United Kingdom Italy Mexico France New Jersey The Caribbean Italy Mexico United Kingdom Israel New Mexico Mexico United Kingdom Italy Canada Spain New York Italy The Caribbean Mexico Israel United Kingdom North Carolina The Caribbean Italy United Kingdom Mexico Bahamas North Dakota The Caribbean United Kingdom Italy Canada Australia Ohio The Caribbean Mexico Italy United Kingdom Bahamas Oklahoma The Caribbean Mexico United Kingdom Italy Canada Oregon Mexico United Kingdom Italy France Spain Pennsylvania The Caribbean Italy Mexico United Kingdom Bahamas Rhode Island The Caribbean Italy United Kingdom Mexico Ireland South Carolina The Caribbean Bahamas Italy Mexico United Kingdom South Dakota Mexico The Caribbean Italy United Kingdom Canada Tennessee The Caribbean Mexico Bahamas United Kingdom Italy Texas Mexico The Caribbean Italy United Kingdom France Utah Mexico The Caribbean United Kingdom France Italy Vermont Italy United Kingdom France Mexico The Caribbean Virginia The Caribbean United Kingdom Italy Mexico Bahamas Washington Mexico United Kingdom Italy Canada France West Virginia The Caribbean Bahamas United Kingdom Ireland Mexico Wisconsin The Caribbean Mexico Italy Germany United Kingdom Wyoming Mexico Italy Canada The Caribbean Israel

Data source: All InsureMyTrip travel insurance purchases in 2017 for trips outside the US.

Travel Insurance for International Trips



According to InsureMyTrip, 70 percent of customers choose a comprehensive travel insurance policy for trips abroad. This policy provides a variety of benefits including medical coverage, emergency travel services, baggage protection, trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage.

To schedule an interview with an expert or to request specific research data, please contact [email protected].

About InsureMyTrip

It's simple. InsureMyTrip finds you the right travel insurance plan, every time. InsureMyTrip is the authority on travel insurance. We are committed to empowering travelers to make the best possible insurance decisions by leveraging our technology, data intelligence, and expertise.

SOURCE InsureMyTrip

Related Links

http://www.insuremytrip.com


SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Plug and Play announced today that U.S. Bank (USB) has joined Plug and Play's Cybersecurity Innovation Platform as it prepares to kick off its first cohort. Through this expanded partnership, U.S. Bank will engage with leading entrepreneurs in the Cybersecurity and Fintech sectors to further accelerate its innovation efforts.

"The Security R&D Team at U.S. Bank looks to source security innovation in variety of ways, internally and externally," said David Johnson, security innovation lead at U.S. Bank. "Our partnership with Plug and Play's Cybersecurity Program provides us an opportunity to engage with startups and see how their innovations address current or foreseeable needs. Not only are we looking to address potential use cases within U.S. Bank, but this partnership also enables us to help influence innovation in the broader information security sector by encouraging the participating companies."

U.S. Bank will engage with all 15 startups in the program to evaluate cutting-edge security solutions that it can use both internally and with its partners.

"We are honored to have the opportunity to engage with U.S. Bank and its cybersecurity team in facilitating startup solutions enabling enterprise grade security," said Scott Robinson, VP and Founder of the Cybersecurity Program at Plug and Play.

This partnership comes at a time where information security is top of mind for corporations around the world. In 2017, some of the largest and most advanced cyber attacks in history occurred. The WannaCry ransomware attacks and breaches to public organizations such as the NSA and Equifax were especially devastating.

"Threats to corporations are constantly evolving. The attacks against your business today are completely different from the attacks that hit your business even a year ago," said Nate Hinman, Plug and Play's Cybersecurity Lead. "We're launching this program to help our corporate partners mitigate their risk and make the world a safer, more accessible place."

For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/security

About U.S. Bank

U.S. Bancorp, with 74,000 employees and $462 billion in assets as of Dec. 30, 2017, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the United States. The Minneapolis-based bank blends its branch and ATM network with mobile and online tools that allow customers to bank how, when and where they prefer. U.S. Bank is committed to serving its millions of retail, small business, wealth management, payment, wholesale and securities services customers across the country and around the world as a trusted financial partner, a commitment recognized by the Ethisphere Institute naming the bank a 2018 World's Most Ethical Company. Visit U.S. Bank online or follow on social media to stay up to date with company news.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 21 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, LendingClub, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.

Contact:

Nate Hinman

[email protected]



SOURCE Plug and Play

Related Links

http://plugandplaytechcenter.com


JAMESTOWN, Va., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On April 12 at the Tom Tom Founders Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia, the 2019 Commemoration, American Evolution Innovators Cup will convene entrepreneurial teams from Virginia colleges and universities to compete as they pitch their compelling business concepts to a panel of distinguished investors. This year, 14 teams will be participating from 11 colleges and universities. Below is a list of the competing student teams and their projects:

Andrew Pinney and Rebecca Argueta , "Easy Life," Germanna Community College

and , "Easy Life," Tate Socha and Luis Torres , "Fully Stocked," Hampden-Sydney College

and , "Fully Stocked," Mariam Mitaishvili, Alexis Morgan , Andrew Gray , Kaitlyn Williams , Jose Thomas and Peter Odegbami , "Generators Inc.," Hampton University

, , , and , "Generators Inc.," Brett Danielson , Evan Fisher and Hunter Markle , "BarTrack," James Madison University

, and , "BarTrack," Blade Taylor and Bryce Cahoon , "3DXtremes LLC," Old Dominion University

, "3DXtremes LLC," Janay Brown , "Full Belly Delights," Old Dominion University

, "Full Belly Delights," James Overton , "Time4Dealz," Radford University

, "Time4Dealz," Aneesh Dhawan and Victor Layne , "PurPics," University of Virginia

and , "PurPics," Fritz Steuer and Erik Quigg , "Kestrel," University of Virginia

and , "Kestrel," Keith Ranaldi , Lee Wilson , Shannon Cowan and Andrew Indelicato , "The Abstract Athlete," Virginia Commonwealth University

, , and , "The Abstract Athlete," Neil Hailey and Matthew Sozio , "French Slide," Virginia Commonwealth University

and , "French Slide," Destini Woods , "Solidarity," Virginia State University

, "Solidarity," Glenn Feit , Ben Ailinger and Maria Solares , "Aecium," Virginia Tech

, and , "Aecium," Kent Rollins , Trevor Jackson and Greg Garnhart , "Candid Campus Tours," William & Mary

The Innovator's Cup is designed to cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders by encouraging Virginia students at the undergraduate and graduate level to submit their best business concepts. This year's competition will take place at the Jefferson Theater, and students will compete for $20,000 in prizes, mentorships with celebrated innovators, and collaborations with investors. The winners will be selected based on business viability and business strategy. A panel of high profile investors, including Steve Huffman, Reddit cofounder and Nancy Twine, Briogeo Hair Products CEO and Founder, will evaluate each submission.

"Virginia is the original startup, and our goal is to motivate the Commonwealth's next generation of innovators," said Kathy Spangler, Executive Director of the American Evolution. "The American Evolution Innovators Cup is a fantastic opportunity for Virginia students to showcase their most unique business ideas."

Additionally, the University of Virginia's Galant Center for Entrepreneurship at the McIntire School of Commerce will reserve spots in its entrepreneurial competition later this month for winner of the Innovators Cup. The Galant Challenge is a live investment round that has seeded over $2 million to ventures. All finalists will also receive complimentary Summit Badges to the 7th annual Tom Tom Founders Festival.

The 2019 Commemoration, American Evolution commemorates the 400th anniversary of several pivotal events that took place in 1619 Virginia, which have had an enduring impact on Virginia and America's history. These events set the state and the nation on a course towards the ideals of democracy, diversity and opportunity. In addition to key programs that recognize the launch of free enterprise in the Commonwealth, the Commemoration also raises awareness about the arrival of the first recorded Africans to English North America, the First Representative Legislative Assembly in the New World, the recruitment of English women in significant numbers to the Virginia colony, and the first official English Thanksgiving in North America.

To learn more about the American Evolution Innovators Cup, please visit www.tomtomfest.com/innovators-cup.

About the 2019 Commemoration

The 2019 Commemoration, American Evolution, highlights events that occurred in Virginia in 1619 that continue to influence America today. Featured programs, events and legacy projects will position Virginia as a leader in education, tourism and economic development. American Evolution commemorates the ongoing journey toward the key ideals of democracy, diversity and opportunity. Dominion Resources is an American Evolution Founding Partner and Altria Group and TowneBank are Virginia Colony Partners.

About the Tom Tom Foundation and Founders Festival

The Tom Tom Foundation is a nonprofit organization that celebrates entrepreneurship, culture, and innovation in small cities. Tom Tom's signature event is a weeklong Founders Festival that takes place in Charlottesville, VA, each April in conjunction with Thomas Jefferson's birthday. This cross discipline, multi-venue experience transforms the historic downtown and empowers entrepreneurs, innovators, and civic leaders who are defining the future. Since its inception in 2012, the Foundation's programming has showcased thousands of speakers, artists, and bands to 186,000 program attendees, and has channeled $2.9 million to new ventures and projects. Learn more: www.tomtomfest.com

SOURCE American Evolution
HONG KONG, April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Vistra, a leading provider of international incorporations, trust, fiduciary, private office, and fund administration services, has announced their expansion into the Canadian market with the opening of an office in Toronto, representing a further extension of their footprint in North America.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/631530/Vistra_Logo.jpg )



The expansion into Canada comes about at the same time Vistra's Alternative Investments division was awarded a major fund administration mandate from a leading Private Equity firm headquartered in Toronto.

Commenting on the opening of Vistra's Toronto office, Onno Bouwmeister, Group Managing Director, Alternative Investments at Vistra said: "This is a huge milestone for all of us at Vistra and I am incredibly proud of the team from across the globe that came together to get this office operational within six weeks of the decision. This new office will complement our existing offices in North America and further strengthen the experience and expertise we can provide to our clients in this critical region. Initially our focus in Canada will be around our Alternative Investments business, however we plan to build upon our existing local relationships to expand our service capabilities to offer Vistra's full suite of services across all business lines."

Martin Crawford, CEO at Vistra commented: "Canada is home to some of the most sophisticated institutional investors, largest multinationals and innovative high growth companies, as well as being a target for inbound investment from across the globe and a market that has been on our radar for some time. This new local presence will strengthen our ability to provide our high calibre expertise to these clients and better support global clients interested in Canada. I am excited to watch Vistra establish itself as a major presence in Canada."

Editor Notes

http://www.vistra.com/about-us

SOURCE Vistra
MOUNT PLEASANT, Pa., April 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WATT Fuel Cell Corporation ("WATT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce Dr. Caine Finnerty, CEO & President, has won the 2018 Innovation in Energy award from the Carnegie Science Center. Dr. Finnerty is being honored for his work developing WATT's patented fuel cell technology and proprietary Additive Manufacturing Process ("AMP"), both of which allow WATT to manufacture commercially viable hybrid fuel cell products for small-scale power applications.

Established in 1997, the Carnegie Science Awards presented by the Carnegie Science Center champion efforts to strengthen science and technology in the Pittsburgh region, and celebrates the achievements of local leaders whose contributions have impacted the region's industrial, academic and environmental vitality.

The 2018 honorees were selected by a committee of peerspast awardees and industry leaderswho rigorously reviewed nominations and selected the most deserving winners. Dr. Finnerty is honored to receive the Innovation in Energy award and to be included with the impressive list of regional leaders, who are also being recognized. "I'm proud to receive the Carnegie Science Award for Innovation in Energy on behalf of WATT Fuel Cell, and to stand alongside forward-thinking leaders and educators that are advancing Pittsburgh's science, engineering and technology community," said Dr. Finnerty. "It's innovative companies like WATT, with its dedicated, driven and talented staff, that will provide a lasting positive impact not only on how we address our ever-increasing energy needs, but the US economy as a whole."

"Winners of the Carnegie Science Awards represent the pinnacle of excellence in STEM fields and STEM education," commented Ann Metzger, Henry Buhl, Jr., Co-Director of Carnegie Science Center. "We are thrilled to recognize our amazing awardees and expect them to continue to do us proud with their accomplishments in the future."

"We recognize Dr. Caine Finnerty's technical accomplishments. He is responsible for major technical advances in the fuel cell industry," said Charles J. Vukotich Jr., Chair of the Innovation in Energy Selection Committee. "We recognized Dr. Finnerty's entrepreneurship. He is creating a new industry in fuel cells. The members of the committee believe that fuel cells will make a huge impact on the region and the world, as they become a significant energy source. He's a manager, a salesman, a scientist, an engineer, and a creator."

Dr. Finnerty, along with all the 2018 winners and honorable mentions, will be honored May 4 during the Carnegie Science Awards Celebration at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

About WATT Fuel Cell Corporation

WATT Fuel Cell Corporation (www.wattfuelcell.com) is a manufacturer and developer of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell ("SOFC") stacks and systems that operate on common, readily available fuels such as propane and natural gas. WATT's proprietary, patented additive manufacturing process (AMP) has allowed them to produce commercially viable SOFC products for small scale and remote power applications. WATT's Hybrid Power Management system works in tandem with renewable power sources (Solar & Wind) and energy storage to provide quiet, efficient, affordable, and environmentally responsible energy solutions prioritizing a return on investment for customers across the globe.

SOURCE WATT Fuel Cell Corporation

Related Links

http://www.wattfuelcell.com


NEW YORK, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- WorkFusion, the leading robotic process automation (RPA) software company, has raised $50M in Series E funding in a round led by Hawk Equity and Declaration Partners, bringing the company's total investment to $118 million. Previous investors Georgian Partners, iNovia Capital and NGP Capital also participated. The capital will be used to expand WorkFusion's global operations and further its vision of helping businesses rapidly respond to change with the power of RPA bots that learn through AI.

WorkFusion also announced several enhancements to its leadership team. Alex Lyashok, formerly president, has been appointed CEO and board member effective April 1, 2018. Co-founder and former CEO Max Yankelevich will continue his work with the company as Chief Strategy Officer and will retain his board seat. Peter Cumello has joined WorkFusion as its CFO. Peter previously led global finance organizations as CFO at Text100, as North American managing director of finance at Accenture and SVP of finance at Avanade. Dr. Homaira Akbari has joined WorkFusion's advisory board. Homaira serves on the Board of Directors of several Fortune 500 public companies including Banco Santander S.A. and is CEO of AKnowledge Partners. Dr. Akbari has held senior management roles in blue chip technology companies including Microsoft and Thales SA, and has served as the President and CEO of SkyBitz, Inc., a leading provider of remote asset tracking and security solutions.

"Demand for our products grew 850% in 2017, reaffirming the power of AI to automate common business processes such as customer onboarding in banking, claims processing in insurance, or accounts payable in shared services," said CEO Alex Lyashok. "We were first to launch AI-powered RPA, first to launch free RPA with RPA Express and first to launch free education with Automation Academy. We will continue to deliver firsts to the market, and will continue to help our customers future-proof their businesses by making jobs work."

"Intelligent Automation is the next wave of not only workforce efficiency but also how established businesses will grow through digital initiatives, and WorkFusion is the clear leader," said Hawk Equity founder David Hawkins. Brian Frank, Managing Partner of Declaration Partners continued, adding that "WorkFusion's automation technology solves critical operational problems for enterprises. After extensive market research and discussions with customers and analysts, it is clear that WorkFusion is demonstrating that AI will transform how companies work."

About WorkFusion

WorkFusion's AI-powered RPA software creates and manages software robots, which perform repetitive work. Built for data-first companies, its products automate high-volume processes by combining AI, RPA and people into one intuitive platform. Top enterprises within global banking, insurance, healthcare and other data-intensive industries choose WorkFusion for its integrated offering, industry-leading total cost of ownership and native machine learning. WorkFusion is headquartered in New York City with offices in eight countries throughout Europe and Asia. For more information about WorkFusion please visit www.workfusion.com.

Contact:

Michele Nerio

646-652-7336

SOURCE WorkFusion

Related Links

http://www.workfusion.com


A roundtrip to Mars will take up to three years. In addition to basic necessities such as food, water, oxygen and power, astronauts will need a habitat in which they can live comfortably and safely. The contest asked middle schoolers to submit their best design ideas for a Habitation Module that will provide all of the systems and living spaces that a crew needs for a long mission.

The individual winner is from East Prairie Elementary School in Skokie, Illinois and the team winners are from Stoller Middle School in Portland, Oregon. Their winning entries are available at: https://www.generationbeyondinschool.com/competition/video/archives.

Illinois Student Winner B-Roll: https://vimeo.com/263553244

Portland Student Winner B-Roll: https://vimeo.com/263556005

Images: https://lockheedmartin.smugmug.com/Generation-Beyond-Challenge-Winners-Event/

"Lockheed Martin is already developing design concepts for a Mars Habitat, and the 2017 Generation Beyond Video Challenge Contest was a great opportunity to hear innovative new ideas from the next generation of engineers, builders and explorers who will help us get there," said Tony Antonelli, a former NASA space shuttle pilot who heads advanced civil space programs for Lockheed Martin. "The goal of Generation Beyond is to spark student interest in STEM, and this contest is one of many ways we're using exciting topics, like space travel, to engage students in learning."

The Habitation Module is a component of Mars Base Camp, which is Lockheed Martin's vision for the spacecraft that could one day take astronauts to the red planet. The Mars Base Camp concept would transport astronauts from Earth, via an orbiting gateway at the Moon, to a Mars-orbiting science laboratory where they can perform real-time scientific exploration, analyze Martian rock and soil samples, and confirm the ideal place to land humans on the surface in the 2030s.

Along with hosting video challenge contests in 2016 and 2017, the Generation Beyond program includes a curriculum, created in partnership with Discovery Education, that has been used in thousands of classrooms around the country and incorporates lesson plans and interactive content. Lockheed Martin also created an app called Mars Walk that simulates what it's like to explore the surface of Mars. Classroom resources are available at generationbeyondinschool.com and the Mars Walk app is available for download on iPhone or Android.

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.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Related Links

http://www.lockheedmartin.com


SAN JOSE, Calif., April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As you plan coverage of World Health Day, please consider speaking with Safwan Shah, Founder and CEO of PayActiv.

Poor people are more likely than others to be "financially excluded," meaning they lack access to formal financial services. Financial stress is directly linked to increased frequency of health and legal issues (obesity, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, domestic violence and suicide).

Based in Silicon Valley, PayActiv was founded to improve the lives of individuals living paycheck to paycheck and to empower low-to-moderate income earners with the tools needed to achieve financial resilience. Shah believes "Capitalism needs integrity."

The PayActiv platform, gives employees timely access to their between-paycheck earned wages without incurring debt --- a practice proven to help employees avoid high interest loans, late fees and debt traps, encourage budgeting and savings, and significantly lower employee stress. The PayActiv platform also provides budgeting and savings tools, financial counseling (800#), bill pay options and prescription discounts. PayActiv is always employee sponsored and Does Not require an employee to have a bank account. 50% of PayActiv users do not have a bank account.

"Some of the things we think of as 'mental health problems' are actually poverty problems. If we solved people's financial problems, I think many of their other problems would go away."

Annie Harper, PhD, Yale Department of Psychiatry

PayActiv bring financial security, dignity and savings to millions experiencing financial stress.

BUSINESS EXPENSE WITHOUT AN INVOICE

Companies lose over $300 billion annually due to worker stress. Employee Financial Despair:

Reduces productivity, retention & engagement

Increases frequency of workplace accidents and worker sick days

Significantly stagnates careers

Enormous associated HR Costs: recruiting, hiring, training, productivity loss, cost of temp workers

PayActive is used nationwide by numerous American businesses, including Walmart and Good Will.

For media inquiries contact:

Kelly Kass

978-697-6352

www.payactiv.com

SOURCE PayActiv

Related Links

https://www.payactiv.com


Pay-for-Privacy? Facebook, Apple Represent Opposite Sides of Simmering Digital Debate

In the digital age, people generate a blizzard of data with virtually every click and swipe. But how should that data be treated and protected? This week, we heard two opposing visions from two of the worlds tech leaders: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg suggesting that users would have to pay to "opt out" of Facebook's targeted ads, while Apple CEO Tim Cook saying Apple views privacy as a human right.

The remarks underscore just how fractious the digital landscape has become, and comes as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week revealed in a Q&A with reporters that he would be appearing before Congress on April 11. Zuckerberg also revealed that the Cambridge Analytica data breach was worse than initial estimatesFacebooks audit suggests that some 87 million users were affected, while initial news reports put that number at closer to 50 million.

Appearing on the Today Show this week, Sandberg told host Savannah Guthrie that there is currently no option for users to opt out of having their personal data harvested for Facebook's targeted ads, but if such an option were to exist, it would have to be a paid product."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Apples Tim Cook slammed Facebook in an NBC/ReCode event, which airs tonight, and suggested that creating such detailed personal profiles from peoples online behavior shouldnt be allowed.

"The truth is we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer, if our customer was our product, Cook said, adding that Apple views privacy as a human right. It's a civil liberty, and something that is unique to America. This is like freedom of speech and freedom of the press," Cook said.

Apple of course famously stood by that stance in the face of pressure from the government, refusing to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of the San Bernadino shooter in December 2015.

One area of agreement between Apple and Facebook: regulation, for better or worse, is likely coming. "I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation," Cook said at his town hall. But, he conceded, we are now beyond that and that it is time for a set of people to think deeply about what can be done here."

Privacy, of course, is a core library value, and was a key topic of discussion at the recently concluded Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia. In a keynote, Tim Wu, author of The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads, told librarians that "the original sin of companies like Google and Facebook is that they all "tied themselves to this business of attention harvesting. The result: Facebook was forced by its business model to become a machine of mass surveillance, of time sucking, and mass manipulation.

As the privacy issue continues to heat up, the library community couldand shouldplay a significant role in any upcoming debate over online privacy. And, there is a growing consensus that Congress will indeed have to act.

ALA: No Citizenship Question on 2020 Census

Speaking of privacy issues, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently announced that the Census Bureau would be adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census. That has raised serious concerns, and a number of legal actions to block the questionafter all, how can we get an accurate count, as mandated by the Constitution, if those without citizenship are afraid of being rounded up and deported by ICE agents?

In a blog post this week on the ALA Washington Offices District Dispatch, ALAs Larra Clark noted that the ALA back in January joined a coalition letter opposing the inclusion of a citizenship question, noting that the question would disrupt preparations and jeopardize the accuracy of the 2020 Census.

While appropriating census data to round up non-citizens would be surely be illegal, a Washington Post article this week noted that there is a history of the government abusing census data. Lori Aratani writes that information from the1940 Census was secretly used in one of the worst violations of constitutional rights in U.S. history: the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

In her post, ALA's Clark detailed a number of challenges facing libraries in the 2020 censusincluding the fact that for the first time it will be conducted primarily online. Hey, what could go wrong?

Regardless of how some key questions about the 2020 census are resolved, libraries will be impacted, Clark writes. And the ALA Washington office is encouraging librarians to share their experiences with past Censuses and thoughts for the future in comments here or by email directly to Gavin Baker and Larra Clark.

On Twitter, a Scottish Library Mystery Goes Viral

The internet was aflame this week with news of a library mystery: Georgia Grainger, a library assistant at the Charleston Library in Dundee, Scotland, took to Twitter on Tuesday to report that numerous books in her librarys collection contained a secret code involving a marker on page seven. When she reported the bizarre pattern to her manager, she learned the library's terrible secret...

OK, so it's not a terrible secret. But it is a pretty cool story. So cool, that it has been picked up by multiple websites such as Atlas Obscura, Mashable, and The Big Issue.

In Celebration of National Poetry Month, PW Poetry Reviews Editor Alex Crowley Shares His Picks

Its the start of National Poetry Month, so we asked our poetry reviews editor Alex Crowley to recommend three up-and-coming poets whose debut collections are causing a stir in the poetry world right now. Here are his picks:

Chen Chen, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA): As a gay, Asian-American poet, Chen casts his poems as both a refusal of the shame of sexuality and of centering whiteness or treating it as a highly desirable trait," reads PWs review. "Readers encounter sharp, delightful turns between poems, as Chen shifts from elegy to ode and back again.

Eve L. Ewing, Electric Arches (Haymarket): From PWs review: In this stunning debut, poet and sociologist Ewing brings to bear a variety of forms and mediumsincluding the prose poem, the lyric, mixed media collage, handwritten notes and ephemera, and the verse playon set of related questions about the nature of art and politics.

Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied (Copper Canyon): Zamora details his experience emigrating from El Salvador to the U.S. at age nine in his timely and excellent debut," PW's review reads, "a heartbreaking account of leaving behind the grandmother who raised him to join parents he barely remembered.

For more recommendations, check out the PW Poetry Tumblr.

Friday One-liners

Next Week is National Library Week...

According to NPD, the rising popularity of poetry on social media is driving a resurgence in poetry book sales in the United States.

In the New York Times, Tim Wu says dont fix Facebook, replace it.

Via the Scholarly Kitchen, On Being Excluded: Testimonies by People of Color in Scholarly Publishing.

A Philadelphia library gets a climbing wall and the kids are loving it.

The Guardian lists 50 Fresh Voices You Should Read Right Now.

"Reference is a diagnosis; we find answers in whats not being said, writes librarian Kristen Arnett in her new column for LitHub.

On Howard Hayward: The Mystery Genres First Great Historian, via Crime Reads.

Today is #ArchivesDanceParty day on social media and its a lot of fun.

Knopf is looking for a senior publicist, promises a life of "sadness and defeat."

Fascinating stuff: The ten most cited sources on Wikipedia, according to the data.

U.C. Librarians: Its time for the U.S. to get serious about funding open access.

James Somers in the Atlantic: The Scientific Paper is Obsolete.
Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform Amazon Prime Video has acquired the streaming rights to hit Marathi movie Aamhi Doghi, fresh from its theatrical release earlier this year.





The feminist drama, starring Mukta Barve and Priya Bapat, will be available for Amazon Prime customers from 6 April.Aamhi Doghi is very important to me for various reasons. For the first time, I play a young step-mum to a 16-year old daughter and while we are used to the relationship being in films and series, this movie paints a very different picture. With a strong female cast and a female director, audiences across India can look forward to a beautiful story told well, that focuses on the mother-daughter relationship, said Barve.It is very heartening to see that our movie Aamhi Doghi received such a warm response upon release. Our association with Amazon Prime Video will bring Aamhi Doghi to the wider Indian audience. It is a highly relatable human story that I am sure will find takers not just from Marathi speaking audiences, but from other regions as well. It is a moment of pride for us to be associated with Amazon Prime Video that will take our movie to a pan-India audience, added Bapat.Centring on finding friendship in unexpected situations, Aamhi Doghi is based on Gauri Deshpandes book Paus Aala Motha. The drama is directed by Pratima Joshi and produced by Puja Chhabria.
The Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign against North Korea is working. That is, if working is defined by creating an environment in which Kim Jong Un has great incentive to cooperatively dismantle his nuclear missile program. That doesn't mean Kim will cooperate. But if there is any chance of solving the North Korea nuclear problem without war, this is how it's done.

The backbone of the pressure campaign is Trump's credible threat of military force if the alternative is living with a belligerent North Korea with reliable nuclear missiles. When the president and Defense Secretary James Mattis warn that the United States is ready to handle the North Korean problem if it comes to that, they should be taken deadly seriously.
Army General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, presented his reflections on future conflicts, on March 24. Notably, he argued that the enemys economy and command-and-control system (C2) will be priority targets [for potential Russian attacks]. And aside from traditional warfighting domains, Russian forces will increasingly operate in the information sphere and outer space (Tvzvezda.ru, RIA Novosti, March 24; see EDM, April 3).

Gerasimov outlined five practical steps Russia needs to take to be ready for future wars (TASS, March 24):

Develop an inter-service automated reconnaissance system. This should profoundly reduce the time cycle for completing fire missions (by 22.5 times) and increase the accuracy of targeting (by 1.52 times). Improve the C2 structures. This can be achieved through the creation of special informational support sub-units and reliance on advanced computer systems. Such developments would allow Russian forces to decrease the time (by 1.5 times) required for combat readiness of long-range precision weapons. For this purpose, the Russian side is developing modern, integrated C2 in a single information space. More broadly employ unmanned autonomous systems (UAS). This should include models based on new physical principles (beam, geophysical, genetic, psychophysical and other technologysee EDM, November 29, 2016). According to Gerasimov, these are already being integrated into the Russian Armed Forces). The development of multi-function UASs will enable the Russian side to carry out both reconnaissance (such as, for example, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine) and strike missions. Develop additional means of Electronic Warfare (EW) as well as further elaborate anti-EW mechanisms. This is being dictated by the extremely rapid pace of development of the branch. Russian troops are reportedly being equipped with the most up-to-date EW systems, including aerospace assets, navigation systems and digital radio communications (see EDM, July 19, 2017; September 8, 2017; November 7, 2017; December 5, 2017). Prioritize precision weapons. Notably, hypersonic weapons (hailed by Russian military strategists) will purportedly allow Russia to shift the vast bulk of its strategic military deterrence from nuclear to conventional means (see EDM, October 14, 2016; March 8, 2018).

This speech by Gerasimov shines a new light on earlier remarks given by Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu, in which he stated that very soon, the Russian Military Industrial Complex could launch production of military robots on a large scale, implying that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could soon partially assume responsibilities performed by human soldiers. Addressing progress in the domain of robotics and AI, Shoigu specifically emphasized the sizable quantitative increase in the number of UASs at the disposal of the Russian army, which has grown from merely 160 to, presently, 1,800 pieces (TASS, March 15). Shoigu also noted that the Syrian experience has had a particularly decisive role on the development of Russian UASs.

Robots and other autonomous assets have been especially useful within the so-called Engineer Troops (ET), where a vast bulk of works concerned with de-installation of mine fields has been carried out with the help of these devices. According to Russian sources, in 2017, the ET received 18 brand new and most up-to-date pieces, which had been thoroughly tested in Syria (TASS, January 21). It is worth mentioning that, in a January 2018 interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the head of the Engineer Troops, Lieutenant General Yuri Stavitsky, argued that robotization of the ET is one of the main strategic priorities for modernization of the Russian Army. He also emphasized that, so far, 19 units of this type have been created (Izvestia, January 19).

According to Stavitsky, the following UAS models have proven their high level of effectiveness during Russias Syria campaign (Izvestia, January 19):

Uran-6 (a multi-functional, mine-clearing robotic system): capable of performing tasks dealing with mine-reconnaissance and area-clearance operations by detecting and removing various explosive objects (including anti-personnel/tank mines). It is equipped with four video cameras, placed atop the robot with the possibility of a 360-degree field of view. The Uran-6 is capable of overcoming 1.2-meter-tall hindrances at a maximum speed of 5 kilometers per hour; and it allows the operator to execute operations from a distance of up to a kilometer away, thus dramatically decreasing potential risks to human soldiers.

Skarabei: particularly effective in areas that cannot be easily accessed, including underground tunnels and wells. Merely 15 centimeters high, the robot can transmit images from a distance of more than 250 meters (which is the lower limit), and is capable of operating in difficult terrain, including ruins. Moreover, it operates virtually without any noise, which significantly increases its value under conditions of urban fighting.

Sfera (wireless exploration device): scans the area, determining sources of noise/motion. Equipped with four cameras, a built-in monitor and a microphone, it transmits video within a range of 50 meters. The device can withstand a drop from a height of 5 meters and is capable of operating in temperatures that vary from -20 to +45 degrees Celsius.

The principle of asymmetricity (see EDM, September 26, 2017), which has captured the minds of Russian military strategists, especially after Russias involvement in the Syrian civil war, looks to be expanding. Aside from previously indicated elements, current Russian strategy is now being supplemented by a growing reliance on the integrated use of AI and EW as a perceived remedy for improving Russias C2 capabilities (see EDM, December 5, 2017).

In their writing, military scholars MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray, of the United States, argue that the Seventh Military Revolution will be based on a combination of AI and unmanned systems. Thus, future wars will be fought with the use of autonomous weapons, swarms of robotic vehicles, self-organizing defensive systems, automated weapons, big data analytics, as well as machine- and deep-learning programs (MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray, eds., The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 13002050, 2001 as cited in Ssi.armywarcollege.edu, winter 2017)

But analysis of Russian literature on the subject (Cyberleninka.ru, accessed April 5) allows one to pinpoint an existing dichotomy between Western researchers over-theorized reading of the phenomenon (the Autonomous Revolution) and Russian (primarily, practice-oriented) efforts. Existing data suggests that the Western-coined Seventh Military Revolution concept is yet to be fully applicable to Russia. Actual Russian technological capabilities (with the exception of some notable achievements, which are yet to prove their effectiveness on a larger scale) should, therefore, be placed somewhere between what Western authors construe as the Information Revolution and the more intensive Autonomous Revolution.

Sergey Sukhankin is a historian from Kaliningrad and Associate Expert at the International Centre for Policy Studies (Kyiv). His area of scientific interest primarily concerns Kaliningrad and the Baltic Sea region.

This article appeared originally at The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor.
On February 26th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Mark Janus, a child support specialist working for the Illinois state government, was challenging state laws that force him to pay dues to the AFSCME union. He does not agree with the unions politics or policies and does not believe he should have to help pay to support them. The Supreme Court will likely issue a decision by late June.

If Mr. Janus wins his case, teachers, students, and families across the country will benefit, as school employees learn they do not have to join a union against their will. Ending forced unionism will reduce fear and conflict in public school working conditions, meaning increased morale and respect for teachers, and higher-quality instruction for students.

Currently, public school teachers in Washington State must pay about $1,000 in annual dues to the powerful Washington Education Association (WEA) or risk losing their jobs. Many feel intimidated, moreover, fearing they will be punished if they voice opinions contrary to those of union executives.

Many teachers in Washington State are unhappy with this state of affairs. David Gaston is one of five Washington teachers who have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state teachers union. He explains:

I was pressured to join the teachers union even though it didnt represent my views regarding teaching special education. I quickly recognized the teachers union supported political candidates and issues that were against my political and religious beliefs. I know many teachers who feel the same way I do, but they are afraid to speak out in fear of repercussions from the union and potentially losing their job.

Teachers have to pay the union for the protection of teacher tenure, which many teachers oppose. Teachers have to pay the union to prohibit merit pay, which a lot of teachers support. Teachers have to pay the union to support hiring, firing, and seniority-assignment rules, which many teachers oppose. Teachers have to pay the union to intimidate school administrators to sign unaffordable pay and benefit packages, which many teachers feel expose them to future layoffs. Teachers have to pay the union for strikes that close schools to students, which teachers know is illegal.

When teachers have no voice, students suffer as a consequence. Federal data show children in Washington State are more likely to miss school due to a strike than in any other state. Strikes divide communities and disrupt classroom instruction. Ending strikes and school closures, and increasing voluntary cooperation, would create better conditions for students.

The union also lobbies against charter schools, even though many teachers support them. It pursues smaller class sizes instead of increased teacher pay, which enriches union bank accounts, not the bank accounts of teachers.

Teachers do not like paying unions whose political goals hurt the reputation of their profession and even damage the education of children. They know WEA union executives are the primary obstacle to education reform in Washington State. Every year, the WEA collects $37 million in the form of forced dues from Washington teachers. School districts automatically take these dues from teachers paychecks. This protected revenue and a thicket of special laws give this union special status, making the WEA union the most powerful lobby in the state.

Mark Janus complains that paying dues to government unions has resulted in Illinois current financial difficulties. For years, Janus said, the union supported politicians who put the state into its current budget and pension crises.  Thats not public service."

The same dysfunction has taken hold in Washington State. Government sector unions use mandatory union dues to help elect the governor, who then approves large pay and benefit increases to the unions. The McCleary school funding lawsuit, filed and funded by the WEA, increased annual dues to the WEA from $29 million to $37 million. Property taxes have gone up, and the state budget has been put under strain that may prove unsustainable.

This is not public service. Its self-interested public disservice. By upholding Mark Janus First Amendment rights and leveling the playing field for teachers and students, the Supreme Court can provide a real public service to students and families across the country.

Liv Finne is the director of the Center for Education at the Washington Policy Center.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I, one of the bloodiest conflicts in world history. To mark it, RCH has been doing a series of articles highlighting various aspects of the Great War.

For this week, here are 10 things you didnt know about World War I. Behold:

10. World War I wasnt the first world war in history. Since the early modern era (1450-1789), there have been numerous wars fought by European powers on a global scale, including on the European continent. The 30 Years War was a notable one, as was the era of Napoleon.

9. The first aerial dogfight was NOT fought in World War I. RCH just went over the 10 craziest dogfights of World War I last week, but the first aerial dogfight in history was fought in Mexico between two mercenaries from the Unites States. On Nov. 30, 1913, two mercenaries were flying reconnaissance missions for their sides and were ordered, from the ground, to kill the opposing pilot. The two pilots, both Americans, were not about to die for a cause they didnt believe in, nor were they about to kill a fellow American for mere money, so they flew around in circles and shot their pistols into the sky until their guns were empty. This story has huge theoretical implications for todays world: mercenaries dont blindly follow orders, and nationality is hard to overcome for a buck.

8. The first tank used in combat was during World War I. Tanks are an essential component of militaries today, so much so that its hard to fathom war without them. But up until Sept. 15, 1916 (two years into the Great War), horses were still the main form of cavalry used by militaries. Horses! The United Kingdom was the first empire to employ tanks, in the Battle of the Somme, and they were largely ineffectual. There were too many breakdowns and the French heavily criticized their allies for giving away the advantage of surprise by launching the tanks before they were battle ready.

7. World War I was the first time mobile flamethrowers were used. The Chinese had been using a type of flamethrower for centuries, and the Byzantines had mounted a type of flamethrower on their ships, but neither of these people had been able to do what the Germans did after a few years in the trenches fighting against the British and French empires: produce a mobile flamethrower that could be wielded by infantry. The element of surprise gave the Germans a short-lived psychological advantage (the British and French soon adopted the flamethrower themselves). Flamethrowers were used to clear out enemy trenches. Instead of throwing grenades into the trenches, which had the effect of ruining what could be a new home, infantry units just stuck a flamethrower into the opposing sides trench and let er rip.

6. Chemical warfare made its horrific debut. Chemical weapons were used at the start of the war, which suggests that they may have been used earlier, perhaps in overseas colonies, and in an unofficial capacity. Indeed, tear gas was banned in the 1899 Hague Treaty, so while World War I is often referred to as the Chemists War, chemical weapons had been around for centuries. The reason WW I is considered to be the horrific debut of chemical weapons is because the weapons got much more deadly than the irritants used in the past, and quickly. Chlorine gas, mustard gas, and phosgene gas were absolute horrors on the battlefield, and while militaries were quick to adapt to this new technology, the horrors of World War Is chemical weapons have never entirely dissipated.

5. The first aircraft carrier was created in World War I. While Americans made numerous strides in aviation after the invention of the heavier-than-air aircraft by the Wright Brothers, including the first landing of a plane on a stationary ship, it was the necessities of war that caused the British to build the worlds first aircraft carrier (HMS Furious). British Commander Edwin Dunning made the first successful landing on a moving ship on Aug. 2, 1917, and though Dunning died in a crash trying to repeat the landing for a third consecutive time, the aircraft carrier was born.

4. Disposable sanitary napkins created. Paper producer Kimberly-Clark created a highly absorbent product that could be used on the battlefield to staunch bleeding and was less expensive to make than cotton. WW I nurses were said to have used the product in place of reusable cloth rags and when faced with how to market the product after WW I, Kimberly-Clark began marketing it as a disposable sanitary napkins under the Kotex brand.

3. World War I showed the world what a united Germany could do. Germany was formed in 1871, making it almost 100 years younger than the United States and much younger than France and the United Kingdom. Prior to the formation of Germany, which came about due to Prussian diplomat Otto von Bismarcks genius machinations, observers and thinkers throughout the world penned works speculating on what a unified German-speaking world would do, politically, economically, culturally, and militarily. Romes decentralized barbarian enemies were from Germania, the Holy Roman Empire (which was neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire), the Hanseatic League, and the German Confederation which all tried, in vain, to do what Bismarck did. Many of the attempts to unite Germany were foiled by French, British, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian statesmen because of fears that a united Germany would come to dominate Europe and upset the balance of power that European elites had come to rely on as their foreign affairs blueprint. They werent wrong.

2. World War I was, and was not, the first war in Europe with African and Asian soldiers. The empires of the United Kingdom and France utilized fully their colonial capacities in World War I, not only for raw products but also for human capital. African and Asian soldiers were drafted, conscripted, trained, and then shipped off to Europe in order to help the empires fight the Central Powers. Thus, this logic goes, African and Asian soldiers made their first appearance on European soil. This is true in one sense and false in another. Its true that many African and Asian soldiers represented the first appearance of their peoples in Europe as soldiers, but both continents have a long and storied tradition of military engagements in Europe. Just consider the Mongol Empire, which was run from the plains of Mongolia (and, later, northern China). The Mongolian penchant for conscripting recently-conquered peoples into its army ensured a cosmopolitan vibe to its conquests, including the ones in Europe. Or consider ancient Carthage, an African republic, and the military tactics of Hannibal, who decided to take Carthages fight to the Romans on the latters own continent. Then, of course, there is the Ottoman Empire, which ruled the Balkans for centuries and on more than one occasion came knocking on Viennas door. And these are just the official polities that made appearances, with soldiers, on the European continent. Prior to the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, much of the fighting in Europe was done by mercenaries, who hailed from all over the world.

1. Russias World War I withdrawal was just the beginning of its troubles. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed by Russia and the Central Powers on March 3, 1918, officially ended the Russian Empires involvement in World War I, and gave away significant chunks of territory to Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. Three major armies appeared in Russia: the Red one led by Lenin and his Bolsheviks, the White one cobbled together by monarchists, liberals, and anti-Bolshevik socialists, and the Green ones which represented local interests rather than ideological ones. In addition to the formation of rival armies within the country, eight foreign powers sent military units into Russia, including France and the United Kingdom, and several local militias formed with the backing of Central Powers. Russias surrender to the Central Powers then, was even more of a blow to the Allied war effort than just losing an ally. The U.K. and France had to send precious military units into a region that was not only knocked out of the war, but also featured numerous sides that were hostile to foreign intervention. The potential for catastrophe was immense. The arrival of foreign troops, ostensibly on the side of the White army, gave Lenins Red army the psychological advantage it had been looking for. The Reds were the only side fighting for a Russia that was governed by Russians. This nationalistic approach went against Lenins ideological writings, but governance is always and everywhere about pragmatism, not principles, especially in the midst of a civil war. The Germans too, found the Russian Civil War more complicated in practice than in theory. In theory, the exit of the Russians from the war should have meant that Germany could concentrate all its efforts on the Western Front, but in practice, Germany had to be content with not one formal enemy on the former Eastern Front, but dozens of informal enemies with no obvious reasons of state (other than to exist). The implications of this situation spelled doom for the Germans and their war plans, as the Russian collapse gave the Allies enough time to incorporate the United States into their war plans. The rest, as they say, is history.
There may not even be a name for what the crown prince of Saudi Arabia has been doing in the U.S. for three weeks, but he has been doing a lot of it. By the time 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman departs, he will have visited five states plus the District of Columbia, four Presidents, five newspapers, uncounted moguls and Oprah. America has not seen the like since Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev arrived in September 1959 in a Tupolev 114 with cracks in the fuselage to knock around the country for 13 days, putting a relatable human face on Americas most dangerous enemy.
I had been searching for the right words to express why I didnt think President Trump should give an interview to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, but Chris Christie found them. On ABCs This Week, the former New Jersey governor said Trump should never walk into that room with Robert Mueller. If he does, Christie suggested, the presidents affinity for the hyperbolic could set in, and when dealing with federal agents, that can send you to jail. There you have it: an interview could lead to jail.
WASHINGTON -- From a presidential administration's appointments we learn how it views itself. From an administration's departures we learn how it conducts itself. Honesty comes easier to those with little left to lose.

In this regard, the Trump administration offers much to analyze. The pace of disillusioned exits is rapid. And what the departing have chosen to emphasize reveals much about daily life in the executive branch.

In the case of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the complaint was an atmosphere toxic with cruelty. Trump made a habit of undermining his chief diplomat in public. (On negotiations with North Korea, the president once tweeted: "Save your energy, Rex. We'll do what has to be done.") Tillerson was fired via tweet -- a first for the office once held by Thomas Jefferson. Chief of Staff John Kelly reportedly told White House staffers that Tillerson received the news of his dismissal while on the toilet.

"This can be a very mean-spirited town," said Tillerson in his departure speech. He gave his farewell without mentioning the name of the man who appointed him. But the implication was clear enough. "Each of us gets to choose the person we want to be, and the way we want to be treated, and the way we will treat others," Tillerson concluded.

Jobs in the executive branch are hard enough without an added layer of stress caused by constant humiliation. But Trump emphasizes his own importance by diminishing those around him. So creative cruelty is essential to his management style. The result is fear, distrust and resentment -- hardly a situation conducive to deliberation.

During his departure, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin made a similar point about civility. He says he was informed of his own firing just hours before a Trump tweet thanking him for his service was posted, then the administration claimed he had resigned. "It should not be this hard to serve your country," he complained in a New York Times op ed.

But Shulkin also described an atmosphere, not just of cruelty, but of attempted corruption. He wrote of a "brutal power struggle" within his department with "political appointees choosing to promote their agendas instead of what's best for veterans." Their goal was "to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector." And the reason for this, as Shulkin describes it, was not only ideological. "They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed," he said. "That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans."

To summarize: The departing head of the VA has accused swaggering White House appointees of trying to betray the interests of veterans for the financial benefit of favored individuals and businesses. A serious charge. But in the Trump administration's carnival of corruption, this barely rates as a sideshow.

The departure of Trump's second National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, brought a different sort of indictment. In his final public remarks, he was careful to preserve his ties to the president. But the topic he chose was Russia -- particularly Russian cyberoperations against the U.S. and other NATO countries. And his judgment was harsh: "We have failed to impose sufficient costs" for such actions. The result? "The Kremlin's confidence is growing as its agents conduct their sustained campaign to undermine our confidence in ourselves and in one another."

For a National Security Adviser to make this statement in an administration where the president has been equivocal, even exculpatory, in his language about Russia is the most serious critique of all. In McMaster's view, Russia's President Vladimir Putin is engaging in a type of hybrid warfare that is "deliberately designed to achieve objectives while falling below the target state's threshold for military response." This has been enabled by some who "glamorize and apologize" for Russia's actions, and by nations that "have looked the other way."

In his farewell statement, McMaster -- one of our country's deepest thinkers on the nature of warfare -- described a sustained attack to which America has not responded with sufficient seriousness. This could only be interpreted as an implicit criticism of a president who has brought no urgency to the task, and has a history of apologizing for Russian actions. ("Well, you think our country is so innocent?")

The composite image of the Trump administration left by these departing officials is damning -- a picture of cruelty, attempted corruption and national weakness. Instead of hearing gratitude for the experience of a lifetime, we are getting distress signals.

(c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group
What separates the United States from a banana republic is a fair and impartial judicial system -- a system that respects the rule of law and treats its citizens equally.

That vaunted system is crumbling before our eyes.

Look no further for evidence than special counsel Robert Mueller's out-of-control Russian "collusion" investigation, which led to the conviction of a Dutch lawyer this week who had ties to former Trump campaign associates via a corporate law firm nearly a decade ago. Alex van der Zwaan admitted to lying to authorities about communications with people associated with the probe and was accused of deleting an email. He was swiftly sentenced to 30 days in prison and slammed with a $20,000 fine.

But when Democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton and her associates deleted over 33,000 emails, wiped servers and took a hammer to devices during the 2016 FBI investigation into her mishandling of classified information while secretary of state, they were shielded from prosecution -- proving that the levers of justice are far from balanced.

Meanwhile, a thorough and impartial investigation conducted by the Justice Department's inspector general recently found that former FBI Director James Comey's right-hand man, Andrew McCabe, misled authorities on multiple occasions, and he's a free man. In an interview on Fox News Channel with Laura Ingraham last month, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has read the inspector general's report, said: "He didn't lie just once. He lied four times. ... He lied to James Comey. He lied to the Office of Professional Responsibility. And he lied twice under oath to the inspector general."

Following a recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe recently for his "lack of candor," but McCabe is not spending his nights in a jail cell.

It must be nice to have friends in high places.

What we're witnessing in modern America is that when well-connected elites lie, destroy evidence or obstruct justice, they're given a pass -- while others are shackled.

Another such example is Comey. In the fall of 2016, the FBI director told Congress -- while under oath -- that he didn't make the decision to not prosecute Clinton over her reckless mishandling of classified emails until after the FBI interviewed her in June 2016. However, evidence suggests otherwise. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley discovered that Comey wrote a memo exonerating Clinton that circulated through the bureau months before the interview.

If this isn't a smoking gun, what is?

Comey was caught red-handed giving the former Democratic presidential front-runner her walking papers before the FBI interviewed over a dozen key witnesses -- including Clinton herself.

Is the Department of Justice holding Comey and McCabe to the same standards as it's holding others? Far from it. McCabe is free, and Comey is cashing in on an upcoming tell-all despite appearing to have committed two crimes: perjury and obstruction of justice for overseeing a sham criminal investigation into Clinton's rogue servers.

It's worth noting that these are some of the same elites who went after Michael Flynn, who was charged with lying to authorities, causing great harm to his reputation and family. Flynn has been subjected to goliath legal bills in the ongoing Mueller investigation and was recently forced to sell his home to fund his defense. Comey also helped to send interior design icon Martha Stewart to prison in 2004 for lying to authorities.

Different rules for different people.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM
Republican Rick Scotts expected announcement Monday of his candidacy for U.S. Senate figures to make the Florida race the marquee contest of 2018, as the two-term governor carries a unique set of advantages that could neutralize strong headwinds facing his party in November.

Unlike GOP colleagues also running against Democratic incumbents in states Donald Trump won, Scott would be able to self-fund his campaign, if needed, in what is sure to be one of the most expensive races in the country. He also will be on a glide path to his partys nomination, allowing him to avoid the bruising primaries afflicting other Republican candidates and instead to focus on the general election. Republicans believe he will be able to capitalize on his perch as governor in the swing state, entering the race as a known figure with a built-in infrastructure and a stable economy.

And while three-term Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson has been elected statewide multiple times, he hasnt had to weather the kind of knock-down, drag-out races this one is likely to become. Scott "has the best shot any Republican has had against Nelson in a long time," said Florida Republican strategist Rick Wilson.

His fundraising ability alone "makes him the worst nightmare for Democrats," added another Republican operative close to the contest, noting that Florida will be the most expensive of the 10 seats Democrats are defending in states Trump won.

On the other hand, there is an additional set of factors that will make Florida among the most competitive "Trump states" in the country, and that could create unique liabilities for Scott. The state is at the center of several national political debates, garnering widespread interest over the past year after mass shootings, devastating hurricanes, a series of local special elections, and the president's connections there. And Florida is hosting highly competitive gubernatorial and congressional elections in addition to the Senate contest, all of which could serve as a referendum on Trump.

"What was a tailwind in 2016 has become a real headwind" for Republicans in Florida, said Tampa-based GOP media strategist Adam Goodman. Despite decades of Florida history where the midterms favored the GOP, new history is being minted from Tampa to Miami with changing demographics and a charged-up Democratic base.

Scott and Trump are extraordinarily close, as the governor was an early endorser of the president and runs a super PAC supporting him and his policies. Trump has been actively encouraging Scott to run for Senate and the administration has shown special deference to him  so much so that it has come under scrutiny. For example, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's decision to exempt Florida from the governments offshore drilling plan earlier this year handed Scott an important political victory. (An assessment by Politico found the move to be orchestrated to benefit the governor.)

While such closeness to Trump would be beneficial in a Republican primary, it presents challenges for Scott in the general election. Trump won Florida and has established his "Winter White House" at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, but he carried the state by less than two percentage points. And while he remains popular among Republican voters, his overall numbers in the state mirror his national disapproval ratings.

"With anybody else sitting in the White House, Rick Scott would be an 80 percent prohibitive favorite to win," said Wilson, but the president's general approval numbers "are a warning sign that it will be in part a referendum on Donald Trump, and that's an ugly outcome in a lot of ways. Its a weapon for Nelson to have.

Three special elections in the state over the past several months have demonstrated the negative impact Trump could have on statewide elections there. Republicans lost a St. Petersburg mayoral race and two state Senate seats, including one in a Sarasota district the president carried by nearly four points and whose demographics mirror those in parts of the Midwest. Those special elections demonstrate Democrats are energized and ready to go out and vote, and that's largely due to Donald Trump," said Florida Democratic strategist Ashley Walker, who ran former President Obama's campaign in the state in 2012.

And the federal response to two key local issues could also come into play. While Scott has seen an uptick in his own approval ratings after his management of two destructive hurricanes last year, the Trump administration has come under fire for its handling of the storm devastation in Puerto Rico, which is still experiencing power outages. Over 100,000 displaced Puerto Ricans have been living in Florida since the hurricane, providing a target for parties looking to boost voter registration.

Democrats are already aiming to mobilize the newcomers. "Every time Rick Scott campaigns with Donald Trump in Florida ... count on new arrivals from Puerto Rico to remember the time Trump threw paper towels at families desperate for electricity and drinking water," reads a memo from the liberal group American Bridge.

While it's unclear how many will stay, how many will register to vote, and with which party they will align, this bloc could be influential in a swing state where races are won and lost on the margins.

The school shooting in Parkland in February also put Florida at the center of the national debate about guns. The activism directly after the shooting prompted the Republican-led state legislature to enact the first set of reforms in the state in decades. Scott bucked the NRA to approve a package that included raising the age limit required to purchase rifles from 18 to 21.

Nelson has staked out a position on the issue in line with many of his Democratic colleagues, including calling for a ban on assault-style rifles. During a nationally televised town-hall gathering after the mass shooting, Nelson capitalized on Scott's absence and took pointed swipes at him over the issue. While it's still unclear whether and how gun laws will play in federal races, it could be added to Floridas mix of factors likely to energize voters.

Beyond these considerations, both Democrats and Republicans have been busy sharpening their attacks and shaping narratives against one another in this race.

The GOP paints Nelson as a generic Democrat who lacks an outstanding record or any special branding others in the party have cultivated in their states. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is pinning Nelson to Hillary Clinton's campaign-era characterization of some Trump supporters as "deplorables" and to her recent comments denigrating the president's coalition. Republicans are also hoping to take advantage of Trump's win in the state by defining Nelson as opposed to the agenda they voted for and part of the obstructive dynamics in Washington.

Democrats argue that Scott is a weak candidate who underperforms most Republicans in statewide elections. They point to his elections in 2010 and 2014, where he self-funded his campaigns but won both times by just one point amid good years for Republicans nationwide. And this time, with Republicans in control in Washington, "hell be running with the GOPs unpopular control of D.C. weighing him down, and his personal liabilities have only gotten worse, said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein.

Democrats also note that Scott will be subject to stricter rules on the federal level when it comes to financial disclosures, and are raising questions about his blind trust for investments. They are painting Scott as a wealthy politician reaping benefits from government service, and are also reprising his past as a health care executive: The company he ran, Columbia/HCA, paid $1.7 billion in Medicare fraud fines. Scott left the company in 1997 before the investigation concluded and received a $300 million severance package.

But Democrats caution that even with all the advantages their party has seen over the past several months nationally and in Florida, this particular race will still come down to the margins. "The thing about Florida to remember is just how locked in things are right now," said Steve Schale, a Democratic veteran who ran Obama's 2008 campaign in the state. "You have two candidates that basically have 100 percent name ID. If you look at the way Florida has behaved in the last few cycles, there's not a lot of wiggle room."

"Its going to be a full contact sport from here on," said Walker. "I'd rather be a Democrat running than a Republican. But Florida is a big, diverse state. We are definitely feeling the energy, but it's going to be close."
Kevin Williamson has been fired by The Atlantic. Williamson is one of the great conservative intellectuals of our times. He has a keen wit and frequently engages in heterodox opinions that make his writing and thinking intriguing. For a decade he wrote at William F. Buckley's National Review until hired away last week by Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor of The Atlantic.

The Atlantic fancies itself a place of intellectual diversity where the best writers across ideologies can share their views. But Williamson's hire drew burning rage from the left. Williamson's birth came from an unplanned pregnancy. Instead of aborting him, his birth mother gave him up for adoption. As you might imagine, Williamson has strongly held views on the matter of abortion. A week after hiring him, Jeffrey Goldberg bowed to the leftwing mob and fired Williamson for, in part, how he might make the pro-abortion women in the office feel.

Never mind Williamson's feelings on abortion and that he could have been aborted himself, the editor took the brave stand of worrying about the hypothetical feelings of pro-abortion women in the office. The left told us that the purges happening on college campuses were contained to the campus. Yet here we are today with one of the best voices of conservatism fired from a job for his conservative views.

It will only get worse. Just a few years ago, a liberal reporter walked into an Indiana pizza parlor to see if that parlor would cater a same sex wedding. The owner said he was a Christian so he could not do that. The news set off a wave of antagonism against the pizza parlor, which had to close down for several days. It faced harassment online and in the store for the owner having the audacity to answer a reporter's hypothetical question.

Elsewhere on the left, there have been organized attempts to stop police from volunteering to manage traffic in front of large churches on Sunday. The left has demanded bakers forcibly bake cakes for same-sex marriages or shut down. They have demanded businesses cease business with conservative organizations. They use friends in the media to target banks and others who work with gun manufacturers and resellers. The peddlers of tolerance are especially good at intolerance and the people with coexist bumper stickers really want the right to not exist in the public eye.

Just a few years ago in France, Islamic radicals sympathetic to ISIS stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satire magazine, and murdered the employees. Thankfully, in this country, the leftwing mob has not made the leap to taking the lives of those they disagree with. For now, at least, they are content just to ruin lives and businesses.

What we are seeing is an American Culture Revolution, unleashed by a narrow-minded group of leftists who have more in common with Mao than Washington. They have become dominant in the American media and have systematically purged conservative voices from the air and print. Conservative thought is more and more relegated to a ghetto and should any prominent conservative try to leave the ghetto, the leftwing mob will take action to destroy them. Liberals like Chris Cuomo can have a show on CNN attacking a variety of conjured conservative straw men under the veneer of objective news, while a conservative like Kevin Williamson cannot even write columns in The Atlantic.

The result will increasingly be that fringe ideas grab hold of people's imagination. The left has continually reduced the window of what topics are acceptable to those they agree with. Those ideas, in turn, change constantly depending on what group wakes up feeling oppressed on a particular day. They have exiled credible conservative voices, claiming that the most mainstream and innocuous are as racist and bigoted as the alt-right fringe. And if there is no difference between the two, more and more will gravitate to the truly extreme through emotional appeal. The left's insistence on determining who is reasonable on the right will only help bolster the most unreasonable voices on both sides.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM
WASHINGTON -- If you want to make sure you learn whether President Trump's campaign colluded with the Russians and whether Trump himself committed obstruction of justice, there's one thing you must do: Vote in November to take control of Congress away from the Republican Party.

Spoiler alert: We already have evidence that Trump at least tried his best to obstruct justice; and despite the president's frequent all-caps tweets to the contrary, collusion is still very much an open question. For more definitive answers, however, we have to await special counsel Robert Mueller's findings -- and there is no guarantee we will learn, in detail, everything that he finds out.

The Washington Post reported this week that Mueller intends to produce a series of reports about the various issues he is probing, with the first likely to be on the obstruction of justice question.

The Post also reported that Mueller considers Trump a "subject" of the investigation but not a "target." It is unclear whether that distinction denotes an actual difference.

In Justice Department argot, a "subject" is someone who is under investigation and a "target" is someone against whom prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to file criminal charges. But Mueller may be following the internal Justice Department opinion, last updated in 2000, that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime and can only be judged by Congress in impeachment proceedings. If this is indeed Mueller's view, then Trump could never be formally considered a "target," even with a smoking gun in each little hand.

As we have seen, Mueller does not hesitate to file charges against those he believes guilty of crimes, such as Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and a growing list of defendants. But let's assume that as far as Trump is concerned, he confines himself to reports detailing the president's actions. And let's assume the first report is indeed on possible obstruction.

Mueller is required to send that report confidentially to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But since Sessions has recused himself from the investigation -- his unreported Russia contacts could make him, I suppose, a potential "subject" -- the report will go to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Rosenstein is then required to provide an "explanation" of Mueller's findings to the chairmen and ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rosenstein apparently can put as much or as little detail into his submission to the committees as he wants. But given the stakes, his clear duty is to pass along absolutely everything Mueller reports about the president's role. The good, the bad, the ugly -- all of it.

At that point, Rosenstein's report about Mueller's report should be released in full. But there is no guarantee that it will be.

With a few notable exceptions, Republicans in Congress have shied away from the Mueller investigation as if it were the political equivalent of a root canal. I understand the danger of being seen as hostile to a president who remains popular with the GOP base. I also understand that many Trump supporters, including his rah-rah squad on Fox News, may genuinely see the whole Mueller investigation as an attempt by progressives, Hillary Clinton and some shadowy entity called the "deep state" to steal the presidency from a populist outsider who won it fair and square.

That's not what it is, though. As Mueller has already demonstrated in convincing detail, Russians did meddle in the 2016 election, at first as general mischief and later to boost Trump's chance of winning. Trump campaign officials and advisers had numerous contacts with Kremlin-connected Russians that they failed to disclose or tried to obscure. Trump told NBC's Lester Holt in a television interview that he fired FBI director James Comey because of the Russia investigation, of which Comey was then in charge.

It is hardly a secret that I see Trump as unfit to be president and his administration as a dangerous shambles. I have argued, perhaps to the point of tedium, that it is desperately important for voters to elect a Congress in November that will exercise the Constitution's checks and balances on an erratic, out-of-control executive. That means electing Democratic majorities whose committee chairmen will properly use their powers of oversight and investigation -- and also the power of the purse.

Now we have yet another reason to vote in November: A Democratic Congress is the only ironclad guarantee that we will fully learn whether Americans helped Russians subvert our democracy and whether the president tried to cover it up.

(c) 2018, Washington Post Writers Group
A spike in murders in London that saw more people killed in the city in February and March than in New York, has provided newspapers with some sensational headlines. Of the more than 50 murders to have taken place in London so far in 2018, the vast majority are the result of knife crime.

While comparisons between murders in New York and London make for a good story, simplistic headlines based on one-dimensional readings of statistics can be seriously misleading. UN Office on Drugs and Crime global homicide figures show that in 2014 the UK recorded 594 homicides, giving it a murder rate of 0.92 per 100,000 people. In contrast, the rate for the US with 15,696 deaths was 4.88 per 100,000. Yet Latvia has a 4.11 per 100,000 homicide rate  a fact explained by a smaller population and a total of just 81 homicides. Of course, Latvia is not as murderous as American inner-city housing projects, nor is it four times more dangerous than the UK.

What happened in New York

In 2017, there were 290 homicides in New York  the lowest number since the 1940s. The city has a longstanding association with violence. Crime rates spiked in the 1980s and early 1990s, but subsequently New York has been spectacularly rehabilitated. It now has one of the lowest murder rates of any US city.

There have been various explanations for this, from changing lead levels in petrol to changes in abortion policy, but an oft-cited factor is changes in policing. Picking up on this argument, The Sun newspaper recently drafted in the man hailed as the architect of the New York Crime drop, former US police Commissioner, Bill Bratton, to advocate a crackdown on crime in London.

Bratton  with the support of then-mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani  introduced a zero tolerance policing policy from the mid 1990s which focused on quick arrests for minor offences and little tolerance for petty crimes. It was heavily influenced by broken windows theory, a simple concept that has persuasive power. Under this theory, visible symptoms of neighbourhood decline  the broken window or civil disorder  act as cues to encourage further crime and disorder, including serious violent crime.

Bratton  who was reappointed as NYPD police chief for a second two-year term in 2014  has currency among conservatives, and it was reported that former British prime minister David Cameron once hoped to install him as head of the Metropolitan police.

Laying blame in London

Perhaps neighbourhood decline does drive crime, but Londons murders are not only happening in impoverished areas in decline. Great wealth and poverty exist almost cheek by jowl in London  and neighbourhood decline alone is not going to drive up a murder rate.

While there have been various factors suggested for Londons rising murder rate, like many complex social phenomena, the truth is that there are elements of truth in all of them  and no single causal driver. The Labour MP David Lammy has linked the rise in violence to drug gangs and inequality, while the Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dicks commented that social media is fuelling murder and knife crime among young people.

Dick is not the first to express concern about the role of music such as grime and drill in rising violence  and the media have variously referenced the usual suspects: lack of male role models, absent parents, violent media, gangs, and declining use of police stop and search powers.
University of Georgia student Emma Strong couldnt remember what was going through her mind when she pulled over to help the victims of a vehi
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It's a shame when all the funny parts of a comedy are in the movie's two-minute trailer, as is the case with "Blockers." Not only does it high